The Return of Doctor Whooves

Canterlot Castle

The stars glittered in the night sky as Luna rose the moon high into the sky, allowing herself a small smile at it' grand majesty. It was a full moon tonight, the last of which it would be until another cycle. There were many myths surrounding the moon, the Mare in the Moon being one of them. Other included wereponies, which to be honest even the most paranormally-minded of ponies consider to be bunk. But then again, everypony considered demons to be bunk for a long while, but as Twilight Sparkle, the Doctor and Rainbow Dash were finding out, some myths, like the Headless Horse before them, are more than fairy tales after all. But we'll get to that later. Right now, we must focus on the present. Tonight the moon was at its largest at had been for centuries, and it was a blue moon at that. Now, the Nightmare Spirit's powers had always been connected to the moon, and with the moon this large and it being a blue moon, they were at their peak, which was what allowed her to possess Rarity so easily and also, the Nightmare was at the highest power level it had been in centuries, exactly over one thousand years to be exact. Not since Nightmare Moon had they been at this level of power. It was going to be a long night ahead for the citizens of Canterlot, and a terrifying one as well, because the spirit wasn't named the Nightmare without VERY good reasoning behind that.

From her balcony, as Princess Celestia watched her sister raise the moon, she glanced at the stars. Every constellation, every planet glittered and glistened in the pure black sky. The Big Dipper, the Ursa Minor and Majors, the Archer, they were just as beautiful as they had been for the past few nights. Celestia sighed in bliss as she got ready to get under her covers for a peaceful and tranquil slumber. But then, out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed something. The Draco constellation, it wasn't complete. No, that wasn't accurate. Some of it's stars were missing. And now that she thought about it, one of the planets in the sky had gone completely dark as well. Celestia's eyes widened even as she flashed back over a year before, to the party celebrating the defeat of the Windigo King and his off-spring.

One year and two months ago...

Outside on the Castle grounds, Celestia gazed up at the stars. She needed some time to be herself with her thoughts. Times had definitely changed. A little over a year ago, she wouldn't have even dreamed of what she'd seen and heard from the Doctor's tales. And now she knew the universe was so much bigger and more wonderful and dangerous then the Solar Princess could possibly have imagined.

Celestia's thoughts then turned back to the stars.  While she wasn't Luna, she could appreciate the beauty of the nighttime sky and all of its many wonders. She could see the appeal of space and why the Doctor traveled up there. Suddenly Celestia blinked as she noticed something. She could have sworn several stars that were just there, had vanished as if something had removed them in one split-second motion.

"Maybe I'm just imagining things..." Celestia murmured as she turned to go back inside. But why did it still bother her so much? Celestia sighed to herself, Luna would probably tease her about being paranoid but then again the paranoid were always the ones who survived and Celestia hadn't lived this long by not being cautious.

Back in the present, Celestia's eye narrowed. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her every bone and every sense. Something was putting the stars out. Celestia, using all of her power tried to sense what exactly was going on in the surrounding solar system, but she suddenly felt a block as she reached a very specific galaxy, one named the Medusa Cascade, which was a flurry of blues and oranges of all shades. But she pushed on through, and saw an image she hoped never to see again. A pepper potted shaped figure with a blue eyestalk and two arms, one ending in a plunger, and the other in a laser, with the monster's (As that was the only word for it) entire body coated in red, with it's casing having gold detailing and the bumps on it's body also in gold. It then spoke, in a deep and monotone voice.

"NO REPORTS OF THE TIME LORD. WE ARE BEYOND THE DOCTOR'S REACH!"

Then, Celestia flashed back to the very ending months of the Griffin/Pony Civil War seventeen years prior...

Seventeen Years Ago: Wintergreen Street

The Doctor knew as soon as the Dalek stated "Correct", it had figured out both his and its own true identity so when it fired its laser he knew he had to move and was ready for it, dodging the beam just in time before it would have hit and forced him into his next regeneration. He didn't want to go, not yet anyway.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!" The Dalek cried in it's monotone voice.

