//------------------------------// // From the Ashes // Story: The Adventures of Doctor Whooves: Series 1 // by Time Pony Victorious //------------------------------// The Grand Library, The Lost City, Rainbow Island 33rd of Summer, 3:00am, 103 C.R. The Professor sneered as the three mares surrendered without putting up a fight. They stood, unflinching, at the sight of his armed ponies with their sharp and frosty glares. He had expected more crying and begging for their lives, but these ponies were different… they had a certain fire in their eyes, a certain defiance as if they had been accustomed to danger. “Well?” he asked with a smug grin. “Where is your precious magic? Or are you incapable of it unless your precious Doctor is around.” That elicited a response. Twilight’s glare became twenty percent fiercer and she took a step forward, ignoring the armed ponies sudden twitch as if eager to discharge their weapons. “What did you do to him?” “I am afraid he is quite disposed, my dear. But worry not, you will soon join him.” He took a step back and allowed his ponies to take aim, but before he could give a command, Twilight took another step forward. The Professor growled as the tiny unicorn made him take a step back unconsciously, what had he to fear from this mare?! “You knew about this,” Twilight said, levitating the book to show the Professor and the guards. “You knew about the Rainbow Phoenix and what your machine is doing to her?” He took a quick look at the book and scoffed at the title. “I am a pony of science, my dear, hardly a believer of the fantastical creation myths we have conjured up.” “But it’s true, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked, joining Twilight. “The whole story, it’s completely true. The Rainbow Phoenix dying, her children running away from everypony, the machine draining her, right?” “Ha, please—“ “She’s right,” added Rarity, with a certain flair to her usual flourish. “The moment the Doctor became interested in your machine was the moment you went on the defensive. Because you knew the harm your machine was causing the phoenix!” “Your Doctor is—“ “She’s left screaming in pain under your machine, and you refuse to help!” Twilight continued. “She’s the reason why you’re experiencing energy spikes, right? Her magic is creating an imbalance that will eventually cause your blackhole to go critical, destroying everything! How long has she been trapped under there? How long was she ensnared in your prison?” “ENOUGH!” snapped the Professor, in such a violence all sound died down to mere whispers in the large, imposing library. The mares maintained their defiance, glaring down their executioners without any sense of fear. Who were they? “Even if that mythical book was true, so what! If we hadn’t maintained the machine, the antigravity, this entire island will fall to the earth and everypony will die. I am doing what I can to protect the island you FOALS!” “There’s a way to fix it, there’s always a way out,” Twilight told him, her anger dropping slightly to a degree of sincerity. “The Doctor, he can help. He’s got this—“ The Professor laughed bitterly. “Even if he could, I already told you, your Doctor is dead and you three are next.” For the final time, the guards took aim and closed their semicircle inward toward the three girls. They stepped back and huddled together, their previous confidence wavering as they realized they were completely out of options. They couldn’t talk their ways out, they couldn’t fight it much less run! Twilight looked around the library in desperation, looking for something, anything, to get them out of this. She wouldn’t be able to fight them all, teleporting out of there would take a second or two to concentrate, it would take even longer since she had to teleport Rarity and Rainbow as well. She needed something, an idea, a miracle! Books on the shelf farthest from them began to move… rustled by a small gust of wind… Twilight smiled. “You may think so, Professor,” she said suddenly, grinning ear to ear. “But I already told you, we have two advantages in this situation!” The Professor sighed wearily, part-annoyed, part-respectful of their continued tenacity at a despairing situation. “And you’ve lost one advantage already: surprise. Your magic will be no match for our weapons, my dear.” “That’s where you’re wrong.” Twilight wrapped her foreleg around Rarity who, in turn, brought Rainbow closer as well. “My magic is a little stronger than you’d think, and not because I happen to be the Princess’s prized pupil—“ “In about 900 years,” mumbled Rainbow. “But because of what my… no, our particular magic can do.” The wind picked up more and more as she spoke, the guards, and the Professor, being captivated by Twilight’s supposed last words were ignorant to this. “Our magic can get through any situation, any type of trouble because we’re together. We’ve faced Nightmare Moon, elements of chaos, Changeling queens, and you think you’re any sort of danger? Against our magic, you’re cupcakes compared to us!” “You have failed to demonstrate this wonderous magic, you insufferable mare!” snapped the Professor. “You are words and words.” “You’re right,” admitted Twilight with a slight frown. “This magic can’t be talked about, no, no, you’re right! It can only be shown through actions! But you won’t be able to see it because you’re so blind, Professor. Blinded by your arrogance, by your science, to see the most powerful magic of all.” “And what would THAT be?!” “The magic of friendship!” The wind blew violently, pages and thick volumes covered the library in a literary hail. Some pages blinded the guards while the heavy tomes smashed into their heads, knocking them over. The guards that were unaffected by the paper-storm prepared to fire… only to wince and cry out as a bolt of light shot from Twilight’s horn, exploding into a miniature sun blinding those who hadn’t looked away. A deep, lyrical sound filled the library that drowned out the soldier’s cries of pain and sea of swears. The Professor was the first to recover, blinking the dots from his vision. “FIRE! KILL THEM!” But it was too late, a blue box began to materialize around the three mares, stunning everypony