To The Past!
Golden Note sighed as she walked along the roads of Canterlot during the night, passing by the new doughnut shop, Doughnut Joe's. She had, as her name suggested, a golden coat with a blonde mane, a treble cleft made up her cutie mark.
“Where is he?” She muttered to herself as she scanned the almost empty streets. “He's never late...”
As she looked to her left, she noticed a stallion approaching her. He had a royal Canterlot armour on over his brown coat and wings, his piecing red eyes looked at her in a gentle nature as he approached her. “Iron Shield!” She exclaimed, happily.
“Sorry I'm late!” He replied, nuzzling her affectionately. “We've got a new prince and princess in the castle today, and I was held back a little longer to protect them.”
“Oh it's fine, you're here now...” She said as the two entered the shop, not noticing a slight whooshing sound as a blue box materialised in the alley way.
The door on the side opened and a brown head emerged, colliding with the wall in front of the door. “Ow!” He shook his head, before looking back at his companions sheepishly as he approached the console. “Whoops, exit's blocked by a wall!”
“Um...You do know how to park, right?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrow. The Doctor turned a couple of dials.
“Yup! Just need to twirl it aroun...NOT THAT MUCH!!” He yelled as the whole room spun and the mass of ponies suddenly flew through the air, except him as he grabbed the level he pulled and pushed it back to it's regular position.
As the machine stopped, all the ponies crashed into several heaps. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had landed on top of Spike, Rainbow managed to stay airborne and caught Scootaloo before she joined the 'Cutie Mark Dog-pile', Ditzy held her daughter close and landed on top of Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy had both landed on Applejack and Pinkie had landed on Big Macintosh. “Sorry, is everyone okay?”
“Yup! It's a good thing I landed on this nice soft Macintosh!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing right off of the red pony, righting herself giggling. “Let's do that again!”
The others picked themselves up as well, ignoring Pinkie's outburst, with a few apologies and thanks here and there. “Alrighty, we should be able to get out now!”
“Ah don' like tha sound o' that 'should'.” Applejack muttered to herself as he opened the door to the alley way.
“Ah! Much better!” The Doctor said to himself, moving out of the way so the others can leave.
“Um...Doctor. Not that I'm ungrateful for the trip or anything...But we've been to Canterlot before.” Rarity mentioned, noticing the familiar buildings that surrounded the area.
“Yes you very well may have before, but this is Canterlot at the date of...Uh...” The brown stallion looked around confused until he spotted a yellow Pegasus stallion with a red mane and a cutie mark of a bird, trying to get down the street un-noticed.
“Ah! My good stallion, do you happen to know what the date is?” The Doctor exclaimed, causing the stallion to jump and hide in his hooves with an audible 'eep'.
“Uh...Uh...Uh...978 ABNM...” The Doctor looked a bit confused but the others all looked surprised.
“What's ABNM?” He asked the butter yellow stallion who was seen trying to step away, politely.
“Oh...um...It's After Luna Became Nightmare Moon.”
“Ah thank you, see you around!”
“Y-yes sure...” He muttered back before rushing off. The Doctor looked back at their surprised faces, not noticing that Fluttershy was looking on after the stallion with an astonished look.
“So I'm guessing by your faces that we have made it into the past?”
“Eeyup...” Big Mac replied, before Rainbow took over.
“By like thirty years!” The Doctor put on a confused look himself.
“I thought I set the TARDIS to go back three hundred years.” He muttered to himself before remembering. “Oh right, got to get use to these hooves...”
“Um...Flutters, are ya okay?” Applejack nudged her, before she looked back at them.
“That was my dad!” The others looked a bit surprised, but Rainbow clopped a hoof.
“I thought he seemed familiar! But I thought he lived in Cloudsdale?”
“He does, but he comes here once a month to check the bird's migration patterns.”
“Wow...This is when Doughnut Joe's first opened!” Spike exclaimed, looking at the building they were next to in wonder, before Applebloom knocked him in the ribs.
“Trust ya ta think about ya stomach.” And then, as if on queue, her own stomach grumbled in synch with his. The two grinned sheepishly, before turning to see if the others were ready to move.
They weren't, so the two took the initiative and slipped into Doughnut Joe's un-noticed.
“So is there anything we can do here that we couldn't already?” Ditzy asked, having never been to Canterlot before. She was a full-time mom and mailmare, thus had never had the opportunity for a vacation.
“Don't ask me. I'm as new to this area as they get.” The Doctor replied, sheepishly.
