The Doctor and his new companion, Twilight Sparkle, head to the near future, much to Twilight's disdain, but upon arriving, find that something has been disturbing the town of Ponyville. Though it's hard to find a real monster during Nightm
It is mandatory that you read the First Episode or else you will be left confused at some points.
Twilight and the Doctor end up in Ponyville, 1026 C.E. during Nightmare Night, but the playful scares soon turns serious as ponies are mysteriously found burned, scarred, and colorless. The only clues are sightings of a cloaked figure roaming the streets that night... and it would be hard to find a real monster during the festivities.
Episode Written by: Perceptive Key Cover art is my own, but will be elaborated upon and improved.
The Whooves Collection: Episode 2 Vengeful Hate Prologue
Gaia; Equestria; Ponyville; Behind the Town Hall; 1026 C.E.
The cloaked figure watched as the crowds of ponies wandered around the town, their enthusiasm for Nightmare Night growing with every passing minute. The mysterious figure groaned. He hated all of this joy, this happiness, this... friendship. It was simply too much for him to bear. A spiking pain ran down his spine and he grunted, shivering in the aftershock of the chill. This land was too happy, he needed some form of anger, now. He and his master were ever so hungry.
Suddenly, a pair of pegasi raced past him, just above his head, and landed in a field a few yards away. One of them, a mare, turned to the other and complained, "Why can't you just leave me alone?!"
"I enjoy annoying you," the second replied happily, this one had the voice of a stallion.
The figure watched as the pair argue, and he licked his lips silently. They would make a lovely appetizer for he and his master. He approached the two of them slowly and silently, his cloak helping him to blend in with the surroundings. The pegasi were too preoccupied with their conversation to hear the footsteps approaching.
"Excuse me," a proper voice sounded.
The pegasi jumped and turned towards the cloaked figure that had seemed to appear out of nowhere just that moment.
"Would you be so kind as to direct me to the nearest restaurant?" the figure asked, "Or anywhere that I can get some... sustenance."
The first pegasi mare, dressed as a dragon, had a yellow coat and a pink mane, "Yeah, there's Sugarcube Corner. It's just past the Library and across from the town well. Do you even live here?" she asked.
"Thank you. Oh, and no, I don't. I'm... visiting a friend in town."
"Fair enough." The two pegasi then continued their feud, and they didn't notice the figure remain standing where he was. He slowly came closer to them and bared his teeth.
Some screaming could be heard echoing throughout the town, but screams were common during Nightmare Night, and so nopony else gave it a second thought.
Time Vortex; TARDIS; Control Room
VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP!
Twilight stood around the TARDIS controls and watched as the Doctor worked under the grating. The ship had malfunctioned mid-flight and had left the pair suspended in space for the past few hours. The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver clenched between his teeth and was using it to repair some damaged wiring.
"When you said 'time machine,' I figured that you wouldn't be having any engine trouble," Twilight commented.
"Don't... ungh... worry, Miss... hmph... Sparkle. I'll... have us out of this... hungh... in no time." The Doctor briefly looked at Twilight, "Still, you don't hear me talking about how your dimension is affecting the temporal drive on the TARDIS." He plugged in two large cables and the space shook, suddenly. "Ha ha!" he cheered, "We're moving!"
The TARDIS shuddered for a few more moments and ceased making its VVRROOMMP! sound as it came to a halt.
"Where are we now?!" Twilight asked, barely containing her excitement.
The Doctor smiled, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Let's see!" The Doctor trotted down to the doors, threw them open, and looked around. He turned around, frowning, "Well I can't tell where we are."
"I was thinking when."
"No, I mean I can't tell where we are because it's dark out here."
Twilight gave him a 'are you serious' look and shook her head. Instantly, she produced a small illumination spell, a purple glow emitting from her horn. "It's a good thing I'm here," Twilight said as she stepped past the Doctor.
Twilight and The Doctor left the TARDIS and began walking. They reached a small hill, and when they were over, Twilight extinguished the light because she didn't need it anymore. Spread below them... was Ponyville. Twilight was strangely confused, and at the same time, somewhat happy. This place was her home, and it didn't matter which day in whichever year. It was always home. "Doctor?" Twilight asked without taking her eyes off the small town, "What year is it?"
The Doctor checked the watch, which Twilight had just noticed, he was wearing around his left foreleg. "It's... 1026 C.E., whatever that means, the thirty-first of October, 6:59 P.M. And... there's light showers scheduled for 10:27 P.M., Central Equestrian Time."
"You get all that from a watch."
"Yes. Is it odd?"
Twilight smiled and nodded, "A little."
"Perfect!"
Twilight laughed and started to make her way down the hill. The Doctor chased after her in a full gallop. "Wait for me!" he called. Twilight turned her head to laugh but, otherwise, she didn't stop.
They were halfway to the town and Twilight had distanced herself from the Doctor fairly well. Looking back, she could still see him, his silhouette dimly visible from the lights of the small town. She turned back and stopped before she could trip over two large objects lying in front of her.
The Doctor caught up to her and asked, "Why did you stop?"
"I saw these just sitting here," Twilight pointed to the two objects on the ground. It was hard to make out any distinguishing features because of the semi-darkness, so she fired up her illumination spell, yet again. The Doctor and Twilight both froze when the objects were illuminated.
Lying in the scorched grass, were two colorless, scarred, and burned pegasus ponies, their expressions caught mid-scream.
Twilight and the Doctor looked in shock at the two pegasi lying in front of her.
"What could do this?" Twilight asked, mouth agape.