into submission as within seconds the box became solid and the girls disappeared inside it. “Ha!” the Doctor shouted with glee as the girls appeared beside him at the console. “Just in the nick of time, love a unicorn! Brilliant spell, Twilight. Quick thinking really, couldn’t have done it better myself“— The Time Pony’s rambling was abruptly interrupted as Twilight tackled him with a rough pony-hug. Her previous bravery and defiance under duress disappeared as she shook under the Doctor’s hug. Her voice was as shaky as she was. “He said you were… dead. I thought…” “It’s okay,” promised the Doctor, patting the unicorn’s back. “I’m alright, we’re alright. You were fantastic, Twilight!” Rainbow and Rarity weren’t one to be left out of a hug, as they quickly surrounded the embrace and hugged the duo from either side of them, more out of relief and joy if anything. They held the hug for a few seconds before Twilight took a deep breath, broke the embrace, and socked the Doctor right on his shoulder. Wincing, the Time Pony rubbed his aching shoulder with an appalled expression. “OW! I think I enjoyed the hug more, to be honest!” “Where did you go?!” Twilight demanded. “We thought you had been captured!” “I was!” the Doctor sheepishly admitted. “The Professor got the jump on me and tried to kill me by dumping me in the forest, luckily, I made it out fine, got back to the TARDIS and was able to lock on to your position.” “He tried to what?!” Rainbow cried. “But how did you—“ Dull metallic sounds pinged off the TARDIS’s exterior, drawing the Doctor toward the scanner and ignoring Rarity’s unfinished question. The Time Pony chuckled as he gestured to the display, the soldiers recovered enough to open fire on the TARDIS but it was as effective as throwing pebbles at it. Moving toward the controls, he flicked a switch and tilted a device that resembled an old phonograph toward him. “Oh! So sorry, Professor, thought I drop in and crash the party, though this is a library so be quiet!” The Professor drew back in outrage. “DOCTOR?!” “Doctor who?” The Time Pony joked with an arrogant grin. “Really, Professor, if there’s one thing you’re going to learn about me is that I am very hard to get rid of.” “Wait, Doctor, how did you find us anyways?” Twilight asked. Flipping the communicator off, the Doctor turned to Twilight with a bright smile. “Well, I had a little help from a friend.” “A friend?” echoed Rarity. “Oh yes!” He turned toward the many realistic tree pillars that surrounded the console deck and gestured toward the largest one. Atop the tree sat Philomena who studied the mares warily from afar. “Darling, if you don’t mind, come and meet my friends, they are very friendly!” After a moment of hesitation, Philomena jumped from her perch and glided down to the console, landing on the Doctor’s back as she nervously looked at the girls. “Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, this is my friend, Philomena the Phoenix!” “It is a pleasure, a friend of the Time Lord is a friend of mine,” Philomena spoke psychically but the girls weren’t bothered by that and instead reeled at the mention of her name. “Wait, Philomena?!” squeaked Twilight. “It can’t be,” said Rarity. “But this is the birthplace of the phoenixes!” insisted Rainbow. “But it can’t be, you know, our Philomena,” Twilight asserted. “Um, what are you lot getting riled up about?” the Doctor interjected calmly. “Yes, is the name the Doctor gave me offensive to you? I could choose another if you’d like,” suggested Philomena. Twilight’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “You named her?!” “Well, yes, she had forgotten her name and I decided on Philomena. Why, don’t you like it?” Twilight was ready to voice her complaints when the dull sounds of gunfire morphed into heavy, monotonous banging. They consulted the display and found the Professor had decided to arm his ponies with makeshift battering rams to try to force their way inside. “Always the battering ram,” the Doctor muttered with a grin. “Now then, why don’t we get out of here and save this island, hm?” Throwing a lever with a triumphant laugh, the TARDIS began to disappear right before the Professor and in a matter of moments the tall blue box was completely gone, as if it were never there. The Doctor worked furiously to control the TARDIS, punching in coordinates in the most unorthodox manner. The TARDIS shifted and groaned, giving its customary lurch before finally settling as the coordinates were set. “Right then! I managed to figure a few things out on my end,” the Doctor announced proudly. “Philomena here took me to her… nest, so to speak, and everything was explained, you see—“ “A mythical rainbow phoenix gave birth to this island,” interrupted Twilight. “Er, yes, and—“ “She was the one who gave the island the capability of flight with her magic,” interjected Rarity. “But—“ “When she died, the island was gonna fall right outta the sky!” chimed Rainbow. “So, the pony inhabitants tried to harvest her phoenix offspring for their feathers in order to maintain the island,” added Twilight. “But the phoenixes ran, so the ponies were left with little options,” said Rarity. “Until some weirdo mysterious thing dropped by and gave them the black hole and the technology to hook up the black hole to the island to keep it afloat,” continued Rainbow. “Thing is, the black hole is killing the Rainbow Phoenix, who is probably the reason for the energy spikes. We’ve got to somehow disable the black hole and save the phoenix!” finished Twilight. “But if we disable the black hole, the island will crash upon Equestria,” argued Rarity. “Yeah, and if we don’t, the Rainbow Phoenix will be left in agony and probably cause the black hole to go critical and take out the entire planet!” countered Rainbow. “We need to find a way to disable the black hole while protecting the island,” reasoned Twilight. “But how are we going to do that, Doctor? Uh, Doctor? The girls looked around to find the Doctor was no longer with them and on the other side of the console, working at the controls with his brainy specs on. “Hm? Oh, you girls are doing fine, go on, please. But you’re right, all of you. If we disable the machine, the