Chapter XV: What Do We Do Now?
"Dashie... Dashie..." The image of a pink pony began to come into focus as Rainbow Dash began to wake.
"Pinkie? ..."
"Dashie! You're awake!" Pinkie Pie picked up Rainbow Dash and hugger her. The sudden movement woke her and cleared her vision. Rainbow Dash looked out the window and saw the Sun was right on the Western horizon and some stars had begun to shine in the pink and purple sky. Suddenly a sight by the throne caught her eye. She saw a black pegasus with golden armor talking to Starswirl and the Doctor, but what was most alarming was his rainbow mane and cutie mark of a sword with rainbow lightning.
"Pinkie," Rainbow Dash whispered, "who's that guy? He has a rainbow mane just like me! I've never seen anypony with a rainbow mane except my dad."
"Oh, him?" Pinkie replied, "That's Commander Rainbow Sword. He's the stallion version of you."
"What?!"
"Don't you remember Rule 63?"
"What the heck's Rule 63?"
"Or he could be your great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather."
"Okay, that one makes more sense."
"Now let's wake up the others!"
Pinkie zipped around the room and bounced on Rarity's back, and then Applejack's back, then Fluttershy's, then Twilight's, then Derpy's. Rainbow Dash helped them stand as each slowly regained consciousness. Once everypony was awake, the Doctor gathered them all together.
"Everypony, " he said, "so, basically, we have a big problem on our hooves. The Earth has not rotated in three hours."
"Rotated?" Rarity asked.
"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Twilight said.
"Oh right! You ponies still believe in a geocentric solar system and think that the Sun, Moon and stars move around the Earth."
"Well, don't they?" Fluttershy said.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. Never mind. Forget I said anything. I open my mouth and words come out and they don't always mean anything. But anyway, Commander Rainbow Sword - your ancestor, Rainbow Dash, so don't tamper with his life or yours could be erased from all time and space - asked us to go to the Clear-Glass Dome to have a meeting with the Council of Nobles to find a solution. Hopefully they don't all start blaming the other kingdoms and start escalating the war effort, which can only be a bad thing."
~~~~~
"This a trick by the Hoofricans!"
"'Tis the responsibility of the Dragons!"
"They both hath conspired this together!"
"They seek to destroy us once and for all!"
"We must act!"
"Intolerable! Their actions against us is intolerable"
"We must fly against them! 'Tis the only way!"
"Destroy them once and for all!"
"Destroy them!"
"SILENCE!" A flash of lightning lit up the room and caught the attention of the Council, silencing the commotion. They looked towards the entrance of the Clear-Glass Dome, and there stood Rainbow Sword holding out his sword which crackled with electricity. He sheathed his sword and led the Doctor and the others to their seats.
The Clear-Glass Dome was just as its name suggested. An enormous dome of completely clear glass, a rare luxury and an art known only to the Dragons, who built the Dome for the Ponies centuries ago in a time of peace. Inside the Dome was an amphitheatre with three-hundred seats for the noble ponies who gathered in a council when summoned. Above, everypony could see the still sky, a spectrum of colors from pink to dark purple as the Sun lied stuck on the Western horizon and the Moon lies stuck on the Eastern horizon.
Starswirl stood before the Council and spoke. "Brethren, my noble countrymen, I speak before thee to assure thee of the truth behind the loss we hath suffered. This is no act or plot or scheme devised by the other kingdoms. This is the deed of a heinous criminal. A pony who hath betrayed his kin, his kingdom, and his king."
Murmurs rippled through the Council. All were concerned as to the fate of the king and in turn the fate of the kingdom.
The Doctor then came before the Council and spoke. "And this needs to be clear: he is not an agent of the other kingdoms. He has no loyalty to any pony, dragon or rhino. He is just a madpony with a lust for power."
The murmurs came again. This time somewhat louder.
"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked the others.
"No Elements. No time machine. No king." Applejack said, "How are we ever gonna stop that Master?"
