The Stranger From The Vortex

All of time and space … the magic of the universe … everything and everywhere was waiting to be seen, explored, and lived at its fullest. For a Time Lord, it could all be there at the touch of a button, lever, or switch of a TARDIS’ six paneled console. Its body was majestic in design; its power was incomprehensible to any other; and its essence was breathtaking. The sheer presence of the TARDIS would either mean safety or danger, and right now The Doctor was sensing a danger.

       The Doctor opened his eyes, but shut them immediately again as if he had just awoken from a long night’s rest. He rubbed his eyes, groaning a bit with a slight headache. He then remembered what had just happened, but something else shocked the 1500 year old Time Lord. The Doctor looked at where his hooves were, stunned to see that were now replaced by hands. He scuffled to his feet, and surprised to see himself back as a humanoid creature. He walked over to the monitor and stared at the screen, observing his face as if it had been through regeneration.

“Look at these! I’ve got feet and legs, and hands with five fingers, plus my face! One chin, a nose, nice lips, and my hair! Oh this is not good!” he said turning away from the monitor. There was a slight worry on his face, and he kept asking himself out loud many questions as to this confusion, but then he stopped. The Doctor had the urge to turn around, and look at his face again. He pulled out his glasses and stared once again at the image. This likely because his life essence was sent into the Maestro’s mind; morphing him into a plane that showed his true being. He moved the muscles in his face, and played around with many expressions to see what he really would look like in this current incarnation.

“Oh the nose is quite big actually than the last ones, but it makes sense. What with being a pony, and those muzzles. Well at least I wouldn’t have to worry about ‘the chin’ again.” The Doctor commented, looking at his face and then focus his attention at the hair. It still came out like his mane, but he actually enjoyed it, minus that one little detail he wished he could have.

“Not that bad, but still no Ginger. I do like the outfit! It’s kind of nice that I’ve been given pants too. Oooh, and it has my cutie mark.” he said, bewildered by how his entire body came up in full clothes and having the hourglass cutie mark pop up on the hips of his pants. “Oh hands, how I’ve missed you.”

He rubbed his face and his hair and all over with its five tiny members. The Doctor was thrilled to see them alive and moving and functioning just like before. Yet, this moment wouldn’t last for long for at that precise moment the TARDIS activated the Cloister Bell.

“Right, sorry, I’ve got to find out where he is. Now think Doctor, if he was able to construct a replica TARDIS by sheer memory, then maybe I can still locate him with the console. It’s worth a shot!” The Doctor spoke to himself aloud. He jumped around the machine, pushing the various controls with one hand while the other was busy on the monitor’s buttons. His body moved so quickly around the machine like he always does, and there was no time to waste. With the cloister bell still gonging away, he could hear a faint beeping sound from the monitor. He grabbed the screen and looked at a digital map for the various rooms located inside the TARDIS, but he only found one room active and visible.

“Hmm, he’s only seen the Zero Room and the Console room. So that’s all his subconscious could make up to justify anything his mind holds.” The Doctor said before looking down at his watch. “No time to waste, don’t worry girls, I’ll get this over with in a lickety-split … God, did I really just say that? Note to self, I must try and stop talking to myself a lot … oh who I am kidding, I love doing that.”

The Doctor ventured down the one of the steps leading into a corridor. With the console room behind and time ticking, Gallifrey’s most infamous child had to prepare himself for anything in this odd little peak at the stranger’s mind.

***

       Twilight Sparkle, Ditzy Doo, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike stood inside the center room of Sugar Cube Corner, staring at the front door entrance. They waited for some kind of sign that the Vortex Ooze and/or its minions were still moving and kicking. The creatures stopped their screeching and hollering, as well as the banging on the door from earlier. Twilight knew that the Ooze stopped only to try and come up with a plan. Just like Ditzy, being with the Doctor gave her new instincts as to how to go along with moments like these. It was about using your wits, staying on your toes, and lots of running. However there was nowhere to run, but up if it somehow got in. Suddenly, they all heard the sludge and squishing noises of the Ooze slithering across the ground outside. The force field surrounding the outside was strong, but the question now was to see how long and how much it could take under the creature’s alien powers. Then they heard a bang come at the door

“Okay girls, get ready!” Twilight said. The banging continued with an intense and brute nature to each hit as the creature used more force into banging the door. Its horrific screams made them shake a little, but not enough to make them abandon their posts. Suddenly they heard the Cakes and Apple Bloom scream at something.

“Oh my goodness, Apple Bloom; don’t worry lil’sister I’m coming!” Applejack cried out as she ran up the stairs. It was then that the house began to shake and rattle, but the farm pony pushed further to her sister as the others tried to keep balance. Spike fell down, groaning as everything in the house kept quaking. He suddenly felt a blast of air thrust him up as the floorboards were cracked open by the Ooze’s tentacles. Spike screamed as it busted through the floors.

“How could it have gotten inside?!” Rarity said, watching as the tentacle whipped through the air. Covering herself as dirt and slime was splattered around.

