Dr. Whooves- Parallel Complications

"I swear, he had three heads!" Paige shouted.

The Doctor and Paige had traveled for a month now, and Paige had learned to love each and every adventure they went on. She had grown more attached to him, sharing unfathomable beauty, hilarious accidents, and on occasion, perilous danger with this mysterious colt. As for her emotions toward him, she still had absolutely no idea.

"No, that fish had two heads, and one of them was a hologram, it was a scam," the Doctor replied, laughing along with Paige.

"But I touched all three heads, I felt something each time!"

"You thought you touched all three heads; that was a clever two headed fish with masterful skill in trickery."

"How are you so sure?"

"As old as I am, you don't think I've come across a hologram?"

"No, as old as you are I think you might be getting a bit slow." Paige grinned slyly, and the Doctor stared at her wide eyed before laughing again. "So, what have we got now?"

"I did a little random jump, we're 2,500 years in your future. The TARDIS is getting more and more used to this universe and keeps taking information as we go, we're in the pony quadrant of this galaxy, beta sector."

"I still can't believe ponies actually go out in to space like you and I one day... or many days ago depending on how you look at it."

"You're strikingly similar to a species I spend a lot of time with in my universe. Starting out, primitive, only guessing about what's out there. Then one day, you decide you all want to see it for yourselves, and take off, spreading out across the universe."

Paige grinned at the thought, hoping that one day they could go and watch the first ponies launched in to space. "So what are we doing here?"

"To be honest, I have no idea yet- hold on..." The Doctor noticed a different reading on the monitor, and took a closer look. "That doesn't seem right..."

"What is it?" Paige asked, joining the Doctor at the monitor.

"There's a planet nearby, and it's freezing cold," the Doctor replied. "With how far it is away from this system's star it shouldn't be, temperature is going back up but it'll take hundreds of years for the temperature to be where it should."

"So something must have made the planet cold," Paige said, her curiosity rising. "Have a look?"

"Just what I was thinking."

The Doctor moved the TARDIS closer to the planet, entering in orbit. He began more scans of the planet, trying to find weather patterns, shifts in oceans, anything that would cause such a planetary low temperature.

"There's nothing, no evidence of anything out of the ordinary," the Doctor said, dumbfounded by his own readings. "It's as if the planet was just fine, then one day everything just got cold. This planet's old, it can't have been like this since its beginning, not with the star it's orbiting."

The Doctor and Paige looked over in surprise when an old telephone on the consol began to ring. Paige blinked, making sure that she heard what she thought she heard. "Are we out in space, 2500 years in the future, with a phone ringing in your spaceship from another universe?"

"That's not a phone actually, but I'll show you my phone sometime," the Doctor replied, leaving Paige even more dumbfounded. "I made that phone so that it would ring when a nearby ship is trying to contact me. There's a ship nearby, and they're wondering who we are."

"Is it a dangerous ship? Aliens?"

"Only one way to find out," the Doctor replied, hitting a button on his consol to answer the request.

A new screen blinked on the monitor, and on the other side of the screen stood a red, female unicorn. "This is captain Ruby of the Equestrian Union ship Wanderer, who am I speaking to?"

"Oh hello, ponies!" the Doctor exclaimed, beaming. Paige smiled as well, happy to see some of her own kind again. "I haven't met one with just a horn yet, bit exciting, sorry. I'm the Doctor, next to me is Paige."

"This planet had a quarantine put on it, you can't get within even long distance sensor range of it, and its condition is top secret," Ruby replied. "May I ask how you two got here?"

"Well, with quarantine, I'd like to ask you the same question," the Doctor said.

"We're the ones with the top secret clearance to investigate. Now what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm not the kind of pony that waits to be allowed to do things, I just sort of travel about. However, I've never seen anything like this, a planet that's freezing cold when it shouldn't be? A quarantine is usually for medical purposes, which means you're also not sure about what happened, nor do you want others to know about it."

Ruby paused, then shrugged. "I can't let you explore on your own, but since you've already seen the planet and seem to have knowledge that might help, you can come on board my ship. Can we teleport you?"

"Actually," the Doctor began, beginning to hit buttons on the TARDIS, "You'll find that you can't really teleport us out of my ship, but don't worry, just send me the coordinates of your orbit, I'll come to you."

"Very well, coordinates sent."

