Doctor Whooves: The Secret of Butterfly Island
The Secret of Butterfly Island Part 1
Ponyville. It was a quaint little village, steeped in history and tradition. It had a reputation of being full of eccentric simple folk. It was a very...innocent place. Equestria as a kingdom was an innocent place, full of ponies happily going about their daily business. Even if they know of the evils that lurk outside their borders, they don’t let it get them down, but keep a vigilant eye on them. It was peaceful, and that’s why a certain traveller of time and space thought it a good place to let raise his granddaughter while he spent his time running. Running from his own race. One day they caught him, and would let him off for the plethora of his crimes against Gallopfreyan law, on one condition...
Colgate sat at her desk, studying this piece of text. It told of a legend of a few higher beings that have stood guard over the world. Only one of them has been known to regularly inhabit one place. The island was called Butterfly Island, and there were apparently no records of it on any map of Equestria or beyond. One line caught her eye; “If you wish for something hard enough, a guardian just might appear...and help you discover the power to make your dreams come true.” She looks up. ‘So that’s why he wants them. What is he up to?’ Colgate’s train of thought was cut short by a knock at the door. She closed the book and got up to answer the door. It was Derpy Hooves, the mailmare. She was always a cheerful soul. Colgate had never seen her unhappy. Every day, she delivered the mail with a smile on her face. Colgate nodded happily, and took her mail. Her eyes went wide.
Derpy looked down at her mail bag. ‘Ooh, goody! It was empty! Work’s over, and me time can start,’ she thought. Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her.
“Hey, wait!”
The Pegasus looked behind her to see the blue, blue and white maned unicorn cantering towards her. Derpy noted that her cutie mark was the same as the symbol on the letter; an hourglass.
“Where did you get that letter?” The unicorn asked.
A brown earth pony pokes his head out from a blue box, and looks around, his ear twitching. Somepony has been talking about him...concerned; he retreats into the blue box. Shortly after, there is a knock on the door. He reaches up and pulls down a TV screen suspended from the ceiling. It’s Colgate!
...And the Mailmare’s with her.
With a sigh, he pulls a lever and the doors open. Colgate trots in; trots right up to the colt and hugs him.
“Doctor! I’m so glad to see you!”
“You too, my dear! How on Equestria have you been? Never mind. We can talk later. Did you read my letter?”
“Um, no. I didn’t get the chance too...”
Derpy was not paying attention to this conversation. She was too busy admiring what lay in front of her. It was a grand spectacle. Glowing white and green panels on the walls, several doorways and catwalks leaving the room, and of course, the massive central column, towering up to the ceiling, and it’s extremely complex looking control panel. The biggest anomaly to her, however, was
“It’s bigger on the inside!”
The Doctor turns away from his conversation with Colgate.
“Ah, yes. It is impressive, and jarring to those not used to it. It’s called the TARDIS. That’s Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. This is Colgate, my granddaughter, though she lives in Ponyville. I take it you two know each other. Now, Colgate. You were saying you had found a book. Do you have it?” Colgate shuffles her hooves nervously.
“Sorry, Doctor.”
“Never mind. I’ll go get it.”
The Doctor trots out of the TARDIS, leaving Colgate and Derpy alone. Colgate speaks up.
“...So what do you think?”
“What is that thing?” She replies, pointing at what looks like a tall pillar-like coffee machine.
“Oh, that’s the food synthesiser. Anything you want, that can synthesise.”
Derpy trots over to it, and pushes a few buttons, a ding ringing out and the slider opening to reveal a muffin.
“So can this create anything at all, or is it just a muffin button?”
“Any food, any drink. Whatever you want. Isn’t it neat?”
At this moment, the Doctor comes in, with an apple in his mouth, which he spits into his hoof.
“Some little filly wouldn’t leave me alone unless I bought an apple. Oh well, an apple a day keeps...”
He clears his throat and puts the apple down, taking the book out of his tail.
“I read it on the way here. If they can indeed grant wishes, then the Master must not be allowed near them.”
The doctor begins cantering round the control panel, pressing switches and pulling levers. Colgate goes to speak. The Doctor stops her.
“I know what you’re going to say, my dear, and the coordinates are on the back of the book, in Gallopfreyan. The higher beings have always had close ties to Rassilon himself.”
“Actually, Doctor, I was going to ask if it’s a good idea to bring Derpy along.”
Derpy is halfway through eating her muffin. She swallows what she has in her mouth and speaks.
“But I want to come! I do! Oh, please let me stay...”
