The Legend Of The Blue Box

Derpy opened her eyes and for a moment was confused by the darkness around her. She looked around and was surprised to find that her companion was missing. Strangely she couldn’t really picture who she was even expecting to be there; wasn’t she supposed to be alone? What was she even doing here in the first place? She got up and went for a walk, or more accurately an aimless wander.

Derpy let her mind run free as she blissfully went about minding her own business. She thought about her sister and remembered that it would be her birthday soon. “I should really get her a cake.” A loud noise rattled behind her breaking her train of thought. Her head darted to look but there was nothing there. Nothing other than stone: stone buildings, stone roads, and a creepy looking stone statue with wings that wasn’t there before. Altogether it was nothing unusual.

The pegasus turned her attention back to her meandering and tried to remember what she was thinking about. Another noise came from behind her, louder this time. She turned her head slowly and jumped at the sight before her. The statue from before was right in front of her and had one arm outstretched like it was trying to touch her. The figure was odd; it looked like a Time Lord with wings coming out of its back. It scared her.

Derpy stared at the statue, too frightened to take her eyes off it, and quickly backed away. She couldn’t help but blink and glance around, but with each time she did the statue would just get closer. It was chasing her! She scrambled to get away while still looking forward, tripping over her hooves in a panic. Suddenly her backwards momentum came to an end as she hit something metal. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she slowly looked back at what she ran into.

Her breathing stopped as she beheld a Dalek, its eyestalk staring at the statue keeping it still. She scrambled to get out of its way as it pushed forward toward the stone figure. Derpy watched from the side as the Dalek peered at the statue and declared, “DALEKS. DO. NOT. BLINK!” Then, as was natural for a Dalek, its suction cup turned into a Ping-Pong paddle and it threw a Ping-Pong ball at the statue’s face. The ball bounced directly off the statue and returned to the Dalek who then hit it back again and again and again.

Derpy stood on the sidelines not sure who to cheer for but completely terrified. She wasn’t sure what to be more scared of; the statue, the Dalek, or the Dalek’s amazing Ping-Pong skills. The Dalek’s eyestalk turned to her as it continued its assault on the statue’s face without even looking. “YOU MUST GO DEEPER DITZY!” it yelled at her.

“What?” she asked. Before she could get an answer the Dalek disappeared, vaporized perhaps by the touch of a second statue. Derpy cowered back as more statues appeared with every blink. She was surrounded; there was nowhere to go. Then, hope, she remembered she had wings and took to the sky. Before she could climb too high a statue appeared above her and fell on her. The ground was fast approaching, she screamed just before impact.

Derpy gasped as her eyes shot open for real this time. It was a nightmare. Another freaking nightmare. And again, she didn’t remember much. These nightmares began when she started traveling with the Doctor but it was becoming more frequent now. It seemed like she couldn’t get one hour of sleep without waking up in shock. She tried to remember her dream but all she could recall was a Dalek, something about going somewhere, and something about stone.

She looked over to find Mouseion sound asleep, his head innocently leaning against her. The pegasus looked around at the silent dark streets. What was she even doing here? There hadn’t been any activity and who knew how many hours they had been waiting. And what were they even waiting for, to be attacked and killed? She sighed and frowned, Arkhaios was right this was not a good idea.

Derpy nudged Mouseion trying to wake him up. “Huh, what?” he said as he darted his head around. “Did something happen?”

“No,” she responded sounding disappointed. “You fell asleep, we both did.”

“Oh,” he said realizing that he had been leaning against her. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine,” she said. “This was never a good idea was it?”

The museum curator could hear the dissatisfaction weighing heavily in her voice. It was almost enough to make him sorry that nothing had occurred. His silence was all he needed to answer her question. They put themselves in the middle of danger on the off chance that they might be attacked; of course it was a bad idea.

“It’s cold out,” Derpy remarked.

“Come on,” Mouseion said leading the way. “My house is close by.”

They started walking away when a noise stopped them dead in their tracks. It came from a fair distance behind them and they turned to look, fearing the worst. Mouseion nervously stepped in front of his companion trying to see what was there. All either of them could see was darkness as the noise drew closer. The sound was a patterned beat, the sound of hooves hitting pavement in a gallop. Derpy’s wings lifted her lab coat a little like she was ready to fly away at any moment.

