Lightening the Load

by Silent Bob


The Long Goodbye

"And as the years have passed, the time has grown longer. The sad truth is that what I could recall in five seconds all too needed ten, then thirty, then a full minute - like shadows lengthening at dusk. Someday, I suppose, the shadows will be swallowed up in darkness." - Haruki Murakami

"Doctor?" Ditzy puzzled. "You know this guy?"

"Yeah, we used to travel together," the Doctor said. "If he's who I think he is."

Jack let loose a chuckle. "Sorry, but unless I was drunk the entire time I'm afraid you've got the wrong pony." He then turned towards Ditzy, giving her a promiscuous smile and winking. "However, I'd definitely make any friend of yours a friend of mine, bubbles. Are you doing anything this evening?"

"Oh uh-" Ditzy simpered, blushing. "I d-don't think so."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh you're definitely Jack. Same longcoat, same voice, same... leisure."

"Will you stop wasting the Captain's time with this nonsense and just answer our questions?!" the sun-glasses pegasus blurted out.

"Not if you're going to talk to him like that he won't," Chrysalis muttered.

The g-mare pegasus gave her a look before opening her mouth as if she were about to retort.

"Easy, there," Jack interrupted, putting a foreleg between the two before gazing back at the Doctor. "Sorry, she's just a bit... xenophobic, and with all she's seen I can't blame her."

She let out a small 'hmph' as if to say, 'you're damned right about that.'

"Mmmm, sounds like Torchwood may have followed you here..." the Doctor grunted.

With that, the Captain's eyes widened, gazing at the Doctor with a haunted expression. "W-What did you just say?"

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow, his expression growing a bit more frustrated. "Oh come on, Jack! You know that I know you were in Torchwood. Is this some sort of act?"

"N-No act," the Captain stuttered. "I just.. never thought I'd hear that word from anypony's mouth."

The group glanced at the time lord curiously as he squinted in confusion, a rarity for him. "We fought the Master together, Jack! The year that never was? Doesn't that ring a bell?! Hell, we even saw the twilight of our home universe! And the Daleks... how can you not remember the Daleks?!"

Though it was hard to tell, it almost looked like the Captain had seen a ghost to Chrysalis at that point. "I-I think we need to sit down and have a cup of coffee together."

"Oooh! You should totally had to sugarcube corner! We have the best coffee in town!" Pinkie bounced.

The Doctor nodded at that. "Thanks, Pinkie. I think we'll do that." He then gave the group a slight smile. "I'll... be a bit. You all go ahead and do what you need to. I think me and Captain Harkness have a lot to talk about..."

"It's Harness," the Captain corrected.

The Doctor gave him an odd look. "Right... of course it is." He then put on a chipper smile. "Well, come on then. Let's go play the question trading game!"

"Alright Doctor... but I don't have much time to waste," Jack grunted, before letting the Doctor lead him the way, the g-mare pegasus quickly pursuing. At that, the Captain turned about to gaze upon her, simpering slightly. "I kind of want to make this a private affair, no offense."

"Are you sure you want to be left alone with that xeno?" she asked.

"We both know he's not an ordinary one," Jack responded, before letting loose a sigh. "My gut's telling me we can trust him. In the meantime, why don't you scout the area for any unusual activity?"

She gave a sigh before giving a reluctant, "yes, sir."

"Guess I'll see you in a few hours, Doctor?" Ditzy called as the two continued along.

"Right, see you Ditzy! Good luck with Octavia and all of them," the Doctor called as he moved into the afternoon crowd.

"Catch you later, bubbles," the Captain winked.

Chrysalis caught Ditzy making a slight, devious smirk at that.

"Jack..." the Doctor groaned.

"What? Can't I ask somepony out on a date?"

"I know what you're doing though, and... you know what, nevermind," he sighed. "Trying to stop you from flirting is like trying to stop a planet from turning without a graviton generator."

His voice was barely audible now, and a second later, their conversation could no longer be heard. At that, a second of awkward silence passed before 'Solar Flare' opened her mouth:

"Who the hell was that?"

"I'm not sure..." Ditzy said. "He barely talks about his past companions, and I've never heard of Jack Harness-Harkness, bleh, whatever he's called, before." She then shot Chrysalis a grin. "All I know is that he's super hot!" Her grin then turned into a smirk. "Just the pony I need to make the Doctor green."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

"Ooh! Maybe he's like an alternate universe pony version of the person he knew or something!" Pinkie suggested.

"That's plausible, but pretty coincidental he'd be so similar..." Chrysalis said. "Then again, what do I know about the multiverse other than that it's filled with monsters?"

