Chapter 6
“Do you seriously expect us to believe that Alicorns created Pegasi and Unicorns? The princesses are powerful, but I've never heard of them doing something like that!” Again Rainbow Dash took the role of neigh-sayer (yes, pun was intentional), and this time the others (with exception of Pinkie Pie) agreed.
“I'm her personal student, and Celestia's never mentioned anything about that to me.” Twilight said while shaking her head.
“I beg your pardon, darling, but I'm just a tad doubtful of this myself as well.” Rarity nodded in agreement.
“I don't think you would lie, Doctor, but...” Fluttershy trailed off in a quiet voice.
“OOOOOOH! So does that mean that my great great great great great great-” Pinkie pie kept repeating 'great' over and over and over while the Applejack also agreed that she doubted the bit about Thanatos, the princess's parents and an unnamed forth could have brought about her friend's breeds.
“Ah don't claim to know much about magic or Human tech-stuffs, but that one's a bit out there, Doc.”
To Twilight's statement, the Doctor explained that Celestia would not have mentioned it because she did not know. Mantle and his wife had decided to keep that a secret from their children as well as their ancestry so that, on the off chance they found a way to return to Gallopfrey ((Please don't hurt me for that one!)) they would avoid testing whether or not their different bodies were also immune to the virus that the Daleks had infected their race with. Thanatos had agreed with them that it was the best way, and so Celestia and Luna remained ignorant of their origins, as well as that of the non-earth ponies and Humans.
“And I would appreciate it if you would not mention this to Celestia once we're done here.” Jacob added from where he sat with his feet propped up on top of one another. “Luna will find out from my journey-journals soon enough, and eventually she'll give them to Celestia as well to read. Until then, just let it be our big secret.”
“-great great great great-” Pinkie stopped to take a breath and continued her 'great' listing for another three minutes while the others watched and listened. Finally she stopped and finished her sentence. “-grandma was the mother of the first Pegasi or Unicorn?! Oh! My! GOSH! That means I really could be somepony's Auntie! Well, somepony's great great great-” Applejack stuffed a hoof in Pinkie's mouth to silence her before she could spend five literal minutes repeating 'great' again.
“Actually, I think you've got two too many 'greats',” The Doctor corrected. “but yes, every Pegasi and every Unicorn is related to an earth pony unless by earth pony you mean one of Earth's ponies. Most of Earth's ponies are actually from Horse descent and were bred to be smaller, for whatever reason. I rarely understand why Humans do some things. That's what makes them so interesting!” The Doc smiled and tossed a broken chocolate pretzel in his mouth. “That and the variety of junk foods they make!” Pinkie Pie appeared next to him and hugged him.
“You and I are going to get along just fine!” She declared, and then released him after some begging for air on the part of the Doctor.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Ditzy Doo and me walked down the streets of (old) Canterlot, taking in the sights and sounds the old (or perhaps younger) world. Everywhere was filled with smiling or concentrating faces that looked up and waved at us when they didn't stare in shock. Once again children surrounded us and asked questions, but they stopped when several adults scolded them and told them to let us be. I mentally thanked them and we continued walking until we came across a familiar face talking to a Unicorn standing behind a wagon with various trinkets and some articles of jewelry on it.
“Another Alicorn? A girl Alicorn?” Ditzy asked, turning and tilting up her her head to look up at my face. “I thought that Mantle and his wife were dead already.”
“They are. That Alicorn is somepony that I know from the future. Her name is Melinda Jones.” Melinda's ears twitched and I suspected that she heard her name being spoken, but she did not look away from the Unicorn she was speaking with. “Let's not bother her, Ditzy. She looks busy. Besides,” I lowered my voice. “If I say the wrong thing to her it might change the future.” Melinda did not seem to hear that bit, and the two of us walked away from her.
After a time we stopped next to a cart that was being used a food stand for lunch. Sadly, the only thing on it that I could eat (and get any nutritional value out of) was a thin vegetable stew. Still, it was better (in my opinion, and not Ditzy's) than a flower sandwich. The vendor wanted to see our money before he'd sell us anything, but when both me and Ditzy dug out a few bits and showed them to him he gave us a confused look.
