The second episode of an ongoing Doctor whooves season.
The Doctor and his companions go on an adventure to the far future to the distant Lunar Republic. but the longer they stay the more things are not as they seem. from a dying apple orchard to an old foe that refuses to act the way it should.
It's a grand mystery down in Luna's republic, and something is very wrong. Can the Doctor and the mane six save the city before time runs out, or will this mystery be the death of them of all?
“Problems with the weather system again, can you believe it Sparks? I swear sometimes I think that Cloudsdale wanted to see us suffer up here.” The dark red Pegasus muttered darkly her mane was a light orange, and her cutie mark was a wrench.
She walked with a unicorn who was a pale yellow colt with a mane to match his cutie mark was of a thunder cloud, the lightning bolt lost to the color of his skin. “They probably did at the time coal. With all the cut backs it’s a surprise that we even got these cloud generators to start with.”
Coal shook her head. “Yeah sure and meanwhile Cloudsdale’s got the new versions those six point three’s. Have you heard about those? Almost all their work is automated these days! And here we are still struggling to make rain! I tell you if I ever get my hooves on the engineer who designed these three point fives I am giving them a good buck to the face!”
“Yeah I know coal you tell me this every time our stuff breaks down. Honestly that mare would be long dead our stuff is an antique. Any way here’s your station I need to go check the electrical.” Sparks said as he took one last look at the mare “Listen let’s try and finish this up quickly I am looking forward to the night time celebrations.”
Coal laughed, “Oh why would you be looking forward to that fancy horse barrel? You finally get a date yet? I bet not! Besides we can’t miss it from where we are standing. 29 days of night remember?”
Sparks shook it off as he walked along leaving Coal back to do her part of the job. No he didn’t have a date, just like the year before, and the year before that. Because the only pony that he ever really cared about was standing two corridors back, and he never had the nerve to ask her out.
Sparks sighed as he walked threw the corridors, and came to an access panel where he should be able to take a good look at the electrical, and as he moved to remove the bulk head he blinked. “Ah Coal?” he asked over a small radio. “Have any other maintenance teams been down here?”
“No Sparks were the only maintenance ponies on duty tonight remember? The overlord is still pissed at us for not getting the paper work in on time, and so she made us work on the day the sun sets why?” Sparks could imagine coal as she rolled her eyes spitting hate at the ‘overlord’ he chuckled lightly at the image, but then got concerned.
“Bulk head 31 is missing its cover, and… wait a minute I think I found our problem.” Sparks said leaning in for a moment. A shadow had just moved he guessed because he had changed the light source’s direction, and it revealed a bunch of wires that almost looked as if some pony had been chewing on it.
Sparks retrieved a flashlight and turned it, an immense amount of dust seemed to float around it the light flickering for a moment, along with the lights for the entire corridor, and then the lights gave.
Coal was wondering what the next report was going to be? What problem could have forced Sparks to actually be silent for once, and then she heard him scream. **
Doctor Whooves Starring: The Doctor Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkamena Diane Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Spike In: Luna’s Republic
** The TARDIS appeared slowly into existence its accompanying sound screeching as the light flashed and the TARDIS became solid. The door opening into space, The TARDIS was in lunar orbit over Equestria. Below the TARDIS was a glass city sitting on the moon. The sun was almost disappearing over the other side of grey hills, but its fading light illuminated what Twilight could see as a giant city sealed inside a glass dome.
“I don’t believe it!” She said almost blinking as she turned and shut the door. “That can’t really be a city on the moon.”
“Oh but it is! The year is 3012 a thousand years into your future. Luna the goddess of the moon, and Celestia goddess of the sun have a fight. They don’t want to speak to each other, but they can’t show disharmony So Luna begins this project. She doesn’t want to live on her ‘sisters’ planet so she makes her own on the closest land mass available.” The Doctor pranced with joy watching the face’s of his companions process this information.
“Nice one Luna!” Rainbow Dash cheered. The others looked at her oddly and she shrugged “what that is awesome she made a city on the moon.”
“Right now before I touch us down there are a few rules about my travels I want you to all know. Mainly pertaining to the princesses. They know me, and at this point they all know you, but there is an important rule we have come up with over the years since they live time linearly and I well just kind of show up when I feel like it can get confusing for them, and me. So under no circumstance are we to talk to the princesses. Trust me the last thing you lot need are spoilers for your own lives or mine it just makes things boring really. Second we only observe. No interfering with history’s big picture. This may be your future but it’s someone’s past, so lets keep the destruction of property to a minor amount please.” The Doctor spoke in a serious tone as he looked at the seven companions. “Okay now lets go on down the sun setting celebration should be just starting.” **
The city was called New Canterlot, and twilight had to admit that most of it looked very familiar if it weren’t for the giant glass roof Twilight may have assumed that she was back in her Canterlot home. Every thing was made with the same white stone that constructed had been used in the real Canterlot, and in truth it seemed like a loving replica.
Pinkie Pie bounced along side the group. “In winter this place must look like a giant snow globe.” She laughed.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Pinkie there’s no weather up here look at the sky, not a cloud in the sky.”
“Ah am curious as to what they eat up here?” Applejack said curiously. “Where do they get supplies?”
Twilight on the other hand was more curious about another thing. “Shouldn’t we be lighter Doctor?”
“Gravity enchantments are holding ya’ll down keeping us at the same weight as if we were on Equestria. Otherwise years of living up here would weaken the lunar republic, and we can’t let that happen otherwise all ya’ll Solar Empire ponies would walk all over us.” A young pony said with a sneer, she was a light brown with extremely blond hair. She actually looked a lot like Applejack just without the freckles. Her cutie mark was an apple that had a bite taken out of it.
Applejack took a step forward. “Um what’s yawl’s name? I am Applejack.” She said giving a friendly smile.
“My name is Apple wash I run the local apple orchard up here. Always a pleasure to meet a fellow member of the family! Which orchard do ya’ll run? I am guessing Appaloosa.”
Rainbow Dash blinked looking from Applejack to Apple Wash “It’s like there are two of them.”
Applejack shook her head “Nah ah am from Ponyvile.” She said proudly, and that’s when she got a hoof to the face. **
An hour later the seven ponies and one baby dragon were sitting together as Applejack held some Ice to her face a black ring slowly forming around her left eye. “Ah don’t think a member of the family would ever do that without a good darn reason.” Applejack said allowed.
Twilight just shook her head. An hour ago Two royal guard had restrained a very angry Apple Wash, and taken her away. During that time she had been yelling out curses and phrases that had made even Rainbow Dash blush.
“It doesn’t make sense dear. I thought the apple family had good relations and traded among each other.” Rarity said with a level of concern looking over her friend’s eye. “Oh my that wound is simply dreadful.”
“We do, ah mean we did a thousand years ago, but apparently things have changed.” She said as she winced as she applied a little more ice. “It ain’t that bad, ah am pretty sure she was holding back.”
“I think you still do. Just not with Ponyvile.” Spike said as he held a claw to his chin. And surprised a chill “Is it getting colder to anyone?”
The others shrugged “The sun is setting spike, probably just night time coming.”
The Doctor smiled lightly. “I think we should go and pay the Apple family orchard a visit.” **
The apple orchard was an interesting site. It was like walking in Ponyvile’s orchard. It was about the same size with rows and rows of trees with perfect red apples, and green grass below them. Except however for a sectioned off part of the orchard where the tree’s were dead, their bare branches stuck out awkwardly, and their bark seemed a slightly different color then the ones around them. Applejack seemed taken aback by them. She stared at them for a long moment. “That just ain’t right.”
“Eyyyup.” A loud male voice boomed out from behind the group as they turned to see a cyan stallion. His cutie mark was of an apple core. “You must be them Solar Empire Ponies that Apple Wash was talking about.”
“Um yes we are.” Twilight said looking to The Doctor. She would have to remember to ask what the Solar Empire was, even though she had a sinking sensation that she already knew.
Pinkie Pie shivered for a moment and suddenly all eyes were on her. Including The Doctors “sorry just a draft.”
The Doctor nodded “If you don’t mind us asking… what is with that section of trees?”
