The Doctor once again finds himself in the middle of a... situation. Mind you, situations for him never involved getting turned into a talking horse. Well, pretend you have a plan and just go for your trusty Sonic I suppose. ONCE A TIME LORD REWRITE
The Last of the Time Lords. The Oncoming Storm. The Predator, those very names ring fear throughout the cosmos, and for good reason. Good men don't need rules, and there's a very good reason the Doctor has so many. Just coming off from a true Voyage of the Damned, the Doctor finds himself in one very new situation that he can safely say in all of his 900 years of living, he has never experienced before. Crash landing (Well okay, maybe that isn't quite so new at all for him.) in a land of talking ponies. And now he's one. Well, guess there's only one thing to do. Pretend he knows what he's doing and just do what he's been doing all his life. Run. Do a lot of running. And who knows, maybe he'll find a friend, and possibly more in the local Princess of the Sun. One thing to say to that, really. Allons-Y!
(A rewrite of Once a Time Lord, Now a Pony as it was meant to be, giving Ten and the MLP characters the written justice they deserved but I failed to give them in my first outing.)
Takes place directly after Voyage of the Damned for the Doctor, and Pre-Season One for MLP.
A pair of furrowed, rather fierce eyebrows scribbled away on a piece of paper, bound in a dark blue book. With this, ponies would hopefully know his story and understand what exactly he and his friends had to do to save all of time and space and their reasonings behind their actions. Not just for their big moments in the lives, when they saved Equestria many times over, but for other things as well. There were dark moments that needed to be told, and he couldn’t beat around the bush about them. The pony let out a sigh as a pair of white feathered wings wrapped around him in support.
“Now… Let’s get started.”
An unknown area in Time and Space...
The Doctor was lonely. He'd had this feeling before, and it was never a nice feeling. More like the feeling of despair, at least for him. It was really not a good thing for him to travel alone, as he lost sight of his morals, things becoming blended. The Racnoss had shown him that. He’d become a monster when faced with them.
“Oh, but I’m not from Mars.” The Doctor remarked. He was below the Thames, with spiderwebs above him and a facing a red skinned arachnoid like creature with the body of a human and very sharp claws. Nasty temperament too at that.
“Then where?” The Empress had asked him.
“My home planet is far away and long since forgotten, but its name lives on. Gallifrey.” He stated, in an almost arrogant tone of voice.
“THEY MURDERED THE RACNOSS!” The Empress had screeched at him in pure rage and fury at hearing that hated name, and in a cold tone of voice the Doctor simply replied:
“I warned you.” He growled out as he held small red baubles in his hand and then tossed them to the winds...
The Doctor sighed to himself, he had turned completely cold and inhuman then. He’d crossed a line that never should be crossed. He committed Genocide, for the third time in his life. First, it was the Daleks and the Time Lords, and then the Racnoss. How many… How many more races did he have to kill before he became HIM? How many before he became that which he feared the most, the Time Lord only known in myth as the Valeyard. He simply watched as the Empress screamed in rage as he let the Thames flood in her home, washing away her children like filth down a drain. Then there was her, watching in horror as he committed this act watching over the destruction of a species like some vengeful god. She stopped him, stopped him from getting both himself and her killed.
“MY CHILDREN!” She screeched in rage as flames burned like Hellfire around the Doctor. The dying screeches of her babies filled the room as water rushed down a large hole. A red haired woman, in a bridal gown, looked on in horror. She had seen the wondrous, charming side of the Doctor’s life, now she was seeing him in pure cold fury. Unrestrained and almost nobody to stop him. And it had all happened in a single day.
“Doctor, you can stop now!”
His companions, they kept him on the right track. Kept him human, made sure he never got too full of himself. Kept him to the line. Not even a while ago, he thought he'd met someone who'd fix his problem. There was this woman aboard a ship, a flying clone… Well, knock off really if he was to he honest, of the infamous Titanic. But it was not to be. She sacrificed herself to help stop her boss from dropping the replica over London. It was a long story, not worth reliving.
“At least… Not right now.”
And then there were the others, Rose, Martha, Donna and Ace to name just a few. He could make a list of all the people he’d lost or let go over the years. But it was needed for him in most cases. The Doctor, if he traveled with them all throughout his natural lifespan, he’d be forced to watch them grow old while he stayed as young as ever. Never changing, never aging. In the end, it was best he left them behind. Honestly, at times, he wondered if his only true companion was the TARDIS herself.
"Well Old Girl, where should we go next? Telos? I hear it's changed a bit. Or maybe Midnight, got great reviews about that place. Nary an incident. Heard their shuttle tours are the best really. Mind you, the rather lethal galvanic radiation could be a bit of a turn off but that’s a minor niggle in the grand scheme of things. Or what about the Bank of Karabraxos? Always wanted to see that… Heard about their devilishly clever security system." The Doctor thought to himself as he paced back and forth around his TARDIS.
The Doctor was so focused on his musings he failed to notice the alarm going off in the background. He did notice, however, when it progressed and changed into the Cloister Bell.
"Hold on... Sensors are picking up... Wait a moment, that's not possible! It's like a crack in space and time itself! Like something exploded,” The Doctor muttered before he realized something. “And I'm being sucked into it! Gotta try something..."
He flipped a few switches on his console, but to no avail. His expression grew frantic.
“Nothing I can do to stop it!” The Doctor muttered to himself as his eyes widened considerably before a manic grin reached his face. A new experience, a new adventure! “Not now... So, only one thing to say then. Allons-Y!”
With that, the Doctor laughed in glee like a madman as he was sucked in and catapulted from one side of the galaxy to the next…
In her private quarters in Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia herself detected the arrival of the Doctor and his newfound presence in her kingdom. She looked up from her book, and walked out onto the balcony and looked towards the night sky. Stars glittered and gleamed in the dark blue oceans of the heavens above. The moon shown down. Oddly enough, it's cratered surface seemed to form a figure. The figure in question was a tall unicorn-like creature that seemed to be staring down at the Princess of the Sun almost as if it was judging her for some crime long since forgotten.
"Somepony has arrived. Somepony very powerful, and very old indeed. Somepony very wise, and somepony very dangerous. And yet… Somepony very sad. He’s lost somepony, perhaps more than a few times." Celestia mused as she got a brief flash of a golden energy changing a strange being’s form as he breached time and space. He now stood on four legs instead of two, and wore a pony’s face. Yet, it was plainly obvious that he was never a pony nor was he that something else she briefly witnessed. He was something… More. Something far much older then perhaps even her.
Celestia didn’t know how she could detect this breach in the dimensional barrier. A temporary flare-up in her magic, perhaps? However, before she could question it any further, something happened. Suddenly, she staggered, new memories flooding into her head. A strange stallion with a strange device often accompanied by varying ponies some with faces she recognized, others she did not. She found herself too stunned to speak when she saw her personal student. She wasn’t alone. Her current captain of the Royal Guard amongst the images as well. Sometimes the two stood together, other times not. He, this strange stallion from worlds beyond just kept popping up all over her timeline, from her very childhood right up into the Equestria/Griffin Kingdom war. Regaining her footing, Celestia sighed to herself. As much as she’d like to ponder these questions, she’d have to shelve them for a later date. Right now, it seemed she would be relegated to a glorified observer as it were. She would just have to wait and watch and see what happened.
“I can only just hope this new arrival brings glad tidings, and not ill intent,” Celestia mused. “I cannot make any more mistakes of trusting ponies I shouldn’t have. I’ve made mistakes, far too many to count. Never again, never again.” Celestia repeated to herself as she briefly gazed upon a picture of her with a red and yellow maned filly with a unicorn’s horn. Putting on her Princess of Equestria face, Celestia tossed off her bathrobe and reached for her regalia…
A flying blue box flew through the early morning skies, moon and sun raising and lowering in the background, spinning wildly out of control as the front doors hung open with the Doctor hanging on literally by the skin of his teeth. His coat flew away unseen flying way to parts unknown as the Doctor’s TARDIS just barely missed a clocktower and the weather vane atop it. The Doctor himself just barely managed to pull himself up and flip into the TARDIS interior not even noticing his change in appearance.
“Well, that was a close one. Barely protected the important bits there.” He muttered as he fought with the controls. “Just gotta land this baby somewhere… Hopefully without much incident.”
The Doctor sighed. Oh, who was he kidding? He never managed to land the TARDIS properly did he?
“Oh well, just gotta hope for the best eh?”
Coughing, the Doctor stepped out of his TARDIS smoke coming out of the interior encompassing the area around him. As it had happened, it'd crashed through the window of a small little café. Perhaps it was needless to say, but the cafe's patrons were beginning to stare at this strange sight in their midst.
"Well, what are you looking at?" The Doctor asked, not noticing his change in form at all. A brown coated stallion, wearing a tie with the dollar sign on it and bags of money on his flank walked up and struggled for words. Finally, he found some.
"You... You just crash landed through a cafe window!" Filthy Rich said in shock as his wife and daughter stared gobsmacked expressions on their muzzles.
"So what? I crash land though a lot of café windows! There was this one time... Oh look, you're all horses. Isn't that nice?” The Doctor began, starting to ramble. “Well, I suppose ponies would be a better term given your miniature state. Oh look, I'm one now too! Isn't that nice?" The Doctor commented on his newfound state before fainting dead away, his regeneration into his newest body catching up with him. Filthy shook his head.
"He's completely insane..." He thought to himself.
Filthy sighed to himself. It was probably in his, and possibly the rest of Equestria’s best interests that he alerted the Royal Guard of this… incident.
“Why do I get the feeling life in Equestria is about to become that much weirder?” He asked himself. “And why do I get the feeling this newcomer will be a part of it?”
Deep inside Canterlot Castle lay the throne room. Lining this room were pillars, and alongside those pillars were many stained glass windows. Each depicted an important part of Equestria’s history. From the founding of the Equestrian Nation and the Joining of the three Tribes (Pegasus, Unicorn, and Earth Pony) to the first ruler of Equestria, Queen Faust. The history continued on after that, from the rise and fall of the Crystal Empire and the unseating of a chaotic tyrant, to the 12-year long Griffon/Equestria Civil War, many days that had gone by were shown upon these walls. But it was one that always drew Princess Celestia’s attention the most. The banishment of her sister.
“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light? There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be me! No… A Princess is hardly a title befitting once such as I. No, a Queen shall be my title. The Queen of the Night.”
“Luna, please, come to your senses! I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!”
“Oh pllllleeeeasse, spare me your sympathy. If you had any of that, you would have shown a ounce of it to me! Look at the ponies, they bask in your precious light, dance and prance about in it but do they give a damn about me?”
“Luna…”
“Luna? Really, you should take your sobbing and begging, and all that pleading with you on the road like a showmare. I for one found it delightful. Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will. And really, don’t call me Luna anymore. I for one hardly think it fits my new status. Nightmare Moon… Yes, that works. Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!”
“Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these.”
Celestia let a small tear slip from her eyes at the memory of Luna’s screams but wiped it away before anypony could notice. She couldn’t afford the luxury of sympathy. A ruler must be strong, resolute, infallible. Emotions weren’t something she could afford to show, at least… Not in public.
“But… But every year it gets harder. It’s been almost 1,000 years since I had to banish my own sister, almost 1,000 years of ruling alone. Immortality, it can be both a boon and a burden. But, in this case, it is the latter. After all, what fun is there in enjoying your life as a Princess of Equestria and protecting your kingdom from harm if you have nopony by your side to share that life with?” Celestia thought to herself. “I’ve made far too many mistakes, trusted the wrong ponies when I shouldn’t have. I can name them all in my head. Bradwr Boltstrike, Spell Nexus, even some of my own personal students. Tartarus, and I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but perhaps my own sister in a way. I trusted them not to lose themselves in their power and ability, and yet they still let their arrogance consume them and turn them into something barely resembling the ponies I knew. If… If I could have stepped in sooner, maybe, just maybe things wouldn’t have turned out the way they have. But you can’t change the past. That is beyond anypony’s ability. Time in a way… I suppose it rots us all.”
“Princess?” A mare’s voice asked, breaking Celestia out of her reveries. “The morning court is waiting for you.”
“Y-Yes, thank you, Raven.” Celestia stammered out slightly as the pure white unicorn mare held up a clipboard in a pinkish aura of magic. Celestia smiled at the mare as Raven adjusted her glasses, she was always there by her side for whatever she needed. Never wavering, never faltering in her duties. She valued loyalty in her little ponies and Raven exemplified that trope.
“Perhaps… Perhaps she is the next bearer of the Element. I will have to start the search soon.” Celestia thought as she got up off her magnificent golden throne and started trotting forwards, casting a small glance to the portrait of Lu-No, Celestia reminded herself, Nightmare Moon. “After all, if the legends really are true… The stars are aligning. In a few months, it’ll be exactly that time. The prophecies all say SHE will return to the world of her birth on the 1000th year when the sun shines brightest.”
“Something on your mind, Princess?” Raven asked as the two walked down the hallways, the doors to the throne room opening with a creaking sound. “If I may speak out of turn, you seem fairly distracted right now.”
“No Raven, you’re not speaking out of turn. You are merely voicing your concerns,” Celestia replied. “But you needn’t worry yourself, My Little Pony, I was just thinking to myself. Earlier this morning, are you aware we had a… visitor of sorts?”
Raven nodded. She remembered the sky breaking open in a white flash of light early in the morning hour and hearing reports of what looked to be an old Trottingham Public Police Call Box flying over the city. She’d dismissed them as just gossip by various ponies with nothing better to do then let their imaginations wander or perhaps drunkards seeing things at the time, but if Celestia herself was concerned…
“Celestia, you honestly don’t think there’s such a thing as Extraequestrians do you? I mean, aliens, honestly!” Raven laughed.
“There are many mysteries about this world which we don’t understand. It’s wonderful, but strange at the same time. Perhaps there is room for things from other worlds as well on Equus. It doesn’t belong to us any more than the eagle owns the sky.” Celestia replied.
“A wise and insightful statement ma’am, but I honestly think that these rumors are simply that. Rumors.” Raven told her. Celestia looked out a window towards the morning sky before whispering these very words.
“Are you so sure?”
Meanwhile, when the Doctor awoke he found himself in someplace dark, and from the sounds of water dripping from someplace out of sight, damp as well. He grimaced, not exactly the warmest welcome he’d been given, was it? His ears twitched at the sound of singing coming from somewhere nearby. It was a soft, mournful singing. Who was doing it, the Doctor couldn’t even begin to guess, but never-the-less he pressed his head to a nearby stone wall and listened.
“Baptised in the water You're draining the well You built up your Heaven On the back of Hell Divine is the daughter The dream that you sell You built up your Heaven On the back of Hell
The hybrid face of time and space And all that's in between Dimensions twist and turn amidst the whims of one foreseen…” The voice sung in a Northern accent. Well, what the Doctor guessed what passed for Northern on this planet. Lots of planets had a North after all.
“Course, there are some who don’t actually have a north as such. Defies all logistics, yes, but nothing’s really that impossible. Well, except for Robin Hood,” The Doctor mused as he adjusted his eyes to the low light. He was in a cell, a dungeon of some sort if he had to guess. “Well, one good thing about my predicament is that I seem to have regenerated well, no issues to speak of…”
The Doctor then tried to stand, but then found himself fumbling to the ground. He sighed to himself.
“...Course, that doesn’t mean that there could be other issues as well. This… This is going to take some getting used to. Never regenerated into an entirely new species before. That’s got to be a Time Lord first.”
The Doctor’s ears twitched again as he heard the sound of… Hoofsteps?
“Right… A planet full of ponies, gotta keep that in mind,” The Doctor chastised himself before letting out a mental exclamation of “Oh yes! Discovering a new species, as sentient, walking talking ponies with their own culture can be considered that, always fun! Doctor, oh you beauty!”
The Doctor simply sat in his cell as the guards approached. All of them were clad in regal gold armor, Roman-like if the Last of the Time Lords had to make a comparison, and all but one had white fur. Two of them were pegasi, one white furred and the other orange. The third, and obviously the commander judging by his fancier purple adorned armor was a unicorn.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to say this, but take me to your leader,” The Doctor remarked before chuckling at his own joke and the irony of it all. “Honestly, I must have words with him or her. Taking me captive with no trial? Rude!” He sing-songed.
“Actually…” The unicorn answered him. “Only reason you’re locked up is because of possible insanity. A danger to everypony all around you, if what Mr. Rich (The Doctor had to hide his sniggers with a hoof at the name) had to say was correct. You’re trouble, simply put.”
The Doctor chuckled.
“Trouble's just the bits in-between! Besides, you don’t know who I really am do you?” The Doctor asked. “For all you know, I could be a humble pony. But then again, you could ask am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy? Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor or a liar? A nervous wreck?”
“You’ve got a mouth on you, that’s for sure,” The unicorn deadpanned. “And you keep on digging your grave deeper. For all we do know, you could be right. You could be a liar or a traitor. I know you are a “Right old misery” as you put it, that’s for sure.”
“Oh, back and forth, I do love that Shiny! Reminds me of the old days!” The northern accented voice exclaimed from his cell. “Shiny” gestured to his orange furred compatriot to walk over to the cell. Next thing the Doctor heard was the sound of metal against metal and a nervous stuttered shout of “S-shut it, you!”
“Lack of confidence, how the mighty have fallen. Step down from your father, Flashy. The North Wind’s coming, so better batten down the hatches.” The voice taunted and then there was the sound of an angered growl and a whispered: “Shut up.”
The Doctor looked highly amused by all of this.
“What’s so funny?” “Shiny” growled.
“Oh… Nothing, don’t really have to leave my cell for a good time when I’ve got you lot. Like a peanut gallery, you are.” The Doctor remarked.
“Who are you?” The unicorn asked. The Doctor simply smiled.
“I’m the Doctor, that’s who.”
“Doctor Who?” The unicorn asked and his captive burst out laughing, throwing his head back in sheer joy.
“Oh, now there’s a question I haven’t heard in a long time,” He chortled unable to contain his amusement. “Really far too long, actually.”
“Filthy was right, you are nuts.” The unicorn decided before gesturing to his men to come with him. As the small platoon walked off, the Doctor called after him.
“Just something to think about, if you see anything strange, anything out of the ordinary, ponies start dying and you don’t know why, come see me! There’s a reason I’m called the Doctor, I help out. Maybe bumble a bit along the way, but I do like to help when needed.” He yelled and the unicorn looked back at him.
“Oh, I’ve seen strange and out of the ordinary today.” He remarked.
“Really?” The Doctor asked gleefully. “Where? Just point me to it!”
“I’m looking right at it.” The unicorn deadpanned.
“...Suppose I set myself up for that one…” The Doctor mumbled to himself as the troops walked off. Unknown to him though, his words resonated in the unknown unicorn’s head…
“Should we contact the Pine Tops Mental Institute for this one?” The orange coated pegasus guard asked.
“Honestly… I don’t know.” His captain trailed off, really quite unsure of what to make of this new arrival to Equestria...
Shining sighed as he adjusted his bow-tie. This was ridiculous, all of this really. Why he had gotten wrangled into being the head speaker for the yearly Soldier’s Ball was beyond him. Really, despite all of the papers and posters all around Canterlot calling it a celebration for those who laid down their lives for Equestria, the entire thing was just a disaster waiting to happen really. Shining honestly hated parties like this, frankly because almost always somepony snuck in spiked drinks and then everypony got drunk and raucous. Last year alone, he’d heard rumors somepony had snuck into Celestia’s private quarters and had… Er, relations with a pegasus mare. Surprisingly, Celestia had laughed this off when he had informed her of this. She had remarked drunk stallions would be drunk stallions, always letting themselves loose and having a bit of fun. All the while, Celestia was smirking throughout.
Now that Shining thought about it, he idly wondered if Celestia had made up the story herself just as a joke. If he was to voice his own opinion on that, he couldn’t honestly imagining her doing that as far as he knew, she didn’t really possess a sense of humor. The other option was, she had disguised herself as a pegasus mare and let a Royal Guard spend some alone time with her. Shining balked at that possibility as well, because the idea of Celestia having a one-night stand with anypony was… frankly ludicrous really. He then allowed his thoughts to drift to the strange stallion he’d met in the dungeons below Canterlot Castle.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to say this, but take me to your leader,” The Doctor remarked before chuckling at his own joke and the irony of it all. “Honestly, I must have words with him or her. Taking me captive with no trial? Rude!” He sing-songed.
“Actually…” The unicorn answered him. “Only reason you’re locked up is because of possible insanity. A danger to everypony all around you, if what Mr. Rich had to say was correct. You’re trouble, simply put.”
The Doctor chuckled.
“Trouble's just the bits in-between! Besides, you don’t know who I really am do you?” The Doctor asked. “For all you know, I could be a humble pony. But then again, you could ask am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy? Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor or a liar? A nervous wreck?”
“You’ve got a mouth on you, that’s for sure,” The unicorn deadpanned. “And you keep on digging your grave deeper. For all we do know, you could be right. You could be a liar or a traitor. I know you are a “Right old misery” as you put it, that’s for sure.”
“You know you’ve gotten it all wrong, right?” A female voice remarked as an aura of light blue magic readjusted his bow-tie to the correct manner of wearing it. Shining turned and he saw his marefriend since his high-school days, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadence as she preferred everypony call her. Shining smiled in a rather dorkish manner as she kissed him. He honestly didn’t know how he landed himself with such a beautiful and kind-hearted mare. “If I didn’t know better,” Cadence remarked as she fixed a rose to his light blue tux. “I’d say your mind was focused on something other than the ball.”
“That’s… That’s not… Okay, well it is true,” Shining stammered out as he tried to wrangle himself out of the mess he’d walked into. He tried to turn on the charm. “Maybe it was because I was so transfixed by your beauty?”
Cadence rolled her eyes at the corny line and how obvious of a lie it was.
“Please, you didn’t even notice me until I walked in here and adjusted that tie of yours.” the Princess of Love responded and raised an eyebrow.
Shining flushed red in embarrassment, she’d caught him. She always did. As much as Shining liked to believe he could hide his problems from his marefriend and deal with them himself, that wasn’t really the truth was it?
“You’re not worried about the Ball or your big speech are you, because honestly, you could have somepony else take over for you if you want.” Cadence suggested and Shining sighed.
“As much as I’d like to do that, this is my responsibility, and I can’t just hoof this off to somepony else as much as I’d like to.” Shining replied.
“Then what’s the matter, if it’s not cold hooves?” Cadence asked curiously.
“Okay… It’s like this,” Shining began. “You know that strange stallion who crashed into that cafe in Canterlot a few days back?”
“Hard not to be aware of him,” His marefriend replied. “He’s been the talk of the town amongst the upper classes. I heard Jet Set and his wife Upper… Oh, I can’t be bothered to remember her name mentioning about how much of a show-off he was. Swan Song on the other hoof remarked he was a charmer.”
“She wasn’t even there when he crash-landed!” Shining remarked in disbelief.
“No, but her niece, you remember the one, (Shining grumbled something rude, oh he remembered her alright. She was the guard he had to chase all around the compound just for getting a little too frisky with his little sister) is in the Royal Guard and she met him while delivering food to the prisoners and apparently had a little chat with him. Told her auntie all about him,” Cadence explained.
Shining groaned and hung his head as Cadence patted him on the back with a hoof. Was it really so hard to keep a secret nowadays? “So, what’s the big problem you have with him?” she asked. Shining sighed.
“It’s just… something about him rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I didn’t get to my position without being careful after all,” Shining explained. Cadence arched her eyebrow even further. “Okay, okay it was more than that. He basically said if I saw anything strange or even slightly out of the ordinary even to just come to him and he’d be able to lend a hoof.”
“Nothing wrong with being a Good Samaritan.” Cadence commented helpfully as she ran a brush through Shining’s dark blue mane. The stallion in question wasn’t even bothering to put up a fuss or protest as he knew it would be hopeless to do so.
“Yeah, I suppose…” Shining trailed off. “But, there’s just something about him I can’t trust. I mean, he fell out of the sky. How do we know if he came to Canterlot, and Equestria in general, with good intentions?”
Cadence sighed to herself.
“Shining, even since the incident with Boltstrike, and yes, I know how much you hate his name being mentioned or even brought up, but I have to in this case, you’re slow to trust ponies,” She began, even as Shining growled to himself at the mention of that hated name. “But trust me in this case, I think this “Doctor” is one of the good ones. Maybe he’s no angel, but from the sounds of things, he does genuinely want to help ponies. So, just give him a chance.”
Shining, after a few seconds that must have seemed like minutes, finally let out a sigh. “...Alright, I’ll try.”
Cadence smiled as she kissed him on the cheek.
“Good, that’s the Shining Armor I know,” she complimented before she gave him a light shove. “Now get on out there, all of those ponies out there are all waiting on you. Wouldn’t want to disappoint them, after all.”
Shining was greeted with a roaring sound of applause from the assembled Royal Guardsmen and various nobles as he finished his speech. When nopony was looking, and he had his back turned he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away sweat from his brow.
“Hardest speech I ever had to give in my life,” He thought to himself. He hated being put in the limelight like that. It was unavoidable when you were the Captain of the Royal Guard, but that didn’t mean you had to like it. He was honestly surprised he didn’t faint from pure stage fright half-way through. Shining tugged away at his bow-tie as he stepped off the stage. “Now, I just gotta find an excuse to get out of here and change out of this penguin suit. Faust above, it’s hot in here. Damn thing’s starting to chafe certain… parts as well. Honestly, who designed this thing?”
Soft piano music played in the background from a recording crystal that had been set up. It was an old song, called “Solace” if Shining remembered correctly. He had Cadence to thank for that. She had introduced him to much older tracks that her aunt, Princess Celestia enjoyed. Personally, Shining prefered 80s power ballads (Something he got no end of teasing from his fellow guards about) but that was just him.
“Good speech you gave,” A pale blue stallion with a dark blue spiky mane commented as he walked up, wearing a blue vest pinned with medals. Soarin’, second in command of the Wonderbolts, if Shining remembered correctly. He’d only met the stallion a few times before in passing. “Honestly, I have to say, your best yet.”
“T-Thank you,” Shining replied as he took a shot of bourbon to calm his nerves. “So, what about the music huh? Good choice?”
Shining mentally slapped himself upside the head. “Idiot! Worst icebreaker ever.”
“Eh, not to my liking really. Bit of a snoozefest if you ask me.” Soarin’ replied.
“You sure you’re not saying that just to keep from angering your boss?” Shining asked as he downed his glass. Now that was a name he could remember. After all, what pony hadn’t heard of the Captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire?
“No, I honestly hate it. Seriously, if I was in-charge of the music, rock and roll all the way. Gets ponies up and moving,” Soarin’ remarked and Shining chuckled in response. “This though... “
Shining nodded in agreement as Soarin’ trailed off.
“With you there bud. I suspect the only reason this music was picked was so that the more… conservative nobles at this function wouldn’t be ticked off.” Shining joked and Soarin’ laughed.
“Oh, can you imagine the complaints we’d get if somepony picked something out like “Trot this Way” or “Tainted Love?” the Wonderbolt remarked.
“Or worse,” Shining piped up as he began to laugh himself. “These hooves are made for trottin’”?”
“Oh, there would be complaints alright, but we’d probably just be sitting here laughing our own asses off,” Soarin’ stated. “Those nobles, if you’re asking me, really need those sticks removed from their backsides.”
“Amen to that.” Shining said as he and Soarin’ clinked glasses.
Outside:
Meanwhile, in the Royal Canterlot Gardens outside, Flash Sentry, along with another guard were moving a statue into place. Flash, every time he looked at the statue just shuddered. He didn’t know why, it was just a statue of a pegasus after all but something about it just felt… wrong.
“Something on your mind, Flash?” The guard, a greyish unicorn asked.
“Just that statue. I don’t like it, not one bit.” the orange pegasus replied.
“Can’t say I blame you,” his fellow guard said before he leaned in closer. “Between you and me, gives me the creeps as well. Dunno why Celestia wants this thing in her gardens, but if you ask me I think this thing should be locked up where nopony could see it ever again.”
“You can say that again,” Flash remarked. “Even creepier than that statue of that mixed match chimera serpent thing on the south side.”
Flash took another look at the statue, which had its forelegs over its eyes, almost as if it were weeping. He shuddered again as the unicorn guard lowered it into place with his magic. Was it just him, or was that statue watching him?
Flash turned away and trotted off, really wanting to leave the statue be as soon as possible. Just then, he heard the sound of what sounded like stone being moved and turned his head back and saw the unicorn guard missing. And then there was the statue, completely removed from its plinth. Flash sighed to himself as he looked skywards.
“Oh boy, how am I going to explain this one away…?” He wondered.
The Doctor still sat in the dungeons, having now pulled out a banana from his suit. He idly wondered how that had gotten there, even if it probably didn’t matter that much no one could blame him for being curious. The Doctor chuckled to himself, one of the things that came with having pockets that were larger than the norm was that you were always finding odd things in them. The Doctor chuckled, once he’d found a subset of the Eye of Harmony in them.
“Bananas are good. Great source of potassium. Reason I replaced that weapons factory with a grove full of them,” The Doctor thought to himself, beginning to go on one of his famous, or infamous depending on the way you looked at it, rambles. “Shame though, I admit that Squareness Gun of Jack's... (Some voice in his mind, sounding suspiciously like the man himself, shouted “There should be a “Captain” in there!”) which I... Er, liberated from the factory before it blew up does come in handy.”
The Doctor then had a thought occur to him and tossed the banana behind him before going on another search through his pockets in hopes of finding the item in question. No such luck though. All that he could produce was the big orange, and quite frankly in the Doctor’s mind, quite disgusting fruit known as the satsuma. “Figures, there's always that one stinking satsuma at the end amongst a whole hoard of items,”
By this point, his deep blue suit was a mess, scorched and burned from the TARDIS’s crash landing in Canterlot. Although it wasn't like anybody was around to see him right now, nor did he particularly care anyhow. He'd long ago dropped caring how people or in this case, ponies thought of his fashion sense. It had started ever since he wore that ghastly multi-colored coat about six or so regenerations ago that looked like it was stitched together from just about any piece of clothing he could find. The Doctor snorted (Wait, was that a nicker?) in derision, he had to wonder what he was thinking back then. No right man would ever wear that unless they absolutely wanted people to think them insane.
“Then again, I am a bit of a madman really. Yep, a madman in a box. That’s who I am,” He thought to himself before sighing. “Rassilon above… I have to wonder what sort of path my life’s taken if I’ve wound up in a dungeon. Mind you, I’ve wound up in dungeons before, angered a few kings. Mind you, winding up in a dungeon made for candy colored ponies is certainly a first. Not exactly something I had in mind. ...Yep, this so isn’t on my bucket list of things to do before I run out of regenerations.” The Doctor thought to himself. His train of thought then turned sadder.
“Paths in life… Rassilon, there have probably been so many other paths in life I could have taken… Prevented so many deaths..”
“You, no we did what we had to do, considering we are the same being after all.” An aged and weary voice said to him from a corner of his mind. It was a feature of Time Lord biology that even after a regeneration had passed, they were still able to speak to their future incarnations mentally if they so desired. Some Time Lords, usually the ones with especially powerful mental abilities like the Master and the Doctor had developed whole Mind Palaces and were able to communicate with any and even all of their previous selves in moments of calming peace and tranquility... Which for both the Doctor and the Master were far and few between.
"No, there could have been other ways…” Ten argued mentally with the regeneration he refused to acknowledge, the one who had dropped the name of the Doctor entirely.
“Bullshit!” HE snapped back. “You know perfectly well as I do that using the Moment was the only way to end all the fighting!”
"And in one simple stroke, I became a god, a god of death. Nobody should have to choose who lives and who dies, then they'd become a monster. And that's what I became in that one single moment, something I've been fighting for millennia. A monster. You know, they say the Valeyard was sometime between my Eleventh and Twelfth incarnations, but I think in that moment we became the Valeyard." Ten retorted and he could feel his previous self being struck like he was hit in the chest.
“How dare you..." War growled out. “Listen to yourself. The Valeyard is a monster with no remorse,” War said back in return in a stern tone of voice before his voice became kinder. "We have remorse for what we did. That's what you've become now. The man who forgets, and now the man who regrets. You’re not a monster, not yet…”
“Am I?” The Doctor asked sadly, and War had no true response for that. The Doctor sighed to himself. Yeah, he thought as much really. War then changed the subject.
“So, what are you going to do then?” He asked. “Just lay around in this dungeon feeling sorry for yourself? Not like you is it?”
The question came out in a quite snarky tone. At that point, the Doctor realized where the big eared one must have got it.
“Well, excuse me for obeying the “rules”!” Ten snarked back. It soon became a war of snark to snark combat between the twosome.
“Well, you’ve never been one for obeying the rules, have you?” War snapped.
“Pretty sure I have obeyed a few rules here and there…” Ten remarked.
“Yeah, only when it suits you.” War put in.
“Huh, suppose that could apply to you as well.” Ten retorted.
“Applies to both of us, sandshoes.” War snarked back.
“S-Sandshoes?” Ten stuttered out indignantly and missing War’s insult by a mile. “For your information, I’m wearing horseshoes right now!”
“And another thing,” War snapped, continuing with his critique. “Why are you always brandishing your Screwdriver like a weapon? It’s a scientific instrument! Unless you’re trying to look cool or something, it’s not doing you any favors amongst the rest of us lot. And then there’s that damned catch phrase of yours… For God’s sake, French? Really?”
Ten began singing “La-la-la, can’t hear you!” at the top of his lungs.
“...You’re such a child.” War muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, Flash had decided to take it on his own hooves to find the missing statue. After all, he decided, it was just a statue. Couldn’t be that hard to find really, and to be honest considering what it was, the pony who had stolen it probably hadn’t gotten too far. So, it should have been a simple enough task to locate it. Right now he was on the south end of the gardens, exploring the area near the very large hedge maze that had been put in some odd hundred years ago. A mist had descended upon the area, covering Flash’s entire field of vision with a very thick and rather eerie fog.
“Got to be brave, got to be brave…” Flash mentally chanted to himself, putting on a confident face even if he didn’t feel very much like that. Suddenly, his eyes whipped around when he thought he saw something move to his left. Flash went for his sword and pulled it out of its hilt with the sound of the blade cutting through the air. It ripped apart a section of the fog with ease but the gap was quickly filled. Something laughed beyond his line of sight, almost as if that something was mocking him.
“Alright, whoever’s out there,” Flash shouted into the gloom. “This is your only warning! Come out with your hooves up!”
Flash felt… something, even if he couldn’t narrow down what it was, near him and coming fast. Out of pure instinct, he began slowly backing away from the oncoming threat a small drop of sweat trailing down his muzzle until he felt something press up against him. Flash’s head whirled around and he let out a yelp, his sword falling to the ground from his mouth with a clattering sound. Slowly, his eyes peered upwards and his head followed their gaze to be met with a snarling, dragon like face frozen in stone. Flash let out a sigh of relief and picked up his blade.
“Oh thank the Creator, it’s just that very… I’ll admit, realistic statue of Discord the Chaos-Bringer, but just that. A statue,” Flash thought as he laughed nervously to himself at his own foolishness. If the other guards caught wind of this, he’d never hear the end of it. The pegasus then let out another sigh, this time one of disappointment. “Sure wish it was the statue I was looking for though.”
Flash had to wonder, how could the statue thief made off with the item in question so quickly and so silently? After all, it wasn’t like statues could move by themselves! Somepony had to have stolen it, a Master Thief like The Golden Hoof! That was the only possible rational explanation! Flash then heard hoof-steps coming from somewhere behind him and his eyes slowly turned to look behind him. The guard’s sapphire blue eyes then saw it, the Statue just sitting there, hooves over its eyes as always.
Flash sighed in relief.
“Okay, now to just figure how to get the damn thing back to its plinth,” Flash thought to himself before groaning as he shook his head in resignation. “Flashy-Boy, you really got the worst job in the world sometimes, you know that right?”
Something behind him moved and Flash drew his sword again and pointed it at a very small figure hidden in the mist.
“Okay, just so you know, my name is Flash Sentry. I’m 21 years old, I’m from the city of Canterlot, and I’m a Royal Guard and the pony to stop you!” Flash shouted before the mist cleared away to reveal…
“...And you’re just a squirrel, aren’t you?” Flash muttered, feeling rather embarrassed with himself and cheeks flushing red. The squirrel chittered and ran off and up a tree. Flash muttered “Idiot” to himself as he let out an audible groan hoping that nopony had seen that. He then resheathed his sword, feeling rather safe knowing that the only living thing out here (Aside from him of course) was wild animals and possibly other members of the Royal Guard. After all, what else could there possibly be?
Suddenly, there was the sound of stone moving and Flash once again whirled around only to be greeted with a snarling muzzle, sharp teeth bared and then his whole world went black.
Meanwhile, unaware of what was happening, Shining in an attempt to get away from the ball and the crowds of ponies ready to praise him had wandered out to the gardens to hopefully find some peace and quiet.
“You don’t like crowds, do you?” Soarin’s voice asked as it came from behind him. Shining snorted.
“That’s one way of putting it, never have really liked big crowds or parties in general. Why do you think you never see me at the Grand Galloping Gala?” Shining remarked to the cornflower blue pegasus.
“Believe it or not, I know how you feel,” Soarin confessed. Shining stared at him in shock.
“Seriously, you?” Shining asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, I’m not exactly comfortable around large groups of ponies either, mainly because said large groups are always fan-ponies trying to get you in bed with them for a one night stand or clamor for your autograph really. It’s… not fun.”
“Let’s not forget the reporters.” Shining put in.
“Oh, don’t even get me started on them,” Soarin groaned. “If I had to compare them to anything, it’d be like a pack of vultures swarming over a kill.”
“Don’t I know it…” Shining sighed. Right about then, he saw Cadance trotting up wearing a yellow and pink dress with a white rose in her mane. Soarin muttered “Lucky stallion...” as the Princess of Love nuzzled Shining before quickly getting the hint and trotting off remembering that old saying about three being a crowd.
“So, I see somepony’s being sociable,” Cadance commented. “Making friends with the second in command of the Wonderbolts huh?”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Shining commented as the two walked together in the light of the Mare in the Moon. “Just wish it was easier for my little sister…” He trailed off sadly. Cadance nodded.
“Yeah, she’s got friends, but the problem is she doesn’t pay attention to them and keeps her nose in her books and focuses more on her studies than them.” the Princess said, shaking her head. Shining nuzzled her in an attempt to reassure her. Cadance smiled weakly.
“Thanks, Shiny. You always know how to cheer me up.” She said with a soft smile before giving him a short kiss on the lips. Shining blushed.
“W-Well, y-you know I aim to please.” Shining stuttered out, quite embarrassed at the public display of affection. Cadance giggled and hid her amusement with a golden horseshoe clad hoof. She then gave him a much longer, lingering kiss, wrapping her forelegs around his neck as she did so. Cadance then broke away from the kiss making Shining let out a small whimper as her eyes trailed away from him.
“Something wrong?” Shining asked, noting Cadance’s suspicion and getting ready to go in full Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard/Protective Coltfriend mode if needed. His own eyes followed hers and noted a statue and sighed in relief.
“Just a statue, albeit a creepy one, but just a statue,” Shining stated, trying to reassure his marefriend.
“Yeah, but I could have sworn the thing wasn’t there before.” She replied, and Shining gave her a look.
“Now you’re just being paranoid. Statues can’t move, not since the last time I checked.” He replied before both he and Cadance turned their heads back to the statue. This time, its hooves had moved away from its face and the mouth was beginning to open. Both Shining and Cadance blinked in shock, and once again the statue had moved even closer.
“On the other hoof…” Shining thought to himself as the mist began to close in. “Run!”
Both Shining and Cadance broke off into a running gallop into the hedge maze the mist becoming ever thicker. They, unknowingly in their fear, took separate paths and split off from each other. Shining began taking turn after turn, shouting his marefriend’s name all the while. Just as Shining reached an open area in the maze with a golden globe themed fountain in the center, he heard a familiar scream.
“Cadance!” Shining shouted in fear. He then remembered a set of words.
“Just something to think about, if you see anything strange, anything out of the ordinary, ponies start dying and you don’t know why, come see me! There’s a reason I’m called the Doctor, I help out. Maybe bumble a bit along the way, but I do like to help when needed.”
Shining let out a sigh, as much as he hated to admit it, there was only one pony who might have the answer as to what was going on...
The Doctor absentmindedly whistled a tune under his breath as he listened to the gala going on up above. Thanks to the plumbing running through the stonework, he could hear various conversations and the music being played, even if he couldn’t make out quite what was being said or sung. He could tell however, it was quite the party. From the cell next to him, the pony who that orange pegasus had told to shut up was singing opera music for some reason or the other. The Doctor had to admit, despite the pony being probably insane, he was a very good singer. The other inmates didn’t seem to share this sentiment, as they kept hollering for him to just shut up. He was very good at hitting all the right notes, and his run-through of Carmen by Georges Bizet or whatever the pony equivalent was here was excellent even if it sounded somewhat off thanks to the accent of the pony singing it.
“Have to wonder, what got him locked up in here in the first place really? He seemed to know that Captain and that pegasus, even by name in the latter’s case,”
The Doctor thought back to the conversation that had taken place only a few hours before...
“Oh, back and forth, I do love that Shiny! Reminds me of the old days!” The northern accented voice exclaimed from his cell. “Shiny” gestured to his orange furred compatriot to walk over to the cell. Next thing the Doctor heard was the sound of metal against metal and a nervous stuttered shout of “S-shut it, you!”
“Lack of confidence, how the mighty have fallen. Step down from your father, Flashy. The North Wind’s coming, so better batten down the hatches.” The voice taunted and then there was the sound of an angered growl and a whispered: “Shut up.”
The Last of the Time Lords rubbed his chin in thought. “Okay, so it’s safe to say that the Captain is named Shining something something, and the pegasus is probably Flash something or other. Least I know something of who’s keeping me captive here. Well, least I’ve managed to figure something out, so good on me. Still wish I could figure out how to get myself out of here, and more importantly, where my TARDIS is. Old Girl’s got to be getting lonely without me.”
The Doctor grumbled something in Gallifreyan as he trotted back and forth in his cell, his hooves clopping against the cold stone floor. He was starting to get rather bored, and irritated as well. He hated not knowing what was going on, he liked to know everything that might be important. The Doctor chuckled to himself, he suspected if he was on a train one day and something weird was going on, he might introduce himself as a nosey parker or something of the like. He sighed, if he had his Sonic on him, he could be out of here in a jiffy and that would be the end of it, but those bloody guards took it away from him the moment they nabbed him.
“Remind me to speak to that Filthy Rich character the next time I meet him about reporting me to the police when all I am is just a harmless little pony! ...Still going to have to get used to that.” The Doctor thought to himself. Right about then, he heard the sound of a wooden door opening with a creak and then slamming shut with a loud thud and armored hoofsteps trotting up towards his direction. The Doctor grinned, seemed like he had a visitor, and from the urgency of those footsteps it was something very important indeed. His smile faded from his face when he saw exactly who it was.
“Oh, lovely. Your dear old boss decided it was time to go “Off with his head!” time for yours truly?” The Doctor snarked. Shining winced, he supposed he deserved that much. He then shook his head and the Doctor noted the very worried look on his face. He recognized that look, he’d seen it far too many times to even count. It was the look of someone who’d lost someone close to them and was very afraid they’d never even get them back. The cell door opened with a creak.
“Well, this is a bit of a change of heart isn’t it?” The Doctor commented. Shining winced again, he deserved that too.
“Shut up…” Shining whispered.
“Sorry, couldn’t hear you. Might want to speak up.” The Doctor remarked.
“I said shut up!” Shining shouted, and winced when he saw the Doctor take a step back in fear.
“Sorry, so sorry, it’s just…” Shining trailed off, hanging his head and stifling a sob.
“You’ve lost someone, haven’t you?” The Doctor asked, and Shining looked up in surprise.
“Yeah… I have. My marefriend, something… I don’t know what it was, some type of statue or something, it… It took her!” Shining began, starting to babble incoherently. As soon as the Doctor heard the word statue, both of his hearts skipped a beat.
“Did you say what I think you just said?” The Doctor asked, his tone going from snarky to very worried indeed. “Describe it to me, this statue.”
“It was a statue, simple as that. Looked like a stone gray pegasus, had its eyes covered by its hooves like it was weeping.” Shining started, growing very worried by the way the Doctor was speaking like he was pumping him for information. The Doctor’s eyes widened in fear before they narrowed.
“The Weeping Angels. Captain, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but if what you’re saying is true there’s not much I can do for your marefriend. I’ll be damned if I don’t try but I wouldn’t hold out any hopes,” The Doctor said in a no nonsense tone, quick, blunt and to the point. “First things first though, I need to know how that statue got here.”
“It’s the Princess, she wanted a few new statues for the castle grounds, so she ordered a few from a Prince in Saddle Arabia. This one must have come along with the order in that giant crate they arrived in a few days back. It was only earlier tonight that we opened the damn thing up.” Shining informed that Doctor, who could only growl.
“Okay, in that case… Take me to your leader. She and I are going to have to have words.” The Doctor snarled…
Raven Inkwell, sweat trailing down her light gray muzzle and her normally neatly kept jet black hair in a frantic, frazzled mess galloped through the halls of the Castle. She brushed past any guards who tried to slow her pace, knocking them aside. Bursting through the giant wooden doors of the throne room, she adjusted her glasses and tied her hair back in its usual neat and tidy bun. At the sight of her worried assistant, Celestia rose up from her throne. Nearby, her pet phoenix Philomena stopped preening her wings and looked at her, tilting her head curiously.
“Something the matter Mrs. Inkwell?” Celestia asked calmly. In a manner that reminded Celestia of her personal student in some forms, Raven spoke very fast and very hurriedly.
“It’sPrincessCadance,she’sgonemissingandeveryone’sinapanicandIdon’tknowwhattodo!” Raven stammered out in fright, hooves trotting on the marble floor as she paced back and forth. Celestia sighed to herself.
“Slow down, Raven. Take a deep breath, and have some water and then speak.” the Princess said calmly, never losing her composure. She levitated a glass of water over to Raven, who took a deep breath as instructed and then drank it all down before speaking again.
“It’s Princess Cadance, she’s gone missing and everyone’s in a panic and I don’t know what to do!” Raven shouted out. Despite being worried herself for the safety of her niece, Celestia at first went to the rational parts of her brain.
“Are you sure she hasn’t gone for a walk on her own, or a late night flight over the city?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow. She had to be calm, she told herself. There wasn’t any reason to get worried, at least not yet. Perhaps Raven was exaggerating and had gotten worked up over nothing at all.
“Do you really believe that dear sister of mine?” A smug voice sounding frighteningly like a certain Nightmare commented. “Since when has your dear little assistant ever gotten worked up over nothing at all?”
“Shut up!” Celestia hissed at the voice.
“That’s just it, last I saw her she was with her coltfriend, Captain Shining Armor.” Raven explained.
“Then it’s possible they may have gone back to Cadance’s house for some time alone together,” Celestia theorized. “I did notice that Shining did seem rather uncomfortable this evening because of the crowds.”
“That’s just it, Princess,” Raven said worriedly. “Next time I see Shining, he’s in a panic and rushing past me in a big hurry like Tirek himself was after him,”
Celestia now really was worried, even if she didn’t let it show. She had to keep a calm face, as if she showed even the slightest hint of fear, everypony else would begin to become afraid as well.
“Yes, that’s it. Be the emotionless, uncaring Princess I know you are. Worked out so well for me, after all.” Nightmare Moon’s voice taunted. Celestia ignored it.
“Something’s wrong, and I know it. Plus, I’ve gotten reports that several of the Royal Guards have gone missing. Flash Sentry hasn’t shown up for his patrol and neither has his partner.” Raven continued.
“That is… concerning. Heighten the patrols. I’ll find Shining Armor myself.” Celestia ordered and Raven nodded.
“I’ve got your Captain right here so no need to worry about him at least, and your Royal Guard won’t do you much good Princess,” A Trottingham accented voice commented as the Doctor and Shining entered the room. Celestia’s eyes widened, that was the stallion who kept showing up at various points in her memories! “Not with what you’re up against. Not the Weeping Angels. There’s almost nothing in the universe that can stop them. Almost nothing, but you haven’t met me yet have you?”
He winked in a charming way, and Raven flushed even if the stallion’s tone was somewhat haughty.
The Doctor studied Celestia even as he spoke. She was beautiful, no getting around that. She was pure white in coat color and had gigantic, almost angelic wings. The effect was only heightened by her silky light green, pink and pale blue mane. But underneath all the beauty, the Doctor sensed a warrior who had seen the passing of many a year even if she herself looked to be in her thirties. She’d seen the fires of war, heartbreak, and happiness. Even as the Doctor studied her, she studied him. Celestia noted that despite the admittedly rather handsome stallion’s age, his eyes showed that of a man who had gone through Tartarus and back. More impressively perhaps, he had lived to tell the tale. He’d seen horrors unimaginable and lost so many to the ravages of time. And somehow, Celestia got the feeling that no matter what anypony tried to say or do, nothing could stand in his way.
“We’re alike, he and I, in a way I suppose. But he’s impossible. He’s not an alicorn, yet just by looking at him I can tell he’s seen and done it all, a warrior and yet a gentle soul,” Celestia thought to herself, pondering on this conundrum of a pony. “But there’s rage as well, a fire that never should be stoked nor ignited. I can only pity those who have the foolishness and stupidity to enrage him.”
“So, what do you suppose we do Mr…” Celestia asked, flushing slightly as she realized she didn’t know who this stallion even was.
“The Doctor.” the stallion answered, bowing.
“What exactly are you a Doctor of?” Celestia asked, gesturing for him to get up off the floor. Time was running out if what the Doctor said was true.
“Well, now there’s a question that’s never been asked enough,” The Doctor commented, sounding amused. “Let’s say… intestinal parasites.”
Raven, Celestia, and Shining all raised their eyebrows, not believing him for a moment.
“Okay, I was lying there. But I can help you,” The Doctor stated kindly before his tone became more firm. It was almost accusatory. The Weeping Angels, they’re the universe’s most oldest and deadliest predator. Once they start… Hell. That’s what about to happen to your city, Princess. Hell’s come to your city.”
“Okay, I’ll repeat Princess Celestia’s question, but my way,” Raven snarled out. “Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge? And who in the Tartarus are you, anyway?”
The Doctor grinned once more.
“I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all of the ponies in this city that you live in. You got a problem with that?”
Nopony dared to say anything against him. Shining, somewhat in awe of the stallion, hoofed over the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver and psychic paper with a: “Here, believe these belong to you.”
“Doctor... “ Celestia began. “I’m willing to trust you, you seem to be the only one who knows about these creatures so do what you have to. I won’t stand in your way.”
Raven stared at the Princess.
“A-Are you sure about this, you barely know him!” She stammered out.
“Perhaps, but we don’t have many options at this point, do we? Plus, does he have any reason to lie to us?” Celestia asked, and Raven sighed. The Doctor smirked as he brushed off some of the dirt on his suit and adjusted his tie before that smirk turned into a wild grin.
Shining Armor, the Princess and Raven by his side, led the Doctor to the TARDIS, which had been kept in the lower bowels of the castle. After Filthy Rich had reported the Doctor to the Royal Guard, it had been teleported here on Shining’s personal orders in fear of any danger it may or may not present. The Doctor smiled at seeing his oldest friend, and once he saw it he quite quickly pulled it into a hug with his forelegs, his arms wrapping around the TARDIS’s dark blue exterior.
“Oh, don’t you worry Old Girl, I’m never letting you out of my sight again, you hear?” The Doctor whispered in a comforting tone of voice. In the background, Shining used a hoof and twirled it around his head to make the universal “He’s insane” gesture. “Those nasty ponies… They’re not taking you away from me ever again, understand?” He cooed.
The Doctor then took notice of his location. He, along with Shining and the other two ponies were inside a storage room packed with crates of every size and description, along with various other items of note like staves and even a giant crystal ball in one corner of the room. The Doctor gazed around the room in wonder.
“Wow, someone's a hoarder.” He remarked.
“Somepony.” Shining corrected. The Doctor rolled his eyes and muttered something along the lines of tomato, to-mah-to largely to himself. It was then he noticed the Captain’s offended look.
“...Sorry, didn't mean it like that. My mouth isn't always connected to my brain. Quite a gob, I have. Never know what’ll come out of it, as Shining’s already found out,” The Doctor rapidly apologized, again not noticing Shining’s annoyed look. “Say, what is this place anyway? That little area where you keep the stuff you don't want to lose? A vault, perhaps? Okay, it’s probably that. But maybe it’s a place you lot would want to keep your weapons of war, stuff you wouldn’t want your enemies to get their pretty little hands on,”
“Hooves,” Shining corrected again. The Doctor had the decency to look embarrassed this time around.
“This is the Black Archive, where only the most dangerous of magical artifacts go,” Raven explained, adjusting her glasses and huffing at the Doctor’s nonchalant and yet criticizing demeanor. The Doctor smirked, his suspicions seemingly confirmed as he placed his hooves on a long wooden rod and inspected it. Raven sighed at this. “In short, don't touch anything. There's a reason half of this stuff is best left forgotten. Like that staff, supposed to be able to remove one’s entire personality. Created by a dark mage back in the day, had to store it away so nopony would be able to get their hooves on it. Quite a few nasty curses on it...”
The Doctor very quickly retracted his hooves from the staff on hearing this in the blink of an eye and dropped it, the staff falling onto the floor with a clatter and the Doctor whistled innocently as he headed toward the TARDIS. It’s doors were swiftly thrown open and he and his three companions stepped inside. There were two gasps of shock, one from Raven and one from Shining. Celestia on the other hoof had a less visible reaction. She just simply raised an eyebrow.
“It's... It's not possible!” Raven stammered out.
“Impossible’s just a word, something people like to throw around wherever they like when they see something they can’t explain. The great detective Sherlock Holmes once said: Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” The Doctor commented cheerfully all the while noticing what Shining was doing.
“Go on… Say it… Say it…” He mentally chanted.
Shining quickly stepped right back out of the time machine and walked all the way around it. He then stepped back inside. He'd seen many magics, but none such as this. If it was even magic at all, which a small part in the back of his mind said but he refused to believe it at the time.
“It's smaller on the outside,” Shining stated flatly.
The Doctor heard him and frowned. He loved it when they said, “Bigger on the inside.” Shining then asked the immortal question. No, not that one. The other one.
“Why's it look like a Police Box?”
“It's not supposed to! There's a circuit, but it's broken!” The Doctor retorted.
“And you're too lazy to fix it?” Shining teased.
“Y-NO!” The Doctor said rather too quickly, after catching himself. “I rather like it this way.”
Both Raven and Shining shared a look, not sure if they should believe it or not.
“Very impressive magic Doctor,” Celestia observed in a complimentary tone of voice. Like Shining, a small part in the back of her mind said this could not be magic, but unlike Shining she had lived long enough to understand the meaning of what the Doctor had tried to state with that quote he spouted off.
“Magic... Haven't heard that one in a while…” The Doctor muttered in distaste as glanced towards the controls before looking at his hooves and letting out a small whine. How was he supposed to use them now? As he thought over this, he pulled Celestia aside, out of the range of a certain Captain's hearing.
“Sooo... What's with him? He seems awfully cold…” The Doctor observed, having been keeping tabs on Shining’s behavior ever since he met him.
The Princess sighed to herself and shook her head.
“He's, let's just say he's had some bad experiences that's made it hard for him to trust others. It’s… It’s not my place to explain.” Celestia said sadly.
The Doctor grinned, much to Celestia's shock.
“Well, I'll have to fix that at some point, won't I?”
Celestia eyed the Doctor. Something was bothering him and she knew it. It was obvious, the way he glanced off into space at some points and his general body language.
“Something wrong?” She asked carefully.
“No, nothing at all.” The Doctor lied.
But Celestia was having none of it.
“Don't lie to me Doctor. As old as I am, I'm not stupid nor am I senile,” Celestia stated firmly. “I should be able to tell a truth from a lie. Now tell me yours.”
The Doctor finally gave in. He supposed his new found friend deserved to know.
"Alright, it's just that... I have friends okay? Or had,” The Doctor whispered to himself, only Celestia hearing him. “They die and yet I live on..."
“I know the feeling,” Celestia replied, the Doctor not knowing she’d heard him. “Sometimes I think we immortals live for far too long…” She mused sadly. For far too long, she's watched dear friends and sometimes more pass, and without her sister, she was alone to bear it all. Nearby, the Doctor then pressed a button and the Tardis began to hum as it searched all of this world for one very particular life form, hiding among thousands of others. But this life form was quite possibly the only of its kind here, at least that was what the Doctor hoped. And if he was wrong... No, it was best for him not to think about that. He currently needed a plan to deal with just this one. His voice began to rise in tone, reaching outright fury as he glared accusingly towards Celestia.
