Little Luna and Cynical Celestia, A Doctor Whooves Tale

Chapters

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 1

Now, nopony knows how exactly the world of Equestria came into being, or where the two Princesses came from, but we do know is when Equestria was in its early years, the two rulers were fillies.

The elder sister, Celestia, was several years older than the other princess. Celestia at this time was very cautious and could only trust in her sister to do anything, and nopony else, for she was her sister’s guardian and had to look out for her; in an unknown world in which they lived one had to be cautious. She would one day mature and learn all the powers of magic. She would one day have to learn to raise the sun, and that day was swiftly approaching.

Luna, the younger sister, was still a small filly; what we would now consider school-age. She was exceptionally curious and was the first of the two to use magic. Her clever wit and care-free personality made her the sister to discover many of the things that helped them to survive, such as: what foods were safe to eat and where the best place to sleep was. She would one day mature and learn all the powers of magic. She would one day have to learn to raise the moon, and that day was swiftly approaching.

They were not alone in Equestria. Ponies were beginning to settle and were happy. New technologies were being discovered, such as: the wheel, chimneys and baskets. The arts of food growing and harvesting were in their infancy. All of the different pony tribes mostly got along just fine, although there was the occasional argument or mistrust, but they usually sorted themselves out in the end. The sisters would one day rise to lead them, and that day was swiftly approaching

It was the decision of the elder sister to live separate from the tribes, and live in a safe area that was somewhat hilly, had many fruit trees, a lot of open space to see, and was at the base of a mountain. The younger sister enjoyed where they lived, but really wanted to meet ponies from other tribes. Her sister forbade her to even speak with them. The younger sister felt lonely for a long time. That would soon change.

Many years past, and the two sisters lived safely, until one night when there was a storm of the stars, a crash and a pillar of smoke. That is when everything changed…

There was but a single tree atop the tallest hill in what was known to a few and many as: Popper Hills; Little Luna was inside the tree and having a great time taunting her older sister below. “If you want me, you’ll have to climb up here and get me,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Or, you know, you could fly.” Luna flew from her branch a few feet and flapped above her sister. She loved to tease her. Celestia couldn’t fly very well, for she found it rather dangerous and risky to be off of the ground.

“You get down here right now! The sun is about to go down!” Tia shouted at her sister. Luna looked at the sky. Tia was right, the sun had almost set and it would be getting dark soon. Luna thought on this. Although it was rather fun for Luna to tease her sister, the night was best spent either sleeping or looking at the stars; although it was hard for her to leave the spot where she could see the village easily. She decided to let Tia win this one. She flew down to her sister.

“Okay, fine,” she said, “I’m only coming down because my wings are getting tired.” She trotted happily past Celestia, whom shook her head in irritation. She loved Luna, but sometimes she wanted her sister to stop and think about what she was doing; she wanted her to be safe. Safety, after all, was the main concern in an unknown world in which they lived in. So Celestia often wondered how her sister was so care-free, and how she went about it often terrified Tia.

Luna led as they walked. The grass brushed up against Luna’s hoof as she walked, which made her think. She hummed: “Soft grass. Soft grass. Simple, silly, soft grass. Soft grass. Soft grass. Simple, silly, soft grass.” She hummed that to herself until they reached what Luna affectionately referred to as: The Nest, because it reminded her of a bird’s nest.

The Nest was a Hollowed-out oak tree on the border of Popper Hills, that had a slightly flattened, grass pile on which Celestia and Luna slept. There were two clear spots where the sisters slept, the bigger one belonging to Celestia and the smaller to Luna. There was nothing on Tia’s side, but on Luna’s there was a collection of rocks that, she believed, were special. They were shaped in all differently: one a butterfly, one an oval shape, one a diamond, one a lightning bolt, one an apple, and one a star. Neither Luna nor Celestia understood why they felt important to Luna, but they kept them all the same.

Upon arriving at the Nest, Luna ran inside and dove on to the pile of grass. Celestia followed her in and pulled closed the door, which was actually a large piece of bark that closed the opening that led inside. Inside of the tree went mostly dark except for some light that shone through a hole where an owl must have ad its home. Luna snuggled and dug into the pile so that only her head was visible on her side. Celestia smiled. She loved this little filly with all of her heart; and no matter how annoyed with her she was, she would always love that Little Luna. Celestia Made her way to her side of the pile, she made herself comfortable and began to fall asleep. The last sounds she heard were the sounds of Luna snoring gently. Tia closed her eyes and drifted off.

Luna woke to lights shining into her face. The owl-hole was shining lights into her eyes. They were flashing colors of white, purple and blue. They were too curious, so Luna decided to see what they were. Luna quietly got out from underneath her blanket of grass, crept silently over to the door and attempted to remove it without making any noise; after all, she didn’t want to wake her sister.

Luna managed to open the door undetected and when she left the Nest, she noiselessly put it back and ran out into the field to see what was making all the strange lights. She figured that it would be easier to see them in an open space.
Luna looked up and saw a beautiful show of the stars. The night sky was lighting up and flashing all of its glory upon this small filly. Beautiful colors of purple and blue were flashing across the open space above her and meteor showers were streaming across the sky. Luna had never seen anything so amazing in her life. A feeling of wonder paralyzed her on the spot, for she did not want to miss any of what was happening. She did not know how long she was out there, but she figured it must have been awhile for Celestia came running towards her in a fit of panic.

Tia was yelling at her for being away from home at night, she did it out of concern of course, but Luna did not look away from the sky. Celestia took a breath from her yelling and noticed that Luna was not paying any attention, so she shifted her gaze to the sky where Luna was looking and saw the beauty that the sky offered them both. Soon Celestia too was captivated out of wonder at the sky. She too, was paralyzed.

Soon, one thing stuck out from all of the rest of the commotion that was happening in the sky: a box; a blue box to be exact. It streaked from the tops of the trees that were in the direction that the sisters were facing, made a hard turn left and made its way into the center of Popper Hills. This, not surprisingly, had captured the attention of both of the sisters. They turned their heads to follow the box. The box disappeared behind a small hill. Seconds later, they heard a loud crash.
Luna was the first to run to where the box had gone. Celestia took a second to realize that Luna had run off and began to chase after her.

Luna had never run so fast in her life. The sheer curiosity that overcame her was too much for her to bear. She had to know what that was. She would soon find out. When she came close to the mysterious box, she slowed down to get a less blurry look at it. What she found surprised her.

