It's Dash's first trip with The Doctor! What secrets will the future bring? And what terrors?
Episode List!. Episode 2: (Make sure to go to the list and read Chapter 1 first!)
Rainbow Dash's first trip with The Doctor brings them to Celestial Year 20,000. Excitement awaits in the future, but as we all know there's no such thing as a simple trip with The Doctor. What starts out as an information gathering quest leads to a dangerous encounter and a shocking revelation that shakes the pair to their very core. What does the future hold for our brave adventurers? What caused these terrible events to take place? And where, exactly, are they?
Also: Sage of Winds is an awesome artist. Go look through her stuff. Go click that link under the picture. Nao.
Doctor Whooves: CY 20000 Chapter 1: The First Logical Stop MaxKodan
“I still don’t think I believe you.” Dash sat, staring at the interior doors of the TARDIS. “You really just took us on a trip through time?”
“Far into the future. In your years, it’d be about 20000. Oh!” He looked down at his screen. “Exactly 20000, actually. I think you’re really gonna love this...” He grinned.
Dash had to restrain herself from squealing with delight. A mysterious place 19000 years in the future. She wondered what advancements they’d made. She wondered if the Wonderbolts still existed. She wondered a lot of things.
“Let’s see, atmosphere’s good, pressure’s good, ground is stable, planet ISN’T about to explode, made that mistake once or twice...” He nodded. “Alright! We’re good to go! Just a few ground rules. One: Don’t wander off. Two: When I tell you to do something, just do it. Three: If you see something slimy on the wall, don’t lick it. You’d be surprised how many times that’s come up. Ok?” He leveled a look at her. “Seriously. Don’t lick random goopy things.” Dash was nodding so excitedly that her mane was falling out of place. He smiled and flicked a switch on the console and the doors swung inwards, revealing a moderately lit room outside the TARDIS. Dash galloped forward excitedly, but stopped at the threshold of the ship.
“My first step in the year 20000!” She giggled and put one deliberate hoof outside the door. Once she let the sensation settle in, she again increased her speed and started looking around the room, examining everything she could get her eyes onto.
“Hey, no running!” He called after her, casually walking out the door and looking around. “It’s against the rules in here, I think.”
At first, Dash’s excitement was unstoppable. 20000! What wonders to be beheld! What sights, what cities, what planets, what technology, what magic! What...what old, decrepit vases? She tilted her head and walked closer to the vase, squinting and peering at it. It was inside of a glass case. In front of the case was a placard, and on the placard was written a bunch of information.
“Doctor...”
“Yes, Dash?”
“...Did you take me to the year 20000?”
“Yes?”
“And then bring me to a museum?”
“Indeed I did!”
Dash groaned. “You’re kidding me! Everything in the universe and we come to a boring old museum!” She sat herself down and glowered at the vase. A single item had killed all the excitement she had built up.
“Oh, come on! Museums are wonderful! Where better to go on your first trip into the future? We stop by a museum and see everything important that has ever happened, then we go see it for ourselves!” He grinned. The place seemed empty, but he was used to that. He walked to the entrance to the exhibit and looked both ways down the hallway. Some distance down, he saw something that piqued his interest. “Of course, this is always fun to do, too. Come on, you’ll love this one, I just know it.”
“Yeah, right.” Dash grumbled as she stood up. With an exasperated sigh, she followed the Doctor, not bothering to pay mind into which exhibit he was dragging her. She stopped alongside him, her eyes still trained on the ground. “So what’s do you think I’ll love so much?”
The sight that met her eyes as she looked up was, in a word, glorious. Her eyes widened and her mouth slowly opened. The frown was wiped clean off of her face, and the excitement that she’d felt when she first stepped off the TARDIS was renewed. There, in front of her, was a statue of a very special pony, performing a very special maneuver.
“Is...is that...”
“Eeyup.” The Doctor grinned. “The very first Element of Loyalty.”
And there she was. A perfect representation of Rainbow Dash in the middle of a Sonic Rainboom. “They...they remember me! 20000 years and they remember me!” She was shaking with excitement. “I’m famous!” Her back legs gave out, and she flopped back into her sitting position, her eyes nearly tearing up at the sight in front of herself. After a minute or so, she finally tore her gaze away from her statue to look around the room. “And everypony else is here, too! AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight...Hey, even Spike’s in there!” She ran up to Twilight’s statue. The unicorn stood there heroically, her horn glowing brightly in the midst of casting some powerful magic. Spike was sitting on her back, holding on to her mane for dear life.
“But yeah, you’re right. Museums are boring. Let’s get out of here and go see something else, eh?” The Doctor chuckled behind her.
“No way! This place is awesome!” She jumped and fluttered in the air for a moment, turning to face him as she did. “Hey, who are these other ponies?” She looked up. The room was long, and the walls were filled with statues of ponies, lining each side. In the center were displays, and upon closer inspection the first one appeared as their struggle in the old castle, against Nightmare Moon.
“Presumably your successors.” The Doctor said, walking up to the next set of 6. “Here’s the second Element of Loyalty. Says his name is ‘Midnight Reverie.’” The Doctor smiled as Dash walked up to the statue. He was an earth pony of a deep blue color. His cutie mark was that of a lantern overlapping a crescent moon. His mane was short and black. His tail was just as short. He carried a messenger bag over his shoulder, and inside of it one could see the depiction of some sort of small, furry animal. It looked kind of like a ferret.
“Woah...this is a little unreal. Let’s ah...let’s go see something else!” Dash turned and headed out of the exhibit, though not without staring at her statue the whole way. She lagged a little at the door, admiring it for one more second before she left. As she did, the Doctor’s eyes flicked to the center display of the second set of Elements. It looked like a rather large battle, with the 6 ponies depicted in the statues right at the center of it. However, what caught his eye even more was just a little thing in the corner of the piece. There was a heavily forested area, but when he angled himself right, he saw an unmistakable blue piercing through the leaves.
“You coming?” Dash called from down the hall.
“Yeah! Be right there!” He took another glance in order to memorize the scene before heading towards the hallway, his mind abuzz with new questions.
Emerging from the Elements of Harmony wing, he peered first one way down the hall, then the other. He caught sight of his companion down the latter direction and headed off that way. She was looking up at another exhibit, or rather the ornate wording above the arch. He walked alongside her and looked at the same text.
“The Wonderbolts Through the Ages,” he read aloud. “Wow, sounds great! Imagine all the shows they put on.” He smiled and looked for Dash’s reaction to the exhibit. He knew she’d always wanted to become a part of the famous flyers, but now her face was unreadable. Somewhere between excitement and fear, she’d gotten lost. “Something wrong?”
“I...I dunno.” She frowned deeper, furrowing her brow. “I mean, I could go in there right now and learn everything about the Wonderbolts. Everything I ever wanted to know and a thousand times more. But...” She fidgeted a little.
He smiled lightly to himself. She was learning fast. “But what?” He urged her. The more she figured out on her own, the more the truths of time travel would stick.
“But what if I’m in there? Or worse, what if I’m not?” She kicked the ground with her front hoof. “I could find out if I get to join the Wonderbolts! But...if I’m not in there, I don’t know what I’d do.” The Doctor stood patiently by, waiting for her decision. There was a long period of silence while Dash thought over the predicament. Finally, she sighed.
“Well? Wanna go see?” The Doctor watched her knowingly. Somehow she could tell that he already knew her answer.
“...No. No, I don’t. It doesn’t matter what’s in there.” She stood up and shook her head, her eyes hardening again. “Even if time says I didn’t make it, I’ll just have to change history. Nothing stops Rainbow Dash! I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria! I don’t need some stupid museum to tell me how awesome I am!” She puffed her chest out and flapped her wings a few times for good measure.
The Doctor’s grin went from one ear to the other. “That’s the spirit! I knew I liked you!” He cheered. “Alright, let’s go find some historical significance around here, shall we?”
Dash gave him a hearty nod and a huge grin, and the pair swung around, prepared to swagger off side by side towards their next adventure. Instead, they nearly swaggered off straight into a strange something that was blocking their path. The both took a couple of steps backwards, significantly less swagger-esque than they would have liked. Right in front of them stood something that hadn’t been there mere moments before. It looked roughly like a pony, but its head and body were metallic and smooth to the point of being featureless. Its neck was thinner, but it was also made of a slightly less-shiny metal. Its eyeless, mouthless face turned to look at each of them, the slight whirring of gears accompanying the motion.
“Oh, well look at that.” The Doctor said as he regained his composure. “Looks like an android of some sort.” He smiled at it. “Probably an information droid! Hallo!” He called and raised a hoof to wave at it.
Rainbow Dash slowly raised her own hoof and waved as well, but she found that her mouth was once again agape. This thing. It had no legs. The more she looked the more she was sure, and she had to check a few times before she would let herself believe it. It was just floating there. That in itself wouldn’t be weird, but the thing didn’t even have wings. It didn’t have a horn either, so it wasn’t magic. “Doc?”
“Doctor. Yes?” He kept looking the droid over.
“Is that thing floating?”
“Yes. Yes it is. Probably an anti-gravity system. Certainly doesn’t sound like jet propulsion. Hey, are you alright in there? Mind if we ask a few questions?” He squinted at it. It hadn’t moved since they’d first seen it. Perhaps, he thought, it was malfunctioning.
“Are you asking its permission? Doc...” He shot her a look. “...tor. Doctor. Is that thing...alive?” She ignored his rolling eyes and daintily stepped forward, regarding it cautiously.
“Well, it’s not alive in the sense that your or I are alive, no, but it can still think and process information. And I’d like it to process the information that we are incredibly respectful people that don’t refer to it as a “thing.”” He frowned. “Are you alright? Do you need some help? What sort of droid are you? Information? Maintenance?” He asked, pausing briefly in between each question.
Something seemed to trigger a reaction from the droid, but neither of them could figure out what. Its head started glowing a faint white, as if someone had lit a lightbulb inside its head. “I’m sorry, the museum is currently closed. Please exit the building promptly and return during normal business hours.” The voice that floated from the head was soft and melodious, and surprisingly pleasing to listen to.
“Ah! There, you see? Information droid. Right, we’re sorry! We’ll just come back when you’re open then. When would that be, exactly?” He smiled pleasantly. Dash wondered exactly why, when the droid had no eyes.
“The museum has been closed for...” It paused for just a moment while it retrieved the data from some central bank.
“Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine...” It seemed to keep going.
“Um...Doctor?” Dash stepped back away from the droid. “Something doesn’t feel right here.”
The Doctor’s smile faded as the nines kept coming. “Yeah. I’m hoping it’s just a glitch in the system.” He started looking around. Everything looked spotless. As if it had just been cleaned.
“...Nine. Nine.” The droid paused again. “...Days. It will reopen in...” Another pause. The two ponies looked at each other, preparing for another barrage of nines. “Apologies. The next opening time does not appear to fall within the longest expected pony lifetime. Please vacate the museum immediately, and thank you for your interest in Equestria’s history.” It floated there, featureless face staring them down.
“Rrrrrrright, well. We’ll gladly be on our way. If you don’t mind, I seem to have left something in the...” He craned his neck to see the exhibit in which the TARDIS had landed. “The ancient museum exhibit. Wait, what?” He squinted. “You have an exhibit filled with exhibits from other museums? Well, that’s kinda brilliant actually. Museum-ception as it were.” He laughed lightly. “I heard you liked museums!” He laughed a bit more. “Always wanted to use that one. Never comes up in real life, you know!”
Dash’s eyes were locked on to the android. Its head seemed different. The light within it seemed to be growing just a little more orange.
“Please vacate the museum immediately.” It spoke once more, bobbing a little in its flight.
“Sorry! Right! Just gotta grab that thing, and we’ll be right on our way out the door.” The Doctor smiled and started to walk past the android, but for the first time since they’d seen it, it moved. Angling itself just a little, it swooped around smoothly and blocked the Doctor’s path.
“Please vacate the museum immediately.”
“Right, but if you could just-”
“You just gotta be a little more assertive, Doctor!” Dash grinned and spread her wings, jumping in the air and soaring over the obstructive robot’s head. Before she got too far, however, the droid had flown up and gotten right in her face. She stopped just before she crashed into it.
