Doctor Who: The Living Darkness

The Living Darkness
Part Three: Snowdance

Queen Zima, gaunt and hardened but still recognisable as the Queen Clearwin once knew, regarded them with eyes entirely too old for a filly. They fell on Clearwin and widened, her scowl turning to disbelief. 'It can't be...' she whispered.

Zima hopped off her throne and trotted up to Clearwin, her tiny hooves making an almost musical tone against the icy floor. Clearwin's eyes filled with tears, conflicting emotions churning in her stomach.

'You're alive!' Zima crowed happily. A smile spread across her face and threw herself into Clearwin, her face nuzzling Clearwin's shoulder. The young Queen sobbed quietly. Clearwin shivered; Zima's body was icy cold.

'Your Highness,' Clearwin began, her teeth chattering, 'what happened? To you, to Ice Draught, to Equestria?'

'How can this be?' One of the hooded ponies hopped down from the throne and trotted up to Clearwin. The pony drew the hood back, and Clearwin wasn't all that surprised to see it was Grand Vizier Darkheart, looking unchanged for the most part. How many others had survived?

Zima broke away, peering up up Clearwin. 'It is her!' Zima insisted. 'I'd never mistake another for Clearwin!'

'Surely another miracle of Blackmirror,' another figure said. By the voice, it was Stormheart.

'She really does know them!' Rainbow accused.

'She did, but not the way you think,' the Doctor defended.

Zima jerked her head toward Rainbow and the Doctor, her eyes now filled with rage. 'Silence!' she growled, baring her teeth. Like Monochrome, Zima now possessed a pair of curved, predatory fangs. Clearwin shuddered and looked away. A pony with fangs was just...unnatural. Especially a foal.

Something small and soft brushed against her legs, like an affectionate cat. 'Do I frighten you now, Clearwin?' came Zima's voice.

'A little,' she admitted, shivering.

A dry little chuckle. 'We've changed so much since we last met. Barely alive, you came to Ice Draught warning about Sombra's revolution, dying soon after. Darkheart believed you, and convinced a hundreds of nobles to retreat to the castle. The revolution began not moments after, and we were forced to Coldheart's dig site. Cold and afraid, we huddled in the caves. Unfortunately Sombra wanted the dig site too, and came to claim it. The Heart sisters took me to the deepest part of the site where Coldheart's special project was, the Black Poison Crystal.'

'What did you do?' Clearwin asked. She wasn't certain she wanted to know the answer.

'Coldheart said it had a powerful magic inside,' Zima answered. 'So we tried to harness it. It was so cold, so deathly that it was painful to draw on. None of us could use it. At last, as Sombra broke through the entrance, promising to do all sorts of awful things to me before I died, I begged the Black Poison Crystal to help us, that we would all die unless we had a miracle.'

Clearwin opened her eyes to find Zima nuzzling her throatlatch. 'And we got a miracle,' Zima told her. 'A beautiful voice came from the crystal, telling us we would survive if we accepted its power but that we would be changed forever and must pay tribute to that power. We agreed, and a vast wave of darkness burst from the crystal, sweeping over us and throwing Sombra and his followers from the cave. Filled with that dark power our magic had increased far beyond normal, and we devastated the rebels.'

Zima's eyes lit up with the memory, her mouth curling into a wistful smile. 'All of a sudden they were like little bugs! We dismembered them, crushed them, set them ablaze! We set upon Sombra and tore him apart with our teeth. I had the honour of ripping his throat out!'

She let out a childish giggle that turned Clearwin's blood cold. There was no doubt Sombra was a monster, but did even he deserve to be eaten alive? More than that, sweet little Zima's pleasure in the act was unthinkable.

'That's when I discovered how delicious ponies are,' Zima continued as she licked her lips. 'It was like we had never eaten before. We couldn't stop ourselves from digging into that dark, hot flesh, that thick, rich blood. That's when we realised we were forever changed by the Black Poison Crystal, and it was far from the only change.'

