Chapters Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
At a farm in a faraway village, a pony slept. A pony dreamed. Out in the fields, a pony complained.
“Where is that lazy old coot?!” the mare exclaimed as she pulled her plow. Her husband had spent all night out in the town and come back in the morning. Now he was hiding out somewhere napping the day away while she did all the work.
“Not today he ain’t!” the earth pony mare said. She unhooked her plow and went looking for the useless stallion. She went to the barn, his usual napping place.
“Wheat Grass, are you in here?” she yelled. She muttered complaints to herself as she looked around. Her search ended when a wail of terror erupted from the rafters. An earth pony stallion fell onto the floor from above. The mare recognized her husband on sight, but that was all she recognized.
The stallion Wheat Grass lay on the hay covered floor, screaming and convulsing as an aura black as the darkest night surrounded him.
“Get away!” he yelled. “Somepony save me!”
At a farm in a faraway village, a pony slept. A pony dreamed terrible dreams. Dreams he was not allowed to wake up from.
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART ONE
The guards of Whinnychester Castle were the best of the best, chosen from the most elite of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Day and night they guarded the castle from any who would threaten it, making sure that not just anypony was allowed in to see the Princesses of Equestria. Nothing, not even a mouse, could get through its gate or pass its walls while they were on the job.
It was their bad luck that this particular pony didn’t bother with pesky things like gates, walls, or doors. He simply transported the tall blue box he traveled in from outside the palace to inside the palace. From there it was simply a matter of looking like he belonged there.
This was a very impressive feat given that, while most ponies in the palace either wore the armor of the guard or finery of the nobility, he opted for a pullover sweater adorned with question marks. Over that the off-white colored earth pony wore a simple brown jacket, a scarf hanging out from under the lapels. Tucked into one of the suit's pockets was the handle of an umbrella. The umbrella's handle was also in the shape of a question mark. As he strode through the palace he politely tipped his hat to everypony he met, greeting them as old friends despite not a single one of them having ever seen him before in their lives.
With this attitude, he strode confidently to his destination. In the castle's throne room he saw a small number of ponies gathered in audience to a white pony in royal regalia. The white pony was noticeably larger than the rest, with a mane that shone in pastel colors of the rainbow. She bore the wings of a pegasus, and the horn of a unicorn.
“Our Lords and Ladies,” this pony said. “It is nearly time to adjourn Court, so that Our sister may raise the moon and bring about the night. Hath anypony any petitions to bring Us before the Princess of the Night opens her Court?”
“There is,” said the pony with the umbrella as he strode into the audience chamber. Many of the others in the room looked at the newcomer with expressions of scandal and offense as this unknown pony simply strode up to the Princess and tipped his hat off his head. He paid them no attention whatsoever. The Princess, for her part, simply looked at the guest with a raised eyebrow.
“I wonder if I might petition you to give an old frrrriend a few moments of your time, Your Highness.”
“A friend who has come a long way simply to visit with Us, no doubt,” said the Princess. The two ponies stood in silence for a moment before the Princess spoke again.
“The Day Court is now adjourned,” Celestia called out in the traditional Voice. “All ponies are dismissed until the morrow!”
The nobleponies began to file out of the audience chamber. There were some grumbles regarding the strange pony who had waltzed in, but most seemed content that he had been properly ignored by Princess Celestia. It wasn’t until later that any of them noticed that as they all filed out, the strangely dressed pony never actually left the room.
The guards noticed. They did not act because they had been through this before. The face and coat were often different, but a strange pony who could get in past their best security, dressed in odd clothing every so often adorned with question marks, the Cutie Mark of an hourglass, and even now the Captain of the Day Guard was getting the first reports about the tall box labeled “Police Barn.” They knew the drill. A nod from their ruler was all the confirmation they needed. The guards filed out and, in what would be an otherwise unthinkable act, left Princess Celestia alone with the stranger.
The Princess stepped forward and looked down at the stallion.
“It's been a long time since this particular face graced the castle,” the Princess said.
“Odd,” the pony replied in a Scoltish accent. “For me it feels like it was just yesterday since I saw yours.”
The Princess raised an eyebrow at this statement.
“Week and a half,” he admitted. “I just couldn’t keep away.”
The Princess of Equestria's day, the alicorn Celestia of Equestria, smiled down at her guest.
“It's good to see you again, 'Professor.'”
The Doctor smiled right back.
“It's good to see you, too.”
* * * * *
With the sun lowered, Celestia allowed herself the treat of an early evening teatime with the Doctor. She watched him as he drank his own cup and felt a sense of nostalgia.
“I've always known you rrrreigned well,” the Doctor said, trilling his R as he did so. “Though it's quite another to see it after our time together.”
“You certainly put enough work into me, Professor,” Celestia replied. “In fact, there's a question I've always wanted to ask you regarding that.”
“Oh?”
“How far into our journey together did you realize who I was?”
Celestia had traveled with the Doctor in her youth. The Doctor’s transport, the blue box he called the TARDIS, was capable of going anywhere in all of both time and space. It had been an incredible adventure for the teenage Princess. Celestia had attempted to hide her identity as an Equestrian Princess at the time, taking the name “Ace” from her initials. Years later, looking back, she realized he had known exactly who she was. Known exactly who she was and, she was certain, arranged some of their trips to help her understand what kind of challenges she may face when her own time to rule came.
“It's obvious in hindsight,” Celestia continued. “I always assumed I never fooled you for a moment, even if you never did let on until I told you myself. Nonetheless I've always wondered. When did you figure me out?”
The Doctor quietly thought for a few moments before he answered.
“To answer your question, it wasn’t quite immediately. But you didn’t fool me for very long, either. I had figured it out by the time I offered you a trrrip on the TARDIS. So you're corrrrect that I knew who you were when you boarded the TARDIS. You clearly also realize that I understood you weren’t yet the Princess you would become. You needed time and tempering. Most importantly, given the circumstances of our meeting, you had to want to claim your throne. Claim it fully aware of what doing so meant. And you have. You've done me proud, Celestia.”
Celestia felt a blush rise to her face. No amount of royal dignity could prevent a student from feeling joy at her mentor's praise.
And mentor the Doctor had been. So very many years ago, Celestia had been a very angry adolescent. She and Luna, as extremely rare natural born alicorns, were being raised almost as soon as they could speak to take their places as Equestria’s leaders. Luna, always the more dutiful of the two, had always been attentive and obedient regarding their lessons. Celestia, in contrast, resented having everypony deciding her fate for her. She ignored her teachers, spoke out of turn frequently, and dismissed the nobility she was being taught to emulate as prissy idiots. In her mind, even her Cutie Mark had been against her. Somewhere along the way, it had become too much and Celestia had simply up and left, swearing never to return. That was when she had met him.
The Doctor had sympathized with her plight, having left his own people for reasons not very different from her own. The Doctor had offered her a place aboard his ship. As he showed her so many other worlds and visited both the past and future, he had been a far more effective teacher than any of the matrons who had supervised her formal education. Just as he had predicted, she eventually realized her place was as Equestria’s ruler. By that time, thanks to the Doctor, she had been able to embrace the fact instead of flee from it.
The pair's visit was interrupted by the sound of the doors opening. Celestia initially glared at the door, upset her orders to be left undisturbed appeared to be being disobeyed. Her expression softened immediately once she saw who had opened them.
“Luna, dear sister, has the Night Court concluded already?”
“It has,” Celestia's younger sister replied with some bitterness. “It seems few petitioners were inclined to seek Our favor after a long day of thine own court.”
“I had gone through more than my usual share today,” Celestia admitted. “I was hoping if I did so you would have more time to-”
“We are not a child to be coddled, Sister!” Luna suddenly said, the Canterlot Voice creeping into her speech. “We shall pursue Our inquiries and perform our royal duties.”
“Of course, dear sister,” Celestia said. “I apologize for any offense. Shall I assume, then, that you came to inform me that you will be pursuing those inquiries now?”
“Indeed,” Princess Luna replied. “and on the subject of royal obligations, sister, do remember to raise the sun at its proper time. Raising it as soon as you have been can throw apart everypony's schedules.”
With a nod she left, closing the door behind her. Soon after the sound of a pony flying could be heard outside.
“My word,” the Doctor said. He had remained silent during that exchange, simply sipping his tea. Celestia sighed.
“You know what she reminded me of, just then?” the Doctor asked.
“You're not going to say me, are you?”
“Yes, actually, I am. Only with fewer explosions and more brrrooding. Temper quick to flare, behaving as if the universe were against you. You have to admit it sounds not unlike yourself.”
“When I was young and immature, yes.” Celestia admitted unhappily. “Luna's never really had problems like that. She's such a staunch traditionalist she's always been the more mature of us.”
“Or at least appeared so,” the Doctor replied. “What's changed?”
Celestia paused a moment before answering.
“Two things. The first was the Crystal Empire.”
The Doctor nodded. While he did not know the specifics, he was fully aware of the Princesses' battle with King Sombra. A battle that left the dark king trapped in a form of pure shadow and the empire itself vanished into the ether for a millenia.
“Luna was injured during that battle,” Celestia said. “More than that, the whole thing... it was quite hard on her. Ever since her injury she's been pushing herself, afraid of being seen as weak or ineffectual.”
“I see. And the second change?”
“Is more recent. Something has been attacking ponies. Attacking them in their sleep. Their dreams.”
“And, as Prrrincess of the Night, Luna feels obligated to resolve the crisis,” the Doctor finished. Celestia nodded.
“She rebuffs my every attempt to help her or take some of the workload off of her so she can focus on her investigation. That remark about my raising the sun early... I had done so to try to prompt her to get her sleep a bit earlier than usual.”
“Would you like me to have a word with her?” the Doctor asked. Celestia considered this.
“Yes. Perhaps a chat with you could make a difference,” Celestia said. “Of course, she will assume you are there on my behalf.”
“Which I am.”
“Which you are,” Celestia agreed. “Regardless, she may listen to you and accept your help where she would refuse mine. If only because she knows once your interest is piqued you won’t let go of a mystery.”
“Very well. I shall see Luna and offer what aid she'll accept.”
From there, Celestia knew all too well, the Doctor would give all the help he could, whether Luna accepted it or not.
* * * * *
Luna, Princess of Equestria's Night, pored over the reports brought to her by her agents. She read the notes about what each individual pony had found and analyzed them, seeking a pattern. The Princess knew one existed, beyond the obvious, and she was determined to find it. Luna turned to the armored unicorn that had brought her the reports.
“Dispatch messages to all pegasi in the outlying villages, Captain. Instruct them that they are to determine the exact times and dates of each attack to the best of their ability. We must determine a pattern to the individual assaults.”
“I agrrree,” a new voice said. Both Princess and soldier turned their heads to see a stallion looking over Princess Luna's notes. “Even a casual glance suggests the timing of these attacks is indeed very rrrelevant.”
“Who?” Princess Luna began until she saw the pony who spoke. She simply stared at him, then turned her back to him with a snort.
“As We said, get those instructions to every pegasus questioning the victims' families.”
The captain bowed but hesitated to leave the room. He didn’t know who this pony thought he was, adopting such a casual attitude around the princess, but he was not going to leave them alone.
“That will be all, Captain,” the Princess said to him. “This pony is unwelcome, but no threat to Us. Return as soon as you have completed Our task.”
The soldier left with the Princess's orders. The stallion tipped his hat to him as he left.
“Did Our sister ask thou to assist Us? Or art thou simply being a, We believe the term is, ‘busybody’?”
“Yes,” the Doctor said. “So, I'm told these attacks are occurring in ponies' dreams?”
“That is none of thy concern!” Luna said hotly. “This matter is already being investigated.”
“Yes, and while stubborn hot headedness has its time and place in detective work, Princess, this is not it.”
Luna's eyes went wide with shock. Nopony, even Celestia, spoke to her so bluntly. As the Doctor stood there, leaning on his absurd umbrella, Luna regained her composure and replied with the full fury of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“What dost thou believe gives thou the right to speak to Us that way! Do not think that because thou tamed Our sister that merits any special treatment!”
“I think no such thing. I'm merely looking at what's in front of me,” the Doctor said. “Think back to that display in the tea room. You chastised your sister for doing nothing more than helping you lighten your workload and focus on this task. Looking more closely at you, I can also see you clearly haven’t been sleeping, have you?”
The royal guardspony who had left to relay Luna's instructions ran into the room at the sound of his lady's Voice, only to be bombarded with it again.
“These attacks occur within the Realm of Dreams!” Luna shouted. “The realm We are charged to protect! You sit there and say I should rest when a single moment of inattention could spell doom for one or more of Our little ponies?!”
“When that exhaustion could compromise your ability to deal with that threat once identified, yes.”
For a moment, Captain Edge Glimmer of the Night Guard thought he was about to witness his Princess vaporize a pony on the spot. He had surely never seen anypony have the gall to speak to either Princess so plainly. He watched the fury build in his lady's eyes, then she noticed her captain had entered.
“Captain Edge Glimmer!” she bellowed. “We must have words with Our sister. Make sure this miscreant touches nothing in this study!”
With that, the Princess stormed from the room. The Doctor tipped his hat to her as she left. Then found himself face to face with the soldier.
“So...” he began. “You waltz in here, tell my Lady to her face that she's overworking herself and needs some sleep. You also seem to have pretty much provoked an argument between the two Princesses. A lot of ponies would call that treason.”
“What do you call it?” the Doctor asked. The guard stared a moment longer before grinning.
“A relief,” Edge Glimmer replied. “The whole of the Night Guard has been worrying about her. Unfortunately there's only so much a simple guardspony can do to tell his Liege Lady she's overdoing it.”
“I understand,” the Doctor said. “Celestia's rrrelationship with her sister seems too strained for Luna to listen to her.”
“And nopony else would dare say anything,” Edge Glimmer finished. “I don’t know if your telling her off will make her acknowledge a need for sleep or make her more stubborn. Nonetheless, I do appreciate the effort.”
“You're quite welcome,” the Doctor replied. “Now then, while it's just the two of us, what can you tell me of these attacks?”
“You're right that the times are relevant. We haven’t gotten specifics yet, but every report to date suggests that the attacks occurred during the daylight hours.”
The Doctor was quiet for a moment.
“You're telling me? Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“That’s a pleasant surprise. May I ask why? I honestly expected a bit of bantering about trying to convince or trick you.”
“I've heard the stories, Doctor. Princess Luna had it exactly correct, you are a busybody. If I refuse to cooperate, you will only go on ahead and investigate yourself, regardless. That will result only in our getting in one another's way and delaying any resolution that may come. My Lady wants this concluded as quickly as possible, so better to just bring you in now and perhaps learn whatever you do in the process.”
“Will Princess Luna agrrree with that assessment?”
“If she does not she is free to countermand my decision,” Edge Glimmer said calmly.
The Doctor smiled. He was starting to like this pony. He made towards one of the scrolls Luna had been reading when it was suddenly levitated out of away from him before he could unfurl it with his hoof.
“If you will recall,” Edge Glimmer told him, “my Lady specifically ordered you were to touch nothing. So I'm afraid if you need anything in particular I will need to retrieve it for you.”
The Doctor had to grin. He definitely liked this pony. Just the right mix of loyalty, initiative, and willingness to be a pain on his Princess' behalf. It was then that the Doctor noticed the guard's cutie mark. A sword placed in front of a crescent moon.
“Very well. From what I saw when I came in, the attacks all seemed to happen during the daylight hours.”
“This is correct.”
“But it also only affected those who were asleep at the time, as Luna said the attacks were occurring in dreams.”
“Yes. We believe that this suggests an intelligence behind the actions. The attacks were timed for periods when Princess Luna would be unable to watch over everypony's dreams.”
“It also affects ponies who either laze about during the day or, for one rrreason or another, stay awake during the night. How frequently have the attacks occurred?”
“Once or twice a day. They stopped approximately three days ago, as the investigation began to intensify.”
“When Luna began forgoing her sleep,” the Doctor observed.
“Another reason we suspect an intelligent creature.”
“Timing its attacks to avoid its biggest threat and stopping when that same threat began to focus more intently on its actions,” the Doctor said in summary. Edge Glimmer nodded.
“Have the victims had anything in common?”
“Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, all of them have fallen victim. Of note, however, is that only adult ponies have been affected. The youngest victim was on the far side of adolescent. There have been no reports of colts or fillies being attacked.”
With Edge Glimmer retrieving the documents for him, the Doctor looked at the general locations and timing of each incident. The extra details Luna had ordered would not come in for another day or so, depending on travel time. A great deal of shouting could be heard for a solid hour. Two hours more went by before either the Doctor or Edge Glimmer realized that Luna had not yet returned.
“What do you think we see what's holding our Princess up?” the Doctor asked.
* * * * *
When Doctor and soldier were admitted they came upon a very annoyed Princess Celestia.
“So, Professor,” the Princess began, “I ask you to offer your help to my sister and you proceed to tell her off and get her so livid she comes charging in here demanding I get you under control. It took me nearly an hour to calm her down.”
“Where is Luna now?” the Doctor asked. “She never came back to her study.”
“I convinced her to retire to her chambers for deep meditation.”
“Translation: She's sleeping,” Edge Glimmer whispered.
“While I gather you wanted Luna out of your way so you could learn what you could about this crisis, for future reference, Doctor, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t use me arguing with her to do so.”
“Of course,” the Doctor said with a tip of his hat.
“So the Princess is resting then?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“She is, Captain,” Celestia told him. “The Night Guard should have one less worry for a while.”
Before the conversation could continue a scroll appeared in the air before them. The Doctor reacted with curiosity, but the Princess and guard captain looked at the scroll with far greater concern.
“Oh no...” Celestia muttered. “Not now, of all times.”
“What's wrong?” the Doctor asked.
“If this is what I think it is,” Edge Glimmer said as Celestia lifted the scroll and began reading it, “then we'll never get the Princess to rest.”
“News of another attack,” the Doctor said.
“That's exactly what it is,” Celestia replied. “According to this note it happened within the last two hours.”
“This is the first attack to occur at night?”
“It is,” Edge Glimmer said.
“Just when Luna went to sleep,” the Doctor muttered. He then yelled.
“We need to get to Luna's chambers! Now!”
