The Legend Of The Blue Box

“FINAL EXTERMINATION IN THIRTY RELS,” echoed a deep, ominous voice.

Ditzy Doo opened her eyes slowly; cautious of what she feared she might see. As her eyes opened her face began to express more than simple agony or terror; such words fail to describe what caused her breath to stop. She was frozen from the sight before her, her mouth hung open as she gazed in disbelief. Before her was not just one Dalek, not a few Daleks, but an entire army of Daleks numbering in the tens of thousands at the least.

The soldiers flew around inside a massive spaceship tending to their respective duties. Oddly, none of the Daleks took notice of Ditzy, or perhaps they didn’t care that she was there for some reason. Ditzy stood right in the middle of a large central corridor. A giant hole before her reached through multiple levels of the ship, obviously designed for some purpose.

“DETONATION IN FIFTEEN RELS,” the voice announced, echoing through the ship with a supreme commanding tone. Ditzy could see the origin of the voice; a Dalek colored a little differently than all the others in a throne-like position, light illuminating it more than any other area.

Ditzy looked around furiously searching for the Doctor or the TARDIS or any ray of hope that whatever the Dalek army was scheming they would not succeed. Her search proved futile. She was alone, she felt small and powerless, she couldn’t even fly and she dared not move for fear of being discovered. All she could do was stand still, watching as multiple holographic screens projected around the ship. They displayed the spaceship orbiting a planet; a planet Ditzy knew all too well, Earth.

“DETONATION IN FIVE RELS,” said the Dalek as it began a countdown. “FOUR.” Ditzy fell to her haunches, panicking. “THREE.” She wrapped her forelegs over her head, still staring at the projected image of Earth. “TWO.” Strangely, all she could think about was why there was something attached to her head that shouldn’t have been there. “ONE.” Ditzy had lost all hope at this point as she gazed longingly and in fear at her home. “FIRING REALITY BOMB!”

An enormous amount of electricity shot through the hole in the ship. Outside, a colossal part of the ship transformed and unleashed the built up energy in the form of a bubble that emanated outward in all directions. It moved lightning fast and soon touched the surface of the Earth.

Ditzy watched, nauseated, as the bubble did something she couldn’t even imagine; it dissolved the Earth into dust. The wave didn’t end with Earth, it kept going passed the moon, enveloping the sun, and then one by one all the stars in the sky went dark. The whole universe was gone; the only ones left were Ditzy and the Daleks.

All the lights in the ship went out at once. The leader of the Daleks spoke to his army, “FINALLY, DALEKS ARE THE ONLY RACE. NOW WE CAN PURSUE OUR TRUE PASSION.”

The lights came back on; shining an out of place bright pink and slow classical music began to play from out of nowhere. All the Daleks started swaying, spinning and moving their mechanical arms to the music.

“I AM SO GLAD WE GOT RID OF EVERYPONY ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE,” one Dalek declared to another.

“I KNOW, THIS WOULD BE SO EMBARRASSING OTHERWISE,” the other replied.

Ditzy stared at them confused, not sure if she was seeing things. Then for the first time she somehow got a good look at herself; she wasn’t herself. She was a filly, not just any filly, she was a unicorn with a light purple coat; she was Dinky.

Derpy gasped as she shot up awake in her bed, it had all been a dream. She couldn’t remember what her dream was about but from the way her heart was trying to break through her chest with every beat it must have been horrifying.

She tried to steady her breathing and calm herself down. She reminded herself that she was safe inside the TARDIS, and there was nothing to worry about. She flopped her head back onto the pillow; there was no way she could get back to sleep now. Her thoughts raced around in her mind as she tried to recall her nightmare. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important that she should have remembered.

Without warning the TARDIS started to shake violently, more so than when it usually traveled. Derpy made her way to the edge of the bed and promptly fell over. She had no idea why the Doctor would be moving the ship when she was asleep unless it was an emergency. She didn’t hesitate to fly to the control room as fast as she could.

“Doctor,” Derpy called, “what’s going on? Why are we moving?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor half lied as he messed with the controls. “She’s flying out of control and falling through the time vortex. If I don’t stop her we could end up anywhere.”

“What do you need me to do?” she asked.

“I’ve almost got it! Just... hold on to something,” he ordered.

Derpy held onto the TARDIS for dear life as the Doctor used three of his legs and a string in his mouth attached to the other side of the control panel to pilot the ship. The usual grinding noise sounded different, it was as if the ship were crying at the impromptu flight. Altogether the ship landed with a great thud sending the Doctor tumbling back. Derpy released her grip of the now still ship and helped her companion back on his hooves.

“We’ve landed,” he remarked looking at the ships computer screen.

“Where are we?” Derpy asked as she walked to the ship’s doors.

The Doctor hit the computer screen in frustration. “Ah, the computer’s not working. It’s still trying to work out what happened and calculate the trajectory. We could be anywhere. On any stray asteroid, any moon, any desolate wasteland.” His tone betrayed a sense of apprehension.

“Otherwise known as civilization,” Derpy said giving him a haughty look as she stood in front of the open door.

“Hmm?” he responded perking up and trotting out of the TARDIS with his companion.

“Where do you think we are?” she asked.

