The Planet of the Plot Bunnies

Sarah Jane smiled as she walked into the attic with a tray of tea in her hands. Clyde was sat at his little desk, working on his comic, while Rani was helping Sky with her homework, with Mr Smith's help.

Even after five years, she wasn't used to the sound of laughter in her home. Though right now it was interspersed with the sounds of frustration coming from Clyde's corner of the attic.

"Everything alright, Clyde?" asked Sarah Jane, as she placed the tray on the coffee table. She frowned as she watched him scrunch up the piece of paper he had been working on and throw it into the bin next to him, which was already overflowing with scrunched up pieces of paper. "I'm going to guess everything's not alright. Artist block?"

"It's been weeks since our last alien invasion," said Clyde, sighing as he looked at Sarah Jane. "I've used up all of our adventures." He stood up, before looking at Mr Smith. "Mr Smith, is there anything going on in the Ealing Triangle?"

"Don't answer that, Mr Smith," said Rani, shaking her head. Before looking at Clyde. "You're telling me that you can't think of anything original for your comic?"

"Now, now," said Sarah Jane, with a small smile. "I remember this one time when I had writer's block while travelling with the Doctor. I had a deadline for an article coming up and the words just weren't coming…"

The young journalist sighed as she sat at the table in the TARDIS gardens, a pad of paper in front of her and a pen in hand. Sarah Jane had been there for an hour trying to write this article and the words weren't coming.

"There you are, Sarah!" said the Doctor, as he strode out of the doors. "I was looking for you."

"Just getting some work done," said Sarah Jane, with a small smile. "Well, trying to get some work done. I think I have writer's block."

The Doctor's almost permanent grin faded for a moment, before it returned and he said "Well, I know just the place to go to cure it."

Sarah Jane looked at the Time Lord warily but stood up and followed him through the doors.

Five minutes later, Sarah Jane was watching as the Doctor inputted coordinates into the wooden TARDIS console. She couldn't help but wonder where the Doctor was taking her. Was it to visit one of his writer friends who could impart some wisdom to her about writer's block? Or was it just going to be somewhere to take her mind off writing for a while? He had been promising to take her to Florana for a while, and that planet sounded like it would be relaxing. The suspense was killing her. "Where are we going Doctor?"

The Doctor just grinned that grin of his at her and said "The planet of the plot bunnies!"

"Hold up," said Clyde, looking at Sarah Jane as they sat around the red couch in the attic, cups of tea in hand. "Plot bunnies are a real thing?"

"Well, as the Doctor explained to me, they don't give you ideas," said Sarah Jane, looking at him with a smile. "They target the part of your brain that's blocking your artistic side and nibble away at it. I don't claim to understand how, but it worked. As soon as we got back to the TARDIS after this I got that article written in record time."

"That can't be the whole story though," said Rani, looking at the journalist. "Nothing is ever that simple in the stories you tell from your time with the Doctor."

Sarah Jane chuckled, before saying "You're right, it wasn't that simple. As soon as we arrived on the planet, the Doctor was going on about how he brought his friend Will there when he was having trouble writing Romeo and Juliet and didn't notice how the field was empty."

Sarah Jane frowned as she surveyed the field in front of her, that was completely devoid of the 'plot bunnies' she had been promised. "Doctor, I thought you said there would be rabbits here."

"What do you mean? Of course there are rabbits here," said the Doctor, looking at his friend before noticing that she was staring out at the field. He turned and his grin dropped again. "They should be swarming us, you're a very tasty treat right now."

"Well, I don't see anything," said Sarah Jane, shaking her head. "You did put the right coordinates in, right?"

"Of course I put the right coordinates in," said the Doctor, indignantly. "This is definitely the planet of the plot bunnies."

As he said that, a burrow opened nearby and a small black and white rabbit hopped out of it, sniffing the ground. Before hopping over to Sarah Jane.

"This is just a rabbit, Doctor," said Sarah Jane, as she knelt down to pick up the rabbit. "Are you sure you didn't just bring me to a field in the English countryside?"

