Doctor Whooves

The Runaway Bride

Let the new season begin! And we're beginning with a bang! A zap! And a flood. I am pleased to introduce our ponified Donna Noble as the pegasus, Noble Flame. Let the sass begin.

Noble Flame was excited to say the least. Here she was, standing at the end of the aisle with her father, in a beautiful wedding dress, about to get married. Her red orange mane was straightened with a simple curl at the bottom, flowers were tucked into her mane, her purple coat shined, her feathers were perfect, and her excitement was building.

Now, the doors opened and the organ began to play. Together with her father, Noble Sword, Noble Flame trotted down the aisle, smiling. She looked ahead, where her soon-to-be husband Lancelot stood in a black tux. He looked back at her, smiling as he saw her. He was also a pegasus, a dark blue one with a yellow mane. But, halfway there, something began to happen. To everypony else, it looked like she was filling up with gold energy, to Noble, it felt like she was starting to burn. She screamed as it reached a climax and she dissolved into golden energy. It raced up to the ceiling and went through, vanishing.

It flew through space, collecting in a blue box hovering outside a burning star. Noble appeared in front of a blue door with lights above it. She heard a rustling and spun around, a gasp escaping her mouth. There was another pony there! A stallion no less that she didn't know. He stopped and looked at her, eyes mirroring her surprise.

"What?" he asked.

"Who are you?" she asked nervously.

"But-what?!"

"Where am I?" Noble Flame asked, getting angry at his lack of a satisfying reply. "What the hell is this place?!"

"WHAT!?"

Brand new season, let it play!

"You can't do that, I wasn't, we're in flight!" the Doctor protested, staring wide eyed at Noble Flame, "That, that is physically impossible! How did-"

"Tell me where I am," she interrupted, furious, "I demand you tell me right now where I am!"

"Inside the Tardis," the Time-Pony said numbly, looking at her.

"The what?"

"The Tardis."

"The what?!"

"The Tardis!"

"The what?!"

"It's the Tardis!" He turned back to the controls, trying to figure out she'd gotten there.

"That's not even a proper word!" she cried, "You're just saying things!" The Doctor checked the controls again, running a hoof through his mane.

"How did you get in here?" he asked, confused.

"Well, obviously, when you kidnapped me!" Noble snapped. "Who's paying you? Fairy Cake? Oh my Celestia she's finally got me back, this has Fairy written all over it!"

"Who the hell is Fairy?"

"Your best friend," she sneered.

"Hold on, why are you dressed like that?" asked the Doctor, staring at her long white embroidered dress.

"I'm going cloud molding," Noble said sarcastically. "Why do you think dumbo! I was halfway down the aisle! I've waited for this moment my whole life, I was seconds away and then, I don't know, you used a sleeping spell on me or something!"

"I'm not even a unicorn and I haven't done anything!" the Doctor snapped back. Why wouldn't she shut up? He was trying to figure out what was going on and she just kept talking.

"I'm having the police come after you," Noble Flame continued, following the Doctor around. "Me an' my husband, as soon as we're actually married, we're going to sue e cutie mark of ya'!" The Doctor just rolled his eyes, keeping his eyes on the controls. Noble looked around the very odd room she was in, coral spires, bronze light, circle thingies, blue door. Wait, door! She galloped over to the door, grabbing the handles.

"No wait a minute!" called the Doctor as she threw them open. What she saw left her breathless, a swirling nebula of pink and orange gases on a black background that was speckled with stars. The Doctor sighed, he strolled over and stood beside Noble in the doorway.

"You're in space," he said simply, "outer space. This is my, uh, space ship. It's called the Tardis."

"How am I breathing?" asked Noble, eyes glued on the stars.

"The Tardis is protecting us," the Doctor replied.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, you?"

"Noble Flame."

"Equestrian?"

"Is that optional?"

"For me it is." Noble took a sideways glance at the pony next to her, he looked normal enough, unless you discounted the odd cutie mark.

"You're an alien."

"Yeah." She nodded slowly, "It's freezing with these doors open." The Doctor reached past her and slammed them both shut. He turned and galloped back towards the console, his motor mouth running away again.

"I don't understand this and I understand everything. A pony cannot just lock itself onto the. Tardis and transport inside without being exceptional at magic, and that happened once!" He reached into a bag hanging on the console and pulled out a pair of special eye inspection goggles. He slipped them on and turned to Noble, looking into her eyes. "It must be impossible, some sort of subatomic connection? Something in the temporal field? Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the Chronon shell. Maybe something connecting to your minor magic levels and fusing it with the interior matrix. Maybe a genetic-" Smack! Noble Flame reached up and slapped him mid-sentence, knocking the ridiculous glasses off his muzzle.

"What was that for?!"

"Get me to the wedding!" she demanded.

"Right, fine!" the Doctor snapped, finally ticked off. He turned and galloped back to the console, working it so he wouldn't have to deal with her much longer, "I don't want you here anyways! Where is this wedding?"

"Hoofdon Hall, Star rd., Hoofdon, Equestria, Gaia, the Solar System," Noble said angrily. She turned her glare elsewhere in the Tardis, only to see a mare sized pink jacket hanging over the railing. She picked it up, "I knew it, I'm not the first am I? Acting all innocent, how many other mares have you abducted?" The Doctor looked up at her, and something in his expression darkened.

"That's my friend's," he said grimly.

"Where is she then? Popped out for a spacewalk?" continued Noble, oblivious to what he was feeling.

"She's gone," the Doctor said after a moment, turning back to the controls.

"Gone where?" she sneered.

"I lost her," he muttered.

"Well you can hurry up and lose me!" He didn't reply this time, Noble Flame's expression softened. "What do you mean lost?" The Doctor looked up at her, clearly angry. He let go of the controls, grabbed the jacket from her as he walked past, stuffed it in his pocket, and stopped by the monitor.

"Right!" he cried, slamming a switch, "Hoofdon!"

He missed. It was as simple as that. When Noble Flame stepped out of the Tardis some three minutes later, it was not parked in front of Hoofdon hall. And, in response to this slip up, she turned and immediately began scolding him.

"I said Star Road, what sort of moon pony are you? Where's this?!" He didn't listen, the Doctor put his hoof on the side of the Tardis, "Something's wrong with her. It's like she's, recalibrating!" He turned and galloped inside, giving Noble a full view of his impossible box. While he was inside, rambling about his box and inspecting the console with a stethoscope, Noble took a good look at it for the first time. She slowly walked around the side, felling it with one hoof and looking it up and down. Once going all the way around, she flew up on top, remembering the giant cathedral like ceilings inside the box. But, but, this isn't possible. She jumped down in front of it, looking in through the doorway, and finally broke. "Who're you marrying? Sure he's equine? He's not, a bit lever weight with a-Noble!"

Noble turned and started walking away, she heard the Doctor calling after her. With the call came the sound of clattering hooves as he gave chase. He trotted up beside her, periodically glancing over to her.

"Noble-"

"Leave me alone I just wanna get married," she said, not even looking at him.

"Come back to the Tardis," the Doctor insisted.

"No that box is too weird."

"It's bigger on the inside, that's all."

"Oh yeah that's all." She checked her watch, odd, she wasn't wearing a watch earlier. "Ten past three, I'm missing it."

"You can phone them, tell them where you are."

"How do I do that?"

"You could use a pay phone." Noble stopped and just stared at him, "I'm in my wedding dress! It doesn't have pockets, have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went for my fitting at chez Alicorn the one thing I forgot to say was give me pockets!" The Doctor frowned, "Um, this stallion you're marrying, what's his name?"

