//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven // Story: The Fantastic Adventures of Doctor Whooves: Hourglass // by The-Pony-Librarian //------------------------------// Chapter Seven In which horrible tasting cakes are briefly discussed, and the Doctor is sold fruit against his will They galloped after the guards, quickly catching up with them. Now that they were closer, Twilight could see it was definitely Colgate in front of them, running as fast as she could. Twilight tapped the nearest guard on the beefy shoulder, cantering alongside him. "Why are you chasing after a filly?" she asked, that might shed more light on why Colgate was there. Not breaking stride, the guard said "She's unstable. Approached a mare threateningly, asking about what date it was, and tried to evade detainment by two other guards, knocking over a produce stall and injuring an old mare in the process. She also grabbed another filly and tried to use her as an equine shield against their mild stunning spells, and then threw her at the guards when that didn't work. That was when backup was called in. We're not trying to hurt her, but right now we have to stop her, she's volatile and a danger to herself and others" Twilight's eyes widened slightly, that sounded like Colgate alright. Still galloping, she looked in front of her and picked a point ahead of Colgate, focusing on it in her mind's eye. Her horn glowed, and with a pop and a brief whiff of ozone she disappeared and reappeared in the she had picked. Directly in front of her, galloping hard, Colgate looked up. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks at she slowed to a shocked stop. With her magic, Twilight delicately lifted the shocked filly off the ground by the scruff of her neck, like a kitten. Colgate stared at her, before finally spitting "You!?" "Hello!" "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" Colgate screamed, face contorting angrily. Twilight rolled her eyes "Nice to see you too-" That was when twenty royal guards tackled her. Twilight fell roughly to the ground, loosing her magical grip on Colgate, who got to her hooves quickly and darted away. "Where is the filly!" Twilight face-hoofed "Well, she was right here" she snapped "But now she's over there, running away as fast as she can" "You let her escape?" the guard shouted angrily. "I had her just fine until you tackled me!" Twilight bristled "Now come on! We're about to loose her" She ran in the direction that she filly had gone, only to be greeted by a dead-end back alley, a blue box, and a familiar sound. Fading in and out slowly, the TARDIS disappeared, leaving Twilight standing alone in the alley, mane ruffling in the wind generated by the blue box's departure. She gave a little huff of annoyance, ears folding back. Royal guards cantered up behind her, looking confused, with the Doctor close behind. He trotted to Twilight's side "Where is the child?" one of the guards asked "What's going on?" "What's going on?" The Doctor snapped "What's going on is that you failed a simple training operation, spectacularly so, in fact" "No offense intended sir" One of the guards spoke up "but what do you know of this?" "What do I know of this?" The Doctor drew himself up "Do you know who I am?" She reached into the side pocket of the Doctor's saddlebags and pulled out a little wallet and it's blank piece of paper inside, holding it up for the guards to see. There was a long pause, in which all of the guards slowly cocked their heads to the side in confusion. ""Doctor..." Twilight said quietly "I don't think that's psychic paper..." The Doctor blinked, before quickly opening another pocket, taking out another little wallet, and showing that paper to the guards. Their expressions immediately went from confused, to startled. They all stood up straighter and gave a salute. "Thank you" the Doctor said, recovering from the stumble with the un-psychic paper and going straight back into his acting."This was a surprise training operation, one I have to say you all failed miserably at. Not only were you not able to capture an unarmed filly, but when my friend stepped in at my request to see how you would handle the threat once it was captured...since you couldn't seem to do so yourselves...you even managed to release the apprehended perp. You will all be lucky if you still have your jobs by the end of today. Now get back to your posts before I decide that your commanding officer should hear about this!" The guards all hurriedly saluted her once more and scurried quickly away. Twilight gave an annoyed huff as they left "I can't believe they tackled me! I had Colgate completely under control, but no. That would be too easy. Cue incompetent guards." she glowered, muttering sourly "I'm going to have a word with Shining about the quality of their training programs when I get back" "Ah, but where's the fun when it's too easy?" the Doctor said brightly. Twilight's mouth quirked up into a little smile "That was some pretty good acting on your part back there" The Doctor grinned "Why thank you....though I did have a bit of a stumble with my fake identification" "Why in the world would you keep regular paper in the pocket next to the slightly psychic paper anyways?" "Pinkie Pie" the Doctor said, looking peeved "She hid about twenty fake papers all over my saddlebags as a prank. I keep finding them at the most inconvenient times" Twilight laughed "That sounds like Pinkie alright..." "I'm still trying to think of a way to get back at her..." the Doctor chuckled "I was thinking of bringing her one of those cakes from Tecri 13" A grin spread across Twilight's face "The cakes that look fantastic but taste like mushed up cabbage soaked in vinegar and left out to sit for a week?" "Those are the ones!" Twilight chuckled darkly "I can only imagine the look on her face...We'd have to get her an actual cake afterward to make up for it though. That taste is a real nasty surprise, as we both know from experience" "Choking that cake down while wearing a pleasant face was probably one of the most difficult things I've ever done." The Doctor laughed "If it hadn't been for the fact that refusing the emperor's food would have gotten us executed...." Twilight burst into a little fit of giggles "And when he asked us how it tasted...I swear to Celestia, I don't know how you kept a straight face when you told him how delicious it was" The Doctor smirked "I would say it was probably the fifty laser guns pointed at our heads throughout the entire dinner....great motivation for good acting" Twilight chuckled, before suddenly stopping, brows furrowing slightly "Wait a second....If you ran into a younger me...then we would have to be around the year 990...Why in the world would she want come here?" "She didn't. Or at least, I don't think so." "What do you mean?" Twilight cocked her head "Well, you've seen firsthand how the TARDIS can be a bit...difficult...when it comes to pinpointing precise times or locations...It will be double more so for Colgate...plus, I daresay the TARDIS probably isn't too fond of her, so she'll make even more trouble" "So you're saying it might take a while for her to get where she wants to go....thats good right?" The Doctor shrugged, "Yes and no, good, because we have more time to catch up with her. Bad because, her mucking about during all these different time periods probably isn't good at all, she could cause all sorts of trouble" Twilight nodded, brows furrowed thoughtfully, then she looked up and said "Well, what are we waiting for?" With that, she lit up her horn and they were off. They reappeared with a flash in very recognizable side street. Twilight blinked "We're in Ponyville!" She trotted out of the side street into the Ponyville square, squinting in the bright sunshine. She trotted over to the newspony stand and peered and the date. She then canter back over to the Doctor "She got the wrong time again. This is about half a year after I first moved to Ponyville. Good news is that she won't be trying to change anything on purpose, bad news is that we'll have to be careful. If I run into my past self....." They began to walk through the square, Twilight keeping her head low so she would be less likely to be noticed. She scanned the crowd, looking for any spot of telltale blue. Where was that filly, she had to be nearby....maybe the Doctor had better luck. She turned to speak to her brown friend, only to find he was nowhere to be found. She looked around, panic flashing in her eyes, before she spotted him, trotting briskly towards her with an apple in his mouth. "You went to buy an apple?!" Twilight snapped "Not on purposth" The Doctor said, voice muffled by the fruit in his mouth "I wath wailaid by ahlbloom" He took a bite of the apple "Isn't half bad though. AJ certainly knows her stuff." Twilight's brows furrowed "You talked to Applebloom!" she squawked "But she didn't recognize you when you first met her! Now-" "Don't worry Sparky" the Doctor said "I faked an accent, and I'm pretty sure she was too occupied with getting her cutie mark to even notice me except to forcibly sell me fruit" Twilight looked relieved "Alright, that's a relief...Seen any sign of Colgate?" The Doctor shook his head "No, not ye-" He cut off sharply, whirling around as a sound came from one of the side streets. As they turned to look at the direction of the sound, there was a loud thunk, and then a creak as a small pony opened the doors poked her head out from the TARDIS, eyes falling on the two ponies on the other side of the square, staring right at her. There was an instant of pause, then the blue doors slammed shut faster than Twilight could have believed possible. The Doctor and Twilight galloped after her, skidding into the back alley and running towards the already dematerializing TARDIS. Twilight, tensed her muscles, gave one final leap for the blue box, and was rewarded only by smacking into the back wall of the alley. Seconds later, the Doctor galloped up behind her "She's gone off again?" Twilight nodded, breath coming hard from her sprint. "Then we go after