The doctor smiles, and begins cantering round the controls, pushing and pulling the same childlike glee that he had when he first used the TARDIS, the two mares beaming as they set off.
Thistle Whistle was looking out over the gleaming sea. It was a beautiful place. The dense, lush forests filled with colourful and exotic flowers, the rivers, the noise of the waterfall, the sandy beaches, and the picture perfect red sky with a setting sun, accented by a rainbow. Why would anypony want to go anywhere but Butterfly Island? Besides, she hated travelling, and she was...afraid...of clouds. She had friends here, but she still felt...inadequate, and less of a Pegasus then them. They would love to adventure and make new friends. But she does not. Nope. No-sir-ee! She stops. There’s a noise. A strange noise, coming from near the waterfall. Could it be visitors? If there’s one thing Thistle Whistle didn’t like, it was change. She was happy the way she was.
The Doctor opens the doors, and the two mares peek out with a few stifles ‘oohs and ‘aahs. It was a beautiful and magnificent sight, definitely worthy of such a powerful and majestic creature as a guardian. They were a race, the doctor said, that were older than Alicorns, and much older than Time Lords.
“Well, we’re here,” the Doctor said, and gestured the mares to leave. They needed no persuasion. They galloped out like two fillies on their birthday. The doctor chuckled, and followed them out.
Thistle Whistle watched the strangers from the bushes. There was a pegasi, a wingless pegasi and a horned wingless pegasi, and they all just came out a box that could barely hold all three of them. She had a bad feeling about these ponies. She had better tell Starcatcher. She backs away slowly.
*Snap!*
“What was that?” asked Colgate, looking to where the sound was coming from. She used her magic to part the bushes, revealing the blue coated, pink and yellow maned pegasi pony, who whistles nervously and shrinks down. Derpy trots to her.
“It’s ok. We’re friends.”
“Friends? No-sir-ee! I’ve never seen you before. Nope.”
The odd Pegasus gallops away and Derpy immediately follows.
“Hey, wait up!”
The Doctor and Colgate watch them go. The doctor chuckles and starts trotting uphill.
“Well, the mailmare has found a friend.”
“Who was that Pegasus?”
“I imagine a resident of the island. Not a guardian, just a regular Pegasus. I imagine there are more pegasi further up the island.”
“Well, you can find Starcatcher, but I doubt the Master would be that way. If he’s here at all. I’m going to do a sweep of the island, just in case.”
“Good thinking my dear. Be careful, and if you see him, come straight back to me.”
The doctor kisses Colgate on the forehead and she canters off. The doctor sighs, and continues on uphill.
Thistle Whistle stops, out of breath. Derpy catches up to her.
“You’re right. We aren’t friends yet. Let me introduce myself. My name’s Derpy Hooves. What’s yours?”
Thistle Whistle shuffles her hooves and whistles nervously.
“I’m Thistle Whistle.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you. Tell me about yourself.”
Thistle Whistle looks up at the happy, smiling Pegasus. The other pegasi on the island were always saying she should make more of an effort. She nervously whistles.
“Well, I don’t like going to new places. I don’t like meeting new people. I really don’t like clouds. Nope. Don’t like clouds...What about yourself? Let’s talk about you.”
“Well, I like everypony, I like delivering mail, I like muffins, and I love smiling! When you smile, you make everypony else happy!”
“Huh.”
The Pegasus whistles again. They were almost polar opposites. This was going to be a long conversation...
Starcatcher, the butterfly winged guardian, was sitting aside a ledge, staring straight down into the sea. The Doctor approaches her. She turns round.
“Greetings, Doctor. Rassilon told me you would be come. He told me there was a renegade who had his eye on this island by the name of The Master.”
“That’s right, Starcatcher. He might be planning to make a wish.”
“It does not work like that.”
“Forgive me, Starcatcher, but how does it work?”
Starcatcher pauses. It wasn’t that it was a difficult question to answer; it was that it was a difficult answer to give to a stranger.
“Well, if one truly wishes hard for something, I have the power to grant that wish. It cannot be anything selfish or evil. I must consent to grant it. This Master will not be able to get me to grant his wish. He cannot even hypnotise me. Guardians are higher beings than Time Lords. We can resist such techniques.”
“Be careful. He always has a trick up his sleeve. There are few as crafty and devoid of morality as him. I’d even test a theory out, but I do not wish for nothing hard enough. Just...make sure not to ‘humour him’, and if you do, make sure you know damn well what he’s wishing for. No loopholes.”