She found the mysterious, blue box laying on its long end and two doors that were opened inwards. Luna did not know if that was how it was supposed to look; she thought not. Her gaze fell upon a stallion that lay in front of the opening. He appeared to be unconscious. Luna slowly approached him. He was tan and had a dark brown mane. There was a symbol on his flank: it was a shape that had two bulbs on both ends and a really thin middle. She took a closer look at him to see if he was okay. He appeared to be bruised some but nothing to serious; although, there was some stuff coming from his mouth. It was a gold mist…

“Luna!”

The little sister took a step back from the stallion, knowing that Celestia was coming from behind her. There was a new feeling inside of Luna, one that she had never had before. She supposed that it should have a name, so she called it: concern.

Celestia huffed in front of her. “What do you think you’re doing!?!” Tia was furious. She wanted answers.

Luna pointed at the stallion. “I think he’s hurt.”

Celestia looked at the stallion, and then back at Luna. “What would make you think that?”

“Well,” Luna said, “That box fell from the sky and he looks banged up… so the box must have fallen on him!” Luna was satisfied with her answer, certain that it was the right one.

Celestia looked at the stallion. She did not want to help him. That would mean introducing Luna to a dangerous who-knows-what. She thought on what Luna said. “No, if the blue… thing had landed on him, then he would be under it.” She felt that she won this one.

“Oh.” Luna pondered this. She truly wanted to help whoever this was. She knew if she didn’t, she would have an awful feeling inside of her for the rest of her foreseeable future. She considered the facts. “Well, then he must have fallen out of it then,” she said, satisfied. Luna could see the retort growing inside her sister, so before Celestia could say anything Luna retorted, “If we don’t help him, who will? If we don’t help him, he might die!”

Celestia could not deny this. Although she wanted to keep her sister safe, she did have a conscience. She knew if she left the stallion there, she would feel the guilt for days to come. She gave in to her younger sibling. “Okay, fine. What do we do?”

Luna thought on this. She wanted to say the first idea that came to mind, but she knew that her sister would deny it instantly; but the more she thought of other ideas, the more that this one sounded like the best one. “Why don’t we take him into one of the villages and see if there is someone who can help him?”

Celestia’s eyes went wide. “What?” she asked flatly.

“Well,” Luna responded, “There is obviously nothing that we can do for him, and there might be somepony there who can help him.” She knew that it was risky to ask her sister this. Celestia just stared at her; she could not deny this logic as much as she wanted to.

She sighed deeply.

“Fine.”

It was still dark in the small pony village. Most of the occupants of the small houses had not awoken from the many necessary hours of sleep recommended by the local doctor, Thumping Heart, or “Thumper” as many of the townsponies called him. Thumper may have been clever, and had made many discoveries in the medical field, but his interpretation of how much sleep one should get was entirely off. He believed that an average working pony should get about eleven hours of sleep each night at minimum. Whilst many ponies tried to follow his instructions, he being the smartest for miles around, most couldn’t sleep past nine hours at most; but they still tried.

The two sisters walked into the town. It was a brand new place for them; for the younger sister it was a chance to actually meet somepony else and not just watch them. Although for the older sister, it was terrifying to even be close to anywhere like this, and the unconscious pony on her back wasn’t helping.

According to Luna, the pony that was to help them lived in the “round-home” that was the second biggest, but they were all rather small. She learned this from her hours of watching the village from the solitary tree atop the largest hill. She had seen ponies walk in there with a sickness or have had been hurt, and had left looking better. Luna figured that whoever lived here had something to do with them getting better.

The two of them wandered about until they finally found the “round-home” which Luna had spoken of. They stood in front of what appeared to be a door. This presented them with a problem: how were they to go about getting the attention of whoever lived here? Luna thought and remembered seeing several ponies tap their hooves on the door, saying something and being allowed inside. That seemed simple enough, but what should she say? Luna figured that it was like a game that she played with her sister: where one would have to say the special word to get into the Nest. She decided that she was correct.

Luna tapped on the door three times, a feeling of anticipation filling her.

…

No answer. Celestia just stared at her in confusion. Luna tried again, only a bit harder.

…

Once again, no answer. She tried a third time, this time even harder. She got a most satisfactory response.

“What? Who is it?” an unknown voice yelled from somewhere inside.

Luna mustered up her courage and said what she thought was the special word.

“Alakazam!”

There was a pause.

“What?!?” the mysterious voice yelled with a tone of total conation.

“Alakazam!” Luna yelled again, this time with more emphasis on the “zap”.

There was a sound of hoof steps that came closer to the door. Luna prepared herself for whoever was coming to the door. Celestia prepared for whatever dangers lay on the other side.

The door swung open. There, in the doorway, was a stallion. He was a pale shade of orange with a mute yellow mane that was cut short. He had no horn, or wings. He did have a mark on his flank; it was two red sticks, one going up and down and the other going from left to right. Luna looked at his face. It was wrinkly, but not from age, Luna thought, but from being tired.

He gave her a cold, angry stare. “What do you want? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Well…” Luna thought on how to tell this stallion what had happened. “I was out looking at the stars, when I found him unconscious on the ground. I called my sister here,” she motioned to Celestia and she blushed, “so we could take him here to you so that he can get better.”

The stallion raised an eyebrow, and then looked at Celestia. “She’s telling the truth,” she said.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Bring him in,” she said reluctantly.
Luna was the first to enter. She ran past the stallion and looked about in curiosity. This was definitely bigger than the Nest. She thought that she could fit at least five medium-sized trees in there. “Don’t touch anything!” the stallion yelled. This was when Luna took notice of what was actually inside of the stallion’s home, and not its size. There was a rectangular, wood thing in the middle; a heap of hay to her right, which looked like it had been slept on, underneath a window; some slabs of wood sticking out the walls in the back which had a few strange devices on top of it; and, to her left was a wooden cube that looked like it could open at the top.

While Luna was examining the house, the stallion introduced himself to Celestia, in a rather grumbly way. “I am Thumping Heart. I’m the best and only doctor you’ll find around here. Come on in.” He motioned inside. Celestia walked slowly into the house, both out of caution and because the unconscious stallion was getting heavy.

“Just put him on the table,” he said.

“The what?” Celestia asked, almost out of breath.

“The table. You know,” he walked past her and tapped the wooden square in the middle of the house, “this thing?” He turned to the bits of wood the stuck from the back wall. “Oh, and be-“

THUMP!

He groaned. “- careful.”

Thumping Heart glanced at the unknown stallion, and walked over to the slabs of wood that were sticking out of the wall. He picked up the two most basic items of all that sat upon it: a roll of cloth and a stick. He carried them in his mouth over to the table and set them down. Luna was watching all of this intently.

