Doctor Who: Equestrian Chronicles Series 1

There are some days where absolutely nothing bad happens. No killing, no invasions, no problems to cause anyone inconvenience. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days.

The Doctor found his way into Canterlot in its first days, and after some convincing from Twilight's friends, stayed for a while. Of course, something went wrong.

As the Rani laughed, the Doctor rubbed his temples, attempting to understand the situation.

"Alright, Rani," the Doctor said, "You come to this planet. What for? No violence or wars from what I can tell. But the only reason you're here is the same reason as always, innit? Research."

"Doctor, old friend, you remember me well," the Rani sneered, "It has been a while since the time war."

"And you stole the Master's idea of using the chameleon arch," the Doctor scratched his hair, "Which means that you've been here a while... the ultimate disguise. A student of one of the most powerful mages in this planet. But why here? You curious for something?"

"I've never been able to go to this planet before, Doctor," the Rani explained, "Why not now?"

"So you chameleon arched yourself as a pony? But why did you only half arch yourself back? And why a unicorn? Why not..." the Doctor's face brightened up in realization, "You like the magic, don't you?"

"Well, the psychic powers that unicorns possess, too be exact," the Rani nodded.

"And that's why you're still a unicorn!" he laughed, "You can keep the powers! Oh, that explains why you came here!"

"So, who is she? Ex-girlfriend?" Octavia asked blatantly.

"No, he wouldn't be good enough for my standards," she drawled, "Especially with that off putting coat he wore."

"There was nothing wrong with that coat!" the Doctor yelled, "Now, then, you want unicorn powers, you turn yourself into a unicorn. And now you're the most powerful unicorn in this room,, yah?"

"I would believe so."

"Well, think again, sistah!" the Doctor winked subtly at Twilight, "'Cause Twilight's the most powerful unicorn there is!"

"But, Doctor!" Twilight corrected, "Clover the Clever was unfathomably more powerful than me! I can barely read the stuff she wrote without confusion!"

"Yes... Twilight?" the Doctor gritted his teeth, "Have you ever heard of a bluff?"

"Yes, of course... oh," she grinned sheepishly, "Sorry?"

"You three run, then," the Doctor shooed them, "Got a few more questions. How did you meet the Somniumforms? 'cause that's way too planned and scheduled for it not to have been you! You wanted me to come here, and you wanted my attention to the disappearances."

"I gave the Somniumforms instructions, yes," the Rani confirmed, "In exchanged for letting them have this planet for their own."

"Yes. Somnious was destroyed in the Time War," the Doctor glared at his old enemy at the mention of the terrible nightmare that was the Time War, "And I suppose you won't keep your end of the bargain?"

"You think of me too low," she said in mock insult, "Of course I will. I no longer have any need for this planet now that I have the power of the unicorn."

"An old legend says that when a purple unicorn realizes her true powers, she will bring the end of the universe!" the Doctor clapped his hands, "That's what they meant. It wasn't Twilight they were after, it was you!"

"A legend! About me?" the Rani smiled, "What an honor."

"And..." the Doctor frowned, "You'll bring the end of the universe... the Somniumforms were trying to stop that. And you... you're trying to commit the Ultimate Sanction aren't you?"

"Yes, Doctor," she spat out his name, "I spent too much time planning for it to go wrong. I can drive the TARDIS into the birth of time and space. The beginning of the universe. Reverse it. And end existence to all. Except for the time lords of course, who shall live on in pure consciousness alone. The offer still stands for you."

"Rani, don't do this!" he begged, "The time lords are gone! Kaput! And you and I are the only ones left! Can't you see that trying to bring the time lords to power will be pointless with only two of them?"

"Time lords... gone?" Rani shook her head, "Nothing could kill the Time Lords!

"Yes! All of them! Dead! And I killed them," the Doctor scowled, "Don't make me do the same with you."

"You couldn't kill me," the Rani scoffed, "Just like you can't our entire race."

"Rani... don't lie to yourself. You can feel it."

"Don't you lie to me," the Rani crossed her arms, "You were always good at that. How can you even consider me to be lying to myself."