The Doctor was perplexed as well, "I've never seen anything like this." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it to scan the ponies. He looked at his screwdriver with bewilderment. "They're not dead, but their biological functions are... well... dead!" He placed the sonic back into his suit pocket and bent down to get a closer look. "What are you?" he said quietly to himself.
The sound of hoofbeats in the distance brought Twilight back to the real world. "Someone's coming," she said.
"Thank you for spelling it out," the Doctor had noticeable a layer of sarcasm in his tone. Twilight glared back at him.
The sound grew steadily louder as a unicorn mare in a white lab coat, large safety goggles, and a grey wig with a matching false beard approached the two of them. She stopped in front of the pegasi and examined them.
"Damn! I missed it." She turned to the Doctor and Twilight, "You two need to come with me. Now!"
"Who are you supposed to be?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm dressed as Sebastian Cutter. He was the recipient of the 1014 C.E. Equestrian Prize in Magics for his invention of the full-body genetic mitosis spell," the mare answered. "Now, you have to come with me. And bring them with you," she pointed to the pegasi.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Actually I wanted to know who you really are," he clarified.
Twilight was examining the unicorn with intense interest, there was something familiar about her. "Who are you really?" she asked curiously.
The mare grinned sheepishly, "I'm... well..." she started, "you, Twilight Sparkle." The mare removed her fake beard and wig to reveal a lavender coat combined with a pure black mane with dark pink highlights. This only helped to put Twilight in shock once again. They stood there in silence for several moments.
"Too soon?" Future Twilight asked.
"Y-you-you ar-are... m-me?!" and Twilight fainted.
Twilight groaned and slowly opened her eyes. When she was aware of her surroundings, she noticed that she was lying on the bed in her room of the Ponyville Library. She got out of the bed and down to the floor bafore walking over to the stairs. She could hear talking
"You mean this happened before?" Twilight heard the Doctor's voice coming from downstairs.
"It's been happening fairly recently, but I don't exactly know what's doing it," a different, but familiar voice responded.
"What are the symptoms? All of them."
Twilight came down the steps and entered the room, spotting the Doctor and... herself. "Um," she swallowed visibly, "am I... interrupting anything?"
"Ah, Twilight!" the Doctor motioned for her to join them. They were sitting at a table near one of the side windows in the Library's main room. "Twilight and I were just discussing the half-deaths of different ponies that were occurring recently."
Twilight looked over at the other end of the table and stared straight back at herself.
"So..." her future self asked, "are you still in shock?"
"No," she replied, "I don't think so."
Future Twilight cocked an eyebrow.
Twilight laughed quietly, "Maybe. A little. Yeah," she nodded.
"First trip into the future?"
Twilight nodded again.
"You get used to it eventually." Both Twilights laughed briefly, Twilight halfheartedly and Future Twilight sincerely.
"Alright," the Doctor interrupted, "I think that we need to be seeing these 'patients' that you have Ms. Sparkle," he said, getting straight to the point.
Twilight was confused, "What patients? I don't have any-" she looked to her future self, who was giving her a "Duh!" look. "Oh, right. Sorry," she apologized, "not me."
"It's fine," Future Twilight said, "It happens." She turned to the Doctor, "If you would follow me, please."
Future Twilight led the Doctor and Twilight to the library basement. The room had been converted into a makeshift hospital ward with rows of ten cots each. Out of twenty cots, ten of them were taken up by a variety of colorless unicorn, pegasus, and earth ponies. The Doctor moved from pony to pony, scanning them with his screwdriver.
"How is this possible?" he said after he finished his examination, "They're all in the same condition. Unless..." he spun around to face Future Twilight, "Have there been any younger ponies wearing gas masks asking: 'are you my mommy?'"
"No," Future Twilight replied, "nothing like that."
"Good! I was worried there for a minute!"
Twilight leaned to her older self, "What did he mean?"
"You'll find out later," she replied. She returned her attention back to the Doctor. "Is there a cure, Doctor? If so, how do we help them?" Future Twilight asked him.
"As of right now... no. There is no cure. I'd laugh at you if you said love or friendship, since that's all this place seems to be about."
"We have our moments," Twilight admitted.
"Then how do we cure them?" Future Twilight asked again.
The Doctor examined the half-alive ponies for a few more moments. He placed the sonic back into his pocket. "We'll have to find the cause of this first. When, where, and how did you find these ponies?"
Future Twilight walked over to a pair of earth ponies. "These two were found five days ago in the alley behind Sugarcube Corner when I was helping Pinkie Pie -who you haven't met yet, Doctor. I saw them lying there after Pinkie asked me to take out some trash for her." She walked over to a pair of unicorns, "They were found two days ago, lying at the border of the Everfree Forest. I was going to ask Zecora -you don't know her either- if she knew anything about what could have done this to the first two."
Future Twilight told the Doctor and Twilight about the other six ponies, including the most recent two, and added, "The strangest part, is that they're always found in pairs. Any questions?"
Twilight raised her hoof, but the Doctor waved her off. "Now, Ms. Sparkle," he addressed Future Twilight, "has anybody -sorry, anypony- seen anything suspicious in this past week?"
"I've asked around, but only two ponies know."
"Who?"
"Rainbow Dash," Future Twilight said sadly.
"That's great!" Twilight interjected happily, "Where do we find her?"
Future Twilight turned around and walked over to a space in the back of the basement that neither Twilight nor the Doctor had noticed earlier. It was separated from the rest of the room by a large white sheet that reminded Twilight of the couple hours that she spent in that Canterlot hospital back in 297. Future Twilight flipped a switch on the wall next to it and pulled the curtain back, revealing two more colorless ponies.