island will fall, if we leave it going, the entire planet will be destroyed. So, which is it girls?” He stepped away from the controls and approached the girls, all mirth and playfulness gone as his ancient eyes took on a more severe glint. “Which would you pick, a tiny island or your entire planet?” They didn’t even have to think about it for a second as all three of them spoke at once, “Both!” The Doctor broke out into a huge grin and laughed, he always loved how much his companions cared for others. They were always the ones with the strongest morality, they were always brilliant, unwilling to leave anyone behind. Ponies and humans… they may look different but they’re exactly the same. “Brilliantly said!” he said throwing another lever. “Then that’s what we’ll do, because if there’s one thing you learn while traveling with me, girls, it’s this… we never walk away.” “How will you accomplish this?” Philomena asked curiously, both invigorated by their enthusiasm and curious as to who exactly these strange ponies were. “You are unable of doing one thing without affecting the other, how will you save everyone?” “Oh, that’s easy, Philomena!” The Time Pony turned back to the console and glanced at the scanners as the TARDIS began to settle and land. They had arrived. “I’ll just talk to her.” ~==~ The TARDIS materialized right beside the antigravity console. The room was still very much empty save the large blue box and her eccentric passengers as the Doctor and the girls spilled out of the box as quickly as they could without trampling each other. Approaching the console gingerly, the Doctor began to get to work on the controls, attempting to find some form of an override. “I can hear her!” whimpered Philomena. “Oh, Doctor, she is crying!” “Not to worry, Philomena, I’ll save her. If she dies then I’ll have to change my name because I won’t be the Doctor anymore, no, no, not this time!” He smashed a button and the console opened up, revealing the miniaturized black hole underneath. “Rainbow, Rarity, go make sure the exits are locked, we don’t want any surprise visitors.” Without question the girls complied, running off to the elevator and descending to check on the entrances. Twilight approached the Doctor, eager to help. “Doctor, what can I do?” “I heard it last time I was here, but I couldn’t place it,” he rambled under his breath. “I’m getting too old, I thought I was hearing things. I heard her when we were here last. I need to establish a link with her.” “A link? What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “Phoenixes have a small, low-level psychic field which is how they are able to communicate from long-distance since they’re incapable of speech. The Rainbow Phoenix falls under the same field, Philomena is able to tap into it and I should be able to as well,” he explained in his rapid-fire manner. “If I can talk to her, I can try to help!” “Alright, what do you need then?” Twilight asked again. “Some resistant psychic medium, something powerful and able to concentrate under heavy duress.” Twilight grinned, lighting her horn up with her customary magic. “You mean something like me?” “Exactly!” the Doctor turned to Philomena, placing a hoof gently on the side of her head. “Philomena, I’m going to dive into your psychic field, it won’t hurt a bit but a few memories will probably resurface, is that okay?” “Will we be able to speak to her?” she asked. “Probably,” he admitted. “Or, we’ll be driven insane by the attempt.” “Then you have my permission.” The Doctor took Twilight’s hoof and the three of them closed their eyes. Instantly Twilight felt the psychic rush of Philomena’s memories. It was a completely foreign sensation, the best she could equate it to would be as if the very heart of the sun exploded in her mind, its burning heat spreading to the rest of her body. She saw when Philomena first rose from the first feather that fell from the Rainbow Phoenix. Twilight saw Philomena grow up in the den of the phoenix, playing with the others and watching the sunrise and set every single day. Then she saw it, something so terrible and cold it reminded Twilight of Nightmare Moon. It blocked out the sun and came down to the island in a heavy fog, her eyes were freezing cold and evil. She held the black hole in her magical grip… The memories shifted again and she was in a white room. Looking around she saw no end to the nothingness of this memory… until she looked down. The Rainbow Phoenix was the most beautiful thing Twilight saw. She looked as advertised, a rainbow colored wingspan that went on just as infinite as this place was. Strangely enough, her colors weren’t like a traditional rainbow, it resembled an aurora borealis. It felt like she was standing right next to a thousand suns… Twilight only felt this sensation from Princess Celestia. “The Rainbow Phoenix,” the Doctor said, startling Twilight as she finally realized the Time Pony and Philomena were right beside her as well. They stared at her with such concern, such heartbreak, Twilight wondered why they were so sad. She looked again and gasped, tears forming in her eyes. On her chest, right where her heart should’ve been, sat the ever oscillating black hole, absorbing everything, everything from this existence. Time, space, even color, everything except the phoenix herself. She was the only thing keeping the black hole from consuming existence in itself. “Mother!” Philomena cried, her voice becoming tangible and not a psychic echo. “Mother, can you hear me?” “My daughter… You have arrived, finally.” Her voice was strained and ragged, as if this was the first time she spoke in a very long time. “I apologize I am so late… I was only able to come here because of the Doctor.” “I know you, Time Lord,” the Rainbow Phoenix said, now fully addressing the Doctor. “I can feel your hardships, the pain you endured in your long, endless life… The Lonely Time Lord, you are so far from home… you do not belong here.” “Listen, we’re going to get you out of here,” the Doctor said, ignoring her concerns. “I can find a way to disable the black hole, but this entire island will fall when that happens.” “Do not despair,” she soothed. “You are wondering if I, once