Chapter 26: Vamponies (Part Two)

/the Doctor\\

"Okay, so the first thing to figure out is exactly what these Vamponies are, then what they want, and then how we can fulfill their wishes without anymore bloodshed. Ideas?" the Doctor asked. His only responses were blank stares from everypony. "...Problem?"

"Well," Qantiel muttered, "you just said 'what these Vamponies are'. You know what they are, so why not just skip to step two?"

"Ah, see, that's where you are wrong. I named these creatures. I don't know the real species name."

Derpy sighed, sitting in between her daughters and draping her forelegs around them.

"So... How will you find out?" his assistant asked.

"Well, I have a TARDIS, a sonic screwdriver, and a brain that got me into the Academy."

"But you said you flunked out of that...?" Lilly asked from the doorway.

"Oh, Lill', you just had to say that," he laughed.

Celestia scoffed. "And here I thought you were a genius... Maybe you can't help us after all. How about you just leave?!"

"Celestia!" Luna gasped. "That is no way to treat our guests, the ones who are trying their best! Leave to go raise the Sun, and try to get some rest to clear your head."

The Doctor watched her defensively, his eyes softening once she was out of Luna's bedchamber. He let out a calming exhale at the sudden turn of events.

The Moon Princess sighed, shaking her head in disapproval. "Sorry, Doctor. She's not been herself, both physically and mentally."

The Mane 6, who'd been silently watching the predicaments, nodded sadly in agreement.

"...Since when?" the Doctor asked, his voice raised in suspicion.

"Since the Sickness spread," the second Princess (Twilight Sparkle) informed him.

After a few pauses of pondering, Luna took it upon herself once more to say: "again, Doctor, I'm really, really sincerely sorry. I'm sure she didn't mean it-"

"-No, no, Luna, stop it," he grinned, shaking his head. "Princesses don't apologize to somepony of my ranking. Think of me as a citizen whom is not here."

Luna nodded, obviously unsure with the idea.

Silence spread throughout like a vast land of nothingness before somepony spoke up.

"Um, um, Doctor..., um..." a yellow-coated, pink-maned Pegasus sounded meekly, stepping from the back of the crowd.

"Ah, Fluttershy, wasn't it?" he asked, accidentally louder than needed.

Fluttershy whimpered, stepping back but nodding.

"What's your question?"

She inhaled deeply before quietly murmuring something nopony could hear.

"What was that?"

"...you...t...the...sters...?

"What was that again?"

"Will you... the...?"

"Once more, a lot louder?"

Fluttershy gulped. "Will you defeat the monsters?"

The Doctor grinned, looking into the concerned blue eyes of the mare. "From what I know, yes."

She smiled, returning to the back of the group. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, buzzed it a few times in a quickly spaced staccato, and placed it into his pocket.

"Luna, direct I and my assistant towards the way of the lab, please?"

Princess Luna nodded as Derpy stood, meeting with the Doctor. "Take one right outside of this door, follow both of the two staircases down, two rights, and then follow the corridor until you recognize the door."

"Thanks!" the Doctor and his assistant exclaimed, galloping away.

"Godspeed, and be safe!" they heard Luna yell from her chamber.

They slowed before reaching the first staircase, now slowly walking along and finding no impending doom to rush them.

"How're you feeling?" he asked her.

"Okay, I guess. I mean, I got to see Dinky and Sparkler again, but everypony else is either dead or dying."

They paused for a moment.

"And... Can I be completely honest?"

"Go ahead, sweetie."

Derpy looked up into his eyes fearfully. "I'm not very happy with how everypony is. If something ends up happening with somepony, like you, any of our traveling family, my family, or if I see another Vampony I'll probably be traumatized, if I'm not already..."

The Doctor wrapped his foreleg around her neck. "Like I told Fluttershy: we'll get rid of the monsters. Every single one of 'em."

Derpy was silent for a few moments. The Doctor began watching her, waiting for her to finish the conversation. However, when it didn't come, he retracted his foreleg and nudged her shoulder, exiting the second staircase with the moping Pegasus at his side.

"Ah, come on, love. Speak your words," he instructed with a laugh.

"...It's more of a... a question."

"Let me rephrase then," he cleared his throat. "Ah, come on, love. Ask your questions."

Derpy giggled but cut it short, the Doctor noticing a newfound sound of realization in her abruptness. Gulping, she looked up at him.

"Is it that hard of a question that you can't ask?" he asked softly, concern in his voice.

She nodded slowly. "I was just... I was thinking that... You know what, never mind," she shook her head. Breaking their gazes into each other's eyes by looking to the right (away from him), Derpy began walking faster.

The Doctor, after galloping after her, stepped in front of his assistant, stopping her walk. Hugging her tightly, he whispered into her ear: "I don't care if it's a question that'll hurt me, or one that'll embarrass you. No matter what it is, just know that you can't bottle it up inside, and I certainly won't see you differently."

