Chapters The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Their capsule was falling, glowing red from the friction of reentry. Inside, in the smoke and flame of the explosions, the Doctor and Starlight were being fiercely flung around inside. As soon as either one of them managed to get to the main console they would each try to stabilize their ship before they would be flung away. "Try resetting the manipulation matrix!" Starlight managed to shout through the smoke as clung to several of the round things on the wall.
Her grandfather held on with all his strength, trying desperately to engage the manual controls. "That would cause us to reenter the time vortex!" He shouted changing some settings and finally getting some control of their crash. He pulled up an image on the monitor large green and purple blotches. As they neared they were able to make out that the purple things were of hundreds of hundreds of purple and pink armor sets, just sitting in heaps on the ground. The green things seemed to be jelly-like blobs that glistened in the light.
The Doctor managed to find a relatively clear place to 'land' with an unexpected bounce, flip, and eventually landing right side up with a resounding "thud". The doors opened and smoked billowed out and Starlight stumbled from the open doors and turned her head back in to look for her grandfather. The Doctor held part of his coat over his mouth with one hoof and he limped out of the doors and began to cough. "Not your best landing." Starlight said with a wild grin.
Her grandfather turned towards her and simply began to laugh, "I guess it wasn't." he said and began to cough again. He shook his head and that was when he noticed it, something was wrong, very wrong. His mood was instantly killed as he turned back to his capsule and saw it was still a blue police box. "It hasn't changed!" He said walking up to it and opening the door only for more smoke to bellow out.
"Grandfather you can't go in there." Starlight said grabbing him by the shoulder.
"We need the chameleon circuit operational if we're going to blend in!" He said trying to get back in.
"At least wait for the smoke to clear out first!" She said trying to convince him to not go into the newly made deathtrap.
He looked into the utter blackness of the room then to the heaps of abandoned full body armor and green things, and decided, "Fine. Let’s go figure out which planet we're on."
They walked around and between the alternating piles of armor and gelatinous blobs. As they moved they got bored and started to count the piles and how many suits of armor or green blobs were in them. The further along they got the more a pattern managed to form, there was always twenty-six sets of armor and thirty-three green blobs in every pile they counted. There was also a pattern to the piles placement, as best they could figure was that the piles of armor were always placed to form hexagons, with the piles being the points. The green blobs did a similar thing but with pentagons instead.
"What do you think it means?" Starlight asked her grandfather.
"Could mean anything, maybe ritualistic purposes, we could be on a graveyard planet, could be something trying to get attention from something above, or even some sort of spell circle."
"Spell circle?"
"Yes it's when you mark runes on the ground to enhance your spells, in theory on could make on a massive scale like this, but I don't think it's likely. These at the points not lines and they'd need to be lines, I think."
The pair kept looking around and after a little wandering they heard shouting, Starlight began to gallop towards the sound. She stopped as soon as she saw them, a light green blob, which apparently had tentacles, and a pony in the full body armor dragging a green blob and a suit of armor respectively. They each through their loads into their respective piles then shouted a curse at each other before moving to grab another blob and armor.
The two beings didn't even seem to notice the young mare as she approached them, she called out, "Hello!" to them. The armored stallion turned towards her and the blob didn't seem to respond.
The armored pony's armor began to unfold as a weapon was relieved and mounted onto the pony's shoulder, he called out "Halt solid."
Starlight slid to a stop as per his command, "Why?" she asked.
The blob began to move closer to Starlight and as it did she heard a voice in her head, "Do not mind the Wind Wailer, he is simply a fool who hates solids like us. ".
She instantly understood and hijacked the blobs mental link with her "And why does he hate 'Solids' like us ?" she asked the blob.
"His species see us as waist-full of materials ." He said back to her. Starlight wandered a little farther into the blobs mind and learned a little more about it. She felt little resistance as she learned exactly why it was dragging its fallen comrades in arms into the piles. He had apparently been assembling funeral mounds for evaporation.
She was taken out of her little investigation when she heard a cough from beside her. She turned to her side to see her grandfather looking a little board, "So did you learn anything from the Dem?" He asked looking at the blob.
"The Dem?" She asked not sure of what he meant.
"The green blob, I had a hunch when I the dead ones, but I know a living Dem almost anywhere. They're the only green blob things that weren't created, or sustain their existence, through magic." He said focusing his attention on the armored stallion. "You however, I have no idea about you. So what are you?"
The armored pony's gun trained onto the Doctor and he said a bit too loudly, "I am a flame sergeant in the great Dilud imperial army! I am the..."
"That's enough young thing, I got what I wanted no need to ramble on about your various titles and accomplishments." The Doctor said complacently board with the Dilud. He then turned to his Granddaughter again, "We may yet salvage this, and the Dilus are magic based entities, specifically void magic."
Starlight had heard the term before at academy during a magic course but it was always glanced over by her instructors. "What is void magic exactly?" She asked.
"It's the background magic of the universe, utterly useless to almost any species, and the base element of Mana." He said.
"So the Dilus are one of the species that can use it?" She asked giving the Dilud a sideways glance, Must be a very special species if they can use a magic that the academy doesn't even bother with .
"Oh yes, and they hate any species that came before the Event. They hunt us down and try to destroy us and if I'm remembering correctly that will lead to their ultimate destruction..."
"Your filth will be removed from our universe!" The armored pony shouted, his weapon humming to life. He never got the chance to fire though as a long, slender, green tentacle warped around his torso and constricted the armor. The moment the armor's visor shattered a black, smoky, substance swelled out of if a shot up incredibly fast towards the sky only to dissipate a few meters up.
"What?" Starlight asked.
"Thank you my good Dem." The Doctor said bowing lowly.
He felt the Dem enter his mind as it said, "You are welcome Time Lord. We non magic users need to stick together. "
The Doctor did the same thing as Starlight had and replied, "I must agree "
The Doctor felt Starlight's presence in the Dem's mind and she asked, "But what was the smoke? "
The Doctor asked the Dem, "Shall I explain or do you want to? "
"I shall ." The Dem answered and directed his attention to Starlight, "The Dilud are a space based race, they cannot survive on a planet for long. So they have depressurizing suits that they use to fight planet based races like us. The black smokish thing was it retreating to space, after I broke out truce to not kill each other. "
"You had a truce with him? " Starlight asked.
"It was a necessity, his weapon would have killed me before one of my tentacles could get close and I needed to arrange the evaporation piles for my comrades. However with you two distracting him I was able to get close enough to crush him and banish the last putrid Dilud off my home world ." there was a clear sense of distain at the end.
There was a slight shaking that, in a matter of seconds, grew much more violent. As they were all being shaken they were able to make out a distinct and familiar voice saying, "Foals! You have taught me to survive!"
Soon after the voice came a black mist started to appear above them. The Doctor looked to his granddaughter and noticed that her horn was glowing, How long was it doing that, had it been glowing the entire time we talked in the Dem's brain? he thought to himself then he looked back to the Dilud hovering above him. "How are you here?" He asked.
"I do not know exactly! But I'm going to do what I came here for in the first place!" it bellowed. Quickly dark tendrils poured from the small cloud and moved towards the Dem.
The Dem was complacently defenseless agent the magical attack and started to turn a darker green like the Dem in the pile. Its last act while it was alive was to bring its tentacles into itself to form a perfect ball. As it turned the green of the dead Dem it became like mush or putty, as it sagged to the pull of the planets gravity.
"You know it's you two I have to thank for this victory!" The Dilud taunted, "If it wasn't for the mare here I'd have died when my unpressure suit was broken, but thanks to her I was able to find a protective pocket around her. And while you three were brain dead I was able to figure out how to recreate the effect around myself. "Now nothing will stop us from riding the rest of the universe from you non magic based creatures filth!" it shouted as is sent the same tendrils of blackness to kill the to Time ponies.
As the tendrils pierced the Doctor and made their way into his hearts to shut them down something magical happened. Starlight seeing her beloved grandfather was about to die, unleashed a blast of magical energy from her horn. The beam that she hadn't even known she could do hit its mark, the Dilud.
The Magic didn't die down as the Dilud tried to figure out what was happening."What...are...yo...you...doi...doing...how...is...possible?" He questioned as the beams direction suddenly reversed and he felt himself being pulled into Starlight's horn.
Starlight realized what was happening as the Dilud began to scream. She really did try to stop the spell, even if she didn't know how she cast it in the first place. But despite her efforts, she just wasn't experienced enough with magic to even begin to figure out how to stop. The Dilud was absorbed into her horn with a minor shock wave that caused the Doctor to stumble.
She turned to her grandfather and looked at him with lime green eyes and red pupils before they faded back to her usual turquoise. Time seemed to lose all meaning for the two of them and after what felt like ages Starlight, a bit to calm, asked, "what?"
There was another long pause before her grandfather just began to slowly shake his head.
She asked again with a little more force "What?!"
All her grandfather did was continue to slowly shake his head as he desperately tried to process the impossible thing he had just seen his granddaughter do.
Starlight on the other hoof had no such problem, it had felt good to consume the Dilud's magical essence. But there was still one problem, "What did I just do?"
Her grandfather finally managed to get his head around what he had just seen and answered, "The hidden magic" was all he said.
Starlight gave him a cross look, "Am I supposed to know what that is?" She asked.
"Soon after the event our ancestors were fascinated by what was happening to developing planets and species." He managed to get out before he was sent back into the utterly confused state again, still not believing what he had seen.
"What does that have to do with this?" He heard Starlight's question but didn't process it for several moments.
He managed to get out, "they started to notice that the younger species were able to manipulate the leftover power from the event to do very basic things, like survive in a place that they were ill adapted for. They also noticed that all the new planets were practically dead unless the new species did something. That was when we began abducting members of the newer species by the millions. After years of testing we eventually learned how to do what they could but at the cost of almost all of them." He stopped here to allow his mind to catch up to his lips.
"So there is some old technique they used?" Starlight asked.
"Not exactly, our ancestors were unable to store the magic within them and they'd have to take the power from other things to do the most basic of spells." He explained turning his head towards the crushed set of armor. Armor designed to keep magic in and out, I wonder.
His thoughts were interrupted by Starlight, "please go on."
"Oh yes! Well they'd only take a little from the surrounding area, but the hidden magic was practiced by our ancestors when they learned that they could increase their mana pool by stealing them from others. It became so widespread that we began to actually be born with them. At this point it was decided we were causing more harm than good and the spells that allowed us to do so was hidden away."
"So how did I just do that?" Starlight asked following the Doctors line of sight to the broken armor.
"I don't know, maybe all the time in our capsule..." He trailed off as he began to think.
"It is an old TARDIS, maybe it was around when the spells were used and when it was damaged by that alicorn its psychic circuits could have planted the spell in my mind." Starlight speculated.
"Tardis?"
"It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, do you like it."
"It's okay, but I'll stick with Time Capsule."
"Fine"
"But back to your theory. It could be that, but it could be since it used your magic to sustain itself that you simply took yours back and he came along for the ride." The Doctor said. He walked over to the crushed armor and picked up a piece of it, "do you hear it?" The Doctor asked turning the metal in his hooves.
"Hear what?"
"The Dilud, is he poking around in your head or was he destroyed."
"He's not in my head and I dough he survived the ordeal." Starlight said moving next to her grandfather, "Why are you rummaging around in his armor?"
"I'm looking for the hard drive" he said pulling a small rectangle from what was the base of the armor's neck. He placed it on the ground and promptly smashed it with his hoof, "don't want to be found out." he explained as he twisted his hoof to grind the hard drive into nothing.
"Come along." He said as he started to head towards the general direction of their capsule. Starlight followed and they walked in silence as they circumnavigated their way through the piles of dead and abandoned armor. As they did so she played with her new magical power lifting little bits of the armor around them with her mind. Never holding onto any piece for long, just enjoying in the fact that she could lift them at all. Soon they saw the sight of the blue box that their capsule was currently stuck in.
The Doctor quickly pushed the doors open then stepped back, a thin layer if smoke gently poured out of the open doors and the two time ponies entered to the white consul room. The Doctor walked to the consul and placed his hooves on it, "Child... It's clear that you’re becoming better and I honestly think you're going to need some formal training in magic..."
"Formal training?" Starlight said walking up next to him, "What kind of formal training?"
"I'm thinking the best kind, seeing how easy it was for you to lift the armor back there, I'm thinking of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."
"Never heard of it." Starlight said.
"It's the school that Princess Twilight went to early in her life." The Doctor explained inputting the coordinates.
"You mean... The Princess Twilight!"
"Yes" He said placing the capsule in flight.
Author's Note
Upside: Starlight's better at magic.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Starlight was sitting in class shuffling the pages of her text book repeatedly reading the book over and over again, with her light blue hooves, "There has to be something I'm missing." She mumbled aloud.
"Well why don't you open the book and find out" she jumped as the dark red stallion, Professor Long Lecture's, unexpected voice came from behind her.
"Okay." She muttered, I hate pretending to be a pony , she thought as she opened the textbook to the page she needed and pretended to read it.
The purple unicorns sitting next to her leaned over and whispered "You know, I don't think you are having a problem with the theory. It seems to me that you’re not using enough power, that's all."
"Fair enough." Starlight whispered back. "So what do you recommend I do then Twilight?"
"Well if you don't have the power now, you could wait till after lunch to try, or if your reserves aren't large enough you could, in the long run, try holding as many things as you can as long as you can."
"So I need to work out my horn then" Starlight said looking at her horn and tapping it with her hoof. "Thank you you’re... Twilight, but if that's it then I should be fine now."
"Just trying to be helpful." The purple unicorn said smiling and turning back to her advanced magic theory textbook.
According to the theory I only need half of my mana reserves, but maybe... , she thought to herself as she prepared herself to cast the spell. Her horn lit up and she started to glow, in the next few moments she would either prove herself as a unicorn in this school or she would have to once again be embarrassed by her non affinity to magic, she was hoping for the former. As the spell began to move her she began to feel pins and needles all around her, she felt herself move slightly forward then suddenly she felt no ground beneath her as she fell a full yard in front of the professor’s desk. She landed hard on her front hooves as momentum carried her forward she only missed the Long Lecture's desk itself thanks to several of her classmates using their telekinesis to stop her.
As she lay on the floor, holding her leg. Soon enough a very light pink mare with a white hat atop her light blue mane came into the room with a healing spell and an ice pack. As soon as Starlight saw her she stood up quickly and almost head butted one of her classmates, "I'll pass on the spell please miss Tender Touch" She said hoping the nurse would listen.
The nurse studied Starlight’s leg, "Are you sure sweetie? It looks like it could be fractured."
"I'm absolutely positive, all I need is the ice pack. Thank you anywise." Starlight said accepting the ice pack and placing it on her injured foreleg.
"Just promise me you'll keep that ice on it until it stops hurting." The nurse said worrying for the young light blue mare.
"Don't worry I'll be sure to keep it on." Starlight said as the nurse left.
Starlight used what little energy she had left to hold the ice pack to her foreleg as she limped back to her desk. Long Lecture followed her and once she had seated herself he began to lecture her, "Miss Starlight you know that every student only gets three tries to successfully teleport and that was your third try." The Long Lecture's voice came out from behind his desk as she sat down.
"Yes and I succeeded." Starlight said nursing her forelimb.
"I'd hardly call that a success..."
"The rules for the test say that all I need to do is move a full fifteen feet to pass and I did."
"I'm sorry Starlight, but I've measured every possible distance in this room and it's only thirteen and a half feet from your desk to mine..."
"Which is why I teleported a yard in the air, you'll find that I made it farther then fifteen feet by about five inches." She said defensively.
He levitated a strip of yarn and moved one end over to where Starlight was and the other end to where she had teleported to. To his amazement the yarn didn't make it to Starlight. "Well Miss Starlight looks like you're right. I guess you've passed." He said. "Looks like you're ready to join the class in temporal mechanics."
Starlight was sitting at her lunch table outside facing the outer part of Canterlot just looking at the view. Twilight sat reasonably far enough away so that she couldn't be associated with Starlight but still close enough that if the princess dropped by she could say that they were sitting together. "It's so beautiful isn’t it Twilight." She asked as Twilight finished her sandwich.
Twilight only responded, "Very" as she stuck her nose in a book she had just pulled out.
"You know life doesn't happen in books?"
"Yes" Twilight replied.
"Geese! Aren't you the chatterbox?" Starlight said rolling her turquoise eyes, and that's when she saw it. It wasn't obvious but as the janitor wheeled away a trash can she saw a blue and green striped hairless tail in his brown one. It was only a segment but it was enough to put her on edge.
"Hay Twilight...how long has that janitor been here?" She asked the busy bookworm.
Twilight looked up at the janitor and then thought, "About three months, he came in with the rest of the new staff."
"Who else did he come with?" Starlight asked.
"The new headmaster, the new nurse the entire janitorial staff was replaced and several of the lunch mares."
"I see, and the reason for the replacements?"
"The last headmaster went crazy, they say he was seeing monsters, the old nurse got a better job, the janitors went on strike and formed a union and are all butlers for the rich now, and some of the lunch mares followed the janitors' example."
"Interesting..."
"Now can I ask you a question?" Twilight began her next thought.
"I think you already have." Starlight said smiling.
"Why don't you ever eat lunch? You know it's free right?"
"Oh I'm just not hungry."
"But every day, you never eat not even once."
Is she on to me . "Well you know I'm from Trottingham and we eat at a later time there." Starlight said running her hoof through her light blue and pink mane.
"Right...you know if you aren't going to tell me the truth then you could just say so." Twilight said sticking her nose back in the book.
I guess you're proof that ponies can change , Starlight thought, "believe it or not, it doesn't change the truth" because the truth is much weirder.
The look on Starlight's face was one of utter boredom, what these ponies knew of temporal mechanics wouldn't even fill a textbook, yet somehow they managed to make it look like it did. Still she had to give the benefit of the doubt considering it was a barley used magic that didn't even have any spells associated with it.
Next to her Twilight was writing down as much of Long Lecture's lecture as she could. As Starlight looked around she saw everypony was, except her. Then came the question, "Miss Starlight seeing how you’re clearly too well versed in temporal mechanics to bother with taking notes, would you care to explain what a destiny paradox is?"
Starlight wished she had thought she really did, but she forgot to think and said a bit too much, "A destiny paradox is simultaneously the strongest and the weakest form of paradox. Since it can counter almost any form of paradox to the point of allowing one to kill their own grandparents and still exist. It is also considered the weakest because it is the easiest to over right by simply knowing that it will occur one can completely undo it. Of course that means crossing one's own time stream or knowing one's personal future which are big nonos." She prattled off, then she immediately realized what she had just said.
"Well... Miss Starlight I'm afraid that you are wrong as a destiny paradox cannot be changed, as the great Star Swirl the Bearded put it, 'you can't change history if your part of it.'"
Starlight rolled her eyes "Okay. If you want to use the definition that the name implies."
"Miss Starlight this is the seventh time you've stopped paying attention to my lectures, I'm afraid I’m going to need to speak to you after class, with your parents."
"Yes sir." She said looking down at her textbook, Great give them more then I should have and I get in trouble for it .
"Well Miss Starlight where are they?" Long Lecture asked thumping a ruler on his desk. She only shrugged.
"I'm here!" Came the voice of the elderly grey earth pony wearing his black coat with a white shirt entered the room.
"Who are you?"
"Why I'm Starlight's grandfather and legal guardian, nice to meet you Mr. Lecture." He said extending a hoof in greeting.
"Professor Lecture, Hello Mr..."
"Doctor."
"Forgive me Doctor... I didn't quite get you name."
"Ahh yes it’s..." the Doctor began to have a minor coughing fit, "But you can just call me Doctor"
Long Lecture didn't catch a name in any of the coughing and just said, "Okay then. Well Doctor I'm afraid that your granddaughter doesn't pay attention in class and it's hurting her ability to perform."
"Okay" The Doctor said not really paying attention.
"She almost didn't pass her teleportation test, and I'm pretty sure that she was only able to pass because Twilight told her how."
The Doctor turned toward his granddaughter, "Is this true?"
"Sort of, she did tell me to put more power into it but I had a good grasp on the theory."
He turned back to Long Lecture, "Well then if she understood the theory I don't see the problem."
"There is also her complete lack of regard for my teachings..."
"Well if she read the material and understands it then there is no reason for her to need to pay attention to you." The Doctor said.
"Your granddaughter is going to fail if she keeps up like this."
"Is she? She seems to understand how it works, based off what I've seen" He said.
"Yes but I tell my students things that aren't in the textbook."
"I see your point... How about you send her home with a note and if it says that she wasn't paying attention then I'll punish her that night." the Doctor proposed.
"That could work...Yes I like that idea, we'll do it."
"Good. Well we'll be off then." The Doctor said getting off.
The Professor stuck out his hoof and the Doctor shook it, "Good day." He said and the two of them went out the door.
"Where are you going the exit is the other way!?" Long Lecture shouted rising up from his chair and walked after them into the hall only to find that they had vanished.
Starlight and her grandfather were moving down the hall slowly and quietly, "Are you sure the janitors' supply closet is this way?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes grandfather, I've memorized the map"
"And you're sure about this?" The Doctor inquired, "You're sure that you’re not just imagining it, or it is..."
"Yes! And I told you the Dilud is gone?"
"Fine."
"I saw his tail with my own eyes, I felt the perception filter on him."
"Very well, but if they replaced the headmaster maybe the headmaster's office would be a better place to start."
"But we don't know for certain that he's even involved." Starlight said gently opening the door to the closet and creeping in.
Suddenly the Doctor felt a hoof on his shoulder and turned around to see nurse Tender Touch giving him a questioning look, "Sir I'm afraid that the school is closed to the public."
"Well It's a good thing I'm not a part of the public." the Doctor began, "And I assure you I'm just snooping around this establishment to figure out what is going on in this school." He said and heard Starlight call him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to snooping." He said walking away towards the closet that his granddaughter had found.
The Doctor stepped inside the closet to find his granddaughter had uncloaked a black and green device that was making a low hum. The nurse walked in after him then immediately stopped, "What is that?" She asked.
"I don't know, but I suspect it does something." The Doctor said not really paying attention to her.
Starlight piped up, "It seems to be an energy siphon of some sort."
"Well Miss..." he trailed off, letting her fill in the blank.
"Nurse Tender Touch."
"Well Nurse Tender Touch have you noticed any odd things around the school in the last three months" The Doctor asked.
The nurse cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean?"
"Well clearly something put it here to steal power from something." The Doctor insisted.
"What?"
Starlight eyes went wide and interrupted them "Grandfather!"