The sound of heavy breathing accompanied the hoof beats as a pony came into view. The image was difficult to make out but it seemed to be somepony running away from something. He kept turning his head to look behind him. Mouseion suddenly knew who it was and tried to call out, “Arkhaios?” The archaeologist turned his head just in time to see his friend’s face before crashing into him.

Arkhaios stood rubbing his head and readjusted his hat. “What? You two are still out here?”

“Us?” Derpy asked. “What about you? Why are you running?”

“They’re after me,” he responded between breaths. “We need to go. Now!”

“They? Who’re they?” Derpy asked. A low growl came from behind Arkhaios.

“Catch up later,” Mouseion suggested in haste.

The three ponies ran down the streets and around a corner to Mouseion’s house. They managed to avoid whatever was lurking outside for the moment. Derpy and Mouseion were not going to keep quiet just to hide though; they had too many questions right now.

“What is going on?” Derpy demanded in a hushed voice.

“Yes, just who was chasing you?” Mouseion chimed in.

“Where were you?” Derpy continued.

“How did you find us?” Mouseion asked.

“All right all right,” Arkhaios interrupted. “I’ll tell you what happened.” He took a moment to breath and gather his thoughts. “What you said before Ditzy, about finding the killer at any cost, it got to me. After you both left I couldn’t help but think you were right. Nothing would ever change if we did nothing to change it. I started looking around, just trying to find anything I could. It seemed like hours passed but eventually I came across them.” He gestured outside.

“You just found the killers by wandering around?” Mouseion asked.

“Pretty bad luck huh?” he responded. “It was only one of them at first. I saw him kill somepony with one bite to the neck and then… I’m not sure how to say. The dead pony… got up.”

Derpy’s mouth hung open and her eyes squinted as she stared at Arkhaios. Mouseion’s expression was much the same except he looked like he wanted to laugh the whole thing off as a joke.

“You mean a zombie?” Derpy deadpanned.

“I don’t know for sure but... yes.”

“How many are there?”

“I don’t know I only saw two. But if I’m right there may be many more on the way.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Maybe, but we need to spread word first.”

“HA!” Mouseion let out into hysterics as he fell to his haunches. “You must be joking! You’re actually telling me it’s a zombie invasion? That’s impossible! It makes no sense. Why now? How could nopony notice something like that? How can you two be so calm right now?” The curator’s breathing was labored as he panicked.

Arkhaios leaned close and put a hoof to Mouseion’s shoulder and smiled compassionately. “It’ll be okay old friend.”

Mouseion began to calm down with the reassurance of his friend. He stood and composed himself.

“Stay with him,” Arkhaios said privately to Derpy, “he’ll be fine in a moment. If we are going to do anything we need to be able to inform the city. I’ll go check to see if everything is clear.” The archaeologist walked to the door and opened it cautiously.

Derpy stood next to a now much more normal Mouseion. “You all right?”

“Yes,” he answered. “I apologize, that was most unbecoming.”

“Well you certainly recovered quickly,” she remarked.

“I suppose. I have Arkhaios to thank for that.” Mouseion smiled as he chose the right words to explain. “It’s strange but ever since I’ve known him he has had this air about him. Like I can rely on him, trust him almost unconditionally. That probably sounds crazy.”

Derpy’s head was suddenly filled with thoughts of a certain, still absent, Time Lord. “Not at all.”

“The coast is clear,” Arkhaios called. The three ponies crept out of the building and started walking down the road keeping a watchful eye all around them.

“Where are we going anyway?” Derpy asked in a hushed tone. “It’s not like we can knock on every door can we?”

“We shouldn’t have to.” Arkhaios whispered. “Most ponies in the city wake up early and tune in to the nearby radio station. If we can just reach the radio tower about a kilometer from here then alerting everypony should be easy.”

The group made it about one block before running into trouble. They heard the sound of hoof steps coming from all around them. It sounded as if there were at least a dozen ponies scattered around. Derpy and the others fled into an alley and hid hoping they would not be found. It wasn’t long before a pony walked past them unaware that they were nearby. The three ponies stared at him as he went by.