“This money is dated to have been made over a thousand years in the future! Is this some kind of joke?” Me and Ditzy looked at each other and chuckled at our absentmindedness and dumped the bits back into our pockets. I pulled out a small dark green emerald from a different pocket and offered that to him instead. His eyes became very wide. I guess gemstones are a bit more rare now than they are in the future. “Wow! That's better, but...don't you think that's a bit much to pay just for lunch?” I shrugged.
“Not if you don't charge us for anything else until we leave!” Ditzy suggested. I think her name is a bit off. This Pegasus is far from being a ditz! I'd have just told him not to worry about it!
“You two have just made me more money than I've made in the last two months combined! Not charging you for eating here later is the least I can, or should do!” The pony nervously rubbed his hooves together, looking flustered.
“That's all we want, though, don't worry about giving us any change!” Ditzy insisted. I nodded.
“Really, it's fine. One bowl of vegetable soup, if you please!”
“And one daisy sandwich for me!” Ditzy added, smiling.
The pony put the gem away and set to readying our meals. It did not take him very long because he'd already made several sandwiches of eat type he was selling ahead of time. The soup he ladled into a wooden bowl and handed (or hoofed)) to me, and the sandwich he removed from a paper wrapping and gave to Ditzy, who tore into it while I sipped the broth from one side. It wasn't the best soup I'd ever had, but then vegetable had never really been my favorite to begin with. I wish I had a spoon, but if a pony can eat this without one, then so can I! As the broth ran out I (to the best of my ability shook the contents of the bowl to my lips and pulled them into my mouth with either my lips or my tongue. They had been well-boiled and squished like ripe blueberries in my mouth (though they certainly did not taste like them!). When I was done I handed the bowl back to him and told him that it was good. He offered me another,r and I gladly took him up on the offer and repeated my eating process. Ditzy also asked for a second helping of what she'd picked. After our second helpings we'd eaten our fill and once more thanked the vendor for the food and then continued exploring the developing city.
We saw three fountains though only one was finished and functioning. The second was still having its basin formed, and the third (a rather small one that I did not recall having seen in the future) was being used as a basin for blue dye by a tailor. Now I know why I never saw it. There's probably a building built over top of it now where it's still being used for this! If it had not just been broken down and paved over, of course. Canterlot was a big place that seemed to change a bit each week, and I could hardly be expected to have memorized all of it (though modern Canterlot's 'Nobility' often acted as if I should and were often surprised when I said that I did not know about some building or art piece that had recently been put up on some street).
We also saw several different sculptures of varying quality and size, but they were of nopony that I recognized from the Equestrian history books that Twilight insisted I read. Ditzy said she had no idea who they were either, and theorized that they might just be of somepony that the sculptor knew personally like neighbor or a friend.
We saw almost no trees being used for decoration, but tons and tons of flowers in windowsill gardens and some types of creeper vines climbing up the walls of stone (and some wood, but much less of those) houses. In some ways Old Canterlot was not as pretty as (our) Canterlot, but it was less stiff and official here and now and more laid back and friendly. There was just something in the air that made you want to greet everypony that you encountered.
“You're grinning 'like you got lucky' as Vinyl Scratch sometimes says to me. Whatever that means. What's up?”
“I just feel really comfortable here. You ever have one of those days where you feel like nothing can go wrong?” Ditzy nodded.
“Sure!” Ditzy replied, nodded. She chuckled nervously. “That feeling usually doesn't last very long, though. Normally that's right around the time that something bad happens.”
“Well let's hope that my luck holds up then, and-”
A mail-Pegasus suddenly crashed into me from behind and I was knocked to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me and I struggled to pull air into my lungs for a few seconds. While I did so the mail-Pegasus spewed a continuous stream of apologies from her mouth and and took a piece of paper out of her saddle bags and looked from it to me and then dug something else out of her bags. It was a small box. She set it down next to me as I finally began to breathe normally again (Oxygen! Glorious oxygen!) and said one final apology before winging off into the air again saying something about it being her first day on the job.
