//------------------------------//
// Vortex 
// Story: Doctor Whooves Episode 19: The Rifts 
// by Doctor Perseus 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 10: Vortex


The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

Clockwork let out a pained grunt as he found his body colliding into a hard brick surface. He heard Colgate's and Matilda's bodies hit the ground a couple feet away from him. After a couple seconds, he forced open his eyes to see that he had landed on a floor constructed from gray bricks. He rolled over on his back and looked towards the ceiling. The ceiling was arched and very high up with the lights of torches bouncing off here and there. He sat up and looked towards the open doorway just in time to see Daring fall through. The door slammed shut on its own a mere second after Daring had passed through the entrance and had landed on the floor.
Suddenly, two particular traits of the room they were now in became extremely noticeable to the ponies. First was the sound of electricity passing through the air and connecting with metal. Second was the incredibly strong smell of iron...though it was clear that the smell wasn't coming from iron itself but from something that was emanating a similar scent. Blood, Clockwork thought as a shiver coursed through his body. 
He gave two strong sniffs and realized that the smell was coming from behind him. He turned around. A couple feet from where he was, Colgate and Matilda were lying on the floor and slowly trying to examine their surroundings. A few yards away from them, a massive metallic machine with monitors, lightning rods, and electrical bursts stood. Next to the strange machine there lay...Bright Eyes. Her eyes were wide open with fear and her entire body was shaking as if she were in the middle of a snowstorm. Raspy breaths were escaping from her mouth and her tongue drooped like a wet rag. Clockwork's eyes focused in on a particular substance that covered most of her torso area: blood. Fresh blood slowly dripping out of a ghastly wound in her chest. As soon as he noticed the blood, Clockwork heard a new sound in the room: dripping. It was then that Clockwork realized that something was standing next to Bright Eyes. It was a tall human male with pale skin, a smile carved into his face, long and matted black hair, and a large knife clutched in his hand. A steady trickle of blood dripped from the blade and onto the floor. Clockwork's eyes widened and he couldn't help but scream, "BRIGHT EYES! NO!"
Colgate and Matilda turned towards the injured Bright Eyes and her attacker. "Bright Eyes!" Colgate gasped. Colgate then turned her attention to the knife-wielding maniac. "YOU!"
Jeff the killer waved his knife like a magician's wand and chuckled. "I think it's time for dear Bright Eyes to...go to sleep," he said as he towered over Bright Eyes and aimed the knife.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Colgate stood up and time seemed to slow down as Jeff brought the knife down. Colgate felt an immense anger rise up within her and center around her horn. Just before Jeff's knife reached Bright Eyes's skin, a powerful blast of magic shot out of Colgate's horn and smashed into Jeff. Jeff flew through the air and hit the ground hard. The knife went sliding across the floor and disappeared into a dark corner. Colgate, Clockwork, and Matilda ran to Bright Eyes's side while Daring stood up and balanced herself, still not fully aware to what exactly was happening.
"Bright Eyes! Stay with us! You're going to be okay!" cried Clockwork as he cradled Bright Eyes's limp head in his forelegs. Clockwork turned to Matilda, who had now pulled out a strange, futuristic scanner from her purse and was passing it over Bright Eyes's body. "Well?! Is she going to live?!"
Matilda looked at the screen on the scanner and nodded slowly. "She's lost a lot of blood but the wound doesn't cover any major organs. However, she obviously needs medical assistance," she replied.
Colgate noticed Matilda's face become slightly confused. "What's wrong?" Colgate asked.
"This injury was made with precision. It was made with the intent to not strike any major organs."
"So...when Jeff stabbed Bright Eyes he had no intention to kill her?"
"Well...that's not entirely true," replied a giggling voice. Colgate, Matilda, and Clockwork turned to see none other than Thalia stepping out of the darkness with a satisfied grin on her face. She was joined by Jeff, who had recovered and was now armed with a new knife, and the evil Rainbow Dash, who was still armed with her electrified rod. "We wanted to kill her but we decided to keep her alive until the rest of you showed up."
Clockwork tightened his grip on Bright Eyes while Colgate and Matilda stood up and took a few steps towards the three psychopaths. Daring was quick to fly over and stand next to Matilda. "It looks like you have no magical imps to help you out now," chuckled Rainbow Dash.
"We won't need him," said Matilda.
"We're not afraid of any of you," said Colgate with a furious flash in her eyes. "I mean what's there to be scared of? A clone of the much better Twilight Sparkle who looks like she got taken out of a negative picture? A mentally disturbed version of Rainbow Dash who should probably return to the asylum she came from? A pale human who should have learned a long time ago not to play with knives? Please."
"Big talk for a little, fleshy pony who was running from me not too long ago," Jeff said with a snarl.
"That was then. This is now. We've gone through too much in order to find the source of the rifts to be stopped by you three."
"Well, you can be a bit happy that you've finally found it," Thalia said as she tilted her head in the direction of the mysterious device in the room.
"So that's it, huh?" Matilda asked. "The source of the dimensional rifts."
"Not exactly. Much like most of the rooms in this temple, it's an echo of the real thing."
"Of course. I figured as much." Matilda's eyes quickly honed in on a certain device wrapped around one of Thalia's forelegs. "So, tell me, where'd you get the vortex manipulator?"
Thalia laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She presented the foreleg with the vortex manipulator before Matilda. "Sorry, dearie. Spoilers."
Matilda shook her head. "Nu-uh. Don't start stealing mine and River's catch-phrases."
"Come off it, Matilda. I make it sound a lot better than you or Professor Song could ever manage."
"I beg to differ."
"Can we get back to the point?" Daring snapped.
"Yes," said Jeff as he raised his knife. "Let's."
Rainbow Dash readied her rod and a few sparks emanated from Thalia's horn. "Clockwork, keep Bright Eyes safe," ordered Matilda. Clockwork nodded in return as he continued to hold onto Bright Eyes and put pressure over her wound.
"I'll get Jeff," said Colgate.
"Dibs on Dash," said Daring.
"Then I guess I've got Thalia," chuckled Matilda.