“Oh! There's a flower shop with some of the most beautiful looking lilies near the castle before they shut down. I never got the chance to actually buy any before!” Twilight said, already knowing the route by heart. Canterlot was her home city after all.
“Well guess that's our first destination then! Let's go...” Suddenly his stomach started to grumble and he blushed in embarrassment. “Ah...Well maybe after some breakfast?”
“I think you mean dinner!” Pinkie exclaimed, pointing at the clock shop on the opposite side of the street with several in the window indicating that it was half eight in the evening.
“Um...Where's Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle asked, having noticed her fellow Crusader's absence.
“And Spike!” Twilight exclaimed, having finally noticed that her assistant was also gone.
“What? Ah though' Ah told 'er ta stay close!” Big Macintosh rose an eyebrow at his sister.
“Um...No ya didn'.” Applejack flushed a bit in embarrassment before stomping her hoof.
“W-well she shoul' know better than ta run off on 'er own!”
“But Spike's probably with her. So she's technically not alone.” Ditzy pointed out, confused.
“Ah...Well...Ah give up, let's jus' find tha trouble...” A slight ringing sounded and the two 'missing' group members approached with a box of doughnuts on the filly's head, Spike munching on one already.
“Ah still say ya shoulda waited before piggin' out on one.” Applebloom complained to the dragon, who shrugged as he threw the rest of the doughnut into his mouth, pointing out the small amount of sugar dust around her lips.
“Hey, you ate one too.” He countered before noticing the group in front of them. “You guys hungry?” He asked, opening the box on her back as she rubbed the offending substance off her face.
“Sweet!” Rainbow cheered, grabbing one before anyone could respond. Applejack looked at Applebloom, sternly.
“Ya shoulda told one o' us y'all were goin' off ta buy food.” Applebloom looked down, a little guilty, before Spike interrupted.
“Sorry Applejack, it was my idea. I just needed help carrying the box out of the shop and we didn't want to interrupt you.”
“Well...Ah guess Ah can let ya off this once...jus' let one o' us know nex' time ya feel like explorin'.”
“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh agreed, politely turning down the doughnut offered. “Nah thanks, Ah'm not much o' a sweet tooth Miss Pinkie.”
“Aww, c'mon Mackie...You know you want too~.” Pinkie sung, still holding the doughnut out. He stood there, looking at her before shrugging and taking the treat, stuffing it into his mouth when he got it.
After their impromptu lunch, the group made their way towards the Canterlot castle, Twilight with a bunch of purple lilies in her saddlebags, Fluttershy with a bunch of blue ones. “Ah still don' git why a florist's woul' be open at nine in tha evenin'.” Applejack stated.
“Well the regulation of businesses act was first introduced in 985 ABNM, which state specific times in which certain businesses were allowed to operate, thus during this time it was a business's choice when they should open or not.” Twilight explained.
“Fascinating...” The Doctor replied, not noticing everyone else looking very bored after that. Applebloom rose an eyebrow.
“Does tha' mean tha' Sweet Apple Acres woulda been able ta sell apples at midnigh'?”
“Well yes, I suppose you would...But I can't imagine who'd want an apple at midnight.” Twilight answered.
“You actually followed all of that?” Scootaloo asked, raising her own eyebrow at her fellow Crusader.
“It weren' THA' confusin', Scoots.” She replied, noticing a certain dragon starting to fall behind. She quickly galloped over to him and asked in concern. “Y'all okay there, Spike?”
He grumbled, grabbing his stomach and falling to his knees, the others moving forward unaware. “I think I had too many doughnuts...” Applebloom sighed, nudging him in the ribs.
“Ah told ya y'all woul' git a belly ache if'n ya ate too much.” She replied, noticing him groan as the pressure was applied to his ribs. “Can ya walk?”
“Not without falling over again...” Applebloom sighed, noticing that they were falling way behind the group. She did not want to be in trouble just because Spike was greedy.
“'ere, hop on an' Ah'll carry ya.” She said, crouching in front of him.
“Are you...urg okay...” He replied, sprawling himself over her back, adjusting himself to a more comfortable position.
Applebloom stood up, and easily started to make her way back to the bigger group. “Y'all need ta burn off some o' tha' fat, Spike.” She commented, teasingly. He chuckled lightly before it settled down and she heard a light snore in it's wake.
Applebloom sighed and smiled wistfully, a faint red tint to her cheeks. “He's jus' plain adorable sometimes...”
