The universe exploded and then the Doctor fixed it, at the cost of never existing. Now the Doctor finds himself in the TARDIS as it crashes through the fabric of the universe. Once it has landed the Doctor can't believe the scanners when they say he is on his home planet. But all is not as it seems when he opens the door to find a brown pony with an egg timer on its flank.
A sad man knelt over a sleeping redheaded girl. He whispered to her knowing these would be the last words he would ever say. "The cracks are closing. But they can't close properly until I'm on the other side. I don't belong here any more. I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats. Live well. Love Rory," he said. The Doctor looked behind him at a crack in the wall, light spilling from it as it tried to close. The Doctor kissed the girl on her forehead and stood up to face the crack. " Bye bye, Pond," was all he said and then he walked into crack. With that done the crack snapped closed and the Doctor never existed.
The Doctor woke up to find himself lying on glass. A look of confusion crossed his face before being replaced by a look of pure happiness - he was in the TARDIS. "I'm alive? Well that is surprising," said the Doctor. The Doctor stood up and brushed himself off and spent a few seconds rearranging his bow tie. He looked up at the familiar time rotor that stood above the control console before noticing it wasn't moving. "What's wrong with you, old girl?" the Doctor asked to no one in general. "I guess blowing up, then burning two thousand years as a sun, then imploding and then not existing could potentially stall the engines," he said looking disappointed , the Doctor always liked to have people around him when he was being brilliant. "A short jump should get you sorted out. Maybe too Dioscuros, it's always nice this time of year."
The Doctor stepped up to the control console and started fiddling with random gadgets. “Right, here we go” as he pulled the main lever. The Doctor was surprised when his TARDIS didn't respond. “Hmmm, something is definitely wrong with you maybe I need to land you and let the engines cool down”. A gong sounded throughout the tardis. “No no no no no this can’t be happening, I just saved you. I can’t lose you again,” desperately said the Doctor. Suddenly the lights around the room shut off with the only light coming from the time rotor. The Doctor looked at the glowing column anxiously before jumping around to the opposite side of the control console.
“If I reverse the polarity and engage the eye I can try to stabilize her!” shouted the Doctor. He danced around the console flipping switches, turning wheels and pulling levers but the time lord knew there was nothing he could do - the TARDIS was out of control. The gong sound ceased and all the lights turned back on. “What? What was that -” he was interrupted by all the lights blowing. The Doctor turned to face the blown lights before he heard cracking. He looked up at the time rotor and saw cracks running all over its surface. Red steam gushed from the cracks as the TARDIS started to shake violently.
The Doctor pulled out his trusty sonic screwdriver pointing it at the monitor. This was the only thing he could do at this point. “How is that possible?!” he exclaimed as the monitor flicked on. “That’s impossible we’re traveling through the void. The defenses are down so why aren’t we being ripped to pieces?” the Doctor asked. Before he could think of any possible answer the timelord was violently flung forward as the TARDIS’s shaking intensified. He tried to cover his mouth with his sleeve before the gas poisoned him. As soon as this had all started it stopped and the TARDIS stopped shaking and landed. The Doctor slowly raised to his feet and threw off his brown jacket that had been ripped. “How is that possible? We should of been shredded but you managed to land. But where? We were in the void and we didn’t have enough energy to travel into any universe,” he said completely puzzled.
The Doctor walked in front of the monitor and tapped it with his hand. The static on it was replaced by one word - Gallifrey. “That can’t be true.”
The Doctor looked perplexed as he stared at the monitor saying he was on Gallifrey. He didn’t know what to think of this as Gallifrey was his homeworld, which had been destroyed and time locked so no one could ever travel to it again. He let out a sigh and twirled his sonic screwdriver around in his hand. The TARDIS was nearly destroyed and he couldn’t stay in it much longer or the gasses would build up to a toxic level. “Right, I’m on a planet that doesn’t exist but five things that were impossible have happened to me today so why not add a sixth thing to it.” Grabbing his back up jacket the Doctor walked to the front doors before taking one final look at his TARDIS. “I know you will be fine old girl,” with that said he unlocked the doors and stepped out.
Adorning his new black jacket the Doctor took a breath of fresh air and looked around at his home planet. Trees dotted the landscape, their silver leaves shimmering in the sunlight. Red mountains glowed behind the valley the Doctor stared at. “I thought I’d never see you again,” he said in wonder. “Foul beast, how did you manage to get on Gallopfrey? Our shielding is the most advanced in the universe!” came from below the Doctor. He looked down to find a brown pony staring intently at him. It was about half his height and had its hair spiked backwards. “You can talk? But you're a pony,” replied the Doctor. “And you’re a giant hairless monkey coming to attack us!” accused the mysterious pony as it moved into an attacking position. “I’m not invading anyone, this is my home planet and I know we don’t have any talking ponies.” “Impossible. This is my home planet and my race, the mighty timelords, have ruled it while looking over space and time” claimed the pony.
The Doctor tried to contain his laughter but he couldn’t help let out a snort. “You think you’re a timelord? I am a timelord and I look nothing like you,” said the Doctor with a smirk. I must have hit my head thought the Doctor. That would explain why I’m back on an impossible planet with a talking pony that thinks he’s a timelord. The pony look of anger intensified at this last remark. “I’ll have you know that I’ve already sent out a signal that we have been invaded by an unknown race of monkeys. You won't be laughing when they get here,” the pony triumphantly said.
“Fine either I’m unconscious in the TARDIS and this isn’t happening or I am on my home planet and the only things that are coming will be timelords like me,” confidently said the Doctor. “So I’ll let your timelords come and arrest me. I’ll even surrender to make it easy for everyone.” The pony grinned at the Doctor. “I’ve won? Ha, I knew I could save the world from you the moment I saw you,” the pony happily said. The Doctor sat down, leaning against his TARDIS. He waited there for ten minutes with the pony guarding him before something happened. In Front of them two balls of light appeared a foot above the ground. Electricity began to arch of the balls while wind started blowing around them like miniature tornadoes. Two stallions appeared out of the light with a slight thump as their hooves touched down onto the ground. Both were slightly bigger than the brown pony and looked like they were waiting for a fight. One had a dark navy coat, with a pitch black mane. A scar ran across his face which almost cut one of his brown eyes. The other had a red body with a green mane and tail that had been almost completely cut off. Both stallions wore a loosely hanging red robe with a gold trim. A circular metal device was attached just above their left hooves.
The navy pony raised the device to his mouth. “Attention all forces! We have an unknown species captured,” he declared. He then turned towards the brown pony, “You will be required to come with us citizen. You must answer some questions.” With that done both stallions raised their left hooves at both the Doctor and the brown pony and fired a beam of light at them. Both the Doctor and the pony slumped over as they were knocked unconscious. The two stallions grabbed them before disappearing into the thin air with a flash of lightning.
A faint buzzing noise surrounded the Doctor when he woke up. He opened his eyes but immediately shut them because of the light. The Doctor squinted to see where he was. On all four sides of him were walls of orange light. Groaning as he pushed himself up the Doctor tried to make sense of what had happened. Ah yes I was with a talking pony who thought it was a timelord before two more came along and zapped me, thought the Doctor. “Judging by the headache they must of used an electrical field to disable the electrical signals in my brain for a fraction of a second. Knocked me unconscious. That’s very old technology for Gallifrey.” The Doctor looked around to see if anyone had heard him.
