The Doctor and the Royal Wedding
The Doctor woke up in a panic, almost as if he was falling. “Where am I?” thought the Doctor. Then he remember, “Oh yeah I am in the Tardis. I must have fallen asleep while making repairs.” Then without warning a familiar cyan colored companion burst in through the front door.
“Doctor, Doctor! Look what I got!” exclaimed Lyra. “It’s an invitation!”
“An invitation to what, exactly, Lyra? There are all kinds of invitations. To dance, to sing, to hurry up, even the occasional invitation to taste some fine cheese.” Remarked the sly Doctor.
“I’m going to be a bridesmaid Doctor! It’s a wedding invitation! I get to be a bridesmaid! Maybe I will get to catch the bouquet!”
“But a Bridesmaid for whom, Lyra?” The Doctor questioned as he sat on his chair playing with his Tardis. He didn’t seem at all interested in what Lyra was saying, he was mostly just carrying on with her to make sure she didn’t bug him more that was necessary.
“Oh no one special Doctor, just Princess Cadence!” Lyra was beaming, she could barely contain her excitement. She started bouncing around the room happy and continent with herself.
“Wait, Princess Cadence? Why does that ring a bell?” The Doctor pondered. He knew he had heard the name before but he couldn’t place where he had heard it. He was still a bit rusty on the history of Equestria. “But a royal wedding does sound like fun; do you mind if I came and sat in on it Lyra?”
“Of course not, that’s why I came to tell you! I want all of my friends there! You, Derpy, Dinky, and Bon Bon, it will be so much fun! I need to go get ready, we have to rehearse!” Lyra exclaimed as she sped off down one of the Tardis’ many corridors. The Doctor got up from his seat and began to look around for a tie to wear. Maybe even a bow tie, he always fancied bow ties. After a few minutes of searching, he found his tie right under a stack of coloring books and muffins. The Doctor let out a loving sigh, deciding he needed to have a chat with Derpy about hygiene, and reached for the Tardis’ PA system.
“Dinky, Derpy, Bon Bon, could you three come to the central chamber please? I have to speak to you all, its adventure time!” No sooner had the Doctor finished speaking, he was instantly thrown to the ground from some wild impact to his side. He readied himself for whatever it could be, but when he looked up, all he saw was Dinky’s adorable face beaming at him from atop his chest. He smiled back at her, so she wouldn’t see the annoyance on his face. “Alright, get off you little monster you, I have something important to say.”
Dinky laughed and hopped off the Doctor’s chest, while Derpy and Bon Bon made their way over to the sprawled out pony. “What did you need us for? I was busy making muffins,” said Derpy with a frown on her face.
“They will be there when you get back D, but first I need you three to go get your best dresses out, cause we are going to a wedding and not just any wedding, a royal one for Princess Cadence and her groom!” The Doctor was almost thrown back by the wild squeals from the mares; he had never heard such a piercing shriek in all his life. The mares dashed away to their own individual rooms, leaving the Doctor alone at the control center. He began laughing to himself and started to wonder what a mess he had just created, “Oh well,” he thought, “No time like living in the present!” And with a flick of a switch and a push of a button, they were off to Canterlot.
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The Tardis came to its usual, rough halt, somewhere in a Canterlot back alley. Surprisingly, even in the world of Equestia, no pony ever seemed to question the big blue box that would sit on the street corners from time to time. The Doctor and his companions all made their way out of the ship.
No sooner were they outside, did Lyra and Bon Bon run off with only a quick message behind them. “See you guys later! I have to go rehearse for the wedding tomorrow! Oh, and Bon Bon is coming with me so I don’t get to bored! We’ll see you guys later tonight!” Lyra yelled as she ran towards the palace. The Doctor just smiled, leaving him with a strange and foreign feeling of what to do now.
