The Weeping Pegasusby ihaveofficiallyretiredChaptersPrologueThe DoctorThe CreatureEscapePonyvilleThreeTrappedAllons-yEpiloguePrologueOh Colgate, must you always play Doctor? The mare kept running through the twisting turns of the cavern, hoping that there was some way to evade her pursuer. The blue unicorn known as Colgate was always getting herself into trouble. This was mostly due to her constantly searching out problems that would normally need to be solved by the one and only Doctor. If there was any way that she could help him, she would. Many times her adventures crossed paths with The Doctor. Colgate, though not a Time Lord, did have some power over space and time. Most unicorns have some kind of specialty to their magic, and that was hers. She could (most of the time) travel short distances through time and teleport across the majority of Equestria. It was these powers that even allowed her to meet The Doctor. Her talents can come in handy when the TARDIS is unavailable, especially since The Doctor and Ditzy Doo (his faithful assistant) were unable to perform magic themselves. Well, The Doctor did have some bizarre gadgets that might as well be magic. As she rounded another corner, she froze with fear. Oh, that’s just great. Fantastic. Something in the cave was inhibiting her ability to use magic. She started charging her spell and took off the way she came from. At best that will keep it at bay for a few minutes… Colgate was desperately trying to find an exit. The entrance she had used was now collapsed. If I could just teleport away, the universe would be fine and dandy, but NOOOOOOOO I just HAD to go explore the mysterious cave. She could feel her spell running out and desperately began to make sure that she could see in all possible directions. The last remnants of her magic faded, but her horn remained lit. That was the important part at the moment. At all costs she needed to be able to see. She had only just blinked before the creature was in plain sight. It was barely a foot from her face. By Celestia’s beard that thing is fast, she thought to herself. Colgate had spent a decent amount of time with The Doctor and Ditzy Doo, and she vaguely remembered The Doctor mentioning something similar to this. Grrr….what was it he called them? She loosed another spell and kept running. Even though her magic was almost nothing in this mysterious cave, she could at least lock the creature in time for a few minutes. It would give her a little breathing room to try to locate the exit. Think, Colgate, think! He had to have said something about defeating this think…Right? Blast, I can’t remember… She kept running around and around, unable to get out of this nightmare of an adventure. How long had she been doing this? An hour? Two? It seemed impossible to know for sure, but Colgate was beginning to tire. She didn’t know how much more she would be able to do this. There was no food or water other than what she had brought with her, and that wasn’t going to sustain her much longer. The whole “adventure” began when Colgate had heard rumors of ponies disappearing outside of Baltimare. That alone wasn’t particularly curious, Baltimare was a large city and ponies disappeared often enough. The interesting this was they all had last been seen outside of Malum Lupus Cave, which sits almost twenty miles outside of Baltimare. For years, Malum Lupus Cave was said to have been cursed. Then suddenly ponies nearby suddenly disappeared? The temptation was too great for Colgate. The magic faded faster and sooner this time. Colgate scanned her surroundings as soon as she felt the last remnants of her spell slip from her mind. Of course, it was not even a second before the creature was once again within Colgate’s sight. Is it really fair to call it a creature? It looks pony enough. Still, it’s faster than anything I’ve ever seen, and if it was flying I couldn’t hear it. Colgate took the time to examine her surroundings, careful to keep it in her sights. The cavern was not very tall or wide, but who knew how long they could stretch into the earth. C’mon Colgate, there’s gotta be a way out of here. She looked around the tunnel. There were only two directions she could go, forward into the cave or back the way she came. As Colgate turned back around, she saw that the creature had once again moved, this time with its hooves only inches from her head. She noticed something that greatly unnerved her. The being had great, pointy fangs. Ponies don’t have fangs. Clearly whatever it was couldn’t be a pony. Wait a sec….Could it be? She noticed something else as well. The creature only moved when she wasn’t looking at it. Hang on, The Doctor said something like this…what was it? She gathered as much magical energy as she could and cast yet another time lock spell on the creature. This should hold for a few minutes anyway… Hoping the spell was as powerful as she thought it was, Colgate decided to dash off deeper into the cave. Certainly there would be a way out somewhere. But if there wasn’t a way out… Oh crap. Colgate came to a startling conclusion. There was a likely possibility that the beast was luring her into a trap. What was it? What was it he was talking about? Colgate slowed down so she could focus on the memory of that particular conversation. ”…And then there was this stone pegasus!” exclaimed Ditzy Doo excitedly. “A stone pegasus?” Colgate responded. “It’s not stone,” started the Doctor. “Well, it is. Well, sometimes. It’s a Weeping Pegasus. It looks like a pegasus statue. Nothing dangerous about that. But that’s only when you’re looking at it. As soon as you look away it comes back to life. It’s the perfect defense mechanism. If you ever come across one, get out.” The Doctor looked at Colgate with a very serious expression. “I know you go off and do things for the good of Equestria, but I can’t always be there to save you if something big comes up.” Of course, a Weeping Pegasus! It’s a little late to get away now, huh Doc? Colgate picked her speed back up, desperate again to find an exit. Unfortunately for her, the path continued, never splitting and never stopping. I wonder… She started to think of The Doctor’s slightly-psychic paper. She had seen him get “distress calls” on it before. The spell was breaking. Any moment now the Weeping Pegasus would be upon her. Colgate focused her thoughts on The Doctor and his paper, hoping that he would get the message. She thought she had felt some kind of connection, but with her fatigue it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. Rapidly the power from the spell was vanishing. One of the few things she could count on was keeping her horn lit to provide a bit of light. The one thing she remembered The Doctor telling her to do in this scenario was now the most important: Whatever you do, don’t blink. The Doctor“…and that, my faithful assistant is why Equestria isn’t shaped like a banana.” Ditzy looked in the general direction of The Doctor. Of course, she really wasn’t able to follow his scientific mumbo-jumbo. “Uh-huh. Perfect sense.” “I know, I don’t understand why you ponies don’t get it.” The Doctor pressed some buttons, but what those buttons did only The Doctor knew. The Doctor and Ditzy Doo were flying through time and space, trying to get a particularly drunk pony by the name of Berry Punch back home safely. There was an incident with some catapults and almost killing the princesses, but it wasn’t her fault. She was ripped out of her time and placed elsewhere. It wasn’t long until the TARDIS had landed safely in Ponyville. The Doctor carried Berry Punch to her house and left her there. More than likely she would forget the whole ordeal, but if she did remember it would feel like a bizarre dream. “So Doctor, what’s this about a message from Colgate?” asked Ditzy as her and The Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS. “She thinks she’s found a Weeping Pegasus.” “A Weeping Pegasus? That’s almost as bad as eating burnt muffins!” She was, of course, absolutely serious. “Well, I don’t think it’s particularly likely. We only mentioned them to her briefly, and the only ones we’ve seen anywhere on Equestria are all still looking at each other.” “But what if she really did find one?” “Well, we’d better hope that she can get out of there. She sent a distress call on the psychic paper, so something is probably affecting her ability to use magic properly. I suppose it’s a good thing I have this,” said The Doctor as he produced one sonic screwdriver. “Yeah, that is pretty good.” “So anyway, the plan is to get her out of there. Nothing more, nothing less. Understand?” “Yes Doctor!!” “Good, then get in.” They arrived at the TARDIS and began to depart. “So Doctor, where are we going exactly?” “Well, I’m not completely sure. All the paper said was twenty miles west of Baltimare,” said The Doctor as he pulled up a map of the area on a screen. There was only one thing that was about where Colgate directed The Doctor. “’Malum Lupus Cave’? Of all the names…Oh never mind that.” “So are we going into that cave then?” “It seems likely-“ The Doctor was interrupted by the TARDIS. Screens and buttons were flashing, smoke was coming from the center console, and sparks were beginning to fly from the inner mechanisms. In short, the TARDIS was malfunctioning. “Oh that’s brilliant! Something is disturbing the TARDIS’ ability to travel through space and time!” The Doctor almost seemed excited that something bad was happening to his precious blue box. “Um…Doctor, this isn’t exactly the best time to be happy.” “Oh, I suppose you’re right.” The TARDIS slowly came to a stop. “Well then, wherever did we stop?” The Doctor looked a screen. “So, we are only about a mile from the cave. Ditzy, we are leaving.” Ditzy walked out of the TARDIS with The Doctor following close behind. Soon enough, the two of them were heading towards the cave where Colgate seemed to be. The Weeping Pegasus was also supposed to be there, so it added a level of danger to the trip. “Remember Ditzy, if there really is a Weeping Pegasus in the cave, try to keep one of your eyes on it at all times.” Ditzy nodded, acknowledging the importance of the statement. As long as something was looking at it, it was stone. Ditzy’s problem was that she didn’t always have the best of control of her eyes. She could probably keep one eye on the creature, and thankfully that was enough to subdue the Weeping Angel. “Hey Doctor, how could Colgate still be there if there is a Weeping Pegasus in the caverns?” “Well,” started The Doctor, “Colgate is a pretty strong unicorn, of which you were probably already aware. Most unicorns have some kind of specialty to their magic, be it illusions or water or whatnot, and Colgate’s is space/time manipulation. It isn’t exactly powerful when compared to the TARDIS, but easily can jump through time about an hour or so. She can also teleport herself and other things across great distances. As you noticed, something stopped the TARDIS from getting all the way to the cave. This means that she probably cannot teleport out. Are you following me so far?” “Uh….yeah. I think.” “Good enough. I think that she has been using some kind of time lock, keeping the Weeping Pegasus frozen in time. Considering the effect on the TARDIS, I would suspect that her time manipulation is also hampered. Still, she is pretty strong and can probably get a little magic out here and there.” “So….Can I get a short version? I got lost at ’Well, Colgate is…’” “She is stopping time for a little bit here and there to find an escape.” “Oooooooh. I get it.” Probably. The two of them arrived at the cavern after a matter of minutes. They found something that they had worried about. The entrance was caved in. “Ditzy, fly around and see if you can find another entrance. Meet back in about five minutes.” “Okay!” She flew off. “Other direction Ditzy!!!” The pegasus turned around. “Oops!” She then proceed (going in the right direction) to look for another entrance to the caverns. At this point, time was of the essence. Colgate could very well be dead. Five minutes had passed and Ditzy Doo was unable to find anything except the occasional tree. “Well, how are we gonna get in Doctor? We have to save Colgate. She makes really good muffins.” “I have a plan, but I don’t have the foggiest idea of how this will turn out.” The Doctor procured his infamous sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the rubble obstructing the path. “Stand back.” The pegasus did as she was instructed as The Doctor pressed the button. The whiiiiiiir of the screwdriver was the only noticeable effect. Suddenly, the pile of rocks and debris just collapsed. Almost the entire thing fell to the ground. “Doctor, what just happened?” “Simple really. I used the screwdriver to find a keystone, one of the stones in the pile holding the entire pile up. I set the frequency to vibrate with the rock and whoosh. The rock disintegrates and the entire pile falls.” “Oh. Cool.” “Of course it’s cool. Anyway, we’d better head inside.” Ditzy looked inside with slight apprehension. “Doctor, it’s really dark in there. How are we supposed to see?” The Doctor pressed the button on his sonic screwdriver, and the light shined, but there was no sound. “It’s got a flashlight mode on it. Cool, huh?” “And convenient.” “That’s why it’s there.” The two of them stood at the mouth of the cave, knowing what could very well be waiting for them inside. The dark cave seemed only more ominous as they stared in. They had no choice but to enter though. The predicament Colgate was in could very well be life threatening, and who knows how much more she could hold out against Weeping Pegasus. Things seemed only more dire for her with the magic restraint that has been imposed. “All right here’s the plan: We go in, rescue Colgate, and if the options are available we stop the Weeping Pegasus and find out what caused the TARDIS to malfunction. Understand?” “But Doctor you said –“ “I changed my mind. Ready?” Ditzy tried to look at The Doctor. “Never,” she said, gaining a mischievous grin. “Fantastic,” replied The Doctor, stepping foot into the caverns. “Allons-y!” The CreatureThe entrance of the cave was quite misleading. The immediate inside of the cave was unbelievably large. Stalactites and stalagmites lined the edges of the floor and ceiling. Ditzy decided it would be better if she stayed on the floor so as not to fly into anything. There was something not natural about the cave, and that much was obvious to The Doctor. “Ditzy, do you notice anything peculiar about the cave entrance?” spoke The Doctor in the light of his sonic screwdriver. The light from the cave entrance was not enough to provide any decent amount of visibility. “Why do you ask?” The only thing Ditzy noticed was that it was dark. “I’m beginning to think a Weeping Pegasus is the least of our problems. Look at the stalactites and stalagmites. Normally they would be throughout the cavern, but in here…they’re only along the edges of the cave.” They approached far edge of the cave only to confirm The Doctor’s suspicions. The back edge of the cave was bare, with only a single, large tunnel leading further in. “C’mon. We have to hurry.” The Doctor’s assistant was just not exactly…bright. She was intelligent enough, just a bit slow on the uptake. “I’m sorry… I just don’t get it…” The Doctor sighed lightly. “Let’s just hurry up and find Colgate. Now time is even more important.” The two ponies proceeded down the only tunnel in the mouth of the cave. Here, the rock was relatively smooth. Both The Doctor and Ditzy made extra sure to be focused on whatever was ahead of them. They did not want to come across the Weeping Pegasus caught unprepared. Beep. Beep. Beep. “Doctor, what’s that noise coming from the screwdriver mean?” “Well, it seems to have picked up Colgate’s magical signature. Every unicorn’s magical residue is different, and the sonic seemed to have targeted Colgate’s.” “So…What are we gonna do?” The Doctor looked at his assistant with slight disappointment. “We’re gonna follow it of course. I highly doubt that there are any other passages throughout the cavern, but if I happen to be wrong we need to be able to track down Colgate, remember?” “Oh yeah…” Sometimes…She just isn’t the brightest…anything. Ever. Oh well, thought The Doctor. He cared about his assistant much more than he allowed her to see. They walked through the tunnel, winding around corners and curves to perfect to be natural, but not perfect enough to have been created by someone. The entirety of the tunnel was pretty much the same. The Doctor noted that there were not any stones or pebbles in the tunnel. His suspicions were seeming all the more true, but he decided not to say anything. Suddenly the tunnel opened back up. Much larger than the entrance. The two ponies looked around for a moment, still unable to see much more than a few feet in front of them. Where the next tunnel was, neither of them knew for sure. That’s what the sonic screwdriver was for. They were able to follow the signal, albeit with a few large rocks they occasionally bumped into. These rocks…are vaguely pony shaped…Not statues, but not Weeping Pegasi either... it's something altogether different, thought The Doctor. “Ditzy, stop for just a moment. I need to check something real quick.” The grey mare stopped moving. Forward anyway. She bounced around a little while The Doctor did his work. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the statues and pressed the button. There’s only that one button, right? How does it do all those things? Maybe that’s something I should ask him later… pondered Ditzy, almost in her own little world. “Oh, that’s fantastic!” exclaimed The Doctor. “Look!” He put the sonic screwdriver where Ditzy could see it, but only The Doctor knew what it meant. “Isn’t this just brilliant?” “Uh….Yeah.” “You’re confused again, aren’t you?” The mare hung her head in shame. “Yes, Doctor…” “Well, these rocks aren’t just rocks. Look at them.” It was then that Ditzy noticed what The Doctor was talking about. Her eyes widened. “You don’t mean…” “Oh yes.” “Are they –“ “No, not that.” “But still.” “Exactly.” “So is that why –“ “Yep, I believe so.” “That’s not good. “That’s why we have to hurry.” “Oh. Okay.” There was no way to know if they were truly having the same conversation. The duo continued to follow the sonic screwdriver. To be specific, The Doctor followed the screwdriver and Ditzy followed The Doctor. Suspicions confirmed, they hurried through the open part of the cavern, careful to avoid the suspiciously shaped stones. Time was of the essence. More so than before. Faster than anticipated, they made it to the next tunnel. The beeping from the screwdriver got more intense, meaning that Colgate was close. At least, her residual energy was close. They knew not if they would be able to find her alive, or at all. They could only hope. It seemed like they had spent hours in the dark tunnel. It was nearly impossible to tell the time, with only the light of the sonic screwdriver illuminating the shadows. It was no way to keep time, though. The Doctor seemed focused and perfectly fine, but Ditzy Doo seemed a bit more distracted. Perhaps it was the disturbing revelation she had made earlier. Perhaps it was the thought of a good friend dying. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep “She’s near.” The Doctor began running, with Ditzy following close behind. As they rounded the corner, they found the blue unicorn backed against a wall. The Weeping Pegasus was standing right in front of her. “Doctor!” she exclaimed. “Colgate, good to see you.” The Doctor made his way around to the stone pegasus barely a foot from Colgate. “Yep, that’s a Weeping Pegasus all right.” “So how do we kill it? If we can do that, then all the disappearances will stop,” responded Colgate. Her horn faded and she got away from the wall. She no longer had to fret about seeing behind her. Thankfully the sonic screwdriver was still active. They could still see the fearsome creature. “Oh my friend, if only it were that simple.” “What do you mean?” It was Ditzy who responded, true terror resonating in her voice. “Please Colgate, we need to leave now.” Her eyes (sort of) remained fixated on the statue. She could see it, anyway. “Doctor, what is she talking about?” “Trust me. If we stay any longer we will certainly find out, and that would be most unfavorable.” “But what about the Pegasus? Certainly we cannot leave it here. It will kill again.” The Doctor looked at his friend. She could see, even in the dimly lit stone passage, the fear in his eyes. Perhaps a normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but Colgate had known The Doctor long enough. “Colgate,” The Doctor started, “this is much more dangerous than a Weeping Pegasus. Not to say that we can forget about it, but it is no longer on our priority list.” “Doctor, why? I don’t understand.” “Colgate, did you notice the entrance of the cave? The formation of the stalagmites and stalactites?” “It was a bit odd, but…Wait.” “Doctor…Doctor!” It was Ditzy’s desperate cries that brought The Doctor’s attention to something slightly more terrifying than a Weeping Pegasus: the tunnel was vibrating. “No. No! NO!” For the first time in both Ditzy and Colgate could remember, The Doctor was truly panicking. “Colgate, put the most powerful time lock you can on the Pegasus. We have to go!” Colgate did as she was asked, mustering up all remaining power she had at the moment. “That should hold for about ten minutes. Hopefully. I’ve been using time locks for a few seconds at a time so I could blink. A decent amount of my strength has returned.” “Good, good.” “Doctor, what’s going on?” Ditzy was trying to remain composed, but the fear was getting to her. She was almost in tears. “It’s waking up.” The cavern was vibrating even stronger. The thing was, it wasn’t a cavern. Ever. The beast who’s bowels the three of them had been exploring was beginning to wake up. There were four living beings already inside the beast, and all it needed to do was digest them. Escape“Alive?! This cave is alive?” Colgate couldn’t believe it. “Oh yes!” replied The Doctor. “Now this is when we run.” The three ponies took off toward the entrance. The time lock on the Weeping Pegasus would hold, for a few minutes anyway. They were running through the tunnel when The Doctor once again noticed something unsettling. “The tunnel is moving. It’s trying to keep us in here. We have to keep moving.” There was no reason to do anything else. Desperately the trio ran at full gallop, the tunnel constantly changing. If they did not hurry, they would die. That much was clear. It was when they made it back to the large, open cavern that they truly saw what they were up against. The cave was dripping fluid from the ceiling. Not everywhere and not necessarily a lot, but whatever it was dissolved the rocks it touched. “Doctor, what is that?” “Stomach acid. We are about to reenter its first stomach. Remember all the oddly shaped stones coming out of the floor?” The two mares nodded in agreement. “Well, those are its previous victims. What’s left of them, anyway.” The deadly acid only brought another challenge to deal with. “Doctor,” Colgate began, “we have to hurry. I don’t know how much longer I can sustain this time lock.” “I have an idea. A dangerous one, sure. But an idea.” The Doctor and his friends had not moved into the stomach for a lack of safety. Not that anything was safe in this beast. “Well, what is it?” Colgate and Ditzy looked at The Doctor (Colgate more so than Ditzy, but she did try), trying to decipher his complex mind. “I suggest we run straight through to the other side. More or less.” “But Doctor, what about the acid?” “When I say to, release the time lock on the Pegasus and put a force field around us. The Pegasus will almost certainly follow us, and will probably get destroyed by the acid.” “It’s worth a shot. Colgate, can you do it?” “Probably. Ready when you are, Doctor.” “And…NOW!” Colgate’s horn flashed with magic, and a slight force field presented itself around the three ponies. Sure, it may not withstand against much physical force, but the acid wouldn’t be too much trouble. Better yet, it pushed away any acid on the floor of the beast’s stomach that was in their way. Just as The Doctor had suspected, the Pegasus appeared at the entrance of the stomach. However, their number one priority was to escape. The Pegasus stayed at that point, but eventually the group had to break eye contact. The light from the sonic screwdriver only traveled so far. They kept running, making their way around the dissolving stone remains of ponies. In the darkness it was difficult to truly know how long they had to go. The biggest problem they had was actually finding the first tunnel. Trusting in the sonic screwdriver, The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate eventually made it back to the esophagus. The esophagus, thought The Doctor, that’s what this is, isn’t it. They travelled up the esophagus, carefully making sure that the creature would not swallow them again. It probably knew they were coming back up, yet it made no motion to keep them trapped. “Doctor, how much longer do you think we have to go?” asked Ditzy Doo. “I really don’t know. This beast is constantly stretching out its internal organs, so what may have taken ten minutes may now take an hour. It all depends on what it is doing.” “Oh, okay. Hey Colgate, when we get out of here, you need to make some muffins. I’m hungry.” Colgate looked at the pegasus with slight confusion. “There’s a kitchen on the TARDIS, right? Can’t you do it? No offence.” The Doctor spoke up. “This isn't exactly the time or place to be having this conversation. Besides, the last time she made muffins on the TARDIS, the whole thing went up in flames. It took months to get the scorch marks off the console.” “But more importantly, the muffins got burnt…” It took all of Colgate’s self-control to not burst out in hysterical laughter. “Okay, Ditzy. I’ll make – Doctor, look! The exit!” Sure enough, the exit could be seen. It was night outside. Of course, they were in the mouth. Saliva of a sort was spilled across the floor. “Let’s not waste any more time in here then.” The three of them began to run toward the entrance when the whole thing started shaking, much more violently than before. The group ran faster, making it through the exit only a moment before the great beast shut its maw. “Well that was certainly close, eh Doc?” The Doctor laughed. “No surprises there Colgate. Let’s go.” The Doctor, Ditzy Doo, and Colgate walked the mile to the TARDIS. As they entered, none of them noticed that for just a second, the TARDIS door did not close. “So Doctor, what was that thing?” “It was..well, I don't exactly know what they are called. I know what they do though. Anyway, they are massive predators who appear to be a large cavern, completely stone. Once the opportunity has arisen, it will reanimate itself and devour anything inside. We got out just in time.” “But what about all those other victims?” "Ah. When the prey gets digested, it gets absorbed into the stomach wall. The worm hadn't gotten a chance to fully reanimate itself by the time we got out, otherwise it would have been like stepping on the actual insides of a being: fleshy and disturbingly wet." "You said it could reanimate itself?" "Yep. It's kind of like a Weeping Pegasus in that way, it can turn to stone and back. However, the worm can do it at will and it takes a significantly longer amount of time." "But how'd it get here?" “Who knows? It probably fell through a rift in space. They can live just about anywhere there is life. I’ve seen them before, but not here. Curious.” “But Doctor, how did it block my magic?” “You see, as species evolved, the worm’s prey found ways of escaping, often times through means of teleportation. As a defense, the cave worms developed a kind of anti-teleportation field. It counteracts any kind of teleportation or distance travel. It stopped the TARDIS a mile out of the cave. He pressed some buttons and they departed. Off through time and space flew the three ponies. Colgate made muffins, much to the delight of Ditzy. To the delight of The Doctor, there was no massive, all-destroying blaze from the process. Shortly afterwards, Colgate collapsed from exhaustion, the adrenaline finally running out. The Doctor put her in one of many bedrooms to rest. “So Ditzy, where do you want to go next?” Ditzy didn’t hear him, distracted by the power of muffins. He repeated the question. “Oh, I don’t know. Wherever.” “All right then. Let’s go…home. Just for a bit. We should probably make sure Berry Punch is okay, after what happened.” “Okay then. I wonder if she remembers anything” “I highly doubt it. She was drunk, remember? Before Ditzy could answer, the console of the TARDIS lit up. Buttons were flashing and screens were lighting up, showing things only The Doctor understood. “Doctor, what’s going on? “Oh, nothing. It’s just being…” The Doctor slammed his hoof onto one of the panels. “…the TARDIS. It does that from time to time. Not entirely sure why, though. Oh well.” “You’re sure?” “Yeah. Nothing to worry about.” Soon, the TARDIS landed in present day Ponyville. The Doctor, Ditzy, and (a recently awaken) Colgate went to check up on Berry Punch. Sure enough, she was normal again. Normal being drunk yet again, that is. She remembered nothing of nearly killing the princesses. This was probably a good thing, because there was less to have to explain to her. “So Doctor,” Colgate started as they began the trek away from Berry Punch’s house, “What are you going to do?” “Oh, the usual. Take Ditzy across space and time doing Celestia knows what.” Ditzy smiled at the idea. “What about you Colgate? It was luck we got there when we did.” “I really don’t know. I may just take a bit of time and relax.” “Ooh! Ooh! You can make me some more muffins!” The Doctor and Colgate looked at Ditzy, not really sure of what to say. “What? I think it’s a good idea.” “That it is, my assistant. That it…” The Doctor stopped what he was saying. They had arrived back at the TARDIS. “What’s wrong?” Colgate and Ditzy asked in unison. “The TARDIS door,” started the Doctor, “it’s open. It’s impossible that something got inside.” “So, what does that mean?” inquired Colgate. “It means that something got out.” The Doctor knew of nopony else other than himself, Ditzy, and Colgate that were on the TARDIS. But there was one thing that he did not know the fate of. Something that, in the back of his mind, he knew was now loose in Ponyville: the Weeping Pegasus. PonyvilleIt was about the time of day when Ponyville was bustling with ponies going here and there. Occasionally ponies would stop and chat, but then resume their business. Some were doing their grocery shopping for the week. There was a small crowd around a street musician, listening intently, enjoying the sweet sounds emerging from the instrument. It was an ordinary day in Ponyville, at least to the knowledge of the town’s inhabitants. Not one of them noticed that there was a new stone statue of a seemingly generic pegasus. “Well I noticed! You just said it was there!