//------------------------------// // Chapter 35: Consequences // Story: Time Bubbles // by Janicethelight //------------------------------// They had only found their way back to the castle when  Derpy’s wonky eye caught something glimmering from one of the windows and stopped.  “DOCTOR!”  she shouted.  The Doctor stopped too, looking out the window to the barrage of light beams of various colors quickly came toward the castle.  On the horizon, they could see the army moving like ants toward the castle.   “No. DON’T DO THIS!”  But it was already too late.  The first burst of spells struck the castle defenses.  As if on cue, Derpy and The Doctor felt their weight lift from the ground.  Two unicorns had used their magic to hold each of them.  The other eight combined their powers to levitate Luna. “What is the meaning of this?! Put me down immediately!” “I’m sorry your highness, it was the only way.” “Only way for--” “You need to come back with us before you get hurt.” “Let us go!”  Luna demanded in her Canterlot voice. “We can’t do that.” Luna’s eyes began glowing white. “Release us or I will not hesitate to attack!” An electrical arc struck Luna by surprise from the side by one of the unicorns. Luna screamed, her muscles spasming wildly. The attack was released and she lay nearly unconscious. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”  Sombra had rushed down the stairs, having heard his beloved’s voice. “Forcefield!” the unicorn officer yelled. They were forced to drop Luna, Derpy, and the Doctor, and then quickly combined their efforts to raise a shield around the group. Luna shook the dizziness from her head and looked back. “Sombra…” “What have you done to her?! What have you done? What have you done!” Sombra rammed himself against the forcefield.  The magic held.  He tried again with no luck.  The unicorns pulled Derpy and the Doctor back toward the caverns.  Luna slowly stood up. “Sombra!” she yelled, trying to get to him with tears in her eyes.  Magic swirled around her horn and she faced the unicorns. “Lower the shield!” “With all due respect, Princess, you can not see this ‘king’ for the monster he is...I saw the bodies of the ponies he left behind...his own soldiers.  I will not allow him to harm any more of us.”  He was young, inexperienced, and unwise with his words.  The castle shook as another barrage of magic hit it.  Pieces of the floor above them dislodged, falling like debri.  “Now, last chance.” “Please, let me in,”  Sombra pleaded. One of the unicorns laughed, “Why?  Are you trying to put on an act, Sombra?”  he spat, “After you murdered your own ponies, as well as many Equestrians, do you really expect us to believe you care about anything?” “THAT. WASN’T. HIM!” The Doctor shouted. “He was being manipulated!” “Was he?  Honestly...I don’t care if he was...if was still his magic and his army that killed our brethren...and made us get to this point.” “Lower the shield, now!” Luna yelled. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but Princess Celestia--” “Is not here, and I am! I have authority here!” “Your highness, she specifically stated that her orders supercede your own during this operation.” Luna’s eyes grew wide for a moment, and then quickly angry. “Of course she did. There was never a plan that involved even giving us a chance to prove that Sombra was in control of himself again. Was there.” The unicorns were all silent. Luna glared at them. “I am going to make this simple. You do not have enough power between all of you to defend against both Sombra and myself.” Sombra was shocked. “Luna, what are you saying, I c--” “Silence!” Luna retorted at him before addressing the unicorns again. “I am prepared for your spells this time, and I will give you five seconds to lower the shield, or I will attack, and you will be forced to lower it to defend against me. Do as I say now and nopony will be harmed.” The unicorn officer looked between Luna and Sombra, lowered his head, and sighed. “Very well.” He said to his soldiers. “Lower the shield.” “But--”  “Do it. Now!” As the shield dissipated, the officer immediately fired a green beam of energy directly at Sombra. “No!!!” the Doctor yelled, as the beam struck Sombra head-on and pushed him backwards, enveloped in a blinding green aura.  Luna charged at the unicorn and shoved him to the ground. Her eyes glowed white and she looked angry enough to kill him. The unicorn just looked at her sadly. “I had to.” “You will rot in Tartarus for this!” “Look!” one of the other unicorns yelled.” Sombra was getting up! “That’s impossible, he should be dead,” the officer said. Sombra’s eyes were green again. The purple vapor streamed from his eyes and his talisman. “My turn.” “RUN!”  the Doctor yelled, and the unicorns began to run or teleport away.  Sombra fired a jet black beam into one of the unicorns, causing the poor creature’s body to vaporize into little more than a pink mist. Sombra fired again and destroyed another one. “Get out of here, now, all of you!” Luna ordered as she grabbed the Doctor and Derpy in a teleportation spell and took them away from the castle just as an explosion of shadow rocked the castle and blew a hole in the side.  Manic laughter of the demon creature within Sombra echoed throughout the crystal city. Luna, Derpy, and the Doctor appeared from teleport outside of the castle and frantically sought out the one pony they were looking for. Luna stopped only inches from Celestia’s and stared into her eyes.  “What have you DONE!” “I have done what is needed for Equestria.” “NO!  You-”  Luna was cut off as black crystals formed around the crystal castle.  Sombra erupted in laughter.  Hooves marched in rhythm as every single mind manipulated member of the crystal empire formed into lines.   “I see!  If it is a war you wish, then a war. You.  Shall.  HAVE!” Celestia screamed in royal canterlot voice. “It’s over, Sombra. Surrender now! We have you surrounded!” “Oh no, Dear Princess of Day. You will soon find that it is you who are surrounded. Even as you press your attack, it is you who are under siege!” “What’s he talking about?” Luna asked. “I don’t know!” Celestia replied.  By now, the sun was covering most of the sky and was burning crimson red. Sombra stood at the main terrace of the crystal palace. “Champions! Beside me!” Not one, not two, but three of the strange being that Luna had fought against before suddenly stepped up next to Sombra on the terrace. “Prove yourselves to me! Attack!” The champions leapd off the terrace and dove straight at Celestia. All Ponies near her scattered away in all directions as the three focused their fire on her. Celestia teleported out of the way as the beams licked frozen ground, producing a significant crater in the ground and spewed black smoke into the air.  The armies began to fight each other as well now. Catapults hurled boulders and lumacite. Ballistas flung arrows. Pegusi were swooping down on crystal ponies and unicorns were launching ballistic energy spells. Earth and Crystal Ponies attacked head-on with sword, spear, and hoof. Celestia reappeared in mid-air and struggled to fly. She felt fatigued and winded. The Champions turned around and fired at her again. It took all Celestia had to project a shield to protect her from the beams. Celestia teleported again and fired a blast into one of them. It barely did any damage, and at once one of the others slammed into her knocking her towards the ground. Celestia pulled up, narrowly avoiding the ground, only to find herself rolling out of the path of another deadly beam of fire. “Luna!” she called out. “I can’t do this alone!” Luna, though still furious, with a heart wrenching wail encompassing all of her feelings at once, took off to help her. Luna sprayed a violet beam of energy into the Champions that encompassed them in a sphere of shadow as she caught up to Celestia and kept a close eye on Sombra, who was still observing from the terrace on the castle.  “That won’t hold them long,” Luna said. Celestia breathed heavily, the very act of hovering felt exhausting to her. She looked to the reddening dimming sky and at once understood. “It must be the sun! Somehow the sun’s life and mine are entangled. He’s killing the sun to get at me!” “Sombra! Please, stop this!” Luna cried out in royal Canterlot voice. “You beat it before, you can do it again! I love you!” “SOMBRA! IS! GONE! THE OLD KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!” Manic demonic laughter resounded throughout the frozen wasteland as Luna’s containment field exploded from the fury of the three Champions who immediately resumed their attack. Luna was fast to respond and pelted one of them with her magic, sending it slamming down into the ground below so hard that it shook the land. It struggled to get back up but the field of Equestrian ponies pounced on it at once and attacked it with every weapon they had.  The two Champions still aloft were almost mindlessly focused on Celestia and ignored Luna completely. Luna saw a converging beam of Sombra’s dark energy converging on her sister’s location and flew into its path, raising a barrier of her own, barely able to sustain it against their power. The barrier shattered and Luna took the full brunt of it. The impact was unlike nothing she had ever felt before. When the pain subsided, she was on the ground, in the midst of thousands of Pony warriors attacking each other. Crystal soldiers attempted to kill her, narrowly being held back by her own forces. Luna erected a shield around her and looked towards the sky again. The sun was growing dimmer. Celestia was being blasted around like a plaything.  Luna felt a twinge of something inside. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew the two of them weren’t enough in their current state. She needed power, and she needed it now. She needed the Night! A fury unlike anything she had ever felt before was deep in the pit of her stomach, and it was spreading its way outward. Luna did the unthinkable. She lit her horn, and the unthinkable happened. The moon began to rise. Frantically she pulled it closer to her tiny planet that was now toiling with violence, and it began to eclipse the sun. With the moon in her presence, she felt her power growing, but there was more. Something she’d never experienced before. She felt herself changing into something stronger as the moon consumed more of the sky. Luna’s eyes glowed a brilliant light and she screamed like a banshee. Her body almost seemed to shift. Now almost as tall as Celestia, and her mane appearing even more magnificent. The magic in her was overwhelming. The Crystal Champion that had been on the ground, absorbing the full brunt of an assault by Equestria’s army, freed itself from the trap with one furious push that sent Ponies flying in every direction. Just as it began to fly towards Celestia, Luna’s weight somehow managed to shove it back down into the ground. She leapt off of it and fired a blast of energy more powerful than anything she had ever imagined she could do. When the black fireball dispersed, there was nothing left but a crater. No sign of the beast. The moon continued its transition across the sky, covering more and more of the sun, and Luna’s strength continued to increase. In a flash she had zipped past Celestia and her horn had penetrated straight through the armor of another Champion and into its chest. It didn’t even let out a scream.  