“Are you okay?!” Dtizy asked, concerned. I nodded, wheezing. I didn't feel okay, but that feeling would pass with a little time. “First day on the job my hoof! More like first day out of flight school!” Ditzy declared as she helped me back up to my knees. Ditzy could not help me to my feet though, because she was too short, and I was probably too heavy besides (no doubt Applejack could carry me if she needed to, but most Pegusi were built with lighter frames for flight, and Applejack was strong anyway).
Now once more breathing normally again, and Ditzy reassured that I was not suddenly going to keel over from lack of air, we turned our attention to the box the Pegasus had left behind. It was only two inches wide, and four inches long, and half an inch in height. The box itself was red, and in golden letters on top in neat cursive it read: Contract concluded. My eyes widened in understanding while Ditzy's were confused. I pulled the lid from the box and saw a single Dog tag on a silver chain with six dice showing all sixes facing up. I unclasped the latch on the chain and put it around my neck, re clasping it to-
% % % % %
“Contract concluded?” Applejack inquired, interrupting Jacob's dialog. “Wut's that supposed teh mean? More importanly, how did ya know it was fer yew and not left there by mistake?” Jacob winced. He'd slipped up, forgetting that only Trixie knew about Lady Luck and that he was supposed to keep his mouth shut. Jacob clicked his teeth as he shut his mouth.
“Does it matter?” Trixie asked, trying to come to his rescue. “Regardless of his reasons, he did it.”
“Why are you trying to avoid him answering, Trixie? Wasn't it you who was more curious as to his role in this than the rest of us?” Twilight asked, finding Trixie's reaction a bit odd. Then an idea occurred to her. “Unless you already know why he knew it was his and want to keep the reasons secret. What are you two hiding, and why?”
“Ladies,” The Doctor intervened. “We all have secrets. Some of them are personal, and some of them are not. Truth be told Jacob hasn't told me the reasons for some of his actions either, but I don't explain the reasons for everything that I do and have done either. If he says something that does not make any sense to you, don't ask him about it. If he can explain it later, he will, but if he needs to keep something secret, don't take it personally. There are many things that I could tell and teach both your race and his to advance them to the worlds beyond your own, but that is a path that all races must discover on their own, lest they not respect the power they've uncovered. Let the magician keep his secrets.”
Though they did not press the matter further the girls were still obviously curious, and both The Doctor and Jacob could see the unspoken questions in their eyes just begging to be asked and answered.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
-gether so that it could hang on its own. The moment the tag touched my chest a chill ran through me and the feeling that nothing could go wrong returned, along with my grin.
“What's that?” Ditzy asked, hovering up to eye level for a better look.
“Payment for a service rendered.” Meet someone I've killed...must have been Thanatos, though technically it was Twilight that killed him, not me. Still, I won't split hairs.
Eventually me and Ditzy came to the edge of the city and looked out across the mostly-open plain ahead of us. Grass, grass, grass almost as far as the eye could see. Off in the far distance however, we could just barely make out some trees. Given that Everfree forest was the only forest I knew of this close to Canterlot, I assumed that that's what it was.
“I have to wonder what Everfree looks like in this time.” I said to Ditzy, staring out at the trees.”In our time it's dark, twisted, and scary. But here and now, in this time it's uncorrupted and pure.”
“Why don't we go check it out, then? You can fly using magic, right?” Ditzy asked, also feeling a bit curious herself. I nodded, though I had not done it in over a year. Though flying was more fun, teleporting or walking was far more convenient. Still, it'd be nice to do something different.
“Sure.” I replied, and focused my magic on the ground beneath my feet, tearing up a small platform of earth and grass.
“That's not flying!” Ditzy objected, frowning at me.
“It is when you're not born with wings!”
“Come on, I've seen you fly through the air without having something to stand on before! Put that dirt back and fly with me!” Ditzy sat her rump down on the ground and gave me a sulky look and refused to move until I sent the dirt and grass back down where I'd picked it up from. “Now pick yourself up.” I rolled my eyes and brought myself up a foot from the ground. Once I'd done so Ditzy's face lit up and she hopped into the air too. “Annnnd...we're off!”
Our flight was uneventful except for a stray dark cloud spewing short bolts of lightning that we had to circumvent and a huge hawk-like bird that made us look like a blueberry to an orange (in terms of size difference) as it flew over us. Is that...a Roc?! I thought as both me and Ditzy dove for a small patch of trees hoping to hide in case it had not already noticed us.
