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Chapter One: He Who Is Called The Keeper Part One
I slowly opened up my eyes and began to yawn. The steady motion of the train made it kind of hard for me wake up properly, since it was so soothing. When I was finally able to open my eyes properly began to study my surroundings, I was sleeping in a fairly decent train that looked pretty expensive, nothing that I could ever pay for...wait...how did I get on this train in the first place? As a matter of fact I couldn't even remember buying a ticket to the train and I sure as hell didn't remember sneaking onto it. "Where am I?" I thought myself as uncertainty and fear began fill my mind. A feeling which felt alien to me.
The passengers that were on the train seemed to not pay any attention to the confused stallion that accompanied them. I just happened to look downward at the floor of the train and noticed an envelope that looked to be instructed directly to me. Picking it up I slowly opened it, pulling out a letter that had a strange particular smell that went with it...Roses? Yeah it definitely smelt like roses.
Hi. Since your finally awake, I bet you're wondering what you're doing on the train right? Well long story short, I put you on it. You can ask around but no one will remember me placing you there. They're only going to remember that you were the only who walked on to the train. This isn't your real name but you will address yourself as The Keeper. You are a pegesi You have no reason to do what I say but it will most likely work out in your favor if you do, since I'm the only one who has information on who you really are. Now after the train stops you will enter into a small town called Ponyville. It's a not so quiet place that should have plenty of things to keep you occupied while you search for a stallion named Time Turner, but he is more commonly known by the name The Doctor. You cannot see me but I will always be watching you. I look forward to seeing how things go.
I cursed as I took the letter and flipped on the back to see if there anything else that went with the letter. Apparently the writer of the letter had taped the my train ticket to the back of the letter as if they had known what I was going to do. I took it off and looked at it. There was a number of things on my mind at the moment, but the most common one was, Who am I? I couldn't remember my name, but wasn't really as confused as I should have been. In fact it kind of felt like this was a normal thing for me. Since I didn't have name and I didn't feel like making one up I decided to adopt the alias The Keeper.
I sighed as he looked at his hands...er...hoofs and began to check out my entire body to see if anything else was wrong with me. My entire coat was black, like really black. My mane was a mixture of white and black with white being more Dominant than black. My mane style was kind of wild and spiky, something that was kind odd to see by most ponies. It looked like I had just woke up from bed and gelled my hair so it would look like I was different. I wondered what I was going to do, should I follow by what the letter had told me to do or should I follow by my own path to recover my memories. I rubbed my head as felt a small headache form within the depths of my mind. I sat alone for a few moments in silence before the train conductor had walked into room.
"Gather your belongings!" The female yellow earth pony yelled out before walking up to the passengers, collecting their train tickets. It wasn't long before the train conductor was upon me. "May I see ticket sir?" The female said while giving me a small but sincere smile. I picked up the ticket and handed it to her. "Thank you. You're a Pegasus right? And you're heading to Ponyville. I'm sure you'll fit right in." The mare said as she continued doing her rounds. If there was only one thing that I could remember about myself, It was that I wasn't a pony person. I never felt comfortable with being around others. In fact I enjoyed solitude to the max. I would only talk to a person if it was needed and would completely ignore them if I didn't have too.
I looked out the window and saw what looked to be ponyville. I had mixed feeling about what I was going to find there, but hopefully I would be able to find something about myself from that pony known as The Doctor.
The train came to a full stop as we had arrived at the train station. I stood from my seat and began to walk out of the nearest door where I was greeted by the harsh sun that began to shine directly into my eyes. I instantly looked down towards the ground and began to rub my eyes. I took a few steps forward and began to wonder what I was going to do first. However, before I could make a proper decision I was approached by a male and a female. The stallion had a grayish amber coat along with a dark amber mane and pale, light grayish azure eyes. While the mare had a light sapphire bluish gray coat, with a pale, light grayish apple green mane and moderate gamboge eyes. Speaking of here eyes, they were kind of...cross eyed...which was kind of cool actually. He crossed eyedness made her look different and other wise unique.
The stallion began to circle around me as if he was trying to figure something out. While doing so he began to tug on me as he tried to figure out that 'something'. "Dark black coat...yes...weird looking...mane...red eyes...I can't believe it! I refuse to believe it!"
I moved away from the strange stallion and began to brush myself off. "Can't believe what? Who are you weirdos?" I said while glaring at the stallion.
"I'm The Doctor and this is my assistant Derpy Hooves." He said sounding pretty proud of the title, as well as his so called assistant. I didn't really understand about whats so cool about being a doctor, I mean anyone could become one with the right amount of training... or if their cutie mark permits them too.
"Hello!" The mare said to me. I was going to respond but the weird stallion had interrupted me.
"I am a Time Lord, hailing from the planet Gallopfrey. The TARDIS brought me here to this exact point in time and told me to find a certain pony with your description, but I don't see what is so important about a boring old normal looking Pegasus. I know she didn't bring me here for no reason." He said huffing and puffing as if he thought he thought I was going to be something or someone entirely different. I laughed at the notion that he even said that he was from another planet. There was no way in the world that you could travel to different worlds. I mean it's common sense, right?
"Doctor, try using that sonic screw thingy on him." The mare know as Derpy said while pointing at me with her hoof.
"Ah, right. Thank you Derpy." He said while taking what she called the sonic screw thing form seemingly out of no where and placed it into his mouth and pressing a small button with his teeth. After doing so a weird sound began to come from the device. His face changed from being curious to being shocked. He dropped the sonic screw thingy which prompt his assistant to ask him what was wrong. "Aghast it can't be. This stallion here is a Time Lord." He said not believing what he was seeing.
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Chapter One: He Who Is Called The Keeper Part Two
I raised an eyebrow at his remark."A Time Lord? That's absurd! I'm just a regular pony. A regular Pegasus pony to be exact." I said frowning up at the fact that I was still entertaining these weirdos, however I did keep in mind that I did have amnesia, and with amnesia anything could go. So there might have been some truth behind his words.
"A Time Lord that doesn't know that it's a Time Lord and I thought that I knew everything." He said shaking his head in amusement as he thought the notion of a Time Lord being an amnesic.
"Um, maybe he has amnesia." Derpy said, being the only one of the two that was making sense.
"That would make sense. It isn't rare for a time lord to develop amnesia after regenerating, but judging by the looks of the ponies that were on board the train...I don't really think he could have regenerated while being aboard the train...I'm at a lost on this one." Derpy who was confused by the recent current events tilted her head as she tried to process what was going on.
"I don't understand...I thought you said that all of the Time Lords were gone, so how can he be one?" Derpy asked the Doctor, he responded to her at the moment with just a simple sigh.
"I don't know Derpy. It's a mystery and if there is one thing about me that should be known. It is that I enjoy solving mysteries and I'm pretty sure that 'she' can help shed a little on the situation." He said now sounding ecstatic, as if he was pumping himself up for something. He then walked over to me and began to shove me forward, which of course I passively refused to do.
"What, what, What!" I yelled out while moving away from him.
"Come, Come. Start walking. Just follow us and I'll get to the bottom of this." He said walking ahead of me, looking as if he wanted me to follow him. Something which I wasn't to keen on doing. Now don't get me wrong, it's just that when you figure out that you have amnesia, and some random pony comes up to and starts sprouting out random bull crap such as Time lords and a planet called Gallopfrey, that would pretty much be your cue to just walk away and hope to find out about yourself elsewhere, this however was not the case.
I woke up on a train with a note telling me to find a stallion called The Doctor. Well I'm supposidly looking at a pony called The Doctor right this second. Now whether or not he's the pony that the note was speaking of is unknown to me, but the note told me to do something and I'm doing what I am told so that should be enough for right now...
I really didn't want to follow this crazy 'Doctor' or his "probably not so crazy assistant" but I kept thinking back to note. "Follow The Doctor and possibly recover my memories or just do my own thing..." That was a question that I often asked myself when I came across certain decision upon being with the doctor for over an extended amount of time. Despite only being awake for about thirty minutes I could already tell that I'm slow to trust ponies but that have been a side effect of the amnesia and not actually being apart of my personality.
Anyway, I slowly followed the two ponies while keeping a close eye on them. The Doctor and Derpy didn't seem like the type to hurt other ponies, especially Derpy. However I made sure to keep any even closer eye on her. You have heard the phase: Beware of the cute ones , right? The Doctor However seemed to be just a little too...eccentric.
We didn't really have to walk very far to find...whatever we had been looking for. Surprisingly what we had been looking for was just a large blue box that had the words PONY BOX inscribed on it. "What's a pony box?" I asked not really expecting an answer.
The Doctor pointed at the large box with a gleaming smile on his face."It's anything you what it be." The Doctor said half serious. "It's actually not called a Pony Box. It's actually called the TARDIS. It's my pride and joy. I bet you five bits that you can't tell me what the real name of the TARDIS." He said said pretty sure of himself that I wasn't going to be able to figure it out.
Of course as stupid as I was I actually attempted to try my luck. "Uh does it mean Time And Relative Dimension In Space, right? The name TARDIS comes from it's initials." I said completely astounded at the fact that this wasn't going to be my initial answer and was even more astounded by the fact that I had gotten it right after giving him a completely random and crazy answer.
Upon guessing the right name of the TARDIS, the doctor feel silent as he look at me with pure confusion. "You say that your a normal Pegasus, but I'm starting to suspect that you really are a Time Lord." He said before nodding his head at the notion. Expecting the door to open, upon him walking close to it, but came to a rude awakening when the the door failed to open, causing him to ended up walking directly into the door. A feat that me and Derpy actually found pretty funny.