Laying on the floor in a similar cell next to his was the brown pony from before. Judging from the groaning it looked like the pony was waking up as well. The pony got to his hooves and looked around before spotting the Doctor staring at him. Victoriously the pony taunted the Doctor. “Your invasion isn’t go so well now is it?.” The Doctor smiled to himself, “I’m not an invader, I’m a traveler. I travel through time and space on my TARDIS.” “You said something about your TARDIS before. I’ve never heard of one of those before. What is it?” enquired the pony. “Time And Relative Dimensions in Space - a time machine.” That was interesting because even this far back in history many timelords knew of the nickname TARDIS the Doctor thought. “It’s also called a TT Capsule.”
“What?! That’s timelord technology. How did you get your hooves on that?” The pony looked distressed at the fact the Doctor had a timelord ship. The Doctor sighed. “For the last time I’m a timelord. At Least in my universe I was. I think this is my home planet but in a different universe because that would explain a lot.” The Doctor walked too the wall where the pony was. “This planet was destroyed and timelocked so no one could ever go to it in the past,” memories of the past flashed behind the Doctor’s eyes before he continued. “My ship, the TT Capsule, fell from the Universe. I was in the void and my ship was being ripped apart. Suddenly I found that I had landed on this planet that was Gallifrey.”
“And how do you expect me to believe you?” asked the brown pony. The Doctor raised his hand and touched the energy wall. A tingling sensation spread throughout his arm. “Place your hand, I mean hoof next to mine.” The Doctor saw the pony hesitate at this. “Trust me I’m the Doctor.” The pony stepped away looking completely shocked. “You can’t be! I’m the Doctor.” “Well that is interesting but I bet I can prove to you that I’m the Doctor,” confidently said the Doctor. He knelt down so he was at eye level with the pony. “Come closer because I’m only going to say this once.” The pony creeped closer and listened to the Doctor as he whispered one word into his ear.
“H-how do you know my name?” stammered the pony. “Unless you are me from a different universe.” The Doctor pony seemed to relax at this. “But if we have the same name won’t it become confusing?” The humanoid Doctor thought about this for a second before replying. “How old are you?” “206,” answered the pony. “Well I’m over 900 so that means I’ve been called the Doctor for longer. Therefore it is only logical that I remain The Doctor,” said the humanoid Doctor. “Since you are of the equine nature you can be called Whooves for now.” Doctor Whooves did not look pleased at this new nickname.
“Now that we have that out of the way I have to bring you up to date on the last 24 hours,” said the Doctor. “Raise your hoof towards mine so I can create a psychic link.” Whooves raised his hoof towards the humanoid Doctor’s waiting hand. Images of an exploding universe and the TARDIS falling through the universe flashed in Doctor Whooves mind. After a few seconds Whooves backed away gasping for air. The Doctor held his hands up to his head trying to stop the pain. “I promised myself that I’d never do that again.”
After getting his thoughts straight Whooves looked back at the Doctor. “You should be dead! How are you alive?” “I don’t know. I think something must have saved me and dragged me into this universe.” The Doctor was worried and excited at the same time. Something very powerful must of bought him here and it looks like he’d have to go on an adventure to find out what. “You said I was invading when we first meet but why would you think that? I was being completely peaceful.” Doctor Whooves suddenly became very interested in his hooves so he didn’t have to look at the Doctor. “Because I didn’t know you were me and we are at war. I thought you were the first wave of attacks.”
“At war with whom?” the Doctor asked in a very worried voice. The last time his planet was at war it was destroyed in the conflict. “Is it the Daleks?” “What? No, how could it be the Daleks? They were the most peaceful race in the universe. They were destroyed because they wouldn’t even fight back to protect themselves.” The Doctor was dumbfounded at this. I guess this universe is very different than from my own he thought. “We don’t even know what the attackers look like. They just started bombing our shields one day and no matter how many ships we destroy more just come to take their places.” This didn’t sound like anyone the Doctor had heard of. No species would be stupid enough to send waves of ships to their destruction. “I think I need to talk to someone in charge,” said the Doctor.
The void surrounding Gallopfrey was littered with the corpses of destroyed starships. Ships appeared in a flash of light and headed straight into the protective sphere that encompassed the whole planet. Steel ripped apart under the stress of going from as fast as the golden red light shooting from the sun to a complete stop. Engines start to explode before being snuffed out by the endless emptiness. They are left to forever drift endlessly in the silence of space.
A purple mare sat with eyes fixed on the screen in front of her. The screen showed two cells with one containing a normal pony and the other containing the invader. She raised her hoof and pressed a button. “Wynter are you there?” After a few seconds a voice replied. “Yes I’m here. What do you want?” “It looks like the prisoners are talking. Do you want to get them to stop?” asked the mare. “Fine I’ll go down now.”
The Doctor squatted down talking to his pony counterpart when a door outside the holding cells slide open. Turning around the Doctor saw the same navy coloured pony from before enter the room. The Doctor raised his arms in a welcoming manner towards the navy stallion. “Hello there I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. I’m the Doc-” “You will cease your talking,” interrupted the stallion. Wynter turned to Whooves. “You will not communicate with the invader.” Wynter pointed his hoof with the metallic device on it towards Whooves cell. Before Whooves could say anything the orange light transformed into a pitch black wall.
“You didn’t have to do that you know. We were just having a nice conversation,” the Doctor said. Wynter nostrils flared and his eyes filled with hate when he turned back to the Doctor. “You and your race have openly attack our home world. You will be bought before the high council for questioning where you will then be executed.” The Doctor didn’t try to argue at this because the high council was exactly where he wanted to go.
“Ok take me to your high council and I’ll answer their questions,” The Doctor raised his hands to show his cooperation. Wynter raised his hoof towards the cell. “Disarm,” the orange force field collapsed. The Doctor walked forward towards Wynter. “Shall we go?” he asked before seeing Wynter turn his hoof towards him. “I’m coming peacefully and those things hurt,” was the last thing he managed to say before a bolt of light hit him.
Doctor Whooves sat in complete darkness. He tried to calm his rapidly beating heart by takin deep slow breaths. The darkness seemed to press onto him untill Whooves just wanted to get out of here. He tried walking forward but was stopped by the force field. Whooves head filled with instant head splitting pain as soon as contact was made. He fell back onto the floor clutching his head and groaning. “I guess they turned the settings up.” When the Doctor came to he was on his knees with energy chains binding him to the spot. Two grey guards stood to either side of him while Wynter keep a suspicious eye on him from behind. The white marble floor extended far out of the Doctor’s sight. Looking up the chained man could see five ponies sitting in front of him. The one in the middle was an elderly mare with a golden blonde mane and covered in a light brown coat. She cleared her throat before speaking. “You stand here before the High Council of Gallopfrey accused of attempted invasion of our planet.” The Doctor shifted his chains into a more comfortable position and cleared his throat. “I did hear there was an invasion going on and that got me thinking. You think I’m involved with it but since I’m not that means you don’t know who it is.” The mare smashed her hoof down on the desk in anger. She raised her voice at the Doctor. “Silence! We are the Time Lords who have watched over all of space and time. How dare you mock us by saying we are ignorant.” Everyone stayed frozen waiting for someone else to make the next move.
They are really nervous thought the Doctor. A high council shouldn’t act this way. Reflecting on this the Doctor looked up at the roof before noticing that the old mare had started talking again in a calmer voice. This is important so I better listen. “-will answer all our questions. And we can make sure you will talk,” she sat there with a merciless grin spread out on her face. “Yes yes I’m sure you can but I just want to ask you one question,” innocently said the Doctor. Staring down at the Doctor the mare considered this. “What and make it quick.” He moved his hands as far up as he could manage before the chains stopped him. Extending one finger he indicated to the roof. “What is causing the lights to shake?” All heads looked up to see the lights suspended on cables to be gently swaying.
