Learning of Friendship
Another Crossover Fan Fiction by Crowquill Symphony.
Chapter 1: Crash Landing
Darkness. Complete darkness, save for five small blue lights. A harsh electronic sounding voice screeched out, “DALEK HORUS, WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE SHIP?”
“COMPLETELY UNRESPONSIVE, DALEK SEIR. WE ARE STRANDED.” Came the response, in a slightly calmer, less grating voice. One of the lights spun to face the others.
“HOW MANY OF US REMAIN?”
A different light spun, counting the lights about him. “FIVE. WE HAVE LOST DALEK EUTH.”
“THEN WE SHALL FIGHT WITHOUT HIM. WE ARE DALEKS. WE ARE SUPERIOR TO ANY SPECIES ALIVE!” There was no sympathy in his voice.
Click! Click! Click! There was a brief silence. The first two lights spun to look at a third, slightly larger light before a louder, higher pitched voice shouted through the darkness.
“MY WEAPON DOES NOT WORK!”
Click! Click! “MY WEAPON IS UNRESPONSIVE AS WELL.”
“IT DOES NOT MATTER! THERE IS NO FORCE THAT CAN DESTROY US! WE SHALL BE VICTORIOUS! DALEK’S SHALL REIGN SUPREME!”
The other four repeated his cry, and turned to leave. The stopped and opened the exit on their ship, and light poured in, illuminating the group of metal monsters. They were silent as they looked out across the landscape. Finally, the loud one spoke.
“WHERE ARE WE?”
******
In the depths of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy floated about from tree to tree. She was nervous, visibly shaking. The Everfree was a dangerous place. She landed for a moment, focusing on her mission. Nurse Redheart needed magic herbs for some patients, and this was the only place to find them. At the time, Fluttershy was confident she could handle anything in the forest, but now…
Now she was scared. It didn’t help that there had been a strange noises that morning, and what looked like a giant ball of metal and fire falling into the depths of the forest. She stepped on a twig, jumping high into the air. Her heart was racing. She was on edge, panicking, when she heard it. It sounded strange, some sort of buzzing noise mixed with a scream. She began to head towards the noise, telling herself to be strong, not to be nervous. The noise got louder as she got closer, and she began to hear familiar snarling and growling. As she looked into the nearby clearing, her fears were confirmed.
A manticore was thrashing about the clearing, tossing, slamming and biting a strange metallic object. It seemed to be a cone with a dome on top, and two strange appendages. The bottom half was covered in shining metal hemispheres arranged in four rows, but most were dented, and a few columns had been ripped off. Fluttershy realized that the loud noise was coming from this… thing. She would ask it about its name later, but for now she had to save it from the manticore.
The beast felt the stare upon him before he saw it. A stern voice came from behind; “Put him down!” The monster stared at the small yellow pegasus, roared at her. She flew up closer and he could feel the full weight of the stare. He began to back down as the pegasus floated right into the manticore’s face. “Now go away. Now!” The manticore ran at full speed away, and Fluttershy landed a foot away from the creature. It was badly beaten, but she couldn’t see any blood, something she was thankful for. She spoke softly, her voice as soothing as she could get it.
“Uhm, are you alright? I mean, is there something I can do to help?” She began to extend a hoof towards the metal extension of the dome when the creature let out a loud hiss. Fluttershy jumped back several feet as the top of the machine pulled open, hissing. A small, peach colored unicorn filly sat inside. It slowly pulled itself out, and fell to the ground unconscious. Fluttershy quickly looked over the little pony.
Her belly was covered in a slightly pinkish red fur that changed to orange the further away it got. Fluttershy let out a small gasp at the sight of a pair of small tendrils extending from its back. The filly’s mane and tail were a dull copper color, and on top of everything, she was a black flank. Fluttershy lifted the pony onto her back, flying towards town as fast as she could, stopping only if she saw the herbs Redheart had asked for, but most importantly keeping the filly safe. She would take care of her. She had a way with the little ones.
******
“Come on, Come on, Come on!” Doctor Whooves slammed his hooves on the panel in front of him. He stood inside the TARDIS, pacing about, worrying. He had spent a few years in Equestria, for some reason turning into a pony on arrival. He had been unable to find a way back to his own dimension, and in order to make the best of an interesting situation, he had begun to adventure in Equestria and it’s universe. At the moment, however, he was exceptionally focused. Something had broken a portal between dimensions that morning, and he was intent on finding out what, or who, it had been.
“Umm, Doctor?”
