Doctor Who/Ever after High: The Rebel Queen.
(The following stories takes place in between the episodes Kill the moon and Mummy on the orient express)
PART ONE
The lights were dimmed in the TARDIS console room. The only illumination came from the dimly lit lamps placed around the console room and the flickering lights of the console. Operatic music filled the air, a slow sad song played from some hidden speakers.
The Doctor closed his eyes and meditated to the music. He lost track how long he sat there in quiet contemplation. He sat in his favorite chair, before him sat a small table that held up a teacup that was filled with tea long gone cold. To his left was one of the many bookcases that sat on the upper terrace inside the TARDIS.
"Clara….." He whispered
The name escaped his lips as he replayed the final tense moments with his companion in his mind.
The Doctor had taken Clara and one of her students Courtney Woods to the moon in the earth year 2049. There they discovered that the moon was actually an egg and was about to hatch. Either they had to kill the infant creature that lived in the moon or risk the lives of everyone on the earth. It was a dark hour that Clara knew, had faith that The Doctor would come through and save the day. She quickly found out that on that day The Doctor left her and Courtney to make the decision on their own.
Clara Oswald made the right decision that day, but was furious with The Doctor in the end. The Doctor still remembered the furious look in her eyes as she berated the Doctor and told her how little and humiliated he made her feel . The Doctor , always having faith that Clara would make the right choice, felt he could leave her to do just that.
"No that's you , My friend making me feel scared, that was you making me feel like a bloody idiot!" She angrily sobbed. " Well clear off then! You get in your lonely bloody TARDIS and you go far away! "
The Doctor then watched as the Impossible girl walked out of the TARDIS, and presumably his life.
"Vallon Sonore.." The Doctor said aloud " I was there when Berlioz wrote it , So obsessed with homesick sailors that one was." He said to an empty room. He looked and realized that there was no one by the console. No companion sitting close by eagerly listening to The Doctor wondered where next they would go in time and space. The Doctor realized he spoke to no one and sat back in his chair closing his eyes to once again meditate.
Ever After High
Raven Queen opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling in the dark room. It was the dead of night and like every night for the past two weeks, Raven got up right at 2 a.m. No matter what time she put herself to bed , she got up precisely at 2 am and could not go back to sleep. She even attempted to stay up past 2 am in hopes of at least going to sleep afterwards. She only ended up staying up all night, Not even her mother's poison apple spell could put her back to sleep.
Resigned to her fate Raven got up, she walked past her sleeping roommate Apple White and went to her lavatory, making sure she had her tablet and pen. Raven found that most of her best writing for poems and songs came to her when she had to move her bowels or Apple called it "sitting on the throne"
When Raven finished she sat in front of her laptop to transcribe her notes. She didn't get far when she heard a noise from outside her dorm room. Opening the window she poked her head out to hear what she thought was talking and music playing. But the courtyard was quiet as it was bathed in the moonlight. Then a glimmer of light caught her attention as she noticed a tiny figure dressed in white running from the student courtyard to the outer gates. Raven squinted as she could make out two bunny ears on top of the figures head.
"Bunny Blanc?" Raven said " What's she doing out this late?"
Raven quickly went outside to follow the bunny girl , Racing to the edge of the gate she saw that there was no sign of Bunny. Raven closed her eyes and focused on the image of Bunny as she called up a tracking spell. Purple magic flowed from Raven's fingertips as she whispered
"Find Bunny"
The magic then dimly illuminated a path that led from the foyer to a path that led to the Dark Forest. Raven Queen wasn't a fan of the Dark Forest at night but at the same time she wasn't about to let Bunny be out there by herself at this time of night. Still Raven knew that it would be foolish to look for Bunny by herself. She took out her mirror phone and dialed for help.
The TARDIS
The Doctor's meditation was soon interrupted by the ringing of the TARDIS's telephone. Springing from his chair he raced down the steps and opened the telephone box built into the door of the TARDIS,.
"Clara!" The Doctor said as he picked up the phone.
It wasn't Clara, it was instead an odd static, followed by a distorted voice. The voice was of a female, distressed, panicked and defiantly not Clara's.
"D-Doctor! " It yelled " Help me!"
"Who is this?" The Doctor answered " How did you get this number?"
