He knew by now that the Princesses were approaching the castle. He knew from the moment he lost contact with Fluttershy’s pet rabbit. There was too little chance for error for him to consider anything else.

He needed to deal with the Doctor quickly. Perhaps his insight and intellect, which were so far beyond Nightmare’s reach, would offer a way to reach out to Luna. Convince her that they still had a chance... Even if he himself didn’t expect they had much of a chance against someone who commanded the very power of the sun. Especially considering the fact that light and him don’t really mix that well. Still, Doc is usually pretty talented at weaseling his way into an advantageous position. And honestly, Night really didn’t have any better ideas at the moment.

While he was contemplating these things, Twilight was busy telekinetically flinging the Doctor against the floor, walls and ceiling. All to no avail. The guy was built like a truck.

A truck made of adamantium.

Actually, forget the truck. Between earth pony magic unwillingly enhanced by Nightmare’s presence and his already hardy Gallifreyan physiology (remember, kids, he could jump out of a flying spaceship, through a skylight, on solid marble, and still be able to point a gun at the Master), he could get thrown around all day and only feel a bit worse than after a bad workout session in the next morning. Mind you, though. None of that meant that he didn’t feel a thing. He felt it, all right. Which was why he was groaning in aggravation when Twilight was approaching him, sprawled on the ground.

“We don’t have time for this,” announced Nightmare through Twilight, little patience left.

“Oh! Pardon me, then!” the Doctor reacted indignantly, rolling on his back. “I’ll try to bruise more easily next time you slam me against the ceiling, You know, because you asked me so nicely!”

His eyes widened when he noticed the unicorn’s horn glowing at a suspicious intensity.

“Uh oh.”

The next thing he knew, he was at the other side of the room, with a bruise nursing on his side. He looked back towards the black unicorn, and dodged out of the way of another magical projectile. The stone he left behind cracking and breaking upon impact.

Then he dodged a similar beam from Rarity. It seemed they switched to concussive blasts. More effective, but also something which he could actually evade.

He recognized the same levitation spell being taken over by Rarity. Before she could finish the spell, he picked up a piece of rock and threw it towards her horn. It stopped the channeling, and Rarity rubbed her hurt horn with a hoof. He tried the same trick with Twilight, but she managed to hit his projectile before it landed.

He grabbed a couple more rocks and went to tackle Rarity. He dodged one beam, then another, then threw his rocks one after the other towards the former lavender mare. They were both stopped in mid-air, and returned to sender.

Hard.

If he were any other species, then those strikes would’ve caused a concussion no problem. However, he was not any other species, and just powered through the minor nuisance.

And then a gust of wind knocked him back to the wall. It appeared that Rainbow Dash had a few new abilities.

Nightmare knew what he needed to do. Keep him away from them so he can’t suck his presence out of them. And the Doctor was dealing with the three of the girls best suited for doing just that. Two unicorns with levitation spells, and a Pegasus that could not only fly, but also control the elements of nature.

A change in tactics would appear to be in order. However, Nightmare had no intention of letting him regain his tempo. Before the Doc even got the chance to get back up on his feet, he felt the ground moving away from him.

Rarity was none too pleased by what he had just pulled, by how close he was to getting her. Rainbow Dash was now running electrical current through her body. Twilight’s horn was glowing as though a distant star had decided to have a closer look at him.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

A few minutes of continuous assault later, the girls were now getting tired. The Doctor, however, had smoke wafting off of him. His reddish black coat had turned bluish in some places, bloody in others. Somehow, though, there wasn’t nearly as much singed fur as there was supposed to be (if you would please recall that one time when he took a lightning bolt through his body on top of the Empire State Building). Yet, he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

He couldn’t think of anything. Not while Nightmare was sabotaging his mental efforts from the inside and electrical interference was being supplied from the outside.