“Please vacate the museum immediately.” This time, the light within its head was definitely different. It was much closer to red than it had been, and it was growing brighter and redder while it spoke. “This is your final warning.”
“Er...Dash? Perhaps we should do as it says.” The Doctor called nervously, glancing around for an Exit sign.
“Why? What’s it gonna do, talk us to death?” Dash stuck her tongue out at the droid and attempted to go around it, but every time it matched her movements.
“Well, no, not exactly. I may have been wrong, I don’t think that’s an information droid.”
“What is it then, maintenence? Big whoop.” She grumbled as she was again thwarted in her attempts.
“No, no. Not that either, I think it might be-”
“Warning has been issued and ignored. The transgression is noted. Commencing ejection now.” The droid’s head flashed red a few times so brightly that Dash had to shield her eyes. When she uncovered them, she saw the head split down the middle and open up, revealing what looked like a long gun barrel. The Doctor called up to her again.
“I think it’s a security droid!”
Dash blinked down the barrel of the gun. “Oh, sure! Thanks for the heads up!”
“Get down!” The Doctor called. She looked down at him just in time to see him give a mighty leap, and before she knew what was happening he’d grabbed her tail and drug her to the ground. Just over her head, she heard a loud PEW sound, and over her shoulder she saw a red beam of light lance down the hallway and burn a rather sizable black mark in the floor. She gulped down her shock and looked at the Doctor.
“Wh-what just happened?”
“Explain later, just run!” He turned and bolted down the hallway. He really was pretty light on his feet for an Earth Pony.
“Commencing ejection now.” She looked up and saw the security droid again taking aim at her. She yelped and turned, beating her wings and flying down the corridor just as the second shot burned into the ground where she had just been floating. She slowed down just as she caught up with the Doctor, and the two of them turned a corner together.
Behind them they could hear another laser hit a wall. The droid moved agilely, floating around the corner and once again taking aim.
“Commencing ejection now.”
“This way!” The Doctor swerved down another hall, and Dash, after a moment of lag, followed. She heard the sound of the shot, and reached back to yank her tail out of the way of the blast.
“Yipe! Doctor! Where are we going? Do you have any idea where the exit to this place is?”
Instead of answering, he just took another turn. Lo and behold, there was a large set of double doors, closed off to them.
“Of course I do! Couldn’t find an exit sign, just followed the signs for the shoppe!” He nodded at the gift shoppe that could be seen through a large window to their right. “Always a little shoppe by the exit!”
He charged straight at the door, and Dash lined up with him. Together, they turned their shoulders and slammed into the giant slab of wood. Thankfully, it was unlocked and opened a couple of hooves with their combined assault. They looked back just in time to see the android pointing right at them again.
“Commencing ejection now.”
They both grabbed the edge of the door and, with one big heave, slammed it shut. They sighed in relief and sunk against the door, each of them closing their eyes. They heard the shot, and they felt the heat of the wood hit by the laser at a spot right between them. It had apparently burned most of the way through. After just a moment, they heard another sound.
“...Ejection complete.”
The pair held their breaths, looking at eachother, stone silent. After a few moments of silence, they both broke out into hysterical laughter. Whether it was the near death experience or the idea of a museum inside a museum, neither of them could completely place. A few moments of a good, hearty chuckle were enough for the both of them, however, and they finally stopped long enough to speak a little.
“Well, what about the TARDIS?” Dash asked, glancing back at the door. Surely, if she burst in quick enough, she could get there no problem. But The Doctor had that pesky lack of wings which so constantly got in the way.
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” The Doctor said between chuckles. “We’ll get back in later. Sneak in this time, now we know we’re not allowed.” He grinned. “But for now, let’s...have a look about...”
He trailed off as he started walking towards the stairs. Both of them had been so focussed on the door that neither had taken in their surroundings. As Dash looked up, her eyes widened. “Wh-what’s going on? Where are we?”
The city they were in was trashed. Every building visible from where they were was in complete disrepair if it hadn’t been destroyed outright. The entire place seemed to be overgrown with vines and weeds. The cobblestone path was broken and jagged. Not a single pony could be seen.
The Doctor took several steps forward, gazing up at more of the sky as he came out from under the roof over the museum’s front doors. There appeared to be a persistent fog obscuring their view. Or rather, the sky itself appeared to be gray. No sun, no moon, no stars. Just a dull, even glow. After another silent moment, he looked back down, at something in the distance.
“Dash, have a look.” His voice was solemn as he pointed off towards a mountain side visible in the distance. The sight brought Dash to the same conclusion The Doctor had reached. “I think...I think we’re in Canterlot.”
Doctor Whooves: CY 20000 Chapter 2: Canterlot Max Kodan
The ruined city of Canterlot stood before them. The buildings were obviously different. The whole city seemed to have been renovated several times over the last 19000 years. Which, when she thought about it, made sense to Dash. But it looked like it’d gone through a bomb raid hundreds of years earlier. Nothing was in one piece any more. But there was no smoke, no fire, no ongoing destruction. In fact, there was nothing. Silence permeated the capital city of Equestria. Thick, dead, ugly silence.
The castle still stood. Set into the mountainside, Canterlot Castle loomed darkly in the distance. None of it seemed to have been damaged, and that was a relief in a way. No fallen walls, no collapsed roof. Even the vines didn’t seem to grow there. However, no lights adorned its towers, no glimmer of brightness in a single window. It simply stood there, dark and menacing. A shadow of its former glory.
“What...happened?” Rainbow Dash choked down her astonishment. This was the largest, most important city in the known world. The Princesses lived here. They protected this place with a power greater than anything out there. Yet here it lay, hardly more than a pile of rubble.
“I...I don’t know.” The Doctor’s eyes wavered at the sight that lay before him. He’d seen countless beings that could do something like this, armies and demons and creatures the size of planets. But nothing fit, and none of them could be here. “I’m sorry, but...I don’t know.” He shook his head sadly. Looking up, he saw Dash heading towards the stairs. “Oi!” He called and stepped on her tail to stop her from going further. “Rule 1.” He shook his head again. “No running off.”
“But, I-”
“We don’t know what’s out there. It could be dangerous. There could be creatures, or radiation, or worse lurking just beyond these steps.” He levelled a look at her. “We need to get back to the TARDIS.”
“No!” The pegasus shouted, turning to glare at the brown pony. “You can’t possibly expect me to just leave!” She yanked her tail out from under his hoof, wincing as a few strands of her hair were pulled out as well. “This is my country! My Equestria! You think I can just look at this and walk away? I’m gonna find out what’s going on, and I’m gonna fix it! And if you’re against that, then I’ll just go on my own.” She said, stomping her hoof so hard it nearly hurt. The Doctor stayed quiet.
“Rainbow Dash.” The tone he used made her feel strange. Not attacked, nor threatened, nor even scolded. It was understanding, but it was authoritative. “I have no intention of leaving this place. Not until we do everything we can to set things right. But we still need the TARDIS. I need to scan the air outside the museum. I need to go over every inch of this city and try and figure out what happened that way. Please, Dash. Trust me.” He sat silently after he finished, his head hung, but his eyes turned towards his companion with a seriousness that Dash couldn’t be upset about.
Dash seethed for a moment more, then turned her back to her new friend. She growled and lifted a hoof, driving it harshly into one of the pillars nearby. It cracked a little. She waited until the dull throbbing in her front leg evened out before she spoke. “...Fine.” A tremble shook her body. “But when we find out what did this...” She started pressing the hoof harder into the marble. “I’ll make sure they regret it.” She whipped around and marched back towards the door, her eyes closed as she passed The Doctor. He let out a gentle sigh. However hard she tried, she couldn’t hide the tears that were streaming down her face.
Dash reached the door quickly and grabbed the handle. She gave a mighty pull that should have been far more than she needed. However, the door didn’t budge. She yanked and tugged, putting her back hooves on the other door and trying to leverage herself more. Still no response. “Stupid...door!” She grunted, pulling harder and beating her wings all at once. The Doctor walked over and examined the door closely, closing one eye and putting it to the crack along the outside edge, near the hinges.
“Hm...” He mused. Dash gave one more huge pull, but The Doctor’s response made her grip slip, and the force she’d been focussing on the door handle turned into force pushing her away. She tumbled a bit, hitting the ground and rolling. With a light groan, she sat up. Nothing major, just some hurt pride. The Doctor looked back to her.
“You alright there?”
“Shut up. Why won’t the door open?” She asked, standing and brushed herself off. The more time went on, the more she was calming down. Something about The Doctor and the way he spoke quelled her rage in a way she couldn’t quite work out.
“Looks like it’s a one way door. Well, it’s been switched to one way mode, really.” He tapped the door lightly with a hoof. “Let us get out, but won’t let us back in. The museum is closed, after all. Only makes sense that they’d lock the door.” He grimaced. “Doesn’t help our situation at all though. Let’s try a window!” He trotted along the wall to the edge of the overhang, then hauled himself up onto the stone slab that acted as a guard rail. There was a window about a yard from his position. He carefully placed himself at the very edge, glancing down. It was a good 7 hoof drop. Not a terribly dangerous fall, but not something he particularly wanted to experience. Steadying himself, he started stretching, reaching across the gap towards the window.
“Almost got it!” He closed one eye, sticking his tongue out a little bit as he leaned a little more. However hard he tried, he couldn’t quite reach it. “Little more!”
“Um...”
“Don’t interrupt me, Dash! I’ve got to concentrate!”
“Doctor...”
“Dash, please!” He called, wishing he were double jointed.
“Doctor!” Her hoof tapped him on the forehead lightly. The Time Lord nearly lost his balance, but caught himself and sat back up on the stone. He blinked a few times, then looked up at what had hit him. Dash was floating there, looking rather bemused. “Really?”
“...Oh! Right! Ah...not used to having companions that can fly!” He grinned sheepishly. “Right then, you, ah...yes. You do that.” He said. Sinking his head back a little, he fought back the blush that was rising.
“Whatever you say, Doctor.” She turned towards the window and found herself a good hoofhold, then began pushing up. When that didn’t work, she pushed inwards. She even tried pulling down from the top. The window looked like it COULD open, but it just wasn’t.
“Hmph, fine, be that way.” She looked around and found, about three feet behind her, a good sized piece of rubble. She flew down and picked it up, then came straight back up. Distancing herself a bit from the window, she wound up.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea...” The Doctor was examining the window, squinting and tilting his head.
“Don’t worry, I got this.” Dash hurled the rock towards the glass barrier. The moment it hit there was a ‘thunk’ and a slight delay. The stone just sat there for about half a second before trembling and rocketing back away from the glass, straight back along the same path it had taken. Dash dove out of the way as it flew towards her. It clattered into the street a good distance away, coming to a rest when it knocked into the edge of the curb.
“Hm...just as I thought. This place has some really high security. It’s alright though! I’ll just grab my handy dandy sonic and...” He reached back and patted his side with his front hoof. “Er...” Only now did he realize he wasn’t wearing a jacket. Or pants. “Right. No pockets. That’s...not a good thing.” He sighed. No Sonic Screwdriver. It’d been awhile since he last did something without it.
Dash settled herself back down on the platform, quirking an eye at the Doctor. “What the hoof are you talking about? What’s a sonic?”
“A Sonic Screwdriver. It’s a device that I use to do lots of things. Like opening pesky security windows. Or fixing barbed wire. Or lighting a hundred flambee from across the room. THAT was a good party!” The Doctor grinned a little, hopping down off of the stone. “That little thing would get us back to the TARDIS in no time.”
“And where is it?”
“It’s...in the...er...TARDIS.”
“I’ll try to keep my excitement low key.” She placed her hoof on her forehead in exasperation. “So NOW what?” She sighed and looked around. They were running out of things to try.
“Now we go look around, I suppose.” The Doctor shrugged, walking towards the steps.
“But...!” Dash reared back a bit. “But what about monsters and radiation and who-knows-what-else?” She leered at him. “You stopped me from going out there earlier because it was ‘too dangerous!’”
