Late into the night and deep into the jungle, the mysterious Doctor waved his mysterious tool about in the air. His mare acquaintance, Octavia, had fallen asleep some time ago. She had worn a worried look the entire time they looked for the TARDIS and their friends. The Doctor knew she needed the rest, but he hadn't slept in quite some time and was very interested in the mysterious nature of the island they were stuck on. The jungle itself was lush and very much healthy, yet there was nary a creature in sight. Not even insects.
He checked his tool again, finding the results less than inconclusive. Before he could continue his investigation, he noticed a bright light through the trees. the light was intensely bright and quickly moving toward him. As it drew closer he could see that it was a sort of wave sweeping over the entire island. He ran over to where Octavia was sleeping and desperately tried to wake her up.
But the light was faster than him, baring down upon him with such force that he was blinded before slipping from consciousness.
...
Several hours later, the sun began poking through the lush, tropical trees as Octavia stirred from her sleep. She stretched and rose to her hooves and immediately looked around for the Doctor, noticed he was asleep right next to her. Naturally, she was upset.
"D-Doctor!" she shouted. "What do you think you're doing?!"
The Doctor sprang to life with a bewildered expression on his face . He shook off the sleep and did a complete turnaround, as if looking for something.
"Don't ignore me, Doctor! While I see you as a friend that was a tad too close. What if somepony-"
The Doctor turned to face her. "Octavia. Where are we?" he asked.
"Don't be coy, Doctor. We're in the middle of..." Octavia also looked around and noticed that their surroundings had changed greatly. The thick and lush foliage had turned into dead plants, almost as if the area had been ravaged by some sort of storm or lack of rain, but even that wasn't an apt description. The whole area looked like it was dying.
"Doctor, w-where are we?!" she asked.
"That's what I want to know." he replied.
He picked up his tool again and scanned the area. "Ah! So, good news! We haven't moved."
"What do you mean we haven't moved? Of course we did!" Octavia responded.
"We didn't. Strange, isn't it?" he jokingly asked.
"W-well what do we do now, then?"
"We keep going. There's not much choice. Towards the center of the island." he said, beginning to trot away as Octavia followed quickly behind him, not taking notice of the numerous insects and lizards on the surrounding plants.
...
Meanwhile, on another part of the island, an amnesiac Vinyl Scratch approached a nearby river.
"Whoa... hey, uh... Bon-bon, right? You should come see this." she said.
Bon-bon walked over to observe the river as well, noticing quite a few dead fish were floating downstream.
"Oh my!" she said, turning away. "What could've done such a thing?"
"No, that's not what I meant. Look!" Vinyl insisted.
Bon-bon reluctantly looked back and gasped as the very same dead fish she had just seen began swimming back upstream, total unharmed.
"I know, right?" Vinyl responded to her shock. "They just keep doing that."
"Something is very wrong with this place." Bon-bon said.
"Yeah, no kidding. But we should keep moving, right? Gotta find those friends of ours." Vinyl said as she began walking along the river, upstream.
"So you haven't remembered any of us yet?" Bon-bon asked, walking just behind her.
"Nope. But hey, I have no reason not to trust you, y'know? Hey, after this did you wanna get dinner sometime?" Vinyl asked.
"Oh, uh... I know this might seem weird, but you're already in a relationship."
Vinyl stopped and turned to face Bon-bon. "Wait, seriously? Is she cute? Is she here, too? Why didn't you say that before?"
"Yes, yes, yes, and it never came up before. My partner is here, too."
"Whoa. So were we on like a double date or something?"
"Well... I guess you could call it that. I'm sure the others could explain it to you better, let's hurry."
...
Once again in the darkness of sleep, Matt Nabal spotted the familiar form of the mysterious pony who he'd been dreaming of. They were in a dark room, but the pony was emanating a light from somewhere on it's head, confirming the pony to be a unicorn. Before much else could happen, he was jolted from sleep by a dreadful feeling crawling on his back.
