Chapter 3: What Lies Beneath
Sweet Apple Industries, Ponyville Central, Equestria, Gaia, Spring, 2002 C.E.
Charlie and Juliet stumbled off of the teleportation pad to find themselves being stared down by a yellow-coated stallion. He was tall, had a strong frame, had a billowing brown mane, and had two deep brown eyes.
"I assume that your mother sent you," said Crisp Oaks.
"Yes," said Juliet.
"Okay. We better head down then."
"Down? Down where?" asked Charlie.
"Under the city."
Charlie gulped. He hated going underground. He was a pegasus. He needed the air and the sky. Being underground just gave him the creeps. Charlie, Juliet, and Crisp left the office and began walking down a nearby hallway.
"The bad AJ's have already been locked up," Crisp stated.
"That bad AJ's?" Charlie asked.
"You know. It's a good thing that this particular trip of the Doctor and Twilight Sparkle was written down. I was eventually able to catch all of the Applejack clones that went rogue."
"Rogue?"
"Yes. From what I've calculated there are only two clones left unaccounted for. They're probably helping Thalia."
"Who's Thalia?"
"Yeah," said Juliet. "Who exactly is this Thalia?"
"You'll find out soon enough. She's a real nasty piece of work that one," replied Crisp. "We ponies used to think she died all those years ago but she didn't. She's been waiting. Planning. And now the last piece of the puzzle has arrived."
"And what is this last piece of the puzzle?"
"It should be obvious."
"The Doctor and Twilight Sparkle," breathed Charlie.
"Exactly. I'm pretty sure that they're already on their way down."
They went around another bend until they came to a door surrounded by five guards.
"Mr. Oaks! We're ready to proceed if you are!" stated a unicorn guard.
"Hurry! Hurry! Down we go!" Crisp ordered.
"Down we go," groaned Charlie as they passed through the door leading towards the basement.
The Lower Chambers, Underneath Ponyville Central, Equestria, Gaia, Spring, 2002 C.E.
"AH!" Twilight screamed. "Something touched my back!"
"Don't worry. It's just an old spider web," said the Doctor.
"Oh...well if it's just a web-"
"Don't move! I think that web still has some inhabitants."
Twilight began jumping and bucking around until the webs finally came off.
"Ugh! I wish there were another way out of here!"
"I do wonder how far down we've traveled."
"These tunnels must be ancient. Look at the bricks. They're all old and covered with grime and...more cobwebs."
"Well compared to you these bricks are brand new, considering the fact that you were born over 1000 years ago."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"I was just trying to be witty."
"Well please stop. You're not making this any easier for me."
"Fine."
The two ponies fell silent as they walked deeper and deeper into the caverns below Ponyville Central. They eventually found themselves in a massive chamber that was designed like the interior of a castle tower. A pool of swirling water sat in the middle of the chamber.
"We must be down with the sewage," guessed the Doctor.
"Lovely," said Twilight. Then they heard it. Voices. Muffled conversations echoing throughout the tunnels. "There must be somepony else here."
"Well lets find that certain somepony and see if they know any way out."
They walked alongside the pool of sewage until they found the tunnel where the voices were emanating from. They entered the tunnel and followed the voices until they found themselves at a dead end.
"Hello?" Twilight asked.
"How odd. Voices and nopony here. I'd have my guard up if I were you, Twilight," said the Doctor. The sound of stones falling into water echoed from behind and they turned around to see two cloaked ponies walking towards them. "Uh. Hello there. Yes. Do you know a way out of here?"
"There is no way out of here," said one of the cloaked ponies. The voice sounded somewhat female and southern but it also sounded warped and somewhat male.
"The tunnels go on into infinity," said the other cloaked pony.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked.
"We are friends. We are her friends. We are your friends," they said together. The Doctor and Twilight turned towards each other and then back to the ponies.
"Excuse me but who is this her that you're referring to?" asked the Doctor.
"She desires friends. She desires the air and the light. She desires you, Doctor and Twilight."
"Doctor...I really don't think they're going to help us," said Twilight.
"She wants your help. She wants your friendship."
"They're barring us in!"
"She wants your skin. She wants your blood."
"Definitely not friendly," choked the Doctor.
"She wants your life. She wants your death."
The ponies pulled knives out from their cloaks and clutched them in their mouths.
"Twilight, you remember that thing you did to the guard up above?" asked the Doctor.
"Yeah," said Twilight.
"Would it be too much trouble for you to do it now?"
Twilight aimed her horn at the cloaked ponies and fired. The spell hit them but they seemed unaffected.
"She wants your life. She wants your death," they repeated.
"Damn! Where's a secret passage when you need it?" asked the Doctor. The Doctor and Twilight pressed up against the wall behind them and the wall suddenly turned around like a revolving door. Once the wall was done turning they found themselves in a medium-sized room that resembled that of an underground laboratory. "Now what's all this?"
They looked through the room and saw several different operating tables, tubs of water, and boxes of various sizes.
"What's in here?" Twilight asked as she approached one of the boxes. She opened it and yelped.
"What?! What's wrong?" asked the Doctor.
"There...there are mutilated animals in these boxes!"
The Doctor approached the box that Twilight had been examining and gave a look of repulsion. The box was filled with the cut up bodies of young forest animals. The smell was horrendous and Twilight nearly gave up the contents of her stomach.
"Fluttershy would have a heart attack if she saw this place," said a sickened Twilight. "What the hay is this place, Doctor?"
"A lab. Obviously home to some illegal activities," said the Doctor. Twilight backed up a few feet and suddenly felt something small and sharp go into her neck.
"Sleep dreams, Twiley," cackled one of the cloaked ponies, who had just injected an anesthetic into Twilight via needle.