“That was when we had options and you were being rash.” He looked back at her. “Now it’s just all we’ve got left. Either we sit around here and wait to starve to death, or we go look for somepony who might know something. Since I don’t particularly like starving, that kind of makes looking about the only option, doesn’t it?”
Dash sighed, but nodded. His logic was sound, anyway. The pair set off into the city, keeping their eyes on the shadowy buildings as they went. Their hooves clopped on the street, echoing loudly across the rubble. It was an unnerving sense of loneliness and silence that seeped through their bodies. Nothing bothered them, no eyes peeked from the stone piles, no pebbles fell from the remaining rooftops, no stray steps could be heard echoing along with their own. Nothing.
“Doctor...” Dash whispered, though she didn’t know why. “Do you think the city was just abandoned and left to fall apart like this?” Some strain of hope creaked into her voice. It was smashed as the doctor shook his head, gravely looking at the ground.
“I’m afraid not. The damage is too...perfect. Too wide spread. These walls look like they were knocked down deliberately.” As if the city were trying to prove his point, they passed what used to be a small cafe. A part of the wall was missing, and it formed a perfectly circular hole in the eatery. “I don’t know what did it, but we can be sure that we don’t want to meet the culprits.”
“Speak for yourself.” Dash grumbled, her eyes locked on a building that looked as though claws had been dragged along the side.
“Dash, I know you’re angry. But you need to think this through. We need to approach this cautiously. Rationally. We need to find people, find out what happened, find out what did this, and learn everything we can about it. That’s the only way we can be sure we won’t be...” He let the sentence and the thought hang.
“...I know.” She kicked a particularly large pebble, which turned out to be more like a small rock. It was heavier than it looked, and she winced a bit. She might have overdone it with the pillar, she thought. “I just...I can’t imagine letting something that did this get away with it, you know?” She looked up at The Doctor with large eyes. She really was trying. “I mean...I know you’ve been here for a while, but I’ve been here my whole life. And if this is how bad Canterlot is, imagine Ponyville!” She shook her head. “Can you even...” She stopped. Her eyes locked with his. He looked serious. Very serious. She remembered the conversation they’d had in the TARDIS. About the Time Lords. “...I...I didn’t mean...”
“Dash.” He’d stopped moving. She turned to fully face him. “I want to show you something.”
He approached her slowly, and she tilted her head.
“Doctor, what are you...”
He kept coming. The closer he got, the more uncomfortable things became.
“Doctor, I don’t get it. I mean, what...”
He was mere inches from her face now.
“Um...I...”
He reached up and placed a hoof on each side of her head.
“Hey, now, what do you think you’re....!?”
His face approached hers.
“Doctor!”
She tried to pull away.
Instead of what she expected, The Doctor pulled her head down so that she was facing the ground. He did the same with his own and, for just a moment, he touched his forehead against hers.
Everything came in a rush. Lights, sounds, feelings. Everything happened all at once. It took her several seconds to make even the slightest sense of it all. The feelings came first. Emotions like dread and foreboding, hate and fear, anger and...a lot of anger. Next came the physical feelings. Cold metal pressed against her hooves. Sharp pains, long past, aching across her body. The scent of blood and death filled her nose. Then came the sights. They were blurry, but she could see entities firing lasers similar to what the security droid had shot at them. There was a lot of motion, a lot of running. A lot of explosions. She saw many creatures fall as blue lights struck them. They had two legs, and she assumed that these were what The Doctor had referred to as humanoid. Whether they were actually human, she didn’t know. Finally, sounds started filtering in. The explosions had substance, and her eardrums shook. The lasers made a unique sound that she feared, though she couldn’t place why. There was screaming. So much screaming, and crying. Gut wrenching, heart tearing sounds that transferred the fear and pain felt by the sources of the noise. There was more yelling of the word ‘run’ than there was actual running. Finally, another voice filled her head. Metallic, grainy. Still, it was the single most terrifying thing she had ever heard.
“EXTERMINATE!”
-----
When Dash returned to the present, she found herself on the side of the road. She was leaning against a railing, looking over it and down towards the ground. She was also panting heavily. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but she suddenly remembered why she’d run there. She’d been on the verge of vomiting. She coughed, but held her stomach in place. Instead, she resumed gasping for breath, trying to process everything she’d seen. She tried to whip around, but instead wound up gingerly turning. She shuddered as she looked The Doctor in the eye.
“What...what was that?” She managed to gasp out. Her wobbly legs were slowly steadying. The things she’d seen were slowly sinking into the back of her mind, as though they’d happened years and years ago. Never once did they stop being so vivid.
“Those were my memories.” The Doctor watched her sadly. He knew what she was going through.
“Those...creatures. What were they? Those things!” She remembered them more clearly. Hovering metal monstrosities. They looked rather unassuming, but just from what she’d seen, or rather what The Doctor had seen, she knew how terrible they really were.
“The Daleks.” He said. The name sent a chill down her spine. “They exist in the other universe. The one I came from. They were the single greatest, most terrible threat to ever raze its way across the universe. They’ve destroyed so many lives. They’ve wiped out whole civilizations, whole planets just because they wanted to. They tout themselves as purifiers. They say that nothing less than a Dalek deserves to exist.” He shook his head.
“Is...Did they do this?” She looked around. “Did the Daleks attack Canterlot?” A mild panic settled into her chest. How could they fight something like that?
“No!” He blinked, shaking his head more vigorously. “No, this is definitely not Dalek. They’re in the other dimension.”
“So, why did you show me that?”
“I wanted you to understand. I can tell you a million times not to be rash. I can lecture you to be careful, to plan. I can explain the unimaginable terrors that I’ve seen. I can point out to you the dangers that are present in the universe that are beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. But you wouldn’t understand. Not really. I showed you that so that I could ask you a very important question. I’m sorry, I should have shown you that before we ever left. Before I even offered.” He approached her and reached out his hoof, placing it gently on her shoulder. “Rainbow Dash...do you want to go home?” He stared her dead in the eye. It was a serious question.
“I...” She pictured the Daleks in her head. She felt the hopelessness that followed those things. Those Daleks. But the more she thought, the more her answer became clear. Just as before, at the Wonderbolt exhibit in the museum, the answer materialized in her head. There were several moments of silence before she continued. “That’s the worst you could think of. The thing you thought would show me how bad stuff could get, right?” She closed her eyes. “In that case...It can’t get any worse.” She shrugged a bit, then smiled weakly. “No way am I going home now. Everything after THAT has gotta be like napping on a cloud.”
The Doctor, though a little shocked at just how well she was taking everything, laughed. “True enough!” He grinned. “Well then! I do believe that we both know where we should be headed, yeah?”
Both of them turned in the same direction at the same time. There, in the distance, stood the castle. Dark, gray, and foreboding as ever. “You know,” the pegasus said. “It’s almost a little cliche, when you think about it. I mean, a big scary castle? All that’s missing is some random lightning bolts and we’ve got ourselves a storybook!” She giggled, heading off down the road. Everything seemed a little brighter for some reason.
The Doctor watched her go, then followed after her. He was glad that she’d stayed. Whatever problems they might come up against, he knew that the two of them together could overcome it.
As the two ponies strode off down the road, Dash piped up. “Oh, hey! What if I’d said I DID want to go home?” She looked back as The Doctor caught up.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Well, the TARDIS is locked in the museum. How would you have taken me anywhere?”
“...Oh. Er. That. Right. Well, doesn’t matter now, does it?” He called cheerily back to her. She clocked him over the head with her hoof.
“You’re officially ‘Doc’ for the rest of the day.”
Doctor Whooves: CY 20000 Chapter 3: Between Day and Night Max Kodan
They arrived at the castle gates in the late afternoon. Or rather, it looked like the late afternoon. In fact, it always looked like late afternoon. The sky looked more like a ceiling, One big, uniform, glowing grey color. It was unsettling, but what was worse was the conclusion that could be drawn from it. Or rather, the speculation that emerged. The lack of the sun and moon made both The Doctor and Rainbow Dash question who, or what, they might find residing in the castle.
“Huh, all things considered, it’s not that bad.” The Doctor tilted his head. The gates were laden with vines, but beyond them the castle grounds seemed relatively well kept. The plant life wasn’t overgrowing, though most of it sagged, and the previously emerald green grass was now a depressing shade of greenish-yellow. The building itself was untouched. It was dark, but the vines stayed away. Every brick was as pristine as the day it was placed. If anything, however, that just gave a more ominous feel to the entire situation.
“Y-yeah. Not bad.” Dash tucked the corner of her mouth into her cheek as she gazed up at the turrets. “Looks just peachy.”
“Well, come on then, help me with these gates.” The Doctor trotted up and reached a hoof up to try and push the gate open. At his touch, however, there was a loud creak, and the metal frame fell inwards, crashing to the ground within the walls.
“Geez, Doc, why couldn’t you do that to the Museum door?” Dash joked as she walked past the mildly surprised stallion.
“Huh. The gate must have been rusted and weakened by the vines...And it’s DOCTOR, thank you very much!” He protested, hurrying to catch up to the pegasus. She just stuck her tongue out at him in response, chuckling a bit as she pressed on.
It was a strange walk through the courtyard. The silence that pervaded the grounds wasn’t any less unsettling than it had been in the city. There was no resistance to their presence. If anypony were watching over the former seat of power, they gave no sign that they cared about the intrusion. It wasn’t long before they reached the doors. The large front entrance to the castle stood before them, and to their surprise, they stood slightly ajar. A gap just g enough for a pony to enter stood before them.
“Paper rock scissors to see who goes in first?” The Doctor shrugged, smiling over to Dash.
“What’s ‘paper rock scissors’?” She quirked an eyebrow over at him. Both were speaking in hushed tones, and neither quite knew why. Perhaps they felt that they would disturb some sleeping force, for whom this silence was kept.
“Oh, it’s a game where you count to three, and then you hold up your hand-” He held up his hoof in example, but stopped and stared at it for several seconds. “...Ah. Right.” He sighed. “Never mind then.”
Dash laughed silently, then started walking towards the door. She craned her neck back to look at the entire thing for a moment, then, with The Doctor right behind her, poked her head into the main hall. It looked exactly the same as the last time she’d seen it, albeit completely empty. The wedding...what a chaotic mess that turned out to be. She entered, stepping gingerly and glancing around the room, making sure no last minute beasties would jump out at them. The Doctor followed.
“It’s strange. Very strange.” He said, apparently deep in thought.
“You’re telling me. This place used to be totally packed! Even when there wasn’t a big party or a wedding or a gala, there were always guests and servants galloping around. Seems so much...bigger, now.” She shivered a bit. “Gives me the creeps.”
“No, it’s not just that. See...The TARDIS tends to have a mind of it’s own,” He said. “It has a habit of bringing me exactly where I’m needed. More often than not, that means an immediate onset of some kind of war or plague or some of alien invasion.” He gave the room one last, sweeping look as Dash debated whether or not to question that last one. “But It’s never brought me to a place that’s been so...empty before. Clearly, something has happened, but I’ve never arrived when there seems to be so little to do.”
The pair crossed the room and headed for the stairs. The red carpet, though the light was dim, still shone bright against the marble floor. They followed the path, their hoofsteps padded by the still plush floor covering.
“I’ve never really been in the castle before.” The Doctor commented, looking over a tapestry with interest. “At least, no further than the entry. Where exactly are we headed?”
“Throne room.” Dash looked around the hallway, eyeing several points of interest, trying to catch her bearings. Some decoration was slightly different. A new tapestry here or there, newly changed sconces, fresh paint on the walls. It was as if the castle were caring for itself. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, considering the inhabitants. After a short time, Dash stopped in front of another large set of double doors. “Welp, here we are.” Her calm words were counter to her shaky tone. What laid beyond that door was a mystery to both of them. Noticing his companion’s hesitance, The Doctor volunteered to go first this time.
He firmly planted a hoof on the door and pushed. With no excessive amount of creaking, the door slowly swung open. From inside, a cool breeze drifted across their bodies. The Doctor peered into the room, squinting.
“...Oh...” He stepped inside further, his face invisible to the mare looking on. “Oh my...”