"I just hope the Doctor's going to be alright," Ditzy said. "The government's never wanted anything to do with us before, aside from the Princesses, and I've never heard of the Special Equestrian Intelligence Agency... though Captain Harness seems trustworthy enough I suppose."

Chrysalis put on a wary gaze. "I'm sure you'll be a help with the musicians, Ditzy, but Pinkie might be enough to handle them. Are you sure you don't want to keep an eye on him?"

Ditzy gave a smirk. "Naw, the Doctor can handle himself. He's not as crazy as he seems sometimes, even if I've had to pull him out of the fire a few times."

"Well, let's go get us some music then!" Pinkie said, leading them away from Twilight's tree house and beginning to ramble, "wait until you hear Octavia! She can play her cello so beautifully it's just crazy! Sometimes I think she was born with a bow in her hands, but that'd be just silly. How could you be born with something like that?! I bet she could warm the hearts of any of the meanies at the convention, though! Woah! I wonder if any of them actually have icy hearts, like if they're aliens or something! What would happen if our planet is too warm for them!? Oh my gosh, can we get some sort of cooling-"

"Pinkie!" Chrysalis and Ditzy groaned.

"Whoops! Am I rambling again? Darn! I always do that. I don't know why, I guess I just like to speak my mind! Though if I could speak all my thoughts I'd totally have to have some sort of super crazy quick talking superpower..."

As Pinkie rambled on, Chrysalis caught sight of a pegasus mare gazing at the trio from nearby, her eyes a piercing blue. The swarm queen might not have given her a second thought if it wasn't for her unusual hairstyle: long, spiky green locks slightly obscuring her face and roaring down the back of her head. Upon seeing 'Solar Flare' look upon her, the mare scurried off and out of sight.

Upon the stage of Ponyville's concert hall, two mares, a teal unicorn and a brown earth pony, stood tapping into into their mind's inner creative spirits. A lyre's hypnotic strings and a cello's soothing tones were dancing, sometimes together, and sometimes in solo, but never completely overpowering or diminishing the other. They were in a harmony only music could bring.

"Mmmm..." Lyra oozed. "I'm liking this new melody, Octavia. It's so graceful. I feel like I'm dancing inside some great ball room or something..."

Octavia ignored her, her face suggesting she was in another daze, the teal pony giving a sigh at that. This was something she was getting used to, her friend being somewhat... out of it. Still, the brilliance that was Octavia couldn't be squelched by a simple bout of absent-mindedness. She could continue playing onward as if she was fully into it, and with that the teal pony could continue building around her themes and eventually write them down.

After a minute or so though, Lyra gave an annoyed grunt. Unfortunately, after the third time of playing along with Octavia's melody, things were starting to get old.

"Um... Octavia. I think what I've written sounds good enough..." She simpered slightly. "You can stop now...."

The earth pony continued playing.

"Octavia!"

And playing....

"Yoohooo..."

And playing...

"Ludwig Van Neighhoven couldn't write for jack!"

Her bow took a nasty turn, the cello letting out a hideous, deep screech.

"You take that back, Lyra!" Octavia growled.

The teal pony gave a chuckle. "Sorry, but I didn't think there was any other way to snap you out of it."

"Oh... sorry," Octavia said.

Lyra gave her a sympathetic smile. "No sweat," she said. "Want to hear what I wro-?"

The doors of the auditorium suddenly swung open, interrupting Lyra.

"Yo! What's up mother buckers?!" a brash, never shameful voice called from a grinning Vinyl Scratch who quickly made her way to the stage.

"Hey Vinyl!" Lyra beamed.

"Someone's in a good mood," Octavia smirked.

"Heh, well, it's a beautiful day! The sun's out, the birds are chirping..." Her grin turned victorious. "And my band just got their hooves on another blue label! Can you believe that shit?!"

"Woooo yeah!" Lyra cheered. "Did you get the one with Sonic Records?!"

"Hell yeah we did!" Vinyl said, performing what she called a 'flank kick' spell to propel herself into the air and onto the stage. It was something she tended to use at a lot of her shows. "Seriously though, I don't think I would have been able to do it without you two keepin' me sane these last few months. My band's cool to hang out with and all, but those mother buckers have issues..."

"Heh, well congratulations, Vinyl," Octavia said with a warm smile. "Now if only your language was as good as your music."

Vinyl stuck a tongue out. "Old Manehattan habits die hard, yo. I swear, you're like my mother sometimes, Tavi." Octavia rolled her eyes as the rockstar-DJ hybrid turned to Lyra. "So, are you two still workin' on that duet of yours?"

"Yeah!" Lyra beamed. "I think it sounds pretty good, though an outside opinion would be pretty nice. Wanna give it a listen?"