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Tnuyum looked at the computer screen in disbelief. Really Pinkie? Tnuyum typed. Can you at least pretend that the fourth wall exsists? You aren’t even in this story! “Well fine then.” Nopony noticed the statue now that Pinkie Pie left the story. It wasn’t exactly in the most noticeable location but it was always in somepony’s view, whether they realized it or not. Anypony who walked past just took it in as a part of the town’s décor. It looked harmless enough, just a plain old pegasus statue sitting in the middle of Ponyville. Slowly the day progressed, and the number of ponies meandering throughout the various streets began to dwindle. By the time the moon was up, there was nopony left looking at the peculiar statue. Surely enough, the Weeping Pegasus came to life. Off it went into the heart of Ponyville, looking for its next victim. “Oh, how lovely this night is,” muttered a light purple earth pony. Her name was Wisteria. She was a local florist, and thoroughly enjoyed taking a stroll in the night air. She would never tell anyone, but since Princess Luna had returned, she usually preferred her over Princess Celestia. She casually strolled down the street, pleased with how her day had gone. She was even further pleased with the fact that there was nopony out to disrupt her walk. She liked that. Snap. The sound of a twig breaking startled Wisteria. She spun around. The pony screamed in absolute terror. Behind her was a stone pegasus, seeming to leap out at her. “It…It’s just a statue…right?” She seemed unsure of her words. Where could this mysterious statue have come from? She looked away, for only a moment. She only wanted a moment to figure out what it was. Though she didn’t realize it, that was her biggest mistake. She eventually woke up in Canterlot almost one hundred years before she was even born, never to be seen by her friends and family again. The Weeping Pegasus continued to hunt, careful not to draw attention to itself. There weren’t to many ponies roaming the streets at night, so it was easy for the Pegasus to travel without drawing unnecessary attention. It planned to ravage the population of Ponyville, but not so quickly that anyone noticed until it was too late. Besides, there was something of the utmost importance that needed to be taken care of first. The Doctor had, of course, heard Wisteria’s scream. Unfortunately he and his companions were on the other side of town, so by the time they got to where the scream originated it was far too late. There was no sign of the Pegasus anywhere nearby. “This is not good,” stated The Doctor. For hours they had been searching for the Pegasus to no avail. Somehow the creature had managed to continue to elude them since they were inside the giant worm. Somehow the Pegasus had managed to sneak onto the TARDIS sometime after having been trapped in the stomach of the worm. The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate had been distracted with trying to escape from the worm that they had forgotten (mostly) about the Pegasus. Upon returning to the TARDIS to leave, the discovery of the open door meant that it had to have snuck aboard and escaped. “Doctor, where do you think it has gone?” asked Ditzy. “Who knows? Probably off to find another victim.” “So what do we do?” “We keep looking. We absolutely have to find that Weeping Pegasus. Right now the entirety of Ponyville is at stake.” “Hm….That’s bad,” muttered Ditzy. Colgate looked at Ditzy with a slight amount of frustration mixed with a hint of sarcasm. “Oh, you don’t say.” “Hey, hey. Stop it now. We have to focus on the task at hand.” “Sorry Doctor,” spoke Colgate and Ditzy in unison. “Now then. We have to find this Pegasus.” The trio of time travelers hurried along the winding roads and paths of Ponyville. Somepony was now lost to time, quite possibly dead in present day. It was up to The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate to find and defeat the Weeping Pegasus. Unfortunately, they had no idea where to start. They weren’t entirely sure they would find anything out until Wisteria screamed in fright. “Who do you think it was?” asked Colgate nervously. She lived in Ponyville and spent most of her time there. The town was just large enough that there was somepony knew to meet every day, but small enough that nopony felt lost or out of place. “Hmm…My best guess is that florist…Oh what’s her name…” The Doctor thought for a moment as they continued the hunt. “She always liked to take an evening stroll after everypony had gone to bed. Less disturbances that way.” “I know who you’re talking about. I used to pass her stall in the market all the time. Never said anything to her, never even knew her name. I suppose now I never will.” “Aw, cheer up Colgate! At least it wasn’t Berry or one of your other friends!” remarked Ditzy, in an attempt to lighten the mood. ‘Yeah, I guess.” Colgate felt responsible for what happened. It was her who decided to go exploring Malum Lupus Cave. It was her who stumbled upon the Weeping Pegasus. It was her who had sent a distress call to The Doctor. In her mind, she was to blame for the whole ordeal. Whether or not she truly was mattered not. Colgate indirectly caused an innocent pony to essentially get murdered. The Doctor and Ditzy didn’t feel that way, not at all. However, it was not the time or place to be throwing blame at anypony. Beep beep beep “Ah-ha! That’s fantastic! The sonic picked up the trail of the Pegasus. We may yet catch this stone-cold killer.” The Doctor paused. There was an awkward silence. “C’mon. That was funny.” “Um….hahaha?” “What Ditzy said.” “You guys are no fun, you know that?” At that, The Doctor focused on the beeping coming from the sonic screwdriver. Now that they had a lock on the Pegasus, they should be able to track it down. Time was not something that was to be wasted, and there was little of it to waste. The damage that the Weeping Pegasus could cause would be catastrophic to Ponyville. The group continued after the incessant beep beep beep of the sonic screwdriver, getting ever closer to locating the Pegasus. They had come across a problem though. As soon as they would get close, the Pegasus would get farther away again. It knew they were chasing it. What The Doctor didn’t know was the Weeping Pegasus’ true plan. “Blast. It keeps getting just beyond our reach. Time to track it down again.” “Alright, Doctor. Let’s get moving.” “Doctor? I see it. The Pegasus.” Ditzy was desperately trying to focus on looking at the Pegasus. It was probably about fifty feet away, in a dark alley between buildings. “No, that can’t be. The sonic says it’s that way,” replied The Doctor, motioning a hoof in a completely different direction. It was Colgate who spoke next. “Doctor, I think we have a serious problem.” “Colgate, we’ve had a serious problem for some time now.” “No, I mean that I think that I’m looking at a different Pegasus than the one Ditzy’s looking at.” “What?” The Doctor turned to face his companions. Down the alley that Ditzy was facing was the ever recognizable Weeping Pegasus. On the roof of a store a few buildings away was another Weeping Pegasus, only frozen in stone because of Colgate’s never ending gaze. “What?!” The sonic screwdriver suddenly came to life, beeping crazily. The Doctor spun around to lock eyes with the Weeping Pegasus that had stowed away on his TARDIS a few short hours ago. Their original problem had now tripled. Three Weeping Pegasi were now loose in Ponyville. ThreeThis is impossible, thought The Doctor. There was but one Weeping Pegasus that they had to face, yet before the group stood three. “Everypony, just focus on the Pegasi in front of you. Whatever you do, do not look away.” “Doctor, what happened? Why are there three?” A smattering of fear presented itself amongst Colgate’s words. “You said that the only other Pegasi were trapped elsewhere, right?” “They were. They were trapped inside a small tomb just outside of here, looking at each other for eternity.” Of all possible things, it appeared that the Weather Patrol had scheduled some form of torrential downpour to commence at exactly that moment. The clouds rolled in, and the storm began. Rain fell from the sky with such vigor it became difficult to see. Lightning flashed frequently in the distance, illuminating the night sky. “Hey Colgate,” The Doctor started, “Think you can freeze them for just a moment?” Slowly the Pegasi crept ever closer to the trio of ponies. The rain was obscuring their field of vision, and every so often one of the three momentarily lost track of their Pegasus. “Maybe. I’ve never tried it on more than one target before.” She began to focus the magical energy into her horn. In a sudden flash of magic, the three Weeping Pegasi were bathed in a light blue aura, frozen in time. “I have no idea how long this will last, Doctor.” “Then we’d better get moving!” The three of them fled from where the Pegasi were, The Doctor trying to think of a plan to eliminate their enemies without destroying the entirety of Equestria. This was three times now that The Doctor had been caught off guard in a single adventure, and he did not like it one bit. “Doctor, where are we going exactly?” asked Ditzy. It was a legitimate question. Nopony really knew what was going on, just that they had to escape very quickly. “Back to the TARDIS. We should be able to sort things out there.” “Okay then!” The pony-made deluge continued to splash in the eyes of The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate. They were probably going in the right direction, but they could barely see an inch in front of them clearly. Past that things were mostly just shapes and colors. Still the trio galloped onward, drawing closer and closer to the TARDIS. “Doctor, I can’t hold the spell for much longer,” Colgate announced. “Alright then. We’d better hurry. The last thing we need is to be trapped in the past without the TARDIS.” Through the rain, The Doctor could vaguely make out the shape of the TARDIS off in the distance. Perhaps three more minutes and they would be safe. If they had thirty more seconds. “Doctor! The spell broke!” It wasn’t Colgate’s fault. The spell was very difficult to maintain. She had actually lasted longer than The Doctor had anticipated. “Okay. Be ready.” Sure enough, the Weeping Pegasi had surrounded them almost the second that the spell broke. They had formed a circle around the group, a circle that should keep them frozen for eternity. “There’s something wrong with its eyes,” stated Ditzy. “Same with this one. Hard to say what though, with all the rain,” Colgate responded. Through the rain, it was difficult to make out, but there was definitely something wrong with the eyes of the three Pegasi. Up close it became apparent what was wrong. It also made it extremely difficult to stop them. It appeared that something had destroyed the eyes of the statues. “They destroyed their eyes. They can’t see each other, so they can’t freeze each other.” This was one of those rare times where The Doctor had no clue what to do. Here were three extremely deadly foes, with one of their greatest weaknesses removed. They could still turn to stone, a fact made clear by the three stone Pegasi surrounding The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate, but they now had to be completely destroyed. They could no longer hope to deceive the Pegasi to look at each other. “But they can’t see us?” asked Colgate. “No, they can’t. They don’t really need to though. It only helps.” “So what do we do?” “Well…This is the part where you proceed to time lock them once more and then we run.” “Doc, I don’t know if I can.” “Colgate, you have to try.” “I’ll do my best.” There was a similar flash of magic and the group took off. So close were they to the TARDIS. Nothing they had to worry about. The spell would hold and they would figure out what to do next. Everything would be all right and The Doctor would save the day. The rain had steadily been getting stronger, and it was at the point that they could not see in front of them. The Doctor procured his sonic screwdriver and used it to track down the TARDIS’ location. Colgate and Ditzy Doo only had to follow the beep beep beep and they would be home free. Well, they would at least be in a position in which they could further evaluate the situation and come up with a clever plan to defeat the Weeping Pegasi once and for all. The closer they got to the TARDIS the faster the beeping got. Finally, through the rain and even in the darkness, a familiar blue shape appeared only a few dozen yards before them. “Doctor, I can see it! We are almost there!” exclaimed Ditzy, excited about something that actually makes sense. “C’mon then!” The Doctor reached the TARDIS first. He put the sonic screwdriver in his mouth and procured the TARDIS key. Unfortunately, the rain made it slip from his hooves and it fell in the mud. “Guys, I dropped the key! It’s somewhere nearby!” Ditzy and The Doctor began frantically sifting through the mud nearby, trying ever so desperately to find the key to the TARDIS. “Colgate, please help me and The Doctor. We really need this key.” Colgate could barely respond. “Doc…I can’t…much longer…” The spell was taking its toll on the unicorn. A massive headache unlike any she had felt before made its presence known to her. It was like somepony was trying to rip out her horn. “Ah hah! Got it!” said The Doctor. He took the key and inserted into the door. The TARDIS sprung open and in rushed Ditzy and The Doctor. As The Doctor entered the TARDIS, there was a sudden flash of blue energy behind him. Colgate collapsed. “Oh no you don’t!” He dashed back out, picked up Colgate, and threw her back into the TARDIS. “Doctor, what about the Pegasi?” asked Ditzy. “C’mon, they should be here any –“ The TARDIS door slammed shut. The Doctor, however, was not inside. “Doctor? DOCTOR!” Ditzy flew to the door as fast as she could, only to find that the door would not open. The Doctor was gone. Trapped“No…Doctor…” cried Ditzy, desperately trying to open the TARDIS. The Doctor had given his life to save Colgate. The TARDIS shook violently as the trio of Weeping Pegasi tried to force their way inside, only to come across the problem that plagued Ditzy Doo. The door would not budge, and the hull of the ship would not give. There was no way in or out of the TARDIS. Ditzy looked around the TARDIS, unsure of what to do. If The Doctor were here, he would think of something. I’m sure of it, thought Ditzy. She had no idea how to fly the TARDIS. Colgate however, might. The problem was that Colgate was unconscious with no way of telling when exactly she would awaken. At the moment, all that Ditzy could do was hope that the Pegasi had no way to get in. “Blast,” muttered The Doctor as he awoke to find himself in a seemingly familiar location, if a bit different than he remembered. He fought through the fog in his mind to remember exactly what happened. “Oh…That’s right. Weeping Pegasi. I was…getting Colgate back in and they must have got me. Again. That’s just fantastic.” The Doctor looked around to see that he was almost exactly where he was only moments ago. Well, moments ago relative to him. When he was, those particular moments had yet to happen yet. The Doctor gazed upon Ponyville, but there were a few differences. Chief among them was that there were several buildings not where they should be. They weren’t ‘missing’ exactly, they just hadn’t been built yet. Over 900 years of time travel and it still confounds me from time to time, thought The Doctor, careful to keep his thoughts in his head so as not to mess with the flow of time. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey. “Hey! You there!” shouted a familiar voice. The Doctor turned to face a tan mare with a bright pink mane. “I haven’t seen you around. You looking for something?” The mare adorned a bright happy smile. “Not exactly, but could you tell me the year?” “Sure, I guess. You feeling alright? Hitting the cider a bit hard?” “The year please?” “Right, right. It’s 988 PNM. That’s Post-Nightmare Moon in case you’ve really had a bit too much to drink.” “Thanks. I’ll be off then. I might be here a while.” “Well, if you’re planning to stay, make sure to vote for me in the upcoming election. I’m running for mayor, you know.” “Yeah, I kind of figured.” “Well, have a nice day then!” At that, the future mayor of Ponyville trotted off. “Hmm…988. That means I’ve only been sent back about 14 years. It definitely could have been worse. Now I just need to figure out a way to get back.” The Doctor glanced around, trying to think of some inconspicuous way to get word back to the present. Well, the future. Present-future? Still to this day I can’t really explain this whole time…stuff, thought The Doctor to himself. “Uuuh…What’s going on,” moaned Colgate, finally coming to a state of awareness. She had been unconscious for almost two hours. At some unknown point the Pegasi realized that there was no way to get inside. They had, unknown to but assumed by Ditzy, taken up a temporary residence outside of the TARDIS, waiting until somepony decides to emerge. “Oh Colgate! You’re awake!” It was the first bit of good news received by Ditzy since The Doctor had been taken. “Yes, I’m awake. More or less.” “They got The Doctor, Colgate. We’re stuck here.” Colgate stood up, wobbling around a bit before stabilizing herself. “I see,” she said. “It all makes sense now.” “Colgate, what are you talking about?” “The Pegasi made a bit of a mistake, you see,” Colgate stated as she made her way over to the center console of the TARDIS. Ditzy made some sort of a frowny-face, but it was hard to take seriously because her eyes were completely unfocused. She tried though. “Would you care to explain? The Doctor gave is life for you.” “Well, we’re going to get The Doctor.” Colgate pressed some buttons and pulled some levers and the all too familiar siren of the TARDIS blared. The Doctor was wracking his brain for a solution to this conundrum. There had to be a way to get word to Ditzy and Colgate. The Doctor was trapped without his TARDIS. He made his way through streets that were familiar, yet simultaneously completely different. The Doctor had never visited a past version of Ponyville, so this whole experience was enlightening. He thought back to the last time he was stuck in this scenario. The problem was that the Pegasi were specifically targeting him from the beginning. There was no guarantee that there would be more victims to bring messages through. “Oh Doctor, how ever do you manage to get yourself into these types of problems?” At this point, The Doctor decided to take a break from all this thinking. He was beginning to become hungry, which made sense considering how long it will have been before it has been for him to eat at some point. He made his way around a street corner, hoping to see a sign that was all too familiar to him. Sure enough, there stood Sugarcube Corner, with a “Now Open” sign underneath it. “Fantastic! I’m famished.” The Doctor made his way to Sugarcube Corner, and upon opening the door, learned yet another interesting fact of Ponyville’s history. “What can I get for you?” asked an older stallion, his mane just beginning to lose its color. “Are you the owner?” “Yeah, you got a problem with it? I just opened the place up a few weeks ago.” “Really now? You seem a bit…” “Yeah, I’m a bit old to be starting a business. Hopefully I’ll be able to give the place to my featherbrained son in a few years. If he’d just finish school and stop thinking about his blasted girlfriend…Oh what’s her name….” “Excuse me, I’m a tad hungry.” “Right, right. Sorry about that. Anyway, what do you want?” “Whatever you’d recommend.” “Alrighty then.” The Doctor took a seat at one of the (new) tables and eagerly awaited his meal. He had learned through past encounters to make sure to carry a few bits with him just in case something like this was to happen. Now he wouldn’t have to worry about tricking people in the past, especially in a town that would become such an important location in the near future. No need to risk the entirety of space and time. The owner of the shop brought out The Doctor’s meal. Shortly after finishing, he paid and left the shop. He continued to wander the streets of Ponyville, trying to solve his little dilemma. He did not like being in situations that were beyond his control. The Doctor just happened to notice a shop sign out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, this could be simply brilliant,” exclaimed The Doctor. He may have just found his way out of this whole scenario. He entered the establishment, and saw exactly the pony he had hoped to see. “Do you have an appointment?” asked the unicorn filly sitting at the front desk. “Aren’t you a little young to be working at the desk?” “Well, yeah a bit. But my dad doesn’t want to teach me how to work on ponies’ teeth until I’m older,” the young filly responded, her blue and white mane bobbing ever so slightly as she moved. “Ah. I see,” said The Doctor, his face slowly splitting into a large grin. “So, would you like to make an appointment?” “Sure, I’m The Doctor.” “But what’s your name?” “Just…The Doctor. And you are?” The Doctor already knew the answer to the question, he just wanted to hear her say it. He did so enjoy these types of things. “Well,” the filly started, “I’m Colgate.” Allons-yThe Doctor looked at the young Colgate with great excitement. Oh the great mysteries of time, thought The Doctor. It would seem that this would be the first time she ever meets The Doctor, though The Doctor had known Colgate for years now. “Um…Mister? You’re kind of creeping me out. Do you need something?” “Oh yes my dear. I need you to do me a huge favor.” “Um…” “Just listen to me. One day, I need you to give a message to a very important pony. Understand?” “I guess…” “Right. My life and the lives of my friends depend on this particular message getting delivered. Can you handle that?” Filly Colgate looked at The Doctor with a great amount of confusion. Sure, delivering a message for somepony was an easy enough task, but this guy was a bit…odd. “Yeah, I suppose I could manage that. Who is the message for?” “Oh, you’ll know who when the time comes.” “What do you mean, ‘when the time comes’?” “I need you to hold onto this message for a very long time. Then when the time is right, you will know who the message is for.” “You’re not really making any sense, you know?” “I know.” “So what is this mysterious message?” The Doctor thought for a moment. What is the mysterious message? I really don’t want to screw this up… Finally The Doctor had his answer. “Just tell her to meet me where we first met.” “That’s…odd. I suppose I could do it if you really need me to.” “Brilliant. Colgate,” started The Doctor, as a particularly odd siren began to sound outside of the dentist’s office, “I’ll be seeing you soon enough. Allons-y!” The Doctor quickly turned to the door and trotted out. “Wait! What are you talking about?” Colgate followed him out, only to come face to face with a large blue box. A blue box which she would later know as the TARDIS. A blue box that she would have adventures in with the mysterious Doctor. But for the young filly, these were things to come. The siren sounded again, and the box vanished from thin air. “Ah, it’s good to be back,” stated The Doctor upon boarding the TARDIS. He was quickly assaulted by a pegasus-shaped blur. “Ditzy…you’re…crushing me…” Ditzy’s face flushed bright red and quickly stopped hugging/crushing The Doctor. “Sorry…I’m just glad you’re okay.” “Me too…” responded The Doctor, still gasping for air. “So, we’ve known each other for fourteen years and you couldn’t just tell me that I was the recipient of that particular message?” “I only just came up with the idea. Besides, first met you six years ago. Not fourteen.” “But-“ “You met me fourteen years ago.” “But-“ “Look. It’s all –“ “Ooh! Ooh!” interrupted Ditzy. “Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!” The Doctor looked at her and spoke. “I was just going to say ‘confusing’, but I suppose that work’s too.” “Um…okay?” Colgate still understood absolutely nothing about the whole ordeal. But that was okay for now, she really didn’t need to know anything much past the fact that The Doctor is a very confusing pony. “Good. Now we have to figure out a way to defeat the Pegasi before they destroy the entirety of Ponyville. Unless that’s what we want….no, we can’t let that happen. But really. How are we going to stop them? They’re blind now, so we can’t make them look at each other. We could…No…could we? Ooh. I like this plan.” Colgate and Ditzy really had no response to The Doctor’s ramblings. It was usually best to just let him ramble. “Great. So now I need….” The Doctor rummaged around in the various storage compartments on the deck of the TARDIS. “Blast. It’s not there. Excuse me but I have to go run down to the swimming pool. If it’s still there.” The Doctor ran off down a staircase, leaving Colgate and Ditzy to just stand there looking completely inept and helpless. The Doctor did that to many ponies on many occasions though, so it was mostly all right. “Ah-hah! Found it,” called up a voice from below that hopefully belonged to The Doctor. “Doctor, what are you doing down there?” asked Ditzy, her voice echoing slightly through the interior of the ship. Ponies tend to forget the size of the TARDIS. “I’m finding the thing we need. Well, found the thing we need,” replied The Doctor as he ascended the staircase. On his back was a very odd looking contraption, one that appeared to fit over somepony’s head. “And what exactly is that?” Colgate asked cautiously. “This is a spell amplifier. Here, put it on.” He tossed it over towards Colgate, and she caught the device telepathically. “What exactly do you mean ‘spell amplifier’?” “It’s a device. That you put on your head. And in increases spell power. Exactly what it sounds like.” “So why are you giving this to me?” “Well, after what had happened earlier, I realized that this was exactly what we needed to defeat the Pegasi. We are gonna take our disturbingly creepy friends on a little trip.” “What do you mean?” inquired Ditzy. “Well, Colgate here is gonna use that amplifier to freeze up the Pegasi for just a few moments,” said The Doctor, turning his head to face Colgate. “Don’t worry. It will be easy. Anyway, then we will bring them onto the TARDIS and take them with us.” “Where exactly are we taking them?” The TARDIS siren signaled the return to Ponyville. “Oh, I dunno,” started The Doctor, “I was thinking….the sun?” “Wait…you mean that large, bright circle in the sky during the day?” “That’s the one. Now then, are we ready?” “Nope,” said Ditzy. “Doctor, I’m never ready when I’m with you,” responded Colgate. “Brilliant. It’s time.” The Doctor ran over to look at one of the monitors on the center console. “Yep. They’re waiting for us.” He shut of the screen. “Now Colgate, but that amplifier on your head and just use the same spell you have been. Trust me, it will be relatively easy.” Colgate obeyed The Doctor’s commands. He continued to press various buttons on the console and turned to Ditzy. “Now, once the Weeping Pegasi have been loaded onto the TARIDS, press that button.” “This one?” “No, not that one. You’re on the wrong side of the console.” Ditzy repositioned herself and motioned to a different button. “Yes that one. On the count of three.” The whole room was tense. There was a slight chance that the plan did not succeed. More than likely it would, but there was always that stray possibility. “One.” “Two.” “THREE!” The Doctor flung open the doors of the TARDIS. He quickly leaped backwards as Colgate cast her spell. The Pegasi were frozen in time, leaving The Doctor sufficient time to ensure all three were loaded into the TARDIS. They were heavy, being stone and all, so it took several minutes. Colgate remarked how easy it was with the contraption on her head and Ditzy looked at several thing on opposite sides of the ship. Soon The Doctor signaled Ditzy to launch the TARDIS towards the sun. Only a moment later was The Doctor tossing Weeping Pegasi out into space, just so that the sun would destroy them permanently. “Gone,” remarked Colgate. She could no longer sense the Pegasi within her spell. The Weeping Pegasi were gone for good. Colgate took off the amplifier. Sure, it was powerful, but it was a tad uncomfortable. “Whew. That was a lot more difficult than it should have been.” “Hey, do we still have any muffins?” “I haven’t a clue. You can go check though.” Ditzy wandered off to find the door marked Muffin Storage. “So Colgate,” started The Doctor, “Can you please just sit tight in Ponyville with your little dentist-ness? It’ll make life easier for everypony.” Colgate sighed heavily. “I guess I can try. It’s just so much fun, almost dying and all.” “Well, we’d better get you back. No need to have your name on a list of the missing ponies. Who knows who all got taken in our absence?” Ditzy arrived moments later carrying a large tray of muffins, ready for the three of them to eat. Shortly afterwards, the TARDIS landed right outside of Colgate’s office. “So Doctor, when can we do this again?” “Maybe sometime soon. Who knows?” “Bye Colgate! See ya soon!” The Doctor and his ever faithful assistant entered their mysterious blue box and vanished from sight. “Oh, those two…” muttered Colgate as she walked through the front door of her shop, ready to face the challenge of living after having been with The Doctor. Epilogue“Make sure to bring Bon-bon by at some point. With all those sweets, I just need to make sure her teeth are still healthy,” Colgate said to Lyra as she was getting out of the chair. “Will do.” “Keep up the good work Lyra, your teeth look really good.” “Thanks.” Lyra paid Colgate for the check up and left. Colgate sighed. “It’s been two weeks. I’m bored beyond belief. I just wish The Doctor would come back…” She went to the back of the store and began to organize her tools, just to occupy her mind. Not a moment later, the door opened. “I’ll be right with you!” shouted Colgate from the back. She made her way to the front desk, only to come across a group of ponies she was not entirely familiar with. “Hello. Do any of you have an appointment, or are you here to make one?” The mare looked at her long and hard, as if she was examining Colgate. “Not exactly.” Her voice was almost a bit too happy. The other ponies around her said nothing. “Then what can I help you with? You do realize that I am a dentist, right?” “Yes, yes. We know who you are, Miss Colgate. Now, if you could please answer a few questions for us.” Colgate began to get very suspicious, but refused to let it show. “What kind of questions?” “We want to know about The Doctor.” Colgate definitely knew that something was wrong now. Ordinary ponies don’t go around asking about The Doctor. He was kind of important, and she would do her best to protect him. “I’m sorry, but I’m the only doctor here. Remember? Dentist?” “Look, I’m sorry but I don’t have time for this.” The mare signaled to one of the stallions next to her, and he slammed Colgate against the wall, pinning her there with his hoof. “Like I said. Tell us about The Doctor.” “I…don’t know…what you’re talking about…” The mare was clearly getting frustrated. “Yes you do. We saw you gallivanting around Ponyville with him a few weeks ago during that storm. Tell us what you know.” “This…can’t be legal. I will get the sheriff after you.” Colgate was beginning to feel the pain of being crushed against the wall. “Let her go.” The stallion released his hoof from Colgate’s chest, and she collapsed on the ground. “Look at me, Colgate. Let me tell you something. You are going to tell us what we want. Our authority goes beyond the police. Beyond even Celestia herself. We exist to protect Equestria from…threats not of this world. Of which The Doctor is one.” Colgate looked at the mare, puzzling over what she had just said. “Who are you?” “We…are Torchwhoof.”
