Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 35
“Is that all of them?” The Doctor asked.
Twilight looked around, spotting Derpy coming in with the last few ponies trailing behind her. They had now painstakingly collected all the ponies scattered throughout the forest; trees no longer, they were looking very bewildered as they gathered together in the circular clearing Twilight had created by filling in the crater. “Yes, I think those are the last ones,” she said, nodding at the incoming pegasus mare and her followers. Twilight, Apollo, and Derpy had flown all over the forest, finding the survivors and herding them here, where The Doctor would round them up and explain what happened, since none of them seemed to remember. “But what are we going to do with them now?”
“Why, take them back to your city, of course!” The brown earth pony replied flippantly, “It's been rather empty lately, right?”
“But... but they're so many, and they're...”
“They've lost a lot... just like you.” He put a hoof on her shoulder, “Don't worry, they'll fit in just fine after a while... Hm... I always wondered what had caused the big pony population recovery in the first century... I guess now I know!” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, now that that's taken care of, mind giving me and Derpy a lift back to my tardis?”
She looked over at Apollo, and he nodded back. He could handle things while they were gone. She gave him a 'be back soon' wink, gathered The Doctor and Derpy close to her, and disappeared with a flash.
* * *
The three ponies appeared in a tiny violet explosion back inside the room of the abandoned temple where they had met. The Doctor immediately went up to the door of his blue box, not wasting any time... but Twilight had other plans. “Wait!” she called out, “I've been wondering...”
“Hm?” He stepped back out, bumping into Derpy on her way in.
“If you have a time machine, why wouldn't you just go back in time and prevent all this?”
“All this?” He asked, not seeming to quite understand.
“The plague... the princesses... all of it!” She cried out, letting some of her emotion slip into her voice.
He sighed and shook his head. “Fixed point in history... sorry, I can't do a thing about it.”
“But... I could go back, I could warn myself about Pestilence! We could gather up the elements soon enough to defeat her way back when we first saw her!”
“Fixed. Point.” The earth pony tried to explain, hanging his head low. “If we try to change it, we tear a hole in the entire fabric of reality... and the whole universe falls apart.” He looked up at her. “And besides, you of all ponies should know what happens when you try to interfere with your own time stream.”
She looked at him quizzically, not understanding what he meant by that.
He grinned suggestively. “Time spells, Canterlot archives, Tuesday morning disaster...”
“Oh, that...” She looked away, blushing a little. “You knew about that?”
“Oh yes,” he said, nodding and smiling, “that little stunt created a nasty little time wave you know. Threw my tardis way off target and we ended up somewhere around the beginning of the universe. Derpy here sneezed, planting the first seeds of life in the universe on that barren planet...” He glanced wryly at the pegasus mare in the tardis's doorway, who just shrugged and looked a little wall-eyed. “but that's a story for another time.”
“And the other-world visitors you mentioned, will we be seeing more of them?”
Rolling his eyes, he grinned at her. “Hey, when you stumble on a star orbiting around a planet, it draws attention, okay? Especially when it defies a few of the more important laws of physics to slow down for a few hours at sunset! ... So yeah, you'll probably get more visitors... just remember, not all of them are like this – some of them are friendly.”
“I'll remember,” she promised. “And what about us? Me and Apollo?”
“What about you?”
“Why are there two alicorns of the night now? Why is it us two?” It had been bothering her for a while now... and she was finally with the pony who was probably the only one in the world who could tell her.
“Oh, Twilight...” He shrugged. “I don't know everything. I don't know how you two were chosen... I don't know why. But I do know that there are usually one day and two night alicorns. The past few thousand years have been a bit strange, what with Luna being both moon and star alicorn.”
He stepped back toward his box. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm about twenty three thousand years late for a surprise birthday party, and I don't want to miss it... See you around!”
With that, he hopped into his box, Derpy following close behind, and shut the door. Twilight watched wistfully as it repeated the whooshing sound from earlier and slowly disappeared... only realizing too late that she had forgotten to ask to be taken to Spike for a visit as promised... and who knew when she would see The Doctor again... With a sigh, she teleported back to Apollo, disappearing with a purple flash. He would need her help getting all those ponies home safely.
Moments after she disappeared, a windowed blue box came whooshing back into existence. A brown pony's head popped out and said, “Oh, sorry, almost forgot... would you like to go visit your dragon first... we can put the party off for a few more...” He looked around, not seeing anypony and looking disappointed. “Hm... missed her...I could have swore I got the time just right... oh well.”