“Those are from Ponyvile we traded our cousins down in the Solar Empire good money for some new tree’s, and they sent us up dead trees. It ain’t proper ah tells ya’h went right against the apple family code of conduct they did. My big sis, Apple Wash took it very personally too.” The large stallion said looking at the trees.
Applejack nodded her head with a sudden understanding of why she had been punched in the face, and as she was about to say something the stallion cut her off.
“If ya’ll don’t want your friend to get hit again, I suggest leaving before Apple Wash comes down this way.”
“That’s okay I think we should be getting to the sun setting celebration anyway.” The Doctor said as he turned away keeping an eye on the trees.
As they were out of earshot The Doctor turned to Applejack. “What did you notice about those trees from Ponyvile?”
Twilight blinked “What aside from the fact that they were all dead?”
Applejack blinked “No it aint that Twi, something else is very wrong about them, they weren’t apple tree’s. They were oak.” ** The group walked towards New Canterlot Castle. Which aside from the lack of a mountain, looked surprisingly like the old Canterlot castle. “Why would they have given oak tree’s to them?”
“Maybe… because they… didn’t want the oak around?” Fluttershy’s voice stuttered, and everyone turned to her she had been so silent for so long.
“Fifty minutes.” Spike said as if he had been counting how long.
“Sorry… It’s just a little scary, I mean being on the moon we are really high up.” Fluttershy’s voice squeaked a bit.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “No Fluttershy were on the ground, it’s just the moons ground not Equestria, but I swear you have to be the one Pegasus who could actually be afraid of heights.”
“That’s really all point of view. From Equestria we are really high up from the ground, but from the lunar republic the solar empire is just a point in the sky.” The Doctor said as he kept his attention the ground.
“What are you looking for?” Rarity asked as she watched The Doctor.
“Watch.” The Doctor breathed and his breath seemed to mist out in the cold of the air. “This dome is a sealed area, as Rainbow said earlier there’s no weather here. The sun’s setting but the city has a heat source that should keep it going as if it were spring, so?”
“Where is the draft coming from?” Twilight said looking to her friends. ** The bowels of the city weren’t exactly off limits, but Twilight had to wonder if they were actually supposed to be allowed down here. All around her were dark corridors, wires ran down the halls, and steam pipes covered one side of the walls.
Rainbow looked confused. “Why are their weather generators down here?” she asked looking at the piping.
“A lot of reasons really the generators make steam for warmth, rain for food growing at least with the orchard, and also.” The Doctor stopped talking as the hallway was filled with the slow rumble of thunder.
Fluttershy jumped back her eyes wide with fright. “What was that?”
Rainbow Dash blinked “Thunder? They have lightning storms underground?”
“Its to power the artificial lighting once the sun goes down.” a new voice chimed in. “But ya’ll really shouldn’t be down here.”
The group turned to see Apple Wash again, who was staring angrily at the group. “So what are you folk’s doing in ah place like this?”
Applejack walked forward. “We wanted to know why it’s getting so cold up above, ya’ll got a problem with that.” she met Apple Wash’s gaze with anger.
Fluttershy took a step back away from the two girls trying to say something but it was lost, and only came out as inaudible squeaks.
The Doctor on the other hand was staring at her confused. “If this place is off limits then why are you down here?”
“Ah saw you going down here and ah followed.” Apple Wash said in a matter of fact tone.
“Really you followed us down? When everyone else would be heading to the sun setting celebration you happened to be in the area, and followed us down into the off limits under city?” The Doctor said accusingly.
Apple Wash looked from side to side “yeah ah did!”
“Oh okay then.” The Doctor said as he turned and began to walk down the hallways. Leaving everyone else in a state of confusion. ** Fluttershy looked from side to side her eyes wide with fear as she watched and walked along side the others.
“Fluttershy what is with you?” Rainbow Dash asked as she walked watching the frantically twitching Pegasus, and stopping to hear another crash of thunder still very far off from them.
“The shadows its… there… moving.” Fluttershy said her eyes wide as she jumped away from the shadow of a pipe. “Fluttershy we’ve been over this. Shadows don’t move on their own.” Twilight said looking at the yellow Pegasus.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “There is nothing to be scared about Fluttershy they are just shadows! See.” Rainbow extended her hoof to put it under one of the pipes.
“Stop!” It was the Doctor’s voice and as he yelled two things happened Fluttershy panicked and fell onto her back her legs going ridged, and Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“There is nothing in the shadows.” Rainbow dash was about to put her hand in closer to prove her point when the shadows seemed to actually move slowly drifting forward away from the pipe that had concealed it. “Um wait? Why is it moving?”
“Run!” The doctor yelled as the group began to gallop in the direction of the surface only to be cut off by a shadow that had moved into their path. “Other way! Don’t touch the shadows!” Twilight turn to run deeper down the hallway, but was cut off “There’s no where to run!”
The two shadows held their position pressing the group together. Fluttershy shook with horror. “W-what are they?”
The Doctor looked up the florescent lighting was the only thing casting light against the shadows. “They are called Vashta Nerada. They only appear to look like shadows, but in reality they are a meat eating swarm. In enough quantity they could pick clean an entire pony, but that’s uncommon. They are usually far more spread out.”
Twilight was fascinated for a moment looking at it, but she snapped out of it quickly. “Okay so why are they here!”
“That I don’t know, but I am working on a theory.” The Doctor said watching the shadows, but stopped as he watched the ground. “A better question is why aren’t they eating us.” The shadows on the ground had extended to the doctors hooves, and he stepped forward basking for a moment in the shadows as they harmlessly passed over him.
“Ah thought yah said that they ate ponies?” Applejack was more relaxed then she had been a moment ago, but was now she more confused.
“Are they just ignoring us?” Twilight said her horn glowing lightly as she walked into the shadows. “I don’t understand I thought you said that they ate meat?”
“They do or rather they did, but these Vashta aren’t going for their normal food source.” The Doctor was more confused then ever, and there was just no seemingly right answer. There were Oak tree’s in an apple orchard, Vashta Nerada that didn’t eat meat, and worse of all the temperature was decreasing ever more. “If they aren’t eating meat; then what are they eating?”
The Doctor turned back to the group He didn’t have an answer, and the only link behind everything was. His eyes widened for a moment giving a quick count of the ponies. Counting only the six he had come with, and one baby dragon. “Wait where did Apple Wash go?” -- authors note; Two of my pre readers for this series quit the project, and so this is actually the first chapter written and edited entirely by myself. I know my limitations and I know that this is not a good thing, If you are interested in helping my series, and becoming a pre reader\editor for Doctor Whooves, please send a message to me.
The Group of seven ponies, and one baby dragon, stood dumbfounded. The living shadows of the Vashta Nerada moved about, freely passing over them, but never touching them it was almost as though they were sticking up their collective noses at the free meal.
The Doctor stared hard for a moment at the darkness, waving his hoof, as if trying to see what was going on. This went against everything that he knew of the Vashta. “Well it’s probably for the best that we don’t stick around.”
Not a single pony was about to protest that fact as they turned and began walking again, ignoring the Vashta Nerada, just as the Vashta had ignored them. Twilight felt uneasy about this; she had a feeling something was entirely wrong with this picture. Looking back, Twilight noticed that the shadows which had fallen behind the group, now moved with the group.
“Doctor, I think we are being escorted.” Twilight said in a hushed tone.
Pinkie Pie was still smiling, but the idea of carnivorous shadows had brought back some old fears to the pink mare. She was trying her hardest to find something to laugh at, but was failing. “Wait, does that mean they are intelligent?”
“Ah don’t think so Pinkie.” Applejack said as she walked in line with Rainbow Dash. “They are just a bunch ah bugs after all.”
The Doctor frowned at that, he had to wonder if there was something he was missing. The Vashta Nerada could have the intelligence of a pony, regarding that enough of them collected in one spot, but there certainly wasn’t enough here. As he walked, he made his way to the pipes that lined the walls; slowly, he unfurled a wing and grasped his sonic screwdriver from its hiding spot. He pointed it towards the device at the pipes, and there was a high-pitched whistling noise, that had only lasted a moment, as he pulled the screwdriver along the wall.
“W-what, w-was that!” Fluttershy almost had a heart attack as she darted around the group; she hid behind twilight as they continued to walk.