The Dalek fired blasts wildly going every which way some even hitting guards making them drop dead on the spot. The Doctor knew, every second he spent in the room there was a chance another pony could die in the process. He had to lead his foe away from here, all the while figuring out how to stop it permanently.

"Hey Dalek! You want me?" The Doctor bellowed, and the Dalek turned to look at him. "Come and get me!" He cried, before running off with the Dalek following him out of the tent. In the meantime, Shining grabbed Boltstrike by the chestplate with his magic. It was very telling that nopony tried to stop him or pull him away.

Meanwhile, the Doctor ran with the Dalek in pursuit even following him down to Wintergreen Street, the main part of the nearby village. Ponies tried to stop it, but only ended up exterminated for their efforts sadly. Nothing but the Doctor could stop the mad creature, and he knew it. He just had to figure out how...

"Alright, that's the best you can do? Go on, try and aim will you? I'll bet you can't shoot me in the nose!" The Doctor taunted, only enraging the Dalek further.

Now normally, he'd consider this reckless and a good way to get himself regenerated but whenever he faced a Dalek, the killers of his people he generally ignored some of his own advice and only wanted to see the creature in question dead. Exterminated, if you will.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek repeated. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, we get it mate. That all you ever say?" He asked sarcastically. Guess what the answer was?

"EXTERMINATE!"

"Guess that answers my question." The Doctor shrugged.

Then he spotted something. Royal Guards moving some magical explosives for the war right in front of him. An idea began to form in his head. A crazy idea and a rather suicidal one at that, but an idea none the less.

"Well, I'm the Doctor and you can't kill me with lasers... So what are you going to do now huh?" He asked sarcastically. If this didn't work, well...

But the Dalek did exactly as he hoped it would. It engaged it's self destruct countdown. The Doctor smirked, perfect. Then he did something else he'd consider rather mental. The Doctor turned and ran back towards the Dalek, aimed the sonic at it before stopping it in its tracks. He then opened up the Dalek's uppermost head casing, much to its protesting.

"ALERT! ALERT! I HAVE BEEN BREACHED!"

"Relax mate, just looking for... Ah, there it is! The reverse gear! Say goodnight sweet prince!" He chorused before kicking back from behind towards the explosives. Then, a few seconds later it happened.

KABOOM!!!

The Doctor watched as the creature of nightmares went up like a rocket and soon was nothing more then memories. "Good riddance..." The Doctor muttered in distaste. "Now, what about Boltstrike...?" He wondered aloud to nobody in particular.

And then Celestia found herself back in her bedroom. Her eyes widened. What had happened she didn't know. It was like her consciousness had temporarily left her form and traveled through time and space.

"Is this the Doctor's doing? I'll have to ask him about this next time I see him." Celestia mused, before she heard a knock on the door. When she answered it, she found the new Captain of the Night Guard, a female grey furred pony with a dark blue mane and yellow eyes named Ender Night standing before her.

"Ma'am, I've just received a message from the observatory. It's the head scientist there, Comet Chaser. He wants to see you." Ender Night commented before her eyes drifted to the Solar Princess's state of dress. She was wearing only a lacy black nightie. Celestia looked down upon herself and blushed, with Ender herself blushing heavily, her red face visible through her stone grey fur. Celestia quickly tossed off the nightie and levitated her royal regalia, consisting of her crown, chest plate and horseshoes onto herself with a golden magical glow and quickly teleported away in a flash of flame.

"...Okay, so now I can see why so many ponies have sexual fantasies about her." Ender mused to herself. "Still prefer Miss Luna though."

Canterlot Observatory

Celestia, with another flash of flame quickly found herself in the top dome room of the Observatory, where already a blue maned pony with a shooting star for a Cutie Mark wearing a hat with planets attached to it like a baby's mobile and a pair of binoculars attached to that hat as well was looking through the giant brown with bronze detailing telescope. Off to the side was Shining Armor, dressed in a pink nightgown (Probably his marefriend's) and a small purple reptilian figure with green fins on the side of his head, that Celestia knew to be her personal student's number one assistant and adoptive son Spike. She vaguely remembered Spike had come here by himself to get away from Ponyville for a little while and to spend time with his adoptive grandmother, and to perhaps learn a bit more about his kind from the books in the Canterlot Royal Library, which had even more books than the Golden Oaks, if you could believe it.

