Doctor Whooves
The Doctor Dances
And part two of our lovely little gas mask catastrophe. And this time, we've got bananas! :P
How would you like it, if you were surrounded by practically dead, gas mask wearing, drone like pony-zombies, that were advancing towards you from all sides and if they toughed you you'd become like them? You'd probably be terrified. No, not terrified, hysterical, on the bridge of going into shock. But, the ponies in that situation, were anything but normal.
The Doctor, Roseluck, and Captain Jack Harness, were pressed against a wall, with at least a hundred of these things shuffling towards them. Halfway across Hoofdon, a Pegasus mare named AnnaBellee, was cornered by gas-mask that was the original, and also happened to be her baby brother. They were within touching distance, when the Doctor got an idea. They were all asking: "mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" So what if they thought they were kids?
The Doctor stepped forward.
"Go to your room," he ordered. All the patients stopped advancing, the colt did too. They cocked their heads, curious.
"Go to your room," the Doctor repeated sternly, "I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very very cross! Go, to, your, room!" They drones hung their heads sadly, turned, and shuffled back to their beds. The colt did the same, halfway across Hoofdon, with his head hung, he left the dining room and walked out of the house. Annabelle looked out the window and watched him slowly trot away.
"Oh Short Round," she said sadly, "I'm sorry."
Cue the Doctor Who intro song!
With the gas-mask zombies back in their beds, it was time to figure out what the hell was going on.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" she asked, standing as far away from them as possible.
"They're not," Jack replied, reclining at the desk, "Those masks are flesh and bone." The Doctor was pacing over by the door, deep in thought.
"How was your con supposed to work?" he asked, stopping and looking at Jack.
"Simple enough really. Fins some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest time agent follow it back to Gaia, convince them its valuable, name a price. When they've put fifty percent up front, oops! A chaos strike hits it, destroys it forever. They never get to see what they've paid for, never knows he's been had. I but him a drink with his own money and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah, perfect."
"The Hoofdon storm is great for self-cleaners. The Shellton flood is nice if you want to make a vacation about it. But you have to set your alarm for hurricane day," Jack explained with a laugh, he stopped. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room," the Doctor said angrily, "This is what your harmless piece of space junk did."
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty!" The Doctor turned and started to leave, "Roseluck."
"Are we getting out of here?" she asked.
"We're going upstairs."
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living!" Jack protested, "I harmed nopony. I don't know what's going on here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it!"
"I'll tell you what's happening," the Doctor said, hoof on the door, "You forgot to set your alarm. The hurricane's here!" A siren sounded from elsewhere in the city.
"What's that?" asked Roseluck.
"The all clear," Jack explained.
"I wish," muttered the Doctor, storming out.
AnnaBellee wiped a tear off her face just as the all clear siren sounded. She stood up and left the dining room, not much time before the family who lived here would return. She turned and tried to run out the back door, but as she walked towards the hall, a colt wearing a gas mask stepped in front of her. The both jumped in surprise, the little colt removed the gas mask.
"I thought you were Short Round," Belle grumbled before running past him out of the house. Once outside she readied her wings for take-off, but was stopped by the colt's father tackling her.
"Get off me!" she cried, struggling against his grip as he pulled her into the house, "Get your hooves off me!"
The Doctor had disappeared, Roseluck and Captain Jack were racing through the hospital trying find him.
"Mister Clockwork?"
"Doctor!" They ran past a staircase, the Doctor was just one floor up.
"Have you got a blaster?" he asked, the duo skidded to a stop and raced back.
"Sure!" Jack chirped, galloping up the stairs and pulling out a silver and blue gun thing. Rose4luck followed the other two to room 802, an observation room with a heavy steel door.
"The night your space junk landed, somepony was hurt, this is where they were taken," the Doctor explained.
"What happened?" asked Roseluck.
"Let's find out," he turned to Jack, "Get it open." As Jack readied his blaster, Roseluck whispered to the Doctor: "What's wrong with the sonic screwdriver?"
"Nothing," the Doctor whispered back. Zap! Jack fired his blaster and carved a perfect square where the door's lock was.
"Sonic blaster," the Doctor noted, taking the gun for a closer look, "fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?"
"You've been to the factories?" asked Jack.
"Once."
"well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical, vaporized the lot."
"Like I said, once," the Time-Pony replied, handing the blaster back. "There's a banana grove there now, I like bananas. Bananas are good." (true dat!) And he went into the room. Roseluck looked at the blast pattern, "Nice shot."
"Digital."
"Squareness gun."
"Yep."
"I like it." And they too entered the room.
It was a standard observation room. File cabinets, a desk with recording instruments, and a shattered observing window. Glass littered the floor, along with scattered papers and a discarded, what? A discarded teddy bear.
