Siphoned

Chapters

A box
A Pocket
A Discovery
An Escape
Prologue

A box

It was a nice morning in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Derpy was derping. It seemed to be an average day.

Derpy Hooves grabbed her mail bag and a warm, delicious, mouthwatering, perfectly golden brown muffin and head out her front door. She immediately tripped and fell flat on her face. Though fortunately, being a pegasus, Derpy’s house was on a cloud, and falling face-first into a cloud isn’t exactly painful.

“Whoops,” she chuckled. “Funny how I always miss that stair.”

As beautiful a day as it was, it was surprisingly quiet.

Too quiet, the mail-mare thought to herself. It seems like there’s always something going on, or at least Pinkie Pie is bouncing around talking to everypony.

She shrugged, dismissing the thought, and got back up to head towards the library, the first stop on her normal route.

Arriving at the library, she knocked on the front door. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer.

“ Twilight! Spike! Anyone home? I have the 17 books on magic theory you ordered!” And I don’t really enjoy just standing here holding them...

Upon getting no indication that either the purple dragon or the purple unicorn were home, Derpy went around to the library’s back door and dumped the seventeen books, and a hoof-full of scrolls, through the book return slot. Twilight was a smart pony; she would figure it out. Still, something just felt a little off.

Twilight had ordered those books month ago, and usually when Twilight ordered books, she would eagerly start asking about them about a week before they arrived. But with this order, Twilight hadn’t said anything.

In fact, Derpy thought, I haven’t seen Twilight for about five days. And the last time I did see her, she seemed really preoccupied with something. Eh, she’s probably just on vacation and was worried about reservations... Maybe I should go on vacation sometime... Well first I should finish my route... She shook herself and headed for Sweet Apple Acres.

“Wooah! Scoots! That’s a bit too fast!” Sweetie Belle hollered from the wagon attached to the orange pegasus’ scooter.

“Too fast?” Scootaloo slowed down a little bit. “How is this too fast? You said we had to get to Apple Bloom, and that it was important!”

“Well I think getting to her without crashing would also be important!”

Scootaloo ground the scooter (and thus, the wagon) to a halt. “Do you think I’d let us crash? And what is the big important thing you aren’t telling me about?”

Sweetie Belle lowered her head a little. “I wasn’t saying you’re a bad driver, it’s just... We have to get to Apple Bloom first. So can we go please?”

“Fine,” Scootaloo huffed before turning to resume rocketing down the street.

Quickly arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo sped right up to the big barn doors and brought the scooter/wagon duo to a screeching stop. Dropping the scooter, she immediately pushed her way into the newly refurbished barn, followed by a slightly queasy-looking Sweetie Belle.

“Hello! Anyone here?” the tiny pegasus called.

“Eeeeyup. Are you two looking for Apple Bloom?”

“Oh, hi there, Big Macintosh,” Sweetie Belle said. “Do you know where she is?”

“Eeeeyup. Strange filly; she’s over in the East orchard trying to move apples with her mind... You two wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that, would you?”

“Ha! She’s trying to move apples with her mind? How would trying to levitate apples help an earth pony, or ANYPONY, to find their special talent? I mean, we’ve been crusading for our cutie marks for a while, but that’s just ridiculous!” laughed Scootaloo as Sweetie Belle suddenly became very interested in the dirt at her hoof.

“Come on Sweetie Belle, let’s go find Apple Bloom before she does something really pointless,” Scootaloo giggled.

“Heh! Um... yeah, we should go find her,” the little unicorn chuckled nervously.

“Happy to be of help, kids,” Big Mac smiled. “You three have fun.”

“Thank you, bye!” the young fillies chorused and trotted off.

“Girls, you’re going west.”

“Yep, totally knew that,” Scootaloo called over her shoulder as she did an about-face and walked right into Sweetie Belle. There followed a brief squabble then they corrected themselves and trotted towards the East Orchard. Big Mac smiled and chuckled to himself as he watched the fillies walk away.

“Hey Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo called to the yellow filly wearing a comically large bow.

“Aw, hey guys! Ah wuz just...” Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder at a very stationary apple. “Well ‘ta make a long story shorter; Sweetie Belle, ah don’t think it’s possible for me ‘ta move an apple with mah mind.”

Scootaloo cracked up and turned to Sweetie Belle. “That was your idea?!”

“I was kidding!” Sweetie Belle whined. “Really. Make one five legged outfit and you’re marked for life...”

“Whatever, it’s okay,” chuckled Scootaloo. “Oh yeah, what did you want to tell Apple Bloom? The important thing?”

“Oh yea!” Sweetie Belle remembered. “Well, I was wonderin’ if you’d seen Rarity at all. I haven’t seen her since yesterday. I’ve looked all over Ponyville, but I think she left, because she said she had “business to attend to.” But I thought she’d only be gone a couple hours...”

“Do you know what business she was attending to?” Scootaloo asked as her tiny eyebrows scrunched together.

“Nope, she didn’t say...”

“Well that’s odd,” Apple Bloom piped up. “Cuz ah haven’t seen her either. An’ Apple Jack’s gone too. She said she had to help Twa’light wi’ sumthin. And she’s been gone for... fahv days!”

“Five days?” squeaked Sweetie Belle. “And you aren’t worried?”

“Well o’ course ahm worried! But when ah asked mah sister what she would be helpin’ Twa’light with, she said it wuz a matter for big ponies, an’ that ah shouldn’t worry.”

“Well I think you two are both over-reacting,” Scootaloo sighed. “If they said not to worry, you shouldn’t worry!”

One of Sweetie Belle’s tiny ears suddenly twitched as she began to hear a sound. She looked up into the sky behind the other two fillies to see what it was.

“Why is there a big blue box flying through the sky really fast towards us?”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glanced questioningly at Sweetie Belle, but then turned as the noise reached their ears too. A moment later, a resounding crash echoed throughput the orchard. The Cutie Mark Crusaders slowly turned to see a giant, smoking blue box balanced precariously atop the trunks of two downed trees less than a yard away.

The door of the box swung open and a cloud of smoke billowed out. In the midst of it, a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark came stumbling out on his hind legs before falling flat on his face.

“Ouch.” He shifted into a sitting position and began examining himself.

“Legs? Still got legs, although now... funny! I’m a quadruped! That’s new... Interesting... No hands, no fingers, instead hooves, a mane,” here he flicked his head back and forth. “I’ve just never been so... equine before!” One hoof shot to the top of his head, then his neck. “No, fez, no bow tie... this is troubling... No matter. Time for location.” He stood up slowly.

“Two dimensional animated world, bright blue sky, sweet scent in the air... orchard...” He turned to the CMC, their mouths all hanging wide open.

“Three tiny horses—No! Ponies!—Three tiny ponies in unnatural colors, one with a horn, one with wings, and one with a giant bow?... Where the hell-“

He was cut off by two more ponies falling out of the blue box in a coughing heap.

“Ugh, my head...” groaned a purple maned petite mare of a light pink hue.

“Your head? I feel like I’ve been repeatedly stabbed in the stomach...” muttered another mare; slightly larger, a royal blue coat and a messy white mane.

The two looked up at each other and gasped.

“Omigosh, you’re a pony!” squealed the blue mare.

“Omigosh, you’re a unicorn!” squeaked the other.

They looked around, taking in the scenery for the first time.

“OMIGOSH, WE’RE IN PONYVILLE!” they exploded, grabbing each other’s fore-hooves.

“Or, we’re totally just tripping balls,” smirked the pink one.

Scootaloo, who had recovered first, approached the strange ponies.

“Um, we’re taught to not talk to ponies we don’t know, but who the heck are you guys?”

“Kiwi!” exclaimed the blue unicorn.

“Pistachio!” yelled the pink Earth pony, almost simultaneously.

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. They went on for a while, and finally calmed down. They looked each other in the eyes and immediately lost it again. They were on the verge of tears by the time they were capable of speech. A concerned look from the brown earth pony prompted them to explain.

“Whew, sorry ‘bout that,” the self-proclaimed “Kiwi” apologized.

“Yea, I know you asked for our names, but I was just suddenly soooo hungry, “Pistachio” kinda slipped out. Weird thing to be hungry for though...” said the pink pony.

“I know, me too!” The unicorn said excitedly. “I’ve never even had a kiwi before...” she acknowledged her friend. “But pistachios are delicious!”

“Oh I know! And they...”

The two realized the other four ponies present were staring at them.

“Okaaaaaay,” said a recovered Apple Bloom. She turned to the brown stallion. “Ah hope ah don’t regret askin’ mister, but what’s your name?”

The stallion blinked.

“Oh! Sorry, right. Hello, I’m the Doctor.”

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “Doctor wh—“

“Ha, sorry no. It’s just the Doctor.”

“Okay ‘Doctor,’ so why are you here and how did you even get here?” Scootaloo challenged.

“That’s actually a good question... I’m not even sure where here is... You see, my friends and I...” he turned to look at them, but his eyes flew past them to the box.

“Oh, no, no, no!” He rushed over to the blue box and began walking around, looking closely at it. “Oh, you poor thing.” He rubbed his head against the side. “I promise I’ll get you fixed up. I just need to get my sonic screwdriver and I’ll...” He looked around him, and went racing back around to the door and bolted back into the thinning smoke.

“I can fix you,” his voice echoed form inside. “I just need to find my... Oh no. Oh dear...” He walked slowly back out to the five ponies outside. He sighed and let a mangled piece of metal fall from his mouth. A chipped green crystal at one end glowed feebly.

“Your sonic,” breathed Kiwi. “I know I was playing with it, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t make that happen.”

“Where was it?” asked Pistachio. “It might have fallen below the platform and rolled into the electro-thermal carbon manipulator. There is an extensive warning about not putting stuff in it, and the sonic screwdriver seems small enough to fit in perfectly.”

“Um, yes, that’s exactly where I found it. How did you...?” The Doctor asked, obviously surprised.

“I- I have no idea. I don’t even know what I just said. Why don’t I know what I’m talking about?” The pink pony asked nervously. “Is it bad that I…”

Pistachio fell silent as the broken screwdriver on the ground emitted a long, high pitched whistle. Everyone slammed their hooves to their ears. All except Kiwi, who began staring curiously at the mangled tool. The sound stopped suddenly and the weak green glow went out altogether. All six ponies leaned closer to see if anything would happen, when there was a tremendous BANG and a white ring of light shot out in all directions. Everyone screamed in surprise, but the noise and light were gone right away. As was the sonic; which had disappeared completely.

