The Return of Doctor Whooves

Golden Oaks Library

As an angered and furious Applejack walked out the front door, with both Rainbow and the Doctor trailing sadly behind her, Twilight was left to think on their words.  As Twilight explained her story of woe to the three gathered ponies, Rainbow and the Doctor shared nods of understanding. They should have known their friend may not have still completed her mourning process yet, and they felt immediately guilty for wanting to drag her into another adventure that she obviously didn't want to take part in. Applejack on the other hoof felt sorry for Twilight as well, but mostly angry. Here was Twilight Sparkle, somepony who had faced down both Nightmare Moon and the mad chaos god Discord, saving Equestria twice!

"Ah don't believe you!' Applejack suddenly exclaimed in anger and fury. "Here ya are, a hero of Equestria and a bearer of the Element of Magic, and yet ya don't want to help mah or the Doctor solve a mystery that's murderin ponies right and left!" She continued with her rant, and Twilight felt immediately guilty, but she, no matter what did NOT want to take part in this adventure, not when she could lose a friend to one of these strange occurrences.

"Ah... Ah understand Twi. Ya have yer reasons." Applejack said sadly, suddenly seemingly changing her attitude before she began to walk off sadly. "Come on y'all, if Twilight doesn't want to help us, we'll just have to solve this here mystery ourselves."

As Applejack walked out the front door, slamming it shut in anger, the Doctor and Rainbow both looked at Twilight with expressions of pity. She needed time, and they'd give her that. For now though, they had a mystery to solve...

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Was Applejack right? Was she being foolish, or worse, just plain stubborn as a mule? Twilight honestly didn't know which answer was the correct one, but she did know this. Someponies were in trouble, getting murdered right and left and nopony, not even the Doctor himself knew who would be next. Tartarus, for all she knew she could be the next one to fit the part perfectly of some old Grim Brothers fairy tale. She had a grandmare living in Canterlot, and she sometimes took trips there via the Friendship Express to deliver her food and gifts of all kinds. So, for all she knew, the Big Bad Wolf may come after her and her grandmare. So, with that in mind, Twilight finally made her choice. She would help the Doctor, she would help Applejack, she WOULD help Rainbow even if she was the one to be killed horribly during this adventure.

Ponyville General Hospital

Snow fell softly outside the windows of the Ponyville General Hospital as inside, nurses did their daily duties, ordinary things such as cleaning bedpans, tending to patients. Yes, despite it being close to Hearth's Warming Eve, even now there were patients that needed tender, loving, and nursely care. For example, at one point while trying to help hang up some lights on her friend Golden Harvest's home, a drunk Berry Punch had been electrocuted and was now in the emergency ward given the best of care by doctors and nurses. Another example would have been one poor Lucky Clover having a Hearth's Warming Eve tree fall on him while trying to chop it down for his home and was now wrapped in bandages. Of course, some things were not quite so regular in terms of injuries. Other ailments were just downright on the odd side. For example, a white furred pony with a pink mane and a red cross for her Cutie Mark wearing a nurse's hat named Nurse Redheart was just going about her duties as today's receptionist when she spotted a pony with his hoof stuck in a toilet.

"Really, again?" She asked with a mental sigh. She didn't know how, but every two months or so this seemed to happen again and again. By this point, she didn't even bother asking how it happened and had really grown rather tired of it. Of course, her day was about to get even worse (Depending on your perspective.) when in walked in through the front doors, shivering from the cold outside were the Doctor, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Because of the quick urgency of their quest, they hadn't been able to find the time to go back to their homes and find some winter wear, not even the Doctor with his Fourth self's famously long scarf.

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"Hello there, Ms..." The Doctor greeted before taking a quick look at the nurse's name tag in front of him. "Ah! Redheart!" He corrected himself before continuing in his own irrelevant fashion. "Might I say, that's a nice name. You ponies always seem to have names that fit the meanings of your jobs or talents don't you?" He rambled on before gesturing to Rainbow Dash with his hoof.

"Take my mate Rainbows here for an example. I mean, just look at her mane! Have you ever seen such a prismatic pegasus? It's gotta be one of a kind or something!" He continued while Rainbow then tried to correct the Doctor by saying "Actually, my father-" before swiftly being interrupted by the Doctor.

"Ah, now where was I?" He asked, with an embarrassed blush while Applejack facehoofed in the background while muttering "Ah swear, sometimes that stallion..."

"OH! Silly me, now I remember!" The Doctor suddenly cried out as he turned back to Nurse Redheart, who was staring on at this strange sight in obvious confusion. "We're here to see one Apple Fritter, you know, the one that got attacked by that dear old, well I wouldn't say dear anyways... That old granny mare?" He requested, and Nurse Redheart looked annoyed at the Doctor. She couldn't just have random stallions and mares go back and just see anypony they damn well pleased! It went against hospital rules, and Redheart would have rather liked to have kept her job thank you very much!

"And you are?" She asked in an annoyed tone of voice. The Doctor then dug out his Psychic paper from under Applejack's Stetson, much to her confusion, How had that gotten there?