Suddenly...there was silence. Nobody and nopony in the room made a sound. The only sounds heard were the electrical zaps of the machine and Bright Eyes's raspy breathing. Then it started. Jeff raced towards Matilda but Colgate jumped at him and knocked him to the ground. Daring and Rainbow took to the air and raced at each other. Matilda reached into her purse and pulled out a blaster of sorts that produced a shield from an oncoming magical blast from Thalia. 
Rainbow tried to zap Daring with the rod but Daring was ready. She flicked her whip and the pulled the rod out of Rainbow's grasp, proceeding to send it flying off into one of the dark corners of the room. Rainbow flew at Daring and crashed into her. The crazed pegasus, with no other weapons, bit down on one of Daring's forelegs. Daring gasped in pain and unintentionally let go of her whip before kicking Rainbow in the gut, knocking the air out of her. The two pegasi broke apart and flew at each other again.
Thalia continued to send rapid magical blasts at Matilda. All the while, Matilda used her blaster shield to keep the attacks from reaching her. Thalia charged up one big blast and sent it at Matilda. Matilda, knowing that the blast was too large to block entirely, activated a new setting on her blaster and reflected the attack back at Thalia. Thalia used a magical shield to re-reflect the attack and, within seconds, Matilda and Thalia were caught in a chain of reflecting the attack over and over again. The magical blast was obviously gaining more energy with each reflection. Don't know how long I can keep this up. One of us is going to slip soon! Matilda thought just as she reflected the magical blast again.
Colgate kicked Jeff in the stomach and knocked him back. Jeff lunged at her and attempted to drive the knife into her back but, as expected, the knife couldn't pierce through her Weeping Angel skin. Colgate gave several more kicks and got in a few good shots. Jeff grabbed one of her legs and tossed her towards the wall. The impact against the wall didn't hurt as it normally would but it still dazed her for a few seconds. Jeff rushed at her and knocked her back. Colgate looked and saw that she and him were drawing closer and closer to one of the dark portions of the room. If he gets me in the dark, he'll be able to cut me, Colgate thought as she turned back at her opponent. She tried to force out another magical blast but it was to no avail. Instead, she rushed at him again and brought one of her forelegs straight into his face. He quickly recovered and lunged at Colgate again. This time, he managed to jump on top of her and pin her to the ground. He drove the knife down several times at her neck but was still unable to break the skin. Suddenly, there was a sickening flash in his eyes.
"Nobody can see the back of your throat...can they?" he chuckled. Colgate gasped as he grabbed her jaw and forced her mouth open. He raised the knife up, focused on his eyes her own, and drove the knife towards her open mouth. Colgate reached up and pushed her forelegs against Jeff's oncoming arm, stopping the knife just a inch or so from her face. The two struggled for a brief moment before Colgate gained a much welcomed adrenaline boost and kicked Jeff off her. This simple act became the starting point of a chain reaction that nopony saw coming.
Jeff fell back and hit the ground hard. His knife flew out of his hand in the process and flew over towards the dueling Matilda and Thalia. In the blink of an eye, Jeff's knife collided with the powered up magic blast that was still being reflected back and forth between the two mares. The knife and the magic blast combined and flew in a new direction towards Clockwork and Bright Eyes. "Clockwork! Move!" Matilda cried. Clockwork saw the oncoming attack and pulled himself and the injured Bright Eyes out of harm's way. The combined knife and magical orb flew straight at the object that had lay just beyond Clockwork and Bright Eyes: the machine. The orb smashed right into the heart of the machine. A powerful shockwave reverberated through the air, knocking everypony on their rumps. 
Thalia was the first to get back up. Her eyes widened angrily at the sight of the destroyed machine. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she screamed. "YOU'VE DESTROYED THE HEART OF THE ELMHEIM TEMPLE!"
"The echo of the machine that's causing the dimensional rifts," said Matilda with a look of shocked realization. She turned towards Colgate and gulped. "We're in trouble."
Everypony looked as the machine began to pull in on itself. A bright, white light began to emanate from the destroyed heart of the machine. The machine then started to spin around and disappear into a small vortex of sorts. As the seconds passed, the vortex grew larger and the light grew brighter. Matilda and the others could feel a powerful force pulling on their bodies. The last remnants of the machine disappeared and now all that remained was a growing, white vortex. The room began to shake and the walls, floor, and ceiling started to crack.
"What's happening?!" asked Daring.
"The machine's broken apart! An uncontrollable rift vortex has been created! It's not going to stop until the whole temple's been drawn in!" Matilda explained.
"Where does the vortex lead?!" Colgate asked.
Matilda eyed Colgate. "Anywhere. Anywhen."
There was another shake and everypony fell on the ground. "BRIGHT EYES!" Clockwork cried. The weakened Bright Eyes was being pulled towards the vortex. Clockwork kept his hold on her but the pull of the vortex was becoming too strong. Everypony in the room began sliding across the floor towards the vortex. They all tried to find something to hold onto but it was no use. There was nothing to grip. Bright Eyes was growing ever so close to the vortex. "I'M SLIPPING!"
At that moment, Bright Eyes petted Clockwork's hooves and smiled. "I know you'll find me," she said with a sparkle in her eyes. "I know that everything's going to be-" Clockwork's grip was lost. The injured Bright Eyes fell like a rag doll towards the vortex and was sucked right in.
"BRIGHT EYES!"
At that moment, Thalia lost her footing and fell towards the vortex. "This isn't over! Not by a long shot!" she cried as she fell in.
"I'm sure of it," Matilda sighed back.
"Matilda!" cried Daring as she and Rainbow Dash went sliding past. Matilda tried to grab her but the adventurer was moving too fast. The two pegasi disappeared into the growing, white abyss.
Colgate heard a grunt next to her and watched as Jeff slipped and went sliding off into the vortex after Daring and Rainbow Dash. Now only Colgate, Matilda, and Clockwork remained. Colgate slid a bit closer to the vortex and came to a stop next to Matilda. She could feel the floor beginning to break apart beneath her. "We...we have to go through now...don't we?" Colgate asked.
Matilda nodded in reply. For a moment, the three remaining ponies eyes the expanding vortex. Eventually, they quickly nodded to each other before turning back to the vortex. "NOW!" Matilda cried. Simultaneously, they released their grips on the floor and allowed their bodies to be sucked into the swirling, white portal.