“No! Ow, no! Aaargh! What’s going on?! What’s happening?!”

Everypony turned to see Kiwi rear up on her hind legs, trip, fall on her back, and start writhing around on the ground, her face twisted in unimaginable agony.

“Miss Kiwi!” shouted Sweetie Belle. “What’s happening to you? Are you hurt?”

“Of course she’s hurt!” yelled Pistachio. “Doctor! Do something! What’s wrong with her? HELP MY FRIEND!!!”

“I CAN’T! I’m thinking. Think, think, think, think, think. And having my sonic WOULD BE HELPFUL!” shouted the Doctor as he rushed to the fallen unicorn, who had stopped writhing, but was trembling uncontrollably.

“It hurts,” she whimpered. “Help me.”

He looked at the shaking pony with pity in his eyes. “Shhhh, you’ll be fine in a few minutes,” he soothed. “Well, I think. Considering you went from writhing to trembling rather quickly, you should be back to normal in a minute or so. See? You’re already getting better!”

It was true; the unicorn was no longer trembling, just shivering occasionally. She slowly, with the help of Pistachio, stood up and turned around. Her horn began to glow bright green, as well as some streaks in her mane and tail. But that’s not what drew gasps from the three very confused fillies.

“You gotcher cutie mark!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“I got my cutie mark?! YES!” the blue unicorn celebrated.

“I wish it were that easy to get our cutie marks...” Sweetie Belle muttered.

“Yea, just go through brief and excruciating pain. Easy,” Kiwi snorted.

“Really.” Said Scootaloo. “I’ll just stick with zip-lining.”

The Doctor, who was still trying to make sense of the uproar, suddenly noticed Kiwi’s cutie mark; a very familiar-looking tool.

“My sonic! What’s it doing on your—Sonic! Now! Gimme!”

“Woah! Uh-uh. You’re getting in my personal space!” Kiwi shouted as she uncomfortably scooted away from the Doctor. “But really, my cutie mark is the sonic? Didn’t see that coming.”

“Kiwi! I get it!” exclaimed Pistachio. “That means your ass is the new sonic screwdriver! Ha... kidding... I guess it really means that-”

“Wait,” said a very confused Doctor. “So my sonic screwdriver has been... reincarnated if you will... into her-“

“Nope,” teased Pistachio. “Think on a larger scale!”

“So her large-“

“NO!” a thoroughly embarrassed Kiwi yelled. “She means, I assume, that I now have the functions of the sonic... Right? ... And everyone quit staring at my ass!”

The Doctor coughed awkwardly. “Ah. I suppose that makes sense, considering your horn was glowing like the end of the sonic. It isn’t now; maybe it’s only when you... use it...”

“Uh, ah hate ‘ta interrupt sir,” said Apple Bloom. “But what is this “sonic whatsit” you all keep talkin’ about? What does it do?”

“Oh, well it does loads of stuff,” the Doctor grinned. “really anything; it’s great for checking vital signs, disabling weapons, picking locks, screwing in screws, you name it, the sonic could probably do it. That’s a tremendous exaggeration of course; it doesn’t really do wood.”

“That’s still really cool,” whispered Scootaloo.

“Yea, I suppose it is,” the Doctor smiled sadly. “But it doesn’t much matter since it’s gone...” He kicked at the dirt some with his hoof.

“Wait,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah thought Kiwi was the new... screwdriver...”

“True,” sighed the Doctor, “but we don’t know the extent of what she’s able to do, or for that matter, we don’t even know how to work her...”

“Well the sonic had buttons, right?” asked Pistachio with a malicious grin. “So maybe...”

“No way,” chuckled Kiwi.

“Aww.”

“So no sonic for the time being,” said the Doctor. “I hope you work sooner or later, so I can fix the TARDIS unless...” He looked around himself then looked up. “I need a pocket.”

“I’m so confused,” muttered Sweetie Belle.

“Me too,” chimed Scootaloo.

“Me three!” chuckled Apple Bloom.

“Me four,” came a tiny voice from behind them.

“Fluttershy?” the Cutie Mark Crusaders chorused.

Kiwi and Pistachio’s heads whipped around.

“FLUTTERSHY!!!”

A Pocket

“Girls,” Fluttershy said to the CMC. “What’s going on? Who are these ponies, how did they get here, and how do they know my name?”

“Oh, sorry Fluttershy, we just kind of... know stuff,” Pistachio apologized.

The Doctor coughed and stepped forward. “Hello, I’m the Doctor, and I believe I can help explain. But first, I need a pocket. Do you know where I can find a pocket? It is imperative that I have a pocket!”

“Sure,” whispered Fluttershy. “I’m sure Carousel Boutique has pockets, but I don’t know where the owner is...”

“No problem,” said the Doctor. “If you’d be so kind as to take my friends and I there, I can explain everything to you on the way.”

“Cool!” piped up Scootaloo. “Can we come too?”

“Sure,” Kiwi rolled her eyes. “Why not? In fact, we might as well have a parade and invite Derpy Hooves!”

“Cool!” came a voice from overhead. “I was just in the area and I love a good para—“

SMACK

Derpy smashed into a nearby tree. Everypony flinched and Kiwi face hoof’d. “Only in Equestria... Does sarcasm not work here or something?”

“You tell me,” muttered the Doctor. “You two seem to know a lot about this place... How is that?”

“Oh, I can answer that,” Pistachio chuckled as she came over to join the conversation. “See, back at home, there’s this show, and we... We basically tune in every week to watch these adorable little ponies be adorable. I just didn’t know actually coming here was even possible. Although dimension-hopping seems to open a few doors...”

“Oh, well yes, I imagine it does," the Doctor mused.

“It's just so amazing that we're actually here!” Kiwi beamed, turning to watch the Crusaders trying to explain what they had seen to yellow and gray pegasi. “Time to head to Carousel Boutique. You have to explain us to Fluttershy and Derpy.”

“Right...”

Fluttershy was worried and confused. Apple Jack and Twilight had been gone almost a week with no explanation or warning. Pinkie Pie disappeared about three days ago, and Rarity had been gone for more than twenty four hours. And then Rainbow Dash had left that morning to look for them, but had been gone for hours. The yellow pegasus was all alone, and now three strange ponies had fallen out of the sky in a big blue box, and were babbling on and on without making much sense. And now the two odd mares had moved on from Derpy and were now somehow both hugging her affectionately, regardless of the fact that they were all walking out of the orchard. She didn’t know them, and was slightly afraid, but mostly just confused. Fluttershy tried very hard to concentrate on what she was being told.

“So you’re a... timelord?” she asked the pony who called himself the Doctor. “And you can travel anywhere in time and space in your... box.”

“Exactly,” beamed the Doctor. “See, you’re catching on fast. And my “box” is actually called the TARDIS, which stands for—“

“Time And Relative Dimension In Space,” the blue and pink ponies interrupted.

The brown pony turned to look at them. “Wasn’t I explaining, or were you two just going to cut in whenever... Never mind. Explaining.” He turned back to the other two mares. “Any questions?”

Derpy nodded. “So all three of you are timelord... things?

“No actually,” replied the Doctor. “I... I’m the only one... Sorry, sore subject. But no, they’re not timelords.”

“Then what are they?” Fluttershy asked, eyes widening. “Because they look like ponies.”

“Oh. No, Kiwi and I aren’t ponies,” Pistachio clarified. “Well, right now we’re ponies, but we’re not usually ponies. We’re still trying to figure that part out.” We’re really... um... humans.”

“What’s that?” asked Derpy.

“Long story, can’t really explain it all,” said Kiwi. “But... you would basically think of us as giant furless bipeds with smooshed faces, and hands with fingers instead of hooves.”

“What are fing... Never mind,” said Fluttershy. “That sounds rather... scary.”

“Scary? Are you kidding?” piped up Scootaloo, a little ways behind them. “They sound downright ugly!”

“Scootaloo!” Scolded Apple Bloom. “You need ‘ta be more polite ‘ta these nice ponies.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright,” said the Doctor. “I also normally fit Kiwi’s description. Timelords look like humans... Actually, humans look like ti—you know what? Never mind. But I suppose you would find us... different, and we are currently still getting used to these new, very different forms. Though I must say I miss my exceptionally good looks...”

“Who says ‘ya still ain’t got ‘em?” Kiwi winked.

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow before breaking into the conversation. “Well look at that. Here we are; Carousel Boutique.”

“Wow,” said Pistachio. “Bigger than I expected.”

“Right then,” announced the Doctor. “Let’s go get ourselves a pocket.” He walked up to the front door and tried to open it. It was locked. He tried harder to gain entry, but did not succeed.

“Normally I would just sonic it, but seeing as my sonic dematerialized... Kiwi? Are you ready to try something really basic?”

“Yep! Let’s do this!”

“Okay,” said the Doctor, “I’m not exactly sure how this is going to work, since I don’t exactly have a manual for this type of situation... I can only suggest you try focusing on the lock really hard. So, just look at it and think.”

“Right. Here goes.”

Kiwi walked up to the front door of Carousel Boutique and lowered her horn to the lock. She tensed her body, staring at the lock, and closed her eyes. Her body began to shake with effort and her horn began to faintly glow a bit green. Everypony watched in interest as tiny sparks emitted from her horn. A small popping noise followed and Kiwi, panting, sat down hard on the ground and shook her head.

“I can’t do it.”

Everypony let out an exasperated sigh and the Doctor groaned and face hoof’d.

“You can’t even undo a basic lock.” He looked at Kiwi. “That’s pathetic.”

“Well it’s pretty hard! What the heck am I supposed to be focusing on? I can’t just stare at it and will it to open! Should I be picturing it? I can’t—“

“Shut up,” the Doctor said quietly. “I don’t have time for this. I need a pocket to fix the TARDIS, find out why we’re here, and leave.” He turned to Fluttershy. “Who is the owner of this shop, and when are they getting back?”

“Um, it’s owned by a pony named Rarity, but, um... she’s gone missing.”

“She’s gone? Wonderful...” muttered the Doctor.

Kiwi’s head perked up. “Wait, Rarity’s gone? Where? For how long?”

“For more than a day now. That normally would only be a little troubling, but Twilight, Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie – they’re all friends of mine— are all gone too! Twilight and Apple Jack have been gone almost a week now!”

“And Rainbow Dash?” prompted Pistachio.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and continued. “Rainbow Dash left this morning to go looking for them. She hasn’t come back yet...”

Wait, what?” asked the Doctor. “And how does this concern us?”