With that, she threw a dart at him. Swiftly, he caught it between his fingers.

"Hah! Missed me," the Doctor cockily grinned.

"Not... quite."

His fingers started to tremble violently, and stop.

"You see, that dart is covered in stargalite pollen," the Rani smiled sadistically, "It's won't kill you. Just paralyze you. Your companions should be able to help you. Until they do, and you can find me, fare thee well."

The Doctor couldn't say anything back, but his face was clenched in pain.

The world around him started to fade away. There was no pain, no feeling. And the numbness spread across his body until it became absolute.

He could hear the tapping of hooves against a wooden floor. Before he passed out, the Doctor saw the form of a pony, with a multi coloured mane, walk out towards him.

"Hey, Doc," she said, "Rare wants to know if... Doc?"

====

Octavia paced around.

"It's been five minutes," Twilight bit her lip, "I think we should help."

"What!? No!" Starswirl shouted in panic, "That crazy mare will kill us!"

Twilight grew angry at her former hero.

"Seriously? You're scared?" she scoffed, "The Doctor was scared too. He feared the Vashta Nerada, Cybermen, the Dalek. I could see it in his eyes! But he fought on. He was brace. He used that brilliant mind of his to save the universe over and over, and you're just sitting there. Like a useless lump. I don't care what you say, I'm gonna find him."

"Me too," Octavia smiled, "There's no way I'm gonna let him go now, after I lost him for eighteen months! Let's go!"

Starswirl also got up, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"I suppose you're right," he brushed the dirt from his cloak. He had no idea what the words 'dalek', 'vashta' or 'nerada' meant, but from Twilight's context, they were something to be reckoned with, "I've been hiding in books far too long. And besides, you know what they say. The best way to live is by almost dying."

====

When the three reached the Doctor, they saw that he was surrounded by Twilight's friends.

"What happened?" Twilight rushed to his side.

"Rarity wanted to know if there was a wardrobe in that box thingy, and we just found him like this!" Rainbow explained.

"Oh, my goodness! What do we do?"

"Helllooooo? Dooooctor?"

"Ah think someone needs to give him CPR!"

"Ughh, I don't want to touch him... what if what he has is catching?"

"Well, if you pansies aren't going to do anything, I'll do it!"

Rainbow raised her hoof in the air, and slammed it down on the Doctor's chest.

"UFFF!" the Doctor coughed a bit, and shook his head, "Thanks! Needed some extra stimulation in my nervous system to restart my muscles!" He grabbed Rainbow and kissed her. "Now we need to get to the TARDIS, and stop the Rani, somehow."

"That's some plan," Octavia teased, while Rainbow was scraping her tongue.

"Good! Glad you think so!" the Doctor's body shimmered, switching from time lord to pony.

"Good grief," he shouted to Rainbow once he changed back to his time lord body. He banged on it with his fist until he turned back into a pony, "You broke my perception filter!"

"Good lord, I was kissed by a talking monkey!"

Starswirl jawed dropped as he saw the Doctors new form. Some sort of hairless, bipedal structure of which he had never seen the likes of before. He twiddled his claws around and ran them through his mane.

"Alright, Twilight, Octavia, Starswirl, and everyone else I forgot to mention!" he pointed to the door, "The Rani paralyzes me with stargalite pollen. The Rani leaves, and is no doubt trying to get to my TARDIS. But how does she expect to get in if the doors are locked? Maybe she has a copy of the key? But how could she get one? TARDISes are all gone!"

"I don't know," Octavia answered, "Maybe she took it from you when you weren't looking?"

"I don't carry around the key with me anymore," he shook his head, "There really isn't anyway she could find it. I usually use the snap technique."

"Amusing, isn't it?" Starswirl chortled, "My best friend turned out to be a manipulative psychopath. So much talk of tardises, and snapping, and keys, hah!"

"Starswirl, I understand that you just learned that there is a lot more to life than you understand," the Doctor grabbed him by the shoulders, "But I need you to keep it together!"

"Keep it together," he laughed, "I'm only going to be killed by those freakish creatures from the depths of hell."