“That’s the Doc’s sound screwdriver.” Applejack said confidently.
“Ahem, that would be Sonic Screwdriver.” The doctor corrected as he finished hiding it back under his wing. “Sound Screwdriver makes it sound silly, though I guess it works.”
“What did it do though?” Rainbow Dash interjected.
“Nothing; I was trying to see if there was any weather in the pipes, but they appear to all be bone-dry.” The Doctor said, looking at the group.
“Dry? How can they be dry? Those are steam pipes; they should be piping out hot air.” Rainbow said, in a confused fashion.
“Wait, Doctor, didn’t you say the hot air was responsible for heating the city?” Twilight asked with genuine concern. “Without it, what will happen to everypony on the surface?.”
The Doctor looked at the ground before turning to answer Twilight’s question; his voice carried a sober tone. “These weather generators are the only source of heat here. Once the sun has set over the Lunar Republic…” The Doctor paused, taking a loud gulp before continuing, “…everypony will die.”
**
The sun setting celebration was a huge event for the citizens of the Luna Republic. The celebration was to commemorate the day that the city was formed; the day Luna left her sister behind, on her own planet. Luna stood tall now, no longer as small as she had been when she had broken free from the corruption of Nightmare Moon. Now she looked like the spitting image of the dark queen of the night, except for the fact that her coat was dark blue and not sleek black.
Luna stood on the platform, an exact replica of the stage in Canterlot. Her city was made from marvelous marble stone, just as Canterlot, but, in Luna’s eyes, it was so much better than her sisters’ city. Luna had originally wanted to name her new land New Canterlot, but her advisor warned against it; pointing out that the name would be appropriate for the city that saw little sun.
“My loyal subjects, I thank ye' all for coming together so that we may celebrate this grand occasion. Upon this day, five hundred years ago, our fair city had reached its completion! Now we gather together to watch as the sun sets, and to celebrate this glorious occasion. Let the fun be doubled!” The Royal Canterlot voice boomed from the alicorn, easily addressing the many ponies who were attending the celebrations. It seemed everypony was gathered there, well almost everypony. Two mechanics Luna had sent to fix a problem involving the city’s heating had yet to return. Luna had been noticing several decreases in temperature all day, and she was determined to find out what the problem was. Hopefully it was just those blasted weather generators again; yet, she couldn’t help but feel something was wrong.
With that, Luna left the stage. The cheers and applause from her short speech continued, even after she had left. The crowd was practically putty in her hooves. Luna sometimes wondered if she even had to even bother making public appearances at all during these kinds of events.
“Guard,” Luna’s voice was hushed as she addressed one of the gray unicorns that formed her magic high guard. Like the others, he adorned silver armor, engraved with the decal of a crescent moon, which he displayed proudly on his chest. “We wish to travel below to see the weather generators for ourselves, let no pony know where we hath gone, and make sure the games proceed as planned.”
**
With the small, narrow hallway now behind them, the group of time travelling ponies now stood in a bright central room. Large vats and towers extended high above them, and Pinkie Pie was bouncing about the room. “Oh wow, aren’t those the three point fives, Dashie? In fact Dashie, didn’t you work on these?”
Rainbow Shifted uneasily, looking at the generators. She recognized them as the three point fives, the top of the line weather generators used in Cloudsdale. But there was something different about these generators, they were beaten and old. Dash nodded at Pinkies question. “I was just a consultant, all the weather managers were. Honestly, I don’t think I understood half the questions those guys asked me. I just told them that the generators needed to work 20% better than the old ones.”
Twilight blinked, these generators were top of the line back in their time, “Hold on, just how old are these generators then? Why wouldn’t Luna have upgraded them by now? Are these generators seriously a thousand years old!”
“I think we are getting off track a bit here.” Said Rarity. “What exactly are the Vashta Nerada? More importantly, how do we beat them?”
“You don’t,” answered The Doctor. “The Vashta Nerada are as abundant as dust, basically, the living darkness that eats flesh. They are everywhere you can think of. Well, almost everywhere; but I’ve never seen a swarm like this. Not eating us goes against everything that a swarm of Vashta Nerada stands for...”
Pinkie bounced along. “So… then are they like parasprites!? Yuck I hate parasprites!”
The Doctor nodded. “Almost exactly like parasprites. However, the main difference is that if enough Vashta gather in one place, they can become quite smart…”
Twilight blinked, “How smart? Do you mean to tell me that these things can talk?”
Pinkie Pie looked around her hair looking almost deflated. Her fears from when she was just a little filly crept back into her mind. “But there was nothing in the dark! You just have to giggle an- and- and everything will be fine!”
“No, Pinkie. Every single race in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. In some times, like now, when the Vashta aren’t after us, we can consider that fear to be silly. But anywhere else in the universe, that fear isn’t irrational.” The doctor’s voice was grave.
“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Can’t you see your scaring them!” Fluttershy yelled out she turned to the Doctor with a glare, and for a moment, even he took a step back. “You are scaring Pinkie, and my friends. We have seen it, and we can’t deny that they are living, but just look at her! Look at poor Pinkie she is absolutely terrified of all this! And you have done nothing to console her, now apologize for scaring my friend!”
Pinkie was almost in tears as another rumble of thunder could be heard off in the distance, but the group was silent. Fluttershy was breathing heavily, she could live with being afraid, but seeing her friend so afraid, and the way the doctor was almost antagonizing them, it had pushed her over the edge. The Doctor took a step forward “I-… I am sorry for scaring you Pinkie Pie.”
Fluttershy’s glare lessened as the moment passed, and the Doctor suddenly found himself breathing easier. How was it that such a shy and timid pony could have that much power? Fluttershy was scarier than half the creatures The Doctor had ever faced, and that was saying a lot!
**
A shiver ran across Luna as she walked along the now frigid hallways. The sun was descending, and the city was growing much, much colder. The alicorn entered the maintenance area she had sent Sparks and Coal, the center for the steam machines, and yet, there was no sign of her two maintenance ponies that were sent down in the early morning.
Luna thought about how the two ponies had been impossible, thinking that her genuine concern for the city was some sort of punishment against them, and she looked at the arcane generators. She pressed her hoof to them, expecting to feel the warmth and heat of the steam, but instead felt only cold metal. Luna was in deep though as she was suddenly bowled over by a running pegasus.
Coal had been running for hours, from what she couldn’t even tell, but she knew that something had hurt or harmed her friend. She was breathing heavily and in a blind run when she had hit the one pony she had honestly never expected to see. “Princess! You need to get away! You need to leave there is something here! Something that’s just unnatural.”
“What doth thou mean? What be chasing after thou? Why hast thou abandoned thy post, and allowed for our generators to fall into disarray?” Luna said getting to her hooves she glared down at coal. “What be the meaning of this!”
“The meaning is run! The generators are royally bucked up! Half their circuitry has been eaten, the only thing that still works is the thunderstorm generator, and that’s not going to last much longer! Now, run!” Coal said in a matter of fact tone as her wings unfolded and she took off, leaving Luna confused. It seemed that Coal didn’t even have a desired direction, she was just going off at random, trying desperately to leave. As she attempted to fly off, a purple glow held her in place.
“We shall do no such thing until thou explains what is happening to our city!” Luna said in a strong tone of voice.
“Apparently, it’s being eaten.” The voice was familiar to Luna but one she had not heard for many years, and she turned around, dropping Coal to the ground with a thud. Luna regained her composure.
“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna said as she turned to see the young unicorn guided by a pegasus, with an all too familiar cutie mark, and her group of friends. “Doctor, hast thou met us before as ye are now?” Luna asked, excitement reaching the princess’ voice. “Doest thou remember Canterlot’s hedge maze?” Luna asked, her eyes brightening at the memory.
“No, sorry, first time meeting you like this. Last time I saw you, Luna, I was still an earth pony. I recall having a tan coat and a short, black mane.” The doctor said smiling.
“Not much ever changes in thou’s color scheme...” Luna said with a roll of her eyes.
“Hey, I have wings now, wings are cool.” The doctor said defensively.
Luna merely unfolded her own wings; the wingspan was twice that of a normal Pegasus. “We are not impressed. Tell us when thou hast become a unicorn, then we may be impressed.”
