An Apple a Day... (short story)

An Apple a Day... was a short story printed in Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand. It was written by George Mann.

Summary
As harvest time nears on Trenzalore, Pieter comes across a plant in his apple orchard that attacks him. He blacks out and wakes up craving meat.

In the town of Christmas Theol tells the Doctor he's seen the "Green Man," come to bless their harvest. The Doctor is sceptical, but they journey into the forest and come across an inert Krynoid pod. Knowing there's another pod, they visit the orchard and are attacked by the apple trees.

They eventually find the Krynoid, formerly the man known as Pieter, feeding on cows in the farmhouse and lure it towards the clock tower in town. The Doctor gets the villagers to throw snowballs and water at the Krynoid, slowing it down until it freezes, with the Doctor ringing the tower bell to shatter it.

The remains of the Krynoid are used as a funeral pyre for Pieter and to celebrate the harvest, with the other pod being thrown onto the fire so it can never attack anyone again. The Doctor is given a walking stick made from pieces of the Krynoid so that he has something to remember Pieter by.

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Theol Willoughby
 * Pieter
 * The Krynoid
 * Jerl Tompkinson
 * Jemina Peace
 * Handles
 * Fral Henderon

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor claims he's 1500, give or take a few hundred years.
 * The Doctor tells Handles that he used to know a dog who had the same conversational skills.
 * Krynoid pods are roughly the size of Handle's Cyberman head.
 * The Krynoid intends to "colonise" Trenzalore, the Doctor saying "someone" sent them.
 * Theol sees the crack inside the clock tower.

Continuity

 * The Doctor has shared stories with the villagers of the Krotons (TV: The Krotons) and the Nimon. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
 * The Doctor has lost a leg. (PROSE: The Dreaming)
 * The Doctor says that a Martian impacting in the snow would make a much larger crater than a Krynoid. (PROSE: Let it Snow)
 * Theol carves a walking stick for the Doctor to use. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)