He tried what he could through a mixture of meditation, adrenaline and shock therapy. In so doing he managed to reach indescribable levels of mental activity at some time, and at other times, to a lesser extent, sudden emotional peaks and lows. Suppose the whole Nightmare still vying for control of his psyche was also being affected. He was certain that he figured out the workings of the seventh dimension at some point during this time, but soon had a short circuit and started thinking about the dandelion and cheese sandwich he’d left in his coat.
He then realized that he had been running and fighting all day, but he was not hungry. Odd.

Another kinetic blast, this one punching the wind out of him. Then another shock, causing his already spasming diaphragm to spasm harder, painfully.

Yep. It certainly hurt.

He still managed to tell how long they’ve been at it, though. Time Lord and all that, Big Ben in his head. Seven minutes and elenven seconds of straight, outright torture. Now that takes him back… Focus. He needs to figure something out. He’s not sure if he can remain conscious for much longer.

It would seem that the girls are powering up for a coup de grace. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

And then, time slowed down.

He opened his eyes. The lightning and shock blast had stopped in the middle of the air.

“Would you require more time to think?” a familiar voice sounded off from the side.

An odd development. The Doctor didn’t take long at all to cough out an answer, “Hello Crossroads.” He turned his head to find the cloaked figure sitting aside the stairway. Looking at the scene in front of him impassively.

Only in his case, his demeanor wasn’t that of any feeling being smothered out by what was now known to be whatever parts Nightmare had implanted in the girls. In the cloaked character’s case, he just didn’t seem to care to begin with. Like the very concept of caring was too alien for him to comprehend, let alone manifest.

“I thought I might be able to afford to intervene with a bit of insight.”

Doc remembered his last conversation they had. That intervening in the plotline timeline would be rather dangerous for him. “…You sure you’re okay with doing this?”

“You were going to figure this out one way or the other. Since the first one was becoming an inevitability, I was just curious regarding what the other could’ve been. It seems to be slipping my sight.”

In other words, he’s just here to stall the outcome, because him and his curiosity felt like it.

“<Cough> How very thoughtful of you.” Understandably, the Doctor's throat was a little dry. You know, from having a large amount of the water in his body evaporating. Because of the electric shocks. Which probably hurt like hell. Spasms, burns, pain… I could go on.

“What do you mean by slipping out of your sight? Aren’t you supposed to be able to read the time stream like some kind of a metaphysical motion picture?”

“In a matter of speaking.” Crossroads walked closer, only for the logical sake of ensuring their window of communication would be optimal. “Though now would not be the time to go into detail. I imagine you’d have other concerns at the moment.”

The Doc looked back towards the possessed girls a few feet away, and the two bolts of pain frozen in place about halfway towards him. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I will only distract your mind enough to compensate for the fatigue which I’m dispelling. Now, regarding that outcome I’ve been curious about. Is there anything which you could think of, that might not only prove a sufficient answer for your current dilemma? Supposedly something which might somehow affect the time stream?”

“…Not really. Care to elaborate further?”

Cross studied a different part of the room. More, something catching his eye than anything else. “Consider this much. Your physical capabilities have been enhanced by the magic of these lands. Have you ever considered that maybe some of your latent Time Lord abilities might’ve also been affected?”

“You mean if Nightmare made me able to stop time?”

”Nothing as blatant. And most certainly not anything due to Nightmare’s tampering.”

“..Which reminds me. He’s kind of in my head right now. Won’t he remember you?”

“So what if he does?”

Like I said. The man gives zero fucks.

“Even if he did read your mind once my time field wore off, I doubt he’d be able to either do anything about it, or even acknowledge the information. My presence within reality is funny that way.”

Doc’s mind wandered back to the night he arrived in this world.

“Ditzy didn’t forget about me naturally, and I didn’t do anything to cover my tracks. It just so happens that my existence isn’t even compatible with memories.

And before you ask, you remember me because you’re a complex entity within time and space. Which was why I considered the possibility that this quality of yours might’ve been somehow affected by the energies of these lands. And Zecora can remember me only because of her shamanistic capabilities.”

Cross looked back towards him. The Doctor paused in contemplation.

