“Um, pardon me, but are you listening?”

Princess Luna snapped her eyes open and shook her head. She was still in her moonlit throne room, with a grey earth pony before her and her guards at attention all the way down the aisle. “I was a moment ago, at least; my sincerest apologies. Taking on my sister’s duties here in Canterlot as well as my own while she’s dealing with the dragoness problem at Neighagara Falls has taken its toll on my sleeping schedule.”

“Not a problem, your highness,” Octavia said, her polite smile ironed on her face like always. “Would you like me to ask later? I could always just come back tomorrow night.”

“No, no, you waited in line; you deserve an audience with me. Besides, I owe you one after all your private performances for me,” she said with a smile and a flutter of her eyelashes.

Octavia’s grey cheeks turned a bright shade of red as she cleared her throat. “Please, keep our history out of this, your highness. I am just another subject coming to you on the night court.”

Luna’s guards all gave their princess a look.

The princess herself rolled her eyes. “Not one of those performances, my little ponies… for once. Now, Octavia, please repeat your request?”

The cellist’s blush deepened, though her expression went unchanged. “I was hoping that you could arrange to make next Sunday a stormy night here in Canterlot.”

Luna raised a brow. “And why would I do that? I don’t think we’ve had a thunderstorm here in Canterlot in over four years, if I remember the records right. The ponies here expect the capitol of Equestria to have no inclement weather whatsoever.”

“I am aware, your highness. I know it is a tall order, but it’s just that my marefriend really loves listening to thunder and dancing in the rain. We’ve been dating for about two years now, and Sunday is our anniversary. I was planning to propose to her,” Octavia explained.

“You know I have many such romantic requests nightly, Octavia,” Luna said. “I cannot possibly fulfill them all.”

Octavia’s ears drooped, but she kept a straight face. “You’ve told me as much many times. I understand, your highness.”

The alicorn’s smile widened and her gaze softened. “But I think I can make an exception for you. Be sure to pack an umbrella.”

A smile that stretched from ear to ear found its way on Octavia’s face, though she tried and failed to suppress it. “Yes, your highness! Thank you, your highness!”

The night regent giggled and waved her hoof. “You are dismissed, Octavia. Let the next pony come in.”

Octavia bowed and cantered out of the throne room, a guard opening the chamber doors for her.

“The nobles will not be happy, your highness,” a guard mare to her side said. “You know how they get. You let it rain next week, and they’ll print in the papers that it’s a sign that you’re turning into Nightmare Moon again or some other tripe.”

“I’ll deal with that as it comes,” Luna said calmly. “I appreciate your concern, Dusky Plum, but I am more than capable of handling bad press. Besides, it’s more than worth it to have two lovers happy together, is it not?”

The bat-winged pegasus smirked. “If you say so, your highness.”

Luna’s ears perked up. She heard it. The sound of the universe. The sound of the universe that also happened to sound like a recording of the cries of a narwhal slowed down. The sound of the universe that in actuality was the sound of a large box tearing a hole in the fourth dimension of time and space. The phrase “sound of the universe” really fell apart upon thinking about it, she realized.

When she saw that blue police box show up in the center of her throne room, however, she ceased to care.

The door was barely open when Luna tackled its pilot.

“Doctor!”

“Luna, air, please!”

She let go of the disguised Time Lord when she heard the sound of swords being drawn. “Guards, stand down. This is the Doctor; I know this is your first time seeing him, but you know he is a friend.” She looked down and gasped.

The stallion’s coat was dark amber, his mane brown and spiky, as if he tried to comb it but it despised obeying the law of gravity with a passion. He still had the same hourglass cutie mark, though, as he always did. Something smelled off about him, though. There was another scent on him that she couldn’t place.

“You’ve… changed. This is not an incarnation I’ve seen before,” she said as she helped him back to all fours. “How many regenerations have you gone through?”

“This is my tenth life,” he said as he brushed himself off. “And from my perspective of time, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen you face to face. Entirely too long, I must say.”

The alicorn smiled and hugged him close, this time taking care not to crush him. “The last time I saw you was the night I became Luna again, two years ago. You were in your eighth incarnation still.”

“I remember that night very fondly,” he assured, hugging her back. “A lot has changed since then. I think you would have liked my ninth regeneration, but I was still recovering from…” He winced. “From the extinction of my species.”

Luna gasped. “The Time Lords are gone?”

The Doctor nodded. “I don’t really want to talk about it right now. We can catch up later. Right now I need to warn you about something.”

Luna flicked her ear and huffed slightly. Two years of silence, and of course he came back not to talk with his old friend and his ex, but in a quest to save the world. Typical. “Warn me about what? What’s so great that you need to warn me about it?”

“Does the name Doctor Insano ring any bells?” he asked.

“You’re the master of time and space; you wouldn’t have come here to this exact moment and place if you thought I didn’t know that name,” she said flatly.

He chuckled as he started pacing. “Right, sorry, silly question. I’m here to tell you that this Doctor Insano isn’t actually a pony. He’s an alien, like me; a human, to be exact.”

