//------------------------------// // Forward In All Your Beliefs // Story: Hourglasses // by Spiritus Arcane //------------------------------// Chapter 6 Forward In All Your Beliefs The console room was quite except for the hum of the TARDIS' engines when Colagate came back to it. She still couldn't help marvel, again, at how completely different it was from the last time she'd seen it, during the Shada incident. Frankly, she considered it a testament to both its construction and the Doctor's care that the TTC was even still operational. As she trotted down the stairs to the console platform itself, she noticed K-9 standing silent vigil next to the hat rack near the exterior doors. The doctor himself was leaning forward over one side of the console, an unreadable expression on his face. "I led the others to the library, though it took a while to find it. You have been re-arranging things somewhat. ...What happened to half your book collection?" "...Incident with the pool during last regeneration," he told her. "Ah, pity." She walked over next to him. "...Speaking of regenerations, I suppose we need to talk," The Doctor stood up, looking at her. "Yes, we need to talk," "Good, because I need to -GAK-!" She gagged as the Doctor suddenly grabbed her around the neck, hauling her up and pinning her down on top of a clear space on the console! "Yes, lets talk," he said, the calm in his voice being flooded by an undertone of anger. "First subject, who are you?" Colgate panted for air for a moment before she managed to respond. "Have...have you gone mad!? You should be able to perfectly well know who I am!" "No, I know who you're supposed to be, there's a difference," he said, staring down at her. "I will admit you've done a very good job of it. The K-9 unit was a nice touch." "Master?" questioned the tin dog. "Quiet you!" the Doctor snapped, pointing at it warningly with his free arm. He quickly turned his attention back to the filly. "Now, who are you!? And no lies, because with everything that has happened today, I am very much not. In. The. Mood!" Colgate glared up at him. "I am Romanadvoratrelundar, Time Lord of Gallifrey, Lady-President of the High Council!" She pronounced, then added, "...In exile, at least." "I SAID NO LYING!" the Doctor exploded, causing her to flinch. With difficulty, he restrained himself. "She's gone...Gallifrey...all of them...gone...I've come to accept that..." "...Doctor," she said gently, "If you'd just believe your senses and listen, I'm trying to tell you-" "Because every time I don't...every time I allow myself to think otherwise," he interrupted, "It always ends in heartache, tears, and a lot of mortal peril, so unless you want to see me...angry...DROP THE ACT!" "'One day, I shall come back.'" The two suddenly turned their heads to see Flower Shine standing next to them. It was she who had spoken just then. She continued before either of them could speak up. "'Yes, one day I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.'" Colgate glance upwards to see the Doctor frozen with a look of astonishment. "That was the last thing you said to me before saying goodbye, do you remember?" Shine went on, "And I did my best, or rather, we did, David and I. It wasn't always perfect, but we were happy together, and I'm glad, now, that you gave me that chance. But I did wait for you to come back...but you never did." Releasing Colgate, the Doctor stepped back a pace, seemingly dazed. "...I tried, once. But...you were gone...I couldn't...couldn't find you..." Shine smiled at him sadly. "It wasn't your fault...I'm glad to know you tried...but I suppose the war got to me first." "War? ...No! No, no ,no...you were safe...you were supposed to be safe from all that!" the Doctor protested. "Rassilon came for me himself. He said that anyone with experience fighting the Daleks was needed. Really, I think he thought if he had me, he might be able to control you. Apparently he never got the chance to try. ...He should have known better in any case." She stepped forward, really looking him over now. "Look at you!" she said with a laugh, "You finally stopped pretending to be so old...except, you really are now, aren't you?" For once at a loss for words, it took him a moment to find a response. "Well...you're a...pony!" he said, cracking a smile even as he started to cry openly. Shine started to as well. "Oh grandfather!