“What?! ‘Salvation’? That’s the most ridiculous thing Ah’d ever heard in mah life! And Ah lived for a long time, missy, so I’ve heard some pretty ridiculous things!” Granny Smith slammed her hoof down on the table.
“A drug that cures everything… Feh. In mah day, if yah were sick, yah still worked! Yah worked till you got better, er ya died! The only medicine we had was made of pine needles and rocks. It tasted like crap and it worked! What was so wrong with that, huh?!”
Granny Smith continued to rant on about how things used to be before her family built Ponyville. ‘The good ol’ days’, as she called it. When Granny Smith talked, she tended to go off topic. She went on for a while, going on many tangents about farming, travel, diarrhea, and a number of strange things about a blue box. Before long, she had completely forgotten about Twilight, Pinkie and the medicine, and was now just talking about apples. Most conversations with her ended with apples.
“Uh... Granny Smith? Ah think it’s time for yer nap…” the young AppleBloom awkwardly lead the rambling Granny Smith out of the room, leaving a confused Twilight and Pinkie Pie alone in the Apple family’s den. Pinkie sat beside Twilight, obliviously eating apples. Twilight blinked.
“If things were good before Ponyville was built, why’d they build it?” Twilight whispered aside to Pinkie. She stifled a giggle through a mouthful of apple.
When the two arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, they had been informed that their friend Applejack was in bed. She was sick with a fever. Immediately concerned for her friend, Twilight foolishly asked if she had taken any new medicine recently. When the subject of ‘new medicine’ was brought up, Granny Smith entered an ‘Elderly remembrance of other times’ mind set as Twilight called it, or as Pinkie Pie called it, ‘Crazy old-people talk about how things used to be better than they are now’ ramble, and began spewing out rant after rant.
Seeing that they were getting nowhere with this, Twilight hopped off of her chair. Once again, she found that the chairs in Ponyville just were not very comfortable. That was why she had ordered a specially made one from Canterlot. She specifically told Spike not to sit in it when she was away. She had a feeling he was not obeying her orders…
Pinkie sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I guess we-“
“Pst.”
Pinkie was cut off by a quick noise. It sounded like a whisper. A voice. A very deep and familiar voice. The noise came from the direction of the door other than that which AppleBloom escorted Granny Smith. Both Pinkie and Twilight turned to see a large red mass standing in the front door. The mass wore a dirty head of orange mane and a large brown yoke round his big neck. It was none other than Big Macintosh, the very same farm pony that had crushed Twilight’s pills earlier that very morning.
“Miss Pie. Miss Sparkle. Ah know what yer talking about.” he said in his deep ad thick southern accent, “Ah know about the drug.”
…
“Nice collection here.” The Doctor said, perusing through the library’s shelves. He had scampered up the steps of the Ponyville library and began looking through the books on the shelf. He never really got a good chance to observe books, always busy running around and that sort. Over the time Twilight lived in Ponyville, she had amassed even more books for both the library and her own personal collection. Some books she had shipped over from Canterlot to Ponyville. It was nowhere close to the size of her collection back home, but it was more than one would see anywhere else in Ponyville.
“Yeah. It’s great. Twilight loves books; Twilight lives in a library.” Spike said.
“Makes sense to me.” The Doctor turned around to the small dragon. “So, you’re Twilight’s what, pet?”
Spike furrowed his brow. He was not Twilight’s pet. How dare he make such an accusation! He was twilight’s number one assistant! He did his fair share of work round the place! Spike gave the Doctor such a glare. If looks could kill, the Doctor would be dead before he had time to regenerate!
Oblivious, the Doctor blinked. “Cuz it’s totally cool if you are. Somepony tried to make me their pet once.” He smiled as he remembered the time he shrunk down to only a few inches tall… “I myself wasn’t keen on the idea, though.” He frowned.
Spike ignored him. “No. I’m not her ‘pet’!” Using air quotes, Spike mimicked the Doctor’s odd British accent. He didn’t quite do it justice, though. The Doctor stifled a laugh at Spike’s humorous attempt at his voice. Not many ponies could pull off such a voice that could be taken seriously. Neither could dragons, apparently. “I’m her number one assistant!” the baby dragon said proudly.