her" The Doctor grinned "Tally ho!" Twilight nodded again, smiling slightly. Then lit up her horn there was a sharp popping noise, and both her and the Doctor disappeared, following on Colgate's tail. Twilight shook her head as they reappeared, quickly assessing the situation. They were in Ponyville again. Alright. She trotted purposefully into the square, once again going up to the newspaper stand and squinting at the date. She then trotted back to the Doctor "Alright. We're in Ponyville again, around two years after I moved here, so we'll still have to keep a watch out for my past self and friends" They trotted out into the square and began to walk around, looking around the area vigilantly. It was midday, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and there were a great number of ponies outside enjoying the warm weather. Twilight would have taken her coat off if not for the fact that the dress she was wearing underneath, all torn up from being caught on branches in her fall earlier, probably would have attracted some attention, something she definitely didn't want at the moment. She did however remove her fez, and put it back into the Doctor's saddlebags, large red hats weren't exactly conducive to stealth either. She rubbed her muzzle, wincing as her hoof came to the spot where she had smacked it on the wall diving for the TARDIS "If I had only been a couple of seconds earlier...." she muttered. "Well, it's probably for the best" the Doctor said "Clinging to the TARDIS while it traveled through the time vortex wouldn't have been pleasant...I mean, Jack did it, but he was, well, Jack" Twilight cocked her head "Jack?" "Well, Captain Jack to be specific, good friend of mine, he hung on to the side of the TARDIS like that as it traveled all the way to the end of the universe....But then, he could survive anything." "So he was just very lucky then?" "Not lucky, immortal. He could literally survive anything. Getting shot, electrocuted, stabbed, trampled....you name it." Twilight gave a surprised little laugh, eyes widening "Well... he certainly sounds like an interesting character...I would have liked to meet him" "Oh, I daresay he would have liked to meet you too" the Doctor chuckled "Jack was quite the flirt." Twilight sniggered "Do you always meet such strange people on your adventures" "You tend to make a friend or two when you're running about, saving the world....Along with quite a few enemies" "Quite a few?" Twilight snorted quietly "If that's not the understatement of the century..." Then she trailed off as she saw a flash of movement in her peripheral vision, it's source one of the nearby side streets. Narrowing her eyes, she slunk closer to the gap between the shops, peering inside. Slowly, she trotted in, looking around curiously. As she made her way further into the gap between the buildings, coming to a dead end Colgate trotted casually into her view, emerging behind a recycling bin sitting herself comfortably around twenty hooflengths ahead of her. She smirked, lifting a hoof and giving it a little wave "Hello there. I thought we could have a little chat" Colgate steepled her hooves in a businesslike manner "I have a proposal for you" Meanwhile, unaware of Twilight's disappearance, the Doctor trotted into Ponyville square, sidling carefully out of the was as he spotted Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, the former with a ridiculous amount of balloons tied to her, and the latter weighed down by several weighty looking bags of party supplies As the Doctor watched, the bags of brightly colored favors and confetti poppers exploded outward. Fluttershy fell to the ground with a surprised squeak as a shower of party materials fell to earth around her, followed shortly by Twilight Sparkle, face partially obscured by a pair of groucho glasses. She immediately sprang to her hooves and hopped up onto the railing of a nearby bridge, saying loudly "Listen everypony, I have something really important to say!" A surprised laugh escaped from the Doctor s he looked to Twilight in confusion. What in the world was she doing? Was she trying to create some sort of distraction? She could have at least had the decency to give him a heads up first... The other ponies nearby laughed too, and Twilight reacted with annoyance, removing the glasses and chucking them too the side "This is no laughing matter! We have a crisis on our hooves" The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed even further before he put two and two together, eyes widening slightly. The Twilight in front of him was Twilight from the past, her mane was a little shorter for one, and she had come from the side, whereas she had been behind him before. "I've been visited by myself from the future!" The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle at that....That was definitely Twilight from the past alright. He couldn't stay to watch though, Twilight had never met him before he crashed into Sugarcube Corner, and he had to make sure it stayed that way. Slowly, he began backing