Doctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sistersby Gandalf158ChaptersPrologueVeniVidiPrologue "200 years it is, then! Allons-y!" He flipped one more lever, and they were off… Sparks flew in the TARDIS control room as she spun wildly in the Time Vortex. The three occupants grabbed on to anything they could to avoid being thrown around the large, open space. The Doctor was laughing, and the two mares he had brought with him were screaming as lights flashed, monitors filled the room with smoke, and control panels sparked and fizzled. “DOCTOR! WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Octavia shouted above the din. “I FORGOT, THIS IS A NEW UNIVERSE, THE TARDIS HAS NO REFERENCE POINTS HERE!” “AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?” Vinyl shouted as she tried to hold onto both her purple sunglasses and the railing at the same time. “WELL, TO PUT IT SIMPLY, IT MEANS THAT WE’RE FLYING BLIND TO WHEREVER THE COORDINATES I PUT IN TAKE US!” he said, “AND WHERE WOULD THAT BE?” “I HAVE NO IDEA!” “WHAT?!?” the two mares cried. “I GUESS WE’LL FIND OUT WHEN WE-” The entire room jolted to the left and came to a sudden stop. Doctor Whooves: Tale of Two Sisters By: Gandalf158 Prologue The Doctor stood up and moved off to the main control panel and looked at the myriad displays and the multiple warning messages on them. He tapped a few buttons and turned to face his companions who were also picking themselves up off the ground and walking over to him. “Is everyone okay?” he asked them. “A little shaken up, but otherwise okay, I suppose.” Octavia said, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face. Vinyl situated her glasses and nodded at the Doctor. He let out a sigh of relief and looked back at the console one more time. “Well, unfortunately, we aren’t going anywhere for a while, that trip took a lot out of her, and now she needs to rest and build some reference points for this universe, so it looks like we have time to explore wherever and whenever we are right now.” “So, you’re just gonna go out there? With no idea where or even when you are?” Octavia asked, looking a little pensive. “Well, better than sitting here the whole time. Come on, Tavi, think of it as an adventure!” Vinyl said. Vinyl and the Doctor stepped toward the door and he threw it open, the two of them stepping out onto the grass. They turned and gestured for Octavia to follow. She considered it for a moment, groaned, and finally trotted after them. She stepped out into a field of grass and flowers. Near to the east, there was a forest, but luckily not the Everfree Forest. Off a distance to the west was a large, walled town on a hill, blocking their view further west. Octavia was still a little skittish, but she decided to push that to the side. “Well, here we go, I suppose. Where to, Doctor?” “First things first, we need to find out where and more importantly when this place is. Which one of you knows more about Equestrian history?” “That’d be Tavi, I slept through history in high school.” Vinyl said. “Well, this is a long shot, but, do you happen to know where we are?” the Doctor asked, a hopeful look in his eye. “Well, no. Though, at a guess, I’d say we’re somewhere close to Baltimare, though.” she said, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. The Doctor stepped over to the TARDIS and locked the door. “Well, I suppose we should go and investigate that city then, they’ll probably have some answers for us there.” he said. The trio turned to walk to the city, but somepony behind them shouted “HALT!” They wheeled to see four soldiers in full plate armor with a stylized logo of the sun on it and spears pointed at them. “Identify yourselves!” the leader of the group shouted, bringing his spear closer to the Doctor’s neck... VeniDoctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sisters By: Gandalf158 Chapter 1: Veni “Identify yourself!” the soldier said again. The Doctor thought to himself how much he missed pockets and the psychic paper he kept in said pockets. The soldiers took a step forward, spears at the ready, as the Doctor cleared his throat. Without a better option, he decided to go all in, “I’m the Doctor, those two are Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch, the blue box over there is the TARDIS, and all three of us are visitors from the future who got a little lost on our way to a Beethoven concert in Canterlot.” “Beethooven.” Octavia corrected, unsure of what the plan was. “What she said.” the Doctor said. The guards turned and spoke to one another before turning back to look at the Doctor and company. They regarded them warily, as if discerning whether or not they were a threat. The leader of the soldiers finally broke the silence a few seconds later. “Come with us, her Majesty, Princess Celestia is expecting you, Doctor.” he and turned and ordered his soldiers back to camp. “Expecting you? How could she be expecting you?” Vinyl asked, looking very confused at the new turn of events. “Well, there are a few different explanations,” he started as they followed