Hello All and thanks for reading. Just a important note: I've made some BIG changes and edits to the flashback scene in Chapter 4. I highly recommend rereading the first paragraph before continuing on to this chapter, as it now introduces a new major character. Thanks! And enjoy!
The Fruit Bowl Bar was one of those very special places where a pony would always be able to find not only a friendly face – but a delicious drink and a comfortable chair at any time of the year, come rain or shine. The Bar itself was not huge, but could comfortably accommodate three dozen ponies at once; The wood panelled walls were decorated with local paintings of various fruits - ranging from ruby red apples to dew fresh strawberries and fully fat cherries. While a traditional Hoofington fireplace took pride of place, complete with photos of many of the Fruit Bowls social events which were scattered lovingly across the fireplaces mantle. Each picture displayed a happy pony or a group, Cider in hoof, beaming at the camera. The Stone fireplace was surrounded by large plush red armchairs, which were always the first to be taken and the last to be surrendered during the Fruit Bowl's busier hours. Small wooden tables were scattered about the room, each proudly displaying a distinct carving in the shape of a fruit, which the waitresses would use to navigate drinks to the correct table as well as a rosy table cloth. At the end of the room was a long wooden bar complete with hoof pumps, and a flight of stairs which led to the gallery above.
Behind the bar, the owner of the watering hole, -an Earth Pony by the name of Citrus- was happily cleaning dirty glasses with a small rag. She was an astonishingly pretty pony, and her cheerful nature gifted her with many admirers throughout Ponyville. Her fiery mane and tail were each neatly knotted into buns. And her cutie mark was a wedge of orange. She stopped cleaning glasses to frown at the raised voices that were coming from outside her bar.
"What in tarnation is all that commotion?" She asked out loud, her pleasant Southern Appleloosa drawl full of interest. Some kind of trouble was obviously going down - and she shared a glance with one of her regulars, a male unicorn who looked as confused as her. The Voices were getting more urgent, and unless her ears were playing tricks on her, they were getting louder as well.
Citrus jumped into the air as the Bar door swung open with a resounding bang. Two adult ponies stood in the doorway – A grey cross eyed Pegasus, who was rather pretty despite her slight optical mishap and seemed to be hiding something under her left wing; and a distinctly mad looking brown Earth Pony, who seemed pleased as punch to be stepping into her establishment.
"Mrs. Cake!" He cried - eyes glinting madly. "This is an emergency! Fetch me three of your finest Strawberry and Chocolate Cream Sponge Cirrocumulus Floccus Surprises! Extra fluffy on the Cirrocumulus if you please!"
Citrus stared open mouthed for a moment, then snorted with mirth.
"Sorry to disappoint friend, but I ain't Mrs. Cake. Ma' name's Citrus! And this ain't Sugarcube corner, that's down the street on the left."
The mad pony frowned, and then turned on the Grey Pegasus.
"Derpy! This isn't Sugarcube corner!"
The one called Derpy looked less surprised as her fellow, and drew herself up with some measure of pride. "I know! I used to do the rounds around here. I got lost an awful lot when I first started – but Ponies were really nice and pointed me in the right direction nearly every day! I felt bad bothering them all the time so I drew a map on my leg."
Derpy rose up her left hoof and waved it in the Mad's face. Eve from behind the bar, Citrus could see that It was covered in childish scribbles.
"See? Look, the Sugarcube corner is HERE-" She pointed to one point on her arm with the other, "-and the Fruit Bowl Bar is THERE. It's alright, I still struggle as well."
"Why didn't you say something when I galloped off in the wrong direction?"
Derpy looked sheepish and smiled awkwardly. "Well….I had to check my map? Y'know? And it's on my hoof so when I tried to do both I… fell over."
"Oh."
"An' you didn't check that we wer' followin' yer in the first place…" Derpy's wing sniffed.
Mad-pony looked sheepish for a moment, and then politely bowed his head at Derpy in apology. "Right then! So where exactly…?"
"This here is the Fruit Bowl Bar!" Citrus laughed, inviting the ponies in with a hoof as they were still standing awkwardly on the welcome mat. "I'm mighty surprised you ain't heard of the fruit bowl, y'all been out of town? What's yer handle?"
"We've been gone longer than we planned." Mad smiled sheepishly, as the three ponies followed Citrus to one of the empty tables.
"I'm Doctor Whooves by the way. This is Derpy, and this-"
"Applebloom!" Citrus suddenly cried out, finally noticing the filly that had been hiding under Derpy's wing. "I'm guessin' that was you outside making that entire ruckus? Does Granny Smith know where you are? Ain't Rarity supposed to be lookin' after you? What-"
"Hey Citrus…" The girl said in a very small voice. Appleblooms eyes were bloodshot, and she looked exhausted.
Citrus frowned. "Wha-"
"Is it alright if we sit down?" Derpy asked politely, placing her protective wing over Applebloom again.
"Well of course Yer' can friends! Here, the fireside table is a favourite! I'll grab as all some drinks- How about some orange juice? Freshly squeezed! And an apple juice for my little cousin, am ah' right? Then y'all need to tell me what's goin on!"
The group sat themselves at the medium sized table Citrus had indicated, with the bar-pony herself quickly trotted off to grab their drinks.
"She seems nice!" Doctor Whooves noted, gazing over at the busy pony admiringly.