“I didn’t take to account that maybe it could dig under the house. Ah!” Twilight screamed as Spike pulled her back from being torn in two by the tentacle. “I’m Sorry!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight, let’s just get this thing outta here!” Spike said as he grabbed a floorboard and banged the member with it.

“It’s party time!” Pinkie Pie cried before she started flinging hundreds of hundreds of pastries at monster’s tentacle while Rarity started wrapping a stylish fabric around it, trying to hold it down with her magic. Ditzy amplified the Doctor’s sonic, making it more wild, but weaker as they were forcing it to go back down. In the end however it was Twilight’s magic that really got the creature; she used her powers to engulf the tentacle in an inferno that boiled it to its core. The Vortex Ooze roared in agony once her magic heated up its tentacle to the point that it was forced to escape back underground. They all cheered in victory by its retreat, but it was short lived as they looked at the gaping hole it left.

“Quick, we’ve got to board this up before it can do anything.” Twilight said.

“Right!” The others said, until they heard glass and wood crash from above. Then they heard the cries of the Mister and Misses Cakes’ babies, along with Apple Bloom's screams.

“Rarity, come with me. Pinkie Pie, Ditzy, you stay here with Spike. Cover up this hole with anything you can use.” Twilight said as she started up the staircase.

“Be careful!” Spike yelled as the two unicorns ventured to the second floor to see what the hustle was all about.

***

It was a short walk to the Zero room; after all it was only one long corridor leading to a pair of sliding doors. The Doctor took a quick breath in and out of the nostrils before he placed his palm onto a scanner. The little device beeped and whirred before finally opening up to the room. He slowly walked into the white and almost empty room. He passed by the medical equipment he used on the Maestro’s body earlier. Each one looked mangled and destroyed from some kind of electrical malfunction, the edges hinted slight burns. The zero room looked like it could go forever, but the Doctor looked out for any signs that the Maestro was close by. Then he heard him; the Maestro was close and The Doctor was moving closer in on him. The noise was clearing up for him to clearly tell that the Maestro was in fact crying. He then noticed the blanket Twilight wrapped around the Maestro earlier, lying alone on the floor.

“Maestro?” He lowly called out, but the crying continued. The Doctor crept along the floor, taking notice of the slight drips of blood leading up to the blanket. He feared if something did happen to the Maestro's life force, but with time running out, The Doctor forced himself to grab the blanket and toss it away. He looked down to see nothing was there. Yet, the sobbing continued, like if he was a ghost that keeps crying for help. The Doctor had a puzzling look on his face, along with some frustration. He turned his head to any direction, trying to see where the body was. He even tried looking up, possibly thinking he was hovering over him due to the zero gravity, but there was still no sign of him being there. The Doctor stomped his foot on the floor, pulling off his glasses at this impossible mockery.

“This can't be possible! How is it I can hear you?! You're not a ghost, you're not anything supernatural, so how could you still be crying?!” He said, stomping his foot again. The Maestro's cried louder now, but something else happened. The ground beneath The Doctor violently shook as if reacting to his mad hit. The Doctor fell over, and felt a crack start to shape in the floor. The shake stopped as did the loud crying, reverting back to a sob. The Doctor looked at the crack, peaking at what was on the other side. The sobbing suddenly sounded louder through the crack.  The Doctor then had a ridiculous grin on his face because he finally figured out what to do. The Doctor got up and made his way back to the TARDIS console room. He ran into a red lit room, and just like always, the cloister bell rang.

“Oh how could I be so stupid?” The Doctor exclaimed. “He's not in the room, how can he be when I'm in his mind!”

He ran to the monitor, fixing the dials to a higher setting. The screen then revealed an astonishing event; everything around The Doctor was The Maestro.

“If his entire being was still intact by the Ooze, the in order to be fully structured and finish his regeneration, than his mind had to shape something he was to stay alive than he had to rely on his memories!” He exclaimed, excited to be in another Time Lord's mind. “Of course, with a mind that's memory blank before today, meaning he didn't have much to rely on, but the memories of today … So he chose the memory stood out the most; my TARDIS console room!”

He swung his arm and grabbed the controls to his mock up time machine. The TARDIS magically worked at the Doctor's will.

“If I hope to merge with his essence then I'll need a way to draw out his essence. I really hope this works!” The Doctor exclaimed, before slamming the palm of his hands onto a flashing red button. He held onto the console as sparks blasted from the time rotor.

“Geronimo!” He yelled before feeling the heat of a blast engulf his body. His screams were lost in the symphonic sounds of the entire console room being shattered and blown to bits along with the Zero Room.

***

       Twilight and Rarity made their way to the second floor and heard what sounded like furniture being thrashed around, as well as the sounds of several punches. The two busted into the room where they thought the noise was coming from, and watched as Applejack was beating three Oozed Ponies. Twilight looked at the glass window being shattered, and yet they were able to get through the force field. The two were ready to get into this fight, but in the end all they had to do was watch the cowgirl wrestled the three corrupt creatures with all her strength and might in lickety split. She smashed the three with her hooves, and used her lasso to swing the slimy monsters right back outside the window.

“Great job Applejack!” Twilight cheered as Rarity attended the Cakes.