"You can find them here," she stated grimly.
Twilight slowly approached the two separate cots in the extra room. Lying on the closest one was another colorless pegasus mare, mouth and eyes frozen open in shock. It's once multicolored mane and tail were now different shades of grey and there were scars and burns scattered across her body. On the cot next to Rainbow's, a colorless earth pony mare was lying on her side, wearing the same shocked expression.
Twilight looked back and forth between the two, hoping that what she was seeing wasn't real. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and her vision became blurred. "Rainbow...? Applejack...?" She began to feel tears stream down her cheeks and she sat down, putting her forelegs over her eyes.
"They were... the last to be found, other than the two tonight," Future Twilight said, putting her foreleg around Twilight and wrapping her up in a hug.
Twilight cried into her future self's side, "If this is my future," she sobbed, "then I'm going to change it!"
The Doctor, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up, "There's a chance that you might not be able to. This point in time appears to be- wait..." He looked around the room with interest briefly. "Are there any windows down here?"
"No," Future Twilight said, moving away from Twilight, still crying gently.
"Then, why is there a draft?"
The three of them turned to the stairs and looked upwards. The door was hanging open, and they looked just in time to get a glimpse of a small piece of black cloth disappear from the doorway.
The Doctor raced up the stairs. "Come on you two!" he called back.
Both Twilights ran up the stairs, chasing after the Doctor. The trio ran through the main room and out the front door and into the street. The Doctor looked around franticly, watching the clusters of ponies in their Nightmare Night costumes milling about the town.
the Doctor let out a frustrated sigh. "Now that's just cheating," he whined.
'First the unicorn that couldn't mind her own business, but now the Doctor?' The cloaked figure paced back and forth in front of the roaring fire, occasionally glancing towards it earnestly. The fire crackled and sparked in the hearth a few times and the figure nodded. "Yes, Master," the figure gazed upon the fire, "I shall remove them."
The fire sputtered as if it was laughing before it sparked and flared again.
"I sensed that, Master. I'll use her uncertainties against her, and I'll do the same for the... Doctor," he spat the name out.
The fire crackled in the hearth for a full minute before the figure bowed slowly.
"Of course, Master. It shall be done." He turned and left the room quickly, his cloak gently flowing behind him. There were important plans to be carried out before the night was done.
The Doctor stood at the window, watching the crowds of ponies, young and old, go from house to house.
"Nightmare Night's in full swing," Twilight said glumly, tracing circles on the table with her hoof.
"Yeah," the Doctor said quietly, "so it is."
"Can you track him... it?" Twilight asked.
"No. There wasn't time."
Future Twilight approached the Doctor, "You're waiting, right?"
"Death. Another death. That's all we wait for now."
Twilight sighed, "Can't we just… look for it?"
"It's not that simple," the Doctor turned around, "I need something more personal to it."
Future Twilight, who had been sitting across from past Twi, thought for a moment, "He's right. We do need something more personal. Like skin... or hair if it has it," she thought a little longer, "If we could get that to the TARDIS computer… then we could place it through the central mainframe and try to find it using genetic distribution! First, we'd have to narrow down the times of movement and where it's been..."
The Doctor realized where this was going and picked up her train of thought, "... and then we just look at the place with the most overlaid genetic memory and, bang!"
"Instant tracking device," Future Twilight finished, clapping her hooves together for emphasis.
"Exactly!" the Doctor shouted, "Ms. Sparkle, I could kiss you right now!"
"Please don't, Doctor," Twilight insisted waving her hooves in front of her face.
Future Twilight nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm with me."
"Now is not the time and place, Doctor."
Future Twilight approached the Doctor and whispered, so that only the two of them could hear, "Especially time, Time Lord." She gave the Doctor a smile and winked at him as she headed back towards the basement.
"What did she... or I," Twilight corrected herself, "say?" Twilight was smiling sweetly. "Whatever it was made you blush."
The Doctor held a hoof up to his cheek and, much to his embarrassment, it felt very warm. "Well," his voice came out a little hoarse before he cleared his throat, "I-I guess it did."
Twilight giggled into her hoof and got onto her hooves. She began walking toward the basement door, "I'll see what I'm up to." Twilight approached the door, but it was instantly thrown open by her future self. Twilight instantly started to enter panic mode, "What is it?! Did something happen?! Is it back?!"
Future Twilight waved her off and ran up to the Doctor, "Where did you park the TARDIS?"
The Doctor answered, "On the other side of the hill that we met you on. Why?"
Future Twilight simply held up a small scrap of black fabric in reply. More specifically, a small patch of skin sitting on the cloth.
The Doctor's eyes widened as he registered what he was looking at. He shouted to Twilight, "Come along Miss Sparkle! Quickly!" He ran out of the Library at top speed, Future Twilight and Twilight right behind him, their horns lighting up to show them the way.
Gaia; Equestria; Ponyville; TARDIS; 1026 C.E.
The Doctor and Future Twilight darted through the doors of the TARDIS and galloped up to the central control panels. Twilight, breathing heavily, joined them a few seconds later.
"What... are we... doing," she huffed.
"We're goin' huntin,'" the Doctor said in his best cowboy accent.
Future Twilight placed the bit of fabric on a clear space in-between two levers on the controls. The Doctor then started up the monitor while Future Twilight began pulling a few levers and flipping some switches.
