Doctor Whooves: Ever changing

Chapters

Prologue: Just a Normal Morning.
Chapter One: First Impressions
Chapter Two: How to Interrogate a Changeling
Chapter Three: Finding a Changeling
Chapter Four: Time for a Field Trip
Chapter Five: A New Ally and an Old Enemy
Chapter Six: The Power of Music
Chapter Seven: The Crystalline Consciousness
Chapter Eight: Home Sweet Home

Prologue: Just a Normal Morning.

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Prologue: Just a Normal Morning.

After centuries of traveling through time and space, saving countless lives and visiting countless worlds, the Doctor had finally came face to face with his worst enemy yet.

“BOOOOOORED,” the Doctor droned as his head was resting on the center console of the TARDIS.

Being bored might not be bad to most people but most people aren't the Doctor. The Doctor began to drum his fingers on the console as he tried to hum a tune to himself. This lasted for about ten seconds before he got bored of that too. He got up as he started to jog around the console, trying to think of something, ANYTHING to do to alleviate his boredom.

“All of time and space is what you have Doctor,” he said to himself as he stopped jogging and began jumping in place, “All of time and space and I can't think of one thing to do”.

He stopped jumping as a big smile appeared on his face, “I know, I'll-“ he paused for a second as he thought this over and his smile turned in to a frown, “-no… Perhaps… No, no that wouldn't do… Maybe…” The doctor paused for a long a long moment as he thought about this.

He promptly slammed his head in to the console as he let out a loud groan. “When did this universe become SOOOO boring?”

His head then shot straight up as he got an idea. He began pulling levers, pressing buttons, and flipping switches. He knew that what he was doing was dangerous and if one thing went wrong he could destroy the entire universe, but he had no choice. At this point, the Doctor was willing to do anything to alleviate his boredom.

The Doctor threw the final switch as the TARDIS lurched forward and began to pick up speed. It raced across the stars going faster and faster as it warped space around it threatening to rip a hole through space and time.

“Come on baby,” the Doctor yelled as the TARDIS’s console began to spark and catch on fire, “I know you’re not used to this, but you’re going to have to hold together, COME ON!”

The TARDIS accelerated passed what it was used as its shape began to distort and was on the verge of ripping itself apart

And then it was gone.

Mornings in Ponyville were always peaceful. Songbirds sang as Celestia’s sun peaked over the edge of the horizon, sending shades of pink and orange to rest on all of the buildings. The soft breeze carrying the sweet scent of pastries through the streets as Sugar Cube Corner came to life to serve the hungry costumers of Ponyville. The cry of the rooster from Sweet Apple Acres sounded the start of a new day. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Unless you had the local DJ as your roommate.

Octavia laid in her bed as she stared at the ceiling with blood shot eyes and her dark gray mane a mess, as the sound of electronic club music reverberated throughout the house.

She wished she could say that this was a onetime occurrence and that her roommate was a model citizen. She wished that she could say that her roommate was a respected member of society and wasn't arrested twelve times.

Unfortunately, Octavia would be lying through her teeth.

Octavia groaned as she final gave up on trying to go back to sleep and slowly rolled out of her bed and began her trek down the stairs.

To say that their house was normal was an understatement, as it looks as if someone took two halves of two very different homes and smashed them together.

The outside of the house had barely any differences at all as the left side had a nice, warm brown coloring to it, and a chimney in the shape of organ pipes, while the right side of the house was a bright shade of purple.

The left of the houses interior had a more traditional sense to it, as it was mostly decorated in the same style that most homes in Ponyville were. It consisted of all brown walls with dark purple accents running along the corners of the rooms and along the edges of the doors. A small, wooden arm chair sat next to a window with a small coffee table just to the right of it. Around the room sat numerous musical instruments that would usually be seen in a small orchestra or ensemble.

The right half of the house was practically the complete opposite of the left half, as it was built to resemble a small club. All of the walls and doors were colored a vibrant purple as stage lights hung from the ceiling. A complete turn table setup dominated most of the right half as well as a large selection of sound systems and electronic instruments. The only piece of furniture was a single arm chair with a lightning bolt design going down the center of it.

Octavia eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and looked right over to the house’s proper right, where she found her roommate on her turntable set up.

Octavia yelled as she tried to get Vinyl Scratch’s attention, but her voice was muffled by the speaker’s volume. After a few more attempts to at yelling over the sub woofer, Octavia finally had enough. She walked over and promptly yanked out the power strip connecting all of Vinyl’s equipment.

Octavia sighed in relief as she turned to look at Vinyl. “Vinyl what have I said about-“Octavia quickly ducked as a stage light went sailing over her head “-OI, WHAT WAS THAT FOR.”

Vinyl sat there with her hooves crossed over her chest and an angry glare as she gestured to her sound system with her head.

Octavia sighed. “Look, I'm sorry I had to unplug you, but you can't have your music up that loud this early in the morning.”

Vinyl threw her nose in the air and turned her head away from Octavia.

Octavia shook her head and asked, “Are you going to pout about this the rest of the morning?”

Vinyl nodded her head.

“And there is nothing that I can do to make you stop”, Octavia questioned with a raised eye brow.

Vinyl nodded again.

“Not even for chocolate chip pancakes and cinnamon buns”, Octavia asked with a knowing smirk.

Vinyl Scratch’s ears perked up as she looked at Octavia with an eager look.

Octavia faked a sighed and turned toward the kitchen as if she didn't see Vinyl’s reaction. “I guess I’ll just eat them all by myself.”

Octavia felt a heavy weight clasp itself around her left hind leg. She looked back to see the pleading face of Vinyl Scratch.

Octavia feigned shock as she put a hoof to her chest. “I thought you were still mad at me? Does this mean you apologize for having your music so loud this early in the morning?” Octavia asked causing Vinyl to nod vigorously. “And you promise not to do it again?” Octavia asked once more, causing Vinyl nod her head more vigorously as she redoubles her pleading expression.

Octavia put a hoof to her chin as she pretended to think about before giving Vinyl a warm smile. “Well I guess I can make an extra batch for you.”

Octavia was nearly thrown off her hoofs as Vinyl threw herself on Octavia, giving her a big hug. Octavia chuckled at Vinyl’s antics as she wriggled out of the embrace.

“Alright,” Octavia said with a smile, “you set the table while I prepare the pancakes.”

Just then a loud boom sounded over head, quickly followed by a large crash out in the distance. Both mares looked at each other before they both dashed out of the house to investigate. Fortunately, they didn't have to walk far as the cause of the commotion had appeared to have crash landed right in their back yard.

As they got closer, they could tell that it was box shaped and blue in color. There was writing on the top of it that said Police Public Call Box as well as some inscription on the side of it.

Suddenly the doors to the box opened with a hiss as a light gray changeling with a bright blue mane and tail, and glowing blue eyes crawled out coughing, causing both mares to jump back. The changeling rubbed its eye as its gaze focused on Octavia and Vinyl Scratch.

The changeling smiled as he said, “Hello, I'm the Doctor. Do you have anything to eat?”

Author's Note

I have little to no experience writing a story like this before, so if you have any suggestions on what I can improve upon, please leave a comment below and give it a like if you wish to read more.

Chapter One: First Impressions

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter one: First impressions

To say that Octavia and Vinyl were confused by their guest would be an understatement. Even though living in Ponyville would eventually numb one to these kinds of things, changelings were still somewhat of a sore issue.
Especially for ponies that were there during the attack.

This is why Vinyl was currently beating the Doctor over the head with a stick.

“OW OW OW, BLOODY HELL, STOP IT,” the changeling yelled as he had his head covered with his front hooves.

Octavia herself was actually enjoying the sight of Vinyl beating the changeling with a stick would be a lie, but she almost felt sorry for it. Not sorry that the changeling was being beaten with a stick, but because he just so happen to meet Vinyl. So when Vinyl’s stick eventually broke she quickly began beating the changeling with her own hooves.

Vinyl definitely knew how to hold a grudge.

The changeling eventually was able to get the upper hand as he threw a clump of mud at Vinyl’s face, causing her to temporarily cease her assault to remove her muddied glasses, giving the changeling just enough time to put Octavia between himself and Vinyl.

“Look, I don't know what I did to make you mad,” the changeling pleaded, “but I apologize, and I would really like to talk to someone less mad.”

Vinyl suddenly tried to sprint around Octavia’s proper left side as the changeling began to mirror her, keeping Octavia in between them. This went on for a good minute before Octavia got tired of it and decided to take action.

As soon as the changeling ran behind Octavia she gave him a swift kick to the chest, sending him flying backwards a few feet. When Vinyl tried to race over to the changeling, Octavia put herself between the mad made and the changeling.

“Vinyl, I know you want to beat the changeling to death,” Octavia said, “but we can't get any answers from him if he's dead.”

Vinyl attempted to go around Octavia to continue her assault, but every time she tried Octavia just put herself back between them. With a reluctant huff, Vinyl sat down and crossed her hooves. With smile, Octavia turned as she approached the changeling who was now slowly getting back up.

“Thank you so much for stopping her,” the changeling said as he smiled at Octavia.

Octavia promptly punched the changeling in the face sending him back to the ground.

“Ow, what the bloody hell was that for?” the changeling asked as he rubbed his face.

“That,” Octavia said as she shook her right hoof, “was for what you changelings did to Canterlot.”

“But I didn't do anything thing, I only just got here,” the changeling pleaded,
“I don't even know what planet I'm on.”

“YOU-“Octavia paused as she blinked a couple of times “-wait, what did you say?”

“I didn't do anything,” the changeling replied.

Octavia shook her head. “No the last part.”

“I don't know what planet I'm on,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

“How can you not know what planet you’re on?” Octavia asked with a raised eye brow. When she didn't get a reply she looked at the changeling whose eyes were currently crossed. “Um, what are you doing?”

“I think my nose got bigger,” the changeling said as he sniffed a few times, “And I why do I smell apples?”

Octavia clopped her hooves together as she brought the changelings attention back on her. “Focus, what did you mean when you said that you didn't know what planet you are on?”

The changeling opened his mouth and was about to talk…

CLANG

When suddenly, a floating frying pan connected with the back of his skull, knocking him out cold.

Octavia didn't even notice Vinyl go in to the house when she was talking to the changeling, let alone notice her come back with a frying pan in her magical grasp.

“Vinyl why did you do that?” Octavia yelled.

Vinyl sat down as she began to make a series of hoof motions. Once she was done
Octavia let out a sigh.

“How do you know that he was lying?” Octavia asked.

Vinyl put a hoof to her chin as she thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. Her face immediately brightened up as she got an idea. She did a few more hoof motions before breaking in to a full gallop towards Ponyville.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean tie him up?” Octavia called out to Vinyl’s shrinking form, “where are you going?”

Octavia groaned as she apparently would not be getting an answer back since
Vinyl was too far away, and she looked back at the knocked out changeling.
“Something tells me that this is going to be a long day.”

After about ten minutes of galloping, Vinyl finally reached her destination.

After the destruction of the Golden Oaks library, Twilight Sparkle allowed all of Ponyville’s resident’s full access to the castles library until such a time when a replacement library was built. Vinyl walked up and knocked on the crystal tree’s door.

She didn't have to wait long before the door opened and revealed an apparently, still tired Spike.

After a few moments of rubbing his eyes he looks up at Vinyl’s face. “Oh, hi Vinyl what are you doing here so early.”

