That Blue Box

"Shadows, actual shadows attacked us" Derpy was still dumbfounded. She, the Doctor, and princess Celestia had regained consciousness to find themselves chained to the cold cobblestone wall of a dungeon of sorts. There were no windows in their prison, but they didn't need one to know that the moon was probably still high in the sky.

“It’s not that weird Derpy” the Doctor told her. “I mean they almost remind me of the Vashta Nerada.”

“The Vashta what?”

“The Vashta Nerada Derpy. They are carnivorous beings, the name roughly translates to the shadows that melt the flesh.”

“Is that what attacked us Doctor?” Celestia asked.

“Oh no, not at all. I mean probably not. The Vashta Nerada were known as the piranhas of the air, I couldn't image someone actually controlling them. Or even them showing restraint of any kind.” The Doctor said thoughtfully.

“So if it had been them we’d be dead, is that what you’re saying Doctor?” asked Derpy.

“Yup, so they are probably not them. But we need to get to Nightmare Moon, and soon. If only I could get to my sonic screwdriver I could get these locks undone no problem.”

“No screwdriver could open these locks Doctor,” Celestia told the Doctor.

“You’ve never seen my screwdriver.”

“We mean there are no locks to pick. These chains are magically passcode protected. They shall only open if the correct words art spoken aloud near them.”

“Oh,” the Doctor said, “is that all?”

Celestia looked over at Derpy and raised an eyebrow in question.

Derpy looked at Celestia and shrugged before turning her gaze to the Doctor to see what he was talking about. As if he knew what they were thinking, the Doctor began to talk.

“You see from my experiences worded passcodes are always simple. They have to be if they want to remember them. I mean Ali Baba had ‘open sesame,’ or if you sound it out, ‘open says me.’ And just how do you think Moses parted the red sea? We just need to get inside her head and figure something out.”

“Doctor I didn’t understand a word of what you just said, Ali Baba? Moses?” asked Derpy.

“Not important Derpy, just know that all we need to do is start thinking like Nightmare Moon and we’ll be out in no time.” The Doctor said as he started nodding his head, then shaking it to clear his thoughts.

“Grah! I am Nightmare Moon and I like evil things!” The Doctor yelled out. Nothing happened, and the Doctor began to look around, waiting.

“Did you actually think that was the password Doctor?” asked Derpy.

“Honestly no, but it was worth a shot.” The Doctor looked over at Celestia “She’s your sister, you try something. I know nothing about her besides she wants to rule the world and has an affinity for the night.”

Celestia turned away from the Doctor and looked forward, deep in thought as to what her sister might have set the phrase to.

“Alright you keep thinking then, Derpy help me” the Doctor said as he looked up towards the shackles that held his hoofs over his head. “Unlock, open, stop being locked. I got nothing.”

Derpy looked at the Doctor then looked up at her chains just as he had done. “Please open? The Night is awesome. Umm, Nightmare Moon rules and Celestia drools?” at that Derpy’s shackles lit up in a bright light and then popped open, allowing Derpy to move her hoofs freely once again.

The Doctor stared at her in disbelief.

“How old is she? Twelve?”

Derpy looked at Celestia, she had stopped thinking and just closed her eyes. Her face seemed completely calm and collected, but her left eyebrow was very visibly twitching.

“Ah well, Nightmare Moon rules Celestia drools.” The Doctor said nonchalantly, and his chains opened just as Derpy’s had. The Doctor stepped away from the wall and looked at Celestia, her face unchanged. “Alright then, you say it, and we’ll be on our way.

Celestia didn’t say anything. Just sitting there in silence.

“Is that it then? Is this the type of leaders Equestria has? Sure, making that the pass phrase for the chains was petty but come on, can we just get a move on, there isn’t much time” The Doctor pleaded.

Celestia looked up at the Doctor, and the Doctor and Derpy looked back at Celestia. “We won’t give her the satisfaction.”

“Fine, be that way, but if you change your mind we’ll be saving your kingdom. Come on Derpy.”

The Doctor walked out of the dungeon and into the labyrinth of stone that Nightmare Moon was resided in. They had been walking for almost ten minutes before Derpy broke the silence.

“Doctor, are we lost?”

“Of course we aren’t Derpy. Mazes have a flaw, an Achilles heel if you’d like” the Doctor told Derpy.

“Who?”

“Never mind that Derpy. Because the thing about mazes is that so long as you stay along the right wall, never deviating from it, you will find the exit of a maze. Sure you might back track a few places, but you will always find your way to the other side. And I’ve been leading us along the right wall this whole time. I reckon we should be near the end of it now” the Doctor informed Derpy.