“A Weeping Angel, oldest and most deadliest lifeform in this or any other universe, accepting no others. Must have fallen through the same crack I did, only arrived much earlier. Time's funny that way. Wherever you found it, you should have let it be. Let it die and rot away. Now it's on the loose, the potential timelines of everyone on the planet to feed and gorge itself on, like a pig!” The Doctor growled as he searched through a nearby chest. His lost hand from the battle above Earth on Christmas Eve was in a jar nearby. He tossed various items out of the chest, like a banana and a part of the Eye of Harmony. He paced back and forth around the TARDIS’s interior and muttered to himself. “Rulers, in all of time and space, they always turn out to be the bloody same! Always thinking about themselves, never caring for their people!”
The Doctor, as he said this to himself, thought back. He remembered Rassilon, how corrupt and power-hungry he turned out to be. The Time War had turned into Hell, and he planned to bring Gallifrey to Earth, just to save his own hide and not even thinking about the people of Earth. And then there was what he did to the Master, drove him insane with the sounds of the drums of war. Mind you, this was all just conjecture right now, but he long suspected, ever since the Master was resurrected to fight in the Time War because of Rassilon’s belief that he would be the perfect soldier that Rassilon somehow played a part in making the Master who he was, what he turned out to be. The Doctor let out an audible growl at remembering what the Master had turned into, and wiped away a tear at remembering his old friend, the one he called “Koschei”.
“You’re projecting, you know,” Raven said in a surprisingly kind tone of voice, and the Doctor’s ears perked up in surprise. “I don’t know what experiences you’ve had with rulers in the past, but I can assure you Princess Celestia isn’t like what you think she is.”
“Is she?” The Doctor asked before his tone became much more condescending. “Or are you just worshipping her because she’s your Princess and the laws of the land must dictate you think of her as a god?”
Raven growled. In the background, Celestia just listened to the two argue.
“A-Aren’t you going to step in?” Shining whispered to her.
“Opinions on me may differ,” Celestia whispered back. “If the Doctor wants to think of me as an almighty Goddess or a tyrant, let him. If I stepped in now, I may only worsen the situation.”
“Listen, you haven’t been here long enough to get to know Celestia! You don’t know what she’s like, so you have no room to criticize her!” Raven snapped.
“Really? Do I?” The Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow. “Your Princess… She strikes me as the type to observe, never to step in unless it’s to clean up her own messes. She’s one of those generals, the ones on the battlefield who would sit back and play chess with the soldiers, thinking them as pawns while she sits drinking wine and not caring about lives. There was a leader on my planet, one would who probably identify with this quote. “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” Joseph Stalin, 1981.”
Raven’s head whipped around to face Celestia. “Are you not going to step in and tell this “Doctor” he’s wrong?” She hissed out.
“Everypony is allowed their own opinions. If he is to think of me as a tyrant, so let him.” Celestia stated, and Raven’s jaw dropped, completely gobsmacked. Celestia sighed, Raven was loyal, but it at times could come across as a fanatic loyalty and she was as stubborn as a mule, no offense to them intended. If anypony said anything against her, Raven was quick to refute them, no matter how wrong or right for that matter that they may have been. The Doctor didn’t trust her, and for all she knew, and from what she could gather by what he was saying, had a problem with authority, that much was obvious. If the Doctor was to trust her, and she didn’t mind if he never did, she would have to prove herself to be the opposite of everything he said she was however hard that may have been.
Suddenly, a small device on the TARDIS’s control console went flashed, and the Doctor galloped over to it, his hooves clanking against the metal grating. His eyes hovered over one of the small screens as he read the data displayed.
“So?” Shining asked. “What is it?”
“While we’ve been chatting each other up, the TARDIS has been running a scan on the surrounding area for the Weeping Angel. It’s in Canterlot Castle or the grounds, that much I do know. Trouble is, now we’ve got to find it,” The Doctor stated. “Scan’s not exact, we only have the general layout of the area.”
“I’ll go in alone and get everypony out of the Castle,” Celestia stated as she opened the TARDIS doors with her magic.
“But… But milady! The Angel… It’s already grabbed Princess Cadance, we can’t afford to lose you as well!” Raven stammered out in fear.
“No, this is my mess. I brought this thing here. I have to take some responsibility for my own actions. Nopony else is dying today, I’m making sure of that.” Celestia stated and the Doctor’s eyes widened.
“No… She couldn’t be… I can’t be wrong about her? Can I?” The Doctor thought, before shaking his head.
“But-” Raven began before Celestia cut her off.
“No, go. Go with the Doctor and Shining, scour the Castle and find that Angel.” Celestia stated before teleporting away leaving Raven with Shining and the Doctor. Sighing, Shining pulled out his sword.
“Come on, let’s go get this son of a bitch.” He growled out, his horn alight with a rosy colored magic...
“Think you've seen it all? Think again, outside these doors we may see anything,” the Doctor asked with a wily grin as they exited the vault. Still grinning, he pulled out his Sonic while the Captain showed him his sword. Shining smirked back at the Time Lord.
“Mine's bigger,” he teased. Raven rolled her eyes and shook her head as she charged up her horn.
“Oh, we're really doing this?” The Doctor sighed before continuing as he heard old timey music coming from a few feet ahead of them. Evidently, the Castle’s ventilation system carried music quite well. The Doctor began humming the song under his breath before he slapped himself in the face with a hoof getting his mind back on task. He looked directly at Shining, his age-old eyes poring into the unicorn’s soul.
“Look, I don't know what happened to you that made you lose your trust in others, but I don't care. You need to start trusting me now if we're going to live through this and save anyone and everyone in Canterlot. Now, are you with me?” He asked firmly, without question.
After a few moments of hesitation, Shining sighed and answered. He still didn’t like the Doctor, but the enemy of his enemy was his friend.
“...Yes, now let's get to it.” Shining muttered to himself.
The threesome searched the Castle at one point even running back into the ballroom where the party was still in full swing. Soon, the Doctor and Shining found Fleetfoot talking to her fellow Wonderbolt Soarin’.
“Hey, you haven't seen a statue around here have you? Mad, possibly with fangs bared,” the Doctor explained before lying through his teeth. “Official statue inspectors. See, here's our card.” The Doctor said as he pulled out what he hoped was his Psychic Paper. It wasn't.
“...That's a library card.” Fleetfoot said dryly in her distinctive raspy tone of voice.
The Doctor looked at it and saw an old and faded picture of his first incarnation on it. He grinned in embarrassment, while Shining and Raven facehoofed in unison.
"So it is…” the Doctor laughed nervously. “Oops. Uh, So who are you two?"
Everypony present stared at him in slack-jawed disbelief. Surely he couldn't be serious, right?
"How can you not know who the Wonderbolts are? Best stunt flyers in Equestria, hello?" Fleetfoot asked arrogantly while Soarin’ sighed to himself and shook his head. He really needed to have a talk with Spitfire about Fleetfoot’s rather substantial ego.
“Sorry, I'm a member of Hobos United. All of us meet up every so often to talk about, uh, caves.” the Doctor stammered out, quickly thinking up an excuse.
As soon as he said this, the Doctor remembered he'd used this excuse before. Old age... must be getting to him at last, he thought for him to forget things like this. It had to happen eventually, he supposed.
“I'm not with him,” Shining said to nopony in particular before he cleared his throat. “Just looking around. You haven't seen any statues by perchance as of late?”
If that statement confused the class, the Doctor certainly didn't help the matter.
"Yeah, big, gray, solid stone, moves on its own and very deadly?"
Everypony present slowly shook their heads in a no gesture. Fleetfoot turned to Shining.
“Boy, your coltfriend's not well in the head, is he?” She snarked. Shining's jaw dropped.
“I'm not... He's not... I'm not gay!” He sputtered out. “I have a marefriend for crying out loud, the Princess of Love!”
“So?” Fleetfoot remarked. “Even Colton John had a cover marefriend.”
The Captain looked upwards at the ceiling and muttered “Why me...?” as Raven covered her mouth with a hoof to hide her giggles. He very quickly changed the subject.
“So what's with that mirror you grabbed? You gaze into it every so often or something?” Shining asked, looking towards the small hand mirror in the Doctor’s suit pocket.
The Doctor was only too happy to answer.
“Glad you asked! If the Angel takes a gander, it won't move ever again. Simple!” He cried gleefully before muttering to himself: “Simple insanity, that is…”
"You're not having a very good day, are you?" Shining asked.
“Let's review the kind of day I'm having shall we?” the Doctor stated, sucking in a deep breath. I got ponified in a regeneration, thrown unjustly in prison for a few good solid hours and now I’ve got to hunt down a bloody Weeping Angel to prevent you lot from being killed! So no, I'm not having a very good day! Not a good one at all…” He ranted, causing everypony to take a step back.
There was silence in the ballroom for the next few minutes before Fleetfoot finally chose that moment to speak up again.
“...So, not a statue inspector after all?”
It was about then, a bright gold flash lit up the room and next thing anybody (Aside from the Doctor, Shining and Raven) in Canterlot Castle knew, they found themselves outside in the city streets. The populace began to wonder what exactly had just happened, and why Princess Celestia had thrown them out of the Castle like unwelcome party guests. The Doctor looked outside a window along with Shining and Raven and saw Princess Celestia creating a golden bubble of magical energy surrounding the entirety of Canterlot Castle.
“I apologize for the party’s end, my little ponies.” Celestia began to explain as best she could. “But something has arisen, a mistake I created has now put all of you in grave danger and now I must attempt to remedy it along with the Captain of the Royal Guard,”
The populace began to whisper amongst themselves. A mistake? One that Princess Celestia had created, and one that had put them in danger?
“I promise, soon as the threat is quelled I shall give you an explanation as best as I can, but for now you must stay off the Castle grounds,”
Next thing they knew, another bright flash lit up the room and Celestia was standing next to them.
“They’re all out, now we can conduct our search in peace,” Celestia stated with Shining nodding.
“She… She teleported all of the Castle’s staff except us outside into the city with one single spell…” The Doctor thought to himself. “And now she’s putting herself in danger. If she really is an immortal, a Goddess, then the Weeping Angels would love to get her as a snack…”
For not the second time today, the Doctor found himself questioning his own opinions. Could he have been wrong about Celestia?
“Now Doctor…” Celestia asked with a warning tone in her voice as she turned to him. “What exactly are we dealing with?”
“I told you before-”
“But not all of it,” Celestia put in. “I’m thousands of years old, I can tell when I’m not being told the full truth.”
The Doctor let out a long sigh.
“Alright, you deserve to know. Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels,” the Doctor began and began to pace back and forth as if he was about to start a lecture. “The only psychopaths in the Universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss. They just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They’re creatures of the abstract. They live off of potential energy.”
“Then that means…” Shining whispered, eyes widened as he realized how much danger Flash and Cadence were in. The Doctor nodded in confirmation.
“Come on Cadence, where are you… ?” Shining thought fearfully. “Please, be safe and just come back to me...”
Cadence groaned in pain as she rubbed her head and slowly looked around her. She was in a garden of some sort, that was for sure, but where? She then heard the sound of hammers beating against nails and various other sounds of construction.
There, in the distance was what could only be Canterlot Castle… Yet not quite Canterlot Castle at the same time. It wasn’t fully built yet, the foundations and inner structure had only just begun to be laid down.
“Impossibile ... No, non può essere…” Cadence thought to herself in her native language, lapsing into it out of pure shock.
“No, that’s Canterlot Castle Lady Cadence,” A voice said from behind her. The Princess of Love whirled around to face the new voice, horn crackling with magical energy. In front of her was an orange pegasus, dressed from head to hoof in Royal Guards’ armor.
Cadence blinked. No, it couldn’t be… Could it? He looked familiar, but the image she got in her mind was that of a much younger pegasus. This one looked to be in his sixties at least.
“F-Flash Sentry? But how?”
“Wound up here much farther back in time than you did, Milady,” Flash explained. “You’re one year after the banishment of Princess Luna exactly, Canterlot Castle’s just now began construction after Lady Celestia abandoned the old one to the Everfree.”
“Oh Flash… I’m so sorry…” Cadence whispered, stroking his face in sympathy and feeling the whiskers of his gray beard. It just looked so… wrong on him.
“Nothing to be sorry for milady,” Flash smiled. “I’m actually happier here than in my own time. Even got a wife and kids in Clover the Clever’s granddaughter,” he explained. “Leader of Celestia’s personal guard when I was in my prime, got to see Princess Luna before the fall… What more could a stallion ask for?”
“But-” Cadence tried to object.
Flash placed a hoof to her lips.
“No buts, I’m happy so that’s all that matters right?” He asked.
“Yeah…” Cadence whispered. “But, and I hate to sound selfish here… I’m not going to be happy here, not if Shining’s not here with me.”
“I can understand that. I don’t know where I’d be without the mare I love,” Flash stated. “Who knows, maybe that Doctor will find us, maybe not. He’s been in this time before.”
“Doctor Who?” Cadence asked, not sure on who Flash was referring to before she remembered her earlier conversation with Shining and her eyes widened in realization. Her eyes narrowed. “Well, as long as we’re here, I say we give the Doctor and his company whatever help they can get, right?”
Flash smiled.
“And I think I’ve got just the way… Your time and my time isn’t the first time the Angels have been here. Run into them before, so I know how to deal with them. Come along, milady.” Flash stated, gesturing with his hoof.
Cadence followed Flash all the way to Canterlot Castle, where they found a brick wall and began writing a message across time on it.
“Let’s just hope they get this…” Cadence thought to herself.
The Present Day:
Back with the Doctor and company as Cadence had referred to them, the now group of four found themselves wandering an empty castle. Lights began to flicker, dampening the halls in darkness.
“...Okay, even I have to admit this place is creepy. Just too quiet,” Raven muttered to herself as Celestia used her horn to keep a light around them.
“Careful… It’s in here somewhere…” the Doctor murmured as he creaked open a wooden door and scanned left, and then right for the angel. Something laughed in the distance and Raven and Shining nearly jumped while Celestia’s eyes narrowed.
“W-What was that?” Raven asked nervously.
“Just the wind,” Shining replied, trying to reassure her.
“Y-Yeah, just the wind,” Raven laughed nervously.
“...Since when is it ever just the wind, my little ponies?” Celestia asked and Shining nodded.
“Good point,” He admitted when he saw the Doctor scanning a stone wall with his Sonic. “What are you doing?”
“Something’s behind here… Traces of magical energy… Somebody left something here,” He murmured as he continued scanning the wall.
“Somepony,” Shining corrected.
“God, your species is so narcissistic, isn’t it?” the Doctor muttered. Shining growled.
“Look who’s talking,” He snapped.
“Really the time, you two? I mean, you can sort out who’s got the bigger ego later can’t you?” Raven asked, eyebrow raised.
“Celestia?” The Doctor asked, gesturing to the wall. The Princess of the Sun nodded before firing a blast right at the bricks, revealing a message scrawled behind it.
It read: “Your life could depend on this. Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and don’t blink!”-Flash Sentry, Captain of the Royal Guard and Princess Cadence.
“She’s alive… They’re alive…” Shining whispered, breathing a sigh of relief. Then, the lights flickered again and in the distance, the Weeping Angel could be seen.
“But for how long we are… Well, that’s another question,” the Doctor remarked. “Run!”
Part 7: "Hello, I'm the Doctor... Basically, run."
The Doctor would have never thought he’d be saying this, but for the first time in his over 900 years of living, he could see the benefit of having four legs instead of two. Made running for his life a lot easier, and the Doctor somehow got the sneaking suspicion that if he lived through this, he’d be doing it again someday. He did have that sort of luck, after all. He continued his galloping down the hallways, rounding a corner easily with his newfound longer stride.
“Is there a plan here?” Raven shouted towards the Doctor, before looking behind her to the Weeping Angel. Another flash and flicker of the lightning. It seemed closer now than ever before.
“Well… Right now it’s keeping ourselves from getting killed, really. After that, find a way to stop that Angel,” the Doctor explained.
“Is there a way to stop it?” Raven asked, her eyes narrowing under her glasses. The Doctor hmmed to himself.
“Well, in theory… Yes. Angels. They’re Quantum Locked in Time and Space. They can only move when you’re not looking at them. When someone’s got their eyes on them, they’re stone. A stone statue can’t kill you… But take your eyes off it, and oh yes it can…” He whispered out in fear.
At about that point, the Doctor remembered a theory, now proven to be true called the Quantum Zeno Effect, or the Turing Paradox. In essence, the effect was a situation where there consisted of an unstable particle, that like the Weeping Angels in some form if kept under constant observation would never decay and form another particle. For example, the Doctor could observe an unstable atomic nucleus, freezing it if you will, and it would prevent the emission of other particles or radiation. The Doctor then remembered a quote by Robin Gandy (A letter really, to Max Newman after Alan Turing’s death.) he’d read in a book called Mathematical Logic as quoted by Andrew Hodges a few years back on a rare case of boredom.
It went: “It is easy to show using standard theory that if a system starts in an eigenstate of some observable, and measurements are made of that observable N times a second, then, even if the state is not a stationary one, the probability that the system will be in the same state after, say, one second, tends to one as N tends to infinity; that is, that continual observations will prevent motion. Alan and I tackled one or two theoretical physicists with this, and they rather pooh-poohed it by saying that continual observation is not possible. But there is nothing in the standard books (e.g., Dirac's) to this effect, so that at least the paradox shows up an inadequacy of Quantum Theory as usually presented.”
“So that’s with the warning Flash and Cadence gave us to not blink…” Celestia mused, her horn glowing golden as she tried to keep the castle’s lights on for as long as possible. But unbelievably, fantastically, the Angel’s own natural abilities seemed to counteract her every move. The Princess of the Sun’s eyes widened in shock. “If they weren’t trying to kill my little ponies, I would commend this so-called Angel. Its abilities are, as much as I hate to admit it, nothing short of amazing…”
Right about then, the foursome came across a door. And guess what? It was locked. The Doctor whipped out his Sonic and began unlocking lock after lock on the door, but all the while the Weeping Angel began getting closer.
“Come on… Come on…” the Doctor muttered to himself as he continued breaking the locks. “Who the Hell puts this many locks on a door anyways?” He thought to himself. He then realized what door he was in front of and swore quietly in Gallifreyian to himself. He’d led the Angel right to the door that held the TARDIS behind it, the perfect meal for any Weeping Angel. And he himself had ordered all of the locks for this door set like this to keep the Angel as far away from the Old Girl as possible.
Then he heard it, a small whispered “Doctor…” and he, Shining and Celestia whirled around only to gain looks of horror and fear on their face as they saw Raven, with the Weeping Angel holding her in such a way that it could easily snap her neck.
“Nonononononononononono…” the Doctor murmured to himself in horror. No, not again… Not another one…
“Raven!” Celestia shouted.
Shining took several deep breathes as he tried to think. He wanted to save Raven, he really did, but from what the Doctor had told them, Shining had gathered that there was nothing he or even Princess Celestia herself could do. If any of them made a movement, or even just blinked Raven would die all that much quicker, and she wouldn’t be able to complete her last form of assistance towards Celestia.
“I’m sorry Princess, but it looks like you’ll have to find a new assistant…” Raven choked out, all the while lighting up her horn, and above her, the bricks in the ceiling began to loosen. “I don’t think I’ll be able to help you with your paperwork much longer, it seems…”
She then turned to the Doctor, giving him a sad look as she looked directly at him. “My only wish Doctor, is that you could have seen me at my best. Just go, run! I can slow this thing down, but not for long,”
The Doctor let a tear slip from his eye as he whispered “I’d like to believe I have. And Raven, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
Raven smiled as a tear dripped from her eyes before she wiped it away with a hoof. No, better to face death with dignity than to let anypony see her cry like a coward. “Celestia, you were right. This world doesn’t belong to us, not any more than the eagle owns the sky. We’re all a part of a grand design, and I’ve figured out my place in it long ago. Helping you in any way I can… Now, let me do it one last time. RUN!”
Celestia nodded sadly, a tear slipping from her eye, and even as she teleported the Doctor, herself and Shining away she heard the distinct sickening crack of a neck snapping and bricks tumbling from the ceiling onto stone.
“Not again… Not again…” the Doctor whispered to himself over and over, the sound of Raven’s neck snapping playing out in his mind again and again. “Another death, another death that’s all my fault!”
Then, he felt a hoof soundly slap him across the face. The Doctor groaned as he saw Celestia looking at him harshly.
“No, it’s not your fault. You didn’t drag Raven into this, despite anything you may say. Maybe you’ll make some mistakes in the future, everypony does, even you, but there are plenty of good things and Raven’s death was not on you. It was on the Weeping Angel’s, nobody else’s. I’ve gotten the feeling that you don’t let anypony dictate the rules, so why should you now? So pick yourself off the floor and do what you do best. Save the world, and be the Madman in the Box that you are,”
“How… How do you know who I am? How do you know so much about me?” The Doctor stuttered out. “Who are you, Princess Celestia?”
“I don’t really know that much about you, to be honest… You’ve shown up a few times in my timeline, decades or sometimes centuries, before this day. You never told me much about yourself, in fear of corrupting the timeline as you put it. But when you were needed, you and that fantastical machine were always there,” Celestia stated, leaving out the parts about Shining and the other ponies that accompanied him at times. It was probably for the best that the Doctor didn’t know too much about his own future.
“Right then…” the Doctor growled out, a look of fury etching its way onto his features. “We don’t have long before the Angel finds us again, so we need to figure out a way to stop it.
“Doctor... “ Shining began, still in shock over Raven’s death along with everything else that had happened and still recomposing himself. “Would it be possible to kill a Weeping Angel somehow?”
“Well, yes, in theory…” He mused to himself before his eyes slowly widened as he realized what Shining was thinking and gave him a small noogie as he let out a triumphant cry of “HOH YES! Molto Bene! That’s genius! Completely insane, really and with very little chance of working but it just might do it!” He cried out, jumping for joy. “You’d just need something strong enough to shatter stone completely…”
“And I think I know just the thing,” Shining stated. “Canterlot Castle has an Ancient and Legendary Artifacts of Ponykind wing -and before you ask Doctor, that is the exact name- which has something that just might be what we need. I’ll need to get there and back though, without attracting the Weeping Angel’s attention. So, problem…”
“Which I can help with. I think I know the artifact in question, and what you plan to do with it. I can get you there, while the Doctor draws the Angel’s fire, so to speak,” Celestia stated, and the Doctor nodded.
“I’m a complicated Space-Time event. The Angel would latch onto me like a lion to a wildebeest. Put simply, I’m very juicy meat for it. Live bait, if you will. So please do hurry, as death by stone statue is not on the ways I’d want to go. Very embarrassing, frankly...” the Time Lord joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood. And it didn't really work, not in the slightest with both Shining and Celestia giving him looks. The Doctor sighed to himself, his mouth sometimes got ahead of his brain.
“Well then, let’s get to work…” Shining stated before Celestia teleported him and her away leaving the Doctor alone.
Very quickly, the Weeping Angel latched onto his scent and as the Doctor wandered into the ballroom, now devoid of partygoers he heard it.
“Very eerie scene, really…” the Doctor commented in an offhand manner, seemingly unaware of the Angel’s presence. “Ballroom, no couples dancing about and no music. Mind you, I can fix that,”
The Doctor then whirled around face a speaker system and “Hush hush, here comes the Boogeyman” began to play once more. “There, much better. Care to dance?”
He whirled around to face the Angel.
“Ohhhhhh, you think you’re so clever, latching onto me like you did… Hell, any old sod can do that. Not like I’m invisible, really,” the Doctor joked, his eyes briefly flicking to the left as he saw a golden flash behind a pillar. “Generally, people, or in this case ponies, know I’m around. You probably think you’ve lured me into a trap, don’t you? Well, let me tell you something. If there’s one thing you should know, if you value your continued existence, there’s one thing you never put in a trap… Me,” the Doctor stated with a grin, showing his pearly whites before he shouted out “Shining, now!”
As Shining leaped from behind with Rockhoof’s legendary hammer in his mouth and Celestia using all of her power just to keep the lights lit the Doctor’s tone turned from triumphant to furious. “You shouldn’t have killed Raven, I liked her. I would have offered you a chance for mercy, but the moment you started killing… You lost that chance. And I don’t give second ones…”
With a powerful blow of the hammer and a noise like thunder, the Angel shattered as a shockwave echoed throughout the ballroom, windows shattering into millions of little glass shards all around them. The Doctor let out a sigh of relief as he looked upon what remained of the Angel. And then he turned his back.
The Doctor’s eyes widened as he heard… something. It was impossible to describe, but the next thing he knew he whirled around and let out a nervous swallow as he saw the Angel completely reforming itself.
“No… No, that’s impossible… Damn it!” the Doctor swore. It seemed, as long as pieces of an Angel remained, you could never destroy it completely. But Celestia had a way to fix that. The temperature around everypony in the room seemed to skyrocket, and the Doctor tugged at his tie. Celestia’s eyes flared and her wings expanded to their full length as her horn began glowing a solid gold, as bright as the sun itself. Celestia stood defiantly, her mane blowing in some unexplained fashion.
“You think you can harm my little ponies? Do you? Well, you, you foul monstrosity, you can think again! You think yourself above us all, but from my perspective, you look so small! I've lived a long old life and lost things you'd never understand. Now do me a favor, and BURN!”
With that declaration, she fired a blast of pure hot flame at the Angel and an ear piercing shriek -indescribable except for something out of the mouth of Hell itself- filled the room. The Doctor’s eyes widened as he realized it was the Angel itself screaming as it became nothing but ashes on the floor...
Part 8: "They Call Me Devil, And You Should Be Afraid..."
“So… Now what?” Shining asked, finally breaking the unwelcome silence that had invaded the room after Celestia had rendered the Weeping Angel to nothing but ashes. He had to admit, even if only to himself, that Celestia had turned absolutely terrifying in that very last minute of the Angel’s existence. That was the only way to describe it, really. Not that he was going to go about mourning the Angel’s demise or anything but as soon as everything went the way it did, with the room temperature skyrocketing, and Celestia’s eyes and mane seemingly turning into the sun itself he honestly felt pity for the stone creature.
To be frank with himself, Shining had to wonder what was going through the Solar Princess’s mind at the time. Revenge for the loss of Raven maybe? If Shining hadn’t seen Celestia’s fury for himself, he never would have believed it. But honestly, that probably was the only solution he could think of. Revenge… loss… pain, he knew those feelings all too well, and how he sometimes wished he could take all of that power he had and use it. But he kept those feelings under wraps because he knew of the old phrase “An eye for an eye leaves everypony going blind”.
But then, he had to wonder… If Princess Celestia herself wasn’t above those feelings, and she’d had over 1000 years of self-control, and yet one little thing could unleash those feelings in one single moment, what could happen next? Would she start dispensing justice to anypony who wronged her in any way like some crazed vigilante, burning them to crisps just for the smallest crime?
“No, no she wouldn’t,” Shining reminded himself, taking a few deep calming breaths. “Like you said yourself, this was just one moment in over one thousand years of her lifetime. She’s probably seen death more times than anypony should be allowed. Equestria, it was forged in the fires of turmoil. King Sombra… Tirek… Celestia’s seen more monsters than I have hooves on my body. I suppose everypony has a breaking point, even her…”
But all the same, he’d be keeping a closer eye on Celestia from now on.
“Life goes on, as it always does…” Celestia says, shuddering at what she had just unleashed. She’d long had feelings, temptations if you will of just letting loose all of her power in one single instance and feeling what it would be like. Whispers in her ears, dark desires. Celestia knew everypony had them, even her. She was just terrified that she’d let her self-control slip for just one moment in time, give into that power.
Sure, it was for the greater good, stopping that Angel from taking any more lives, but what if it happened again? What if a situation, one so terrible, arose that she was forced to take action and unleash every last ounce of power she had, take that risk of turning into that same monster that had claimed her sister for her own?
“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” the ancient laws set down by the founders of Equestria, long before she had been born, went. It was a violent time, the three tribes at war until they came, the Windigos. They’d forced everypony to unite, but even then it was an uneasy alliance. Her mother, Lady Faust had told her that there still lingered distrust amongst the tribes, despite their leaders and advisors trying to build up that trust. It was a dog eat dog world in those days, to use the old expression. Assassination attempts had occurred, on each leader of the three tribes, by those who thought they could lead better. Celestia had long suspected this rampant insanity was what led to the rise of Discord, the literal embodiment of chaos himself. It was only after that Celestia and her sister, two beings with the powers of all three tribes did everything finally settle.
“I’m sorry,” Shining gaped in disbelief. “Life goes on? Celestia, my marefriend and your niece are still displaced in time somewhere, along with one of my men!”
His sea-blue eyes pierced into Celestia’s own lilac colored own, glaring hard almost as if he was peering into Celestia’s very soul, judging her.
“Shining Armor…” Celestia replied sadly, shaking her head. “Do you think I am not aware of that? But the question remains, how would we be able to find them? The Angel can obviously offer us no evidence.”
“Ah!” the Doctor said, suddenly speaking up. “That’s where you’re wrong, I think! Well, partially wrong! Or, well half and half wrong,”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Shining asked, whirling around to face the Doctor.
“Remember that little message your marefriend left us in the stone?” the Doctor remarked and Shining nodded, as a dawning realization came to Celestia’s face. “Well, I’m willing to bet that message still has trace elements of whatever the Angel left behind on Cadence and Flash. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey particulate stuff, you know!”
“Er… no, I don’t…” Shining muttered, not quite following.
“Basically, I believe what the Doctor is trying to say, in his own way, is that we can track Princess Cadence and Flash using whatever the Angel left behind on them,” Celestia explained.
“Exactly!” the Doctor exclaimed before smiling at Celestia with a pleased expression. Although Celestia was trying her hardest to hide it, she was blushing through her fur. Even if said blush wasn’t obvious at first glance, it was still there if you looked hard enough. Celestia thanked the gods that nopony seemed to notice. “So nice to have somebody who finally understands me!”
“Somepony,” both Shining and Celestia corrected. Of course, they were ignored even as the Doctor dashed off down the hallways. The Doctor had to stifle a chuckle, there he was, running again.
“One constant in my life, no matter who lives or dies, or who leaves me or who I turn into… I’ll always be running from or to something,” the Doctor thought to himself. “Ever since that day on Gallifrey, when I just stole the Old Girl… Sexy, I was running,”
The Doctor smiled when he reached the message and pulled out his Sonic. He began scanning every last letter of the message, every piece of the stone it was etched onto for just a trace and then he let out a cry of triumph.
“HOHYES!” the Doctor exclaimed, laughing in joy. “Just today, just this once, life wins out for me! Sure, there’s been death, but this time I save more people than I lose them! To whoever’s listening out there, thank you, thank you! This is a godsend! No… That’s not right… This… This is absolutely fantastic!” He shouted to the heavens just as Shining and Celestia finally caught up with him.
“What… What is it?’ Shining asked, not daring to hope that the Doctor would give them one more victory today. The Doctor beamed and cupped Shining’s face with his hooves.
“I know where to find your marefriend, and your man,” the Doctor said giddily, barely able to keep himself still like he was high on something unexplainable by science. “Now come along Armor, to the TARDIS! Allons-Y!”
999 Years Before:
With a wheezing and groaning sound, the TARDIS reappeared on the grounds of the still being constructed Canterlot Castle, Celestia emerging from the Police Public Call Box’s doors in wonder.
She led one slipper covered hoof touch the grass, making sure this wasn’t some sort of surreal dream she’d stepped in. It would have been nice, for all of this just to have been a dream. The death of Raven, the disappearances of Cadence and Flash and who knew how many more, and the terror she’d felt of unleashing her full power for the first time since she could remember. But when she felt the cool grass tickle her hooves, Celestia let a tear slip from her eyes as she shut them. It wasn’t a dream. No, this… This you couldn’t fake.
She hadn’t walked in Canterlot, not this version of it in centuries. A more peaceful time, when all she had to worry about were Equestrian threats, not ones from the heavens above. And yet here all of it was, right in front of her.
“No, nothing wrong Captain… Nothing wrong at all…” Celestia whispered, blinking away the tear she’d shed. No, she couldn’t let her subjects see her like this, she had to be the emotionless Princess, the one who seemed implacable in the face of any threat, the one who let nothing get to her.
“And yet I’ve already broken that mask several times today…” Celestia thought sadly. Just then, the Doctor ran up.
“Uh, Celestia… You might want to get back inside the TARDIS, just in case… Well, you show up. I don’t want to have to deal with any potential paradoxes,” the Doctor said before sucking in a breath. “Reapers. Nasty business…” He muttered to himself.
“Yes, I suppose that would be a wise choice would it not?” Celestia asked before heeding the Doctor’s advice and stepping back into the TARDIS.
Then, Shining saw Cadence running towards him, and embracing him in a hug. Shining sobbed in relief and began kissing her over and over.
“I… I thought I’d never see you again. After that Angel got you, zapped you back here, I…”
“But you stayed strong, that’s the main thing,” Cadence replied. “I assume you got my message, and the Angel’s been dealt with?”
“Yeah…” Shining said sadly, a tear slipping from his eye. “But not without losses,”
“Who… Who did you lose?” Cadence asked worriedly.
“Raven… She sacrificed herself to keep the Angel from killing us and getting to the TARDIS. Bought us some time for us to dispose of it…” Shining replied and Cadence gasped in shock, barely able to believe it.
“Oh Raven… Loyal to the end…” the Princess of Love whispered before she crossed herself with a hoof before murmuring “Possa il tuo corpo trovare la pace in Skyhaven sopra, la pace che non ha mai trovato qui…” as she looked skywards.
It was then Shining caught sight of Flash Sentry, and he blinked, unable to believe his eyes at Flash’s aged state. The grizzle on his beard, the lines on his face and the fact that he was wearing a Captain of the Solar Guard’s armor of all things.
But then he smiled in understanding, and Flash returned it when a mare, light grey in coat color with a purple and white streaked mane wearing a brown cloak walked up to him and gave him a quick nuzzle.
“Good on you Flash… Good on you…” Shining whispered as Flash walked off with the mare towards the nearby town. Canterlot, still in its infancy but in some ways, it still hadn’t changed at all.
“Let’s go home, shall we?” Cadence asked as she gestured to the TARDIS and Shining nodded. He’d had enough of time travel for one day.
Early that next morning, just as he was preparing to leave Canterlot to see what the rest of Equestria had to offer, the Doctor found Celestia idly pacing back and forth through the throne room via a peek in the doors which had been left opened just a crack. Curiosity overtook him, and he trotted up to Celestia, who by now was staring at a particular stained glass window.
The window depicted her, surrounded by six -or maybe seven, it was hard to tell really- gems circling her as she fired a magical blast at a dark Alicorn in blue armor with a crescent moon and stars for a Cutie Mark with a striking resemblance to Celestia herself in some ways.
“Something wrong?” the Doctor asked, and Celestia staggered back in shock.
“Oh… Doctor, I didn’t hear you come in… No, nothing’s wrong. Just… reminiscing, that’s all…”
The Doctor shook his head as he chuckled. “Oh Celestia, don’t lie to me. I’ve seen that look on your face before, God knows I’ve worn it so many times I can’t even begin to count. Hell, I’ve seen a lot of the looks you’ve been putting up lately. False happiness, a mask to reassure your little ponies that everything’s alright with their ruler. But that’s not the case, is it?” he questioned.
“Doctor… I assume you saw the power I unleashed at that Weeping Angel right?” Celestia asked and the Doctor nodded. “I also assumed you’ve lost those near and dear to you, right?”
“Oh… Far too many times to count, really…” the Doctor trailed off as he remembered the faces and the names before a look of dawning recognition reached his features. “Oh, Celestia. I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
“You can spare me the sympathies Doctor, that part of the past is behind me,” Celestia replied.
“Is it?” the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow. As he predicted, the Princess of the Sun avoided the question entirely.
“You saw that power I unleashed. I’m always afraid that one day I’ll just say “Damn it all!” and give in to that power, and what would come out… I honestly don’t want to even think about. For centuries, I’ve had whispers in my ears, just telling me to use that power against anypony or anything who stands in my way. But I never listened… Until today, that is. Today, it was the closest I ever came to just giving in and showing the whole of Equestria the power their ruler holds. Can you imagine what it’d be like, just giving in like that and letting power overtake you, no rules or anything standing in your way?”
“Yes…” the Doctor admitted sadly. “I have imagined, not letting any of the rules I’ve set up for myself stand in my way. Just ignore the laws of time, not just bend them… Break them. Hell, there’s even one version of me out there -The Valeyard- who’s done exactly that. It could happen one day, just as it could happen to you. Good men don’t need rules. We are not good men, or ponies. So yes, I think we could easily succumb to our own desires. But you know why I think we won’t?”
“Why?” Celestia asked curiously.
“Because of the oldest thing in the universe… Love. We love who we watch, and there are those that keep us in check. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
Celestia chuckled.
“Who watches the watchers? Yeah, I know what you mean…” She trailed off.
“Well, I suppose I’ll be heading out. Whole new world to explore, and I don’t want to miss any part of it. I’d ask if you or Shining would want to come along, but I can’t take you away from either of your duties here. I don’t have the right,”
“Don’t worry Doctor, I’m sure you’ll find somepony to keep you on your path.” Celestia replied with a knowing smile as the Doctor stepped into his TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor smiled as he pulled a switch and let all of time and space become his to enjoy. But even as he did so, his smile quickly changed to a frown. If somebody like Celestia could succumb to her powers, what did that mean for him?
“Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.” ― Vincent van Gogh
Canterlot Castle:
And so life continued on in Canterlot, the incident at the Castle fading from all but the minds of a few. Princess of the Sun, Lady Celestia, despite dealing with nobles who droned on and on about various things she frankly couldn't be bothered to listen to was not -despite all evidence to the contrary- bored out of her mind. Why, you ask? Well, you got to have a bit of backstory first to understand this. Despite not adventuring with the Doctor as she would have liked, she did keep up on his whereabouts, by messages from the Time Lord himself. Every month, on the exact same day and at the exact same hour she received a message. It had been like this for a few months now. Actually, it was about time for one now, if his schedule kept up. And so it did. A white cube, a Time Lord's communication cube flew in with a purpose and played its message. Celestia listened in interest.
“Hello again, it's me! Had an interesting week. First thing first, I visited with some Crystal Ponies, on the Moon! Imagine that, ponies, on the moon! I learn something new every day. Visited with Lu... Oh, wouldn't want to give away what's coming for you soon. Spoilers! Huh, why do I feel like I should have heard that sometime in my timestream? Never mind. Then, I met with this wonderful, no FANTASTIC mare named Vinyl Scratch and laid down some backing vocals to her newest tracks. Not sure why she calls them Wubs when they are so very obviously techno or dubstep beats, but to each their own I guess. Also, recently visited an entire planet where the entire infrastructure was made of living shrubbery! Imagine that! Course, it’s scheduled to be swallowed up by a black hole in a few odd decades if my memory serves so best you take this vacation spot while it’s still there! Oh dear, in my ramblings I seem to have forgotten to check where I was going and… Oh dear, I seem to have crashed into Prance! Least the weather’s lovely this time of year. Ah, that summer sun! Not as fantastic as yours, of course… Or is it, considering you’re raising the same sun over Prance as you are over Equestria? Ah… I’ll think about it later. See you again in a month!”
Celestia chuckled to herself. “Never change Doctor, never change.”
All seemed to be well with him. Though she did have to wonder what he didn't want to spoil. She did catch a brief snippet of what he was going to say before he realized he was about to spill a rather large secret.
“He said Lu, before he quickly changed subjects. Could he possibly mean… Her? My sister, is she coming back, and not as Nightmare Moon as the prophecy predicts?”
Celestia was not a stupid mare, she knew when secrets were being kept from her. The stars would aid in her escape, that’s what the legend said. Celestia knew the stars had to have been at least six of the Elements of Harmony.
Trouble was, finding the bearers was nigh-impossible. You didn’t just find them, the Elements chose you. There had to be a Spark as well, something that brought them together, bound the six. And Faust only knew who that could be. Before her untimely death, Celestia had pegged Raven as the Loyalty Bearer, but her wielding that element was impossible now.
And Celestia herself certainly couldn’t do it, not anymore. She may have used the Elements once, but they were now unresponsive to her. No matter how much she wanted to use them, they simply wouldn’t let her. Celestia had two suspicions. One, because the Elements were used against her sister, a Bearer herself, they no longer responded to Celestia’s magic. Secondly, the Elements were sentient, at least in some manner if not completely alive and thinking for themselves. Them “Choosing” their Bearers led credence to that theory.
Time passed, until once again a message from the Doctor came and played itself out. At one point her dear nephew Prince Blueblood asked her why she loved these letters so much.
“But Auntie, he's a foreigner for who knows where, and a strange one at that,” Blueblood had whined, almost like a small foal who’d been denied their favorite toy. Celestia suppressed a sigh. “He's not even nobility! Why do you look forward to his messages so much? Why… Why are you archiving them, even if they’re just mindless, possibly insane drivel.”
Celestia sighed, he'd never understand. Not her nephew. He was like almost all of the other nobles she’d dealt with in her lifetime. A leech, sucking on, or in Celestia’s case, up to her. A slimy leech from some forsaken bog who didn’t know the meaning of the words boundaries or “Leave her the Tartarus alone!”
Once, Celestia did have hope for Blueblood, she honestly did. But that was before the life of nobility got to him. Him schmoozing amongst the upper class who knew just the right words to say to get to the foolish pony -and lest Celestia forgot to mention his wealth from the Royal Treasury and the power he held- and when you combined all of that, and you had a perfect recipe for somepony’s ego going all to his or her head. Sadly, that was what had happened with Blueblood. She did love her nephew, make no mistake about that, but she’d felt sad for what he’d become.
Perhaps he was another one of Celestia’s many mistakes. If she had guided him properly, instead of letting him fend for himself he might have turned out very differently. But Celestia didn’t like to control other’s lives. Treat them like pawns on a chessboard, it felt wrong to her. There was a reason Celestia hated chess. It was an emotionless game, you could never get attached to your pieces. And Celestia, fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, had the luxury of getting attached to things. She preferred gentle guidances, nudges in the right direction instead of outright control over
“Because…” She had told him. “He shows me what it's like out there, beyond the throne. Wondrous, and numerous worlds, beyond our comprehension. We’re closed off to the rest of the galaxy, and our current state of technology makes it impossible to see what’s beyond. The Doctor provides us with a service. He offers us glimpses of what’s out there, whether it be delightful wonders or terrors that would freeze our souls. For better or for worse, the Doctor is our telescope to the rest of the universe beyond our little planet.”
And so it went, with Celestia eagerly awaiting his next message. And they came, right on time as always. On the right day, right time just when it was needed the most whenever Celestia felt as if the weariness and the pressure of ruling an entire kingdom solo was getting too difficult to bear.
“You know, you really should tell me more about this student of yours, Twilight something or other. Was it Twinkle? See, don't even know her full name! Anyways, my knowledge and all that is limited. She sounds like an interesting mare, from what little you have told me. By God, that intelligence! Mark my words, Princess, that’s a mare who will go on to do great things on whatever course she sets her sights on. Really should get out more though. See the sights and all that. Honestly, all work and no play makes a very dull day. I mean, why do you think I keep wandering around the universe so much? It’s certainly not because I have nothing better to do! Speaking of interesting ponies, how's our favorite Captain of the Guard?”
Celestia sighed sadly. He wasn't doing well. Shining blamed himself for Raven’s death, and it was obvious to anypony that knew him. Even his marefriend wasn't helping. The Doctor needed to help him, as she figured it would be the only way to put him back to normal if the Doctor told him it wasn't his fault. It was worth a shot anyway. ...Or, at least that’s what Celestia wished it would be. It would have been so simple if it was her Captain of the Guard suffering from PTSD, wouldn’t it? No, it was Celestia herself who blamed herself for Raven’s demise. Even now, she thought back to Raven’s last moments...
Raven smiled as a tear dripped from her eyes before she wiped it away with a hoof. No, better to face death with dignity than to let anypony see her cry like a coward. “Celestia, you were right. This world doesn’t belong to us, not any more than the eagle owns the sky. We’re all a part of a grand design, and I’ve figured out my place in it long ago. Helping you in any way I can… Now, let me do it one last time. RUN!”
Celestia nodded sadly, a tear slipping from her eye, and even as she teleported the Doctor, herself and Shining away she heard the distinct sickening crack of a neck snapping and bricks tumbling from the ceiling onto stone.
It would have been so easy, wouldn’t it? Just to teleport Raven out of harm’s way. Night after night, Celestia kept asking herself why she didn’t use her magic and solve what should have been an easy problem. But instead… She did nothing and now Raven was dead because of that.
At one point, Celestia decided she’d finally had enough, and she called in Shining himself to ask for his thoughts on the matter.
Shining wasn’t stupid, he’d noticed something had been bothering his Princess for the past few months. And now that Celestia had called him to her personal quarters and was asking him about why she faltered and didn’t save Raven from the Angel when she very easily could have, his theory was confirmed.
“Honestly, Celestia… You were afraid, that’s all there was to it,” Shining stated firmly. Celestia gaped, her… afraid? No, that couldn’t be it… Could it? But Shining stood steadfast in his beliefs and explained what he thought. “I was afraid too, anypony would have been. You’re all high and mighty sure, but that doesn’t mean you’re above a pony’s base instincts, fear chiefest amongst them. I could have teleported Raven out as well, you know that. But I didn’t. Why? It’s a simple matter of physiologically. Fear often overtakes rationality when we’re faced with situations like this. I should know. I’ve been in situations where I couldn’t think straight just because I was afraid. I’ve lost men because of that, and I do question myself what I could have done differently like you are now. But we can’t change what we did or didn't do. What’s past is past. Right now, we need to look ahead to the future instead of beating ourselves up. Raven would have wanted that, wouldn’t she?” Shining asked and Celestia finally relented, letting out a deep sigh.
“Yes, she would have wouldn’t she?” Celestia smiled. “Think of her as we knew her, not on how she died. And besides, I like to think of death… Well, it’s probably just the next great journey for us all isn’t it?”
Celestia continued to speak, her beliefs now back where they belonged.
“Treasure your friends Shining, and their lives… For who knows when things will change for them, and you,” Celestia told him while taking a sip of wine from a golden goblet.
“That I will Princess, that I will…” Shining said with a bow. It seemed the Doctor had picked up on her worries as well, in his own way, as for his next message he’d left not a letter, but a book. Celestia read the title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
And for hours, even after finishing the book there was one quote that stuck out to Celestia. Her wine goblet lay empty, lying on the floor beside her bedside table.
“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.”
The man, Albus Dumbledore, despite all of his faults, manipulation amongst them struck a chord with Celestia. They’d lived such a long while, and lost so much… And yet, they still had a kindness about them. Living lives like theirs, they could have turned out very different, couldn’t they? They could have turned out to be something far… darker.
Celestia’s attentions were then drawn to the room around her. Her personal chambers, while normally shades of bright colors to best reflect the sunlight that shown in her room every day, had dimmed their lights. And from her bed, Celestia’s eyes then shot upwards to the moon and the visage of the Alicorn upon it. Or to be more accurate, the Alicorn who was no longer there.
“No… No, that’s… That’s impossible. It’s not time yet!” Celestia whispered to herself, her voice filled with both equal worry and hope. Hope, because her sister had returned and there was a chance to bring her back to the light. Worry, because of what her sister had brought back with her on her return.
The darkness of the night seemed to creep into the room and clamber up the walls as shadows seemed to take minds of their own. And then, laughter filled the room. But not joyful, ringing, cheerful laughter as Celestia normally knew it from its user. No, the laughter of the maniacal kind as a form manifested itself in the darkness and in the shadows.
Two great black wings expanded, and a misty mane and tail like the stars themselves followed that as a form came into being. Dark blue armor around her chest and head, with a long sharp horn protruding like a lance jutting out from her forehead.
“And so the stars will aid in her escape, or so the legend goes. Isn’t that right… Dear sister?” Nightmare Moon asked with a small laugh, one of pity as she trailed a hoof up Celestia’s face. “Oh, I’m sorry, have you forgotten about little ole me? What a pity…” She cooed.
“You’re… You’re not supposed to be here!” Celestia stammered out in fear, neglecting to charge up her horn out of both fear and kindness. Fear, for what was in front of her, angry beyond belief. Kindness, as the power of her spells could do untold damage to her sister if not used with the utmost caution. “It’s… It’s not time yet! I still have two more months to go before the Summer Sun Celebration!”
“And yet… Here I am,” Luna… No, Nightmare Moon as Celestia had to remind herself remarked. “And look at you, all defenseless and without the Elements of Harmony to defend your precious kingdom… Why it’s all so easy, isn’t it? Almost a pity that there’s going to be no challenge in taking what’s rightfully mine…”
With that, Nightmare Moon and all that she had brought with her vanished and the light came back to Celestia’s room as the Princess herself shook in terror, beads of sweat trailing down her face.
Her sister had returned, and this time, there was nothing she could do to stop her.
Dawn broke over the city of Canterlot the next day, -The city that had been called a shining, glimmering jewel in Equestria- everypony quite well unaware of the events of the night before. If there was one thing to be said about Canterlot, and it’s populace, they easily forgot about things.
Take the time when Celestia had closed off the castle in a magical bubble a few solid months before. It had become a source of idle gossip and speculation for a brief while, but eventually, like a candle in the wind, it burned itself out. Not even the strange happenings of the Doctor’s crash landing had been remembered but for a save few.
But not all had forgotten, in fact… Some were actively trying to seek him out. Let’s take a little trip to the Canterlot Royal Library, a sea of knowledge, learning… and some very old and dusty books. On the subject of the Doctor, one little pony was pouring through all the books she could find for any mention of him.
“I swear, Twilight,” a white mare with glasses (Taped together), and her red mane tied in a topknot ponytail remarked as she pulled her chair over to her friend’s side. The mare’s ensemble was complete with her attire of a black turtleneck sweater, sorta giving her the appearance of a ponified Velma Dinkley in some ways, if you like. “You’ve been shut in this library for days, worse than me whenever I want to look up every inch of information on a subject.”
“Sorry… So sorry…” Twilight frantically apologized, her normally long dark purple mane tied in a bun so as it wouldn’t fall into her face. “It’s… it’s just I overheard Princess Celestia mention this Doctor to herself, and I got curious, that’s all.”
“She could have been mentioning her own personal doctor, Twilight. You know that’s a possibility,” Moondancer remarked but Twilight was quick to refute.
“No, no!” Twilight quickly replied. “That’s what I thought at first, till I gave it some more thought. It was the way she mentioned him.”
“Oh, so it’s a him?” Moondancer asked, and smiled to herself before wriggling her eyebrows. “How do you know our dear and chaste Princess isn’t so chaste after all? Maybe she’s into some very naughty ro-”
Moondancer was quickly cut off by a hoof over her mouth, and a glare from Twilight.
“Don’t you even dare finish that sentence,” Twilight remarked firmly, a rather large blush on her face as her mind went through the possibilities of her teacher doing… That! “No, the way she mentioned “Doctor”, it was like a title. Complete with a great big “The”. Made him seem like a rather important historical figure of some sort. So I admit, I got maybe the slightest bit curious…” Twilight trailed off, and Moondancer removed Twilight’s hoof over her mouth and gave her friend a “Look”.
“Slightest bit?” Moondancer asked dryly, gesturing with a hoof to the pile of musty old books with history stretching back decades in front of Twilight. “I’d say this is more than just the slightest bit.”
“...Okay, hugely curious. Does that work?” Twilight asked with a sheepish grin, pressing her hooves together nervously. She then pulled a book out of the pile, and flipped it open to a random page. Dust flew up from the long unused pages, and Moondancer and Twilight both fell into a coughing fit.
“...Really, couldn’t have picked a newer book?” Moondancer snarked. Twilight blushed sheepishly again.
“Well, as I’ve found, you can’t just go back into Equestria’s recent history to find records of this Doctor most of the time,” Twilight replied, before pointing to a specific page. “See, right there! Says right here, it was the voyage of the great airship ‘Liberté’, constructed to honor the peace between the Griffons and the Equestrians after the end of the Great War. The first war between the two nations, about 200 years prior you understand. Not the rather ugly one that took place only twenty-odd years before of course.” Twilight explained, beginning to go off on one of her little rambles. As she was oft to do at times. Moondancer took off her glasses and rubbed her temples with a hoof.
“Will you get to the point?” She asked in annoyance. Moondancer liked Twilight, she honestly did, but the poor mare could be a bit scatterbrained at times and could at times veer into other subjects that didn’t really matter. Mind you, it was charming in a way. Adorkable really, as she’d heard Shining call his little sister. (Despite the fact that adorkable existed in no dictionary that she could find, so it didn’t classify as an actual word.) But sometimes the mare needed to be steered back on track, like right now.
“Right… Yes! Sorry…” Twilight squeaked out in embarrassment. “Anyways, as you know, ‘Liberté’ was never built to last. Sadly, during its tour over the Zebra nations, it was shot down by some rebels. Nobody survived, pony or griffon during the catastrophic fire that followed. However, oddly enough, there was this family,” Twilight said, pointing to an old photograph of a small family of earth ponies wearing straw hats and things like that. Country hicks, if you were to be impolite about it. Next to them, stood a well-dressed pony in a suit and tie. “The Apple family, whom as you very well know are now one of Equestria’s leading makers of produce. It was this family friend of theirs, whose name has been lost to history, that persuaded them not to go on this voyage. It was almost like he knew what was about to happen ahead of time…”
“Interesting…” Moondancer whispered, curiosity overtaking her as she leaned in closer to inspect the photo. It was old, grainy even. But even so, you could make out every detail of the ponies in it. She had to admit, the well-dressed family friend was a bit handsome with that bespoke suit of his and that mane that never quite seemed to stay down. Little bit foxy even, if she dared say so herself.
“And… And!” Twilight continued. “If you dig deep enough, and keep an open mind, you might find that exact same figure popping up all throughout Equestria’s history!” she squeaked out in excitement.
Moondancer scoffed in disbelief.
“Okay, now you’re just pulling my leg Twi. Surely it can’t be the exact same stallion! How you know it’s not just an inheritance of title, passed down from father to son?” She asked, but Twilight, of course, would not be swayed in any other direction about her beliefs.
“Well… I admit, it could be that… But, but look at this!” Twilight stammered out, pulling yet another book out of the pile and turning to a random page. “Tracked this down to the Canterlot Public Archives, dated a few months back,”
Twilight pointed to a photograph of a pony pulling Duke Blueblood out of the way as a crossbow bolt flew by him. Moondancer vaguely remembered this. Apparently, Blueblood and some other noble had got into a small argument about whose piece of land this apple tree belonged on, and it got so bad enough that a hitman was hired to take Celestia’s nephew out of the picture. Needless to say, this was a stupid maneuver. Once the anonymous pony had saved Blueblood the assassin and his boss were quickly tracked down and arrested by a crack team from the Royal Guard. Actually, now that Moondancer thought about it, wasn’t that crack team led by Shining Armor?
“The attempted assassination of Duke Blueblood. He was there, it seemed. Acting out as this good Samaritan,” Twilight said and pointed to the figure with her hoof. Now that Moondancer looked at it again, it looked eerily like the pony in the ‘Liberté’ photo. Minus the suit, of course.
“Like I said, could be ancestral lineage,” Moondancer replied, still a skeptic. “There’s no way that pony in ‘Liberté’ photo is alive today, and certainly not looking that young!”
“That’s what I thought at first, but then… Well, I found this…” Twilight trailed off, pulling an old charcoal rubbing of a pony standing on a beach out of her saddlebags. It had to be at least centuries old, judging by the wear and tear of the rubbing. And sure enough, there was the Doctor. Looking exactly the same from the previous two images.
“Did a bit of digging around this place, found this in the archived section, and found this,” Twilight said proudly and Moondancer looked at her quizzically.
“Wait, wait, wait. Back up there a minute. The archived section? How’d you even get back there…?” She asked in confusion. “That place is restricted!”
“...Well, being the Princess’s personal student does have some perks…” Twilight replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. “Anyways, this supposedly washed up on a shore, right before Mount Stallion exploded in it’s infamous eruption. Don’t know what he was doing there, but..."
“Okay, this is getting weird…” Moondancer admitted, starting to get a little freaked out. There was this same pony, popping up all throughout history and never changing. Never aging in the slightest. What was he?
“This Doctor… I’m beginning to think he’s some sort of dark legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he’s there. He seemingly travels alone, but he has one constant companion…” Twilight trailed off.
“A-And what’s that?” Moondancer squeaked out nervously.
“Death,” Twilight stated simply. Nervous as she was though, Moondancer had to admit she was curious as well. It was like some sort of primal instinct, a yearning for more knowledge about this mysterious figure woven throughout history like a tapestry. And she knew Twilight shared the same love.
