The Return of Doctor Whooves

Sweet Apple Acres: Sweet Apple Homestead

Meanwhile, at about the same time the Doctor, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were dealing with the mare unfortunately turned into the evil Wicked Stepmother and freeing the young filly she had been tormenting along with meeting the ghostly like young filly the Doctor proclaimed to be "Snow White", Applejack was at her homestead in Sweet Apple Acres having dinner with her family. While a part of her wished she could be out there helping the Doctor and his companions, another part knew that they could handle themselves with whatever threat they may be facing right now, and that she had to protect her family from the madness that was currently enveloping Ponyville. She, like Twilight, knew her family had criteria that fit the bill precisely. She, like Twilight, had a grandmare, in Granny Smith. And, she exactly like Twilight was a grandchild of that grandmare who could be snapped up by the Big Bad Wolf at any time. Oddly enough, the Big Bad Wolf hadn't been seen since it's reenactment of the "Three Little Pigs", but a part of Applejack knew it was still out there. She didn't know why that part of her suspected that creature was still out there, but she just did. She felt it in the very pit of her heart, the same heart that knew that if the Big Bad Wolf came a-knockin', she would fight to her very last breath to protect her family and farm.

"Big Sis, ain't ya gonna eat yer food?" Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom asked. Apple Bloom was a young filly, about thirteen years of age or so, with cream yellow fur, a cherry red mane with a bright red bow in it and no Cutie Mark on her flank whatsoever. She was part of a little group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which was a group of three young fillies consisting of her, Rarity's younger sister Sweetie Belle and a orange flightless pegasus who was always looking up to Rainbow Dash as an older sister/idol named Scootaloo. Together, their goal was to someday find out what exactly their special talents were, and earn their coveted Cutie Marks in the process. So far, they have had no such luck in that quest, but that didn't mean they didn't keep trying. From doing things as simple as baking pies, to putting on something on as elaborate as a heavy metal style show consisting of a custom made theme song for them in the Ponyville Talent Show, they just kept calm and carried on, as Applejack had heard some of the other ponies down in Ponyville say.

"Sorry little sis, it's just that..." Applejack trailed off, not wanting to speak of her worries in front of the young filly and ruin the heartwarming moment that came from something as simple as a Hearths Warming Eve Dinner, plus possibly frighten the young filly in the process.

"You're worried about the fairy tales comin to life, aren't ya?" Apple Bloom finished for her. Applejack's eyes widened in surprise. She knew the youngest of the three Apple Siblings was smarter than she let on, but not this smart. She thought she'd kept her feelings well hidden, but evidently not.

"Yea, Bloom, Ah guess Ah am." Applejack was forced to admit. But something else was bothering her, and the whole family as well. They had planned for a big dinner with the whole Apple Family coming down to eat the food everypony had brought and cooked, but they knew this year that they would be missing two members of the Apple Clan, with Red Delicious dead, murdered by the Witch from "Hansel and Gretel" and Apple Fritter in the Ponyville Hospital because of her.

"Ya know what?" Applejack suddenly declared as she sat up from the table and placing her two front hooves upon it, surprising every member of the Apple Clan that could make it sitting there. "Ah've had just about enough of this!"

"Nyah..." Granny Smith, a green furred elder pony and the true owner of the Apple Farm, began shocked as everypony else by Applejack's outburst. It wasn't normally like the middle Apple Sibling to be so up-front and center with her feelings about anything, at least to this extent. "What is it?"

"Here we all are, sittin' around the table eatin' food when one of our family is sittin' right there in the damn hospital, layin' in bed hardly enjoyin' the holidays like she very well should!" Applejack continued, an idea beginning to form in her mind. "Ah say, we all go down there with all our food and give the Hearth's Warming Eve dinner she deserves!"

At this, there were nods from all directions of the table from the various members of the Apple Clan that had managed to make it, upon realizing Applejack was quite right. Apple Fritter shouldn't be just laying there in a hospital bed, while everypony else in her family was enjoying a Hearth's Warming Eve dinner without her.