"Doctor..." She growled in annoyance as Redheart looked on. The Doctor stared at the farm-pony and looked offended.

"Well, I had to store it somewhere didn't I?" He asked and turned back to Redheart and showed her the paper, and like it's function was intended to do, she saw exactly what she wanted to.

"Ah... Detective Crosby. I apologize, if I knew you were coming, I would have been better prepared for your arrival!" She rapidly apologized before gesturing to a doorway. "Right this way sir. She's just down this hallway."

But before the foursome could enter, they heard a loud familiar shout coming from behind them and the rapid sound of hoofbeats against the hospital floor.

"Doctor! Doctor, wait up!" A lavender mare with a six pointed star as her Cutie Mark called after them as she ran up to them. Applejack and Rainbow both shared a look of surprise before grinning. It seemed Applejack's words had gotten through to Twilight after all. The Doctor and Twilight embraced as the Doctor gave a wide grin of his own before saying "Twilight Sparkle, I knew you couldn't resist an adventure!"

"What made ya change yer mind?" Applejack asked in curiosity, though she suspected she already knew the answer.

"It was you." Twilight answered as she hung her head in shame. "Your words... they made me realize you were right. I can't just sit around on my flank and do nothing if ponies are in trouble!"

"Well, glad ya finally saw sense." Applejack smiled before she looked away in shame. She had some words of her own that she felt she needed to say to her friend. "Now I have an apology of mah own to make. Those words I said... They were in anger, and I should have listened to yer story more and understood. For that, Ah'm sorry."

Twilight smiled, there was no need to apologize. She was the one at fault, not Applejack.

"No, it was my fault for being stubborn." She said in reply. "I should... I should have... well, you know."

"You guys know, you are going to make me sick with all this mushiness if you don't stop apologizing to each other." Rainbow gagged. "I'm sorry, you're sorry, we're all sorry! Now get over it and move on!" The rainbow maned pegasus exclaimed in annoyance of her own. Soon, after everypony was done apologizing to each other, they were led to Apple Fritter's ward where the Apple Family member sat, laying in her bed with blood covered fur, presumably from Red Delicious's murder.

"So, what happened?" Rainbow asked in the kindest tone of voice anypony had ever heard her utter. She was normally one of the toughest pegasi you could meet, and the cloud buster normally was a huge braggart, but she was also the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, and that loyalty extended to any member of her friend's families no matter who they were. And so Apple Fritter, crying as she did so explained her story and everything that had happened, right down to the last gory detail.

"A-And how did you survive?" Applejack asked in shock, stunned by the bloodiness of her cousin's tale, while in the background Twilight looked a little green around the gills.

"A-Ah'm not sure. Maybe it was because Ah hadn't ate as much of that drugged food that mare gave me. W-We struggled, and s-she hit her head on the fireplace and it cracked wide open. Oh mah Celestia, the blood, the blood!" Apple Fritter sobbed, and Rainbow laid a hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll figure out what's going on around here and hopefully catch whoever did this." Rainbow replied, still in that kind tone of voice. Twilight was amazed, she had never heard Rainbow to be this kind or caring for somepony in her life.

"Wow... I never knew Rainbow could be like this.' Twilight thought as she felt strange feelings she didn't know how to explain in her heart. It was like her heart beat faster whenever she was around her friend. She wished she knew the answer why she got these strange feelings, but no answer had come to her yet, and for all Twilight knew, one may never would...

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After leaving Apple Fritter's ward, the foursome walked down the halls of the hospital floor, still not any closer to figuring out what was going on around in Ponyville. Suddenly, out of pure curiosity, Twilight Sparkle found herself looking into a ward where an older stallion, with brown fur and a greying mane wearing a doctor's uniform was reading a book of fairy tales to a teenage mare with a black mane and snow white fur. The mare's eyes were closed. Twilight looked away sadly, this mare, whoever she was, was in a coma.

"And so, the hunter cut open the wolf's belly and..." The unknown doctor read before noticing Twilight and walking up to her after putting the book down on a bedside table.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Calming Heartbeats, and this is my daughter, Pure Heart." He greeted, before looking towards his daughter sadly.

"If I may..." Twilight inquired. "W-What happened to her?"

"Ah yes, it's a sad tale." Calming began, a tear dripping out of his eye. "My daughter, she got ahold of herself some bleach when she was very young and drank it. We don't know how she got it, but now here I am, caring for her as best as I can." He explained sadly. Twilight felt her heart go out to Calming, she couldn't imagine what it would be like if she was in the same position, reading fairy tales to her young son Spike.

"I-I'm sorry." Twilight apologized, before a tear slipped from her eye. She waved goodbye and left the room, knowing there was nothing she could do for the poor mare or her father. Soon afterwards, she met back up with the Doctor and her friends.

"Where were you?" Applejack asked, and Twilight explained what she had seen and whom she had met.

"Mah Celestia..." Applejack whispered as a small tear dripped from her eye. The Doctor meanwhile looked thoughtful for a brief moment, a theory coming to his mind, before soon brushing it away. No, it simply wasn't possible. Not possible at all...