"Please…Doctor Help me!" She called out again this time the sound of rushing wind and metal clanging could be heard in the background.
"You're going to have to be more specific than that young lady!" The Doctor chided " Let's start with your name…"
The voice on the other end then screamed in horror as final sound, the sound of the Cloister Bell rang and filled the Doctor with dread.
"Who is this?, Where are you?" The Doctor growled as the phone call soon went dead.
Taking out his Sonic Screwdriver and scanned the phone and picked up the remnant of the lost signal. He ran to the controls of the TARDIS and plugged in the sonic screwdriver. Flipping switches and pulling levers , the lights of the TARDIS came alive as The Doctor was determined to follow the origin of the phone call. Whoever it was had The Doctor's number and whatever was threatening her was a force great enough to threaten the TARDIS, and that was something The Doctor could not allow.
"Thanks again for getting up at short notice Maddie!" Raven said as the two girls tracked Bunny though the dark woods.
"It's no problem Raven!" Madeline Hatter said as she carried her father's purple and blue lantern. It was powered by the light of a blue fairy. "It's not like Bunny to go running off by herself, No wait , it IS like her to do that, but defiantly not at this late hour!"
The two friends made their way deeper into the dark woods, It was a cold dark chill that crept up on you as you walked into these woods. Before long you would get the feeling of eyes on you and something following close behind. It was enough to drive you mad, fortunately Maddie was already mad and fill the quiet with light conversation.
"Maddie, Can I tell you something?" Raven asked apprehensively
Maddie knew what she was referring to, To fight a mad jester's plan to conquer Wonderland Raven had to sign her entry into the Storybook of Legends and accept her destiny as the evil queen. With the help of her friends Raven resisted the allure of her mother's dark powers, She then dissolved the book and allowed everyone to fully choose whether or not to follow their destiny or forge a new one. Raven however was different, She was in all aspects free to choose her own path , but it came at the cost of still having a remnant of her mom's dark powers still in her. Madaline Hatter had an inkling that this might going on with Raven.
"You're worried that since we got from Wonderland and you had to sign the Storybook of Legends to use your mothers powers to defeat Courtly Jester , that you might still have a teensy bit of your mother's dark powers inside of you!" Maddie quipped.
"uh yeah, how did you know?" Raven asked
"This fan fic writer just said so." Maddie said
Ignoring the quip Raven explained how her magic seemed to grow stronger and act on its' own sometimes. She recalled the lunchtime incident in the castleteria when the three pigs played a joke on her by replacing her porridge with exploding porridge. As soon as Raven realized the loud pop came with her porridge all over her face she grew into a quite rage. Taking her metal spoon and stabbing the table with it, it stood on its own seething with a dark purple energy. Raven got up to go to the ladies room to clean up but as soon as she left the spoon began to act strangely. Gradually all the metal object in the castleteria began to shake and move toward the spoon. Till finally all the metal objects flew toward and clung to the spoon in one big metal ball. Everyone got food splashed and spilled on them as their spoon fork and knives were violently jerked out of their hands and mouth. Even Mirrorphones and Mirror tablets weren't immune to the effects.
"Cedar sent me photos of that!, The before and after!" Maddie said as she showed Raven the photos of the ball as it was forming and then the phone as it was stuck the mass as it took a picture of Cedar trying to pull her phone off.
"I don't know what happened!" Raven protested " It's like my magic acted on it's own."
They walked a little further into the thick of woods as the glowing trail curved north.
"Maybe it's "That's time" for you." Maddie pointed out.
"That's never been an issue befo-" Raven said as Maddie cut her off by pulling a tea set out of her hat.
"TEA TIME!" Maddie said as she poured herself a cup of hot earl grey. "I mean what else could it be if it weren't for your magic growing?"
"It sounds like a rouge wave of Baragon energy…." The Doctor said as he appeared from nowhere and pulled his personal tea cup from his jacket and pointed it at Maddie " Two lumps, shaken not stirred…"
Raven yelped in surprise as Maddie gave a hearty laugh.
"Who are you ?, and what are you doing here in the woods all by yourself?" Raven asked stepping back a bit.
