“Are you sure you’re both okay?”

“Yes!” The Doctor and Applejack answered Ditzy’s question in unison.

They were now walking through the forest towards the closest area that the Time Lord traced with his screwdriver. Before it got smashed to bits.

He kept what pieces he could salvage, but currently, he feared that he wouldn't be able to make a brand new one any time soon. Or at all, for that matter. At the very least, he would appear that he would need to cut a few corners.

Either way, it was a good thing that he had already spent so much time lost in these woods. He’d developing a feel for the general layout. It would've been far, far too easy for them to lose track of the direction they needed to take.

His eyes were no longer black, though their whites were now gray instead. He insisted that he was okay, and left it at that. However Ditzy took notice that he's been acting aloof ever since he got up. Or rather, more aloof than usual. He didn’t say anything, though, so she couldn’t insist.

Applejack was not that much more open either. She insisted that her actions seemed like they made sense at the time. However she couldn’t deny that once Nightmare had left her noggin, she started having some very pressing doubts. Gradually, she started regaining her senses as well as notice a few holes in her memory.

As they walked, the air got heavy with tension. The Doctor tried to start chatting, “Okay, so. This time, mind not fighting them, Big Mac? I’d like to try to take them on their own playing field.”

“Ah’m not sure Nightmare’ll fall for the same trick twice, Doc.” Applejack cut in.

“Oh, don’t worry. I still have a few other tricks left up my sleeve. A few gadgets as well.”

“Gadgets?”

“Yes. Like the one you smashed to bits.”

“Look, Ah already said Ah’m sorry!” She took a break and sighed. “Either way. Gadgets or no, Ah doubt mah friends’ll just let you stroll over to them ‘n just do your thing. An’ they each have their own way to fend us off, each one more deadly than the next.”

“Wait. What do you mean deadly?” the mailmare piped in.

“Ah mean what it sounds like Ah’m meaning. Since the Doctor’s an obvious threat to Nightmare’s plans, plus he appears t’ be more or less immune t’ his conversion, Ah’m guessin' he’ll have told the girls to go all out on him.”

“And you’d just listen to him?” The Time Lord inquired gravely.

The Doctor knew why he was supposed to be upset. He could feel the presence in his head, and knew exactly what it was capable of. He was aware of the precise amount of trouble this presence was causing him, and it was no small amount by far. However, indignation still held true with regards to the knowledge that anyone could just simply be talked into taking a life.

Could Nightmare truly be capable of turning off someone else's morality like that?

“He’s workin’ fer… what he believes to be a noble purpose. Ah’m not sure what it is, but from what Ah could gather, he’s not going to let anything get in his way. He already failed twice, he’s not going to do it a third time. Regarding us, well, t’weren’t really a matter of still having morals to keeps us from following such orders. Or, at least not the same morals anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah mean that regarding mah own case, Ah wasn’t really mahself. None of that was me… Ah can’t believe Ah actually hurt you like that…” She shook her head to clear her thoughts and calm down. “Ah don’t know what was goin’ on in my head.”

Big Mac brushed his head against her shoulder. She returned the affection. “It’s over now. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“…Ah’m not goin’ back to bein’ his toy. An’ Ah’m sure as Fel not gonna let ‘im keep mah friends!”

“I’m glad to hear that.” the Doctor offered with a smile. “I believe we’re getting close. You think you’re up to it?”

She smiled back wryly. “Does the rooster sing in the mornin’?”

He looked towards the others. Big Mac offered a confident nod. Ditzy smiled weakly. He furrowed his brows at her.

“It’s fine.” She nodded away. “I’m fine. We’re fine.”

“You sure?”

She had a number of things bothering her. The Doctor’s well-being, not only because of him exposing himself the way he was, but also what Applejack said. There was also the dream she had inside the egg…

“Yes, I’m sure.”

She might get hurt, but if what Applejack said was true, then she’s not taking the same risk the Doctor is taking. She needs to at least try to make sure he stays alright. If not, if she can’t do anything, then she needs to at least be there for him.

“Okay then,” he offered back. “Allons-y.”

“You know, that’s getting a little old.”

“Impossible!” he closed in a French accent.