"What do you think?" asked the Doctor, shifting through the papers on the desk.
"Something got out of here," Jack replied.
"Yes, and?"
"Something powerful, and angry."
"Powerful and angry." Roseluck walked past the first room and into the second, papers were taped up on the wall. Each one had a crayon drawing of a family on it, but the walls were covered in them too. There was a small bed thrown sideways against the wall, and a crushed rocking horse in the corner.
"A child?" she asked.
"Guess this explains mummy," Jack added.
"How could a child do this?" she questioned looking at the smashed window. The Doctor activated a recording device on the desk, it started to playback the tape.
"Do you know where you are?" asked the voice of a doctor.
"Are you my mummy?" came the colt's reply.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you, can you see?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know where-"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mumy?"
"Doctor, I've heard this voice before," Roseluck said, kind of scared.
"Me too," he replied.
"Mummy?"
"Always, are you my mummy? Like he doesn't know," Rosleuck said, "Why doesn't he know?"
"Are you there mummy? Mummy!"
"the police are on their way," Mr. Wells said, locking the door behind him. Annabelle rolled her eyes, like the police could punish her that badly. There was a bigger problem and she had to fix it.
"I paid for the food on this table," Mr. Wells began, "The sweat on my brow that food is. The sweat, on my brow. (Ew. Really?) Anything else you'd like? I've got a whole, house here. Anything else you'd like to, help yourself to?" Belle smiled up at him.
"Yeah, I'd like some wire cutters please," she said sweetly, "Something that can cut through barbed wire. Oh, and a torch." Mr. Wells looked surprised. "Don't look at me like that Mr. Wells, I know you've got plenty of tools here. I've been watching this house for some time. Oh, and I'd like another look around your kitchen cupboards, I was in a hurry the first time, I want to see if I missed anything."
"The food on this table-"
It's an awful lot of food isn't it Mr. Wells," Belle interrupted, "A lot more than on anypony else's table. Half this street thinks something fishy is going on in this house. Is that true Mr. Wells?" she asked sarcastically. Belle stood up and looked him in the eye, "Wire cutter, torch, food. Oh, and I'd like to use your bathroom before I leave. Oh look, there's the sweat on your brow." And she trotted out of the room.
The Doctor shook his head, then ran into the other half of the room. He walked along the walls, ears twitching like he was searching for something.
"Doctor?"
"Can you sense it?" he asked.
"Sense what?" asked Jack.
"Coming out of the walls, can you feel it?" He stopped walking and stared aat them in disbelief, "Look at you, your both so vacant. How do manage?" (Sherlock quote)
"When he's stressed he likes to insult species," Roseluck explained, "Cuts himself shaving, does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than."
"Mummy?"
"There are these foals," the Doctor began, stopping in front of the shattered window, :living rough around the strike sites. They come out during storms looking for food."
"Mummy please!"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?"
"It was a med-ship it was harmless," Jack insisted.
"Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?" The tape ran out, making a clicky clicky noise as it continued to spin.
"Altered how?" asked Roseluck.
"I'm here!"
"It's afraid," the Doctor realized, "Terribly afraid, and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will. It's got the power of a god and I just sent it to its room."
"Doctor."
"I'm here. Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise?" asked Roseluck, scared.
"End of the tape," the Doctor replied, "It ran out about thirty seconds ago."
"I'm here now. Can't you see me?"
"I sent it to its room," the Doctor said with a quirky smile, "This is its room." He spun around and lo and behold the gas masked colt himself was standing in the doorway.
"Are you my mummy?" he asked, looking directly at Roseluck.
"Okay, on my signal, make for the door," Jack instructed.
"Mummy?"
"Now!" He aimed his blaster at the colt, but it was a banana. The Doctor smirked at him before nicking the blaster and firing it at the wall creating a large square to exit.
"Go now!" he cried, "Don't drop the banana!"
"Why not?!" asked Jack, leaping through.
"Good source of potassium!" Roseluck leapt second then the Doctor followed. Jack snatched his blaster back and fired it a second time at the wall,, reversing the shot and filling the hole back together.
"Digital rewind," he said tossing the banana back to the Doctor, "Nice switch."
"It's from the groves of Villenguard," the Doctor explained pocketing the snack, "I thought it was appropriate."
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villenguard and you did that?"
"Bananas are good." CRACK! Suddenly, the newly fixed wall began to crack as the colt forced his way through.
"Doctor!"
"Come on!" and they ran, but as they were about hallway down the hall, the doors at the end flung open and an army of patients marched towards them. They skidded to a stop and ran the opposite direction, but another group was coming. Trapping them in front of the cracking and failing brick wall.