'Ya know Applejack, that's the best idea Ah've ever heard!" Granny Smith cried in agreement, feeling very proud of her granddaughter on this day. It truly was going to be a Hearth's Warming Day, the way one should be. Together, with family. But before anypony could grab their plates of food and get up out of the table, there was a long low ominous sounding howl coming from the direction of the Everfree Forest. Applejack's eyes widened. She knew exactly what it could be. Not a Timberwolf, but nothing other than the Big Bad Wolf himself, coming to eat up her family for it's own version of the Hearth's Warming Eve dinner. Applejack's mood immediately shifted, from worrying about her cousin missing out on Hearth's Warming Eve, to fear of her grandmare and either herself or Apple Bloom being gobbled up by the Wolf just like in "Little Red Riding Hood".

Applejack rushed over to a nearby cabinet and pulled out her late father's shotgun from it, and put two golden birdshot rounds in it and pumped the rifle with a distinct cocking sound. She was ready to protect her kin, even if she herself had to die in the process.

"Applejack, what's going on?" Big Mac, Applejack's older sibling, with a bright red coat, a huge build and a Big Macintosh apple as his Cutie Mark asked. He rarely spoke, but when he did, it was likely he knew the situation called for it, and currently that time seemed to be right now.

"He's comin'." Applejack growled, with nopony understanding exactly who "He" was before she turned to her family with a fiercely protective look in her eyes. "Nopony ain't leavin' this here house, y'all understand? I gotta go take care of somethin'." She directed before heading for the front door, shotgun in hooves and determination in her eyes. Suddenly, a voice spoke up from behind her as a foreleg tugged at her own. It was Apple Bloom, fear in her eyes.

"H-How do you know it's not just a Timberwolf?" The young filly asked, fear in her eyes, as if she didn't believe her own words. Applejack looked her younger sibling directly in the eyes.

"Trust me Apple Bloom, it's not just a Timberwolf." She snarled and with those words, she stepped out of the house and into the snow covered fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Another howl came and with it the running of paws against the snow covered grounds, and Applejack immediately looked to her left, unable to tell where the sound was coming from because of all the apple trees surrounding her. Suddenly, in an instant she was blindsided from the left by a huge grey furred wolfish figure and was sent flying into a tree, and saw her attacker for the first time. He stood over her, teeth bared and jaws dripping with drool.

"What, ya come here to blow mah house down?" Applejack deadpanned before firing a sharp blast making the Wolf stumble back with a multitude of holes in it's chest from the birdshot rounds. But strangely, it wasn't bleeding like any natural creature should have been from the powerful blast of gunfire. Actually, the Wolf seemed to be only madder than ever and lunged, Applejack rolled away at the last moment before she could be ripped to pieces but then the Wolf caught her by the back foreleg and threw her into the ground behind it. Blood dripped from a cut on Applejack's head, and her shotgun had been sent flying into a tree breaking it in half. (Not that Applejack figured the shotgun would have been of anymore use anyhow.) Applejack recovered, and picked herself up off the ground groaning in pain. So, faced with death literally nipping at her hooves, Applejack did the only thing that came natural to her. She bucked. She bucked as hard as she could and the Wolf was sent flying back through several trees.

"Well, that's several more trees we won't be getting back for harvest season..." She mused, even as the Wolf recovered it's bearings and snarled at her eyes glowing in rage.

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"So, if ya can't shoot it what do ya do?" Applejack wondered before another idea came to her on that day. She knew that there were some kinds of wounds you just couldn't recover from, and she figured even magical creatures probably couldn't recover from the idea she had in mind. Applejack ran for the big red barn that dominated Sweet Apple Acres and with the Wolf following, she hollered after it.

"Hey, furball!" She cried. "Ya want some nice big fresh juicy red pony meat? Well, Ah got some for ya right here!"

As soon as the Wolf was inside, it found itself faced with an angry Applejack holding a big red treecutter's axe, rage and protectiveness for her kin dominating her every feature. As she stared death in the eyes, the Element of Honesty made a declaration the Doctor himself might have been proud of.