The mysterious stallion lay on his side, facing the pile of hay on the right side of the room. Thumping put his ear up against the chest of the stallion, grumpy as ever. His eyes widened. “Oh my,” he breathed.

“What?” Luna asked, ever curious. “What’s wrong with his chest? Is there something inside there?”

Thumping Heart went back to his devices in the back of the room. “No. Well, nothing that shouldn’t be there. It’s just his heart…”

“Hearts…” the mysterious stallion said quietly. No pony heard him except Celestia who was alarmed.

“Um… guys?” she said, but no pony heard her either.

“What’s a ‘hert’?” Luna asked.

He remained busy looking through things, and yet still answered Luna. “The Heart,” he corrected, “is the thing inside of a pony’s body that pumps blood through the bo-“

“Blood?”

He paused and closed his eyes, rather irritated. “Okay, you know when you get hurt and there’s that red stuff? The red stuff is blood. It keeps you alive.”

“Ah,” Luna said, now with new knowledge of her own body. It made her feel unnerved.

“Anyways,” Thumping continued, “In order for the blood to be pumped through the body, the heart has to beat. In a fully grown pony, it beats around sixty to eighty times every minute. The problem is: this stallion’s heart is beating wrong. It’s beating like…” He stretched his hoof on to the table. “This.” He knocked four times on the table, four times.

The mysterious stallion moaned again, this time much louder. “Master...” This time, everypony took notice; as a result, they all stood with him facing them. Thumping was in front, Celestia was behind him and Luna peeked out from behind her sister. Thumping shook the stallion a little with a concerned look on his face. “Who are you? What is your name?”

The stallion resisted the shaking and mumbled something; they could barely make any of it out. “Pull the wiggly… eighteen-eighty-four…. don’t do that Romana…” Thumping shook him some more in an attempt to wake him up. He only shook back, like a foal who doesn’t want to wake up. Thumping only shook harder. The mysterious stallion retorted with a violent flail in his direction. “Don’t need help…” he moaned.

“You do need help,” thumping said, obviously baffled. “You’re hurt. I can help you. I’m the doctor around here.”

At this, the mysterious stallion’s eyes opened wide. “No you’re not.” Thumping backed up in shock, but the stallion got up and got in Thumping’s face. “I think it is obvious that don’t have the slightest idea of who you’re dealing with. Who are you to even try to get away with calling yourself that? Have you even heard of me?”

“Uh…” Thumping said, utterly shocked.

“I suppose you don’t then. Do forgive me for that outburst. I figured that I was in a U.N.I.T. base judging by the cold hard table and the rough physician over here; but as I can now see, you are not human. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Doctor. If there is any danger or horrible tragedy, it was probably my fault by accident, but I can fix it!”

The Doctor (as he identified himself as) and Luna were the only ponies who were calm in the room, for Thumping Hear just stood there whilst he tried to process what had just happened and Celestia was backing up towards the wall, taking Luna with her, wrapping her front leg in front of her. Luna squirmed and escaped her sister’s grasp. Celestia tried to grab her and pull her back, but she was already out of reach; Luna had walked up to the Doctor. “Doctor, who?” she asked him.

He just stared at her for a moment, then looked at everypony else in the room, and began to laugh hysterically and uncontrollably.

At this point, seeing the seemingly insane pony laughing it up in the middle of his house, Thumping Heart approached the Doctor with a new sense of duty; although, he found it hard to communicate with the crazy stallion. “You need to- You need to- Stop laughing! You need to lie back down! You have a- I SAID STOP LAUGHING! You have a broken leg! I need to fix it! STOP LAUGHING OR I WILL FORCIBLY CLOSE YOUR MUSSLE WITH MY BARE HOOVES!”

All of the angry shouting of commands did not help the Doctor to stop laughing. It seemed to Luna that he found Thumping to be… cute. To Luna, Thumping was anything but cute. She was actually scared of what he’d do next.

“What?” the doctor asked between laughs. “You mean this thing?” He took a deep breath as he help up his fore hoof, which was bent a bit funny. “Yeah, I’ll admit: it twinges a bit; but, it’s nothing a little regeneration energy can’t handle.”

Even Luna didn’t know what to make of this. Thumping Heart had the most baffled face that Luna thought was impossible for him or anypony. “W-What?” The Doctor didn’t answer, but instead his fore hoof began to glow a yellow-orange. Before Luna could enquire about this, there was an explosion of light emanating from the arm. Everypony shielded their eyes from the phenomenon that was occurring before them.

The light eventually faded and they all looked at the Doctor, whom was staring at his hoof, which had the light bursting from it not a moment ago, with his mouth agape. “What was that?” Luna asked eyes wide in curiosity. The Doctor did not answer, but just stood there with his face unchanging.

There was an awkward silence.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked.

“I have a hoof.” the Doctor said plainly.

“Mister?”

“Isn’t that the strangest thing you’ve ever seen? Me! A hoof!” He giggled.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked once more, desperately wanting answers.

“Okay?” he wondered. “Of course I’m okay! I’m absolutely giddy! I mean: look at it! I have a hoof!” He began to examine the rest of his body excitedly. “Four! I have four hooves! And- oh! A tail! I have a tail and hooves! How could this get any better?” His answer came with a better look at his flank. “A tattoo? I have a tattoo as well? This is utterly fantastic! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was a-“

“Mister!” Luna interrupted rather loudly. “I see you’re having a good time looking at your body, but please answer my question! I have never seen a pony shoot light from their hoof before.”

“A pony…” he said, sentimentally.

“Now, who or what are you?” Luna asked desperately.

His expression and demeanor changed to that of a relaxed one. He looked down at the little filly. “What is your name?”

“Luna, don’t…” Celestia began, still against the back wall and still terrified of this crazy pony.

“It’s Luna. Sometimes, my sister calls me ‘Little Luna,’” she said happily.
The Doctor smiled. “Little Luna…” He stared at her for a moment before beginning to address everypony in the house. “You see, Luna here is right. I am no pony.” He giggled again. “Heh, pony. Ahem, anyways, I am a Timelord. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Now, where am I?”

“Timelord…” Luna said quietly to herself.

“You,” began Thumping Heart, infuriated, “are in my house. Its dawn and you are standing in my house. You have probably woken up the entire village with all of the ruckus you’ve caused. Now, LEAVE MY HOUSE.”

The Doctor was unfazed. He casually looked at the window above the hay pile/bed. “Tell me, what was your name again?”

“Thumping Heart,” Luna answered him for the angry pony.

“Tell me, Thumping Heart, if it is dawn, then why is it still dark outside?”