freed, will abandon this island, letting it fall, correct?” The Doctor didn’t say anything, merely giving her the subtlest of nods. “This island is the product of my love and care, if I am able, I will not let it fall under harm. This I swear.” Twilight let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. The Rainbow Phoenix suddenly groaned in pain, twitching violently as the black hole began to expand slowly. “You are running out of time, Time Lord!” “Alright, talley-ho then—“ “No!” the Rainbow Phoenix interrupted. “You must heed my words, Doctor. Your life is wrought with danger at every corner, even now your past cannot escape you. Terrible danger awaits you, Doctor. The Mistress will see to your destruction and your greatest enemy will wreak chaos. Time Lord Victorious”—A lump of ice formed in the Doctor’s gut – “You have not avoided your fate. Trenzalore… it still awaits you!” Before anypony could say anything else, the Rainbow Phoenix cried out in agony and the psychic-link was broken, snapping all three of them out of it. Breathing heavily, Twilight hadn’t realized she was sweating and shaking. “Doctor… what—“ Twilight fell to the side as the entire island shifted to the right, the building creaked and groaned, the large glass panes shattered instantly and everything that wasn’t nailed down, save the TARDIS, fell out of the now-opened windows. “I think the falling sky island deserves our attention, don’t you agree?” the Doctor groaned as he held on to the console to prevent falling out of the window. “Agreed!” Rainbow flew in with Rarity in her hooves. “Doc, what’s going on?!” “I’m not exactly an expert, but I’d say the island is falling!” the Doctor scrambled to get his hooves on the controls, smashing buttons, throwing levers, anything to try to stabilize the island. “Rarity, Twilight, get into the TARDIS and try to get her into flight mode.” “You want us to pilot the alien machine that you can only barely fly?” Rarity asked. “Oi! Don’t knock the designated driver!” “Fine!” Twilight interrupted. “What do we do?” “Get inside and right beside the wobbly lever you’ll find a compartment underneath. There’ll be a disc--“ “What’s a disc?!” Rarity squeaked. “It’s a circular— oh, just look for the round plastic thingy! You’ll find a slot right beside the lever, insert the disc and the instructions will play!” “But—“ “Just go! I’ll send you further instructions once you’ve done that.” Rainbow lowered Rarity by Twilight who took her in her forelegs and with a flash of purple lightning the two teleported beside the TARDIS. With some difficulty, the two managed to climb inside and shut the door behind them. “Alright, Rainbow, you and I have the harder job,” grinned the Doctor. “Harder than piloting the TARDIS?” “We’re going to pilot an island.” ~==~ The TARDIS’s specific gravity was slightly disorientating. Rarity and Twilight climbed inside the TARDIS and upon entering they fell on their side. Suddenly right-sight up, the unicorns got to their hooves and ran for the console. “Which wobbly lever was it?!” Rarity asked, scrambling to look through all of the levers the TARDIS had to offer. The two ran all around the TARDIS at least twice before they found it. It was as the Doctor said, right underneath was a compartment. Opening it they found a bunch of junk inside, old devices that resembled the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver but it was smaller, silver, and had a blue bulb on top. Twilight tossed back an old pair of red and blue paper glasses and found the disc! Inserting it in the slot, they looked to the display for the instructions… only for a hologram to materialize in front of them. It was a hologram of the Doctor. He faced the door with a sort of empty expression but it was definitely him, his cutie mark and bowtie matched. “Voice interface enabled,” he said in a robotic sort of voice. “Enabling fast-return emergency protocol.” Controls began to work by themselves, levers were flipped, buttons were pressed, and the displays ran a number of readings that made no sense to Twilight. The TARDIS lurched slightly as they began to dematerialize. “Wait!” Twilight interrupted. “The Doctor instructed us to pilot the TARDIS, he told us to get it into flight mode.” The hologram rippled with static for a moment. He turned to Twilight and nodded. “Flight mode enabled.” The TARDIS became still as it began to fly just above the falling island, it tracked the island automatically, descending alongside it. The Doctor’s image changed was replaced by a real-time image of the Time Pony. It was an image of his face as he tried to work the antigravity controls while simultaneously focusing on Twilight. “Good! Got her into flight mode, next you’ll have to—Rainbow! Hold that switch down! Next you’ll have to lower the shields temporarily, diverting thirty percent of the power toward the retrostabilizer! Rainbow, throw that lever! Then activate the TARDIS’s laser-guided tractor beam to tether it to the island!” “What?! How will that—“ “You’re going to steer the island over the ocean,” he quickly explained. “It’s going to fall, but we can’t let it fall on land!” The image faded before Twilight could complain and the Doctor’s hologram reappeared. “Now then, let’s get started,” it said with a grin. ~==~ The Doctor shut off the screwdriver and turned back to the black hole readings. It was fading fast, but not fast enough, they would crash before the black hole was turned off completely. “Rainbow! Hold on to the red lever on the other side, we’re going to flush out the excess power from the black hole into the shields!” Rainbow quickly complied, undeterred by the sudden shift in orientation from the island as she easily flew over to the other side and held the lever down as told. The Doctor’s hooves expertly worked the controls, diverting all of the power from the antigravity engines to the shield that surrounded the city. The island fell even faster as the Doctor’s commands went through. The orientation shifted again, the Doctor falling from the console, toward the ceiling, as the island turned completely 90 degrees and dipped downward. Rainbow caught the Doctor before he could impact the ceiling. “Doctor, we need