It was obvious that something about him was just plain wrong. No matter how dark it was or how far away they were they could see it clearly; there was a large hole in this pony’s torso. The rest of his body looked like it was half rotten and it seemed to be missing an eye. And this pony wasn’t alone, several other similar looking creatures wandered by. There was no question about it; this was an invasion of the living dead. Though it seemed a bit odd for an invasion, the invaders didn’t seem interested in attacking homes or ponies. At the moment they were only roaming around.

“Miss Ditzy,” Mouseion called after the zombies had gone. “I have an idea.”

“What is it?” she asked keeping her voice low.

“We don’t know where these creatures are or how dangerous they may be. If we leave we risk encountering them in droves. But, if you’re willing, you could fly above and lead us in the right direction to avoid them.”

“Good idea,” Arkhaios chimed in. “But you’ll need to fly back down to direct us. It’s too dark to see you against the sky and we can’t risk you yelling where we are.”

“Got it,” she said as she stripped out of her lab coat and spread her wings.

The group made progress through the streets without being noticed. The closer they got to their destination the more close calls they ran into. It seemed like the zombie population had become denser the closer they were to the radio tower. They were only a block away when, without warning, Derpy could see from the sky that Mouseion and Arkhaios were surrounded. Her heart sank, there was no way to proceed but she had to warn them.

“Guys!” she yelled out. “They’re everywhere, just… run!”

The two stallions looked at each other briefly. They could hear noises from all around, growling and ominous moans. Before they knew it they were surrounded by animated rotting flesh. Derpy swooped down out of the sky as quickly as she could and tackled a few zombies at once creating a small opening for her friends. The three ran as fast as their legs would allow.

The undead horde gave chase. At first they seemed slow moving and unable to keep up but after a moment of stumbling over each other they began to run. Many of the zombies had large chunks missing from their bodies making them lighter and faster than most living ponies. Others were slow moving as the leg muscle was mostly decayed. The fastest caught up with the frantic ponies. As Derpy, Mouseion and Arkhaios ran, their path was determined by zombies heading them off and forcing them to weave through alleyways.

Finally the fastest of the undead had the three living equines cornered with no means of escape. It approached them slowly like it was savoring the moment. It was difficult to tell with the zombie being unable to make any real facial expression but it seemed like it didn’t really enjoy its hunt. In an odd way it seemed almost sorrowful.

“Ditzy,” Mouseion suddenly said. “Quickly, fly away.”

“What?” she asked sounding almost insulted.

“He’s right,” Arkhaios added. “We don’t have a chance but you can still live.”

“No,” she said defiantly. “I’m not just going to leave you behind.”

“Don’t you understand? If you stay with us you’re dead!” scolded Mouseion.

“Oh I wouldn’t say that,” a familiar voice said from behind their predator.

All the ponies, including the zombie, turned to look at who was there. Sure enough it was the Doctor sporting a rather odd looking hat. It looked like a black metal bowl with two wires running from front to back on one side and what appeared to be an eggbeater on the other. There was a pair of what seemed to be binoculars attached to the front hanging over his eyes. The eggbeater was spinning for no apparent reason and there was a small blue blinking light on top.

The undead creature faced the Doctor growling and baring its teeth. It ran up to, and leapt at, the Time Lord.

“Doctor look out!” Derpy yelled.

The Doctor sidestepped to dodge the attack. He countered by reaching into his pocket, pulling out a syringe, and stabbing the pony with it. The zombie shook off the needle and turned to face his opponent. The Doctor did not falter however and only stood confident as the drug took effect. The zombified pony took one step and collapsed into a vegetable-like state.

“Highly concentrated suxamethonium chloride,” the Doctor explained. “Your basic nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist; induces muscular paralysis.” The zombie growled like it was annoyed at its immobilization. “Well, at least for a while.”

Derpy walked over to the Doctor grinning. “Doctor! Where have you been? We’ve been waiting—”

“Sh sh sh sh,” the Doctor shushed her. They could hear noises coming from around the corner. “Get behind me and stay very still.”

A small group of zombies walked past them like they didn’t know they were there. One of the zombies stopped and slowly looked around like it could sense something wrong. The living ponies, save for the Doctor, were all frozen with fear and confusion. Mouseion’s mouth hung open as he forgot how to breathe for a moment.