"Actually, they're from a planet called Somnious."

"And what of you, Doctor? Are you from another planet as well?"

"Yes," he nodded his head, "I'm from Gallifrey. And so is the Rani. She's been posing as a unicorn all her life to learn to use the psychic powers you hold. I'm sorry, but your friend never existed."

"So everything I ever knew about her was a lie," Starswirl sighed, "And what now? What will you do to her?"

"I'll stop her," the Doctor frowned, "And I'll have to do it for good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow asked, "What do you mean 'for good'?"

"What do you think?" he answered.

"You can't kill somepony!" Fluttershy squeaked, "Killing... is... wrong?" Her sentence broke as she saw the seriousness in the Doctor's expression.

"I never kill, unless it's necessary," he said, "But back then, back when I first started, I had so much mercy in me. I let the Daleks' creation continue, I let the Master live. And it cost so many lives." He sighed, "Do you know how hard it is to except that you are the reason for their deaths? Countless, and millions of lives?"

"So I can't be merciful," the Doctor continued, "I have to kill her."

====

The TARDIS sat on the edge of the city, no ponies noticing it due to its perception filter. As the Doctor and the ponies ran to it, they saw that it was alone, with no sign of the Rani.

"I don't understand!" the Doctor rubbed his temples, "Where is she? The TARDIS is still here, which means she didn't get to it yet. But I've been paralyzed for a good four minutes before your friends came. There are probably Somniumforms placed around the entire city. So why hasn't she found it?"

"Excuse me, but do you have some change?"

"Sorry, no," the Doctor pulled a white paper bag from his pocket, "Have a jelly baby, if they're any consolation."

"Thank you, kind sir."

The Doctor chortled.

"Oh, Rani, have you lost your touch?"

"Oh, you clever man," the hood was pulled from her head to reveal the face of a purple unicorn, "What gave it away?"

"They don't have Jelly Babies here," the Doctor smirked, "So, a few more questions. Why was Starswirl tapping four times? Completely threw me off."

"I knew you might have realized who I was if you paid a little more attention towards Clover," the Rani said, "So I implanted a little I idea in his head. Very simple. You see, it was a mere case of hypnosis that took care of it. Gave him a little habit of tapping like that."

"So now what?"

"I have learned quite a few combat spells over the years," she charged her horn, "For intense, this spell."

The last thing they saw was complete darkness.

"Ohhhh, my head..."

"What happened?" Rainbow shook her head, "I had this crazy dream that we were travelling with this weird box thingy... and there was a swimming pool in the closet... and... and... oh."

She saw a hazy red blur, which focused into a red fez. The ground was cold, and hard. As her eyes focused more, Rainbow found that she was in a stone, cave like structure. Twilight, the Doctor, and Octavia were the only ones standing, while the others were lying on the ground, the only movement being from their chests, slowly moving up and down.

"Aha! There it is!" The Doctor snatched it up, "Nice!"

"Doctor! This is no time for headwear!" Twilight scolded, "The TARDIS is gone!"

Octavia felt around her neck, and shrieked.

"The key you gave me!" she screamed, "It's gone!"

"I see," the Doctor stroked his chin, "The Rani must have stolen the key while we were under."

"But when you taught me to drive the TARDIS, you said it was isomorphic to you and me!"

"Icy what?" Octavia cocked an eyebrow.

"Isomorphic," he corrected, "Means only one person can use it. And I'm not sure. Maybe she could find a way around that. I don't know, she's clever."

The other ponies started to awaken. Starswirl shook his head, a cloud of dust settling around his mane.

"Ewwww... everything's so dusty. Where are we?" Rarity moaned.

"We appear to be underground, somewhere," the Doctor frowned, "My best guess... is in a prison."

"Bu-but wh-who put us here?" Fluttershy squeaked in fear, curling into a ball.

The Doctor stuck his hand out, feeling the air. He then stuck his tongue to, and licked his lips. His hands ran against the walls of the prison, and smacked it. A loud CRACK echoed around the room.

"It's not real," he confirmed, "Has a sort of... physic residue. And the sound doesn't move around right."