Silence descended on the room as everyone keep staring at the lights. One went out followed by the one infront of it and soon all the lights flicked off. Two of the guards grabbed the Doctor while Wynter aimed his hoof at the Doctor. “Move and you die,” he whispered to the Doctor. A stream of dust fell on the floor in front of the Doctor when a siren started ringing. An automated voice began giving out instructions. Attention! Planetary shield has failed! All troops move too your assigned positions
A class of young time lords were sitting in class at the Time Lord Academy. A bored filly stared out the window absentmindedly at the orange sky. A point of light flashed causing the young colt to blink. He scanned the sky trying to determine if he had imagined it before noticing a patch of yellow sky. Staring intently at it his eyes widened as it started growing. Cracking apart the shield around the planet started falling to pieces and dissolving. More fillies and colts looked out as a siren began ringing out through the academy.
Doctor Whooves lay in his pitch black cell trying to figure out how much time had passed. The ground beneath his hooves began to rumble before his cell wall started flickering. Narrowing his eyes he managed to see some light enter his cell. Suddenly the four walls surrounding him faded leaving him free from his prison. Looking around to see if anypony was around he cautiously stepped out of the room he had just spent so much time in. The feeling of joy from being free was cut short when the backup power failed and all the lights switched off.
Once again being rendered blind Whooves decided to get out of here before somepony came to stop him. Slowly taking baby steps he moved forward before bumping into the wall. Keeping up against the wall he moved along till he reached the door. A slight breeze blew down from the doorway. Excited by the prospect of outdoors he quickened his pace.
After blindly walking down the same corridor the brown pony felt the corridor bend into a corner. Turning around he managed to see a faint glow down this new hallway. His paced turned into a gallop as the glow turned out to be another pony. This white pony had one of the metallic devices on his leg and was using it to guide his way. Hearing Whooves gallop towards him he raised his light till it was pointing towards the sound of hooves clashing against steel. “Who are you?” As Doctor Whooves reached the small area of light he looked at who had just asked the question. Rapidly thinking Whooves thought it was best not to give his real name. “I’m Time Turner. I was just down here when the lights went off and I’ve been trying to find a way out.”
“Glad I found some other pony because I have no idea what is going on,” said the white pony. “We are getting pretty close to the exit and we should get there with no problems with this light.” Both ponies started walking while the white pony continued talking. “So do you know what is going on?” “Nah I’ve heard nothing.”
After a few awkward minutes they found a door with exit imprinted on it. Whooves stepped forward and pushed it open and relished the light of the suns. Stepping out behind the white pony looked up at the sky. “No that’s not possible,” causing Whooves to look up as well. The planetary shield was gone being replaced by the normal yellow sky. Thousands of grey dots were slowly descending on Gallopfrey.
The ships started to break off into groups. Each group moved towards a different section of the planet’s surface. Whooves turned towards his companion. “Do you have anywhere nearby to hide?” “No I live on the other side of the planet. I’m sorry.” They both stood there not knowing what to do before they noticed a ship was coming towards them. A continuous beam of light was shot down at the ground from the ship. With it heading straight towards them Doctor Whooves pushed the other pony out of the beams way before it hit him. Looking up the saved pony turned around to look for Whooves but failed to see him. Where he had been was just nothing.
***
The Doctor knelt on the floor not daring to move with Wynter behind him. His chains had disappeared when the lights had gone out. The high council scrambled for safety while the leader stayed behind. She calmly walked towards the Doctor and his guards. “Wynter! You and your men are to escort me and the invader to the safe room.” Wynter looked at the mare in confusion. “But Romana he is dangerous. We should kill him and be done him,” he pleaded. Romana looked like she enjoyed this idea but she still stuck to her original command. “He may still be of use to us so we need him alive,” seeing the look in Wynter’s eyes she continued. “You are a soldier of Gallopfrey and I am your head of state. I have given you a direct command!” Resentfully Wynter obliged and pushed the Doctor. “Get up and if you run I will kill you without a second thought.”
The Doctor carefully rose to his feet as all three guards formed a triangle around him. Wynter never took his weapon off the Doctor. “Now we have to move. I fear we don’t have much time,” commanded Romana. The group marched out taking a small and discrete passage root. “I use to know someone with your name,” said the Doctor trying to strike up a friendly conversation. Romana glared back at the Doctor. “You will be silent.” The Doctor seemed to not notice this and continued. “I mean she was a lot nicer but I guess some personalities don’t transfer over universes.” Romana stopped and turned her ear towards the roof. “Do you hear tha-,” all the ponies and the Doctor were swept off their feet and hooves by a sudden shaking.
The ceiling cracked and rocks started to fall from it. The two other guards jumped too protect Romana as the whole roof began to cave in. Wynter tried to keep sight of the Doctor but a sudden dust cloud blew into his eyes. As he tried to clear them a rock cracked him on the head causing him to fall unconscious.
Wynter woke up to find himself covered in dust. He looked around to see no pony was near him. Massive rocks surrounded him trapping him from the rest of the group. Getting up he banged against the nearest rock. “Romana! Are you there?” After hearing no reply he doubled his efforts. “Anypony! Is there anypony out there?”
Vibrations coursed throughout the ground as the Doctor woke up. Warm blood dribbled down his forehead. Looking around the collapsed corridor he saw Romana laying unconscious in front of him. Pushing himself up he surveyed the disaster around him. One of the guards lay pinned under rocks. His open unseeing eyes showed that he was already gone. Not spotting Wynter or the other guard he went over to Romana. Her chest moved up and down in shallow breathes. Kneeling over top of her and placing two fingers on her throat. A weak but regular beat could be felt on her neck.
An explosion shook the already weakened corridor. Heaving, the Doctor lifted Romana over his shoulders. “Let’s get you out of here.” Looking at the collapsed roof behind him he knew there was only one direction to go. Putting one step forward he made his way forward towards the safe room they were heading for.
***
Doctor Whooves lay immobilized on a cold dark floor with even his eyes refusing to move. Black smoke coiled around his extended legs. Two dark blue feet stepped in front of his face. Shock filled him at the sight of the feet. The only other thing to have feet was the other Doctor and he was still down on Gallopfrey. You are the one we want. The words entered his mind but Whooves was sure that he never heard them. The smoke surrounding him rose from his body and he felt his body respond to his commands. Looking up he saw the figure completely shrouded in the same smoke that had paralyzed him. “What are you?” The figure looked down at him with no visible face. We are death. We are the destroyers of planets. We are the Storm. It pointed a shadowy hand at the brown pony and four little puffs of smoke shot out of its body and formed little circles. They wrapped around each of his legs. Losing control of his legs he stood up. “What do you want me for?” The figure didn’t reply and just blew away in an non-existent wind and Whooves legs started to walk him forward on their own accord.
Unable to resist he walked in a random direction until he reached a door. Grunting with the effort of resisting, his front leg rose and touched the door. It dissolved away leaving his path open before him. Once again his legs started walking and took him into the next room. Passing the door he entered a hallway that extended as far as he could see. He tried peering at the sides of it but the entire hallway was surrounded by swirling smoke. Still helpless his legs took him down it.
