Chapters A Quick Pitstop
“Deep fried what?” The Doctor yelled out as Derpy came down from the bathroom in the TARDIS. She was brushing her teeth, but she still tried to talk.
“Yea- in dese faiwes they deep fwy everyting, from appols pies to ice ceam oats samwiches and-“ The Doctor came from nowhere and grabbed Derpy looking her straight in the eye. He pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, dropped it in the sink, grabbed the cup and lifted it up to her lips.
“Drink,” she did as he asked and rinsed out her mouth. He brought the cup back up again and said, “spit.” She did as she was told again and he stepped back from her.
“Now, please tell me. Carefully and annunciate. They sell deep fried butter where?”
“Well once a year during the Cloudsdale games, on the ground they hold a fair for the best country cooking around. The most popular country cooking is deep frying things you wouldn’t normally eat. They even deep fry cider by putting them in these little packets of nood-"
“Derpy focus! Deep fried butter?” Derpy half stared at the doctor and half stared at the ceiling.
“Oh right, well they deep fry these little cubes of butter and serve them up, but they’re really high in fat.”
“Doesn’t matter!” The Doctor galloped away from Derpy to the TARDIS’ controls and started to type in numbers and pull levers.
“Uh Doctor I really don’t think we should go so you can try one of them. They have like 1900 calories in one little cube.”
“Oh and with all the running we do I need the calories. Seriously, deep fried butter, why had that never occurred to me, I mean I might be the only one who puts butter on his muffins, but surely I would have been the one to come up with something like that, these ponies really are the cleverest little creatures around…”
The Doctor rambled on and Derpy half listened to him knowing that once the Doctor set his mind on something he was going to do it one way or the other.
“I think I should warn you though, it might be enough to stop your heart!”
“Good thing I’ve got two of them!” Derpy laughed as the Doctor continued to ramble on and press the random buttons around the TARDIS. “Oh man, what if I could get them to deep fry a muffin with butter on top of it, OHHH that is grand that is grand indeed! Derpy!”
“What?”
“Deep fried muffins!” He said cheery as ever running around the center of the TARDIS turning knobs now. Derpy never questioned how or why the TARDIS worked in such an unusual manor, but at the same time she was just grateful it worked at all. The Doctor really put it through its paces.
“Okay Doctor you don’t want to have a heart attack before you eat your butter now do you?”
“Oh you’ve done it Ms. Hooves the cubes of butter shall be mine! Now throw that lever ever slightly to the left, if you please!” Derpy did as she was told and shifted the out of place lever to the left.
“Ah too much, a smidge to the right darling,” the Doctor called out. Derpy lightly tapped it with her hoof and the Doctor yelled out.
“There it is, hold on to something Derpy!”
Then the Doctor smashed a button and the whole TARDIS jerked forward nearly sending them both across the room. The TARDIS shook like there was an earthquake occurring and seemed like it was going out of control. Finally it stopped signaling they landed somewhere and Derpy hit the floor of the TARDIS hard.
“You know Doctor, you’d think I’d be use to it by now, but you seriously need to get some seat belts in here.”
“Oh and what fun would that be? You’ve never held your arms- hooves in the air on a roller coaster?” The Doctor smiled and started towards the door. “No time to waste, oh I can almost smell the oil burning, COME TO ME-” the Doctor jumped out of the TARDIS and landed on the ground.
“DEEP FRIED BUTTER!” The Doctor held there for a moment on his legs, hooves up to the sky and eyes closed. Yet when he failed to hear the bustling sound of a carnival he finally opened his eyes and was disappointed. Derpy walked out and stood next to the Doctor still on the floor.
“Derpy, do you see any vats of oil?”
“No Doctor, I don’t think we’re at any Cloudsdale game.” Both ponies looked around and noticed that they were in a well-kept garden with beautiful flowers in full bloom.
“I think you can get up now.” Derpy said to the Doctor. The Doctor did, and he walked back into the TARDIS calling out to Derpy.
“This is just odd! I set the time module to send us to the 113th Cloudsdale games festival! Maybe it was the frequency lever, you did turn it ever so slightly to the left right Derpy?” Derpy walked over to a group of flowers and started to smell them.
“Yes I did! Did you say 113th? We were going into the future?” The flowers smelt nice; like somepony had taken special care to make sure their fragrance would be identifiable.
“Well of course we were going to the future, I mean did you really want to see a game that you’ve already seen? That’d be absolutely boring!”
Derpy giggled a little and noticed a special blue flower with little white dots on top of it. It intrigued Derpy to no end, as she had never seen anything like it.
Just when Derpy went to pluck it, a spear came out and was pointed right at her nose. Derpy yelped as the blade came out of nowhere and went crossed eyed trying to stare at it.
“State your business outsider,” said a large pegasus covered in gold armor.
“I- um…I uh.”
“State your business or be taken to the dungeon for trespassing!” said another golden pony to the right of the first one.
“Uh Doctor I need some help out here!” Within moments the Doctor came rushing out of the TARDIS holding up his psychic piece of paper.
“No no no no no, everything’s fine no need for spears gentlemen; here are our credentials.” The guard put his spear down as he held the badge and read it.
“Oh, it says here you’re apart of the royal field researchers,” the guard said.
“Righto! That’s us you’re royal researchers of the field kind!” The two guards looked at each other for a moment then handed the paper back to the Doctor.
“Come on you two, the Princess is waiting.”
“Well of course, wouldn’t want to keep the royals waiting!” the Doctor said full of pep looking at Derpy who was rubbing her slightly sore nose.
The two guards led the Doctor and Derpy down a hallway full of large floor to ceiling windows and tapestry. The Doctor looked around excited and said to Derpy,
“Ah I never get tired of this place you know? Seems like every time I walk through here something’s changed, past, present, future, and yet it still feels like the good old castle to me.”
“Speaking of which, when are we Doctor?”
“We are in Equestria a thousand years ago!”
“Wait, a thousand years ago? I thought we were trying to go to the future?” Derpy asked confused.
“We most certainly were, however something interfered with the TARDIS’ travel and pulled us to this point in time instead.”
“What did?”
“Very good question Derpy, because I haven’t the faintest idea. No matter, we’ll just have a little fun with the royalty, recalibrate the TARDIS’ destination computer, and we’ll be on our way to enjoying some deep fried butter squares! Oh boy!”
“You really are single track minded aren’t you Doctor?”
“Of course not, there are a billion tracks in my mind, and I have no idea whose running them or where they even go!” Derpy laughed at the doctor, but one of the guards guiding them turned around,
“Hush you two. We are entering Princess Luna’s chambers.” The other guard knocked on the large door and from the other side a pony was heard,
“Who does thou knock?”
“It is the royal guard your highness, we found the field researcher outside and we brought him in as per your instructions.”
“Please enter,” said the voice behind the door.
The guards lead the Doctor and Derpy into a brightly lit room with a large bed on one side, a large dresser with mirror on the other, and the walls covered in drawings and sketches of the night sky and a global map. Princess Luna was at the windowsill looking out at the grounds and turned around to see the two ponies.
“Where are thou’s credentials?”
“Oh, apologizes your highness here you are.” The Doctor handed her the psychic paper and Luna levitated it with her horn. She stared at it for a moment, then turned it around and looked all over.
“There is nothing on this paper sir, what kind of trick is this?” Luna said angrily. The Doctor looked surprised and turned back to Derpy to whisper,
“Obviously one that doesn’t work on Princesses.” The Doctor turned back around and said, “Once again my sincerest apologize your highness, but before I give you my real credentials may I ask that your guards step outside.” Luna took a long hard look at the smiling Doctor and then her gaze shifted to his companion, which Derpy couldn’t help but let out a little whimper and duck her head.
“Tis fine, guards you may wait outside.”
“Princess in response to the situation I don’t think that’s a goo-“
“Tis fine guard. If anything were to go wrong I am capable of handling it on my own. Now be gone.”
“Yes your majesty.” The guards said in unison and went outside closing the door behind them.
“Now tell me who thee are Colt.”
“Well of course, by the looks of it we haven’t met before, or at least not yet. I’m the Doctor plain and simple and this is my companion Ms. Derpy Hooves.”
“Its actually Ditzy Doo your maje-” Derpy began, but was cut off by the massively powerful voice of Luna.
“Silence! Now your name is Doctor who?”
“Oh, it’s just the Doctor.”
“You have your profession in field research is that correct then?”
“Yes your highness that is exactly it, oh how do I love getting out in those fields and…searching through them and re-researching through them just in case I missed anything you know how it goes all sorts of fu-“
“Silence!” Luna commanded again. By this point Derpy now hiding and shaking behind the Doctor barely keeping her eyes on Luna.
“What did discover in your findings Doctor?” The Doctor looked back at Derpy, who simply shook her head not being able to help any.
“Well uh- (cough) so that I may release my findings more efficiently. Can you restate the essence of my goal your highness.” Princess Luna let out a sigh and walked back over to her window to stare out.
“You were instructed to discover the nature of the disappearances occurring all over Equestria. As you know ponies and objects have been vanishing without a trace. Whole areas of forests are gone and even the small village of Ponyville has had it’s population nearly wiped out. Now Doctor tell me what have you found?”
The Doctor paused for a moment, opening his mouth but no words coming out. Then finally he spoke, “Oh well, I uh- I am not sure.”
“Not sure? Did I not tell you to come back only if you had information regarding the disappearances?” Luna moved away from the window and was now advancing toward the Doctor.
“Oh well yes- but you see, I just need a little more time- uh this case is a very difficult one and my data doesn’t add up however. Isn’t that right Derpy?” Derpy merely nodded her head not looking up at the Princess. However Luna kept advancing toward the Doctor growing angrier by the second.
“You mean to tell me, that you have no explanation regarding these disappearances after I had instructed you to do everything in your power?” The Doctor laughed nervously and continued backing away from the Princess till Derpy was up against the wall.
“Well, I don’t wanna say I put in all my effort, but I just need a little more ti-“ Princess Luna cut him off,
“As I recall I have not yet seen your credentials to give you credit Doctor! I suggest that you give me such documentation and make haste, as you are trying my patience!” The Doctor laughed nervously again and started to dig through his pockets,
“Well of course you can see them, they’re right- RUN!” the Doctor called out, grabbing Derpy and sliding out from under Princess Luna.
“Wha? Guards!” she called out after them. The two ponies ran towards the window and jumped out just before Princess Luna could get her hooves on them. Derpy flew as fast as she could holding onto the Doctor by his hooves.
“Fly Derpy Fly!” the Doctor called out.
“I’d be able to faster if someone would lay off the fatty butter!”
“Oh now’s not the time to do this Ms. Hooves just focus on flying as far as possible!” The Doctor responded.
“Are they gaining on us?” Derpy grunted as she was struggling to keep them both airborne. The Doctor turned his head and noticed that there were actually no guards chasing them as he had thought.
“Huh, actually no ones chasing us: odd.”
“Well that’s good cause the ground is coming awfully fast!” The Doctor looked down just in time to hit the ground and roll a few feet with Derpy. They rolled into a line of bush, which finally softened their fall. The Doctor was the first to get up rubbing his head.
“Derpy are you alright?”
“Yeah, nothing but a few bumps, bruises and crushed muffins.” Derpy pulled out crumbs of muffins that she had in her pocket. She looked at them in sadness and was about to tear up when the Doctor interrupted her.
“Worry about muffins later Derpy, look!” Derpy looked up from her crushed pastries and saw a few houses that lead into a small town. Derpy saw a sign that said ‘Welcome to Ponyville.”