After springing from sleep, Matt quickly stood and shook whatever it was on his back, off. It was some sort massive spider, and it seemed unharmed. Matt sighed and was thankful he wasn't arachnophobic. But the sudden appearance of the only creature he's seen so far on the island caused him to take a look around to make sure things were still somewhat normal. He noticed the trees and plants were wilted and dying, the pile of fruit Lyra had collected had clearly rotted and had flies swarming all over it, and that Lyra herself was still asleep.
He quickly shook her from sleep, or at least, he tried to.
"Lyra! Wake up, something isn't right."
Lyra stirred from sleep slowly and began to rise.
"Keep your horseshoes on, I'm up." she said while yawning.
After rubbing the sleep from her eyes she smacked her lips and looked around for the food. She sprang to life upon noticing what happened to it.
"Ah! What- who-... What happened to the food, two-legs?!" she cried out.
"I don't know but I don't like what's going on here. In the few minutes I've been awake I've seen more lifeforms than all of yesterday."
"Oh, hey, yeah. How about that. So what do we do?" she asked.
"We need to find the others. We have no idea what kind of beasts are roaming the island now and they could be in danger. Let's go."
"Right behind you."
...
"Well look at this! Look at this..." The Doctor said, spotting what seemed like a building smack dab in the middle of the jungle.
Octavia was just a bit behind him, and also spotted the building. "Could it be? Civilization?" she asked.
"Doubt it, but it is... beautiful isn't it?" the Doctor responded. Upon reaching what seemed like a doorway into the structure, the Doctor once again pulled out his screwdriver-esque tool.
"How do we get in? This stone door looks nearly unmovable."
"It is. It's locked from the inside with some sort of complex mechanism..." he replied, scanning the door.
"How di-" Octavia began to ask.
"I didn't, just a guess." The Doctor said.
"Well, I suppose we should find another way in." Octavia responded, beginning to walk away.
"Hm? Why? Come on, we've got no time to lose." The Doctor said, revealing that he had somehow opened the unmovable door.
Octavia began to question what had happened but decided against it, knowing the Doctor wouldn't give her a straight answer anyway.
...
In a cave nearby, Bon-bon and Vinyl Scratch wandered in, seeking shelter from a freak rain storm that came on them suddenly. Thankfully, Vinyl illuminated their surroundings with her horn.
"This probably wasn't a very good idea." Bon-bon said.
"Yeah... I'm starting to realize that." Vinyl added.
As they ventured deeper and deeper into the cave, they noticed that they seemed to have entered a building as the walls of the cave became actual stone walls.
"Can't be sure. Seems very ornate, though." Bon-bon replied.
Just then, they heard something behind them. They stopped and turned to see if there truly was something there, but they saw nothing. Upon continuing on and facing away, they heard the noise again. This time they shared a glance before quickly running as fast as they could down the twisting halls of the labyrinth they had wandered into.
...
As the Doctor and Octavia walked through the doorway and into the halls of the massive complex, torches that lined that wall began to light up.
"Fancy that. It's like trick candles, I love it." said the Doctor.
"Yes, it's definitely not incredibly ominous or terrifying." Octavia responded.
Before long they entered a massive chamber with a hole in the ceiling, letting the daylight creep into the structure. Dead-center in the room, they spotted something familiar. A large blue box.
"Aha! There she is!" The Doctor exclaimed, dashing towards the TARDIS and embracing it. "I swear I'll never lose you again, you sexy thing."
Before any other celebrating could commence, Octavia approached a pedestal just in front of the TARDIS. It had what seemed like a giant slot, almost a keyhole, within it.
"Doctor, what do you make of this?" Octavia asked, pulling the Doctor away from his blue box.
The Doctor was very intrigued by the pedestal, most notably with the text atop it.
"Any idea what it says?" Octavia inquired.
The Doctor scanned his tool over top the text. "'None can find this place'..." he read. "'Except those who must.' Well, that just begs further questions."
