Doctor Who: Equestrian Chronicles Series 1

It was 7:00 in the morning, starting off like an average day. The day Twilight’s life was changed forever.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” she squealed like a school filly in her anticipation. For that day was Book Donation day.

Book Donation day was, as the title might imply, was the day where thousands of new books would be donated to the Library for fresh reading material. Twilight ran as fast as her hooves could carry her, off to the post office.

In this glorious day, Twilight would be able to read throughout the weekend, heck, maybe throughout the whole MONTH!

What should I read first, the lavender unicorn pondered in her head, maybe a comedy, or a mystery novel! Oh, there are so many possibilities!

____________________________________

“One book?!” Twilight cried in disbelief. She levitated a worn out, flimsy book, “That’s all that was donated?”

The wall-eyed pegasus mailmare nodded apologetically.

“Sorry, but there’s always next month, right?” the mailmare replied in a cheerful tone, “But at least you can still read this one book,”

“I guess you’re right” Twilight gave her a warm smile, and placed a few bits on the counter. Levitating the single book with her magic, she noticed a very old smell, like it was a piece of ancient literature. Instantly, her mind raced.

What could be written here? Maybe it’s an old forgotten book of spells! Maybe it’s an antique novel that could be worth millions!

With excitement rekindled in her heart, Twilight .

When she stepped through the door, her Number One assistant immediately greeted her.

“Hey, Twilight! How are the new …” Spike’s greeting was interrupted.

“Hello, Spike!” Twilight greeted in response, as she ran through the door, “Can’t talk, new book!”

Spike sighed, as he watched his caretaker go into her reading bench, knowing that when Twilight got a new book, wild manticores could stop her from reading. Hopefully she would finish the book by dinnertime. Spike thought irritably, to himself, as his stomach growled loudly.

____________________________________

Twilight looked upon the cover, where she just barely made out words in an almost illegible hoofwriting.

A Journal of

Creatures and Technology

In the Universe.

“It’s a journal?” Twilight flipped through the pages, filled with articles and hoofdrawn pictures, and a card fell out of the yellowed paper.

“Go to pages 34 and 25,” She read, “Alright then.”

Twilight read the first sentence on page 34 out loud.

“The Vashta Nerada, the shadows that melt the flesh.”

Twilight frowned, the book wasn’t really enjoyable and big disappointment. There was no story, no plot, no characters, no climax, nothing. Just gibberish on random, made-up creatures.

She got up, placed the book, face down, on the bedside table, and yawned. It was about time to make dinner for herself and Spike. Twilight was just about to go to the kitchen, when some pony knocked on the door.

Twilight’s ears perked up, because this kind of knock was a fast past one, and sounded a bit panic-y.

When she opened the door, she found herself being hugged tightly by three trembling Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“What’s wrong, girls?” Twilight demanded in a worried voice.

Scootaloo was the first to answer.

“W-we were t-trying to get our cutie marks and t-trekked through the Everfree with a guide. Th-then it got cold, and th-there w-as a shadow! It killed the guide!”

“It ate ‘im! There was nothin’ but bones!” Applebloom sobbed.

“A shadow?” Twilight eyes widened in surprise, “What was casting it?”

“N-nothin’! Just a shadow!”

She thought back to the book. Living shadow, just like the book said!

“Where were you?”

“Just outside the trail to the Everfree forest,”

Twilight raced off to the spooky forest as fast as she could.

How is this possible, She thought to herself, Right before this happened, I get a book that directs me to this living shadow things!

Then Twilight reached the Everfree, and saw the most gruesome thing in her life.

A skeleton of a pony, with all of his flesh stripped off him. Twilight let out a scream.

"Oh, sweet Celestia!" Her scream eventually died off, but the feeling of terror still lingered in her soul.

Her scream seemed to alert something in the forest. The leaves on the trees rustled, and something moved in the bushes. She thought of investigating, to see if it was something hostile. If it was, she could use her magic against it, right? But she immediately remembered something written in the Journal, in the entry about the Vashta Nerada.

There’s nothing you can do. Just run.

Could it be? Could these shadows be the Vashta Nerada? Could the book donation be a warning?

Or could it be a prank?

No, Twilight finally decided, there can’t be creatures smaller than a speck of dust, yet eat like a parasprite.

As if on cue, a bird swooped down from the sky, into the darkness under the tree branches. Instantly, the bird’s bones collapsed onto the ground and landed right in front of Twilight’s hooves.

Gasping, the frightened unicorn backed away from the dark forest. Then the shadows started to move. She tried concentrate, tried to use her magic, but the fear of death from those things took her focus away.

Once again, Twilight remembered the advice from the book. She chose to follow it this time.