The Doctor went to retort when they both heard a loud PEW PEW from the nearest hilltop. Spooking the rabbit and causing it to jump out of Sarah Jane's hands and burrow back into its burrow.

Rani frowned before saying "Wait, somebody was hunting on that planet?"

"Sort of, yes, completely illegally," said Sarah Jane, with a frown. "The plot bunnies are protected by the Shadow Proclamation, and trafficking them without a license is illegal, which is what was happening on the planet." She sipped her tea before saying "So anyway, the man who fired the gun ended up capturing both me and the Doctor and taking us back to his ship..."

The two time travellers found themselves tied up in the cargo bay of the hunter's spaceship with lots of cages filled with rabbits. The Doctor was currently fidgeting in the ropes, rubbing them against a sharp piece of metal on the wall to weaken them.

It took him a few minutes but he soon had them off and made his way over to the computer terminal, pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver.

Sarah Jane frowned before saying "Doctor? What's going on?"

"This man is trafficking plot bunnies off world," said the Doctor, as tapped away at the terminal. "Which is highly illegal and would get him into a lot of trouble with the Shadow Proclamation and their mercenary police force."

"So you're contacting them," said Sarah Jane, with a small smile. "And then you're going to get me out of this, right?"

The Doctor grinned at her before saying "Of course."

Half an hour later, the Doctor and Sarah Jane were standing outside the TARDIS again, watching a cylindrical black spaceship land on the horizon.

"The Judoon will deal with the fallout," said the Doctor, grinning as he put one hand on the TARDIS doors. "I'm sure the hunter will get his just desserts."

Sarah Jane nodded, before noticing that the black and white rabbit had returned, and was nuzzling against her leg.

"Somebody's taken a liking to you, Sarah," said the Doctor, with a sly grin. "I think he wants to come with us."

"I thought taking these guys off planet was illegal," said Sarah Jane, raising an eyebrow, as she picked up the rabbit.

"Only if you don't have a license," said the Doctor, tapping his nose. "And as it happens, I have a plot bunny license." He opened the door to the TARDIS and stepped inside. "Now let's get inside before anybody asks to see the license."

Sarah Jane shook her head, before walking inside with the rabbit in her arms.

"Wait, that rabbit in the pictures downstairs is a plot bunny?!" asked Rani, gasping. The tea was all gone now and Sky had wandered off while Clyde and Rani were still listening to the story. "What happened to them?"

"Benton passed away a few months before I met the Doctor again," said Sarah Jane, with a small frown. "He was a good rabbit, ate most of my writer's block."

"I wish he was still around right now," said Clyde, sighing. "Though I might borrow that story, if you don't mind. I can see it now…" He made a motion with his hands as he said "The Silver Bullet versus the Hunter of Intergalactic Plot Bunnies!"

Rani pushed him gently, before saying "Clyde!"

Sarah Jane chuckled before saying "It's fine, Clyde. If it helps you get past the block, I'm all for it."

"Thanks Sarah Jane," said Clyde, standing up and walking back to his corner.

Rani shook her head, before standing up as well, gathering up the empty cups and putting them on the tray. "I'll take these down and go find Sky, she still needs to finish her maths homework."

"Thanks for helping her with that, it's changed a lot since my day," said Sarah Jane, with a small smile. Before saying "And don't you say anything, Clyde Langer."

"I wasn't going to!" came Clyde's voice, from round the corner.

"Yeah right," said Rani, shaking her head. Before heading for the door.

Sarah Jane smiled to herself as she sat on the sofa. If somebody had told her five years ago that she would telling the story about the time she had saved the plot bunnies from a hunter to her son's friends, she would have laughed. But now, now she was thankful for the universe bringing the group together. She could finally tell somebody the unedited versions of the adventures she had had with the Doctor.

This was the result of a Sprinto dare and man, it was really fun to write. I also wish my version of a plot bunny was real, I could use one every now and again.