A booming voice interrupted them "How dare you?!?" The Doctor and Nurse Tender Touch turned towards a stallion in a janitorial outfit. "How dare you..."
"Turn off the cloaking device around your energy siphon, and discover your existence here?" The Doctor interrupted.
"Quiet! Now you die!" He said as he reached for the zipper of his janitorial uniform and unzipped it revealing a second zipper attached to his skin. He reached for it and pulled on it revealing a hairless blue and green striped quadruped with backward facing horns, large reptilian eyes, sharp teeth, three toed feet, a tool belt around his waist, and a tail that was spiked at the end.
The Doctor shouted "Starlight find the unload button!"
Almost immediately after he shouted at her she exclaimed, "Got it!"
"Stop or she'll press that button." the Doctor said now calm.
"Well played. But you do realize that if she hits that button we're all going to die."
"According to the capacity meter the whole school will go up" Starlight informed her grandfather.
"I know you won't have her press that button, you wouldn't let your granddaughter die so young." The creature said.
"Ha, you don't know me. But where are my manners, I'm afraid we haven't been properly introduced. Hello I'm the Doctor" He said sticking out his hoof insisting the creature shake it.
The beast reluctantly grabbed his hoof and shook it, "I am Selk of the Chelm"
"Nice to meet you Selk, the one with her hoof on the button is, and you know, my granddaughter Starlight. The one to scared to breath is Nurse Tender Touch..." The Doctor paused. A clunking sound was heard as Long Lecture bashed Selk on the back of his head with a desk chair. The Doctor continued, "And the pony that just knocked you out is Long Lecture."
"What is that thing" Long Lecture said pointing at the now unconscious Chelm, "And for that matter what is that" he said now pointing at the machine.
"In order or reverse" Starlight asked, shrugged then continued, "I'll do order. That is a Chelm and this is an energy siphon."
"Yes and you knocked out our only way of figuring out why they're here!" The Doctor scolded.
Tender Touch came out of her shock, "Don't yell at him for saving us!"
The Doctor gave her a sideways glance "My dear we were safer when Selk here was conscious. Then we had a chance to find a peaceful way to resolve this situation, but now we may have just lost that chance."
"Well we still have a chance, the Chelm are a relatively peaceful race, barring the occasional war." Starlight said now looking over the machine again.
"I guess so..." The Doctor said turning towards the machine and beginning an inspection.
"Not to mention that he didn't have his battle claws on." Starlight added for good measure.
Long Lecture looked over the unconscious Chelm and focused on the spikes at the end of his tail and his horns, "I don't think he needed battle claws".
"Oh my..." The Doctor said looking at a reading on the machine, "Do any of you feel fatigued?"
"A little" Tender Touch answered.
"It's been a long day" Long Lecture added.
"Not really" Starlight said.
"Well I know why, this collector was siphoning the magic from the unicorns at this school, but why?" the Doctor said reading the various displays.
"The Chelm were never the best magic users, perhaps they're trying to get better, sort of like I did."
"But why steal magic?" Tender Touch began, "a nights rest always replenished reserves."
"The Chelm can only interact with magic not contain it in their bodies. But they discovered that they could contain it in machines" The Doctor informed her.
"They must need a lot of power." Starlight remarked looking at the nearly full gauge.
"What have you done!?!' Came the voice of a female Chelm upon seeing what Long Lecture did to Selk.
"Nothing." The Doctor started, "we did nothing. We, that is my granddaughter and I, were just wandering the school looking for a classroom when we stumbled into these two. And upon interrupting their little... um... let's say 'interaction', what do you think Starlight? Is 'interaction' good?"
"'Interaction' is good, certainly better then what they were actually doing" at about this point both the professor and the nurse realized exactly what the other two time ponies were trying to imply.
"Very good, we found them doing an interaction." The Doctor continued ignoring the death stares he was getting from the ponies. "And we insisted they follow us so we could properly report them. But we couldn't find anypony because we stumbled upon your friend here. Up which a stallion hit him in the back of the head with this chair and ran down the hall."
"You know too much and must be silenced." The Chelm states and began to charge her horns.
"Don't bother" the Doctor said hitting a green button on the machine behind him and the Chelm's charge died down.
"What!? How'd..."
"How'd we know how to cut your tie with the siphon?" Starlight asked.
"Yes!"
"Whoever made this labeled the buttons." Starlight said simply.
"You can read Chelm!?"
"No psychic circuits and a translation matrix." She answered giving a joyful smile.
"How can you read these dashes?" Long Lecture asked, forgetting where he was for a moment.
"Yes, and now we know how to reverse the process and empty the canister in a way that won't kill us." The Doctor said preparing the siphon for draining.
"Don't you dare!" The Chelm said trying to sound menacing.
"Why?" The Doctor asked letting a little concern enter his face.
"We need that power to get home!" She reviled to them.
"Ah I see it clearly now, you're stranded here." Starlight said before her grandfather could say anything.
"Yes, we were shot down." she confirmed.
Long Lecture was confused, "How did you know they were stranded"
"She was concerned about getting home. And if you’re that concerned about getting home then you’re stuck." Starlight explained.
"Anywise...May we speak to your leader" the Doctor asked.
"Present" a low growling voice said coming from Selk as he began to rise.
"What was your purpose being so close to this planet?"
"We're cartographers, we were mapping out this solar system when we were attacked by something on the moon of this planet. Before we knew it our ship was burning up on entry of this planet. We needed the magic to fuel the distress beacon." He said as he stood up.
"What are you talking about!? I'm fairly certain that it is impossible to leave this planet" Long Lecture said now slightly miffed.
"Lecture look at them and the machine it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility is it." Tender Touch said trying to convince him.
"You ponies are so narrow minded whenever it comes to science." The Doctor thought aloud, "but if you’re crashed here and you and your friends need to get home then I'm certain I can help." He moved towards the siphon and removed a panel at the base, “Starlight reset the width of the signal emitter then reverse it."
"Yes grandfather." She said getting to work on the top of the siphon.
As the two of them worked Selk looked at Long Lecture, "I don't remember you" he said simply.
"That's because I came after that stallion that hit you with a chair... Um... hit you with a chair."
"Starlight! I told you to reverse it not invert it!"
"Well inverting it will give it more power I the long run." She said defensively.
"I'm not worried about the long run I only intend to send this signal once." he said rearranging several circuits.
"Why once? If there aren't any ships in range then you'll end up destroying their only hope to get home."
"I don't plan to send the signal to a ship" The Doctor said rolling his eyes.
"Don't tell me you plan to signal to their planet? You'd need to know the exact coordinates of their home world, be able to account for atmospheric interference from both planets, not to mention the time displacement."
"I don't!" The Doctor shouted at her.
"You'd have the same problems if you aim for their colonies."
"Starlight stop questioning me, I know for a fact that there is an old asteroid orbiting the outer solar system made completely out of tungsten. I intend to turn that into the beacon."
"So the beam is going to..."
"Use it like a mirror and a laser, the beam will be amplified and refracted across this entire sector of space. But we'll only get to send the signal once." He said peeling the casing off some wires.
"Why?" the female Chelm asked.
Starlight answered her inquiry, "Because if we hit the asteroid we may very well warp it to the point where we won't be able to use it again. She thought for a moment, "But what if you attract some unwanted attention?" Starlight asked him starting to work again.
"I like to think that the ponies can handle themselves, besides whenever they get around to radio waves and space exploration it'll be a goal to strive for. They're curiosity will drive them to get out there and figure out what caused it to be so."
"And if something we can't handle what comes?" Long Lecture asked.
"I'll knock it out of orbit if anything you can't handle comes." The Doctor explained. He turned back to the machine and connected several cut wires together.
"But what makes you think that our species will be the ones to investigate the beacon." Selk asked.
"We'll be sending the signal on your frequency and we should get the signal all the way to your home world. I'd expect somechalm will answer your call. Now do me a favor and input the signal again, I seem to have reset the computer when I cut off your link with it."
"Sure" Selk said moving to the console and reactivating the distress signal. "Are you absolutely sure this is going to work?"
"Yes..." He confirmed replacing the panel. "Now I've managed to aim for the asteroid so all you have to do is fire the beacon."
Selk held his middle toe on the button, "Here goes nothing... Wait how do I know you actually know what you’re doing."
The Doctor grabbed a scanner off of Selk and scanned himself with it then handed it back to Selk, "Here just keep it quiet or well you know."
Selk looked at the readings and his eyes went wide, "By the Third Sphere of Catep!"
"Yes, yes, impressive I know, just press the button" The Doctor ordered.
He pushed the button and nothing happened. The female Chelm asked, "How long till they come?"
"Could be minutes, could be days." The Doctor said leaning back.
The console flashed to light and the screen showed a message, Selk read it aloud "Selk it's Crol, I'm coming don't worry "
"Crol's coming!?!" The female Chelm squeaked.
Selk grumbled "Yes"
"Well we've solved your problem, and you need to get your fellow survivors together and we need to be off. Come along everypony."
"Doctor we can never thank you enough. Please if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." Selk said gratefully.
"Knock the asteroid out of orbit will you? I fear Long Lecture might be right and I'd rather not take the chance after all."
"Understood" Selk said before he and female walked away.
"Now Starlight and I have something to show you along with a job opportunity." The Doctor said to the professor and the nurse.
"We do?"
"Yes. We do, they know enough that I no longer have to pretend to be ponies anymore. Now if you'd like to take a few textbooks of every subject then we can leave." The Doctor said.
"What do you mean" Long Lecture asked puzzled.
"Well we travel a lot and I want you to teach Starlight here why we travel." He explained.
The pair of ponies looked at each other, Long Lecture spoke for them, “I don't think so."
"I urge you to reconsider, Starlight needs help to discipline her magic and you managed to teach her how to teleport in only one month."
"Do I get a say in this?" Starlight asked.
"That depends..."
"Professor Long Lecture, Nurse Tender Touch..." Starlight began addressing them both, "Just look at our mode of transportation first then decide."
They decide to follow Starlight and the Doctor out the front of the school, a block to the right and down an ally to a blue police box. "Here we are," Starlight announced, "This is our TARDIS" She beamed.
"It's a bit small isn’t it?" Tender Touch asked.
She got a nod from Long Lecture, "How are we all supposed to fit.
The two time ponies smiled knowingly. "Allow me" The Doctor said fishing for a key, which once he had he used to open the doors. "Go on inside."
The two ponies went inside to the newly repaired console room and their mouths fell open, "How?" Lecture managed to get out.
"The Doctor walked in and said, "So what do you think, will you teach my granddaughter?"
"I wish I could, if only for the opportunity to study this spatial magic on the side." Long Lecture said, "But I we can't I have a commitment to the school."
"Me too" nurse Tender Touch added.
"Oh I don't think that'll be a problem... As ridiculous as a name for the capsule Tardis is there is one thing it conveys correctly, tell them what your little anagram stands for Starlight."
Starlight was smiling ear to ear, At least he's acknowledging my name for the TARDIS , "It stand for, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. The key thing is time, as in time machine."
"You mean..."
You could already be back and relaxing at home right now." The Doctor said resting his fore hooves on the console, "So what do you say? Want to see the stars and teach a blossoming young unicorn how to control her magic?"
The pair looked at each other and simultaneously nodded, "We'll do it" Tender Touch said.
"Just let me get the books that I'll need to teach her" Long Lecture said heading out the door with Starlight.
Author's Note
Two more members to the team, hope that something bad doesn't happen wile Long Lecture is teaching Starlight. Oh well that's what Tender Touch is here for.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Starlight was sitting in a relatively large living room, straining to hold up three different types of chairs with her magic. Long Lecture was sitting in one of them reading a Daring Do book. Starlight's eyes were watering as she asked, "How much longer?"
He turned the page and took out his new pocket watch, "two more minutes".
Tender Touch walked into the room and stared at the sight, "Long, why are you having her levitate these chairs why you read a book?"
Long Lecture looked up from his book, "She needs to work on her telekinesis, she can't lift more than three things at a time and she cannot even move them."
"So why are you just having her lift three chairs rather then, oh I don't know, four books?"
"I'm trying to have her work on size, once she can lift three chairs with ease she'll be able to move three books." He explained. He looked back at his fob watch and said to Starlight, "Time. Now gently put me and the chairs down."
She tried to do gentle, but the closer the chairs got the ground the more violently they shook until finally they landed with a thud and a heavy breath.
"Close enough for now." Long Lecture said closing the book and getting up. "Let's take it a few hours to rest and replenish. Then try again, for a little bit longer."
"Okay." she said walking out of the room.
Tender Touch glared at Long Lecture, "What?" He asked.
"You know that she's magically challenged, and you still put her through these pointless exercises." she scolded.
"They're not pointless. A first year student would have easily been able to do that." He defended putting his watch away.
"She's not a first year student, she'd not even make it into the school."
"Well the Doctor wants me to make her up to par and I'm going to do it. When I'm done with her she'll be a match for any student from that school."
The nurse was about to say something when they heard the odd sound that signified the capsule had landed.
The two of them went up to the console room where the Doctor was polishing part of the main console. "Hello" he said seeing the pair enter the room. "Having fun with your 'Interaction'?" He asked.
Long Lecture shook his head, "why do you ask us that every time we enter a room together?"
"Ya, why do you?"
"We've landed at Canor the City of Song." He said the corner of his lips upturned.
"That's not the question we asked." Tender Touch said.
"It's about the one hundred thousand years after you came on." he said as Starlight entered the room and he smiled, "Good, you're here. Today you’re going to one of the magics that we are completely hopeless to understand. The magic of song." he said as he hit the button to open the doors. "Come along we best see a demonstration."
He walked out the door and was suddenly hit by a blast of wind which ruffled his black coat, relieving his hourglass cutie mark. Almost immediately he was intercepted by a pair of guards, "That's the cutie mark" one said.
"Eeyup" the other one said as he place a pair of shackles around the Doctor's hooves.
"What? Release me! What am I being charged with?! I demand to know!'
The first guard answered, "Conspiracy against the Lord Regent of Canor."
"Lord Regent? This is the home of an Alicorn! Why is there a Lord Regent?" He asked thoroughly confused.
"Ya where's the Princess?!" Long asked.
Starlight ran up to the guard and tugged on one of the guard’s side, "Please don't take him!"
The guard pried her off of him and then shoved the Doctor, "Go or I'll have to take you in for resisting an arrest." He said as they led the Doctor away.
"Starlight! Don't do anything foalish!" he shouted as they turned a corner and went out of sight.
"What do we do?" Tender Touch asked.
"We're going to figure out who this Lord Regent is, then we're going to find what happened to the Princess, then we're going to rescue my grandfather." Starlight said the determination clear in her voice.
Guards were escorting the Doctor down a long black hallway, as they reached the midpoint they opened a storm door and shaved him inside. The Doctor got up and pretended to dust himself off as he surveyed the interrogation room. He walked over to the large mirror imbedded into the wall and began the act of straightening his mane, coat, and shirt, all the while staring coldly into the mirror. The door behind him opened and a white unicorn in suit walked in with a folder and sat at the metal table, "Hello Doctor, we've had our eyes on you for a long time." he opened.
Starlight, Long Lecture, and Tender Touch were rushing around the nearby market asking everypony they could about this Lord Regent, unfortunately everypony they asked about him would cut of the conversation and leave, making it hard to learn anything. The Shop keepers were worse, sense they couldn't leave their shops they would chase the unicorns away often hitting Long Lecture with brooms.
"Have you now?" The Doctor said looking at the stallion through the mirror, "Why? I'm nothing important."
The Stallion smiled and slipped out a piece of paper, then he read it aloud...
It has come to my attention that the leading members of each tribe have let loose the information that I have, on several occasions, met with and socialized with the wizard of the blue box. Because of this my piers have accused me of learning what I know from him and proclaimed that I am a fraud. I would like to take this opportunity to explain my relationship with this wizard. He and I have a strictly nonprofessional relationship. Meaning we have never traded our knowledge with each other. I will admit that every once and awhile we might try to steal our secrets from each other but neither of us has ever succeeded. He is one of the few pony friends I have and I would never jeopardize it by allowing my ambition get the better of me.
The stallion placed the paper on the table, facing the Doctor. "That was an open letter to the ponies of, at the time, the newly formed nation of Equestria, from Starswirl the Bearded himself. This is the earliest known piece of written material that refers to you directly, though based on how it reads we think you been around a long time before it."
The three unicorns reunited in, about, the middle of the market place, Starlight was the first to speak, "You two get anything? All I got was that this Lord Regent is a pegasus that's been in power for the last five years." She said breathlessly.
Tender Touch replied, "I learned that his rule only extends to this planet. Whatever that means."
"I really don't have anything else to add then." Long Lecture said.
"Okay then, I'd bet that the big palace looking thing is where he's at but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where they took my grandfather." Starlight said thinking hard.
The stallion pulled out an x-Ray sheet and slid it on the table towards the Doctor, "your x-Ray, taken from what was left of the third Grillop fleet" it showed what looked like the innards of a pony except there were two hearts instead of one. The stallion continued and pulled out another piece of paper, this one was a report from an organization called S.I.B...Upon request from my commander I am to write a detailed report on the unknown entity I have been tracking for the last thirty years. The Wizard of the Blue Box is an odd being who has been around since the earliest known civilizations, with images of his blue box appearing in several different cultures around the planet, including Griffon, Zebra, and even the ancient Dragon cultures. I have narrowed down at least six different faces that he switches between (Which can be seen in the report). I must stress that if you see on of the faces in real life the only sane thing you could do is to run away, for he is the herald of tragedy and bringer of distruction.
"That was the forward to a report from one of the senior members of S.I.B. We don't know who exactly, due to us not having the full report but it proves that you were around at the same time they were and that you even existed earlier. It's also how we identified you as we had a picture of you cutie mark."
"You shouldn't have read that to me." Was all the Doctor could say.
The three unicorns made their way to the palace on a very overcrowded metro train, "So according to the map, if I read it right, we keep going for three stops then we need to get onto the west bound train to the Capital building." Long Lecture spoke looking at a map paper slightly confused.
Tender Touch grabbed it with her magic then turned it counterclockwise ninety degrees, "I think it’s the north bound train" she said shaking her head and smiling. "I'm glad you aren't a geography teacher."
"So am I." He said, smiling and locking eyes with her.
They held each other’s glances for at least four seconds before Long Lecture was knocked off balance by a mother with six children shoving him to get off at the stop. Starlight shook her head, "Grandfather would have a field day with these few moments." she mused looking at the reflection of herself in the window.
The Doctor had taken a seat now but still faced the mirror. The stallion spoke again, "We have also found mention of you in other civilizations, which lead us to believe that you had a way to get to them since several of these sightings are very close to each other in time." He said pulling out a set of five pictures.
The first one was of some sort of hieroglyphics with a blue box tucked away in the corner. The second one was of the inside of a great white cathedral with stained windows and statues of various ponies, the center piece had four separate statues all facing a blue box in the center of them. The third picture showed a child's toy that was a small blue box, there was writing on the photograph saying, Child plays with toy of the recent savors ship . The fourth had a group of militaristic ponies target practice boards which had an hourglass, a blue box, and some other pony's face. The fifth one was a picture of a holomonitor with seven faces that all had unreadable (Because of picture quality) captions underneath them and a blue box in the middle with Ship? underneath it.
The Doctor glanced at them then scoffed, "It takes a real fool to show their 'enemy' what they think they know about them." He said getting up from his chair and grabbing it. He slid it over to the table and sat back down, "Listen to me very carefully..."
Starlight and company got off the train, and moved their way through the crowds of 'ponies' towards the large palace. "So what's the plan once we get their?" Tender Touch asked.
"Wait..." Long Lecture said realizing that he didn't know the plan earlier, "You haven't told us any plan yet, besides get there."
Starlight didn't say anything at first, she looked away from them. After a few seconds she said, "I don't know."
Long Lecture and Tender Touch looked at each other and grew concerned, Tender Touch said, "Starlight, we can't just break into a palace, full of guards an expect to find the Doctor and get out. There are only three of us sweetie."
Starlight turned towards them and said, "I don't expect to save him. He needs motivating to interfere in the affairs of other species and I intend to motivate him."
"Most, if not all, the species that exist in the universe are magic users..." The Doctor began, "The common creation myth of this era is that in the beginning there was Chaos, endless chaos. Then from the Chaos came Harmony and the universe became balanced. In the balance life was able to flourish and evolve..."
"Everypony knows how the theory goes. Get to your point before I leave" The stallion said annoyed.
"This is called a myth because it isn't the true beginning, it was the second one."
"And how would you know that?"
"I was there. The true beginning was about fourteen billion years before what I have come to know as the 'Event'. I won't bore you with how it actually happened but I want you to know that your entire world is the result of a mistake. A calamity so destructive that twenty five percent of all life sustaining planets were made barren, and a whole forty six percent of all life forms went extinct. But the universe was quick to react to the 'Event', it used the new power at its disposal and began to weave it into the DNA of the newer creatures." The Doctor sat back allowing his captor to take in what he had said.
The suited stallion stood up and headed for the door, he slammed it as he left. He saw the two guards stationed at the door and motioned for them to go inside, "Take this insane piece of filth to the Under Dungeon" he ordered then proceeded left to the door that lead to the room on the other side of the mirror. He entered to see his boss sitting in a backwards chair, his crystal skin glistening as the light from the hallway hit it.
"What did you think of his story?" The stallion’s director asked.
"I think he's lying." the suited stallion began, "I'm not even sure that this wizard is real. I'm more inclined to believe that those Princesses made him up to discourage ponies like the Lord Regent from acting."
"Oh you think thousands of years of stories and sightings across many different and unique cultures, are all fabricated?" the director asked.
"Exactly, the Princesses are thousands of years old and had the time and resources to do so." the stallion said allowing the door to finally close.
"And yet the Lord Regent had us hunt the wizard down." the director pointed out, “What does that say about our master?”
“That he’s a little superstitious and possibly right.” The stallion said picking his words carefully, and trembling slightly.
“Fair enough” The director turned towards the now empty interrogation room and then asked, "Where did you have him taken?"
"The Under Dungeon." The stallion said without hesitation.
"An odd place for you to send something you don't believe is a threat."
"He was a mad stallion, you heard the story."
"Fair enough. I want your report on his interrogation and the reports from all the guards who have handled him on my desk A.S.A.P."
"Understood sir, but that could take a while, wouldn’t the lord regent want to be kept informed?" The stallion asked.
“He will be once you’ve got all the reports together, I’ll make sure of it.” He said allowing his subordinate to excuse himself and leave the room.