Laboratory Building, Fort Rice, The Forest of Shadows, Eugora, Autumn, 1899 C.E.

Colgate felt her body stretch and contract several times before she finally escaped the confines of the vortex. She looked around to see that she was standing in a dark hallway. A siren was going off and she could hear voices calling out from various locations around her. The loudest of all was a male voice calling out over a speaker. "We have an intruder! Look for the unicorn called Jean Locke! She has been killed and her body is now being used as the host for an extremely dangerous creature. Get her into custody or, if capturing her fails, kill her!" ordered the voice. 
She was suddenly drawn to the window. She looked outside to see several buildings scattered about what appeared to be a fenced off facility within a forest. Four ponies could be seen running across the grounds towards one of the other buildings. Colgate gasped as she recognized two of the ponies. "Twilight?! Doctor?!" she gasped. Colgate felt the air in the hallway unexpectedly become very thick. A feeling of being watched by somepony washed over her. She turned away from the window and looked down the hallway. Her heart stopped for a second. Standing a few feet from her with its arms stretched towards her was a humanoid Weeping Angel. "NO!" Colgate took several steps back and unintentionally blinked a couple times, thus allowing the Angel to get a few feet closer. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" There was an explosion of white light behind her. She dared not look away from the Angel. However, a few seconds later, she found a powerful force pulling her back. A feeling of fear and relief washed over her as the rift pulled her in and the Angel vanished in a flash of white.

Viewing Hall 11, The Queen Philippine, Esther Space Station, Space, Winter, 4376 C.E.

Colgate stumbled out of the rift to find herself standing in what appeared to be a massive hallway with a red velvet carpet and a wide variety of furnishings. One of the walls was a gargantuan window that overlooked a silver-clouded planet suspended in space. Colgate suddenly realized that she wasn't alone and turned to see a stallion in a captain's uniform standing a couple feet away. He had a lime green coat, sapphire eyes, an ice-blue mane, and a cutie mark consisting of a black ship's wheel. In one of his hooves was a piece of metal with the words Cybus Industries welded into one of its sides. "What the...where the hay did you come from?!" gasped the stallion.
"It's a bit of a long story," Colgate replied with a nervous smile. "You probably don't want to hear it. It involves time and space travel and all that stuff."
"Ma'am, I just helped a time traveling stallion known as the Doctor save my ship from fire zombies. I think I-"
"Wait a second! You know the Doctor?!"
"Of course. He left just a moment ago." The stallion eyed Colgate suspiciously. "Who are you?" There was suddenly a bright flash of light and Colgate turned around to see another rift waiting for her. "What the hay?!"
Colgate turned back to the stallion. "I'm Colgate, an ally of the Doctor's. Now if you'll excuse me, Mr..."
"Kemp. John Kemp."
"Right! Now if you'll excuse me, Mr. Kemp, I've got some friends to save! Have a nice day!" Before John Kemp could say anything else, Colgate ran forward and jumped through the rift.

Adipose Industries, London, England, Earth, Spring, 2009 A.D.