The Doctor switched off Ruby's communication, and began fiddling with dials and buttons on the consol. "So, we're going to sort of park next to them, get near their orbit?" Paige asked.

"The TARDIS is only bigger on the inside, Paige, I'm going to park it inside their ship," the Doctor replied, flipping a lever and starting the TARDIS's motion.

***

In orbit on the other side of the planet was the Wanderer. The ship was fairly small, meant for very short term missions, with two small cargo bays, an engine room, bridge, medical bay, living quarters, and hallways connecting everything. The ship was unpainted except for the name and registry number, located on the ship's left side.

Ruby and Nicole, the two female crew members out of a total of five, were on the bridge, making more scans of the planet surface.

"Captain, I'm getting an alert from cargo bay one, it says we have new shipments in," Nicole said, noticing an update on one of her screens.

"New? From where?"

"Unknown."

"Keep scanning the planet, make sure we haven't missed anything." Ruby walked to the bridge door, then hit the com button. "Daniel, Luke, head for cargo bay one, need to check on something. I'll meet you there."

Ruby exited the bridge, moving her way through the twists and turns of the ship passageways. The Union saved money by making ships with large enough accommodations for all ponies to be comfortable, and tiny, narrow passageways to keep the ship under size.

Daniel and Luke, two brown pegasus ponies were waiting for Ruby at the cargo bay door. Ruby entered the door code and stepped inside, finding the crates that had always been there, and a tall, blue box, positioned in between two stacks of crates.

"What in the world is that? What's a police box?" Daniel asked, cautiously approaching it.

"Never mind that, how did it get in my cargo bay?" Ruby said. She advanced on the box, her movement stopped by the sight of one of the doors opening.

"Don't move," Ruby ordered the two colts, holding up a hoof. She waited, unsure of what was about to emerge.

"Hello!" the Doctor shouted, poking his head out from the door with a grin. "Sorry to pop in and surprise you, I was just landing my ship."

"Your ship is... that? And it just got in here on its own?" Ruby stared at the pony she had only just seen on her com screen, wondering how much room there was for him with all the controls for the ship.

"Not on its own, with me inside," the Doctor replied, stepping out with Paige. "Oh, and her too. I'm the Doctor, this is Paige, and we'd like to help you investigate this frozen planet."

Ruby stood still for another moment. "You both fit in there and fly that ship."

"You'd find it quite roomy, actually," Paige said, adjusting her bag.

"Actually, we've got them to help us, I don't think you need to carry that this time around," the Doctor told Paige.

Paige nodded and gladly tossed the bag back in the TARDIS. It wasn't heavy, however she was glad to have a break from it.

"Well, under the circumstances, I'm going to ignore that you teleported your entire ship on to mine, and break a dozen security protocols to say welcome aboard the Wanderer," Ruby said, relaxing. "I'm captain Ruby, we met over the com, this is Daniel, our medical officer, and this is Luke, our jack of all trades crew member. He could fly the ship, stitch a wound, or fix the engine, but he doesn't have enough experience to be an officer in any one field."

"Hello," Paige said with a wave, happy to meet some fellow pegasi.

"Look at all your wings, that is brilliant," the Doctor said. "And you, a unicorn. Do you mind if I..." the Doctor activated his sonic screwdriver, approaching Ruby and waving his hoof around her.

"Well, you seem to have already started," Ruby replied. She was alarmed at first, but when she felt no harming effect she remained still.

"Sorry, I haven't been around much, I'm seeing if my sonic screwdriver can tell me about your magic."

"And what does it say?"

"Well... nothing." The Doctor was stumped, not finding anything in particular about Ruby's biology.

"Would you like me to lift something?"

The Doctor beamed. "This I've got to see."

Ruby rolled her eyes, but used her magic to lift a small crate that was across the room and hold it in the air. The Doctor's eyes widened. "This universe just gets more and more brilliant..." he said, in awe at the levitation power. He snapped out of his stare at the box and activated his screwdriver again, getting it closer to Ruby's now glowing horn and scanning all over her. Ruby lowered the box, placing it back where it was while the Doctor looked at his screwdriver. "Still nothing."

"As I suspected," Ruby replied. "Now, if nopony in your life has ever bothered to explain magic to you then tough. Right now we have more important matters. You want to help, I accept the fact that I'm out of my league here, so I'll take all the help I can get. Come with me to the bridge."