"Lancelot," she said, softening.

"Good luck Lance."

"OI! No stupid moon pony is going to keep me from getting married to, hell with you!" Noble Flame cried, turning and galloping away.

"I'm not, I'm not, I'm not from the moon," the Doctor groaned, chasing after her out onto the streets.

"Taxi!" called Noble, trying to get one of the taxi carriages to pull over. The pony driving just ignored her. "Why's his sign up?"

"There's another one!" cried the Doctor, they chased after it, "Taxi!" But it still, nopony would pull over.

"There's one!"

"Oi!"

"Do you have this effect on everypony?" asked the Doctor. "Why aren't they stopping?"

"They think I'm in fancy dress," Noble replied, annoyed.

"Lay off the cider sweetheart!" called one of the drivers as he trotted past.

"They think I'm drunk!"

"You're fooling nopony mate!" a pair of teenage pegasus called as they did a fly by. Noble groaned.

"Hold on a second," said the Doctor. He took a deep breath and whistled sharply, Noble Flame flattened her ears to block it out, it was LOUD. One of the cabbies did a sharp U turn and trotted over to pick them up. Noble flew into the carriage, the Doctor climbed in after her.

"Hoofdon Hall, and hurry, I'm getting married," Noble said in a rush as the cabbie pulled away.

"It's going to cost you sweetheart," he called back. "Double rates today." The two ponies in back looked at each other, "Have you got any money?"

"Uh, no. Haven't you?"

"NO POCKETS!"

"And that goes double for ya mother!" Noble Flame cried at the cabbie as he drove away, leaving them back at the corner. "Talk about the holiday spirit." The Doctor looked around, "Oh? Is it Hearth's Warming?"

"Well duh, maybe not on the moon but here it's Hearth's Warming Eve," Noble replied, she gasped. "Phone box! We can reverse the charges!"

"Why're you getting married on Hearth's Warming?" asked the Doctor as they started to run down the street.

"Can't stand it," she replied, "Honeymoon in Zebria, sunshine, beaches, lovely." They rounded a corner, at the end there was a large decorated tree. One side of the sort of shopping courtyard had a pay phone, the other had a cashpoint. They duo ran over to the phone, Noble ran inside picking up the phone.

"What's the operator?" she asked confused, looking at the phone in her hoof, "I've not done this in years." The Doctor pulled out the sonic and buzzed it on the machine, "Just, dial."

"What'd you do?"

"Something, alien, now phone, I'll get money," he said, slipping it in a pocket and running across the pavement to the cash point. Another pony was getting bits there, and taking awfully long about it.

"Oh, get off the phone!" groaned Noble, as she tried to call the hall number. Nopony was picking up, when it went to voicemail, she gave up and put it back on the receiver. She stepped out of the pay phone and looked around. Noble rushed up to one of the shoppers, "Excuse me, please I'm begging you, I'm getting married I really am and I'm late so can I please borrow a few bits. I promise I'll pay you back, and it's Hearth's Warming Eve."

The Doctor saw this out the corner of his eye as the pony getting money finally left. Slowly he stepped up to the machine and pulled out the sonic, scanning it over the machine. The screen unlocked and little gold coins began to to plink out into the catching cup. Then, he heard it. A brass band playing nearby, one that hadn't been there before. The Doctor looked up, only to see a band of five members dressed in holiday costumes, wearing creepy masks, playing brass instruments, and walking towards them.

"Thanks for nothing Spacecolt!" cried Noble climbing into a cab, a cab being pulled by a robot dressed like Chancellor Puddinghead.

"Noble!" cried the Doctor, he looked back at the players. They stopped, lowering their brass instruments to him. He needed a way out, and fast. The cashpoint was still open, he pulled the sonic out again and scanned the machine. Bits came flying out of the open slot, ponies rushed to collect them, whooping with joy. The Doctor gave the robots one glance then turned and ran the opposite direction.

"I promise you mate, I'll give you the rest when we get there," Noble promised as the cab driver pulled her along. "Celestia I'm a mess." She took off her veil, setting it on the seat beside her.

"Hurry up will you?" the driver made no acknowledgement he, or she for that matter, had heard.

Running full speed, the Doctor raced back to the Tardis and inside. He dashed up to the console and began to work, muttering to himself as he did. A switch here, a lever there, they hadn't done this in a long time, a very long time.

"Sorry old girl," he said, flipping a long and dust covered switch, "but you're going to have to fly."

"Hey, you missed the turn in," Noble chirped as the driver passed the street they were supposed to turn down. "I said Hoofdon Hall, you missed the turn, we're going the wrong way!" Again, the driver just kept running, pulling the carraige with it.

"I'm late for the wedding!" protested Noble. "My own wedding don't you get that?!"

As the Tardis worked, tracking Noble through the city, the Doctor worked as well. He had to remember which buttons were the flight stabilizers and which actually still worked. He reached into the tool bag and pulled out a ball of string. He tired one end around his hoof, and began wrapping it around various controls. This would keep them in place or activate them.

"Turn this cab around!" demanded Noble Flame, furious. "Turn this cab around right now! Are you deaf or what?!" She reached out of the front window, something that a pony cab rider is never supposed to do, and grabbed the driver's hat. She pulled it off, and with it went the mask, revealing a metal insect like robot head. Noble jumped back into her seat, "Oh my gosh."

As they got closer to Noble the controls sparked angrily and the Tardis's hums seemed a little strained. The Doctor pulled a mallet out of the toolbar, giving it a solid whack on the console.

"Behave!" he cried, pressing a few more buttons.

Noble dashed to the window, trying the handle of the door. She slammed on the window, trying to get the attention of ponies outside.

"Help me!" she screamed, slamming her hooves against the glass, "Please somepony help me!" She stopped when a somewhat new but still familiar sound rang through the air, a whooshing grinding sound. Noble looked out the back window, only to see a blue box spinning out of the sky, "Oh you have got to be kidding me." It bounced off the side of the building and crashed to the ground, only to ricochet back up and hover over the ground towards the cab. The Tardis floated up next to the cab, hovering there. The doors flew open the Doctor was leaning in the doorway, string wrapped around one of his hooves holding the opposite door

"Open the door!" the Doctor cried.

"What?!" cried Noble.

"O-pen, the, door!" he repeated.

"It's locked!" The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver, and with it clenched in his teeth, buzzed it at the cab door. Noble pulled down the window, "Puddinghead's a robot!"

"Noble! You've got to the open the door and fly over here!"

"WHAT? I'm not bleeding flying over there! I'll tear my dress wide open!" The robot glanced back at them, and promptly picked up the pace, running even faster. The Doctor looked back inside the Tardis, he tugged on the string. A bunch of switches moved all over the console, more sparks and bangs as the Tardis sped up, zooming after the carriage. As soon as they pulled up beside it, the Doctor used the sonic again, making the robot freeze at the one speed. He looked back to Noble, "Please Noble, whatever that thing is, it needs you. And whatever it needs you for can't be good, you've got to fly!"

"I'm in my wedding dress!"

"Yes, you look lovely, now come on!" Noble Flame opened the door, letting it swing open. She looked at her dress, "I can't do it!" she protested.

"Yes you can, trust me!"

"Is that what you said to her? Your friend?" The Doctor's expression darkened again. "The one you lost, did she trust you?"

