Where they came from no one knows. One day they simply rained down from the sky, leaving death and destruction in their wake. So much death, so much terror. The hospitals in Fillydelphia and Canterlot are filled with the dying, the dead, the shocked. I've looked into their faces, and I've seen the fear in their eyes. The children cry out for their mothers, the mothers for their children. They look to me to make it better, they turn to me for guidance, and I just don't know what to do.
The enemy is like nothing I've ever seen before. They are surrounded in armor more powerful than dragon scale, their weapons are beyond anything any gryphon or pony can muster. Magic is useless, so far all attempts by even the most powerful of unicorns has failed. What are we to do?
It has been long since such suffering has befallen Equestria. I weep for my subjects, I weep for all my children, both dead and missing, I feel the stab of pain in my heart, even as I hide my agony, even as I prepare for war. The sun has gone down, I have seen to it, and in its place my sister's charge has risen high to light the land as a vigil. I have decreed that for as long as the evil metal scourge occupy the fair town of Ponyville, as long as the race of Dalek and whatever else they may bring harms a single pony, the sun will remain set, and we will fight as we have never before.
As I stand before the assembled army of unicorn and earth pony and pegasi, clad in armor and brave, I tell them all this, I tell them that we will fight to push the darkness from our lands, that the eternal sisters of Equestria, that I, Princess Celestia, and my dearest sister, Princess Luna, will lead the charge. "And we will rescue the captured," I tell them, "and we will stop the murders, and together, Equestria will show its true strength, and we will prevail!" I tell them this, and they cheer, and I'm almost inclined to believe it.
The largest army in over a thousand years is assembled before me, ready to give their lives, to fight a war that will forever mark either victory or defeat. The army begins to march in formations not used in a thousand years, with weapons they have not used outside of practice, roused for a battle they are not ready for. I return to my chambers, alone, and with the glistening of metal against my breast and a helmet of gold upon my crown, I weep in silence. "Sister," I say, upon hearing Luna enter my chambers, "I'm sorry, but I said I wanted privacy, please respect my wis-"
"I am sorry to intrude your Majesty," says a strange voice, a male voice, much to my surprise and growing indignation, "or is it your Highness? I can never get these straight. One time I addressed the Queen of Raxacoricofallapatorius with "My Lady," turned out it was the King, twas very embarrassing."
"Who the Hell are you?" I asked in a rage. How did this colt get into my chambers? This brown earth colt, with an hourglass for a cutie mark, dare to mock me at the hour of war, who the hell did he think-
"I'm the Doctor."
Doctor? What doctor? "Doctor who?"
"Oh no, Doctor Who is in the infirmary patching up the wounded. Very nice man, gave Apple Bloom a lolipop."
"No, what is your name?"
"Oh, just the Doctor, but I do have a nickname for some reason. Doctor Whoof. Whoof, like as in my hoofs, how silly, why would that be my name? The Doctor works just fine. Oh right! And I'm here to save the world."
My Little Time Lord
Part II
The Dark and Endless Pony Night
Maybe Ditzy Doo should have cried more than she did. She hadn't seen her mother since that first day. She had watched so many die, and worst perhaps, she had failed to save Rainbow Dash. The little grey pony, covered in dust and dirt, dropped to the ground exhausted, sobbing as loudly as she ever had. Had she simply been waiting for the right moment? Was it the shock finally wearing off? They had finally managed to escape the screams of EXTERMINATE and DELETE. But what did it matter? The sounds of the whirling had not helped her this time.
"Help me… please." Where was the monster who could walk on two legs, the creature that had scared her, but had held her with the kindest of embraces, and had told her everything would be alright? No, she was alone, all alone and escaping a war zone, escaping from things she couldn't comprehend.
"Derpy…" Pinkie Pie whispered, brushing the side of her cheek against her blonde mane, "don't give up on me now, we have to keep going."
Ditzy sobbed, "The monster isn't coming,"
Pinkie smiled, "that's right, no one's going to hurt us now, we're safe."
"No, you don't understand, the whirling and the light in that blackness, I see him in my dreams, and he's not coming, no one is."
Even Pinkie wasn't sure what that meant. "Hey, come on, there's help in Canterlot. The Princesses will know what to do, and maybe if my friends are there, we can get the Elements of Harmony working. Even without Dash…"
"Dash…" was it her fault that she was dead? She had tried to save her, she really had, but in the confusion, with so many Daleks in the skies, and so many Cybermen on the ground; how had one become so many so quickly? 'We are the Cybermen, we are the Daleks, you will be exterminated, you will be deleted…' they had kept growling out in electrical roars of hate and efficiency… why hadn't they killed her too? She had left her best, maybe her only friend, to die.