Unfortunately, whenever she tried to use sign language to communicate with
Spike, he didn't seem to have a full comprehension of it. So Vinyl had to act out what she wanted to say. She sat down as she held open her hooves like she was holding a book.

Spike stood there for a moment before he guessed at her request. “You want to check out a book?”

Vinyl nodded.

“Oh, I’ll go get Twilight to help you out then,” Spike said as he motioned for her to follow him.

Vinyl never visited the castle in Ponyville before, so the inside of the castle gave her quite a shock. To say that the castles interior was big is an understatement, as the halls themselves all seemed to be big enough to let a full grown dragon to walk around the corridors easily. The ceiling seemed to have somewhat of a prismatic effect as a rainbow could always be seen flowing overhead. The walls and floors shined brightly as if they were just polished and purple banners hung throughout the castles interior.

“TWILIGHT,” Spike called out, his voice reverberating through out the castle’s halls. A startled yelp could be heard as a loud clattering of what sounded like books falling sounded through the castle. The sound of hooves could be heard as princess Twilight Sparkle came around a corner rubbing her head.

“Spike, what have I told you about yelling like that,” Twilight scolded.

Spike sighed as he pointed over to Vinyl Scratch. “You have a guest.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she quickly composed her and walked over to Vinyl.
“Oh, I'm so sorry; I didn't see you standing there.”

Vinyl smiled as she waved and proceeded to make a few hoof motions. Ever since
Twilight had first met Vinyl, she had been studying all that she could on sign language and has become very fluent in it.

Twilight smiled as Vinyl finished her hoof motions.

“Sure Vinyl, let me show you to the library,” Twilight said as she turned to spike, “Spike, do you mind making a fresh pot of tea.”

“Yes ma'am,” Spike said with a smile as he saluted and quickly ran off.

Twilight chuckled as she motioned for Vinyl to follow her. After a few minutes of wandering through the castle corridors, Vinyl and Twilight reached a set of purple doors with gold inlaid in them in swirling patterns.

Twilight’s horn flared to life as the doors to the library became engulfed in a purple aura as they opened.

The library was huge, to say the least, as it was about twenty meters in height and had almost over a thousand shelves filed with books. The room itself was made entirely out of crystal as the ceiling had the same rainbow effect as the corridors. A chandelier hung from the ceiling which seemed to refract the rainbow effect on to the bookshelves from time to time. The book shelves themselves were made out of crystal too as they seemed to have grown right out of the floor itself and would glow whenever the light shined on them.

Twilight turned to Vinyl and cleared her throat, pulling the mare’s attention back to her. “So, do you have a specific book that you were looking for?”

Octavia paced back and forth in the house, trying to think of what she should do next. She did what Vinyl had said and had tied up the changeling. She even locked him in the basement for good measure. The more she thought about her current situation, the less it made sense.

“I have a changeling in the basement,” Octavia told herself for about the eleventh time that day, “I should turn it over to the authorities.”

Octavia groaned as she sat down on her haunches. To say the least, Octavia was panicking at this point. Not only did she know that she would get in trouble for not reporting the changeling right away, but she might be put in prison for hiding him in the first place. If she didn't go to prison, she would be thoroughly interrogated and her reputation could be ruined. Nopony would want to listen to a pony who befriended a changeling play in any concert hall.

A loud thud from the basement brought Octavia out of her panic. She stared at the basement door for a long time, waiting for another sound to come from it.

She quickly ran in to the kitchen and grabbed a frying pan in her mouth before running back to stand in front of the door. She slowly approached the door and reached for the door handle. Octavia slowly opened the door, taking a peek inside to see if the changeling was lying in wait for her. When she saw nothing she opened the door all the way and made her way down the stairs.

When she made it to the bottom, Octavia took a look around. Most of what was in the basement was mostly old music equipment and some spare parts for other instruments. Vinyl’s records lined most of the shelves as well as a few out dated speakers.

In the middle of the room was the changeling strapped to a tipped over chair as his face was pressed against the floor.

It soon caught sight of Octavia and scowled. “Don't… You… Dare… Laugh.”

Octavia had to stifle a giggle as she looked at the changeling’s predicament.
“I’m sorry, it's just too funny.”

Octavia put down the frying pan as she propped the chair back upright.

“Ah, much better,” the changeling said as he worked his jaw a bit, “landing on your face is surprisingly painful.”

Octavia sat down and stared at the changeling. “You’re very… strange.”

“Strange is good,” the changeling said with a smile, “Strange keeps things interesting.”

The changeling smiled as he stared at Octavia making her shift uncomfortably a bit.

“Though that also depends on your definition of strange,” the changeling before looking at his nose, “Like my nose… Does it look bigger to you; I think it looks bigger, it feels bigger, though I never really took a good look at my nose before, kind of been preoccupied with other things, other people…”

Octavia promptly put her hoof in the changeling’s mouth.

“Do you always talk this much?” Octavia asked as she removed her hoof

The changeling thought for a moment. “I don't think so, but I think I ramble often, and I really do think my nose has gotten bigger.”

Octavia chuckled for a moment before she stiffed up and turned away and began walking back to the stairs.

“Why do you hate me?” the changeling asked causing Octavia to stop dead in her tracks.

“I see the look in your eyes,” the changeling continued, “I have seen it before, but I only just met you and you hate me. Did I do something to you?”

Octavia turned to the changeling and looked him right in the eyes and asked,
“You really don't know what your kind did, do you?”

The changeling arched an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

Octavia was about to say something when she heard the door to the house open and shut up stairs. She looked back at the changeling one last time before she ran upstairs.

When she got to the top she shut the door and quickly made her way to Vinyl.
Vinyl began to make a series of hoof motions as she looked over at the basement.

“No, he didn't give me any trouble,” Octavia said before she noticed the book that Vinyl was carrying in her magical grasp, “What’s that?”

Vinyl smiled as she flipped opened the book and began searching for a specific page. When she found it she turned it around and pointed at the title of the page.

Octavia read it before she looked back at Vinyl and asked, “Are you sure that this spell will work on him?”

Vinyl nodded.

Octavia sighed, “Alright, if you’re sure about interrogating him, I think that I may know where to start.”

Chapter Two: How to Interrogate a Changeling

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter two: how to interrogate a changeling

The Doctor blinked as a bright light suddenly shined in his eyes. If his arms weren't bound behind his back, he would have been able to lessen the pain of his eyes having to adjust quickly to the change in lighting. Though no matter how much he struggled, his binds where to fight for him the break out of.

At this point he couldn't feel his fingers or toes. He at first chalked it up to the binds being too tight and therefore had cut off circulation to his extremities. Though the more the Doctor thought about it, the more his body felt more foreign to him.

Suddenly, a book crashed down in front of the Doctor, pulling him from his thoughts, as its pages started to flip all by themselves. No, that wasn't right; he could see some sort of field manipulating the pages. He tried finding the source of the field when the Doctor felt a tingling sensation all around his body. Perhaps they were scanning him, trying to find out what he was.

“What's your name,” a voice called out that the doctor recognized as the gray mares voice.

“I know what you look like, you don't have to shine a light in my eyes,” the
Doctor said.

There was a groan as the mare seemed to start whispering to someone else in the room, though the light shining in the Doctor’s eyes made it impossible for him to see anything else in the room.

“Just answer the question,” the mare said with a sigh.

“I’m the Doctor,” he said as he felt a tingle run through his body.

“Doctor who?” she asked.

“Just the Doctor,” the Doctor said in a calm manner.

“Why won't you tell us your name?” the mare asked.

The Doctor remained silent.

“Okay, what do you know about the attack on Canterlot,” the mare asked.

“I don't know anything about it,” the Doctor said as another tingle ran through his body. The Doctor could only surmise that the tingling was from some sort of scan they were doing on his body to show for any signs of deceit. The Doctor was surprised by this but decided it best to cooperate for now, since he really didn't want to become public enemy number one on a new planet.

“Do you know where you are,” she asked as he could hear whispering for a second.

“You tell me, as far as I know, I'm in a basement tied to a chair,” he said as once again his body was scanned. He started wondering where this line of questioning was going.

“Do you know who Queen Chrysalis is,” the mare asked once more.

The Doctor was starting to wonder what they knew that he didn’t. “No, is she your leader here? I would very much like to talk to her...”

There was a long pause before a shuffling of hooves could be heard and the shut of a door.

The Doctor thought for a moment about the questions that he was just asked. They weren't personal questions, nor where they of any military or strategic importance. From the way the mare asked them, they were probably questions of common knowledge on this planet.

“What are they after?” the Doctor asked himself.

Vinyl was signing angrily as Octavia was pacing back and forth as numerous thoughts ran through her head.

“Yes, I know Vinyl, but he couldn't be lying, you would have known if he was,”
Octavia said as she sat on her haunches.

Vinyl huffed as she did a few more hoof movements before crossing her hooves in front of her.

Octavia groaned as she rubbed her temples. “You said it yourself that the spell would work on any creature.”

Octavia stared out the window for a minute. “I think he’s telling the truth.”

Vinyl quickly looked at Octavia as she began to sign again when Octavia interrupted her. “Look I know its crazy but think about it. This changeling… There’s just something about him.”

Vinyl huffed as she folded her hoofs in front of her chest. Octavia sighed as she walked over to Vinyl and put a hoof on her shoulder causing Vinyl to look her in the eye. Octavia and Vinyl both stared at each other for a long time before they let out a sigh and proceeded to make their way back down to the basement.

When they got to the basement, Octavia turned off the lamp that was aimed at the changelings face and sat down in front of him as Vinyl cast the spell once more on the changeling.

“One last question,” Octavia said as she took a deep breath before asking, “Do you plan on hurting us or any ponies in Equestria?”

The changeling sat there for a few minutes before he answered. “No.”

Octavia looked back at Vinyl who nodded back at Octavia who then sighed as she walked behind the changeling and began to untie him. Was she was done the changeling groaned as he stood on his hind hooves, stretched his back out, began to take a step forward and fell right on his face.

The Doctor thought that something was wrong with his body, but now he was sure something was wrong. He groaned as he began to push himself up and saw his hands or lack thereof.

The Doctor began to panic as he tried to stand up again, but his body pushed himself back down as he stood on all fours. Something was definitely wrong.

He caught sight of a mirror nearby as he made his way to it, the feeling of walking on all four feeling natural to him, which worried him more. As he stepped in front of the mirror, his face went from worried to horrified…

This immediately went to fascination.

“Wow,” he said as he examined himself, “This is incredible.”

He ran his tongue over his fangs and wriggled his nose. He lifted a fore leg up as he examined it. He looked through the holes in his legs before he licked the tip of it.

“Hmmmm, tastes like keratin,” he said as he smacked his lips before his eyes lit up, “I have hooves!”

He tapped a part of his body as it sounded like he was tapping on something hard. “I have chitin. Never had that before.”

He continued to point out changes with his body as he noticed them. “I also seem to have a horn, and look at that I have a tail, and what is this mark on my bum, is that a brand, I hope it's not, and I have wings oh that is top and my mane…”

The Doctor’s smile turned to a frown as he began to pout. “Still not ginger, this is so stupid, I wanted to be ginger.”

He sat down and crossed his hooves in front of his chest and was about to mope when his stomach started growling.

“Um, if you don't mind, I've been held captive for a while so I'm a bit starved,” he said with a smile.

