The Creation War

by Epicdiscord214


Investigation (Part 1)

The first thing anyone noticed when the bright light dimmed was the magnificent aisles of books stacked higher than in the royal archives in Canterlot. The Doctor looked back at Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, the Masked Matterhorn, Zaheer, Miles, Iris, Lok, and Asami before extending his hoof to it all.
"Ladies, gentlemen, bird, ponies, welcome to the Chronotorium."
"A... A library?" the Masked Matterhorn asked surprisingly and full of glee. "WOW! IT'S AMAZING!"
"It's not just a library." the Doctor said. "This is my main headquarters."
"What?" Miles asked.
"This is your place?" Asami asked.
"Indeed." the Doctor said. "This is where I go between visits to different time periods. Here, I look at all the records made throughout history and use the Time-Gazer to observe the time periods in case of any anomalies. Anomalies usually happen at random, and it's up to me to make sure they don't make a big enough mess on the timestream. That's my main duty."
"THIS PLACE IS SO COOL!" Pinkie shouted. She ran around and searched the entire building. "THERE ARE BOOKS I CAN'T READ! A BIG MAGNIFYING GLASS! CHEMICALS! A BIG SMOKEY THING INSIDE A GIANT ORB!"
"WHOA! Get away from that one!" the Doctor said. "That's nothing!"
"You sure are making a big deal of something that's supposed to be nothing." Rarity said.
"No, I mean, it's literally nothing." the Doctor said. "This is all that's left of the time before Creation; before a time of anything. For some reason, this thing refuses to become something. It's my sacred seal to make sure this thing doesn't get released onto the world."
"Sacred what?" Iris asked.
"Sacred seal of my power." the Doctor explained. "Listen, I am the fifth traveler of time. There were four others before me. From the start, there was the First, and after that, there was the Story Teller, the Hermit, the Gardener, and now, me, the Doctor. When we were assigned our power, we each had a sacred vow that we had to make to seal it to our bodies. Right now, my seal is keeping the Nothing secure."
"What happens if your vow is broken?" Zaheer asked.
"Like I said, my vow is the only thing that lets me keep my powers and my duties." the Doctor said looking at the Nothing swishing around in its orb. "If my seal is broken, then I will be stripped of my power and my duties and they will go to someone else. If this nothing breaks out, then I will go back to being an ordinary pony."
"Were the other travelers ponies too?" Pinkie asked.
"No. The First was an unidentifiable creature, the Story Teller was a human, the Hermit was a jackal, and the Gardener was a bird. But that's not important. Right now, we need to investigate Tartus. You all check out the scriptures here while I check on something."
"You... want me... TO REAAAAAD?!" the Masked Matterhorn shouted with excitement. She then zipped up and flew across the shelves grabbing whatever she could read.
"That's why I brought her here." the Doctor said. "Different Twilight, same likes." He then walked away across the area leaving everyone to search the shelves.
After a few minutes, Iris went to check on Pinkie, who was rotating her eyes in a zig-zag portion through all the scriptures.
"What are you looking at, Pinkie?"
"I have no idea!"
Iris rolled her eyes, but they stopped when they caught sight of Zaheer climbing up a ladder. She stood still for a moment and waited until he stepped back down on the floor. As he opened the book to look in, Iris approached him.
"Dad, is something wrong?"
"Huh?" Zaheer was caught off-guard at that question. "Why do you ask that?"
"You didn't fly." Iris said. "You just climbed up that ladder when you could have just hovered." Zaheer stayed silent for a minute. "Dad... can you fly?"
"...I did." Zaheer admitted. "Now, I can't. It started shortly after defeating Grogar. I went on a scenic trip around the Great Divide when I lost my ability for a split second. Since then, they've been getting more and more frequent. And now... I can't fly anymore."
"Why?" Iris asked.
"Because of you." Zaheer said. "After what happened to your mother, I managed to fly because I believed I no longer had any ties to the earth. My love was dead and my own daughter wanted nothing to do with me. But since we reconciled, I've retied my ties. The closer we got, the more I lost my ability."
"Is there anything we can do to fix this?" Iris asked.
"I'm afraid not." Zaheer said. "The only way for me to fly is if I let you go... and I never want to do that ever again."
"Aww." Pinkie Pie said watching the two of them. "It's a Kodak moment."
Meanwhile, the Doctor went up to a giant magnifying glass attached to the wall. He cleared his throat and called out.
"KIT!" the Doctor said. "I know you're here, KIT!"
Suddenly, a hovering, mechanical probe floated before the Doctor. It was mainly silver with red stripes, and the lights were glowing blue. There was also a blue, glowing orb hovering below the probe.
"Keeper of the Interior of Time, at your service, Doctor. I couldn't help but notice that you brought guests to the Chonotorium."
"Yes, don't worry about them, KIT." the Doctor said. "They're here to help solve a mystery. I just need to take a look through the Time-Gazer."
"Of course, sir." KIT said. "When and where?"
"The time period where my guests came from and the Republic City prison cell 22."
"Understood." KIT complied. She went to the magnifying glass and lowered her glowing orb into the front panel. As the glass began to glow, the Doctor closed his eyes and thought loudly.
"Twilight!"
"Huh? Doctor, is that you? Where are you?"
"I'm communicating with you telepathically."
"You can do that?"