After falling out of another rift, Colgate stood up and looked around to see that she was in a business place of sorts as several isolated desks were situated all around her. "Now where am I?" she asked under her breath. Her ears twitched a bit as she heard the sound of talking. She used her forelegs to pull herself a bit over the top of one of the isolated desks' walls to see five humans standing the middle of the room, which was surprisingly big. Colgate instantly recognized one of the humans as Donna Noble. Her attention was quickly drawn to the man next to her, who had pulled out a...sonic screwdriver. "Wait a minute...the suit...the screwdriver...Doctor?!"
The blonde woman facing the Doctor and Donna gave a remark and the two men with her aimed their guns. "Hold on, hold on, hold on! One more thing before...dying," said the Doctor. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?" The Doctor presented his sonic screwdriver in one hand and a black pen in another. 
The blonde woman took a breath. "No," she replied.
"Nor me! Let's find out!" The Doctor pointed the screwdriver and the pen towards each other and activated them. A loud, sonic shriek reverberated through the air. Colgate fell to the ground and covered her ears. She could hear glass breaking around her and the floor shaking beneath her feet.
"Come on!" ordered the voice of Donna Noble just before the sonic shrill vanished. Colgate quickly pulled herself back up to see the Doctor and Donna running off in one direction with the blonde woman and her bodyguards walking off in the opposite direction. Not a second after they had all left, another rift opened behind Colgate.
Colgate looked at the rift and shrugged her shoulders. "Why not?" she sighed before jumping through.

Outside Powell Estate, London, England, Earth, Winter, 2005 A.D.

Colgate was spat out of the rift but she managed to make a smooth landing. She instantly took note of her surroundings. She was standing in a fairly large room with a grated platform, circular openings in the curved walls, a central control console, and tree-like columns. "What is this place?" Colgate asked aloud. Her eyes drifted over to a pair of doors which she deduced was the entrance. Suddenly the doors opened and Colgate hid herself behind one of the columns. She peered around the edge of the column to see the Doctor approaching the main console. However, this was still the same Doctor that Colgate had seen with Donna in her previous destination. A tall, lanky, human-like Doctor. But there was definitely something different about him here. He seemed sad and had a look of pain etched into his face. Colgate looked around the room again. Am I...inside the TARDIS?! she thought. The Doctor walked around the main console a bit before pulling down one of the levers. Colgate held on as the TARDIS began to move.

Orbit of Earth, The Solar System, Space, Winter, 2005 A.D.

A few seconds after the lever was pulled down, the TARDIS stopped shaking and became still. The Doctor continued to walk around the console, that sad look still carved into his face, and Colgate looked on from behind the column. Eventually, the Doctor stopped walking and proceeded to breathe deeply. As his eyes began to water up, he sadly stated, "I don't want to go." With that said, his body began to emanate a bright, golden light. Colgate could only watch as the Doctor's body grew brighter and brighter, his breathing becoming faster and heavier with each second. Then the Doctor spread his arms out and exploded in a flash of fiery gold. Light spewed from his hands and head like fireworks. The air in the TARDIS grew increasingly hot and the columns began to shake and fall apart. Sparks rained down from the ceiling and the entire ship shook back and forth. After what seemed like forever, the golden light disappeared and Colgate looked to see that the Doctor had transformed into the Doctor she knew, hooves and all. Before the Doctor could get a full look at his new body, the TARDIS tilted drastically and began to fall towards the ground far below. While the Doctor focused on the controls, Colgate's attention was drawn to a new rift. Another tilt of the TARDIS sent Colgate falling through.

Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glenfinnan, Scotland, Earth, Autumn, 1992 A.D.

Colgate had a rocky landing and hit the ground awkwardly. She tripped and fell over but it it didn't take her long to get back up. She saw that she was standing on a train track located on top of a tall viaduct. Beyond the viaduct was an expansion of green hills and trees. "At least I've landed somewhere nice," she said with a smile.
There was suddenly another flash and Colgate turned around to see Matilda standing before her. "Colgate!" Matilda gasped as she ran up to her. "You alright?"
"Been to a few weird places but I'm in one piece."
"Good."
"Why are all of these rifts appearing?"
"We fell into a rift vortex. We're going to keep falling through rifts until we reach our final destination."
"And that would be?"
"The actual source of the rifts. What we found in the Elmheim Temple was an echo. We're traveling to the actual source of it all."
Colgate glanced at Matilda's vortex manipulator. "Have you been able to get that working?"
"Not yet, sadly. I think there's too much disturbance for it to work-" Just then, something blue flew over their heads. "Is that a...flying Ford Anglia?"
The flying blue car began to slowly glide a few feet above the train tracks. "A what?" Colgate asked.
"It's another transportational vehicle. It's funny because I haven't seen a car like that since-" Matilda's eyes widened. The ground began to shake beneath their hooves and the sound of heavy wheels moving could be heard behind them. The two mares turned around to see a red steam engine heading straight for them. "RUN!"
Colgate and Matilda ran as fast as they could down the tracks but the train was quickly gaining up on them. Colgate's heart was pounding like a drum on speed. She felt a powerful adrenaline boost make its way towards her horn and, in the blink of an eye, Colgate unintentionally teleported herself and Matilda out of the train's path. However, where they ended up wasn't that much better. "Great...we're on top of the train," sighed Colgate as she found herself and Matilda now sitting on top of one of the train cars in the middle of the train. As she said this, there was a flash of light and Colgate looked to see Jeff the killer standing a few feet from her. "Really? You? Now?"
Jeff raced towards Colgate but Matilda greeted him with a series of kicks. As Jeff and Matilda became engrossed in a brawl, Colgate looked to see that the train had caught up to the flying Ford Anglia. The car veered off the tracks, flew around the viaduct, and up into the air at about diagonally above the train. Suddenly, one of the car's doors opened and a human preteen boy with black hair and glasses fell out, managing to grab onto the handle of the door. A red-headed boy within the car reached forward and tried to grab his friend. 
Colgate's attention was then drawn back to Jeff and Matilda. In a sudden twist of luck, Jeff managed to pin down Matilda and was now choking the life out of her. Colgate ran over to Jeff and kicked him as hard as she could in the face. A cracking sound rang out from his nose before he rolled off Matilda, across the top of the car, and over the edge. Colgate watched as Jeff fell down towards the river that resided beneath the viaduct. She turned away just before he hit the ground. "Are you okay?!" Colgate asked as she ran over to Matilda to help her up.
"I'm alive. That's good enough," Matilda replied with a nervous chuckle. "That's one less psychopath we have to worry about now. Let's just hope not that many people on the train saw that." Luckily only one person in the train saw Jeff's fall and had instantly fainted upon witnessing it: a preteen boy with a round face, bucked teeth, and a toad in his lap.
Colgate turned her attention back to the boys in the flying car just in time to see the red-headed boy help the boy with glasses climb back into the car and close the door. "At least they made it out okay," she said.
Matilda smiled up at the flying car. "Good thing too. The Wizarding World's going to need those boys," she commented. Colgate gave Matilda a confused look and Matilda smirked back at her. "I'll explain later when I get the chance."
It was then that another rift opened up before them. "Let's get off this train now."
Matilda approached Colgate and took her hoof. "And let's stick together."
Colgate nodded. She and Matilda then jumped through the portal.