The Doctor flashed his big bright teeth. “Really. She has her own assistant…” he began pacing around Spike. If the Doctor had arms, they would be crossed right about now. He looked up and down the short dragon, almost like he was sizing him up. Spike just stood firm. He wasn’t going to be intimidated by this guy…
“She’s got somepony to help her out in times of need…” he said.
“Yeah. I help her out a lot.” Spike agreed with him. He watched his words carefully. As much as he wanted to trust him, Spike didn’t let his guard down.
“Somepony to keep her company…” The Doctor began to walk away. Spike kept in follow. He wanted to keep an eye on him.
“Yeah. There aren’t that many dragons around…” He trailed off to think for a moment. He thought about all the other times that they had encountered dragons: the one sleeping on the mountain, the one he ran into while running away, the group of bullies he once was with… “Well, okay, none like me around here, anyway…”
The Doctor just continued to walk. “You’ve known Twilight for a long time then?”
“She’s been my best friend my whole life.” He paused. “Actually, she’s more than just my friend. I’ve known her my entire life. She’s my mentor, sister, parent…”
“Companion.” The Doctor thought to himself. No matter how he thought it, his mind continued to come back to the same conclusion and similarity.
“Huh?” Spike turned to the stallion. Apparently his little comment wasn’t kept as secure in his mind as he thought.
“OH, uh. Nothing. Nothing…” The Doctor quickly covered up. His smiled returned two fold. “Sounds like you’ve got it good here, Spike.”
Spike smiled back. Maybe this guy was okay. Sure, he may have had some strange qualities about him, but then again, what pony didn’t really? He seemed to have this unique charm that made it difficult for Spike to hate him. Besides, most of Twilight’s friends were pretty cool. If this guy knew Twilight, maybe he was cool too.
Suddenly, the Doctor’s smile dropped. He stopped mid pace. He stared for a moment. Just staring off into space. Spike looked up to the Doctor he gave him a quizzical look. He waved his hand in front of his face. He turned round to see what the Doctor was looking at. He didn’t see anything but the door that led to the basement. He turned back around.
“Uh… Doctor?”
“Tea!”
The Doctor jolted as he snapped out of his trance. He looked away from the basement door and down at Spike. Okay, now Spike was really confused. Did he just say tea? What on earth was he doing? Spike said nothing, though. Just giving him a strange look. The Doctor looked back and forth for a second. He looked to Spike. He looked up at the door just beyond him. Back down to Spike.
“Tea?” Spike said curiously and now slightly irritated.
“Tea. Yes. I would like some… tea. Please, can you make me some?” The Doctor brought up a rather convincing smile. Spike just looked at him, unsure what he was doing. Well, he was British, wasn’t he? British ponies drank a lot of tea, right? Made sense to Spike. He walked over to the staircase, not taking his eyes off of the Doctor. Giving the Doctor one last judgemental glare, he stepped off down the stairs to make the tea.
Looking down the stairs quick to make sure he was alone, The Doctor stepped back towards the basement door. Trying it a couple times, he was unsurprised to find it locked. Spike didn’t trust him alone in this place? How rude! Popping out his trusty screwdriver, he unlocked about as well as he unlocked anything else: with ease. The wooden door creaked audibly as it opened. He wasn’t sure if Spike heard him or not, but it didn’t matter now. He had important things to investigate.
Stepping down the stairs into the darkened room, the Doctor fumbled for a bit. As brilliant and clever as he was, he still could not see in the dark. By just the light of his sonic, he found the light switch and flicked it on. The consuming darkness vanished as the light washed over the room. The place was exactly as he remembered. Beakers and test tubes and heavy machinery lie all over the basement. The closet door was still smashed from the parasprite breaking through. Apparently, Twilight hadn’t had time to clean up, yet. The Doctor ignored these, however, and went ahead to do what he came to do. Without a word, he calmly raised his hoof. He held his hoof in the air for some time before moving it slowly. Back and forth he waved his hoof in the air, concentrating as if he was trying to find something.
After apparently sensing something, he began walking forward. He took a few steps this way, a couple paces that way. He made his way across the basement before finally arriving at the end of his little dowsing expedition: a small wooden trunk.