Darkheart, Stormheart and even the guards began to pant, their jaws almost slavering at Zima's description. Monchrome bared his fangs in a feral grin at Clearwin's new companions. Rainbow growled back defiantly while Rarity covered her face and the Doctor remained impassive.

Clearwin's vision swam, the throne room going blurry. She struggled not to vomit or pass out. 'Your Highness,' she choked out, 'please, no more. I can't...!'

A pair of petite hooves gently gripped Clearwin's head, and she found herself staring deep into Zima's eyes. 'No, Clearwin,' she said, soft but resolute. 'You are going to hear everything I have to say. You're my subject after all, even if you should be dead by now. Do you understand?'

Clearwin nodded, her face uncomfortably hot. Her ears throbbed with blood.

'Good.' Zima released her. Clearwin immediately sucked deep lungfuls of air down to steady her stomach.

Slowly, Zima walked a circled around her, her head held high. 'We soon discovered that the Sun's light burned us terribly, that fruits and vegetables gave us no sustenance, that we craved meat. We also found that we stopped ageing, magic dissipated when used against us and our power was beyond anything we could have achieved as mere Unicorns. We were now Dark Ones, the apex predators of Equestria!'

'And that gave you the right to kill and enslave your neighbours?' the Doctor suddenly asked, his voice hard and his eyes narrowed. 'A “superiority” that wasn't even yours to begin with?'

Zima growled, whirling upon him in an instant. 'Everything I did was to ensure our survival,' she hissed. 'The other ponies couldn't live with us! We were abominations to them, and they made war against us! We had to subjugate all of Equestria and block out the Sun to retain peace!'

'Liar!' Rarity jumped up, her chain rattling, an accusing hoof pointed tremblingly at the young queen. 'Celestia and Luna wanted us to live in harmony! They offered to set aside a place where the Sun never touched and to breed plants that had the nutrients of meats, all for your comfort! You rejected their offers because you wanted to rule Equestria! Everyone's dead because of you! Equestria's dying, and it's all –'

With sudden savagery that Clearwin never would have expected, Zima was upon the beautiful Unicorn, her teeth buried in her throat. Clearwin uttered a terrified cry as Rarity crumpled to the floor, blood staining her white coat. With a defiant roar Rainbow threw her forelegs around the vicious filly, trying to pull her off, but Zima was stuck fast to Rarity. The Doctor beat at Zima's back and sides with his hooves, but the guards yanked their chains, pulling him and Rainbow away from Zima and Rarity. Curing and spitting, Rainbow pulled as hard as she could, reaching for Rarity. Clearwin could only sob in terror as Zima raised her head, her muzzle crimson with Rarity's blood. Her sides heaved as she licked blood off her lips, glaring at the dying Unicorn. Rarity laid on her right side, a ragged hole in her throat, her blue eyes glassy. Her barrel barely moved, and her every breath made a ghastly wet sound.

Zima regarded Rarity for a second, then raised her right foreleg to her face. Baring her fangs, Zima ran her delicate leg under the fang, cutting a neat bloody line. She pushed her wounded leg to Rarity's mouth.

'Stop!' Rainbow cried, enraged tears filling her eyes. 'Leave her alone!'

'What are you doing to her?' the Doctor demanded.

'I'm not going to let Rarity die,' Zima muttered as she fed her blood to Rarity. 'Oh no, that would be too easy. I'm going to make her understand what it's like to be a Dark One. I'm going to lock her in the deepest cell in my dungeon with no meat or blood to eat, and when she's mad with hunger and admits her new craving, I'm going to bring Rainbow Dash down and carve chunks of her off while she's alive and screaming, and feed them to Rarity.'

Monochrome cackled. 'A marvellous idea, Your Hightness! May I suggest starting with Dash's wings?'

Zima nodded to him. 'Let's remove her wings now, just to be safe. Guards! Take Rarity to the cells, then prepare to cut Dash's wings off!'