The attention of everypony turned towards the window. The Doctor was right, it was as dark as night outside. It wasn’t like a day where there was heavy overcast, but full-fledged nighttime. “How…” Thumping began, but he was interrupted by a loud, whooshing sound, followed by an ear-piercing scream from outside. At this, the Doctor’s attention brought him over to the window quite quickly to see what was outside. At this point, Celestia was close to a nervous breakdown. Luna made her way over to the window as well to see what he was looking at. She stuck her head out and saw a mare in the middle of the street. She appeared to be the producer of the scream, for she was shaking and her eyes had gotten huge. As for what she was screaming at, Luna had no idea. She wanted to find out though.

It was apparent that the Doctor wanted to know the same thing, so they both decided to go out into the street without knowing that the other had decided the same thing. The Doctor, however, decided to climb out of the window; whereas Luna was going to go out the door. When she saw him do this, she gave him a curious look. He saw this, so he explained to her, “It’s quicker and more conventional than the door.” She agreed with him and proceeded to do the same.

When Luna finally got through the window, the Doctor was perplexed. “Why are you following me? Don’t I scare you like the others?”

Luna gave a little smile and said, “You’re too fun to let go running off.”

He returned her exited smile with one of knowing. “That I am. What was your name again?”

“Luna,” she said proudly.

“Well then, come along Luna.” He winked at her and they ran off to help the frightened mare. Luna was now doing what she loved to do best: run.

When they arrived, the mare was still shaking on the ground, hoof pointed in the distance. Her magenta mane was in a mess and she had broken into a sweat. The Doctor observed her, and then bent down next to her. “Are you okay? What’s the matter?” The mare didn’t respond; she only kept pointing across the tops of the houses. He was determined to not look, for he knew that when he did, all hell would break loose and everything would be thrown into chaos.

“Ma’am, calm down. It’s okay, I’m the Doctor. What’s your name?”

She just kept shaking. The Doctor breathed a heavy sigh, and looked in the direction she was pointing. All the while, Luna was watching him. He seemed to have handled situations like this before. When he turned his head towards the direction of Popper Hills, she did as well; and that’s when she saw it: it was big, red and had wings like a bat. It flapped its wings in mid-air, keeping itself hovering above Luna’s home. It was looking towards the village with a savage look. After a deafening roar and a breath of fire, it took flight towards the village.

“Uh oh,” the Doctor said quietly. “This… could be a problem.”

Luna gave a side wards glance to the Doctor, who looked back at her with a sheepish grin.

Meanwhile, at the location where the Captain of the Draconis fleet and his party had landed, Czwell-af, whom had sent his younger brother, Czwell-nor, to go and scout the area, was reporting to his commander. “Sir, I have sent Private Czwell-nor, as you requested. He is now searching for the one.”

“Excellent, Sergeant. Did you also give him the secondary order as well?”

“Yes, sir,” the lower ranking officer replied as official as possible. He recently had gotten promoted, and he did not want the captain to regret his decision. “He is to incinerate any opposing life-forms that interfere with him locating him.”

“Good. Very well done,” the Captain replied, quite pleased. “You are dismissed.”

The sergeant saluted and left to tent with the rest of his duties.

The Captain sat, his talons drummed against the ground, thinking of ways that he would kill his foe. This made his lieutenant, Dorak-mis, nervous. He thought on the recent events: chasing a time-capsule through space, being sucked into a vortex, having all of the matter in his body contorted, and finally arriving in this place only to have his commanding officer disregard basic medical needs of many of the troops that accompanied them. Their company had once had three platoons, each with fifty Dracons in them. Now they had barely enough who had survived without injury to fill a single platoon. He was worried that the Captain was too focused on his mission for glory and vengeance that he was blinded to the fact that the company needed to recover before they proceeded. However, he dare not question of commanding officer, no matter how much he disagreed with him.

The Captain noticed the troubled look on his First Lieutenant. Still with a pleased feeling with himself, he asked him: “What’s wrong with you?”

Dorak looked at him and said: “Permission to speak freely.”

The Captain raised his brow. “Of course. Go right ahead.”

Dorak chose his next words carefully, and after a moment, he spoke. “I am unsure of if how we are proceeding is the best course of action. Our brothers are severely wounded. I advise we return home and come back better prepared.”

The Captain gave out a laugh. “Unsure? My dear lieutenant, we have him right where we want him!”

“But sir-“ the younger of the two began before he was interrupted by his superior.

“Look, when we chased him out into the cosmos and surrounded him, he created that break in the fabric of space, right? You thought it was a trap, right? I listened to you and waited, but now we’re here and there is no trap. That means that he made a last-ditch effort to escape. He is weakened and more vulnerable than ever. We would be fools to not pursue him,” the Captain concluded.

Dorak looked to the floor, or rather, the grassy ground beneath the roof of the tent and he. The Captain had a point. “I suppose you’re right. Forgive me for disagreeing with you,” he said with defeat.

“Don’t be,” the leader said, “It’s natural to be concerned for our soldiers. I would be too, if this weren’t such a high-value criminal.”

Suddenly, the roaring of a distant Dracon sounded through their tent. A smile found its way across the Captain’s face. “Well, well, well,” he said, and air of satisfaction in his voice, “It seems that we’ve found him sooner than even I thought.”

He stood up, a twinkle of success in his eyes. “Today,” he said in a triumphant voice, “the Doctor will be ours!”

To be continued in Part two…

Author's Note

Here is the chapter this week! Plus another one! Check back Monday for the next update on any one of my stories!

~SCP

Part 2

The sky, a deep shade of purple. The kind of purple that you get just before the sunrise. The faint light of the stars were barely visible in comparison to the great, shining moon. The constellations had barely been mapped the few, small civilizations and tribes below. The sky was young for the word; and yet, it was unmoving. The moon didn't move, the stars didn't rotate, and the sun didn't rise. Something was gravely wrong, and the only ones who could fix this had other things to keep them busy: dragons.

The Doctor ran back to the hut as the beast began its flight toward the town, taking Luna along with him. Once again, he ignored conventional methods of getting into buildings, and jumped through the glassless window. He tumbled inside and rolled into a standing position. Luna tried to do the same, but being so small, even with wings, she had to climb up through the window. She made it through, but landed promptly on her flank with a thud.

The Doctor met with Thumping Heart and Celestia, both of whom were infuriated, not least of which being Celestia. "What in the world is wrong with you!?! You crash here, force us to come here to THIS guy's home, jump up, babble, and run outside taking my sister with you only to come bounding back in again. WHO ARE YOU?!?!?!?!" She panted, seething with a terrified and terrifying rage.