"It's keeping us here until it can get at us," the Doctor said nervously.
"It's controlling them?" Jack cried, aiming his blaster at them.
"It is them! It's every living thing in this hospital!
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc what'cha got?"
"I've got a sonic," he pulled out the screwdriver, "Oh never mind."
"What?"
"It's sonic okay? Let's leave it at that."
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?!" The patients were closing in and the wall wouldn't last much longer.
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!"
"A sonic what!?"
"Screwdriver!" The wall finally crumbled and the patients were less than a yard away on either side. Roseluck grabbed Jack's blaster and aimed it at the floor, "Going down!" and she blasted it. Sending all three of them falling down into the ward below. Jack caught himself midair, grabbed the blaster, and repaired the ceiling.
"Doctor, you okay?" asked Roseluck.
"Could've used a warning," he replied getting to his hooves and wiping cement dust off his jacket.
"Oh the gratitude."
"Who has a Sonic Screwdriver?" asked Jack landing in front of the Doctor.
"I do," the Doctor replied.
"We've got to find the lights," Roseluck said, searching.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and says, ooh, this could be a little more sonic?"
"What, you've never been bored?"
"There's got to be a light switch."
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" Roseluck found the lights and clicked them on. All the patients in the ward sat straight up and began calling Mummy? Once more.
"Run!" Roseluck yelled.
"Door!" They ran over to another door, hopefully and exit, Jack tried to blast out the lock. Once, twice, three times, nope.
"Dang it!" he yelled smacking the gun. "Stupid special features, they always drain the battery." The Doctor shoved past, screwdriver at the ready, and scanned the lock. It popped open and they ran inside. They slammed it shut behind them and the Doctor super-locked it.
"It runs on a battery?" Roseluck asked, "That's so lame!"
"I was going to order another but somepony's got to blow up the factory," Jack said sarcastically.
"Okay, the door should hold it for a bit," the Doctor said running past them.
"The door? The wall didn't stop it!"
"Well it's got to find us first. Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!" He began to search the room, Jack merely sat down in an idle wheelchair.
"Well I've got a banana and in a pinch you could put up some shelves," he said.
"Window-"
"Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories."
"And no other exits," added Roseluck.
"Well the assets conversation went by in a flash, didn't it?" The Doctor looked at Roseluck skeptically, "So, where'd you meet this one?"
"Doctor…"
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship, I never stood a chance." Jack joked.
"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" asked the Doctor returning to his search. Roseluck glanced back at Jack, but only saw an empty wheelchair.
"Yeah, Jack just disappeared."
Annabelle stepped into the ramshackle shack and saw five foals sitting in there, Dusty, Lightning, and three others. Dusty was typing away on a typewriter, making a click click noise.
"Thought as much," she sighed, "What are all of you doing here? Different house every night, I told you."
"We thought you were dead," Dusty explained, "Or you'd run off." Click, click.
"I didn't," Lightning explained proudly, "I knew you'd come back for us." Click, click, click. Belle sighed and dumped her saddle bags out onto the floor, apples and a few pieces of cheese tumbled out. Click, click-click.
"Found that old thing in the junk, thinks he can write now," Lightning explained.
"I'm writing a letter to me dad," Dusty added. Click, clickity click.
"You don't even know where your dad is. And how're you going to send it?" click, click click.
"I don't know, stick it in an envelope?" Click click.
"You can't even read or write." Click.
"I don't need to, I've got a machine." Click, click, click click.
"Will you stop making that noise!" Belle ordered, Dusty stopped, hooves poised over the keyboard. "I'm sorry Dusty, on you go, you write a letter to your dad if you want to."
"I know we should'v gone to another house, but we need you, for the thinking," Lightning explained.
"And what if I wasn't here?" Dusty stopped typing, "What if one night, I didn't come back? There's a chaos storm out there. Ponies go out and they don't always come back. It happens, what would you do then?" Lightning spotted the wire cutters and picked them up, "Why do you have wire cutters?"
"I need you to think about it. Somepony's got to look after this lot."
"Why? Are you going somewhere?"
"The crash site," she said. There was a collective gasp. Click, click. "The one at the railway station."
"Why?" Click.
"The colt, that's where he was killed. That's where it all started. And I'm going to find out how." Click click click.
"He'll get you, and then he'll come for us! He always comes for us!" click click click click.
"No lightning, he doesn't. He always come after me," Belle said, taking the wire cutters and standing up. "There are things I haven't told you. Things I can't tell you." Click click click, "As long as you're with me, you're in danger. Even now, sitting her, you're in danger because of me." click click.
"You're the one who keeps us safe!" click click click.
"You think so Lightning? Then answer this. Dusty sitting right there next to you. So who's typing?" Nopony was typing, it was going on it's own. Click, click, click, click, and then it stopped. Belle reached over and took the paper.