Twilight watched the pair's fevered working and didn't want to interrupt them, so she decided to stand watch outside the TARDIS. She stepped back out into the cool, fall air and closed the doors behind her. She could hear the occasional sparking of the TARDIS machinery and the Doctor shouting "Come on!" every few moments.
"This is ridiculous," she said to herself, "I sign up to see the stars and travel across time and space but I can't even get out of Ponyville, much less Equestria. This is pathetic!" she thought.
In her silent rage, she didn't see the cloaked figure approach her from behind.
"Are you angry?" Twilight heard a voice hiss behind her.
She was too caught up mentally complaining to notice, and so she began to respond, "Yes, very much s-" She stopped mid-sentence, her mental alarms wailing, and turned around.
"Anger is a powerful thing," the hooded creature standing over her hissed.
The last thing Twilight remembered before the darkness was seeing a pair of fangs coming down towards her.
Back Inside the TARDIS...
... the Doctor and Future Twilight were working tirelessly, trying to track down the mysterious figure. "Pull down that lever there!" the Doctor ordered.
Future Twilight ran up to it and did so. "Got it!"
The Doctor flipped more switches and then ran back to the monitor. "Come on!" he urged, "Give us a path!"
The screen quickly raised a small three-dimensional map of Ponyville, and a red dotted line began forming in the street, a few feet away from the edge of the Everfree Forest. Future Twilight's brow furrowed and she muttered under her breath, "So that's what they picked up."
"Did you say something? the Doctor asked, keeping his eyes locked on the screen.
"Nothing," she replied hastily.
It moved slowly before Future Twilight pointed to a building that resembled Sugarcube corner, "There where the first two were found." The line continued on and stopped back at the edge of the Everfree Forest, "There's the second... the third." The line moved faster now, catching up towards the present time. "... there's where we were tonight." The line reached the library and entered and exited quickly. It kept going and it came up to a glowing blue dot.
The dot was the TARDIS.
"It's outside!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Come on Twilight!"
The duo hurriedly burst through the TARDIS doors and looked around in the light that Future Twilight conjured, but there was nothing there. They circled the box, but they turned up empty-hoofed
"Damn it!" the Doctor shouted, "It's gone!"
Future Twilight looked around, carefully searching the area. Her eyes widened when she realized what she was looking for. "Doctor, you're missing the obvious: it didn't leave empty handed," she said quietly.
"What do you mean?" he asked, suddenly concerned.
Future Twilight's expression was grave, "I'm gone."
Twilight felt a throbbing sensation in her head while she momentarily regained consciousness before blacking out again.
"... of course, Master..."
Twilight opened her eyes slowly and groaned. Everything around her was a blur at the moment. She tried to rub the drowsiness from her eyes, but found that her legs were tied down.
"She's awake," Twilight heard somepony say.
"Wha..." Twilight shook her head, "... what's going on? Is that you?" she asked groggily, "Doctor?"
"He's gone," the voice answered with a chuckle. "Or at least... you are."
Twilight's vision cleared and revealed a cloaked pony sized figure silhouetted in front of a roaring fire. "Who- who are you?" she asked in a distressed tone.
"Your worst nightmare." The figure turned and grinned, revealing a red, scaly, dragon-like face, and rows upon rows of teeth, ground to a point that gleamed a sparkling white in the light of the fire. Twilight gasped and the figure turned back to stare at the fire.
Twilight struggled against her bonds, desperately wanting to get away from this pony-dragon hybrid, but to no avail. "What do you want with me?!"
"Not you. It's the Doctor my Master wants. You're simply bait," the creature laughed. "My Master will let me eat you, and your future self, when the Doctor gets here. Your raw energy is exceptionally rare for a pony. Even your Princesses don't have that much power combined. That's why two of you will make me, and my Master, unstoppable."
The fire in front of him crackled loudly.
"Yes, Master," he answered the fire, "I understand."
"Who- who are you t-talking to?" Twilight asked, a stammer finding its way into her question. She tried to sound as calm as possible while she gained enough power to get out of her binding.
"My Master," the creature responded, "He lives within rage. He finds that fire works wonders for his abilities... as well as his complexion."
"That's... interesting..." Twilight's horn glowed softly and she focused her energy on the ropes. She felt her magic grasp them and began to pull at them. She let out a small cry of pain as the ropes tightened around her legs.
"Oh, I forgot to mention," the creature turned and walked towards her, "those ropes are made of dark power, so it may be a tad difficult getting out." He came and leaned over so that they were face to snout. "My Master is a very generous one. I don't suggest trying his patience, especially with your history."
Twilight responded by spitting in his face and screamed, "You're not going to get away with this! The Doctor will-"
He blinked the saliva out of his eyes, and in one swift movement, tore off a bit of his cloak, and deftly tied it around Twilight's mouth. Cutting off her scream, and muffling any more to come. "He will what?" the creature teased, "I can't hear you." He decided to slap her across the face. It was much stronger than he anticipated and, combined with her headache, Twilight went limp.
The fire cracked loudly, snapping the creature out of his taunt. It flared a few times and the creature responded, "I'm sorry if that was a little excessive. She just wouldn't shut up."
The TARDIS doors were thrown open and the Doctor strode in purposefully. Only one thought residing in his mind at the moment. 'I am going to get Twilight back safely if it's the last thing I do.' Then suddenly, the Doctor felt a pang of guilt hit him. 'She's my responsibility now, and I'm not about to let an innocent life end!'
"Quickly, Doctor! We have to save her... er, me!" Future Twilight shouted, snapping him out of his trance.