After a few hours and many meals made later, the doctor sitting at a table in the kitchen and was happily munching on some hard boiled eggs topped with tartar sauce. Vinyl was currently sitting in front of the Doctor and was glaring at him. Octavia was currently cleaning some dishes in the sink directly behind where the Doctor was sitting. The room was silent for a long while before the
Doctor swallowed and looked over to Octavia.

“Excuse me, but is she going to do that the entire time I’m eating?” The Doctor asked as he pointed at Vinyl.

Octavia chuckled as she looked over her shoulder and said, “She doesn't trust you, and honestly, I can't blame her.”

“Why?” The Doctor asked as he took a bite out of another hardboiled egg.

Octavia continued working as she started scrubbing another dish. “Because of what you changelings did to Canterlot.”

“I’m a Time Lord, not a changeling,” the Doctor said before he asked, “Is that what I look like?”

Octavia turned to take a good look at him before saying, “Well you resemble one.
Changelings are usually black in color and don't have cutie marks.”

The Doctor began to cough and gag as he choked on the hardboiled egg he just took a bite out of. Octavia hit him hard on the back making him swallow.

“Cutie marks?” The Doctor asked as he coughed a bit.

Octavia looked at the Doctor with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, everypony has one. It signifies what a pony’s special talent is.”

The Doctor just sat there for a minute as he processed what was just said.

“Cutie marks?” The Doctor asked again.

“Is there something wrong with cutie marks?” Octavia asked as she looked back at the Doctor.

“No, not at all,” the Doctor said as he snickered a bit before taking a bite out of another egg. As he ate a question came to his mind. “Tell me about the changelings, what do you know about them?”

“Well,” Octavia sighed, “changelings are shape shifters who feed off of the love of other ponies.”

The Doctor laughed a bit causing Octavia to glare at him. The Doctor straightened up as he cleared his voice.

“The day the changelings attacked was also the same day that Princess Cadence was getting married,” Octavia said as she continued to clean the dishes, “the changeling queen abducted Princess Cadence and feed off of her grooms love for her. After she was exposed, the queen and her changelings attacked and took over Canterlot.”

“What stopped them?” The Doctor asked.

Octavia smiled as she said, “Love, Doctor. A magical barrier made out of love pushed them out of Canterlot and threw them far away.”

The Doctor sat there for a minute as he thought about this.

“No no no no, it doesn't make sense,” the Doctor said as he got up and started to pace the room, causing Vinyl to get up and make her way over to Octavia “A race of shape shifter’s that feed off of emotional energy and live symbiotically alongside ponies, wouldn't just decide one day to attack their own food source. There has to be another reason.”

Octavia looked at the Doctor as he paced back and forth as his wings buzzed in agitation. “Well, they did Doctor, and there is nothing any of us can do to change that.”

A grin soon spread across the Doctors face as he looked out the window. “No we can't, but we can find out what really happened that day.”

The Doctor walked outside leaving a confused Octavia and Vinyl to stand there before following him outside.

“How do you plan on doing that?” Octavia asked, seeing the Doctor standing in front of the blue box that they found him in.

“By asking the one who ordered the attack and asking,” he said as he turned and looked right at Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, “I’m going to ask the queen.”

Chapter Three: Finding a Changeling

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter three: finding a changeling

As the Doctor sat there for a while fiddling with the blue box he came in,
Octavia and Vinyl were silently discussing what they should do next.

Vinyl rolled a performed a series of hoof motions ending in her twirling a hoof around her ear.

“Vinyl, I know you think this is crazy, but what if what he is saying is true?” Octavia asked

Vinyl shook her head as she shrugged.

Octavia groaned as she grabbed Vinyl by the shoulders. “So, why then, did the changelings attack? He’s right it doesn't make any sense.”

Vinyl pointed at the Doctor before twirling a hoof around her ear.

“You can say that again,” Octavia chuckled.

“I heard that,” the Doctor said as he flung the doors to the blue box open wide as a large plum of steam and smoke assaulted the Doctors face. The Doctor coughed as he quickly shut the doors to the box.

“Okay,” the Doctor coughed, “not getting there that way.”

Octavia groaned as Vinyl snickered.

“No problem,” the Doctor said as he started to pace back and forth, “we just need to find another way to reach the changeling hive.”

“Doctor, it’s impossible to find the changeling hive,” Octavia said. “Nopony knows where it is.”

The doors to the box opened suddenly as a small cylindrical object was shot out and hit the Doctor in the head.

“Ow,” the Doctor said as he rubbed the back of his head. He turned around and saw the doors to the box close. He looked down to see what hit his head.

“Oh you wonderful thing you,” he said as he picked up the cylindrical object. He was amazed that he was able to pick it up in the first place but decided to dismiss this for now. He gave the device a flick as the tip bloomed open. The tip started to glow green as it made a whirring sound.

“Doctor what is that?” Octavia asked

“This is my trusty sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor said as he pushed the tip as the bloomed tip closed up. He put the cylindrical behind his ear where it sat comfortably.

“What does it do?” Octavia asked as she pointed to the screwdriver.

“A lot of things, NOW-“the Doctor said as he looked back to Octavia and
Vinyl”-how are we going to get to the hive if nopony knows we're it is?”

Vinyl and Octavia sat down and thought about it. After a few minutes Vinyl raised her hoof.

“Yes… Um… What was your name again?” The Doctor asked.

“Vinyl Scratch,” Octavia said with a chuckle.

“Yes, Vinyl Scratch,” the Doctor said as he pointed to Vinyl.

Vinyl began to make a few hoof movements as Octavia translated for the Doctor.
“She said that a changeling would know where the hive is.”

“YES,” the Doctor yelled, startling Octavia and Vinyl, “Only another changeling would know we're the hive is, so all we have to do is find one.”

“How?” Octavia asked with a scowl.

“With this,” the Doctor said as he reached for the sonic screwdriver that was behind his ear and pulled it out, giving it a few tosses in the air.

“With a metal tube?” Octavia asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“Oi, I'll have you know that my sonic screwdriver has gotten me out of a lot of situations,” the Doctor said as he flipped the screwdriver in to the air where it landed behind his ear.

Vinyl got up as she started to sign before she pointed to the doctor.

Octavia groaned, “She's right, you’re going to need a disguise.”

Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other for a moment before they looked back at the Doctor smiling.

“I look ridicules,” the Doctor said as he walked along side Octavia and Vinyl.

The Doctor wore a long cloak that draped over his back and hind legs as well as a hood that covered most of his head. A pair of socks was worn on each leg to hide the holes in them, as a scarf was warped around his mouth to hide his fangs.
A pair of Vinyl’s backup sunglasses sat on his nose to hide his eyes.

Octavia tried to suppress a giggle as Vinyl snickered.

So far, the disguise was working as most ponies would just walk by.
Occasionally, somepony would ask why he was wearing that in which case they would say it was a skin condition.

The Doctor looked over to Octavia and said, “You know, I thought we would he discovered by now.”

Octavia chuckled as she said, “With everything that happens here in Ponyville, everypony is used to strange things happening.”

The Doctor was about to question this when again when Octavia said, “We’re here.”

The Doctor looked around at Ponyville’s market place. In his opinion, it looked a lot like a farmers market that he has been to back on earth, as he could see stalls all over the place trying to sell their products. A lot of them where selling food products such as apples and cherries, but he spied a few seconds stands scattered about selling novelty items such as lawn ornaments and glass sculptures.

The Doctor looked over to Octavia and Vinyl and said, “Let’s have a look around,” before he walked off to a nearby stand.

It had been about four hours since they had started their search and since then they have searched all of the market place and have been over half of Ponyville with not even a sign of any changeling. After a while, the trio was wandering through the streets at this point, the Doctors sonic screwdriver making its whirring sound whenever he pointed it at a random pony or building as they walked.

Eventually, their stomachs started to growl as they all agreed that it was time to get something to eat. They made their way to a gingerbread house shaped confectionery called Sugar Cube Corner. They made their way inside, the Doctor getting a few strange looks here or there as they made their way to a secluded booth in the corner of the shop.

“I’m going to get us all something to eat,” Octavia said as she walked over to the counter, leaving the Doctor and Vinyl alone.

When Octavia reached the counter, she was immediately greeted by a tall, yellow stallion with an orange mane.

“Good afternoon Mr. Cake,” Octavia greeted with a friendly smile.

“Good afternoon Octavia,” Mr. Cake said, “Can I get you anything?”

Octavia looked the assortment of sweets before making her selection. “I’ll have three marzipan cupcakes please.”

Mr. Cake quickly pulled three cupcakes out as he put them in a small box. He looked over to the booth that the Doctor and Vinyl currently occupied, “I see you made a new friend over there.”

Octavia began to panic as she quickly looked around for something pink before turning back to Mr. Cake. “Yes, but he is really shy about meeting new ponies, so if you could be so kind…”

Mr. Cake chuckled as he made a motion like he was zipping his lips. Octavia smiled as she dropped a few bits on the counter. She made her way back to the table and stopped as she tried to understand what was happening. The Doctor was starring at Vinyl intensely while Vinyl herself was looking at the Doctor with her head propped up on her hoof.

“Um, what are you two doing?” Octavia asked.

“Starring contest,” the Doctor said as he continued to stare at Vinyl, “I'm winning so far.”

“How can you tell when you’re both wearing sunglasses?” Octavia asked with a raised eyebrow before looking back at Vinyl. “Also, I think Vinyl is asleep.”

“How can you tell?” the Doctor asked as he continued to stare at Vinyl.

Octavia rolled her eyes as she knocked Vinyl’s hoof out from underneath her head, which promptly hit the table face first followed by a loud snoring.

The Doctor stared for a minute before throwing his hooves up in the air and yelled, “I WIN,” startling Vinyl awake as well as several other ponies in the shop.

Octavia shook her head as she sat down and passed out the cupcakes. The Doctor lifted the scarf around his mouth a little as he took his and took a bite out of his. His eyes suddenly went wide as he looked at the cupcake.

“This-“the Doctor said as he held the cupcake in his hooves “-is one of the best cupcakes that I have ever eaten.”

Octavia and Vinyl chuckled at this before taking a bite out of their own cupcakes.

The bell to the entrance of the shop rang as a gray earth pony with a black mane and a four leaf clover cutie mark walked in, drawing the Doctors attention. Just for the fun of it, the Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the earth pony.

WhirrrrrrRrRrRRRRRR

The Doctor looked at the screwdriver as the whirring started to fluctuate and he smiled.

“Well girls,” the Doctor said as he turned to Octavia and Vinyl, “I we just found our lucky clover.”

Before the two mares could respond, the Doctor got out of the booth and made his way over to the grey stallion.

“Hello there,” the Doctor said as he quickly wrapped a hoof around the stallions neck, startling the pony, “you having a good meal in here?”

The stallion shifted uncomfortably as he responded, “Well, not yet, I was just about to order a few sweets.”

The Doctors tone changed suddenly as he leaned in to whisper in the stallion’s ear.

“Listen, I know what you are,” the Doctor said with a whisper, making the stallion stand there, a shocked look on his face, “ Don't worry, I will not reveal you, I just have a request. Meet me in the alley behind this shop in ten minutes.”

The Doctor withdrew his hoof as he made his way to Octavia and Vinyl, the stallion still standing there in shock.

“Come along you two,” the Doctor said as he made his way out of the shop, shortly followed by Octavia and Vinyl.

The Doctor paced back and forth in the ally way as Octavia and Vinyl sat on a pair of wooden boxes.