"Yes, she did," he heard himself say. "And she is still very much alive, now, fly!" Noble look again at her dress, spread her wings, and jumped. Yes, she made it into the Tardis, but, a good chunk of the cape of her dress was torn away in the process when it got caught on the doorway. Not so much it looked bad, there was still enough to arrange it and make it look good. Just enough that through the fabric you could see a pink four point star with white sparkles on her flank. (For her sparky personality) The Doctor jumped out of the way as she soared inside, kicking the door shut as he did. The Tardis shot into the sky, flying away from the street.

Fwoosh, fwsshhhhh, the Doctor coughed as he sprayed fire extinguisher foam inside the. Tardis, clouds of smoke puffed out as he did. He had parked the Tardis on top of a tall building that overlooked most of the city, Noble had walked over to the edge and was inspecting the damage on her dress.

"You know, for a space ship she doesn't do all that much flying," the Doctor commented, trotting over to her. "You alright?"

"Doesn't matter," she said dismissively, tracing the tear.

"Did we miss it?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Still got the honeymoon."

"It's just a holiday now."

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's not your fault," Noble Flame said. The Time-Pony chuckled, "Well, that's a change."

"Too bad you don't have a time machine, or, something, then we could go back and get it right," she said. The Doctor nodded, oh boy, if only she knew, "Yes, well, even if I did, I couldn't go back on somepony's personal time line. Apparently." Noble sighed and trotted over to the edge, sitting down. The Doctor unbuttoned his suit jacket, leaving him in just a button up shirt in the chill December air. He trotted over to her and wrapped it around her shoulders, then sat down next to her.

"Celestia you're thin, this wouldn't fit a foal," Noble commented.

"Oh, and, you better put this on," he pulled a gold pegasus wedding band, the ones that go around the base of the wing, and offered it to her.

"Oh do you have to rub it in?"

"Those things can trace you, this is a bio damper, should keep you hidden," the Doctor explained. Noble Flame sighed and offered her wing so he could slip it on. "With this band, I thee bio damp," the Doctor said as he slipped it on, popping the P.

"For better or for worse," Nobles said, tucking her wing back under the jacket. They stared out at the city, where pegasus were already working clearing the few clouds in the sky.

"So, come on then, robot founders, what's all that about?" asked Noble.

"Ah, you're basic robo scavengers, the whole costume gig is just a disguise," the Doctor explained. "I met them last Hearth's Warming."

"Why? What happened then?" He looked at her, "Great big spaceship? Hovering over Hoofdon? You didn't notice?" Noble shrugged, "I had a bit of a head cold." The Doctor looked out over the city, spotting a building he recognized.

"I spent Hearth's warming just over there," he said, pointing, "with my friend and her family. Well, she had this family, and, well, gone now."

"You're friend, who was she?" The Doctor sighed, "The real question is, what do robot mercenaries want with you? And how'd you get in the Tardis? I don't know, what's your job?" He reached into a pocket in his suit jacket, pulling out the sonic.

"I'm a secretary," she replied simply. The Doctor activated his screwdriver, slowly scanning Noble from her hooves to head.

"It's weird," he muttered. "I'm mean you're not special, you're not connected, you're not clever, you're not important-"

"This friend of yours, just before she left did she punch you in the face?" snapped Noble as the sonic reached her eyes. She pushed it away, "Stop bleeping me!"

"What kind of secretary?" asked the Time-Pony.

"I work at Golden Keylock," she replied, "That's where I met Lancelot. I was only trying it out, I'd spent the last two years organizing for the Hoofdon weather team. It was really pretty posh, all suits, fancy dresses, and unicorns. And I thought, 'Oh I am never gonna fit in here.' And then one day, he made me a coffee. I mean, nopony does that, nopony gets a coffee for the new mare! And, turns out he thought everypony there was really snotty too. That's how it started, one cup of coffee."

"When was this?" asked the Doctor.

"Six months."

"Bit quick to get married yeah?"

"Well, he insisted," Noble lied, very nonchalant. Really, she had asked him, receiving a very shocked look on Lancelot's face. "And he nagged and nagged and nagged, and, he just wore me down. I finally gave in." Reverse the roles and you've got something a bit more accurate to what really happened. Of course, the Doctor didn't know this, so he just went with it.

"What does Golden Keyblade do?"

"It's Golden Keylock, and they make your basic lock systems, key pads, stuff like that. If you ask me it's a posh name for locksmith," Noble Flame said sarcastically. It seemed, as of this point in time, that she could not go a few sentences without being sarcastic.

"Keys," the Doctor muttered.

"Anyways, enough of my back story, time to face the consequences," she continued. "Oh this is going to be so shaming, you can do the explaining moon pony."

"Um, yeah, I'm not from the moon," the Doctor corrected, standing up. He offered her a hoof and pulled her up, taking his suit jacket back as he did.

"I had this big reception plan and everything, of everypony's going to be so upset."

Hoofdon Hall had quickly transformed from a chaotic wedding to a blast your ears out party. Everypony was having a great time when they finally arrived, having to hunt down another cab to take them as the Tardis healed. Noble and the Doctor stood there in the doorway, her mouth was open in shock. Slowly, as the others began to take notice she was there, the party slowed to a stop. All eyes were on them.

"You had, the reception, without me?"

"Noble!" cried a voice, Silver Flame pushed through the crowd towards her daughter, "where've you been?"

"You had, the reception, without me?" Noble repeated.

"Hello!" the Doctor chirped from behind her, waving.

"They had, the reception, without me," she repeated again.

"Yes, I gathered that."

"Well it was all paid for," replied somepony, one of those voices that are just annoying.

"Thank you Fairy Cake!" Noble said sarcastically.

"Well what were we supposed to do?" asked her mother. "Why didn't you call? Pans how'd you do it? Who helped you cos I'd really like a word with them!"

"Where did you go?" asked Lancelot, stepping towards his bride with a concerned look. Then, everypony started talking to her at once. Noble covered her ears as they bombarded her with questions. Then, she started crying. They all shut up at once, there was a collective "Aww," from the party. Lancelot stepped forward and hugged her, gaining an applause from everypony else. Noble glanced at the Doctor, giving him a sly wink before fake crying again.

Less than ten minutes later, after a session of question and answer, the music was playing again. "I have wandered, I have travelled," the Doctor heard, half listening by the food table. He looked around the room, an adolescent colt was working on a laptop at the table nearby. He trotted up to the colt and asked if he could use it for a minute. The colt nodded and went to the dance floor.

"Oh my oh my, my precious mare, what is a colt to do?" He typed in "Golden Keylock" and as it loaded slipped on his black specs. A few hundred results as it completed. He looked around, ensuring that nopony was watching and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, he buzzed it over the hard drive until a single message popped up on the screen. It said, that Golden Keylock was completely bought out by the Torchwood institute, a name that now bore an underscored title of murderers.

"Cos my body's tired of rambling and my heart don't wish to roam," slowly, the Doctor closed the laptop, but stayed sitting there. His eyes wandered up tot he dance floor as he thought.

"Well you took me in, you stole my heart, I cannot roam no more!" they landed on a mare with stripey mane dancing with a blue pegasus.

"Cos love it stays within you, it don't wash up on a shore." Memories of dancing in the Tardis began to resurface as he watched them dance, the music didn't help. "A fighting colt can forget each wound, each scratch each cut each bruise, but a fightin' colt cannot forget, the pain love puts you through." The Doctor tore his eyes away from the dance floor, standing up and walking away from the laptop, he should leave, right now. But he couldn't, he needed to find out why she'd appeared in the Tardis. As he walked away, he began actually searching the room for anything that might be helpful. There! By the tree, a stallion holding a video camera!

