Doctor Whooves tags along with the Mane Six when they travel to the Crystal Empire. But they soon find out that their friend, the Doctor, knows a lot more about the Crystal Empire then they realize when he runs into King Sombra.
Suddenly, somehow, this situation became personal.
Sombra is back after being banished by Celestia and Luna over a millennia ago. The Doctor knows that Princess Celestia wants Twilight to find a way to protect the Crystal Empire, but he's afraid that she might not be able to. King Sombra has grown strong during his exile, and the Doctor doesn't know if he's now immune to the affects of the Crystal Heart or not.
Only time will tell.
Because if it fails, he will be the only thing will be standing between the tyrant and the Crystal Empire if it does.
(Note: This takes place during The Crystal Empire Part 1 and Part 2. Not word for word. I'm kinda rewriting it in order for it to run smoother in a story format, but it will follow the plot of the two episodes before getting considerably darker, and will contain some dialog from the episodes.)
The slate-grey pony looked up from the book he was reading and looked straight into the purple eyes of the pony sitting across from him with his piercing golden ones. “King Sombra, you say?” he mused aloud, rubbing his chin with a hoof as he did so. “Well, well, well, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia has dumped a large load onto your back.”
The purple unicorn met his gaze and didn’t look away. “Yes. My latest test consists of helping protect the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia fears that King Sombra has returned as well. He put a curse on the Empire so that it disappeared for a thousand years, just as long as he was exiled,” she told him.
Ah, I know that old chap. Clever old boy, he thought. He adjusted his bowtie and made sure his top-hat was on straight. The train’s whistle blew. King Sombra. I warned him to not dabble in the dark arts.
“I brought you along with my friends just in case we needed a brain that works excellently under pressure—not that I’m saying that I freeze when I’m put under pressure,” Twilight added.
He waved that away. “Don’t worry. I completely understand. After all, it’s been years since I’ve had a good adventure.”
The Element of Magic tilted her head quizzically. “How many years, Doctor?” she asked.
“Lots and lots of years, my friend. So many. I’m not quite sure how many…” he stopped to think, narrowing his eyes in concentration as he filtered through them all. “I think the last time I helped save Equestria was back when Celestia and Luna had to turn Discord to stone.” He nodded, sure of himself. “Yep, it was a long, long time ago.”
Twilight stared at him with unconvinced look on her face, and when he turned to look at Applejack and Rarity, they were wearing identical looks.
“If…it’s actually been that long since you’ve helped save the world…then you should be a bit rusty, right?” Twilight said slowly.
“Darling! If what you’re saying is true, then you’re positively ancient! How in Equestria are you still alive?” Rarity questioned, her unbelieving look softening.
“It’s a…timey-wimey thing…” the Doctor said, looking down at his hooves nervously.
He could literally sense the impending danger where it radiated from up the tracks. He didn’t know how strong the danger was, but if it had something to do with Sombra, which it did since Celestia had told Twilight about him when she was explaining the Crystal Empire, then he was terrified for the safety of the fillies and the baby dragon that he rode the train with. If Sombra managed to get back into the Empire, he’d probably just do what he had done before – re-enslave the Crystal Ponies.
What am I to do? If he wins, the fillies representing the Elements of Harmony will surely be doomed, he thought as he tried to quell the rising panic inside him.
“Doctor, Doctor, Doctor… my old friend! Don’t you see how powerful I have become? The ponies listen to me! They will learn to coincide in peace with Equestria!” the Doctor furrowed his eyebrows and squeezed his eyes shut at the sound of the dark king’s voice. It sounded so…dark…nothing like it had been before he had started to dabble in dark magic.
“Who invented dark magic, anyway?” he accidentally mused out loud.
“No clue,” Twilight answered, causing the Doctor to snap his eyes open when he realised that he had actually said that out loud and not in his head. Whoops.
“Why do ya ask, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
The Doctor merely shook his head with a sigh. “Too complicated. Sombra uses dark magic, so I was just wondering who he learned it from,” he replied.