The zombie turned its head towards the group not quite looking directly at them. The tension in the air was so thick that none of the ponies could obey their instinct to run away. All any of them could do was wait to see what might happen. The zombie turned its attention back to its fellow undead and ran to catch up with them. The Doctor and his companions were alone now, just them and one paralyzed corpse. Mouseion finally remembered how his lungs worked and breathed a sigh of relief with the others.

“What was that all about?” Mouseion asked.

“That, was this,” the Doctor answered gesturing to his hat. He lifted the binoculars presumably to get a better view. “It’s an ectoplasmic spectroscope with a low-grade perception filter. Lets me follow the trail of the undead and hides me from their view. You can see through it but only if you know what you’re looking for.”

“Are you telling me that your hat stopped it from seeing us?” Mouseion asked. “That’s preposterous.”

“I think we passed preposterous when the zombies invaded,” Arkhaios pointed out.

“Fair point.”

Derpy playfully hit the Doctor’s shoulder. “Where were you? We were waiting forever.”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t leave you behind. Besides…” the Doctor said pausing for a moment and smiled wide. “Zombie attack...”

Derpy smiled back, “I know, right?” The two of them giggled at the thought.

“Excuse me, is something funny?” Mouseion interrupted.

“No, no. Not at all,” the Doctor replied as he forced a serious expression.

“Well just what were you doing all this time?” Arkhaios demanded.

“Well while you lot were all running about, I was doing my homework,” he said.

“So you were prepared for zombies?” Mouseion asked.

“Oh I prepared for much more than that. See the thing about this is the zombies are not important,” the Doctor explained.

“Not important?” Mouseion aggressively argued back. “How can they not be important? They are walking corpses for Lord’s sake!”

“Yes, but that’s all they are,” the Doctor continued. “You see, on their own they aren’t much of a threat; they just wander around. The vital thing is not the ghoul itself, but what’s controlling it, or more accurately, who.”

“Are you saying somepony is pulling the strings and telling the zombies what to do?” Derpy asked.

“Like a puppeteer to a marionette,” he answered. “And I know exactly who it is.”

“Really?” Mouseion asked. “Who? Why haven’t you found this pony?”

“Oh but I have found him,” the Doctor replied. “Haven’t I… Arkhaios?” Both Derpy and Mouseion looked at Arkhaios with more than a little confusion.

“What? Why are you asking me?” Arkhaios asked.

“Don’t play coy with me.” The Doctor’s voice had an almost eerie feel to it like the calm before a storm. “You’ve ended so many innocent lives.”

“You’re insane!” Arkhaios countered. “If you ask me it was you who did all this, after all you seem to know how to take them down, you know how to hide from them.”

“Do not try to make me angry, not today! You are what fell from the sky three hundred and sixty years ago, you are the one who has been killing all this time, and you are the one who started a pointless war! You deserve to die.”

“Doctor please,” Derpy said trying to moderate the arguing. Derpy couldn’t help but hear pain in the Doctor’s voice. With what she learned about him just one day ago, about the time war and him being so alone for so long, she had to think that on some level he was yelling at himself.

“Doctor I’ve known him for so many years,” Mouseion tried to argue to no avail.

“I’m in this mess the same as any of you,” Arkhaios continued the dispute.

The Doctor reached into his pocket as the other three continued to talk over one another and pulled out his screwdriver. “Don’t you remember what I said just now?” He put his screwdriver in his mouth. “As long as you know what to look for, any perception filter can be seen through.” He aimed the device at Arkhaios and activated it.

With a powerful sonic whirr Arkhaios’ image began to flicker like he was a projection that couldn’t hold its picture. All at once his looks began to change. His rusty-red fur darkened to a deep crimson. His once neat mane became disheveled. With one blink his blue eyes turned ruby with pupils like that of a snake.

“Even a filter generated by magic,” the Doctor finished.

“Damn,” this new pony said. Mouseion was frozen with shock. Derpy’s eyes were darting about as she babbled trying to make sense of what just happened. “No sense hiding now.”

The pony formerly known as Arkhaios unfurled a large pair of bat-like wings, stretching them, as he removed his lab coat. He removed his hat revealing a unicorn horn on his head. Just like ponies from Earth, he had a cutie mark; the image of a horse’s skull engulfed in flame, an encircled letter ‘A’ on its forehead.

“What?!” Derpy yelled at the sight of him. “That’s impossible!”

“But… but…” Mouseion let out meekly. He slowly backed up to stand with Derpy and the Doctor.