***
By the time the Doctor reached the safe room he was sweating from carrying Romana. A simple door blocked his entry and with no buttons he couldn’t open it. Feeling aches all over his body he placed Romana on the ground leaning against the wall. Sighing he leaned against the wall and waited for his breath to come back. Romana started stirring next to him. “Finally waking up after I carried you here?” he asked. Romana immediately woke up and look directly at the Doctor. “What have you done to me?” The Doctor sigh again, some people could just never thank him. “Whatever is going on out there it caused the roof to collapse. One of your guards was crushed and I don’t know what happened to the other two.” Romana looked at his face, covered in blood and sweat. He radiated honesty but she couldn’t trust him. “That sounds very convenient,” said Romana. “How do I know that you didn’t just knock me out and killed my guards?” Before he could reply another explosion above went off. Both looked up as the more cracks appeared on the roof. They felt more explosions send shock waves through the hallway. “Look we can argue about this later but if we stay out here much longer we are going to be crushed!” the Doctor shouted.
Looking nervous Romana looked nervously at the Doctor before looking at the door. She got up at went to the door. “Look this doesn’t mean I trust you. I just don’t want to die,” she touched a seemingly random spot on the door and it slid open. Looking inside, the room was in perfect condition. The Doctor walked in after her to also see the state of the room. “Oh good, you’ve had the cleaners around before we came around,” he said with a smile. Romana didn’t look impressed with this comment. “This room was specially reinforced to survive anything. They could drop a nuclear warhead on top of us and we’d be fine,” she said proudly.
The door shut close behind the Doctor and he fell to his knees. Grunting he tried to stand back up but it felt like weights were tied to him. Romana turned around to smugly look at the trapped Doctor. “I forgot to tell you but any unauthorized personal in this room are trapped in a mass quantum field. It basically means that-” “It means if I move my mass is increased a hundredfold,” he interrupted. “Now look, you HAVE to free me because you don’t know what to do and this planet is being ripped apart.” Romana stepped up to him and jabbed him in the chest. “How dare you?! How can I trust you when you killed my guards and led an invasion against my planet!”
The Doctor didn’t bother to defend himself. She didn’t seem like she was going to kill him but neither would she trust him enough to free him. Romana stopped concentrating on the Doctor and walked over to a console. “Attention this is President Romana of the High Council. All warships report your status. I want to know what is going on out there.” Only static played on the radio with no pony answering Romana. “Come in anypony, I repeat come in anypony.”
Doctor Whooves walked down the endless hallway with no control over his legs. He had no idea how long he had been walking for or how far he had gone when his legs stopped moving. Unable to move the confused pony looked around to only see swirling smoke. The smoke blew away to reveal a massive window. His legs once again taking control marched him over to the window. Letting out a gasp he looked out of it to see he was in orbit around Gallopfrey. The Gallopfreyan fleet lay frozen in place above the planet. The same smoke that trapped him wrapped around the warships leaving them untouched but helpless.
Distracted by the scene below him he failed to notice five figures form out of the air. They all raised their right hands and Whooves was forced to turn around to face them. “Oh it’s you again,” he tried to remain emotionless facing them. You are the Doctor. Like before their words seemed to enter straight into his brain. You are the one we need. All five of the shadowy figures moved around Doctor Whooves. Linking arms they created a circle around him. Whooves broke his poker face and fear showed on his face. Desperately trying to back out of the circle he panicked as legs still refused to obey him. “Why me? What do I have to do with anything?” To his horror a sixth figure rose up in front of him and placed a hand on his forehead. Sleep now. Doctor Whooves fell over limp.
The six figures circled around Doctor Whooves. He is ready, one said without speaking. The answer lies within his mind, added another one. Over 900 years of memory will take us time to dig through But we have the time. The only one who can stop us lies helpless before us. Then it is decided. We shall begin, all said in unison.
Doctor Whooves stood in a familiar room. He tried to remember how he got here but his memory was fuzzy. A bright yellow door creaked open and a massive purple pony walked in. Whooves craned his neck to look up at the towering pony before him. Despite his confusion the sight of this pony greatly eased all of his worries as she looked down at him with a smile on her face. She picked him up and took him out of the room into another with a huge mirror. Whooves stared into his own reflection as he saw that the mare wasn’t huge but he was small. Wide blue foal eyes stared into the mirror. His normally spiky mane was a ball of frizzy hair. Looking down at his reflection he saw his familiar cutie mark was missing leaving him a blank flank. Unable to speak out at this shock all he could do was cry. The two ponies surroundings dissolved into smoke leaving them in an endless void before they too were swept away.
This time Whooves found himself sitting on a chair with the same mare and another red stallion sitting on a couch in front of him. They were bigger than him but not by much. Quickly remembering what had just happened he looked down at his flank to see it still bare. “So remember to be good and do what you’re told,” the red pony said. The purple mare wiped away a tear and went over to him and wrapped her front legs around him. “We will come visit the Academy soon.” She blew her nose, “We love you and never forget it.” Once again everything dissolved again. Doctor Whooves nervously walked down the darkened hallway. No student should be down here at this time of night but he felt drawn too this place. It was as if something was calling him and he couldn’t refuse to answer. Passing doorways that led in different directions he came to one that look no different from the rest. It’s deep red wooden door opened at his touch. A plaque sat above it reading ‘Outdated TT Capsules’. He couldn’t help but feel surprised at the sight that meet him. Rows upon rows of cubes covered the room for as far as he could see. Each cube looked about two metres cubed and shined with a faint white light. He tried opening the one closest to him but it remained shut. He felt the feeling he had been sensing all night and walked down a random row. After a few minutes walking he stopped at a seemingly identical cube. Raising his hoof he tapped on the cube’s side and watched in awe as the side swung open.
Stepping into the cube he found himself in a massive room with only one thing in it. A single pentagon console no wider than a metre was in the middle. A small clear column rose from the console. He felt the console drawing him in and it consumed his complete attention. It was so simple but so complicated at the same time. Whooves was so enthralled with it that he failed to notice a small flash on his flank as an egg timer appeared on it. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever known,” he said completely awestruck. Before he could do anything two ponies rushed in. “You’re not supposed to be here!” one shouted before they both grabbed Doctor Whooves. “Please I was just wanting to look at her,” pleaded Doctor Whooves. They dragged him out of the room and locked the door behind him. As Whooves struggled the room and two guards dissolved away just like before.
The six shadowy figures were confused at what they had just witnessed. That was the memory we were looking for. But it also wasn’t. We do not understand what happened. This is the Doctor but also not him at the same time. But we know that he is here because we followed him here.
***
Romana tried desperately to contact the war fleet of Gallopfrey. All her requests were only answered with static on the radios. “You know you shouldn’t really be doing that now,” said the Doctor. Romana shot the Doctor an angry look. “And what do you think I should do?!” he shouted at him. “Well at the moment it is reasonable to assume that the fleet has been lost and and anything that can do that could intercept your signals.” Romana looked horrified as she caught on to what the Doctor was getting at. “And I just spent the last 30 minutes broadcasting where I was.” “It’s not too late for us to get out of here but we have to go now,” he said calmly. “I can help you but you have to start trusting me if you want to help your people.” Romana didn’t know what to do. At this moment enemies were probably closing in on her position and she could make contact with the fleet. Left with no options she walked over to the Doctor. “Please help me.” The Doctor nodded to her. “Disable field,” she said as the Doctor felt himself freed. Getting up he keep eye contact with the helpless pony in front of her. “Right, the planet is being attacked and we don’t know who by. First off I need my sonic screwdriver.” “Your what?” she asked confused. “Little metal stick thing that makes noise and a green light,” he said. Romana pulled it out of her jacket and presented it the Doctor. “Is this it?” The Doctor grabbed it thankfully from her hoof. “First thing we need is to find out who is attacking us,” he pointed his screwdriver at the console and pressed the button.