“Not now Derpy.” He waved off the grey pegasus. She was charming and smart, and as pleasant a companion as any other, but had a tendency to get distracted. He stared into space, mumbling to himself. “Whatever tore that hole was powerful, I’ll give them that. It took the TARDIS everything she had to survive getting through, and she had to rest for a month afterwards. True, their ship burnt up on breaking through, but still…”
“Doctor?” the pegasus said, a growing urgency in her voice.
“Is it friendly? An enemy? Why can’t I pick up anything? It’s almost as if someone’s purposely concealing their presence…”
******
Miles away, an earth pony with an ink well and crow quill pen on his flank, felt a shiver down his spine. He ignored it, tightened his jacket, and kept writing. He would not be stopped.
******
“Grr, this is so frustrating! I wish I had something! Something, anything to go off of…”
“DOCTOR!”
“I mean, how was I unable to pick up anything? I never pick up anything. It wasn’t mauve at least…”
“BAD MUFFINS!”
The Doctor turned around abruptly. The two had worked out numerous code words for various things. Bad Muffins meant that whatever it was, it needed his immediate attention. He rushed to Derpy’s side. “What is it? What do you see?” he spoke fast, nervous and slightly excited. Derpy raised a hoof into the distance, and he felt both his hearts drop. A small group of beings emerged from the Everfree forest, slightly dirtier than he normally saw them, but just as frightening. There were four Daleks leaving the forest. There where Daleks in Equestria. The most peaceful place he had ever seen, and the most horrifying monsters in existence had landed. And there were five of them.
“Are those the aliens Doctor?” The pegasus’ turned to him, worry in her slightly ditzy expression. He was silent, trembling, his gaze locked on the monsters emerging from the forest. “Yes Derpy. Those are them.” He clenched his jaw, the fear in his eyes replaced with an old, burning anger.
“Daleks.” He spat the word, as if it were a curse.
In the distance, Dalek Seir turned to the three behind them. He spoke, his electronic voice echoing into the distance. “TODAY WE BEGIN OUR NEW MISSION! WE SHALL CLAIM THIS PLANET FOR THE DALEKS! WE SHALL DEFEAT ANY INFERIOR SPECIES WE ENCOUNTER! WE SHALL RULE THIS PLANET, AND WHEN WE RETURN HOME, WE SHALL BE HAILED AS HEROES!” The rest of the Daleks cheered. “SOUND OFF AND PREPARE FOR ORDERS!”
“DALEK HORUS.”
“ASSESS THE PLANET, FIND OUT WHO OUR ENEMIES ARE.
“DaL3K X3m!” came a slightly gargled shout, static making it barely comprehensible.
“YOU SHALL SEARCH FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PLANET AND OUR ENEMIES. WE MAY FIND OUT WHAT IS INTERFEARING WITH OUR WEAPONS!”
A brief silence came. Finally, another Dalek spoke up, his voice deep.
“DALEK GELD.”
Seir was silent. He finally spoke, even more anger in his voice than usual.
“FIND DALEK OHM. NOW.”
******
A lone Dalek passed through the trees and saw before him a small town. He looked around, not finding his comrades. He briefly wondered where they were, and what they would say when they found him. He imagined it would be something like ‘HOW DARE YOU DALEK…’ he stopped and tried to remember what came next. It occurred to him that something like his name should be easy to remember, and yet…
If he had shoulders, he would have shrugged. He settled with an uncaring sigh and started towards the town. He could figure out a million combinations in a matter of seconds, but he couldn’t remember his own name. It was no wonder the others had been shocked when he joined. Halfway there he spotted something heading right for him. It was a strange blue blob, bouncing at a high speed. Again he stopped, realizing that through his eyeball everything appeared blue. And at that distance, it wasn’t surprising that it was a blob. Once again, he let out an uncaring sigh, turning his attention to the approaching thing. It was gone.
His dome spun slowly, turning right, seeing nothing, turning left, coming face to face with a strange equine with a puffy mane, turning back center and-
He spun back to the creature. It opened its mouth and commenced a sonic barrage.
“Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie! Pleased to meet you! I’ve never seen you before, and I would know because I know everypony and I’m pretty sure I’d remember a big metal thing like you! Are you from space? I like space stories. They’re always fun to listen to…”
“SILENCE.”
“…By the way you still haven’t told me your name. I mean, how can I throw a party for a pony whose name I don’t know, but wait, you might not be a pony, you still haven’t told me and I really really really wanna know…”
“SILENCE!”