The Doctor looked up at the night sky as they walked into a silent town just before dawn. “Well, judging from the stars I’d say about five-hundred-fifty light-years away from Earth and, oh, three-hundred-twelve years in the past; relatively speaking. Give or take a bit,” he said with an almost arrogant smile.

Derpy rolled her eyes slightly at the Doctor’s latest attempt to be impressive. Although she sometimes hated to admit it, she couldn’t help but think that he really was the most remarkable pony alive.

The companions walked through the town, taking in the atmosphere. It had seemed like forever since they last visited a planet that didn’t need to be saved from some disaster and it was nice to soak in some tranquility for once. The town had cobblestone streets and wooden and brick buildings, none of which were more than a few stories tall. It almost made the Doctor feel like he was in late nineteenth century London again.

They sat and watched the sunrise over the town, gazing, as the star seemed to burn the sky an outstanding mixture of pink and orange. Derpy was reminded of the time they decided to marathon fifty different summer sun celebrations and watched Celestia raise the sun. Half of them they experienced in orbit around the Earth. She still thought it beautiful every time, both then and now. Although, she thought looking at the Doctor, there may have been more to her joy than just the sun.

“Oh look,” the Doctor said breaking the silence and gesturing to the side, “ponies.”

Derpy looked around him to see what he was talking about. A stallion stood in front of a large stone building, a ring of keys in his teeth. After fiddling with the lock for a moment he opened the doors and went inside.

“Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Derpy said. “Why do most of the aliens we meet look at least vaguely pony-like?”

“Well,” the Doctor started as they walked toward the now open building, “every universe needs to have a theme right? Back in my universe a lot of species looked somewhat Time Lord, here it’s pony.”

She silently accepted the response not sure if it was a real answer or just him avoiding saying ‘I don’t know.’

“Oh, it’s a museum,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Love a museum, tells you all about the history of a place, well, unless it gets political then it just gets all wrong and one-sided. Still, let’s go see.”

The two of them entered the building and walked into a large front lobby, large enough to hold a massive centerpiece.

“Good morning,” the Doctor said.

The curator, a normal dark brown pony slightly taller than the Doctor and lacking any type of cutie mark, took notice. “Morning. You’re here early. Most folks wouldn’t be here at the crack of dawn, especially these days. At any rate feel free to look around, though tours don’t start for another few hours.” He busied himself with paperwork.

Derpy had already wandered off to look at the centerpiece in the entrance hall and the Doctor walked over to join her. She stared almost straight up at a huge skeleton that looked something like a cross between a horse and a Tyrannosaurus rex.

“Equinodon,” the Doctor said reading the plate in front of it. “Died out three-million six-thousand and twelve years ago? That’s an oddly specific number. Wonder how they got that.”

“Come on,” Derpy said pulling her companion, “let’s go see the rest.”

The curator looked at the pair as they walked off to a different corridor. He squinted like he was trying to get a better look at them, like he noticed something different about them. Like there was something wrong with at least one of them. He shook off the thought chalking it up to morning grogginess and went back to his work.

Several hours passed as the Doctor and Derpy perused through the many halls of the museum. Several employees and many, many guests began to flood through the building. From what he saw, the Doctor noted that none of this species had cutie marks and most wore some amount of clothing, a symbol of social status by the looks of it.

The museum itself was very large with many wings and stood two stories tall. It seemed this was a race that loved its history. The curator walked down the mythology section and happened to look up and notice the Doctor staring deeply at one of the paintings. The Doctor wore a pair of black-rimmed faux glasses just to make himself look smarter.

“You’re still here?” asked the curator.

“Yes,” the Doctor answered still studying the painting. “You’ve got quite the impressive collection here.”

“I see you’ve taken an interest in this particular legend,” said the curator.

The painting depicted a small fireball about to collide with the ground in the middle of the night. The title of the painting read ‘The Mactabilis War.’ Under the painting a small black book attached to a pedestal told the story of how, a few hundred years ago, an alien object crash-landed on their planet. Not long after this object was recovered the country erupted into civil war. Exactly what had fallen was lost to time but the ponies blamed the unrest on it. Somehow they had managed to overcome the instability and end the war. Whatever had fallen was never seen again.

“In my experience every myth holds at least some kernel of truth,” the Doctor said turning to the curator. “But what I find most fascinating is how you came up with such exact dates for some of your artifacts. No dating method can really be that precise can it?”

The curator smiled. “You’re a stallion who knows his stuff. Where are you from? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

The Doctor smiled basking for a moment in the praise. “Oh I travel a lot. I like to see history in action, if you know what I mean. I’m the Doctor by the way,” he said, instinctively holding out a hoof in greeting.

“Oh, are you a doctor of archaeology then?” the curator asked while shaking the Doctor’s hoof.

“Of sorts,” he replied.

“Wonderful, it’s always nice to have scientists join us Mister…” the curator said hoping the Doctor would fill in his name.

“Smith, John Smith,” the Doctor finished. Why not, he thought, it was a rare treat when the Doctor got to use his favorite pseudonym.

“Welcome Dr. Smith. My name is Mouseion. Would you and your companion like to meet our archaeology expert? He is considered something of a genius and is quite well respected in our city. Speaking of which, where is your companion?” Mouseion asked looking around for Derpy.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s around somewhere,” the Doctor said as he and the curator walked off. “Knowing her she’s probably off eating lunch somewhere.”