The Doctor bolted out of the chamber, Princess Celestia hot on his heels. Edge Glimmer, caught off guard by the sudden declaration, hesitated for only a second before charging out behind them. Celestia took the lead, ensuring that nopony would get in their way. As they approached the chambers Edge Glimmer ordered the guards ahead to open the door. With their captain and princess bearing down on them they quickly obeyed and opened the way.
Once inside, they saw Luna sound asleep. Sound asleep and surrounded by an aura as black as the darkest night. Edge Glimmer stared in horror. The Doctor stayed impassive. Celestia began to channel magic through her horn.
“Celestia! Stop!” the Doctor cried once he realized what she was about to do.
“Nocturne Portalis! ”
A golden aura surrounded Princess Celestia and the two stallions on either side of her. The three ponies fell to the ground, sound asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note
For anyone who hasn't worked it out yet: I have Princess Celestia cast as the Doctor companion Ace. No special reason for this other than I imagined Celestia in the midst of teenage rebellion and the image was just too good not to use.
My biggest concerns in this story are how well I do the Seventh Doctor's personality, how accurately I get Luna's archiac speech patterns. I figure Luna should be okay as long as I don't overdo it. I may be going through a few re-watches of Luna Eclipsed to be safe.
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
“News of another attack,” the Doctor said.
“That's exactly what it is,” Celestia replied. “According to this note it happened within the last two hours.”
“This is the first attack to occur at night?”
“It is,” Edge Glimmer said.
“Just when Luna went to sleep,” the Doctor muttered, then louder. “We need to get to Luna's chambers! Now! ”
The Doctor bolted out of the chamber, Princess Celestia hot on the earth pony’s heels. Edge Glimmer, caught off guard by the sudden declaration, hesitated for only a second before charging out behind them. Celestia took the lead, ensuring that nopony would get in their way. As they approached the chambers Edge Glimmer ordered the guards ahead to open the door. With their captain and princess bearing down on them they quickly obeyed and opened the way.
Once inside, they saw Luna sound asleep. Sound asleep and surrounded by an aura as black as the darkest night. Edge Glimmer stared in horror. The Doctor stayed impassive. Celestia began to channel magic through her horn.
“Celestia! Stop!”
“Nocturne Portalis! ”
A golden aura surrounded Princess Celestia and the two stallions on either side of her. The three ponies fell to the ground, sound asleep.
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART TWO
Edge Glimmer was the first to wake up. As he picked himself up off the ground he looked at his surroundings and saw he was no longer inside the castle. Around him was a desolate field of nothing but dirt and stone. He saw the Doctor standing up next. The earth pony propped himself up with his umbrella as he got to his hooves.
“Doctor!” Edge Glimmer called out. “What is going on? Where are we?”
“Not Whinnychester, that's for certain,” the Doctor replied. “Going by what Celestia said before we lost consciousness, I'd say we're in somepony's dreamscape.”
“We're in a dream? How can you be sure?”
“Well for starters, your armor wasn't quite so elaborate a few moments ago.”
Edge Glimmer looked down and realized the Doctor was right. He was dressed differently. Instead of his standard Night Guard armor he wore an elaborate silver breastplate and helmet. It had far fancier trim along the shoulder blades and chestplate than even his best dress uniform. It almost reminded him of...
“And here I thought I'd outgrown foalish fantasy,” Edge Glimmer muttered.
“I take it you recognize this outfit?”
“I've wanted to be in the Princess's Night Guard since I was a colt. I used to have all kinds of fantasies about being the gallant knight defending my Lady.”
“Definitely a dreamscape then,” the Doctor replied. Edge Glimmer noticed he didn't look different at all. The only thing that seemed to concern the Doctor was a pair of spoons taken out of his pocket. Once satisfied they were present he put them back.
“Speaking of Princesses,” the Doctor continued. “Do you see Celestia anywhere?”
“Over here, Professor,” a voice called out. Edge Glimmer recognized Princess Celestia's voice, but something about it sounded... off. He headed for the source of the voice to see to the Princess. What he saw was very different from what he expected.
Instead of the tall, regal princess he was accustomed to, what he saw as a pony not much older than a filly. The adolescent had a long pink mane, and wore a dark jacket so adorned with numerous patches it looked like a piece of well traveled luggage. If the pony was an alicorn, Edge Glimmer couldn't tell, as the jacket covered her wings. Draped over her back was a large grey saddlebag. The pony was looking over herself, as surprised as Edge Glimmer at her appearance.
“Princess Celestia?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“Yes, it's me…” the pony said. “I think.”
“It's a dream-self,” the voice of the Doctor said. “A reflection of your subconscious image of yourself.”
“You don't look any different,” Edge Glimmer said.
“I change appearance enough as it is,” the Doctor replied.
“I was just thinking that this must be what it feels like for you,” Celestia noted as she still looked over her own body.
“Fairly close, yes,” the Doctor said. “You seem more surprised than I would expect, Ace. Given it was your spell that brought us here.”
“Ace?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“I'm familiar with dream-selves,” Celestia said. “I'm nowhere near as proficient as Luna, but I've done some dream walking in my time. This is the first time, however, my physical shape has changed like this.”
“There could be a rrreasonable explanation I'm sure.”
“I'm blaming you,” Celestia said.
“Such as that. May I ask why?”
“You being here brought back all the memories of the old days. So, naturally, my dream-self is reflecting... oh... I wonder...”
With that non-sequitur, the Princess threw off her saddlebag and began rummaging through it. Her head came up, and in the Princess's mouth was a thin metal tube. On the Princess's face was an expression Edge Glimmer could not recall seeing on either of his Ladies. Unrestrained glee.
“Nitrous Nova!” Celestia cried out. “I haven't used any in forever!”
“Oh dear…” the Doctor muttered, looking far less thrilled.
“What is Nitrous Nova?” Edge Glimmer asked warily.
“One of Celestia's favorite spells back in her youth. Within that tube is but a mere speck of raw, unadulterated sunlight. It is perhaps the single most powerful explosive known to ponykind.”
Edge Glimmer decided to change the subject rather than dwell on the idea of the Princess of the Sun being happier than he'd ever seen her while armed with explosives.
“Fascinating as this all is, where exactly are we, and where do we go from here? You said we're in a dreamscape, but whose?”
“Well, that should be obvious, Captain,” the Doctor chided him. “There was only one pony in the room asleep when Celestia cast her Nocturnal Gate.”
“We're in Luna's dreamscape, Captain,” Celestia said, confirming Edge Glimmer's own thoughts. As she spoke, she appeared to be concentrating. Behind the shoulders of her black coat two slits appeared, through which the Princess's wings emerged.
“In fact,” the Doctor went on. “If you take a good look around and above you'll see we can be no place else.”
Edge Glimmer did as instructed and looked into the night sky. He gasped when he saw neither sun nor moon, but a bright blue orb spotted with white and green.
“Is that...?”
“Equestria,” Celestia confirmed. “Which means...”
“We're on the moon?!”
Edge Glimmer looked around a second time and saw what he initially took to be a desolate wasteland or, perhaps, a quarry was in fact the pockmarked and cratered surface of the moon.
“Where else would Luna's dreams begin?” Celestia asked.
“Indeed. Now we just need to answer the question of how we get from here to there,” the Doctor said while pointing his umbrella at the ground then the sky.
“Well, that should be obvious, Professor,” Celestia said. She was smiling, while the Doctor looked at her just a bit annoyed. From all he had heard of the stallion, Edge Glimmer suspected it was rare to put one over on him. Then the Doctor began to smile himself.
“Of course! The only way to travel when we need to go from one place to another!”
Edge Glimmer wondered what they were talking about when a strange groaning, wheezing noise began to sound through the air. He looked around trying to find the source of the noise and saw the famous blue box began to appear out of thin air.
“How?!”
“The same way you can wear your fantasy armor, Celestia is several centuries younger, and we can breathe on the airless surface of the moon.”
“It's a dream, Captain,” Celestia said to clarify. “Anypony with sufficient will can control their dreams. It's more difficult in someone else's dreams than your own, but not impossible. In fact, the further into Luna's dreamscape we go the more difficult it will become. Here in the antechamber, for lack of a better word, it's not very difficult at all.”
“For now, at least, we have transportation,” the Doctor said as he cheerfully unlocked the doors with a key extracted from his pocket and stepped into the box. Celestia trotted in behind him. Edge Glimmer followed into the box, hoping he wouldn't be too cramped. He realized as soon as he stepped in that he had nothing to worry about.
He stared at the room around him. A mostly bare white room save a large pedestal covered in lights and buttons was before him. The Doctor and Celestia looked at him, almost expectantly.
“It's... really roomy.”
“That it is,” the Doctor said with a nod as the Princess chuckled. “Welcome to the TARDIS, Captain Edge Glimmer. With this ship, I, and for a time Princess Celestia here, have travelled the vast rrreaches of time and space. With this ship we can go anywhere and at any time!”
“Even dreams,” Celestia interjected with a grin. That was the end of the levity, as all three ponies immediately grew more serious.
“The time for fun is over now, Doctor,” Celestia said, once more becoming the leader Edge Glimmer knew.
“Quite right,” the Doctor agreed, growing serious as well. He bent over the center stand and began moving about it hitting various switches and buttons.
“Celestia, will Luna be aware of our presence?”
“Almost certainly,” Edge Glimmer answered in the Princess's place. “Traveling through dreams is part of Princess Luna's special talents. Very little escapes her notice when traveling through other ponies' dreams. I can't imagine she'd be blind to her own.”
“She's the one who taught me to cast the Nocturnal Gate,” Celestia continued. “Luna, however, is far more proficient. Even on our best days, Luna has described my own use of the spell as more brute force than skill. I agree with Edge Glimmer, she will have sensed our entry almost immediately.”
“So now comes our chance to determine whether Luna is thrrreat or victim.”
It suddenly became very quiet in the TARDIS.
“Doctor…” Celestia said very quietly. “I'm going to ignore that you just suggested Luna could be the one doing all this.”
Edge Glimmer nodded his agreement.
“So long as you don't ignore the possibility,” the Doctor said seriously. “We do not know what's happening, Ace. Not yet.”
While the Doctor went back to his instruments, Edge Glimmer noticed the Princess appeared skeptical at that statement.
“Do you believe he knows more than he's letting on, Your Highness?” he whispered to her.
“He always knows more than he's letting on,” Celestia told him, her joy from moments ago had vanishing. The ponies were jarred by a sudden shaking.
“We've landed,” the Doctor announced.
“Can't even land well in your dreams, Professor?” Celestia quipped.
“Nonsense. This isn't my dream at all.”
The Doctor flipped a switch and the door behind him opened. Edge Glimmer turned and saw outside a cobblestone road like what one would find in any city or large town under a night sky. Just as in such a town, shops and pubs lined both sides of the road. Along the road was a fog colored in the same deep blue as Princess Luna's mane. In the sky the moon they had just left shone full in the sky.
“Do you recognize this place?” Celestia asked Edge Glimmer. Edge Glimmer shook his head.
“It may not be rrrepresentative of any one place,” the Doctor said. “It may yet be significant, so keep your eyes open. For now, we travel through Luna’s dreams. Our ultimate objective, however, is her mind. Specifically, her memories. We need to find out just where this all began, and the secret will be hidden there.”
The trio of ponies exited the TARDIS and stepped into the town. The streets themselves were deserted with nopony in sight. The buildings on either side of them were another story. Especially around the pubs the lights were on and they could see silhouettes of the ponies inside having a good time. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and partying going on behind those windows. Nothing seemed immediately amiss that anypony could see, otherwise.
“I don't recall Equestria having quite so active a night life in this era,” the Doctor commented.
“It doesn't, normally,” Edge Glimmer said. “Some drinks with friends in a pub is usually the extent of it.”
The Doctor suddenly stopped walking. He looked at one of the windows with the silhouette intently for a few moments before walking over to the building and opening the door.
“Well, now,” the Doctor said. Celestia and Edge Glimmer followed.
On the other side of the door was nothing. Just blackness. The two ponies looked behind them and saw the windows, but where they had anticipated seeing the ponies making the shadows on the windows, they saw only the shadows themselves. The trio stepped back out onto the street. Celestia looked in and out a few times to be sure of what she was seeing.
“It's just shadows on the windows,” she said.
“What does that mean?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“I'm not sure yet,” the Doctor answered. “Other than Luna likely wants us continuing on this path. However, how safe that might be is a whole other conundrum.”
Both Princess and soldier glared at the Doctor for once again suggesting Luna would endanger them. Celestia stopped walking.
“What do you know, Professor?” Celestia asked. “That's twice you've suggested Luna's central to the attacks.”
The Doctor was silent for a few moments before he answered.
“Know? Nothing for certain, yet. That is why I want to go deeper into Luna’s mind. I have a suspicion that, for your sakes as much as mine, I hope is very wrong.”
“And that is?” Celestia asked. “Don't try putting this question off, Doctor. Despite what I look like right now, I'm not the teenager that would accept what you said without question.”
“I'm not saying anything until I'm sure. Also Ace, for the record, you've never accepted anything I said without question,” the Doctor replied.
“Doctor!”
“Celestia, you asked me before if I took you to places specifically because you were a princess. The answer is yes; but did you ever wonder about the corollary that goes with that?”
With that the Doctor continued down the road. Celestia began to follow, with Edge Glimmer close behind. The trio continued on in silence as the road seemed to continue unchanging. Eventually they came a plaza. The buildings around them still had the same lit up windows with cavorting shadow ponies. In the center stood a statue.
“Luna?” Celestia asked as she saw the statue.
“Look closer,” the Doctor replied.
Celestia and Edge Glimmer did so and realized what the Doctor meant. The statue was of an alicorn with a moon cutie mark who, on the surface, looked like Princess Luna. On closer inspection it became clear that, despite the resemblance, it was very much not Luna. She was dressed in armor and helmet not unlike those her royal guard wore. Something else was off that Edge Glimmer needed a moment to place.
“The eyes,” Edge Glimmer said. Celestia looked and saw, like Edge Glimmer, that the eyes were definitely not her sister's.
“Who is this pony?” Celestia asked. She looked to the Doctor, who had a grim expression on his face as he looked at the statue.
“It isn't Luna. Yet, at the same time, it is,” the Doctor answered.
“I take it, then, that you're now sure of what we face?” Celestia said.
“Very nearly, yes,” the Doctor replied.
Before the Doctor could explain further, Edge Glimmer heard a noise in one of the buildings and turned to look. He realized the windows were rattling.
“The windows!” Edge Glimmer shouted. Everypony looked around and saw that the silhouette ponies, who had previously been celebrating and partying, had stopped moving and now all seemed to be looking out of the windows. While the shadows had no eyes, it was clear what they were looking at.
They were looking at the Doctor, Celestia, and Edge Glimmer.
The windows burst open and the shadows poured out of the buildings. A flood of darkness rushed toward the three ponies.
“Princess! Behind me!” Edge Glimmer ordered. The guard's horn shone bright. A midnight blue barrier formed a perimeter around the three ponies. Edge Glimmer winced as the shadows impacted on the shield but held firm.
“Good work, Captain!” Princess Celestia said. Her own horn glowed a golden color. One of the metal tubes from her saddlebag levitated out of it.
“Captain, when I give the word, make a hole for just a second.”
“Understood.”
The Princess prepared her spell, her tube glowed with a golden aura.
“Now!”
Edge Glimmer allowed a small gap in the shield to appear. The shadows immediately pounced on the opening, only for the Princess's tube to shoot through it and force the shadows along with it. Edge Glimmer immediately re-sealed the barrier.
“Avert your eyes and keep that barrier up no matter what!” Princess Celestia commanded. As Edge Glimmer and the Doctor did as instructed they heard Celestia cast an incantation.
“Nitrous... Nova !”
Edge Glimmer heard a loud explosion from outside the barrier, followed by a light so bright Edge Glimmer felt it would blind him despite having closed his eyes beforehand.
“It's safe to open your eyes now,” he heard Celestia say.
“Overdid it a bit, didn't you?” he heard the Doctor say.
“I know it's not normally that powerful,” Celestia said hesitantly. “But then, this is a dream, so I realized I could increase its power a tad.”
“A tad?” the Doctor remarked. “That's easily double the most I've ever seen from you.”
Edge Glimmer looked to the Princess and saw she appeared to be blushing. Once again, Edge Glimmer opted not to dwell on Princess Celestia's proficiency with explosions and instead looked around them.
The shadows were gone, as were the buildings that had surrounded the plaza. The cobblestone they stood on had been torn apart outside of Edge Glimmer's own shield. Even the night sky was gone, as it was now a bright blue as a summer day, though still lit by the full moon. The only feature of the dreamscape that remained was the midnight blue fog at their hooves and the statue that the Doctor claimed was and was not Princess Luna. Otherwise the plaza they stood on was bare.
“The most powerful explosive known to ponykind…” Edge Glimmer said weakly as he dropped his barrier.
“So, sister, intruding on Our prerogatives in reality isn't enough for you? You must force your daylight into Our dreams as well?”
The ponies looked to the source of the voice. The alicorn statue before them.
“Luna?!” Celestia asked.
“And Captain Edge Glimmer, I believed thou my most loyal of servants. Yet you side with Our sister over Us?”
“Princess, that's not it at all,” Edge Glimmer stammered.
“And thou, Doctor, thine ability to interfere is legendary in Equestria. We will remove thou from this realm tonight.”
“How do you intend to do that, may I ask?” the Doctor asked calmly.
As if in response to the Doctor's question the shadows once again rose up. Edge Glimmer instinctively brought up his shield. Princess Luna's voice mocked him.
“Do you forget who We are, Edge Glimmer? What We are? We are the Princess of the Night. Dreams are Our domain!”
Edge Glimmer heard a scream from behind him. He turned to see Princess Celestia being attacked by the blue fog that had been at their hooves this whole time. She was sinking into it as if it were quicksand. The Doctor was struggling to pull her away while being attacked himself. Another sound, a crash, made Edge Glimmer realize that this time his shield was doing very little to hold back the attacking shadows.
The shadows broke through the barrier and surrounded him. They wrapped around him from hoof to horn. The last thing he saw before all went black was Princess Celestia's horn sinking down into the blue fog, and fog and shadows both consuming the Doctor, as if competing over him.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note
This chapter hasn't given the Doctor a lot of attention, but I intend to fix that from the next chapter onward. The back and forth between the Doctor calling Celestia "Ace" and Celestia calling the Doctor "Professor" is partly my own little thing. In the original Doctor Who, Ace does indeed call the Doctor "professor" quite often as a term of endearment. So much so when she does use "Doctor" at one point the Doctor quips that she can remember to do so. Here, the Doctor is doing the same, referring to Celestia by an old nickname as a term of endearment.