“What the hay is that?!” Ditsy gasped as it pumped its powerful wings and sent tornado winds surging through the trees. I hugged a young tree, and Ditsy held onto me. Fortunately, whatever that bird really was, it ignored us. Either it wasn't hungry, or we're just too small to be of interest. Either way, I'm happy! I've never seen anything like that before!”
“Maybe in our time it's extinct. My people have legends of birds that big, but that's all. Supposedly just one of its eggs was big enough to feed an entire village for a day, but the size of the 'village' is never mentioned. Probably yet another creature my people hunted to extinction in my world.” A part of me was disgusted by the thought, but another part, the logical part, could imagine just how devastating such a creature could be to livestock (as something that large undoubtedly ate a lot) or even a small village, and then I considered that perhaps I was too overly critical of my race sometimes.
Once the flying titan was gone we cautiously crept out of the patch of trees and continued flying (at an increased rate in case the bird came back again) until we finally reached the edge of the forest. In the distance we could see the castle that Thanatos had mentioned and The Doctor and The Shield were currently visiting along with Thanatos, whom had taken them there, but we did not see any of them, so they had to have gone inside of it already.
Everfree was remarkably normal, as far as forests (especially this one) went. Green leaves, mixed tree types, and the occasional creeper vine or mushrooms growing up a trunk. Maybe the reason the trees on Earth for here were so spectacular were that way because magic is normal here and rare or non-existent there. Our world was compensating, or something. Of course, that could have been completely off the mark and the trees could have just naturally been as impressive as they were. Then again, our oceans have fish that glow in the dark and there's nothing magical about them. Birds (regular ones) sang, squirrels jumped from branch to branch above our heads, and at one point a pair of rabbits ran by us and vanished into the trees.
“Well, shall we go in?”
The inside was much like what we had seen from the outside. Trees, plants, and small and a few medium animals. No menacing growls from hostile wildlife, no golden or red eyes watching us from the shadows, but no well-trodden paths either, which made our little hike more fun. At one point we waded through a slow-flowing clear-water creek and a big frog hopped off a rock in front of us and we got splashed. Both of us jumped in surprise, but unlike Ditzy, who possessed four legs, I lost my balance on the slippery bed of the creek and fell backward and got completely soaked. I am suddenly glad I left all my other things back at the royal estate! Most of what I'd packed had been clothing, and water-soaked clothing was heavy clothing.
Ditzy grabbed one of my arms and pulled me back up mere seconds after I fell, and I thanked her for it after wiping the water out of my eyes. She nodded and we finished crossing the creek without further event other than stopping to observe a large and oddly-patterns spider make a web. After the spider we continued deeper into the forest, going beyond the distance that would have (if this had been the our present) taken us to Zecora's house. In our time I (and Twilight Sparkle) had been curious as to what was further in, but had not wanted to risk a confrontation with any of the unsavory denizens of that dark forest, and so had not gone any deeper within than we'd needed to. Now things were a different story, and me and Ditzy walked until our appendages on the bottoms of our legs began to ache. We rested on a fallen tree for close to half an hour and a light snack consisting of a few handfuls of peanuts, and some wild berries (and a few blue flowers in Ditzy's case that I suspected in the future would become the Poison Joke flowers judging from their similarity in shape). While we snacked a gentle breeze blew through the trees and cooled us in the (odd thing, this time traversing!) summer heat. Apparently when we landed it was somewhere near the middle of summer rather than the end like we'd been at before (or maybe after, depending on your perspective).
Unfortunately, summertime weather in the here and now was a lot less predictable than the weather of the future (which of course was controlled by the weather Pegasi on Mythica and predicted through technological observation on Earth) and some heavy rainclouds had passed over the area of the forest where we were resting. Ditzy noticed it first, and then pointed it out to me.