“Well, I was impressed when I got them.” The Doctor said lowering his gaze down to the floor.
“Are you all insane!? We need to get the hay away from here! Fly as fast as we can! Leave the city! And you are just getting chummy with some pony?! Princess are you mad?!” Coal’s eyes were still darting around the room, she desperately wanted out of this dark hallway.
Luna nodded to the maintenance pony. “We wish we could continue the pleasantries, but our clock is ticking, Doctor.”
**
“Vashta Nerada?” Luna said in a low tone it had taken only a few minutes to recount the tale, as they had seen it, to the princess and Coal. Who was more relaxed when she was told that what she had been running from this entire time, was not after her, but instead was after the generators that she was working on.
Twilight Sparkle, however, was still very worried. “They have eaten almost every weather generator, except for the thunder generator. As soon as the sun sets were are all going to freeze to death. There has to be something we can do.”
Pinkie Pie responded. “Priority one, evacuation, duh! If an area, or location, is compromised to the point where it threatens the lives of too many ponies, then an evacuation of the area is called upon.”
“Wait, how did you know that?” Twilight blinked, asking the question, as if she didn’t already know the response.
“It was under P.” Pinkie said as she pointed to a sign, which read: ‘in case of emergency, submit request for a priority one evacuation.’
“Submit request? So there is a form we need to fill out? Twilight responded. “What kind of organizational neat freak would actually require you to fill out a form for an evacuation in a time of a crisis?!”
Luna smiled mischievously and added. “Actually thy papers must be filled out in triplicate, but there is a different problem with priority one.”
“Where would we go?” Rarity said trying to enter the conversation.
“No, the Lunar Republic is fit with a massive teleportation spell in case the citizens ever needed to evacuate. If activated, it would send everypony to the Solar Empire, actually, right into Canterlot.” Coal said, “The problem is without the weather generators, there is nothing to power the spell.”
“That’s not entirely true.” The Doctor chimed in. “we don’t have the power requirements for the spell, but what we do have, is a generator.”
Coal laughed darkly. “What generator?! They are all dead! I’ve flown by every single steam generator and rain device, nothing remains! They have all been gutted!”
“All but one…” Twilight said, pointing upwards at the still working light. “Listen, you can still hear the thunder.”
“The electrical generator? Nothing can get close to that without shutting it down first, and we need it to be active in order to hook it up to the spell in time. It generates a never ending electrical storm, any pegasus who enters that room gets fried!” Coal shouted.
“True a pegasus wouldn’t be able to get in their get through the clouds and reach the generator, but an alicorn, an alicorn would have the physical endurance and magical resistance to get close enough to make the connections. Isn’t that right Luna.” The Doctor said with a smile turning to her.
“This is true. However, a Time Lord would be able to fly into such a storm and come out on the other side, provided he was fast enough.” Luna countered. “We will help, but we refuse to get struck by lightning alone.”
“Right, thought that would be coming up. While we are doing that, however, the transport system will need to be on warm up. We have only about an hour till the sunset, and that means we have an hour to start up the spell, activate it and then get everypony else out.” The doctor turned to the group.
“Twilight, thou will need this.” the dark alicorn removed her crown and handed it to the unicorn. “Tell the guards of our intent; the crown will prove my words. Take Pinkie Pie with thou, she will prove most helpful.”
“Applejack, find Apple Wash. She must still be running around here. She could be anywhere, but you’re the one who should hunt her down. Take Rainbow with you, she’s fast and even on hoof, you two will make the best time.” The Doctor said speaking as quickly as he could.
Applejack nodded. “Will do, partner!”
“Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike and coal, you’re on the dead generators, see if you can breathe enough life into them to get some heat going, buy us as much time as you possibly can.” The doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver from under his wing and tossed it to Fluttershy. “It’s easy enough to use, just think and press the button.”
Fluttershy nodded, putting the screwdriver under her own wing in the same manner she had seen the doctor do many times before. “Um… okay.”
Spike nodded, “Don’t you think Rainbow Dash would be more helpful on our team? I mean she did work with the designers of these generators.”
“Spike I already told you-” Rainbow Dash was cut off as she was suddenly given a very strong buck to the face, and laid flat by Coal.
“Whoa, what was that for!” Spike shouted.
Coal breathed, feeling more relaxed then she had in most of her life. Her voice was calm and almost happy. “Ten years of pent up aggression.”
“-Just an advisor.” Rainbow Dash said, lying down on the ground as a few stars seemed to float around her head. “Oh hello Scootaloo, are you here for dinner?”
“Is she gonna’ be okay?” Applejack asked, looking over at Rainbow Dash.
“Oh yeah, fine probably!” The Doctor said as he turned away from the group. “Don’t bother giving her ice, if we don’t start moving soon she will be covered in it. Come on group, let’s go! Geronimo!” The Doctor and Luna raced off as the other groups began to separate, leaving only Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“All right sugar cube, ah need yah to get up now.”
I have had a heck of a week, and I apologize but Mondays chapter has taken a bit of a hit because of it. I fell ill around Tuesday and that stayed with me till Thursday meaning the three days that I use to write each chapter were absorbed with bed rest and sickness. then on Friday it was back to work finally, but a large brick of writers block hit me in the face, and then finally life drama took hold of my Saturday.
as I type this Chapter 3 of Doctor Whooves: Luna's republic sits on my desktop 1800 words of what should be 3000+, as someone who prides themselves on keeping a schedule, I hate that this has happened. I hope that you can accept my apologies. and I hope that this never happens again. chapter 3 will be out ASAP but were looking at a possible Tuesday release again I apologize.
“Okay Luna, there is one problem that I didn’t mention earlier.” The Doctor spoke slowly, taking in the site of the main weather generator. The power source for the entire city stood as a massive spire extending downwards from the ceiling. It was surrounded by a continual electrical storm. As one bolt was fired it off it hit a conductor on the other side of the wall. “I don’t exactly know how to fly yet.”
Luna seemed to smile “Thou art fine, Doctor. We shall not be flying so much as falling.”
“Oh falling is good, falling I can do.” The Doctor said. For some reason, he was reassured by the fact that he would be going down not trying to go up. “But what about the landing?”
“Thou should worry less about the landing, and more about the lightning. If thou does not fall fast enough then we shall both be struck.” With that Luna extended her wings and took a deep breath. “Are thou ready?”
“Geronimo!” With that the Doctor flung himself from the small corridor, no land underneath him as he started his rapid decent. Luna was soon beside him as the wind whipped past them both.
A large strike of lightning hit one of the coils behind them as they fell. Sparks spraying the air as the bolt hit. The Doctor unfolded his wings and flapped, trying to keep ahead of the bolts of lightning. “This is fantastic!”
“Thou must keep falling!” Luna swerved in the air to avoid another coil that lit up. The Alicorn was clearly a skilled flier, but the Doctor was the exact opposite. He wasn't choosing a straight direction, only hoping that he was simply falling fast enough to get to the ground in one piece.
“Probably a bad time to ask, but when we do get close to land, how does one stop falling?” The Doctor asked, his words mostly drowned out by the continual crashes of lightning.
Luna shrugged, her speed controlled but ever increasing. “Our advice is thou should try to miss the ground.”
“Oh, that was helpful!” The Doctor said quickly. Land was rapidly approaching the two fliers. The storm had cut out, lightning crashing above them but not below. The two could now move freely, but the Doctor couldn’t stop his wings. Still new and not strong enough to hold his velocity, they flapped to no avail. “Here it-”
The Doctor’s cries were cut off as a low purple glow held him up inches above the ground, with Luna giggling as she stood. “We told thou not to worry about our landing.”
**
Pinkie Pie looked around suddenly, her tail twitching violently. “Twitchy twitchy twitch.”
Twilight looked around suddenly her eyes focusing on the ceiling “Where!? What’s about to fall!?”
Pinkie shrugged and bounced along. “I think that was Luna and the Doctor, but they're fine. If it was a scary fall my knee would have pinched.”
Twilight relaxed visibly. As she moved through the corridors she saw the shadows and kept wary of them. “How do you think they came to not eating meat?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I think they just got bored with it. I mean, anyone can get bored with one kind of food. Who's to say that the walls don’t taste better?”