"I taped the whole thing, they said I should sell it," he explained, slipping the tape back into the camera. The little screen lit up with a video of he wedding. The Doctor, still wearing his specs, watched with interest as Noble began to glow.

"Wait, play it again?" He rewound the video, the Dpctor leaned in, getting a good look. "But that looks like, like Huon particles!"

"Huon what?"

"That's impossible," the Doctor continued, pulling off his glasses and pocketing them.

"It's ancient, they haven't existed for billions of years. So old that," his eyes went to Noble Flame, who's gold wing band flashed in the dance lights, "it can't be hidden by a bio-damper!" Oh no, this is bad. The Doctor turned and ran towards the front of the hall but only to skid to a stop and start running back when he saw a pair of disguised robots walking towards the doors, with their brass instruments. He galloped towards the back exit, two more.

"Noble!" he cried, running into the dance floor, "they've found you!"

"What?!" she snapped, breaking away from the party and dashing towards the windows with him.

"But you said I was safe!" she protested.

"The bio damper doesn't work. We've got to get everypony out, window?"

"Oh Celestia, it's all family!" They pulled back the curtains, only to see another two robots, and one was sitting down, a remote control in its hooves. The Doctor looked back into the hall, where three large Hearth's Warming Trees stood.

"The trees," he muttered.

"What about them?" asked Noble, worried.

"They kill, everypony away from the trees!" They ran towards the party, pushing foals and ponies alike away from the trees, "Stay away from the trees!"

"For Celestia's sake, the stallion's mad!" cried Silver Flame. "What harm's a, oh!" The Doctor and Noble turned around and looked at the trees where the little red baubles went spinning into the air. Ponies around them began asking who was doing it, but there was no magic aura. And it definitely was not a pony controlling them, because minutes later, the beautiful decorations began soaring at ponies. When they landed, most on the ground, each one exploded.

Everypony scattered, hiding behind tables and chairs as more and more of the balls crashed and exploded. One blast sent a pony flying into the wedding cake, him, and it, flew off the table. Noble Flame dashed behind one of the tables, pulling Lancelot with her. Amid the chaos, the Doctor hid behind the DJ set up. When the explosions stopped, he slowly looked over the edge, only to see six festive robot mercenaries standing across the room in a line. One had the remote sitting at its hooves, the others had their brass weapons ready. The Time-Pony stood, discretely pulling out the sonic screwdriver.

"Oi! Founders!" he called to them, "When you confront a stallion with a sonic screwdriver," and then he spoke into the microphone stand, "Don't let him near the sound system." And in a flash of motion, the Doctor inserted his sonic screwdriver into a port in the machine and activated. A high pitched blast rang through the room, the trapped ponies covered their ears in pain, the robots began to shake. The Doctor simply watched, the sounds both bothering him, nor the vibrations cause by the intense volume of the sound. Instead, he turned it up, it became a screaming buzzing sort of sound, the robots began to shake even faster. Bam! One of them exploded, the others followed suit. Until six robot versions of the Founders with their heads blown off collapsed to the ground. The sound cut out immediately, followed by a unanimous grown.

The Doctor quickly pocketed his device, galloped around the DJ station and dropped to his knees on the dance floor. He slid over to the robots, stopping right by one of them who's head had just popped off. All around him, ponies were helping each other out of the rubble.

"Look at that," he mutter, picking up the remote in his hooves, he looked back behind him where Noble was trotting towards him, "a remote control for the ornaments. But, there's a second one for the robots, they're not scavengers anymore, I think somepony's taken possession." He pocketed the remote and picked up the head, now maskless and hatless.

"Never mind that, you're a doctor," Noble said, "Ponies are hurt."

"Gotta think of the bigger picture," the Time-Pony replied, pressing an ear to the head. He heard a buzzing sound inside, "There's still a signal!" He grabbed the cord sticking out the side with his mouth, got to his hooves, and raced outside. Noble started to follow when she heard her mother, "Noble, who is he? Who is that pony?" She looked back at her, and the scared ponies following, and left without a word.

She found the Doctor outside, struggling to multi-task with scanning the head, holding it, and staying upright on his back legs. It looked rather silly, he had the sonic screwdriver buzzing in his mouth and both front hooves wrapped around the head.

"Dere's shompony behin' dis, directin' da robofrms," he said through the screwdriver.

"But why is it me?" asked Noble Flame, coming up behind him.

"If we fin' da controlla' den we'll fin' dat out. Oh!" he dropped back onto all fours, setting the head down. The sonic screwdriver buzzed more rapidly as it was raised towards the sky, "It's up dere, shomethin' in da sky."

"Clever clever colt, hiss, eat you up all snicker snack traveling pony. He shall come to me, hiss, and the beautiful bride shall follow. Such secrets to unlock, I shall descend this night. Hiss! I shall descend upon this 'Gaia' and shine! On Hearth's Warm night!"

The sonic stopped buzzing, when it did, the Doctor pocketed it again.

"Lost the signal," he muttered. "Noble, we've got to get to your office, Golden Keylock, i think that's where it all started." She nodded, the Doctor nodded as well, then turned around to where a confused Lancelot was walking towards them. "Lancelot! Is it Lancelot?" the confused groom nodded. "Right, I need somepony with all access and somepony who knows the way, think you can help?"

After a frantic three block dash, or fly in Noble and Lancelot's case, the trio arrived at Golden Keylock's massive facility. Lancelot unlocked the doors and let them in, Noble Flame led the way to the offices.

"You lot may just be locksmiths but Golden Keylock was bought up thirty six years ago by the Torchwood institute," the Doctor explained going to a computer.

"Who are they then?" asked Noble.

"They were behind the Battle of Canterlot," he replied, looking up at her. Noble Flame just stared at him. "Cyberpony invasion?" Now she looked confused, "Skies of Canterlot full of Daleks?"

"I was in Prance," she replied nonchalantly.

"They had Cyberponies there to," the Doctor said slowly.

"Catacomb tour," Noble said, as if that explained everything.

"That big picture Noble, you keep missing it." He turned back to the computer, "Now, Torchwood was destroyed but Keylock stayed in business, I think somepony stepped in and took over."

"But what's that got to do with me?" He looked up at her, then got back to his hooves.

"Some how, you've been dosed with Huon particles," the Time-Pony explained. "And that's a problem since Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark Times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the Tardis. See? That's what happened to you! Say, this is the Tardis," he picked up a mug, letting it rest upright in one hoof, "and this is you." He also picked up a pencil, letting it rest in the other hoof.

"The two sets of particles magnetized," he shook both objects gently, "then whap!" He dropped the pencil inside the mug, "Pulled you inside."

"I'm a pencil in a mug?" asked Noble. The Doctor smirked, "yes you are. Number two, just about sums you up. Lancelot? What was Keylock working on? Anything secret? Keep out, Authorised personnel only kind of thing?"

"I don't know," the confused groom replied, "I was in charge of employees! Not project manager, why am I even explaining myself?! What are you talking about?"

"You make keys, that's the point," the Doctor replied nonchalantly. "And look, were on the third floor. Underneath reception, there's a basement right?"

The metal elevator doors slid open in front of them, "Then how come in the lift, there's a button marked 'lower basement'?" asked the Doctor stepping inside and displaying the small silver lock to the others, "there's a whole mother floor that doesn't exist on the official plans. What's down there then?"

