Doctor Whooves
The Impossible Planet
Not impossible, just very unlikely.
Oh, and, author's note, sorry everypony. I've got to adjust my writing schedule. One chapter/episode every two weeks. Again, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
When the Tardis, materialized, making its normal noise but stuttered, like it was sick. The light blinked erratically, they dimmed as it landed. It was in a very tight space. Barely large enough for two ponies, both of which stepped out from the even smaller box.
"I don't know what's wrong with her," the Doctor was explaining, stepping out and stroking the closed Tardis door. "She's sort of queasy, indigestion, like she didn't want to land." He had the same feeling, a pit in his stomach matching the Tardis's uneasiness.
"If you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else," suggested his companion, Roseluck. The two looked at each other, and burst into laughter.
"Ha! I think we landed in a cupboard," the Doctor said, breathing deep so he stopped laughing. "Here we go." he soniced the door, it opened with a hiss and a robotic: "Open door 15."
"Some sort of base," the Doctor explained as they stepped into the hall, "Moon base, sea base, space base. They build these things from kits."
"Close door 15." The walls were ugly mustard yellow and the floor a black grated metal that clanked underhoof. Wires and pipes ran along the walls, hissing steam and hanging loose. A horribly grating and crashing sound was banging against the walls of the base, "Glad we're inside, sound like a storm out there," Roseluck commented. The Doctor turned the round handle on the next door and pushed it open, "Open door 16." It opened into another corridor. "Close door 17."
"Equestrian design," the Doctor noted as they walked into the next hall. "Open door 17." The walls were a dirty white and the ceiling was covered with a blacked out glass. There were yellow low metal swivel chairs around metal tables riveted to the ground. "Close door 17." A big three was painted on the wall, so was a message with strange alien symbols underneath. "You've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat pack wardrobe only bigger. And easier. Oh, it's a sanctuary base. Deep space exploration. We've gone way out, and listen to that under the storm, somepony's drilling."
Roseluck looked around them, "Welcome to hell," she read.
"Oh it's not that bad," the Doctor said.
"No, over there," she gestured to the message written on the wall in large black letters that looked more like scratches. The symbols were written vertically, in columns instead of rows beneath. The time travelers trotted over, the Doctor knelt down and inspected the writing.
"Hold on, what does that say? That's weird, it won't translate," he muttered, putting on his black glasses.
"But I thought the Tardis translated everything, writing as well. We should see Equestrian," Roseluck added.
"Exactly, if that's not working, then it means this writing is old," the Doctor explained. "Too old. Impossibly old." They stood and trotted over to another door, the Time-Pony removed his glasses. "It means we've gone beyond the reach of the Tardis' knowledge, not a good move and if somepony's lucky enough-" he opened the next door and jumped back in surprise.
Standing in the door were a lot, and I mean a lot, of bald, squinty eyed, tentacle filled mouthed creatures each carrying an orb attached to their blue uniforms. Their muzzles were shorter than a pony's, replacing the extra length were red speckled pink tentacles things, among the tentacles was a clear tube connecting to the orb. Both time travelers stepped back in fright, the strange creatures looked at them.
"Oh! Right," the Doctor stammered, "Hello, sorry. I was just saying uh, nice base."
"We must feed," all the creatures said at once, stepping into the room from the open doorway.
"You've got to what?"
"We must feed," they repeated, approaching.
"Yeah, I think they mean us," Roseluck said nervously. The other doors swung open, allowing more of those things to enter, almost chanting: "We must feed." Both travelers continued to back away until they were pressed into the wall, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdrivers and aimed it at the creatures. Roseluck hid behind the Time-Pony, scared of the odd tentacle creatures surrounding them.
Cue the theme song!
The creature closest to them stopped, motioning for the others to do the same. He tapped the ball pinned to his shirt with one hoof, "We must feed you, if you are hungry," he said.
"Thorry?" asked the Doctor, his words sounding weird because of the sonic screwdriver in his mouth.
"We apologize," it continued, "Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?" The Doctor looked at Roseluck, both of them speechless.
"Open door 18," the door behind the odd creatures opened and a trio of ponies ran in. Each was dressed in black clothes and gun holsters, each with their own machine gun. The leader, Night Moon, demanded, "What the hell? How did-" he looked up at the time travelers and gasped. He lifted a hoof to his mouth, on it was a black communicator device, "Captain, you're not going to believe this. We've got ponies, out of nowhere. I mean real ponies, two real living ponies right in front of me!"
"Don't be stupid," a voice over the communicator snapped, "That's impossible."
"I suggest telling them that."
"But you're in space," Roseluck said, confused, "You must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible."
"You really no idea where you are?" asked Night.
"No idea, it's more fun that way!" the Doctor chirped.
"Stand by everypony," a voice over the broadcast system warned, "Buckle down, we have incoming. And it's a doozy, quake point five on its way." Night Moon opened the door again, "Through here, come on then, quickly!" He, his fellow soldiers, Roseluck, and the Doctor rushed out of the room with the aliens in tow.
"Move it! Come on! Keep moving, come on! Quickly!" Night cried as they galloped down the corridor, the base shaking around them, the quake already building. They ran through two corridors, and down into the central hub, where even more ponies dressed in black outfits and working at the computers. Two that were with Night raced to the computers, making there a total of six other ponies in the room.