"Ouch! What the? That's not right. Why didn't it open?" The Doctor said while tapping his hoof onto the door of the box.
"Maybe it's locked." Derpy stated.
"Not to me it isn't." He said sounding pretty confused and aggravated. "What's wrong with you? Are you mad at me? Why don't you open up, It's just me, Derpy and that pony you told me to get." The doctor said sounding as if he was expecting a reaction from the blue lifeless box, but sure enough the doors opened up revealing the inside of the box. He the walked inside, while grumbling something inaudible to me and Derpy. It felt pretty suspicious that I had to follow him into a large rectangular box box, but something told me to just do it anyway. Upon walking into the Tardis however, blew my mind as I had to take a few moments to my self in order process the function of this seemingly harmless blue box that was actually a high-tech machine. "Well, What do you think?" The doctor said with a smirk on his face as a mixture of horror and fear appeared on mine.
"It's Bigger on the inside!" I yelled while snapping myself back into reality. I backed up a bit and appeared to become a little defensive. "Who are you guys? What are You!" I yelled.
"I told you. I'm The Doctor and this is my assistant Derpy Hooves and I'm a Time Lord from the Plant Gallopfrey. Now do mind telling me who you are?"
I eased up a bit and decided to give him my fake name. "I'm The Keeper."
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Chapter Two: Run-down On Old Forgotten History
I told the Doctor my name to which he looked at me with a skeptical look on his face. I explained to him that I had woke up on the train unable to remember anything about myself including whether or not I was a Time Lord or not. In exchange for telling him the truth he decided to give the run down on what a time lord is.
"The Gallopfreyans had one of the oldest and mightiest civilizations in the Universe. He stated that there wasn't much difference between Gallopfreyans and Equestrians. Like Equestrians,Time Lords could be male or female. Females were sometimes referred to as Time Ladies, and their sex could sometimes change due to regeneration." The Doctor said walking back and forth as a serious expression slowly appeared onto his face. Derpy Hooves probably already hearing this story before sat down on the floor and began to doze off as The Doctor continued on with his lecture.
"Regeneration is the process by which Time Lords renew themselves, causing a complete physical and often psychological change. It could happen because of severe illness or injury. It could also be invoked by choice, whether voluntary or involuntary. Conversely, regeneration could be prevented by choice, although failure to regenerate from fatal damage was essentially a choice to die." He said stopping for a breath of air. "During a regeneration, a Time Lord's body will shine with milky white light, a swirl of rainbow color, crackle with electricity, or with a violent-seeming discharge of bio-energy, all of which are capable of causing damage. In other cases, there was no visible energy discharge, and the current incarnation would just a fade away to the next incarnation."
The Doctor stated that there were the genetic equivalent of 'bit errors' in the DNA of the regenerating cells. The Time Lord would change in appearance, height, mass or apparent age. The personality would also change; even the cells and chemistry of the brain regenerated. Although the aspects of their personality caused by "nurture," their basic personality, would not change, the "nature," their aspects, quirks, and habits, contribution to their personality would, basically like a modification. The Doctor stated as clearly as he could that upon regeneration you could pretty much become anything.
The time lord life cycle seemed to include a phase similar to human childhood. Like Equestrian children, Gallifreyan children slept in cribs. They were also entertained with silly nursery rhymes, something of which I could not see myself doing.
Despite all the stuff he had told me about the Time Lords, I found one particular thing to be interesting. A Time Lord could live for hundreds of years before regenerating and a Time Lord at ninety years old might still be considered a "kid" in the eyes of the older Adults, and on rare occasions Time Lords could even live around ten thousand years before regenerating.
If I indeed was a Time Lord this would be awesome. Living for thousands of years was something that most ponies could only dream of. However there was a few things I wanted to ask him and when he was done explaining things to me I decided to ask him. "I have a few questions, I wanna ask you." I said.
"I'm sure you do. Go ahead and ask."
Earlier Derpy said that it was impossible that I was a Time Lord, since all of the Time Lords were gone. What did she mean?" I asked.
The Doctors face tensed up bit, but he was still able to maintain a small smile. "All known Time Lords have long since been wiped out... They were wiped out in a war... The Time War. The Time War was the war between mighty races, the Time Lords and the Daleks, which was "for the sake of all creation". It resulted in the destruction of Gallopfrey, leaving only me, and a small number of Daleks as survivors." The Doctor said looking as if he was trying to fight back tears. "There was only one word that can describe the Time War. It was Hell." The Doctor said while looking away as if he was staring at something that wasn't there. He then looked at me again with another cheerful expression. "Anymore questions?"
"Just One. I know we must have like a set amount of times that we can regenerate, are there any limits?" I asked wanting to know if the Time Lords were actually a semi-immortal race.
The Doctor however shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "Who knows? Time Lords used to have 13 lives." Doctor said while walking over to the control panel that was in the middle of the room. He began to pressed a few buttons, causing the Tardis to make a few weird noises. On the weird monitor that was in front of us, caused a picture of me to appear, to which The Doctor began to nod his head. "Well, The Tardis just confirmed my suspicions and you indeed are a Time Lord. I can't tell you how happy I am to find another Time Lord. "
"You don't really seem all that happy to see me." I said to him feeling as if he was leaving something out to the his story about the Time War, but I decided not to say anything, in fear that I might have ended up overstepping my boundaries.
"Sorry if I offended you, but believe me I am happy to find out that at least our race isn't extinct yet." He walking over to Derpy, telling her that she should go home for tonight and come back in the morning, to which she agreed. She stood up and began to stretch. She slowly began to snap her lips before saying good bye to me, to which I responded with a simple, nod. She walked out of the tardis, showing that it was already night time. I wondered how long must we had to be talking for us not to realized that the sun had already set and and it was night time. The Doctor suggested that I go to sleep but I didn't feel like it so I decided to go take a walk around Ponyville. In order to wrap my head around a few things. He nodded his head allowed to me to leave, only after telling me not to go very far. Something, which I already had planned on doing.
Chapter Three: Planet Noctura Part One
The Doctor's POV:
I suspect that The Keeper didn't exactly believe that I was telling him the full story about the time war. Which indeed I was. You see if I actually told The Keeper that I was the one who ended the war and of the method I used to stop it, I risked hime recovering the memory that he was the one who started the war in the first place. The only known survivors of the Time War were me, The Keeper, and another Time Lord called The Master.
Back then The Keeper had gone by another name. He called himself the Vanguard but the title he was given by the Time Lords was The Destroyer of Worlds. A title he lived up too quite nicely in fact. I'll make it simple and say that he was the worst child that could have been born. He was very clever and insanely smart. So smart he put even the most intelligent of ponies to shame, but in the end it was his arrogance that allowed me to defeat him. I later inherited the name when a race that I had visited had mistaken me for him.
For his crime of destroying countless worlds and for forcing me to destroy our own race, I threw him into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, where he was to be imprisoned for all eternity, but now I know that it didn't work since he's back.
However the Vanguard has lost him memories and has taken up the name The Keeper. If I'm lucky, he'll have permanent memory damage if I'm not...well, I'll think of something.
As I was thinking about him, I remember him telling me about the note and the reason why he called himself The Keeper. Someone had to have left him that note and therefore meaning someone had saved him from his prison. I need to find who ever this pony was and ask them a few questions.
I waited for the Keeper to come back instead of looking for him. He appeared to have been thinking about a few things, not that I could blame him. How would you react if you wake up for what seemed to be the first time of life and find out that you're one of the last members of your race? I didn't question him since it was already a given since I knew what he was thinking about. So I decided to just think of something else. "You know, I think I can show you something that'll cheer you up." I said as I stood at the T.A.R.D.I.S console hesitantly. I wondered what planet should I show him. Well, I knew what I should do next, but upon reflection I realized that there was an entire universe out there, just waiting for us. So I decided that the "shoulds" could wait and the "coulds," well they were always much more fun anyway.
Me, being The Doctor, having made his decision was determined to see it through. I set the coordinates at random and threw back the lever without a moment's hesitation, all the while grinning like a madman as the T.A.R.D.I.S lurched about, coming to a halt quite suddenly. I stepped towards the door and motioned The Keeper to follow me, my hoof lingered over the handle for a second before I opened and stepped outside.
We looked around, and was baffled by what we saw, or what "we" didn't see would be a far more accurate description. It was pitch dark, and not so much as a flicker of like could be seen. At first I thought we must have landed in a cupboard somewhere, but I had felt a light breeze playing across my face. So I took my sonic screwdriver from out of my pocket and held it out in front of myself.
"I thought you said you wanted to show me something. I don't really see anything." The Keeper said as he took a few steps forward.
The sonic screwdriver emitted a loud buzzing sound and a flare of green light, not very bright, but enough for me to see general outlines. Keeper took a look around and saw that we were in a city street. I noticed that many of the buildings were damaged and some were nothing but rubble. "Hm...I think we took a wrong turn. This place seems horrible, I wonder what happened here." Before I could begin to wonder what had happened here one of several things occurred. I heard a noise coming from behind us, as I turned around as quickly as I could to see a figure and the next thing I know a large electrical pain shot threw my body and then I was unconscious.
...