"Yes, but I get a headache afterwards, so I don't use it that often. Look, I just need you to set your eyes on Tartus, if you don't mind."
"All right, give me a minute."
Suddenly, an image appeared on the glass. It was an empty prison cell, but the Doctor recognized it as where the suspect was being kept.
"All right, Doctor." Twilight said. "I see him."
"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah. Not much for him to do, really? He's just sitting there twiddling his tiny thumbs."
"Thank you, Twilight." the Doctor ended the connection and observed the glass. "The Time-Gazer allows me to check all points in time, and yet, when I look at the cell, I can't see any trace of Tartus. Why is that?"
"Wait, Tartus?" KIT asked in a shocked expression fading the image. "You're... looking for Tartus?"
"KIT, what's going on?" the Doctor asked. "Why is that a problem?"
Suddenly, a scream was heard. The Doctor and KIT were startled by it and went to investigate. They caught up to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, the Masked Matterhorn, Zaheer, Miles, Iris, Lok, and Asami before finding Rarity staring in shock at the wall.
"What happened?" Asami asked.
"It's... this large portrait!" Rarity said. "It's missing a corner. Clearly, this isn't anything like the perfect condition the other three are in."
"That's your emergency!" Miles asked angrily. "Some symmetry problem!"
"You don't understand." Rarity explained. "This..."
"Wait a minute." Asami said taking a look at the portrait. "Doctor, what's this portrait for?"
"That's the Gardener, the traveler before me. Is something the matter?"
"Everyone, doesn't the Gardener remind you of something?"
Everyone looked at the portrait and almost hit themselves for not seeing it sooner. The bird in the image was a large vulture with green feathers, but it was more majestic than a normal vulture, like it had the beauty of a swan.
"That... That looks like one of those Greengear birds!" the Masked Matterhorn exclaimed.
"Who?" the Doctor asked.
"Greengear." the alicorn repeated. "They're Tartus' minions, and all four of them are green vultures."
"What?!" the Doctor gasped.
"Wait a minute." Zaheer said looking at the blank spot where the corner image was supposed to be. He dug his fingers behind the portrait and found a folded part. He extended it and revealed a shocking sight.
"Is... Is that..." Iris asked shaking in shock.
"Could it be..." Fluttershy asked.
"Why is everyone stopping before finishing their questions?" Pinkie asked. "That's obviously Tartus. Mini-Tartus, it looks like! He's even wearing an eyepatch. Argh."
"KIT!" the Doctor shouted at the shaking probe. "Why is Tartus standing next to the Gardener, and why do his minions resemble her?"
"Uh..." KIT then turned and began to float away. Suddenly, she was pounced by Pinkie Pie who held her in her arms tightly.
"GOT HER!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Doctor, don't make me do this!" KIT begged. "You'll wish it didn't happen!"
"What are you talking about?" the Doctor asked. "Tell me what's going on or I banish you to the end of time!"
"OKAY, OKAY!" KIT screamed. "Look, Tartus used to work here in the Chronotorium!"
"Used to work..." the Doctor repeated. "Why?"
"It was the Gardener's sacred seal." KIT explained. "Whenever she decided to reform a damaged soul, she would take it, and if she failed, she would stop being the traveler. She found the man broken and alone and keep running to nowhere. She took pity on him and promised to help change his heart by giving him a place here. For a while, it looked like it was working. But after a long while, the Gardener found out Tartus had done a number of horrible things."
"Like what?" Rarity asked.
"Well... He stole the Gardener's eggs."
"Eggs?" Fluttershy asked.
"They must have been Greengear!" Asami said. "The Gardener was their mother."
"Why did he take them?" the Doctor asked.
"He wanted a bargaining chip." KIT explained. "He said he would smash the eggs one by one if she didn't follow his instructions."
"He wouldn't, would he?" Lok asked.
"He did." KIT explained. "You see, there used to be five eggs before the Gardener tried to call his bluff, and Tartus..."
...
"Dark." Pinkie said.
"What did , Tartus wanted history records of three different worlds." KIT continued. "Two were Equestrias and the other was a world with the Avatar. She went to collect them and give them to him. But once she gave them to him, she found out Tartus was doing some research of his own. Turns out, he was looking up the Relics of Creation and he was obsessed with them. Not only that, but he found a spell that the cast upon himself. He removed all emotion from his heart."
"Wait, what?" Zaheer asked. "Removed emotion?"
"It's true." KIT continued. "To this very day, Tartus feels no love nor joy nor sorrow nor anger. All his feelings are hollow with nothing behind it. To make matters worse, that marked the end of the Gardener. Since the no-emotion spell removed any chance of Tartus' heart to change, the Gardener was stripped of her powers and they got transferred over to you, Doctor. After that, Tartus declared that he still had use for the eggs and left the Chronotorium forever. Before she left, the Gardener used the last of her authority to get me to erase any trace of Tartus' presence here and rig the Time-Gazer to not be able to perceive him to hide her mistake. I know, in hindsight, it was a bad idea, but she felt guilty at the time because the start of your great work was because of Tartus' deception. I'm... I'm sorry, Doctor."
The Doctor just stood there in stunned silence. The rest were surprised by it as well. They just stood there and stared at each other.