Paige and the Doctor began following Ruby while Daniel and Luke exited the cargo bay in a different direction. The three walked quickly through the narrow hallways, climbing up a few stairs here and there and at last arriving at the bridge.

The Doctor stepped up to the window, looking down at the planet they were orbiting. The entire planet was a mixture of white and light blue, swirls of different shades in large, frozen bodies of water, land painted in snow and ice, a few clouds slowly moving about the atmosphere.

"It's beautiful..." Paige said, looking down at the planet as well.

"The sight is beautiful, but the story is terrible," Ruby said. "Two million colonists were on the planet."

"Any signs of survivors?" the Doctor asked.

"Four."

The Doctor let out a quiet sigh, his eyes closing in the pain of the thought, and Paige gasped and turned away, unable to look at the planet below.

"Can we get them out?"

"They're already here, Doctor," Ruby replied. "Alive, but on the brink of death and frozen. They're in our medical bay, we've been slowly bringing their temperatures back up so their system doesn't go into shock. They should be up in an hour."

"How did you find out about the incident?"

"Every planet in the Equestrian Union is in communication with each other, and also sends out automated reports of weather conditions and so on," Ruby explained. "Three days ago communication was lost with this planet, and the first team that went to investigate was never heard from, they're still missing. The automated reports kept coming until recently, however, and we were able to determine the time of the temperature change. 48 hours ago."

"How quickly did the temperature drop?"

"The automated reports are logged in five minute intervals. Between one log and the next, the temperature was where it is now."

"In five minutes or less, the entire planet went to below freezing temperatures?" The Doctor rubbed a hoof through his mane, his mind exploring possibilities. "That is fearsome technology."

"Or fearsome magic," Ruby mentioned.

"You're saying a unicorn could have done this?" the Doctor asked.

"Unicorns aren't the only magical creatures, Doctor, and again I don't have time to explain magic to you. But we can't rule out the possibility that it was a pony, even though it's doubtful. Magic that powerful hasn't been heard of in thousands of years. When ponies began traveling out to the stars, meeting new species, technology caught up with magic and magic became mostly irrelevant. Still useful, but now an earth pony or pegasus could fly a ship like this with no issue. Don't need unicorns to lead the way."

"Captain, I have several theories on what could have happened down there, but the way we're going to get answers is through the survivors in your medical bay," the Doctor said. "Could I be there when you wake them up?"

"To be honest, I don't know why I'm trusting two ponies who broke through the false quarantine," Ruby said. "But you're here, and don't possess any weapons. From what I can tell, you're just here to try and figure out what happened, just like us, and I'm going to let you."

***

The walk from the bridge to the medical bay took several minutes, and the rest of the time was spent waiting as sensors, needles, and machinery slowly woke up the four survivors. Two pegasi and two earth ponies were what was left of the colonists below, all with a grey coat and various colors of manes, and their lungs began to move, their breathing returning to normal.

The Doctor and Paige waited calmly as Ruby paced about. Daniel was monitoring all the machinery and Luke stood by with another crew member in case one of them were needed.

"I think one's coming to," Daniel said. One of the earth ponies began to move, his eyes flickering a bit.

"Mmm..." the colt moaned, his senses coming about.

"It's ok, you're safe," Daniel said in a calm tone, leaning over the bed.

As the colt continued to wake, his movements suddenly became rapid. "No... no!" The colt flailed his hooves about after his sudden shout, knocking over a tray table holding different medicines. Daniel jumped back in shock, and Ruby moved forward, using magic to hold the colt's hooves down.

"It's alright, stay calm," Ruby said, looking in to the colt's eyes. His head moved all over, unsure of where to look. His eyes had turned a slight shade of yellow. "You're on the EU Wanderer, you're safe. Can you tell me what happened on the planet surface?"

"Chaos..." the colt continued to fight the grip on his hooves, his body writhing against the bed he was laying on. "Chaos! The cold... the pain..."

The doctor blinked, a memory hitting him after hearing the colt yell.

“Our planet has fallen to chaos,” the captain told the Doctor. “We have been devastated, and we are barely surviving. This used to be one of our finest ships, now we are scavengers.”

"Look, I know that it must have been terrible, but you're safe now." Ruby leaned over the table, attempting to force the colt to look her in the eye. "But I need to know anything I can about what happened. Do you know who did this?"

