Doctor And Assistant, Chap. 25
Chapter 25: Vamponies
/Lilly\\
"Hey, Doctor?" Lilly asked her father.
"Yes?"
"Can we go to Ponyville?"
He paused, grinning and leaning away from the monitor after finishing his typing. "Why?"
She froze. The true reason was because if Derpy was pregnant and changed into a pony, what'd happen to the child? Dimensional traveling would be dangerous now. And technically right now she wasn't pregnant, so it turns out now is the perfect time to make a decision.
But he couldn't know that. Not now.
"Oh, you know, I'm curious," she shrugged. "I've only been there once and I haven't even been outside."
The Doctor laughed, ruffling her hair. She pouted, doing the same to him out of revenge. "I don't see why not. Can you go get your mother?"
"Okay!" she said happily, romping away as Hydran and Scarlet flew into the control room on cue.
/Derpy\\
Derpy yawned, leaning her head against the headboard of her bed. She was, for unexplainable reasons, completely exhausted.
A knock was heard against her door and she faintly said "come in."
"Mum?" Lilly asked, walking in. "The Doctor says that we're going to Ponyville!"
Derpy grinned. "No he did not!" she gasped in shock, waking up completely.
"Yes he did!"
"Was it your idea?" Derpy asked jokingly.
She paused. "Well, I mean, um..." Lilly stammered, pulling at her ear.
"I'm surprised you're not a biological child of the Doctor's," she laughed. "You're doing exactly what he does!"
Lilly froze at "'biological child'", but soon faded into laughter. Derpy could hear her nervousness projecting and eyed her carefully.
A few awkward moments passed before Derpy cleared her throat and hopped out of bed.
"Well, big day ahead of us; how about we get going?" Derpy suggested, smiling.
Lilly nodded, sharing her expression as they walked into the corridors.
"Hey," the psychic smiled after a pause, "are you feeling any better?"
"Wha-oh! Oh, oh yeah," she stammered, laughing nervously. She didn't want to tell anyone about what her and the Doctor had discussed last night, what with the fact they could be wrong, or something could happen early on. She shuddered at the last thought.
"Glad to hear it," Lilly grinned, slightly laughing at her reply.
"Glad to hear what?" the Doctor yelled from the control room, followed by his adorable, maniac-laughter.
"You're laughing; have you made a discovery or something?" Derpy yelled back.
"If you can call it that," they heard Scarlet answer. Hydran laughed.
"Oi!" the Doctor cried out defensively.
"Uh oh, cat fight," Hydran declared.
Lilly and Derpy finally made it into the control room and observed the scene while walking to it's inhabitants. Hydran was doing slow and leisurely laps around the protruding cylinder that emerged from the desk. Scarlet and the Doctor were standing in front of the monitor, and her boyfriend had the annoyed/defeated expression of someone who'd been judged the entire time.
"Oh, guys, leave the old man alone," Derpy sighed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and looking at what was on the monitor.
"Yeah, respect your elders!" the Doctor agreed, causing everyone to laugh.
"Anyways, what 'grand discovery' have you made today?" Lilly asked.
The Doctor tapped the monitor several times, standing straighter.
"Only the location for our beloved Ponyville, Equestria," he grinned.
Derpy furrowed her brow in confusion, her right eye gliding upwards. "Didn't you already know it?"
"Well, er, I mean, yeah, I did, but there's millions of places out there and millions after that," he rambled as an excuse, his hand scratching the back of his neck - one of his nervous ticks, Derpy presumed.
She giggled, shaking her head. "Don't worry, Doctor. You're still a genius."
"And is that good or bad?" Scarlet teased.
The Doctor sarcastically pouted, his hands over his hearts. "Scarlet, you've hurt my feelings," he slurred.
"Not my fault you're sensitive," the Skyolozine shrugged.
He gasped, sarcastically taken aback. Everyone laughed at the miniature fight, and Derpy kissed his cheek lovingly. The Doctor grinned, holding her to him and whispering into her ear: "how about, my dear, we give the newbies a chance to meet Dinky and Sparkler?"
Derpy grinned and nodded excitedly, forgetting the people around them and kissing him deeply as her "thank you". They placed their hands on the backs of each other's necks, pulling each other closer until it didn't seem possible to do so anymore.
Scarlet gasped, "Lilly, avert your eyes!"
They both blushed embarrassedly and literally jumped away from each other, leaving everyone else to laugh at their lovestruck reactions.
"I never thought that I'd see such an abundant and bright mass of light pink," Lilly grinned teasingly. "Mum, dad, it turns out I was wrong."
