I do not own My Little Pony or Doctor Who in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 7 What Lies Below
"And here we are," the Doctor said as the TARDIS stopped, "Ponyville, just after we left."
"Awesome!" Pinkie Pie said, skipping out of the doors, "It's good to be home! I bet my friends will be so happy to see me after I've been gone for so long!"
"Pinkie Pie, I landed us here ten minutes after we left. Your friends don't even know you were gone," the Doctor said walking up next to her.
"But we've been gone for like a month!"
"Time machine remember? I can bring us to anyplace at anytime."
"Oh yeah. So we're ten minutes from when we first left?"
"Yep," the Doctor said pulling out his pocket watch, "Ten minutes… ish."
"What do you mean 'ten minutesish'?" Pinkie said turning to him.
"Well, we certainly did arrive ten minutes after we left, plus an additional fifty."
"Wait a second… Ten minutes plus fifty minutes is…" Pinkie looked at the ground for a moment then looked up at the Doctor with wide eyes, "We're here an hour later?"
"Yes, well… This is a new universe for me! I'm still getting used to the timing here. And I'm still not entirely used to these hooves. Besides, look on the bright side. It's still the same day."
"True. And I guess it's not that bad."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"Well, everyday I take an hour out of my schedule for some time to myself."
"Ah, so we left during that alone time then?"
"Yep! So just as long as nopony came looking for me, everything should be fine."
The Doctor nodded his and began walking forwards. "Well, now that we're here, I do believe you owe me a proper tour of the town."
"Can do!" Pinkie said with a big smile and followed the Doctor forward.
"Hmm, looks a lot like it did in the future," the Doctor observed.
"Yeah, it's pretty much the same," Pinkie nodded, "There are a few things that are different though. Come on, this way!"
"Pinkie Pie! There you are!" called out a voice from above.
"Huh? Who's that?" the Doctor said looking around.
"Oh, it's Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie said looking up and waving a hoof, "Hi Dashie!"
A light blue pegasus descended and landed next to them. Brushing back a bit of her rainbow mane from her face, she smiled and said, "I've been looking all over for you. Where were you?"
"Hmm? Oh, uh, I was just showing my new friend around," the pink mare said pointing to the Doctor.
"Hello there," he said holding out a hoof, "I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you."
"Rainbow Dash," the pegasus replied shaking his hoof, "I don't think I've seen you around before. You new in town?"
"Uh, yeah. Something like that. I take it you're a friend of Pinkie Pie?"
"Yep!" Pinkie said pulling Dash into an unexpected hug, "Dashie is my bestest friend in the whole world!"
"Ah, well, any friend of Pinkie's is sure to be a friend of mine."
"Uh, yeah sure," Dash said pulling herself away from Pinkie, "Just, uh, one question."
"What's that?"
"Doctor who exactly?"
"It's just the Doctor."
Rainbow Dash looked at him for a moment and shrugged. "If you say so. Anyway, I need to talk to you Pinkie."
"Sure thing Dashie! What's up?"
"Well, I got this great idea for some pranks involving a bucket of syrup and I figured you could probably get some form Sugarcube Corner."
"I don't know… Mr. and Mrs. Cake might not be too willing to give me that much syrup. Especially not after that prank we did with the frosting."
"Darn," Dash muttered, "I really looking forward to this prank."
"Um, excuse me Spectral Blitz, I think I can help you," the Doctor said, stepping forward slightly.
"My name's Rainbow Dash."
"Yes whatever. I'm fairly certain I have a very large quantity of maple syrup in my kitchen. I could go get you a few bucketfuls."
"Really? You'd do that for me? A complete stranger?"
"Like I said Prismatic Runner, any Pinkie's is a friend of mine."
"Awesome!" Dash exclaimed, "And my names Rainbow Dash."
"Right, that. If you'll give me a few moments, I'll bring you all the syrup you'll ever need." Turning, the Doctor quickly rushed back towards the TARDIS.
"That guys kinda weird," Dash said as he ran off.
"Yeah, I guess so," Pinkie agreed with a shrug, "But he's also pretty cool."
"Not as cool as me!" Dash exclaimed.