There was Ida Bee, the science officer of the team, a unicorn with black and yellow mane and a sunset orange coat and a test tube cutie mark. Zachary Cross Flame, the team captain, an earth pony with a dark maroon coat and a darker mane and a sheriff's badge cutie mark. Night Moon, head of security, a Pegasus grey blue coat and a sky blue mane and a pistol cutie mark. There was Moral Stone, an earth pony and head of the Ethics committee, long black hair and a white coat with a judge's gavel cutie mark. Hieroglyph, the team archeologist, a unicorn green coat and even lighter green mane, his cutie mark was an eye of Horus. And Scootalooze, Scooti for short, mechanic trainee, a Pegasus with an orange coat and purple mane and the cutie mark of a wrench.
(Eep, so much describing)
When Night Moon, his soldiers, and the time travelers ran into the hub, Captain Zach gasped. "Oh Celestia, you mean it."
"Ponies!" Scooti cried, "Look at that, real ponies!"
"That's us," the Doctor piped, "Hooray."
"Yeah, definitely real," Roseluck continued. "My name's Roseluck, and this is the Doctor."
"Come on," Moral complained, "The oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be, no, they're not real." He stood up and trotted over to them, "They're real!"
"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert!" cried the captain, "Moral, strap up. The quake's coming in, impact in thirty seconds! Sorry you two," he apologized to Roseluck and the Doctor, "whoever you are. Just hold on tight, really tight."
"Hold on to what?" asked Roseluck.
"Anything, I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?" he asked.
"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated," the apparent "Ood" replied.
"What's this planet called anyways?" asked the Doctor.
"Now don't be stupid," Ida Bee scoffed, "It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name? You really don't know do you?"
"And, impact!" called the captain. The whole facility jerked sideways, anypony who wasn't holding tight to something fell flat on their face.
"Oh, well that wasn't so bad," the Doctor noted. Then the planet shook again, this time much fiercer, one of the consoles burst into flame. Then it stopped, there was a moment of silence, then a collective groan.
"Okay, that's it," Captain Zach called, "Everypony alright? Speak to me Ida."
"Yeah!" she called, pulling out a fire extinguisher.
"Moral?"
"Fine."
"Hieroglyph?"
"Yeah, fine."
"Scooti?"
"No damage."
"Night?"
"Check!"
"We're fine," added the Doctor, "Thanks, yeah don't worry about us."
"The surface caved in," Zach reported, "I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely. Hiero, go check it out."
"That's not my department," he complained.
"Just do as I say yeah?" Hieroglyph rolled his eyes and trotted out of the room.
"Oxygen holding," Ida reported. "Internal gravity fifty point six. We should be okay."
"Nevermind the earthquake," Roseluck retorted, sitting up, "That's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?"
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane," Scooti replied, "There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum."
"Then what's shaking the roof?" asked Roseluck.
"You're not joking," Ida said in disbelief. "You really don't know, well introductions. I'm Ida Bee, science officer. Zachary Cross Flame, acting captain. You've met Mister Night Moon, head of security. Moral Stone, ethics community-"
"Not as boring as it sounds!" he piped.
"And that stallion who just left was Heiroglyph, archeology and this," she wrapped a hoof around Scooti's shoulder, "Is Scootalooze. And this? This is home," she reached over and pulled a lever.
"Brace yourselves, the sight of it sends someponies mad," Zach warned. The ceiling slowly began to open, revealing a swirling vortex of pure blackness. Swirls of dust, stones, and glowing things were pulled towards the black hole, disappearing in the inky depths.
"That's a black hole," Roseluck gasped.
"But that's impossible," the Doctor said, eyes wider than normal.
"I did warn you."
"We're standing under a blackhole!" the Doctor cried.
"In orbit," Ida added smugly.
"But we can't be," the Doctor insisted.
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around the black hole without falling in," Ida said smugly, "Discuss."
"And that's bad yeah?" Roseluck asked.
"Bad doesn't cover it," the Doctor said gravely. "A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too. Nothing in the universe can escape it, light, gravity, time. Everything just gets pulled in and crushed."
"So, they can't be in orbit, we should be pulled in!"
"We should be dead."
"And yet here we are," Ida said, "Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board."
"But if there's no atmosphere out there, then what's that?" asked Roseluck pointing outside. Clouds of dust were swirling outside towards the black hole, "Stars break up, gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing," Ida explained.
"So, a bit worse than a storm then."
"Just a bit."
"Just a bit yeah."
"The rocket link's fine," Hieroglyph reported, trotting in with a bunch of scrolls tucked in his saddlebags. Captain Zach called up a hologram of the planet over his console, the others automatically gathered around.
"That's the black hole," he explained, "officially designated K three seven Gen five."
"In the scriptures of Falltino, this planet is called Kroptor," Ida added, "The bitter pill. The black hole was said to be a demon, it was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison."
"The bitter pill, I like it," Roseluck commented.
"We are out so far, lost in the drifts of the universe, how did you even get here?!" asked the Doctor, looking at the hologram. A funnel of blue light appeared, reaching off the planet into space.