“Oh my Celestia, Doctor this is Ponyville!”
“That it is Derpy that it is! Come on lets have a look see.” The Doctor got up and started toward Ponyville and Derpy followed after him.
As they walked through the town Derpy was amazed at the state PonyVille was in. She could tell it was her home, but it just seemed so much younger and more primitive. The buildings were smaller and they seemed to be made out of weaker material. She’d have to be careful or she’d break right through one of these houses. However as Derpy looked closer she noticed something else and said,
“Doctor, where is everypony? It feels so empty.”
“Yes I was curious about that too, but you remember what Princess Luna said? There have been strange disappearances as of late, especially here in PonyVille.”
“What could have caused it?”
“I’m not sure- well at least for now, but the best way to find out is to investigate!”
The Doctor ran up to an Earth Pony who was pulling a cart from his home. The pony looked exhausted, with bags under his eyes and lanky body frame.
“Excuse me sir I was wondering if you could help us, we were curious about the strange disappearances as of late.”
“What’s there to be curious about? Ponies disappear, they never come back, no explanation, done and done I solved your case for you.” The Doctor and Derpy were taken aback by his tone as he said this.
“Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the hay this morning,” Derpy muttered. The Doctor put his hoof over his mouth to cover his chuckling at Derpy’s pun.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m not usually this grumpy I’m just so…tired.” Derpy and the Doctor exchanged looks,
“Why are you so tired Mr.?” Derpy asked.
“We all are, everypony in PonyVille; can hardly get a wink of sleep.”
“Yes but why is that?” the Doctor pressed on.
“Well…” the pony looked around “we don’t usually like to talk about it. It seems like it only makes it worse, but I guess since you’re new here I ought to let you know. During the day, everpony is fine nothing goes on that’s unusual just like now, but when the night comes; that’s when things become scary. I mean the night has always been a scary time of the day, but recently it’s like something’s been stalking the town.”
The pony was beginning to whisper and bringing his head closer to the Doctors.
“What’s stalking the town?” the Doctor asked.
“Nopony knows, we’re all too afraid to open our windows and peak out anymore, but we can all hear something. Something moving through the town like an angry beast, it growls and claws at doors sometimes. That’s why we can’t sleep; we’re too busy being awake making sure we don’t get taken away." The old farm pony paused.
"Yet so many of us have already disappeared, it’s not worth it living in PonyVille anymore. A lot of us are leaving because we can’t make a living here and we can’t sleep. It’s cursed, I don’t know what it is, but it’s pure evil.”
The pony stepped back again with his cart and stared at Derpy and the Doctor. Derpy’s hooves were shaking and her teeth were chattering.
“Well ya’ll, I gotta be going if I were to give you a bit’s worth of free advice. Get out while you can too. This isn’t a good place anymore.”
“Of course, thanks for your warning,” the Doctor said as the pony turned around walking in the direction out of town.
“Oh can I ask one more question, where was the most recent attack?”
“I think it was a sweet young girl, her house is that way!” The pony called out motioned to the right.
“Thank you!” The Doctor called after him. “Well come on Derpy, we’ve got to investigate.”
“Wait what?” she exclaimed. “You really want to go to a place where ponies have disappeared?”
“Of course, this little town terror has gotten everyone’s-everyponies knickers in a jammy and I want to figure out what it is!” he responded walking in the direction the earth pony pointed. “Besides Derpy it’s the daytime. He said that in the daytime everything is fine.”
“Oh-oh okay Doctor.” She said as she followed behind him.
“Isn’t it curious though Derpy, I mean disappearing without a trace? That’s simply unheard of- oh look I know that tree in town, it’s little thing now! No pony I mean, has ever been heard of disappearing without a trace, crime or not.”
“Like what?” Derpy asked.
“Well like hoof prints, or signs of struggle that usual bit.”
“Do you suppose it was magic?”
“I had thought of that, but I figured the unicorns here have a way to identify magic spells such as teleportation or what not. Well at least in your time, maybe we’re too far back for that to be a thing yet, or maybe-“
The Doctor said as he spun around to face Derpy, yet still walking backwards. “They just didn’t know what to look for, eh?” Derpy smiled at the Doctor’s silliness in such a serious situation. Then she looked behind him and smiled.
“Doctor?”
“Why yes?”
“I think we’re here,” and with that the Doctor tripped backwards onto the ground and Derpy laughed as she flew over him on the floor. The Doctor looked up and saw the house, which had its door wide open.
“Curious, you figure the police or royal guards would have this place on lockdown considering it’s a crime scene.”
“Maybe they’re counting on people not wanting to go inside- ow!” Derpy said as she hit the invisible wall surrounding the house. “What the heck?” She questioned as she held her hoof up against the wall.
“Oh, interesting. It seems that they put some sort of protective spell around the house, very interesting.” The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed at the wall. He circled it trying to get it to open, however after whirring for a minute the wall would not budge.
“Well this is curious, I can’t seem to get us in there, figures tricky magic.”
The Doctor stood back and put his hoof up to his chin and thought for a moment. A few birds in the trees nearby distracted Derpy and she flew up to see them. The Doctor continued thinking and then looked at Derpy playing with the birds. Just then an idea popped into his head.
“That’s it! Derpy?”
“Yes Doctor?” She responded not looking away from the nest.
“I thought I better come clean now, but it wasn’t the fall that crushed your muffins.” Derpy turned around concerned now.
“What do you mean?”
“Well when we crashed into PonyVille, the fall didn’t crumble your muffins. It was me.”
“What?” Derpy said a bit in shock.
“Yes you see there were too many muffins to eat this morning and I couldn’t finish them all so I crushed the remainder of them and snuck them into your pocket when you weren’t looking so I didn’t have to eat them.”
“Doctor! Wha- ba- shka-“ Derpy stuttered in rage. She wound her wings up and charged at the Doctor full speed, “You could have saved them for later!” she yelled.
Just before Derpy met with the Doctor on impact, he ducked out of the way and she flew past him. Derpy tried to adjust herself mid flight, but she ended up hitting the invisible wall with her bottom, which caused it to shatter. Derpy landed in front of the door and the Doctor trotted past her.
“Very good work using your rump as always Derpy, and honestly; you should know by now that I wouldn’t do that to your muffins!” Derpy’s eyes circled around her head and she took a moment to readjust herself.
The Doctor approached the door and inspected it closely. There didn’t appear to be any forced entry as the doorknob and doorframe were completely intact. The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the lock and then looked at it for a moment. He proceeded up the stairs and into the abandoned bedroom.
Dust had gathered rather quickly covering nearly everything in the room from the covers of the bed to the books on the shelves. The Doctor looked around pointing his sonic screwdriver all over . Derpy finally joined him in the bedroom and asked, “Doctor what are you-“ But he interrupted her.
“Please hold all questions until the end of the tour thank you!” Derpy closed her mouth and started to look around the room herself. She noticed a telescope by the window standing up pointed at the ground. Derpy walked over and put her eye through it and discovered she could see part of the Everfree forest.
“Interesting,” the doctor said in the background.
“What is?”
“Everything! Everything here is interesting, because look around. It’s a crime scene yet nothings amiss. Nothing’s appears to be different. Just some poor house keeping.” Derpy looked around and said,
“You’re right. It’s like the owners just got up and left. Leaving everything behind.”
“Exactly, and I don’t know any sane pony that would do that, but…look at this!” The Doctor raced downstairs, and Derpy followed him. He got to the door and pulled it so that it was slightly ajar.
“I don’t get it.” Derpy said.
“Right, it looks like nopony has even touched the door. However, do me a favor and look through the keyhole.” Derpy did as she was instructed and noticed that she could see the light coming from the outside straight through the keyhole, and after a moment the Doctor’s eye appeared.
“It’s completely hollow!” Derpy exclaimed.
“Righto Ms. Hooves. It is completely hollow! If this was a regular keyhole then we should not be able to look right through it, because there would be all sorts of gears and springs and mechanisms filling it up!”
“That’s so strange, why would anybody buy a hollow lock?”
“Unless it didn’t come that way.” Derpy looked at the Doctor and the Doctor smiled back racing upstairs once more back to the bedroom.
“Now take a look at this!” He called as he pulled the covers of the bed back and stared at the floor it was covering.
“So what?” Derpy asked.
“Don’t you see it?” he replied back.
“It’s a dip in the wood on the floor.”
“No it’s not just a dip in the wood! Look closer!” Derpy moved her head closer to the wood and still only saw a slight dip in the straight wood plank.
“Nope sorry still nothing.” Derpy said.
“Look at the planks next to it. The edges of them are smoothed out, now don’t try to tell me some contractor pony took so much detail into building this house that he accounted for a slight dip in the wood to make sure and smooth out the sides of the wood planks adjacent to it, so that it was seamless!” Derpy was surprised, but still she was confused.
“Okay, so the woods slightly warped, what does that have to do with anything?”
“When I did a scan with my sonic screwdriver it gave me no readings from the past couple of days.” The Doctor said getting excited.
“Okay?” Derpy responded.
“It’s telling me that at some point nothing ever existed here! Nothing. No air particles, no dust molecules, nothing…not a single atom was in its place! Like something just sucked them up”
“What does that mean?”
“I…have no idea, but isn’t that just something!” The Doctor got up again and walked around looking at his sonic screwdriver. “So, did you find anything?”
“Actually yes I did, look at his Doctor.” Derpy pointed at the telescope and the Doctor stood beside her.
“Ah yes the telescope, one of Lippershey’s greatest inventions, but I guess here he’d be called Lippershay!” The Doctor chuckled and Derpy gave a blank expression.
“Focus Doctor!”
“Right sorry, so telescope yes?”
“Yes, now whoever this pony was she had a telescope”
Yeah so they could look at the stars and planets above, same reason anyone- pony get’s a telescope”
“Right, but that pony before said that most ponies were scared of the night. So what if she didn’t get the telescope just to look at the stars, but to keep an eye out for whatever the thing was that took her.”
“Oh that’s brilliant Derpy, good catch!”
“There’s one other thing. Look through the telescope.” The Doctor moved up and put his eye against the lens.
“Oh I see, it’s pointed right at the Everfree Forest!” The Doctor exclaimed.
“Right, I think this pony was trying to leave us a clue.”
“Well then let’s follow the clues Ms Hooves, advante! Oh did you hear that I just rhymed, oh that was fun we should do this whole thing by rhym…” The Doctor rambled on as the two left the house in the direction of the Everfree forest.
Princess Luna heard a knock on her door and commanded, “I thought I said nopony disturb me?”
“It is I sister, I request an audience with you,” said Celestia on the other side of the door.
“You may enter” Luna said as she got up from her bed. Celestia entered her room and bowed her head to her sister. Luna did the same and both of the ponies rose to look one another in the eye.
“I had heard from the guards that you had a bit of trouble?” Celestia asked.
“Twas nothing, just an imposter who fooled our guards.”
“Yet they escaped?”
“Yes the Doctor, as he referred to himself had a crossed eyed assistant that allowed him to fly off.”
“Why did you not chase after him, or the instruct the guards to do so?”
“I did not find it necessary, they were simple trouble makers, and in the grand scheme of things not worth the effort.” Luna said going toward her window again looking out.
“Even still sister, I worry about your safety and don’t want any harm to come to you-“ Luna cut her off.
“I am every bit as strong as you are Celestia!” her sister paused for a moment in a bit of shock and Luna’s expression changed from annoyed to apologetic.