“What...what?” Her voice shook as she looked on. She could easily fly over his head and get in first, but apprehension about what she might find held her back. The Doctor looked back at her and nodded into the room, then took several steps inside.
Rainbow Dash had flown further than she could keep track of. She’d crossed towns, cities, circled race tracks, flown to Cloudsdale, and so much more. But the two yards in front of her felt like the longest journey of her life. Her knees nearly gave out as she approached the threshold. Memories of the Daleks burned across her mind, even though they were not her own. She remembered the destruction, the extermination of entire species, the completely lack of restraint or thought to the lives being snuffed out. The merciless killing of anyone before them. Artificial thoughts taunted her every step, thoughts of Princess Celestia, slain by those damnable lasers. Princess Luna, captured and tortured and killed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the thoughts out of her head. Even as she entered the room, her eyes remained closed. It was only the cool breeze, still flowing throughout the area, that lowered her defenses enough to let her crack her eyes open.
“Princess Celestia!” She cried, launching herself airborn. She flew across the room towards the lightly glowing figure. The Doctor stood back, watching silently, as the pegasus tripped in her flight and stumbled to the ground, bowing several yards before the royal pony.
“...Rainbow Dash.” The Princess spoke.
The named bit her lip so hard it nearly began bleeding. She looked up, blinking the tears out of her eyes enough to finally take in the details of the scene. The Princess was, in fact, alive. However, her normally flowing, pastel mane had faded to a chalk white, and it looked as though it had been flecked with dust and charcoal. Her face was gaunt, and her body seemed thin, though still graceful. She was laying down, her legs folded under her. Her eyes, though tired, appeared as bright as ever as she regarded the time-displaced mare.
“P-princess!” Dash had to choke down her emotions in order to properly speak.
“It is good to see you again, Rainbow Dash.” Celestia smiled weakly, the wrinkles in her face becoming more apparent. “Doctor.” The alicorn’s eyes turned up to look at the stallion, who was still hanging back a ways. He blinked.
“Huh? Me?” He thought for a moment. “Ah, suppose you know me from your past. Hasn’t happened to me yet, so...”
“They come when the day ends.” She interrupted. Her eyes grew slightly harder as she looked at him. “You must find my sister. She holds the keys to the salvation of all of Equestria.”
For some time, all was silent save for the light wind emitting from Celestia’s body and the labored breaths she was taking. Rainbow Dash blinked rapidly. She looked between her best friend’s mentor and The Doctor, who was slightly taken aback.
Finally, the Princess’s face relaxed and she sagged. “I apologize for interrupting you. For so long I have practiced those words, for the time when you would come. I needed to speak them. I needed to tell you, lest I never spoke again.” She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. “I will explain what I can. I’m afraid there is no time for a joyful reunion, though I have missed you dearly.” She reopened her eyes just a crack, looking down at Dash.
The pegasus stood stone silent, her mouth hung open in awe. What was she saying? What did she mean? The Doctor walked up beside her and put a hoof on her shoulder. Shaken from her paralysis, she tried to gather words to put together. Before she could, however, Celestia continued.
“Long ago, the kingdom of Equestria came under attack by an unknown force. Even to this day, the only thing we know of the creatures is that they do not exist during the day. Our soldiers fought valiantly, but the enemy is vicious, the likes of which nopony has seen before or since. The threat came to a head when, one night, a massive force was unleashed. Many ponies were taken mysteriously. They disappeared in the attack. When I caught wind of it, I raised the sun quicker than I ever had before, blazing it across all Equestria. The creatures disappeared, but the damage...did not...”
The Princess coughed lightly, and Dash moved closer, reaching out a hoof. “Princess, you don’t have to...” She swallowed hard. She’d never seen the pony’s all powerful ruler so frail before.
“No, Rainbow Dash. You must hear of this. Only the two of you can help us and stop them now.” She coughed a moment more, then took a shaky breath and settle down. “Luna and I conversed at length, and we held the sun high, so that none of those creatures could take advantage of us. Eventually, we decided to use an ancient spell. One of us would remain and guard the day, keeping the sun up at all costs, at all times. The other would be locked away, and a spell would be cast by the most powerful unicorns. When the one who was locked away finally awoke, their power would be unbelievable, and they would overwhelm the creatures.” She smiled weakly. “I insisted that I be the one to stay. I told her I was more proficient at managing the sun.” She laughed softly. It was a breathy, half laugh. “I simply couldn’t see her this way. My sister is more dear to me than anything. So I remained here, keeping the sun in the sky. Sometimes I would dim it, to give the ponies a rest from the bright light, but never did it set. As of late, I’m afraid the sun has simply become a disembodied light that I keep shining throughout Equestria. But soon, my strength will give out. This day will finally end. But before it does, you must awaken my sister from her 5000 year slumber.”
“Five-!” The Doctor and Dash both gasped out at the same time. They looked at each other in utter shock. The Doctor picked up the speech.
“Five...thousand years? You’ve sat here, holding this one day, alone, for 5000 years!?”
“Give or take.” She smiled. Her eyes were laughing, but her heavy breathing didn’t allow for any more shows of joviality.
“Princess!” Any further words that Dash needed escaped her. The enormity of the situation settled more and more with each passing moment. “Nopony was left? Nopony at all?”
“Many were left when the day began, but Canterlot is a very exposed city. The design was meant to be a tribute to the sky and the sun and the moon, but despite my efforts to dim the sun when I could, Canterlot would become unlivable. I ordered the city to be evacuated, though I myself could not leave. My duties with the sun have been far more important. I believe that ponies still exist, but they are hidden. They have likely adapted to life without the sun, and taken Canterlot as the ruins of an ancient civilization by now...” She sighed softly. “But when my power fails, the day will end, and so will the hopes of the ponies. The unicorns that originally cast the spell on my sister have passed, but their magic remains active. It needs to be deactivated, and you are the only one capable.” She smiled at the pair. “And the only ones who would believe me. I am a remnant of the past in this world now.”
“Wait a minute, what if we just-” Dash started.
“Where is Princess Luna?” The Doctor cut across her. She shot him a glare, but he looked back so calmly and seriously that she relented.
“High atop the mountain, a shrine was constructed to protect her should the I fail to uphold the day. It is dangerous, and difficult to open, but I know you can do it, Doctor. Unfortunately, I cannot help you any further.” She smiled warmly at him. Dash was still unsure of how to react to all of this.
“But can’t we-”
“Dash, we’ll be heading to the top of the mountain.”
“But-!”
“Rule 3. Wait, that was the slimy thing rule...Rule 2, that’s the one!”
“Doc, I-”
“It’s Doctor, and we’ve been requested to do something by Princess Celestia. I think the proper thing is to do it.”
“Would you just listen to-!”
“Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus stopped mid sentence once more and looked up when the Princess spoke. She blinked softly, her eyes going slightly wider. She HAD the words now, she knew what she wanted to say, and to her it made sense. The most obvious thing to do. This time she refrained from speaking because of the Princess. If she was interrupting her, there could be no arguing.
“Believe me, Rainbow Dash.” She still smiled. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m afraid that the only path for you, right now, is to ascend the mountain and awaken my sister.”
“But...” She trailed off this time. No one interrupted her further. The Princess remained silent. The Doctor nodded at the door and turned, glancing back and waving back to the Princess lightheartedly.
“See you soon, Princess!”
Reluctantly, Dash followed.
-----
When they were back in the main hall, heading towards the door, the pegasus spoke up again.
“Why did you cut me off?”
The Doctor stopped and turned around. He saw that she’d stopped a short distance behind him, and had had a glare trained on his back for a while. He blinked. “Oh. Yes. Well...” He nervously scratched his head, and sighed.
“Doc, you have a TIME. MACHINE.” She enunciated the words harshly. “We can go back, stop all this from happening! We can warn Celestia and Luna in the past and they can stop all this before it gets this far.” She stomped her hoof again. It was feeling a bit better. “So why wouldn’t you let me finish? Why can’t we just...” She paused, struggling with getting her words out without completely going off on him.
“We will.”
She blinked. “What?”
“We will. We’ll go back in time and stop all this from happening.” The Doctor levelled his look at her like he did when he was making a promise. Having not been around him for a considerable amount of time, Dash wasn’t sure whether she could really believe him.
“So why didn’t we just ask Celestia how to open the museum? Why are we doing all of this?”
“For one thing, Celestia is having a hard time just speaking. She’s in no position to open anything.” He sighed, and Dash winced as the harsh truth shot across her. “And secondly, we simply HAVE to do this.”
“But...why?”
The stallion turned and walked out the door, wedging it a little further open as he did. “Just in case.” He disappeared through the doorway, and the slightly stunned pegasus rushed to catch up.
“Just in case what!? Stop being so...so...secret-y!” She called. When she slid through the door, she saw him still walking, but he was going slow enough to let her catch up. He didn’t turn when he responded.
“Just in case we fail.”
-----
The nearest part of the mountain was just behind the castle. They had an expectedly quiet walk there, and upon arriving at the base, they both craned their necks to look up. The cliff face was sheer, and nearly 90 degrees.
“Now, how in blazes are we supposed to get up there?” The Doctor grimaced. “Maybe if I had fingers, but these blasted hooves have no traction at all!” He glanced to the side, and Dash was floating there, her wings beating evenly. She was sticking her tongue out at him. “And don’t you even start! I know YOU can get up, but I happen to be just a tad bit grounded.” He huffed.
“Yeah, looks that way.” She chuckled a little and looked up again. “I mean, I could carry you, but...that’s a long way up. And I don’t think you’d be in good shape after a drop like that.”
“Oh, no, I completely trust you!” The Doctor grinned cheerfully. “No other way up there, right? Might as well get on with it.” Dash glared at him. “What, you got any better ideas? Time is of the essence, Miss Dash!”
“Hrmph. Fine.” She glowered at him for several seconds, then stretched her wings. “But based on this, I get to decide whether or not you go on a diet!” She prodded him in the nose with her hoof, moving on to stretch her front legs a bit.
-----
“You know, over all, that wasn’t that bad at all!” The Doctor brushed himself off and turned to look at Dash. She’d collapsed in a heap near the edge of the plateau that had been carved into the top of the mountain. Her wings burned slightly from the exertion, and her legs wouldn’t permit her to stand just yet. Far below them, the tip of the castle’s tallest spire was visible just above the clouds.
“...You. Diet. Tomorrow.” She spoke between breaths. The Doctor chuckled, then rounded back towards the center of the flattened landscape. There stood a building. It was somewhat small, and it looked as though it had been hewn out of the stone from within the mountain itself. He approached it cautiously, his eyes scanning the ground around the area. Burned into the rock, there were several circles laden with runes and scribblings. Likely, he assumed, the area where the unicorns who were casting the spell were sat.
“Five thousand years.” He muttered under his breath, focussing on the door and approaching it slowly. “I’ll have to tell Rory to step up his game.” He squinted. The door, hardly more than a stone slab, was glowing slightly. When he reached a hoof up to tap it, it sent out a small, electric pop. He pulled his hoof back and shook it. It was warded, that was for sure.
Behind him, Dash had stood and taken in the surroundings. She stretched her wings out once more, then folded them against her back. “So what’s the deal? Can we open it?”
“Dunno. Do you know any magic?” Rainbow Dash scoffed and rolled her eyes. The Doctor placed a hoof to his chin and thought for a moment, then began walking around the outside of the building.
“It’s kinda small, isn’t it? Doesn’t look very royal.” Dash squinted and looked closely at one of the rough pillars that supported the slight overhang in front of the door. “Not really suited for a princess.”
“Probably easier to protect a smaller building. Plus, it’s not like there have been a lot of ponies up here to see it.” He sighed, coming back around to the front and looking at the door again. “I just have no idea. You think you could fly up and see if there’s anything on the roof.”
Dash groaned. Flying, for once, was the last thing she wanted to do. She reluctantly tested her wings, then gave a couple of good flaps, her hooves lightly landing on top of the 1 story structure. The moment she touched the stone, a loud pop sent her tumbling back down to the ground. She sat up, suddenly wide awake. Her mane was a bit the worse for wear, but overall she didn’t seem to be hurt. A little more energized, if anything. She blinked rapidly several times as The Doctor galloped over, leaning down to inspect her.