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him. He dropped to his knee to embrace her. "Susan!" he gasped, hugging her to him, "My dear Susan..." Any other day, and she might have been absolutely fascinated in the place she found herself in today. A craft of some sort, that while outside was the size of a large box, contained large rooms and other wonders inside! But today was, by far, NOT an ordinary day. Today...Ditzy had just seen her father die...no, seen him killed in front of her, and right now all she wanted to do was cry. And so she did, as she rested on a couch in a half-empty library that Flower Shine and that blue filly had led her to after they'd escaped. "Er...are y'all okay?" came a voice from nearby. Ditzy looked up to see the earth pony colt teen that had helped rescue them earlier. Macintosh flinched a little at her gaze. "Eeeyup, dumb question..." he muttered. "...Look...is there anything I c'n do fer ya?" Ditzy couldn't help it, a wave of grief and anger came bubbling up and she let it loose on the only target available. "Whistle!?" she snapped, "Warrant your Papfin MURDERED tuba!?" Mac stepped back in response to her outburst. "...Was...my pa murdered?" he asked, taking a moment to piece together what she'd meant. "...Oh, is that who that...?" he started to ask, remembering the unicorn guard she and and the other mare had been standing over with the Doctor. "...No, can't say he was..." Ditzy nodded, opening her mouth to say something else when Mac beat her to it. "He is gone though...he and ma, both..." Instantly her anger deflated and it was her turn to flinch. "Oh...wax..." They were both quiet for a long moment. "...What cornered? ...If ice ok to axe?" "Wha' happened, you mean?" he asked back, and she nodded. "Nah...it's...it's ok 'ta ask. ...It was a few months ago, ya see, right after mah youngest sister came along... There was a big storm tha' came up outta the Everfree Forrest. Weather Teams couldn't stop it none, and it started overflowing the river where the new dam was. Ma and Pa went t' go help evacuate ponies downstream in case it broke...and then it did..." Mac stopped there, and it was silent again for a few moments. Finally it was Ditzy who broke it. "I'm...sorry," she said, doing her best to speak clearly. "'Twern't your fault...weren't anypony's fault. ...Jus' an accident. Granny Smith said, though, that iffin they had to go...they....would've been glad ta know it was helping other ponies..." ...Not that it helped much, he added to himself, sadly. Ditzy just nodded. Her own father had made her understand that, even in a land as peaceful as Equestria, there was always a risk that his duties in the guard might mean he might not come home someday. But Mac's parents...they'd just been helping out during a crisis...they'd given their lives to help others, even though they didn't have to. And instead of a noble death in the line of duty, her father had been enslaved and then his life taken as a simple distraction by these Dalek monsters. Neither should have happened... Ditzy suddenly got up with a look of determination. She hopped off the couch and started heading back to the console room, a confused Macintosh following in her wake. "Where ya goin'?" he asked. She didn't answer. No, neither event should have happened, but while she couldn't do anything to prevent tragic accidents...she could help to make sure the Daleks never took the life of another pony ever again. Meanwhile, back in the console room, there were tears shed, followed by apologies given. Finally, after things had settled down, the Doctor decided to get some questions answered. "I suppose the obvious question is: how?" Colgate chuckled. "Actually, the how of it was the fairly easy, at least in terms of creating the inter-universal tear. The real trick was doing it under the noses of Rassilon and the Council. Luckily, even after his supporters had ousted me we still had allies among them. ...Some of them even had to stay behind in the end, to keep our escape secret. The rest of them couldn't be allowed to follow..." The Doctor nodded. "I can imagine, given what they tried back in our universe..." "The Final Sanction..." Shine whispered. The three of them gave a collective shudder. Colgate gave a disgusted snort. "To think that we had fallen so far... Bad enough that the war had degenerated into something far beyond Time Lords versus Daleks...but to destroy time itself simply to achieve victory..." She looked up into the Doctor's eyes. "However you ended it...whatever you had to do...don't ever think for a moment that it was the wrong decision. Especially considering the alternative." "I..." he was unsure what to say to that. "...Thank you." The unicorn filly just nodded in response. "Anyway, those of us who rebelled against the direction Rassilon was leading us, we devised an escape. ...Call it cowardly if you must, but we couldn't just blindly follow the Council any longer, and continuing to fight would just pointlessly expand the conflict even further. We created an inter-dimensional tear, large enough to fly TARDISes through. ...And then those