The Doctor ignored her outburst and turned to Thumping. "You," he began quickly, pointing to him, "You are an important figure in this town, yes?"

Thumping gave him a puzzled look. "Yes, I suppose-"

"Great," the Doctor interrupted, "Then I need you to promptly begin to move the peo- I mean ponies out of here to somewhere safe; somewhere where you can hide."

The tribal doctor gave him an incredulous look, his eyebrows raised. "And why am I supposed to believe you? You're mad; probably has something to do with you having an irregular heartbeat. How am I supposed to believe you?"

There was a brief pause in which the Doctor and Thumping Heart Starred at each other. Their eyes locked. Suddenly, a great roar sounded outside followed by a breath of fire that descended on the square, which could be easily seen by Thumping and everypony else in the room. They all ran to the window to see what was happening, save the Doctor. Their eyes widened and Celestia gasped.

The dragon, a nasty red lizard with young, strong wings, swooped down on the town, hovering just above the square. His pointed head looked about the small village. His fire breath and roar had awakened the townsponies below. He noticed how thee left their homes slowly, and re-entered entered quickly at the sight of him, while others ran about the streets below in a panic. It amused him.

The four ponies whom were looking out of Thumping Heart's window gaped in awe as the dragon, out of boredom, shot a jet of flame out at a small hut. They were paralyzed in both because of the miraculous grace of the being and in total fear of what it could do. The Doctor, still standing behind the others, began to speak. “This is what I mean", he began. The others turned to him. “This is why you need to listen to me. This is why you must trust me. I am the only one here who has the knowledge and capability to defeat this monster, but it can only be done with extreme caution and precision. In order to survive, to must obey my every word, or else you'll perish. “Thumping looked down and let his words sink in. After a moment of thought, he faced the Doctor. "What do you need?" he asked. The Doctor let his shoulders relax and he smiled. He looked at each of them in the room; at his companions. He had a glimmer of hope in his eyes that made even Celestia believe that they had a chance. Another roar sounded this one more ferocious. The Doctor huddled them together. “Okay, here's the plan..."

The dragon, known as Czwell-nor to those who knew him, smiled cruelly as he flew. Although he had just joined the dracon military, here he was, on his first solo mission; and he loved it. He recited one of the laws of dominance in his head, Enjoy the fear and suffering of those beneath you. That's just was he was doing.

Czwell-nor had let one of his claws drop down into one of the buildings below, tearing the top completely off and leaving the roof crashed into splinters. The family inside the home cowered in terror. Though the tormentor was having a great deal of fun doing this, he decided to move on to his objective. He began to fly about in search for the Doctor, as he was known, in the various buildings, when he noticed an old looking and heavily cloaked mare in the middle of the street ahead of him. It was odd that she was just standing there calmly, though all of the destruction about her was anything but calm. Burning buildings and what used to be homes were on either side of her going up and down the street.

The dragon became irritated. He had gone to all this work to destroy this town and she didn't even give him sliver of terror. His hot-headed temperament quickly made him infuriated. He flew toward her in a rage. His claws grasped her swiftly and tightly. The old mare felt bulky in his grip, but he paid it no attention. He flew higher and higher into the sky and flung her violently into the air. He saw her rise into the air. When she had reached the peak of her flight she began to descend, and as she fell, her heavy cloak flew off revealing her.

It wasn't really a "her", more of a "them", for underneath the cloak were three small boulders, each with a small, glass bottle attached to them, though Czwell-nor didn't see the glass. What he did see were three rocks, the size of pebbles in comparison, fall towards him. A puzzled look came on his face. He let them fall to him while he tried to figure out what had happened. Just before the boulders hit, he saw a small glimmer of glass on them; and then was one of he biggest bangs he had ever heard in his life.

An explosion erupted from the bottles, one at a time, each of them hitting his face. The first one knocked his head back, the second one knocked the breath out of him, and the third, it being the largest, knocked him right out of the sky. He fell quickly, concussed, to the ground. To those who were watching, it was like a great, fiery rock fell from the sky. When he hit the ground, it shook the earth beneath him and all of the townponies below.

The dragon was down.

The Doctor's plan had worked well so far. While the beast was occupied with his "little surprise", Thumping Heart was evacuating the ponies from the village. There were just a few more left to go, and he town would be empty. As he stood amongst some houses, he waited for Luna, who was supposed to keep an eye on the dragon with her sister. He looked about. For a dragon attack, the town was in pretty good shape. Only a small handful of buildings would need any serious repair. There were many, though, that had sustained burns from the dragonfire. As he turned his head, he saw Luna running towards him down the street.

She wore a large smile on her face, as she was enjoying this. The Doctor figured she either didn't really understand the level of danger, or she knew, but didn't let it affect her. She finally reached him and reported excitedly, "It looks like he is going to be down for a while. How did you know that he would throw them into the air like that?"

He shrugged nonchalantly as he turned about to prepare the next step. "Eh, dragon eating habits. I took a course on it at the U of Gallifrey." He went into one of the houses, one which he had claimed as a base of operations. Luna followed him inside.

The house looked like the one that belonged to Thumping Heart, but it was much less roomy. There was a straw bed with a window beside it, a small table, on which the Doctor had placed several odd items, and a few chairs. Luna had learned all of these new terms from Thumping earlier. Luna walked over to the table which the Doctor was standing at. There were various plants, pieces of wood, a few valuables from the village, and a little silver stick with a blue tip. He was in concentration as he was gathering the different components which he needed. She looked up to him and asked, "What is that?" She pointed to the silver stick, which had especially piqued her interest. She would have picked it up to look at it, but after having tried that with the first set of potions that the Doctor had brewed up, she had learned better.

He glanced at her and followed her gesture. He turned back to his work and replied simply, "That, my little Luna, is my sonic screwdriver." Seeing that she didn't understand what he meant, he reached over and picked up one of the treasures that he "borrowed" from one of the villagers. It was a silver necklace with a little amethyst dangling from it. "Here" he said gently. He took the sonic screwdriver and placed the tip up against the gem. He pressed the little button it and the tip lit up. Luna was fascinated as she heard the whirring noise that it made. Suddenly, it stopped. He handed the necklace to her.

Luna examined the gem. She was surprised to find that the amethyst began to glow brighter and brighter until it shone a brilliant purple. It pulsed the beautiful light slowly; it was enough to light up the dark room. There was also another glow, one that shone more bright and filled anyone who saw it with simplistic joy. It was Luna's eyes.