“…So, in your joke about the chicken, you were literally referring to…”

“Yes.”

“So you really are a gh-”

“No.”

“But why-”

“I just don’t have a better term for it.”

“Stop that.”

“Very well. I didn’t have anything else to ask anyway.” Crossy-no-pants started to turn to leave.

“Wait. That’s it?!”

“I apologize for interrupting your time flow, but I really wanted to investigate my blind spot. It’s only one of several which have been appearing lately.”

“Even so, aren’t you going to help at all? There has to be something you can do. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my day has most certainly not been going swimmingly.”

“Oh, yes.” Chris-cross commented and turned to full attention again. “You’ve made quite the spectacle today, haven’t you? Letting someone undermine your morals, almost killing that creature… I would have thought better of you, Doctor. Don’t tell me your emotions are finally getting the better of you.”

“I’ve…” he trailed off for about ten good seconds. “…Had a really bad day.”

“Is that so?” CR pondered, trailing off as well.

“…What are you thinking?” Doc asked suspiciously.

“Tell me. Does this have anything to do with what happened the day Davros returned for the last time?”

That’s twice he’s been asked that question. And twice he couldn’t bring himself to answer it.

For a moment, Crossroads actually seemed to feel sorry for asking. Or maybe the Doctor was just seeing things.

He finally turned to leave. “I suggest you’d check the catacombs some time. There’s something there which I believe you’ll find interesting.”

A few more steps. He turned around, noticed the Time Lord was in an even worse state of mind than he’d found him. This wasn’t good. Looks like he’ll have to help him come up with the solution to his problem now, lest he’d die here. He would’ve figured it out on his own if he was a little more tired, but with a clearer head.

“Nightmare merged his fragments within the girls so they could heal. You would’ve figure out that those fragments could never grow back to the way they were originally. All they could do was to slowly replicate the essences of their hosts.”

One thought led to another. A logical conclusion was made. A glimmer inside the Doctor’s eyes appeared for a moment, and a small smile appeared on his lips.

“Take a deep breath,” Crossroads concluded.

He took in a number of breaths, trying to prepare himself again for the incoming pain. One last breath, he braced himself as hard as he could.

He was still not ready.

His entire world was pain, and the world just kept coming. The girls seemed to be going all out, not stopping until he stopped screaming.

When he did stop, however, it wasn’t because he had passed out.

<BLAST>

The girls were thrown back in a pulse of electrical energy.

They looked to where the Doctor was struggling to get on his feet, gasping and grunting, before standing tall, staring daggers from his twin voids.

Around his back appeared a pair of wings.

“My turn now…”

Now was not the time for second chances. Now was not the time to allow them to reorganize and figure out a suitable strategy to adapt to the new development. He was more or less immune to electricity now. He still needed to worry about being held in place and blasted with magic.
So, he targeted the bigger threat of the two.

Since tackling would most likely end in him being held in place telekinetically, all he could do was throw more lightning. It was logical that Twilight wouldn’t be able to deflect electricity with her magic, since electronic charges are rather hard to mentally focus on. She might’ve had some kind of shield spell, though.

Only one way to find out if she was holding out on him.

There was, indeed, a shield spell. However, it seemed unable to deflect electricity. It must only be able to hold off physical shapes, or maybe even magic.

It would seem that Twilight is great at planning and deducing, but not as good at quickly re-adapting her plans, or thinking on the fly. She’s too dependent on her checklists covering every single detail.

Rainbow Dash cried out the now unconscious girl’s name, and seemed to be struggling. It appeared as though she wanted to tackle the Doctor, but was only barely stopped by Nightmare. Twilight would be alright, Nightmare had protected against the blunt of it, and will heal her the way he did Big Mac. Still, the Doctor was not proud of what he’d done.

One down, two to go.

A kinetic blast struck him on the side of his head, dazing him for a few seconds. Rarity was furiously building up for another shot, but the Doctor dodged easily. He then dove to tackle her, but was instead rammed by Rainbow Dash, projectiled into the far-away wall. The stunt devil then proceeded to dash away carrying the other two mares.

