I don't own My Little Pony or Doctor Who in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 3 The Belly Of The Beast
"No, no, no!" the Doctor panicked, looking around, "This is not good. This is not good!"
"Doctor where is she?" Toby said, starting to panic as well.
"I don't know Toby! I don't know! Oh, I hate it when I don't know!" The Doctor continued to look around, with frantic breaths, before shouting, "PINKIE PIE!"
Somehow, seemingly against all logic, the hyperactive pink mare was gone. Vanished into thin air, without leaving any sort of clue behind.
"No. Please no," the Doctor said quietly to himself, "I can't have lost her. Not this early. She has to be here somewhere."
"Doctor, I don't like this," Toby said.
"I know Toby. Believe me I know. We have to find to Pinkie."
"What about my sister?"
"Yes, finding Alice is still a top priority. But first we need to… Wait a minute," the Doctors eyes went wide and large smile appeared on his lips, "That's it. That's it! Oh Toby, you are a genius!"
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and ran back the way they had just come from, waving it in every direction, muttering, "Come on, where are you…"
"What's going on? What did I say?" Toby called out confusedly as he gave chase.
The Doctor finally stopped, and turned to the young colt, smiling broadly. "I know where Pinkie Pie is!" he exclaimed proudly.
"You do? Where is she?"
"With your sister."
"My sister? Then that means… The aliens took her?"
The brown pony nodded. "Exactly. When you mentioned Alice, I remembered that she was teleported away, so I retraced our path, looking for traces teleportation energy. And I found some right here. But it's not just any old teleportation energy. It's an exact match for the energy I found in Emily's room."
"That can't be right," Toby said, frowning, "The guys that took Alice took her at night. And the same thing happened to Emily. But Pinkie just got taken in the middle of the day."
"Quit true Toby, quite true. But it most definitely was the same aliens. The energy signal doesn't lie."
"Well, why did they take her then?"
"That's easy," the Doctor replied with a smile, "They wanted to send me a message."
"A message?" Toby asked confused.
"The fact they took Pinkie shows that they're watching the planet right now, keeping an eye on things. They saw that I was poking around, looking into what happened. They must have realized that I could not only figure out what happened, but also stop them. So they had to try to stop me."
"I'm still not sure I understand."
"Alright, think about this way. Let's say you're the aliens. You're taking ponies for whatever reason, and you see someone who can stop you. What would you do?"
"Stop them, I guess."
"Right. And how would you do that?"
"Take them?"
"Exactly."
"But, they took Pinkie, not you," Toby said, still sounding confused.
"Which brings us back to the message," the Doctor smiled, "By taking Pinkie in broad daylight, they're telling me that they can take anyone they want, at anytime they want, from anywhere, and that if I don't back off, they'll take me too."
"Oh. I see," the young colt said, finally understanding, "So, what do we do now? We can't back off. We need to save Pinkie and my sister and everypony else that they took."
"Not to worry my young friend. No alien's gonna scare me off that easily," the Doctor said, a fierce smile crossing his face, "We need to get to back to the TARDIS quickly so that I can find them. And when I do… Come on Toby. We're wasting time."
"Uh, right," Toby said. The Doctors sudden and unexpected intensity scared the young colt, but it quickly passed. He followed the brown pony as they began to head back to the TARDIS, slightly keeping his distance.
When they finally reached the blue box, the Doctor went straight to the center console and placed the sonic into the same slot he had before. He began typing away on the keyboard, muttering to himself. After a minute or so, the Doctor turned, smiling. "Got it," he said.
"You found them?" Toby asked excitedly.
"Kind of. I've finally been able to determine just who it was that kidnapped your sister and Pinkie Pie."
"Who is it?"
"The Klandians. I can't believe I didn't see it before though. It's all so obvious now…"
"Why's that?"
"The Klandians are one of the strangest races of aliens in the entire universe. For whatever reason, the entire species is male. Absolutely zero female Klandians exist. So they travel the universe kidnapping young girls so that they can reproduce."
Toby just stared at the Doctor, mouth-hanging open, horrified by his words.
"Not like that," the brown pony said, holding up a hoof, "They reproduce using estrogen."
"What's estrogen?" the young pony asked confused.
"A hormone produced by female brains. You see, they kidnap young girls, hook them up to a nasty machine, and drain the estrogen from them for few years until they die."
"There's still time to save them then!"
The Doctor nodded. "There's just one problem. I can't find the ship."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I thought by finding a fresh teleportation signal, I could trace it back to the ship, but it would appear that they have protected themselves from that sort of detection. The only way we'll be able to find them now is if we were receive a direct transmission from them, but the chances of that happening are astronomical at best."
Toby's face fell and he looked at the ground. "So what do we do now?"
