Chapter 11

The Doctor grabbed the console's handrails in an attempt to slow down his forward momentum, nearly knocking himself over and down into the lower parts of the control room

Rainbowdash was in midair and avoiding the sudden shakes by not making physical contact with anything, but heeded what the Doctor said next

"Rainbow! Pull the emergency handbrake!"

As soon as she had smacked the handbrake the TARDIS suddenly stopped shaking and went still

The Doctor caught his breath, "That must have been quite the power supply if it made the TARDIS do that."

Rainbowdash helped the hanging Doctor back up towards the door, before the two looked at said doors apprehensively

"Well" the Doctor said, "Adelante."

[…]

It was safe to say that the land outside looked rather awful, the town looked completely decimated, not a single pony stood around the small little village

The eerie familiarity of the area chilled the Doctor, it was as if he was missing something important

"What happened?" Rainbowdash asked, looking at the slightly green overcast sky, "Is it Nightmare Night or something?"

The Doctor stayed silent, before bursting out loud

"Of course!" he exclaimed, "There must have been a cataclysmic event that caused a ripple in time; that would cause a huge surge of power!"

Rainbowdash had been doing a brief flyover of the town, before delivering the chilling news

"Doctor, I think this is Ponyville."

[…]

They watched and saw, the blue box had appeared after long last! Oh how she would be pleased to have her revenge at long last!

But they would need to watch, they would need to listen for they needed to succeed this time

So they hid, as the two looked for clues, they would wait and watch

[…]

"Is it just me or does it seem like there was a nuclear apocalypse while we were gone?" the Doctor asked suddenly, "The landscape fits."

"What's nuclear mean?" Rainbowdash asked

"Right no technology of that caliber was available to you" the Doctor nodded, "That cancels that out of the picture, what could it be…?"

Rainbowdash saw a pony in the distance, looking completely fine and dandy, she nudged the Doctor and got his attention

As he looked up the Doctor felt a growing sense of dread, it was getting closer, and it was becoming more and more apparent that it was no normal pony

It had claws, straight and marred with blood, its mane was pink and straight, the eyes were what really got at the Doctor, the actual eye was missing however a bright purple dot was how it obtained its sight

Rainbowdash tensed for sudden flight

It was now 20 meters away, that was when its jerky movements became more noticeable, as did the cutie mark

Two blue balloons accompanied by one yellow balloon

"Pinkie Pie…?" Rainbowdash had tears streaking down her face

The figured stopped ten feet away, seemingly evaluating the pair

Right then it lunged forward, a shriek erupting from its throat, the Doctor could've sworn it sounded like a pony having their vocal cords being slowly dissolved by acid

Rainbowdash took off, and the Doctor's instinct to run kicked in, launching off into the maze of houses and rubble

The Doctor quickly lost sight of Rainbowdash but was positive that she could take care of herself in the air, for now he had to focus on getting himself into a safe position

He jumped over a small fence, before catapulting himself into a small kitchen, which he guessed was Sugarcube Corner

The monstrosity that was once Pinkie Pie had followed him into the bakery, slowing down now that it had lost sight of him

The grunting and panting of the creature only served to make the Doctor nervous, as he was hidden in a cupboard not ten feet from it

It slammed some pots over, slowly exiting the bakery as far as the Doctor could tell

Where was Rainbowdash? The Doctor wondered, was she alright? He must've diverted the pink thing but what if there were any more of them?

[…]

Rainbowdash had done one of the things that helped her best avoid Pinkie Pie before, hiding inside a cloud

Now she didn't know where the Doctor went, so she decided to look for him and avoid any further trouble

As she touched down on the soft dirt road she began to wonder if Twilight and the rest of her friends were okay, but the chances were slim

A lone paper blew in the wind, Rainbowdash caught it and read the date

"Wha…What?"

It was only a few days after she had left with the Doctor in terms of her 'therapy treatment', what had happened in that time?

The rest of the text was illegible, besides an article about a few ponies going missing, but that point was moot now, all of the ponies were missing

There was no sign of anypony living here for ages, but that paper wasn't the best source for time due to its current state, even so with the state of the town it could just be a day old

There were too many questions and not enough answers, Rainbowdash simply decided to go and look for Twilight, she would know what to do

That was assuming Twilight was okay, Rainbow hoped for the best but with what had happened to Pinkie…

She shook her head clear, she would have to go and look for the rest of her friends; it was her responsibility

She started for Twilight's tree, and what she found there was quite astounding

"Well Doc, you wanted to see your power source." Rainbowdash breathed, "Well you found it."

[…]

The Doctor felt as if the coast was clear, and took the time to go and look for clues in Pinkie's room

Once he got up there it was apparent that the change had been gradual, the slashes in the wall were new, as was the baby crocodile corpse, but a few scribbling messages on the wall seemed a day or two old

There was even a diary, which told of the changes Pinkie had gone through, and a few startling developments

Pinkie's Log

Twilight's been going bonkers again, but I'm sure she'll be fine, she thinks she saw a blue box vanish into thin air! Wouldn't that be fun! It's not good how she's been obsessing over it, and it kind of scares me, I'll still be as bubbly as I can to make her feel better!