“Y-Yes, be that as it may…” Moondancer stuttered out. “This ‘Doctor”, he may appear in times of crisis, yes, but he seems to be interested in saving people. I mean, he saved the Apple Family from getting on that airship, and he saved Duke Blueblood! You know our old teacher back in Canterlot High, right? Written Script?”
“Yeah… I remember him. Always gave us the strictest tests. They were still fun though...” Twilight smiled in remembrance and Moondancer chuckled.
“Yeah, that they were. But you remember that old saying of his? About never leaving any door of curiosity locked?” Moondancer asked and Twilight nodded. Moondancer then leaned forwards. “So, why are we keeping this curiosity door locked?”
“I… I don’t know. It’s… It’s… maybe I’m just afraid of what I might find if I keep digging deeper, that’s all,” Twilight admitted. “Might find he’s a killer or something…”
“And yet all the evidence we’ve seen so far, it points against that! He’s called the Doctor for a reason, and from the sounds of things, it looks like he helps ponies. I say we keep on digging and see what we might find. Who knows, eh?” Moondancer asked. “Might just discover what happened to the Lost Princess…”
Twilight’s eyes sparkled at that. The Lost Princess, it was a subject of curiosity between them both. Supposedly, there had been this mare that ruled alongside Princess Celestia. Wife, sister, nobody knew. Again, it was one of those legends surrounded by mystery. But Twilight and Moondancer had always had an interest in this mystery and figuring it out. And now, they had a possible lead. If the Doctor was really this old as he appeared to be, and if they found him, maybe… Just maybe he’d be able to tell them exactly what happened to the Lost Princess of Equestria.
“Well then…” Twilight said, turning to her friend, spurred on by this new possible lead into one of Equestria’s oldest mysteries. “Let’s get to work. Moondancer, mind going over to Donut Joe’s and getting us a few snacks? I have a feeling there’s going to be a long night ahead of us…”
“Pouring ourselves into books, discovering hidden mysteries over a bunch of donuts? Sounds like fun!” Moondancer exclaimed.
Night fell, and the moon rose high in the sky as stars twinkled in a delicate light show of their own making. Unusually, the Mare in the Moon AKA Nightmare Moon herself -Despite having been seen by Princess Celestia herself not that long ago- still had her image emblazoned on Equus’s sole moon for all to see. Interestingly, not many even knew of the old story about the Lost Princess, nor took note of the fact that the moon’s craters and rock formations uncannily resembled that of a Alicorn’s image.
And most of the few that did take note of this resemblance just dismissed it as a oddity, something to marvel at or ponder but in the end, they generally thought it as nothing more than a coincidence.
However, there were these rare few that knew the real story. These extended to both the Doctor (Who had done quite a bit of research in the Canterlot Royal Library, and taken a few trips to the future on bouts of curiousity where he’d talked to the Lost Princess herself) and of course Princess Celestia. The others who knew about connection between the image on the moon and the legend of Nightmare Moon were the descendents of Princess Luna’s personal guard who had fled to the northern mountain ranges of Equestria after her banishment.
None of this, mind you, was currently on Twilight Sparkle’s mind at the moment. She had only one thing, and one thing only on her mind research-wise, though it wasn’t on old myths and legends long forgotten by time. With a small giggle and a small “Mhmmph!” sound as she hit the bedsheets, she moaned as she let Moondancer’s tongue slip into her mouth.
“Now tell me, Twilight Sparkle, how can you not find this position sexually… alluring?” Moondancer asked as she pulled away from the kiss, a small thin strand of saliva connecting her lips with her so-called “Best Friend’s”. Her glasses were skewed slightly, and her ponytail had been undone in her and Twilight’s hasty kissing. Her sweater had been tossed aside a few minutes before.
“W-Well, it’s… it’s s-sorta hard not to argue any counterpoints about sexual attraction, hormones,” Twilight stammered out, breathing hard. “O-or if it’s right or wrong for two mares to “like” each other when you’re on top of me and we’re…” she flushed heavily, suddenly finding herself at a loss for words.
“Making out?” Moondancer teased and Twilight let out a small whimper as she nodded before she found her and Moondancer’s lips connecting again for a brief moment. Twilight shivered, though she wasn’t sure if it was from arousal or the North Wind coming in through the open window. Probably should shut it, now that she thought about it. Wouldn’t want to be arrested for public indecency by the Royal Guard. Make one Tartarus of an embarrassing story to tell her parents.
“N-Now k-keep in mind this is only an experim-OOOOHH!” Twilight began before she let out a noticeably loud moan as Moondancer moved her kisses a little bit downwards. First, they were moved towards her belly, and then… “Moondancer, are you trying to get us caught by my parents?” she hissed out.
“Hey,” her friend replied as she momentarily stopped with her kissing. “You said yourself that tonight was a date night for them, so it’s not like they’re going to catch us… Right now at least,” Moondancer remarked before using her magic to shut the window. “Plus, you initiated the advances, remember? Wanted to perform a biology experiment for college credit. Though I don’t see how we’re going to turn this one in…” Moondancer trailed off.
“Point taken,” Twilight admitted before chuckling. And to think, this all started over something as simple as discussion over their biology term papers. They’d made very little headway on this Lost Princess mystery, or the ‘Doctor’ that kept showing up throughout history. So, in annoyance, Twilight had suggested they head back to her house and got started on their schoolwork. “Plus, it always could be worse. It could by my brother who catches us…” she said with a shudder. Her brother was really protective of her and his baby sister’s innocence at times. Occasionally bordering on the absurd side of things.
“Well, there’s that,” Moondancer admitted. “Seem to remember a rumor about him chasing a Royal Guard around the compound with her own sword when he caught you and her… together. Even if you both were of legal age!”
“...T-The maid’s outfit probably didn't help matters much…” Twilight sighed to herself, a blush creeping onto her face. Moondancer chuckled, only increasing it. Wonder who was wearing what in that scenario?
“Besides, you have to admit, this is a bit of a thrill,” Moondancer continued. “Like something out of Romaro and Juliet. A forbidden romance? Ooh, gives me quivers just thinking about it…”
“Are you going to shut up and continue with the experiment, or not?” Twilight growled out in an annoyed tone, and Moondancer nodded before continuing with her kissing. Suddenly, the white mare found herself flipped over, and her position reversed with Twilight on top of her. She let out a squeak of surprise before smirking.
“Guess the horseshoe’s on the other hoof now, huh, Twi?” Moondancer laughed slightly, still smirking. “Never knew you could be so… forward in your experiments.”
“Et tu, Moondancer?” Twilight asked with a laugh of her own. “Besides, a mare’s gotta get some hooves on experience at times, right?”
Twilight, just as she leaned forwards to continue the 'Experiment' with her friend, felt a cold chill. While she hadn't been looking, something -Or somepony- had cracked open the window just a tad.
“Moondancer, did you…” Twilight trailed off before a pillar of black smoke rushed in through the gap. Outside, the wind chimes on the house’s front porch blew in the breeze making quite the noise. The lights went out, bulbs smashing one by one. Then, a candle flicked on and a massive black form wearing midnight blue armor with twin piercing slotted eyes revealed itself.
“Heard you were looking for me,” Nightmare Moon cackled, as both Twilight and Moondancer let out shrieks of fear. “So… here I am!”
The dark Alicorn then took notice of the two’s activities and what she had… interrupted, in a manner of speaking.
“My, my!” Nightmare Moon laughed, shaking her head. The Alicorn’s size seemed to be too large for the room itself, her horn scraping the ceiling. “Talk about a compromising position! Wonder what Princess Celestia would say if she caught her dear precious student like this…?” she pondered to herself. “Praise her for being so open-minded, or being quite shocked that her student’s growing up so fast? Either way, when I tell her, should be quite the show!”
“H-how do you know who I am?” Twilight stammered out in fear. Nightmare Moon let out another cackle.
“Oh, everybody knows who you are, Twilight Sparkle. Even me, after all. I know everything about everypony,” she said mock sweetly with a trace of menace in her tone. “Celestia’s latest in a long line of precious students, not hard to dig up information on them, after all…”
Nightmare Moon seemed to enjoy the shocked look on Twilight’s face.
“Oh, don't tell me you didn't know?” She asked in mock shock, covering her mouth with a hoof. She then began shaking her armored head. “Oh dear Purplesmart, you've always been so naive. Go ask your teacher sometime, will you? She’ll always be so glad to ramble on and on about her students of times past. Especially that damned Sunset Shimmer!”
“Get out.” Twilight whispered, her horn beginning to glow with a purple aura. Nightmare laughed again. Her default reaction, it seemed.
“Oh, and what makes you think you can go up against moi?” Nightmare asked, before leaning in closer. Her nose nearly touched Twilight’s own. “But honestly… I can sense the sheer potential in you, you know. You’d be surprised at who I’d accept at my side,” she continued, her voice turning into a soft coo. “Ditch that worthless marefriend of yours… or whatever she is to you. Experiment, one night stand, I don't care anyways. Trust me, I can offer you so much more than Celestia or her can. Not just in knowledge, but in sheer pleasure…”
“Didn't you hear Twilight?” Moondancer asked, regaining some of her courage. “You're not wanted here, now get out,” she stated firmly.
“Shut it, Moony!” Nightmare snapped. “My interest is in Twilight and Twilight alone. You’re of no interest. Not part of my benefits package when I take over, are we clear? And make no mistake, I will take over… Canterlot will be mine, and the night will last forever!”
“No, I don't think you quite heard us,” Twilight said in a low tone. “You're not welcome here, understand? Now, begone!” she shouted, before Twilight fired a blast of magic at the Nightmare, making her stagger back into a dresser.
Nightmare Moon’s face contorted in rage. “You had your chance, now you'll feel the consequences of your actions! After all… There’s a Bad Moon on the rise.”
With that, she turned back into black smoke and flew out the window from whence she’d came. Moondancer pulled a shuddering Twilight into a hug and looked towards to the night sky. Towards the moon.
“By Celestia… what’s going to happen now…?” She whispered to herself.
Canterlot Castle:
Meanwhile, completely unaware of what had just taken place, Celestia was taking an aimless walk through the halls of Canterlot Castle. Not really with any destination in mind, her mind began to wander. After her ‘experience’ in her own bedchambers, her thoughts turned to her sister, the Mare in the Moon once more. Not for the first time in months, she thought back to her sister’s change from the light to the dark.
“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light? There can only be one princess in Equestria!” Luna snarled, the shadows around her seemingly taking a life of their own as thunder cracked and lightning lit up the sky in jagged white streaks. “And that princess... will be me! No… A Princess is hardly a title befitting once such as I. No, a Queen shall be my title. The Queen of the Night.” the dark blue mare said, with an almost evil laugh. Her fur was beginning to turn from a deep blue to a unforgiving black shade. As black as the midnight night sky itself.
“Luna, please, come to your senses! I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!” Celestia pleaded, tears beginning to form in her eyes, as she tried to reason with her sister. But Luna was having none of it, as her cyan eyes began to sharp, become more cat-like. Up in the sky, bat-winged figures covered in shadow flew through the storm.
“Oh pllllleeeeasse, spare me your sympathy. If you had any of that, you would have shown an ounce of it to me!” Luna snapped back, as her teeth began to become fang-like. Like that of a vampire bat’s. She gestured to murals on the wall, ones of ponies prancing about in sunlight. Very few depicted her, and the ones that did never showed ponies appreciating the light of the moon in any fashion. Instead, they slept peacefully as Luna watched over them. In a more rational state, it would have been possible to reason with the fallen Princess. Tell her, that without her, the ponies would never have peaceful dreams, only nightmares they could not work through without her help. But Luna, of course, was in no rational state of mind to be reasoned with. “Look at the ponies, they bask in your precious light, dance and prance about in it but do they give a damn about me?”
“Luna…” Celestia whispered sadly to herself as the Solar Princess hung her head in shame. She knew she was partially responsible for this.
“Luna? Really, you should take your sobbing and begging, and all that pleading with you on the road like a showmare. I for one found it delightful. Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will,” Luna remarked mockingly as her transformation completed itself and her mane became darker in shade. Light blue armor grafted itself to her body, including a helmet over her head. The shadows surrounded her before one knocked Celestia back, sending her sprawling in a wave of pure power. “And really, don’t call me Luna anymore. I for one hardly think it fits my new status. Nightmare Moon… Yes, that works. Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!” the newly named Lunar Tyrant snarled, baring her fangs and charging up her horn. From a brilliant shade of cobalt blue, to a cyan color interlaced with violet sparks it went.
“Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these.” Celestia whispered as seven gems surrounded her and a bright flash enveloped the room.
Celestia shook away the memories. She couldn’t let that terrible night keep her from losing her focus. Not now, not when her sister had returned. It was odd though, Celestia mused aloud to herself, Luna was supposed to return on the longest day of the thousandth year since her banishment… Or so the legend said.
“Ah, well… Legends, they never really turn out the way you predict, do they?” a familiar voice asked as the Doctor’s distinct form trotted into the hallway from another corridor. Clad in a midnight blue suit, and brown long coat, at any other time he would have looked rather dashing.
Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise and she took a step back in shock. She could have sworn she was alone!
“...Sorry for the scare, Milady,” the Doctor said politely. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that. Where’s your Royal Guard? Sworn they were with you at all times…”
“Yes… I’m not really sure they can help, at least not at the moment…” Celestia trailed off.
“Ah, this Nightmare Moon figure?” the Doctor asked, and Celestia’s eyes widened. How did he… Oh, he would know, wouldn’t he?
“Yes…” Celestia began shakily. “Last night, s-she appeared before me. In my own quarters, even!”
“And were you scared?” the Doctor asked. “And don’t try to lie to me Princess, I’m a master at that. Been fooling the foolish for centuries, so I know when you’re lying. Shortness of breath, your skittishness at when I appeared. You’re spooked Princess, no two ways about it,”
“Yes, I admit… I’m scared.” Celestia stated, and the Doctor nodded.
“Okay, now that we’ve gotten that bit out of the way, show me where it happened,” the Doctor requested, giving Celestia a kind smile. “Maybe I can lend a hoof. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gone up against some eldritch abomination, after all. Even defeated the inspiration for the Devil himself!” he bragged. If Celestia was unamused by the Time Lord calling her sister an eldritch abomination, she didn’t show it.
Instead, she led the Doctor back to her private chambers, and he whipped out his sonic screwdriver spending no time to start admiring the decor.
His attentions turned to the fallen wine goblet, and he aimed his sonic at it. It let out a few small beeps, and the Doctor ‘“hmmmed” to himself.
“Something wrong?” Celestia asked, as she leaned over his shoulder. She, as soon as she reentered her quarters, looked more than a little spooked. She hadn’t even bothered to clean up after herself, really. She’d never say it, but she was actually sleeping in a spare bedroom, long unused. She still kept guards at her chambers to keep up the illusion, but for the most part, nobody except her (And now the Doctor) knew she slept elsewhere for the time being.
“Yes… Something was slipped into your wine Princess,” the Doctor stated. “Some sort of drug, it looks like. Dunno what kind, it’s foreign to me. Obviously magical in nature, and that might just be what keeps me from identifying it fully…” he began to ramble before Celestia stopped him.
“Wait, you said some sort of drug? I was drugged?” she asked, and the Doctor nodded.
“From the looks of things, I’d say yes,” the Doctor replied before looking at her dead in the eyes. “Princess, whatever you saw that night… It wasn’t Nightmare Moon.”
Celestia’s thoughts raced as she took in the Doctor’s last statement. She thought back to her previous encounter with Nightmare Moo-No, her sister, Luna. She couldn’t help but see Luna’s face whenever she saw the Nightmare, as she knew underneath all of that rage and jealousy was just the mare she’d grown up with.
...The darkness of the night seemed to creep into the room and clamber up the walls as shadows seemed to take minds of their own. And then, laughter filled the room. But not joyful, ringing, cheerful laughter as Celestia normally knew it from its user. No, the laughter of the maniacal kind as a form manifested itself in the darkness and in the shadows.
Two great black wings expanded, and a misty mane and tail like the stars themselves followed that as a form came into being. Dark blue armor around her chest and head, with a long sharp horn protruding like a lance jutting out from her forehead.
“And so the stars will aid in her escape, or so the legend goes. Isn’t that right… Dear sister?” Nightmare Moon asked with a small laugh, one of pity as she trailed a hoof up Celestia’s face.
“Oh, I’m sorry, have you forgotten about little ole me? What a pity…” She cooed.
“You’re… You’re not supposed to be here!” Celestia stammered out in fear, neglecting to charge up her horn out of both fear and kindness. Fear, for what was in front of her, angry beyond belief. Kindness, as the power of her spells could do untold damage to her sister if not used with the utmost caution. “It’s… It’s not time yet! I still have two more months to go before the Summer Sun Celebration!”
“And yet… Here I am,” Luna… No, Nightmare Moon as Celestia had to remind herself remarked. “And look at you, all defenseless and without the Elements of Harmony to defend your precious kingdom… Why it’s all so easy, isn’t it? Almost a pity that there’s going to be no challenge in taking what’s rightfully mine…”
With that, Nightmare Moon and all that she had brought with her vanished and the light came back to Celestia’s room as the Princess herself shook in terror, beads of sweat trailing down her face.
Celestia’s mind had to force itself to snap back to reality.
“I’m sorry Doctor,” she said as she looked around the room, watching the shadows cast by the moonlight and making sure they weren’t moving about in an unnatural fashion. “But I know what I saw.”
“Yes, you did,” the Doctor said as he began pacing back and forth, after pocketing his Sonic in that coat of his. “Hallucinogenic drug, made to play with your mind and make you see exactly whatever it is the crafter wanted you to see. In this case, your worst fear,” he continued. “Now, I don’t know if this was just pure luck on the crafter’s part, or he or she knew exactly what you feared most but whatever the case I’d say it worked quite well to their advantage.” the Doctor said, sounding almost as if he was in awe and admiration of the creator, nightmare fetishist that he was and all.
“You think?” Celestia asked sarcastically, a rare showing of that from her.
“...Sorry, was I being insensitive again?” the Doctor asked, suddenly realizing exactly what he said, and how it might have come out as to the Princess. The only answer he got was a raised eyebrow from the Princess.
“...Right, dumb question,” he muttered to himself. “Masterpiece of creativ-Er, fear, this is,” the Doctor continued, quickly amending his statement. “Now, doubt you’ve read any of DC’s work, but this is similar in principle to the comic book villain Scarecrow and his fear gas, just in pill form. Gets inside your head, makes you think whatever you’re seeing is your worst nightmare come to life. In this case, an old myth come to unseat you from your throne and cast Equestria and probably the world beyond in eternal night.”
“Yes, that’s Nightmare Moon’s agenda,” Celestia explained. “Sadly, there’s more of a personal aspect for me in this, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out, intelligent as you are Doctor. Fact is, I bet you already know.”
“Sadly, I don’t. As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t know everything about everyone.”
“Everypony…” Celestia sighed, even if she knew correcting him probably wouldn’t work.
“But why would there be a personal… Oh.” the Doctor started before his eyes widened in realization and he gave Celestia a look of pity as he remembered an earlier conversation between the two.
Early that next morning, just as he was preparing to leave Canterlot to see what the rest of Equestria had to offer, the Doctor found Celestia idly pacing back and forth through the throne room via a peek in the doors which had been left opened just a crack. Curiosity overtook him, and he trotted up to Celestia, who by now was staring at a particular stained glass window.
The window depicted her, surrounded by six -or maybe seven, it was hard to tell really- gems circling her as she fired a magical blast at a dark Alicorn in blue armor with a crescent moon and stars for a Cutie Mark with a striking resemblance to Celestia herself in some ways.
“Something wrong?” the Doctor asked, and Celestia staggered back in shock.
“Oh… Doctor, I didn’t hear you come in… No, nothing’s wrong. Just… reminiscing, that’s all…”
The Doctor shook his head as he chuckled. “Oh Celestia, don’t lie to me. I’ve seen that look on your face before, God knows I’ve worn it so many times I can’t even begin to count. Hell, I’ve seen a lot of the looks you’ve been putting up lately. False happiness, a mask to reassure your little ponies that everything’s alright with their ruler. But that’s not the case, is it?” he questioned.
“Doctor… I assume you saw the power I unleashed at that Weeping Angel right?” Celestia asked and the Doctor nodded. “I also assumed you’ve lost those near and dear to you, right?”
“Oh… Far too many times to count, really…” the Doctor trailed off as he remembered the faces and the names before a look of dawning recognition reached his features. “Oh, Celestia. I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
“That mare… The one in the window in that hall of yours and the one you saw tonight, she’s the one close to you isn’t she?” the Doctor realized.
“Yes, my sister,” Celestia admitted sadly. “Those ‘cards’ you sent me as part of our pen pal relationship, you mentioned a civilization on the moon and a mare you were about to name as Luna,” she said, noting the Doctor’s eyes widen in shock as he realized the full scope of what he’d stumbled upon at that moment.
Neither pony saw it at that moment, but watching from the shadows from the outside balcony was a mare, a unicorn. Stone gray in coat color, with a golden mane and an atom’s nucleus as her cutie mark. Her eyes widened as she quickly realized what the Doctor had just figured out, before she quickly teleported away in a light green flash.
Celestia’s eyes noted the Doctor’s own widen in recognition. “Now you see why this is so personal for me, why… why it got to me so badly. I don’t like admitting it, but I was afraid. Afraid of why my own sister might do to me in her own anger and rage,” she trailed off sadly before her expression hardened and her horn began to glow golden. Fear was gone, replaced with something else. “But now that I know somepony’s just using me for their own ends, for kicks even… Rest assured, they will soon realize who exactly they are dealing with. I do not like being played, and when my personal emotions are played with, enough to unsettle me this much…”
“Yes, I completely understand Celestia, if I was in your position I would probably be feeling the same way,” the Doctor replied, before his own expression hardened and he gave Celestia a worrying glance. “But I have to ask, is it justice you’re after… Or revenge?”
Celestia’s silence on the matter only worried him further.
Right about then, as if to break the silence on some god-given cue, a member of the Royal Guard burst in, panting and sweating up a storm. It was easy to surmise he’d run quite the distance, from the barracks all the way up to Celestia’s personal chambers.
“Princess… Twilight… and… and a friend of hers!” the guard, one Steel Sentry if Celestia remembered correctly, panted out catching her attention at once as soon as he mentioned her student. “They… They said they saw this dark alicorn like pony in their room! Threatened them! Mentioned something about eternal night coming to pass!”
As soon as Celestia heard that, there was a bright flash of light and she and the Doctor were gone from the room…
Soon as the Doctor and Celestia entered the home, one could easily feel the fear in the air. And who could blame Twilight for being so spooked, considering what she’d just witnessed? Nearby on a shelf above a fireplace, a radio played smooth jazz music.
The house itself was fairly nice, it could be said. There were pictures lying in frames both on the walls and on some of the furniture, with mounds of books, both finished and unfinished scattered around them as well, perhaps unsurprisingly given the owner and residents of the home. One particular book laid open, one titled “The Legend of the Lost Princess”. Celestia’s smiled a little at this, it seemed not much could keep Twilight from a mystery once she got wind of it. Not even the Canterlot Library’s restricted sections, it seemed.
The walls were a vibrant cream color with a lavender carpet running across the floor. A radiant chandelier hung from the living room, with little crystals hanging from each section. There were just enough chairs for each member of the Sparkle household, with each one being neighboured by what they liked the most.
In a corner of the room hung a golden shield, one resembling a Roman clipeus. A reminder of Twilight’s grandfather and his time in the Guard. Celestia always had that sneaking suspicion that shield, along with certain stories of glory in battle, led Shining to enroll in the guard.
There were also all sorts of knick-knacks and other such items that the family had most likely received from Twilight, or had been purchased from places around Equestria over the years. Perhaps some had been family heirlooms, who was to tell? Trinkets and valuable of all shapes and sizes, found in every corner of the house.
In a corner of the room were both Twilight and Moondancer, orange shock blankets wrapped around them, Shining standing nearby dressed in full armor. He was giving Moondancer a look, the kind an older brother would use to intimidate a potential colt or marefriend. Seemed he’d found out about the two’s little experimental session.
“So, what exactly happened?” the Doctor asked as he stepped inside, and Twilight’s eyes widened. Moondancer was soon to follow.
“No way… Can’t be.” the cream-colored mare whispered in shock, taking off her glasses and rubbing them to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Normally, the Doctor would probably have made a joke about how his reputation preceded him, but now wasn’t the time.
“So, two Nightmare Moon visits. One, the first to Princess Celestia a few nights before.” the Doctor said, going into detective mode. Shining’s eyes widened and he shot a look towards the Princess.
“...Didn’t think it was worth mentioning.” Celestia answered casually, a small little white lie. She still wanted to keep up that infallible appearance towards her subjects. Shining’s jaw dropped as the Doctor continued.
“Second time, this time to her student. My guess, someone wants to target Celestia specifically.”
“Yes Doctor, I sorta figured that out,” Celestia replied flatly. The Doctor ignored her comment, of course.
“Drugged her, made her hallucinate Nightmare Moon returning to her,” he said, before whirling towards Twilight and Moondancer. “Either of you, have anything to drink or eat lately, in a place where something could easily be slipped to you?”
“Well…” Twilight replied. “Got some donuts from Joe, but I trust him. He’s never shown any ill intentions towards Celestia, far as we know…”
“Yes, far as we know,” the Doctor continued. “But, if you ordered from the shop and I know for a fact Joe doesn’t work alone as I’ve been there myself to pick up a snack or two, someone else could have easily slipped something into your donuts.”
“Somepony…” Twilight, Shining, Moondancer and Celestia corrected him.
“How many donuts did you have? How many orders did you place?” Shining asked his sister softly.
“Been placing orders all throughout the night, me and Twilight were doing a lot of research on old Equestrian legends,” Moondancer replied, gesturing to the book on the Lost Princess.
“So, huge timeframe. Anything could have happened between then…” Shining murmured as he rubbed his chin with a hoof. “Not a lot to work with here…”
“Yeah, problem,” the Doctor admitted. “Course, every problem has a solution. You have anything like security cameras placed at Donut Joe’s shop?” he asked, and received only quizzical looks in response.
“...Right, Level Five planet still on the verge of an industrial boom in tech levels…” the Doctor muttered to himself, mentally slapping himself on the forehead. “Course, guards visit that place as well. Could easily talk to them, and see what they saw. Again, it doesn’t leave us with a lot to work with, but it narrows things down somewhat…” he continued before a look of glee struck his face. “Like a noir mystery this, except with magic and ponies! And magical ponies!”
He soundly received a slap over the forehead by Celestia. As he grimaced in pain, he groaned out “...Right, insensitivity issues. Probably should start thinking about getting flash cards for things like this…”
He then straightened up his tie and smiled. “Well, what are all you lot standing around for? We’ve got a Nightmare Moon wannabe running about and scaring the pants off ponies!”
With a gesture of his hoof towards the door, he shouted out “Allons-Y!”
Canterlot Royal Library: Restricted Section:
With a shout of “Hey, you’re not supposed to be in here!”, two guards found themselves soundly flung aside by two light green magical auras. Walking past their unconscious forms was the same unicorn from before, nucleus cutie mark and all.
“Now, where are you…?” the unicorn muttered, as she scanned the many bookshelves that lay before her. Books deemed too dangerous to be released to the public, dark tomes filled with unspeakable spells and old laws from the pre-unification days that had long been mostly forgotten and replaced with new, fairer ones. A tattered and scorched aegis style shield, bronze in color, rested up against a bookshelf. An item once said to be held by the legendary pegasus Flash Magnus himself.
Finally, the villain of our piece found what she was looking for. An old scroll, worn by the ages, but still legible.
She smirked, perfect. This would help her get her revenge on Celestia for sure. With a light green glow of her horn, she transformed back into the form of Nightmare Moon and teleported out of the room, scroll in hoof...
Like every other night for Joe, it was a busy one. Businessmen coming home from late work nights, or others just popping in for a quick late-night snack. But for the most part, it was a fairly normal night -Despite the large amounts of take-out orders from Twilight- really.
In a corner of the room, a jukebox played old rock and roll hits from 50 or so years ago, something Joe had bought up when his father first started up his shop give or take 20 odd-years ago. It began simply, just a small donut shop located inside an old train car, and given a fifties aesthetic with a neon sign on the outside of the building, checkered tile floors on the inside and small red booths with a curved stainless steel countertop.
After his father passed via a heart attack, Joe inherited the shop and continued his work, his dream of owning the greatest donut shop in the land. He’d like to think he’d fulfilled his father’s dreams and made him proud.
Joe smiled as he saw the Royal Guards taking the night shift chowing down on his donuts -His donuts, he thought proudly- for their lunch break. Another pair of guards danced to the tune currently playing on the jukebox, an old rockabilly tune with jazzy horns and even a harmonica. One guard had dark brown fur with a creamy underbelly, and her armor bore a dark red autumn leaf emblazoned on the armor’s centerpiece and on the horseshoes. The other wore similar style armor in design, but was light pink in coat color.
Joe smiled when the dark chocolate coated mare with the autumn themed armor came up to him and asked for a cup of coffee. He could tell she was trying to stay awake, as her eyelids were drooping.
“Long day?” He asked kindly, always making sure to listen to his customers and try and alleviate their concerns and help if he could. It was a business tactic, some would have said, to make a happy customer a returning one, but Joe wasn’t so cynical. He just liked helping ponies, and that was the end of it.
“Yeah… Tell me about it, my kids, soon as I woke up this evening for the night shift were crying up a storm,” the mare said, yawning slightly as she spoke. “Needed their bottle feeding, and in about a few hours they’ll need their diapers changed.”
“Ever thought of hiring a foalsitter?” Joe had to ask. “I can recommend a few ponies who be all too happy to help, really. For example, there’s this mare I know named Minuette who’s really great with kids. Very perky, and she’s looking to make a few bits on the side.”
“Joe, I appreciate your help, I really do, but I can handle my children on my own. My partner, she understands my problems and is always happy to take some of my workload for herself,” the mare continued, and gestured to her partner, who nodded at her words. “Besides, I’d rather spend time with my children, then let some other mare take care of them. They’re my girls and I love them for that, even when they’re making my life a living Tartarus.”
‘I can understand that, I suppose I’d be feeling the same if I had any children of my own,” Joe nodded. “My dad, even when I was causing him all sorts of trouble, still loved me anyways.”
“That’s always the thing isn’t it,” the mare agreed with him as behind her, the music changed to a more, soft jazzy tune. “Your children can do whatever they want, cause all sorts of trouble, but in the end… You’ll still love them, because they’re family. Family never gives up on family.”
“A wise statement, Guard Orchid.” a familiar voice, filled with loving and a motherly warmth that everypony knew said, and everypony in the room bowed at the voice’s owner as she entered the small establishment. Behind her, was the Doctor and Twilight. The Doctor was wearing a checkered suit, and a deerstalker hat for some reason. To only add to the oddity of him, an old-fashioned smoker’s pipe rested in his mouth, blowing out bubbles instead of smoke every so often.
“P-Princess Celestia, wasn’t expecting you at this time of night!” Orchid Blossom stuttered out. “I… I thought you’d gone to sleep already! I mean, once you were done raising the moon and all.”
“Yes, I normally would be, but somepony has gone around threatening my personal student and her family -And me, Celestia added mentally- so I cannot drift off to dreamland just yet.”
All the guards stood at attention at this statement.
“Whatever we can do to help, milady,” Orchid said. “Now, if there’s anything you require of us…”
“Yes, whatever you may have seen in the past few hours. Somepony slipped something into Twilight’s food and started making her see things, and the only place she ordered from within the past few hours…” Celestia trailed off, with Joe finishing for her.
“Was here. Yes, I understand,” he said. “I can inform you with the utmost certainty that I didn’t do it. I’ve been busy dealing with this bunch for quite a while now, as you can see. -Here, he gestured to the guards all around him- Guards have been coming and going for the night shift and keeping me busy, so I’ve had to delegate all of my duties to my waiters and waitresses.” he explained.
“And I have no reason to not believe you, Joe,” Celestia said. “But anything you and your patrons could offer would be of use. May we be allowed to speak to the wait staff?”
“Yeah, much as I’d like you to be able to do that in able clear this up, one of ‘em’s gone missing really...” Joe trailed off, rubbing his beard in thought. “It’s odd really, Enigma, -That’s her name, you see- was always a loyal one. Showed up every night and put in tons of hours, but for the past few nights, she just vanished! Right up out of the blue! Beginning to get me worried…”
“Enigma Nucleus, isn’t that Professor Periwinkle’s niece? The guy who always works in the Canterlot Observatory, studying the stars?” Twilight asked. “Been to see him a few times with my father, nice guy. Always happy to chat about space and its many wonders.”
“Now that you mention it, I think you may be right…” Joe trailed off. “They may be the same pony, I never asked, nor did she ever bring it up. Guess she didn’t want to be recognized as being a pony related to somepony of local fame. Can’t hold that one against her, really…”
“Wait,” Orchid spoke up. “Enigma? Stone gray fur, with a golden mane and an atom for a cutie mark?”
“Yes, that’s the one!” Joe exclaimed. “You’ve seen her?”
“Yes, I was walking on patrol with my partner, and at one point I saw her lurking about your shop, near the rear exit. Looked awfully shifty, now that I think of it,” she replied. “Damn it, should have reported this. If I’d known she’d gone missing, or something was ahoof…”
“It’s not your fault Orchid,” Celestia said kindly. “There was no way you could have known.”
“But at last, we have a lead!” the Doctor proclaimed with a rather excited shout as he took his bubble pipe out of his mouth, and everypony stared at him. “Come along, the game is still ahoof!”
“Who’s he again?” Orchid Blossom asked, looking rather confused. That sentiment seemed to be shared by everypony in the room.
“He’s… He’s, er, an assistant to helping me with this case. Local private eye, I guess would be the best way to put it.” the Princes of the Sun tried to explain, with Twilight nodding along at her lie.
“Consulting detective.” the Doctor corrected and Celestia could only sigh to herself.
Sparkle Family Household:
Meanwhile, back at Twilight’s house, Shining and Moondancer sat down to… Talk.
“So, you’re dating my baby sister?” he asked, his eyes staring right into Moondancer’s own. Credit given where credit was due, she didn’t flinch unlike how a lot of other ponies would have. Shining’s death glare, especially when it came to his baby sister, was rather infamous amongst the Guard.
“W-Well, hardly what you’d call dating… More like experimenting,” Moondancer stuttered out before she facehoofed. That probably wasn’t helping her case much. “...That’s not helping me any, is it?” she then asked, and Shining shook his head.
“No, not really…” He answered.
“Really, this is what we’re doing?” Moondancer asked in complete disbelief, throwing up her hooves in exasperation as she did so. “Sitting in your living room, interrogating me about my relationship with your sister while there’s a mare going around posing as Nightmare Moon and scaring the crap out of everypony?”
“I just want to look out for my sister, she barely has any friends as it is, and she worked hard to get them!” Shining explained. “Her little circle, which is basically just you, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lyra. I… I just don’t want to see her getting her heart broken, and-”
“That’s the thing, isn’t it? Like I said, we’re not in love with each other, just experimenting and trying out new things!” Moondancer argued. Shining didn’t look convinced, and he crossed his forelegs and raised an eyebrow.
“But the way you speak, I may not know a lot about mares and I’ll be the first to admit I’m one of the densest stallions on the planet -Just ask my marefriend about my own high school years- but even I can tell you’re falling for her, and I suspect Twilight is going to start falling for you as well eventually,” Shining stated, and he noted how Moondancer’s eyes lit up at the prospect of Twilight falling in love with her. “See, right there! The way your eyes twinkled when I mentioned the possibility of Twilight falling head over hooves for you. It’s not surprising really, if you think about it,” he continued.
“What is?” Moondancer inquired, taking off her glasses to clean them. Shining sighed, and took off his helmet and sat it on a table to wipe sweat away from his brow with a soft cloth.
“You falling for her. I mean, how could you not? You two… You’re so alike, a shared thirst for knowledge. Learning everything you can about spells, about history, and about this planet,” Shining replied, gesturing to all the books lying scattered around the room. “I just don’t want to see my sister get hurt. It took her a very long while to earn her friends, and before that, she was this social-shut in. If… If she gets her heart broken in any form, I… I’m just afraid she’ll revert back to her anti-social self, not even bothering to try and make new ones and instead just placing her nose in her books. I… I just want to look out for my baby sister, you understand?” Shining said, a very audible sense of worry in his tone.
“I… I understand, and I promise I will never hurt your sister,” Moondancer said, in a completely serious and solemn tone of voice. Shining gazed at her intently, looking into her eyes for any trace of a lie, but found none.
“Alright…” he sighed, finally giving in. “You’ve convinced me.”
“Good, no we can get on to more important matters,” Moondancer replied, adjusting her glasses. “I’ve been working on a theory relating to Nightmare Moon, or more accurately… our imposter.”
“Oh?” Shining asked.
“Think about it, all the abilities she’s displayed so far… Teleportation, umbrakinesis, and flight. Any old unicorn could recreate these things if they knew the proper spells, but whoever’s posing as the Nightmare is just putting a bit more… flare if you will, into things. Dressing them up for his or her purposes, whatever they may be. Allow me to demonstrate,” Moondancer explained, and Shining nodded.
“Go ahead,” he replied.
“I realize this may make me a suspect in the case, but, watch…” Moondancer said, and her horn began to glow a light gray shade as the lights in the household began to flicker, and Shining nodded in understanding as the lights came back on.
“And I could easily recreate what you described to me in how Nightmare Moon teleported into my sister’s bedroom,” Shining said, before his own horn glowed pink and he turned himself into smoke and flew out one open window and then entered through another and resumed his normal form. “What we’re dealing with is a simple flim-flam artist, nothing more and nothing less,” he concluded.
“Question is… What is it they want?” Moondancer had to ask.
Canterlot Observatory:
The Canterlot Observatory, standing tall and proud over the rest of the city. Built on a hill that overlooked the rest of the city, its large white dome and huge golden telescope (Christened Luna’s Grace, by Celestia herself in tribute to her long-lost sister) were unmistakable amongst any other structure in the city. A winding cobblestone pathway led up the hill, flanked by iron railings on either side of the path.
It was this very path Celestia, Twilight and the Doctor now found themselves climbing up to greet the pony in charge of the installation, Professor Mercury Periwinkle and an old friend of Twilight’s father Night Light.
“Oh Twilight, it’s been so long!” Periwinkle said, eagerly shaking the mare’s hoof. “Oh, and Princess Celestia as well! My, such an honor!” he rambled, going on to shake Celestia’s hoof in a quite vigorous manner. Periwinkle was a light blue in coat color, with a red hat that had planets hanging from it and spinning like a baby’s mobile. On his flank, he bore a small silver telescope as his Cutie Mark.
“I… Er, forgot to mention he was a bit eccentric…” Twilight flushed nervously, laughing a little in embarrassment.
“I noticed,” Celestia said, in a rather remarkably deadpan tone for her.
“Come in, come in!” Periwinkle said, leading them inside the giant dome-shaped structure. He continued to ramble as he did so. “Why Twilight, I remember the last time you came here with your father. You were barely knee-high to a grasshopper!”
“Well… I do admit it was a rather long time since I’ve been here…” Twilight laughed nervously, her cheeks flushing even redder. Behind, Celestia and the Doctor stifled their sniggers with their hooves.
“Here, have some tea, it’s only right I treat my guests to some!” Periwinkle said and as his hooves trotted across the wooden floor a very audible creaking sound was heard. Soon, he was near a giant golden lever. He pulled it down, where it lay near a small cabinet. On top of that cabinet was a photograph inside a picture frame. In the photo, was him smiling with a golden-maned unicorn mare, presumably his niece.
The cabinet opened its twin doors, and a small little robot popped out carrying small little cups to a table, where Periwinkle gestured for Twilight and company to sit at. The robot placed the small cups down, and then went to retrieve a pot of tea.
“Ooh, very interesting! Genius really, personal servant! And all you have to worry about is oiling his gears every now and then!” the Doctor said in excitement. Periwinkle flushed at the compliment.
“Glad you think so!” he said as the little robot poured the tea into the cups one by one. “One of my finest accomplishments outside of studying the stars. Haven’t seen you around before, I must admit, you Twilight’s coltfriend?”
“N-No!” Twilight stammered out. “I… I’m more interested in my own gender,” she mumbled in embarrassment.
Hearing that, Periwinkle sighed and muttered “Rats! You two seem like a good pair, both remarkably intelligent if that stallion is who I think he is…” before turning to Celestia and asking: “He yours?”
“Not in the slightest.” the Princess of the Sun replied, although if you looked very closely, you could see the faintest hint of pink on Celestia’s cheek fur. Thankfully for her, nopony seemed to take any notice of it.
“So, what brings you here?” Periwinkle asked.
“It’s about your niece, Enigma,” the Doctor said. “We need to find her, she may have access information that’s rather important to us,” he said, telling the good professor a sort of half-truth, sparing him from his real suspicions. Noticing this and picking up on what the Doctor had done, both Celestia and Twilight sent him grateful smiles.
“Ah yes… her,” Periwinkle said sadly, shaking his head. “That’s… That’s sorta the thing, I haven’t seen her in the past few days. Hasn’t even shown up to treat me to my favorite brand of tea like she used to do, which is what forced me to make my little friend here…” he trailed off, patting his hoof-made robot on the head.
Twilight and the Doctor shared a look. If Periwinkle didn’t even know where his own niece was, and they seemed to be rather close, -at least at one point- then who else could they ask? Before they could ponder this question any further, an explosion of dark blue magic sent pieces of the wall flying towards them. Coughing, Twilight performed a spell to create small gusts of wind to clear away the smoke.
When it was removed from the air, her eyes widened when she saw the figure standing before her.
“Goodness Gracious!” Periwinkle shouted in shock and fear, blinking to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “Nightmare Moon… But… But it simply can’t be you! It’s not time yet!”
“Ah, grand old prophecies… Never entirely accurate are they?” Nightmare Moon drawled as the Doctor stood up, Sonic Screwdriver in hoof.
“But he’s right, you’re simply not Nightmare Moon… Are you?” he asked, already having figured out what Shining and Moondancer had not that long before. His scans revealed exactly what he theorized. Underneath all of that fancy makeup, if you will, was just a normal unicorn. He sighed sadly to himself once he learned who said unicorn was and whispered a mental apology towards Periwinkle. “Just a normal pony, using a bunch of tricks and illusions to mask yourself.”
“Well, aren’t you a clever one?” Nightmare Moon said in a mock-cheerful tone. “But you’re right, I’m not Nightmare Moon. I just needed to be, to get ponies afraid… and to strike Celestia where it hurts, for what she did to me!”
“Did what to you?” Celestia asked in confusion.
“Oh, you’re so naive… You hurt others without even thinking of the consequences. What’s that old expression…? Oh right, karma’s a bitch!” the false Nightmare Moon spat before tossing a scroll towards the group, and Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw it, and what was on it.
“No, it can’t be…” she whispered in fear and horror before her eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that?”
“You’d be surprised at what sort of things you’d find in the restricted section of the library. You really should keep your secrets under better lock and key…” the false Nightmare Moon laughed before she took flight into the night skies and cackled once more. “Now, have fun you lot! Seeing what your dear Princess did in the dark! Every truth shall be brought to the light someday… I’m just helping things along a little I’d like to think!” she continued before teleporting away in a flash of smoke.
“Princess, what did she mean…?” Periwinkle trailed off as Twilight picked up the scroll, before she gasped and recoiled in horror at what she saw on it. An entire hive-like structure burning, while an Alicorn with a flaming mane who looked a lot like Celestia laughed in glee at the entire scene...
Twilight, eyes widened in horror, continued to stare at the horrific image in front of her, whispering to herself how it just couldn’t be true, how Celestia couldn’t have been a monster at one point. That this was all a forgery.
But the evidence spoke for itself, and it was damning.
“It started, one supposes, after the banishment of Princess Luna. Something in Celestia changed, and not for the better. Perhaps it was needed for those times, one can only guess. Equestria had erupted into chaos, after the loss of one of its two rulers. The Royal Court was up at arms, shouting for order, and Equestria’s enemies saw this as a chance to strike.
“Queen Arthropod, the very first of the Changeling Queens, and if this writer is to be believed, quite possibly the last, saw this as a chance to overthrow Celestia and take her kingdom for her own. Oh, how to describe her? Jet black in chitin color, with a maroon mane and carapace looking like a demon out of Tartarus itself, and an attitude to match.
“Terrifying was her fury, as she razed villages to the ground. Bat-ponies in Southern Equestria were the first to feel her wrath, as their villages were sucked dry of any love to be found, and then burned to the ground by Arthropod’s soldiers. Any of the bat-winged equines that remained fled to the northern mountains, perhaps never to be seen again.
“As for our dear Princess? Celestia could not let this march on her kingdoms stand. But she knew she could not face the Queen and her forces alone, and so she called for aid. Thankfully, this call did not go unanswered. In those days, Equestria had an ally, the Hippogriffs of Mount Aeris or Hippogriffia as it was known in those days in the southern seas. And what a glorious ruler it had, Queen Novo. A fuchsia mane, and a bright white coat. A splendorous beauty if there ever was one.
“Side by side, they fought, Queen Novo and Princess Celestia against the invading forces. Like a fury, they took down any who stood in their way. Novo, with her claws and Celestia with powerful magic spells. Finally, the forces of Arthropod were driven to their sole remaining hive, with all of the others blasted into ruin by a combination of Hippogriff and Royal Solar Guard forces.
“Arthropod, in one last desperate attempt, fought Celestia in a battle to the death. To her credit, the Queen put up quite the fight. She’d cocooned Novo, sucking her love energy away to power her own abilities. Mountains were blasted apart, and the seas raged as the two rulers went head to head. But in the end, there could only be one victor. Arthropod’s horn was shattered, and Celestia staked her through the heart, using her own horn like a lance.
“Something snapped in our dear Princess that day. I’m not quite sure what it was. Perhaps it was the stress of losing her own sister, or maybe it was the weeks of a tireless battle against an unforgiving foe. Or maybe, just maybe, this writer suspects, whatever overtook Luna had snuck a part of itself into Celestia as well. But whatever the case, our dear Princess of the Sun… changed. She became battle hungry, and lost the forgiveness and kindness she was known for. She planted Arthropod’s head on a stake, and while she advanced on the hive, kept it was a trophy to show the former queen’s forces, that yes, they’d lost.
“No chances for parley were given, much to everyone who was involved in this's horror, shock, and disgust. Instead, Celestia’s mane became that of a burning inferno. She drove the Changelings into the hive, and then burned it to the ground with a pure hellish hate.
“One brave soldier, Ironhead, raised his ire against this, calling it unequine in nature. Novo’s right-hand commander, Stratus Skyranger voiced his opinions against this as well. But it was all for naught, and they too were thrown into the blaze.
“It was over only in a matter of minutes, but the aftermath shocked Equestrians and Hippogriffs alike. Novo voiced her disgust with Celestia, calling her by the title “Daybreaker” after her fury had subsided, and broke off their alliance. She, and her hippogriff soldiers returned to Mount Aeris, and they have never contacted Equestria since, taking the southern lands for themselves and banishing Celestia/Daybreaker from them. Surprisingly, she went along with this, allowing her kingdom to be divided in two.
“But it was far from over. Nobles, those who voiced dissent over these actions had only one fate meant for them. The chopping block. No voices of reason seemed to be allowed, or listened to. It was an age of blood and fire.
“The most shocking twist, however, had yet to come. In those days, there were seven Elements. Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and last but not least… Forgiveness. But it was this last element that was never to be seen again after those days. It shattered and was never to be seen again. The other elements, they took flight from Celestia and left only behind worthless stones in their place. Celestia let out a scream of rage, or maybe it was sadness and horror -One can only hope it was this- at what she’d become and the days of fire and blood were over at last.
“Equestria’s darkest age had come to an end, and a new day of bright light was to follow. But its reputation was forever tainted amongst the southern lands, and Celestia shall, quite sadly, all because of one day of pure rage building up inside her let loose, be forever remembered as the monster known as Daybreaker. Now, she is known as the Mourning Princess, shut away in her chambers letting her personal assistants do the work of ruling the kingdom for her. She is nothing but a shadow of her former self, and that perhaps… is the greatest tragedy of them all.
“As my final words on the matter, I look back in shame at what our Princess has turned into, and what she once was. It is this writer’s hope, that maybe one day, the Princess we know and love will return.”
-As transcribed by the loyal servant of the true Princess Celestia, one Ink Pot
Twilight thought back aways, she thought about one of the windows in the throne room. It had been one of her first lessons with Celestia -Twilight had to wonder if she could even call her mentor that now- when she was just a small little filly.
There was a small chip in that window now. Twilight had been trying to perform a simple levitation spell, just as a test of her own strength. She’s been so eager to please, Instead, she’d accidentally shattered the window into pieces. Oh, she remembered the waterworks she’d shed that day.
She’d been so terrified, what if her apprenticeship was over before it had really begun? But Celestia had simply wiped away her tears, and give her student a gentle smile.
The fact that Twilight had moved the window, but shattered it instead, Celestia had told her, was a testament to her strength.
Twilight had asked, “What about the window? That had to have been centuries old!”
Celestia only laughed and said in reply: “No, only a decade, in fact. And I never liked it anyways. I wanted a new one, and had been meaning to have an excuse to get it replaced anyhow. Besides, you think you’re the first to try and levitate one of those windows? No, Royal Guards, while taking them out to polish the stained glass have shattered them. That window… it’s one of a long line of replacements for the original.”
That had been Twilight’s first real look at Celestia, her kindness and her gentleness. The Princess… she’d kept a chip of that window, and put it in the new one just as a reminder of that moment and of how proud she was of her student. But now, in a single moment, that had all been shattered. Just like the window.
Celestia sat in her chair, shivering as the memories of Twilight played havoc with her past. With how viciously she had cleaved through the Changeling dogs of Arthropod, she severely doubted which side to take. She was too much of a monster in Twilight’s eyes, yet she still had a number of fond memories of her as her pupil. “Sweet gods above, why must I be plagued by this heartache?!” Her head slumped down into her chest as she cursed herself.
“Celestia…” Twilight slowly trotted up to her, seeing her inner discord from a mile away. “Are you still thinking about that stuff with Queen Arthropod?”
Tears streamed down Celestia’s face as she spoke.
“Yes, Twilight. And it’s tearing me apart just thinking about it!” Her head snapped back up to meet Twilight’s. “How can I, the Princess of the Sun, be seen as such a monster, yet a beloved ruler at the same time?”
“Celestia…” Twilight reached forward to try and pat her mentor’s mane, but her hoof was quickly dismissed and sent back to her side. “That’s all in the past now. Look how far you’ve come since then. The ponies love you for who you are; not what you were.”
“Perhaps…” Celestia began. “But what would they think, if this information were ever to come to light, as it just has with you, the Doctor and Periwinkle?”
She gestured to the ponies in question. Professor Periwinkle, shock. The Doctor, disappointment.
“Sometimes… I do have to wonder, why did I leave that scroll under so little security?” Celestia asked. “Maybe… Just maybe, I wanted it to be found. To let ponies know what I once was. And for me… Never to forget. That seventh element? It’s yet to return, and I suspect it never will even if the others do. You must think of me as a monster Twilight, and don’t try denying it, I can see it in your eyes. And the thing is? I do not blame you.” Celestia continued.
“Wh-what?” Twilight’s voice had thinned, as if she had taken an invisible blade to the heart. “Why… would you ever want to blame me for what you did? Were we… were we just reminders of your past?” She started to take a few steps backwards. “N-no… No! I don’t believe it. I refuse to believe it!”
“Proof’s in the pudding, right? To use a human phrase the Doctor once said,” Celestia replied. “That scroll… it’s no forgery. Those events, they did happen. Perhaps, after Luna did leave me, I lost the ability to care.”
“So… you really did lead a violent warpath?” Twilight’s entire mouth trembled. Not even looking at Celestia would give her the confidence to help her out anymore. Her entire world had been flipped upside down, and all because of the actions of one Changeling Queen from a millennium ago. “I… I can’t believe you! How could you?!” With no more bravery, Twilight resorted to the one thing she had left: Disbelief. “You seem so perfect to me. To everyone! But deep down, you’re just a monster, a monster who can’t forgive herself, but is trying to bury the past!”
“Who said I buried it?” Celestia asked. “Like I said, I…” her voice came out as a deep shuddering breath. “I wanted it to be found, deep down inside somewhere. And you’re absolutely right, I am a monster. Maybe we all are, deep inside.”
“Maybe you are, but I’m not…” Twilight turned away from Celestia and ran off. “And we all know what happens to monsters in this world. They face the music!” She barged out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Celestia teleported after her, and was soon right in front of Twilight. “Before you go, before you throw me out of your life forever… Ask yourself this. There may be a time when you yourself may commit actions that you’ll never forgive yourself for. Maybe Ink Pot was right, maybe a bit of the Nightmare did leech onto me, or maybe not. Maybe she… No, I, committed those actions of my own accord. I may never know, really.”
“If that time does come, then somepony will defeat me before I walk the path you did.” Twilight pushed through her. “Goodbye, Celestia. May Equestria prosper with—“ She gave her a cold glare “—or without you.” And with that, she ran as far as she could, leaving Celestia, the Doctor, and Periwinkle behind.
Celestia took another deep shuddering breath, and the dam finally broke, as tears streamed down her face. She knew she’d lost her student.
“Goodbye… Twilight Sparkle,” she whispered and swore quietly to herself. The false Nightmare, she’d won. Whatever it was Celestia had done to Enigma in the past —Because really, who else could it be under that glamor—, she’d won out and hurt Celestia where it would hit the most. Her family, her adopted daughter.
“Now, Doctor, do you see what I am?” Celestia asked. “The Solar Tyrant, that’s what they should call me. Not the Solar Princess. But I must ask, why do you not accuse me and scorn me like Twilight? I lied to you, remember?”
“You saw that power I unleashed. I’m always afraid that one day I’ll just say “Damn it all!” and give in to that power, and what would come out… I honestly don’t want to even think about. For centuries, I’ve had whispers in my ears, just telling me to use that power against anypony or anything who stands in my way. But I never listened… Until today, that is. Today, it was the closest I ever came to just giving in and showing the whole of Equestria the power their ruler holds. Can you imagine what it’d be like, just giving in like that and letting power overtake you, no rules or anything standing in your way?”
“Yes, but I re-quote what I said then: “Yes, I have imagined, not letting any of the rules I’ve set up for myself stand in my way. Just ignore the laws of time, not just bend them… Break them. Hell, there’s even one version of me out there -The Valeyard- who’s done exactly that. It could happen one day, just as it could happen to you. Good men don’t need rules. We are not good men, or ponies. So yes, I think we could easily succumb to our own desires. But you know why I think we won’t? Because of the oldest thing in the universe… Love. We love who we watch, and there are those that keep us in check. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
Celestia chuckled, and smiled. “Who watches the watchers?”
The Doctor flashed back briefly, to a moment where he wasn't so different from Celestia.
“Oh, but I’m not from Mars.” The Doctor remarked. He was below the Thames, with spiderwebs above him and a facing a red skinned arachnoid like creature with the body of a human and very sharp claws. Nasty temperament too at that.
“Then where?” The Empress had asked him.
“My home planet is far away and long since forgotten, but its name lives on. Gallifrey.” He stated, in an almost arrogant tone of voice.
“THEY MURDERED THE RACNOSS!” The Empress had screeched at him in pure rage and fury at hearing that hated name, and in a cold tone of voice the Doctor simply replied:
“I warned you.” He growled out as he held small red baubles in his hand and then tossed them to the winds...
“MY CHILDREN!” She screeched in rage as flames burned like Hellfire around the Doctor. The dying screeches of her babies filled the room as water rushed down a large hole. A red haired woman, in a bridal gown, looked on in horror. She had seen the wondrous, charming side of the Doctor’s life, now she was seeing him in pure cold fury. Unrestrained and almost nobody to stop him. And it had all happened in a single day.
“Doctor, you can stop now!”
“And… And I’ve been in your position once before, letting rage overtake me. It was a time when I’d lost someone near and dear to me, like you did. I let an entire race drown under the Thames River in London, and one woman… God bless her heart, held me back. She told me I could stop, and then… When all was said and done, she told me how terrified she was of me, and the thing is… she was right. We are gods, and if we ever let our power overtake us…”
“Nothing could stand in our way,” Celestia finished. “But now Doctor, I ask you, what do I do now? How can I repair my relationship with my student? I’ve already lost one to anger, and I don’t want to lose another…” she whispered, tears still dripping from her eyes as an image of a student with flaming red and yellow hair re-entered her mind, not for the first time in the past few years. But a hoof wiped the tears away. However, to her surprise, it wasn’t the Doctor’s.
