Chapter 8 – Luna's Duties

=Luna's PoV=

"We will be back momentarily; we just have to deal with certain issues." Luna said to the group before she left The Doctor's Tardis and started to talk to herself. "How our sister has done this for over a thousand years we do not know, every five minutes somepony or something calls for our attention."

The moment she exited the Tardis the door suddenly slammed behind her and the typical Vwroop, sound could be heard around the throne room as it suddenly began to vanish. "Your majesty!" Some of the guards surrounding her called out as she jumped back I surprise as the Tardis vanished from the throne room.

"It's alright guard that is how the Tardis travels." Luna said as she looked at the spot where the Tardis had vanished. "It looks like we will not be joining them in the search for our sister. If there is one thing we have ever learned about The Doctor's Tardis, it always takes those who are needed. We guess we are not needed to rescue our sister or The Doctor."

Luna was slightly unhappy at being left behind while the element bearers, Sparkler and Dinky were all hopefully heading to the Everfree Forest to search for her sister. However she knew that as Co Ruler of Equestria, she had her duties to perform. One of those was raising the moon and lowering the sun in just two hours. That was also not the only duty she had to perform, she still had to deal with the issues that her guards and other officials were bringing her.

One of her sister's guards handed her a report from one of her own guards, Hawk, and what he had come back with after leaving with her sister's two toys earlier. According to the report, the two toys had led him to discover sixteen spherical objects circling the entire outskirts of Canterlot. These objects were each creating some kind of sound which apparently could only be heard by Pegasus ponies, which he discovered only after having gathered them all together on the outskirts of the city. He also had to bring them one at a time because the noise they were making became unbearable in groups of two or more. Eventually he had to arrange for earth and unicorn ponies to carry the objects because he couldn't take the noise anymore once he found the fourth one.

All the time he was searching for them, the two toys performed their duties and both led him to the objects, and protected his wings from being impaired by them. However they couldn't protect him from the noise according to the report. It took him roughly five hours to locate each one and arrange for another pony to collect and transport them to a sight that was safely away from the city range so that Pegasus ponies would not be affected. The report also said that the toy that was protecting him from each told him that the objects only affected the entire city because a majority of them were receivers as well as enhancers for the signal which blocked Pegasus from using their wings, only a select few of the objects were acting broadcasting the signal. All of this was said through the toy in The Doctors voice.

The report also said that since the objects were removed, the Pegasus in the city could use their wings again. Hawk also advised her that since the objects were in a secluded area north of the city, all Pegasus ponies should avoid the northern area outside of the city.

"We are going to inspect the metallic objects that my guard has found and removed." Luna declared as she flexed her wings to make sure they worked. "Inform all Pegasi in the city to avoid the northern area of the city until further notice. We shall return in under an hour, after we have paid a visit to the hospital to check on the situation there."

"Yes your majesty." One guard said as she left the room and walked out onto a balcony and took to the air, at the same time several Pegasus guards followed her as she flew into the skies. She looked around the city of Canterlot as she turned north and saw the extent of the physical scars that the city and all the ponies that called the sky their friend had suffered. There were broken pieces of roof and dents on many of the houses, several tree's had been damaged when ponies had fallen into their limbs, and there were many feathers littering the streets and roofs from those Pegasi whose wings were injured in the moments following The Doctor's capture.

"All this… for one stallion." She whispered as she left the city behind, flanked by several guards who were watching for any danger to her.

She and her sister deeply respected The Doctor, both for the power he wielded and the help he has provided for them over the years. While she was prepared to fight to the bitter end to protect and help him however she could, she wondered just how much pain the innocent of hers and her sister's kingdom must endure for The Doctor. Could she and her sister continue to put their subjects through this kind of suffering? What if the element bearers and his children succeeded in rescuing him and her sister, would The Professor come after them, would she inflict further pain on their subjects just to get at him?