Derpy sat on a bench in the main lobby of the museum, a bag beside her with the museum logo on it. She sat watching the alien ponies walk about the museum as she happily ate a large muffin. She had been delightfully surprised to find that this place actually had a small cafeteria in it. Although she liked seeing history in a museum from time to time and knew that a lot of their travels didn’t involve life or death action, Derpy grew a little bored of this place. At this point she was mostly waiting for something to happen or for the Doctor to get bored as well.

“Hey are those real?” a small colt suddenly asked gesturing at Derpy’s wings.

“I’m so sorry,” the colt’s mother said catching up to her child. “He’s at that inquisitive age you know.”

Derpy didn’t quite understand what the big deal was; it seemed like an innocent enough question. She wanted to answer but found herself with a mouthful of muffin so she decided to just unfurl her wings in show.

The mother’s eyes went wide and she grabbed her son and backed away. She yelled for help at the sight of Derpy’s wings and soon the whole lobby took notice. All of the ponies looked angry, scared or a mixture of both. They started surrounding Derpy, backing her into a wall. Somepony threw a piece of food at her head and she flew above to escape the sudden mob. She took notice for the first time that none of these ponies were pegasi or unicorns, only regular ponies.

“Derpy!” the Doctor tried to yell over shouts of ‘Give them back,’ and ‘You’ll pay for your crimes,’ as he and the curator walked into the scene.

“Doctor,” she tried to yell back as she dodged all manner of objects being thrown at her.

“Enough!” a loud commanding voice echoed.

Silence resounded throughout the lobby as all eyes turned toward a stallion that just entered the building. He was a tall pony with a black mane, a rust colored coat and sky blue eyes that seemed to beam with experience and wisdom. He wore a brown leather brimmed hat and a dusty white lab coat and carried saddlebags on his sides. The entire room looked at him with respect and elation as he walked through the crowd and approached the pegasus. He smiled gently as if to say that everything was okay. Derpy tentatively floated down to meet him. He turned back to face the horde.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded like a parent scolding his children. “Are any one of you witness to any crime this mare has committed?” He paused as if awaiting response. Everypony only looked dejected and ashamed. “Well? What do you have to say for yourselves, accusing an innocent without any evidence? ”

“But her wings…” one of them said hesitantly.

“No,” he interrupted putting a hoof to his head in frustration. “I don’t want to hear about superstition, you're better than that. We are all better than that. Now leave this mare alone and go about your business.” He stomped his hoof down for emphasis.

All the ponies turned and began going back to what they were doing before. The stallion’s face shifted from stern and commanding to gentle and caring as he turned his attention back to the gray pegasus.

“Are you alright miss?” he asked showing his most debonair expression.

Derpy blushed slightly and giggled a bit nervously. “Um, yes I’m fine.”

“Derpy,” the Doctor called as he and Mouseion ran up to them. “Are you okay, what happened?”

“I’m fine, Doctor. Thanks to him,” she said, gesturing at her savior.

The Doctor and the stallion looked at one another. The stallion looked deep into the Doctor’s eyes for a moment as if he was trying to figure out what he was looking at. The Doctor stared back with similar interest.

“Dr. Arkhaios,” Mouseion said entering the conversation. “Good to see you again, this is Dr. John Smith and his friend…”

“Ditzy Doo,” she said introducing herself to the both of them.

“Good to formally meet you, I am Mouseion.” Turning his attention to the Doctor, Mouseion continued, “Dr. Smith, this is the pony I mentioned earlier, Dr. Arkhaios. This is Dr. John Smith, a visiting archaeologist.”

“Welcome,” Arkhaios said, a joy in his voice. “I always like to meet somepony devoted to history.”

“Yes, quite so,” the Doctor said. “And from what I’ve heard you’re quite the brilliant scientist yourself.”

“Well... I don’t like to brag but...” Arkhaios said acting a bit bashful. “Come, let us talk more in my office.”

Derpy, Arkhaios and the Doctor took their conversation to Arkhaios’s office and Mouseion went back to his work.

“So, I have to ask, what was all that about in the lobby?” the Doctor asked Arkhaios as the three ponies took their seats.

Arkhaios sighed as he began explaining. “Just an old superstition I assure you.”

“That was a lot more than superstition,” Derpy interjected. “Some of them looked like they wanted to kill me.”

“Indeed,” the Doctor concurred. “I’ve seen a lot in my life and there is no way that was fantasy driven rage.”

“Surely you’ve heard about what’s happening lately,” Arkhaios said.

“Well no actually. We travel a lot and just got here today,” Derpy said.

“How far away are you from? Nova Aurelia? Lutetia Parisiorum?” he asked.

“Bit farther then that,” the Doctor said.

“Well then, perhaps I should start at the beginning, John Smith,” Arkhaios said.

“Please, call me Doctor, Most do,” he responded.

“Very well, Doctor, Ditzy,” Arkhaios began. “Recently there have been disappearances late at night. Most of the ponies have simply vanished never to be seen again. Some were found though, dead. The worst part is the way they seem to have died. There were bite marks all over their bodies almost like somepony was trying to eat them.”

The Doctor and Derpy both looked horrified at this.