"Just out and about and Im waiting for a cup of tea!" The Doctor said his grey eyebrow crinkled in impatience as he waited for Maddie to pour the tea kettle.
"Likewise I could ask the same of you two schoolgirls, aren't you afraid you might run into the Big Bad Wolf?" The Doctor said taking a generous sip.
"Not until 4th period tomorrow." Raven said flatly " We're out here looking for our friend, she run off by herself and these woods aren't safe especially at night!"
"What about you Doctor?" Raven asked noticing the man's odd attire of a black jacket white vest under a black vest and slacks to match. "What brought you out…..here…?"
Raven stopped as she noticed a weird sounding alarm followed by a green blinking light shining through the Doctor's jacket. The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver , a metal instrument with a blinking green light at the tip of it. He took it out and waved it in the air like magic wand.
"Me?...Oh nothing just out…canoodling…..hiking or something like that…"He said as he grew distracted by his instrument.
"Just out hiking? By yourself? In the Dark Forest?" Madeline giggled" Now THAT'S mad!"
It was when his screwdriver beeping in the night it grew dimmer and brighter as he waved it out in a sweeping pattern in front of him it was only at one point where the signal would go stronger than the others .
"It looks to me like you're looking for something…" Raven said with piercing eyes.
"Everyone is looking for something or someone. " The Doctor bit back while taking a sip of his tea. "Lost luggage, their fancy mobiles, thumbnails or the Loch Ness Monster, Take your pic. What about you girls? I could ask the same of you two out and about especially in those heels…"
"I know what you are finding now" Maddie quipped " The rich need it, the poor have it and if you eat it you'll die!"
"Was that a riddle? "The Doctor asked incredulously " Excuse me were you trying to answer a question with a riddle?" He said in his thick Scottish accent
"I could give you a hint…" Maddie winked.
"No thank you" The Doctor said as he rose up and returned the teacup to his back jacket. "And nothing, the answer is nothing….
The Doctor then followed the signal of his screwdriver as it grew stronger the more he pointed toward the opening of a darker portion of the woods. "Now off you go you two, get back home there are monsters afoot…"
The Doctor hadn't walked very far before he noticed Raven and Maddie were still following him , he stopped immediately and gawked at the two .
"Did you no hear me?, I said move off!. There are big nasties out here and if you keep following me they'll do a horrible…something to your ears!"
Raven had her hands up that were glowing with her purple magic. " Well if you'd bother to ask us you'd know we're also out looking for something too. And the path is telling us to go this way.." She had lit up a path of purple foot patterns that led to the same dark path.
"So for the moment we're headed the same way. Raven said.
Then something sprung from a thicket of bushes ahead of them is was small female figure in night clothes she had soft pink skin white hair and what stood out most about here were the two white bunny ear atop of her head.
"Bunny Blanc!" Maddie exclaimed "We've been looking for you!"
"What are you doing in the dark forest all by yourself?" Raven shouted.
Bunny stood trembling in the night air, there were various cuts along her hands and forearms. Her bare feet were cut and bruised from all the running on the thickets. Where she should be in pain and barely standing Bunny was strangely happy and very much in a hurry.
"Raven? Maddie? " she said in glossed over eyes " I-I cant talk now I'm late I'm terribly late."
"Late for what?" The Doctor asked as the readings off his sonic told him that this was the signal he was looking for .
"I'm late for my wedding….to Alistair!" She said sweetly as she darted off.
They all saw the bunny girl dart off deeper into the thicket of the Dark Forest , Raven and Maddie saw that there was something off about their friend, But the Doctor knew there was something off, He saw if only for a brief moment a dark shadow that attached to Bunny. It was a dark shadow that revealed itself in an ever short span of time, so short that Raven and Maddie missed it but not a Time Lord.
"The Doctor. "The Doctor announced to a confused Raven and Maddie " My name is the Doctor!, you stay close to me, do what I say, and try not to get yourself killed, Hurry we haven't a moment to waste!" He said as he took off running with Raven and Maddie running to catch up.
"Doctor who?" Raven and Maddie both asked in unison.
The trio tracked bunny through the woods, They struggled to keep up with her as it seemed she was phasing through trees and the thick brush. What was worse was the dark hid all the thorn bushes with sharp thorns that caused small and painful cuts if they weren't careful how they maneuvered.