Starlight and company had joined a tour group and were being led through the shining palace of the Lord Regent. The tour guide spoke in a monotone as he led them through, "And if you'll look on your right you'll see one of the entrances to the kitchen."
The group was being led deeper into the palace as a suited stallion walked past them holding a folder. The white unicorn looked a little agitated as he passed the tour group. One of the fillies in the group took advantage of him not paying attention to where he was going and tripped him causing the papers of the folder to careen everywhere.
Long Lecture and Tender Touch went to help the unicorn pick up the papers, along with several other ponies in the group. Starlight didn't help, she was standing still focusing on one of the papers. The paper that had her grandfather's cutie mark on it, after a few seconds she started to help. As soon as they had finished and the child was reprimanded the stallion thanked them and continued on his way.
Starlight pulled her friends to the side of the tiled hall, "Did you see what was in that folder?" she asked.
"Yes it was a report of some kind, I did manage to read a bit of it. I think they took him to the lower dungeon."
Starlight pulled out a piece of paper and looked over it, "Actually I think it's the Under Dungeon" she corrected.
Tender looked over her shoulder and moved in between Starlight and the tour guide and pushed the paper down, "You stole one of his papers?" she said in a hushed tone.
"What's wrong? He doesn't know and it helps us find my grandfather faster."
The guards opened the steel door that hid the change from beautiful palace to craggy dungeon. As they led the Doctor through the stone brick corridors they passed by several runes, each time the runes would glow subtly then return to a passive states. "If you don't mind me asking? I am wondering why you have so many magic canceling runes carved into the walls. I mean you have enough carved to make even an Alicorn..." He paused, and the guards faces confirmed his new found suspicion. "You've got an Alicorn down here?! How in the universe did you manage that, the Lord Regent is a 'Regent'. How can you have a regent if you don't have royalty for him to be the regent of?!"
The guards didn't answer him. "What's the matter? To ashamed to answer the questions of an old man? Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're about to see the pony that you betrayed?" He asked mockingly.
One of the guards slammed him up against the wall and glared at him, "Don't speak to me about loyalty, my family knows loyalty and I've had enough of you and your questions! If I hear so much as a peep from you I'll cut out your tong!" He threatened.
The other guards put his hoof on the brash guards shoulder, "Stop! Ya'll know that you can't do that. Besides what would the point be?"
The other guard gave pause and looked at his friend, "Fine. But I better not here a sound from this foal."
The Doctor complied with the demands of the guard and continued down the hall, with the guards, in silent. Soon enough they stood in front of a cell with no bars and the guards ushered the Doctor inside. As soon as he entered the cell a translucent white force field appeared to block his escape. The guards left, leaving the Doctor alone with his thoughts.
Or so he had thought, a feminine voice spoke from the area beyond his cell, "So the 'Lord Regent' has another enemy?" the voice asked.
"I wouldn't know, I'm here because they think I'm somepony I'm not." The Doctor replied.
"Who do they think you are?” the unseen mare asked.
"Some wizard with a blue box."
"Well, do you have a blue box?" She asked.
"I guess I do, but I won't for long"
"Are you a wizard?"
"No! I would never call myself a wizard, I only have a basic understanding of magical theory."
"Do you have an hourglass cutie mark?"
The Doctor paused and pulled up his coat to see it, "Yes" he said weary of her reaction.
"Really?" she asked with a hint of pleading in her voice.
"Yes" The Doctor confirmed.
"Oh Doctor! Is it really you?!"
Their tour had just ended and Starlight, with an innocent looking face, walked up to the tour guide and asked, "Excuse me mam, but what is the Under Dungeon?"
The tour guide's face was in shock for a second then she returned to her normal smiling face, "It's what we call what's left of the old castle that this one was built on. We call it that because the dungeon was all that was left of it."
"Why? What destroyed the old one?"
"Shouldn't you know this?" the guide asked.
"I failed history and am regretting it."
"Well the war with the Welikens, they leveled the old castle."
"Is it still possible to get to the Under Dungeon?" she asked.
"No, not since three years ago, when the Lord Regent had it filled in with cement."
Starlight excused herself and rejoined her friends and told them what she had learned. Long Lecture spoke next, "So what are we going to do? Break into a now nonexistent place?"
"I think that's a lie. If the Under Dungeon was really gone, then they wouldn't take the Doctor there" Tender Touch said.
"Then we're going to need to find it."
"How did you know my name?" The Doctor asked.
"I think that's the least of our worries, if they have you then all hope of stopping the Regent is lost. Now that he has two hostages he could expand his control to several of the neighboring star systems." She said the worry evident in her voice.
"Really?" The Doctor said inspecting the translucent white force field, he placed his hoof on it and it rippled subtly. "I see, a thin cloud, held here by runes etched into the base of the doorway." He thought aloud.
"Yes, it's practically impenetrable, not even magic can pass through it." The voice said.
"I suppose it's protected against pegasus kicks by the magic canceling runes. But if it's designed to hold magic and at the same time be resistant to it. But fortunately for me..." He pushed his hoof through the cloud membrane and the rest of him fell through. "I'm very weak, when it comes to magic that is."
The Doctor walked to the cell next to his where he was a beat up pink alicorn sitting in the corner of the cell. The Doctor picked up a piece of stone that was resting at the corner of the wall and floor and reached to the side of the cell's door. He quickly etched several small 'X''s through the rune carved there, they weren't deep but they were enough to disrupt the spell and release the barricade. "You're free now Princess, feel free to escape."
Tender Touch had tried to take a painting off the wall and was now sitting in a room with a large mirror, and a rune carved above the door. She knew that Long Lecture and Starlight were only a few yards away in other rooms. But Tender knew the plan, all she needed to do was talk up how dangerous they all were and get sent into the Under Dungeon.
A bright pink pegasus walked into the room and set the empty folder she was carrying onto the table, smiling she said, "You are something new."
Tender's head cocked, "Something new? What does that mean?"
"You're not from this world, you don't have a passport, and you’re not listed in the intergalactic census. So Miss..." she trailed off to let Tender Touch say her name.
"Tender Touch."
"So Miss Tender Touch... Where did you come from?"
Tender Touch went with the story that they all had agreed on, "Just imagine how much work it would take to make three ponies not exist, erasing everything that those ponies are and represent. Who would have that power to make ponies disappear?"
The pink pegasus loosened her tie, "Are you saying you work for the Princesses?" she asked.
"I said no such thing..."
The Princess looked at the grey stallion that had released her, and she was slightly confused, "Doctor, you’ve regenerated?" she asked pleadingly.
He smiled at the Princess, "Not yet I haven't. Now come along Princess we have to leave."
She got up from her sitting position and limped over to him, "Did they beat you?" He asked his face showing contorting into something between sadness and anger. He offered his shoulder for her to lean on and keep off her leg.
"Yes, they did. But only the suited ones, the uniforms never did." She said throwing her foreleg around his neck. The Two ponies hobbled down the long hallway to the upper palace.
Long Lecture was holding himself just above the ground, several of his teeth were beneath him. His left eye was had a purple ring around it and he was certain that his right collar bone was, at the very least, fractured. The large pegasus stood over him and glared, "You will tell me who you are?"
Lecture smiled, "Never" the pegasus hit him with a left hook and Lecture turned all the way around before falling on his side. Lecture was kicked out with his hind legs and hit one of the pegasus's forelegs.
"You little..." He said before he was kicked again by Lecture. He flapped his wings once to get enough lift to stomp down on Lecture, he would have if Lecture didn't roll out of the way.
Lecture shot out his foreleg to break the pegasus's wing, as the stallion roared in pain the door opened and several uniformed guards came into the room. They grabbed Lecture and piled atop him.
As the guards escorted the group of three ponies to the dungeons of the new castle, Starlight and Tender Touch were hoof cuffed, but Long Lecture was in a strait jacket being carried by two ponies. The guards lead them past a metal door that none of the captured ponies would have noticed if not for the knocking, thud, thud, thud .
The guards were slightly confused and their leader pointed at an orange one and said, "Check out the door," Then pointing at the rest of the guards he said, "The rest of you secure the prisoners and get them to their cells."
The orange pony opened the door just a crack and immediately a blast of energy shot the door opened and all of the ponies were blasted against the wall. As the ponies slammed into the wall most of the ponies ended up falling atop each other, and somehow Long Lecture had managed to land on top of all the other ponies.
There was heavy breathing as the ponies began to regain to come out of their shock they could see the alicorn and the earth pony hobbling through the door. Starlight was the first to speak, "Grandfather!?" her face lit up at the sight.
Her grandfather on the other hoof was less then pleased to see her, "I told you to stay with the capsule." He said grimly. Then he saw Long Lecture tied up atop several guards, "Great, now Lecture's hurt, that's two ponies that cannot walk."
"Two?" Tender Touch asked before noticing that the pink mare had a hoof around the Doctor's neck, "Oh, you've made a friend."
Tender Touch may not have recognized the Princess but Long Lecture had seen this pony before, she had dropped off younger ponies at the school for gifted unicorns before. Sure she was older but she was still recognizable "Forgive nurse Tender Touch Princess, we've..." Lecture tried to think of an excuse for the lack of recognition form the nurse.
The Doctor quickly came up with a good enough reason, "We've been away and our nurse here doesn't pay attention to the news."
"Yes we've been away so you'll forgive us Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I would bow but I'm a bit tied up at the moment." He said smiling at the familiar, yet different face of the Princess.
"Cadence will do my good stallion" Cadence corrected.
"Yes, your highness, Princess Cadence." Lecture corrected himself.
"So what's the plan?" Cadence asked giving the Doctor a sideways glance.
"Don't know, my plan went as far as the metal door." the Doctor explained.
"Well, grandfather you freed the Princess, why not finish the job." Starlight suggested.
"No! We've interfered enough and I refuse to continue." The Doctor said, finally remembering the one rule that he always had to follow.
The orange guard got up and cracked his neck attracting the attention of all the newly freed ponies. The guard stood upright at attention and saluted the Princess, "Mam it's good to see you free."
"Thank you Alexander, do you have a data pad?'
"Yes Mam" He answered pulling a small rectangle out of his uniform and handing it to the Princess.
"Thank you, my loyal subject." She said putting a pass phrase into the data pad.
The leader of the guards was stuck under several of his subordinates and Long Lecture shouted at Alexander, "You treacherous earth pony scum..."
Another guard in the pile interrupted him, "Shut your trap! If any of us is treacherous scum it's you Dust! You and I both know that the Lord Regent is was holding our Princess hostage!"
"You insubordinate fil..." the leader started before the other guard managed to readjust himself atop his commander.
"Quiet, you annoying foal." the guard said.
"Doctor I know you and the other Princesses are on bad terms right now so you better leave before they arrive to get rid of the Regent" Cadence said shooing the Doctor and his companions away.
"What? You know the other Princesses?" Tender Touch asked the Doctor.
"No, but we best leave, the last time I met one of them they broke the time capsule. I'd rather not be on the receiving end of her wrath if she could damage something that's nearly indestructible."
The group left Princess Cadence and the loyalist guards to their over through of the tyrannical Lord Regent, and quickly made their way back to the time capsule. They did have difficulty with Long Lecture as he couldn't walk due to his now clearly broken collar bone.
As soon as they entered the capsule Tender Touch went to work patching him up. The Doctor and Starlight however were in the consul room, "I'm sorry that you couldn't hear any of the songs." he apologized.
"Oh well... I didn't need to, after all what are a few songs compared to removing from power a tyrant who ruled with fear and oppression." She said resting her fore hooves on the consul.
"We didn't do anything like that, we simply escaped."
"Yes but you didn't have to let the Princess out of her cell, unless you two were in the same one, that is."
"No, I suppose your right, I did help her overthrow the Lord Regent."
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Long Lecture was never the kind of pony who used his sick days, he was the kind of pony that as long as he could get out of bed he would take a few antibiotics and work through that day. To Starlight's displeasure she was holding four chairs with her magic while her bandaged teacher was, thankfully, not seated in one of the chairs she wasn't holding. He had picked up where he left off on his Daring Do novel and insisted that Starlight continue to practice her magic while he finished a few chapters.
"All right, I'm done, you can stop now." He said closing the book and placing it on a nearby table.
Starlight gently lowered the chairs to the ground, but she released her hold on them a bit too early and they hit the ground with a thud. Lecture flinched slightly at the unexpected sound then glared with annoyance Starlight.
Starlight apologized and Lecture allowed her to leave. Lecture rose from the chair and used his magic to shape a foreleg so he could walk and left the room. He entered the consul room to find the Doctor fiddling with some wires from a panel in the wall by the door. "Doctor can I talk to you about something?" Lecture asked.
"If you don't mind me working while we speak, then very well." The Doctor said still fiddling with the wires.
"Well…I was wondering what do you hope to accomplish by simply showing Starlight the effects the various kinds of magic have?" Lecture asked.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean" the Doctor said grunting and pulling a small rectangle out of the panel in the wall and a serious of sparks shot out. The two stallions both jumped and Lecture's leg construct wavered and dissipated as he fell.
As the pair got up Lecture clarified, "Too witness magic and to experience magic are two completely different things. You do realize that, don't you?"
"Of course I realize that. Would you prefer that I subject her to the magic? Make her hate another, fall in love, depressed, enraged, make friends, Sing a song, subject her to every form of magic known to all sentient life through time and space, I wouldn't! I have her see the effects of the magic because that's all she needs."
"'All she needs'?"
"Yes 'all she needs'. Our kind don't bother with all that magic anywise, it's far too messy."
"What do you mean by 'our kind'?"
The Doctor fiddled with some of the wires for a few seconds and then said "Time travelers, we prefer science to magic..."
"Not according to Starswirl the Bearded." Lecture interjected, "according to the history books he was able to time travel."
"At least he respects the rules, according to the history books."
"What rules?"
"There are two big ones. One: don't create a paradox you can't work your way out of, which includes crossing timelines and things like that. And Two: Don't leave any marks on history, except the most subtle of them. Like speeding up the rescue of a small band of lost Chelm, or shaving a few weeks off the lives of a few ponies. That is the over lying lesson I'm trying to teach her."
"I see. Wait what, we're losing weeks of our lives?" Lecture asked miffed about not being told this before he had left with the Doctor and Starlight.
"Yes, if I take you home a few moments after I picked you up then to history it'll look like you died sooner than you should." The Doctor said placing the rectangle back into the panel and smiled as it lit up a light blue green color. "There, I believe I've got the chameleon circuit working again!" he said moving to the consul and landed the capsule, then he rushed out the door.
He turned around to see that the capsule hadn't changed from the blue box despite being surrounded by a bunch of fine wooden homes. Lecture followed him out and was puzzled, "What's a chameleon circuit?"
"It's not supposed to be a blue box all the time." The Doctor said. He looked through the open door at the interior of the capsule and thought aloud, "I wonder what I fixed?"
Lecture turned around and surveyed the crowd of unicorns that had gathered around the Doctor, Lecture, and the box. "Doctor, why are they staring around us?"
The Doctor turned around to see the large crowd, then he whispered at Lecture, "Tell them it's an experiment, an invisibility spell or something."
"What" Lecture asked turning away from the crowd.
"You know, a magical experiment of some kind."
"Why me?" he asked. The Doctor responded by waving his hoof above his forehead.
"Okay" Lecture turned back towards the crowd and addressed them in his 'first class of the day' voice, "Nothing to see here, just a simple invisibility test! Move along! Move along!"
The crowd dispersed, the last of them was a grey unicorn colt who looked at the box in amazement, "how did you do that?" he asked jaw opened in amazement.
"Um... it's hard to explain?" Lecture tried to think of something.
"He simply bent the light around the box, now run along little colt and go ahead and try to figure out how he bent the light." The Doctor said pointing down the road.
"Okay!" The colt shouted with a smile and ran off in the direction the Doctor had pointed.
There was something they didn't realize however, one of the unicorns that was in the crowd was still watching them. He was plainly dressed, compared to the others, that is. He wore what the other unicorns would have called 'earth pony trash'. Or they would if he wasn't wearing the seal of the Monks of the Light, tasked to raise the sun every morning and lower it every night.
The monk watched as the two ponies stepped back into the blue box and walked back to the solar monastery outside of town.
Back inside the capsule the Doctor walked back to the panel and began to get back to work on it. Lecture asked, "Shouldn't you put the TARDIS in flight before you make it transform."
"Great! Now Starlight has you calling my time capsule that!" He complained as he worked.
Tender Touch walked into the consul room and was followed by Starlight got the Doctor's attention, "Grandfather, I was wondering if perhaps we could go out and just, for once, not have to worry about my magic lessons?"
"Do you mean now? If you do I couldn't imagine a better point in history for a pair of unicorns." He said not turning away from the panel.
"Why" Tender Touch asked.
Starlight had moved over to the consul and looked at the date, "We're in pre-Equestria times, back when the tribes of your planet were separated. And we're in a unicorn village!"
"Really!?" Lecture and Tender asked in unison.
"Yes!" Starlight answered.
Tender nearly jumped with joy, "I've always wondered what it was like before the Windigos came, the history books never say anything about this time period." She said as her and Starlight began to leave.
Lecture followed them with his eyes as they left, then the Doctor spoke up, "Go ahead, recover part of your races history and learn some forgotten spells. Just leave this old stallion alone to his work." and with that Lecture ran out to catchup to the mares.
Not that far outside of town an army numbering five thousand strong was hiding on the other side of a large mountain. They had piled low clouds above the camp to block the smoke from reveling their position. A young pegasus entered the commanders tent, "Sir our pegasi are ready to begin the assault" The pegasus said saluting.
"Thank you Major Hurricane." the Commander said not turning away from the map he was studying. "However I'm making a change in the colonel's plan, I would like you to take a company to guard the monastery."
The young major was insulted, "What?! You want me to waste time on a monastery, we can't even invade those!!"
"Exactly why I want you to guard it, I don't want any of that unicorn filth to make it inside." The commander said smiling widely.
The major grinned and saluted, "Yes Commander Storm Cloud" and with that the major left the tent.
The Commander looked at the monastery's position on the map, it was opposite of the camp and closer to the unicorn village. The major might have a hard time keeping some of the unicorn filth out of it. However a unicorn’s first instinct isn't to run, it's to fight. He planned to use those crucial few moments it would take for the unicorns to stop shooting and run to allow the major to get in between them and the monastery.
He knew this plan wasn't foal proof, the unicorns had the ability to teleport and who knew how many secret tunnels might be running between the monastery and village. Then there were the monks if any of the major’s ponies stepped hoof behind the monastery's walls all bets were off. The monks were powerful and they would treat his entire army as a treat and probably destroy it.
His thoughts were interrupted by a furious mare entering the tent, "Why are you having Major Hurricane guarding the monastery when I had Major Nimbus on that?! And more so why did I hear it from Nimbus instead of you!?"
Storm Cloud glared gown at her and calmly replied, "Is that any way to address a superior?"
The pegasus faltered in her rage, she bowed her head not daring to make eye contact any more, "I'm sorry Commander, please forgive me." She pleaded expecting that at any moment that she'd feel the sensation of leaving her body, by his hoof.
But the Commander had no intention of letting her off that easily "Colonel, do you have family back home?" he asked.
Quivering she said, "Yes, two foals" she felt as though she was condemning them to Tartarus itself.
"You are lucky I'm feeling generous, another outburst like that and they'll pay the price." he said looking back at the map.
"Thank you, for your generosity great Commander Storm Cloud." She said choked out.
"As for your question, Nimbus is a moron who would probably figure out a way to make the monks mad and I don't want that to happen. Now leave my command tent and ready the troops. We fly in the morning, for we will fight with the rising sun at our backs instead of the setting sun in our eyes!"
She saluted and dismissed herself.
Tender Touch was admiring the jewelry on display in the market stand, the pony that was operating the stand had a look of absolute boredom, "Lady are you going to by something or not?"
"She looked up at him clearly annoyed, "Well, if you’re going to be rude then...NO!" She turned and walked off.
Starlight walked away from another stall holding a flute with her magic, she pulled out a coin purse and slid the flute into it. "Tender, have you found anything you like yet?" she asked the nurse.
"No, I thought I found something but the stall owner was rude and I don't deal with rude ponies." She said as Long Lecture walked up to them.
"This place is amazing, look I got a book on magical constructs. This should help me stabilize my fake hoof while my real one is still in this annoying sling." He said casting a spell and the fake hoof just shimmered. He examined the leg and sighed, "Oh well, at least the book is worth something."
The three unicorns went on their way through the market until they saw a group of six unicorns loading a cart with all kinds of food. The working unicorns didn't see that some of the spokes of the wheel were cracked and began to budge as they loaded more and more food onto it. As the wheel finally gave way causing the cart to spill all of the food all over the dirt ground. Or it would have if Long Lecture, Tender Touch and, to a lesser extent, Starlight didn't catch the cart as it fell keeping most of the food inside.
The leader of the worker took off his hat and bowed gracefully and in a Scoltish accent said, "Thank ya for saving us the trouble that, that reached old cart would have caused us."
"You’re welcome." Tender said instinctively.
"Yes, you’re very welcome," Lecture added, "But why pile so much food onto one cart?"
"We'd normally have two but it takes four of us to haul one cart all the way to the monastery." The pony answered.
"The monastery?" Starlight asked oblivious to the fact that she could see it if she turned around and got one her tipihooves.
"Yes, those monks, for all their magic, still need food. Me and my compatriots here take food to them every two weeks or so. Speaking of which, would any of you like to make a quick forty bits?"
Lecture turned towards his friends and gave shrug, "Do we have anything else to do?"
"Not really..."
"Great! I'll do it! And the girls here will as well!" Lecture said.
"What!?" the two mares said in unison.
"Come on, we get to see a genuine solar monastery."
"I don't know..." Starlight began.
"You can see the magic the monks use to move the sun! And Tender, the monks knew all kinds of medicine, who knows what kind of secrets that were lost to history?!" He pleaded.
"Fine." Starlight said.
"Sure why not, I have always wondered what it was like in one of those."
The three of them helped the working ponies pack the final cart. Once they headed out to the monastery they used the fact that there was now nine ponies to switch out every twenty minutes or so, allowing all the ponies a break from hauling one of the two carts.
Deep in the monastery's crypt a monk was looking over a list he wrote up.
1. Locate pegasus forces
2. Mount weather manipulators
3. Wait for pegasus invasion
4. Meet the unicorn King
5. 'Lose' physics textbook
6. 'Lose' my Archscroll
7. Watch what happens
He had just finished mounting the manipulators on the unicorn side of the mountain and drew the line through the task. All he had to do was save the town with powerful 'magic' and meet the king only to lose some important things during his visit.