“A human? One of those furless apes that look a lot like Time Lords?” she asked, following him with her eyes.

“Yes, he’s one of those,” he confirmed with a nod. “Not sure how he got here, but that’s not important right now. What’s important is that he’s a very dangerous man. Incompetent in general, but he has his moments where he can put his scientific genius to deadly use. He’s also a wanted fugitive in many, many countries on his home world.”

“I shall send a contingent of guards to arrest him at once,” Luna said.

The Doctor held up his forehooves and waved them around. “No, no, don’t do that!”

Luna looked at him in confusion. “Why ever not? He’s a criminal, and a dangerous one.”

“Because you’ll need him later,” he hissed. “He’s a very dangerous man, but he’s also a very, very smart man. There are many other evils out there in the universe that will come knocking at your door in the near future, and you’ll need him to help you defeat them. That means becoming his ally, and getting thrown in jail is not a great way to start a relationship. Unless you’re kismeses, I suppose. Then it’s a great way to start it.”

Luna cleared her throat pointedly. “What kinds of evils are you talking about? Daleks?”

“Right, yes, sorry, getting off track.” He shook his head. “No, not Daleks. I’m not really sure I should tell you. I’m already altering the course of history by telling you to keep Insano out of jail and keeping him from leaving Equis, and I can tell you’re already cross with me for interfering so much as it is.”

“Very well, if you don’t wish to tell me what we’re up against, then at least tell me how to prepare,” she said, her voice asserting her royal authority.

“Oh, I remember how I used to love it when you talked like that,” he chuckled. He ignored her blush or just didn’t notice. “Two weeks from now, I suggest you evacuate all towns and cities south of Ghastly Gorge. They’re the first to get hit, and they will get hit hard.”

“Why not just station our armed forces in the south?” she asked.

“Because your armies won’t be able to do anything against what’s coming, besides maybe slow them down,” he explained through gritted teeth. “Your only offensive option is to send the Elements of Harmony on a journey to the gates of Tartarus once the attack starts. Make sure that Insano and Spoony go with them.”

“Spoony?” she repeated. “Who is this Spoony?”

“You’ll find out within the week,” he said with a wave of his hoof. “Just make sure he and Insano go with the Element bearers. They can’t do this alone.”

“And what are my sister and I to do while a bunch of young mares, a madman and a stranger go off to save our country?” she asked, her words tinged with ice.

“Get as many ponies as you can to Canterlot, have Shining Armor set up his shield, and minimize casualties.” He sighed, his ears flattening as he stopped pacing. “Many will die. I just hope it isn’t as many as before.”

A frown tugged at her lips as she trotted to his side. “I thought I smelled something on you… it’s the smell of death, isn’t it?” She nuzzled her cheek against his. “Yes, I can smell it clearly now. That’s the smell of burning corpses. You came here directly from the future, didn’t you?”

The Doctor pulled away and trotted toward the TARDIS. “I better go. Keep Insano on a short leash and the future may turn out better.”

“And if it doesn’t?” she asked.

“Then hopefully you’ll be hearing from me again.” The door to the TARDIS shut behind him as it faded from existence, the alien siren going off as it left.

Luna stared at the spot where the Doctor was a moment ago. She let out a sigh and trotted toward the throne room doors. “Night court is ending early tonight. I must get to my dream patrol duties. Captain Nightshade, make sure preparations are made for the evacuation in two weeks. The rest of you, I hope I don’t need to remind you of the punishment for loose lips regarding the Doctor.”

“Ma’am, no ma’am!” the guards chanted with a salute.

“Good.” She faded into her gaseous form and slithered out of the throne room and through the castle. It didn’t take her long to slip through the various nooks and crannies of the palace until she was in her private bedchamber. It was everything a princess could hope for. A luxurious bed with sheets as black as her night, with enough room to accommodate even the largest of her paramours; antique furniture topped with various artifacts and mementos from before her banishment; and of course a large television hooked up to every gaming system known to pony kind in an elaborate system that ran up the electric bill something fierce.

Her current bedmates were both sound asleep. Two earth ponies: the stallion with a white coat and a golden mane, the mare with a golden coat and white mane. She giggled and leaned in, kissing both their necks. “Goodnight, Rising Glory. Goodnight, Honey Bunny.” She purred softly to herself as she climbed in bed between them. “Stars above, I love bedding twins.”

As her eyes drift shut and she entered her domain in the world of dreams, she muttered, “Now, let’s see what this Insano is dreaming…”

Luna walked into the mad scientist’s dream in medias res, as she had expected. She was in somepony’s house, though it wasn’t of any design she was familiar with. Plain white walls with equally plain tan carpet with no embellishment and very thin halls. More than a few ponies she knew would gawk at the sheer lack of flair.

Her thoughts on human architecture came to a screeching halt when she heard a voice call throughout the house. It was difficult for her mind to process. It sounded female, but had an otherworldly edge to it. It sounded like a jigsaw of glitchy screaming orchestrated into a voice that could form words. Its tone was sickeningly sweet yet sinister, like a mother comforting her child while she held a knife behind her back.