PrologueOh Colgate, must you always play Doctor? The mare kept running through the twisting turns of the cavern, hoping that there was some way to evade her pursuer. The blue unicorn known as Colgate was always getting herself into trouble. This was mostly due to her constantly searching out problems that would normally need to be solved by the one and only Doctor. If there was any way that she could help him, she would. Many times her adventures crossed paths with The Doctor. Colgate, though not a Time Lord, did have some power over space and time. Most unicorns have some kind of specialty to their magic, and that was hers. She could (most of the time) travel short distances through time and teleport across the majority of Equestria. It was these powers that even allowed her to meet The Doctor. Her talents can come in handy when the TARDIS is unavailable, especially since The Doctor and Ditzy Doo (his faithful assistant) were unable to perform magic themselves. Well, The Doctor did have some bizarre gadgets that might as well be magic. As she rounded another corner, she froze with fear. Oh, that’s just great. Fantastic. Something in the cave was inhibiting her ability to use magic. She started charging her spell and took off the way she came from. At best that will keep it at bay for a few minutes… Colgate was desperately trying to find an exit. The entrance she had used was now collapsed. If I could just teleport away, the universe would be fine and dandy, but NOOOOOOOO I just HAD to go explore the mysterious cave. She could feel her spell running out and desperately began to make sure that she could see in all possible directions. The last remnants of her magic faded, but her horn remained lit. That was the important part at the moment. At all costs she needed to be able to see. She had only just blinked before the creature was in plain sight. It was barely a foot from her face. By Celestia’s beard that thing is fast, she thought to herself. Colgate had spent a decent amount of time with The Doctor and Ditzy Doo, and she vaguely remembered The Doctor mentioning something similar to this. Grrr….what was it he called them? She loosed another spell and kept running. Even though her magic was almost nothing in this mysterious cave, she could at least lock the creature in time for a few minutes. It would give her a little breathing room to try to locate the exit. Think, Colgate, think! He had to have said something about defeating this think…Right? Blast, I can’t remember… She kept running around and around, unable to get out of this nightmare of an adventure. How long had she been doing this? An hour? Two? It seemed impossible to know for sure, but Colgate was beginning to tire. She didn’t know how much more she would be able to do this. There was no food or water other than what she had brought with her, and that wasn’t going to sustain her much longer. The whole “adventure” began when Colgate had heard rumors of ponies disappearing outside of Baltimare. That alone wasn’t particularly curious, Baltimare was a large city and ponies disappeared often enough. The interesting this was they all had last been seen outside of Malum Lupus Cave, which sits almost twenty miles outside of Baltimare. For years, Malum Lupus Cave was said to have been cursed. Then suddenly ponies nearby suddenly disappeared? The temptation was too great for Colgate. The magic faded faster and sooner this time. Colgate scanned her surroundings as soon as she felt the last remnants of her spell slip from her mind. Of course, it was not even a second before the creature was once again within Colgate’s sight. Is it really fair to call it a creature? It looks pony enough. Still, it’s faster than anything I’ve ever seen, and if it was flying I couldn’t hear it. Colgate took the time to examine her surroundings, careful to keep it in her sights. The cavern was not very tall or wide, but who knew how long they could stretch into the earth. C’mon Colgate, there’s gotta be a way out of here. She looked around the tunnel. There were only two directions she could go, forward into the cave or back the way she came. As Colgate turned back around, she saw that the creature had once again moved, this time with its hooves only inches from her head. She noticed something that greatly unnerved her. The being had great, pointy fangs. Ponies don’t have fangs. Clearly whatever it was couldn’t be a pony. Wait a sec….Could it be? She noticed something else as well. The creature only moved when she wasn’t looking at it. Hang on, The Doctor said something like this…what was it? She gathered as much magical energy as she could and cast yet another time lock spell on the creature. This should hold for a few minutes anyway… Hoping the spell was as powerful as she thought it was, Colgate decided to dash off deeper into the cave. Certainly there would be a way out somewhere. But if there wasn’t a way out… Oh crap. Colgate came to a startling conclusion. There was a likely possibility that the beast was luring her into a trap. What was it? What was it he was talking about? Colgate slowed down so she could focus on the memory of that particular conversation. ”…And then there was this stone pegasus!” exclaimed Ditzy Doo excitedly. “A stone pegasus?” Colgate responded. “It’s not stone,” started the Doctor. “Well, it is. Well, sometimes. It’s a Weeping Pegasus. It looks like a pegasus statue. Nothing dangerous about that. But that’s only when you’re looking at it. As soon as you look away it comes back to life. It’s the perfect defense mechanism. If you ever come across one, get out.” The Doctor looked at Colgate with a very serious expression. “I know you go off and do things for the good of Equestria, but I can’t always be there to save you if something big comes up.” Of course, a Weeping Pegasus! It’s a little late to get away now, huh Doc? Colgate picked her speed back up, desperate again to find an exit. Unfortunately for her, the path continued, never splitting and never stopping. I wonder… She started to think of The Doctor’s slightly-psychic paper. She had seen him get “distress calls” on it before. The spell was breaking. Any moment now the Weeping Pegasus would be upon her. Colgate focused her thoughts on The Doctor and his paper, hoping that he would get the message. She thought she had felt some kind of connection, but with her fatigue it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. Rapidly the power from the spell was vanishing. One of the few things she could count on was keeping her horn lit to provide a bit of light. The one thing she remembered The Doctor telling her to do in this scenario was now the most important: Whatever you do, don’t blink.
The Doctor“…and that, my faithful assistant is why Equestria isn’t shaped like a banana.” Ditzy looked in the general direction of The Doctor. Of course, she really wasn’t able to follow his scientific mumbo-jumbo. “Uh-huh. Perfect sense.” “I know, I don’t understand why you ponies don’t get it.” The Doctor pressed some buttons, but what those buttons did only The Doctor knew. The Doctor and Ditzy Doo were flying through time and space, trying to get a particularly drunk pony by the name of Berry Punch back home safely. There was an incident with some catapults and almost killing the princesses, but it wasn’t her fault. She was ripped out of her time and placed elsewhere. It wasn’t long until the TARDIS had landed safely in Ponyville. The Doctor carried Berry Punch to her house and left her there. More than likely she would forget the whole ordeal, but if she did remember it would feel like a bizarre dream. “So Doctor, what’s this about a message from Colgate?” asked Ditzy as her and The Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS. “She thinks she’s found a Weeping Pegasus.” “A Weeping Pegasus? That’s almost as bad as eating burnt muffins!” She was, of course, absolutely serious. “Well, I don’t think it’s particularly likely. We only mentioned them to her briefly, and the only ones we’ve seen anywhere on Equestria are all still looking at each other.” “But what if she really did find one?” “Well, we’d better hope that she can get out of there. She sent a distress call on the psychic paper, so something is probably affecting her ability to use magic properly. I suppose it’s a good thing I have this,” said The Doctor as he produced one sonic screwdriver. “Yeah, that is pretty good.” “So anyway, the plan is to get her out of there. Nothing more, nothing less. Understand?” “Yes Doctor!!” “Good, then get in.” They arrived at the TARDIS and began to depart. “So Doctor, where are we going exactly?” “Well, I’m not completely sure. All the paper said was twenty miles west of Baltimare,” said The Doctor as he pulled up a map of the area on a screen. There was only one thing that was about where Colgate directed The Doctor. “’Malum Lupus Cave’? Of all the names…Oh never mind that.” “So are we going into that cave then?” “It seems likely-“ The Doctor was interrupted by the TARDIS. Screens and buttons were flashing, smoke was coming from the center console, and sparks were beginning to fly from the inner mechanisms. In short, the TARDIS was malfunctioning. “Oh that’s brilliant! Something is disturbing the TARDIS’ ability to travel through space and time!” The Doctor almost seemed excited that something bad was happening to his precious blue box. “Um…Doctor, this isn’t exactly the best time to be happy.” “Oh, I suppose you’re right.” The TARDIS slowly came to a stop. “Well then, wherever did we stop?” The Doctor looked a screen. “So, we are only about a mile from the cave. Ditzy, we are leaving.” Ditzy walked out of the TARDIS with The Doctor following close behind. Soon enough, the two of them were heading towards the cave where Colgate seemed to be. The Weeping Pegasus was also supposed to be there, so it added a level of danger to the trip. “Remember Ditzy, if there really is a Weeping Pegasus in the cave, try to keep one of your eyes on it at all times.” Ditzy nodded, acknowledging the importance of the statement. As long as something was looking at it, it was stone. Ditzy’s problem was that she didn’t always have the best of control of her eyes. She could probably keep one eye on the creature, and thankfully that was enough to subdue the Weeping Angel. “Hey Doctor, how could Colgate still be there if there is a Weeping Pegasus in the caverns?” “Well,” started The Doctor, “Colgate is a pretty strong unicorn, of which you were probably already aware. Most unicorns have some kind of specialty to their magic, be it illusions or water or whatnot, and Colgate’s is space/time manipulation. It isn’t exactly powerful when compared to the TARDIS, but easily can jump through time about an hour or so. She can also teleport herself and other things across great distances. As you noticed, something stopped the TARDIS from getting all the way to the cave. This means that she probably cannot teleport out. Are you following me so far?” “Uh….yeah. I think.” “Good enough. I think that she has been using some kind of time lock, keeping the Weeping Pegasus frozen in time. Considering the effect on the TARDIS, I would suspect that her time manipulation is also hampered. Still, she is pretty strong and can probably get a little magic out here and there.” “So….Can I get a short version? I got lost at ’Well, Colgate is…’” “She is stopping time for a little bit here and there to find an escape.” “Oooooooh. I get it.” Probably. The two of them arrived at the cavern after a matter of minutes. They found something that they had worried about. The entrance was caved in. “Ditzy, fly around and see if you can find another entrance. Meet back in about five minutes.” “Okay!” She flew off. “Other direction Ditzy!!!” The pegasus turned around. “Oops!” She then proceed (going in the right direction) to look for another entrance to the caverns. At this point, time was of the essence. Colgate could very well be dead. Five minutes had passed and Ditzy Doo was unable to find anything except the occasional tree. “Well, how are we gonna get in Doctor? We have to save Colgate. She makes really good muffins.” “I have a plan, but I don’t have the foggiest idea of how this will turn out.” The Doctor procured his infamous sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the rubble obstructing the path. “Stand back.” The pegasus did as she was instructed as The Doctor pressed the button. The whiiiiiiir of the screwdriver was the only noticeable effect. Suddenly, the pile of rocks and debris just collapsed. Almost the entire thing fell to the ground. “Doctor, what just happened?” “Simple really. I used the screwdriver to find a keystone, one of the stones in the pile holding the entire pile up. I set the frequency to vibrate with the rock and whoosh. The rock disintegrates and the entire pile falls.” “Oh. Cool.” “Of course it’s cool. Anyway, we’d better head inside.” Ditzy looked inside with slight apprehension. “Doctor, it’s really dark in there. How are we supposed to see?” The Doctor pressed the button on his sonic screwdriver, and the light shined, but there was no sound. “It’s got a flashlight mode on it. Cool, huh?” “And convenient.” “That’s why it’s there.” The two of them stood at the mouth of the cave, knowing what could very well be waiting for them inside. The dark cave seemed only more ominous as they stared in. They had no choice but to enter though. The predicament Colgate was in could very well be life threatening, and who knows how much more she could hold out against Weeping Pegasus. Things seemed only more dire for her with the magic restraint that has been imposed. “All right here’s the plan: We go in, rescue Colgate, and if the options are available we stop the Weeping Pegasus and find out what caused the TARDIS to malfunction. Understand?” “But Doctor you said –“ “I changed my mind. Ready?” Ditzy tried to look at The Doctor. “Never,” she said, gaining a mischievous grin. “Fantastic,” replied The Doctor, stepping foot into the caverns. “Allons-y!”