The Doctor flinched as he heard a loud crash from behind him. He whipped to see that Derpy had tackled some innocent pony and was viciously gobbling up all his food. The Doctor ran over to help the stallion up when he realized it was Pony Joe, the best muffin and donut maker in all of Canterlot. Now the Doctor knew why Derpy had tackled him; he did owe her a few muffins after all. “Warn a pony next time Derpy! You could have taken my head off with that kind of speed,” complained the befuddled Joe. The Doctor would never understand where Derpy got her drive from, one minute she was all klutz and the next she was a speeding bullet. One of life’s little mysteries.
“What are you up to Joe? I haven’t seen you in awhile. How’s the shop?” questioned the Doctor, attempting to get the topic off Derpy.
“Oh not much, but now I have to go make some more muffins for the wedding, Doctor,” grumbled Joe. He didn’t look too pleased about having to make more muffins.
“Right, I am terribly sorry about that. I am sure Derpy and Dinky would love to help you, they know more about muffins than anypony I know! Isn’t that right dear?
“Uh hmm!” said Derpy through a huge mouthful of muffins.
Pony Joe agreed to the terms and took the two with him back to his shop. Now the Doctor was all alone. “Time to get into some trouble,” said the Doctor to himself, “but where to first?” He looked around and saw ponies everywhere getting things ready for the wedding. That’s when it hit him, “I will go meet the Bride and Groom! That should be interesting.”
Off the Doctor went with his goal in mind. He marveled at the size of Canterlot as he made his way through its streets. The buildings were at least four times as big as the ones back in Ponyville, and all the ponies made so much noise. He decided he liked his home in his small little town a lot more than this big city. Suddenly, there was a huge crash overhead, almost like a bomb exploding. The Doctor looked up and saw Rainbow Dash practicing her trademark Sonic Rainboom. “Huh, she figured out how to do it on command from the looks of it. That might come in handy some day,” remarked the curious pony as he made his way for the palace gates.
Getting in was easy, as a quick flash of his psychic paper got him instant access to the whole palace. He made his way to the central chamber where the groom was talking to some important-looking pony folk. He waited for them to finish and introduced himself to the groom, ”Hello sir, my name is the Doctor. Allow me to congratulate you on the momentous occasion! You must be so happy.”
The groom turned around and beamed at him, ”Why yes I am, thank you very much. I am Shining Armor by the way. And you are? I can’t seem to place where I have met you before. What was your name again?” Shining Armor was a stallion among ponies. He was strong, elegant, and regal with just a hint of big brother to make everypony feel welcome.
However, before the Doctor could speak to him any further, a pink alicorn yelled at the poor stallion from atop the flight of stairs.
“Shiny, darling, come with me. It’s time for some of your headache treatment,” stated the pink alicorn as she walked away into some unknown room.
Shining Armor became embarrassed. “Sorry, the missus is calling me, I hope I will see you at the wedding sir. Coming dear!” The stallion dashed after the bride leaving the Doctor all alone again. He found one thing about the encounter strange. He knew enough about magic to know that treating headaches wasn’t normally a scheduled occurrence. Something seemed a bit off here. It was time to sniff out some clues, starting with the party guests.
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The Doctor decided the best way to get to the bottom of this was to talk to those helping with the wedding itself and what better place to start then the reception room where most of the planners would be? The Doctor walked in, making sure no one could see him as he checked out the room. Over by the sound system, he saw Vinyl and Octavia talking about the music selection they would play during and after the wedding. That was a good place to start, after all he knew both of them. They would tell him what was going on. He began to make his way over to them when a familiar orange pony popped out of nowhere.
“Well hey there Doc! How ya been?” AppleJack was pushing a large tray of sweets and looked like she was struggling to keep them all on the trays.
“Oh I am fine AJ, would you like some help? Your sweets seem to be falling all over the place,” remarked the Doctor as he helped AppleJack pick up some spilled apple tarts.
“That would be might fine of ya Doc. Thank ya kindly.” AppleJack said as the two ponies picked up the sweets and put them on the table next to her.
