//------------------------------// // The Missing Cutie Marks: Chapter 8 // Story: Doctor Whooves Adventures // by IHasApple //------------------------------// Ponyville’s atmosphere had changed significantly. The sun, which had once rose high and claimed the sky as its own, had now fallen deep to the west, allowing room for the nightly return of the moon. Although it had yet to rise, the moon’s presence was felt throughout the town. The sun’s light still illuminated the sky in a glorious display of orange and yellow. The warmth of the sun diminished as it fell, causing the town to become colder with the passing time. Through the town, two mares had kept a steady pace while everypony else gathered their things and hurried home. Twilight Sparkle stayed quiet as she and Pinkie Pie once again made their way through the town. The only sound came from their hooves in the dirt and the food in Pinkie’s mouth. She had gathered many apples from Sweet Apple Acres to take on the road. Nopony minded if she took a few apples after what had just happened. As she munched way happily, Twilight felt the exact opposite. Just kept her head at a lower height than normal, trying to ignore the cacophonous sounds of Pinkie eating. Her mind drifted back to when she felt what Applejack felt. It was terrifying and still haunted her even now. Such pain and exhaustion. The rage was nothing to scoff at, either. Such burning hate and fiery anger made Twilight scared. She didn’t know anger as strong as that could exist. It made her shudder to think about how horrifying it must have been for Applejack to experience this whole thing. To have the life forcefully sucked out of her and replaced with anger. To attack her own friends… Was she even aware of what she was doing? Twilight wasn’t sure. She didn’t know if the consciousness she connected with was Applejack or… something else. “Hey, Pinkie.” “?” Pinkie had nearly missed her friend’s words as she bit into a new apple. She turned around to see that Twilight had stopped walking. The purple magician was sitting in the dirt, looking very sad. Pinkie halted her own hooves and backed herself up. “Do you think Applejack will be okay? I mean, she’s had nearly all her internal magic drained, and when I went into her mind… ” she put her head down in disgust of the memory. This whole thing was taking a toll on Twilight. Her previous attitude of a simple problem with a simple solution died when she began to have trouble obtaining ‘Salvation’. Then the whole ordeal with Applejack… Twilight was starting to lose hope. She began to wonder if she could even help anymore. Maybe it was too late. “Twilight…” Pinkie said with a gentle half smile. “I know how much you care about our friends. I’m worried about them, too. I know this is scary thing to go through, but we’re almost done. You have the pills, right?” “Yeah…” she said “Then let’s do this!” she rushed over and picked up Twilight, putting back on her hooves. “Let’s make that antidote and save everypony!” Twilight’s smile returned. She knew Pinkie would help her keep her head high, even in times like these. After a thankful hug and some chewing off apples, the two set off again, spirits high. After a few minutes of walking, Twilight began to notice something. She looked around at the town. She looked up at the setting sun. Even though it had already begun to make room for the oncoming moon, it was nowhere near close to becoming dark. It was usually around this time of day that ponies would begin to consider packing it in for the day. Some would have already gone home early for whatever reason, but many of them would stay out later for any potential late customers. “Pinkie, what time is it?” Twilight asked her friend who was covered in flecks of apple. Pulling out a rather large sundial from seemingly nowhere, Pinkie happily checked the time. “6:30 on the nose.” “Hm. This is bad…” Twilight said to herself. Just as mysteriously and spontaneously as she brought it out, Pinkie put away the sundial. “Why is that a bad thing, Twilight? Sure, we wasted a day trying to find a pill and stopping a crazed Applejack from murdering us, but we’re gonna save everypony, Twi! Isn’t that worth it? Besides, we got lots of apples!” She held up a seemingly endless amount of apples, again, from nowhere. Twilight shook her head and revealed her line of reasoning. “Pinkie, if it’s only 6:30, where is everypony?” Looking around the completely desolate street, the pink party pony saw that her friend was right. Absolutely nopony was around. The two mares were the only ones out, and it was barely getting dark. Pinkie was just as confused as Twilight about this. “Um… maybe they all went home?” “But why this early? Pinkie, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Twilight observed the loneliness of the town. She hadn’t seen it this empty since she first met Zecora. Some and alone… In a surprisingly clever way, Pinkie actually managed to keep up with Twilight’s logic and figure out just what she was getting at. “You don’t think…?” “Could be ‘Salvation’s’ handiwork? Yeah, I think so.” “Actually I was thinking of zombie ponies…” Pinkie said in a