"Are you telling me there's a whole secret floor down there?" asked Lancelot incredulously.

"No, I'm showing you," the Doctor replied simply.

"It needs a key," Noble Flame added.

"I don't." Quicker than a flash, he pulled out the sonic screwdriver, buzzed the lock, and heard it click. "Right then you two, I can handle it from here."

"No chance moon colt, you're the one who keeps saving my life, I'm not letting you out of my sight," Noble Sadi stubbornly, trotting into the elevator.

"Going down," the Doctor said.

"Lancelot?"

"M-maybe I should go get the police!"

"Inside, now!" Lancelot sighed wearily, but stepped inside next to his almost wife. The Doctor looked sideways at him, "To honor and obey?"

"Tell me about it."

"OI!" The elevator doors closed and the lift began to move down. Seven awkward minutes later, the glass doors reopened in a dark dimly lit tinted green hallway. The air was damp and the walls seemed to be covered with condensation.

"Where are we?" asked Noble, trotting out of the elevator. "What goes on down here?" The Doctor looked around them, "Let's find out."

"D'you think mister Keylock knows about this place?" she continued.

"The mysterious Golden Keylock? I think he's part of it," the Doctor replied. Then he spotted something, "Oh look. Transport."

It was the oddest mode of transport the Doctor had seen in 1002, truly. He'd seen, and ridden, scooters, trains, zeppelins, boats, but never something like this. It had two very large rubber wheels with a metal platform over the axle, and a tall set of handle bars in front of them. It took Noble and Lancelot a moment to figure out how to ride them, the Doctor figured it out instantly. You had to stand on your back hooves on the little metal platform with your front hooves on the handle bars. When you wanted it to move forward, just lean on the handle bars and a little magic/machine motor underneath would start, pushing it forwards.

When they had finally gotten the hang of it, the trio sped off down the hallway. Noble thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever, and she was struggling to keep a straight face. When she glanced over at the Doctor, the laughter burst out of her like a popping balloon. He was riding this thing with a straight and very serious face, and it was utterly ridiculous! As soon as Noble started laughing, so did the Doctor, his face breaking into a massive smile. Lancelot just looked confused as they giggled like little fillies all the way down the corridor.

The convoy finally stopped when a metal door with a wheel on the front appeared to their right. Three segways screeched to a stop and the ponies riding them hopped off. Noble and the Doctor were still snickering. The Doctor stepped forwards and began turning the wheel to unlock the bulkhead, he pulled the door open revealing a ladder.

"Stay here," he ordered, "just need to get my bearings."

"You'd better come back," snapped Noble, the Doctor smirked at her. "Couldn't get rid of you if I tried." He turned and started to climb up the ladder, Noble and Lancelot watching. When the Doctor seemed far enough out of earshot, Lancelot turned to his wife, "Noble, have you thought about this? Like really thought about this? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?!" Nobel glanced at him, "Oh, I thought July."

As the Doctor finally reached the top of the ladder, there was another bulkhead with a turn door knob. This was going to be a problem. Using both his front hooves, and praying he wasn't going to fall, the Doctor began to open the hatch. The lock clicked and it opened slightly, the Doctor grabbed the ladder with one hoof and pushed it open with the other.

Through the opening he could see blue skies and hear birds crying. He pulled himself out of the opening and onto the, ground. It was concrete, definitely, and as he looked around him, all there was to see was water. The Doctor was standing on top of the only thing preventing the Thames from flooding Prance down river, "Thames flood barrier!"

Noble and Lancelot looked shocked, "Right on top of us," the Time-Pony said confidently.

"Wait, you mean, there's a secret base under a major Hoofdon landmark?" Noble Flame asked incredulously.

"I know unheard of," he replied, with only a note of sarcasm. They hopped on the segways and kept on going down the corridor until they reached another door. This one had the Torchwood logo on it in black and seemed to be made of a thick plastic. It was unlocked, so the Doctor pushed it open and walked right in. Inside looked like a laboratory, for bubbles.

Large tubes of glass that reached up to the ceiling, or partway there in any case. Each big tube had two smaller ones beside, bubbling even more fiercely than the large ones. At the bad there was a metalic machine thing, the source of the bubbles, and likely collected of whatever was in the water.

"Oo, look at this," the Doctor hopped over to one of the tubes, looking at it up and down, "Stunning."

"What does it do?" asked Noble, she and Lancelot looking around.

"Particle extrusion," he replied nonchalantly. "No! Wait hold on," he looked at the tube sideways, "brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. Course, my uh, people, got rid of them all, unraveled the atomic structure."

"Your, people?" said Lancelot, confused. "Who are they? What company to you represent?"

"Oh I'm a freelancer," the Doctor replied, slowly walking around the machine, "but this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base until they get the end result." He pulled a little glass capsule with a tiny gold nob out of the machine, and held it out for Noble to see. "Huon particles in liquid form."

"Is that what's inside me?" asked Noble, looking at the liquid, it looked like water. But, slowly, the Doctor twisted the little golden dial on one side of the tube, causing the pegasus in front of him to light up with gold light.

"Oh whoa!" Noble gasped. It didn't hurt this time, not like it had when she'd been pulled inside the Tardis. The Doctor deactivated it, smiling, "Brilliant. Because these particles are inert, they need something living to catalyst, HA!" He jumped back, almost dropping the vial, he stuffed it in a pocket just in case.

"That's it the wedding! Yes! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle, your body's a battle ground!" the Time-Pony cried, his eyes glittering excitedly. "A chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, wham! Go the endorphins! Oh you're cooking! Not literally, but when those particles reach boiling point-" Whap! He staggered back, holding his cheek, "What'd I do this time?" Second time that day he'd been slapped, this was starting to become a habit he didn't like.

"Are you enjoying this?!" demanded Noble. The Doctor looked slightly ashamed, massaging his cheek gently. "Alright, just tell me. These particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"

"Yes, you are."

"Doctor, if you're lot got rid of them, why did they do that?" The Doctor hesitated, he took a deep breath and sighed, "Because they were dangerous." Noble gasped, eyes widening in fear. "But don't worry, whatever's been done to you I'll reverse it," the Doctor assured her, putting a hoof on her shoulder, "I am not about to lose somepony else."

"Oh she is long since lost!" hissed a voice, slightly slurred by a rasping lisp, over some sort of intercom. There was a grinding sound, the ponies looked towards the source of the sound as the large metal wall beside them began to retract into the ceiling. It revealed another, much larger room. A raised metal platform across the room, matel grated platforms high along the walls where black robed figures stood, and a massive tiered hole in the center of the room.

"I have waited, (a sorting of hissing inhaling sound) so long, (that sound again) hibernating at the edge of the universe. Until the secret heart was, hiss, unlocked and called to waken!" Suddenly, all the black robed figures turned to face them, armed with crossbows. There was a sound behind the Doctor and Noble as Lancelot fled the laboratory, seemingly with fear. The Doctor, however, stepped towards the massive crater in the floor, "Well, somepony's been digging. Very Torchwood. Drilled by magic, cut more like. How far down does it go?"

"Down, and down, and down to the center of the planet."

"Really?" asked the Doctor, "What for?" Noble Flame gasped and suddenly she stepped forward, "Magic."

"What?"

"I read it in a book, at the center of Gaia there's a core of pure magic." He just stared at her. "Trying to help!"

"That's not helping," the Time-Pony replied bluntly. He turned back to the unseen speaker, looking around the chamber, "Such, hiss, a sweet couple."