“How, long has it been?” the Doctor asked the two for the fifth time.

Octavia groaned as she rolled her eyes. “It's only been five minutes Doctor.”

“It feels more like five hours,” the Doctor said as he sat down on his haunches.

In a blur of gray, the Doctor was knocked to the ground as he was pinned to the ground by the gray earth pony. Octavia and Vinyl quickly got up to go help the Doctor.

“Don't worry ladies, I've got this,” the Doctor said.

“What do you want,” the gray stallion asked menacingly, “You want money?”

The Doctor laughed as he looked at the scared stallion. “Nope, I would like to speak to your queen.”

The gray earth pony staggered backwards allowing the Doctor to get back up.

“Why would you seek the queen,” the gray stallion said with wide eyes.

The Doctor removed the scarf and sunglasses, looking the stallion straight in the eyes. “I wish to ask her a few questions.”

The house that the Doctor, Octavia and Vinyl were now in was very simple. On the right side of the house sat a small dining area with a round table and four chairs around it. The left side sat a long couch and an arm chair in front of a fire place. A small bookcase sat against the far wall as a stair well lead up stairs to the bedroom and a door way to the right lead to the kitchen. The blinds on the house were pulled close as the trio sat on the couch as the gray earth pony sat in the arm chair.

They all sat in silence for a long while, neither one of them saying a word. The
Doctor, who has since shed his disguise, was the first to speak up. “So, what do I call you?”

“Lucky Clover,” he responded as he nursed a cup of tea between his hooves.

“So, Clover,” the Doctor said as he leaned forward a bit, “why don't you show us all what you really look like.”

Lucky Clover looked around nervously before a green flame consumed the pony for a few seconds before leaving behind a nervous looking changeling. Like all other changelings, he was covered in black chitin with holes in each leg. He had blue compound eyes, as well as a blue fin on his head and a short, blue tail.

“Wow,” the Doctor said in amazement, “now aren't you fascinating.”

“It shouldn't be too unusual to you,” Lucky Clover responded, “You are a changeling too after all.”

“Well sort of,” the Doctor said as he rubbed the back of his head, “You see I’ve only been only been this way since this morning.”

Lucky Clover raised an eyebrow and looked over to the two mares sitting next to him. Octavia just shook her head while Vinyl twirled a hoof around one of her ears. Lucky Clover decided best not to ask about it.

“So,” Lucky Clover began, “Why do you need to see the queen?”

Octavia was the first to speak up. “We want to know more about what happened at Canterlot.”

Lucky Clover chuckled as he shook his head. “What's there to tell? The queen went insane.”

The Doctor leaned closer with a raised eyebrow. “What was the queen like before?”

Lucky clover sighed as he closed his eyes and said, “She was a fair and just queen. Everyling would have given their lives for her. Then she slowly started to change, she requested more love to be gathered. Then she ordered the attack.”

The Doctor rubbed his chin as he thought about this before asking, “Was there any threat made against the hive?”

Lucky Clover shook his head and said, “Our existence was a well kept secret, not a creature knew of us except only as a myth.”

“Then our need to see the queen is now imperative,” the Doctor said, “Will you take us there?”

Lucky looked at the trio for a long while before he answered, “I shall take you there but that will be as far as I go,” he said before looking right at the Doctor, “but if you can't disguise yourself, we might have an issue getting to the changeling hive.”

The Doctor grinned and looking at the changeling.

“Well then,” the Doctor said, “I guess you’ll just have to teach me how to.”

Chapter Four: Time for a Field Trip

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter Four: Time for a Field Trip

Vinyl was surprised at how much time had passed since they first found the Doctor. The fact that everything that transpired all had happened in the same day had told her how fast everything was moving.

The four of them were currently riding a private train car towards Appeloosa, where apparently just beyond that was where the changeling hive was. Vinyl noticed that when they got to the train platform, Lucky whispered something to the conductor, who led them to the car they were in now. Lucky Clover explained that the changelings were able to befriend certain ponies before the attack, so they could fulfill certain needs and requirements in order to safely bring food and supplies back to the hive. This disturbed Vinyl a bit as she wondered just how many changelings lived in Ponyville that continued to serve the queen and how long they've been there.

Vinyl was brought out of her thoughts as the Doctor sat down beside her, no longer wearing the cloak, socks, sunglasses and scarf that they used to disguise him. Unfortunately, Lucky Clover wasn't able to teach the Doctor how to disguise himself, as the Doctor was more concerned about Lucky Clover’s biology and wasn't able to stand still long enough to focus and perform the spell. The Doctor smiled as he looked at her, though his fangs didn't help to easy her nerves. She decided to look out the window for the time being as she tried to think about other things.

“You still don't like me, do you?” The Doctor asked as his smile faded in to a frown.

Vinyl didn't move. She had to admit, she still had some distrust towards the Doctor, but she felt a bit more comfortable around him. Vinyl felt a light tapping on her shoulder and she turned her head a little bit to see the Doctor looking curiously at her.

“Hey, I know you must be scared,” the Doctor said in a calm tone, “but I promise I won't let anything hurt you or Octavia.”

Vinyl huffed as she looked back out the window.

Scared? More like freaking out of her mind. They were heading right in to the changeling hive. Was she supposed to think, that everything was going to be rainbows and sunshine when they got there?

Vinyl jumped as she felt a hoof rest on her shoulder, Vinyl turned and was about to glare angrily at the Doctor, but then she saw his eyes. She had seen many retired guards with eyes like those at bars that she’d been to before, but something about the Doctors was different, almost sad in a way.

“I promise that everything will be alright,” the Doctor said before he got up to go talk to Lucky Clover, leaving Vinyl alone with her thoughts once again.

The sun was setting when the train reached its final destination at a small shack in the middle of a large desert. The Doctor, Octavia and Vinyl all got off the train and waved goodbye to Lucky Clover as the train departed back to Ponyville. The group walked in to the shack where there was nothing inside except for a keg filled with, what was most likely alcohol, and a brown mare sitting behind a counter reading a magazine.

“May I help you,” she said, not even looking up at the group. Lucky Clover told them about this part, as there was a passphrase gain entrance to the hive. That is if they haven't changed it by now.

The Doctor smiled as he walked up to the counter as both Vinyl and Octavia crossed their hooves.

“Yes, I was told that you made the best cider here,” the Doctor said, causing the mare to look up.

“We sure do,” the mare responded, “what would you like in it?”

Here came the moment of truth.

“A drop of honey, a dash of nectar, and a spoonful of TLC,” the Doctor said with a smile.

The mare stared at him for a while and twisted the spout on the cider keg. A loud hissing could be heard as a section of the floor dropped down to reveal a hidden tunnel. The Doctor looked back at Octavia and Vinyl as they both visibly gulped before walking up to the Doctor. They then proceeded in to the tunnel as they made their way in to the hive.

The tunnel was surprisingly spacious as the trio made their way deeper and deeper down the tunnel, the only light source was a strip of green crystal that lined the walls. The tunnels walls were perfectly smooth and had virtually no imperfections in them. Curious, the Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out from behind his ear decided to scan it.

Whirrrrr

The Doctor looked curiously at the screwdriver as it was not picking up on any trace metals or chemicals that could explain this. The Doctor put the sonic back behind his ear and decided to ask about it later.

After about five minutes of walking, the group reached a large set of green doors. The Doctor looked around as Octavia and Vinyl grew worried.

“I don't understand,” Octavia whispered, “where are the guards?”

As if on cue, two changelings in navy blue armor appeared out of nowhere and tackled Octavia and Vinyl to the ground with in the span of a second. As soon as they were secured, a third one dressed in green armor stepped out and approached the Doctor.

“You foolish nymph,” the green armored changeling proclaimed, its voice sounding feminine, “Don’t you realize what you have done?”

“Not at all,” the Doctor said with a smile on his face, “I have to ask, this tunnel is quite fascinating, how did you get it so smooth?”

This caught the green armored changeling off guard for a minute before she shook her head and glared at the Doctor. “State your designation!”

“Well, I’m the Doctor and this is…” the Doctor began before being cut off.

“THE DOCTOR,” the green armored changeling proclaimed loudly before pointing at the other two changeling guards. “You two, get off of them.”

The two changelings quickly released Vinyl and Octavia allowing the two mares to quickly scramble to get behind the Doctor.

“I apologize Doctor,” the green armored changeling said as she bowed, the other two following suit, “I did not recognize you.”

“Doctor, you said you haven't been here before,” Octavia whispered as Vinyl glared at him.

“I haven't,” the Doctor said before adding, “Well, I haven't yet.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Octavia asked in confusion.

“It means he’s coming completely insane, Octy.”

“Hey, who said that,” the Doctor proclaimed as he looked around.

“Wait, you heard that?”

The Doctor and Octavia both turned around slowly and looked at Vinyl who currently had a shocked expression on her face.

The Doctor turned around as he addressed the green armored changeling, “Excuse me, but do these tunnels happen to amplify telepathic abilities?”

“Yes they do as does the rest of the hive. We use it as a way to communicate quickly within the hive, why do you ask?” the changeling questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The Doctor turned back to Octavia and Vinyl. “Because I think that we are hearing Vinyl’s thoughts. The caves must be having a strange effect on Vinyl.”

Before the group had time to question the green armored changeling cleared her throat drawing the group’s attention. “The queen has allowed your entrance in to the hive.”

The doors were opened by the other two changeling guards as the group was lead deeper in to the hive by the green armored changeling. As they got closer to the end of the tunnel, they could hear dozens upon dozens of voices.

“HEY, HOW MANY CHANGELINGS WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR MY THOUGHTS?” Vinyl yelled in her thoughts.

Numerous groans could now be heard from the end of the tunnel as Octavia, the Doctor and the green armored changeling all held their heads.

“Vinyl,” the Doctor groaned as he turned to look at her, “could you please use your inside thoughts.”

“Sorry,” Vinyl thought as she looked abashed.

“With as loud as that was, I'm sure over half the hive heard that,” the green armored changeling said, still rubbing her head.

“By the way, we never quite got your name,” the Doctor asked as he looked at the green armored changeling.

“You can call me Melody,” she said with a smile.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, it opened up in to an enormous cavern that seemed to stretch on for about ten kilometers in all directions. In the middle stood a tall spiral tower that glowed a bright green as it poured light in to every crevasse of the cavern. The strips of green crystal seemed to converge on the tower, suggesting that this was the source of the lightning in the tunnels. Numerous bridges crisscrossed all over the cavern as well as numerous tunnels and hexagonal shaped alcoves all evenly spaced out along the walls. Pools of glowing, green goo sloshed around in pools in random areas around the floor of the hive.

“Whoa,” Vinyl thought as she looked around the hive.

“There must be over to ten million changelings here,” Octavia said as she noticed the number of changelings flying around and performing tasks around the hive.

“Twelve million, seven hundred thousand and thirty, and counting,” melody said as she looked over the hive.

“And all of them linked through a hive mind, with information ready at a moment’s notice,” the Doctor said with a grin on his face, “fantastic.”

“How come we’re not hearing all of the other changeling’s thoughts?” Octavia asked as she looked at the Doctor.

“Probably because your brains haven't developed the need for telepathic communication, at least not as much as the changelings have,” the Doctor explained.

“Can you hear them Doctor?” Octavia asked as she looked curiously at the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head, “No, they must be using a telepathic frequency that I am unfamiliar with.”