The colt at last stared right at Ruby. Although still shaking furiously, the colt's flailing stopped. "I am not safe..." he replied, his eyes frozen on Ruby, not blinking. "Nopony is safe... no creature is safe... no world is safe."

"Why? What happened?"

Even the colt's shaking stopped as a smile grew across his face. He began to chuckle, his eyes widening more as his smile grew. The smile did not bring joy to Ruby, it brought fear.

The colt below her surged his head forward, knocking in to Ruby's head unexpectedly. Ruby lost her magic grip as she staggered back, and the colt rolled off the table in a flash, rising to his hooves.

Daniel rushed forward but was pushed back, landing on his back with a thump. The Doctor tried to come around from the side and grab hold of the colt, but the colt rushed forward, throwing himself in to the light controls for the medical bay, causing the consol to spark and the lights to go out. Afterwards, a scream and fumbling of hooves was all that could be heard, before silence.

Ruby recollected herself, standing up again in the darkness. "Is everypony alright?" she asked.

"Hold on, I can light up the room a bit," the Doctor called out. He activated his sonic screwdriver, the green light weak, but at least giving some vision to himself, Paige and the crew.

Laying motionless on the floor was the other crew member that had been next to Luke. Once Daniel saw him, he rushed to the pony's side, kneeling down. "Nicole, are you alright?" he asked, applying pressure with a hoof on different parts of Nicole's body. Daniel looked up at the captain. “She's dead."

Ruby closed her eyes, bowing her head. "The survivor must have killed her during the blackout."

"The... the other survivors! They're gone!" Luke pointed at the now empty beds, causing a gasp to emit from everyone in the room.

"With how the first one acted, we have to assume that all of them are like that," Ruby said. "There's no time to mourn Nicole, we need a plan. Something down on that planet made these survivors go insane."

"They've already killed one of us," Luke said. "I say we abandon the ship. There's no point in risking our lives."

"Captain, normally I'd despise any being for saying something like that, but after seeing the frozen planet and the survivors, in this one case I have to agree. I can get you all off using my ship," the Doctor told Ruby.

"While both of you share a perfectly fine idea, there's one problem," Ruby replied. "This ship may be just for exploration, scouting, and routine jobs, we have to be able to defend ourselves. I must remind you, Luke, that the Wanderer is equipped with several advanced nuclear devices. The survivors are insane, but still clever enough to have escaped this room. If they get control of the ship, they could take it anywhere."

"So even you sweet, peaceful ponies end up carrying guns," the Doctor said under his breath.

"For centuries before we even dreamed of space travel, there was no war on our world, Doctor," Ruby said, hearing the comment. "We met peaceful species when we began to travel in space, but we also discovered that the universe was not as peaceful as our worlds. You should know all this anyways, I'm really beginning to question who you are."

"Believe me when I say I'm not from around here," the Doctor replied. "But I am here to help. I don't know what happened here, or if it's connected to me or anything else I've seen, but I do know that there's no time for you or I to continue explaining what the other would like to know. How do we abandon ship without risking control of the weaponry?"

Ruby paused for a moment, then sighed. "We need to manually activate the ship's self destruct sequence, it's the only way," she began. "For security purposes there are two activation stations, one on the bridge and one in the engine room. Doctor, I want you and your friend to come with me to the bridge, Luke and Daniel, you go to engineering. I'll get on the com to make sure that our tinkerer is still alright down there."

Ruby made her way across the room to the communications panel, which was thankfully untouched and still working. "This is Captain Ruby calling chief engineer," Ruby said as she pressed a hoof to the panel. "Is everything alright down there?"

"This is Rufus," a male voice replied over the com. Based on the Doctor's version of earth, the voice had a Scottish accent. "I'm showing errors on several lighting panels across the ship, but nothing wrong here. Something happen captain?"

"The survivors from the planet have gone insane, we already have one crew member down," Ruby explained. "We have no choice but to activate the self destruct protocol. Daniel and Luke will be on their way soon to engineering, and I'm headed for the bridge. Stay alert, the survivors are dangerous."

"Roger that," Rufus replied, cutting off the com.

"Luke, it sounds like the survivors are smashing lighting panels as they go, do we have any flashlights stored somewhere nearby?" Ruby asked, turning away from the com panel.