"For as small as she is she is incredibly quick!" The Doctor huffed in annoyment.
"It doesn't help that Bunny can transform into a rabbit at will!" Raven said , as she suspected that was the reason Bunny was able to out run them so effortlessly. Through Raven's magic and The Doctor's Screwdriver they were tracking her and keeping from losing her.
"That's really handy what you're using" The Doctor and Raven quipped at the same time.
"Ah Ha! Ha! " Maddie exclaimed" You're in Stereo!"
"I'm using a tracking spell to keep from losing her "Raven explained as it was taking all her concentration to hold the spell.
"It's not magic!" The Doctor protested, "There's no such thing as magic!"
"You must not be from around here mister" Raven said annoyed " You happen to be in a world of magic! What else would it be?"
"I don't know, but I know it's not magic! "The Doctor said as the signal he was tracking got stronger and stronger.
"Oh when we get done here I'll show you-OH HEX NO!" Raven exclaimed as she saw what she didn't want to see, it was the last thing she wanted to see as she and The Doctor and Maddie stopped in their tracks as they found Bunny, standing on the edge of a very steep cliff.
From the blissful look on her face she was completely oblivious how close she was to a long fall with a fatal stop at the end. In Bunny's mind she was in a beautiful rose garden. There all her friends and family were there, It was happiest day of her life. Her love for Allistair would finally be requited and sealed forever in a marital bond. She been walked down the aisle and given away by her father the original White Rabbit as she stood face to face
"Bunny!" Raven called out "Get away from the edge!"
It was all she could get out before The Doctor shushed her; she looked to see The Doctor scanning the air in front of him with the sonic screwdriver. She made it a point to pay attention to the cylindrical device; it was colored a bronze silver and black with a white handle. At the very tip of it was a green light that lit up as it emitted an electronic buzzing sound.
"It looks like she's sleepwalking Doctor!" Raven pointed out.
The Doctor continued with his scanning " It would appear so, but there's something more at work here…."
The sonic then emitted a high long beep as The Doctor's eyes widened. "Yes! Of course! Well why don't you come out and show your face!" He called out as something begin to manifest itself above Bunny's head.
It was black and moved like living smoke, the smoke then began to take a whispy form . Raven and Maddie saw as it appeared to be a large black ghost with red glowing eyes. It looked at The Doctor Raven and Maddie as its long black fingers took hold around Bunny's temples. Bunny's body stiffened as inside her mind her dream began to intensify. Gradually her idellic storybook wedding began to change as the guests in her wedding party changed form into blank expressionless gingerbread people . Bunny gasped as she saw that even Alistair had turned into one of the gingerbread people looking at her in a dead plank stare with only a faint thin smile.
"What's going on?" Bunny shouted out " Alistair where are you? Don't leave me alone!"
In the real world Bunny with her eyes still glossy began to whimper and cry softly. Raven saw as Bunny began to reach out and try to grab for something that wasn't there.
"Doctor we have to do something!" Raven said
"I'm working on it Raven!, what that is , is called a Verspaform! It's a creature that feeds off pure dream energy. It's feeding off her dream energy but it's also scanning her for something else" The Doctor said as he picked up a rock and chunked it at the Verspaform . "Oy! You big black and ugly! Right over here! You're not going to find what you're looking for in her!"
"Tell us what you need us to do Doctor!" Raven said
"Right now I need you to stay calm, I'm going to distract the creature and you will need to snatch your friend before she topples over" The Doctor ordered.
Raven nodded as she realized the Doctor had been creeping them closer and closer toward Bunny and the Verspaform creature. They were almost a few feet away from them and the edge of the cliff.
"How did you get here? The Doctor asked the Verspaform, "Did you stowaway on a on a shipping convoy and ended up getting tossed with the refuse? Or were you discovered and deliberately stranded!" The Doctor said as he sent Maddie a telepathic message.
Maddie perked up as she heard the Doctor's voice inside her head " Sorry for the intrusion but I couldn't help but notice your mental synapses are a little more develop than the people on this world. So you're going to help me!"
"This wouldn't be the first conversation I've had in my head! "Maddie giggled telepathically" I take it you have a plan because you can take it that I don't!"