Luna turned to face the third. An impossible fire of magic burned behind her eyes. Celestia saw it, unsure of what was even happening. She had built up enough strength to attack the remaining Champion. A burst of her solar wind all but immolated the creature, but it was still alive, despite the scoring evident all over its body. Luna fired at it from the other side, and the helpless monster was trapped between the combined attacks of the twin sisters, their magic converging in impossible chaotic ways, unleashing an explosion that knocked every soldier to the ground and almost threatened to shake Sombra’s castle off of its foundation. Sombra staggered, genuinely surprised at what had just happened. But then he understood. “Much more to her than I could have believed. All the better!” Sombra leapt from the castle and cried out, “YOU’RE FINISHED, CELESTIA, EVEN IF YOU DEFEAT ME, YOU’RE STIIIIILLL FINIIIIIISHED!!!” As Sombra began his attack, the sun recovered some of its glimmer. Both Celestia and Luna noticed this. Sombra had his magic tethered to the sun, but now he was dividing it between the sun and the problem that lay right in front of him. Celestia was still alive, and now, so was Luna, and a much greater threat than before. His Champions had fallen; something he hadn’t anticipated. But there was still him. The dark energy that burst forth from his horn covered the entire land in shadow as it streamed towards Celestia and Luna, its core so massive that it could have easily swallowed both of them. Flying was out of the question. Celestia grabbed Luna in a dual teleport and yanked them both out of its path. The mountain off in the distance was not so lucky, and collapsed to the ground in an ashen mushroom cloud. Sombra fired again, a much less powerful attack this time, weakened by his efforts, this one aimed at the Equestrian soldiers below. There was no attempting to count how many were consumed by it, or how many crystal soldiers were caught in it as well. Celestia and Luna reappeared just behind Sombra. Celestia bucked him in the spine as hard as she could, sending him careening away into a skyscraper, shattering every piece of glass within the entire thing. Luna pressed on the attack with another of her super-powered blasts, striking Sombra directly and burning a gaping whole right through the structure. Sombra screamed, half out of pain and half out of rage. Moments later he came flying through the opening at unbelievable speed. Celestia and Luna both fired but Sombra now had a crystal shield hovering in front of him, reflecting their beams harmlessly away. As the attacks ceased, Sombra threw the crystal ahead of him and struck the two Alicorns with it, stunning them and smacking them away in random directions. Sombra drew in close and attacked with his hooves, and the two sisters fought back with all they had, as the ground below them had turned into a stormy sea of magic, fire, and death. The Doctor and Derpy had found themselves in the middle of the clash.  Ponies everywhere angrily attacking other ponies.  Unicorn magic fired all over, pegusi dive bombs to crystal ponies down below.  Any pony with armor was subject to attack by others with no regard to ponies without.  Derpy subconsciously looked at her body.  There was the bandage around her, but no armor.  She knew she hadn't taken it off.  When then? The Doctor was lost in his own thoughts, trying to avoid the fighting. His mind was trapped in an ancient memory he hated to relive.   "Doctor!"  Reacting to Derpy’s cry of warning, the Doctor kicked at a crystal empire soldier, bucking the pony far over into a different crowd of fighters.  The Doctor scanned a moment around them.  There was no easy way to slip out of this.  Ponies were already on the ground.  He eyed Derpy.  She was at a huge disadvantage with her wing injured.   They, at least, didn't get immediately locked onto.  The soldiers were definitely told to go after others in armor.  That bought them a little time, but neither side was worried about innocent casualties that would be lost in the crossfire...as was usually the case in war.   "Derpy.  This is a war, and there is no way we can run out of this...we have to fight.  Try to knock out.  We don't want to help the death toll." He sighed.  Derpy could see he was shaking...scared.  she had never seen him scared before.  Both ponies thought back to the time with the weeping angels...if that happened to a living pony… They could think about it too deeply because a wave of unicorns fired bolts driving a group of soldiers their way.  The soldiers rushed towards them like bulls to a matridore.  The doctor kicked two away.  Derpy kicked one to the ground, a note that the Doctor found interesting, or would have if they weren't fighting for their lives!  