“When a changeling is born, the queen is the one who links them to the rest of the hive, where they receive their tasks for the hive,” Melody explained as she motioned for the group to follow her down a nearby spiraling walk way.

They descended to the floor of the hive as they made their way toward the queen’s throne room. As they walked, several changelings would stop to bow to Octavia, Vinyl and the Doctor. Octavia was smiling awkwardly towards the changelings, while Vinyl was soaking up all of the attention, waving at the bowing changelings.

“Doctor,” Octavia asked, “Why are all of the changelings bowing to us?”

“Don't know,” the Doctor said as he looked around the hive in wonder. “What ever we did, we haven't done it yet.”

Octavia shook her head and asked, “What do you mean by that?”

The Doctor smiled as he looked back to Octavia and said, “Spoilers.”

Unbeknownst to them, melody smirked a little.

They quickly reached the doors to the throne room, which seemed to be made out of a translucent green materiel and was decorated with polished gold inlays. Melody stepped to the side as she motioned to two guards in maroon colored armor. The two guards nodded to melody as they opened the doors.

Melody turned to the Doctor, Octavia and Vinyl and motioned inside. “The queen will see you now.”

“Thank you Melody,” the Doctor said as he made his way inside, closely followed by Vinyl and Octavia.

“Anytime,” Melody said as she watched the doors close. When they swung shut she added with a whisper, “Welcome to Equestria… Sweetie.

Author's Note

Took a little inspiration for the hives interior design form another great story that I personally enjoyed reading, "A Novel Tale", which is found here. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/87718/a-novel-tale

Chapter Five: A New Ally and an Old Enemy

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter Five: A New Ally and an Old Enemy

The throne room was magnificent to say the least. It was several meters tall and at least thirty meters wide. All along the walls were portraits made out of glowing blue crystals, depicting what appeared to be past queens. Bright, blue crystals hung from the ceiling illuminating the entire room. At the end of the hall sat a glowing blue, crystal throne as two guards in sky blue armor sat on either side of the throne, and sitting on the throne was none other than Queen Chrysalis herself.

As Octavia and Vinyl looked at the queen, she looked much different than what she did at the attack on Canterlot. She wore her mane in a nice neat bun with a string of small, glowing blue crystals braided in it, making it look as if her mane was glowing. She wore what appeared to be green webbing that stretched from the bottom of her hooves half way up her legs, more glowing blue crystals studded the webbing where the strands intersected. She wore a small breastplate that was made out of the same blue crystal with the green webbing over it. All in all, Queen Chrysalis appeared very regal and beautiful, as she presented an air of authority around her.

“I think we have the wrong changeling hive,” Vinyl thought as she stared at the queen.

“Come forth, don't be shy,” the queen said beckoned for the group to come forward.

The Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia slowly approached the throne, the guards not once letting the three out of their sight. They soon reached the bottom of the throne as Chrysalis looked down at them with a soft smile.

“Welcome back Heroes of the Hive,” Chrysalis said as she bowed.

“Okay,” Octavia said as she threw her hooves up in the air, “what did we do?”

Chrysalis looked down at the Doctor with a raised eyebrow to which the Doctor just shrugged.

“Well, as my general Melody would say-“Chrysalis cleared her throat as it glowed green for a minute “-Spoilers”

The Doctors head whipped around as her faced the changeling queen who was smiling at him with a sly grin to which the Doctor returned.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you in my hive once again?” Queen Chrysalis asked.

“Well,” the Doctor began, “We would like to know what happened at the Attack on Canterlot.”

Chrysalis’s smile quickly dropped as she stared at the trio. She stammered for a bit as she tried to form words. She took several deep breaths before she composed herself.

“I feared that this day would come,” Chrysalis said as she got up and slowly walked over to one of the portraits. “Unfortunately, the information you seek, I do not have.”

“Wait WHAT!” Vinyl thought loudly as she got up and approached Chrysalis, “YOU’RE THE ONE WHO ORDERED THE ATTACK AND YOU DON’T REMEMBER IT?!”

“Vinyl…” Octavia said as she walked up and put a hoof on her shoulder, but Vinyl shook it off.

“No, you don't get to forget,” Vinyl thought as she seethed in anger, “You hurt a lot of ponies that day AND YOU DON’T GET TO FORGET WHAT YOU’VE DONE! YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE BLOOD OF THE PONIES YOU KILLED ON YOUR HOOVES! ”

“VINYL,” the Doctor yelled in anger as he glared at her making her freeze.

Then she heard crying.

Vinyl slowly turned her head towards the queen to see her body shuddering as she tried to keep her composure.

“Do you not think that I feel remorse?” Chrysalis said as she turned to look at Vinyl. “Do you think that I don't feel sorrow?”

Chrysalis began to advance upon Vinyl making her back up with each step. “I feel the pain of each changeling in this hive as they mourn for their fallen comrades and the death of their pony friends. Twelve million voices, crying out in sorrow and I am the one responsible, and the worst part is, is that I don't remember giving the command. So you tell me, oh noble Vinyl Scratch, am I punished enough for your liking, or do you have a way to send me deeper in to Tartarus?”

Octavia stared in astonishment while the Doctor just looked away. Vinyl could only stare at Chrysalis as tears streamed down the queens face. Vinyl only did the one thing that she could think of. She lunged at Chrysalis and wrapped her fore legs around her, giving her a hug. Chrysalis was taken aback by this but she wrapped fore leg around Vinyl.

After a minute Vinyl broke the hug as she walked over to the Doctor, and sat down with her back turned to the queen. The Doctor looked up as he slowly approached the queen.

“I’m so sorry your majesty,” the Doctor said in a solemn tone, “but any information about what happened before and after the attack on Canterlot would be helpful.”

Chrysalis sighed as she sniffed a bit before composing herself once more. “It would be easier to show you Doctor.”

Her horn glowed as she lowered it down to touch the Doctors. Images began to flow through his mind and voices could be heard. The queen broke the connection as the Doctor stumbled backwards, as he could now hear every voice in the changeling hive. He was connected to the hive. Their entire culture, their way of life, all information about the changelings. He sifted through the information as he found what he was looking for.

“I don't understand,” the Doctor said as he reviewed what he saw, “how could this happen?”

Octavia cleared her throat loudly as she got the Doctor and the queen’s attention. “Excuse me, not to be rude but can somepony tell us non changelings what the hay is going on?”

“For some reason, the queen appears to have gaps in her memories,” the Doctor said as he began pacing back and forth, “Large gaps, as if someone erased portions of her memory, but why.”

“So you wouldn't find out what I was planning,” a male voice said.

The Doctor froze as he slowly turned to look back at Chrysalis who was now smiling wickedly at the Doctor. The Doctor quickly jumped back as he now stood between the queen and the two mares

“Doctor, what's going on,” Vinyl thought as she looked at the doctor.

“I think I now know why the queen has had such a large chunk of her memory missing,” the Doctor said as he stood in front of Vinyl and Octavia, “someone has been manipulating the queen through her own telepathic field, essentially controlling her every decision and then wiping her memory so that she would have no recollection of the events.”

Chrysalis laughed as she said, “Oh very good Doctor, but it's a pity you didn't figure that out sooner. My you are getting slow.”

“Who are you?” The Doctor demanded as he stood up tall.

“Doctor you wound me,” Chrysalis said in feigned shock, “you honestly don't remember me? After all the fun we’ve had?”

“I only just got here,” the Doctor proclaimed.

“Oh but we’ve known each other before you ever got here,” Chrysalis said as she took a step forward, “Though I can't blame your old, feeble mind. After all, you’ve forgotten me several times.”

“I DON’T KNOW YOU!” the Doctor yelled.

Chrysalis opened her mouth, but then shut it as a smile crossed her face.

“Not yet, it's not time for the big reveal,” Chrysalis said as she sent mental command causing the two guards in the room to get up and begin walking over to the group, “for now I'll keep you here until it's all over.”

“Doctor, I'm scared,” Octavia said as the Vinyl put her hooves around Octavia and held her tight.

“I will stop you,” the Doctor proclaimed.

Chrysalis laughed, “Stop me? I'm not the one you should be worried about.”

“Then who?” the Doctor asked, anger in his voice.

“Oh you would love me to just tell you,” Chrysalis chuckled, “But it is already too late, and there is nothing you can AAAAAAGH!”

Chrysalis screamed as she clutched her head. “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

The Doctor quickly looked around and saw the two changeling guards were also lying on the ground cradling their heads.

“Doctor, what is happening?” Vinyl thought loudly as she ran over to the Doctor and Octavia.

The Doctor smiled as he looked over at Chrysalis who was trying hard to stay standing as her horn started to glow. “It’s Chrysalis, she's fighting back!”

The Doctor quickly ran over to Chrysalis. “Keep fighting; push him out of your mind.”

Chrysalis quickly touched her horn to the Doctor as several images began to pour in to his mind. Images of a cave filled with crystals, the changelings moving about as they were moving something in to the caves. Then he saw it, what truly lied beneath Canterlot.

“NO!” Chrysalis exclaimed as Chrysalis’s horn exploded with a powerful burst of energy, breaking the connection.

Chrysalis glared at the Doctor as the Doctor himself simply smiled and said, “So, the attack on Canterlot wasn't and attack at all but a diversion for an invasion.”

Chrysalis growled as she said, “You cannot stop it now Doctor, you’ll never make it to Canterlot in time.”

The Doctor smiled as he moved himself closer to Vinyl and Octavia. “Probably not a few minutes ago, no, but you want to know one thing that the queen taught me in the short amount of time I’ve been here?”

The Doctor smiled as he dug his hooves in to the ground and his horn began to flare a bright blue. “A NEW WAY TO RUN!”

Chrysalis’s eyes widened as she charged the Doctor. “NO!”

With a bright, blue flash, the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia were gone.

The world around the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia warped and stretched until it abruptly stopped, leaving them sprawled in a pile on the ground. Vinyl was the first to get up as she staggered for a bit before falling back over. Octavia got up, wobbled for a moment, and then quickly ran over to a nearby flowerbed and promptly puked her guts out. The Doctor was the last to get up but seemed to be better off than the two, save for a splitting headache he got after a few seconds.

The Doctor looked around to confirm that they were in the right place.

“That was a close one,” the Doctor said before getting hit on the back of the head by Octavia. “Oi, what was that for?”

“You could have given us some sort of warning that you were going to do that,” Octavia said angrily.

Octavia looked around as she realized where they were. “We're in Ponyville.”

The group looked around as they not only noticed that it was now dark out, but that they were indeed back in Ponyville.

The Doctor looked over to check on Vinyl who seemed to be straining something as her face was turning red. The Doctor quickly put two and two together as he walked over to Vinyl and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Vinyl, I'm afraid that we could only hear your thoughts because of the hives telepathic amplification,” the Doctor explained, “and now that we're no longer in the hive your thoughts are no longer being amplified.”

Vinyl frowned as her ears flattened against her head.

BOOM

A large explosions was heard as ponies of in the distance could be heard screaming. Suddenly two ponies ran past the group as fast as they could.

“Doctor what's happening?” Octavia asked as another big explosion rocked the town.

“The invasion, the one that has been growing right under your noses,” the Doctor said, “The attack on Canterlot was merely a diversion, as the invasion force assembled without you even noticing it.”

More explosions went off as they seemed to be getting closer to the trio. Suddenly, two ponies walked around the corner and turned to look at the group, their eyes glazed over. The two ponies raised their right hooves reshaped themselves in to some sort of cannon.