“It concerns us, because something is very wrong here,” said the blue unicorn.

“Yes,” agreed Pistachio, “It may have something to do with why we’re here.”

“That could be true,” murmured the Doctor, “We may look into it after I fix my TARDIS, which brings us to this door again,” he said, turning back to the door, which was swinging wide open.

“But how did it--? It was locked...”

Oh, sorry,” said Sweetie Belle. “I guess I forgot to mention the key under the mat.”

The Doctor sighed. “Alright, that’s okay; let’s just go get a pocket. I wonder if I could find a fez...”

“Based on Rarity’s sense of fashion, I doubt it,” smiled Pistachio as she walked past the Doctor and into Carousel Boutique.

I’d like to meet this Rarity, the Doctor thought to himself as he entered the upscale boutique. I’d like to meet her, and calmly explain to her that fezzes are at the height of fashion... Somewhere in another dimension... Realizing he didn’t have a clue how to back up that statement, he shook his head, and went in search of a pocket.

“If I were a pocket, where would I hide?” he mused.

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow. Again.

“Fluttershy,” your face is going to stick like that!” Kiwi laughed as she trotted past to check another pile of fabric. Pistachio chuckled as she poked her head into a drawer.

“So, Doctor, are you looking for a jacket or something?

“Well, jackets are nice,” replied the brown stallion, “But I’d have to get one that fits, maybe tailored... But I have no idea what my sizes would be... Do ponies even have sizes?” he wondered rhetorically as he headed into another room.

“Is he usually that... eccentric?” asked Ditzy.

“Yeah,” answered Kiwi and Pistachio.

“But don’t worry,” said the light pink pony. “He has very... unorthodox methods, but you get used to it.”

Fluttershy came over, glanced on the direction of the other room and asked, “Does he get that angry often?”

“No,” sighed Kiwi. “He’s usually very patient. Sometimes infuriatingly patient.”

“Oh, okay,” said Fluttershy. “But then why is—“

“OOH! What’s this?” the Doctor called from the other room.

The four mares rushed in to find the Doctor standing on his hind legs, fumbling with something around his neck. Fluttershy looked at the scattered textiles and sketches in the room and explained.

“Oh, Rarity has been telling me about this collection she’s been working on. It’s a retake on some classic sophistication for next year’s gala. She predicts that it’s where fashion is heading... Um, Doctor? What are you doing?”

Pistachio face hoof’d and Kiwi giggled.

“I’m trying to put on this bow tie, but it’s rather difficult with hooves...”

“Do you need any help?” asked Fluttershy.

“No, no, I got it,” said the Doctor, waving away her offer. “There,” he muttered. “If I just... No, that’s not right... there... oh, no, that’s horrid... if I... here. Aaaaand, perfect!”

He turned to show them the bow tie.

“Well? How does it look?”

All four mares grimaced.

“Red... classic,” Kiwi said with a half smile.

“It’s... nice,” mumbled Fluttershy.

"It's very... fabric-y," Derpy said, neither eye focusing on the pony she was addressing.

Pistachio just stared, one eye occasionally twitching. She inconspicuously nodded to Kiwi, and mouthed "Please fix it."

The blue unicorn nodded in response.

"Shouldn't we get back to looking for a pocket?" Fluttershy asked.

"No need," grinned the Doctor. "I found one ages ago. I was just looking around to see what else there was!"

"So now what?" asked Derpy.

"To my TARDIS!" he exclaimed as he trotted past the four slightly irked mares and out of Carousel Boutique. He was so consumed in thoughts of his TARDIS, he didn’t notice as the thin stream of magic snaked from Kiwi's horn and straightened his bow tie as he trotted past.

Pistachio exhaled a large breath.

"Thanks that would have driven me crazy."

"No problem for basic magic," Kiwi smiled. "Now let's go get that TARDIS fixed!"

Ah, back to the TARDIS, Pistachio thought as the little herd trotted back to Sweet Apple Acres. Although I hope the Doctor doesn’t lose it... again. I mean, I get that he loves his box, but... I’m just worried about how scarred we’re going to leave the Crusaders.

Upon re-entering Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom, ever the gracious hostess, offered snacks to everypony. The Doctor looked around at the fruit of the nearby trees and smiled weakly.

“Pass.”

Pistachio rolled her eyes before addressing the little filly. “I’d love something to eat, Apple Bloom.”

The other mares and fillies nodded in agreement, so Apple Bloom went over to the nearest tree, squared herself in front of it, and bucked it as hard as she could. Nothing happened. Her little ears flopped down as she sighed. “Ah think we have some apples in the barn, but Ah—“

“Oh, but you were so close!” Pistachio interrupted, as she trotted over.

“No, Ah wuzn’t. Ah can’t buck the apples cuz ahm too little,” the precious pony pouted.

“Nonsense,” smiled Pistachio. “You have all the needed force; it’s just that the aim of your trajectory is a bit off. See, when you buck; you, the ground, and the trunk of the tree form a triangle, your body being the hypotenuse. Now, your front hooves and the ground form one of the three vertices, and if you just increase the angle of that particular vertex, you’ll be hitting the tree higher. So if you increase the angle of that vertex by 10%, you should hit the tree about seven and a half inches higher, so... about here,” she smiled, gesturing to a spot on the trunk.

“Uh, okay...” the confused yellow filly muttered. She scrunched up her face in concentration and weakly bucked the tree again. Nothing happened. Then, all of the apples in the tree came raining down around the ponies.

“Wow. Cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“That’s amazing!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Maybe now you can get your cutie mark!”

“Really? Ya’ think so?” asked Apple Bloom.

“... ANYWAY, let’s be going back to the TARDIS now that you all have... food,” the Doctor urged.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?” Fluttershy asked.

“Is there anything to eat other than apples?”

“There’s pears!” said Apple Bloom.

The Doctor’s eye twitched.

“No, no, let’s get back to the TARDIS.”

A couple of the ponies groaned or rolled their eyes, but they got up and continued down the path. As they crested the hill the blue box became visible, surrounded by trees. The Doctor stood atop the hill, gazing at his beloved box, for a while when the pocket (tucked into his bow tie) began to briefly glow a golden color. His eyes widened and a childlike grin spread across his face.

“Here we go,” he muttered to himself. “I’m coming.”

The brown stallion pulled the pocket from about his neck and extracted its contents; a gently glowing gold key. He dropped the now-empty pocket on the ground as he took off at a gallop downhill with the key.

“Doctor! You dropped your pocket!” Kiwi giggled.

“Should we follow him?” Derpy asked.

“Oh yeah,” nodded Pistachio. “You’re not going to want to miss this!”

The seven ponies still on the hill broke into a gallop after the Doctor. He was standing outside the TARDIS, and was (with a bit of difficulty) inserting and turning the key. Once the door was unlocked, the Doctor slipped behind it and into the tiny blue box.

“Oh, you look amazing! But then, when don’t you?” his voice echoed from within the box. “Now, how are your controls? Everything wibbly wob-“

CRASH
“Oh my,” gasped Fluttershy as the mares and fillies arrived at the TARDIS. “That sounded terrible, I’m going to see if he’s okay.” The yellow one, followed by the derped one and the three fillies, hurried into the box.

“Doctor?” called Fluttershy, “Are you alri- oh my...”

Oh, this bit’s a timeless classic, Pistachio thought as she and Kiwi entered the TARDIS and closed the door.

“Can’t miss this cliché, now can we?” smiled the blue unicorn.

“It’s so... big...” Derpy breathed.

“But it’s small...” mused Fluttershy. “It’s bigger on the insi-” she trailed off, turning towards the Doctor, who was lying sprawled out on the shiny floor, amidst a fallen pile of rubbish, murmuring lovingly to the floor itself.

“Hello there floor. You’re as slick as ever.” He groaned a bit and lifted himself back up, acknowledging the others. “Stairs to console, slick floor, hooves, pile of rubbish, crash. Now... Console!” He whipped back around to quickly, but carefully, climb the five or so stairs up to the main console. He went straight to the nearest section and –sort of— hugged it.

“Ah, you sexy box. Fixed up and new again,” he smiled to himself. The eccentric stallion then commenced in fiddling about with the switches and levers, and, once satisfied with the beeps and boops, and whatnot, he slowly turned to face the other seven ponies.

Scootaloo’s ear twitched.

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow (bet you didn’t see that coming!).

Apple Bloom smiled in a oh-that’s-nice-I’ll-just-be-going-now kind of way while Sweetie Belle and Derpy just stared (albeit, one was staring in multiple directions).

The Doctor slowly descended the steps towards them again. He coughed awkwardly. “So... What do you think of the TARDIS?

“It’s awesome!” Scootaloo approved. (Type-40 TARDIS: now Scootapproved)

“Yea?” said the Doctor, “But you haven’t even seen the pool yet!”

“There’s a POOL?!” Derpy exclaimed.

“Yup, I’m not sure where it is. Probably not in the library anymore…”

“Why would a pool be in the library?” asked Fluttershy.

“Don’t ask,” smiled Pistachio. “It isn’t your average Twilight Sparkle library.”

“How do you know Twa’light?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Long story,” Kiwi cut in. “Hey, you guys should go find the pool and go swimming!”

“Really? Can we?” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly.

“Of course!” said the Doctor. “I’m not stopping you, although I should warn you, there are a lot of hallways, so don’t get lost.”

“Um, I’d feel better if Derpy and I went with the girls,” interjected Fluttershy. “This place is massive…”

“Yea, I’ll go with you guys too,” agreed the gray pegasus.

“Alright, you lot do that, but be back in an hour or so,” the Doctor said.

“Awesome! Bye!” The CMC shouted as they sped down the nearest hallway.

“Girls! Slow down! I’m coming!” Fluttershy cried as she and Derpy raced off after the receding fillies.

“Well,” chuckled Kiwi. “I hope they find the pool!”

“Yes,” the Doctor agreed as his smile fell. “That would be nice… Pistachio, may I have a word?”

The pink pony glanced at Kiwi and then the Doctor. “Um, sure. Of course.” She walked up the stairs to the console and over to where the stallion was leaning on the platform’s rail. “You wanted something?”

The Doctor’s face grew slightly troubled. “Earlier, when you helped Apple Bloom, how did you know? I would have been able to come up with that eventually, but you got it immediately… How?”

“I-I don’t know,” stammered Pistachio. “I just said it, and I understood it, but I don’t know how I know…”

“Hey Pistachio!” Kiwi called from bellow. “What were you doing when the TARDIS crashed?”

