//------------------------------// // Part Four: Ashes of the Past. // Story: Dr Whooves and the Missing Companion // by Paganbrony //------------------------------// Part Four: Ashes of the Past. Canterlot was still as busy as she remembered but as she walked along her new friend Vinyl beside her Octavia enjoyed the feel of the sun on her back, the snows had eventually lifted during her recuperation and made way for glorious sunshine and a warm breeze as the last of the snow melted into the gutters of the cobble lined streets and the city once again came to life. The bookstore Vinyl’s parents owned was situated on the other end of the street (a long street mind you) from the site of the Royal Canterlot Opera house, so as the two mares walked ever closer Vinyl stopped pointing to things to explain them and questioning Octavia about how much things had changed, she began to walk silently, observing her companion’s reaction. Octavia noticed Vinyl’s cessation of verbal overload as she still couldn’t get over how little had really changed, sure the mane styles and clothes were different but the noise and hubbub remained the same as she remembered. “Have you been here before Vinyl?” “Been past it, never gone in though… Too peaceful for me,” Octavia was about to ask further but stopped in her tracks as she came into sight of the former site of the Opera house… Between the shops that lined this part of the street on both sides surrounded by a high stone wall, behind thick iron gates lay what looked like the most overgrown yet beautiful garden in the world. Running up to the gates Octavia pushed them but with years of neglect they had rusted shut, Vinyl remedied this by using her magic and through the both of them putting their backs into it they opened the gate and stood taking in the view before them. The garden filled with plants and fauna of all kinds was from the gate along small cobbled paths leading to the center and out again broken into sections that allowed visitors to inspect the many wonders the garden had to offer. Wordlessly the pair entered and made their way to the center which comprised a circular area of cobble stone floor and a set of plinths that ran the outer edge of the center. Upon reaching the center they found in the middle of this a large stone carving of a rock with an open book on it, Octavia read the writing carved into its two pages as it recited the events leading to the monument. Most of it was history concerning the building of the Opera house and little about the details of the fire except that the plinths were each a marker for those lost. A little miffed at the lack of explanation and at this point feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, (especially since it was only a week ago she’d been standing on stage practising,) to then be told the place was no more… Even if the Doctor did manage to return her to her own time she would still be denied her great moment to shine… Shaking a little and trying not to cry despite it all Octavia looked up at Vinyl who had stayed quiet next to her the whole time and with a weak smile she observed her surroundings in an attempt to ratify it all in her head. “How many of these stones are there…” Vinyl nearly missed hearing her as Octavia mumbled under her breath as her keen mind saw the obvious right in front of her face. “Sorry I…” “There are too many graves… Look there must be at least a dozen?” Vinyl looked around and then shrugged. “Well how many should there be?” Octavia thought back to the events of that night, remembering High Society and her encounter with what remained of the late miss Casting Call, the memory of which made her gag slightly earning a confused frown from Vinyl. “I only saw one body and heard… I heard another get eaten, but that old sod had it coming and I’d (burp) rather not discuss that any further… (Octavia blushed slightly at the memory of being in that cupboard with the Doctor) I never want to hear the like again.” Octavia turned green as the awful sounds reverberated around her head as it slowly throbbed at all the stimulation, not yet finished in its recovery. “Maybe some of them are the others that went missing? That old stallion mentioned others had disappeared.” Vinyl was far more cynically minded making a comment followed by a snort to the likelihood the local Royal guards threw in a few unsolved cases into the mix just to ease the case load since the fire would be a convenient cover. Slowly they made their way around the circle, each plinth was just a bit taller than the two mares and at eye level each had a plate sized portrait above an inscription bearing name and date of birth and a short eulogy. Octavia recognized High Society and Casting Call and the name Brass lock rang a bell but as she turned from admiring the portrait of Casting Call who looked beautiful and happy, as compared to the sorry state she had seen her in, the grey mare swallowed hard as she saw Vinyl staring in shock at a plinth a little further along. “Are you okay Vinyl?” “No Freaking way, I mean… NO FREAKING WAY? That’s you, right there that’s you?” The portrait was a copy of the one painted for her graduation from the University of music, Octavia replete with white collar and pink bowtie sat proudly on a stool with her Cello held in one hoof, her graduation certificate in the other. Beneath her name and the dates of birth and death was her eulogy, short and bland, hardly what the mare had imagined her grave (once she’d lived her life of course) would look like, it was meant to be grand and a testament to the great things she was yet to do in the meantime. “Can’t be real I mean you look… Just like her, Wow you really did travel in time??? But wait that means…” Vinyl switched between the name and portrait and Octavia one last time before she sat and waited for a response as they both reached the same conclusion. “It means I never get back…” Inside a Micro-verse “!!!DOCTOR!!!” “Yes?” “Are you going to hang around all day, or am I going to have to do something drastic?” The Doctor professed it had been a while since he’d used a jungle vine as a makeshift snare but it had all gone wrong and he’d been pulled hind leg first into the air and then left dangling. Things had truly gotten out of control when the giant slimy green gross thing that was now trying to bat at him like a curious cat with it’s reaching tentacles had appeared out of nowhere from the jungle around them... The others being the lost ponies his older self had pretty much press ganged him into saving, the mare Cheerilee and her three students, or demons as he preferred were stuck up in the same tree he was hanging from. Looking down he lamented his screwdriver that now lay below him on the ground having slipped from his pocket as he’d ascended, casting about he tried to think of a cunning plan. When nothing was forth coming he resorted to thinking about what had led him to this point. It had been relatively easy to figure out the mechanism of the trap and how to calculate where in this micro-verse the four had been transported, which as it turned out was a highly dangerous jungle world where the Doctor after a somewhat bumpy arrival when he teleported in had found them. Tracking them was easy since the device had put him relatively close to their position due to the four of them staying put in hope of rescue and Miss Cheerilee’s insistence they not stray into yet more danger. Explaining who he was and that he was there to rescue them took a little longer, especially when Cheerilee caught him with a right hook for their plight and her frustration and confusion. Which the Doctor mused was becoming all too frequent these days rubbing his chin gently. The device he and his older younger looking self had concocted to allow the other Doctor to ‘beam’ them back with, had been nabbed from his hooves by a small furry creature with fangs and spikes all over before it had darted down a hole at the base of the tree he was hanging from, hence the snare trap. As the Doctor sighed deeply he began to swing his body back and forth in an effort to grab the branch he was suspended from, as the mare and three fillies sat patiently observing from their positions in nearby branches having scrambled to safety upon the gooey monsters arrival. Gaining momentum the Doctor managed to grasp the branch eventually as his swinging backwards and forwards was assisted by several large whacks from the tentacles still reaching up trying to catch him, clinging on for dear life the Doctor grinned at the filly sat nearest in the branches his eyes pleading for a little help. The young yellow earth filly with a red mane topped with a big bow gave him a sympathetic look as she summed up the situation. “Ah ain’t as honest as ma sister but ah’ll level with you…” The sound of creaking reached his ears as she paused. “…Your branch is breaking mister.”