Also, for anyone unfamiliar with the Seventh Doctor & Ace, here's a nice little tribute video to show them off a bit.
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
“So, sister, intruding on Our prerogatives in reality isn’t enough for you? You must force your daylight into Our dreams as well?”
The ponies looked to the source of the voice. The alicorn statue before them.
“Luna?!” Celestia asked.
“And Captain Edge Glimmer, I believed thou my most loyal of servants. Yet you side with Our sister over Us?”
“Princess, that’s not it at all,” Edge Glimmer stammered.
“And thou, Doctor, thine ability to interfere is legendary in Equestria. We will remove thou from this realm tonight.”
“How do you intend to do that, may I ask?” the Doctor asked calmly.
As if in response to the Doctor’s question the shadows once again rose up. Edge Glimmer instinctively brought up his shield. Princess Luna’s voice mocked him.
“Do you forget who We are, Edge Glimmer? What We are? We are the Princess of the Night. Dreams are Our domain!”
Edge Glimmer heard a scream from behind him. He turned to see Princess Celestia being attacked by the blue fog that had been at their hooves this whole time. She was sinking into it as if it were quicksand. The Doctor was struggling to pull her away while being attacked himself. Another sound, a crash, made Edge Glimmer realize that this time his shield was doing very little to hold back the attacking shadows.
The shadows broke through the barrier and surrounded him. They wrapped around him from hoof to horn. The last thing he saw before all went black was Princess Celestia’s horn sinking down into the blue fog, and fog and shadows both consuming the Doctor, as if competing over him.
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART THREE
Edge Glimmer struggled against the dark shadows’ grip. He couldn’t see the horn above his head, nor feel anything around him except the sensation of a downward pull as the shadows fought him. He couldn’t even breathe. He had initially panicked at that until remembering that, as a dream, he didn’t actually need to.
What he did need was a way to break free, and brute force was not enough for the job. On the other hoof, he knew his magic, while above average, was nothing compared to either Princess. He needed something beyond raw power. He needed an advantage.
“Within that tube is but a mere speck of raw, unadulterated sunlight.”
Light! Edge Glimmer realized. Princess Celestia’s Nitrous Nova hadn’t worked because it was explosive. It had worked because it was an explosive made of light.
He focused his power, and the horn he couldn’t see but a moment ago shone with bright white light, rather than his standard nighttime blue. On The surface, it was a mere light spell. A spell any unicorn could do. Edge Glimmer’s twist, however, was that the light perfectly mimicked natural moonlight. The shadows’ constant pull loosened slightly, but not enough to allow a proper escape. His meager light wasn’t enough. Edge Glimmer knew what he had to do, although he saw it as almost sacrilege.
Edge Glimmer cast out his light again. But this time, rather than merely mimic moonlight, Edge Glimmer sought to make true moonlight. It took a few failures before the spell truly cast. Once it did, however, as Edge Glimmer had hoped the shadows retreated further away. Enough that he could feel and move his own body once more. He spread the light to create a sphere around him. This successfully freed him from the grip of the black shadow that had enveloped him.
Once sure it was safe to lower his barrier, Edge Glimmer did so and took stock of his surroundings. The village plaza had changed to a path with dark woods on either side. He did not know if he was still awake or asleep. Regardless, he decided he should move before the shadows returned.
Looking down the path he thought he saw light, and chose that direction. Looking up, he decided he was still in the dream. While it was clearly nighttime above, there was no moon visible. He knew it was approaching full in reality. No moon in the Princess’s own dreams was so unnatural Edge Glimmer decided it was a new moon night. As he got closer to the source of the light he was following started to smell something in the air.
Smoke?! Edge Glimmer wondered. Instinct took over as he charged towards the light he now realized were flames. He soon charged out of the woods and found a path to follow. The path led to a village. A village on fire. Edge Glimmer made for the village. When he reached it he saw the Night Guard was already present.
The pegasi guards were bringing rain clouds to douse the flames. Unicorns were walking through with their horns alight, scanning for ponies in need of rescue. There were two groups of earth ponies, one looking over survivors of whatever had befallen the village. The second looking over the bodies of those who hadn’t made it through.
Edge Glimmer noted grimly that the latter group of ponies seemed larger. He also noticed that not one of the guards was paying him the least amount of attention. They behaved as if he was not even there. As he looked around he saw signs of feathers and particular weapons.
Griffin raid, Edge Glimmer realized. Then he stopped dead in his tracks. A griffin raid on a new moon?
Edge Glimmer realized he did know this place. He started towards the group of earth ponies and the survivors of the attack. There were only a very few ponies in that group, most of them children their parents had likely hidden from danger. Edge Glimmer’s heart skipped a beat as he saw exactly what he was looking for. Or rather who he was looking for.
A dark blue unicorn filly was walking in a tight circle. The little girl looked terrified at everything around her.
“Meanderly...” He said, recognizing the filly. She had shared the tale only a few times. Being the most traumatic moment of her life, however, Edge Glimmer had committed it to memory after the first.
The griffin raid, carried out in the dead of night, Edge Glimmer remembered, the Night Guard coming just too late. The only survivors children and elderly. And finally...
Edge Glimmer looked up and saw his Princess in the sky. She landed near the survivors and questioned the officer watching over them. He already knew what the discussion would entail. Griffins raided the settlement in the middle of the night, using the new moon to avoid what few ponies would have been keeping watch for exactly that sort of attack. Then he saw the little filly approached the Princess of the Night.
“P-Princess...” she said, “I w-wanted to ask...”
The guard seemed ready to shoo the girl away, but Princess Luna held her hoof to stop him.
“Speak, child,” the Princess replied.
“Has anypony seen my Momma? Or Poppa? Or my big sister?”
The Princess looked to her guard, who shook his head sadly.
“We are sorry, child... but We fear only the ponies here made it through the attack.”
“What?” Meanderly asked. “B-but... but they said everything would be... you’re lying!”
Such an outburst would normally rouse the Princess of the Night’s temper, but Luna understood what drove it and let it pass.
“We do not speak lies, filly,” she told Meanderly. “Only the ponies here survived the attack. The only condolence We can offer is thou are alive because thy family did all they could to protect thee.”
Edge Glimmer remembered how Meanderly had described looking into the Princess’s eyes and seeing only the truth. The filly before him began to sob uncontrollably. The Princess, never very good in such situations, didn’t react at first. Then she turned to her guard.
“Lieutenant, let us arrange for these ponies transport and rooms in Whinnychester. There is room enough and they shall be comfortable while we make arrangements.”
The guard saluted and began giving the correct orders.
“Our little pony, what is thy name?”
“M... Meanderly, Your Majesty.”
“Meanderly. We shall honor your loved ones’ sacrifice. We can not say what will happen just yet, but until then thou and everypony here shall be welcome in Whinnychester Castle. You will be protected and safe.”
Edge Glimmer turned away. He knew what followed. The survivors of the town were taken to Whinnychester, eventually relocated to another village that had needed some extra help to get through a big harvest. All but a few, who had remained in the castle and were hired on as servants. Meanderly was one such pony, becoming a serving girl and, eventually, Luna’s personal hoofmaiden as she reached adulthood.
As he turned to leave this dream of a memory, everything around him froze and transformed into a dull grey. Even the crackling flames were still. Edge Glimmer looked around and saw only one thing that still had color.
Princess Luna.
She was dressed in the armor the statue he had seen previously had worn.
She had fangs.
Her eyes were wrong.
She was looking right at him.
“Do you see, Our Captain?” she said to him. “Do you see what our night has become? A place in which the weak are preyed upon. A den of evil. One which must be purged.”
* * * * *
Princess Celestia had found herself deposited on the top chamber of one of Whinnychester’s towers. The night shadow that had engulfed her had simply carried her here and left. Celestia knew she still slept because she was still in her younger “Ace” body. She looked around, and saw her sister standing at the end of the balcony, looking down on the small town below. Celestia walked over and looked herself, and saw ponies rushing to get indoors now that night had fallen.
Lights inside the houses began to glow through the windows. She saw the silhouettes of ponies inside their homes through their lit windows. Some were dancing, some were drinking. In the houses with families Celestia could see children being sent to bed by their parents.
“It may not be rrrepresentative of any one place,” the Doctor had said. “It may yet be significant, so keep your eyes open.”
Is this what you meant, Doctor? Celestia thought.
“There you are, Luna,” Celestia heard a voice say. She turned and saw herself, full grown, approaching Luna. Luna turned to face her as well.
“Are you all right to be up and about?” she continued. “The last I heard the healers were still requiring bed rest.”
“I insisted,” Luna replied, foregoing the royal We and traditional speech, as it was just the two of them. The full grown Celestia smiled.
“Never have been one to simply rest in bed, have you, dear sister?”
“Not when there are duties to perform.”
“I can handle a few extra duties while you rest, sister.”
The present Celestia saw her sister tense up. From her vantage point on the balcony, the present Celestia also saw a look of anger cross her sister’s point for a split second. Celestia remembered this conversation. She dreaded where she knew it would head, because she knew that statement was the start of what came next.
“It is not your place to have to handle my affairs,” an edge was creeping into Luna’s voice.
“No,” the memory of Celestia went on, having not yet noticed. “Raising the moon and managing the night are your duties. I’ve only done them in your stead, as you would do for myself and the sun.”
“Hmph. As if you would ever need anypony to stand in your stead, sister.”
This time the younger princess’s tone of voice registered. The memory of Celestia stopped and tilted her head.
“Luna? What’s the matter?”
“Down there. All those ponies...”
“What about them?”
“They flee the night!”
“What?” Celestia was taken aback. “Luna, that’s silly. The ponies aren’t ‘fleeing the night.’”
“Be quiet!” the present Celestia screamed. It was no good. Neither pony acknowledged her presence. “Think before you speak!”
“Then what do you call everypony going to their homes immediately after the moon hath been risen?”
“Everypony going home after a day’s hard work. Relaxing at home with their friends and loved ones.”
“Hmph! ‘Relaxing with friends and loved ones.’ Still the naive optimist, I see. ‘Tis more like ‘drinking and cavorting in all manners disreputable.’ Those families? The children are sent to bed almost immediately! I spend more time with them at night than their families do!
“The night is no longer a place for ‘good’ ponies to live. It has become a place of thieves and rogues. Nay, the ‘good’ ponies of Equestria bask in your daylight. Even those that do like the night... those few who understand its beauty...”
“Luna...” Celestia said sadly. Nopony said anything for a few moments. The present Celestia, watching everything from the side, grew tense.
“Luna, is this about-”
“Meanderly is with foal,” Luna said suddenly.
“Your hoofmaiden?” Celestia asked. “Why that’s wonderful!”
“She intends to leave my service when the child is born... Once again, a pony I thought loyal will leave me.”
“Meanderly will be leaving for a much better reason than-”
“Don’t say his name!” Luna suddenly shouted. Celestia waited a moment before she spoke again.
“Meanderly has a much better reason. What of her husband? You said nothing of him retiring.”
“He intends to remain in my service,” Luna replied. “But for how long, I do not know... How long before he grows to resent the night as so many others do? How long before he realizes that serving the night means foregoing time with a child raised in the day? Eventually he, too, will leave.”
“Luna, you and I both know Edge Glimmer than that,” Celestia reassured her sister. “He’s loved you since he was a colt. His very cutie mark came from his desire to be one of your protectors.”
“Before he found another pony to love,” Luna retorted. “Before he gained somepony else worthy of his protection. You watch Celestia, eventually he will have to choose between his family and his princess, and I will lose.”
“Edge Glimmer would never do that.”
Luna turned away from Celestia in disgust.
“Just leave, sister.”
“But-”
“GO!” she yelled, with the full royal voice behind the demand. “I tire of your naivete.”
The present Celestia watched her past self hang her head sadly and walk away, not entirely sure what had gone wrong.
“No, wait!” Celestia yelled to herself. “Don’t leave! This isn’t the time to give Luna her space! She needs you!”
“Do I?”
Both Celestias froze. The past Celestia, the chamber, and everything in it turned completely grey and stopped. The present Celestia stopped because she knew that voice wasn’t directed at her past self.
It was directed at her.
Celestia turned around and saw what she had believed a mere memory or dream vision of her younger sister looking right at her.
“Do I truly need you, sister? Am I so weak in your eyes?"
* * * * *
For the Doctor escape from the shadows had been simple. The two forces within Luna had both come after him, and had begun to fight one another for him. From there it had been a simple matter of simply shifting to another part of the dreamscape.
What surrounded him now was the throne room of Whinnychester Castle. It was empty, but he would soon be changing that.
He did not know yet what had become of Celestia and Edge Glimmer. He had seen them both abducted, she by the brighter, blue-colored shadows, he by the darker and more sinister feeling.
Much as he wanted to go to them, however, the Doctor had something that had to be done first. Something which would be far easier to accomplish alone and without the other two asking questions. Something which would be far easier to accomplish without witnesses.
What the Doctor was about to do did not... quite... break the First Law of Time. It did skirt its very edges. Better that there be no chance of it ever reaching the Time Lords’ ears.
The Doctor closed his eyes, and concentrated. He focused on his previous encounters with the Princesses. Those times past he had met them here in Whinnychester. There had not been very many, as Whinnychester was only a temporary capital, used during the years following Discord’s rule in which Canterlot was being rebuilt. That left him a specific area of time and memory to search. Around him images of both Luna and Celestia, guards, nobles, servants and even the decor of the room flickered and shifted so rapidly it was impossible for the naked eye to follow.
He focused initially on times he had met Luna in his previous incarnations. Through this, the Doctor learned what feelings and memories Luna associated with him. He needed that information because what he sought was not information on his past encounters with the Princess of the Night.
He needed to see what the future held.
The First Law of Time forbade crossing through one’s own timestream. Foreknowledge of the future could be horrendously dangerous in anypony’s hooves, let alone a Time Lord’s. This was not the Doctor’s timestream, however. This was a realm of dreams and memory. A place influenced by memory and imagination as much as by time. This in mind, he focused only on the barest traces of Luna’s memory of faces the Doctor has not had yet. He saw a stallion with long curls, followed by one with a buzz cut mane. A pony in a suit and tie followed, but all their meetings with the Princess were too far back, taking place in Old Canterlot. He needed something closer, more recent. If his intuition was right, this would all trace back to...
“There you are!” the Doctor proclaimed.
Immediately, around the Doctor the the image of the Whinnychester throne room filled with greater detail. It was evening, and the Doctor saw a half-moon shining outside the window. On the throne sat Princess Luna, one of her hoofmaidens, a dark blue unicorn, at her side. They looked down upon three ponies. None of them looked like the Doctor as he did now, but he knew which one he was.
Regeneration, the ability to be essentially reborn as an entirely new pony, was a trademark among the Time Lords. There were, naturally, ways for a Time Lord to recognize one another that did not rely on appearance. Because of that, while he obviously would not yet know the orange pegasus nor the pinto earth pony, the Doctor immediately recognized himself despite the difference in appearance. This regeneration was especially young looking. He also noticed that this version of himself was a pegasus pony, wings coming out through slits in a tweed jacket. The Doctor grimaced, the last time he’d been a pegasus he had been particularly... flighty. He’d never fully understood afterward why he’d needed such a long scarf back then. The Doctor couldn’t quite decide if the bowtie this version had was an improvement or not.
As if on cue, the Doctor’s future self adjusted the bow tie with his hoof.
“Bowties are cool,” he said.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note
I must confess, this chapter kicked my flank. This isn't quite where I'd planned to end it, but between how long it's taken just to get this far, and the fact I have a pretty good break point here, I decided it was a good spot, nonetheless.
This whole dream/memory segment of the story was a last-second addition. A way to "Show Don't Tell" key information that will be a big reveal and come into play during the climax. Next chapter will likely be longer as Edge Glimmer & Celestia have their encounters while the Doctor confirms his theories, followed by just what the Doctor is confirming. I'm hoping, since this is one of the scenes I've been looking forward to, it will go smoother and I'll have a proper chapter much faster than this one was.
I like the idea that the Doctor's regenerations aren't necessarily bound by pony type. In An Unearthly Filly I made the First Doctor a unicorn both to make him capable without being too physical and because the horn was a convenient place for his iconic ring. I imagine the Fourth Doctor, caught up in wanderlust and not wanting to be bogged down in any one place, to be a pegasus. The Eleventh Doctor here is a pegasus too for much the same reason. I'm coming up with the personal headcanon that the Doctor's personality can be partly determined by what type of pony they become.
Finally, if you're curious about who the Eleventh Doctor's companions are, and the description alone isn't enough, check out my blog post here to see who's meant to line up with who.
Actually, one last thing before I forget, if I wanted to see about bumming some cover art for this and Unearthly Filly, where would be a good place to ask?
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
“There you are!” the Doctor proclaimed.
Immediately, around the Doctor the the image of the Whinnychester throne room filled with greater detail. It was evening, and the Doctor saw a half-moon shining outside the window. On the throne sat Princess Luna, one of her hoofmaidens, a dark blue unicorn, at her side. They looked down upon three ponies. None of them looked like the Doctor as he did now, but he knew which one he was.
Regeneration, the ability to be essentially reborn as an entirely new pony, was a trademark among the Time Lords. There were, naturally, ways for a Time Lord to recognize one another that did not rely on appearance. Because of that, while he obviously would not yet know the orange pegasus nor the pinto earth pony, the Doctor immediately recognized himself despite the difference in appearance. This regeneration was especially young looking. He also noticed that this version of himself was a pegasus pony, wings coming out through slits in a tweed jacket. The Doctor grimaced, the last time he'd been a pegasus he had been particularly... flighty. He'd never fully understood afterward why he'd needed such a long scarf back then. The Doctor couldn’t quite decide if the bowtie this version had was an improvement or not.
As if on cue, the Doctor’s future self adjusted the bow tie with his hoof.
“Bowties are cool,” he said.
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART FOUR
In the throne room of Winnychester's past, the Doctor watched his future self in earnest. What he needed above all else was confirmation. He needed to know what he was up against. He knew that, and would remember, so his future self was sure to maneuver the conversation to get him the information he needed. His future self looked right at the direction the present Doctor stood, and gave him a wink.