Before any other questions could be asked, the pair were startled by the sudden sound of screaming coming from another hall parallel to the one they entered from. Much to both of their surprises, Bon-bon and Vinyl came barreling out of the hall at full gallop, before Vinyl suddenly stopped upon locking eyes with Octavia.
"Doctor! Oh my gosh, I'm so happy we found you!" said Bon-bon, seizing her galloping to catch her breath. "We... we really need your help..." she looked back to where she had come from, only to see Vinyl standing close to the doorway. "Vinyl! You have to move!"
Vinyl finally snapped out of her trance, turning around to see the face of the monstrous beast who had been chasing her and Bon-bon.
It looked like it was some kind of snake or dragon, definitely reptilian in appearance but aside from it's head she couldn't the rest of the beast. It's head reared back as if it was ready to strike, but the ceiling above the monster crumbled. As two beings feel into the room, the resulting rubble blocked the strange beast's only entry into the room. As the dust settled, two lifeforms in the room stood and dusted themselves off.
"Well, I hope no one saw that." Matt Nabal said.
"Hey, it's not my fault this temple's construction is so shoddy." Lyra added. "Oh, Vinyl. We found you." she said, noticing her stunned friend.
"Everyone else is here too." Matt said, spotting his friends standing near the TARDIS. "And you even found the TARDIS? Looks like we were late, Lyra." he said, expecting the 'master of comedy' to make some sort of remark as a punchline. "... Lyra?"
He turned to see her gazing into the eyes of a currently blushing Bon-bon. Lyra began to quickly gallop across the room to embrace her now-recalled lover.
"Whoa!" said Bon-bon, surprised by Lyra's sudden expression of affection. "Come on, Lyra. It's only been like a day and a half. But I missed you, too."
"It was longer for me." Lyra replied, not loosening her hug. "It was nearly my whole life..."
"Hate to ruin the mood, but..." said the Doctor, pointing to the now shaking pile of rubble.
Everyone quickly made a mad dash for the TARDIS and clambered inside just as the beast broke through the rocks.
...
Finally back in Ponyville, the blue doors of the TARDIS opened as Vinyl and Octavia exited the box.
"It's been real guys, but I'm completely beat and need a bed. Catch ya later!" Vinyl shouted.
"I would also love a bed, so I'm going with her." Octavia said. "But thank you for the, uh, experience." she said, bowing as she followed after Vinyl.
Matt, Lyra, Bon-bon and the Doctor all waved as they left before the Doctor pulled out his bronze rod again.
"I've got some timey-wimey things to check on, I need you all to do whatever it is you do all the time." the Doctor said, heading down beneath the TARDIS' main console.
"I'm gonna go get some tea started, alright?" Bon-bon said, giving Lyra a quick peck on the cheek. "Matt, you're welcome to join us." she added, heading out of the ship.
"Sounds delightful." Matt said, heading to leave the ship as well.
"Wait." Lyra said, grabbing his attention, He leaned on one of the rails and motioned for her to continue. "We need to talk about... some of the things I told you back on the island."
"Go on." he replied.
Lyra sighed before continuing. "That stallion I told you about? That, 'love of my life'? I haven't been with him for about five years. He was a world renowned saxophone player who had moved to Canterlot to join the orchestra there, the same one Octavia is a member of and that I was a part of. One thing led to another and we became a couple. Two young, musically talented ponies in the same group who had similar interests? It was bound to happen. He was a very charming guy, used a lot of sophisticated words to manipulate me." another long sigh before she cast her head down, almost as if in shame. "He used me. Used me for a lot of things. My friends, my money, my home, everything. Naturally, we ended up where most stories like this do; he cheated on me. More than once. Me being young and naive, took all of that pretty harshly and left Canterlot and the orchestra in shame. I didn't even tell anypony except for Octavia. I ended up here, in Ponyville, drowning my sorrows at a little place called Sweetie Drop's Sweet Shop. And that's where I met her..."
"Bon-bon?" Matt asked, almost as if in confirmation.