away from the crowd as Past-Twilight and her friends talked, but was interrupted by an cry of "Everypony else, it's time to disaster proof Equestria!" Trotting through the group of ponies she had gathered, Twilight had begun to assign tasks to each pony, making her way slowly closer to the Doctor. Looking behind him, the brown time pony found his escape route blocked by a sizable group of other ponies, all apparently eager to be part of the excitement. Thinking quickly as Twilight approached, the Doctor snatched up a stray pair of groucho glasses that had been left on the ground from the party explosion and threw them onto his face right as a purple hoof tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me sir, I-" "LOOK, AN IMMINENT DISASTER!" the Doctor cried, pointing over Past-Twilight's shoulder. The unicorn whipped around, and the Doctor galloped past her and away from the crowd. Twilight took a step forward. "Oh sit down!" Colgate snapped, smile dropping and then returning as the filly said silkily "I just want to talk with you. That's all.....Oh, and don't try anything clever with your magic either, the TARDIS shields are up now, so it won't work" "Alright" Twilight said slowly, sitting down "We'll talk. If we can come to a reasonable solution I would much prefer that to chasing you around.... I want to help you, honestly, I do." Colgate gave a little snort of laughter, putting a hoof to her mouth."You little liar...." she chuckled quietly, muscles in her hooves tensing as her mouth curved into an odd, not-quite smile. Twilight cocked her head "What?" "Nothing" Colgate replied breezily "I knew talking to you would be a good decision though, of you and the Doctor, you seemed like you were the most cooperative." Twilight's brows furrowed "I'm sure the Doctor would have been just as willing to tal-" "And by cooperative" the filly continued, interrupting "I mean less intelligent....But I think that's already been established enough, so let's get to the point" She crossed her forehooves delicately, smirking "I know that there's another key to the TARDIS, and I want it. My terms are simple. Give it to me, and I'll take you back to your home time." Colgate looked at Twilight pointedly "Just you, mind you, not the Doctor. Unfortunate, I know, but he's a security risk, too unpredictable. You two surprised me, following me like you did, and I dislike surprises. You see, this way I have all my bases covered, the Doctor would be stranded in this time period, and I would have the only keys to the TARDIS" "What about me?" Twilight asked "aren't you worried I would just follow you?" Colgate shrugged, looking thoughtful "I suppose I could throw together a quick magic suppressor from the parts in those wings you're wearing......" she sneered "Oh, don't look so horrified, it would decay after a week or two. Just long enough for whatever traces left by the TARDIS that you're following to dissipate. Now toss over the key so we can get going." "No" The smile evaporated from Colgate's face quicker than Twilight would have thought possible. "You idiot" the little filly seethed "I should have known, you stupid self-rightous-" She cut off with a snarl, shouting "I WAS TRYING TO HELP YOU! I was trying to repay....So I didn't have to-" her face suddenly went void, wiped clean of any emotions as she cut off mid sentence "Very well. You've made your choice. Goodbye." "Wait!" Twilight said"Colgate, you can't do this. If you're planning on doing what I think you're doing, then you would make a paradox that could rip a hole in space-time" "I know" Colgate said smoothly "I would destroy the world, effectively killing millions along with myself, and that is wrong and morally outrageous. There's only one problem with your argument" The filly looked straight at Twilight, eyes cold, pitiless "I. Don't. Care." "We're going to stop you Colgate" Twilight said quietly. "Oh really?" Colgate laughed, emotions once again shifting drastically, as she giggled like someone had just told a hilarious joke "Ohhhh really?" Her face darkened, mouth twisting into a snarl "You're an idiot." she hissed " I would tell you to go lick a power socket except for the fact that you probably wouldn't have the IQ to do it right. You just won't give up will you, you just won't take a hint, you ignorant, senseless, naive little imbecile!.....and you think that you can catch me" Twilight raised her eyebrow "Considering you're backed against a wall in a side street?....Yeah" Colgate grinned madly "Oh yes? Didn't I ever tell you what other setting I figured out on the TARDIS?" she backed up, pushing open two imperceptible doors to reveal a metal, yellow-lit interior "Invisibility" Twilight immediately made to grab her with her magic, but the aura of magenta energy just slid off from around the filly, like water from a raincoat. The doors shut, and once again the time machine in the back of the alley was undetectable to the eye. There came a familiar sound, and Twilight galloped towards the back of the alley, only to be met with nothing.