The group ahead were just looking around, taking in the sights until they noticed something peculiar.
Ahead of them they noticed a young mare with a green coat ducking into an alley, presumably trying to get somewhere in a hurry, but she was being tailed by two brown stallions as well. “Um...Do ya think we shoul' intervene?” Applejack asked, having noticed a slight smirk upon one of the stallion's muzzles.
“Well I don't know...We don't know what their intentions are as of yet, dear...” Then they head a scream from the alleys that sent a chill up most their bones, however the braver souls immediately jumped to help.
Rainbow, Big Mac and Applejack entered the alleyway to notice that the green mare was now surrounded by four stallions, two white and two brown. “Hey!” The four offenders blink and turned, surprised to see three newcomers. “You better not be going to do what I think you're going to do!” Rainbow continued, flying up ready.
“Cause, unless ya jus' walk away, bad thin's are gonna happen...” Applejack continued.
“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh finished, crouching down into a more ready, combat stance. The four sneered at them, before smirking.
“Well...I assure you we weren't going to violate this mare...” The first one said, before his eyes turned into a pure black sphere. After that, the others following his lead, they began to morph into something else.
In place of the four ponies stood four bat like, bipedal creatures, their two front arms had claws that extended a couple of inches and their maws widened to about the size of a normal ponies head, their skin a strange pinkish colour.
“We were just going to consume her!” Another hissed, before they rushed forward to meet the two siblings and Rainbow.
Rainbow took straight to the air, causing one to break from the group to chase after her. Applejack nodded to Big Mac and she bucked a loose brick towards the remaining three, who ducked out of the way, so Mac could rush through and stand in front of the mare, who was now cowering on her haunches, regretting ever coming into the alleys.
Two of the creatures saw this and moved back to engage the red work horse.
Rainbow flew back to the group who were just about to get their bearings straight. “Guys!” She called, suddenly jutting left as the creature tried to tackle her in mid air. “Little help!”
“What, pray tell, is that thing?!” Rarity asked, pointing out the bat like monster. The Doctor gritted his teeth as he recognised them.
“Krillitanes!” He vented as he looked around himself for something to use. “Don't get to close, Rainbow! If it catches you, it'll eat you!”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence!” She called back, spiralling to try and shake the creature off of her, disappearing through the clouds.
“The other one must have been a Krillitane too, c'mon Big Macintosh and Applejack will need our help!” The Doctor exclaimed, turning to Ditzy and Fluttershy. “Do you think you can fly up and help Rainbow?”
“Of course!” Fluttershy responded, unable to just let her oldest friend from flight camp to be fighting that thing alone and soon, her and Ditzy zoomed upwards.
“Sweetie Belle, you stay here with Scootaloo, Dinky, Applebloom and Spike, you hear me?” Rarity asked, to which Sweetie nodded, slightly put off they can't be 'Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Hunters'.
Applejack and the one she was facing circled each other, daring the other to make the first move. A game of patience passing between the two, knowing that, unless you land a good hit, those who fought first were more than likely to be at a disadvantage.
After a few more seconds, the Krillitane lost and charged forward, crying out when Applejack swivelled round and bucked the creature in the gut...
...But the hit wasn't high enough for the creature to lose it's balance and it grabbed onto Applejack's legs before she could react, swinging her into the wall.
As she impacted, her stetson fell off of her head and onto the ground, her groaning from pain. She struggled back up, before she was kicked to the ground again.
A sudden lesson from her father rang through her ears. “In a fight, Applejack, make sure never to fall to the ground...For if you fall down, you lose...”
“Ah kinda wish ya weren't so wise pa...” She wheezed before she was lifted off the ground and pinned to the wall.
Big Macintosh stood firm in front of the mare, staring down the two bat-like things in front of him. “Ma'am...When Ah start fightin', run for tha exit...” He whispered to the scared mare, before turning to the creatures.
One charged forward, emitting a war cry until it got a hoof to the face for it's efforts, the second tried to take him on while he was distracted, but Mac just side stepped and the Krillitane face planted into the wall, before he lashed out his hind leg and crushed the creature further.
The mare, seeing an opportunity, was going to run, before she paused, swivelled round and kissed Mac on the cheek. “Thank you!” She cried, before she ran straight out of the alley, her tail tucked between her legs in fear.
Mac was caught off-guard by the sudden kiss, so didn't notice when the Krillitane he punch had gotten up and pounced on him.