"Get up Derpy, you can't give up now."
"Why?" The end was coming, she could feel it in her bones. Ponyville was burning last time she saw it, and who knows what the rest of Equestria looked like. As for Canterlot, how far was that? They were lost as far as she could tell, and they had been running for so long. No, she was ready to give up and let herself drop dead. There was nothing left to fight for, no reason to continue. From the darkness the metal and steel and circuitry that stomped and flew its way through forest and river, coming to destroy all of ponykind, and maybe even further, would continue still. The onslaught would never end. What could stem the tide? No, there was no hope, it was all dead or dying, like the pony bodies with the missing brains. How far would the army of iron go to subjugate everypony? There was no one to save them, no one to protect them. "Why should we keep going?" she asked the foalish pink pony one more time, through the tears and the pain.
"Because we're here."
Moving her head some, she saw the glittering lights of the great capital city not more than a few feet away, and in the distance, the great cliff side Citadel Palace of Princess Celestia. How had she missed that? "Oh. OH! I was wrong, so so wrong!" She jumped up, toppling over the pink pony with a big hug.
"See?" said Pinkie as she was kissed over and over by an ecstatic Ditzy, "Everything's looking up already. Oh, I know a song that'll explain everything!"
The pony got to her feet, and hopping for joy as a confused Ditzy looked on, she began to sing. "When I was a little filly and the sun was going dowwwwnn,
The darkness and the shadows would always make me frowwwwwn,
I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I - hey!"
High into the air she took Pinkie, her eyes momentarily fixated at the moon high above. Regardless of her mental scatteredness she was quite good at time, and as far as she could tell, it was supposed to be three in the afternoon. Only it wasn't, and quite honestly, she thought it looked better that way. The glittering of the stars and glow of the moon met her as she and Pinkie Pie flew to the castle, Pinkie Pie's extra weight be damned! How good it felt, that high up and upper and upper still! Oh, she wondered, is this what Dash used to feel, whizzing through the air like she owned it?
"Don't you dare let me go!" screamed Pinkie, shivering in her grasp as she dared not to look down.
"Allons-y!" Ditzy cried triumphantly.
"What!"
"Allons-y!" she cried again.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know!"
"You're insane!"
"Allons-y!"
When they finally came to land upon the great palace stronghold of the Princesses Celestia and Luna, both the poor ponies were quite at their wits end. But they were there at least, even if they were among hundreds, maybe thousands of other ponies. Refugees from Ponyville, maybe from every city in all of Equestria. "Mom? Mom?" asked Ditzy as she let Pinkie go. She noticed the girl twitching and frozen. "I'll come back for you later, I promise! Mom? Mommy!"
Could she be around here, within the huddled crowds and terrified faces? When the attack started, everything had happened so fast. By the time she managed to get back, her home was already in flames. She hadn't even the time to search before the Dalek swarms had grown from one to an endless sky full of them. And then came the Cybermen….
From time to time she recognized a face or two in the crowd. Lyra and Bon-Bon huddled in a corner, Caramel comforting a sobbing Cheerilee by a makeshift tent, the mayor of Ponyville with her youngest daughter sleeping by her side.
Her boss was still alive (of all the ponies…). She wondered if she was going to get fired for not showing up for work today. Granted, she was pretty sure the invasion of Equestria meant she didn't have to work today, but knowing that mean mare, she was probably still sending pegasi back and forth from Canterlot to Ponyville. Did the Daleks need mail delivery? Maybe she would still have a job once the war ended. She decided not to let her boss know she was still alive.
All around her were the sobs and moans of the grieving and the injured, or of those searching for missing loved ones. But there were also cheers, coming from the great gates of the Palace.
Maybe she's there, hoped the filly beyond hope. When she got to the pearly gates she gasped. No, her mother wasn't there; in her stead was an army of ponies and gryphons, thousands of them in glittering gold and silver armor, marching in columns, filly and colt together. Never before had Ditzy seen such a spectacle, she haven't even known Equestria had an army! Perhaps she should of found the site, and the roar of the crowd, and the march of the many, comforting. And yet…
"I'm trying to help you, if you go out there you'll be murdered," cried a familiar voice. Was it her mother? Once again, sadly no, but it was someone she was nevertheless glad to hear. "You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into! Neither do I of course, but that's never stopped me before."
Ditzy was privy to watching the Doctor being tossed out of the princess's palace by two large guards. Other ponies watching the spectacle made way for the Doctor's crash face first into the cobblestone walkway. Still, hardly anypony paid attention to him, who could when there was an army of shininess on the move? Princess Celestia, in armor almost as glorious as she was herself, spoke in a rare, barely concealed rage Ditzy had never head before. It definitely scared her.