"Nopony could ever be as cool as you Dashie," Pinkie laughed.
Suddenly, the ground shook. It was a very light shaking that only lasted a few seconds and was accompanied by a low, almost inaudible rumble.
"Whoa, did you feel that?" Dash said, glancing around.
"Yeah, I wonder what that was," Pinkie said looking around as well, "I don't see any smoke and there aren't any ponies running around… Wait, there's some birds flying away over there."
"Huh? What're you talking about?" Dash said trying to see what Pinkie was looking at.
"Sorry Dashie, but I gotta go," Pinkie said walking forward. She stopped after a couple of steps and turned back to the pegasus. "I'll, uh, see you later I guess," she said and then ran off.
"Uh, yeah… Later," Dash mumbled as she left.
Pinkie ran as fast as she could towards where she saw the birds flying away. As she did, she felt the ground shake again.
"Again?" she muttered to herself, "Can't be an earthquake then… I hope the Doctor knows what's going on."
Within a few seconds, she reached a clearing within a small area of trees where she found the Doctor looking around, muttering to himself. As she entered the clearing, the Doctor turned towards her and nodded.
"Hello Pinkie," he said, "Come to see what's going on eh?"
"Yeah," Pinkie said nodding, "Any idea what caused that rumbling?"
"No," he responded looking at the ground, "But it seems to have come from somewhere around here. It hasn't caused any damage though, which is quite strange."
"Whys that?"
"Whatever caused the rumbling is strong enough to shake the ground so hard that you were able to feel it all the back in Ponyville. And if it was able to shake the ground that hard, the ground should at least be cracked. And look at the trees around here. All still standing, no damage to them either. It doesn't make sense."
"Hardly anything we do makes sense."
"True, but at least those other times the things that didn't make sense didn't make sense in a way that made sense."
Pinkie nodded and said, "True. So, then way is this not making sense in a way that doesn't make sense?"
"A good question Pinkie, a very good question. We need to get back to the TARDIS. Maybe I can find some answers there."
The ground shook again, feeling stronger and lasting longer within the clearing.
"And I think we should get there quickly."
"Alright," the Doctor said as they neared the TARDIS, "Here we are. Why don't you do the honors Pinkie?"
"Sure thing!" Pinkie said bouncing happily up to the door. As she got up to it, Pinkie pulled her key out of seemingly nowhere and unlocked the door.
"Very good," the Doctor said stepping up and pulling the door open.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" a voice suddenly called out from behind them.
Turning, the two saw Rainbow Dash floating low over the ground towards them.
"Oh, hi Dashie!" Pinkie said waving.
"How did you find us Chromatic Sprint?" the Doctor asked confused.
"It's Rainbow Dash, and I found you guys by following Pinkie," she replied, "So, what are you guys doing? What's that blue box thing?"
"Um, well, it's uh…" the Doctor stammered nervously.
"That's the TARDIS!" Pinkie said cheerfully, "We're gonna go in and try to find out what's making everything all rumbly!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Dash replied.
The Doctor sighed and placed a hoof against his forehead. "Maybe I should explain," he muttered, "As I said before, I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveling alien from another dimension. This blue box behind me is the TARDIS, a machine capable of traveling through time and space. Pinkie and I are going to use the TARDIS's various computers and other technological whatnots to try and find out what is causing the various tremors you've no doubt felt."
Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between the two for a few seconds before saying, "This is some kind of prank right?"
"No way! This is serious Dashie!" Pinkie said shaking her head.
"Really? 'Cause it sounds pretty crazy, even for you Pinkie."
"Well, it's not, okay? Here, I can prove it! Come with me!" As she spoke, Pinkie grabbed Dashes hoof and pulled her into the TARDIS, the Doctor following close behind. "Well, what do you think?" Pinkie asked.
Rainbow Dash stood there for a moment, staring at everything, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. "Ah guh wuh buh…" she stammered. Clearing her throat, Dash composed herself somewhat and said, "The inside… It's bigger then the outside! How is that even possible?"
"Complicated sciencey reasons," the Doctor said walking past her, "But we don't have time for that. We have other things to look into right now."