"I like oranges." Derpy noted happily, gazing down at Applebloom with one eye (the other was inspecting the ceiling with polite interest.)
"Ah' prefer apples…" the girl sniffed.
"CRUNCH!" Whooves suddenly cried, slamming his hooves down on the table and causing everyone in the local vicinity to jump. "A good apple is always crunchy! Love a good crunch! Great word as well – CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH! Just rolls of the tongue!"
Derpy giggled as Citrus appeared at her side with a tray of drinks expertly balanced on her head. With a single swish, each of the Ponies had a glass of bright and fresh looking juice sitting in front them. Applebloom squeezed herself out of Derpy's protective embrace to sit herself at a stool, her expression still glum.
"Now, how about y'all tell me about this her-"
"Could yer' please drop the southerner act Citrus? I know yer' from Manehatten. Ma' sis told me."
Citrus looked slightly abashed for a moment, and then laughed.
"Oh fine, I guess I don't have to pretend for you lot! Begins to tickle my throat anyway…"
Her accent had become a smoother, more of a silky drawl. She laughed at Whooves and Derpy's startled expressions.
"I'm from Manehatten!" she explained, grabbing her own drink, "Born and raised as a city girl. Granny Smith told me when I arrived that I should just be myself, bless her core…"
"Why would you lie about having an accent?" Derpy wondered, fumbling slightly with her full glass.
"Oh, It's all part of the "Cute bar wench" act. Customers LAP it up, believe me."
She glanced conspiringly at her guests. "Don't tell anyone though! Our little secret! - Alright?"
"My lips are sealed," Whooves promised, hoof on heart. Derpy did the same, and almost hit Applebloom in the face with a very over dramatic swish of her arms.
"So…" Citrus drawled, turning her attention to Applebloom with her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Can someone tell me what trouble my little cousin has got herself into this time?"
Celestia watched as the sun rippled and waxed as it settled behind the distant Whitetail woods, casting the whole region into fading oranges and advancing shadows. The beauty of the spectacle was truly something to behold, and Celestia had never tired of seeing it in the millennia she had walked the Earth. But this evening, the majestic leader of Equestria was troubled. Something was… off. She had a slight scratch at the back of her head, and an impending sense of dread she could not quite place. Luna had jokingly called it "Celestia sense" when she had shared her concerns, and the description was somewhat accurate even if it had been made in jest. It is impossible to rule a kingdom for a thousand years without picking up some kind of connection to the land. It was not something that the princess fully understood, but she had learnt long ago to always trust her instincts - Celestia sense or not.
The Alicorn felt a distant throb of power as the sun's weak golden light brightened and warmed her skin for the last time, and she felt a far more prominent pang of grim anticipation when the rays of sunlight finally retracted from her pale form and her power began to wane.
She turned her back on the rapidly darkening sky and walked slowly into the gathering hall of the palace, her expression grim.
"You are troubled sister?"
Celestia looked up to see Princess Luna sitting cross-hooved on a plush sofa, watching her with concern as she approached. Celestia gave a smile of greeting and gently pressed her cheek to Luna's own as a sign of affection.
"I do not know why I feel so unsettled tonight," Celestia admitted, smiling weakly at her sibling. "Something just feels…wrong."
Princess Luna rose to her feet with a single graceful flap of her dark wings.
"Thy have been unsettled for days, sister. What would you ask of me?"
Celestia felt a wave of gratitude for her co-ruler. It made her request sound slightly less foolish.
"I would like you to fly to Ponyville tonight. Watch and protect its citizens. I truly do not know if anything will fall upon our subjects, but I cannot simply ignore this sense of dread. Will you do this for me?"
"Worry not my dearest sister, for the night is mine to command. No evil shall befall our subjects during my moonlight." Luna said proudly, her sparkling mane floating in a non-existent breeze.
"I shall set wing immediately for Ponyville."
Celestia nodded her head in thanks, feeling exhaustion tugging on her bones.
"Thank-you Luna. Fly well! But please… be careful."
"Would you… like me to speak to Twilight?"
Celestia felt as if a hot coil had wrapped itself around her neck and squeezed. The mention of her former friend still cut deep.
"I…No. Please do not bother her. I do not wish to hurt her further."
Luna nodded glumly, spreading her wings and with one graceful leap she was airborne and flying for the window.
"The night may be dark Celestia, but that's when the stars shine brightest! Farewell!"
Luna flew out the window to be swallowed by the darkness of the night sky, leaving princess Celestia alone with her clouded thoughts.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the delay in posting. this chapter has gone through about six rewrites, and its gotton to the point where I just needed to post SOMETHING. so this is the first half of chapter 5. (or chapter 3 if you're a Fimfiction reader!)
have decided to move this story from Crossover to single, Simply because it's 98% MLP and 2% doctor Who. Not really enough to warrant the cross over tag.
Cylon one: They'll be more flashbacks don't worry!
Volt the great: Thankyou for the fav!
OMAC001: Here's that update! :D
OH! ALSO! BIG BIG BIG NEWS!1
head on over to my Fimfiction profile at www. fimfiction user / Spaced (close the spaces!) to see some CHARACTER ART! Very exciting! there's Citrus, Dr Academic and Rayless (Who's the shadowy chap in Chapter 4). Not only that, but there's a blog about writing this story, so if you want the latest updates...that's where to go!