A Tale of Two Doctors

“EXTERMINATE LIFEFORMS!” It shrieked as an army of alarmed Changeling dove at the intruder in an effort to protect their beloved queen.

Green bolts of energy emitted from its gunstick, striking the creatures in a flash of blinding light that briefly exposed their skeletal structures before releasing horrific, ear-piercing shrieks and crumpling lifelessly to the ground.

“NO!” The Doctor shouted in protest at the massacre unfolding before his very eyes.

The Changelings began firing blasts of their own magical energy at the intruder, but its armor seemed to make it impervious to their attacks.

“EXTERMINATE!” It repeated as several more Changelings fell.

“STOP!” The Doctor shouted desperately.

The horde merely ignored him, doubling up on their efforts to destroy the alien menace.

He shot Chrysalis an imploring look before she rolled her eyes and gave the order.

“Very well; All Changelings cease fire!”

The Dalek’s eye stalk zoomed in on Chrysalis.

“WHY HAVE YOU ORDERED YOUR SOLDIERS TO STOP FIRING?” It inquired. “HAVE YOU ACCEPTED DEFEAT?”

“No.”

The Doctor stood between the two.

“I want to talk to you.”

“WHO ARE YOU?” The Dalek asked, moving forward slightly.

“I…am The Doctor.” He replied, hesitantly.

“YOU LIE!”

“What? What do you mean? Why would you think I’m lying to you?”

“YOUR PHYSICAL PROFILE FITS THAT OF AN EQUINE, NOT A TIME LORD! THERE IS NO RECORD OF THIS REGENERATION AMONG THE DALEKS…”

“Well there are several reasons for that; this is a whole new universe for the both of us…completely uncharted by either Time Lords or Daleks alike, completely cut off from Skaro, Earth, or Gallifrey.” He explained.

The Dalek remained silent; staring at The Doctor with what the Changelings could only imagine being a blank expression.

“The second reason is because I regenerated when my TARDIS was swept up by a storm of chaotic temporal energy…both it and my body were badly damaged.”

“I have two hearts, I came from the planet Gallifrey, and I’m the one that ended the Last Great Time War…”

“YOU WERE AT TORCHWOOD?” The Dalek inquired.

That was when realization dawned on him.

“You were one of the Daleks we sent into the Void…but, how did you get here?”

“THAT IS IRRELEVANT!” It shouted, aiming its gunstick at him. “YOU ARE THE DOCTOR! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!”

He put a hoof up defensively.

“Yes, you’re right-I am The Doctor, but before you do that-ask yourself one thing; have you seen any other Daleks since you arrived here?”

The Dalek’s eye stalk moved from examining his chest to pinpoint the location of his hearts to his face in order to ascertain whether this was some sort of trick on his part.

“WHAT IS YOUR POINT?”

“Everything you do is for the glory of the Dalek Empire, right?”

“THAT IS CORRECT. DALEKS ARE SUPREME!”

“Yeah, yeah, we got that part already-but, there IS no Dalek Empire anymore…you can do whatever you want now!”

“THERE…ARE NO OTHER DALEKS?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

Despite his apprehension of having to deal with more that a single Dalek, he couldn’t help but empathize with this creature as he knew exactly what it was like to be the last of one’s kind.

Its eye stalk lowered in what appeared to be despair.

It’s angry, screaming sounding tone of its voice had lowered to one that was quiet and depressed.

“I am…alone in this universe?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Then, I no longer have purpose…there are only two logical conclusions; exterminate the remaining life forms of this planet for the glory of the fallen Dalek Empire in the hopes of some day rebuilding that which has been lost or self-termination.”

“NO!” The Doctor shouted as all eyes returned to him.

“No,” he repeated, regaining his composure. “You don’t need to kill yourself or anyone else, still rebuild the Dalek Empire…a bigger, better one without hate or the need to exterminate anything and redeem your race in the eyes of the universe-”

“Or,” Chrysalis cut in. “You could join us in the first ever Changeling-Dalek Empire! Together we would be unstoppable! Even the combined might of Equestria’s princesses and the simple-minded Discord would fall before us!”