He rolled up his list and opened the coffin he had come down here to see, then threw the list into it and pulled out a wrist watch. He checked the time and saw that it was almost three and all he had to do was wait fifteen hours.
The Doctor stepped back out of his time capsule only to have his hopes dashed by the same blue box. "Ten tries and nothing! Fine if you're going to be like that then I'm done trying to fix you!" he shouted at the stubborn time capsule.
He walked off irritated and was determined to find his granddaughter and her teachers. As he walked through the market asking the every few vendors if they had seen Starlight, Tender Touch or Lecture. He was in the middle of asking a particularly rude vendor when he felt a rubber ball strike his side, bounce off the vendors stand then hit him again, at which point he caught it.
As he examined the ball he couldn't help but notice that the rubber was a bit out of place for the time period. His train of thought was interrupted by a filly tugging on his coat.
"Mister, can I have the ball back?" she asked giving him the best puppy dog eyes it could manage.
He tussled the filly’s mane and said, "You can have it back if you tell me where you got it. Do we have a deal?"
"Sure, one of the monks from the monastery gave it to me."
The Doctor handed the filly the ball and sent her on her way. I'll have to speak with these monks, that ball is way out of place , he thought as he headed in the direction of the monastery.
The food caravan had just entered the monastery's courtyard and were greeted by the smiling faces of three monks, "Welcome to our monastery friends." the middle one said as they all bowed their heads.
"Hello Father Solace, we have your food for the next two weeks." The leader of the work ponies said bowing back.
"Thank you my child. How have these last two weeks treated you and yours?"
"Not very well, my wee son is determined to get his cutie mark and he won't stop trying different types of magic. He nearly blew up the house yesterday!"
"Perhaps you should bring him here, we may be able to help him."
"I would...but my wife would kill me! Then she'd come here to get him back and you'd be in her warpath!"
"Then I wish him luck and that his talent isn't in pyromancy." The Father smiled as he looked over at the workers, "I see you have some new hooves amongst you."
"Yes, we lost Dawn and Curly to their honeymoon."
"Ah yes, I remember the service."
"So we've talked about my life how have you been Father."
"We got a new monk. But that's about it" the father said.
"That's new, I didn't know any of the villagers were going through the Harrowing."
"He's not from the village, he's from one of the Lunar monasteries, and I forget which one."
"You must be getting senile in your old age Father" the leader said.
"I guess I must be..."
The trip to the monastery wasn't a long one, and when the Doctor arrived he found the front gate locked to him. He pounded on the wooded gate for several minutes until he heard a whistling sound. He followed the sound and saw a monk walking around a field. He called out to the monk, "Young man! May I speak to you?!"
The monk stopped pacing and walked over to the Doctor, "good day my child, you're a bit far away from home."
"Hello, my good stallion. Do you know why won't they let me into the monastery?"
"My child, this is a solar monastery, only unicorns can get into it during the day." The monk explained.
The Doctor looked up at his forehead and thought to himself, that’s right racist time's, best not to seem too progressive.
"Well, have you seen anything unusual lately?" The Doctor asked.
"My child, this is a place of magical achievement, there isn't anything usual here."
The work ponies were about to head out when Long Lecture asked the Father Solace, "The young one here has always wanted to tour the inside of one of these monasteries, and would you allow us the pleasure."
"Oh yes we've all wanted to see one of these for the longest time but simply haven't gotten around to it." Tender Touch added.
"Very well, you may go and see, however if a monk tells you that you cannot do something, I expect you to listen." The Father said allowing the three ponies to enter the monastery proper.
"Thank you father" Starlight said.
"Just a second" He said handing them a medallion, "you'll need this to be allowed inside." he said smiling.
"Well then, can you tell me if the monks make rubber?" The Doctor asked.
"We don't waist our time on rubber, we learn new ways to use our magic." The monk said proudly.
"Then mind telling me what rubber is." The Doctor asked.
The monk paused as he realized his mistake, rubber wouldn't be invented for another five hundred years on this planet. He saw the look on the Doctor's face and he darted off towards one of the many secret entrances into the monastery. The Doctor fallowed and made his way down the thin tunnel the monk had ran into as he exited it he found himself in an out cove in a crypt. As he reached the center of the out cove he iron bars fell over both the entrance to the out cove and the secret passage.
The monk poked his head from around the corners and smiled at the Doctor through the bars, "Sssoooo..." He started, "Who are you?"
"Why should I tell you?" the Doctor asked.
"Because if I like your answer, I might let you go." he told the Doctor as he sat down.
"I'll tell you if you tell me who you are."
"Fine, but you first." The monk insisted.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes, "Fine. I'm the Doctor, and you?"
"Well Doctor, I'm the Monk. Sometimes called the Meddling Monk, and far less often the Time Meddler. You can just call me the Monk."
Long Lecture was elated for a chance to explore these halls of learning, but every time he got close to a monk doing an experiment the monk would stop and hide their notes. But he didn't care, just the opportunity to see this place in all its splendor. He loved it, the mares however had nothing more than a mild curiosity for the monastery.
"Look at this, they have figured out how to make a cloud go rouge leaving the pegasus unable to control them!" Lecture said as pointed to the dark cloud.
"Yes it's quite fascinating but Lecture, how exactly is Starlight learning here?" Tender asked.
"Well...the Doctor said, that she should learn by observation, not experience. So Starlight what do you see"
"Unicorns practicing various spells, and some of them doing thinks with salt" Starlight said glancing at the room.
"Where do you see salt?" Tender asked not seeing any.
"It's in the cracks in between the tiles on the ground." She said pointing to one such crack.
"Oh” Lecture said looking down at the cracks, "I wonder why they poured salt into the cracks?"
A random monk interjected, "If pegasi were to invade the salt would be washed out and the air would become saturated with its smell allowing us to escape without being tracked."
"So what do you get out of giving the ponies rubber!?" The Doctor demanded.
"Nothing! Why are you so focused on rubber!?"
"You gave a rubber ball to a filly in the village and I refuse to allow you to leave such a game changing invention this far back in the past"
"That's not all I did." The Monk Boasted, "Tomorrow, when the pegasi invade, I'm going to destroy their army."
"You can't do that! If you destroy that army then Major Hurricane will die and the pegasus will lose one of their greatest leaders."
"That's not all they'll lose... They'll lose a section of their army and the unicorn king will be able to crush the pegasi and take total control of the ponies. Then I intend on 'accidentally' giving them the knowledge they need. Imagine, ponies will be in space in a matter of centuries."
"You can't do that! The ponies have several lessons to learn before they get to space. If you give them the ability to get there sooner then they very well may become a war based race!"
"So! Let'em. I'm sure it'll be interesting to see what happens." The monk said as he walked over to a coffin on the floor and stepped inside. When he came out he had a watch and checked the time, "Only thirteen more hours to go"
"What's through there?" Tender asked one of the monks as she pointed towards a door.
"The crypts, it's where our dead are kept, and a few nobles." the monk answered.
"Oh." Starlight said. A monk emerged from the crypts in a hurry and accidentally collided with Tender Touch.
"Oh, I'm so sorry my dear. I wasn’t looking where I was going, do forgive me" the Monk said to Tender helping her up.
"It's okay. Are you hurt?" Tender asked.
"No, I'm quite all right. Good bye" The Monk said.
"Forgive him, he's from a lunar monastery." the first monk explained.
Starlight felt something odd when the monk had collided with Tender, "There's something off about that pony."
"Like I said he's from a lunar monastery, they're all a bit eccentric, I think it has something to do with the moon's influence." The monk explained further.
"I don't think that's it" Starlight said creaking open the door to the crypt.
"I'm afraid that you cannot go in there." the monk said closing the door.
"Why not? The other monk was in there." Starlight asked.
"He's a monk and commoners aren't allowed in the crypts." The monk said, "And if you can't accept that then I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
"Well, looks like we can't accept that." Starlight began as the monk she had been talking to fell over. Lecture had hit him in the back of the head with a piece of wood. "Grandfather would be so disappointed." Starlight mused as Lecture began to lift the unconscious monk into the crypts with them.
The Doctor leaned agents the side wall of the little 'cell', he didn't even understand why the monks would have built anything like this in their crypts, what if one of them got stuck in here? he thought. Then he got up and began to look for switches, levers, buttons, or panels, anything that might release these bars that surrounded him on two sides. He found no such salvation.
He heard the sound of footsteps and awaited the Monks return. But to his great surprise instead of the Monk rounding the corner to the outcome it was Tender Touch. Her face lit up as she shouted to the others to come.
The 'three' unicorns had no trouble opening the large bars, immediately after the bars were raised Starlight rushed in and hugged her grandfather, "how long have you been down here?" she asked.
"Not long" he said breaking away and walking over to the coffin that the Monk had pulled the watch out of and opening it. "Would you look at this?" He said as he stepped inside.
The others joined him and saw that it was another time capsule, however it was a light tan color on the inside and it had hexagons on the walls instead of circles.
"I knew that monk was off" Starlight declared placing her fore hooves on the main console.
"Indeed," the Doctor confirmed, "he's from where we're from" the Doctor picked up a remote control with a small display on the top and looked it over, "I think this controls weather manipulators."
Lecture leaned over and looked at the odd thing, "how do you figure that."
The Doctor turned it over and showed that the remote was labeled 'Weather Manipulator Control'.
Tender pulled out a scroll and unraveled it, "Would you look at this?"
1. Locate pegasus forces
2. Mount weather manipulators
3. Wait for pegasus invasion
4. Meet the unicorn King
5. 'Lose' physics textbook
6. 'Lose' my Archscroll
7. Watch what happens
"What do you suppose this is about?" she asked showing it to the others in the consul room.
The Doctor and Starlight exchanged nervous glances, then the Doctor asked, "What's the name of the village we landed in?"
Starlight looked gravely at him and said, "Red Horn," she paused and looked down, "We must have landed near the battle".
"What battle?" Lecture asked looking back and forth between them for a few moments.
The Doctor answered, "One of the most influential battles in your history, The Slaughter of Red Horn. This will be the last battle of The Great Commander Storm Cloud, and when Starswirl the Bearded will be the first unicorn to use alicorn level power to get his cutie mark and in the process destroy half the occupied village."
"That's absolutely right Doctor" The Monk said looking very cross as he stood in the doorway of the Time Capsule.
"What do you have to gain from any of this?" The Doctor asked narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Oh, strait to the point then. I don't have anything to gain. In fact, as the list points out, I'm losing some things." The Monk said taking a step closer.
"Ya right, you’re clearly getting something out of this" Starlight said pointing at him with her hoof.
"I get nothing from my actions, it's the ponies that get everything. In fact if they work fast the unicorns will be in space within five hundred years"
"That's too early, the ponies aren't supposed to get into space for thousands of years" The Doctor said getting a little angry. "They can't go into space that early, they need to learn some very important lessons first. If they leave the planet when you plan they'll be no better than Welikians in their barbarism."
"So, it doesn't matter. Just imagine how the universe will change with the ponies carving their way through it rather than assimilating or out lasting other species. Isn't it exciting to think about?"
"No I won't allow you to do this." The Doctor said as he hit a series of button on the remote he had been holding. "I won't allow you to use the pegasus's cloud against them." he said as he reset the targeting coordinates of the manipulators.
"Doctor what do you think you’re doing!" the Monk said pulling the remote out of his hooves with his magic. "He looked at the small display at the top, I see you made the manipulators target themselves."
"Yes I did, Starlight hit the green button!" He shouted and Starlight did as he ordered. Before the monk could react the green button was down and the display read firing
Far off on the Red Horn Mountain there was a low rumbling and several small explosions on the unicorn side as the manipulators shot electricity through themselves, trying to simulate lightning in the shallow holes they'd been put in.
Back in the Monks time Capsule he was furious, "How dare you, those cost more than the mountain they were on!!"
"I pressed the button" Starlight said smiling.
The monk’s horn began to glow but before he could do anything he was struck in the back of the head by a piece of rock from the crypt outside. Long Lecture smiled content with his action "Ha, should have paid better attention" He said to the unconscious 'pony'.
The Doctor turned to the consul of the Time Capsule and opened a hatch, "We cannot let him simply get more manipulators, he still has time" he explained his actions to his friends, he pulled out a small octagon from the underside and disconnected it from the wires it was connected to.
"That should keep him bouncing around" Starlight said seeing the octagon.
"What is it" Tender asked.
"It's a Directional Circuit, without it the best he could do is aim for a planet and hope for the best." Starlight explained.
The Doctor took the scroll that the list was on and flipped it over, he quickly scribbled something don on it and jammed it into the space the circuit used to occupy. "We'd better take our leave before he wakes up." The Doctor said as the group departed.
There was screaming from the passage way, it echoed through the crypt until it woke the Monk. As his eyes opened he heard more and more screaming echo through the crypt. "Gotta fix this" He said still groggy. He made his way over to the consul and reset the coordinates, I'll just get more manipulators and place them on the mountain after the other ones got destroyed. he thought to himself as he placed his capsule in flight.
As it landed, he opened the door to find a dessert, "this isn't right." the thought aloud. He went back to the consul and entered the coordinates again, this time when he opened the door he saw a lava flow right under the door way. In a panic, he tried several more times and never saw the same thing twice. He used his magic to open all the panels under the consul and on the walls at once and saw a bundled up piece of paper fall out of one in the consul. Hesitantly he opened it...Dear Meddling Monk
I've taken your Directional Circuit to prevent you from doing something you know you shouldn't do, you can have it back next time we meet, if you've been good
Your "friend" The Doctor
The Monk couldn't help himself, he yelled the vilest curses he knew and directed them all towards the Doctor.
Author's Note
A good classic villain, wouldn't you agree?
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Starlight was laying in an open field just looking at the endless horizon of the alien planet that they had landed on. Her grandfather was working on some part of the TARDIS and Lecture and Tender Touch were off exploring. Lecture had insisted since he could use his leg again, however there wasn't too much to see in an open field on an alien planet that had no sentient life.
There was a loud clanking noise from the TARDIS as the Doctor stepped out looking more the a little mad, "Starlight, do you know where the other two went? I'm done messing with the Capsule for today."
Starlight sighed and sat up, turning to face her grandfather she pointed passed the TARDIS towards another part of the field, "they went that way" she said getting up completely, "shall I go get them?" She asked as she neared her grandfather.
"Yes that would be nice." He said walking back into the TARDIS.
She walked past the TARDIS towards where she believed the two of them were at. The two of them were laying on their backs looking at clouds and pointing at them. Starlight called out to them, "Tender! Lecture! Grandfather says it's time to go."
The two of them got up and walked over to Starlight, "What did you say sweetie?" Tender asked.
"Grandfather's ready to go" Starlight repeated.
The Trio began their walk back to the TARDIS, but as they neared they heard an odd whistling sound. They looked up towards where the sound was coming from and saw a small red dot shoot across the sky right towards the TARDIS. Tender instinctively used her magic to create a barrier around the three unicorns as the red hot thing smacked into the TARDIS at an odd angle. The resulting explosion from the impact sent the TARDIS flying off through the air.
Starlight immediately broke out of the shield and went chasing after the TARDIS and watched it land on its side, roll a few times, then end up with resting on its side with the doors facing her. The doors opened and the Doctor was standing sideways, he looked at the grass covered ground of the planet and sighed at the fact that it was to his left. He climbed out of the Capsule and just looked back at it. "One of these days I'll fix that." he said turning towards Starlight as she ran up to him.
"Grandfather! Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yes. Yes child. I'm fine." He assured her as he began to walk towards the object that had hit his Capsule. As he walked along Tender and Lecture ran up to him, they tried to talk but he was on a mission to find out what had struck his Capsule.
As he neared the crater that now occupied the spot that his Capsule was in he began to feel a sense of dread and despair. He looked into the crater and saw a pony, not just any pony, a pegasus with wings at least three times as large as a normal pegasus's. Its coat was golden and glowing slightly, its short mane was the exact same color. Its eyes flickered open and were a stark contrast of its coat, blacker then the deepest part of space. It staggered to its feet and looked up at the Grey stallion that was looking down at him.
"You are not of this world?" The glowing pony said to the Doctor. It's voice was both high and low in pitch simultaneously.
"I could say the same of you" The Doctor replied to the glowing pony.
Starlight poked her head over the edge of the crater to see who her grandfather had addressed. She gasped at the sight of the glowing pony, "it’s beautiful" she said her mouth hanging open.
"Thank you" The pony said folding it wings so compactly that it appeared it didn't even have any.
Long Lecture and Tender had seen the pony shortly after Starlight and were simply speechless at it's golden majesty.
The Doctor looked grimly at the pony in the crater, "Are you named?" He asked.
"We're all named, you simply can't hear them." The pony replied.
"But are you named?" The Doctor insisted.
"I guess technically, though it's more of a title."
"What are you two talking about?" Tender asked.
When it was clear that the Doctor and the other pony weren't listening to her Starlight told her, "Grandfather's asked how important our visitor is. If it has a name we can comprehend then we won't have to help it"
"I am the Angle of Death" The pony said simply, and yet there was a sense of dread that fell over the ponies as he finished saying 'Death'.
"Are you here to drag us to Tartarus?" The Doctor asked cautiously.
The sound of children's laughter came from the Angle, "I see my reputation precedes me. However I stopped say that a long time ago." He said with a grin that filled the ponies with a feeling of content.
"Were you attacked?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes." the Angle of Death answered.
"Who would attack a Neutral?" Starlight asked completely baffled that somepony would consider that a good idea.
"What's a Neutral?" Tender asked Starlight.
Starlight whispered back, "It's his species official name, they serve neither Chaos nor Harmony, and instead seek to make a balance. They also tend not to pick sides in any conflict, except special circumstances."
"Welens" The Angle of Death answered the earlier question and the Doctor and Starlight both stood still, not sure how to respond.
After a few moments of silence the Doctor said "Well then, we better get going."
"Grandfather we have to help it." Starlight said.
"No I don't! It's the Angle of Death! It's plenty strong enough to take care of them" The Doctor said, then he ordered the ponies to the Capsule.
Just as Tender and Lecture were about head for the TARDIS a ship decloaked above them, and several smaller ships began to fly out of an opening in its side. As soon they landed in a semicircle around them a group of partially cybernetic ponies stepped out.
The metal on their body was somewhere between grey and blue. Their coats were various shades of blue and they were maneless. Each one of them were missing their left eye and they had a saddle looking piece of equipment imbedded into their back. None of them had hooves, instead where they should have been there was more of the blue metal. They had metal over their flanks and they didn't appear to have tails.
"You are the Angle of Death?" One of them with a shoulder pads on is asked.
The Angle of Death looked up at the Welen commander looking down in the crater at him, "No...I'm Sutekh"
"Sarcasm is unbecoming to one of you race" One of the other Welens said.
"Good thing I'm barley a Neutral anymore." The Angle of Death said.
"We intend to fix that" The commander with the shoulder pads said as several other Welens carried out a small box and a large cylinder from the ship and set it down upright.
A pair of them descended into the crater and as the Angle of Death began to open his wings to fight back but one of them activated the box and his wings folded back down. Their metal hooves apparently had claws and they used them to grab the Angle and drag him up by the cylinder.
One of the Welens that had helped carry out the cylinder interacted with the touchscreen and a small hole opened in the side of it. The Welens that were holding the Angle grabbed his left forehoof and shoved it into the hole. There was a scream of agony from the Angle of Death as he tried to wrench his hoof out of the machine all the while he spat warnings, "You don't know what you’re doing! You'll only destroy yourselves!"
Starlight, Tender, and Lecture tried to run to help him but every time any one of the ponies tried to get any closer than the crater the Welens would point their back and hoof mounted weapons at them.
The Doctor on the other hoof had no intention of getting involved with the affairs of the Welens and the Angle of Death and continuously suggested that they all get to the Capsule. But his words of wisdom fell on deaf ears.
Eventually they pulled the Angle's hoof out of the machine and the commander said, "You are no longer needed." At that the Angle limped over to where the ponies had been watching from.
"Are you alright!?" Tender asked as soon as he passed the Welen guards that had been keeping them back.
"No! None of us are alright! And it's not just because of the magic blocker" He said clutching his hoof, which was covered with tiny scars that let his golden blood flow out slowly.
"That's the block, but what's the cylinder?" The Doctor asked his curiosity getting the better of him.
"A Welen Time Line Snatcher. The Welen's use it to bring back Generals and great worriers from their past to help them win wars."
"I didn't even know that this cycle of Welens had any this time around" The Doctor said.
"They shouldn't!" The Angle said the loathing clear in his voice. "The Dilus tried to destroy them all the last time the Welen race was stamped out of existence."
Before anypony could talk the Time Line Snatcher began to sputter and shake, the machine produced an antenna and electricity began to spark from it. More and more electricity sparked and eventually it made a swirling, multicolored, vortex. From the vortex a being wrapped in rags and tattered clothing that looked like it could have once been a uniform. Its golden wings were far to long for its body. Its black eyes were darker them the blackest black hole.
As it exited the vortex it looked around at the Welens. Before the Welens magic jammer could take effect, the being from the vortex shouted, "I am the Angle of Death! And I'm here to drag you to Tartarus!" Then with a single flap of its enormous wings a storm of feathers shot out and hit every Welen in the chest. The feathers went straight through them without a mark and stopped every one of their hearts.
A few of the feathers were going to hit the ponies but the much older Angle managed to block them by forcing its own wings out. The young rag covered Angle whistled and narrowed his eyes, "You dare stop me!?!"
The older Angle turned towards the others, "He broke the magic jammer with one of his feathers! I'll distract him why you reverse the process and send him home."
The Doctor had heard the storied of the Angle and he wasn't about to let this monster rampage through the universe, again. So he agreed to help.
The older Angle opened his wings and began to walk towards his younger self, and with a smile and a polite tone "Hello, I'm a bit older and wiser now. Forgive my manners, I'm the Angle of Death." his voice grew serious for the last bit, "And My Wings Are Clipped!" as soon as he said that he lunged at his younger self, tackling him.
"Why would you attack yourself?!" The younger angle asked as he hit back fiercely with his wings.
"Because, I know what you'll do this nice planet otherwise!" The older one yelled back delivering a blow that would wind any normal pony.
The younger one finally noticed the Welen ship that had been hovering overhead and shoved the older one away from him. "I see now! You forgave the Welens and now you're protecting them!" The younger one accused.
"I moved on! And I can't allow you to destroy them" The older one said figuring what his younger counterpart would do. Though it wasn't a sure thing to him, he couldn't remember doing any of this, and it scared him.
