//------------------------------// // Part 10: Twilight Sparkle // Story: Once a Time Lord... Well, actually still that, but now a Pony as well... // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// Canterlot Royal Library Dawn broke over the city of Canterlot the next day, -The city that had been called a shining, glimmering jewel in Equestria- everypony quite well unaware of the events of the night before. If there was one thing to be said about Canterlot, and it’s populace, they easily forgot about things. Take the time when Celestia had closed off the castle in a magical bubble a few solid months before. It had become a source of idle gossip and speculation for a brief while, but eventually, like a candle in the wind, it burned itself out. Not even the strange happenings of the Doctor’s crash landing had been remembered but for a save few. But not all had forgotten, in fact… Some were actively trying to seek him out. Let’s take a little trip to the Canterlot Royal Library, a sea of knowledge, learning… and some very old and dusty books. On the subject of the Doctor, one little pony was pouring through all the books she could find for any mention of him. “I swear, Twilight,” a white mare with glasses (Taped together), and her red mane tied in a topknot ponytail remarked as she pulled her chair over to her friend’s side. The mare’s ensemble was complete with her attire of a black turtleneck sweater, sorta giving her the appearance of a ponified Velma Dinkley in some ways, if you like. “You’ve been shut in this library for days, worse than me whenever I want to look up every inch of information on a subject.” “Sorry… So sorry…” Twilight frantically apologized, her normally long dark purple mane tied in a bun so as it wouldn’t fall into her face. “It’s… it’s just I overheard Princess Celestia mention this Doctor to herself, and I got curious, that’s all.” “She could have been mentioning her own personal doctor, Twilight. You know that’s a possibility,” Moondancer remarked but Twilight was quick to refute. “No, no!” Twilight quickly replied. “That’s what I thought at first, till I gave it some more thought. It was the way she mentioned him.” “Oh, so it’s a him?” Moondancer asked, and smiled to herself before wriggling her eyebrows. “How do you know our dear and chaste Princess isn’t so chaste after all? Maybe she’s into some very naughty ro-” Moondancer was quickly cut off by a hoof over her mouth, and a glare from Twilight. “Don’t you even dare finish that sentence,” Twilight remarked firmly, a rather large blush on her face as her mind went through the possibilities of her teacher doing… That! “No, the way she mentioned “Doctor”, it was like a title. Complete with a great big “The”. Made him seem like a rather important historical figure of some sort. So I admit, I got maybe the slightest bit curious…” Twilight trailed off, and Moondancer removed Twilight’s hoof over her mouth and gave her friend a “Look”. “Slightest bit?” Moondancer asked dryly, gesturing with a hoof to the pile of musty old books with history stretching back decades in front of Twilight. “I’d say this is more than just the slightest bit.” “...Okay, hugely curious. Does that work?” Twilight asked with a sheepish grin, pressing her hooves together nervously. She then pulled a book out of the pile, and flipped it open to a random page. Dust flew up from the long unused pages, and Moondancer and Twilight both fell into a coughing fit. “...Really, couldn’t have picked a newer book?” Moondancer snarked. Twilight blushed sheepishly again. “Well, as I’ve found, you can’t just go back into Equestria’s recent history to find records of this Doctor most of the time,” Twilight replied, before pointing to a specific page. “See, right there! Says right here, it was the voyage of the great airship ‘Liberté’, constructed to honor the peace between the Griffons and the Equestrians after the end of the Great War. The first war between the two nations, about 200 years prior you understand. Not the rather ugly one that took place only twenty-odd years before of course.” Twilight explained, beginning to go off on one of her little rambles. As she was oft to do at times. Moondancer took off her glasses and rubbed her temples with a hoof. “Will you get to the point?” She asked in annoyance. Moondancer liked Twilight, she honestly did, but the poor mare could be a bit scatterbrained at times and could at times veer into other subjects that didn’t really matter. Mind you, it was charming in a way. Adorkable really, as she’d heard Shining call his little sister. (Despite the fact that adorkable existed in no dictionary that she could find, so it didn’t classify as an actual word.) But sometimes the mare needed to be steered back on track, like right now. “Right… Yes! Sorry…” Twilight squeaked out in embarrassment. “Anyways, as you know, ‘Liberté’ was never built to last. Sadly, during its tour over the Zebra nations, it was shot down by some rebels. Nobody survived, pony or griffon during the catastrophic fire that followed. However, oddly enough, there was this family,” Twilight said, pointing to an old photograph of a small family of earth ponies wearing straw hats and things like that. Country hicks, if you were to be impolite about it. Next to them, stood a well-dressed pony in a suit and tie. “The Apple family, whom as you very well know are now one of Equestria’s leading makers of produce. It was this family friend of theirs, whose name has been lost to history, that persuaded them not to go on this voyage. It was almost like he knew what was about to happen ahead of time…” “Interesting…” Moondancer whispered, curiosity overtaking her as she leaned in closer to inspect the photo. It was old, grainy even. But even so, you could make out every detail of the ponies in it. She had to admit, the well-dressed family friend was a bit