An enraged bellow burst from Rainbow's mouth and she frantically struggled against her chain. A guard unlocked Rarity's chain, and another took the limp figure away. Clearwin's stomach tightened. 'Zima,' she croaked, 'please, think about what you're doing! This isn't you! What happened to the sweet little filly I used to take care of?'

Zima turned on her, silent. Something flickered in her eyes – doubt? Then her expression hardened. 'Quiet, Clearwin,' she uttered in a deadly tone. 'I want you to enjoy becoming a Dark One, but if you resist I'll give you the same treatment as Rarity.'

A guard entered, a big, ugly serrated sword over his withers. Rainbow's eyes sprang wide, realising what the sword was for. Screaming and cursing, she yanked and beat at her chain, but it was no use.

Desperate, Clearwin turned to Darkheat and Stormheart. 'Please! Tell them to stop!' she pleaded. 'You can't let Zima do this!'

'I'm sorry, Clearwin,' said Darkheart, a hint of remorse in her voice. 'We've been Dark Ones a thousand years now. It's too late to see your kind as anything other than prey now.'

'We're in danger of dying out,' Stormheart added. 'It's us or them now.'

The Doctor glared at them, trembling with rightousness. 'You call yourselves superior, but you are so much less than Clearwin, Rarity and Rainbow here.'

Darkheart shot him a look. 'The Way of Blackmirror tells us that our salvation shall come with a Doctor bearing the Blue Box. While it says the Doctor must live and be of sound mind, it says nothing about being whole. So be quiet or we'll saw your leg off when we finish with Dash.'

The guard approached, his magic raising the saw-sword to Rainbow. Her eyes bulging, her teeth clenched, Rainbow let out a bellowing roar and bucked as hard as she could muster. The guards holding the chains were dragged forward, taken off guard by Rainbow's prodigious strength. One of them dropped a spear, the weapon clattering by Rainbow's hooves. Faster than Clearwin could follow, Rainbow had snatched up the spear, swinging it in a wide arc into the saw-sword-bearing guard's head. He grunted as the tip clanged off his helmet, but it was only a distraction. Rainbow's adjusted the spear, ramming the tip through one of the eye holes with a horrid squishing sound. With a gurgle the guard collapsed as blood poured from the helmet. Clearwin was grateful she couldn't see the damage to his head.

'He has a key!' the Doctor called, diving for the corpse before the guards could restrain his chain, grasping the heavy key in his teeth.

Hissing, Zima, Darkheart, Stormheart and Monochrome's horns blazed with black magic. The Doctor and Rainbow would be dead in an instant if they couldn't escape that very moment. Clearwin looked to the fallen guard and rushed to his side, grabbing the saw-sword with her magic. She moved to block the Doctor and Rainbow, holding the sword out.

'Put that down and step aside this instant!' Zima ordered. 'Do you really think you can challenge us with that?'

'Yes, actually,' Clearwin said. She turned the serrated tip around, putting it to her throat. Zima's eyes went wide.

'What are you –'

'You clearly value me, even a thousand years later,' Clearwin calmly explained. She felt cold, a detachment to the world. Was it a coping mechanism? 'You missed me all those years. Now I can kill myself and leave you again, this time forever. It was awfully lucky you got a second chance at having me around. Don't blow that chance, Zima.'

'This is ridiculous,' Stormheart said, taking a step forward, her horn glowing ominously. 'Clearwin, I kind of like you from what I remember of that one time we talked, but not enough to sit through this. I'm going to kill you, and that will be that!'

'Don't you dare!' thundered Zima, smacking Stormheart's leg. 'I will have Clearwin alive!'

'Then stand back and let my friends unlock us,' Clearwin said. 'If you do and let us walk away then you might have another chance to capture me. Right now though I'd rather die than become a Dark One, so if you approach me...'