“You just answered the question, even though you said it was too complicated!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
The slate stallion merely blinked.
“We’ll be reaching the station pretty soon,” Twilight said before the train whistle blew again.
“Good, I’ll be sure to wear my scarf,” the Doctor said, trying to smile. But his mind was on other things. Like Sombra. He could remember the time when they had been friends, when he wasn’t punishing his subjects or trying to kill him. When the whites of his eyes were not green and the irises not red. His irises used to be green, actually. Emerald green. And he didn’t have fangs, either.
The Doctor knew that the Mane Six only saw one option. If Sombra came back, and if he managed to get in to the Empire, they’d have to destroy him. But he wanted to have a talk with the lost pony before it got to that point. Sombra was good once, the Doctor could only hope that the darkness hadn’t consumed him and that there was still some kind of goodness inside him. Something similar had consumed Princess Luna, turning her into Nightmare Moon. With the help of the Elements of Harmony, the darkness within her had been purged, returning her to the status of the Princess of the Night.
The thing is, the Mane Six didn’t bring the Elements of Harmony. This was going to be a lot harder than the battle against Nightmare Moon.
“Tell us something about yourself, Doctor Whooves,” Fluttershy suggested softly in her sweet little voice. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized what she asked. “O-oh! I-if you don’t mind, that is.”
The Doctor smiled. “I don’t mind, Fluttershy, it’s quite alright. What do you want to hear?”
“How about… What did you do before you became Ponyville’s Time Keeper?” Rarity suggested.
“I traveled, a lot, but I always kept in contact with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I was there when Luna refused to lower the moon so that Celestia could raise her sun – I actually tried to help Celestia convince Luna to do so – before Luna became Nightmare Moon…” and they continued to converse. The Doctor hadn’t really opened up to anyone other than the Princesses and Starswirl the Bearded about who he was. He helped Starswirl finish his time travel spell by allowing him to examine several aspects of the TARDIS and a bit of Time Lord technology in order to finish it. Of course, he hadn’t understood half of the stuff the Doctor had shown him since the ponies were not really technologically inclined.
But now he was opening up to the six mares that had saved Equestria countless times. He found he could trust them not to blurt it out to the world that he was actually older than the Princesses of Equestria. Really, he wasn’t really up to answering trillions of questions that would probably center around how he was still alive, since he was only a simple Earth pony.
After a small meal consisting of a warm soup, the train reached the train station. The Doctor wrapped a light blue scarf around his neck, covering up his bowtie, as Rarity put her own scarf on. The others didn’t bother to get bundled up for the freezing cold weather that could be seen through the windows.
“Spike, please be a dear and carry my things, will you?” Rarity asked the resident and present baby dragon.
The Doctor watched as the dragon, Spike, developed a slight love-sick expression, and metaphorical hearts appeared in his eyes. “S-sure thing, Rarity,” he sighed. He looked happy, until he seemed to snap out of the love-caused daze when he saw exactly how much the off-white unicorn had brought with her.
The stallion blinked in surprise as Spike disappeared under the pile of suitcases. He lowered his head and asked, “Are you alright, Spike?”
“I-I’m fine, Doctor!” the purple fire-breather reassured.
The Doctor cocked an eyebrow. “Alrighty…then…” he then followed the fillies outside, listening to them gasp at the bitter cold of the outside as they stepped outside. He chuckled, but then bit out his own exclamation of surprise. “Blimey!”
There was a wicked wind blowing, causing the ends of his scarf to whip behind him, as did Rarity’s. He grimaced. “Oi! I wonder who has their tail in a knot?!” he said loudly over the sound of the wind, sarcasm colouring his words.
Twilight glanced at him. “Okay, guys. Shining Armor should be here any second to take us to the Crystal Empire,” she told them.
“Uh…Twilight?” Applejack began slowly. “Wasn’t your brother s’pposed to be here by now?”
The lavender unicorn lowered her head and drooped her head guiltily. “Um…yes? Uh…I’m pretty sure he has a good reason for being late.”