I awoke to what felt like three hours of sleep, later feeling groggy. When my head stopped spinning I noticed a crack of light a few feet away from where I was. I figured it must be a door, but what was in the other side of the door, I shuddered to think. I didn't have long to ponder the mess I had gotten us into, because Keeper decided to say something. "Haven't been wake for one day and I've already been to jail." He said sounding disappointed.
"I've been to jail lot's of times. It's not as bad as you think. Sure the food is horrible and you constantly have to watch your back...but look on the bright side...free beds!" I said sarcastically. He was about to say something but he stopped when he heard movement from the other side of the door. Both of our hearts began beating fast as soon as the door creaked open to reveal a large buff pony. He stood before The Keeper and I; his mouth set in a grim line and looked upon us with eyes that held no mercy.
"Hello," said I cheerfully, trying to wave, only to realize that I was chained to the floor.
The man continued to stare, finally speaking after what seemed like an eternity. "You have been deemed a threat and will be executed forthwith." He said in a rough voice.
"Right," said I uneasily. "Executed, not good. Er, did you say threat? Because I am a lot of things, good cook, terrific dancer, wine expert, although I hate the stuff, but the one thing I am most certainly not, is a threat. Believe me."
"And why should I do that? You were found in a restricted area in possession of an unidentified weapon." He said showing me the sonic screwdriver.
"Weapon?" I asked. "Oh, you mean my screwdriver. It's not a weapon, it's completely harmless, well mostly, if you're made out of wood. You're not made out of wood are you? Nah, you look squishy...too squishy to be wood. Hey Keeper have you ever met a pony who was made out of wood?"
"Uhhh, let me think about-no!" He said reminding me that he had amnesia.
The Pony took a step forward, scrutinizing me. "You talk too much," he said. "We will see to that."
Chapter Three: Planet Noctura Part 2
Just then a mare entered the room. She was young, no more than just a filly, an with auburn mane and kind eyes. "Is that him, Dad?"
"Flare. I am interviewing two dangerous prisoners." He said forcefully.
"Look at them," said Flare plaintively. While looking at the doctor. "I mean they doesn't exactly look dangerous. He doesn't look like them, he looks like us. I don't know about that one, though." She said now looking at me. "He looks kind of shifty." I scoffed and told her jokingly, too beware of the ones who look nice.
"He could be their new weapon. He'll lure into a false sense of security and then attack. Well. I for one won't be taken in by it." He said.
"That thing he was carrying-"
"Screwdriver." said The Doctor helpfully.
"Right," said Flare. "They tested it, it's not a weapon. It's harmless."
"Yes," said The Doctor quickly. "I think we should all listen to her, she is clearly sensible young lady."
"You seem like you're the only one who isn't." I said while shaking my head. The stallion's hands plunged into his pocket and withdrew a small penknife, which he used to cut our bonds.
"Thank you." said Flare.
"Yeah, thanks Dad." said The Doctor. I looked at the stallion and just nodded my head. I wasn't going to thank a pony who was only a few seconds aware from killing us, just because his daughter had came in and saved us.
"You're lucky my daughter was here." was all he said. I scoffed again, which earned me a small glance from The Doctor telling me to let him handle the talking.
"Right, well, intros, I'm The Doctor, and this is The Keeper." said The Doctor pointing to me.
"What do you keep?"The father asked me.
"Secrets."
"And who are you? I mean I can't just go around calling you Dad, unless you want me to, and it looks like that is not what you want, okay." The Doctor said while shutting up with a nervous looking looking face.
"I'm General Sightseerer of the 133rd Platoon."
"Okay, good to meet you General," said The Doctor. "And good to meet you, Flare. Right, I've got a question for you, earlier when you were talking you said that I didn't look like "them." What did you mean by that? Who are they?"
"Thats a good question." I added.
They both looked at us baffled. "You honestly don't know?" asked Flare.
"No." replied The Doctor.
"We are at war." said the General forcefully.
"Hmph, that would explain the state of the city." I said, thinking back to the ruins of the old city.
"Oh yes, one more question, where are we?" The Doctor asked.
"You really are joking now." said Flare.
"Fraid not." said The Doctor. "Just landed randomly, I have absolutely no idea where we are."
"It's a long story." said the General. "C'mon, I'll tell you all about it."
"Good and we can have a nice cup of tea as well. You like tea, right" He asked, but got no reply.
Several minutes later The Doctor sat sipping a cup of tea, looking expectantly from the General and his Daughter. They offered me some but I politely refused. I didn't want to find myself being drugged or something.
"This planet," began the General, "is called Noctura. It's called that because there's no light. The sun burned out millions of years ago. Other than that, the planet is exactly like the equestria. A few years ago it was decided that something had to be done about the population. It was much too high; there wasn't enough food people were dying. That's when we decided to send one third of the pony race here. Not all at once of course, but over a period of two or three years."
"But, how could you live with no light?" I asked. "I mean those buildings out there couldn't have been built in the dark, could they?"
"I'm getting there." said the General. "Before the Ponies could be sent here, they needed a way to make light. It took them a while to think of it, but they did in the end. Across this entire planet are these lamps, sort of like street lamps, but these ones are massive. Hundreds of feet tall, so tall that you can't even see the tops of them. There must be thousands of them scattered around, maybe millions. When lit they create the illusion of a sun, bright enough to light every nook and cranny of this world. If it weren't for the poles they sit on you'd forget they were even there."
"Hold on," interrupted The Doctor again, "How are you lot powering these things? They can't be solar powered and lights that size would use an impossible amount of electricity faster than you could produce."
"A rather genius invention, I must say. We didn't use electricity, thats too pricey.It's been a thousand years since the discovery electricity and ditched it for something else. The poles of the lights run down into the ground, all the way to the earth's core. They harness the power of the constantly shifting molten lava. The power is converted and with a flip of a switch this planet is bathed in light. A natural and renewable resource, perfect. And it was perfect at first. People settled in well, and were getting on with their lives. After about a year is when things went wrong."
At that moment another stallion in a uniform approached the General and whispered something in his ear. "If you will excuse me, there is an urgent matter that I must see to. My daughter can take it from here." said The General, standing.
"Any chance I can get my sonic screwdriver back?" asked The Doctor hopefully.
"Not a chance." replied The General.
"Didn't think so." said The Doctor gloomily.
"Bye Dad." said Flare smiling, as General Sightseerer walked from the room.
"Ball of fun, your Dad." said The Doctor.
"It's not easy for him, you know. He's not really been the same since Mum died."
"What happened?" I asked gently.
"I'm getting to that," said.she "Now, where were we? Oh, yes, the invasion. They came out of the sky, millions of them. They slaughtered thousands. It happened so fast, we didn't even see them. Everything was just chaos and fire. When the smoke cleared, we heard a voice. I'll never forget what it said 'Resist and you will perish.' That's all it said, over and over again, for hours. When it was finally quiet, when we were sure they'd gone, we came out of where we'd been hiding. The city was wreaked, not as bad as it is now, but pretty close. Of all the attacks that have happened since, none has ever been as bad as that first one. Anyway, Mum was working that day, she was a librarian. She loved books, when I was little she would read to me every before bed, she still did it, even when I got older. I would pretend I didn't like it, you know, but I loved it. I was home alone when it happened. When it was over Dad called to make sure I was alright, and told me not to leave the house under any circumstances. I couldn't stay in the house, I had to find Mum. The library wasn't too far from our house; I ran all the way there. I knew the second I saw the crowd of people. I pushed through and saw it. The building had been hit dead on, there wasn't anything left but rubble, there were no survivors."
"I'm sorry." said The Doctor sincerely.
"It's alright." said the girl. "Everybody's lost someone they love, I'm no different."
"When did all of this start?" asked The Doctor.
"It was a little over a year ago. After about four more attacks, they went for the lights. I don't know what they did, but we've been in complete darkness now for six months."
"Can't anyone fix them?" asked The Doctor.
"We've tried, believe me." She said. "But, whenever we use any kind light they descend, like a swarm. We have to be really careful of the light we use. We're underground right now, it's the only way we can be sure they won't see us. That's why Dad thought you were sent by them, you weren't worried about using light. It's just lucky Dad got to you before they saw."
"Right, sorry about that, didn't realize a little light could trigger an alien invasion." said The Doctor apologetically.
At that moment General Sightseerer appeared at the door, looking serious. "Come with me." he said too us. "I want to show you something."
Chapter Four: The Unknown Sacrifice
The General led us down a dim corridor, while Flare trailed behind us. I didn’t trust these ponies, call me crazy but it felt like we were about to do the wrong thing by helping these strangers. It’s probably just the side effects of having amnesia. Being skeptical of people helps you live a little bit longer in my book, especially when you’re on a deadly planet with aliens attacking them. I decided to confirm my suspicions with The Doctor. While we were slowly trotting down the hallway I walked closer towards him and began to whisper to him.
“Hey Doctor, do you actually trust these ponies?” I said in a silent, but serious manner.
“That’s an odd question. Why do you ask?” He said not taking the tone of my voice seriously.
“Come on, don’t you find these ponies to be kind of shady?” The doctor raised an eyebrow at me, showing that he didn’t understand what I meant. “I mean think about it. Since we’ve been here we haven’t heard one bomb or explosion. How can they be at war if there are no enemies to fight?”
“That does make sense, but why would they need a reason to lie to us?” The Doctor asked.
“Uh…what was the reason why everypony lies each other? Oh, yeah. It’s because we can. I bet you five bits that these ponies are up to something.”
