There was a light drizzle as The Doctor locked the door of the TARDIS outside of the brothel in Manehattan.
Said brothel actually looked more like a large house, or quite possibly a mansion of some sort.
Princess Celestia had sent The Doctor a letter explaining that there had been a string of disappearances around this brothel in particular.
The oddest thing about these disappearances was the fact that there was a pile of ash where the victims were last seen.
Knowing the uneasiness and distrust of authority figures possessed by underground cultures, she thought it best to request an ‘escort’ (no pun intended, as she had pointed out) to help him navigate the brothel and make his job easier.
Said escort was a former lady of the night and now works in a costume shop known as Sew Sine.
Celestia had also informed him that she had given the mare instructions to meet him by a large blue wooden box near the brothel where the last attack had taken place.
It was now public knowledge that they were indeed attacks as there was now a body which had been discovered by one of the brothel’s workers before running off terrified.
The proprietor of the brothel was only known as ‘Mistress’, she was the one who had alerted the guards that one of her customers had been murdered after the many disappearances of her employees.
Mistress had no qualms doing this as her brothel was technically legal, and she desired the perpetrator to pay their penance, for the mental and physical anguish everyone in the district had endured as a result of their actions.
(The Doctor also suspected that such extremely negative publicity probably adversely affected business among the more skittish customers.)
The building was put under lockdown as soon as the mare in question was discovered by mistress.
Yet, the employees that were outside running errands were also locked and seemed to be eyeing the guards with immense distrust. This didn’t come as a surprise to The Doctor however, as most societies he had observed over the centuries held prostitution in great disdain. However, despite the legality of this brothel, this distrust wasn’t uncommon to him as most prostitutes he’d met in his long lifetime had been given a raw deal and life.
The sound of hoovesteps caused his head to turn, revealing a beautiful mare heading towards him.
She had an apricot coat with dark blue eyes and a dark red mane, tied back in a ponytail, which bobbed as she mover towards him. Her apparel seemed to be two black stockings at least up to her knees on her hind legs and black bands around her forelegs. The Cutie Mark she possessed appeared to be in the form of a price tag in the center of a heart, attached by some form of pink thread.
“Are you The Doctor?” she asked rhetorically, examining his wardrobe.
He was wearing a brown suit with a green necktie and an overcoat with a lighter shade of brown.
“Snappy dresser…” she commented. “Have a big date planned for tonight?”
The Doctor then took a second, careful look over her outfit.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, girl, go and put something warm on.” He replied. “It’s raining!”
“I’m Exie,” she replied with a smirk. “I use to work here, just follow my lead after we get inside and everything should be fine.”
The Doctor was actually quite surprised at how young and healthy Exie looked. The vast majority of women (and some men) he had run into in the past looked like walking skeletons. Her attitude suggested being a free spirit, which caught him off-guard.
“I can get us inside.” The Doctor stated confidently as he led Exie to the front door.
The Doctor pulled out his Psychic Paper and held it before the white unicorn guard’s face.
“CSI: Cardiff,” The Doctor stated. “We’re here to investigate the incident.”
The guard stepped aside and let the door in, allowing the two of them to enter.
Once inside, the elegant furniture confirmed that the brothel was, indeed, a mansion.
The guard followed them inside before leading them to a room that was sealed off in yellow tape.
Magically severing it, the guard returned back to his post outside.
The room they were in had a bright red carpet, a fancy canopied bed, a bathroom, and a wardrobe.
Between the bed and the wardrobe lay a dead stallion with a pale green-yellow coat and blonde mane, wearing a blue t-shirt.
“I’m surprised we haven’t seen anyone else on our way in.” The Doctor commented, approaching the body before crouching down to examine it.
“They’re probably upstairs with Mistress.” Exie commented nonchalantly, before wrinkling her nose. “And judging by the smell, I can’t really blame them.”
The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver before scanning the body.
