//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 - An Enchanting Venture // Story: The Timepony’s Journal // by Penny_Shavins109 //------------------------------// Twilight stumbled out of the TARDIS, almost falling flat on her face. She was shocked by the previous events that had happened: the attack from the beast of dark energy or magic, or whatever it was, and the departure of Radiance. She knew that Radiance was out there somewhere, hopefully completely fine, and still trying to find herself. She had barely started to know Radiance, but she wasn't malicious or unkind in any way in the time they'd known each other. She was honest and open about what she knew of her past, even when she was scared to say the truth. Twilight felt like she was being a bit too trusting, but wasn't it the job of the Princess of Friendship to be so?  To be open before being judgmental and to give anybody a chance?  She was back in the castle, everything was exactly the same as when she left it, except for herself. That’s the way things worked with the TARDIS.  You’re never the same once you’ve seen it all. Twilight was contemplating all of these thoughts while trotting down the crystal hallways and back to her room. The sun was setting on the horizon, the sky turning from a peaceful pink to a shimmering violet full of bright twinkling stars. She wasn’t back to square one with the Doctor, but she was still further away than from rescuing him. It hurt a little to think that she might be using Radiance for her own needs, but she was willing to help.  The book laid on her nightstand where Spike moved it earlier in the day. It’d felt like a while since she talked to Spike, but he was already asleep in his new bedroom. He was often grouchy when woken up from an incredibly long nap by pony standards. (Dragons call a 100-year snooze “normal”.) . She picked it up and brushed the cover. The binding slightly cracked upon opening it, the pages yellowed with age. She had plenty of time before bed, so she decided to keep reading. Continuing the journey from where they left off. The fight began, a new unicorn against the strong and hard trained pegasus. Blades and shields clashed against each other again and again, Spark struggling to hold his stand. Luckily he was able to quickly gain an advantage over him, nearly pinning him to the ground. But upon escaping his grasp the unicorn used his secret weapon, a small wound appearing on Spark’s hoof. Only a small scratch like a papercut, but this would be far worse. The fight continued as they clashed. Wham, blade against blade. Wham, blade against the shield. It was a seemingly never-ending cycle. That was until Spark began to weaken, feeling dizzier and dizzier. He had to hold out, to stand his ground, to keep fighting. But he was now no match for Grazing Oak. With one swift blow to the shield, Spark Reaction fell down to the ground. He gasped for breath, unusually tired. "The fight is over, I have finished off your selected warrior. As payment for your strong will and ability to defend yourself, I will make your death swift." Grazing Oak lifted his blade and pointed it towards Spark's chest. Berry came galloping down the corridor, hearing all the commotion. She saw what was about to happen and let out a cry of both fear and anger. "NO!" She blocked the stallion from lowering his sword, taking on a protective manner. “He may be the Alicorn’s chosen warrior, but he is still a guest. We wouldn’t want a high-class guest slaughtered before the trials, especially by another. I will decide his fate after the ceremony is completed in a discrete and formal manner. Please, leave us in peace.” Grazing Oak could not deny that killing their champion here and now would bring him undesirable consequences, so he left the room silently after bowing before them with respect. The group let out a collective sigh of relief from the bullet they dodged. They were treading a fine line and they knew it. “I wish there was a way those unicorns didn’t have to lose their magic. Do you think we could possibly find a way?” asked Berry. “I’m sorry my dear, history cannot be changed to such a degree.” “But think. If there was a way, we could save hundreds of lives.” “And risk millions of others, so I don’t think so. I’d let you run off and pointlessly try, but it’s already dangerous for us to be here.” “But I want to save somepony, anypony!” “You can’t rewrite history, not one line! It’s absolutely-“ He stopped when Susan approached from the right, putting a hoof on his side to calm him down. The Doctor let out a sigh of relief, looking back up at Berry. “There are some things in time that can’t be changed. No matter how hard you try they’re so rooted into the fabric of reality that they cannot be undone without disastrous consequences.” “But if you can’t save everyone then you should at least try to save someone!” Berry then ran off crying, not sure of what to do. The Doctor looked back at Susan, equally unsure. “Should I go after her?” “Not yet, we’ve still got a ceremony to try and avoid.” There had to be a certain amount of unicorns for the ritual so another one had to take their place as they made the full set. If they hadn’t shown up history would continue its course without them. They could leave but it’d cause a disturbance. They were honored guests, too many eyes were fixated upon them for them to slip away quietly. The Doctor thought to himself, contemplating all of their options. It slowly began to become cloudy, a few stray clouds getting away from the Pegasi. As he looked out had a small idea, but he needed to find Berry first. He told Susan to stay behind and look after Spark when he woke up before leaving. Upon passing the living quarters he heard a little colt sobbing. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked towards the source of the sadness. The colt was lime green with a brown mane, his cutie mark a bolt of lightning and a sun. He stopped crying and looked back at the Doctor, standing to attention before wiping his tears. "I apologize for my display of weakness, Sir." "No need for apologies, you're perfectly fine. Is it okay for me to ask exactly what's wrong?" "I...I've been replaced. I was nervous about doing the ceremony before, but now I'm sure it wasn't meant to be. A royal deity has intervened so I must've not been the right one if the heavens have decided my fate. I guess I'm deemed to be worth nothing after all." "Oh, dear child, there's no need to fret. Just because someone took your place doesn't mean that you're fated to accomplish nothing in your lifetime. You were accepted, were you not? Doesn’t that truly take a large amount of skill and magical ability to do, hmm?" "Well, I suppose you're right. But what do I do now? I've wanted to do this my whole life\, but