"You summoned me?" Celestia asked with a yawn, rubbing her tired eyes. Comet Chaser gestured for her to come over to him with his hoof and peer into the telescopic lens. What she saw made her eyes widen. There, just beyond the hills that Ponyville was nestled away in, was a rapidly approaching dark coated figure. Even from a distance, Celestia could make out the tall stature, along with the horn and wings, and the wispy mane. There was no doubt about it. What was rapidly rocketing towards Canterlot was an Alicorn.

"Nightmare..." Celestia whispered just loud enough for everypony in the room to hear.

"N-Nightmare?" Spike whispered fearfully. Celestia took another look into the telescope and let out a small swear of "Crap.", a rarity for her. She recognized the features of this particular Nightmare. The purple in her mane, the eyes and the black diamond for a Cutie Mark gave it all away.

"No... It can't be."

"What? What is it?" Spike asked nervously, tugging at Celestia's left foreleg.

"That Nightmare Spirit... It's Rarity." Celestia whispered in horror and hung her head as Spike gasped. She was unable to protect one of her little ponies from the corrupting influence of the Nightmare Spirit, and now it was coming back to bite her. This explained everything, just why Luna had been having trouble getting into Rarity's dreams as of late. The Nightmare Spirit was keeping her out.

"I'll... I'll alert the Royal Gu..." Shining began, but never got the chance to finish as he, along with Comet Chaser then felt asleep where they stood and at once began to toss and turn on the floor, already in the throes of a horrible Nightmare.

"It's starting." Celestia said. "She's already begun her takeover of Canterlot. Soon, more will follow."

Then both Spike and Celestia heard a loud voice come booming into their eardrums.

"Celestia, your reign has ended, and the night shall last forever! If you try and stop me, I promise you won't like the consequences."

"Come, we must alert R.I.F.T. We haven't much time." Celestia growled before rushing out of the room with Spike waddling after her calling out "Hey, wait for me!"

R.I.F.T Headquarters

But already, R.I.F.T was having problems of their own. Already, two of their number, Sunburst and Galaxy Swirls had fallen into a deep sleep and were already tossing and turning in their infirmary beds, where Sudoku (Who served as the organization's doctor on-call) had wisely moved them and was even now strapping them to the beds. Nearby, Scrabbling was serving up coffee to himself, Sudoku and his wife to keep them awake and from falling under the Nightmare's spell.

"I... I don't understand it." Sudoku mused aloud, wearing a white doctor's labcoat and stethoscope around his neck. "One minute, they were fine, but the next they just dropped to the floor. At first I'd say it's a Vasovagal Response, but the symptoms don't match. No The Exorcist style projectile vomiting, and they didn't seem to feel woozy before dropping to the floor... Plus there's the tossing and turning. I just don't understand a bleeding thing about it."

"Okay, spare us the details." Target commented, looking a bit more green than normal as her husband described a Vasovagal Response. "Just tell us your best theory."

"That's the thing." Sudoku replied. "I simply don't have one."

Then there was a bright flash of flame and Celestia and Spike were in the room with them, with the young drake gazing in wonder at the many strange and wondrous things around him. He, out of simple curiosity, took a quick look inside a wooden rune covered box to find a cut off rabbit's foot used as part of a necklace, but Target quickly slammed the box shut and shook her head before saying "Trust me, that foot, not quite so lucky."

"I think I can offer some answers." The Regent of the Sun said before saying two simple words "Nightmare Moon."

There was a brief silence in the room after the Princess of the Sun had spoken, just out of simple disbelief.

"N-Nightmare M-Moon?" Scrabbling squeaked. "B-But I thought her essence was locked up! The Doctor made sure of it!"

"Looks like things may have changed." Target replied dryly before turning her head back to Celestia. "So? Summon the Elements of Harmony so they can kick her ass all over again."

Then, she saw an expression of nervousness come across her boss's face, that itself making her extremely nervous.

"That's the thing. The pony the Nightmare has possessed... It's Rarity."