“Thank you Applejack, you’ve saved us!” Mrs. Cake exclaimed as she and her husband were handling the babies, grateful that her family was safe. Apple Bloom popped out from behind them, and bounced around her sister.

“Yeah, did you see how my big sister handled those things?! You really showed those monsters why it ain’t good to mess with the Apple Family!” Apple Bloom cheered for Applejack’s bravery.

“It was nothing Misses Cake; I had to save my friends and my lil’sister.” She said, rubbing Apple Bloom’s head, rustling up her bow. “My question is how could they have gotten in? I thought your magic kept them out.”

“I don’t know either. My magic should have kept it out long enough for the Doctor to stop-” suddenly Twilight stopped her explanation as she heard a window glass break from the room across. She gasped once remembering that the Doctor's body was lying inside there, lifeless and easily able to be taken away.

“No, no, no; Doctor!” she screamed. Twilight teleported herself to the other room, and found two of the Oozed Ponies as they crept over the Doctor’s body. Once she popped into the room, the two paid their attention to her, growling and snarling like animals clinging to their prey.

“If you want his body, you’re going to have to get me first!” she cried out as her horn started to glow. The Oozed Ponies leaped out at her, but not in time to see her duck. They smashed their faces into the wall behind her, and collapse to the floor. Applejack and Rarity rushed into the room, and watched as Twilight was trying to handle the two Oozed Ponies.

“Guys, we have got to get Clockwork’s body out of here. If he’s captured at all, then we’ll have no chance to stop these things and free them from the Vortex Ooze!” Twilight said as Rarity and Applejack wrapped them around in Rarity’s fabric tight ribbons and Applejack’s rope. Twilight then used her magic, concentrating on levitating their bodies. The two Oozed Ponies screamed while being tossed out of the window.

“I really hope the Ponies under that slime monster’s control don’t feel the hurt after all this is over.” Rarity said, looking out the window to see the two slimed puppets knocked out in the shrubs. Rarity then used Applejack to help her wrap the Doctor up in another stylish piece of sturdy fabric along with a blanket to make it easier to move him out. Twilight paced herself back and forth in the room, while her friends grabbed The Doctor’s body. She was frustrated to still see her shield outside the window, and yet the Oozed Ponies were able to phase through it.

“This isn’t making sense.” Twilight exclaimed. “I focused my magic on the Vortex Ooze. I can understand that if the force field didn’t reach the underground, making it able to break through the floorboards, but the Oozed Ponies shouldn’t be breaking through the barrier at all. How they can be breaking through my barrier?! There has to be some logical explanation behind it!”

“Twilight, I know this is really eating away at you, but we ain’t got the time to dilly-dally about this all day.” Applejack reminded as she held the Doctor at one end while Rarity used her magic to levitate him at the other.

“But don’t you see Applejack; it’s breaking through the force field. Oh this is bad, this is very bad; my magic should have also melted that tentacle thing into a puddle of black goop!” she said, still trying to figure out what’s really going on with this creature from the vortex.

“Please Twilight, Applejack is right; all we have to do is focus on finding another way to stop it. If magic isn’t working at its full potential, then we’ll just have to rely on our wits and skills to keep it back while Clockwork and the Maestro fellow try and stop it.” Rarity said, holding Twilight calmly and steady. Sparkle sighed and nodded, until they heard a large boom coming from the main floor again.

“Guys, we need a little help, here!” Spike cried out, as he kept waving a floorboard at the heads of two Oozed Ponies. Pinkie Pie suddenly blasted her Party Cannon into another four of the Oozed Ponies; tossing their bodies into the kitchen. Ditzy tried her best bucking them back. She then jumped back as more and more tentacles ripped through the floorboards. Ditzy flew over the tentacles, whirling the sonic around to push each one away. Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack got in on this battle. The girls and Spike did everything to keep the Cakes and Apple Bloom safe, whilst fighting off the many Oozed Ponies and the tentacles of the creature. Pinkie kept shooting her cannon while Spike reloaded it with anything. Meanwhile Twilight kept zapping them with her magic as Rarity and Applejack bucking or bashing the lots coming into the building. Ditzy flashed the Doctor’s sonic around, making one group weak while the others kept fighting another set.

“ENOUGH!” a voice boomed, rocking the beaten home. Every pony stopped, including the Oozed Ponies, who only had devious smiles on their faces. “This ridiculous fight ends now!”

The Oozed Ponies stepped back as the center hole where the tentacles came out of started to wiggle in place. Suddenly the house started to shake as the floor beneath them crumbled and cracked.

“Get back up the stairs!” Twilight ordered.

“We can't, they're upstairs too!” Mrs. Cake said as she and Rarity backed up from the Oozed Ponies. Every pony screamed as everything around them crumbled. Twilight used her magic to make smaller bubble around her and her friends, protecting them as the house broke down. The Cakes looked away, shielding their children like Applejack to her little sister as their home was tumbling into pieces. The toxic fog was slowly coming out of the ground and carrying its toxic evil, but with Twilight’s bubble, the gang of friends and family were safe.

“No, no, no, Doctor; please wake up!” Ditzy yelled at the lifeless body of her friend. “Please, we need your help!”