frightened and shaky voice. She shifted her eyes back and forth in fear of the brain sucking flesh crawlers. Lots of ponies had taken the drug. So many homes held ponies that were a potentially lethal threat. This wasn’t just the ponies who had taken the drug that were at risk anymore. Now it was the entire town. Not only could many be deathly ill, if the drug was capable of doing to them what happened back at Sweet Apple Acres… “We need to get back to the library!” Twilight took off in a sprint back home. She couldn’t waste a second. Pinkie scrambled to get her apples together. “Wait for me!” … “Blimey, those are some delicious biscuits!” The Doctor said, stuffing another small piece of heaven in his mouth. Spike smirked. “Heh. Twilight doesn’t know about my secret stash. I only take these babies out when I’m alone. But seeing as how you’ve helped me a little bit with Rainbow Dash, it’s only fair to let you in on ‘em.” “Hey! I did most of the work!” the Doctor in a fake angry yell. “Well, I guess you did help me drag Rainbow back into bed afterwards…” he smirked. “Right.” The Doctor replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “At any rate...” He stood up from the table and stretched his legs. “I really must be going. It’s getting rather late and Twilight’s still not here. ” He began to head towards the door. “Guess she’ll miss out…” he mumbled to himself. Spike put down the biscuits and stood up as well. “Yeah, that’s pretty weird. She should’ve been back hours ago. I wonder what could’ve-“ BAM! The front door suddenly exploded open, revealing a very weary Twilight, tired from running. “Huff, huff… Quick! To the lab!” She took off without even noticing the two guys standing a few feet to her left. Both said nothing as she blurred by, surprised to see her, but more curious about where she had been than where she was going. They heard a noise coming from the open door. Looking back, they saw a pink pony trying in vain to keep up. Pinkie followed wearily behind Twilight’s trail, sweat dripping and legs wobbling. “Huff… Puff… Ha… Twilight! Ease up on the running… ow… I’m getting stomach cramps!” She collapsed once she entered into the tree house. Spike and the Doctor looked at each other. They shrugged in unison. … While Spike had taken Pinkie upstairs to rest, the Doctor decided to follow Twilight into the basement. He watched as she cracked open the pill bottle and began inspecting the pills. She looked over the drug every which way she could. Seemed like an ordinary medicinal pill. Closer analysis with scientific technology should reveal- “You’re not gonna learn anything doing that.” Twilight turned to see the Doctor leaning against the staircase, smiling smugly. At least, she thought his smile was rather smug. In actuality, he was just smiling. Twilight scowled as she went back to observing the drug. Seeing she wasn’t going to take his word, he walked closer. Twilight noticed this, and becme hostile. “Go away. I’m working on making an antidote.” Her voice had a rather harsh tone. “Right. Um, listen. I know you’re trying really hard on this, but-“ “I said leave! I can do this on my own!” The Doctor looked at her with a hint of suspicion in his eyes. “I never said you couldn’t. You’re just going about this the wrong way.” “Oh yeah?” Twilight snapped her head up to the Doctor in a very violent manner. “How would you go about this?” The Doctor hesitated. He looked at Twilight; specifically, her seemingly spontaneous anger. She snarled at him in a way he could have sworn he’d seen before… “Well, actually, I have a plan to sneak into the section of the pharmacy that produces these drugs and-“ “No thanks.” She went right back to looking at the drugs. “I have no interest in going with you.” As she spoke, her anger seemed to vanish. Her next few words were very calm and sensible. “I’m not gonna get in trouble just because you want to play around. Breaking and entering is a serious crime!” “Uh, Twilight? Isn’t that exactly what we did a few months ago in Canterlot?” Both Twilight and the Doctor turned to see who had spoken. On the stairs behind the Doctor sat none other than Spike. The small dragon walked around to the other side of Twilight. “Besides, that sounds like fun. Not to mention a great way to get infor-“ “I’m not going!" Twilight blurted out, her anger returning. “And for the record, the time at Canterlot was different! I was… tired. My judgement was impaired… and I had no other options!” Looking back to the Doctor she continued. “And as for you, you can just take your little blue device thingy and go away! I can handle this on my own!” Simply nodding, the Doctor conceded. If she really didn’t want to listen, that was her problem. She was the one missing out. “Well, I can’t wait any longer. I thought you would want a part in this, but I guess you’re too focussed on doing it your way.” He still had his suspicions and more questions to ask, but right now, he was needed elsewhere. Ironically for him, time was running out. That’s what he got for taking the slow path. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to save Ponyville. I know, it’s a relatively small accomplishment… but I still happen to like this town.” He began to ascend the staircase. Halfway up, he stopped. ‘Oh, and by the way. No matter how any times you look, that thing is only gonna show up to be identical to aspirin!” … As the clock ticked on, Twilight tried everything she knew to learn more about the drug. All her scientific analysis techniques, all her fancy machines, all her lab knowledge was used she ran all the tests. She also decided to look at it from a magical viewpoint. Any mind control spells and all magic stealing techniques were carefully reviewed and checked. Her focus was on one thing only: finding out what made this thing tick, and then find a way to make it untick! Or whatever analogy she tried to come up with. Despite her extensive checklist of investigation, Twilight’s efforts only took her a couple of hours. She was just that good. As she progressed, however, she began more and more dishevelled. Her patience was wearing thin and her energy was wearing. But she did not give up. Only when all hope was lost could she give up! She would fight to the end. Finally, after extensive research and experiments, she had what she needed. This was it. This was the moment she was waiting for. The final result of all her hard work. Right in her hooves held all of the data and information she would need to begin work on the antidote. Reading it thoroughly, her face melted into one of dipair. She could not believe it. No matter how many times she ran the tests, all of her different magical detection spells… They all said the same thing. This ‘miracle drug’, this...‘Salvation’… …it was nothing but aspirin. Twilight stared at the piece of paper in front of her. She looked at all the data and all the information and all the words until she practically had it memorized. She didn’t want to believe it. She knew it to be the truth, but she did not want to believe it. She knew it was correct. She had done the tests herself… “Twilight?” Spike cautiously descended the stairs. He came to see if she was alright. He noticed all the machinery and chemical sounds had stopped, so he had come to see if she had made a breakthrough or died in the process. He saw the look on her face and immediately knew what it was. “Twilight. I know you’re trying to help. But you’re not going to help anypony this way.” “Why?” was the only word to escape Twilight’s lips. “Huh?” he asked. “Why can’t I get this?” she said again, this time somewhat quieter. “I… don’t-“ “I don’t why I just can’t get this!!!” Twilight yelled, shoving the papers onto the floor. She slammed her hooves on the table and buried her head in them. Not quite understanding what she meant, Spike offered his two bits. “Because… this is something beyond what you know?” Twilight’s head snapped up in an instant. “I witnessed one of my closest friends try to kill me in cold blood today. Don’t tell me I don’t know what’s going on!” She stood up, feeling the rage build inside her. Spike backed off, holding up his hands. “I’m not saying you don’t know what the problem is. We’ve both seen what this thing’s is capable of.” “Then what are you saying? That I’m incapable of fixing this? That I can’t actually do anything to help!?” She stepped closer to him and he took a few back. “No Twilight…” Spike paused and chose his words carefully. “There are just some things you can’t learn from a book.” “I know. You have to go out in the world and experience it yourself.” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “You sound just like Celestia” Spike shook his head. “But sometimes, even that’s not enough. Sometimes, as big and great as this world is, it’s just… really… small. No, wait…” He lost what he was going to say. “Twilight, I know you don’t believe in some things that can’t be proven by science... But out there, there are some pretty miraculous things. Things that you would never find on earth. Things that simply can’t be explained.” “Spike, what are you getting at?” “Remember back when you tried to figure out Pinkie’s Pinkie sense and you said that there were some things you just couldn’t explain?” “Yeah, well… this is different! That was just Pinkie predicting some small things merely seconds before they actually happened. This… This is…” Twilight paused as she recounted all she had figured out in the last two hours. “This is scientific. This whole thing is science… and… a-and magic! This drug is chemistry, the illness is medical and the mind control is magical! I’m a student of science and magic. This is something I should know. I should understand this. It’s been my life to study and be knowledgeable in science and magic; this is my passion. The vast wonders of the world are my playthings. I should be able to save them… but…” She trailed off, realizing what this meant. Her face fell and her spirits sank. “But now I’m as clueless as Rainbow Dash in a lecture about kinematics.” Twilight slumped to the floor. Tears welled in her eyes and her head fell. She was ready to give up. Spike sighed and sat down next to her. He propped his head up with his hands. Both just sat in depressed silence for a while. Twilight felt awful. She felt so pathetic. He was right