"Well, ain't that just wonderful... Frigging wonderful." Target muttered even as she turned her eyes back to Sunburst and Galaxy. "C'mon, what thoughts are going through your head right now...?"

Inside Galaxy Swirl's mind...

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Inside the mind of Galaxy Swirls, he found himself, back in his old Night Guard armor, in a castle deep in the forested mountains of the old country, Transalfangya. He knew this castle all too well. It had haunted his dreams for many years. Galaxy slowly took one step forwards down the torch lit hallways where dark blue tapestries of his family crest, which were two bat wings and a scythe lined the hallways along with suits of armor.

"No... Not here, anywhere but here." Galaxy murmured nervously to himself. He would never admit it, but even he felt fear. And this was the fear that haunted him most of all. He took a quick look outside the windows, the night sky and stars glistened peacefully in the moonlight night. The moon was a crescent, but unlike most moons of a natural type, this moon was blood red, foreshadowing the things that were about to follow. Then, he heard a distinct buzzing sound in the air along with hissing. Galaxy rushed out to a balcony, and then he saw them, just like he did every night. There they came, insect like creatures with features of ponies as well. Pure black, with holes in their legs and beetle like wings wearing dark blue armor and having big blue fly like eyes. And in the center of this swarm was a very tall breed of this particular species, Alicorn size, and having a green mane and a jagged horn along with a crown consisting of three little baubles on her head. With a mighty tackle, she sent Galaxy flying backwards through a giant wooden door and into another hallway. The leader of the Changeling hive loomed over Galaxy, who, dripping blood from the sides of his face while his helmet lay beside him was trying to crawl backwards to get as far away from her as possible.

"No... Not you. Anypony but you." Galaxy Swirls stammered out, showing a side of him he never showed to anypony else. A feeling he kept in private. Absolute terror. In front of him was the monster of a creature that massacred his whole family back in Transalfangya. That monster's name was Queen Chrysalis.

"Oh, but it is me dear Swirls." Chrysalis said seductively as she stroked his chin with a hoof. "Look at you now, all badass and a high ranking member of... What is it called? Oh yes, R.I.F.T. But still you remember me." She cooed as she and her Changelings circled him like a lion circling it's prey.

"You never told them, did you?" Chrysalis inquired as she smirked. "Here you act all cheery and somewhat weird, but that's just to hide the pain of what I did to you. Killed your wife and kids I did, and you know what?" She asked before getting uncomfortably close to the very afraid Bat-Pony's face. "I. Enjoyed. Every. Single. Minute. Of. It!"

Galaxy slowly got up off the floor, his features changing from absolute terror to that of rage. He drew out his jagged bone knife, only to find Chrysalis laughing at him.

"What, you think that simple little knife can kill me? There's only one thing in this entire world that can do that, and you of all ponies should know it better than anypony." Chrysalis sneered even as she brought out a jagged sword dripping with green Changeling slime. "But if it's a fight you want, pathetic and hopeless as it may be, you'll get your wish."

But to her surprise, Chrysalis saw the jagged jawbone knife morph into a spine like sword, with Galaxy swinging it around like an expert.

"It's a dream bitch, anything can happen. That night, that night you slaughtered my family, tonight is not that night anymore." Galaxy snarled even as he and the Changeling Queen charged at each other...

R.I.F.T Headquarters

"So, what happens if they try to fight their dreams?" Spike asked nervously and Celestia looked at him gravely.

"Simple answer... They die."

In Sunburst's Mind...

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In Sunburst's mind, he found himself in a town he knew all too well. It was a small and simple town, located just south of Whitetail Woods, where nothing really happened. It was even smaller than Ponyville, if you could believe it, and everypony there knew everypony else. But right now, the town was empty except for him and one other pony, one with a moderate purple coat and her purple and aquamarine mane tied into two small pigtails. Sunburst's eyes widened. He knew this little filly all too well. It was his best friend since childhood, Starlight Glimmer, and she did not look happy with him.

"S-Starlight?" Sunburst stammered out, unsure if what he was seeing was real or not.