The Doctor got to his hooves from within the hole in the stone wall, rubbing his head as debris fell off. "I need to take on a different approach."

The girls arrived within seconds in a different part of the castle altogether. The same place they'd found the Elements.

“…What happened?” asked the student as she came to.

“You got hit by lightning,” Was the answer she received from Rainbow. “It looks like your shield spell wasn't worth squat.”

“It wasn't designed to stop electrical current! I wasn't expecting him to sprout wings...”

“How did he do that, anyway?” asked Rarity.

To which Nightmare answered, “I'd assume my fragment from within Fluttershy had assimilated more of her essence than I'd thought. Apparently it was enough to allow the Doctor to reshape his body with pegasus attributes.”

“So, no point in trying to shock him, then,” completed RD.

“So it would seem.”

“What about Celestia?” Twilight asked.

“Her and the others are drawing very close. Our last sentry just fell.” Twilight chanced a look out one of the windows. The sun was only a small ways left from setting. Nightmare continued, “It would also seem that Celestia had planned on arriving as soon as night fell. It would certainly prove advantageous to us, however pointless. She probably convinced Luna to not fight her by offering to spare my life, instead merely imprisoning me.”

"Do you think she would hold her word?" asked Rarity.

"No." An awkward pause, then the shade went again, "We need to focus on dealing with the Doctor for now. We can worry about Celestia afterwards."

The mares stayed silent for a while, looking towards one another worriedly.

"Should we wake up Spike?" asked Rarity.

“No. We can handle the stallion on our own. We... I... need Spike to be ready for Celestia. He needs to prepare for as long as possible.”

“You're not alone, Night. We're in this together!” added RD.

“As long as you're still under my influence, you mean.”

That put a damper on the girls' determination.

Twilight decided to take the stage. “Nightmare. You know what Rainbow Dash meant. We really do care what happens to you. Maybe we'd forget about you if you left our minds. Maybe we wouldn't. That doesn't make any of what we believe now any less true!”

“Honestly, dear. You should stop being so hard on yourself. You might be part of a different species, but being pessimistic still just doesn't suit you at all.”

“Yeah! We're not going to leave you hanging! Sunbutt's gonna have to get through us before she can get to you!”

There was no visible way of determining it, but Nightmare was indeed moved by the girls' kind words. “Thank you,” was his eventual heartfelt answer.

The Doctor arrived in the room soon afterwards. He stood in the doorway, studying his surroundings.

The three girls were situated in key positions. Twilight in the far back, Rarity near the pedestal in the middle and Rainbow in front. Near Twilight, behind the two thrones, was a curious sight. A large egg. About as big as his torso, otherwise mostly normal aestetically. It still presented certain commonalities with the morphing chambers Applejack used, but it was otherwise normal-looking nonetheless.

The Time Lord set the information aside for now. He had more immediate concerns.

It had become completely obvious to him that a direct assault could never bear fruit. Not only because Nightmare had grown wise to his tricks, and cautious of any new possible surprises, but also because quite honestly, his hearts were not in it for an all-out fight. Even with the torture session he'd been subjected to.

“What do I need to do, to have you leave the girls alone?” he asked.

After enough time to decide that his question was honest, the shade's voice answered in kind. “The honest answer? What it would take would be for Celestia and Luna to be equal rulers, for the younger sister to no longer be a symbol of profanity and the occult for the people she loves with all of her heart, for her sister to respect her as much as she claims to love her, and for me to not worry for my life. Then I would subject myself to whatever justice a fair trial would deem fitting for me.”

He immediately set to processing this information. How could Celestia do these things? The Time Lord didn’t know her that well from their meeting in Fortune Holds. And her messaging him yesterday didn’t count for anything, since he couldn’t see her face.

Not that seeing her face helped that much in the first instance either. She held onto her poker face tightly. Almost as if she were afraid anyone would see what was underneath.