the soldiers, “The most likely is that sometime in my future, I go back further into the past and meet Princess Celestia and for some reason tell her about us being here now, in her future, but my past. Another possibility is that Princess Celestia is also a time-traveller, in which case she goes further into my future, meets me, I tell her that I’ve met her before and she comes back here to meet me again. It could also be-” “Okay, my head’s starting to hurt. Why does time travel have to be so confusing?” Vinyl said, cutting off the Doctor. “Well, if it were simple, everyone would do it.” he replied. They had arrived at what looked to the two mares like a large, communal campground, but the Doctor knew exactly what this place was, with it’s large, long tents, armored soldiers, and hastily thrown up watchtowers. This was a military outpost. “Just when I’d thought I might have seen an end to war.” “We have arrived. The Princess is inside, she’d like to speak to you and your companions.” he gestured to the large, regal tent they had arrived at. Inside the tent were more guards, along with a few unicorns in fancier, more ornate looking armor surrounding a large white wingy-unicorn (or was it horned-pegasus, the Doctor asked himself) in a set of golden armor inlaid with what looked like mother-of-pearl with the same sun motif as the rest of the soldiers sitting on a portable throne. Princess Celestia smiled when she saw the Doctor, as if he were a long-lost friend. Octavia and Vinyl both bowed in the presence of their princess, but the Doctor remained standing, waiting expectantly for her to say something. He didn’t have to wait long. “Rise, my little ponies.” the two mares stood up, “Doctor, I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am to see you again.” “And it’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness.” he said, doing his best to bow, but ending up flat on his face. “If I might ask, how did you know to expect me?” he asked when he got back to his hooves. “You told me you’d be here. Or, you will tell me you’d be here sometime in your future.” “I was right! It was the first option! Now, what can I help you with, your Highness?” he asked. “Well, I suppose that I should explain the current situation. First off, to tell you where, and more importantly, when you are. This is approximately one thousand years before you meet Octavia and Vinyl in Canterlot. As for where, the castle you saw on your way here will come to be known as the ‘Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, on the edge of the Everfree Forest .” Octavia gasped slightly, “And you’re here to banish Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony!” “Yes, the final battle between my sister and I is fast approaching.” she said, dropping her eyes in sadness. “I beg your pardon, Princess, but what does this have to do with us?” The Princess smiled and laughed, “Doctor, there’s something you need to see. My court wizard will take you to the site of the crash.” “Crash?” the Doctor asked as a robed purple unicorn stepped out of the shadows. “If you’ll follow me, Doctor, all your questions will be answered.” the young unicorn said. “Well, I doubt you could answer all my questions, but the more pressing ones, I suppose.” the Doctor said. The wizard walked out of the tent, the trio of time travellers following him. He set to walking a path back towards the forest. While they were walking, the Doctor turned to look at his two companions. “So, can one of you two give me a little history lesson about this place?” Octavia cleared her throat, “Well, a thousand years ago, Princess Celestia’s younger sister, Princess Luna started a rebellion as ‘Nightmare Moon’. Princess Celestia was forced to fight back, or lose the nation to darkness. The army back there is probably on their way to reclaim the castle from her and banish her to the moon.” “They’re going to banish her to the moon?!” the Doctor exclaimed, “Isn’t that a little dangerous to her health?” “Maybe if she were a normal pony, but Princess Luna is the goddess of the moon.” the Doctor decided that if she wasn’t worried about it, it couldn’t end too badly. He turned his attention to the purple unicorn that was leading them...somewhere. “And who, praytell, might you be?” he asked him. “I am Starswirl, court wizard to Her Majesty, Princess Celestia.” he replied gruffly. “And your duties as court wizard, what are they?” “To advise Her Majesty in all matters arcane. We have arrived.” he said as he stopped on the edge of a large crater. “It’s beautiful…” Octavia said. “What is it?” Vinyl asked. In the center of the crater was a large, black crystalline rock, halfway embedded in the ground. The four ponies carefully made their way down into the crater to get a closer look, and the closer they got, the more they could feel a pulsing energy coming off of it. “This, Doctor, is the ‘Obelisk of the Night’.” Starswirl said, gesturing to the object... VidiAuthor's Note Still a little iffy about this chapter, I might rewrite it soon, but here it is as it currently stands. Please