"Belle? Is he coming?" asked Lightning.
"Lightning, as long as your with me, he's always coming." She looked at the others, "Plenty of greens, and chew your food!" Belle threw the paper down and ran out of the shack. Lightning reached forward and picked up the crumpled paper, beneath Dusty's typed gibberish, was the phrase: Are you my mummy? Over and over.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air," Roseluck noted, "Why is it always the great looking ones that do that?" The Doctor glared at her, "I'm making an effort not to be insulted."
"I mean stallions," she explained.
"Okay thanks, that really helps." Suddenly the radio sitting in a wall alcove, unplugged and probably broken, crackled to life.
"Roseluck? Doctor? Can you hear me?" Both of them dashed over to the radio. "I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security keyed to my molecular structure."
"How're you speaking to us?" asked the Doctor, holding up a torn and frayed radio plug.
"Om-com," Jack explained, "I can call anything with a speaker grill."
"Now there's a coincidence."
"What is?"
"The colt can om-com too."
"He can?" asked Roseluck.
"Anything with a speaker grill. Even the Tardis phone."
"What, you mean the colt can phone us?"
"And I can hear you, time to find you! Time to find you!" the colt sang over the radio.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" asked Jack
"Loud and clear."
"I'll try to block it out. Least I can do."
"Coming to find you mummy!"
"Remember this one Roseluck?" Jazz began to play out of the radio, the same song she and Jack had danced to on his ship.
"Our song," she explained when the Doctor looked confused.
Annabelle landed just outside the rail station without so much as a crunch of gravel under hoof. Guards walked about, around the gate and the thing it was hiding. She pulled out the wire cutters and leaned in close to the gate. A portion of it was simply wrapped with barbed wire, nothing else. Snip, twang! She cut the wire, and cringed at the loud noise it made.
Roseluck was bored, she was stuck in a gas mask zombie infected hospital, trapped in a store room with no way out, and she was bored. To cure her boredom, she was sitting in a wheelchair, wheeling it around the room. The Doctor was pointing his Sonic Screwdriver at the wall, and not moving.
"What'cha doin?" asked Roseluck, spinning the chair around to face him.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete," the Doctor explained, focused on the wall, "Loosen the bars."
"You don't think he's coming back, do you?"
"Wouldn't bet my life."
"Why don't you trust him?"
"I don't trust anypony I've met twice. And the first time he knew us before we knew him."
"What?"
"Why do you trust him?"
"He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing. I trust him because he's like you. Except with more dating and dancing." The Doctor stopped scanning and looked at her. "What?"
"You assume I'm,"
"What?"
"You just assume I don't dance.
'What, are you telling me you do dance?" He turned back to his oh-so important concrete wall, "Nine hundred years old, I've been around a bit, I think you can assume I've danced."
"You?"
"Problem?"
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?"
"Well I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast." Roseluck smirked, stepped out of the wheelchair and over to the radio. The jazz music got louder, the Doctor turned around and found Roseluck smirking at him.
"You've got the moves? Show me your moves."
"Roseluck, I'm trying to resonate concrete."
"Jack will be back. He'll get us out. So come on," she held out her hoof, "The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances." The Doctor put his sonic away then stepped off the window ledge. But instead of dancing with Roseluck, he looked closely at her hooves.
"Barrage balloon?" he asked.
"What?"
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon."
"Oh yeah, about two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet in the air, middle of a chaos storm, Union Jack on my back."
"I've traveled with a lot of ponies, but you're setting new records for jeopardy friendly."
"Is this you dancing? Because I've got notes."
"Hanging from a rope thousands of feet above Hoofdon. Not a cut not a bruise."
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up."
"Oh we're calling him Captain Jack now are we?"
"Well, his name's Jack and He's a captain."
"He's not really a captain Roseluck."
"Do you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy," Roseluck said, half-jokingly. "You'll find your hooves at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."
"If he ever was a Captain, he's been defrocked."
"Yeah? Shame I missed that."
"Actually, I quit. Nopony takes my frock." Roseluck and the Doctor stepped back from each other, into the walls of Jack's spaceship. "You know, most ponies notice when they've been teleported. You two are so sweet. Sorry about the delay, I had to take the nav-com offline to override teleport security."
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember who's ship it is."
"Oh i do," Jack replied, "She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes."
"This is a Chula ship," the Doctor noted.
"Yeah, just like the medical transport, only this one is dangerous." Jack explained. Suddenly, a cloud of nanogenes swarmed the Doctor's left hoof.
"Those are what fixed me up," Roseluck said.
"Nanobots? No, nanogenes."
"Nanogenes yeah."
"Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here." He inspected his hoof, "Burned my hoof on the console when we landed. All better now. The activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." He turned to Jack, "take us to the crash site, I need to see your 'space junk'."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online," jack said, spinning the chair around to the controls, "until then, make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever you two were doing."
"We were talking about dancing."
"It didn't look like talking."
"And it didn't feel like dancing," Roseluck added.
Belle crawled through the opening in the barbed wire, she was in. She quickly and silently dashed over to the crashed object. But as she began to pull off the tarp, bright lights flashed on all around her and rifles chck-chcked. She was surrounded.
"So, you used to be a Time Agent, and now you're trying to con them?" Roseluck asked, sitting against the wall while Captain Jack rebooted the nav-com.
"If it make me sound any better, it's not for money," Jack replied.
"What's it for then?"
"Woke one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memory. Two years of my life, no idea what I did." He glanced back at the Doctor. "Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know, he's right not to." He turned back and flipped a few more switches, "Okay, we are good to go. Crash site?"
The soldiers escorted Belle into a parked traincar to serve as a temporary holding cell. A stallion was in there, he was resting his forehead against the table, he was also very pale. The minute Belle came in he tried to stand up and salute.
"As you were," the lead soldier escorting her said, "Feeling any better Finch?"
"Just a touch sir," the pale stallion replied, sitting back down.
"Chain her up," the leader said, "We'll leave her here where Finch can keep an eye on her."
"No, not in here. Not with him," she begged. She'd spotted something the soldiers hadn't, a Y shaped scar on the bottom of Finch's hoof.
"You shouldn't have broken in here if you didn't want to stay," the leader said as she was hoof-cuffed to a leg of the table across from Finch.
"You don't understand, not with him!" Belle begged.
"This is a restricted area miss. You can just sit here for a bit. We're going to have to ask you a few questions."
"Found these sir," one of the other soldiers said, handing the Captain her wirecutters.
"Very professional. A little bit too professional. Didn't just drop in by accident did you?"
"My little brother died here, I came to find out what killed him." The Captain looked back at his soldiers, "Take the men, check the fence for any other breaches and search the area. She may not have come here alone." The soldiers saluted then galloped off.
"Please!" Annabelle begged, "You can't leave me here!"
"Watch her Finch."
"Yes mummy," Finch replied shakily.
"Finch?"
"Sorry sir, I don't know what's the matter with me."
"Look, lock me up fine but not here! Anywhere but here! Please!" The Captain glanced at her once more, then left the room.
"You'll be alright miss," Finch said, wheezing, "I'm just a little.. just a little, just a little, What's the matter with you?" Belle kept pulling on the chains trying to get them to snap or anything.
"Please let me go," she begged again.
"Why would I do that?" asked Finch.
"Because you've got a scar on your hoof."
"Yes well I don't see how that's go to-"
"And you feel like you're going to be sick, like something's forcing its way up your throat. I know because I've seen it before."
"What's happening to me?" asked Finch, desperate and terrified.
"In a minute, you won't be you anymore," Belle said solemnly, "You won't even remember you. And unless you let me go, it's going to happen to me. Please."
"What're you talking about?"
"What's your mother's name?" asked Belle.
"Marsh," he replied, short of breath.
"You got a wife?"
"Yes."
"Wife's name," she instructed, "You got kids? What's your name? Please, let me go. It's too late for you. I'm sorry, but please, let, me, go."
"What do you mmmmm," too late, "Mmmmmm, muh, mummy!"
The Doctor, Roseluck, and Captain Jack Harness had arrived at the train station. They were hiding behind a parked train preparing a plan of attack.
"There it is," Jack said, pointing to the large pink tarp covered thing. "Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important."
"We've got to get past him," the Doctor said.
"Are the words distract the guard heading in my direction?" asked Roseluck.
"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Jack warned.
"Don't worry, I can handle it," Roseluck said defensively.
"I've gotten to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him." He turned and hopped on top of the train they were hiding behind, "Don't wait up!" Roseluck watched nervously as Jack approached his friend.
"Relax, he's a fifty first century guy," the Doctor said, "He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."
"How flexible?" asked Roseluck.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread across half the galaxy."
"Meaning?"
"So many species so little time." Roseluck groaned and face-hoofed, he couldn't be serious.
Down by the fence, Jack waltzed up to his friend.
"Hey tiger, how's it hanging?" he asked. Algy turned and looked at him, head cocked curiously.
"Mummy?" he asked.
"Algy, old sport, it's me."
"Mummy?" he asked again.
"It's me, Jack."
"Jack? Are you my mummy?" Algy's head snapped back and he fell to the ground, Jack watched as his friend's face grew into a gas mask Roseluck and the Doctor ran out from their hiding place.