He didn’t know her. Not really. He’s yet to see how she’d react in an environment chaotic enough for her to not be able to hold any guise.

“What do you mean by that? How is Celestia not respecting her sister?”

“Why not ask her directly? She should arrive shortly.” As he said that, the sun set on one side, and the moon rose on the other.

Then there was a stillness in the air. Like the whole world was bracing itself for an incoming concussive blast paired with a lightning bolt. Twilight recognized it as being the magical energies building up a teleportation spell. She started running towards Spike’s egg to try to safeguard it somehow.

A crackle of divine light disoriented her. Twilight was rendered blind, and had no way of stopping herself from knocking into a large white body which had suddenly materialized in front of her. Through her bleary, still recovering sight, she managed to recognize the princess of the sun looking down on her, a warm smile plastered on her face. Six figures of varying size behind the sovereign.

“Twilight. My fateful student. I’m so glad to see you are well.”

At one time, the girl would’ve believed that warm smile wholeheartedly, and revel and bask in its glow. Now, however, she saw it very differently.

All the student could think of was the egg stashed behind the thrones. Vulnerable. For now she’d have to distract the princess as much as she could, lest she’d risk having the princess do something unspeakable.

“Your Highness. I wish I could say the same.”

“I see Nightmare’s corruption has clouded your mind. Not to worry, I have come to cleanse his corruption, once and for all.”

“And by that, I presume you mean kill him, right?”

The princess’ smile had yet to falter, but a faint shadow had managed to creep its way on her features. Her tone giving way for cold.

“Oh, Twilight. Do not worry. Nightmare does not really live, or feel pain like the rest of us. All he does is cause pain to us. You will come to understand soon enough. Now, please hand him over.”

Twilight stepped back, as did her friends behind Celestia. Rainbow and Rarity approached to join the student in defiance.

Celestia finally dropped her smile in favor of a snarl. “You dare disobey me?”

The three girls felt so very small. Like ants being stared down at by a god. It took them all they had to stand their ground, and not run for the hills. Yet under the unrelenting stare Celestia offered, they weren’t going to last very long at all. They would’ve started running, if the Doctor didn’t walk past them to face the princess himself. On his own.

They couldn’t see his face, but they could see his posture. Proud, confident, stalwart. If he still had eyes, then maybe Celestia would’ve recognized an even fiercer stare being returned to her. Instead, he offered a void look as cold as the vacuum of space.

Funny thing about pony facial features. They’re so very expressive. But when there’s a distinct lack of them, and there are clear signs of their absence, then the chilling expression is only accentuated. It most certainly convinced the others moving away from the princess to stop in their tracks, staring. Like they were afraid that if they even moved, they’d be swallowed whole by those voids.

The two titans kept up their conflict for mere seconds, though it felt like days for the others. The unrelenting silence, maddening in the fear it brought in roughs.

“Doctor. Step aside.” Celestia finally cracked first.

He only continued staring.

“This does not concern you.” She allowed a little more sentiment that time. Infinitesimal, but it was there.

It brought a smile on his face. 'So there really still is someone in there.'

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree with you on that respect. You made it my concern when you confessed to planning on murdering someone.”

<Crack>

“What murder? Nightmare isn’t a pony! He doesn’t even belong in this world! He’s just a pestilence for this land, a parasite! He doesn’t deserve to live!”

“Really? I was unaware that a sovereign in this world would also take it upon themselves to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. Or anyone, really.”

<Crack>

“Don’t you DARE patronize me, time lord! You’ve never dirtied your hands with blood in a war that could not be won! You didn’t fail an entire race trying to save it from a mad tyrant! You didn’t spend a thousand years alone, rebuilding a nation of short-lived, child-minded fools, that would crumble without you controlling their every move!”

“Which is why you should’ve retired a long time ago.”

She remained still, not believing him actually say those words. After a few long breaths, a grim, cold laugh resounded through the entire castle.

Silently, an egg finished breaking in the background, and dark mists emanated from it.