The Doctor sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure Toby. The Klandians don't want to be found, that much is obvious. And if we can't figure out how to find them…."
"We can't give up hope! There has to be something we can do!"
"But what? I can't track the teleportation energy and the chance of receiving a transmission from them is so small, it's almost nonexistent. There's nothing we can… Wait. Tracking teleportation. That's it! That's how we can find them!"
"Huh? But you just said that we can't track the teleportation energy."
"You're right, we can't track the energy, but we can track what's teleported."
"How?"
"All we have to do is put a tracking device onto whatever the Klandians take next and we can follow the signal right into the heart of their ship."
"How do we do that? We don't know who their gonna take next."
The Doctor sighed and turned away. "Actually, we do."
"Who is it?"
"I'm very sorry. I wish there was some other way to do this. I really truly do."
"Who is it Doctor?" Toby said very forcefully.
"It's you Toby. The Klandians are going to take you."
Pinkie blinked several times as she looked at her new surroundings.
"What the…?" she said confusedly, "Doctor, what just happened? Doctor?"
She looked over to her side and saw that neither the Doctor nor Toby were there.
"Doctor? Toby? Hello? Is anypony there?"
She continued to look around, desperately trying to find them. Wherever it was that she was now, it was definitely not Fillydelphia. In fact, it wasn't anywhere that Pinkie recognized. It was a large room. The walls, ceiling, and floor appeared to be made of metal. Large tubes ran down the one of the walls, connecting to a large round platform on the floor that she was standing on. On the wall opposite her was a large rectangular door.
"Where am I?" she wondered aloud.
The door opened and a short creature walked in to the room. It walked on two legs that ended in hooves, as did its arms. It's head looked like a pony's, but looked… off. It was too round and the muzzle was too short. It wore a shiny black suit with small blinking lights all over it. The creature looked at Pinkie and opened its mouth, making a series of popping and clicking sounds.
"What?" Pinkie said after a moment.
The creature cocked its head to the side and narrowed its eyes at her. It made the same series of noises, somehow sounding slightly angry this time.
"I have no idea what you're saying," Pinkie replied.
The creature growled softly and left the room. A moment later, a different creature entered the room, this one slightly taller then the other one.
"I apologize for Bramkin," it said haltingly with an odd accent, "We sometimes forget that our captives do not speak our language. I am Grikin."
"What's going on here? Where am I?" Pinkie demanded.
"This is our ship. You are our prisoner," Grikin said stepping forward, "You are to going to be harvested."
"Harvested? That doesn't sound good."
"Oh no. It is very good. For us," Grikin replied with a wicked smile, "You see, we need your estrogen in order to survive as a race."
"My what now?" Pinkie asked confused.
"Estrogen. It is a, um… what is the word in your language? Chemical? Yes, chemical, produced in the brains of your kind."
"Ponies?"
"Females."
"That's why you took Toby's sister and that other filly, isn't it?"
"Along with several other of your kind."
"Yeah, well, I won't let you take it! I'm using my estro-whatever… I think, so you can't have it!" Pinkie said rather forcefully.
Grikin produced a wet gurgling sound that seemed to be laughter as the door behind him opened and two more creatures entered the room. "You do not have a choice."
"What do mean they're gonna take me next?" Toby demanded, "You can't be serious! I'm not gonna let those monsters take me!"
"Do you really think I would be suggesting this if there was another option?" the Doctor replied, not looking Toby in the eye, "I don't like this any more than you do."
"That's easy for you to say!" Toby interrupted, "You're not the one who's getting kidnapped!"
"Toby, please, just calm down," the Doctor said, turning towards the young colt.
"No! Just shut up!" Toby yelled, "Just… just shut up and leave me alone!"
"Toby, no… I…."
"Just stop it you jerk! I never should've trusted you! You said you could find my sister and instead we've just been floundering around in circles! Just take me back to Ponyville and go away! I'll find Alice on my own!"
The Doctor sighed and turned around. "If that's what you really want. Just, let me say one thing before we go."
"Fine," Toby said, glaring at the brown pony.
"If you really are serious about looking for Alice on your own, the Klandians will still take you."
"What? No… You're lying. You're just trying to stop me from going."
"Really?" the Doctor said turning, face cold and intense, "You really think I do that? You really think I would be that petty?"
Toby looked away, not wanting to meet the Doctors gaze.
"Do you remember why the Klandians took Pinkie? It was to get us to stop poking around. What do you think will happen to you when you go off on your own? That the Klandians will leave you alone? They will take you Toby. There is no way around that. No matter how much we may wish it, there is no way around it. So we might as well make the most of it."
Toby nodded his head, still not looking at the Doctor. "You're right," he said quietly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I was scared and angry."