"Twilight!" cried the surprised Doctor.
"Ms. Thalia! He's ready for you!" called the second clone as they vanished into another secret passage with the unconscious Twilight. The Doctor looked around as various dead animals, now obviously being possessed by something, stood up from their boxed graves and slowly crawled towards the Doctor.
"After this I hope Twilight and I end up on a tropical island!" he choked as the creatures drew closer.
The Upper Lower Chambers, Underneath Ponyville Central, Equestria, Gaia, Spring, 2002 C.E.
It was incredibly damp underground. Charlie didn't like it but he somehow found comfort about it while he was around Juliet. She certainly was pretty. Charlie shook his head and turned away from Juliet. This was no time to develop a crush. He was underground and trying to help save the Doctor and the Twilight Sparkle from a mysterious villain named Thalia. They soon reached the very bottom of Sweet Apple Industries' basement.
"Okay. The main Lower Chambers are through this door here," said Crisp. The guards nodded and proceeded to open up the door. As soon as the door opened, however, a horde of disfigured animals fell through.
"You shall not pass!" they screamed.
"What in Celestia has she been doing down there?!"
"Take them!" yelled one of the guards. The guards then began kicking and fighting their way through the animal zombies.
"Charlie! Juliet! Stay behind me!" Crisp ordered. The two of them did as they were told. Then a series of dead hands reached up through the floor and grabbed Juliet. She began to sink through a hole in the floor.
"Juliet!" cried Charlie as he grabbed onto her. Crisp tried to grab onto them but a possessed fox jumped onto him and caused him to smash into a back wall. Charlie held his breath and he and Juliet were pulled into the earth below.
The Lower Chambers, Underneath Ponyville Central, Equestria, Gaia, Spring, 2002 C.E.
The animals were close now. The Doctor had resorted to kicking and punching at them with his hooves. It wouldn't be long before they managed to consume him. Just then a nearby wall exploded and a pile of mud, brick, and animals poured in. The animals attacking the Doctor were knocked aside as the dirt poured it. The slide of dirt stopped and the Doctor realized that there were two ponies in the dirt.
"Are you alright?!" he asked as he ran to their aid.
"Could've been worse," choked the pegasus.
"I'm glad that my mom went to the trouble of teaching me that spell," said the alicorn. The two ponies looked up at the Doctor and their eyes widened. "Oh my Celestia! It's you!"
"Yeah! It's me! Uh...do I know you?" said the surprised Doctor.
The ponies hopped up and each shook the Doctor's hoof vigorously.
"My name's Charlie Kemp," said the pegasus. "I'm a huge fan of your adventures!"
"I'm Juliet," said the alicorn. "Juliet Sparkle."
"Wait a minute. Juliet Sparkle?" asked the Doctor. "You can't possibly be related to-"
"Yes. Twilight Sparkle's my ancestor."
"Well Juliet Sparkle. The pleasure is all mine. And it's also nice to meet you, Charlie Kemp. I thank you very much for rescuing me from the animal zombies but, not to brag or anything, I probably could have finished them off on my own."
"Excuse me but...where's Twilight?" asked Charlie.
"Damn! I nearly forgot! Some cloaked ponies took her to God knows where!"
"They've taken her to Thalia," said Juliet.
"Thalia? Who the hell is Thalia?"
"We...don't know that either," coughed Charlie. "It seems that only the Headmistress, Queen Luna, and Crisp Oaks know who this Thalia pony is."
"Well, whoever she is, she's endangered my friend. I promised her that I'd get her home and by a Queen Victoria's werewolf blood I'm going to keep that promise!"
"So where do we start looking?"
"No idea."
"I have an idea! Queen Luna and my mother were talking earlier about Queen Celestia having possession over the TARDIS," said Juliet.
"Celestia's the one who stole my TARIDS?! That's a bit rude."
"They've been talking about how there's something horribly wrong with Queen Celestia and I believe this Thalia pony has something to do with it. So I'm guessing that where your TARDIS is-"
"That's where Twilight should be too! Brilliant!"
"But how are we going to get to Canterlot? We're all the way underground with no means of getting back to the surface," said Charlie.
"I think I know how to get there quickly," said Juliet.
The Crystal Caverns, Underneath Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Spring, 2002 C.E.
Twilight awoke to find herself strapped to an operating table by tough, metal bonds. There was a long cut on her left foreleg and blood was slowly oozing out of it. It hurt slightly but it wasn't agonizing. She turned left to see the cloaked ponies holding a medium-sized jar filled with...her blood. The ponies looked over at Twilight and giggled.
"You're awake," they said together. "Now the fun can commence."
The ponies poured the bottle of Twilight's blood into a large tub of water. There was something in the water and it began to jerk around after the sudden exposure to blood. Suddenly the tub exploded and the ponies were knocked back. A beam of white light circled around the form of a thin pony. The pony danced in the light and Twilight's blood began orbiting around the pony like rings. The blood was absorbed into the pony's body and there was a second, and brighter, explosion of light.
Soon the light show was over and a mare unicorn stood in the middle of the room. Twilight noticed that the cloaked ponies laying on the ground were more Applejack clones. Her attention then turned back towards the mare. The mare raised her head and Twilight gasped. The mare...was her. This clone of Twilight was very different. She had a pale white coat, hair and eyes as black as night, and a smile that could make even the meanest of dragons shiver in fear. Twilight stared at the clone as she laughed and slowly approached the bound Twilight. She leaned against the table and brought her face only a few centimeters from Twilight's.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle," she said. "It's good to see you again after all these years. You and your Doctor have foiled me time and time again...but this time I win! Your Doctor is dead, you are weak, and I, Thalia, am strong! Enjoy these last few breathes of air, Twilight, because soon you won't have to worry about breathing anymore."