The Everfree city. The most glorious and wonderful capital of the pony nation, a hub of commerce and learning that was the envy of every civilized race in the known world. The city was a testament of the hard work and ingenuity of the pony races as they worked together in harmony to make sure the divisive ways of the old tribes would never rise again. Towering over the city was the Royal Palace, sometimes informally known as the palace of the royal pony sisters, and from the top of that giant structure a pony stood watching...as the city burned.
The Doctor watched as entire sections of the city were devoured by magical flames, leftovers of Nightmare Moons assault. There was nothing that could be done to stop them, the arcanists had put every effort into slowing the flames advance and had only succeeded in losing half of their forces to flames their magic couldn't affect. Through it all, from his high vantage point, the Doctor could see the gleaming lights spread throughout the refugees who fled the city to the north. But those were only a fraction of the ponies who had once called this city home, how many thousands didn't make it out he likely would never know. He tried to turn his view to the moon above but the sight was blocked by the thick smoke that clogged the sky blocking out the light that had once shone down upon the ponies at night. Turning from the smoke clogged sky and the burning city below he strode to his TARDIS and slipped inside halfheartedly kicking the door shut behind him with a very well practiced strike, it was something he could even do at a dead gallop now.
A few button pushes and a lever pull later and he slipped out of the tardis into the dust choked streets of Canterlot. The small mining town had taken its name from the mountain it was situated on and had, for the past few years, been a slowly dying setup of ramshackle buildings housing the last few miners and their families to stubborn to leave the mountain and admit that there was nothing left to pull from the mountains heart. Now the mostly abandoned town was full to bursting with refugees from the Everfree City as the Solar Guard tried its best to use the buildings to shelter as many ponies as possible while setting up encampments near the base of the mountain for those who managed to arrive after all the buildings had been taken. The remnants of the praetorian Guard were out trying to spread the word of what had happened while assuring all other towns and cities within the kingdom that there was still a stable head of government in charge.
Fear. It was so heavy in the air that the Doctor could almost feel it, fear directed at more than the madness that had been seen that night. He could hear it in the hushed whispers of the older ponies, the fear that if one of their beloved princesses could fall to madness so suddenly could it befall the other just as rapidly? And if she did fall who would then be the one to fight her? He knew that these questions and many other such fears needed to be put to rest swiftly lest the growing terror drive the frightened ponies of Equestria to do something they would dearly regret. Celestia had just banished her sister to save their lives, and attacking the emotionally fragile alicorn would very likely be the last thing any of these ponies would get to do in their lives. Celestia would lash out in rage, very likely with her full power, and the results would bring about a very dark future for ponykind.
The old town hall of the run down village was the largest building in the mining town, add to that the circle of Solar Guard ponies that surrounded it and the small tent housing the hoofful of dazed and confused nobility that had managed to survive the Platinum District taking a direct hit from a makeshift Mana Mortar being used by corrupted Lunar Guards and it was easy to tell that this was the current residence of the Solar Princess. The Doctor had to admit that his luck looked to be going up as the Solar Guardsponies that were watching the doors were Pegasi. If it had been Earth or Unicorn ponies he would have had to scrap his idea of using psychic paper entirely. He had found, after exhaustive research, that unicorns were almost completely immune to the paper, and Earth ponies were nearly as bad. Pegasi on the other hoof seemed to have only a small amount of defense against the paper, which in truth meant he didn't get to use it as much as he'd like.
It took only a little wrangling with the guards to let him pass and he found himself in what was currently the nerve center of the royal armies operations within Canterlot. Not a single general had survived the battle within the city and the newly promoted ponies who had taken those positions in the chain of command were very obviously struggling to keep everything running as smoothly as they could. Thankfully they seemed to have the distribution of supplies down pretty well and there were several who were discussing the possibility of asking aid from the Minotaurs as well as seeking construction teams from the diamond dogs.
It took little effort to slip past and head up the stairs into the upper level of the building, even less effort to find the rooms that Celestia was in. Closing the door silently behind him he looked at the destroyed furniture within the room, much of it smashed against the walls. Stepping gingerly over the parts that weren't piled elsewhere he walked past a half destroyed wall and looked into the room beyond. Part of the roof had been torn free allowing moonlight to shine down within, illuminating the white Alicorn sitting below the hole.
"Why weren't you there." The hoarse tone and the sheer exhaustion in Celestia's voice stopped the Doctor in his tracks.
"Tia I..."
"DON'T! You don't get to call me that, only she does!" The princess stood and turned to face him. "How many times? How many times did you call and we answered?" He had expected her to yell, to use the royal voice and possibly shake the building apart, but that wasn't what was being used now. For this moment, in this time, he was hearing the voice of a grieving sister. "We never asked why, we never told you no. Even when we lost two of our best friends to your expedition to the north we understood that it was important, that you needed us." A hoof slammed down causing cracks to form in the wood floor. "But when I needed you, when SHE needed you, YOU WEREN'T THERE!" The last of that had certainly caused the room to shake.
"Even I have to obey certain laws of time Celestia, this was a fixed point in time." He looked to the much larger pony and steeled himself against the wrath that he knew could fall on him any moment. "I couldn't be there, I couldn't save her."
"Then what good are you." Those words, spoken so quietly that he was certain they had traveled no farther than himself hit him the hardest. "Leave Doctor, leave and never come back. I don't want to see you again." The Alicorn turned and walked back into the moonlight.
Standing in front of his tardis nearly an hour later the Doctor tried not to think of the ponies crying out for medical attention, the foals crying out for parents who would never return. He instead tried to focus on the rising spires of Canterlot castle, the great feast and party thrown for the returning princess Luna. But he couldn't get the image of the burning city from his mind, the refugees streaming from what had once been their greatest sanctuary on this continent, and the grieving alicorn who only wished to have her sister back.
"Muffin." The voice caught his attention and he tried to put on a smile for Derpy as she approached.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry." She looked back towards the guards and other ponies struggling to get aid to all the needy ponies. "I...I want to go home."
Stepping aside the Doctor allowed Derpy to enter the tardis as he looked up through the clouds of dust to spot the moon, the image in it that would later be known as the Mare in the Moon. Not for the first time in his life did he struggle to hold back tears. "I'm so sorry Luna. But I will see you again." Turning he entered the tardis and made his way to the controls setting the temporal path for Ponyville.
Author's Note
Not quite sure why I wrote this story, and not even sure if it's really up to quality. But I really needed to write something, I've been hit with writers block and am hoping that this, and maybe a few other one-shots, will bring me around and help me get to moving again. It's not as in-depth as I would normally write but if I could write like that I would be working on my normal stories.
Well, enjoy. Or don't. Up to you really.