They were lit up with wonderment that could only be experienced by a foal. Her eyes were glowing like the moon in response to the light of the gem, which gave the same. The Doctor saw this and smiled. It reminded him of earth children on Christmas day; not that any of his Christmas' were anything short of chaos. He would've liked to stay there forever with her, but he knew their time was short.

He placed a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to him, looking into his eyes. She knew it was time, but she didn't want it to be. She wanted to see more, to be surrounded by them like rain; but she knew that there was no protesting.

He took the necklace from her and placed it around her neck. The amethyst dimmed slightly. "Come on," he spoke softly. The Doctor led her from the house.

Celestia never quite knew why she agreed to this. She didn't even like the madpony, so why should she be doing his dirty work?

Thoughts like this ran through her head constantly. She was sent by the Doctor on sentry duty; to keep an eye on the dragon. As long as he didn't wake up, she wouldn't have to do anything; but if he began to awaken, she would have to alert him. Luckily for her, though, he remained quite still.

Celestia wanted nothing more than to leave and return to their home, to keep her little sister safe from the obvious dangers that this place provided. Nothing bad had happened until she listened to Luna and came to this place. Nothing, until he showed up.

She could hear Thumping leading people to safety. She thought about all of the others and how they felt about this. Maybe there was another pony out there with a little sister to protect. Maybe there was a whole family that was terrified. Maybe there was life that had just been destroyed because of this. Was it inevitable? Could be. Something might've brought her to this town anyways. Luna had always wanted to come to the village. Maybe it wasn't the Doctor's fault.

She was still upset with him though. She had no idea why she would ever want to follow him or listen to him or do what he said, and yet she did. She couldn't explain it. It was like he had this charisma that somehow got other ponies to do his bidding. He was handsome after all...

"No," she spoke aloud, angry with herself for thinking such thoughts. "He is not handsome. And he certainly isn't as clever as he thinks he is."
Suddenly she heard the cheerful cries of her sister. "Tia! Tia! Look what I can do!" She turned her head and saw a large cart filled with various objects float by. It had a dark purple aura around it. She looked a little further and saw Luna, the same aura around her horn, skipping playfully and smiling. "Look at what the Doctor has me doing!"

Celestia fainted.

Thumping lead the last families out of the town and into the forest. At this point, he had practically become these ponies leader. There were about sixty villagers there, and about twenty families. Thumping had no family; nopony to turn to. So, as a result of that, he had always lived alone. His job was irritating at times, but he enjoyed it, though he was usually a grouch. The others in the town had unknowingly and unanimously elected him as their leader. It was informal, but that didn't matter. He led them all the same; now more than ever before.

Everypony in the crowd was panicking. There was mass confusion. Luckily, nopony was seriously hurt, thought there were a few burns. Thumping would have to treat them later. Right now, he needed to enact his own version of the Doctor's plan. He found a tree stump and began to speak.

"Settle down everypony! Settle do- Settle- HEY!" The talking ceased. They all looked to the pony in charge. "Okay everypony. Now we all know that we're scared. Some of our homes have been damaged. It may seem hopeless now, but I have a plan. There is one who stayed behind in the village. He has a way to stop this terror. He is, dare I say it, smarter than me. Everything he needs to solve this, we can provide; but he can't do it alone. He needs our help. Those of you with the strongest backs and the most skilled hooves, we need to aid him in fighting this monster an send it back to where it came. So, Who's with me!?!"

The crowd erupted into cheers of triumph. Thumping held up his hooves. The crowd slowly returned to their previously quiet state. He began again. "Stallions, say goodbye to your families. Grab your tools. Get prepared. In one hour, we charge! And we WILL return victorious!"

There was another yell from the crowd. Thumping knew that the Doctor would need all the help that he could get. These ponies could provide that for them. Nopony, not even the Doctor could do this just with himself and two little fillies. They were all brain. He would need some muscles. Thumping could provide that.
~

So the plans were together. The Doctor now had everything he needed. He stood by the crater where the dragon lay. Inside of the cart which Luna had levitated over, a phenomenon that he would have to study later, had all of what he needed. There were some plants and potions that he had gathered at act a paralyzers and anesthetics. There were mostly gems, though. He knew that he would need to catch his attention and/or bribe him. Negotiations would be difficult, but he knew about the dragon's one true weakness: their ears. They were incredibly sensitive so that they could hunt their prey, but were weak to high-pitched noises.

Celestia and Luna stood behind him as he pulled out a few bottles of potion and several jewels. Celestia inquired to Luna about her new necklace. She relayed the story to her, seemingly expecting to get yelled at by her sister, but Tia just sighed deeply and muttered something about "that figures." He paid her no mind, though.

Once he had finished, he turned to the two sisters. He looked at them and said cheerfully, "Okay. Let's get going!"

Tia, boggled, replied, "Wait. We're coming with you?" He nodded. "Why?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, I figured that you could use your-" He paused, trying to think of a better word for it. "-magic, to lift a few boulders in case things get hairy; but," he turned away from them, "as I can see, you can't. I guess I'll just ask Luna to..."

"Wait!" she interrupted. The Doctor smiled inwardly. He turned back to her, his eyebrows raised in a disinterested way. Tia looked back to Luna and to the Doctor again. "I-if," she began nervously, "Luna c-can do it, then so can I."

The Doctor flashed a big smile. "Great! Let's get this show on the road!" They began walking down the crater, Tia shaking with every step. The Doctor, seeing that, lagged back to Luna, who brought up the rear, and whispered, "Keep an eye on her." She hurriedly nodded in mock-seriousness.

They finally reached the dragon, out cold thanks to the Doctor's trick. He called them his "bubbling surprise." The concoction wasn't too difficult to make, although he did have trouble finding the ingredients in the chaos. He hadn't realized that dandelion flowers would be so hard to pull up when somepony trips over you and there is screaming everywhere.

He stopped right at where the shoulders met the rest of the torso. Even lying flat, this dragon was twice his height. He turned to the sisters and directed them to the two pieces of rubble that were a result of the crash. Tia, for reasons unspoken, took the smaller of the two. Her magic wasn't nearly as strong as her younger sister's. It was simply a matter of practice that she didn't ever get.

The Doctor peered down at his eyelids, waiting for the dragon to awake. He got close to his face, and then turned to Luna and nodded. She nodded back and then lightly tapped the beast on her head with her boulder. There was a flutter of his eyes, and then the dragon woke up. He saw the Doctor staring down at him. It was apparent that he was paralyzed, for his activity suggested that he wanted to eat him. He was snapping at him, but the Doctor, at a safe distance away, didn't move. He didn't even flinch. Seeing this, the dragon stopped.

The Doctor smiled. "Good," he said, "Now we can talk like adults."