Running hasn’t been Twilight forte. But apparently, being chased by living shadows that could eat her skin off in just seconds helps.

But it didn’t help enough.

I’m almost safe!, Twilight encouraged herself as Ponyville came into view. I’m going to make it!

Pain shot up her back leg. Staying inside her library was a great way to exercise mentally, but not so much physic ally. Of course she would get a cramp now of all times. Exhausted, Twilight collapsed onto the grassy field below her hooves. She shut her eyes and waited for her doom.

Whooosh, Whooooosh

Twilight opened her eyes in surprise. Instead of the darkness she expected, she saw something blue. A blue box.

But something stranger then happened.

The doors of the box opened, and something popped its head out.

It was a tall biped, like a pony standing on its hind legs. It wore clothes all over its body, except for its head and it’s claws. He wore a beige cape, a blue suit with a red tie and matching red hoof gear. The head was completely lacking of any fur, besides a spiky, brown mane.

“Oh, hello!” the creature gave her a grin. It seemed to have a... Trottingham accent? “Why’re you running like that?”

“What in the name of Celestia are you!” Twilight yelled at the thing.

“I’m a time lord,” it explained impatiently, “but you still haven’t answered my question. Why are you running like that??”

“Shadows! Forest! Running!” Twilight tried to warn it while gasping for air. The ‘time lord’ seemed to understand.

“Ooooh, Vashta Nerada! I haven’t seen those for some time! I think it was in my tenth or ninth regeneration. Or both.” The Time Lord turned back to Twilight, “Come on! Come with me if you want to live!”

“What?” Twilight demanded. She understood little of the words that the Time Lord had spoken, but enough to know that he was crazy.

Still, some shelter is better than no shelter. Twilight obliged to the Time Lord’s instructions and stepped into the small box.

Warning! Cliché moment here

Twilight ran inside the box, and gasped. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head, upon realization of the box’s interior.

“It’s bigger on the inside!” She blurted.

“Aaahh,” the Time Lord sighed contently, “That never gets old!”

“How is this possible?” Twilight ran around the machine’s floor, eyes and horn searching for answers.

“Welcome to the T.A.R.D.I.S, Time and Relative Dimension in Space” He smiled.

“The amount of magic used to fit the inside in the outside would leave a ton of magical residue!” Twilight said, inquiringly, “How did you do it?”

“Magic?” It was the Time Lord’s eyes turn to widen, “You have magic here?”

“Of course we have magic,” Twilight answered in her ‘that is the dumbest question I have ever heard’ voice, “Are you from another planet?”

“Yep” The Time Lord replied with a smirk, “Anyway, where were you headed?”

“Ponyville, 10 feet Northeast.” Twilight told him, “But how can we get there when the Vashta Nerada are-“

“Closest civilization?”

“Ponyville, but why-“

“Alright then!” the Time Lord suddenly hollered, pulling multiple levers and buttons, and then turned to Twilight, “What’s your name?”

“T-t-twilight,”

“Okay, Twilight, I’m the Doctor” The Doctor grinned, “Time’s a-wasting!”

“Doctor? Doctor who?!”

“Just the Doctor.”

The T.A.R.D.I.S. started vibrate, as the Doctor pushed some more buttons at random, and a noise filled the room

Whooosh, Whooooosh, Whooosh, Whooooosh

“You can step out now,” the Doctor informed her.

“But… the shadows,” Twilight objected, “They’re still out there!”

“Trust me,”

Somehow getting consolation from the Doctors words, Twilight stepped outside the doors of the T.A.R.D.I.S.

And found herself in the middle of Ponyville.

“That’s not possible,” Twilight muttered to herself.

She rushed back for an explanation.

“How could we have moved?” Twilight frantically tried to find a way this magical box worked.

“It’s all very simple. You see, in time and space there is something like a tunnel, a wormhole. My people built it to travel throughout the universe, in anytime, anyplace. So, using that tunnel, we teleported from that area to this one.”

Twilight froze.

“You said ‘time’” she realized, “That box can also travel through time!”

“Yep” the Doctor answered. “You might think that time is a direct line of changing events. It’s actually a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey, stuff.”

Twilight opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of anything to say. He’s as impossible as Pinkie Pie! She thought.

“Right! So we’re gonna have to investigate! So I need to blend into the surrounding. Don’t want attract to much attention. SO! Where is it, where is it? AHA! Here it is! The full body perception filter! Do you mind if I scan you?”

“What?” Twilight was surrounded by a blue light, and when the light dissipated, she was standing in front of a pony version of the Doctor wearing a more equine version of his clothes.

“Ahhhh, the full body perception filter! Scan someone else’s body template, and put it on like a brand new suit! Best part, it fits perfectly!”