The air trembled with Celestia’s every quake. Thousands of years, maybe even tens of thousands of years of complete, unhindered, unquestioned power had finally decided to show their effects. Not even Luna knew about this. Celestia had turned far more for worse during her imprisonment than she realized. What had happened to her during that time?

Celestia eventually calmed down. “So is that what this is? A coup?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” the Doctor challenged, completely unimpressed. “I only want to convince you to step down.”

“And what if I refuse?”

“Well, then I suppose I’ll have to force you to do it.”

The smoke from the egg started to spin in a vortex. Celestia finally took notice of it, only too late.

Inside the vortex formed a shape. Scales darker than the deepest night, wings glistening in the light of the moon, luminescent white eyes searing with untold warmth of heart.

“That is, me and everyone else here.”

Celestia was not impressed. It only furthered her boundless indignation.

Eventually she put up a different smile. One full of cruelty and bile. “It would seem that I must dirty my hooves again.” She started powering up her horn.

Immediately afterwards, flame, lightning and magic converged at her position. The Doctor hadn’t moved. He was only looking forward patiently.

When the smoke settled, it revealed a horn still charging up, slowly, and Celestia to be unharmed. She didn’t have a scratch on her. She hadn’t even moved. She hadn’t even flinched.

“Is that all you’ve got?” she challeged. She was satisfied with the lack of a comeback. Even the Doctor was afraid now. “Good.” She continued, turning around to face the dragon.

“No!” the Doctor shouted, horrified.

A beam of solar plasma pierced the dragon, the wall behind him, and a large area of the forest. The wall crumbled. The forest was burning where it hadn’t been vaporised.

Spike had a large, gaping cavity where his front limb, shoulder, wing and the entire right side of his chest used to be.

Twilight screamed in horror.

The dragon crashed with a resounding thud. A crying girl arrived at his side, calling out his name. Spike's heart was visible, regenerating, struggling to keep going. Nightmare was working as fast as he could.

The dragon wasn’t responding, but he seemed to be alive, somehow. Spike was shrinking in size, as the dark substance making up his integrity was being repurposed to regenerate as rapidly as possible.

“Remind me again, Doctor. How was it that you planned on forcing me to step down?”

The Time Lord held his ground, despite finally knowing the extent of the danger he was in. Celestia found his stubbornness slightly annoying, though so very amusing.

He saw her coming, but couldn't do anything to react. The others didn't even notice what was happening until Celestia was holding him by the neck in her fetlock. Air current rushing by, the stone floor crumbling like cardboard under her every step.

The power of a third tier alicorn. Unicorn, pegasus and earth pony magic all accentuated at unimaginable levels, further enhanced by the power of the sun. This was what they were dealing with now.

Ditzy wanted to run towards them, to do something. Big Mac and Applejack stopped her.

“You do realize how easy it would be for me to snap your neck right now, don't you? I've done far worse twelve years ago.”

His answer was to continue his staring.

“<Chuckle> And still, you resist. You're every bit as stubborn as when we last met. I think I'll enjoy disciplining you. Maybe I’ll even have you as a pet...”

“Let him go!” demanded Rainbow as she went for a tackle, but was brushed off with a wing and thrown through the further wall.

She did let him go afterwards, though. With a sigh. The Doctor coughed and wheezed, taking in air again.

“It seems I'll have to re-educate all of you after today. I can't have the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony being against me, now can I? Tell me, Luna. You've always been the more talented regarding hypnotic magics. What would you propose?”

Luna felt like the whole world was crumbling before her. She wasn’t answering fast enough.

“Might I remind you why you’re here, sister? I’ve only allowed you to come here tonight in order to prove your loyalty to me, and in exchange I’d let you seal Nightmare away instead of having me purge his presence from the world.”

“…Emerald Clover’s controlled dream spell should be sufficient.”

“Thank you.”

Celestia picked the time lord up in her magic, then slammed him into the floor. It cracked heavily, but didn’t give way. Yet.