“I’ll take not of your cautiousness. Just be alert.” I nodded my head and moved away from him. "So, where are we going, exactly?" asked The Doctor, a bit nervously.
"It's just through here." replied The General, pointing to a door up ahead.
A moment later all four of us passed through the door, into a scene that nearly broke our hearts. The large room was packed with ponies in various states of misery. They were filthy with deep sunken eyes, perpetually widened in terror. An infant was crying horribly nearby. Given how it was looking it was also filthy and appeared to be malnourished.
"How many?" I asked.
"A hundred each room." said The General leading us out and shutting the door behind him.
"How many rooms?" asked The Doctor.
"All of them." replied The General, gesturing to the corridor in front of us.
"That's over a dozen rooms, there must be hundreds, thousands." I exclaimed.
"They are overcrowded and underfed. They come to us when there's nowhere else to go. Some take their chances on the outside, but they don't usually last long. This is the only place people are really safe."
"Can you help us?" asked Flare suddenly. "Please tell me that you can help us. You're our only hope."
The Doctor looked at me and say me shake my head no. He then looked back at Flare and kneeled down to her level. "Yes," said The Doctor. "I can help." I sighed and shook my head. If I knew how to use the Tardis I would gladly use it to go back to Ponyville, but since I didn’t I had to follow him around until he said we could go.
"Well, for starters you can accompany us on the next pickup, we leave in twenty minutes." said The General, turning to go.
"Er, pick up of what?" asked The Doctor falling into step with him as he walked briskly back up the corridor.
"People." replied Sightseerer. "We had a guy come to us last night, told us about a flat full of people, crammed in, kids and everything. He told us that they're starving; they're running out of food and are too afraid to leave the place. It was too late to go last night; we'd never have made it back before dawn, so we’ll go tonight."
"Where is this place?" I asked suspiciously.
"A couple of miles from here, it shouldn't take too long." He replied.
"Yes, but, if they're afraid to leave the house, how do you know they'll go with you?" asked The Doctor.
"Because they have no other option."
"How do you plan on getting back here without being seen?" The Doctor asked him.
"Very carefully." replied The General.
"Right, okay, sounds good." I said finally deciding to play along, following The General into a room bustling with rough looking stallions and mares. They were soldiers, all armed and ready for action. They wore large pairs of night-vision goggles around their necks. They laughed and joked, seemingly unaware of the dangers they were about to face.
"Prepare yourself," said The General to us. "You have ten minutes."
I scanned the room quickly, my eyes falling on a young stallion, quite the opposite of his fellow soldiers. He sat alone, looking terrified. He looked to be in his early adulthood.
"Are you alright?" asked The Doctor sitting down beside him.
"Oh yeah," he said nervously. "I'm fine." I could tell that he was lying, but it was wise not to call him out on it.
"What's your name?" I asked him, trying to put on a smile.
"Silver Day."
"It's alright to be scared, Silver." The Doctor said
"This is my first time out." said Silver, ignoring The Doctor's statement. "I joined just after my Dad died, I wanted to help fight what killed him, Mum said he'd be proud of me. Thing is, these lot have been out so many times, they know what they're doing. What if I mess up, Mum would be so disappointed that I didn't live up to his name y'know." Silver finished speaking, looking incredulous at how much he had said.
The Doctor put his hoof on Silver's shoulder reassuringly. "Everything is going to be fine, this is a routine trip. Just stick with the two of us; you'll be fine, okay?"
"Have you guys fought monsters before?" asked Silver.
"Yes, I have."
"Did you win?"
"Yes, I did." said The Doctor, smiling slightly. "With help from people like you, that's how I know everything is going to be okay, lots of experience in the field."
"Did you ever get scared?" Silver asked.
"Are you kidding me? I was terrified, every time, scared out of my pants."
"Really?" asked Silver, less nervously than before.
"Trust me, I'm The Doctor."
"Alright men," called The General. "Are you ready?"
The Doctor stood and approached The General who turned on him sternly. "Why are you not armed, guns are on that wall there." he said, pointing to a rack of vicious looking rifles
"I won't be needing one of those, just my sonic screwdriver and I'll be fine. What about you Keeper would you like to pick up a weapon?" The Doctor said looking at me with eyes that told me not to use one.
“Seeing as all you need is that silly looking screwdriver and your wits. I guess I don’t.” The doctor looked at me with an approving smile.
The General looked at us disbelievingly. "Are you two mad?" he asked.
"Quite," replied The Doctor. "Now my screwdriver, if you please."
"Fine," The General said with a little uncertainly in his voice, he turned to the mare on his left. "Diamond, return this stallion's … screwdriver."
Diamond nodded and pulled the screwdriver out of his pocket and handed it to The Doctor. "You've not fiddled with it, have you?" he asked. "Very temperamental, they are."
"No sir." replied Diamond.
"Good." said The Doctor turning back to The General.
"You will need a pair of goggles, unless you can see in complete darkness." The General said.
"Nope, can't do that." The Doctor said cheerfully.
“Unfortunately…” I moaned.
"That cupboard there." said The General pointing across the room.
"Splendid." said The Doctor going to the cupboard and pulling out two large pair of goggles he then tossed me a pair. He then went back to stand with Silver, who was looking much less calm. "Ready, Silver?" he asked.
Silver looked like he was going to be sick and didn't say anything. "Alright," The General shouted. "Let's move out." He led us out of the room and down several corridors. As we walked I realized that the floor was getting steeper and steeper. Minutes later we stopped and the lights clicked off. "Goggles on!" shouted The General.
The Doctor fumbled in the darkness with the mess of straps attached to his pair of goggles. I found this kind of amusing to see. He was getting desperate until I someone took the contraption from him and placed them securely over his eyes. With the goggles on he saw that it was I who had helped him. He flashed me a grateful smile and a… hooves up.
Up ahead we heard a door open, without warning the line of soldiers began moving. Seconds later, The Doctor, Silver and I, side by side, stepped out into the darkness and the unknown.
I blinked a few times, finding it difficult to see with the goggles on. To me everything just looked like muddled green masses. I looked around trying to get my bearings. Noticing my discomfort, Silver leaned over and spoke quietly to me, so that the others couldn't hear. "They take a few minutes to get used to," he said. "Just relax."
"Thanks." I murmured feeling a little gratefully. Sure enough after a few minutes the indecipherable objects around me began to resolve themselves into a perfectly normal street corner. Moments later the group started moving silently.
They were on high alert and moved so quickly that The Doctor seemed to wonder how they managed to stay so quiet. He winced every time he scuffed his hoof or kicked some of the debris that littered the street. When he did he received anxious looks from me and the soldiers. Many minutes passed like this, in tense, near silence. Just as suddenly as they had started, we stopped. Up ahead I saw The General point to a derelict building to his left.
At his command, one by one the soldiers swiftly entered the building. The Doctor and I entered last to find a sorry sight. A dirty flat crowded with people who looked half-starved and terrified. The General was having a whispered conversation with a mare who had a small foal sleeping in her lap. At first she seemed to be disagreeing with him, but after a few minutes hushed arguing she seemed to concede. She stood, holding the still sleeping child, looking determined. With the help of the soldiers she began to round up all of the people in the flat.
In no time we were ready to move out again. The General turned to them; and put his hoof to his lips and then disappeared through the doorway. Half of the soldiers went first, followed by me and the small knot of ponies, with the second half of the soldiers and The Doctor bringing up the rear. They moved more slowly this time, but thankfully the petrified civilians moved more quietly than The Doctor did. After what seemed like hours We finally saw the base. With a smile of relief The Doctor leaned over to Silver and whispered "We made it." But unfortunately just then everything went horribly wrong.
They came from out of nowhere, descending in a vicious swarm. They fired into the little bunch of ponies, scattering them. Up ahead The Doctor and I could hear The General shouting. "Get them to safety, stand your ground men." The Doctor looked to Silver, but he was already running to help get the civilians into the base. "Be careful." The Doctor called to him, he just turned and flashed him a hooves up. I tried to run over to Silver but the next thing I knew I was being dragged out of the fray and behind debris. I turned my head to see that it was The General who had pulled me too safety. "What are you doing?" I shouted over the din. "I have to help Silver."
"No, you don't" replied The General. "You're my responsibility and you're not leaving my sight." The Doctor, seeing where I was at began to run over towards me. I tried to get away, but The General yanked me back forcefully.
I turned on him furiously. "If you think I'm going to leave Silver out there on his own, then you have seriously misjudged me, let me go." I yelled.
"No." as The General spoke. In a split second something cold and metal clamp over my wrist. I looked down and saw that The General had handcuffed me to a pole that was bent and engraved into the ground.
“What the hell are you doing!”The Doctor yelled as he was already upon us. Seeing that I was handcuffed he almost laughed as he reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver. However when he took his hoof out he noticed that there was nothing there and he felt a sudden panic grip his hearts.
"Looking for this?" asked The General, holding his screwdriver.
"Give that back to me right now!" The Doctor shouted.
"After the firing's stopped." replied The General.
"It may be too late, you idiot!" I yelled out in anger.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." said The General coldly. Before the doctor could react another soldier who neither one of us had seen snuck up behind the Doctor clapped another set of handcuffs on him, chaining him to the same pole that I was on.
The both of us spent the next several minutes frantically trying to get our hooves free. After what seemed like an eternity, the sound of gunfire stopped. The Doctor immediately held out his hoof. "Give me my sonic, you promised."
