Once a Time Lord, Now a Pony

Canterlot Castle, a guest room

Twilight looked out at the setting sun which was slowly being replaced by Luna and her moonlight. The sun cast reddish orange light mixed in with a bit of yellow across the horizon lighting it up in a dazzling display of color and beauty. It was hard to think, despite how the day started it would end so normally. Had Sunburst and his team not worked through the night and early morning she would now be without a brother and probably wouldn't have even known until it was far too late to say goodbye. Out of anger and guilt she fired off a blast of magic at a potted plant shattering it and burning the plant to cinders.

"It's my fault... Had I not chosen to go on that trip with the Doctor I might have been able to stop Shining from getting poisoned in the first place!" Twilight whimpered. She was so focused on her musings she didn't hear the door open and two sets of hoofsteps come in behind her.

"I don't deserve to be Shining's brother. I DON'T!" Twilight sobbed before she felt a hoof on her shoulder and heard a male voice come from behind her.

"That's not true and you know it sis." Shining said and Twilight turned to see his smiling face. He seemed so normal now, almost no trace of his experiences from over the last few days.

"But I... I left you, all just to go on vacation with the Doctor!" Twilight yelled.

Another voice joined them, a female one.

"On my recommendation." Rarity said kindly. "Mine and Spike's. So if you're going to blame anyone, blame us darling."

"I... No, I won't. It's not your fault." Twilight murmured to herself sadly while shaking her head. "It's mine and mine alone. I made the choice, and look what happened. My own brother nearly died, and I might not have even had a chance to say goodbye!" Twilight sobbed again. But the sobbing wasn't for long, as it soon stopped when Shining placed his forelegs around her in a warm hug. Twilight melted into it, just like she had when she had nightmares from when she was a filly.

"Now let's get one thing straight in our heads." Shining said firmly. "It wasn't my fault, it wasn't yours and it certainly wasn't Rarity or Spike's fault for me getting poisoned. It was Boltstrike's and Boltstrike's alone. But he's gone now. Cadence killed him, and he won't be troubling our family any more." Shining continued.

Rarity levitated a tissue towards Twilight and used it to dab at her eyes.

"Now that's better, no more tears ruining your look. They're so unbecoming of a lady." Rarity smiled, and in spite of the situation Twilight laughed a bit and so did Shining. Rarity smiled at them.

"There, see? That's what I like to see. Brothers and sisters laughing together." Rarity said happily. "All of this sadness, it's just not good for anypony."

Tardis Control Room, Canterlot...

Meanwhile, Twilight wasn't the only one having a crisis of faith so to speak. Little did she know it, but the Doctor himself was having trouble coming to grips with what had happened in his absence and how he'd failed to stop it. In his mind, he blamed himself. If he had just stayed instead of going to the future and taking Twilight with him he might have prevented this whole thing. It didn't matter Boltstrike was dead now, it almost cost Shining his life and that was far too much of a price to pay to see one enemy of his dead. Why? Why did he not even see this coming? He was a time traveler for Rassilion's sake so he should have knowledge of everything that happened no matter how small!

"Well, this day was just ducky wasn't it?" The Doctor muttered. "I go to the future, and even if I did stop the emergence of this universe's version of the Cyberponies and kept them from cyberforming Equus I still left modern day Canterlot in peril from a terrorist and nearly separated a brother and sister forever. I don't deserve my title right now." The Time Lord growled to himself.

A voice came from behind him, as two sets of hoofsteps stepped into the Tardis with them clanking against the metal flooring and grating of the control room.

"Now that is just not true, we say!" Luna's angered voice said, and the Doctor turned to face it's owner. "Now we wish we could finally meet thou  and your fantastical machine under better circumstances, but right now we see you need a kick up the flank as the modern day ponies say!"

Celestia coughed as she gave her sister a look.

"Now despite the... Ah, way my sister puts it she does have a point here. You shouldn't blame yourself. I know you already know this, but time is always in flux. Remember that." Celestia told him. "There was no way you could have known what was going to happen to my Captain nor me."

The Doctor cursed himself. Celestia was right and he knew it. He chuckled to himself, oh the irony. He gave Celestia advice, and now she was giving it to him.

"What we cannot figure out is this." Luna asked. "What was the purpose of the Captain's attack? Was it to sow discord and chaos amongst us, or was it to prove a point, that we are not as invincible as we'd like to think we are?" Luna guessed and the Doctor thought about it for a moment before finally shaking his head.

"No, that wasn't it at all. Good guesses, I can say but neither of them were right. It was all about me, you understand." The Doctor explained. "It was all to drive me out. And it very nearly succeeded, had the Tardis not figured that out and prevented me from coming and possibly falling right into the trap." The Doctor growled before patting the Tardis's control console and whispering to it a "Thanks... Old Girl."

When he thought nopony could hear him, he whispered even in a lower and somewhat embarrassed tone "Thanks, Sexy." and the Tardis hummed in response. Then, a hologram of the Master appeared and the Doctor on instinct pulled out his sonic and aimed it while the two sisters readied their horns...

END