“Doctor, what are those things?” Octavia asked as she and Vinyl got behind the Doctor.

The two ponies then opened fire.

Chapter Six: The Power of Music

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter Six: The Power of Music

Beams of energy whizzed over the heads of the trio as the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia ran as fast as they could from the two hostile ponies. As they ran, turned a corner and came face to face with another group of ponies began to pepper the area that they were at with labor fire. The group quickly dove for cover trough a window of a nearby building as the ponies continued fire upon them.

Octavia was panicking at this point as Vinyl tried to comfort her. The Doctor quickly jumped up and took a quick scan with his sonic screwdriver before ducking back in to cover. What the Doctor saw surprised him.

“Huh, this is fascinating,” the Doctor said as he looked back over his scan.

“WE’RE GOING TO DIE!” Octavia screamed as she grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders and started shaking him. “WHY AREN’T YOU WORRIED ABOUT THIS!?”

“OoOoctaAaAviaAa stoOoOp shAaAakiNg meEeE,” the Doctor said causing Octavia to stopped shaking him. “Listen, those aren't ponies out there.”

“How do you know that?” Octavia asked as she still panicked.

“SHIMER!” the Doctor said and he pointed his sonic at the approaching ponies.

WHIIIIIIIIRRRRR

The ponies staggered as the sonic screwdriver caused their disguise to explode in a burst of light, leaving behind a pile of crystals where each pony stood. After a few seconds, the crystals slowly floated up in to the air as they reformed in to pony like shapes.

The crystalline beings didn't seem too concerned about their disguises, as their right hooves reshaped themselves in to cannons and opened fire on the building again.

Octavia looked back at the Doctor with both confusion and anger. “Okay, why did you do that?”

“I wanted to see what they looked like,” the Doctor replied with a smile on his face.

“Do you know what they are?” Octavia asked.

“I have absolutely no idea,” the Doctor replied with slight giddiness in his voice, “My first day on a new planet and I've already encountered a new species.”

Vinyl immediately slapped the Doctor as she gestured to the window that they jumped through.

“Right, yes,” the Doctor said as he became serious, “from the scans I took, of the creatures, they seem to have some sort of harmonic resonance keeping them together…”

“Get to the point Doctor,” Octavia exclaimed.

“Right, well if we can find the right frequency, we can disable them,” the Doctor said.

“Well how are we going to do that?” Octavia asked.

Vinyl tapped the Doctor shoulder as she pointed towards the numerous sound systems that were on display inside the building they we're hiding in.

“Huh, wonder how I missed those,” the Doctor said as his smile returned, “you two might want to plug your ears.”

The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the many speakers.

Whiiiiiirrrrr

All of the speakers sprung to life as they started to emit a steady, pulse of sound that soon started to increase in pitch and speed, causing the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia to quickly cover their ears. When the pulse died down, the group noticed that the barrage of lasers had stopped and they slowly got up and looked out the window. The crystalline ponies that once were shooting at them were now nothing but piles of dust.

“Well that seemed to work brilliantly,” the Doctor said as he looked around.

“Doctor, those things are all over Ponyville,” Octavia said as she pointed at the laser fire further away, “how are we going to stop all of them.”

Vinyl started jumping up and as she waved her front hooves.

“We’d need some way to emit a pulse strong enough to cover the entire town,” the Doctor said as he put a hoof to his chin.

Vinyl redoubled her efforts as she stomping clapping her hooves against the floor.

“Not now Vinyl,” Octavia said as she waved Vinyl off and focused back on the Doctor. “How can we do that?”

“I’m not sure, with the buildings in the way; we’d need to be in the air to…”

HOOOOOONK

The Doctor and Octavia looked over to Vinyl who currently held an air horn in one hoof. She threw the air horn away as she pointed out the window.

“Oh,” the Doctor said as he looked out the window, “That might work.”

“Okay everypony, calm down,” Twilight Sparkle said as she tried to pacify the crowd housed in her castle, “I’ve sent a message to the princesses and the royal guards should be here soon.”

“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE,” a pony cried out causing the panic to rise in the already scared crowd.

Rainbow Dash quickly zipped over to Twilight and said, “Twilight, we have to do something we can't just stay in here and do nothing.”

“You think I don't know that,” Twilight said, panic in her voice. “I’ve tried every spell that I could think of, and each time those things would just shake it off.”

“Well we got to do something,” Rainbow Dash said.

*Ahhhhhhhhh
Ya ya yaaaah
Ya ya yaaah
Yaaah ya yah*

The two ponies stopped as they heard what sounded like music.

*Ohohohohoooo
Oh ya yaaah
Ya ya yaaah
Yaaah ya yah*

The music slowly grew louder, causing the ponies in the castle to stop panicking and start looking for the music’s origin.

“Twilight,” Rainbow said as she stared out the window, “you might want to see this.”

Twilight trotted over to the window. She rubbed her eyes as she couldn't believe what she currently saw. “Is that a hot air balloon?”

Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Are those speakers strapped to it?” Twilight asked.

“Eeyup,” Rainbow confirmed.

“Who is crazy enough to do something like that?” Twilight exclaimed.

Vinyl was currently sitting at a makeshift mixing board as the Doctor and Octavia looked over the sides on the basket. Each one of them wore a pair of ear phones to help protect them from the volume of the music coming from the speakers.

“THIS IS CRAZY!” Octavia yelled, trying to make herself heard over the loud music.

“I KNOW!” the Doctor yelled back, “THAT’S WHY IT’S GOING TO WORK! BY THE WAY, HOW IS THIS HOT AIR BALLOON ABLE TO CARRY ALL OF THESE SPEAKERS?!”

“THIS IS A CARGO BALLOON,” Octavia replied, “IT’S ENCHANTED TO CARRY HEAVY LOADS!”

“ENCHANTED?” the Doctor exclaimed to which Octavia nodded, “FANTASTIC!”

The Doctor looked over the edge of the air balloon as he saw that they were about to pass over the center of town. The Doctor estimated that they would have to be right in the middle of the entire town to get maximum coverage. What he also spotted were several of the crystalline ponies aiming their weapons in their direction. The Doctor quickly took cover as laser beams whizzed past the balloon.

“WE’RE ALMOST THERE, GET READY!” the Doctor said as Vinyl nodded. He then pulled out a microphone as that was connected to some of the speakers as he yelled out, “EVERYONE IN PONYVILLE, COVER YOUR EARS!”

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he pointed it at the sound board.

“NOW!” the Doctor yelled as Vinyl flipped the switch at the same time the Doctor activated his screwdriver.

*AAIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
eeeee-eeeee-EEEEEEEEE!*

The volume coming from the speakers went full blast, as the pitch and frequency quickly fluctuated. Octavia looked over the edge of the basket as she saw the crystalline ponies crack and exploded as the sound waves covered the entire town. Soon, all that remained of the crystalline ponies was dust as the music came to an end.

“We did Doctor!” Octavia said as she took the ears phones off of her head.

“WHAT?” the Doctor yelled back.

Vinyl’s horn glowed as she levitated the earphones off of the Doctors head before pointing down over the edge of the basket.

“Hey, we did it,” the Doctor said causing Octavia to facehoof. “But this isn't over yet, we still need to take out the source in the caves underneath Canterlot.”

“How?” Octavia asked

The Doctor put a hoof to his chin as he thought about this. “I’m still working on that, but the question is how are we going to get in to the caves?”

Octavia grew a huge grin upon her face as she looked over to Vinyl who had a big smile across her face as well. “Doctor, we might have an idea.”

Lucky Clover was, for lack of a better word, lucky that those things didn't burn down his house. As soon as he heard the laser fire outside he barricaded all of the doors of his house and closed all of the blinds on the windows. He hid behind his couch, armed only with a frying pan as he waited for those monsters to come in to his house.

After several tense moments, Lucky Clover soon heard some sort of music over head before hearing a very familiar voice call out, “EVERYONE IN PONYVILLE, COVER YOUR EARS!”

Feeling like it would be a good idea to do what he was told; Lucky Clover clamped his hooves over his ears. His widows began to shudder before finally exploding outwards and out on to the ground outside.

Lucky Clover sat there for a long time before he took his hooves off of his ears and looked around his house. Fortunately, nothing else besides his widows seemed to be broken. One thing he did notice was that everything was silent.

Lucky Clover jumped as he heard a knocking on his door. He slowly made his way to the door with his frying pan in hoof. He closed his eyes as he swung the door open…

“Ah Lucky, I’m glad you’re still-“

And he hit whoever it was at the door in the face. He slowly opened his eyes as he looked down at what he hit.

“…oops,” was all Lucky Clover could say as he looked at the dazed Doctor sprawled out on the ground.

“Yes Suzan, tea and biscuits would be lovely,” the Doctor mumbled out.

Octavia walked up to Lucky Clover as Vinyl attempted to help the Doctor back up.

“Lucky, we are going to need some help, and you are the only one that can assist us,” Octavia said as she slowly took the pan out of Lucky Clovers hoof.

Lucky Clover shook his head quickly before refocusing on Octavia and asking, “Sure, what do you need?”

“We're going to need a way in to the crystal caverns underneath Canterlot,” Octavia said with a smile on her face, "And you going to help us get there."

Author's Note

To anyone who can guess what the song is, you get a cookie.

Chapter Seven: The Crystalline Consciousness

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Chapter Seven: The Crystalline Consciousness

Getting to Canterlot was easy since all of the guards were more preoccupied with the crystalline ponies inside the city, so Lucky clover was able to lead the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia over to the caves entrance with ease.

The group was stopped right outside the caves entrance, when the Doctor pulled Lucky Clover to talk with him in private behind a nearby boulder.

That gave Octavia time to think about all that had happened. Her life was flipped upside down earlier today because of the Doctor, and most normal ponies would have walked away by now, but for some strange reason, Octavia felt safe around the Doctor. Sure he didn't make sense most of the time, but still she felt that she could go anywhere with him and still feel that same sense of security.

Octavia looked over to Vinyl who was looking at the night sky, as if she was pondering the same thing. Before she had the time to ask a bright flash of green shook Octavia and Vinyl out of their thoughts.

The Doctor was walking back over to them, but Lucky Clover wasn't with him. “Lucky Clover, decided to head back to Ponyville to help them defend the town from any other attacks.”

“So, it's just us then,” Octavia sighed as she looked over to the caves entrance. The Doctor nodded as Vinyl and Octavia both got up and walked over to the Doctor.

“Well then,” the Doctor said as he looked between Octavia on his right and Vinyl on his left, “let's go save the world.”

To say that the crystal caverns were large is an understatement, as they stretched on for several meters in almost every direction. Crystals of every shape and color were embedded in to the walls, floors and ceilings. Every once in awhile, an opening in the ceiling would allow light to bleed in and reflect off of the crystals, creating beautiful prismatic effects on the ground and walls.

So when the Doctor decided to see if his voice would echo, they were immediately captured by the crystalline ponies that were guarding the area. The where currently walking in single file with the Doctor in the front, Vinyl in the back and Octavia in the back, while four crystalline ponies lead the group deeper in to the caverns.

“Look, I said that I was sorry,” the Doctor apologized for the tenth time, “It's just that the cave was so big and I really wanted to hear my voice echo.”

“Vinyl, please hit him again,” Octavia said as Vinyl hit the Doctor in the back of the head with a large smile on her face.

