Chapters A summoning message from the princesses was the last thing that the Doctor and Ditzy had expected. The wall-eyed mare was fascinated at how the Time-lord received male. A glowing little box politely knocks on his door, and his letter is given to him. The earth-pony and the pegasus gazed curiously at the letter. The signature was unmistakable, this was no doubt a message from the royal sisters.
Addressed to the Doctor and Ponyville’s mailmare Ditzy Doo,
Us two sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been aware of your presence in Equestria for a long time. Doctor, we are fully aware of the fact that you are not from this world. We offer no threat, but we ask for your help.
For a week at this current time, Luna and I have detected a threat from off this planet. When my sister was participating in her nightly watches, she spotted a distant moving mass, close to her moon. Her and I would undoubtedly deal with it ourselves, but we haven’t the slightest idea of what it is or what their responding attack may be.
With our utmost respect and trust, we request that you, Doctor and Ditzy Doo, figure out what this threat is and make sure that it is eradicated from the area around this planet, and my sister’s moon.
With our lowest bows,
Celestia and Luna
Both the Doctor and the grey mare were in awe at this request. But in less than a second, the Doctor blinked out of this state of shock and tossed the letter to the side, trotting over to the console of the TARDIS.
“Well, Ditzy it looks like we have some investigating to do!” Mused the brown earth-pony, fiddling with some levers and switches on the console. Ditzy’s scrunched her nose as her left eye rolled up and her other glanced to the Doctor.
“Yes, sir!” She replied with a salute and a bubbly giggle. The TARDIS began to rumble and the two laughed loudly as the groaning sound began.
When the shaking ceased, the Doctor flipped a switch at trotted over to the doors. “Cool trick that I just enabled, the TARDIS becomes invisible and we get to snoop!” Ditzy flapped her wings into a hover, and buzzed up behind him, looking between the doors into the stars.
“Whoa…!” The wall-eyed mare cried as she looked out, gazing at the moon beside the TARDIS with her good eye, and looking over the spaceship that was orbiting Luna’s realm. The Doctor sniffed the nonexistent-space-air and rolled his tongue out of his mouth.
“How strange! I don’t recognize the scent of the ship and it’s passengers… Or the taste, for the matter. He reached a forehoof into the strap of his necktie and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, and he gave it a buzz. “Hm… These must be more of the aliens from this particular pony universe.”
“Doctor… You know I can’t understand you when you talk like that! Could you please speak pony?” Ditzy grumbled, scrunching up her nose again. The Doctor chuckled lightly and grinned at the grey pegasus.
“Well, what I’m saying is that I don’t know what we’re up against here. Let’s just hope they’re friendly.” The wall-eyed mare nodded in agreement, following after the Doctor as he closed the doors and once again approached the console.
It was beginning to seem like this entire ship might just be one big hallway unit with various doors on the sides. That could, in fact, very well be the case. Or at least it had seemed like until a door near the two opened. The Doctor and Ditzy rushed to hide behind one of the pillars that lined the hallway. Luckily, they were not seen. But the being that walked past then was very different from what they had both expected.
It’s skin was scaly and dry, and it’s eyes were blood red. Two horns sprouted from either side of the crown of it’s head. Not unicorn horns, horns similar to those of a bull. From it’s back, three pairs of small feathered wings sat. The creature already appeared fearsome enough, but strapped to it’s flank was a lazer gun of some kind.
“Wow…! Alright, not something I’ve met before, definitely not… Okay.” Muttered the Doctor, trying to catch his breath. Ditzy was shaking. Sure she had been on dangerous missions with the Doctor before, but it was a rare occurrence that the “enemy” actually had a frightful appearance.
“D-D-Doctor…” She blubbered, her small voice quivering. The earth-pony sighed and gave a coy smile, opening one of his forelegs in front of her.
“It’s alright, I won’t let these things hurt you. Or anyone else in Equestria for that matter.” He assured the wall-eyed mare. Ditzy sniffled and nodded in response.
The two silently approached the door that had been opened, luckily for them it was still ajar. The Doctor and Ditzy Doo poked their heads into the opening. It seemed to be some kind of control room. Two more of the creatures were monitoring a wall with many screens on it. Another was typing on a keyboard in front of a large window. Outside the window, Luna’s moon could be seen.
“Doctor, I think they’re saying something… Does the TARDIS translator-thingy still work?” Ditzy asked, glancing at the earth-pony. The Doctor nodded.
“Yes, but I think we need to get a bit closer.” He whispers in response. Very carefully, the creep into the room, leaving the door gaping behind them in case an escape is required. The two hide behind a conveniently placed crate.