‘Now would be as good a time as any to talk to someone about the princess’ thought the Doctor. “Hey AJ, does the princess seem a bit off to you? Has she been doing anything…odd?”
“Not from what I’ve seen Doc. Besides it’s her wedding, I’m sure all gals are a little off on their wedding day,” commented AppleJack as she started to walk back to the kitchen. “I’ll see ya in a bit doc, I got me some fritters to rustle up.” With that AppleJack disappeared into the kitchen. Now that she was out of the way, the Doctor turned to go to the music girls once again, but before he could get there, another familiar pony poked her pink head in his path.
“Hey there Mister No Name! How have you been?” Pinkie was beaming as all the party favors and decorations around her seemed to liven the mood quite a bit.
She was here, might as well ask her too right? “Oh, I am fine, Pinkie. I’m always fine. Say have you seen the Princess today? Was she doing anything weird perhaps?”
“Who me? I saw her awhile ago, but I didn’t see her do anything weird. You look upset No Name, is everything ok?” Pinkie said with general concern. “You don’t seem very happy…”
“Oh, I am just fine, Pinkie. Really I am. See?” The Doctor put on his biggest smile and directed it right at the pink mare, but she seemed unimpressed.
“I know a fake smile when I see one, No Name. One of these days I will get you to tell me why you are always so sad. You are just lucky that I have to go hang more streamers. See you later No Name!” Pouted the pink mare and off Pinkie went.
‘One day’, thought the Doctor, ‘but there isn’t enough time in the world Pinkie.’ The Doctor turned to music mares again, but they were gone. The Doctor let out a huge sigh and decided to retreat, but before he could get out of the room one of the windows shattered into a million pieces and something fell to the floor and hard. The Doctor ran over to see what it was and was greeted by a familiar light blue coat. “Are you alright Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m ok, I really need to work on my control while I am trying out the Rainboom. Oh hey Doctor, what are you doing here? Did you get an invitation?”
“Of course I did Rainbow, I get invitations to everything. Remember how I got us passes to the Wonderbolts last year even though they were sold out? I can do anything.”
“That was a sweet day wasn’t it? Uh oh, here comes Miss Kill Joy, brace yourself.” Rainbow looked towards the main door where Twilight came trotting up from. She had a look of terror and concern on her face.
“Rainbow are you alright? I saw what happened!” Twilight said frantically.
“Ya I am fine. I have to get back to practice…”
“No, no, no. You are coming with me to see a nurse, make sure you are alright. Come on now.” Twilight pushed Rainbow towards the door.
“Fine. See you later Doctor! Say hi to Derpy for me!” Rainbow walked out of the room and Twilight gave one last look back at the Doctor and left without saying a word.
‘That was a waste of time,’ thought the Doctor, “maybe Rarity and Fluttershy will know more about the princess.’ The Doctor made his way out of the castle and towards the gardens; if Fluttershy was anywhere she would be there. As the Doctor made his was towards the gardens, he could hear the chimes from the birds outside and his thoughts returned to his home world. Fields of red grass, playing in the fields with his childhood friends…
“DOCTOR!”
The yell brought him jostled him from his world and right back into Equestria. He was standing in front of Fluttershy and Rarity in the gardens and he was right in the middle of all the singing birds. “Oh I am terribly sorry; I seem to have interrupted your rehearsal.”
“Oh no, it’s alright Mr. Doctor, uh, sir. It’s nice to see you again,” stammered Fluttershy.
“Oh yes Darling, I have been meaning to thank you for helping me make last year’s Gala dresses,” Rarity stated.
“Oh no trouble at all, say have you two seen the princess do anything odd today?”
“Why no I haven’t, um sir. She did yell at my birds a little while ago, but he was off key so its alright. I don’t mind,” said Fluttershy.
“I saw her as well Doctor, and she didn’t do anything odd with me either. Why do you ask?”
Rarity wouldn’t take no for an answer so it was time to get out of there. “Oh no reason, it’s getting late I better go find Derpy and Lyra. See you two later!” The Doctor stated as he ran for the exit.