"I will never forgive them!" The younger one yelled and shot up towards the ship.
The older one's plan had worked, he had gotten his younger self away from the machine and now all he had to do was halfheartedly protect the Welen's.
On the ground, as soon as the Angles had shot up towards the ship the ponies had rushed to the machine. The Doctor and Starlight looked at the interface and saw that it was designed for the metal hooves of the Welens not the normal ones of the ponies. "What do we do?" Starlight asked her grandfather.
"I don't know. Wait I got an idea!" He turned towards Lecture and Tender, "use your magic to pry open the panel just below the interface. But be careful, if you pry too hard you might break something necessary to send the Angel back." They began to do as he ordered.
The two angles were tearing their way through like the metal was paper, even though it was built to resist some of the stronger warheads of the time. The younger Angle would try to destroy some Welens and the older one would always get in the way to protect them.
As the younger one cut into the mess hall the older one flew into his younger self and they went through the wall out of the hall. The younger one finally got mad at this and grabbed its older counterpart with its wings and began to throw him around. "You shouldn't have clipped your wings! Knocking you out will be a cinch." The younger one spat and smacked his older self through a few walls.
Down on the ground
The two unicorns had just finished removing what had first appeared as a panel but turned out to be another part of the interface. "What if we remove one of the Welens hooves and just use that?" Starlight suggested.
The Doctor wasn't so sure about that idea, "The prosthetic is wired into their nervous system, it might be hard to get off." But Lecture had already torn one off.
"Here" he said giving the hoof to the Doctor. The Doctor shook it a few times to get the Welen's green ooze off.
The Doctor gently put the hoof onto part of the interface and it lit up in compliance. He used the hoof as a stylist on a touchscreen and began to work through the process of sending the younger Angle of death back to his one time zone.
Up in the ship
The older Angle of Death was taking a beating from its younger self. He had done pretty well but his younger self kept getting 'lucky' shots in and it was starting to feel pain again. Then the younger angle hit it in the face with a smack from its wing and sent the older one flying.
The younger angle smirked, "Your weak, I'm never becoming like you old one!"
"Oh I think you will" the older one said getting to its hooves facing away from its younger self. The older one grinned and its teeth were like daggers, "You will become exactly like me!" it turned to face its younger counterpart and smiled. "Because I'm starting to remember this fight and if I remember correctly" He paused for les then a second and when the older Angle of Death spoke again it spoke from behind it's younger self, "I remember my leg being broken" With that the older Angle gently poked its younger self in the leg, and the younger one's femur snapped in two.
Back on the ground
The Doctor had navigated his way around the touch pad and found out exactly where and when to send the younger Angle of Death. He set the time and place into the settings and began the process to make the vortex to send him home.
Up in the ship
The older Angle of Death looked down on its younger, stupider, and injured self. The Older one was no longer golden but completely black, "You'll forget most of this." It said as it loomed over itself. "But that's okay, this will be your inspiration to become stronger than you are, and you'll win the war because you lost this fight with an opponent that was holding back. It won't be worth it though and you'll regret what you'll do to get this power. But you'll need it."
Then they both felt it, the tear in time and space, technically though they felt the chaos that the tear was causing. "Looks like it's time for you to return." The Black one said grinning with his sharp teeth. The older Angle of Death grabbed its younger self by a wing and tore his way through the ship to the portal. The older one turned back to normal and dove for the portal and through its younger self into it at an incredible speed. He landed gracefully as the Doctor turned the portal off. The Angle of Death began, "Thank you for helping me to stop the Welens plot to weaponize my much more violent self. Do you still need the Snatcher?"
The Doctor said, "No. Actu..." He was interrupted by the Angle flapping his wings and a hail of feathers tore the machine to scraps. Almost immediately the grass around it withered and died.
"I needed to remove your blood from the Snatcher!" The Doctor scolded.
"My blood will stop when it stops hitting life" The grass slowly began to die in a larger and larger circle around the Snatcher, "I don't recommend you eat the grass."
The Doctor glared at him, "For all you know this could be the cradle for sentient life one this planet!"
"Oh well" The Angle said, "it's what I do."
The Doctor just glared at him.
The Angle turned to Starlight and asked "Why couldn't I remember what just happened when I was younger?"
"Your time line was out of sync. Basically you created some paradoxes, you touched your past self too much, or you changed or were an important aspect of your life."
"I think I did the last two" The Angle said, "Thank you again." he said and the Doctor motioned for the ponies to get into the sideways Capsule.
The Doctor muttered something about "private chat" and closed the doors once everypony was in the Capsule, then turned to the Angle of Death. "I got your psychic signals what did you want to say?"
"Doctor I need to tell you that every time I near your home world I feel a strong sense of duty."
"And that means?"
"That there are going to be a lot of deaths there" The Angle said.
"I'm afraid I'm going to need more than that."
"That's all I have." The Angle replied.
"So at some point in the possibly near future a lot of death is going to happen on my homeworld."
"Yes. Also if you need help and I am near I will be there when you call me." He said plucking a feather from his wing, "Simply call my name and cast this to the wind" He gave the Doctor the feather.
"And should you not come, then I've lost the feather."
"It will always be return to your pocket, no madder what your wearing." Then he opened his wings for a flap and as he brought them down he vanished into the upper atmosphere of the planet.
The Doctor placed the feather inside his coat and climbed into the knocked over Time Capsule, he walked over to the consul and began to put in coordinates. "Time to learn about love" He said as he placed the Capsule in flight.
Author's Note
Love? I wonder where a pony would go to learn about the magic of love?
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Chapter 7: Prince Obsidian
They landed and the Doctor walked over to the door and stepped out onto the crystal road and breathed in. As the other ponies stepped out he said, "Welcome to the Crystal Empire, also known as the City of Love."
Lecture and Tender looked at the busing crystal ponies in aw, "This is a beautiful alien world" Tender thought aloud as the sun glistened off the various crystals and buildings.
The Doctor smiled, "It's not an alien world, we're just to the north of Equestria."
"That's impossible! The only thing north of Equestria is snow and ice." Lecture countered.
"Right, I forgot that. We're a thousand and a half years or so before you two were born."
"What! What happened to this beautiful place to make us not even know it existed?" Tender asked.
"As of right now, something evil attacked it somehow and somepony banished it somewhere."
"How specific." Long Lecture commented.
"The history books are more than a bit fuzzy about the Empire." Starlight explained, "Even ours, we can't get close enough to see what happens, too much magic being amplified by the crystals and the geometry of the Empire itself."
"An unfortunate truth." The Doctor replied shaking his head.
"So what's the plan here?" Tender asked the Doctor.
"Well, I thought we'd walk around town and see why they call it the City of Love." he said plainly.
"That's your plan!? How is she supposed to learn anything about love from seeing passing strangers?" Tender asked.
"It's better than the alternative!" The Doctor replied.
"And that is?" Tender asked.
"Forcing her to fall in love only to rip her away from the lucky pony."
"Why would you have to tear the two apart. Why wouldn't they just come with us?" Tender asked poking a huge hole in his logic.
While those two were preoccupied Lecture and Starlight were approached by a pony wearing a cloak with the hood over her face. She shoved a piece of paper at Lectures chest and whispered, "The Obsidian Prince will welcome your support good stallion."
Lecture asked, "Who?" but the mare had already disappeared into the crowd. He looked down at the paper that had fallen to the road and picked it up in his magic, it read, 4678 Shard ln, 17:00 . "Odd" he said turning to Starlight, "You wouldn't happen to know who the Obsidian Prince is, would you?"
"Never heard of him, maybe we should check it out." Starlight said reading the address.
"Check what out?" Tender said walking up behind them.
"Somepony called the Obsidian Prince." Lecture answered not realizing that she and the Doctor had stopped when the pony had come up to Lecture.
"Good idea." The Doctor added, "Have any idea how to find him."
Lecture showed him the note and the Doctor looked up at the sky for a moment, "We'd better hurry, it looks to be about four."
They nearly got lost a few times and eventually they started to ask ponies for directions. Most of the crystal ponies wouldn't talk to them, but eventually they found a blue unicorn that was willing to help them. "Follow me, it's not that far away."
"You don't have to do that." Lecture said.
"Nonsense. It is my civic duty to aid all ponies that need the help." the Unicorn insisted, "Besides, it's on my way."
"Thank you." Starlight said more out of politeness then sincerity.
"You're quite welcome. Pardon the intrusion but where exactly are you from, I can't quite place your accent."
"Trottingham" The Doctor said reflexively.
"'Trottingham'? Where's that at?"
"It's a small town in the north-eastern part of Equestria." The Doctor answered again.
"Oh. Well, here we are!" The Unicorn announced.
They arrived at the address on the paper and it ended up being a pub called The Broken Horn , its sign depicted a unicorns head with a broken horn and an amber substance pouring out of the break. Their guide said his goodbyes and went into the building next door to the pub.
The ponies entered the moderately lit pub with a wooden interior and took their seats at a table near the exit. Starlight looked a crystal on the wall that's bottom part was glowing, it seemed to be some form of rudimentary clock. There were numbers on the sides and as the darkness slowly crept down the crystal the clear line between the dark and light seemed to tell the time of day.
"It's a quarter till" Starlight began, "Should we try to figure out who this Obsidian Prince is?"
"Yes child, we should." The Doctor agreed, "You check out the table's, I'll scope out the bar." With that he moved through the crowded establishment to the bar before any of them could protest.
When he made it to the bar he sat on a stool in between a unicorn and a pegasus, the bartender walked over to his new customer, "Welcome mate, what's your pleasure." The bartender with the broken horn asked.
"You wouldn't happen to have any light cider would you? It's so hard to find a place that sells any good cider." The Doctor said ready to talk.
"I got ya mate" he said filling a mug from a barrel and handing it to the elderly grey stallion.
The Doctor took a sip and forced a smile, "Thanks, it's been so long since I had a mug of quality cider."
"How long you been living here?" The bartender asked.
"Not long, but I got a little home sick and well." The Doctor turned around to view the rest of the establishment, "If I didn't know better I'd say we're back in Equestria"
"Thanks mate! I try my best, it helps that the shines usually don't come in till about eight." the bartender said clearly happy to meet a like minded stallion.
The pegasus ruffled his wings, "The shines should stay out period."
"Oh shush, you’re usually long gone before the shines even think of coming here." The bartender said cleaning a mug out.
"Might I ask something of you ponies," The Doctor interjected when he saw the pegasus start to get a little mad, "Who's the Obsidian Prince?" He asked and the bartender and the ponies on either side of him just stared.
Eventually the unicorn to the Doctor's side said, "The rightful heir to the Crystal Throne"
"Oh, then why did he have ponies rushing about, inviting ponies here of all places?"
Before anypony else could say anything the bartender said, "He tells his story better than anypony else could, you'll just have to wait for him to tell it."
The three ponies had separated to cover as much of the crowd as they could. Every time Lecture began to talk to a stallion they would just turn away and every time he'd talk to a mare she'd either turn away giggling at him or role her eyes and turn away before he could even get a word out.
Tender and Starlight were having an opposite problem with the stallions, the slightly drunk ones would constantly hit on them. On several occasions when they struck out with one of them they'd go right to the other.
All in all the three ponies were as about successful as the Doctor was, and as they sat back down at another table, they heard a sharp whistle and a good portion of the ponies stopped talking.
Then there was a stallion’s voice, "Welcome! My soft skinned brothers and sisters!" A unicorn used her magic to spotlight the stallion and the three recognized the blue unicorn that had insisted on escorting them to the pub. "You're probably wondering exactly why I've had my friends run around and invite you here." He said as he began to walk away from the door and through the tables, "Well it's simple, my father, Emperor Andalusite is dying. I know for some of you it's an unimportant fact. But consider this, my half-brother is only ten years old. That means that Empress Vermeil will be in charge of the Empire for five years. We all know how she feels about us soft skins and I fear that she'll use that power to destroy all of my father's work to fix the prejudices against our kind." He stopped here and breathed heavily, "Forgive me, some of you don't know how bad our Empress can be, I'm seeing a lot of new faces in this crowd and this next part is always hard." He paused again and took a deep, slow, breath, "I am the son of the Emperor and a member of his staff. I was raised knowing this and knowing that if the Empress did not give the Emperor a son I'd have to take the responsibility of being the Emperor. However when I had just turned five the Empress gave birth to a colt, my half-brother, Prince Heliodor. He being born from the Empress had a stronger claim to the throne then I did and would get no opposition from me at that age. However I was still born first and the Empress feared that I would try to claim the throne as my own. So in the dark of the night she had four crystal guards break into me and my mother's chamber and I saw them thrust their spears into my screaming mother" He paused and used his magic to dab a napkin to his eyes.
"However I count myself as extremely lucky" He weaved his way through the tables as he told his story. "For a guard that I had known was patrolling that part of the palace that night and interrupted the others before they could kill me as well. He was nearly killed as I ran away from the assailants." There were gasps at the brutality of his story. "The next day my father was outraged at the guards and his wife for doing such a horrible thing. He had my mother cremated and told me that I wasn't going to be living in the palace any longer. I was given to a shamed court wizard who had singed one dress to many and was punished by having his horn repeatedly broken for the next fifteen years. I was given a modest sum for the death of my mother and have been using that money and the money it earned for me to win favor with the nobles."
He frowned, "However the game I'm playing with the nobles is taking too long, I had planned to usurp my half-brother when our father was old and grey. Rest assured, I have a backup plan, I'm going to bring the Crystal Heart back to the Empire." There were several nods and gasps amongst the crowd. "I believe I know where it was hidden during the war. I'm planning an expedition to leave in three days to go to its hiding place and retrieve it. The nobles, more or less, believe the proficiency and will side with me to become Emperor.
He smiled as the ponies started to wisher to each other, he cleared his throat, "I can't guarantee payment, and we are heading out into the frozen waste. But if we succeed know I Don't forget my friends."
Starlight turned to face the round table she sat at with the other ponies, "That Empress sounds horrible" She said and the other two ponies confirmed with nods.
The Prince gave all the ponies in the pub a few moments to talk it over and then said, "So who wants to help me keep the Empress off the Crystal Throne and make life better for the soft skins of the Crystal Empire!?!" He asked and several hooves shot up into the air.
To the Doctor's great dismay he saw Starlight's, Tender's, and Lecture's hooves among them. He knew this whole endeavor was a bad idea and the fact that they would willingly go on this suicide mission baffled him. But he had to admit the Empress did sound pretty bad. He was mentally kicking himself, First the Lord Regent and now Empress Vermeil, what am I becoming , he thought as he raised his hoof to join the prince's quest.
The prince seemed happy at the amount of ponies that were willing to risk life and limb to help his cause. "Thank goodness, I thought I might have sounded like a madpony." He chuckled and others joined in, "All who wish to come on the quest meet back here tomorrow at the same time to discuss the plan." With that he disappeared out a back door and left the ponies to themselves.
The Doctor turned around to the bar and asked the bartender, "Do ponies really have it that bad here?"
"He plays it up bit ya, I think the last poll he took said something like for every two bits us soft skins make the shines make three. It's better than it used to be mate, back when I was a wizard I think we earned one bit for every two they got."
"And the Empress would reverse that?" The Doctor inquired.
"To be honest mate, I don't think it will be that bad. But it won't be good for us."
The Pegasus added, "The Empress will probably raise the shines pay just to spite us."
"Hmm, I see." A thought occurred to him, "These can't be the only 'soft skins' in the Empire?" the Doctor said gesturing to the rest of the pub.
"Only the ones that are good for the journey Obsidian's planning." The unicorn said then took a sip from his glass.
"I'm surprised you volunteered" the pegasus added, "jury into the frozen waste like that, at your age won't be good. Not at all."
"I can handle the cold, besides a Doctor would be useful for such a journey."
"That be right", the bartender began, "but it'll take a bit of walking to get where Obsidian's going."
"Trust me, walking won't be a problem."
Starlight was excited in a few days she'd be saving the Empire. But what really made her happy was that her grandfather was coming along and she didn't even have to try to convince him it was the right thing to do.
They were sitting at a table in the pub. The Prince was going from table to table, interviewing everypony who wanted to help in his quest.
Obsidian pulled up a seat at their table and opened with, "Hello friends, how can you aid me to make this Empire a better place for all of us?" he glanced slightly at Starlight as he finished.
The Doctor noticed where the princes eyes were and smiled, "Lecture here is one of the most gifted spellbinders I've ever met, Starlight is by far one of the most intelligent young navigators in all of Trottingham, and Tender Touch here is one of the most accomplished nurses at the Trottingham hospital."
"Good. Good. We could use a good spellbinder, a good navigator will help with not getting lost, and a good nurse should be helpful with recovery should we run into something hostile. But I have to ask, what can you do?"
"I'm may look old and feeble, but I'm still an earth pony and my legs still work just fine, and if you need somepony cleaver I'm your stallion" the Doctor said.
"A bold statement, can you back it up...uh...Pardon me I didn't catch your name.
"Colt Smith." He said deciding not ta say he was the Doctor in case it knocked Tender off the expedition. "What did you have in mind?" he asked getting back on topic.
Obsidian pulled out a piece of parchment and unrolled it, the Doctor looked at the riddle.
There are a few trees in a garden. On one of them, a pear tree, there are pears (quite logical). But after a strong wind blew, there were neither pears on the tree nor on the ground.
How come?
"You just had this in your pocket?" Lecture asked.
The Doctor smiled slightly and said "There were only 2 pears on the tree to begin with. After the wind blew, one pear fell on the ground. So there were no pears on the tree and there were no pears on the ground."
Obsidian's red eyes were wide, "You’re the first pony in this pub who could figure that out, you’re hired. Who knows, some of the legends mention traps and riddles, and somepony that's good at that sort of thing could be very useful."
"Glad to hear it. So are we all hired then?"
"Yes," He pulled out another piece of paper with another address on it, "It's on the edge of town, and if you need help getting there I can arrange one of my friends that are staying to guide you" He smiled and walked to another table.
"That was easy." Tender said.
"We each have skills that he needed," The Doctor pointed out.
"But I'm not a navigator." Starlight whispered to the other ponies at the table with concern.
"You do well enough in the Time Capsule." The Doctor said and the others nodded.
"Ya but that's four dimensional space, I've never had to navigate over a two dimensional plane before."
"Trust me. You'll be fine."
There were a little over twenty ponies all dressed for the extreme cold of the frozen waste. Among a sum of them Starlight was working with two other ponies trying to find the best route to where the prince thought the Crystal heart was hidden. Lecture was sitting with five other ponies, their job was simple defense. Tender was taking inventory of the medical supplies, and the Doctor was running through a checklist with Obsidian.
"We seem to have everything we need" Obsidian said checking off the last thing on the list and rolling it up with his magic.
"Indeed, we're ready to go then."
The ponies all started to strap their saddle bags on over their coats and began to form up. As an 'earth pony', all be it an old one the Doctor was expected to help haul the cart that was carrying a good amount of the expedition's supplies. Since it only took two to haul the cart the earth ponies would trade off in shifts.
In front of the cart the navigators and the prince were leading the way. Most of the other ponies were in a jumble except for two pegasus that flew ahead of the expedition's caravan.
As they traveled Obsidian began move around the caravan and have little conversations with the other ponies. He started at the front and Lecture was the first member of the group he talked to.
"So Lecture how did you end up in the Empire?" He asked trying to start a conversation.
Lecture knew he couldn't say too much, they had all come up with a plausible story, so he said “The Doctor brought me."
"'Doctor'? You came with a doctor, I thought you were a spellbinder." As Obsidian said this lecture mentally kicked himself.
"I am, I was brought along to train Starlight informally in magic."
"You train Starlight? Is she learning upper level spells?"
"No, she's magically weak. So I'm helping her to improve her skill." Lecture explained.
"How did you all meet each other?" Obsidian asked.
"I used to be a teacher and Starlight was one of my students. When the Doctor realized I was one of the few ponies that could teach her he insisted that I come work for him as a tutor for her."
"Hmm, I wish to meet this doctor."
He got a funny look from Lecture, "You have," he gestured with his head to the grey earth pony, "Colt's the Doctor" I'll explain it to the Doctor later.
"So Colt dragged you out of Equestria to the Empire? Why?"
"He likes traveling" Lecture said simply.
"Hmm, very interesting... What about Tender, she wasn't in your story."
"She's Starlight's nurse, more often than not Starlight during out training either me or Starlight will get hurt and Tender patched us back up."
"I see. Well it's been good getting to know you better, but I wish to meet the others."
"Of course, goodbye for now." Lecture said as Obsidian walked away to a few of the other hired horns.
Obsidian eventually made his way to Tender and opened with, "Hello nurse," His red eyes seemed soft when he noticed the nervousness in her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"No, because I've recently realized something. You were glad that somepony trained in medicine was willing to go on this journey. But most of the medical supplies I have are for cuts and bruises, you're expecting something will happen."
"There are Snow Leopards and Crystal Wolves in these waste. If we run into them I want to be ready both for defending against them and keeping ponies alive afterwards."
"So at any moment we could be attacked!" Tender said looking to waste beyond.
"Not right now, when we near the mountains though, maybe. I doubt the Crystal Wolves would attack us out here, but the Snow Leopards are a different story..." he trailed off to keep from alarming her more.
"Well I hope we aren't going to need my medical knowledge at all." Tender said.
"Me too" Obsidian said and the allowed her to walk away.
After talking to a few more ponies Obsidian made his way to the Doctor who was hooked up to cart, "So Colt why didn't you tell me you were a Doctor?"
The Doctor felt a little mad that Obsidian knew his real name "Because it doesn't madder. Besides Doctor Smith, no thank you. I'll stick to Colt."
"I see, you know I never asked, what's your relationship to Starlight?"
"She's my granddaughter." He said simply.
"You must really love her to hire a private tutor to train her and a nurse to keep her healthy"
"Yes I do." The Doctor said as he exchanged the harness with one of the other earth ponies. He walked off a little way with Obsidian just far enough away that it seemed private "I do very much. I also have noticed that you skipped her, and that you've been stealing glances at her all day. I can't help but see that many mares are smitten by your looks and you're probably used to them falling all over you."
"I wouldn't say falling all over me..."
"Am I right?" The Doctor's eyes were hard.
"A little..."
"Am I right about my observations." The Doctor asked his eyes softening.
Obsidian didn't answer right away but then he said, "Yes, I skipped her, saving the best for last."
"And what brought this on?"
"She's the first mare to not swoon for me, even Tender bats her eyelashes too much around me. Starlight doesn't even seem to care even after she found out my birthright."
