//------------------------------// // Part 21: 3, 2, 1, Showtime! // Story: Once a Time Lord... Well, actually still that, but now a Pony as well... // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// “So, there's this man, he has a time machine. Up and down history he goes — zip, zip, zip, zip, zip — getting into scrapes. Another thing he has is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Then, one day, he thinks, "What's the point in having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes?" So, off he goes to 18th Century Germany, but he can't find Beethoven anywhere. No one's heard of him. Not even his family have any idea who the time traveller is talking about. Beethoven literally doesn't exist. This didn't happen, by the way. I've met Beethoven. Nice chap. Very intense. Loved an arm wrestle. No, this is called the bootstrap paradox. Google it. The time traveller panics. He can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven. Luckily, he'd brought all of his Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So, he copies out all the concertos and the symphonies, and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven. And history continues with barely a feather ruffled. My question is this: who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's Fifth?” -The Twelfth Doctor, Before the Flood Twilight knew something was off with the Doctor as soon as he returned to Ponyville. She didn’t know how she knew, it was just that she did. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, devoid of his usual swagger. A charming swagger, she’d admit, but still, nonetheless, a swagger and one that was missing. She’d heard the news coming from Canterlot, of course, if only bits and pieces. Apparently, if that rag the Ponyville Chronicle was to be believed, then some strange stallion had waltzed in claiming to be a friend of the Doctor’s and had tried to charm his way into Celestia’s court. A silver tongue he was supposed to have. Twilight, in her opinion, didn’t quite believe that this stallion, called Time Turner or something or other could get even that far. It wasn’t that much of a stretch of anyone’s imagination that Celestia had plenty of suitors and the like try to charm their way into a very close position, as even Twilight wouldn’t deny that her mentor was a very beautiful mare. Usually, more often than not, stallions and mares alike had failed to get even slightly close to Celestia, she’d always been a very guarded mare at times, Frankly, after learning of the atrocities the Princess of the Sun had committed soon after her sister had been forced to be banished to the moon, Twilight couldn’t blame Celestia for not wanting to get close to many ponies, really. She could only guess this of course, but she figured Celestia never really wanted to lose another pony close to her and so she kept them at arm’s length. Twilight didn’t realize this of course, (And how could she, given this was before her time) but this was part of the reason Sunset Shimmer had left, she’d wanted to at least try and show Celestia that she didn’t have to be alone. That’s why she delved deep into forbidden spells, trying to find a way to ascend to Alicorn status and give Celestia a form of companionship. If not as a lover, but as a daughter to stay with her throughout the years. It was a sad consequence along the way that Sunset had just happened to become far too ambitious for her own good and actually desire power for its own sake, not for Celestia’s if that made much sense. Twilight didn’t know much of what had gone down in Canterlot aside from the bits and pieces she’d heard from various news articles, and the Royal Guard and especially her own brother seemed to be quite mum on the issue. She thought about asking her old friends, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and the like, on what may have happened but as of right now they weren’t exactly on the best of terms really. Twilight up and leaving on Moondancer’s birthday party didn’t exactly endear her to them right now. Not that they could have known Nightmare Moon, the real one was returning and Twilight had to stop her. The fact was when she tried to explain this to them via letter (Not her wisest choice, she admitted.) and not in person, her explanation was only sent back marked with a return label. She’d briefly considered talking to Lyra, who she knew also lived in Ponyville and had witnessed Nightma-No, Princess Luna’s return from her 1,000-year long banishment but to be quite honest she was terrified that Lyra hated her as well. And why wouldn’t she? After all, her, Moondancer, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon were as thick as thieves at times and then Twilight just up and left them without explanation. So, of course, that route of getting information was very much closed off to her. Twilight wondered, what exactly was so top-secret about this newcomer that even her own brother wasn’t allowed to discuss it with her. There was one possibility of course, but Twilight believed it to be so impossible, she dismissed it out of hoof almost at once. But whatever the case, when the Doctor returned to Ponyville later that next day, he seemed… well, quite forlorn really if Twilight had to use one word to describe it. Like he’d just lost a very good friend. Of course, the most obvious thing to do was go and talk to the Time Lord himself, and so that’s what Twilight had decided to do. Not an easy thing, you’d imagine. You’d be right. “Er, Doctor?” Twilight asked, finding the Time Lord in one of Ponyville’s cafes, drinking a fruit smoothie. She raised an eyebrow. Dragonfruit or if you wanted to be more accurate, a Pitaya. Personally, Twilight still preferred the Blood Orange for an exotic fruit smoothie. Needless to say, the pitaya, it was an odd choice really for a fruity drink, what with it being