She continued to yell, but it was no use as he was still inside that creature. In the light of moon, the ponies and Spike looked at the blob of the Ooze, wondering what else could possibly go wrong. This was answered by an unexpected rumble coming from the blob when four large hooves blasted out of its front and back sides. The creature lifted its bulbous body up so high that it went well beyond the height of the building that was once the Sugar Cube Corner. A head with sharply curved ears and green glowing eyes popped out of the chest, and slowly an elongated neck pushed the head out and above. Green and violet waves of light pulsated up and down its entire ponified body, giving it an elegant and sinister look in the fog. Tentacles wrapped around the top of its head and the back of its neck, forming a familiar curly look.

“ … Yeah, I really regret asking you about wormholes this morning.” Spike said to Twilight as she looked with horror at the creature’s size. Suddenly they all screamed as the earth beneath started to shake, but soon came to see that it was one of the Ooze’s tentacles wrapped around the magical bubble. They all held on tightly to each other as they phased through the cloud of toxicity, going high up to be face to face with the alien virus. A sadistic grin slowly grew across the monster’s face, along with the creation of a large horn that spiked out of its head. Tentacles wrapped around the top of its head and the back of its neck, forming a familiar curly look. Twilight and Spike then gasped as the face morphed into that of The Maestro’s.

“So this is the Time Lord’s back up plan? Earth equine creatures, held up in a house made of sugar and candy? An ugly one if I might add! Ha, I laugh at this feeble attempt to save your home.” the Vortex Ooze said, disrespecting their home.

“Hey, don’t you disrespect Sugar Cube Corner. I’ll let you know, it’s one of the best places on Earth! Coolest parties, greatest sweets, and a loving family! And ugly; really?! Well you’re not much of a looker you big mean ugly slime ball!” Pinkie Pie yelled at the creature, courageous to stand up to it.

“Do you know what I am? I am the first disease in all of creation. I have plagued more planets throughout the cosmos than the number of times your little contraption has blasted my little slaves away!” it yelled back, making Pinkie grunt and turn away, sticking out her tongue at it.

“Don’t dare talk back at my friends yah slime bucket! Take away your powers and y’all are just one big disgusting booger!” Applejack said, hiding her sister.

“I’ve lasted millions of years of evolution, and for what? To be talked back by a resilient bunch of Earth ponies; humph! The Time Lords you’re holding faith in won’t last for long you know.” the Vortex Ooze mentioned, catching Twilight and Ditzy’s attention.

“That’s where you’re wrong you Meany! That’s the Doctor you’re talking about, and if he’s really with another Time Lord then you’re going down!” Ditzy yelled back, frowning at the monster.

“Ha! I can feel them right now, settling in my stomach. It won’t be long, until they’re completely gone inside me. Their life essences destroyed by new internal organs.” The Ooze exclaimed, devilishly chuckling at the end.

“I’ve had just about enough of this!” Twilight yelled back up at the Ooze. “You either give up now or face up to the Doctor’s abilities. You’d be surprised what he can really do, he’s not any ordinary Time Lord.”

“Oh? What about the Looney one, the Maestro fellow? Is THIS time lord, extraordinary too?” it asked, smirking at the unicorn. Twilight didn’t reply for a moment as she then had to think about this entire day. Everything happened because of the scroll, and from there her simple day filled with planned and organized tasks was swept by the Maestro. It reminded her how the Doctor did the same when they first met, but with this pony she could see that there was nothing possibly evil inside, and if he was courageous enough to step up for her friends then maybe

“ … I don’t know for sure, even he didn’t have a clue as to who he maybe, but anypony who stands up for my friends against a monster like you must have some clue of what’s right and wrong when it comes to events like these!” she exclaimed, getting the Ooze’s attention. He growled at her little uplifting speech to defend the Maestro. “And I am not going to let you stop him and the Doctor from beating you! Ditzy use the sonic screwdriver now!”

Ditzy held up the screwdriver as Twilight made a small opening the bubble. She stabbed the tentacle with the Doctor’s gadget, pressing down on the button to send off the highly painful wavelengths that messed with its mind, body, and control. The monster hollered and screamed with the feeling of every single cell in its body moving farther and farther apart from each other. Its minions started to feel dizzy again, groaning and crying out in horrifying yells in the night. The tentacle lost its grip on the bubble surrounding the group, letting it fall to the ground. The bubble dispersed into nothing but magical dust as they landed on a bed. The sonic screwdriver was lost inside the Vortex Ooze’s body that it made the creature act wildly through the toxic fog. With the mist still active though, Twilight tried her best to come up with a spell that would clear the mist around them. Sparkle concentrated on a wind spell she learned in her studies, the kind that would at least push the fog away. Her friends were starting to choke and cough dangerously, but with all her focus on the spell, Twilight’s body was covered in an aura as the air around her started to spin and spin in all directions. In a matter of seconds, her spell had fanned the mist far enough to keep them safe.

“Wait a go Twilight!” Spike cheered as they were in the clear.

“Nice job Twilight, you’re magic saved us!” Applejack said, fixing her Stetson.