The blade just barely nicked the skin of her throat. Her face was stony. She was strangely fine with death even though she had begged to be saved not so long ago. The way she saw it, becoming a Dark One would be worse than death.

The throne room fell silent, Zima glaring at her, but her eyes were worried. She was judging Clearwin's intent, and Clearwin hoped that Zima could see she was serious. Finally, Zima sneered.

'Fine, I shall allow you to leave the throne room unmolested. Know this though: The palace is crawling with my new invasion force. You will never leave this place, not until I say so.'

Clearwin nodded. 'Good enough for now.'

Rainbow unlocked their manacles, the heavy collars dropping to the floor with a clang. The trio backed out of the throne room, Clearwin continuing to threaten herself with the sword. Once in the corridor, Rainbow slammed the doors shut.

The Doctor let out the breath he was holding. 'That was brilliant, Clearwin!' he spoke giddily. 'And Rainbow, what a job that was!'

Rainbow sagged, her eyes heavy. 'We have to find Rarity,' she said. 'I'm not leaving without her.'

The Doctor's countenance turned as grim as Rainbow's. 'Yes,' he agreed. 'It won't do to leave her here, but it will be somewhat of a challenge getting her out in that state.'

'Even if we do get her and get past the palace's defences,' Rainbow said glumly, 'she might be able to survive at Celestia's base. Nopony's ever turned back from a Dark One before, and Celestia's solar magic might burn her up. We can't just turn that off though! We need it to live out there!'

'If I could get the TARDIS running there's nothing they can do to stop us,' the Doctor mused. 'The problem is getting to it and fixing it in the first place. If we could get the door locked when inside it though we'd be safe, and I doubt the likes of these could have succeeded in that.'

Clearwin nodded, only half listening. Her legs shook and the sword seemed much heavier than before. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She tried not to think about it; if she did she wasn't sure she could function any more. She squeezed her eyes shut, but all she could see was poor Rarity having her throat torn out by Zima. Her eyes snapped open right away.

The Doctor clapped his hooves together. 'Right! So, we find the TARDIS and recuperate there for a bit, then rescue Rarity! I might even be able to halt the transformation if we're lucky.'

He peered around. 'Just watch out for any Autons,' he warned. 'If we're gassed a second time then we'll have a much smaller chance for escaping. They will probably make good on their efforts to incapacitate us through dismemberment while we're unconscious.'

'Do you remember where you last saw it?' Rainbow asked.

'It was lower,' the Doctor said. 'Those tunnels they brought us up through. It's the only lead we have, so let's go see!'

Clearwin and the Doctor trotted along, Rainbow flapping her wings above them. I hope the Doctor's right about this, Clearwin thought.

Zima sat on the floor, glowering. She wasn't just angry but confused. Why was Clearwin being so stubborn? Wouldn't she be thrilled to have immortality, to ascend to a greater existence? Instead she rejected it, claimed she would rather die. What was wrong with her? Didn't she want to play and cuddle together while reading fun books any more?

'Darkheart. Monochrome.'

The two lackeys appeared at her sides, flanking her. 'Yes, Your Highness?' Darkness asked.

'There isn't another Clearwin in the other world, is there?' she asked.

'She would be long dead in the other world,' Darkheart answered.

'So this is the only chance I have before we leave.' Zima turned to Monochrome. 'The ritual is on hold until I have her safely. Do you understand that?'

The grey jester managed to stop grinning for a moment, although he still giggled. 'That...that shouldn't be too much of a problem, Your Highness. Your people and the invasion force can wait a little longer. We still have our emergency rations.'

'Inform the slaves their work is over,' Zima instructed. 'We can feed off them if the rations run out.'

'Is it wise to put the ritual off now?' Stormheart asked. 'Queen Blackmirror wanted us to begin as soon as we had the Blue Box and the Doctor. She might not be happy about this.'

'She can have the Doctor when I have Clearwin,' Zima snapped.