to get out of here!” The Time Pony shook his head and pointed at the console. “No! Not yet! Philomena, I’ll need your help now!” Philomena, who was flying in the corner, flew up to the Doctor and nodded. “What would you have me do?” “Find your friends and ask for their help.” “Doctor, they declined you before, how can I convince them?” “Because you have to. You have to or let this island be destroyed, this is your moment, Philomena. Make what you say count, for the sake of everyone.” The phoenix hesitated for a moment before nodding and flew out of the building like a meteor. Rainbow took the Doctor right down to the console and the two went right back to work. The Doctor threw the switches that controlled the antigravity capabilities. Four earth-shattering explosions shook the entire island. Destruction rippled through the entire city, the roads cracked and split open, buildings shook and windows shattered. Ponies, who were miraculously able to stay on their hooves, ran away from the ensuing chaos. Their world has literally become hell. The Doctor’s grip on the console failed and he flew down toward the open window. Rainbow dove down, grabbed the falling Time Pony, and flew right back up on the console. “What the hay was that?!” Rainbow cried. The Doctor laughed as he looked at the display readings. “The antigravity engines exploded!” “Why is that a good thing?!” “The explosion from the engines made us jump about two-hundred thousand kilometers closer to the ocean!” He pointed at the displays which rattled off a number of readings Rainbow didn’t understand. “We need a soft landing!” With the antigravity capabilities now completely nil, this island will never fly again, that’s one less thing to worry about. One less problem out of about a million. The Doctor’s mind raced at about the speed of light, trying to come up with a good way out to end this entire problem. “Doc, the black hole, look!” Rainbow pointed at the exposed black hole which was slowly becoming bigger, the miniaturization was fading. The Doctor growled as he slammed on the controls, he needed to contain the black hole quick! He worked on the controls with one hoof and with his free hoof he aimed his sonic screwdriver on the part of the console he couldn’t reach. What if… The Doctor threw two levers and the console lit up brilliantly. The gravity was suddenly fixed properly and Rainbow and the Doctor fell awkwardly to the floor. The Time Pony laughed as he disentangled himself from Rainbow and glanced at the readings. “Doc, what happened to the gravity?” Rainbow asked, shaking her head. “The island has its own specific gravity now, ha! I managed to increase the capacity of the city’s shields so it covered the entire island. Then I used the remaining power for minor environmental effects, gravity, atmosphere, air, ooh, I am brilliant!” “So, what now then? It’s still falling, you know.” Before the Doctor could answer the elevator doors opened with a pleasant ding! And guardponies swarmed in, weapons trained on the Doctor and Rainbow. “FIRE!” “Now, we run!” ~==~ Twilight and Rarity had to scramble following the hologram Doctor’s instructions. The hologram Doctor lacked everything that made the Doctor fun, he was straight-forward, hyper rational, and bland, Twilight wasn’t sure if she appreciated him like this. Twilight jumped on top of a lever as the hologram instructed and Rarity began to adjust a wheeled-device. “Calibrate to four degrees north, Rarity,” the hologram told her. Rarity’s magic held the device and adjusted it as so. “This is impossible,” Rarity remarked with a huff. “We’re only barely able to keep up, Twilight. What if we are unable to do as the Doctor instructed?” “Then all hope is lost,” Twilight admitted grimly. “Which is why we can’t fail, Rarity. Not only do we have an entire island filled with innocent ponies depending on us but we have our future to worry about. What if we do mess up and this island falls, right on Canterlot?” Rarity tried to think of the temporal ramifications but they simply confused her. If they were unable to save the island and obliterate Canterlot would that mean the Princesses, who are possibly down there, would perish in the destruction? If that is the case, Twilight would never have become the pony she is today and never would have met the girls. “I’m not an expert on time travel,” Twilight said, breaking Rarity’s train of thought. “But let’s just say it’s bad.” “Maintain the flight pattern,” the hologram Doctor spoke. “Enable the tractor beam.” Rarity nodded and pressed the large red button beside her. The TARDIS shook slightly, whining, as the tractor beam engaged and attached itself to the nose of the island. The world lurched sideways as the undertrained pilots of the universe’s best ship were unable to stabilize and the TARDIS careened downward, faster toward the earth. “Danger, collision imminent. Probability of survival zero percent,” the hologram recited. “Divert power to engines, maximum thrust.” Twilight cranked the rotors as the hologram instructed and the TARDIS stabilized, properly pulling the island toward the sea. The descent of the island greatly decreased but it was still much faster than the TARDIS was able to accelerate. “We’re towing the island!” Rarity cried. Twilight consulted the scanner. There were still about a dozen or so readings she didn’t understand but what she did know was that the island was still falling too fast. The TARDIS needed to go faster. “Doctor, we need to put more power into the engines!” “Inadvisable,” he said. “Power levels critical, twelve percent and dropping.” “If we don’t, the island will be destroyed!” Twilight countered. “Inadvisable.” “You useless, stubborn stallion!” Twilight berated. “We have to try it at least, because it’s what you would do! Throw caution to the wind, forget the rules, much less listen to anypony. Please, Doctor, we have to try!” The hologram stood there for a moment, unflinching, aloof and disinterested. Twilight’s heart fell, if she couldn’t do this, then there’s nothing they can do. Then, the hologram faced Twilight and broke out in a brilliant smile. “Blimey, Twilight, twist my leg why don’t you.” “Doctor…” her voice failed her