You watch the door to your home close, leaving the mare who had helped you through your most painful and exhaustive regeneration yet, standing in the middle of her oat field. As you shakily step back to the console in the centre of the room, a pang of guilt strikes you, making you look down at the grated floor after you throw the lever causing your ship to depart.

You knew you couldn’t take her with you, especially after River; you missed her. She had been the one slightly psychotic yet marvellously intelligent woman, who for several miss-jointed periods of your life had been your lover, despite her violence, yet embracing her brilliance. The way that she had simply one day not recognised you, coming to the very first time she had met you, but the very last time you would meet her. You had watched the woman die in a past life, attached to a myriad of machines that would eventually save her into the databank of a computer, but you’d never get her back, never be able to hold her.

Watching the relationship from opposite ends of the time line made you both hurt. You knew you had no idea exactly how it had felt for River, but nothing in the thousand or so years of your life had ever hurt so much - not even the eleven regenerations you had endured so far matched up to it. The deep four-beat pattern of your hearts had caused such an ache that you had to clutch your chest in agony after your final meeting with her; which happened to be the first time she had met you. The remorse tied to your experiences with the woman was what had driven you into a suicidal curiosity in a rift torn in the light of creation, dropping you through the abstract plane and landing you in “Equestria”, injured to the point of being forced to regenerate once again. Your form had changed from something so familiar yet so different every time, into what felt like an abomination compared to your species’ proud heritage.

Maybe this change was what you needed? Maybe a fresh start could help you start living again? After all, your native universe didn’t really need Time-Lords anymore, so why not explore this new one, beyond the abstract plane?

Well, maybe we should start small at first. At least take a look at Equestria, learn a little more about it as a planet before going anywhere new. After all, it reminded you of a period in Earth’s history, still lush and green, but there was something else. The monitor in front of you showed a city made of cloud, how wonderful! This would have been a fascinating place to take River, wait, Sarah-Jane? No, Amy and Rory? Rose?

You’re pained once more, realising that you truly had nobody at the moment. You couldn’t possibly go back to the mare who had taken you in as you couldn’t even remember her name - a fact that made you feel ill. Pushing random buttons and levers, you hear the characteristic and soothing noise of the TARDIS’s engines propel you several years into the future, aiming for a large city at the base of a mountain, a castle built into the side of the mountain itself. You coo to the TARDIS as she finishes making the noise, stroking the console affectionately. Good old Sexy; she always got you to where you wanted to go, even if you didn’t realise it at first.

Pushing the door open, you find yourself strolling out into a dark and stormy night, rain and wind howling, you can see several shapes similar to your own darting around in the sky, dodging lightning flashes, playing like leaves in the wind. Looking in front of you, you find yourself in a large square area, decidedly a market place. This was good news, market place usually means some sort of civilisation and nothing too barbaric to cause you to spend most of this exploration running; especially whilst still a tiny bit uneasy on your new hooves.

Wandering around the deserted square, you see another pony (an off white stallion, with tied back close to black hair) trudging onwards, a violin case slung across his back and a determined glaze over his eyes as he forces himself towards his destination, completely un-deterred by the golden mare that lands badly next to him, almost pushing him over. You look at them for a second, he was obviously like you, a normal pony, but she had wings. WINGS!? You wish you had wings. She was almost ginger too, some people have all the luck.

Watching him rudely ignore her and carry on, she manages to pull herself into her own destination, a large glass fronted building offering what looked all manners of relaxation techniques - obviously a spa. You think about following her in when you see the assistant inside, a horn on his head glowing as a pad and pencil move over to him and become fairly certain that she’s got an appointment and probably doesn’t need her relaxation time interrupting. Maybe it’d be worth wandering around the city a little more, there has to be something more interesting going on?

When the pegasus and unicorn leave the reception area, you see a brief reflection of a tiny spark of fire in one of the windows and turn to see a windswept and thoroughly annoyed armoured stallion attempting to light a pipe, eventually blowing a ring of smoke into the wind as he stood in the doorway of one of the closed shops.

“That’s really bad for you, y’know,” you pipe up, over the sound of the rain hammering against the stallion’s helmet and nearby puddles.

“What are you? Some kind of doctor?” he responds, in a gruff voice,

“Actually, yes... well, sort of,”

“Go away mate. I’m stuck out here all night, let me enjoy my pipe.” he says, adjusting the cloak around him. Between the edges of the fabric wrapped around him, the word “Sergeant” is clearly seen on the star forming part of his chest plate.

