Arc 1; Chapter 1: Hidden Fears
We've all felt it, that dark, scary felling that makes our mind tell us to run, run like you've never run before.
What if that feeling manifested itself, taking on a life of it's own? Growing. Listening.
Now, your parents have told you that "It's nothing. Just ignore it," but what if the feeling didn't want to be ignored? What if it got angry?
This feeling feasts upon your fear, your ignorance, your foolishness. It festers until you grow too afraid to fight it.
My advice to you? Don't ignore it but don't embrace it. Push it aside holding it in your mind, because without food, it would destroy you.
The Doctor, now known as Vinyl Scratch, stepped aside as three fillies raced past. Her mind was focused elsewhere. For one, she had received a message on the psychic paper and cryptic one at that.
Doctor,
If you're there, we need you. Something's coming. It's feasting on us. We are so afraid. It seems to get stronger the more we fear it. Please, help.
Normally the Doctor would jump in the TARDIS and let it carry her to where she was needed. Not this time. This time, the TARDIS didn't know. In fact, after her regeneration the TARDIS had gone to sleep for some time. It was the Doctor's hope that the message wasn't as bad as it sounded. Racing into the doors she smiled wide.
"Did you miss me, sexy?" she asked.
The hum of the engines answered her. It was during this that a white earth pony with a light pink mane rolled into the TARDIS.
"Its, Its," she stammered.
Noticing her knew guest The Doctor turned to the new pony.
"Go ahead, people say its bigger on the inside or smaller on the outside," she smirked.
"Its a spaceship," she gasped.
A little stunned at the unusual reaction, The Doctor looked at the new pony. "That's.... new," she said.
"Who are you, Vinyl?" Redheart gasped.
"I'm called The Doctor, The Oncoming Storm, Time Turner, and once The Thing-With-A-Face. No particular order."
The TARDIS hummed and whirred, dematerializing.
TARDIS, for now we'll use sexy, looked into the Time Vortex. She knew all the events in the past, future, and present. This of course meant she couldn't see what would happen to the Doctor. His unique actions blur certain events so Sexy, while she couldn't see what all would happen, knew where to never take the Doctor. Rule 1, the Doctor and the TARDIS lie. Of course this makes one consider the truth of Rule 21: The Doctor is always right, but that's not important.
In a field on a small planet, recently Terraformed and renamed Equis-Alcon. The resident species, ponies and Alconians, a quadrepedal race who looked like large cats, but with scales on their faces, had become friends on their very first meeting main reason being that during a meeting, Luna called the Orcins, a race similar to turtles with disturbingly furry outer shells, "Poofy, McPoof-poff with a side of poof." The Orcins got extremely mad while most races in the room nearly died from laughter, its happened before.
Said planet was in a solar system floating far above their resident galaxy and had been found to be a good source of Onisonium, a very resilient metal used for spaceships, and due to such the ponies and Alconians had immediately made for the planet. In a matter of days, information inflow stopped. Nothing in, nothing out.
The TARDIS had this to say,
Equis-Alcon
Mid-38th Century
Colonized- All contact Ceased
Tidally locked. One side always dark. Other side was shadowed by sister planet EA-123a.
Never rediscovered
The Doctor looked at the information with slight confusion. That system should be impossible. Or very very rare. Yet, there had to be hundreds of systems like this from the information.
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and looked back in.
"Well come on then!" Redheart, still shocked, followed quickly. When she stepped outside a beautiful sight greeted her.
The sky held a unseen red, strong yet light. The light of a blue sun, coupled with a red one, made the sky around the suns a light purple. The moon was a golden yellow.
Redheart's enchantment was rivaled only by the Doctor's excitement. She grabbed Redheart and tugged her along to the nearby building. They walked in and lights flickered. The halls were empty and a screen crackled every so often. The screen suddenly came to life.
"I don't if anyone can hear me," It glitched, before suddenly clearing, "but we found something. Something we should have never messed with. I can only hope that this warning will get out. Beware the fear. Its dangerous and fearing it makes it stronger but ignoring it makes it angry. Please. Go!"
The Doctor was intrigued. She knew nothing of this. Neither did the TARDIS, but as she herself once said, "There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are." And as was apparent, this was not one of them.
"Bright! This is bright! A whole new point of time I never knew existed!" The Doctor started running off.
"Where are you going?" asked Redheart.
"Me? Why I'm going to adventure, mind you, it will be very dangerous, you could head back to the TARDIS if you'd like," The Doctor responded.
Redheart galloped forward and went past the Doctor.
"Now where are you going?" the Doctor asked.
"Adventure, like you said!" Redheart called back.
The Doctor grinned. She had forgotten how fun companions could be.
"Well don't wait up! We've got an adventure to find!" Redheart called out.
The Doctor quickly galloped forward.