It took them only a few steps before darkness enveloped everything in sight. With nothing to guide them, all they could do was stay close to each other and hope that there wasn’t another cliff anywhere in front of them.

They reached a clearing eventually. They were still in the forest, it appeared, but they knew better than to trust things to be as they seemed.
There were no bushes or weeds, just bare, oddly normal-looking trees, jutting from the forest floor adorned with odd, black flowers.

Of course they had to be black…

“What are these flowers?” asked Ditzy.

“I don’t think they’re natural in origin. Although I can’t really be certain without my screwdriver.”

“Ah said Ah’m sorry! Wait. What’re you…”

Applejack didn’t have time to finish her question before the Doctor stuck one of the flowers in his mouth. After a few chews, he ejected the vegetation and started making faces and sounds of disgust.

“Nope, certainly not natural. Haven’t tasted anything this sour in my life… Except maybe unsweetened baking chocolate.”

“…You’re not right in the head, you know that?”

“Don’t worry, he knows,” intervened Ditzy with an eye roll and half-hearted smile.

“Really. He could poison himself!” Applejack insisted.

“Right now, that would be the least of our worries,” he replied.

“Why?”

“As I’ve said, these flowers are not natural. What do you think made them?”

The group grew progressively more wary. Applejack eventually spoke out, “Nightmare?”

“And what do you think he’d have intended to do with them?”

“Nothin’ good, that’s fer sure.”

He nodded.

“An’ you just ate one of ‘em.”

“Precisely.” He then decided to collapse on the ground without any further ado.

“Doctor!” Ditzy screamed and rushed towards him.

The Doctor then decided to wake right back up. “Don’t shout! I’m right here...” He wobbled dizzily, holding his head, obvious annoyance in his tone. “Ugh… That had a bit more of a kick than I’d expected. On the flip side, I won't be needing any vitamin B1 for a while. Anyway, this stuff should be enough to knock out an elephant, let alone a pony. Try to avoid them.”

They just stared at him.

“…What?”

“Doctor,” Ditzy spoke, holding on to the end of her patience. “Do that again, and I will end you.”

“Do what?”

<SMACK>

“Ow! What was that for?”

No one bothered to pay him any more attention after that stunt. They decided to just pay attention to their surroundings instead, as they progressed through the odd forest. The further reaches were shrouded in darkness, obviously. Wouldn’t want to mess up this fine system they’ve got going on. As far as they could see, though, the same black flowers decorated the forest floor.

It was all quiet. No creature in sight, pony or otherwise.

“What now?” Applejack asked.

“Well, we’re obviously just going to keep walking in the same predictable manner we were forced to go up till now, until we finally stumble into a trap.”

“How’s that a plan?” she deadpanned.

“It’s a plan since we don’t have any alternative. Might as well go on ahead and say it was what we wanted from the start, instead of focusing on the fact that we didn’t have a choice.”

“Great…”

“Just remember to avoid the flowers. No eating, smelling, making crowns...”

“Don't worry, Doc. We're not as crazy as you are.”

“And yet, you're hanging out with me.”

“Yeouch. Ya got me good with that one.” The farmer retorted with a wry smile. “Yer about as clever as a fox, aren't ya?”

“Can't know. I've never met one.”

They all chuckled, except for the Doctor who was actually serious.

The rest of the search was uneventful for the longest time. It took them a while to finally reach a wide clearing. In the middle of said clearing they saw something strange, understandably. Because the fact that they were in the midst of an evil artificial forest, in the middle of an evil enchanted forest wasn’t strange enough. No, we’d need to kick up the strangeness by just as few more levels.

Yards away, in the middle of the large clearing, was a conglomeration of sleeping animals of varying naturalness. Bears, squirrels, beavers, birds, snakes, cockatrices, timberwolves… and several other legendary creatures which the Doctor hadn’t seen in real life before. One of them appeared to be a rather massive lion, only with the addition of adequately large bat wings on its back and a scorpion tail instead of a regular lion's tail. That would be a manticore, from what the Doctor could recall from his studies.