Vinyl shrugged. "Eh, you guys know I'm not much of a classical mare. Don't get me wrong, that shit's tight and all but I don't think I'd be able to judge ya as good as somepony in the know would."

"Just judge it subjectively, Vinyl. Tell us how it makes you feel," Octavia said.

Vinyl gave a chuckle. "Alright, alright. Let's hear a blast from the past, then!"

With that, Lyra and Octavia threw each other confident smirks before starting the first line of their newest piece.

With two cups of coffee, the Doctor and his supposedly former companion made their way and sat down upon a lonely park bench a bit away from Sugarcube Corner, the latter gazing at the former warily.

"Alright Doctor... what exactly do you know about Torchwood?"

The Doctor narrowed a curious eyebrow. "I think the better question is, what do you know about Torchwood?"

Jack gave a sigh. "I know it's something important to me... something from the world I came from, but I can't and never will be able to remember what it is."

The Doctor's curious expression somehow became even more curious. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that... certain things have been lost to me in time... a lot of things."

The Doctor narrowed his eyebrows in concern. "So... you don't even remember who I am?"

Captain Harness glanced away from him at that. "I... thought I didn't, but now that I've started talking to you... I think I may have a bit more in this old head of mine than I give it credit for."

The Doctor nodded. "It's like discovering a toy you had as a child, isn't it? It reminds you of times buried deep within...."

"If I could even remember that..." Jack grunted, his tone becoming a bit more annoyed. "Look, Doctor, if you knew me than you'll know that I have a bit of a... condition."

The Doctor gave another, knowing nod. "You still can't die," he stated. "You can be ripped apart, disintegrated, yet the reaper will never lay a finger on you. You're a fixed point in time."

The Captain's eyes widened in surprise. "S-So, you weren't lying... only my closest friends know about that..."

"Jack," the Doctor sighed. "I was there when it happened to you. Do you remember anyone from our home universe at all?"

"I-I remember a name..." He squinted in thought. "Rose, I think. She was very important to me."

The Doctor smiled warmly. "Well, if there's anyone to remember it'd be her." He then gave Captain Harkness a serious expression. "Do you know how long you've been on this world?"

Captain Harness took a deep breath, glancing about a second as if to check if anypony was nearby before answering, "over two thousand years..."

"That would explain it," the Doctor sighed. "You have a mortal mind in an immortal man's body. It wasn't built for that..."

Jack took another deep, haunted breath. "It's something I realized a long time ago, over fifteen hundred years, I believe. The mind can only house so many memories, I'm sure you know, and eventually, no matter how hard I tried, the old ones were replaced by new ones. Over time, faces became blurred and lost their names, and names became just words. I can't even remember my own father's anymore... if I even had a father."

"You had a father, Jack," the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes. "And he loved you."

Jack gave a shiver at that, his voice growing more and more emotional. "You'd think immortality would be a land of infinite horizons, and though that's true, the darkness is always nipping at your heels."

The Doctor looked away from him in guilt. "I wish I could have helped you, Jack... but there's nothing anyone or anypony can do."

"I-I know..." Jack sighed. "Well... since we apparently know each other. Would you mind if I asked you a question or two now?"

"Ask away," the Doctor said warmly.

"Over two hundred years ago I finally learned a spell that was able to put me in a deep state of meditation. One that could put me in touch with the very fibers of the universe."

"Mmmm, you lucky duck, you. I wish I had gotten a unicorn body," the Doctor said enviously.

"Anyway, I've detected a fluctuation in spacetime nearby here, though I can't pinpoint its location." He gave the Doctor a stern look. "You seem to always be around when there's interdimensional trouble. When those humanoid machines attacked, the Slendermare incident, and well, you know the rest. Can you tell me anything about what this might be?"

The Doctor shook his head sorrowfully. "I'm sorry Jack, but I'm here on other business."

"Great..." Captain Harness groaned. "So we're gazing into the dark yet again."

The Doctor gave a sigh. "If you don't mind me asking. How and why are you working for the Equestrian government?"

"I don't really have time for stories, Doc," Jack grunted.

"Come on..." the Doctor pressed. "Maybe telling them will help you remember a bit more, uncover more of those fossils. What else are you going to do while you wait for whatever it is to rear its head?"

"Heh... good point I guess," he said. "If you want to know, I suppose I could tell you." He lifted a hoof. "I remember a few things from my early days on this world, when Discord still had his Chaos Empire in full swing... though I had to have Princess Celestia's help for that." He smiled slightly. "I suppose you can say that my motivation for helping it, and its greatest country, is because of how truly beautiful the two are in the end, and what abstract horrors can threaten it." His eyes narrowed narrowed. "Because I remember just how the two walking goddesses that rule this country came into being."