“Doctor,” the Princess of the Night said from her throne. “We are to understand that Our hoofmaiden aided thee in thy endeavors against dreadful creatures called…”
“Cyberponies,” the future Doctor said, when Luna appeared to be grasping at the name. “Rather interesting plan really. Y’see, one of the tools of their trade, which is converting other ponies into creatures like them, are little things called Cybermats. They bite you, infect you, and you become mindless slaves and-or more susceptible to cyber conversion.
“The Cyberponies here were looking to use a bit of the local fauna, Parasprites, and convert them into a new kind of cybermat. Parasprites are naturally driven to consume and bite anything around them, so they probably seemed like a good idea at the time.”
During this whole conversation the Doctor paced around the room, hovering or otherwise flapping his wings from time to time.
“At the time?” Luna asked.
The Doctor stopped his pacing and spun in a near full circle to face the Princess and gestured to the pony at her side.
“At the time. Your clever little hoofmaiden here was able to charm the Parasprites, normally hardwired to eat anything organic, into pursuing strictly inorganic matter.”
“So… they ate the Cyberponies?!” Luna asked in surprise.
“Most of them,” the Doctor answered. “And by ‘most of them’ I don’t mean ‘they ate some of the Cyberponies and others got away.’ I mean ‘they ate most of all the individual Cyberponies and left the parts of them that were still organic behind’... wasn’t pretty.”
Luna’s hoofmaiden shuddered just a bit.
“Your maid’s charm should wear off before long and local predators should help bring the Parasprite numbers back under control. I would recommend your nature watchers keep an eye on them nonetheless. I’ll be glad to go over all the specifics before I go, but it’s going to be long dull, and boring. Also, I think your maid, Meanderly was it?” the pony nodded. “Meanderly’s still a bit shaken by everything. Really wasn’t pretty. So how about we let her go over here, like so, perfect, and she can have a nice chat with my companions while we get on with business.”
During this last bit of ranting, the Doctor had pulled the dark blue hoofmaiden Meanderly away from Luna’s side and positioned her next to the orange pegasus. The pegasus looked confused but didn’t resist. The pinto male, however, opted to join the Doctor with Luna.
The Doctor of the present watched this and surmised his future self was telling him of important information these two had. He moved himself over to the two mares to listen to their conversation, making a mental note that the Princesses had to have very acute hearing if Luna heard this conversation. The two mares stood awkwardly side by side before the pegasus tried to strike up a conversation.
“Um, nice Cutie Mark,” she said, noting the unicorn Meanderly’s Cutie Mark of a jumble of lines and paths, one noticeably a different color than the rest. The Doctor noticed this different color line was also, in fact, the shortest of them.
“Thank you,” Meanderly said. “It represents my ability to find the right path I need no matter where I am at any moment.”
“Nice. The Doctor could probably use that once in a while.”
“I heard that,” the future Doctor called from the throne.
“No you didn’t,” the pegasus challenged.
“Well, not now , no, but I did hear it.”
The orange pegasus rolled her eyes. Meanderly looked to the meeting of her Princess and the two stallions.
“Is your husband all right?” she asked. The Doctor glanced over and saw the pinto with a faraway look on his face as his future self and the Princess conversed.
“Oh, he’s always like that around Princess Luna,” the pegasus said with a grin as she watched the pinto. “She was his first crush.”
Meanderly laughed.
“My husband joined the Night Guard for that exact same reason.”
“So how are you holding up?” the pegasus asked after the pair had a good laugh. “The Doctor had a point. You do seem a bit out of it.”
“I’m sorry… what I did, I was not even really thinking at the time. I-”
“Yeah, I get it. You were just reacting. And now you’re reacting to your reaction.”
Meanderly shuddered.
“Those- those ‘Cyberponies’... they spoke of converting us. Making us like them. The only thing I could think of is what would happen to… to my-”
The Doctor and the pegasus both noticed the maid was looking at her midsection. The pegasus’ eyes went wide.
“Ohhhhh…”
Meanderly nodded.
“So you you were protecting your baby. I can definitely get that.”
“Do you have children? You seem so young.”
“A daughter. It’s… complicated,” the pegasus said, looking away. “Things tend to be that way when you travel with the Doctor. How about you? Hoping for a boy or a girl?”
“A girl,” Meanderly said promptly. “My family had a tradition regarding first-born daughters. I plan to revive it with my own.”
“That’s cool. What was the tradition?”
“Every first-born girl would be given two names. One special name they all share, and a second name with personal significance to the parents.”
“Does that mean you’ve got something thought up already?” the orange pegasus asked eagerly. Meanderly nodded.
“What is it?”
“Well, I can not say out loud just yet. It is going to be a surprise for the Princess.”
Meanderly glanced at the Princess, who appeared to not be paying attention, to them or to the Doctor, leaned in close to the pegasus and whispered in her ear. Luna, and thus the Doctor, did not hear what she said. But the Doctor read Meanderly’s lips and was quite surprised. The pegasus must have understood the significance as well, as her eyes went wide.
“No way!” the pegasus suddenly shouted, her eyes wide. All eyes turned to the pegasus.
“Perfect timing for an emotional outburst!” the future Doctor exclaimed happily. “We were just about finished and I was planning on doing something odd to break the monotony like juggle, or maybe break out some spoons.”
“You have a lot of nerve calling me odd,” the Doctor of the present replied. “Enlightening as that conversation was, I do hope you haven’t forgotten what I’m here for.”
“Not at all, not at all,” the future Doctor seemed to say to nopony in particular. “But that does remind me. Princess Luna, what’s happening right now at the Crystal Empire?”
“Subtle…” The present Doctor rolled his eyes.
Everypony seemed to be confused at the sudden non sequitur , but Luna eventually answered.
“We recently received a message from the Empire,” she said. “They claim to have found crystals with new magical properties and wished to see about trade options. We’ve sent Our personal student to look into the matter.”
“Student?” the future Doctor asked. “Well look at you, being all professor-y. I’d forgotten you had a student before, Princess.”
Luna seemed a little indignant at the Doctor’s “professory” remark but let it slide.
“Yes. He was a survivor of a griffon attack on his village years ago. The same village as Meanderly, in fact. He had such potential We could not ignore it.”
“I was afraid of that,” the present Doctor remarked. He feared he knew exactly where this was heading. “Let’s confirm the name and I’ll be on my way.”
“Ah, yes, I do remember now,” the future Doctor said. “Unicorn, black coat, am I right?”
“Thou art correct,” the Princess told him. “Sombra has been Our most loyal retainer, next to Meanderly and Our guard captain Edge Glimmer.”
“Yes, well, just asked because I was remembering the time period,” the Doctor said as he turned towards his blue box. “You should be hearing from him soon. You should be ready for a bit of a shock. Won’t be around myself, I’m afraid, but you won’t need me to handle it, in any case. I must be off now. Pop along, Pip! Scoot along, Loo!”
With that the future Doctor’s two companions bowed to the Princess, said their goodbyes, and walked back to the TARDIS. The present Doctor watched the TARDIS vanish off into its next adventure. As he did, he remembered his conversation with Celestia soon after his arrival here. He had asked what had changed to cause Luna such distress.
“Two things. The first was the Crystal Empire. Luna was injured during that battle. More than that, the whole thing... it was quite hard on her. Ever since her injury she's been pushing herself, afraid of being seen as weak or ineffectual."
Sombra, the pony who would crown himself king of an empire, was once Luna’s prized pupil. He could already imagine the scenario unfolding.
“Plenty of rrroom for resentment and bitterness to fester.”
He knew what happened. Now the question became what to do with it. Celestia would want to find some way to save Luna from the darkness that was overwhelming her. The Doctor hoped he could figure out a way to accommodate but, ultimately, felt Celestia would be forced into a horrible decision. One the Doctor knew had to happen.
He only hoped she would forgive him.
* * * * *
“Do I truly need you, sister? Am I so weak in your eyes?"
Celestia considered her answer very carefully. She understood better than ever before that a single misstep could lead to disaster.
“Not weak. Never weak. Only in pain. Something is using that pain to take hold of you. We, the Doctor, Edge Glimmer, and myself, we wish to help you. You suffered a betrayal I can only imagine, Luna. Your friends and loved ones are still here for you.”
“Help me? Wish to help your pitiful sister, because she is so weak she can not care for herself…”
“No, Luna-”
“Save your breath, Celestia. Do you honestly believe I have not noticed? You exclude me more and more from the duties of this kingdom, you prevent petitioners from approaching me over you, everypony would rather bask in your precious light than enjoy a beautiful night.”
“Luna, you have it all wr-”
“You tried to take the moon from me!” Luna cried out. “You claim it was simply assisting me while I was infirm. But I understand. If I do nothing you will raise both Sun and Moon. Even those few who still acknowledge me will praise your name over mine when the night sky appears. There have been times when I have wondered if two Princesses were needed in Equestria. It seems that you think this as well.”
“That’s not true!” Celestia screamed, this time putting the royal voice into her own words. “Luna, you are my sister! I love you! I would never wish to see you come to harm. Your pain is my pain. I know now I have not been very good at recognizing it. I see now your wounds are far deeper than I’d ever realized, but please believe me when I say my every action was born out of that love.”
“Enough!” Luna cried. “If your love requires you to usurp my place in our rulership then I shall reject it gladly!”
The grey room around Celestia and Luna began to grow dark. In an instant the room, the entire room including the dream-memory of the Celestia of the past, literally shattered into nothingness. Luna was going to attack any second now. Celestia knew this, understood it, and did not dare try to fight back. Instead, she remembered what the Doctor nearly always did in this situation. She turned and ran.
“Sister, please, I don’t want to harm you,” Celestia called out as she ran through the chamber doors. Luna’s response echoed all around her.
“You? Harm me? You forget your place, sister. This is the realm of dreams. The realm of my dreams! You may escape me, you may inconvenience me, but to think you can harm me here is to prove your arrogance!”
“Fortunately escape and inconvenience are all we rrrequire,” a new voice said.
“Professor!” Celestia called out.
“Get out of there, Ace! There’s a great deal to do.”
“I’m already running, Doctor,” Celestia replied. “There is, however, a sister on the warpath right behind me.”
“Is she in any state of mind to be reasoned with?”
Celestia looked back. A blast of dark blue magical energy hit a patch of blackness just behind her.
“No. No she is not.”
“Then follow the sound of my voice and get away from her for now.”
As she ran in the direction she heard the Doctor from, she saw the air before her start to shimmer. Soon a portal appeared, and Celestia recognized what she saw on the other side.
So it all comes back to the Empire… she thought as the portal closed itself behind her.
* * * * *
“Do you see, Our Captain?" she said to him. "Do you see what Our night has become? A place in which the weak are preyed upon. A den of evil. One which must be purged."
Edge Glimmer stared at the creature that resembled his Princess. Dressed in armor, and with eyes almost like a cat’s.
“Who are you?” Edge Glimmer demanded. “What have you done with my Lady?”
“Captain Edge Glimmer, your Lady stands before you. Are We not Princess Luna, the one you are sworn to protect?”
“You don’t look like the Princess,” Edge Glimmer countered.
“Neither does Celestia. If you recall she became younger, an adolescent. Even you, dear Captain, have changed at least some. Is it truly a shock that We do not resemble Our outer self.”
“I suppose not,” Edge Glimmer replied warily.
“This change merely reflects Our epiphany. In this realm you have witnessed not just Our dreams but Our memories. You’ve seen the pain evil has used the night, my night, to inflict. Tell Us, Captain, what would you have Us do? We have tried Celestia’s way of punishing miscreants as they appear. However for every one struck down two more rise to victimize Our ponies. So instead We shall take a new approach. We will make anypony who exploits Our night fear it instead, so that they would not dare perform evil under Our watchful eyes. But We cannot do this alone. Captain Edge Glimmer, your Princess needs your help.”
Edge Glimmer’s eyes went wide as Luna said that last.
“Equestria is a large place, Our Captain. Even We can not hope to defeat the evil that taints Our night alone. We need Our guard, and Our guard needs you, its captain, to lead it. Edge Glimmer, will you help Us take back Our night? Will you lead Our armies?”
“I… you…”
“Why do you hesitate? Just look at the scene around us now. Remember the pain that your beloved wife endured this very night. Think on how the evil perpetrated in this village tainted even its victims and haunts us to this very day. Do you really wish to see another pony suffer the same way Meanderly did?”
“Of course not!” Edge Glimmer cried out.
“Then what stops you? Give Us your fealty, and we will ensure that nopony ever experiences such pain. What reason could you possibly have to deny Us?”
Edge Glimmer stood there, looking at the black pony. He looked at the frozen scene around him. Ponies futilely searching for survivors. Children like little Meanderly orphaned and mourning. Edge Glimmer knew he would do nearly anything he could to make sure nopony had to endure this.
Nearly anything.
“You’re not Princess Luna,” he declared at last.
“What?” the Princess was taken aback.
“You’re not Princess Luna,” Edge Glimmer repeated. “You very nearly had me, but I know my Lady. Everything you’ve said is true. The Princess has grown dismayed at how ponies view the night. She’s seen what you describe, the night being used for evil. However, you made one critical mistake. You failed to realize that which makes the Princess the one I admire above all others.”
“And what would that be?”
“The last thing Princess Luna would ever want is for ponies to fear the night. Her pain comes from feeling her nights are being abused and unappreciated. She would want ponies to see to see its beauty, and to want to make the night better. She would never condone what you suggest.”
Edge Glimmer did not anticipate what came next. The imposter began to laugh. It started out a low chuckle at first and grew into loud boisterous laughter.
“Loyal to your Princess’s ideals to the end, eh, Captain? Very well, if you shall not be Our ally, then you are declared Our enemy! Perhaps the rest of the Night Guard will prove more amenable to Our needs.”
With that the dark figure of the imposter princess vanished. The scene around Edge Glimmer began to fade out as well, leaving him alone among nothingness.
“Well done, Captain Edge Glimmer,” he heard a voice say.
“Doctor? Is that you?”
“It is. Excellent work resisting her compulsion.”
“Compulsion?”
“Yes. She was trying to influence your mind as she spoke to you. Just as you said, she did very nearly have you.”
“Doctor. The imposter! She said-”
“I know. I heard. Our time’s growing short. I have one more thing that must be done before we can leave this place. Follow the sound of my voice, and you’ll be able to join us.”
Edge Glimmer obeyed. Galloping in the direction he felt the Doctor’s voice had come from. As he charged he saw a hole appear in the sky. A doorway, almost. On the other side a land filled with structures of crystal.
I see. Edge Glimmer thought with a growl. The imposter spoke true. The past does still haunt us today.
He leapt through the doorway in the air and found himself in the land of crystal.
“Captain, are you all right?” a mare’s voice asked. Edge Glimmer looked up to see Princess Celestia, still in her patchwork jacket and looking young, watching him with concern.
“I am fine, Princess.”
“Good. I’m pleased,” she turned to the Doctor. “Professor, that… thing that was impersonating my sister, what is it? Do not try to evade the question, either. It’s clear you know what’s happening.”
“I actually know very little,” the Doctor replied. “No accounts exist of the events of this night. Instead they have become shrouded in the mists of myth and legend. That is the reason we’re here, in the Crystal Empire. We have long since passed through the realm of dreams. Now we are in the land of memory, and what we learn from the memories present here will, I hope, be invaluable.”
“To what end?” Celestia asked.
“To save Luna, if at all possible. But to do so we need information that won’t be found in the waking world. Only here in Luna’s dreams and memories will we learn what we need. Only here will we uncover the true origins of ‘Nightmare Moon.’”
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note
I'd been hoping to hold off on this and maybe release the next chapter of "Nightmare Night The Rest of the Time" along with this one, but I've wound up more blocked on that than expected. So I figured I'd go ahead and get this one out there.
I wasn't sure offhand how to write for the Eleventh Doctor, but then came up with a simple solution: Stream of consciousness writing. I just wrote what came into my head as it came into my head. This is one of those things that occurred to me relatively early, soon after I started the dream/memory walking idea. I just like the idea of two Doctors conversing without being in the same place and time, and still taking potshots at each other.
I've also since seen "Princess Twilight Sparkle" and I can fit my plans for the finale just fine with how events are depicted in the episode proper, in fact it saves me the trouble of battle choreography.
Finally, I'm honestly curious, has anyone else ever used the idea of Sombra being Luna's pupil, or am I the first to come up with that?
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
“Captain, are you all right?” a mare’s voice asked. Edge Glimmer looked up to see Princess Celestia, still in her patchwork jacket and looking young, watching him with concern.
“I am fine, Princess.”
“Good. I’m pleased,” she turned to the Doctor. “Professor, that… thing that was impersonating my sister, what is it? Do not try to evade the question, either. It’s clear you know what’s happening.”
“I actually know very little,” the Doctor replied. “No accounts exist of the events of this night. Instead they have become shrouded in the mists of myth and legend. That is the reason we’re here, in the Crystal Empire. We have long since passed through the realm of dreams. Now we are in the land of memory, and what we learn from the memories present here will, I hope, be invaluable.”
“To what end?” Celestia asked.
“To save Luna, if at all possible. But to do so we need information that won’t be found in the waking world. Only here in Luna’s dreams and memories will we learn what we need. Only here will we uncover the true origins of ‘Nightmare Moon.’”
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART FIVE
“Nightmare Moon?” Celestia asked. “Is that what that creature is called?”
The Doctor, having been looking at the Crystal Empire before them, turned to Celestia.
“It’s what it will be called in the fullness of time.”
“What do you know about it?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“Very little, actually, beyond the legends.”
“What do the legends say, Professor?”
“I can’t tell you that, not here.”
“Not acceptable Doctor,” Celestia snapped. “You’ve led us blindly along far enough. We need some answers.”
“That’s exactly what we’re here for, Celestia,” the Doctor told her. “But just telling you is out of the question. You know perfectly well the dangers of knowing too much about your own future. Even legends have a grrrain of truth to them and if I tell you what I know we risk setting that future in stone. As it is, depending on what we find here there may be an alternative. I need you to trust me.”
Celestia was silent for a moment. She took a deep breath, as if to steel herself before she answered.
