When the doctor lands in ponyville, he must find a new assistant, his tardis, and of course help the citezens of Equestria
When the doctor lands in ponyville, he must find a new assistant, his tardis, and of course help the citizens of Equestria. This time it just happens to be a personal matter. A personal matter of Princess Celestia's. After the fight Celestia accidentally went to far and imprisoned Nightmare Moon in the moon. Without a way of getting her sister back she asks a strange stallion that recently appeared in town to help her.
The doctor took one step out of the tardis and fell flat on his face.
He had landed in a small clearing in the forest. It was dark and the moon was high in the sky. A dark shadow seemed to loom over the forest at all times, and the brambles seemed to try and trip the travelers that came by. The trees seemed to have faces and the feeling of being followed was never lost.
"Well, at least it was a good landing," he said trying to get his bearings," Although, still not a ginger!"he discovered, brushing his hair down in front of his face.
He tried to stand up again, but fell strait down. No matter how he tried his legs didn't seem strong enough to get him of the ground. Eventually, he got up on all fours, for he couldn't seem to stand all the way up correctly. The doctor turned around ready to go back into the tardis, unfortunately it had disappeared from sight. Where it had been was just a continuation of the grass he was standing on.
"H-How?!" the doctor stammered in surprise," It's not possible. A thing as big as that couldn't just disappear! I mean, no ones around, there aren't any drag marks, where is it?!
The doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver to get a reading. Maybe it had some how teleported on its own. But when he tried to grab it, it slipped out of his hands... Err wait a minute. He didn't have hands.
"I don't have hands, how could I not have hands. It's not possible. Unless..." reasoned the doctor.
The doctor ran over to a small pond, which he had seen through the trees. There he stopped and looked at his reflection. He saw a tan coated pony with blue eyes and brown hair staring back at him." Why that's brilliant, I can't believe it! I'm... I'm a horse. What a regeneration this is! But if I am a horse, than where am I?" The doctor suddenly swooned and slumped against a nearby tree."Aghhhhh! That.. That's not good. Not good at all, I'll need find somewhere safe I can rest quickly. Before I pass out. I certainly can't stay here. I don't know what's in this forest."
As fast as he could the doctor ran/stumbled forward toward the lights he could see through the brush. When he did burst through the thick lining of trees, he came upon a strong, wood bridge. Across the bridge there stood a huge castle made of stone, with the moon standing behind it. He crossed the bridge in a hurry and rapped on the door. It was answered by a pony with a white coat, and blue mane. His mane was pushed up in between a hole in the top of a helmet he wore. It was gold, and with it he wore a matching golden breast plate and shoes.
" 'ello, my name is the doctor and I am in need of accommodations, as for I've just come from the woods and,"He was stopped abruptly by the guard.
"Are you blind?! That's the ever-free forest, you shouldn't be in there, let alone at night!" the guard exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief,"As for accommodations I can definitely offer you a jail cell. Seeing as you have violated the royal decree of not coming near the castle until further notice. Have you not seen the signs?! The princesses have not been well lately. And since you have violated that decree, you'll be coming with me." the guard ordered.
"you see, while I would love to oblige, at the moment I... I feel," The doctor then collapsed on the steps, in front of the guard. When he did, his screwdriver fell out of his pocket. The guard dragged him inside by the edge of his coat, and ordered someone to grab the strange piece of technology, in case it was dangerous.
* * * * *
One last wisp of energy flowed from his lips, before he woke up. The gold smoke curled and twisted up in the air before disappearing. The guard looked up in disinterest, the strange mare had been spouting that mist ever since he arrived. If it hadn't been for the smoke, they would have thought he had been dead, he hadn't so much as twitched since he had collapsed three days ago.
Suddenly his tan coat shifted. A small mummer escaped his lips and his eyes began to slowly flutter open.His ears twitched as he heard someone yell.
"He's awake!" the guard whispered under his breath, then louder it became as he started shouting,"He's awake, the stallion you wanted is awake, Princess."