Suddenly, a white stallion that was slightly taller than the Doctor approached. He had a black scarf wrapped around his neck, and a pair of goggles on that must have served to block out the glare of the snow. “Twilight!” he called.
“Shining Armor?” the Element of Magic called to the stallion.
The new stallion took off the goggles and balanced them behind his unicorn horn. “Twily!” He went up to her and gave her a hug. “You made it.” He broke the hug and glanced at the others, his eyes resting on the Doctor for a few seconds longer before turning to look back in the direction he had come. A serious look replaced the happy look that had been featured on his face as he said, “We better get moving. There are things out here we really don’t want to run into after dark.” That set an ominous tone to the situation.
Fluttershy gulped and unconsciously sidled closer to the Doctor. “What kind of things?” she asked fearfully.
Shining Armor fixed her with a look that spoke volumes. “Let’s just say the Empire…is not the only thing that has returned,” he said.
“We figured that,” the Doctor said as they started to walk.
“Yeah,” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia told me a lot about the Crystal Empire and talked about King Sombra. We were figuring that he would come back with the Empire because his curse had ended. Maybe it pulled him back when it reappeared?”
That can’t be possible, the Doctor thought. A mage cannot undo the magic he did not do himself…could he?
He was suddenly drawn back to that day, when the Princesses came to liberate the Empire…
~~~~
He watched tiredly from where he stood next to the tyrant. Sombra had taken him up to the top of the tower in order to give him a good view of the Crystal Empire below. The Doctor could barely regester anything other than the pain in his hooves, shoulders, and neck, where the crude collar that tagged him as one of Sombra’s slaves rested. His mane was unkempt, as was his tail. He could barely see through his eyes, which were half covered by his drooping eyelids.
Down below, he could see the slaves working endlessly, though the image was blurred. He was hungry, exhausted. He was wasting away. His ribs and hip-bones were visible. He had to wonder, how could he, the last of the Time Lords, have been captured by overpowered unicorn?
His wondering stopped when he remembered how he had been captured. Because Sombra had been his friend, he had trusted him. He hadn’t distanced himself from the grey unicorn, and now he was paying. Sombra probably felt insecure with him running around unchecked while he tried to rule the Crystal Empire. So he enslaved him as well.
“Don’t you see it, Doctor?” he began. “The Crystal Ponies planned to invade Equestria, but I stopped them. Aren’t you pleased?”
The Doctor shifted slightly. “Nnn…” he began, trying to force the words out while his vocal cords refused. “Naaaaa…” he grunted, and cleared his throat, trying to regain use of his voice, since he had been unable to use it for so long. “Noooooot…plee-pleasss – pleased. Not pleased.”
The king looked at him darkly from the corner of his eye, not even bothering to look at him head-on. “Strange, I thought you wanted the renegade ponies stopped.”
“Not…thiii-thees – this. Not this waaaaay.”
The dark unicorn let out a chuckle that sent a chill running up and down his spine. “What other way was there?”
“There were many ways, Sombra!” a feminine voice boomed from above.
The Doctor recognised it. It was the Royal Canterlot Voice. Very loud, but very affective.
~~~~
“Are ya comin’, Doctor?” Applejack called. He blinked several times and looked ahead to see that they were now several paces ahead of him. He shook his head in order to clear it.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he called before trotting after them.
His mind was still on this flashback, though. He needed to stop worrying over Sombra, and he needed to stop lamenting over the loss of a friend. He needed to focus on helping the Elements of Harmony get rid of Sombra so that Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and the Crystal Empire would be safe. He wouldn’t mind giving Sombra a piece of his mind in the process, actually. But only if he ran into him.
Suddenly, somehow, this situation became personal.
The snow was deep, coming up close to their knees. They were chilled to the bone, but they pushed on. Fluttershy pressed into the Doctor’s side, seeking warmth from him as well as strength. The butter-yellow pegasus shuttered and whimpered, and the larger stallion took notice. With one hoof, he took his scarf from around his neck. Then he stopped her and carefully wrapped the scarf around her neck, it still warm from his body.