“Hey Doctor” Derpy began. “Why didn’t one of us just say the phrase for Celestia? I mean if she wouldn’t say it shouldn’t one of us have?”

“Well yes Derpy, but you have to be within a certain distance to open them. That’s why when you said it the first time it didn’t open mine or hers. She is taller, and her chains were high enough that neither of us could have reached it.”

Derpy gave the Doctor a quizzical look.

“What?” the Doctor questioned defensively.

Derpy nodded behind her and started to flap her wings gently, it was not enough to get her off the ground, but it drew focus to them.

“Oh. Right you can fly” the Doctor said, a light blush of embarrassment starting to cover his face as he looked away.

Derpy stopped moving her wings then looked at the Doctor. “Yes, I can fly. You know Doctor for a pony as smart as you are you can be very slow.”

“Oh that’s me in a nutshell Derpy, but to be fair I’m still not used to the whole Pegasi thing. I mean you were the first Pegasus I’d ever seen until then, I didn’t know you were real.”

“What does that even mean Doctor? What are you talking about, how have you never seen a Pegasus until me?”

The Doctor looked back towards Derpy then forwards again, trying to collect his thoughts.

“I’m not entirely sure I understand everything myself Derpy. But I plan to change that. As soon as we are finished up here I will find out exactly what happened and why I’m here.”

“Is that what you usually do Doctor? Just keep calm, no matter what you come across, no matter how insane things get, you just keep calm and carry on to your next adventure like it was nothing?”

“Pretty much, yeah. But it isn’t all bad. I mean it’s good exercise, and I meet loads of brilliant individuals like you Derpy,” the Doctor gave her a small smile as he said this.

Derpy looked away, a blushing slightly.

Here we are Derpy, the end of the maze. Derpy looked forward now and just as the Doctor has said. She could see some sort of light at the end of the passageway they were now in.

The Doctor looked, and Derpy asked “are you ready for this?”

Derpy gave the Doctor a sly smile, leaned in and said “allons-y Doctor.”

The Doctor shot Derpy back a goofy grin before saying back “allons-y Derpy.”

The two ran for the exit and into the unknown light. Once there they found themselves in a large room that somewhat resembled the layout of the throne room in Canterlot save for the actual throne and the materials. Where Canterlot’s throne room seemed to have extravagant marble this place seemed to be made entirely of stone. Where the throne would be there instead was a large window with a slightly elevated platform of stone, out the window could be seen the vast forest, as well as the mountain that the City of Canterlot hung from, and in the corner of the room sat the Doctor's TARDIS.

Sitting in front of this window was Nightmare Moon and four shadow like creatures around her. They were different from the shades that had earlier engulfed them, these shades seemed to have at least some sort of definable form and two visible eyes that the Doctor could see.

”Where is our sister? We expected she would be with thou.” asked Nightmare Moon, turning around to face the Doctor and Derpy.

“She’s taken a different route, she’ll be around to assist us momentarily, and you have no idea where she’ll come from” the Doctor told Nightmare Moon in a matter of fact tone. The four shades floated into the air and started circling the ceiling, watching the Doctor and Derpy, Derpy crouched down to hide behind the Doctor in fear of Nightmare Moon's creatures.

“Is that so?” asked Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon’s horn began to glow blue and in a sudden flash of light Princess Celestia was on the ground in between Nightmare Moon and the Doctor and Derpy.

“How …?” the Doctor began.

”It would seem our sister was right where we left her” Nightmare Moon calmly said.

“Really Celestia?” called out the Doctor.

Celestia slowly got to her hoofs and stood before her sister, staring Nightmare Moon in her cold eyes.

”Look Celestia, out that window. Our army of shadows have gathered, and in less than an hour Canterlot will be ours. In a day all of Equestria. In a week, the world!” Nightmare Moon began to laugh maniacally. Celestia kept her face serious and looked back towards Nightmare Moon.

“Thou shall not get away with this. We will stop you” Celestia told Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon laughed again. “How would thou do that? With the Elements of Harmony? We possess three of the six thou needs, did thou really think that would work?” Nightmare Moon asked mockingly. “Here take them, they will never work anyway.” Nightmare Moon’s horn began to glow again and pulled a box from the side of the room and tossed it at Celestia’s hoofs. Celestia kept her gaze on her sister.

“Excuse me but I have a few questions.”

All eyes in the room turned to look at the Doctor after his sudden outburst.