"Only a mad pony talks to thin air," the Doctor called out, "and trust me, you don't want to make me mad." There was definitely some hostility in his voice now. "Where are you?"

"Floating, floating, hiss, so high, on this glorious night."

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom!" he called out to it. "Come on! Let's have a look at you!"

"Who are you, little pony, with such command?"

"I'm the Doctor!" he countered.

"Prepare your strongest remedies little doctor-pony, for you will be sick, hiss! At heart!" There was a bright flash of light on the podium across the pit and, there she was. It might've been a she, Noble couldn't tell. But here's what she could tell: eight legs, three sets of two on a massive red abdomen and two more black red claw things where the arms, or forehooves should've been; two big black eyes, and six more smaller black ones on spikes on the crest of her head looking sort of like a natural crown; a very very short snout, even by female pony standards, just two holes in a flat red face; sharp white teeth, it was spider after all, inside a pair of thick mandibles on her jaw; and, she was a spider pony the size of a medium adolescent dragon. The normal sized pegasus had her jaw on the floor and the little taller than average Time-Pony had paled drastically as he saw the thing behind it all.

"Racnoss," he muttered. "But, that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"

"Empress! Of the Racnoss," she hissed proudly.

"But if you're the Empress, where're the rest? Or," he looked at her queerly, "are you the last one?"

"Such, hiss, a sharp mind."

"That's it, the last of your kind," the Doctor muttered. He turned to Noble, "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, they were carnivores, omnivores, devouredt whole planets."

"Racnoss are born starving," the Empress snapped, "is it our fault?"

"They eat ponies?" asked Noble, utterly shocked. The Doctor glanced up at the ceiling, "Um, Mr. Keylock, did he wear a sort of, big gold watch on a chain?"

"Yeah, why?" He gestured up at the ceiling, where a giant web was woven; and stuck in web, dangling from a body inside it, was a large gold fob watch on a chain. Noble did a double take and gagged, "Oh Celestia!"

"My holiday feast," the Empress hissed, clicking mandibles together hungrily.

"You shouldn't even exist!" the Doctor protested. "Way back in history, the fledgling empires went to war against the Racnoss, wiped them out!"

"Except for me," the spider hissed. Noble's attention was pulled away from the Empress, as she saw Lancelot sneaking up behind with an emergency axe, he made a shushing gesture and kept walking towards the Empress.

"But that's what I've got inside me, this Huon energy stuff," Noble said, loudly, trying to draw her attention. "Oi! Look at me lady! I'm talking! Where do I fit into all this eh? How come I got picked to filled up with golden particles? Look at me you! Look me in the eye and tell me."

"Hiss, the bride is so feisty." Lancelot was almost on top of her.

"Yes, I am," Noble continued, "and I don't know what you are you big, thing, but a spiders still just a spider, and an axe, is an axe! Now do it!" Lancelot reared up, swinging the axe, the Empress hissed in surprise, then he stopped. He looked over at Noble Flame, and started laughing. He dropped the axe, laughing even harder, the Empress joined him, a weird hissing laugh.

"You're face!" Lancelot said jokingly, pointing at the Empress, "that was a good one."

"Lance is funny," the Empress said with an ugly smile. Noble just stared at them, "What?"

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor said, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"Sorry for what? Lancelot don't be stupid, get her!" Lance stopped laughing, we're not going to call him Lancelot anymore, that's a proud and honorable name, and he isn't.

"Celestia she's thick," he said, disgustedly. "Months I've had to put up with 'er, months! A mare who can't even point to Canterlot on the mountain."

"I, I don't understand," Noble said, quiet for once.

"How did you meet him?" asked the Doctor quietly.

"In the office."

"He made you coffee."

"What?"

"Everyday," Lance said, waving a hoof in the air, "I made you coffee."

"You had to be dosed with Huon particles," the Doctor continued, "over six months."

"He was poisoning me?" she asked, stunned.

"It's all in the job title," the Time-Pony snapped, looking up at the spider and the pegasus, "head of Pony Resources."

"This time, it's personnel," Lance joked, chuckling again.

"But, we were getting married," Noble said, her voice cracking.

"I couldn't risk you running off," her almost husband replied nonchalantly. "I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with you, a mare who thinks the height of excitement is a new horse shoe brand. Oh I've had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap." Lance pitched his voice higher, mockingly, "Oh, Rainbow Dash and Applejack! Is Celestia pregnant? Song Star, Big Chance, split ends, call me, call me, call me, the never ending fountain of stupid fat trivia. I deserve a medal." (I am sorry RD, sorry AJ, sorry Celestia.)

"Is that what she's promised you?" asked the Doctor. "The empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?"

"Better than a night with her," Lance replied snarkily.

"But, but I loved you," Noble protested weakly.

"That's what made it easy," he said, changing from sass to mock sympathy. "It's like you said Doctor, the big picture. What's the point of us ponies if we're so tiny? That's what the Emoress can give me. A chance to, go out there, see it all. See the size of it. I think you understand that, don't you Doctor."

"Who is, hiss, this little medical pony?" asked the Emprress.

"Noble said 'moon pony'," Lance explained.

"Oh, well I'm sort of homeless," the Doctor said nonchalantly. "But the point is, the Racnoss are extinct! What's going to help you all the way down there? It's just the molten core of the earth isn't it?"

"I think he wants us to talk," Lance said.

"I think so," the Empress hissed.

"Well tough! We only need Noble." Said mare stepped in front of the Doctor, "No! Don't hurt him!"

"Noble," the Doctor said, trying to get her to move.

"No! I won't let them!"

"At arms!" cried the Empress, the robed robots turning their bows.

"Now, hold on," the Time-Pony tried.

"Take, aim!"

"I just want to point out the obvious-"

"They won't miss the bride, they are such good hiss shots," the spider almost purred.

"Just, just, just hold on a moment!" the Doctor protested. "Hold on just a tick, just a tiny, little tick. Remember, when the particles activated the pulled Noble inside my ship so," he pulled out the vial of liquid Huon particles, "reverse it." He twisted the little gold dial, making it and Noble Flame glow, "Bring the spaceship to her."

"Fire!" screamed the Empress. But as the arrows whistled towards them, a wind picked up, and the Tardis formed around them in a swirl of smoke. As soon as it had fully formed, the Doctor deactivated the particles, "Off we go!" he cried.

"No! No! My key!" screamed the Empress, gnashing her mandibles angrily as the blue box vanished. She hissed angrily, "Of one key is lost, hiss, another must be cut." She turned all eight of her eyes to Lance, who had paled in fear. The spider smiled, "At arms!"

"You know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied," the Doctor said, a bit absentmindedly as he worked the Tardis controls. "Now we're going to use it, we need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss wants at the center of Gaia. If something's been buried there, it must've been there since the beginning. That's brilliant! Motto bene! I've always wanted to see this!" He kept rambling, not noticing his other passenger was crying.

Noble was lying on the ground, head in her hooves, wings spread out limp on either side, visibly crying. When he did notice, the Doctor stopped talking. How could he be so inconsiderate? Noble Flame had just lost her husband to a giant spider, well, almost. But he knew exactly how that felt, all too well actually. How long had it been, really, since he said that last goodbye?

No matter now, they'd landed. "We've arrived, you want to see?"

"I suppose," Noble said weakly. The Doctor checked the scanner screen, "Oh, the scanners a bit small, maybe your ways better." He trotted over to the door, putting his hooves on the handles, he glanced back at Noble, "Come on. No Pony's ever seen this before, you'll be the first." She sighed, getting to her hooves and joined him at the door.