“Oh you must let me stitch up that suit of yours next time you are in Ponyville Doctor!” Rarity yelled, but the Doctor was already out of ear-shot. The Doctor had a new goal in mind; he was going to talk to one of the Princesses. And he knew just which one would tell him the truth.
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The sun had begun to set and the Doctor knew his Princess would arrive shortly. He walked over so he could get a good view of the castle’s watch tower and waited for the moon to come out. As soon as he could blink, the white alicorn sitting on the watch tower, was replaced with a shadow of the night. Princess Luna, sat staring at the sky, a look of pride and remorse on her face. It was time to get the show on the road. He looked up at the princess and began to shout “Hey Princess! Princess Luna! Could I speak to you for a moment?” The princess barley heard him from all the way up on her perch. Normally she wouldn’t leave her perch for some ordinary pony, but something compelled her to speak to the brown mane stallion.
Luna flew down to the Doctor and addressed him in the old booming voice of hers, “HELLO SIR, WHAT CAN WE HELP YOU WITH?”
“Please don’t shout. I must speak to you. Have you seen anything odd recently? With the shield, with Cadence, the groom, anything?
Luna was taken aback by the question. Not many would walk up to a princess and ask such a thing, but there was something different about this pony. He was special. So she answered him, “With the bride and groom? No. With the shield? Yes. Come with me.” With that Luna lifted the earth pony from the ground with her magic and took him to the top of the protective shield. “Look there? You see? Something has been chipping away at the shield when the sun is in the way of my sister’s gaze. She was right, the dome was being chipped away, but by what?” The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and began to poke around. “What is that contraption, mister…?”
“Doctor, and this is a sonic screwdriver. It will tell me what or at least how something has been chipping away at this dome.” The Doctor analyzed his findings and turned to Luna, “Something has literally been smashing the dome, something strong, but I can’t get a clear reading on it. What do you want to do about this Luna?” Luna took herself and the Doctor back down to the surface so they could talk without Luna having to use magic.
Back on the surface, Luna looked at the Doctor and told him the plan she had for the following day. “Whatever is doing that I suspect is going to attack us tomorrow and I plan to stop it before it gets here. I am going to wait outside the shield and stop whatever is out there. Stay indoors Doctor.”
“Be safe Luna, oh and tell Twilight to get back inside, I saw her running around while we were up there.” Luna nodded and left for the watch tower. Whatever was going to happen, he better prepare for it as well. The Doctor looked up and realized how late it was; he had better get back to the Tardis. He ran for the box, hoping all he wasn’t too late to see everyone.
After five minutes of running he made it back to the Tardis and opened the door, wishing he could still snap and open the door. He missed fingers almost as much as Lyra. He went inside the box and found his little Dinky sleeping right by the door waiting for him to come home. He looked down and smiled at her, then he noticed who was sitting at the main console. It was Derpy and Bon Bon, but where was Lyra? “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MISTER MAN?!” yelled Derpy. Boy was she cross.
“Shhhhh, you will wake Dinky dear. I’m sorry I was with the princess, is something wrong?” the Doctor questioned. Just then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed all the tissues on the ground around Bon Bon’s hooves.
“Yes,” sobbed Bon Bon, “I haven’t seen Lyra all day. She told me she would be back here by sundown. No one has seen her since the Princess took her upstairs.”
“Hmmm, I can see why you are upset, Bon Bon, but there is not much we can do about it now. We can search for her at the wedding tomorrow. You know how excited she was, she will be there. You two, off to bed, we have a big day tomorrow, and no buts. I promise you will see Lyra tomorrow, OK?” The Doctor rarely got this serious, but he need to reassure the two that it would all be OK.
The two nodded and shuffled off to bed, Derpy swooped up Dinky in a cold fashion and took her to her room. She turned and said one last thing to the Doctor, “You can sleep out here tonight.” She left on those few harsh words and slammed the door to the room behind her. It hurt the Doctor hard. He knew he was in trouble now. He would have to fix it in the morning. It was bed time.