Darkheart and Stormheart exchanged grimaces, but said nothing.

'Queen Blackmirror is very patient,' Monochrome cooed. 'She can wait if she needs to. It's just that if we wait too long then we might be stuck here with a dwindling food supply.'

'The ritual can happen any time,' Zima countered. 'Conditions might be less optimal if we invade later, but we can still succeed with our assembled forces. They'll bring Clearwin and the Doctor back to us soon enough.'

She trotted off to behind the throne, leaving through the added chamber to hold the Black Poison Crystal. It stood tall, pointing to the frozen roof like a sharply-cut pillar. A toxic green glow churned under the smooth surface, moving like a half-glimpsed fish beneath murky waters. The blackness of it sucked all the light and warmth away, leaving the chamber chilly even compared to the rest of Canterlot.

Zima planted her hooves against the huge crystal's side, touching her horn to its depths. The first time she had tried it had so cold and painful that her life was nearly torn from her that instant. Now she was the same as it, as recognised her as its mistress.

Zima's orders flowed into the crystal, transmitting them to her soldiers, old and new. Bring the tan Earth Pony stallion and the brown Unicorn mare back to me alive at any cost! The blue Pegasus mare is expendable.

Clearwin was grateful for the cold in the tunnels. The frosty temperatures distracted her from thinking about Zima too much. Unfortunately, all the ice on the floor made it difficult to move quietly; their hooves crunched no matter how lightly they tread. Rainbow had it easy being able to fly above them. Luckily their enemies were even noisier, trampling through the tunnels without regard for stealth, so that noise covered for them and alerted them when the guards were coming through.

'Have you seen it yet?' the Doctor asked Clearwin as she peered into a storage closet.

'It's not here,' she said, moving to the next door.

Rainbow came flying up, waving her forelegs. 'I found it!' she said. 'Come on! This way!'

She zipped to a room further down the corridor and pointed in. It was a much larger area with a magic laboratory set up in there with flasks and beakers of colourful liquids lining the tables and shelves. The TARDIS stood in the centre, the door hanging ajar.

The Doctor gaped in horror. 'That shouldn't be possible! I locked it before leaving! There's no way anyone could have gotten in! Well, all right, an especially clever genius with very clever fingers can pick the lock, but no-one here has fingers, clever or otherwise!'

'Shh!' Rainbow jabbed a hoof into the Doctor's mouth to shut him up. They all ducked down. Another black-cloaked pony sauntered out of the TARDIS, swaying her shapely rump as she hummed a merry tune. Coldheart. Twirling around her horn was a silver key on a short chain.

'La la la,' she sang, 'if you look behind the P, then you'll surely find the key! La la la...'

The Doctor peered up at the TARDIS. 'Ah, the spare key,' he whispered.

Coldheart whirled around, fangs peeking from her wide grin. 'I know you're there!' she sang. 'I can see your body heat, smell your your lifeforce! Did you bring me lunch? I'm so hungry, so I might just eat you with it!'

Rainbow sprang up and launched a powerful kick toward the blue Unicorn. Her hoof slammed Coldheart's shoulder, knocking the mare to the floor. Coldheart twisted her side, her horn expelling a long stream of ice at Rainbow. Rainbow pulled back in time for the ice to fly past her and into the ceiling, the magic freezing it over so icicles formed all over.

Clearwin activated a wind spell, blowing flasks and and jars from their places and hurling them at Coldheart. A heavy jar shattered against the side of her head, but she didn't even slow down to turn and fire her ice spell at Clearwin. She threw herself to the floor to avoid being entombed in ice.

Crawling along the heavy table, Clearwin peeked out from the edge to see Rainbow continue her dive bombing assault on Coldheart. She delivered a flurry of kicks to Coldheart's face, but the scholar didn't seem to notice. She merely giggled and fired off more ice spells.