"So... what does this mean?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, my dear, think!" he smacked her forehead, "The Somniumforms of course! They must have created a prison while we were asleep!"

"How do we get out?" Twilight asked, as she to bite her lower lip.

"Well, duh!" Rainbow hovered up, readying herself for shock, "I'll just smash us out!"

She swiftly flew into the wall, but as she collided into the surface, Rainbow bounced back, not having left a single dent in the rock.

"Oh, yeah," the Doctor smirked, "The prison is built to adapt itself to the prisoner, created from their subconscious. Every attempt to escape is picked up telepathically, and it fixes that specific flaw."

"Couldn't have told me before?" Rainbow gingerly rubbed her head, "Oww..."

"I don't fancy you," he responded, "Right then! Big, indestructible, thing. How will we get out?"

"I don't know," Twilight sighed, but then gasped, a figurative light bulb lighting above her head, "We could try to destroy it by not thinking about it! Since the prison is built from our own subconscious, it'll cease to exist!"

"That's right," he smiled, "You did learn from the best!"

The eight prisoners closed their eyes. Starswirl opened his

The walls shimmered. The Doctor reached out his hand, and felt absolutely nothing. He opened an eye, and saw that the prison was no more.

"Alright, everyone," he scowled, "We've got a TARDIS to find."

Octavia looked around. They seemed to be in an underground chamber of some sort, with walls made from damp soil. The smell of dirt hung around them. The room was illuminated by torches, giving the room a dungeon-like feel.

"So, we appear to be in some sort of cave system. We must have been placed here by the somniumforms after we were drugged," the Doctor speculated, "I wonder where we are..."

"Another prison, perhaps?" Twilight guessed.

"No... it's defiantly dirt," the Doctor pulled out a root from the walls, and wiped his hands off his grey vest, "They couldn't put in this much detail."

"Eww... I think I saw a worm," Rarity cringed, "My new dress is getting covered in mud!"

"Sorry about that," Octavia sarcastically apologised, "How about we escort you to our 5 star hotel, where we can give you a nice pedicure, and get you a salad, on a china plate!"

"Oh, we are going to get along famously," the Doctor smiled, "But, let's focus on getting out of here."

The Doctor walked in the front of the group, quickly taking leadership. He had plucked a torch from the wall, brightening their path. The others followed suit. Fluttershy was terrified.

"How much longer until we find a way to the surface, Doctor?"

"Not quite sure, I'm afraid," he replied, "Not particularly good, as we don't have much time before all of existence is kaput."

Fluttershy started crying. She wasn't ready for something like this. She didn't want to die.

"Don't cry," the Doctor instructed, "We have enough problems as it is."

"What's wrong with you, Doctor?" Twilight hissed, "That isn't going to make her feel better!"

"If you ask me, being erased from the existence could make her feel even worse!" he sarcastically smiled, "Now if you don't mind, I've got this bigger picture to look at."

There was another thing about the room that struck the Doctor as odd. The room was almost, if not, completely flat on all the walls. So that would probably mean that if there was any way out, it would have been given out by a blemish or dent on the wall of some sort.

"Twilight!" he barked, "Can you scan the room's walls for any dents, holes, anything?"

"Sure, Doctor," Twilight's horn promptly lit up, and purple light blanketed the room. Sure enough, an archway was revealed.

"Perfect," the Doctor stroked the edges of the door, "I think we've found our way out."

====

A hole opened up in the ground, and eight triumphant looking ponies and time lord climbed out. The Doctor shielded his eyes from the sudden change in brightness. They found themselves in an area filled with plantlife.

"Where are we?" Applejack rubbed her eyes, "Looks like the Everfree."

"No, it can't be..." Twilight shook her head, "The fauna is completely different. We must be in the Canterlot Woods. That tree is indigenous to this area."

She turned to the Doctor, expecting him to smile, but was surprised to see a frown instead.

"That was... surprisingly easy," he mumbled and adjusted his fez, "Why do I feel like I'm walking into a trap..."