"No, I never have a plan!" The Doctor said "Always make it up as I go a long and take credit when things go the way I want…."
"Now listen carefully, I want to you to get Bunny and offer her some tea."
"I don't know what you are seeking but leave the girl alone and I can help you find it!" The Doctor offered. The Verspaform hissed as the ends of its arms shaped into two sharp points, It then held it to Bunny's throat as she still looked in a daze not aware what was happening to her.
Raven gulped as she began to notice Maddie edging closer and closer to bunny, "Bunny " Maddie called out. "Let's have a cup of tea ok? "
Maddie took a tea kettle and a tea cup from her hat and poured the liquid into the cup.
"Maddie be careful!" Raven whispered intently.
"Thirst!" The monster hissed
"You need dream energy, a vast amount and I can tell you with that girl you're just going to get a few drops to quench your thirst. You need my help!" The Doctor reasoned as he kept the monsters gaze solely on him. The Doctor and the monster's eyes both locked until a slight twitch from the Time Lord proved to a costly mistake as the Verspaform saw how close Maddie was to his prey. It knew immediately The Doctor was trying to trick him and it wasn't very happy about that fact.
The monster growled in anger as it grew in size slightly and trust it's fingers into Bunny's temples. Bunny's eyes widened in terror as an icy grip of fear and dread seized her. She turned to see Maddie approaching her.
"No! Don't!" The doctor pleaded as he saw Bunny tense up in fear.
"Mu-Madeline?" Bunny asked her voice trembling.
"Bunny!"Maddie said "Relax and HAVE SOME TEA!"
It was then in a blink that Bunny's dream turned into a nightmare, She saw as Maddie turned into a twisted version of herself. Here hair grew long and matted with red and purple streaks. Her eyes grew bloodshot as her teeth became sharp talons,. Maddie then laughed a psychotic laugh as she pulled out a tea cup and the severed head of Lizzie Hearts as a tea kettle, dark red tea poured from one of Lizzies eye sockets into the cup. All around Bunny the peaceful garden melted into a charred and dark battlefield, all around her the torn mutilated remains of her friends and classmates.
The Verspaform then released Bunny and turned to fly off, He knew it was a perfect escape plan. For it forced The Doctor to choose, chase after the Versapform or watch as two teenage girls were moments from toppling over the cliff into the valley below.
"Stop!" The Doctor shouted as he saw Bunny scream as she stepped back toward the edge of the cliff, and Maddie as she refused to see her friend die like this. She lurched forward and grabbed Bunny wrist, which only caused Bunny to jerk back to escape the Maddie Monster she was seeing in her nightmare. Bunny's pull was all for forced she needed to send the two over the cliff.
"STOP!" Raven screamed as she called upon a spell any spell to stop the horror that was unfolding. And from Raven's body a powerful burst of purple energy exploded out, and the results of the spell were immediately felt by Raven and the Doctor as time began to slow down drastically. It took all of Raven's concentration and focus to walk to her friends and still hold on to the spell. It was a from a powerful well of magic buried deep within Raven and she knew at any second she would lose control. Raven flew to her friends and she felt like she was moving through a thick soup.
Raven saw her hand reach out and grasp on to Maddie's belt , she could see maddie grasping on to Bunny as Bunny slowly struggled to get free, but Maddie held on to her tightly . With her other hand raven grasped onto to a root hanging off the edge of the cliff . Raven made one key mistake , she looked down to see they were very high up and the drop was very long. It was enough of a distraction to cause her to lose concentration.
"Oh no!..."Raven thought as she felt her grip o the time spell falter and time returned to normal. Raven scream in pain as she held on to the weight of two friends with one arm and held on to dear life with the other. The root then gave way slightly as it dropped them a few feet before stopping.
"Doctor!" Raven yelled " Please help us!"
Ignoring the Verspaform , The Doctor saw everything Raven had just done from slowing time down to reached her friends as they all went over the cliff. He dove to the edge and tried to reach the girls .He saw they were maybe only about a foot out of reach.
"C'mon! Don't let go!" He said as he stretched and stretched to reach them
"Doctor I'm slipping!" Raven yelled as she felt herself lose grip of the root and she and her friends fell, As if time had stopped she looked to see The Doctor fall further and further away, If her life weren't flashing before her eyes, she should have seen The Doctor lead from the cliff and free fall to catch them.