"Then let's go!"
The red tracking line had stopped a few moments ago on the outskirts of the town. Future Twilight had identified it as the main building that any visiting dignitaries would have stayed in if visiting the village. According to her, it had been abandoned for nearly two decades because of severe structural damage that occurred shortly before its condemnation.
"Doctor, are you sure you can land without hurting anyone?"
"Yes, of course! It's easy," he replied, flipping a large lever and kicking the console.
Future Twilight rolled her eyes and thought, 'Same cockiness.'
"Help me out, here!" the Doctor ordered.
Future Twilight ran from control to control, pulling several levers and pressing different buttons. "Coordinates set."
"How did you-? Never mind. Now you need to-"
Future Twilight flipped a few switches and the TARDIS started shuddering.
VVRROOMMP! VVRROOM-
The Doctor reached for the controls and shut the TARDIS off quickly. He walked up to Future Twilight. "I was going to say that you need to tell me why you're not telling me anything."
"What do you mean?" she asked, eyes looking away briefly before focusing back on the Doctor.
"Why are you so worried? Usually, when I meet people, er, ponies, from the future that have dealt with their past problems, they're calm and know exactly what they're doing. They know that everything's going to be fine... but you don't." The Doctor examined Future Twilight before stepping back a pace, "You really don't know. Do you?"
She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. "No, I don't," Future Twilight said at last, "I only remember getting on the TARDIS at the Library after the first trip. The rest is just one big blank!"
"Just checking. Now," the Doctor started the TARDIS back up, "How did you start the TARDIS?" the Doctor demanded an explanation.
"Spoilers," Future Twilight teased.
"Right," the Doctor gave an exasperated sigh.
The controls sparked and fizzed loudly. The Doctor went to them and held down a lever before letting go and gripping the handrail. Future Twilight did the same.
"ALLONS-Y!" the Doctor and Future Twilight cheered in unison.
The creature raised his head and said, "I sense it, too. They are coming."
The fire flared and burned brighter.
"Yes, Master. I shall begin the transfer." The creature hurried over to the unconscious Twilight and undid the magical bindings. It took some effort, but he was able to drag her towards the center of the room.
As Twilight's body neared the fire, the fire burned more intensely and her own body began emitting a dim, violet radiance. The creature saw this and began to draw an arrow and a circle, out of the burned wood from the fire, on the wooden floor, pointing to the fire. He drew a symbol representing fire, he sprinkled some ashes at it's base, and finally, on Twilight's cutie mark.
Anything lighter than a pebble in the room was slowly blowing around, and the steadily increasing VVRROOMMP was becoming more noticeable.
Twilight's body glowed brighter and, very very slowly, her lavender coat began to fade to grey.
"Excellent!" the fire spoke for the first time, its voice being harsh and deep, "It has begun..."
Back on the TARDIS...
... Future Twilight clutched her forehead and staggered back a few paces before wrapping her hooves back around a rail, which is quite a harrowing experience in a moving TARDIS.
The Doctor noticed her and shouted above the noise, "WHAT'S WRONG?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Future Twilight shouted back. "IT'S STRANGE!"
The TARDIS flew over the town square and narrowly avoided a collision with the town hall. It spun through the air blindly as it approached their destination. The building was coming up fast.
"BRACE YOURSELF!" the Doctor shouted.
Future Twilight did so, and just in the nick of time. The TARDIS crashed through the walls on the second story of the guesthouse, plowed through a master bedroom, ripped through the staircase, and slammed into the first floor dining room. When the smoke and dust cleared, the Doctor threw open the doors, his form silhouetted within the outline of the TARDIS.
"Nice, *cough*, landing," Future Twilight said sarcastically.
"No need to be rude!" the Doctor retorted. "Its not like I blew up the place."
The pair rushed through the house and burst into the main parlor. There they saw Twilight, lying still, her colored coat and mane continually greying over. Future Twilight began to run over, but she stopped because of a searing pain in her head. She cried out and fell next to her past self, who began to stir.
"Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't do that if I were you," a deep, raspy voice echoed throughout the well sized room. The fire in the hearth glowed a deep red-orange as the flames leapt off the wooden logs. "Raw power has its ups and downs, so no touching!"
"Who's there?" the Doctor shouted. He looked around the room but only found the fire. "By order of the Shadow Proclamation, I order you to show yourself!"
The fire increased in size and strength, and a pair of pitch-black eyes appeared within the red-hot flames. "Oh, calm yourself, Doctor. Don't break that... annoyingly... clever persona of yours."
The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver with his mouth and aimed it at the fire. After a quick scan, he went cross-eyed looking at the device, but could still see it clearly enough to get a reading.
"That's not possible!" he said in disbelief, "You shouldn't be alive. Your form is unstable, but... you are alive. How?"
"My followers are quite caring. Plus, I have your little pet's aura keeping me company."
"You shouldn't be doing this! Don't you know what it will do to her?!" The Doctor looked at both Twilights, "To both of them?!"
"Yes, I'm well aware, but I don't care about that," the fire creature dismissed the Doctor.
Future Twilight moved away from her past self and limped toward the Doctor. "What's it going to do to us?"
"He's draining Twilight's magical energy. Enough to put a hole straight through the fabric of space and time."
"But what will it do to me and her?"
"He's going to drain all of her energy, and he's going to use that power to practically delete the two you from existence." The Doctor addressed the fire, "But that sort of mental output would kill you. Wouldn't it?"
"Ms. Sparkle..." the fire said to Future Twilight, as if he was expecting an answer.