leave any comments, questions, or concerns in a comment here, on my user page, or even just a PM. Thank you for your time. ~Gandalf158 Vidi Doctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sisters By: Gandalf158 Chapter 2: Vidi The Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of his mane and began to scan the ‘Obelisk’ thoroughly. Several things about the scan’s results confused the Doctor, first of all, the rock was ancient; billions of years old at least. Secondly, it wasn’t halfway embedded, so much as halfway excavated, it had crashed here thousands of years in the past, but only seemed to have been discovered recently. It was also giving off a strange, pervasive energy field that the Doctor couldn’t recognize. “Wha’ ‘o you ‘ow ‘bout ‘is?” the Doctor mumbled around his screwdriver. “What?” He pulled it out of his mouth (how hooves could be that dextrous, the Doctor was convinced he’d never know). “What do you know about this?” he asked, looking at Octavia. “Nothing, I’ve never even heard of it before.” the Doctor’s gaze passed to the court wizard. “What about you, Nightspin?” “Starswirl. And, I regret to say, not very much. All we know is that Princess Luna had mentioned seeing it in a vision, and went to investigate it. Unfortunately, that’s the extent of our knowledge. But, now that I’ve come close to it, I can tell you that it is permeated with some type of dark magic...but I’m not sure as to what could be causing it, nor what exactly that magic is.” “Hmm. I can’t even tell what it’s made out of, some material the Sonic doesn’t even recognize…” “Maybe you don’t have it in your dimension...like what if it’s unique to ours?” Vinyl suggested. “I suppose it’s possible, but that doesn’t exactly help me.” he took a step forward and reached out a hoof, “I wonder, did it fall here by chance, or was it-” everything went black. Suddenly, the world returned, but it was as if the Doctor was looking at it through a cracked, cloudy lens. All around him was a beautiful city made of obsidian, full of massive towers and sweeping bridges. Half the city’s architecture seemed gothic in style, and the other half was every bit as sleek and sophisticated as any city on Gallifrey. It was populated too, but by a strange race of ponies with bat wings. The Doctor walked around the city, but no one seemed to notice him. What was troubling him was how much he wanted to see this city in it’s full glory; it was like a tug on his hearts that he couldn’t resist. It was then the whispers started… “What is this? A visitor...whence does this one come?” some...thing hissed in his ear. The Doctor wheeled around, but there was nothing behind him. “Another world, another life. He comes serving the light, but carries within him a darkness…” “Where are you? What are you?” “A war, centuries past, a war against Time itself… And at its height, the Healer becomes a Warrior, one wielding a terrible weapon…” he felt the voices pulling at him, trying to break him. The Doctor folded his ears flat to his head and covered them, trying to keep the voices out. “Get out of my head!” “So many friends lost, how many more will fall before the end?” “GET OUT!” he shouted, “GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!” the world began to swirl away… “How many, Doctor, how many have you killed?” “I TRIED, OKAY? I DID MY BEST, BUT I COULDN’T SAVE THEM! WHAT OTHER CHOICE DID I HAVE?” he shouted as he collapsed backwards from the stone. “Doctor! Are you okay?” Octavia shouted as she and Vinyl rushed forward. “Don’t touch it! Stay back!” he shouted, putting his hoof out to keep them back before standing up shakily. “What did you see, Doctor?” Starswirl asked.’ “A city, a dark city. It was beautiful, and filled with bat-pony hybrids...but there was something there, some...creature that was inside of my head. I’d rather not talk about that. But I think I know what’s happening…” “...Well. Don’t keep us in suspense, what’s happening?” “Princess Luna is in trouble...I need to speak to Princess Celestia, now.” Starswirl nodded once, turned around, and began trotting off. The four ponies climbed out of the crater, and started on the path back to camp. The troops were starting to look tense, the Doctor sensed the battle was about to start, and that his time was short. He raced into the royal tent, his two companions and court wizard in tow. Guards immediately readied their weapons, but Starswirl managed to stop them from attacking him with a glance. “Your Majesty, I apologize for the interruption, but some new information has come to light…” the purple mage said. “What is it, Doctor? What have you learned?” “If I might ask, has Princess Luna suffered a great loss recently?” Celestia cringed and hesitated before finally answering, “Yes. Three hundred years ago, her love was murdered in his home.” “And she blamed herself, didn’t she?” “Yes, she always felt that he was killed because of his love for her...she hardly left the castle for five decades after that, and she was never the same again. What does this have to do with the situation at