A group of somniumforms appeared from the trees. The Doctor narrowed his eyes.

"Come on!" he shouted. His deep voice resonated around the woods, "Do you really think you can stop me?! I'm the Oncoming Storm! I destroyed Skaro, home of the Daleks! I faced Suhtek and lived! You think you can stop me by stuffing me into your silly cages? Think again! I have lost the ability to tolerate you idiots, and I will NOT hold any anger back!"

"We have orders to take you to our mistress, the Rani," one of the somniumforms spoke from under his hood, "Until then, I would advise you to hold your tongue."

"Jalastrefoica,"

The somnuimform was slightly taken back, "How do you know my name?"

"Because we will meet again," for the first time in a long time, the Doctor smiled. But it wasn't his usual grin. It was cold, and sadistic, "And on that day, I will kill you."

====

One second they were there, the next they weren't.

This is the best way to describe the feeling of the Doctor's companions when they were transported to the TARDIS by the somniumforms. Of course, the Rani was waiting for them.

"Alright, there is no time for games, Doctor," the Rani scowled, "I didn't anticipate for your TARDIS to be isomorphic. So I'm forced to use you as the driver."

"I see," he said with a callous face, "And you naturally sent the ponies as hostages, did you not?"

"Yes,"

"And yet another mistake," the Doctor opened his mouth wide, and bellowed:

"Activate command 1342, and bring the ship 0.4 times 10 to the power of 10000000000 kilometres above sea level!"

The TARDIS automatically activated, the VWORPP noise swirled around the console room, and faded away.

Much to Twilight's surprise, she didn't fade with it.

"Doctor! What's goin-" was all she could manage say before the TARDIS completely materialized.

"That jerk left us here!" Rainbow growled, quite understandably, as she figured out that her only home faded along with the aliens, "Great! Now we're stuck a thousand years before we're even born!!"

"I'll never see Sweetie Belle again!" Rarity cried.

"My family!" Applejack cried out, "The farm!"

"Doctor..." Twilight's vision became blurry, and she felt a wet sensation dripping down her tear glands. She rubbed the tears from her face, and stared into the sky.

====

"What's going on?" The Rani demanded.

"Oh, I assigned command 1342 to materialize the TARDIS without any previous inhabitants, excluding myself of course," the Doctor explained, smugly smirking.

"Well what about me?" The Rani asked, "I was here when I kidnapped you during your sixth regeneration."

"The TARDIS was destroyed, and rebuilt. And destroyed again," the Doctor stroked the machine, "I simply made it so that only inhabitants of this variation of the TARDIS are left behind. So, you have no more hostages."

"Doctor..."

"Not now, Starswirl, I'm bu-," he stopped mid-sentence, "Oh.. dear..."

The somniumforms quickly grabbed Starswirl, and the Rani aimed a gun at him.

"Now, pilot the TARDIS, Doctor," she gripped the gun's handle in her telekinesis magic, "Or this stallion will feel more pain then you will imagine. Not kill. Just slowly torture."

The Doctor sighed, and pulled a switch in the TARDIS console, sending them back in time.

"I hope you don't mind I make pot of tea."

====

The Rani watched the Doctor impatiently as he made tea. Starswirl had been gagged, a clothe covering his mouth and nose.

The Doctor poured a pot of boiling water into a kettle, allowing the flavour of the leaves fuse with the drink. He added two scoops of white powder in the pot, and brought it to the TARDIS console room. Carefully, but not to obviously, he put it on a pressure pad on the console itself.

"Now take us to the beginning of time, Doctor," the Rani ordered, "And let the destruction of reality begin!"

"About that..." the Doctor smirked, "I really disagree with it." He lifted the tea kettle and began pouring it into the cup. A hissing sound was heard. A virus spread across the chamber.

Taken by surprise, the somniumforms succumbed to the sickness. Their bodies quickly decomposed as they died. A small group managed to teleport away. One of them, Jalast, stared at the Doctor with such anger, and contempt.

The Rani fell down as well, coughing and coughing. She looked at the Doctor, pouring the tea as those around him died. But there was one thing she could do. She knocked the tea pot out of his hand. It shattered on the floor, and the liquid spilled everywhere. She crawled away, disappearing in the TARDIS corridors.