By them, a pegasus dropped a crystal soldier to the ground, missing them by inches.  Earth ponies sailed soldiers overhead just like the doctor did.  The terrifying thing was that the soldiers kept getting back up.  Even when they should be knocked out, most bodies moved to raise again.  The Doctor's eyes grew wide in horror.  The hypnotized ponies...wouldn't stop until they were dead.  Their bodies wouldn't give up.  It was like fighting- Fires sprung up in different areas from the alicorn fight above.  The three didn't have a chance to notice the problems down below.  "Ow!"  The Doctor turned to Derpy's pained scream, kicking a crystal pony that had grabbed her injured wing.  The pony didn't fly off into the fry like the others.  This pony was bucked so hard that the Doctor didn't see where he landed at all.   "Are you alright." He asked, clinging to her. "Yeah.  Yeah.  It just pulled my wing." Derpy sighed.  "Doctor."  Her eyes welled up, "I'm trying to be strong but...I can't take this war.  It's not right...ponies hurting ponies...it's not right…" "War often isn't. "  Doctor's ears drooped.  Derpy saw an age to the Doctor again.  His eyes portrayed thousands of wars and fights he had witnessed.  Derpy gave him a quick hug, wanting to help somehow.  "I will get us through this."  He nodded once she let go, "I promise."   Derpy smiled before a crystal guard landed, sliding into the Doctor.  The crystal soldier stood back up, attacking the doctor with a crystalline sword.  Derpy rushed to the soldier, jumping to kick him away, "Don't you hurt him!"  She screamed.  Even with one wing, she jumped high into the air, arcing down to the soldier as he raised his sword once more, prepared to kill.  Unfortunately, with only one wing, she veered off course, smacking straight into the Doctor.  The momentum of the crash kept Derpy, and by extension the Doctor going, and they rolled, knocking down Equestrian and crystal soldier alike as they helplessly carved a path of destruction with no end in sight.  They crashed through ponies, stalls, poles, and went up a hill only to ramp off of it.  The two clung to each other.  Plowing Derpy first through the ground, making a pony shaped hole in the process.   They came out the other end, finding themselves in the escape tunnel, laying on the ground as they tried to stop the world from spinning,  “My bad.”  Derpy managed. “At least we’re out of the hurly burly. Are you alright?”  “It didn’t even hurt,” Derpy replied, sounding a bit surprised. An explosion rocked the surface, causing some loose stones to fall. “Let’s get out of here before--” A cave-in started just meters away from them, forcing them to run. “---nevermind! It’s not safe here. Just run!”  “Back into the castle?” “We can’t go the other way now,” he said, noting that the tunnel was now sealed off from the cave-in. “Yes.” The caverns shook again violently.  “And then what?” Derpy asked. “I don’t know, I don’t know.” “Well we can’t just do nothing.” “I know that, Derpy. I never just do nothing! Everything I’ve tried has backfired and I always have plans and plans to back up those plans, and more backup plans for those. I don’t know what else to try. The TARDIS is missing, my sonic doesn’t interact with the energies around here, the sun and the moon are-- he just stopped and punched a wall with his hoof.” Derpy stopped him and pulled his face towards her. “Doctor, it’s OK to not have all the answers.” “Not for me. If I don’t have all the answers, bad things end up happening.” The tunnel shook again. “Like what is happening right now. This is asinine!” He started pacing back and forth. “I should’ve been able to stop this. I couldn’t stop Sombra; I couldn’t stop the parasite inside of Sombra; the device he’s wearing; I couldn’t reason with the Princess Celestia; things like this don’t just keep happening to me, I’ve gotten out of far worse scrapes than this, I can’t think of any right now, but what am I missing, what am I overlooking, there’s got to be a missing piece, there always is, I read everything I could learn abo--” he froze and his expression changed.  “Comeon, we’ve got to move fast,” he said, rushing down the tunnels with determination. Derpy was barely able to keep up.  “Where are we going?” Derpy yelled as they came out of the dungeons and into the castle corridors.  “I’m such a blithering idiot, I can’t take advantage of the book, I don’t have the right resources but-- we have to get to my taskmaster’s quarters!” “What for?” “I swiped a book from Sombra, it’s still there, it’s the one he used to turn into whatever he is now. I need to get it before something happens to it!” “What good will that do?” They turned a corner and the castle shook.  “I’m not able to take full advantage of the knowledge in that book, but somepony else can!” His door was locked, but a quick flick of his screwdriver and he was inside. Everything looked undisturbed. He looked behind the headboard of the bed and pulled the tome from its hiding place with his mouth. “Now we need to put a stop to this!” he said. They went back out of the room and looked out the nearest window.  “The fighting is inside the city now.” An explosion rocked just outside the castle, shattering the nearby windows.  “That was close!” he remarked. “They’re fighting right out--” a loud bang caused the relative quiet inside the castle to quickly change. The sounds of yelling filled the halls.  “-- right inside.” The noise was so loud that they could barely hear themselves think. Looking back out, there was little sign of flashes in the sky now. The Doctor gave the tome to Derpy and used his sonic instead. “Two… no… three. They’re all in here. The Princesses, Sombra. Something must have happened.” He slowly traced the sonic around, eventually focusing it like how one might follow a bird with a pair of binoculars. “The throne room! This way, quickly! We don’t have much time!” A few random skirmishes were now breaking out in the halls. The Doctor and Derpy ran past, mostly ignored. They quickly arrived at the entrance to the throne room. Outside, royal crystal guards lay on the ground, charred. One of the doors to the throne room was nearly blown clear off of its hinge. The room repeatedly lit up various colors and the sounds of violence were still within. The two of them ran inside and saw mayhem. Luna, Celestia, and Sombra still fighting, but bruised and battered. Their attacks were far less than they were at the start of this. It was clear they were all getting tired. Sombra was struggling to stay on all four legs as he fired dark energy across the room. Celestia batted it away with her horn and returned the attack, shoving Sombra into the wall. Luna looked the worst now, but the Doctor had a feeling it wasn’t due to physical harm. “I have had enough of this!” Celestia yelled. “Your reign of terror is over!” “You think you can control me, Princess!” “I don’t need to any longer, Cerberus will take care of that from now on!” Celestia’s horn glowed a different color from before.  “No, don’t!” Luna cried out. Without thinking another moment, the Doctor ran out into the middle of the room and got directly between them.. Celestia barely withdrew her attack in time. “What are you doing here, how did you find--” The Doctor interrupted. “Not a good--” “Executor… Doctor… come here to gloat now that I’ve exhausted mys--” “Not from you either, all of you stop this! There’s another way!”  Sombra turned and saw Derpy holding the tome. “Your companion?  And how did you get that book?!” “Oh, I stole it, Not-Sombra, did you really even need to ask me that?” “Not-Sombra?” Celestia asked. “Yes, Not-Sombra, try to keep up, I’ve already explained all of this to you.” “More tricks?!” Sombra and Celestia yelled at the same time. The Doctor smirked. “There, see?” He pointed at the weakened king trying to upright himself on the arm of his throne. “Why would he not trust me if I was trying to trick you?” “I told you there was more to this, and you wouldn’t listen,” Luna snapped at Celestia. “And while we’re all in here bickering about this, Ponies outside are still dying.” “All the answers are--” “Enough!” Celestia yelled and fired her attack narrowly over the Doctor’s shoulder.  “No! Don’t!” The Doctor turned to look in Sombra’s direction, not knowing what he expected to see. Sombra wasn’t wounded by it. He wasn’t dying. Nothing seemed to be happening that Sombra wasn’t expecting. He was enveloped in a blue shield of light. At his hoof was a crystal jutting out of the throne that he was sure wasn’t there a moment ago. “We’ll settle this some other time. Farewell, Princess of Day.” Sombra then vanished from the throne which was still glowing its odd color.  “What did you do to him?!” Luna screamed.  “It wasn’t me, the spell failed!” “Then where is he?!” The Doctor scanned the throne with his sonic. “Not where. When.” “When? He travelled in time?” “Temporal fluctuations all over the place. Something big is happening.” “What have you done,” Celestia asked. “Oh will you stop blaming everypony else for everything, and let me concentrate!” He began scanning around the room, what was outside the room. “He couldn’t have. It’s impossible.” He spoke to the others. “All of you please follow me and don’t ask too many questions, and if I give the signal to run, pleeeease don’t any of you powerful types whine about who outranks who and just do it. Just once?” “What could possibly--” “I’ll know for sure in a moment.” The group exited the throne room and followed the Doctor to the exterior terrace. At the edges of the city, blue orbs of energy were rising. “No, no, no. This is bad.” The orbs began to move, and encircle the city in random directions, like tiny stars rising and setting at bizarre angles. “Yes, that’s what he’s doing! Order your soldiers out of the city. We all need to move, now!” “I’m not just going to--” “Look, your highness, there are many things in this place that I don’t understand, this is one thing that I do! In moments, this city won’t be here anymore, and it’s too late to stop it!” Celestia looked into the Doctor’s pleading eyes, and for the first time accepted that he might not be lying. She yelled out over the city in royal canterlot. “All soldiers, retreat from the city!” Luna echoed the cry and then teleported all of them out of the castle to the ground.  “What about them?” Derpy asked. The crystal soldiers were motionless now. They stood in place, like statues.  