Twilight nodded. That made an odd amount of sense to her, but it couldn’t be correct. Either way it wasn’t their job to figure out the why. They just needed to get to Luna’s palace as fast as possible. Twilight walked as fast as she could while conserving her energy for the long distance. Pinkie, however, seemed to have endless endurance as she bounced along the floor.
“It doesn’t make sense though. I mean, why? They must have a reason for shutting down the weather generators.” Twilight said while watching another shadow as they passed, unsure if it was natural or moving.
“Oh Twi, nothing has to make cents. I don’t make cents, and you don’t make cents. After all, between us we probably only have a few bits.” Pinkie said optimistically.
“No pinkie, sense not cents.” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.
“Suuuureee Twilight, you just keep thinking that.” Pinkie said as she continued to bounce off into the hallway.
**
“Yah feeling better now sugar cube?” Applejack asked as she walked along side Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow had recovered well enough, but one of her eyes has had a black ring around it. “Why do I always get beaten up when I'm with the Doctor?”
“Ah guess its just bad luck, really.” Applejack said with a shrug.
“Well the next time somepony thinks they can hit me, I'm going to hit back!” Rainbow said angrily.
“Ah am sure yah will sugar cube. Now then, if ah was my cousin where would ah go?” Applejack asked, looking around as if expecting to find Apple Wash around the next corner.
“I don’t know, back on your farm?” Rainbow said. She was still focused more on her eye and her anger. “When I get that my hooves near that bucking, hay stealing, bucket of-”
“Rainbow! Please! Ah know yah are upset, but language sugar.” Applejack said placing a calm hoof on her friend. “We don’t have time to hold grudges, we need to stay focused. We need to find Apple Wash.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled something inaudible as she continued to walk. Applejack was right, but Rainbow still wanted to give that red pegasus a buck to the face. “Lets just check her farm.”
**
Fluttershy stared at the generators. All of them were in horrid condition, and most looked like they had been turned inside out. The piping and wires that had once supplied the moon with power and hot air were all broken and chewed. “Oh my. How are we supposed to do anything with these?”
The ponies looked at one another, but it was Coal that spoke. “We can’t do anything, repairs are impossible at this point. Didn’t your friend just say we needed to buy time?”
“Well, yes darling but how can we buy time if the sun is now the only heat source?” Rarity asked while rolling her eyes.
“You would have to make it so that the sun or moon stopped moving in orbit.” Spike replied. “But Luna didn’t stop the moon.”
“That’s because it’s not hers to command. When she left to form the lunar republic, the sun goddess Celestia demand that she have the right to control the sun and moon so that balance would stay on Equestria. Luna had demanded that the moon stay with her, and the fight almost came to blows. Hell it almost came to war, that was until the bearers of harmony at the time sided with Celestia and Luna was forced in to an agreement, handing over the rotation of the moon to her elder sister. The two haven’t spoken since then.” Coal said as if reciting a history lesson.
“So the Solar Empire that we keep hearing about is actually Celestia’s Equestria?” Spike asked his eyes going wide.
“Yeah… how do you ponies not know this? This stuff is, like, taught in elementary? Its basic history.” Coal said, looking hard at the other group.
“Oh well, um, we didn’t pay attention in class.” Fluttershy said with a smile and nod of her head.
“Hmm. Too bad we couldn’t get a message to Celestia to have her hold the sun in place.” Spike said with a shrug. He watched curiously as everypony but coal suddenly turned their heads to face him. “What?”
“Spike my dear, you can send a letter to princess Celestia.” Rarity spoke kindly, reminding the dragon of his capabilities.
Coals eyes widened a little in shock, but shrugged it off. Why was she even surprised at anything anymore? In the last few hours she had been chased by shadows, watched the generators she was supposed to keep running fall into disrepair, and had yet to find her best friend in this dark underground. She turned to walk but stopped when she came to a wall of shadows.
“When did they get there?” Rarity said, blinking. She was sure that hallway had lights a few moments ago.
“Are they eating the light source?” As if answering the question another light down the hallway went out, and then another. “Run!”
Spike barely managed to get onto Fluttershy’s back as she charged away from the lights, the group suddenly being chased by the dark. “If they don’t eat meat why does it matter?”
“It’s just a feeling, but I don’t think we should be in the dark.” Fluttershy answered as they galloped as fast as they could. The lights were going out one after another, chasing them as they ran. They had to stay ahead of the shadows.
**
The Doctor breathed far more easily now that his hooves were on the ground. He looked at the long tower up. “How do we get back up?”
Princess Luna blinked, thinking for a moment. “We shall teleport us up.”
“Wait, that’s within your range? Why didn’t you just teleport us down then!” The Doctor said while turning to Luna and staring at her with a bewildered look.
“Because we thought that falling wouldst be more fun.” Luna said with a light laugh. “Now, we require thous assistance. We must get the power core hooked up to the spell.”
“Right then, what do you need?” The Doctor turned, but quickly stopped while looking out at a shadow. A shadow that stood on four legs and was surprisingly up right. A shadow that looked had the shape of a pony. “Oh that’s new.”
Luna turned and saw it as well as the creature shambled forward for a step. “Doctor, is that...?”
“No, the pony is not made of Vashta, there aren’t enough here to do something like that. However, there would be enough to cover a pony. Luna, I think we just found your lost engineer.”
“Thou hast said that these Vashta did not eat meat, so is that pony alive?” Luna asked still backing away from the shambling form.
“I don’t really know. He or she could still be alive, or they could have suffocated under the amount of the bloody things. Of course, being crushed by the swarm is another possibility...”, The Doctor said, his thoughts trailing off.
“Crushed? But they are so tiny! Surely they lack the weight to do as thou hast spoken?” Luna said in disbelief.
“Imagine a billion of anything applying pressure to your back, pushing down on your bones and body. After a while the body just gives out. It doesn’t matter how small they are, but they still could have let the pony live. The only way to know would be to ask.” The Doctor said, stepping forward to stand his ground. “Can you lot hear me? Nod once if you can understand me.”
“W-we can- hear you.” The pony spoke but did not move. Still as a shadow. It sounded as if hundreds of smaller voices were combining to make one loud one, and instinctively Luna backed away a little further.
“How can this be? Doctor, didst thou know they hath the power of speech?”
“Oh sure, but I didn’t expect to hear it. Living swarm and all it can be hard to get everyone to speak together, isn’t that right Vashta Nerada? Now I have a few questions I want to ask.”
**
Twilight and Pinkie had finally reached Luna’s castle. An exact copy of the one in Canterlot, its stone white walls made Twilight feel oddly at home. As she and Pinkie ran up to the gates, however, they were quickly stopped short by two grey, bat winged pegasi. There leather-like wings unfolded to stop the two from moving any further. “Halt! The castle is off limits to visitors at the moment.”
Pinkie Pie nodded. “Oh that’s fine, we aren't visitors. We're guests. We were asked to come here by Princess Luna.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. “I have proof. The city is in grave danger and I was instructed to come here by the Princess. She and the Doctor are working to activate safety protocol one.”
“That’s rubbish! The Princess would never allow such a thing to be activated.” The guards both took a step forward, forcing the two mares back.
“It’s the truth, look!” Twilight levitated Luna’s crown in front of the two.
The two guards looked to one another. A look of worry passed between them. “Right then… follow us.”
The two guards turned and began to escort Twilight and Pinkie through the castle. Pinkie went bouncing along despite the heavy atmosphere.
“Pinkie, I think you should try just walking instead of bouncing everywhere.” Twilight tried to sound as serious as possible while still maintaining a polite tone.
“Don’t be silly Twilight! If I didn’t use the trampoline, who would?” Pinkie said with a small giggle.
“What is she talking about?” one of the pegasi asked, turning to look back at the guests. “There isn’t a-”
Twilight cut him off. “She’s Pinkie. You get used to it.”
**
“So yah are saying yah ain't seen yah little sister since she was brought home by the guards.” Applejack repeated what she had been told to make sure she had grasped all of the information.
“Eyup. Ah swear she was right fuming when she left after that.” The stallion’s name had turned out to be Apple Core, but most people referred to him as AC. He had insisted that the two ponies do the same when they had first arrived.