The CreatureThe entrance of the cave was quite misleading. The immediate inside of the cave was unbelievably large. Stalactites and stalagmites lined the edges of the floor and ceiling. Ditzy decided it would be better if she stayed on the floor so as not to fly into anything. There was something not natural about the cave, and that much was obvious to The Doctor. “Ditzy, do you notice anything peculiar about the cave entrance?” spoke The Doctor in the light of his sonic screwdriver. The light from the cave entrance was not enough to provide any decent amount of visibility. “Why do you ask?” The only thing Ditzy noticed was that it was dark. “I’m beginning to think a Weeping Pegasus is the least of our problems. Look at the stalactites and stalagmites. Normally they would be throughout the cavern, but in here…they’re only along the edges of the cave.” They approached far edge of the cave only to confirm The Doctor’s suspicions. The back edge of the cave was bare, with only a single, large tunnel leading further in. “C’mon. We have to hurry.” The Doctor’s assistant was just not exactly…bright. She was intelligent enough, just a bit slow on the uptake. “I’m sorry… I just don’t get it…” The Doctor sighed lightly. “Let’s just hurry up and find Colgate. Now time is even more important.” The two ponies proceeded down the only tunnel in the mouth of the cave. Here, the rock was relatively smooth. Both The Doctor and Ditzy made extra sure to be focused on whatever was ahead of them. They did not want to come across the Weeping Pegasus caught unprepared. Beep. Beep. Beep. “Doctor, what’s that noise coming from the screwdriver mean?” “Well, it seems to have picked up Colgate’s magical signature. Every unicorn’s magical residue is different, and the sonic seemed to have targeted Colgate’s.” “So…What are we gonna do?” The Doctor looked at his assistant with slight disappointment. “We’re gonna follow it of course. I highly doubt that there are any other passages throughout the cavern, but if I happen to be wrong we need to be able to track down Colgate, remember?” “Oh yeah…” Sometimes…She just isn’t the brightest…anything. Ever. Oh well, thought The Doctor. He cared about his assistant much more than he allowed her to see. They walked through the tunnel, winding around corners and curves to perfect to be natural, but not perfect enough to have been created by someone. The entirety of the tunnel was pretty much the same. The Doctor noted that there were not any stones or pebbles in the tunnel. His suspicions were seeming all the more true, but he decided not to say anything. Suddenly the tunnel opened back up. Much larger than the entrance. The two ponies looked around for a moment, still unable to see much more than a few feet in front of them. Where the next tunnel was, neither of them knew for sure. That’s what the sonic screwdriver was for. They were able to follow the signal, albeit with a few large rocks they occasionally bumped into. These rocks…are vaguely pony shaped…Not statues, but not Weeping Pegasi either... it's something altogether different, thought The Doctor. “Ditzy, stop for just a moment. I need to check something real quick.” The grey mare stopped moving. Forward anyway. She bounced around a little while The Doctor did his work. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the statues and pressed the button. There’s only that one button, right? How does it do all those things? Maybe that’s something I should ask him later… pondered Ditzy, almost in her own little world. “Oh, that’s fantastic!” exclaimed The Doctor. “Look!” He put the sonic screwdriver where Ditzy could see it, but only The Doctor knew what it meant. “Isn’t this just brilliant?” “Uh….Yeah.” “You’re confused again, aren’t you?” The mare hung her head in shame. “Yes, Doctor…” “Well, these rocks aren’t just rocks. Look at them.” It was then that Ditzy noticed what The Doctor was talking about. Her eyes widened. “You don’t mean…” “Oh yes.” “Are they –“ “No, not that.” “But still.” “Exactly.” “So is that why –“ “Yep, I believe so.” “That’s not good. “That’s why we have to hurry.” “Oh. Okay.” There was no way to know if they were truly having the same conversation. The duo continued to follow the sonic screwdriver. To be specific, The Doctor followed the screwdriver and Ditzy followed The Doctor. Suspicions confirmed, they hurried through the open part of the cavern, careful to avoid the suspiciously shaped stones. Time was of the essence. More so than before. Faster than anticipated, they made it to the next tunnel. The beeping from the screwdriver got more intense, meaning that Colgate was close. At least, her residual energy was close. They knew not if they would be able to find her alive, or at all. They could only hope. It seemed like they had spent hours in the dark tunnel. It was nearly impossible to tell the time, with only the light of the sonic screwdriver illuminating the shadows. It was no way to keep time, though. The Doctor seemed focused and perfectly fine, but Ditzy Doo seemed a bit more distracted. Perhaps it was the disturbing revelation she had made earlier. Perhaps it was the thought of a good friend dying. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep “She’s near.” The Doctor began running, with Ditzy following close behind. As they rounded the corner, they found the blue unicorn backed against a wall. The Weeping Pegasus was standing right in front of her. “Doctor!” she exclaimed. “Colgate, good to see you.” The Doctor made his way around to the stone pegasus barely a foot from Colgate. “Yep, that’s a Weeping Pegasus all right.” “So how do we kill it? If we can do that, then all the disappearances will stop,” responded Colgate. Her horn faded and she got away from the wall. She no longer had to fret about seeing behind her. Thankfully the sonic screwdriver was still active. They could still see the fearsome creature. “Oh my friend, if only it were that simple.” “What do you mean?” It was Ditzy who responded, true terror resonating in her voice. “Please Colgate, we need to leave now.” Her eyes (sort of) remained fixated on the statue. She could see it, anyway. “Doctor, what is she talking about?” “Trust me. If we stay any longer we will certainly find out, and that would be most unfavorable.” “But what about the Pegasus? Certainly we cannot leave it here. It will kill again.” The Doctor looked at his friend. She could see, even in the dimly lit stone passage, the fear in his eyes. Perhaps a normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but Colgate had known The Doctor long enough. “Colgate,” The Doctor started, “this is much more dangerous than a Weeping Pegasus. Not to say that we can forget about it, but it is no longer on our priority list.” “Doctor, why? I don’t understand.” “Colgate, did you notice the entrance of the cave? The formation of the stalagmites and stalactites?” “It was a bit odd, but…Wait.” “Doctor…Doctor!” It was Ditzy’s desperate cries that brought The Doctor’s attention to something slightly more terrifying than a Weeping Pegasus: the tunnel was vibrating. “No. No! NO!” For the first time in both Ditzy and Colgate could remember, The Doctor was truly panicking. “Colgate, put the most powerful time lock you can on the Pegasus. We have to go!” Colgate did as she was asked, mustering up all remaining power she had at the moment. “That should hold for about ten minutes. Hopefully. I’ve been using time locks for a few seconds at a time so I could blink. A decent amount of my strength has returned.” “Good, good.” “Doctor, what’s going on?” Ditzy was trying to remain composed, but the fear was getting to her. She was almost in tears. “It’s waking up.” The cavern was vibrating even stronger. The thing was, it wasn’t a cavern. Ever. The beast who’s bowels the three of them had been exploring was beginning to wake up. There were four living beings already inside the beast, and all it needed to do was digest them.
Escape“Alive?! This cave is alive?” Colgate couldn’t believe it. “Oh yes!” replied The Doctor. “Now this is when we run.” The three ponies took off toward the entrance. The time lock on the Weeping Pegasus would hold, for a few minutes anyway. They were running through the tunnel when The Doctor once again noticed something unsettling. “The tunnel is moving. It’s trying to keep us in here. We have to keep moving.” There was no reason to do anything else. Desperately the trio ran at full gallop, the tunnel constantly changing. If they did not hurry, they would die. That much was clear. It was when they made it back to the large, open cavern that they truly saw what they were up against. The cave was dripping fluid from the ceiling. Not everywhere and not necessarily a lot, but whatever it was dissolved the rocks it touched. “Doctor, what is that?” “Stomach acid. We are about to reenter its first stomach. Remember all the oddly shaped stones coming out of the floor?” The two mares nodded in agreement. “Well, those are its previous victims. What’s left of them, anyway.” The deadly acid only brought another challenge to deal with. “Doctor,” Colgate began, “we have to hurry. I don’t know how much longer I can sustain this time lock.” “I have an idea. A dangerous one, sure. But an idea.” The Doctor and his friends had not moved into the stomach for a lack of safety. Not that anything was safe in this beast. “Well, what is it?” Colgate and Ditzy looked at The Doctor (Colgate more so than Ditzy, but she did try), trying to decipher his complex mind. “I suggest we run straight through to the other side. More or less.” “But Doctor, what about the acid?” “When I say to, release the time lock on the Pegasus and put a force field around us. The Pegasus will almost certainly follow us, and will probably get destroyed by the acid.” “It’s worth a shot. Colgate, can you do it?” “Probably. Ready when you are, Doctor.” “And…NOW!” Colgate’s horn flashed with magic, and a slight force field presented itself around the three ponies. Sure, it may not withstand against much physical force, but the acid wouldn’t be too much trouble. Better yet, it pushed away any acid on the floor of the beast’s stomach that was in their way. Just as The Doctor had suspected, the Pegasus appeared at the entrance of the stomach. However, their number one priority was to escape. The Pegasus stayed at that point, but eventually the group had to break eye contact. The light from the sonic screwdriver only traveled so far. They kept running, making their way around the dissolving stone remains of ponies. In the darkness it was difficult to truly know how long they had to go. The biggest problem they had was actually finding the first tunnel. Trusting in the sonic screwdriver, The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate eventually made it back to the esophagus. The esophagus, thought The Doctor, that’s what this is, isn’t it. They travelled up the esophagus, carefully making sure that the creature would not swallow them again. It probably knew they were coming back up, yet it made no motion to keep them trapped. “Doctor, how much longer do you think we have to go?” asked Ditzy Doo. “I really don’t know. This beast is constantly stretching out its internal organs, so what may have taken ten minutes may now take an hour. It all depends on what it is doing.” “Oh, okay. Hey Colgate, when we get out of here, you need to make some muffins. I’m hungry.” Colgate looked at the pegasus with slight confusion. “There’s a kitchen on the TARDIS, right? Can’t you do it? No offence.” The Doctor spoke up. “This isn't exactly the time or place to be having this conversation. Besides, the last time she made muffins on the TARDIS, the whole thing went up in flames. It took months to get the scorch marks off the console.” “But more importantly, the muffins got burnt…” It took all of Colgate’s self-control to not burst out in hysterical laughter. “Okay, Ditzy. I’ll make – Doctor, look! The exit!” Sure enough, the exit could be seen. It was night outside. Of course, they were in the mouth. Saliva of a sort was spilled across the floor. “Let’s not waste any more time in here then.” The three of them began to run toward the entrance when the whole thing started shaking, much more violently than before. The group ran faster, making it through the exit only a moment before the great beast shut its maw. “Well that was certainly close, eh Doc?” The Doctor laughed. “No surprises there Colgate. Let’s go.” The Doctor, Ditzy Doo, and Colgate walked the mile to the TARDIS. As they entered, none of them noticed that for just a second, the TARDIS door did not close. “So Doctor, what was that thing?” “It was..well, I don't exactly know what they are called. I know what they do though. Anyway, they are massive predators who appear to be a large cavern, completely stone. Once the opportunity has arisen, it will reanimate itself and devour anything inside. We got out just in time.” “But what about all those other victims?” "Ah. When the prey gets digested, it gets absorbed into the stomach wall. The worm hadn't gotten a chance to fully reanimate itself by the time we got out, otherwise it would have been like stepping on the actual insides of a being: fleshy and disturbingly wet." "You said it could reanimate itself?" "Yep. It's kind of like a Weeping Pegasus in that way, it can turn to stone and back. However, the worm can do it at will and it takes a significantly longer amount of time." "But how'd it get here?" “Who knows? It probably fell through a rift in space. They can live just about anywhere there is life. I’ve seen them before, but not here. Curious.” “But Doctor, how did it block my magic?” “You see, as species evolved, the worm’s prey found ways of escaping, often times through means of teleportation. As a defense, the cave worms developed a kind of anti-teleportation field. It counteracts any kind of teleportation or distance travel. It stopped the TARDIS a mile out of the cave. He pressed some buttons and they departed. Off through time and space flew the three ponies. Colgate made muffins, much to the delight of Ditzy. To the delight of The Doctor, there was no massive, all-destroying blaze from the process. Shortly afterwards, Colgate collapsed from exhaustion, the adrenaline finally running out. The Doctor put her in one of many bedrooms to rest. “So Ditzy, where do you want to go next?” Ditzy didn’t hear him, distracted by the power of muffins. He repeated the question. “Oh, I don’t know. Wherever.” “All right then. Let’s go…home. Just for a bit. We should probably make sure Berry Punch is okay, after what happened.” “Okay then. I wonder if she remembers anything” “I highly doubt it. She was drunk, remember? Before Ditzy could answer, the console of the TARDIS lit up. Buttons were flashing and screens were lighting up, showing things only The Doctor understood. “Doctor, what’s going on? “Oh, nothing. It’s just being…” The Doctor slammed his hoof onto one of the panels. “…the TARDIS. It does that from time to time. Not entirely sure why, though. Oh well.” “You’re sure?” “Yeah. Nothing to worry about.” Soon, the TARDIS landed in present day Ponyville. The Doctor, Ditzy, and (a recently awaken) Colgate went to check up on Berry Punch. Sure enough, she was normal again. Normal being drunk yet again, that is. She remembered nothing of nearly killing the princesses. This was probably a good thing, because there was less to have to explain to her. “So Doctor,” Colgate started as they began the trek away from Berry Punch’s house, “What are you going to do?” “Oh, the usual. Take Ditzy across space and time doing Celestia knows what.” Ditzy smiled at the idea. “What about you Colgate? It was luck we got there when we did.” “I really don’t know. I may just take a bit of time and relax.” “Ooh! Ooh! You can make me some more muffins!” The Doctor and Colgate looked at Ditzy, not really sure of what to say. “What? I think it’s a good idea.” “That it is, my assistant. That it…” The Doctor stopped what he was saying. They had arrived back at the TARDIS. “What’s wrong?” Colgate and Ditzy asked in unison. “The TARDIS door,” started the Doctor, “it’s open. It’s impossible that something got inside.” “So, what does that mean?” inquired Colgate. “It means that something got out.” The Doctor knew of nopony else other than himself, Ditzy, and Colgate that were on the TARDIS. But there was one thing that he did not know the fate of. Something that, in the back of his mind, he knew was now loose in Ponyville: the Weeping Pegasus.