"What would have happened, had we asked The Doctor to surrender himself instead of trying to fight her?" She asked herself finally, wondering if the mare would have followed through with her promise to return her sister in exchange for The Doctor. "It will do us no good to ponder on that which we cannot change. All we can do now is figure out what to do with these objects and ensure that all Pegasus in Canterlot are taken care of. Besides our sister would never forgive us if we had simply handed over The Doctor, merely to try and return her back to her subjects."

She continued flying north until she saw a ring of guards which marked the border of where Pegasi could safely fly before they entered the area affected by the strange objects. She landed and was greeted by three of her sister's Earth guards and one Unicorn guard, as well as her second guard Owl. They all bowed respectfully to her and Owl led the way, already knowing her intentions for being there.

-Just so you know my lady, I cannot hear anything you or anypony says verbally.-He said in her mind as they walked. –Hawk and I have both plugged our ears with cotton so that we can be near this area, once you get closer the noise becomes increasingly louder, if you attempt to go nearer and your ears are unprotected, you risk going deaf or having your ear ringing for the rest of your life.-

-Very well, we shall blot our own ears as well.-Luna said as she took the cotton from him and started to plug her own ears as well, already hearing a faint but very annoying ringing in the distance.–Hast thou informed the guards as to why we are plugging our ears?-

-Yes my lady, they know that the only way we can approach safely is if we have our ears covered and blocked out.- He said to her as they continued walking. –These metallic objects, for they are made of metal my lady, are extremely durable and completely immune to magic. The unicorns who have attempted to dismantle them have been unable to even levitate them off the ground, let alone destroy them. They are also impervious to our attempts to destroy them with anything physical, because Hawk dropped one accidentally as he was transporting it, and from a great height. There wasn't even a slight scratch on it, and he dropped it on several rocks my lady.-

-Everything this Time Lord seems to make seem to be immune to magic.- Luna commented as they walked through a strand of bushes and she spotted Hawk, accompanied by several Unicorn ponies and Earth ponies, all of whom were surrounding and examining the metallic objects that Hawk had collected from the outskirts of the city. –Hello Hawk, what news do you have after examining these strange objects.-

-Other than these things being immune to heavy objects dropped on them, nothing new my lady.- He said in her mind, not looking up as he took one of the objects and threw it into a group of similar objects. –We have at least determined the ones that are responsible for broadcasting the signal which inhibits a Pegasus's ability to fly. Only four of the sixteen are broadcasting the signal, we assume that they each are transmitting the signal to three receivers. If that's the case then each of the four metal spheres send the signal to three receivers, and those three receivers resend and enhance the signal so that it reaches and extends across the entire city.-

Luna walked over to the four metallic objects that were the source of the harmful signal and examined them herself. Each of the round objects were smooth and glinted in the sunlight, with very tiny and very thin antenna extending from the balls. They were constantly vibrating, and unless she focused on them, she would not have known they were moving. Even though her ears were blocked by the cotton, she could still hear a very faint ringing coming through the cotton. That ringing was not harmful, and though she was slightly curious as to what the noise sounded like, she restrained herself from pulling the cotton out, heeding the words of her guard when he told her that the noise would deafen her or would make her hear a constant ringing for the rest of her life.

The metal ball, for that was what it indeed was if she didn't know what its true purpose was, looked almost harmless to her. She walked over to the other group of metal objects, the ones that her guard had described as receivers for the signal and examined them. They were of the same build and size of the broadcasters, but instead of small antenna sticking out of them, they had several disks projected outward from the center of the ball. Luna noticed that half of the dishes were aimed at the four broadcasting spheres, while the other half were pointed outward in different directions.

-They appear almost harmless… it's incredible that such tiny things could do so much harm.- Luna commented as she looked at the strange objects. –How can such little things do so much harm to us?-

While she couldn't believe that these tiny spheres were the cause of so much trouble, she also found herself thoroughly impressed at how much technology was in front of her. While other ponies would have believed it to be magic, she understood that it was technology, and it was a technology aimed and directed at restricting and preventing the movements of an entire group of ponies. She marveled that their enemy had been able to affect such a vast area, with only sixteen small spherical objects that were each no bigger than an apple ringing the outskirts of their city, and all with pure sound.