The General handed it over and The Doctor snatched it from his hoof and pointed it to the metal bracelet he was wearing. With a blast from the sonic screwdriver he was free, he did same to me. We quickly leapt to our feet and sprinted away yelling for Silver. We saw many soldiers timidly emerging from their various hiding places, but none was the one we wanted. After a few minutes desperate searching The Doctor spotted a body lying next to a pile of debris. "No!" he cried as he approached. Hearing him I quickly ran over to his direction. When I got closer I saw a familiar face twisted in agony. "Silver." The Doctor whispered as he knelt beside him.
"Doctor…Keeper?" he said hoarsely.
"I'm here, look it's me. You're going to be alright, I promise." I culd tell that the lie tasted bitter on his tongue as he saw the extent of Silver's injuries. By the looks of it Silver had been hiding behind the pile of debris when it had been struck. The force of the impact had sent a nasty piece of shrapnel into Silver's chest. He was bleeding heavily and his breath was coming in short ragged gasps. There was nothing The Doctor could do.
"Doctor." Silver gasped.
"Don't speak," The Doctor said pulling him close. "Save your breath."
"Did I do good?' he asked. At that moment he looked impossibly young. As if he had suddenly losted his adult features and was finally a child again. The Doctor told me a while ago that he thought it was because of how he was, being over nine hundred years no one could blame him for seeing Silver as a child, but at that moment I could see the fragileness and his child like innocence.
"You did amazing." The Doctor told him. "Your Dad would be so proud."
"Really?" he asked, the hope in his voice broke The Doctor's heart.
"Absolutely." said I reassuringly.
"Could you do something for me?" asked Silver feebly.
"Anything." Agreed the Doctor
"Could you find my Mum? She's here, her name is Sunset Leaf. Could you give her this?" he reached up and pulled a pendant from his neck with the last of his strength and held it out to The Doctor. The Doctor took the pendant and held Silver's trembling hand. "Tell her I love her." he said.
He was fading fast, The Doctor held his hoof tighter. "I will, I promise I will." The Doctor said to him.
"I miss the stars." said Silver weakly. "Back home I always wanted to go out there, into space. Do you think that's where I'm going now, into the stars?"
"I know that's where you're going."
"What's it like out there?"
"It's beautiful." said The Doctor softly. "The sky is like black velvet and the stars are so bright, they're like diamonds cut out of the sun. Looking out there you can see it all, the raw power, the majesty of the universe and it is absolutely breath taking."
Silver died in The Doctor's arms before The Doctor could even finish his sentence, with a smile on his face and hope in his heart. The Doctor didn't know how long he sat there, cradling Silver's lifeless corpse, but eventually The General found him. The Doctor stood, wiping the tears from his eyes and faced The General.
"I'm sorry" began The General, but stopped when he saw the look on his face.
"This makes things very simple," he said fiercely. "Because now there is no power in this world that can stop me. Consider this war over, General."
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Chapter Five: The Mothers Loss and The Legion of the Dead Part One
Doctors POV:
It was a few hours after the attack, I sat in the Armory, the Silvere place I had been chatting happily with Silver, which had seemed like ages ago. I didn’t it find surprising to see how easily The Keeper had been taking the situation. Losing his memories still didn’t stop his heart from being black. You couldn’t explain to him the significance of a life without him coming up with a clever counter statement on how I’m wrong. I decided to ignore him and think about the matter at hand. While thinking I heard something move and when I looked up I found Flare hovering nervously at the door.
"It's okay," I told her. "You can come in."
She crossed the room and sat next to me exactly where Silver had. "Are you alright?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, knowing how unconvincing I sounded.
"I'm sorry, Doctor…for what happened. I couldn't believe what Dad did, I've never shouted at him like that before. I'd seen Silver around before, he seemed so nice."
"He was." I said quietly. I though back to what The Keeper told me shortly after Silver died and we returned back to base. He told me not to make promises that I couldn’t keep. Ha! I’m The Doctor I always keep my promises.
"What are you going to do now? Will you stay? Will you help us? I won't blame you for leaving, not after…you know…" Flare trailed off.
"Yes, I'll stay, but there's something I have to do first." I said with a small sigh. I looked at the pendant Silver had given me, realizing that I haven’t let go of it since. I again sighed just as The General and The Keeper walked into the room.
"Flare," said The General. "Could you leave us alone for a moment?"
Flare patted my arm before getting up and walking out, glaring at her father as she went. "Silver's mother, where is she?" I asked before The General even had a chance to speak.
“Your not serious about delivering that guys pendent to his mom are you?” Keeper asked hoping that I wasn’t going to say yes.
“Yeah, I am. I don’t know what type of person you are Keeper, but I’m the type of person who follows through on his promises.” He looked at me for a few brief seconds before sucking his teeth and looking away.
"She's here." The General said.
"I need to see her, take me to her." I asked.
"Now Doctor, listen-" began The General.
"No! You listen," said The Doctor getting to his feet. "I made Silver a promise. As he lay dying in my arms, terrified, he asked me to find his Mum. So if you two think you're going to stop me you've made a terrible mistake."
"Alright." said The General realizing it was pointless to argue. "She's in my office, waiting to be told that her only son is dead. You can do the honors if you'd like."
I just nodded my head and walked away. I was already at the door The General spoke to me again. "I really am sorry, you know."
I could hear the sadness on his voice. "I know." I said without looking at The General and left the room, with The Keeper not far behind.
We stood outside The General's office, looking for the strength to open the door. Keeper suggested that we could just walk away; get in his T.A.R.D.I.S and leave. I laughed and told him that I wished it was that simple, but I thought of Silver then, and Flare and I knew I couldn't. Keep sighed and gave me a mischievous smile as he told me he was just testing my resolve. I watched as he opened the door and stepped inside.
A woman stood walking back and forth, wrought with worry. When she saw the two of us she immediately began bombarding us with questions. "Who are you? Why have I been brought here? Where's my son, where's Silver? Is he alright?"
When she quieted Keeper motioned for her to sit down. She complied, eyeing him warily as she did, and I sat down beside her. "I'm The Doctor and this is my friend The Keeper." I said.
"So you two the ones everyone's been talking about. They say you're going to save the world."
"Uh, Sunset" I began. "We have something to tell you. It's about Silver."
"What happened to him Doctor?" asked Sunset.
"He died." Keeper said bluntly.
Sunset burst into tears. "I knew it. Oh God, the second they brought me here, I knew. I'd hoped he was just injured, but I knew, they're faces said it all. My boy! Silver! How did it happen Doctor, where you guys there?" I looked at The Keeper and gave im a sharp glare for not being gentler, when telling Sunset about her son.
"Yes… we was there and we just want to say that your son was a wonderful person." I said, knowing I'd have to tell Sunset what happened and dreading reliving it. Just as I was about tell her The Keeper decided to take over. He could see that the pain it bring me just to think of the right words to say. I didn’t want him to say anything but his eyes told me otherwise.
"It was a sort of extraction mission." began The Keeper. "Silver's first. We were going to get a group of people and bring them back here, that's it. We got there no problem, but on the way back we were attacked. Silver got separated from the two of us, we tried to get to him, but we…couldn't. When the firing had stopped We went to find him, when The Doctor found him…he'd been badly injured. I'm sorry there was nothing we could do. We stayed with him, till the end. He asked The Doctor to find you, he wanted you to know that he loved you very much and he wanted The Doc to give you this."
I handed Sunset the pendant, she took it with trembling hooves. "It was his father's; he gave it to him when he was a boy. He loved it, never took it off. He was such a sweet boy." Sunset was once again wracked with sobs. The both of us put our hooves on her shoulders.
"I talked with him you know, before we left. He told me about his Dad, your husband. He said that he wanted to make him proud and I want you to know that Silver died a hero." I sat with the still weeping Sunset, not knowing how to console her. We didn't know how much time had passed until I heard a knock at the door. "Come in." I said.
A soldier entered the room, I instantly recognized him as one of the men that had been a part of the extraction team. "The General would like a word with you two, sir, if you're not busy that is." he said, looking as if he'd been crying too.
We both turned to Sunset. "Do you want one of us to stay?" we both asked her at the same time.
"No, that's alright. I think I'll go back to my room now." she stood up and before she left she laid a hoof on The Keepers cheek. "Thank you, for staying with him." she said.
“Uh, no. It was actually The Doctor who found him.” The Keeper quickly said.
“But you did stay with him right?”
"No…I mean, yes. Yes I did…stay with him…Look I'm really sorry." he told her looking as if he was embarrassed.
Sunset just nodded and left. I approached he soldier. "We’re ready, where's The General?"
"Right this way." he said leading us from the room. "Damn shame about Silver." said the soldier as they walked along.
"Yes, it is." The Doctor replied, noting that the soldier was around Silver's age.
"Did you know him?" Keeper asked.
"Yeah, was my friend."
"I'm sorry." I said.
"Yeah, me too." said the soldier stopping outside a closed door. "He's in there, waiting for you."
"Thanks." I said to him.
"Can you beat them?" the soldier asked suddenly. "Please tell me you can."
"Yes, I can beat them." I told him as I opened the door and stepped into the room.
“Your making yourself to be like some god who just came out of no where to solve all their problems. I don’t know if you have a plan but it looks like you need help. So I’m coming with you.” I nodded my head and gave him a confident smile.
The General was standing facing the wall, as we entered into the room. "I'm sorry about Silver." said The General without turning around.
"Me too." said The Doctor sadly.
"You've spoken to his mother?"