“Give her time, that’s all I can say,” Periwinkle said to Celestia. “We all say things we don’t mean, in times of rage and grief. Her image of you -Like mine- as this perfect Princess may have been shattered, but you’re still the same Celestia you were before the darkness overtook you,” he continued. “Kind, caring, and gentle. In time, Twilight will remember that. You just need to give her that,”
“And yet… I cannot forgive myself,” Celestia continued. “That Element, it ran so far away from me, that it may never be found. It’s entirely possible that it was so repulsed by my own actions it may never be found. Luna’s fall, and the bloodshed that followed, they are all on me. I honestly believe that I will never forgive myself for what I’ve done. I have lost touch with a crucial part of myself, and that perhaps… Might just be the greatest tragedy in all of this. I am no longer the pony I once was, and I never will be again.” she whispered, and swore quietly yet again as she imagined a stone gray mare laughing as the seeds of vengeance took root. Damn her, Celestia thought. Damn her.
Unknown to anyone, hiding in the shadows, was a lavender coated figure, equine in shape and with a horn jutting from her forehead. And she cried, not just for her own actions, and not just for those lost in a horrific burning, but for Celestia herself.
Even as her mind swirled with images of Changelings, a pony and a hippogriff dying and screaming in a horrific blaze of hellfire from Tartarus itself, and a fiery-maned mare laughing at the pure devastation -With a purple-maned hippogriff looking on in disgust, and ponies watching in horror- she remembered something else. A kindly mare, with a heart that blazed as bright as the sun itself, and one who despite everything she’d been through never wavered in her stance to defend those who could not defend themselves.
Twilight sobbed, and ran off into an alleyway, her mind swirling with questions. No, she couldn’t face her mentor yet. Maybe someday, but not today.
Out of all the questions Celestia had to ask today, who exactly was this mare who bore such a grudge against her, one so furious that she was willing to expose the “Massacre of Southern Equestria” and the division of the North and the South?
Just who exactly was Enigma Nucleus, Celestia had to ask herself as the sky finally broke open and the rain began to pour down. All day, there had been rumblings of distant thunder, warnings of an oncoming storm and the sky had been constantly clouded over, but only now had they let loose their deluge.
Oh, she knew the object of her questions was the niece of one Professor Mercury Periwinkle, and one very bright pony, but beyond that… She was a mystery. An enigma, if you will. There was so little she knew about this mare, and it saddened her. She could have stopped this… all of this from happening if she just knew what had affected Enigma so much, and persuaded her that none of this was worth it.
Revenge, after all, Celestia had learned long ago was just an empty hollow feeling. Despite however much you wanted it to, it never filled any holes. The fact was, it just continued the cycle. Celestia privately admitted she wanted to damn Enigma to the pits of Tartarus for all eternity for causing this rift between her and a mare she saw as an adoptive daughter.
A daughter, she knew, after all, was growing up fast.
Pacing back and forth in her study, Celestia knew this. “Maybe I could close the library or throw a party in the castle. Oh, she'd have to talk to the other fillies then! Oh. I must send her away.”
She knew for her adoptive daughter, it was getting close to her time to leave the nest, as it were, and spread her wings. Quite literally, in fact, Twilight was one of the most talented students she had in years, and if Twilight could just jump over that one little hurdle and learn the Magic of Friendship… Maybe, just maybe, she could successfully do what none of her other students had done before and complete Starswirl the Bearded’s spell.
This worrying persisted for weeks on end, even in the midst of her own throne room. Even two of her guards, Orchid Blossom and Sakura Flowers had seen and bore witness to Celestia making a complete and utter fool of herself. She knew there was this special group of fillies in a small town called Ponyville, the ones that might be able to push Twilight out of her shell, but…
“What if she runs into a manticore?” Celestia whispered to herself frantically, continuing to pace back and forth acting like a mother hen, to put it bluntly. “Or what if she gets pulled into Tartarus?” she asked, before she had the most horrifying thought yet. “Or, worst of all, what if she doesn't get along with anypony?!?”
The guards' thoughts on the matter, you might ask?
“Are we supposed to say something?” Sakura had to ask, watching the Princess with a rather worried expression. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in days, and frankly, the pink mare was amazed Celestia’s mane was still in such great shape. Oh, if she only knew. It was only a glamor. In reality, if you stripped that away, you would see Celestia’s mane was in a state of disorder and chaos.
“I don't think so,” Orchid answered, with a shake of her head. “In fact, I think it’s wise we just sit back and let Celestia figure this one out for herself. Frankly, I think it’s above our paygrade anyways…” she sighed. “I’mma just going to go out and give the kids their bottle-feeding, ‘bout time to anyways…”
“Fine,” Sakura said. “But if the Princess starts digging a hole in the floor, and I imagine she will in the next few minutes, don’t you come crying to me when we’re forced to fix it!”
But Celestia also knew revenge was a cycle, and it continued hurting more and more the longer it continued. So, despite all that Enigma had done to her, Celestia knew she couldn’t strike out in anger and just lock her up and throw away the key. Oddly, something was telling Celestia that the mare who was the source of her troubles was hurting inside, just like Celestia herself was.
“You’re thinking, aren’t you?” the Doctor’s voice said from behind her, as the two trotted towards the Canterlot Hall of Records. “Don’t bother denying it, I can see it on your face.”
Celestia chuckled softly. “I still have yet to figure out how you always do it, but you always manage to read me like an open book,” she said. “You probably figured out that I’m wondering who’s Enigma, and why she wants to get to me this badly, haven’t you?”
“Well… when you don’t speak for a good thirty minutes or so, plus you point us in the direction of the Hall of Records… Not hard to figure out, no,” the Doctor commented in a remarkably deadpan tone. “But I admit, Enigma -Very meaningful name, by the way- is a curiosity too. I mean, where is she getting her information from? How’d she know where to look in the restricted section for that scroll? Actually, how’d she know about it in general?”
“All very good questions Doctor, ones we will get the answers for, from Enigma herself if need be,” Celestia replied, as she pushed open the two massive wooden doors to the Hall of Records. Inside was corridor after corridor after filing cabinet, containing slices of information on every pony who’d ever lived in Canterlot, going back a thousand years. It was a small wonder to Celestia that everything was always kept sorted, really. Birthdates, to death dates, along with various other little notes on them.
“You know, a more paranoid pony would probably make a remark on how this seems all very tyrant-like, very 1984ish. All you’d need is the torture chamber the drops rats on your head,” the Doctor commented in a very dry fashion. “But let’s be thankful you’re a more benevolent pony than that, eh?”
“Something tells me that’s one book from your world I’d rather not read…” Celestia deadpanned back.
“Oh, might tell you a few things. Very interesting social commentary, if nothing else,” the Doctor replied. Celestia turned back to look at him, and raised an eyebrow.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re still a little miffed about Shining throwing you in the dungeon a few months back?” she asked, still in that flat tone.
“Oh, everyone holds grudges…” the Doctor trailed off, and Celestia was about to correct him, but sighed and changed her mind. After all, what’d be the point? “Even me,” he muttered to himself, in a tone of self-disgust. “You’re probably shocked about this, but personally… I think you’d make a better Doctor than I would at times,” the Doctor continued, and Celestia’s jaw dropped slightly, and she halted in her tracks.
“...You’re kidding,” Celestia replied, before quickly realizing he wasn’t kidding.
“No, you in all your kindness, and benevolence, and capacity to forgive, preaching friendship to other races,” the Doctor said sadly. “That’s the qualities of a Doctor. My name -And I don’t know if I ever told you this- it’s a promise as well. The man who helps people. That’s what I’m supposed to be. And yet, over the past few years, I’m beginning to wonder… Have I given as much help as I could have? Shown a capacity for revenge and bloodlust when I could have shown mercy?” he asked, before continuing. “I’m not a good man, nor am I a good pony. I always need someone to keep me in check… But you, you never do. You hold yourself back, knowing what kind of power you could unleash at a whim…” he trailed off, leaving the Princess of the Sun at a loss of what to say to that.
An awkward silence persisted for the next few moments as the Doctor and Celestia continued roaming the corridors of the halls of records, till they came to the “E” section.
“Can’t imagine this was easy to organize, really,” the Doctor commented lightly, as he used his hoof to pull open a metal filing cabinet and begin searching through it. “After all, given the madness behind pony naming conventions…”
Celestia chuckled at that.
“Oh Doctor, you have no idea,” she replied, shaking her head. “Real pain in the flank, and it only gets harder every year, really as more ponies are born… You know, someday soon, I imagine we will have to build a second Hall, and then someday a third and so on,” she commented, in a half-joking tone of voice.
“Ah, here it is! Molto bene!” the Doctor suddenly cried out as Celestia found Enigma’s file. She flipped it open, and her eyes darted from right to left as she scanned through it, muttering to herself.
“Let’s see… Enigma Nucleus, born 978, to Question Mark and Thinking Mare…” she trailed off before her eyes widened, and she felt a great wave of guilt hit her as she remembered exactly who Enigma was. The Doctor took notice of her expression.
“What, what is it?”
“Enigma, it says it all right here!” the Princess of the Sun said, using a hoof to gesture to the file and read off the page. “Enigma Nucleus, born 978, to Question Mark and Thinking Mare, and orphaned at the age of six via a house fire that was ruled an accident, and currently in the care of her uncle Professor Mercury Periwinkle.”
“Oh Enigma Nucleus…” the Doctor whispered sadly. “And I suspect she blames you, in some fashion, for this. She’s lashing out, in anger, because no-one ever helped her through her grief, not even her uncle. Well, maybe he tried, but losing one’s parents at such a young age is bound to have an effect on the psyche. So… how do we find her?”
“Well, that is an easy question with an even simpler answer…” Celestia trailed off as she thought back to a few years ago. A funeral, and a young mare weeping as two caskets were lowered into the ground. Celestia tried to hug this filly, and tell her everything would be alright, but was simply shoved away.
“The Canterlot Graveyard…” she sighed.
And so, that’s where they found her, at Canterlot’s graveyard. A gusty wind blew through the trees, making them whistle in the wind as lightning flashed in the background and rain poured down over hundreds of headstones and grave markers.
Leaves blew in the wind, and one shivering Enigma Nucleus was found soaked to the bone, sobbing her heart out at her parents’ grave.
Celestia cautiously approached her, and Enigma growled, and whirled around to fire off a blast of magic towards Celestia. It was powered by pure rage, and grief, and therefore easily deflected. Several more blasts were fired, but none dealt any damage to Celestia, who simply continued calmly striding forwards.
“Stay… Stay back!” Enigma screamed, tears streaming down her face, but to her surprise, Celestia just pulled her into a hug and said three simple words that shook the young mare to her very core.
“I forgive you.”
“...Why? W-Why?” Enigma asked. “Why would a monster like you forgive me?” she asked.
“Because that’s all I have left. Repentance. The Doctor once told me, about a belief in a culture that when someone dies, they have to carry the souls of all they’ve wronged up a mountain upon their backs. Now imagine, how many souls do I have to carry?” Celestia asked. “I’m truly very sorry about your parents, Enigma. I’m so, so sorry…” she whispered, in that soft, loving tone of hers that made her so famous. In the shadow of a birch tree, was a familiar figure.
Crying, not just for Enigma, but for Celestia as well. And her own stupidity. She’d been so irrational, so angry at Celestia for keeping such a large secret from her that she’d forgotten the most crucial thing about her mentor.
Her kindness, and that she was always willing to forgive others no matter what they’d done. Some said it was a fault of hers, that she went to easy on her enemies, but Twilight knew better now. She forgave, just because it was the right thing to do. Not everypony was a monster, and for a brief time, Celestia had forgotten that. Some were just acting out of sheer anger, or because they had no-one to care for them when they needed it most.
Suddenly, to her surprise, Enigma pushed Celestia away.
“If you were really sorry, you would have saved my parents. T-That house… the fire…” Enigma trembled. “You could have dashed in and helped them!”
“Do you not, Enigma Nucleus, remember a white figure carrying you out of the blaze?” Celestia asked, and Enigma did indeed a remember. A pure white form, in the midst of the fire and flames wrapping her young self in a golden glow and rushing her out the front door.
“By the… By the time I got you out…” Celestia whispered, tears of her own now streaming down her face. “The fire, it was too dangerous for anyone to venture back in. Even I tried, but the house was too weak by that point, and it…”
“C-Collapsed…” Enigma whispered, and let out a wail of self-anger and grief into Celestia’s shoulder and began punching her over and over, with the mare wrapping her wings around the younger pony and just taking the hits as they came. They both needed to do this, that much she knew.
A beam of sunlight broke through the clouds as the rain finally began to stop, as Enigma finally collapsed from exhaustion, all of her anger and grief spent.
“N-Now, I suppose you want a confession out of me? How I-I managed to find that scroll?” Enigma asked, her voice in fear of Celestia’s judgment.
“Yes, that would be nice, although I will not lock you up. As far as I can see, you haven’t done anything truly illegal. Revenge, it’s a cycle, and if I locked you up now, that cycle would continue. In fact, I think I already know who gave you this information,” Celestia explained, thinking of a certain former Captain of the Royal Guard locked up in the dungeons. “Boltstrike, am I right?”
“Yes, that’s who gave it to me. He said, if Celestia was overthrown, they’d want a new leader. The ponies, and he, in all of his madness would be elected. I never believed him, as even I could tell he was completely insane, but I admit, I was curious about any information he might have had that would defame you, show everypony that you’re not such a perfect Princess...” Enigma sighed.
“Who do you think gave him that information?” Celestia said, with a wink. “Believe it or not, some part of me, it actually wanted that exposed. The truth… It can never be held forever. My reputation will suffer and be stained yes, but it’s for the best. Those who forget history are far too often doomed to repeat it, I believe the saying goes. Yes, you will be punished, Enigma, but not harshly. A few months of community service, that’s all that I think is needed in this case.”
“Thank… Thank you…” Enigma whispered, and Celestia only smiled. Later, the Doctor led Celestia to his TARDIS, saying he had something to show her.
“Where… Or when are we going?” Celestia asked, with an inquisitive look on her face.
“There’s something I think you need to see,” the Doctor said with a secretive smile. “As you probably guessed, I’ve been doing a bit of jumping around the timelines, and I found one possible future that I think you might like…”
The TARDIS arrived in the halls of the Castle, just outside the throne room. “Now,” the Doctor continued. “Let’s keep out of sight, and just watch…”
Celestia nodded, before casting an invisibly spell over herself and the Doctor as they entered the room. She saw herself, and then her eyes widened as Twilight -Along with another mare, light pink in coat color with a dark purple mane with aquamarine streaks- stepped into the room.
“Sooo, Princess Celestia…” Twilight laughed nervously. “You'll never guess who's back! Actually, maybe you can guess, 'cause she's right here. But, um…”
But who came next, now that was really a shock. A golden alicorn mare, with a mane like a blazing fire, red and yellow.
“Sunset…” the past Celestia whispered in shock, a tear dripping down her face as she watched her former student, and friend walk into the room, her head hung low in shame as if she didn’t deserve to be there.
“Princess Celestia, the last time we saw each other, I was your snide little pupil who betrayed and abandoned you,” Sunset began.
“What Sunset means to say is—” Twilight started before being cut off.
“I mean that I come before you a changed pony, humbly asking for forgiveness, guidance, and knowledge,” Sunset continued, before she sighed. “Or I can just go, and you never have to see me again.”
The past Celestia wanted to reach out, and hug her student, but she didn’t need to worry, as that was already being done by her future self.
“I've missed you, Sunset Shimmer.” Celestia said, and her past self said to the Doctor: “Thank you… Thank you for letting me know my student will come home. No, not my student, my daughter. But I thought-”
“Letting you know too much about the future is dangerous?” the Doctor replied. “Yes… Well, I think in this one instance I can bend the laws of time a little bit, hmm?” he said with a smile.
The very next day, Celestia was greeted by a visitor in her Throne Room. As if foreshadowing things to come, Twilight stepped in, her head hung low in shame.
“Princess Celestia, I-”
Celestia only smiled and only just nuzzled her student. And in the shadows, the Doctor smiled and walked off. All was well.
Part 16: A Royal Date for a Princess and Wisdom from Beyond the Stars
Princess Celestia, looked up to and admired all across the lands of Equus, even in nations far from Equestria like the Griffin Kingdom and the Zebra Countries for her great wisdom and beauty. She'd lived over a thousand years, (She'd long forgotten the exact number.) and sometimes, if she was, to be honest, it felt like it at times with all she'd been through. From fighting on the frontlines of many a war to losing her love King Sombra to the darkness and learning he'd enslaved the Crystal Ponies of the now long lost Crystal Empire. Then, as if to twist the knife even further, she found herself having to fight him alongside her sister and being forced to banish him to the depths of the icy north.
Of course, then it happened. Losing her sister to the spirit of darkness and fear known as Nightmare Moon, and once again, being forced to banish somepony she loved to a place where they'd likely never return. But to her surprise, her prayers had been answered and Luna had indeed returned to her side, all thanks to the efforts of her prized student and adopted daughter Twilight Sparkle and her five friends that comprised the Elements of Harmony.
"Do you really think you can stop me, Twilight Sparkle? You're just a simple unicorn, while I am a goddess! I am the night itself, and I WILL make it last forever!" A pure black pony with a mane of stars and wearing blue armor yelled at her foe. "And don't get me started on those friends of yours. Newsflash for you. Friendship is. A. LIE!"
Twilight glared harshly at her foe, while they stood in the ruins of an old and crumbling castle. Nearby, her newfound friends from Ponyville watched in shock and fear.
"No, that's not true. Friendship exists and you know, deep down Princess!" She pleaded, but the incarnation of nightmares and the shadows themselves were not willing to listen.
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT! I am not Princess Luna, there is only Nightmare Moon!" The being who was once Celestia's sister roared in rage. The shadows themselves seemed to grow colder and darker as if they had minds of their own. But that wasn't possible, was it? Twilight ignored them even as they reached for her and charged at her opponent. Nightmare burst out laughing at the sight.
"You seriously think that'll work?"
Twilight came closer. Nightmare gaped for a second.
"...Wow, guess she is serious." She said, stunned.
She readied herself but Twilight didn't attack. Instead, she slid right under the dark Alicorn goddess and to the chest beyond pulling out its contents with her magic.
"Here, catch!"
With that, Twilight tossed the items known in legend as the Elements of Harmony to her friends.
"You want a demonstration of friendship, Nightmare? Here, I've got one JUST for you!" Twilight shouted as the Elements charged up and a golden crown with the final element, Magic appeared on her head. Then, six bright beams of light came out and fired, directing themselves towards the Nightmare spirit...
Celestia remembered the joy she had felt when her sister returned. For one thousand years she had been alone, with nopony to be by her side in ruling the lands and helping and guiding the ponies of Equestria in their daily lives when they needed it, or protecting them when enemies threatened the safety of her kingdom and her little ponies that she cared for so much. But now her sister was back, and it seemed she was here to stay forevermore. But Celestia also felt another feeling, a feeling of great guilt. If she had just watched her sister and known what she was feeling, the feelings of jealousy towards the sun and the ponies that bathed in its glory and not loved the night for all it's beauty and the grandness and kindness of its ruler that came along with it that was so harshly and wrongly ignored for her, she might have been able to stop Nightmare Moon from ever consuming her sister.
But she never did, and all the blame for Nightmare Moon's actions rested solely on her and her alone. She had never told Luna of her feelings and guilt, and although she dearly wanted to, she could never quite work up the courage to do so.
Celestia honestly felt a bit silly and ashamed of herself. Here she was, a pony who was said to be one of the wisest and kindest ponies in the land, and yet she could never work of the bravery to tell her sister all that she felt. Wanting to find something to get her mind off her complicated problems with the relationship between her sister and her, she turned to her latest communication cube from the strange and yet wonderful alien pony from worlds far beyond known as the Doctor.
Dear Princess
"Well, hello again! It's me again, the Doctor. (And no, I'm still not telling you my real name no matter how many times your sister bribes you with cake. Yes, I know about your little... obsession. Not exactly like it's the best-kept secret in Equestria after all.) Annnnyyyways, where was I? Ah yes, telling you what I've been up to. Been a few stars to the right and to a place they call Never Land. Met the oddest denizens, fillies, and colts who never seem to grow up, led by this pony dressed like Robin Hoof and his lovely, if not a tad bit grumpy companion (Somepony been taking cues from me it seems.) Breezy named Tinker Belle.
"OH! Before I forget, met your favorite author J. R. R. Tolkien and somehow convinced him to sign a copy of his Lord of the Rings novels. Actually, convinced wasn't the right word. He was, and I'm quoting directly here, "Would really be honored to sign a copy of my novels for the Princess of the Sun."
"Huh, imagine that. I thought it would be harder to get you an anniversary present of our first meeting one year ago exactly. I always seemingly have the worst luck with timing, irony huh? Anyways, you should be seeing me and your signed trio of books whenever I decided to show up for my next visit."
Hopefully seeing you soon, the Doctor
Celestia smiled, the letters from the Doctor she got always cheered her up and got her mind off her worries, no matter how big or small they may be. They made her feel like a normal pony, away from the burdens of the crown, if only for a little while. Part of her, if only privately, wanted to see the Doctor and get to know him better, get closer to him, and not just meet him when things went to crap as the ponies nowadays liked to say.
The Doctor was very wise, seemingly as wise as her and somehow always seemed to know the right things to say to cheer somepony up when they needed it, and she had to admit she was one of those ponies who sometimes found herself needing that very same advice at times, especially now with her feelings of guilt towards Luna and how to deal with them best and work up the courage and fortitude to talk to her about them.
Suddenly, just as the Solar Princess was finally getting up out of her bed, groaning to herself in a reminder of the surely tiring day of dealing with nobles and paperwork ahead of her she heard a very familiar and very welcomed groaning sound.
VWOOP! VWOOP! VWOOP!
There, appearing in front of her on her personal balcony was the fantastical machine known as the TARDIS, and stepping out of it was the Doctor dressed in a nice suit with a package in one of his hooves signed "To my biggest fan". Celestia's jaw dropped in shock. She certainly hadn't been expecting the Doctor in her bedroom, especially this early in the morning. She hadn't even raised the sun yet for crying out loud!
"And here I thought you weren't supposed to be in somepony's bedchambers until the third date." Celestia teased in a flirty manner, her surprise soon replaced with joy upon seeing her best friend.
"Weeeeellll...." The Doctor admitted, scratching his head with a hoof after setting the package down on Celestia's bedside table. "I DID say I'd try and show up soon didn't I?"
Celestia chuckled to herself as she used her magic to levitate her royal regalia onto herself, and use a comb on her unkept bedhead mane at the same time as well, everything being enveloped in a golden glow of her magical aura.
"That you did Doctor, that you did," She conceded. "So what are you here for, besides a delivery from across time?" She inquired, one tired eyebrow raised in curiosity as she stepped out onto the balcony to begin her daily duties of raising the sun.
The Doctor watched in awe as the sun slowly rose over the horizon, casting a golden glow over the city of Canterlot. All across the city, ponies yawned as they too, like their Princess began to get ready to start their day. The stars slowly faded from the sky and the night at first became purple-colored, before rapidly changing from dark blue to a light blue color as it changed to daylight.
The Doctor smiled, he never got tired of seeing this sight. Every day, he awoke a few minutes before Celestia ever did just to see the sun rise over Equestria, no matter what time he was in or where he was. This was one of the ways that truly showed the magnificent power of the Royal Princess of the Sun and just why ponies thought of her as a goddess of incredible power and beauty.
"Came to ask you on a date. Thought it was about time we got to know each other better outside of... Y'know, world-threatening madness and chaos," The Doctor commented lightly and Celestia's head whirled around to face him in shock, a rare showing of emotion to anypony outside her sister or Twilight. It was part of Celestia's nature to keep her emotions closely guarded, just to spare herself any more pain.
"I must admit, the idea of a date with you Doctor does sound... enticing," The Princess of the Sun remarked as she entertained the idea of a date with the Doctor. She had to admit, she had ideas of dating somepony, especially somepony as kind and caring as the Doctor, but the problems of immortality came with the price of you always losing somepony you cared about in the end. But here staring her right in front of her face was a chance, a chance for her to maybe, just maybe find that Special Somepony and not have to pay that awful price in the end. After a few minutes of careful consideration, Celestia finally made up her mind.
"Alright Doctor, I accept." Celestia smiled, knowing she could be back to her castle at the very same time she left and nopony not even knowing she was gone, plus withhold off her royal duties for a time, which was the best bit of all of this in her mind. (Dealing with the ones like Blueblood were always a pain in the neck.)
"So... Where, or should I mean when shall we go?"
The Doctor could only smile.
The TARDIS, high above Equus
Celestia gazed in awe at the sight in front of her. There she was, sitting in front of the open doors of the TARDIS gazing out at the world of Equus as stars glittered in space and the moon where her sister was once imprisoned orbited it. The closest thing to Celestia ever seeing these stars and galaxies all around her was from a telescope in the Canterlot Royal Observatory, and now here she was seeing it firsthoof.
It was a truly beautiful, and awe-inspiring sight to behold. It truly drove home just how fragile, if not wondrous as well, their world was and only deepened Celestia's resolve to protect it from whatever threat may come, and she resolved to be on the front lines of those battles if necessary.
"Doctor... I have something to confess," Celestia admitted as the Time Pony's head turned to her in curiosity and concern. He could detect the worry and fear in her voice. Although he didn't know it, Celestia was about to confess all of her worries and doubts that had been plaguing her for months.
"I... It's about my sister," Celestia admitted. "You know the story of Nightmare Moon, and how I had to send her there, right there?" She asked, gesturing to the moon. "I... If I had noticed her feelings of jealousy towards me, I might not have made the mistakes I made, and not had to have been alone for all of those painful years. I... I might have had someone to hold me back, someone to stop me from becoming... Daybreaker," she whispered to herself, remembering the awful screams of those burned alive in the former Queen Arthropod's hive.
"Doctor..." She continued. "For those first few years, I had nightmares, nightmares of Luna coming back and blaming me, rightfully so I might add for what I did to her. She... She killed me over and over just as vengeance for my sins. I was so afraid... terrified even that these things I saw might come true. I was ashamed as well, for fearing my own sister! Ashamed, Doctor! Can you imagine?" Celestia said, tears streaming down her face.
"I... I've been where you are Princess. I've done things I've never been proud of, and will probably haunt me forever. My homeworld... If you could have ever seen it during the last days of the Time War, impossible things coming out of the woodwork left and right, my own government, corrupt and decadent plotting to bring Gallifrey to Earth just to save themselves, all the while the Daleks ravaging the planet. Finally... It... It became too much. It became too much for me. I... I had to destroy my own homeworld. I... I had no choice," The Doctor replied sadly, remembering his time when he dropped the name of the Doctor and went to war, something he swore never to do. Even now, he remembered those very words.
"Doctor no more."
"By Faust..." Celestia whispered, only now realizing how similar she and the Doctor were as they bared their souls together.
"Take my advice Princess, secrets destroy relationships. Tell your sister about your guilt and how you feel... Wait, sorry, that came out wrong. Rassilion above, I sound like Jack!" The Doctor realized in horror before he quickly got things back to a more... mature line of conversation. Celestia raised an eyebrow.
"Who's this... Jack?" she asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.
"Oh, he'll get around to you eventually..." the Doctor muttered to himself, a headache beginning to form. "Anyways, you get my meaning, Faust awful as I was at giving it," The Doctor said to Celestia and she understood immediately.
"Yeah, I think I do..." Celestia smiled, her worries gone and her confidence in herself restored. Then a question came to her.
"Hey Doctor, can we do this again sometime?" She asked and the Doctor could only smile in response. Later that day, just as Luna was beginning to raise the moon, Celestia approached her. The Lunar Princess noticed her sister's expression.
"Sister, does thou have something to talk about?" She asked in concern. Celestia took a deep breath before answering.
"Yes Lulu, we do. There are some... things I must confess." Celestia said, and steeled herself for the long conversation to come...
All was calm and peaceful in the small town of Ponyville. Multicolored leaves in various shades of red, orange and yellow were falling from the trees along the pathways and onto grassy knolls. In a small backyard bordering Whitetail Woods, there was a house belonging to the town's local Mailmare, Derpy Hooves, and her daughter Dinky Hooves. Despite being one of the clumsiest mares around thanks to her wall eyes, Derpy was one of the town's best mail deliverers and always got her packages to the right pony, never damaging them, even you could never say the same about herself due to flying into things, through things and the like. She never got paid as well as she would have liked to have been, but her payment was enough to make ends meet and to care for both her and her daughter. Speaking of which, the light grey-furred, blond-maned mare was watching her daughter play with a small ball in her backyard and kick it around the yard back and forth. Suddenly, Dinky accidentally kicked it through a hole in the wooden fence and it rolled away into the Woods.
"My ball!" Dinky cried and tried to rush after it but Derpy quickly flew towards her daughter and grabbed her.
"No, it's getting dark! The other ponies may not believe in that which lurks in the Woods, but I do. HE does exist, your grannymare took quite a few pictures of him and so I know that... that creature exists!" Derpy exclaimed nervously even as she remembered the stories. Foals and fillies had gone missing for years in the Whitetail Woods at night, and some of them had never come back, and the ones that did, well as the rumors went, they were never quite the same. But somehow, Dinky managed to slip out of Derpy's grip and crawl under the hole in the fence and gallop into the woods. With a shout of fear for her daughter, Derpy flew after her, somehow, whether it be to her fear of losing her daughter to that... thing, or just something you couldn't quite explain, she flew perfectly, not crashing into anything for once and managing to keep up with her daughter's every move. She kept her firmly in her sights, but then, Dinky was gone and Derpy skidded to a halt in midair and glanced every which way.
"Dinky!" Derpy shouted, and when she received no response except for various animal noises like the chirping of crickets, she shouted again, this time only louder.
"DINKY!"
This time, there wasn't even the sound of animals. And then she saw IT. A tall stallion, wearing a black suit and tie with a white featureless face and it seemed to have several shadowy black tendrils growing out of it's back. Derpy's eyes widened in horror. She knew what she was looking at, and it's name.
"S-Slendermane..." Derpy said, just barely able to get the words out, and out of pure fear she turned and flew away all the way back to her house, to the safety of her yard, and then broke down out of pure shame and guilt. She hadn't been strong enough, brave enough to be able to save her daughter, her little Muffin, her Dinky. She was the Slender's now, and there was nothing she could do about it. Letting out a mournful wail of despair that only parents who had lost a child could recognize which could be heard throughout the town of Ponyville, it reached a certain blue-suited, brown-furred stallion who was tinkering away in his box and his ears perked up in interest and he looked up from his console and grabbed his trench coat...
The Tenth Doctor had followed the wails of despair to a home outside Whitetail Woods. It was a modest home, nothing fancy and had a muffin painted on the door. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, how curious. He tentatively raised a hoof and knocked on the door and it was answered, after a few moments of the Doctor waiting and hearing nothing but the shuffling of footsteps, by Derpy, who had tears dripping from her eyes.
"Ah yes, hello! I'm just the local Neighborhood Watch! Name's Alec Hardy," The Doctor greeted in his usual cheerful manner, before flashing his psychic paper and studying the mare in front of him. He'd never quite seen eyes like that on a pony before. "Heard your wails of despair, and I thought, oh what the Hell, might as well and go have a little-looksee and see what's gone wrong."
Derpy studied the rather odd and cheerful stallion with his sticky-uppy mane style and brown trench-coat and blue suit. Alec Hardy, odd name for a pony. Didn't sound like anypony's name she'd ever heard before. Then she took a gander at his "ID" and saw it was just an old and yellowed library card, with the picture of an old and grey stallion on it with balding white hair. She raised an eyebrow and the Doctor took a look at his psychic paper and sighed to himself before muttering "Not again... Always getting these two mixed up..."
"Alright, so you got me, I'm not the Neighborhood Watch nor is my name Alec Hardy. I'm the Doctor, hello!" He greeted, still in the same cheerful tone of voice.
"W-Wait, the Doctor? As in that strange stallion with the Blue Box? The one which you pull ponies into and snog them?" Derpy asked questioningly.
"It's... It's not a snog box! And for the record, that has happened only once! And someone did that to me, not the other way round!" The Doctor snapped, affronted and somewhat offended that his TARDIS had been comparing to something as simple as a kissing booth! And it wasn't his fault that Princess Amore JUST happened to fall in love with him!
"I'll be the judge of that, sunshine," Derpy remarked before her cheerful demeanor vanished once she remembered what had happened only an hour earlier and she resumed her sobbing. The Doctor put his forelegs around her.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. What's wrong? You can tell me." The Doctor said in a calm and comforting tone of voice as he let Derpy sob into his shoulder. For some reason, it just felt wrong to see these normally happy and cheerful ponies sad, and it tugged at his heartstrings more than it did with humans.
"C-Come inside, I'll explain everything," Derpy said and led the Last of the Time Lords inside her home. It was messy, disorganized with children's toys lying everywhere, and smelled of freshly cooked muffins, but it was a very nice place to be all the same.
"Muffins?" Derpy asked as she brought out a tray of blueberry muffins from her oven and sat them on the kitchen table where the Doctor had pulled up a chair and then retrieved a small wooden box from a nearby table.
"So... What seems to be the trouble Miss..." The Doctor asked, suddenly finding himself at a loss for a name.
"Derpy Hooves... A-And the trouble is, my daughter's been taken, by this." Derpy answered and opened the box and fished out a couple of pictures while the Doctor calmly bit into a muffin before wincing at how hot it was and blowing on it to cool it off and muttering to himself "Think I burned my tongue..."
The Doctor then studied the pictures. In the background of each one, lurked a figure, tall and imposing with a blank sheer white face. The effect unnerved even the Doctor.
"He's called the Slendermane. Been around for centuries, possibly longer than Ponyville itself's been around. Some say he's as old as the Two Sisters, maybe even older." Derpy explained, with the Doctor hanging on her every word.
"Great! Always love a good mystery!" The Doctor cried, gleefully rubbing his front two hooves together when he saw the look on Derpy's face and remembered what exactly the Slendermane had done and at once felt guilty with himself as Nine mentally smacked him on the back of the head.
"So... Uh, where does the Slendermane live exactly?" The Doctor inquired and Derpy gestured outside her window to Whitetail Woods.
"In there." She said fearfully, and the next thing she knew, as the sun was setting, she'd somehow found herself and the Doctor at the entrance to the woods. The Doctor stared into the inky blackness and nervously adjusted his tie and fiddled with it.
"You know sometimes when you have that feeling to just go for a walk in the woods in the middle of the night? ...I don't have it." The Doctor laughed nervously before swallowing.
"Oh well, you know what they say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained..." He said with a shrug before he and Derpy slowly walked into the darkened forest, not knowing what lay in wait for them inside.
Whitetail Woods: With the Tenth Doctor and Derpy Hooves...
"I... I just don't know what went wrong! She was in my sights one minute, and the next she was gone and that... Thing was in front of me!" Derpy whimpered out as the twosome trotted through the dark and misty forest. The Doctor put a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"Hey, everyon-Sorry, everypony makes mistakes. Still getting used to all these new words and terminology..." The Doctor admitted, while getting mental images of Twilight and Shining both shouting the correct word usage at him every time he got it wrong. He groaned, it just gave him a headache. "Anyways, the point is, you couldn't have known that Dinky would have gotten lost in the forest and taken by that thing... if he even exists."
Derpy gave him a glare, which was an impressive feat indeed given her cross-eyed state.
"Of course he exists! I saw him with my own two eyes!" Derpy shouted, quite shocked that the Doctor was even suggesting she was delusional. How could she be, that thing looked as real as anything could ever look!
"And how do you know what you saw was real? It's entirely possible that you were drugged and what you saw was what somepony wanted you to think them to see. For all I know, there's something more going... on... here." The Doctor replied, remembering the Sherlock episode The Hounds of Baskerville and how the "Hound" was just something else disguised as a big black dog using a powerful combination of fear, suggestion, and hallucinogenic drugs before his speech slowed down as he spotted something scrawled on a tree not too far from him and ran towards it with Derpy shouting after him.
"Doctor, wait!" She yelled and found the Time Lord closely studying a tree with a crude picture of the Slendermane scratched on it and the words "Beware! Turn back now!" below that.
"Okay... Interesting. Seems we've been given a warning. Always love an ominous warning. Wants me to keep going further!" The Doctor said cheerfully. Derpy didn't share his demeanor. With a nervous look back at the tree, she followed after the Time Lord. The Doctor took notice of her nervousness once more and gave her a reassuring glance.
"Don't worry, we'll find your daughter. Pinkie Promise." The Doctor stated, and did the sacred motions for the Promise, even if he knew in his heart there was a VERY good possibility he couldn't uphold that promise. And what happened when you broke a Pinkie Promise?
"Break one of those, and you'll lose a friend foreeeeevvverr!"
The Doctor groaned at even thinking of Pinkie. How she defied reality was beyond even him.
"Pinkie Promise," Derpy replied, although she didn't sound as confident as the Doctor, who'd just gotten an idea.
"Hey, I know what we can do! Singing songs often helps distract one from the problem at hand! Giggle at the ghosties, as Pinkie once put it." The Doctor said, and Derpy smiled. She knew the Doctor had a point. And so the Doctor began to sing a song he'd heard once, and was quite relevant to the situation at hand.
"If you ever go back into the Wooley Swamp son you better not go at night
There's things out there in the middle of them Wooley woods
That'd make a strong man die from fright
There's things that crawl and things that fly
And things that creep around on the ground
And they say the ghost of Lucias Clay gets up and it walks around." The Doctor sung, and Derpy gave him a look.
"Not. Helping." Derpy growled out, and The Doctor was sent into another flashback.
"Sorry, was I being rude again?"
The Doctor chuckled at the memory, and the memory of Donna Noble. Oh, how he'd love to meet her again.
"Oi! No stupid Martian is gonna stop me from getting married. To hell with you!"
"I'm... I'm not... I'm not - I'm not from Mars."
"What's so funny?" Derpy asked and the Doctor smiled.
"Sorry, lost in thought for a second. It happens. Anyone ever tell you how scatterbrained I am?" The Doctor asked before shrugging. "Ah well, never mind. Still got a monster to find and a filly to save! Brave heart, Ms. Hooves. Brave heart!" The Doctor continued with a cheerful smile. Stand resolute, that's what Winston had told him once. That phrase never felt so right till this very moment. But as bad luck would have it, (And the Doctor was quite well officiated with bad luck) the Doctor found himself looking up at a pony, yet it couldn't possibly be one, what with it's pure white head, no eyes or mouth to speak of and just the barest trace of a nose and it's Alicorn sized form. It wore a pure black immaculately pressed suit and tie and somehow, despite it having no face, it stared down the Doctor and seemed to peer right into his very soul.
"Well, look at that. Didn't take as long as I thought..." The Doctor commented before realizing the obvious problem and letting out a small "Oh."
"Run?" Derpy asked.
"Yes, that." The Doctor responded with a nod and so they did what the Doctor did best. Run like Hell.
Run! Doctor, run!" Derpy screamed in fear as she flapped her wings as hard as she could, with the Doctor running along aside her as fast as his little Earth Pony legs could carry him.
"Oh, trust me, I'm running, in this situation, it's kinda impossible not to run is it?" The Doctor snapped back sarcastically. He looked back behind him, and to his surprise, the Slendermane was keeping up with them, one minute he was behind one tree and the next, behind another! It was almost like he could...
"Teleport! I hate teleporters! That's cheating! I hate those as well!" The Doctor mused to himself and the Ninth commented in his head "Don't we cheat at times as well?" in a dry tone of voice, crossing his arms and smirking in amusement.
The Doctor didn't bother to dignify him with a response. Meanwhile, the Slendermane kept getting closer and closer, until right then he was in front of the Doctor and Derpy, and grabbed them with his shadowy tendrils and lifted them up in the air, and then in a hissing guttural tone of voice that shocked both of them, as neither the Doctor nor Derpy knew he could even speak, given he had no mouth and all, he said "Get out of my forest."
And then he turned to look at Derpy.
"You don't deserve to be her parent, not after what you did."
Derpy's expression was a mixture of confusion and bewilderment. What had she done? What had she done to deserve the Slendermane to call her an unfitting parent? But before she could ponder that question any further, there was a bright flash of white blinding light and both ponies found themselves in the Hooves household.
"Ugh, have I ever mentioned how I hate teleporters?" The Doctor muttered as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off with his hooves.
"Dinky... DINKY!" Derpy wailed. "That... That monster has h-her, and I'm never getting her back!"
The Doctor laid a hoof on her shoulder and looked at her firmly even as Derpy blubbered to herself.
"Don't worry, that little thing the Slendermane just pulled, scare tactic. If he knew what I was capable of, he wouldn't be so smug. I'm going back in there, and I'm going to get your daughter back. That's a Pinkie Promise, and you never break those." The Doctor said with conviction in his tone, but all the while he went over the Slendermane's words to Derpy in his head. There was something more going on here than just kidnapping, and he needed to find out exactly what.
The Doctor was not happy. Not happy at all. More often than not, he liked his legends to stay just that, legends. He was a skeptic at heart. He was always looking for a real-world solution to things. He wanted the Slendermane to be just a hallucination brought on by someone drugging the whole area of Whitetail Woods. He wanted the whole legend to be just bunk stirred up by someone trying to use it for some sinister purpose and just kidnapping children to molest them, as horrible as that was. But that just couldn’t be it, could it? Noooo, the Slendermane had to be the real bloody deal. This flew in every scientific fact he knew of in his over 900 years of being alive. Not just that, it came right back to him and slapped him in the face and then mooned him to add to the humiliation of it all. The Doctor groaned to himself, he was really beginning to hate Equestria’s myths and legends and magic in general. It never spelled anything good for him whenever he was around. Cybermen, he could deal with. Just give them an emotional overload and have their heads explode. Weeping Angels, okay, just grab Celestia and have her burn them to nothing but ashes. Daleks, blow them up with magical explosives. Sontarans, aim for the back of the neck. The Vashta Nerada? Stay out of the shadows. But the Slenderpony? Run, just run. Mind you, it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to running. Hell, he started off his entire adventures through Time and Space just by stealing a Type-Forty TARDIS and running for it along with his granddaughter.
Speaking of family, he was very curious as to what the Slenderpony meant by Derpy being an unfit parent. From what he’d gathered around town just by gossip—which by the way was something he also hated, as gossipers generally had nothing better to do with their time besides talk—Derpy was considered to be one of the best parents in Ponyville even if she had to raise her daughter alone. But then again, everyone has skeletons in their closets. You could never tell what someone was like unless you met them for yourself. But that was the issue, wasn’t it? He’d met Derpy, and she seemed genuinely scared for the welfare of her daughter. Nopony got that teary-eyed over someone unless they actually cared for them. It niggled and nagged at his brain. It was a complete contradiction between what the Slendermane said and Derpy’s demeanor. Still, it was best he double checked, just in case he was wrong. He’d been wrong before about things after all, as today proved.
“Doctor, you alright?” Derpy asked in concern as she waved a hoof in front of his face in order to snap him back to reality.
“Yeah… Yeah. I’m fine. Just lost in thought for a moment there.” The Doctor replied before he rushed out the door.
“Doctor, where are you going?” Derpy asked in fear, hoping to Faust above the Doctor just wasn’t giving up on her. “Doctor… Please! I need your help!” She shouted desperately. The Doctor gave her a smile and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back. I just need to check on a few things to confirm a theory of mine.”
Next thing Derpy heard was a distinct wheezing and groaning sound and sunk to the floor in despair and hopelessness, her hooves covering her eyes while she sobbed quietly to herself. The Doctor was giving up on her after all. She wasn’t getting her daughter back…
But that’s where Derpy was wrong. The Doctor traveled to a few days before this incident, to an area near Derpy’s household and he quickly ducked behind a tree as his and Celestia’s past selves walked by, with Celestia under a disguise that hid her wings and made her multicolored mane just a solid pink, making her look like a regular, if frankly rather oversized unicorn. The Doctor smiled to himself. He remembered this.
“You know, it’s nice to just be a regular mare for once. No nobles complaining their asses off, and no ponies who treat you like a goddess.” Celestia commented, before blushing as she realized she’d used a curse word in public, and ponies expected her to be all prim and proper.
“Excuse my language Doctor. I… I just needed to vent for a moment. It’s just... I’m expected to be all perfect and not like normal ponies, with normal problems. I’m supposed to be a role model for them to look up to.”
Past Pony-Ten only chuckled to himself.
“What’s so funny, Doctor?”
“Except you’re not Celestia right now are you? You’re Bright Star, not a Princess, so you’re free to act however you want and just enjoy the day. Hell, you could even go down to the local pub the Prancing Pony and get stone-dead drunk if you so desired.”
“No offense Doctor, but I much prefer my vintage malt, and the smell of half of those stallions does tend to offend one’s nose,” Celestia remarked with a teasing smile. The Doctor couldn’t help himself and just burst out laughing.
“Yes, quite. It really is quite horrid down there is it not?” Past Pony-Ten said taking on a mock high-class accent and causing Celestia to laugh at how bad it was. The present time Doctor smiled as his past self remarked “Come along “Bright Star”, got lots of places to see yet!” before as he and Past Celestia continued their walk and ran towards Derpy’s household and looked in the window. Derpy was merrily cooking breakfast, smelled like muffins before she took them out of the oven and clapped her hooves together in joy.
“Chocolate chip muffins for breakfast? Well, who am I to judge?” The Doctor thought to himself as a small pinkish unicorn filly with a yellow mane trotted down the stairs cheerfully. “Aah, and that must be Dinky. Have to admit, she is pretty cute. So far, so good. I can’t really see any parenting troubles here.”
He continued to watch for the next hour and a half unseen as Dinky and Derpy went about their day. Nothing untoward happened, and the Doctor could safely say that all was well in this household. But just as he was walking away from the home, he heard the sound of china shattering and went back to the window and saw Dinky looking at the floor where a shattered vase with a guilty look as Derpy looked at her angrily.
“I’m… I’m sorry mom! I was just trying to practice my magic!”
“Go to your room…” Derpy muttered. That had been her mother’s favorite vase, passed down from parent to child and now it was broken. “JUST GO TO YOUR ROOM!”
Dinky ran off sobbing and then the Doctor heard a hissing, guttural sound and saw a tall black figure in the treeline for just a moment before he vanished into the shadows.
“Okay, so that explains that. He must have thought Derpy was abusing her own child. Everyone makes mistakes. But the Slendermane has supposedly been kidnapping foals and fillies for a while now. So, what about them?”
So the Doctor took a trip to Town Hall, careful not to run into his past self and searched through the Mayor’s files of missing children. It went back decades. Then he saw something. A picture of a younger version of Mayor Mare, with the word “MISSING” stamped below it in big red letters.
“So, the Slendermane took the Mayor back when she was a child and then she escaped, or was let go when she was old enough. Can’t tell yet. Need more information...”
So he took another trip through time to Mayor Mare’s childhood. He quickly found her house, as he’d gotten ahold of where she grew up from her files and sneaked inside the house, being careful enough to be as silent as possible. Then he heard shouting.
“You! You worthless piece of shit! I can’t believe I’m stuck raising you! It’s your own fault your mother’s dead!” A male voice said and the Doctor heard a hoof smacking against flesh and a body hitting the wooden floors of the house and sobbing following that. He let out a growl. Child abuse was about as low as you could get in his book. Hell, if he didn’t have a feeling as to what was about to happen, he would have stepped in and changed the timeline himself and raised Mayor Mare as his own kid. But he wasn’t disappointed, as then he peeked around the corner and saw the Slendermane teleport in and grab Mayor Mare’s father by the neck with a tendril and with a sickening SNAP! Mayor Mare’s father’s head was twisted to the right. The Slendermane extended a hoof, and hesitantly, the future Mayor of Ponyville took it and both were teleported away in the blink of an eye.
“So that’s it… I was right! That’s what the Slendermane is. He’s not a monster, he just wants to give kids the childhood they deserve and not the ones they end up with if he doesn’t step in. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually have to admire the stallion.” The Doctor mused before he rushed for his TARDIS...
The Doctor rushed back to Derpy’s home as fast as he could. Panting, he opened the door, and Derpy’s face lit up in joy and she embraced him in a hug, eyes sparkling with tears of joy.
“I… I thought you’d given up!”
“No, I never give up on anything. And now I know exactly why the Slendermane is kidnapping foals and fillies. Weeeeeellll, kidnapping wouldn’t be the right word. More like rescuing them from abusive parents.”
“B-But I would never be abusive to my little Muffin, never!” Derpy stammered.
“Yes, I know. But you did yell at her for breaking your mother’s favorite vase a few days back did you not? The Slendermane… He misunderstood. He can’t tell the difference between discipline and abuse. We have to make him understand.”
“But… But that means…” Derpy squeaked.
“Yes, we’re going back into Whitetail Woods. Time to go face to face with Slendy… again.”
And so they once more took a little walk in the woods, Derpy trembling all the while in fear of whom they knew they would meet. The misty gloom seemed to wrap around them like it had a life of it it’s own. At this point, the Doctor wouldn’t be particularly surprised if it did. It didn’t take long before the Slendermane showed up again, teleporting in front of them with a look of incalculable rage on his face. The Doctor swallowed nervously as the sightless creature somehow managed to stare them down.
“I thought I told you never to come back here. Especially you, Ms. Hooves,” He growled out.
“There’s… There’s been a slight misunderstanding,” Derpy replied, mustering up her courage.
“Okay, big misunderstanding,” The Doctor put in.
“I would never, and I mean NEVER abuse my daughter! That was just a spur of the moment in anger! I never even laid a hoof on her!”
“But you yelled at her!” The Slendermane growled and a tendril pinned her to a tree and began choking her.
“There’s a difference between punishment and abuse! You need to understand that! I understand what you’ve been doing all these years, saving foals and fillies from ponies who don’t even deserve life, but you were wrong in this case!” The Doctor pleaded, hoping to make the Slendermane understand. “Look into those eyes, the fear, the heartbreak and the concern for her daughter! Does Derpy look like the kind of mare who would ever hurt a child?”
And so the Slendermane did as he was asked, and he saw what truly lay in Derpy’s heart. He had scared somepony and kidnapped their child, when they didn’t deserve it. He felt ashamed and disgusted with himself and released her. And then, from out of the forest came Dinky, rushing into her mother’s arms.
“I promise my little Muffin, I won’t let anything happen to you ever again, and I’m sorry for yelling at you. I… I lost my temper, and I promise, that’ll never happen again...” Derpy whispered comfortingly and then glared at the Slendermane, her normally crossed eyes staring boring into his soul.
“And as for you, if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will come for you, understand?”
The Slendermane nodded, and then walked slowly away into the gloom, but not before the Doctor had one last thing to say.
“Before you go, I just want to say how sorry I truly am. You should never have gone through what you did as a child. And I really have to thank you for what you’ve been doing all these years. It’s something to admire. Keep on doing it. But, and only but, if you analyze the situation first. Because if you don’t, Derpy or I will come back for you...” He trailed off in a warning tone.
Then, the Slendermane vanished and Derpy turned to the Doctor.
“Think he’ll uphold his end of the bargain?”
“...To be honest, I don’t know.” The Doctor answered before a thought struck Derpy.
“What do you mean you were truly sorry for what he’d gone through?”
“Well, think about it. Pony like that, how would you think his parents would have reacted? It’s not always a nice world out there. There are ponies that hide themselves behind a cloak of kindliness, but behind closed doors, they can be as monstrous as one can imagine.”
There was a change in the air, that much was certain. Nopony could quite place their hooves on what it was, but they knew something had happened. Perhaps it was Princess Luna’s return to the throne, or maybe it was something else. Like I said, nobody could really tell.
The Doctor, he hadn’t been seen in a long while, (Not since the Slendermane incident anyways, and even that was known or even cared about by few, considering how low concern Ponyville was to most, and how most mainly dismissed the Slendermane as a small town legend designed to delve up tourism like the Mothmare incident some odd sixty years ago.) Prince Blueblood and a few others had even begun to suspect he’d left Equus entirely for other worlds. After all, what was one small blue ball compared to the rest of the universe?
“Not like we need him around every time the smallest threat shows itself to Equestria, anyways,” Blueblood had scoffed during one session of the Day Court, where the daily problems -Large or small- were resolved. At least, that was what was supposed to happen. In reality, it usually devolved into squabbling with very little of note actually getting done. “We can handle ourselves, and take care of our own matters!”
“An example of the classic belief of Unicorn superiority,” Fancy Pants, another of Canterlot’s nobles had rebutted. “The return of Nightmare Moon, and our dear Princess being sent to the sun has shown us otherwise. Need I remind you, it was with the help of six young mares, -only two of which were unicorns I might add- that Celestia was returned to us. So, would you kindly, take your tribalist and speciesist ways and shove them up your arse?” He told the arrogant young Prince. Sometimes he wondered how that pony was related to Celestia at times, he showed absolutely none of her kindness or wisdom.
“E-Excuse me?” Blueblood sputtered out. “Speciest? H-How dare you! I’m hardly what you call… speciesist!” he argued back, spitting out the word like it was something vile and unsanitary.
“Really?” Fancy asked, lifting an eyebrow. “I’d like to remind you what speciest exactly means, at least from what I remember when I looked it up in a dictionary. It goes, and correct me if I’m wrong and forgive me if I sound cold and clinical here: a belief of ponies that all other species of animals are inferior and may therefore be used for equestrian benefit without regard to the suffering inflicted.” Is that not correct?” he asked, looking around the room. A few unicorns caught his eye and shied away in shame, like Chancellor Neighsay -Another pony Fancy often questioned as to why Celestia kept him around, as he often showed disgust for anything non-pony, griffons top at that list- and Blueblood. Blueblood, as Fancy noted, didn’t seem to be arguing against his (Fancy’s) accusations of being a tribalist. Fancy voiced this.
“And while we’re on the subject, why not go into your tribalist demeanor, Blueblood, or should I call you Snowfall Frost? As you and the North Wind would get along so well…” Fancy drawled. Blueblood’s jaw dropped at that.
“How dare you!?!” Blueblood roared out, his horn actually crackling with magical energy at that. “I’m hardly the same pony as the one known as Snowfall Frost who believed that nobody should be happy, and actually conspired to bring about the end of Hearth’s Warming and completely remove it’s meaning of when the three tribes finally came together, almost letting the Windigos return to our world after millennia!” he shouted back, defending his position, and his honor.
“...And yet you suck the joy out of the room whenever you enter, just like Snowfall did..” another noble muttered from somewhere nearby. Blueblood, if he heard that, paid it no mind.
“Okay, yes, I admit, you’re far-flung from the unicorn known as Snowfall Frost, but my point remains. We unicorns are not superior to any one race,” Fancy replied, looking rather ashamed of himself. “But we cannot believe that for a moment, that there are some threats that we can handle ourselves. The Doctor, and the Elements of Harmony have proven that.”
“Bah!” Neighsay snapped. “Please, I don’t see why we have to rely on an alien and six children when we’re perfectly qualified to deal with whatever comes our way. We won out against the griffons, did we not? The greatest threat to Equestria in modern times?”
“Yes, we won, but just barely,” Blueblood corrected, beating Fancy to the punch. “Both sides were on their last legs, as it were, and Celestia actually had to negotiate a peace treaty with commander Gruff in order for both lands to survive! We didn’t win by bloodshed, but by making alliances.”
“So what?” Neighsay scoffed. “You’re saying we have to make nice with every enemy that comes our way? Never heard such horseshite in my entire life!”
Celestia, who was present during all of this, simply sighed to herself and groaned saying nothing knowing it would be fruitless to get involved in this entire debacle by this point. Instead, she cast a personal silencing spell around herself, so she wouldn’t have to hear anything more said. Not like there was anything worth hearing by this point anyhow. Her annoyance and stress hadn’t gone unnoticed.
In the shadows of the room, going unnoticed, Princess Luna shook her head and sighed to herself.
“I see some things haven’t changed from 1,000 years ago, the nobles are still squabbling over the smallest things. I really do envy my sister for putting up with this, and not going insane in the process. I probably would have…” she thought to herself. “Here’s hoping the Night Court will be better once it reconvenes at last…”
Luna noted that Celestia was without a personal assistant, and had been for about a year now. She vaguely remembered her sister telling her that her last personal assistant, a mare named Raven Inkwell had passed away, although Celestia wasn’t keen, for whatever reason, on saying what exact circumstances under which that had happened.
