//------------------------------// // TARDIS Anti-Virus // Story: Cadence for a Shy Alicorn // by KodyMcQ //------------------------------// The Doctor watched in awe as the explosion engulfed Canterlot, stealing away any entities in the general area. He’d seen a lot of stuff in his past, but this stole the pear. Scratch that, The Doctor hated pears. This stole the cake. or the muffin. Or any other damn food on the table. Maybe the table itself. Hell, it stole the universe for all he cared. Eventually it could, if this issue isn't fixed. He hopped off of the Pegasus drawn carriage (Which he still found a little strange) and landed in a tree, to the disappointing glare of the Pegasus, who then landed beside him and popped out of the shackles. “You, what’s your name?” The Doctor had, then proceeded to pick an apple off of the tree he landed in. “The name’s Brush.” He said, brushing off his shoulder. It was his signature move, and he loved gloating about it. “Well alright Brush, you get to help me. Can you go get all the Alicorn ponies you can and meet me by that cottage?” “Sure thing Boss.” Brush flew off into the general area of the dissipating Planetoid, while The Doctor went off for a stroll in the forest. A kind of pleasing stroll, considering the circumstances. Nature was peaceful, birds soaring over trees, small blue dots flying past the sunset. How, the hoof, was Celestia putting down the Sun? Her and Luna shouldn’t exist at the moment, just thinking. The Doctor continued through the forest, passing a clearing. He took a peek in, and saw that the house there was a good pleasant memory from when he traveled with Octavia. Her parents house, before the Re-Write, was right here, in front of him, flashing in and out of reality. He was getting closer to his destination, where he had admittedly stashed a companion of his for emergency. A small grimace popped on The Doctor’s face at the thought. The Doctor took a hop skip and a leap off of a small cliff face, and turned to face the earthy cave in the side of it.’Oh I hope she’s still alive, after 10 years.’ He thought, before taking a few daunting steps into the cave. He felt for a second, seemingly waiting for nothing. Then the small ripple of... Feeling passed through his body. There wasn’t really any way of describing it, except Feeling. It rippled through his body, tickling every part it touched as he passed the temporal wall. Indeed it hadn’t faded, and it was still keeping Rose alive. “Hello Doctor. Finally found a use for me?” Rose said, turning from her dark, musty corner. Her happy, short pink hair was now covered in cobwebs, and her skin was gray with dust. If The Doctor hadn’t left her here, he'd have thought that she was a completely different pony. He frowned, “Rose. You know why I left you here. I figured you didn’t want to be destroyed by the Re-Write.” “Then you kept me here, for a month, while you went and got with that mare!” Rose exclaimed, kicking a rock at The Doctor, who simply stepped to the side to avoid it. “Rose, understand.” “Try me.” The Doctor sighed. Rose was his longest companion, yet he never really felt feelings for her. Not like he could’ve, being a Time Colt, and her a simple Earth Pony. Vinyl was a Time Mare, they were the same species. But Rose, there was something else bothering Rose. She wouldn’t be this moody over Vinyl. “What else is there, Rose?” She turned and gave him a quizzical look. “Nothing.” He glared. There was something else bothering the Pony. He could see it in her eyes. “Come, Rose. We don’t have time for acting like kids. Equestria’s being re-written from the re-write.” “Then let it.” Rose countered, a threatening tone to her voice. Something was seriously wrong. This wasn’t Rose. The Doctor took a closer look at Rose’s eyes. They were usually an earthy green, the color of grass just before the pegasi decide to roll in some snow. But now they were a bland gray, and filled with nothing. He took a hard look at her coat, and saw that there wasn’t a speck of dust on the pony. Gray and gray... Last time he remembered, that only happened when Discord came. “Rose, did Discord come?” “You’re the only insufferable pony in this world who knew I was here.” He took that into consideration. “Then, has anypony at all even stumbled across the cave?” “Yes. An Alicorn Princess, she called herself the Twilight Princess. She stopped by regularly. She was using the next cave over as a torture chamber for her alicorn buddies. Nice gal.” The Doctor gulped. Rose was out of help now, under the spell of The Twilight Princess. He should’ve figured, the discoloration was a dead giveaway. “Aha, you see now. Your universe is out of luck. The Twilight Princess has seen more than you will ever know. I have been gifted with that knowledge. How do you think I knew of that Vinyl dip you’ve been dragging around?” The Doctor was offended by