-This is a technology we do not understand, and it is something we ponies clearly will never until we achieve the level that these Time lords are at. - Luna said to Hawk and Owl. –Two Time Lords are in our kingdom, and both of them use advanced technology that we cannot hope to understand or replicate ourselves. How they both use this technology astounds me… and will never cease astounding me you two.-

-Indeed my lady, but if we can understand what it does, then can we still prevent it from operating right?- Hawk asked as he read a report from one of the Unicorn scientists that had been trying to examine the objects.

-Just because we understand what something does, doesn't mean we can predict that it will always do that.- Owl said as he looked at the object Luna was holding now. –Just because these objects only prevent us from flying, doesn't mean they don't do anything else. For all we know they could be explosives, waiting for the right moment or a specific signal before going off.-

-The only pony who could truly understand these things is The Doctor.- Luna said as she put the object down and took the report Hawk was reading so she could read it herself. –However without him the only thing we can do is examine each object one at a time, and try to crack them open to see what's inside.-

She was confident that, had The Doctor examined these spheres he would have been able to deduce their purpose and workings. However she didn't have that luxury at the moment, all she and anypony could do right now was just examine the outsides and just take their best guess.

-Technology is so fascinating…- Luna commented as she read the report, telling her how the Unicorn scientist discovered that when the spheres with dishes were moved, the dishes were constantly trying to aim themselves at the spheres with antennae. –It can do things that even defy magic's limits… and without the aid of magic to begin with.-

She herself had seen the wonders that The Doctor created with technology in the form of his toys. Each of his toys moved and acted on their own, seemingly able to operate and function without any form of magic to make them move. They sang songs, lullabies, and even played games with their owners, no matter what age they were. She herself had watched several toy birds flying around in the garden to pick flowers for their owner's parents on Mare's and Stallion's day. The majority of their owners were fillies and foals, and the toys were all trying to make their owners happy however they could. They did everything they can to make them smile each day, even if that meant breaking into the castle gardens to steal flowers. The grounds keeper often complained about the toy birds flying in and ruining the trees and flower bushels that he worked so hard to maintain.

She had often wondered what else technology could be capable of, and now that she had seen what The Professor could do with it, she didn't think that it was so wonderful anymore. Technology in the hooves of that mare had nearly killed and severely wounded the majority of every Pegasus in the city, not to mention it permitted her a chance to capture and escape with The Doctor. The technology she used has so far been nothing but harmful to ponies.

Luna finished reading the report and told the ponies there to continue trying to examine the objects until it became clear that they could learn nothing new. She also instructed them to continue diverting any Pegasus Ponies that entered the area to avoid this area of the city until further notice. They nodded and told her they would, even though she couldn't hear a word they were saying. She and her two guards Hawk and Owl left the technological spheres behind and walked back toward Canterlot. It took them about ten minutes before they could again take to the sky.

-Now that we have examined those strange objects we can go to the hospital to check up on the situation there.- Luna said as they entered Canterlot and veered toward the hospital she had visited earlier. They landed and Luna entered to see that the situation had improved since earlier that day, but it was still bad any standard.

The ponies that were in the waiting room all bowed the instant they saw her. "Thank you, but please pay us no mind." Luna declared gently, seeing the worry and pain in all of her subject's eyes. "Rest easy and worry not, you will all be admitted soon. We are here to check on the situation of all our subjects. Tell us; has anypony been able to fly since this morning again?"

Many of the ponies in the waiting area were waiting to visit ponies who had been admitted earlier that day for wing injuries or wing complaints. However there were a few Pegasus ponies in the waiting area as well. One of them, a small foal, stepped forward and spoke up.

"I was able to fly an hour ago." He said.