"Yes." Answered The Keeper
How is she?" asked The General.
"She's just lost her son, how do you think she is?"
"Right… well," began The General awkwardly. "We need to focus, you two. This war isn't going to fight itself." The General said finally turning around to face us. His face was set with grim determination. "We need a plan of action."
"I know what has to be done." I said.
"Yeah well, would you care to enlighten me?" asked The General.
"I go up alone and confront them." I replied.
“The hell you are. Did you not just hear me say that I’m coming with you.”
“Relax, Keeper. I can do this by myself. I am the epitome of a one man army. Next time you’re ever in a library look me up. I’m pretty sure you’ll mind an entire history book on me, but I guess having a few extra hooves couldn’t hurt.” I boasted.
"Oh alright," said The General sarcastically. "Why didn't I think of that before, walk right into their waiting arms so they can slaughter you like all the rest."
"I'll be fine."
"Yeah sure you will," said The General. "And even if I were to consider this insane plan, which I'm not, how are you going to get there. Just gonna waltz into a hostile alien ship, are you?"
"We’ve got a T.A.R.D.I.S." said The Keeper.
"You're not serious are you? Please tell me that you're not serious." said The General, almost begging.
“We’re absolutely serious." I replied fiercely. "Because there have been too many deaths, way too many people have died, not one more. Do you hear me? I'm going to park right on top of that ship, find out what it is that's doing this, and then I'm going to stop it."
"Can you really do that?" asked The General.
"Yes I can, I swear to you I will."
"Alright," The General conceded. "What do you need?"
"I'll need my T.A.R.D.I.S, a pair of night vision goggles, and a fez if you've got one."
"One question, Doctor." Asked The General.
"Ask away!"
"What's a Fez?"
"Nevermind..."
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Chapter Five: The Mothers Loss and The Legion of the Dead Part Two
Doctors POV:
I stood outside the T.A.R.D.I.S with The Keeper, wearing a pair of night-vision goggles, and sadly no fez. Something which I think The Keeper was actually glad about. A group of soldiers had brought us out; we never would have found our way on our own seeing as we was unconscious the last time we made the Flareurney.
"Ready, old girl?" I asked as I unlocked the door. I heard something move behind me and I spun around pulling out my Sonic Screwdriver.
"Who's there?" Keeper called. "I warn you we're armed."
"I thought it wasn't a weapon." came a voice from behind a pile rubble. A figure appeared and side-stepping the debris and approached us.
"Flare?" I cried. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to help." she said.
"No, it's too dangerous. How did you even get here?"
"I followed you."
I gave The Keeper a look and saw that he shook his head. "Right, well, I'm calling the soldiers back. They won't have got that far, they can take you back." I said while pulling a communicator out of his packet. "Neat huh, you're Dad gave it to me." I then put the device to his mouth.
"Please don't do this," begged Flare. "I can't let you go on your own. I want to help."
“Hey, he’s not alone!” cried the Keeper. “He’s got me.”
“You know what I mean.”
"I'm doing this for you, Flare." I said as he flipped a switch on the communicator. "Sorry boys, gonna need you to come back, someone's been left behind."
The communicator crackled then a voice spoke. "We copy Doctor, we're turning back now. We should be about five minutes."
"Good, thank you." I replied. I looked to Flare, who was now glaring sullenly at me. "I'm sorry," I said. "But I can't let anything happen to you."
"I can take care of myself." she said.
The Keeper scoffed. “But you’re just a filly.” He chuckled at the thought of Flare thinking she could be in any way useful to us, but stopped upon see that see was glaring at him.
"People have traveled with me before and they've got hurt. I keep making the same stupid mistakes, but not today. Trust me; I'm just trying to keep you safe."
"It wasn't me I was worried about, Doctor"
I didn't reply. We waited in silence for a few minutes. Then I could hear footsteps approaching.
"That will be the soldiers. You'll be fine, they'll look after you." Keeper said giving a warm smile.
"And who’s going to look after you? The Keeper? Three is better than two." Flare asked.
“Dang, haven’t even known her for a day and she thinks she knows me. That’s impossible, because I don’t even know who I am.”
I smiled sadly at her. "I have to go now, Flare, but I promise you will be safe, all of you." I raised a hoof in farewell. "Goodbye. Come on Keeper, we’ve got work to do."
"Doctor!" she cried, but it was too late. I had already stepped into the T.A.R.D.I.S and immediately caused it disappear.
The soldiers arrived right after. "Where's The Doctor?" one of them asked, looking around.
"He's gone." said Flare.
Finding the right place to land the two of us quietly stepped out of the T.A.R.D.I.S, taking off our goggles as we did so. We found ourselves in a dimly lit corridor. I pulled out my Sonic Screwdriver and did a quick scan for life forms, nothing.
“Find anything, with that doohickey?” Keeper asked.
“Nope, there’s nothing here.” We silently made our way down the corridor, coming to a door on our left; we opened it and stepped inside.
It was brighter in the room. I could see a console of some kind. It looked important enough so I decided to hurry over to it. However I was disappointed when I got there. It was a piece of technology unlike anything I had ever seen. It was covered in strange symbols that not even the T.A.R.D.I.S could decipher. I looked back at Keeper and shook my head.
Seeing nothing in the room that could help us, we decided to try our luck somewhere else. We reentered the corridor and kept moving. After some time the two of us reached the end of the corridor. I stood before a much larger door with a much more advanced locking mechanism; still it was no problem for my screwdriver. 'This looks promising' I thought as I moved to enter the room. But for I could make it inside, I heard Keeper grunt out in what sounded like pain. When I turned around to look I quickly felt a sharp pain in my neck and then suddenly I was unconsious.
I don’t know how long I was a sleep but when I awoke, I still felt groggy. "I really need to find a way to stop things sneaking up on me." he said to himself.
“You think?! Does this happen to you often or what?” The Keeper said looking as if he had already been away. I started to take stock of the situation and soon realized it was much worse than before. We were shackled to a metal table by our wrists and ankles. I looked around and my hearts fell when I saw several metal trolleys containing some nasty looking medical equipment, or torture devices, I wasn't sure which.
"Okay, this is not good," I said.
"And it's about to get much worse." The Keeper said while looking forward.
I sensed something approaching, I couldn't hear anything, but I knew they were coming. Whatever "they" were, we had no idea and I really didn't want to find out. I heard a clicking sound, like a key board and then the metal table I was lying on began to rise until I was standing upright, or hanging would be a better word.
"Hello?" I called uneasily. "I'm The Doctor."
I heard something so quiet that I almost didn't think it was real. It was the sound of fabric being dragged across the floor, but by whom? The sound continued for a moment until a figure stepped out of the shadows and stood before us. It had a basic pony shape, but that was all I could tell, for it was shrouded head to foot in black fabric.
"Why don't you take off that hood, let us get a look at you." said The Keeper trying to sound nonchalant.
"No living creature may look upon us." it spoke in a horrible rasping voice.
"What about your mates, they must look at you." Keeper said jokingly.
"They are not alive and very soon neither will you be."
"Okay," I said worriedly. "That sounds a bit ominous. Who are you lot anyway and what are doing here?"
"We are the Legion of the Dead." it said. "We are the many. We will replenish our ranks and rise to make war with the universe. These ponies will join us."
"The Legion?" I said. "I've heard stories about you. You tried to convert the entire universe, kill is more like it. But the universe fought back, your people were slaughtered. The Shadow Proclamation ordered your extinction."
“Serves you freaks right!” Keeper yelled.
"Some of us survived. This time we will not fail." it said fiercely.
"Like I haven't heard that before." I scoffed. "And what you're going to convert the ponies down there? You try to take them they will fight back. I can assure you of that."
"We have already converted 6,442 of them."
"What? How'd you manage that?" asked The Keeper angrily.
"We take them, the ones who are alone, and the ones who won't be missed. After the attacks we take the dead, life is not required for conversion."
"You bring them back and make them like you?" asked The Keeper horrified and pisses at this newly discovered revelation.
"Correct."
"I will stop you!" I shouted furiously. "I'm The Doctor. Do you hear me? You will not touch another pony. I swear I will stop you!"
The creature emitted a strangled hissing sound and I realized with horror that it was laughing. "Oh Doctor, you cannot stop us. You will Join us. You and your companion The Vanguard will join us."
“Who’s the Vanguard? My name is The Keeper.” He said puzzled by this. I looked at him in horror that the Legion knew of The Vanguard. I looked back at the cloaked figure with a facial expression that asked him , how did he know that name.
“Come now Doctor. Someone of our status has of course heard of the Fabled Doctor and infamous Vanguard. Besides whom do you think gave us the technology to do what we’ve been doing?” He said while looking at the Keeper.
"What? No! You’re insane" I yelled desperately, trying to change the subject. "You can't convert us, we’re not ponies!"
"Being a pony is not a requirement." it said coldly. "We will take your lifes Doctor, inch by inch. Purging you of everything you are."
"No! You can't do this!" Cried The Keeper.
"It is done."
We looked up to see several more creatures advancing on us. One held a large syringe. We began struggled against our bonds in futility. The Keeper felt a sharp pain in his neck and he once again fell unconscious. I tried to yell out to him but I too felt the same pain and once again fell unconscious.
A few moments later I slowly became aware of voices nearby. I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't muster the strength so I contented himself with just listening.
"Those two are stronger than the others, they’re resisting." said one of the Legion.
"They will succumb in time, they all do." another replied.