“But what does any of that have to do with Ditzy or her wings?” the Doctor asked.

“This isn’t the first case of this kind of disappearance,” Arkhaios continued. “It was three hundred and sixty years ago. Similar events caused one of the worst civil wars this land had ever seen. Everypony began to blame each other and conflicts escalated. At the same time it was said that an entity fell from the sky and eventually a consensus was reached that it was at fault. Supposedly the war came to a close when everypony started to fight against whatever this entity was.”

“The Mactabilis War,” the Doctor elucidated.

“So you’ve heard of it,” Arkhaios said.

“Read about it upstairs. And it was three hundred fifty years ago not three hundred sixty,” the Doctor explained nonchalantly.

Arkhaios’s eye twitched slightly at the correction before he forced a smile and continued. “Thank you, Doctor. But the point is this: exactly what, if anything at all, fell out of the sky was never identified. The most prevailing theory is a myth about a creature that looks like a pony but is in fact a monster. This monster was described as having a constant dark aura surrounding it and was supposedly seen by several eyewitnesses flying away from the victims.”

“So they all thought that I was the monster?” Derpy asked.

Arkhaios nodded. “But I assure you it is only a myth. There have been no sightings of any attack this time around. It is most likely some sick mind trying to imitate one of the most mysterious series of murders in history.”

“Do you suppose there’s any truth behind the myth?” the Doctor asked.

“Certainly not. Stories like these are fabricated all the time; ponies just need something to blame when things go horribly awry,” he answered.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to judge,” the Doctor said contemplatively. “Tell me, where are the bodies of the victims?”

“Most are buried but the most recent are still in the morgue,” Arkhaios answered unsure where the Doctor was going with this.

“Show me,” the Doctor said standing as if to assert authority.

The Doctor stood before two bodies in the city morgue examining them with his sonic screwdriver. Derpy and Arkhaios stood back and watched him work.

“I don’t know what you think you will find that me and others could not,” Arkhaios said sounding a little annoyed.

“Myself and others,” the Doctor corrected.

“What does it matter?” Arkhaios nearly shouted before regaining his composure. “Look, it’s obvious that they were assaulted and killed, the murderer left bite marks in their flesh for crying out loud.”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “But that’s all. There are no bruises, no stab wounds, no sign of poisoning, no trauma, no organ failure, nothing that would actually kill any pony.”

Arkhaios raised an eyebrow instinctively while Derpy furrowed her own like she knew where this was going and didn’t like it.

“The only abnormality on the bodies is the bite marks and they didn’t even break through the skin, they couldn’t they weren’t even sharp. From what I can tell they were made from old worn out incisors and molars, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Doctor,” Derpy interjected. “Are you telling me that we’re dealing with vampire ponies… again?”

“Well, not quite like before,” he said as if to say ‘don’t worry this is something new.’ “There’s still blood in their veins and they aren’t turning into the living dead, it’s more like their souls were just stolen out of their bodies."

“Well can we pick up any trace the murderer might have left in the bite? Maybe we could follow it back like last time,” she suggested.

“No, last time the head vampire was controlling the victims and leaving a psychic trail. It would seem there is nothing to link the dead this time.”

Arkhaios just looked at the two companions like they were crazy. He didn’t want to admit it but the Doctor had inferred more in a few minutes than anypony had in weeks of trying. The only reason Arkhaios had even been asked to look at the case was because the townsfolk considered him a genius, especially when it came to divining past events. He was after all probably the most skilled archaeologist on the whole planet. Being shown up by another pony, especially one that just strolled into town, made him a bit angry although he forced it not to show.

“So what now?” Arkhaios asked almost sarcastically. “You know everything don’t you? If you’re so damned experienced with this then what’s our next move?”

“Oi,” the Doctor responded sternly. “There’s no need to be rude about it this isn’t a competition you know.”

“But really Doctor he does have a point,” Derpy said trying to defuse the growing tension. “What are we suppose to do now?”

The Doctor stared blankly for a moment at the bodies. He turned to leave, saying nothing, and walked down a hallway. The morgue was located in the back of a hospital. Derpy and Arkhaios followed. The Doctor passed by several nurses, doctors, and patients paying them no mind. He reached the lobby and headed for the front door.

“Doctor!” Derpy said, grabbing his attention and stopping him in his tracks. “What are we supposed to do?”

The Doctor slumped down in one of the chairs and sighed. “Nothing... We do nothing.”

Arkhaios smiled slightly letting out a quiet, smug, ‘humph.’

“What do you mean do nothing?” Derpy asked almost like she thought she wasn’t looking at the real Doctor.

“We have no leads, no way to find the killer, we don’t even know for sure how they died. For now all we can do is wait.”

Derpy gave an understanding look, even if she hated doing nothing they didn’t have much choice.

“Unless…” he continued, verbalizing his thoughts. “If these murders are more connected to the events three hundred years ago than they seem…”

Derpy smiled as she caught on to his thought process. Having spent so much time with the time traveler she knew exactly what he was about to suggest. “That’s brilliant,” she said.

“Of course it is.”

“If we just go see…”

“Then everything will make more sense.”

“And even if it’s not connected…”

“The more we know the better.”

“Excuse me,” Arkhaios interrupted. “What exactly are you two talking about?”