Arc 1; Chapter 2: Hidden in the Dark
The Doctor and Redheart had been running for a few seconds before a strange thudding noise could be heard.
*Thump*
The Doctor looked back. The hall behind her, slightly dark but well lit by the moon, was empty.
*Thump*
The still foreboding noise seemed closer. The Doctor grabbed Redheart and they dove into a closet. Peeking out through a crack in the door, The Doctor could see a wavering shape at the end of the hall.
*Thump*
Again the noise was heard. The creature looked around. Its head, or what seemed to be its head, turned at the sound. The creature, native to the planet, leaned forward and looked down the other end of the hall.
*Thump*
The noise was startling close, and the other creature knew it. Suddenly, from something at the other end of the hall, the creatures was stricken by a paralyzing fear, and a dark shape glided past their little hid out. Arching down towards the other creature it latched on. The other creature momentarily unfroze and screamed in both fear, and pain. Suddenly its eyes, light with life, darkened to a pure, shapeless black and it dropped to the ground. The dark shape seemed to inflate slightly before it glided past the body and disappeared from sight. Waiting quietly The Doctor and Redheart looked out the crack. After several minutes of a fading *Thump* they could hear it no more and stepped out. The Doctor, using her sonic screwdriver, scanned the dead creature at the end of the hall.
Her voice cracking in fear, Redheart spoke, "What was that?"
The Doctor looked up at her, solemnly, "Something that I once thought I destroyed long ago."
"Run!" The Doctor yelled out to his companion. "Quickly!"
"I know Doctor," screamed back his companion, her hooves were nearly a blur.
A dark shape glided towards the Doctor and he slide into the TARDIS' protective field. Hissing it banged against the invisible wall. The Doctor spoke, "You don't have to do this! I can take you somewhere. Somewhere you can live out the last of your days without harming anyone."
"Htss ssitsh tyser sithinag ser? Inths ysrys htsy dosther ssy rcses!" It answered. While this sounded like gibberish to the pony behind him, the Doctor understood perfectly. Why would I do that? These ponies have doomed my race!
"No! That was their own doing! They tried to attack the ponies, and as such, the ponies responded in self-defense!" he said.
"Hsterk! tsry msst pys! Wsd hste sn fsstd!" It said. No! They must pay! They took our food!
"They did not! You could have moved on!" He said.
Outside the field a figure, a small filly, was limping towards a house. The creature dove at her and the Doctor screamed. "NO!" His hoof had already laid upon a button on the TARDIS. He pressed it and the field expanded too rapidly and the creature was torn apart, the filly was saved. The Doctor dropped to the ground, "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."
The Doctor shook her head. That moment was gone. There would be no saving the creature. No pleading. Redheart looked at her curiously.
"What's wrong?" came her concerned voice.
"Ah. Nothing. Come on," The Doctor said.
Concerned, but accepting of the answer, Redheart followed. They walked down the hallway. Every so often a light would flicker out, then on again. After a few moments they came to an intersection. The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver, scanned, and made her way down the right hallway, Redheart right behind her.
After another few minutes of walking Redheart spoke up, "Doctor? What are you? If you're not a pony that is."
"I'm a Time Lord. Well, the last Time Lord to be exact," she said distractedly.
"A Time Lord?" Redheart inquired, slightly confused.
"An alien race to do with, well, timey wimey things, I guess," The Doctor answered. Once again the had reached an intersection. She pulled out the sonic and scanned again. Redheart looked at the strange device. She had never seen anything like it in her life.
"And what's that?" Redheart said directing a hoof at the sonic screwdriver.
"A sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said bluntly.
"Oh. What's it do?" Redheart asked again.
"Everything. Except wood. Doesn't have a wood setting," the Doctor answered.
Redheart nodded. Suddenly the small of rotten flesh hit her and she gagged. It was potent so it had to be close. The Doctor opened a door and there was the answer.
A young mare hung from the ceiling, clearly dead. Her once light blue coat was brown and her mane extremely disheveled. The ground below her was crusty and covered in her blood. Her head dangled ominously, she was nearly decapitated. Her stomach had also been ripped open. The organs, a pale grey, threatened to fall out and small white things crawled inside the corpse. The ground shook and the organs fell.
That was the last straw for her stomach. Redheart leaned into a trash can and vomited profusely. While her head was inside the can the Doctor scanned the corpse. The sonic beeped and the Doctor grew wide-eyed.
"She was mutilated AFTER her death. To do something so... vile... Who would do it and why?"
Suddenly the sound of hoof steps echoed and with a disturbingly bright flash, a stallion appeared. His dark grey mane and black mane blended into the background. His cutie mark showed what seemed to be a butcher's knife covered in red. The stallion's eyes glowered at the Doctor, clearly filled with hate, anger, and, strangely, humor. The stallion trotted forward casually.
"Well, Doctor, it's about time. What took you so long? I've missed you?" came his deep voice.
