Doctor Whooves: Series One

Chapter Two: Body Snatched Part Two

Canterlot: Restaurant District

East Canterlot

6th of Summer C.R., 12:24 p.m.

Fleur and the Doctor sat at a restaurant awaiting the food they had ordered, much to the mares annoyance. The Doctor had just stopped in the middle of talking just to say that he was “IN THE MOOD FOR SOME CARROTS!” With a hop skip and a jump, mostly on his end, the pair of ponies sat at The Flower Shrub, a local restaurant close to the Royal Maze Gardens. She had watched as he fumbled with the menu all the while smiling like a foal in a candy store. She just couldn’t pinpoint his personality. He seemed to have more mood swings than a mare in heat. Right now, he was giddy with excitement.

“There are just so many of you ponies!” The Doctor said smiling. “Big ones, fat ones, skinny ones, tall ones! Red, blue, green, yellow! Every color imaginable.” The stallion eyes widened as he looked to the sky. “Oh! And pegasi too! Flying ponies! Never thought I would see the day I would get surprised about something as…well…impossible as that. “He looked back toward the mare. “And horns too. I would guess have those mean you can do something as well, right? Right? Of course I’m right. So tell me what can you do?”

“You…don’t know?” Fleur asked raising an eyebrow. “We unicorns can do magic.” Giving him a demonstration, she levitated her menu toward him with a gentle glow of her horn.

The Doctor eyes widened. “You mean I could have regenerated into something that can do that? Why is it that I never get what I want!? Like being ginger! How come I couldn’t be a ginger unicorn with cool levitating powers as well?!” The Doctor hung his head down and shook his head mumbling under his breath. “Not ginger…not a unicorn…I never get what I want…”

The only bit of information that the mare could obtain was the first bit about regeneration. “Regenerated? What do you mean by that?” And then another thought popped into her head. “And aren’t we supposed to be talking about that dangerous thing you mentioned earlier?”

The Doctor looked toward her with wide eyes. “Oh! Right! Nearly forgot about that. Hmmm… Well I best first tell you about…well… me.” The Doctor coughed into his hoof to clear his throat. “Right. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am…the Doctor, from the Planet Gallifrey.”

The mare gave The Doctor a scrutinizing look. “You…You have got to be kidding me?” She scoffed. “The planet Gala-what? Are you saying you’re not from this world? Do you honestly expect me to believe that you are an alien pony?”

“What?” The Doctor said looking affronted. “Of course not. Don’t be silly.” He paused and then said. “I’m not a pony I’m a Time Lord.”

“Oh…Ok…” She looked away from him towards the direction of the hospital. “Listen…if you need help I know a few good doctors that can…”

“Really? You really going to go there, after what you saw?” The Doctor accused, folding his hooves about his chest.

“If you’re talking about your Tardy-“

“TARDIS.”

“Whatever…If you talking about that invisibility spell you placed on it then you’re going to have to do better than that to convince me you’re not just crazy.”

“Oh come on!” The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Why is it that you lot always question my sanity every chance you get.” He sighed gently. “Listen, right now, as much as I would love to prove you how very wrong you are right here and now, I do believe I need to get to the second business of what I need to be doing.” His eyes strayed past her and furrowed deeply. “…And I do believe that I am needed now more than ever.”

The mare turned to face what he was looking at. A crowd of ponies were gathered by an alleyway, and blocking the entrance was a few of the royal guard. Some of the ponies seemed to have turned a shade of green at whatever it was that held their entrance.

“Looks like our talk will have to wait for now Miss Fleur…” He jumped from the table, biting down on a carrot as he passed by the waiter.

“Wait! Doctor!” She placed a few bit on the table before galloping after him. She should have just left him, he was clearly crazy. Despite that however she followed him, brushing past the crowd toward the front. When she was right beside him she asked him, “Doctor, what are you doing?”

Before the Doctor could respond a pair of spears suddenly blocked their path, both held by two burly stallions in golden armor.

“Halt! No civilians allowed past this point by order of her majesty!” One of them spoke in a commanding tone.

Fleur was about to back away but stopped when the Doctor approached the two stallions without fear. “Right! I think you’ve been expecting me.” The blue eyed stallion reached into his coat pocket, pulling out that strange leathery pouch he had placed in there before. “Look. See?”

The guard that spoke looked at the small piece of paper and widened his eyes. “Inspector Timepony! Yes of course. Right this way.” To Fleur’s amazement both guards removed their spears so that he could pass. “Right at the end of the all.”

The Doctor nodded and turned to face Fleur. “Coming assistant?” Without waiting for a response he trotted past the guards, making his way toward the back of the ally.

Fleur stood by for only a second, not really sure of what to make of what had just transpired, before racing after him. When she caught up she spoke in a quiet tone. “What the hey did you just show him? Why did he call you Inspector Timepony?”

The Doctor smiled and pulled the pouch out. Opening it he showed her the piece of paper. To her surprise, it read something completely different. “A coupon for a free day at the spa? Wait! I…is that…That’s the same paper you showed the guard! How did…”

“Psychic Paper.” He answered after putting the object away. “It allows someone to see what I want them to see or whatever the one I’m showing it to wants to see.” He smirked held his head up high. “Still need convincing my dear?”

The mare looked away scoffing once more. “While I’ll admit…I’m not the most…studious…of unicorns, I don’t think that your little paper trick is outside of the realm of possibility.” Still, it was news to her and she was very much intrigued by it, not that she would admit it to this crazy colt.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he moved forward. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, miss Fleur.”

The pair of ponies, upon reaching the back of the ally, found four more of the royal guard nearby, talking amongst themselves in hushed tones.

“What…what could do this?”