"We flew in. You see, this planet's generating the gravity field. We don't know how, but it's kept in constant equilibrium against the black hole, without an alicorn supporting it. And the field extends out there as a funnel, a distinct gravity funnel reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."
"You flew down that thing? That must've been like a roller coaster."
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain, he was an alicorn, supposed to take hold of the planet in case the gravity collapsed. His death is what put me in charge," Zach explained.
"You're doing a good job," Ida complimented, turning and getting back to work.
"Yeah, well, needs must," he replied with a shrug.
"But if the funnel closes, we're stuck here," Moral Stone added.
"We had fun speculating at that," Scooti piped.
"Oh, that was the word, fun," he said sarcastically, using a scroll and batting her head.
"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power, I mean not just big but off the scale!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Can I?" He motioned for the yellow calculator by the hologram.
"Sure, help yourself." The Doctor set to work, turning the hologram over and examining the planet hologram. Roseluck turned and walked away, already having gotten bored. One of the weird tentacle creatures stopped her, holding out a plastic cup filled with water.
"Your refreshment," it said.
"Oh yeah, thanks," she replied, taking it off its hoof with her teeth. "What'd you shay your name vas?"
"We have no titles, we are as one," the creature replied.
"uhh," she turned to Moral, setting the cup on a desk, "What are they called?"
"Oh come on, where have you been living?" he asked sarcastically. "Everypony's got one."
"Well not me, what are they?"
"They're the Ood."
"The Ood?"
"The Ood."
"Well, that's ood," Roseluck joked.
"Very ood," Moral replied, "But handy. They work the mine shafts. All the drilling and stuff, supervision and maintenance. They're born for it, basic slave race."
"You've got slaves?"
"Don't start," Scooti interrupted, "She's like one of that lot. 'Friends of the Ood'."
"Well, maybe I am, yeah. Since when do ponies need slaves?" snapped Roseluck.
"But the Ood offer themselves. If you don't give them orders, they just pine away and die," Moral explained. Roseluck rolled her eyes and turned to a nearby Ood, "Seriously, you like being ordered about?" It nodded, "We have nothing else in life."
"Yeah, well, I used to think like that, a long time ago," Roseluck muttered.
"There we go!" she heard the Doctor cry, "Do you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, without any magic whatsoever, you'd need a power source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds."
"That's a lot of sixes," Roseluck noted.
"And that's impossible," the Doctor continued.
"It took us two years to work that out," Zach gasped.
"I'm very good," he boasted.
"But that's why we're here," Ida explained, "This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it."
"It's giving off readings over ninety stats on the Blazin scale," Zach added.
"We could use it to fuel the Empire," Night Moon called.
"It could revolutionize modern science," Ida suggested.
"Or start a war," the Doctor said grimly.
"It's buried underneath us," Hieroglyph said, dramatically, "in the darkness, waiting."
"What's your job, chief dramatist?" asked Roseluck sarcastically.
"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomenon. And this, uh, planet once supported life eons ago, before the Equestrian race had even learned to walk."
"I saw the lettering on the wall, was that you?" asked the Doctor.
"I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it."
"No, neither can I. and that's saying something."
"There was some form of civilization, they buried something or somepony, and now, it's reaching out, it called us in," Hieroglyph explained, again with the dramatic flair.
"And you came," the Doctor said, starting to smile.
"Well, how could we not?" asked Ida.
"So, when it comes down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why?" he asked, smiling like crazy, "Because it was there! Brilliant! Excuse me, uh, Zach, wasn't it?"
"That's me," Zach said, confused.
"Just stand there, because, I'm going to hug you," the Doctor said. "Is that alright?" Zach looked at the others, then back at the Doctor, "I suppose so. "
"Here we go, come on then," he stepped forward and hugged a partially confused Zach Flame who hugged him back.
"Oh Equestrians you are amazing!" the Doctor said, still hugging Zach, "Thank you," he stepped back from Zach, and patted him on the back.
"No problem," Zach replied.
"But apart from that, you're all completely mad!" the Doctor continued, "You should pack your bags get on the ship and fly for your lives."
"You can talk, and how the hell did you get on board?" asked Ida sarcastically.
"Oh, I've got this ship, thing, it's hard to explain. It sort of appears," the Doctor said nonchalantly.
"We can show you, it's parked down the corridor from, uh, where was it? Habitation area…?"
"Three."
"Three," Roseluck agreed.
"So you mean storage six?" asked Zach.
"It was a bit of a cupboard yeah," the Doctor replied. Zach looked at Ida, a secret message went between the two. "Wait, you said areas five through eight!" the Time-Pony was off like a rocket, already unbolting the door and letting it swing open. Roseluck chased after him, barely able to hear the computer speak as it opened.
"What is it?!" cried Roseluck dashing after him. "What's wrong!"
"Open the door!" the Doctor growled opening another door at the end of the corridor, spinning the handle like crazy, "Come on!" he bushed open the door and ran through the habitation area and into the next corridor. He ran even further, Roseluck speeding along, demanding: "What's wrong?! What is it?"
"No no no! It can't be!" the Doctor kept muttering, spinning open the next door, or trying to.
"Doctor! What is it? The Tardis is in there, what's happened?!" she asked, catching up with him. He flipped open the porthole with his hoof, which dropped to the ground, limp.