When the doctor awoke, he found himself in a jail cell on the cot. The cell was plain grey, it was obvious that it had been made of concert. The doctor waited several minutes. He still wasn't used to his new legs though, which made him fall a few times as he paced the cell. He thought about escaping with the sonic screwdriver, since the guard had left. But when he checked it wasn't in his pocket and as he scanned the hallway outside, he realized it had been put on a table out of his reach. Instead of trying to receive it, he decided it was better to just to wait and find out where he was. Although, by now he had started to worry, as for he had no idea where the tardis was. There was no way of telling. He looked up again as he heard hoof steps coming down the stairs.
" He's right down here, in the third cell on the left." It was the guard's voice again, drifting down the hallway. He made sure to make a mental note of that, in case worse got to worse.
"Thank you, I'll take him up to one of the rooms in the palace where we can discuss. Privately." Said another voice, this one belonging to a tall, lanky mare with a flowing, rainbow like mane, and a light pink coat. She was quick and precise, with no uncertainty in her voice. She was taller than both him and the guard.
She looked at him distastefully, and opened the door with her magic, and with that turned around and started to trot the other way. She made a small movement with her head, motioning for the doctor to follow her up the stairs. As they continued the clime upward, he noticed that not only was this mare strangely colored, but she also had a long pointed horn producing from her head, and a pair of large, feathered wings on her back.
"Err... , excuse but I couldn't help noticing you had,"the doctor hesitate,"Wings."
"You really aren't from around here are you?" the princess, a slight smile playing across her face.
"Ah, no I very recently just arrive, speaking of which... have you by any chance seen a box?" Celestia gave him a quizzical look.
By now they had reached the private room and the door was shut behind them.
"A... box?"
"Yes! It's a big, blue box that you can walk into. With a telephone outside of it. Of course, the telephone doesn't work, but it's on the box. Also, it says 'police public call box' on the top in white. I showed up with it, but as soon as I stepped out it, it... well I lost it." The doctor explained.
"Right." The princess walked through the doors and exchanged words with one of the guards outside about finding the box. When she came back she was ready to start questioning this strange stallion.
"So you don't know where you are?"
"You know, that's always the fun part of traveling, you never know where you're going to end up. Brilliant, isn't it?!" the doctor said, continuing to walk around and examine the room as he talked." Wonderful architecture, I haven't seen this work for quite sometime. What time is this 1890? 2000?"He whistled," Oh, right! Sorry where was I... um, no. Absolutely no idea where I am as a mater of fact."
"Well, in that case, this is Equestria and I am one of the rulers here, along with my sister Luna." Celestia's eyes saddened," Well, she was until four days ago." She put on a stern expression and turned to the doctor." Which is why I wanted to speak to you, doctor is it? Doctor what?"
"Just the doctor."He said. The doctor had stopped walking and was standing in front of the princess.
"Right, well Doc-to-r, I have some questions for you. Your whole situation is fishy to say the least. You arrive on the night my sister turns, with no reason of being there, you don't know where you are, and then you pass out for three days strait, all the while spouting energy. We thought whatever it was, it would have killed you. I just don't have any answers, and... and I just,"Celestia stood still, with her feet spread apart and her body shaking. She refused to talk as the tears slipped down her face. She did not make a sound, not a sob, not a whisper, nor any murmurs or stifles of pain. She just let them fall. They splashed down on the carpet of the room leaving some places darker than others.
"Need them."Finished the doctor for her," It's alright, I know how you feel. Now, I did not do anything to your sister, but... I may be able to help if you take me to her."
He offered her his hoof and after a short hesitation she took it.
Suddenly the room shook, casting the doctor into the wall,and the princess down to her knees.
"That, would be her."She said looking over her shoulder before calling as she ran out of the door,"Stay here."
He yelled at the top of his lungs,"Allons-y!" Then ran out of the doors and headed the other way.
He dashed to where he had been held, surprising the guard and causing him to fall out of his Chair. Before the guard had time to yell the doctor had grabbed his sonic screwdriver and sprinted back up the stairs. Clutching the screwdriver in his mouth and trying to stay up right as the building shook, the doctor ran to the source of the shaking. Parts of the ceiling collapsed around him and with all the guards scrambling for shelter, no one stopped to look at the strange stallion that raced by. The doctor raced as fast as he could with his new legs, his jacket blowing and rustling behind him.