"There's a bin, just down the hallway a bit," Luke said. "Doctor, can you bring your... light thing and help me get them?"

The doctor nodded, and the two left the room for a moment, discovering the hallway outside to be dark as well. They returned holding several bands, each with a small light attached.

"These go around your head," Ruby told the Doctor and Paige. "Turn them on with a tap of the hoof. I'll help you put them on."

Ruby's horn began to glow, and the bands levitated in to the air, wrapping around each pony's forehead gently. The Doctor tapped his light with a hoof to activate it, then turned off his sonic screwdriver. "That is amazingly convenient," the Doctor said. "I'd love to have a horn."

"Many ponies say that, but earth ponies and pegasi have qualities that we admire and wish for," Ruby said. "You earth ponies have a way of adapting to situations that unicorns just don't."

"And pegasi?"

"Well, pegasus ponies can fly, and to use your word, that's brilliant."

"I quite agree."

"Now, stay close to who you're traveling with, and stay alert. We know these survivors have gone insane, we know they're strong, and we know they're clever. Let's make sure we don't allow them to do any more harm."

***

Daniel and Luke slowly walked together through the now dark halls, shining their lights in different directions. The survivors had covered quite a large distance of the ship, and had destroyed light panels as they went, causing the lights in most of the hallways to short circuit and cut out. Their ears were perked and their eyes were constantly moving around, taking special care to see or hear any movement.

"Well this is quite the change from the normal routine," Luke mentioned, using small talk to keep calm.

"Get married then go see the stars, that was our plan and we did it," Daniel replied.

"And I wasn't regretting that plan until now," Luke said, chuckling.

"Which part are you regretting, the travel or the marriage?"

"Shut up, you know what I meant." Luke playfully punched Daniel in the side.

"Of course I did. But seeing that blush on your face right now was worth it."

A sudden sound caused both colts to freeze in their tracks. Their voices hushed and their lights slowly pivoted around, searching for any sign of the noise. Daniel cautiously turned around, his light shining on the colt that he had spoken to in the medical bay.

The survivor lunged forward, tackling Daniel to the ground. "Daniel!" Luke yelled, rushing to try and help.

***

"So who are you really, Doctor? Now that my life is partially in your hooves," Ruby asked, making her way to the bridge with the Doctor and Paige. The halls guiding them were also dark, only a few lights left working.

"I'm a traveler from an alternate universe."

Ruby laughed. "I had hoped the answer would make sense, but from today's events that didn't seem likely. Have you seen anything like this before?"

"Hard to say, there are lots of possibilities," the Doctor replied. "The frozen planet I was beginning to accept, but what could have caused them to go insane?"

"Maybe such a quick temperature drop caused some damage to their brain," Paige suggested.

"I don't think so, because outside of their insanity they seem to get the task they want done just fine. It's like someone forced them into insanity."

"So we're back on the theory that somepony or some other being intentionally caused this?" Ruby said.

"Most likely."

After a left turn, the three found themselves only a short distance from the bridge. The room was mildly lit up by the space outside of the windows. On the floor laid on of the earth pony survivors, who was curled up in to a ball, on his side and rocking back and forth. The three could hear whispers of some sort, but couldn't make anything out.

"I have a stunning gun stashed on the bridge, right by the entryway," Ruby whispered.

"This is a different survivor, we have to at least give him a chance to be calm," the Doctor said. "One of us needs to try and talk to him while you get your stunner. Don't use it unless he attacks."

"Agreed, revenge for my fallen crew member can wait if possible."

"Remind me to kiss you later for saying that," the Doctor replied.

"I'm quite alright, Doctor, but I appreciate your admiration of being peaceful."

"I'll talk to the survivor," Paige said.

"Are you sure, Paige?" the Doctor asked.

"I may not be very social, but I'm good at talking. I would always help customers in the library."

"Alright. We'll be right behind you, but be careful."

Paige took the lead of the group, stepping lightly towards the ship's bridge. Before walking through the doorway she poked her head in, making sure there were no more survivors hiding in the room. When she felt sure, she stepped in, approaching the colt rocking on the floor.

"It's ok," Paige said softly. "I'm a friend. I can help you."

"H-how..." the colt said, continuing to stare at the floor.

"We'll get through this together," Paige replied.

"H-how did all this happen..." It was now clear that the survivor was yet to listen to Paige's words. "It came... it destroyed... we couldn't do anything. Chaos..."