The pair looked at Arkhaios like they forgot he was there. “Uh, be right back,” Derpy told him as they walked out of the hospital leaving a very confused archaeologist behind.

“All right, let's head back to the TARDIS and find out what happened three hundred fifty years ago,” said the Doctor as he started walking off.

“Wait,” Derpy interrupted. “You go. I’ll stay here and see what else I can dig up.”

“Derpy, it might be dangerous. I can’t just leave you alone,” he said, concerned.

“Oh come on,” Derpy argued. “It would be dangerous either way and besides, remember what happened the last time with vampires?”

The Doctor shuddered slightly as he remembered how the head vampire had bitten Derpy and made her a slave but by some miracle she broke free. Then she took control of the hive mind shattering it and turned all the victims against the head vampire killing him in a horrible assault of fangs and blood.

“And this way Arkhaios and I can learn more while you find the original killer.”

“Oh I see,” the Doctor said shrewdly as he smiled. “You like him don’t you?”

“No,” Derpy shot back defensively. “I just think this is the best way to, you know… figure things out.”

“Okay, yeah sure,” the Doctor teased.

“Just go,” she said pushing the Doctor and pouting slightly.

The Doctor walked back to the TARDIS and Derpy went back to Arkhaios. The Doctor knew she would be fine, especially if the attacks were only at night. Unfortunately, the only way for the Doctor to ensure that he came back to the right time and place was to temporarily fuse the coordinates. If he did that it meant spending one hour in the past would mean coming back one hour after leaving, he would need to make this a fast trip.

The TARDIS materialized in the middle of the night and the Doctor strode out and looked around. He was on a mission and needed to make it quick so he could get back to his companion. Even if Derpy would be fine for a little while on her own the Doctor didn’t like leaving her for long; she had a tendency to get into… trouble. And who knew what kind of trouble she might get into with Arkhaios around.

The first order of business was to find any clue that might tell him if he did in fact come to the right time. He came back three hundred fifty years, back to when the war was said to have begun and just after the alien object crashed.

The Doctor wandered through the streets taking note of how the only apparent difference in architecture was that there only seemed to be one-story buildings. A curiosity, he thought; their civilization didn’t seem to have advanced much over three centuries.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!” a shriek came from some distance away.

The Doctor stopped walking and turned around looking for the source of the scream. He instinctively galloped after the noise rounding a corner just in time to see, at the far end of a street, two creatures. One was a pony lying in the street, probably dead, killed by the other. The killer was more of a blur; it seemed to surround itself with a black light that moved as sharply as lightning yet as fluid as fire. Its eyes shone with a bright light piercing through its dark shield. It narrowed its eyes menacingly as it noticed the approaching Doctor. A large pair of wings unfurled as it produced a small gust and flew away, hidden in the black of the night sky.

The Doctor stood over the dead pony as others wandered out to see the commotion. Failing to follow where the murderer had gone he turned his attention to the victim. He put his glasses on and discreetly used his screwdriver to give the body a quick examination. The results were as he feared; a simple bite mark and no other sign of damage, the body was just an empty husk. This pony died exactly the same way the others had.

The Doctor sighed; sometimes even he was impressed with his command of time and space. “Well, looks like this is the right time and place,” he said to nopony in particular.

“Murderer!” one of the ponies yelled at the Doctor.

“Oh, no,” the Doctor said looking up at a looming mob.

Derpy sauntered back into the hospital to talk to Arkhaios. Some part of her regretted not joining the Doctor on his quick trip into the past but she felt like she should be here. She had to remain here… for research… yeah that had to be why, they could find out more if they split up. There was no telling how long the Doctor would be gone but it wasn’t like there was somepony she didn’t want to leave behind.

“What was that about? Where’s the Doctor?” Arkhaios asked.

Derpy looked into his eyes almost mesmerized for a moment before shaking it off. “He had an idea about searching for the killer. He’ll be back later,” she said.

Arkhaios raised an eyebrow. “What, so, now he’s an archaeologist, a medical expert and a detective?” he asked sounding a little suspicious of the Doctor.

“He likes to say that he’s a doctor of everything,” the pegasus replied dismissively.

Arkhaios rolled his eyes. He was growing tired of this ‘doctor of everything’ acting all arrogant and meddling where he didn’t belong. Although his companion was a different story, she seemed more like some innocent bystander that was dragged along for the ride. He smiled lightly almost like he pitied her.

“So what do you propose we do now? Just sit here and wait for the Doctor to come back?” he asked.

“Well, no. I stayed behind so I… we could do some investigating and see if we can dig up any useful information,” she said.

Arkhaios smiled, he liked her initiative. “Yes,” he said as he walked out of the hospital. “Come on, I’ll show you where the victims were found.”

Derpy happily followed after as she thought to herself. It was rare for her to make new friends so quickly on her travels; she liked him, as a friend that is. It was totally nothing romantic or anything, but still it did seem a little strange to her that she was able to get along with him so easily.

“Now, wait. J-just hold on a moment,” the Doctor yelled to the angry mob as he took his psychic paper out from his coat. “I’m a federal investigations agent, codename the Doctor, I’m investigating a series of murders in this area. Rumors have spread about a monster shrouded in darkness. Has anypony been witness to any murder or strange events recently?”

