Doctor Who adventures: Season 1, episode 1, Pink

Ponyville Café

“…and so I say, ‘what a doozy of a doozy it was.” The Doctor and Pinkie laughed together as she recounted her run-in with a creature known as a hydra. A mythical beast The Doctor had thought, but apparently, something of the same name existed on this planet. It had to have been in the far reaches of space, the star maps in his TARDIS didn’t include this planet.

Pinkie had led him to a quaint little establishment, more of a hole in the wall than a café, but Pinkie had said that this was THE place to go for sandwiches. They had run out of posters taking the scenic route to put them all up.

There was a small seating area outside of the café, and very few ponies dotted a table here and there, it seemed that most ponies were staying indoors. He received looks here and there but as soon as they had seen Pinkie Pie they had looked away. Pinkie had told him that the ponies trusted her and that if she vouched for someone, they would not cause a scene.

Pinkie had gone with a strange choice, strange because it contained flowers, though supposing the equine resemblance it wasn’t too strange.

He had ordered a sub sandwich consisting of cheese, egg, various salad items, and what tasted like mayonnaise. ‘Strange how two completely different planets could develop in such similar ways.

The Doctor calmed his laughing before adding in. “Can’t say I blame poor Twilight.” He chuckled as he imagined the look on her face. “Though this Pinkie Sense of yours sounds useful.”

Pinkie nodded. “You won’t believe how many times Pinkie Sense has saved my flank.” She smiled as if reminiscing.

They were interrupted by an Orange Pony wearing a Stetson galloping up toward them. She gave an acknowledging nod to The Doctor as she approached the table.

“Pinkie. *Pant* Ah’m so *pant* glad Ah found you.” She had clearly run the whole way here. She took a second to catch her breath before continuing. “Everypony needs to head to the castle pronto.”

Pinkie stood up from her chair. “Applejack? What’s happened.” Her smile had gone and had been replaced with a dead serious look.

“Celestia received a ransom letter. The creature has that Prince Blueblood fella. You remember, from the Gala.”

Pinkie nodded, as she and The Doctor hastily finished their sandwiches. “Wil do.”

Applejack, Pinkie had called her, flashed The Doctor an apologetic smile. “Sorry Ah can’t stop and make yer acquaintance, but Ah’m in a bit of a hurry, still need to get Fluttershy. Stop by Sweet Apple Acres after all this is done.” She sounded genuinely remorseful.

The Doctor gave her a nod. “I understand.” She nodded back before galloping off around the corner. The two of them departed for the castle not long after.

**********

Celestia walked out to the balcony overlooking Ponyville. Her horn flared bright and the sun began to sink to the horizon. She took a moment to take in the view, the dusk seemed to make the colours of the small town sparkle. She breathed a deep sigh as she tried to focus on her duties. She had considered delaying this, to delay the dawn, but there was a delicate balance to keep.

The moon climbed into the sky as her sister did her part. She sank down on the railing, lazily looking over the empty streets and allowing her forehooves to dangle over the edge. Blueblood may not have been related by blood, but to her, he was family, difficult to deal with as he sometimes was. ‘I still haven’t apologized to Rarity for the Gala.’ She chuckled quietly to herself remembering that fiasco.

Looking out at the town, she couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if she had never accepted this position. She may have been able to have a family, maybe even grow old. She still could, but many ponies seemed reluctant to treat her like a pony. Not a princess. Not a deity as some of her subjects seemed to think she was. But as an ordinary pony.

Young as she had been, immortality had seemed to her like a blessing. The years had changed that outlook. She had originally been raising Blueblood to take her and her sister’s place, but she had found she did not have it in her. He may be a tad spoiled, and his remarks are often bordered on rude. But every time she looked at him, all she could see was the timid, shivering young colt he had been, and she could not push the burden onto him.

The poor child had lost his parents and his village and had nowhere else to turn to. She could still see him. She had watched him turn from that timid colt to the spoilt prince he had become. That was just the surface, deep down he was scared, she didn’t need her telepathic abilities to see that. He always felt the need to prove himself, he had never spoken about his village or his parent, but she assumed that the reason lay there.

She had grown soft on him, he was consumed in his ego and self-loathing. He needed a firm hoof to guide him back.

She shook the thoughts from her head and stood up. She had to focus on the plan. Looking down, she saw Spike heading off toward the Everfree Forrest. In a couple of hours, he would return to report the situation at the castle. The spell would take a few minutes to take effect.

At the sound of hoofsteps approaching from behind, she turned to see Twilight. “Spike has set off and the others are waiting in the entrance hall.”

Celestia nodded. “I shall be there momentarily.”

Twilight left the balcony, leaving the door open for her to follow. Taking one last look at the town below, she turned to follow.

**********

“…and that’s the plan.” Twilight had finished briefing those out of the loop as Pinkie and The Doctor arrived at the castle. Pinkie could see the worry on Twilight’s face, as much as she trusted Spike, she could not help it. Not that Pinkie blamed her.

Seven creatures surrounded Twilight. At the sight of Pinkie and The Doctor entering. Twilight gave them a strained smile. “Ah Pinkie, Doctor. You’re back.” She ran up to them. “How did the tour go.”