When he arrived at the room, he was surprised that ponies could have built all this. It was brilliant, simply brilliant. The ceilings were impossibly high over their heads and all made of stone. It was mostly flat with a few steps and elevated ground at one end. On top of it two thrones sat next to each other, one blue and one yellow. Bright, beautiful banners hung above them, and while they where woven, they looked painted like murals. Three other ponies stood in the room, but none of them had noticed him yet.
The blue mare (which must have been Luna) was ranting on as Celestia stood in front of her. She, like her sister had a mane that seemed to flow on forever. Her coat was a dark blue and on her head was a small black crown, but it was not as big as her sisters. Her mane seemed the color of the night sky and twinkled with stars. Luna herself was not as big as Celestia, so she must have been the younger of the two.
They both kept their horns aglow and their wings spread wide behind them. Luna continued to rant, while Celestia tried to calm her enraged sister down. But what was strange was that a lilac see through mare stood between them. Her mane was a dark navy color with streaks of purple and pink. And on her head was a gold crown bigger than Luna's with a pick gem in the middle. She also had a pair of wings and a horn, but she wasn't nearly as big as both the princesses.
Another thing that intrigued him was that they all seemed to have a mark on their haunches. The sisters seemed to have a sun and a moon which matched the hanging banners. While the lilac pony seemed to have some sort of... pink star on hers. He had heard Luna speak of making the moon lasting forever. Which would have explained the sisters cutie marks, they had something to do with the celestial bodies. Since her's was a star did that mean that all ponies were connected to some sort of spacial object in the universe? He decided that the answer would have to wait.
She seemed to be talking to the blue horse, but the blue horse didn't seem to realize she was there. That when he realized, she must not actually be here. Some thing must have brought her here. Most likely she had come from the future, since she kept telling Luna not to do what ever it was again.
"... are we? Why did you and Celestia disappear?" the mare asked confused. The doctor tried to find a way he could get her attention and draw her away without the princesses noticing him.
Suddenly, the blue princess was swept up in a cloud of black mist and lifted high into the air. The ball began to glow red hot, and the heat was increasingly at an impossible speed. The ball continued to grow and glow, shining bright, white and casting the room in light. When it broke, the mare inside was not the same. This must have been the change Celestia had been talking about he thought. The mare now stood before him in armor, it was a light blue covering her chest, head, and hooves in an intricate pattern. Her teeth turned to white, pointed fangs, and her eyes turned to slits, making he pupils look like those of a dragon's. She laughed at Celestia and began to bust down the walls and ceilings with dark blue streams of magic.
While the princesses were distracted with dodging each others attacks, he ran over to the lilac mare and grabbed her hoof. she jumped at his touch not realizing he had been in the room. He pulled her off to the side and into the shadows behind one of the pillars. She gave him a wide-eyed look, but knew it was better not to speak. She looked so scared and frazzled, with her eyes betraying her feelings.
"Are you alright?" he asked, putting down the sonic screw driver. He smoothed down her mane with his hooves and then stepping back.
"Fi...Fine." The mare stammered,"But I was in ponyville, and now I'm here. Who... Who are you?"
"The Doctor. Just the Doctor." he replied picking his sonic screwdriver back up with his mouth.
He used his hoof to change the settings so he could use it. The Doctor swung his head back and forth slowly, trying to scan. He got a small beeping when he scanned over Luna and the lilac mare, but Celestia was clean. It was obvious that the mare's scan was strange because she had come from a different time by some means. But the blue mare's readings were off the charts. He changed the setting and held his screwdriver up again.
Some dark energy had chosen to use her life force. But the condition was worse than he thought, it hadn't chosen her. No, it was worse than that, she had chosen it. It was some life form from the stars, that he was sure of. The question was, why did she let it take her? And how did she encounter it?
"Excuse me Doctor, but my name's Twilight, and I was wondering... If you could tell me how I got here?" Twilight asked the doctor, shifting her wait from foot to foot.
"Well,"he said,"You tell me. Did you use magic, drink something, teleport, um... some kind of electronic device, or did some one do this to you? See the thing is, I just don't know."
The lilac mare concentrated for a moment, trying to remember what happened. Her face was screwed up in concentration. What she didn't notice, was what was happening behind her. Celestia had refused to fight her sister, and Luna was enraged. She had named herself "Nightmare Moon, bringer of the night" and the sisters had flown out of the castle and int the sky.