"But you're safe now," Paige whispered, gently placing a hoof on the colt's shoulder. "It's alright."

The survivor at last looked at Paige, his eyes wide. His look of fear turned to a smile. "That's what you think."

The survivor rolled on to his hooves and lunged at Paige, stopped by an electric shock that covered his entire body. The colt screamed, reeling back, then fell to the floor.

Paige and the Doctor had snuck in the room, managing to reach the gun while the survivor was distracted. "He's not dead, just unconscious, but unfortunately taking him with us isn't an option," Ruby said, speaking at a normal volume again. "Whatever happened down there, these survivors aren't ponies any more. They've been infected, controlled, something, but they're not us."

Paige had stepped back in fear when the survivor had come after her, and her heart was still pounding. "I... I really thought... I could help him..."

"It's alright Paige," the Doctor said, approaching her and placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Ruby is right, they're not the same any more. Nothing can help them."

Ruby walked up to the communications panel, activating it with a hoof. "Ruby to engineering, I've reached the bridge, one of the survivors is up here but contained. Have Daniel and Luke arrived yet?"

"Rufus here," Rufus replied over the com. "They both just got here, but Daniel is in bad shape."

Ruby bowed her head. "Get me Luke."

A few moments later, a different but familiar voice replaced Rufus. "Luke here, Captain..." Luke's voice was slow, and all three on the bridge recognized terrible sorrow in the colt's voice. "We were attacked on our way to engineering. We stopped the survivor, but Daniel got bit hard. The wound is deep... he's bleeding pretty bad... I tried to stop the survivor..."

"Luke, this wasn't your fault," Ruby replied her voice calm yet forceful. "Keep pressure on that wound and prepare the self destruct sequence. And keep staying alert, we've only encountered two of the four survivors."

"R-roger, captain," Luke said. "Twenty seconds."

The com switched off, and Ruby moved to a different panel on the bridge. She began punching in multiple codes. "Once this starts, we need to run for the cargo bay. There should be no way of stopping the self destruct."

"Should be?" the Doctor replied.

"We can't be sure, but we don't have a choice. Get ready to move."

***

Luke sat down next to Daniel, Rufus using his magic to move things around in the engine room, blocking all but one exit in case other survivors were waiting.

"I don't think... I'll make it, Luke." All Daniel could manage was a whisper. He coughed several times, the blood loss already great.

"Don't say that, we're getting out of here. No more star exploring for a while," Luke replied, using all his strength just to keep his voice reassuring. He helped Daniel put pressure on his hind leg, using his other front hoof to hold up Daniel's head.

"The self destruct... it's too short of a sequence. You and I both know that you couldn't get me to the cargo bay in time."

"But-"

"No buts, you get out of here and keep right on going." Daniel coughed again, his strength to even keep his eyes open fading. "I love you..."

Luke pulled Daniel close to him, holding him as tight as he could. Tears silently streamed down his face, acceptance of reality beginning to hit him.

"Captain, we're out of time, I'm ready down here," Rufus said in to the com.

Back on the bridge, Ruby slammed her hooves on the consol, in disbelief of what she saw. "Rufus, the survivor that was up here must have sabotaged the self destruct. I can't code in the sequence on my end."

Rufus looked back at Daniel and Luke, then sighed. "Looks like somepony is going to have to stick around and blow up the engine."

"Rufus, we can find another way, are you-"

"Hold on." Rufus spun around at the sound of clanging metal. Luckily the remaining survivors hadn't discovered the one open passageway, but they were definitely trying to break through a different one.

"Captain, I'll say it again, we're out of time," Rufus said, returning to the com. "Act like the self destruct has activated. Run as fast as you can, get out before the ship goes."

"Rufus, you know we can't teleport you, the teleport controls are nowhere near the cargo bay."

"Understood captain, get running."

"... Good luck, Rufus."

"Rufus out."

Rufus leaned his head down on the consol, tuning out the sound of the blocked entryway slowly being broken down.

"I'll stay."

Rufus turned around to see Luke, still holding Daniel and staring right at him. "You two need to leave," Rufus replied.

"There's no way Daniel could get there in time. I'm staying here with him. Blowing up an engine is a lot simpler than maintaining one."

"I appreciate the offer, but if there's any chance you two love birds are getting off here alive, I'm making it happen," Rufus replied. "I'm glad I studied magic for a couple years."