Luna groaned, as the arguments continued to grow more and more heated and sighed as she used to the shadows to travel back to her personal chambers. The Creator knew she definitely didn’t need a headache this early in the morning, and a rest would do her some good before she had to raise the moon and resume her Royal Duties. While her mane was still a light blue, and her full power had yet to return to her, Luna knew that she had to get on task and return to her nightly duties of dream-walking and keeping Equestria safe from what lay in the dark soon. It would be better for her if she was well-rested during that task.
As Luna flopped down on her bed, yawned tiredly, and dimmed the lights while pulling the covers up over herself hoping to drift off into the dreamworld’s welcoming arms, she thought to herself:
“I hope Celestia can get the help she needs, and soon. She’s overworked enough as it is, and the stupidity of most of the nobles nowadays isn’t helping any with her stress. I hope someone, hopefully, the Doctor returns soon to brighten her days…”
The Doctor would return soon, yes, but he wouldn’t be the only Time Lord Equestria was about to play host to…
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Twilight was slowly but surely getting used to the day to day life of living in the small town. It was a definite change from the hustle and bustle of the big city life of Canterlot, that was for sure. Over the three months she’d been in the town, Twilight had noticed a few things.
Firstly and foremost, the locals took life at a far slower, relaxed pace than the Nobles of Canterlot did. Maybe it could get a bit dull at times, with no need to wake up at the crack of dawn to go off to attend Celestia’s personal lessons, and so Twilight -As much as she hated to admit it- was starting to let her carefully crafted and regimented schedule slip. Sometimes, she found herself sleeping in till 11:00 in the morning, perhaps even noon.
Mind you, she didn’t really mind at times, even if she would never admit it, as this allowed her to loosen up a bit more like Minuette and the rest of her friends back in Canterlot had been begging her to do for years. More hours of sleep in her day, she often woke up far less grumpy and a bit more sociable than she was in Canterlot. Not a lot more sociable, but slightly more. One step at a time.
Secondly, she wasn’t saying life in Ponyville was always drop-dead boring. Oh no. There was the incident with the stampede of cattle last week, and soon after a stampede, of all things, bunnies no thanks to an overworked farmpony. (Don’t ask.) Suffice to say, the second stampede had caused quite the drama amongst the owners of the flower shop, with the bunnies eating quite a bit of their stock.
Twilight had also heard of a series of child kidnappings happening not that long ago, just a week after she’d arrived in Ponyville and defeated Nightmare Moon. Strangely, they’d ended just two days after they’d started near the Whitetail Woods, and a few arrests had been made in prominent Ponyville citizens for filly and foal abuse. Twilight, of course, had no way of knowing this, but the Slendermane had actually stopped killing those he went after, and instead just left evidence for the Royal Guard that his targets were abusers.
Privately, Twilight missed the Doctor, strange as he was, as he did bring a bit of excitement into her otherwise completely studious life. If she had to compare it to anything, she admitted her meeting with the oddball stallion was like a drug. Got her blood racing, heart pumping. She wanted to feel that high again, get embroiled into something strange and intriguing with a little level of danger as well. Maybe, just maybe, that’s why she actually when Nightmare Moon came to call (The actual one this time), she jumped at the opportunity to find the lost Elements of Harmony.
Mind you, there was one mare who did seem to bring excitement into everypony’s lives wherever she went. One of the mares she was proud to call one of her best friends, even if she was about as far removed as Twilight’s idea of a good friend as one could imagine.
Brash, arrogant and somewhat crude, this mare was almost constantly showing off to the citizens of Ponyville. A bit of a showmare in her own right (Though nowhere near as irritating as an actual showmare which had shown herself in Ponyville not that long ago), she was a curiosity. Coming from a rather prestigious and rather well-off family in Cloudsdale, somehow Rainbow Dash had decided not to live with them, and instead move down to Ponyville instead of all places.
Currently, Twilight sat atop a hill, having a glass of a frozen sorbet made from a Blood Orange, specifically one of the Moro variety if the distinct sweet flavor that had a hint of raspberry was any indication. Amongst other things, Twilight had picked up knowledge of various fruits in her books. (Interestingly, the Blood oranges' red pigment anthocyanin could be used as an antioxidant.) Nearby, various other ponies including Rainbow’s childhood friend and fellow Flight Camp graduate Fluttershy watched Rainbow go through a series of loop-de-loops. Mind you, Twilight’s attention was all on the multicolored maned mare, not on anybody else. She could vaguely imagine going off on a grand adventure with this mare, having the distinct feeling Rainbow would be the type to enjoy such a thing.
“Hmm, wonder if I should introduce Rainbow to the Daring Do series at some point? Who knows, she might love it…” Twilight mused, taking another small bite of her sorbet.
“Twilight dear,” Rarity’s voice came from nearby as she trotted up. “Might it be that I catch your eyes… fixated?” she asked, the fashionista noting the frankly rather bookish mare keeping an eye on Rainbow’s every move, every trick. “Didn’t think she was your type…”
“S-She’s not my type!” Twilight sputtered out. “I’m… I’m just interested in the sheer prowess and skill it requires maintaining some of those tricks, j-just like everyone else!”
“Whatever you say, dearie…” Rarity trailed off, not believing her friend for a moment. She knew a crush when she saw it, and Twilight was nursing one on Rainbow hard. Rarity chuckled slightly to herself, guess that old saying was true, opposites did indeed attract.
...Of course, by that logic, Rarity thought, she’d wind up falling for a certain hard-working member of the Apple Clan. And not the big stallion she always saw pulling a plow.
“Well, if that happens, at least Sweetie Belle will get another sister…” Rarity chuckled to herself, remembering how her younger sister had quickly struck up a friendship with the youngest member of the Apple Clan, alongside a young pegasus filly named Scootaloo.
Together, the three had named themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and despite getting into all sorts of trouble and mishaps (Usually ending up covered in tree sap) she had to admit their tenacity was endearing.
“Okay, that’s all for now, ladies and gents!” Rainbow said as she flew down to the hill the small crowd had gathered on, and tucked her wings into her sides as she skidded to a halt. The crowd let out an audible groan as it dispersed.
“They seemed to be enjoying themselves…” Fluttershy said meekly.
“Flutters, first rule with having a captive audience… Always leaving them wanting more.” Rainbow replied, booping her friend on the nose with a hoof.
“I… I guess that makes sense…” Fluttershy murmured.
Next thing anyone heard was a loud explosion that sent birds scattering from the treetops, which bent in the wind like they were in a great storm. The earth itself shook as well. That was the sheer force of what had just occurred.
In the middle of the nearby Everfree forest, sat a blond-maned, blue-furred unicorn stallion with a blood red hourglass as a Cutie Mark. Groaning as he sat up, he mumbled words under his breath. A series of faces appeared in his mind, a handsome man and a dark-skinned woman. He let out a small growl, remembering the last time they’d met. The false immortal, and the companion.
“What? What's so funny?
“A gun.”
“What about it?”
“A gun in four parts?”
“Yes, and I destroyed it.”
“A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?”
“What do you mean?”
“As if I would ask her to kill.” The Doctor had scoffed.
“Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her.”
“But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time.”
“Oh, but you're still going to die.”
“Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?”
“Tell me.”
“I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor.”
“Faith and hope? Is that all?”
“No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time.”
“Nothing will happen. Is that your weapon? Prayer?”
“Right across the world, in word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites.”
“What?”
“The Archangel Network.” the false immortal muttered.
“A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is Doctor.”
The pony growled at the memory, reciting it word for word, before mumbling: “...You're like a pet to him. You think that's an insult, but do you not love your dogs and cats? Sometimes more than your own kind, right? I mean it's not the same as a creature of equal intelligence, but it stops you from getting lonely, right? They can get away with way more than a loved one or friend. your love for them is a lot more... unconditional... Am I right? that's where you are with him? Me... I'm the boyfriend who wants even half the attention my soulmate gives to his fuzzy widdle companion. I look sideways at the one stealing away the attention with a burning hatred because I know... I know if it's me.... or... this thing... I'm out the door in a heartbeat. And that’s what I always will be to you…”
The stallion snarled. “Well, the shoe’s on the other foot now Doctor,” he growled out. “Everything you love, I’ll just take it all away from you, so the only thing you have left is… me. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”
His horn crackled with energy, and the Master noticed a strange surge of newfound power filling his body. He smirked, at last, he had the power to do it. Do whatever he desired. First things first though, he had to find the Doctor. And for that, he needed to know where the Doctor was, and who his current companions where. He always had them. He’d play the nice little pony for now, and then… Well, that’s when the fun began.
“What’s that phrase he loves so much?” the Master asked as he began to take slow, careful steps getting used to his new form. “Oh right… Allons-Y!”
Two hooves slammed against a tree, and a stallion’s voice came out as a grunt.
“I’m… I’m sorry, how do you manage to do this, day in and day out?” the Doctor asked, feeling the pain in his forelegs. “I’ve run through all my calculations in my head, and they tell me that I should be able to do this! I’ve got good lower leg strength, especially with all that running I conveniently keep having to do,” he commented, the last parts of the sentence coming out as an embarrassed, sheepish mumble.
Beside him, another stallion, massive in size and coat color a bright red wearing a yoke around his neck gave a tree a mighty kick. As a result of this, a bushel of apples fell from the tree and into some wooden baskets. He was a subject of curiosity by the Doctor. A giant of a pony, possibly one could even call him a horse. He’d noticed he was fawned over by a good portion of Ponyville’s mare population, and yet he didn’t understand why the sole male Apple sibling didn’t even ask one of them out on a date.
The Doctor, still thinking to himself, gave his tree another good hard kick.
Big Mac chuckled to himself, continuously seeing the Doctor try and try again (Each time failing) to even knock one or two apples from his tree.
“Calculations mean nuthin’ if ya don’t have the work experience ta back it up,” Big Mac replied. The Doctor had honestly been surprised he hadn’t knocked a whole tree down already with his strength. “Besides, all of that thinkin’ of yers is probably a bit distractin’, Ah’d think. In mah mind, it's just buckin' the tree, knock down apples when Ah’m on the job.”
The Doctor groaned to himself, and gave his tree another kick. Big Mac sighed, and shook his head before trotting over.
“Come on ‘Doctor’, you of all ponies should understand if ya keep this up, yer just going to go on and hurt yerself,” Big Mac said kindly, as the Doctor took out a handkerchief from his suit -A brown pinstripe one today- with a hoof and wiped some sweat from his brow. “Ah mean, Ah’m assumin’ that you would know this, given yer title and all…”
The Doctor chuckled. “...I’m not that kind of Doctor.”
“Seems a mite confusing if you ask me, ya being a doctor and yet having no medical knowledge whatsoever,” Big Mac replied in confusion and bewilderment. “Ah have to ask, what made ya decide to come on down over to here and start helpin’ us buck apples? With that suit of yers, I can assume you’re a richer stallion, perhaps on par with mah good friend Filthy, so Ah’d think you’d have better things to do with yer time.”
“Never assume, mate,” the Doctor replied. “Besides, one looking at you, and even studying you at first, might just assume you’re the type of county hick one would see in Deliverance or something, picking away on a banjo wearing a straw hat perhaps.”
“Fair point,” Big Mac admitted. “Going by first assumptions, well… Just not the right thing ta do is it?”
“To quote a man from a place I absolutely love, “I think the problem I have is that first impressions are the ones that stick with people. And people's first impressions of me are obviously from the film, from 'Gregory's Girl,'” the Doctor remarked in return. “Funny thing about John Gordon Sinclair, the man was an apprentice electrician at the age of 15 or so, and then fast forwards a few years and he’s standing on a stage with the likes of Mel Brooks! How time flies, eh…?”
The Doctor then wiped some more sweat from his brow, panting heavily and breathing hard from his attempt at an honest to God hard day’s work at the orchards.
“Come on, Ah’d best get you inside, wouldn’t want ya to die of heatstroke or somethin’ like that,” Big Mac said kindly, gesturing to the homestead with a hoof. “Ah can finish up this side of the orchards by mahself. Done it before.”
“Yeah,” the Doctor laughed to himself as he began trotting up to the homestead. “Dying of heatstroke, really embarrassing if you ask me. If I did, wouldn’t be one of my high points.”
Big Mac blinked and muttered: “Okay…” to himself, not really understanding that bit. “Ya never answered my question Doctor, how come ya decided to work down here on the farm, buckin’ the apples and sloppin’ out the pig troughs like a common pony?”
“Wanted to see what it was like, have a nice change of pace from the usual,” the Doctor replied as they reached the front porch of the homestead. Nearby, Granny Smith was fast asleep in her rocker. “And trust me on this, the usual for me isn’t… Well, I wouldn’t call it boring in any form, but it’s certainly fairly exciting. Bit too exciting at times, really.” he commented, master of the understatement.
“So, basically ya just want ta slow down a bit, let life pass ya by some?” Bic Mac asked, and the Doctor chuckled nervously as he pushed open the screen door leading inside.
“Something like that, I guess…” he replied, in a tone that screamed ‘Sure, let’s go with that!’ He hoped Big Mac would believe him. He honestly couldn’t tell if Big Mac knew he was stretching the truth a little, at least not by facial expression alone. The stallion had one of those unreadable expressions, one that made you nervous as you simply couldn’t tell what he was thinking about you, or more accurately thinking what to do to you.
The Doctor then chided himself on his own foolishness, Big Mac wasn’t going to hurt him, the stallion was one of those gentle giant types. Couldn’t, wouldn’t hurt a fly unless severely pissed off. The Doctor shuddered to think what that would look like. He could only pity the poor soul who fell under the stallion’s bad side. But, having a soft heart in what the Doctor often found was a cruel and despicable universe was not a sign of weakness, but of great courage instead.
So that must have meant Big Mac must have been one of the most courageous ponies the Doctor had ever had the pleasure to meet.
“Eeyup, Ah know how that feels,” the stallion in question replied. “Sometimes, one does want to have life pass them by, just for a little while. Enjoy what it has to offer, instead of just running about busying themselves with every little aspect of their lives.”
“Ponies could stand to learn from you, ya know that?” the Doctor asked, putting a hoof on Big Mac’s chest before moving it upwards to his forehead. “Big heart down here, and big brain up there.”
“T-Thank you.” Big Mac flushed red, if that were possible. He wasn’t used to ponies complimenting him in such a way. Heck, he could barely hold a conversation with most of ‘em!
“Big Macintosh Apple, never let anyone ever say that you being a pony with a heart that must be the size of your entire body, yet soft as a pillow be a bad thing okay?” the Doctor asked as he walked off, leaving his new friend to think on his words.
The Doctor sighed again as he looked back at the stallion. He only wished others that he knew would follow that example Big Mac set out. The Last of the Time Lords murmured something sad to himself that was far too soft to hear as he walked to the bathroom -Tossing his suit aside as he did so, he’d let Applejack or somepony run it through the washer and dryer- and turned on the shower faucets, letting cool refreshing water cover his form. He knew a few of his old friends (Well, one in particular really, that had a penchant for letting his emotions rule his actions) that could benefit from such a thing.
He groaned as the cool water released all the built-up tension in his muscles and wiped away at the dirt and grime in his fur.
“Just what I needed.” He thought to himself before another voice rang out in his head. A rather familiar one at that.
“You aren’t the least bit worried?” War’s voice asked.
“About what?” the Doctor replied, going into his mindscape which was as always, his current Tardis. Mind you, in this case the lights were considerably darkened suiting who he was talking to. He stood face to face with War, looking directly at him. “Honestly, I really don’t need any of your lectures right now. Can’t you just leave me in peace for one day?”
“Fine, ignore perfectly good advice. I’m your past, and don’t the seeds of the future lie buried in the past?” War asked.
“Aww really?” the Doctor whined. “You’re being cryptic on me?”
“I’m you, remember?” War asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Comes with the territory I should think.”
“...Fair point.” the Doctor admitted, but with no small amount of annoyance. “Can’t you for just once, get to the point?”
“Your new companions, aren’t you worried in the slightest?” War asked. “You have to admit, your…” War began before swiftly correcting himself. “No, sorry, our adventures are like a drug. Get someone hooked, and they’ll come back for more. That’s usually the case, isn’t it?” he questioned.
The Doctor sighed to himself. “Point well taken.”
But War wasn’t done yet. “Take that Twilight mare for instance. Very intelligent, yet a chronic shut-in. I’m willing to bet there’s that one side of her, deep within, just itching and waiting to get out. The side who wants to just get out and explore the universe and its many wonders however dangerous they may be. Universe… we both know it's wondrous, filled with treasures that would satiate desires both of the subtle and the gross. I suspect, no, I know, that there’s a type of treasure for Twilight out there, probably plenty. Trouble is, we both know what lies out there, waiting in the darkness, sometimes often literally.”
“Vashta Nerada.” the Doctor commented.
“You know what I mean.” War replied.
“...Yeah, I do.” the Doctor sighed.
“Well,” Nine’s voice joined in. “If Twilight can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe she should just then go crawl back under her bed. It’d be far safer for her, really,” he remarked.
“I think Twilight’s ready, she’s already seen the dark side of life. Not the innocent little mare I met first time around when dealing with Enigma. She’s learned Celestia isn’t the clean, pure mare she or I thought she was,” the Doctor replied. “Something like that, a revelation that big, it has a way of changing a person. Er, pony in this case. Plus, there’s the incident with Nightmare Moon, the real one I mean.”
“Change will happen either way, you can’t stop it,” Nine put in. “All of our companions, whenever they finish off their adventures with us, they’re never the same person they were starting out. Sometimes the change is for the better…”
“But sometimes for the worse…” the Doctor muttered back in reality, finishing the sentence knowing all too well how correct Nine was. He did at times wonder, was he changing his companions into little soldiers for him, ones that would fight his battles? He sighed to himself, Celestia, as old as she was, would probably know something or two about this. Maybe some advice from a kindred spirit would help him.
The Doctor smiled at the memory of Celestia, she always seemed to know what to say to him, even if they did disagree on certain matters. Immortals, they always seemed to share some sort of common wisdom he’d found. The Face of Boe was a prime example of that.
Then, he heard a knock on the bathroom door. “Hey Doctor,” Big Mac’s voice boomed. “You’re taking an awfully long time in there. Somethin’ wrong?” he asked in concern.
“No, everything’s fine!” the Doctor shouted as he shut off the water and hurriedly dried himself off with a towel. “I’ll be out in just a tick!”
“Suit yerself,” Big Mac called back. “Ya just don’t want to miss the apple pie that mah sis is making!”
“I swear, every meeting these days, intent on driving me to the drink,” Fancy Pants groaned out as he and Blueblood walked through the streets of Equestria’s capital city. “And I don’t mean a fine glass of red wine.”
“What vintage?” Blueblood asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“Pre Princess Luna’s return, I think. Year 700 of Celestia’s reign,” Fancy replied in turn. “Sounds about right, I think.”
“I say you should save something that splendid for a date with that Prench marefriend of yours, really. Trust me, drinking it on any other occasion, waste of a perfectly good vintage malt,” Blueblood replied. “Just a simple piece of advice. Also, wear something nice to your next date. Please. Not that same old suit you’ve been wearing every other day it seems like. Others say “Dress for the job you want”, I say dress like the man you wanna be. Fancy, we have an obligation to assault the commonplace every chance we get, from the clothes we wear to the art we collect, to the mares in our lives. I know that sounds arrogant, and probably a little bit sexist, and if it does, I apologize deeply for that. But the point is, you’re not going to woo Fleur doing the same old things.”
“Since when did this become a conversation about my sex life?” Fancy asked, tugging at his bow-tie as he flushed red in embarrassment.
“Just trying to change the subject to something more pleasing, that’s all,” Blueblood replied.
Fancy sighed, when it came to mares, Blueblood did seem to know best. Of course, he probably would, having had to fend off golddiggers right and left almost every day it seemed who wanted him to be their Prince Charming. So, it wasn’t that hard to believe he was wise in the ways of mares.
In fact, Blueblood had actually helped Fancy land a date with Fleur. And by that, I mean dragged Fancy out of his manor kicking and screaming in protest. Blueblood chuckled in remembrance, the poor soul was far too nervous to ask the mare out on a date, despite being a master politician and being able to charm some of the more slimier politicians in Celestia’s court and sway them to his side. In his words, and Blueblood would forever hold this over his friend, Fleur Dis Lee was like a “Goddess descended from Heaven itself”.
“But you can understand where I’m coming from, right?” Fancy asked. “I mean, Neighsay’s a snake!”
“I was going to compare him to a cockroach, actually,” Blueblood replied. “But I get your point. He’s like that pain that never goes away. ...Hmm, maybe head lice then.”
Fancy burst out laughing at that before he frowned. “You do know what he’s gunning for right?”
“Celestia’s personal assistant?” Blueblood asked. “Yeah, I do. Ever since Raven left us, every noble right and left’s been trying to get in good with Celestia and be by her side. Especially the males,” he continued before chuckling. “But we both know where her heart really lies.”
“Yeah, with this Doctor chap. From what I’ve read, he’s doing Equestria a great service. Mind you, if that was all it took to win Celestia’s heart, Flash Magnus would have been dating Celestia centuries ago!” Fancy commented.
“Somnambula had her eye on him, if you believe the history books, as I recall.” Blueblood mused. “But I see your point. I have yet to meet this Doctor, so I don’t know why Celestia likes him so much. I’d judge him for approval, but…” he trailed off.
“There’s that risk of running afoul of your aunt right?” Fancy asked.
“Yes, quite.” Blueblood shuddered.
“I must admit, seeing your aunt angry, if not at oneself… Actually gets your blood flowing like a double shot of red wine expresso. Quite the pleasure to see her give her the old “I’m so disappointed in you look” like a mother would give to a foal with their hooves caught in the cookie jar to somepony,” Fancy commented before he paused in thought. “Hold up, I think I just invented a new drink.”
And Blueblood laughed at that. “Send the idea to the local brewery, I’m sure my aunt would be flattered.”
“Well, you know what they say about imitation…” Fancy trailed off with a smile.
The Master growled to himself as he finally found his way out of the thick brambles of the Everfree Forest and into a clearing, with a once-majestic castle in front of him, now laying in ruins.
“Well, not my ideal place to take shelter from the storm, but…” the Master commented as thunder rumbled in the distance, dark gray clouds beginning to form overhead thick and heavy with rain. “It’ll have to do. Let’s just hope the roof hasn’t fallen in, or will fall in. So unseemingly for a man of my position.”
Then, he hid behind some bushes as he saw what only had to be guards, decked out in gold armor resembling Roman centurions wander up to the castle each with spears and shields in hoof.
“Hey, you there!” one of the guards cried as they spotted the Master, who quickly made himself presentable. “What are you doing out here? You know how dangerous this forest is?”
“I could ask you the same question, what are you doing out here?” the Master asked.
“Well, the Princesses had us scoping this old castle of theirs out, seeing if there was anything worth salvaging after all these years, but… Wait, why are am I telling you this?”
The Master chuckled, his abilities were still working just fine it seemed. “Ah, I’m just one of those types you can easily trust, that’s all!” he commented. “Ruled an entire country once, don’t you know?”
“You don’t seem the type…” the guard commented.
“Eh, don’t judge every book by it’s cover right? Isn’t that how that old saying goes?” the Master questioned, and the guard gave a ‘fair enough’ nod as the Master slung an arm around his shoulders. “Now, tell me about these Princesses of yours…” he began.
“No, no, I’m sorry, but there’s no way in all of Time and Space that I shouldn’t be able to knock a simple apple, from a simple tree! Isaac Newton did it and it proved the law of Gravity, and don’t let history tell you otherwise as I was there!” the Doctor argued over the Apple Family’s dining room table as Big Mac explained the day’s events.
“Well, the fact remains,” Applejack replied simply, with no intended malice in her tone. She was just speaking the truth as always, brutal as her honesty could be. “You and mah brother both took a orchard to yourself, and out all of the apples in said orchard, you managed to buck… none of them from their trees. Now, I’m not trying to be rude here Doc, but-”
“Then stop trying, ‘cause you are.” the Doctor whined. AJ groaned to herself, and promptly facehoofed. If anyone were to listen closely, you would have heard her muttering to herself about how the Doctor was such a child at times.
In the background, a radio played: “You heard my voice, I came out of the woods by choice Shelter also gave their shade But in the dark I have no name So leave that click in my head
And I will remember the words that you said Left a clouded mind and a heavy heart But I am sure we could see a new start So when your hope’s on fire…”
“It’s rude to interrupt,” Big Mac put in. “Let mah sister continue speakin’. Finish yer pie, an’ wash yer muzzle a little okay? Bad table manners to have pie cast all over yet muzzle like it is.”
He daren’t ask if the Doctor was raised in a barn, as that would make him a hypocrite.
“Thank you,” Applejack sighed, before continuing. “Look, the fact of the matter is, ya really haven’t had a honest ta Celestia’s day’s work in yer life Ah think Doctor, at least when it comes to buckin’ apples. Listen Doctor, Ah appreciate the gesture, and an extra hoof around the farm is like a gesture from heaven -heck if the stories circulating about you are ta be believed, yer heaven sent anyways- but there’s no getting around the fact that you’re a lousy worker who needs more experience at this sort of thing. Start out slow, just take one of the smaller orchards. Tryin’ to handle too much work at a time, not good for your health. Trust me on this, Ah would know,” she continued, thinking back to the time when Big Mac had injured himself and Applejack had taken it upon herself to try and handle all of Applebucking Season by herself, and in the end had only managed to tire herself out.
In the end, Twilight had knocked some good common horse sense back into her and she accepted her friends’ help. “Believe me, Ah would know. I’d suggest you start out with slopping out the pig troughs. Mite want ta take that fancy-shmancy suit of yours off though, don’t want to get it dirty Ah’d imagine.” Applejack chuckled to herself.
The Doctor actually laughed in return. “...And probably ditch the coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat, did you know?”
As he walked off to go clean himself up, and take off his so-called fancy-shmancy suit, (Grabbing a Stetson along the way, as Stetsons were cool) Applejack turned to her big brother with a very confused look on her face.
“You have any idea who he’s talking about?”
“Eenope.” was Big Mac’s only answer as ever. The Doctor meanwhile, soon as he was finished changing, headed out to the pig troughs and nearly retched at the smell.
“Take life at a slower pace, I said!” he thought to himself. “God above, what was I thinking? Well, suppose if I want to get in a good day’s hard work, best to start small. God, Rose must be laughing her head off at me right now. Pig troughs, of all the things!” he complained to himself.
As the Doctor tried to scoop out the residue in the troughs, he felt the trowel get stuck in the middle of it. He tried to push the handle down and throw the waste out, but no matter how much force he exerted, the tool wouldn’t budge. He even tried to jump on it a couple times, but it still wouldn’t move. In the end, he slid off of the handle and landed face-first into the grass beneath it.
“I saved civilizations, stopped madmen from destroying worlds, and now I’m working on a farm? Badly at that?!” He tried to pull the handle down by lifting his body off the ground, but that just resulted in the handle snapping off from the rest of the shovel. “Great. Just fantastic…”
He heard a distinct sniggering sound coming from somewhere above him, but paid it no mind. Probably some God up there who loved his misfortune.
“Probably not what I had in mind when I said get away from it all, remove myself from my particular brand of excitement. I should have just gone and met Mistmane and the Kirins, and studied in the art of Zen and feng shui!” the Doctor grumbled to no-one in particular. Eventually, fate did take pity on the Doctor, and Applejack looked up from her bucking and sighed to herself as she shook her head.
“Ya need any help?” Applejack came over, and stared at the battered, grass-coated Doctor. “It looks like ya need it.”
“No, no, I’m doing quite fine,” the Doctor lied. “See, perfectly fine! I’ve just proved this trowel is useless, so you wouldn’t have to!” he said cheerfully. “You could have me check every trowel on the farm for… well, to see if they’re going to break anytime soon. Yeah, that’s it!” he chirped.
“Yer a terrible liar, Doctor,” Applejack said flatly. “Also, that Stetson, doesn’t suit you in the slightest,”
“It so does,” the Doctor sniffed. “Because Stetsons are cool,”
“Just because somethin’s ‘cool’ doesn’t mean it works for you Doctor,” Applejack deadpanned. Another snigger from somewhere above. Applejack blinked a little, she could have sworn she’d heard that snigger from somewhere before. Brushing it off as nothing, she continued. “Functionality before formality as ah always say,”
“Functionality before formality,” the Doctor repeated in a rather mocking tone of voice, quite fed up with today. Applejack gave him a look, before she sighed.
“Look, ya want mah help, or not?” Applejack asked, and the Doctor groaned, before letting out a sigh.
“...Yes, yes suppose I do. I admit it, I know nothing about working on a farm!” he grumbled.
“Well, that just means it’s yer first time,” Applejack grinned and pulled out the snapped trowel with the Doctor staring at her bug-eyed at her sheer strength. What was she, Supermare? “Trust me, Doctor, everypony complains their first time on the farm. Heck, even Ah didn’t like the work Ah did at first. But I learned to bear with it,”
“Fair enough, I suppose. Surely there’s a job around here even I can’t muck up…” the Doctor sighed. “What is it, feed the pigs in their pens? I mean, surely it’s just tossing the slop to them from a bucket, right?”
“Kinda, but it’s a lot more than just that. Not all pigs are fed with gruel, doc. We ain’t savages on Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack shook her head.
“Never said you were,” the Doctor replied. “So, how hard can it be?”
Applejack and the Doctor trotted over towards the troughs, mainly towards the food bin where the Apples kept all their pig feed. With a pair of buckets by the bin, Applejack and Doctor picked them up with their jaws and filled them up using their hooves to scoop the feed.
“Okay, so just toss it in there right?” the Doctor asked. “Simple as that?”
“Yeah,” Applejack grinned. “No sweat.”
Now, don’t ask me how, but somehow, the Doctor tripped over Applejack, and sent them both careening into the pig pens. Despite being covered in mud, Applejack managed to give the Doctor a very nasty glare.
“Yeesh…” he thought with a shudder. “If looks could kill.”
“Uh,” the Doctor laughed nervously. “Is it too late to say I’m sorry for utterly ruining your workday, and your mane, and your coat?” he babbled.
“Just stop talking. Just stop.” Applejack replied flatly. Then, the dam finally broke and they were treated to a sea of laughter from… well, guess who.
“Bwh-ha-ha-ha-ha!” a very familiar cackle came from nearby, and both ponies looked to see Rainbow lying on the ground, rolling around and clutching her sides in laughter. As she recomposed herself, and wiped a tear from her eye, she remarked: “Well, if I’d know you’d just wanted to get it on with each other, I thought you would have had a roll in the hay, not a roll in the mud!” she remarked, before collapsing into laughter once more.
“Consarn it, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack yelled, shaking a hoof making her look decidedly all the more ridiculous. “This ain’t funny!”
“It is from my point of view!” Rainbow sniggered. “Seriously, all that built up sexual tension, and you choose it to release it like this?”
“Sexual?!” The Doctor lurched to his feet. “You think we’re—“
“Well, you sure looked like it!” Rainbow laughed again. “Seriously, all that arguing! Just shut up and kiss already why don’t you?”
“Why don’t you shut yer trap?” Applejack growled out in a warning tone.
“...She a friend of yours?” the Doctor sighed to himself, rubbing his temples.
“Unfortunately,” Applejack sighed. “This here’s Rainbow Dash. Wonderbolt fanatic, expert flyer, and an absolutely horrible excuse for a jokester,”
“You flatter me,” Rainbow commented, with a cheeky grin.
“Rainbow, meet the Doctor. Doctor, meet Rainbow,” Applejack sighed.
“I’ve heard of her reputation. First pony to make a Sonic Rainboom, in what, 1,000 years or so?” he asked, somewhat excited.
“Uh, in, like EVER!” Rainbow corrected him. “Nopony’s ever been able to pull off a Sonic Rainboom other than me.”
“Don’t encourage her, Doctor.” Applejack sighed, and at this, Rainbow’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, Doctor? As in the Doctor Twi’s been blabbering about all day?” Rainbow asked.
“You know me?” the Doctor asked.
“Hard not to, when Twilight’s been yammering on back and forth about you at times. And… And well, suffice to say I’m a bit concerned,” Rainbow admitted. “Personally, if you ask me, she wants to meet you again a little too much for my liking. Mentioned some shit about how fascinating you were and all that. Didn’t catch all of it. Tuned most of it out, like I usually do with her.”
The Doctor groaned, he knew this was coming. War and Nine were right, ponies like Twilight, once they got ahold of him, they’d found their fix. He was like a drug to certain types. His expression turned deathly serious. “Where is she?” he asked, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Both Applejack and Rainbow were caught off guard with his sudden shift in demeanor, and just stared at each other before back at him.
“She’s where she usually is, at the Golden Oaks,” Rainbow answered. “Why?”
“I need to talk to her,” the Doctor answered, before groaning in disgust as he looked at himself. “After I take a shower… Again.”
The Doctor soon found himself trotting towards the massive tree that made up the Golden Oaks Library. He had to admit, it was an absolutely fascinating piece of architectural design. The inside of the library was massively hollowed out, and then filled back up with furniture and books of all varieties. From fiction to nonfiction, history to science, it was all there, all alphabetized for a pony’s convenience. The floors themselves were hardwood, very durable under his hooves, and freshly polished so he could see his reflection in it.
“Twilight?” the Doctor called. “Where are you? I need to talk to you for a moment, it’ll just take a tick!”
“Coming!” Twilight called, from somewhere amongst the many, many bookshelves. Small wonder she didn’t lose herself in them, the Doctor mused. Eventually, she emerged, shelving a book on ‘Supernaturals’ in its proper place. Her eyes lit up upon seeing the Doctor, and she smiled. “Oh, Doctor! Didn’t realize it was you!”
“Always a pleasure, Twilight Sparkle,” the Doctor complimented, trying to keep the mood light. “My, how you’ve grown! Facing down Nightmare Moon, and restoring her to her real self!” he said, in a tone of pride.
“It’s only been a year since we last saw each other,” Twilight remarked, trying to hold back her blush.
“Well, for you maybe… I’ve been a few places. Stopped by to see some old friends,” the Doctor replied cryptically before he realized something. “Hey, where’s Moondancer? You two seemed awfully close last time I saw you two.”
“Moondancer’s back in Canterlot at the moment,” Twilight nodded. “She’s awfully busy with her studies, just like I was.”
“Really?” the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow. “Funny, last I saw you two, you couldn’t keep your hooves off each other…” he remarked.
“Okay… we’re going through some tough times in our life right now.” Twilight sighed, knowing the Doctor could see right through here. “I don’t know exactly how long it’ll be, but we’re spending some time apart now.”
“Oh…” the Doctor whispered, feeling rather awkward right now. “I’m… I’m rather sorry, you two seemed like a cute couple. Anyways, that’s not what I’m here to talk about,”
“Oh. Then what is it?” Twilight asked.
“Listen, you really don’t want to spend time around me,” the Doctor replied, his tone taking that deathly serious note once more. “I’ve been hearing you ask around about me. I’m dangerous Twilight, ponies, people, the more time I spend around them, the more likely I am to turn them into my own personal soldiers, ready to fight my battles when in reality, they should have kept their innocence. Granted, you’ve lost some of yours, but-” he said, before Twilight cut him off.
“Doctor. Trust me, it’s fine,” Twilight patted his shoulders with a hoof. “We’ll be able to handle ourselves out there,”
“That’s what I’m worried about. You ponies, you just seem to be some of the most peaceful and innocent characters in this big old galaxy, and I don’t want to you to see any more of its ugliness than you have to. I’m… I’m just worried, that I may get too tempted and bring you onboard my TARDIS, and in the end, get you killed, or worse,” the Doctor replied. “So heed my words, Twilight Sparkle. Do your best to just forget about me.”
“Doctor…” Twilight leaned away lowering her mane.
“Please,” the Doctor asked beggingly. “Just do me this one last favor,”
“If you go alone, then you’ll just get yourself killed,” Twilight trotted forward, brushing his mane. “Don’t depend on yourself all the time, Doctor. It’s not good for you or for anyone around you.”
The Doctor chuckled a bit.
“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing… it’s just you remind me of someone I know,” the Doctor remarked, thinking of a frighteningly red-haired woman, with an equally fiery temper. “She always did know what to say at the right time,” he said sadly before a name flashed through his mind. Sarah Jane. “Really need to apologize for leaving her in Aberdeen someday.” he mused.
“Still, Doctor. Don’t throw everyone you meet away like that. It’ll only make you lonely forever,” Twilight put her hoof on his two hearts. “Just try to accept them, and forget about the danger,”
The Doctor’s expression turned stern. “This is why I came to see you Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot. Forget about the danger? I can’t. I never can. If I did that, then everyone around me would die.” He said, thinking of his late companion Adric.
“Then try your hardest to protect them,” Twilight nodded. “Letting yourself down like that is one of the reasons they keep dying around you. Have faith in your friends, and you’ll be able to keep them all safe.”
The Doctor chuckled. “Were you any other friend of mine, that wouldn’t work on me Twilight Sparkle. What’s that philosophy your teacher preaches? Friendship is Magic?” he asked, thinking of an old friend long since lost. Perhaps, one day there would be hope for him. Maybe not today, but someday.
“Not preaches, teaches,” Twilight shot him a stern look. “But yes, Princess Celestia does teach that Friendship is Magic.”
The Doctor smiled. “And someday soon, I suspect you’ll be following her example,” he remarked cryptically before taking his leave. Twilight heard a wheezing, groaning sound, then rushed outside to see where the Doctor had gone, but found nothing.
Canterlot:
With a loud crack, and a bolt of purple lightning, a group of Royal Guards along with a certain blue-coated unicorn stallion with a blood red time turner Cutie Mark landed in the middle of the city, in a circle of runes. Means of long-distance transport, this particular spell was. Most of the major cities had this type of spell linked to their infrastructure and made it easy to get patrols into a city as needed. Mind you, it was very taxing on one’s magic, and often required several unicorns to perform the spell.
“Well, that was… interesting,” the Master commented, fixing his tie. “Lovely means of transport.”
The lead guard, a gray-coated stallion slumped to the ground in exhaustion, sadly he was the only unicorn in his troop so that meant he had to do most of the spellwork. The Master rushed to his side, and helped him up. “You alright there?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, just need a good night’s rest. Never did catch your name, Mr…”
“Time Turner,” the Master lied quickly. “Time Turner’s the name, keeping clocks is my game!” he said cheerfully.
“Time Turner,” The guard parroted. “So, what business do you have at the palace?”
“Oh, just heard Princess Celestia was a tad overworked with paperwork, so I thought I’d give her a helping hoof, that’s all!” the Master replied. Nearby, Fancy and Blueblood shared a look.
“Mite convenient that we talked about this, and then somepony shows up isn’t it?” Fancy thought.
“Well, if you want to do the paperwork of all of Canterlot, then go right ahead. We’ve been needing a new bureaucrat after the loss of miss Raven via undisclosed circumstances,” The guard stood aside. “Go on inside, sir.”
“Excellent, I used to work jobs like this in Saddle Arabia!” the Master commented.
“You sure don’t look like any Saddle Arabian I’ve met…” the guard commented.
“Eh, I get that a lot.” the Master replied in a dismissive tone.
“Hold up!” Blueblood shouted. “Isn’t this all a bit unlikely, I mean me and Fancy were just talking about this, and he shows up out of the blue!”
“Coincidence is nothing more than another word for luck, my friend,” The Master stepped up to Blueblood. “Without a bureaucrat like myself, Saddle Arabia would have fallen into political chaos within days.”
“For someone who says he’s a skilled politician, I’ve seen nothing of the sort besides brown-nosing and boasting,” Blueblood commented.
“Pot calling the kettle black maybe?” the Master had picked up on Blueblood’s tone. “When will the people of Canterlot learn that you can’t control anyone with a low-ranking title as Prince? Leave orders to the king or queen.”
“You do realize of course,” Blueblood remarked. “That Equestria is controlled by two Princesses.”
“Then the lead one of those should really be called a queen, instead of such a low title like that.” the Master scoffed. “But then again, Queen Celestia doesn’t roll off the tongue that well, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” Blueblood admitted. “Plus, she has no liking for the term ‘Queen’ as she herself told me, it comes across as far too arrogant. But I assume you would know this, given Saddle Arabia’s good relations with Equestria?”
“Then we need a new ruler fast,” The Master walked inside. “Either Celestia gets a promotion, or someone steps in to take her place.”
Blueblood made a noise of worry to himself. This stallion, who came out of the blue with his boastings and remarks, sounded far too much like Chancellor Neighsay for his liking, the worm. He needed to get rid of him, fast. He quickly ran off to another room, his personal study and grabbed a quill and a sheet of paper.
The Master walked into the throne room, staring up at the titanic monarch that was Princess Celestia. Basking in her elegant glow, he stepped forward and bowed.
“Your Highness. A pleasure to meet you at long last,” he said.
“Funny, I’ve never heard of you in my life,” Celestia remarked. “So how do you know me?”
“Who doesn’t know of the fair Princess Celestia? You and I actually have met before, though, under different circumstances,” He smiled. “But let us not dwell on the past for now, my Princess, but rather on the future for all of Equestria.” He stepped up ascended the throne steps. “I heard you needed a new bureaucrat,”
“Well, you’re certainly a charmer,” Celestia admitted. “But how good are you with paperwork. I don’t mean just boasting about it for all to hear,” she replied dryly, having heard Time Turner’s remarks from the hall. “I need physical proof before I even think of assigning you to my personal staff.”
Using a spell, the Master took a bunch of unorganized papers from behind the throne, then hastily sorted them into perfect alphabetical order, as well as the level of urgency each matter required. Then, he levitated the stack back to the Princess.
“Well, colour me impressed. You’re-” Celestia began before she was cut off.
“Certainly not hired.” the Doctor snarled, as he burst in. “Thank your nephew Blueblood for sending me a letter. And I’m glad he did. Hello again, old friend,” he continued, stressing the word. “How long has it been since we last met? Years? Days? Seconds, even? Oh right, now I remember, ever since you tried to kill off all of Earth’s population posing as the Prime Minister!”
Guards surrounded the Master, as Celestia heard this. She had no reason to doubt the Doctor. The newcomer, however, that was a different story.
“Minor trifle. Old history.” the Master replied.
“I… I thought you dead! Hell, I saw you die in my arms!” the Doctor shouted, fighting back a sob. “Or was that a lie, just like everything else with you?”
“Death is relative to us Time Lords, Doctor,” The Master chuckled. “As is the same with all of your friends. But then again, you never keep your friends forever, do you?”
“How dare you…?” the Doctor growled, and he lurched forwards only having to be held back by Shining and another guard.
“Doctor, who is this stallion?” Celestia asked.
“The Doctor is nothing more than an outsider. Someone who hops from planet to planet, timeline point to timeline point, apparently righting the wrongs of the universe. When all he really does is make things more complicated and tragic…” the Master sneered at him. “Wherever he goes, death and destruction follows. Why, I bet the Daleks or Cybermen are about to attack this planet any second now because he’s here.”
“Be silent!” Celestia shouted, clamping the Master’s mouth shut, as the room grew warmer by the moment. “You don’t think I don’t know who he is or what he does? Now I asked him who you are, and he will tell me. You will say nothing.” She stared sternly into the Master’s eyes.
“The Master… Oh, where do I begin? Well, it’s a long story really.” the Doctor sighed.
“I have time.” the Princess of the Sun replied.
“We were both born with names but they were lost to time. We chose the names we'd live the rest of our lives with. we chose them based on the kinds of people we wanted to be and what our every action was motivated by. I wanted to end suffering, to help people. That's why I'm the Doctor. He's the Master because he only wishes to control them,” the Doctor explained. “All Time Lords have this... hypnotic ability I guess you could call it, this... telepathy. we both use it all the time. I'm the Doctor, I'm here to save people. But to do that I need them to trust me. but how do you foster an organic sense of trust with someone you just met? Answer is- you can't. I get inside their heads but it's not out of malice it's for the greater good,” he continued, and he looked down at the floor in shame. “So yes, I admit I may have used what you may call Legitimacy in your terms to get you to trust me, at least at first, but for everything afterwards, I just let things happened as they should have.”
“And what of the Master?” Celestia asked, her voice slowly growing in anger. She noted the Doctor began to tug at his tie, as the room’s temperature slowly got ever so warmer. She wasn’t angry, at least not at being used and having her mind peeked and prodded at, or even her student’s at that, but by the Doctor just keeping that little secret for so long. If he admitted it outright, she may not have been so mad, but right now…? Granted, she could detect the notes of shame in his voice, so that was the only reason she was still listening to him at this very moment.
“The Master though, he gets you to trust him but it's to manipulate not to help. It's not for your benefit but for his,” the Doctor continued, not bearing to even look at Celestia right now. “So, heed my words Celestia Solaris, if you know what’s good for you, and want what’s best for your country, I would lock the Master up where nopony could find, or get to him. You understand me?”
“Yes, I understand,” Celestia replied. “But we’re not done with this, not by a long shot. Are we clear on that?”
“Yes, we’re quite clear.” the Doctor sighed, and turned to walk away knowing Celestia was quite furious with him, as she had every right to be. He watched as the Royal Guards cuffed the Master, and put a ring around his horn to restrict his magic. He also noted the glare Shining sent his way, and sighed. Another friend found, but another friend lost. That was the way it always was with him. As he walked to his TARDIS, and shut the doors closed, he sighed and turned on the radio even as the Old Girl gave a comforting hum as if to say she was always going to be there for him, no matter what.
“So when your hope's on fire But you know your desire Don't hold a glass over the flame Don't let your heart grow cold I will call you by name I will share your road
“But hold me fast, Hold me fast 'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer And hold me fast, Hold me fast 'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer I will learn, I will learn to love the skies I'm under I will learn, I will learn to love the skies I'm under The skies I'm under…”
“So, there's this man, he has a time machine. Up and down history he goes — zip, zip, zip, zip, zip — getting into scrapes. Another thing he has is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Then, one day, he thinks, "What's the point in having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes?" So, off he goes to 18th Century Germany, but he can't find Beethoven anywhere. No one's heard of him. Not even his family have any idea who the time traveller is talking about. Beethoven literally doesn't exist. This didn't happen, by the way. I've met Beethoven. Nice chap. Very intense. Loved an arm wrestle. No, this is called the bootstrap paradox. Google it. The time traveller panics. He can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven. Luckily, he'd brought all of his Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So, he copies out all the concertos and the symphonies, and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven. And history continues with barely a feather ruffled. My question is this: who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's Fifth?” -The Twelfth Doctor, Before the Flood
Twilight knew something was off with the Doctor as soon as he returned to Ponyville. She didn’t know how she knew, it was just that she did. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, devoid of his usual swagger. A charming swagger, she’d admit, but still, nonetheless, a swagger and one that was missing.
She’d heard the news coming from Canterlot, of course, if only bits and pieces. Apparently, if that rag the Ponyville Chronicle was to be believed, then some strange stallion had waltzed in claiming to be a friend of the Doctor’s and had tried to charm his way into Celestia’s court. A silver tongue he was supposed to have.
Twilight, in her opinion, didn’t quite believe that this stallion, called Time Turner or something or other could get even that far. It wasn’t that much of a stretch of anyone’s imagination that Celestia had plenty of suitors and the like try to charm their way into a very close position, as even Twilight wouldn’t deny that her mentor was a very beautiful mare.
Usually, more often than not, stallions and mares alike had failed to get even slightly close to Celestia, she’d always been a very guarded mare at times, Frankly, after learning of the atrocities the Princess of the Sun had committed soon after her sister had been forced to be banished to the moon, Twilight couldn’t blame Celestia for not wanting to get close to many ponies, really. She could only guess this of course, but she figured Celestia never really wanted to lose another pony close to her and so she kept them at arm’s length.
Twilight didn’t realize this of course, (And how could she, given this was before her time) but this was part of the reason Sunset Shimmer had left, she’d wanted to at least try and show Celestia that she didn’t have to be alone. That’s why she delved deep into forbidden spells, trying to find a way to ascend to Alicorn status and give Celestia a form of companionship. If not as a lover, but as a daughter to stay with her throughout the years. It was a sad consequence along the way that Sunset had just happened to become far too ambitious for her own good and actually desire power for its own sake, not for Celestia’s if that made much sense.
Twilight didn’t know much of what had gone down in Canterlot aside from the bits and pieces she’d heard from various news articles, and the Royal Guard and especially her own brother seemed to be quite mum on the issue. She thought about asking her old friends, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and the like, on what may have happened but as of right now they weren’t exactly on the best of terms really. Twilight up and leaving on Moondancer’s birthday party didn’t exactly endear her to them right now. Not that they could have known Nightmare Moon, the real one was returning and Twilight had to stop her. The fact was when she tried to explain this to them via letter (Not her wisest choice, she admitted.) and not in person, her explanation was only sent back marked with a return label.
She’d briefly considered talking to Lyra, who she knew also lived in Ponyville and had witnessed Nightma-No, Princess Luna’s return from her 1,000-year long banishment but to be quite honest she was terrified that Lyra hated her as well. And why wouldn’t she? After all, her, Moondancer, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon were as thick as thieves at times and then Twilight just up and left them without explanation. So, of course, that route of getting information was very much closed off to her. Twilight wondered, what exactly was so top-secret about this newcomer that even her own brother wasn’t allowed to discuss it with her. There was one possibility of course, but Twilight believed it to be so impossible, she dismissed it out of hoof almost at once.
But whatever the case, when the Doctor returned to Ponyville later that next day, he seemed… well, quite forlorn really if Twilight had to use one word to describe it. Like he’d just lost a very good friend. Of course, the most obvious thing to do was go and talk to the Time Lord himself, and so that’s what Twilight had decided to do.
Not an easy thing, you’d imagine. You’d be right.
“Er, Doctor?” Twilight asked, finding the Time Lord in one of Ponyville’s cafes, drinking a fruit smoothie. She raised an eyebrow. Dragonfruit or if you wanted to be more accurate, a Pitaya. Personally, Twilight still preferred the Blood Orange for an exotic fruit smoothie. Needless to say, the pitaya, it was an odd choice really for a fruity drink, what with it being an obscure fruit from the country of Azteca. Hell, Twilight only knew of the country and the fruit itself thanks to the Daring Do books, which were strangely well researched for adventure novels. But then again, the Doctor was never really your average pony in any sense of the word. “You alright?”
The look the Doctor sent her, well, suffice to say it wasn’t a happy one. Twilight laughed nervously.
“Right… stupid question.” Twilight sighed, pulling up a seat. “Listen, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”
She asked for a menu, and used a hoof to gesture for a drink of her own. A Sanfratellano Soda, with a blood orange (Of course) mixed in for flavoring. A sorbet might have been nice, but considering how hot it was today, it might have easily melted in the sun. A tan earth pony with a light pistachio mane with lime streaks walked up, -bearing a lemon tart as a cutie mark- with the aforementioned soda, setting it next to Twilight. The waitress, Twilight would swear she was related to Rainbow Dash or Pinkie in some manner, considering she was rather cheerful and was bobbing her head to some unknown beat coming out of her earbuds.
“Yeah, I suppose someone to talk to might be a nice thing…” the Doctor sighed, resting his head on the table. Twilight, noting his already unhappy mood, didn’t bother correcting him for the someone thing. Not like it would have mattered anyways, as it would have gone ignored.
“So, suppose I should get right to it,” Twilight said, after taking a sip of her soda and letting the somewhat tarty taste hit her. Not the first choice she’d use for a soda, the Moro breed of the Orange. She personally preferred the Tarocco, at least nowadays. “What happened in Canterlot? Between you and this Time Turner, I mean? I mean, my brother’s not saying anything on the issue, and all I can gather is he tried to worm his way into Celestia’s court.”
A wince was the Doctor’s answer to that.
“That bad, huh?” Twilight sighed.
“First off, his name isn’t Time Turner. It’s the Master,” the Doctor replied, his smoothie going ignored. It took a few moments for it to register in Twilight’s mind, but then the penny dropped. And with a very loud clang.
“W-Wait, y-you mean he’s a-?” Twilight barely managed to stammer out, and the Doctor nodded.
“I’m going to repeat what I said to Celestia when we… reunited for lack of a better term. But first things first, silence the area around us. This is not for anyone’s ears but our own,” the Doctor stated firmly. Twilight complied, throwing up an invisible bubble that enveloped them in silence, making it impossible for anyone to overhear. Then, knowing what he had to say was safely a secret, the Doctor continued: “We were both born with names but they were lost to time. We chose the names we'd live the rest of our lives with. we chose them based on the kinds of people we wanted to be and what our every action was motivated by. I wanted to end suffering, to help people. That's why I'm the Doctor. He's the Master because he only wishes to control them,” he reiterated. “All Time Lords have this... hypnotic ability I guess you could call it, this... telepathy. we both use it all the time. I'm the Doctor, I'm here to save people. The Master though, he gets you to trust him but it's to manipulate not to help. It's not for your benefit but for his, and only his.” he sighed, with Twilight listening, staying at rapt attention. “For the longest time, I thought he was dead. Hell, I saw him die in my very arms, in a year that never was. (Long story.) And now…” he sighed again. “Here he is again. We were friends once, and as much as I’d like to believe we could be friends again, I’m fairly certain that can’t exactly happen. The Master, he’s too far-gone for that.”
“There’s always hope, right?” Twilight asked, her voice coming out as a soft, sad whisper. Her eyes were filled with pity for the Doctor, knowing all too well what it was like to lose a close friend. And the Master, Twilight had the distinct feeling he was something more to the Doctor than just a friend if the way he talked about him was any indication.
“Twilight, you need to understand something,” the Doctor stated sternly. “Yes, we were friends once, the Master and I, but as things are, we can’t ever go back to the way we were, no matter what I do. The Time Lords, my people, they created the Master as… well, something to free them from what’s called a Time Lock. The effective ruler of Gallifrey and our president, (The Doctor spat out the words “our president” in a tone of utter disgust) a man called Rassilon retroactively placed this… condition into the Master’s head, made him hear a constant four beat drumming in his head, the drums of war,” he continued, a growl reaching his throat. “When he was simply just a mere eight years old, as all Time Lords do, he was forced to look into the Untempered Schism, a natural opening in the space/time continuum into which you can see all of the Time Vortex.”
“Dear Faust…” Twilight whispered in horror.
“That’s when it happened, that’s when the drumming started. Like someone shouted, 3, 2, 1, showtime!” the Doctor stated angrily, doing a four-note drum beat with his hoof, tapping the cafe table. “Whenever a Time Lord looks into this crack, something happens. Some would be inspired, some would run away and some would go mad. The Master, sadly, he’d be one of the ones to go mad. I’d like to believe there’s some small part of my old friend still left in there, but… Honestly, I just can’t. Not after all the atrocities he’s committed.”
“Why, why do you believe?” Twilight pressed.
“Well, we have these sort of fob watches, all Time Lords do,” the Doctor continued. “We can imbue our entire consciousness into them if ever we needed to go into hiding undetected. We, once we do this, become completely different men with only a fraction of our original personalities left. I’ve done this once before, to hide from a group known simply as the Family. The Master did it as well, if only to escape the destruction of my homeworld and go where he’d never be found. He became this kindly old man, called himself Yana, willing to help anyone escape the end of the universe. A foolish endeavor yes, but I saw -Or maybe I was hoping to see- what the Master might have become had my people, -my people!- not messed with his mind!” the Doctor bellowed, before fighting back a sob. Twilight, at that moment, could have sworn she heard the Doctor whisper “My Koschei…” soon after this.
And all Twilight could do was find herself pulling the Last of the Time Lords into a hug and let him sob.
Later that afternoon, Twilight found herself laying on a hilltop a short distance outside Ponyville. Her eyes were currently skimming through an ancient text by the great legendary healer Mage Meadowbrook on transfiguration spells and potions for the same usage, but her mind? That had decided to drift off elsewhere. It was currently still stuck on the conundrum that was the relationship between the Master, and the Doctor.
On one hoof, you had the Doctor, explaining that there was the tiniest possibility that the Master could be, or could have been saved but at the same time it sounded like wishful thinking at best. He sounded like he was reaching, holding out hope that he could get his old friend back but knew it was a fruitless endeavor in the end. The Doctor didn't exactly mention what sort of atrocities His old friend had exactly committed, but from the sounds of things, they were on the same scale at the very least of the ones Celestia had caused when she was in her Daybreaker phase. Possibly, and quite probably even worse.
Twilight let out a growl of frustration. Sure, friendship literally was the most powerful magic in the land -bar none and accept no substitutes- but even she had her doubts this particular problem could be fixed. At least, not by her. I mean, how did you reconcile a universal savior and a possibly genocidal madman? Or madpony in this case.
Sometimes, Twilight had to wonder if she really was cut out for the job of being Celestia’s personal student and therefore the one who taught her teachings to anypony who’d listen. Take that Trixie mare she’d met a few months back. Sure, she was arrogant, boastful, brash and a few other things besides, but Twilight truly believed she could make a friend out of her. Not to mention, learn some illusion magic, which was a branch Twilight had always been particularly fascinated by really. The one type of magic she’d never been able to grasp, and Trixie could probably teach it to her if she wanted. Trouble is, she doubted Trixie would come back to Ponyville anyone soon. Knowing her type, and how prideful she was, she’d probably feel humiliated.