“Arkhaios the archaeologist,” the Doctor said, “or is it Thanatos, personification of death? The spirit of the damned and reaper of souls? Or is it the angel of havoc and chaos, Havochaos for short? Because they don’t know what to call you.”

The dark alicorn chuckled. “Havochaos, I quite like that one.”

“Somepony has a flair for the dramatic,” the Doctor remarked.

“Oh please, like you’re any better, mister doctor of everything,” Havochaos retorted.

“Don’t even pretend that we are the same. You slaughtered the innocent and started pointless wars. You leave nothing but destruction in your wake. And for the last few centuries you hide, what for? Why do you do all this?”

“To conquer,” the alicorn answered simply. He chuckled again like he thought the Doctor was a foolish child. “You think far too deeply, I just want to rule supreme.” Altogether he developed a very serious air about him as if he were becoming his true self rather than a false persona. “It is my birthright,” he said stomping a hoof for emphasis.

The three ponies looked at him in disbelief, the Doctor especially. He hadn’t really expected Havochaos to start answering questions so readily. Perhaps it was just his personality, or maybe it was because they were alone, or maybe some form of pent up rage after hiding for three hundred years. Whatever the reason, he was talking, and that was a good thing. The Doctor had to keep this going.

“But what good does murder get you?”

“You’re not very smart are you Doctor? It’s simple; create civil unrest, raise an army and take over. Granted my methods may have been somewhat, unsubtle, but you can’t blame me. I was only sixty-three when I arrived, just a child really.”

“But you have an army of the undead now don’t you, so what are you waiting for? Why wait for three hundred years? And why allow yourself to become so well known? Unless... oh.” The Doctor smiled like he had his opponent all figured out. “You wanted them to know you. You wanted them to like you. And you wanted to play hero, is that it?” Havochaos’ silence was enough confirmation for the Doctor. “You were going to swoop in and save the day at the last minute and become a legend, and before anypony could notice you would be their leader.”

“Maybe you’re more clever than I thought, but it’s not like you could actually stop me. I’ve been planning this for too long.”

“Why are you even talking to us?” Derpy demanded, finally finding her voice, as she stomped up to Havochaos. She was quite angry and more than a little shaken. She felt betrayed and didn’t know how to react. “Why don’t you just kill us?”

“Because,” he replied, “if I kill you now, you’re all just more victims of the mysterious murders.” He paused as the sound of hoof steps could be heard close by. A dozen or so zombies blocked the exit of the ally they were in. It was only now that Derpy noticed that Havochaos’ horn was dimly glowing. “But if they kill you, then you’re the first victims of an invasion, and I will be the lone survivor.”

Havochaos took a moment and placed a hoof under Derpy’s chin. “Although, it would be such a shame to lose a beautiful mare like you.”

Derpy looked into his eyes almost hypnotized by his gaze. It was wrong, it was all wrong. The pony she knew just minutes before, gone, replaced with this. She smacked his hoof away and backed off.

“Come now, don’t be scared. I’m giving you a chance to join me, a chance to live.”

Derpy glared at Havochaos as she walked to the Doctor’s side.

“You’re mad,” the Doctor said.

Havochaos snickered. “Fine then. Perish like the rest who oppose me!”

“Right then, you have us beat,” the Doctor said. “But before we die there’s just one thing I don’t understand.” Havochaos raised an eyebrow, curious about the Doctor’s lack of fear. “Just... why archaeology? And how did you manage to get such exact dates for so many exhibits?”

“That’s it?” the alicorn asked. “You’re about to die and that is all you can think about?” The Doctor gave him a look as if to say ‘what else would I ask?’ “It was the easy choice. Half the job is just saying when something died; death is my business Doctor. Throw out a few exact dates and they start calling you a genius. You see this mark?” He turned to show the group his cutie mark. “It represents my purpose; chaos and death. Now if you would be so kind as to die.”

“Wait, wait, wait, before that...” the Doctor said stopping the attack.

Havochaos rolled his eyes. “What now?”

“Oh nothing really, I just thought you might like to know…”

{A home somewhere in the city}

“Have you stopped that thing yet?” a mare asked.

“Not yet,” a stallion responded. He sat in front of a large radio, inspecting it. “It doesn’t make any sense, I even unplugged it, why does it still work?”