“Oh... alright,” you eventually respond, looking from the white stallion to the ground, awkwardly shuffling your hooves forwards again.

Well. It certainly seemed that the new you wasn’t as much of a pony’s pony as your previous incarnations. As you turn to leave however, he catches sight of your flank, eyes glancing over the mark, an hourglass.

“YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!” The sergeant screams, pipe dropping to the floor, hot ashes spilling from it and going dark as they hit the water on the cobbles.

You freeze on the spot, your fight-or-flight reflexes not quite as honed as they had been. Turning slowly back around, you see the officer raising manacles.

“It’s alright! I’ll come quietly!” you assure the stallion, who squinted at you before putting the manacles back.

“You’re coming with me, mate. We’ve been looking for you for a long time, you scum.”

“Uhm, I’m sorry, I’m a bit out of my depth, when am I?”

“Don’t talk, get moving, criminal,” He says, before pushing you forward roughly. The rain continued pounding down, ringing coming from the impact of the drops against his armour and helmet, despite the slight amount of protection his cloak gave him.

“Alright, alright, no need to be shirty!”

The sergeant follows you closely, giving you orders when to turn down different streets until you reach a small building. You’re shoved inside and a light is turned on. Inside the tiny room, there is a small cell, barely big enough for a pony, with a reptilian creature sat in a rocking chair, fast asleep. The sergeant clears his throat as he forces you into the cell, locking it and removing the key.

“Needles, wake up you lazy git. I’ve just caught that suspect, the one the lads up at the castle want.”

The creature groans, one huge red eye opening. He looks at your mark too, before leaping out of the chair and grabbing a quill and piece of parchment in one of his clawed hands. When it speaks, you realise that he can’t be much older than an adolescent, voice still breaking occasionally as he talks.

“Whoa! Where the hell did you find him?”

“He was just wandering around, outside that spa on Moonlight Square.”

“I’m sorry,” you interrupt, “But I don’t know what I’m supposed to have done?”

“Ha!” the sergeant responds, addressing you from the other side of the bars, “You sick bastard, you know damn well what you’ve done. The city guard don’t appreciate killers. Especially ones with your M.O.”

The lizard finishes his frantic scrawling and rolls the parchment, before shooting a green flame from his mouth, incinerating it.

“Oh, a dragon? I’ve never met a dragon before! How does the flame work? Why did you just burn the message?” you ask, still more amused than worried about what was going on.

The two of them ignore you and you see the sergeant shoot you glances, not quite sure about you himself; the dragon goes back to sleep for a few minutes before he belches loudly, another flame escaping, with a scroll appearing at the end of the flames. Catching it before it hits the floor, the seal is broken by the dragon who holds it up for the sergeant to read. You see his eyes scan over the page and he cracks the dry smile of someone rather pleased with himself.

“Right, looks like we caught you just in time. They’ve just found your latest little trick. Looks like the higher-ups are intereste-” he is cut off by a smart rapping at the door, “That’ll be the wagon to take you to your new home.”

The sergeant opens the door to another armoured white pegasus stallion, who this time was wearing ornate silver armour, obviously of a far higher quality than that of his colleague. You hear the sergeant gasp as he recognises the newcomer, nudging the dragon who snaps to attention.

“Sir Duke, we weren’t expecting you sir.”

“You’re Sergeant Brassy Bridges, correct? Well done on recognising his mark in this weather, I’ve been sent to pick up the prisoner. Her Majesty wants me to take him to the latest crime scene.”

“Sir?” the sergeant asks,

“Don’t question my orders, sergeant.”

“Sorry, Commander. I’ll let him out.”

Brassy lets you out of the cell and back into the street next to the winged guardspony. For the moment the rain has subsided, but you can see the mane of the commanding officer blowing about in the wind and can feel your own moving as the wind blows through it. Giving you the same dirty glance he had done earlier, Brassy closes the door, and you can hear hushed muttering on the other side before Duke leads you away.

“So, Doctor, I must know, why do you never land inside the castle?”

“I’m sorry, have we met?” you ask. This question confuses the stallion slightly and he shuffles his wings uneasily as you walk, obviously not happy that he has to walk to your destination rather than fly.

“I guess not...” he responds, “I am Sir Duke of Canterlot. You’re going to ask me when and where you are, you’re in the city of Canterlot and the year is 1002CR. I’m guessing you’re a bit green?”