The Doctor ran up to one and waved his hand in front of the helmet. He then knocked on it, causing a clang. “They’re in a trance or something, unresponsive.” “We can teleport them out!” Derpy suggested. “I’ll get as many as I can,” Luna said. Her horn activated but nothing else happened. “We can’t teleport out!” “The temporal field is already too great. Quickly, we have to run! The soldiers will be fine!” “You said the city was going to be gone!” “Gone, yes! Destroyed, no! But we do not want to be on this side of the field when it collapses or it’s going to be a very long wait to get out of here! Go! Go!” All the ponies who were able to were running away from the city now. Horn trumpets sounded, confirming the retreat and the Empire was vacated rapidly with Ponies running in every direction away from the center. Once they were outside, the Doctor repeated, “Keep going, keep going, this is going to be big!” A blinding light was now at the center of the city, the castle barely visible anymore, and the spinning orbs were moving so fast that they almost appeared to form a sphere around the city. The sphere then collapsed with a blinding flash and a shockwave that kicked snow into the air a mile high. Ponies were knocked over by the force of it and were slow to get back up. Darkness surrounded them all for a moment, the light from the sun and the moon blocked out by the snow and the clouds. Quickly the light returned and all eyes looked back at the city. It was gone. There was nothing left but a flawless spherical hole cut out of the ground, like some impossible crater. “What happened?” “He locked the city out of time. Some kind of fail safe. I’ve… seen it once before.” “L-locked out.  Is that like...time out...but...for time?”  Derpy asked. “Well...to be fair, you aren’t wrong per say.”  The Doctor nodded.  His tone held a long held pain, his eyes searching for reasons he couldn’t find, “For an extremely long length of time.  Sombra took the city itself out of time.  How to put it where you lot will understand.  He...um...he sort of teleported it to a space where everything is just...frozen in place...nothing moves.  To them, no time will pass at all, but to us...it could be years...decades...centuries or even longer before there is even a sign of it returning…” “Sombra…”  Luna fell, from physical as well as emotional turmoil finally getting to her.  Tears flowed from her eyes.  “The entire empire...it’s gone.  Everything...is gone.” “Oh, poor Luna…”  Derpy breathed.   “When he comes back, we will be ready for him.” Celestia started. “...no…” Luna managed. “What?” “I can’t be a part of this with you anymore. I... just--”  Luna shook her head and flew away as fast as she could go. “Princess Luna!” Derpy cried out.  “Let her go,” Celestia said. “She needs time.” “What she needs is something it’s now abundantly clear that she hasn’t had in a long time. She needs a sister.” Celestia’s head snapped from Derpy to the Doctor with a scowl. “I let you take command inside the Empire for that one moment but don’t think I’m going to let that insolence continue.” “Insolence… insolence!” “Doctor?” Derpy asked. “Do you want me to go look for her?” “You’ll never find her, not at the speed she was going. Probably halfway to the moon by now. But, if you would do me a favor, go help make sure everypony gets to the train station safely. We still need to survive the elements long enough to get out of here, and I don’t want any accidentally left behind.” “But you’re the Doctor, shouldn’t you--” “I’ll be along shortly. I need a moment with Princess Celestia.” Derpy saw the look in his eyes and didn’t question it. She scampered off in the direction of the crater. “Just where have you been this whole time, since the Crystal Faire started? Where has your mind been? Were you paying any attention at all?” “You hold me responsible for this,” Celestia said. “But--” “But what?! Did you even see how--” The Doctor’s words were interrupted by guards who were getting anxious now with the commotion. Spears now kept the Doctor at a safe distance away. He quickly nodded to them and continued. “--even see how they were interacting? What is this hatred you have for Sombra?” “I never said I hated him. But he has more than proven--” “Proven that the heart will do anything to stay with whom it wants! Well, gee, there’s some stunning new revelation, just how in the dark ages is this place really?” “Dark ages, I don’t understand your meaning.” “Nevermind. Did you see how happy they were together? Did you see how hard he tried with you? I’m only going to say this one last time. This thing we were just fighting, it wasn’t Sombra. It was some dark power, that only found a way into his heart, because of the hole you put there by yanking your sister out of it! And then you used the resulting rage and his hasty decisions to justify your actions. Circular… reasoning, your highness! All of this happened because you couldn’t just let love take its course!” “You think I care nothing for Luna? You think I didn’t have her best interests at heart?!” “I’m willing to assume you had yours.” “Even if you were right, Luna would still have gotten hurt.” “Really? How do you figure?” “Alicorns live, nearly forever. What do you think would happen when Sombra grew old while she stayed young? Think of it. Alone for eons, lamenting over the loss of a loved one.” The Doctor raised his hoof pointedly as if he was about to scream, but his expression changed. Celestia noticed the shift and was shocked. The anger remained, but there was also some hint that he related. A lot. “I don’t have to think of it. No matter how long you have been around, I can fully understand this way of thinking. But I also cannot agree with it. I have lost far more, and lamented for much longer, than you can possibly know.” “Then why do you not agree that