PonyvilleIt was about the time of day when Ponyville was bustling with ponies going here and there. Occasionally ponies would stop and chat, but then resume their business. Some were doing their grocery shopping for the week. There was a small crowd around a street musician, listening intently, enjoying the sweet sounds emerging from the instrument. It was an ordinary day in Ponyville, at least to the knowledge of the town’s inhabitants. Not one of them noticed that there was a new stone statue of a seemingly generic pegasus. “Well I noticed! You just said it was there!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Tnuyum looked at the computer screen in disbelief. Really Pinkie? Tnuyum typed. Can you at least pretend that the fourth wall exsists? You aren’t even in this story! “Well fine then.” Nopony noticed the statue now that Pinkie Pie left the story. It wasn’t exactly in the most noticeable location but it was always in somepony’s view, whether they realized it or not. Anypony who walked past just took it in as a part of the town’s décor. It looked harmless enough, just a plain old pegasus statue sitting in the middle of Ponyville. Slowly the day progressed, and the number of ponies meandering throughout the various streets began to dwindle. By the time the moon was up, there was nopony left looking at the peculiar statue. Surely enough, the Weeping Pegasus came to life. Off it went into the heart of Ponyville, looking for its next victim. “Oh, how lovely this night is,” muttered a light purple earth pony. Her name was Wisteria. She was a local florist, and thoroughly enjoyed taking a stroll in the night air. She would never tell anyone, but since Princess Luna had returned, she usually preferred her over Princess Celestia. She casually strolled down the street, pleased with how her day had gone. She was even further pleased with the fact that there was nopony out to disrupt her walk. She liked that. Snap. The sound of a twig breaking startled Wisteria. She spun around. The pony screamed in absolute terror. Behind her was a stone pegasus, seeming to leap out at her. “It…It’s just a statue…right?” She seemed unsure of her words. Where could this mysterious statue have come from? She looked away, for only a moment. She only wanted a moment to figure out what it was. Though she didn’t realize it, that was her biggest mistake. She eventually woke up in Canterlot almost one hundred years before she was even born, never to be seen by her friends and family again. The Weeping Pegasus continued to hunt, careful not to draw attention to itself. There weren’t to many ponies roaming the streets at night, so it was easy for the Pegasus to travel without drawing unnecessary attention. It planned to ravage the population of Ponyville, but not so quickly that anyone noticed until it was too late. Besides, there was something of the utmost importance that needed to be taken care of first. The Doctor had, of course, heard Wisteria’s scream. Unfortunately he and his companions were on the other side of town, so by the time they got to where the scream originated it was far too late. There was no sign of the Pegasus anywhere nearby. “This is not good,” stated The Doctor. For hours they had been searching for the Pegasus to no avail. Somehow the creature had managed to continue to elude them since they were inside the giant worm. Somehow the Pegasus had managed to sneak onto the TARDIS sometime after having been trapped in the stomach of the worm. The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate had been distracted with trying to escape from the worm that they had forgotten (mostly) about the Pegasus. Upon returning to the TARDIS to leave, the discovery of the open door meant that it had to have snuck aboard and escaped. “Doctor, where do you think it has gone?” asked Ditzy. “Who knows? Probably off to find another victim.” “So what do we do?” “We keep looking. We absolutely have to find that Weeping Pegasus. Right now the entirety of Ponyville is at stake.” “Hm….That’s bad,” muttered Ditzy. Colgate looked at Ditzy with a slight amount of frustration mixed with a hint of sarcasm. “Oh, you don’t say.” “Hey, hey. Stop it now. We have to focus on the task at hand.” “Sorry Doctor,” spoke Colgate and Ditzy in unison. “Now then. We have to find this Pegasus.” The trio of time travelers hurried along the winding roads and paths of Ponyville. Somepony was now lost to time, quite possibly dead in present day. It was up to The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate to find and defeat the Weeping Pegasus. Unfortunately, they had no idea where to start. They weren’t entirely sure they would find anything out until Wisteria screamed in fright. “Who do you think it was?” asked Colgate nervously. She lived in Ponyville and spent most of her time there. The town was just large enough that there was somepony knew to meet every day, but small enough that nopony felt lost or out of place. “Hmm…My best guess is that florist…Oh what’s her name…” The Doctor thought for a moment as they continued the hunt. “She always liked to take an evening stroll after everypony had gone to bed. Less disturbances that way.” “I know who you’re talking about. I used to pass her stall in the market all the time. Never said anything to her, never even knew her name. I suppose now I never will.” “Aw, cheer up Colgate! At least it wasn’t Berry or one of your other friends!” remarked Ditzy, in an attempt to lighten the mood. ‘Yeah, I guess.” Colgate felt responsible for what happened. It was her who decided to go exploring Malum Lupus Cave. It was her who stumbled upon the Weeping Pegasus. It was her who had sent a distress call to The Doctor. In her mind, she was to blame for the whole ordeal. Whether or not she truly was mattered not. Colgate indirectly caused an innocent pony to essentially get murdered. The Doctor and Ditzy didn’t feel that way, not at all. However, it was not the time or place to be throwing blame at anypony. Beep beep beep “Ah-ha! That’s fantastic! The sonic picked up the trail of the Pegasus. We may yet catch this stone-cold killer.” The Doctor paused. There was an awkward silence. “C’mon. That was funny.” “Um….hahaha?” “What Ditzy said.” “You guys are no fun, you know that?” At that, The Doctor focused on the beeping coming from the sonic screwdriver. Now that they had a lock on the Pegasus, they should be able to track it down. Time was not something that was to be wasted, and there was little of it to waste. The damage that the Weeping Pegasus could cause would be catastrophic to Ponyville. The group continued after the incessant beep beep beep of the sonic screwdriver, getting ever closer to locating the Pegasus. They had come across a problem though. As soon as they would get close, the Pegasus would get farther away again. It knew they were chasing it. What The Doctor didn’t know was the Weeping Pegasus’ true plan. “Blast. It keeps getting just beyond our reach. Time to track it down again.” “Alright, Doctor. Let’s get moving.” “Doctor? I see it. The Pegasus.” Ditzy was desperately trying to focus on looking at the Pegasus. It was probably about fifty feet away, in a dark alley between buildings. “No, that can’t be. The sonic says it’s that way,” replied The Doctor, motioning a hoof in a completely different direction. It was Colgate who spoke next. “Doctor, I think we have a serious problem.” “Colgate, we’ve had a serious problem for some time now.” “No, I mean that I think that I’m looking at a different Pegasus than the one Ditzy’s looking at.” “What?” The Doctor turned to face his companions. Down the alley that Ditzy was facing was the ever recognizable Weeping Pegasus. On the roof of a store a few buildings away was another Weeping Pegasus, only frozen in stone because of Colgate’s never ending gaze. “What?!” The sonic screwdriver suddenly came to life, beeping crazily. The Doctor spun around to lock eyes with the Weeping Pegasus that had stowed away on his TARDIS a few short hours ago. Their original problem had now tripled. Three Weeping Pegasi were now loose in Ponyville.
ThreeThis is impossible, thought The Doctor. There was but one Weeping Pegasus that they had to face, yet before the group stood three. “Everypony, just focus on the Pegasi in front of you. Whatever you do, do not look away.” “Doctor, what happened? Why are there three?” A smattering of fear presented itself amongst Colgate’s words. “You said that the only other Pegasi were trapped elsewhere, right?” “They were. They were trapped inside a small tomb just outside of here, looking at each other for eternity.” Of all possible things, it appeared that the Weather Patrol had scheduled some form of torrential downpour to commence at exactly that moment. The clouds rolled in, and the storm began. Rain fell from the sky with such vigor it became difficult to see. Lightning flashed frequently in the distance, illuminating the night sky. “Hey Colgate,” The Doctor started, “Think you can freeze them for just a moment?” Slowly the Pegasi crept ever closer to the trio of ponies. The rain was obscuring their field of vision, and every so often one of the three momentarily lost track of their Pegasus. “Maybe. I’ve never tried it on more than one target before.” She began to focus the magical energy into her horn. In a sudden flash of magic, the three Weeping Pegasi were bathed in a light blue aura, frozen in time. “I have no idea how long this will last, Doctor.” “Then we’d better get moving!” The three of them fled from where the Pegasi were, The Doctor trying to think of a plan to eliminate their enemies without destroying the entirety of Equestria. This was three times now that The Doctor had been caught off guard in a single adventure, and he did not like it one bit. “Doctor, where are we going exactly?” asked Ditzy. It was a legitimate question. Nopony really knew what was going on, just that they had to escape very quickly. “Back to the TARDIS. We should be able to sort things out there.” “Okay then!” The pony-made deluge continued to splash in the eyes of The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate. They were probably going in the right direction, but they could barely see an inch in front of them clearly. Past that things were mostly just shapes and colors. Still the trio galloped onward, drawing closer and closer to the TARDIS. “Doctor, I can’t hold the spell for much longer,” Colgate announced. “Alright then. We’d better hurry. The last thing we need is to be trapped in the past without the TARDIS.” Through the rain, The Doctor could vaguely make out the shape of the TARDIS off in the distance. Perhaps three more minutes and they would be safe. If they had thirty more seconds. “Doctor! The spell broke!” It wasn’t Colgate’s fault. The spell was very difficult to maintain. She had actually lasted longer than The Doctor had anticipated. “Okay. Be ready.” Sure enough, the Weeping Pegasi had surrounded them almost the second that the spell broke. They had formed a circle around the group, a circle that should keep them frozen for eternity. “There’s something wrong with its eyes,” stated Ditzy. “Same with this one. Hard to say what though, with all the rain,” Colgate responded. Through the rain, it was difficult to make out, but there was definitely something wrong with the eyes of the three Pegasi. Up close it became apparent what was wrong. It also made it extremely difficult to stop them. It appeared that something had destroyed the eyes of the statues. “They destroyed their eyes. They can’t see each other, so they can’t freeze each other.” This was one of those rare times where The Doctor had no clue what to do. Here were three extremely deadly foes, with one of their greatest weaknesses removed. They could still turn to stone, a fact made clear by the three stone Pegasi surrounding The Doctor, Ditzy, and Colgate, but they now had to be completely destroyed. They could no longer hope to deceive the Pegasi to look at each other. “But they can’t see us?” asked Colgate. “No, they can’t. They don’t really need to though. It only helps.” “So what do we do?” “Well…This is the part where you proceed to time lock them once more and then we run.” “Doc, I don’t know if I can.” “Colgate, you have to try.” “I’ll do my best.” There was a similar flash of magic and the group took off. So close were they to the TARDIS. Nothing they had to worry about. The spell would hold and they would figure out what to do next. Everything would be all right and The Doctor would save the day. The rain had steadily been getting stronger, and it was at the point that they could not see in front of them. The Doctor procured his sonic screwdriver and used it to track down the TARDIS’ location. Colgate and Ditzy Doo only had to follow the beep beep beep and they would be home free. Well, they would at least be in a position in which they could further evaluate the situation and come up with a clever plan to defeat the Weeping Pegasi once and for all. The closer they got to the TARDIS the faster the beeping got. Finally, through the rain and even in the darkness, a familiar blue shape appeared only a few dozen yards before them. “Doctor, I can see it! We are almost there!” exclaimed Ditzy, excited about something that actually makes sense. “C’mon then!” The Doctor reached the TARDIS first. He put the sonic screwdriver in his mouth and procured the TARDIS key. Unfortunately, the rain made it slip from his hooves and it fell in the mud. “Guys, I dropped the key! It’s somewhere nearby!” Ditzy and The Doctor began frantically sifting through the mud nearby, trying ever so desperately to find the key to the TARDIS. “Colgate, please help me and The Doctor. We really need this key.” Colgate could barely respond. “Doc…I can’t…much longer…” The spell was taking its toll on the unicorn. A massive headache unlike any she had felt before made its presence known to her. It was like somepony was trying to rip out her horn. “Ah hah! Got it!” said The Doctor. He took the key and inserted into the door. The TARDIS sprung open and in rushed Ditzy and The Doctor. As The Doctor entered the TARDIS, there was a sudden flash of blue energy behind him. Colgate collapsed. “Oh no you don’t!” He dashed back out, picked up Colgate, and threw her back into the TARDIS. “Doctor, what about the Pegasi?” asked Ditzy. “C’mon, they should be here any –“ The TARDIS door slammed shut. The Doctor, however, was not inside. “Doctor? DOCTOR!” Ditzy flew to the door as fast as she could, only to find that the door would not open. The Doctor was gone.