“No, Doctor,” Celestia told him. “Any other time, I would put my trust in you wholeheartedly. Right now? With Luna’s life, quite possibly her soul at stake? I go no further until you tell me what those legends say.”
Edge Glimmer stood by Celestia in support. It was clear to the Doctor that they were going to be stubborn about this.
“You understand the risk?” the Doctor asked. Celestia nodded.
“If there are legends in the future already, then the risk exists no matter what we do. As you say, there may be an alternative. If there is, ignorance will not allow us to find it.”
“Very well,” the Doctor said. Celestia thought she saw the hint of a smile on his face as she stared him down. What he definitely did was motion for his two companions to sit down, which they did as they listened to him tell his tale.
“Once upon a time,” the Doctor began, “in the land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who rrruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.”
The two Equestrian ponies both caught on to the words “there were .”
“But as time went on, the younger sister became rrresentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.”
Both ponies listening were suddenly remembering every past instance of Princess Luna’s growing bitterness.
“One fateful day, the younger unicorn rrrefused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one’s heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.
“She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon… and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.”
“Permanently…” Edge Glimmer murmured. Princess Celestia’s reaction, however, was very different. She began to laugh.
“Princess?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“Sorry, Captain. I know it’s inappropriate, but I couldn’t help myself. I use the Elements of Harmony to banish Luna? The very idea is ludicrous!”
“Ace…” The Doctor said. “If things escalate too far, that may be the only choice.”
“You misunderstand, Doctor,” Celestia said as she stood back up. “You’re correct to assume I have absolutely no intention of wielding the Elements against my own sister. Even if I were, however, it wouldn’t matter. I could never wield them on my own!”
“What?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“The Elements of Harmony are powerfully magical items, Captain. They take a great deal of inner strength to use, and even then only respond to ponies who embody the Element of Harmony they represent.”
“She’s right about that,” the Doctor remarked thoughtfully. “They are at their most powerful when each individual element is wielded by a single pony. Anypony trying to wield more than one Element at a time would most likely have any magical energy within them drained completely before they could even be used. It’s using a sledgehammer to crrrack a peg, except the sledgehammer takes a great deal of strength to lift up only to become a simple mallet on the way down. Most times you’d be better off just using the mallet to begin with. Alicorns alone have the magical reserves necessary to even consider wielding multiple Elements at once.”
“And a single alicorn trying to wield all six?” Celestia shook her head. “I have more raw power than Luna and I know I would never be able to accomplish it.”
“But then why-” Edge Glimmer began to ask.
“Don’t you see, Captain?” Celestia said. “The legend the Professor is reciting from can’t possibly be what happens. I’m not sure yet what will happen, or how we’ll save Luna, but I know at least we don’t have to worry about me ‘banishing her permanently in the moon!’ In fact,” Celestia began to grin, “I would be willing to wager I’m the one who came up with the legend. You said it yourself, Doctor, there are no written accounts of what happened.”
“True, you know enough about time to know that wrrriting such events down can cause them to become fixed. It would be in your interest to create a false tale, instead,” the Doctor began to smile. “Then perhaps, if the Elements are not what bring about the fall of Nightmare Moon, there is something else we can do. Which means it’s more imperative than ever we find out just what Nightmare Moon truly is. Ace, Captain, what happened when you and Luna came here originally?”
As the Doctor asked, he began to walk towards the empire, the Princess right behind. Edge Glimmer got to his hooves and followed.
“We first learned of Sombra’s betrayal when one of my lieutenants who had accompanied him there on a diplomatic mission made his way home,” Edge Glimmer answered for the Princess. “He galloped for days with little rest in order to make sure we were alerted as soon as possible. Among the crystals found within the empire are those that could be used to amplify unicorn magic. Sombra discovered how to manipulate them and used them as his chance.”
“Luna had a hard time accepting what we had learned,” Celestia continued. “It wasn’t long after that guard’s return that we got a message from Sombra declaring himself King of the Crystal Empire. Fortunately, by then most of our Guard had been mobilized so we were able to march on the Empire far faster than Sombra had anticipated.”
“When we arrived, the Princess insisted on going in alone to speak to Sombra. She thought she could talk him out of this, make him realize he was making a mistake.”
“Everypony warned her it was dangerous. Possibly even a trap, as Sombra apparently agreed to a face to face meeting almost immediately,” Celestia said, picking up from Edge Glimmer. “I followed in secret, ready to intervene if necessary.
“They did indeed speak for a time. I couldn’t get close enough to hear what they said without alerting anypony to my presence. I only know they spoke, it became heated, and eventually they attacked one another. Sombra struck Luna with some kind of dark magic and I… I…”
Celestia couldn’t quite bring herself to say what she had done.
“You intervened,” the Doctor said for her. Celestia nodded, and Edge Glimmer noted a look of grim satisfaction on her face as she did so.
“Then the key may be in either the conversation or that magic. Let’s go. There’s no more time to waste.”
With that the three ponies galloped their way towards the Crystal Empire.
* * * * *
“This place is much gloomier than I remember when I was here.”
The Crystal Empire, heralded through Equestrian history as a place of beauty and wonder, looked tarnished. The crystals which made up many of the structures were clouded, the sky was a grim shade of dark red, thunderclouds appeared to fire off lightning at random.
“It wasn’t like this when you came in reality?” the Doctor asked out of curiosity.
“Not entirely,” Celestia said with a shake of her head. “It was still pretty bad, but this seems even worse than that.
“Princess Luna has said before that dreams and memories are influenced by emotions,” Edge Glimmer replied. Celestia nodded and continued.
“Luna is better than most at keeping them unaffected, but an especially traumatic memory will carry scars, no matter how powerful the pony is.”
“Given what I’ve learned in my own jaunt down Luna’s memory streets,” said the Doctor, continuing before anypony could correct his metaphor. “I doubt she’s experienced anything as traumatic as she did here.”
“True enough,” Edge Glimmer replied.
As the trio walked through the Empire’s main city they saw the Crystal Ponies that resided within. Their forms were indistinct, Luna having only seen them from above, but one did not need a clear look to know they were miserable. Their new King was definitely making his presence felt. Eventually they reached the Crystal Palace, which seemed even grayer and dimmer than the rest of the Empire combined.
The trio wandered the palace, generally heading upward since Celestia remembered the throne room being near the top of the palace. They were saved navigating the labyrinthine halls of the palace by the fact that Luna had been escorted through from the same gate they had entered. The ponies simply stuck to the clearest visible paths, where Luna’s memory was sharpest, and soon found themselves face to face with the Princess of the Night and the would-be King of Darkness.
Sombra sat upon a throne in the chamber. At first glance he appeared a unicorn like any other. It was his coloration that made him noticeable. Most unicorn horns matched the fur of their owner. Sombra’s was a dark red, in stark contrast to his black coat and mane. Old superstition had held such ponies were powerful in magics, and Luna knew that there was in fact more than mere superstition surrounding that claim. It was, Celestia remembered, what had prompted her to make the unicorn her pupil. Looking at her sister now, Celestia felt sure that she was regretting that decision.
“Sombra, what madness has taken thee?” Luna asked the black unicorn, barely keeping the Royal Voice from her tone. “Thy task was to aid these ponies with their studies on the new crystals. Yet We learn thou instead hast led a coup against them! Our Faithful student, what hast thou done?”
“My Princess,” Sombra began with a bow. “I have indeed done as you asked. I came to the empire and worked with them to uncover truths about a new kind of crystal. It had magical properties seen nowhere else in Equestria. In my study I learned it could give a tremendous boost to unicorn magic.”
“All well and good, but that fails to explain your takeover of this Empire.”
“Then please allow me to finish. My lady, while these crystals do provide an increase in power, they do so at the cost of inhibition. As a unicorn grows more powerful they also grow more unhinged and dangerous to everypony around them.“
“Thy point, student?” Luna asked.
“There was talk amongst the Crystal Ponies of selling these crystals in Equestria, with full knowledge of those effects. Some even suggested embedding these crystals into amulets so that a unicorn could wear them all the time. I tried to step in, to insist they respect the danger, but they refused to listen.”
Luna was silent for a long time. Edge Glimmer wondered if the Princess was seriously considering the line Sombra was trying to feed her. His Lady did not disappoint him in that regard.
“We give thy falsehoods credit for audacity, if naught else Sombra.”
Sombra’s pleasant expression changed into a glare so instantly Edge Glimmer almost stepped back.
“Even assuming thy story true, dost thou seriously expect Us to believe that your only recourse to such a threat was to conquer the entire Crystal Empire? To commit an act of war when the crystal ponies had not yet actually done anything? If thou truly believe that then a thou art a fool! But that is not thy belief, is it? Just like Meanderly and many others, Sombra, thou hast lived in Whinnychester, learned from Us and Our sister. We in turn have learned from thou. ”
As Luna spoke, the Royal Voice had begun to creep into her words. Now she let it loose in its full fury.
“Dost thou truly think that after all these years We cannot detect a lie when We hear one? We ask again, Sombra, what madness has taken thee?”
Sombra did not answer. He merely glared at his mentor. Luna let out a sigh.
“I had hoped that I had heard wrong,” Luna continued, dropping the royal We and voice. “Sombra, my student, it is not too late. We can end this, here and now. There will be consequences, but if we take steps now, perhaps the Crystal Ponies can be convinced to let us handle those consequences in-”
“Enough,” Sombra said at last. His voice held a finality to it that shocked Luna.
“Pardon?” she asked. She was unused to anypony interrupting her.
“I said enough, Princess. As in I’ve had enough. Enough of this conversation, enough of being the servant, enough of you! You ask what madness has overtaken me? No madness at all. I simply realized what it was I truly desired. I’m not like that little fool Meanderly or her sycophant husband. I am not content to be some naive mare’s errand boy.”
“Naive?!” Luna asked in shock.
“Oh yes. Naive. You and your sister both, ‘Princess.’ All the power you have, and yet you refuse to use it! This world could be yours in a breath, yet all you do is prattle on about Harmony and friendship! I considered this, and I realized just what needed to be done.
“If you will not make proper use of your great power, then perhaps somepony else should posses it instead.”
The Doctor, Celestia, and Edge Glimmer all looked around the chamber as the throne room’s door slammed shut and magical barriers formed along the windows. Sombra had sealed the room, they were trapped. Luna was immediately on the defensive, but hesitation at the thought of fighting her student cost her. A blast of magic hit her solidly in the chest, throwing her to the throne room floor.
“Luna!” Celestia screamed and ran to her sister, only to go right through as she tried to help Luna to her hooves. Edge Glimmer, for his part, charged at Sombra, fully prepared to gore the unicorn with his own horn. He too passed right through his target.
“Both of you!” the Doctor cried out. “Remember, this isn’t reality. We cannot affect what is about to happen!”
As Luna lay on the floor, black bands of magical energy bound her legs, immobilizing her. Sombra stood over her, using his magic to levitate a small box to him. From it he extracted a small necklace, an amulet in which the centerpiece resembled an alicorn.
“Do you like it?” Sombra asked conversationally. “I had it made just for the occasion. What I said before about the crystals you see here was true. The unicorns who used these gems to channel their power went mad. Those are, however, the long term effects. In the short term, all using this amulet will do is increase my power several fold. Increase it enough to match even an alicorn’s power.”
“To what end, my faithless student?” Luna asked through gritted teeth as Sombra levitated the alicorn-shaped amulet around his neck.
“For exactly the reason I said. If you will not use your great powers, then I will make them mine!”
Sombra’s horn, rather than shine like it should when casting magic, became surrounded by dark energy.
“Dark magic?!” Luna said in shock. “Where could thou have learned of that?!”
“Neither Whinnychester nor Canterlot had any tomes involving this power,” Sombra admitted. “You and Celestia saw to that. The crystal ponies, since they cannot use unicorn magic, never had a reason to worry about removing or hiding such tomes. I learned a great deal once I found their libraries.”
Sombra released the dark energy building at his horn, firing it into Luna. The Princess of the Night screamed as a beam of pure darkness pierced her heart. Heedless of the Doctor’s warnings both Celestia and Edge Glimmer were firing magic at the image of Sombra. The Doctor, however, stood to the side and watched the scene unfold. Just as he had in the memory of his future self, he watched the mouth of the black unicorn as he muttered a spell to himself.
“So that was your plan,” the Doctor said to himself. His companions heard him, as they stopped their assault in the memory of Sombra to look at him. Before the Doctor could explain further Luna unleashed a bolt of magic from her horn, placing a shield before her and pushing away the beam of dark magic that had been affecting her. As she fought, Princess Luna was able to spare some magic for her bindings and got back to her hooves. Sombra struggled against the barrier for a time; until the amulet around his neck flared up. A surge of darkness burst from Sombra’s horn, impacting and quickly shattering the defensive wall Luna had put up.
This time Luna was struck down. As she fell the world around the Doctor and his companions began to break and shatter. As the Princess of the Night lay motionless, Sombra used his powers to remove the amulet from around his neck. He levitated it into a box and teleported it to parts unknown. All around, the memory grew dark. The last thing any of the three saw was Princess Celestia, in all her full glory crashing into the room and standing between her sister and Sombra, now without his amulet.
“What’s happening?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“Luna lost consciousness at this point,” Princess Celestia answered. “If we’re going through memories rather than dreams, then we won’t see anything Luna herself doesn’t know happened.”
No sooner had Celestia finished speaking than a pair of voices began to speak.
Naive.
No.
Never saw it coming, did you?
I thought I had found somepony who understood the night as I did.
“Doctor?!” Edge Glimmer said. “These voices, one of them is Princess Luna!”
Sombra did understand. Better than yourself.
He understood only darkness...
Fool. The night is darkness.
No!
Yes! It has become a place of evil. No wonder ponies shy away from it.
“The other sounds like Luna’s voice,” Celestia said. “But something is off.”
That can’t be true.
Too blind to see. Too weak to act. Poor wittle Wuna. Needs big sister to clean up her mess. Perhaps Equestria only needs one Princess.
The only reply from Luna’s voice was a quiet sob.
But which should it be?
“It’s Nightmare Moon,” the Doctor proclaimed. “Or, rather, the entity that will eventually become Nightmare Moon. Celestia, can you wake us up? Nap time is over now.”
Celestia nodded. With a flash of her horn, the darkness around the trio became total.
* * * * *
“Professor? Captain?”
“Here, Princess.”
“I’m awake Celestia.”
Celestia was unsteady standing up. She wondered if it was because she had spent time in a smaller body while in Luna’s mind. Once on her hooves she checked on the other two. The Doctor was propping himself up on his umbrella while Edge Glimmer was also shaky getting back onto his hooves.
“What did we just witness?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“Sombra’s last gambit,” the Doctor said as he steadied himself. “Whether it was his plan all along, or he only came up with it when he realized you were coming, I cannot guess. Regardless, it’s clear to me what he intended.”
“He wanted to claim Luna’s power for his own,” Celestia said. “Though no unicorn, even Sombra, would have been capable of holding all of that power in his body.”
“Which is why he wasn’t after just Luna’s power. That last incantation before you broke in, Celestia, was intended to allow him to steal Luna’s body , too.”
“Possession?!” Edge Glimmer’s eyes became wide. “Is such a thing even possible?”
“It would take a highly skilled unicorn to even attempt it,” Celestia answered. “But even the most powerful unicorn could only attempt it on another unicorn. Or a pegasus or earth pony.”
“Which is where that amulet came in,” the Doctor said. “It gains a good deal of infamy over the years to come. Sombra was exactly right in the effects it has on ponies who have wielded it. Great power at the cost of mental stability. Which is perhaps why he had the sense to use it for only one specific purpose.”
“But then why discard it on my arrival?” Celestia asked, staring at the floor in thought. “Whatever his intentions, it should have been in his interest to keep it and battle me. He had no chance of winning without it.”
“That’s just it. He never intended to defeat you, Celestia,” the Doctor replied. “I couldn’t hear him, but I read Sombra’s lips during the incantation. The spell that he hit Luna with at the very beginning was what he truly needed the amulet for.”
“What did it do?” Edge Glimmer asked. “Part of the possession?”
“Yes. It was the spadework. The spell that would place the way for Sombra to complete his theft of Luna’s physical body. The darkness that entered Luna would’ve eaten away at her soul, her essence, to create a space in which Sombra could enter and finish the job once his own soul was free of its body.”
“How did he intend to accomplish that?” Edge Glimmer asked in horrified fascination.
“In the simplest way possible,” the Doctor replied. “By dying.”
“If that was his intention, then his plan backfired,” Celestia replied, a grim satisfaction in her voice. “After I saw what he did to Luna, the one thing I didn’t do was kill him.”
Edge Glimmer shivered. He was so used to his own Lady’s remarkable temper that it was easy to forget that Princess Celestia was every bit as capable of that same anger. Nopony had witnessed it, but it was well known that Princess Celestia had not killed Sombra, but instead had transformed his very being to shadow. He, and the Crystal Empire, vanished after that to parts unknown.
“You’re right about that,” the Doctor said to the Princess. “Sombra paid the price for underestimating you. Removing him, however, did not remove the dark magic from Luna. It’s still there.”
“Only now,” Edge Glimmer said, hoping he was catching on properly. “Sombra isn’t there to direct it. It’s been acting on its own?”
“Not at first. The dark magic had no mind of its own, as such,” the Doctor explained. “When it was cast, it was given a specific task: Create a place for its master and sustain itself until that master entered into the body. When that master never arrived, the magic set out to sustain itself indefinitely.”
“The attacks!” Celestia exclaimed. The Doctor nodded. Edge Glimmer simply looked at the pair, feeling like he was falling behind. The Princess explained.
“Where normal unicorn magic may draw a small amount of ambient power to sustain itself, dark magic does the same by completely consuming that which is around it. Only it couldn’t feed off of Luna, not without risking her life.”
Edge Glimmer looked to the Doctor as he continued to spin the tale.
“That is not the same thing as saying it couldn’t feed off of her at all. Dark magic is attracted to negative emotions. Anger, pain, despair.”
“All things the Princess would naturally feel following Sombra’s betrayal,” Edge Glimmer realized. “It fed off of those emotions as much as it could.”
“And amplified them in Luna herself to do so,” the Doctor replied. “But that, as Celestia said, couldn’t last forever. It needed something more. In feeding off Luna as much it could, it also began to be able to tap into Luna’s natural abilities. That is the source of the ponies who have been attacked in their dreams, Captain Edge Glimmer. This darkness has been attacking ponies, causing fear and terror to feed off of.”