Derpy pulled away. "Really...?"

"Cross my hearts," he smiled.

His assistant inhaled deeply before shutting her eyes and asking her question in a quite, weak, and scared voice.

"Is this how you felt during the Time War?"

He let his smile fade a bit, but tried to keep as much up as possible.

Unable to explain his true reasons for the upcoming answer, the Doctor merely murmured "double it" sadly, his hoof running across the ground.

Derpy frowned, kissing his cheek. "Sorry," she muttered, "I didn't mean to-"

"-No, my dear. It's okay," the Doctor soothingly assured her. He met her gaze, opening his mouth to speak, but after realizing that it would be a bad idea to suggest what he was about to suggest, merely changed the subject and filled the silence with the clearing of his throat.

"Right, right... So, um, Doctor, why are we going back to the lab?" his assistant asked quietly, beginning to walk beside him to the said location.

"Oi, brighten up, won't ya?" he smiled, nudging her forearm. "Forget that conversation happened."

"Okay," she giggled in a defeated manner. "So, why are we going back to the lab?"

"Octavia is there. If that mare is infected,the sonic screwdriver will most definitely pick it up. If we can figure out the main source, we can find an antidote."

"What do you think is wrong with Celestia? Like, why she snapped?"

"No clue," he grinned.

"Do you think it could be something fixable? Paranoia? Hysteria? Anxiety? ...Maybe it's just moodiness?"

The Doctor laughed at her last suggestion. "I'm now thinking, actually, that it may be something more," he admitted after a pause. He then declared an "ah" and smiled: "the laboratory. arrived at our destination."

/Derpy\\

Derpy watched as the Time Lord soniced the door open, causing the metallic bulwark to give a satisfying clang against the wall. The three unicorns jumped at the noise before coming to realize it was the two ponies from before and groaned.

"You two again?" Comet Tail asked disrespectfully.

"Why, 'ello to you three as well," the Doctor murmured sarcastically. "'Kay. Well, I'm here to see Octavia."

The said once-Earth-now-Pegasus pony glared at him when her name was said, afterwards beginning to slam into the glass barrier multiple times.

"You've seen my notes. That in it's entirety is enough," Diamond Mint reminded him.

"It's only half of the entirety I must have provided," the Doctor argued.

"Well, you're looking at her as we speak. Satisfied?" Jet Set asked.

"Not at all. Derpy, care to join me?"

All three unicorns had a nervous gleam in their eyes now as the Doctor and his assistant approached the bulwark to Octavia's cell. The said pony growled, slamming herself against the door.

"What're you doing?" Diamond Mint asked rudely.

"Hm..., funny," the Time Lord mumbled ad he scanned the door with his sonic screwdriver, "radiations."

"What sort?" Derpy questioned.

"The weird, unknown kinds," he answered.

"He's insane!" Comet Tail gasped.

"Quite so," Derpy agreed, kissing her stalfriend's cheek.

"Ready, mon amour?"

"Allons-y!" she cried out, smiling.

The ponified Time Lord opened the door, allowing Derpy to slip in before Octavia got out. He scanned the Vampony, eventually beginning to scan the room as Derpy dodged Octavia's lunging attacks. The three unicorns watched in both awe and disgust.

"Oh, you bloody useless screwdriver, now is NOT the time!" he groaned in a somewhat-defeat, smacking his hoof against the sonic screwdriver multiple times. Each time the two collided a buzz would be heard but cut off, eventually staying on long enough to scan the creature.

After Derpy got enough space away from Octavia (because the Vampony had fallen to her knees and covered her ears), she opened the door and slammed it behind them.

All 5 ponies, save Octavia, stayed silent.

The Doctor spoke up first. "That is all. Good day."

/the Doctor\\

Before the three unicorns could react, Derpy and the Doctor began their slow trot upstairs.

"...And, we did that, why?" he was asked by his assistant.

"For experimental purposes," he grinned, "but mostly to see what it really is."

Derpy was silent before responding: "But can't your sonic screwdriver automatically tell you? Why didn't you read it yet?"

"Well, yes, it can automatically tell me, but I was hoping to show the Princesses and find out at the same time."

/Lilly\\

"So, you can see ghosts?" Dinky asked in awe.

Lilly smiled, nodding. She was sitting next to Derpy's daughter (everyone else following suit) and explaining who she really was so no confusion would occur.

"Yup," she answered.

"So, what happens on Nightmare Night?"

"'Nightmare Night'?"

Rachel cleared her throat, invisible. "Halloween."

"Oh!" Lilly exclaimed. "Nothing much. You just get a weird sense of nostalgia."

"Ah reckon ah'm startin' to believe y'all," Applejack admitted. "But ah just can't think ah the Doctor as an alien!"