That was where his knowledge of legendary creatures before arriving in this world stopped helping him. Most of all the other creatures seemed normal enough, if only changed drastically in appearance in order to be able to compete with the other creatures which didn’t have the courtesy to be natural (I’m looking at you, cockatrices and manticores).

One of them was an equally massive crocodile made entirely out of rock. Simple as that. Another one was a breed of goat the Doctor had never seen anything like before, until he read them up in the local library. This would be a volt goat(*), and there were several of it here.
These, along with several other kinds of creatures (**) were all sleeping soundly around a certain pegasus mare.

The group drew closer, mostly because the Doctor led them.

“Is that Fluttershy?” asked the mailmare once she managed a sufficient proximity to overcome her own lackluster depth perception.

Even so, she was quite uncertain. The hairstyle was the same, despite the difference in color. Her face was covered in from that angle. Her size and color schematic were entirely different, so all Ditzy could do was assume that that was more likely what Fluttershy would look like, rather than Rainbow Dash, considering how Applejack was changed when they first found her.

“That’s her, alright,” the farmpony in question clarified. “Relatively speaking, anyway. Don’t forget that she’s not herself any more than Ah was.”

“Right…” Ditzy looked to study her childhood friend more intently.

She was bigger now. Close to a lesser alicorn in shape, minus the horn of course. Her entire body was stark white, ending in black along the ends of her legs, wings, and her mane and tail. Reminiscent of a moth, if not a wraith. Her hair flowing in an unseen wind furthering the latter impression.

She was holding a similarly sleeping rabbit in her folds, cradling it like a small child. It looked like she was afraid that it might run off if she let go.

“I can’t decide,” the haunting mare spoke.

“Can’t decide what?” asked the Doctor, studying the sleeping animals around her. They were seated in such a way that they could approach her unimpeded, much like the branches in Applejack’s giant tree.

Said animals all had one feature in common. Apparently they each had a black butterfly drawn on their faces, covering their eyes and mouth, and springing dark tendrils that split away across their bodies.

“Whether or not I was ever happier than now. Whether or not I want to go through any other kind of day than one where me and my friends rest like this. Peacefully. Quietly. In safety.”

“Sounds boring,” the Doctor answered.

Fluttershy looked towards her visitors with pitch black eyes and a void expression. “Why do you have to make it so difficult?” with a slight echo in her voice, that belonged to someone else.

“It’s simple, really. We believe that life before Nightmare’s arrival was good, same way as you believe that his promises are worth the costs.”

She looked back down, and echoed again. “It wasn’t good for everyone.”

“Come now. It couldn’t have been that bad.” He reached out for her shoulder.

As soon as he made contact, he felt his mind under assault. He let go and bent over, almost forgetting to avoid the flowers.

“You wouldn’t know, would you? No, I guess you wouldn’t.” the caretaker spoke again, hauntingly, but only with one voice.

“Doctor!”
“Hey, Doc!”
The three went over to support their fallen friend as he went in and out of consciousness.

“None of you know how it is, to be too weak to stand in a world where you’re expected to fly. To be afraid and alone, with no one to truly hold on to.”

Her echo returned stronger than ever, as she and all of the creatures around them got up. “To feel alone inside a crowd, and to be expected to be happy about it. To have the whole world against you, no matter how hard you try to just make due. To be the one that everyone loves to hate, including yourself.”

“Fluttershy, please!”

Her childhood friend’s pleading caused her to falter in her advance, but it did not deter the other creatures that were currently under nightmare’s control.

“Pleading is worthless. Your motivations are pointless. You will see it our way, and you will remember why it’s better this way.” Flutterdark imposed as she eyed Applejack in particular, who was getting ready to pounce her.

Before any of them could do anything, however, it was already too late. Three flowers from the ground turned to butterflies, which flew straight towards their faces and knocked them out cold.

Fluttershy approached the Doctor, and brought a hoof to his forehead herself.

Nightmare spoke from within his mind. “You’re almost putting up as much of a fight as Celestia did. I find this fact unsettling. I wonder, where do you spring this much motivation?”

His coat turned darker under her touch, slowly spreading all over. Similarly, the gray in his eyes darkened further and further. He shook and struggled, but in his weakened state he barely managed to move. “You faced Celestia?” He gasped out. And yet he was holding his ground.