"That's what everypony calls her 'cause she hates her name, but I know her as Sweetie Drop. She was what i needed to pull myself back together, but..." her head rose to meet Matt's gaze. "I guess I didn't notice how much the breakup changed me, made me less... fun, I guess? Sweetie didn't deserve a partner like me, but she stuck with it, even when it was hard. But that all changes today!"
Matt smiled as warmly as his normally stoic expression would allow. "So the 'Master of Comedy' is sticking around for a bit?" he asked cheekily.
"More than a bit, I hope." Lyra replied, equally wide smile spreading across her face. "C'mon, the tea is probably done by now." she said, trotting past him before turning around for a meaningful look. "... Thanks for listening, two-legs." she said, quickly trotting off.
"Will you ever call me by my actual name?" he called out, following close behind her.
"Probably not!" she called back.
...
In the cozy little house attached to Sweetie Drop's Sweet Shop, Bon-bon had just poured three glasses of tea as Lyra and Matt walked in.
"What kept you?" Bon-bon asked.
"Oh, y'know. Feelings and stuff." she said, quickly returning the soft kiss from earlier onto Bon-bon's cheek. Matt sat down on one the pony couple's garishly pink chairs and began to sip from his piping hot tea. Lyra levitated her cup and saucer as she quickly began setting something up in the corner of the room.
"Ooh, Lyra! Are you going to play?" Bon-bon asked looking genuinely excited.
"Tonight's a good night for music." Lyra replied, magically sipping her tea as well.
Lyra used magic to set up a small stand to hold sheet music and her trusted lyre before beginning to play it with her hooves while using magic to turn the page when needed and sip her tea.
"In the two years we've been together, Lyra's only played for me once or twice." Bon-bon told Matt as they listened to the sublime melody Lyra playing.
"She's really quite good."
"Oh yes, I agree. Listen, Matt, i don't know what happened with you two on the island but thank you looking after her." Bon-bon said graciously.
"She did her fair share of looking after me, I assure you." he replied.
Bon-bon smiled before taking a long sip of tea. "Is there anything I could help you with in return? I can make you some really delicious taffy in the morning, if you'd like."
Matt couldn't think of an applicable answer and to turn her down would be rude, so he decided to ask about something that had been bothering him.
"I do have a question, if you don't mind." he said.
"Of course not! What's on your mind?" she replied.
"Can you... can you tell me what love feels like?" he asked, his eyes staring deeply into his cup of tea.
Bon-bon was a tad taken aback by such a sudden and unexpected question, especially from someone who had rarely displayed any strong emotion at all.
"Well, that certainly is a bit of a doozy..." she said, chuckling nervously. "Love is... a very special feeling you get when you're around somepony you really, really like. A feeling that you and that pony... belong together... and you... and you can't stop thinking about them."
Matt wasn't all too surprised her definition of love matched up closely to Lyra's. "I see, but... What if those two peop-" he stopped to correct himself. "-ponies aren't as similar as they should be? Or, say, of a... different species?"
Bon-bon's smile widened as she began to piece together what was going on. "Honestly? It's usually not to much of a problem. I mean, especially since times have changed. Remember back on the train? Stardust kept her relationship with Merriweather a secret. Back then, two mares being together wasn't anywhere near as accepted it is today. Hay, even my fourth cousin twice removed married a Griffin and they're the happiest couple I know. As they say, 'love transcends all'."
"I... I see." Matt replied near silently as gears began turning in his mind.
"If I may..." said Bon-bon, gaining his attention again. "While I know sometimes differences can be strange to work around and rejection is scary, I still believe that if you love sompony, you should tell them. Even if you're not sure, it'd help take the weight off your heart. That's what I think, anyway."
"I understand." Matt replied, before gulping down his now cooled tea.
"You do?"
"I do. My brain keeps trying to find answers to questions my heart has, but that's getting me nowhere. Thank you for the tea." He said, while rising. "I need to find these answers on my own."