“Okay AC I'll buy that, but do you have any idea where she could have gone?” Rainbow interjected.
“Enope. Ah don’t have a clue. Usually when she gets like this ah just stay out of her way.” AC said as he turned around and bucked at another tree. The sunlight was still fading, but for some reason it was moving very slowly.
“Okay, but ah have one last question about tha new trees. Why are they oak?” Applejack asked, her eyes still transfixed on the row of dead trees.
AC stopped for a moment to look at Applejack. “Ah don’t right know. Apple Wash bought em, insisting that they were supposed to be good for us. But after we re-planted them, everything started going weird. Apples would disappear, trees would die, and worse, things would just be gone. Those trees have caused us nothing but problems.”
“Wait, tree’s would die?” Rainbow blinked while looking around. The only dead trees were the oak ones.
“Eyup. We would have to dig em up right quick and get a new one from a family member or transport. We can’t lose apples up here, too few resources as it is. We must have lost about twelve trees, though it eventually just stopped. Real random, ah tell yah. Ain't ever seen anything quite like it.”
“What did you do with the dead trees then?” Rainbow said, looking around.
“Tossed em into the air lock and shot em out. Ah was supposed to do the same with the oak, but its harvest time and ah needed to focus.”
Applejack blinked. “That’s… wait! Come on Rainbow!” Applejack started to gallop, forcing rainbow to chase after her.
“What is it?” Rainbow asked as she ran after her friend.
“Ah think ah know where Apple Wash is, but ah am hoping ah am wrong.” Applejack raced away with clock ticking in more way then one. Apple Wash had seen the trees. She should could have known, and she would have blamed herself. If Applejack believed that she had doomed all of her friends and family, there would be one place where she would go. “Please let me be wrong.” **
“Stay together.” Spike said, looking around. They were cornered. A four way intersection, and all the hallways were walls of shadows. The only light came from the ones in the intersection, which were slowly starting to flicker.
“Fluttershy, dear, don't you have the Doctor's sonic screwdriver?” Rarity asked shakily while looking up at the lights. “Maybe now would be a good time to use it.” The ground was getting colder, and the air around them was getting thinner. Night was coming.
“Um… right.” Fluttershy lifted up the screwdriver and pointed it at the lights, hoping for them to get stronger. She pressed hard with her teeth like the Doctor had explained. There was a high-pitched whistle and the room became brighter.
“Light won’t stop them, but I think it will hold them back for a bit.” Coal said hopefully. “Why are they being so aggressive all the sudden?”
“Maybe they don’t like that we split up into groups? Before we might have been to large to do anything with, but now were only a third of our group...” Spike said. He hoped he was wrong, and he hoped the others were not having the same kind of problem.
“I... um...” Fluttershy grew quiet unsure of what to say. Staring at the ground and the shadows, it seemed like the group were now prisoners. But why? What was the point of all this? **
“Our forests are dead.” The Vashta Nerada spoke loud enough that there voice echoed, even with the roar of thunder up above them.
“Yes I know that bit. I saw your forest up above. What I want to know is why!” The Doctor asked curiously as he moved about the generator, grabbing wires with his teeth. He moved quickly, unplugging them and then plugging them in elsewhere. “Why are your forests dead, and why are you trying to destroy the city? Also, why aren’t you stopping me right now?”
“Yes, we are also curious about that.” Luna echoed. “Why are you trying to destroy our city?”
“We are not. We are hungry, and our forests are dead.” The Vashta repeated there saying.
“Yes you already said that but you don’t eat your forests, you breed using them. You lay your eggs in a tree and pro-create a million little nano spores. That's how it’s supposed to work. Your points are disconnected, and don’t tell me that your not trying to destroy the city because you are. The weather generators are down and we have half an hour till sun set.”
“We are not trying to destroy your city. We are trying to destroy us. We are hungry and our forests are dead.”
“Wait… what! Repeat that.”
“Our forests are dead.”
“No, not that bit! The other bit! Did you lot say you are trying to destroy yourselves?!”
“We are hungry, Doctor. So very hungry. Our forests are dead, and yet we live.”
The Doctor blinked, turning to the Vashta. “You’re trying to freeze yourselves. You’re trying to commit Genocide because you’re starving to death. You don’t eat meat, your forests are dead… something changed your diet, and now you’re eating everything but what you should have been.” The Doctor walked up to the Vashta his blue eyes looking at the Shadows. “That pony is still alive, isn’t he?”
“Yes. We needed form so we took it. Your friends were trying to restore power. We needed to stop them, so we trapped them. We needed a tomb.”
“So you tricked Apple Wash into taking the trees.”
“Our forests are dead, and soon we will join them.”
“What about the ponies here? You can't just be thinking of taking yourselves down.”
“You will save them. That is why you are allowed to work.”
The Doctor turned to Luna. “Right then! Work we will!”
** (authors Note: Special Thank you to Pre reader Adam who's fast editing got this chapter out on time. Seriously Thank him ^^)
Twilight and Pinkie arrived at a tower of new Canterlot castle. From the highest point in the Lunar Republic, the view was positively stunning. Not only could Twilight see all of the city, but beyond it with every star in the sky. The sun, so close to edge of what looked like a gray mountain range, and so much more. If Twilight had ever had a fear of heights she would have been terrified, but she was simply lost in the majestic view. “What’s up here?”
“This spot contains the activation panel for the Sparkle Teleportation System.”
Twilight looked around. The room was barren, with no furniture or decorations to be seen. It was completely empty, aside from the four ponies standing in it. The ground was a cold marble stone with a unique spiral pattern that seemed to start at the staircase and come to the center point of the room. “Okay… where are the controls?”
The two bat winged pegasi looked at one another with a confused look. “We don’t actually know. No one has ever tried to activate priority one before. We were just told that it’s controls are here.”
“But there’s nothing here!” Twilight said getting frustrated. There didn’t seem like there was anything around them.
“Oh Twilight don’t be silly, of course there is something here. We're here!” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around the room.
“Wait… what?” Twilight said turning to Pinkie.
“Well, there’s not nothing in the room because we're in the room. If nothing was here, then we wouldn’t be, so the rooms not empty. Of course, we aren’t the controls or what ever, but we aren't nothing either.”
“Pinkie that’s… Brilliant.” Twilight said, looking around the room. There was nothing else to be seen.
“Excuse me, but what is your pink friend going on about?” The bat winged guards looked at each other, even more confused than before.
“There's nothing else here but us, and you said the controls were kept here. Well, the simple fact is that a spell can’t be used by technology. There are no controls. What we do have is us, or rather me.” Twilight blinked while looking down at the city. Suddenly, she did have that feeling of vertigo that was hidden until recently. “Meaning that I'm what’s going to cast this spell.”
**
The air locks. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had found them at last. Panting as they ran up to it, they found Apple Wash staring vacantly into an open chamber. Applejack was the first to arrive, and the first to call out. “Don’t do it!”
“Why not? Ah betrayed everyone, ah knew what the Vashta were, ah brought em here.” Apple Wash turned to face the two ponies, her eyes were red from having cried far too much.
“Why would you bring them here if you knew what they were? What made you buy those oak trees?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
“Cause she had too. It’s the Apple family way. We can’t refuse to help those in need.” Applejack said, looking to Apple Wash. “They asked yah to help em get here, and ah want to know why.”
Apple Wash looked to the ground. “They were suffering. Ah thought they could have a better life up here on my orchard. For a while they seemed content just killing one or two trees a month or devouring small items, but then one day they all just disappeared. After that the mechanical problems started, and it’s not hard to figure out that ah've doomed us all.”
“Yah haven’t doomed us, there's still a chance. We can save everyone if yah help us. We can still save the city!” Applejack stepped forward, but Apple Wash backed up.
Apple Wash looked to the ground while continuing to back up. She was already past the open door now. Looking Applejack in the eyes, she tried desperately to hold back some tears. “This was my home. Ah was born here, ah work here, and now ah have destroyed it.”
“Yah can still help save the people!” Applejack insisted, stepping forward and taking a huge risk. She was now standing inside the air lock with Apple Wash.