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The Doctor was up first in the morning. Derpy was still mad at him and Bon Bon was still upset, but they all departed for the wedding as a group. It was the least the Doctor could do. They all arrived at the wedding on time, but the Doctor immediately realized something was wrong. The bridesmaids had all been replaced and Twilight, the sister to the groom, was nowhere to be found.
Bon Bon was crying, but thankfully, quietly enough to not make a scene. From out of nowhere, Twilight and another princess Cadence stormed the room, accusing the princess on stage of being an imposter. It then hit the Doctor like a ton of bricks: the chipped dome, it was a result of the order, the missing bridesmaids used as a distraction, the odd behaviors made by the one in charge. He knew what was going on. He turned to Derpy, “Dear watch Bon Bon and Dinky. Please you have to trust me. I need to save Lyra. I have to go now. Please.”
Normally Derpy would ask the Doctor a hundred questions and yell at him for asking her to stay behind, but this was different. She could tell something was wrong. She looked at the Doctor and whispered to him, “Go, I will keep them safe.” The Doctor smiled and ran out of the room. She had more she wanted to say, but there was no time. The princess on the alter laughed as she revealed herself to be a Changeling and Derpy knew she had to get Dinky and Bon Bon out of there. They ran after the Doctor, but in the chaos of all the scared stampeding ponies, they lost him. She wasn’t sure what to do. Bon Bon and Dinky were crying, and she was out of time. What was she to do now? All she knew was she had to protect them.
Derpy took them out of the castle, and ran to the stadium in town. She saw the changeling armies attacking ponies everywhere. She knew she could help, but she had to make sure Bon Bon and Dinky were safe first. They reached the stadium, and not a moment too soon, as a wave of Changelings flew past in pursuit of a band of ponies. The group had some time to spare; the Changelings didn’t know they were there yet. Derpy took this time to get Bon Bon and Dinky to help her create a barricade. Dinky found some sandbags and rubble, and Bon Bon made a small wall out of it in middle of the stadium so if the horde tried to get in, they would have a place to defend. They waited and waited, and after all seemed quiet, the horde burst through every opening they could find.
Derpy began to panic, she could hear them whisper.”Mommy…Mommy.” The changeling army slowly changed to look like Dinky. How could she fight them looking like that? How could any monster be so cruel? Derpy looked around to Bon Bon for support, but after all her crying and the shock of the changeling army, Bon Bon had fainted. Now Derpy was alone. What should she do? She looked to her left and saw the real Dinky crying, yelling for her mom to save her. Just then something inside Derpy snapped- something primal, something strong. Derpy charged at the changelings Dinkys with a fire in her heart. Nothing would stop her. She flew circles around them. No matter what they did, Derpy was one step ahead. She bucked them, punched them, and threw them into each other as fast as she could. Every time she hit one of the Dinky look alikes, it tore at her heart. SHe knew she had to continue though, for the real Dinky. But she was only one mare, and they were an army. Slowly, she became outnumbered; the Changelings were coming from everywhere. They were crawling in the windows, out of the corridors, even some up from the ground. Derpy put her all into pushing them back, but after what seemed like hours, her strength failed her. She collapsed on her side. She looked at Dinky and wished she could do more, but she was only one mare…One mare. Her vision was fading, she was losing consciousness. She looked to see how many changelings were left, there was only about 50 or so, but she couldn’t do any more, it was over. It was all going black. The last thing she saw was a stallion jump between her and the horde. He looked back and smiled.
“Allons-y dear.”
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The Doctor ran out the door as fast as he could. Where would the changelings hide Lyra? What would they want with her? It had to be some place secret some place no pony would know about. He ran into the street and found the changelings attacking everything and everyone.