"He is," Mercer defended, stepping forwards. "I, Lilly, and Qantiel live in his time machine along with Derpy."

"Oh, a time machine?!" Pinkie asked excitedly. "I bet you guys have lots of fun parties in there!"

Qantiel snickered. "I know that Derpy and the Doctor do. I bet they love to use balloons..."

Mercer gasped, nudging her.

"There are children in the room!" he exclaimed.

"They'll learn one way or another," Qantiel shrugged.

As if on cue, the Doctor and his assistant walked inside.

"Learn what?" the Time Lord asked.

"About you, mommy, parties, and balloons!" Dinky cheered, grinning.

Both, the mare and the stallion, blushed, the Doctor clearing his throat before looking in Qantiel's direction.

"Scarlet, I swear on Rassilon, just leave their innocence alone!" he groaned in a mutter.

Qantiel snickered again.

"Oh-Not like that! Get your mind outta the gutter!"

That caused the Pegasus to laugh harder.

"Anyways, Princesses, we got readings."

/Princess Celestia\\

Princess Celestia coughed multiple times, looking in the mirror on top of her bed. Her situation had worsened since she'd been last seen by her colleagues. Her coat was now only a whisper of white, her wings becoming merely just flesh and bone, and her eyes a pale red.

She hadn't meant to be so rude, not only to her guests, but to her sister as well (and herself!). But it wasn't her fault, and only herself knew.

A sudden wave of emptiness and fatigue washing over her, she quickly locked the door and collapsed onto her bed, losing consciousness before she hit the mattress.

/Princess Luna\\

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, showing the scan. It read only circled with pointed edges, but they soon turned into a language she could read.

"See?" he asked. "Octavia was surrounded by this weird sorta energy, and when we delve closer, it seems to show us the personification of the species."

Ditzy cleared her throat. "Doctor, I can't read."

Princess Luna noted the same, the once-readable letters turning to the circles. "Neither can I," she admitted.

The Doctor paused, pondering. "But... the TARDIS translates any alien languages...? That must mean-"

-An obnoxious ringing was heard, the Doctor shaking his head frantically.

"Something's wrong, and whatever it is, its going on right now," he muttered, a look of paranoia on his face.

/the Doctor\\

"Well, what's going on?" Derpy asked nervously.

The Doctor scanned the air quickly, reading aloud the results. "Somepony in this castle is creating Plasmavore energy, exactly like Octavia had, and it is spreading fast!"

"'Plasmavore'?!" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

"Well, yeah!" he responded, scanning it once more. "Yeah! Species: Plasmavore, insanity level is a 10, and the contagion is a 9!"

"But... Ah Plasmavore is ah WHAT exactly?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah," he drawled on, inhaling air through his teeth in a half sigh, "I've faced 'em before, but I haven't gotten to that."

"Doctor!" Rarity gasped. "How could you not know?!"

"I just don't! I've seen, memorized, taught, fought, experienced and learned more than double of a pony's brain brain capacity could even THINK to handle, all in under 907 years! Isn't that good for an excuse?!"

He sighed, scanning the room one last time as if to get a different result as everypony else comforted each other. His eyes opened widely at the scans, and he gestured to his assistant: "Derpy, come 'ere."

After giving her daughters an apologetic look, the said mare galloped over to him.

"Yeah, Doctor?"

He grimaced, Derpy quickly looking at the results of the scan.

"Wait, so, what does that translate into?"

The Doctor quickly opened the door, placing the screwdriver into his coat pocket, and running into the corridor with assistant in tow.

"It translates into 'something is getting into the TARDIS and we need to stop it because there is a source of alicorn magic"!" he explained, grabbing her hoof and galloping through the corridor down to the time machine.

"Princess Celestia? Is she the source?"

"Most likely yes, unless Cadence turned and decided to show up," he admitted.

"Then what do we do?" Derpy questioned.

"Well, we can't commit treason."

"Treason?"

"Well, yeah, when someone or somepony- actually, you know what, never mind," he muttered. "The Princess cannot die, I'll explain that much."

She merely nodded.

After finally reaching the TARDIS, the Doctor threw open the door and ran to the controls, Derpy following behind.

"How're you holding up?" he asked while typing into the monitor.

"Okay, I guess."

"Same reasons as last time?" When the Doctor looked over his shoulder to see her shrug, he frowned out of sympathy. However, he was cut off but the TARDIS's cloister bells increasing their volume.

Derpy"s ears perked and she glanced to the door, backing away. The Doctor looked at her in time for her to mutter "don't make a sound" with a hoof to her lips.

The ringing intensified with every second before something thudded against the TARDIS. Derpy flinched at the noise, running to the doors and pushing against them.

"Doctor, place the shIELDS SO WE CAn lock the doors!" she ordered, her voice raising each time s he began to push harder against the bulwark.