“I apologize sister, I did not mean to sound angry.”
“There is something else troubling you Luna, please tell your sister.” Celestia said moving closer.
“Tis nothing sister,” she replied trying to dismiss the conversation.
“Luna,” Celestia called in a voice that a mother would use against her daughter. Princess Luna sighed and spoke.
“It is just something that’s been plaguing my thoughts for some time now sister. I just feel I am unneeded here in Equestria.”
“Why would you say such a thing?”
“Because I look out this window everyday and see all the ponies going about their lives, happily and enjoying the light, but when I raise the moon and night time comes. I don’t see a single soul outside looking at the constellations I work so hard on, or a full moon when it appears. I just feel maybe I’d be best if we left the sunlight out forever.” Luna put her head down and sat by her windowsill.
“Oh sister no, none of that is true! You’re nighttime is as important as my daylight. Without the two in harmony the world would be a very chaotic place, and you do not know there aren’t ponies out there who enjoy looking up at your stars and your moon.”
“Is that so?” Luna replied mockingly.
“Yes because I am one of them.” Celestia rubbed her head against her sisters in comfort and Luna smiled and brushed back.
“Without you Luna, our ponies would never be able to get the sleep they so desperately need. They would not be able to function in my daylight without you, and all their crops would eventually dry out and sizzle away with no break from my bright sun, and tides would spiral out of control flooding cities without you.”
“Thank you for the sentiments sister, but the issue still rises in my mind. No pony can even look at your sun, yet they decide to keep their eyes open and embrace it; while my moon is clear, but they shut their eyes and turn away.” Luna rested her head on her sister’s chest and Celestia held her sister close.
“Oh my little sister, I wish I could take all your sorrow away, all of your worries. Please don’t feel this way, it worries me that I may loose you.”
“I shall always be here Celestia, for you and for our subjects.”
“That is reassuring to hear, but always remember. You create beauty that no other creature can.” Celestia levitated a flowerpot that was on her sister’s desk and brought it close. It was the Moonshine Flower that Luna herself created.
“I will remember sister, I will remember.” The two Princesses laid there on the floor
for a little while longer, simply embracing one another and enjoying each other’s presence.
The Doctor and Derpy walked through the heart of the Everfree forest, with Derpy on constant alert and the Doctor oblivious as ever.
“Wait so you’re telling me that they wrap cider inside little noodles, deep fry them, then drain them in a cup so you can drink it?”
“Ya-huh,” Derpy replied.
“Seriously, where have you ponies been all my life’s? Little geniuses that’s what you are. Now if only I could get my hands on some of those butter-”
“Doctor?” Derpy tried to interrupt, but the Doctor continued on.
“Oh what if, we were to take pear and dip it in the oil, maybe I wouldn’t hate them as much-“
“Doctor?” Derpy tried again, but was ignored.
“Oh and then a deep fried apple pie, with whip cream on top, that is an absolute joy-“
“DOCTOR!” Derpy yelled out finally getting the Doctor’s attention.
“What?” he asked.
“Look!” Derpy said as she pointed to a few roots that were sticking out of the ground.
“Oh what’s this?” the Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and began analyzing the stump.
“Interesting,” he said. “This has had the same absence of matter as back in the house, I think our trail is getting warmer Derpy!”
“Yeah I can see that,” she said while pointing ahead of them. There were more roots sticking out of the ground in front of them, as well as some patches of ground that look like holes had been dug. The two ponies continued onwards, following the paths of controlled destruction. Eventually they came upon a large canyon that separated two landmasses, only crossable by a bridge.
“Hey Derpy?” The Doctor asked.
“Yeah?”
“Doesn’t this look awfully familiar?”
“It sure does, but I can’t put my hoof on it.” The Doctor began to chuckle again and Derpy gave him a blank stare.
“Right right sorry,” he cleared his throat and continue. It seems like the same thing that caused those trees to disappear made this canyon.”
“The rock’s on the side are smooth like someone just cut them with a knife like butter.”
“Oh, good analogy. Come let’s see where this bridge leads us to eh?” The Doctor said motioning across the rope bridge
“Okie dokie Doctor.” The two ponies crossed the bridge with ease, but as they continued on the other side a thick fog began to envelop them.
“Hey Doctor, is it me or is a fog starting to roll through?” Derpy made sure to stay behind the Doctor so is not to loose him.
“No you’re definitely correct Derpy, this fog just get’s thicker and thicker the more we go in. Wait a second, you’re a pegasus!”
“I hope my wings didn’t give it away.” Derpy said mocking the Doctor.
“Ha ha, very funny. No you silly pony, if you’re a pegasus shouldn’t you be able to clear away this fog with your hooves or something?”
“Oh right, sorry I spaced for a second.” Derpy got in front of the Doctor and like peeling away dried glue on skin, she cleared a path for them little by little. Eventually they cleared enough to see a dark half built castle in front of them. The Doctor and Derpy stared up in shock.
“Who ever is building this Castle obviously did not want anybody to find it.”
“Anypony” Derpy corrected
“Whatever, let’s get a look inside shall we?” The Doctor started forward to enter the dark castle, but Derpy did not follow.
“Derpy? What are you doing?” The pegasus was curled in a ball shaking.
“You go ahead Doctor I’ll wait here, its fine!” She said nervously.
“Ms. Hooves what’s gotten into you? Why will you not go in?”
“Oh you know, I think you can handle it on your own this time, besides I uh- have to make sure the fog stays away see?” She grabbed a hooful of fog and pushed it away, giving a fake smile.
“Derpy?” The doctor said not believing her. She dropped the fog and gave a sigh.
“Okay, it’s because…I’m… I’m afraid of the dark.” The Doctor busted out laughing so hard he fell over and rolled around on the floor. Derpy was blushing now and grew angry.
“Hey that’s not very nice Doctor! Lot’s of fillies are scared of the dark, it’s not as rare as you think!” The Doctor was still laughed on the floor making Derpy fell even more embarrassed.
“I’m sorry- I’m sorry,” the Doctor began as he started to get up, still holding his sides. “But you? Afraid of the dark? The pony who help fend off CybaPonies? The girl who was captured by a giant ice monster and helped defeat a Jabberwocky? Your biggest fear is the dark?” Again he busted out in laughter, and Derpy sat there pouting until he stopped.
“Okay- okay I’m done, I’m done I swear, you ruined me. Don’t worry Derpy, the fun thing about my sonic screwdriver,” he pulled out his screwdriver. “Is that it doubles as a flash light!” He gave it a click and a ray of light shot out of it. “And you can hold it.” He handed it to Derpy and she took it hesitantly.
“Advante Ms. Hooves!”
Derpy was completely nervous walking through the halls of the castle as she was pointing the flashlight at any little thing she heard. Eventually the Doctor got frustrated.
“You know Derpy I gave you the flashlight so you would be less scared, not so you could spazz out and shine it all over the gaff!”
“I’m sorry I can’t help it- eep!” she cried and pointed the flashlight at a spider on the wall.
“Okay if you cannot keep it straight, then I shall take over flashlight duties got it?”
“Oh-okay” Derpy stuttered and shined the flashlight past the Doctor.
“Thank you, now this place is awfully peculiar.”
“I’ll say.”
“No not because of the atmosphere. I mean just look at everything. It’s brand new! The stone is smoothed out, there is even carpets laid on the floor and glass panels have been put in, but one thing still disturbs me.”
“Wha- what?”
“With all the windows, why is there no sunlight coming through?” Derpy took a big gulp and began to shake again.
“I think we are coming upon the throne room.”
They entered the biggest chamber either of them had ever seen. The walls were made from dark grey stones, and it was covered in dark blue carpet with black tapestries. The top looked unfinished, but they couldn’t tell because it seemed to extend into a never-ending darkness. A royal throne sat in the middle of the room that looked similar to Celestia’s. The Doctor approached the chair and wiped his hoof over it.
“Doctor please don’t!” Derpy cried focusing the flashlight on him.
“Weird, there isn’t a speck of dust on here, even though this castle doesn’t look like it’s ever been used. Even if there were someponies still building this place, where are they?” The Doctor turned around and looked at Derpy.
“Right here.” Said a voice from behind the throne. Derpy squealed and dropped the flashlight cowering into one corner of the room, and the Doctor jumped back as the little bit of light reveled a pony emerging from behind the chair. The pony that came out had a dark green coat, with a long straight mane that was sky blue. She was smiling as she came out and her eyes were a piercing dark blue.
“Oh hello, who are you?” The Doctor asked as the pony strolled around still smiling. She eventually said,
“You may call us Sugar Song.”
“Well hello Sugar Song, I’m the Doctor and that over there a bit shaken up is Ms. Derpy Hooves.” The pony continued to stroll around the hall admiring the architecture.
“Ms. Song, can I ask if you know who built this?”
“We did.” The green pony stated.
“Why?” The Doctor asked.
“We thought we needed a fresh start. A castle for ourselves that fit our…style.”
“Okay, I was willing to just accept that you may have a multiple personality disorder, but now I’m thinking there’s much more to it than that. Who is we?” Derpy slowly made her way over to the Doctor not looking up at the creepy pony.
“Oh Doctor, we are nothing and yet we are everywhere. Are the medium of the universe, but you never even realize it.”
The Doctor was looking hard at Sugar Song now trying to read her body movement.
“Who are you?”
“What’s the matter Doctor? Don’t like being in the dark?” Sugar started to laugh menacingly.
“Who are you?”
“Are you afraid of what you do not know? Or are you afraid of what you assume to be true?”
“Okay I know for a fact that it is not Sugar Song in there anymore you creature now tell me WHO YOU ARE, or I’ll make you come out!”
“Oh please Doctor, you’re threats are useless to us, for we are old as time itself.” There was a pause for a moment and the Doctors angry expression did not change. “Ah Sugar Song, she was the perfect host Doctor, at least for now. Her fascination for the night’s sky and fearlessness of the dark was perfect for us to take.”
“Doctor I’m scared,” Derpy whimpered behind him.
“Don’t worry, everything’s fine. Now tell me, I know of thirteen creatures that are as old as time itself, and I’ve figured out for a fact you’re not eight of them, so which one are you?” The pony simply laughed again and smiled at the Doctor.
“I’m a creature you have never even seen before! I am a creature born both from the void and from the universe!” The Doctor froze and Depry could see it. She was even more frightened now, as she never liked seeing the Doctor surprised.
“Where are they? The other ponies where are they!”
“They’re here with me Doctor, safe and sound in the void.” Sugar Song raised her hooves up into the air and the Doctor along with Derpy looked up to see several ponies descending from the darkness above them.
“Oh this isn’t good! Derpy run!” Derpy got up and ran towards the exit of the castle. The Doctor followed right behind her and looked back to see nearly an army of ponies with the same empty dark blue eyes as Sugar Song.
They ran as fast as their little pony bodies would allow down the longest hallway in the world, but the group was gaining quickly and the Doctor had to think of something that would hold them back. An idea popped into his head and he bent down to pick up a rock. He stopped running and turned around.
“Doctor are you crazy?” Derpy said stopping with him.
“Just keep running!” However Derpy wasn’t going to go without him.
The Doctor dug his hooves into the floor and chucked the rock into one of the stain glass windows of the hallway. The light flooded in and the group of ponies stopped in their tracks hissing at the sunlight. The Doctor smiled and taunted the ponies, “Yeah don’t like that do you!”