The Doctor knew he had seconds to work with, as he stiffened his body to fall faster, and as he did pulled the TARDIS key from his jacket. Opening his arms her caught up to Raven and gripped her.
"Hang on!" He yelled as he pointed the TARDIS to the ground below them and from the floor of the valley the TARDIS materialized to a mechanical grinding noise.
"VWOOORP!VWOORPP!VWOORRRPPP!"
As soon as the TARDIS landed it shot up a cone of gravity, It caught them as they began to slow their decent. Raven and Maddie clutched on to each other and an unconscious Bunny as they floated gingerly to the ground.
"Woah!" Raven exclaimed as Maddie giggled madly.
As fast as they fell they were soon on solid ground , Maddie sat on the ground and held Bunny's head in her lap as the Doctor began to scan Bunny with his screwdriver.
"Doctor? Will she be ok?" Maddie asked
"Fit as a fiddle, "The Doctor said " She should be fine albeit a bit creeped out from her nightmare. "
"Ok Doctor what just happened?!" Raven exclaimed as she touched the exterior of the blue police box that somehow landed them safely.
"Ahh" The Doctor smirked " A little bit of my own magic so to speak. But that's not important, What is important however is that I found what I was looking for, and so did you."
"I trust you can find your way back?"The Doctor said as he made his way inside the TARDIS.
"Wait!, Where are you going?" Raven asked.
The Doctor was halfway inside the TARDIS as he looked back "I'm off to hunt a Dream Eater!"
The box then began to make a mechanical grinding noise as it disappeared into the breaking dawn. Raven turned to see her friend Bunny began to blink her eye as she started to awaken.
"Bunny!" Raven exclaimed "Are you ok?"
Bunny yawned and stretched, "Yeah, I think I had a bad dream or something, it's getting hard to remember. She looked around. "What am I doing way out here?"
Bunny Blanc had no memory of what happened while she sleepwalked, The girls returned to their dormitories in time to change and get ready for class. Raven herself thought that it might have all been a bad dream, Still she could not help but wonder who was the odd man who called himself The Doctor? Where did he come from and was that monster gone or was it merely hiding?
Raven tried not to think about all this as she made her way through her classes, It wasn't until 4th period where she had General Villany with Professor Big Bad Wolf that she realized that last night wasn't a dream.
She took her seat and noticed that the class was unusually full . Raven looked to see other students like Dexter Charming, Ashlynn Ella,Hopper Croakington, Cedar Woods, Blondie Locks, and even Apple White in Bad Wolf's classroom, She realized these students were Royals and were in Heroics 101 or Princessology at this time.
"Apple!" Raven called to her roommate, "What's going on? You don't take this class!"
"I don't know Raven! We were told that we were to be here for the next two weeks to take a special course or something!" Apple explained.
A hush fell over the class as Headmaster Grimm entered the classroom ,He strolled in happily and proud . He was defiantly in an unusually happy mood this morning.
"Take your seats! Take your seats!" He called out " Now you're all wondering why I assembled you here and why you will be here for the next two weeks during 4th period. Well I'm proud to announce we have a special instructor to teach a unique course that hasn't been taught here for over a century! He is truly a legend and trust me when I say he is the only man who can teach this course!"
Headmaster Grimm then went to the door and greeted a tall silvered haired man with a strong gaze wearing a black hoodie underneath a black coat with a red inner lining and black slacks. He was carrying some books and teaching aids. As he placed them on the desk. Raven sat straight up and instantly recognized the new guest teacher.
"Doctor!" She whispered.
"Good morning class!" he said as walked to the blackboard and pulled out a piece of chalk from his coat pocket. "The course you are about to take is Defense against Dark Monsters!"
He wrote the course name on the blackboard behind him and turned to face the class. "My name is Professor John Smith, or you can call me by my other name !"He said as he locked his gaze with Raven's gaze "The Doctor!"
NEXT TIME: The hunt for the Dream Eater begins as another student falls victim. The Doctor recruits help to hunt down the creature as Raven finds herself pulled into a world where her new found powers will be push her to her breaking point.