“We should find a cave or a house or someplace with thick branches and leaves, or both of us will be taking a bath soon!” Following Dtizy's advice we ceased resting and began searching for shelter. A cave we never found, and though there were trees all around us the burden of the constant fall of water soon could not be held back by the leafy canopy above is. For awhile I used magic to form a see-through magical umbrella above us, but the umbrella did nothing to keep out legs dry as the ground and plants growing on it became damp as well. If I recall correctly, Zecora once mentioned two villages of ponies that lived in this forest...I wonder if we're anywhere near them?
According to Zecora, it had been one of those towns of ponies that had formed the majority of the original population of the Bloody Hooves. (The other one she said she did not know much about other than them becoming cursed at some point, and she did not know if it had happened before or after the fall of the other village.) But sadly we must have been no where near either of those towns (if either of them had even been built yet) and were stuck with wet legs (and in my case my lower pant legs went from damp to soaked again, along with my socks and shoes). Now resigned to discomfort we changed our direction and began heading back out of the forest, but grew tired of the weather and decided to fly above the clouds so as to avoid the rest of the rainfall.
As our bodies exited the tops of the dark gray clouds I asked Ditzy how Pegasi were able to stand on clouds. She shrugged and placed her hoofs on the cloud we'd just exited. She shifted her hoofs around a bit, and then looked at the cloud, poked it, and then looked up at me again.
“Hmm. No clue! We just...do!” I tried joining her knowing already that it would not work without the spell that Twilight had once tried to teach me (I had tried altering it so I could walk up a wall. I hurt my head and my feet got stuck to the wall for three hours until a passing Unicorn student happened across me and stopped laughing after I'd explained myself him). My feet sank into the water vapor as I had expected it to, and I quickly raised myself up again, shaking my head.
“'When in doubt in Equestria, magic is usually the explanation to nearly every odd thing'.” I quoted from one of the few ponies I'd met with a Human name (Reginald).
“Yeah, I've noticed that too!” Ditzy agreed. “Well, we've been in the forest, and we've been rained on. Let's go back to town and see if the Doctor and Shield are back yet. We've been out here for a long time, so they're probably done looking through the castle now.” I nodded, and we headed back.
To Ditzy's (obvious) disappointment, The Doctor and The Shield had not yet come back from the castle, which meant we still had some time to kill.
* * * * *
The Shield and The Doctor and Thanatos appeared outside of the old castle. It wasn't terribly imposing or impressive as far as castles went, but at the time it was built it probably had not been built with defense in mind. There were only three tall towers that stood above the rest of the castle, and the keep in the middle took up most of the inner area.
Thanatos muttered 'Home sweet some' and then told them in a louder voice to follow him. Thanatos led them to the closed portcullis and raised it using his magic, then also opened the door (it opened outward) and took them inside, his hoof steps echoing down a long and narrow tunnel just high enough for him to pass through. There were no windows or any sources of light in the tunnel other than the sunlight coming in from both the door they'd come in through, and the opening at the other end.
The Shield looked up at the ceiling and whistled. Murder holes! Heartless, but effective if used properly! Thanatos stopped at the whistle and looked back at them, then up at the ceiling.
“Yes. We left almost no windows on the outside to deceive any potential intelligent, combat-experienced enemies ground-bound enemies into believing that we did not know what we were doing when we built this castle. If the gates were ever breached and we had the weapons and living numbers for it they'd get a rather rude awakening when they tried to enter. Though really this castle, or perhaps fort would be a better term, had been intended as a place to live, and remember the names of those that had died. Come, I shall explain.” Thanatos lead them deeper into the castle and did not stop until they'd reached obelisks of granite that stood near the center of the (small) courtyard. Inscribed two inches deep into the obelisks were many names.
“The lighter obelisk is inscribed with the names of my people that came to this world, and our first generation of hybrid children amongst the ponies and ape-men, and Luna and Celestia. The left list on each face containing names are us, and the right are the hybrids.” Thanatos walked to the second obelisk. The Doctor and The Shield to followed him. When they had once more stopped he pointed a leg.. “This one's names are all those of those that came to this world from our own that are now dead, as well as, of course, those of the first hybrid generation.” Only his own name and his nieces were missing from the lists. “It has been so long since I've seen them that I can barely recall what they looked like anymore, save for my brother and his wife. Every time I looked at Celestia or Luna their faces and forms were refreshed in my mind.”