"Oh, I'm real alright. And look at you, all grown up. Really should shave that beard though. Makes you look a bit too nerdy for my tastes." Starlight answered, and Sunburst's eyes widened. He hadn't even asked the question! "You and I have a lot of things to talk about. For example, you LEFT me!" Starlight suddenly shouted, her eyes glistening with tears. "All to go to that stupid school of Celestia's in Canterlot! And look what happened there! You barely made it through! Huh, isn't that ironic. You got your Cutie Mark for magic before me, and yet you are completely useless with your special talent."

"I-I'm not useless... I'm In R.I.F.T, helping other ponies from threats from beyond Equestria! I work as their chief scientist and specialist in magical theory!"

"And yet you never gave once a thought to me! You've completely forgotten me Sunny!" Starlight sobbed, and Sunburst winced at the use of his friend's childhood nickname for him.

"T-That's not true! I want to find you, I really do, but I just don't know where to look!" Sunburst tried to respond, but Starlight blasted him into a market stall with a blast from her horn.

"Oh, don't give me any of that. You don't care about me, and you never have..." Starlight growled, an evil smirk on her face as she approached him...

In Shining Armor's mind...

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Meanwhile, Shining Armor was in a nightmare of his own. He found himself in a forest, with an old and crumbling church behind him and a graveyard nearby. The moon was full, and he was alone. Shining wandered through the grounds, wondering where the Tartarus he was. Suddenly, he saw a figure move in between two trees and out of the corner of his eye, he then saw two demonically red eyes peeking out from behind some bushes. The bushes rustled and out stepped a familiar figure. He didn't have his Royal Guard armor on, but Shining recognized him all right, down to every last detail, from his dark blue fur to his golden yellow mane and his Cutie Mark, which was a pure black sword, with a red pentagram behind it. That was the only difference between then and now.

"Surprised to see me?" Boltstrike asked.

"A little, but I figured seeing as how this is my nightmare I should have known you'd show up sooner or later." Shining said. No longer was he afraid of his predecessor. He'd conquered his fears long ago.

"You know. we never did really get to finish things properly did we?" Boltstrike asked, his eyes glowing a deep blood red as a sword materialized out of thin air and into Boltstrike's hooves. Shining pulled out his own sword, the Stormbringer, the sword only given to the Captain of the Royal Guard. Boltstrike smiled in an almost wistful manner.

"Ah, so I see you got my old sword. Still won't be enough to bring me down. You know, you and I aren't so different. We're both loyal to Celestia and her kingdom, and we're both willing to do whatever it takes to protect those we care about." Boltstrike commented.

"No, we're not. You tried to have the Princess killed, you and the Master."

"But look at you, you hired one of my former partners in crime as a member of your troops!"

"Yes, but unlike you she's changed. She's working to better herself. You never did. I protect ponies, not because it's my job. I protect ponies because there are some that can't help themselves, and need somepony to look after them. My name is Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, and that is my task, to protect those who can't help themselves. So be warned, if you think you will harm them or anypony close to me, you've got another think coming."

"Nice speech, but can you back it up? Let's dance." Boltstrike asked, before he charged, using his Earth Pony strength to buck a tombstone towards Shining which he cleaved in half with his sword before firing a bolt of lightning from it making Boltstrike stumble back. The two clashed swords again and again, each matching the other's blows perfectly.

"You've improved your skills since we last fought. Back then, you could barely hold me off. Now though, even I must admit I'm impressed."

"I don't need any compliments from you." Shining snarled as he whacked his foe with the handle of his sword making Boltstrike scream out "Damn you!" as blood dripped from his broken nose.

"No, the only one I think who shall be damned around here is you." Shining replied as he grabbed Boltstrike with his magic and threw him into a tree before walking up to him and holding Stormbringer against his neck.

"Go on then, finish it. Take your revenge." Boltstrike coughed, but Shining shook his head.

"No, I'm not like you. I don't strike out of vengeance." Shining responded definitively. Boltstrike chuckled darkly.

"Shame on you then." He said, before kicking Shining off him and lunging before there was a sharp *KA-BLAM!** and Boltstrike was blown away into a cloud of smoke. Shining looked up, only to see Target Quartermane standing over him holding a double barreled shotgun.*

"Miss me?" She asked with a grin.