"NO!!" he shouted. He turned his head to Starswirl, who was also starting to fall victim to the virus, only having survived this long thanks to the gag. He had put an immune system enhancer in the tea, it having looked like sugar. And now he only had enough for one.

The Doctor knew what he had to do.

====

Octavia was thinking about her life right now. She had just recently made friends with the local disc jockey of Ponyville. She was a nice pony, if a bit of a neat freak.

She would never see her again.

She got a new cello, which had cost her 500 bits. The destroyers of the original were all standing around her.

She would never see that again.

The Doctor.

Now, those eighteen months seem like a waste of time.

And she wouldn't see him again.

"Ugh!" Octavia kicked the ground, "If only we could do something!"

At that very moment, a great ball of fire fell from the sky.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack's mouth went ajar.

"It's the Doctor!" Pinkie jumped in the air, "Yippee!"

The ball of fire continued to fall. It was now only one kilometre away.

"Is it me... or is he..." Twilight's eyes grew wide, "OUT OF THE WAY!"

The TARDIS crashed on the ground, leaving a large crater on the streets of Canterlot. Many pedestrians were quite reasonably shocked.

And then the doors swung open.

And the Doctor and Starswirl walked out.

"Hello, Twilight," the Doctor genuinely smiled for the first time in the whole adventure. She ran towards him, and squeezed him in a tight hug.

"How do you feel, Starswirl?" he asked sympathetically after the hug was through, "Are you alright?"

"My head's a little woozy... I can barely remember anything that happened," Starswirl scratched his head in frustration, "I vaguely remember a cup a tea..."

The Doctor looked away from the group, who were chatting excitedly. He looked at his hand, and saw it glowing.

It's begun.

====

Many light years away, a group of sick and weak somniumforms lived on a planet called Clom. They had made a reputation of themselves, the Clomians even started to call them the 'dream men'. They were the subject of fear in the planet.

But one of the dream men waited, paranoid and scared, of the day that the Doctor promised to kill him. But what if the Doctor never met him? That's when Jalast realized what he had to do. He, and the rest of the group must find and kill the purple unicorn, before she discovers her true powers, and brings the end of the universe.

====

Almost a thousand years after the events of the crash, there was a test subject. A test subject in a secret facility known as DAEL.

"Sir!" a guard barked, "Test subject 15 wishes for a journal and a pencil."

"Why?" another guard asked.

"Well, sir, he has memories that are not his. He says he wants to write them down."

"Interesting... and which one is test subject 15?"

"He was our first successful splicing operation," the first guard explained, "The whitecoats added the tissue of the brain of another specimen into his. The tissue seems to have rebuilt itself, and taken over the test subject's own brain."

"Really?" the second guard was taken by surprise, "What was this specimen?"

"We don't know. He escaped a long time ago. All that the records tell us is that he had two hearts."

TS15 listened to the two behind his chamber door. Random, unfamiliar memories came to his mind. One of the most terrible is a breakout of all the creatures in the building. But all he could do was wait.

====

Braeburn walked through Appleloosa, appreciating that no more metallic aliens have attacked the town in a while. It was nice and peaceful. He still had a chunk of the Cybermat as a reminder of his adventure.

VWOORP... VWOORP...

"Doctor?" Braeburn gulped. This couldn't be good.

"Hello, Braeburn," the Doctor smiled weakly, "Long time, no see."

"No offence, Doctor," Braeburn said worryingly, "But why are you here? There ain't any more aliens, are there?"

"No, no, no..." he held out his hand, holding the Stetson that Braeburn gave him two months back, "I came to return this."

"My hat?" he took it back, "Oh, no, this was a gift- Doctor?"

VWOORP... VWOORP...

He smiled as he watched the TARDIS dematerialize. He put his hat back on, and continued with his walk in the beautiful Appleloosa.