hand, Doctor?” “Princess Luna has been possessed by an incredibly powerful psychic being...one that uses guilt to gain control of its victims.” he said, “Nothing that she’s done is her fault.” “What do we do? How can we help her?” The Doctor thought it over. He realized he had no idea how to help. Suddenly he turned and looked at Octavia. “You said that this battle ends in Princess Luna’s banishment, yes?” “Yes, Princess Celestia uses the Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon for a thousand years.” “Then that’s what you have to do. Use these ‘Elements of Harmony’ to send her away.” “How would sending her away for a thousand years help her?” Celestia asked, on the verge of hysterics. “Because that’s what you do. Send her away, so that in a thousand years, Twilight Sparkle and her friends will purge Nightmare Moon from her.” Octavia said. Celestia looked like she was about to cry, but quickly regained her composure. “Very well, I will send her to the moon.” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “But first, I’d like to speak with her.” the Doctor said, “I’d like to learn a little bit about this creature before it is destroyed. Also, there’s a big, black rock in the middle of the forest that you’ll need to make sure is buried. Oh, be sure not to touch it.” he said as he made a break for the flap of the tent. Vinyl and Octavia followed after him, “Where are we going?” Vinyl asked. “To the TARDIS, I need to speak to this ‘Nightmare’ before Celestia banishes her. “Why? What’s so important about this?” “It said something to me when I touched that rock, I need to know what it meant!” As they came close to the TARDIS, the Doctor got out the screwdriver and unlocked, not missing a beat as he jumped through the open door, tapped a few buttons, and smiled. A few more keystrokes and a lever flip later, and the TARDIS wheezed as it took flight. “That’s better, no more crashing for us.” it wheezed again as it rematerialized, “Well, now to go and meet this Nightmare Moon.” he said hesitantly, standing in front of the TARDIS’s doors. Finally, he pushed them open and stepped out into an opulent throne room with a sole occupant, a large, black wingacorn (he really needed to learn the proper term for these things) with glowing, turquoise eyes with slitted pupils, and dressed in full indigo and chrome armor. She regarded the sudden arrivals with suspicion and anger. “WHO DARES ENTER THE THRONE ROOM OF NIGHTMARE MOON UNANNOUNCED?!?” it shouted in a voice that would put thunder to shame. “I am the Doctor, and you and I need to have a little chat…”
Prologue "200 years it is, then! Allons-y!" He flipped one more lever, and they were off… Sparks flew in the TARDIS control room as she spun wildly in the Time Vortex. The three occupants grabbed on to anything they could to avoid being thrown around the large, open space. The Doctor was laughing, and the two mares he had brought with him were screaming as lights flashed, monitors filled the room with smoke, and control panels sparked and fizzled. “DOCTOR! WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Octavia shouted above the din. “I FORGOT, THIS IS A NEW UNIVERSE, THE TARDIS HAS NO REFERENCE POINTS HERE!” “AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?” Vinyl shouted as she tried to hold onto both her purple sunglasses and the railing at the same time. “WELL, TO PUT IT SIMPLY, IT MEANS THAT WE’RE FLYING BLIND TO WHEREVER THE COORDINATES I PUT IN TAKE US!” he said, “AND WHERE WOULD THAT BE?” “I HAVE NO IDEA!” “WHAT?!?” the two mares cried. “I GUESS WE’LL FIND OUT WHEN WE-” The entire room jolted to the left and came to a sudden stop. Doctor Whooves: Tale of Two Sisters By: Gandalf158 Prologue The Doctor stood up and moved off to the main control panel and looked at the myriad displays and the multiple warning messages on them. He tapped a few buttons and turned to face his companions who were also picking themselves up off the ground and walking over to him. “Is everyone okay?” he asked them. “A little shaken up, but otherwise okay, I suppose.” Octavia said, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face. Vinyl situated her glasses and nodded at the Doctor. He let out a sigh of relief and looked back at the console one more time. “Well, unfortunately, we aren’t going anywhere for a while, that trip took a lot out of her, and now she needs to rest and build some reference points for this universe, so it looks like we have time to explore wherever and whenever we are right now.” “So, you’re just gonna go out there? With no idea where or even when you are?” Octavia asked, looking a little pensive. “Well, better than sitting here the whole time. Come on, Tavi, think of it as an adventure!” Vinyl said. Vinyl and the Doctor stepped toward the door and he threw it open, the two of them stepping out onto the grass. They turned and gestured for Octavia to follow. She considered it for a moment, groaned, and finally trotted after them. She stepped out into a field of grass and flowers. Near to the east, there was a forest, but luckily not