“Thanks … phew … remind me to start back on the weather spells agar-AAAAAH!” Twilight said, before feeling a tentacle wrap around her. She screamed as her body was being dragged into the air. Spike jumped out and grabbed her hoof, but his extra weight did nothing to slow it down.

“Help!” Spike shouted. Ditzy immediately leaped out and grabbed Spike’s hands, flapping her wings to pull them back. Yet, she too couldn’t handle the force of the tentacle tugging them back, and with the sonic missing she couldn’t do anything.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Applejack cried before pulling out her lasso out and whipped the rope around Ditzy’s body. She stood her ground with a fierce determination to stop the monster from snatching her friends away. The farm mare used every muscle in her legs and hooves to keep them still. Rarity and Pinkie Pie rushed immediately from behind and started to tug back Applejack. The combined strength of all three mares made it possible to keep the semi-weakened tentacle at bay. Suddenly they heard Apple Bloom shriek as shadows started to come out of the fog. Applejack turned back to see Four Oozed Ponies surround the Cakes and Apple Bloom.

“Stay away from my sister you varmints!” Applejack yelled as one started to bite its jaw close to her muzzle. Yet Apple Bloom surprised the creature by swing back with a wooden stick in the eye. It shrieked as she kept waving the stick around. Suddenly Applejack's eye shot wide open as a tentacle whipped right of the rubble and snatch her sister into the sky.

“NO!” Applejack cried, making her lose focus and the grip she had on the rope. Instantly they too were pulled back by the slight greater strength of the tentacle holding onto Twilight. The gang screamed and yelled as they were pulled into the fog. They held on tightly to each other as they were hung in the air and faced the angered Vortex Ooze. Another set of tentacles grabbed each of Twilight's friends while the Oozed Ponies were closing in on the Cake Family.

“I am a virus if the body, mind, and heart of every living creature Miss Sparkle.” the Ooze said up close to her face. The girls and Spike gasped in fright as he held up the body of the Doctor and Apple Bloom together. “It's time someone taught you that you can't always believe in what some DOCTORS say to make you feel better.”

Twilight sighed and started to tear up. She looked away as something was starting to stir inside the monster's body.

***

Powerful winds were howling and whistling at high speeds along with raindrops that kept rushing by The Doctor. He then felt raindrops hit his entire body, and opened his eyes as lightning and thunder clashed in the distance. The Doctor gasped for air, and stared down at his hands, still there and still wiggling. He looked around to see that his TARDIS console room was completely gone. The only things left were remnants of the fictional time machine that flew off right behind him. He was inside the Time Vortex, or rather a memory mock-up of the Time Vortex. The powerful flow of history was whizzing all around him, in which every point in time and space were inside the dense clouds that made up this chaotic swirling tunnel. The Doctor assumed that because the mind works to its own will, it’s possible that this vortex was safe … or at least it looked safe to him. Suddenly he could hear the Maestro’s cries further up ahead in the time tunnel. The Doctor used his greater will at mind control to move himself swiftly and without haste towards The Maestro. However, even with his mind control, The Doctor had to go from smooth travels to dashing and dodging bolts of lightning crashing through the vortex. He screamed and grunted to move his body as stably as possible, while trying to avoid the bolts of lightning as they increased in numbers and power. Suddenly he could see an alluring light, and inside the light did a shadow resemble The Maestro.

“Maestro!” he shouted at the top of his lungs to the Maestro, but all he heard back were the cries of the Time Lord. This time however, they sounded not as cries of pain. No, these sounded like cries for help. The Doctor flew at a fast speed, bouncing from clouds to cloud like a Pegasus to avoid the insanity of the Vortex’s lightning.

“Maestro!” The Doctor shouted again, moving closer and closer to him. His cries became clearer and clearer as the ball of golden-white light revealed the Maestro. He was twisting and turning as patches of black slime were attached to various parts of his body.

“I’m coming, don’t be afraid! It’s me, The-AGH!” The Doctor said, until he felt a bolt of lightning zap the back of his head. He screamed in pain as it forced him to lose control, and crash into the Maestro. The two bounced around as lightning kept thrashing at this force field of yellow light. The Maestro stopped screaming for a second to see The Doctor was barely hanging in his arms.

“D-D-Doctor?” The Maestro exclaimed, looking down at the Time Lord’s face. His entire body looked completely different from his own, but yet it had a familiar feeling. The Doctor groaned and mumbled. “Doctor, I’m-AGH!”

The Maestro then felt the black patches of slime start to burn his skin.

“No! Agh, let me go!” he screamed, trying to pull each one off. “I gave you my body, what more do you want?!”

“I want everything you have. Now that you can see me, I can finally be free!” a voice whispered out of the bubbling patches of slime.

“What?!” he said, confused as to what the black patches of slime whispered to him. All of sudden, two clawed hands reached out of two patches of slime at the end of his hooves, and grabbed the Maestro by his neck. Lightning blasted his shield again, creating cracks around it as golden dust flowed around the two.

“This is mine, all of it is mine. You locked me up, and I want it back you pathetic creature.” The voice whispered loudly now. The Maestro cried in between his chokes as it violently thrashed him inside the bubble. “This is my body! You will obey me; I am-!”