Pistachio looked quizzically through the platform’s glass floor at the blue mare. “I was reading a big book.”

“This book?” Kiwi held up a large, tattered and charred used-to-be-a-book-jacket. She squinted at the mangled spine. “It’s called-”

“One trillion, seven hundred thirty billion, eighty six million, four hundred seventy eight thousand and two Things Every Time Traveler Should Know. Written by Wallace Samuel Hughes, and published in 3427 (Earth years). Yeah, that’s the one.” Pistachio nodded.

Kiwi blinked. “Mind equals blown.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened in surprise. “I second the motion, but the book seems to be more blown than Kiwi’s mind…”

“I see, and I’m sorry, but I swear I did not do that,” said Pistachio. “I just remember reading about the structure of a Type-40 TARDIS, and then we started crashing.”

The Doctor looked intently at the pink mare and then asked, “What was the next section of the book?”

“TARDIS console configuration.”

The spark of an idea flitted across the timelord’s face. “Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Do it,” he sternly commanded. “Kiwi, get up here. You’ll want to see this.”
“Coming!”
“What do I do now?” Pistachio asked.
“Make a mental map of the TARDIS console.”
“But I can’t d-”
“Yes you can. Focus.”
Pistachio scrunched her eyes tighter and focused as hard as she could on the console layout. There was nothing in her mind’s eye but blackness. She took a deep breath, and a blue line shot through the dark. The line began to extend and turn to form corners and lines, and a map soon laid itself out in her head.
“Got it?” the Doctor smiled.
“I think…”
“Now…” he guided her to the controls, “I want you to point to the controls I say, while still keeping your eyes closed.
The earthpony’s eyebrows furrowed, but she nodded. “Let’s do this.”
“Okay, let’s start with something easy; ketchup.”
Pistachio’s hoof shot out to land on a tiny nozzle. The Doctor leaned down and sniffed it. “Yep, that’s ketchup. Output monitor.”
Pistachio shuffled around, reached up, and poked it.
“Main throttle, blue stabilizers, brakes, cloaking switch, zigzag plotter.”
Pistachio flawlessly indicated each mechanism.
“The buttons for; classical music, strobe lights, bottled water, spare change, protein bars (disgusting things), forks, spoons, safety pins, and sugar.”
Kiwi’s mouth dropped open as she watched her friend, who was a whirlwind of button-poking.
The Doctor grinned and shouted “Thermo-coupler!”
Pistachio paused. “That’s not technically part of the console, it’s below the platform.”
“Oh, you’re good.”
Ten minutes later, the Doctor was out of breath, Pistachio was panting and leaning heavily on the console, and Kiwi was lounging on an old armchair, all three grinning like idiots.
“Only one left,” the Doctor rasped.
“The WIBBLY LEVER!” Pistachio yelled as she pointed triumphantly at the named lever. She opened her eyes and beamed at Kiwi and the Doctor.
“Pistachio, that was brilliant,” the stallion praised.
“Girl, I think you just earned yourself a cutie mark!” Kiwi congratulated.
“Really!?” Pistachio whipped around to see her mark, an open book. “Awesome! But what does that make my talent? Just being ridiculously smart?”
“To a point of creepiness! I don’t know what else it would be!”
The two mares promptly squealed and danced like fan-girls.
“I presume that’s normal?” the Doctor inquired.
“Yep, perfectly normal,” smiled Kiwi.
“Alright then,” the Doctor said, looking unconvinced. “You two do that or whatever. I’m trying to figure out why we’re here. See, it’s almost like we were dragged here, because I had no control, yet we got here in one piece, and those two factors rarely go together. Something wanted us here…” he hit his forehead with a hoof, “but what?”
The dancing ponies stopped, both looking at the thinking stallion. Pistachio, also thinking, sat down in the arm chair. Kiwi retired to the couch as she asked, “Do you know if it specifically wanted us, or if it’s just pulling in a bunch of stuff?”
“That actually could make some sense,” the smallest pony pointed out. “I mean, the TARDIS is a huge ton of time energy all stuffed into a seemingly miniscule box. It seems pretty tempting.”
“Yes, and I might see that working,” the Doctor replied, “but firstly, if they wanted the energy and whatnot from the TARDIS, they wouldn’t want its occupants giving them any problems, so they bang the box up a bit to kill or at least weaken those inside to be disposed of at a later date. Secondly these… happenings are formed in rings, branching out in all horizontal directions, like a circle around a point. But this point and circle can only be on one plane, one dimension…”
Pistachio’s eyes widened. “We hopped dimensions, fell through the Void from another plane, so we couldn’t have been caught in the ring!”
“Wait, hold on a second,” Kiwi said. “Doctor, you said this… tractor beam, for lack of a better term, could have easily killed us on our way here, but when it was happening, you only warned of the pinching! At the time, did you know we could have been in danger?”
“Yes, I was fully aware,” the Doctor nodded.
“And you didn’t tell us?!”
“I would have only scared you two.”
It was Pistachio’s turn to yell. “So you LIED?”
“You two knew rule one when you came aboard. What was it?”
“The Doctor lies,” the mares muttered grudgingly.
“That’s right! I’m the Doctor, so I call the shots, so I CAN LIE!”
He sighed. “I lie to protect you. It’s for your own safety. You have to learn to believe me. You have to trust me.”
He looked slowly and intensely at the unicorn and earth pony. “Do you understand?”
“Understand what?” asked Sweetie Belle as the CMC came bouncing out of a nearby corridor.
“Oh, just some boring stuff,” said the Doctor, nodding to a tired Derpy and Fluttershy. “We were just finishing up.”
“Did you find the pool?” Kiwi asked.
“No,” said Apple Bloom. “But we did find a fully stocked kitchen, so we made some toast!”
Derpy’s eyes glazed over momentarily. “I never knew toast could be so messy…”
“Yeah, we kinda made a mess,” said Scootaloo, head down.
“Oh, that’s quite alright. I didn’t even know I had a kitchen!” the Doctor beamed.
“Okay, well we had a nice time,” thanked Fluttershy before turning to the Crusaders. “Girls, it’s getting late, and I think we’ve been imposing on these nice ponies too long. Come on, we should get you all home.”
“Aww…” whined the fillies. “Okay, thanks for letting us explore your box, Doctor. Bye!” And with that, the young ponies were herded out the door by Derpy, who thanked the Doctor on her way out too.
“So Fluttershy,” Kiwi prompted. “You’re still here because…”
“Oh, sorry,” the yellow pegasus muttered. “I just wanted to thank you three for an… interesting day.”
“Are we really that interesting?” asked Pistachio as she came around from the far side of the large console. “We just crashed down out of the sky in a bigger-on-the-inside box, demanding a pocket… Oh… Yea, that sounds a bit… Odd.”
Fluttershy nodded and gasped as her eyes alighted on Pistachio’s flank.
“You have a cutie mark now!”
“That I do,” smiled the pink mare, “I decided to stay out of sight until the fillies were gone.”
“Good thinking,” credited Kiwi. “Otherwise, there would have been a commotion.”
The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows as he looked pointedly at Fluttershy, his eyes troubled. “You’re scared,” he stated. “That’s why you stayed behind. But what has you so scared?”
Fluttershy glanced out the open door, to where Derpy was trying to extract the three fillies from a nearby apple tree, then back to the Doctor. “I keep getting these notes on my doorstep. They always say that there’s a hurt animal that needs help, and then it lists some random numbers. But the hoofwriting is the strangest thing; it’s too perfect to be written by anypony!”
“Oh dear…” the Doctor muttered.
“What is it?” asked the frightened pegasus. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know yet, but it’s probably nothing,” the tall earth pony lied. “I’ll just need to see one of those notes. Could you be a dear and run home and get one?”
“Um, sure. I’m just worried, because all my friends are missing…”
“It’s alright, nothing that can’t be fixed, if you just look harder for them. Maybe they don’t like you so they’re just avoiding you-” he slapped himself. “No! Why would you say that?! Right. Sorry.” He pointed to Fluttershy, “You get a note and come straight back here.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy nodded as she walked to the door.
“And Fluttershy!” the Doctor called after her.
She turned, halfway out of the TARDIS.
“You’re handling this very well,” the stallion said kindly. “No one has any idea that you’re scared. You’re very brave.”
The yellow one blushed, smiled shyly and left the blue box, galloping past Derpy (who was still having trouble with the CMC) towards her cottage by the Everfree Forest.
The Doctor chuckled as he walked over to close the door of is TARDIS. “So… Ponies… This could turn out to be the most adorable adventure I’ve ever been on.”

A Discovery

Fluttershy had run from Sweet Apple Acres, across Ponyville to the Everfree Forest, jumping at every shadow as the sun went down. As she neared her cottage, she slowed to a walk, listening for anything unusual. A rustle in some bushes made her shriek; she chastised herself when a baby squirrel darted out.

“Fluttershy,” she told herself, “You need to stop being such a filly. You just have to get one of those notes and get back to the… tardess? TARDIS, that’s it. And besides, the Doctor said it probably wasn’t anything.”

“So Doctor,” began Kiwi, watching the door Fluttershy had recently exited. “This event, us being here, Fluttershy’s notes, her being scared; if it probably isn’t anything, does that mean it’s almost certainly fine? Is it safe?”
“Oh, no it’s definitely dangerous.” The Doctor murmured from the other side of the console.
“But you said it’s probably nothing!” Pistachio said worriedly. “Why would you say that?”
“The Doctor lies.”

Fluttershy walked up the path to her front door and tried to stifled her fear at what she saw.
A new note.
It’s fine, the timid pegasus thought. It’s just a note. Completely fine. In fact, I’ll just take this one right back to the Doctor.
She picked up the note, chuckling to herself, “See? It’s just a note. And I’ll be nice and safe once I get back to-”
A twig snapped.
Fluttershy dropped the slip of paper, turning just in time to see a dark shape come flying into her vision. It thudded into her head and she fell like a stone, not even able to call out ‘who’s there.’