A possessed pony on the other side of the light growled at the Doctor and jumped across the window. The Doctor jumped back getting out of range of the pony’s grasp, but Derpy froze and her eyes widened.
“Derpy move!”
The possessed pony continued it’s path towards Derpy, but as it was hit with the beams of sunlight the pony began to sizzle and smoke. Then just before it reached Derpy, she vanished into thin air. The Doctor stood there shocked and Derpy was still unable to move out of fear.
The Doctor ran over to Derpy and picked her up, “Derpy you need to move now! Keep running!” She did as she was told and ran even faster down the hallway. The Doctor gave another glance behind them and across the sunlight he saw that the ponies that were chasing them retreat into the darkness with Sugar Song smiling and being the last of them to disappear into the black. The Doctor met Derpy on the outside of castle. She was panting hysterically and her hooves covered her face.
“Derpy? Derpy look at me are you okay?” She was sobbing hard and wouldn’t let her hooves move away from her face.
“She- she just- ju-ju-st vanished…into the air!” Derpy sobbed harder now and the Doctor held Derpy for a moment but whispered to her.
“I know Derpy I know, but we need to get out of here. I’m sorry but we need to leave now, we need to get back to the Princesses. Everyone is in a lot of trouble.” Derpy stood up and held onto the Doctor as he helped walk her through the fog.
“What…were they Doctor?” She cried. For a moment the Doctor didn’t respond, but then finally said.
“We just need to get to Princess Luna.”
Celestia was writing a letter when she heard a knock on her door.
“Enter,” she called out. A guard rushed in panting and said,
“Princess Celestia, its urgent news!”
“What is it?”
“Marecity…there’s nopony left. They’ll all gone.” Celestia paused for a moment being taken aback and then asked,
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes your highness, eye witness reports say that it’s a ghost town now. All the residence have been taken.” Celestia looked down, her anger beginning to build and then with one mighty slap of her wing hit the ink container onto the floor spilling it everywhere. The guard flinched, as he’d never seen the Princess angry like this before. Celestia sighed and let her head droop.
“Pardon my outburst, that was dishonorable of me,” Celestia said as she levitated the bottle back onto the desk.
“It’s alright Princess, I understand.”
“Prepare my carriage, I am going to investigate for myself.”
“Your highness I do not believe that’s a good-“
“I AM THE PRINCESS!” Celestia yelled. “I will do my part to protect my kingdom no matter the cost! Do you understand guard?” The guard had backed away slightly afraid of the Princess’ second outburst.
“Of course ma’m my deepest apologies. I shall go get your carriage prepared.”
“Also, make sure my sister knows I am gone.”
“Yes your highness.” The guard left and closed the door behind him. Celestia was lost in thought and anger. She walked over to the ink on the floor and saw her reflection. She was worried about her kingdom, and felt helpless in defending it. Her and Luna had always been able to control most chaotic situations, but this wasn’t something completely different. She stared at her own reflection for sometime, but eventually she shook herself out of her thoughts and left the room.
It was nighttime now and everything was quite and peaceful in Equestria. Even with all the disappearances, it felt as if nothing was wrong at all in the night. Luna looked out from her watchtower and watched the little fires from windowsills dance in the nearby villages. All the ponies were getting ready for bed now, the little fillies and colts were being tucked in and told their bedtime stories. The adults were brushing their teeth and kissing each other goodnight as they blew out the candles. Some would stay up reading a novel or scroll to put their mind at ease.
Yet somewhere during the night, a beast would wake up and terrorize the villages, shaking the ponies out of their slumber and comfort. It had to be stopped, Luna thought. She’d do anything to make sure this creature paid for it’s crimes and guaranteed her subjects safety.
The Doctor and Derpy walked up the hill, which the castle stood on.
“So how are we going to get in there Doctor?” Derpy asked now calmed and collected.
“Well I suppose we should just go in and get ourselves captured.”
“Wait what?” Derpy said, but the Doctor was already walking toward the castle entrance. She chased after him and said,
“I think there’s a better way to get in then this!”
“Nope, we let them take us in and they’ll probably bring us right to one of the Princesses.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well I don’t actually, but we tell them that we’ve got information regarding the disappearances and I’m sure they’ll at least humor us.”
“Yes, but we already tried that last time. Now they probably have our faces up on wanted posters!”
“Oh, wouldn’t that be something now! I think I’d have to take one and add it to my collect-“ The Doctor hit an invisible wall and fell down. He rubbed his chin for a moment and then cried, “ Of course, these ponies and their invisible force fields of magic! I swear the day I learn to see these things…Derpy!”
“Yes Doctor?”
“I’m going to need to borrow your rump!”
“Doctor!” she said embarrassed.
“Oh you know what I mean, now do us a favor and kick up some speed!” Derpy still unsure stood back and dug her hooves into the dirt. She charged at the wall and the last second turned so that her bottom would hit first.
She did this successfully, but the wall did not give and simply bounced Derpy off like a bug. She hit the ground hard and rubbed her rump. “Ouch! What gives?” she cried.
“Well obviously not this wall. This spell is indeed much stronger than the one back at the house. I think we’re going to need a bit more force than that Ms. Hooves!” Derpy looked up with a worried expression and the Doctor looked at the top of the castle.
“Oh and I think I know how to get it!”
Derpy kept all of her attention on her wings lifting her up. She readjusted her grip on the Doctor as they flew higher and higher.
“Watch it, don’t wanna drop me now do we?” She grunted and muttered.
“Seriously we’re gonna talk about a no butter diet when this is over!”
“Oh no we’re not! If I have to give up butter than you have to give up muffins!”
“Never” she muttered to herself. They were almost at the top of the tower of Canterlot, but Derpy was starting to loose energy fast.
“Come on Derpy we’re almost there just a bit higher!”
“Shut up Doctor!” she grunted as she climbed higher and higher. The Doctor looked down and realized they were almost in position.
“We need to go a little to the left Derpy.”
“I’m trying!” Derpy had enough trouble flying herself as she was notorious for dropping items from the sky. Her eyes went cross as she was using every last ounce of energy lifting the Doctor
“I- can’t…hold- on!” She cried out.
“Just a little bit more Derpy come on!” They were almost in place, but just then Derpy’s wings gave out and glued themselves to her body out of exhaustion.
“Uh oh,” she said. Now the Doctor and Derpy were falling fast toward the force field of the castle. Gravity pulled them down as fast as a bullet and Derpy flailed her arms in the air.
At the last moment, the Doctor managed to position Derpy so her rump would hit the force field, and sure enough as they smashed into the the force field it began to bend around them and slowed down their velocity like they just jumped on a trampoline. The Doctor feared that they would be shot back into the air and nearly into space if Newtons Third Law held true. Yet the barrier began to tear and eventually they broke through.
The guard came up to Princess Luna and spoke, “You’re sister has gone to MareCity to investigate the disappearances Princess.”
“I realize that, I observed her carriage leave.
“Of course, my apologize for interrupting you Princess Luna.”
“Tis nothing, now please no more disturbances.”
“As you wish your highness.” The guard retreated down the watchtower and Luna was again left with her thoughts. Didn’t even wonder if I wanted to assist her. She believes she can handle it herself, or that I may get in the way. Luan shook off her negative thoughts of her sister and watched the stars twinkle. Just then something large crashed behind her and she positioned herself ready to attack. However when the smoke cleared there were only the two ponies from earlier mixed with bits of roof.
“You’re that Doctor from before! How did you get passed the barrier- Never mind that, guards!” She called out, but the Doctor got up and waved his hooves around.
“No no no please none of that again. Princess Luna I come bearing news of the strange phenomenon in Equestira.”
“I have heard your song before Doctor, I was not impressed.” She motioned again to call the guards, but the Doctor motioned with his hooves and cut her off.
“No please, this time I actually have information regarding the disappearances of the ponies and parts of the land!”
“Please your highness, it would not be terrible just to hear us out!” Derpy added finally getting up. The Princess stared at the two intensely and finally closed her eyes and said,
“ You have little time to speak. Make it count.”
“Excellent,” the Doctor exclaimed. “My assistant and I went to the house of the most recent disappearance in PonyVille.
We believe it to be the home of a Sugar Song and when we entered I noticed that something had actually taken apart the lock to her door from the inside out. All the gears and metal inside just disappeared. I also noticed that part of her floorboard was missing, but it wasn’t just taken out. It was removed from existence.”
“This is sounding exaggerated Doctor.”
“Wait, I’m sorry your highness allow me to finish. Then my assistant Derpy found a clue that whatever was causing the ponies to disappear had some connection to the Everfree Forest. So as we searched through the forest, we eventually found a castle that is being constructed as we speak.”
“A castle? I highly doubt that Doctor, a castle just does not sprout out of the blue, especially in my kingdom!”
“No it doesn’t, but this one has and I’ll tell you why. When we went into that castle it was completely dark on the inside and we came upon the filly that was taken from her home. However Princess she was possessed. She was possessed by a creature not of this world or any other world.” The Doctor paused and Luna did not interrupt him this time.
“You see princess, I am not of this world either, or really this dimension- anyways that doesn’t matter. I am what’s known as a Time Lord; my people have been around nearly since the beginning of creation, and I have an extensive knowledge of this universe and others. However, I saw something today I never thought possible.”
Luna resettled herself and the Doctor could see that her breathing was beginning to quicken and she was becoming nervous.
“See when the universe was created, it was created by the most basic building block of all, matter. Matter is the quarts, atoms, molecules that make up everything like the air we breath to us ourselves. However there is also something that exists between matter something we cannot see."
"This is dark matter. Dark matter exists for no reason other than to fill in the gaps left by matter, it’s the spaces between planets and even the spaces between atoms. Now there is a place that is made solely of dark matter and this place is called the void. The void is the buffer zone between universes, nothing exists there- until today however. See this creature we found in that castle was the embodiment of dark matter. Some how some way, after billions of years this creature evolved from dark matter and gained consciousness.”
“So what does this creature want?” Luna asked, still listening intently to the Doctor.
“I don’t know, that’s the thing, but it has something to do with the castle and the nighttime. It takes ponies by sucking them into the void and then it takes control of their minds.” The Doctor paused for a moment and Luna finally broke eye contact with the Doctor. After a moment Luna finally said,
“Doctor I hope you realize that you have reveled the most disturbing news to me.”
“Yes ma’am I do, it’s hard even for me to swallow.” Luna looked into the night’s sky, she contemplated for a moment, and then spoke,
“I want to get our armies ready. “We are going to launch an assault on that castle and destroy this creature.”
“Ma’am I’d have to advise heavily against that. Before we do anything we need to inform Princess Celestia of the situation and have her here and ready, where is she?”
“Ah yes my sister, of course,” Luna said disappointed. “She’s left to MareCity to investigate the disappearances there.”
“Then we need to get her back here as soon as possible, because without her we are completely defenseless.”
“Then go tell the messengers to have a pegasus fly and give her the message.”
“Righto, I’ll be right back!” The Doctor sped down the tower latter and left Derpy with Princess Luna.
There was an awkward silence between the two of them and Derpy was unsure how to break it. Luna turned around and looked up at the stars. Derpy decided it would be polite to join her. She sat beside her and stared up at the twinkling dots with her. After awhile Luna asked Derpy, “Child answer me this question.”
“Yes, your majesty?”
“Are you afraid of the night?” Derpy was a bit shocked and searched for the right words before she spoke.
“I-uh well…I’m not afraid of the night persay, I’m just afraid of what comes along with it.”
“Interesting, please explain,” Luna asked.