The Doctor’s confidence and fast-talking completely turned the situation around; he was the accuser now instead of the accused. The crowd of a few dozen ponies backed off.

The Doctor looked around at the group expectantly as they quietly murmured to one another unintelligibly. It was obvious that all the ponies knew something but none of them wanted to speak up for whatever reason. If he heard some of the talking correctly it was because none of them quite believed the rumors.

“Aye,” a voice spoke up as its owner, a gray stallion who looked surprisingly spry for being so undoubtedly old, stepped forth. “It was I who saw the beast a fortnight ago.” He spoke like an old salty sea captain and appeared much like you would expect one to.

That was lucky, the Doctor thought. There actually are rumors going around.

“He’s lyin’ there ain’t no such thing,” one of the ponies yelled out.

“I ain’t lying,” he shot back. “I seen the thing with my own eyes.”

Some of the crowd began to disperse as two ponies in uniform – clearly the local authorities – came running, led by a civilian. The Doctor stood next to the old pony as the officers examined the body.

“Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private,” the Doctor suggested slipping out of the crowd before the police could take notice.

“Quite right,” the old pony agreed. “Come, I’ll take ya to my home.”

The pair retired to a house nearby. A quaint little home with a sizable dining room, a couple of bedrooms, and a living room with a fireplace. The Doctor noticed several candelabras around the walls and the fireplace as the only source of light. That was at least one way the society had changed. Sometime in the next few hundred years they would harness electricity and invent the usual first devices, light, heating, radio and the like. The old stallion walked in and sat near the lit fireplace.

“Please come in,” he said politely. “My name is Okeanos.”

“Call me the Doctor,” he said looking around the room. He took notice of three dinner plates left from an earlier meal. “Tell me, do you live with anyone?”

“Just my wife, she’ll be down the hall sleeping,” said Okeanos.

“Not anymore,” a female voice came from the hallway. A mare, about the same age as Okeanos, walked into the kitchen.

“I thought you were sleeping dear,” Okeanos said.

“Who could be with all that racket outside? Who is this anyway?” she asked coming into the living room with a glass of water.

“This is a detective working on the recent murders. He says his name is the Doctor,” Okeanos told her. “Doctor, this is my wife Koralli.”

“Nice to meet you,” the Doctor said.

Koralli gave the Doctor a crestfallen look as she nodded in greeting. Her attitude seemed to change completely to one of dread as she silently turned and went back into her bedroom. Okeanos sighed lightly as he heard the door close.

“What happened?” the Doctor asked.

“Have a seat, I’ll explain,” Okeanos said. “Like I told you before, I saw the dreadful beast two weeks ago. That was the night my son died.”

“Come on, it’s not far now,” Arkhaios called to Derpy as the two ran through the streets. The pegasus was now sporting a white lab coat like the one Arkhaios wore. They agreed that flying was out of the question; they didn’t want another scene like the one in the museum. The coat was a little big for her but that just meant it did a good job hiding her wings and, she thought, it did a rather good job making her look like an official archaeology assistant.

The pair came to a slow halt just outside of the city. Arkhaios took a large map and marker out of his coat pocket and marked where they were. The map already had five other marks on it of places they had already been.

“Well, this is the last one,” Arkhaios said catching his breath. “I still don’t understand why you wanted to see each place a body was found.”

“I told you,” Derpy responded, “in case there’s something important here.”

“Yes but there is nothing. The murders were too long ago; everything has been cleaned up, there won’t be any traces left.”

“It’s not just what the murderer left behind. Trust me, I’ve been in situations before where the location was more important than the event.”

Arkhaios cocked his head back slightly. He was genuinely surprised at who Derpy had turned out to be. His initial impression of her being some innocent bystander dragged along by the Doctor had been completely wrong. Clearly there was more to her than met the eye, she didn’t even seem tired from all the running they had done. He smiled to himself and gave a light chuckle; this was one mare he would not want to underestimate.

“Let’s head back to my office,” he offered. “We can go over everything we’ve found.”

Back in the museum things were much quieter than that morning. Most of the early crowd was gone and visitor numbers had decreased quite a bit. Arkhaios set a file down in front of his pegasus assistant and sat at his desk across from her. Derpy stared at the documents, squinting as she tried to focus on them. She shook her head as her eye kept trying to wander off.

“What am I looking at?” she asked.

“Witness reports,” he answered.

“But, I thought there were no witnesses.”

“Not this time, but there were witnesses three centuries ago. That file also contains reports from those who found the bodies this time around. I got the police to give me a copy of all documentation on this case,” Arkhaios told her as he rested his forelegs on the desk, waiting for her to read.

“Wow,” she said looking up at him. “You must really care about this to have looked into it this deeply already.”

He smirked, “Call it a hobby.”

Mouseion walked into the office. “Oh, you’re back.”

“For the moment,” Arkhaios said getting up to address his colleague. Derpy stayed at her seat looking over the papers.

“Well I’m only here to retrieve the file for the Liquentia exhibit,” said Mouseion.

“Let me get that for you,” Arkhaios said opening his cabinet. “I’ve done nothing with it today, the Doctor and Ditzy insist on looking into the murders.”

“Where is Dr. Smith?” asked Mouseion.

“He’ll be back soon,” Derpy said not looking away from her reading.