"Stay back!" the Doctor cried.
"You men, stay back!" Jack ordered. The Doctor knelt next to morphed Algy, "The effect's become airborne, accelerating."
"What's keeping us safe?" asked Roseluck.
"Nothing," the Doctor replied grimly. The storm siren started to scream again.
"Oh here they come again," Jack yelled.
"Wonderful!" Roseluck said sarcastically, "Wait, didn't you say a cloud was going to strike here?"
"Never mind that, if the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left," the Doctor said.
"Till what?" asked Jack.
"Until nothing, forever. For the entire planet. And can anypony else hear singing?" Indeed, somepony was singing a lullaby. Belle, still trapped in the train car, with a gas masked stallion right in front of her, was singing to keep him asleep. She had just finished a song when the door creaked open, the Doctor motioned for her to keep singing. She kept going, he crept forward, sonic in hoof, and scanned to chain cuff keeping her attached to the table.
Snap! The cuffs broke and they ran out of there.
Jack threw back the large pink tarp, revealing a large metal crashed ship.
"You see?" he said, "Just and ambulance."
"That's an ambulance?" asked Belle in disbelief.
"It's kind of hard to explain," Roseluck said, "It's from another world."
"They've been trying to get in," Jack noted, looking at scratch marks that could only be made by crowbars and spells.
"Of course they have," the Doctor said, "They think it's some sort of super weapon or something. What're you doing?" Jack was typing numbers into the key pad, "The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it." Bang! The console sparked violently and an alarm began to scream.
"That did not happen last time," Jack said, hooves raised.
"It hadn't crash last time. There'll be emergency protocols."
"Doctor, what is it?" asked Roseluck.
It was calling the troops, every single gas-mask-for-a-face-pony stood up, and began to march towards the crash site, with the colt in the lead. Some were already there, slamming on the gates trying to get it open.
"Doctor!"
"Captain, secure those gates!" the Doctor commanded.
"Why?" asked jack.
"Just do it!" Jack turned, and ran for the metal gates. "Belle, how'd you get in?"
"I cut the wire," she replied.
"Show Roseluck," he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and tossed it to her, "Setting two thousand four hundred twenty eight D."
"What?" she asked, catching it with her teeth.
"It reattached barbed wire, go!" She nodded and followed Annabelle. They found the cut wire crawlspace she'd come through the first time. Rosleuck activated the sonic and Belle held the wire together.
"Who are you?" Belle finally asked, "Who are any of you?"
"You'd never believe me if I told you," Roseluck replied, the wire seald up and they started on the second.
"You just told me that was an ambulance from another world. There are ponies running around with gas mask head calling for their mummies, and the sky is full of chaos clouds trying destroy us. Tell me, do you think there's anything left couldn't believe?"
"We're time travelers from the future," Roseluck said.
"mad you are."
"We have a time travel machine. Seriously!"
"It's not that. Alright, you can travel through time, I believe you. But what future?"
"Belle, this isn't the end. I know how it looks, but it's not the end of the world or anything."
"How can you say that? Look around you!"
"Listen to me. I was born in this city, I'm from here in like fifty years' time."
"From here?"
"I'm a Hoofdoner, from your future."
"But how? The city must be gone by then."
"Belle, the cloud doesn't destroy everything. It doesn't win. Don't tell anypony I told you so, but you know what? You win."
"We win?" Roseluck smiled, the last piece of wire fit itself together, and they ran back to the ship. Jack had finally gotten the ship open, but the alarm still blared loudly.
"It's empty look at it," he said.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops?" asked the Doctor sarcastically, "Roseluck, any ideas?"
"I don't know."
"Yes you do." She gasped, "Nanaogenes!"
"It wasn't empty Captain, there was enough nanogenes in that ship to rebuild a species."
"Oh come on!" Jack cried angrily.
"getting it now are we? Whe the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead colt, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gas mask."
"nd they brought him back to life? They can do that?" asked Roseluck.
"What's life? Life's easy, a quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh," the Doctor replied, "Nothing to a nanogene. One problem though, these nanogenes aren't like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a pony before. Don't know what a pony's supposed to look like, and all they've got is one little body and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on, they do what they were programmed to do.
"They patch him up, can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they door their best. Then off they fly, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what a pony's supposed to look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop, they won't ever ever stop. The entire Equestrian race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified colt looking for his mother and nothing in the world can stop it!"
"I didn't know," Jack said, defeated. The Doctor turned, and began to work on the ambulance. Belle looked around, and saw a giant crowd of gas mask ponies approaching the compound.
"Roseluck!" she called. Roseluck ran over and saw the crowd
"It's bringing the gas mask ponies here, isn't it?"
