Doctor Whooves (Prologue)
The entrance to the Cave of Truth was quite the menacing sight to the pair of ponies that stood before it, though both were undeterred at the sight of the cave’s darkness, and the many screeching bats that flew from it.
“Are you certain you are up for such a task my friend?” the stallion asked the Pegasus mare standing next to him. He was a tan Earth Pony with dark brown hair, wearing a green tire around his collared neck, and an hourglass symbol was displayed on his flank.
Meet Doctor Whooves, or as he was more commonly known, as simply “The Doctor”, a Time Lord turned-pony.
“Hey, I’ve stood by you this long, and I’m not going to turn back now!” His Pegasus mare companion replied. She was a grey Pegasus with a butter-colored mane and a bubble image was on her flank; but the most defining feature about this mare was the way her eyes crossed. One looked directly in front of her, and the other stared blankly at the sky.
This was Derpy. The Doctor’s newest companion, and his only real friend in this universe of equines that speak the words of man.
The Doctor turned his head back into the direction of the cave’s entrance, with a look of sheer determination.
“Well alrighty then. Somewhere in this labyrinth of a cave resides the tyrant known as Discord, member of the species of draconeqi, has body parts of many different species of animals, and abilities are not limited to the basic laws of the universe…I’ve seen worse.” The Doctor said. He turned his head to see the scene of insane anarchy that had descended upon Ponyville below the cliff where they and the cave stood. Chocolate milk rained onto the bodies of the several citizens of the town, many ponies’ heads had been turned into that of some other sort of animal, and the village’s dirt roads had been turned to soap.
“Well that’s quite the sight isn’t it?” he said.
“Try not to get in over your head Doctor. Discord is a lot worse than you think. He’ll get inside your head and freak you out from like six different angles. Don’t underestimate him.” Derpy warned her friend.
The Doctor only smiled and patted her head.
“I’m sorry ma’me, but have we met before? I’m The Doctor. You know, savior of countless worlds and immortal Time Lord? You have no need to be so worrisome over MY safety Derpy. I’m really the one that should fear for YOURS.”
Derpy blushed at her friend’s protectiveness.
“Awww. It’s nice to know you care Doctor. But I’m sure I’ll be fine. I won’t let Discord hurt me…Oh, I uhh…I made you a muffin.” She said nervously, taking a muffin out of her saddle bag and handing it to him. The Doctor smiled and happily took a bite out of it.
“Mmmph. Very delicious my friend. Thank you.” Most of his talking was muffled out due to his mouth being filled with muffiny goodness.
Derpy’s blush deepened and she scratched the back of her head with her hoof.
“Hehe. You’re welcome Doctor.” She said.
The Doctor turned his head back into the direction of the cave, still continuing his consumption of the muffin.
“Well-mmph-I don’t think we’ll be saving Ponyville simply by standing here. Let’s head inside, find the abomination-mmph-and I’ll show him how a Time Lord takes out his frustrations.” The Doctor said with his head held high and standing in a heroic stance.
Derpy gave a confident smirk to her friend and the two trotted into the Cave of Truth…
Only to be suddenly ridden with shock as a large wall of rock and sediment shot from the ground and separated them from each other, causing both ponies to recoil in shock.
“Derpy! Derpy, are you alright?!” The Doctor shouted.
“I-I’m fine; but where’d this wall come from?” She asked.
“It’s probably one of Discord’s plans to separate us. He probably wants to pick us off while we’re alone. Look, I’ll meet you at the end of the cave; If you see Discord, don’t listen to ANYTHING he tells you!” The Doctor yelled.
“A-Alright. See you at the end Doctor!” Derpy replied. The Doctor could hear the sound of trotting coming from the other side of the wall and could only assume Derpy had descended deeper into the cave.
The Doctor’s eyes wandered to the impenetrable darkness of the cave, and a slight chill ran up his pony-spine.
‘No! This is no time for you to be afraid! The fate of this universe is at stake; you can’t afford fear!’ he scolded.