Rose’s choice of language. Vinyl was his Mare, his one and only, and he wasn’t about to let that slip away from him. He knew what she was trying to do, bring up false information, to bring down his security. Let alone Vinyl’s security. “You’re too late, Doctor. I know how your mission ends. It doesn’t end well. Nothing ends well. For you, or your happy little bunch of Ponies. The only water in the forest is the river, Doctor. But what if your river has a stream, running off into the deep unknown? What if your life is that river, and everypony you know is that stream? Your use is coming to an end Doctor. And good riddance.” Rose quickly grabbed a rock in the corner of the dimly lit cave with her mouth, one bound with string and ready to bash against a pony. The swung it in the direction of the fleeing Doctor, who toppled to the ground and dodged the ballistic rock. ‘Rose is gone. There’s no use being here. Gotta go, Allons-y to the Cottage.’ Rose smiled, then began to morph into a sleek, black form. Her blue transparent hair glimmered through the holes in her hooves. “It’s time.” Brush had finished gathering the Elites, and rounding them up into a cage. He took a look around at the Alicorn Republic Soldiers, zooming through the sky and bashing down Elites. It was a total warzone, explosions and falling bodies left and right. He was impressed, with the determination of these Alicorn Republic folk. If he hadn’t joined the Royal Guard, he wouldn’t be used to this kind of stuff, and he’d be running for the hills. Then again, that’s where he’s going with the Elites. He threw the unconscious ponies in the back of his carriage, hooked up, and flew off. He didn’t know what The Doctor wanted with these bodies for, but he owed The Doctor his life. When Brush was a child, there was an invasion, something called a Vashta Nerada. Brush can’t really remember it too clearly, but The Doctor did save him. And he wasn’t about to let that debt go to waste. Brush did a quick head count. Pink, Yellow, Purple, Bright Purple, Everything-colored. He had them all. Brush raced off to the side of Equestria at breakneck speeds, rivaling the speed of Rainbow Dash, as he fought to keep control of his carriage. It felt like there were some serious winds picking up, sweeping away his carriage and the bodies along with it. He tossed and turned, churning through the dense green foliage as he raced towards the Cottage. ‘I hope I’m not too late...’ Vinyl opened her eyes slowly. She wasn’t sure where she was, but it was dark as hell. She blinked a few times, and began to acknowledge the sharp pain in her back. She tried to shuffle to avoid the protruding object lodging itself into her spine, but was greeted with the realization that her legs were indeed stuck as well. She sighed. The sounds of explosions and magic glancing off of metal and bodies still echoed and rang, distorted by the amount of debris she was stuck under. She began to furl and flap her wings, in a desperate attempt to dislodge some of the debris. She quickly flashed her head to the right, as a sharp pole glanced off of a beam and landed directly where her eye socket was a second earlier. She sighed again. Her horn began to glow deep blue, as she focused her energy into the thoughts of hundreds of rescue ponies, digging and clawing at the debris to save the Alicorn DJ. To her surprise it worked, and the chunks of debris began to fly out from the pile and land with an earth shaking BOOM. In a few minutes, she would be free. A beam of light quickly flashed over Vinyl’s eye, before turning into a great heavenly beacon. She bolted out of the rubble, dodging magic left and right from Twilight’s minions. The poor Elements of Harmony. Corrupted and tortured by Alicorn magic. That shouldn’t have happened to them, they shouldn’t even BE Alicorns! ‘I guess that’s what I get for re-writing the Universe off of my mind.’ She thought, as she barrel rolled to the east, where the Cottage and Doctor were waiting. Her majestic form cast a deep shadow over the EverFree Forest, which was currently in ruins and burning. ‘I hope Mom’s okay. I didn’t get to write to her and Dad.’ She thought, thinking of the imaginary cottage where she spent her imaginary childhood growing up with her BIOLOGICAL parents. Yeah, no sense there. Oh well. Vinyl passed over a small log cabin, fading in and out of reality. She landed in the small clearing in front of the abandoned cottage, and smiled sadly. This was where her mother, Octavia grew up. Where her parents were killed by Weeping Angels. But now Vinyl’s grandparents lived happily in Canterlot, where they owned a music shop, and sold many different instruments. “Stop living in the past, Vinyl! Well, not the past, stop living in the imaginary past!” Vinyl muttered out loud, then facehoofed hard and sat down. The Doctor was definitely getting to her, she was starting to