"The ship think's it's under attack. It's calling the troops. Standard protocol."
"But they aren't troops."
"They are now, this is a battle field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, program you."
"That's why the colt's so strong," Roseluck realized, "that's why can Om-com."
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hooves of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there was an army of them." They were surrounded, gas masks in every direction, even up. The Doctor slid off of the ship.
"Why don't they attack?" asked Jack.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander," the Doctor replied.
"The colt?"
"Short Round."
"What?"
"Not the colt, Short Round," Belle corrected angrily.
"How long till the cloud strikes?" asked Roseluck.
"Any second," Jack replied nervously.
"What's the matter captain? A little too close to the eye of the storm for you?"
"He's just a little boy," Belle moaned, "He's just a little boy who wants his mummy."
"I know, there isn't a little colt born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy," said the Doctor, "and this one can."
"So what're we going to do?" asked Roseluck.
"I don't know," the Doctor replied. Belle began to cry, "This is all my fault."
"No."
"It is, it's all my fault," she insisted.
"How can it be your-"
"Mummy! Mummy!" the patients cried. The Doctor looked at Belle, then it dawned on him.
"Belle, how old are you?" he asked, "Twenty? Twenty one? Older than you look yes?" Crack! Outside the fence, there was a strike of chaos energy, nearly hitting some of the gas masked soldiers.
"Doctor, the strike, we've got seconds," Jack cried, panicking.
"You can teleport us out," Roseluck said.
"Not you guys, the nav-com's back online. It'll take too long to override the protocols."
"So it's hurricane day, do what you've got to do."
"Jack!" But he'd already vanished in a flash of blue.
"How old were you five years ago?" the Doctor asked Belle, "Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth anyway. He's not your brother is he?" Belle nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"A teenage single mother in 841, so you hid. You lied. You even lied to him." Crash! The crash site gates swung open, Short Round was standing there with a battalion of others behind him.
"Are you my mummy?" he asked.
"he's going to keep asking belle. He's never going to stop." Belle wiped away her tears, and looked up at her, only son.
"Tell him Belle," the Doctor said, "The future of Equestria is in your hooves. Trust me, and tell him." Belle nodded, and she walked away from the Doctor and towards Short Round. The little colt walked forward as well.
"Are you my mummy?" he asked, looking up at Belle.
"Yes," she whispered, "Yes, I am your mummy."
"Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"Are you my mummy?"
"He doesn't understand," the Doctor said, "There's not enough of him left."
"I am your mummy," Belle said firmly, "I will always be your mummy." She knelt down and hugged Short Round, "I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry." A cloud of nanogenes suddenly appeared around them both, they kept swirling around, seemingly confused.
"What's happening?" asked Roseluck, "Doctor, it's changing her, we should-" The Doctor stopped her from interfering
"Shh," he looked back, "Come on, please. Come on you clever little nanogenes, figure it out. The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out."
"What's happening?"
"Their recognizing the same DNA," the Doctor explained. The nanogenes dispersed, flying off in all directions. Short Round let go of Belle, she fell back. The Doctor ran forward, "Oh come on, give me a day like this. Give me this one." He reached forward and pulled off the gas mask. Underneath, was a smiling colt with huge blue eyes and rosy cheeks.
The Doctor began to smile, he lifted up Short Round and swung him around, "Welcome back! 10 years till jazz music, your going to love it." He set the colt down.
"What happened?" asked Annabelle standing up and hugging her son.
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA," the Doctor explained giddily, "They didn't change you because you changed them!"
"Doctor! The cloud!"
"Taken care of it," he replied.
"How?"
"Psychology." The very cloud that was going to strike was about to get I position when a blue beam of light appeared and caught it, Jack's space ship flew into sight. Jack appeared on top of the cloud.
"Doctor!" he called.
"Good lad!" the Time-Pony replied.
"The cloud's already charged and ready to fire. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long."
"Change of plans. Don't need the cloud. Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can?"
"Roseluck!"
"Yes?"
"Goodbye." Then he and the cloud vanished, but they reappeared a second later.
"By the way," he called, "Love the jacket." And he disappeared. The whole ship flew off into space.
The Doctor walked a few feet away from the ship, a cloud of nanogenes suddenly surrounded him.
"What're you doing?" asked Roseluck.
"Software patch," he replied, "going to e-mail the upgrade. You want moves Roseluck? I'll give you moves." He spun around twice then thrust his hooves out, sending a wave of golden robots towards the still gas masked patients. They collapsed, but they did return to normal.
"Everypony lives Roseluck," the Doctor said happily, "Just this once, EVERYPONY LIVES!" and they were all alive, every single one. Nopony had died, for the first time in Whooves history, nopony had died of anything! The Doctor ran over to Doctor Constantine, who was testing his legs, in surprise that they were working.