Luna smiled gently at him and he returned the smile as well. "That is good; many ponies have not been able to fly through the skies, ourself included, since early this morn." Luna said. "However we discovered the cause of the problem, and now the skies are open once more. However we urge you all to avoid the northern section outside of Canterlot until we can ensure that the cause will not threaten Pegasi again."

After she listened to her subject's gratitude Luna walked up to the counter and spoke her intentions to the nurse that managed the front desk. She and her guards were then led back to the RER, or the Royal Emergency Room, which was only used and always reserved for the royal sisters who ruled Equestria. The room was always prepared to receive, treat and care for Luna or her sister Celestia, no matter what the problem maybe.

"Tell us healer, what is her condition?" Luna asked as she approached the room, her guards waiting at a distance because only she and her sister as well as the head healer and nurses were permitted beyond that point.

"She's in much better condition than earlier." The healer said as he led the way to the RER. "Her wings were in such a state that it took all our magic to repair the damage. While we were able to repair the damage and restore her wings, the wounds were so deep and so damaging that not only is her physical body in pain, her emotional scars are affecting her."

"Her emotional scars?" Luna asked, already guessing as to the cause of these emotional scars.

"Yes your majesty, the emotional trauma she suffered was to such an extent that she refused to gain consciousness for at least seven hours." He said. "We were able to heal her wings and repair the damage, but even then nothing we did could wake her up. She only woke up about half an hour ago. She's in a terrible state at the moment, barely breathing and won't talk to us. She keeps asking for somepony, but I've never heard of this stallion she keeps asking for."

"Who is she asking for?"

"She keeps asking for a Doctor, but she won't tell us his name." He said as he looked at her. "She keeps saying, 'The Doctor, I want The Doctor'. I don't know who this doctor is but at this point this Doctor fellow is the only pony who can heal her wounds. We've done all we can for her physical wounds, the only one who can help her repair her emotional wounds at this point is this Doctor."

Luna nodded and asked the healer to wait outside while she went in alone. Luna walked inside the room and saw the patient she had wanted to visit all day, Ditzy Hooves, mother to Sparkler and Dinky Hooves and wife to Doctor Hooves. She was lying sideways on a bed, her wings in casts and held up gently by belts to keep them stiff. She had a breather around her mouth to help her with breathing and there were several tubes sticking out of her wings and wing joints, with blood being pumped into and out of her wings. She was breathing very slowly, and her eyelids looked very heavy.

Luna looked around before walking over to Ditzy's field of vision. Her eyes were bloodshot and barely open but still, Ditzy's eyes followed Luna as they approached her. She tried to smile at Luna but all she could manage was a short grin. "Prin…cess?" She whispered faintly when Luna was in earshot.

"Relax Ditzy, take it easy." She said as she closed her mind off to Hawk and Owl, wanting this conversation to be as private as possible. "You've had quite a day let me tell you, taking on The Professor is not something you walk away from without a scratch."

"My… hus…band?" Ditzy gasped faintly, her eyes glinting with probably the last shred of hope she had left in them. "Di…d… he… ma… ke it?"

Luna wanted to lie to Ditzy right then, never before had she ever felt such a strong urge to tell a false truth to anypony before. She wished she could have told Ditzy that her husband was victorious, that he had treated her wounds after recovering himself, and was even now waiting or the okay that he and his family could visit her. She knew that Ditzy had held onto one last shred of hope, and if she lost that final shred… Luna didn't know what would happen to the grey Pegasus.

However Luna wasn't a lying type, she couldn't lie to anypony about something so important, not even to Ditzy. She wished she were Nightmare Moon for just this moment, at least then she could have had an excuse to lie to Ditzy. "We are sorry Ditzy, but your husband was captured moments after you were defeated." Luna said sadly, knowing that she was already in a fragile state as it is. "We tried our best, believe us Ditzy Hooves we did everything possible to stop that mare, but she prevented our wings from taking flight, and our magic became useless the moment she sped away with him."

Ditzy's eyes started tearing as she used what strength she had left to sob on the bed. "He's… dead… isn't he…?" She whispered silently through her tears.