all along. It really was just aspirin. If only she’d listened, she could’ve help save everypony… Now it was too late. While Twilight wallowed in her own self-pity, Spike noticed the piece of paper that she had thrown. Picking it up, he looked it over. “This is your data?” he asked. Twilight nodded. “Yeah. But it’s all useless. All it says is that this drug is simply aspirin. Aspirin! And none of my magic detection spells found anything conclusive, just a ‘vague energy reading’. For all I know it’s heat from my hooves touching it…” Spike put down the paper and stood up. Walking over to the site of her experiments, he picked up one of the few remaining pills that had not been analysed or taken apart. It looked normal. A regular red and white pill. But the damage it could do… “Twilight…” Spike tried to interrupt. “Maybe he was right, Spike. Maybe I don’t play a part in all this. He’s the one trying out there. All I did was trail behind sloppily and figure out stuff long after he already did. He can probably save everypony by himself… however he does it.” “Twilight.” He again, this time a bit louder. “Maybe I should just go to bed. By morning he’ll have probably-“ “Twilight!” Twilight jumped as Spike’s yells broke through to her head. She turned around to see what was the matter. “What is it, Spike?” “Twilight… are you… casting a spell? Like, right now?” His eyes jumped from Twilight’s eyes to her horn and back again. Twilight gave him a curious look. “What? Of course not. I’m not doing anything.” “But… your horn’s glowing.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What? Are you sure?” Spike nodded his head. She couldn’t believe it. “But… b-but I’m not feeling anything…” “It’s not your normal purpley… uh... glow.” Twilight was beginning to get irritated. “Well then what colour is it? I can’t see it!” “It’s… it’s yellow.” “What!?” Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Yellow. Just like Applejack…” she whispered. Spike took a step towards Twilight. When he did so, he noticed another glow. This time, it was coming from his own hands. The pill he held in his hands glowed a spooky yellow; identical to the one surrounding Twilight’s horn. He stared at the lit up little drug and became curious. He had a thought… He came a bit closer to the increasingly confused mare. When he did, both the horn and the pill’s bright light grew exponentially. Twilight noticed this as well. “What the hay?” Spike said, just as confused as Twilight. “What’s going on?” “I… I’m not exactly sure. But think I can figure it out. When I visited Applejack, she had these crazy glowy yellow eyes.” “So did Rainbow Dash.” “She was being controlled. She attacked us without mercy. I couldn’t get her to stop so I performed a mind bridging spell I connected our minds and broke the control. I felt what she felt. A foreign energy all over her. I think that’s when some of the energy must have… seeped… into my mind. That’s why I got so angry earlier!” “And this pill… contains the same energy?” Spike said, doing a surprisingly well job keeping up. “Yes! I was looking for any unknown energy. I didn’t find anything specific because the energy technically wasn’t unknown. I knew what it was, but I didn’t!” “What.” “If I can somehow… connect with the energy within me with a spell…” Twilight closed her eyes. She had performed a lot of magic spells in her time, but none her ever so fragile and important to control than this one. She breathed rhythmically, keeping her magic in focus. Spike held his breath as he watched her horn glow even brighter, along with the pill. Twilight reached deep inside herself and allowed the energy to seep around her. She focused on gathering it in a controlled manner. She had to make sure the foreign energy inside her did not escape control. She didn’t want to end up like Applejack. She could not. She felt the power inside her. It was amazing. Such raw power. It was nothing she knew. She could do a lot of damage with this kind of power in her command… …which was why she had to focus on keeping it in control! It took all of her strength no to succumb to its tempting power. She began to feel weary from exerting all this effort… But it was worth it. Kra-KOWWW! With an incredible bang and a sharp crack, Twilight’s horn discharged the built up energy. A large bolt of yellow electricity shot out from her horn, tracing an invisible path up the stairs and out of the library. Spike was shocked from this revelation. Literally. The pill exploded in his hand, scaring him and making him fall on his bum. Twilight felt an immense relief. Like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She felt a lot better. Her mind was clear and she understood things clearer as well. Without the interference of the yellow magic, she could hear something. It felt… like something was calling to her. She had felt it before, when she first met the Doctor. She couldn’t explain it. It was like she was supposed to follow him and go to the pharmacy. Not just for her sake, but he needed her too. She wasn’t useless. She could still help. It wasn’t too late. She opened her eyes. “What the heck was that?” Spike said, rubbing