I could hear footsteps and realized a third creature had entered the room. It spoke brusquely to the other two. "We will be moving on soon. They will be the last conversion of this world."
"And the cleanup?" the first asked.
"Standard procedure, planetary incineration." it replied harshly.
I was finally able to open my eyes; I saw the messenger was leaving. I looked at The Keeper and say that he looked to be unconscious. I tried to speak, but only a low groaning came out.
"You partner is awake, good." one of the creatures said almost gleefully.
“I can hear.” The Keeper said in an annoyed tone. "What did he mean?" The Keeper asked thickly.
"Planetary incineration," it said. "We cannot remain too long on one planet for fear the Shadow Proclamation will become aware of our return. We convert what we can and move on."
"And you burn the rest; there are 3 billion people on that planet." The Keeper said disgusted.
"A necessary sacrifice. The original you would have been proud."
“I don’t know what your…Wait have we met before?”
The creatures laughed again and turned to go, The Keeper began to shout after them, but they ignored him, leaving him completely alone with me. As I laid strapped to the table, trying to think of something, anything I could do, a strange feeling came over me. A tingling sensation began in my chest and spread outward to the rest of my body. I looked over to The keeper and say that he began to feel the same thing.
We began to struggle, wrenching at our bonds with all the strength we possessed, but to no avail. I knew what was coming and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. I cried out in hopeless frustration as the tingling in my body intensified. It grew and grew until I was no longer tingling, I was burning. It began to as if my blood were on fire, never before had I experienced such pain. Unlike me who was screaming my lungs off, The Keeper tryied to keep his cool as he felt the same pain that I did. His eyes had long since been closed and I could see it on his face that he was losing hope as well.
I tried not to cry out, not wanting to give them the satisfaction they wanted, I tried, but I failed. It became too much for us and we found ourselves screaming in agony. Tears streamed down The Keepers face as the screams tore themselves from his throat. Through the fiery wall of pain in my mind I began to realize something. I suddenly figured out what they were doing to us. They were embalming us, pumping our body full of a solution that would course through us, changing us. The Legion of the Dead, no heartbeat, no life, no nothing and we was to join them.
We struggled to hold on, I thought of all the friends I’ve had, the people I had loved. I tried so hard, but the pain only intensified. 'I can't do this.' I thought desperately. 'Oh God, I can't do this.' I held on to my last ounce of strength, but as the agony reached a new height, I let out wrenching howl and let go. For the first time in my life, I actually gave up, I succumbed and when I did the pain stopped and I felt at peace with myself.
View Online
Chapter Six: The End of the Legion and The Beginning of The Truth
I came to several hours later. I no longer felt any pain; the boiling in my blood had subsided, to be replaced with a brutal coldness that was now flowing through my veins. It remained only in my hooves and legs, for now. I knew it would spread, rapidly and when its' icy hand gripped my heart, I would be lost.
"But it hasn't happened yet!" I told himself fiercely. "I can still end this, but first I need to get off this table." I looked at The Keeper and saw that he was awake and struggling.
I looked at the clamps around my wrists thinking wistfully of my sonic screwdriver and knowing that there was no way I could get it out of my pocket, if it was still there, that is.
I looked around the room seeing that our environment was unchanged, save for one thing. The Legion must have examined me when I was unconscious, because the rolling tray of medical tools was much closer. I reached for it, straining against my bonds. A moment later I managed to reach the edge and pull it closer. Once I had done this, I selected a scalpel and set to work picking the lock on the clamp. This wasn't an ordinary lock opened with an ordinary key; it was an electronic clamp, opened with a key code, entered in on a keypad across the room.
There was still a way I could unlock it though. If I was very lucky there would be a small slot that I could insert the scalpel into and with some calculated poking and prodding, I could trip the sensors and open the clamps. Filled with new found hope, I began searching for the slot. After some minutes of not finding what I was looking for I began to lose hope again, thinking I had been wrong. The keeper seeing my discouraged face, he began to cheer me on, telling me never to give up until our last breath. I nodded to him and I ran the scalpel desperately over the clamp. We were delighted when it suddenly dropped an inch or so.
I wiggled the scalpel into the slot and a moment later the clamps sprang open, I was free. I leapt from the table and found to my relief that my sonic screwdriver was still in my pocket. I used it on the locks that had The Keeper trapped. Now all we had to do was find a way of saving the planet below from being destroyed. The coldness has reached my lower back, with mounting apprehension we walked to the door.
I sonicked the door open and entered a corridor, much like the one we had been in when we arrived. “Keep a look out Keeper. We don’t want them sneaking up on us again.” Now that I knew what they were, I could set my screwdriver accordingly. This time when I did a scan for life I found thousands of life forms. I made my way to the greatest concentration of them.
We silently entered the room and hid ourselves. I was in the main control room and there was over a hundred Legion convened there. How did I know this? I counted them of course.
What seemed to be the leader began speak. "Planetary incineration will commence in eleven minutes." it said.
Another creature spoke up. "This Doctor and the companion with him is said to be the Vanguard, the one who provided us with our current technology. Both of them have said they will fight back. Should we not prepare for this eventuality?"
"These ponies are tiny; we have 600 ships ready to burn across this world. We will destroy every last one of them."
At this point I was reeling, 600 ships? How many thousands were on each ship? There were millions of them. How many worlds have they done this to, I wondered with dawning horror. I looked at The Keeper and saw the horror that was on his face too.
We slipped from the room, knowing that we didn't have much time. Planetary incineration in eight minutes and we had no plan, no weapons, no nothing. I wracked my brain for a way of stopping them, anything. As I thought I realized the iciness had now reached my waist and shoulders, I could no longer feel my legs, my sense of urgency increased. With sudden, horrible clarity, I realized what we must do. Determined, I made my way to the back of the ship, with Keeper following close behind me.
I located the control room without too much difficulty and once inside, I hesitated. I knew it had to be done and that was the worst part. Every ship in the fleet was interconnected, destroy one, and destroy them all. It would be so easy to reverse the neutron relay of the engine feed. All the energy powering the ship would turn inward, blow the whole lot to kingdom come. I slammed my hoof down on the console, barely registering the fact that I couldn't feel it.
"Why is it always me?" I said to myself in a hushed tone that was inaudible to Keeper. "Why do I get to decide who lives and who dies, it's not fair…" Suddenly I realized I wasn’t the one who had to make this choice. I looked at The Keeper who was checking the hallway to see if we were still in the clear. He looked at me and gave me a reassuring smile. I had someone else with me, someone else in this infinite wide galaxy that has done more atrocities than me, what’s one more going to be like on his already dead conscious.
However I forgot one crucial detail, that when a person has total amnesia they often start on a clean slate. I forgot that the Keeper was no longer The Vanguard. He wasn’t the omnicidal maniac I once knew. I had totally forgotten about that one important detail and for that I am truly sorry for what I was about to do.
I realized something else at that moment, it wasn’t my responsibility as the last of the Time Lords, or because no one else would, no, I did it for them. The ponies down on that planet, the brave, flawed equestrians I loved so much. It was easy, so easy, press a few buttons, sonic a bit. What was it to me, another genocide, another race gone because of me. At that moment I was looking for a way out and that way out…was The Keeper.
All I had to do was fake like I couldn’t stand up anymore. I couldn’t complete the Flareb and that The Keeper was the one who had to step up and finish the Flareb for me, for once I wasn’t going to be the hero, the hero who had to make a devastating choice in order to save the lives of others. I had done to many times and those choices I’ve made laid heavily on my mind, I couldn’t make this choice again. I couldn’t kill off another race again, I just couldn’t. So I did it. I fell to the ground gaining the attention of The Keeper who immediately came to my aid.
“Doctor? What’s wrong?” The Keeper asked me.
“I can’t stand up anymore. You have to do it. You have to end this Keeper.” I said looking at him pleadingly. He looked at the console and took in the heavy weight of the situation. He nodded to me and quickly ran up to the console and began to press randome buttons and began to rip out wires that looked important. He only stopped upon seeing a big red button, that of course said do not push.
There was a moment's hesitation before he flipped the final switch; he then suddenly realized that we wouldn't make it out before the ship went up. This was a really pressing moment. I could see the anxiety that was on his face as ponder on what to do. He took a large breath and began to think for what seemed like five minutes. He stood there by the switch, just staring at it. Leaving me wondering what he was thinking. I imagined him thinking about how a day ago he he had now idea who he was and was most likely going to die be for he could even find out who he was. Without another thought, he flipped the switch.
Flare had been waiting patiently, or as close to patient as she could be, for hours. She knew that we were probably dead, but she still had hope. She was in the depths of her despair when she heard it. A series of massive explosions, the room began to shake, heaving and shuddering violently.
"This is it." she thought. "They're finally coming to destroy us." she crouched on the floor, huddled against the wall and waited, resigned. After several long minutes, or hours, she couldn't really tell, it stopped. Surprised to find herself still breathing, she left the room to assess the damage. She was even more surprised to find none.
Approaching a soldier near her, she asked him. "What's going on, what's happened?"
"I got word from the surface, they're gone." he said looking utterly astonished by his own words. "The ships, they just blew up, they're gone."
"Doctor." said Flare more to herself. She turned and ran, leaving the soldier staring blankly after her. She turned a corner at breakneck speed. She bolted down the last corridor and out into the darkness. "Doctor!" she called desperately. "Doctor!"