mutter and stutter just like her Colt-Friend. Then again, they were the same species. Time Ponies, or Time Colt and Time Mare. Whatever. It didn’t matter. The universe has changed, and that’s final. There’s no way to bring it back. Vinyl began to fly again. She grazed off of the roof with her hooves and began to glide through the air, still heading east to the Cottage. It was about to get very dangerous, very fast. And Vinyl could only hope that she had missed the worst of it in her under-the-debris nap. Fluttershy blinked. Well, at least she thought she did. She could’ve blinked in her dream, and really she could be imagining all this while she was dead, but that was really hurting her brain to think about. She looked around the room she was now inside of, which was dome shaped, with beams rising up the golden walls. Large round holes dotted the walls, filled with wires and electrical components. She was laying on an octagonal glass platform, beside a mess of switches and wires. She was in some sort of... control room. She slowly rose to her feet and took another glance around, taking in every detail of the room. The first thing to catch the young Alicorn Princess’ eyes was the pair of navy blue double doors, at the end of a 5 step copper stairway. She had heard of something like this when her, The Doctor, and the Princesses were discussing. Oh what’d he call it... The Terp? The Trade? She couldn’t remember. She slowly walked over to the double doors, swaying as she walked. She couldn’t remember what had happened in Canterlot. Or anything, for that matter. Maybe Pinkie gave her some amnesia cupcakes. It seemed like a Pinkie thing to do. Where was Pinkie? Where were her friends? Fluttershy gave a soft whimper and began to cower beside the doors. She wasn’t used to being away from her friends like this. She hoped they’d come find her soon. Brush arrived at the Cottage just in time. He dumped his luggage in front of the pacing Doctor, who gave him a slight nod and continued pacing. ‘Just as I remember him. Always focused on the task at hand.’ “Brush, bring the Elites in front of the TARDIS. Have you seen Fluttershy or Vinyl?” He asked, stopping to turn towards the TARDIS. “Right here, honey.” A voice called, as a soft wind came and Vinyl landed right beside him. “No sign of Fluttershy.” The Doctor nodded solemnly. “I guess we’ve got to continue without her.” While Brush and Vinyl were carrying the bodies over to the doors of the TARDIS, The Doctor decided he’d go into the second version of his TARDIS. Or was it the first? Maybe it was the 1.5th or the 0.5th. He didn’t care. He only cared about the fact his TARDIS, the one he knew and loved, was stashed in Canterlot when it dissapeared. This one would have to do. The Doctor opened the door and tripped. “Now Honey, you really should watch where you’re going!” Vinyl cried out, barely able to contain the giggling. Brush meanwhile, had fallen over laughing. She stopped laughing, and heard the whimpering. “Fluttershy?” Vinyl and Brush dashed over to the doors of the TARDIS, where The Doctor was comforting a crying Fluttershy. They smiled. “Are you ready Fluttershy? You can choose. Stay in the TARDIS, and you can stay as an Alicorn. Or you can wait out here, where you, your friends, and Equestria will be returned to a more normal state.” The Doctor whispered. Vinyl understood it perfectly. This TARDIS was the TARDIS she grew up with, almost like a guardian angel. It watched over her as she grew to 15 years old, and it brought the end of that version of Equestria. So obviously, if it was activated, it would bring a.. Backup, per say, of Equestria, and bring it back to a better state. What Vinyl didn’t understand was the fact that The Doctor had decided to actually use the Backup. This would bring back everything they had sought to destroy, which was Octavia, her mother, bringing the end of Equestria. Fluttershy slowly stood, and took a good look outside and in. Her nose was scrunched, focusing hard on what to choose. While she was focusing, a slightly startled Octavia and Starburst bounded out of the Cottage, making a happy reunion while Fluttershy tormented herself on the inside. The Scratch/Philharmonica family quickly pushed past her and into the TARDIS, followed by a very confused Brush. The Doctor gave Fluttershy a comforting hug, before the Alicorn stepped into the doors of the TARDIS, closing them behind her. “I’m sure my friends will understand if I... um... Come with you for a bit. That is if you don’t mind!” She blurted out the last part as fast as she could. The Doctor let loose a wild grin and quickly galloped to the Control Panel, pulling a lever and yelling out “Allons-y!” The TARDIS began to rock and shake, emanating deep dark blue energy outside. Then, just as Fluttershy’s final tear of joy graced the glass platform, the TARDIS exploded with blue energy.