Later that day, after gathering some proper winter wear, the Doctor, Rainbow and Twilight found themselves wandering through a snow covered Ponyville talking about the mystery of the fairy tales coming to life and what could possibly come next. After all, if the "Three Little Pigs" and the "Hansel and Gretel" fairy tales could come to life and murder ponies, one must wonder what would come next, and how bad things could possibly get before they finally ended. To be honest, none of the three really wanted to know.

"You know Twilight, me and the Time Lords have fairy tales of our own. Take the Shakri for instance. Wanted to serve the Tally, a form of intersteller pest control." The Doctor said to change the subject away from the mystery surrounding Ponyville and relate some of his childhood past on Gallifrey and the fairy tales he'd been told when he was just a boy. "You might know it as the Reckoning."

"Ever think that you have some weird bedtime stories?" Twilight asked dryly, raising an eyebrow. "I mean really, a creature that just wanted to kill humanity as a form of interstellar pest control?" She deadpanned.

"You're one to talk. I mean, a wolf in your grandmare's nightdress?" The Doctor couldn't resist replying in a joking manner. Twilight was forced to concede his point. Then, as they were walking by a house, they saw something very strange indeed. There was a pumpkin, which was odd enough considering Nightmare Night was months ago, but then out of the corner of her eyes Twilight saw two little rats scurrying near the pumpkin.

"What the Tar-" Rainbow was about to curse when suddenly, Twilight pushed Rainbow into a bush when she saw a mysterious figure looking at them through the window of the home.

"Ya know Twi, if all you really wanted was a good nice roll in the bushes, you could have just asked." Rainbow commented in a manner that made Twilight unsure if she was really joking or not. Blushingly, Twilight shushed her with a hoof and pointed to the window and Rainbow saw the figure as well.

"Who's that?" Rainbow whispered curiously.

"The evil Wicked Stepmother?" Twilight replied dryly. Just then, all three ponies heard a female's scream from inside the house. With a shout of "Geronimo!", the Doctor ran towards the front door and kicked it in, and found a little cream yellow filly with a white mane chained up to a stove and being beaten and screamed at by an older mare who looked exactly nothing like her. The Doctor at once, sprang into action and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, and used it on the chain tying the poor filly to the stove and freeing her at once while Rainbow bucked the older mare into unconsciousness.

"And that's enough out of you!" Rainbow proclaimed triumphantly as the Doctor asked the little filly what exactly had happened.

"I-I don't know!" The little filly sobbed as Twilight pulled her into a comforting hug and whispering "Shh... Shh, it'll be alright."

The little filly started to explain just went on in the past few minutes, still sobbing heavily. "S-She just went crazy and started beating me up and chaining me to the stove, c-calling me all sorts of things like little whore and stuff!"

As the Doctor and his two companions took this in, they had no more time to comfort the little filly as just then, a little filly, not possibly older than eight or nine years of age, with pure white fur, a black mane with a red ribbon in it appeared in a doorway to the very right of them. She was translucent, and smiling serenely as if everything was all calm and alright to her, in which in was most certainly was not in the Doctor's, Rainbow's and Twilight's eyes. After all, they had just witnessed, to their explicit horror, a very young filly being chained and beaten by what could only have been the Wicked Stepmother from the "Cinderella" fairy tale.

"Who is she?" Twilight inquired, very curious as to what was going on here.

"I don't care, but I'm going after her!" Rainbow exclaimed and ran towards the filly only to find her teleporting away to the stairwell in front of her. Rainbow once again chased after her, only for once more for the filly to teleport away, this time into a child's bedroom. The filly, still smiling serenely, vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of her presence except for one thing, a bright red apple sitting in the middle of the floor. As Rainbow picked up the apple in confusion, the Doctor joined her in the room and took it away from her as Rainbow shouted "Hey!"

"I'd advise you not to eat that, because if it's what I think it is, I think we just met another fairy tale." The Doctor said grimly, as he scanned the apple with his Sonic Screwdriver.

"Aw come on, another one?" Rainbow yelled in annoyance. As soon as the Doctor was done scanning the apple, he turned to Twilight (Who had joined them in the room as well.) and Rainbow, frowning.

"What's wrong?" Twilight inquired, knowing from the Doctor's expression that it could be nothing good and then he said two simple words.

"Snow White." He growled out before running out of the room with Twilight and Rainbow chasing after him. As soon as they had gotten outside they turned to the Doctor and looked at him with the utmost seriousness.

"D-Doctor, what's going on?" Twilight asked. "What is it? If you've figured something out, you need to tell us!" She demanded to him.

Suddenly the Doctor shouted "I'm an idiot! A big bloody idiot! It's been staring in front of our faces this whole time and we've never even noticed!" He yelled, cursing himself to Rassilon for his stupidity. "Come on, we need to get back to the hospital. We'll find all our answers there." He said, before dashing off towards the direction of the Ponyville General Hospital with Twilight and Rainbow in hot pursuit...