"No he's not dead Ditzy, not yet anyway!" Luna declared, wanting to give her some hope, no matter how small or fragile it was. "The Doctor was captured by that mare; she didn't finish him off when she clearly could have. No he is still alive of this we are sure, because she still has yet to return our sister Celestia. As long as Celestia remains her hostage then The Doctor still lives."

Ditzy was neither comforted nor her hope restored it seemed, because she was still crying with what little strength she had mustered. "Why… did… this… have to… happen…" She asked sadly, her voice finally steadying after a few deep breaths. "This… was our… anniversary week… when… we first met… and now… I may… lose him."

"Don't worry Ditzy; we'll save your husband." Luna said gently. "Even as we speak, the element keepers are searching the Everfree Forest for your husband. We learned of his location just over an hour ago and they sped toward the forest with all speed."

Ditzy managed a small, if very brief, smile at these words. "Sparkler… and Dinky… found… the Tardis… didn't they?" She coughed.

"Yes, how did you figure it out?" Luna asked.

"My… husband… programmed it… to take Dinky… and Sparkler… and hide them… until danger… passed." She said softly, starting to close her eyes. "Only way… could have… found him so… fast… was with the… help of his… Tardis… Are my… children safe?"

"Yes, even now they are looking for their father with the others." Luna said.

Ditzy closed her eyes and her voice started to grow fainter with each word. "Typical… just like… their father… and mother…" She whispered before her breathing slowed down and she fell asleep.

Luna let her fall asleep, knowing that she needed it more than anypony, and left the RER to return to the palace. –It never ceases to astound us, how a mare like her, could ever capture the eyes and heart of a being like The Doctor.- She commented to herself as she reopened her mind to her guards.

They left the hospital and returned to the castle so that Luna could resume her duties before it was time for her to raise the moon and lower the sun. They reached the palace and the moment she entered the throne room she was instantly swamped with more reports and notices from the different hospitals and queries about the sudden disappearance of Princess Celestia, with several important political ponies asking what happened to her and demanding Luna explain the situation to the public.

It took her over an hour but finally she took care of everything. After she dealt with the questions, wrote some respectful replies, and otherwise handled all of the reports all screaming for her to explain everything to her subjects and explain what happened earlier that day concerning the sudden loss of flight for all Pegasi in Canterlot, she managed to get some time to herself to reflect on everything before she began her final duty for the day.

-Tell us you two; dost thou think we can handle this much longer? - She asked her two guards as she prepared her magic to raise the moon and lower the sun for the third time since her sister's abduction.

-I don't know my lady.- Hawk whispered in her mind. –Nevertheless until your sister is returned, you must find a way to continue to rule alone on the throne. Of that I am sure.-

-Same thing my lady, but you must admit that you have finally gotten over your fear of ruling the kingdom without your sister.- Owl said to her, though in a more joking matter. –Wasn't it two days ago you found yourself complaining that you were having such difficulty dealing with the pressure of picking young ponies to be admitted into the schools here in Canterlot?-

She nodded at their responses and felt calm once more flowing into her mind since her sister's fillynapping. Her two guards have always shared some space in her mind as well as her heart, and ever since the day they entered her service they have always been two pieces of her soul that she couldn't go a day without. Hawk, her daytime guardian and watcher was always the more confident and wiser of the two, always stating nothing but the facts and only concerning her or commenting on that which she would deem important. Owl was her nighttime guard, and her informant of the dealings and everyday concerns of her subjects that Hawk rarely bothered with. While he wasn't as wise as Hawk he was even cleverer than him because of the way he used his commoner's point of view to state the truth and lighten the situation, despite how bleak it may look.

How could she go one day without her two guards to not only watch over and advise her, but also give her the confidence that not even her sister could give her?

-Please hurry element bearers.- Luna whispered to herself as she cast her magic and concentrated on lowering the sun, while at the same time raising the moon. –I do not know how much longer I can maintain the situation without my sister.-