Inside the shadowy catacombs the two Doctors and company tread softly. Below their hooves was stone, and around the inside of the tunnel were burning torches to light the way. This tunnel connected to an underground rotunda. Inside this structure a stone arch bridged a pool of grimy water in the center. The walls were lined with neatly arranged rectangular holes, into which wooden boxes were stuffed.
An ornate sculpture of the grim reaper was fixed on the opposite side of this rotunda, looking at those who entered with empty stone sockets. On either side of this skeletal pony statue was a new set of tunnels.
“This looks like a tomb of some kind,” Medley whispered, “Like a cemetery, but inside.”
“I think the term you’re looking for is ‘Mausoleum’, my dear Medley.” the Sixth Doctor said, “I can see why you ponies find these places creepy… there’s something about hanging around the bones of the deceased that is most unnatural.”
Derpy had been wandering from the central group over toward the nearest stack of coffins in the walls. Below each coffin-hole was a plaque, but the inscription was in some kind of alien language she couldn’t make out.
Which was odd, because the TARDIS was supposed to translate language.
“Doctor,” she called out, prompting two heads to turn, “What does this plaque say, and why can’t I read it?”
The Ninth Doctor moved in closer, looking over Derpy’s shoulder at the plaque and letting out a slow sigh.
“It’s written in a very, very old language.” the Doctor explained, “My language, the language of the Time Lords. TARDIS probably won’t translate it.”
The Sixth Doctor looked on with widened eyes.
“This one is Commander Hilred,” he whispered, “And the one next to him is Azmael! That can’t be right, Azmael died on Titan 3. I was there.”
“Look at the others,” the Ninth Doctor said, looking about at the engravings beneath each of the coffins, “Goth, Zorac, Spandrell, Maxil…. the Master, the Rani, Salyavin, Gomer…”
The Ninth Doctor reached one coffin at the far end and stopped reading. He leaned in closer, looking over the name several times. Silently, he placed a hoof on the surface of the wooden coffin. His head drooped below his shoulders, and his face was hidden from the view of the others. Nopony made a sound, and the mausoleum was silent save for the faint sound of the flickering torch flames.
“That can’t be right,” the Sixth Doctor quietly said, “Some of these Gallifreyans died elsewhere… some did not have bodies to reclaim. Some of them shouldn’t be dead at all, even by the time of your incarnation. At most that’s 600 years in my future, am I right?”
The Ninth Doctor didn’t speak.
“Hold on,” Lyra said, looking about the rotunda and counting each coffin, “There’s only about 40 coffins here… where are all of the others?”
Before anypony could say anything else Nine’s head snapped up. He looked around and stared at Lyra, holding a hoof to his mouth.
Unfortunately, the Sixth Doctor kept asking questions.
“All of what others?” he said, “There are more!?”
It was at that moment that the pool beneath the stone arch started to bubble. The dirty water started to circulate slowly at first, but soon started to froth and splash violently. Medley took a step away from the edge, pressing herself against the wall out of fear.
The water level plummeted rapidly. As it left, the time travelers could see more rows of coffins lining the inside of a deep circular pit. The water had been covering up a deep chasm completely stuffed with the coffins of Time Lords, and it extended down into the darkness seemingly indefinitely.
An awestruck Sixth Doctor removed a torch from it’s holster on the wall and dropped it down, watching the bright light descend. It fell until it became a pinprick of light, and then disappeared entirely. For several very long seconds there was no sound of impact, but then came a clatter and a splash from deep below, echoing back up faintly
“If all of these are Time Lords,” Medley muttered, “Then… how many of them are buried here?”
“Millions,” the Sixth Doctor said, “Possibly billions.”
The Ninth Doctor slowly got onto his hooves, and walked over to the statue of the Grim Reaper. Up close he could see the detailing on its face, his expression mirrored onto the skull. His eyes were drawn to the bottom of the statue. Here too, below the hooves and long robe, was a name written in Gallifreyan.
“What does it say?” asked Six, “Doctor… what is the name underneath that statue? Who is it supposed to represent?”
The Ninth Doctor looked back at his past self, at the two companions he traveled with, and back to Medley.
“It’s just another trick,” he said softly, “It’s just this place trying to get into my head. Trying to break me down and make me give up. It used a historical impossibility to intrigue us, to convince us to poke around… and now that we’re here it’s out to get us… it’s out to render each and every one of us vulnerable and break us down. That's my theory at least. Could be wrong.”
“We can leave though, right?” Derpy asked hopefully, “We can just go back to the surface, get into the TARDIS, and go somewhere else.”
“I’m afraid not,” the Sixth Doctor said.
“We’ve got to keep going.” Nine continued, “Theories aside, there’s got to be a purpose behind all this. I don’t know what it is. Somehow, I think that if we get to the bottom of all this we’ll find a way back to the TARDIS. There’s two paths, so I think we should split into two groups. If one of them is a dead end, that group will come back here and follow behind the other one.”
“I’ll go with the old Doctor, if that’s all right.” Lyra volunteered.
“What, the pincushion?” Nine said with raised eyebrows. Six stared him down, and stuck his chin in the air disapprovingly.
“Yeah,” Lyra replied, “I’d like to find out more about this whole ‘different versions of the same being’ deal.”
“Well suit yourself,” Nine said, “You’ll come with me, Derpy? And Medley, you with your Doctor?”
Both nodded.
“Fantastic, sounds like a plan to me… Doctor, if you discover anything important that I need to know, set up a telepathic trance. I’ll do the same if I learn anything.”
“Right,” the Sixth Doctor repeated, “I’ll be sure to let you know once I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Oh,” the Ninth Doctor said, “One more thing… This mausoleum doesn’t exist!”
The coffins, the pit of deceased Time Lords and the skeletal statue all vanished, leaving behind a simple stone rotunda devoid of marking. The Ninth Doctor's face changed expression, but it didn't turn into a grin. He turned back to go with Derpy, and proceeded down his route.