Thanatos showed them other parts of the castle as well, though most of it was already familiar to them as the modern royal palace seemed to have drawn inspiration from this place, though on a grander (and more decorated) scale. Where this castle had been built for practicality the palace had been built for comfort or for show. There was little furniture (though given that no one lived in it anymore it was a wonder there was any at all), and only one place in the entire castle to get water from a well (it was safely inside the keep's kitchen just in case the outer walls fell). Overall, if The Doctor had a comment to make on it, it was that it could have used a visit from a cleaning mare to clear out all the spider webs.
When the tour was over Thanatos brought them back to the city and asked them how long they intended to stay this time.
“The last time we met, from my perspective, anyway, we were together for less than twenty four hours.” The Doctor shrugged and sidestepped a speeding message carrier.
“I don't really know. I only came back this far in time to satisfy a curiosity, to be honest. Now that that's done the future needs saving.”
“Ah yes, the Dalek invasion.” The Shield and The Doctor stared at him.
“How did you know about that?!”
“Because you told me of it the first time I met you, of course, along with my brother and sister in law.”
“Why would I do that?” Thanatos smiled and shook his head, then said:.
“Spoilers!”
The Doctor frowned and muttered under his breath.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
We first stopped at a well and I turned the crank to haul up the bucket at the end of the rope. Why is there a crank shaped like this when ponies have nothing to grip with? I asked Ditzy this question and she explained that most ponies used their teeth to grip the handle and turn it. I stopped cranking and examined the handle to find that there were indeed teeth marks in the wood of the handle and changed my hand's location to another less-chewed part of it.
When the bucket had been brought up I set it on the rim of the well and splashed water on my arms and then washed the leaves, twigs, and dirt off of the bottoms of my shoes, finally rinsing off my hands. Resisting the urge to simply drop the bucket back down the well I reeled it back down, and then brought up some more so that Ditzy could do the same to her hoofs. When we finished we searched about for a place to dispose of the forest flooring that we'd washed off, eventually discovering a compost pile behind what seemed to be an inn. We added the handful of mess to the pile and then were lured inside by the sound of music.
It was nothing particularly special as there were only three instruments being played, but the players still possessed talent. One pony played an ocarina, another a flute, and a third a lyre. All of these I found to be odd choices given that they were all instruments meant to be played with fingers, but it seemed that their abilities with magic more than made up for this lack of anatomical appendage. The door was one of those odd ones that has two parts so you could open the top even if the bottom remained closed. In this case it was partially open and I had to unlatch it to push it open. The hinges squeaked which announced our entrance, and heads turned from drinks, food, and conversations to the door. There were several gasps, sounds accompanied by looks of awe, and a number of ponies looking down into their drinks as if wondering what had been put into them. One of them went so far as to look back up, shake his head, and then dump it into a nearby plant.
Feeling out-of-place I crossed the room led by Ditzy, who took a seat near to the performers and waited for them to start playing again. I followed suit, but found that (once again, as it normally was) pony furniture was too small for me height, so I pushed the chair aside and sat on the dirty floor next to Ditzy and also waited. When they, like the others of the room continued to stare and not play, I asked if their performance was over.
“If it is, we can leave.” The three musicians, now understanding our presence (or perhaps they ignored Ditzy) began once more focusing on their instruments and played through several tunes while we watched and listened. During their performance Ditzy told me that she was going to go look for The Doctor at the royal estate and left. I stayed for only two more songs, and then also left, but not before complimenting them on their skills.
“Excellent performance!” I declared, clapping my hands. “Your ability much outweighs the instruments that you're using.”
“We'd have gotten better if we could have afforded it, sir, but I'm afraid we're just barely scraping by.”
“Well I think you three deserve better! Here,” The Doc will probably have my head if he hears of this, but with Ditzy no longer here, that's not very likely... I pulled out another marble-sized gem, this one a ruby, and handed it to the Unicorn in the middle, who gasped. When his two fellow musicians leaned in to see what I'd given them, their jaws dropped and they stared at me. “I have no idea how much those are worth here, but I'm guessing from your expression that it's a lot. Go get yourselves some better instruments when you're done here.” I bade them farewell, and then left, once more being trailed by eyes and whispers.