Lighting blasted the bubble again, but only this time it had the force to open a slight crack. Sparks and crackles of electricity bounced inside the bubble. The electricity zapped the Maestro’s horn, giving him the energy to directly attack the claws, and force each patch of black slime to ooze off his body. It withered into the golden dust particles wrapped around him. He suddenly noticed the shield starting to crack, but that had to wait once he heard The Doctor mumble in his arms.

“M-Maestro, listen … please-oomph!” The Doctor softly said, coughing a little. His body was weak, and he could barely speak. Maestro held him up to his ears, and listened in closely. “Listen, our friends are in danger-Gah! And we must-ah!”

“Shh, it’s okay; everything’s going to be okay … uhm … just, please tell me what I have to do to help you and your friends?” The Maestro asked, holding up the Doctor as closely as possible.

“… Merge with me, and remember.” The Doctor said in one final whisper, before finally fainting. His body started to glow, and shape into an outlined figure of his body. The Maestro was lost at what the Doctor instructed him to do.

“Wait, what did you mean by-” suddenly he stopped. The Doctor’s body was floating as more golden dust started to build up inside this cloud they were making. “Merge … that means we have to become one … okay. Merge and ‘remember’ he said. Remember what?”

He shut his eyes, to try and remember something. This was then interrupted by more lightning and thunder. He screamed as the bubble was zapped by three bolts of lightning. The Maestro felt his bubble crack and explode around him. He grabbed the Doctor, and held on tightly as the vortex collapsed around them. Slowly and slowly, all of the chaotic forces of the fake time vortex disappeared and wither into nothing. It was now only them, the cloud, and the darkness of what he believed to be the emptiness of his Amnesia induced psyche. The Doctor stood still as they landed on something. The Maestro looked down and felt a floor beneath him. It was a metal, grey pad; the only thing that existed in his mind.

“Nothing; there is nothing here. How can I merge without remembering anything?” he said again. The Maestro got to his knees and kept on crying for what seemed like forever. There was no sign of his past life; even if this gray pad was some kind of reminiscent of his past, it meant nothing to him. He looked back up at the Doctor’s body. A haunting image, that was frozen and waiting for him. His body kept bobbing up and down silently in mid-air. The dust at this point was starting to expand, and scattered in the darkness. The Maestro looked at each glowing particle moved by delicately in the dark. Suddenly he heard a distant scream off in the distance. He tried to find out where it was coming from and what it was saying, but with the pad being his only possible platform, he could do nothing, but just listen to the screaming.

“Doctor, Doctor, can you hear me?! Blink twice if you can hear me!” The Maestro said as he grabbed his friend by his leg. The Doctor did not respond. “Damn it! A pony is screaming for help, and I’m stuck here!”

He shouted at the floating humanoid body of the Doctor, but just like before, there was no response.

“What do I do? I don’t know how I can I merge and remember who I am if I don’t even know what I was before today!” he shouted at The Doctor. Then it hit him … literally. It hit him, and he fell down. “ … Wait!”

He took a pause, got up, and thought about it again. An idea formed inside his mind, immediately hitting him again.

“Wait!” he repeated again.

He turned to the Doctor, and then back to the golden lights around them. It hit him one more time, leaving a bruise in his brain.

“Wait a minute! I can’t remember anything BEFORE today, but I remember everything from today. So if I can focus in on everything and everybody I met, then maybe we can finally merge!” he turned back to the Doctor again. “If I’m right, don’t blink!”

The Doctor continued to do nothing in his stasis.

“I Knew I was right. Now then, who do I go for first!” he asked himself.

“Aaahhh! Let us go you revolting creature!” a familiar voice echoed in the distance. He listened in closely, trying to hear out who it is.

“That sounds like … Miss Rarity?” he exclaimed. Suddenly several rays of the golden stars raced into his mouth. He gasped as each one he absorbed. Memories raced of the few minutes he spent with Miss Rarity, but something else was missing in these images.

“Don’t you dare hurt my friends you alien freak!” a younger boy’s voice yelled out in the darkness.

“Spike, can you hear-ah!” the Maestro was then hit from behind by the rays of light, each one flowing up and down his spine. Pictures of his arrival into the Golden Oaks Library, meeting Spike, the hospital, and running out the TARDIS into the Market came back! However something was blocking the two memories of Spike and Rarity; which then forced his mind to flip around the memories of the two.

“No, no, no, there’s something else that happened! Think, damn you, think!” The Maestro said as he stomped his hooves down on the platform. His body was glowing at this point, but it was dim compared to the Doctor’s for both still had no immediate connection, except possibly for Spike.

“Applejack, help!” a little filly’s voice cried out, immediately reminding the Maestro of the little filly and her older sister.

“Apple Bloom; let go of my sister or else I’ll show you-AHHH!” Applejack cried out, until something made her scream in agony.

“The Apple sister, I remember them; AH-HA!” The Maestro said; jumping with excitement as his body was glowing brightly in the darkness. Though the magic of these star lights were making him glow, and even float beside the Doctor, he was missing one more element to start the merging.