now that chance has been taken away from me." "Well then, I am a respected figure. Maybe I can persuade the deities to do something for you." "R-really!? With all due respect sir, that may well be impossible." "Well eh, how rude of me, I never asked your name." "It's Solar, Solar Flare sir." "Please, please, call me the Doctor. None of this ‘mister’ or ‘sir’ stuff." "Yes si- I mean, Doctor." The Doctor smiled warmly to the colt before turning around and continuing his search for Berry. He found the light blue pegasus curled up into a ball next to a deluxe suite room set up for the four of them. The Doctor sat down next to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. Berry briefly jumped, surprised by the sudden contact until realizing who it was. Her look of shock faded back into sadness, her head slumping back down to the floor. "You know, I may be right about not being able to change history, but we can fix what we've interfered with. Change it in small ways to make things a little bit better." "Y-you really think so?" Berry sniffled and wiped her nose. The Doctor offered her hanky which she gladly accepted. "I believe we've already started." The Doctor walked up to the High Priest, presenting Solar Flare to him. They both had a brief conversation on how they hadn't realized that they'd unintentionally robbed such an exceptional young student of the chance to present themselves. It was a bit more complex considering that they were conceived to be ambassadors of the alicorn race, but the Doctor was able to get in the final word. "We did not know that we were interfering so harshly with the future of someone else. If we had known we wouldn't have submitted Susan as a contender for the ceremony. I've talked to the subject personally and he is quite an exceptional disciple. We give him our personal seal of approval and a high recommendation. I hope that his magic will continue to do much more good in the future as I'm certain that he already is." "I see. You have clearly convinced me that he is truly the greatest. I'm sorry that I ever doubted your word." "There's no need, I know that you were only trying to pass on your great judgment and provide us with the proper respect." The High Priest bowed and left, leaving just The Doctor, Berry, and Solar Flare alone. Berry had decided to come along earlier due to what the Doctor said. He told her about what they had done by accident and that they had to right their wrongs. It made Berry feel better, helping at least one pony. After all, helping one pony was better than failing to save the rest that came after him. Later Spark awoke weary in the bedroom, surrounded by his compatriots. "Ugh, what happened?" "I was tricked into setting you up for failure in the fight.” “That warrior Grazing Oak might not be happy and might want a fair fight before we go, that is if we can go.” "The Doctor talked the High Priest into letting us go, right Doctor?" asked Susan. "Eh, they allowed you to go. I may be able to explain to the high priest about us leaving due to holy intervention being unnecessary." "So it'd be like we were never here at all." Berry looked down in sorrow, knowing that with all the misery to come in the future years absolutely nothing would change for neither the good nor worse. It was the Age of Strife, a time of pony suffering. "Chin up my dear, we helped that one foal back into self-confidence. We never meant to hurt him by being here and we bettered his future by the lightest of interactions." "Is that it then, we just up and leave like we were never here?" "I'm afraid so, we're already treading on thin ice as it is by being in such a dangerous place. We could have a spear at our throats again if we bring any dishonor to the party." "And what about the little recreational battle I had, huh? Are we back to square one?" "Spark my dear, the interactions we have with others are not marked with points. It is true that there is a right and a wrong but how we act about it is on us. We've changed the future, but sometimes we just can't change the past even with the TARDIS. Now, I think it's time we should go before we change something important." They came back up to the door where they had started, not as different from this experience compared to the last. But before they could open the door Grazing Oak came running down the corridor, stopping with a screeching halt when approaching Spark. "Do you believe that you can get away without winning a real fight?" Oak huffed through gritted teeth. "Funny coming from you, seeing that you cheated in the last one. But we don't have to fight, we can just go on with our lives as usual." "But fighting is my life! Ever since I was a little colt I have wanted to come out the stronger, to be strong in front of others." "Then you can walk away and still be strong.” There was a pause between the two of them, Susan, The Doctor, and Berry only watching on standby. Grazing Oak scoffed and lifted his nose in the air. “I can’t be strong without winning a fight!” With a loud battle cry, he rushed at Spark and they tussled hoof to hoof. It was much harder than swords and shields as it was a closer range, but the fight went onward. Spark tried his best not to hurt Oak, but the opposing party did not share the same sentiment. The two held each other in a stance equally keeping one from the other. They were both covered in dirt and grime from being thrown around the floor so much. Time seemed to slow down around them like they were traveling through molasses. With one last punch, Grazing Oak went down. Spark went over to him and gently placed a hoof on his chest. “There’s no need for you to fight any longer. You’re strong the way you are.” Just like that, the four of them left, barely leaving a trace. The TARDIS hummed and started the ever so familiar wheezing groaning noise that happened whenever they dematerialized. As the Doctor said, small things had changed that didn’t affect much in the long run. Solar Flare went on to find easier and easier methods of raising the sun and moon, even helping the future princesses ease into power by starting a campaign to improve their popularity. He’s now recognized as the twenty-third advisor to the throne on what used to be twenty-two. Grazing Oak kept on being a fighter, but he slowed down eventually. He went into tournaments and retired from being the town champion. He later helped organize the royal guard and became a general in his late sixties. His name is marked on the tomb containing the names of fifty-seven ponies that received the Red Heart of Harmony. The trails the Doctor and his compatriots left in the past were still slim and he’d barely made an impact on the still vast and ever-changing universe. At this time in his life, very few knew where he'd end up next.