Once a Time Lord, Now a Pony

Thankfully, with Celestia's Alicorn magic and the quick response time due to Luna's shout of shock and horror she really wasn't in the major danger zones for too long. At Canterlot General in the Isolation Ward she now sat. Currently, she and her sister talked about the situation which was rapidly going out of control.

"Luna, you'll have to take over for me right now." Celestia coughed. "I'm... Well, you can see what I'm like can't you?" She added dryly as her sister shook her head rapidly.

"No... No, thou does not understand sister. I am in no shape to rule.  Remember I am still getting used to thy modern world. Thou dost choose another."

"Luna, there aren't any others, remember? Well, there is Blueblood but he is..."

"Yes, we know of this Blueblood." Luna muttered, having had the displeasure of once (And that was more then enough) meeting him. While Luna did at once point meet his many times great grandmother, a minor noble from Platinum's line he seemed to share none of her DNA, or at least couldn't learn from his mistakes. He couldn't be allowed to take the throne as he was not qualified for the same reason Cadence was not.

And that train of thought brought another to Luna's mind. It was about their shared niece. Celestia knew what her sister was thinking at once, as she'd already considered the matter herself and knew how her sister thought.

"No. She hasn't been properly trained in everything.  There are things she's yet to learn that only you know. Plus, as we know the only way she could rule was if both of us are not around in some way." Celestia explained, and her sister knew she was right before cursing herself mentally, as she'd forgotten that old rule.

"What I don't understand is how this package could have gotten through. The guards should have-" Luna continued but was interrupted as Steel Sentry and Sunburst (In full R.I.F.T attire, lab coat and all) walked in. Sunburst, to be honest, looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here and was about to bolt from the room.  Either it was from his natural shyness which seemed to be worst then normal, possibly by the fact that he was in the presence of not one, but two Princesses. Nopony could really be sure if they were to be honest.

"I can answer that. Turns out there were some payoffs. A little money in the pocket you might say." Steel put in and Luna nodded before replying in the full Canterlot Royal Voice.

"WE KNOW OF WHAT YOU MEANST BY PAYOFFS!" Luna shouted, and poor Sunburst was sent flying backwards while Steel regained his lost hearing. "THIS IS MOST UNFORTUNATE. NO, ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING AND COMPLETELY DISGRACEFUL! HAVE SAID GUARDS BEHEADED FOR TREASON! THAT IS THE ONLY PROPER PUNISHMENT!"

"We... Ah, don't do beheadings anymore." Steel replied sheepishly once Luna was done with her little rant.

"THEN THEY SHOULD BE DEALT SOME PUNISHMENT!"

"And I promise, that's on the agenda." Steel said, before muttering to himself "Why couldn't I have taken that early retirement?"

In the background, Sunburst stammered "...D-doesn't she have a inside voice?" and Luna heard him despite his small voice and any other attempts he was making to make himself unnoticeable.

"WHATEVER DO YOU MEAN? THIS IS ALWAYS THE VOICE AND VOLUME WE MUST USE WHEN ADDRESSING OUR LOYAL SUBJECTS!" Luna shouted and Steel muttered "Yeah... Yeah, I'm going to be deaf for a week now aren't I?" Sunburst? He just collapsed in a dead faint, hooves and legs pointing upwards.

"Can you turn it down, just for this instance?" Steel asked nervously and Luna nodded. In the background, another guard woke up Sunburst with smelling salts.

"Alright, we shall. What has thou found out?"

"Well... It's uh... The news is not good." Sunburst stammered nervously, afraid of the Night Princess and her voice. But he continued anyway. Her wraith if somepony died because of little information was much scarier to him.

"Apparently, the virus is a rare strain of the Nightwitch's Fever that somehow got out of the vaults." Sunburst explained. "A-And before you go all Nightmare Moon-Real Wraith of Tartarus type stuff on me, I just... Just want to explain that we kept said virus in case it ever returned. Glad we did, cause now we can work on a cure with what little we have left." Sunburst finished before murmuring to himself "...That is, if we can do it in time. Shining doesn't have that in spades right now."

Meanwhile, a certain rogue Captain of the Royal Guard had journeyed to where Lightning Dust was being cared for by top mental therapy specialists and doctors in R.I.F.T. He knew she'd be perfect to further his and his master's plans. Yes, this time Boltstrike wasn't working alone no sir. He didn't actually care that he was being used, all that mattered now was revenge against Celestia and Shining.

"Hello Dust. See somepony's been keeping you locked up like a mad dog. Which I suppose in some terms you are, depending how you look at it." He said softly before he laughed to himself at his own joke. Lightning wasn't quite so amused.

"What do you want? Here to gawk?" Dust snapped. Boltstrike chuckled again, before smashing her room's locked door open with his earth Pony strength.

"Not exactly. I'm busting you out."

"What's in it for me?" Lighting asked. She was no fool. She knew there was always a catch to this sort of thing.

"Well... How'd you like revenge against a certain unicorn... Named, oh now I remember. Twilight Sparkle, yeah. That's it." He smirked, as he knew his quarry was hooked when Lightning's eyes gained a manic glint in them. He had her.

Future Manehatten, Rich Enterprises...

As they walked back into the building, Twilight brought up what, or rather whom she'd seen.

"Doctor, earlier when we were here I ran into my future self." She said, and the Doctor stared at her in shock before murmuring "Well, no universal implosion... So that's good at least!"

"How much did she mention to you? Knowing too much about the future is dangerous stuff Twilight Sparkle." The Doctor replied in the most serious tone Twilight had ever heard him speak in.

"N-not much. But one thing still bothers me. She mentioned she didn't remember meeting me, her past self. Should I be worried or anything?" She asked.

"No, you see, time is always in flux. It's all very-"

"Wibbley wobbley timey wimey." Twilight finished. "Yeah, I know." She deadpanned and the Doctor grinned in response.

"Good, you're beginning to pick things up." The Time Lord said in response rather happily, and Twilight muttered to herself "Why me? Can't I know at least one normal stallion for once? Is that too much to ask?"

Present Time, Canterlot:

Back in Canterlot, Cadence and the Royal Guard led by Steel had tracked down the post office which had sent Shining the package that was now threatening his life. The Princess of Love and future ruler of the Crystal Empire was not happy suffice it to say, and was angry enough to do something reckless which was why Steel had come along personally instead of just sending someone else to lead the raid. He knew how this went. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before. He shouted in anger a "Open up, in the name of the Royal Sisters and the Canterlot Royal Guard!"

No answer came.

"Last warning! You've got five seconds before we get one angry Princess of Love to bust down this door for you! Let me put it this way, a broken door will be the least of your troubles if you don't open up!" Steel shouted through a megaphone while Cadence's horn glowed the most frightening shade of pink Steel had ever seen in his life with fury etched in her features. He began looking around for a bench to hide under to avoid whatever rubble that was about to fly his way.

Finally, the door opened and a gray furred mare with a blond name and two oddly set eyes peeked her head out nervously.

"Muffins?" She asked.