“I will keep that in mind, Doctor.”
“Thank you, Starcatcher. Oh, one more thing, before I explore this island and meet the rest of the pegasi; where did the pegasi come from? Did they fly here? There are no males. If they were born here, then...where are the males?”
“You are quite bright, Doctor. There is a magical passage through the waterfall. Our males are warriors. They fly off to fight.”
“I see...and do they never fly to land the normal way?”
“Normal way? Ah, you mean flying from this island to another landmass?”
Starcatcher paused, and looked puzzled.
“That thought has never occurred to me before, but it should have...”
“...A perception filter! This was a Time Lord’s doing! But why?”
Starcatcher turned away, deep in thought. It was clear she had nothing to say on the matter, or at least nothing she wanted to share. The Doctor sighed, and headed back inland. He was going to investigate this.
The Doctor trots onto the beach. It is now just past dusk, and the air is crisp and salty from the sea. It was also bloody cold! The Doctor reaches the water’s edge. ‘So there is likely a perception filter at play here. Is the Master behind this? What is he trying to hide beyond here?’ The doctor begins to wade through the cold, crystal clear sea. When he can no longer wade, he begins swimming. He’s out a fair couple of meters now...
Pain! Sudden pain ripped across every cell in his body. It felt like he was in the process of being erased. It was one of the most unpleasant feelings he had ever felt, and there were a lot to choose from. In a spit second, he instinctively moved back. Safe, at least he was safe. His vision was going blurry. That was NOT a good sign...
Colgate emerged from the bushes, at the very same beach, having finished her sweep for the Master but having found nothing. She sees the doctor writhe in pain, then lost consciousness and sink.
“DOCTOR!”
Author's Note
I had fun writing this, and I write for fun, but any constructive criticism is welcome. I'm always looking to improve.
Updates won't be regular. The only promise I can make is that part 2 will get done in the month. Hopefully.
Doctor Whooves: The Secret of Butterfly Island
The Secret of Butterfly Island Part 2
DOCTOR WHOOVES: THE SECRET OF BUTTERFLY ISLAND PART 2
The Pegasi village was a series of stick huts and a large campfire, build far inland. The guardians saw Pegasi as the most graceful race and allowed a select few to live on their island. That was a long time ago. Why couldn’t they leave now? Was it really the Time Lord’s doing?
Starcatcher was sitting on a log in the village, thinking about her conversation with the Doctor. The rest of the Pegasi were chatting happily by the fire, telling jokes and stories as dusk approached, oblivious to their guardian’s worries. Derpy was among the chatting Pegasi, while Thistle Whistle was a short distance away, her arms crossed. Starcatcher flies over to her.
“What’s wrong, Thistle Whistle? Why aren’t you with the others?”
The shy Pegasus whistles nervously.
“It’s just these new ponies. I don’t like meeting new ponies. I have plenty of friends here. Who even are these people?” She says, concluding with another whistle.
“They are guests, and important ones. Just give them a chance. You seemed to be talking to that grey one a lot.”
“She’s just so happy, and outgoing! She isn’t shy like us. No-sir-ee.”
“HELP! IT’S THE DOCTOR!”
Starcatcher turns round to see Colgate carrying the unconscious Doctor on her shoulders. The rest of the Pegasi also turn to her, and Derpy immediately starts flying towards them. The rest of the pegasi follow like a swarm.
The moon is hanging high in the starry sky. Derpy is staring at it as she waits for Colgate to return. The Doctor is in one the huts, receiving medical treatment. Derpy overheard Starcatcher mention something about two hearts. Just who was the Doctor? Did Colgate also have two hearts? Colgate had gone back down to the beach in the blue box to try and find out what had caused the Doctor to become like this. Derpy then noticed something odd about the moon. The mare in the moon wasn’t there. As a filly, she used to have fun making out the nose and the horn, but right now, the moon was just blank. What did that mean? They must be on the same planet. There are ponies here, and she can understand them. She felt like she should be surprised that the Doctor’s blue box brought them here so fast, but there were always rumours that it was magic. Ponies have seen it disappear, but this was a completely different story. That was not Equestria’s moon.
Derpy’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the TARDIS. Colgate stepped out next to the campfire as the impressed pegasi gawp and marvel at the blue box that appeared out of thin air. They had never seen anything like it. Starcatcher approaches her.
“What did you find out?”
“There is a barrier around the island, preventing us from leaving except by TARDIS.”
The Pegasi worriedly mutter amongst themselves at this news. Of course, none of them have ever tried to leave, but the idea had never crossed their minds. Colgate speaks up.
