Gaia: approx. 394 C.E: Equestria: Border of the Draco Mountains

Queen Celestia found it difficult to sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed as she desperately tried to doze off. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get comfortable. Celestia ended up turning and staring at the Master’s TARDIS. She wanted to believe that the two Time Lords could help win this war for them, but her faith in their ability dwindled after their late arrival. This war had gone on long enough. Equestria would never be the same after this. That much Celestia knew in her heart as her thoughts longingly went towards her Alicorn commander. What she wanted most was to be at home in her castle with him as her King, but she knew that would never happen. Not as long as this war raged across the plains.

The breeze outside blew peacefully. Creating a soft rustling sound throughout the grass. Celestia focused on the beautiful music it was making. To hear the grass in such a way washed her mind with a serene feeling. She reached out her senses and listened to her army relaxing while others slept. The night watch were patrolling the camp and a few soldiers were playing at dice, well into the late night. For what seemed like hours of lying there awake, was only a brief moment. She never imagined herself to ever have trouble sleeping. That changed however once her traitorous sister lead an uprising against her. For the last four hundred years, Queen Celestia had never had a full night’s sleep. Whenever she did eventually sleep, It always felt a part of her was missing, unguarded even. Staring up at the celling of her tent, Celestia’s vision slowly became hazed, and then, she finally drifted off to sleep. Her thoughts filled with the music of the wind across the plains.

Gaia: approx. 394 C.E: Equestria: Border of the Draco Mountains: The Master’s TARDIS

She was fighting. Princess Celestia was battling changeling after changeling. They wouldn’t stop advancing towards her. Slashing and stabbing, she was struggling to keep up with them. Her armor was already badly damaged and a few pieces had completely fallen off. She didn’t remember why, but she knew she had to keep advancing forward. The changeling forces were formidable, unless they were killed they would continue fighting until their last breath. “Damn it!” She yelled as yet another changeling horn lance slashed her side. Her head was throbbing and her body felt as if it would fail her at any moment. Just as she was about to be overwhelmed by another wave of changeling soldiers, she felt another presence beside her. It was a presence of raw strength.

Filled with new found hope, Princess Celestia fought with all she had. Her new ally fighting just as hard to beat back the changelings, however, as she turned to see just who was helping her win, her vision faded. All she could see was a black mass of haze. Princess Celestia couldn’t tell who was helping her. That’s when her head filled with a searing pain and she blacked out. She floated in the Darkness for quite some time. Nothing. Not a sound could be heard. Until however after what felt like an eternity she heard a whisper. It was very faint, but as she focused on it, the whisper became harsh yet still she couldn’t understand it. Princess Celestia began to plead with the voice in the blackness. “Please. I must know as to what you are trying to say. I yearn to speak with you.”

“………” The harsh whisper wasn’t clear enough for her to understand what it was saying.

“I beg of you. Please speak to me. I am terrified and alone. Answer me this at least. Will I ever return home?” Celestia pleaded with the whispers again.

“Blazing sun and Nightmare moon. You should know, his death is soon.” The whispers answered her.

“Blazing Sun? Nightmare Moon? What are you talking about? Who’s death is soon!?” She demanded. The whispers only repeated themselves over and over. Each time they sounded more menacing than the last. “Please stop no more!” Princess Celestia attempted to cover her ears and closed her eyes, but the whispers only grew louder. She had never felt more terrified in her life. The voices were now practically yelling, in the fetal position Celestia screamed “Enough!” As she did so she opened her eyes and found herself in some sort of dimly lit room. In the corner, The Doctor stood there watching her with a singed bowtie and an amused look on his muzzle.

The Doctor had tried helping her while she slept. That didn’t go so well for him as he had hoped. The monarch shot a flare in defense at him when he tried to wake her up in her frantic state. With her wide awake and in a state of alarm, he decided to try and calm her down by being casual. “Hello Sunshine. Bad dreams?” He asked the princess. Giving him a glare that could melt him, the mare nodded.

“Yes. It was a terrible dream. I am not used to nightmares like that anymore. Usually Luna comes in to help me with my dream.” She replied to him looking down and defeated.

“Luna? Oh that’s right your sister. This sort of thing happen often then?” He asked her, completely unaware of just what she meant. He thought Luna physically would wake her sister up whenever she had bad dreams.