The dragon growled at him. His voice was deep and intimidating. I almost caused the elder of the sisters to faint. "I will never negotiate with you," he bellowed angrily, "I will not let you escape alive! Release me, and I might spare you and your village. My conflict isn't with you."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, unsurprised. "Oh is it?" He leaned his head closer the dragon. He let him stare into his eyes. His old eyes and familiar eyes. Had he seen them before?

The dragon lit up like a match. He spat flame and snapped at the pony. None of it succeeded, though; he was simply out of his reach. Once the flames had subsided, and the Dragon had stopped his fruitless attacks, the Doctor stepped back into his view. He spoke again. "If you want to return to your people and have any chance at getting out of here alive, then you'll listen to my proposal."

The Dragon snorted. "Or what? You'll defeat the entire Dracon army?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What is your name, soldier?"

The noble soldier huffed. "I am Czwell-nor, scout-leiutennt of the third battlion."

"Tell me, Czwell-nor, are you feeling well? You seem to be in pain." With that, he pulled out the sonic. He held it up and pressed the button. A small whirring noise emanated from it; it's effect were felt immediately. There was a loud roar. The dragon's screams of pain surprised Luna and Celestia, causing them to almost drop the boulders that they held. Even the Doctor was surprised. It was enough for him to drop his tool. It fell into the dragon's throat, causing him to gag and shoot up another pillar of flame, destroying the sonic and the noise with it.

The Doctor, unsure of what to do with the sudden change in events, was thrown off balance. He tried regaining it, only to realize something horrible. Czwell-nor was regaining his ability to move. "Of all the times..."

He shouted to the sisters to "initiate the backup plan." They dropped the boulders on his head, but this only made him angrier. He turned back over, which threw the Doctor of and sending him flying, conveniently enough, a few yards away from Luna and Celestia. They ran over to him. He stood up in pain and put a hoof on Tia's back to support himself. The dragon, meanwhile, was beginning to take flight. He flapped out his wings, the last of the paralysis wearing off, and took off into the sky. His eyes searched the ground and found the three ponies in the crater beneath him.

The Doctor, by now was standing on his own four hooves, looked up and saw Czwell-nor staring at him. Luna and Celestia followed his gaze and they gasped. A rush of panic swept over the sisters, the Doctor could tell. Luna turned to him. "Doctor, what do we do now?" she asked in a panicked voice. He sighed deeply, hoping that it wouldn't have to come to it this time. His eyes went once back and forth between the sisters, before resting them on Luna.

"We run."

Part 3

They ran. Up and out of the crator they came. The Doctor, flanked on either side by Celestia, on his right, and by Luna, on his left. Neither of the two sisters could remember a time when they run this fast, or this hard. The Doctor, however, remembered the exact last time that he had run just this fast and just this hard. It had to be... two weeks ago this tuesday. Only then he didn't have four legs like he did now. He thought that he was adjusting to being a pony rather nicely. He was picking up things with his mouth, trotting merrily, and blended in just as much as he did when he was around humans.

Well, not now of cousre. He was running for his life, after all. That tends to make one stand out in a crowd. He could hear wings flapping behind him. So the dragon was in pursuit and, judjing by the increase in amplitude, he was gaining on them. They were just entering the partly-damaged village when the Doctor heard a swooshing sound and felt a wave of heat come from behind. He had to act fast.

He pointed to the one of many primitive buildings that was the closest. "Quickly!" he shouted to the sisters, "In there! Now!"

Luna followed his instuctions and dove into the house. She scrambled in and looked back. She saw the Doctor and her sister run in right behind her. Outside the door from which they had come in, they could see the dragon flying low and passing the building. They were all gasping from the running and leaning on the walls. "Okay," the Doctor began, panting heavily, "We have about thirty seconds before he comes back around." He turned to the elder sister. "Can you take Luna somewhere safe?"

She nodded, but Luna objected. "No! I'm not leaving you!"

Tia ingnored her and turned to him. "I don't know the way. Can you at least get us to Thumping's house?"

He nodded, taking heavy breaths. Luna cried out again. "No! I want to stay with you!" The brown stallion turned to the fily.

"Look, this is the only way I can make sure that you're okay. I couldn't live with myself if anypony else got hurt. Especially you." Once he said this, a roar sounded not too far away. He went to the door and looked back at them. "Are you ready?"

Celestia nodded again while Luna pouted. The Doctor smiled.

"Then let's ride."

Thumping led about twenty five other ponies to the edge of the forrest. They each had some sort of weapon, whether it be a large tree branch or some sort of tool that they had brought with them. They had a good mix of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasai. Some of them were murmuring about "how exactly are we going to take down that thing?" Some of them were realizing their loudicrous desicion, but carrying on nonetheless.Thumping also had his doubts. What if the Doctor had already been killed by this thing? Would they then have the ability to take it down alone? What if there was nothing left of their town but a cinder? All of them were floating about in his mind, but one stood out.
"Can we recover?"

One of the stallions, whom had a near-golden mane and blue hair, turned his head to Thumping. "What was that?"

Thumping shook his head. He must be hopeful. The Doctor, however insane he might be, could solve this. He had organized their escape, after all. In an effort to keep his mind off of these things, he turned to the pony who spoke. "What's your name?"

"Royal," he said in a stern voice, "Royal Gaurd."

They pressed forward, and Thumping replied, "I remember you. You saved the town once from a timberwolf attack. Do you have a family, Royal?"

The hardened looking pony focused his gaze forward. "No. If it's okay, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's fine," Thumping said simply. That ended their convorsation.

The group had gotten through the last part of the forrest. They were about to come into sight of their home. Thumping was the first to emerge through the last few trees. He gasped. The other ponies came swiftly behind him, wanting to see what his exclamation was about. Once they saw, some of them, too, gasped. Others simply gaped. Royal had taken too the silent approach.

They saw the dragon that had attacked them being beaten back by a yellow beam of light coming from somewhere on the ground. It was hitting him square in the chest, making him sceam in anger and in pain. The dragon pushed forward, but in doing so, made the beam hit him directly in the face. There was a roar of pain, a flash of bright, yellow light, and the fell on the town.

Celestia, led by the Doctor and dragging an upset Luna behind her, ran through the streets of the small town. Every once in a while, when he dragon came close, they would duck into a building. Because the dragon was catching on the their stategy, they decided that when they did this, they would split up, only to then rejoin in running in the road.

She was out of breath from more physical exertion than she was used to. How much longer was it going to take? Would the be safe once they got bac to their home? Could this monster be defeated? More and more of these types of questions ran through her troubled mind. She felt another brush of heat come from behind her and she dove into a shack on the right while the Doctor went left, pulling her sister in with her hoof.