“I did.” The voice in his head answered. “Why?”

“Well…” He staggered, gathering air in his lungs to both talk and make sense through the pain. ”I was hoping you could offer me some pointers, in case I’d need to face against her as well.”

“…What?”

The Doctor was hoping that surprising him would cause him to let up on his psychic onslaught, but he wasn’t his idea to work so well. Nor was he expecting Fluttershy to be affected as well. They really are in sync, apparently.

This would’ve been a good time to jump inside her head. However, the presence of so many sharp fanged, clawed, tusked and horned beasts that were ready to pounce at him at a moment’s notice were more than enough deterrent. Instead, he took the liberty of pulling out of his coat one of the gadgets and survival equipment which he'd brought with him: a shield battery.

He needed something to do this past week. Between house repair, chess with Dinky, making meals that were half the time terrible and half the time wonderful(***), cleaning the house, repainting his room and bartering to repaint the other ones as well(1), repairing the roof(2), repairing the walls(3), aiding Dinky with maths, doing Dinky’s toy puzzles more than a hundred times and origami(4), he still had far too much time at his disposal to tinker around with the spare parts he had left around in his coat’s pockets(5) after his Tardis detector turned out to be a bust.

He even reinvented the mixer. Until it blew up.

Back to the story.(6)
The time lord reached for his coat, pulled out a thick disk with a button in the middle and several doohickeys all over, planted it on the ground and pressed its button.

What were they talking about earlier? Oh, right. Overthrowing Celestia. Unfortunately he didn’t have a smart comeback, because he didn’t want to risk giving Fluttershy the chance to evaporate into moths or something once she’d realized that that glistening all around was a nigh-impregnable, if temporary and usable only once, energy shield.(7)

She did take a step back when the Doctor dashed towards her, an act which she considered unfeasible, considering the amount of horrid pain she was causing him. Little did she know that he’d had worse.(8)

The first plunge into her consciousness was like falling head-first into a lake of needles, but he was ready this time.

He was in front of a fortress, under an overcast night sky. The stone made of years of loneliness and tears left unshed. This was Fluttershy’s safe haven. Her sanctuary from the world.

You’re supposed to be safe inside your own thoughts. Nightmare violated that sanctity. The Doctor followed suit in order to fix that mistake. To repair a broken, unwritten rule with a sledgehammer.

“I assume Nightmare allowed his puppets more leniency and presence of mind, to be able to face me properly on both physical and psychic plains.”

Of course she wouldn’t trust him. Of course he needs to find a way to get inside without her help.

The drawbridge was up. There was no moat, but a pit going endlessly into the void.

“How am I going to get inside? How did Nightmare get inside?”

Imaginary winds were blowing his overcoat in all directions. Like some giant sucking in air to swallow him whole, he was afraid he’d fall into the moat…

“Hmmm…” The Doctor mused, looking down into the shadowed depths. He scratched his chin. “It couldn’t possibly be that easy, could it?”

Nightmare would’ve probably wanted to suck him into an eternal void for him to go mad with sensory deprivation(9). The Doctor wasn’t entirely certain that even he could withstand that kind of torture for longer than five minutes.

Nonetheless, it was extremely tempting for him to use such a means to reach Nightmare’s avatar more quickly.

No, he was not a glutton for punishment. Or in this case, losing whatever sanity he had left. He just didn’t want to stay in here and cause Fluttershy any unneeded damage. He was stronger than her. He’d probably not get affected too much in comparison. Probably.

Maybe.

…Possibly?

Oh, to hell with it. She can just sleep it off and repair her castle in a few days of taking it easy. Which is to say, for her, spending time normally. Maybe she’ll even grow a bit of character if she doesn’t have this crutch to hinder her. He, on the other hand, can’t sleep intense psychological mangling off no matter how hard he’d hug Dinky’s plush toys and rock his upper body back and forth(10).

It took him a minimum amount of focus to imagine a ninja rope into existence (technically, it’s not cheating at all) for him to throw over the walls. It took him several tries to throw the darn thing over the walls, and several extra tries for the bloody thing to finally get caught on to something solid.