“No not anymore at least. When Luna became the guardian of the night again, the nightmares were heavily subdued. Even so, a pony occasionally has a nightmare and Luna must enter the dreams to help them conquer their fear.” She explained to the Time Lord.

“Wait she does what?” What Celestia explained to him was bizarre. “Are you saying she literally enters dreams and then takes over?”

“Yes Doctor that is exactly what she does.” Princess Celestia confirmed.

“Now that is cool. Having a nightmare and suddenly a knight in shining armor strolls in and rescues you literally in your dreams. That’s very cool. I must say Celestia you ponies never cease to surprise me.” He said to her. He was enjoying the fact that in this new universe he was constantly learning.

“I am glad you find that…cool. I would hate for my world to suddenly seem boring to a visitor such as you.” Celestia responded to his remarks.

The Doctor looked around the room for a moment before he decided to start this next conversation. He figured it wouldn’t end well. “Celestia. What do you remember of the war in the year 391?” The Doctor asked Celestia. Already he noticed a look of surprise on her face as he asked.

“Why do you ask? No. First let me ask. How do you know about it?” Celestia filled with suspicion . How in all of Equestria did The Doctor know about a war that happened almost six hundred years ago?

“Well to put it simply, we are in the war right now.” He explained their current situation in a straightforward manner because really there was no way to sugar coat it.

“We are what!?” Celestia yelled at the top of her lungs. Furious now at this new information, she stood right above The Doctor and got right into his face. “You are telling me that you went back in time and brought me to this dark hour of my history without my permission? Even more, as I was unconscious!” The Doctor could feel the room heat up with her sudden anger.

“We didn’t have much choice in the matter. You, I, and The Master were being chased by Weeping Angels. The only course of action was to escape into his TARDIS. The only thing we could think of doing afterwards was going to the point in time where your history was being modified. We wanted to help you Celestia.” He explained to her as best he could. Looking into her eyes, he could see the fires within them lower into smoldering coals as she calmed down.

“Doctor do you realize that we are all in grave danger. This war is much worse compared to the one I had fought against my sister. There will be thousands of casualties…on both sides of the conflict.” Turing around, she slowly returned to the bed she was in. “Doctor. This war was unjust in every way…”

“Yes we already know. You, or rather, your younger self has already told us, The Changelings slaughtered an entire equestrian village as they started to take equestrian land.” Celestia looked across the room at him with a look of shame and regret. “What’s that face for?” He asked with growing concern.

“That’s only part of what happened. D…Doctor when you look at me, what do you see?” She asked him as she looked down.

“Well. I see a leader, who wants to be like a mother for all who need one. I see a mare who may have done things she regrets but…none the less she has worked hard to atone for her misdeeds.” He studied how she had reacted to hearing how this war started and had gone off of that. To his surprise Celestia went from almost about to cry, to full of bitterness and a look of self-hate.

“Doctor I must have only told you part of the story because I wanted you to help me in this fight. I will tell you right now that what you know is only a half-truth. The reason why Queen Hissandra sent a group to slaughter a small village of mine…(She takes a deep breath)…Is because she came to me for help. Her homeland kingdom was beginning to starve. A massive drought had ravished the area and she needed a way to feed her kingdom. She wanted farmland here in Equestria, only the long stretch of land along the Draco mountains beside the river that runs through part of the area before branching out and heading towards the sea…I refused the plea. Instead I…began to send troops into the mountains to take part of her kingdom to expand my own. I was so selfish. She came to me in peace and asked personally that I stop this invasion. She practically begged me to stop. Again I refused her and began imprisoning her subjects. She came to me with an ultimatum, either I let her people go and pull out my forces, or she would have to take drastic actions. Once again I ignored her, so she sent that patrol to slaughter the village along the border to make her point. It was then I declared war against her…”

The Doctor was speechless. Here Celestia was explaining what had happened and it sounded far worse than her younger self explained. Infact, He could go as far as saying Queen Celestia had lied to him and The Master. Turning around in fury he stormed out of the room and towards the main console room. Behind, he could hear Celestia following him.

“Doctor! Doctor what are you going to do!? Doctor wait!” She called out to him. She couldn’t use her magic to stop him because her head still felt fuzzy and unlike when was in a panic, she had no adrenaline running through her. Instead she felt slow and sluggish.