of us who could came here." "Right. And here comes the question I've been really wanting answered, why go pony?" The other two giggled. "Well, for starters, I'm sure you've noticed that the humanoid form doesn't exactly blend in here," Shine said. "But more than that, it was part of the sanctuary agreement with Princess Celestia," Colgate added. "I suppose we could have simply started over again somewhere, set up a New Gallifrey or some such...and some of us did want to. But the rest of us... The Time War had shown us our worst, and most of didn't want to set up something that might just go on to repeat all our mistakes all over again. In addition, the tear had exited here in Equestria, and while we debated, we had ample time to observe their culture. And while not perfect it was...appealing, I guess. So we made contact. "As pretty much our leader by default as well as position, I entered into negotiations with the Princess. I told her everything, and in the end, we reached an agreement where we would be allowed to live among the Equestrian population, so long as we made sure that the Gallifreyan technology we had brought with us would be kept out of pony...hooves, and that none of us went messing around with this universe's timestreams." "Given the universal difference, I would have thought that last bit would be a non issue...but then, my TARDIS seems to be running all right...." he commented. Shine nodded, "That baffled us for a while too. Near as we can tell the background 'magic,' of this dimension (we're not exactly sure what to classify it as, but that's what the natives call it), is fully compatible with TARDIS power systems, even despite the differing universal origins." "Which was luck for us, because Gallifreyan technology really helped speed along the final step," Colgate continued. "One of us devised a way to modify chameleon arches to modify our basic physiology patterns without actually completely rewriting it." "Meaning instead of going full pony, you turned time lords into...time ponies?" "Essentially. Unfortunately, the process mainly works by altering our regeneration cycles, so the change only really goes into effect upon the next regeneration, meaning we all had to lose one..." "Still, that's brilliant, I'd love to meet whoever came up with it!" She sighed, "Normally, you'd be doing just that, but apparently something bigger has come up..." "Daleks?" The three turned in surprise to see Ditzy Doo descending the stairs into the room, a determined look on her wall-eyed features. Mac was lurking uncertainly in the doorway above. "That's water teacup tap-lking about, right?" she asked. "I'm sorry if this is important but shouldn't we be thinking about trying to stop them, and do catch-up later?" Flower Shine was looking at her dumbfounded. "Ditzy...your aphasia..." Ditzy snorted. "What about it?" she asked a tad angrily, as if she needed to be reminded of her condition right now. "I know you can understand me fine, somehow, so just translate for me if-" "No, I mean...it's gone!" The pegasus mare blinked, her eyes drifting a bit further out of alignment in her surprise. "W-what? But...that's...how?" "...Doctor?" Colagate asked, looking at him questioningly. He didn't answer, instead pulling out his sonic screwdriver as he strode over to the befuddled mare. "...You said she had aphasia?" he asked. Shine nodded. "A severe form of Paraphasia to be more exact, I believe. I've had to rely on 'listening' to her empathic meanings to be able to understand her." "I-I've had it as long as I can remember," Ditzy mumbled as the Doctor examined her, "....Though I can control it sometimes...if I concentrate..." "Hmm..." he muttered, scanning the screwdriver's end around her head for a moment before checking it. "Well...I don't think your condition's gone, exactly..." His eyes drifted over to the console. "I think...its the TARDIS..." Colgate cocked her head. "The translation circuit can do that?" "Apparently so..." he answered, grinning. He looked down at Ditzy. "She must really like you!" "So...I'm not...cured?" Ditzy asked, sounding a bit disappointed. "I'm sorry, but no," the Doctor told her. "In fact, it'll probably only last while you're on board. But you're still absolutely right. The Daleks are threatening your world, and I promise I will do everything I can to stop them." "I just don't want anyone else to...to end up like my Papfin..." He patted her on the head. "And we'll try to make sure of that." He looked to the others, "So we'd better get to work. To start, why would they want to attack the castle back there?" Shine looked grim. "To capture Princess Celestia," she said simply. Mac and Colgate's eyes widened. "...Tell me you're joking," Colgate whispered. "Why? What's so