from sheer relief. “Diverting power, brace yourselves.” The TARDIS accelerated so quickly, Twilight and Rarity were thrown off their hooves, rolling, head over hooves, toward the door. The island quickly followed suit, accelerating forward and straightened out… until it cleared the continent below and finally flew over the ocean, somewhat safer than before. “Yes! We did it!” Twilight cried, hugging Rarity. “But what of the Doctor and Rainbow?” she asked. “They’re still on the island.” “They’ll be fine,” promised Twilight. “Because the Doctor is the best at running.” ~==~ The Doctor tripped over his hooves the fourth time and nearly fell to the ground. It couldn’t exactly be helped considering earthquakes still rocked the city and the Doctor wasn’t having much luck staying on his hooves. Rainbow had it easier, flying overhead, she was able to maintain herself with her wings. For a moment, the Time Pony wished he would’ve regenerated as a pegasus. “Rainbow, we need to get off this island,” the Doctor told her. “Duh!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “How fast can you fly?” Before she could answer the Professor, along with the guardponies, quickly surrounded the duo. The neverending earthquakes still shook the island something terrible and the Professor looked as though he took the brunt of it. His robes were torn off, his mane in disarray and he was completely covered in soot. Cuts framed his face and body as he bled slightly but he ignored his injuries and glared so darkly at the Doctor it was like he was trying to kill him with his mind alone. “You… You did this!” he spat out. “You have doomed us all you FOOL! NOPONY WILL SURVIVE THIS! AND IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU!” “Hey! It’s because of the Doc that you guys have a fighting chance!” Rainbow argued. “He’s trying to save this island!” “By taking away the machine that has enabled us to live for so long?!” “By warning you,” the Doctor answered, pulling off his brainy specs and pocketing them. “I told you this wouldn’t end well for you, and you didn’t listen. If we had worked together we could’ve prevented this, but I had to resort to plan B.” “Doc, what’s plan B?” Rainbow whispered. “This.” Brandishing his sonic screwdriver he aimed it toward the tower and let the device ring out. A large blue pulse of energy erupted from the tower and shot toward the sky, to the edge of the dome that now covered the entirety of the island. Everypony stopped and stared at the pulse of energy as it wrapped over the dome, layering it with a second ring of energy. “Rainbow, NOW!” The Doctor cried. Rainbow reacted faster than anypony could. She wrapped her forelegs around the Doctor and took flight, racing toward the edge of the dome at top speed. “The dome will only be open for a few seconds, you have to make it before then otherwise we’re trapped here!” Rainbow didn’t respond and only poured on the speed as she neared the edge of the dome… ~==~ “You moron…” A bright blue pegasus with a snow-white mane muttered to her brother, a somewhat larger electric yellow pegasus with a fiery red mane with a lightning bolt cutie mark to her pair of wings in motion cutie mark. “I told you Canterlot was a lost cause, the unicorn elite are interested in a pair of pegasi stunt-fliers.” “Wunderwings, we coulda did something in Canterlot, you know,” Mercury Bolt sighed. “We just need to tighten up our routine, that’s all.” “Merc, we ran our drills like a hundred times, my wings are exhausted!” Wunderbolt complained. The twins Wunderwings and Mercury Bolt comprised the first-ever pegasi duo stunt fliers, “The Fabulous Wunder-Bolt Fliers” and have been regularly playing their shows all over Equestria. The predominately unicorn elite population had, however, stifled their plans to hit the big time. Pegasi fliers weren’t appreciated for show and were barely appreciated for their growing weather manipulation powers. All the unicorn elite had cared about were their definition of entertainment which usually consisted of poetry, classical music, and art, all generally done by unicorns to begin with. Pegasi and earth pony routines would never get anywhere in the upper classes and would be doomed to remain stifled in the lower class circle of entertainment. Mercury, the most ambitious of the twins, rolled his eyes as he approached Wunderwings, patting her on the shoulder. “We won’t get anywhere in life, sis, if we don’t push ourselves to the limit. Those wings being sore isn’t what’s stopping you… you are.” He punctuated his point by prodding Wunderwings gently on her forehead. Wunderwings smirked and bucked Mercury on his shoulder. The brother playfully feigned a hurt expression as Wunder stuck her tongue out at him. “No, I think it’s my wings stopping me. Seriously, Merc, it hurts.” “You’re such a foal,” complained Mercury. “Come on, don’t you want to do this? Don’t you want to be somepony?” “Of course I do!” Wunder snapped. “But I’m telling you, nopony cares about a pegasi routine! It’ll be impossible to reach the top, Merc!” Mercury scoffed, turning around and heading toward the very edge of the cliff, looking out toward the wild and untamed sea before them. “That’s what they said about Stormfeathers and Lightning Streak reversing a tornado. That’s what they said about Silver Jet taming a wild lightning could. But they all did it! Impossible things happen every day, Wunder! Nothing is impossible!” “Well, this is!” Mercury’s rebuttal died in his throat as a deep lumbering sound echoed throughout the seaside coast. The wind changed rapidly, cascading in pure gusts toward the twins threatening to send them careening into the ocean. That’s when it came from the skies. A massive island broke through the clouds descending at breakneck speeds eastward of the twins, right into the ocean. A few hundred kilometers before its impact, a second sun exploded underneath the island. As hundreds upon thousands of what appeared to be miniature suns came from the island itself, dove underneath the wayward trajectory and pushed up against it. The impact was minor, compared to the size of the island, but they had buffeted the bottom of the island enough to slow their descent just a