The Doctor's expression softened and he placed a hoof on Toby's shoulder. "It's alright," he said, "I know you didn't mean it."
"So what do we do?" the young colt asked looking at the Doctor.
Turning back to the console, the Doctor pressed a few buttons and a small silver disc about the size of a dime was produced. Picking it up he turned back to Toby. "I place this tracker on you and when you're taken, I follow its signal to the Klandian ship and save everyone that's been taken."
"You're sure that'll work?"
"Trust me," he replied with a smile, "I'm the Doctor."
Pinkie was ushered through the ship rather forcefully. She passed by several other Klandians, all at various consoles and controls, running the many different aspects of the ship. Finally, she was brought into a very large room. Several other female ponies were in the room. All of them were floating in large glass tubes filled with a clear liquid. Some kind of metal helmet was on their heads with several smaller tubes coming out them and running to the top of the larger tube.
"What is this place?" Pinkie asked, eyes wide, as she looked around.
"This is the harvesting room," Grikin said, "This is where we will take your estrogen." Grikin then made a series of pops and clicks and pointed to an empty tube.
The other Klandians nodded and moved Pinkie towards it. "No! Stop!" Pinkie cried, trying to get away.
Grikin laughed again. "Do not struggle. Everything will be fine. The harvesting process is painless. It will be like you are sleeping."
"I don't care!" Pinkie yelled, still struggling, "I won't let you take my estro-stuff!"
Grikin sighed and moved over to Pinkie. "I already told you. You do not have a choice," he said, pressing a few buttons on the keypad in front of the tube. An opening appeared in the glass and Grikin looked directly into Pinkies eyes. "Good bye my dear. Your estrogen will make many new Klandians."
Just before Grikin could push Pinkie into the tube, the door suddenly opened and a Klandian rushed in, popping and clicking franticly. Grikin responded and the Klandian spoke franticly once again. Grikin growled and pressed a button, closing the tube. "It would seem that you will get to live a short while longer," he said, somewhat angrily, "I must go deal with that little blue pony that was with you."
"You mean Toby?" Pinkie asked, looking at Grikin.
"I do not care what his name is. He did not heed our warning like the other one did, so now we must bring him here."
"What are you going to do to him?" Pinkie asked worried.
Grikin smiled wickedly as he turned to leave the room. "You are better off not knowing."
"Are you ready?" the Doctor asked.
Toby looked at the TARDIS doors and shook his head. "No. But I have to do this."
"Alright. Let's do it then."
Toby nodded and headed outside. Hitting a few buttons and pulling few levers, the Doctor brought down a screen. On it, he could see Toby walking away from the TARDIS. Pressing a few more buttons, the screen showed him the location of the tracker hidden within Toby's mane.
"Alright Toby," the Doctor muttered to himself, "I sure hope this works."
The Doctor watched the screen for several minutes, as Toby made his way through Fillydelphia. Then, very suddenly and without warning, Toby vanished.
"Took the bait I see," the Doctor said. Typing away furiously at the keyboard, the screen changed once again, showing a small red blip out in the middle of space. "Found you," he said with a fierce smile, "Alright. Time to make a house call. Huh… Time to make a house call… Still not quite it…."
The pulled a few levers and pushed a few buttons. The TARDIS whooshed for a few seconds and when it stopped, the Doctor turned to the door. "Lets go."
Pushing open the doors, the Doctor found himself in the middle of the Klandians control room, with several very surprised Klandians staring at him and the TARDIS.
"Hello there!" he called out cheerily to them, "I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you all. You're probably wondering how I got in here. Well, lets just say I had a little help from my friend Toby."
"The blue one?" one of the Klandians asked.
"The very same. Now then, you lot took my friend Pinkie Pie, as well as several other ponies, and I will not stand for that. Release all the ponies you've kidnapped from your machines and let them go free. Then, once you've done that, leave this ship and go back to your home planet. Because once I've returned your captives to their homes, I'm going to come back here and get rid of your ship forever. And if I see any of you on board, even if it's just one, then I will make your entire race, past, present, and future, wish that you had never, ever even heard of this planet. Because I am the Doctor! And I do not take kindly to people who hurt my friends."
The Klandians looked around at each other, then to the one who had spoken. He stepped forward and laughed. "We are not scared of your threats Doctor."
"No? Well, you should be."
Acting quickly, the Doctor pulled the sonic screwdriver from his saddlebag, pointed it at the ceiling and turned it on. When he did, all the Klandians shrieked in pain and fell to the ground, covering their ears.