"You are insane," the regal princess started, as the few not focused on the army turned to bow before her, "and you will receive help for your condition, but I will not suffer the likes of foals in my home, especially on the eve of war! Guards, make sure he doesn't take another step toward my abode till he's cured. Good day, Doctor."
"Doctor!" cried out Ditzy, trotting along the guards dragging him to the nearest pony psychiatric facility.
"Ditzy, you made it!" said the Doctor in return. "I knew you'd be alright. Well sorta, I was hoping you'd be alright, and here you are! A little worse for wear and tear, but aren't we all?"
"Guards," she said, "I know this stallion, he's fine, he's just a little weird, you can let him go now, I'll make sure he stays out of trouble."
"Sorry, no chance," said the bigger of the two, "we're under strict orders to get him, er, treatment."
"Oh isn't that the most wonderful thing about Equestria?" said the Doctor with a smile, "Last monarch I offended, accidentally might I add, tried to have my head removed, and all Princess Celestia wants is for me to get better. Honestly, I've had entire organizations set up by royalty for the sole purpose of stopping me."
"What?" asked the confused grey pony.
"Don't worry about it, just wait for me by the Palace, I'll see you there in a bit."
"Yeah right," said the other guard, "you're not going anywhere for a very long time."
Though the two far larger, stronger looking colts clearly had her friend in a very tight grip, something told her he was far from delusional. He gave her a wink. She smiled. She'd see him again, she somehow knew, and it would be very soon. She left to check on Pinkie Pie's condition.
For hours the stunned pony kept that same blank, twitchy expression on her face. It had never occurred to Ditzy that keeping an earth pony high up in the air for so long would have such an effect on their disposition. Pinkie Pie had always seemed so resilient, from what Ditzy could remember. Maybe the shock of the world ending was too much for her to bare. She decided to stick by one of the last remaining friends she still had, and hoped for the best.
Soldiers and volunteers ran everywhere to and fro, and more and more ponies ran or flew their way to the Palace. Had the entire world truly been taken over? The gossip was hardly conclusive, some said Fillydelphia had burned to the ground, others said the Ponyville was a smoking crater, others ranted something about "cyber conversion", whatever that meant. But there were those who said nothing at all; the fear and pain in their eyes was so intense it made Ditzy want to cry. And still, she had yet to see her mother among the survivors. Had she truly died in the fire? The flames of war, when had the last war even laid its devastation on Equestria? Had there ever even been a war? There had to have been one at some point in the past, otherwise how would she even know of the concept at all? But when, and with whom? When had a single pony, of either sex, killed another(ponykind or otherwise) in the heat of such a conflict?
There was the tapping. At some point, but when she wasn't sure, or even where, there had been a tapping, a knocking, a ta-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta-ta. The dream beat of war had once waged…. somewhere. The sound of the drums, that same rhythmic cry. The Daleks didn't use drums, neither did the Cybermen, at least she hadn't heard any then. Did ponies use drums for war? But when had the last war been? And why could she hear it now? It was like a forgotten call, the ta-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta-ta… the beating for a war that had nothing to do with Equestria, and yet had everything to do with it…
The scarf fit around her rather nicely. The last one she had, had been lost after she accidentally crashed into the Princess's carriage. She wondered if they ever got the dent out. "I will call you Romana, Mr. Scarf," she said, giggling as she looked down upon the cloth covering her neck. And then she turned to gaze into the big blue eyes of the Doctor. For a moment he seemed surprised, and then he smiled.
"Consider it an apology," he said, "I didn't realize how long it was going to take to slip away from My Little Pony friends, they were quite adamant about the whole 'toss him into the nut house and throw away the key' thing. I must be losing my touch."
She hugged him the hardest she'd ever hugged anything in her entire life. The poor Doctor almost suffocated. When she finally let go he went about reviving the shocked little pink pony, still in her twitchy, petrified state. From out of his saddle bag he pulled out a thick pen, or was it a thin flashlight? She gasped as the tip lit up brightly and fiercely in its brilliant ruby red luminance, and was pointed at Pinkie Pie. It was pretty, and yet her headed started to hurt, it was a dull ache she couldn't account for, yet she could ignore it, and marvel at his little gadget.