Pinkie's Log

Twilight's been testing some new spells, from inside a book that was called Arcane something, she tested it on me which is fine because we're friends like that, but I've been feeling weird, and not the good weird, the bad weird

Pinkie's Log

I don't know if this will be my last log, but my hooves…There's something wrong with them, they're sharper and a I can't help but look at my friend's necks, thinking of the juicy meat that they have…No! I have to find out what's happening! Maybe Twilight will know…

That was the last entry, one for three days across, so it had been three days for Pinkie Pie to convert into whatever it was she was now, Twilight had something to do with this, and he had to go find out how to fix it

[…]

Before Rainbowdash could go inside she found a small little reptile body, one she recognized instantly

"Spike!?" she bent down and picked him up, there were no signs of life, "Who did this to you?"

"That would be me" a dark purple alicorn stood in the doorway, "Please, come in; I've just put the tea on."

Rainbowdash knew she had no way of getting answers without going inside, so she did, looking out to see if the Doctor was anywhere close, or even alive for that matter

Twilight looked more shadow than pony at this point, a bright green haze going off from her now red irises, the whites of her eyes were now a normal purple

She sat down on a stool, inviting Rainbowdash to sit on the other one

As Rainbowdash sat down, she saw that the alicorn before her was watching her intently

"You're awfully clean for someone in this town" Twilight said calmly, "It's no surprise how you've come out of that blue box."

"How long have I been gone?" Rainbowdash asked bluntly

"Four days" Twilight took a sip of the tea, "You and your 'therapist' must've had quite the time in that small box."

Rainbowdash had to hold herself back from smacking her best friend across the face

"But of course that stallion must have been well trained in the arcane arts" Twilight continued, "So I trained to match"

"What did you do to Pinkie Pie?" Rainbowdash demanded

"Watch your tone Rainbow" Twilight warned caustically

Rainbowdash gulped, Twilight wasn't going to be reasoned with, likely beneath that calm demeanor was a highly unstable pony

"She was a…test." Twilight finally said, "It was necessary in order to see my abilities."

"And of the rest of Ponyville?"

"That was…collateral damage." Twilight said, "However I am quite pleased with the state of Equestria now."

Rainbowdash felt her breath get caught in her throat, all of Equestria was like this now?

And where was the Doctor? Had Pinkie Pie caught up with him? That chilling thought only served to steel her sense of commitment to stop Twilight's homicidal reign

Twilight was examining Rainbowdash a bit more than Rainbow was comfortable with, before a sadistic smile crept along her face

Rainbowdash felt it before she saw it, a purple aura enveloping her entire body, preventing her from moving

She was dragged down into the basement, before being laid out on a laboratory experimentation table

"After Pinkie Pie came to see me on what was wrong with her, I kindly let her down here with a few of our friends." Twilight said, holding the decapitated head of Scootaloo

Rainbowdash felt the tears streaking down her face, but couldn't bring herself to allow Twilight the pleasure of hearing her scream

The crazed alicorn began to fire a perpetual magical beam, effectively making a laser that was slowly going to carve at the rainbow mare's body

But then a metal girder creaked, and crashed down right on top of Twilight, the Doctor stood on top

"Well then" the Doctor said, breaking Rainbow's restraints, "What are you waiting for? RUN!"

The pair ran up the stairs and out of the library, but not long before Pinkie Pie saw them, and gave chase

They reached the TARDIS doors, Rainbowdash went in first, followed by the timelord

He slammed the doors shut, and quickly disengaged the emergency handbrake

But the Doctor knew that it wasn't going to be over, he ran up and saw what he dreaded at that very moment

The Shadow Twilight had figured out the fact that if she could survive time travel as a unicorn then it stood to reason that as an alicorn she could survive practically anything, so she grabbed hold of the TARDIS

The Doctor knew what he had to do, even though it wasn't going to be pleasant for neither him nor his companion

Rainbowdash looked at the Doctor, apparently aware he was going to do something

"Rainbowdash, I promised to show you the universe" the Doctor said sadly, "I was going to show you so much, but it looks like nothing wants to go my way for these things."

The timelord kicked the futon angrily

"Doctor, what do you mean?" Rainbowdash asked

"Twilight isn't going to let us go, right now she's trying to come with us wherever we go." The Doctor gritted his teeth, "We need to stop this from its source, and I'm sorry, I am truly so sorry. But there isn't any other way."

"Doctor" Rainbowdash looked him straight in the eye, "What are you thinking?"

The Doctor put his hooves on the sides of her head, "Before you go, I want you to know that you were absolutely brilliant, just fantastic. I couldn't think of anyone more capable than you to take along."

Rainbowdash could feel it now, the memories of their adventures, before and after, fade away. The feelings of sorrow and anger were tangible from the Doctor, and Rainbowdash knew there was no way to talk him out of this

"Doctor" Rainbowdash smiled slightly, "Thank you."

And then she collapsed to the floor

[…]

Rainbowdash woke with a start, grabbing her dream journal. Twilight had suggested that she keep one ever since her double vision had faded and these new dreams started to occur, she could see it clearly, his face, and the most recent loss that he had suffered

Her mind was drawing a blank on what his name was, but she knew it was important to write what she did remember of this mysterious pony, to try and find him again someday

The curves and points of his face, his smile, the way he wore a bowtie and fedora, the time they had saved the day from vampire ponies, every dream she had and every entry of her journal, what would she call it?

Then a sudden burst of thought and she remembered his name, or what she called him, the Doctor, and this was her journal of impossible things

A/N: Happy October everybody. I can't trust myself to write a chapter on Halloween itself, so here's your Halloween chapter, eight days early. Please leave feedback and let me know what you think, and any suggestions are welcome!