/(New!)Princess Luna\\
Princess Luna flew through the skies of Equestria with he guards, keeping numbers in her head. 13 seeming to be infected in Ponyville alone, 5 looking to be gaining the symptoms. How many left?
Even she didn't know.
Whatever this disease was, it was rising like the moon, and contagious. Hospitals were stacked with everypony who seemed to have the symptoms, and no hope was extant-
Wait, what is that? she thought.
Luna stayed hovering, listening closely.
After a few seconds, she grinned, recognizing the sound.
The TARDIS.
The Doctor was back.
Princess Luna tried to keep her excitement formal, rushing to her and her sister's castle in Canterlot.
Maybe hope wants so far away after all.
/(New!)Princess Celestia(Canterlot)\\
Princess Celestia's sister, Luna, flew in hurriedly, her royal knights behind her trying to catch their breaths.
"Sister," Celestia gasped at her sudden appearance into her bedchamber, "what do you think you're doing?! I'm trying to raise the Sun! You know I can't have distractions with my set of mind!"
"But do you ever think of why you raise the Sun? Equestria dies with every turn of a new day. Do you agree?"
Celestia nodded sadly, resting her magic to raise the Sun later.
"Well, then fear not! For I was in Ponyville moments before now, and I heard the TARDIS!"
Princess Celestia shook her head. "The thoughts of the Sickness must have taken it's toll on your brain. I think you should lay down. You merely imagined it."
Princess Luna was taken aback. "Sister, I'd not talk of imagining things in such a time! I respectfully disagree with you. I know what I saw, and everypony is relying on it! You must believe me, Tia. Please?"
Princess Celestia thought on it for a while before slowly standing up, yawning.
"I suppose it's worth a try," Tia smiled.
/the Doctor\\
(Author's Note: I'm figuring to say this now.
Scarlet/Qantiel (Qwuan-tea-ell): Pegasus, but other than that, no changes from chapter 14.
Hydran/Mercer: Dark-purple-scaled Pegasus, black mane/tail. Only one head. Dragon cutiemark.
Lilly: No changes from chapter 14.)
The Doctor gathered his assistant and companions by the door.
"This is in the middle of Ponyville, right?" Derpy asked.
"Yes," he reassured her. "Anypony change their names?"
"Mercer," Hydran stated.
"Qantiel," Scarlet said.
"Okay..., so, does everyone-excuse me, everypony- know what they're doing?" the Doctor then asked.
Everypony but Scarlet/Qantiel nodded.
"Okay, then, Qantiel. What's wrong?" Derpy asked.
"I was a unicorn when I first came to Ponyville. Now I'm a Pegasus. Why?"
Derpy and the Doctor, who'd only noticed that now, were too flabbergasted for words.
"Well, Derpy, you grew up here," the Doctor murmured as if she knew.
"Hey, you are the Doctor here!" she reminded him playfully, nudging his shoulder.
"Yeah, but one of time and space, not genetic recoding-... Actually, forget that last bit," he said nervously, his hoof against the back of his neck.
"Anyways, does anypony know?" Qantiel asked impatiently.
"Well, didn't you get someone or something to get you an upgrade on your wings?" Lilly asked.
Qantiel flew to Lilly in the blink of an eye, automatically enraged. "How did you know?!"
"Rachel," she replied defensively, raising her forelegs in a half-surrender.
The Doctor cleared his throat.
"Qantiel, you've found your answer. Now, behold," he eagerly said.
The door opened, and they all gasped.
The location they'd arrived at had cracked, dry grounds that had turned a parched light brown color. The sky was gray, and an even darker shade of the same color was used for the clouds. Each house was cracked and in ruins. Nopony was in sight.
Derpy stayed quiet afterwards, waiting a few moments before speaking. "Doctor, did you bring us to a different time? Maybe an alternate dimension?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No..., I made sure, I double checked. It's still Ponyville, Equestria, present time, still a month and a week-or-so since you left when we picked you up again."
Lilly's eyes went wide and she pointed her hoof to the skies. From the said location, two alicorns flew down.
/Princess Luna\\
Luna grinned as she landed much faster than Tia, greeting the travelers with a wave of her hoof.
"Luna, you know the deal," Celestia commanded strictly once she landed as well.
The moon princess nodded, and after a sigh, began circling the group above their heads to look for the Sick, listening to their conversations.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, nice to see you again," the Doctor greeted them quickly.
"What happened?" the wall-eyed mare asked. "Where is everypony?"
Princess Celestia sighed. "Are you sure you want to know?"
Everypony in the Doctor's group nodded once. Luna thought she'd seen a shadow move, but merely dismissed the thought.
"Well-" Celestia started.