====

Guardian smiled. After the destruction of DAEL HQ, he finally achieved his dream of a being a park ranger. There was nothing more satisfying then watching over such a beautiful plot of land. The litterbugs could be a bit tidier, but other than that, it was a perfect job. The park he worked at was also close by the mysterious Everfree Forest.

Although... he still missed that unicorn. That brilliant, beautiful unicorn. But before he could dwell on it for long, his focus shifted onto a piece of paper. More litter?

No... it was a message...

It read:

Come back to this place tomorrow at 7:00 AM

====

VWOORP... VWOORP...

THUNK

"Ponyville," the Doctor sniffed, "End of the line."

"Ah! There's no place like home!" Applejack laughed, relieved to have gotten back home. Everypony laughed. They couldn't help it.

"I feel so bad for Starswirl though," Fluttershy whispered, "He must be devastated..."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Twilight consoled, "He has a great life. He finds a wife, and starts a family. He also grows that goatee out a bit more."

The Doctor coughed, and a burst of yellow light escaped his mouth. Thankfully, nobody noticed.

"Well... I'll be off..." he said, and re-entered the TARDIS. He frowned. The crash had heavily damaged it, and it looked like it was in need of repair.

"Not so fast!" Twilight stopped him, "Not without saying goodbye."

The Doctor frowned once more. Goodbyes did not settle well with him. Finally, he managed it.

"Alright, Twilight," he nodded, "Goodbye."

"You know... I used to have a crush on you," she admitted, not being able to hold it in any longer, "I don't think you seemed to notice."

"I... um... oh," the Doctor awkwardly scratched his head, "I... well..."

"It's alright, Doctor," Twilight laughed, "You probably weren't the best at reading emotions."

"Nope," he shook his head, "Well, since I finally said it... I'll be off."

"Hang on!" Octavia ran to the Doctor, "I ain't being left behind this time!"

The Doctor patted Octavia on the back.

"Alright then," he said, "Come on, Octavia," before going back into the TARDIS, he turned back to Twilight.

"Are you sure you don't want to come along?"

"I want to go, I really do..." Twilight looked back at her friends, "But I can't. I have a responsibility to my friends. Who knows. Maybe Discord could break loose and we'll need to stop him."

"Actually..." Fluttershy started to say, "Um... I'll explain later."

"Anyway... the point still stands," Twilight shook the Doctor's hand, "I'm needed here."

The Doctor seemed a little saddened by this, but accepted it.

"Alright," he walked to the TARDIS, "Time's a wasting."

====

The next day, at 7:00 AM, Twilight went to the Ponyville park. She was missing a whole year, and the donations were a lot more generous then the last year's. Since it was such a beautiful day, she sat down on the benches, and read under the sunlight.

"Ms. Sparkle?"

Twilight's eyes widened as she heard the familiar accent.

"Guardian? Is that you?"

"It has certainly been a while, Ms. Sparkle!"

The two started to chat. And an old friendship was rekindled.

====

The TARDIS was in a terrible state. The pillar was cracked, buttons were missing from the console, and rubble was everywhere.

The Doctor was in the TARDIS command room, and assigned it to rebuild itself as soon as they left it. As soon as he was finished though, his hand felt another jolt of pain, causing him to drop his tools. As he bent over to pick it up, he found a piece of paper.

Dear Doctor,

I saw you put the steroid in the tea. I knew what you were up to. And I survived. You must have forgotten that I was a unicorn. I still have my powers of teleportation.

Until we meet again,

The Rani.

"Clever little, AHH!" The Doctor cried out in pain. Octavia heard this, and rushed toward his side.

"What's wrong?!" she asked desperately.

"Do... you remember... that I killed the somniumforms?"

"Yes?"

"I.... used a virus..." his voice became weaker, "The last of the cure... I gave to Starswirl..."

"No! Doctor!" Octavia panicked. He couldn't die! Not like this!

He fell limp, and his breath turned into a loud silence.

Octavia started to cry. She opened her eyes to look at the Doctor once more and...

The body was glowing... and glowing.... and glowing...

And his entire body was engulfed in the blinding light.

And in his place... was a much older looking man, with blonde hair. He grinned.

"Hello again!"