“Well I mean… in the night that’s when all sorts of big scary creatures come out and they hide in the dark where nopony can see them.”
“Are you afraid of the dark?”
“If I am to be honest Princess, yes I am. The Doctor will laugh at me, but for whatever reason there is an unsettling presents in the darkness. No matter what it’s like a pair of eyes are watching me and I can never shake the feeling.”
“Maybe because they are protective eyes.” Luna muttered. Derpy didn’t hear her however,
"I’m sorry?”
“It is nothing, I expected such a reply, as it seems to be the common opinion among my subjects.” Derpy noticed her more depressed tone and decided to change the subject slightly.
“But I mean, the night and darkness are two separate things aren’t they?” Luna looked up surprised.
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”
“Well just because the night comes doesn’t mean the darkness always come with it. Darkness exists in deep caves and even parts of the Everfree forest during the day. Even the night tries to get rid of darkness, look at how bright the moon is and how hard those stars shine just to have their light be seen billions of light years away. I know the Doctor has shown me a few of them.”
Luna smiled at the pony and said, “Did you know I put together these stars?” Derpy’s attention snapped to the Princess and she smiled as well.
“Really? All of them?”
“Mhmm, see I put them in specific orders and called them constellations. Right there,” she pointed with her hoof. “Is Orion’s Belt, and those over here make up the big dipper and lead into the little dipper.”
“Wow,” Derpy exclaimed. The Princess was enjoying herself for once being able to actually tell a pony about her work. Derpy’s eventually looked down and she spotted the same dark blue flower with white spots in a pot next to Princess Luna.
“Hey there’s that flower again!”
“Oh you’ve seen this before?” Luna asked levitating the flowerpot over to them.
“Yeah I saw it her in the garden.” Luna smiled down at it.
“Yes I made them myself. My sister calls them Moonshine Flowers, because they can only grow when hit with direct moonlight. It’s one of the few flowers that doesn’t require my sisters sun. However I’ve only been able to grow them in the garden here, so hardly anypony gets to see them.”
“They’re beautiful though.”
“Thank you,” Luna said putting the pot back down. They sat together in silence again, but then Derpy interrupted it.
“You know Princess, I think you’re strong enough to defeat this dark matter creature by yourself.”
“You do?”
“Yes it’s nothing compared to your magical ability and power, I mean you move the stars around however you please!”
“Yes, but the Doctor said that my sister was crucial in defeating this creature.”
“He’s paranoid, he just wants her there just in case. As a Princess of the night you could do it with your eyes closed.” Derpy said smiling up at her. The Princess chuckled and her face grew a determined look.
“I suppose you’re right, how hard could this creature be to defeat?”
“That’s the spirit! Come on I’ll take you there!” Luna nodded and began to fly up with Derpy when she stopped and grabbed Derpy giving her a curious look.
“Is there a problem Princess?” Derpy asked.
“I was just noticing, you have the most beautiful dark blue eyes I’ve ever seen.” Derpy’s face relaxed and they continued flying.
“Why thank you, Princess.”
Derpy once again moved the fog that surrounded the castle with ease to make way for Princess Luna. After a few minutes going through the fog they finally reached the entrance of the Castle. Some additions were made since the last time Derpy had seen it.
“So this is where this beast resides is it?”
“Yes your highness, please allow me to lead the way,” Derpy said as she entered the castle. Princess Luna looked around at the tall stained glass and tapestries with her horn as only source of light. The window that was broken from before had now been repaired, but unbeknownst to Luna. Derpy finally led her into the throne room and Princess Luna was a bit shocked at the size and elaborate detail of the hall.
“Um Ms. Hooves, where is this creature again and what does it look like?”
“Oh just like an innocent little filly,” said a voice from out of nowhere. Luna spun around and shined her light to revel the same dark green pony from before.
“Revel your identity!”
“Our name is Sugar Princess, Sugar Song.” Luna let out a little gasp and forced her horn to glow ready to blast the pony if she made any sudden movements.
“I know you monster, you’ve possessed this filly. I will not be tricked by your disguise, now revel your true self to me!”
The Filly simply laughed and strolled around the throne room.
“Oh in due time Luna, in due time. Might I say I love your ferocity, it makes you such a confident and powerful leader.”
“Silence creature!” Luna commanded. “Now tell me what, why have you built this castle? Do you wish to conquer Equestria?” The filly giggled again and danced around Luna.
“Oh Princess Luna, we’ve built this castle just for you.” Luna slightly let her guard down in surprise.
“Explain yourself!” She commanded.
“Oh dear Luna, we are not ignorant to your work and your desires. We understand the struggles you go through to grace us with the night and darkness. The ponies around here don’t give it a second thought. Yet we understand, that’s why we decided to build you a fresh start for when you become ruler of Equestria.” Luna dug her hooves into stone and prepared herself to fire.
“What does thou mean, ruler of Equestria? I already am a ruler of Equestria.” Luna’s comment only caused a wave of laughter to erupt from the filly up into the darkness.
“Oh Luna we all know you are not actually in control of any part of Equestria. You share a throne with your own sister who has been slowly over the years been taking it away from you.”
“Liar!” Luna yelled out firing a magical blast that stopped the green pony in her tracks.
“Are we? Or do we speak the truth you try to hide?”
“Lies!” she growled back, horn glowing again.
“Well consider this then Princess. Do you ever make visits to the different villages and towns in Equestria? No that is your sister, because eveypony is asleep during the night. Tell me what official decrees have you issued since the start of your reign.” Sugar paused for an answer, but Luna simply looked hard at her without a response. “Exactly. How often do the ponies go out and enjoy the nighttime that you slave over every detail of? None.” Luna had now raised her horn and was listening intently on the pony’s words.
“See your highness? The proof is there. Your sister has been slowly taking your grasp away from the crown by tricking the citizens of Equestria into loving the daylight rather than the moonlight. Yet we offer you power, we offer you an opportunity to make a change. You can over power your sister and keep it night forever."
"Then your citizens will learn to love you and embrace the moon.” Luna stayed quite and walked away from Sugar. Princess Luna’s thoughts were all twisted and confusing now.
She wasn’t sure how to make sense of the creature’s words. They all had the probability to be true, and Luna even had some of the same suspicions before, but she had never found any reason that her sister would want to do such a thing. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute, but then she realized she had not heard from Derpy the whole time they were in there. Luna turned around and shined her light at Derpy who had a blank expression.
“Ms. Hooves?” Luna asked.
“Yes Princess?”
“I thought you said you were afraid of the dark.” Derpy’s eyes widen for a moment and then her face simply curled into a smile.
“Very perceptive Princess.” Luna realized what had happened now; she was drawn into a trap! Luna flew toward the hallway and escape, but an army of ponies descended from the darkness above and force her down.
The TARDIS slowly faded into the front of the castle and the Doctor rushed out as soon as it was tangible. He hoped that he hadn’t arrived too late. With his sonic screwdriver in his mouth he rushed inside the castle and made his way to the throne room. When he arrived the Doctor saw Sugar Song standing above Princess Luna with a smile.
“DOCTOR!” Luna cried out. Every possessed ponies attention snap to the doorway and the Doctor froze. Sugar smiled and motioned for Derpy to catch him. The Doctor was stunned to see Derpy possessed and ran back toward the exit.
“PRINCESS I’LL BE BACK I PROMISE!” the Doctor called out.
“PLEASE HELP DOCTOR!” Luna called out still restrained by the possessed ponies. Sugar Song bent over so she was eye level with Luna.
“Ah Princess Luna, you could probably escape if you really wanted too, but you wouldn’t dare hurt your precious subjects would you?” Luna struggled again, but she was unable to get free.
“I thought not, don’t worry we’ll fix that.”
The Doctor continued to run with Derpy chasing right on his heels. “Derpy you need to snap out of it!” he cried behind him, but Derpy gave no answer. He continued sprinting down the hallway until he could see the TARDIS in the distance. The Doctor exited the castle and quickly put the key in TARDIS and opened it. He looked back and Derpy was still flying, trying to beat the Doctor from closing the door.
“I apologize for this in advance Derpy,” the Doctor said to himself, and just before she made it through the threshold, the Doctor flung the door closed and he heard a loud crash on the other side. The Doctor opened the door and Derpy was knocked unconscious against the TARDIS door. He grabbed her quickly and brought her inside.
Meanwhile the dark matter creature started to invade Princess Luna’s mind and take control of her. Luna was surrounded by darkness, never ending in all directions.
“You know how to put up a fight Princess. This is more difficult than I thought!” Luna desperately tried to fight off the creature in her mind, but it knew every little doubt and weakness that it could get it’s little grubby claws on. She tried to think of all the good things in her life and how happy she was, but still the creature flooded her mind with selfish thoughts and her worst fears.
“Come one Princess it’ll just be like filling in the spaces of your mind with sand,” the creature whispered.
Then from the black, Luna saw Celestia in the distance. Luna tried but couldn’t move and Celestia laugh at her as the room began to get extremely hot. Suddenly she realized that she was in a cage heading straight for the sun and her sister stood by watching her. In the real world Luna let out screams of pain and anguishes as the creature continued its assault on the Princess’ mind.
The Doctor laid Derpy down and hooked up his sonic screwdriver to the TARDSIS.
“Okay, the TARDIS should have enough power to drain you of all that bad dark matter energy, hopefully.” The Doctor scanned Derpy’s body over and over again, then he ran over and pulled a lever. There was a loud crack in the TARDIS and the whole thing gave a giant shake, sparks were flying and the core glowed furiously.
“Come on baby you can do it! I know it’s difficult, but I believe in you!”
Derpy began to shiver on the floor and scream in agony.
“PLEASE JUST NOT DERPY!” the Doctor closed his eyes and he held onto his sonic screwdriver with his life. He was afraid removing the dark matter might destroy Derpy’s mind in the process, if it wasn’t exact. The TARDIS finally calmed down and the Doctor ran over to Derpy. He scanned her with the screwdriver and studied the results. The Doctor gave out a sigh of relief and began trying to wake up Derpy.
The Princess was beginning to loose her battle as the dark energy was polluting her mind faster than she could fend it off. Luna still saw herself in a cage hurtling toward the sun, it was growing hotter by the second and Luna was convinced that she was going to be burned alive. In the distance she heard a voice, “We can get you out.” Luna tried to block out the sound, but somehow it still leaked right into her head.
“We can stop the suffering. We can get rid of the sun for good.”
“No, get out of my head!” Luna cried out, but her cage only got hotter and her sister’s laughter in the distance grew louder.
“Derpy, Derpy please I know I gave you a good knock on the noggin, but I need you awake for a moment.” Finally after patting her face for a minute Derpy finally came to. Her vision was blurry and she could hardly form words. Her eyes returned to their natural cross-eyed state and the world was coming into focus.
“Doctor?” she muttered.
“Thank god you’re awake, Derpy I need you to tell me something. Do you remember the night that you and I first met and you mentioned an old mares tale?”
“I-uh… I’m not sure I think so?”
“Please focus, you mentioned an old legend that took place a thousand years ago your time. What was it?”
“It was uh- it was about the two sisters who rose the moon and the sun, and one day one of the sisters refused to bring down the moon.” The Doctor helped Derpy to her hooves.
“Did it mention why?”
“Just that one sister was jealous of the other, then she was banished to the moon, and that’s why they call her Nightmare Moon.” Derpy rubbed her head as a massive headache was pounding her head.
“Oh no.” the Doctor said as he ran outside and looked up at the castle.