"All I want is my bed," she muttered. The Time-Pony pulled them open, revealing something beautiful. Outside were swirling clouds of pink and orange gases, mixed in were asteroids and meteors and rocks of all sorts. She just stared, "Noble Flame, welcome to the creation of Gaia." When she didn't reply, he continued. "We've gone back four billion years, there's no solar system, not yet. That, over there, is the sun, just starting to burn," he pointed out into space, where a small orb of golden light was shining in the distance.

"Where's Gaia?" asked Noble, looking around.

"All around us in the dust," the Doctor explained.

"That puts the wedding in perspective," she mumbled, "Lancelot was right. We're tiny."

"No, but that's just it, it's what you do," the Time-Pony insisted. "Make sense out of chaos, I mean, come on, a timid pegasus beat the chaos god with friendship. You're all brilliant the lot of you, marking it out with weddings and holidays and, calendars! The whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

"So, I came out of, all this?" asked Noble, waving a hoof out at the dust.

"Yeah, isn't it brilliant?" She smiled, a large rock floated past the Tardis, "I think that's one of the Gallopagos islands." They both chuckled at the joke.

"But soon gravity takes over," the Doctor explained. "Say, one rock bigger than the others floats by, it starts pulling in all the little rocks, and then the gases and elements, all piling in until you get,"

"Gaia," finished the bride. There was whooshing sound outside, something was coming through the clouds. A ship, a web, a star, a ship made of webs that looked like a three dimensional star, sailing towards them. "Oh," the Doctor breathed, "The Racnoss." He turned and dashed back inside the Tardis, toward the controls, "Hold on, the Racnoss are probably hiding from the war. What's it doing?"

"Exactly as you said!" Noble called. And she was right, the ship had glowed for a moment, then hundreds of rocks and gases came flying in, surrounding it, packing tighter ans tighter. The Doctor galloped back over, his eyes widened in surprise. "They didn't just bury something in the center of Gaia, they became the center!"

Back in the future, two if the roboforms were holding Lance down, a third was dumping water on his head. Not water per say, but Huon particles. He was struggling, trying not to drink them, the Emprss did not call off her robots.

"Now I have measured the, hiss, brides catalyst, I can force feed it! Drink the particles, become the key!" The bucket was empty now, no more inside. Lance began to glow gold as the particles inside him activated. "My wonderful key, bind him!"

There was a bang! Inside the Tardis, the console blew off sparks.

"What's that?" asked Noble.

"Trouble," the Doctor replied, slamming the doors shut. They dashed back over to the console, "What the hell's it doing?" demanded Noble Flame.

"Remember that trick of particles pulling particles?" asked the Doctor, working the controls as the Tardis began to rock wildly. "Well it works in reverse, they're pulling us back!"

"Can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a hoofbreak? Or, could you reverse the warp drive or something?"

"Backseat driver," the Time-Pony muttered. "Wait! The Extrapolator!" He reached under the console, pulling out a mini surfboard like thing with flashing lights wired in the controls, "Won't stop it but should give us a good bump!"

"The bride shall rejoin her groom, hiss, and what a wedding there shall be!" cried the Empress, lacing the last web strings around Lance as he was raised towards the web on the roof. The Tardis was starting to materialize across the pit, the Empress hissed gleefully.

"Now!" cried the Doctor, bringing a mallet down hard on the Extrapolator. It lit bright and buzzed, the Tardis vanished again, reappearing the the Torchwood tunnel a ways away.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said as they galloped back out, "Only landed two hundred yards to the left, not far at all."

"But what're we supposed to do now?" asked Noble, galloping out of the Tardis after him.

"I don't know, I'm making it up as we go, but trust me I've got a history," the Doctor said in a rush galloping up to a door.

"But I still don't understand, why am I all full of particles?" He glanced at her, pulling a stethoscope from his pocket, "There's a Racnoss web at the center of the planet, but my people unraveled there energy source, they got stuck." He put on the medical device and pressed he little disc to the door, listening, "So they've just been hibernating for billions of years, until you come along! Brand new living energy!" As his back was turned, a robot snuck up from behind, grabbed Noble Flame, making sure to keep a hoof over her mouth, and dragged her away. "They need you to wake back up and you have never been so quiet."

The Doctor spun around to see, nothing. He groaned, quickly pocketing the stethoscope and pulling out the sonic. He buzzed it on the door, the lock groaned and unlocked. With both hooves, he heaved the door open, only to be met with a robot and a crossbow.

Noble glared at her almost husband, "I hate you."

"I think we've gone a bit beyond that now sweetheart," Lance replied. Both of them were wrapped in the web, hanging by sticky threads over a pit to the center of the planet. Below, the Empress was cackling, "My golden couple! Hiss, united at last in your awful wedded life! Do you want to be released?"

"Yes!" both ponies cried angrily.

"You're supposed to say, 'I do'!"

"Not a chance," snapped Lance.

"Say it!" roared the Empress. Lance and Noble looked at each other, both equally angry.

"I do," Noble said begrudgingly.

"I do," Lamce repeated stiffly.

"I, don't," the Racnoss replied, laughing again like it was some sort of game. "Activate the particles! Purge every last one!" Her prisoners began to glow gold again, to Noble it felt the same as when she was dragged into the Tardis! Hot, almost burning. "And release!"

Zap! The particles flew out of them in a wave, gold streaks flying down into the pit. When they went out of sight, something in the hole flashed a bright white. Shrieks and hisses could be faintly heard from within, the Racnoss had awoken.

"The heart unlocks!" the Empress crowed, "and they will, his, waken from the Sleep of Ages!"

"Who will? What's down there?" asked Noble Flame, panicking.

"How thick are you?" asked Lance.

"My children," the Empress hissed, "the long lost Racnoss, now reborn to feast on flesh. The web star will come to me. But, hiss, my babies will be hungry. They need sustanence, perish the web!" The webs bit holding Lance in began to snap, "No no no! Please! Use her not me! Not me!"

"Oh my funny little Lancelot, hiss, but you were quite rude to your lady friend, the Empress, hiss, does not approve!" The web snapped, Lance went falling towards the hole. He tried to open his wings and fly out, but they were stuck down with string and he only fell. Noble watched, disgusted and terrified.

Outside, over Hoofdon as Hearth's Warming Eve night went on with shoppers and partygoers, a massive star made of web descended from the sky. Many ponies stopped what they were doing and stared at it. Somepony cried, "It's Hearth's Warming! This might be a star of friendship!" Other began to cheer, clapping their hooves at the marvelous display.

Until beams of electricity came shooting out of the points into the city. They destroyed anything in their path, and ponies began to panic because of it. No pony tried to stop it, Pegasi were flying away in all directions, not daring to stop it.

"Purge the planet!" ordered the Empress. "Reduce them all to meat! Hiss, my children are climbing towards the surface and nothing will stop them!" She spun round, looking at a robot that had been climbing the stairwell behind. "So you might as well unmask my little doctor pony." The Doctor lifted up his robot mask to look at the Empress, "Oh well, nice try."

He threw off the mask and cloak, whipping out the sonic screwdriver. He raised it towards the web, "I've got you Noble!" The threads of her own bit of web began to come loose, except for one rope like strand wrapped around her hooves.

"But I'll fall!" she cried, "I can't fly!"