"He just might succeed," Future Twilight said.
The Doctor just stared at her, a worried expression spread across his face.
"That power may be unstable, but he can use the controllable bit of the magical force to anchor his mind to any point in my timeline. That way, he can continue his existence, but with slightly limited abilities."
"But why you?" the Doctor asked, "There are thousands of other ponies and magical creatures. Why Twilight?"
"Spoilers, Doctor." Future Twilight cried out again as another shot of pain ran through her head.
Twilight, who had been gaining consciousness slowly, focused on her Future self, and she saw a brief tear run down her future cheek.
The sound of a deep intake of breath came from the fire and a glowing mouth suddenly appeared. "Ahhhhhhhhhh. It appears that Miss Sparkle's back with us. Let the screams of agony commence."
The building shook and the fire's size increased dramatically. The Doctor and Future Twilight staggered back from the fire and hit the wall. A warm wind, that slowly became hotter, began blowing through the room and the pair had to shield their eyes. Twilight, back on the floor, was experiencing the worst of it and would be scarred for a while if she lived through this ordeal.
The fire was now beginning to change shape. Two large, scaly arms reached out of the fire and gripped the wooden floorboards, snapping them and shredding them to pieces. An equally scaly head emerged, followed by two legs and a tail. The creature that now stood within the hall was nearly fifteen feet tall and its horns scraped the wooden ceiling above.
"At last!" the creature boomed, "I shall unleash all of HELL!"
The creature standing before the three time travelers had the angular head of a dragon, the strong body of a lion, the slick tail of a snake, the slim hind legs of a wolf, and the arms and hands of a human being but with clawed fingernails. It's scaly body rippled in the dim firelight, and its claws scraped against the wooden floorboards. The creature grinned wickedly, revealing dozens of razor sharp teeth.
"You have failed, Doctor," the voice of the creature was harsh, cold, and sent chills down everypony's spines, "I shall win this time!"
The Doctor shouted, "Stop this, now!"
"Why should I? I'm enjoying this too much!" he laughed.
"If you don't end this now, I'll-"
"Stop me?" the creature feigned fright. "I thought so. But I don't think that you would risk your little apprentice."
The dragon/pony creature that only Twilight had encountered jumped down from the ceiling, grabbed Twilight's head, and exposed her neck. The new creature took it's own pointed claws and gently placed them on her neck.
"Don't listen to him!" Twilight screamed, "Just sto-"
The creature clamped the struggling Twilight's mouth shut, preventing any further comments.
"Now, what'll it be, Doctor?" the mixed creature asked, "Me... or the girl?"
The Doctor looked between the two of them. He had to choose. Save Twilight or a stop future enemy at Twilight's expense.
"What is your name?"
Everypony turned to Future Twilight who stared up at the monster defiantly.
"What?" the creature asked her, giving a small chuckle.
"What is your name?"
"Why, what a ridiculous question for somepony who knows, already!" he laughed.
Future Twilight gave him a cool stare. "What. Is. Your. Name," Future Twilight enunciated each word with unwavering insistence, "I want them to know."
The creature sighed dramatically, "If you must know. It is... The Hate." The temperature in the room literally dropped briefly after he said it.
"Whose hate?" the Doctor asked.
"It's those pesky spoilers Doctor," the Hate chided playfully, "always getting in the way." He then grinned wickedly as both Twilights cried out in pain. The Hate breathed in deeply, his wicked smile growing wider. "It appears that I've reached full power," the Hate turned to Twilight, "Thank you Miss Sparkle. You've been a great help."
Twilight lost consciousness immediately upon hearing those words.
Future Twilight clutched her forehead in her hooves again and sat down.
"What's... going on... ungh... Doctor?" she said between small bursts of head pains.
"He's starting!"
The floor began to shake violently and bits of plaster and wood fell off of the already decrepit ceiling and walls. The floorboards shuddered and creaked loudly, some even snapped like twigs.
At first, a slight wind started in the room and picked up small papers and dust. Then, it grew stronger, pulling plaster and wood into a swirling vortex that surrounded Twilight, the Hate, and the third creature. The Doctor tried to get through, but the wall of dust and debris prevented him from doing so.
That's when a small patch of floor within the vortex was sucked into the ground and the portal appeared.
The Doctor realized that portal looked similar to the inside of the time vortex, and melded between shades of red and blue, sometimes mixing together to form varying degrees of purple. Streaks of lightning shot out of the portal and mixed in with the dust vortex surrounding the creatures and Twilight.
"I SHALL END HER, DOCTOR!" the Hate bellowed, his voice cutting through the noise of the swirling vortex, "AND I SHALL MAKE YOU SUFFER! I WILL MAKE YOU ALL SUFFER!"
The room was shaking under the amount of supernatural force battering the building. The portal began increasing in diameter, and the Hate's accomplice began pushing the unconscious Twilight toward its ever growing edge. A large, upholstered chair was picked up and thrown against the wall, relatively close to Future Twilight and the Doctor.
"Twilight!" Future Twilight shouted. Her head began to hurt more and more as Twilight got closer to the portal. "If you can hear me, help us! You can still stop him! You can still win! Remember Applejack! Remember Rainbow Dash! Remember everypony that you've ever known and loved! If you don't stop him now, he'll hurt everypony you care about! Please! Wake up!" Future Twilight began to feel her own consciousness slipping away. "Help us..." she trailed off, "please..." and she was out.
The Doctor put some figures together in his mind and he understood. "Twilight!" he called to her, "Twilight, can you hear me?! If you can, listen! You do have the power to help us! He's using your energy, your power! You still have control! You can stop him!"