The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

Colgate and Matilda were still holding each others' hooves tightly when they exited the portal. Colgate let out an annoyed groan upon seeing where they were. Their current location was a room filled with trees and grass like a miniature forest. "Ugh! We're back in the temple!" Colgate groaned.
"How can you tell?" Matilda asked.
"Bright Eyes and I passed through this room while we were still doing that errand for Rumplestiltskin. This is that room where Bright Eyes said she saw-" Colgate fell silent.
"Saw...what?"
Another spark of light interrupted their conversation. Thalia, who had just exited a rift, limped towards them with an arrow sticking out of her side, a steady trickle of blood flowing out. Thalia snarled upon seeing Colgate and Matilda but lost her footing and fell over. Matilda approached the injured evil clone and looked down at her coldly. "My how the tables have turned. I guess you had a bad run in with some archers. Probably mistook you for a demon," she said.
"This...isn't...over," Thalia grunted.
"Of course it isn't. You're not meant to die here. No. Your final breath won't be taken for a long while. But this current conflict of ours is over."
Matilda turned her attention to her vortex manipulator and began to press a series of the buttons. "I thought your vortex manipulator couldn't work," said Colgate.
"Under these circumstances, it normally won't and still can't teleport us away. But, I think I've figured out whose vortex manipulator Thalia's belongs to." Matilda knelt down next to the injured Thalia. "And I'm here to return it."
"How...how could you know?!" Thalia snarled.
"It wasn't that hard once I examined everything, especially the manipulator itself." Matilda took Thalia's foreleg with the manipulator and presented her own. "Tell me, Thalia, do you know what happens when one vortex manipulator meets another version of itself from another point in time?"
Thalia looked up at Matilda with a look of absolute hatred. "No."
"Well, you're about to find out. Send whomever you're going to meet my regards." Matilda pressed her vortex manipulator against the one on Thalia's foreleg. A spark emanated from the touching devices and spread all over Thalia's body. 
"NO!" Thalia screamed angrily as she vanished into the time stream.
"Where did you send her?" Colgate asked as Matilda stood up.
"The future," Matilda replied before turning back to face Colgate. "Now, tell me, what exactly did Bright Eyes see in here?"
"She told me that she met...you."
"Me?"
"Yes. This room in under the affect of something called temporal separation."
"Ah."
"You know what that means?"
"I've come across the actual thing a few times in my travels."
"Well...I guess you're about to come across it again."
"Colgate?" asked a familiar voice from a clearing a few yards away. Colgate and Matilda looked to see Bright Eyes looking around frantically.
"Go talk to her. You won't have much time, though," said Colgate.
Matilda nodded as she made her way towards the pegasus. "Colgate? Colgate?! COLGATE?!" Bright Eyes cried.
"Calm down, sweetie," said Matilda as she approached Bright Eyes.
Bright Eyes turned to face her with a surprised expression. "Matilda? How did you-"
"I don't have time to explain. I just need you to know that everything's going to be okay."
"What about-"
"Colgate's fine. She'll be back in a moment." Matilda couldn't help but give a somber face upon thinking back to the injured future Bright Eyes falling into the vortex. She stepped closer to Bright Eyes and gave her a quick, tight hug. "No matter what happens, everything's going to be okay. Don't forget that." Bright Eyes nodded and Matilda smiled at her. "Good." She was about to turn back to go back to Colgate's hiding spot when she suddenly thought back to the events of the flying door room. "Oh and thanks for the heads up on that chandelier."
Bright Eyes gave Matilda a curious stare. "What chandelier?" Not a second later, Bright Eyes vanished.
Colgate stepped into the clearing and began to approach Matilda. "Is everything going to be okay?" she asked upon stopping a foot or so away from Matilda.
"I believe so," Matilda replied. "What about you?"
Before Colgate could reply, a flash of white light appeared beneath Matilda and Colgate jumped as Matilda fell through a surprise rift. "MATILDA!" Colgate lunged for the rift but it closed before she could reach it. Colgate slammed her hoof into the ground and rolled over on her back. "Dang it! Alone again." Not a minute after that, another rift opened above Colgate and proceeded to pull her through.