Apple Wash looked around, first to Applejack and then to Rainbow. “What can we do?”
**
The Doctor and Luna were hard at work. Luna’s horn was glowing as the wires from the generators quickly disconnected and reconnected somewhere else. The Doctor, on the other hoof, was busily working at a computer screen. He tapped away at it with his hooves, not stopping for anything. “Luna, once we gather the power are you sure Twilight will know what to do?”
Luna smiled, giving a small laugh. “We are quite confident that Sparkle shall know what to do.”
“You don’t know that, Luna.” The Doctor said grimly. “This is a lot of power. It will, if used correctly, boost up a unicorns power by thousands. I know how powerful Twilight is, but I don’t know if she can handle it.”
“We have put faith into Celestia’s student. Thou should do the same with thy friends.” Luna said bluntly.
“Not trying to be very subtle are we, Luna.”
“We do not do subtle.” Luna said as the last wires were connected. “That shall do it, the power is hers now. There is but one problem.”
“The spell only transports ponies...” The Doctor said reading out what was on the screen. “...and we aren't ponies. Hay, that’s okay… we can take my ride.”
“Does thou speak of the TARDIS? That is out of our range.” Luna said looking up. “We shall need to gallop.”
“Traveling with me, Luna, you always need to gallop. But before I go, I have one last question for the Vashta Nerada.” The Doctor turned to the pony covered in the shadows. “I am going to ask you this once, and once only. It is very important you answer this question, because you have sparked my personal curiosity. Something changed your diet, and I know that isn't easy. When did it happen? When did your forests die?”
**
Twilight stood still on the tower, trying to figure out what she would have to do. She knew the basics and had teleported other ponies before, but this scale was unimaginable. How was this supposed to work? She breathed deep, trying to calm herself.
Pinkie Pie was not helping Twilight's nerves. She continued to bounce around the room, trying to calm down, but she was just as nervous as everypony else. The two guards kept glancing to each other, not sure about what would be coming next.
As the power was transferred to the tower, the tension in the tower only seemed to rise. The lights of the city grew dark, and all was illuminated by a large spiral design, which glowed purple. The spiral encompassed the entire city, climbing up the long tower, and finally came to a stop at the center.
Twilight blinked at the amazing sight before her. “Its not very subtle is it?”
“If it was subtle, the people might not understand why they were suddenly back in Equestria. That, and Luna doesn’t really do subtle.” One of the two guards said.
“Oooh, pretty lights!” Pinkie Pie said, her eyes going wide.
“Twilight, we don’t have much time. The sun’s final rays are beginning leaving us.” As the guard spoke, the fading light became more apparent. Shadows began to fall across the city.
“Right then, this will be difficult… I need everypony to be quiet.”
“Oh sure Twilight we can be quiet, I mean we will be so quiet that you won’t even know we are here, and when I say quiet I mean quiet not another peep out of me, nope, not another word-”
“Pinkie! Stop talking!”
Pinkie blinked and nodded her head in understanding. She started making a motion with her hooves to show that her mouth was now zipped closed, locked, she buried the key, and then she built a house on top of it and moved inside.
“All that to just not talk.” One of the guards commented to the other.
“Quiet! That goes for everypony!” Twilight turned, giving the guards a glare. Some of her hair was coming out of place as she turned, making her appears more frantic and menacing.
**
Fluttershy and the others sat against the walls of the heavily illuminated corridor. The lights had flickered a moment ago, but were quickly restored by Fluttershy and the sonic screwdriver. They sat and waited for something, anything, to happen.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. Luna and the Doctor, along with the Vashta pony, stood in the center of the hallway. The sudden change provoked a scream from Fluttershy as she jumped behind Rarity.
“Right then, that settles our end of the agreement. Now, give that pony back and allow us to go free.”
“Doctor. We thank you. We have suffered for a long time, and because of you we have reached an end.” The Vashta spoke one last time before fleeing the body that they were using, revealing a yellow on yellow pony with a thundercloud for a cutie mark.
“Sparks!” Coal ran up to the pony and hugged him. Sparks was alive but injured, carrying all of the Vashta had exhausted him. The creatures forcing him to move had bruised him in several places, but true to their words he was alive.
“Doctor, what is going on?” Rarity spoke with a confused look across her face.
“Oh, far to much to explain right now, but here's what you need to know. Any moment now, Twilight will teleport every single pony off of this station coinciding with the setting of the sun. Spike you need to come with us.”
“What? Why?” Spike stammered.
“I said why. Twilight will teleport every pony off the station, and you don't look like a pony to me.”
“No, I am a dragon!” Spike said, proudly pointing his thumb to his chest. “Oh… right.”
“Exactly! Thou art in the same boat as us. We require another way off the city.”
“So, we're heading to the TARDIS?” Spike asked.
“That’s my plan.” The Doctor said quickly. “The rest of you can wait for the transport, but we have to go… now.”
Spike, the Doctor and Luna all tore off down the halls. The Vashta had retreated from the corridor, leaving the ponies alone in the underground.
Coal helped Sparks stand. “Right. We should get above ground.”
**
The streets weren’t in panic, but more a state of confusion. Ponies of all kinds had stopped the usual games and festivities when the lights had died out. Everypony wanted answers that the guards didn’t have. Fear of some magnitude could be seen in everypony's eyes until Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Apple Wash began to explain what was going on.
Rainbow Dash had, at some point, found a group of Luna’s guards. They had understood what priority one meant, and what the glowing purple light truly was, but they were having a hard time explaining to ponies what was going on. The answers that they were able to provide gave the guards the information they needed to calm nerves and stop the panic.
Apple Wash however addressed the crowed once everything was calm. “Ah am truly sorry. Ah know this has been our home for longer then any of us can remember, but today we need to leave. This city can’t support us once the sun sets, and soon we won’t be able to survive here anymore. Ah know a lot of us, including myself, don’t really like the Solar Empire, but with Luna’s help we will adapt to living with them.”
The ponies all looked to each other. Some held each other for comfort, while others just looked around in shock. All were confused, but no one protested. They could all understand what staying would mean.
Apple Wash turned to Applejack. “We're running out of daylight. Are ya sure your friend is going to make this work?”
“Twilight ain't ever let me down before. Ah don’t think she'll fail us now.”
Rainbow nodded. “Relax. By the looks of things, we still got a few minutes. I'm sure that Twilight is doing everything in her power to make this work.”
**
“How the heck do I make this work?!” Twilight Sparkle was practically beating her head against the ground. Her eye was twitching in frustration, her mane was a mess, and she still hadn’t figured out how to make this spell work. “Everyone’s depending on me, but sure enough I can’t figure out what I am supposed to do!”
Pinkie Pie blinked, walking up to her friend. “Twilight… you’re scaring me.”
“Oh I'm scaring you, am I? Well, you want to know what’s scaring me Pinkie?!” Twilight grabbed Pinkie's head between her hooves and turned her to face the sun. Suddenly, it moved another inch behind the moon.
“It’s ticking, Pinkie! Why does it tick?! Why, in all of Equestria, does Celestia move the sun like that?! It’s nerve-wrecking, Pinkie! Nerve-wrecking!”
“Twilight, you don’t handle pressures all that well, do you.” Pinkie stated, worried for her friend.
“Pressure? What pressure?! I only need to save an entire city by using a spell I don’t even know! There is no pressure, Pinkie, there is only expectation! And what if I fail? Then everypony on this moon will die! But no, they won’t just die, they will suffer! I will be humiliated, all of my training will have been for nothing! Then in a hundred or a thousand years, when they come to investigate, they will find us all frozen with me at the very center! Oh, they will laugh!” Twilight’s eye continued to twitch. “They will laugh, and laugh, and-”
Pinkie cut her off by slapping her with a backhoof. “Sorry Twilight. I'm really sorry, but you were starting… to sound a little like me, and not in a good way. I mean, I can go off the deep end on a rant once and a while, but you were starting to sound really crazy. Not just Pinkie crazy, but really going to do something to destroy a town again crazy.”
“No… I needed that.” Twilight said, calming herself through long breaths. She watched as the sun ticked again, but began to relax slightly. She laid down on the floor, pointing her horn to the center of the room. “I think I understand what I'm supposed to do.”