"It's gone," he mumbled, "The Tardis is gone. The earthquake, this sections collapsed."
"But it's got to be down there somewhere," Roseluck protested.
"Look down," he said solemnly, stepping aside. She stepped up, and looked outside. She could see the storm not, black dust swirling over a massive chasm that went to the center of the planet in place of habitation six. Gone. It was gone. Their Tardis, his home, her only way home, was gone.
They returned to the control room, the Doctor went straight to Captain Zach.
"The ground gave way, my Tardis must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet, but you've got robots drilling the same way," the Doctor said, hopeful.
"We can't divert the drilling," Zach replied.
"But I need my ship, it's all I've got! Literally the only thing-"
"Doctor, we've only got resources to drill one shaft down to the center and that's it," the captain said sternly. "No diversions, no distractions, no exceptions. Your machine is lost. All I can do is offer you a lift if we ever get off this rock and that's the end of it." Zach turned back to his work, the Doctor exhaled slowly, trying to keep calm. He turned and started to trot away.
"I'll uh, put you on the duty roster," Ida piped, trotting past the now-stranded-time-travelers, "We need somepony on laundry." And with that, she, Zach, and the rest of the crew left, going to other areas of the base for various jobs. Roseluck and the Doctor were left alone, with nothing but an Ood and a pristine view of the black hole above.
"I've trapped you here," the Doctor said, after a moment of almost silence, the storm raging outside.
"No, don't worry about me," Roseluck said dismissively, waving her hoof. The base shook around them, they looked up at the black hole, "Okay. We're trapped on a planet that shouldn't exist, under a black hole and no way out. Yeah, I've changed my mind, we can start worrying." She sighed, the Doctor wrapped a hoof around her shoulder for comfort. That one hoof turned into a hug. The Time-Pony stared up at the black hole, the sinking feeling in his stomach was only getting worse.
"Entering Night Shift," the computer reported cheerfully, "Your chosen track for the transition is 'Nightmare Night' by Eerie Shadow." Sure it was an interesting choice for a transition song, more like one for a foal's movie, but it was in honor of the holiday back in Equestria. As soon as the song began playing, Ood marched down to the mining shaft and began cleaning things as the day shift Ood reported to Moral Stone to check in and rest for the night. He checked each one off, muttering their designated numbers to himself.
Night Moon was trotting down in the mine shaft area, not in the shaft but above it where the controls were, observing the Ood's progress. Scooti was outside in an orange spacesuit that matched her coat, ironically, and a yellow helmet with blue lights illuminating her face. She was pressing with both her front hooves on a wrench that was stubbornly refusing to tighten a bolt on a loose oxygen pipe. Hieroglyph was in his room, examining more scraps of pottery, levitating it underneath a magnifying glass and using his magic on another brush to dust off dirt.
"Hieroglyph," a deep voice said suddenly, startling Hieroglyph. "I can see you." Hieroglyph looked back nervously, "Moral? Is that you? It's-it's not funny, alright? Moral?" He got to his hooves and trotted out of the dormitory/bunker bedroom of his and into the hall, "I'm-I'm trying to work Moral Stone. Look, if-if that's you then can you stop it?" He looked up and down the hall once, the lights flickered. Hieroglyph took another very very uneasy look around and went back into his room, uneasy.
He sat back down at the desk and continued working.
"Moral? Could you please go check the temperature in Ood Habitation? It seems to be rising," asked Captain Zach over the intercom. Moral, who was eating with Ida and Night, stood up and left the habitation area, area 3. Roseluck passed him, walking over to the serving tray area, picking one up in tray her teeth.
"Helf yourself," Scooti said, setting her own tray down, "Just don't have the green. Or the blue." Roseluck nodded and trotted over, standing in front of the Ood serving. She looked over the edge of the window at the food.
"Uh, bit of that," she said, pointing at what looked like an apple cobbler, but it was blue. The Ood, using the orb as what would be telekinesis if they had been unicorns or something. The orb picked up the spoon and ladled the cobbler onto her tray.
"Would you like some whipped cream?" asked the Ood kindly.
"I'll have a go yeah," she said, "I did that job once. I was a dinner mare once. Not that I'm calling you a mare, although you might be. Do you get paid? Do they give you money?" The Ood looked at her curiously, "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against reality." Roseluck stepped back in shock, "What?!" The Ood tapped his orb again.
"Apologies, I said, I hope you enjoy your meal," it said. Roseluck stared at it with wide eyes, but took her tray back to the table where the Doctor was sitting, studying the symbols on the wall.
Zach was monitoring the drilling from his computers in the hub, the hologram of the "planet" on the center desk behind him. While his back was turned, the image changed. It became a massive red beast, like another version of discord with massive black horns and nail sized teeth. It roared, Zach whirled around in surprise, but the image was gone.
Moral Stone closed the door to the hub and kept walking.
"Close door 3," the computer said, Moral looked at the speaker, confused.
"I've closed door three," he said.
"He is awake," the computer replied.
"What? What did you say?"
"Close door 3." Moral exhaled nervously, trying to dismiss it, and walked on.
Hieroglyph had gone back to work, bending over the scraps of pottery and examining the pieces as close as he could.