"Right!" Pinkie said, "We need to find out why the ground keeps shaking!"
"Uh, well, yes I suppose, but what I was referring to was Miss Technicolor Rush here," the Doctor replied looking at Rainbow Dash.
"Huh? What about me? And the names Rainbow Dash!"
"Well, you're a pegasus right?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Well, you're the first pegasus I've really seen close up. And looking at you, well, you're wings just don't seem right."
"What's wrong with my wings?"
"They're to small."
"To small? I'll have you know my wings are a perfectly normal size for a pegasus my age!" Dash snapped, sounding very defensive.
"That may be, but they still look like they're to small for you to be able to fly with."
"Yeah? Well I can fly, see?" she said floating up of the ground a few inches.
"But you shouldn't be able to! You're wings are far too small to lift a pony of your size and weight! It's physically impossible!"
"And yet I'm flying."
"But you…!" The Doctor shut his eyes tight and breathed deeply in through his nose. "Just calm down Doctor," he muttered to himself, "This isn't your universe. Things are different here. Just breathe, and calm down." Opening his eyes, he looked back to Rainbow Dash. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I keep forgetting that things work differently here. If your wings let you fly, then they let you fly. I'll just chalk it up to the apparently magical nature of this world. Now then, enough of that. We have to other things to do."
"The rumblyness?" Pinkie asked.
"The rumblyness," the Doctor replied and walked over to the center console.
"Uh, sorry, what's going on again?" Dash asked.
"You've felt those tremors around town right?" he asked not looking away from the buttons and levers he was pulling and pushing.
"Yeah. They started about twenty minutes ago," she replied.
"Twenty minutes ago? That's after we left!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Wait, what do you mean you left?" Dash asked.
"The Doctor showed up here about a month ago and we started traveling around the universe and going on adventures and stuff!" Pinkie replied.
"Wait, how can you have been gone for a month? You were here all last month!" Dash exclaimed.
"Time travel," the Doctor said without looking up, "While we have been traveling around for a month or so, only about an hour has passed here since we left."
The blue pegasus looked at the two of them then sighed and shook her head. "This is way to weird for me," she muttered.
"Right, well, if we've got that all out of the way, we still have the matter of the tremors to deal with," the Doctor said.
"Isn't it just earthquakes?" Dash asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, it's something else. The tremors are too frequent to just be earthquakes. Something's causing them. Something big. Something powerful. Something that I have no idea what it is."
"That sounds bad," Dash said.
"Very much so," the Doctor said turning around and walking back out of the TARDIS, "Fortunately, I now have a few vague ideas as to who or what it might be, and so I'm going to need to investigate the epicenter a little more closely to figure it out."
"Need any help Doctor?" Pinkie asked.
"If you two are willing," he replied pushing the doors open.
"Course we are!" Pinkie exclaimed grabbing Rainbow Dash and dragging her out with her.
"Wait! Hang on! I didn't agree to this!" Dash tried to protest but was ignored.
"Seriously Pinkie!" Dash yelled as they arrived back in the clearing, "Just leave me out of this!"
"No way!" Pinkie said, "You're involved, so you have to see it through to the end. That's one of the Doctors rules."
"The only reason I'm involved is because you dragged me into this! I just wanted to pour syrup on ponies heads!"
"Come on Dashie, it'll be fun!"
The pegasus sighed and grumbled, "Fine. But when this is done, don't bother for the rest of the day, okay?"
"If you two are done muttering over there, I'm about to do some clever things and would really appreciate it if you would stand around looking impressed," the Doctor called out over his shoulder.
"Okie Doki Loki!" Pinkie said skipping over to him.
"Uh, ok…" Dash said a little unsure and moved next to Pinkie.
"Now then, the TARDIS was able to pinpoint the source of the rumbling as some kind of large subterranean vehicle that is currently headed here, to this forest clearing."
"Is it mole ponies?" Pinkie asked.
"No, that's just silly," the Doctor replied, "It's most likely lizard ponies."
"Uh, hate to disagree with you, since you seem to be something somewhat resembling an expert on this stuff, but lizard ponies sounds way sillier than mole ponies," Rainbow Dash said with scoff.