The guards were putting everything they had into stopping the Changelings. “They are hopelessly outnumbered,” thought the Doctor, “even if each guard took out ten Changelings, it would still leave a few thousand left over.” He shook his head; he knew he couldn’t save everyone, besides he had bigger problems. One Changeling spotted him and he knew he had to get out of there, so he ran as fast as his hooves could carry him. While he was running he saw on old friend of his, Carrot Top and some filly about to be attacked by one of the creatures. He ran at the creature, and shoved it out of the way. “Come with me you two! We need to get out of here!” The two followed without question. The Doctor turned sharply, barley keeping his hooves on the ground, down an alley way with his two companions right behind him. He hoped this was enough to throw his pursuers off course. He knew it was a mistake as soon as he turned. Dead end. He tried to run back but his companions were blocking his and now he had three of the changelings following them. Was this where his 1000 years of life ended? At the hands of some monster in a world that was not his own? He held Carrot Top and her filly tight, “It will be OK. I promise.”
The creatures moved in for the kill when, out of nowhere, a dark shade slammed into the ground with the force of twenty rainbooms. The Doctor looked up at the shade, and it looked back with gleaming white eyes, “I told you to stay indoors, Doctor.”
“Luna! Thanks for the assist, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be helping Celestia?” chimed the Doctor.
“I would if the captain hadn’t fallen. Somepony needs to lead our troops,” Luna said coldly.
“Right, good point. Could you watch these two for me? I need to find my friend. She has to be hidden well some place only a few would know about…”
“Very well. I will keep guard over these ponies and you may want to check the catacombs, that would be a very likely place for your companion, Doctor. Be safe.” With that the princess flew away with the two ponies she promised to protect.
The Doctor looked up as she flew away. He would have to repay her somehow, someday. He turned and ran for the catacombs. He knew enough about history to find a close entrance and slipped inside. It was dark and all he could see was a faint light and some yelling in the distance. He followed it and soon he came across three mares he recognized. Lyra, Colgate, and Moondancer and they were fighting over…a bouquet? He couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene; leave it to a mare to fight over flowers when the world is being destroyed. He looked a bit closer and saw that the eyes of the bridesmaids were glowing green. Only one thing could do that, magic. The Doctor may not be much for magic but he figured that a small blast from his screwdriver would fix it. He pointed it right at the mares and blasted them. After a few minutes of disorientation, Lyra and her friends got up and looked right at the smiling Doctor. “You girls alright?”
“I’m OK. Where are we? What happened?” Lyra asked. Her eyes still not entirely focused.
“Well lets see, you were hypnotized, and put down here to guard something for an evil queen that wants to take over the world. Any questions?”
“What?!” shrieked Colgate.
“That’s not possible!” yelled Moondancer.
“He is telling the truth. The Doctor doesn’t lie when it counts” stated Lyra.
“I am not lying. Now I need you three to stay here and wait until I come get you. I have to go find Derpy and the rest of my friends.” He turned to leave but Lyra ran in from of him.
“I am coming too, I need to find Bon Bon.” Pleaded Lyra.
“Fine just stay back, ok?” stated the Doctor and with that the two were off. They ran for what seemed like an eternity. They looked everywhere they could think: the hotels, the shops, the parks.
All hope seemed lost, but then Lyra remembered, “I can find Bon Bon through our magic link! We made it just for an occasion like this!”
“You couldn’t have said something about that earlier?!” yelled the Doctor.
“Sorry I was busy running for my life while dealing with my headache and ringing ear drums.” Lyra boomed. The Doctor laughed and allowed Lyra to lead the way. They came to the Stadium in town and Lyra pointed inside. They were in there. She was sure of it.
The two ponies ran inside without a second thought, and the sight that greeted the Doctor was unimaginable: Derpy was fighting the changeling army all by herself! And doing a great job at it too, but she was getting tired, taking hits. She fell to her knees and looked like she was going to pass out. That’s when the Doctor and Lyra leapt out to join the fight. Lyra ran to Bon Bon’s side to comfort her. Bon Bon came to right then and radiated a smile that would have melted the coldest heart. The Doctor jumped in front of the horde right in front of Derpy and looked back at her. He smiled at her: “Allons-y dear.”