special about the princess?" the Doctor asked. "She's...she's powerful, Doctor," Colgate answered. "She literally has control over the sun and moon of this planet, and that's just the more obvious demonstrations of her power." "What, that was for real?" he asked, getting nods from all around. "Princess Celestia controls the cycle of the sun and moon?" Colgate sighed, "Yes, I have noticed it seems to almost be a universal law to name things on a theme here. Can we focus, Doctor?" "Right, sorry...but if she's as powerful as all that, how did they catch her?" "They used some kind of Artron energy cage, and then materialized a ship around her. Not a saucer, but an older model timeship, based on TARDIS technology," Shine explained. "And they used it to sneak in too!" Ditzy added, "They had a base or something in the tunnels beneath the castle." "Old style timeship..." the Doctor muttered. "Hmm, still, this base beneath the castle, sounds like a good place to start." He rushed over to the flight controls. "But wha' if they're still there?" Mac asked, concerned. "No, they went to a lot of trouble to do a sneak attack on the castle, meaning they probably still want to keep being sneaky after, so they've probably gone scurrying back to wherever their main nest is by now..." He quickly began throwing switches. "In any case, its the best lead we've got. Everybody brace yourselves! Geronimo!" Everyone except him stumbled a bit as the TARDIS lurched into motion. A couple minutes later, it materialized in the space that had once been the Dalek staging area. The doors flung open and the Doctor strolled out. "K-9, you come along too, we could use your scanners!" "Affirmative!" K-9 said, sounding pleased as he trailed behind, followed by the small herd of ponies. "She sells settles orange wet grass," Ditzy muttered to herself, starting out hopeful, but ending on a sad tone. Shine put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. The space looked very different from when it had when the two mares had snuck through earlier. The upper exits had been collapsed, and nearly all the control panels and other tech that had been set into the walls had been removed, rather hastily by the looks of it. "You were definitely right about them being quick to leave," Colgate remarked. "But what I don't understand is why the secrecy? It's not like Equestria has the technology to resist them." "Technology, maybe not," the Doctor said as he scanned a wall with his screwdriver, "But there's other things they do have. Like a third of the population with essentially built in weapons. Think about it, if Celestia represents the upper tier of magical abilities, and she can apparently move stellar bodies around, it stands to reason that if you were going to invade a people like that, that you wouldn't want to tip them off about it unless you were sure you could overcome that advantage..." "Very good, Doctor. It seems your exceptional mind has remained unchanged, unlike the rest of you..." "Master, detecting active communication link!" K-9 piped in. Colgate's eyes went wide as she recognized the voice, but a quick glance from the Doctor bade her to keep quiet. "Yes, we can hear it K-9," he told the robot. "Hello Davros." The holographic screen sprang into existence above them, causing Shine, Ditzy and Mac to recoil in horror. When the former two had seen him before, he'd been in shadow, but now he could be seen clearly. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you arrived to interfere, as you always do." "Yes, well, that's me, perfectly predictable... I see you're still up to your old tricks, and I do mean old." "I take it you are referring to my new generation of Imperial Daleks? Yes, I learned from the mistakes I made with the New Dalek Empire. I remembered that sometimes older methods work best. My new creations have qualities that my last children lacked, the foremost being obedience." "Yes, I can see how that would be an improvement over them keeping you in the basement as a pet." He stepped towards the image threateningly. "Now, all pleasantries aside...what have you done with the Princess?" Davros laughed, an unpleasant thing to hear. "Always so quick to play the hero. The Princess is my...guest. She will be helping me to accomplish my work here." "Oh really? And what might that be?" "Doctor...you don't honestly expect me to tell you everything?" "Well I was sort of hoping..." "No...no, I think not. This is to be the final round of our very long game...and I am determined to come out the victor." "Not if I have anything to say about it," the Doctor said without humor. "Such hostility Doctor...but you only have yourself to blame. After all...you were the one who brought us here." The Doctor blinked. "...What?"