“Now am I the only one curious about those shadow things that attacked us?” the Doctor asked aloud to nopony in particular. “Why don’t you tell us about them?”

Nightmare Moon smiled and took a few steps in the Doctor’s and Derpy’s direction.

“They are only one of a few types of creature that has pledged their loyalty to us Lord Time Turner.”

“His name is the Doctor” Derpy shot at Nightmare Moon. The Doctor looked over a Derpy briefly then turned back to Nightmare Moon and just nodded his head and gave her a slight shrug.

“Fine then, Doctor Time Turner” Nightmare Moon said with an eye roll.

“Actually if you don’t mind it’s just the Doctor. Now about these creatures you command.”

“Between our shades circling over thine heads and the Vashta Nerada there is no amount of information that could help thou. And we are in no rush, now tell us Doctor. What doth thou wish to know?”

“I’m sorry, but you just said Vashta Nerada? How could that possibly be, they would never listen long enough to make any sort of deal” the Doctor inquired.

“When one has the power to grant them eternal darkness and give them entire free range of the planet they can be quite reasonable.” Nightmare Moon was smiling again. Her confidence seeming to resonate from her.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” the Doctor accused. “Where are they now?!”

“We sent them on their way. They were on their way out when thou had showed up. We suspect they are clearing the populations of Equestria’s cities as we speak” a light smile formed on Nightmare Moons lips.

“You what?” asked the Doctor, his tone now grave and extremely serious.

“Image it Doctor. Soon the world will be ours, and there is nothing you can do to stop it!” Nightmare Moon then flew up into the air, her horn glowing once again. The Doctor ran towards her, but by the time he had reached her, there was a bright flash of light and she was gone, along with the shades that had been circling over their heads the whole time.

“What?! Where’s she gone to?” Demanded the Doctor.

“Doctor, look.” Celestia pointed out the large window, and the Doctor ran over to the window. Over the forest was a prominent darkness that seemed to be drowning the Everfree Forest itself. Not the Vashta Nerada but rather those strange black figured even the Doctor didn’t recognize. Above them, all was Nightmare Moon, hovering over them all as their leader. She was far off yet close enough that the Doctor noticed her turn her head and wink in their direction.

“We have to stop her. Now.” The Doctor said with divinity.

“But how would we do that Doctor?” asked Derpy.

“I don’t know Derpy. I just don’t know.”

“Doctor” Celestia began. “We still have the Elements of Harmony. Our sister thinks we will be unable to use them because she once wielded three of the six elements. However she is in such great imbalance that the elements no longer cling to her. We can end this, we can end her.”

“Celestia, I caught what she said, when she referred to me and Derpy as mortals. That would mean that you two aren’t and if that’s true then please listen to this little bit of advice before you do what you have to.” The Doctor looked at Celestia, and after she gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement the Doctor continued. “There has been enough death today already. She is lost and confused and right now she’ll need some kindness. Some compassion. Because if there is one thing I know, it’s that immortality is lonely. Send her away, lock her up but believe me when I say that if you kill her you will spend the rest of time wishing you hadn’t. And when she returns because they always do, no matter how perfect the prison, you will need to be wise. For the sake of Equestria, as well as the sake of your sister, be wise. And be ready to forgive. Because what’s the point of it all if you can’t learn to forgive every once in a while.”

As the Doctor spoke, Celestia listened to every word that left the Doctor’s mouth. She had no idea whom this Doctor was or why he was here, but he was right, and Celestia knew it. The Doctor was wise, and though Celestia was smart and she was clever, she had not yet experienced the kind of trials that allow wisdom to develop.

Celestia loved her sister, but Nightmare Moon had to be stopped. But maybe the Doctor was right, maybe there was another way. Celestia took a deep breath and nodded as the Doctor finished.

“Celestia, when the time comes, be understanding and be prepared to open your heart. That’s all I have to say” the Doctor took a few steps back and sat down.

Celestia looked down at the small chest and then back towards the Doctor.

“Thank you Doctor. But we must put an end to this. If locking her up doesn’t stop this now, at least for a while, then we will do what we must.” When Celestia spoke her voice was unusually quiet and sullen. The Doctor could have sworn he saw a tear escape the corner of her eye, but before he could actually see anything there was a flash of light and Derpy, the Doctor, and the TARDIS were in the empty throne room at Canterlot.

“I hope she does the right thing” the Doctor said to himself.

“I’m sure she will Doctor. Would you like to know how that old legend ended?” offered Derpy.