Colgate landed on top of a large pile of junk within a familiar room. She looked down to see a horde of zombie ponies crowding around the pile she had landed on. "Great. This room," she sighed upon looking out upon the vast expanse of the junk room.
"Colgate?" asked a surprised voice next to her. Colgate looked to see Bright Eyes sitting with her on the same mound of rubble, Rumplestiltskin's first map in her hooves.
Colgate smiled awkwardly. "Hi...Bright Eyes."
"Where did you-"
"The future."
Bright Eyes threw her forelegs into the air. "Another future Colgate?"
"Yeah. I guess it's just one of those days."
"So where's my Colgate...I mean you...your past self?"
"I'm fine. Just get out of here and follow the map to the next room! I'll meet you in there."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry. My ride's coming shortly."
"Okay...guess I'll see you in the next room then."
Bright Eyes was about to take off when Colgate grabbed her foreleg. "Everything's going to be okay, Bright Eyes. I promise."
Bright Eyes looked at Colgate curiously. "That...that's exactly what Matilda told me back in that forest room."
Colgate was quiet for a few seconds. She pointed off towards the next door. "Now go!" Bright Eyes nodded and took off. "Oh! Don't tell my past self about this!"
"Okay!"
Colgate watched as Bright Eyes flew off towards the Memory Room. The next rift soon appeared and took her away.

Stevens Residence, San Antonio, Texas, America, Earth, Winter, 2012 A.D.

Colgate exited the rift to find herself standing in what appeared to be a closet. She softened her breathing once she heard the sound of a male voice emanating from the room beyond the closet door. She peered through a crack in the door to see a teenage human boy with black hair, fair skin, and green eyes talking on a cell phone, which Colgate couldn't identify, and was sitting in front of a monitor. "Did you see The Snowmen?" the boy asked. "I know! It was great! I wonder who Clara's going to turn out to be." The boy typed something on the keyboard and laughed. "Oh. You've got to go? Okay. Talk to you later then." The boy put the phone down and began typing something on a word document.
Suddenly, Colgate caught her legs of a small pile of clothing and fell out of the closet. The boy turned around and stood up as Colgate rolled out into the center of his bedroom. Upon realizing that she had been spotted, Colgate smiled and said, "Uh...hello. Sorry about the closet."
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" 
Colgate slowly stood up and began to back away. "I'll just be out of here shortly and-"
"Wait! I have...something to tell you...I suppose."
Colgate froze. "Wait...what?"
The boy sighed and rubbed his face. "I can't believe this is happening. First there was that whole thing with Alex and Quinn during the summer and now this!" He lowered his hand and sat down in his chair. "I know about your situation, Colgate."
"How do you know who I am?"
"That's a bit complicated and I don't have time to go into that right now. My name's Edgar Stevens and...I need to tell you something about who you're up against. Who you're going to meet when you reach the world that's the source of the dimensional rifts."
"Okaaaay."
"You're going to be going up against...a dark version of the Doctor."
"A...dark Doctor?"
"Yes, if you wish to put it like that. He's known in my world too, though the version of him we know of it not as, shall we say, dark as the one you're going up against. We even have a name for him. We don't call him the Doctor or even the Dark Doctor."
"What do you call him then?"
Edgar beckoned Colgate to come in closer. She cautiously did as she was told. Edgar leaned forward and placed his mouth next to Colgate's ear. He then whispered a name so softly that Colgate almost missed it, but she was able to make it out nonetheless. Edgar leaned back and Colgate stepped away. "And there's one more thing you should know before you leave."
"And what's that?"
"You still have that red robe right? The one that sent you back in time while you were in the Elmheim Temple?"
"How the hay do you-"
"Just answer the question!"
"Okay...uh...yes."
"When you reach the world of the source, you're going to need to use it again."
Just then, there was a bright flash as another rift opened up. "It looks like my ride's here."
"There's a big fight ahead of you, Colgate. Be careful...but, don't worry, everything's going to be okay."
Colgate gave another curious look at the mysterious Edgar Stevens before turning back towards the rift. For another time, I suppose, she thought before launching herself into the white abyss.