"-TIA!" Luna shrieked in a gasp, lunging to her sister and pushing her out of her attacker's way.
/the Doctor\\
The Doctor gestured for all of his group, save himself, to move back against the TARDIS. He retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his trench coat pocket, holding it in his mouth (because he still couldn't use his hooves to do anything other than walk or run), and shot a beam of light at Princess Celestia's flying attacker. It let out a howl and soon dropped dead to the ground.
Princess Celestia was helped to stand by her sister.
"Sorry, Tia," Luna grimaced, moving her hoof across the ground and not making eye contact, "I didn't think anything else would work."
Celestia merely nodded.
Doctor Whooves trotted over to the body. Derpy, although shivering out of fear and confusion, followed him and let out a gasp when she saw the cutie mark.
"Doctor, that's Berry Punch!"
He stood there, seemingly-to-the-others unfazed. "But Berry Punch was an Earth Pony, not a Pegasus," he muttered, gesturing to the bony wings.
"That's the thing about this Sickness," Celestia frowned quietly. "They're all ending up as pegasi."
A feminine snicker was heard, echoed several times.
Princess Luna, who had been shocked back to life by the sound, looked aghast. "It seems to me that Berry has brought reinforcements..."
Paler versions of 3 mares (Golden Harvest, Vinyl Scratch, and Blossomforth) slowly and gracefully walked to them. Berry Punch stood and joined the group.
"Girls and Mercer, into the TARDIS," the Doctor ordered. "Princesses, you too."
Nopony moved.
"Everypony, I'm being serious," he said under his breath.
The 4 mares extended their freakishly skeleton-bat-like wings, walking closer.
"Now!" he yelled, opening the door to his time machine. Everypony flew and ran inside, the Doctor entering last and shutting it automatically afterwards. 4 echoing slams sounded against the TARDIS and he quickly locked the door, running to the controls. His mind racing, he rapidly spun a side lever and tried to type (but failed miserably due to his hooves) into the monitor as the thuds got louder.
"Doctor?!" Derpy asked worriedly, pushing against the failing bulwark.
"Don't worry, you're doing just fine!" he called back as everypony else went to help her. He rushed to other side of the controls and jumped, over exaggeratedly slamming down one last lever as his hooves touched the ground.
The thudding stopped, the TARDIS instead echoing her wheezing as she began speeding through the Vortex to get to their desired destination. The Doctor practically collapsed out of relief, sighing before approaching the rest of the mares and Mercer.
They all had paled. Princess Luna frowned at them all, shaking her head. Changing the subject, she cleared her throat and asked "where did you pilot us to?"
"We just landed at your castle."
She drew in a deep breath. "Then I suppose it's time to show you the Sickness."
/Derpy\\
Derpy felt like crying.
A "sickness spreading through Ponyville (and probably also throughout all of Equestria), and she didn't even know anything about her childrens' safety!
The Doctor saw her frown while everypony left the TARDIS with the Princesses, and he met her at the control desk. Waiting until everypony was out of hearing range, he wrapped his foreleg around her neck loosely.
"Derpy?"
She felt her frown grow larger, so she looked down.
"Derpy, please? Mon amour, why are your eyes watering?"
Derpy shut her eyes, a tear slipping out. Instead of talking, she looked into his eyes.
Strangely enough, he seemed to understand completely. He hugged her tightly and Derpy cuddled herself against him.
"Derpy, my dear," he said into her mane, "save your tears, for I shall make sure that Dinky and Sparkler are safe. Please don't cry... It breaks my hearts."
She giggled weakly before nodding, wiping away her tears. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Qantiel's yell:
"Are you two coming, or will ya need a room?!"
/Princess Celestia\\
"Now, who all are you?" Princess Celestia asked while the dark gray Pegasus yelled something.
"I'm Lilly," a young, violet Earth Pony with light red eyes said, smiling sweetly.
"Mercer," the dark-purple-scaled Pegasus murmured.
"Again with that name," Lilly laughed.
"Hey! Scarlet over there changed her name to 'Qantiel'. I can use my name," Mercer chuckled, nudging her foreleg.
"So, that dark gray Pegasus is 'Scarlet' and 'Qantiel'?" Tia asked in confusion.
The Pegasus they were talking about flew in, having an impeccable landing.
"Works like my old wings back on earth," she grinned. "And it's Qantiel. Scarlet is my Skyolozine name."
"'Skyolozine'?"
She groaned. "For the third time: I grow wings and fly! Not at all entertaining!"
The Doctor and Ditzy stepped out of the TARDIS.
"Princess, mind explaining whatever happened to those ponies we saw?" he requested, now galloping while the wall-eyed mare held his hoof.