“Green?” you respond, looking confused,

“New. You look like you’re a little un-used to those hooves you’re walking on. You explained this to me the last time we saw each other. You said you weren’t a pony before you arrived on Equestria?”

“That’s... right, Sir Duke is it?”

“Just Duke to you, Doctor. I don’t like the title, and considering everything you’ve done for us, it’s a little redundant for me to outrank you.”

“Ugh. I do hate jolting around like this. My life is always so disjointed.”

“Ha, you’ll be saying that often here.”

“So, what is it you want me to see? Who is this Princess you mentioned?” you ask, still following Duke, the first few drops of rain beginning to fall once more.

He looks up and sighs, lacking the cloak that Brassy had. As the rain begins to fall faster, the pair of you break into a canter, entering what you can only imagine to be some sort of industrial district of the city. You stop in front of a boarded-up and derelict blacksmith’s shop, with a pair of guardsponies outside. One of them, a unicorn, was sat at the curb outside, staring into a washed out pool of what you realise is vomit, the other rubbing his companion’s back. The rubber salutes the pair of you, before apologising for his companion.

“Not a problem guardspony, I understand it’s a grizzly sight in there. A filly and a colt, am I correct?”

“Yes sir, young ones at that. The constable arrived first, I was on scene shortly after his first flare went up.”

“What is a member of the castle guard doing in this district?”

“I was on my way out for a drink, Commander. I was meeting a friend at the pub just down the street.”

“Well done for responding then. Any sign of a suspect this time? Or just the wall markings?”

“No, as for the markings, I didn’t want to stay in there for long sir, it’s a bloodbath. The investigation team are in there now.”

“Commander, is there any chance you could tell me whats going on?” you ask, glancing at the snapped tape covering the open door of the shop, now not bothered by the rain falling.

Duke explained that for several months now, a murderer had been plaguing the city. Always the most heinous of crimes, gory bloodbaths typically in empty buildings - occasionally involving children and often the sickest of sick acts.

That was what made something inside you snap.

Fuming, you storm into the building with Duke in tow. The scene before you is now well lit, several unicorns taking note of evidence, bodies still left un-covered as they followed standard operating procedure.

You saw the first child, a tiny blue unicorn, strapped to what looked like a vertical operating table. Slowly, you raise a hoof and close the filly’s eyes to avoid the stare, before looking down. She had been gutted, the poor child, her innards cruelly dumped in a bucket by whichever disgusting excuse for a life form had done this. You turn, looking for the other body and find the remains of a pegasus, partially de-winged on a horizontal table behind you. Rage seethed inside of you, flowing so freely and easily. A hoof is put on your shoulder and you snap around to an older looking, pale blue unicorn dressed in scrubs, with a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

“Commander Duke explained that you’re a little new here. My name is Avian, I’m the medical examiner. I could do with your help getting her down.” His voice is calm, but his eyes hold as much rage as is flowing through you at the moment.

“How many... How many now?” You manage to ask, the coppery tasting air hitting your lungs as you breathe in for what feels like the first time since entering the room.

“These two bring the total to twelve. We were sure we’d caught the pony doing this last time.”

“What happened?”

“We found DNA on one of the victims that tied to a known foalphile. He had even kept the satchel the poor kid was carrying as a prize. Sir Duke led the raid himself, beat the culprit to within an inch of his life, it took most of his squad to stop him killing the stallion. Unfortunately, even with the culprit in custody, the killings obviously haven’t stopped... Doctor, what is it?” Avian asked, looking at you. You had turned back to look at the victims, a theory turning itself in your head.

“I think they were friends.”

“How do you know?”

“Look at the position of the bodies, they’re facing each other. I’m willing to bet that their times of death are very close, to within a few minutes.”

Avian nods after consulting his notebook.

“He made them watch. He made them watch him torture each other. Something went wrong though, he was disturbed. He didn’t get as far with the pegasus as he did with her friend. What can you tell me about the third victim?” you ask, still deep in thought.

“Third victim?”

“Yes. The one on the wall over there.”

Avian gasps as you point at the far wall. There were skid marks indicating a fight, before the soot outline of a unicorn becomes obvious on the wall itself. One of Avian’s coworkers slowly and carefully walks over with a small trowel having seen something, and empties ashes into a clear plastic bag, before putting two charred horseshoes in another. A moment of revelation occurs to you.

“I’ve seen... something capable of doing that before... Commander, Avian, I think I may have found you another killer, the one who killed the murderer.”

Next Chapter: Downpour - Chapter 2 Estimated time remaining: 30 Minutes