"Hieroglyph," the voice said again, it was low and rough, just plain bad. Hieroglyph straightened, he was about to turn around when it spoke again, "Don't turn around!"
"Moral? No, that's not moral," Hieroclyoh mutter to himself, going to turn.
"Don't look at me," the voice warned.
"Who are you?" asked Hieroglyph.
"I have so many names," it replied.
"If I could-"
"If you look at me, you will die," the voice said.
"But who are you?
"I'm behind you," it continued, getting steadily louder, "Hieroglyph, I'm right behind you. Don't look! Don't look at me. On look and you will die. I'm reaching out, Hieroglyph. I'm so close. I could touch you. Don't turn around!" Hieroglyph could almost feel that thing's hoof on his back, he spun around. Nothing. He looked back at the pottery in his telekinetic grasp, the symbols on them were gone. He set the pieces down, his hooves were starting to hurt.
They stung, all across the bottom, hieroglyph turned his hooves over. Hieroglyph sprang to his hooves, they were covered with the black alien scribe, now it was covering his upper hooves, now his chest, now his entire face. His eyes had changed to red, his cutie mark had vanished. Hieroglyph screamed, then collapsed to the ground. Unconscious.
In habitation 3, the lights flickered off.
"Zach? Have we got a problem?" asked Ida into her intercom.
"No more than usual," the captain replied, "The scarlet system is burning up, it might be worth a look." Ida nodded, she got to her hooves and trotted over to the wall.
"You all might want to see this, moment in history," Ida Bee said. She opened the roof, a pink cloud was beginning to swirl over the station.
"There, that pink cloud. That's the Scarlet System," Ida explained, "Home of the Peluchi, a mighty civilization spanning a billion years, disappearing forever. Their planets and suns, consumed. Fillies and Gentle-colts, we have witnessed its passing." She turned to close the window, "Um, could you please leave that open?" asked the Doctor, Ida glanced at him skeptically, "I won't go mad, I promise."
"How would you know? Scooti, check the lock down please, Night, sign off the airlock seals for me, please." The two others nodded, then the three of them left, each through another door. Roseluck and the Doctor stared up at the black hole, "I've seen films and stuff, they say black holes are like gateways to another universe."
"Not that one," the Doctor muttered, "It just eats."
"I'm a long way from home," Roseluck said, a few minutes later. The Doctor pointed out into space, "Go that way, turn right, keep going for, uh, about uh, five hundred years and you'lll reach Gaia." Roseluck nodded, reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. She raised it, "No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could, what would I tell her?... Can you build another Tardis?"
"They were grown," the Doctor corrected, "Not built. And with Gallopfrey gone, we're kind of stuck."
"Well it could be worse, this lot said they'd give us a lift."
"And then what?"
"I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe."
"I'd have to settle down," the Time-Pony said miserably. "Get a house or something. A proper house, with doors and things. Carpets, windows. Me, living in a house, now that, that is terrifying."
"You'd have to get a mortgage," Roseluck added, egging him on.
"No."
"Oh yes."
"I'm dying! That's it, I'm dying, it's all over!"
"What about me? I'd have to get one too. I don't know, we could share a house. Or not, you know, whatever. I don't know. We'll sort something out."
"Anyway."
"We'll see." The Doctor sighed, "I promised Lilly-Luck I'd look out for you. Get you back home."
"Everypony leaves home in the end."
"Not to end up stuck here."
"Yeah, but stuck with you, that's not so bad."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Yep!" The Doctor smiled a little bit, Roseluck smiled as well. Suddenly, her phone began to ring, she picked it up and pressed the call button. She put it to her ear, "He is awake!" and threw the phone away from her.
Moral was down in Ood habitation, typing away on the computer. Ood habitation was mostly two levels, a lower one with benches for the Ood and an upper one with a monitor and control panel. He looked up at the sound of double hoofsteps to see Roseluck and the Doctor galloping down to greet him.
"Evening," the Doctor chirped.
"The mysterious couple, how are you then? Settling in?" asked Moral.
"Yeah, sorry, straight to business, the Ood, how do they communicate?" asked the Doctor.
"Oh, just empaths. There's a low level telepathis field connecting them. Not that is does them much good, they're basically a herd race," Moral explained stepping away from the computer.
"This telepathic field, can it pick up messages?" asked the Doctor.
"Because when we were in habitation 3, and one of the Ood said something odd," Roseluck added.
"Hmm, an odd Ood," Moral remarked.
"And then I got something else on my, communicator thing."
"Oh be fair, we've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing. Look, if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."
"Monitor the field, that's this thing?" asked the Doctor, stepping up to take a look at the computer.
"Yeah, but like I said, it's low telepathy. They only register basic five." That's what it had said, but now the numbers were growing. Six, then seven, then eight, "Well that's not basic five," the Doctor noted uneasily, "Ten, twenty, they've gone up to basic thirty." The Ood lifted their heads simultaneously.
"But they can't," Moral protested, he double checked the readings.
"Doctor," Roseluck said nervously, "The Ood, what does basic thirty mean?"
"Well, it means that they're shouting," Moral said, "Screaming inside their minds."
"Or something's shouting at them," the Doctor added grimly. He stepped forward, facing the Ood.
"But where's it coming from? What's it saying? What did it say to you?" asked Moral, frantic.