The same trunk that started the whole thing. The trunk that got Twilight first involved with the Doctor. A parasprite hid in the box when they first met. It turned out to be deadly, very deadly, and nearly killed them. For Twilight, it was terrifying. For the Doctor, it was a nice easy task to overcome. A fun colourful little hairball with arms/legs that was made with science instead of this confusing magic stuff. How nice. However, one thing had been pegged in the back of his mind since he had saved her, bothering him to no end: how did the parasprite get in the box?
The Doctor approached the little wooden cube. The lid of the trunk had slammed shut during the scuffle that had taken place shortly after its opening. Raising the lid, his eyes widened. A smile crept across his face as he swept his hoof through the air above the open box. Now this was interesting!
“HEY!” Somepony yelled at him from behind.
The Doctor looked back over his shoulder to see one rather angry little dragon. His arms were crossed and his face was just as cross. “I knew it! I knew I couldn’t trust you! I leave for five minutes and you’re already snooping through Twilight’s stuff!” he accused the tan pony.
The Doctor did not seem fazed by the accusations, keeping his calm exterior. He was used to this kind of thing. Without saying anything, he turned his attention back to the box.
Spike couldn’t believe him. “What are you doing? Don’t turn around! Hello!! I’m talking to you!” he continued to yell but to no avail. Finally, he walked up beside the Doctor to see what he was doing. All he saw was the box. It was empty. Spike looked from the box to the Doctor, and then back to the box. The Doctor ignored him and just focused on the fascinating box.
Spike didn’t get it. “What are y-“
“Shh!” The Doctor put a hoof up to silence him. He didn’t take his eyes off the box.
How rude! How dare he shush Spike after he was caught red hoofed trespassing and snooping! What on earth was he even doing? Spike was confused and offended.
“Hey, don’t-“
“Sh-sh-sh!” He shushed Spike again, putting a hoof to his own mouth. This time he turned around and gave him a look. Spike said nothing. His angry face said everything. After a few moments of silence, he released his hoof and turned back again.
“Did Twilight ever tell you how she met me?”
“No. She didn’t say anything about you. I’m starting to doubt you even know her personally.” Spike crossed his little arms again.
“Oh. Well, basically I tracked a strange energy signal down to the basement here and found a parasprite that had been altered with science and I took care of it. After that we ended up at the local hospital because of Lyra’s missing cutie mark and we made our own separate ways. After she left, I made some interesting discoveries and it turns out that it’s probably because of a drug called Salvation. The missing cutie mark, not the parasprite, I mean.” he said quickly without even giving Spike a chance to comprehend.
“The only thing I didn’t find out however is where that parasprite came from in the first place.” He said in a way that Spike somewhat understood.
“Now, when something appears from nowhere and you know could not have just jumped away and hidden itself in there, there can only be one answer as to where it came from.”
Spike thought for a moment before realizing the answer was simple. “Somepony teleported it here?” Spike said, still trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
The Doctor paused for a moment, thinking. “Well… yes and no. Sort of. Almost. Not exactly. Yes.” Spike was ready to give up with this guy.
From a certain location Spike could not exactly say where it was, The Doctor pulled out a funny little metal device. He thought it looked like a really fancy pen. “See, when something is teleported by regular controlled unicorn magic, it transports over physically into ether and then back into reality at its intended destination, right?”
“Uh… sure.” Spike had no clue.
“Anyway, this particular teleportation is different. Rather than just transporting the subject, it opened a rip in the very fabric of reality and shoved it through. Then they stitched the rip shut. Very stupid if I might say.”
Spike nodded. He actually understood that part. More or less.
He continued, “But just like any patch job on a piece of cloth, if the stiches aren’t placed properly…” he placed the device in his mouth to operate it.
His little metal stick little up blue and produced a high pitched ‘whirring’ sound. Not two second later, Spike saw something amazing. Right in front of his eyes, the air moved. He couldn’t actually see it at first, but then, clear as day, he saw realty separate. There, in the air occupied above the open chest, was a tear. A very rough and jagged rip. Glowing blue and light purple, it seemed to pulse periodically. It wasn’t attached to anything, and when he moved his head, it stayed in place. Floating in the air…
“What is that thing?” Spike said, amazed. Despite being around incredible feats of magic and impossibilities frequently with Twilight, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The Doctor looked away from the hole to look at Spike. “It’s a tear in reality, remember? Weren’t you listening to what I just said?” he said, putting away his device. He looked at Spike like he had bananas stuck in his ears. Very silly.