The ache became a throbbing, the throbbing a pounding, the pounding a blaring roar of everything that was the entire universe rushing in to consume her mind. Everything was different, time and Canterlot were different, the Doctor was different. Rainbow Dash had died a hundred trillion years ago, and yet she had died only a minute ago. But she wasn't dead, she wouldn't be dead for years. She hadn't even been born yet! "The Face of Boe is dying!" she screamed! "The sins of the mothers, I see what they did! The first star, it's forming, oh wow it's so beautiful! OH MY HEAD OWWW!"
Run and run and run, it was all she could do to try to escape the explosion that threatened to blow her head apart. This must be what Twilight Sparkle felt, she considered, when I dropped a piano on her head. "ONLY TIMES A THOUSAND! DOCTOR HELP ME!"
The Doctor, who had long let the pen drop from his mouth, and yet it seemed like he had left the horrible thing buzzing for a million millennia, spoke to her. What he said she hadn't a clue, but he was soothing, in that way that he could be between his bouts of mania and mean condescension.
"Focus, focus on my voice", she finally heard him say, somehow managing to push through the blinding agony and the tears that streamed from her eyes, "remember your thoughts, remember who you are, tell me your earliest memory, the earliest thing you remember. Come on, a boy, a girl, eating a snack, stubbing your hoof, your parents, something, anything!"
"MY FATHER!"
"Yes, your father, tell me about him, what do you see?"
"FIRE, EVERYWHERE! HE'S DEAD! THE FIRE, AND THE PAIN, SO MUCH PAIN!"
The Doctor grew quiet, holding onto to the filly as she continued to force her speech. It soothed her.
"And then… and then there was the blue and the black, and the whirling noise! And he was there, this strange colt, but… on his hind legs. And he held me… and I asked for help. He told me it would be alright… and then… a flash of gold…"
The sobbing pony opened her eyes, her crossed gaze intent on the Doctor, as intent as a filly with crossed eyes could be anyway. He wanted to say something, to let her know, to explain to her what had happened, not just here, but so long ago. He tried to open his mouth. He was quickly interrupted by the very happy little grey pony. "Hello Doctor, about time you got here, I was worried you really did get locked up. Oh, where did this scarf come from? I will call you Romana Mr. Scarf. Something wrong Doc? Oh look a pen, I want it - OOWWWW, it shocked me, what the Hell?"
"Twitch twitchy twitchy twitchy twitch HFFF! RAINBOW DASH IS STILL ALIVE!" gasped Pinkie Pie. The little filly rose up to all fours in a flash, her breathing heavy whilst her whole body quivered madly.
"Yey she's awake!" cried out the joyous grey pony, hugging the pink one the second tightest she'd ever hugged anything ever.
That the grey filly(and the pink one, for that matter) was alright, he supposed, was good enough for now. There was no point in trying to explain everything when things were getting less dreary. Besides, their outbursts were attracting the attention of just about everypony, and it's never a good thing for everypony to be minding your own business. They moved to someplace more secluded.
"Right," said the Doctor, "information, we need it, and we need it now. What do I know so far? 1 - The Daleks invaded Ponyville. Aright simple enough. 2 - They've stopped at Ponyville, why?"
"They haven't invaded anywhere else? Why?" asked a surprised Ditzy.
"Nope, and if I knew why I wouldn't need to ask. Daleks have conquered much larger, much more advanced civilizations than this one and much more quickly, so why so slow? 3- They're taking prisoners. Why are they taking prisoners?"
"They aren't taking prisoners," said Pinkie Pie, "it's the Cyberman that are taking prisoners."
"Cybermen? What Cybermen? How do you know about the Cybermen?"
"Simple, they keep mentioning their names over and over and over and over and-"
"OK, so Cybermen and Daleks here, working together, but they hate each other why would they- I don't believe it! Those clever bastards, of all the impossible things they've ever managed, this one really takes the cake. They got out of the Void! Who would have thought! OF COURSE! They had no choice but to work together! And without the Cult of Skaro, the Daleks had no leader, they had no choice but to follow the Cybermen. OH I CAN USE THAT!"
"Um, did you catch any of that?" asked Pinkie to Ditzy.
Of course she hadn't, but it sure sounded important. "But, what about the army, can't they handle the Cybermen and the Daleks?"
"Oh they'll be massacred!," he responded, searching through his saddle bag for whatever gadget he had next, "nothing ponykind has can stop a Cyberman, much less a Dalek. Doesn't help that ponykind hasn't fought a war in a thousand years. Very wonderful achievement of course, not many species can pull that off, but it's also unfortunately stagnated your military ability."
"But what about the Elements of Harmony?"
"The Elements of Harmony, isn't that supposed to be a myth?" mumbled the Doctor through the saddle bag.
"No silly, that's what me and my bestest friends used to stop Nightmare Moon from bringing eternal night to Equestria."