"I remember that Zecora..." Twilight stopped as soon as she realized they were gone. She gave an apologetic glance at him and flew into the sky. She floated there for a minute and looked down at him. "Sorry, I have to follow Celestia."
He heard crashing, and could see bursts of lights in the sky. Without wings or the tardis, the doctor was stuck on the ground while the battle raged on above. Ever few seconds he would here screams and the crash of buildings. With nothing left to do, the doctor began to leave the room. He was half way out the door, before he heard a crash. The princess lay on the ground with Twilight looking over her.
He peered around the door at both of them, making sure that neither one of them saw him. On the ground, Celestia didn't stir. Her eyes were closed and he couldn't make out if she was breathing. Twilight had sat down and cried. What ever this was, it must be a big event in history. It would have been a bad idea to interfere, especially without having the knowledge of this world.
The doctor turned around and started to leave. Behind him he heard Celestia get up and he nodded his head. She was strong enough to handle what ever happened. Right now, the doctor had two things on his mind. Find the tardis, and find out how this universe worked.
"Just take that long path there," the guard said pointing at a long, winding, dirt path that stretch out of view." It will lead you around the Ever-free forest and into Dodge Junction. Good luck to you, sir."
"Thanks," the Doctor said nodding at the guard before crossing the wooden bridge and starting down the dirt path.
He trotted down the path slowly. The dust rose up lightly behind his hooves. No one else was out on the path, seeing as no one would be needing or wanting to travel to the castle. The path never seemed to end, and it took an hour to get all the way to Dodge Junction.
When he made it to the town he was surprised by the size of it. It was nothing like the big, stone castle he had seen before. There were a few houses, and a number of shops, some just tables under tarps. The sun was out and there were few clouds in the sky, it was the perfect day. Yet, very few ponies were out, and those who were seemed very nervous.
"Hello, my name's the Doctor and I was just wondering, why there aren't many of you out here." He asked, walking up to a yellow, blue maned pony.
The pony tilted his head to the side as he looked at the Doctor."How could you not know?! Just look around, it's all right in front of ya. Why do ya think we's set up all them tarps. Someone came by and started bursting down all our houses. Ya'll don't need to worry now though, she ran of into them woods. Ever pony was really worried, some haven't come out yet."
"Oh, er... right I'm sure ever... pony was scared. Um, thanks for the help dear chap. If you'll excuse me." The Doctor said, turning and walking away from the strange farm pony.
He continued through the town, seeing small houses and ever so often a tarp or two. Sometimes he would catch ponies staring at him, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was his clothes, as for most of the ponies didn't seem to have anything on. He found a few of the castle decrees tacked on some of the trees through the town. Besides the restriction of the castle notice there was two more that he kept finding.
One was to report any suspicious, new, or snooping ponies. Okay, that would explain why they were staring at him, they were deciding who would turn him in first. He started to stick more to the side streets after reading that decree. The less attention he attracted, the better. He certainly wouldn't be wanting to pull out his sonic screwdriver, encase any pony saw him.
The other decree was that for the princesses to be able to get well and open up the castle to visitors again, then they would have to stop making rainbows. Celestia, who was the the one who usually that usually produced them would not be able to anymore. It would now fall to the Pegasus ponies, along with the rest of their weather duties. So, it turned out this world's weather and celestial bodies were moved by the ponies and not by the rotation of the planet. The Doctor reminded himself to look into that later.
"Oh my darling, where in Equastria did you get that outfit? It's simply divine." A young mare asked him, seeming to carry a air of regality about her.
"Oh, um... I don't actually remember I'm afraid." The doctor replied, quizzical for why this mare would be talking to him.
She had a light purple coat, but not as light as Twilight. Even after the disaster, he could tell she acted confident and held her head high. Her mane was a dark blue, and no one seemed to want to bother her. Unlike most of the other ponies in town, she was wearing a small ensemble. It consisted of a small white skirt and a pink scarf. She didn't act like he was any stranger than all the other stallions in town, which surprised him. Even though she wore a skirt, he could still make out the mark she had. It was of a small notebook with a pen in the middle of scrawling something across the pad.
"A disappointment to say the least, but I suppose it's more of a stallion's outfit." she said with a cluck of her tongue.