I opened my eyes to a familiar sight. I was in the T.A.R.D.I.S, the sickbay, to be precise. More importantly, I could once again, feel my legs. Sitting up, I realized I was lying in the stasis chamber. Lay on one long enough and everything goes back to normal, factory settings. Clambering out of the chamber, I wondered how I had gotten there. The last thing I remembered before blacking out were the sounds of sirens and alarms, proof of their imminent demise. Thinking back, there had been another sound, the most beautiful sound in the entire galaxy. The T.A.R.D.I.S, she must have materialized around him, got him off that ship and healed us. I reached out and patted the nearest bit of wall.
"Thanks Dear." I said smiling. I looked around to see The Keeper looking staring at the ceiling. I called out to him and noticed what was going on. He had the thousand yard stare. When a person has just gone through some sort of trauma, they will often have an unfocused, vacant stare into a vast abyss of nothingness, slipping into shock and weariness from which it is very hard to shake. I called out to him but it appeared like he couldn’t hear me. He only responded a few moments later by nodding his head. Just looking at him I could tell that he was no longer the same.
Flare had been sitting outside the base in the dark, waiting. She'd got a message from her father a little while ago. He was fine, just taking care of some things. The streets that had been desolate for so long were now full of people with flashlights and lanterns, reclaiming the world they thought they'd lost. Flare tried to feel happy too, but she just couldn't manage it. She knew something must have gone wrong; The Doctor should have been back by now she thought. She had nearly convinced herself that I was never coming back, when she heard a strange sound, a wheezing sort of whine. With realization she was off, tearing through the semi-darkened streets toward that sound.
She found us a few blocks away, Keeper leaning casually against my blue box and me grinning like a mad man.
"You're late." she said unable to surpass a grin of her own. "You did it, you stopped them."
"I said I would, didn't I?" The Doctor replied. Keeper groaned, noticing that I was taking all the credit. “Ahhh, It was actually The Keeper who saved you.”
“That’s right, you were there just looking pretty.”
"When the ships blew up, I thought you two were…" Flare trailed off.
"Nope." I said cheerily. "Never been better. Anyway, we just came to say goodbye and thanks."
"You're leaving?" Flare asked.
"I've got to, I've been running from something for a very long time, from the future and I realized that you can't ever run from your future, not really. It always has a way of catching up to you in the end. There's something I've been meaning to do, someone I've been wanting to see."
"I didn't know you made house calls." said Flare teasingly. "This person are they a friend of yours?"
"Yes, he is and I'd like to see him again, before it's too late." I said sadly.
"Too late for what?" asked Flare.
"Spoilers."
"Thank you." said Flare. "You saved us." She now looking at the Keeper.
"Don't mention it." replied The Keeper with a grin.
"There's something else I can do, as well. Just you wait." I raised a hoof and with a wave and a smile we walk back into the T.A.R.D.I.S. A moment later the little blue box vanished in a flash of light.
Flare waited, staring expectantly at the sky. Several minutes later after we had vanished there was a click and everywhere was suddenly bathed in light. The General appeared next to her then, and she turned to him.
"He fixed them Dad, he fixed the lights."
"Bless that man, whoever he is." said The General smiling for the first time in a very long time.
Looking to the sky, Flare and her Dad stood hoof in hoof and saw a blue box flying across the sky, heading out into the distance. She raised a hoof and waved.
"Goodbye Doctor." she whispered so quietly her Dad couldn't hear her. They stood like that a moment longer, before turning and heading back, back home.
Back in the T.A.R.D.I.S. I began to sigh as I realized we had really dodged a bullet. I looked over to The Keeper who was staring at me intensely. “What?” I said with a small laugh. “That was a fun little adventure right? I’ll admit I actually wanted to show you something else but the T.A.R.D.I.S. had other plans. I hope you’re not mad about almost dying to me.”
“No, it’s not that…” He said while staying quiet for a few moments. “You lied to me.”
Chapter Seven: The Vanguard
Keeper's POV:
The Doctor looked at me with a face that seemed to be mixed with confusion and terror. "What do you mean?" He asked playing dumb. I began to circle around him as I placed my thoughts in order.
"When I pressed the button to destroy the Legion. The blast somehow brought back some of my memories back." I said to him. I could tell that some of my memories, but not all of them had been restored. Stuff like my name and my childhood had appeared to me while I was unconscious. I also received bit's and pieces of my memories from my adult hood but from what I could make of it, those memories weren't as important as the others. The Doctor looked at me with a look that told me to explain to him about how much I could remember.
***
The only sound in the room was the almost ceaseless scratch of a quill pen across a sheet of curling parchment.
The pen was lifted, dipped into a fine silver inkwell and returned to its labors with a neat economy of movement; the writer, meanwhile, had barely averted my focused gaze from the parchment all the while. I traced out another neat circle and began to fill it with letters, my breathing slow and steady. As I worked, a tiny smile began to crease the corner of my mouth as I imagined what my tutors would say if they could see me. Gallopfreyan was a pure language, they said. The oldest and purest in the universe. Corrupting it in this way would cause no end of white faces and gasps of horror amongst the Academy faculty.
"What are you doing?"
"Writing, Sasani," I said, casting the briefest sideways glance at my friend, now slouching in the doorway to their apartment. "I would have thought that much was obvious."
"Don't call me that, please. I respect your title even if I fail to understand it. The least you can do is respect mine." He emerged at last from the shadows of the arched doorway and moved over to the window, standing to one side to keep the brilliant sunlight out of his eyes, staring out over the forest as it shimmered in the light of second sunrise. Sasani, also known as The Reaper, was my closest friend. He was the only person in the entire universe that I trusted with my life. He chose the nickname Reaper because it would place fear within the hearts of his enemies and give him the respect that he always wanted. My title was the Vanguard, a name that was actually given to me by Reaper, when we were making these silly titles. You see, as children we were inspired by stories of The Doctor and The Master. The Doctor was my idol, I wanted grow and be just like him, because by the time of my birth The Doctor and The master were already dead. The Universe was desperatly in need of another hero, so I took it upon myself to take up the Doctors Role as a Hero.
"I'm sorry," I said, setting the quill aside with exaggerated care and turning in my chair to study my friend with slight but perfectly serious curiosity. "Reaper. You know, I've been meaning to ask you why –" I went on, but Reaper raised a hoof to quell me.
"Ask all you will," he said, archly. "I don't plan to discuss it. It's not personal, you understand," he added, his imperious expression softening somewhat as he broke into an unfamiliar smile that bore the faintest hint of sufferance. "My parents questioned me as well, after the ceremony. They're not happy."
"It's not their business to ask you about your title, and the Academy will support you in that." I sighed, and pushed the parchment aside and rose from my chair. I joined my friend at the open window, and the breeze very briefly stirred my fine blond hair across my cheek.
"You asked me," said the Reaper, a trifle reproachfully.
I waved an airy hand. "That's different," I said. "For one thing, I'm your friend, not your father. For another, I'm nosy." I stopped and chuckled, but sobered again at once as I saw that the Reaper was in no mood for levity, no matter how affectionately intended. "Look," I went on, changing tack, "I'm not going to stand here and act like I care about what goes on in your life, but I do know enough of it to know that your parents will come to terms with your choices in life, I'm sure of it."
"That's all very easy for you to say," the Reaper said with a one-sided shrug, and then, as if this gesture of irritation had not served him well enough, he scowled as well. "Your parents are just as unorthodox as you, if not more so. I hear your mother's been arguing with the Castellan over your term of service yet again, and your father can't seem to stay away from that silly little backwater planet, that...what is it called, again? You know...that Planet The Doctor loved so much."
"It's called Earth," I said, evenly, linking my hooves behind my back, my peaceful smile broadening a notch.
"Savages," my friend replied bluntly, and then stepped over to the desk and picked up the fruits of the my work with his unicorn magic. "Is this what he brought back for you? Ancient writing technology? Really, my friend, you might as well be chiseling away at a slab of granite." He paused, and then subjected the writing on the parchment to closer scrutiny, his brows knotting in disbelief. "And if the Docent sees this, you'll be in correction for the rest of the term. Adulterating Gallopfreyan with equestrian language?"
"Merely an exercise," I said, taking back my property with one smooth movement and rolling up the parchment between mouth. "I wanted to see if the two could be effectively combined while still maintaining coherent grammar and clause structure. Besides, it's a remarkably pretty language, don't you think? It's called Latin. Father says the ponies are developing some quite sophisticated cultures now."
"Sophisticated!" the Reaper cried, scornfully. "From what I hear, their chief hobby is shooting one another full of arrows and lances. I'm surprised they find the time to write anything once they've cleared away the bodies and washed the blood out of their clothes."
"Well," I said, a mote of annoyance creeping into my tone, "if you've quite finished exerting your moral superiority over a fledgling species, isn't it about time we were going? Relative Time Theory and Practice in fifteen minutes. Hopefully, this time it won't just be the former," I added, a gleam in my eye. "I'm keen to get my hands on a real TARDIS, aren't you?"
"No, not especially, considering the number of restrictions placed upon their use," said the Reaper, fetching his mantle from its hook and fastening it around his narrow shoulders. "Has it ever occurred to you just how much power the Time Lords waste merely watching time, when they could be making use of it? The entire universe can be ours, if we just apply a little effort and...time."
"Making use?" I echoed, hiking one eyebrow as he spoke. "You know, sometimes you worry me with your use of language."
The Reaper gave me a perfectly serene smile, which for some reason sent a chill up my spine. "And your tendency to be naive makes me worry about you.. "