Clearwin took a bottle of red fluid and threw it at the mad Unicorn. It missed, sailing over her back, and landed beside her, exploding into flame. Coldheart shrieked at the sight of fire and stumbled back from it, her eyes bulging in terror. Flames crept up her cloak, prompting her to scream again. She dropped everything to tear her cloak off, but her movements were so frenzied that the flames were fanned, spreading to the rest of her clothes.

'I'm on fire!' she screamed. 'Help me! Help!'

Her pleas cut Clearwin to the bone. Coldheart might have just been trying to kill them, but the panic in her voice was unbearable. She ran over and grabbed the burning cloak, pulling it off Coldheart in a single movement and tossed it away.

'What are you doing?' Rainbow demanded. 'She's a Dark One!'

'She's still a pony!' Clearwin moved to the shivering Coldheart, who had curled up on the floor. She fired an ice spell into the fire, extinguishing it with a loud hiss. She laid prone, not making any sort of move to attack them.

The Doctor peeked out from the TARDIS door, a strange metal wand with claws on one end clutched in his teeth. 'Oh, you got her! I was going to analyse her for a weakness to exploit, but it looks like you found one first.'

'Being near fire freaked her out pretty badly,' Rainbow said. 'Dark Ones never come out on sunny days, so I guess fire's extra bad for them.'

'What's that you've got there?' Rainbow asked him.

The Doctor deposited the wand on the floor. 'A sonic screwdriver, the ultimate in scientific instruments. I dropped it when the TARDIS crashed, and after a little rooting around found it again.'

He peered at the screwdriver, positioning it at Coldheart, then carefully pressed a button with his hoof. The clawed end glowed green and emitted a high-pitched whine.

'Does it have to be on the floor?' Clearwin asked.

'No, but I can't use it with hooves.'

Rainbow rolled her eyes. 'Of course you can! Give me that!'

Over the Doctor's protests, Rainbow picked it up, the screwdriver sticking to her blue hoof. The Doctor fell silent as he watched Rainbow curl her hoof around the strange device firmly, waving it like a baton.

'See? I don't know why you don't think you can't do that.'

'Blimy,' the Doctor said, eyes following Rainbow's movements. 'Look at that. All right, won't knock the hooves any more. Those are brilliant!'

She offered it back to him, smirking. 'Now you try.'

He held a hoof out, and she passed the screwdriver to him, the instrument sticking to his tan hoof. He grinned with delight as he gripped the sonic screwdriver, activating the light. Clearwin was beginning to think he was telling the truth about not being a pony prior to arriving in Equestria.

'I have hooves now!' he announced. 'Hooves are cool!'

Standing up on his hind legs, he did a complete spin, twirling around to face Coldheart, his screwdriver alight with an emerald shine as he waved it over the prone pony.

'Hey,' Rainbow said, 'did anypony hear the fight?'

Clearwin gasped, her eyes immediately going to the door to be sure, and froze. Standing in the doorway, glaring at her, was a lean grey stallion in a black top hat and coat. The same one that she spotted running away in the town. She was sure of it. His eyes bored into her, his long face twisted with hatred. Clearwin couldn't speak, couldn't look away.

'Clearwin?' asked Rainbow with concern. 'Clearwin, are you OK?'

Clearwin tore her eyes away from the stallion, flicking back to Rainbow. 'We've been caught!' she cried.

'What?'

Rainbow flew over, looking around. 'Did you see somepony?'

'In the door! Look!'

Clearwin turned back to find an empty doorway. There was no sign of a stallion or anypony else for that matter. Had he run away? She would have heard him, surely. A teleportation spell? More likely, but those were flashy. He was gone.

'Nopony's here,' Rainbow said.

Clearwin shook her head. 'I...I thought...'

