The Doctor, the Pegasus, and the Princess
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Lauren Faust is the person who created this generation of ponies. I also do not own anything that may emerge as crossover material. Any original characters belong to me unless stated otherwise.
The planet they were viewing amongst the darkness of space and twinkles of stars was a very beautiful sight for two ponies on the planet's moon's cold barren surface. There were many planets out in this vast universe that be called Earth. This particular Earth was home not to humans, but a race of equines. Commonly, we call them ponies. The habitants of this livable planet call it Earth, while some would also call it Equis.
"I can't believe that we're on the moon itself."
"Before the age of industry, the planet was more pure than it was in your time, in your present," said a tan-coat stallion.
He wore a type of shirt collar around his neck with an attached red bowtie. His tail was a short length cut, and mane a swept spiky auburn brown. On his flank was his cutie mark of an hourglass. He was what you call an Earth Pony. To other ponies, he went by the alias Time Turner whenever he appeared in Ponyville or anywhere else in Equestria, or Earth/Equis in general. The other pony with this bowtie-wearing pony was a Pegasus with a light gray coat and messy pale blonde mane and semi-long tail. On her flank was her cutie mark of bubbles. Her yellow eyes were always at a skewed look, or commonly called derp; which was why her name was Derpy Hooves.
Derpy smiled to the Doctor, as the two sat on a spread plaid blanket in which there were an assortment of dishes, cups, and a ceramic tea pot. They were having tea time on the moon, with some pastries like custard pie, plucked fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. And of course, an assortment of flavored muffins: banana nut, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon glaze, cheesecake swirl. Yes, there IS such a flavor as cheesecake swirl muffins!
Praise the muffins.
"Very surprised we can breathe on the moon, considering you told me the moon does not have an atmosphere," said Derpy.
The Doctor grins. "Anything can happen, my dear. It's not hard to use a bit of ingenuity to create a artificial atmosphere so we can sit here on the surface not far from the TARDIS, and also not freeze to death as deep space IS chilly."
Close-by a short distance was a very familiar blue box, the TARDIS.
Derpy grabs another banana nut muffin and heartily eats, getting a soft chuckle from her time-traveling companion.
"So after our muffins and tea time, where do you want to go next?" Derpy asks the Doctor.
The Doctor smiles warmly. "We could go to Christmas Town? Enjoy the winter atmosphere and all-year holiday spirits and seasonal warmth."
Derpy giggled. She liked Christmas Town. It was on a rather cool planet where it snowed almost eight out of twelve months, with the two months where warmer weather would fit through. It was situated in the Pegasus Galaxy, a long distance from Equestria, and Equis/Earth in particular.
As Derpy and the Doctor enjoy their tea time with muffins, far below on the planet, two alicorns were battling fiercely. One was Princess Celestia, and the other used to be Princess Luna, Celestia's younger sister. But she was now transformed into an evil mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon. The battle between them was very dangerous for anypony to witness, as the destruction that reigned the longer they fought threatened to destroy the entire castle within the Everfree Forest.
Nightmare Moon's laughs were terrifying as she finally got the lucky strike upon her elder sister, sending her smashing through the roof, and crashing back into the throne room. Injured, hurt all over, but not yet ready to quit, Celestia slowly stood on her hooves. Tears fell from her eyes as she glances to her sister whose heart was now as black as the night. Her unicorn horn shines a white light and the room rumbles. The floor parts and rising from the darkness was a platform with six different-colored gems. Celestia summons the Elements of Harmony to her before taking flight.
"So, you are still alive? No matter. I will end your life, sister!" Nightmare Moon shouts, as a dark vicious aura surged around her body.
"I am sorry, Luna... but you give me no other choice but to ensure your defeat," Celestia's words seemingly echoed, as a river of tears fell from the elder mare's eyes. The Elements of Harmony glow and spin, forming their rainbow colors and combining with her own magical power, she fires a brilliant blast of rainbow energy straight at Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon roars in rage, unleashing a dark and purple spiraling beam of energy of her own, and both forces slam in the center, generating concussive bursts of wind as two polar opposite powers struggles for dominance. In this moment, the two sisters' eyes connect. Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna could not believe the pain that was etched on her elder sister's face. Princess Celestia's tears never wavered as the rainbow energy pushed through the darkness.