“Why would you lie to Fluttershy?” Kiwi demanded.
“To make her feel better,” the Doctor said defensively. “She’s a worrier, and we don’t need to worry her any more than is necessary. We don’t just want to scare her for nothing.”
“Sure, but now she’s alone out there with something potentially very dangerous!” Exclaimed Pistachio. “One of us should have gone with her.”
The Doctor’s eyes narrowed with concern. He hit his forehead with a hoof. “How did I not think of that?” He looked at the mares. “If, you give me a tic, we’ll be off to Fluttershy’s now.”
He quickly hit a few buttons and the TARDIS began to disappear. Soon there was nothing in the East Orchard but apple trees and darkness.
~wwrrt wwrrt wwrrt~
The blue box materialized on the ground, a few yards away from Fluttershy’s cottage. The door swung open as the three ponies burst out.
“Fluttershy!” Pistachio was yelling. “Are you okay?” But there was no reply; Fluttershy was long gone.
“Damn it,” swore the Doctor. “Where is she?”
The three friends scattered, looking in vain for the missing pony. Pistachio ran up to the door of the cottage. “Maybe she’s inside? FLUTTERSHY! Are you here?” She turned to the others. “Maybe we should go in.”
“No need,” the Doctor said slowly. “She never made it inside.”
Kiwi stopped prodding a bush to look at him. “How do you know?”
“Well for starters, the most recent foot prints-”
“Hoof prints,” Pistachio interrupted.
“Whatever. The most recent hoof prints are definitely these,” the Doctor indicated some light prints in the dirt. And they only come this far up the path; not reaching the door.” He gestured to the door, inches away.
“That’s maybe three inches off,” judged Kiwi, squinting to see the hoof print in the moon light. “She could have easily just continued on inside.”
The stallion shook his head. “Nope, th-”
“Chuck Testa.”
The Doctor glared at the blue mare for a moment then continued.
“As I was saying, Fluttershy couldn’t have gone inside because this print,” he pointed to the one nearest the door, “is the only one of its stride, meaning that if our pegasus friend continued on inside, there would be three other hoof prints around this one.”
“Right!” yelled Kiwi, kicking at the ground. “If she’s not inside, she must be in the forest! Let’s go find her!”
“But why would she leave?” mused Pistachio. “Was she being chased or something?”
“She didn’t go willingly,” murmured the Doctor, inspecting the ground off to the side of the path.
“Oh dear,” whispered Pistachio, eyes wide as she and Kiwi went to where the brown pony was frowning at the earth below him.
“This big indent,” he patted it, “could easily have been formed by a body hitting the ground here. And then this trail,” he pointed to a trail of broken and flattened grass, “could be the result of someone dragging something, possibly a pony, in that direction,” he nodded to the Everfree forest.
“So there is something else here,” breathed Pistachio.
“Well now we know where they went,” prompted Kiwi. “So let’s go! We might be able to catch up with them if we go now.” She turned to the trail, preparing to charge into the woods.
“No. They’re long gone,” the Doctor said. “We’d never catch them.”
Kiwi huffed and turned back to the others. “So they’re fast?”
“Well faster than a pony certainly,” the Doctor said. “If you drag something slowly, it creates a huge and obvious track. But this one is small and disappears in a few places, like the object hit a bump and left the ground momentarily.”
“That means, whatever we’re dealing with, it’s strong,” reasoned Kiwi. “If it can drag a pony at such speeds that the pony goes in the air at times, this thing must be really strong. Even a cut marshmallow pony is still a pony, thus weighing so,” she finished with a yawn.
“Right, good thinking, nodded the Doctor. “So can we now all agree that Fluttershy and her assailants are long gone? We’re not going to catch them tonight, right?”
“Sure.”
“Yep.”
“I’m glad we’re all agreed,” smiled the Doctor. “Now’s there’s nothing else to be done tonight, so you two, get in the TARDIS and go to bed. Now.”
“But,” Pistachio began to protest, eyes drooping.
“No,” the Doctor cut her off. “This has been an enormously gigantic and excruciatingly exciting day for you two. But you need some sleep. I promise we’ll help Fluttershy first thing tomorrow, but for now, go.”
“Okay,” the unicorn and earthpony mumbled as they obediently walked back to the TARDIS. Once inside, Pistachio curled up in the big armchair and Kiwi sprawled (in a rather un-pony way) out on the couch.
“Big day, huh?” mumbled Kiwi.
“Oh yea. And another, bigger one tomorrow.” Pistachio sleepily replied.
“Goodnight,” Kiwi said, closing her eyes. Hearing no response, she opened an eye to glance at the pink pony, who was already sound asleep. The blue unicorn chuckled and closed her eyes again, falling asleep almost instantly.

Kiwi’s eyes fluttered open as a wonderful aroma entered her nose. She smiled to herself.
Coffee: the lifeblood of man-kind.
She shook herself and got up, wobbly on two hind legs. Her front legs flailed out in front of her as she fell back on the couch. She lifted her blue hooves, inspecting them for a moment.
What the hell?
And then the previous day’s events came rushing back to her. She blinked, standing again, only this time on all four legs.
Right, I’m a pony now, she thought. So I guess it did all happen… The crash, the CMC, the pocket and… And Fluttershy has been abducted.
“You getting used to it again too?”
Kiwi turned to see Pistachio coming out of a nearby hallway, carrying a tray with a pot of coffee, two cups, and a ton of creamer.
“Yeah,” the blue mare returned. “Waking up a pony will take some getting used to, but waking up on the TARDIS seems normal now, so it shouldn’t be too hard to adjust. Hey, bring that coffee over here.”
“That’s just what I was doing,” the earthpony smiled. “I finally found the kitchen and you would not believe how many types of coffee creamer the Doctor has. Here, hazelnut?” she offered as she reached the couch.
“No thanks,” But I’m feeling some good vibes from that French Vanilla.” Using her magic, she picked up a mug and filled it with coffee and creamer. Smiling, she took a sip.
“Now that’s some good coffee,” she browsed among the other creamers. “He has an impressive collection for a guy, correction, a pony who doesn’t even drink coffee.”
“Yea, well in my defense, the stuff is horrid,” the Doctor said as he entered the TARDIS.
“That’s what the creamer is for,” Pistachio said.
“Oh I know, that’s why I have so much,” the brown pony said as he came to stand by the two mares. “I just haven’t found one that I like yet.”
Kiwi levitated one of the flavors in front of the Doctor. “Apple Spice Creamer? Were you desperate?”
“Yes,” the Doctor said defensively. “Although that one actually wasn’t that bad.”
Pistachio rolled her eyes. “Weren’t we gonna rescue Fluttershy today?”
“Oh, right, yes,” the Doctor grew serious. “I kept looking around after I sent you two inside and found this.” He showed them a small piece of paper. “I’m guessing this is one of the notes Fluttershy was receiving. But even considering our yellow friend kept getting these notes repeatedly, I can’t see why she was so frightened by them. Maybe you two with your,” he raised an eyebrow (like Fluttershy!) at them, “content knowledge of this place could figure out what about these notes scared her.” He handed (hoofed?) over the note.
Pistachio and Kiwi’s eyes widened as they looked at the note.

PLEASE HELP ME.
A RECENT MUDSLIDE COLLAPSED THE ENTRANCE TO A RABBIT FAMILY’S HOME.
SOME ARE STUCK INSIDE. I CAN’T MOVE THE ROCKS MYSELF.
PLEASE COME HELP ME.
(30, 105, 417) 224

“Well for starters, it’s typed,” Kiwi stated. “Ponies don’t have sophisticated computers. Fluttershy’s probably never seen anything typed before.”

“Oh,” said the Doctor. “I suppose I just over estimated their civilization’s advancity.”

“That’s okay,” said Pistachio, “But what are these numbers? Are they-”

“Coordinates? Yes I think so. At least the first three are,” confirmed the Doctor. “Pistachio, cold you put that into the navigatory plotter? See, I’m guessing whatever we’re dealing with tried to lure Fluttershy by giving her an incentive and coordinates to find where to go, but I guess they also over-estimated these tiny equines. But this note also gives us two vital pieces of information. First: thanks to these coordinates, we know generally where they are, or where they wanted Fluttershy to be. Second: the Coordinates simply being there tells us that whatever it is, it’s fairly sophisticated.”

“Uh, Doctor,” Pistachio called from the console. “The coordinates leave us in dead space; there’s nothing here.”

“Oh, we dimension hopped didn’t we? Right,” the Doctor glanced back down at the note. “Pistachio,” he called. “At the corner of the navigatory plotter, it should say 107. Change that to 224, and that should get us onto the right plane.”

The pink pony hit a few buttons and, checking the output monitor, declared, “Yep, we’ve got a point on a planet now.”

Kiwi trotted up to her friend. “Can you also display our current location? I want to see just how far we’ll be traveling. Are we even staying on this planet?”

Pistachio flipped a switch and another point appeared, inches away on the monitor from the other. “Wherever we’re going, it’s pretty close. Maybe they have a base here or something.”

“Probably,” the Doctor contemplated. “The coordinates should get us close. I suggest we-”

There came a series of thumps on the door. “Oh now what?” the Doctor complained. He walked to the door of the TARDIS and, opening it, looked out. Not seeing anyone (anypony seems rather subjective), he turned back.

“There’s no- OW!” he exclaimed, looking down to see a very impatient rabbit. “That… angry bunny just stomped on my foot!” he cried indignantly.

“Hoof,” corrected Pistachio, coming to the door, followed by Kiwi.

“Shut up!”

“Touchy, touchy,” the blue unicorn shook her head as she passed the Doctor. She stooped down to the rabbit. “Why hello there! I bet you’re Angel.”
THUMP
The rabbit had promptly turned and kicked the unicorn in the face.
“Oh my, ow… SHIT!”
“Yep, that’s definitely Angel Bunny,” smirked Pistachio.
Angel scowled at each of them then held up another note in one paw. The Doctor took it and, reading it, walked towards the cottage, talking to the bunny. “Another note. Different story about the animals, same coordinates. Are there more notes inside?” Angel nodded, hopping in the front door. The Doctor nodded to Kiwi and Pistachio, motioning for them to follow.
They entered Fluttershy’s cottage and followed Angel to a stack of notes and papers. The rabbit laid out before them an array of notes, notices, pamphlets and fliers. The Doctor wandered off to look around another room, as Kiwi and Pistachio studied the papers.
“What are these, Angel?” the earthpony asked the irritable rodent, who, in return, continued to glare at her and raised an eyebrow (must be where Fluttershy got it!).
“Well you don’t have to be rude…” Kiwi muttered. “Where did you get these?”
Angel sighed exasperatedly, facepaw’d and picked up a pamphlet. He then thrust it out to the two confused ponies. They read it, finally beginning to understand. The front flap of the pamphlet read:

Canterlot Fashion Industry:
In Peril

Many of the big names in Canterlot fashion have not been meeting the public’s expectations of late. Canterlot needs new and innovative ideas for fashion, and we, the Canterlot Society of Fashionable Clothing, think YOU may be the solution to this problem. In two weeks, there will be a major fashion show just outside of Canterlot. We would love for you to attend. Read on to find out more about this amazing opportunity!

