I don't like walking around this old and empty house.
So hold my hand, I'll walk with you, my dear.
Luna had been here a while, that much she knew. Her dress was left ragged, what once was a beautiful midnight blue dress with a black trim was now left dirtied and bloodied, sure, she had other dresses, but she didn't want to ruin them, so she wore her crash dress. Her guards had disappeared a week back, so she was left by herself, in the vast and empty abandoned building formerly known as her home and the capital building of all of Equestria.
She took walks around the building every now and then, although it filled her with feelings of nostalgia. The lost times with her sister, her people, the times when the nation was under attack. She had just regained everyone’s trust too, only to find that they had all disappeared on her next visit.
She was on one of those walks when she saw the police box appear. Right in front of her, it appeared, then faded away, then appeared again, only to fade away for a second time, but the third appearance it stayed, all while a fierce wind was blowing her slightly messy hair into her eyes. Once the wind died down, and she got all her hair out from her eyes, she found that there was a man holding a chicken drumstick, and smiling at her in greeting.
He had a strange attire, donning a brown tweed jacket with elbow patches over a white, checkered, button-up shirt. In addition to that, he also wore a dark red bow tie, suspenders, black trousers and black, ankle-high boots. He took a bite out of the drumstick and held out his open hand, to which Luna cautiously shook.
“Hello, I’m the Doctor, and you..” He looked around, noting the environment he had landed in. “Broken windows.. Dark hallways..” He looked up, to where light fixtures were flickering on and off. “Failing lights.. What year is it?”
“I think it is twenty thirty-five,” Luna suggested, starting to step away from the stranger, although he was the first living person she had seen in a while, emphasis on living.
“Twenty thirty-five. Then you must be Luna!” He grinned, taking another bite out of the drumstick. “Although, there is another thing you are..”
“What?” She asked, starting to step into the shadows..
“In danger,” he responded, throwing the drumstick at Luna’s direction. It missed, of course, but in mere seconds, the flesh of the drumstick had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a bone. Now Luna was really scared, and she turned to run away from him, but he grabbed her arm before she could go further into the shadows.
“How did you do that?!” She cried, trying to get her arm out of his hold.
“I didn’t. Do you want to see again?” He asked, a solemn look on his face, and pulling her out from the darkness she was trying to disappear into.
“S-sure..” She nodded.
“Okay then Luna, you have to promise me that you will not go into any of the shadows,”
“Okay.”
“Good,” he retreated into the police box, returning with another drumstick.
“Is that all you have in there? Do you travel in a police box filled with chicken wings?” Luna asked, to which the Doctor laughed.
“Nah, I’ve got a whole bunch of other things in there,” he walked over to Luna, who was sitting on the floor by the shadows, and let her check that the drumstick was authentic, then crouched down beside her and put it halfway in the shadows. The meat of the drumstick that was in the shadow disappeared immediately, where the meat that was out of the shadow stayed. Luna's jaw dropped, and she backed away from the shadows, toward the police box.
"How are you doing this!?" She cried, disbelievingly. The Doctor turned around towards Luna, standing up, and throwing the rest of the drumstick into the darkness. A clattering of a bone echoed through the empty halls.
"The Vashta Nerada, or the piranhas of the air. They hunt in swarms, and can strip a body of its flesh in seconds. They live on any planet with meat, but never in swarms this big..." He paused, and looked curiously at Luna. "How are you not dead? I mean, I like that you are living, but how are you living?"
"I don't know," she responded, curling up into a ball on the cold stone floor, and rocking back and forth, the power of what she had just learned hitting her hard. How long had they been here? How long had she evaded death? What happened to all of the people? "I don't know I don't know I don't know..."
"Luna, the shadows are moving in closer, we need to get out of here," the Doctor offered a hand to the princess, which she delicately took, and he lifted her up onto her feet. "Can you run?"
"Yeah.."
"Well run!" He cried, as the shadows had almost reached their feet. They took off down a hallway, followed by the darkness. The only sound was the creaking of the castle as it settled into the ground, mixed with the footsteps of two running people. They only stopped once they got to the roof, where a cloudy sky met them, giving everything a hazy grey light.
"Of course! The weather just has to be bad!" He turned to the sky. "Once! Just once can the weather be nice on a trip with a threat in it! That's all I'm asking for!"
"Doctor.." Luna tugged on his sleeve, and he turned around. The shadow had cornered them, and was inching ever so closer to their feet. As they backed up, the balcony's floor started to crumble. They hit the guard rails now, and were almost pressed up against it. A few more seconds, and they would be done for.
"Luna!" The Doctor lifted her up off her feet, into holding her like a mother would hold her baby, as the shadow almost touched it. One millisecond delay, and she could have been done for. The balcony broke off, sending the two down toward the ground, one hundred meters below. "Brace yourself!"