“Doctor, I don’t understand-“

“Right! Time’s a-wasting! Let’s go meet,” the Doctor said with a grin, “the Vashta Nerada.”

____________________________________

“Good, good,” the Doctor muttered to himself, “Very good. No sign of the Vashta Nerada. That means that Ponyville is most likely uninfected, so-”

“Umm, Doctor?” Twilight interrupted, “What’s that flashlight-whistle thing you’re around?”

“Oh, this old thing?” he smiled, waving a gold tube, with a blue bulb and a helix design at the end. The other end was made of some sort of rubbery grip, a material she had never laid eyes on before. “It’s just a screwdriver. A sonic one.”

“Sooo, a sonic screwdriver”

“That’s what it’s called!”

“How does it work?” Twilight knew it was a bad idea to ask the Doctor about these kinds of things, but her curiosity got the best of her.

“It’s simple, really,” he began to explain, “it’s telepathically linked with me, so I have to do, is point it at something, think, and press the button. You can’t see it because of the perception filter, but I’m pushing it now with my fingers.”

Then the Doctor activated the screwdriver as a demonstration, and looked and the tiny screen on the back.

“Off the charts! I haven’t seen these readings since…” his voice trailed off.

“But what could be causing it?” Twilight asked

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! Who are you? Are you new to Ponyville? What’s that? Where’d you come from? How ‘d you get here? What do you do for a living?” a certain pink pony greeted.

“Hello! I’m the Doctor, yes, the sonic screwdriver, Gallifrey, T.A.R.D.I.S., nothing” the Doctor replied without hesitation.

“You’re new!? OHMYGOSH! Now we can have a Welcome to Ponyville party, and you can make LOTS of new friends, because if you’re new, that means you don’t know anypony, and that means that you’re lonely. So that gave me the idea for a PARTY TONIGHT!!”

“Sorry, Pinkie, but I don’t have time for a party tonight. Saving the universe and all that. And if I defeat these aliens in my usual time, let’s say, 40 minutes, and that will give me only a few hours to get ready, and I’m a mess when it comes to getting ready for things in this regeneration, not to mention still not ginger. So, can we make it tomorrow night? Thanks!” and with that, he ran off, scanning more shadows with the screwdriver.

“Wow,” Pinkie remarked before walking away, “What a weirdo.”

After about five minutes of searching, the Doctor came back to Twilight

“What’s the verdict, Doctor?” Twilight asked

“Well, the good news is that none of the shadows in Ponyville are the Vashta Nerada,” the Doctor grinned nervously.

“I’m assuming that there’s bad news.” Twilight sighed.

“Of course there’s bad news! There’s always bad news,” the Doctor retorted, “the bad news is… their coming.”

Twilight looked over to the Everfree. Shadows were pouring out like spilled ink on paper. Large quantities of the Vashta Nerada quickly slithered to Ponyville.

And darkness fell.

“Oh my Celestia!”

“It’s night time!”

“This is Nightmare Moon all over again!”

“What’s happening, Doctor?”

“The shadows are engulfing Ponyville, like a quilt.” The usual cheeky grin was wiped from his face, replaced with a solemn expression, “I don’t think I can help you this time.”

“What!” Twilight shouted in disbelief, “But you must help us! You’re the only pony who can!”

“WELL HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL!!” the Doctor suddenly shouted. By then, the screams of the dying ponies could be heard. He was on the brink of crying. “I find a species without war or genocide. A peaceful race. And what do I do? I bring nothing but death!”

When I was a little filly and the sun was going down...

“Huh?” his head shot up. Was that singing?

The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown

I'd hide under my pillow

From what I thought I saw

But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way

To deal with fears at all

She said: Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall

Learn to face your fears

You'll see that they can't hurt you

Just laugh to make them disappear

Ha! Ha! Ha!

And at the last word, the sun shined again, the Vashta Nerada vanishing in a poof. There was no evidence of the previous attack, aside from a few bones.

“What?” the Doctor asked to nopony in particular.

“That was Pinkie’s laughter song. I guess it vanished the Vashta Nerada, somehow.” Twilight informed him.

“No, that’s literally impossible. The Vashta Nerada can’t be killed, and…” the Doctor turned to Twilight, “Where’s Pinkie?”

They found Pinkie Pie was laying on the ground, almost sleeping. Her breathing in a steady pace.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, and used it to scan Pinkie’s body.

“It can’t be…”

“Can’t be what Doctor?”

“Twilight, there are these creatures who are born in space, floating around until they find a host family. They have very strong psychic powers.”

“Twilight… I think Pinkie is a Tenza”

To be continued