Rosewood Plaza, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

Colgate stumbled a bit upon exiting the rift. She took in a deep breath and was immediately met with a mouthful of smoke and dust. Her eyes were blinded for a couple seconds and stung a bit from the various particles filling the air around her. She rubbed her eyes and eventually managed to open them and gain a full view at her surroundings.
She was standing in what appeared to be a plaza of sorts. The ground was constructed with bricks and several squares filled with dirt were scattered about every few feet. The bricks on the ground were covered in a mixture of dirt and ash and the dead remnants of lost vegetation could be seen poking through the dirt in the square sections. The plaza was bordered on all sides by old buildings that looked as if they had once been occupied homes and thriving businesses. Beyond the ruined homes and businesses lay a series of tall buildings with rusted pipes running along their exteriors. The pipes ran up to the tops of the buildings and gushed out a seemingly endless amount of smoke. The sky was dark and cloudy and the clouds had a rusted look to them, almost as if dark sandstorms were billowing throughout the air above the city constantly.
Colgate looked up through the smog and was just barely able to make out the outline of a familiar looking castle. "This place looks...so familiar," she stated. She looked around the deserted plaza for a couple seconds before it clicked. "Can it...no...it can't be!" She turned to examine the outline of the castle once more. "C...Canterlot?!"
Suddenly, three white flashes illuminated behind Colgate and she spun around to see Matilda, Clockwork, and Daring Do fall to the bricked ground, coughing violently. "Dear Celestia...where did all this smoke come from?!" Daring coughed. 
"Daring?! Matilda?! Colgate?!" gasped Clockwork as he stood up. He clasped his chest and gave a loud sigh. "Thank Celestia! We're all together again!" Just then, he began looking around frantically. "Where...where's Bright Eyes?"
The others looked around as well. There was no sign of the injured pegasus in the mailmare uniform. "She's not here," said Colgate.
"But all of us are here! Where could she be?!"
"I'm not sure," said Matilda as she looked at her vortex manipulator. She proceeded to give out loud groan. "I can't believe this!"
"What's wrong?" Daring asked.
"Something's interfering with my manipulator."
"So you still can't use it?" Colgate asked.
"No," Matilda replied. "However...I can see where we are." She pressed a few buttons and looked at the screen before looking at her comrades. "We're here."
"Where?" Daring asked.
"The world where the true source of the rifts lies."
Everypony looked around. "It's not a very attractive place."
"At least we won't have to worry about Jeff popping up out of the smog," Colgate commented.
"Why? What happened to him?" Clockwork asked.
"Colgate kicked him off a moving train," Matilda replied.
"Oh...and Thalia?"
"I sent her back to where she belongs to return the vortex manipulator she stole."
"Oh...and what about that evil Rainbow Dash?"
"Don't worry. She's taken care of," Daring replied. "We ended up in some forest and a large purple cloud ate her up along with the forest. A rift came and took me away before the cloud got to me."
"Oh dear," said Matilda.
Daring raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Nothing. I can look further into that later. Right now, we need to focus on finding the actual source."
"That reminds me!" said Colgate. "I know who we're up against, the one who probably built the machine that's creating the rifts!"
"Really? How'd you find out?" Matilda asked.
"Before I arrived here, I ended up in the bedroom of some human named Edgar who knew an awful lot about me and-"
"Wait a minute! You're not talking about Edgar Roger Stevens are you?!"
"He said his name was Edgar Stevens. Didn't hear the Roger part. Do you know him?"
"I...uh...it's complicated. Let's just say that I usually know of him under a different name."
"Well, who is he? He knew about me and what's going on."
"That's also complicated."
"Can we get back to the point?!" Daring snapped. "Who are we going up against?"
Colgate cleared her throat and said, "Edgar told me that-"
Just then, the ground beneath their hooves began to vibrate. The four ponies fell silent. "Why is it I feel that we're not alone?" Clockwork asked.
Matilda looked and saw a collection of shadows appear in the dusty landscape. "It's because we're not," she replied. Suddenly, the shadows raced forward. "RUN!"
The others didn't dare waste time to ask questions. They just ran. The sound of metal limbs moving reached their hears as robotic cries started reverberating through the air. "STOP! HALT! SURRENDER! YOU WILL STOP!" ordered the voices. This was soon followed by the sound of something whizzing through the air. A projectile flew over the ponies' heads and smashed into the ground in front of them. The blast caught Matilda and Daring by surprise while Colgate and Clockwork miraculously managed to avoid most of the shockwave and jump over the hole. Colgate and Clockwork heard two gasps and turned around to see that the dazed Matilda and Daring had been captured by their pursuers. It was here that they finally got a good look at them.
They appeared to be humans constructed out of various metals. Their faces were merely stagnant, emotionless masks with simple square cutouts for the mouth and eyes. There were many of them and Colgate could see more of them walking out of the dusty shadows. "What...what are you?!" Colgate managed to ask.
"WE ARE THE CYBERMEN! THE ENFORCERS OF THE LAW AND THE PROTECTORS OF EQUESTRIA!" replied one of the robotic humans, its eyes and mouth lighting up with each word.
"I've seen these beings before," said Clockwork. "In my dreams of the Doctor's memories. They're monsters from his past."
"Run!" Matilda ordered. "Get away, you two!"
"IT IS FOOLISH TO RUN! YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" stated another one of the Cybermen.
"What do you want?! What are you going to do to us?!" Colgate asked.
"WE SHALL TAKE YOU TO THE RULER OF THIS LAND! HE SHALL DECIDE YOUR FATE!"
Colgate and Matilda met eye-to-eye. "You two have to get out of here!" she ordered as she and Daring struggled against the grips of the Cybermen holding them.
"How?!" Clockwork asked. "They've surrounded us!"
Colgate's eyes widened a bit as she looked back at her bag. The words of Edgar Roger Stevens returned to her. "You still have that red robe right? The one that sent you back in time while you were in the Elmheim Temple?" he had asked. "When you reach the world of the source, you're going to need to use it again."
"You're wrong, Clockwork," said Colgate. "There is a way out."
"Really? Can you teleport?" Clockwork asked.
"Not upon demand with my unicorn magic...but I have a way for us to escape." Colgate hastily reached into her bag and pulled out the red robe.
"SIEZE THEM!" ordered one of the Cybermen. 
Colgate could hear Cybermen rushing towards her from all sides. She stared sadly at Matilda and Daring and they stared back. "We'll rescue you. We'll find a way to bring the Doctor here and we'll rescue you. We'll rescue everypony," Colgate stated.
"We know," Matilda said. "Everything's going to be okay."
"Now get the hell out of here!" Daring directed.
Colgate nodded as she readied the robe. "Hold onto me, Clockwork!" she ordered. Deciding to ask questions later, Clockwork grabbed one of Colgate's forelegs. The Cybermen were just about to reach her when Colgate tossed the robe over her and Clockwork. In the blink of an eye, the robe covered them both and the two ponies felt the world around them disappear.

