It was fast. Whatever it was, it was fast. Fast and filled with a rage too powerful for its own good.
At first, the gray pony didn't even notice the thing was there. She heard a small scratching sound near the floorboards around her hooves, sure, but she wrote it off as the creaking of her old home blowing in the wind or something, for she was too preoccupied to do anything about it. It was a rather… bland place, her home was. The walls were a simple eggshell white, which was fading from the wear of the years, and the floors were no more than bare, brown boards. The only decorations were the multiple sheets of music that enveloped the floor, each one displaying a different, classical song written by praised classical songwriters. There was a single stool in the middle of what appeared to be the living room, which sat right next to a large, contrabass. Also in the living room was a coffee table made of glass, a small, unused television set, a tiny, two pony couch with a pasty yellow quilt draped over the back, and a chair. The coffee table was littered with more sheets of music. Next to the door there was a shelf full of songbooks, and atop the shelf sat a single radio. That was it. No bright colors, no rugs, nothing else. It sat right near the edge of the town next to the long, winding path to the Everfree Forest, significantly distanced from the other houses. She was basically isolated, which was good, in her mind. The farther away she was from the others, the easier it was for her to practice her music. Playing the double bass was hard work, after all, and it required her utmost attention. Even the quietest sound could interrupt her thoughts and distract her from her music. She didn't like her progress hindered. She liked being where there were no distractions.
Of course, that's not to say she didn't enjoy company. She didn't hate ponies, after all. She would invite people over now and again. Fellow music lovers, close friends, even her sister Pinkamina (who she loved with all her heart, but she could only have so much of her.) However, when it was time to practice, she meant business. All curtains were drawn so the sun wouldn't glare, all noises were shut out to avoid distraction, and she sat in the middle of the floor to get the perfect sound. (Not too much echo, but not as much sound is absorbed by the walls). And right now, she was all business.
"Alright Octavia…" the pony said to herself, stroking one gray hoof through her jet black mane and giving her deep purple eyes one last chance to look over the sheet music in front of her. "Lets do it again, from the top. You can do this, dear. You know you can."
She gingerly tapped the metronome on the floor next to the stool she was sitting in, causing a slow, solemn ticking noise to radiate from the base. She closed her eyes, trying to remember the advanced scales and arpeggios that she so easily missed the last time she tried to play through the song. She wasn't proud of the fact, and she didn't intend to mess up the fifth measure of Dvorak Symphony twice. She was aiming for perfection. She picked up the white, German styled bow off the black music stand that sat in front of her and placed it on the bridge, causing a small moan to shoot from the e string. Octavia frowned sourly at this, having not intended to cause the unwritten sound. But no matter, she pulled the bow into the starting position, still listening to the slow tick tock of the metronome. However, just as she was about to play the first note, she heard a loud, blood curdling wail come from the back corner of the room. A noise that put her hair on end. A screech that caused her heart to skip a beat and speed up simultaneously.
The pony spun her head just in time to see the small creature slither from the back of the room and launch itself towards her body. She hadn't even noticed it moved, at the speed the thing was going. She tried to let out a scream, or really any noise for that matter, but as she was about to, the alien like thing tackled her to the ground, causing her large contrabass to topple over and land on her back with a loud thud. Pain shot through her body as she struggled to get up, her eyes darting through the room, to find where the creature had scurried off to. Though her body protested, she shoved the instrument off her back and stood up on all four hooves. Her eyes were wide and her legs were shaking. She had to get out. She had to do it fast, and she had to do it now. She looked towards the door, a painful realization hitting her as she noticed how far away it was. But maybe if she ran…
However, just as she was about to dash towards the exit, the creature popped out of the shadows again, rocketing towards her body at speeds she couldn't believe. It thumped into her side, launching her towards the back of the room. Her body hit the ground—hard—and she skidded slowly until the wall that connected the kitchen to the living room stopped her gently. Tears welled up in her eyes. She tried again to stand on her hooves, letting out a whimper as she realized that her left front leg sent a violent, painful throbbing through her body if she tried to stand on it. She limped hopelessly towards the door again, desperately reaching out one of her hooves as she got close. Would she make it? As the tears streamed down her cheeks she let out a small cheer as her hoof touched the knob. She was just about to wrench the door open when the creature collided with her left flank, causing her to spin into the shelf that she placed next to it. The topmost board cracked, causing it to tip over and drop songbooks and a radio onto her body. She was sobbing now, not just from pain, but from the fact that she could see the thing that had been attacking her the whole time. The creature had stopped darting across the room and had stopped near the entrance to the kitchen, giving Octavia her first real look at the monster that had been attacking her.
It was about half the size of her body, the ugly little thing was. It's shape kind of resembled that of a tarantula, consisting of eight, spidery legs and a black, hairy back. However, only four of those legs touched the ground. The creature stood praying mantis style, it's other four appendages facing towards Octavia. It's mouth…well… it didn't exactly have a mouth. It defiantly had teeth—razor sharp—and it hat a long, flicking tongue, but they were simply coming from a hole in the monsters face. Skin was pried and tied to it's cheeks, allowing these features to stick out. Speaking of skin, it was a sickly gray color, almost ghostlike in appearance. And as for eyes, well… it had hundreds—literally hundreds of eyes dotting it's face. Every few moments, it let out a high pitched screech which would cut out as if though someone were silencing or stopping it mid sentence. It reared up on it's backmost legs. And sprinted towards Octavia, who was now screaming as loud as she could muster. The tears were pouring down her face not only out of the pain in her front hoof, but because she realized something awful. Something she wished she hadn't. It stuck in her mind like a dart, and now she was getting the full force of the thought.