Through a haze of confusion, Twilight's eyes opened slowly. The roaring wind and cracks of thunder were little more than that of a gentle breeze and twigs cracking under a hoof. She blinked a few times and noticed that she was being dragged towards the portal by the dragon-like minion. She craned her neck to look up at the multi-formed Hate creature who was shouting something at the Doctor, but it was muffled from her current dizziness and the storm.
That's when she heard the voice.
"Save them, Twilight. Save the Doctor and your friends. Save everypony you care about, everyone you know. Help save me."
The voice was a stallions, that much was certain. It was unfamiliar to her, but Twilight had a strange feeling, like she knew who it was.
"Who are you?" she asked it. She doubted that anypony would hear her over the noise, but she still said it in a whisper.
"A friend," it answered back softly, "a good friend."
"How are you talking to me," she whispered.
The voice suddenly became serious, "There isn't time to explain, but you have to hurry. You have to listen to my precise instructions."
"Alright," Twilight complied.
On the outside of the vortex, the Doctor watched Twilight's eyelids scrunch up in concentration. 'I think she's got it,' he thought.
"IT IS ALMOST TIME, DOCTOR!" the Hate shouted, he and his minion unaware of Twilight stirring next to them. "YOU WILL SOON FEEL WHAT TRUE TORTURE IS!"
Suddenly the room was engulfed in a brilliant explosion of bright light, and every creature in the room turned towards Twilight. Even Future Twilight snapped back into consciousness. Twilight was floating within the center of the vortex, a few feet above the gaping mouth of the portal, and her eyes were glowing a pure white.
"What is this?!" the Hate shouted, "What are you doing?!"
Twilight's body turned in his direction and her voice cut through the torrent of noises, "HATE, YOU HAVE COMMITTED MANY VIOLENT ACTS AGAINST THE INHABITANTS OF THIS UNIVERSE!" Her voice was layered with incredible power and echoed around the room. "SUCH CRIMES ARE PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!" Twilight's eyes lowered, "BUT I'M GOING TO DO SOMETHING MUCH WORSE!"
Future Twilight looked at her past self in awe. "I remember this," she said quietly.
The Hate tried to grab Twilight, but was forced back by a wave of energy emanating from Twilight's body.
"YOU MUST PAY FOR YOUR ACTIONS," she said. "NOW MEET YOUR FATE!"
The Hate then appeared to be grabbed by invisible bonds, and was being pulled into the portal, quickly. The minion creature screamed in terror as his own body was grabbed and thrown into the mouth of it, much more easily due to his size. The Hate struggled furiously, but was overpowered as Twilight's immense magic gave a final tug, and he fell in.
The Hate cried out, "You will DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!" and then he vanished.
The winds began to die down slowly. Luckily, it was moving slow enough for the Doctor to slowly begin close the distance between him and Twilight, but the portal still blocked his way even though it now began to shrink gradually.
"You can stop," he said, louder than a normal tone. The wind may have been dying down, but it was still making an audible noise and buffeting him to a degree.
Twilight's eyes began to dim slowly, returning to the normal purple. "Not yet," she said, her voice barely audible, "I still have something to do." Twilight's eyes finally returned to normal and she looked between her future self and the Doctor.
Twilight began falling towards the closing portal.
"Twilight!" the Doctor shouted. He ran forward as fast as he could, the still present winds slowing him slightly. He leapt over the opening of the portal and was just able to catch her hooves in his and he landed on the opposite side. The portal slowed its closing and stopped with only four feet to go, Twilight being pulled inwards with the Doctor struggling to pull her out.
"Doctor, stop!" Twilight said, "I have to close it!"
"We'll find another way!" he shouted. "I'm not going to lose you now!"
"There isn't another way," Twilight sighed.
The Doctor was now having trouble on keeping Twilight out of the portal and was beginning to be pulled in by its relentless vacuum. "This is going to erase you from all of history! You'll never exist!"
Twilight lowered her head, "It's something I'll have to do to save my friends." A small stream of tears began to slide down Twilight's face. Twilight leaned closer and whispered into the Doctor's ear, "Don't forget me, Doctor," and she let go.
"NO!" the Doctor screamed. He watched as Twilight was quickly pulled towards the portal and fell through.
The portal sparked with electricity and loudly collapsed in on itself with a deafening BOOM! and disappeared. All that was left was a large patch of earth in its place.
The Doctor immediately jumped to his hooves and began digging frantically through the earth. "No no no no no!" he pleaded, "Not this soon!". He began to slow his digging, beginning to realize that the task was proving futile. He sat there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the partially dug up spot on the ground. "Gone," he said to himself, "She's gone." The Doctor lifted his head up, and looked at the ceiling (which was surprisingly still intact). "ONE!" he screamed into the air, "Give me just one chance!" He closed his eyes and hung his head, eyes slowly watering, "Just one."
"Doctor?" the silence was suddenly interrupted.
His eyes opened slowly, refusing to look away from the floor. "Yes?"
Future Twilight came up behind him, "What happened to my past self?"
The Doctor rubbed his hoof over his eyes, "Simple, Ms. Sparkle. Young Twilight just fell through a forced crack in time and space, creating a moment where everything done could be undone. Anything could be erased." The Doctor stared at the open ground again.
"So... I'm gone?" she asked.
"Yes. You're gone. After you fell through, you were deleted from existence."
"I never happened and never existed?"
"Yes," the Doctor confirmed quietly.