"Something about the beast in the pit," Roseluck stammered.
"What about your communicator?"
"He is awake," Roseluck replied.
"And you will worship him," the Ood ordered, all of them at once.
"What the hell?"
"He is awake," repeated the Doctor.
"And you will worship him," the Ood repeated.
"Worship who?" demanded the Doctor. No reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?" the Ood stayed silent, the Doctor glanced at his companion with a silent message. Trouble.
"Hiero, I've got your expenditure," Scooti said trotting into the archeologist's bunk. The room was empty however, Scooti set the scroll on his desk and looked around. "Open door 41. Close door 41." Scooti trotted back out into the hall, "Forty one?" She galloped down the corridors until she was at door 41, an airlock door.
"Computer, did you open and close door 41?" she asked into her communicator.
"Confirmed."
"But that's the airlock. Why would you open the airlock? It's the night shift, we're not allowed outside. Has somepony gone out?"
"Confirmed."
"Who?"
"Cannot confirm."
"Okay, but hold on, I know. Tell me who's spacesuit's been logged out."
"No spacesuit has been logged out."
"But you're not making any sense. You can't go outside without one." Scooti frowned, "Zach, I think we've got a breakdown on door 41. It's saying somepony's gone outside without a suit. Zach? Zach!?" nothing but static. Scooti groaned, "Computer, trace fault."
"There is no fault."
"Tell me who went through that door!"
"He is awake." Scooti stopped, her wings fluttering nervously, she tensed.
"What?"
"He is awake." The computer repeated.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"He bathes in the black sun." Behind her, the wall began to open. The metal panels slid open, giving a perfect view of outside. Slowly, Scooti walked over to it and looked outside. Hieroglyph was out there, his mane and tail flapping in the wind. His back was turned to the base, but Scooti could still see the strange alien symbols all down his back.
"Hiero," she muttered. Slowly, her friend turned, and looked at her. He smiled, and waved. "But there's no air, there's no…" she trailed off. Hieroglyph raised a hoof, beckoning for her to join him. Scooti put a hoof on the glass, staring at her friend, mesmerized. She snapped out of it, "No! Stop it! You can't be!" Hieroglyph scowled, glaring at the glass.
Scooti jumped back, it began to crack under his glare. She turned and ran to the door, "Open door 40!" she begged. The glass kept cracking, "Open door 40! Zach, please! Somepony! Open door 40! Help me!" The glass shattered and Scooti was pulled out of the base.
The Base began to shake about, the computer kept repeating "Emergency hull breach emergency hull breach." Between the computer's notes Captain Zach's voice called, "Everypony evacuate eleven to thirteen, we've got a breach! The Base is open repeat the base is open!" Everypony was evacuating as told, they all ended up in the same area.
"I can't contain the oxygen field, we're going to lose it!"
"Come on, keep going!" ordered Night Moon, pulling ponies out of the breached area. "Come on Hieroglyph!" he pulled the unicorn in, Hieroglyph collapsed to the ground. Night pulled the door shut, "Breach sealed. Breach Sealed."
"Everypony alright?!" called the Doctor, there was a collective yes and a set of heavy breathing. "What was it? What happened?"
"Oxygen levels normal."
"Hull breach," Night explained. "we were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd be expecting that black hole at close quarters.
"That wasn't a quake, what caused it?"
"We've lost sections eleven to thirteen, everypony alright?" asked Zach.
"We've got everypony except Scooti," Night replied. He activated his communicator, "Scooti, report. Scootaloze report. That's an order, report!" nothing.
"She's alright, I've picked up her biochip. She's in habitation three, better go check if she's not responding she might be unconscious," Zach explained. "How about that eh? We survived."
"Habitation three," Night said. "Come, I don't say this often but we could all do with a drink."
"What happened?" asked the Doctor.
"I donmt-I don't know," Hieroglyph stammered, Roseluck helping him to his hooves. "I was working, then, I can't remember, the room was falling apart and there was no air!"
"Come on, up you get," Roseluck said, "You' need something to eat, how about protein one?"
"Oh, you're going native," the Doctor joked.
"Yeah well don't knock it, protein one with just a dash of tree," she said, helping Hieroglyph walk.
"I've check Habitation four, Scooti!"
"There's no sign of her, the biochip says she's in the area. Has anypony seen Scooti?" called Night as everypony search Habitation three for Scooti. There was a chorus of no's, "Scooti! Please respond! Scooti!" cried Ida.
"Not here, Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing," Night told the captain. The Doctor, on a whim, looked up at the black hole, and grimaced. "I found her." The others followed his gaze, "By Luna's moon…" because there she was, floating above the base in empty space, face black and skin pale.
"Captain," Night continued, "Report. Officer Scootaloze, PKD, deceased. Forty three K point one."
"She was twenty," Ida said, sorrow creeping into her voice, "Twenty years old." She trotted over to the wall and closed the window, hiding the black hole and Scooti from view. There was a moment of silence, which was odd. Moral was the first to notice, "It's stopped."
"What's stopped?" asked Roseluck.
"The drill," the Doctor replied.
"We've stopped drilling, we've made it, point zero," Ida said, excited despite the current depressing incident.