Doctor looked down at the half-eaten muffin in his hoof. Doing so reminded him that Derpy was in this foreboding place as well, slightly afraid for the safety of his companion. Derpy may have been smarter than she looks…but they were basically dealing with a God in this case…
“…Please be okay…” he mumbled as he trotted deeper into the cave.
The inner walls of the caves were mostly cold, wet rock, dripping with water, making the scene all the more eerie. The Doctor’s hoofsteps and the sounds of bats were the only things that could be heard in this nightmarish place. Deeper in the cave, the walls had begun to appear lined with crystalline rocks that would reflect whatever light was available in the hole.
“Well, for a universe populated by talking, colorful ponies, this realm can have some quite unnerving landmarks.” He said to himself.
Suddenly, The Doctor heard another voice echo off the walls of the cave, much louder and mocking than his own.
“Hohohohohahahaha! You find my home disturbing Doctor? Awww, I’m touched.” It bellowed.
Instinctively, The Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his tie collar with his mouth, and aimed it blindly at the darkness, daring the owner of the laughing voice to come any closer.
“I know you’re there Discord. Just stop hiding and accept your fate at the han…hooves of The Doctor!” he shouted.
The voice groaned in annoyance.
“Ugggh alright fine! Yeesh, try and give these ponies a good time and you get labeled as a villain. How very close-minded.” It said.
All of a sudden a bat descended from above and landed in front of the Time Lord pony. The peculiar thing about this rodent was that it had yellowish eyes with red pupils of differing sizes, and two horns on its head, one belonging to a deer and one to a goat. In a flash of white light, the bat disappeared and was replaced by the figure of the mighty God of Chaos himself.
“I hardly ever get visitors here, though I can’t imagine why; It just slaps your face with homeliness doesn’t it?” Discord said, slapping the Doctor across his face with a white glove he appeared to get from nowhere.
The Doctor, rubbing his sore cheek, glared daggers at Discord, staying silent but still prepared to attack him at any second.
“So, YOU are the mighty Time Lord I’ve heard so very much about? I have to say, I expected a lot more than THIS. I’m disappointed.” Discord said, slightly tapping The Doctor’s head with his lion knuckles.
“No need to be, monster. There’s no shame in being defeated by an immortal.” The Doctor said, with a bit of venom in his voice.
Discord lightly chuckled at his threatening. He found it quite cute that this pony thought he could oppose him.
But Discord wasn’t about to let The Doctor get the satisfaction of mouthing off.
He was a smart one. He’d have to work fast.
“Hehehehe. You know Doctor, you and I? We’re really not so different from each other.” Discord chuckled, appearing in another flash of light next to The Doctor and patting his back, looking him directly in the eyes.
“I am NOTHING like you. You’re a being of uncontrollable chaos, and you’re also not that appealing to look at.” The Doctor growled.
“Hehehehe. I meant that we’ve both caused some pretty good pain to those that come anywhere near us. Though, you just haven’t come to terms with your ability to do so quite yet.” Discord hissed.
The Doctor knew better than to listen to Discord, but there was just something mysterious about the way he was wording his statement. He couldn’t put his hooves on it, but it was like Discord was hinting at something. Something that The Doctor didn’t quite understand.
He needed to know more.
Discord must have noticed the confused look on The Doctor’s face, because he spoke up before he did.
“Oh don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about them already Doc. Remember? The day you regenerated into…this?” Discord snickered.
In all truth, The Doctor knew exactly what Discord was talking about. The day he landed in this world was the same day that he had lost two of his companions. He had moved on from that a long time ago, but Discord was slowly starting to bring those old feelings of guilt over their deaths back into his mind.
“…I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The Doctor stuttered.
Discord let out a hearty laugh.
“Well then allow me to refresh your memory “Doc”.” Discord said, snapping his talons, making one of the nearby gems glow an ominous white.
The glowing gemstone had gotten the attention of The Doctor and he trotted toward it, eyeing its mysterious luminescence.
“What purpose does THIS serve?” The Doctor asked.