an obscure fruit from the country of Azteca. Hell, Twilight only knew of the country and the fruit itself thanks to the Daring Do books, which were strangely well researched for adventure novels. But then again, the Doctor was never really your average pony in any sense of the word. “You alright?” The look the Doctor sent her, well, suffice to say it wasn’t a happy one. Twilight laughed nervously. “Right… stupid question.” Twilight sighed, pulling up a seat. “Listen, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.” She asked for a menu, and used a hoof to gesture for a drink of her own. A Sanfratellano Soda, with a blood orange (Of course) mixed in for flavoring. A sorbet might have been nice, but considering how hot it was today, it might have easily melted in the sun. A tan earth pony with a light pistachio mane with lime streaks walked up, -bearing a lemon tart as a cutie mark- with the aforementioned soda, setting it next to Twilight. The waitress, Twilight would swear she was related to Rainbow Dash or Pinkie in some manner, considering she was rather cheerful and was bobbing her head to some unknown beat coming out of her earbuds. “Yeah, I suppose someone to talk to might be a nice thing…” the Doctor sighed, resting his head on the table. Twilight, noting his already unhappy mood, didn’t bother correcting him for the someone thing. Not like it would have mattered anyways, as it would have gone ignored. “So, suppose I should get right to it,” Twilight said, after taking a sip of her soda and letting the somewhat tarty taste hit her. Not the first choice she’d use for a soda, the Moro breed of the Orange. She personally preferred the Tarocco, at least nowadays. “What happened in Canterlot? Between you and this Time Turner, I mean? I mean, my brother’s not saying anything on the issue, and all I can gather is he tried to worm his way into Celestia’s court.” A wince was the Doctor’s answer to that. “That bad, huh?” Twilight sighed. “First off, his name isn’t Time Turner. It’s the Master,” the Doctor replied, his smoothie going ignored. It took a few moments for it to register in Twilight’s mind, but then the penny dropped. And with a very loud clang. “W-Wait, y-you mean he’s a-?” Twilight barely managed to stammer out, and the Doctor nodded. “I’m going to repeat what I said to Celestia when we… reunited for lack of a better term. But first things first, silence the area around us. This is not for anyone’s ears but our own,” the Doctor stated firmly. Twilight complied, throwing up an invisible bubble that enveloped them in silence, making it impossible for anyone to overhear. Then, knowing what he had to say was safely a secret, the Doctor continued: “We were both born with names but they were lost to time. We chose the names we'd live the rest of our lives with. we chose them based on the kinds of people we wanted to be and what our every action was motivated by. I wanted to end suffering, to help people. That's why I'm the Doctor. He's the Master because he only wishes to control them,” he reiterated. “All Time Lords have this... hypnotic ability I guess you could call it, this... telepathy. we both use it all the time. I'm the Doctor, I'm here to save people. The Master though, he gets you to trust him but it's to manipulate not to help. It's not for your benefit but for his, and only his.” he sighed, with Twilight listening, staying at rapt attention. “For the longest time, I thought he was dead. Hell, I saw him die in my very arms, in a year that never was. (Long story.) And now…” he sighed again. “Here he is again. We were friends once, and as much as I’d like to believe we could be friends again, I’m fairly certain that can’t exactly happen. The Master, he’s too far-gone for that.” “There’s always hope, right?” Twilight asked, her voice coming out as a soft, sad whisper. Her eyes were filled with pity for the Doctor, knowing all too well what it was like to lose a close friend. And the Master, Twilight had the distinct feeling he was something more to the Doctor than just a friend if the way he talked about him was any indication. “Twilight, you need to understand something,” the Doctor stated sternly. “Yes, we were friends once, the Master and I, but as things are, we can’t ever go back to the way we were, no matter what I do. The Time Lords, my people, they created the Master as… well, something to free them from what’s called a Time Lock. The effective ruler of Gallifrey and our president, (The Doctor spat out the words “our president” in a tone of utter disgust) a man called Rassilon retroactively placed this… condition into the Master’s head, made him hear a constant four beat drumming in his head, the drums of war,” he continued, a growl reaching his throat. “When he was simply just a mere eight years old, as all Time Lords do, he was forced to look into the Untempered Schism, a natural opening in the space/time continuum into which you can see all of the Time Vortex.” “Dear Faust…” Twilight whispered in horror. “That’s when it happened, that’s when the drumming started. Like someone shouted, 3, 2, 1, showtime!” the Doctor stated angrily, doing a four-note drum beat with his hoof, tapping the cafe table. “Whenever a Time Lord looks into this crack, something happens. Some would be inspired, some would run away and some would go mad. The Master, sadly, he’d be one of the ones to go mad. I’d like to believe there’s some small part of my old friend still left in there, but… Honestly, I just can’t. Not after all the atrocities he’s committed.” “Why, why do you believe?” Twilight pressed. “Well, we have these sort of fob watches, all Time Lords do,” the Doctor continued. “We can imbue our entire consciousness into them if ever we needed to go into hiding undetected. We, once we do this, become completely different men with only a fraction of our original personalities left. I’ve done this once before, to hide from a group known simply as the Family. The Master did it as well, if only to escape the destruction of my homeworld and go where he’d never be found. He became this kindly old man, called himself Yana, willing to help anyone escape the end of the universe. A foolish endeavor yes, but I saw -Or maybe I was hoping to see- what the Master might have become had my people, -my people!