his sore bum. “The energy has returned to its point of origin.” Twilight said, her voice brimming with newfound confidence. “Spike. I’m going to help the Doctor.” … The sun had already set when Twilight reached the pharmacy. Nopony was outside anyways, as she noticed earlier, so she did not need to wear her sneaking suit this time. Pinkie and Spike had declined to join her on her little excursion, the former sick with a belly ache. How could that have happened? Spike said he would watch over both Rainbow and Pinkie. His words of encouragement rang in her ears as she stealthily snuck across the wall of the building. She observed the entire rear side of the building, looking for any point of entry. To her surprise, there was absolutely none. No windows, no doors, nothing. Just a tall wall of flat stone. What kind of place was this? As she walked along, she did eventually see something in the wall. It was a door! Twilight was no master at lock picking, but she would have to do whatever was necessary to break into… …an open door. Twilight hesitated, wondering why they would have an open door, completely unguarded. Was it a trap? Did they want her to come in and get captured? Was the Doctor already captured? Twilight shook these doubts from her mind. Even if it was a trap, she had no choice. She was certain she and the Doctor could handle anything. She’d be fine. She always came out fine… Easing her way into the doorway, Twilight watched for any signs of guards or ponies that could blow her cover. If they could create ‘Salvation’, who knew what they could do to her? It was dark. If she was lucky, there would be nopony around, making her job swift and easy. But in reality, there would probably be at least a couple of guards or pharmacists staying overtime. “Okay. First, find out where the Doctor went.” Twilight thought. As she made her way deeper into the pharmacy, she soon discovered that it was a task easier said than done. This place was huge! There were tons of offices and room after room of labs and tech rooms, probably where they researched and produced the drug. Strangely enough, every single one was empty. No signs of any guards or the Doctor. She started to wish she’d run into somepony, anypony! A guard or at least a pharmacist. Then mybe she could pry some information out of- THUD Mmff!! What was that? Twilight stopped mid thought. She didn’t make a sound. Had somepony heard her/ Was it a guard on duty? Was a pharmacist going home? Could it be the Doctor? She perked her ears to try and listen for it again, but nothing came. Nothing but serene silence. Maybe her ears were playing tricks on her… Wait! There it was again! It sounded like a muffled thud. It came from down the next hall. Twilight silently tiptoed down the corridor. She kept her eyes peeled for any traps or ambushes. The last thing she wanted was to come all this way just to get caught. BANG BANG BANG Twilight pressed herself flat against the wall. She strained to hear what it was. It sounded like someone was hitting something. Could it be a hammer? Some kind of construction? No, probably not. It was more like… kicking? Whatever it was, it was just up in the next room. Although unarmed, Twilight confident she could handle whatever was in there. She eased open the door. Twilight let out a breath she didn’t even know he was holding when she realized there as nopony there. The room itself was void of life, or so it seemed. At first, she didn’t notice anything important. It was a lounge of sorts. A few potted plants, a couple couches, a painting or two... it was rather quaint. Then she caught something move out of the corner of her eye. She saw it was only a large cabinet in the corner of the room. Looked like it could hold clothes or spare lab equipment… or even a pony? Twilight didn’t want to overlook anything, so she decided to investigate. As she inspected the large wooden box, Twilight thought she heard something. Just then, the box moved! It jumped a bit, like something inside it had moved! There was something in there! She didn’t know what she would find, but it was all she had to go on. Keeping her distance, Twilight readied her magic to open the wooden latch. She prepared herself for whatever disgusting creature or dangerous monster might come out of there. A surprise attack by a sneaky pony? Another parasprite perhaps? Or maybe even- “Whoa-ah! Oof!” …the Doctor. The tan spiky haired pony tumbled out of the cabinet, startling Twilight. He fell to the ground with a grunt. He looked dizzy, but shook his head and quickly regained himself. “Ugh. That’s one box that’s definitely not bigger on the inside.” he said, standing up. Once Twilight realized who it was that had fallen out of the cabinet, she was unsure whether to be glad and confused. She was glad she had found him, but what the heck was he doing in that box? “Doctor?” The Doctor looked to see who had released him from his wooden prison. “Twilight! You decided to come after all? I knew you’d come around!” he gave her a cheery grin. “Yeah… Um, what were you doing in that cabinet?” she asked. The Doctor hesitated with his response. “Oh… well. Yes. The cabinet…” he