//------------------------------// // Fire, Ice, and Music // Story: Doctor Whooves Episode 5: Before the Chaos // by Doctor Perseus //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Fire, Ice, and Music Discord and Lily's Chamber, Castle of Equestria, Equestria, Gaia, Autumn, 146 P.C.E. Snow and wind poured through the damaged window as a large, white, blue-eyed, horse-like, snow creature landed on the carpeted floor. The floor around it was instantly covered in a sheet of ice. The creature stared at Discord with an emotionless gaze. It then let out a frightening howl that sent shivers down the Doctor's spine. Twilight's eyes widened as she took a closer look at the creature. Matilda attempted to keep her large, pink hat from blowing off the top of her head. "It can't be!" Twilight breathed. The creature lunged at them but Discord stood up and grabbed the creature. He tossed it through the air and it smashed into the opposite wall. Discord's hands began to freeze like the area around the creature but the ice quickly melted away. "What the hell is that?!" the Doctor asked. "It's a windigo," said Matilda. "A what?" "A windigo. It's a winter spirit that feeds off negative energy," Twilight replied. "They haven't been seen or heard from in Equestria since the country was founded." The windigo stood up and looked at the Doctor. It then looked at Twilight and Lily. It's blue eyes began to burn brightly as it let out another frightening howl. "How can we get rid of it?" the Doctor asked. "The last, and first, ponies to ward off the windigos were Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy when they used the Fire of Friendship," said Twilight. The windigo flew towards them but Discord managed to conjure a wall of fire around the beast. "I suggest we get out of here and plan on what to do next in another location," said the King as he picked up the still weak Lily. The Doctor, Twilight, and Matilda nodded in agreement as they followed Discord out of the room. The Doctor closed the doors to the chamber behind him and began placing various pieces of furniture in front of the doors. "Your majesties!" said a guard as he ran down the hallway. He was joined by a small militia of various pony guards. "There's a windigo in there! Try to hold it off as long as you can!" the Doctor ordered. The guards turned to Discord, who beckoned them to follow the Doctor's orders. The head guard pulled a pegasus guard and earth pony guard from the group. "Clyde. Timber. Protect the King and Queen and their guests!" "Yes, sir!" said Clyde the pegasus and Timber the earth pony. The other guards made a formation around the door as the Doctor, Twilight, Matilda, Discord, Lily, Clyde, and Timber made their way down the hallway. "Where are we going?" Matilda asked. "To the dungeons. That's where the last of the Fire of Friendship resides," Discord replied. The Dungeons, Underneath the Castle of Equestria, Equestria, Gaia, Autumn, 146 P.C.E. The dungeons were certainly different from the rest of the castle. They were dark, gloomy, and smelled of raw sewage. It was obvious that nopony had been down here in an incredibly long time. Discord produced a single flame in one of his claws to light up the darkness. Twilight helped by using a simple illumination spell. Lily tried to cast magic but was still too weak, though she was able to walk again. "I didn't know the Fire of Friendship was still around," said Twilight. "It's been kept down here since the beginning of my reign," said Discord. "Clover the Clever locked it away in the cave where it was created and the location of the cave was eventually forgotten with time. I discovered the cave following my coronation and I placed it down here, just in case Equestria needed its power once more." "Good thing you did," said Matilda. "So is this Fire of Friendship the only thing that can defeat the windigos?" the Doctor asked. "Either that or an incredible amount of magic," said Lily. They had just made it to another turn when the castle shook violently. "I'm guessing the windigo is on its way." "I don't understand. There were three windigos if I remember correctly. Where are the other two?" Twilight asked. "I'm guessing that they're not too far away," said the Doctor. "But what do they want?" "Revenge against the Equestrians, no doubt," said Discord. "They were banished by the first Equestrians and the Fire of Friendship. It only makes sense that they return to try and reclaim the country that they failed to claim in the first place." "The icy fiends return from the grave. At least that makes sense