Chapter #3Doctor, Doctor! Give me the news! by: MagnusCorvus   Nyx's eyes widened as she recognized the brown earth pony stallion laying on the castle floor. "Doctor!" she exclaimed, hurrying over to check on him. He didn't seem to be too badly hurt, but his breathing was shallow and he had a nasty bruise over one eye in the shape of what looked like a hoofprint. As she looked the brown stallion over for other injuries, he suddenly gasped and opened his good eye.
"Derpy! Hang on," he exclaimed, reaching out a hoof toward Nyx.
Taking the Doctor's hoof with her own, Nyx looked him straight in the eye and tried to bring him back around. "Doctor? Doctor, wake up! Der- I mean, Ditzy isn't here. She's doing her rounds."
The Doctor's one open eye slowly focused on Nyx, and he let out a deep breath. "Oh, Nyx, thank goodness it's you! That means I'm back here... Wait, how did you get inside the Tardis?" He looked around, soon realizing, "Wait, this is the castle. That can't be right, the last thing I remember is... Oh, dear!" The color drained from the stallion's face, and he shakily pushed himself upright, his legs wobbling. "You said that Derpy is delivering the mail? Have Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle already left Ponyville?"
Nyx tilted her head in confusion and concern. "Yeah... remember? You were there with Dinky Doo just this morning, waving them off. This isn't good... you should probably let Nurse Redheart take a look at that hit to the head you took."
The Doctor was only barely listening to her, though, if at all. He paced around the room, muttering to himself. "Alright, so I must have fallen out of the Tardis and landed here earlier than I intended to... it gives me until tomorrow to prepare, but I can't go home because I'll be there... No telling where or when my Tardis will return, but if I were to..."
Nyx watched him go back and forth a few times before sticking her hoof out to stop him in his tracks. "Doctor!" she exclaimed, trying to get him to focus again. "I need you to stop for a minute! This is serious. I think you might have a concussion or something, and I'm sure your eye needs some medical attention."
The Doctor blinked at her with his good eye. "My eye? Why are you going on about my eye again?" He reached up to touch his face, wincing when his hoof brushed up against the bruised flesh. "Ah, that's right! Twilight Sparkle certainly packed a kick..."
Nyx's eyes widened at the mention of her mother. "Whaaaa? Mom didn't... why would she...?"
"No time," the Doctor replied brusquely. "It feels strange to say it, but time is not a luxury I possess at the moment! Derpy is in grave danger, and probably all of Equestria as well!" Before Nyx could stop him, the stallion suddenly pushed himself harder than she expected him to in his condition, and started galloping out of the castle! "I'll come collect you after you get Apple Bloom!"
The stunned and confused alicorn asked, "Wait, what? What does Apple Bloom have to do with... hey!" She tried to follow him, but quickly lost sight of the stallion. "What the hay just happened?" she asked herself before leaving the castle in order to take wing. Her first destination would have to be Dinky Doo's house. Even though she had no idea where the Doctor was going to go, Nyx figured she should inform his... daughter? Step-daughter? (Her understanding when it came to the timing of the Doctor's arrival in Ponyville versus the date of Dinky's birth was contradictory at best, and like most ponies she had eventually stopped trying to make sense of it.) Whatever the case, she would need to know about his condition.
Soon reaching the house that the unicorn shared with her mother and the Doctor, Nyx knocked on the door until it started to open. "Dinky, there's a problem. I need to tell you... Doctor?!"
The alicorn's jaw dropped open as the one who opened the door wasn't the unicorn she was expecting, or even a unicorn at all. Instead, the Doctor looked out at her, his face completely unblemished, with his usual blithely cheerful expression beaming at her. "Oh, hello Nyx. Fancy seeing you again today! So, how can Dinky help you? If it's something crazy, I would be more than happy to lend a hoof." He snickered to himself and murmured to himself as an aside, "Lend a hoof... I never get tired of that."