Suddenly Rainbow Dash flew up above the Council and said, "We have an army! What can one pony do against our army?"
"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted, "He has the most powerful pony in the world as a prisoner!"
"So what? With me and a hundred other pegasi, we can take him down easily!"
"That mare is right!" Rainbow Sword joined in. "Whoever abducted His Majesty, he is only one pony. And one pony against a hundred pegasi simply does not put the odds in his favor."
"However," Starswirl retorted, "He hath held our king for some time now, and as we see in the sky, hast kept His Majesty's power at bay. As that mare hath spoken, His Majesty is the most powerful pony across the land. No mere pegasus can subdue him as this villain hath. Thus stopping him cannot be as simple as sending an army against him."
Murmurs again, and again louder than the last. One pegasus noble stood and said, "Then what are we to do?" The other nobles joined him and raised a great commotion, demanding a solution from Starswirl, who balked at the pressure from the nobles.
"I know not, but there is surely a solution to be sought after within magic that-"
"Oh, magic, magic, magic!" Rainbow Sword interrupted, "You unicorns are always looking down on the rest of us, are you not? Though we pegasi fly above your heads. You always think the solution is magic and that we simple ponies can never accomplish anything great."
The pegasus nobles all stood, shouting their support for his words and flapped their wings. The unicorn nobles whined and called on Starswirl to retort and silence the pegasi. As the Council grew ever louder, Starswirl flashed a bright light from his horn to get the Council's attention.
"I sayeth no such words, Commander!" he said, "I merely come to logical conclusions."
"And where has your logic taken us?" Rainbow Sword replied, "Kingless!" The pegasi all shouted their dissatisfaction with Starswirl. "I should assume the role of leader until we've brought His Majesty back!" The pegasi roared in support, and the flapping of their wings caused a powerful gust of wind that blew through the Council. While the pegasi cheered, the Doctor brought Derpy, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy to him.
"Thou shalt watch what thou sayest, Commander!" Starswirl shouted with a powerful voice, "The throne shall go to His Majesty's neice!"
"But Princess Amicitia is but a filly! She does not even have her cutie mark yet, let alone wings to make her an alicorn!"
"I am His Majesty's most trusted sorcerer, Commander! Know thy place!"
"Now, now." Applejack said, trying to calm them, "Take it easy you two."
But Rainbow Sword ignored her and continued, "We need proper leadership if we are to make it through this disaster!"
"Thou art not fit!"
"Oh, we shall see about that." Rainbow Sword threateningly folding his ears back, hunched down and put his hoof on his sword's hilt. Starswirl stood tall, lifted one hoof and lit up his horn as he pointed it at Rainbow Sword. The Council gasped and fell silent as the two threatened violence on each other.
"EVERYPONY STOP!" Pinkie yelled as she jumped in between Starswirl and Rainbow Sword. "This isn't the time for fighting! We just have to talk it through. Here have some cupcakes!" She took out a pair of cupcakes and stuck them in Starswirl and Rainbow Sword's mouths. Everypony calmed and murmurs of agreement with Pinkie arose in the Council.
"Pinkie, be careful!" Rarity shouted, "You don't want to get any frosting on Commander Rainbow Sword's armor. It must be very expensive and I'm sure takes forever to polish well." She took out a napkin and wiped off a bit of frosting that spilled on the commander's armor.
All was quiet again. Nopony spoke, though a weak cough came from the Council. Finally, Fluttershy tried to speak, "Ummm... if Tympanus has the pony with the most powerful magic in the world, then... um... this is just a suggestion... why don't we just find a magic that's even more powerful? I mean... if you think that's a good idea... if the pegasi are okay with that. I mean, I'm sure whatever the magic is... um... it would take more than a unicorn to do it."
"Yeah, but where are we going to find magic like that?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh, um... I don't know. I guess we can't do that. Forget I said anything."