“What now?” an annoyed voice asked through the radio.

“Oh nothing really, I just thought you might like to know that we aren’t the only ones who heard all this,” a second voice responded.

“What do you mean?” the first voice asked.

{A different home somewhere in the city}

“Do you think what the radio says is real dad?” a young colt asked as he sat next to his father.

“I don’t know son, but something is definitely wrong, this is on every station.”

“If there is one thing I am very good at, it’s sound,” the Doctor answered. “Right now our conversation is being transmitted through every radio in a ten kilometer radius. You’ve been exposed, everypony in this city knows exactly who you are now.”

“You’re bluffing,” Havochaos insisted. “You can’t broadcast to every radio, who would even be listening right now?”

{Another home somewhere in the city}

A single mare was wrapping herself in her best coat as she walked out the front door. A radio near her door continued the conversation.

“Maybe you’re right,” said the Doctor. “Then again, hacking into a broadcast signal and personally seeing to it that every radio is equipped to forcibly play that signal isn’t really that difficult.”

{Back in the alleyway}

It was only now that Havochaos saw that the lights were turned on in the buildings around them. And indeed, lights were on all over the city. Many ponies were wandering out of their homes and gathering together.

“I told you I came prepared,” said the Doctor. “You steal the souls of the living and use them to reanimate the bodies of the dead. But I have raised an army to stop you. This is how you lost all that time ago; this is what you fear, when ponies join together against you. You deserve to die for this, and I won’t stop until you do.”

Havochaos grit his teeth. “How? How could you possibly know that?!”

“You’re not the only one with a talent.” The Doctor turned to the side and lifted his coat to show his cutie mark. The alicorn’s eyes opened wide.

“The hourglass. I should have known.” The Doctor raised an eyebrow, not sure what he meant by this. “Fine. If I can’t rule the living then I’ll rule over the land of the dead!”

Havochaos closed his eyes, his horn began to glow red as he focused his magic. His eyes opened, shining white, and out from his horn came a wave of something black and ethereal. The black substance flew into the sky and surrounded the area. It splintered off into hundreds of blobs that flew in every direction.

“What have you done?” Demanded the Doctor.

“I’ve been preparing for three centuries. You don’t really think I wouldn’t have a ‘plan B’ do you?”

“Those were souls,” the Doctor realized. “How many have you killed?!” he shouted.

The alicorn looked somewhat tired now but still smiled smugly. His smile was short lived as a hoof smashed the side of his face sending him to the ground. Mouseion stood over him, his teeth grit, his breathing heavy, and his face wet with tears. “Why!?” he screamed as he punched his former friend again. “Why are you doing this?” Mouseion continued to pummel Havochaos. Each blow was weaker than the last and soon Mouseion was just lying on the ground sobbing.

The alicorn stood over him with a sneer on his face. All of Mouseion’s rage could only produce minimal bruising. The red pony leaned in close to his assailant and whispered to him, “You are nothing to me.” He sharply bit Mouseion’s neck. Mouseion took a sharp intake of breath as his eyes started to roll back into his head.

“No~o!” Derpy yelled. She tried to go after them but was held back by the Doctor.

“We’re too late,” the Time Lord explained.

A black ghostly essence began to seep out of Mouseion’s body. It swirled around Havochaos for a moment before entering his horn. Mouseion’s lifeless body fell to the ground.

“I’ll just let the zombies have the rest of you,” the alicorn said. He spread his wings and took to the sky. The zombies around the Doctor and Derpy became active again and slowly approached their targets.

Derpy quickly grabbed the Doctor and flew over the zombies. She wasn’t strong enough to go very far but she managed to get far enough that they could find an opening and run away. With some quick maneuvering and a little help from the Doctor’s hat, the duo soon lost their zombie followers.

“Don’t worry,” the Doctor said sounding angry, “he can’t have gone far.”

“Doctor,” Derpy called sheepishly.

“I swear I will find him,” he continued, ignoring his companion.

“Doctor,” she tried again a little louder.

“And when I do I’m going to…”

“Doctor!” the pegasus yelled. The Doctor, surprised at the sudden outburst, turned toward his friend. “What’s happening to you?” She spoke as if disappointed in him. He just stared back like he didn’t understand what she was asking. “Ever since that Dalek attacked you’ve been acting different. At first I thought it passed quickly but it feels like you’re just bottling it up. The first thing you said when you exposed Arkhaios was that you wanted him dead. You never kill, not even the worst pony.”