As Twilight's horn glowed she focused it on the ground, the spiral glowing with her. The floor grew even brighter, and slowly engulfed the entire city in a purple light. Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened, looking out upon the moon. “Twilight, this is amazing! I mean, of course it’s amazing, but you should take a look at this. It's beautiful.”
The Lunar Republic was wrapped in the warm, glowing light of magic. The sparkling enveloped everypony in its comforting light, making ready for the grand finally of the largest light show the universe had ever seen.
**
From the Solar Empire, Princess Celestia sat on her throne. Eternally bored, she looked towards the sky. Her eyes widened, watching as a bright light shone from her sister's city. Celestia shot upwards, staying focused on the sight above her. “Guards, make ready. We're about to have a lot of guests.” She called out as she recognized the light. She knew what it meant, but never expected to see it in use.
Part of her felt joy. Her sister would finally return after their argument so many years ago. The two had refused to speak to one another since that day, and she could finally correct that wrong. She could stop being angry at both herself and her sister. Another part told her that the ponies of the Lunar Republic were in peril, and that for them to be using such a powerful spell would be insane. She wished more then ever that she had a way to speak to her sister.
**
The city was wrapped in light, everypony enveloped in bright purple magic. Everypony, that is, except for three figures. One was a Moon Goddess. An alicorn who did not fit the definition of pony in both age and form. The other was a dragon, young and full of life. The final one was a Time Lord. The last of his kind, an alien from another world and time.
These three figures ran through the city. “Shield your eyes!” The Doctor called out. The two following him took the advice. The light surrounding the ponies, surrounding the city, glowed even brighter until there was a loud pop. The city fell silent.
The Doctor opened his eyes again, blinking. The city was now as dead as it would ever be, the sun setting down the last rays of light with a final tick. The three were left behind. Alone, inside the tomb the Vashta had created. “She did it.” The doctor said, his breath clearly being seen against the cold of the night.
**
Celestia was quickly reminded of the old saying 'careful what you wish for', as her courtroom was suddenly filled with the brightest light she had ever seen. She quickly avert her eyes. It was as if a star had descended from the sky to fill the room, but as suddenly as it had started it ended. The courtroom was immediately filled with the murmurs of hundreds of ponies. Celestia blinked, almost unable to comprehend the situation. “What in Equestria just happened?”
Twilight stood for a moment. She was exhausted and breathing heavily, but standing on all hooves. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words. “Hello...Celestia.” Was all Twilight could manage to stammer out as she fell over.
**
Hours later, all ponies had been escorted out of the ball room except for Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Coal, Sparks, and Apple Wash. In time, the group managed to explain all that had happened in the last few hours.
Twilight had recovered and was back to sitting down, listening as Rarity gave her last bit of the report. “...and that was the last time any of us saw your sister, the Doctor, or Spike.”
“I am so sorry. Had I known that was what I was doing, I would have tried and extended my parameters.”
“Ah don’t think that would have been a good idea, sugar cube. Yah almost hurt yah self something bad just using that spell. Changing it could have caused something to go wrong.”
Celestia nodded and touched her horn to her students. “You did wonderfully, Twilight. It has been such a long time since I have seen you and I'm just happy you managed what you did. I'm sorry to hear about The Doctor, Luna, and Spike, but they were valiant.”
All the ponies stared at the ground until they heard a sound, like a dying blender, fill the room. The next thing they knew, the TARDIS was materializing in the air. It crashed into a pillar, causing some considerable damage. The doors swung open and Spike practically fell out, sickened by the motion of it. Not known for having a strong stomach, the baby dragon quickly lost his lunch.
The other two, on the other hoof, were arguing very loudly. “Stop being a backseat driver, Luna! I know where I am going!”
“Thou most certainly does not! We shall refuse to be escorted by such a death trap as the one thou hast. If thou refuses to drive carefully, then we do not wish to stay any longer!”
“It’s the time vortex, there is no speed limit! And its not a death trap, it’s a type-forty mark-three TARDIS!”
“Which was out of date when we were born!”
“Oh, don’t even go there with me! You want out so badly, then go! We're parked! A few hours late, no thanks to one back seat driver!”
**
A while after the incident in the ball room, the Doctor sat down with Twilight. They were on a balcony, overlooking Equestria and the Solar Empire. “Doctor, what happened to the Vashta Nerada?” The question had been in the back of her mind ever since they arrived.
“They told me that they came from Ponyville, and a thousand years ago something big happened. A unicorn, trying to save her home from destruction, cast a spell towards a swarm of Parasprites. She was trying to get to get the insect-like swarm to stop eating food. Sadly, what she didn’t know is that a second swarm was caught in the mix. A second, much smaller swarm, that had always been there. They lost the ability to eat the food that they needed, and over time that second swarm grew into the one that we saw today.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, a look of sorrow taking hold “So everything that happened here today, all the homes that were destroyed, it was all… my fault?”
“Yes, but on the other hand you also saved every pony in the city. Every pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony has you to thank for their lives today. It's like I told you last time, Twilight. Magic is a force for great and powerful things.”
“I thought you said that about friendship.”
The Doctor got to his hooves. “Did I? Oh well. Come on Twilight, everyone’s waiting and I have got such a good idea for a vacation for you. How would you like to see the universe's youngest museum?”
Twilight blinked while getting to her hooves. “That… actually sounds really fun.”
**
Credits: Written by: Masorin
Edited by: D1SEL, Skwoogle (Adam), and Mikfail,
Special Thanks to: Skwoogle for getting chapter 3 back to me on time, and Izzy for her continued support in my life, and giving me the idea to start this.
My little pony is property of Hasbro, And Doctor Who is property of the BBC.
Doctor Whooves will return in: Earth and Sky on December 25th (if possible If not it will return at its usually scheduled time of Monday December 26th)
A guard trotted through the articulate hallways of the museum. He was working the night shift once again as he navigated his way through the dimly lit museum. The halls would have been shrouded in darkness had there not have been a few lights left on for the security ponies. Wax figures of famous ponies from throughout the universe made up the many exhibits all around him .This was the pony exhibit, the wing he was supposed to patrol and protect from thieves, not that anyone could steal from the museum.As a matter of fact, he was more surprised that they even closed at all.
While he leisurely patrolled the halls he came across six mares; perhaps the most famous ponies in history aside from maybe Celestia and Luna themselves. They were the bearers of the six elements of harmony. It was always interesting to the guard to see them reincarnated as wax figurines. Though, he had always wondered why they were so grey.
Rarity had a large Rock, which was labeled with the name “TOM”. The night shift guard smiled, he knew this particular story; though, it wasn’t a happy one. He often wondered why the museum had an exhibit displaying the largest fight the six elements of harmony ever had. The exhibit was based on the day upon which Discord was freed from his stone prison and unleashed pure chaos upon the land of Equestria. Yet, the stallions in charge of the museum had thought that the six ponies displaying disharmony was the best example of it.
The earth pony gave a light shrug and began to walk down the halls, but stopped when he heard a voice.
“Stop laughing at me!”
The surprised guard pony turned around and pressed a hoof to his radio. “Hey, this is Nightstick. I… um… I think we may have some nighttime visitors.” He said, as he cautiously attempted to follow the mysterious voice.
“Ha, ha.”
“I said Stop laughing!”
“Get back, Tom is mine!”
Nightstick picked up his pace; galloping back to the six mares he had passed earlier along his patrol. The startled pony turned the corner, only to drop his radio and freeze in place. He found himself in the company of six greyscale mares which had seemingly been brought to life. The confused guard said, stuttering as he spoke. “W-what is going on?”
“Don’t know, don’t care, not my problem.” A greyscale Rainbow Dash commented with a shrug.
Nightstick’s mouth dropped a little as he blinked, the wax figures were coming to life, all of them! He timidly took a step back, only to feel someone behind him.
“Like it?”
Nightstick turned around and saw someone. The trembling guard pony’s eyes grew wide. “But that’s… no.” There was a snap and suddenly the guard was gone. He had incomprehensibly disappeared in a bright flash of light. Maniacal laughter rang out through the museum.
“I said stop laughing!” Pinkie Pie yelled glaring at the other figure.