"Doctor Constantine, who never left his patients. Back on your hooves, the world isn't quite ready to get along without you just yet and I don't blame it one bit. These are your patients, all better now."
"Yes, yes, so it seems. They also appear to be standing in a disused railway station, is there any particular reason for that?"
"Yeah well, cut backs. Listen, whatever was wrong with them before, you're probably going to find that they are cured. Just tell them what a great Doctor you are, don't make a large fuss. Okay?" Constantine nodded, the Doctor smiled and galloped back over to the spaceship. He climbed right up on top.
"Right you lot, lots to do," he called to all the ponies, "beat the storm, save the world, and don't forget those trade routes!" He knelt down and began to work on the ship's controls, "Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everypony is clear. History says there was an explosion here, who am I to argue with history?"
"Usually the first in line," Roseluck added.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I told them to. Annabelle and Short Round will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, fantastic!" the Doctor ran up into the Tardis and straight to the center, wearing a smile and talking a million miles a minute.
"Look at you, beaming like you've got a golden ticket," Roseluck said.
"Who says I don't? Fancy a trip to the gala Roseluck?"
"What?!"
"Go on, ask me anything, I'm on fire!"
"What about Jack?" asked Roseluck, popping the mood bubble, "Why'd he say goodbye?"
Out in space, light minutes away from Gaia, Jack's ship was cruising trying to find a suitable place to dump the chaos cloud.
"Okay computer, how long can we keep the cloud in stasis?" he asked, glancing back at the multi-colored cloud inside the containment pod, spiking and shifting erratically.
"Stasis decaying at ninety percent cycle," the computer said cheerfully, "detonation in three minutes."
"Can we jettison it?" asked Captain Jack hopefully.
"Any attempt to jettison the device will precipitate detonation. One hundred percent probability." Jack groaned, "We could stick it in an escape pod."
"There is no escape pod on board."
"I see the flaw in that, I'll get in the escape pod."
"There is no escape pod on board."
"Did you check everywhere?"
"Affirmative."
"Under the sink?!"
"Affirmative." Jack sighed and leaned back in the chair, "Okay, out of one hundred, exactly how dead am I?"
"Termination of Captain Jack Harness in under two minutes. One hundred percent probability."
"Lovely, thanks. Good to know the numbers."
"You're welcome." The ship replied.
"Okay then, I think we'd better initiate emergency protocol four one seven."
"Affirmative." On the dash board beside him, a large mug of ice cold cider materialized. Jack picked it up and took a sip.
"Oo, little too much cinnamon. See if I come here again." He took another drink, tapping the side of his mug with his hoof thoughtfully.
"Funny thing, last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-lattes for my breakfast, all really a blur after that. Woke up with both of my executioners in the aftermath of some kind of super party. Lovely couple, they stayed in touch. Can; say that about most executioners." He took another swig of cider, "Anyways, thanks for everything computer, it's been great." Suddenly, he heard music. The same song he and Roseluck had danced to, coming from the back of the ship.
Jack swiveled the chair around and looked past the chaos cloud in stasis, at the back of his ship was a blue box with the doors wide open. Inside, Jack could see the Doctor and Roseluck, dancing.
"Well hurry up then!" Roseluck called. Jack leapt out of his seat and ran for the Tardis, and safe! The two other time travelers were making an attempt to dance to the waltz music. Roseluck was doing a pretty good job, the Doctor, not so much.
"Okay, and right and turn. Hey, ow, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don't get my hoof up my back. No extra points for a half nelson."
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff," the Doctor grumbled, "Hey! Close the door will you? Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draft." Jack turned around and shut the door, the Doctor started up the engines.
"Welcome to the Tardis." Jack looked about, "Much bigger on the inside."
"you'd better be."
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say, is that you may cut in," Roseluck said, holding her hoof out to Jack. Suddenly, the music changed from waltz to swing, a bouncy tune with horns of all sorts. The Doctor began to bob his head to the beat.
"Roseluck!" he called, "I've just remembered!"
"What?"
"I can dance!" he said tapping his hooves and bouncing to the beat, "I can dance!"
"Actually Doctor, I thought jack might like this dance."
"I'm sure he would Roseluck, I'm absolutely certain. But who with?" Roseluck smiled, jumped up onto the platform, and danced with her alien partner. She was right, the world doesn't end because the Doctor dances.
To be continued in Boom Town…
Me: Voila, another episode finished. Disclaimers and stuff, moving on.
Next week's episode might come a tad late, aka, 5/22/13 by the very latest. Why? My family is going camping and I might not finish on time. So wish me luck that I might be able to get it in on time, or close to on time. Until then, Avante!