“Wo-hoa! You alright?” He looked into her eyes. “How many hooves am I holding up?” He held one up.
She pushed it away half heartedly. “Yeah, no, I’m fine, thanks.” She stood up, then tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked past The Doctor and towards the door. “That was...weird.”
-----
Down in the castle, Celestia felt her breathing steadily speed up. She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder, towards the mountain. Though all she could see was a wall, she imagined them up there, freeing her sister. After a few breaths, she managed to relax herself and force her body to relax a little bit. The wheezing slowed.
“I’m sorry, Doctor. Rainbow Dash. I hope I have bought you enough time.”
Celestia closed her eyes, and the glow that had surrounded her horn for 5000 years dimmed. She laid her head down. She could no longer hold the powerful magic that had kept the sun’s light in the sky. As she felt herself drifting off, the throne room grew darker and darker around her, and the gentle breeze that was the side effect of her magic died down.
-----
“Well, maybe if we...No, that wouldn’t work.” The Doctor tapped his hoof, looking around. If one of them were a unicorn, they might be able to do something. Even if he had his screwdriver, he might be able to figure out this whole magic thing and undo the spell. He cursed himself for leaving it aboard the TARDIS.
“Doc.” Dash spoke from behind him.
“Have you come up with something?” The Doctor turned around eagerly, grinning. “I knew you could do it!”
“Now, it’s...” The mare’s eyes were trained on the sky. He looked up as well. The gray glow that had been ever present since they first arrived was fading, slipping more and more towards black.
“No.” His face fell, his eyes widening as he realized what was happening. “No, no no no!” He turned, slightly panicked, and whipped his head around. “We’re so close. So close! If we can just...”
The light around them completely disappeared, causing both of them to shout in surprise. The sky wasn’t the only thing that was black. All light seemed to have disappeared entirely. No sun, no moon, no stars, nothing.
“Doc! What do we do?”
“Stay near me, Dash! We need to stick together. We can still break the spell!” He called, half lying. He had no idea what he could do now.
They gently bumped into one another and jumped, letting out another simultaneous yell. At least they had found each other.
“Doc...”
“Don’t worry, we’re atop a mountain! We’re perfectly safe!”
As if on cue, a series of noises kicked up around them. Loud whooshing was the first thing they heard, and only moments after that they were surrounded by the sound of loud, raspy breathing. Some kind of light laughter erupted through the invisible crowd, and ever so slowly it grew closer.
“Doc...”
“Just...hold on, all of you! I know what you are, and I can help you!” His go to, last ditch effort to save his own skin. It had about a 50% success rate.
“We need no help. We stand victorious!” Several voices rasped in chorus, followed by an eruption of a cheer.
“Victorious! Victorious! Victorious!”
“That your best plan!?” Dash called to the stallion over the cacophony.
“Not exactly. It was kind of my only one!” He responded.
“Victorious! Victorious! Victorious!”
As the cheering grew closer to them, they backed up further, closer to the door of the structure that contained Princess Luna. Meer hooves away, their salvation slept.
“Victorious!”
“Come on Doc, at least gimme a plan B!” Dash shouted blindly, waving her hoof in front of her to fend off anypony who got close.
“Victorious!”
The unseen creatures were mere inches away now. The pair of ponies could feel hot breath washing across their faces.
Doctor Whooves: CY 20000 Chapter 4: Revolt Against the Sun Max Kodan
The creatures were getting closer. They seemed to be revelling in their prey’s fear, taking their sweet time to make sure they knew just how much trouble they were in. Every once in a while, Dash’s randomly swinging hoof would glance off something. Swinging again in the same place resulted in nothing. It was as if they were taunting her, assuring her that they were right there, within hoof’s reach, and that they could see her perfectly well despite her and her friend’s complete blindness.
“Alright, Doc! Any time now!” She was beginning to breathe more heavily. The burst of energy she’d gotten from the shock of the magic was wearing off, and the weariness of hauling The Doctor up the side of a mountain was setting in again.
“Really? Even now? Ugh.” He rolled his eyes, though he knew she couldn’t see it.
Dash grumbled something and backed up another step. The chanting grew more and more intense. Dash was forced to lower her hooves to the ground, unable to keep defending herself. If ‘defending’ were really the correct term.
“Victorious! Victorious! VICTORIOUS!”
As the jeering grew to a head, Dash suddenly felt a clawed hand grab her throat through the darkness. She felt her eyes go wide, and her breath caught in her throat. Every muscle in her body stiffened. Just then, she felt one other sensation. Her tail straightened and, though just barely, brushed against the stone door behind her.
The bang was as loud as a gunshot. There was a brief flash of light, and the thing that had latched on to her neck went flying off into the crowd. The chanting immediately stopped, and the confident sounds of success changed to incoherent muttering and scuffling feet. The Doctor rubbed his eyes, then strained to look over towards his companion.
“Dash? Dash, are you alright?” He asked. The flash had taken him by surprise, but he’d managed to catch a glimpse of something. The color white. Whatever these creatures were, they were stark white. “Dash?” His eyes whipped around out of habit. She wasn’t responding. Still, he was sure he sensed movement behind him. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to...open the...door. Duh.” Dash grunted, as if straining against something. Indeed, she had thrown herself against the door and was pushing with all her might. When her tail had brushed the door, she’d felt the energy run straight through her and blow that...thing...off the top of the mountain. After being shocked a second time, she figured if she was going to die, she’d rather be electrocuted by magic than whatever these guys had in store. And actually, when she started attempting to force the stone slab aside, she realized: It didn’t really hurt. It was annoying, a little achy, and really weird feeling, but it didn’t hurt. “You gonna help or what?”
The Doctor stood, mind boggling at this pegasus. When he’d so much as touched the door he’d received quite a bad shock. Perhaps the magic was weakened after all this time and so many discharges? He tentatively reached a hoof towards the door and promptly had his theory disproven by a massive jolt of pain that shot up his leg. “Aack!” He clicked his tongue. “Er, I’ll just...cover these guys.” He shook his head and turned around. The shouts of the cheering crowd in front of him had turned to unsure grumbling and mild shuffling. They were wary about what happened to their unfortunate ally. “That’s right you lot, stay where you are. One more step and it’s the zapper for the lot of you!” He called bravely, grinning confidently in the dark, just in case the creatures could see.
Slowly, the barrier beneath Dash’s hooves began to yield. Hardly more than an inch at a time, the door swung inwards. Behind her, she could hear the shuffling growing a little more rapid. They were getting restless, and restlessness could lead to bravery. She took in a deep breath and pushed harder, beating her wings behind her and thrashing her tail about, in case anything came close.
“Come on, Dash...” The Doctor muttered to her. “Any second now...”
She was too busy bracing herself against the frame to give the agitated reply that popped into her head. Once more, she felt a claw brush across her leg for just a second, but another flash and another crack gave the second would-be attacker the same treatment. At this point, Dash was just getting used to the tingling sensation of being a conduit to a lightning bolt.
She groaned and gave one final heave, the door finally open just enough to slip through. “Alright, go!” She called, propping the door open. The scuffling as The Doctor backed slowly and unsurely towards the door was echoed a thousand times as the group of white creatures tentatively closed in more. Dash moved around the edge of the door, but the moment she took her weight off of it the door had begun to close. She scoffed and grabbed onto it, pulling it inwards as The Doctor tested his steps, finding the opening with only a few minor shocks to his tail. Dash bit her lip, waiting for word from the stallion that he was inside.
“You have not escaped us forever.”
The voice emitted from a source meer inches from The Doctor’s face. He jolted a little in his surprise, bumping against the door and receiving a rather harsh shock to his side. He froze in place, now knowing that he was face to face with something he couldn’t see.
“The tyranny of the day has been brought to an end, and now this world is ours. You may have your shack, but we have everything. We. Are. Victorious.” A throaty laugh accentuated the statement of superiority.
The Doctor calmed his breathing while the creature spoke. In response, he hardened his eyes. “Name yourselves.”
“What?” The creature stopped laughing.
“Name yourselves. What are you called, oh great ‘conquerors?’” He threw a sarcastic spin on end of his sentence. The huff from the creature showed that his snark had hit the spot, but they both knew a physical outlash could lead to a disastrous end for the creature.
There was a pause, as if the creature was unsure of how to respond. Finally, slowly, it began to speak. “We are...The Other.” Silence settled atop the mountain.
“Doc...” Dash groaned. “I can’t hold the door much longer. Hurry up!”
“Alright, Miss Dash.” He backed up a few more steps, keeping his eyes fixed in the same position. When she let go, the door slowly ground across the floor and, eventually, shut with a light ‘boom’.
Both of the ponies relaxed and sat down.
“Well...now what?” Dash was the first to speak up. She looked around her at the interior of the building. “Still can’t see a thing, and now we’re trapped in this stupid rock!” She kicked the ground with her hoof as her voice echoed around the room.
The Doctor sighed, shaking his head. “Now we rest. We’ll be safe for now, and we need to use the time to think. If we can figure out what these things are, we can fight them.”
The mare didn’t have any better ideas, so she reluctantly nodded her agreement. “The sooner we can kick those things out of Equestria, the better.” She grumbled, glaring at what she assumed was the ground. The lack of light was starting to get to her.
“Alright.” The Doctor began matter-of-factly. “Let’s put together what we know.”
“They don’t exist during the day, isn’t that what the Princess said?” Dash strained her ever-tiring mind to remember the conversation.
“Hm, that is what she said. But I don’t know if that’s right. Rather, they’re not here during the day. We can’t interact with them, and they can’t interact with us.”
“Yeah, that’s really helpful...Um, there are a lot of them?”
“Undoubtedly. A veritable army. Though they’d have to be in order to pose any real threat. What else have we got?”
“Why am I the one bringing up all the details? Aren’t you the super-genius-alien-dictionary whatever? You know as much as I do!” Dash growled at him. Honestly, her head was just starting to hurt from trying to dig up any useful information.
“Oh, right, sorry! I just like hearing things aloud. Helps me organize it all in my head.” He put a hoof to his chin and thought. “Well, some of them were talking at the same time. I suppose there could be a sort of psychic link between them. A hive mind, but not a perfect hive mind. Some individuality still left in there which makes them that much more dangerous...”
Dash frowned, not understanding a word of what The Doctor was talking about. “Yeah, sure. Um...they got to us pretty quick. Right after the day ended it was like “Woosh” and there they were.”
“Ah!” The Doctor shouted suddenly, his voice echoing off the walls. Dash leapt to her hooves, swinging her head around wildly as if it would help anything.
“What!? What is it!? Did one of them get in!? Did they get you!? Where are you, you little runt, I’ll, I’ll...!”
“No no no! That’s it, you’re brilliant! Oh, why didn’t I think of it before?” The Doctor bounced a little in place. “They WERE right on us, weren’t they! But how? How could that be?”
Dash quirked an eyebrow and settle down a little. “What are you talking about?”
“Dash, remember what the Princess said. It’s been five thousand years! But mere seconds after the sun went out they were all ready to jump to the attack! They remember clearly what their goal is!”
“...And?”
“Five THOUSAND years, Dash! Five THOUSAND years! Even if they lived that long, keeping that goal in mind for that long without wavering at all and coming back like nothing happened; it’s not just hard to believe, it’s impossible!” He called, again letting his voice echo for a moment. “Dash, I think I have our answer, but blast it all this darkness is getting to me. We need to find some sort of light.” He turned to feel along the wall, but wound up just running into it.
“Yeah, you’re telling me. But what are we supposed to do? We don’t have magic, or a flashlight or anything.”
The Doctor thought about their predicament for a few moments before responding. “...There’re no windows.”
“...What?”
“In this room, there are no windows. We would have seen them from the outside. There are no windows whatsoever.”
“What’s your point?” Dash glared in the general direction she thought his voice was coming from.