“YOU PROPOSE AN ALLIANCE BETWEEN OUR SPECIES?” It asked.

“Yes.” She replied with a smile revealing her fangs covered in the green glow of the cavern.

“YOUR OFFER HAS BEEN CONSIDERED.”

“And your decision?” she pressed expectantly.

“DENIED.”

“You WHAT!?” she sputtered.

“YOUR SPECIES REQUIRES LOVE FOR SUSTENANCE-YOUR DEPENDANCE ON EMOTION MAKES YOU INFERIOR-YOU ARE AN INFERIOR SPECIES!”

It aimed its gunstick at her before The Doctor could stop either of them the cavern was filled with a flash of blinding green light as Chrysalis fired a blast of magical energy at the Dalek as it attempted to exterminate her, causing both The Doctor and the horde of Changelings to shield their eyes.

Once it has subsided the light was replaced with the echoes of the mutated Kaled’s dying shrieks reverberated throughout the cave as its outer protective shell had largely been obliterated from the blast with its tentacles flailing wildly in agony as its single bloodshot eye rolled backwards as what appeared to be some type of white fluid jetted from wounds caused by shrapnel of the broken armor.

The Doctor and Changelings could do nothing but look on in horror at the scene unfolding before them, he stole a quick glance at Chrysalis’ reaction and was disgusted to see her shock curl into a victorious smirk.

His attention was immediately brought back to the creature with its next words;

“DOC-TOR?”

Reluctantly, he went to the Dalek’s side while occasionally glancing at Chrysalis to make sure she didn’t try anything else like that while his back was turned.

Instead of hatred, the creature merely looked up at him imploringly with its single eye filled with pain.

“I’m here.” He stated in a tone that was intended to sound reassuring, but instead came out with uncertainty.

“I do not understand…she is an inferior species, requiring emotion to survive…how is it that she can make me experience such pain?” it asked earnestly.

“Your species sees every emotion except for hate as a weakness, but what you don’t understand is that every other emotion also has its uses…” he explained.

“Yet the two of you are not allies?”

“No, she uses emotions for different reasons-she steals them to make herself more powerful-but, she doesn’t understand them.”

“I…I feel…I FEEL…”

It tried weakly before falling limp.

The Doctor lowered his head, feeling more guilt and pity for the monster than the fear and hatred he was accustomed to for the majority of his life.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…Ever since I came here everything’s gone wrong…”

He turned around to face Chrysalis who was sitting back on her throne with a hoof under her chin with her hind legs crossed and wearing a bored expression.

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” he demanded. “I WAS GETTING IT TO BACK DOWN!”

“Ugh, all this preaching is giving me a migraine.” Chrysalis groaned, massaging her temple.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Doctor-I merely asked it a question before it attacked me and did what was necessary to defend myself.”

“Everything was going to be fine until you cut in!” he argued. “All you had to do was just sit there and what for me to finish talking to it. Oh, but you can’t stand the thought of even the slightest modicum of time passing without you being the center of the universe-can you?”

Before he could finish his rant, he was hit by another blast of magical green energy knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying backwards as the horde of Changeling dispersed down the center to avoid colliding with the injured Doctor.

As he landed, he skid to a halt at the end of the chamber lying on his side desperately trying to catch his breath while his body tried to cope with the third-degree magical burns it was experiencing as he shakily pick himself back up onto his fore hooves with the front of his suit visibly burned and small tatters in his overcoat.

“You see…?” he panted, speaking to all Changelings in the room.

“This is what she does…she uses fear to keep you in line…her twisted idea of loyalty from her subjects and when they disobey…Gah!”

He felt another wave of sharp pain in his chest, the blast wasn’t powerful enough that his body needed him to regenerate, but he couldn’t take another one like it…and even then if Chrysalis exerted herself and put enough power behind it, she could kill him outright.