She kept speaking, words pouring out faster than the Dalek could comprehend. She stopped only to breath, and even then that only stopped her for a second or two at a time.
“…And that’s how Equestria was made! By the way, what are you?” she stopped and starred at him. He was angry. Beyond angry. He wished he knew a word for being beyond angry.
“I AM A DALEK AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE AS PAINFULLY AS I CAN KILL YOU, YOU IRRITATING EQUINE CREATURE!”
The creature Pinkie Pie stood confused for a second. “What’s a Dalek?” He lashed out with his plunger, barely missing the pony. He lunged again and again, finally cornering her against a tree. He readied his plunger. “EXTERMINATE.”
Rather than scream, or try to run, or plead for her life, the pony began to laugh. The Dalek stopped. “WHAT IS THIS NOISE, AND WHY DO YOU MAKE IT?”
She jumped into the air, landing several feet behind the Dalek. He spun about, cursing at himself for not finishing her. She opened her mouth,“Well, you see…” and the Dalek braced himself.
“When I was a little filly
And the sun was going down
The darkness and the shadows
They would always make me frown
“I'd hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
To deal with fears at all”
The Dalek couldn’t understand the feeling bubbling up in him. All he knew was that he wanted this pony to die. Painfully.
“She said, ‘Pinkie, you've gotta stand up tall
Learn to face your fears
You'll see that they can't hurt you
Just laugh and make them disappear.’
Ha, ha, ha!
So giggle at the ghosty,
Guffaw at the grossly,
Crack up at the creepy,
Whoop it up with the weepy,
Chortle at the pukey,
Snortle at the spooky
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just make you wanna...hahahaha...laugh!”
The Dalek tried to wrap him mind around what the pony had said. “THIS LAUGHTER IS A FORM OF COMBAT?”
Pinkie giggled slightly, and if he could, he would have shuddered at a sight. “No silly, unless you’re fighting things that scare you! Like you were scaring me!”
The Dalek tried to process the information, finally forming an opinion. “YOU FOOL! YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, DALEK… A DALEK, YOUR WEAPON. WATCH AS I TURN YOUR LAUGHTER AGAINST YOU!” He raised his gun, plunger and eyestalk to the sky, inhaling deeply. He dropped them suddenly, locked onto Pinkie Pie. “HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!” Pinkie Pie’s eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. The Dalek felt proud. He had finally stricken fear into the equine menace!
At least, until she once again began to laugh. She fell to the ground, rolling back and forth, and his pride finally collapsed. “WHY DO YOU STILL LAUGH? I AM A DALEK! A SUPERIOR BEING! DO YOU LAUGH FROM FEAR?” She wiped tears from her eyes.
“I’m not laughing ‘cause I’m scared, at least not this time. I’m laughing because you sound so funny!”
That was it. He broke. His hatred caved in, and crushed him. He screamed, “WHAT KIND OF DALEK AM I? I WAS A HERO ONCE! I FOUGHT ENEMIES, AND THEY TREMBLED AT THE SIGHT OF ME! WHAT AM I NOW? I CANNOT INTIMIDATE A TINY HORSE!”
Pinkie looked genuinely offended for a few seconds. The Dalek lowered his gaze to the ground. “I CANNOT EVEN REMEMBER MY OWN NAME.” He wasn’t shouting anymore. He felt something, a heaviness within himself, like something a crammed a weight into his armor. He didn’t like it. The pony trotted over, resting a hoof on his armor.
“Hey, c’mon, don’t be so sad! You scared me plenty!” His gaze rose slightly. “And if you can’t remember your name, maybe you just need a better name! Like me! My real name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but I just go by Pinkie Pie because it’s easier to remember! See? Let’s call you…” She stopped, deep in thought, before snapping her… He couldn’t tell. She raised her hoof and he heard a snap, like the snapping of fingers. “I’ve got it! We’ll call you Fun! On account of how much fun we’ll have together!”
Dalek Fun. The Dalek felt the heaviness disappear, replaced with a strange warmth. He was a bit unnerved; Dalek’s weren’t supposed to feel emotions, and yet he was comfortable with this feeling. “DALEK FUN. I WILL TAKE THIS NAME DALEK FUN.” He looked at the pony. For some reason, he wasn’t feeling any hatred towards her anymore. He didn’t even want to exterminate her anymore.
“Okay, DA-Lek Fun, let’s go have a par-tay!”
“VERY WELL.” The strange pair began to head towards the town. He turned to the pony by his side. “WHAT IS A PAR-TAY?”