"Ah, wasn't here for that, well technically I was, and technically I wasn't, it's complicated."
"He was fixing the blue box," said Ditzy, smiling as she looked down at the large pen, pressed the shiny red toggle with her hoof, and cried out a loud 'ow' at the jolt of pain that scrambled her brain. "Ouch, what was that? Oh, hello Doctor, when did you get here? Hey look, Pinkie Pie's awake, yey!"
Fearing in part for Ditzy's safety, though mostly concerned with the safety of his tool, he moved it out of her reach. As he began tinkering with it, he directed his next request towards Pinkie Pie. "Tell me about the Elements of Harmony."
"Oh, me and all my friends have them, we got brand new jewelry and there were magical powers and we stopped Nightmare Moon's evil plot! They can do anything, because it's powered by friendship and magic! But all six of us need to be together for them to work. But poor Rainbow Dash, I don't even know if they'll work now…"
"Hold one moment," the busy colt blurted out rather abruptly as he pointed the screwdriver back at Ditzy. With the thing between his teeth he muffled out, "Tell me if this hurts."
The little light turned on, and she didn't feel anything at all. He thrust the thing into her mouth and pointed her toward Pinkie. "Wonderful. Ditzy, meet the sonic screwdriver, sonic screwdriver, Ditzy. It's perfectly harmless now, just press down on the little toggle, I need to read the scans. I'd do it myself of course, but the lack of opposable thumbs is quite the hindrance."
"Opposable thumb?" questioned Pinkie, "Gosh, what would a pony need that for?"
"Long story, very long story. Nevermind about it, I thought you said Rainbow Dash was still alive?"
"Did I? Oh my Gosh I did! My Pinkie-Sense, it came through for me again! I don't believe it, I'm so happy!"
"Oh yes," he sighed, "the dreaded Pinkie Pie sense. Had a piano fall on my head because I didn't heed the first time."
Ditzy blushed. It's not like she meant to drop them on purpose. Pianos are really heavy!
"Oh, this is interesting," he said as he read the screwdriver's readings, "looks like you're giving off a huge wave of subatomic energy particles, they're everywhere!"
"Well excuse me Mr. Doctor Smarty Pants, I haven't gotten a chance to shower since the whole invasion started!"
"Annnd if you're giving them off, and Ponyville is due.. that way, then that means…" he turned Ditzy all the way around, straight out toward Ponyville's direction. "AH YES, Huge waves of energy emanating from over there too!"
"So she really is alive!" Ditzy felt a million times better.
"YES! And now I have a plan! I'll infiltrate the Dalek/Cyberman controlled Ponyville, rescue Rainbow Dash, reunite her with you lot, focus the energy of the Elements of Harmony through my screwdriver, use the resulting wave to wipe out both the Daleks and the Cybermen, save the world, and do it all before the pony army gets wiped out. And then a cup a tea afterwards. I like crumpets."
"What about us? What are we supposed to do?" asked Pinkie.
"Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy are the other ponies controlling the Elements of Harmony, yes? Because they're leading the charge with Princess Celestia into the heart of Ponyville. If you run now and you can catch up with them. As for you Ditzy, stay here, keep out of trouble, and remi-"
"No," they both said in unison.
The pinked pony hopped over to the colt's side. "I'm not going to abandon Rainbow Dash and I'm not going to leave you all by yourself. Besides, if something happened to you Derpy wouldn't be able to invite you to the Victory Party!"
Despite the deep pink blush on her face, Ditzy spoke as well. "I'm not sitting here all alone, I'd rather die than know my friends are doing all the work and I'm doing nothing to help. And, well yeah, you're my friend too."
Is he tearing up? wondered Ditzy, noticing a twinkle in his eye. "Fine, but don't say I didn't try to keep you all out of danger. Right then, get close to me." He pulled another strange tool, some sort of thick black bracelet out of his saddlebag, and pressing it every gently with the tip of his hoof, sighed. "Oh opposable thumbs, how we take you for granted. Anyway, this device will teleport us to Ponyville in a second flat."
"What? What kind of magic can do that?"
"Nu-uh, not magic, technology. Got this from a Time Agent friend of mind, oh, must have been a 100 years ago, give or take."
"Time Agent, what is that?" asked a genuinely confused Pinkie, "where did you get all this stuff? How are you a 100 years old? How do you know so much? Who are you?"
The brown colt with the wild mane smiled as the time device activated. He turned to both the fillies at his side, his eyes alive with excitement and raw passion. Both could have sworn they saw electricity course forth from those brilliant blue eyes.
"I'm the Doctor."
To be Continued.