“This planet is disgusting, can smell all of it’s filth even though were miles away!” Complains one of the creatures,
“I agree, but we need to do a complete scan of this moon so that we may collect it’s life force for our ship.” Replies another. Both The Doctor and Ditzy stare at eachother as they hear this.
“Doctor… if they remove the moon’s life force, then Princess Luna will… die.!” Ditzy cried, just a little too loud. Immediately after uttering this, she clasps her forehooves over her mouth.
“Wait… did you hear that?” Asks one of the creatures.
A wash of guilt and fear fell over Ditzy Doo as they could hear one of the creatures drawing ever closer to the crate. Ditzy shut her eyes tightly as the Doctor inched over to her and put a foreleg protectively over her head. After the crate was moved, the two ponies were being stared at by three of the creatures.
Many long moments passed before a single word was spoken between the Doctor and the strange beings. And of course, it was the Time-lord that spoke the first sentence, or more appropriately- many sentences.
“Hello, I’m the Doctor! Pleased to meet you, and this right here is my companion Ditzy. We mean to trouble, we just came here to investigate your vessel. Lovely ship by the way, I love the color.” He blurted, all the words pouring out of his mouth The creatures looked at one another, then back down at the Doctor.
“How… How is it that you speak so fluently in our tongue?” One of them asked. The Doctor paused. Well, that’s the TARDIS translator working at it’s best… He thought to himself.
“Oh you know… Just- uh… Common knowledge.” The Doctor replies with a nervous grin. The creatures, once again, exchange glances between one another before one of them pulls out their gun and direct it right at the Doctor’s head.
“Well, we do not trust your ‘common knowledge’. We will take you to our chieftain and see what he does with you.” The one with the gun snarls. The Doctor takes in a gulp, and Ditzy is still quaking with fear. “Get up.” The creature instructs. The Doctor, nor Ditzy, did not argue. They were sent to a glowing platform in the corner of the room. One of the creatures without a gun punched in some kind of code on a panel next to the platform. Suddenly the Doctor realized he can say something clever.
“Beam me up, Scotty!” He yelps with a laugh. One of the creatures groans before the pair is indeed beamed up.
Once again, the blue box began to rumble as it traveled to a different location. This time, the rumbling seemed to stop quicker. As if the ship had only traveled a very small distance. The Doctor turned to Ditzy and looked her in the eyes.
“The TARDIS is in the ship now, it’s still got it’s invisibility turned on, but once we fully exit, we will become visible. I need you to stick by me this whole time and do everything I tell you no matter what. Is this understood, Ditzy?” He asked in a low voice.
“Y-yes, Doctor. I won’t let you down!” The pegasus answered with a nod.
“Good…” The Doctor replies with a sigh, “Now then… Let’s go invade this ship!” He whinnies with excitement, a large smile spreading across his face. Ditzy couldn’t help but smile too as they headed towards the doors, about to start a dangerous mission.
The Doctor and his pegasus companion poked their heads out of the TARDIS doors. What they saw was nothing that they didn’t expect. A long hallway, all the walls were made of some kind of metal material. The soft sound of clattering footsteps could be heard, as well the irritating sound of recurring beeps. The Doctor stepped out and gave a quick buzz with his sonic screwdriver, then tucking it back into his necktie strap. He motioned for Ditzy to follow. The wall-eyed mare gently closed the blue doors behind her.
“Be very quiet, don’t make a sound.” The brown Time-lord whispered. Ditzy nodded. They silently crept down the long hallway. There were doors to the sides, but they all seemed to be locked. Normally, the Doctor would open them with his screwdriver but in this case he was playing it safe. He hadn’t the slightest clue what could be waiting for him behind each door.
To the surprise of both ponies, nothing seemed to be jumping out at them, nor did it seem that they had been expected. Could these aliens possibly be a nice group? The Doctor wasn’t quite ready to resort to that though, after all it was almost never the case. Even so, it seemed oddly quiet. Sure, they could hear footsteps but nothing much else could be heard. The brown earth-pony stopped in his tracks and rubbed his chin.
“Now this is strange…” He muttered to himself, his eyes fixed on the floor.
“What is it, Doctor?” Asked Ditzy, curiously hovering around the earth-pony by wing.
“The scent… The scent of the life forms on this ship is… familiar. I can’t put my finger- er… hoof on it, but I feel like I’ve been here before.” He replies, lowering his head and once again beginning to silently creep through the metal hallway.