Princess Celestia nodded as Luna came back.
"Sister, our subject is in the laboratory," the Princess of the Moon stated matter-of-factly.
Celestia nodded once more. "We'll bring them to the lab, then."
"Wait just a minute!" the Doctor gasped. "'Lab'?! 'Subject'?! Tia, Luna, what have you been doi- no... Are you experimenting?!"
Her expression turned formal as she and her sister began leading them through the back hallways.
"The sickness began a month or so ago. The first to get it is unknown, but ponies kept coming to Equestrian hospitals for these... these bites.
"Automatically we realized these couldn't be from other ponies, because the puncture marks were two small dots, and they're too close together. They... one by one, they all died.
"One of the first were Golden Harvest."
"But, didn't we just see her?" Derpy asked in a frail manner.
"When ponies die due to these bites, they come back to life." Princess Celestia noted that they were halfway to the lab and began speaking once more. "One was buried, casket and everything, yet somehow dug through the wood and the dirt!"
"How many are dead?" Mercer asked suspiciously.
Princess Celestia sighed. "Far too many. In all of Equestria, I would say-"
"-About 104," Lilly spat out, cutting her off.
Tia whirled around to see her, fire in her eyes. "How dare you cut a Princess off?!"
Everypony paused, taken aback by her tone. Lilly murmured an apology and moved quickly to the back of the group where the Doctor wrapped a foreleg around around her while Ditzy stared in a concerned manner.
Clearing her throat, she began walking, everypony waiting a beat before following.
"We do, as a matter of fact, have a test subject-"
"-Mother of Rassilon, what has gotten into you?!" the Doctor scolded in disgust. "How many times have I told you not to have test subjects?!"
"Zero, if you don't count just now."
"Doctor, we simply survey and watch over it," Luna admitted quietly, breaking her silence. "Ah, right here. Here we are."
Princess Celestia turned left to a door labelled "Containment Chamber". Inside were three different unicorns (Jet Set, Diamond Mint, and Comet Tail) with a pencil and notepad in front of each body. An Earth Pony once known as Octavia was inside of the glass case.
"Doctor, Ditzy, Qantiel, Mercer, Lilly - meet the three unicorns fit for the job," Tia announced. "Jet Set, Diamond Mint, and Comet Tail."
(Author's Note: These ARE real, actual ponies. I suggest you Google them or something.)
The Doctor nodded curtly. "You've been taking notes on Octavia."
Diamond Mint cleared her throat. "Correct."
"May I see it?"
The same mare nodded, giving The Time Lord her notepad. His eyes moved so quickly and the pages flipped so fast that everypony but Ditzy didn't believe he had read it all in it's entirety.
After a moment's time the Doctor looked up, receiving blank stares from everypony around.
"Sensitive to high, piercing noises. A previous subject burned up due to exposure to sunlight when he escaped. Two punctures for a pony's bite on the neck. Skeletal wings," he rambled out of memory. "Princesses, it seems to me you have a case of Vamponies."
/the Doctor\\
"'Vamponies'?" Jet Set asked, laughing. "Who is this, Celestia, you're jester?!"
"Its so boring in the predicaments of an apocalypse," Comet Tail chuckled, "it's great to finally laugh again!"
"What's next, moving statues?!" Diamond Mint exclaimed, taking back her notepad.
"Well, actually, not next, but it has happened," the Doctor stated defensively.
The three unicorns paused before laughing once more, shooing everypony else out of the room. The Princesses followed them out.
Tia was silent.
"Sorry," Luna murmured, leading them back to the throne room. "They do that at times. I can answer any remaining questions."
Tia grumbled something under her breath.
Derpy cleared her throat, everypony turning their attentions to her and stopping their walking.
"Question?" Luna asked.
"Is... Are Dinky and Sparkler okay?" she asked, a nervous gleam in her beautiful, mismatched eyes.
Princess Luna smiled sweetly. "Both are safe in my bedchamber, along with Twilight and her 5 friends."
Derpy grinned. "Thank you."
"Do you mind if we go see them?" the Doctor asked quickly for his assistant's sake.
Luna nodded. "Follow me."
/(New!)Sparkler\\
Sparkler sat in front of Princess Luna's fireplace with her sister, Dinky. The light violet unicorn sighed, leaning against her.
"Sis," Dinky started, "do you think this is going to end?"
Sparkler paused, her purple eyes watching the fire in a bored fascination. "Honestly?"
"Yes, please."
She sighed as well, holding Dinky closer to her. "Dinky, some days I don't think anypony else will survive. But then they're days when I wake up and I just... I just believe.:
Dinky shuddered. "Is mommy and the Doctor okay?"