“Th-thanks, D-D-Doctor…” she whispered.
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
Shining Armor glanced back at them noticing that they were starting to fall behind. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there,” the white unicorn called back to the ponies following him.
He was right, the Doctor had to admit. In the distance he could see the sea-green glow of what appeared to be a dome that covered the Empire. It wasn’t too far away – he could just make out the outlines of some of the closer buildings inside the dome through the snow whipping through the air.
For a second, he allowed himself to marvel how his top-hat managed to stay on his head with this wind. Somehow, it was staying on, just like Applejack’s cowpony hat was. Magic, maybe?
Suddenly, a feral growl tore through the air, causing their little procession to grind to a halt. The Doctor’s eyes widened.
~~~~
He could feel it. Dread. That usually meant something bad was happening. He looked up ahead at the castle before realizing how strangely quiet it was. Why couldn’t he hear the lively chatter of the Crystal Ponies? There was something wrong, very, very wrong. What could have happened? He had been gone for only a week!
He trotted into the Empire, his saddlebags bouncing off his sides only slightly. As he made his way between the buildings and the shops, he noticed that everything was starting to lose its luster. It was like the happiness of the Crystal Ponies was slowly fading away. “This is bad,” he voiced gravely. “This is bad, bad, bad.” And with that, he went to his home, and dropped off his saddlebags. He stopped on his doorstep and looked up at the castle, which seemed to become less and less…crystal-ly…by the second, and frowned.
Deep within his hearts, the Doctor figured that someone or something had made the Crystal Ponies sad and cold, but he had no idea who or what.
He took off in a gallop towards the castle, demanding answers from the Prince of the Crystal Empire. He needed to know if Sombra knew this was happening. If he did, and wasn’t doing anything to stop it, the Doctor was going to be very, very, angry. And an angry Doctor was not a good Doctor.
The slate-grey pony was almost to the castle when something tripped him and he fell. He hit the ground face-first and let out a little grunt. But then his ears perked at the sound of a wind. Now that wasn’t unusual since the Crystal Empire was in the north, but there had been a lack of wind that day. He opened his eyes and got slowly to his feet.
A hissing noise came to his ears as black mist seemed to slowly seep up from under the cobblestones. His eyes widened and took a few steps back, but stopped when he felt something tickle at his back ankles. He glanced back and yelped when he saw that it was seeping up behind him as well. He could sense it. He could sense the magic. It was dark, oh so dark.
More and more of the mist came and gathered around him. His mind was working overtime, and he couldn’t figure a way out. The entire courtyard he was standing in was enshrouded in mist. He had enough experience with things similar to this mist in order to know that if he risked trotting out into it, something might really bad happen to him.
The mist slowly crawled up his legs, clinging to them, enveloping them. He quickly found out that he couldn’t move, so all he could do was watch. It crawled up his chest, up his flank, covering his cutie mark. It covered his back, and covered his bowtie. It slithered up his neck, up his jaw, up his cheeks…
He screamed as the darkness entered his being, through his eyes. It entered through his mouth, tainting his innards. It reached for his soul, reaching – reaching…
He forced it back, fought against it. It was a struggle, since it seemed to be just as strong as he was, but he kept fighting. He kept fighting until, suddenly, it stopped. It retreated. The mist slowly ran off of him like water, allowing him to breathe. By the time the last of the mist had dripped off of him, he began to tremble out of sudden exhaustion before falling to his knees under the new weight of a metal collar that suddenly found its way around his neck. His lungs were suddenly starving for oxygen, and he struggled to breathe.
Someone chuckled. The chuckle was dark and deep, menacing and tainted with evil. He didn’t recognise it, but turned to look at its owner.
The air seemed to leave his poor, starved lungs when he took in the sight of his friend. Prince Sombra didn’t…look like Prince Sombra anymore. “S…Sombra? W-what?” he said shakily.