“And, if there are no windows it doesn’t matter how bright it is outside, it would be pitch black inside. So how were we supposed to see when we got in here?” He grinned a little. He was onto something and he knew it. “Let’s see, magic can run by keywords, sometimes, right? Erm...Light! On! Illuminate!” He frowned when his initial plans didn’t work. He rose his hoof off of the ground and knocked it twice against the stone floor. Again, nothing. “Aww, no clop on clop off? Hm...”
Dash sighed and shook her head. He was being as useful as usual. “Doc...”
“For the last time,” He said, now becoming rather exasperated with the whole thing. “Stop calling me Doc! I am The Doctor!”
The moment the last words left his lips, the walls began to slowly fade into sight. A light, very dim but growing stronger, sprung to life in the center of the ceiling. Soon enough the pair could see the shocked expressions on the other’s face.
“What?” The Doctor turned his gaze to examine the entire ceiling, sweeping his head around. “But, what?”
Dash blinked out of her surprise and chuckled a little. “Oh yeah...she did say she was expecting you!” Perhaps finally being able to see again was affecting her brain abnormally, but the giggling fit she’d had earlier returned.
“Hah! I suppose so!” The Doctor grinned triumphantly. “Lookit that, who’d have guessed!?”
The light stopped growing brighter. It had settled rather like a candle, fluctuating only slightly in its intensity. As the duo looked over the room for the first time they saw that it was just that: A room. No secondary doors leading to smaller rooms, no grand pillars, it was a simple room. One wall was decorated with two tapestries that showed an artistically rendered Luna gracefully encircling the world. Directly between the two hanging artworks, there was a raised platform made of the same gray stone as the rest of the shack. A short distance over the stone, curled up into a rather small ball, floated a midnight blue pony.
“...Princess Luna...” Dash stepped towards the slumbering demi-deity. She looked so small and fragile, hovering in place, her mane flowing behind her like a waterfall. Her tail, deep blue and as liquid as her mane, curled around her form, partially hiding her face from view. Her eyes were closed softly, and her chest heaved gently with her easy breathing. She looked absolutely peaceful.
“She’s in hibernation...” The Doctor approached, squinting at the Princess. As he did, the light pulsed brightly for a moment, Luna began to slowly lower to the stone table beneath her. The moment her mane touched the ground, her eyes began to slowly open, glowing brighter than the magical light above them. She slowly unfurled her tail and extended her legs. Her hooves gently touched the ground, and she quietly turned her head towards the door. She seemed to ignore the ponies present at her awakening, and she immediately began striding across the room.
The Doctor watched in mild awe for a moment before he put two and two together and leapt into action. He ran alongside her, tripping a little in his haste. “Princess Luna! Wait, you have to wait! Don’t banish them yet, I think-”
Her horn glowed and the stallion was silenced. She slowly lifted him off the ground, but did not alter her stride towards the door. “We can feel that there is no day, no night outside.” The royal voice shook the mountain top. The power of her words alone sent a chill down Dash’s’ spine. “The foul beasts that plague our land have done something to our sister. They shall be vanquished to a realm of eternal light from which they cannot escape! We shall ensure that they do not trouble a single pony ever again!” Her voice was getting louder. As she held The Doctor several feet off the ground, he flailed his legs a little and attempted to speak, but to no avail.
Dash took off, flying up to him and grabbing his back leg, attempting to pull him out of the spell and back to the ground. “I gotcha, Doctor!”
Luna stopped in her path, only a short distance from the door, now. “That voice...We know that voice. But it is...it cannot be!” Her voice had softened, and she turned her head to finally look at the two struggling ponies. “...Rainbow...Dash?”
She released her spell, and both The Doctor and Dash tumbled to the floor with a cry of surprise. The princess strode up to them. She blinked, and the bright glow in her eyes disappeared, replaced by the large, blue irises. The Doctor coughed a little, rolling to his feet and stumbling a moment. “Hoo! You do pack quite the punch, Princess!”
The Princess regarded him cautiously, then eyed Rainbow Dash again. The mare groaned. The Doctor had landed right on top of her. He seemed to be causing her quite a bit of physical pain and exhaustion today. She sat up and shook her head, looking up at the Princess.
“...Is it really you, Rainbow Dash?” She seemed unsure, pulling her head back and narrowing her eyes suspiciously. Dash suddenly remembered that they were displaced in time by nearly 20,000 years. She laughed nervously, pushing herself to her hooves. “Aaaah, yeah. I guess this is a little...um...”
“Strange.” The Doctor finished, brushing himself off.
Luna’s gaze turned towards The Doctor. “My apologies...” The royal tone had fallen off, and she sounded much more natural. “My memories are...still falling into place. However, if you are here then...” A light of recognition came to her eyes. “You are...The Doctor!”
“At your service, Princess!” He bowed deeply, then stood up and grinned.
“Of course...” Her eyes left him and returned to the door. “I thank you, both of you, for awakening me. However, I intend to finish this now.” She narrowed her eyes, and the glow returned to them. “These things hurt my people, my city, and my sister. I shall show them the true fury of the royal family.”
“Wait, waaaaaait wait wait!” The Doctor again dashed to her side, evening his stride with hers and looking up at her once again. “We can’t banish them yet!” Though she appeared rather annoyed with another interruption, his urgency gave her some pause. He grabbed onto his chance. “I think I’ve got them figured out. I think I figured something very important!”
The Princess quirked an eyebrow, and her question was obvious enough that she didn’t bother to ask.
“I know, I know. But hear me out! They don’t just disappear during the day! They remember everything like it just happened. They seem to be the same ones. If that’s the case, and we think about it a bit, we can come to a very important realization! They’re not just gone, they’re GONE!” He grinned. “During the day, they completely cease to exist. They disappear from time and space entirely. Probably into a parallel universe where there is massively stretched time! Five thousand years of daytime to us is like a few seconds to them!” He grinned even wider.
“So if I were to blaze the sun across the sky, eventually they would simply return? Then I will destroy them with force. It shall be the longest and the last night of their lives!” The Princess scowled, stomping closer to the door.
“No no! You’re missing the point! The ponies from the attack on Canterlot. They just disappeared, right? Well, where do you think they went?”
Dash straightened up behind the pair. She’d felt left out of the conversation, but when she realized what The Doctor was saying, she couldn’t help but jump in. “They were taken! So, so they’re in that place! With the...stretchy time thing!”
“Yes! Exactly! And if that’s the case...”
“Then they’re still alive! And that means...”
“My subjects...could still be saved?” Luna showed signs of shuddering. Her eyes had gone wide, and she’d swung around to face them once more. Her expression betrayed her shock, and her legs wobbled just a bit beneath her. “And...my sister?”
The Doctor paused for a second. “Princess Celestia would have passed out before anything else. If we act quickly, we can save her and bring back all the ponies taken in the attack on Canterlot. We can save them all, Princess! Every single beautiful one of them!”
In the past several hours, Rainbow Dash had felt disbelief, glee, shock, fear, trepidation, anger, sadness, pain, terror, desperation, fatigue, awe, and no small amount of electrocution. But now, as she watched The Doctor’s hard set eyes, his confident grin, his puffed out chest and his steady stance, she felt something else take over. For the first time since she’d seen Princess Celestia in the state she was in, she felt pure, unfettered, unshakable hope.
Doctor Whooves: CY 20000 Chapter 5: Wrath of the Moon Max Kodan
“Alright, now remember, there are still a lot of things we don’t know about The Other. We have to be careful. The situation is very delicate. We can’t let the chance to rescue the ponies slip by.”
“So I can’t punch them?”
“No, Dash, you can’t punch them.”
“Worry not, Rainbow Dash. Simply revel in the looks of sheer, nightmarish terror I shall instill on their faces.”
“Heheh...I think I like this side of you, Princess.”
-----
Atop Canterlot Peak, the crowd of Others had grown. The darkness was still absolute, and the temperature was rapidly dropping. The creatures didn’t mind it in the least. It was as if the cold or heat didn’t even register. Each additional creature that joined them melded into the crowd. The army they were amassing would soon be strong enough to break through the cursed barrier blocking them from their prey. A murmur of excitement began to reverberate through the writhing mass.
Which one noticed first, none of them were entirely sure. However, soon enough the realization spread and the bubbling chatter was reduced to whispered confusion. They could see each other. It was hardly more than faint outlines of pony-like heads, but the vision was unmistakable.
“There!” The one who shouted straightened his back to rise above the crowd, pointing one clawed finger up into the black that was the sky. But he wasn’t pointing at black. He was pointing at a single dot. A single star.
A collective shiver lanced through the spines of each and every creature outside. It was night. From the single star in the sky, the stars spread, appearing as dots, one at a time, but more and more rapidly until the sky was filled with the constellations and planets and galaxies that hadn’t been seen in Equestria for thousands of years.
Even the Other couldn’t deny the beauty of the night. However, every awestruck eye was drawn back to the structure in the center of the pony-made plateau as the sound of stone grinding against stone shattered their silence. Beyond the door was a light brighter than the stars. Squinting, the collective tried to make out the figures silhouetted in the portal. The taller of the ponies stepped forward. Bright white eyes stood out against the shape of her face. Her wings spread behind her and she floated silently into the air. Her horn emitted a dark blue aura. In the sky behind the shack, near the horizon, the full moon appeared suddenly in the sky, so bright that all other lights were negligible. All they could see, burned into their eyes and their minds, was the brilliant disk in the sky and the black shape of the newly risen Princess Luna set dead in the center of it, wings spread wide, eyes alight with rage and trained on the mountaintop.
-----
Once Luna had walked out the door, The Doctor and Rainbow Dash had been more or less ignored. The stallion blinked and frowned. He was used to being the center of attention in these sorts of things. Still, when he craned his neck around to see the scene above him, he shrugged. Luna gently floated down and landed between them, rigid and stern. It seemed that the audience was starting to adjust to the new light levels. The amount of eye rubbing and quiet exclamations was reducing.
“Nice touch,” The Doctor muttered to her.
“That...was...awesome!” Dash squeaked, trying to keep her voice low. Her expression was shifting as she fought to hide her excitement.
There was a slight pause, but a bit of red appeared on Luna’s face. “Er...thank you.” She spoke from the corner of her mouth.
“Right then, brilliant!” The Doctor grinned and stepped out before the Other. “Now let’s get a good, proper look at you!” His eyes swept across the crowd. They were, indeed, solid white. There didn’t seem to be any variation in color between them. Their heads were distinctly pony, if perhaps a little smaller. Their legs were small, their knees bent and their bodies hunched over. Their arms were longer, reaching nearly halfway down their shins, if they were to stand upright. As they were, they needed to keep their elbows bent a little to keep their clawed hands from dragging on the ground.
“Look at you, almost stereotypical.” The Doctor frowned a little, as if in disappointment. “Thought you’d be a little more...ornate, I guess. Ah well, the universe was once threatened by unmarked ping pong balls. Suppose you’re a step up from that. Now then, let’s see. Looks like my hunch was correct.” He chuckled. “You lot, short range psychic link, is it? When you’re close to another one of you, you share feelings, thoughts.” His eyes turned slightly sly, and he gave a mischievous chuckle. “And emotion. Fear, looks like. That worked out against you, looks like.” He waited. “Come on, then! Who wants to speak first, I’ve got some questions.”
“Yeah!” Dash joined in, pacing past The Doctor, her wings extended with her newfound confidence. “Some threat you are. The big scary Other! Pfah, buncha wimps!” She crowed, looking one right in the face. Its eyes were a pale gray color, like the rest of those that had gathered in front of them. They stared blankly. They seemed to be literally paralyzed. “Come on you scardy-cats! Somepony say something!” She stepped closer staring her chosen Other down.
“DO NOT CALL US THAT!” The other next to the one she was watching shouted so suddenly and so loudly that Dash leapt back into the air, floating several feet off of the ground. Her tail and mane seemed a bit more frazzled than a moment earlier. The vocal Other emerged from the crowd, visibly shaken, but still standing tall before the trio of ponies. “Do not address us so insultingly!”
The Doctor latched on quickly,. Luna stood behind, her eyes still glowing, still exuding the pure power she possessed and lording it over the Other, just to keep them in line. She was watching everything closely, sitting on a hair trigger, prepared to do whatever needed to be done to protect her fellows.