* * *
Twilight Sparkle reappeared in the middle of the circular clearing, quickly spotting Apollo nearby talking to a group of ponies. Before she could approach him though, a group of ponies came up to her. “Your highness,” one of them said, and Twilight winced as the whole group bowed down low in front of her. It was the same pink pegasus she had noticed earlier, now close enough to see her purple eyes – nearly the color of Twilight's own – and the purple highlights in her wavy mane. Unsure of what to do, Twilight just nodded to them, as regally as she could manage... it seemed to satisfy them, as they took it as permission to rise back to their feet. “We owest thou a great debt, my princess,” the pegasus continued, “Thou hast freed us from the clutches of evil.”
Looking over at Apollo pleadingly for a moment, she turned back to the ponies in front of her. “Um... you're welcome?”
“We were the personal servants of Queen Shadow, and we wouldst be honored if we may now be permitted to enter thine service.”
“Wait... you mean like servants... like palace servants?” Twilight asked as Apollo trotted up to her, caught a little off-guard.
The pink pony in front of her made another short bow. “Verily.”
“But... but I couldn't... there's no... I wouldn't...” Twilight was having a little trouble putting her objections into words.
“Just be gracious and accept it,” Apollo said, now beside her, “Another group already came up to me, and they were very insistent... wouldn't take no for an answer, really.”
“But I...” She looked down at the pegasus, still prostrated in front of her, but now looking up at her with a pained expression. Twilight sighed a little. “Okay, fine.”
The mare stood back up straight and brightened immediately upon hearing that. “We await thine every command!” She said with surprising eagerness, as the group of ponies who had been in front of her now dispersed all around her, somehow managing to look inconspicuous and blend in even though there was nothing for them to hide behind... They really were good at their job, weren't they? She spotted the pink pegasus mare again, now noticing the pillow cutie mark and marveling at how this pony must be thousands of years old now... if one counted her time as a tree. The last pony she had heard speak like that was... well, Luna... but these ponies had been out of society even longer than her! She realized suddenly that she hadn't even gotten the pony's name...
“I know the feeling,” Apollo's voice came from next to her, “It's weird talking to living relics from the past, isn't it?” She nodded in definite agreement, promising herself she would make a point of learning her new servants' names... if she couldn't manage to interest them in another line of work. “But they're not all relics...” he continued.
“Huh?” She prodded him on.
“Well, I happened to meet one who was very excited when she heard about Princess Twilight Sparkle...” His gaze wandered over to the side, playing coy.
“Who!?!” Twilight startled him by grabbing his shoulders and shaking him... She wouldn't admit it to herself, but losing Spike had left her with a hole in her heart... one that could only be filled by some tangible link to the past she still yearned for.
He nodded to an earth pony stallion who had been following at his side... was this one of his new servants? The pony quickly disappeared, zipping away in a blur, only to return a moment later with another earth pony... a fuchsia mare who Twilight recognized instantly.
“Twilight!” Cheerilee shouted, running up and giving the shocked alicorn a hug. She caught a glimpse of one of her new servants standing against the crowd and looking positively scandalized about how her new princess was being treated so informally.
“Cheerilee!” Twilight stuttered back, “But... but how?”
The schoolteacher broke from the hug, sitting down next to Twilight. “Well, after the fire in Ponyville, I heard Spike went wandering off into Everfree, so I went to look for him... but then these trees showed up, and I couldn't get away... I don't really remember much after they caught me...” She looked down, a little depressed, maybe? “But then I woke up in a completely different part of the forest, and I was lost for a little while, but then Derpy found me, you know, the mailmare?” Twilight nodded, knowing now that somehow Derpy was so much more than just a mailmare. “Well, she led me here, and then this prince of yours started talking about 'Princess Twilight' and I got excited to see my old friend again.”
“You can't imagine how glad I am to see you, too,” Twilight added in. She had just lost one old friend. She didn't want to think in terms of replacements... but it did make her feel much better to still have a link to her past with her.
“And haven't you grown!” Cheerilee poked her a little on her wing. “And how are you being called a princess now... doesn't Celestia have a little bit of a problem with that... or...” The earth pony's face lit up. “Did you marry a prince!?!”
“Well, actually...” Twilight pulled Apollo in for a quick surprise smooch. “I did! ...” Her face fell after that though. “But you haven't heard about the princesses?”
“No, what about them?” Cheerilee asked, still only looking happy for her friend. The two hadn't been as close as her other friends back in Ponyville, but being the two most learned ponies in town, they had spent a lot of time together.
Twilight Sparkle sighed and hung her head low. Explaining what had happened while Cheerilee was a tree was going to be difficult. “It's... a long story... Let's get these ponies moving, then I'll tell you on the way, okay?”
She nodded cheerfully and began helping Twilight and Apollo organize the huge group of ponies into something resembling a caravan. It was going to be a long trip home...
* * *