Rainbow bobbed and weaved her way through the clouds, the Krillitane close on her hooves. “Damn! How can he be keeping up with me?! I'm the fastest flyer there is!” She thought to herself, before she noticed the creature pop out of the cloud in front of of her, so she made a split second decision and dived down to evade it...
...however she didn't react soon enough and the creature had managed to clip her left wing with it's claws, causing it to flail helplessly, as she plummeted. “AHHH!”
Fluttershy and Ditzy found the Rainbow from the scream and gasped as they found her falling, the Krillitane pursuing. Fluttershy glared at the bat like creature. “Ditzy, catch her!” Fluttershy ordered, charging to face the beast.
Ditzy saluted and dived down to intercept the rainbow maned Pegasus as she broke through the cloud line, now dangerously close to ground.
“Oh...Not how I thought I'd die...But at least it's a pretty awesome way to go...” Rainbow thought to herself as she heard a few gasps and an all too familiar voice scream.
“NOO!” Scootaloo cried, seeing her mentor, idol and 'sister' plummeting to her demise. Even someone as awesome as Rainbow couldn't survive a fall like that.
Just as Rainbow said her last goodbye in her head, Ditzy flew round and tackled the cyan mare twisting round and landing on the ground in front of the four fillies and the dragon.
Rainbow shook for a little bit before realising that her impact was a lot softer tan she thought it was going to be and opened her eyes to see a pair of happy gold eyes looking back at her.
“Yay! You're okay!” Ditzy cheered, lifting herself and Rainbow onto their hooves. “Now to help Flutter...” Just as she was about to finish her sentence, the Krillitane from before could be seen colliding with the floor, a very angry looking yellow Pegasus following and diving onto the poor creature.
She then glared at the cowering creature, before she lifted her hoof and sent it crashing into the beast's face. “Nopony! Hurts! My! Friends!!” She punctuated each of her words with a hoof to it's face before she was sure it wasn't going to stand back up.
She let out a breath and turned to see six astonished faces looking over to her, causing her to hide behind her mane in embarrassment. “Oh...um...sorry...Was I too brutal?” She asked, shyly.
“Uh no! Not at all!” Rainbow suddenly said, laughing. “That was awesome!”
Applejack cracked her eyes open to look the creature in the face as it held it's hands around her throat. “Look death in tha face an' don' be afraid...” She remembered, quoting her fathers words in her head.
She glanced to the side and saw Mac bucking to try and removed the Krillitane he was dealing with off of his own back. “Y'all take good care o' AB an' Pinkie when she ponies up an' tells ya...” She thought to herself, catching Big Mac's eye, who's own started to widen as he realised what was going on.
“Git off me ya VARMIN!” He roared, charging sideways against the wall, crushing the Krillitane as it found out the literal meaning of being caught between a rock and a hard place.
However Mac had used far too much energy and collapsed to the ground in a heap. “No! You git ya no good legs! We've been through much more than tha'!”
However true that might be, he had spent five years trapped in one room and there was only so much exercise you could do in that small room before you break something. He teared up as he looked at his sister helplessly, the others only just entering the alley.
Suddenly, a sphere like device landed on the ground beside the Krillitane, causing it to look at the thing in curiosity, before it dropped Applejack, who had started gasping for breath.
The Krillitane held it's hands over it's ears, crying out in anguish.
Applejack locked eyes with the creature one more time, before she charged the remainder of her adrenaline and sent one good buck right into the bat-like creature's face, sending it crashing into the wall opposite and caving it's skull in.
After that, Applejack had passed out from exhaustion, Big Macintosh falling quickly behind.
The Doctor scanned the two with his sonic, checking for injuries, before letting out a relieved sigh. “They're alright, just tired...”
“Oh cool, what's this!” Pinkie exclaimed, knowing that her friends are okay, pointing to the ball like thing.
Everyone had gathered in the alley, Rainbow leaning against Ditzy's side for support, before the Doctor scanned the ball.
“Wow, a supersonic sound-wave emitter...” Noticing their confused looks, he chuckled. “It's a ball like thing that lets off a sound that can be set to any pitch, very good for distracting enemies...”
“Uh...Supersonic means a speed greater than that of sound.” Sweetie Belle mentioned, quoting her dictionary again.
“Oh I know, but it sounds cooler than pitch adjustable sound-wave emitter...” He replied before his eyes went wide with surprise... “Um...Applebloom was with you three, right?”
“Um yeah...Why?” Scootaloo asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Um...cause of this...” He replied, pointing to the little scripture on the ball stating 'with love, Applebloom'.