"Would you mind if I asked you what's on your flank?" The Doctor asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, of course. Name's Quick Write, journalist. I write for the Equestria Daily, running since year 102 to today, 350. Quite a pretty penny it pays, too." She answer in quick precision.
"Yeeeeaaaah, but what's it called? See cause that's the thing I don't know."
"Well, a cutie mark of course. How could you not know? I mean everyone has one, even you do. No pony has the same cutie mark though." She said , turning her head to gaze at his flank." I assume you make clocks or hourglasses judging by yours."
"What!?" The doctor exclaimed, turning in circles to get a look at his own flank. There, was an hourglass with sand running through it right on his flank." What, but that's brilliant! Absolutely fantastic." The doctor said losing himself in his thoughts,' Oh right, sorry. Um... no. No. I dabble in time in general actually." he explained to the mare." Now if you'll excuse me," He said backing away from the purple mare.
He walked back the way he came, looking at all the ponies. Sure enough all of the adults had those marks on both sides of their flanks. The only ones who didn't seem to have the were young fillies and colts. He had reached the path that lead to the castle. He was deciding what to do, when he heard a few screams of panic from the town. He ran back into town and saw what they had screamed about immediately.
The Doctor peered down the road to see a wagon barreling strait towards him. He leaped out of the way, narrowly missing the wheels. His breathing was ragged and a small puff of yellow smoke escaped from his lips. He stood with his chest heaving and his legs spread far apart for a few seconds before bolting after the wagon. It kicked up dirt in his face and made the Doctor cough. No matter how fast he ran he couldn't gain on the wagon, but he was able to keep it in his sights. As he ran, his coat flapped behind him and his mane gathered dust.
They ended up back at the castle and the wagon stopped when it reached the bridge. The two stallions who had been pulling the wagon had clipped off their harnesses and were resting off to the side. A Mare helped them lay down, and was making sure they had enough to drink. The doors in the back were open and a blue unicorn was being dragged out. One guard held on to the end of a "leash" that was teethed to the mare's neck. While another had his horn aglow and seemed to have covered the mare's horn in a way so that she couldn't used magic.
Her teeth were bared and she pulled against them with all her might. Unfortunately, the guards were far stronger and her fight didn't stop them from making progress towards the door. She had a mane of dark blue and white that seemed to rest on top of each other instead of blending. Her coat was the color of the sky and her eyes were the color of a clear ocean. But right now here eyes flashed with fear and rage and looked more like a choppy sea, at the height of the storm.
She knew she was losing the battle and looked around desperately for someone, anyone who could save her. Then she saw what no one else had seen, a stallion had followed them here. He's brown overcoat gave him away immediately and she knew who he was. She started to charge her horn, for she knew she only had one chance to reach him. When enough energy had pooled up, she fired as hard as she could at him.
The guard's magic wasn't much of a match and it broke his shield as soon as she had released the bolt. The blast of blue magic hit the Doctor strait on his side, throwing him off his feet. He hit the ground with a sickening thud and another small breath of smoke slipped from his lips. He stood up shakily and got on all fours, before the horse who had been tending the winded pony could get to him.
"Are you alright?!" The mare asked touching his shoulder lightly."you really should lay down, before you collapse."
"Fine. Just..." he trailed off to stare at the spot where the blue unicorn had been. By now, her flank had disappeared inside the castle.
"No burn marks." she stated, still looking at him in worry.
"Do you know who that was? Why was she being pulled into the castle like that?"The doctor asked, still staring at the castle doors.
"No idea. In fact, no one knows who she is. She just walked into Dodge junction yesterday and started going crazy. She walked into town, lit her horn up, and started making houses burst into flames. They finally got reinforcements and caught her, after she had ran back into the Ever-free forest. It happened just a few hours ago." The mare stated matter o-factly. She tilted her head at him,"Are you sure your fine, you should be worse off than this?"
"Absolutely, now if you'll excuse me." The doctor walked a few paces away and began to rummage through his coat.
Finally his hoof found purchase on the item. He lifted it out and on to the ground. There, in front of him sat a small black leather booklet. He flipped it open, and there inside was his psychic paper. But instead of the normal small, white paper there was a message. It was scrawled across in blue ink and was in cursive.