Pinkie could see she was trying to take her mind off of Spike, so she decided to humour her. “We met up with Rarity and decided to help with the posters. I can’t say he’s seen everything but at least he knows where to get a good sandwich now and…”

“Ahem”

Pinkie looked to the source of the noise to see Rainbow Dash wearing an amused smile. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend Pinkie?”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “How could forget. Doctor these are my friends. You’ve of course met The princesses, Emerald, and Rarity.” The Doctor gave a wave to the room.

“The one who rudely interrupted me is Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie joked with a smile as Rainbow Dash feigned offense.

“You wound me.” She chuckled and rolled her eyes as she approached. Flying up to eye level with The Doctor she reached out a hoof. “I don’t know about all this alien stuff, but if Pinkie vouches for you, you’re cool with me.” The Doctor gave her hoof a shake.

“The one who came to get us is Applejack.” Rainbow moved back to the group as Applejack tipped her hat.

“Sorry for the rush earlier. Guess Ah don’t need to introduce myself.” She smiled apologetically. “The offer still stands. You’re welcome at Sweet Apple Acres after this.” The Doctor nodded thanks.

“The one over there is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy trotted over.

“Always nice to meet new life,” Fluttershy exclaimed without a hint of delay.

Everyone’s jaw save Eileen’s, who didn’t really know Fluttershy, hit the floor.

Pinkie was the first to speak. “Wow, Fluttershy. You didn’t even hesitate.”

Fluttershy puffed up her chest slightly. “Discord’s been helping me with my confidence.” She then deflated a bit. “Though admittedly his lessons can be a bit intense.”

Luna chuckled as she approached, “Yes well Discord has always been intense, it seems reformation has done little to quell that trait.” Her eyes then widened and she gasped. “Couldn’t we bring Discord in? He could solve this quickly.”

Celestia frowned. “Discord is currently traveling abroad mending Equestria’s diplomatic tensions since his part in aiding Tirek. The rest of Equestria blames us because of his ties to the royal family. He is needed there, else Equestria could be flung into civil war.”

Luna sighed. “We’ll never be done fixing his messes.” She turned to The Doctor. “Looks like we really can do nothing but wait.”

**********

Spike tread carefully as he approached The Castle of the Two Sisters. Being invisible did nothing to mask the sound of his feet and, light as he was, he was sure to stay aware of the amount of noise he made. ‘Some wings would be useful about now.’ He thought half-jokingly half-bitterly as he trudged through the wed mud near the river.

As expected, he had faced no trouble on his way there, the creatures of the forest had ignored his existence. Even the ones that hunted by smell had only taken a curious look and, not being able what they were smelling, had given up and left.

The Castle of the Two Sisters still gave him an uneasy feeling even now. It seemed only bad things happened here, Nightmare Moon, The Power Ponies incident, and now this. They had been attempting to restore the castle, but it soon became apparent there was no saving it. The place was falling apart no matter what they did.

The Sun had long since set, it eased his nerves a bit that Celestia still found the strength to attend her duties despite how worried she must be. He steadied his nerves as he approached the large stone columns around the exterior of the ruins, they stood against the night sky as foreboding shadows. If he had been the same spike he’d been when he’d first arrived in Ponyville, he would have run at the sight of this. ‘It’s kinda crazy how much Twilight and I have changed in just over a year.’

He was snapped out of his fear by the sound of a voice, faint, but just loud enough to hear. That whining voice marked the owner of the voice as Prince Blueblood. “I swear. If you don’t let me go I’ll-agh.”

He was cut off by the sound of a hoof meeting something soft. Spike lifted his head over a small ruined wall. He saw High Flyer, or Eileen as they now knew the creature to be called, standing over the prince, who was cowering on the floor rubbing his cheek. Spike realized what the sound had been, it had struck.

“Can you shut up?” An immense amount of rage was contained in that screech. “You call yourself a prince? On my world, even the weakest of our royalty would eat you for breakfast.” Its tone dripped with venom.

She turned from the prince. “Now stay quiet.” It reached a hoof up to the gold ring around its neck. “If I can figure out how to get this thing off myself, I can finally be rid of you.” Spike didn’t need to guess what was insinuated by that statement, he repressed the urge to gulp.

Suddenly something seemed to be happening. The pegasus started to scream, it was a dreadful sound. It was as if all the agony in the world was contained in that scream alone. His jaw dropped at what he witnessed.

Blueblood seemed to shrink back as High’s body seemed to contort as a Blood-red vapor slowly emerged from the pony. There seemed to be a solid object at its centre, a ball if Spike wasn’t mistaken. Another voice, female this time, joined the screaming. It seemed to be trying to form some sort of solid mass. Spike could vaguely make out a serpent. However, just as it seemed to be stabilizing, the smoke was dragged back to the body.

Eileen stood back up and let out an ear-splitting scream of rage. She turned back to Blueblood and struck him again. Blueblood whimpered, all his earlier bravado seemed to be drained. Spike had to fight the urge to run to his aid. He could not do anything on his own, not in this situation, he was not as rash as he had used to be, getting himself killed helped nopony.

Not being able to bear anymore, he carefully turned away, surely he had learned enough. He could not bear to witness this brutality. Blueblood may have been difficult sometimes, but nopony deserved this. Spike could still remember the Blueblood he’d grown up with, a timid colt that seldom smiled. Spike could not in good conscience allow his old friend to be treated like this, regardless of the pony he had become.

Stealing his resolve Spike slipped back into the forest to report to Twilight and the others.