“Hey Twi,” a familiar scratchy voice remarked, and Twilight admitted if only to herself that she felt a bit of blood rush to her cheeks. “Looks like you've got a lot on your mind. Maybe I can help. I am the Element of Loyalty after all…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she landed beside her before noting the texts Twilight was reading.
“Speaking of the prideful type…” Twilight thought snidely.
“Though not if it’s any eggheady stuff like that. Please, give me a break. It’d make my brain rot just trying to comprehend half of that.” the pegasus remarked.
“I-It’s important work, for my research!” Twilight sputtered out indignantly, trying to regain some of her lost pride. “And besides, I didn't even imagine you knew what comprehended meant. Did someone feed you a dictionary lately?” she deadpanned.
Rainbow chuckled, waving the insult off with a dismissive hoof. “Can't be that important work if your head is in the clouds like it seems to be,” she replied in a dry tone of voice. “And don't bother with the excuses eh? Even I can tell your mind was off wandering elsewhere. So, what’s the sitch? Like I said before, maybe I can help, hmm?”
“It’s… it’s nothing.” Twilight lied.
“Can't be nothing. I mean, you rarely take your nose out of a book and yet here you are, barely paying attention to the one in front of you! I'd like to say I'm the cause, but…” Rainbow trailed off once more.
“It’s sorta a problem, and to be honest I don't want to bring you into it, really.” Twilight sighed.
“Hey, you don't have to carry these great big things alone, not anymore,” Rainbow told her sternly. “You've got friends now. Remember Nightmare Moon? You couldn't have beat her alone, no way! We were there to back you up, remember?” she asked, wrapping a reassuring wing around her fellow pony.
Twilight once again found herself blushing, even as she shot a grateful smile towards Rainbow.
“T-Thanks…” Twilight whispered.
“Hey, what I'm here for,” Rainbow replied. “To knock some sense into you when ya need it. Now, what I think is you need to take your mind off of whatever heavy crap that’s been bothering you for a time. Just maybe engage in some idle chit-chat and speculation. All work and no play, makes for one very dull bookhorse.” Rainbow suggested, booping Twilight on the nose as she did so. Needless to say, this didn't help to quell Twilight’s blush any.
“Sounds good,” Twilight replied to her. “So, what’d you have in mind?”
“Well, intelligent as you are, and this I admit is sorta one of the main reasons I came looking for you, is who do think made the first Sonic Rainboom? I mean, someone had to do it, for it to cement itself in Equestrian legend and for me to know about it. So, spill. What’s your theory? Who did it first?”
“I… I actually don't know…” Twilight admitted.
“Well, there’s no reason why we can't take a little trip and find out, right?” a voice came from behind, and standing behind both ponies was the Doctor, back in his usual chipper, cheery mood. “So, to quote Burt Reynolds, what do you know, what do you say?”
Part 22: Wherever I May Roam (Rover, Wanderer, Nomad, Vagabond, call me what you will...)
“This… is… INCREDIBLE!” Rainbow Dash zipped around the interior of the TARDIS, her mind blown right out of her head with the trick that the Doctor had been able to pull with it. She had never seen anything like it before in, well, ever, so needless to say, she couldn’t help herself to look around. “How in Celestia’s name do you fit all this in, Doc?”
“Transdimensional engineering,” the Doctor replied curtly, looking a bit put out that Rainbow hadn’t done the whole step in, then step back out of the TARDIS and walk around it in shock bit like a few other companions had done before her. He’d been expecting it, really. It was generally the highlight of the first journey with one of them.
“In more Rainbow Dash terms, egghead stuff,” Twilight said with a small smirk at Rainbow’s expression of annoyance. She punched the air in victory, finally got one on over her! “The Doctor was able to find a way to create a cloaking field around his ship that disguises it as a regular old phone box. I must say, it’s pretty impressive.”
“Yeah… It’s not supposed to look like a phone booth,” the Doctor admitted, with a flushing face as he ran a hoof through his mane. “The Old Girl, she’s supposed to disguise itself with the environment around it. Blend in. Like a chameleon. Sadly, the device as Twilight so calls it, or as I know it, the chameleon circuit is… well, it’s sorta broken.”
“Well, then why don’t you just fix it?” Rainbow cocked a brow. “I’m sure Twilight would be willing to lend a hoof out. Right, Twilight?”
“I like it like this.” the Doctor replied, a little snippy in his tone.
“In other words, he’s lazy,” Twilight replied flatly.
“I AM NOT!” the Doctor snapped, quite defensive before leaning in close to the TARDIS’s console and murmuring: “There there, old girl, they didn’t mean to call you such rude things…”
“Geez, why don’t you just marry her already?” Rainbow asked, rolling her eyes in disgust while Twilight made a groaning sound and facehoofed.
“Anyways…” The Doctor just rolled his eyes and started to operate the machinery. “The Sonic Rainboom’s a marvelous feat in your world, right? Stuff of legends, and such right? And if you’re not sure whether or not you did the first one, well, we’ll just have to check and find out.”
“Well, of course, I didn’t do the first one!” Rainbow replied, wondering if the Doctor really knew what he was doing, noting him hit the controls with a hammer at one point. “I mean, the legend had to spawn from somewhere. Ancient Roam, I think, around the time Flash Magnus was scheduled to marry Queen Sonnambula…”
She received a few looks.
“What, I read!” Rainbow replied defensively. “Just only on important crap. Just don’t like looking in old textbooks that give things out on “How to Cure Transfiguration” and such.”
Twilight huffed to herself and crossed her forelegs. There was nothing wrong with old spellbooks.
“Well, nothing to it really. Only one way to solve this mystery. Hold on to your… Well, just hold on. Allons-Y!” he cried, and threw a switch as the whole TARDIS began to groan and shudder, making awful wheezing noises.
Twilight, as the Time Machine rocketed through time and space found herself thrown up against one of the walls, a spanner nearly hitting her in the forehead flying from a nearby toolbox.
“I swear, at times the only spanner bigger than that one, is the one operating this machine!” she thought to herself. She then found herself sliding across the metal floor on her tummy as the machine rocked and rolled as it bounced through more time periods. She let out a yelp as she flew past the Doctor, who was managing to keep control of himself (Somehow) and landed in Rainbow’s arms.
“I got you Twi, don’t worry.” the pegasus replied, seemingly oblivious to Twilight’s blush. “Never gonna leave ya hangin’.”
“...I think I’m going to be sick…” Twilight moaned, her face going from a bright crimson to a sickly lime green.
If the Doctor took any notice of this, he didn’t let it show. In truth, he was hoping for some sort of distraction, any sort of distraction really. Just to get his mind off the Master. Knowing his old friend was quite alive and well, really didn’t do wonders for his nerves. Sure, Celestia had locked him up somewhere, even if she hadn’t told him exactly where but the Master had this way with people. He managed to get right through Canterlot’s front gates for crying out loud!
Knowing that, knowing he could have easily gotten that close to the Princesses had Blueblood not gotten wise to the Master set the Doctor’s nerves on edge. He visibly shuddered at the possibility of the Master whispering in Celestia’s ears, giving her advice. He’d be the puppet ruler from behind the curtains, controlling every little thing. It’d be like if Oz of the Emerald City was revealed to be a great big stinking… Yeah, the metaphor may have gotten away from him there, the Doctor admitted. Point was, the Master anywhere near Celestia was a very bad thing indeed.
He just hoped she had the sense to not try and reach out to him with offers of friendship, he was too far gone for that anyways.
“Nonsense!” a voice spoke up in the Doctor’s mind, and all of the man’s thoughts immediately ground to a halt and everything else seemed to fade out. If there was one person the Doctor was going to listen to, and respect aside from his mother, of course, it would be himself. “I’m getting quite cynical in my old age, don’t you think?” the First Doctor asked. “Now, you shut up and listen to me dear boy.”
“Oh, don’t dear boy me!” the Doctor whined. “You’re starting to sound like Albus Dumbledore!”
“And what’s wrong with Albus Dumbledore?” the First asked, sounding quite like he was about to hit his successor with his cane. “Don’t you take that tone with me, otherwise I’m going to have to smack you across your flank!” he barked. “Now, Dumbledore. Wise man, very insightful man. To quote, and I know you should like this as I remember this being your favorite book of the series: “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Is that not right?”
“Your point?” the Doctor asked.
“Never say anyone’s too far gone. The Master, there’s a smidgen of goodness inside him, you and I both know it. Remember Yana? That was what was inside the Master’s Fob Watch. Like you, when you became John Smith, a tiny part of the Master’s personality locked away was set free if only for the briefest of moments. You just need to find a way to get to that spot. Maybe Celestia is the key. But then again, you could do what you always do, and just ignore me and my advice. Been doing it for centuries after all.”
The Doctor groaned and just turned to Twilight and Rainbow.
“Okay, we’re… here.” he started, before noticing the state they were in, both looking rather green.
“...World stopped spinning yet?” Rainbow murmured, and nearly threw up what she’d had for lunch that afternoon.
“...Please don’t do that, the Old Girl really doesn’t like it when you throw up on her floors.”
“You talk as if she’s alive,” Rainbow remarked, still a little green.
“Well, she is! You just haven’t seen it yet,” the Doctor remarked, a little miffed. “Now, would you kindly shut up? Insult her a bit too much, and she goes into a full on screaming tantrum, and believe me you don’t want to see that!”
“So, we finally there yet,” Twilight asked before deadpanning: “Or is this just a pit-stop to refuel or something?”
“Nope, we’re there. Height of The Roamane Empire. So great it needs just one big ‘The’!” the Doctor proclaimed before tossing the two togas. “Now, put these on. Go on out nude, you’re likely to cause a riot Barbarella!” he told them.
“...What about you, aren’t you going to change?” Twilight asked as she slipped the white piece of clothing over herself.
“Well, changed my suit from our lunch meeting. Isn’t that enough?” he commented. That much was true, he was now wearing a brown pinstripe suit instead of his usual blue one.
Twilight once more found herself groaning out in frustration even as the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors to reveal a bustling marketplace.
“...Eh, just asking but won’t they sorta notice… this?” Rainbow remarked, gesturing to the TARDIS with a wing.
“Eh, perception filter. Hard to explain, let me think for a moment…” he mused, before continuing as he let out a gasp. “Oh! I know what it's like. It's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like.” he remarked. He noted Twilight eying Rainbow’s flank as the threesome marched out onto the cobblestone streets. “Yeah… You too, huh?” he asked.
Twilight’s eyes couldn’t help themselves from darting from left to right as they took in everything. The ponies, the stalls, the ancient (Well, ancient by her standards, everything was new in this time) structures, the most noteworthy being the huge colosseum rising high in the background. One could hear cheers and shouts, along with the roar of some great beast echoing from within.
“Oh, constants and variables…” the Doctor muttered mostly to himself. If Twilight knew what he meant by that, she didn’t say.
Rainbow’s eyes widened as she gazed upon this grand structure that looked not to far removed from the Firefly Amphitheatre back home, (Named after the famous flyer and pegasi warrior Firefly) in Cloudsdale and what lay within. Hearing the roaring crowd reminded her of home, and the grand shows the Wonderbolts put on in that very place.
“Now, gladiators. Bit of information you need to know about them,” Twilight said, in a rather stuffy ‘I know everything’ tone of voice. “Some of them, they actually volunteered to risk their lives, and if you can believe it, even their legal and social standing by advocating to appear in the arena.”
Now normally, Rainbow wouldn’t have bothered to listen to any of this, but to her, all of this sounded actually rather exciting. I mean, hot sweaty male ponies fighting each other? I mean, hello! That sounded exactly like something she’d read in a good old-fashioned erotica. ...Not that she’d ever laid eyes on such a thing of course.
Twilight smirked as she watched Rainbow’s ears perk up and the prismatic maned pegasus listen in rapt attention.
“I’m sorry, legal and social status?” Rainbow asked, the obvious fact that she was now talking in Romaine not occurring to her. Yet. “Why, I mean why risk such a thing?”
“Er, well that’s where things get a bit tricky, and to be honest will probably dampen your enthusiasm a little…” Twilight admitted sheepishly. “Let’s just say, you probably won’t want to watch two hot sweaty ponies fight each other after this,” she remarked, ignoring Rainbow’s blushing.
“...How did you?” Rainbow trailed off in disbelief.
“Know what you were thinking?” Twilight asked. “I know you, simple as that. You’d love the glory of a cheering crowd, and don’t think I haven’t heard Rarity gossip over you buying a copy of Fifty Shades of Hay.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement,” Rainbow replied, though her blush said it all. “N-Now can we just move along? Please?”
Twilight smirked, another verbal victory to her. “Right, yes. Gladiators. Quite sadly, despite all their bravery, daring do or if you ask me suicidal stupidity, a lot of them were quite often despised as slaves, given schooling under inhumane conditions, likely socially marginalized, and segregated even after death.”
“W-What…?” Rainbow whispered. “Why?”
“Now this, this is where the social standing bit comes in,” the Doctor added. “Honestly, modern Equestrian customs offer few legal comparisons to those in this time By that, I mean to the legal and social context of the gladiatoria munera. By law, anyone and this includes anyone as in the young, old and doesn’t bother with gender I might add- sentenced to the pits was a servus poenae.”
“Slave of the Penalty,” Twilight explained. “So yeah, female gladiators were a thing. Despite all the perceptions of it being a mainly male-dominated sport. Sadly, anyone sentenced to this fate was given at the very least, three years of fighting in the arena, up to five. Presuming of course, they weren’t killed by another warrior or a wild animal,” Twilight finished.
“...Okay, think I’ve heard enough thank you,” Rainbow shuddered before muttering: “Tempora di superi!” without ever realizing it. Then, as if someone had flicked on a lightswitch above her head…
“Wait, did I just speak Ancient Romaine? Did I just speak in Ancient Romaine?” Rainbow stuttered out in disbelief before realizing something. “Twilight, did you just speak Ancient Romaine?”
“TARDIS Translation Matrix,” the Doctor put in. “Allows you to speak any language in the universe.”
“So, in that case, what might happen if I ran up to someone and said “veni vidi vici”?” Rainbow asked.
The Doctor ran a hoof through his mane, as he was oft to do when at a loss and shrugged his shoulders. “Guess they’d think you’d be speaking Old Marish, I guess?” he told her, not really knowing for sure. “Guess you could try.”
Sure enough, that’s exactly what Rainbow did. Soon, she returned with a look on her face. “...They thought I was speaking Trottish.”
“Close enough, I suppose…” the Doctor mumbled to himself as Twilight facehoofed again and shook her head.
“Gotta wonder, what are they celebrating anyways…?” Rainbow mused, before a gruff, older voice spoke up.
“You haven’t heard lass?” a dark purple pegasus pony, with a long gray beard and wearing bronze colored armor asked in surprise, eyes widened. “I mean, talk of the town! Flash Magnus, a buck I’m say I’ve proud to have trained getting married to one Queen Somnambula of Baladi! He’s in the arena right now, giving those mud sloshers what for!” the older pony exclaimed. All of the ponies eyes narrowed, particularly the Doctor’s being a ‘mud slosher’ himself. For reference, it was a old term, used to refer to the Earth Pony Slaves that used to clean out the toilets of the gladiators.
“Lucky dog, in all senses of the world. Why, if I was a younger buck… Mhmm.” the stallion commented, looking lustful as he eyed a finely weaved tapestry of Somnambula. The pegasus was a peach skinned mare if the tapestry was to be believed and possessed the most beautiful violet eyes you could lose yourself in.
“I’d thank you not to use the term “mud slosher” in my presence.” the Doctor growled, his tone low in warning. He needn’t have raised his voice, as the stallion saw the dangerous look in his eyes, the one of a warrior who’d fought countless battles.
“I’m sorry, don’t mind this old buck. Don’t mean anything by it, just force of habit you understand!” the stallion apologized.
“Yeah, I’m sure…” Rainbow trailed off, not believing him for a moment. “Who are you, anyways?”
“Commander Ironhead, of the Royal Legion,” the purple pony introduced himself, kissing Rainbow’s hoof. She grimaced, but forced down the urge to punch him in the face for that. “And who might you be, my fair lady?”
“Rainbow Dash, quite taken.” Rainbow snarled, wrapping a wing around Twilight who let out an “Eep!” of shock and her face went bright red.
“Calm down Twi, not like she’s actually dating you,” the mare thought to herself, slowing her breathing and forcing the blush away. “Just keeping up appearances to get rid of this guy, and stop him from bothering her.”
“Ah, so I assume they’re your consorts, Emperor Nero?” Ironhead asked, making both Twilight and Rainbow’s jaws drop in shock as Ironhead turned to the Doctor, who had his psychic paper out and in hoof. “I mean, the only way you’d allow two mares to be in love with each other right?”
“Kindly do me a favor, and shut it Ironhead,” the Doctor returned, still with that steely eyed gaze. “They’re not my consorts, they’re just friends of mine. I allow any of my subjects to be with whoever they choose.”
“Apologies then for making such a… brash assumption. One of the old guard you must understand, all of this is new to me. Sure, us stallions used bathhouses without a care, showing our balls to one another, but we didn’t really think of mares in relationships that much. We briefly entertained the idea to ourselves I admit, but…” Ironhead trailed off.
“It was only in perverted fantasies, right?” Rainbow asked, eyes narrowed, quite tempted to slap this one with a wing.
“Ironhead, glorious victory in the arena!” a young stallion, with a brilliantly amber coat of fur and a crimson mane wearing silver armor shouted as he walked up. Silver armor that was caked in blood that perfectly matched his mane, Rainbow noted. “Gets ones spirit’s up! Freshly killed leopard, we’ll be having tonight!”
Fluttershy would have fainted on the spot really, Rainbow noted she recently got ahold of a Snow Leopard. Somehow.
“Spirits aren’t probably the only thing that’s up…” Ironhead smirked, and the newcomer laughed.
“You see where I got it?” He asked the Doctor, with an aside glance. “Sorry if this old fart’s been bothering you. Name’s Flash Magnus.”
“Ah, so you’re the one who’s the talk of the town!” the Doctor’s eyes widened in recognition. “If I may be so bold, where’s the lucky bride-to-be?”
“She should be here tomorrow, coming all the way from her home country. Takes a few days. From what I heard, she got caught up in helping this Prince Hisan character with a Sphinx issue. But, as we say, my wife, veni vidi vici!”
Ironhead laughed long and hard.
“...And yet when he speaks it, nopony bats an eyelash.” Rainbow muttered, eyebrow twitching. She regained her composure and turned to Flash.
“So, fast flyer, right?”
“One of the best. Outfoxed a dragon with my speed!” the pegasus boasted.
“So, I can assume you’ve heard of the Sonic Rainboom?” Rainbow pressed. What happened next, nobody expected.
Somehow, the Doctor had managed to hook the trio of time-travelers up with a place of lodging in the city. Actually, to be honest, it wasn’t that hard really, considering it seemed Flash Magnus was all too happy to make guests to the city welcome, especially when Ironhead told him that one of the guests was Emperor Nero himself.
“Huh, so the grand emperor himself decided to come out for my wedding…?” Flash asked, quite surprised as he along with ‘Nero’, Rainbow and Twilight trotted through the city center, right through the marketplace. “Never thought he’d be interested in a simple slave’s wedding, despite who I’m marrying.”
“A slave?” the Doctor inquired curiously, eyebrow raised. “You seem to be fairly well treated for one, I mean look at all the ponies pointing and whispering about you, and your great deeds!” he exclaimed, gesturing around the square where toga-clad ponies were whispering all about Flash Magnus and the killing of the leopard that had just occurred by his own blade in the arena. But he also noticed something else, ponies casting nervous glances at other ponies, and anxious whispers exchanged.
Flash made a noise of disgust. “And if it weren’t for my ‘great deeds’ I’d just be another face in the crowd, probably forced to clean out the toilets or something. I mean, sure I’m in the Royal Legion and I’m one of the top gladiators of the Coliseum, but in this place your superiors never let you forget any shit you may have pulled. Ironhead’s a walking example of that.”
Rainbow made a hissing and then a spitting noise, and puffed herself up like a cat at Ironhead’s name even being dropped. For one, calling Earth Ponies mud-sloshers, she had friends that were earth ponies for crying out loud! Bet Ironhead called Unicorns something like hornhangers or something equally crude. She wouldn’t put it past him. Then there was calling her a consort, she really hated that one. Rainbow was a proud mare, and even implying she was a slave or a whore of any sort really rankled her.
“...Clearly I’m not the only one who’s not a fan…” Flash noted, observing Rainbow’s behavior.
“Buck yeah, calling me a consort!” Rainbow hissed out. “The nerve, by Celestia I’d like to punch him in the face a few times and show him just what this ‘consort’ can really do when all riled up.”
“Sadly, that’d be a bad idea,” Flash advised. “Look, I share the same respect for mares, but punching a high-ranking member of the legion in the face? Not a good idea really. ...Sorta what got me into this mess in the first place really…” he muttered in self-disgust.
“Oh?” the Doctor asked, playing dumb. “Please, do tell your emperor what exactly got you into the slave life as a gladiator in the arena, and a servant to Ironhead.”
“Irondick, you mean…” Rainbow muttered in the background.
“I don’t like talking about it really, hell I don’t even know why I’ve said as much as I have to you my emperor as I have already…”
“Ah, just got one of those faces,” the Doctor said, waving a hoof dismissively. “I’m that sorta guy. Now, please, oblige a curious emperor.”
“Okay, might as well tell you the full story really…” Flash sighed, and sucked in a breath. “A few years back, Ironhead -Love that nickname by the way, ma’am!- came into the city, this Kirin in tow. Just watching her, I could tell she hated every minute of her time with Ironhead. He likes to put on this nice guy facade, you must understand, be all friendly-like with the Legion. And for the most part, they believe in it. Probably partially the reason why they don’t mind rutting with him after a successful battle,” Flash explained. But truth is, the guy is a dick. Real bastard. Now this Kirin, one Summer’s Flame, I can see why Ironhead liked her. She was as stubborn as a mare could be and quite beautiful with this silky white fur. But Ironhead, he treated her like she was less than garbage. Barely gave her basic amenities from what I heard from Ironhead’s servants. Slice of bread here, maybe an olive. Barely even spoke to her outside of their weekly ‘funtimes’. Starting to get the picture yet?” Flash asked, with a disgusted look on his face that all three of his compatriots shared. Twilight, in particular, didn’t look that far away from burning Ironhead’s home to the ground. She definitely seemed to be thinking it over at the very least, judging by her expression.
“Bastard… Where is he? Just where is he? By Celestia, I’d like to…” Rainbow trailed off, her voice turning into a growl about halfway through.
Although Flash Magnus looked a bit confused by the pegasus using Celestia’s name like that, he gave her a warning look. “Whatever you’re thinking of doing, I’d advise against it. I really would. Listen, when I found out about how Irondick -so calling him that from now on, if not to his face- was treating Summer’s Flame, went right up to his house at around midnight and freed her from her chains with this axe laying around,” he continued. Sadly, Ironhead caught me just as Summer escaped out the nearest open window. Got into a bit of a scrap, I was younger and managed to mess up his face fairly badly, but his experience got the better of me in the end and the next thing I knew I woke up in prison, with Ironhead giving me a choice. Become a gladiator and work for him or face execution. Both options were sorta the same thing really in retrospect, only with fighting in the arena and serving with the Legion for several years I had a chance to actually fight my fate and maybe, just maybe escape the life.”
“So, how’s that worked out for you?” Rainbow asked.
“Well, haven’t been killed yet and I’m about to marry the current ruler of Baladi so…” Flash answered with a wistful smile. “Once I marry, I can officially break the chains holding me here, and live with her and flip a feather to old Irondick. Probably do it on the boat leaving the island back to Somnambula’s homeland, really. I know Ironhead will be seeing her off. Can’t wait to see the look on his face…”
“So, about Somnambula,” Twilight asked curiously. “I admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for romance, how’d you two meet?”
“Look, it’s getting late, and I don’t think the Emperor would want to be kept up all night by me telling stories, so I’ll-”
“No, no, quite the contrary!” the Doctor replied. “I love a good story! I honest to Celestia do, so please regale me!”
“Actually, you and your friends get your rest and in the morning I’ll do you one better. When Somnambula arrives, I’ll take her to meet you all as she’s bound to be charmed by you three, and I’ll let her tell the story. More hers to tell anyway.”
“Well, I can’t possibly pass down on the prospect of meeting a queen, from one ruler to another…” the Doctor trailed off, and Flash smirked.
“Thought you wouldn’t be able to,” Flash replied with a nod. “Never did catch your two friends’ names though.”
“Midnight Velvet,” Twilight said, using her mother’s name and something close to her own so she’d be able to remember it easily. “And this is Firefly.” she continued, gesturing to Rainbow. Good, Twilight thought to herself, no unneeded awkward questions down the line now.
“Well Midnight, Firefly, it’s been a pleasure,” Flash said, kissing them both on their hooves before bowing to the Doctor. “I’ll see you three soon.”
Twilight sighed in content as she leaned back in her bed and propped her head up against the velvet cushions, taking out a blood orange -Neither the Doctor nor Rainbow could understand what she saw in the fruit- from a nearby bowl and nibbling it. “You see? Now, this is heaven…” she moaned.
“What, the bed or the fruit?” Rainbow snarked. “You’ve got a problem Twilight, you really do. Seriously, you have a shrine to Blood Oranges or something tucked away in the library or something?”
Twilight’s expression said it all, really. Rainbow had to fight back a snigger, she was so telling Rarity about this when they got home. Rainbow then sighed to herself. “Home…” she thought. “Where everybody knows of the Sonic Rainboom. Here on the other hoof…”
“You know,” Rainbow remarked. “I just can’t believe it, really. The Sonic Rainboom! Back in our time, nobody bats an eyelid when it’s mentioned. Here, everyone just gives us bewildered looks! I mean, I thought the myth originated here for crying out loud!” she exclaimed. “All stories have to start from somewhere, right? Twilight, back me up on this! You said something about the Jackalope to Applejack when she dismissed it as just ponies drinking too much ‘Shine right?”
“Ah, yes, the Jackalope,” Twilight said, getting up off her bed. “While the creature exists, in a sense, it’s not exactly a mythical beast. They’re just rabbits, and other members of the leporidfamily infected by the Shope papilloma virus or SPV in the shorthand, which basically causes cancerous bone growths that sometimes look like antlers. Not pretty in the slightest, but that’s where the myth probably came from.”
Twilight bit back a laugh, remembering Applejack replying with: “Don’t use your fancy-smancy words to muddy the issue!”
“But what about our myth, the Sonic Rainboom?” Rainbow protested. “How do you explain that?” she exclaimed, throwing a hoof up in the air in frustration.
“Rainbow,” the Doctor put in, stepping away from the balcony window where he’d been watching the stars. “I think we’ve got bigger problems then some myth. Can’t you feel it, the anxiety in the air?’
“Well, of course, there’s going to be anxiety in the air!” Rainbow shouted. “I mean, there’s this huggggggeee wedding between Roam’s prized fighter and the Queen of Baladi coming up or haven’t you heard? Plus, now the Emperor himself has just shown up out of the blue!”
“No, it’s not that kind of anxiety, not the excited kind or the kind where everyone’s afraid something might go wrong. No, it’s fear, paranoia. I heard ponies in the streets whispering not to trust your neighbors, that something’s off about a few of them. Yes, fear. That’s what it is. Fear covers this city, and I have a feeling that whatever people are afraid of we’re going to meet it, and soon. Yes Rainbow, something’s about to happen and more than likely we’re about to be caught up in the middle of it. So I’d advise you and Twilight to get some rest,” the Doctor said, going for the door.
“And what about you?” Rainbow shouted. “Where are you off to?”
“Back to the TARDIS,” he shouted. “Run some scans of the city, see what’s what. Stay here, don’t do anything!”
With that, he took his leave. If he’d been paying attention, or Twilight for that matter as well, they’d have noticed Rainbow dart out the window and take flight into the night sky…
Back inside the TARDIS, the Doctor had set all scanners on full range, just searching the city for anything out of the ordinary. He had his suspicions, but he couldn’t just go up to Ironhead and order a mandatory evacuation of the entire city without concrete proof. Not like Ironhead would have probably believed him anyways, the stubborn old sot. Wasn’t like he wasn’t name calling, he could smell the booze on Ironhead a mile away! Romans, no matter the planet loved their wine after a good battle, another one of those many curious constants and variables he’d found throughout the universe that he so loved.
Idly nibbling on a pitaya as he watched the TARDIS’s sensors do a full sweep, the Doctor sighed to himself. Maybe he was being overly paranoid, years of dealing with monsters like the Weeping Angels and various other denizens of the universe tended to do that to a Time Lord he supposed. Maybe Rainbow was right, maybe the only reason for the city’s anxiety was the wedding and him showing up claiming to be Nero himself. Well, maybe not claiming exactly as Ironhead just read what he wanted to see off the psychic paper. In everyone’s eyes, Ironhead’s word was law, and so to everyone, he was Nero in essence.
He chuckled to himself, remembering an old story about how his Nero fiddled while Rome burned. What a load of bull that was really, never mind the fact the fiddle hadn’t been invented yet, Nero had actually gone back to Rome to help while it burned. Completely not the Doctor’s fault this magma creature just got loose. Nope, not his fault at all. He’d blame that one on the Rani in one her many, many attempts to kill him over the years. He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d actually did to earn her ire really, he’d just disrupted her mad science experiments like any passing do-gooder would have done! ...He’d still had yet to figure out how she and the Master had managed to escape a fully grown Tyrannosaurus Rex in her own TARDIS. When he got back to the present day, he’d have to ask the Master about that one. Probably made one Hell of a good story.
The Doctor shook himself back awake with a self-induced slap to the face, as he felt his eyelids began to grow heavy, and his body began to grow drowsy. No, he couldn’t afford to drift off now, not while he was in the middle of important work! This needed to be investigated, every last inch of it. Maybe he was being overly paranoid, seeing monsters where there weren’t any, but then again maybe he wasn’t. It never hurt to be too careful after all.
“Of course!” the Doctor cried out, not caring nobody was around to see his genius right now, as he got up from his seat and began adjusting his sensors. “I should have compensated for the residual Equestrian pegasi-borne magic in the air! That’s what’s probably throwing everything off! Now, it’ll take the whole night for the TARDIS to account for this new variable and readjust her sensors, but you Old Girl, I can wait. You’ve never failed me yet, and I’ve got faith in your that you never will.”
The TARDIS hummed, almost as in response to this. The Doctor smiled. “While you do that…” he said, letting out a yawn. “I need to get some sleep. See you in the morning, Old Girl,” he said, kissing the console before blushing. He must never let Celestia know he did that. Then he’d never hear the end of it really.
Meanwhile, Rainbow searched the city streets from a perch atop a high tower for anything strange, anything out of the ordinary, training her eyes like an eagle’s to the streets below. For the most part, nothing seemed to be out there, just ponies walking the streets in really ludicrous costumes that probably only Rarity would love.
Rainbow gave a grimace in disgust, looking at her own attire. She had to wear one of these damn things as well, so embarrassing and so not cool. She then spotted with her eagle-eye vision, Ironhead wandering the streets, seemingly avoiding the main roads and the like sticking to the shadows.
“Now, what’s up with you…?” Rainbow wondered to herself. She was having to force the urge to just drop from the skies above like Batmare and pummel this bastard to a pulp for the shit he’d pulled, remembering the warning Flash had given her and the fate he’d suffered after he’d done something similar.
Silently jumping off the roof and breaking into a glide, she flew above the rooftops and then landed in a bale of hay, peeking her head out of the pile if only just so Ironhead wouldn’t see her.
“Ooh, feel like I’m in Assassin’s Creed now. Shame I don’t have a blade, and shame killing this asshole would cause chaos, because if I could, I would. Celestia knows he deserves it after what he did to Flash, Summer’s Flame amongst how many others.” Rainbow thought to herself, watching Ironhead’s movements very carefully. She eyed him approaching another stallion, one much younger than him with light blue fur. Soon both began discarding themselves of their armor. She groaned in disgust, oh she did not need to see this! She so did not need to see this.
However, she was caught off-guard when Ironhead and the other stallion started to chuckle.
“They don’t suspect a thing, do they?” the younger of the two remarked. Rainbow raised an eyebrow. Why would anyone care that two stallions were rutting like rabbits, even with the age difference? This was ancient Roam, such a thing was practically commonplace! Sure, she may have found the age difference thing to be a bit disgusting -Okay, more than a bit- but why the need for such secrecy? Was Ironhead or his lover married or something? If so, an alleyway probably wasn’t the best choice. I mean, she could see them just fine, how did they not know someone peeping through a window couldn’t? Plus, chances are when things got hot and heavy they’d be heard anyways.
“Not in the slightest,” Ironhead replied, a snake-like tongue flicking out of his mouth. Rainbow’s eyes widened, okay that was odd. “And good, I’d like to keep it that way… Until it’s far too late for them.”
“Yes, quite…” the second stallion replied before in a flash of green flame both he and Ironhead transformed into massive black bug creatures, sorta like horses but with chitlin wings and insectoid eyes. Not to mention unnaturally curved horns and holes in the legs.
“What the buck…?” Rainbow whispered, and suddenly both creatures turned to face her before Rainbow swore quietly and all went black.
Rainbow Dash groaned to herself as she awoke. She let out a noise of disgust as she found herself covered in this form of icky green substance, almost like she was being… Rainbow let out a squeak of realization.
“Of course you dumb-dumb, they’re insects. Should you really be surprised this is what they do to their…” Rainbow asked herself and barely managed to get the next word out. “Prey? Oh Hell no, this is not how Rainbow Danger Dash dies!”
If she got out of this, she would look back in hindsight and agree wholeheartedly with anyone who asked her that this was probably the most bucking stupid, flank-headed, Hell-cursed choice in her life she’d probably ever made. Excluding befriending Gilda of course. And saying in a drunken swagger she’d once had a crush on the founder of the Wonderbolts Spitfire herself as a filly over a couple of drinks. So yeah, this was pretty high up there on the list of stupid choices she’d made in her life.
She struggled, flailing her hooves about like a madmare, but try as she might it was fairly evident she was never going to get herself free. All the while, those insectoid pony things just keep sniggering all the while. Rainbow took note of her location, she was somewhere deep underground, that much was evident if the jagged stalactites hanging from the ceiling were any indication. From somewhere above, there was the faint sound of a rushing river. Hoofsteps as well, so she had to be somewhere near civilization.
Rainbow had long ago become acutely hyper-aware to some extent of her surroundings. This was something she’d trained herself to do, as part of her dream to join the Wonderbolts. It was necessary to be aware of anything and everything around you, simply because of the close formation flying and the tricks the Wonderbolts sometimes pulled. One simple mistake, one error in judgement, one miscalculation could spell disaster and one bloody mess for ponies to clean up on the ground below. Rainbow Crash indeed.
I suppose it’s now time to sorta elabortate on Rainbow Dash really. See, the thing is, she came from this fairly rich family in Cloudsdale. Never told anyone, not even her best friends about where she came from as Celestia knew they’d probably hound her for information about it. Well, not all of them. Applejack probably wouldn’t give a damn, and neither would Fluttershy but the ones like Rarity and Twilight? The ones who loved information and gossip so much? They’d really love to get their little hooves on who exactly she was related to. Maybe she was being overtly paranoid, maybe they weren’t like that and she should put more trust in her friends really but it was never a bad idea to be more safe than sorry. So she kept those particular cards close to her chest.
And who exactly was Rainbow related to anyhow? Well, aside from her family being very and I mean very filthy rich -Like Canterlot Noble filthy rich- they were exceedingly famous if you knew their names. Her mother, Firefly Stormcharger. Her father, Rainbow Blaze. Rainbow was honestly surprised nobody had put it together sooner, given she had her mother’s personality, and her father’s looks. But as for why they were famous? They pretty much handled and by that I meant owned Cloudsdale’s exceedingly successful Hoofball team, the Cloudsdale Treetrimmers. The only all-female team in the league, and the subject of quite a few pin-up posters and calendars on a colt or mare’s bedroom walls for varying reasons. Quite a few of which Rainbow would have preferred not think about. But in any case, the reason Rainbow never told her friends about who exactly she was related to was understandable. She’d never hear the end of it, and never get any privacy. Like I said, maybe she wasn’t trusting her friends enough but she still believed in that old adage better safe than sorry.
But back to her current situation.
Chances are, she hadn’t left the island which from her late-night fly-by was a fairly small place so if the Doctor and Twilight -And this was a very big if- knew she was missing, they’d be out searching for her. Rainbow took a look at the odd insect things once more, and then thought back.
“But what about our myth, the Sonic Rainboom?” Rainbow protested. “How do you explain that?” she exclaimed, throwing a hoof up in the air in frustration.
“Rainbow,” the Doctor put in, stepping away from the balcony window where he’d been watching the stars. “I think we’ve got bigger problems then some myth. Can’t you feel it, the anxiety in the air?’
“Well, of course, there’s going to be anxiety in the air!” Rainbow shouted. “I mean, there’s this huggggggeee wedding between Roam’s prized fighter and the Queen of Baladi coming up or haven’t you heard? Plus, now the Emperor himself has just shown up out of the blue!”
“No, it’s not that kind of anxiety, not the excited kind or the kind where everyone’s afraid something might go wrong. No, it’s fear, paranoia. I heard ponies in the streets whispering not to trust your neighbors, that something’s off about a few of them. Yes, fear. That’s what it is. Fear covers this city, and I have a feeling that whatever people are afraid of we’re going to meet it, and soon. Yes Rainbow, something’s about to happen and more than likely we’re about to be caught up in the middle of it. So I’d advise you and Twilight to get some rest,” the Doctor said, going for the door.
Yeah, she knew what he meant now, that heightened sense of fear. Pity she wasn’t aware of her surroundings back then. But with creatures that could take the form of anything ponyish, including but not limited to your loved ones she could see why everyone in Roam was so anxious really. She would be as well.
“Caught up in the middle of it indeed…” Rainbow thought to herself with a dark little chuckle.
She then heard the sound of hoofsteps marching her way, and the guards holding spears parted to reveal a massive pony bug thing, almost equal in size to an alicorn. It was feminine in shape, and covered in more holes than a pack of swiss cheese. It bore an unsightly jagged horn, and a burnt orange mane the color of fire itself.
“Well now,” the pony bug thing asked in a voice as sweet as syrup, yet dripping with menace at the very same time. “So this is our little eavesdropper eh?” she asked, as she stroked Rainbow’s chin with a hoof, making the prismatic pegasus shudder in disgust. She was sorely reminded of all those fillynappers her parents had warned her about as a kid, this creature practically oozed pedophile.
“Yes milady Arthropod,” one of the bug things said with a very quick salute, as the others stamped their spears. She recognized that voice, it was one of those two creatures she’d followed, the ones that had jumped her. Rainbow struggled once more, trying to free herself only to great amusement from the creatures. It was a horrific sound, their laughter, like a thousand bees buzzing angrily at once. “Caught her up above trying to figure out our plans.”
“Arthropod… So that’s her name huh?” Rainbow thought. “Huh, fitting I suppose.”
“Fool!” Arthropod shouted, as she slapped her subject across the face, knocking him to the cave floor. “You should have been more vigilant! Constant Vigilance, isn’t that what I always preach? Isn’t that why us Changelings have stayed hidden for so long?”
In the back of Rainbow’s, that little switch of hers, the one that always let her know something very, very wrong indeed was going on, quietly and subtly switched itself on as the penny finally dropped.
“C-Changelings?” Rainbow thought to herself and her eyes widened in fear. She’d heard the stories, just like everyone else. Of creatures lurking in the dark waiting to suck you dry and then steal your form with nopony else the wiser as to your disappearance. She’d always had nightmares of the creatures when she was just a little filly, and it never helped matters much whenever someone got scared out of their wits whenever they thought someone they knew was a Changeling and all of Cloudsdale went on lockdown. She’d always asked her mom to check under her bed just to make sure Changelings were never there. There was a reason the phrase don’t let the bedbugs bite existed really. And now she was in the clutches of what looked to be a whole hive of ‘em.
“Welp Rainbow, I think it’s officially safe to say you’ve bucked up big-time really. You and your little taste for adventure, got you stuck in this mess. Quite literally…” she groaned out in disgust as she tried to free herself, only for the slime encasing her to stick to her like salt-water taffy.
“So…” Rainbow Dash asked, trying to put on a brave face. “What are you p-planning to do to me? I mean, aside from sucking me dry?”
More of that horrific buzzing laughter came from all around her.
“Would you like the condensed truth version?” Arthropod asked in a sassy, rather sarcastic tone as she tilted her head in a rather disturbing manner that no pony should have been able to pull off. “Or the me-to-lie-to-you-and-tell-you-everything-is-going-to-be-alright manner? But really little pony, I think you knowthe answer to that question.”
“Oh, go buzz off!” Rainbow snapped, showing bravery in the face of a real monster.
Arthropod laughed, and if anything her laughter was even more horrific than her subjects own.
“Oh, how clever,” she replied in a mocking way, faining being hurt. “You have wounded me! Buzz off, how clever of you! Isn’t she a clever little pony?” she asked her subjects, who laughed again. That sound was really starting to get on Rainbow’s nerves.
“When I get out of here…” Rainbow growled to herself. “Only thing that’s going to be waiting for you at the end of your finish line is despair!” she snarled, sounding absolutely venomous.
“Ooh, how threatening, how poetic!” Arthropod laughed. “You could do the great poets of ancient Greece proud Madam Firefly… Or is it Rainbow Dash? I’m not sure…” the Changeling Queen murmured rubbing her chin with a hoof even as Rainbow’s eyes widened.
“Shit!” she thought to herself, she forgot she mentioned her real name just once when she’d arrived in Roam, in that little bout of anger.
“Go on, tell me which is which,” Arthropod chuckled darkly. “I’m honestly curious here. Now why would you lie about your real name? Why, just why I wonder?” she asked with a sneer in her voice already knowing at least part of the truth. “Perhaps, I wonder, you’re lying about your real identity? Oh, a fraud, a fraud!” she mocked childishly jumping and prancing about like a little schoolfilly. It was rather disturbing frankly.
“A fraud, a fraud!” the Changeling hive chorused in unison, at least a hundred light blue eyes peeking out of the darkness of the caverns.
“What, are they your personal chorus-line?” Rainbow mocked. “Because I seriously can’t imagine you dancing about on the Las Pegasus strip!”
“Oh, you’re a funny mare aren’t you?” Arthropod smirked. “I like the defiant ones, I always have, Such strange words from that tongue of yours, but I do like you,” she said in a seductive tone, once again making Rainbow shudder in disgust as Arthropod ran a hoof along her chin.
“You know something?” Arthropod asked. “Every war leaves behind the seed of conflict. In time, it matures into the fruit of sadness. We Changelings, we were borne of war, the love and lust for battle. And we intend to wage war once more, let others feel what we felt when we were created. We don’t have feelings you see, true ones anyways. We can’t feel love, pain, or loss like you can. We try to feel emotion, we really do, but we cannot. It’s a sad state of affairs for us. So we let others feel despair, perhaps one day one Changeling will feel love or something akin to that but for now… Well, you get the idea.” she chuckled darkly. “Shame you’ll never really get to see what we have in store for this little town, we’re going to shake it up a little, rock it till the cows come home!” she laughed even as the cocoon closed up over Rainbow…
Rainbow’s last thought before it did so and she went under?
Celestia sighed to herself as she lowered the sun letting the stars began to paint the night sky in a vivid display of painted tranquility.
Pulling on a nightgown and discarding her royal regalia, she took a step outside her door and began walking through the halls. Already, the guards were beginning to change shifts and her guard was beginning to be slowly replaced by Luna’s own.
Still, despite the presence of the guard roaming the hallways Celestia admitted if only to herself the hallways not to mention most of the castle itself felt lonely… lifeless even. She wasn’t entirely sure why really, it just did.
“Maybe it’s because of the absence of a certain pony?” a little voice, sneering and dripping with a sort of venom Celestia had never hoped to hear again asked her. “I mean, face it, you were a sucker for his little charms. You were in loooooovvvveee with him!”
Celestia silenced the voice, or tried to anyways. But still, Daybreaker’s comments and jokes persisted. She knew that’s who it was speaking, after all, who else could it be?
“Celestia and the Doctor, sitting in a tree,” Daybreaker singsonged. K-i-s-s-i-n-g! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes little ponies in the baby carriages!” she sung, before breaking off into cackles.
“Shut up!” Celestia snapped. “Just shut up!”
But it was no use, really. Daybreaker still had a few comments left in store.
“Face it Celly, you can’t get rid of me, no matter how hard you try, I’ll always be a part of you. Try and force me back down, I’ll just climb back up again. Credit where it’s due, I’ll probably never come out in such an explosive way such as I did back with Queen Carapace, but it doesn’t mean I can’t offer advice from time to time no?”
“Any advice from you, it’s advice not worth listening to.” Celestia sniffed.
“Is it? The Doctor, he’d started to make you happy, make you smile again, even helped you reconcile with your sister and then… well, you threw him out of your life!” Daybreaker’s voice cackled in amusement. “Talk about one Tartarus of a display of gratitude!”
Celestia flinched, and flashbacked…
“So yes, I admit I may have used what you may call Legitimacy in your terms to get you to trust me, at least at first, but for everything afterwards, I just let things happened as they should have.”
“And what of the Master?” Celestia asked, her voice slowly growing in anger. She noted the Doctor began to tug at his tie, as the room’s temperature slowly got ever so warmer. She wasn’t angry, at least not at being used and having her mind peeked and prodded at, or even her student’s at that, but by the Doctor just keeping that little secret for so long. If he admitted it outright, she may not have been so mad, but right now…? Granted, she could detect the notes of shame in his voice, so that was the only reason she was still listening to him at this very moment.
“The Master though, he gets you to trust him but it's to manipulate not to help. It's not for your benefit but for his,” the Doctor continued, not bearing to even look at Celestia right now. “So, heed my words Celestia Solaris, if you know what’s good for you, and want what’s best for your country, I would lock the Master up where nopony could find, or get to him. You understand me?”
“Yes, I understand,” Celestia replied. “But we’re not done with this, not by a long shot. Are we clear on that?”
“Yes, we’re quite clear.” the Doctor sighed, and turned to walk away knowing Celestia was quite furious with him, as she had every right to be.
Celestia fought back a sniffle, and Daybreaker smirked.
“Oh, that was quite a delight to see!” she laughed. “You, throwing the only stallion out of your life whom you ever might have had a chance of loving, and not losing. And yet, you still somehow managed to pull that off anyways! You’re growing more like me by the day, dear Celly-Belly!”
“No… No!” Celestia whispered. “I’ll never be you again, not ever, you understand?”
“Oh, but who’s to say you won’t be someday? Stress, it’s a funny little thing isn’t it?”
“What are you getting at?” Celestia thought, her eyes narrowed.
“Admit it, if only to yourself in a way. You do sometimes feel like this… puppet on a string really. Dancing to the whims of the nobles, and appeasing them. There’d be no strings on me.”
Celestia’s breath caught in her throat, as much as she hated to admit it, her darker half did have a frightening point. At some point or the other and this was usually when Luna wasn’t around for those 1,000 years she did entertain this thought of absolute power. Once again, she could rise to her full strength, not hold herself back any longer She could, in theory, have more power than even her sister as Nightmare Moon or any of Equestria’s defenders. She could command absolute respect from everybody. Yes, not just everypony, but everybody. The yaks, the dragons, the Changelings, any sentient creature she could think of. She could decide when she wanted to make public appearances if she even felt like doing such a thing. Townhall and court meetings, they would be a breeze if she could just demand everypony’s silence with a simple wave or stamp of her hoof and carry out her will without question.
“Oh good, I’m so glad you said this all now, got it all out in the open. How effective though, do you think bottling me up will be in the long run? Ponies, or a lot of other creatures for that matter, they don’t have the greatest grasp on this funny little aspect of a thing called control. Let me propose a theory, if I may?”
“Go ahead…” Celestia growled out, knowing there was really no way of stopping her darker side from yammering on if she wanted to.
Somehow, in some inexplicable way, Daybreaker’s face found itself in a mirror, sneering at her. She was just as Celestia remembered, a mane made of pure flames and black slitted eyes gleaming with malice, sharp fangs jutting out from her mouth. “Hypothetically, let’s say you’re having a normal day. Nothing’s gone wrong. things are going swimmingly, really. But, oops! Maybe when you’re being pulled around in your chariot, one of the wheels comes loose and they have to spend several minutes fixing it, putting you behind schedule. That’d be liable to annoy anyone, right? That’s the thing about stress, it has this tendency to build up over time, does it not?” Daybreaker asked.
Celestia said nothing, and Daybreaker smirked.
“Mhmm, yes. I thought so. Now, this town meeting, it involves mountains of paperwork and we both know how much you loooooovvvvvveeee that! Add to that, entertaining some snobby aristocrats who can never be pleased and well… you probably get the picture. It’s only a matter of time before pop! Out I come again!”
“No, that’d never happen. I’ve been handling this for hundreds of years, and not once have you came out.”
“Oh, is it in one ear and out the other with you?” Daybreaker asked, with a roll of her eyes. “Like I said, with stress, it tends to build up over time. Just little things. Take your sister for example. She became Nightmare Moon -And yes, I get it, so much black, she’s so sad and so emo!- because of countless ponies not appreciating the hard work she put into making her rather elegant tapestries of the night sky you see nowadays. Not like she became, ‘whoomp!’ Nightmare Moon the day someone fixed her pancakes wrong or anything like that.”
Celestia huffed indignantly, something far from becoming of somepony of her stature.
“See? That right there, that was something of frustration! Admit it, I’m getting to you am I not?” Daybreaker smirked before she burst out laughing. “Oh, this is so pathetic it’s not even funny. The Solar Regent, needing a stallion calling himself the Doctor simply to come and save her from herself! My Sun, how the mighty have fallen!” she continued to laugh, throwing her head back.
Celestia, barely able to contain a scream of rage blasted the mirror with her horn’s magical aura -much to her horror- turning a brief blood-red as she did so. The mirror shattered, glass tinkling to the floor but Daybreaker was only able to reappear in the reflection of a window.
“Oh, see. See! That proves it, that little moment of uncontainable rage, that proves you have the capability of going all flame on all over again and making Equestria bow to your every tyrannical and might I say lovely whim!”
With that, she vanished in a flash of flame. Luna and two Night Guards would later find Celestia in about an hour or so, sobbing to herself quietly completely and utterly broken by her dark half’s speech.
If it’s any consolation dear readers, one Prince Blueblood’s day wasn’t exactly going much better if I’m to be honest with you. The Master, he’d been set up inside a house with a twenty-four-hour guard and a binding ring around his horn to keep him from performing any little magical tricks like say… escaping. The Master, Celestia figured, if he really was the Doctor’s equal in every way he would learn fast, and that meant if given the chance would know exactly how to perform a good degree of spells even in the short amount of time he’d been in Equestria.
And unfortunately for Prince Blueblood, he was put in charge of this task force. Okay, maybe put in charge was the wrong term. He’d actually elected himself -something he was beginning to rapidly regret- as the lead guard for the Master considering he himself had helped to expose him.
“Well, this is rather uncomfortable innit?” the Master commented lightly. “I mean, sure you’ve given me the best of amenities one could ask for and I thank you for that,” he said, gesturing all around him to the luxurious townhome he’d been offered. A while back, it’d been put up for sale after foreclosure, and nobody had bought it. So, Celestia and Blueblood both thought to keep the Master out of mischief it was best to cater to at least some of his whims and keep him appeased, and one of the ways of doing so was appealing to his ego. Therefore, that meant placing him somewhere nice. “But honestly, the bracelet keeping track of my movements, the magical binding ring as you called it, and the twenty-four-hour guard? Not fun! I mean, I’m not Neal Caffrey for crying out loud, I’m bloody dangerous! I’m flattered, but not really having fun.”
“Imprisonment, it’s not really about fun,” Blueblood stated in return. “It’s about keeping you under control. We’ve given you this nice house, and a two-mile radius to walk around Canterlot in just so you won’t pull anything,” he stated, poking the Master in the chest with a hoof. “Besides, you really honestly should make the most of what you’ve been given, and thank the Gods that I managed to get Celestia under control and not have her send you to the Sun.”
“What’d you do? Guilt-trip her into thinking the Doctor wouldn’t approve?” the Master asked, with a small smirk. Blueblood refusing to meet his eyes said it all really.
“Ah yes, I thought about as much,” the Master remarked. “Love does strange things to a person… or a pony as the case may be. Clouds their judgment. If you had any sense, you’d have let your dear auntie send me to the Sun to burn up, use all up my regenerations and all that and let the Doctor be rid of me forever. One less problem for him, well that’s all good in my books. I hate to see my dear old friend stressed out!”
“Friends don’t try to kill each other,” Blueblood remarked, his eyes boring into the Master’s own, and his horn crackling with arctic blue magic. “...Or am I mistaken in believing you’ve tried to do that to the Doctor multiple times on the trot?”’
“Eh, call them little relationship bumps,” the Master replied with a dismissive wave of his hoof. “You’ll understand when you find a best mate to shoot the shit with, or even better a wife. Or husband, goodness knows with how much value you seem to place in your appearance I would not be surprised if you’re gay! Is that perfume I smell?” he asked with a small laugh.
“It’s cologne,” the Prince corrected in an annoyed tone, his eyebrow twitching slightly. “This, along with the mane gel? Well, I sorta have to use it do I not? I’m a Prince, I must look the part!”
“Fair, fair I suppose…” the Master admitted. “But really, one has to wonder, for a Prince just how oblivious you really are…” he trailed off, only barely able to hold back his amusement. He placed a hoof on Blueblood’s horn, canceling out the Prince’s aura.
“What do you mean?” Blueblood asked, his eyes narrowed. The Master sighed, and got up off the couch and then walked over to a window and threw open the red velvet curtains. He observed the various members of Canterlot nobility and otherwise trotting about on their daily regimes.
“Oh, you must wonder. Think about it, to the populace at large I’m the Doctor’s friend. Now eventually, they’ll begin to wonder if I’m a friend of one of Equestria’s saviors why would I be locked up like this?” he asked, before clapping his hooves gleefully in anticipation. “Oooh, you might have an entire uprising on your hooves if they get bold enough and start wondering if their fair Princess Celestia is as nice as she seems to be!”
He began to laugh before Blueblood with a flash of magic removed the Master’s mouth. “There, that should silence you for a while.”
Blueblood turned and then sighed. Like it or not, the Master’s words had gotten to him much as he hated to admit it. The ponies of Canterlot, they were a fickle folk. They changed moods and minds as often as a traffic light in Manehatten changed colors. Who’s to say what they could think of this form of imprisonment next?
He sighed in relief as he heard a knock on the door and went to it, opening it to reveal a griffon with a black mustache wearing a chef’s uniform.
“The cake you ordered, monsieur Prince Blueblood?” Gustave le grand asked. Sighing, the Prince forked over a bag of bits to the griffon. He shared his Aunt’s taste for sweets, loathe as he was to admit it.
Hopefully, the cake he’d ordered would put the Master and the troubles he was starting to bring to him out of Blueblood’s mind for the time being.
As for Rainbow Dash, she was still stuck -quite literally- in her current predicament, hanging from the ceiling mostly covered in some sort of green goo with only her head free to move and look about. All around her, Changelings were coming out of the caverns fangs bared, and snake-like tongues flickering back and forth with their eyes glowing in the darkness.
“Not how I planned for my day to turn out, to be honest…” Rainbow muttered. “I’m such an idiot, should have listened to the Doctor’s warnings. But no Rainbow, you had to go off on your own like some sort of foolish mare and get yourself partially cocooned.”
She observed the many ponies, some of which she recognized as the disguises the Changelings took cocooned in the same goo she’d found herself stuck in. It begged the question, however, why hadn’t they fully completed the process with her. She’d like to think it was because she was too awesome to be contained by anyone or anything, but she knew that was likely far from the case.
“Hey, assholes!” Rainbow shouted. “You know, when I get out of here -and I will- I’m going to kick your flanks so badly you’re going to be feeling it when you get up in the morning!”
“Oh, do tell?” the Changeling that had masqueraded as Ironhead or whatever his name was asked, even as all around her the rest of the hive laughed their heads off at Rainbow’s defiance. “Do tell. Do tell, I say! How, may I ask, are you going to kick our flanks when you are up there, and I’m down here?”