“Come on Maestro; think, think, think! Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Apple Bloom! I wouldn’t have met all of them if it wasn’t for one thing!” The Maestro said aloud, looking straight at the Doctor as the rays of light were nearly there to pulling them together. The darkness around them started to crack, opening rays of light at to the two beings. Then he heard that voice. The first voice he heard the moment he had awoken inside the Library … and this time, she was calling out for him!

“Maestro; listen to me! I know you’re in there, so please listen! You’ve got to merge with The Doctor right now or else everything you did today and every day from this point on will be gone! I promise that if you help us, I will help you find the secrets to who you really are! Just merge-AHHHH!” she was suddenly cut off as The Vortex Ooze started to squeeze her.

“Twilight!” all her friends yelled to her as she kept screaming. The darkness started to fall apart around the two as the white light was coming into place. The golden dust started to twirl around the Maestro. He shut his eyes, taking in one deep breathe. He opened them to reveal a golden aura blasting out of his pupils. At the top of this golden tornado, the faint sounds of electrical zaps along with a thunder boomed the last bits of darkness. The traveler and the stranger from the time vortex finally came together as one lord of time.

***

       Twilight kept choking as the Vortex Ooze squeezed her tightly. She looked at her friends, before being forced to be face to face the monster.

“Still have faith in your precious Time Lords?” the creature whispered lightly, squeezing her tightly to not let her answer. “Because let me tell you why you shouldn’t trust in Time Lords. They are weak, always have, and always will be weak. I’ve lived for millions of years, spreading my plague wherever I pleased to do so, but it wasn’t just the bodies I played with.”

It then turned her to her friends, letting her breathe this time before she could pass out in the tentacle. They all looked tired and on the brink of collapsing as it were choking them. All, except for Apple Bloom who was crying as it dangled her by her tail. She wept for Applejack and her friends. Twilight growled as she was forced to watch this by the Vortex Ooze. It slightly chuckled at torturing the little one.

“I am not only a virus to the immune system; I am an ever evolving being. Soon enough, I will be able to torture your body and minds. I will break down every creature on this little ball, through the very air you breathe, and into your thick skulls! No Doctor, no Maestro, just me and this pathetic planet.” it continued to explain its plan. Worldwide conquest was on its mind, not focusing on the glow coming from its very eyes. “And I think I’ll start with you three!”

Suddenly she watched as it smashed her body into the same tentacle with Apple Bloom, and then tosses Spike. They held each other closely in this one tentacle, looking up at the creature with fear. That was then, while they kept staring into its eyes, Twilight took notice of the glow coming from its eyes. Spike looked up ahead to see a glowing green light faintly flow through the tentacle. The tip of the device stuck out, while also blurring out its familiar out of this world sound effects. It looked alive as a golden dust popped it out. The device fell into Spike’s claws.

“It’s surprising that all it took for this to happen was for that buffoonish Time Lord to die in the Time Vortex, but looks like we’ll never know how or even why he ended up there in the first place. Have anything else to say, Miss Sparkle?” The Vortex Ooze asked.

“Yeah, you’ve got something in your EYE!” Spike shouted. He bit into the tentacle, giving it enough bite force to make the Vortex Ooze loose some grip on him. The baby dragon then used all of the strength in his arm to toss the screwdriver into the Ooze’s glowing eyes. Twilight then zapped the other eye, therefore causing it to scream in agony by the stinging sensations of her magic rays and the sonic piercing through the other eyeballs flesh. It immediately dropped everybody that its tentacles were gripping onto. The gang screamed in terror once their bodies were free falling toward the rubble of Sugar Cube Corner. The Vortex Ooze pulled out the sonic screwdriver as it rubbed both eyes with its hooves. The small device fell toward the ground, landing somewhere in the rubble. It looked down at the ground, and tried to find out where the bodies splattered. Suddenly it felt something poking at the back of its head. The Vortex Ooze turned its head around, and watched as a tentacle smashed into its face. The Oozed Ponies felt the punch as well, but stared at disbelief as six tentacles came out from behind with one of them holding onto the girls and Spike. Each one was emanating a golden aura with gold dust flowing up into the sky.

“What?!” the alien virus asked aloud before turning around again, until it felt another golden glowing tentacle whip itself along its face. Another two came around and slapped it in muzzle, then poke his eyes.

“The Doctor a-a-and the Maestro … they’ve finally merged!” Twilight exclaimed as the tentacles kept beating up the Vortex Ooze’s body. Soon more and more of its wiggling appendages started to glow like bars of gold and attack the monster they belonged too while. The girls and Spike kept cheering on for the Time Lords, chanting their names for encouragement, while being lowered down safely to the ground. By this point, the Vortex Ooze’s minions were lying unconsciously on the ground, but surprisingly the slime was gone.

“Whoa, what happened to them? Where did all the slime on their bodies go?” Spike asked.

“We saw them jump off their bodies and head back to that monster.”

“Well of course it would, I did that!” the Maestro’s voice yelled out of the creature’s mouth. Everybody looked back up.

“Maestro!” Twilight and Spike said, smiling as his voice boomed.

“Yeah, but I suggested it!” the Doctor’s voice commented out of its mouth too.