The door opened and an automated female voice spoke. “Warning! Defense failure!” “What did you do? I trusted you!” Romana angrily shouted at the Doctor. “What I needed to do. Trust me I’m the Doctor,” he said with a faint smile. Black smoke entered the room from the door. Romana backed away from it in terror but the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at it and scanned it. He stared at it as the smoke completely blocked out the door. and began surrounding them. Looking intently at his screwdriver he thought about what it was telling him. “Hmm that is interesting,” he said in fascination. “Anyway now that’s out of the way I think I know what to do.” “Do what?” asked Romana. “Well seeing as this is a safe room it should have emergency exits.” Romana pointed to the door. “Look at it, we can’t go that way!” “I was thinking of taking a different route,” he used his screwdriver again and he and Romana disappeared in a flash of light before the smoke surrounded them.
Painful ringing filled Romana’s head. The harsh sunlight made her eyes water after spending so long underground. Trying to figure out what had just happened she took in her surroundings. Grass poked her face making her realize she was laying on the ground. Lifting her head she looked at the open field that seemed to go on forever. A faint smell of flowers hanged in the air. What surprised her though was the silence once the ringing in her head stopped. This field was peacefully silent as if there was no invasion occurring. Her eyes widened in horror at this last thought and memories of the last day flooded back into her mind. Pictures of collapsing rocks and trying to contact the fleet stuck in her mind. But what image lingered the most was the smoke, coiling around her as if alive.
Romana cringed at even the thought of the smoke. She felt as if it had looked through her flesh and stared at her naked soul. I hope I never see it again she thought. She couldn’t thank the Doctor enough for getting her away from that thing. Quickly looking around she tried to find her saviour. He was not far away from her, no more than 10 meters away. “Doctor! Are you ok?” The Doctor looked over at her and replied with a small wave. Romana got to her hooves and trotted over to him as he played with his sonic screwdriver. “Where are we Doctor?” “Somewhere far away from where we were,” he replied. “You don’t know do you,” she bluntly said. “I am here, I just don’t know where everything else is.” He had a smile on his face as if he was enjoying himself.
“Why are you so happy? My planet is still being attacked and you stand here smiling.” The Doctor didn’t stop smiling as he patted Romana on the head. “Because I scanned that smoke before we left.” Romana looked indignantly at the Doctor and moved back to avoid being petted again. “So you know what it is? You can stop them?” Romana felt hope that her world wasn’t lost but these were quickly dashed. “No I don’t know what they are but I have some ideas. I’m smiling because it was bursting with void radiation.” Romana looked blankly up at him as if he was talking gibberish. “Void radiation? What in blazes is that?” “It’s stuff. Stuff that you pick up when you travel through the void and this was full of it. Must of come through recently, say about a day give or take a few hours.”
The Doctor knew this wouldn’t satisfy Romana’s curiosity but he didn’t want to tell her anymore. This thing has come through shortly after him and maybe even came with him. If it had come through then that’d mean there might be a way back to his own universe. I can just hope that she doesn’t figure out that it had come with me or any trust she has won't be there for long he thought.
“So you know where it is from?” she asked. “Yes and if I know where it has been then we can know where it is going.” “So what do we do?” “We need to get onto one of their ships and by we I mean me,” the Doctor said to Romana. She felt glad to know she didn’t have to go back to face more of that smoke but she also felt the need to go. It was her duty to serve the ponies of Gallopfrey and she couldn’t just leave its fate to a stranger.
The Doctor pointed his screwdriver towards the sun while looking at Romana. “You should run and hide, they’ll only look for me so you’ll be safe.” Green light reflected in his eyes and the buzzing sound he had grown to love filled his ears. Romana wanted more than anything to just run like he had said but her sense of duty kept her hooves sealed to the ground. “Promise me Doctor that you’ll do anything in your power to save my planet,” she said with pleading in her eyes. “I promise.”
***
The six smoke figures had no idea what to do. The Doctor was not the Doctor and yet he was. They did not like such uncertainty and they could not get the information they needed. While confused one heard the faintest of sounds. We are picking up a signal from the planet. It is more advanced than anything on the planet. Could it be that we have a wrong Doctor? Impossible he is here. But his memories are wrong. And no one else could send such a signal. We shall send a ship to investigate. A ship covered in smoke launched from the ship and they all watched it as it descended onto the world below.
***
The Doctor and Romana both stared into the yellow sky looking for anything. Romana noticed first that a small grey dot had appeared. By the look of it was heading down fast too their position. Glowing red hot from reentry a ship the size of a house seemed to not slow down. Romana hearts started to beat faster as it speed towards them. The Doctor placed a comforting hand on her back. “It’ll be alright.” With less than 1km to go before it hit the ground it looked as if it was slowing down. Still going at supersonic speed it made a complete stop just 10 meters from the ground. The sudden stop sent out a shockwave that pushed the two observers back a bit.
The Doctor heard the nervous pony next to him gasp at the sight of more of the black smoke. It raced towards them in seconds wrapping around their bodies and immobilizing them. The ship lowered itself until it was touching the ground. With his whole body feeling numb and refusing to do what he wanted the Doctor started walking towards the ships opening door. He managed to gain enough control to look back and see Romana frozen where she was standing. “Doctor what is happening? What are they going to do to me?” The Doctor could hear the fear in her voice as the smoke twisted around her. “Relax they only want me. They’ll leave you alone once they have me.” He stepped into the space ship and the door started closing behind him. Romana started to yell something at him but was cut off by the doors. He stood within the cramped space unable to move at all. Even his head no longer obeyed him. Hearing the sound of rockets he felt a rumbling sensation and knew that he was leaving Gallopfrey.
***
Doctor Whooves had no idea had passed since the six shadows had surrounded him. All he knew was that they weren’t here now. Now he just had to figure out where here was. Grey metal walls surrounded him in a room of 2 meters by 2 meters. The room was bare of anything except himself. Even a door was missing leading him to question how he had been put in it. What was most curious of all was the fact he could see - there was no visible light source within the room yet he could see every detail. Running his hooves across every surface he searched for a gap that would lead to a door but only found solid wall with no escape. He sighed to himself, “This is just a right old mess.”
***
The Doctor waited as the ship made its ascent into the heavens, it wasn’t like he could do anything else at this point. The door slid open to reveal six humanoid figures made of smoke looking at him. “Hello again, long time since we last met,” said the Doctor. One raised their hand and he felt himself walk forward outside of his transport ship. They circled around him and one that appeared slightly darker than the rest came up to him. It placed a hand on his forehead. Sleep now, it said. “I think not,” the Doctor looked directly at it and stepped forward. “I’m giving you this one chance to leave peacefully.” Impossible. No one can resist us. “Well clearly I’m not just anyone.”
Remaining completely calm he looked at the figures before him. They were clearly disturbed by what had happened and they seemed to be unable to hold a complete humanoid form anymore. “So will you take my offer?” We will never run from you Doctor and we will still take the planet Gallifey. The Doctor wasn’t even phased by this. “That is where you are in fact wrong. You see you aren’t even close to Gallifey and you will never be.” The leader burst with anger and advanced up to the Doctor until it was directly infront of his nose. All evidence points to the opposite Doctor! Your precious planet will fall and you will be destroyed. The voice was normally calm and even but now it fluctuated with anger and contempt at the him.
The Doctor felt a warm sensation within his coat causing him to fill with glee - everything was going to plan. “Don’t you find it strange that as soon as you arrived at this planet you were so much stronger?” Even with no faces the six figures seemed to give him a blank look. The Doctor continued “This is another version of the planet you want in another universe and do you know what that means?” What does it matter? We will just take this planet! By this point the warm spot had become searing within his jacket. “It matters because you traveled through the void and absorbed the radiation energy within it. It’s what made you so powerful but it’ll be the end of you.”