“Woah,” Pistachio murmured, opening the pamphlet. “This sounds majorly like a ploy.” Angel Bunny rolled his eyes.

“Yeah? Listen to this.” Kiwi began reading aloud bits of the inside of the pamphlet. “We will provide lodging and materials… you need only bring yourself… One mile out from Canterlot… Thirty, one oh five, four seventeen… it’s the same coordinates!”

“Rarity had to have seen this!” exclaimed Pistachio. “Why else would something like this end up in Ponyville? It’s like Fluttershy’s note! It had to be-”

“A lure,” the Doctor finished, head poking into the room. He walked fully in. “See, that makes sense. Fluttershy said her friends were also missing, so one could assume they each had some sort of lure.” He addressed Angel, “Where did you find each of these?”

Pistachio smirked as the little rodent began squeaking to the Doctor. She muttered to Kiwi, “Like that’s gonna work.” The brown stallion glanced at them, and then back to Angel, occasionally nodding. When the rabbit was done, the Doctor looked up at Kiwi and Pistachio.

“He says they were all found in the homes belonging to ponies named Rarity, Twilight, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash and… Pinkie Pie. I’m assuming you two know of them. All of the notes have these same coordinates, and we can have all of them.”

Kiwi smiled, rolling her eyes. “He speaks rabbit. Should’ve guessed that.”

Pistachio chuckled, saying, “Do we really need all those papers? We already have the coordinates, so I say we should just go.”

“Right. You too, in the TARDIS, let’s go right now.” He turned to the little white rabbit. “And thanks for your help, Daemon Fire, we’ll soon find Fluttershy.” The Doctor then turned and shepherded the two mares out the door and back to the TARDIS, glared at all the way by the rabbit.

Once back in the big blue box, the Doctor skipped (as well as a pony can skip) up to the console and flicked switches, smiling in anticipation. His hoof rested on a large lever, “Are you two ready? We may be attacked the second we arrive.”

Kiwi and Pistachio looked at each other, both steeled for their mission.

“We’re ready,” Kiwi growled.

“Alright then, let’s go find some ponies,” the Doctor pulled the lever. The TARDIS rocked back and began to disappear.
~wwrrt wwrrt wwrrt~

The TARDIS materialized in the midst of some large trees, near a mountain outcrop covered in bushes. The blue box fully appeared and sat quietly in the forest. “Here we are. Bit of a walk there, I’m guessing,” he smiled at the other two ponies. He leaped down to the main floor, stopping by them on his way to the door.

“Are you two sure you’re ready? I’m not sure what’s out there. It may be dangerous.”

“It’s alright Doctor,” Pistachio assured.

“Yeah, we can manage,” agreed Kiwi.

The Doctor looked at her sharply. “You don’t know that. You never actually fought anyone, and you may find yourself fighting for your life and I don’t want to be responsible for… We’re wasting time, come on then.” And with that, he quietly opened the door and walked outside.

Kiwi glanced at Pistachio, murmuring, “Ever since that incident with the lock, he seems to always be impatient with me…”

Pistachio nuzzled her friend, trying to cheer her up. “Yea, I’ve noticed a bit, but he might not even realize he’s doing it,” she offered. “You know he stresses the small stuff a lot, but he still shouldn’t take it out on you. C’mon, he’ll be waiting outside.” Pistachio nudged Kiwi, and they started towards the door.

The unicorn sighed. “I- I just feel like I’m letting him down. He has no sonic, so I’m supposedly the next best thing… But I just don’t know how to do the sonic screwdriver-y stuff…”

“Letting the Doctor down,” Pistachio chuckled, reaching the door. “Celestia forbid.” She turned to Kiwi. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Now shh, let’s go kick some alien butt.”

“Plot. Some alien plot,” Kiwi chuckled as they exited the TARDIS and made their way through the foliage. After a few minutes of walking, they caught up to the Doctor, who was crouching in the bushes at an outcrop, looking into the small valley below. He put a hoof to his mouth, indicating that they should be silent. Waving them over, he waited until they were far enough into the bush, then pointed into the valley.
Kiwi stifled a gasp, Pistachio bit her lip. “That’s worse than I was expecting,” the pink pony whispered.

The Doctor nodded silently, studying the structure below. There was a huge metal dome about three hundred yards in diameter, with a large satellite reaching from the center.

“What is it?” whispered Kiwi.

“That, I’m only guessing of course, would be their base,” murmured the Doctor. “See, if you look down there,” he pointed, squinting, to an opening on the side of the dome. “That appears to be an entrance, well, or an exit because something just came out.”

All three ponies in the bush looked down to see a large creature step out from a door-like opening in the dome. Its head and upper body glinted in the sunlight, making it hard to discern what the alien fully looked like.

“Doctor, why is its head all shiny?” Pistachio hissed.

“It’s wearing a helmet, and some sort of armor,” the Doctor whispered in reply.

“Well then those things sure have a lot of armor,” muttered Kiwi. “But what are they?”

“I can’t really tell from here, but they appear to have 2 arms, 2 legs and a tail. That really narrows it down…” the Doctor said sarcastically. “I need to get a closer look to decide what to do next. C’mon now, let’s get out of this bush and go take a peek at those things,” he said, wriggling backwards out of the bush. Kiwi and Pistachio followed, blinking in the bright sunlight as they emerged. As the three ponies stood, they were simultaneously hit in the back of the head. They all were knocked back to the ground and, as their vision began to blur, a large, sinister, reptilian creature in full body armor approached, with many more around it.

“Time travelers,” the creature hissed. “You are surrounded. Sleep now.”

The other reptile-like aliens all pulled out small canisters, each with a nozzle. Pointing them at the ponies, the aliens clicked a button and a sickly sweet gas slipped out towards them.

Eyes closing, Kiwi rasped out “oh shit” before slipping into oblivion.

Pistachio’s nose itched. She reached up a hoof to scratch it—but couldn’t. Her eyes snapped open, she was alert at once. She tried yanking her hooves outward, but found that they were clamped to a metal surface above her head. She attempted to kick her back legs, but they were clamped down too. She struggled to turn her head, but it too was immobile. Thankfully, there was also a thick metal clamp around midsection which kept all her weight off her front hooves. She struggled and writhed against her confinements more, but finally gave up, panting.

“Don’t bother strugglin’ there, sugar cube. Only makes it hurt more.” a tired voice came from her side. She couldn’t see who was addressing her (due to the lack of head movement), but she instead looked straight ahead, surveying the room. It was circular, with a large pulsing tank of what looked like shimmery water. Connecting to the floor was a metal contraption, with a complex computer and a few slots. Where the tank met the ceiling, smaller tubes snaked from the ceiling to the walls, where each tube went into the large slate of metal. And manacled to each of those slates was a pony.

Pistachio’s eyes widened in horror and fangirlness –don’t judge— as she recognized the ponies. The room held nine ponies in all. Clockwise from Pistachio were; the Doctor (who was grunting and beginning to come to), Rainbow Dash (asleep), a silently weeping Fluttershy, Twilight (pale and unmoving), a half-dead and limp Rarity, Kiwi (who was unconscious but panting and sweating, as though in a nightmare), a smiling Pinkie Pie, staring straight ahead, and Apple Jack.

“Apple Jack?” That you? Where are we?” the petite pink pony croaked through a rough, dry throat.

“Pardon? How do you know mah name?” the orange earth pony inquired. “No matter. We’re basically in a room where they suck the magic out of us. See that tank in th’ middle o’ the room? It’s full o’ pure magic.”

Pistachio looked carefully at the shimmering substance again, “Magic? But how do they extract it? And we’re earth ponies, we don’t have any magic.”

“Well, ah don’t know what part of Equestria yer from, but we earth ponies still have magic. We just can’t manipulate it as abstractly as unicorns or pegusi. Our magic is more basic; it keeps us healthy and strong. Anyway, see these metal clamps keepin’ us in place? Ah reckon they’re suckin’ the magic right outta us. But then of course they always come and drain us too,”

“Drain you?” the small pony asked.

“Yep,” sighed AJ. “Drain us. They come every day, at least ah think every day, ah can’t tell if it’s night or day, and stick big needles into us and draw out a lot o’ blood. They take so much that we pass out and then they come again the next day. They take as much as they can while keeping us alive, so we can keep givin’ em more. But ah know ah have never have enough in me at one time, so ah always feel pretty sick. But poor Twa’light an’ Rarity. Once they got blood drawn, neither has woken up…”

The Doctor, fully awake now, entered the conversation. “The, ah, aliens who draw the blood from you, what do they look like and do you know what they call themselves?”

“Sure,” replied Apple Jack. “The first day Twi and ah were here, they told us they’re called the Komadar. They’re big, almost dragon-like fellah’s, they have big heads with scary teeth, always wearin’ armor and they have these big metal tails that can probably do a lot of damage with. And along with that, they have these really thick bodies and short arms. They’re legs are pretty short to but those things look strong. Bet they could buck more’n a few apples.”

“Ah, the Komadar,” said the Doctor,” I haven’t heard much from them in a couple centuries, I guess they’ve grown more advanced. But why are they here?

“Well they’re harvesting the magic,” AJ said matter-of-factly. “They keep talking ‘bout how they need more energy, but we’re too weak, although if ya ask me, I think we’d be a lot stronger if they fed us more than some water every day. But hush now, he’s comin’.”

Heavy footsteps fell; steadily coming nearer to the room.

“Who’s he?” Pistachio hissed.

“The one who takes our blood,” Apple Jack whispered. “Now shush!’

All were silent as a metal door between Rarity and Kiwi slid open and an armored Komadar in dark green scrubs walked slowly into the room, the door sliding shut behind it.

The Komadar pulled on some plastic surgical gloves while visually inspecting an unconscious Kiwi.

“This is a weak pony, “it muttered to itself. “Has not yet lost blood, but is still asleep.” It turned to the Doctor and Pistachio. “But these two are awake. Hello travelers, I am called Medidar 107.”

“Now that’s not really very gender specific, now is it?” smirked the Doctor.

“You know our race. It tells enough, Doctor.”

The brown pony raised an eyebrow.

The pink pony gasped.

The orange pony looked confused.

The other pink pony blinked and continued smiling.