The two ponies stood in silence for a moment staring at one another. On Derpy’s face, a look of concern, on the Doctor’s a look of remorse. Screaming coming from nearby interrupted their staring contest. They both ran to see what the trouble was, although they knew what they would find.

A large crowd of ponies stood watching as a small army of the undead approached from all directions. Most of the ponies were in a panic but the bravest among them stood ready for battle. The Doctor and Derpy joined the crowd.

“You do have a plan right?” Derpy asked.

The Doctor looked around the buildings. Luckily everypony had gathered in the town square where there was a large speaker system in place. With a quick sonic and a flip of a switch on his hat the Doctor was once more addressing the city.

“Everypony listen to me,” he projected, catching every individual’s attention. They all immediately recognized him as the voice on the radio. “I know this looks dire but you have nothing to fear. These ponies are your neighbors, your friends, and your family. They may have passed but their souls have been taken and are being controlled. They don’t remember who they are anymore but you can remind them. This is what he fears, all of you coming together to stand and fight. Now make them remember, make them fight for control, and make Havochaos rue the day he ever set hoof on this planet!”

Everypony in the crowd started to feel empowered by his impromptu speech. They all looked out at the approaching army. There wasn’t a pony there that didn’t recognize at least one zombie. All of the undead had an expression of sorrow; this perversion of nature was enough to make many of the ponies sick to their stomachs. The Doctor was right, they could bring these tortured souls back to reality. They had to!

The army attacked all at once and fighting broke out. Most ponies did as the Doctor instructed and tried to talk while defending themselves but none could seem to get through. The fighting carried on and all the Doctor and Derpy could do was watch and hope.

“Can’t we do something?” Derpy asked.

“No,” the Doctor answered. “We’re outsiders, the undead wouldn’t listen to us. It has to come from them.” The Doctor watched, his muscles tense and his teeth grit. Derpy could tell that every bone in his body wanted to jump in and stop everything, but he was forcing himself back. “Come on,” he mumbled. “Just one, that’s all it takes, just one.”

There seemed to be no reasoning with the zombies. Even the best efforts could not affect the undead, they just continued to attack and inflict as much damage as they could. Then one of the zombies turned its attention to a mare. It approached her from the side; she didn’t even notice it until it was too late. It pounced at her. Suddenly a second zombie tackled the first one, defending the mare. It turned to her looking like it was struggling to move. She recognized him; it was the wrong body but she knew she was looking at her husband of so many years. Weakly, he called her name. She could only cry at the sight.

“Yes,” the Doctor said quietly as he witnessed the act. One by one all the zombies began to look as if they were in great pain. “Yes!” the Doctor yelled. He smiled at Derpy and she smiled back. “They’re starting to give in,” he announced to the crowd. “Don’t give up keep them remembering!” The fighting subsided as the zombies started to remember who they once were.

“There’s just one more thing now, we have an alicorn to find, and I know just where to look.”

Havochaos was in his office within the museum. He rummaged through everything there, tearing apart everything like he was looking for something. “Damn it, damn it, damn it,” he muttered. Finally he found what he was looking for, a small green gem. He used magic to attach it to his side and kept an aura around it like he was charging it. He perked up like he knew something was coming.

The alicorn ran up to the roof of the museum and walked to the edge. He looked out to see his army following a group of ponies led by the Doctor and Derpy. He sneered at the Doctor. This was exactly what happened three centuries ago. All his work ruined in an instant.

The Doctor ran into the museum alone. Havochaos could hear calling from below as he looked around the museum. The alicorn did not reveal his location but he didn’t have to, the Doctor soon found him on the roof.

“This is the end,” the Doctor said.

“Is it?” Havochaos asked keeping his back to the Time Lord.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, you don’t need to do this.”

“Don’t joke,” the alicorn demanded, turning to face the Doctor. “You know how this ends, one of us dies. That’s how this works, that’s how this will always work!” The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “I won’t lose, I can’t afford to!”

“Look around you!” the Doctor yelled. “You’ve already lost. Why do you still want to fight?”