A bright light shone through his jacket drawing everyone's attention. The Doctor put his hand in and bought out a white hot key. Letting out a small noise of pain he dropped it on the ground. “Emergency protocol 58, after the TARDIS repairs itself and I’m not near it it’ll transport to the nearest key.” A slight gust of wind blew through the room without disturbing the smoke monsters. Slowly growing stronger the wind began to blow strong enough to make the Doctor stagger. A noise came from thin air, the sound of his trusty TARDIS. The air took a faint blue tinge before returning back to normal. Once again it took a darker blue and the outline of a box could be seen before disappearing. Repeating again each time the TARDIS reappeared it seemed more defined than the last time. Finally it became solid and fell silent sitting their with the bluest blue colour that the Doctor had come to love.
“Another fun little fact - my TARDIS recently exploded and destroyed an universe. Then it came through to this universe while still having a hole in reality in it.” The Doctor looked like he was enjoying himself as he knew that he was about to save another world. What of it? You can’t do anything to harm us. “Well let’s say that a TARDIS with a hole in it traveled through the void. Maybe just maybe if it survived it’d stay connected to the void.” The smoke creatures finally understood the Doctor’s train of thought. But you’ll be dragged in with us. They desperately tried to get away from the TARDIS but the Doctor snapped his fingers.
The doors of the TARDIS flew open to reveal empty darkness. The smoke was helpless as it was dragged into the void and out of existence. The Doctor felt himself be dragged towards the TARDIS’s open door. The smoke creatures had been full of radiation energy so they were more attracted to the void so they were sucked in faster than the Doctor. Watching the last remaining smoke creature sucked in he snapped his fingers and the door shut close. He went flying into it and lost his breath as he crashed into the blue box.
The Doctor lay next to the TARDIS wheezing from his collision with it a few seconds prior. No trace of the smoke creatures remained and for the first time the Doctor felt he could get a clear look at the ship. I wasn’t anything special, blackened iron made up every surface with only two windows opposite each other to decorate the room. It had seemed so large before but now it couldn’t be more than 20 meters long and half as short. Finally feeling like he could breath again the Doctor rose to his feet and grabbed his fallen key from the ground. Placing it within his jacket he took hold of his trusty screwdriver and headed for the nearest door.
Doctor Whooves body was cramping up. The featureless room felt like it was closing in around him. Letting out short breaths of panic he braced himself and kicked out with his back legs. Clanging uselessly against the metal wall pain spread throughout his legs as vibrations coursed through them. Undeterred he braced for another strike as a white line appeared down the middle of the wall. Sliding away the doors revealed a man who looked like he had gone through hell who then received two hooves to his chest. Spluttering the Doctor fell too the ground while hearing the cracking of ribs. “Oh crap, I’m so sorry I didn’t see you,” he explained as he turned around. “Not one of the best thank yous for saving me I’ve had,” the Doctor coughed, “but I’ve had worse.”
Whooves hastily gathered his humanoid counterpart up. “Just lean on me. You’ll be fine when you get back down to Gallopfrey,” the two Doctors slowly began to make their way back to the TARDIS. “So what happened to those things that were attacking?” “They’re gone. Sucked out of the universe and into the void.” Curiosity still hid behind Whooves eyes. “But what were they?” “Beings of psychic energy, only had meet them once. They were normally only strong enough to take control of a person if hundreds worked together but these ones had received a power boost.” With that said they arrived at the TARDIS. Motioning for Whooves to go towards it they limped over.
“No doubt the fleet is coming and will sense you’re the only thing on here,” the Doctor said. Confusion sprouted at the this. “They’ll take care of you.” Understanding dawned on Whooves. “You’re leaving? But you have done so much, surely you can stay for us to show our gratitude.” The Doctor inserted his key into the TARDIS before turning back to look at Whooves, “I’m not really big on the whole ceremony thing so I might head off.” Twisting the key the door swung open and soft red light bathed the Doctor. “There’s a whole new universe out there and I have no plans on how to get back too my own,” the Doctor smiled at the prospect, “will be nice not knowing anything for a change.” Stepping in, the TARDIS door shut closed behind him leaving Whooves alone and disappointed. Bowing his head he look away to see several war ships closing in on the ship. “I guess this is goodbye.”
Whooves’ attention was drawn by the sound on an opening door. “Of Course you’re always welcome too come with me if you want,” the Doctor said with open arms. Whooves felt overjoyed at the prospect of fulfilling his dreams that had been snatched away so many years ago. Wordless he looked down at his home taking one last look before galloping full speed into the Doctor’s TARDIS. As the Gallopfreyan ships docked with the ship the TARDIS dematerialized into nothingness as it went to see a new universe.
Moon Rusher breathed heavily inside his helmet. Looking around he spotted two other ponies clad in the same type of orange suit he wore. It was only a simple design of tough plastic covering their entire bodies. The only features of the ponies that could be seen were their heads which were surrounded by a clear bubble of hardened plastic. On each of their backs lay a single tank that is connected by two short grey tubes. Without these the trio would soon choke to death where they were going. As his helmet fogged from his condensed breath, a faint voice played out through the old radio. “Systems are looking alright but we have some bad weather heading our way. I want you three back within an hour with as much as you can carry,” said their captain. Moon moved over too the front door and pushed a button next to it. “Sure thing boss,” he replied. Nodding to his fellow workers he opened the door. “Rougher and Honey you know the drill. Only bring back stuff that is useful and not junk.” They gave a salute in return and started marching out. Moon took a final look around the small metal room before walking out himself.
Strong wind buffeted him as soon as he was outside. Red dust swirled around him as he took a look around. Massive piles of twisted metal surrounded him and covered the land for as far as the eye could see. The only intact thing was behind him, a ship 250 meters long. It looked like the metal the ship was made of had been patched together from 50 different ships. Seeing that his workers had already gone their separate ways he continued down his own little pathway. Scanning the piles with eagle eyes he searched for anything useful.
20 minutes had passed since Moon Rusher had left the ship and he had yet to find anything he could bring back. Well aware of the rising winds he looked at the horizon. Dark green clouds spread across the distant sky and even now they seemed to be rushing forward too meet him. “Should probably head back,” he said as he fumbled for his radio. “Guys it’s not looking good. Time to start heading back before the storm hits us.” Looking back at the ominous sky he failed to notice three stealthy figures move silently over the piles. Turning back to head back to the ship it was already too late. Claws punctured his suit and exited on the other side. Feeling blood spew from the wound he looked at his killer. Even though the terror he felt he couldn’t scream as his precious oxygen leaked out. Only letting out a strangled gasp Moon Rusher fell to the ground.
***
Sparks flew in the Doctor’s face as he connected two seemingly random cables. Whooves stood by the control console looking through the glass floor. “So where you’re from that humanoid shape is standard throughout the universe?” The Doctor, distracted by the question, looked up. “Yes, well mostly,” he thought back to some of his adventures, “well most intelligent life is anyway. Never really understood why AH!” More sparks burnt his hands causing him to yelp in pain. Sucking on his singed flesh the Doctor inserted the last cable and looked proudly at his handy work. “That should stop us from being ripped apart in this universe since the TARDIS isn’t designed for this universe.” “You mean we were in danger?” said Whooves completely shocked. “Well where's the fun in taking the safe road?” A small smile played across the Doctor’s face as he climbed to the same level as his pony incarnation. “Where’s the fun in dying?!” “Well it does get boring after the fourth time now that you mention it,” the Doctor said.