“That could explain why it only ever attacked during the day…” Edge Glimmer speculated. “We had been assuming the attacker was intelligent, choosing not to attack during the nighttime hours. If this was happening to the Princess, and she was completely unaware of it-”
“Our arguments aside, if Luna so much as suspected something like this she would’ve alerted us immediately,” Celestia interrupted.
“Indeed. If she was unaware of it, then the only time this creature could act was when the Princess slept. Either it was incapable of doing so otherwise, or had enough intelligence not to try anything when she was conscious.”
“Which explains the reason for the attack that prompted us to come in here to begin with,” the Doctor was pleased the captain was keeping up. “We had finally gotten Luna to take a night to rest. It was able to act during the night for the first time.”
“But then...” Edge Glimmer said. “One thing doesn’t seem right, Doctor. You said that this dark power was unintelligent. But while we were in the Princess’s dream, it spoke to me. It tried to reason with me and, if what you said is true, tried to compel me to obey it.”
It was Princess Celestia who answered.
“If it started out feeding on Luna’s own negative feelings, on her sadness and anger, then it’s quite possible it’s gained some intelligence of its own as a side-effect.”
“What started as a formless, mindless blob of dark magic has become a shadow of its host,” the Doctor said. “A creature that acts on the feelings the pony herself never would. That is Nightmare Moon. The essence of all Luna’s insecurities and desires to lash out gradually overpowering her.”
“That thing will cause neither my sister nor Equestria any further harm!” Celestia declared. “Now that we know what we face, the next order of business is to exorcise that darkness from Luna’s… from Luna’s… Where’s Luna?”
The Doctor and Edge Glimmer turned their heads immediately to look at the bed upon which Princess Luna had been sleeping when they entered. So intent on their conversation none of the three had noticed that the bed was empty, and appeared as if it had been for some time. A quick look around the room saw nopony, possessed by darkness or otherwise, in the room aside from the three of them. Edge Glimmer carefully went to the bedchamber’s main door and opened it. On the other side was the same guards that had opened the door for them when they first entered. Nothing seemed wrong at first glance until Edge Glimmer got a look at their eyes.
The guards’ eyes had changed, into the dark, cat-like eyes of the creature Nightmare Moon.
“Ah,” said one of the guards, a unicorn, “you’re awake. We wondered how long it would take.”
The pony spoke with a voice other than his own. It spoke with the voice of Nightmare Moon. The guard’s horn flared with a black darkness and all three ponies, even Princess Celestia, were restrained.
TO BE CONTINUED
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
“What started as a formless, mindless blob of dark magic has become a shadow of its host,” the Doctor said. “A creature that acts on the feelings the pony herself never would. That is Nightmare Moon. The essence of all Luna’s insecurities and desires to lash out gradually overpowering her.”
“That thing will cause neither my sister nor Equestria any further harm!” Celestia declared. “Now that we know what we face, the next order of business is to exorcise that darkness from Luna’s… from Luna’s… Where’s Luna?”
The Doctor and Edge Glimmer turned their heads immediately to look at the bed upon which Princess Luna had been sleeping when they entered. The bed was empty, and appeared as if it had been for some time. A quick look around the room saw nopony, possessed by darkness or otherwise, in the room aside from the three of them. Edge Glimmer carefully went to the bed chamber's main door and opened it. On the other side was the same guards that had opened the door for them when they first entered. Nothing seemed wrong at first glance until Edge Glimmer got a look at their eyes.
The guards’ eyes had changed, into the dark, cat-like eyes of the creature Nightmare Moon.
“Ah,” said one of the guards, a unicorn. “You’re awake. We wondered how long it would take.”
The pony spoke with a voice other than his own. It spoke with the voice of Nightmare Moon. The guard’s horn flared with a black darkness and all three ponies, even Princess Celestia, were restrained.
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART SIX
The three ponies struggled against the unicorn guard’s magic, amplified by the apparent possession of Nightmare Moon. Only Celestia, casting her own magic as she did, seemed to make any headway in standing. As soon as they noticed the guards’ magic focused on the Princess and forced her down again. Celestia suspected Nightmare Moon was augmenting them with her own power.
The trio’s struggle came to a sudden end when one of the tapestries suddenly flew from the wall and threw itself at the guard ponies. The spell holding the three ponies broke as the two guards concentration became focused on untangling themselves.
“Everypony! Over here!”
Celestia thought she recognized the voice. Edge Glimmer certainly did as his head snapped up to look to its source. Celestia did as well and saw a dark blue unicorn standing where a solid wall had been just a few moments prior.
Celestia, the Doctor, and Edge Glimmer got to their hooves and ran towards the unicorn. After they all passed her by she used her magic to slide a piece of stone wall that had opened inward like a doorway. Celestia’s own horn lit up, casting a spell to seal the door behind them so they couldn’t be followed. Celestia breathed a sigh of relief with the current crisis averted. She looked to the Doctor, who was simply watching Edge Glimmer and their rescuer, who were nuzzling one another.
“Meanderly, how did you find us?” Edge Glimmer asked the unicorn mare.
“I was not exactly looking for you,” she replied. “Not specifically. I was just looking in general. I had just set out to try and find anypony who was not beset by this madness that has affected the castle.”
“As usual, my love, your instincts led you to exactly the right place to go.”
“Indeed, my dear, your timing was impeccable,” the Doctor said to her, then remembering his manners lifted his hat over his head. “I’m the Doctor, pleased to meet you.”
“The Doctor?” Meanderly asked suspiciously. “That cannot be right. I met the Doctor, you look nothing like him.”
“Rest assured, Meanderly, this is the very Doctor you met previously,” Celestia assured her. “He has a distinct habit of not having the same appearance twice in a row. I have seen at least eleven different faces over the years.”
“One must change with the times,” said the Doctor with a grin. “At any rrrate, we have more pressing concerns.”
Edge Glimmer nodded and turned to his wife. The four ponies began walking through the passage, the unicorn Meanderly leading the way.
“Meanderly, what’s happening in the castle, how long has it been happening? Is the baby safe?”
“She’s fine,” Meanderly assured him. “As for your other questions, it seems everypony’s been… possessed by something. They are not acting like themselves. I am told by those I have found it has been happening since a few hours after sunset. It is almost time for the sunrise, now.”
“I’ll deal with that as soon as I can,” Celestia said. “What else can you tell us, Meanderly?”
“Not much more. I was…” the hoofmaiden cleared her throat and looked away. “I was asleep for much of what was happening.”
The Doctor instantly became alert, watching Meanderly very carefully.
“What happened as you slept?” he asked. “Did you dream?”
Meanderly froze. Celestia thought she might have seen the mare shudder. Edge Glimmer must have, as well, for he was at her side immediately.
“Yes…” She said after a moment. “At first it was some silly dream. I do not even remember it. But soon something attacked me.”
With some gentle prodding from her husband, Meanderly began to walk forward again.
“Some dark, black, shadowy… thing . I ran for what felt like forever. It chased after me. It was horrible. It felt as if the creature intended to devour me, just as in fairy tales we read to children about the monster that will gobble them up.”
“What happened then?” the Doctor pressed. “How did you escape being consumed?”
“The baby started crying,” she said simply. “It woke me up. As I tended to my child, some guards came to my chambers. I could tell immediately something was wrong with them, so I ran past them and escaped. I used the castle’s hidden passages to find a safe place for my daughter and have been finding other unafflicted ponies where I could.”
“Who else has been left unaffected?” the Doctor asked. Celestia noticed a look in his eyes. “Are you the only one looking for other ponies?”
He knows something, she realized.
“I am the only one who can,” Meanderly claimed. “I would not put anypony else I found at risk.”
“But surely somepony could at least he-” Edge Glimmer began. Meanderly interrupted him.
“The only ponies I’ve found unafflicted thus far except yourselves have been children.”
Celestia, having stayed quiet during this discussion and instead watching the Doctor, saw him nod to himself when Meanderly said that.
“Where are the children, now?” Celestia asked, entering into the conversation.
“The library,” Meanderly told them. “Specifically the hidden chamber within. I fear for how long it will remain secure.
Meanderly suddenly stopped with a gasp.
“Edge Glimmer! I must tell you something important. One of the ponies this darkness has affected… it is…”
“Princess Luna,” Edge Glimmer finished. “We know.”
“And we intend to free her from it,” the Doctor said. Celestia and Edge Glimmer nodded, too.
“Let’s get to the library for now,” Celestia told everypony. “We can check on the children you told us about and plan from there. It should also provide a place for me to raise the sun and start the day.”
Celestia thought she heard the Doctor mutter something.
“What was that Doctor?”
“Nothing, nothing at all,” the Doctor replied.
Celestia watched the Doctor as he walked ahead. Celestia could have sworn she heard him say something. She hadn’t been able to hear it clearly.
It sounded like “Assuming she’ll let you.”
* * * * *
Whinnychester Castle was built with a large number of hidden chambers and passages. This was primarily for reasons of security common to any castle, but that wasn’t the sole reason. Knowing that this castle would only be temporary, a capitol to be used until the reconstruction of Canterlot was completed, the Princesses had opted to have a little fun during the construction phase.
The castle was filled with various harmless pranks and tricks for those who walked through it carelessly. It was often just the thing to liven up an otherwise dull or frustrating day, seeing if either Celestia or Luna could get the other to fall into some little trap or other. The staff occasionally stumbled into the pitfalls and tricks, but eventually learned to avoid them.
To the sisters’ surprise, and slight annoyance, there was one pony who had never once fallen into a trapdoor, pressed a switch to make something jump out at her, nor even once fell into one of the tunnels triggered by the Organ to the Outside. No matter what happened, this pony always found her way through the castle without incident. Those times she did activate a hidden doorway, it often simply became a shortcut to whatever she was looking for in the first place.
Given Meanderly’s Cutie Mark was all about being able to find her way no matter what, the sisters realized they should never have been surprised by that.
Now, once again, that gift was employed as she led the three other ponies through the tunnels and passages without error. Not once did they encounter a guard that couldn’t be avoided and almost never did they actually have to leave the tunnels within the walls. Eventually, the four came into into an extensive library where Meanderly, without hesitation, walked over and tipped a specific chair back. Two of the library’s bookcases spread apart, exposing a door behind them.
Celestia did not realize anypony else knew of that particular room, as it was one Luna and Celestia used when they needed some time alone. Meanderly walked up to it and knocked on it three times with her hoof. Celestia heard the inside locks open up and the door creep open. They heard the voice of a colt from behind the door.
“Is that you, Meanderly?”
“It is, dear. I found some more ponies. Let us in, please.”
The door opened and everypony stepped into the private study. As Meanderly had said, everypony in the room was an adolescent or younger. All of them flocked to the Princess and began asking questions of her. All but one. A pink unicorn foal had leapt from where she sat and ran right for Edge Glimmer and Meanderly.
“Mama!” she cried out as she began nuzzling her Meanderly’s legs.
“We’re here,” she told her daughter. “Papa and I both.”
The foal moved from mother to father, who nuzzled her in return.
The Doctor stayed off to the side, leaning on his umbrella and watching the scene before him, a smile on his face. He changed his focus to where Celestia addressed the fillies and colts who had run to her. Some had cutie marks, others did not. The oldest among them was on the early side of adolescent. She had them sitting before her, and give them a basic explanation of the situation.
“My little ponies, a great darkness has taken hold of this castle,” she told them. “Princess Luna and your families are being controlled by that darkness. These ponies and myself are going to try and free everypony from that control, but there are things that must be done. First and foremost.”
Celestia’s horn lit up with her magic, outside, the dark night sky began to brighten as the sun rose and dawn shone over Equestria. The daily act was normally mundane, nothing that required a big show. She saved that for the Summer Sun Celebration or when somepony needed a bit of reassurance, as these children clearly did. The sun in the sky and the children calmed, Celestia pulled the Doctor aside.
“Professor, we need to talk.”
“Of course.”
“While we were in Luna’s mind, you were very intent on learning about Nightmare Moon’s origins. I assume that to mean you have a plan. Please, I need to know what it is. No holding back. Not this time.”
The Doctor hesitated in his answer. He was clearly thinking of how best to respond.
“Celestia… Ace… do you remember what I taught you about fixed points in time?”
The Doctor got his answer when he saw Celestia suddenly become tense.
“So tonight is a fixed point, I take it?” Celestia asked after she recovered.
“It is. Or, at the very least, the appearance and subsequent defeat of Nightmare Moon are fixed.”
“What do you mean, Professor?”
“What I mean, Ace, is that those are the only things that we truly know about this night. The details were never recorded and, if what you say is true, what is known is inaccurate. In other words, tonight’s events are fixed, but we don’t necessarily know what those events are.”
“Then there’s a way to save Luna?” Celestia asked hopefully.
“A slim chance,” the Doctor confessed. “But yes. Nightmare Moon was spawned by Luna’s darker emotions and feelings, but she has developed into an independent being. While Nightmare Moon is now influencing Luna’s behavior, she is not Luna herself any longer. That was what I had to be certain of. That the real Luna is still somewhere deep inside.”
“If we can awaken her, then, get her to fight back...” Celestia started to see where the Doctor was heading.
“That’s one option, certainly,” the Doctor nodded.
“Well, then, Professor, as I see it we have two things to do now. First is get these children out of harms way. The second is save my sister.”
The Doctor considered this.
“Are there any shelters or safe places in the castle they can go to? Preferably outside, in case a fight erupts.”
Celestia nodded.
“A few. One in particular is located outside the castle and should serve until everything is finished.”
“That will do. Meanderly is obviously adept at navigating the castle. If we send Edge Glimmer along as an escort-”
“I’d like you to go, too, Doctor.”
“Out of the question. You’ll need me to face Nightmare Moon.”
“Perhaps. But I want to face her myself first. Luna knows me. Trusts me. I might better get through to her alone than if I were with you.”
The Doctor glared at Celestia, but found himself unable to reject this logic.
“Very well. But as soon as these children are safe I have every intention of coming after you.”
Celestia surprised him with a smile.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Professor.”
* * * * *
With everypony else escorting the children, Celestia made her way to Whinnychester’s throne room. While the others were using the hidden passages of the castle to make their way outdoors, Celestia walked straight through the main corridors. She paid the mesmerized guards no heed. The guards themselves simply stood to the side, watching her. Celestia could see the eyes of Nightmare Moon looking at her through every one of them. With any luck, this meant that she wasn’t watching through any of the guards who might see the Doctor’s group. Celestia strode forward, wary of attack by any of the ponies. Under most circumstances, she wouldn’t worry at all. With Nightmare Moon apparently able to amplify a normal unicorn’s power, however, caution was well warranted.
No attack came, however, and she was able to reach the throne room without incident. At first glance, the room containing the sisters’ two thrones seemed to be empty. Celestia began to walk towards the thrones when she heard Luna’s voice.
“Stay where you are, sister!”
“Luna,” Celestia called out. “Where are you?”
“Out of sight. Out of mind. Right where you would prefer me, is it not?”
“Of course not,” Celestia replied. “Luna, when we fought Sombra-”
“Do not speak that name!” Luna’s voice shouted. Celestia pressed on.
“You were aware of us in your mind before. You had to have heard us speaking. Saw what we did. Sombra infected you. Struck you with something very dark. It’s been eating away at you ever since. Luna, you need to fight its influence, before it’s truly too late.”
“Too late? Too late for what, sister? Too late to become the obedient little sister once more? Too late to resume my place in your shadow? Too late to see my night’s rejection continue?!”
Celestia hadn’t expected this to go so badly so quickly.
Is she already too far gone? Celestia thought. Please, don’t let that be so.
“Luna… I’m sorry,” she said, bowing her head. “I never knew how much pain you were going through. How ignored you felt,” tears began to form in the princess’s eyes. “I love you. If I made any mistakes they were made because of that love. Not out of any ill will. I swear it! Right now, what I want is my Luna back. My wonderful, intelligent sister! Should you decide that’s not who you wish to be, then that’s fine, also. But please, before we can discuss anything… change anything... we have to remove Nightmare Moon’s influence from you and everypony else in the castle. The only one who can do that is you Luna! I beg you, resist!”
There was silence for several tense seconds until...
“What if I do not wish to resist?”
“W-What…?”
“Ever since the Crystal Empire, I’ve begun to see the truths I had once ignored. Truths I convinced myself could not be so, because of you and your so-called love. You recall our talk, up in the tower, do you not? You may yet be sincere, my sister, when you say you want me back. But what of everypony else? What of all those ponies who ignore or abuse my night?! Would they even notice?”
“Luna…”
“They wouldn’t, sister! Nopony would even realize I was truly gone. It is you they love, you and your day! I have begun to understand that so long as the day exists, nopony will ever truly appreciate the night.”
“What are you saying?” Celestia asked. Please, don’t say what it sounds like you’re going to…
“The solution is really quite simple, sister,” Luna said. “If the day is the reason nopony will value the night, then I must take away the day. I shall bring an eternal night to Equestria!”
“Luna, listen to yourself!” Celestia began to move closer to the thrones.
“Not another step.”
Luna showed herself at last, walking out from behind the blue throne of the night.
“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?”
Celestia stared at her sister in horror as she walked to the podium between the two thrones.
“There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be me!”
With this Luna reared up and stamped the floor, a shadow emerged and grew from where her hooves struck. As it crossed them, it cracked the podium, the wall directly behind Luna, and destroyed completely the window high on that wall. From where the window used to be, Celestia briefly saw the sun she had risen before Luna’s body floated from the floor and, behind her, the moon appeared and eclipsed the sun.
As soon as the act had been committed, dark energy began swirling around Luna. The last thing Celestia saw as the shadows enveloped her sister was an expression on Luna’s face that seemed as surprised as Celestia herself was. The darkness formed a sphere around the Princess of the Night for several seconds, glowing bright then becoming utterly black before breaking open.
When it did, Celestia saw her greatest fear before her. No longer was Princess Luna the dark blue alicorn she knew. The pony before her now was a fanged, black monstrosity. The creature stood there, laughing maniacally to itself. As if she simply could not contain herself, the black alicorn shot a blast of magic from its horn, destroying a statue of Celestia and a good portion of the ceiling.