She was going to die.
This thing was close now.
She was fully aware of the fact that she was going to die.
The creature was getting closer and closer.
SHE WAS GOING TO DIE.
But she didn't.
Suddenly, just as the monster was closing the gap between itself and Octavia, the door swung open, causing the creature to run face first into thehard oak surface. There was a moment of silence, filled only with Octavia's confused sobs and the wind that was blowing through the door. Octavia heard a startled gasp a couple of seconds later, and after a few moments of what sounded like mumbling, she saw a head pop out from the other side of the door. It was the face of a brown stallion with an even darker brown, muddled mane, his eyes the same dark color. He looked down to the creature that had been presumably killed on impact with the door, then back to the dumbfounded pony on the floor. This went on for more than a few moments, and his eyes eventually settled on her. He stared at her blankly before flashing a bright white smile, a set of perfectly white teeth shining through all the different brown shades on his coat and mane. It actually caught her off guard.
"Hello!" He said cheerily, walking up to her briskly and picking up some of the music books from off her body, half heartedly chucking them off to the side, mumbling something about the condition her house was in. But honestly, she couldn't care less about the state of her house. She almost died. Hell, she still thought she was going to die. It took a few seconds fro her to notice the thing was dead, but when she finally did, she let out a quiet sight of relief and confusion, then looked back to the stallion, noting that he had an hourglass on his flank. What does an hourglass cutie mark symbolize?
"W-who…" Was all she could get out of her mouth before turning her gaze back towards the creature that was lying motionless on the floor. "What…"
"My name is The Doctor. I'm here to fix this towns little problem. Also, you shouldn't lie a contrabass on its side like that. It's not good for the frame, and that…" The brown stallion forgot about the books and turned towards the creature. "That, my friend," he said, biting down and bearing his teeth on the friend, "is a baby Hablerie. Very dangerous, very quick… and quite rare…tell me, have you had any strange occurrences lately? Hm? Any… bumps in the night? Stories around town?"
"W…what? No…n-not that I know of… why, what's going on here?" Octavia whispered, tripping over words as she tried to speak.
"Well the thing is," The Doctor started, "these things usually travel in packs. And they never have good intentions. They come from the planet… um… it doesn't matter really. See, what they like to do is get inside your mind—take over. I remember dealing with them once before with a certain Queen Elizabeth. Lovely lady. We were able to beat them away with a broomstick! Well…a broomstick and a supercharged plasma ray made from a kettle, some string and other…stuff. But these ones look different… darker… there is something seriously wrong here, Miss… I'm sorry, whats your name dear?"
However, his question fell on deaf ears. Octavia was out like a light before the Doctor had finished his little story. The stallion let out a small sigh of defeat.
'Right… traumatic events tend to have an effect on peoples minds.' He thought to himself, casting a small glance at the creature on the floor.
Throwing the last of the books to the side, he got Octavia slung across his back and marched into the living area where he then plopped her down onto the small, white couch. He rushed out to the kitchen and grabbed a few supplies, those things being bandages, gauze, medical tape, and a small cup of tea. It took no more than a few moments of cutting and taping to get the job done, and as he finished, he pulled a small, yellow quilt over her body.
"Oh, you poor pony…" The Doctor said to himself, observing her. Her leg was sprained, but there was no real damage other than a few bruises and some small cuts. "What do those things want with you?" He quietly paced the length of the couch, for a few moments before remember ting the creature by the door. He quietly paced up to it, flipping it over into a pool of its own, black colored blood.
"You shouldn't be here…" He said to it, looking it in the eyes. "Two parts of the universe that never should have touched…you shouldn't even be in the same universe. What are you doing here. Why are you in this world?" After tossing over the possibilities in his head for a moment, he flicked the creature out the front door and shut it behind him.
"This is bad…" The doctor said to himself, running a hoof through his mane. "Very very bad." He paced out into the kitchen and ran his hooves under the tap for a moment.
"Okay, what have I got? TARDIS? No, repairing itself… Sonic Screwdriver? No… no, that pink pony broke it. New ones in the TARDIS, the TARDIS is LOCKED. That means I have another… 8 hours before I can get in there. There are creatures from another universe coming into a small town run by ponies who don't know how to fight with anything other than apple pies. I'd say I've got about…" He looked at his bare wrist, as though he had a watch. "5 hours before the town is completely overtaken. I have no TARDIS, no technology, and if I don't think of something quick, tiny monsters are going to latch onto and feed off of everypony's minds. Oh, this is bad. This is very very incredibly not good. I don't like this at all, not one bit..."
The brown stallion paced back and fourth throughout the rooms.
"I have no resources! All I have are dashing good looks, and that wont get me too far unless these creatures are susceptible to sex appeal. I somehow doubt that, though…" But I can do this! I just need a plan! All I need…" He walked back over to Octavia. "is a plan…"
And as the doctor sat in the living room watching over the sleeping Octavia's body, he had no idea that outside of that room the Hablerie were already getting a jump start on him. Three residents had already been attacked, and before too long, the whole town would succumb. His time was limited.
(Dah, da da da dah, da da da dah, da da da dadadadada)
DOCTOR WHOOVES
Episode (How many fics have there been now? To make this easier, I'll just say Episode 1)
OCTAVIA AND THE DOCTOR
Written by RenegadeProtagonist
STARRING:
Doctor Whooves
Octavia
Derpy Hooves
(Woo-eee-ooooo DAH.)