Sombra didn’t possess the soft look he should have pointed at his friend in this state. He was wearing a wicked grin and his eyes held a triumphant gleam. The Doctor stared up into the eyes of his friend, and shuttered when he saw that his irises were no longer green. They were red, and the whites of his eyes were a poison green. Out of the corners of his eyes floated wisps of purple smoke.
The Doctor knew all too well what had happened. And he knew who was responsible for the mist. “S-Sombra…what have you done?”
~~~~
Snapping out of the flashback, he screamed, “RUN!”
This caused everyone to unfreeze, and they all rushed forward. The snow was deep, making it hard to get any traction. It didn’t pose much of a problem for the Doctor or Shining Armor, but the others, the Elements of Harmony, were struggling. The wind was too harsh for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to fly in, and the others were having a hard time plowing through the drifts because of how much shorter they were compared to the stallions.
The Doctor glanced back at the sound of a loud whoosh. His eyes widened as something similar to the mist in his flashback rose up out of the snow. It formed something akin to a mountain before two large eyes with red irises, and green whites opened, familiar purple smoke flowing from their corners. Both of his hearts seemed to stop beating for a few moments. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no,” he muttered shakily. He looked ahead and at the dome, and breathed shakily when he saw it so close.
But then a plan came to mind.
He broke off from the group and turned to face the monster behind them. He slid to a stop, to assess the situation, before taking out his sonic screwdriver. He galloped towards the beast of mist. Shining Armor noticed this and left the group as well, following the doctor at full speed. The slightly larger stallion came up alongside the Doctor, who clenched his unearthly tool between his teeth with his head held high. The prince noted that he looked a lot like one of the Royal Guards that went into battle back when there were still conflicts.
As they approached the shadow beast, Shining Armor lowered his head and pointed his horn at it. A magenta aura surrounded it. The screwdriver in the Doctor’s mouth began to whine and its tip glowed a bright green.
When they were close enough, the white unicorn prince shot a beam of light at the shadow. It shot harmlessly through the shadow, and ironically, it watched, for only a second, as went by before turning its attention on the Doctor. The whining of the slate-grey stallion’s tool was extremely loud now, as if it was doing something.
“DOCTOR! MINE!”
The Doctor’s eyes widened at the sound of the monster’s voice. And they widened even more as the shadow descended upon them, swallowing them whole.
~~~~
Twilight, Spike, and the others cleared the barrier that separated the Crystal Empire from the winter weather outside with a sigh of relief. “Good, we’re safe,” the lavender unicorn stated, sitting down in order to give her hooves a rest.
“Twi, what do ya think that was back there?” Applejack asked.
The Element of magic shrugged with a blink. “No idea.”
“Oh no!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed. Everyone present looked over at her and saw that she was staring wide-eyed at the barrier, a dainty hoof held up to her mouth. “Where are Shining Armor and the Doctor?!”
Twilight gasped in realization. How could she have misplaced her brother? Yes, they had been terrified out of their minds when that monster had been chasing them, but how could she have forgotten about her brother?
Suddenly, Shining came hurtling through the barrier and landed next to his sister. “Shining!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over to him. She looked him over, and stopped when she saw the black crystals that had appeared on his white horn. “What…what happened? Y-your horn!”
The prince sat up and rubbed the side of his head. He tested his horn in order to see if his magic still worked, but somehow the crystals blocked it.
With a blast of cold artic air, the Doctor promptly joined them. He landed on the side of Shining Armor opposite to Twilight, and merely groaned. He didn’t open his eyes. They clustered around him; and slowly, the half-frozen stallion opened his eyes.
His eyes widened to the point that it looked like they were going to fall out of his head. They darted left and right, up and down. When he seemed to realize that he was surrounded by friends, he visibly relaxed, and the ice crystals imbedded in his fur and mane began to melt. “Blimey,” he whimpered under his breath before trembling once. Slowly, and with great effort, he got to his hooves.
That’s when he noticed something. He looked down, and between his front hooves lay his sonic screwdriver – shattered.
His face scrunched up in a offended look. “Oh, look at that. That’s so, so not cool!” he grumbled.