“Let the night take over Luna, you can ease your pain if you trust us.” The voices in Luna’s head repeated.
“No, I must- stay strong.” She replied weakened from the heat. The cage was near the surface of the sun melting around her and Luna was almost certain that she was going to die. Then she heard Celestia’s voice from the distance.
“Oh foolish little sister, don’t you see? Nopony wants the night at all. They all crave my daytime and you’re little rock in space is nothing compared to my giant star! Long live the daylight!” As Celestia said this she raised her hooves in the air and everything around Luna became surrounded in blinding white light. This was it Luna thought. This is how she would parish, in her own sister’s sunlight. Then somewhere in her mind a switch clicked and Luna stood up.
“NO!” Princess Luna yelled out, and the heat was instantly dissipated along with the cage around her. She was consumed by darkness
“Doctor why is the legend so important what’s happening?” Derpy raced outside and looked up at the clouds that were now circling the castle ominously.
“Because Ms. Hooves, I believe I’ve just created Nightmare Moon.”
A powerful ray of blue and black magic shot up out of the top of the castle and into the swirling clouds of the sky. The wind it caused was so powerful that it nearly knocked the Doctor and Derpy off their hooves. Derpy put her hoof up to shield her eyes and yelled out to the Doctor, “Doctor what’s happening?”
“The creature, its finally taken control of Princess Luna! We need to get into the TARDIS!”
Derpy and the Doctor retreated into the TARDIS and from the castle an army of Pegasi began to flood out of the top where the magic blast was coming from, like little demons covered in black and blue fur that resembled the night sky. All the ponies flew towards the cities of Equestria. In the TARDIS the Doctor was pacing around hitting himself in the head.
“STUPID STUPID STUPID. I am a bloody idiot how did I not see any of this coming!”
“Doctor it’s okay!” Derpy tried to ease him, but it did no good.
“No it’s not okay! I was a bloody idiot! Of course the dark matter creature wanted to get to Princess Luna! She’s the only being in the universe that can cause eternal night! They need night so they can survive!”
“Doctor it’s not your fault it was mine!” Derpy exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for me becoming possessed by that thing and leading her into a trap, none of this would have happened.”
“No Derpy I’m sorry that burdon is still on me. If I was smart I wouldn’t have gotten cocky back in the castle, I wouldn’t have taken you in there in the first place. Yet that one pony sacrificing itself managed to get enough dark matter particles in you to multiply and I didn’t even think to scan you before going to the castle. STUPID!” The Doctor yelled again and sat on his hind legs arms over his face. Derpy walked over and put her arms around him.
“Okay so you made a few mistakes Doctor, no ones perfect. We’ll just have to get back to Canterlot and find Princess Celestia. She’ll know what to do and how to help.” The Doctor sat there frustrated for a moment more and then took his hooves away.
“Righto, come on Ms. Hooves we have a job to fix, advante!” The Doctor called out switching a few knobs and switches.
The TARDIS faded into the balcony of the castle, and the Doctor stepped out.
“Oh my god.” He said in shock as he saw the flood of pegasi and earth ponies that were flooding their way into the nearby cities of Canterlot.
“Doctor, it’s an all out war!” Derpy cried out. The Doctor stayed focused on the flood of armies that continued to flood in, when a white alicorn caught his eye.
“Princess Celestia!” Derpy cried out. The alicorn flew and landed near the Doctor and Derpy.
“You, I’m guessing you must be the Doctor and his companion?”
“Yes ma’am that’s right,” the Doctor responded.
“Good now tell me what is happening here? Who is causing such destruction on my lands?” Princess Celestia said this with genuine panic.
“It’s the dark matter creature that I told about in my letter Princess, however- there’s more to it now.” The Doctor hesitated.
“What?” Celestia begged. However the Doctor couldn’t speak. “Oh for heavens sakes what could be worse?”
The Doctor let out a sigh and told the Princess, “The creature has taken control… of Princess Luna.” Princess Celestia stumbled back in shock and her yes went wide.
“No…no not my dear sister no! Please Doctor there has to be something we can do!”
“Yes, there is. We can protect your lands and your people with the royal guard for the moment and hold them off till we can stop the creature from controlling the ponies.”
“I meant about my sister Doctor!”
“I know your highness, but at the moment this is a more pressing matter.” Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it and turned to Derpy.
“You, pegasi; go down and tell the general to mobilize all available troops from far and wide to protect Equestria. Tell them to only disable not to kill, these are still my little ponies after all.” Derpy nodded and flew off down stairs to find the General.
“Now Doctor, about my sister-“ however the Doctor cut her off.
“I did not want to address this in front my assistant Princess, but it must be heard now. You have to very quickly accept the fact that we might not be able to save your sister.”
“Wha- what are you talking about Doctor? Of course we can-“
“Princess please listen, this dark matter energy is very tough stuff. It took nearly everything my time machine had to extract the little bit out of my assistant. For somepony like your sister, who is the new host of the creature and in full possession there is nothing that can be done at the moment to cure her.”
“But Doctor I can try some of my magic and we can try reasoning-”
“Princess please, I do not enjoy telling you these things, but I do because they are true. The only magic powerful and pure enough to free your sister are the Elements of Harmony.”
“But Doctor I cannot use the Elements of Harmony, not without my sister.”
“I assumed so Princess, that’s why I have told you to accept your sister is gone, for now.”
“She is my sister Doctor, she is as important to this world as the sun itself, and I would never think about trying to use them on my own sister!” The Doctor realized he was never going to get anywhere with Celestia like this, so he had to focus the situation on something else.
“This creature your highness. Its weakness is sunlight; now I believe that if we can isolate the host and bring the sun up to expose the rest of the ponies. It might spare them the destruction and simply destroy the antimatter inside them.”
“Doctor hold on. Your plans are sounding paper thin, you mean you don’t know if it will work?”
“Honestly no your majesty, but it’s the only thing we can try while trying to save everypony from certain destruction. If a pony is now is exposed to sunlight then they will surely die, I have seen it myself.”
“Wait, Doctor we have to try reasoning with the creature first. Maybe the little bit of my sister that’s still in control will pull through and expel the creature.”
“Princess the beast is too strong-“ Celestia cut him off.
“You do not know how strong Luna is! You have no idea! She is as strong as I am and without her the world as well as myself are in disharmony. Now Doctor I’m going to find her and reason with her.” She said sharply. Celestia unfolded her wings and flew off to the center of the flood.
“Princess NO!” the Doctor called after her, but she was out of reach and flying tofast. Derpy came back up the stairs.
“Okay Princess I instructed the General- Princess?” Derpy asked. “Doctor what happen to the Princess?” The Doctor only stayed silent and looked toward the sky.
Recognition
Celestia flew past the fires and destruction of her small towns. The thought of everypony that was ripped from their homes by this creature enraged her and filled her heart with sadness. Her lands were crumbling before her and had not done anything about it. Finally Celestia neared the castle with the large beam of magic shooting out. She descended from the roof directly into the throne room and landed behind the chair. Celestia called out,
“Luna! Luna please stop this immediately! You have caused enough destruction and mayhem.” There was a pause and from behind the throne Nightmare Moon walked out and approached Celestia.
“Ah, dearest Celestia. How good it is to see you, have you come to witness first hand the crowning of Equestria’s new Queen?”
“No, I came to take my sister back. I have nothing to say to you monster besides to leave my sisters body at once!”
“Aw Celestia, you’re going to make your sister cry. Don’t you recognize me? I’m right here?” For a moment Celestia let her guard down, but then raised it again not willing to be fooled.
“No you are a monster in my sisters body. Leave now, and return my citizens to normalcy!” The creature laughed evilly and said,
“Oh Celestia, you need not to be so formal. You may call us Nightmare Moon!”
“Then leave my sister Nightmare Moon, before I blast you out of her!” Celestia dug her hooves into the stone and readied her horn with a blasting spell.
“But you wouldn’t hurt your precious sister would you? Technically this is still her body, so any damage done to me is done to her.” Celestia did not back down however and still readied her spell.
“Oh Celestia don’t be droll now. Yet answer me something, if you could get me out of your sisters body, why haven’t you done it yet?” Celestia did not move, and only stared hard at Nightmare Moon.
“Or for that matter, if you’re strong enough to defeat me. Why don’t you raise the sun and end my fun? Go ahead raise the sun and everything will be over in an instant.” Celestia only reapplied her footing ready to go at a moments notice.
“Could it be…that I am more powerful than you now Celestia? I think that’s exactly it. I think you are helpless to defeat me, and you are simply acting strong.”
“Luna I know you’re in there somewhere please, fight back, gain control again and stop it!”
“Oh no Celstia I’m afraid that’s not going to work! Luna is tucked away within layer and layers of my own subconscious. She’ll never find her way out, let alone take control again. No sister the moon will remain in the sky for all eternity!”
“You are not my sister!” Celestia yelled back.
“Think of it Celestia! An eternal night where the sun never shines. Finally the peasants that we lord over will appreciate my hard work and we shall be the new favorite. What do you say sister? Is that a fair trade?”
Celestia had heard enough from Nightmare Moon and launched her spell right at her. However the mare dodge it with ease and launched a counter spell of her own. Celestia gasped and flew up to avoid being hit. Nightmare Moon continued a barrage of spells and Celestia had to fly at her top speed, using all her maneuvers to avoid being hit. Celestia finally found an opening and shot a spell at Nightmare Moon again.
However Nightmare countered with another spell, and when the two collided they rebounded and hit the sides of the building. The building was hit so hard that rubble blew off of it and was headed right toward Nightmare Moon. Celestia cried out, “LUNA!” and dove to push her out of the way of the falling rocks.
Luckily she was fast enough and managed to get her sister and herself out of the way. After a moment, Nightmare Moon realized that Celestia was on top of her and levitated her with magic. Celestia was unable to break the levitation spell and was flung toward the wall of the throne room.
Yet before she hit the wall she was also hit with a blast of Nightmare Moons horn. The blast was powerful and nearly knocked Celestia unconscious. Her sight blurry from the hit Celestia looked up to see that Nightmare Moon was charging another attack. Celestia struggled to stand and just before the blast made impact, she gave a mighty flap of her wings, which rocketed her out of the way of the blast and out of the castle.
“Aw what’s wrong Celestia, done playing already? Well I’m not!” Nightmare Moon flew up as well and chased after Celestia. They flew at top speeds over the battles that were taking place below, between the royal guard and the possessed ponies. Celestia had enough of a head start to be far away from Nightmare Moon, but she was also weakened and Nightmare Moon was sure to catch up eventually.
Canterlot came into view and Celestia spared no energy as she focused mainly on flying and getting on the other side of the barrier. Nightmare Moon was now closing in on Celestia and charging a blast from her horn to hit her with. Just as Nightmare Moon got close enough to lock on and fired the blast, Celestia entered the protective barrier and was shielding from the attack. Nightmare hit the barrier as well, but even with her strength it did not shatter
“This barrier will only protect you for so long sister!” Nightmare Moon called out as Celestia glided back to the balcony with the Doctor and Derpy. Once she cleared the lading she collapsed onto the floor and panted heavily.
“Princess Celestia!” Derpy cried out and rushed to her side.
“I am okay… my little pony- just weakened… is all.” Celestia said in between deep breaths. The Doctor approached and looked down at Princess Celestia disappointed.
“I know Doctor, I just wanted to believe…I wanted to believe that somewhere my sister was till in there, fighting her way out.”
“I know your highness I do too, however we have to deal with this realistically now.”