Luke blinked. "What does that mean?"

"This."

***

The Doctor, Paige and Ruby ran as fast as they could, Ruby leading the way, directing her light at the turns they needed to take. "Rufus will wait as long as he can before this ship goes, but I don't know how long that is," Ruby shouted. "We're almost to the cargo bay."

Turn by turn, the three arrived at the cargo bay doors, and Ruby opened them quickly. The survivors had not touched this area, all the lights were still working and the TARDIS was right where it should be.

"Alright all, plenty of room, trust me, let's get inside and get out of here."

"Luke? Daniel?"

Ruby discovered Luke and Daniel just a short distance away from the TARDIS, leaning against a crate. Luke was holding Daniel tightly, still putting pressure on his wound. "I tried to make Rufus leave in my place, I didn't want to leave Daniel," Luke began. "Rufus teleported us. He used magic."

"Rufus knows teleportation magic?" Ruby stared at the pair in disbelief, having only expected one of them to arrive. "Doesn't matter now, he did his part to try and save you both, and now so will we. I'll help you carry Daniel, we need to leave, now."

Not wanting to use magic to lift Daniel in fear of injuring him more, she ran to Luke's side and helped lift Daniel up on to their backs. The two walked in unison, the Doctor already inside the TARDIS and Paige holding the door open, rushing them in.

***

One of the blocked entryways was almost entirely broken down, causing Rufus to get closer to the engine. "Damn, wish I had gotten married. Would have been a great excuse to leave," he said. "Well Rufus, you did good. Met a few fine mares, wooed them, had a good life. And I'm sure I've made a way to be remembered now." He chuckled. “If only there was time to teleport myself out too.”

The blockade finally gave in, and the two remaining survivors appeared, glaring at Rufus as they slowly approached.

"You can't stop anything," one of the survivors said, his voice harsh and chilling. "He can go anywhere, do anything. He's already killed more."

"I have no idea who the hell you're talkin about, sir," Rufus replied. "But I can sure as hell stop something. You two."

The two survivors paused in their movement, unsure of what Rufus meant.

"It's just like Luke said," Rufus began. "Quite easy to blow up an engine."

***

"How much blood has he lost?" Ruby asked.

The Doctor began piloting the TARDIS, getting it off of the Wanderer and a safe distance away. The sound of an explosion was heard outside the TARDIS doors, and the ship rocked slightly from the shock wave.

"Quite a lot, I don't know if he's dead," Luke replied, his voice frantic.

Now that the TARDIS and all of them were safe, the Doctor rushed to Daniel, scanning the pegasus with his sonic screwdriver. "He's still alive, but he needs compatible blood right now, he's lost too much to wait," he said. "Captain, you can perform the procedure with your magic, no way my hooves are going to cut it but I can show you."

"I'll manage," Ruby said. "Luke, do you have the same blood type?"

"I don't think so," Luke said.

The Doctor scanned Luke as well as Ruby. "You don't Luke, neither do you Ruby, and believe me when I say that my blood won't work..." the Doctor paced in thought, trying to think of another way. "We don't have any time."

"What about me?" Paige asked.

***

Ruby Stood in front of the TARDIS, the Doctor between her and the doors. "I wish there was more time to talk to you. I didn't even notice your ship was bigger on the inside until after we got Daniel off of it."

"We may meet again, keep an eye out for this blue box," the Doctor replied, grinning.

"I hope we do. On behalf of Luke, thank you, Doctor, we're eternally grateful for your help. Luke would say that personally, but I don't think anything could get him to leave Daniel's side right now. Those two are perfect for each other."

"Daniel's doing alright then?"

"He's in a proper hospital bed, thanks to you getting us back to one of our planets, and he'll recover," Ruby told him. "The procedure you helped me perform kept him stable. Will Paige be alright?"

"She's a bit woozy, but she'll be just fine in a little while, once her body catches up," the Doctor replied. "But she and I have to be off. You're safe for now, but tell others about what happened, and stay alert. We still don't know what's out there."

"And you're going to try and find it? At this point I've figured you're no ordinary doctor."

The Doctor took a breath. "I shouldn't even be here, the frozen planet should be impossible, apparently my coming here was foretold by who knows what," the Doctor began. "There's a lot of impossible happening around me right now, and I don't know whether everything is connected, but I'm going to try and find out."