"That's because you've never met Silurians."
"Sil-what now?"
"Silurians. Back where I came from, they were a race of reptilian humanoids that evolved from dinosaurs. They put themselves into hibernation in their underground cities to try and avoid what they believed to be a world ending event, and thus they slept for millions of years before they woke up to find that homo sapiens had become the dominant species," the Doctor explained
"Homo what nows?"
"Homo sapiens. Human beings. Have you not heard of them here?"
"Wait a minute, humans? Pinkie, aren't humans those things Lyra's always talking about?" Dash asked.
"I think so," Pinkie replied, "But I thought they were just some kind of made up fairy tale creature."
"Oh they are very real. Where I come at least. I kind of used to be one."
"Man, Lyra would love to met you."
"I'm sure she would. Now then, back to the issue at hoof here. If it really is the Silurians coming up here, they'll be coming with the goal of total global conquest in mind."
"What's that mean?" Pinkie asked.
"They're going to try and take over the planet."
"Oh. That's bad."
"Quite. But don't worry. I've dealt with them many times in the past. No matter what happens, no matter what they try, I will fight them. And I will not stop fighting until I have completely stopped them from conquering this world, because I am the Doctor. And I am this planets protector."
"Since when?"
"Since I first arrived here. Now, enough questions. They're going to be here soon."
At that exact moment, the ground began to shake, harder and longer then before. As the ground shook, trees began to tilt and fall and large cracks formed across the clearing.
"Well, speak of the devil," the Doctor muttered, "Alright, we need to move back now!"
The three ponies moved back as the ground began to bulge and a large spinning drill erupted from the center of the clearing, followed by a large cylindrical vehicle. A hatch on the side opened and two strange pony-like figures exited.
The Doctor stared at them for a moment, before saying, "It seems I'm wrong."
"What do you mean?" Dash asked.
"Those are not Silurians."
"Then what are they?" Pinkie asked.
"No idea," he replied and began to move towards them, "Hello there! I have no idea who or what you are. Could you please tell me?"
The pony-like creatures turned to look at the Doctor. Their bodies were roughly the size of an average pony and had dark and very fuzzy coats with no manes or tails. Their heads looked slightly off, the muzzles looking far to shortened and rounded and they had a pair of long rodent-like buckteeth extending out of their mouths. Their eyes were solid black and squinted, as if the light was hurting them.
"We are mole ponies," one of them said in a low raspy voice, "My name is Digger and this is Burrow."
"Doesn't seem so silly now, does it?" Pinkie said smugly.
The Doctor shot Pinkie a small glare, than turned back to the mole ponies. "Nice to meet you," he said, "I'm the Doctor. Is something you want here?"
"We came for the Jallpurian," Burrow replied, "Where is it?"
"I believe I sent it to Skapatil Prime."
"Wait, what?" Digger said, confused, "You sent it somewhere?"
"Yes. It was on the verge of devouring an entire town, so Pinkie Pie," the Doctor gestured towards the pink mare, "And myself took charge and dealt with it."
"Ah, dammit," Burrow muttered and kicked the side of the drilling vehicle, "Beaten to the punch. Again."
"What do you mean again?" Dash asked.
"A few years ago we came up to the surface to capture a Serpaxian but it was already gone by the time we got here," Digger explained, sitting down, "About a year later, same thing happens again, with an Uplagit scout. And now this."
"We are the worst alien hunters ever!" Burrow yelled, kicking the vehicle again.
"Alien hunters?" the Doctor asked confused.
"Yeah," Digger said nodding, "Whenever aliens show up on this planet, we come up to the surface to try and catch them."
"I see. And are you doing this for any particular reason?"
"We need an army to combat the Light," Burrow responded.
"What's the Light?" Pinkie asked.
"The death of everything," Digger replied. The two mole ponies then, before anyone else could speak, climbed back into their drill vehicle and proceeded to head back underground.
The three ponies stood there for a moment staring at the giant hole in the ground. The Doctor then turned and began to walk away, saying, "Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, come along. We have a lot of work to do."
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