Havochaos looked back at his army. Ignoring the Doctor’s plea for peace, he flew out of the Doctor’s reach and activated his magic trying to take back control of his army.

“What are you doing? Stop!”

The zombies fought for control but could sense themselves losing. Many of them shouted at the other ponies to get away before it was too late. Derpy took command of the crowd and separated the living from the undead.

“I will not lose!” Havochaos said struggling to maintain his spell as he divided it among the hundreds of zombies. The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and tried to interfere with the alicorn’s magic but found himself unable to affect it. Derpy tried to fly at and tackle him but only hit a force field. She flew back to the Doctor.

“What now?” she asked.

The Doctor looked around like he was trying to think of something. “There’s only one thing we can do. Keep those zombies in control.” The Doctor turned to go back down through the museum when behind him he heard a loud cracking noise. He stopped and ran back to look over the edge of the roof. A large fissure had opened in the street below. An otherworldly glow emanated from it as ponies started to scream and panic. “No, not here, not now!” the Doctor exclaimed.

Havochaos looked down, he was flying directly above the crack. Suddenly the light started to pull him and everything around in like a vacuum cleaner sucking up dirt. The alicorn couldn’t resist it and fell out of the sky. He managed to grab onto the roof of the museum and held on for dear life. The Doctor ran up to him and extended a hoof.

“Grab on,” he yelled. “I can save you!”

Havochaos looked insulted at this. “You haven’t seen the last of me Doctor!” the alicorn yelled. He let go of the roof and let himself fall. Just before reaching the light his horn began to glow and he vanished in a blaze of magical energy. The Doctor was stunned at this but didn’t have time to think about it; he had much bigger problems to worry about now.

Derpy stared in horror at the light. She recognized it from somewhere but couldn’t think of where. The Doctor started pacing and describing a plan to deal with it, something about plugging it with a temporal event. Derpy wasn’t listening; all she could do was resist the suction and cry at the sight before her.

Without the aid of Havochaos to keep them ‘alive’ all the zombies started to fall unconscious. Unable to resist the forces anymore they all started to get sucked into the crack. With each zombie that was taken, the suction weakened until the last zombie fell through and the crack closed. Everything had ended just like that, but it felt wrong. Somehow Derpy knew the way it ended was somehow just... wrong.

The Doctor and Derpy walked into the TARDIS and prepared to leave. There were so many thoughts racing through Derpy’s mind right now, questions she needed to ask. She wasn’t sure where to begin but she started anyway.

“How could Ark… Havochaos be an alicorn? There are only the three princesses.”

“Well,” the Doctor hypothesized, “it wouldn’t be the first time a malevolent alicorn was kicked off the planet and forgotten about would it?” Derpy pondered this for a moment, he had a point.

“Why doesn’t anypony remember anything?” Derpy asked.

“That crack,” the Doctor answered. “Anything that falls into it never existed. The only ones they remember are Arkhaios and Mouseion. As far as they know Mouseion is dead and Arkhaios is missing.”

“But... all those ponies. they were families, brothers... sisters. They’re all...”

“Gone,” the Doctor finished. “Taken out of time.”

“But... I still remember everything.”

The Doctor paused, unsure how best to explain. “The curse of a time traveler. We see what didn’t happen, what can never be, what must exist...”

Derpy could tell that the Doctor didn’t really want to play twenty questions right now so she dropped the subject. She was going to be quiet for a while and just let everything go but then a thought passed through her head. She remembered her dreams, at least some of them anyway.

“Doctor,” she said. “Lately I’ve been having these dreams. I can’t remember all of it but the last one had a Dalek in it... and something else. They looked like Time Lords but they were made of stone. It couldn’t move when I was looking at it but if it touched me I would disappear.”

“Don’t worry about it. They’re only dreams.”

“But it always feels like, I don’t know, like there’s something important about them.”

The Doctor walked up to Derpy and looked at her in the eye. “Listen, they’re only dreams. Besides, the Daleks don’t exist here, none of my old enemies do. I left them behind when I came to this universe. Even if they were here, I would never let them hurt you, okay?”

“Okay,” she said smiling. She walked off to get some much-needed rest.

The Doctor watched her walk away. There was only one thing he could think about now; what his companion described could only have been a Weeping Angel. He never told her about them and they never saw anything close to one in this universe. How could she possibly know what a Weeping Angel is?