“Doctor!” Ditzy jumped up with glee.

“What is going on; AGH?!” the Vortex Ooze yelled as each tentacle started to wrap around his neck, belly, and hooves.

“This is the end for you, Oozy!” the Maestro yelled as it flipped the creature back into the ground. “Doctor, I’ve got him now!”

As the creature was wrestling with its uncontrollable tentacles, deep within the mind of it, the two Time Lords that have merged into a unicorn that had the Doctor's mane and eyes, and the Maestro’s physique, were pinning down a purple striped black blob to the ground.

“Keep him down because it’s time for us to regenerate!” The Doctor’s voice said.

“What does that mean?!” The Maestro asked, stomping their hooves to pin it down completely.

“It means we’re going to use up all our combined life energies, and in the process we’ll melt the virus and burn it into smoke!” The Doctor explained.

“Burn up our life energies? But doesn’t that mean we’ll … die?” The Maestro asked with a slight hesitation of fear in his voice.

“ … Possibly, but there might be a slight chance we can survive this.” The Doctor said, staring out into space like if he was staring at the Maestro. The stranger stayed in silent, changing his expression from shock to fear.

“Maestro, listen to me! Listen to me! You’ve done so much for me today, and I know I’m asking a lot out of you right now … but if you do this with me, I can promise you that from this day forward, your life will change. You and I can do this, I know you can!” The Doctor yelled out.

“How do you know I can, huh?! I know we merged, but we still have a chance at both of us dying. I can’t let you die when I know that you can find out all about who I was and what I am and-” suddenly he was interrupted.

“I know what you are Maestro!” the Doctor blurted out. “ … And I promise you that I will find out more, but you’ve got to trust me! We can do this because I am the Maestro and-!”

“And I; AM; THE MAESTRO!” The Maestro yelled with a victorious boom to his voice. He looked down at the Vortex Ooze.

His yell reached outside in the real world. The giant black slimed pony was then thrashed around the floor, and each hit it took would cause it to lose its limbs. Each limb would suck back in the toxic fog it made, while also melting back into one bulbous body of black slime. The gang watched the golden particles swirl around its body like a blazing tornado, shining in the night while vaporizing the monster.

“This isn't fair!” The Vortex Ooze shouted.

“So were your plagues on Gallifrey, and all the species on other planets that you forced into extinction! Goodbye Oozy!” The Doctor shouted out of its mouth. Everybody watched as the creature of black goo from outer space was engulfed by the twister made of lindos energy.

“Look at you Maestro! You still fight and you don’t even know who you are?! Looks like someone use to have a Hero Complex, but you listen to me good Amnesia Lord … whatever happens now, you will regret this. Whoever you become, whatever you become, I promise you that it will not be a pretty one!” The Ooze cried out to the Maestro.

“I may not remember who I was, but after today … things like you will know who I am!” The Maestro said, before finally pulling him and The Doctor’s life energies out of the creatures blob body. Within a matter of minutes the Vortex Ooze was finally dead; melting into a puddle of dead slime, bubbling like a hot water spring. The Doctor’s essence sprang right of the twister and straight into his physical pony body, instantly bringing it back to life.

The Doctor’s friends cheered for his return. He stood back up gasping for air as Twilight and Ditzy helped him up. Before he could say and do anything, the Time Lord and the rest watched as the glittery golden sands started to flow up high into the sky. Strands of the Maestro’s regenerative energies moved throughout the town, and wherever they went each one would repair the damages of the Vortex Ooze’s path. The cracks in the streets, the broken buildings that had businesses and homes that belonged to the many residents of Ponyville, and the toxic flea market’s damages were all being fixed. It even reached as far as Twilight’s Library with restorations to her entire home and erasing any signs of the damages from earlier. The ponies started to watch as the rubble around them started rebuild itself back together from the foundations to even the many sweet treats that the Cakes couple baked in the day. The Sugar Cube Corner was back to its full glory. Though the Cakes were happy about this, the rest of their friends were too focused on the Maestro.

His body flowed at the center of this miraculous event, not knowing that it was his powers and his will to regenerate was erasing every trace of the damages. The sands reverted back into his body, absorbing it all in, before finally being used to finish his regeneration. The Maestro stood on his hind legs with his hooves held out to the sides. Like fire, a burst of light zapped out of his coat in every direction. The Doctor and Twilight, with Spike following behind, galloped outside as he screamed into the night. They stood only five feet from him, shielding their eyes from the intense light. His scream was unbearable for Twilight to hear because all she could imagine was the pain of this Time Lord regeneration, yet if this was normal for the Time Lords as the Doctor’s told her in the past than it would be all over soon. The light slowly died away into the night in a matter of seconds. They slowly looked back at the Maestro. He swayed from side to side, until he finally collapsed to the ground.

“Maestro!” Spike said before getting on his knees to lift his head. “Maestro, are you okay?! Can you hear us?!”

“I did it. We did it. We stopped the Vortex Ooze … hurray …” the Maestro barely said. With one last glimpse of Twilight and Spike holding his head up, while telling him that everything was going to be alright and the Doctor examining him, the Maestro shut his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.