“So how did you do that thing with the blank paper earlier?” Exie asked. “I mean, we could’ve just shown them one of the letters we got from Celestia…”
“The paper’s slightly psychic,” he replied. “It shows whatever I want to whoever’s looking at it to see. Of course, I can’t let my mind wander when I do it…”
“And the only people it doesn’t work on are incredibly intelligent in some form,” He looked up at Exie. “Which is why I was surprised you could see that it was really blank.”
“As a foal’s flank.” She replied, smugly. “I earned my Cutie Mark with my negotiating skills.”
“Ah, so you’re a lawyer, then?”
“Yeah, right.” Exie laughed. “No, I work at that costume shop; Sew Sine as a salespony and Cashmere says I have a real mind for it. Guess it helps that I can deal with difficult customers and at the same time getting them to keep their business with us.”
The Doctor fought the urge to crack a joke about her having a ‘silver tongue’ but, thought it would be in bad taste given the circumstance. He instead, opted to return to his scan of the stallion’s corpse.
“What are you doing?” Exie asked curiously.
“I’m scanning the body for any abnormalities or internal wounds, to get a better idea of what we might be dealing with.” He explained.
The Doctor then stopped scanning, and reached into his coat pockets to bring out what appeared to be four miniature lights, which he placed in a circle a few feet a apart from each other.
At that moment both of their ears perked up as there was a rattling within the wardrobe.
The Doctor slowly and carefully, got up and rushed to the side of it. He then gestured Exie to make her way to the opposite side. Slowly, they reached out towards both latches together before pulling the doors open.
Out stumbled a mare with a white coat, a short brown mane, a short blue dress and smeared makeup.
Upon seeing Exie, she slammed her against the wall as The Doctor fumbled into his coat pocket for his Sonic Screwdriver.
He became even more alarmed as the mare placed her mouth over Exie’s, just his luck, first vampires, now zombies.
The fact that the mare wasn’t biting Exie, but a red glow seemed to be transferring through their physical contact alarmed him even more.
Forgetting the Screwdriver, he quickly pushed the other mare off of Exie as which point her body began decaying before his very eyes at an accelerated rate.
Her skin seemed to shrink and begin to evaporate as her bones became disconnected and dissolved into a clump of dust on the floor.
At that moment he realized exactly what it was.
A member of a species made up of pure energy which feed upon the lust of others, usually burning up the life force of their hosts in the process.
They were called Aphrodisians, due to the fact that they fed off of sexual energy mostly as a drug than actual survival. Additionally they affected both their hosts and those they came into physical contact with as aphrodisiacs. That meant that The Doctor had to keep his distance or risk getting infected.
He began backing up as Exie advanced on him wearing a seductive grin.
“Exie,” The Doctor began, looking back at the area he had set up. The plan would only work if the creature was within the field when he activated it. Unfortunately only the power of persuasion could save her from the same fate the others have suffered.
On the plus side, he had finally managed to fish out his Sonic Screwdriver. But, it wouldn’t be of much use unless he managed to lure her into the designated area. Fortunately, her mental prowess proved that she was strong enough to expel the creature from her mind.
“I don’t know what you’re seeing right now, or if you can even hear me. But, I need you to understand that none of it is real and that the creature is manipulating you to feed itself. It’s using you like a meat-puppet and once it’s done, it will toss you aside and leave you to die.” He explained, in attempt to reach her while continuing to back up.
The voice of Exie’s father reverberated throughout her mind.
“You are very special honey, and daddy loves you more than anything in the world.” He whispered tenderly as he embraced the sobbing young filly, wiping away her tears.
There were also memories of her mother reading her bedtime stories every night and picking her up after school and praising her good grades.
She also amassed a large circle of friends and vividly remembered them sharing a group photo at their high school graduation ceremony.
It all seemed so right…but, then why did it feel so wrong?
That was when The Doctor’s voice reached her ears.
“Exie, you have to fight it.” He begged. “Right now, you’re the only one capable of stopping it. If you don’t not only will it kill you, but it will transfer into me next and then this world and everything in it will die. These creatures are like junkies, no matter how much energy they absorb, they will never be satisfied.”
With great difficulty, she used every ounce of her willpower to try and expel the entity from her mind. The strain made her brain feel like it was beginning to split in two. It was really stubborn, but there was no way she was going to give in after it screwed with her mind like that.