“What’s the matter, Doctor?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
A fire blazed in the Doctor’s ancient eyes. “Oh, Sombra’s been a naughty boy. I think he’s overdue for some discipline.”
Once the Doctor calmed down a bit, they ventured into the Crystal Empire. By the time they reached the castle, Rarity was fawning over the immaculate structure. He could see the stars in her eyes as she exclaimed, “There are no words!”
There were chuckles shared over that, and the Doctor began to relax.
They entered the castle and traveled up to the throne room. There, they saw a lovely looking pink alicorn with a purple, pink, and yellow mane sitting on the only throne. Her head was drooping and there were bags under her eyes. The Doctor looked at her with sympathy, understanding showing in his golden eyes, even though the princess couldn’t see it. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing gently as if she was asleep.
“Cadence!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed before launching herself down the red carpet and up to the alicorn. The princess opened her eyes at the sound of the lavender unicorn’s voice and smiled. She eagerly scrambled down from the throne and met Twilight halfway.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” the two sang when they met, doing a little dance. It kind of reminded him of a special handshake.
Once they were done, the Doctor decided to say something. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” he greeted. “Or Princess Cadence, as you liked to be called.” That was all he got out, though, before he was literally glomped by the princess in a very un-princess-like way.
“Doctor!” she exclaimed. She wrapped her front hooves around his neck and pulled him into a hug. “I’m so glad you came!”
He was quite surprised that she still remembered what he looked like. It had been years since the last time she had seen him, back when she had still been the foalsitter for Twilight Sparkle. She had been studying about magic, and often spent the evenings divulging in as much as she could. He would often come over, having been sent by Princess Celestia in order to make sure she was actually studying and doing her homework. But then he would end up taking care of Twilight because the little filly would come racing downstairs at the sound of his voice.
He had been featured in a lot of history books, and it was apparent that Celestia’s protégé had read a lot about him.
“Glad to see you as well, Cadence,” he replied as they broke the hug. Shining Armor walked over to Cadence and sidled up to her.
“You know him?” Shining asked the alicorn.
She nodded. “He’s an old friend,” she explained simply.
The Doctor took that time to straighten his top-hat, which had been knocked askew when Cadence hugged him.
The white stallion cocked an eyebrow as the Doctor turned to join the Mane Six as they stood back from the couple. “How old of a friend?” he heard the prince ask playfully.
Cadence suddenly shuddered with a low moan, and the barrier protecting the Empire flickered before settling again. The Doctor sighed. “Not much time left, I see,” he said sadly. He turned to Twilight. “Princess Celestia said that this was part of a test for you. What do you think you have to do, Ms. Sparkle?”
The light purple unicorn rubbed her chin in thought. “Um…well…”
“We don’t know what’s going on. So what do you do when you don’t know what’s going on?”
“Um…” then she brightened. A metaphorical light bulb was switched on in her head. “A research paper!”
Shining Armor was confused. “A what?”
The Doctor smiled knowingly as Twilight went on to explain. “That must be what the Princess Celestia wants me to do!” Celestia’s protégé began to bounce around in excitement; despite the dire circumstances they were in. “She must want me to ask around in order to see what we can do to stop Sombra!”
“Great thinking, Twilight,” Cadence congratulated with a smile before yawning.
“Let’s go, girls! We’ll need to ask some ponies some questions and maybe even find a library!” Twilight exclaimed The lavender unicorn let out a little squeal of delight, probably excited to find an old library that was over a thousand years old. “Coming, Doctor?” she asked as she and her friends began to trot towards the exit.
“I’ll catch up with you,” he replied. Once the young mares were gone, he turned to look at the prince and princess. “How bad is it?” he asked.
Cadence looked about ready to drop, but she leaned on Shining Armor for support as her husband explained. “Cadence’s power is fading. She’s been keeping the protected barrier up all by herself for quite a while, and she can’t get any rest without losing focus. I would help her, but,” Shining Armor stopped and simply gestured to his horn. The Doctor looked up and examined it closely, and noticed for the first time that dark, nasty-looking crystals were sticking out of it.