“Fine I get it,” the Doctor said as he rubbed the back of his head, “but on the bright side, they are taking us to their leader, so we won't be wasting hours wandering around the caves.”

“Vinyl, hit him again,” Octavia said as Vinyl hit the Doctor once more in the back of the head.

“Stop hitting me!” the Doctor complained as he glared at a smiling Vinyl. “Look, I have a plan.”

“Do you?” Octavia said with a raised eyebrow.

The Doctor said nothing for a while before saying, “Okay I have seventy-five percent of a plan.”

“Doctor,” Octavia said with a deadpan glare.

“Fine,” the Doctor said with a groan, “I have ten percent of a plan.”

Vinyl promptly hit the Doctor in the back of the head for the third time. The Doctor decided to stop talking for now and look around at their surroundings.

The cavern had gotten significantly darker as they progressed. Several installments of some form of artificial lighting units were placed inside some of the crystals on the walls. Several crystalline ponies walked back and forth as they seemed to be mining crystal fragments off of the larger ones in the walls and floor.

As the crystalline ponies escorted the group deeper in to the caverns, a machine that the crystalline ponies were working with came in to view. The machine had several pipes connected to them, as well as a control panel on the side of it. The crystalline ponies dumped the crystals in to a large hopper that was positioned at one end of the machine, as a conveyor belt transported the refined crystals in to carts. They saw at least ten more machines similar to that one as they walked further down the tunnel.

The group also noticed several other circular shaped machines further down tunnels, wires feeding in to some sort of energy conversion table. The crystals were placed on top of the table where they were feeding energy in to the crystal shards, causing them to form in to new crystalline ponies.

“Doctor,” Octavia said with a hint of fear in her voice, as she too noticed the machines, “please tell me you have come up with a plan.”

The Doctor chuckled as he said, “Don't worry; everything is going to be fine.”

At that moment, the group was ushered in to a large domed area of the caverns, which measured about ten meters in almost every direction. Path ways were set up all over the area as crystalline ponies worked back and forth. Control terminals were scattered about, many of them seemed to regulate energy flow while others seemed to be monitoring equipment. In the middle sat a flat, circular device was set up, with the center of it filled with crystal shards.

The crystalline ponies escorted the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia to a balcony that over looked the pool of crystals. The room reverberated with a loud grumble, causing all of the crystalline ponies to stop their various tasks, turn to the pool of crystals, and bow.

The crystals in the pool shuddered as they started to move and form various shapes. Then, the crystals steadily started to rise and take shape. The crystals took a familiar pony shape before it sprouted what looked like wings on its back as well of a horn on its head. Overall, it looked like a crystalline version of Celestia, except without a mane and tail and was about ten times larger. The area where the eyes were supposed to be were instead replaced with two oval shaped rubies.

The crystalline alicorn turned its head toward the two mares and changeling as it spoke in what sounded like the collection of millions of voices.

“You three are either very brave or very foolish to come in search of us,” it said as it leaned in closer, “regardless of the reason, you shall help fuel us so that we may conquer this pathetic world.”

The Doctor stepped forward with the smile still on his face as he said, “As much as that would be fascinating to see, we’re going to have to decline that offer.”

The crystalline ponies around the room started hissing, almost as if they were laughing. The crystalline alicorn leaned in closer to the Doctor, making him back up a few steps to avoid being knocked over. “Do you honestly believe that we would give you a choice?”

The crystalline alicorn leaned back as it observed Vinyl and Octavia. “Your minds are full of confidence, loyalty and courage. You shall make us stronger.”

The Doctor felt a tap on his shoulder as he looked over to see Vinyl pointing at the crystalline alicorn with a questioning look on her face. The Doctor looked back and forth between Vinyl and the crystalline alicorn before connecting the dots. “Oh, I have no idea what it is but let me take a guess. You operate on some sort collective consciousness, assimilating the brain waves of the races you conquer.

“Doctor, what does it mean by making them stronger?” Octavia asked as she looked over to the Doctor with a worried expression.

“I assume that they adapt the traits that they deem necessary and add them to their collective consciousness, and the electrical impulses in the brains they absorb double as a food source,” the Doctor replied as he looked over to the machines around it, “And these machines allow you to absorb those electrical impulses, am I correct?”

The crystalline alicorn looked perplexed for a moment before letting out a slight chuckle. “You are quite clever; your mind shall be adapted to our own collective consciousness.”

“So, they’re going to eat our brains?” Octavia asked as she shuddered slightly from the thought.

The Doctor chuckled as he said, “Oh no, not at all. They’re going to drain our brains of their electrical impulses and consume them while adding our thought patterns to their own.”

“How is that any different?” Octavia asked with a deadpan glare.

The Doctor paused before putting a hoof to his chin. “Hm, good point.”

The crystalline alicorn growled as it brought the groups attention to itself. “We grow tired of this; your minds will be added to our own.”

Then the Doctor began laughing. Not hysterical laughing, like the reality of the situation finally broke his mind, but the as if he just pulled a prank on someone.

“What do you find so amusing,” the crystalline alicorn asked as it became enraged as the Doctor continued to laugh. “YOU WILL ANSWER ME!”

The Doctor began to calm down as he looked the crystalline alicorn dead in the eyes and said, “You know, the one good thing about being a changeling-“ the Doctor burst in to green flames, leaving behind Lucky Clover standing in his place “-is that we can be in two places at once.”

The crystalline alicorn’s eyes grew wide, before hearing a whistle behind it. It snapped its head as quickly as it could as it saw the real Doctor flip a switch, causing the crystalline alicorn to double over in pain. The Doctor took a quick look around, seeing the rest of the crystalline ponies starting to fall apart.

“HOW?” the crystalline alicorn screamed as it started to fall apart as well.

“Well, it was all very simple really,” the Doctor began as he made his way over to where Vinyl, Octavia and Lucky Clover were standing. “You see…”

Lucky Clover followed the Doctor behind a nearby boulder, as he became curious and worried about what the Doctor could possibly want. Before he could ask anything, the Doctor grabbed Lucky Clover by the shoulders and said, “I need you to be me.”

Lucky Clover stood completely still as he processed what the Doctor said. “You want me to do what?”

“I want you to be me,” the Doctor said once more as he removed his hooves off of Lucky Clover’s shoulders. “Just temporarily.”

Lucky Clover shook his head before saying, “Okay, first, I know nothing about you or your personality, so acting like you would be almost impossible. Second, if, and this is a big if, I am even able to do a passable copy of you, what will you be doing.”

“Okay, for the first part of your question, I was hoping we could use something similar to the hives link,” the Doctor said causing Lucky Clover’s eyes grow big. “As for your second question, while your being me, I will have a look around and try to figure out how to save the world. Any questions?”

Lucky Clover stood there his eyes wide before shaking his head and said, “I only have one question, are you insane?” This caused the Doctor to tilt his head a bit as Lucky Clover continued. “That sounds like the most convoluted plan that I ever heard. Linking two normal changelings together like that is impossible without a queen present to do it.”

“Well it's a good thing that I'm not a normal changeling now am I?” the Doctor said as he stopped smiling and turned serious. “This is our best chance, and the sooner we are able to put a stop to all of this the better.”

Lucky Clover sat down as he processed what was said. The Doctor was right for the most part, as stopping the cause of the invasion quickly would be the best option. The only thing he was unsure about was the Doctor himself. What if he was a part of this invasion somehow and he was leading them in to a trap?

“Clover,” the Doctor began as he shook Lucky Clover out of his thoughts, “are you in or out?”

Lucky Clover sighed. “Alright I’ll do it but…”

Before Lucky Clover could finish his sentence, the Doctor touched his horn to Clover’s as a slight spark jumped between them. Lucky Clover jumped back and hissed in pain as he felt his head ache like he took a hammer to the skull. He could hear a muffled voice coming from somewhere, but he couldn't make out what was being said. Lucky shook his head as the throbbing in his head started to go away.

“Testing, testing, Lucky, can you hear me?”

Lucky Clover groaned as he looked up and saw the Doctor standing there looking closely at him with a worried look on his face. He stared at the Doctor for a good three seconds before punching him hard in the nose.

“Ow, what was that for.”

Lucky Clover groaned as he stood back up before saying, “THAT was for not giving me a heads up about what you were going to do.”

“Well, you didn't need to hit me.”

“Well, you…” Lucky Clover began before he stopped with his mouth hanging open. He worked his jaw a few time before words started to come out. “You’re not moving your mouth.”

“Nope,” the Doctor’s voice sounded in Lucky Clovers head, causing his eyes to go wide in realization.

“How did you do that?” Lucky Clover asked in bewilderment.

“The Queen showed me when we linked minds back at the hive,” the Doctor said with great enthusiasm. “Unfortunately, the spell was too complex to make it two-way so I made it a one-way. Now I can relay what you need to say while being me, whilst I tinker with the machinery in there. Now, let's see your best impression of me.”

“I still don't think you got my left eye right,” the Doctor said causing Lucky Clover to roll his eyes. “The rest was quite easy, the queen also implanted in my mind all of her knowledge of changeling biology and magic, including how to mask my life signs and make myself invisible.”

“That was incredibly lucky that she did that for you,” Octavia asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well she seemed to know me well before I knew her so we probably met before,” the Doctor replied, confusing Octavia, Vinyl and Lucky Clover as to what he meant by that.

“The rest was mostly thanks to my trusty sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor said as he looked directly at the crystalline alicorn.

“Um Doctor?” Octavia said as she tapped him on the shoulder.

“I just deactivated a few consoles, rewired a few signal receivers, and made it so you’re absorbing every living beings thought at once,” the Doctor said as he glared at the crystalline alicorn with a victorious smile on his face.

“Doctor,” Octavia said as she tapped a bit harder on the Doctors shoulder.

“One minute Octavia,” the Doctor said as he continued his speech, “How does it feel to have every single mind forced down your throat, huh?! Not so confident now are we?!”

“DOCTOR!” Octavia yelled as she yanked his head and turned it down to a nearby console. The console was currently flashing red letters that said “overload imminent” on the screen. The Doctors eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

“So, I was saying,” the Doctor said as he started pushing Octavia, Vinyl and Lucky Clover towards the nearest exit, “it was lovely talking to you, but we have to run if we're going to make it to our scheduled seven o’clock tea time, if you don't mind we’ll be going now.”

The group began to run towards the entrance in which they came before a large crystalline tentacle whipped out and smashed the top of the tunnel, causing it to cave in. The ponies and changelings turned to see the tentacle retract back in to the crumbling crystalline alicorn as it began to laugh. “If we burn, then you shall burn with us.”

Octavia, Vinyl, Lucky Clover and the Doctor ran over to the pile of rocks blocking their exit as they desperately began to dig at them. Octavia was able to knock a large piece of rock out of the way, only for a larger piece of crystal to topple down in its place. Panting, Octavia sat down as she saw how futile their attempts were. “It's no use, it's too thick.”

The Doctor looked around the room before quickly running over to one of the nearby consoles that wasn't currently on fire and began pressing furiously at the buttons. “All right baby, it's now or never.”

The Doctor just finished his task when a large piece of rock from the ceiling broke off and crashed in to the console, causing it to explode and fling the Doctor backwards. Lucky Clover flew forwards and was able to catch the Doctor before he landed in a pile of jagged rocks. Octavia and Vinyl quickly ran over to where Lucky Clover and the Doctor had landed, the two of them steadily getting back to their hooves.