The Doctor slid over too his faithful control console. “A whole new universe awaits us and neither of us have traveled it. If you’re worried about danger then I’m happy to take you back.” Whooves eyes opened wide at the prospect of ending his journey. “NO!” he shouted to the Doctor. Satisfied at the rise in Whooves he placed his hand on a lever. “Put it on randomizer - random time and place. I always loved doing this back home.” Looking up for confirmation he saw Whooves nod and pulled the lever. The entire room rocked backwards and forward sending the two travelers flying. The time rotor whirled away as the TARDIS enter the time vortex. Joy filled the Doctor while dread filled Whooves as the shaking intensified. It went on for only ten seconds before it stopped and the TARDIS fell silent. Picking himself up from the ground the Doctor checked to confirm his companion was alright. Whooves waved a hoof which he took to be the equivalent of a thumbs up.
The Doctor couldn’t help but smile at not knowing anything about the world outside the front door. Whooves felt a similar sensation before a question came to mind. “If you’re form is rare in this universe then don’t you think that ponies might act less than kind towards you?” He simply responded by pulling on a string around his neck. It revealed what looked like a circuit board that had been roughly snapped in half. A mass of multi coloured wires had been soldered onto it but its most noticeable feature was a blinking green light. “What is that?” he asked pointing to the unusual necklace. “Perception filter - a really powerful and unique one. Everyone or should I say everypony will being able to hear and see me but they’ll never notice I’m different. It’d take a pretty strong mind too notice I’m not a pony.” Extending his arm towards the door the Doctor snapped his fingers and opened the door, “Shall we?”
Whooves hadn’t expected what was outside the TARDIS. He didn’t really know what he had expected but it was not a filthy corridor made up of several different types of metals. The roof looked like simple iron while the walls were a patchwork of bronze, aluminum and tin. Grated iron supported them on the ground. The Doctor stepped out from behind him and somehow he seemed to enjoy the sight. He was beaming like a child on christmas day, ready to unwrap his new presents. Whooves couldn’t help but wonder if that was what the Doctor thought of these adventures. “Any clue where we are?” Whooves asked. “Nope, like I told you I put the settings on random,” he replied. Clanging of hooves on metal came ringing down the corridor. Both travelers turned their heads in the direction of the sound to see a slightly overweight grey pony running towards them. Stopping before them, he gasped for air while taking a look at them. A Greasy unkempt mane of brown hair sat atop his head. On his back lay a strap which supported two large bags on his sides.
“Bloody hell, the scanners weren’t wrong,” he paused to regain his breath, “who the hell are you and why are you here?” Searching inside his jacket the Doctor bought out a folded leather wallet. Showing it to the grey pony for examination the Doctor stood confidently. “Health and safety. Just here to check that everything is fine,” he knocked on the mismatched wall, “yes this is metal. Well done on keeping that up but I’ll need too see your bridge, good sir.” The grey pony blew his overgrown brown mane out of his eyes as he tried to think. “We haven’t ever had health and safety down before.I think I should um take you too see boss, he’ll know what to do.” “Good man but I have one question for you,” said the Doctor. The pony once again looked confused. “What?” “What date is it?” The pony looked at the Doctor as if he crazy but still answered. “32,073 SR.” “SR?” asked the Doctor. “It means how many years after the Universal Sun Revolution. So it's been 32,073 years since then, hell where have you been living your whole life?” “Another universe, hmm I’ll have to check out this revolution some time,” the Doctor mumbled beyond the grey pony’s hearing.
As the trio started heading down the corridor the grey pony pulled out a radio from his bags draped across his back. “Boss, it’s Rougher, we have some ponies here from health and safety,” they all waited until a tinny voice began playing from the radio. “What the buck are they doing here? Bring them to me now.” “Best not to keep boss waiting, she can have a mean temper if he’s kept waiting.”
***
A door opened half way before becoming stuck. Rougher gave it a technical prod with his hoof causing it too open the rest of the way. They entered a room that didn’t seem like it was put together from different ships. Steel that still held some of its original luster coated the floors, walls and roof. In the middle of the room was a well worn leather chair with two smaller chairs flanking it. In front of the chairs were two raised screens displaying information that made no sense to Whooves. Sitting upon the chair was a pony that looked as if she’d been in too many fights. Her left eye was covered with an eye patch and three massive scars ran down her face. Her tail was completely missing while her mane was cut short and neat. Scars like veins criss crossed her entire yellow body. A diamond surrounded by a circle of grey was her cutie mark.
Rougher motioned for them to walk towards the imposing mare sitting in the chair. “Here they are boss,” Rougher announced. The mare, referred to as boss, hardly treated the two visitors with a glance before going back to concentrating on the screens. “25 years I’ve worked on this stinking planet and not once has headquarters sent down health and safety,” her voice was like her appearance - rough and no messing around.” Whooves was the first to react as lies passed through his head. “Well you know how it is. Gotta check up on you sometime just to keep it all official,” he said with confidence daring her to think it was untrue. The Doctor looked down proudly at him. Obviously I’m learning fast, Whooves thought. “Fine, do your little checks and then get out of here. Have you been to this planet before?” she asked. “No this is our first time,” said the Doctor. “Figures that they’d send first timers,” she sighed and pressed a spot on the screen, “I guess you should get a view of our lovely little planet.” A side of the wall started moving down revealing a hidden window. “Gentlecolts, welcome to The Pit.”Both the Doctor and Whooves looked confused. “The Pit?” asked the Doctor. “How do you not know about this stuff? Anyway it doesn’t matter, it’s just a nickname - ‘The Pit of the Galaxy’ they call it. Officially it’s called UP5204 but that’s just numbers nopony can remember,” she explained.
Whooves and the Doctor stared out of the window that had appeared. Not much could be seen apart from darkness with a tinge of green. By the sound of it there was a fierce storm going on outside. “Windy outside?” the Doctor joked. “You don’t know the half of it. 600 mile per hour wind is blowing out there. When a storm gets this bad it picks up radioactive dust that would kill anything in minutes. I’ve lost a worker out there today to this damn storm,” for the first time her voice became soft. She sniffed before her voice took on its normal roughness. “The poor bastard didn’t come back before the storm hit and there’s no chance he’ll survive out there.”
Red dust blew from all directions. Even the sun in the sky was almost completely covered from sight. Only a faint reddish dot in the sky provided any sort of light. Chunks of metallic trash the size of boulders were blown through the sky like pieces of paper. Only one piece sat still, stubbornly refusing to move despite the winds, it was a ship 250 meters long made from thousands of different metals. Dark shadows in the dust storm stalked towards the ship from every direction. Powerful claws kept them anchored safely to the ground and they expertly dodged any debris that flew too close to them.
***
“So what are some ponies like yourselves doing on a planet like this?” asked the Doctor. The mare sitting in front of them gave the Doctor a cold look. “We’re junk collectors, the company hires us to land on this planet and we make ships from the scraps that have been left here for thousands of years.” She punched a few sections on one of the screens and they began to raise into the ceiling. Soon the screens were gone without leaving any trace that they had been there. “If your health and safety I guess you’ll be wanting to check out the cold fusion core first?” Both Doctor and Whooves nodded. She turned her seat to face Rougher. “You can leave us now Rough, you know what to do.” With that he left the room and the mare rose from her seat. “You two can follow me.”