R.I.F.T Headquarters, a few moments ago...

"Oh, we've got to find a way to help them!" Target snarled as she slammed her hoof on a nearby table and in rage and frustration, knocked all the medical equipment off it. "I can't just sit here and watch two of my best stallions dream themselves to death!"

"And we will, don't worry." Lightning reassured and put a hoof on her shoulder. Suddenly, there was the opening of a door and Sudoku returned, panting and sweat running down his face. In his hooves, he held three yellow flowers.

"Where'd you get those? And for that matter, what are they?" Lightning asked curiously.

"Dream Flowers, should be able to allow us to enter Galaxy's, Shining's and Sunburst's dreams. All we have to do is just eat them. Got them from that Zebra who lives in the Everfree. Wonderful mare, that." Sudoku commented lightly with a wistful sigh. Long before Rainbow Dash had come around, he had held the record for the fastest long distance flight from one corner of the world to the other, so making it back from Ponyville to Canterlot was a rather easy feat for him. Target's eyes then narrowed as she suddenly picked up on what her husband had said and Sudoku quickly backtracked.

"N-Not as wonderful as you of course!"

Target smirked before she took one of the flowers and handed it to Scrabbling, looking him directly in the eyes.

"You want to be a hero? Now's your chance."

Back in Galaxy Swirl's mind...

CLANG! CLANG! went the sounds of Galaxy and Chrysalis' swords clashing over and over. They blocked each other's moves expertly, neither giving in. Galaxy tried a spinning kick, but was sent flying back by a blast of magic from Chrysalis's horn.

"Did you really think you stood a chance against moi? You didn't then, and you sure as Tartarus now! You don't have magic on your side, while I on the other hoof do." Chrysalis cackled. Galaxy gripped the handle of his sword which was implanted in the floor and pulled himself back up.

"Still want to be pummeled? Your choice." Chrysalis sighed in a bored tone of voice. "You really must believe yourself to be crazy to challenge me."

Galaxy's wings extended to their full length and he took a running start and flew towards Queen Chrysalis flying left and right to dodge her green magic blasts before he got close to her and with a wide swinging motion from his sword, cut off Chrysalis's horn as she screamed in both pain and rage.

"There, you see? Now we're both on the same level." Galaxy commented. Oh, but you misjudged me on one thing Chrysalis... I don't just act crazy, I AM crazy!" Galaxy snarled before with a sickening sound, he plunged his sword into the dream Chysalis's heart as her eyes widened in shock and green blood poured from the wound and she felt to the floor with a distinct thud even as the dream began to fade away and Galaxy found himself coming back to the waking world. Galaxy smirked, even if it was only just a dream, his vengeance had been achieved and his family avenged at last.

Galaxy awoke with a start, panting and sweating, even as Sudoku's eyes widened.

"How the...? What the?" Sudoku stammered out. "I hadn't even gone into your dream yet! How'd you escape?"

Galaxy never answered. There were some things he'd rather be kept quiet for the time being. Just then, Sunburst woke up with a start.

"She... She was never real. That's all it was. Just a dream..." Sunburst murmured to himself and both Galaxy and Sudoku raised an eyebrow in curiosity but decided not to pry. Some things were better kept private after all. Sudoku smiled and whispered "Good job Scrabbling." to himself as Galaxy got up off the bed after his restraints were undone and went for his scythe and the First Blade which had been resting on a wall nearby while Sudoku pulled out two colt revolvers. Galaxy gave a flirty grin towards Sunburst.

"Ya know, considering that the world may very well be taken over by a mad goddess and all, I say we should all have sex right here and right now." Galaxy commented in a tone that made everypony present unsure if he was joking or not.

"...Just when I thought the end of the world couldn't get any worse." Sunburst sighed even as Galaxy flew into the Headquarter's vault and unlocked a glass case with a suit of pre-Nightmare Moon era Night Guard armor (The Nightmare Moon timeline armor in the main MLP universe) and pulled the helmet on, it covering his face completely.

"Now, let's say we go and kick some Nightmarity ass, R.I.F.T style eh?" He quipped.