The Doctor looked at the army approaching him and his companions. He looked around; Dinky was crying, Lyra had her hands full with Bon Bon, and Derpy was unconscious. There was no way to fight his way out, so he decided to talk his way out. “Hello there, I’m the Doctor. I know you need love to feed off to survive. I can help you find a source that won’t take any more lives, but please, I am begging you, you have to stop now. Take me to your queen and we can discuss terms.”
One of the Dinky changelings looked at the Doctor, and changed its shape to look like the Doctor. “Please. Please. Please. Is that all you can say? Why would we give up what we have here? Why should we trust you? Why not just eat you?” The changeling Doctor smiled with pure malice.
“Don’t do this; I can give you one, and only one chance. Take it, please.”
“And what will you do if we refuse?”
“Well then, I will have to stop you.” threatened the Doctor.
The group of changelings laughed. They couldn’t believe this simple Earth pony was trying to talk them out of beating him and feeding off his love. What a fool he was. “I think we will break you before we have our meal.” And with that the changelings, changed. They became everyone dear to the Doctor; Derpy, Dinky, Rainbow, Twilight, AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and many more. The Doctor couldn’t believe it. He was going to die and by his own friends hooves. What was he going to do now?
He looked around and suddenly found himself back on Gallifrey, his home planet. He is standing looking at his friends. The Timelords are loomed over him, titans gazing down at a mere mortal. All with darkness and hate in their eyes that said “We know what you did.. Can you do it again?” The question pierced his very soul, he began to doubt everyone, everything. Should he just run? Leave his friends behind? Should he? Should he?
His head was spinning, his chest was on fire what should he do?! The laughing was deafening, he could hardly think. He just wanted it all to end. Then, like a whisper from the world’s smallest mouse, he heard a small sobbing among the laughing of the Timelords and the Changelings. The Doctor looked around and saw a little Dinky crying in a corner and suddenly everything became clear. This place of gods and metal was not his home now, his home was with Dinky and Derpy and all the ponies he loved! Both his enemies and his follow Timelords stopped laughing and began to stare. His world’s red fields and huge building disappeared leaving only the fake friends in front of him. The Doctor looked up slowly and spoke to his changeling self, “Let me tell you one thing before you go. If there is one thing you never, EVER, do. YOU NEVER HARM MY FRIENDS!!!!” The Doctor raised his screwdriver up to the sky and let it ring with a pitch that made everyone, including the Doctor, scream in pain. After a moment, the screwdriver stopped and the changelings all looked at the Doctor who was pointing straight up with one hoof. “I’m so, so sorry” he said.
The changelings looked up, but it was too late. The massive screen in the middle of the stadium was falling. The Doctor cut the cords holding it up with his screwdriver. The screen was falling, and the changelings couldn’t move fast enough. The large display screen landed right in front of the group and exploded. The fire started to spread, and the Doctor just stood there. He stared as the Changelings ran from the fury of the pony before them. He had won. He had stopped the horde threatening his friends. He could do this to everyone. He could rebuild the world, but should he? Save his friends and start over? The fire was raging. What should he do?
Without warning, something touched the Doctor’s side. He reared back ready to attack whatever it was, but when he turned to strike, all he saw was Dinky, putting her head on his shoulder. She was crying, but she was also smiling. What was she smiling about? Then she spoke, “It’s ok, Dad. It’s ok.”
It was too much the Doctor. He began to weep. No one had called him dad in centuries and it brought back memories and feelings he thought were buried. He then looked at her and said, “My daughter, my little sweet daughter. Thank you so much.”