"Ah, don't like that do you?" he said putting the sonic away, "You see, I just turned on your entire PA system and am using it to broadcast a high pitched sound that is painful to you Klandians. One that will keep going until I tell it to stop, and considering the things you've done, that's not going to happen for a long, long time. Now then, Pinkie Pie! Toby! I know you can hear me wherever you are! I'm in the main control room in the center of the ship. I want you two to come here right away! I would very much like to see both of you right now!"
Within a minute, both Pinkie and Toby came walking into the main room. Upon seeing the Doctor, Pinkie immediately rushed forward and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"I'm so happy to see you Doctor!" she exclaimed, "I don't like it here! Lets go somewhere fun!"
"Of course," the Doctor replied pulling himself out of Pinkie's grip, "But first we have to save the others."
"Yeah!" Toby said, "We have to save Alice remember?"
"Oh, right. Sorry."
"Not to worry," the Doctor said, "We just need to find the harvesting room."
"I was just there!" Pinkie said.
"Really?"
Pinkie nodded. "Those guys were about to put me into one of those tubes and take my estrogems, or whatever, but then you guys showed up!"
"Wow, looks we got here just in time Toby. Lead the way my dear Pinkie."
"Okie Doki Loki!" Pinkie said and led them out of the room. They walked through the twisting corridors of the ship for about a minute before reaching the harvesting room.
"My god," the Doctor said as he looked around, "They've taken so many…"
Toby rushed into the room, looking at the ponies in each tube for a few seconds before moving onto another one. Finally, he stopped in front of a tube holding a light purple pony with a white mane streaked with black.
"Alice!" he exclaimed happily, "Doctor, I found Alice!"
"Good man Toby," the Doctor said walking over to him, "Now we just need to free her and the others."
"How are we gonna do that?" Pinkie asked.
"Well, we need to disconnect them from those helmets."
"Easy peasy!" Pinkie said, "We just open up the tubes and pull them off."
"Not quite. The tubes are attached directly to their brains. Just pulling the helmets off could cause irreparable brain damage."
"Then how do we get them off?" Toby asked.
"Very carefully," the Doctor replied.
It took a couple of hours, but with the help of his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor was able to disconnect the helmets from all of the kidnapped ponies. The ponies all lay on the floor in the center of the room, still unconscious.
"Are they gonna be okay?" Toby asked, sitting by his sister.
"They're going to be just fine," the Doctor said, "They just need some time to recover from their ordeal. They should all wake up fairly soon."
Then as if on cue, a few of the ponies began to stir. Opening their eyes, they sat up and looked around.
"What's going on? Who are you?" one of them asked.
"Hello there!" the Doctor cheerily replied, "I'm the Doctor. This is Pinkie Pie and Toby. We're here to rescue you."
"What happened to all those creepy little guys?" another asked.
"The Klandians? No need to worry about them. It's all been taken care of."
As the Doctor spoke, the rest of ponies began to wake up.
"Oh my…" Alice said as she awoke, "What's going on?"
"Alice!" Toby exclaimed, hugging his sister, "I'm so happy you're okay!"
"Toby? What are you doing here? Do mom and dad know you're here?"
"I came here to save you with my new friends the Doctor and Pinkie Pie."
"Indeed we did," the Doctor said, "And now that everyone's awake, if you could all follow me, I'll take you back to homes."
Using the TARDIS, the Doctor was able to return every single pony back to their homes very quickly. As they returned to Ponyville, the Doctor sighed.
"Well, I do hope you had fun today Toby," he said turning to the young colt.
"Well, it was a little scary and kinda dangerous, but yeah! I had a lot of fun today!" Toby replied.
"Thank you for everything Doctor," Alice said, "It was very nice to meet you and Pinkie Pie."
"Of course," the Doctor replied.
"It was super awesome meeting you to!" Pinkie said happily.
"So what's going to happen to those guys who kidnapped us?" Alice asked.
The Doctor turned back to console, face blank. "That's something for me to worry about," he said. He turned back around, smiling. "Now then," he said, "You two had best get back home before ponies start to worry."
"Oh, yes. Of course. Good bye Doctor, Pinkie," Alice said.
"Yeah, bye!" Toby said smiling.
The two of them left the TARDIS, waving goodbye as they did.
"So what now?" Pinkie asked when they were finally alone.
"Now, I'm going to need you to stay here in Ponyville for just a little bit while I deal with the Klandian ship," the Doctor replied.
"What are you going to do?"
"Something that you don't need to know about."
Pinkie looked at the Doctor for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Alright then, I'll see you later," she said and left the TARDIS. The TARDIS whooshed away, then returned about a minute later. Pinkie walked back into TARDIS and looked at the Doctor.
"Hello again Pinkie," he said with a nod.
"Is everything okay now?" Pinkie asked.
"Very much so," the Doctor said with a smile, "Now then, where should we go next?"
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