Nightmare Moon screamed as the harmonic energies tear through her battle aura, and she vanishes within the blinding white light. The beam did not stop, it continue to fly farther and farther up into the skies, until it finally strikes the moon with a shockwave of rainbow radiating outward. The Elements of Harmony dissipate and their spinning slows down until they simply fall around her.
Her head is lowered.
"Please forgive me, Lulu," she chokes on her sobbing. She felt very alone now...
At this exact moment, Derpy and the Doctor's tea time were interrupted when the TARDIS started to make wibbly-wobbly noises before fading. Just in time, because Nightmare Moon slams in the spot where the TARDIS once stood, forming a crater and throwing up plumes of dust into the air due to the artificial atmosphere still intact. It was enough to jostle their tea time, as a single cup got jarred and flew away from them. Derpy was quick to save the muffins, though.
This sudden event surprised the Doctor. However, it appears that now, even as he trots over, sonic screwdriver at the ready, feeling that gut instinct developing that something was happening that allowed them to witness this particular event in Equestrian History.
Derpy stared, staying close to the Doctor.
"Doctor, who is this?" she asks him.
The Doctor replied, "This, my dear, is Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's younger sister."
Derpy gasped. This was Princess Luna? Then our lovable pegasus remembered a part of history from her world: they weren't just on the moon, but apparently...
"Looks like the TARDIS didn't just take us to the moon, my dear. She took us to the past, to this particular point in time," the Doctor said, seeing the connections Derpy was making in her mind.
They heard Nightmare Moon/Luna moan softly. Looks like this was when Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister to the moon for a thousand years...
"Where am I?" they hear the dark mare mutter as she slowly gets up from the crater her body created upon impact.
Nightmare Moon felt a cool feeling on her skin/fur, and flinched when instead of grass, she sees nothing but... dirt. Her hoof trudges a small mark into the dirt. Lunar dust...
"No..."
She looks up. There, in all her glory, was Earth. She was banished to the moon by the Elements of Harmony, after being defeated in their dangerous duel in the forest and surrounding royal castle. Tears started to fall.
The flying tea cup fell in the halved atmosphere pocket and landed in front of Nightmare Moon. This surprised the dark mare. She poked it. She prodded the tea cup, before gingerly picking it up with her hoof, inspecting the fine china.
"Hello," greets the Doctor.
Nightmare Moon spun around shocked to hear a voice on this cold barren rock. The cup fell back to the lunar dirt. Two ponies were standing there under the shadows of the moon the sun didn't touch. But for some reason, she could see their eyes. The Doctor moves out of the shadow, revealing himself to Nightmare Moon followed closely by a gray-coat pegasus with odd derped eyes.
"I am the Doctor. And this is my traveling companion, Derpy Hooves."
"Hi!" she says with a cheerful wave of her hoof.
"Wha... how is this...?"
This didn't make sense. How or what are two other ponies doing on the moon? Did... did her sister banish them too, somehow? What was going on?
"Are you okay?" asks Derpy, trotting over to the taller pony.
Nightmare Moon flinched at the close contact by this derpy-eyed mare, but the winged pony just kept smiling as she inspected her for any injuries.
"Derpy is very friendly at times, Princess Luna," the Doctor tells the alicorn.
"How... what are you doing here on the moon?"
Derpy grins, and swings her leg outward, revealing their tea party they were having. Although it was slightly ruined after she had appeared, but the basket of muffins stood perfect and untouched by the event.
"We came here to the moon in the TARDIS and conjured a form of artificial atmosphere so we can survive out here, and also not freeze to death by the coldness of space," said Derpy. Already she was pulling Nightmare Moon over to the spread blanket. There was one plate with a slice of custard pie, waiting for somepony to accept it.
"Would you like to join our party?" she requests, pulling her over without much resistance.