'Oh ho!' the Doctor exclaimed. She turned to him. He was looking at his screwdriver's buttons, his eyes alight. 'Oh ho! Baby, you are beautiful! A binary vascular system like yours truly, a set of gill slits in the neck, retractable fins for amphibious living, a skeletal structure as strong a steel and infinitely regenerating cells! For all intents and purposes, this pony here is immortal! But that's not all! She's actually dead! Not in the way you'd normally think; her hearts beat, her body makes fluid, but she has no lifeforce! She's sterile too; the only way she can reproduce is my converting others into more Dark Ones! Yet with so many strengths, natural sunlight would cause severe burns, her cells stop regenerating when burned, strong winds make their skin dry out and crack and plant life is poisonous to them!'

He clapped his hooves, twirling excitedly. 'This was no evolution. Evolution is never this precise, this perfect. This was the result of extraordinary genetic tinkering. But why such debilitating weaknesses? Surely the designer knew that a sunlight vulnerability would be a terrible design choice!'

He paced around with nervous energy, a feverish look to him. 'No! No, perhaps it was a good idea! Equestria was devastated by the Dark Ones when they...!'

He turned to Clearwin and Rainbow, a big grin on his face, holding his foreleg out to them invitingly.

'Erm, block out the Sun?' Rainbow asked.

'Exactly! The sunlight vulnerability might have been added to keep their population in check! They are so powerful, so strong that they would unbalance entire ecosystems over night! They could easily be controlled with a regular sunrise.'

He stopped, a frown on his face. 'But why make it transmittable? Why turn the population of Ice Draught into Dark Ones at all? It makes no sense. Was the Black Poison Crystal the transmitter of the mutation and they found it by accident? Could Zima have imagined a voice telling her they would be saved and it was all a coincidence they were transformed that moment? They seem to have some sort of prophesy regarding me specifically.'

He turned to Coldheart and took the key she had away from her. 'And how did you know where to find this?' he demanded.

Coldheart chuckled, the first noise she made after her panic. 'The Way of Blackmirror told us that the key to the Blue Box was hidden behind a p. We didn't understand that until I saw the Box up close and found the key behind the letter p on your sign. You must be the Doctor then.'

She began to laugh, a high, keening laugh that hurt to listen to.

'We've been waiting for you, Doctor,' she said. 'Waiting a thousand years for you. Now you're here, and we can leave this dead ball of ice for a verdant, lush land, filled with fat, happy ponies to feast on!'

The Doctor crouched beside her, his eyes narrowed dangerously. 'If you think for a moment that I'm going to invite you lot on my TARDIS so you can ravage new civilizations, you are more wrong than about anything ever in your life. In fact, I'm going to see to it that the Dark Ones starve to death before they spread any further.'

Clearwin shivered, a bit taken back by the statement. How did a stallion just jump from a cute and cuddly (if rather daft) scientist to being so ruthless? He was clearly more dangerous than he looked.

If Coldheart was intimidated she didn't show it. Instead she laughed again. 'Oh Doctor! We don't need your TARDIS to escape. Just you being here is enough to fill our invasion force to overflowing! Wanna see?'

She raised up, throwing her head back and cried, 'Mr Pepper!'

Another door opened in the back and some...thing emerged. Something large and gleaming in the dim light. Only a slight whirring noise gave away its presence; otherwise it was silent. Moving around the TARDIS, the thing came into view. Clearwin was at a loss to understand what she was looking at. A giant pepper pot, perhaps? A big bronze pepper pot, with a domed head with a telescope and a pair of light bulbs sticking out. Emerging from its middle was a plunger and a small metal stick. It wore a long skirt covered in rows of metal spheres, the skirt so long that no legs were visible beneath it.

'What is that?' Rainbow asked, as confused as Clearwin. They looked to the Doctor, and Clewarwin was dismayed to see that he didn't look confused. His eyes were growing wide with shock, his breathing heavy.

'No,' he whispered. 'Not here. Not in Equestria!'

'You are the Doctor!' the pepper pot suddenly shrieked. It's voice was a hideous strangled whine, so piercing that Clearwin felt like drills were being shoved into her ears. 'You are an enemy of the Daleks! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!'