“You should learn from Luna, Doctor.” She slammed him again, harder. “She learned that it’s best to respect my authority.” Again. Harder still. “Why won’t you just spare yourself the unnecessary suffering, and finally acknowledge when you’ve lost?” She picked him up again, only this time to reach eye level. “I thought you agreed with my methods. After all, didn’t you yourself admit that my ponies need protecting from their own folly? They don’t know what to think, they’re like kittens walking foolishly into the wolf’s den. I thought you’d known that!” He left a crater in the floor. “…I thought you actually understood what I’m going through.”

“I do.” He grunted.

She let him pick himself up out of the hole.

“I’ve had to look over children as well over my centuries. I know how it feels to have them wander off foolishly into danger. I’d always tell them not to, that they didn’t know what lied out there. And yet they always did.”

“So why don’t you see it my way?”

“I do. I just don’t think you realize that we’re not supposed to keep them out of danger. We can’t protect them forever. All we can do is prepare them as much as we can, and hope that they can manage on their own. They need to live their own lives.”

“…Maybe you’re right. Still, there is only so much they seem to be able to do on their own, and this world…” She picked him up again.

Twilight let out a strike as strong as she could. It didn’t even prove enough reason for Celestia to look away. She accumulated the energy into a ball and returned it to sender.

The child was out cold.

“…It doesn’t hold back.”

A pincer-sharp projectile of concentrated arcane matter was shot at her by Rarity. It met a shield that appeared as it was only millimeters away, shattering on impact. The shield then expanded outward and swatted the unicorn against the floor, knocking her out and causing a massive gash.

“What could they do in a world where even the weather refuses to allow them to grow crops unless forced?”

A massive sonic blast echoed from outside. Unbeknownst to everyone inside, Rainbow Dash had been working up a storm and combining its energies with a sonic rainboom.

She came dashing inside faster than she ever thought herself possible… and was deflected with another strike of the Princess’s wing, this time into the ground. Causing a ditch ten strides long in the stone floor before she stopped.

The Doctor’s hearts felt heavier with every time the girls tried their best, and failed regardlessly. “They’re not slaves. They need to grow, or you’ll smother them.”

“They will survive without growing. As long as they trust me to know what’s best for them, they will be happy. I only wish they didn’t need to perceive Luna as a villain from contrast, though. Alas, such are the consequences of faith.”

One final time, she slammed him into the floor. This time, he breached the stone and landed in the chambers below.

“Oh, right. I forgot the catacombs stretched below here.”

She was not aware of the shadows pouring through the cracks in the floor, leaving behind three perfectly healthy young ponies, as well as a perfectly healthy dragon whelp.

She only noticed this too late, as Nightmare had already carried the Doctor further away in the labyrinthine underground.

Author's Notes:

I would've liked to go into further detail regarding RD's new abilities, but I couldn't quite fit an explanation very well.

Honestly though, I could go for a rather long thesis here explaining the nature of each pony breed's magical capabilities. I've actually covered 13 lines before I managed to finish explaining Telluric magic, let alone the similarities it has with the magic used by the other two types of common ponies.

I didn't even cover the other breeds of ponies that branched out (sea ponies, crystal ponies, thestrals and zebras), let alone the other types of pseudomagical energies (seithr, chakra, ink and madness fuel).

If you want to hear me ramble and explain the exact nature of magic which I've set up for this world I've dreamed up, give a shoutout in the comments section and I'll add a discussion between Twi and the Doc some time after this whole venture blows over.

For now, though, suffice to say RD could just produce her own elemental precipitation directly, her current anatomy being unstable now. Don't think electric eel, think having her magical gland things running along her wings being affected to create lightning and wind currents directly, rather than tethering the magical energies embedded within the air to do that stuff indirectly.

Also, as a general little tidbit, "tetherind" is something all ponies can do. It's how earth ponies can pull trains and pegasi can pull sky carriages. I also think that the unicorns' magical auras are actually a derivative of their act of tethering which their particular breed have specialized into a whole different kind of awesomesauce.