The Doctor smiled but his eyes were still hard, "Good luck"
"Sir." He said thinking that meant something, "Does this mean I have your permission?"
The Doctor's eyes softened and he said, "No, but I won't stop you...yet."
"Do not worry sir. I will treat her with the respect she deserves." Obsidian said as he finished talking to the Doctor and moved on to the other ponies. After speaking to everypony in the caravan he walked to the front where Starlight had been the whole time and said, "So are we heading in the right direction?"
She consulted a compass and glanced at a map, then said, "More or less."
"Good, how long would you say till we arrive at the Crystal Caverns?" He asked not able to think of another thing to say.
Starlight looked at the sun's position in the sky and said, "Midday tomorrow".
"Good, how's the journey been on you?" he said slightly unconformable at the way Starlight didn't seem to care either way.
"Well enough, I just glad that the weather's fair. Though, I'm not curtain that we'll be able to find a safe place to sleep tonight."
Obsidian pulled the map of the waste out of her saddlebag with his red magic and opened it up for him and Starlight to see. Then he asked, "Where do you think we'll be when night falls?"
Starlight looked up at the sun and back at the map and through a snowball off to the side of the caravan and counted to ten as they walked along. She thought for a moment, "If we keep this pace, we'll be about there." She said pointing at a spot just outside the mountains' valley they'd have to cross through to get to the Chrystal Caverns.
"Then we'll be safe, nothing lives in the Frozen Waste and anything that would attack us would come from the mountains. If we sleep in shifts and always keep a unicorn up then we'll be able to scare off anything that comes." Obsidian said hoping to ease any concern.
"Well at least we'll see have forewarning if we're attacked by anything." She said then grabbed the map with her magic and placed it back into her saddlebag. "And some warning is worth something."
"You don't think that some unicorn magic will scare any creatures that stray to close?"
"If something comes that far out of the mountains then I doubt a little magic will scare it off." Starlight said.
"Then we won't use a little magic, and if necessary we will defend ourselves." Obsidian said.
Starlight looked up at the mountains in the distance and back to Obsidian, "Tell me about the Crystal Heart?" She asked interested in the arcane artifact that they were trying to retrieve.
Obsidian gave a slight smile and said, "It’s love made solid, the only thing that could protect us from the evils that once plagued the Empire."
"But how was it lost?" Starlight asked wondering why these ponies would lose something so useful.
"There was a war with the soft skins and the Crystal Heart wouldn't defend against other ponies. So to keep it away from our enemies Emperor Jasper, my great-grandfather, ordered his most trusted royal guards to return the heart to where it had originally came from."
"The Crystal Caverns?" Starlight asked.
"Yes. The secret of its location was kept secret from even the prince at the time, my father, and Emperor Jasper was killed during the war. The secret of its location was lost, but I was able to track down one of the guards that had hidden it away. She was an old and frail crystal pony on her deathbed, with her dying breath she told me where they had hidden the Heart."
"How did you find her if the operation was kept a secret?"
"The operation wasn't kept secret, just the location. So it wasn't so hard for me to find her, though it did take some coaxing to get her to tell me where she and her squad had hidden the Heart." He said sounding a bit too maniacal.
"'Coaxing'? What kind of coaxing?" Starlight said not liking his tone and fearing the worst.
He immediately realized that he had let some of his bitterness into his voice and explained, "She wanted me to take care of her grandchildren when I became Emperor."
"You make a lot of promises that ride on you becoming the Emperor." Starlight pointed out.
He explained his logic to her, “Yes I do, I figure that if I do become Emperor it would be easy to give away some of the gold from the coffers. If I don't get to be the Emperor, then I'm probably dead."
They were interrupted by the snow in the ground around them beginning to pull away. "Circle up!!" Obsidian shouted and the twenty ponies huddled together around the cart.
The snow started to pile into clumps that then began to take the shape of large cats and one of the ponies shouted, "There Snow Leopards!"
Author's Note
Okay so This story ended up being longer then I wanted so I cut it down the middle (more or less). Lets just hope that the caravan can survive the Snow Leopards.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Chapter 8: Crystal Caverns
The circle of ponies tightened as the snow leopards circled around them, their blue eyes trained on them. By Obsidian's count there were at least eight of them, maybe nine if the mound he saw was another one of them forming. The leopards seemed to be deciding if they wanted to attack them or not. They started to slowly circle outwards when one of the unicorns he had hired as a spellbinder shot a blast and vaporized one of the snow leopards.
Instantly the seven remaining leopards charged, they're icy teeth and claws ready to stain the white snow red. Two of the leopards were vaporized before they could reach the circle, the five that made it however tried to tear their way through as many ponies as they could.
An earth pony smashed one of them with one of the carts collars. Another slashed the side of one of the earth ponies only to get smashed to pieces by a swooping pegasus. Another one sank its icy fangs into the side of one of the unicorns and Lecture vaporized it but the stallion began to freeze over from the leopard’s magic. The fourth attacked the cart and managed to splinter the spokes of one of the wheels before one of the earth ponies could stop it with one of the pickaxes they had brought. The Fifth one had green eyes and seemed confused by the Doctor and Starlight as it kept darting its head in between them. The ponies circled around it and it pounced at Starlight only to be shot by Obsidian.
The Leopard survived the shot however and with a sound of frustration melted back into the snow, its green eyes were the last to disappear. The Doctor was the first to walk to the spot where it had melted at and stamped on the snow several times, "It's gone" He declared to the relief of the other ponies.
The two injured ponies had been dragged to Tender, who, for all her medical expertise, could not help the poor unicorn who had been bitten. She had tried to stop the freezing with her magic but the leopard's magic was stronger.
"I'm sorry, I don't have the tools to help you" She said to the young unicorn who was laying on his side on a blanket in the snow.
"It's okay..." the unicorn said.
"NO it's not!" She said cutting him off.
The young stallion smiled weakly at her, "Yes it is, I knew what I was getting myself into. I've served the rightful Emperor and I'm at peace."
Tender looked down at the young stallion in total disbelief, he could not be more than seventeen and he was ready to die, the thought horrified Tender. The stallion froze over making him look like an ice sculpture and she knew he was gone, she sat there staring at the large chunk of ice that was a young unicorn and began to sob.
Lecture walked up behind her, "There was nothing you could do." He said simply.
She turned to him, "But he didn't have to die." she said her eyes tearing up. "If he hadn't come with us he'd have his whole life to live."
"He knew that, and he came because he was willing to take that risk." Lecture said trying to calm her.
Some tears escaped her eyes and fell on the snow below "Lecture, he was so young and I couldn't save him" She buried her face into his chest.
"It's okay. It's not your fault, it's the snow leopards." He said stroking her mane genitally.
She looked up at him and through tears asked, "Do you think the Doctor could save him, he has a time machine after all."
He gave a slight smile, "You could ask..."
Before he knew it she broke away from him and rushed over to the cart. The Doctor was helping the unicorns figure out how the shattered wood fit together, like a jigsaw puzzle, so they could repair the spokes. She taped the Doctor's shoulder and got a gruff, "Not now" from him.
She kept taping till he eventually turned towards her looking like he was about to yell, but when he saw the state Tender was in he calmed himself. "Yes, what do you need?"
She simply gestured with her head for him to follow, he did as she wanted. Once they were away from the caravan she began, "Doctor that stallion is dead." she stopped trying to stay calm.
"What of it?"
She breathed deeply and continued, "I want you to save him."
"How?" The Doctor asked.
"You have a time machine, you can go back and save him."
Her face was so full of hope that the Doctor actually felt bad for having to say, "No."
Her face dropped, "What do you mean 'no'?"
"I can't go back and prevent his death."
"Why?" She asked her voice cold as it could be.
He spoke seriously "If I went back to save him then you'd never ask me to save him and I wouldn't go back to save him. It's a paradox, one that would make us end up right back in this situation. The only way his life could be saved is if another time traveler stopped him from coming without knowing that he'd die otherwise. If he did know he'd die and tried to stop it then you'd end up with the exact same paradox." He walked back to the cart before she could say anything else.
Tender decided that it wasn't going to be a good idea to press the matter, for now. Once the wagon wheel was fixed and the body was buried the caravan moved on.
They traveled for at least two hours in a relative silence, most of the few conversations they did have were just a few lines. As night began to fall Obsidian announced, "Okay we're stopping for the night, start unloading the tents from the cart and get the fire crystals out." The ponies did as he said and soon enough they had three fires going.
The tents were circled around the fires, the Doctor, Tender, and Lecture were sitting around one of the crystals, Lecture recounted the one time he ever went camping before this, "My friend's parents, all earth ponies, would go camping at least once a month. Well when I was about fifteen she invited me to come along. I won't lie, I was smitten by her and that's the main reason I said 'yes'. I showed up at her parents’ house with a pack ready and we headed out down a path to the north of Canterlot Mountain. It was, by far, the worst weekend of my life, the bugs were everywhere, it was filthy, and more than once I tripped over the various roots..." he recounted more of the horrible experience.
"Did it ruin the relationship?" Tender asked once he was done complaining.
"I certainly never went camping again, but we still talk every once and a while."
While they chatted about their past Starlight laid a blanket looking up at the stars, Obsidian wondered nearby and asked, "Do you know the constellations?"
She turned he head in his direction, "Not here, no"
"Then may I show you?" He asked trying to make his red eyes look kind.
"Sure" She said gesturing to the spot on the blanket next to her.
He slid in beside her and pointed towards a cluster of stars that looked like a heart, "Let’s start with an easy one, The Crystal Heart, everypony in the Empire can identify it. It's said that the Heart is exactly over the empire, though I've found different."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"Well the Heart looks like it's directly over you anywhere in the north." He traced another cluster of stars that looked like it could be a dragon, "Let's move on. Sniphe the frost dragon." Then he traced another cluster close to it that resembled a pony, "Diamond the Slayer, it’s said that a long time ago Sniphe terrorized the Empire, he attacked during the crystal fair and managed to steal the weakened Crystal Heart. After that Sniphe became even more powerful and demanded rule over the entire Frozen North. According to the tale Diamond found out where Sniphe's lair was and took her trusty sword Ruby Runner..." He pointed to a set of stars that were in a pretty strait line. "And fought Sniphe to the death, in the end the sword was stronger than Sniphe's scales and he fell the Heart immortalized him in the stars as an example. Diamond took the Heart back to the Empire unfortunately Diamonds wounds proved too deep and she collapsed dead after she placed the Heart back on the pedestal and was immortalized along with his greatest enemy to guard him forever more."
"Interesting story," Starlight batted her eyelashes a little, "Tell me another."
He pointed to the south towards another pony, "Gemstone, the first crystal pony. The story goes that he was an earth pony cartographer. He had managed to get a part of an expedition up here, and while the expedition was on the ridge of a mountain he lost his footing and fell. Miraculously, he survived the fall, he knew he needed shelter and accidentally discovered the crystal caverns. The stories differ depending who you ask here, some say he wasn't alone in the cave and another pony had fallen with him that pony became the heart and he became the first crystal pony. Others say the heart was protected by a guardian who turned him into a crystal pony. I was taught that he found the heart floating in the middle of the caverns and as he touched the heart transformed him into the first crystal pony. After whatever really happened, happened he took the heart and used its magic to create the Palace of the Empire."
"Interesting. Brrr, it's cold." She moved closer to him, "Hope you don't mind."
"I could get you another blanket." he said using his magic to get her one
"Thank you" She said, "Know any more?"
He pointed towards another constipation that resembled a Windigo, "The second to last Windigo."
"'Second to last'?" Starlight asked.
"Yes the Heart put it there to warn the last one to stay away. Basically after the Equestrians defeated the Windigos the last two came up here to recover, but they made the mistake of trying to feed off the Empire and that one was caught by the heart and sent to the stars. The other one, Wynn, escaped. Legend says it's still out there, somewhere."
He waited for her to say something but when he looked to her she had fallen asleep, he smiled warmly then yawned, between the fire crystal's heat and the day of walking he realized just how tired he really was. Briefly he thought he should get up and go to his tent, but he was too tired to actually do it.
Obsidian woke up with the sun in his eyes, as he put his hoof up to block it he realized that there was a pony beside him. He looked over to his side to see Starlight sleeping peacefully, and that she had curled up next to him. Panic crept into his mind as he realized what this would look like to any outside observers. He genitally scooted himself away from her and rolled onto the snow, as he got to his hooves and walked through the tents until the saw the Doctor sitting around one of the fire crystals.
Unfortunately for him the Doctor noticed him and beckoned him to come over and sit. Obsidian did so, hoping that the Doctor had just woken up.
His tensed up a little when the Doctor asked, "How did you sleep?"
Obsidian wasn't entirely sure if the Doctor knew how he had slept, "Well...I slept well."
"Good, just don't make a habit of it yet, the last thing she needs is to be a mother this early in her life. And I'm not too fond of being a great-grandfather yet."
He knows and he's not mad. Most of the stallions I know would try to kill me on the spot for falling asleep next to their daughters, or granddaughters , "We didn't do anything like that."
"Good, good." The Doctor looked around to the tents and smiled, "You'd better wake everypony up we should get moving if we want to get to the Crystal Caverns today."
Obsidian did as the Doctor suggested and within an hour the caravan was packed and on its way to the Caverns. As the Doctor pulled the cart he watched Obsidian and Starlight talk to each other, he also noticed that Lecture and Tender were walking together. Eventually they made their way into the valley that the Crystal caverns were located in. If the Doctor wasn't trying to read Starlight's and Obsidian's lips he would have seen the green eyes peering at him in the snow.
Having missed all the warnings is was a shock when the snow leopards jumped out of the snow and froze one of the unicorns solid. All the ponies were on the defensive as more and more snow leopards started to attack. It wasn't just a small group this time, it seemed that every time the ponies managed to destroy one, another would just appear.
Once the leopards had frozen several ponies Obsidian ordered the remaining ponies to run, and they did. Unfortunately for the ponies the leopards didn't let up and by the time they managed to escape the leopards they were down to seven ponies and no cart.
"It’s okay, it's okay." Lecture said to a frantic Tender who was crying on his chest.
"We're going to die, we're going to die! They'll come again!" one of the two remaining pegasus was shouting.
Obsidian slapped him, "Cut it out, you're a stallion not a filly. You knew the risks! Now stop crying." Before the slightly delirious pegasus could say anything Obsidian walked away.
Fortunately for the small group the Crystal Caverns weren't that far away and they managed to find them. Inside it were beautiful crystals the dim light from the entrance reflected throughout the crystalline entrance hall of the caverns. At the far side of the entrance was a statue of a crystal pony in full battle regale. The pegasus landed in front of the stature knocked on its head a few times. "Wonder what it's here for?" the pegasi asked.
The statues eyes opened it drew its sword and shouted "You are not worthy!", then it struck the pegasus only to have him turn to ash and blow away. The other pegasus charged the statue only to meet the same fate and Lecture would have shot if the Doctor hadn't moved in the way. The statue looked at the other ponies in the entrance hall and then focused on Obsidian, "Come forth, my prince, the Gauntlet awaits you." '
Obsidian stepped forward and shouted, "You didn't have to kill them!"
"Forgive me, my prince. I was unaware of your presence." The now completely alive crystal pony said bowing his head. "I am the Guardian and you must be here for the Crystal Heart."
"Yes we are."
"Good, but what do you know about your companions here, did you know that this now dead pegesi had killed several ponies before they came to the Crystal Empire. The male unicorn you travel with is a simple teacher that leads a relatively boring life in the capital to the south. The female one is a school nurse in the capital. Then there are the two wanderers you travel with, Susan and the nameless Doctor"
Starlight gasped at the mention of her real name and the Doctor's eyes narrowed as he started trying to block his mind from the 'pony' before them.
"They are a Lord and Lady, wondering and yet I find that one is greater than another and so many secrets are known by them. There is power as well, so much power. "
The Doctor addressed the Guardian, "Then fear the power you see and speak of it no more. He knows us now. Let us in."
"Does he?" The Guardian asked defiantly.
"I don't care about their past, I'm here for the heart."
The Guardian bowed his head and became a statue once again and the door behind him opened. "Shall we proceed?" Obsidian asked the ponies and they all walked into the next room and saw five paths in front of them.
The guardian's voice echoed around them, "You must face your pasts."
"I see." Obsidian said, "The trials are testing all of us." He said as he began to head down the central hallway and a crystal lowered to keep him from going back. The rest of the ponies fallowed his example and prepared for what they have to face.
Lecture walked into a grand Ballroom filled with ponies that were all dressed for a wedding, then he realized where he was, he was standing at the altar waiting for the mare to make her way down the aisle. But instead of a beautiful bride a frantic mare yelled from the opening, "She's gone!"
He felt stunned and time seemed to stop as the guardian dressed a black tuxedo began to speek, "What do you think would have happened if she had come down that aisle?"
"I'd be happily married maybe with a foal and another on the way."
"Would you really be happy?" The guardian asked.
"Yes I would be, I'd be very happy."
"Good, but why do you dwell on the past?"
"Because she left me at the altar." Lecture countered.
"Yes she did but now you treat every relationship you've been in like it will end just as bad as this one did. It got to the point that you don't really try anymore" The Guardian explained.
"And why do you think that's how I see my relationships."
"I could name at least half a dozen mares you've had relationship troubles with because that mare abandoned you."
"So"
"You need to move on, not all mares are like her."
"But that doesn't change what she did to me. She left me at the altar and then ran away with some rich pegasus in Baltimare."
"Yes but not all mares will break your heart like that, you still haven't moved on."
"And you expect me to move on right here, right now."
"No, I expect you to begin to. This day will always be in your mind, but it doesn't have to taint your life."
Lecture took a deep breath, "Fine, you win. I'll try to put this past me."
"That's all I needed to here." The Guardian said as a blinding light encased Lecture.
Tender found herself in a classroom, in front of her was a large packet of paper and a pencil. The packet was opened to about the midway point and it seemed to be filed out to about two thirds the way down the page. Then she read the question, it was a simple question, a pony is going into shock, what do you do
A. Call for help, Have the pony lie down, Make the pony comfortable, Check for signs of breathing, Check for vomiting and bleeding from the mouth, Administer treatment for injuries or blood loss
B. Call for help, Have the pony lie down, Check for signs of breathing, Make the pony comfortable, Check for vomiting and bleeding from the mouth, Administer treatment for injuries or blood loss
C. Call for help, Have the pony lie down, Check for signs of breathing, Make the pony comfortable, Administer treatment for injuries or blood loss
D. Call for help, Check for signs of breathing, Check for vomiting and bleeding from the mouth, Administer treatment for injuries or blood loss
She knew the answer, it was so easy B . But as she went to mark B she found her pencil going to mark A and as soon as the pencil circled it time seemed to stop. The Guardian walked up to her, he was dressed in the lab coat and glasses of the test administrator. "This is the moment you decided to not be the top of your class."
"So?" Tender began, "I decided not..."
"To be the top of your class! To get a cushy job for some rich old unicorn!" The Guardian yelled, interrupting her. "You intentionally failed several questions on this test and many more to make sure you didn't make yourself the top of your class."
"I had to, I didn't want to be known as the nerd who aced every test, and I wasn't going to go through what my brother went through!"
"The nerd who was bullied into near suicide because of his brilliance, unfortunately for you, you’re just a smart as he was. But you would never allow yourself to show the others just how smart you really are."
"It's doesn't matter now. I've made my choices and I'm happy with my life."
"Good, hold on to that." The Guardian said smiling "You've been doubting yourself recently, be happy with your choices. You ARE exactly where you need to be!"
Starlight found herself on a farm, her family’s farm. In the distance she saw the fields of alien plants her father loved to grow and over to her right she saw the little house she used to live in. She walked over to the house and entered it, the little three room house didn't have much in it. Just a few chairs, a bed, a table, and a desk and on it was a sheet of paper. She gave it a quick look and realized it was her application to the academy's magics branch.
"You really wanted to become a Time Wizard didn't you?" The Guardian asked as he faded into existence behind her. He wasn't wearing anything and the cracks that covered his body were clearly visible.
"It doesn't matter anymore, I ran away. Rough Time Ladies don't get into the academy."
"And you regret this?" The Guardian asked sitting in one of the two chairs.
"No, what I regret is that my grandfather thinks I sent this application in and was accepted and that he thinks I'm learning about magic to prepare myself for the next stage of my learning!" Starlight said clearly frustrated.
"You lied to him? I did not know that." The Guardian said, "Perhaps I should have brought you to that decision."
"No. I'm going to tell him once you let me out of here."
The Doctor found himself as a young stallion again, he was at the academy and was walking with a few of his friends when he realized on of them was missing. He looked around for him but he wasn't anywhere near, he left his friends and in no time was at the dormitories. He knocked at his friends door and got an abrupt, "Go away!"
"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked, "Why weren't you in class today?"
"Just leave me alone!" The stallion shouted through the door.
The Doctor was about to walk away when time stopped and the Guardian walked up behind the Doctor wearing the red flowing robe of an academy professor, "This is the first time you left him in his time of need."
"He told me to leave." The Doctor said to justify his actions.
"Yes he did. But that's not why we're here..." The Guardian smiled knowingly, "We're here because you blame yourself for his disappearance right after you two graduated. This is the earliest memory you link with his disappearance and you keep thinking that if you had stayed it would have been different."
"Is that what you want? Me to admit that I could have stopped whatever happened to him before it began?" The Doctor said coldly.
"NO! I want you to let go and see that you had nothing to do with his disappearance."
"And if I don't?"
"You need to let this part of your past go." The Guardian insisted
"I can't, he was my best friend and I couldn't help him. It's actually funny, my failure here is one of the reason's I'm here now." The Doctor said, the remorse evident on his face.
"I see. You shouldn't have built such strong mental blocks."
Obsidian was just a colt now, he didn't even have his 'crystal' cutie mark yet. His mother had insisted that he join her and come to this boring ceremony to welcome the new prince to the Empire.
There was the sound of the Crystal Kingdom's anthem played on the flugelhorns as the Empress carried the young colt to the Emperor. As she handed the newborn to her husband and Obsidian felt a twinge of hatred creep into his heart. Then the Emperor smiled at his second son and lifted the colt for the entire Empire to see.
Time stopped and the Guardian was standing next to the colt Obsidian and asked, "Why do you hate your brother?"
"He's not my bwother!" The colt yelled and went cross-eyed, "What did wou to my woice?"
"Nothing. That is how you talked when you were five. But back to the question, why do you hate that foal?" The Guardian pointed to the colt Obsidian's father was holding.
"I hate him because he's his mwothers son. He tweets us soft skinws like we're dirt" Obsidian justified.