“W-Well, I-I don’t know yet, but rest assured I’ll think of something!” Rainbow stuttered out, and the Changelings laughed ever hard. “But you know something else?” the mare asked as her voice hardened. She was playing a massive gambit, and she knew it, but right now Rainbow Dash had nothing left up her sleeve.
“What?” the Changeling General asked.
“There’s this pony, zip, zip, zip he goes. Gallivanting off all around the universe in his little blue box. You’ve probably never heard of him. And why should you have? You’re only concerned about yourself, and your next meal. That’s your first mistake. You see, this pony, they call him the Doctor. The pony who helps others. Right now, I’d say you need all the help you can get because if there’s one thing you never do, it’s hurt anyone he cares about. By default, that means a lot of Equestria, and by default, that means me. So if I were you, I’d just fly away, you and your queen and run off. That’s what you should be known as, General Runaway, ponies should walk up to your hive, point and laugh and say here’s where General Runaway lives! All simply because you made the mistake of pissing off the pony known as the Doctor.” Rainbow stated her voice hardening. Credit where credit was due, the Changelings looked very nervous right about now, chittering amongst themselves and looking for possible exits.
“And what of it?” ‘Runaway’ asked, trying to regain control over the situation. “The Doctor, if he even exists and I highly doubt he does, doesn’t even know where you’ve gone! Hell, he doesn’t even know you’ve gone missing! That was your first mistake, running off without telling him or your little mate.”
Rainbow swallowed, the General had a point there. There was no possible way for the Doctor to even know she was missing until it was far too late. More than likely, the Changelings had already sent a member of their species to replace her.
“Simply put, you’ll be the mare that time forgot, Firefly or whatever you choose to call yourself,” the General continued. “Nobody will ever care about you, nobody will ever care that you’re gone. Not even that little purple pony unicorn friend of yours. What she sees in you as her concubine, I have no clue but she needs better taste than some rash flyhorse. You’re probably deluding yourself as it is, thinking she likes you,” the General continued, and smirked as he watched Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Oh yes, I can sense your feelings. Changeling remember, it’s what we do. You like her. You want her body, you want her to be all yours. Sadly, flyhorse, that’ll never happen now.”
“And why… is that?” Rainbow asked, narrowing her eyes and her voice coming out as a snarl. The Changeling General only laughed.
“Oh, you were expecting me to boast about my plans, the Queen’s plans?” he asked, putting a hoof to his chest and throwing back his head to laugh long and hard. After containing himself and regaining his composure, he continued. “You really are such a naive little pony. How dumb do you think I am? You’d think I’d rise to your taunts and tell you what me and my queen are planning?”
“Well, it’s not hard to figure out, at least some of it,” Rainbow returned. “I mean, there’s this big-ass wedding between two very well-known figures in pony society. When I spoke to Flash Magnus, even someone as dense as me could tell he loved Somnambula. Plus, you said yourself you can sense feelings, and I’m willing to bet you feed off of them. Am I right? So, not hard to imagine you plan to gate-crash this whole shebang and just replace Flash and Somnambula and spread out all over Equus from there am I right?”
At the General’s speechlessness, Rainbow couldn’t resist a small smirk.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Rainbow continued. “See, I may not be the brightest little pony in the world, but like most pegasus, I’m very observant. Just little hints and clues you dropped along with what information I already knew, you didn’t need to boast or brag about whatever plan you and your queen had. You gave away your plan just as soon as you opened your mouth. Sorry to say, but when I get out of here -and like I said, I will- there will be no gate-crashing of a certain big fat cross-country wedding. Not if I have anything to say about it, at least.”
“Then say nothing at all.” the Changeling General said, having finally had enough of Rainbow’s insolence and fired off a blast of green goop from his mouth shutting Rainbow up.
Night fell over Roam, and Twilight had long ago started to get worried. Rainbow still hadn’t come back from her little ‘excursion’ and hours had passed. Maybe she was off on some late-night flight with some stallion she’d picked up somewhere, that could have been it. Twilight gritted her teeth in jealousy but sighed. Rainbow’s choices were her own, and that included her choice in companionship. She couldn’t just force herself on her, she’d just have to be the bigger mare in all of this and step aside.
...Besides, Rainbow knew very well she couldn’t stay in the past forever. She had a place here in the present time, and friends and a family who loved her.
“Friends, especially…” Twilight thought to herself, a tear dripping from her eye just wishing for a moment Rainbow would pay attention to her as more than just a fan.
Twilight, now that she thought about it, noted Rainbow rarely if ever mentioned her family. It did beg the question why she never did. Twilight swallowed nervously, a horrible thought coming to her mind.
“Are… Are they abusive? Is that it? Is that why Rainbow never talks about them?” she thought to herself, thinking of the brash outgoing mare and dismissing the thought at once. No, Twilight had read of the signs of abusive parents, and Rainbow showed very little if none of them. She never had any oddly recurring frequent headaches or stomach aches with no probable medical causes, nor was Rainbow ever seemingly afraid of adults -Or afraid of anything for that matter-. Sure, she was watchful and on alert half the time, but given pegasi were frontline warriors in ancient times -Flash Magnus was a walking example of that one- that could be chalked up to be just old instincts.
Rainbow, Twilight would admit was at times rather fearful or anxious about doing something wrong but so was she, and Twilight wasn’t abused as a child. If anything, Rainbow was always seemingly afraid of disappointing everyone so that could have meant the opposite had happened with her family life. Maybe she’d been put so high on a pedestal by her parents -whoever they were or whatever they were like- she just simply hated failure that much. None of Rainbow’s personality traits or quirks added up to that of an abused victim.
No, whatever the reason Rainbow never talked about her parents, it wasn’t because of abuse. Twilight noted to herself as soon as she got back to the present day to look up Rainbow’s family tree, and see for herself exactly who Rainbow was related to. She had a suspicion, based on various things she’d picked up on who they were but she needed confirmation, not just circumstantial evidence and theories.
Twilight chuckled to herself, she’d probably make a great film noire detective if she had to say so for herself. She’d just need to think of a name for herself.
“The Lavender Shadow! Yeah, that’s it!” Twilight exclaimed to herself, punching the air in triumph.
“Thinking aloud to yourself again?” Rainbow’s voice asked, and Twilight let out a little yelp of shock as she jumped back a little. “...’Sides, that name? Lame! Seriously, I don’t know what film noire is, but I probably could think up better names than that. Shadow Spade, for example, might want to suggest that to someone.”
Twilight nodded, before furrowing her eyebrows. Rainbow knew perfectly well what film noire was, Twilight had dragged her to a late night movie showing of “Ponyville Noire: Tails of Two Private Eyes” so why would she feign confusion on what noire was? Granted, Rainbow had found the movie frankly rather dull in her mind for whatever reason, but she still would know what the noire genre was.
She then blinked as Rainbow approached her in a sultry manner, deliberately swaying her hips and flicking her tail, her eyes half-lidded.
“Rainbow, you okay?” Twilight stuttered out. Not that she wasn’t complaining, she’d had more than a few fantasies of this in some manner or another but this was sorta outta nowhere.
“Oh, I’m fine…” Rainbow said as she gently shoved Twilight onto the bed, and began kissing Twilight’s belly working her way up to her lips, gently sliding her tongue into Twilight’s mouth. Twilight shivered, that was… something. “More than fine actually.”
With that, she slammed her lips back onto Twilight’s and hooves began to roam, Twilight letting herself indulge a little in what she wanted for a change. But that was quick to change.
Twilight, even though her lips -both of them- tingled for more had noticed something. More than a few somethings actually. Rainbow’s tongue, for example, it was unusually snake-like, and her mane was missing a few colors. And last she checked, Rainbow’s eyes were a darker shade of cerise than this one’s.
Eyes widening, Twilight shoved Rainbow -if that’s who she truly was- off of her, and blasted her backwards into a wall with a blast of magic. Eyes narrowed, Twilight ignored her desires and her horn crackled with magic even as the false Rainbow picked herself up off the floor.
“W-What the buck, Twi?” Rainbow exclaimed as she picked herself up off the floor groaning out in pain. A small silver knife had slipped from a holster on her foreleg.
“No, you don’t get to call me that. You’re not Rainbow Dash, I know her. Whoever you are, you really should do your research better before trying to assassinate me. And you should really be more observant.”
‘Rainbow’ looked confused for a moment, before she let out a small “Shit.” as she heard the sound of hoofsteps and then a blade swing as her head was lopped clean from her body by a serrated saw-like sword held by one Flash Magnus, green blood spattering the walls. Upon the Changeling’s death, the body resumed its normal insectoid form head included.
“Seems to me, we’ve got a little bit of a problem on our hooves…” Flash Magnus growled out, as Twilight nodded nervously, shivering on just how close she came to being killed before she regained her composure.
Trouble with General Runaway as Rainbow called him, he’d been so scared of her little comments about the Doctor and what exactly he was going to do to him he hadn’t exactly managed to check up on her cocoon’s state. Which meant, with a little bit of effort the mare was able to break herself free. Landing on the floor with a small thudding sound, Rainbow quickly picked herself up off the stone cavern floor, and wiped a bit of blood off her mouth. Some of her fur was matted with the crimson liquid, small scrapes dotting her fur but for the most part she was fine.
“Ugh, remind me not to do that again…” Rainbow thought to herself as her vision slowly returned to normal. “Ground control to Major Dash, you there?” she asked herself as she staggered to her feet, dizzily regaining her bearings and trotting forwards a few steps before falling flat on her face once more.
“Okay, not my smartest idea I’ll admit,” Rainbow begrudgingly admitted to herself even as she checked her wings and winced out in pain as one of them didn’t unfurl themselves properly. “I mean, what? Were you expecting to pick yourself up off the ground in one piece? Best not to try flying, least not yet. Damn, wish I was like that one surly buck from Sable Island with that uber sweet healing factor in his comics. ...Though I suppose I’d want better luck with the mares then he seems to have.”
Slowly regaining her bearings, she began to walk normally after a few short minutes. Her wings -or at least one of them- was still out of the question for the moment but she could get out of this place. At least in theory anyways.
She cast a glance to the many other cocooned ponies lining the cavern walls and sighed. “Damn it! Wish I could save them all, as Celestia knows the boys up above would need all the help they can get against this swarm but I gotta worry about saving my own flank first. Okay Rainbow, what’s your plan?”
The mare then sighed. She didn’t exactly have a plan beyond finding a way out of the cocoon. Thinking ahead wasn’t exactly one of her strongest suites Rainbow had to admit, that was Twilight’s realm of thought. It was usually thinking a way out of her current situation and then figuring out what to do next that Rainbow was more comfortable for her.
Which was very bad news for Rainbow really considering some of the hive had taken notice of her current predicament. Most had gone up above to start the invasion, their queen included but a few did remain behind as sentries. General Runaway wasn’t completely stupid after all, Rainbow had to give him credit for that at least. Cowardly as he was, he was the changelings’ field commander for a reason.
Chittering and chattering amongst themselves, like rats from the woodwork the insectoid-like ponies slowly emerged from their little holes amongst the maze of caverns. Pinchers clicking angrily at Rainbow Dash’s escape, forked snake-like tongues darted out of mouths as the creatures let out hisses of anger.
Her eyes widening, the Element of Loyalty then swallowed nervously. Quickly regaining her composure, Rainbow then smirked at the creatures. “Oh, so nice to see you care…” she deadpanned, giving a little wave of her hoof before she turned tail -quite literally- and ran like Hell with a small shout of: “Bye!”
While Rainbow would never admit it, she was nowhere near as fast on her hooves as Applejack. However, she was still pretty damn fast even as injured as she was managing to somehow lose the changelings in pursuit of her in the veritable maze of caverns below Roam. Even so, two problems. She’d managed to lose herself as well, getting turned around somehow and finding herself in another cave with a small pool of water and as if to add insult to injury she could hear the chittering and hissing of changelings somewhere behind her.
Perhaps she’d lost them for a time, perhaps she hadn’t. The sound seemed to be all around her, echoing from somewhere deep within the maze of caves making it pretty much impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from. Rainbow for just a brief moment took pride in the fact that her discovery had forced the changeling hive to start their invasion a little bit early and not wait for Somnambula to show up. Meant she was dangerous to them and their plans.
“Okay Rainbow… don’t you lose your nerve. Not out of the woods yet,” Rainbow told herself, taking a few short calming breaths. “Still in this for the long haul, you still gotta find a way out of here and still gotta warn the Doc and Twi about what’s coming. ...That is, if they don’t know already.” she muttered to herself.
She then had a horrific thought. It was entirely possible the changelings and their queen had already captured the two. Capable as Twilight was with magic -The incident with Trixie and the Ursa Minor had shown that much- she doubted the mare could handle being swarmed. And as far as she knew, Roam’s best soldiers had been replaced with changelings loyal to Queen whats-her-face. Not like Rainbow had bothered to remember all the names she’d heard so far. Faces yes, but she wasn’t quite so good with names unless they really mattered to her.
Panic briefly overtaking her, Rainbow’s whole word became a blur as the mare dashed down another corridor, making quite a few sharp turns at various moments as the fear of her friends being captured -or worse- filled her mind’s eye. She just kept on seeing it over and over, Twilight screaming out for help that would never come as a green cocoon slowly formed over her and silenced her forever. “Never… Never thought I’d miss that egghead’s voice,” Rainbow thought to herself as she briefly galloped alongside a cavern wall. “She’d know a way out of this, I know she would!”
Rainbow then came into another cavern, one that opened up wide to the sea. Waves crashed outside, and a thick set of iron bars blocked her only escape to the aboveground. There was another way up, but the ladder had fallen to pieces with age and no real upkeep making that way out unusable as well. One could presume eventually these caves led upwards somehow but it’d be almost impossible to figure out where and when they did. Rainbow could probably be stuck down here forever and never find a way out in theory.
“And… And to think... Somnambula’s arriving on the morning boat from Baladi to this place!” Rainbow panted out, quite exhausted from the chase. “Man, she must really love that Flash dude to come here!’
“Personally, I don’t know what this Somnambula sees in Flash Magnus, but love truly is blind I guess,” another voice remarked, and Rainbow’s head whipped around to see three sea serpent creatures crossed with horses tied up to rocks with muzzles fitted over their snouts residing in the small pool that led out to sea. One was yellow in scale color, the others were purple and cyan respectively. It was the yellow one who’d spoken, resting her chin on her front flippers which themselves were resting on the pool’s edge. “Seriously, she could do so much better than a simple slave.”
The yellow one’s muzzle was gnawed through just enough to allow her to speak.
“...Okay, more weird hybrid creatures,” Rainbow muttered before sighing. “Note to self, no more trips with the Doctor. Ever.”
“Oh, you really should consider yourself lucky if you can travel about,” the sea serpent horse thing remarked casually. “Me, I’m sorta stuck here. Those idiots up top seem to think me dangerous. Least they could do is throw me some fish or chum more often! I’m getting thin as it is!”
“...Yeah, something tells me if you and your friends are locked up down here, it’s probably for a reason.”
“Oh, you ponies are all the same,” the creature returned in a biting snippy tone. “Always judging something before you ever really meet it!”
“Okay then…” Rainbow muttered, knowing she was probably going to regret this in the long run someday. But all the same, she offered a hoof to shake. “Name’s Firefly. Yours?” she asked, erring on the side of caution and figuring it best not to give her real name. She shuddered at the sheer sliminess in the creature’s front flipper as she took it and shook Rainbow’s hoof.
“Adagio. Pleasure,” she said in this voice that seemed to be constantly on a phone-sex level of a murmur. Adagio grinned, showing a maw full of razor-sharp teeth that Rainbow in no way would like to meet. Just how Adagio gnawed through her muzzle was quite clear by now. Why she was muzzled up, that was a question for later. “My sisters, Aria and Sonata. For obvious reasons, they can’t really introduce themselves.”
Sonata, or at least the creature Rainbow presumed was her shook her head in a very excited almost chipper manner and gave a little wave with her flipper. Rainbow was beginning to nurse a throbbing headache, what next?
“Just… Just what exactly are you?” the prismatic-maned pony asked wearily.
“Huh, a pony who hasn’t heard of the siren species?” Adagio asked eyes widening in surprise. “Color me surprised. You know, if I was in the mood you not simply knowing what I am could make you very easy to manipulate…” she trailed off in this rather gleeful tone. Suddenly, Rainbow realized exactly why this ‘Adagio’ and her fellow sirens were probably locked up. They were simply just that dangerous. Or really rather annoying. Rainbow would bet on the latter at the moment.
“Yeah,” Rainbow stated quickly pulling away her hoof and shuddering. “Definitely not going to trust you now that I know that little fact. May not have heard of a siren, but hearing the word manipulate really doesn’t put you in my good books.”
“Oh, shame… Shame shame!” Adagio chorused as the sound of changeling wingbeats started up again, and Rainbow’s fur stood on end in fear. “And it seems you really need some help, and as far as I can see you don’t have any friends to lend you a hoof. Unless of course, I’m mistaken?”
“...You know, I’m beginning to see why they pull a muzzle over that mouth of yours. They just did it to shut you up. You’re really rather annoying, aren’t you? Did you know that?” Rainbow sniped back.
“And the wingbeats are getting closer…” Adagio singsonged. “You know, I can help. For a price of course.”
Rainbow weighed her options. Either get captured by the changelings again, or stand around here talking with this siren. Neither prospect seemed really rather appealing, but not like she had much choice did she? Eventually, Rainbow made up her mind and settled for the lesser of two evils.
“Name it,” she said through gritted teeth and swallowed pride. Yep, definitely annoying she thought to herself. Adagio smirked, having achieved a victory over her fellow female. Needless to say, Rainbow was probably never going to mention this little side adventure to Twilight when she recounted the tale to her.
“Oh, just a simple small thing. Free me and my sisters. That’s all I ask,” Adagio replied. “Tick tock, clock’s ticking. Personally, I’d prefer the north wind over those lot but your choice!”
Rainbow bit down on the ropes holding Adagio, Aria, and Sonata to the rocks snapping them.
“My, aren’t you forwards!” Adagio chortled, covering her mouth with a flipper. “But a promise is a promise. I’ll give you a fin. Just need a song, that’s all.”
“A song?” Rainbow asked arching an eyebrow.
“Yes, a song. Need I spell it out for you?” Adagio sneered. “Hello, sea siren!” she stated, throwing her front flippers up in the air and gesturing to herself as the changelings entered the room from both sides. “Now, take your time Firefly dear! You’ve got plenty of it!” she mocked.
“Fine… Whatever works.” Rainbow muttered before humming a song under her breath which Adagio quickly picked up on.
“I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye I saw a pretty little thing approaching me She said, “I never seen a man, who looks so all alone And could you use a little company? If you can pay the right price, your evening will be nice But you can go and send me on my way” I said, “You're such a sweet young thing, why you do this to yourself?” Adagio began to sing. The beat was a little odd to her, nothing she’d ever seen before but to be perfectly honest it sorta beat out the usual songs she heard from sailors and her fellow podmates. It was something new, something interesting to her.
“She looked at me and this is what she said Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked Money don't grow on trees I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed There ain't nothing in this world for free Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back Though you know, I wish I could Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked Until we close our eyes for good…” Adagio finished, the Changelings now quite thoroughly enthralled by the sound of her voice. Rainbow admitted if only to herself despite her other many faults Adagio was, in fact, a very good singer. Briefly losing herself to the sirens song, she swayed back and forth before shaking her head clear as it began to cloud. No, she had more important things to worry about than listening to this siren song. Taking her chance. Rainbow dashed down a tunnel that seemed to lead upwards. Didn’t matter if it didn’t lead up above ground, anywhere was better than here at the moment.
“Suck that Twilight! And you too Applejack!” Rainbow laughed in triumph, letting her pride briefly overtake her. “See, I can think my way out of a situation at times, just need the right incentive to actually do so!”
She grew even more joyful as the early rays of the dawn began to hit the sides of her face as she continued galloping upwards and out into a field. Apparently, she’d been in those caves longer than she thought. Knowing how little time was actually left, she broke into a sprint. Clambering out of what looked to be a small den, she could see the roam capital just a few kilometers ahead of her past the houses and farm fields and such. Navigating her way through a vineyard of grapes, she leaped over an aqueduct and over a small hole in the city walls. Brushing the dirt off her coat, Rainbow’s eyes narrowed in on swarms of black creatures flying down from the sky in droves.
“And so cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war…” Rainbow murmured.
Perhaps needless to say, one Twilight Sparkle of Equestria was not having a very good day. First off, Rainbow Dash had flown the coop and gone missing, and then as if only to make matters worse some changeling doppelganger showed up in the middle of the night and tried to make out with her! And now, she was stuck in the middle of a whole invasion, just barely managing to throw up a shield over the city to keep more changelings from swarming in.
“Ah, wedding crashers…” the Doctor muttered as he bucked a changeling into a market stall, drawing on his experience -Admittedly very little at that- bucking the trees at Sweet Apple Acres. “You just gotta love them don’t ya?”
“I fail to see what there is to love,” Flash Magnus deadpanned slicing a changeling’s head off with his twin serrated swords. He muttered: “Knock knock, it’s the insecticide!” to himself as he did so.
“Sarcasm is lost on you isn’t it?” the Doctor deadpanned, bucking another changeling into a stone wall reducing it to rubble.
“I know what sarcasm is, it’s just I don’t see why there’s anything to love about this entire scenario,” Flash retorted even as Twilight used her magic to sweep away a phalanx of changelings in a whirlwind of lavender magic.
“Ugh, never mind…” the Doctor muttered. “Geez, try and make a light-hearted joke out of a situation…”
“Better times Doctor,” Twilight reprimanded as she tossed a pillar into several more changelings. “Save them for better times.”
Suddenly, Twilight let out a yelp as she was forced backwards by a blast of scarlet magic. Queen Arthropod, completely calm and in control over the situation marched forwards continuously driving the three back with blasts of magic. It was all Twilight could do to keep the shield up and combat her forces at the same time. Fighting the queen one on one was a no can do for her at that moment.
“Fear me, I've faced down hundreds of ponies just like you. They all died bravely all just the same. You’re no different.” Arthropod stated as Twilight stood her ground, and let out an unimpressed nicker.
“I digress, I’ve faced down Nightmare Moon, the Bringer of Darkness and Shadows. So fear me.” Twilight stated, her horn cracking with magical energy. Credit where it was due, despite facing the queen one on one being a frankly stupid idea Twilight wouldn’t back down. She was stubborn like that. Must have been Celestia’s influence.
“...And I’m supposed to know who that is why?” Arthropod remarked with a small yawn.
“Today’s plans…” the Doctor murmured. “Oh, I think it's gone a little bit wrong.” he sighed.
“Oh… Oh, look at you,” Arthropod sneered out. “You’re brave, I’ll give you that. But this entire endeavor is ultimately futile. Look at you, most of your troops are either dead or incapacitated by my own hoof! And those that remain, I replaced with my own soldiers,”
“A legionnaire never gives up, he never surrenders. Veni, vidi, vici! Or did you not get the memo?” Flash Magnus spat back at her, and Arthropod only laughed harder.
“What legion? You’re almost all but alone in your city's defense! What, do you expect your civilians to take up arms against me?” she asked as Flash gritted his teeth. “Even if they did, it’d be absolutely pointless. We have knowledge of your tactics, no thanks to Ironhead. He squealed like a pig, oh yes he did!”
She was absolutely right about that. The changelings, they did know how a legion of Roam would work in combat. Ironhead had once said, “He who judges himself inferior should advance his right wing against his enemy's left. This is the second formation of the legions.”
And that was exactly what the ground-based changeling troops were doing.
“Doctor… Thing is, I know Arthropod doesn’t succeed here,” Twilight whispered as she and the Doctor found themselves quite literally backed against a wall. “I mean, Flash, he goes onto become a hero of old Equestria! Along with his wife. So he can’t just die here… can he?”
“Time's in flux, changing every second. Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that. Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing. So yes, it is very possible for Flash Magnus to die here,” the Doctor returned. At that, Twilight had a horrific and sudden realization.
“Uh Doctor… But I can't die. Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?” Twilight whispered, going into a panic and losing her focus. Because of this, and adding to that the nigh-constant ramming of the shield above her by Arthropod’s forces her defense was slowly beginning to get wheedled down bit by bit.
“Wish I could say different,” the Doctor replied. “But you’re a smart mare. You’ve studied basic time theory I assume You can be born in one era and die in another year before your great-grandmother began to take her first steps! Time… Well, it isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape, any form. And it’s my fault you’re in this mess. I brought you here.”
“...You couldn’t have known Doctor,” Twilight said and in spite of her fear she found time to be kind to her possibly best friend. “You simply couldn’t have. But if we go, well… we’ll go down fighting. That’s what you would have wanted right?”
“Believe it or not,” the Doctor sighed as Arthropod moved even closer with her forces surrounding them. “That’s not what I wanted at all. But for the record Twilight Sparkle, I’m so glad I met you,”
“Same,” Twilight nodded in return.
“Aw so sweet, a couple exchanging their last goodbyes before death,” the Changeling Queen mocked as she knocked Twilight to the ground with a blast of magic from her horn. “If I wanted, I’d take your love and suck it up dry! But oh no, I’m saving myself. Going to get all fat on Somnambula when she arrives. Imagine, her reaction thinking oh she’s going to get all married and then poof, I change into my real form with her powerless to stop me!”
Suddenly, Arthropod was sent sprawling to the cobblestone by a sudden kick to the side.
“Yeah, sadly I didn’t get that little memo,” Rainbow Dash remarked as she narrowed her eyes at the Queen. “By the way, kidnapping me and holding me hostage in a slimy sticky cocoon? Rude! I’ll be pulling this crap out of my fur for days!”
“R-Rainbow…?” Twilight blinked out scarcely able to believe it.
“Hey Twi,” Rainbow smirked. The real Rainbow. Twilight knew it could be no other. “Sorry I’m late, but you know how a hero is. They don’t always arrive on schedule. And besides, arriving with a dynamic late to the party style intro? Much more fun anyhow!” the mare boasted
“Bitch…” Arthropod hissed out as she picked herself up off the ground, lighting up her horn as she did so ready to fire off a spell at a moment’s notice.
“Pot, meet kettle,” Rainbow deadpanned as she stood in front of her friends pulling out a sword. “As I said, your boy General Runaway -And yes, I will keep on calling him that from now on- cocooned me! On your orders no less! I mean, bleagh!” she gagged.
“One more makes no difference,” Arthropod replied calmly before firing a beam of pure magical energy right up into Twilight’s shield -or what remained of it anyways- shattering it like glass and the Changelings came in full force pouring down like hailstones. “You’ll all die anyways. And there will be nobody to speak of your heroic deeds here today. Almost a shame really,” she continued, her tone filled with mock-sympathy. “Rule one of being a queen, always assert your authority.”
Suddenly, a flurry of arrows pierced her hoards scything through her forces like the goddess Ceres and her sickle would through grain.
“Who said she was alone?” Somnambula asked as she and her own forces holding bows and arrows along with bronze khopeshes appeared, taking their places amongst the city walls. “Rule two of being a Queen. Never assume you’ve got the upper hand.”
“Okay, now that’s how you make an entrance…” the Doctor grinned as Queen Somnambula’s forces leaped down to join the fray quickly cutting down Arthropod’s own. “Not a fan of the bloodshed, and the killing, but can’t deny that was impressive.”
By now, Flash Magnus was staring at his wife-to-be with an expression that could only be described as the utmost love.
“Damn you!” Arthropod swore before yelling to her hive. Twilight tried to pick herself up off the ground and recreate the shield, but it was no use. Letting out a yelp of pain, she managed to stand using a magically-created splint. “Take them, take them all!”
The changelings descended in droves, and Rainbow’s eyes widened as they did so. She realized something at about that moment even as the sky seemed to cover itself under the shroud of night. Why exactly nobody had ever heard of the Sonic Rainboom. Why nobody had ever heard of it being performed. It was because it hadn’t been performed. At least not yet.
“So, time’s in flux huh?” Rainbow thought to herself ignoring the pain in her wings as she rocketed upwards. “A catalyst, that’s it. That had to be it. Something had to start the legend, and I was just too foolish to realize what it was! No, not something… SomePONY.”
A loud CRACK! filled the air as a wave of pure rainbow-colored light splashed and bathed the sky in its colors, the wave knocking away changelings by the dozen sending them into the waiting blades of the Baladi reinforcements.
Arthropod was no fool, and even she knew when to retreat and cut her losses. Swearing quite profusely, the Changeling Queen took to the sky with what little of her forces that remained following. As the Doctor observed this, he felt his knowledge of what happened to both Celestia and Arthropod began to change. The Queen’s forces were so weakened by this battle she’d never go onto try and conquer Equestria and therefore Daybreaker would never come into being.
Rainbow meanwhile in the present time, screeched to a halt atop a bridge outside the city.
“...Well, that was something.” Rainbow muttered as she felt a bit faint before falling forwards with Somnambula managing to catch her.
“Easy there,” the future Pillar of Hope told her. “Quite a crazy stunt you just pulled there. Not sure what to call that, but that’s certainly no small feat for a pegasus.”
“So, this is how you travel?” Somnambula asked of the Doctor, Twilight, and Rainbow as she studied the exterior of the TARDIS. “Interesting… What’s your secret?”
“Some things will stay just that, secrets,” the Doctor replied. “And secrets, well they should never be revealed. Except for cheap tricks.” he winked, kissing Somnambula on the cheek.
“Oh my… How modern,” the pegasus giggled.
“Well, guess this is goodbye. A pleasure to meet you Flash Magnus,” Twilight smiled and shook the Pillar’s hoof. “You take care understand?”
“Yes… I most certainly will,” he stated with a look towards Somnambula that said more volumes than any amount of words ever could. The Doctor smiled, he’d read the history books. Those two would go onto have a long and successful marriage even after they vanished off the face of old Equestria. Give or take a few centuries, Twilight and Rainbow would meet them again soon enough. “But, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?”
“Oh, you’ll see. Just wait a tick okay?” the Doctor asked.
“All three of you, in one little… shed?” Flash asked, his jaw dropping.
“Down boy!” Rainbow laughed as the Doctor turned to her.
“Let’s say we give them one last surprise eh?” he asked. “Like I said, cheap tricks.”
Rainbow smirked knowing what the Doctor was thinking even as the Time Lord threw a switch and the TARDIS began making its signature groaning noises before vanishing into thin air completely.
“Well, I’ll be damned…” Flash whispered out before saluting the three travelers. “Veni, vidi, vici Doctor. Veni, vidi, vici.”
“Oh for Celestia’s Sake!” Rainbow muttered as she once again, found herself lost in the TARDIS’ massive library. “Seriously? I mean, seriously?” the pegasus shouted out in frustration, meandering about another corridor throwing her wings up in the air in frustration getting massive flashbacks to the Changeling Hives under Roam. “...Just add some sort of insect and those odd sea creatures and the whole shebang would be complete really…” she muttered.
She still honestly wondered what those three creatures exactly were, and even if she had a sneaking suspicion why Flash and his fellow legionnaires had chained them up under Roam, she was still pretty curious as to what they were. Something did tell her however, she’d probably find out in time, and she’d probably be regretting it when she did.
“Right bitch, that yellow one. Wanted to punch her in the face, really.” Rainbow thought to herself.
Row upon row of books was in front of her and to be honest, she wondered if this was Twilight’s personal form of heaven, or in Rainbow’s case her idea of hell. “Twilight, you’d probably orgasm if you stumbled into this place wouldn’t you? Seriously, right there on the spot!”
Chuckling at the image that thought conjured up, Rainbow continued on. Picking up a bottle of some odd liquid that read Encyclopedia Gallifreya before shrugging and continuing on. Sounded a bit boring for her tastes, and anyways what was alcohol doing in a library anyways? What, did the Doctor drink on the job? ...Certainly would have explained some of his behavior at times.
“Hey Doc, you there?” Rainbow called out. “Come on, speak up!”
“Yes, yes, Rainbow. I hear you loud and clear!” The Doctor called out while fiddling around with the controls on the TARDIS’s console. “Just realigning the temporal and special vectors. We don’t want to end up in the wrong place or the wrong time now, do we?”
“Oh, like that’s never happened before!” Twilight called from somewhere nearby. “I seem to remember you throwing us into some time five thousand years in the future where Ponykind became all digitized! Including us, for that matter!”
“One-off incident, one-off! I promise!” the Doctor laughed nervously. Rainbow could just imagine Twilight rolling her eyes in disbelief.
Inwardly, Rainbow arguably felt rather jealous of Twilight. Apparently, the lucky bookworm had been traveling with this partially fantastic madman in a box for longer than she thought and was experiencing all kinds of stuff while she was stuck in dullsville. AKA Ponyville. Sure, Ponyville had its charms, but how could it possibly compare to all of Time and Space when you had that at your hooves at the simple press of a button or throw of a switch?
“Anyways, don’t you think I could have a map, or some signs, or just anything that could tell me where I am right now?” Rainbow groaned. “I mean, I know it’s bigger on the inside, but surely, you don’t need all this stuff, right?”
“Of course I need all this stuff! I mean, what’s the point in traveling all of time and space if you don’t get to write down what you see?” the Doctor asked in reply. “Besides, you think I became this smart by default? What, did I just pop out of the womb and have a big brain?” he asked sarcastically.
“No, no, no. I mean, I’m completely LOST, doc. I need some directions,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Like, seriously, I’ve been in this library a hundred times now!”
“Okay, first door on the left, then you take a right, and then another right, and then another left!” the Doctor called out. “Should bring you right back here. Simple as that!”
Rainbow just darted out of the library, and when she did, she saw seven different corridors surrounding her position. Three on the left, three on the right, and a lone one in the center. She took one glance at the multitude of doors and said, “Which left?!”
“Oh har har Doctor, very funny. Turn left, he says! Which friggin’ left!?!” Rainbow ranted to herself.
The TARDIS groaned underneath her hooves, and if Rainbow honestly didn’t know better, that groaning sounded like laughter or maybe a giggle. But that was impossible, right? The TARDIS wasn’t alive, despite whenever she saw the Doctor calling it ‘Old Girl’ and such and at times she was half tempted to crack a joke about the two needing to be alone whenever she saw the odd pony stroke its console with a hoof in a loving manner.
“Anyways…” the pegasus mumbled as she just picked a door at random and walked through it. Next thing she knew, she was letting out a sharp yelp as she was sent spiraling into a pool the size of your average hoofball field with a loud splash.
“And to think, I didn’t even bring my swimsuit!” Rainbow thought, her eyes narrowed in a very unamused manner. “Ugh, this is going to ruin my feathers, going to have to ask for a good solid preening from somepony. Oh, that’s going to be so embarrassing if I just ask Twilight for it. Mom would be cool doing that for me, but A, she’s not around, and B, I’d have to deal with her… enthusiasm. Joy. You hate me, right life?” she thought as she used a ladder to climb out of the pool and shook her fur clean resembling a dog in some manners. She was, perhaps, needless to say, completely soaked to the bone.
“Sounds like somepony found the pool. I’ve been meaning to find that thing for a while now. I always loved that pool. One of the best swimmers on Gallifrey, actually,” the Doctor quipped. “Don’t know why I stopped, though. Strange.”
“Your TARDIS hates me Doc,” Rainbow remarked. “It hates me. Lead me right here, and next thing I knew, slipped and fell in like Derpy would! At least she has the excuse of being all cross-eyed! I don’t!” Rainbow ranted, complete with more wing gestures her pride thoroughly wounded. She shouted towards the heavens. “Hey, is this how you thank me for saving the Doctor’s flanks back in Ancient Roam? Because seriously this is one hell of a thank you!” she laughed sardonically.
“Well, I wouldn’t say she hates you. She’s just… what’s the word again? Finicky? No, no… Temperamental? No, that’s not it either.”
“Spiteful? Bitchy?” Rainbow asked in complete deadpan. “That help? And anyways, keep talking as if your machine’s alive and you might start to believe that!” she snarked.
The TARDIS let out an alarm blare, which the Doctor responded with, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! There’s no need for that kind of language, is there?”
The TARDIS made several wheezing and groaning sounds in response, sounding almost indignant, possibly whiney. “Like a child, this one…” the Doctor muttered. “What, you need a bottle of milk girl?” he grumbled.
Rainbow meanwhile, was laughing her flanks off, on the floor cackling with amusement her earlier indignity forgotten for the moment. This didn’t seem to amuse the TARDIS any more than the Doctor’s own remark/possible threat. And it showed, as when Rainbow Dash left the pool again, the other corridors had vanished, leaving her with just the one, singular path going down to the right.
“I swear, this better take me to the control room of this place otherwise I will have words with the idiot who designed this place…” Rainbow muttered. Thankfully, it did, the TARDIS for the meantime suitably quelled by the Doctor’s warning and Rainbow was greeted with a very confused Twilight.
“Where… where have you been?” Twilight asked, struggling to contain her laughter remembering a very similar situation back when she first came to Ponyville. “And why… why are you all wet?”
“Don’t ask…” Rainbow muttered. “And if you make a joke about me needing to Rainblow dry myself, best friend or no, you’re getting a hoof to the face.”
“Oh, don’t mind her,” the Doctor said as he trotted into the room. “The TARDIS and her are just having a little hissy fit. Celestia knows why, but they are.”
Twilight blinked out in confusion before wincing remembering that that TARDIS could be awfully temperamental at times if you didn’t show her the proper respect she believed she deserved. Reminded her of Trixie in some ways, only without the boasting and third person manner of speech.
“So, what’s our next stop in our little tour of time and space?” Twilight asked.
“Well, never said anything about a tour,” the Doctor trailed off before Twilight gave him a look. “Oh, oh not the puppy dog eyes… I hate those.”
But Twilight still kept on giving him a look -much to Rainbow’s great amusement- that resembled a kid denied candy.
“Fine fine,” the Doctor muttered as he finally gave in and threw a switch. “Ever tell you about Earth? Fantastic place, met some of my best friends there, and had a whole lot of adventures! ...Can’t believe I haven’t taken you yet! Best place in this or any other universe, this! Allons-Y!” he cried out as the TARDIS began wheezing and groaning.
“Now, here. Take this,” the Doctor said tossing them devices. “Should make you look like the natives to everyone else’s eyes. On this planet… horses, they don’t talk nor do they have wings, horns or come in bright colors. Frankly, they're rather dull creatures compared to you lot.”
“Uh yeah… Doc?” Rainbow asked taking a look around. “I thought Earth was the most fantastic place in the universe. Place looks like a ghost town, starting to freak me out really…”
As the Doctor and all the others stepped out onto the streets, they saw exactly what Rainbow meant. The sky was a gray and dull hue of clouds and rain, but that was to be expected with British weather. The streets were barren and empty, with very little trash or junk to be found either. The only sounds around them were the howls of the winds as it tore through the river and streets around them. There wasn’t a car on the road, the shops seemed to have been entirely abandoned, and not even the advertisements’ colour was enough to pierce through the dystopia that Earth had become.
“What… what the Hell happened?” the Doctor breathed out. “I know we’re in the right time, the late 2000s at worse, and last I checked Earth wasn’t like… well, this during that time period!”
“Sure it’s just not this one city?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, sure it looks like a dump and all, but how do you know the rest of the planet’s like this?”
“Did you get the time wrong, Doctor? Are we in… 2038 or something?” Twilight asked, lifting a hoof.
“Trust me, the TARDIS has never steered me wrong before!” the Doctor replied, and Twilight gave him a flat look. “Okay, point taken. But I know for a fact 2038? Paradise, one of the best times to be in Britain actually! Something… something in the timestream must have changed, but what? Something resulted in this… well, whatever this is!”
Suddenly, he was slapped soundly across the face by a red-haired woman, looking as furious as her hair color.
“I’ll tell you what happened, Doctor! YOU weren’t here!” the angry woman screamed, the Doctor rubbing his cheek in pain as he struggled to remember where exactly he’d seen her face before. Then the penny dropped as he remembered a woman in a wedding dress.
“Wait, Donna? Is that you?” the Doctor gaped. “What… what happened around here? Seriously, London… Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s…”
“A dump!” Rainbow interjected.
“...Well, one can tell you’re getting younger,” Donna said sardonically as she eyed both Rainbow and Twilight. “Your companions, they’re getting younger and prettier.”
“...Wait, she’s a former companion of yours?” Twilight asked. “How come you never mentioned her?”
“Yes, how come?” Donna asked, eying the Doctor critically.
“W-Well to be fair,” the Doctor stammered out knowing perfectly well of Donna’s quick temper. Always with the redheads, he mused to himself. “It was for only one adventure, and you didn’t exactly want to stick around with me afterwards.”
“But seriously,” Twilight continued. “The Doctor went on about this place, made it sound like a lot of fun, and right now it’s… Well, what Rainbow said. What happened?”
“I wish I knew, Twilight. I really wish that I did. I literally just arrived back, Donna. Another one of those weird trips through time and space, as it were,” he said. “Not to mention, TARDIS had a bit of a row with Rainbow here, so it was a struggle trying to break them up on the way.”
“What, you a walking LGBT rights poster?” Donna joked weakly noting Rainbow’s appearance and chosen name. “But I’ll tell you what happened. Adipose happened,” she sighed. “Big blooming spaceship over the sky, made my grandad’s day, right before everyone turned into these little creatures of fat. 60 Million people, dead like that. God only knows what the rest of the world’s like.”
“No… But that doesn’t make any sense! Or maybe it does but I don’t believe that it does because something’s wrong with my head…” Then, on the spot, he had a spastic fit, viciously scratching his head with his hands to see if his theory held any water. “Oh, come on, you stupid brain! What’s wrong with me?!”
“Simple answer? You weren’t here to save everyone’s arses,” Donna snapped back. “Some group called Torchwood tried to deal with the incident in lieu of you not being around, you idiotic layabout of a spaceman, but all of them got killed in the process and this guy called Jack got taken, hostage.”
“They got Jack?” He seemed a tad disappointed about that, but it quickly bubbled up with his hands tightening into knuckles and wrinkles forming on his forehead. “THEY GOT JACK?!” He bellowed so loudly that it even caused Donna to flinch slightly.
“...And I thought he hated him,” Twilight murmured, having heard the Doctor mumble about how annoying this ‘Captain’ was.
“What was the exact date, Donna?” the Doctor asked, shaking her slightly. “What was the exact date this all happened?”
“I still remember it, we all do. April 5, 2008.” Donna said, backing away from the Doctor in fear, not for the first time as she was reminded just how scary he could be, and why he needed companions to hold him back. In hindsight, she deeply regretted leaving him there on that darkened street, he needed people like her. Normal people to tell him when it was time to stop.
“Well, time to fix what I broke, what I broke,” the Doctor said heading back to the TARDIS. “Don’t you worry Donna, if I succeed you’ll remember none of this. This timeline, it’ll cease to exist.”
“For me Doctor, that’s a mercy…” Donna mumbled.
“So, the Doctor’s in…” the Last of the Time Lords growled out as he threw a switch on his console, both Rainbow and Twilight galloping inside the time machine before it vanished.
“This is an odd predicament, isn’t it?” Spoke a dark blue coated, blonde-maned figure as he gazed up a certain massive white mare, inside his living room. He wore a pale black suit and sat on a sofa with Princess Celestia looking down on. “The timeline’s advancing and yet… it’s fractured. What do you make of it, your highness?”
“I’m not amused,” Celestia stated flatly as she glared at him. “Whatever tricks you have up your sleeve, I’m not going to fall for it anymore, Master.”
“Oh, so you do acknowledge me! But you know as well as I do something’s wrong. One timeline, where you burned that nasty little bitch Queen Arthropod to a crisp and became a temporary tyrant, and one… where you didn’t. Funny, innit? The effects of traveling in the TARDIS, and I know you have, considering how infatuated you and the Doctor are with each other. Sorta jealous here!” he chortled.
“Keep talking, cur. You only add to the sins crawling on your back,” Celestia turned the other cheek at him. “I refuse to believe any word that floats out of your mouth; including the one where I became that nightmare demon!”
“Ah, but you remember your actions do you not? Burning that sweet, sweet creature to a crisp, making an example out of her! You relishing in your own power, and lust for revenge against the world that took your sister from you! You and your sister, as much as you like to deny it, you’re a lot more alike than you think!” the Master remarked in a snide, mocking tone.
Celestia just fired a bolt of magic at him, flipping the chair over and ejecting him into the nearby fireplace, where soot and dust filled his face. She breathed heavily as she grit her teeth, then looked down at her hooves; which began to tremble before her. She shook in horror, realizing just how close she was to killing the Master on the spot.
“See, there it is! I know you’ve still got some of… Oh, what’s her name… Daybreaker, that’s it! I know you’ve still got some of Daybreaker in you waiting to be let out. All it just takes? One bad day!” the Master mocked. One must wonder what was going through his head because there was every chance if Celestia did go Daybreaker she would turn him into a crisp before he even had a chance to regenerate into his next body whatever that may have been. Could have been a mare for all he knew. A mare with two heads!
“No… No, no, no, no! This isn’t me...” Celestia’s confidence and demeanor immediately vanished. She found herself scurrying back against the wall, like an insect in a way as the Master stood back up, dusted himself off and approached her.
“The fear in your eyes, the sheer power you command, the lineage you have as the Royal Princess of Equestria, the Sol Invictus! Not as a queen, but as a lower sovereign without someone stronger than herself in the lineage. And here you are, cowering at your own powers! Why, I bet not even your own sister could match you if you had your way.” He finally came up to her face and tenderly grabbed her chin with a hoof. “Deep down, you’re still a monster. I’m still a monster too. We all are. It all depends on how much of a brutal monster you wish to be, now that you know the truth.”
“You know, you really talk too much,” Blueblood said as he walked into the room, zapping the Master’s mouth shut with a beam of arctic-blue magic. “Maybe this house is too nice for you, maybe I should just toss you in a dungeon!”
He walked over to his aunt, and helped her up. “You alright Auntie?”
“Yes… Yes, I’m fine…” Celestia whispered.
“I have to ask, what were you thinking going in here alone and trying to talk to him?” Blueblood asked. “He’s a master alright. A master of getting inside your head! Your sister, she specifically asked me to keep you from going over here for these exact reasons!” he chided gently.
“I… I wanted to try and understand him, figure out what makes him tick. How he and the Doctor could have been friends once…” Celestia whispered. “Instead, he managed to-”
“Turn the tables on you?” Blueblood murmured. “Yeah, he has a tendency to do that,” he muttered out in shame, remembering his own conversation with the Master.
Walking in another room out of earshot with his aunt, Blueblood turned to Celestia. “Listen, I don’t know what sort of lover’s spat you and the Doctor got into, but you two, whenever he shows up again, need to forgive and forget. Honestly, you going to the Master, just so you could have a Time King or whatever they call themselves for Faust’s sake to chat with over tea and scones is going much too far!” he stated. “Much too far!”
“You’re probably right nephew…” Celestia sighed. “I’m just… Well, I feel violated the Doctor got inside my head, made me trust him. Just like-”
“The Master did?” Blueblood asked as he stared his aunt down before giving her a flat look. “Pardon my Prench auntie, but you’re a bucking idiot!”
“Blueblood-” Celestia started before being cut off.
“No, don’t you Blueblood me!” Blueblood snapped back. “There’s a crucial difference between the Master and the Doctor. Yes, they’re both probably insane, but unlike the Master, Canterlot actually owes their lives to the Doctor after that whole mad statue incident, which you still won’t tell me about! Who do you think I’d trust, a madman who likes to play mind games, or somepony who saved my life. Think on that!”
With that, he turned on his hooves and left the building leaving Celestia to feel as if she’d been scolded like a child, and what’s worse… Blueblood was absolutely right. She was being an idiot. She just needed someone to tell her that.
“I see her as a slightly warped Mary Poppins. She's quite austere. She's a strong woman. When I first read the script, I thought, oh, well, of course she's a baddie... but the more I read it, I thought, 'No, she's doing what she's doing for legitimate reasons.'” -Sarah Lancashire on her character Miss Foster
“Donna does a little mime: “I came here, trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble = you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Looked. You. Cos they…” -Russell T Davies, ‘Partners in Crime’ shooting script
“So who was Jack to you? Or who is he to you, I mean?” Twilight had to ask as the TARDIS returned to a few days before the whole Adipose incident was due to take place. “...Oh, for Celestia’s sakes. Been traveling with you for a long while now and still haven’t gotten these tenses right…”
“Eh, you figure it out eventually… Everyone does,” the Doctor remarked before sighing. “Oh, Jack… Good old Jack, or poor old Jack. Depends on how you view him. He’s… well, he’s a character. To say the least!” the Doctor laughed. Twilight got the feeling he was deflecting from the issue, as he tended to do. “Have I ever mentioned him before?”
“Maybe a few times, yes,” Twilight deadpanned. “Isn’t he the one who… Well, you mentioned he had sex with a tree. And a dozen rat-beings at once. Amongst other things.” she said with a small facial flush.
Rainbow peeked her head up in shock and licked her lips. “Man oh man… I would love to meet him…” she commented and Twilight let out a small growl of jealousy. Unaware of this or possibly not caring at all, Rainbow continued on. “Seriously, he sounds like one of the only people able to keep up with the Dash…”
“Pretty sure bestiality is illegal on Earth, Rainbow…” Twilight muttered back as a reply even if she didn’t entirely believe that would actually stop her friend.
“I don’t know…” Rainbow mused to herself as she desperately tried to keep her wings down at the sheer thought of the human both the Doctor and Twilight were describing. He must have been quite the good time. In oh so many ways. “From the sounds of it, if it moves he’s quite willing to-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied sternly. “Seriously, just… don’t.”
“Man, Twilight, you’re such a buzzkill. What, is being a professional fun killer in your job description?” Rainbow asked with a small roll of her eyes. “Seriously, half the time it seems like growing up with the Princess made you oh so stingy. What you need, if you ask me is a coltfriend or marefriend. Might very well loosen you up, in oh so many ways!” she cackled.
“Is she always like this?” the Doctor asked leaning over towards Twilight and the mare could only nod and sigh. Unaware of this, or again possibly not caring Rainbow continued on.
“...That is of course,” she said with a lecherous grin as she turned back to look at Twilight. “You and the Doc aren’t… well, you know. He does suit you. About as frantic about something when he wants to be, and about as eggheady.”
“We aren’t… He isn’t…” Twilight stammered out which to be quite honest didn’t really do any matters in helping her case truth be told. “We are most certainly NOT!” she shouted.
“Can’t say if I’m sure I believe you really, but suit yourself. Deny it all you want, but if you ask me the Doctor would make quite the catch!” Rainbow replied with a small shrug of her wings.
“I’m… I’m already taken thank you very much…” the Doctor mumbled to himself with a small flush of his own. Rainbow looked on and studied his reactions. With a careful eye, she observed them. Not just current ones, but prior ones as well.
Truth be told, Rainbow was… concerned for the Doctor. Celestia knew she’d seen his reaction to that Donna ma… er, woman telling him this Jack was dead or captured in that potential future. It hadn’t been pretty, and while Rainbow certainly wasn’t the smartest of ponies -not by a long shot really- but even she knew what desperation could do to a pony. She knew it could drive them to do things they never thought possible and things that they would normally hate themselves for. Goddess only knew what it could do to someone like the Doctor, who from as far as Rainbow had seen was intent on saving everybody no matter how impossible it was or who they exactly were. He sorta saw himself as this messiah of sorts. Maybe he didn’t want to admit it, at least in public setting but that’s exactly what he saw himself as. Even Rainbow could see that. So, the obvious question was how did she and more importantly how did she and Twilight -way smarter mare than her- stop him from doing anything so completely stupid that would have disastrous consequences that if not for them, but for him.
Well, Rainbow mused to herself. This was going to be quite a challenge. But, she mused as well. Nobody ever said the best things in life were easy to accomplish. Rainbow was scared. There were things not just ponies, but anybody else couldn’t possibly understand and the Doctor was about one of the only beings she knew that was capable of stopping them. Case in point, the Changelings. Sure, she may have… helped but that was by pure chance and suspicion. She figured the Doctor given just a few short seconds and being put in the room with one in disguise would have figured out how to stop them and expose them all in just under a minute. He was like that Forelock Hooves character in a way. Not that Rainbow would ever admit to knowing who Forelock Hooves was. Twilight would probably never let her live it down.
Twilight. Now, there was a strange mare or to borrow something from the Doctor’s dictionary a curiosity. Rainbow had known a few mares like her back in Cloudsdale. Always stuck up in their rooms, generally becoming those crazy old cat mares. Truth be told, as grumpy as Twilight was Rainbow knew she didn’t exactly deserve to become one of those she thought with a shudder. Okay, maybe there were a few unresolved issues there Rainbow admitted if only to herself but she knew Twilight certainly deserved better than living with a dozen or so cats as her only companions.
Well, she certainly didn’t have that issue now Rainbow admitted. But it definitely scared her to think on what Twilight could have become had she… no, she and her friends not stepped in.
“Actually,” Rainbow wondered to herself. “Actually, what might I have become had I not met Twilight and the others? Okay, a Wonderbolt probably, I am that awesome after all. But… but what else? ...Might have become like Gilda, so caught up in my own ego I… I probably wouldn’t have made a single friend. Not even Fluttershy…” she trailed off before shuddering at the thought. Fluttershy, she was her rock. What kept her sane at times she freely admitted. Or at what at least kept her from doing some moronically stupid things. Like challenging something way beyond her weight class, at least by herself. If Fluttershy wasn’t around… Well, Rainbow suspected one day or another she would do something that bordered on suicide. Like bucking a dragon in the face.
(Okay, yes, she had done that already but she had her friends to back her up including Fluttershy who gave that dragon a chewing out for the ages. Rainbow had never been so proud of her.)
While yes, it was entirely possible she may have met some other group and became awesome on her own with their help, Rainbow also knew from talks with her friends that they had all seen a certain ‘incident’. All of the Mane Six were connected by her -her! That could not be stressed enough- Sonic Rainboom because they got their cutie marks as a result of that outcome.
“For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”
It would be years before Rainbow would ever hear that quote and fully understand it. With the benefit(?) of hindsight would look upon that moment thinking of that exact quote and shudder slightly upon hearing of a certain battle between Twilight and another unicorn who equaled her in power levels. She would, years on, be told of so many possible outcomes of her never firing off that Rainboom. None of them were particularly nice possibilities. But what of the obvious question? What if she still fired off that Rainboom and yet still never met her friends? Would she stay in Ponyville? Or go back to Cloudsdale? There were numerous possibilities, for the want of a nail.
“...Okay, so what exactly are we looking for here, Doc?” Rainbow asked as she walked around the area known as Roald Dahl Plass. Off in the distance, Rainbow swore she thought she saw some sort of serpent-like creature swimming in the waters, golden in scale color. For a brief moment, she flashed back to Roam and those creatures and sighed. Yep, that one was definitely going to come back to bite her. “...For a big bad secret organization you call Torchwood, this… hardly seems like the place. I mean, there’s just a monolith and a few buildings.”
“Kinda the point, isn’t it?” the Doctor asked with a wily smirk as he walked up to said monolith, the Water Tower as it was called. “If you have a secret base, then… put it in a spot nobody would suspect!” he chimed in before banging on the monolith to the tune of a shave and a haircut.
“Genius as always… Doc.” a man in a black coat said as the base of the monolith opened up. “...Wait, doc? Is that you? Why are you a…?”
“Horse?” the Doctor asked. “Well, pony technically. Think calling me a horse would be racism or species misrepresentation. Something or other like that.”
“Oh, the jokes I can make! If you get a cough, I could probably say “Are you feeling a little horse?”
“...Please, no puns.” the Doctor groaned rubbing his temples although there was a faint ghost of a smile visible if you looked closely enough. “Especially horrible ones.”
“Oh, but bad puns are practically the foundation of the universe! I mean, we would both know given you took me to see that!” Jack replied. “Who’d have thought, the universe was formed by one bored guy and girl making terrible jokes!”
“Wait, was it really?” Twilight asked, blinking and it was then Jack finally took notice of the Doctor’s two newest companions.
“Wow Doc, guess as you get older your companions do get weirder!” Jack laughed. “Where’d you even find these two? They look like something out of a little girl’s cartoon!”
“An awesome little girls’ cartoon, I’m sure.” Rainbow huffed.
“Equus, a planet of ponies,” the Doctor replied without any trace of sarcasm or anything like that. “Trust me, it weirded me out as well.”
“I should say so!” Jack laughed and as the two exchanged barbs back and forth, Twilight suddenly found herself scooped up and hugged tightly. Rainbow fell over laughing as she watched her friend get scooped up by a black-haired woman.
“Awwwww… they’re so cute! Really, Jack, you shouldn’t mock! I mean, come on! A real-life unicorn and pegasus!” Gwen exclaimed hugging Twilight even tighter. Jack wondered if she could even breathe by now. The pony, not Gwen.