“It was created by the Time Lords. I’ve dated it. It was created five hundred years after the guardians came here. It even includes a strong perception filter, so you never even consider leaving. I believe it was created to keep you here, Starcatcher; for them to keep a better eye on you, and to keep you out of the way of other beings. You can grant wishes. That’s a dangerous power to have if that power falls into the wrong hooves.
Derpy, me and the Doctor haven’t told you enough about ourselves. We are from Gallopfrey. The Doctor is a renegade Time Lord and I am his granddaughter. The TARDIS can travel anywhere in time and space. Butterfly Island isn’t in the same dimension you came from.
We are running from the Time Lords because the Doctor disagrees with them about how the power to travel through time and space should be used. They think he’s a time-endangering menace who meddles in the affairs of mortals too much, and he thinks they are committing an act of evil by not using their power to help those in need of saving from monsters around the universe. They caught him and tried him for his ‘crimes’. They would agree on a lighter sentence if he caught a much more dangerous renegade called ‘The Master’. Our trail has led us here. If he’s after the wishes, it can only mean trouble.”
In a glowing green room, a pair of off-violet eyes stares at a screen, showing the events unfolding on Butterfly Island. The figure smiles, revealing its fangs, and turns its head to its captive, and its subjects. It speaks, with a soft yet sinister deep female voice.
“It is time to spring into action. Do all of you know what you’re doing?”
The figures all nod, except the green eyed captive.
“Perfect. Time Lord, let them out and then initiate the compression.”
The green eyed captive nods, and opens the door, before pressing more switches. The dark grey colt has a straw coloured mane and his eyes are a naturally dull amber, though at present they are also glowing green with the mind manipulation magic of a Changeling Queen.
At that moment, a light on the TARDIS console buzzes loudly. Colgate stops talking and heads straight into the TARDIS. Derpy follows her anxiously.
“Colgate, what’s wrong?”
“The barrier around the island. It’s set off my equipment. It’s shrinking! Getting closer!”
The beeping stops and the TARDIS screen goes dead. Starcatcher was watching from the entrance. She turns round, with a concerned and authoritative face.
“Alright, everypony get to the centre of the island! Just go!”
The Pegasi mutter amongst themselves confused and bewildered, but they still follow Starcatcher’s orders without question, heading to the centre of the island. Starcatcher turns to the other two ponies.
“We need to find the ones responsible, and fast! I saw we split up. I’ll search the whole of the north. Derpy, you search the east side. Colgate, you search the southwest.”
The two ponies nod in agreement, and set off to their assigned locations.
Thistle whistle had her hooves wrapped around her body, and was shaking. Her home can’t disappear. It just can’t! The rest of the pegasi were worried, but only Thistle Whistle was this anxious. She was a short way away from the group. In times like this, she valued her own space. Coconut Grove was hovering above the others and trying to get them to calm down. She was always the sensible leader like one.
From the bushes, featureless blue eyes observe the conversing pegasi. Thistle Whistle catches a glimpse of them. They were beautiful. She approaches them, and they belong to creatures equally beautiful. Along with the featureless eyes, they had horns just like Colgate did, and they all had metallic grey bodies that added to their ethereal mystery and majesty. Have they seen her? She can’t tell. And that’s when she felt a blunt pain on the back of her head, and everything went dark.
Colgate weaves through the lush trees and flora as fast as her legs can carry her. There’s no sign of anything unusual. The reaches the edge of a cliff, and looks down. The beach is gone. Completely gone, and the grassy coast is now falling victim to the compression. Whoever’s doing this is trying to erase the whole island from existence! ‘I had better get back to the TARDIS and get everypony out!’
At that moment, the tree nearest her opens up, and a colt steps out, with a dark grey coat, a mane the colour of straw, and eerie glowing green eyes. Minus the eyes, she recognises the picture, it’s him! The Master! But what could the glowing eyes mean? And what’s that he’s holding? It’s at that point she feels a stabbing pain in her leg. She looks down and sees a dart sticking out of it. The colt in front of her brings his hoof to his mouth.
“Shhh, don’t fight it. Just go to sleep.”
Colgate can already feel the world swirling around her, and black forming around the corners of her eyes, slowly growing into her vision, slowly engulfing it in darkness, just like the fate of this island if she didn’t fight!
“Master, you won’t get...away wi....with thi...”
It was too hard to fight. Everything was turning black.
Author's Note
I started actually writing this today. I just couldn't stop :3