She lifted her hooves to the sides of her head as she stumbled and fell into the marked area.
“Grrrngh!” she grunted.
It was weakening; she could feel it losing its grip on her mind.
The Doctor immediately used the Screwdriver to activate the field, which erected a transparent blue barrier as the creature was pulled from Exie’s body and stuck floating in the center.
It was a red ball of light, which The Doctor found slightly ironic, but ignored it for the time being in favor help Exie.
He pulled her out of the barrier as she came back to her senses. There were tears streaming down her cheeks as she sat up, placing a hoof on her forehead. That thing had accessed deeply personal memories and twisted them to toy with her emotions and manipulate her.
“Are you alright?” The Doctor asked, kneeling down next to her, his voice filled with genuine concern.
“Please tell me we didn’t do it…” she muttered.
They both laughed at this as The Doctor took another look at the Aphrodisian. Exie took the opportunity to wipe her tears before he could see them. Luckily, he bangs had hidden them from his line of sight.
“It’s not that you aren’t attractive,” she added. “It’s just that stallions aren’t really my thing.”
“Ah, don’t worry, I’m not offended.” He replied with a wave of his hoof. “In fact, there’s a girl back in Ponyville I think I might fancy…”
Exie glanced back at the energy field and the creature imprisoned within it.
“So, how were you able to pull me out of that thing?” she asked.
“Well, I’ve seen this sort of thing before and I’ve had suspicions of possible culprits.” He explained. “I’ve tuned the field to lock on and magnetize those several specific energy signatures.”
“What are you going to do with it?” she pressed.
The Doctor pulled a transparent tube with two black ends out of his coat pocket and gave it to Exie.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a prison; it has the same magnetic locks as the force field, it’s merely of a smaller size…would you like to do the honors?”
Exie looked back at the creature uneasily, as much as she hated it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to risk getting near it again.
“Don’t worry, it’s completely safe.” The Doctor reassured her. “The locks are magnetic and specifically tuned to this particular creature, so it can’t harm you. Besides, much like a virus, once you’re body has had a sample of it; you’re more or less immune.”
Exie slowly re-entered the field before twisting the cap of the tube before pulling it off and placing it under the red light, but was startled when it was sucked in.
Looking back out at The Doctor, he nodded in confirmation as she placed the cap back on as the seal pressurized.
The light’s red energy then began circulating in a manner reminiscent of a double helix as the creature tried to escape, (or at least that’s what she assumed it was trying to do.)
Disabling the field, The Doctor began packing up.
“Doctor?” Exie asked, examining the tube. “What exactly are we going to do with this thing?”
“Nothing.” He replied, picking up the lights. “The energy it exerts within the tube is recycled, so in a way it’s actually feeding off of itself as an infinite energy source. It’s sort of like drinking your own urine to stay hydrated.”
“Eww,” she muttered. “But, what happens if anyone ever opens it? Could it escape?”
The Doctor shook his head.
“Wouldn’t matter, there’s a magnetic lock and the seal is an isomorphic control based on the users brainwaves. In this case, that would be you. Besides, even if it could get out, why would it want to?”
Exie thought back to his earlier comment about it having an infinite food and power source. She then realized that he was right. At that point she handed it to him.
“Don’t you want to keep it as trophy?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, you keep it.” She insisted. “So what are we going to tell everyone waiting outside?”
“We’ll tell them nothing, except that the case has been solved and then I will bring what we have discovered to Celestia.” The Doctor explained. “She and her advisors will think up some sort of cover story to prevent a panic.”
“But, the crisis has been solved…” Exie pointed out.
“Sure, we realize that.” The Doctor elaborated. “But, people are irrational…especially when it comes to their fears and they would believe that there could be more Aphrodisians around, despite this being and isolated incident.
Exie nodded in understanding as The Doctor took the tube from her and hid it within an inner pocket of his overcoat.
The two then exited the brothel, heading back to their respective lives.
Author's Note
Eleventh story for 'One-Shotober'
Thanks to iJab for letting me use Exie for this!