Celestia could no longer stand idle. She realized that if compassion and love were not going to appeal to Luna, she had but one route left. One thing that Luna valued above all else.
“Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty! ”
“Luna?” the creature asked. “I am... Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!”
Nightmare Moon fired a blast of magic from her horn. Celestia dodged it and took off through one of the holes that had been blasted into the ceiling.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Nightmare Moon asked as she took to the air and gave chase.
* * * * *
The Doctor, Edge Glimmer, and Meanderly had just finished sneaking the last of the children through the castle gates when the new day suddenly turned night. To their surprise, not one guard had even tried to stop them, even when one of the kids had stumbled out in full view of one of them. She had jumped back to hiding in a panic, the guard had clearly seen it occur, and had done absolutely nothing except continue about his rounds. The Doctor filed that away in the back of his mind. He had bigger problems now.
“What’s happening?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“Eternal Night,” the Doctor told him. “Nightmare Moon is coming into her full power.”
“Are we too late?” Edge Glimmer asked. Before anypony could respond, two alicorn princesses burst out of the castle. One was immediately recognizable as Princess Celestia. The other could only be Princess Luna. She looked different, however. Her coat had gone completely black. She was also firing magic wildly, trying to hit Celestia. Celestia flew around the castle dodging every attack until one finally hit her and sent her falling back into the castle.
“Princess Celestia!” Edge Glimmer shouted. “Doctor-”
Edge Glimmer looked to where the Doctor had been standing and realized he was no longer there. Meanderly noticed, too.
“He must’ve left as soon as Celestia and that other pony appeared,” she said. “Edge Glimmer… that other pony… was that…?”
“Yes,” Edge Glimmer admitted sadly. “That looked just like the creature ‘Nightmare Moon’ we saw in the Princess’s dreams.”
“Then that thing is Princess Luna?!” Meanderly asked.
Edge Glimmer hesitated before answering. Husband and wife looked at one another for a few moments. The children were confused, unsure what was going on. The couple’s own foal moved underneath her mother for comfort.
“Go,” Meanderly told her husband. “Go to the Princess. I’ll watch the children.”
“But-”
“Glimmer, the Princess needs us. We can’t both go, and I can make sure everypony gets to shelter. More importantly, you are the captain of the Princess’s guard. Go after the Doctor and do something, anything for our Princess!”
Edge Glimmer looked to his wife and daughter, nodded, and took off in the direction he had seen the fight end.
* * * * *
Nightmare Moon hovered in the air, looking down on where Celestia had fallen. She was considering whether it would be more enjoyable to go down and finish the Princess of the Day or let her come back up for more, first. Her thoughts were interrupted by the approach of a pony. She saw the off-white coat of the Doctor, in his brown jacket and umbrella.
“Good evening,” the Doctor said, raising his hat to her. “You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself.”
“I am indeed, Doctor,” Nightmare Moon replied as she landed close to him. “The night and, soon, all of Equestria will be mine. All I need do is remove a few bothersome pests from my castle.”
“Am I to prrresume I rank among those pests?”
“You do, indeed. I saw what you witnessed when you were in the dreamscape, Doctor. You knew exactly where you needed to go and how to get there. Nopony save myself has such skill in the psychic realms. You definitely need to go.”
“How much of our trek did you see?”
“Nearly all,” Nightmare Moon answered. “I could observe nearly everything, even if I did not act.”
“Or could not,” the Doctor replied pleasantly, Nightmare Moon’s expression, however, darkened with anger. “If you saw what the three of us did, then you also heard what we discussed. You know what history records this night.”
“I also know, from Celestia’s own words, that those events are impossible.”
“Yet they happen. Or, at least, something very much like them.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Did Celestia ever tell Luna about the concept of fixed points in time?”
Nightmare Moon looked at the Doctor in confusion.
“Thought not,” the Doctor said. “Time is, for the most part, in flux. Events can be affected, even completely altered, and history will find a way to work it into the overall narrative. Some points, however, are fixed. Fixed points are so because their effects on later events are so important, so profound that tampering with even one would cause untold damage to all that came after. These are the climactic battles that inspire, the great disasters and tragedies, the sacrifices heroic ponies have had to make.”
“Why do you tell me this?”
“Because I’m about to suggest tampering with a fixed point in time,” the Doctor said. “You remember what I said to Celestia? That the events of this night were not recorded beyond a few myths?”
Nightmare Moon’s eyes suddenly narrowed in speculation.
“You knew I was listening. You said all that for my benefit.” It was not a question.
“Not solely for yours,” the Doctor admitted, “but yes. I wanted you to hear that.”
“You even exploited my own memories of encounters with you… What manner of creature are you, Doctor, that you only ever make sense in hindsight.”
“A creature whose interest lies in ensuring a loved one need not suffer more than can be avoided.”
“You speak of Celestia?”
“I do. I had to hurt her very deeply once. That’s an act I don’t wish to repeat. I don’t want to see her suffer the loss of her sister. Even if doing so should put myself and the TARDIS at risk. Even if doing so should risk the very state of the universe itself. Even if doing so means robbing some of Equestria’s finest heroes of their first victory over darkness!”
“So what do you intend?”
“We leave,” the Doctor said simply. “You and I take off in the TARDIS. I’d always thought about asking if Luna wanted a go. Never got around to it. Along the way, we rrremove you, Nightmare Moon, from Luna’s body. Find you one of your own. A willing host, perhaps, or some other alternative. A way for both of you to live. Then I merely bring Luna back to the point she’s destined to return, with a few stops to visit her sister along the way.”
“And everypony lives Happily Ever After, Doctor?”
“Everypony lives, at any rate.”
“And if I were to refuse your generous offer?”
“Then one way or another, you will spend the next one thousand years locked away in the moon. Nopony wants that.”
The Doctor watched as Nightmare Moon appeared to truly consider his proposition.
“A question, Doctor. You confess that your motivations in this matter are based on your feelings for the Princess. What is to stop you from betraying our bargain? To completely destroy me once I have vacated this vessel?”
“A valid question. You’re right. This is a gamble for you. As a show of good faith, I’m willing to allow you another vessel. A willing host that will make no move to remove you beyond what we’ve agreed upon. That puts the onus to cooperate on both sides.”
“And that willing host would be?”
“Myself.”
“Hmph. Nice try, Doctor,” Nightmare Moon said. “But do you truly expect me to believe you would sacrifice yourself so nobly? You’re far too clever to just let me take you without some way of removing me by force if necessary. Or potentially destroy me while we share your body.”
“Then how about me?” a new voice said.
“Captain?!” the Doctor exclaimed.
Edge Glimmer had reached the Doctor and Nightmare Moon. He stepped forward and took a position next to the Doctor.
“How much did you hear?” the Doctor asked.
“Enough to know you want to spare both the Princess and this creature.”
“You’re willing to risk yourself on this bargain?”
“If it means freeing my Lady from that thing’s grasp, yes I am.”
“There you have it,” the Doctor said to Nightmare Moon. “A willing host unlikely to overpower you on his own merits, no offense Captain. That should solve most of our short-term concerns long enough to formulate a permanent solution."
Nightmare Moon did not seem convinced.
“Nightmare Moon, you began life as a construct. A bit of magic with but one purpose. That purpose is moot now, but you live on. Through Luna you have gained a mind of your own. You now have one of the most precious gifts of all, the ability to choose. I warn you, however, that to choose wrongly will doom you. It does not have to be that way. With your cooperation, we can find a way for everypony involved, including yourself, to benefit. What do you say?”
There was a tense minute of silence as the dark princess considered the Doctor’s words.
“No,” she said. With that refusal, a beam of magic fired from her horn straight at the Doctor. Edge Glimmer, with reflexes honed from years of time as a guard, cast a barrier in front of the Doctor and repelled the blast. The sheer power of it made him weak in the knees.
“I do not know if I can block another one,” Edge Glimmer whispered to the Doctor. The Doctor either did not hear him or chose not to respond. He kept his eyes firmly on Nightmare Moon.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said simply.
“Am I?” Nightmare Moon replied. She left the sky and landed in front of the Doctor. The two ponies were eye-to-eye now.
“I am more powerful than anypony right now. Neither you nor Edge Glimmer can stand up to me. Not even Princess Celestia can stand up to my power. There is no reason for me to accept your offer and allow myself to be placed in a weaker body. Not when all I need do is destroy Celestia and yourself and there will be nopony able to stand up to me!”
“You’re wrong,” Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed at this statement. The Doctor continued.
“Celestia has the power to fight. She knows what needs to be done, understands it as well as anypony. She knows what letting ‘Nightmare Moon’ run free will mean.”
“You really think she can stop me?” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “She didn’t even try to fight me!”
The Doctor ignored Nightmare Moon and continued speaking.
“Celestia has the power to fight. And she absolutely will not do it.”
This time Nightmare Moon blinked.
“She made no move to attack during the battle we witnessed. I’d wager it was the same before the fight broke out, too. She won’t raise her magic against her family. She loves her sister too much. Even at the cost of all Equestria, at the cost of daylight itself, Celestia cannot bring herself to harm somepony she loves so dearly. She cannot bring herself to accept that burden.”
The Doctor took a breath before finishing.
“So we must help her by sharing it.”
“I already rejected your offer, Doctor. It is of no concern of mine if sweet Celestia is too weak to do what you say needs to be done! If she doesn’t wish to fight me then that will make her destruction all the easier.”
At this, the Doctor blinked as if he had only just remembered Nightmare Moon was there.
“Oh, my apologies, I actually wasn’t speaking to you any more.”
Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed in anger, then widened in realization.
“You believe Luna will be able to fight back?! You believe she can free herself? If that were possible do you not for a moment think she would have done so as soon as she realized what was happening?”
“Honestly? No. I do not believe that.”
Edge Glimmer’s eyes widened this time at the Doctor’s blunt admission.
“If Luna were able to actively resist Nightmare Moon’s control, she would have thrown it out a long time ago,” He told the guard captain. “It was subtle enough as a beast of instinct that Luna was too late in realizing what was happening to her. Now it’s sentient and able to act openly, its power to exert that control is greater. The only way she would be freed at this time is if Nightmare Moon were to relinquish control willingly.”
“No…” Edge Glimmer said, his ears dropping down in heartbreak.
“Yes!” Nightmare Moon cried. “You have it exactly right. Luna can do nothing, anymore! I am Princess of the Night now! The eternal night!”
“You’re wrong,” the Doctor said again. Nightmare Moon looked angry enough to send another blast of magic at him. The Doctor continued before she could.
“Luna cannot actively resist. That isn’t the same as saying she can’t resist at all. From the beginning Luna was fighting you, if only subconsciously. Why, look just down there.”
At this the Doctor pointed his umbrella down to the castle grounds. Edge Glimmer looked and saw Meanderly guiding the last of the castle’s foals into the outside shelter.
“Doctor!” he cried in outrage. “What are you doing?!”
“Demonstrating,” the Doctor replied flippantly. “Notice anything about the ponies down there, Nightmare Moon? Meanderly got lucky and woke up before you could control her, but every other pony down there has one thing in common. They are all the one thing that you have not once been able to directly harm during this whole business.”
Nightmare Moon looked to be concentrating. Edge Glimmer didn’t care, instead turning to the Doctor while the creature of the night was distracted.
“Doctor, why did you show her the children?! She’s going to-”
“Do nothing,” the Doctor said. “Look very carefully. You can see some guards in the courtyard, and not one is making any move to capture Meanderly and the children. Nor is she making any move to go after them herself. Do you remember, Captain, what you told me at the very beginning of all this? Do you remember what you said when I asked you what the victims had in common?”
Though those events had been mere hours ago, it felt like an eternity for Edge Glimmer after all that had happened. It took a few moments before he remembered what the Doctor referred to.
“Only adult ponies have been affected. There were no reports of colts or fillies being attacked!”
“Precisely!” the Doctor said. “Princess Luna, even in her darkest moment, would never allow harm to come to a child. Those most precious of dreamers, who need the most protection against nightmares. Luna has been influencing Nightmare Moon’s behavior every bit as much as the reverse,” the Doctor turned from Edge Glimmer to Nightmare Moon. “Isn’t that right, Nightmare Moon? You can’t bring yourself to harm those children?”
“Lies!” Nightmare Moon screamed, caught in a sudden fury. “I am in control! I am Princess of the Night! Luna is nothing! I am everything!”
“You’re wrong,” the Doctor told her yet again. “You are nothing. Nothing that could have been so much more. You rejected that opportunity, and now you will pay the price. If you don’t believe me, allow me to ask you this: Do you believe it a coincidence that the only attack of yours that was able to strike Celestia is also the one that sent her falling right into the chamber that stores the Elements of Harmony?”
* * * * *
Celestia’s eyes opened to nothing.
Before her was a vast white expanse. She stood and looked around. At first, it seemed there truly was nothing in this bright void. On closer inspection, she saw a figure, a pony off in the distance. As if noticing her were some kind of trigger, the pony suddenly appeared very near Celestia herself. The pony was faint, barely a shadow, as though she we was not truly there. Celestia could only make out an outline of the pony. But the outline, a pair of wings and a horn, was enough.
“Luna!” Celestia cried, for who else could it be? The shadow pony nodded.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note
I originally planned to put up the whole finale as one chapter, make it a six parter akin to many classic Doctor Who serials. But it was running long enough I opted to scrap the idea and put the finale as parts six & seven. If all goes according to plan *heh* part seven should wrap it up. In hindsight, I think that actually fits quite nicely since I'm using the Seventh Doctor.
Also, the time the Doctor had to hurt Celestia is a reference to the pony equivalent to "The Curse of Fenric", where the Doctor had to shatter Ace's faith in him in order to defeat the villain.
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
Celestia’s eyes opened to nothing.
Before her was a vast white expanse. She stood and looked around. At first, it seemed there truly was nothing in this bright void. On closer inspection, she saw a figure, a pony off in the distance. As if noticing her were some kind of trigger, the pony suddenly appeared very near Celestia herself. The pony was faint, barely a shadow, as though she we was not truly there. Celestia could only make out an outline of the pony. But the outline, a pair of wings and a horn, was enough.
“Luna!” Celestia cried, for who else could it be. The shadow pony nodded.
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICPART SEVEN
“Luna! I am so glad to see you,” Celestia cried. She could feel tears forming but did not care. “I thought I had been fighting with you. No mere argument, true figh…”
So caught up in emotion it took Celestia a moment to realize where they were.
“We were fighting, weren’t we?”
Nod.
“I’m unconscious right now.”
Nod. Celestia looked at herself. Indeed, just as she had been in Luna’s mind and dreamscape, she was once again “Ace,” the rebellious teenage alicorn.
“Luna. You have to fight this thing that’s taken hold of you. You have to resist Nightmare Moon!”
This time, the faint pony shook her head.
“What? I-I don’t understand! Luna, speak to me.”
The shadow shook and then hung its head.
“Are you telling me you can’t?”
Nod.
“Have things progressed so far so quickly?”
Nod.
“What are we to do?”
The shadow raised its head, looking past Celestia. Celestia turned around to see what Luna’s shadow was looking at.
“No…”
Before the two ponies was a large stone dias. From it extended a column with a stone sphere on top. Coming out of the column were six small platforms, each containing a gemstone.
“Luna, do you understand what you’re asking of me?!” Celestia demanded. “Putting aside what trying to use the Elements alone will do to me, what will happen to you?! How can you expect me t-”
Celestia stopped when she saw a scene develop before her. The void shifted and changed to a castle courtyard. Celestia instantly recognized it.
“Old Canterlot… Before Discord.”
Nod.
Celestia understood. Luna was using the dreamscape to show a memory, much as they had been doing previously. Celestia wondered for only a moment which memory she was seeing before realizing there could only be one thing she was about to see. A realization confirmed when she heard the wheezing sound of a materializing TARDIS. As soon as the TARDIS fully materialized, the doors opened and Celestia saw herself walk out.
“Sister!”
Celestia saw Luna, still a filly at that time, run up to and embrace her elder sister.
“I am so glad you returned!” the younger Luna cried. “I had thought you left forever!”
“No, sister, I am back. I’m not going anywhere, any more,” Celestia saw herself say.
“What happened to your mane?!” Luna asked as she got a good look at her sister.
Indeed, Celestia’s mane had changed that fateful day. Throughout fillyhood and adolescence, Celestia’s mane had been a bright pink. On her final adventure with the Doctor, she had come into her full power as Princess of the Day. With it, her mane had changed into a shifting aurora.
“I will explain in detail another time,” Celestia had promised her sister. “For now, suffice to say I was gone longer than it seemed even to you. I learned a great deal while I was away, too.”
This time, to Luna’s surprise, Celestia began nuzzling her sister, rather than the other way around.
“Sister?” Luna asked. The Celestia of the present watching the scene remembered that was when Luna noticed she had begun to cry.
“I am so sorry, Luna,” Celestia said quietly. “I was going to just leave you. Leave behind everything and everypony. I was a fool! But I understand now. I am Celestia, Princess of the Day. Just as you are Luna, Princess of the Night. It’s going to be our job to rule over Equestria and guard our little ponies.”
“That’s what the matron tells us,” Luna replied.
“And it’s true,” Celestia told Luna. “From this day forward, I promise I will protect our land and our people. No matter what it takes to do so.”
No matter what it takes.
The vision of the past faded with that voice. Celestia looked behind her to see the gems on top of the dais glowing. When the voice spoke again, Celestia realized it was coming from the red crystal.
‘I will protect Equestria, no matter what it takes,’ the crystal said. Were those just words, Sister?
Celestia looked at the shadow pony behind her when the crystal, which Celestia knew as the Element of Loyalty, called her Sister.
“Luna, are you-?” it was the magenta, star-shaped gem, the Element of Magic, which responded.
The Elements of Harmony bind us together, Sister. In my current state, they are what allow me to enter your dreams.
“You can use the Elements even as you are?”
Nod.
“Then we need to use them to free you from Nightmare Moon!”
Shake.
“No? Why not?”
Again the scene around Celestia shifted. This time she saw herself, the Doctor, and Edge Glimmer standing near the Crystal Empire.
“You’re correct to assume I have absolutely no intention of wielding the Elements against my own sister,” Celestia saw herself tell the Doctor. “Even if I were, however, it wouldn’t matter. I could never wield them on my own!”
Celestia realized this was the conversation they had about wielding the Elements of Harmony.