Luckily for his strong dentures, he didn’t fall into the chasm during the half a dozen times his grip slipped while climbing.

“Very gothic,” he complimented with a huff once he got up on the wall and studied the inside. “Well. Where should I look first? The throne room, or the armory?”

Considering the fact that Nightmare seemed neither too much of a megalomaniac, nor too violent, the Time Lord was having trouble deciding.

“He is a bit of a puppeteer, though. Suppose maybe he has at least a subtle thing for controlling others like a king.”

He went down an indeterminate amount of stairs, an unknown amount of strides across hallways, and quite a number of doors which were just there for decoration apparently. Like a doll house. There were also decorative, medieval, full-suit pony armor stands here and there.

And guess what. One of them awoke to life. Shadowy mist wafting out of its crevices and whatnot.

“I was hoping you’d be above petty violence, Nightmare. You've disappointed me.”

No answer as it approached.

“…Then again, you’re not really him, are you? Just an idea, a replica. An invasive parasite meant to recreate the host in your image, though somehow it’s still connected to the original.”

He only drew closer, undeterred.

”And also, it’s not like anyone could really die in here anyway, right?”

He dodged a spear thrust and held on to the weapon, their faces drawing inches away from one another.

“That’s what I thought.” His eyes and body darkened. His cocky smirk turning patronizing.

Ditzy was the first to wake up to the sound of a little rabbit feebly trying his best to bust a can of whoop-ass on the defenseless Doctor while he tried to free Fluttershy from the evil spirit's influence.

The flowers had all wilted, and in the distance, she couldn't quite make it out. What with her bad eye and the distortion from the shield. But the trees seemed a bit more... menacing.

She wondered where all the other possessed animals had went, then she noticed the protective bubble which was still active and protecting them.

“Ugh… What happened?” she heard Applejack wake up from beside her, together with her brother.

The mailmare walked over to Doctor and picked up the rabbit, keeping it from its futile attempts at assault, save for a few kicks in the shin which would've probably hurt if he was still conscious.

“It would seem that the Doctor took care of everything on his own again.”

Applejack spoke up, "He really can handle himself, can he? Almost makes it seem like we're just comin' along fer the ride."

"Yeah..." Ditzy answered with no small amount of disappointment in her tone.

The red apple farmer coughed. “Now what? We try ‘n get through to her like we did with mah sister?”

“That’d be my best guess.” The mailmare studied the Doctor nervously, noticing his fur had grown further dark brown, his mane almost black.
She wanted to do something. To help him somehow, find a way that doesn’t force the Doctor to take this thrash into his head. “I’m worried about what he’s doing to himself. He’s changing colors, like you and Fluttershy did. He said he can take it, but I’m not sure he's fully aware of what he's getting himself into.”

They remained quiet, listening to the roaring a few strides away from them. Focusing on the man putting a lot more on the line than he might believe. They didn’t notice the landscape change since they last fell unconscious. The flowers wilted, the trees died and grimaced in hideous ways.

Fluttershy started trembling for a few good moments before the Doctor let go, himself shaking a bit as well.

He didn’t open his eyes. He bundled up and held himself for warmth. However when he felt Ditzy draw around him, he shrugged her off. “I’m fine. She needs you more than I do right now.” His voice was collected, silent.

Ditzy bit her lip, looking between the Doctor and her childhood friend. He seemed to have sensed her indecision. “Go.” Just as quiet, though more authoritative.

She wanted to object, but the sound of her crying friend distracted her from her main focus.

She looked towards her friend, shivering on the ground. Holding her pet rabbit, Applejack holding her. “It’s so cold…”

“Ah know.” The younger Apple sibling drew her tighter. The gesture seemed to have helped a bit.

Ditzy decided to ignore his demands and did the same. He scowled in response, only causing the mailmare to hold tighter.

“You just said, you need me.”

He opened his mouth to speak, only to close it moments later and return the gesture. “You really are something, you know that?”

She watched his pelt return to its original color and sighed in relief. “Yeah, I’ve been told.”

Fluttershy didn't seem intent on causing too much more trouble. Once Nightmare's direct influence was removed, she didn't do anything but tremble and hold tightly onto Angel Bunny, silent tears streaming down her face.