now," Matilda whispered to the Doctor. The Doctor gulped. There was one thought swirling around in his mind that was making him worry greatly. "And the Doctor sadly will have nopony to save," the Doctor mumbled under his breath. "Are you okay, Doctor?" Twilight asked. The Doctor gave a forced smile and nodded. "I've seen better days but I'm fine!" "There's something worrying me." "The predictions?" "Yeah. None of them sound good." "Well there are a few good points. Like and Twilight Sparkle will return home at last. Doesn't that sound nice?" "I guess...but at what cost?" The Doctor and Twilight looked at Discord and Lily. Both of them had an idea of what the future held for the King and Queen. "Is there any way that we could...prevent certain events from playing out?" Twilight asked. The Doctor sighed and shook his head. "Trust me, Twilight. That thought has crossed my mind multiple times. Sometimes, history just has to run its course. Once, I had a friend named Rose. I took her back in time to meet her father, who died when she was a baby." "How did he die?" "He was hit by a car." "What's a car?" "I'll explain all of that later but, when I brought her back, she ended up saving her father's life. Sadly, this was not meant to happen. Every living creature in the universe was almost destroyed because of that action. Even I was erased at one point." "What happened? How did everything return to normal?" "Rose's father sacrificed himself so that the rest of the universe and his daughter could live. Once he died, the timeline returned to normal." "That was a brave thing of him to do." "Yes...it was." "Have you ever tried to change history?" The Doctor fell silent. Memories of Mars, water monsters, and Adelaide Brooke came back to him. "Yes," he replied. "What happened?" Twilight asked. The Doctor and Twilight made eye contact. Twilight could see the sadness and regret in his eyes. "I'd rather not talk about it. I will say this: it almost destroyed me." "This is it!" Discord announced. The Doctor and Twilight looked forward to see a massive, metal doorway looming over them. Discord looked at the two guards. "Keep a sharp eye out. There's no telling when that windigo will show itself." "Yes, your majesty!" said Clyde and Timber. Discord walked towards the door and pushed it open. The Fire Chamber, Underneath the Castle of Equestria, Equestria, Gaia, Autumn, 146 P.C.E. Twilight expected to see a huge, heart-shaped fire waiting for them on the other side of the door. What they found, however, was a small, golden goblet emitting a tiny blue flame. "This is the Fire of Friendship?" the Doctor asked. "Yes. It was like this when I discovered it all those years ago. I was hoping that it would lighten up for us once more whenever our country faced great peril," the King replied. "There has to be some way to revive it," said Lily. "There is," said Matilda. Everypony turned to face the mysterious mare. "How do you know?" Twilight asked. Matilda smirked and approached the goblet of fire. "I've done a lot of traveling in my life and have heard many things. I remember learning once that the only way to revive the Fire of Friendship is to perform the first song that Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy sung following its creation." "And where exactly did you hear this from?" "A clever clover told me." Matilda then winked at the Doctor and it didn't take long for him to realize what she meant. "So how do we perform the song?" he asked. "All we need is a lyre and a singer," Matilda replied. "All of the lyres are upstairs," said Clyde with a hopeless groan. Matilda gave a slight chuckle as her hat began to vibrate slightly. The Doctor watched as the top of the hat opened up and spat out of green lyre. Matilda caught the instrument in her hooves as the top of her hat closed again. "Got that taken care of." The Doctor looked at Matilda and asked, "How did-" "Magic hat, sweetie. It's not too hard to figure it out. Anyway, I know the song so I can play it but now we need a singer." "I can sing!" said Timber. "A female singer." Timber lowered his head. Matilda smiled as she turned to Twilight and Lily. "Can either of you sing? Your majesty?" Matilda asked. Lily tried to sing a note but found that she was still to weak to do so. "It looks like you're the one, Tara." "But I don't even know the song!" Twilight protested. "That's not a problem. Come over here." Twilight cautiously approached Matilda, who placed her hooves on the left and right side of Twilight's head. "Close your eyes and relax, dearie. This isn't going to hurt one, little bit," Matilda said as she herself closed her eyes. Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Instantly an entire stream of knowledge began flowing through her head. "Don't focus on any of that useless crap. Just focus on the song." Twilight watched as a list of song lyrics began appearing before her mentally. "There you go. Let them come to you. Get to know them." Twilight gasped as the notes flew at her. It felt as if ropes were wrapping around her brain and needles were forcing themselves through the cracks in her skull. "And...we're done." Matilda let go of Twilight's head and the confused unicorn stumbled around for a few seconds. "What just happened?" she asked. "I just implanted the lyrics of the song in your mind. You should know them by heart now." "How did you do that?" the Doctor asked. "It's just a talent that I developed over time." Matilda then winked at the Doctor and let Twilight over to the flaming goblet. "Now," she said. "It's time to awaken the fire. I'm going to start strumming the lyre and you just continue on from there. Are you with me, Tara?" "Yes...I'm with you," Twilight replied. Her brain was throbbing but, Matilda was right, she knew the song by heart. "What's the song called?" "The Melody of the Flame. Get ready." Twilight cleared her throat and focused on the dim Fire of Friendship. The castle above them shook again and Clyde and Timber walked towards the door to keep watch in case the windigo arrived. Matilda began strumming the lyre. It was a beautiful sound. A tear formed in Twilight's eye as she began singing. "Hush now sweet children; the horrors are gone. Live in sweet freedom and laughter. Thank thee thy fire for shining the way through the blizzard and sorrow," she sang The fire in the goblet began to stir and change color. "Thank thee thy fire for freeing our hearts. We shall always remember. Take me away to the place of no fear; a place where friends can live in peace." The fire was a dark reddish-purple now and was beginning to grow. "Forgive us thy fire, for my heart was once cold. Now it's warm and happy. We shall not fight. We shall not cry. We shall only talk by the fire." Cracks formed on the goblet as the fire began to grow and rise towards the ceiling. "Goodnight sweet children; the fire is here. This is no place for sadness or fear. This is no place for sadness or fear!" Twilight felt the tears rolling down her face as the goblet crumbled into a pile of golden dust. The Fire of Friendship formed into a large heart and flew up towards the ceiling. An angry howl emanated from the doorway. Everypony turned around to see the windigo standing on the other side of the doorway, glaring at the Fire of Friendship with intense hatred. "Stand back, fowl beast!" ordered Timber as he charged at the windigo. The beast lunged for Timber and wrapped its teeth around his throat. "No!" cried Clyde. The guard threw a spear at the beast but it simply phased through. Within seconds, Timber was nothing but a frozen statue of ice. The windigo then smashed the Timber statue into little fragments. "You'll pay for that!" Clyde tried to charge at the windigo but the Doctor grabbed him and pulled him away. The windigo tried to enter the room but found that it could not. "Not so high and mighty when fire's in the mix, huh?!" the Doctor snapped. The windigo gave an expression that resembled that of a smile and howled again. "Do you honestly believe that the Fire of Friendship can save you this time?" the creature asked with a hiss. "This castle shall fall, and all of its inhabitants with it!" The Doctor approached the windigo. He stopped just beyond the boundary that the creature could reach through. He stared deep into the windigo's blue eyes and said, "If you and your brethren continue with your plans then I'll have to stop you." "You think you're a match for us?! Just who do you think you are?!" "I don't think I'm anything. I know what I am! I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 906 years old and I'm the one who's going to send you back to the icy hell in which you came from! You don't need to fear me. You need to fear what you're about to do. Because when I say that I'm going to stop you, I mean it. Everything that happens after this point will be on your hands-er-hooves!" "Well, Doctor, let the eternal blizzard begin!" The windigo then let out a loud howl before running up the stairs, leaving an icy trail behind it. The Doctor turned back to the rest of the group. "So what happens now, Doctor?" Matilda asked with a sly grin. "Now the real fight begins," replied the Doctor.