The Medidar shook his head, smiling. “But of course, Doctor. Two hearts is a rather hard thing to miss in an x-ray. Fortunately, the inner linings of those hearts contain more pure energy than any of these ponies here. And you really only need one of those hearts to pump your precious life-blood. So unfortunately, for you, we will be “borrowing” one. And looking on the bright side, if you go and die on me, that’s always just another heart towards solving the problem.”

The Doctor frowned slightly. “Well that’s a bit worse than I expected…”

“A bit worse? Are you crazy!?” Pistachio said, voice shaking in horror. “He’s freaking going to CUT OUT ONE OF YOUR HEARTS!”

“Yea, well one is better than none,” the brown pony reasoned.

“Are you out of your mind? How are you so calm!?”

The Doctor smiled sadly, looking across the room at the unconscious Kiwi, and said quietly to the pink pony beside him, “Maybe I’m buying time, maybe I just like to talk, but maybe…” He paused. “Maybe it’s just important to put on a brave face when you’re fighting a losing battle.”
“I-I… I’m so sorry, Doctor,” whispered Fluttershy from the other side of the room. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into this…” The yellow pegasus’ body shook under the weight of silent tears.
“You don’t need to apologize, Fluttershy,” he tried to smile. “I’m just sorry I—”
“Silence Doctor,” interrupted the Komadar., who had finished gathering an array of scary-looking pokey things. “Soon, it begins!”

*author note* thanks for sticking around thus far. I know the beginning was weird, but now the story actually picks up some momentum in the next chapter, if I do say so myself... more action. sooooo, thanks -mindboggled

An Escape

I wonder if this is what it’s like to be in a coma, Kiwi wondered lazily. It’s like I’m stuck inside my head… I can hear everything quite clearly, I just can’t move at all. And here I am, thinking, but merely noting things without feeling anything. Why am I lacking emotions? Why does that not bother me? I mean sheesh, the alien thingy just gave the Doctor what could turn out to be a death sentence, and I think I hear Fluttershy crying, but it’s just… going on. This is awful… I’m so tired, but I don’t even care. How can I not care? Ohmigosh, did they make me a cyber-pony or something? Is that even possible? Probably not… Is that even possible?...

The blue mare twitched violently and then continued to hang limply in her confines.

I’m so tired.

The hissing voice of the Komadar soon filled her ears, “Silence, Doctor. Soon, it begins!”

This should be interesting, Kiwi thought, focusing on the sound of the alien’s footsteps as it advanced towards the Doctor. It was about ten feet away, five feet, three feet. And then it stopped.

“So, Doctor… I will be putting you to sleep for the operation. Anything you want to say before you go?”

The brown pony closed his eyes in defeat.

“I’m sorry Kiwi,” he whispered.

WHAT? The aforementioned unicorn’s ears poked straight up and she began coughing like a drowning cat pulled from the water. Oh god, she thought. A gate opened and dangerously high amounts of raw emotion flooded her consciousness. I’M IN CONTROL AGAIN, she screamed in her mind.

“Go Kiwi,” Pistachio breathed as the blue unicorn began to shake violently all over, horn and highlights glowing bright green. The Doctor grinned and began chuckling as Kiwi’s eyes suddenly snapped open, irises the same electric green.

“You will not touch him,” she threatened the Komadar, voice low and dangerous.

“Oh?” sneered Medidar.

“I’m warning you,” Kiwi growled. “Get out.”

“I will not heed the warnings of a pony chained to the wall,” the reptile spat.

“Sorry then,” the unicorn grinned wickedly. “You should have.”

Kiwi’s horn grew even brighter as she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Her eyes flashed open for a mere second, full of confusion and fear. She whispered a terrified “no” before her eyes closed again and an impish look crossed her face again. Medidar suddenly gasped in pain and fell to the floor, writhing and clutching his chest. It let loose a piercing shriek, but was cut off as it began coughing up bits of saliva and blood. Medidar 107 soon fell still.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Kiwi smiled coldly as she magicked her bonds off, falling lightly to the floor. “Time to get us all out of here.”

“Doctor, what’s wrong with her?” hissed Pistachio, concernedly eyeing her friend.

“Well I’m guessing she’s just dealing with a rush of power, stemming from what appears to be her most primal feeling; the need to protect. Once the adrenaline starts to wear off she’ll be perfectly normal again, or so I assume,” murmured the stallion, “but for now your friend will perhaps be a bit cold. She won’t remember any of it, just treat her as you normally would.”

“Okay,” the pink pony took a calming breath and addressed the blue unicorn helping her to the floor. “You, my friend, are a total BAMF.”

“Thanks I guess,” Kiwi replied a bit regretfully. “But that scream will bring others; we’ll need to get everypony down and out of here.”

“That could be challenging,” the Doctor commented, “if those other unicorns are still unconscious…”

“Well I’m not unconscious,” said a certain pegasus who had woken up during the action. “And that was awesome!”

“Dashie, you are totally getting out next,” Kiwi grinned, magic-ing the pegasus’ bonds off. Rainbow Dash hit the floor, stretching her wings and shaking out her legs.

“You have no idea how good it feels to spread my wings ag—”

She was cut off by the sounding of a loud alarm. It blared tonelessly down every hallway, throughout the entire structure. The ponies also found themselves also bathed in flashing red light. Basically, a cliché security breach alarm.

“And that’ll be our cue to leave!” called the Doctor, looking towards the door.

“But we have to get everyone out!” Kiwi yelled, her frustration beginning to mix with panic.

Pistachio paused, listening to the storm on advancing footsteps. “They’re getting close, but you might still be able to get one more pony out if you do it now!”

“C’mon, let out Apple Jack,” urged Rainbow Dash. “She’s handy in a fight.”

“That was one time,” the orange pony rolled her eyes, “and you’d had way too much cider.”

“We have about a minute!” called Pistachio.

Apple Jack locked eyes with Kiwi. “Let Fluttershy out. She can’t stay trussed up in here. Tain’t right. Let her out and yall get her outta here.”

Kiwi nodded, magic-ing the yellow pegasus to the floor. Fluttershy was trembling and flinched away when the blue unicorn tried to help steady her.

“Here they come!” yelled Pistachio as another door between Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack slid open and a line of armed Komadar stormed in.

Fluttershy squeaked and cowered at the far side of the room as Rainbow Dash took to the air and dashed rainbowishly back and forth before the front line of Komadar, boldly driving them back until they had receded into the roomy hallway from which they had come.

“Hold off there, Rainbow,” Apple Jack ordered the blue pegasus. “They ain’t comin’ anymore.”

The angry lizard-soldiers stood in a couple rows of five, spanning the width of the hall. They all glared at the single pony who had pushed them all back. One, a commander, stepped forward to speak.

“Doctor… You have killed one of our brothers. I would ask if you were wanting war, but the Doctor never wants war. Yet here you stand, with a comrade of mine at your feet. War is what you shall get. Unless we just kill you all now—”

“Okay, interrupting!” the Doctor interrupted. “Now, you’re right in me not wanting a war, but I never killed a comrade of yours.” He grinned and pointed a hoof at Kiwi. “That was actually my friend Kiwi over there, but you’ll have to pardon her. She’s going through some… self-discovery. I mean, not only has she recently found herself a unicorn in another dimension, but she’s a blue unicorn that can kill aliens! I’ll be the fist to say that I did not see that coming.” The timelord turned to the impatient commander. “Well if you say you’re going to kill us, come on and shoot us already!”

“The Komadar have… standards, Doctor,” the commander hissed. “Don’t worry, you will be shot in good time, but we’ll let you have your pointless ramble first.”

“You’re too kind,” Pistachio said dryly.

“Well at least they have manners!” the Doctor ginned cheerily. His face grew serious as he began pacing back and forth across the small room. “But see, killing doesn’t seem like something that would naturally go on in this world, so why was our blue friend able to kill that Komadar? Her tattoo thing is the sonic screwdriver, and she can do sonic-y things, but I don’t think the sonic has the ability to kill people… Unless…”

“Unless what, Doctor?” Kiwi asked nervously.

The timelord’s eyes widened. “Well, my screwdriver might have been able to excite the oxygen molecules in the blood stream enough to accelerate circulation, which would cause the heart to have a backup and BOOM! There goes a Komadar. But see, to operate at the molecular level, the sonic would need to be impossibly and immensely funneled, otherwise it wouldn’t be strong enough…” He turned abruptly and walked over to where Kiwi was standing, legs shaking ever so slightly. He gave her a concerned onceover.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Fine. I’m fine,” the unicorn lied.

The commanding Komadar rolled its eyes. “How long is this going to last?”

The Doctor snorted. “Well if you’re just going to be rude about it, you might as well just go ahead and kill us.”

“Much obliged, Doctor. Now you die.”

“Lovely,” muttered the stallion.

Pistachio’s eyes widened. “So they’re going to kill us now?”

“Yes, that’s the general idea. Prime weapons!” the Komadar commanded as the silent ranks of reptilian aliens flipped switches to activate the large guns at their sides.

“Weapons up!” The dragon-like creature yelled. The Komadar lifted their weapons to their shoulders.

Fluttershy whimpered.

“Take aim!”
“BYE!” Kiwi shouted as the door separating the two parties slammed shut and clicked as it locked from the inside. Everypony stood there, stunned for a second. The Doctor, recovering first, started and ran to the only other door out of the room. He stopped to glance at a comatose Rarity and frowned momentarily as he called to the others.
“Come on then! Kiwi, could you be a dear and open this?” he said, nodding to the door.
The unicorn obliged and the door slid open, revealing a dimly lit corridor. The only light came from flashing red orbs, still blaring out the alarm. Pistachio began nudging a rather shell-shocked Fluttershy into the corridor behind Rainbow Dash, who had already flown down to the door at the other end. Pistachio looked over her shoulder at the door still separating them from the Komadar troops’ it was beginning to glow a dull orange.
“Doctor! They’re blasting through, they’ll be here any second!”
“Go, get in the hallway,” he encouraged, lingering in the room. He glanced wearily again at the unconscious unicorns and then addressed Apple jack and Pinkie Pie. “I’m sorry. We’ll be back for you. Be strong.” Then the brown stallion turned and darted down the corridor, nodding as he passed Kiwi. She smiled weakly at the chained Earth Ponies and slid the door shut just as the Komadar burst into the room.
The commander, Camdar 217, and his troops flooded the room. Rushing to check the ponies still on the walls, they scowled at seeing the other door, locked and closed for business.
“They have escaped!” screamed Camdar. “You fools! Why didn’t you blast through the door faster?!”
One of his soldiers stepped forward. “We are sorry Camdar 217, but our weapons have been in repair and are not working at maximum power levels. Taking down this door will take just as long as the last. May I suggest we alert the general of the escape? We can get more troops and a search party out.”
“Yes,” Camdar hissed. “Yes that is the perfect idea… If you were an idiot! We let the prisoners get away! If the general finds out... We’re dead!”
“But he must be alerted,” the soldier urged. “Better to hear it from yourself rather than another.”
The young commander sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Come… What was your name?”
“Sodar 568, sir!” the eager soldier barked.
“Then come, 568, you’ll be assisting me in making the report.”
“Yes sir!”