"All nonessential Ood to be confined," Zach ordered over the intercom. Said Ood began to follow Moral Stone out of the drilling area towards Ood habitation. Everypony had gathered in the drill area, even Zach had come. He was working on one of the computers again, programming the elevator's path when the Doctor walked up. He was wearing an orange space suit with a black sort of climbing harness hooked around all four of his hooves; balanced on his back was a yellow helmet with a large black tube coming out the back connecting to an oxygen bag. He walked up to Zach an saluted, "Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditory force."
"Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are," Zach warned.
"Yeah, but you trust me don't you? And you can't let Ida go down there on her own. Go on, look me in the eye, yes ou do, I can see it, trust."
"I should be going down."
"The Captain doesn't lead the mission, he stays here, in charge."
"Not much good at it am I?" Zach said grimly. "Positions! We're going down in two! Everypony positions! Mister Moon, I want maximum system enhancement!" He glanced back at the Doctor, and nodded. The Doctor smiled, Roseluck trotted up to him.
"Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity," he rambled, "It's ages since I wore one of these."
"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" asked Roseluck sternly, tapping him on the chest. He saluted again, "Yes sir." He grabbed the yellow helmet off his back and slipped it over his head.
"It's funny, because ponies back home think that space travel's going to be all whizzing about and teleports and anti gravity, but it's not is it?" she asked. "It's tough." The Doctor sealed his helmet, the lights inside blinked on, making his chestnut coat seem pale, "I'll see you later."
"Not is I see you first," she said, reaching up and pulling his helmet down close enough that she could kiss it. A good luck kiss you might say.
"You will remain here," ordered Moral Stone. The Ood made no motion they understood, "No command can override this. Got that? My instructions only."
"Capsule active, capsule active," Zach called over the intercom, since he'd returned to his post in the control room. "Counting down in ten, nine, eight," the Doctor and Ida Bee stepped into the elevator capsule, "Seven, six, five," Night Moon closed the door and sealed it, "Five, four, three, two, one, release!" The capsule began to lower into the shaft, gears grinding away to keep it at constant speed. Roseluck watched the progress on the computer control screen, clutching the microphone like it was a lifeline.
"You've gone beyond the oxygen field," Zach radioed, "You're on your own." The Doctor and Ida flipped the switches on their tiny oxygen boxes.
"Don't forget to breathe, breathing's good," Roseluck called, obviously nervous.
"Roseluck, stay off the comm," Zach ordered.
"No chance!" Suddenly, the capsule shuddered, and two ponies within were lifted off the floor by only a few inches, and luckily it slowed back down as they reached the bottom.
Suddenly, all the Ood got to their hooves. They turned to face Moral Stone, and looked up at him and a soldier. The two ponies glanced at eachother nervously, neither knowing what was going on.
"Ida, report to me, Doctor?" asked Zach, his voice static-y inside their helmets.
"It's alright, we've made it," the Doctor replied. "Getting out of the capsule now." He pushed open the door and stepped outside, Ida followed.
"What's it like down there?" asked Roseluck.
"It's hard to tell, some sort of cave, a cavern, it's massive!"
"Here, this should help," Ida said, she tossed a big white globe into the air, "Gravity globe." It rose into the air and glowed even brighter, lighting up the whole room. It was massive, large statues partially crumbled were carved into the walls, piles of stones from the shaft surrounded them, and in front of them was a massive tunnel that the canterlot castle could fit into. To the right, the cavern opened into and even bigger area, where walkways long since abandoned hung over an empty chasm. Both of them stopped, eyes wide.
"That's, that's, by Celestia's that's beautiful," Ida stammered.
"Roseluck, you can tell Hieroglyph we've found his lost civilization," the Doctor said with a smirk. He heard her relay the messageand Hiero mumble a reply.
"Concentrate guys, keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?" Ida checked her wrist device and started walking, the Doctor followed, looking around. "We're close, energy signature indicates north north west, are you getting pictures up there?"
"Too much interference. We're in your hooves."
"Well, we've come this far, no turning back now," Ida said. The Doctor stopped and groaned, "Oh did you have too? No turning back? That's almost as bad as nothing can possibly go wrong, or this Hearth's Warming will actually be sane!"
"Are you finished?" asked Ida sarcastically. The Doctor thought for a moment, "Yeah, finished," and kept walking.
"Captain, sir, something is wrong with the Ood," Moral radioed, keeping one eye on the staring Ood.
"What are they doing?"
"They're staring at me, I've told them to stop but they won't," Moral said nervously.
"Moral Stone, you're a big stallion, I think you can take being stared at."
"But the telepathic field sir, it's a basic one hundred. I've checked, there isn't any fault, definitely one hundred."
"But that's impossible."
"What's basic one hundred?" interrupted Roseluck.
"They should be dead. Basic one hundred's brain death."
"But they're safe, not acutally moving?"
"No sir."
"Keep watching them. Night Moon? Keep an eye on those Ood."
"Yes sir."
"Officers at arms!" him and the other soldier down their picked up their guns and aimed at the three Ood standing there.
"You can't fire a gun in here, what if you hit a wall?" asked Roseluck.
"We're firing stock fifteen, only impacts on organics," Night explained keeping it trained on the three Ood. "Keep watch, guard them."
"Is everything alright up there?" asked the Doctor.