"Wait," Twilight said, "I've read the story of what happens with Tympanus here before. I've read it in the future, I mean. I will read it? But anyway-"
The Doctor stopped her short, covering her mouth, and whispered, "The Council doesn't know that we're time-travelers. Neither does Rainbow Sword. Just Starswirl. So don't tell them anything."
Twilight nodded in response. The Doctor then moved on to address the confused Council.
"Don't mind her! She hasn't had much sleep lately and so she's not making much sense when she talks. But anyway, this pony who's abducted our king: I know how to stop him. And so you must leave it to me, Starswirl the Bearded, Commander Rainbow Sword and our companions here to bring His Majesty back. I promise you that. I promise you on my life that His Majesty will return safely. All of you just need to maintain order here and live on as if nothing is wrong. When His Majesty returns, it'll be as if nothing happened."
"And what merits dost thou have that thou mayest take up this task?" a unicorn shouted, "Thou art but a lowly earth pony!"
"I know this pony. And I've beaten him time and time again. I know him better than anypony here and know how to deal with him. He is my responsibility, because... because... he's my brother!"
The Council was silent. Even Starswirl, Derpy and the six fell silent in shock of what the Doctor said. A pegasus finally spoke up, saying, "And how are we to trust a pony whose name we do not even know? How do we know that he is not an ally of the villain?"
Starswirl spoke in defense of the Doctor. "I trust him! He hath been a friend and ally of mine and is ever loyal to the kingdom. That shall be enough for thee."
"Can we not even have this stranger's name?"
"His name is the-"
"Time Turner! My name is Time Turner. See my cutie mark? It's an hourglass. It's about time, you see. It's very cool."
The Council mumbled and discussed, creating a din of noisy conversations, until Rainbow Sword addressed it.
"So it is decided! The mission shall be placed in the hooves of this company! All discussion on this shall end! Council di-"
"Commander!" Starswirl interrupted, "It is my place to dismiss the Council, not thine!"
Rainbow Sword glared at Starswirl and conceded. Starswirl stepped forward and addressed the Council.
"The Council is dismissed!"
Everypony left the Clear-Glass Dome. The Doctor, Derpy, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight walked down the torch-lit hall away from the Dome.
"Doctor," Rarity said, "You never told us that the Master was your brother."
"Yeah!" Applejack said, "Why in the hay didn't you tell us? And, I don't wanna offend, but what ever happened to us being the ones meant to do this, like you and Starswirl said?"
"Oh, sorry!" the Doctor quickly replied, "I guess I'll need to fill you in on the rules now that you're travelling with me. Well, basically, rule number one: the Doctor lies. So no, the Master isn't my brother. Though he was quite close to being one. Blimey, brings back memories... Well, anyway, so, yes, I lied to the Council. I needed their trust and I didn't want to cause any more complications."
"That's not very honest..."
"I know, Applejack. But it's what I needed to do. And besides, even if I do lie, you can always trust me. I'm the Doctor."
"What if you were the Plumber?" Pinkie said, "Would you still lie if you were the Plumber?"
"You know, I actually thought of changing my name to 'The Plumber' or 'The Maintenance Man' once. But then I decided, 'No. Those are rubbish names.' And then I started thinking-"
"But Doctor," Twilight interrupted, "About what I was saying back there: I read the story of what happens here before. Or at least, I somewhat remember the plot line. The Doctor and his companions defeats Tympanus in the end. So whatever happens, we know he can't win."
"Time can be rewritten," the Doctor replied, "This moment in history is in flux. He can still win and change the future of the world. Now, try to talk about that story as little as you can. We don't want any foresight. Foresight is dangerous. But the prophecy and Starswirl and Derpy's visions still hold true. The fate of the world lies in the hooves of you six. Not an army. Not a wizard. Not a doctor."
"What about a firepony?" Pinkie asked, "Or a mayor? Ooh! How about a pirate?"
"Oh, I got one!" Derpy joined, "The Muffin Pony!"
Everypony laughed as they continued down the long hall.