"That's not why you hated him at this time, you didn't know he'll end up like that, you also didn't go through that horrid night yet. So, I ask you again. Why do you hate him?"
"Because he's pwoof my father didn't want me!" Obsidian shouted realizing the truth as he said it. "He's pwoof."
All the ponies stumbled out of their respective hallways into a room where the hallways conjoined again. It was a large room with crystal walls and a hulking beast in the center, a dragon.
It rose from its slumber and looked at them, in a deep, raspy voice it said, "What goes round the house and in the house but never touches the house? "
"Your time to shine Doc" Obsidian said gesturing to the Doctor.
The Doctor thought for a moment and then said, "The sun."
The dragon smiled a toothy smile and said "Correct... There are four brothers in this world that were all born together. The first runs and never wearies. The second eats and is never full. The third drinks and is always thirsty. The fourth sings a song that is never good. Who are they? "
The Doctor took another few seconds to think, then he smiled, "The brothers are Water, Fire, Earth, and Air"
The Dragon sighed, "Correct...Crying tears is what I do, during the day, but at night too. I can give you a bang and light up your life, one minute you're great, the next you're in strife! But I can also bring color and make your life warm, without me, there would be nothing, not much would be born! I ask you what am I? "
The Doctor thought for a moment then quickly turned back to the others, "I'm going to need some help on this one." He said in a hushed tone.
Tender looked up and said, "Could it be a newborn foal?"
"Maybe..." Starlight said, "It does make sense."
"Maybe it's the weather." Lecture suggested.
"I think it's a storm" Obsidian said.
"Okay three ideas and one of them is stupid." The Doctor said thinking. "Weather, storm, or foal?"
"I grow impatient." The dragon threatened.
The Doctor turned around to face the dragon and quickly said, "You are weather."
There was a moment of silence as the dragons eyes narrowed and smoke lofted out of its nostrils, "You are correct" It curled back up into a ball and went back to sleep allowing the small party to pass.
They entered the next room, it was a semicircle, there were three large crystals resting evenly spaced against the walls. They walked to the center of the room and as Obsidian reached the center of the room and the center crystal glowed and with a feminine voice said, "You've made it."
The crystal on the right glowed and a more cheerful female voice said, "Yeeeaaaahhhh. You're finally here."
A condescending male voice said, "I was so hoping the dragon would get you, it doesn't eat often enough."
"Oh leave the poor colt alone. He's gone through so much to get here." the first voice said.
"What do you think he's here for?" The joyful voice asked the other two crystals.
"Clearly he's here for the gift moron." the male voice said clearly annoyed.
"Why do you feel the need to insult her" The first voice asked.
"Ahum" Obsidian cleared his throat to get their attention.
"So he wants our attention?" The male voice said slightly annoyed by the interruption.
"Yes I do! I'm here for the Crystal Heart!" Obsidian said taking on a sterner stance.
"Ooooohhhh, I like him." The cheerful voice said. "Do you really want the Crystal Heart though? Why not the Crystal Brain, or the Crystal Stomach, or the Crystal Pancreas..."
She was interrupted by the male voice, "You know perfectly well that we only give out the Crystal Heart you complete idiot."
The main voice addressed Obsidian, "You have the blood of the Crystal Emperors, which means you are able to fulfill your part of the original pact. Who amongst your party will sacrifice their heart to allow us to create the new Crystal Heart?"
"What! I never heard anything about a sacrifice!" Obsidian objected.
The main female voice responded, "It is the way, a friend's heart is given for the protection of your Empire."
"I could never ask any pony to do that. Take mine." Obsidian offered.
The male voice gave a dark chuckle, "What good would the Heart be if you were dead?"
"I'll do it" Starlight said calmly.
"What! I can't ask you to do that!" Obsidian objected.
"You can't" Tender added.
"I simply won't allow it."
The Doctor grabbed her shoulder and guided her away and began a psychic conversation with her, "I cannot allow you to do that. I won't allow you to do this to yourself! "
"Why not? It's not like I won't survive. "
"Because I'm the adult here " The Doctor thoughts paused to gather his thoughts, "And I can't allow you to risk your life when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself. "
"Grandfather, you don't have to do that. It's not like I'll die, at worst I'll just have to take life a little easier. "
"Take life a little easier!" the Doctor shouted aloud then winced when he realized he had done so. "I'm the older of the two of us. If either of us is going to do this, than I should not you. "
"Grandfather I want to do this. "
"Why would you want to get rid of your heart. You're young... "
"And if you did it you'd die! I have a better chance of surviving this than you do. " Starlight pleaded with her grandfather.
"I've lived a longer life! I'd never forgive myself if you didn't survive. "
"Yeah well... " Starlight turned back towards the others and announced, "I'm doing it!"
"No you’re not." The Doctor said flustered.
But it was too late and she had ran up next to Obsidian and said, "I'm ready."
"I can't let you do that!" Obsidian objected.
She turned towards him, "I know what I'm doing! Just trust me on this." She pleaded.
"I can't let you..." He stopped talking when she grabbed his hoof and placed it to her chest. He was throne aback by what he felt, "What?"
The Doctor knocked his hoof down and glared at Starlight for a moment, then he said, "Two hearts, we both have two hearts. And like I told you Starlight I'm going to do this not you."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Fine!" Obsidian shouted and the two of them looked at him with confusion. "If you want to give a heart then fine, we need the Crystal Heart and if you want to donate one then go ahead."
The Doctor looked slightly confused, "Which one of us?"
"Either one of you."
"Then I'll..."
"ENOUGH!!!" The Crystals said in unison.
The main one continued, "We have the consent we need to begin." With that the three crystals shot purple and pink beams at Starlight and lifted her into the air. Her heart phased out of the right side of her chest and Starlight passed out, all three of the beams were now focused on it. Starlight slowly drifted down to the ground and Obsidian caught her. Crystal began to form around the heart, and eventually formed the classic shape of a heart. The newly formed Crystal Heart gently floated down to about a foot above the ground right in front of Obsidian and Starlight.
"IT IS DONE!" They announced in unison, "NOW BEGONE!!!" With that light engulfed all of the ponies and they were teleported to the outskirts of the Crystal Empire.
Starlight's eyes fluttered open and she looked up, and smiled at Obsidian then her face contorted into absolute pain. Everypony was instantly focused on her, Obsidian asked, "What's wrong?!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "She's missing a heart!" The he looked Starlight in the eye and focused, "Starlight! You need to be strong now! Don't give in! Don't you dare!"
She smiled through her tears, "I don't plan to."
Tender piped up, "We need to get her to a Doctor!"
"And tell him what? ’There's something really wrong with my granddaughter! She's only got one heart!'" The Doctor said.
"He's got a point." Lecture agreed.
"She's my granddaughter, she'll survive."
Starlight smiled and forced herself to her feet then promptly fell onto Tender, who caught her and helped her to stand.
Obsidian remembered the Crystal Heart, "I'll be back, there's something I have to do. Please forgive me for leaving you in your time of need, but the Empire needs this" He grabbed the Crystal Heart in his magic and began to swiftly run with it to the Palace. As he ran the various crystal ponies he passed began to chase after him. Finally when he made it to the Crystal Palace the various guards that were stationed out there saw him and prepared to stop him from nearing the palace until they noticed the heart floating above him.
Once he got under the Palace and the pedestal the Heart was supposed to float above appeared, he place the Heart above it and everypony around him bowed as a wave of magic flowed over them all. Obsidian addressed them, "I have brought the Crystal Heart back to the Empire and it has chosen me to lead!" There wasn't a signal objection as everypony from the nobility and the commoners began to cheer his name.
The sun was setting as the Doctor and company managed to make their way to the TARDIS, they almost made it too. Just as the Doctor was about to open the door to it they heard Obsidian's voice calling as he sprinted up to them. Once he was close he said, "Are you going to come to the celebration?"
"What celebration?" Lecture asked.
"The one in my honor for returning the Crystal Heart."
"That's nice, but it's been a long day" The Doctor insisted.
"Actually I was wondering if I could stay." Starlight said knowing it was here last chance.
"What? No! Out of the question!" The Doctor said sternly. "You still have classes you need to..."
"I'm not going to be a Time Wizard! I never sent in the application." She blurted out again.
The Doctor was silent for a moment, "How would you plan to get home?"
"Grandfather, are you mad." Starlight said a little scared of her grandfather's reaction.
"I asked, 'How do you plan to get home?' please answer the question." the Doctor said not quite sure himself.
"I have my Hypercube."
"Okay, I'm going to need some time to process this, all of you go to the party. Just be back to the TARDIS before sunup." There was an awkward silence before the Doctor made a shooing motion at them, "Go!!!" and went inside the TARDIS.
Lecture, Tender, Obsidian, and Starlight walked back to the TARDIS. Lecture and Tender went inside and Starlight stayed outside for a moment. Then there was a distinctive click as the doors locked behind Lecture, Starlight didn't move away from Obsidian.
The Doctor's voice emanated from the box, "I've been thinking for the last few hours, and you're right." Starlight smiled, "You're not a child anymore, you've become a young mare and I understand why you may want to stay."
"You do grandfather!?" She had expected some sort of a fight, but was relieved by his apparent calm.
"Yes, I was once young you know. You have a Hypercube so you can call for somepony to get you out of here if things go sour."
"Thank you Grandfather." She said happily.
"Obsidian!" The Doctor's voice was sharp and Obsidian jumped a little.
"Yes sir?"
"Take good care of her, or I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back." He said and the TARDIS began to fade in and out.
Author's Note
Well this chapter is about two thousand words longer than I anticipated it being. And yet somehow I still feel like I should add more. Oh well, Susan's gone now, and the teacher and nurse have no purpose anymore.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Chapter 9: Lord and Master
The TARDIS materialized and the earth pony and his two unicorn companions stepped out of it. "You still haven't told us where we are" Lecture complained.
"Where are we?"
"Well, I don't have to try to show Starlight the types of magic, I figured I'd just hit random."
"So you don't know?" Tender asked.
"No! I know exactly where we are, we're on the planet Stine, home of the Sten a decent race of hexapedles." The Doctor said with a sense of smug superiority about him.
Lecture looked at the barren ground they stood on and asked, "So where are they?" He kicked some dirt for emphasis.
"That is... A very good question." The Doctor said walking a little as he checked every direction. "This should be a busy city street. Not a wasteland like this."
"So did mess up?"
"No! I simply read it wrong." The Doctor said walking back to the TARDIS and checking the coordinates , "We're exactly where and when I thought we were. So why is this place a wasteland?"
"Well we better get going, no point in walking around a wasteland all day." Lecture said and began to walk back to the TARDIS. Right before he managed to get back he and Tender were shot by some sort of magic rays.
The Doctor walked back out and looked at his companions laying on the ground. He turned his head towards the fifteen or so hexapedles that were charging at him. Their staffs glowed with various colors as they shot moor beams at the Doctor, on hit him and he collapsed to his knees, still conscious for a moment when a second one hit him and knocked him on his back.
Tender was the first to wake up, she and Lecture were upside down, tied at the ankle to a large stick. It looked like they were gong to cook them. Tender looked around the large tent for the Doctor but he wasn't there. She decided to find something sharp to cut the ropes with. Just as she saw the short knife and began to reach for it with her magic one of the Sten entered the tent.
Tender tried to pretend to be asleep but it was too late, "You're finally awake?" Sten said with a voice that sounded like it had inhaled helium.
"Yes" Tender said slightly thrown off by the large creature's oddly high voice.
"Good, the magic wore off, it's safe to cook you now." With that the Sten walked out of the tent.
Tender didn't waste any time and grabbed the short knife in her magic and brought it to her ankles. She sawed through the rope and after a few moments she collapsed to the ground. Once she had gotten to her hooves she began work on Lectures bindings and soon enough he fell to the floor with a thud and a muffled yelp of pain.
Tender had put her hoof over his mouth to muffle the yelp. She removed her hoof and he asked, "What's going on?"
"We've been captured, and they're going to eat us."
"Where's the Doctor?"
"I don't know, but we need to get out of here. Any Ideas?"
"Do you know where the TARDIS is?"
"No." Tender said lowering her head realizing that they had nowhere to run to if they didn't know where it was.
"Well that rules out Teleportation..." He said rubbing his chin, "Which leaves us with fighting our way out or sneaking our way out."
"I don't know how to fight." Tender said.
"Then it's a good thing I know a few spells that will help us sneak out." Lecture said his horn glowing as he cast an invisibility spell on Tender and himself.
"Where did you learn an invisibility spell?" Tender asked lifting her hoof up and trying to examine it.
"Nowhere...technically, I had an opportunity to explore the royal library a few years ago and weeelllll, I didn't let the opportunity pass me by." Lecture said giving where he thought she was an invisible smile.
The two ponies went through the exit tot the tent and found themselves in a camp. The Sten were covered with dirt and rags, and not a signal one was still, not even the children or elderly. Some of them were working hard to patch together animal skins for cloths and tents, while others were placing strips of meat on stone slabs and securing them above some weird iguana like creatures. A few slightly larger Sten were holding spears and only walking on four legs. Lecture couldn't help but notice that the spearheads looked like horns, and that the color of the spearhead always matched the color of the Sten that was holding it.
They looked for a large tent that would signify a leader but every signal tent was exactly the same size, no matter what their apparent purpose was. They eventually found a tent that had a series of blankets placed on the ground and an idle at the far end. Underneath that idle was a sack just large enough to hold a pony.
They moved to the sack and opened the top of it, inside a bound Doctor rest completely unconscious inside. "What magic is this!" the Sten's extremely high voice as he looked at the wildly raving bag.
Lecture and Tender looked at him the realization coming over their face. But just as fast as the Sten had arrived it left shouting like a lunatic. In less than a minute a shorter one that was bone white entered the tent flanked by two of the large spear wielders. The ponies moved to the edge of the tent while the white one moved to inspect the bag. After a few minutes of inspecting the bag the white one clicked twice and the two others began to inspect the bag with him. There was a groan and a huff and all three of the Sten jumped back and bowed to the now awake Doctor.
The Doctor's Time Lord mind had allowed him to wake up at the peek of capacity, he wasn't even a little groggy. Though he was completely confused by the sight of the Sten bowing to him. The white one, who was apparently a priest of some hind, then shouted in his annoyingly high voice, "Forgive us great and terrible Lord! For we have failed to bring the unity and prosperity you wished to see you ordered us to have upon your return! Please spare us from your terrible wrath, for we serve only you as our lord and master!"
The Doctor was thoroughly confused but if they wanted to think him a god then so be it. Then the Doctor noticed the sack he had been put in, his expression was fell slightly and the priest's eyes widened. "Forgive us my lord. We could not welcome you properly but the instructions you left said to wrap you in our finest cloths. We did the best we could."
"So you shot me and threw me in a sack!?"
The priest's face was on the floor now and he pleaded, "We didn't know it was you until it was too late! We tried to fix our mistake as much as we could. Please oh please forgive us!"
"I will spare you." the Doctor said calmly yet authoritatively.
"Oh thank you my lord! Your mercy knows no bounds. Please my lord, help us unify our people like you did so long ago. We need more of your secrets to help us rise from the ashes of our fallen empire."
The Doctor didn't know anything about the Stens' gods so he had to improvise, "I have given you all of my gifts. I can however help you unify your species."
"Oh thank you for your assistance my lord. Please impart your wisdom onto us."
"But first! Where are the two that I came here with?"
"We thought that they were sacrifices my lord." The priest said slightly confused, then fear crowded into his face, "We haven't yet though, my lord. Gore! Fetch our lord's servents!" One of the guards creeped away slowly, never looking at the Doctor and darted away to the tent Lecture and Tender were supposed to be in.
Tender walked up to the Doctor's side and whispered in a voice so low that it was nearly impossible for even herself to here, "We're right here. Lecture made us invisible."
The Doctor straitened his collar a little and grunted, "Just as I suspected."
The priest looked up slightly confused and afraid of his lord's outburst. Then the two companions that his lord had traveled with appeared out of thin air. The priest was terrified as the Doctor spoke, "You can't contain my chosen companions."
The priest began another set of apologies and the Doctor simply waved his hoof. A hot pink Sten walked into the tent and glared at the priest looking like he was going to run the poor guy through, "You foolish idiot! You stuffed our Lord and Master into a sack."
The priest was hunched down, "Need I remind you that it was your fighters who shot him and placed him in the sack!"
"Why you little." The hot pink one lifted his hand prepared to smack the priest.
"Why did you fail me?" The Doctor asked hoping to stop the unnecessary beating.
The hot pink was stunned by the words of who he believed was his god, "There was a war." he said, "The Unified government you created collapsed and split into seven waring factions. Eventually the only victor was the wasteland. Now there are more then eighty tribes fight and steel from each other. But now you've returned and you can help us unify like you did so many years ago."
"Well then, you will call a gathering of all the chieftains you can. We shall hold a conference where I shall give you a draft of my new rules of leading." the Doctor said and the hot pink one left without question.
The priest walked out backwards, still bowing and praising the Doctor. As soon as he left the Doctor turned towards his companions who quickly began to batter him with questions.
"What happened?"
"Why do you think that you're a god."
"How long were we unconscious?"
"What are you planning?"
"When were you here before?"
"Where's the TARDIS?"
"Why are you going along with this."
The Doctor held up his hooves to stop their questions and answered as quickly as he could, "We were kidnapped, I don't know why, at least an hour, to give them some form of unified government to rebuild upon, never, and they clearly need help."
They had to wait a whole week for the leaders of the nearby tribes to gather. During that time The Doctor had insisted that they tell him their history, claiming, "I only want to see what you've got wrong".
The Leaders gathered around a large fire pit with the Doctor and his TARDIS siting where the fire was supposed to be. Every eye was on him as they waited for him to talk.
He had memorized the speech he was going to give so well that he could say the hole thing backwards, if he wanted to, "Years ago, I came to you and chose to give you the knowledge you needed to thrive! But you couldn't handle it!" Some of the gathered tribal leaders flinched at his ferocity. "And so this time I've decided to take my time with you." He pulled out a white marble slab form one of his coat pockets, "These are my laws!" He set the tablet on the ground so it stood up with the writing facing his audience."If you can fallow them and use them as a foundation for your society then I shall allow you regain the knowledge you've lost!" He then pulled out a small silk sack, "And these are my gift to you, With these you will no longer need to rely on hunting."
He swiftly turned around and walked into his TARDIS. As it began to fade away from existence the encampments priest walked over to the marble slab and read the laws and held up the seeds
Some of the younger leaders didn't understand what the seeds were, but the older ones smiled in remembrance of the old life they had before their war. In time they new laws and the gift would allow them to rebuild. Their faith had been tested and their Lord and Master had saved them.
Author's Note
Shot one this time, just something to get you wondering who else would match the discription of the Sten God.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Chapter 10: Sounds Of Victory
The Doctor's TARDIS materialized in an ally way just off a busy rode. Then the grey old stallion strode out, and taking a moment to look at his fob watch shook his head. "I don't know how we ended up here, but it looks like we're back in Canterlot" He said replacing his watch.
"Oh, when are we." A stallion asked stepping out of the police box behind him.
"About a week and a half after you came along with me to teach Starlight" The Doctor said with just the tiniest hint of remorse. Then cheering up he said, "You should return the books you took while we're here, I'll just be- Aaaaaahhhhhhahaaahhahahah" He grabbed his chest and winced with pain.
"What's wrong?" Tender asked running out of the TARDIS.
"It's nothing" the Doctor said as he reached into his coat's inner pocket and pulled out the, now burning hot, feather that Death had given him.
"Doesn't look like nothing to me." Lecture said looking at the feather.
"No I suppose not." the said as the feather cooled down allowing him to hold it.
"What does it mean?" Lecture asked.
"It means that something with great magical power is nearby. Makes sense when you think about it."
"It must be Princess Celestia" Tender offered.
"Her and Discord." The Doctor said as he began to replace the feather in his pocket.
"Who is..." Lecture was interrupted by another shout of pain from the Doctor as he pulled the feather back out.
"Cursed thing doesn't want to be put away." The Doctor Grumbled.
"Maybe it wants to go somewhere. I know some artifacts have a mind of their own and try to accomplish certain goals" Lecture suggested completely forgetting his original question.
"Perhaps..." The Doctor said waving it around and measuring the intensity of the golden light it gave off. "Why don't I follow it why'll you two put those books back?" it was more of an order then a suggestion.
"You sure you don't need any help?" Tender asked worried about the old stallion.
"Yes, yes. I'll be fine on my own." He said shooing them away with his hoof.
"Fine old stallion, we'll leave you to it, just don't get in any trouble." Lecture said heading back into the TARDIS to get the books.
The Doctor turned around and began to fallow the trail the feather marked by shining it's brightest. He followed this trail for a good ten minutes when he found himself in front of a music shop. He rubbed his chin wondering if the feather was leading him here or if it was leading him to somewhere behind the shop. The latter would make more sense in his mind, after all the shop was in between him and the Canterlot Castle, but as be started to move around the shop the feather became dimmer. It was clear that whatever the feather wanted was in the shop.
He walked to the door where a wooden sign declared 'Open'. He entered and saw exactly what he thought it would be, various instruments hanging on the walls and on special stands. The mare behind the front desk said in a cheerful, slightly sophisticated accent, "Welcome to Notes!"
She didn't seem to register the feather and the Doctor gave a partial wave as he moved on to the back of the store where a display case was set with a golden violin in it. The feather seemed to be pointing right at it, then a cheerful voice surprised the Doctor, "You have good taste." it was the grey mare who had greeted him.
The feather dimmed and he quickly shoved it into his breast pocket before replying, "Yes I like to think so. But tell me about this piece, would you?" The Doctor said giving a slight smile.
The Mare smiled, "Certainly sir. This violin was crafted over five hundred years ago by a now forgotten pegasus violinist. This violin was when played by a pony of who truly loves music will produce a sound that could make the heavens themselves weep with joy, but when played by a pony who doesn't love music so it will produce a sound that will anger the ground and ground and cause it to attack indiscriminately."
"A pegasus created this and gave it such power?"
"Yes sir."
"If this violin is so dangerous then why is it here?" The Doctor said slightly concerned that the ponies would allow such a dangerous instrument to just lay here behind a glass case that had no magical protection.
"Because the owner is a very superstitious stallion, since this was his first Notes Music Shop he thinks it will bring the company good luck if it stays here."
"He isn't worried somepony will steel it and use it?"
"He has it ensured, and it's useless without its golden bow, which is in the Canterlot vaults."
As soon as she said that there was a tremendous buzz so loud that the glass in the front of the shop shattered. Then a second one happened, this time the glass in front of the Violin cracked.