Trapped“No…Doctor…” cried Ditzy, desperately trying to open the TARDIS. The Doctor had given his life to save Colgate. The TARDIS shook violently as the trio of Weeping Pegasi tried to force their way inside, only to come across the problem that plagued Ditzy Doo. The door would not budge, and the hull of the ship would not give. There was no way in or out of the TARDIS. Ditzy looked around the TARDIS, unsure of what to do. If The Doctor were here, he would think of something. I’m sure of it, thought Ditzy. She had no idea how to fly the TARDIS. Colgate however, might. The problem was that Colgate was unconscious with no way of telling when exactly she would awaken. At the moment, all that Ditzy could do was hope that the Pegasi had no way to get in. “Blast,” muttered The Doctor as he awoke to find himself in a seemingly familiar location, if a bit different than he remembered. He fought through the fog in his mind to remember exactly what happened. “Oh…That’s right. Weeping Pegasi. I was…getting Colgate back in and they must have got me. Again. That’s just fantastic.” The Doctor looked around to see that he was almost exactly where he was only moments ago. Well, moments ago relative to him. When he was, those particular moments had yet to happen yet. The Doctor gazed upon Ponyville, but there were a few differences. Chief among them was that there were several buildings not where they should be. They weren’t ‘missing’ exactly, they just hadn’t been built yet. Over 900 years of time travel and it still confounds me from time to time, thought The Doctor, careful to keep his thoughts in his head so as not to mess with the flow of time. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey. “Hey! You there!” shouted a familiar voice. The Doctor turned to face a tan mare with a bright pink mane. “I haven’t seen you around. You looking for something?” The mare adorned a bright happy smile. “Not exactly, but could you tell me the year?” “Sure, I guess. You feeling alright? Hitting the cider a bit hard?” “The year please?” “Right, right. It’s 988 PNM. That’s Post-Nightmare Moon in case you’ve really had a bit too much to drink.” “Thanks. I’ll be off then. I might be here a while.” “Well, if you’re planning to stay, make sure to vote for me in the upcoming election. I’m running for mayor, you know.” “Yeah, I kind of figured.” “Well, have a nice day then!” At that, the future mayor of Ponyville trotted off. “Hmm…988. That means I’ve only been sent back about 14 years. It definitely could have been worse. Now I just need to figure out a way to get back.” The Doctor glanced around, trying to think of some inconspicuous way to get word back to the present. Well, the future. Present-future? Still to this day I can’t really explain this whole time…stuff, thought The Doctor to himself. “Uuuh…What’s going on,” moaned Colgate, finally coming to a state of awareness. She had been unconscious for almost two hours. At some unknown point the Pegasi realized that there was no way to get inside. They had, unknown to but assumed by Ditzy, taken up a temporary residence outside of the TARDIS, waiting until somepony decides to emerge. “Oh Colgate! You’re awake!” It was the first bit of good news received by Ditzy since The Doctor had been taken. “Yes, I’m awake. More or less.” “They got The Doctor, Colgate. We’re stuck here.” Colgate stood up, wobbling around a bit before stabilizing herself. “I see,” she said. “It all makes sense now.” “Colgate, what are you talking about?” “The Pegasi made a bit of a mistake, you see,” Colgate stated as she made her way over to the center console of the TARDIS. Ditzy made some sort of a frowny-face, but it was hard to take seriously because her eyes were completely unfocused. She tried though. “Would you care to explain? The Doctor gave is life for you.” “Well, we’re going to get The Doctor.” Colgate pressed some buttons and pulled some levers and the all too familiar siren of the TARDIS blared. The Doctor was wracking his brain for a solution to this conundrum. There had to be a way to get word to Ditzy and Colgate. The Doctor was trapped without his TARDIS. He made his way through streets that were familiar, yet simultaneously completely different. The Doctor had never visited a past version of Ponyville, so this whole experience was enlightening. He thought back to the last time he was stuck in this scenario. The problem was that the Pegasi were specifically targeting him from the beginning. There was no guarantee that there would be more victims to bring messages through. “Oh Doctor, how ever do you manage to get yourself into these types of problems?” At this point, The Doctor decided to take a break from all this thinking. He was beginning to become hungry, which made sense considering how long it will have been before it has been for him to eat at some point. He made his way around a street corner, hoping to see a sign that was all too familiar to him. Sure enough, there stood Sugarcube Corner, with a “Now Open” sign underneath it. “Fantastic! I’m famished.” The Doctor made his way to Sugarcube Corner, and upon opening the door, learned yet another interesting fact of Ponyville’s history. “What can I get for you?” asked an older stallion, his mane just beginning to lose its color. “Are you the owner?” “Yeah, you got a problem with it? I just opened the place up a few weeks ago.” “Really now? You seem a bit…” “Yeah, I’m a bit old to be starting a business. Hopefully I’ll be able to give the place to my featherbrained son in a few years. If he’d just finish school and stop thinking about his blasted girlfriend…Oh what’s her name….” “Excuse me, I’m a tad hungry.” “Right, right. Sorry about that. Anyway, what do you want?” “Whatever you’d recommend.” “Alrighty then.” The Doctor took a seat at one of the (new) tables and eagerly awaited his meal. He had learned through past encounters to make sure to carry a few bits with him just in case something like this was to happen. Now he wouldn’t have to worry about tricking people in the past, especially in a town that would become such an important location in the near future. No need to risk the entirety of space and time. The owner of the shop brought out The Doctor’s meal. Shortly after finishing, he paid and left the shop. He continued to wander the streets of Ponyville, trying to solve his little dilemma. He did not like being in situations that were beyond his control. The Doctor just happened to notice a shop sign out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, this could be simply brilliant,” exclaimed The Doctor. He may have just found his way out of this whole scenario. He entered the establishment, and saw exactly the pony he had hoped to see. “Do you have an appointment?” asked the unicorn filly sitting at the front desk. “Aren’t you a little young to be working at the desk?” “Well, yeah a bit. But my dad doesn’t want to teach me how to work on ponies’ teeth until I’m older,” the young filly responded, her blue and white mane bobbing ever so slightly as she moved. “Ah. I see,” said The Doctor, his face slowly splitting into a large grin. “So, would you like to make an appointment?” “Sure, I’m The Doctor.” “But what’s your name?” “Just…The Doctor. And you are?” The Doctor already knew the answer to the question, he just wanted to hear her say it. He did so enjoy these types of things. “Well,” the filly started, “I’m Colgate.”
Allons-yThe Doctor looked at the young Colgate with great excitement. Oh the great mysteries of time, thought The Doctor. It would seem that this would be the first time she ever meets The Doctor, though The Doctor had known Colgate for years now. “Um…Mister? You’re kind of creeping me out. Do you need something?” “Oh yes my dear. I need you to do me a huge favor.” “Um…” “Just listen to me. One day, I need you to give a message to a very important pony. Understand?” “I guess…” “Right. My life and the lives of my friends depend on this particular message getting delivered. Can you handle that?” Filly Colgate looked at The Doctor with a great amount of confusion. Sure, delivering a message for somepony was an easy enough task, but this guy was a bit…odd. “Yeah, I suppose I could manage that. Who is the message for?” “Oh, you’ll know who when the time comes.” “What do you mean, ‘when the time comes’?” “I need you to hold onto this message for a very long time. Then when the time is right, you will know who the message is for.” “You’re not really making any sense, you know?” “I know.” “So what is this mysterious message?” The Doctor thought for a moment. What is the mysterious message? I really don’t want to screw this up… Finally The Doctor had his answer. “Just tell her to meet me where we first met.” “That’s…odd. I suppose I could do it if you really need me to.” “Brilliant. Colgate,” started The Doctor, as a particularly odd siren began to sound outside of the dentist’s office, “I’ll be seeing you soon enough. Allons-y!” The Doctor quickly turned to the door and trotted out. “Wait! What are you talking about?” Colgate followed him out, only to come face to face with a large blue box. A blue box which she would later know as the TARDIS. A blue box that she would have adventures in with the mysterious Doctor. But for the young filly, these were things to come. The siren sounded again, and the box vanished from thin air. “Ah, it’s good to be back,” stated The Doctor upon boarding the TARDIS. He was quickly assaulted by a pegasus-shaped blur. “Ditzy…you’re…crushing me…” Ditzy’s face flushed bright red and quickly stopped hugging/crushing The Doctor. “Sorry…I’m just glad you’re okay.” “Me too…” responded The Doctor, still gasping for air. “So, we’ve known each other for fourteen years and you couldn’t just tell me that I was the recipient of that particular message?” “I only just came up with the idea. Besides, first met you six years ago. Not fourteen.” “But-“ “You met me fourteen years ago.” “But-“ “Look. It’s all –“ “Ooh! Ooh!” interrupted Ditzy. “Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!” The Doctor looked at her and spoke. “I was just going to say ‘confusing’, but I suppose that work’s too.” “Um…okay?” Colgate still understood absolutely nothing about the whole ordeal. But that was okay for now, she really didn’t need to know anything much past the fact that The Doctor is a very confusing pony. “Good. Now we have to figure out a way to defeat the Pegasi before they destroy the entirety of Ponyville. Unless that’s what we want….no, we can’t let that happen. But really. How are we going to stop them? They’re blind now, so we can’t make them look at each other. We could…No…could we? Ooh. I like this plan.” Colgate and Ditzy really had no response to The Doctor’s ramblings. It was usually best to just let him ramble. “Great. So now I need….” The Doctor rummaged around in the various storage compartments on the deck of the TARDIS. “Blast. It’s not there. Excuse me but I have to go run down to the swimming pool. If it’s still there.” The Doctor ran off down a staircase, leaving Colgate and Ditzy to just stand there looking completely inept and helpless. The Doctor did that to many ponies on many occasions though, so it was mostly all right. “Ah-hah! Found it,” called up a voice from below that hopefully belonged to The Doctor. “Doctor, what are you doing down there?” asked Ditzy, her voice echoing slightly through the interior of the ship. Ponies tend to forget the size of the TARDIS. “I’m finding the thing we need. Well, found the thing we need,” replied The Doctor as he ascended the staircase. On his back was a very odd looking contraption, one that appeared to fit over somepony’s head. “And what exactly is that?” Colgate asked cautiously. “This is a spell amplifier. Here, put it on.” He tossed it over towards Colgate, and she caught the device telepathically. “What exactly do you mean ‘spell amplifier’?” “It’s a device. That you put on your head. And in increases spell power. Exactly what it sounds like.” “So why are you giving this to me?” “Well, after what had happened earlier, I realized that this was exactly what we needed to defeat the Pegasi. We are gonna take our disturbingly creepy friends on a little trip.” “What do you mean?” inquired Ditzy. “Well, Colgate here is gonna use that amplifier to freeze up the Pegasi for just a few moments,” said The Doctor, turning his head to face Colgate. “Don’t worry. It will be easy. Anyway, then we will bring them onto the TARDIS and take them with us.” “Where exactly are we taking them?” The TARDIS siren signaled the return to Ponyville. “Oh, I dunno,” started The Doctor, “I was thinking….the sun?” “Wait…you mean that large, bright circle in the sky during the day?” “That’s the one. Now then, are we ready?” “Nope,” said Ditzy. “Doctor, I’m never ready when I’m with you,” responded Colgate. “Brilliant. It’s time.” The Doctor ran over to look at one of the monitors on the center console. “Yep. They’re waiting for us.” He shut of the screen. “Now Colgate, but that amplifier on your head and just use the same spell you have been. Trust me, it will be relatively easy.” Colgate obeyed The Doctor’s commands. He continued to press various buttons on the console and turned to Ditzy. “Now, once the Weeping Pegasi have been loaded onto the TARIDS, press that button.” “This one?” “No, not that one. You’re on the wrong side of the console.” Ditzy repositioned herself and motioned to a different button. “Yes that one. On the count of three.” The whole room was tense. There was a slight chance that the plan did not succeed. More than likely it would, but there was always that stray possibility. “One.” “Two.” “THREE!” The Doctor flung open the doors of the TARDIS. He quickly leaped backwards as Colgate cast her spell. The Pegasi were frozen in time, leaving The Doctor sufficient time to ensure all three were loaded into the TARDIS. They were heavy, being stone and all, so it took several minutes. Colgate remarked how easy it was with the contraption on her head and Ditzy looked at several thing on opposite sides of the ship. Soon The Doctor signaled Ditzy to launch the TARDIS towards the sun. Only a moment later was The Doctor tossing Weeping Pegasi out into space, just so that the sun would destroy them permanently. “Gone,” remarked Colgate. She could no longer sense the Pegasi within her spell. The Weeping Pegasi were gone for good. Colgate took off the amplifier. Sure, it was powerful, but it was a tad uncomfortable. “Whew. That was a lot more difficult than it should have been.” “Hey, do we still have any muffins?” “I haven’t a clue. You can go check though.” Ditzy wandered off to find the door marked Muffin Storage. “So Colgate,” started The Doctor, “Can you please just sit tight in Ponyville with your little dentist-ness? It’ll make life easier for everypony.” Colgate sighed heavily. “I guess I can try. It’s just so much fun, almost dying and all.” “Well, we’d better get you back. No need to have your name on a list of the missing ponies. Who knows who all got taken in our absence?” Ditzy arrived moments later carrying a large tray of muffins, ready for the three of them to eat. Shortly afterwards, the TARDIS landed right outside of Colgate’s office. “So Doctor, when can we do this again?” “Maybe sometime soon. Who knows?” “Bye Colgate! See ya soon!” The Doctor and his ever faithful assistant entered their mysterious blue box and vanished from sight. “Oh, those two…” muttered Colgate as she walked through the front door of her shop, ready to face the challenge of living after having been with The Doctor.
Epilogue“Make sure to bring Bon-bon by at some point. With all those sweets, I just need to make sure her teeth are still healthy,” Colgate said to Lyra as she was getting out of the chair. “Will do.” “Keep up the good work Lyra, your teeth look really good.” “Thanks.” Lyra paid Colgate for the check up and left. Colgate sighed. “It’s been two weeks. I’m bored beyond belief. I just wish The Doctor would come back…” She went to the back of the store and began to organize her tools, just to occupy her mind. Not a moment later, the door opened. “I’ll be right with you!” shouted Colgate from the back. She made her way to the front desk, only to come across a group of ponies she was not entirely familiar with. “Hello. Do any of you have an appointment, or are you here to make one?” The mare looked at her long and hard, as if she was examining Colgate. “Not exactly.” Her voice was almost a bit too happy. The other ponies around her said nothing. “Then what can I help you with? You do realize that I am a dentist, right?” “Yes, yes. We know who you are, Miss Colgate. Now, if you could please answer a few questions for us.” Colgate began to get very suspicious, but refused to let it show. “What kind of questions?” “We want to know about The Doctor.” Colgate definitely knew that something was wrong now. Ordinary ponies don’t go around asking about The Doctor. He was kind of important, and she would do her best to protect him. “I’m sorry, but I’m the only doctor here. Remember? Dentist?” “Look, I’m sorry but I don’t have time for this.” The mare signaled to one of the stallions next to her, and he slammed Colgate against the wall, pinning her there with his hoof. “Like I said. Tell us about The Doctor.” “I…don’t know…what you’re talking about…” The mare was clearly getting frustrated. “Yes you do. We saw you gallivanting around Ponyville with him a few weeks ago during that storm. Tell us what you know.” “This…can’t be legal. I will get the sheriff after you.” Colgate was beginning to feel the pain of being crushed against the wall. “Let her go.” The stallion released his hoof from Colgate’s chest, and she collapsed on the ground. “Look at me, Colgate. Let me tell you something. You are going to tell us what we want. Our authority goes beyond the police. Beyond even Celestia herself. We exist to protect Equestria from…threats not of this world. Of which The Doctor is one.” Colgate looked at the mare, puzzling over what she had just said. “Who are you?” “We…are Torchwhoof.”