the Everfree Forest. Off a distance to the west was a large, walled town on a hill, blocking their view further west. Octavia was still a little skittish, but she decided to push that to the side. “Well, here we go, I suppose. Where to, Doctor?” “First things first, we need to find out where and more importantly when this place is. Which one of you knows more about Equestrian history?” “That’d be Tavi, I slept through history in high school.” Vinyl said. “Well, this is a long shot, but, do you happen to know where we are?” the Doctor asked, a hopeful look in his eye. “Well, no. Though, at a guess, I’d say we’re somewhere close to Baltimare, though.” she said, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. The Doctor stepped over to the TARDIS and locked the door. “Well, I suppose we should go and investigate that city then, they’ll probably have some answers for us there.” he said. The trio turned to walk to the city, but somepony behind them shouted “HALT!” They wheeled to see four soldiers in full plate armor with a stylized logo of the sun on it and spears pointed at them. “Identify yourselves!” the leader of the group shouted, bringing his spear closer to the Doctor’s neck...
VeniDoctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sisters By: Gandalf158 Chapter 1: Veni “Identify yourself!” the soldier said again. The Doctor thought to himself how much he missed pockets and the psychic paper he kept in said pockets. The soldiers took a step forward, spears at the ready, as the Doctor cleared his throat. Without a better option, he decided to go all in, “I’m the Doctor, those two are Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch, the blue box over there is the TARDIS, and all three of us are visitors from the future who got a little lost on our way to a Beethoven concert in Canterlot.” “Beethooven.” Octavia corrected, unsure of what the plan was. “What she said.” the Doctor said. The guards turned and spoke to one another before turning back to look at the Doctor and company. They regarded them warily, as if discerning whether or not they were a threat. The leader of the soldiers finally broke the silence a few seconds later. “Come with us, her Majesty, Princess Celestia is expecting you, Doctor.” he and turned and ordered his soldiers back to camp. “Expecting you? How could she be expecting you?” Vinyl asked, looking very confused at the new turn of events. “Well, there are a few different explanations,” he started as they followed the soldiers, “The most likely is that sometime in my future, I go back further into the past and meet Princess Celestia and for some reason tell her about us being here now, in her future, but my past. Another possibility is that Princess Celestia is also a time-traveller, in which case she goes further into my future, meets me, I tell her that I’ve met her before and she comes back here to meet me again. It could also be-” “Okay, my head’s starting to hurt. Why does time travel have to be so confusing?” Vinyl said, cutting off the Doctor. “Well, if it were simple, everyone would do it.” he replied. They had arrived at what looked to the two mares like a large, communal campground, but the Doctor knew exactly what this place was, with it’s large, long tents, armored soldiers, and hastily thrown up watchtowers. This was a military outpost. “Just when I’d thought I might have seen an end to war.” “We have arrived. The Princess is inside, she’d like to speak to you and your companions.” he gestured to the large, regal tent they had arrived at. Inside the tent were more guards, along with a few unicorns in fancier, more ornate looking armor surrounding a large white wingy-unicorn (or was it horned-pegasus, the Doctor asked himself) in a set of golden armor inlaid with what looked like mother-of-pearl with the same sun motif as the rest of the soldiers sitting on a portable throne. Princess Celestia smiled when she saw the Doctor, as if he were a long-lost friend. Octavia and Vinyl both bowed in the presence of their princess, but the Doctor remained standing, waiting expectantly for her to say something. He didn’t have to wait long. “Rise, my little ponies.” the two mares stood up, “Doctor, I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am to see you again.” “And it’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness.” he said, doing his best to bow, but ending up flat on his face. “If I might ask, how did you know to expect me?” he asked when he got back to his hooves. “You told me you’d be here. Or, you will tell me you’d be here sometime in your future.” “I was right! It was the first option! Now, what can I help you with, your Highness?” he asked. “Well, I suppose that I should explain the current situation. First off, to tell you where, and more importantly, when you are. This is approximately one thousand years before you meet Octavia and Vinyl in Canterlot. As for where, the castle you saw on your way here will come to be known as the ‘Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, on the edge of the Everfree Forest .” Octavia