“Call you what?” The alien stallion lowered his head and eyed their new negotiator. Whether it was the one that had addressed him as he fell back into Luna’s resting place, he wasn’t sure.
“She refers to us as ‘pony’. To be compared to such pitiful vermin is an affront to our dignity! We will wipe the pony scourge off the face of our beautiful planet! We will retake our rightful place as rulers! We will-” As the Other spoke, he seemed to grow more and more fearful. The Doctor cut him off.
“Now, I suggest you watch what you say.” He shot a glance over his shoulder, shaking his head to Luna. She was visibly trembling, and the glow in her eyes, previously feigned, was now brighter and far more sincere. At his signal, she took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. “Right now, we’re the ones with the power. We’re the ones in control. I can tell, you’ve taken all the bravery you can muster between the lot of you and focussed it on this one, poor soul. And look, he’s still terrified.” He nodded to Dash, who was still floating in the air. She fluttered down and landed next to him, restoring her confidence. She glowered now, however, instead of bragging.
The Other stood in silence for a moment. Its eyes relaxed. For the first time, it appeared to take in The Doctor and his companion fully. Every eye shifted to them, every Other giving them a once over from a different angle. “You...” It contemplated. “You are familiar. But not familiar. We recognise you, but we have never seen you.” It squinted at Dash. “You exist from another time, but it is impossible for you to be here.” Without waiting for a reply, it shot its look to The Doctor. “And you. You exist within our memories, but you are clouded, Shrouded by something, as if you were never there at all. We know only two things of you. You are called The Doctor, and...” It paused, as if not quite sure how to process the next bit. “You are not a pony.”
“No, I’m not.” The Doctor fired back. “But I happen to like them quite a bit, which brings me to the crux of our argument.” He straightened his neck and dropped his shoulders back. “Up until now, we have been very kind. The Princess back there could wipe out the lot of you with hardly a passing wink. But we want something from you, and we’re willing to talk. We know about you, we know about where you go in the sunlight. And more importantly, we know about the ponies.” Technically, a bluff. However, if they were wrong then this whole talk was pointless anyway.
The Other hissed slightly. He seemed to be more comfortable being the vessel for the group’s conversation now. “Then tell us what you want, so that we can deny you.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Dash growled and lowered her head, glaring.
“You must be new to this whole negotiating thing. You know full well what we want.” The Doctor ignored Dash’s frustration, keeping his steady, practiced stare on the white creature. “The ponies. The ponies you took when you attacked Canterlot 5000 Equestrian years ago. We want them back. Every single one.”
There was a pause. “And in return?”
Dash seemed a bit taken aback by their sudden turn. The Doctor, however, pressed on. “Well firstly, I’ll ensure that this rightly agitated demigod behind me doesn’t deconstruct you one molecule at a time.” As if to accentuate his point, Luna sent out a pulse of magical energy, which caused everyone atop the mountain to shiver as if an electric shock had passed through them. “Ooh, she’s good...”
“A threat, Doctor?”
“A promise.” Dash scowled, scraping her hoof across the stone.
“Both.” He frowned. “I wasn’t done. Aside from that, I’ll also find you a planet. A planet just for you to call your own. The ponies have just as much of a right to be here as you do, and they’ve already put the work into it. I can find you a fresh world to call your own. A world with no daytime, a world that you can live on without being sent back to that dimension.”
“What!?” The shocked voices of Dash and Luna, who spoke for the first time since the door opened, chorused. They both shot looks at The Doctor. Rainbow Dash continued, and Luna simply let her speak, returning to her stoic glare over the crowd. “You’re going to let them go? No, you’re going to HELP them?”
He stared straight on, frowning. “Yes, I am. You’d be upset too if you got sent to another dimension every time the sun rose. If they go to another planet, you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you, and everyp-” He paused at the glare from the Other. “Everyone can live on. No problems, no hate, no war, no nothing.” He flicked his eyes over to the rainbow-maned mare. The incredulous look in her eyes told him she wasn’t pleased. “I’m the negotiator, I set the terms. We are not murderers. If we can solve this peacefully, we will. Understand?”
“Doctor, I don’t know if...”
“This is how I work, Miss Dash.” He gazed at her the same way he’d been looking at the Other just moments before. She narrowed her eyes at him, but scoffed and looked away.
“Very well. Now,” he said, turning back to the mass in front of him, “How about it? No one gets hurt, everyone’s happy, yes?”
The Other bowed its head, and it seemed to be thinking hard. More likely, it was conversing with the entire group. A large chunk of the race, all pondering the same point. Debating pros and cons with psychic links between themselves. The strongest and most numerous opinions would win out.
After nearly a minute of thought, the Other raised its head. It brought a clawed hand in front of its face, and the entire group mimicked the motion. They concentrated, and a light hum emanated from the Others’ throats. Luna lowered her horn and pointed at them, and Dash hunkered down, planting her back legs firmly. The Doctor’s muscles tightened, but he remained still.
There was a brief moment of confusion, where the humming suddenly grew intense, and then cut off. After that, the sounds of exclamations and confused babble filled the air. For a moment, the trio of ponies were confused. The Other were making no further movement. Their arms had fallen to their sides again. Their mouths weren’t moving. Finally, a cry from Luna turned Dash and The Doctor around. There, behind them, stood a huge crowd of very confused, very agitated ponies.
Luna’s eyes had dimmed back to their normal blue hue as she looked over the group. The memories arose of the countless that had been taken the day of the attack as if it had only been yesterday, and a tear formed itself in her eye. They were all back. High class nobles, tourists, construction workers, waitresses, chefs, guards, and so many others now stood atop the mountain. Several heads poked out of the doorway to the stone altar. Foals were bouncing happily around as if nothing had happened, and babies cried for their mothers, who quickly scooped them up and tended to them.
“What’s going on?”
“How did I get here?”
“Wasn’t there an attack, and-”
“Is that Princess Luna?”
Dispersed within the gentle rumbling of speech in the crowd were several utterances of shock as some of the ponies remembered the circumstances that caused their initial distress. Several surprised cries emerged as the Other were seen. The Doctor and Dash, standing side by side some distance away, both looked surprised at the turn of events. Luna had dropped her threatening demeanor and instead stood with a wide smile plastered on her face. She bit back more tears and, for lack of any other way to show her emotion, she began to laugh.
“Huh, guess your way did work after all,” Dash commented. She gave The Doctor a stiff punch in the shoulder, and he wobbled a little where he stood.
“It worked?” He queried, attempting to comprehend. “Really? They’re accepting? They never accept! This is...” Unheard of? Unbelievable? A variety of words filled The Doctor’s head. This was the gambit, nay, the real offer he’d posed dozens, if not hundreds of times. Every single time it had been shot down. After all, he only ever needed to offer it to exceedingly corrupt species or group, and they tended to be so malign that they turned it down as a joke, thinking they’d won. This time, however, was apparently different. It was... “Brilliant!” He cried.
Several ponies had screamed upon seeing the Other, but that was to be expected. Once they could get the situation under control, everything could end without conflict, if not downright peacefully. “Now, now, settle down!” He attempted to shout over the crowd. “It’s all right! We’re all friends here!” The crowd did not quiet down. Instead, more looks of terror swept across the group. Several ponies pointed, but upon inspecting their surroundings they found nowhere to run, which as far as The Doctor was concerned, was perfectly fine.
“...Doctor?”
It was Rainbow Dash. He smiled. “Yes, right! Now then, let’s get down to-” As he spoke, he turned around. Rainbow Dash had already seen them, and when The Doctor saw what she did, both of his hearts sank to the ground. “...No.”
While the vocal Other still stood stern on the ground, the rest had stood straight up, straightening their backs and staring at the sky. Their eyes had whited out, and their mouths hung open, though no sound escaped. The Other on the ground frowned and slowly began to stand up as well.
“We no longer need the ponies taken then. To sustain them would be a waste.” He fully straightened, and ever so slowly, he began to raise his head, just as the rest had. “They will be destroyed along with you!”
The Doctor hung his head, then raised it once more. “We don’t have to do this.” It was his last attempt. “The ponies, I can take THEM to another planet instead! How about that? Everypony lives!”
“Doctor!” Rainbow Dash glared back at him.
The other hissed out a laugh as his eyes slowly faded to white. “No, Doctor. Everypony dies!”
Dash clicked her tongue and ran over to her associate, still glaring at him. Instead of an ‘I told you so’, she shelved her pride for just a moment. “What are they doing now?” She asked.
“It’s a psychic echo.” The Doctor spoke quietly after a moment. “Each of them are sending a signal to all the rest. They’re forming a huge web of psychic power, and they’re going to materialize it as energy very soon.” He didn’t sound worried, just defeated. He turned his eyes to the side and looked at Luna. “Princess...”
The alicorn was shaken out of her joy when she heard her title. She remembered their position and registered what was happening. She swung around wordlessly, her eyes again shining bright. She lowered her horn at them and prepared herself. The Doctor turned away, shaking his head.
“They’ll be using a focus. One Other will be holding the psychic net together.” Everything was out of his hooves now, and he showed it. He sat himself down, shaking his head sadly. “If you can detect that one and hit him hardest, the whole thing will crumble.”
Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was getting angrier and angrier at The Doctor. She didn’t fear the outcome, she had complete confidence in Luna’s power. Instead, she focussed her emotions on The Doctor, whose attitude was truly starting to get to her.
The Others’ psychic power formed a large white ball over their heads and, after only a second, fired it in an enormous beam of energy straight at the trio. Luna scowled and quickly met the blast with her own. Every single pony watched in awe as the two struggled, save for two. One chestnut earth stallion stared dejectedly at the ground, away from the spectacle. One cyan pegasus mare stood, trying to find the right words with which to berate him. Both looked up only a little when the Princess spoke.
“They are...powerful. I have located the ‘focus’ of which you spoke, but I cannot target it without risking their breaking through.” The Doctor straightened a little. They were that strong? He looked at the fight, his head snapping back and forth, looking between the two. The Others didn’t seem to be tiring a bit, but Luna was hunkered down in order to keep on her hooves.
“They’re...what?” He stood slightly shocked for a moment. “Hold on, I’ll give you a boost with the...” He patted his side and groaned “Sonic...right.” He scoffed and swung around wildly, trying to find out how to help. “I...can’t do anything!” He called, his eyes going a bit wide with his worry.
Rainbow Dash lifted her head when she heard of the Princesses distress. For a moment, she watched The Doctor scurry about. Then, she decided on the best way to tell him to man up. “Doctor...Shut up.” She didn’t bother to watch his expression. She turned away from him and squinted at the mass of attacking Other. One of them stood out front. Its pose was slightly different, it stood apart from the crowd. Since it was the only thing she could think of, Dash immediately took off and charged, flapping her wings hard. She grabbed the thing’s leg and dragged it down, separating it from the pack. It didn’t change its expression or move in the least. The more she looked at it, the angrier she got. “Get out of my country!” She hauled her front leg back.
Her hoof connected sharply. She’d hit it so hard that it not only fell out of its trance, but skidded across the ground, grinding to a halt mere centimeters from the edge of the sheer cliff. Before it could show its surprise, Luna saw her opportunity. With a cry so mighty it was heard even to the remaining ponies that cowered in caves across Equestria, she gave one final push. The white energy dissipated immediately, and the midnight blue magic washed over the entire gang of Other.
What came next was difficult to explain. It felt like an explosion, shaking the mountain, thumping in the chests of the ponies watching. It looked like an aurora, blue energy dancing across the sky in all directions, reflecting in the eyes of the citizens of Equestria and the long lost ponies of Canterlot. It sounded like music, a tone nopony could recreate, echoing off the furthest mountains and filling the ears and hearts of all those who heard it.
When the aurora faded, the Other were gone. Even the one who Dash had pulled away from the rest had vanished. Only one pony seemed to have been watching them rather than the lights. The Doctor’s shoulders sunk back, and when asked about what he’d seen, he refused to comment. He only stood in silence as Luna lay down to relax and the rest of the ponies cheered.