“Yep, there goes the perception filter, right out the window…” the Doctor thought to himself before looking at Gwen and blinking. “Blimey…”
“You from Cardiff?” he asked. “...You look like someone I knew once… Has to be down to spatial genetic multiplicity.”
Gwen just looked at him in confusion before turning to Jack. “...You didn’t tell me he was a horse.”
“Oh, surely this can’t be a courtesy call,” Jack remarked as he watched the Doctor trot around the Hub. He sighed to himself. A trotting Time Lord. Yep, that was going to take some getting used to, that was for sure. Oh well, at least he had plenty of puns and jokes he could make to and about the Doc now he supposed.
“What, you don’t think I can’t just drop by for a quick chat over tea and scones?” the Doctor asked holding up a cup that Ianto kid had brought him. “Really, I should start making this a habit!”
Truth be told, Jack was more than a bit nervous about why the Doctor had come to call. As much as he would have liked it to be the truth, the Doctor never just stopped by to say hello. The Time Lord -Or was that Time Pony now?- always had a reason for visiting and really, given he was ‘prejudiced’ of a sorts against his frankly rather unique condition he usually actively tried to avoid him. As the Doctor put it, he was a fixed point in time and space, not exactly something the Time Lord was supposed to be running into at every chance he could take. Which was fair enough he supposed. God knew he wouldn’t want to jump headlong into World War 1 at any and every chance he could take. Far too many bombs and guns really, and coming back to life was a right pain in the arse.
But that still didn’t change the fact that something was off about the Doctor. Well, okay something was a bit more off than usual about him, which was really saying quite a lot really. He had this odd look in his eyes, something the Captain couldn’t quite place really. It was that same -well, maybe not the same, but something similar at least- sort of look he usually got whenever he or someone else talked about Rose. So it stood to wonder, who did the Doctor lose this time?
Jack of course, he wasn’t going to pry. At least not this early, and it wouldn’t have worked anyhow. The Doctor, he knew, would have closed himself off to any further questions the moment the former Time Agent started asking around. Besides, he had a fair bit more tact than that anyhow.
In the meantime, he had to wonder did the Doctor ever find anybody else? Or anypony else he supposed. Jack sorta guessed his sexual preferences were a lot more reserved than his own. Being the sibling he thought himself as to the Doctor, he knew he would have to track down this new love of his and give them the ‘responsible big brother’ type talk. And threaten them that if they ever hurt the Doctor, he would come and hunt them down to the ends of the Earth. Or whatever that new pony planet he found himself on was called.
(With hindsight, Jack would later learn that even with being practically immortal, nothing prepared you for finding out the Lord of Time was dating a pony princess who controlled her planet’s sun. That was just bloody weird.)
Twilight meanwhile was bombarding Gwen with more questions -in true Twilight fashion- than the poor officer could probably handle while Rainbow just sat back and laughed her head off. Which was honestly fair enough one supposed, given it was an amusing sight seeing Gwen befuddled by a pony of all things.
“...But hold on, if no one can see it when the elevator’s coming up, there's a great big hole in the floor. Don't people fall in?” Twilight just had to question.
Gwen laughed before wiping a tear from her eye. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you, it’s just you remind me of myself when I came here. The first question I asked when I came here, remember Ianto?” she asked with the man in question nodding. “The Captain goes ahead and he shows you something fantastic; you find fault with it. You are a Welsh woman at heart you are, Twilight.”
“What’s a Welsh woman? And what do you mean I’m finding fault with this? It’s a perfectly logical question!” Twilight asked and Gwen only laughed harder. Twilight could only tilt her head in confusion and look at the Doctor. “What’d I say?”
“Well, at least the misses are getting along…” Jack murmured to himself.
Rainbow meanwhile underwent a hasty explanation of the Rift via Ianto.
“...Trust me, giant devil-like aliens named Abaddon? That’s only the tip of the iceberg. They kinda just slip through the Rift, use it as a door if you like. All sorts of things get washed up here. Creatures, timeshifts, space junk, debris. Flotsam and jetsam. And him.” he said, gesturing to the Doctor. “Usually him.”
“Oi, you want to rephrase that?” the Doctor asked before turning back to Jack. “Makes great tea, your boyfriend, but rather rude at times.”
“...Where does he get these friends of his?” Rainbow wondered aloud before turning to Gwen. “No hugs from you please. I don’t do hugs. So uncool.”
“Reminds me of the jocks back in high school…” Gwen muttered. “Even smells like a locker room. She just needs the jersey and the basketball. And probably the beer.”
“It’s a habit we’re trying to break of hers, trust me. The smell, and the manners,” Twilight said with a small nod. “Trust me, she could do with a few pointers on how to be more of a proper lady as Rarity calls it.”
“Ha!” Rainbow mocked. “That’ll be the day! I swear, if you even try and put me into one of those girly frilly frou-frou dresses I’m bucking you into the next century Princess’ personal student be damned!”
“This is going to take some getting used to,” Gwen murmured. “Colorful ponies with their own society, and swearing like sailors at times. Not at all like the cartoons I grew up with…”
“...You got any cider around here?” Rainbow asked. “I’m going to go raid the kitchen. ...Well, soon as I find the kitchen. Trust me, being awesome? Works wonders on the metabolism!”
“If you find any pitayas, tell me, okay?” Twilight asked.
“Honestly Twi, I don’t understand what it is with you and that-” Rainbow started before swallowing nervously as she was given a truly withering glare. “Oooooookayyyyy, I’ll let you know if I find any. But I swear, one of these days you’re going to turn into a pitaya…Mark my words...” she muttered to herself walking off.
“Welp, you’ve got her whipped,” Gwen remarked giving Twilight a fistbump. Or hoofbump really. “You’re already close to marrying her as it is.”
This garnered two reactions. One, Twilight sputtering and blushing and Rainbow looking practically indignant at marrying a ‘egghead’.
“So, tell me about Jack,” Twilight asked as she watched with curious eyes as Myfanwy -a pteranodon of all things, named after a local goddess- fly above her. “What’s he like? And how does the Doctor…”
“Know him? Well, that’s a bit of a story honestly,” Gwen admitted. “One I don’t actually have all the answers to. Mind you, those two? I can tell you this. Blood brothers. Just hearing the way Jack talks about him, I can tell you that much.”
“They don’t seem like the type, the playboy and the warrior,” Twilight mused. “Then again… odder friendships there are on my world. I mean, I know Rainbow Dash, amongst others. Not the sort you’d expect me to get along with…” she shrugged.
“I’m still not convinced you two aren’t shagging each other,” Gwen remarked and watched as Twilight’s face went red. “But yeah, I get what you mean. The Doctor and the Captain. Sounds like a terrible idea, like something out of a bad buddy cop movie but somehow…”
“It works?” Twilight returned. “So, what exactly is Torchwood anyways?”
“The last line of defense against aliens. The Doctor won’t always be here for us, as Harriet Jones said so she allowed us to… take over if you will. Lightens his load, and keeps the human race safe in the bargain. Win-win for everyone involved. The Doctor doesn’t have to like our methods, but the results…” Gwen trailed off. “This is Torchwood Three. This is Torchwood Three. Torchwood One was London, destroyed in the Battle. Torchwood Two is an office in Glasgow. A very strange man... Torchwood Four's apparently gone missing, but we’re on the lookout for it.”
“You’re very odd, all of you. You do know that, right?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow and Gwen snorted.
“As I said, true welsh you are. But yeah, I admit we’re a little odd.”
“...How’d you get involved in all of this?”
“Long story, really. Involves me being a pizza delivery girl, a serial killer and a chance meeting. And here I am, on Earth’s weirdest beat with an immortal man and a desk jockey turned into whatever the hell Jack needs him to be.”
“Wait, so Jack’s really immortal?” Twilight asked eyes widened in shock. “I thought the Doctor was…”
“Exaggerating?” Jack asked piping in. “Yeah, the thing about the Doc here? He rarely if ever does that. I’d appreciate it if you don’t go spreading me not being able to properly die around. Sorta has this tendency to freak people out,” Jack remarked. “Long story, took place very far from here. Sorta figured out the whole thing around 1892. 1892. Got in a fight on Ellis Island; a man shot me through the heart… then I woke up. Then flash forward a few years, and one nasty javelin throw later… I figured it out. I’m the man who can’t die.”
“...Just when you think you’ve seen it all…” Twilight muttered feeling rather woozy.
Jack fought back a smirk before turning back to the Doctor his expression turning serious.
“Okay, cut the crap Doctor, I know you’re not here on a social call. You never come for that,” he stated narrowing his eyes. A lesser man probably would have run off in fear at the look in them. “Trust me, wish you would but whenever you come it’s always because something bad is about to happen.”
“Okay… two days from now you will be captured and a good amount of the world’s population, about half by my counting will die horribly. Don’t look into Adipose Industries, whatever you do. Please.”
“And hearing this is supposed to stop me?” Jack growled. “Like hell. Hearing that actually makes me want to help you, I don’t care where you got your information but I will help you. Trust me Doc, I cannot stand by after hearing something like that.”
“Did you hear the part about you being captured?” the Doctor asked eyes narrowed. Even as a pony, the effect was still intimidating to say the least given who the Doctor was. You could put him in a different body, but the Oncoming Storm would always find a way to remind you of his reputation.
“So, been captured before. I’m sure future me will find a way to bust out,” Jack laughed and the Doctor gave him a look. How could he be so flippant about this? Jack could only sigh. “Honestly Doctor, you need to remember you’re never alone in this. You never have been. Let us help you, just this once. I know you’re hardly a fan of Torchwood and you have every right to hate the group after what they pulled at Canary Wharf, but this… This is our jurisdiction and our specialty. And this time we will be helping you. So… please. Let us.” Jack pleaded.
The Doctor ran a frantic hoof through his mane before sighing and giving his answer.
“I’m growing… concerned with Auntie, really…” Blueblood said over lunch towards Fancy Pants one afternoon. “I’m beginning to think the Master has her in his thralls really.” the Prince muttered to himself, tossing a glance towards the neighborhood where he knew the Master was being held under strict armed guard now. Personally, Blueblood was of the mind they should have gone with this solution, to begin with, only skipping the fancy house and going right to the dungeons.
Or banished him to the sun as Luna ‘suggested’. That would have worked just as well.
Now Blueblood got it, he got it. He knew Celestia, Faust bless her soul, was just trying to be forgiving and try to uphold the standards of what her beau would want her to do. He certainly understood the Master was the Doctor’s foalhood friend so he could sympathize with that. But there came a point in time when forgiveness went right out the window. The Master was a clear and present danger to society, and if the Doctor was correct he always had been.
“...What makes you so worried about this?” Fancy asked. “Look, I get the Master unnerves you… well, unnerves all of us really but…”
“Take a few days back. This is what I happened to overhear and walk in on…”
““Ah, but you remember your actions do you not? Burning that sweet, sweet creature to a crisp, making an example out of her! You relishing in your own power, and lust for revenge against the world that took your sister from you! You and your sister, as much as you like to deny it, you’re a lot more alike than you think!” the Master remarked in a snide, mocking tone. Blueblood had just walked into the house. Now, common sense told him to charge in with horn alight with magic and take the madman down, but on the other hoof, his aunt could handle herself and it would probably be best to see where this went.
So Blueblood opted to wait and listen. Pressing his ears up against the wall, he listened to the ongoing conversation. He overheard the distinctive tone of magic crackling in the air, and then a bolt being fired. A loud thud, and a shout of pain. Blueblood smirked. His Auntie, despite all reports to the contrary, was hardly a soft mare to the point of letting anyone walk all over. She had been taught by the great Starswirl the Bearded for a reason, and when she deemed it necessary to use force, it showed.
Never judge a book by it’s cover, that was the old saying. Quite a few ponies just looked at Blueblood and wrote him off as the generic Canterlot snob. And the same was true of sorts with his auntie, looking at her and her history and thinking she just let conquerors fester. But neither was the truth really. Both, when it came down to it could be capable ponies in society. Equestria had survived 1000 years without Luna for a reason, and the nobles had been managed somehow. Both ponies had their strengths.
“...I know you’ve still got some of Daybreaker in you waiting to be let out. All it just takes? One bad day!” the Master laughed. Blueblood raised an eyebrow. Daybreaker? That was a new one. Some sort of code word or maybe even a… The Prince shuddered at the thought. Yeah, no. He did not need that image burrowed into his skull. Whatever it meant, it seemed to terrify Celestia to the point she was whispering frantically under her breath. the Master ranted on for a little while longer before Blueblood had finally had enough.
“You know, you really talk too much,” Blueblood said as he walked into the room, zapping the Master’s mouth shut with a beam of arctic-blue magic. “Maybe this house is too nice for you, maybe I should just toss you in a dungeon!”
He walked over to his aunt and helped her up. “You alright Auntie?” he asked softly after a time looking towards the Master and giving him a withering glare. It didn’t really phase the Master but Blueblood couldn’t be bothered to care at that moment. He’d made his point.
“...Faust, I… I just don’t know about Auntie…” Blueblood muttered with Fancy having paid a listening ear and nodding at the appropriate moments. “On one hoof, I can see where she’s coming from, but on the other...?”
“Unfortunately the concern is that leaving him under House Arrest isn’t much of a punishment, at least not for the severity of the crimes he’s accused of,” Fancy Pants said. “I know outright execution is out of the question for many reasons, but we have to consider alternatives.”
“...Tell me about it,” Blueblood muttered rubbing his now scraggly chin with a hoof. “You know why I’m drinking coffee now, right? I’ve been up at nights just trying to figure out what to do with this bastard.” he continued taking another swig of his beverage.
“Unfortunately the Moon isn’t much of an option either with the Doctor,” Fancy Pants added as he took a drink. Blueblood could only guess at how much of a tab the two would run up between them. “There has to be another option really. The fact of the matter is with this kind of crime, house arrest is basically a slap on the hoof.”
“Who said anything about the moon? I was thinking a shot right into the sun really…” Blueblood commented and Fancy stared at him. “...What, don’t give me that look. Surely you must have been thinking about it. Luna certainly is at least.”
Blueblood chuckled to himself. Always the more battle-hungry of the two, really. Suppose it came with being the wilder younger sibling with more tempestuous temperament.
“And how do you suggest we do that without Celestia’s help? Kick him there?” Fancy Pants suggested.
“...I could probably find a way. Maybe that Applejack mare could help. Nice good hips…” Blueblood mused. In hindsight, he probably should have phrased that better given the later teasing Fancy would give him over possibly having a crush on the farm mare. Which was certainly anything but the truth, Blueblood thought with a small blush. “Auntie certainly wouldn’t approve, but we’d certainly be rid of the Master.”
“And neither would the Doctor, which from what you tell me makes things… difficult,” Fancy replied. He looked thoughtful for a moment. “We could put him in Tartarus. It’s hard to break out of and the Doctor could visit if he wants.”
“Ah yes, but there is a problem with that. It would certainly satisfy everybody involved, but…” Blueblood trailed off. “But there is an issue.”
“What’s that?”
“The Master’s… charismatic. Now remind me, how many dangerous criminals have been tossed into Tartarus over the years?” Blueblood asked. “Just how many?”
Comprehension dawned on Fancy’s face.
“Exactly,” Blueblood continued. “You see the issue here.”
“Yes… that would be a problem,” Fancy agreed. “So what should we do?”
“That is the issue, isn’t it?” Blueblood sighed after taking a deep breath. “Quite honestly, there’s no easy solution here. Either they aren’t something the Doctor would approve of, or they’re flawed just enough to be considered folly.” he groaned rubbing his temples with a hoof. Days like this made him wonder why he swore off drinking.
“Excusez-moi, si je peux buter dans?” Fleur asked as she walked over. “If I may question, why do you… say, just this once hang the Doctor’s wishes as they call it? Do what’s best for Equestria and your auntie, Blueblood? From what I can gather, this Master is a danger towards everypony. Even Celestia should realize this.”
Blueblood tried to suppress a groan. He wasn’t exactly a fan truth be told of letting Fleur in on this whole deal, but then again she had push and pull in Canterlot being in the position she was in. The mare was already respected a great deal. Plus, she was Fancy’s wife. And what husband could be expected to keep secrets from their wife? Honestly, he would have been more surprised if Fleur didn’t learn about this ongoing debate sooner than she already had.
“She should, and does to a degree” Fancy agreed. “But convincing her to properly deal with him is the problem.”
“Yes, quite. It is a conundrum, non?” Fleur agreed in kind. “Yes, the Princesse is a very good ruler, but I do wonder if she is too hung up on the Doctor at the moment. Yes, they make a cute couple, -at least I imagine they would- but this does have its downfalls.”
“...Tell me about it,” Blueblood muttered. “Look, I understand Celestia’s viewpoint. If we suddenly started executing ponies, -especially those who are supposed to be the Doctor’s friend- we’d have a public outcry. Execution… it just isn’t done. But on the other hoof…”
“We have a massive problem with the Master,” Fleur admitted. “He’s too dangerous to just toss in a dungeon and be forgotten about.”
“Agreed, so what do we do with him?” Fancy asked thoughtfully. “It feels like we’re missing an obvious solution here.”
“...I have a question,” Fleur asked. “Does the Doctor even know the Master’s being kept on House Arrest? C'est une question qui mérite d'être posée vraiment…” she muttered.
“She’s got a point,” Blueblood agreed, thankful for those Prench lessons his tutor had given him growing up. “I mean, for all the Doctor knows, we just chucked his old friend in a dungeon or the like. He probably assumed we’d have good judgment in dealing with him. Actually, an amendation to that. He assumed Celestia would have good judgment in dealing with him. I can’t imagine he’ll be happy when he finds out his beau is being a fool.”
Blueblood sighed once more. Bless his auntie’s heart for being an idealist -Goddess knows the world certainly needed more of them- but she could be so blind at times. He honestly loved her, but his aunt could be so foolish at times. At least when it came to the Doctor.
But then again, that Daybreaker comment the Master had made seemed to have her rattled. He didn’t exactly know what Daybreaker meant, but he could probably manage up a good guess. If Luna could have ‘one bad day’, who’s to say his auntie didn’t have the potential to completely lose it? Now, there were no recorded records of this actually happening as far as he knew, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t and Celestia hadn’t found a way to bury this fact. Or maybe the Master was hinting at it having the possibility of it happening it and had scared Celestia too much. Maybe she was actually afraid of the possibility of one simple thing sending her over the edge. Maybe that’s why she wasn’t taking the proper action against the Master. Maybe she was afraid if she took down one maniac, she wouldn’t be able to stop and then just deal with minor criminals in the same way.
“Yes, this is exactly why I’m regretting my choice not to drink…” Blueblood thought. “Days like this, with issues like this.”
“There’s just no obvious win-win situation here, is there?” Fancy mused to himself and took another sip of his drink. Of course, unknownst to anyone was a figure watching them. Largely white, with a pink mane. Now, obviously, of course, you’d think ponies would figure out who this was in an instance. But that was just the thing. It was the classic Clark Kent syndrome. Nobody would ever think Celestia would pick such an obvious glamour for her disguise. And she had used this fact to listen in between the three unnoticed. And she was sighing to herself at how right they all were in their own ways.
“I have been letting the question ‘What would the Doctor do?’ blind me to the obvious. Daybreaker or no Daybreaker, I have an entire Kingdom to protect. It's tiime I get started on that.”
The Adipose group was really one of those little oddities, Jack had to muse to himself. It was like one day they just popped up out of nowhere. It was almost as if someone grew the tower block they called home -which, given past experiences wasn’t that far-fetched really- and then just took up residence. It was this that put them on Torchwood’s radar, them springing up so quickly. He’d planned to launch a little investigation into what they were doing at some point. Granted, he never had exactly planned on doing it with a little horse that used to be the Doctor.
Jack was still getting used to this little factoid, really. Honestly, he wouldn’t be sure if he ever would get used to it. It was like the Doctor suddenly regenerating into a woman. Life just didn’t prepare you for things like this.
“So, how're things going in there?” Twilight asked. Clearly, her just waltzing into the main lobby would be folly. For so many reasons. So, here she was in the back of some nondescript van listening in with a packet of chips in hoof.
She would now always pity those poor Royal Guards that were always put on a stakeout for one reason or another, considering she was now in exactly that same sort of position.
This whole scenario… Well, it wasn’t exactly something she’d put on her day planner to be sure.
She turned towards Rainbow, who didn’t exactly look thrilled about being tossed to the sidelines, to say the least. This didn’t surprise anyone who knew Rainbow in the slightest. The mare preferred to be front and center, possibly beating the villain of the day into a bloody pulp on the floor. But quite honestly, even a perception filter wouldn’t hide a rainbow-maned pegasus to the humans. Or a lavender unicorn. Or an earth pony who suddenly started talking and asking all sorts of questions and Rainbow knew this. So clearly, a more practical solution was needed. And that solution was Ianto posing as a member of the Health and Safety board apparently while everyone else just sat and listened.
“Oh, relax. Anything Ianto hears, we hear. He’s all wired up,” Jack smiled cheekily. “...Trust me, I checked.”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what exactly the man meant by that, Twilight thought with a small blush creeping up her features.
Gwen took notice of this and turned to her. “...Oh, you think this is bad?” she whispered over a currently ongoing presentation about how the fat just walked away or something like that. “You should have been here when Tosh walked in on them having sex on Jack’s desk.”
“Oh, oh hold up!” Jack remarked possibly trying to move the conversation away from his and Ianto’s love life. “Let’s let the reporters talk. Good for comedy gold, if nothing else really…”
“Excuse me, Miss Foster. If I could?” a voice crackled into through Ianto’s transceiver. “I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?”
“Oh, I like her…” Rainbow laughed. “Man oh man, I wish I could be there to see this Miss Foster’s face! She seemed like such a smug little bi-”
“Rainbow, language!” both Twilight and Gwen reprimanded with Twilight rubbing her temples. She figured right about now if she had a swear jar Twilight would have made herself a very rich mare off of Rainbow alone.
“...Fine, spoil my fun why don’t you?” Rainbow muttered crossing her forelegs and looking like a spoilt child who’d been denied their candy. “...Man, sure we couldn’t have snuck me in there as some sort of plush toy?”
“...You’re er… a bit big for that, I think. And a bit too realistic,” Gwen murmured snickering at the image of Ianto carrying around the pegasus like a stuffed toy. “I don’t think you would have convinced anybody.”
“You sure? I mean, failing that you could pass me off as some sort of mutated chihuahua or something right?” Rainbow asked.
“A chihuahua with blue fur and wings?” Twilight asked raising an eyebrow.
“Meh, you’d be surprised what some morons would believe at times,” Rainbow said with a shrug of her wings. “I mean, start waving around a clipboard in the right situations and people shut up and listen right?”
“She’s got a point there!” Jack laughed.
“I… I think there’s a clear difference between this and that,” Twilight muttered before turning her attention back to Ianto’s transceiver.
“But, can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?” that same reporter, Penny asked. If one listened closely, the sound of teeth grinding could be heard. That was probably Miss Foster, really.
“We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone, but from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin.” Miss Foster replied and if Jack didn’t know better he swore she was smirking. He grit his teeth, the bitch.
“...Thin and what else?” Jack had to ask turning towards the Doctor. It was in all honesty, starting to get a little cramped in this van. Now normally, he’d make a joke about that but somehow he’d lost the mood. Well, that and he figured Twilight would probably beat him over the head. “What’s her endgame really?”
“Maybe she really is trying to make us all thin as rakes,” the Doctor commented before the two both shared a look and began laughing their arses off. Oh, if only right? But things were never that simple.
The Doctor groaned to himself, as much as he enjoyed working with Jack again this wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. One would think having future knowledge would be a benefit but Donna really hadn’t elaborated on how exactly the company had carried out their nefarious plot. His brain had mostly stopped at the point when he heard that Jack had been captured.
And now he had a chance to fix that. Trouble was, with a lack of information things weren’t quite so easy. He so wished he could be on the inside, he probably would have had this whole thing solved in just an hour just by talking to the right people. Mind you, not even the psychic paper would explain away a talking horse. So here he was, stuck in the back of a bloody van eating week-old food. He chuckled bitterly to himself, seems being a horse wasn’t entirely as good as he thought it was. And just when he’d figured out how to use his sonic in this form as well!
So, time flew by with a whole lot of boredom as these things went the group just mostly listening to Ianto hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of Adipose Industries and trying -and mostly failing- to get any information out of them.
The Doctor meanwhile, in-between trying not to freak out on the possibility of him failing to save Jack twice in a row wracked his brain. Adipose… Adipose he thought to himself. He swore he’d heard that name somewhere else before. Was it a group, or was it a planet? Goodness knows he’d been to so many at times they all seemed like just a jumble inside his brain. He sighed to himself, he’d probably remember where he’d heard it before at a later day.
Ianto really, well he wasn’t having much better of a day. Now, when most people imagined a spy’s life they thought of the glamour and romance of a guy zipping around nations in a nice car romancing beautiful women and shooting people. The truth was… well, it was nothing quitelike that.
A spy’s life was… mostly boring. It involved in actuality, less romance and less nice cars than you thought it did. Less nice suits as well. And certainly no blackjack and no foreign nations.
James Bond, he certainly was not. The reality of the life was more investigating things with a cup of stale ramen or hiding in the vents just listening to people talk for hours on end.
As the day wore on, Ianto found himself in the middle of the offices listening to people talk away endlessly over the phone with potential customers and investors. And so did Jack and the others for that matter. He wouldn’t be surprised if the group had fallen asleep by this point out of sheer boredom really.
“...That's a three-week course of pills for a special price of forty-five pounds. I assure you, no side effects from any of this. Trust me, it’s been proven to work!” one of the telephone workers said to the possible latest fish he’d hooked. Lots of little junior Gordon Geckos working and slaving away at their office like drones in some massive hive. That’s what it was like working in this frankly oppressive environment Ianto had observed.
Ianto’s head turned, and for a brief moment, he saw a flash of red hair and another woman flashing a very obviously false Health and Safety badge to one of the workers. He debated on calling her out on it, but decided she wasn’t really that important. He had bigger fish to fry. Namely those with liposuctioned lips and unnaturally blond hair.
“The box comes with 21 days worth of pills, a full information pack, and our special free gift, an Adipose Industries pendant,” the man continued over the phone even as Ianto pulled up a chair and flashed his badge. He looked at the pendant, a gold-plated pill. Not his idea of a fashion statement for sure. “...It's made of eighteen-carat gold, and it's yours for free. No, we don't give away pens, sorry. No, I can't make an exception, no.”
Ianto tapped him on the shoulder and the man looked up at him. Craig, by his ID tag. “I'll just need to keep this for testing. And I just need a list of your customers. Could you print it off?” Ianto requested and the man nodded. Determined not to give away the illusion, Ianto continued. “Does it need a code? The last place I worked, the printer needed a code.”
Okay, that much was true at least. Torchwood’s printers always needed a code, much to everyone’s chareign. “No, no. I can do it from here. Just wait and watch,” Craig clarified.
Ianto turned his head and saw the red-haired woman going through the same pains as him, even asking if it was that printer over there by the potted fern.
Just then, Miss Foster walked in flanked by two rough and tough looking guys in suits. Clearing her throat in a way that made Ianto question if she ever needed a cough drop, she asked: “Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention?”
Everyone stood at this. Smiling in this sickeningly sweet way, Foster continued. “On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Because if anyone's good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now, back to it.” she asked and Ianto felt shivers run through his body. And it wasn’t because of any sudden drops in temperature trust me.
“So much for this mission being a relaxing one, with her breathing down my neck…”
“So if you could just print off that list, I'll get out of your way. Lovely. Thanks, then. See you,” Ianto smiled before Craig handed him a slip of paper. “Oh, what's that?”
“My telephone number,” Craig said. “You be health, and I’ll be safety.”
“Uh…” Ianto said tugging at his collar. “Uh…”
It took all of Jack’s strength and self-control to not burst in there and shoot Craig dead then and there. Needless to say, perhaps Gwen and the Doctor might have helped reign in him as well.
Ianto on the other hand? He couldn’t quite get out of there fast enough, leaving a hurried: “Ah. Ah. But that contravenes er, paragraph five, subsection C. Sorry!”
Jack was still seething later that night as Torchwood took to the streets of London’s suburbs in search of some of the customers Ianto had managed to get ahold of.
“...The nerve of him!” Jack muttered even an angry horn let out a sharp honk as Jack swerved the van barely missing a car. “I swear, people these days!”
“Hey, he didn’t know any better,” Ianto commented. “I don’t see why you’re getting all up in such a huff. You know I only have eyes for you…”
There was a sound of a mock gag in the background. Probably Rainbow.
“Yes, sorry. It’s just I’m still trying to work out this relationship… thing,” Jack admitted even as Gwen roared past in the team’s distinctive heavily armored SUV. Inside that, rested the Doctor and Twilight. “You must understand that you’re my first stable relationship in… what, 100 years? Maybe more… Before you, it was just-”
“Fling after fling, I know,” Ianto sighed. “Yeah, I know. But this still doesn’t excuse you getting all uppity for one guy having a flirt with me. And need I remind you, he didn’t know I was dating anyone!” the man pointed out.
“This is going to be a thing, isn’t it?” Jack muttered before sighing at the look Ianto gave him. “Yep, definitely going to be a thing…”
Pushing those thoughts aside, Jack’s thoughts returned to that of the Doctor. Flashing back to Cardiff, he thought back to their last conversation deep beneath the bay…
“So, been captured before. I’m sure future me will find a way to bust out,” Jack laughed and the Doctor gave him a look. How could he be so flippant about this? Jack could only sigh. “Honestly Doctor, you need to remember you’re never alone in this. You never have been. Let us help you, just this once. I know you’re hardly a fan of Torchwood and you have every right to hate the group after what they pulled at Canary Wharf, but this… This is our jurisdiction and our specialty. And this time we will be helping you. So… please. Let us.” Jack pleaded.
The Doctor ran a frantic hoof through his mane before sighing and giving his answer.
“Alright.” the Time Lord agreed. “But we do this by the book. No fancy hero stuff okay?”
“Doc, listen. I know you’re scared,” Jack sighed kneeling down to the pony’s level. Well, at least it was a definite step up from being cold and prejudiced towards him for being an ‘anomaly’ he supposed. “But there’s a reason why we’re in this together now. You’ve never been alone, you understand this right?”
Actually, the Captain wasn’t sure if he preferred the cold and rude Doctor to this new stubborn one. At least that one didn’t want to be near him because of his status, not because he was afraid of losing someone else. Jack understood where he was coming from. After Tosh and Owen, well… Jack would be frankly terrified of losing another member of his team. And after Rose and the aftermath of Canary Wharf, he knew the Doctor was just as scared of losing another figure in his life. He may not have admitted it, but he could see it in the Doctor’s eyes.
It was a look Jack knew all too well, given he saw it in the mirror every morning.
“Doctor... “ Jack continued. “I get where you’re coming from, I really do. I don’t know what you’ve been up to since the whole thing with the year that never was and the Master but-”
“...I’m so sick of losing people,” the Doctor sighed. “I mean, look at you, with your eyes, and your never giving up, and your anger, and your kindness. All you humans. Suppose you keep me from going spare I suppose…”
“Well, nice to know you think of us so much,” Jack commented with a small sad smile. “But what’s your point?”
“You saw the end of the universe, you saw what’s coming. Humans, always been something I’ve relied upon. I suppose after seeing even they will pass… No, not just pass, they’ll be butchered and mutilated. I suppose after seeing all that, I got in my box and I did what I always do. I just… ran.” the Doctor whispered looking towards Twilight, happily chatting away with Gwen neither of the none the wiser. “And ran I did. Ran so far and so fast I ended up with them. Innocent little things, you’d think, right? But they’re more like humans than I’d care to admit. Perhaps that’s why when I found Equestria… I was so tempted to stay as it’s fate isn’t yet set in stone.”
“And have you?” Jack asked. “Stayed, I mean?”
“Possibly considering it, yes. There’s someon… No, somepony that might finally convince me to stop running.”
“Nice to hear you’re getting back on the wagon again,” Jack smiled. “So, what’s her name? Or his, far be it from me to judge!” he laughed.
“Celestia,” the Doctor noted with more than a hint of fondness. Jack was tempted to make a joke, something about only the Doctor falling for someone with a name like that or vice versa but decided against it. Instead, he listened. “...Can’t believe I’m saying it, but she’s probably one of the only creatures in this universe who’s almost exactly like me. She’s no Time Lord, but I’d be honored to call her one. So wise, and so so old…”
“Now I have to meet her. I guess what they say is true, the reality is never quite like how you expected. Between the motion and the act…” Jack started with the Doctor finishing for him.
“Falls the shadow.” the Time Lord mused.
Back in the present, Ianto yelped as Jack jerked the wheel to avoid running headlong into the back end of another vehicle. Another horn honked as the immortal Captain was shot back to the present.
“Hey, between your marital spats and your driving, think I’m probably going to get sick back here!” Rainbow shouted before letting out a soft moan.
“Oh, don’t you dare throw up on the carpets back there!” Jack shouted back at her. “God knows it took ages to get them to put it in. Reupholstering them is going to be a nightmare…”
Ianto suddenly burst out laughing and Jack looked at him. “...We have such weird lives, you know that?” the Welshman asked. “I mean, only we would run into talking ponies from another world! Only us!”
Jack soon was laughing as well at this realization while Rainbow was just plain confused.
Eventually, the van pulled into suburbia and was quickly hidden away in an alley to avoid any odd questions. “Lights off,” Jack told Rainbow. “If you see anyone coming, just hide.”
“Wait, why am I staying back here? I mean, I could help!” Rainbow shouted. “You should see me! I once single hooftidly exposed some changelings in ancient Roam!”
“Yeah, but this isn’t your planet,” Jack stated. “This is the suburbs, and I’d really not have to Retcon away an entire neighborhood because they started asking around about a rainbow-maned pegasus.”
Rainbow harrumphed but conceded his point. Celestia knew ponies would freak if they saw Jack or someone like him waltzing up the streets of Canterlot. Hell, Rainbow had been around the guy for hours now and she still was getting used to his appearance. So, she could see where Jack was coming from.
In any case, Jack meanwhile had gone up to the house of one mister Roger Davey and rang the doorbell, with the man having come out to see him and Ianto.
“Mister Roger Davey? We’re calling on behalf of Adipose Industries. Just need to ask you a few questions,” Jack said giving the man one of his winning smiles. “Nothing more, nothing less. Come now, nothing to be afraid of.”
Gwen was doing much the same thing at another house, while the Doctor and Twilight snuck around and tried to look for anything… off. Presumably, Gwen was a bit more loose with the rules. Or the Doctor’s perception filter was working much better with him and Twilight.
“I've been on the pills for two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos,” Roger explained with Ianto taking notes all the while. “And that’s the same amount every day I should explain.”
“Same amount?” Ianto asked and Roger nodded in turn.
“Yes, exactly. Same amount every day. One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning.”
Now, this got Jack’s curiosity intrigued, to say the least. Raising an eyebrow, he said: “Oh, what makes you say that?”
“That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time,” Roger replied. “Seems fair enough, right?”
Ianto and Jack could only shrug.
Roger explained. “It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes!” the man said throwing up his hands in the air in exasperation.
“But there’s been no burglars, right?” Ianto asked. “Not even the one?”
“Not even the one,” Roger clarified. “I mean, it’s really odd. Nothing. I've given up looking frankly…” he said taking a sip of his tea.
Jack looked towards the front door and asked upon observation: “Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?”
“It was here when I bought the house. I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person.”
A suspicion was beginning to form in Jack’s mind, and from the dawning look on Ianto’s eyes, he’d realized it as well.
“Is that what it is, though? Cats getting inside the house?” Roger asked. In Jack’s mind, this theory was a bit of a long one truth be told. Crazy, wild and possibly insane. But then again, he had seen weirder. Much weirder.
“...Well, that’s the thing about cat flaps isn’t it?” Jack muttered. “They don't just let things in, they let things out as well…”
After all, he mused. After all, as they said. After all, the fat just walks away. The Doctor galloping past with an odd device in hoof confirmed something was up in Jack’s mind, and he rushed out the door. Ianto meanwhile just gave him the Torchwood hotline.
Following after the Doctor, Jack met up with him in an alleyway where some knocked over garbage cans indicated something had come this way.
“Well… so much for a quiet night in the suburbs eh Doc?” Jack asked, and the Time Lord could only nod.
“I think we’d better have another look at Adipose Industries…” he added.
Back in Equestria, the Master was still on House Arrest and smirking to himself. He’d gotten to Celestia. The look on her face said it all. She was sufficiently rattled. So much for the high and mighty Princess these ponies looked up to he thought with a devilish smirk.
Yes, it was petty revenge for denying him his chance to rule Equestria but he was a petty man. And nothing would have amused him more than getting to the Doctor’s newfound mane -he chuckled to himself at the pun- squeeze.
And his grin only ever grew wider as Celestia stepped inside. Smirking to himself, he began to speak.
“So, here to-” he started with his confidence at an all-time high considering his last victory over the Princess of the Sun.
It was soon to fade as spears were pointed at him by Royal Guards and he was cuffed.
And so with a new curiosity soundly pricked, the team returned to the office building. Rainbow for one was so glad to be out of that van.
“Ugh, let me tell you,” she muttered. “I was starting to get claustro-whatever it is just by staying in that thing. I’m a pegasus, we do not do cramped spaces!”
“Claustrophobic, Rainbow Dash? I should imagine the phobic part’s not that hard to remember.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Besides, it could be worse. You could have something called Quesadillaphobia.”
“...Do I even want to know?” Rainbow asked as she walked down the darkened hallway with her friend and Jack. “...Seriously, do I even want to know? Still say I missed out on Ianto’s infiltration earlier. You could have passed me off as a mutated chihuahua or something. Or a giant plushie. Whichever works.”
“Oh, get over it, you two. This isn’t the right time to be talking about phobias!” The Doctor muttered to himself. “There’s something fishy going on in this place and I don’t mean the kind of fishy that’s battered and accompanied with chips, salt, and vinegar.”
“Just sayin’, I missed out on something awesome...” Rainbow muttered to herself. Truth be told, she wasn’t happy but not for the reasons you’d expect. Ever since Jack came on the scene with his fancy Torchwood team of badasses then she had started feeling… well, inferior I suppose you could call it? She wanted to prove herself useful, but time and again Jack and co stole the spotlight.
“Awesome? What do you mean awesome, Rainbow Dash?” Ianto asked over the radio lifting one of his brows. “I don’t think anything about walking lumps of fat with faces and wide eyes like something out of a horror film could ever be awesome...”
“They were kinda… and can’t believe I’m saying this… well, kinda cute actually,” Rainbow said with a shudder and both the Doctor and Twilight looked at her. “...I know, surprised me too for saying that.”
“...So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for here Doc?” Jack asked. “I mean, really? Is it something we’ll just know when we see it?”
“There’s something buried underneath Adipose Industries. Something that I don’t think anyone but the top dog gets to see. Whether it’s some kind of incriminating data file, some kind of high-class weapon, or a factory involving those… things, it’s dangerous. And we are probably the only creatures on this planet who can pull this off.”
“...Well, the thing is there is an obvious solution to all of this,” Jack noted and everyone looked at him this time. “Just go look in Miss Foster’s… office,” he said slowly as if he had suddenly realized something. The Doctor was soon to follow.
“OOOOHHHHHH! OH!” He shouted before muttering. “Oh…”
“What, what is it?” Gwen’s voice crackled over the radio.
“You and Ianto just stay put, keep an eye on things from outside and be ready to move if anything happens,” Jack said. “Don’t you see? Foster. As in foster mother! How did we not realize this?”
“Perception filter? ...Or maybe we’re just that thick.” the Doctor muttered nickering in disgust.
“You know there are so many jokes I could make about you right now, right?” Jack asked. “Say for example you got a cold. I could say you were feeling a little… horse!”
Rainbow, Twilight, and the Doctor all gave him a flat stare.
“...Okay, a poor joke I know.” Jack admitted.
“Just stick to your job, Torchwood boy.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at him before soon her and Jack began lagging behind.
“Gee. Sorry. Didn’t know you girls hated puns,” Jack shrugged. “For real, though. Why do you hate puns?”
“I’m not saying I mind puns, I just prefer good ones,” Rainbow remarked. “Now lay it on me Torchwood boy, what’s being an immortal really like? Surely it’s not just all babes and action heroics…”
“Have you ever considered just about how pointless death is? When you can just keep coming back to life over and over again without anything stopping you?” Jack Harkness let out the longest sigh that he had ever unleashed, causing his blood to run cold as his body shivered. “All this time, thinking that you’re gonna die, when in reality, you can’t. Ever. Not even if the world were to just blow up and wipe everything out all at once. Truth be told, Rainbow Dash, I want a challenge. I want something to make the action all worth it. But how do I make it all worth it when I can never, ever, EVER die?”
Rainbow debated on telling Jack about the Face of Boe thing she’d heard the Doctor mention once or twice. She knew Jack was from this place called the Boeshane Peninsula, so that did raise questions…
“...Honestly, I don’t actually know,” Rainbow muttered. “...You know, somehow I just realized how Princess Celestia feels, and her sister.”
Jack looked at her curiously. “Who are Princess Celestia and her sister? Are they girls that I should know about?”
Rainbow chuckled. “Always the flirt aren’t you? ...Mind you, I wouldn’t recommend flirting with Princess Celestia, not unless you want the Doctor after your ass. His main squeeze… I think. Well, if you believe Twilight anyways. Personally, I find it hard to believe, Celestia dating anypony but…” she shrugged her shoulders.
Jack suddenly remembered a conversation he’d had earlier with the Doctor back at the base. He had mentioned he was out on the dating scene or something to that effect. Okay, now he was having that honorary big brother talk with this ‘Princess Celestia’. Well, he supposed it couldn’t be any weirder than the Doctor dating Janis Joplin for a time. Could it?
“There’s one thing that I can say about being immortal, Rainbow Dash. And I think someone like you is gonna wanna go with this advice,” Jack broke the silence between them at long last. “If you’re gonna be a long-term thrill seeker; someone who wants to be risky, dangerous, and love every second of it, then PLEASE, for the love of god, don’t wind up like me. My life might seem like it’s all chaos and no rest, but in truth, all of the chaos is just boring now. I’m gonna survive it regardless, so what’s even the point? I’m what they call one of those Mary Sues now,” he laughed bitterly.
Rainbow decided not to question what a Mary Sue was. Instead, she just did something that surprised even her. She actually wrapped her forelegs around Jack’s waist and hugged him tightly. “Listen to yourself, you big dumb idiot. There’s always something worth living for, you hear?”
“I know that. I’m just telling you that if you’re seeking danger, don’t be like me. Just be yourself. And while you’re at it, try not to find any immortality drinks or stuff,” Jack chuckled weakly before the laughter faded not long after. “So tell me, who is Princess Celestia, and what’s she like?”
“Oh, she’s like totally cool and stuff, raises the sun while her sister raises the moon and all that. Her sister got corrupted for a while, and was tossed inside the moon like some Neighponiese anime but thanks in part to my awesomeness -and Twilight’s- she’s back now,” Rainbow said waving a hoof casually and dismissively before she noticed the look on Jack’s face. “...Or is this sort of stuff not common on your world?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that it’s far-fetched. I mean, a pony raising the sun and another raising the moon? After what I’ve seen with Doc and his pals and some of the shite here at Torchwood, it hardly seems impossible now, does it?”
“So what’s your weirdest thing then?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“...Might have been Owen, bless him, giving Death itself the metaphorical middle finger…”
“...Oh, I can see why you’re one of the Doc’s friends,” Rainbow smirked. “You and I, I think we’re going to get along just… fine.” Rainbow murmured but Jack picked up on her tone.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Agh… I don’t know. Maybe it’s jealousy? Do I get jealous? It’s just… well, I suppose after you guys came along I’m starting to feel like a bit of a third wheel I guess. I mean, you’ve known the Doc longer than I have and he seems so pleased to have you around again,” Rainbow said before laughing bitterly. “Tartarus, why don’t you and I switch spots around eh?”
“Heh. That’ll be the day,” Jack scoffed with a smile. “But seriously, the Doc… He’s picky on his companions. If you’ve earned his respect, then you’re onboard the TARDIS for a reason. For a reason.”
Rainbow could simply chuckle to herself. This was true enough she supposed. The Doctor did not pick his companions carelessly. There was always a reason, a method to his madness. But before she or Jack could think on this any further, there was a loud screeching sound before they felt the ground rushing up to meet them…
“Anyone seen Jack?” Twilight had to ask as the twosome made their way up to Miss Foster’s office. “...Please don’t tell me he got lost.”
“Rainbow Dash isn’t here either…” The Doctor scratched his chin. “You don’t suppose they wound up into trouble? I really hate it when that happens.”
“Rainbow can take care of herself, so can Jack. I mean, it would just be a simple matter of kicking someone in the face to floor them, right?” Twilight asked. “And you may not believe this, but Rainbow’s stronger than she looks. I think she could fly Jack out of any troubling situations in 10 seconds flat.”
“Unless someone created a hyper-gravitational effect in the room, therefore nullifying all forms of movement not going directly down to the ground… But what am I thinking? There’s no way anyone could have cooked up something like that. I’m right, aren’t I? There’s no such thing as gravity tech?” The Doctor asked around, only to be met with silence. “Okay. Yeah. You’re probably right.”
“Keep talking to yourself Doc, and people will start to think you’re crazy,” Twilight teased before she stopped and gestured with a hoof. “Oh, hold up. I hear… something. Not sure what it is, but…”
She and the Doctor pressed themselves to a window that looked inside Foster’s office. In her haste, Twilight forgot to case a ‘notice me not’ spell.
Meanwhile, in the Torchwood SUV Ianto was studying the little pendant he’d gotten from the office. The Doctor had said something about it being a bio flip switch, whatever that meant. Suddenly, for whatever reason, he felt a sudden urge to run out of the van.
“Ianto, where the ‘ell are you going!?!” Gwen shouted. “We were supposed to stay put! ...God, men!”
Back inside the building a certain reporter was brought inside Foster’s office by two massive men. Twilight and the Doctor shared a nervous swallow, they looked… dangerous.
“...You can't tie me up. What sort of a country do you think this is?” Penny demanded.
Miss Foster could only chuckle. “Oh dear dear Penny,” she said in this cute but condescending way. “It’s a glorious one. A beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've traveled a long way to find obesity on this scale…”
Penny struggled but stared Foster defiantly in the eyes. “So, come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?”
Miss Foster chuckled sweetly and held up a capsule. “Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Penny demanded.
“Doctor, we got to get in there,” Twilight demanded in a hushed whisper. “Celestia only knows what they’re going to do to her!”
“Shh, shh. Just listen for now…” the Doctor whispered back.
“Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanizes it to form a body. I am a bit surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children…” Foster remarked as a little creature hopped up onto her desk. Twilight and the Doctor’s eyes widened in unison.
“Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat…” the Doctor almost growled. Then his eyes widened for an entirely different reason.
“Just how many of these can she make out of someone?” Twilight asked, watching the Adipose twitch and squirm on the desk. “If she turns entire people into Adipose, then that’s just evil. And she’s asking for a one-way ticket to Tartarus for it.” A short silence occurred as she stared at the Doctor, who blankly stared into the office. “...Umm, Doctor?”
In an opposing window was a red-haired woman. Donna didn’t know how the Doctor had… changed for a lack of a better word but she knew it was him. She just knew. This was the conversation they shared.
Donna?
Doctor? Doctor!
But what? What? What?
Oh my god!
But how?
It's me!
Yes, I can see that.
Oh, this is brilliant.
I was looking for you.
What for?
I read it on the internet. Weird. Crept along. Heard them talking. Hid. You.
Then they finally took notice. “...We interrupting you?” Miss Foster asked. “I mean you are a lovely couple and all but…”
A single word was uttered from both parties. Run.
And so they did, just like old times.
Without any words, the burly, suited men gave chase, armed with weapons that would no doubt do more than silence the Doctor and his friends. The two of them just needed one long corridor and the intruders were finished. Taking the fire escapes and stairwells, the threesome eventually met up in an office full of cubicles. The call centre the Doctor remembered.
“Whew, just like old times!” Donna cried. “See you haven’t changed a bit Spaceman! Because I thought, how do you find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up. So I looked everywhere. You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all,” she rambled as the group ran into another room, another call center. “Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax.”
The Doctor chuckled deciding against telling her that was in fact real.
“Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look! And here I find you and these guys, I was right, wasn’t I? It’s always like this for you. Hasn’t changed at all!” Donna remarked.
“Nor you, Donna!” The Doctor replied as he narrowly avoided a wave of energy from the guards’ lasers. The top parts of his hair couldn’t say the same, as they were fried off.
Twilight threw up a shield to deflect the energy blasts and then used her magic to toss the cubicles at the men. They fell to the ground with mighty thuds, and Donna blinked.
“...We really need to talk about where you found your new friend.”
“Yeeeeeeeahhhh, um, it’s a bit of a long story…” The Doctor admitted. “Good work on taking out those slabs Twilight!”
“I do my best but… Wait, slabs?” Twilight asked looked quite confused.
“Just a slang word for very, very bad men who serve no purpose other than being bodyguards for someone like her,” The Doctor barreled his way towards the exit. “Now c’mon! Before they get back up!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of you going anywhere…” Miss Foster said as she stepped into view with two more Slabs holding Rainbow and Jack at gunpoint. “See, found these two sneaking about. I’m going to take a wild guess and say they’re friends of yours? Evidently offworlders, the lot of you judging by… well, the talking ponies.”
“Yeah?” Rainbow snarled in defiance. “How do you know we’re not just heavily mutated chihuahuas?”
“Because you don’t act like them.” Foster gave Rainbow Dash a dead stare. “I know a chihuahua when I see it, mutated or not.”
“What, you want me to start yapping and jumping up into your lap?” Rainbow snarked before she stamped a hoof on Miss Foster’s foot making her scream out in pain. While she jumped up and down in pain a pen of sorts went flying from her pocket, landing underneath a desk out of sight. Twilight secretly grabbed it figuring it useful.
“Run, now!” Jack shouted as they ran to a window washer’s cradle resting outside piling all in. The Doctor aimed his sonic upwards, and the cradle started to descend.
“...Oh, this is going to be far too slow, they’ll catch up to us and shoot us!” Donna shouted. “Can’t you make this thing go any faster?”
“Without snapping the cables?” the Doctor fired back. “Yeah, let’s see how that works out.”
“You two are like an old married couple, you know that right?” Jack teased.
“ME MARRY HER/HIM!?!” both of them shouted at Jack.
Then the sound of laser fire was heard from an upper floor as the cables were obliterated by laser fire. Needless to say, the cradle started to fall. Donna slipped and grabbed hold of the edges while Twilight strained her magic to slow their descent.
“Okay. I’d be impressed if I weren’t totally immune to death right about now,” said Jack as Twilight floated the cradle down. “...This will probably hurt though.” he noted as Twilight began to look dizzy. Magic was still no match for the force of gravity.
“Hold on!” the Doctor called to Donna.
“What do you think I’m doing!?!” Donna shouted. “Having a spot of tea?”
Then, she slipped. Rainbow Dash took flight and within about ten seconds Donna found herself on the speedster’s back hanging on for dear life.
“...You know, as a little girl I always wanted a pony.” Donna muttered to herself as the Doctor tossed the sonic to Rainbow and she smashed open a glass window with it. She was quick to land inside another office building.
“Yep, I’m still awesome!” Rainbow cried punching the air. “Who can stop a falling woman from going splat. This guy!”
The Doctor and company were soon levitated into the same office but soon were found to be held at gunpoint by four slabs with Miss Foster looking on…
“Well, then. At last.” Miss Foster said straightening her tie.
“Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor. And this is… oh, we don’t really have time for all these introductions do we?”
“Partners in crime. And evidently, off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology.” Miss Foster noted.
Twilight held up her sonic pen. “Oh, yes, I've still got your sonic pen. Nice. I like it. Sleek. I could do with something like this,” she remarked having to stifle a laugh at the enraged look on Miss Foster’s face. “...and if you were to sign your real name, that would be? Because I highly doubt it’s just Miss Foster.”
“Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class.” Miss Foster introduced herself with a small mock bow. “And you would be.”
“None of your business,” Jack answered with a small growl. “Firstly, holding people and cute little ponies at gunpoint? Rude! And secondly, we need to talk about you being a wet nurse using people as surrogates. Pretty sure that’s against intergalactic law somewhere.”
“It is, Jack. Earth’s a level five planet. And the last time I checked, seeding a level five planet is against galactic law.”
“I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost,” Miss Foster replied. “And I’m not sure how you do that really, but in any case, I don’t care about politics. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents.”
“What, like an outer space super nanny?” Donna scoffed.
“If you like, yes. Sadly we had to speed things up a little,” Foster smiled. “In a crisis, the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things. Do you intend to threaten me?”
“I'm trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you.” the Doctor said with a sense of finality.
“And trust me ma’am, I’d hate to see a beautiful woman like you dealt with by the Doctor. It’s never pretty. No second chances with him.”
“I hardly think you can outrun death,” Foster stated before the slabs raised their weapons. “Take aim!”
“Outrun death? Trust me, I can damn well try…” The Doctor remarked. “One more thing, before dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?” he asked as he and Twilight held up the twin devices with identical smirks. Everyone else covered their ears.
“No.” Miss Foster said with a look of slight fear and oncoming dread.
“Neither do I. Let’s find out!” the Doctor and Twilight held both devices together and turned them both on. They both created a deafening, awful noise that coated the entire room in no time at all. The slabs were disintegrated by the sheer sound while Foster was rendered half deaf. The glass around everyone was turned to shards by the noise as well, leaving the floor a mess of glass.
Everyone took this as their cue to run. Again. This was starting to get tiring.
MIss Foster growled as she picked herself up off the floor. “...I'm advancing the birth plan. We're going into premature labour.”
She returned to her office, where Penny was still tied up. Foster ignored her and pulled back a wall to reveal a truly massive motherboard.
“This, dear Penny, it's the inducer. We had planned to seed millions, but if that man's an alien, then he's alerted the Shadow Proclamation, and the first one million humans will have to do.”
Meanwhile, the Doctor had found a cupboard in the basement and moved aside a wall to reveal a similar panel. “I've been hacking into this thing all day, because the matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple deadlocked,” he said before Twilight tossed him the pen. “But now that we’ve got this… I can get into it. Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?”
In her office, Foster laughed. “Mark the date, Miss Carter. Happy birthday. One million birthdays!”
“So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis. Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are going to die. Got to cancel the signal.”
Then Ianto finally showed up, shooting two slabs in the head who had snuck up behind them. He tossed a certain pendent to the Doctor. “This contains a primary signal! If you can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat.”
He was soundly given a kiss by Jack. “Ianto, did I ever tell you how brilliant you are?”
“...Maybe over dinner…” Ianto murmured.
“Boys!” Rainbow shouted. “Shush and let the Doc work!”
Outside, there were hundreds of Adipose roaming the streets much to everyone’s stark bewilderment while Miss Foster was shouting: “Come to me my children, come to me!”
She then flipped up the inducer to double strength much to the Doctor’s frustration.
“No, no, no, no, no. She's doubled it. I need. Haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it. They're all gonna die!” the Doctor began to panic before Donna held up her own pendant she’d received earlier. “Oh Donna, you are brilliant!”
Then the inducer was shut down. “...I think the Doctor just happened. But we've still given birth to ten thousand Adipose. And the nursery is coming.”
Then there was a loud sound that was indescribable to words as a truly massive flying saucer flew directly over London and was now hovering over the building.
Miss Foster had gone to the roof, a sense of sheer glee and triumph filling her. She’d done it. She’d done it! “Children. Oh, my children, behold. I am taking you home,” she said as blue beams began to lift her and the adipose up into the ship. “Far across the galaxy, your new mummies and daddies are waiting. And you will fly.”
Everyone else just rushed outside. “...And I’m waving at fat.” Gwen muttered to herself with Donna nodding along.
“...Actually, as a diet plan, it sorta worked…” Donna admitted. “Apart from the killing people part and all that.”
The Doctor was on the roof. “Matron Cofelia, listen to me.”
But she was having none of it.”
“Oh, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon.” Foster said.
“Oh, why does no one ever listen. I'm trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam? Just listen. I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice.”
Gwen was way ahead of the Doctor hearing him over the radio and she knew what was about to happen. Pressing a button inside the SUV, a massive airbag was tossed out and Miss Foster landed in it only to be swiftly cuffed by Jack.
“Madame… oh, who cares what your name is anymore. You’re under arrest.”
The Doctor smiled. A disastrous timeline averted. Still, though, he couldn’t help but think he was forgetting something.
“Um, hello? Anyone there? Horse man? You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for madness!” Penny shouted still in the office.