"Hey. It's gon' be alrigh, okay?" Applejack tried to console her.

"No," the pegasus answered. "No, it's not."

Unbeknownst to anyone else but her, a large figure approached them, slowly, from the treeline which had by now turned to disfigured shapes.

"I'm sorry. It's not over yet, I wasn't the only one here."

Big Mac was the first to notice the figure's approach. Applejack followed, then Ditzy. "What is it?" The Doctor asked, not ready to open his eyes yet. He didn't receive a verbal response. The spike in Ditzy's heart rate told him why, however. She was terrified.

Something was slowly approaching them. A large, black, horribly distorted ogre-like creature made up of Nightmare's same trademark mist condensed into tar, dragging along a massive pick-axe with one limb. Gaping white abysses staring straight into their souls as it approached.

"Ugh... Doc?" Applejack finally managed out. "How strong is this shield of yers?"

To be fair, he had no idea. However he didn't feel like it might be a good idea to be a smartass at the moment.

"What is that thing?" Big Mac half spoke, half whispered.

Fluttershy shook tears away."It's Pinkie Pie."

Author's Notes:

The title's supposed to refer to what the Doctor used to gain the upper hand. And nothing else. Honest.

I'm feeling a bit awkward about the shield battery. It's a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card. Kind of like all the trap doors and massive steel safehouse doors I kept complaining about. It would appear that this was where the Doctor's travels ended, unless he came prepared from the beginning.

Pay no attention to those last few lines behind the curtain. It's the finally. Unfortunately, these asterisks are placed strategically to fuck us all over without even considering to use lube.
Cursor over the blots only once you've read that far.

(*) Clearly not a reference to any creatures from any video games http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Volt_Goat

(**) Including beefalos woolymogs (I seem to recall the latter name vaguely, can't tell where from though), steeltalons (you don’t want to know what those metal menaces would do to your car if they got the chance), ironbeaks, stonetusks (So the names are taken. Sue me… jk, please don’t sue me).

(***) The local fire department had the chance to sample some pretty good soufflés and Ratatouilles.

(1) He was going to start painting on a second room regardless of permission. And he would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that meddling mailmare!

(2) No, the roof was fine. He was just bored.

(3) After he’d break holes in them. This was after he repainted.

(4) Paper hydras, eagles, dragons and hippogriffs everywhere.

(5) He’d always wondered where he left that ion battery.

(6) You might be upset that I tend to interrupt the story like this. I’m not. I hope it drives you batty.

(7) Impregnable as long as it still had energy left. It was a self-repairing protective bubble.

(8) He was playing possum.

(9) It doesn’t seem scary, but it actually does cause brain cells to suicide. You’re not capable of comprehending the serious face I’m having right now.

(10) He needed something to do whenever Ditzy grounded him. The fact that he was actually resorting to this coping method was only mildly disconcerting to him. Also mildly fun.

In case you were having trouble figuring it out, Fluttershy's upset not about what happened to her in Flight Camp, but about the view upon life that those experiences caused her to have. We're shaped by our experiences, despite what anyone would care to understand.
Note to self: have Ditzy and Fluttes have a heart to heart after all this crap is over.

---

That's 2 outa 6. Still a long way to go.

This chapter, I have no excuse. Except for the one that I couldn't stand bothering to write about how courageously the Doctor would dodge the animated armor stands' spears, how he'd oh so skillfully caused them all to fucking STRIKE THEMSELVES... huff huff huff... yes, he really is that smart. But it's freaking exasperating to think about for me nonetheless, let alone write.

Oh, and there would be one last armor bigger than all the other ones that Doc would cause to trip and fall through a window into the moat, then spring out like a massive, primordial, malefic spirit of darkness and now-you-fucked-up-ness which the Doctor would defeat with the power of his deus-ex-machina-imagination-imbued spear which he collected from one of the lesser armorstands.

I will include this shit at a later date should there be demand. Until then, I have quite enough on my plate to bother with something that didn't even happen in the real world.

The Doctor wins. The Doctor always fucking wins. Wow, such spoiler. Much surprise. Many I DON'T GIVE A FUCKING SHI-