The two turned their attention back to the spectacle that was worth looking at. Crouching lower for a better look, The Doctor observed the rip. It was really nothing special to him. Just a little snag in time and space. Easily fixable. He only changed the frequency of the energy it produced to make it visible for Spike to explain what he was doing.
“I’m sure Twilight has told you the history of teleportation spells?” The Doctor
Spike just gave him a blank look.
“Well, to put it shortly, the original way was to open a hole in space and pass the object through, as seen here.” He motioned towards the hole with his hoof. “It was a very dangerous and delicate procedure. Only the highest of master magicians and spell casters could perform it, and even then with difficultly.”
“As their techniques evolved however, they learned new ways to transport matter and simpler ways of teleportation. This kind of teleportation hasn’t been used in, oh…” he stopped to think, “Few thousand years?”
Miraculously, Spike actually managed to follow the Doctor’s train of thought and train crash of an explanation. “So… why would anypony do this? If regular teleportation is so much simpler, why rip a hole and not even fix it right?”
Shrugging, the Doctor leaned against the box. “I don’t know. Perhaps to prove a point. Perhaps they want to destroy the universe?” A look of disagreement washed over his face. “Although, if that’s your choice, don’t do it this way, this way’s boring.” The Doctor shook his head. Spike rolled his eyes.
“I should get Twilight over here…” he said a tad quieter. He stood back up to his full height. “Ah, when did you say she’d be back?” he asked the dragon of the household.
Spike hesitated. “Uh…. Um… Soon?” He had no clue.
The Doctor furrowed his brow. “Well, where did she say she was going?”
Spike shrugged. He didn’t remember what she said to him at all this morning. All he knew was that she was out.
The Doctor sighed. Twilight had to see this. It was very important she was notified of this right away. But without knowledge of her current location, what was there to do? Wait here in the library for possibly hours and do nothing but talk to Spike? The Doctor nearly burst aloud laughing at the thought.
“Sorry. But I’m sure she won’t be gone too long. She has to be back eventually.” Spike said.
“Er… By the way…” the Doctor said, looking back to the rip, which had started to glow a new purple colour, “What was the name of that pegasus in the bed back in Twilight’s room?”
Spike stopped. He took a moment to switch gears and figure out what on earth the earth pony had just said. What was the mare’s name? There was a hole in reality and he was curious about the mare in the bed!? Somepony’s priorities were not in order and Spike doubted it was him.
Spike shook his head. “What? Um... Rainbow Dash. Why?”
“Hm… You said she was sick, right? That she wouldn’t be out of bed for a long while?”
“Probably. I’m not exactly sure, I feel sleep while they were figuring it out. But that seems about right.” Spike did not know where he was going with this and somewhat didn’t care. Who knew what this guy was going on about...
“It’s not about right, it is right.” The Doctor said, looking like he was thinking. “I could tell. It’s the same thing as Lyra. Lyra’s in bed, too. In fact, they aren’t going anywhere until I fix this and even then it will take a while for them to recover!” said the Doctor a tad louder than was appropriate.
“Okay, so…?” Spike didn’t get it. “So she’s in bed! What does that have to do with this hole!?” Spike was beginning to get angry again.
The Doctor shrugged. “Possibly nothing; possibly something.” he replied calmly. “But that’s not important right now.” He walked up a bit closer to Spike and bent down.
“What is important is: If Rainbow Dash is supposed to be in bed at this very moment…” his eyes shifted slowly to the right; the direction of the stairs. Spike eyes followed to see exactly the point the Doctor was trying to make.
“Why is she standing right there?”
…
Arriving at the top of the stairs, Twilight opened the door to AJ’s room. It was a decent bedroom. A little empty, but it looked like it served its purpose. The bed was right next to the door. Looking like death itself curdled over, laid the sickly ill Applejack. Her mane was a mess and her eyes bloodshot. The bags under her eyes did not help her appearance. She noticed the trio enter her abode and sat up.
“Well, *cough*… Howdy Twilight, Pinkie *cough* Pie.” Applejack gave a very small smile to her friends. Her voice was very hoarse and weak. Pinkie walked around to either side of the bed, observing her sick friend. Big Macintosh stayed in the doorway, looking cool and silent as always.
“What are ya’ll *cough* doing here?” Applejack said, glad to see her friends.