“Ooh, magic inhibiting crystals? Clever…” Doctor mused while rubbing his chin. “Sombra’s thought of everything, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, I discovered I had them after I landed just inside the barrier. He must have done it to me when he enveloped us.”
Doctor placed his hoof back on the floor and he began to wonder why Sombra had descended on him as well. Sure, he broke his Sonic Screwdriver…but considering the history he had with the dark unicorn, anything could have happened him during the short time he had been unconscious. He wouldn’t be surprised if he started to hear Sombra’s voice in his head. “The mysteries keep piling up, and I can’t make heads or tails of them,” the Doctor said with a sigh. “I guess the only way I can figure anything out is if I catch up with the girls or go asking around by myself.”
Cadence shook herself awake again after her eyes closed shut on her once more. “Doctor? You speak as if you know Sombra personally. Do you?” her question held a lot of wonder, but she barely had enough energy in order to keep her voice from sounding monotone.
The slate grey pony looked at the two sadly. He didn’t know how the two would take the news of him having been a good friend with the tyrant king at one point. It was a very sensitive subject. “Yes. Yes I used to be a good friend of Sombra’s. Not anymore. I still care for him like a friend would, but he did some pretty unspeakable things at the end of our friendship that makes me wonder if I would have been able to stop him at all. If it weren’t for your aunts, Cadence, I would be dead,” he stated frankly.
She nodded once, her battle against her need for sleep ever apparent in her expression.
Shining Armor’s expression seemed to become even more serious. “I want you to help my little sister the best you can,” he said. “We are counting on her to figure out how to stop Sombra and save the Empire. We don’t have much time before Cadence can’t help but fall asleep, and when she does, the barrier will fall.”
Though Doctor’s face was lax, Shining’s seriousness was reflected in the topaz depths of his eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you down,” he said. “Sometimes I wish I was a unicorn, though,” he added randomly before he turned and trotted to the exit. He disappeared through the open doorway, leaving Shining Armor and Cadence to glance at each other in utter confusion at the Doctor’s parting comment.
Outside, the Doctor descended down the stairs that lead up to the entrance and trotted out into the street. He stopped and gazed about, trying to figure out where the girls may be at this point. He had stayed behind with the Prince and Princess for a little bit, and in that little bit, the girls may have gone anywhere. Were they together, or did they spit up?
He turned to a mare who was slowly making her way down the street. Her coat was a dull pastel blue, and her mane, which lay flat, and her tail, which drooped, were a sad, dull, light grey. Her expression was the same as all the other Crystal Ponies, one of sadness bordering on despair. Her cutie mark was of a green laurel and a butter-yellow heart. She stopped when the Doctor said, “Hello.”
She looked up at him with empty green eyes. “Hello,” she said. “How may I help you?” by her tone, she was having trouble finding the will to speak.
The Doctor smiled comfortingly. “I’m looking for a group of mares. There are two unicorns, two pegasi, two Earth ponies and a baby dragon. Have you seen them?” he asked.
She nodded once before pointing down one of the streets. “They split up, and one of the unicorns went that way,” she replied.
“Thank you,” the Doctor said before he turned and raced down the indicated street. Absentmindedly, he wondered in any of the ponies remembered who he was. When he lived in the Empire, he was the only pony that didn’t glimmer like a jewel.
It took several minutes of intense trotting before he spotted a familiar face up ahead. A navy-purple mane with a purple stripe and a pink stripe next to it bobbed up and down far ahead. Thankfully, there were not many ponies out and about, so in moments he was coming up behind Celestia’s protégé and the baby dragon that rode upon her back. “Twilight!” he called in order to catch her attention and keep her from disappearing on him. He may be old, but he still had the body of a young stallion. That didn’t mean he couldn’t still lose someone.
The lavender unicorn stopped and turned around. A smile appeared on her face when she saw him, and she trotted a little ways towards him in order to meet him. “Hello, Doctor!” she exclaimed.
“Good to see I could catch up to you,” he said cheerfully. “Found out anything interesting from the Crystal Ponies?”