The Doctor was furious. Ignoring Celestia calling out to him he skulked right past The Master and out the TARDIS doors. Before Celestia could follow, The Master stopped her by flicking a switch and closing them from the console. “And where do you think you’re going? You can’t leave the TARDIS right now. Too much danger of a paradox.”

“I need to know what he’s doing!” She practically yelled at him.

“Look I don’t know what happened between you two, but I must insist. It’s too risky to let you out of here when you’re not even ten feet away from the door outside!” The master explained.

“Are you saying we’re in my tent?!...”

Unable to hear the two talking anymore as he rounded the TARDIS, he went right up to the Queen and pushed the mare to wake her up. “Get up!” The Doctor demanded. Queen Celestia being almost pushed out of her bed, sat up quickly and was slightly confused before realizing she had been pushed by The Doctor.

“What in the Hell are you doing!?” Queen Celestia yelled back at him, already charging up her magic for an attack.

“I could ask you the same thing Queen of the Hill! Why didn’t you tell me what really happened!? What!? Did you think I wouldn’t help you out in this damn war! Well if that’s your guess, then you were absolutely right! You lied to me Celestia! Only told me what you wanted me to hear so that I would agree to help you. Do you realize your actions have cost thousands of lives! This whole war could have been avoided if you had just been sympathetic towards a nation in need! But no, instead what do you do!? You wage war on it and then lie about it straight to my face! There is one thing Celestia! One thing you must never ever do, and that is lie to me when I am wanting to help! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just fly away in the TARDIS and let you deal with this on your own!” Staring into her eyes, The Doctor was shooting a look that would make a Dalek run away.

“Doctor I did what I…” Before she could finish The Doctor interrupted her.

“Did what you had to? Don’t give me that excuse! You did it out of greed and a desire for more power! Here a world leader came to you for help. Begging for you to save her people. Instead you turned around and began invading! You are nothing more than a tyrant! You want my help Celestia!? Then here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to have a meeting with Queen Hissandra, sign a treaty, and help rebuild her nation. I will be damned if I fight in a battle alongside a power hungry mare like you!” Letting out all his anger at once, The Doctor’s mane had flopped over part of his face and he flipped it back over to the side before correcting his unraveling bowtie.

Queen Celestia said nothing to him and simply looked down at her bed. A few soldiers came rushing in at the sound of all the yelling, but she dismissed them. Only minutes had gone by and to her it felt like hours as The Doctor stood over the war map in silence. She barely knew him as she only encountered him once or twice before. However she never saw him like this. The way he stood and how he talked down to her just now, made her feel like a filly being scolded by a parent. In another bout of anger he pushed the map off the table and slammed his hoof down with a loud bang before rubbing his face with his hooves.

“I’m getting too old for this.” He sighed as he picked the partly torn map off the grass and unwrinkled it on top of the table. Celestia walked up beside him quietly, still unsure of what to say. Turning to her with tired eyes he continued. “I have been in too many wars for my own good. I’ve seen them all end in misery and destruction. Nothing ever changes. People…er…ponies for that matter always see as their side being the heroes, and the opposition being the bad guys. Neither side is good or bad. Both have their own reasons for the war and both view anyone in their way as the enemy. However Celestia, what you did do was begin a war that was unnecessary. Queen Hissandra was, in all means, justified in her attack. Maybe not in the killing of the ponies who lived there, but most certainly the attack itself against them. I have seen what your country will become. It has its own problems, but it is a peaceful nation who wants to help everyone they can.” About to speak for once, she was however cut off by The Doctor again. “I will help you win this war Queen Celestia. But only because I know your country will have a chance of becoming great someday because of it. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even learn something about yourself.” With that he slowly made his way to the front of The Master’s TARDIS. Before he could enter it however she stopped him.

“Doctor wait…” Celestia quietly asked him.

“Yes? What is it now?” He turned around and gave her another tired look.

“Thank you.” She simply said to the Time Lord. He didn’t reply back and closed the tent flap like doors. Sighing with a defeated tone she returned to her bed. She knew she couldn’t sleep after all of that. She had to raise the sun in a few hours. Tomorrow was going to be one Hell of a day.

Author's Note

Ok this one took forever to publish. Sorry about that. Good news is Summer has officially began. I just finished my Finals for college. With that being said. I will make it my goal to finish this story by the end of the summer. Lol don't hold me to my word though. Again I type this only in my free time when I feel like writing. I hope y'all pass your Final Exams.