“You don’t even know where we’re going, do you?” accused Rainbow Dash. The Doctor grinned and shook his head as the party of five turned another corner, dashing rapidly down the dim hallway.
“Well, we’ll get out eventually!” Pistachio yelled above the blaring alarm. “How’s everyone doing?” The petite pony glanced at each member. Dash did a little barrel roll, to which Kiwi rolled her eyes and smiled. The Doctor mentioned something about being used to doing an awful lot of running. Fluttershy, hooves clamped tight against her ears, gave a tiny, determined nod. Pistachio gave a sigh of relief; happy to know everypony was faring well enough.

They all screeched to a sudden stop as they reached a fork in the hallway. Both hallways, to the right and left, looked exactly like every other corridor they’d already run down. Fluttershy’s eyes widened.

“Which one do we go down?”

Camdar 217 waited nervously in the lift, headed to the top of the dome where the General’s offices were located. His clawed hands gripped the gun at his side as his palms filled with sweat. I’m dead, he thought. New prisoners today and they escape! How can we have been bested by ponies?! He glanced at Sodar 568, grinning like an idiot next to him. That moron. Thinks he’ll get an advancement for reporting bad news. He’ll be lucky if we get out of this alive.

The door in front of them dinged and opened to a large room, with a large desk centered in front of the lift. Camdar gulped. He’d always hated how the room was set up so you were stared down the second you entered the room. Now was no exception. Camdar flinched involuntarily as his eyes locked with those of the huge Komadar sitting at the desk.

The general stood. “What business do you have here?”

Camdar cleared his throat. “General Rodar, we have come to make an urgent report on the prisoners.”

Rodar looked pointedly at the commander. “What is it?”

“The new prisoners… They…” his voice caught and he hung his head in shame, unable to go on.

Sodar 568 stepped up eagerly. “The new prisoners killed Medidar 107 and escaped.”

“Wut.” It was not a question. It was a statement.

“I said WHAT?!” Rodar screamed. “They’re PONIES! Little fluffy mammals! How did they get out, and why did you let them get away?”

“You can watch it back on the video records,” Sodar 568 stated smugly. “But they’re somewhere in the building still, so I suggest you send more troops to—” The soldier stopped as he looked up to see his general slowly priming a scary looking gun and taking aim.

“You do NOT lead this army. You do not lead. You are a soldier. You fight. You die.”

Sodar 568’s eyes widened in confusion and fear as the streak of energy slammed into his chest. The young soldier looked down at the sizzling hole in his armor and looked to his commander. “What?” he asked as he crashed to the floor, unmoving.

“What was that?” burst Camdar. “He was one of my best fighters! Yes, he was insolent, but I’d like you to respect my unit a bit more!”

Rodar slammed the gun down onto the desk. “That could have been you! 217, you’re a good commander, but you’re not ready to have a unit completely under your leadership yet. You haven’t had enough experience! Above all, you need discipline. Not necessarily obeying orders, but you lack a complete trust in yourself. You can’t start doubting when you’re responsible for so much! And you let the prisoners get away. The entire force is after them, and they’ll catch them eventually. Luckily, this place is a maze to those unfamiliar. They won’t escape.”

“Of course, General. But on the smallest chance that they do escape, I would like to volunteer to lead a search party,” proposed the commander. “I need to recapture these ponies that have bested me. I need to settle the score.”

“So be it. But they won’t escape.”

The Doctor peered down the left hall, then leaned over to glance down the one to the right. “Just a guess, but I’m saying right. I’m just assuming we’d rather keep running than get bagged by these chaps coming up the left.”

“Works!” said Rainbow Dash, taking off down the right hall. The others quickly followed suit, although the brown pony lingered a moment until the charging lizard soldiers came into view. Then he turned and ran down the right tunnel. He soon caught up to the mares, who were waiting around an open door. Outside, the wind stirred the long grass as the sun burst forth its final light of the day.
Kiwi smiled proudly, “Being able to unlock stuff at will is coming in pretty handy.”
“Yea, yea,” said Rainbow Dash. “We can play with your magic more once we’re out of here. Let’s go!” The blue pegasus took Fluttershy’s hoof and the two flew low as they darted across the small clearing to the cover of the forest. The Doctor, Kiwi, and Pistachio quickly ran after them.
Once they reached the trees, the brown stallion took charge, as he led the small pack to the left through the underbrush. Moments after their exit, a squad of twelve Komadar rushed out the open door after them. The aliens charged into the woods, but soon found their bulky size hindering them in the pursuit. Yet they were far too slow to catch to ponies anyway. The leading officer ordered a small group to sweep the surrounding area, in the possibility that one was left behind. The soldiers fanned out, but none of the escapees would be found that evening.

“I repeat,” Dash glanced at the Doctor as the party barreled onwards through the dimming forest. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“Yes… And no,” the earth pony panted. “I know the TARDIS—”
“The what?” Rainbow Dash interrupted.
“Big old box that’s going to get us out of here,” the Doctor huffed. “Anyway, the TARDIS landed near a cliff when we arrived. We walked out to the outcrop to look down at the… Dome thing. So we need to go up, which we are, and based on our view of the satellite on top…”
“We need to be at the correct height and see the same side of the satellite. That should get us right to the TARDIS!” Pistachio finished.
“Yes,” the Doctor smiled. “See, I know exactly where I need to go, I’m just not certain of how to get there.”
“Right,” a winded Kiwi nodded. She glanced to the left at the Komadar base from the ledge they were galloping along. “The view side of the satellite we originally saw is beginning to come into view. We should be getting to the TARDIS in the next few minutes.”
“And then we’re safe?” coughed Fluttershy.
“Well, you’ll be safe,” the Doctor smiled. “But I have a duty to go back for the others.”
“You’re going to go back?” Fluttershy asked, agape.
“He has to! They have our friends!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “And I’ll go with you, Doctor. Once I get my hooves on those scaly freaks, I’ll—”
“Here’s our cliff!” called Pistachio, who had pulled a bit ahead of the group. “That means…” she slowed to a trot, “Here’s our ride!”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “How are we all gonna fit into that? And how is it our ride? It has no wheels!”
“I… I need a rest,” Kiwi puffed, walking shakily up. She pushed open the door and entered the TARDIS. “Dibs on the… the…” The unicorn trailed off as she began to sway on her hooves, and then all four legs gave out and she crashed to the floor. “couch…” she murmured as she lost consciousness.
“Kiwi!” Pistachio yelled, galloping to her friend.
“Everyone in!” the Doctor ordered, pushing the two pegasi into the box. He quickly shut and locked the door before rushing up to the controls. “Miss Dash, please help Pistachio there get our unicorn friend to the sofa. Fluttershy, if you remember where the kitchen is from your last visit, kindly fetch water and ice!” He flicked a final switch and pulled the big lever, taking them back to safety.
Rainbow Dash obediently fluttered over to help Pistachio, looking around wide-eyed. “This can’t be real,” she breathed. “How is this possible? We were outside, and this box was tiny, but now it… it’s huge!”
“It’s dimensionally transcendental,” the pink pony replied worriedly, looking down at her friend. She looked up to the pegasus. “But you’ll get used to it pretty quick. Give me a hand, er, a hoof here, will you?”
Together they carried the unicorn to the sofa, where they deposited her limp body. Rainbow Dash, who had calmed down a bit, looked at Kiwi concernedly. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s spent,” the Doctor said, coming down from the controls. “Used up all her magic, and then some. She’s probably got negative energy levels. If we had another unicorn on hand, we'd be fine, but seeing as none of us have much extra energy to give…” He turned to Rainbow Dash, “There is a hospital in your town, correct? Because we’re going to need some help. And fast.”
“Could she die, Doctor?” Pistachio asked, eyes watering.
“Take a moment,” the stallion said. “Look at us all. We’ve had magic and energy drained and we’ve just run for about an hour straight. Once the adrenaline wears off, Kiwi isn’t the only one in danger.”

Prologue

"And that's why you never, under any circumstance, look a weeping angel in the eye."

"Creepy," came a voice from behind a large book.

"Yea, that's some really scary stuff." agreed another.

Three figures stood in a spacious room with a large structure at the center. A couch, some arm chairs and everything else was tinted a slightly gold color.

"Well of course it's scary! Otherwise what would be stopping everyone from going around staring down stone angels?” said the tallest of the figures, as he fiddled with the controls on the massive center structure.

The other two figures, one slightly smaller than the other, leaned against the platform’s railing, which surrounded the main structure. They listened to the tallest of the three, staring at him in adoration as he obliviously bustled around flicking switches and pulling levers.

“Interesting, although it kinda makes sense...” muttered the shortest, looking up from the book. “On a completely unrelated note, does this,” she gestured to the large room, “does this place often screw up? Like... Do you ever lose control of it?”

“Oh yea, loads of times,” grinned the tallest figure. “Seems to happen fairly regularly or maybe I’m just getting old... Well, that’s a given, but you know what I mean.”

“So when it... screws up,” began the third figure, fiddling with a small tool, “Is it always dangerous? Or is it just, say, a brief little miss-hap?”

The tall figure knit his eyebrows in concentration. “Well, it really depends, but som-“

THUMP

The three figures clung to the railing around the central structure as the room tilted violently to one side.

“No no no no no no no!” the tall figure shouted as he pulled himself back up to the controls and began struggling with them some more. But all in vain; he couldn’t regain control. “Not again!”

“Again?!”

“Is this really that common of a thing for you?!”

“Well, kind of! It someti-“
~wwrrt wwrrt wwrrt~

“Oh dear,” the tallest figure murmured, “We’re about to hop dimensions! You two hold on! And don’t be alarmed when you feel a slight pinching sensation, it’s normal.”

“WHAT?!” the other two figures cried in unison.

“No time to explain. GERONIMO!”

brief author note: this is my first fic, so it's not quite as good as I'd like it to be. Also, the characters with the doctor are not companions from the show. They are OC's. Sorry if that bugs you. - mindboggled