“What is the plan then Doctor?” Celestia asked. The Doctor put his hoof up to his mouth and thought for a minute, looking up to see Nightmare Moon continuing to try and blast the barrier open.
“To be honest, I haven’t the slightest clue. We are in a real bind.”
“Doctor!” Derpy exclaimed, he shifted his attention toward her and she continued. “The legend remember? It said that the sister of the sun wielded the elements of harmony and imprisoned the other in the moon!”
“Blimey that’s right, what is wrong with me!” The Doctor said hoof palming his face. “She’s right, Princess Celestia you must get the Elements of Harmony and use their power to defeat Nightmare Moon.”
“That’s all easier said than done Doctor. However I cannot wield the Elements of Harmony. Not without Luna.”
“Princess I’m sorry, but right now she is much more powerful than you are, and you’re going to need to whatever amount of power from elements to stop her.”
“I’m fully aware of that Doctor! Yet I literally cannot access the elements power without my sister, for she is my other half. She is what brings harmony to myself and to the world, without her there is just chaos.” The Doctor glanced up frustrated then got down to eye level with the Princess.
“I know how hard this must be Princess. Yet I’m asking you to try, for your kingdom, for you citizens, for the rest of the world.” Celestia studied the Doctor’s face for a moment and then got to her hooves.
“Fine, follow me I’ll need your assistance.”
Derpy carried the last of the stones and centered it around Celestia. There were five element stones, Pink, Red, Blue, Orange, and Purple.
“Princess, I always thought there were six Elements of Harmony.”
“There are,” she responded, “however the last element is magic and it comes from inside me and my sister!” The Doctor walked up next to Celeetia and both ponies looked up at Nightmare Moon.
“Doctor, I don’t know any imprisoning spells. I don’t know how I’m suppose to lock her in the moon.”
“Don’t worry I’ll take care of that bit. I’ll ride with you and channel my energy into your teleportation spell. It should be enough to trap her for quite sometime. This way we’ll be able to spare her destruction when brining out the sun, while separating her link with the rest of the dark matter particles and cause them to weaken control. So as soon as she’s gone you must raise the sun.” Both ponies continued to look up at Nightmare Moon and she gazed back down at them with malicious eyes.
“Would it be cowardice of me to say I am scared Doctor?”
“If you said you weren’t I’d call you a liar.” The Doctor gave a smile and looked at the Princess who exchanged the look.
“Doctor?” Derpy said from behind them. The Doctor turned around and looked at her.
“Be careful please.” The Doctor smiled and nodded his head, but then noticed the pony was holding a flowerpot. He gave a curious look at it and Derpy and she responded,
“It helps ease the tension a little.” The Doctor shook his head and focused his attention back on Nightmare Moon.
“The force field is going to give any second now Doctor, prepare yourself.” The Doctor got on top of Celestia and they both began to float up along with the orbs that were the Elements of Harmony.
Nightmare Moon launched one last powerful blast at the force field, which caused it to shatter like glass, dissipating in the air. Nightmare Moon and Celestia met at the same altitude and floated there for a moment.
“So, trying to use the elements against me sister? Isn’t that disharmonious in it’s own right?”
“Silence, you will be defeated Nightmare Moon, and your assault on the Kingdom will cease. Although as I am a kind Princess I will give you one last chance to free my sister and to never be seen from again.” Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and said nothing for a moment, but then replied with a hysterical and evil laugh. Princess Celestia’s face grew even more disappointed and Nightmare Moon readied herself to launch a magic attack. Celestia readied herself also and the Doctor gave her a supporting squeeze on the soldier.
Both of the alicorn’s horns began to glow, Celestia’s glowing orange and Nightmare Moon’s glowing dark blue. There was utter silence for a moment and the ponies locked eyes. Simultaneously they launched their attacks and the powerful blasts collided mid air. A powerful wave of air exploded and now began the power tug of war between sisters.
For a minute neither pony tried to gain an advantage over the other, they were simply measuring each other’s power output and strength.
Finally Nightmare Moon began to push harder on her spell, but Celestia checked her by pushing just as hard on her own. There was a tie in the energy both ponies put out. From the ground Derpy observed at the awesome god-like powers being displayed above her. Two giant waves of Orange and Blue energy pushed against each other waiting for the other to slip up at any moment. Nightmare Moon pushed harder now, and Celestia was beginning to loose energy too quickly due to her previous injury.
The Doctor focused all of his power into Celestia, but even then it did not stop Nightmare’s power from gaining leverage of the two. Celestia pushed as hard as she could muster; yet she was beginning to slip.
“Princess! You need-to use the Elements now!” the Doctor muttered into Celestia’s ear.
“I’m…trying!” Celestia grunted. The orbs floating around them were glowing, however they were glowing weakly as Celestia was not able to give them her full attention.
“Listen to me! You need to focus your emotions into the Element of Harmony in order for them to work!” The Doctor yelled.
“I know how to use them!” Celestia cried, giving a little bit of a push on her attack, which stopped Nightmare from gaining any more leverage on them. However Celestia’s stamina was running low and she would not be able to keep Nightmare’s attack at bay for long.
“Please Princess, I know you’re holding back! I can feel it in your energy, you’re still worried about harming your sister, but now is not the time to fear Celestia, you only make her stronger by doing so!”
“But- but, underneath the evil there is still my sister!” Celestia cried back.
“I know, but in order to save your kingdom and your ponies, you will have to overpower your sister and do what’s right!”
Celestia felt her blast slipping, and Nightmare Moon was beginning to gain control over the fight again.
“Yes sister! Destroy your own flesh and blood, it’ll be easy!” Nightmare Moon called out feeling confident.
However the Doctor yelled to Celstia, “Don’t listen to her, she’s trying to weaken you. Focus! Think of all your sister’s kindness Celstia, think of all of her generosity, loyalty, honesty, and laughter, and remember what that feels like. Remember what it feels like in your heart Celestia! Use it to fuel the empty slot your sister left in the Elements of Harmony!”
Celestia was beginning to see flashbacks of her sister and herself as young fillies playing around the garden of the palace. She remembered how Luna would pick flowers to make into a crown and dub Celestia Princess of the sun.
She also remembered when Celestia would fall down and get hurt, Luna would give her a band-aid and kiss to make it heal faster. Even if Celestia was older, it never stopped Luna’s kindness. The Elements began to glow brighter now as the flashbacks were working and giving Celestia more strength.
She pushed onwards brining the tug of war back to the middle. Nightmare growled in anger tried to push even harder on her attack. There seemed no end to her strength, while Celestia’s power was beginning to dwindle, even with the Elements of Harmony. The stone’s light started to fade and the Doctor cheered Celestia on.
“Come on Princess, hold onto those feelings, all those good memories of Luna! Nopony can take that from you, and those are powerful, powerful feelings!”
“I’m trying Doctor, but something’s missing!”
“What is?” The Doctor cried back.
“I don’t know, something that only Luna can give me!”
Nightmare Moon saw the opportunity to end the struggle for power and defeat Celestia, but just as she was going to launch her last push; something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was a grey pegasus who struggled to fly closer to the battle because of the strong wind currents.
“Princess Luna! Princess Luna!” The pony cried out. Nightmare Moon tried to pay it no attention, however what the pony held in her hooves split her concentration. It was a small dark blue flower covered in white dots. Then the pegasus called out again.
“Princess Luna please listen! Do you remember what I said about the difference between darkness and the night?” A thought popped up in Nightmare Moon’s mind causing for an even greater distraction.
“I told you that the night and darkness are two separate things! Darkness is evil! But the night is good and pure. Just because darkness infects the night, doesn’t make it any less pure!” Eventually the currents became to strong for the pegasus and caused her to be knocked off balance and plummet to the earth.
“DERPY!” The Doctor cried out as he tried to watch his friend fall, but the wind was keeping his eyes shut.
“NO!” Nightmare Moon yelled out, and as she did one side of her helmet cracked and exposed part of her face.
“Doctor look!” Celestia cried out and over the beams of magic battling each other, the Doctor saw that part of Luna was showing through.
“SISTER!” Called out the familiar voice of Luna.
“Quite you!” said another one, which was Nightmare Moon’s.
“Luna!” Celestia responded.
“Celestia please, you have to use the Elements of Harmony and defeat me quickly before you run out of energy!”
“I said QUITE!” growled the other voice.
“But sister I can’t! Not without you!” Celestia cried back, her energy nearly empty by this point
“You can Celestia! I know you can, you need to stop worrying about what will happen to me and worry about the rest of Equestria!”
“But Luna-!” Celestia was cut off.
“We have an oath to protect Equestria sister and we must do so at all costs! Even if it means self sacrifice! I shall do my part!”
“Not unless I have a say in the matter!” Nightmare said trying to push on the beam of energy.
“But the elements will not work sister I have tried, and I am all out of strength!
“Celestia I feel myself loosing what little control I gained, you must find a way to make them work, only they will bring you victory!”
Celestia was beginning to sob, but her sister’s reappearance caused the elements to start giving out energy to Celestia, which kept her from loosing control of the fight.
“You best say your goodbyes Celestia, because this is the last you’ll see of your precious sister!” Nightmare moon mocked.
“Sister, I have enough control to pull back the strength of Nightmare’s attack, this will be your window of opportunity please take it!”
“You need to listen to her Celestia!” The Doctor called out nearly drained of energy himself.
“But sister I don’t want to loose you!”
“We will see each other one day Celestia, that is for certain, but right now you must think of our subjects first. Get ready sister and know that I will always be your friend!”
Luna’s last words rang in Celestia’s ears, and she felt Nightmare Moon’s energy weaken. The elements began to glow as bright as day and the Doctor realized the activation of their energy.
“NOW!” the Doctor yelled!
Celestia screamed and channeled the energy of the Elements of Harmony, which were now feeding their infinite power to Celestia into her attack. Nightmare Moon pushed back, but was loosing the battle quickly. The immense power of the Elements caused Celestia’s appearance to change, transforming her mane from a light pink into a deep flame red, and her coat from a white to a burnt orange that shined like a the sunrise hitting a crystal clear lake. The Doctor saw this, and even though the brightness hurt his eyes, he could not look away.
“Beautiful,” he muttered.
Celestia gave the final push on her attack and it overwhelmed Nightmare Moon enveloping her in the ray of sunlight that shot up to the moon. In that instance the power surged through Celestia and caused such a powerful ray light that everypony in Equestria looked away. It was as if the earth was only miles away from the sun. The white light cloaked the land and for a moment there was nothing but silence and the blinding power of the light.
After a moment the Doctor opened his eyes and was greeted by the warmth of the sunlight and the brightness of the day. Celestia had landed back on the balcony and was unconscious. The Doctor looked over and saw Derpy doubled over faced away from him.
“Oh no, Derpy!” the Doctor cried as he turned her over and listened to her mouth. He heard her inhale and he breathed a sigh of relief. She opened her eyes slightly and asked,
“Did we do it Doctor? Did we win?”
“We sure did you glorious pegasus we sure as heck did!” The Doctor ruffled up Derpy’s mane and noticed she was still clutching something. He took her hooves away and saw that it was the flowerpot with the flower from before.
“I was scared that the sunlight would kill it, so I had to shield it. It’s Luna’s Moonshine Flower.” The Doctor smiled at Derpy and he turned over exhausted as well and allowed himself to bake in the sun.