this was the best course of action?” The Doctor was now teary-eyed. “Ignoring for a moment, the number of deaths that so easily could have been avoided here, I am sure that Luna had already accepted the pain of what could come later.” “Nopony understands eternity until it has plagued them for countless millennia.” The Doctor took a deep breath. “I… do.” “What?!” “I’m not going to waste time on all the details of that. You can just disregard this as nonsense, but I never joke about this. I don’t even want to try to count the number of lives than have come and gone through mine. And I cared for all of them. Loved all of them. Some simply moved on, others were lost, some died. And every day, it hurts. It hurts more than you can imagine. But if I could go back, I would not trade a single one of them to make that hurt go away.” Celestia closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Maybe you are right. For you anyway. But it’s irrelevant now, the damage is done.” “One thing I do wish I could change though, is to fix things with those who I have hurt. There are some I never even got to say goodbye to. Do you know what that feels like? You may not realize it now. But someday you will. You are in danger of it now. Whatever was left of the bridge between you and your sister, was lost along with the Crystal Empire. If I were you, I would think long and hard about finding a way to rebuild it. While you still have time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on my companion.” Derpy looked back, not quite hearing what was being said a few times before meeting with some crystal ponies scattered.  The ponies in the cavern had done a fantastic job of corralling the ponies that had a chance to leave before the empire disappeared.  Derpy breathed a sigh of relief.  That was one good thing then. “Uh...Miss Derpy.”  a younger crystal pony noted. “Uh...yeah?”  Derpy froze.  She wasn’t used to being addressed so formally by anypony, much less a young stallion. “We need help.  There’s a pony that refuses to leave.  She’s still out there.” Derpy’s eyes widened.  “Where is she?” “By the deceased soldiers.”  Derpy nodded, galloping off without a thought.  The Doctor wanted to be certain that no pony was left behind, and Derpy wanted to be able to help with that, at least.  Enough life had been lost that day.  She stopped.  Where the bodies were was mostly snow-covered now, but what stopped her wasn’t the snow covering the deceased...it was the mare before her.  The once white pegasus was bruised and bloody, shaking from the cold.  Weeping could just berely be heard.  Derpy stepped up cautiously. “...Melody.”  Melody turned, her eyes blank.  Derpy froze.  Last she saw, Melody was mind controlled like the crystal soldiers, and she had no idea what to expect. “He’s gone.”  her voice managed a whisper, “My ruby...is gone.” Derpy looked from the blank eyes to the mound of snow and back before realization dawned on her.  “Melody...I am so sorry.”  Melody whimpered more.  She looked so thin and frail, shivering from the cold, “We need to get you back to the train...the other ponies will help you.” “.....I’m not leaving him.” “Melody please-” “I’M NOT LEAVING HIM!”   Derpy froze.  Melody coughed.  A hard, sharp cough that scared Derpy.  A cry came from her broken wings.  Derpy thought quickly the moment she heard that cry.  “If you don’t come with me...Mi Amore’ could get really sick...This is not a good place for a tiny foal to stay.  She needs to get somewhere warm...she needs her mother.”  She imagined the Doctor if he saw Melody as she was right now...what she must have gone through before and during the battle.  Mi Amore, Derpy saw from when Melody unfolded her wings to check, seemed relatively unharmed.  Derpy noted realization in Melody's eyes, as if she just realized Amore was still with her. “Shhh...Little one...I’m sorry.  Daddy isn’t here.  I’m sorry.  I did everything I could...I couldn’t let you get hurt.” Melody hacked up more, shuddering, her body close to collapse. Derpy rushed over to stabilize the weak mother, “Hold on, okay.  We’ll find somepony to help.  The other crystal ponies will help you.  They have the other babies now.” “She’s going to grow up...in a world where everypony will think her father a villain...she’s going...to hate half of who she is...what...can I do?” Derpy thought quickly still.  Amore was the first of her kind, half crystal pony, half pegasus...Melody could have a point to that.  Not that it was Ruby’s fault, but seeing how Celestia looked at things...how would she take to this tiny foal?   “....you can come with the Doctor and me when we find our ship.   We can find a place where she won’t grow up hating half of who she is.  I’m sure of it!”  There had to be ponies like her that couldn’t remember about the crystal empire in her time, right?  Ponies that would love Amore.  Derpy could only hope as she slowly inched her way back to the train station, with Melody seeming heavier by the moment, fighting with all her strength just to walk.  Derpy could only hope that they might find the ship.  But, it kept Melody going, and that's what mattered.  The trek back was slowed down. The Doctor appeared coming over the hill. The expression on his face; both remorseful and angry. What had happened in just a couple of minutes? Celestia under guard arrived shortly thereafter.  