gasped slightly, “And you’re here to banish Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony!” “Yes, the final battle between my sister and I is fast approaching.” she said, dropping her eyes in sadness. “I beg your pardon, Princess, but what does this have to do with us?” The Princess smiled and laughed, “Doctor, there’s something you need to see. My court wizard will take you to the site of the crash.” “Crash?” the Doctor asked as a robed purple unicorn stepped out of the shadows. “If you’ll follow me, Doctor, all your questions will be answered.” the young unicorn said. “Well, I doubt you could answer all my questions, but the more pressing ones, I suppose.” the Doctor said. The wizard walked out of the tent, the trio of time travellers following him. He set to walking a path back towards the forest. While they were walking, the Doctor turned to look at his two companions. “So, can one of you two give me a little history lesson about this place?” Octavia cleared her throat, “Well, a thousand years ago, Princess Celestia’s younger sister, Princess Luna started a rebellion as ‘Nightmare Moon’. Princess Celestia was forced to fight back, or lose the nation to darkness. The army back there is probably on their way to reclaim the castle from her and banish her to the moon.” “They’re going to banish her to the moon?!” the Doctor exclaimed, “Isn’t that a little dangerous to her health?” “Maybe if she were a normal pony, but Princess Luna is the goddess of the moon.” the Doctor decided that if she wasn’t worried about it, it couldn’t end too badly. He turned his attention to the purple unicorn that was leading them...somewhere. “And who, praytell, might you be?” he asked him. “I am Starswirl, court wizard to Her Majesty, Princess Celestia.” he replied gruffly. “And your duties as court wizard, what are they?” “To advise Her Majesty in all matters arcane. We have arrived.” he said as he stopped on the edge of a large crater. “It’s beautiful…” Octavia said. “What is it?” Vinyl asked. In the center of the crater was a large, black crystalline rock, halfway embedded in the ground. The four ponies carefully made their way down into the crater to get a closer look, and the closer they got, the more they could feel a pulsing energy coming off of it. “This, Doctor, is the ‘Obelisk of the Night’.” Starswirl said, gesturing to the object...
VidiAuthor's Note Still a little iffy about this chapter, I might rewrite it soon, but here it is as it currently stands. Please leave any comments, questions, or concerns in a comment here, on my user page, or even just a PM. Thank you for your time. ~Gandalf158 Vidi Doctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sisters By: Gandalf158 Chapter 2: Vidi The Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of his mane and began to scan the ‘Obelisk’ thoroughly. Several things about the scan’s results confused the Doctor, first of all, the rock was ancient; billions of years old at least. Secondly, it wasn’t halfway embedded, so much as halfway excavated, it had crashed here thousands of years in the past, but only seemed to have been discovered recently. It was also giving off a strange, pervasive energy field that the Doctor couldn’t recognize. “Wha’ ‘o you ‘ow ‘bout ‘is?” the Doctor mumbled around his screwdriver. “What?” He pulled it out of his mouth (how hooves could be that dextrous, the Doctor was convinced he’d never know). “What do you know about this?” he asked, looking at Octavia. “Nothing, I’ve never even heard of it before.” the Doctor’s gaze passed to the court wizard. “What about you, Nightspin?” “Starswirl. And, I regret to say, not very much. All we know is that Princess Luna had mentioned seeing it in a vision, and went to investigate it. Unfortunately, that’s the extent of our knowledge. But, now that I’ve come close to it, I can tell you that it is permeated with some type of dark magic...but I’m not sure as to what could be causing it, nor what exactly that magic is.” “Hmm. I can’t even tell what it’s made out of, some material the Sonic doesn’t even recognize…” “Maybe you don’t have it in your dimension...like what if it’s unique to ours?” Vinyl suggested. “I suppose it’s possible, but that doesn’t exactly help me.” he took a step forward and reached out a hoof, “I wonder, did it fall here by chance, or was it-” everything went black. Suddenly, the world returned, but it was as if the Doctor was looking at it through a cracked, cloudy lens. All around him was a beautiful city made of obsidian, full of massive towers and sweeping bridges. Half the city’s architecture seemed gothic in style, and the other half was every bit as sleek and sophisticated as any city on Gallifrey. It was populated too, but by a strange race of ponies with bat wings. The Doctor walked around the city, but no one seemed to notice him. What was troubling him was how much he wanted to see this city in it’s full glory; it was like a tug on his hearts that he couldn’t resist. It was then the whispers started… “What is this? A visitor...whence does this one come?” some...thing