The Doctor opened his eyes with a smile. That smile quickly turned upside down when he saw his family being held captive by an angry mob that looked.....well, angry. His brow darkened as he pulled his screwdriver out and put their torches out. He called to the group as he pushed through the crowd to the TARDIS that mysteriously appeared. The Doctor didn't argue with his good fortune, though. As soon as the door opened the TARDIS crew fell into it. The Doctor locked the doors behind them, then rushed to the console.

"Okay," Ditzy said flapping her wings. "What was that?"

"You know how I said a witch trial happened? Well, we're in the middle of it. Probably best if we found a different time." The Doctor said pulling a switch on the controls. The TARDIS made it's infamous sound, but then the ship lurched and groaned. Machines scratched and scrapped against one another. The cloister bell rung. The Doctor quickly shut the controls off. A crash sent the crew to their bellies.

The Doctor coughed getting back to his hooves.
"Well, we landed." he said checking the monitor.
"Unfortunately, we're in the same time. Just back where the TARDIS first landed."

"How did it get in out room?" Sparkler asked.

"No idea," The Doctor replied quickly. "Whatever it is, it's not letting us leave either. As though it wants us to stay. Why?"

The sound of angry hooves were pounding on the door outside. It was the sound of the towns ponies shouting at the box. Inside the switches moved on their own, the ship rocked and roared to life. The next thing the Doctor knew he was in the pile of hay again. The mob standing angrily over him. He leapt up and quickly surveyed the room. There the TARDIS stood, just had it been a moment ago. Everything stopped to the Doctor except his mind. There his family was. Scared and captured. The Doctor thought for what seemed like hours, but was a mere moment in reality. He formed a hypothesis. He took his screwdriver out again and cut the fire from the torches, then pushed his family into the blue box. He rushed to the console.

"Okay," Ditzy groaned, flapping her wings. "What was that?"

"We're in danger." the Doctor responded looking over the console, deciding on which switch to pull. He shoved a lever up, and the ship lurched and groaned, as though it was having hard time moving. The Doctor dashed to the door, and put his head against it. Outside he heard the mob approaching.

"Sparkler, read to me the time." He ordered.

"12:30 AM, daddy." the teen filly said from the console's monitor.

"An hour after we went to sleep, but five minutes from where we left. A loop. A time loop." he mumbled.

The mob pounded on the door sending the Doctor flat on his back. Dinky helped him up.

"Thank you dear."

A metallic thunk sounded. The ship roared to life. The Doctor looked at Sparkler with wide eyes.

"It did it on it's own, daddy." Sparkler said shrugging.

Before the brown stallion got another word out he found himself back in bed. Angry towns ponies all around him. He sat up this time. The TARDIS in the room, the family scared.

"What's going on?" the Doctor said, his brow in anger, his tone cold.

"Why did that shed fly from it's place in the woods to your bed, stranger?"
A stallion asked.

"I assure you I do not know."

"Who are you?" Another townie asked.

The Doctor waved his psychic paper in front of them.
"A traveling minister taking care of the king's nieces, and accompanied by my servant."

"The paper turned blank!" An old voice cried in the crowd.

In shock, the Doctor gazed at the gadget. The white sheet on the blue leather was indeed blank. It wasn't working. He pushed back the temptation to fix it with his Sonic. If this lot thought there was witchcraft, then a magic wand would certainly condemn him. The crowd drew closer to him inquiring him further. Asking him his true purpose, and why he was in town.

"I'm a traveller, I said!"

"What are you called?"
"I saw a word on his bewitched paper. It said Doctor."
"Doctor? That's what the foal cried."
The ponies chattered among themselves.

"He's good with children!" Ditzy shouted above them.

Eyes turned from each other to her.
"Silence, slave!" they said. Then they turned to the Doctor.

"You be a Doctor?" A stallion asked, kinder than the rest.

"Yes, and I'll gladly help her." he said, a smile cracking through.
He approached the kinder gentlecolt. 

"What's your name?"

"Pitchfork, sir." the old stallion said.

The Doctor gave him a smile.
"Well, Pitchfork. Let me see this child."

The stallion smiled back.
"Certainly, sir. This way."

I love gaining a friend. the Doctor thought.

---------------------------------------------


Back at the house the little filly was still squirming on the floor. The Doctor observed her. His companions flanking him. Dinky looked in horror from the filly to her father.
"What's wrong with her, dad?" she whispered. The other members of the town were there, and if he blew the cover of minister by acknowledging the unicorns as his children, they'll think him a witch. That's how it worked.

"Well,  she seems to be expressing the outrageous behavior fillies did in this time. That's how the trials went. They would react as though an evil spirit possessed them, and they would point out a land-wealthy person,or some poor person because they didn't like him, and the court took it as evidence, and hanged the poor ponies." The Doctor explained. "But she seems to be in genuine shock. She's either a really good actor-"

"Actress." Dinky corrected.

"Actress," he stated with a soft chuckle."or something is wrong."

He turned his head to the crowd at the door.
"I'm going to have to ask you all to step back. I need to examine the child in isolation, so that I may have easier access with the spirits."

The crowd did as they were told. The Doctor looked at his crew and nodded his head. "Go on." he said.

The mares took the message, and left the room. Once alone the Doctor approached the possessed foal. Her eyes were closed, but her body shivered.
He brushed a hoof over hers, and her eyes snapped open. Where once was your expected pastel color and pupil, the eyes were a full blank yellow. The Doctor felt his hearts skip a beat.

"Shhh." he said stroking the hoof. Her eyes closed again. Finally the Doctor removed his screwdriver and ran it across her body, the device emitting it's usual buzzing sound. Once he got a reading he removed his hoof from the filly, and snapped the device open to get the reading. He closed it and looked at her.

"What is inside you, lass?"

The filly's eyes snapped open once again, and an ungodly wail rang from her mouth. The Sonic began buzzing. The door opened, and the crowd gasped. Sparkler gasped too.
"What's going on?"
Dinky and Ditzy rolled their eyes. Sparkler tried not to laugh when her mother rolled her eyes.

"He be a witch! He cast an evil spell to hurt the child!"

"The shed! His evil shed! Where his evil powers are stored!"

"Burn the shed!"

"Hang the witch!"

The Doctor groaned as the mob rushed him, and chained his hooves together.
The other half of the mob took the mares and shoved them outside. The Doctor heard the frightened scream of his girls. When he heard this he began shouting protests.

"No! Take me, fine! But spare my companions!"

The crowd ignored him as events took place. As soon as the stallion was hauled off the filly miraculously was healed. She blinked in confusion.

Outside the mob had hauled the box from the inn. They beat it with their pitchforks, and bucking it with their hooves. All the while Pitchfork was watching at the savagery of his town's hysteria. He huffed. He didn't want this to happen anymore, and went in search of the Doctor.

Ditzy, Dinky, and Sparkler watched in horror as the towns ponies set a torch to the TARDIS doused in kerosene. The wet blue became engulfed in red flames. The waves of heat glided across the blue box. Sparkler had tears running down her face. Ditzy held her daughter, and stroked her mane. Just as Sparkler was getting better, Ditzy felt a sharp tug on her wing. Before anypony knew it the children were torn from their mother. The rest of the mob strode off with their victory. A witch, his powers, and his slave. The fillies cried and wailed as they lost their family. All they could do was cry. Cry in front of their burning blue box.