% % % % %
“You did what?!” The Doctor shouted at Jacob. “You gave not one, but two gemstones away while we were in the past?!” The Doctor had held his piece when Jacob told the girls what he'd used to pay for his and Ditzy's lunch because it was a simple mistake, and nothing had seemed to come of it in the future, but he had been through enough of Equestria's history during his stay that he'd recognized that bit with the instrument players.
In fact, that bit of generosity was still impacting the time line in the here-and-now. Those three musicians had had several descendants that had become fairly well-known in today's age. One of them was a cello player named Octavia, another played a lyre and was named Heartstrings (or Lyra, to her friends and neighbors), and a third had decided to forsake regular instruments in favor of being a DJ. Granted, they weren't a particularly important piece of history (unless you were a member of one of their families and took pride in its history), but it still irked him.
“Hey, it's not so bad! Now whenever you go back to that era with Ditzy you can get free soup!” Jacob said defensively, hoping to distract The Doc with food. It didn't work.
“Don't try to change the subject! Every time we travel we run the risk of altering the how events go, and normally it is to minor effect, but the danger of doing so increases during the periods in which a kingdom is rising. The food-seller was probably more concerned about the food or Ditzy than you, but giving away a gem of high value away in front of a crowd when the idea of Humans is that of a creature from myth in the first place is a great way to turn yourself into a legend all your own!”
“Doctor, while I agree with you, try to recall that I arrived On Mythica before you did. Almost nopony had any idea of what I was, the few exceptions being the princesses, Melinda, nurse Heartblood, and Trixie. All three Alicorns had simply been alive when Humans were still around, and both Trixie and the nurse had only heard stories. Besides, no one had recognized me when I first met them, so it stands to reason that both I and The Shield were forgotten about rather quickly.”
“Maybe you and her as people were forgotten, but the fact that you liked wind and string instruments was not. Haven't you ever noticed that there are very few instruments that are played in this nation that would be practical for ponies to play?” Jacob lost his defensive mood and stroked his chin thoughtfully. Now that the Doc mentions it... “Drums, symbols, xylophones, tambourines, harmonicas, accordions- all of these and most percussion instruments seem to a rare choice here, whereas instruments that would require fingers if they lacked the use of magic are the prime choice for all aspiring musicians- well, with the exception of Vinyl Scratch, who uses stereo systems and record players.” And I'm not quite sure where she got the equipment for that! She's had that long before Jacob came to Mythica! The Doctor side-thought.
“You know, ah never actually thought abou' it mahself, but ee's right!” Applejack pulled a banjo out of nowhere and played a short ditty on it. “It took meh years ta learn a way to play this 'ere banjo, but ah've neva thought of playin' anythin' else cuz mah daddy played it, and his daddy played it before 'im!”
“But I've played lots of instruments before!” Pinkie objected. “All at the same time! I played a harmonica, a symbol, an accordion, a-” She listed off several other instruments and then said she'd used them to lead away a parasprite infestation.
“Yes you did Pinkie, and we are very grateful for it,” Twilight agreed. “but you're one of the only ponies I've seen that can play that many different instruments.”
“At the same time! That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, extending a hoof to Pinkie, Pinkie met her halfway.
“But other than Pinkie Pie, how often do you see ponies playing non-wind and string instruments?” The Doctor asked.
“I- I sing...sometimes...” Fluttershy said.
“Singing is not playing an instrument, dear.” Rarity corrected. “Though you do have a lovely singing voice.”
“So you're blaming me for a tradition?” Jacob scoffed.
“Traditions start somewhere.”
“That doesn't mean that it started with me and Ditzy visiting an inn's common room!”
“No? Maybe you should go speak to Octavia's grandmother and ask her about their family's history. Or perhaps you should go visit the Canterlot Instrumental Museum. They have instruments dating back to that time period, along with drawn images of the ponies they'd belonged to over the years. You just might see a familiar face.”
“Perhaps after we've finished our tale I will, but until then you'll never convince me that our little trip is the reason that nearly everypony whose talent is music-related chose their trade because of me!”
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I've actually had this chapter done for several weeks. I kinda forgot to post it, lol