handsome with that bespoke suit of his and that mane that never quite seemed to stay down. Little bit foxy even, if she dared say so herself. “And… And!” Twilight continued. “If you dig deep enough, and keep an open mind, you might find that exact same figure popping up all throughout Equestria’s history!” she squeaked out in excitement. Moondancer scoffed in disbelief. “Okay, now you’re just pulling my leg Twi. Surely it can’t be the exact same stallion! How you know it’s not just an inheritance of title, passed down from father to son?” She asked, but Twilight, of course, would not be swayed in any other direction about her beliefs. “Well… I admit, it could be that… But, but look at this!” Twilight stammered out, pulling yet another book out of the pile and turning to a random page. “Tracked this down to the Canterlot Public Archives, dated a few months back,” Twilight pointed to a photograph of a pony pulling Duke Blueblood out of the way as a crossbow bolt flew by him. Moondancer vaguely remembered this. Apparently, Blueblood and some other noble had got into a small argument about whose piece of land this apple tree belonged on, and it got so bad enough that a hitman was hired to take Celestia’s nephew out of the picture. Needless to say, this was a stupid maneuver. Once the anonymous pony had saved Blueblood the assassin and his boss were quickly tracked down and arrested by a crack team from the Royal Guard. Actually, now that Moondancer thought about it, wasn’t that crack team led by Shining Armor? “The attempted assassination of Duke Blueblood. He was there, it seemed. Acting out as this good Samaritan,” Twilight said and pointed to the figure with her hoof. Now that Moondancer looked at it again, it looked eerily like the pony in the ‘Liberté’ photo. Minus the suit, of course. “Like I said, could be ancestral lineage,” Moondancer replied, still a skeptic. “There’s no way that pony in ‘Liberté’ photo is alive today, and certainly not looking that young!” “That’s what I thought at first, but then… Well, I found this…” Twilight trailed off, pulling an old charcoal rubbing of a pony standing on a beach out of her saddlebags. It had to be at least centuries old, judging by the wear and tear of the rubbing. And sure enough, there was the Doctor. Looking exactly the same from the previous two images. “Did a bit of digging around this place, found this in the archived section, and found this,” Twilight said proudly and Moondancer looked at her quizzically. “Wait, wait, wait. Back up there a minute. The archived section? How’d you even get back there…?” She asked in confusion. “That place is restricted!” “...Well, being the Princess’s personal student does have some perks…” Twilight replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. “Anyways, this supposedly washed up on a shore, right before Mount Stallion exploded in it’s infamous eruption. Don’t know what he was doing there, but..." “Okay, this is getting weird…” Moondancer admitted, starting to get a little freaked out. There was this same pony, popping up all throughout history and never changing. Never aging in the slightest. What was he? “This Doctor… I’m beginning to think he’s some sort of dark legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he’s there. He seemingly travels alone, but he has one constant companion…” Twilight trailed off. “A-And what’s that?” Moondancer squeaked out nervously. “Death,” Twilight stated simply. Nervous as she was though, Moondancer had to admit she was curious as well. It was like some sort of primal instinct, a yearning for more knowledge about this mysterious figure woven throughout history like a tapestry. And she knew Twilight shared the same love. “Y-Yes, be that as it may…” Moondancer stuttered out. “This ‘Doctor”, he may appear in times of crisis, yes, but he seems to be interested in saving people. I mean, he saved the Apple Family from getting on that airship, and he saved Duke Blueblood! You know our old teacher back in Canterlot High, right? Written Script?” “Yeah… I remember him. Always gave us the strictest tests. They were still fun though...” Twilight smiled in remembrance and Moondancer chuckled. “Yeah, that they were. But you remember that old saying of his? About never leaving any door of curiosity locked?” Moondancer asked and Twilight nodded. Moondancer then leaned forwards. “So, why are we keeping this curiosity door locked?” “I… I don’t know. It’s… It’s… maybe I’m just afraid of what I might find if I keep digging deeper, that’s all,” Twilight admitted. “Might find he’s a killer or something…” “And yet all the evidence we’ve seen so far, it points against that! He’s called the Doctor for a reason, and from the sounds of things, it looks like he helps ponies. I say we keep on digging and see what we might find. Who knows, eh?” Moondancer asked. “Might just discover what happened to the Lost Princess…” Twilight’s eyes sparkled at that. The Lost Princess, it was a subject of curiosity between them both. Supposedly, there had been this mare that ruled alongside Princess Celestia. Wife, sister, nobody knew. Again, it was one of those legends surrounded by mystery. But Twilight and Moondancer had always had an interest in this mystery and figuring it out. And now, they had a possible lead. If the Doctor was really this old as he appeared to be, and if they found him, maybe… Just maybe he’d be able to tell them exactly what happened to the Lost Princess of Equestria. “Well then…” Twilight said, turning to her friend, spurred on by this new possible lead into one of Equestria’s oldest mysteries. “Let’s get to work. Moondancer, mind going over to Donut Joe’s and getting us a few snacks? I have a feeling there’s going to be a long night ahead of us…” “Pouring ourselves into books, discovering hidden mysteries over a bunch of donuts? Sounds like fun!” Moondancer exclaimed.