Quiet, that’s all there was out here. There was no wind, there was no grass, and there was no light. This was the dark side of the moon Celestia had banished Nightmare into. Chains that locked her front hooves and back hooves into place covered her. She was sitting in a kneeling position while a chain on her neck kept her from sitting up straight.
She slept as much as she could, just to skip as many hours as possible. She studied the same area of stars she could see over and over again. Just then the TARDIS began to fade into existence in front of her. The TARDIS opened and the Doctor walked out expressionless. His TARDIS shielded him from the dangers of space within a certain range so he was able to walk up closer to Nightmare Moon. Finally the Doctor broke the never-ending silence,
“I know a whole a kingdom worth of ponies that would do anything to avoid me from talking to you right now. They wouldn’t want me up here with you, because I’m probably the only pony in the universe that would offer another chance at freedom.” Nightmare Moon chuckled and shook the chains a bit by doing so.
“However I only offer you another chance, because right now I’d do anything to get Luna back.”
“She’s gone.” Growled Nightmare.
“She’s not. I know that for a fact. Now I’m offering you one last chance. Release Luna and let me find you some dark cold lifeless planet somewhere far off, away from this galaxy where you can live in peace.”
“Oh Doctor you really are a funny one. With so many years of wisdom, power of the universe at your control, and yet it all does you nothing! You have no power over me, you have nothing to threaten me with so long as I have this body.” The Doctor’s expression didn’t change; he only continued to stare at Nightmare Moon.
“Those chains will hold you here for a thousand years. After that you will be free, but I warn you in that time, Equestria will have grown much stronger and you would have grown so weak that when you’re truly defeated, you will be beginning me to take you to that dark and cold planet, and I will be there to tell you: no. And just as you came from nothing you will die like nothing.” The chains shifted again as Nightmare moon shifted her weight.
“Empty threats Doctor that’s all you are.” The Doctor looked down and became eye level with Nightmare Moon; he grabbed hold of her head and looked deeply in her eyes.
“Luna I know you’re in there and I know you can here me! Listen, it’s going to be a very tough struggle for you. Over the next thousand years you will sit here with nothing but your jealously and your rage to keep you company, and they will prod you and try to break you down."
"But no matter what you must stay strong, you must keep your consciousness alive! For when it is time for you to return, you will be reunited with your sister at last and you must not let those emotions poison you im the future. You are the bravest pony I know Luna and your sister will not let your legacy die or go to waste, I assure you.” The Doctor let go and started to walk back to the TARDIS.
“You know Doctor, I’ve got all sorts of nightmares cooked up for her! By the time a thousand of years are up, I doubt she’ll even remember she had a sister! Assuming she’s still here.”
Nightmare Moon laughed wildly causing the chains to jingle together. The Doctor turned back and gave one last look, then took out of his pocket a single Moonshine Flower, kissed it and put it on the ground. The TARDIS began to whoosh and fade out of existence, but as it did the Moonshine Flower began to grow wildly like a wild fire, and it was not too long before it seemed as if the surface of the moon would be covered with them.
“Please your majesty, we need Princess Luna to raise the moon. We cannot sleep and our crops are drying out,” the farmer pony pleaded with Princess Celestia.
“I promise my subject, we are doing all we can to find Princess Luna. Yet I’m afraid she was captured during the attack.” The farmer pony’s head drooped and he walked away from the throne room.
“Thank you Princess.”
Celestia turned back around and faced the window as she remembered Luna doing so many times. From behind Celestia the TARDIS blinked into reality with the whooshing sound. Eventually the door opened and the Doctor along with Derpy walked out. Celestia turned her head to see the Doctor then turned it back around to the window.
“Hello Doctor, I assume all is well?”
“Oh now Princes, we both know if that were true the I wouldn’t be here now would I?”
“Then what is your business Doctor?”
“My business is to discuss with you, why you haven’t raised the moon yet. It’s been three days.”
“The reason is because I cannot raise the moon. That has always been my sisters job, and I do not know how to perform it.”
“Can’t, or won’t Princess?” Derpy asked. Celestia let out a sigh then turned around to face the two ponies.
“The ponies love the daylight, my sister said so herself. They can get use to having only daylight from now on.”
“Princess.” The Doctor started in a disappointed tone.
“It will be okay, my subjects are strong and they will no longer have to fear the night as they have for so long in the past.”
“Princess, this is not right and you know it. The world cannot live in harmony just in the night nor in the sunlight. Nature demands the rightful balance of each. I figured you’d be the first to point that out.”
“Doctor you do not understand! You shall never understand. It was one thing to even imprison my sister on the moon, but now you’re asking me to have to world continue turning as if she was never gone?”
“Princess, I think it will be more disgraceful too your sisters memory if you didn’t raise the moon.” Derpy said.
“What do you know little pony!” the Princess snapped. Derpy stepped back in fear and Celestia was surprised at her own temper.
“I apologize, it has been stressful the past few days. I fear I’m just not strong enough Doctor.”
“Princess Celestia, daughter of the sun itself and wielder of the Elements of Harmony all by herself is not powerful enough to raise the moon?” The Doctor questioned.
Celestia gave a small smile and walked over to a column that had a pillow and blanket on top of it. Celestia levitated the blanket off of it to revel five perfectly round stones, all turned grey and unidentifiable.
“Are those the-?” Derpy began and Celestia finished,
“Elements of Harmony, yes they are. It seems that using them without the assistance of my sister has corrupted them and made them unresponsive. As I said before Doctor, my sister is my other half and brings harmony to not only myself, but to all of nature.” The Doctor looked away from Celestia and Derpy lowered her head. Celestia walked back over to the window and continued to have her back to the two.
“I’m afraid that Nightmare Moon has won, in one sense or another. Her goal was to bring an eternal night and control the whole world. However as last retribution she took my sister and now forced us to burn in the light.” The Doctor looked back up at the Princess and walked to her side.
“I know Princess, that banishing Luna was the hardest thing you have ever done, and if there was something else I could have done I surely would have. Yet I fear to tell you that the times after this are going to get much worse, worse for you. Because you’re going to have to learn to go on normally for the rest of Equestria.”
“I told you I can’t-!”
“You can!” The Doctor cut her off. Celestia was taken aback for a moment and looked the Doctor right in the eyes.
“You can do it, because your ponies need it of you. You are their Princess and they look to you for strength, and no it’s not fair. They won’t be the ones dealing with the guilt, and they will continue through their lives oblivious that anything is wrong and you will put on a strong face and a great smile to protect them."
"You alone will have the truth and it will not be easy to keep. You will take all their sorrows as well as your own because you’re the Princess and you can handle it.” The Princess closed her eyes and tears were beginning to run down her cheeks. Derpy was starting to cry as well as she stood there looking at both powerful ponies.
“Doctor, how will I be able to look up every night and have a reminder of my failure hanging in the sky? How can I live with such a burden?”
“Because you will remember that both you and Luna sacrificed something during the battle. Luna knew that she would save all of Equestria if she were imprisoned on the moon, so she gave herself up. Your sacrifice will be your own conscious, every night you’ll raise the moon and you’ll feel that remorse, and no it will not get any easier, but that will be the price. To protect your kingdom that is the price.”
Celestia with her eyes still closed lowered her head, then after a moment her horn began to glow and she started to strain herself. The Sun began to lower beneath the mountains, and slowly the night creeped in and the moon shined it’s light down on the kingdom. Celestia let out one last grunt and finally let go.
“Doctor look!” Derpy pointed. It could be seen that dark spots on the moon were in the shape of a unicorn.
“Doctor! The moon! How…how did that-” Doctor smiled and pulled out a flower from his pocket and held it out. Celestia levitated the flower and lifted it up to her nose to smell.
“Oh her creations always turned out more beautiful than mine.” The Princess held the flower to her nose for a moment, and then in the distance she could hear cheering.
“Princess listen,” the Doctor said as all three ponies concentrated closely to the cheering coming from the villages and cities below. The ponies cheering was like a giant wave that quickly swept up all of Equestria. Shouts of Luna’s name could be heard and even instances of “Long live the Princess of the Night!” Celestia burst into to tears now and they fell gently on the Moonshine Flower.
“Do you hear that Luna? Do you hear it? They are cheering for you, for your moon! They love you as do I. I’ll miss you.”
Celestia continued to weep and the Doctor walked away to leave her in peace. The Doctor motioned for Derpy to follow him into the TARDIS, but before Derpy closed the door she ran up to Princess Celestia and said one last thing.
“Princess I promise you! That one day you will have your sister back. I promise!”
“Derpy!” The Doctor called from behind. Celestia stared intently at Derpy and gave her a small smile in recognition. Derpy ran back into the TARDIS and it began to blink out of existence.
In the TARDIS the Doctor was furious with Derpy. “What have I told you so many times before? That no being should have foreknowledge of their own personal future!”
“She deserved to be consoled Doctor! You didn’t once say you were sorry you just lectured her!”
“I was preparing her! Consoling is a temporary pep up! For what she’s faced with she’s going to need a lot more than pep, she is going to need raw strength by her side! Yes Derpy we already know how the story ends, but she does not and no matter what she will go through a thousand years of pain and guilt!”
The Doctor yelled this and went back to the control panel to start flipping levers and knobs angrily. Derpy stood there with her head down feeling like a child who had just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Then she finally asked,
“Do you know what that feels like Doctor?”
“What?” The Doctor asked not taking his eyes off his controls.
“I mean have you felt the same thing that Princess Celestia is going to feel? The years and years of guilt?” The Doctor stopped working at the control panel and looked down for a second.
“Derpy please we should-”
“Do you Doctor?” she interrupted him. The Doctor let out a sigh and walked away from the controls to face Derpy. “Doctor I could see something in your eyes that night, something… painful. Every once in awhile I can see little flashes of it too. What is it? The Doctor paused for a moment looking away then facing Derpy again.
“I have been alive for a very long time, much longer than Celestia has, and for a good majority of that time I’ve been alone.” There was a pause and then Derpy asked.
“Why are you the last of the Time Lords Doctor?”
The Doctor looked away and paced around the room for a while. “I want to know why you’ve been alone.” The Doctor gave Derpy a hard look then approached her again.
“Okay here it is. A very long time ago there was a war. A great war between my race and a race of monstrous creatures; I call it the Last Great Time War. It raged on for years and years, until one day I found a way to stop it. However to stop the war it would mean that my entire race and the enemy’s race were to be pulled out of existence."
"I ended up choosing to end the war. The simple fact I’m alive is what guilt’s me every moment of my life. So yes, I understand what Celestia will go through, being responsible for imprisoning the pony closest to her. Yet unlike her, I know I shall never see my people again.”
The Doctor walked away and started to throw switches and levers again in the TARDIS. Derpy walked around the center of the TARDIS and looked up at the core, which was shining brightly and whirring quietly.
“Doctor?”
“Yep?” He said poking his head around the core allowing his usual pep to enter back into his system.
“Thank you.” The Doctor looked confused and asked,
“For what?”
“You do a lot for everypony and they don’t even realize it, but I just wanted to let you know that we’re all grateful.” The Doctor cracked a smile and dipped back beneath the controls.
“Oh it’s all in a days work Ms. Hooves. NOW! I think I’m in the mood for some deep fried butter squares how about you?” Derpy laughed and stood next to him.
“Honestly I’d prefer a muffin!”
“Oh, well have all the deep fried muffins we can eat! With lots and lots o butter! Advante!”
“Advante!” Derpy cried
The Doctor flipped a switch and the TARDIS shook again traveling through the time stream, and both ponies smiled as they held on to the rocky ride.