“Don’t know…never seen anything like it…”

“You think it might have been will-o-wisp?”

“Will-o-wisps don’t do…that…I should know…I’ve fought them…”

One of the guards turned to face the Fleur and the Doctor as they approached. “What are…Oh! You must be the Inspector that the Princess had sent for.”

“Yep! Yep! That’s me! Inspector Timepony, aka the Doctor. In fact I would prefer if you just called me the Doctor thanks.” He motioned toward the mare beside him. “And this here is-“

“F-Fleur de lis?!” One of the guards called out.

The Doctor arched an eyebrow. “You…know her?”

“Of course!” The guard seemed to blush slightly in embarrassment. “I…She’s a famous pony model and actress…I seen all of her movies…”

Fleur looked away. Of course she would get noticed. Just because she left Fancy doesn’t mean that she’s still not famous the world over. In fact she was willing to bet that Fancy has of yet to address the fact that she had left him. She turned to face the ogling guard with a kind expression. “It’s always good to meet a fan but right now…” She motioned toward the Doctor. “I am working with the Inspector.” She paused and added for good measure. “Do you have a problem with that?”

The guards all shuffled in silence as they looked toward the mare. One stepped up and said what they all were thinking. “Miss Lis…It’s just that…Well…Three ponies were killed last night…”

The mare had to admit, she turned a little green at the new information. Still… “I…it’s not like I haven’t seen a dead pony before.” She hoped she sounded stronger than she felt. “Is that what all this is about?”

Another guard turned to face the back of the alleyway. “It’s not that three ponies were killed…it’s the way they were…”

The mare grew a little frustrated. “Will you stop beating around the bush. What happened? How were they…” her voice cut off as she looked toward the ground in front of her. She found, to her dismay a scene that would not look out of place in a horror novel. Three ponies lay before her, each one of their bodies shriveled up like a prune. All that was left of what they were was an empty husk of fur and bones. The mare was glad she had skipped lunch, she was sure she would have lost it there and then if she hadn’t.

The Doctor kneeled before one of the bodies, an orange coated pony with a blue mane. He placed a hoof on its face and closed his eyes. He cringed as he began to mumble under his breath. He looked up as he found Fleur making her way towards him.

“D-Doctor…what…what did…”

“The Blorvens…” The Doctor Said, turning back to face the shriveled ponies. “An ancient alien race from the East side of the Galatian Galaxy. Been around since…hmm…well for almost as half long as we Timelords.” He lifted himself up and faced the mare. “I had a run in with them once or twice before. Nasty bunch really. Ruthless and calculating.”

Fleur looked toward the bodies as she spoke. “W-what did it do to them?”

“Blorvens…they…Well…Its not pretty…not one bit. They eat the insides of one’s body, organ, tissue, and all that lot. They then use the body as a host to walk about.”

Fleur gulped audibly “A…and you’re saying they came from…up there?”  She pointed a hoof upwards to the sky.

“No…Well yes….Well…Yes and no.” He sighed gently. “Miss Fleur, I’m not asking you to believe me, but you need to trust in what I say. No matter where this monster comes from, I have to stop it.” He looked back towards the dried husk of former ponies. “You can see what it does to you ponies if I don’t…”

“H-how do you plan on catching…that monster?” Fleur Gulped.

The Doctor smiled brightly. “Glad you asked!” Slipping his head into his jacket and pulled out the metal device he had placed in there earlier. “Right! Let’s see what we got here…” Pointing at one of the bodies a loud whirring sound filled the air around them, stopping just as abruptly when he was finished.  He positioned the object in his mouth so he could look at the bulb at the tip of it. “Hmmm…” Slipping it back into his jacket he shook his head slowly. “I have its energy signature but I can’t track it…at least not right now.”

Fleur eyes widened. She wanted to know what that…device was but more pressing matters were a hoof. “Why can’t you track it?”

The Doctor began to pace back and forth as he talked a frown upon his face. “When a Blorven takes over a host it becomes that host, memories, feelings everything, which means that despite the Blorven being an invader, it would give off the same signal as the body it took over. Until it pops out of the body it had taken over, I can’t track it correctly.” He then smiled brightly. “But it works for us because anybody he possesses can’t last for too long due to his one nature body’s need to feed. If no food is present then it just eats the body of the one it took causing it to decay. Gruesome I know but without the body it can’t move in the sun. Natural enemy and what not…”

The stallion began to pace rapidly back and forth tapping a hoof to his head. “Ok Doctor! Think, think, think! How can one find something that does not want to be found...?”

“What about the castle guard?” Fleur questioned. “Can’t they help?”

“No…Telling you peo…err…Ponies about something like this would only cause an uproar. And what if any civilians happen upon the Blorven hmm? We would just be giving it more food.”  He sighed. “Besides another bit about the Blorven, a body takes longer to decay depending upon the body it took over. I say this because the castle guard have you unicorns who, I suspect, more than likely know powerful…ahem…Magic, including, and I’m only guessing, healing spells.” He sighed dejectedly. “The more I talk about it the more I want to be a unicorn…” He mumbled before continuing. “Anyway, with a healing spell the Blorven would be able to prolong their life expectancy in their body, delaying the decay. This is bad news for us if our enemy found someone who is or knows someone with magical abilities. And if it finds someone with great power then…well…game over…But I doubt that someone like that actually exist in this world.”

Fleur sat on her haunches, raising a hoof to cover her mouth. “Oh no…dear Celestia no…”

The Doctor turned to face her. “Hmm? What is it?”

“Doctor! If it’s true that you’re not from here…then you wouldn’t know about our princesses.”

“Well…that would be the case yeah. Why?”

“We need to find that creature now!

“What? Why?”

“Princess Celestia and Luna are in trouble!”