“What?” Edge Glimmer asked.
“The Elements of Harmony are powerfully magical items, Captain,” Celestia had answered. “They take a great deal of inner strength to use, and even then only respond to ponies who embody the Element of Harmony they represent.”
“She’s right about that,” the Doctor remarked thoughtfully. “They are at their most powerful when each individual element is wielded by a single pony.”
Celestia understood what Luna was telling her.
“I could never use the Elements on my own,” Celestia said. “You can assist me, even as you are… but we wouldn’t be powerful enough to exorcise Nightmare Moon, would we?”
Shake.
“No… No! I won’t accept that! There has to be a way to save you! I’ll use everything I have with the Elements. Every last ounce of power I can pour into the Elements.”
You’re deluding yourself, said the orange Element of Honesty. You know in your heart what has to be done. You are trying to convince yourself otherwise rather than face that truth.
“Of course I am!” Celestia cried. “If you heard that talk then you know what will happen! ‘Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon.’ I… I can’t do that. I won’t!”
Would it be kinder to leave me at the mercy of this creature? Asked the pink Element of Kindness. Would it be better to throw away your life in a desperate gamble that you know will likely fail?
“No… it wouldn’t,” Celestia said sadly. “But… but how can you ask me to sacrifice you to save Equestria, Luna?”
Sister. Hope is not lost. Dark times lay ahead for both you and I. Yet fate is not so cruel as to part us forever. The legend is wrong in one aspect.
Celestia looked up at the blue Element of Laughter. The scene around her shifted once more. The Doctor, Celestia, and Edge Glimmer conversing as they navigated Luna’s dreamscape.
She looked up and watched the discussion between the Doctor and Nightmare Moon continue.
“And if I were to refuse your generous offer?” she saw Nightmare Moon ask.
“Then one way or another, you will spend the next one thousand years locked away in the moon,” the Doctor replied.
Celestia gasped.
“One thousand years…” Celestia repeated, “it’s not permanent? Luna, does this mean we can be reunited?”
The pony of shadows nodded.
“Still… one thousand years…” Celestia muttered. As natural born alicorns, she and Luna were going to be very long lived, if not immortal. Regardless, a millennium was nothing to take lightly.
What is a thousand years for the sake of the ponies we cherish? Asked the purple Element of Generosity. We are the rulers. We are the protectors. It is our place to sacrifice where other ponies can not. Where they should not have to.
“You’re right…” Celestia said in reluctant agreement. “Much as I hate it, you’re right!”
Celestia closed her eyes, fighting back against her tears. She understood what Luna was telling her. Much as her heart cried out against it, she knew what had to be done. Celestia had reigned knowing that she would sacrifice herself any way she had to for the sake of her realm. However, the vow she had made to protect her little ponies had never anticipated her having to fight with her own sister. She resisted the very idea at every turn but now, with Luna herself telling her it was what was needed, Celestia understood she had no choice after all. Not if she wanted to stay true to her and Luna’s ideals.
Celestia opened her eyes. The shadow Luna looked at her and nodded. Celestia looked at herself and saw that she was no longer ‘Ace.’ No longer the rebellious teenage pony that fled her responsibility. Within the dreamscape she was once again, forever and truly, Princess Celestia of Equestria. She looked to Luna again.
“I’m going, Luna,” she said. “I will do what I must now but I swear to you that, even if it truly does take a thousand years, I will free you from Nightmare Moon’s grasp. Until then, wait. Wait, and hang on for me.”
While the features of the shadow of Luna were not distinct, Celestia would forever swear she saw it smile at her.
* * * * *
Celestia awoke.
She stood up slowly. As she did, she thought of the dream she had experienced. She remembered it as clearly as a conscious memory. The visions of the past and the words of Luna through the Elements of Harmony.
“Oh dear sister,” Celestia said, “I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these.”
She said that final word with a touch of distaste. As she spoke, her horn flared to life, illuminating a segment of the throne room floor. The floor split apart, and from a chamber below rose a large stone dias. The very same one she had seen within her dream. She flew up its top and, with her magic, lifted the six gems that rested on it. The Element of Magic appeared out of the sphere on the top of the dias.
The Elements orbited around Celestia’s body. They began to spin around her faster and faster until they seemed almost a solid ring around Celestia’s body. A bright light shone from Celestia and the Elements. Celestia could feel the gems draining her power. She also felt another presence within them.
Luna...
Celestia flew upward, through the hole the two alicorns’ fight had left in the throne room’s ceiling. It was time to end this.
* * * * *
Contrary to his earlier estimate, Edge Glimmer had managed to shield himself and the Doctor against three more of Nightmare Moon’s magical blasts. He knew, however, that he was at his limit. He was sweating heavily and having trouble staying on his hooves.
Edge Glimmer had begun to wonder if the Doctor had truly gotten through to Luna when a bright light burst from the roof of the throne room. He saw Princess Celestia, the Elements of Harmony orbiting her like the ring of a planet. Nightmare Moon noticed the light as well, and abandoned dealing with the Doctor and Edge Glimmer to focus on Celestia.
The two alicorns faced off. Nightmare Moon fired all the magic she could in one concentrated beam. Princess Celestia channeled her magic through five of the six Elements. Each one projected a beam which converged on the sixth Element, the Element of Magic. The beam that burst from it was far larger, and colored with the full spectrum of the rainbow.
Nightmare Moon put up a valiant struggle, but it was hopeless. The moment Celestia took up the Elements of Harmony, her fate was sealed. The rainbow beam overpowered Nightmare Moon’s own in short order. She had just enough time to realize it was happening. The Doctor could hear her screaming “No!” as Celestia’s magic enveloped her body.
The beam from the Elements of Harmony did not stop there. It continued to shoot forward, going far into the night sky until it impacted the moon itself. Edge Glimmer watched as a shape appeared in the moon, a black form that resembled a pony’s head.
“What is that?” he asked the Doctor. When he got no response Edge Glimmer looked to the Doctor and saw he wasn’t even looking at the sky. He had eyes only for Princess Celestia, who had floated down to the castle grounds following the conclusion of the attack. Her aurora mane was gone, replaced by the pink mane Edge Glimmer had seen on her younger self. That was not what disturbed Edge Glimmer, however. He assumed simply that her mane had reverted to its old state due to how much magic she had just used.
What truly disturbed Edge Glimmer was when the Princess let out a wail of pure anguish and began to weep.
“Captain, I’ll take care of Celestia,” the Doctor said. “You… you go see to everypony else.”
Edge Glimmer did not argue. He wished for nothing more than to see his wife and child right now.
* * * * *
The Princess of Equestria’s day lay in the grounds of Whinnychester Castle. Around her, the Elements of Harmony had become dormant. Rather than gemstones they all now were nothing more than inanimate spheres of rock. Celestia paid them no heed. It had taken all of her resolve to finally take up the Elements of Harmony. To actively use them to fight Nightmare Moon. Now the battle was over, and her resolve broke. The fact that she had sensed Luna in the Elements, guiding and supporting her, did little to stop the pain. For now she could sense nothing of her sister anywhere. She was simply too far away now.
“Ace?”
Celestia looked up and saw the Doctor. Without a word, he walked over and sat next to her, wrapping a foreleg around her as he did so. Celestia pressed her muzzle against his body for comfort. How long they stayed like that neither Celestia nor the Doctor really knew.
“The corollary,” Celestia said after a few moments.
“Yes,” the Doctor replied.
“You made sure to take me to some places. To learn lessons that would be valuable when I took up the crown. The other side of that coin was there were places you made sure to never take me. You never took me to any point in Equestria’s history where I… where I would see…”
“The Mare in the Moon,” the Doctor supplied. “You’re right. But, you may recall, we have visited Equestria’s future a time or two in our travels together.”
“And there was no ‘Mare in the Moon’ then,” Celestia answered. “I saw Luna while I was unconscious. She came to me in the dreamscape. She showed me you and Nightmare Moon. You told her that she would spend a thousand years in the moon.”
“The legend I told you was all that was recorded,” the Doctor told her. “Though it was revised following Luna’s return.”
“When will I be able to get her back, Doctor?” Celestia asked. “I know… I know you can’t tell me everything. I know there are rules about that. But please… something… anything .”
The Doctor did not reply immediately. He and Celestia remained in their embrace for several more minutes before he finally spoke.
“In one thousand years, give or take, you’re going to see an old mare’s tale erupt in the sky,” the Doctor said at last. “On that day, you’re going to meet a unicorn. A filly with more magic in her than you will have ever seen before. You will meet her on the very day she gets her Cutie Mark. Bringing Luna back to you will be only the first of the many incrrredible deeds she and her friends accomplish.”
Celestia waited to see if he would say more. He remained silent. The Doctor had lectured her plenty on the dangers of knowing too much about one’s own future. She understood that he was bending, if not breaking, the rules he adhered to as a Time Lord in order to tell her what he had. Regardless, even that little bit was enough. It gave her the one thing she would need above all else to see this next millenium through. The one thing that always kept despair at bay and could allow one to bear even the most terrible of burdens.
The Doctor gave her hope.
* * * * *
“So, this is it then? You’re leaving Whinnychester?”
The Doctor and Celestia sat together in the remains of the throne room. It was several days later and her mane had regained its now normal aurora after she had rested; though Equestria had to go through one night that was far longer than normal before she was recovered enough to raise the sun. Celestia had also begun raising and lowering the moon as well. It would take time for word to get out that Celestia was doing both jobs now. But it would eventually, and the legend of Nightmare Moon, the “Mare in the Moon”, as those who came to Whinnychester seeking an audience with the Princess for answers were already calling it, would be properly born.
“I have no desire to remain in this castle any longer,” was the only answer Celestia gave. Those who wanted answers were finding themselves being directed to go to New Canterlot, the capital that was still under reconstruction. Celestia had effectively shut the castle down.
“What of the Elements of Harmony?” he asked, looking at the stone dais where they rested once more. They had yet to revert to the form of crystals. The Doctor knew they would not do so for quite a long time.
“They can stay where they are,” she said. “Once I’m gone, without Luna or I keeping it at bay, the Everfree will surround the castle. That’s about as good a protection as a high security vault.”
Celestia tried not to glare at the dais, but the Doctor could tell.
“Why not just use a high security vault?” the Doctor asked, already suspecting the answer.
“Because…” Celestia sighed, “because I really don’t want to have to look at them anymore. They’re powerless now anyway. Few things create disharmony like a battle between sisters.”
The Doctor nodded. She was right about that. Since he also knew this was where the Elements would one day be re located, he made no move to convince her to change her mind.
“Is everything about moved out?” the Doctor asked.
“Nearly. Most ponies aren’t taking much beyond the essentials. I think I’m not the only one eager to leave this place, after all that’s happened.”
That was true enough. After the battle had completed and Celestia had gone through her grief she had assembled the soldiers, staff, and nobility of the castle, confirmed everypony was safe, then immediately gave the order to start clearing out and heading for New Canterlot. Some ponies were confused by the suddenness of the orders, but not one pony questioned it. Whether it was fear of Celestia, or fear of the castle itself, the Doctor wasn’t prepared to say.
The Doctor had stayed throughout this process, which was unusual of him. Typically, once a crisis had been averted, the Doctor was quick to go back into the TARDIS and head to his next destination. This instance had been an exception. He would not leave Celestia until he was sure she was going to be all right.
“There are some final arrangements to make, Professor,” Celestia said as she walked to the door of the throne room. “Once we’re gone, you can feel free to take the TARDIS and head out wherever you’re going to go.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Celestia had just reached the door when the Doctor called out.
“Celestia… Ace.”
Celestia stopped and looked to her mentor.
“I just wanted to say… I just wanted to say I’m sorry, Ace. I did everything I could. I really hoped there might be a way to prevent all this. Find some way for this event to occur without you losing Luna.”
“I know, Doctor,” Celestia said, giving him the first real smile he had seen in days. “It wasn’t meant to be. You taught me that Fixed Points were about the impact they had on history. I think we both forgot something very important in that.”
“The impact it would have on you ,” the Doctor said with a nod.
“Farewell, Professor,” Celestia said.
“Farewell, Ace,” the Doctor said. “Remember, one face or another, I will always be here for you.”
“Thank you.”
The Doctor stayed in the castle and watched the last wagon train heading from the castle to the new capital. Once they were all gone, he returned to the TARDIS. It was right where he had left it, just those few eternal days ago. He was surprised to find he wasn’t the last pony in the castle. Three unicorns were waiting by the TARDIS. The Doctor almost didn’t recognize Edge Glimmer. The brown unicorn stood there without his armor, next to his wife and child, who was circling the TARDIS in wonder under her mother’s watchful eye.
“Come to see me off, Captain?”
“Not ‘Captain’ anymore, Doctor,” Edge Glimmer replied. “We had hoped to see you before you left.”
In that moment, the Doctor knew what the stallion was about to ask, and now fully understood the significance of the conversation his future self had made sure he overheard.
“Doctor,” Edge Glimmer began, “I’ve resigned my post. I’m no longer a royal guard. I… I can not really see a point in doing so without Princess Luna here. Not after having failed her so completely.”
“You failed no more than anypony else, Edge Glimmer,” the Doctor replied. The unicorn shook off the comment.
“Nonetheless, serving Princess Luna has been my life… our lives,” he amended, nodding to Meanderly, “since we were very young. As much as we love Princess Celestia, as well, without our Lady there is nothing for us in this place.”
“Doctor,” Meanderly said, taking up the request, “I have heard from the stories that your ship can travel in time. So we have a request that we must make of you.”
“You want me to take you to Luna,” the Doctor said. It wasn’t a question. It was obvious where they were going with this. They both nodded.
“I can’t do that.”
The unicorn couple both looked surprised.
“Why ever not, Doctor?” Meanderly asked. “Princess Luna is gone. From what Princess Celestia has told us, she will be gone for one thousand years. If you had to be away from home for such a long period, would you not want a friendly face to be there with you when you returned?”
“I sympathize,” the Doctor said, “Truly I do. But I cannot do it. I am sorry but I cannot.”
“What possible reason could have to refuse us?” Edge Glimmer demanded. “From what I know of you this is a trivial request.”
“Under most circumstances, you would be right. In these…” The Doctor sighed. “What I am about to tell you can never reach Celestia’s ears. I’ve given her too much knowledge of the future as it is. For her sake, and Luna’s, this stays between the two of you and goes no further. Understood?”
Both ponies nodded. The Doctor continued.
“Meanderly, do you recall when you met me last? You spoke with my companion about your pregnancy?”
Meanderly nodded, remembering the conversation the Doctor had watched while in Luna’s mind.
“I know what you spoke of at that time. You told my friend that you were going to give your daughter a special name. A name to carry on an old tradition in your family.”
Meanderly nodded.
“It is for that very legacy that you must remain here, in your own time.”
* * * * *
Edge Glimmer and his family watched as the TARDIS made its strange wheezing sound and vanished into thin air. Meanderly stood beside him, nuzzling against him. Their daughter sat enthralled by the sight. Once the blue box had vanished, however, the baby quickly got bored and began wandering on her own. Despite her own sadness, Meanderly immediately broke away and began calling out to her.
“Come back here,” she called.
Edge Glimmer stayed where he was. Watching the place where the box had stood. The Doctor had explained exactly what he’d meant by their legacy. He had explained in detail, in fact, but really there were only two words in the whole thing that mattered to them.
Doctor… Edge Glimmer thought as he watched Meanderly mind the baby, I understand now why you can’t bring us with you. I understand also why you felt the need to apologize, but you really didn’t need to.
He smiled as he watched his little girl chafe under her mother’s watch and try to sneak away no matter how many times Meanderly pulled her back with her magic. Meanderly was growing quickly frustrated with her inquisitive daughter.
“No, we are leaving soon. You stay with mother.”
Yes it’s sad. But because of you, Meanderly knows that her dream will come true for generations to come. As for me? Though I will not do it with my own hooves and horn… though it will only come long after I am gone from this world…
Edge Glimmer’s thoughts were briefly interrupted by his wife’s scolding of their daughter.
“Twilight Moon! You will listen to your mother and stay put, do you understand me?”
I know, Doctor, that one day, I will save my Princess. For that, I give you my deepest thanks.
TO BE CONCLUDED
Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria
Their house was on a hill, miles out from the village. The house had seen a lot of love over the years as they raised their family. Now, however, only two elderly ponies lived there. Their children had all moved on to their own lives, and were raising children of their own. An elderly brown unicorn sat with his wife, a blue unicorn, watching the moonrise together. It had been their tradition for many, many years. They were thought of as eccentrics, even amongst their children, for wanting to go and stare at the Mare in the Moon. They didn't care. The moon was precious to them.
Edge Glimmer and Meanderly, knowing what the Mare in the Moon was, could never bring themselves to fear it, like so many ponies had begun to. The legend had begun to spread soon after the events at Whinnychester Castle. For the two of them, who had been there for those events, the moon was a thing of bittersweet sadness, not fear.
Their moon watching was interrupted by a sound. A sound the two of them had heard only once in their lives, so very, very long ago. A wheezing sound that heralded the arrival of one special pony.
Both ponies looked around them frantically, searching for the tall blue box with the words “Police Barn” on that would soon appear out of thin air. It appeared, fading in and out, directly behind where they sat. The door opened and out strode an earth pony with an off-white coat, wearing a dark brown jacket with a paisley scarf and an umbrella tucked into the pocket for easy carrying.
“Hello, friends,” the pony greeted them, tipping his hat to them as he did. “I hope I am not intrrruding.”
“Doctor, what are you doing here?” Edge Glimmer asked. He recognized the very pony who had tried to save his Princess so many years before, looking the same now as he did then.
“Well, I was leaving Whinnychester about fifty or so years ago and a thought occurred to me,” the Doctor began. “It occurred to me that, yes, you have your parts to play. Your rrroles to fulfill. But then, I realized, eventually your part would be done. It would be up to your next generations to continue your oh so important legacy. I assume Twilight Moon and her siblings have gone forth and begun their own families?”
The ponies nodded with some uncertainty.
“Wonderful. That should be in order then. That in mind, I decided it would be safe now to come back and make you an offer. A retirement package, of sorts. A thousand years into the future, perhaps?”
Edge Glimmer and Meanderly’s eyes went wide as they realized what the Doctor was offering.
“So, what do you say?” the Doctor asked.
THE END