- not messed with his mind!” the Doctor bellowed, before fighting back a sob. Twilight, at that moment, could have sworn she heard the Doctor whisper “My Koschei…” soon after this. And all Twilight could do was find herself pulling the Last of the Time Lords into a hug and let him sob. Later that afternoon, Twilight found herself laying on a hilltop a short distance outside Ponyville. Her eyes were currently skimming through an ancient text by the great legendary healer Mage Meadowbrook on transfiguration spells and potions for the same usage, but her mind? That had decided to drift off elsewhere. It was currently still stuck on the conundrum that was the relationship between the Master, and the Doctor. On one hoof, you had the Doctor, explaining that there was the tiniest possibility that the Master could be, or could have been saved but at the same time it sounded like wishful thinking at best. He sounded like he was reaching, holding out hope that he could get his old friend back but knew it was a fruitless endeavor in the end. The Doctor didn't exactly mention what sort of atrocities His old friend had exactly committed, but from the sounds of things, they were on the same scale at the very least of the ones Celestia had caused when she was in her Daybreaker phase. Possibly, and quite probably even worse. Twilight let out a growl of frustration. Sure, friendship literally was the most powerful magic in the land -bar none and accept no substitutes- but even she had her doubts this particular problem could be fixed. At least, not by her. I mean, how did you reconcile a universal savior and a possibly genocidal madman? Or madpony in this case. Sometimes, Twilight had to wonder if she really was cut out for the job of being Celestia’s personal student and therefore the one who taught her teachings to anypony who’d listen. Take that Trixie mare she’d met a few months back. Sure, she was arrogant, boastful, brash and a few other things besides, but Twilight truly believed she could make a friend out of her. Not to mention, learn some illusion magic, which was a branch Twilight had always been particularly fascinated by really. The one type of magic she’d never been able to grasp, and Trixie could probably teach it to her if she wanted. Trouble is, she doubted Trixie would come back to Ponyville anyone soon. Knowing her type, and how prideful she was, she’d probably feel humiliated. “Hey Twi,” a familiar scratchy voice remarked, and Twilight admitted if only to herself that she felt a bit of blood rush to her cheeks. “Looks like you've got a lot on your mind. Maybe I can help. I am the Element of Loyalty after all…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she landed beside her before noting the texts Twilight was reading. “Speaking of the prideful type…” Twilight thought snidely. “Though not if it’s any eggheady stuff like that. Please, give me a break. It’d make my brain rot just trying to comprehend half of that.” the pegasus remarked. “I-It’s important work, for my research!” Twilight sputtered out indignantly, trying to regain some of her lost pride. “And besides, I didn't even imagine you knew what comprehended meant. Did someone feed you a dictionary lately?” she deadpanned. Rainbow chuckled, waving the insult off with a dismissive hoof. “Can't be that important work if your head is in the clouds like it seems to be,” she replied in a dry tone of voice. “And don't bother with the excuses eh? Even I can tell your mind was off wandering elsewhere. So, what’s the sitch? Like I said before, maybe I can help, hmm?” “It’s… it’s nothing.” Twilight lied. “Can't be nothing. I mean, you rarely take your nose out of a book and yet here you are, barely paying attention to the one in front of you! I'd like to say I'm the cause, but…” Rainbow trailed off once more. “It’s sorta a problem, and to be honest I don't want to bring you into it, really.” Twilight sighed. “Hey, you don't have to carry these great big things alone, not anymore,” Rainbow told her sternly. “You've got friends now. Remember Nightmare Moon? You couldn't have beat her alone, no way! We were there to back you up, remember?” she asked, wrapping a reassuring wing around her fellow pony. Twilight once again found herself blushing, even as she shot a grateful smile towards Rainbow. “T-Thanks…” Twilight whispered. “Hey, what I'm here for,” Rainbow replied. “To knock some sense into you when ya need it. Now, what I think is you need to take your mind off of whatever heavy crap that’s been bothering you for a time. Just maybe engage in some idle chit-chat and speculation. All work and no play, makes for one very dull bookhorse.” Rainbow suggested, booping Twilight on the nose as she did so. Needless to say, this didn't help to quell Twilight’s blush any. “Sounds good,” Twilight replied to her. “So, what’d you have in mind?” “Well, intelligent as you are, and this I admit is sorta one of the main reasons I came looking for you, is who do think made the first Sonic Rainboom? I mean, someone had to do it, for it to cement itself in Equestrian legend and for me to know about it. So, spill. What’s your theory? Who did it first?” “I… I actually don't know…” Twilight admitted. “Well, there’s no reason why we can't take a little trip and find out, right?” a voice came from behind, and standing behind both ponies was the Doctor, back in his usual chipper, cheery mood. “So, to quote Burt Reynolds, what do you know, what do you say?”