“Might as well, now that we’ve come to the conclusion one way or another.”

Derpy cleared her throat before speaking. “Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the power of the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. And the elder sister took responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.”

“Well hopefully that’s how it plays out. Though I’m curious. If this is a thousand years ago for you, does Nightmare Moon get out in that time? And if she did, what happened?” asked the Doctor.

“Yes but six regular ponies claim the Elements of Harmony and turn her good again. Princess Luna was actually in Canterlot living with Celestia in the castle when I left.”

The Doctor nodded his head “good, good.”

“So what do we do now Doctor?” Asked Derpy.

“Now we wait for either Celestia to walk through those doors, or for Nightmare Moon to.”

It was only about an hour before the doors to the throne room opened, and Celestia walked in. The Doctor and Derpy had already guessed Celestia had won as the sun had started to rise about ten minutes before Celestia showed up.

The Doctor didn’t have to ask to know that Nightmare Moon had been spared, he could see it in Celestia’s eyes. There was sadness in them but also hope, and the Doctor knew hope when he saw it.

“How are you doing Princess?” Asked Derpy.

“We shall be fine. And hopefully, one day, so will our sister.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that. I’m sure it’ll all work out for the best” the Doctor said in a cheer filled tone and a warm smile.

Celestia looked over at the Doctor and his comforting smile and gave him a weak smile back.

“We thank you Doctor. But, what will we do about the Shadows that invaded the local towns?” Celestia asked.

“My recommendation, start raising the sun an hour earlier from now on. The Vashta Nerada live in trees, and if you create more hours of light then they won’t be able to travel back to the Everyfree Forest as fast. Some will make it back, but maybe you can starve a few of them out.”

“But won’t that create an imbalance Doctor? We mean the world required stability and that may cause unforeseen issues.”

“Just pull the sun back an hour then. And every few months switch between more daylight and less daylight. Trust me, it’ll balance out.”

“Very well Doctor. Now there is the matter of thou and thine companions reward. There is to be a ceremony in thou honor later today. We hope thou will stay for it.” Celestia said, looking between the Doctor and Derpy.

“Actually we need to be on our way, more to see and more to do. Our work is never done. But tell you what Celestia, I suspect this won’t be the last we see of you.” The Doctor gave Celestia a smile, nodded a goodbye and then walked out of Celestia’s throne room with Derpy and made their way back to the TARDIS. The Doctor walked over to the console, flipped a few switches and pulled a big lever, and there was that noise that Derpy was starting to love. Moments later the noise stopped, and the Doctor walked over to the doors and flung them open.

“Come on Derpy, we’re back.”

“Uh Doctor” Derpy began, visibly trying not to laugh, and failing.

“What is it?” asked the Doctor as he turned around to look outside the TARDIS doors only to see a particularly annoyed and very confused, but mostly angry looking Roseluck standing on what appeared to be topsoil. “I see” the Doctor said as he slammed the doors of his TARDIS.

“Let’s try that again, shall we?” asked the Doctor.

“Yes, let's,” Derpy replied.

The Doctor made a few adjustments and put the TARDIS in flight. Again the Doctor ran over to the doors and opened them. This time Derpy walked out without giggling at the scene and the Doctor followed.

“We are in the White Tale Woods.” Derpy announced.

“Is that a bad thing? There aren’t any sort of creatures hiding away in here are there?” Asked the Doctor as he started looking around.

“I guess this is good bye, huh Doctor?” asked Derpy, looking down and pawing at the dirt trail below them.

“It doesn’t have to be Derpy. If you want, you can come with me. I don’t know this world at all,, and I could use somepony like you watching out for me. So what do you say?” Asked the Doctor.

Derpy looked up at the Doctor, “is every day like that for you Doctor?”

“Well not every day but I’d be lying if I said it was always safe.” The Doctor kept looking at Derpy, waiting for her response.

“It was completely terrifying Doctor. Really I have never been more scared in my entire life and yet, it was so, very exciting.” Derpy told the Doctor, now looking him back in his eyes. “And I would love to come with you Doctor.”

“Great, then we better get started. Back in the TARDIS!” the Doctor shouted as they both ran back into the console room and he started fiddling with the main console once again. “I’ll let you pick the next destination Derpy but after that it's my turn and I know exactly where we are going because I need answers Derpy, and you’re going to help me find them.”

Derpy looked at the Doctor and with a smile on her face said “allons-y Doctor”

The Doctor smiled back as he flipped one final switch and the TARDIS dematerialized.