The flames rushed past the tiny building and, for a moment only, she was blinded by the light it produced. She sheilded the younger filly with her body, hoping that whatever fire that might've gotten in would land on her instead. There was no need. Soon, the fire subsided. She turned and looked out at the street and looked for the Doctor, waiting for his signal. She saw him leaned up against the doorway of the house across the way. He was panting and out of breath. So was she. It was tiring,but in the end it wuld be worth it, she hoped. He looked at her. He waved his hooves differently this time, looking like he was indicating for her to stay there. The dragon hadn't come out yet, so, cautiously, he ran out of the building down the way they had just came. Tia turned in his direction and, before she could object, he was gone.

She poked her head out, confused. The elder sister withdrew her head when she heard the flapping of wings, hoping that he didn't see her. She heard the dragon fly over her, apperently searching for them. They were lucky to have gone into a house with a top this time, for the dragon swooped low and, as she could see, started looking for them in frustration acroos the street in the house the Doctor had just been in.

Suddenly, a hoof covered her mouth. She nearly screamed and swung her hoof around, hitting somepony square in the jaw. Celestia turned and saw the Doctor rubbing his chin with his hoof. Her eyes lit up. She started to appologise, but he shushed her with another hoof-to-mouth. "We've got to get out of here," he said, barely below a whisper. He indicated to the window from which he must've just come in from and they began to slowly creep to the back of the house.

Timing was essential, as the Doctor said, so out the window they went and, while the dragon wasn't looking in their direction, they made a mad dash to the next house, hoping to remain undetected. They scrambled as silently as they could into the back door of the next house. Still out of breath from all of the earlier running, Tia ooked out the window to see if the dragon was making his way towards them. Thankfully, he wasn't. In fact, he was actually going in the opposite direction from them. She breathed a sigh of releif. Feeling that they were a safe distance away, she spoke to him.

"Is it okay to whisper now?" she asked, barely audible.

He nodded. "I think the sonic left his ears more damaged than I had intended. His ears are probably still ringing, poor guy."

The elder sister was taken aback. "Poor guy?!?" she exclaimed a little too loudly. Luna shushed her. Celestia lowered her voice. "He's trying to kill us!"

"He's just doing his job," the Doctor retorted defensively. "Granted, he could have a better attitude about it." The dragon roared in frustration in the distance. "But if it wasn't him doing it, it would've been another dragon you'd be calling monster."

Luna stepped in. "Um, does this matter much?"

"No," he answered quickly, slight anger in his voice, "It doesn't." He crept slowly to the front window, Tia at his back. Outside, she could see that one of the houses looked familiar. It was quite a bt bigger than the otheres.
"Hey," she whispered exitedly, "That's Thumping's home!"

"Yep," he breathed. The Doctor turned to the sisters. He addressed them in a happy solemnity. "Looks like this is where we part."

"No!" Luna cried a little too loudly, "I want to stay with you!"

"Luna, we discussed this-" the Doctor said a little harshly.

"No!" she interupted.

This time, Celestia spoke, a little more grown up than usual. "Luna, it had been decided."

"NO!" She stamped her hoof, causing a great echo to bouce through the streets of the village. They were each paralysed in fear, hoping that the dragon didn't hear. They waited and held their breath for what seemed like five minutes. Everything was still.

"Sorry." Luna looked sheeepish.

The Doctor exhaled a sigh of releif. "That," he said, "was close-"

There then sounded a great roar. It shooke the very ground beneath their hoofs. They could hear the dragon yelling, "I'VE GOT YOU!!!!" They heard the sound of great flapping wings approaching closer and closer.

"RUN!" The Doctor shouted once again. They jumped out of the front window just in time for the roof to be ripped off and ran towards the pony doctor's house. Once they had reached the halfway point between the now roofless house and the medical pony's home, the Doctor pushed them away. Tia looked back at him, holding Luna back

"Split up!" he shouted to Celestia, a slight quiver of brave panic in his voice, "Take Luna to safety! I'll deal with Mr.Tear-The-Roof-Off!" He turned to face his mortal opponent while Celestia dragged Luna away from him, the little one kicking and screaming in resistance.

"I WANT TO BE WITH THE DOCTOR!" she cried in resistance. "HE'S GOING TO BE HURT WITHOUT US!"

"No- Luna-" Celestia stuggled with holding the young filly back. She looked up and saw the dragon hovering in the air in front of the Doctor and the beast inhaled. Celestia knew what was going to happen next. Then, why did she feel a pang of guilt for walking, nay, running away and letting it all be over for the crazy pony? She had been trying to get away from the him the entire time. He had caused nothing but trouble for her and her sister. Based off what he said, none of this would have happened without him; so, then, why did she feel... sad?

Luna broke free of her sister's hold. She had gotten distracted in her own moral dilema that she had completely forgotton about holding the filly back. Her eyes swelled in panic as she tried fruitlessly to grab her sister before it was too late.

Luna ran up to the Doctor right before the outward breath. The Doctor seemed absolutely shocked that she was beside him. He began to yell at her to run away, but she persisted.

Celestia had a split second to decide what to do.

The elder sister charged at the flying monstrosity before her. She let out a cry of boundless anger and protectiveness. She felt a litle light headed, sort of like when she was scared to death about Luna's safety combined with the feeling of when she tried to use that magic her sister had showed her countless times before. She paid no mind, for she was on a mission to protect her sister and the raggedy pony beside her.

She was prepared to die.

As the first breath of flame left the dragon's mouth, it was met halfway with a beam of light. The beam of light, which came from a white pony below, tore through the fire and disapated it as though it were warm butter. This left the dragon shocked and the ponies below rather confused. The dragon, out of his shock, flew towards the small group. The white pony seeing this, too wasted no more time and fired another powerfull beam of her yellow energy at the dragon. It hit him squarely in the chest.

Time nearly stopped for all creatures present and most everything moved in what seemed to them to be slow-motion. The dragon, out of more of his dragonrage, screamed and pushed forward, not realizing the consiquences.

As he flew, the beam remain going in the same direction and, in doing so, caused it to go up on the dragon's body as he drew closer. Eventually, the energy hit him directly in the head. He gave one final cry and dropped to the ground.

A great ammount of dust and debris could be seen flying upwards from where he had landed. Once it had cleared, the small blue filly and the brown stallion saw a fallen heap of white pony, the elder sister, and ran over to her.

In he distance, a small militia was moving from the place that the villagers were towards the nearly destroyed town.