Nyx gaped and pointed at the stallion's face. "Doctor... your eye..."
"Hmmm? My eye? What, is something wrong with it?" The doctor touched his face. "It hasn't turned purple again, has it? I was sure I flushed out the last of that Raxxodesian pollen..."
Nyx shook her head. "No, it's... fine. How...?" Suddenly, she looked off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. "Apple Bloom!"
With that, she took off at a gallop toward the apple orchard, running as fast as she could and leaving the Doctor standing in the open doorway. Behind him, Dinky Doo peeked out at the running alicorn. "What was that about, dad?"
The Doctor stroked his chin in thought, then shrugged and smiled as he pulled the door closed again. "Can't say I know, but most likely I'll find out soon enough. By the way, is something wrong with my eye?"
*****
A few minutes later, Nyx arrived at the Apple family's farmhouse. She was about to knock on the front door, but remembered that Applejack and Big Macintosh would probably be out working in the orchards, and even if they weren't, Apple Bloom was probably grounded. Instead, she sneaked around the house until she got to Apple Bloom's bedroom window and concentrated on turning herself into mist so that she could float up to it.
Seeing her friend moping in her room confirmed that the young mare was indeed grounded, so Nyx silently seeped in through the window and drew Apple Bloom's attention by letting some of the dark mist drift in front of her eyes before reconstituting herself. The earth pony was startled, but managed to keep from letting out a loud cry as she turned to look around at her friend. "Nyx? What're you doin' here?" she whispered, not having expected to see the alicorn after they bid goodbye to their friends earlier that day.
"I had to make sure you were alright," Nyx replied. "At the castle, I found the Doctor in bad shape and babbling nonsense, but when I went to his house just now to tell Dinky, the Doctor was there and he looked just fine! I don't know what's going on, but the one in the castle mentioned you, so I had to know you were safe and sound."
Apple Bloom blinked and said, "Well, I'm okay, and I ain't seen anythin' strange.... except that." She pointed out the window, and Nyx blinked in surprise. There, just outside Apple Bloom's bedroom window, was the strange blue box that the Doctor and Ditzy Doo were sometimes seen coming in and out of. It certainly hadn't been there when Nyx showed up just a minute ago!
The box's door opened, and the Doctor with the black eye poked his head out, beckoning for them to come over. They went to the window, and he told them, "Brilliant, you're right on time. Alright, I know it's sudden, but I need you two to hop in. As of this moment, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are my temporary assistants until we save Derpy!"
Nyx narrowed her eyes and replied, "Hold it, 'Doctor', I saw the other one of you at your house! How do I know you aren't a Changeling?"
The Doctor blinked and replied, "Oh, that was me from yesterday! Well, a week ago, really, but tomorrow is when Derpy and I depart, and... besides, if I were a Changeling, wouldn't it make more sense to approach you as your mother?"
To Nyx and Apple Bloom's even greater surprise, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo poked their heads out. "It's true, Nyx," Sweetie Belle exclaimed excitedly. "He showed up at Canterlot Station and had Scootaloo with him! I was so surprised, I nearly fainted!"
"You've gotta come in here, girls! This thing's amazing," Scootaloo gushed.
Nyx stared in absolute shock, stammering, "But... you couldn't have picked them up at the station... Their trains should still be taking them there..."
Apple Bloom similarly boggled at the sight, but replied, "Oh yeah? If y'all're Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, tell us somethin' only they would know!"
Scootaloo thought for a moment, then grinned and replied, "Nyx swiped a book from the library and keeps it under her mattress. It's about a unicorn who has a passionate love affair with a-"
"Eep! Stop" Nyx suddenly interjected, a blush practically glowing its way through her black coat. "I believe you! I believe you!" Or at the very least, she was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. As long as it stopped the orange pegasus from finishing that sentence. "But why us, Doctor? What are we supposed to be saving Ditzy from?"
While Scootaloo snickered and pulled herself back into the blue box, the Doctor replied...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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