kept looking back and forth between Twilight and wooden fixture. “Um… I was checking… for secret compartments!” he fibbed terribly. “No hidden doors in there!” “Somepony locked you in there didn’t they?” Twilight said with a sly grin. The Doctor took a page from Spike. “Hey, I was busy looking when somepony came and shut the door. I was just about to make a miraculous escape before you opened it!” Twilight sighed. “So… other than that there no secret compartments in this box, what else have you found?” “Surprisingly, not much.” he said more in a tone of seriousness, “As I’m sure you’re aware, there are literally hundreds of rooms in this place, but there are no ponies around. No guards, no scientists, nothing. Nopony is here to keep up the façade of a pharmacy.” As he spoke he began looking around the room. “Yeah, I noticed that too- Wait, façade?” Twilight inquired, “But we know this drug is real. Where else could it have come from?” The Doctor gave an amused smile. “Don’t you remember what I said earlier?” “Oh. Right. Aliens.” Twilight said flatly. “And I even have a hunch which ones it might be. The problem is I can’t seem to find anything to prove me right. There’s nothing around here. No factory, no production facilities, no aliens…” As the Doctor carried on, Twilight sighed and took a seat in one of the chairs. She was getting tired. She had a busy day and needed to sit. “Ugh. Doctor, look around you! There are tons of rooms that they could have made it.” she paused for a moment before bringing up a good point. “Why don’t you just use your blue device thingy to find it? That’s how you found pretty much everything else…” “Sonic Screwdriver. And I know. That’s why I’m not. Using it, I mean. I’ve been relying on it too much recently and I want to see if I can do this bit on my own. I don’t want it to be the solution to all my problems. I’m cleverer than that.” He bent down to check the plant by the door, just in case of a hidden switch or something. Twilight put a hoof to her head. “We just need to think this through. Think think think…” She lost her train of thought as she relaxed more in the chair. It was quite possibly the best chair she had sat in, even better than her custom made one from Canterlot. It gave great support. And it was so soft… like clouds. “Mm. This chair is comfy. Why don’t you take a seat, Doctor?” Twilight patted the chair next to her. The Doctor stopped and picked his head up. “Wait? What did you just say?” He turned around. “I said you should sit. When was the last time you took a rest?” Twilight was beginning to become concerned with how active he seemed to be. The Doctor shook his head. “No no no… Before that. The chair.” “I said the chair was comfy?” Like usual, Twilight had no clue what the Doctor was talking about. “Yes! That part. It’s a very comfortable chair?” He walked over to said chair. “One that supports your lower back and is soft as a cloud?” Twilight had a blank face. He was absolutely spot-on. She blinked. “How did you…?” The Doctor interrupted her and just inspected the chair. “Twilight you sat down in those chairs in the hospital the other day, correct?” “What?” Now he was taking about those chairs? What was his problem, did he have a seat fetish? “Uh, yeah… Yeah, I did. ” Twilight got up off her incredibly comfy chair to see just what the Doctor was doing. He looked it over, but he did not touch the chair. To Twilight, it didn’t look heavy, yet he did not try to pick it up or anything. He just looked at it. “As far as I can tell, these chairs are the exact same as the ones in the hospital, and I can tell you, They were the single most uncomfortable chairs I have ever sat on. And coming from me, that’s saying something.” “Yet this chair…” the Doctor finally began to put his hooves on it. He felt its cushiony seat and its wooden legs. “This chair is not from earth.” At those words, Twilight snapped. She had had enough. She thought that they could just brush the alien claims aside to focus on the task at hand, but apparently not. Apparently he wanted to drive this claim into the ground. Well now she wanted to give him a piece of her mind. “Doctor! You can’t keep saying that this is aliens!! This entire time you’ve been claiming extraterrestrial life forms are behind this whole thing, yet to fail to provide a single shred of evidence other than unexplainable circumstances and conjuncture. Now you want me to believe that because a chair is COMFORTABLE, it’s alien technology!?” The Doctor ignored her outburst and calmly proceeded to tip the chair. Tipping it towards himself seemed to serve no purpose other than a click. Click? Twilight watched as when the Doctor tipped the chair, the cabinet in the corner, along with the rest of a good portion of the wall, opened inwards, revealing a secret passageway. The Doctor stood up and smiled at his handiwork. “Well, if you’re quite finished, I’d like to explore this non-existent tunnel. Cheery-o!” He walked off without another word down the staircase in the tunnel, disappearing from sight. A split second later, Twilight snapped out of her trance and realized he had left her behind. “Hey! Wait for me!”