The alicorn princess of the night was still stunned to seeing two ponies other than her on the barren surface of the moon. Before she knew it, she was sitting on the blanket, the pegasus to her left, and the Earth pony on her right. The Doctor just continues to smile, even as Derpy picked up a random muffin, and held it to Nightmare Moon. The dark mare was very surprised by the sudden warmth and friendliness these two stranger ponies were showing her.
"What is the TARDIS?" she asks. The word sounded foreign to her tongue.
"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," was the stallion's answer. "She's my trusted companion when it comes to traveling all of time and space itself," said the Doctor, a hint go smugness and pride in his voice.
"Time and space?" Nightmare Moon choked out, in disbelief.
"We're time travelers!" exclaims Derpy, grinning all the more. "Muffin?"
She looks at the spread before her. Cups, a tea pot, pastries and baked goods, a basket filled with a random assortment of flavored muffins. The one who called himself the Doctor had such a warm caring smile on his face. But she looked into his eyes and could see something within them. Power... It was foreign and unknown power(s) beyond anything ever known to pony kind. And behind that, there seemed to be a hint of sadness that was cleverly hidden by mischievousness. Then there was the mare, Derpy Hooves, still holding out a banana nut muffin, an aura of pure innocence and adventure radiating from her.
Why are they not afraid of me? I am Nightmare Moon...
Even before her... well... downfall, she never had much friends except in her... elder sister... the only friend she had was just a mere five decades ago, when she met a young blind filly named Snowdrop, who was the sole pony who instilled the warmth around the winter solstice with her gift: a snowflake made of the frozen water.
"You did not deserve this," said the Doctor. "You don't deserve isolation and a life of no friends. We would be glad to be your friends."
Derpy giggles. "Yeah! It would be awesome to have a princess travel the universe with us in the TARDIS having all sorts of fun adventures!"
Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, as the dark powers that tainted her soul was starting to bleed away by the radiance of friendship these two strangers were willing to offer, regardless of the danger that she could unleash. The Doctor smiled; a veiled look in his eyes as the darkness that corrupted the younger princess was melting off her despite it wanting to keep its leech on Luna.
When her eyes opened again, Princess Luna had been freed of the darkness, and a happy smile crossed her lips. Her coat had bled from black to a purplish navy, and her eyes and teeth were no longer cat-like or sharp like a predator's. Her twinkling starry mane was now softer in contrast and no longer flared like the wrath of the sun. And the dark armor of Nightmare Moon had vanished.
"Yes, I would love to have a muffin," she says to Derpy who cheers. She took hold of the baked goodness with her magic and took a bite. Oh, dear Faust, this was delicious!
The tea party resumed, and half the food was devoured by their third guest. It was relatively quiet, but with some fun antics such as Derpy feeding the Doctor a custard pie only for a bit of the white whipped cream to dollop on the tip of his muzzle. But soon the fun ended, and the three ponies were standing, and looking over to Earth/Equis.
"You may have been banished because of the darkness that festered and controlled you, but here is your fresh new start. You ready?" Doctor asks Luna, as with his hoof the key to the TARDIS beeps, and the blue police box emerges in its wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey fashion. The door creak open and a warmth of light shines from the opening.
Derpy smiles and hurries into the TARDIS, basket of leftover pastries and muffins in mouth. The Doctor looks to Princess Luna. Princess Luna's horn shines, and her long hair splashes outward before with her magic, she cuts her hair short into a new curly style of fashion. The leftover strands of hair fall to the lunar ground, and finally her discarded crown is summoned from the crater Nightmare Moon created.
"Yes, I am ready, Doctor," Luna responds, walking to the TARDIS.
The Doctor chuckles. "Well, then let us go on a new journey, my princess! Allons-y!" And he charges right into the TARDIS.
Luna giggled. Allons-y? That sounded funny. But as she steps into the TARDIS and the door closes behind her, the box starts to glow before lifting off the moon's surface. The light of the sun shines off the blue police box before vanishing, as the Doctor starts driving the TARDIS to their next adventure in time and space. All that was left behind on the moon, and would look terribly out of place, is a red plaid picnic blanket, and discarded cups, plates, and a tea pot.
And this is how things have changed with this alteration to Equestria's history...
One thousand years later...
Next chapter...