little bit. The island was cushioned by the tiny suns as it landed into the ocean, but the impact was still hard enough. Water exploded, producing a massive wall of water that if it had been closer would have flooded the mainland but crashed right there. As the water fell another explosion shook the twins’ ears. Impossibly so a rainbow suddenly erupted from the edge of the island and like a contrail shot as far away from the sinking island at the speed of sound. In a matter of moments, the miniature suns disappeared flying away from the island and up toward the sky. The island’s sudden crash was much too detrimental and had no chance of buoyancy. The large waves it produced upon impact covered the island and pushed it downward… farther and farther until it was no longer in sight… So stunned were the twins at this incredible act, Mercury had to close her mouth as they were left completely awe-struck by the impossible island. “Alright, Merc… let’s run our routine a few more times…” ~==~ Rainbow Dash became fevered with exhaustion as her wings ached, screaming in pain from their exertion. It is one thing to perform a sonic rainboom to save a friend, but it’s another when she had to outrun an island falling at terminal velocity. Her breathing became ragged and hoarse as she tirelessly maintained altitude while the Doctor, under her forelegs, directed her with his sonic screwdriver. The Time Pony held up his screwdriver as it whirled, clicked, and glowed. He had been tracking the TARDIS for some time and Rainbow had the wonderful job to fly all over this place looking for it. “The tractor beam must’ve broken off before the island crashed,” the Doctor explained, grimacing at his sonic screwdriver. “With a little luck, she’s probably crashed it nearby.” “Yeah, I don’t know if you noticed, Doc, but we aren’t exactly famous for our luck,” Rainbow groaned, hefting the slim, yet paradoxically heavy, Time Pony. “Without luck,” the Doctor continued. “She’s at the bottom of the ocean.” “What about Twi and Rarity? Will they be safe if that’s the case?” “Of course,” he answered immediately. “But they can’t pilot her, so she’ll sink the ocean. They’ll stay there, protected for the rest of time if we don’t her.” Rainbow said nothing and continued flying, well below the clouds and over the wild forests above. In about 900 years this would be the far corner of Ponyville, the Everfree Forest. Over to the west would sit the tiny village, where Rainbow would be eventually. That thought made Rainbow’s head hurt. Time travel was way more complicated than she thought, and scary, nothing she had to deal with before compared with this adventure with the Doctor. Parasprites, Minor Ursas, she would’ve preferred them over this. Now that everything was over, the implications of what she went through sunk in. She helped save an entire island that flew in the sky. She nearly died like a dozen different times this adventure alone. Was this a normal day for the Doctor? Was Rainbow okay with being around him, much less helping?! Rainbow shook her head. If it wasn’t for the Doctor, the entire island, probably the entire planet, would’ve been destroyed because of the black hole. He hadn’t caused any of that to happen, it wasn’t his fault. But why did Rainbow still feel an impending sense of doom? As if this was only the beginning? “Ah!” the Doctor cried, his sonic screwdriver lighting up perfectly. “There we go! She’s over there, Rainbow, down at the peninsula!” Rainbow nodded and glanced down at the peninsula the Doctor pointed at. She could see it easily from here, the TARDIS stood imposingly at the end of strip of land, completely unscratched and immaculate. Rainbow never felt so happy to see a wooden book before. As fast as she could, Rainbow dove downward, headed straight for the TARDIS. She all but collapsed when they landed, running on whatever adrenaline she had left. The Doctor laughed, running up to the Old Girl and hugged her. “Beautiful as always!” Rainbow chocked back a sob, silently agreeing. It was weird how quickly she felt such an attachment to an old blue box, but it was the best box in the universe. The Doctor fumbled with a small key, dropping it twice before he managed to unlock the doors and push it open. The two stepped inside, greeted by Rarity and Twilight at the console, they looked battered and exhausted but smiled wide enough to give Pinkie a run for her bits. Ten minutes after the group hugged and quietly recuperated, grateful for their warmth and tearfully happy they had saved the islands with their lives intact, they all sat around the console recapping what happened on their respective ends. “The phoenixes last gift was what saved the island,” the Doctor summed up. “They cushioned the fall so the island could survive on the ocean, they should be fine. Before we left, I disabled the antigravity engines, that island will never fly again.” “But Doctor, the island… it sunk to the bottom of the ocean, right? Doesn’t that mean—“ “They’ll be fine,” the Doctor promised, interrupting Twilight. “Before we left, I enhanced the city’s environmental capabilities and spread the shield to the entire island. I burnt up the black hole doing so, but the island will be safe under the sea for a very long time.” "And Philomena?" Rainbow asked. "Doctor, she's Princess Celestia's pet bird in our present time. Well, at least she should be considering the names are the same." "Which means you're the reason she meets Princess Celestia," explained Twilight. "If we hadn't come here, this island would've gone down and Philomena..." The ramifications of Twilight's explanation laid like a heavy blanket over the ponies, even in the TARDIS the weight of their actions burdened their shoulders. The Doctor shifted slightly, more than a little uncomfortable, before nodding at Twilight. "Well, either way, Philomena is a clever bird, she'll find her way to the Princess and hopefully won't be keen to gossip." “What about the Rainbow Phoenix?” Rarity asked. “She was trapped under the black hole, now that it is gone, do you think she escaped?” The Doctor smiled, standing up and approaching the console. The power was dangerously low, enough for one more jump. Setting