"So, ya want to gobble up mah kin, do ya? So, you want to rampage around with nopony to stop you killin' who ya like do ya?" Applejack snarled, fierce determination in her eyes. "You may think yourself a creature who just wants to find his dinner by the end of the day, but Ah say you're just a monster. A monster who needs to be put down like the mad dog he is! Well, Ah say, on this here day your rampage ends here ya bastard!"

And with that, before the Wolf had even time to blink, Applejack swung her axe cutting the Wolf's head clean off with the Wolf's body slumping to the floor. The beast was finally dead, and little did Applejack know it, but the madness of the fairy tales that had terrorized Ponyville for the past few days was about to end as well...

Ponyville General Hospital: Pure Heart's Ward

"Doctor, where are we going?" Twilight panted as they ran through the halls of the Ponyville General Hospital. They had been running ever since they had run into Snow White, who now that Twilight strangely thought long and hard about it, looked uncannily like the young unicorn known as Pure Heart.

"To see the pony who's the cause of all this... and her father."

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The Doctor raced around a corner, and into Pure Heart's ward where her father was sitting, just gazing sadly at his daughter still laying in her bed, the book of the Grim Brothers fairy tales on a bedside table. Snow fell softly outside the windows. Twilight once again felt her heart go out to Calming, no father should have to spend his time like this on Hearths Warming Eve. They should be out drinking eggnog with friends and family, awaiting Santa Hooves to make his yearly delivery of presents, not staying here with one's comatose daughter. But Calming Heartbeats, as Twilight knew, had no other choice. This was all he had left in the world. She'd done some research in the Ponyville Records Office, and found that Pure Heart had gone through two mothers, both dead of natural causes.

"Detective Crosby." Calming greeted politely, though with an eyebrow raised in inquiry. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out spending time with friends and family?"

"In a way, I guess I am." The Doctor said, with a nod towards Twilight and Rainbow. "But I'm here on a different cause. I think I might just know what's causing all of these fairy tales to come to life all around Ponyville."

"R-Really?" Calming stuttered in shock. "T-That's great! But what's the cause?" He asked, and the Doctor's expression turned sad as he gazed towards Calming Hearts, and then a picture on her bedside table, of a yellow furred pony with a pink mane besides a young Pure Heart and her father. This could only have been one of Pure's two mothers, most likely her stepmother judging by the age of Calming in the portrait.

"Tell me, did your second wife ever show any signs of... hatred towards Pure?" The Doctor inquired. Calming shook his head in a no manner.

"Guess not in public then... or where you could see her." The Doctor muttered, and Twilight's eyes widened as she realized what the Time Lord was getting at and whispered "Oh my Celestia..."

"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."

"Your daughter's stepmother gave her the bleach, I'm sorry but it's true." The Doctor continued sadly, and Calming's gaze towards him turned cold and harsh as the winter snowfall.

"You're not a detective!" He snarled, furious at the Doctor's insulations. "Get out of here, before I call the real ones!"

But still, the Doctor pressed on not giving in till Calming saw the truth in his words.

"Listen, you reading those fairy tales to your daughter has caused her magic to manifest them in the real world!" He exclaimed, trying to make Calming see sense as Rainbow and Twilight's eyes both widened. The Doctor continued, as Calming shook his head in denial.

"Listen, I know this cause I've seen her ghost, her spirit! She's crying, reaching out to you!" The Doctor yelled, and at this, the stubborn pony known as Calming Heartbeats finally saw sense and began to believe the Doctor. Because he too had a secret, one which he had never told to nopony, one which he was about to divulge for the first time.

"I... I believe you." Calming whispered. "I know, cause I've seen her too. At first, I didn't believe it, thought I was going insane, till she started appearing more and more in front of me. While I was doing simple things while getting coffee, or just reading the morning paper before work, she was there."