The Doctor ran as fast as his old legs could take him and went out the front door. Looking up he saw a very weird sight. There were seven tall slender figured floating above the city. Six of them formed a hexagon around the city why'll the seventh was slightly higher and positioned in the center of them. Another loud buzz hit the city then it turned into different sounds, then into words, "We know your here!!"
The Doctor couldn't fathom what these creatures were, they seemed to be bipedal, and they also wore cloaks of red and blue. That was all he could make out from this distance, it was hardly enough to begin to name their species.
Then they said something, "You cannot hide Time Lord!"
To any other Time Lord the announcement would have been slightly disconcerting and would have meant that it was time to get out of dodge. However to the Doctor the announcement that they knew he was here only helped him narrow down the suspect species.
Then a weird humming sound began to play and an enormous glass dome began to encase Canterlot. That was the one thing that the Doctor needed to see, "Archon's!" He shouted once he had the realization.
"What's going on?" the mare said looking up to the glass dome that was encasing the city.
"They're trying to trap us" The Doctor explained in reference to him and his TARDIS.
The mare looked horrified and asked, "Can we still get out? I mean the glass hasn't completely covered the city yet."
"You can." He said as he set a brisk pace towards the castle.
"Where are you going?! You can't get out that way!"
"I'm not trying to escape." The Doctor said with a flash of realization, "Can you get me that golden violin?"
"I will not steel my boss’s prized possession for a stallion I just met." the mare looked disgusted by him.
"Then don't, do it to save yourself, because I know how to beat them. We need sound and that violin will be perfect, certainly better than the giant bell I was going to use."
"What do you mean, how could sound work"
"Can't you hear it, that constant humming, that's them singing the glass into existence, and if we can disrupt that sound then we can save everypony."
The mare wasn't certain that this stallion who was right, but she figured if it gave her a chance she might as well give it a shot. She quickly turned around and ran back into the store as the Stallion continued towards the castle. When she got back to the display case she turned and summoning all her earth pony strength she shattered the thick glass and retrieved the violin.
When she caught up with the stallion she had the violin resting on her back and said, "The violin won't make a sound without its bow."
"I already thought of that, the Canterlot vault is magically locked, which means I can open it!" he said through heavy breathing as he strode along at the fastest his old body would allow.
"You can? The vault's supposed to be impregnable by everything in Equestria."
"It is, but that's the fault I'm going to exploit. The vault door can only be breached by great magical power or no magical power. I've got the latter." He planned to use his lack of magical ability, to open the doors.
"What do you mean?" The mare asked.
"Nothing important but we'll need to hurry." He said to the mare who was several feet in front of him.
"I agree!" She called back to him.
"Don't get snarky with me young mare." He hollered at her.
By this time they had reached the now empty castle gates. They pushed the gates open and continued inside. They quickly saw why there had been no pony to stop them from entering, before them stood two guards frozen mid gallop.
"What happened to them?" The mare asked.
"It's the dome, once it was completed they used its shape to create a series of temporal disturbances and freezing time for all the ponies in Canterlot."
"What?"
"There frozen in time, all of them. Everypony in Canterlot is frozen."
"Then why aren't we frozen?"
"Proximity to me I'm afraid." The Doctor said his mind drifting to his companions. He kept moving
The mare arched an eyebrow, "And what does that mean?"
They passed a few guards that were lined up in a drill formation, "We'll I'm the one they're looking for. By singalong me out like this all they have to do is look for any motion in the city. It's much more effective then searching a bustling city filled with thousands of ponies."
"Then are we in danger?"
"No, we're inside. They won't see or hear us as long as we don't go breaking any windows."
They had made their way to the vault. The impressive golden doors were all that were in there way. The Doctor placed his hoof on the door and gently pushed. That was all it took as the massive golden doors magic seemed to evaporate allowing entrance.
Once inside it didn't take the ponies too long to find the golden bow. "What do we do now?" The mare asked placing the bow next to the violin on her back.
"We'll go to the derelict tower" the Doctor announced pointing in its general direction.
"Why there?"
"We don't want any ponies to get hurt." He said setting his brisk pace towards the tower.
It didn't take them long to get to the tower, but the Doctors old body did have some trouble with the stairs
Once at the top the Doctor said, "Stay inside and hide for now. When I give the signal start playing. It should break their control on this space."
"Why not simply start playing now, if it will help save everypony."
"I want to give them a chance to surrender." He said then walked out onto the balcony and fiddled with a loose bar on the railing. Once he got it free he began to smack and drag it along the other bars.
It didn't take long for the seven figures to surround the tower they moved in front of him and spoke in unison, "You are the Time Lord. You all will die."
"You don't have to do this, return these ponies back to the way they were and we can go to my home world and you can seek retribution for the near extinction of your race."
"The Time Lords destroyed our race, they sacked our cities, they destroyed our worlds, and now you insult us by offering a pitiful retribution!! We will kill you and all of your race!!" The Archons began to move in.
"Wait! Why here!? Why attack me here!?" The question was more a ploy to see if he couldn't change their minds then legitimate concern.
"A traitor told us the way, a Time Lord who realizes that your kind are week and need to be destroyed." They boosted as they closed in.
One of them lifted a crablike claw and reached for the Doctor. Another let five tentacles escape from under his rags and they moved in.
The Doctor raised his hind leg considerably further then was conferrable before stepping back. The most beautiful sound he had ever herd filled the air with a soothing melody. It was a different case for the Archons, several of them started to screen while a few more tried to match the sound and cancel it out. The larger one in the middle hummed to keep what they had already made stable.
But as the melody picked up more and more of them lost focus until it was just the large one holding everything in place. The Doctor gave a low whistle and the final archons concentration broke along with the glass dome.
Before the glass could crush anypony and before the frozen ponies were free, the larger archon said, "You win again Time Lord."
As the archon faded away the Doctor felt a slight tinge of pain in his head. The mare behind him stumbled over to him holding her head, "What's going on, my head hurts."
"Time's resetting to right before the Archons appeared. I suppose they must have been sustaining a separate timeline so they wouldn't attract too much unwanted attention."
The mare looked over the edge of the rails of the tower and saw that everypony below was acting as nothing had happened. "So nopony remembers what just happened?"
"Only you and I." He assured her.
"Okay, so we're the only ponies who know we saved everypony. I have just one question, how are we going to explain what we're doing here and why we have both the golden violin and its bow."
The Doctor's face dropped noticeably, "We'll leave it all here." He said a slight smile, "Then we'll just walk out."
"Can we do that?" The mare asked.
"Of course, all we have to do is act like we belong and no pony will suspect a thing."
This time the mare's face dropped, "You can't be serious."
He gave a simple smile and the next thing the mare new she was walking down the elegant corridors of the castle side by side with the old stallion. As they walked they passed several guards that did nothing more than give sideways glances. It wasn't long before they had left the castle entirely and were on the streets.
Suddenly something seemed to don on the mare, putting her hooves to either side of her head she shouted, "We had to leave the violin in the castle! I'm going to get fired for sure!"
"Don't worry Even though the actual thing is in the castle he'll have no proof that it was you that took it."
"Even if he didn't think I stole it, which I did, it disappeared on my watch!"
"Well then..." He stroked his chin as if he had a beard, "You'll need something else to do..."
"Why are you giving me that look?"
"Do you want to travel with me?"
She asked the first question that popped into here head, "Is it always like this?" she asked skeptically.
"It's happening more and more recently." He answered honestly.
Realizing that she probably should have just said no because lived with her parents and probably wouldn't be able to justify leaving with a strange old grey stallion to them, she shook her head and said, "No, I simply can't even if I lose my job I still have my family and schooling to worry about."
The old stallion smiled and as they rounded the bend to face the TARDIS he said, "Did I forget to mention I journey through time?"
He reached out to open the door only for it to swing away from him as Tender exited, "I'm sorry but we..." She stopped as her eyes focused on the mare with the Doctor. "Who's this?" She said with a cheerful smile that completely covered her supersize.
The Doctor paused for a moment "That is a wonderful question." he said realizing that the thought to ask had never crossed his mind.
The mare poked out her hoof and said, "I'm Octavia. Do you two travel together?"
"Yes, well..." She turned towards the Doctor, "You see Lecture and I were chewed out by the principal and if we don't start work again we will lose our jobs. So we kind of need to stay."
"I see..." The Doctor said. "And this is what you two want?"
"Yes, we really shouldn't have neglected our duties for so long. Lecture is back at the school grading worksheets as punishment for disappearing and I really need to get back. I only came here to tell you what was happening. I certainly didn't expect you to already have a replacement."
"Oh...Well...I see. Yes...um okay." The Doctor said unable to think of what to say.
"Goodbye Doctor, I hope you and Octavia have fun in your journeys." She said this as she walked past the Doctor. As she passed Octavia she whispered to her, "Don't let him do anything that'll get him killed."
"What?"
"He needs some pony to make sure he doesn't do anything too crazy."
"What exactly am I signing up for?" Octavia asked having a flashback of the weird creatures from before.
"I think you can handle it" and with that she walked away.
The Doctor said, “shall we go inside?" He said raising his hoof in a way that suggested 'ladies first'.
"The box?" She asked a little confused and worried.
The Doctor have a knowing smile and made the gesture again.
She pushed the door open and found herself in the main consul room. The stepped back out and examined the outside as best she could. She finally walked back in and said those words, "It's bigger on the inside!"
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
There was a blast of magical energy as Discord's power was erased from the world leaving only his statue to remember his existence at all. As the wave of harmonious energy shot across the land a wide stone column began to slowly fade into existence accompanied by an odd gasping-wheezing sound. A young light blue unicorn mare stepped out of the now visible door her blue and pink mane flowing with the wind. She glanced over her surroundings and saw luscious green fields of grass with what looked like what might have been a town, filled with hundreds of ponies frolicking and dancing. She turned her head sideways and called into the column's door, "I thought we were going to see one of the most powerful magic’s in recorded history's effect on this planet grandfather?"
An elderly grey stallion stepped out of the column and readjusted his black coat, "We are. You saw the reading on the consul Starlight, the Elements of Harmony were just used."
"To return this planet back to normal." Starlight complained looking back at the field.
"It's not 'back to normal' child! A new diarchy was just instated and the land has been renewed." he said plucking a blade of up and tasting it.
"How am I supposed to learn about the effects of magic on planets if you only take me to the dull times?" Starlight asked.
"This isn't 'dull' and besides you've learned an important thing about magic, what one type can do the opposite can undo." He said walking towards some of the dancing ponies.
"Where are you going?" Starlight asked catching up to him, "You know it's against the rules to interfere." She said falling in stride beside him.
"I'm not interfering, I'm participating." He said as they approached the ponies.
"Those are the same things." Starlight said getting in his way.
"No its no...Okay you got me there. I just wanted to see how freedom from ten years of insanity feels." He said walking around her.
He walked up to a green pegasus stallion and pink earth pony mare that had been dancing with each other, "Hello friends!" the stallion said clearly elated.
"Yes, hello! Oh, hello good friends!" the mare said with the biggest possible smile.
"Hello how are you feeling this fine day?" The Doctor said giving subtle smile.
"We're just wonderful! Aren't we Shimmer?" The stallion said twirling the mare.
"Yes! Yes we are Cloud!" She answered giving him a kiss and the couple danced away.
"See child," The Doctor said turning to Starlight, "you're seeing the effects of magic on these ponies."
"I guess. But the magic isn't doing this, it's the lack of magic they're celebrating." She said looking around at the other celebrating ponies. Some of the ponies had fashioned crude instruments and were playing improvised melodies. Others sang along, while most danced enjoying the freedom.
"They're celebrating the freedom from Chaos magic, and celebrating the return of Harmony magic. If you want to, you could also consider the magic’s of love, friendship, and happiness" He said sitting on the soft grass.
"I wanted to see the chaos magic's effect on the ponies" Starlight complained.
"Why? We'd be put in danger and I won't allow that to happen." The Doctor said taking out a fob watch and checking the time. "Child go enjoy yourself or if you prefer interview the ponies on how they feel about the change, you'll need that data for you project anywise."
"Fine, I'll go collect 'data'" She said sarcastically, then walked over to another dancing pair.
The Doctor laid down fully and placed the watch back in his pocket. He looked up and saw a little black dot in the sky, then another, and another. Soon enough the other ponies started to notice and began to panic. Starlight returned to her grandfather just in time for the swarm reach the edge of the ponies. It wasn't long before the swarm had overtaken the group of dancing ponies, the black insectish ponies with blue eyes were brutally attacking the once celebrating ponies. One landed in front of the Doctor and attempted to bite him with its fangs only to be hit with a large rock thrown by Starlight.
"My dear, you levitated something!" The Doctor said in absolute amazement.
"I did! I did! I did! I did! I did!" She bounced with excitement, "I used magic! I used magic!"
He sounded proud as he said, "I knew you could do it!"
They made their way through the chaos towards the stone column as quickly as they could. As they moved they saw the ponies being beat, knocked out, and cocooned. They tried to ignore the screams of agony as they zigzagged through the insect-like ponies attack. They tried to act like they couldn't see the plight of these lesser life forms, they really did. But in the end they couldn't stop themselves, they couldn't let these poor ponies that had suffered through ten years of madness to suffer any longer.
Starlight broke away from her grandfather and ran to one of the cocoons, she stabbed her horn into it and ripped it open. "Get out!" She ordered the stallion she just freed.
"What are you doing?" The Doctor said grabbing her shoulder, "We're not allowed to interfere!"
"We can't just let them suffer!" Starlight objected.
"We have..." he never finished his sentence, as a blast of magical energy, from one of the insects, hit them. They flew several feet and landed on top of one of the cocoons causing it to burst open and freeing the pony trapped inside. They was covered in slime and as the Doctor rose out of the mess he face had a profound look of deep anger, it lasted for just a second before he calmed himself, but it was enough.
The pony looking thing that had attacked him advanced on him and prepared to shoot him again. It fired and the Doctor sidestepped the magic and closed the distance to the pony. He grabbed both sides of its head and place thought's in the insect-like pony's mind. The ponyish insect was afraid and as its fear grew it started to infect all of the nearby ponysects. In a matter of seconds all of the insectish ponies near them were terrified of the Doctor and started to swarm around him in an attempt to comfort him.
Not a single one of them wanted to go first so they asked in unison, "Who are you?!"
He simply replied, "I am the Doctor."
"You challenge us?!' the voices asked.
"I'm doing more than challenging you, I'm winning! With a single threat."
Then every one of them landed facing him, on one side they cleared a thin path for a much larger insect pony, she was easily twice the Doctor's size, almost thrice. Her Green eyes looked him over and she chuckled, "So you're the pony that's causing such fear in my subjects?"
"Yes" he said bowing lowly, "You must be their leader?"
"Then you must be put in your place. Subjects! Attack!" She shouted fiercely. It would have been intimidating if any of the insectoid ponies actually listened.
The Doctor smiled, "That's the problem with hive minds..." The Doctor said starting to pace inside the circle of ponyoid insects, as he neared any one ponyish insects they would flinch. "Once and idea gets started it just can't stop." He said as their fear grew.
That was the exact moment it happened, the queen's mental block was beaten and she felt the idea pushing into her head. Once it got in it was there to stay and she felt a greater fear than her subjects. In turn their fear amplified, which amplified hers. The vicious cycle was unbreakable and they knew it.
"What are you?" the queen asked shaking.
The Doctor walked up to her and she crouched defensively. He looked her in the eyes and said "I'm the Doctor, and I'm protecting these ponies. All ponies! So run far away and hide, I don't want to ever see another one of your kind ever again! Go and hide! And you better be good at it because if I find you I'll justify your fears! Now GO!! " At that they took flight in the direction they came from, disappearing just as fast as they came.
Starlight walked up to her grandfather, "That was amazing!"
"It was nothing..." He started but was interrupted by several of the ponies running up to him.
"Thank you!" One shouted.
"You saved us!" another added.
"I say he should lead us!" an orange stallion declared.
"Yah! He would make a great leader" a green mare added.
Before long the entire group of ponies were cheering his name, "Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!"
He made a quieting motion with his fore hooves and he led them to the hill with the column. As he stood on the hill slightly elevated above the ponies one of them began to chant, "Speech! Speech! Speech!" and the rest of them joined in.
He made the same motion to calm them down and they did so, "Now, now! I know you've been under the reign of madness for the last ten years. And I'm perfectly aware of the fact that you need leadership buuttt..." He drew out the last word as he saw two specks in the air. "What is that!?" he yelled pointing in the general direction of the spots. The entire crowd's attention turned towards where he was pointing and he and Starlight opened the now visible door on the column and slipped inside. As the crowd turned back towards him they saw the column start to fade in and out as a gasping wheezing sound.
Soon after its disappearance the two dots took shape and the white and dark blue alicorns landed. The white alicorn greeted the ponies, "I am Celestia and this is my sister Luna"
The dark blue one, Luna, asked "We have come because we saw a swarm of insects, what has happened?"
A stallion shouted, "We were saved from the Insect ponies!"
"Insect ponies?" Luna asked.
"Yes" a purple mare confirmed.
"What are insect ponies?" Luna asked.
"Horrible monsters" a cyan pegasus answered.
"How did you defeat them?" Celestia asked.
"We didn't! It was the Doctor who saved us!" a pink mare answered.
Luna raised an eyebrow and turned looked at her sister, "Where is this Doctor?"
"Gone" an orange stallion said with a frown and looking down.
Celestia's eyes went wide, "We're sorry for your loss" she said calmly, "this Doctor must have fought well to defeat the insect ponies."
A bright yellow mare replied, "He's not dead!"
"Yah!" several of the other ponies shouted towards the alicorns.
"Sorry." Celestia apologized, "The way he said 'gone' implied that your Doctor had perished."
"Indeed" Luna said confirming her sister’s assumption. "Now if I may ask? What do you mean by gone?"
"He just disappeared with the wide stone column" Another pony shouted.
"Disappeared with a wide stone column?" Celestia asked.
"Yah" the orange stallion confirmed.
"How very strange." the sisters said turning to each other.
Author's Note
Nice simple beginning with a slightly familiar monster.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
There was that distinct gasping-wheezing sound again as the wide column, now disguised in the form of a blue police box, began to fade into view. Starlight stepped out into the street, frowned, and walked right back inside. "Why are we here?" She asked her Grandfather "I can't feel any powerful magic here."
The Doctor simply tapped one of the instruments on the main consul. Starlight looked at the reading on the 'Magical Displacement Reader' and her jaw dropped, the reading was in the red. "How, magic on that scale would have had a visible effect on this surrounding area."
"Or so you thought. See you learned something about magic, power can be contained." The Doctor said starting the time capsule into flight. Then it suddenly, violently, shook, he and Starlight both fell to the ground.
Starlight screamed and clutched her left hind leg, "Grandfather! What happened?"
The Doctor got up and stumbled when he put weight on his left foreleg. He managed to get back up to the consul and looked at the readings, "I'm afraid that we've been noticed." He said hitting a button and a monitor revealed itself and showed a beautiful alicorn mare, whose coat would make snow look grey. Her ever flowing mane was reminiscent of the many bordelaises that the two had seen over their travels and somehow was flowing as if there was wind even though their instruments clearly said there wasn't any. Her violet eyes were staring hard at the capsule, and her face was hard to read, somewhere between anger, annoyance, and kindness.
"Doctor come out here right now." She said calmly.
Starlight, scared of this large pony that was doing something that was nearly impossible, looked at her grandfather, "How is she keeping us from moving! And how does she know this is our capsule?"
Her grandfather looked at the console, "I don't know, she’s just doing it...somehow?"
"How is that even possible?"
"My dear, she's exploiting the second rule of magic, 'magic is boundless'" He said readjusted the settings on the console and tried to move the capsule again. This time the violent shaking was accompanied by several minor explosions, but they did managed to break free from the alicorn's magical grasp. The violent shaking didn't stop as they moved through the time vortex.
"Land us!!" Starlight yelled.
"I'm trying!" The Doctor yelled back as they materialized in high obit and immediately begin to fall.
Author's Note
I figured I'd give the TARDIS a reason to break. Despite old age and neglect, that is.
The Lives of Doctor Whooves
Mini-Chapter: Making Sense
The Doctor was sitting in a chair in the living room that Lecture used to train Starlight in. He was staring at the wall blankly when Tender came in with a teapot, "Do you want some tea?" She asked levitating a cup in the air.
"Yes Please." The Doctor said hollowly, not even looking away from the wall.
Tender placed the plate and the cup on a small table near him and began to pour, "One lump or two?"
"One" the Doctor said in the same hollow voice.
Tender put lump of sugar in his tea than began to leave the room, just before she least completely she said, "You made the right choice."
"That's what I keep telling myself, but I'm not sure I had the right reasons." The Doctor grumbled to himself as soon as she left the room.
Tender walked into another room where Lecture was sitting at a table, waiting for her, "How's he doing?"
"He's very sad. We need to find a way to cheer him up." Tender said setting the teapot down on table and taking a seat.
"We could..." The room began to shake violently and the Lecture's cup fell off the table. Lecture and Tender ran to the consul room, the Doctor had apparently landed the TARDIS and was already out the door.
They walked outside and saw the Doctor standing by some railing with a pair of binoculars. Lecture and Tender recognized the view, they were on the northern edge of Canterlot.
"What are you looking for?" Lecture asked.
"Wait for it..." There was an odd glint from the north as light danced on the northern horizon.
"What was that?" Tender asked as she watched the spectacle.
"The Crystal Empire returning, isn't that right guard stallion?" He said accusingly and nothing happened. "We all know your hiding in the bushes, come on out." Still nothing, "you're wearing my patience young stallion."
Finally a bush began to rustle and a white stallion wearing golden armor stepped out, "who are you?"
"You've got something bigger to worry about" The Doctor said pointing to the light show he had come here to see.
"What is it?" The guard said looking to the north.
"'It has returned' to quote you.’It' being the the Crystal Empire, if I were you I'd ignore me and go tell the princess"
"What?"
"Tell the princess that 'It has returned'!" The Doctor said like the guard was stupid. The guard ran off and Lecture walked up to the Doctor.
"What do you mean 'returned'?"
"Like me and Starlight told you, it disappeared mysteriously. I wanted to see if she managed to change that, but she didn't." The Doctor looked down over the edge of the railing.
"You wanted to justify her actions?" Tender asked.
"Yes" the Doctor said meekly, "come on, we better get away from Canterlot before something bad happens." They all went inside of the TARDIS without a word and the Doctor put it into flight.