“Okay, everyone get ready to run,” the Doctor called out as a large gust of wind picked up out of nowhere, followed by a quiet whooshing sound that steadily got louder and louder. Slowly a large blue box began to materialize a few yards away from the group.

“RUN!” the Doctor yelled running to the box, shaking Octavia, Vinyl and Lucky Clover out of their stupor and run after the Doctor. The Doctor reached the doors of the box first and flung them open as he quickly ushered them in. The Doctor was just about to run in to the box as well, when a loud roar from the crystalline alicorn made him stop and look at it.

“DOCTOR!” the crystalline alicorn yelled as its form began to crack and fall apart, “YOU MAY HAVE DEFEATED ME, BUT THERE IS A WAR COMING, AND NOT EVEN YOU AND YOUR COMPANIONS WILL BE ABLE TO HELP YOU STOP IT!”

“You may not think much of these ponies,” the Doctor began as he grinned with confidence, “but they are a lot stronger than you think.” The Doctors smile faded as the crystalline alicorn began laughing. It was a sickening cackle that chilled the Doctor to the bone.

“You think that I speak of the worthless fools with you,” the crystalline alicorn cackled before it's voice grew ominous. “No, I speak of the others like you, the ones who have come to this world and have taken refuge with creatures inferior to them.”

“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked curiously.

“One is already here,” the crystalline alicorn spoke, its body cracking even more as it began to glow brighter and brighter, “a mare of war and science, clad in armor and frozen in time. She had been awakened and destiny will have you two meet.”

“Well, I guess I won't keep destiny waiting then,” the Doctor said as he walked in to the box, shutting the door behind him. A whooshing sound came from the box as it slowly started to dematerialize before fading completely.

The crystalline alicorn watched the box fade as it started laughing to itself. “My body may be destroyed but my soul shall live on.”

The crystalline alicorn shuddered for a moment before its body exploded, the shock wave causing the cavern to collapse in on it. After the dust settled, there was nothing left, no trace of the crystalline ponies or the machines that they had built

Just dust and echoes.

Author's Note

the end of this chapter contains a hint at what I'm planning on doing next. Those who get the reference will get a cookie

Chapter Eight: Home Sweet Home

Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing

Octavia was at a loss of words for what she was now observing. Granted, a mad Changeling that came out of a blue box that fell out of the sky, that then proceeded to take her and her roommate on a wild adventure to the changeling hive and then proceeded to save all of Canterlot. She'd thought that nothing else would've surprised her at that point. She was dead wrong, for what she saw defined all laws of physics.

The Doctor stared at her with a big fanged grin on his face. “Soooooo, what do you think?”

“I-i-it’s… it’s… it's...” she collected her jaw off the floor as an explanation dawned on her. “This is the most advanced form of magic that I've ever seen!”

This time the Doctors jaw hit the floor. “What?!” This reaction drew a collective chuckle from the other two passengers within the box.

“Well, it is a unique form of spatial manipulation that I've seen. Most use it to expand their saddle bags carrying space,” Octavia said as she proceeded to look around.

The configuration was unique as the whole room seemed to be the inside of a big sphere, a central glass-like floor set in the middle of it all. In the middle was a central pillar with some form of mechanism inside of it. Around the pillar was a series of floating consoles with numerous buttons, levers and switches. Along the walls of the room, hexagonal shaped panels shined a soft, light-blue light over the entire room, accentuating the translucent green struts along the walls. Overall, the designed looked like the culmination of changeling architecture, technology and magic, all rolled in to one.

“When did you build all this,” Octavia asked.

“I didn't, the TARDIS must’ve reconfigured the desktop,” The Doctor replied.

“Well, I hope to meet this mister Tardis one day,” Octavia said as she looked over the console.

“You already have,” he replied.

“Have what,” she asked still looking around the room.

“Met them,” he said with a large grin.

“Met who,” Octavia asked, now turning to look at the Doctor.

“The TARDIS,” he said as his grin seemed to become larger.

“I did,” Octavia asked with slight confusion.

“Yes you did,” he replied as he walked over to the console.

“When,” she asked even more confused, thinking over all the ponies that she met today. Before the Doctor had a chance to respond how ever, Vinyl put up a hoof and turned to Octavia, going through various hoof motions. As Octavia watched, her sense of confusion vanished as it was replaced by one of understanding before saying, “Oooooh, so the TARDIS is the box, why didn't you just say that?”

The Doctor stood there for a moment, posed to respond before shaking his head, deciding it best to leave it be and switching topics.

“You know, you two are taking this a lot better than some of the others that I bring along”, he said with a slight grin.

Octavia shrugged as she said, “In ponyville, you see a lot of weird things”.

The Doctor chuckled before turning to the center console. “Well, I could probably top what ever you've seen in ponyville if you'd like to tag along.”

Octavia and Vinyl paused for a moment before looking at each other. Certainly today has been interesting, discovering things that they never thought possible, but that happened every other day for them. Now this weird Changeling was actually offering to one up what they've already seen. The possibilities scared them, to the point that they wanted to say no.

“I'm in”, Lucky Clover said as he stepped forward. “Honestly, I've been looking for a little more adventure in my life.”

Octavia was baffled by this. “But what about our friends? If we just up and leave them-“ She was cut off by the Doctor laughing.

“My dear Octopie, the TARDIS is not simply a space ship, it's a time machine as well. We could be gone for a year and I'd be able to bring you back the same day that you left”, the Doctor said with a proud smile.

“First off, my name is Octavia. Secondly, I'm still unsure about all this,” Octavia said as she shuffled her hooves. “It's asking a lot for us to just up and go with you, a pony that we barely even know.”

The Doctor sat for a bit, rubbing a hoof against his chin. He pondered for a moment, as usually his companions often didn't question things like that. They either came with him or they didn't. Then a thought struck him that was so crazy, and possibly boring, that it just might be the thing to finally relieve him of his boredom.

“Then how about you don't stay with me-“ he said, standing, a proud smile on his face, “- but I stay with you instead!”

Octavia was a loss for words yet again. “What?! Are you mad?! It's already bad enough with Vinyl, no offense-“ Vinyl responding with a big grin, “- But you want to stay with us?! No, no, no!”

“Well, I either stay with you or I crash with Lucky here”, the Doctor retorted.

“Whoa, hey, I agreed to come with you, I never agreed to get a new house guest”, Lucky Clover quickly responded.

“Look, I wouldn't even be in the house. I'd be right in here in the TARDIS if you two ever needed me”, The Doctor said with a smile.

At that moment, the TARDIS shook heavily, throwing the occupants from side to side as it accelerated to its destination. It quickly landed and opened up its front door before changing the gravity inside. To everyone else, it felt as if the TARDIS had landed on its side as the struggled to find anything to hang on to to keep from falling. Octavia grabbed on to the railing as she screamed for help. A falling Vinyl grabbed her tail with her teeth as she hung on for dear life. It seemed as if they might just make it, if it weren't for the two flailing changelings knocking in to them, causing Octavia to loose her grip and for them to be dumped in to a pile outside the blue box. With them out, the TARDIS closed its doors and locked them, a sign on the front reading “out of order”.

The Doctor quickly got up as he ran to the TARDIS. “No! Don't kick me out! I don't want to live domestic”, he whined as he banged on the doors.

The rest of the group untangled themselves as Octavia stood slowly and said, “Well, I guess he's rooming with you Lucky.”

Lucky Clover’s eyes went wide before he smiled awkwardly. “You know, I would be all for that, but I got a guy coming over soon to do a thing at my house so-“ and with that he teleported out.

Octavia stood there dumbfounded before looking around, and discovering that they were in the backyard of her’s and Vinyl’s house. She looked to Vinyl who shrugged and trotted to the house as if nothing weird happened at all. She finally looked back at the Doctor who had trotted up to her. She felt a sense of dread wash over her.

“So, I'm locked out of my TARDIS, and I have no place to go so… “ The Doctor looked at her with a hopeful smile.

Octavia mentally kicked herself as she sighed and said, “fine, you can stay with us-“ she raised her hoof to stop his momentary celebration before continuing, “but I have some ground rules.”

With that the Doctor started multitasking, listening her go through these “rules” while his mind wandered. He wasn't about to admit it out loud, but he was actually a bit excited to be in one place for a bit. Not because his boredom would finally be alleviated, but he’d be exploring a strange new civilization without even going anywhere. With humans, he had already learned most of what they were about, but here, there was a slight familiarity, but everything was also fresh and new. Not to mention, he was curious as to how far the hilarity of the horse related pun names extended to. Regardless, it was the first time in a long time that he genuinely felt excited about something.

He looked at Octavia as he felt her tapping him in the chest. His mind must've wandered more than he liked, since he didn't remember any of the other rules after the first one, and even that he barely remembered. ‘Oh well, she'll remind me of them later’, he thought to himself.

“Now, please try to follow those rules, and I won't have to buy a new cello”, she said with a smirk

“Why would you need a new-“ she gave him a ‘you know why’ look as realization struck him. “-ooooooh, yes, that would be unfortunate for both parties.”

Octavia smiled as she started back towards the house. “Now, you set the table while I start dinner.” He smile faded as she heard him groan behind her. “Or you could stay out here beside your locked blue box and not get anything to eat.”

“It'll be the best set table that you've ever seen”, he exclaimed as he trotted inside the house.

Octavia sighed as she chuckled, figuring that this was just the beginning of… something. She wasn't quite sure what it was going to be, but she could tell that she'd better stock up on medicines to help her headaches.

She adjusted her attire for what felt like the fifth time since she'd been standing at the large looming door that stood in front of her, as she observed the crescent moon that was emblazoned on the front of it. She could feel a twinge of anticipation, after all it wasn't often that she sought the guidance of the princess.

Being put in charge of an entire scientific department wasn't her idea of adventure, but the fruits from their endeavors did pay the bills. Never once did she think that something would actually come from it.

The grand doors swung outward as a voice came from inside the dark room. “You may enter”.

With a heavy sigh, she straightened her posture as she walked inside, her bat like wings ruffling were the only thing expressing her nervousness.

The room was round, with various paintings on the walls, and a balcony opposite of her. To her left sat a fire place in the wall with a round table and two chairs sitting in front of it. A chessboard sat on top of the table, the pieces set in their starting positions. To her right sat a chest of drawers with a mirror on top of it, just slightly left of that was a archway that lead to the wash room. On the wall just left of the entrance to the balcony, was a wall covered in letters, all coming from different ponies, each one a reminder of the princess importance, as well as letting her know that there were those that valued her. In the center of the room sat a round bed, the sheets shimmering as if they were once a part of the night sky.

The doors behind her closed, as Princess Luna stepped out of the shadows and said, “you bring news, yes?”

“Yes princess, the lab detected the energy signature that you specified”, she said as she watched the princesses movements. “It appeared first in Ponyville, then again in Canterlot, before returning back to Ponyville.”

Luna stood in front of her, her gazed fixed solely on her. “Then I hope you know of your next task, Director Midnight Fury.”

Midnight Fury nodded, as she stood straight and said, “Yes ma'am, and of the other recruit? We have no idea what to expect from such a pony. It's a miracle that she's even survived what she went through.”

Luna waved a hoof and said, “I shall deal with her. You have your assignment director.”

Midnight nodded as she turned to leave.

“And Director-“ Luna called out, causing Midnight to stop mid stride and look back. “- You look good with that eye patch.”

“Thank you princess”, she responded, adjusting the patch slightly before walking out, a slight smile on her face.