"Listen, in a way, me and your daughter, we're both alike. Prisoners in chains. Me trapped in another dimension, far away from a world which needs my help and where I have many friends." The Doctor said sorrowfully, remembering all the threats the Earth and beyond had faced. The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and many more. He remembered the friends he had made. General Lethbridge-Stewart, Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness, Sarah Jane Smith... Rose. "Your daughter, she's a prisoner as well. In her own body." The Doctor continued, before laying a hoof on Calming's shoulder. "It's time to let her go."

"B-But I-I don't want to." Calming sobbed hard, tears streaming down his face at his every word. The Doctor gazed hard into his eyes, remembering something his Third self had said so very long ago, and something that would apply even now.

"Courage isn't a matter of being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway." The Doctor said before his gaze turned more compassionate. "I know you're frightened, who wouldn't be? But it's time to let your daughter go."

And so, with tears dripping from his eyes, Calming pulled the plug on the life support machine and there was the sound of a flatline tone as the Doctor and his companions looked away sadly, unable to watch. Then to Calming's surprise, his daughter appeared before him one last time in her younger form and mouthed "Thank you... Daddy."

Outside the Hospital

Later, as night fell the Doctor and company met with Calming outside the Hospital, where he had some questions to ask.

"Who are you Doctor, really? Cause if you're not a detective, who are you? What are you?" He inquired, and the Doctor chuckled.

"Oh, little ole me?" He laughed at his words  "I'm... I'm just a traveler. Wandering, learning, helping out when needed. Making friends, sometimes enemies, but always having a grand old time while doing it. After all, I'm just a madman in a box. That's who I am." He said, and while Calming received no true answer to his question, he did get one other thing in return. An offer.

"Calming, nopony should be alone on any night, this one most of all. Come with me, join the celebrations. I think you need some happiness tonight. Remember not this night as the day you killed your daughter, but the night you set her free at last." He asked, and extended a hoof. And to the Doctor's great surprise, Calming took it.

"You're right, nopony should be alone on Hearth's Warming, and I think it's time I stopped being alone." He smiled, and the Doctor smiled back. And Twilight smiled with them. Even though she fully hadn't gotten over her aunt's death by the hooves of the Headless Horse, she now knew you couldn't just remember a pony by how their life ended, but how they lived it as well. She knew Cherry Berry lived a good life, full of happiness and joy, and it was just now time to let her go...

"I... I think I'll be sending a letter to Princess Celestia soon..."

Ponyville Town Hall: Hearth's Warming Eve Celebrations

It was with grand fever and joy that the Hearth's Warming Eve Celebrations kicked off in grand fashion. As Applejack and her family visited Apple Fritter in the hospital, bringing her gifts and food, back at the Town Hall the Doctor and company along with their new friend Calming Heartbeats enjoyed the spirit of the season. A band, consisting of Octavia Melody on cello, Noteworthy on piano and the Ponytones led by Rarity for the vocals sung a little song as Rainbow danced with her old friend Fluttershy, twirling her around on the dance floor as Twilight looked on sadly.

"Guess this is one holiday I'll have to do without the dancing, eh?"

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The Ponytones, they sung of this tale. Once, a pony found a stowaway upon a ship in Hearth's Warming Day. She asked him of his tale, even though she ought to throw him to the whales and all the stranger in return said was "Come here, let's dance." Twilight listened to the song as she bobbed her head to the song and smiled sadly. The song said of the stranger wanting to return to his lover on Hearth's Warming Day, even as the singer wanted to be with him.

"But borrow or steal, I'll be with my lover on Hearth's Warming Day. I'll run and I'll roam and I'll cover the ground, next Hearth's Warming I'll see her around." Twilight sang even as she mused to herself that "Guess I'll have to wait another year to dance with Rainbow on Hearth's Warming."

But then, as if a Hearth's Warming miracle shined down upon her, Rainbow noticed her friend's sadness and offered up her hoof.

"Want to dance Twi?" She asked flirtatiously with a wink of her eye, and Twilight took the offered up hoof in return.

"Gladly." She said and took up the dance as Rainbow smiled.

END