“Shut up look in the stupid thing genius.”
Curiosity overtook the Time Lord as he looked deep into the crystal, and frankly, he didn’t like what it had to offer. Not only did it SHOW him the events of that terrible day, but he could HEAR it, FEEL the intensity of the breakdown of events that the gem presented…
DOONG! DOONG!
“THIS is your idea of a “pit-stop?!”
“No, No, it doesn’t make sense, something is pulling her! Something immensely powerful!”
“This is impossible, it’s completely breaking the laws of reality! I have no choice, I need to set her to choose the safest path; everything else is beyond my control!”
BEEP BEEP
“DOCTOR! IT HURTS!”
“HELP US!”
“I can’t, I can’t! There’s nothing I can do!”
…
…
“A-Amy?”
…
“R-Rory?”
…
The Doctor had tears free-flowing from his eyes along with the occasional sniffle as the gem recounted the events of the day he was thrust into Equestria, at the cost of his dear, dear friends. He hadn’t thought he could feel so broken in his life again after that. He thought he had moved on from those terrible moments.
But Discord had drug him back in.
Discord looked on at the shameful, crying stallion and chuckled.
“You could’ve saved them you know. Yet, you chose to be the little scaredy-cat and watched them die while you lived on.” Discord snickered.
The Doctor turned around to face the seed of his anger, his face contorted into an immense scowl, tears still dripping from his cheeks.
“There was NOTHING I could’ve done! The TARDIS was out of control! It was out of my hands!” he screamed.
Discord continued to laugh at the Time Lord’s agony.
“There’s always a way out, but you just didn’t take it. You knew full well that you were going to return in a new body, and as long as YOU were fine and dandy, you didn’t care about anypony else.”
The Doctor lunged at Discord, attempting to tackle him to the ground, all rational thought in his mind being replaced by animalistic rage. Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting himself out of harm’s way and reappearing behind The Doctor. He noticed that a slight tinge of grey appearing to take the color of his coat, and bags were starting to form around his eyes.
Good.
“And let’s not forget about your little partner Doctor.” Discord sneered
“YOU LEAVE DERPY OUT OF THIS!” The Doctor screamed, more grey starting to form on his body.
“And let a valuable lecturing go unsaid? I think not…You see Doctor, Derpy only hangs around you because she feels sorry for you.”
“YOUR WRONG! SHE STICKS WITH ME BECAUSE SHE’S MY FRIEND!” he yelled back.
“Hahahaha! Friend?! Please! She knew you would be considered an “outsider” of sorts, so she took meager pity on you…Don’t tell me you actually thought it any different.” Discord said.
The Chaos Spirit’s insults wore down The Doctor little by little, slowly destroying his will to fight back. Derpy couldn’t really be treating him like a charity case…..
Could she?
The dullness of his coat started to increase, the bags under his orbs started to become ever deeper, and his mane was starting to darken.
“B-But the ponies. T-They see me as a hero; as a savior! You can’t tell me otherwise Discord! Any negative response to that would make absolutely no sense coming from your mouth!” The Doctor screamed.
Discord covered his mouth, holding in a laugh.
“Trying to make logic of the situation when I’M involved? You really are new huh? Trust me Doc, and I’m speaking from experience when I say this…In spite of everything that you’ve done for these ponies, eventually they will hate you. They may look up to you now yes, but it will never last.”
That statement struck The Doctor hard. He hung his head low to the ground, not even bothering to move his eyes upward to look at his torturer. The greyness started to creep up his body, until only his head was left with its normal shade.
Discord lifted The Doctor’s head up to face him with his eagle claw.
“How does all of this make you feel Doc? Does it make you feel sad? Scared? Angry? Oh I’m just itching to know!” Discord laughed.
The Doctor held onto a look of absolute hopelessness and despair, but he brought himself to ask one last question.
“And how do I know all this isn’t just some sort of sick, twisted lie?” he mumbled
Discord gave an evil smirk.