Twilight was the one to speak. “We’re here to help. We know of the pills Rarity gave you. We need them. We think they’re what’s causing your illness. With some samples of the pills I can probably make an antidote.”
Twilight hoped that Applejack wouldn’t need a lengthy explanation. She was getting tired of retelling the same story over and over. And what if AJ didn’t believe her? Would she have to take them by force? Would she have to convince Big Mac to-
“Oh okay.”
Applejack reached over to the nightstand beside the bed and grabbed the pill bottle sitting on top. It was about half full. She leaned over and handed them to the purple unicorn. “Here ya are.”
And just as simple as that, Twilight was now in possession of ‘Salvation’. She blinked. There it was. Right in her hooves, easy as that. It seemed like such a simple task now that she had accomplished it...
Twilight blinked again. “Um… uh… Thanks.”
Applejack brushed it off like it was nothing. “No problem. I mean, it’s kinda ironic that the medicine would be the one ta’ cause what ails ya.” She smiled. Even in this degraded state, Applejack kept her spirits up. Her determined and tough attitude pushed through her the worst of times. Twilight admired her for that.
“Um. Yeah. Well, don’t worry, Applejack. I’m sure with this I’ll be able to find a cure. We’ll get to the bottom of this!” Twilight smiled, Applejacks high spirits rubbing off on her. She was actually starting to feel better herself.
“YAAAAAY!” Pinkie nearly exploded at this. Applejack’s spirits may have been high, but Pinkie’s were through the roof! “Hooray! Everypony will be better! I’m gonna throw a huge party for everypony! They’ll all love it! I’ll call it ‘Goodbye Salvation’ or maybe-“
“Uggahh!”
Pinkie gained a face of confusion, which was quickly taken over by one of laughter. “Uggahh? Ha ha ha! That’s not a good name for a party!” Pinkie laughed at the thought. “Silly willy!”
“Pinkie…”
“I mean, just imagine: ‘Hi! Welcome! We’re so glad you didn’t die from a horrible drug that was supposed to kill you instead of making you feel better and now we’re having a party, we call it ‘Uggahh!’” She laughed even harder at this.
“Pinkie!” Twilight called out, trying to bring Pinkie back to the real world.
“Yes, Twilight?” Pinkie finally stopped giggling enough to pay attention, quite a feat in itself. She turned, only to see Twilight and Big Mac, wide eyed and mouths gaping in shock. Curiosity rising, Pinkie followed their line of sight to come to one Applejack in bed. Pinkie gasped as well.
Applejack was experiencing the single most horrifying experience of her life. The orange farm pony thrashed around in the bed, screaming in pain. A cold sweat poured down her forehead as she shook and convulsed. As sick as she seemed before, it was nothing compared to how ill she became after this horrid experience. As the trio watched on, they noticed a sickly green glow pulsing around Applejack’s body. It wasn’t like unicorn magic surrounding an object. This was different; it was like her own body was producing it. Nopony could do anything as they watched the horrific scene unfold. Even Pinkie was shockingly quiet at this. Even if she spoke, it would most likely have been drowned out by Applejack’s grunts and cries.
Then, just as suddenly as they began, her screams of agony stopped. Applejack fell back on her bed, completely spent. She did not move. Moments of silence passed. Nopony moved a muscle. They all waited for their heart rates to drop before making any motion. Finally, Twilight decided that somepony had to check on her. And since no one was willing to do anything, it was up to her.
Everypony held their breath as Twilight slowly approached the unconscious mare. She inched her way closer and closer. Twilight feared the worse as she carefully raised a hoof.
“A-applejack?” she cautiously asked the unmoving body. She prayed she was not too late to make the antidote.
Suddenly, Applejack sprang right back up! Everypony’s heart rates rose again as they got their second major scare of the day. Applejack sat straight up, almost unnaturally. Her eyes were closed and she did not move a muscle as she sat there. Twilight hesitated to do anything. It wasn’t because she was scared. Rather, something was different about Applejack. Of course, the illness and missing cutie mark were a given, but now there was something else. Something about her eyes.
Twilight had a bad feeling about this.
Her fears were realized when Applejack finally opened her eyes. Twilight gasped as Applejack stared right back into hers. At least, she thought she was staring into her eyes. She couldn’t actually see Applejack’s pupil’s as she currently had none: Her eyes were a solid yellow.