Rosewood Plaza, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1001 C.E.

Colgate and Clockwork were blinded for a moment as bright sunlight rained down upon them the second the robe fell off their bodies. A cold chill brushed against their coats and they could feel something icy underneath their hooves. Once their vision cleared, they saw that they were standing in a plaza covered in a thick, acceptable layer of snow. The smell of hot chocolate and lumber filled the air and Colgate looked to see humans walking about in winter clothing. Decorated trees stood in the square portions of the plaza and colored lights hung from the various homes and business in the surrounding area. The sky was an icy blue with thick, white clouds passing over and said clouds were busy depositing a perfect amount of snow over the land below. "Where are we?" Clockwork asked.
"We're in exactly the same spot we were...only in the past," Colgate replied before picking up the robe. "I found this robe in the Elmheim Temple. It has some strange time travel properties." She stuffed the robe into her bag.
"So...you had it take us back in time?"
"Yes. I thought about traveling back to before the Cybermen arrived in Equestria when I threw the robe over us. And I suppose this is what this alternate Equestria was like before the Cybermen appeared."
Clockwork and Colgate looked at all the cheerful humans making their way about the plaza, appearing to be too caught up in the joy of the holiday season to give the two ponies a second glance. "So...all this is destined to become that dusty, abandoned city we just came from?" Clockwork asked. Colgate gave a gloomy nod. Clockwork was silent for a moment. "I wonder...if we'll find Bright Eyes here in the past."
Colgate turned to Clockwork and took his hoof. "We'll find Bright Eyes and save the others. Before that, we need to find a way to get a message to the Doctor back in my universe and see how this whole Cybermen invasion began," she said. Clockwork turned her her and nodded.
Just then, the sound of a camera going off emanated from behind them. The two ponies turned around to see a human girl in her late teens standing a couple feet from them with a camera in hand. She had fair skin; flowing purple hair; and was wearing a lavender, hooded jacket with a familiar mark printed on it. She was joined by a boy who appeared to be a few years her junior. He had fair skin; spiky, green hair; and was wearing a purple, hooded jacket. "I can't believe I'm actually witnessing this!" squealed the girl with an excited tone. "Talking ponies! I've heard the stories but never imagined that I'd meet them one day!" Colgate and Clockwork glanced at each other awkwardly before turning back to the girl. The girl blushed as she stored her camera away in one of her pockets. "Sorry if I'm bothering you. It's not everyday that one finds talking ponies here in Equestria." The girl extended one of her hands. "My name's Twilight Sparkle and this is my close friend and assistant Spike!"
Spike the human waved one hand and yawned loudly. "Hey," he said as he head drooped a bit. "Sorry...it's too early for me and Twilight here made me get up for Celestia knows what reason."
Twilight the human turned to her friend and frowned. "How can you want to sleep in when the holiday season is in full swing?! Seriously, Spike, you can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes!"
Colgate and Clockwork turned back to look at each other. "Just when things couldn't get any weirder," Clockwork sighed.
Not one second later, the entire planet seemed to shake beneath them and a bright light flashed in the sky above the city. "And it looks like the surprises aren't done yet," Colgate commented as she looked up. The clouds in the sky had merged and were now spinning around like a massive funnel. The sky looked as if it were ripped open and now something was coming through. Colgate, Clockwork, the human Twilight Sparkle and Spike, and the rest of the human inhabitants of the alternate Canterlot turned to the sky and watched as a massive amount of debris began falling from the sky towards the ground below. Colgate looked closely at the falling objects to see that they looked like pieces of spaceships and other futuristic items.
"What the hell is that?!" asked Spike the human, his eyes now wide open.
"I need to call the Princesses and see if they know anything!" stated the human Twilight as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
"This is it," said Colgate. "He's coming."
Clockwork turned to Colgate. "He?" he asked.
"Yes. The one we're up against. The one who's behind the source of the dimensional rifts."
Clockwork and Colgate then noticed one, particular object in the center of the massive cloud of debris falling out of the vortex. Clockwork gasped as he saw that it was a familiar blue box emanating a trail of flames and smoke as a fell. "Is that...the TARDIS?!"
"We're going up against an alternate version of the Doctor, Clockwork. He's a darker version of the Doctor. Edgar Roger Stevens warned me about him. He's known about in Edgar's world too and they even have a name for him. He's not called the Doctor, though. Not even the Dark Doctor."
"Then what is he, Colgate?! What is he called?!"
Colgate glanced at Clockwork for a second before turning back to the sky, the falling TARDIS of the dark, alternate Doctor and the vortex in the sky being reflected clearly in the irises of her determined eyes. She took a deep breath and responded. "Discord Whooves."

To be continued...