hissed in his ear. The Doctor wheeled around, but there was nothing behind him. “Another world, another life. He comes serving the light, but carries within him a darkness…” “Where are you? What are you?” “A war, centuries past, a war against Time itself… And at its height, the Healer becomes a Warrior, one wielding a terrible weapon…” he felt the voices pulling at him, trying to break him. The Doctor folded his ears flat to his head and covered them, trying to keep the voices out. “Get out of my head!” “So many friends lost, how many more will fall before the end?” “GET OUT!” he shouted, “GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!” the world began to swirl away… “How many, Doctor, how many have you killed?” “I TRIED, OKAY? I DID MY BEST, BUT I COULDN’T SAVE THEM! WHAT OTHER CHOICE DID I HAVE?” he shouted as he collapsed backwards from the stone. “Doctor! Are you okay?” Octavia shouted as she and Vinyl rushed forward. “Don’t touch it! Stay back!” he shouted, putting his hoof out to keep them back before standing up shakily. “What did you see, Doctor?” Starswirl asked.’ “A city, a dark city. It was beautiful, and filled with bat-pony hybrids...but there was something there, some...creature that was inside of my head. I’d rather not talk about that. But I think I know what’s happening…” “...Well. Don’t keep us in suspense, what’s happening?” “Princess Luna is in trouble...I need to speak to Princess Celestia, now.” Starswirl nodded once, turned around, and began trotting off. The four ponies climbed out of the crater, and started on the path back to camp. The troops were starting to look tense, the Doctor sensed the battle was about to start, and that his time was short. He raced into the royal tent, his two companions and court wizard in tow. Guards immediately readied their weapons, but Starswirl managed to stop them from attacking him with a glance. “Your Majesty, I apologize for the interruption, but some new information has come to light…” the purple mage said. “What is it, Doctor? What have you learned?” “If I might ask, has Princess Luna suffered a great loss recently?” Celestia cringed and hesitated before finally answering, “Yes. Three hundred years ago, her love was murdered in his home.” “And she blamed herself, didn’t she?” “Yes, she always felt that he was killed because of his love for her...she hardly left the castle for five decades after that, and she was never the same again. What does this have to do with the situation at hand, Doctor?” “Princess Luna has been possessed by an incredibly powerful psychic being...one that uses guilt to gain control of its victims.” he said, “Nothing that she’s done is her fault.” “What do we do? How can we help her?” The Doctor thought it over. He realized he had no idea how to help. Suddenly he turned and looked at Octavia. “You said that this battle ends in Princess Luna’s banishment, yes?” “Yes, Princess Celestia uses the Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon for a thousand years.” “Then that’s what you have to do. Use these ‘Elements of Harmony’ to send her away.” “How would sending her away for a thousand years help her?” Celestia asked, on the verge of hysterics. “Because that’s what you do. Send her away, so that in a thousand years, Twilight Sparkle and her friends will purge Nightmare Moon from her.” Octavia said. Celestia looked like she was about to cry, but quickly regained her composure. “Very well, I will send her to the moon.” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “But first, I’d like to speak with her.” the Doctor said, “I’d like to learn a little bit about this creature before it is destroyed. Also, there’s a big, black rock in the middle of the forest that you’ll need to make sure is buried. Oh, be sure not to touch it.” he said as he made a break for the flap of the tent. Vinyl and Octavia followed after him, “Where are we going?” Vinyl asked. “To the TARDIS, I need to speak to this ‘Nightmare’ before Celestia banishes her. “Why? What’s so important about this?” “It said something to me when I touched that rock, I need to know what it meant!” As they came close to the TARDIS, the Doctor got out the screwdriver and unlocked, not missing a beat as he jumped through the open door, tapped a few buttons, and smiled. A few more keystrokes and a lever flip later, and the TARDIS wheezed as it took flight. “That’s better, no more crashing for us.” it wheezed again as it rematerialized, “Well, now to go and meet this Nightmare Moon.” he said hesitantly, standing in front of the TARDIS’s doors. Finally, he pushed them open and stepped out into an opulent throne room with a sole occupant, a large, black wingacorn (he really needed to learn the proper term for these things) with glowing, turquoise eyes with slitted pupils, and dressed in full indigo and chrome armor. She regarded the sudden arrivals with suspicion and anger. “WHO DARES ENTER THE THRONE ROOM OF NIGHTMARE MOON UNANNOUNCED?!?” it shouted in a voice that would put thunder to shame. “I am the Doctor, and you and I need to have a little chat…”