“This place is called the Cave of Truth for a reason Doctor. And right now, what is it telling you?” Discord asked, looking straight into The Doctor’s eyes, both of their’s now spinning in bright colors, and The Doctor wore a blank stare, while Discord’s grin remained as he corrupted what was left of the Doctor’s psyche.
The Doctor shut his eyes, trying to prevent any further tears from escaping them, and the greyness finally overtook the remainder of his body.
“It’s telling me that the universe…doesn’t need me.” He mumbled
Discord patted the pony’s head and laughed.
“And it’d be right. Now, be a good little Time Lord and just go back to your little, blue box and leave me to my Chaos now would you?” Discord asked, shooing the Earth Pony away. The Doctor complied and slowly made his way back to the entrance of the cave, leaving Discord by himself to collect his thoughts.
“Don’t worry Doctor. You won’t be alone forever. Soon, there are going to be many little corrupted ponies all over Ponyville. Just. Like. You...Mwahahahahaha!” Discord’s laugh bounced off the walls of the cave, hitting the eardrums of the Doctor fiercely.
But he didn’t care.
All that mattered now was that he had learned the truth about what was to become of him. After everything he did for Equestria, and whatever he is destined to do in the future…
Will never be enough…
Derpy waited outside the cave for her partner to come out. She had come across a dead end in the Cave of Truth and had decided to head back and wait for the Doctor to come out.
‘Ooooo, I hope he’s alright.’ Derpy thought to herself, shifting around against the TARDIS she was leaning on.
After a few minutes, the shape of her friend emerged from the cave, looking quite depressed and frankly, he looked broken.
“Doctor, you’re out! I went to the end of the cave, but I only saw a dead end so I just came back here and-…hey, what’s wrong?” Derpy asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.
The Doctor lifted his head up, revealing a slight scowl on his muzzle at the sight of his partner.
“Derpy, we’re leaving.” He grumbled.
“Well duh. I mean, if Discord’s not here, then obviously we still gotta find-“
“No. It’s not our problem anymore. These mortals can handle this themselves. I don’t care anymore.” He interrupted.
Derpy was a little taken back by her friend’s hostile mood at the moment.
“…What?” she asked.
“Did I stutter? I’m not going to risk my neck for these dumb ponies anymore, and I don’t see why you should either.” He growled.
“Those ponies need us! Doctor you can’t be serious!” Derpy shouted.
The Doctor appeared to be getting all the more agitated with his companion.
“Serious as a heart attack. Now get in the TARDIS. We’re out of here.” he said.
“B-But Doctor, we can’t just leave Ponyville behind!”
“Derpy. No.” He said, showing a bit of anger in his voice.
A few tears were starting to form in Derpy’s eyes, realizing just how angry The Doctor was. Though she couldn’t figure out what for, and it was driving her over the edge.
Why was her friend acting so negative all of a sudden?
And what happened to his coat?
“But Doctor-“
“DAMN IT DERPY! I SAID NO!” The Doctor yelled, and in his rage, struck Derpy across her face, causing a small whimper of pain to escape her mouth.
The two just stared at each other for what felt like days, but in reality, was only a few minutes. Tears were starting to well up in Derpy’s eyes, and she had a large bruise on her left cheek where The Doctor had hit her. The Doctor himself still wore an angry stare that was mixed with misery, and a few tears escaped his orbs and slithered down his face.
Many minutes later, Derpy broke the silence between them.
“Y-You know what?! Go and sulk by yourself! I’m leaving! I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I’m not sticking around to find out! Goodbye Doctor!” Derpy yelled as she flew off into the chaotic wasteland that was Ponyville in the distance, not turning back to face the Time Lord.
“Yeah?! Well to Hell with you then! I never liked you anyways!” He yelled before he climbed into his TARDIS, slamming the door behind him. He trotted over to the control panel of the device, looking at his colorless reflection in the chrome. More tears started to flow as he let his head fall onto it, letting out soft sobs of agony and pain.
“H-He was right. She never gave two fucks about me…” he mumbled