Twilight slow shook her head with a sigh. “No. They can’t seem to remember anything. They only remember bits and pieces before the Crystal Empire vanished from the map.”
“How unfortunate,” he said. “Must be a side-effect of the curse.”
She nodded once. “Could be. I’m going to ask one more pony before we’re to meet the girls at the base of the castle,” she said, before moving over to a house that sat by the road. It looked like it was made of a large crystal formation. The Doctor shared a look with Spike before they both followed her and watched her knock on the front door of the house with her hoof. The door was answered a few minutes later by a glum grey mare with a droopy purple mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a brown leaf.
“Autumn Gem!” the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, bouncing forward slightly so he was a bit closer to the mare than Twilight and Spike. “Good to see you!”
The only thing that changed on her face was that she smiled—but it didn’t reach her eyes, which still looked empty, and her ears, which still drooped. “Hello, Doctor.”
His expression softened slightly. “We were wondering if you remember anything that may help us stop the impending doom resting literally on the Empire’s doorstep,” it came out more like a statement and less like a question. It was a heavy statement, and it asked much.
Autumn Gem’s expression saddened even more, her smile disappearing. “No, I’m afraid not,” she said.
“Are you sure? Absolutely sure?” Twilight asked gently.
Without any change, Autumn looked at Twilight and replied, “I'm sorry. I wish I could help you. But I... can't seem to remember anything before King Sombra came to power.” She paused, and they watched as she closed her eyes and flinched, as if experiencing a very terrifying flashback. Slowly, she added, “And I don't want to remember anything about the time he ruled over us.” She shuddered.
“I’m sorry,” the Doctor apologised.
“Have we really been gone a thousand years?” Autumn Gem asked, her question laced with melancholy tones.
The Doctor looked down and away from the mare, his hearts suddenly heavy with the fact that the ponies he had lived amongst 1000 years ago had been put through all this, and they were sad because they couldn’t remember anything happy that had happened in their lives because Sombra had selfishly cursed them into remembering only the pain and suffering he had put them through. He was lucky that Celestia and Luna had taken him with them when they took Sombra down. Who knows how things would have turned out if he was reduced to the state that the Crystal Ponies were in. It made him angry, upset.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“It feels like it was just yesterday,” she said, troubled.
“If you think of anything, even the smallest thing...” Twilight urged carefully.
“Of course,” Autumn responded in a monotone. “It’s good to see you, Doctor,” she said, before retreating inside.
The Doctor sighed and turned away from the front door. He walked slowly away, and it was only seconds later that he heard Twilight’s hoofbeats and Spike’s footsteps join his. They were silent for several minutes as they made their way back to the castle. It wasn’t until they were about halfway there that Twilight asked, “So…I take it that you knew her…from…”
“Yes, I knew her,” he said. “She was my next door neighbor when I tried settling down and was a friend of Sombra’s.”
There was a beat of silence where Twilight decided to change the subject, sensing that maybe talking about the life the Doctor have before Sombra became a tyrant was a sensitive subject. “King Sombra's spell must be why their coats aren't... crystally.”
“Maybe,” he said softly. His mind was elsewhere. His thoughts were mostly focused on what to do with Sombra. He wanted to save his friend, but the more he looked at what remained of what was once a proud empire, the more he felt hatred towards the black unicorn stallion. Maybe it was because Sombra and him were so similar in one aspect—the both of them literally destroyed their homes in order to stop a war. The Doctor shoved his home into another dimension, while Sombra enslaved his people then made the Empire disappear. He was still trying to figure out if Sombra had done the same thing he did—did he shove the Crystal Empire into another dimension as well?
Either way, Sombra reminded him of himself—but eviler. Sombra’s heart was blacker than black, but that was because the dark magic had corrupted him. Doctor cursed himself and the decision to regenerate as a Earth pony instead of a unicorn. If he was a unicorn, at least he would have had a chance to purge the dark magic from him. But he wasn’t a unicorn, so the only way he was going to save him was through the power of words. He hoped that that was going to work.