“You said that before but it’s been hours,” Arkhaios said. “Are you sure he’s not lost or something?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about him,” she said.

“It’s not him I worry about,” Arkhaios mumbled under his breath.

“Well, my work for the day will be done before long. Call me if you would like some more assistance, I’m always happy to help,” Mouseion said taking his leave.

“These reports don’t make any sense,” Derpy declared. The archaeologist remained silent, completely unsurprised. He simply sat back down and waited for her to elaborate. “I mean, I see the story about the flying monster but what the hay are all these others? Reports of regular ponies killing and then dying without reason, ghosts showing up wandering the streets sucking out the life of those around them. What is all this?”

“This,” he told her very seriously, “is the reason I put no stock in old myths.”

“Perhaps I ought to start at the beginning,” Okeanos said. “I ain’t the only one to witness something odd. I am the only one who saw that thing you described though. The killing has been going on for some time now but nopony knows who or what is responsible.”

“But you think it’s this flying pony?” the Doctor clarified.

“Aye,” he replied. “But there’s other accounts, at first there were sightings of a normal pony who done the deed. But when they caught him he just died there on the spot and the killing continued. He was later identified as a pony that had gone missing in another town some time ago. There’s also been sightings of the ghosts of ponies that were killed roaming the streets.”

The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion. Okeanos cracked a sympathetic smile, “I know, it makes no sense right? Everypony is scared; most folks have started accusing each other. The hysteria has caused more than one outbreak of violence and it’s only getting worse.”

“Tell me about your son. What happened to him?” the Doctor asked.

“My son is… was a grown stallion,” Okeanos began. “He’d been living on his own for the last year and a half. Every week he would come home for dinner. My wife still puts out a plate for him.” He paused for a moment. “Two weeks ago he was later than usual, I went to make sure that everything was okay. Luckily it was only work keeping him late. We started walking back, that’s when it happened.”

“You were attacked?” the Doctor suggested.

“Yes,” he answered. “I still remember it so vividly, like it was only moments ago.” Okeanos stopped again as he grit his teeth. He settled himself and continued. “The night sky was clear, all the stars and the moons provided plenty of light. Then, without any warning, a rush of wind pushed a group of clouds over the sky blanketing the town in shadow. I didn’t think much of it at first and maybe it was only a coincidence but that was when it came.

“Out of the clouds some kind of black swirling ball descended slowly. It landed hard on the street before us; I could feel its touchdown. It was like it wanted its presence known. What stood before us was shrouded in darkness but from what I could make out it looked like a stallion with wings. The way its glowing eyes looked at me, it was like it didn’t even acknowledge my existence. But it did attack my son faster than I could even see. I had never been so scared in my whole life; there was nothing I could do. In an instant my son was on the ground, the beast bit his leg and his screaming just… stopped.”

For a moment the whole room was still and quiet, neither party wanting to continue the bad memory. The Doctor broke the profound moment of silence. “How did you escape?”

“I didn’t, not really,” Okeanos replied. “That monster walked away from my son’s body, I ran after it in a moment of rage. I was thrown aside before I could even get near it. It looked at me like it pitied me or was taunting me and flew away. It was like it just didn’t want me.” Tears formed in the old colt’s eyes. “I wish it had wanted me instead, Arkhaios didn’t deserve this.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened at the mention of this name. “Arkhaios?” he asked with some urgency.

“Yes, that was my son’s name,” Okeanos said. “He was always a good kid, ponies loved him. Sure, he got into his share of fights but I think he always meant well. He always wanted to be a doctor; he liked helping ponies. He didn’t deserve this.”

The name must have been a coincidence the Doctor thought. Certainly not all names were unique and after three hundred years it shouldn’t be a surprise to find the same name twice. Still he couldn’t help but to wonder if there could be some connection. He couldn’t dwell on it though; there was still one important question that needed an answer.

“Has anything strange fallen out of the sky recently?” the Doctor asked.

Okeanos raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Something falling from space, a crash landing of unknown origin?”

Okeanos thought for a moment, “There was something like that, but that must have been, what, ten years ago now. The killing has only been going on for the past two months. You think there’s some sort of connection?”

“Maybe,” the Doctor said, his face scrunched as he tried to make sense of everything.

Ten years isn’t much when future generations look back at a compressed timeline of history. It was entirely possible that the two events were therefore falsely linked. At least he had confirmed that there actually was a crash. There was still every possibility that these were more than simple coincidence even with the time difference.

“Do you have any idea what was found?” the Doctor asked.

“Nothing,” he answered. “All they found was a small crater. Whatever made it was long gone. Wait, you don’t think it was this winged creature that crashed do you?”

The Doctor remained silent, he didn’t want to fill the pony’s head with ideas; he might risk changing the past. If he accidentally put the wrong thought in the wrong place it could end the war before it began. Whatever he did, there was no way to prevent war without causing a paradox. Just being here as an observer had its risks.

“I should go,” he said getting up to leave.

“What? Wait,” Okeanos began.

“Thank you sir you’ve been very helpful with this investigation but I really can’t stay any longer than I have to,” the Doctor said slipping out the door. “Oh and, do look after your wife.”