“Hyuuuuumannnn…”

“Stay back! You’re not taking me, you hear?!”

The second voice was definitely male, though high pitched and scratchy like nails on a chalkboard. The alicorn roamed the halls to look for its source as the monstrous thing let loose a manic cackle that seemed to come from all directions. It sent a shiver down her spine.

“You’re only delaying the inevitable, hyuumannn,” it purred.

Another sound rang through the air. It was a high pitched, brief buzzing.

“I said stay back!”

“Your energy weapons are useless against my beauty. Why do you resist? You too are glitched.”

The world around Luna flickered. It briefly turned into a sea of static, but quickly reasserted itself. “What is going on here…?”

“I am not a glitch!” the male voice roared.

It laughed once more, drawing all warmth out of Luna’s body. “Your past is in flux, your future unknown, your body not your own… you are glitch. You are error. You are mine.”

The world flickered once again, and Luna soon found herself falling. Gone were the walls of a house. All that she saw was an endless void of static and all she heard was its endless hissing and that terrible laughter.

“Let me go! I am the great Doctor Insano, and I will not be some snack for a cosmic horror!”

Luna’s head snapped up, and she saw somepony – no, somebody nearby. It was a creature that looked a lot like the Doctor, but had longer hair and was wearing a lab coat. He struggled and kicked as the static started to eat away at his limbs.

“Hold on!” Luna flapped her wings and righted herself before flying through the hissing sea of white and black. She scooped up Insano and threw him onto her back.

“Wh-what the fuck?” he breathed as he wrapped his arms around her neck, panting. She could hear his heart pounding through his chest.

“You’re welcome,” she said with a shake of her head. Her horn glowed and she blasted into the sea of static. Nothing happened. “Oh dear.”

“Oh dear what? Who even are you?” he demanded.

“That spell is supposed to dispel nightmares. Why isn’t it working?” she muttered to herself as she flew around the colorless void.

“Nightmares?” he repeated. “Wait… wait, you’re Luna, aren’t you? This is all a dream. Yes, this is all a dream! Linkara killed Missing over a year ago!”

“Missing? Is that what this beast is called?” Luna asked over her shoulder. She hadn’t seen before, but he was wearing a most peculiar set of goggles with spiral patterns over the eyes.

“Shut up and let me concentrate!” he snapped. His hairless fingers clutched tighter around her chest as the world of white and black slowly turned into a collage of colors.

“I am glitch! I am error! I am the never should! You will not escape me!” the thing shrieked, tendrils of static wrapping around Luna’s hooves. She gasped as she felt herself being dragged down into the void. She looked down to behold a face among the static, two piercing, alien eyes looking back at her with a thin mouth curved into an angry snarl.

“You’re just a memory, you bitch, and you’re a damn ugly one at that,” Insano shouted down as a firm reality reasserted itself. With one last shriek, the thing called Missing was gone, and in the place of its domain of endless static was what Luna recognized to be Twilight Sparkle’s library.

“What was that thing?” Luna asked, releasing a breath she didn’t even know she was holding as Insano got off her back.

“An eldritch horror from beyond the veil of space and time. More importantly, the fuck are you doing in my dreams? That is a major invasion of privacy!” he chided as he pulled up a chair that wasn’t there a second ago and plopped himself into it.

Luna narrowed her eyes and sat down herself, mentally summoning a proxy of her throne. “I should be asking what you’re doing in Equestria, human,” she said with regal authority. “Few aliens have permission to land on Equis’ surface, and you are not one of them.”

“I came here by accident, and- wait, what? So you ponies do know about extraterrestrial life?” he asked, his annoyance all but forgotten in the wake of curiosity.

“My sister and I know many things.”

“And of course you answer with cryptic bullshit. Why should I expect anything less from an immortal magical talking horse?” he groaned, rubbing his temples in his hands.

“Just like we also know that you are a wanted fugitive on your own world,” she continued. “I came here to investigate your dreams and see if there was anything I could learn about you before she arrives to meet you.”

“Well whoop-de-fucking-do, you learned what I really looked like and that I utterly failed to stop a modern Lovecraftian monstrosity from devouring my home world. And now I know that you know about me, making future espionage work much harder on you. Great work there, jackass,” he sniped.

“Oh, quite on the contrary,” Luna said with a smirk. “You won’t remember any of this come morning.”

“Ah, right, you’re the master of dreams. Fuck,” he cursed. “Well, I guess thanks for letting me know this is a dream so I could get to lucid dreaming. Now would you kindly fuck off?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” she said with a roll of her eyes as she dismissed her throne. “I have thousands of dreams to peruse before the night is out anyway.”

“Yeah, have fun with those wet dreams, you sick stalker bitch,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand as his dreamscape began to rearrange itself.

She smirked and flicked her tail before she vanished. “Always do.” Next Chapter: Forward Unto Dawn Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 57 Minutes