The Doctor stopped in front of Derpy. He didn’t even really seem to be looking at her, but past her. His mind was elsewhere, she was sure of that. “Are you alright?” Derpy asked. The Doctor looked as if he was fighting back an emotional breakdown. A familiar noise captured his attention though and brought him back to reality for the moment. With the sound of howling wind and grinding metal, the TARDIS appeared next to the Doctor.  "Let's go, Derpy. Time to leave. But, the tome, please." The Doctor clopped his hooves together to open the TARDIS as Derpy fished the book out of her saddlebag. She gave it to the Doctor, who then placed it in the snow in front of Celestia’s guards. “This… should provide much insight into what has taken place here, why, and how. Read it. You just might learn something.” "Just who-no, what are you, Doctor." Celestia asked, as Derpy nudged Melody into the TARDIS. The Doctor held a sad smile, "Just a Pony trying to help." The Doctor glanced up at the sky. The sun was contracting and brightening back to its usual healthy color. “On the brighter side of things, the world isn’t about to end now.” He looked for the moon. It was no longer near the sun. Scanning around he finally found it resting just above the horizon. “Something else might be though.” He walked into the TARDIS and the door closed behind him.  The Doctor was silent.  Derpy didn't like it when he was silent.  "Uh...Doctor."  Derpy started. No response. "I know it’s been hard.  I'm here when you need to talk, but right now, Melody needs help."  Nothing.  "Doctor?" Melody fell to the Ground.  Baby Amore cried,  Snapping the Doctor Out of his thoughts, noticing the mare and foal in his TARDIS for the first time. "Melody?" He asked confused. “Derpy, we’ll discuss this later, but there are rules that need to be followed.” Derpy explained the situation to the Doctor who immediately used his sonic to assess the mare's condition. His ears flattened, "I'm sorry." He murmured.  At the same time, Derpy finished, "so I told her she could come with us.  That way, Amore will grow up in a peaceful place that doesn't know as much about crystal ponies." The Doctor thought quickly, eyes going from Derpy to Melody and Amore and back.  "Good thinking, Derpy." He began cautiously before setting about the console, "but where you live is too close to Celestia.  I have an idea." He opened the door,  "about 20 years before your time, and a tiny village on the outskirts of Equestria. Celestia will never find them here.  Melody can take her foal and live the rest of her life knowing that Amore will be safe." He gave a nod to Melody, eyes on her, "The TARDIS picked a safe place, full of kind ponies, so you can rest easy." Melody nodded, using every last ounce of strength To stand, "Thank you." She spoke slowly, tiredly.  The Doctor nodded, eyes full of sorrow as she walked out.  Baby Amore cooed as if saying goodbye.  The Doctor shut the door, Derpy breathing, "I'm so glad it worked out.   I was worried." The Doctor put a hoof on her shoulder,  before taking them back to Ponyville.  Melody found two ponies in the village.  They looked at her bewildered as she carefully into one pony's arms.  She smiled Thankfully, "her name is Mi Amore Cadenza." She managed before collapsing on the ground, breathing her last breath. The Doctor landed the Tardis by the library, storming out on a mission with Derpy just behind.  He flipped through each and every book on the shelf.  Derpy blinked perplexed, “I thought it was odd.”  he murmured, going to the newspapers next.   “What is it, Doctor?” “This library has history books on your Hearth's Warming, legends, even mentions of Star Swirl when I read them.”  Derpy Blinked in surprise by how fast he was able to read, “but nothing about the Crystal Empire.  Not even a mention.” “Ponyville wasn’t around when it was...and our library is really small...nothing compared to canterlot…” “Right...of course.”  he sighed, “You need your rest.”  he looked to her wing, and the shock in her eyes.  Everything that transpired would undoubtedly hit her soon...but with the angels...he dratted all the luck, taking her in again to go into canterlot quickly.  He thanked her for going where intended this time. Using his psychic paper, he was able to slip in, keeping Derpy in the Tardis.  This was a research only mission.  The looked through every book he could silently, even slipping into a restricted section...and nothing. Having enough of this, he galloped straight to Celestia.  “What is the meaning of this?” “The meaning of...what?”  the alicorn replied, confused. “There’s no mention of the Crystal Empire in ANY of the books?!” “Crystal-young colt, I don’t have any idea of what your talking about.” “Don’t you young colt me.  You think you can-”  he stopped, noting her worried and confused expression, “You...you really don’t remember...do you...none of it.” “I suppose not.  Sorry to upset you.”  Celestia added, slowly, trying to think of what he was saying. “....sorry to disturb you.”  he sighed, walking out as easily as he walked in. “I am terribly sorry.  Maybe I’ll sleep on it, and it will come to me.”  she reasoned, but he had already gone, going back to the TARDIS.  He waited until they were safely back in Derpy’s home before sighing, “Derpy...it’s like The Crystal Empire vanished.  There is no information of it even existing.  Not even Celestia remembers.  I don’t know how, but...it’s like it vanished completely.”