Future Twilight abruptly started laughing like a filly that knew something secret.
"What's so funny?" the Doctor wondered, ears perking up slightly.
"For somepony with a brain like yours, you have surprisingly bad perception," Future Twilight chuckled.
The Doctor gave her a confused look. He stared at Future Twilight for a few more moments.
Then it hit him.
The Doctor jumped to his hooves, excited and overjoyed. "You're-?! That means-?!"
Future Twilight nodded. "Go, Doctor," the lavender mare smiled, "go find me."
The Doctor jumped back to his hooves and ran out of the room at top speed, bursting through the TARDIS doors. He ran around the controls and began flipping levers, pressing buttons, and switching switches. He was about to head off, but he realized that he was missing something. He hopped out and approached Future Twilight, now standing in front of the ship.
"Can I have some-"
Future Twilight held out a strand of her mane to the Doctor.
The Doctor grinned, "You are good."
Future Twilight grinned back, "Go on."
He ran back to the TARDIS and placed the hair on the console. "Miss Sparkle, the Doctor will be with you shortly!"
VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP!
Future Twilight leaned against the doorway and watched the TARDIS fade away. "Run, you smart stallion," she said to herself, "run and find me." Future Twilight straightened up and left the guesthouse, starting her walk back to the library. The night had now begun to give way to the early morning and she walked through the town, the streets abandoned, everypony busy resting from the horrors, and joys, of Nightmare Night.
Future Twilight pushed open the door and entered the Library's main room. She now looked around, appreciating everything with a whole new perspective. A near death experience could do that to a pony. She stood around for a while longer before she heard voices in the basement. She smiled widely and ran to the door. When she threw it open, she looked down the stairs and saw everypony that had been affected by the creature to be up and about.
"He did it, again," she breathed, "he did it."
"Twilight?!"
Future Twilight looked in the direction of the voice and was confronted by Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air next to her.
"What's going on?" Rainbow asked.
"And what are we doin' in your basement?" Applejack questioned, trotting up the stairs.
Future Twilight just wrapped both of them up in a hug and felt tears of joy welling up in her eyes. "The Doctor really did it!"
"Wait?!" Rainbow broke free of the embrace. "The Doctor was here?!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah... he was."
Later...
About an hour later, Future Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack were able to get everypony who had been affected by the Hate's minion back to their homes safely. The three of them eventually came up with reasonable explanations as to what everypony was doing in the library basement. They figured that excessive candy consumption was much more believable than being half-dead because of a dragon creature whose main goal was evil and destruction. They returned to the library, and opened the door, but found that somepony had gotten there ahead of them.
"Good morning, ladies." A unicorn stallion with a tan coat, a black mane, and a cutie mark that consisted of a screwdriver and a set of pliers set in front of a sound wave, sat in the far corner of the library. His grey, magical aura enveloped a book titled A Brief View of Equestrian History. He looked up from his book and asked, "How's life?"
Rainbow groaned and her wings flared up, "Why are you here?"
The stallion feigned shock, "Such disrespect for somepony who's saved your lives. On more than one occasion, I might add."
"Just tell us what you want," Future Twilight demanded, "You're starting to sound like Discord... again."
The stallion rolled his eyes, "A being of chaos mixed with a near insane mind is never a good combination. As for what I'm doing here, I saw the lightning over the Guesthouse and figured that the Doctor was here. Simple as that."
"Why?" AJ questioned, "Do ya need to see the Doc, again?"
"No. I just need to know what happened tonight," the stallion's expression became grave.
"It was the Hate," Future Twilight told him straight out.
"The first battle?"
"Can't be a battle if your going to lose, anyway."
"Alright," the stallion breathed, "I needed to be sure." He held his left foreleg up, revealing the leather strap of a vortex manipulator. He looked back at Future Twilight, "Was that what the sensors picked up?"
She nodded in rely before adding, "Tell my brother and Cadence I said 'Hi'."
He smiled, "Can do, friend." The stallion pressed a few buttons on the manipulator and disappeared.
"And tell them I'm sorry." Future Twilight sighed and turned back to Rainbow and AJ. "Who wants to-"
A sudden flash of light made them look over. The stallion was back, and holding a scrap of paper in his right hoof. "It looks like you made it," he let the scrap float to the floor before disappearing again, leaving a wisp of smoke in his place.
Future Twilight walked over to the paper, picked it up, and read it:
Below the numbers, there was a translation written in black ink: 'Somepony came! Somepony came!' Below that, there was another message, obviously added by the translator: 'It looks like you've just met him, friend.'
=All Information Unknown=
Twilight opened her eyes slowly, wondering why she had them closed in the first place. She shook of her mysterious grogginess and looked at her surroundings. She seemed to be in some kind of small room. At least she assumed this, since there was very little light and the space was mostly covered in shadow. When she listened closely, she heard somepony sobbing. Quietly, but sobbing. Twilight got to her hooves slowly and called out. "Is anypony there?"
The sobbing quieted abruptly and a pair of dull grey eyes peered out of the gloom. Twilight saw the way that the shrunken pupils watched her and knew that the mysterious creature was afraid of her.
"Don't worry," Twilight said in a soothing tone, trying to mimic how Fluttershy would speak with her animal friends, "I won't hurt you."
"No, you won't," the creature spoke. It sounded like a stallion to Twilight, and its voice quavered dangerously, "But they will."
"Who?" Twilight asked, a bit worried now.
The eyes darted around, looking through the gloom. "Just stay out of the shadows," the stallion said, "Stay away from them!"