"..."
"Sis?"
Sparkler looked her little sister in the eye, plastering a smile to cheer her up onto her face.
"You don't, do you?" Dinky frowned.
"No, I know they're okay, I know it for a fact," she lied to please her.
Dinky tensed when she heard somepony start talking in a hushed whisper in the castle corridor.
"...right, Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"It's a party until they're picked up and safe, Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy reminded them quietly. "I'm sure their mom is coming."
"It's too bad that the baddie ruined my streamers. A sleepover party isn't a party without a party, and a party isn't a party without streamers-"
"-Pinkie, please calm down? All of these words're giving me a headache," Applejack admitted.
The door to Luna's bedchamber opened, the Mane Six (as they're more commonly known) walking in. Pinkie Pie's mane was disheveled and frizzy, Princess Twilight Sparkle looking just... exhausted. There were bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in a few straight days or so. Sparkler and Dinky stood up to bow, but the alicorn yawned and held a single hoof up.
"I know I'm a princess, but bowing in this state of society is unneeded," Twilight muttered.
Rainbow Dash gasped suddenly at the sound of new voices in the corridor, flying out and flying back in with a quickness to only show a rainbow that'd appear in her wake.
"Uh..." Sparkler allowed herself to murmur.
"Guess who!" Rainbow announced excitedly. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"
Applejack got the memo after looking as well. "Ah reckon y'all're gonna be happy 'bout this," she smiled.
Sparkler wrapped a foreleg around her sister protectively.
"...And that, Tia, is why it is a police box-oh, is that their quarters just up there?"
"...Doctor?" Dinky asked quietly
/Derpy\\
Derpy held her stalfriend's hoof in hers, leaning against him lovingly as he continued to ramble.
"...And that, Tia, is why it is a police box-oh, is that their quarters just up there?" he asked.
Mercer, Lilly, and Qantiel were chatting with each other, oblivious to what he had said. Derpy saw 4 of the 6 (Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie) element holders quickly peek out at them. As the group of time travelers got closer to the room they were Inside of, Pinkie was saying something incomprehensible.
"Well, that's a sign," the Doctor murmured.
"Good or bad?" Derpy murmured back with a laugh.
They finally reached the door, and when they saw who was inside, Derpy let tears come to her eyes.
/the Doctor\\
Derpy flew to her children, wrapping her foreleg and wings around them. The 3 members of her rejoiced family embraced each other, everypony else trotting into the room.
Princess Celestia cleared her throat, causing the Doctor to quickly spin around and face her.
"Yes?" he asked.
"There's a STALLION in a PRINCESS'S bedchamber," Tia remarked.
It took him a few seconds to understand what she was alluding to. When he did, he shook his head.
"Derpy and I are dating. I'm not doing... That."
"I mean Mercer."
The said stallion spun around in disgust. "I watched my wife and children die not so long ago! Plus, we aren't even truly the same species; there's probably laws against it."
"How noble," Tia said sarcastically.
The Doctor shook his head in remembrance of his last companion before Derpy, Donna Noble. Not exactly the prettiest, nor the smartest (if you don't count DoctorDonna), but she was definitely fun. He recalled one adventure, where they traveled to Volcano Day. They met and saved a man along with his family there that gave him a weird sense of nostalgia...
"Mom, I thought you were dead," he heard Dinky murmur, shocking him out of thought, "I thought you were one, one of them...!"
"Don't worry," Derpy smiled, tears scratching her voice. "Don't worry, my little muffin, I'm right here... I'm right here... And we're going to stop the monsters soon."
"But... What if the baddies get you?" Dinky asked.
"Dinky, don't ask-" Sparkler asked.
"-No," the Doctor grinned, stepping forwards, "it's okay, Sparkler. Dinky, your mother is safe."
"How would you know?" Dinky asked quietly.
"Because, with me, no matter what we go against, Derpy is always safe. I know for a fact that this isn't an exception."
Author's Note:
Oh. My. Flipping. God. Thank. Goodness. I'm. Done.
I've been working on this chapter for 12 days! TWELVE! I HAVE LOST ALL MY COMMUNICATION SKILLS!
On a regular note, anyhow: the past week-and-more-then-a-half has been excruciatingly difficult and busy. I've been to the emergency room and a cardiologist for my heart, I've left school early 5 or so times and had a boatload of stuff to make up (not that I'm angry over that)... But yeah. Busy schedule is busy.
Please review and let me know what I can work on or what I'm doing right! All feedback, both good and bad, is highly appreciated.
Thank you for reading, and sorry for the late upload!
- GothicPegasister