The Doctor quickly went about, steadying the TARDIS for flight into the past, he had to know what happened that day

As he traveled he was hitting several ripples in the time vortex that meant something major had happened, and it was up to him to figure out what went wrong

The land he was going to land in looked nothing like Equestria, there were strange pink clouds and rabbits with long legs and all sorts of odd and chaotic things

"What on Earth happened there?" the Doctor muttered aloud

He set the handbrake and parked

[…]

As soon as the Doctor stepped outside the TARDIS he could smell that strange energy on the air, as if there were a nest of prickling ants in his nose

He appeared to be in Canterlot, there were ponies milling about and quite a few of them looked miserable and dejected

The Doctor looked towards the sky, the dead planet was nowhere in sight

"I got my dates wrong" he stated flatly

A unicorn guard walked past, languid. The Doctor started to walk, a feeling of curiosity overwhelming him now

There were all sorts of ponies he hadn't met, but if his memory served there was a picture in the castle that he could take a look at, with that draconequus or whatever it was called

As he walked, he constantly had to put up with pink clouds raining chocolate milk down at him, and it was annoying him. A lot.

The Doctor reached the gates to the castle he subconsciously expected to be there, instead there was a pile of rubble, and a sign

Discord has risen

The Healer arrives

The rulers were murdered

Just in time

The strange sign made the Doctor feel a bit nervous, he had received cryptic messages in the form of Gallifreyan texts, but this message was in Old High Gallifreyan

At this point in time he wasn't sure if anyone else could read Old High Gallifreyan or not, so it wasn't a very narrow search, as for the rulers being dead the Doctor could easily tell it wasn't Celestia or Luna as they were in his present time

But that implied that it was their parents, and the Doctor hadn't heard much about them from either of the princesses, not even in folklore from the Canterlot libraries

As for the Healer, it may be the pony that left this note, or one that knows about this Healer at least, the Doctor tried to avoid thinking what else it could mean

Naturally it wasn't hard for him to turn and search for other clues, the smell that he could smell as soon as he exited the TARDIS was really strong here, he put it down to a magical energy he didn't recognize

The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver, taking a brief scan before putting it away, it only proved his conclusion to be true

"I guess the negative effects have worn off." The Doctor said, before turning to search for anything else

There was a pony that had nearly bowled him over, the little foal was going at least 20-30 miles per hour

And when you don't expect that, it can knock you over

The Doctor slowed the quick little foal, "Slow down there Scamp, what's wrong?"

"King Discord has taken my brother! I need some help!"

The Doctor followed the dirty foal, he couldn't even tell which gender it was due to this stage meaning a high voice either way

The more he followed the more he felt as if something was off, he had already been knocked unconscious because he was following someone, and at this moment anything could be false

Furthermore his gut was telling him that this foal was hiding something, his brain dismissed it and his heart told them to shut up so he could figure this out

The Doctor and the foal reached a small house, and there were a few guards with hideous deformities and growths, the Doctor reeled

"Well now isn't this interesting" he said, getting the guards' attention, "You appear to have been through quite the traumatic experience, for which I am sorry, but care to explain why you are carrying that foal?"

"They don't talk, ever" the colt, as the Doctor concluded, said

"Who did this to them?" the Doctor said, "And why kidnap a foal?"

"Experiments, fun I don't know."

"And lastly" the Doctor turned to the colt, "Why have you matured so quickly?"

The colt had already grown into a stallion around Twilight's age, and the dirt began to part

"No… Not now, please!" his voice began to tear apart

Then his front hoof began to take shape of a hand, it was a hideous mutation, and the Doctor rushed forward

"What's his name?" the Doctor asked, "What is that foal's name?"

"I-it's…StarSwirl!" the stallion choked out, then his eyes rolled back into his head

He had died, and only a puppet was left

The Doctor turned to face the strange guards, he walked up calmly and took the foal, then turned around and walked away

The guards were too stunned by this act to react, and they stood dumbfounded as the Doctor simply left

There were things left out of the history books, the Doctor concluded, how else would Equestria remain to be so peaceful? But beyond that the Doctor now knew he had to stop this whole affair from happening, and he knew exactly how.