Ruby nodded, and held out a front hoof. "Good luck, Doctor. We'll keep an eye out for you."

The Doctor raised a front hoof and touched it to hers, understanding the custom now. "Good luck, captain."

Turning away, the Doctor entered the TARDIS, leaving Ruby on the planet. Ruby watched as the mysterious blue box faded out of existence, and she turned to enter the hospital once more.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor slowly worked controls, keeping the ship from shaking too much since Paige was still recovering.

"How are you Paige?" the Doctor asked, Paige entering the control room.

"Still a bit off, but much better," Paige replied. "That juice you gave me is working wonders."

"That was very brave of you to help," the Doctor said, grinning at Paige as she approached the console. "Thank you."

"I've watched you save so many already, I figured it was the least I could do," Paige said. "So, where to now?"

"Not sure..." the Doctor moved to the consol monitor, looking at some readings. "Back when we first met, on Earth, I think there may be a connection between that event and the frozen planet. It's a long shot, a wacky theory, but you never know."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Could be either, I don't know what's going on yet... hold on, what's that?"

The Doctor looked more closely at the monitor, some new readings appearing that he had never seen before. "I'm reading a strange energy signature, something's happening inside the TARDIS. I've never seen readings like this. The TARDIS has recorded them before though, apparently these readings came up when..."

Paige saw the Doctor's eyes widen, and took a step closer. "When did they show up before?"

"When I landed in this universe."

A bright light and loud zapping sound came from behind Paige and the Doctor. Both spun around, finding a two legged being standing there. The alien fell to his knees; it was clear that the alien was injured somehow.

"Doctor what is that?"

"That's... that's an ood," the Doctor replied. "But how did he get here?"

The Doctor ran across the room, helping the ood gently lay on the floor. The ood grabbed the sphere he used to communicate, and activated it. "Doctor..."

"I'm here," the Doctor said, holding the ood's head with his front hooves, looking down at him. "How did you arrive?"

"I have come to warn you Doctor," the ood replied, his voice slow. "The frozen planet... it is not the only planet that has been attacked."

"How can you know this?"

"Even after the master was defeated, our abilities continued to accelerate," the ood explained. "We have seen you, and we have seen the creature. We have seen... the end of all things."

The ood's eyes began to close, but the Doctor shook him slightly. "Stay with me!" the Doctor shouted. "Why are you injured? What is this creature? You're saying a creature caused that planet to freeze, that it's been to other places."

"It came from the void, Doctor..." the ood said. "And now the ood are no more."

The Doctor watched as the ood went limp in his hooves, his eyes now unable to reopen. The Doctor slowly dropped the ood's head, then stood up, backing away until he was against the wall of the room.

Paige had watched the whole course of events in confusion, now terrified of what was happening. "Doctor, that... ood. Was it-"

"From my universe, yes," the Doctor said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Those beetles, they were from your universe too," Paige mentioned. "And given what the ood said, maybe events are connected in some way. What does all this mean?"

"It means this universe isn't the only one in danger," the Doctor said. "Whatever thing the ood saw, it killed them. That was a bad move on its part, because it destroyed something that I loved."

"We have to find whatever this thing is before it kills more," Paige said. "But how?"

The Doctor moved off of the wall, returning to the TARDIS console. He grazed a hoof over the controls. "I don't know..." he breathed, bowing his head. "Whatever it is, it knows how to travel to my universe, despite the dimensional distance between yours and mine. It could be anywhere in time and space, and in either universe, possibly more."

"Is there anywhere we can start?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. "Yes," he said, an idea striking him. He rushed to the monitor, looking at the readings again. "When the ood crossed over to this universe, however it did so, the energy reading matched the one that happened when I arrived. The energy reading is very specific, so specific that there's a signature left behind even after it occurs. We can track other things that have come through, and that might help us find clues."

The Doctor manipulated a few controls; the lights in the room flickered slightly from the power requirements of the scan. "I see three other readings besides mine and the ood's that I can find. All on earth, one of them is the beetles we already encountered. That leaves two signatures to examine."

"Which one should we do first?"

"There's one that happened six years after you left Earth with me, so pretty close to your timeline. We may have to stick around a while, I won't be able to locate exactly what came through or when it did."

"We better get going."

"Hang on tight, Paige."