//------------------------------// // The Return // Story: The Whooves Collection Episode One: In the Other's Place // by Perceptive Key //------------------------------// Chapter 5 The Return Gaia; Equestria; Canterlot; Canterlot Hospital; 297 C.E. Twilight awoke inside a well lit room. As her eyes adjusted, she realized that she was in a hospital. A nurse pulled back the curtain that obscured her view of the main ward and greeted her. "Hello, dear. Are you feeling better?" Twilight took a few seconds to reassess what happened. She had found and saved Celestia, destroyed a malevolent mirror creature, and saved all of Canterlot from burning to a crisp. Then there was the Doctor... "Wait. Where's the Doctor?" "He'll be here shortly," the nurse said. The Doctor poked his head around the curtain and walked in. He was wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck. "Hello, Ms. Sparkle. Are you feeling any better?" "Y-yes, Doctor. What happened to me?" "Simple. You fainted. Excessive exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. In other words, you overheated and nearly died." Twilight blinked, "So... nothing unnatural." "Of course not. Oh, one moment." The Doctor turned to the nurse, "Madam?" "Yes, Dr. Smith?" The Doctor put his two fore-hooves on both sides of the nurse's head and she collapsed, out cold. Twilight was staring in shock, "What did you do to her?!" "Just a simple memory wipe. That's what I've been doing while you were passed out. It took me a while to wipe the entire city, but now I'm finished." "Wait," Twilight said in disbelief, "you wiped the minds of everypony in the entire city of Canterlot?!" "Yes," the Doctor said, "plain and simple. Well, it was much simpler to tell most of them that they hallucinated the entire experience because of well poisoning." "Then if you've done that... how long have I been out?" "A week." "A WEEK?!" Twilight shouted. "No, I'm just kidding," the Doctor laughed, "It's been twenty-eight hours and twelve minutes precisely." Twilight fell back onto her pillow. 'A day,' she thought, 'I've been asleep for over a day!' "Now, Ms. Sparkle," the Doctor said, interrupting her thoughts, "shall we return you home?" Twilight responded by getting out of the bed, "I think so." Gaia; Equestria; Canterlot; Canterlot Castle, Main Hall; 297 C.E. Twilight and the Doctor spent their time walking to the TARDIS in silence. The Doctor pulled the key out of his suit, having returned his white lab coat to the hospital, and, after a few tries, inserted it into the lock. He pushed open the doors and motioned for Twilight to step inside. "Thank you, good sir," Twilight said, speaking in a royal tone. "You're quite welcome, madame," the Doctor replied. He followed Twilight inside and shut the doors behind them. He reached the controls and pulled out a small sliver of a mirror from inside his suit pocket. Twilight noticed this and came over. "Is that part of her?" "It," the Doctor said, "Not she. It. but, yes. It is a piece." "Why did you keep it?" Twilight questioned. "In case she's one of those creatures that can re-form after being destroyed." Twilight nodded, understanding his theory. It was subtle, but the glass slowly began to shimmer an a pair of blood-red eyes appeared. The Doctor looked at the shard and dropped it on the ground in surprise. Twilight wondered why he did this and, she too, looked at it, and froze when she saw the eyes. "Doctor..." the sound that came out was a mix of a demonic male and female voice. "You may have won, but the numbers will find you, Doctor. They will find you." The Doctor recovered from his shock, "What numbers?" he asked. "What are they?" he demanded. The voice laughed in a distorted, half-screeching sound, "I am not the keeper of them... but he is. The numbers will find you, Doctor. The numbers will win!" The eyes then faded from the surface of the mirror, and the Doctor was left looking at his own reflection. Twilight was trembling slightly, "D-Doctor. Wh-What did s-she mean, 'numbers?'" The Doctor waved her off, "I'm... sure it's nothing to worry about. Now, come on. Let's get you home." Gaia; Equestria; Ponyville; Twilight's Library; 1002 C.E. VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! THUNK! Twilight peeked her head out of the TARDIS and slowly stepped out, the Doctor following behind. "Are you sure you got the date right?" Twilight asked him. "Yes. I simply told the TARDIS to go right back to where I traveled to most recently. It's a very handy feature. You should have left approximately three minutes ago." The door to the library was thrown open and Spike ran in. "Twilight!" he jumped up and hugged her around her neck, "I was really worried about you." "Spike," Twilight playfully detached him from her body, "I've only been gone for a few minutes." Spike gave her a disbelieving look, "No, Twilight. You've been gone for a few days." Twilight turned and faced the Doctor who had stepped back a few paces. She gave him something close to Fluttershy's signature 'Stare.' "You said it was a few minutes." "Not everything is accurate, you know," the Doctor said defensively. He then turned around an headed back to the TARDIS, but he stopped before opening the doors. "Are you sure that you want to stay here?" he asked Twilight. "What do you mean?" "Well... I was going to offer you the chance to... join me. Like a... companion through the universe." The Doctor let those words hang in the air for a few moments while Twilight looked like she was considering the idea. "Is it always that dangerous?" Twilight questioned. "Not all the time. I do have my quiet moments." Twilight turned to Spike, and then back to the Doctor, "Would you guarantee that I'll be safe?" "No," the Doctor answered, lowering his gaze, "I can never guarantee that. I'm... sorry for bringing it up," and he headed back into the TARDIS. Twilight watched him enter the TARDIS and turned back to Spike. "Are you going with him?" Spike asked. "I don't know Spi-" The Doctor opened the doors and said, "Don't forget: It's a time machine," and he closed the doors again. Twilight said to Spike, "Actually, I'll se you in a minute." She gave the baby dragon a big hug and ran up to the TARDIS and threw open the doors. The Doctor was standing at the controls, grinning. "Time travel is too tempting to pass up, isn't it?" he asked her. "Too tempting if you ask me." The Doctor smiled and began running around the control panel. "Where to, Miss Sparkle? The future? The past? The depths of space? Don't do anything with a lot of slop. I hate slop." "How about the future?" she said, stopping him before he hurt himself, "I mean, we've already done the past." "Excellent!" The Doctor flipped a switch and the TARDIS shuddered violently as it began it's journey. "Allons-y!" VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP!... Outside, Spike watched as the TARDIS faded from the room, it's telltale engines echoing after it disappeared. He stood there a while before lowering his head. "One minute," he sighed. Spike slowly went upstairs and went to his small bed/basket. He pulled up the covers and settled in. Just as he was about to close his eyes, he noticed a small ripped piece of paper settled under Twilight's bed. Curiously, he grabbed the paper and looked at the writing on it: '8,31,38,16! 19,15,39,2,44,1; 34,27,19; 35,39,16,18,9,45,15,5,30; 13,31! - 32,27,18,19,35,7,8,46' "What?" Spike thought aloud.