The Doctor turned, and saw that Derpy had regained consciousness and was smiling at the pair of them. “I’m so happy Doctor.” said the prideful mother. She got up and embraced the Doctor as hard as she could with Dinky in the center. Lyra and Bon Bon walked up next to them, when a sudden a flash of pink light engulfed them and pushed all the Changelings outside the city. The group ran outside to see what was going on. The light took the all the Changelings and cast them out of the city. The Doctor looked around and saw suffering everywhere, but he knew the Queen was still alive. He knew what he had to do.
“Dinky, Lyra, take care of those two, they are too weak to do anything, I need to go see someone.” Nopony questioned him; they just nodded and left to go help other ponies with their injuries. The Doctor returned to the Tardis and set it for the Changeling homeland.
He arrived moments later and left his Tardis. The queen was badly hurt and was staring at the blue box that had just popped up in her home. “Who are you and what do you want, pony?” the Queen said annoyed, “Can’t you see I am in no mood to deal with anything right now? Be gone.”
“Just a moment Queenie,” chimed the Doctor, “I have just one thing to say to you.” The Queen looked at him and in a voice that made even the Queen shake with fear the Doctor said, “I am the Doctor. I help everyone and everything as much as I can. Normally I would give you a warning, but you already used that up. If I EVER see you in Equestria again, or you threaten the ones I love, I promise you, you will beg for death. Understood?” The Doctor’s stare froze the Queen solid; she couldn’t move. Who was this pony who held such power? When the Queen came back to her senses the incredible pony was gone, back in his magical box and gone from sight.
******************************************************
The Tardis slammed down right inside the palace gardens. The Doctor donned his best suit and ran for the main hall. He opened the doors and slipped inside and took his place next to Derpy. “You are late dear,” whispered Derpy.
“I know, look, here is the kiss.” The Doctor and Derpy looked up as the two newlyweds, Shining Armor and Cadence, kissed. Derpy covered Dinky’s eyes. After a few minutes of applause, the crowd made its way back to the garden’s where the reception was being held. The Doctor stood in the back while everypony partied, he had done enough today. Twilight and Vinyl began to play a song and everyone was dancing, but the Doctor’s mission wasn’t over yet. He made his way over to Luna who was silently head banging in the back. “I didn’t see you at the wedding Luna.”
“I was busy helping some ponies who had their wings broken in the crisis. It’s OK though, it all worked out in the end. Oh, and your friends are safe.” Luna yelled though the music.
“If you could, would you like to go to the wedding Luna?”
“Well, yes, but that can’t happen so…”
“Follow me.” The Doctor and Luna walked out to back parts of the gardens and into the Tardis. After explaining everything to Luna, about himself and his ship, the Tardis disappears back to the past. It landed with its usual thud and the Doctor opened the door for Luna, “Hold on, look.” Right outside the Tardis, Luna saw another Doctor running across the lawn trying to tie a bowtie on. “Right we follow him.” The pair of travelers followed past-Doctor up to the main chamber where the wedding was being held and sneak in right behind him. The Bride and Groom kissed and Luna began to cry. The Doctor figured that was enough of that and led her back downstairs to the Tardis, before the crowd could get there. The Tardis took off and landed back at the party, right where they left.
“How long have we been gone?” Luna asked.
“About 5 minutes.”
“Doctor, I can never thank you for what you just did for me,” Luna still had tears on her face, “if you ever need me, just ask.”
“Don’t worry about it. Go have fun with your sister ok?” Luna smiled and walked away. Derpy and the rest of the Doctor’s companions stumbled up to him, most were all partied out and just wanted to go to bed, and Derpy was carrying them all. “Do you need some help dear?”
“Yes, take Dinky and Lyra inside ok?” Derpy looked exhausted so the Doctor let her go inside first.
The Doctor looked down at his little Dinky and couldn’t help but smile. Just then he looked up and saw Pinkie Pie beaming at him for no reason, then she mouthed, “Don’t forget to smile.” The Doctor couldn’t help it. He started to cry. He couldn’t figure out why and then it hit him. For the first time in nearly five centuries, he was happy. Truly, undeniably happy. He looked back up and Pinkie and gave her his biggest smile and this time, he meant it.