"Yeah," Roseluck replied.
"It's fine," lied Zach.
"Great!" Moral bluffed.
The Doctor glanced at Ida and shrugged. They kept walking, into a large cavern with stone pillars. On the ground was a large thrity foot diameter metal seal with strange symbols like the ones Hieroglyph had studied, the inside looked like it was sliced into twelve pieces, with a single disk in the center, the edge was covered with rivets.
"We've found something, it looks like metal," the Doctor relayed. "Like some sort of seal. I've got a nasty feeling the word might be trap door. Not a good word, trapdoor. Never met a trapdoor I liked."
"The edge is covered with those symbols," Ida added.
"Do you think it opens?" asked Zach.
"That's what doors tend to do," the Time-Pony said with another shrug.
"Trapdoor doesn't do it justice, it's massive Zach. About thirty feet in diameter."
"Anyway of opening it Ida?"
"I don't know, I can't see any sort of mechanism," Ida said, tapping her hoof thoughtfully.
"I suppose that's the writing," the Doctor added, "It'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation."
"Hieroglyph, did you get anywhere with decoding it?"
"Hiero, they need to know that lettering," Roseluck relayed, looking over at the unicorn. He was bent double, head in his hooves, shivering. "Does it make any sort of sense?"
"I know what is says," he whispered.
"Then tell them."
"When'd you work it out?" asked Night.
"It doesn't matter, just tell them," Roseluck insisted. Slowly, hieroglyph stood, his face was covered with the symbols, and they were spreading across his coat. He smiled wickedly, eyes red, "These are the words of the Beast. And he has awoken," his voice was low and gruff, carrying a menacing undertone. "He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease. And now, he will rise!"
"Officer, stand down, stand down!" ordered Night Moon.
"What is it?" asked the Doctor. "What's he done? What's happening? Roseluck? What's-" he signal stopped and was interrupted with static.
"Night re-" Zach's voice was cut off as well. Roseluck stepped away from Hieroglyph nervously, backing towards the head of security.
"Officer, as Commander of Security, I order you to stand down and be confined, Immediately!"
"He come out in those symbols, they're all over him," Roseluck said, terrified.
"Mister Moon, tell me sir, did Luna ever forgive you?" asked Hieroglyph.
"I don't know what you mean," Night said sternly.
"Let me tell you a secret, she never did," he hissed.
"Officer, stand down and be confined!" Night ordered again.
"Or what?"
"Or, under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorized to shoot you."
"Oh, but how many can you kill?" Hieroglyph looked up to the ceiling, and his eyes glowed red, an inhuman groan began to emminate from some hidden place. The symbols began to float off his skin in wisps of black mist, this mist floated over to the Ood, and as it entered them, they jerked to attention. Hieroglyph, no longer covered with symbols, collapsed to the ground. The Ood turned and looked at them, their eyes blood red, and simultaneously with the Ood in the habitation, they spoke, "We are the legion of the beast!"
"Roseluck! What is it? Roseluck!" The Doctor made up his mind, "I'm going back up." He turned and started marching away from Ida.
"Night Moon report!" ordered Zach, typing as fast as he could, nothing was responding. "Somepony report!"
In Ood habitation, all the Ood had become red eyed.
"The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few," they said. One of them started walking forward, climbing the stairs towards Moral and the soldier with him.
"It's the Ood," Roseluck said, scared.
"Sir, we have a contamination in the livestock," Night Moon radioed nervously.
"Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed."
"They won't listen to us!"
"He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time," the Ood chanted. The one approaching Moral sped up, still speaking, "Some call him Abaddon, some call him Kroptor, some may call him Discord or Tartarus."
"Captain!" called Moral, "It's the Ood, thay're out of control!"
"Oh the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night," the Ood stopped, pulled off it's globe, and threw it at the soldier. The orb lathced onto her head and electricity began to pulse out of it, killing her.
"These are the words that shall set him free!"
"Back up to the door!" ordered Night Moon, keeping his gun trained on the Ood.
"I shall become manifest," the Ood continued, slowly walking towards them.
"Move quickly!"
"I shall walk in might!"
"To the door! Get it open!"
"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds!"
"Doctor! It's opening!" cried Ida as the center of the seal sunk in, and a ring of metal around that, and a ring of metal around that. Then the individual slices began to separate, the Doctor turned and started to come back when the planet began to shake. A voice echoed out of the pit and through their speakers, "I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the fear."
"The gravity field!" Zach called, the radios working long enough for him to tell them, "It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!"
"Get that door open!" cried Night Moon as Roseluck and his soldier struggled with the door.
"Door sealed," the computer kept repeating.
"Come on!"
"Door sealed."
"The Pit is open, and I AM FREE!"
To be continued in, the Satan Pit…
Me: Yeah, so, no, Doctor, you do it. *shoves him in front of the mic*
Doctor: Okay… uh, well, Miss. Who has been having a problem sticking to the once a week schedule, time being a problem and such with weddings and school and-
Me: just get on with it.
Doctor: Oh, right, well she will be moving it to a two week updating schedule instead. In other words, Hasbro owns all copyright to My Little Pony and the British Broadcasting Company owns all copyright to Doctor Who. Hope we can survive long enough to see you two weeks from now!