He nodded once, his hooves moving so quickly they were merely that of a blur. Once the shields were up and stable, the Doctor galloped as quickly as possible to Derpy and helped her defend the TARDIS.

/Derpy\\

After about 30 seconds, the thudding stopped, and wings were heard flying away. They both sighed out of relief, met each other's gaze, and started in a fit of laughter. However, as they became silent and began walking to the controls, the TARDIS rang her cloister bells once more.

The doors flung open and as Derpy screamed out of shock, the Doctor ordered her to duck down. She observed as a paler, blood-stained version of Celestia with black, endless eyes begin to do laps around the middle pipe protruding from the middle of the desk, gradually nearing the Time Lord. After a few more clicks of the keyboard, the Doctor grasped her hoof and pulled her out of the TARDIS, just missing Tia's grasp as he slammed the door shut and locked it with his spare key.

/the Doctor\\

Derpy backed away slowly, tears in her eyes, trembling, and her breathing heavy. The Doctor frowned at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, ignorant of the Vampony.

She shook her head no.

"Do you need a hug?"

She nodded, her eyes still locked on the TARDIS.

The Doctor chuckled, walking to his assistant and embracing her tightly. He kissed the top of her head as she trembled in his arms.

After a few hearts-felt moments, Derpy finally relaxed against him and he loosened his grip a bit.

"Doctor... What do we do about her?"

"What about her?" he asked into her mane.

"She's in the TARDIS."

"It's locked."

"Yeah, well, what about her getting into the thousands of rooms?"

He laughed. "I deleted 'em all, save the control room."

"That'll be hard when we have to sleep," she laughed softly.

"We can always just add them when this blasphemous epidemic is over."

"True."

They stayed like that for several moments, enjoying each other's company, when somepony cleared their throat and began galloping towards them.

"Hey! What're you doing?!" an American accent asked loudly.

As the bright yellow pony walked towards them, her dark purple mane flipping around her, Derpy retracted from their embrace.

"And who are you, then?" the Doctor asked.

Derpy stepped backwards but jumped forwards at the thudding inside of the TARDIS. The Doctor wrapped a foreleg around her neck and whipped his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, scanning the stranger.

"Clean," he proposed, "free of any at all Plasmavore antibodies." The Doctor put the device away and waited until the pony was close enough to say: "Ello! I'm the Doctor."

"Hi! I'm Destery." (Author's Note: Dess-tree. An OC made by one of my friends.)

"Derpy," said the third pony. "What're you doing here, Destery?"

"In the castle? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter if I say this or not. I live here. Illegally, of course."

Destery made it close enough to be fully observed. She had a curly dark purple mane that covered her right eye, a bright yellow body, maroon eyes, dark black eyeliner, a black nose piercing on the right outer edge of her nostril, a pepproni pizza cutie mark, and 5 unicorn horns, making her a pentacorn.

"Illegally?" Derpy asked. "So the Princesses don't know?"

"Not at all," Destery smiled. Raising a hoof to her lips, she whispered "sh" and flashed a teasing smile.

"Wait, how did you accomplish that? Wouldn't you be caught?" the Doctor asked. "Why would you need to in the first place?"

Destery shrugged. "I was kind of forced into it. My dad and sisters died, had nowhere to go, found the castle, moved in..."

Derpy frowned. "The Sickness?"

"The Sickness."

The Doctor pondered Destery's situation in his bear before softly stating: "So, you have no where to go."

"Well, yeah. I usually stick around by the guest bedroom right around the corner, you know, sleeping on the floor so they don't walk in and see the cushions moved and hiding in the closets when they do come in, but I only came out because I heard some ruckus and wanted to fight. So, yeah, you're right."

The Doctor gave Derpy a look she read automatically.

"Well, you've gotten one now."

Destery eyed them curiously. "What?"

"You can stay with us, if you'd like," the Doctor suggested.

"Really?!" she asked over-excitedly. "But, wait, how do we survive? The castle is secure; I've been here for a month. If anything YOU should be living with ME!" she laughed.

"Trust me, we have a better place of residence where nothing will get us," Derpy giggled.

"Oh! Where at? Ponyville? Rainbow Falls? Fillydelphia? Manehattan? The Crystal Empire?"

The Doctor used his second hoof to point at the TARDIS. "You're looking at it."

"You two live in THAT?"

The Time Lord's assistant grinned. "Well, us, Lilly, Qantiel, and Mercer."

"How do you all fit?"

"It's bigger on the inside," the Doctor smiled, "trust me. Anyways, shall we go tell the others what happened?"

"Allons-y," Derpy agreed.

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry I just now uploaded this chapter. Stuff has been happening in school, at home, in my own life, etc, and I couldn't find time to write. However, since I finished my math test today before the half-block bell rung, I was able to sit down in silence and finish the chapter!

Yay!

Again, apologies,

- GothicPegasister