With that, the door closed and Okeanos was left alone. He put a hoof to his chin contemplatively. “Hmm,” he mumbled, “the crash eh?” As he considered the connection between the two events the Doctor’s last words rang through his head. He turned and went to his wife.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was running back to his time machine. He didn’t know everything but he knew a lot more now, namely that the legend was no myth. All he needed was to find out exactly what it was and how to stop it. He couldn’t very well hunt down the alien creature now for risk of stopping the war before it started. However there was one place he could look, the end of the war when the creature was supposedly exposed and overpowered. He hurried into the TARDIS and started to un-fuse the temporal coordinates.

“Sorry Derpy,” he said to himself. “I might be a little late.”

“Huh?” said Derpy looking up from the reports.

“What?” Arkhaios asked confused.

“I thought I heard… never mind,” she said. “So what do we do now? These reports are useless.”

“Nothing,” he responded almost sounding upset. “We have no leads, no method of investigation. Did you really think you would solve this in an afternoon when nopony has been able to in three hundred years?”

Derpy felt a little dejected, it was strange how his words seemed to have an unusually high impact on her state of mind. It was almost uncomfortable and she felt like she needed to break from that. “Look,” he said a bit more calm, “it’s almost dark out now and…”

“That’s it,” she interrupted. “The attacks happen at night, all we need to do is wait and catch them in the act.”

“What? No, it’s not that simple,” he corrected. “It’s completely random. There’s no way to know where or when it will happen.”

Derpy grew annoyed of his lack of drive. “Well I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing.” She stood and headed for the door.

“I’m telling you that’s just a waste of time.”

“Fine, stay here then. I’ll find somepony else to help me.”

Arkhaios sighed in annoyance. “Do whatever you want.”

Derpy walked out of Arkhaios’s office in a huff. She didn’t really know what to do from here; he was right that it wasn’t possible to predict if a murder would even take place. She considered, in her meandering around, if she should just go back and wait for the Doctor. Mouseion walked by and she remembered him saying he would help if they needed him. She perked up and went to talk to him.

“Hey, Mouseion,” Derpy called.

“Good evening,” the curator responded.

“Remember when you said you would help us? Well I have a plan. Well sort of a plan, see I want to try to catch the killer red hoofed and I thought if the two of us went we would have a better shot.”

“Uh,” he said sounding unsure. “I’m not exactly a detective you know, I really just meant help with research. I know Arkhaios likes to get involved with this type of thing but… I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Besides how would we know where to look?”

Derpy groaned. “You sound just like Arkhaios. We might not come up with anything but it couldn’t hurt to try. Please?” She gave him her sweetest puppy-dog eyes. One of her eyes wandered off to the side making the whole thing, somehow, that much cuter. Mouseion opened his mouth but no words came out. He wanted to refuse but found himself unable.

“Eh... all right,” he forced out. Derpy smiled chalking up a win for herself. “Where is Arkhaios?”

“He’s not coming. He says it’s just a waste of time.”

“That’s odd, he’s helped with this case for a while now. I’m surprised he wouldn’t jump at the idea,” Mouseion pondered.

“He said we have no leads. Maybe he’s just tired of searching?” Derpy suggested.

“Perhaps,” he responded thoughtfully. “At any rate if you and I are going to do this we should start soon; it’s already dark out.”

The pair walked out of the museum heading off in whatever direction their hooves took them. Neither of them knew quite what they were doing but at least Derpy was confident that things would work out. Things always worked out in the end didn’t they?

Moments after they left, Arkhaios walked out of the museum. He saw the path they were walking and purposely went the other way, fading off into the night.

Derpy and Mouseion walked through the streets, a somewhat uncomfortable air looming over them. They didn’t exactly become instant friends like she and Arkhaios did so they walked in silence through the stark town. Even though the sun had only just set moments ago it was clear that nopony wanted to be outside in the dark. The loneliness and stillness was almost suffocating until Mouseion broke it by speaking up.

“You know,” he said, “I don’t really believe the old myths but...” He paused as if looking for the right words. “...It is a little strange.”

“What is?” Derpy asked.

“Well,” he said squirming a bit. “It’s just that… I mean you do have wings.”

The pegasus gave him an odd look of confusion.

“I mean I don’t think you did the killing or anything,” he quickly clarified. “But at the same time, I’ve just never heard of an actual winged pony before.”

“It’s not really uncommon where I’m from. About a third of ponies there have wings.”

Mouseion stopped walking. “That many? Just where are you from? I mean sure there are still some parts of the globe we haven’t fully explored yet but…”

“I live really far away,” Derpy said. “It’s kind of secluded.”

“You don’t suppose that there could be truth to the myths then? Perhaps somepony from your country came here three hundred years ago,” he proposed.

“I doubt it. Besides, after reading the reports I’m starting to think there is no truth to the stories.”

“Yes, you’re probably right. I helped Arkhaios with much of the original research. At the time we both agreed that it must have been some criminal organization remarkably good at deceit and covering its tracks.”

The two ponies sat with their backs to a wall and continued to talk. They kept a watchful eye on the roads around them but nothing much was happening. Two small moons and many lights from inside the buildings were the only things allowing them to see in the dark. Minutes turned into hours as they waited for something, anything to happen. One by one the lights went out as ponies went to bed. Boredom set in and before long both Mouseion and Derpy fell fast asleep.