Rainbow Dash stomped up to him indignantly. “What was that?” She gave him another good whack on the head. “You looked like a headless chicken! I thought you were good at this stuff!” The Doctor didn’t respond, though he winced at the knock he received. Dash just rolled her eyes and sighed.
Luna’s eyes widened a little bit as her mind gained its processes back. “Celestia!” She called suddenly. Everypony looked up as her horn glowed and, an instant later, they all stood on the ground in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle.
-----
Celestia was weak, but recovering. The ponies of Canterlot wandered about the city for a short time, but then regathered at the castle gates. The town was in such shambles that they didn’t know what to do. However, it did seem like the class walls had been broken a little. Being 5000 years out of place seemed to force a bond on the returning ponies. Waitresses were talking to some particularly richly dressed ponies. Layponies were chatting up the elite. It was truly a beautiful sight.
The Doctor didn’t see any of it, though. Shortly after reappearing in the city, he’d begun wandering back towards the museum. Dash caught up to him and followed alongside, though she refused to say anything. They reached the door of the large, marble building only to find that it was still locked. They both sat and waited patiently for something to happen.
“...What happened up there?” Dash looked at The Doctor. She had gotten over her anger. Having remembered everything he’d gone through quelled her rage, and she had begun to understand why he wanted to save the Other. However, knowing of the things he faced, what he was capable of, and what he’d likely done in the past made it that much harder to fully grasp his sudden depression. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I couldn’t save them.”
“Yeah, no duh, and that does kind of bite, but I know for a fact you’ve done worse.”
“Doesn’t make it easier.”
“Oh, snap out of it!”
“Dash, please. Don’t be-”
“Don’t be what?”
The Doctor sighed, shaking his head. “I just thought it could be different here. This universe has so many things that have changed from mine. There’s just so much...good. I thought that maybe, for once, I could save them. I could save everyone.” He shook his head. “It’s just...a bit of a let down, I suppose.”
“A bit?” The pegasus quirked an eyebrow. “Doctor, you haven’t smiled since the mountaintop. Being ‘a bit’ let down doesn’t even cover it. We won!” His expression didn’t change, and she groaned in exasperation. “...I thought you were cool.”
“What?” The Doctor tilted his head to the side skeptically, as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard it right. “What do you mean by that?”
“You were always cool! You took on those plastic things back in Ponyville like they were no big deal! You were running for your life from a crazy, deadly, laser firing robot and you were laughing! We took a walk through the destroyed capital city of my home country, and we were having fun! And then we win, and you get all mopey on me?” She’d lifted off the ground unconsciously and was now crossing her front legs over her chest. She’d been floating closer to him as she spoke.
“Er...well, you see...”
“Doc, you saved ponies that no one even knew were alive! You figured out everything, you’re a hoofing hero! So buck up already and stop acting like such a wimp!” She gave him a solid punch to the shoulder.
“Ow!” He winced, then shot her a glare. “You know...The day ended.”
Dash was a bit taken aback. “What?”
“The day ended. You said I would be “Doc” for the rest of the day. The day ended a while ago, and you kept calling me Doc. You did it again just now!”
She blinked. Where had THAT come from? “Well, you called me “Miss Dash” on the mountain! I told you not to do that!”
“And I told you I’m The Doctor, not “Doc”. So yes, MISS Dash, I’ll call you whatever I please!”
“Oh, don’t even start that stuff, ‘Doc!’”
“Or perhaps ‘Miss Rainbow’ would be better. I dunno. Miss Rainbow? Miss Dash? Which do you think?”
The two glared at each other for a short time. Finally, they both burst out laughing. Dash lowered herself to the ground and rolled over. The Doctor stumbled back and leaned against the doorframe. As his shoulder pressed against one of the stones, they heard a light Chuk, followed by the soft ringing of metal hitting stone. They both fell silent and looked down. A sizable key lay on the ground, and upon inspection they saw that there was a compartment in the side of the frame that had opened up. A hidden key to the museum door. Presumably in case the curator got locked out. After a few moments more of staring at the key, they continued their laughing fit, which lasted for several more minutes before either could properly catch their breath.
The door opened easily with the key. They pushed inside and began slowly walking through the halls. “Now,” The Doctor said, back to his old peppy self once more, “We need to find the museum exhibit of museums. Oh, that slays me every time.” He chuckled, shaking his head, then turned towards the directory. “Let’s see...Ah, there it is!” He grinned and started walking past the little shop that had marked their exit last time. “4 lefts, a right, and a left.” He nodded to himself and smiled at Dash. “Shall we?”
She laughed. “You’re weird. Let’s just go.” Two steps down the hallway, and a familiar face, or lack thereof as the case was. Dash stopped in her tracks and flushed a little. This thing had the bad habit of appearing right in front of her without making a sound. “Oh, it’s YOU.”
The android bobbed a little in its flight, then stabilized. “I’m sorry, the museum is currently closed. Please exit the building and return during normal business hours. The library has been closed for...nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine.”
Dash rolled her eyes. “We are SO not playing this game right now, you bucket of bolts!”
The Doctor walked up next to her and held up the key they’d gotten, shouting over the endless string of nines. “No no, it’s ok, see? We have a key. We’re meant to be here! We’re the...er...new curators, here to open the museum at last!”
The security droid paused for a moment. “I have no record of a change in employment, nor in an expected opening schedule. Commencing DNA scan now.” It stared at them for a few moments before it spoke up again. “DNA scan complete. Repeat offenders detected. Bypassing normal ejection protocol. Commencing ejection now.” Its head split open again, revealing the long laser barrel and pointing it straight at them.
“Well, that didn’t work. Off we go again!” The Doctor laughed, preparing to turn and make a beeline for the door. He was interrupted, however, by a familiar voice.
“Command three-seven-six, override security protocol.” The droid stopped and processed the order, then hid the weapon away inside its head again. Luna paced evenly through the door. “Add these two subjects, “The Doctor” and “Rainbow Dash” to the list of approved ponies. Level 5 security clearance.” She smiled lightly at the pair and winked.
The droid bobbed once more in its flight. “Security clearance update complete. The Doctor and Rainbow Dash now logged at level 5. Hello, Lady Luna. It has been some time since you have visited. Welcome back to the Canterlot Museum. Is there anything I can do for you?” It sounded much more pleasant than when it was attempting to murder them, that was for sure.
“No, thank you. I can take it from here.” She nodded, dismissing the droid.
“...Laser cannons?” The Doctor turned and quirked an eyebrow. “Laser cannons on a security droid in a museum?”
Luna chuckled. “This is the newest building in Equestria, and its security is second to none. There are some very valuable artifacts housed here, and we wanted to ensure its safety and upkeep no matter what. It is completely self contained, which is why it looks so new.” She shrugged. “The laser cannons...that was ‘Tia’s idea. Shortly after the attack on Canterlot. I think she knew you would be landing here, and she wanted to ensure it was safe for you. I wish she’d told me then, so I could have added you to the list sooner.”
The pair laughed openly. Dash piped up. “Don’t worry about it! It was kinda fun running from it. Life with this lug over here is pretty exciting overall, even if he can be a stick in the mud sometimes.” She stuck her tongue out at him, and he rolled his eyes.
“Yes, well, thanks for that, Princess. But we best be on our way.”
“Before you go, Doctor, I must ask you something. I do not pretend to have as clear of a grasp on the flow of time as my sister, so perhaps she knows more than I do, but...” Luna tilted her head. “Those things, those “Other”. They said they remembered you, but they didn’t remember you. What did that mean?”
The Doctor smiled a bit to himself. “Time works in funny ways. I’ve only just met them, and being a time traveller, that means I’ll meet them again, in their past. However, it’s all still in flux. The past seems to be a bit of a muddled mess right now.”
“So then, what my sister said, that you would go back and fix this all before it ever happened, is that true?”
“That’s the plan.”
“So what will happen to us?”
The Doctor shrugged. “For most ponies, they won’t know this entire eventuality happened at all. Their lives will continue on, without the event ever taking place. You and Celestia, on the other hand, may very well remember. You’re much more in tune with time as a whole, even more than you know, Princess.” He nodded. “So you may remember everything. But the pain and suffering that the other ponies went through, the broken families, if we succeed, all of that will never have happened.”
Dash blinked, scrunching her face up. “I...think I get it.”
Luna frowned. “So, the ponies that were only born because of the disaster?”
The Doctor paused. “They’ll likely still be alive, but they’ll be born in a different time, in different ways, in different circumstances. In a world this full of magic, and each life interacts with the universe in a unique way. I’m still trying to figure it out, but the best I can say for sure is that we’ll stop them. We’ll make sure this future doesn’t happen.”
“...Very well, Doctor.” She sighed, looking a bit worn out. “You will not stay with us and help us rebuild? Or at least say goodbye to my sister?”
“I’m not the type to stay in place for too long. Besides, you’ve got a lot of brilliant ponies out there. You’ll be fine, no matter what. We’ll see you again, Princess Luna. Hopefully in happier times.”
A warm smile passed between the three of them. “You know...” The Princess thought. “If you’ve just started travelling, you very likely will see me again soon. Then, perhaps, we’ll have a little fun rather than such serious business. It hardly seems that you got to know me at all.”
“Ah, ah.” The Doctor held up a hoof. “No spoilers now. Being time travellers, we’ll let things come as they come. On we go, then!” He turned and strutted off down the hallway, leaving Rainbow Dash slightly confused. “Come on then, Miss Dash!”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Thanks for everything, Princess.”
“No, thank you, Rainbow Dash. You’ve helped save all of Equestria today.” She smiled. “Keep him in line, will you?”
“Him? No promises.” She chuckled and waved to the Princess before turning and flying after The Doctor. “Stop calling me Miss Dash!”
“...Why are we here?” The unicorn asked, frowning and looking over the monitor. She’d expected to be anywhere else, but Canterlot? In the top corner of the screen, a picture appeared. She got close to the screen to examine it more thoroughly. “Who’s that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that pony before...is he important?” No response. “I guess you just want me to meet him, huh?”
She sighed, tucking the corner of her mouth into her cheek. “Well, great, how am I going to find him in all of Canterlot? I suppose I could start looking...” She adjusted a knob next to the monitor, and the scope widened. With the flip of a switch and a tap on the screen, she started searching for anypony matching his description. However, her own eyes caught something as she went. “...Is that...” She froze the screen and toggled a joystick around a bit. The picture zoomed in, and she reared back in surprise. “Luna? Is that Luna?”
The dark blue, fully grown alicorn was flying away from a large, marble building. Her mouth hung in partial surprise. She checked a few details over, but everything was the same as last time. “Wow, I never expected...” Her thoughts were interrupted when a flashing red message popped up. Her scan had turned up results.
She quickly readjusted her vision range to current and enlarged the screen. “Hah, not even a challenge...” Her target (or whatever she was supposed to call him) appeared to be inside the museum. He was accompanied by a pegasus with a very strange mane, but he was definitely there. “Alright, I guess I’m off them. I won’t be too long, promise!” She said aloud with a smile.
The word Wait appeared on the screen. She blinked and turned back to it. The two ponies appeared to be having a grand time, to be sure. They were laughing and talking excitedly, though she couldn’t hear the words spoken. They turned one more corner and seemed to spot something. They rushed down the hallway towards one of the exhibits. The pegasus stopped for a moment, peering into a different exhibit for a moment to admire something, before a call from the earth pony made her jump a bit and reluctantly leave it behind. Whatever she’d seen had left a grin on her face.
Upon entering the exhibit they were supposed to be running towards, they trotted across the room and up to a large box that appeared to be quite out of place. “Where are they going?” The observer asked, tilting her head. The earth pony pushed the doors and they swung inwards. “Is that a-!” The two stepped inside and, a few moments later, the blue box slowly faded away. The unicorn gaped, sitting down to try to process what had happened.
Finally, she smiled. Then she laughed a little. “I see! I think I understand why you want me to meet him now. Alright then. You seem to know where you’re going, so let’s head off after him. On to Everything, right, Eternis?” She patted the console gently, then pulled a lever down.
In the back reaches of the castle garden, a strange breeze kicked up. A tree that had never been there before slowly vanished once again.