the coordinates for back home, he looked over to Rarity with his coy smile. “Momentai, Rarity, she’s a caring mother, she wouldn’t leave her children alone like that.” The Golden Oak Library, Ponyville, Equestria 34th of Summer, 10:30am, 1002 C.R. “Twilight, come on, wake up!” Spike shouted from the first floor. Twilight groaned under her covers, mumbling curses at her reptilian alarm clock, and ducking back under the safety of her blankets. She slept as if inflicted by a party-pony induced coma. It was hard to believe only two days passed, two days of crazy death-defying adventures with danger at every corner. For Twilight it felt like a month had passed, the only one who got out of that experience perfectly fine was the Doctor. Immediately after landing back home, the Doctor flashed a grin and went to work repairing the TARDIS, stuck under the console working away as he always had. Spike informed Twilight that the Doctor barely responded, he wasn’t able to drag the Time Pony away from his precious TARDIS. Which was fine for Twilight, a little peace and quiet was nice. “Twilight!” Poking her head from the covers lazily and blinked at Spike. The little dragon stood in front of her with a grumpy expression, he wore his white and pink apron which would’ve made Twilight laugh but she was too tired. “Alright, I’m up, I’m up,” groaned Twilight, rolling awkwardly out of bed. Spike mumbled a few complaints before dutifully getting to work fixing her bed. Twilight tiredly walked down the stairs. She looked toward the kitchen, considering breakfast… but then she glanced at the basement… Twilight still had a dozen or so questions about what happened. About what the Rainbow Phoenix told the Doctor, about the dangers that he would face… about Trenzalore… He didn’t show it at the time, but he was shaken up about her words. Twilight wondered if it was right to even try to bring it up… but she wanted to let him know that she was there for him. Twilight wasn’t lying when she explained that the magic of friendship was the most powerful she’s known. She knows the effect it can have on others, she’s seen it firsthoof on Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis. If she can help the Doctor, she will, without question. Twilight headed down her basement. The TARDIS stood there as it always had, Twilight couldn’t help but smile when she saw the box. It was such a wonderful box, saving her life on that island and it can’t speak! Twilight gingerly touched the box, her psychic reverberations echoed through her and feelings of warmth and happiness bloomed in her chest. “Can I help you?” Twilight jumped looking toward the TARDIS’s doors where the Doctor stood with an impassive, yet curious, expression on his face. “Oh, Doctor I was…” Twilight took a deep breath, unsure on how to approach this. “Doctor… when we talked to the phoenix, she said a lot of… well, scary things. She said you’re in danger.” The Doctor exhaled deeply, stepping out of the TARDIS he placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Are you scared? Of me?” Twilight blinked. His question came out of nowhere but it felt like something that was on his mind for a long time… maybe something he feared even before he met Twilight… She thought about what she’s seen the Doctor do. What the TARDIS could do, how much of an effect he had on… everything. He dropped into this world and completely turned it upside down, she’s seen so much and this was only the beginning. There were probably countless worlds out there, all of time and history to comb through… and Twilight was going to be there for the ride. “I am scared,” Twilight admitted. “But not of you. I’ve seen what you can do and how much you help everypony… No, I’m not scared of you, Doctor. But I worry, there are dangers out there, Doctor, dangers nopony could fight. The book I read… it said some force same to the island and brought with it the black hole. What could be capable of that, Doctor?” “Honestly, I’m not very sure. Whether it was a mythical creature or something… real is beyond me. History is always complicated, Twilight. It sometimes isn’t completely accurate, filling in the holes with speculation and exaggeration, who knows, Twilight?” Twilight chuckled. “As I thought, you’re always the first in line to argue with history, right?” “Of course,” grinned the Doctor. “Otherwise, where’s the fun in it all?” “Also Doctor, what about the books we have explaining about the Rainbow/Phoenix Island, it said that it sunk to the bottom of the ocean in a massive tidal wave… did it only say that because of us?” “I told you, Twilight. History is complicated, time travel is infinitely complicated.” The Doctor walked away from Twilight to approach a nearby table with a dusty old book on top of it, Twilight didn’t recognize it (a fact that annoyed her). “We may have influenced history in one regard but our affect… it’s rippling, like dropping a pebble in a pond. It can change everything, for good or bad, now, I try to focus on the good… like this.” He took the book and handed it to her. The title read: The History of the Wonderbolts. Twilight opened it to the page the Doctor had bunny-eared bookmarked. The passage read about the founders of the Wonderbolts and their initial inspiration for founding a stunt-flier group. Wunderwings and Mercury Bolt, twin pegasi stunt-fliers, were practicing their flying techniques on day nearby Ponyville when they witnessed… a large lump of land that was later speculated to be a comet or meteor crash in the ocean in front of them to have a large flock of phoenixes emerge from the comet and a trail of a large rainbow what was later described as a Sonic Rainboom. The mythical Sonic Rainboom inspired the twins to hone their flying technique, to this day the fabled trick is considered impossible to replicate. Twilight’s eyes widened as a huge smile appeared on her face. Rainbow Dash was the one who inspired the founders of the Wonderbolts with her trick that she read as a filly as impossible?! “What we do, Twilight affects everything in the grand scale. We can have a large impact on history, on time, because you know what we are?” “What?” The Doctor grinned. “The stuff of legends.”