"You're going to swing!" The Doctor cried back as the last bit of web came loose. Noble screamed as she began to fall towards the pit, but the web strand caught her, swinging her towards the Doctor. But it missed, the thread was too long. It missed the stair landing he was on and crashed her on the bottom level. She landed hard on her back with a clang, the Doctor looked down at her, "Oh, sorry." She glared up at him, "Thanks, for nothing Spacecolt."

"This doctor pony amuses me," the Racnoss Empress hissed.

"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance," he said, voice turning serious. "I can find you a planet, a place in the universe where you can co-exist. Take that offer and end this now." She merely laughed, "These stallions are so funny."

"What say you?" asked the Time-Pony.

"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline," the Empress said with a hiss.

"Then what happens next is your own doing."

"Hiss! I'll show you what happens next!" cried the Racnoss. "At arms!" The robots turned their crossbows towards the Doctor, "Take aim! And-"

"Relax," the Doctor said cooly. The robots slumped, dropping their weapons.

"What did you do?" called Noble.

"Guess what I've got Noble Flame," the Doctor said, pulling a controller out of suit pocket, "I've got pockets."

"How'd that fit in there?" she asked, astonished.

"Oh, they're bigger on the inside," he said nonchalantly.

"Roboforms are not necessary," hiss the Empress. "My children can feast on Lunar flesh."

"I'm not from the moon though," the Doctor replied.

"Then, hiss, where?" asked the spider, confused.

"My home planet is far away and long since lost, but it's name lives on," his tone had changed to serious again. "Gallopfrey." The Racnoss Empress roared angrily, thrashing her mandibles and hissing, "They murdered the Racnoss!"

"I warned you," the Doctor said quietly, "you did this." He pulled a red Christmas ornament out of his pocket and tossed it into the air, then another, and another, until nine explosive ornaments were primed to blow.

"No don't! Don't!" cried the Empress desperately. The Doctor didn't listen, with the remote control in his hooves, he flew the red baubles through the facility. Crashing them into the walls where they were closest to the river above. As they exploded floods of water came pouring in, floods of it rushing towards the pit. As more of them exploded, the whole facility began to break. The covered pipes began to bust from the pressure, cracks appeared in the ceiling, water began dripping down all them. Flames began to burst out of the machines, it was utter chaos.

The Empress screamed as water flooded the hole, drowning her children. The Doctor just watched on, maneuvering the bombs almost mechanically. Noble Flame looked up at him, "Doctor!" He looked away from the Empress, down to the soaking wet pegasus on the ground. "You can stop now!" The Doctor seemed to wake up with water dripping into his eyes, he looked up at the Empress who was crying for her fallen children in the flood.

He dropped the controller, it sparked in the puddle forming on the landing, "Come on! Time I got you out of here!" Soaked to the skin, Noble began running up the stair case, the Doctor began running down. Together they heaved a massive metal beam off the stairs, turned, and began climbing towards the surface.

"Transport me!" cried the Empress. She vanished in a flash of blue light.

Up and up the duo climbed, until they reached a ladder. Noble flew up it, the Doctor following.

"But what about the Empress?" asked Noble as they climbed. "Won't she get away?"

"She's used up all her Huon energy, she's defenseless!" the Doctor replied, climbing. Noble undid the hatch on top and climbed out. It was smooth concrete, slick under her wet hooves. The Doctor climbed out beside her, keeping a hoof around her shoulders for balance. They looked out over the city, spotting the giant web ship just across the river from them. A group of unicorn soldiers had gathered underneath it in the city.

"Order from Mister Clockwise, fire at will!" called their commander. Thirty six beams of super hot magic blasted towards the ship, making it burst apart into webby bits that fell onto the city. Noble and the Doctor looked at each other, and started laughing. After all the crazy stuff that had happened, they deserved another laugh.

"Just one problem though," Noble said.

"What's that?" asked the Doctor.

"We drained the Thames." They were standing on a flood barrier in an empty river, where boats were stranded like over turned turtles. Which only made them laugh harder.

Slowly, the Tardis materialized in front of one of the houses in the neighborhood. The door opened and Noble Flame stepped out, still wet, in a torn wedding dress, looking like she had been through a river rapid. The Doctor stood in the doorway of his ship, smiling.

"There we go, told you she'd be alright," he said, gesturing to his ship. "Can survive anything."

"That's more than I've done," Noble said simply. The Doctor pulled out his sonic, scanning her once more for Huon. "No, all the Huon particles have been removed. No damage, you're fine."

"Yeah, apart from that, I missed my wedding, lost my job, and became a widow all in the same day," she said. "Sort of."

"I couldn't save him."

"He deserved it... No he didn't." Noble looked back at her house, where she could see her mum and dad embracing each other in the living room, probably heart broken. "Better get inside, they'll be worried."

"Best Hearth's Warming gift yet," the Time-Pony remarked, "oh wait, I forgot, you hate it."

"Yes, I do."

"Even if it snows?" He reached inside the Tardis, flipping a switch inside the door. A yellow blast flew into the sky, creating an instant shower of snow. Nobel gasped, then laughed happily, "I can't believe you did that!"

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation," the Doctor remarked nonchalantly.

"Happy Hearth's Warming," Noble said with a smile.

"And you," he replied. "So, what're you going to do now?"

"Well, not get married for a starter, but I'm not going to temp any more either. I don't know, travel maybe? See some of Griffinalia, maybe visit Zebria, just go out and do something."

"Well, you could..."

"What?"

"You could come with me," the Doctor offered.

"No," Noble replied sadly, "I couldn't."

"Okay."

"I just couldn't."

"No that's fine."

"But everything we did today, do you always live your life like that?"

"Not always."

"I think you do. And I wouldn't be able to."

"But you've seen it out there," the Doctor reminded her. "It's beautiful."

"And it's terrible," Noble countered. "That place was flooding, and they were dying, and you just stood there. Like, I don't know, a stranger. And then you made it snow! I mean you scare me to death!" The Doctor looked at her, "Right..." She looked back at her house, then at him, "Tell you what though, holiday dinner, come onDoctor."

"I don't do that sort of thing."

"You did it last year. You said so! And might as well, mum always cooks enough for twenty." The Doctor thought about it for a moment, "Alright, better warn them though, and don't say I'm from the moon. I just have to, park her properly, she might drift off to the Chaos Ages without me. I'll be right back." He turned and trotted into the Tardis, shutting the door behind. Noble heard the engines start, she gasped. "Doctor! DOCTOR!" It stopped.

"Blimey you can shout," he remarked, opening the doors again.

"Am I ever going to see you again?" Noble asked.

"If I'm lucky."

"Right, just promise me one thing, find somepony."

"I don't need anypony," the Doctor replied.

"Yeah, you do. Because I think sometimes you need somepony to stop you."

"Okay, thanks then Noble Flame. And," he smiled, "Just be magnificent."

"I think I will." He started to go back inside, "Doctor!"

"Oh what now?" the Time-Pony asked.

"You're friend, what was her name?" He hesitated, wondering wether he should reply, and when he did, his voice was fragile.

"Her name was Roseluck." The Doctor smiled sadly and went inside the Tardis. Noble waved as the. Tardis began to dematerialize, then shot into the sky like a real rocket.

Goodbye Spacecolt, until we meet again, Noble thought, turning, and awing towards her house.

To be continued in, Turner and Gale...

Me: so our story begins. Welcome back loyal friends and new readers to season three!

Me: this time the cover art was arranged by me but designed by Lissy-Strata. Doctor Who is owned by the BBC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro. Let our adventure begin again.

10: Allons-y!