She lead them towards a different door and opened it. They all walked through it and entered a long corridor. “What do they call you besides boss? inquired Whooves as the made a turn. She stopped walking and turned her head towards them. “You turn up unannounced and then you don’t even know my name,” she spat at the floor in front of the companions, “bunch of amateurs they’re sending. If you must call me something you may refer to me as Gem.” They all looked briefly at her cutie mark - a diamond surrounded by a grey circle.
“That is an interesting cutie mark,” Whooves remarked. “What does it mean?” Gem’s voice took a sarcastic tone, “It means how under my hard exterior there is a beautiful shining mare.” The Doctor snorted while Whooves looked shocked. “Really?” he asked. Gem rolled her eyes and turned back forward and started walking. “Not the brightest bulb is he.” The Doctor successfully managed to hold back his laughter as his pony counterpart turned red like the dust outside.
The trio came up to a metal door with a switch to the side. Gem placed her hoof on the switch and the door slid open. She entered and the Doctor and Whooves followed here side by side. Suddenly the door snapped close behind them. Before either of them could react a metal bar flew towards Whooves. He stumbled over letting out a cry of pain. As the Doctor turned around the bar was swung again, this time hitting the back of his knees which gave out beneath him. The Doctor swung his hands out trying to steady himself but failed to grasp anything. He fell next to Whooves who was struggling to realize what was happening. Looking up , the Doctor saw Rougher standing above them with a solid iron bar grasped within his jaws. Four more ponies stepped out of the shadows and restrained them both with their hooves.
Gem jabbed the Doctor sharply in the chest. “Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?” “We told you we are-” Whooves stopped after looking at the Doctor, he was shaking his head. The doctor took over from Whooves. “I’m the Doctor and this is my friend Time Turner. We travel space and we mean you no harm.”
“Shut up!” yelled Gem. “I knew I should’ve never trusted you. Anypony with a cutie mark like yours could never be trusted.” “My what now?” The Doctor looked down at his legs trying to find a non-existent mark. Gem lashed out with hoof, hitting the Doctor on the side of his head. He felt a trickle of warm blood flow down his cheek. “Don’t play dumb with me, Doctor.”
“Now, you have boarded my ship and lied to me. If you hope to survive this little adventure of yours then you better have the right answer to my next question. What did you do with Rusher?!”, her voice was ice cold and full of hatred. The Doctor was the first to respond. “I’m sorry but I don’t know who you are talking about Gem,” his voice heavy with sympathy.
Tears had begun forming in Gem’s eyes. “Rusher was a pro and he never came back late. What did you do to him?” This time it was Whooves turn to reply to Gem. “I’m so sorry but we have never seen him, you have to believe us.” “LAIR!” her shout rang throughout the entire room sending shivers up everypony’s spine. She raised her hoof again. The distressed mare bought it back down harder on Whooves. “Throw them into the storm and let them die!” The four ponies lifted them up and started hauling them towards a door.
***
Whooves was still dizzy from his blow when they stopped walking. The four ponies threw them forward and then retreated as the door sealed the Doctor and Whooves in a cramped room. A voice came from the ceiling. It was a male’s voice that was being distorted by the radio. They hadn’t heard this voice before. “If you talk now then Boss might let you live.” “Listen to me, we can help you find your friend if you just let us help,” shouted the Doctor. This time Gem’s voice could be heard. It was flat and emotionless. “No.”
*** The figures had all surrounded the ship. Whenever they tried to touch it sparks would lash out at them. They all sat looking for a weak spot to enter. All of them could sense the energy coming from the ship. Even more tempting was the life they could feel inside it. As soon as the door opened and the shield went offline they sprang instantly, heading for the two life forms they could sense.
As soon as the door opened Whoove's world became a blur. Dust choked his lungs causing him to cough violently. Before he could shield his eyes, the red dust blew straight into him. Through closed eyelids tears began to well. Wherever the dust would touch him, his body would burn. He felt helpless as he stumbled around blindly. I'm going to die. I'm never going to see home he thought, defeated. A hand grabbed his neck and pulled. Even through the pain and confusion, Whooves remembered that only one thing had hands and it wasn't going to hurt him. Keeping his eyes shut he let himself be led away in the knowledge that no place could be worse than this. Even through the raging winds and the clash of metal crashing into metal, the confused pony hear a familiar buzzing sound. Squinting for a fraction of a second he saw a bright green light. Almost beyond hearing was a strange sound. Is that screeching? No it must be the wind. As quick as it had happened it was over. The wind had stopped but he could still hear it, muffled behind solid iron. Opening his eyes he saw a fine layer of red dust on the floor. He looked around and saw they were in a similar room to what they had just left. A dull iron door protected them from the storm. The floor was grated metal and the walls had the familiar patchwork of metals.
Standing above him stood the Doctor. His skin was covered in red spots where the dust had burnt him. One hand was raised with his sonic screwdriver in it while the other covered his mouth while he coughed into it. The screw driver buzzed away causing a clicking noise to come from the door. "It's deadlocked but it won't stay shut for long. We have to get out of here," the Doctor managed to say in between coughs. He focussed his attention to the opposite door and went at it with his screwdriver. "What happened?" asked Whooves. "Think about it for a second. What ship only has one entrance on it?" "But won't they notice that we came back aboard? They'll just throw us out again and this time they'll make sure we stay out." "That would be true if we weren't the only things boarding the ship," said the nervous Doctor. "What do you mean?" asked Whooves. As if to answer his question, a loud thump sounded from outside. Both timelords looked to see a dent the size of a fist on the door leading to the outside. The Doctor hit his screw driver in frustration and once again refocused on the other door. More thumps came, all in the same spot. "Doctor how thick is that door?" The Doctor never took his eyes of the door that lead to freedom. "Well since this is a ship built for interstellar travel, I'd say no less than 10 cm of solid iron." Another thump came from the door and this time was louder than before. A small gust of wind blew at the back of Whooves' neck. A thin stream of sand blew from the coin sized hole in the door.
Two things happened at once. First the door the Doctor had been working on opened up and second a scaly mass of muscle punched through the door that lead to the outside world. Whooves bolted for the door but the doctor turned for a fraction of a section. Claws extended from the arm and swiped at the Doctor. Falling backwards, the longest claw just missed his chest but sliced his right hand. As his sonic screwdriver began to fall from his hand the claws smashed it into the wall. The Doctor looked on helplessly as his screwdriver shattered in front of him. With blood flowing from his hand he ran towards Whooves in a desperate attempt to leave the room. As soon as he was out he slammed a switch on the wall and the door shut closed. Both of them looked at the door as thumping and the tearing of steel came from behind it. "Run!" the Doctor shouted.
***
Two ponies were in the control room. One sat on the middle seat while the other stood behind her. The screens displaying information had been lowered. Gem stared at a screen filled with static. Rougher stood behind her looking at it. "Not that surprising boss. The storm wiped out the cameras but I sent down some of the crew to fix them up." Gem just looked blankly at the screen. "What if they didn't die?" she asked. "We both know that nopony could survive anything like that, you'll see, they'll be dead." "They better be," her voice took on its familiar firmness. "And if they aren't then they'll wish that they had died." A noise started to come from one of Rougher's packs. He fished around in it and bought out his radio. A faint voice came from it. "We're outside the door but it's in lockdown. We need you to unlock it from central control." Rougher moved over to the screen and pressed a few buttons. "Should be opened for you now," he said. Ten seconds passed with no reply. Then a shrill scream came from the radio and was followed by static. Rougher's primal instinct to flee flared within him but he kept himself still. He raised the radio too his mouth. "What was that? Is anypony there?" Static was the only answer he got.
