Chapter 3: The Land of Death
Home of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The TARDIS doors flung open as the Doctor rushed inside with Colgate's makeshift rift generator held tightly in his hooves. He ran up to the console, reached underneath, and pulled out an electric cable. He hastily attached the cable to a socket on the rift generator and turned his attention to one of the monitors. After several long seconds, a series of space and time coordinates appeared on the screen. "There we go!" the Doctor exclaimed happily as he pranced around the console before running back out through the TARDIS doors.
The Doctor was greeted by Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and the others upon jumping out of the blue box. "What's all the jumping about?" Applejack asked.
"I've just got the coordinates from the rift generator implemented in the TARDIS console. The next stop this TARDIS makes is Twi's world."
Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and brought her forehooves together. "Right! Let's do this!" she announced.
"Hold on one moment there, Rainbow," said the Doctor with a wave of his hoof.
Rainbow came to a quick halt immediately in front of the Doctor. "What's the hold up, Doc?! Let's go!"
"Rainbow," said Applejack as she pulled her cyan friend back to earth. Applejack turned to the Doctor and the two earth ponies met eye-to-eye. "Not all of us are going...right?"
"I think it would be good to have some eyes and ears here in this dimension while I'm gone," the Doctor explained. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a device that resembled a futuristic walkie-talkie. "Here. This will allow us to communicate." Applejack took the walkie-talkie and nodded.
"So...who's staying and who's going?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think it's obvious who's going," said Rainbow Dash as she took to the air again. "Derpy, Donna, and Egghead."
"Hey!" Twilight snapped. Rainbow smiled teasingly at Twilight and the group of mares laughed.
"Y'all better come back in one piece!" stated Applejack.
"We'll be waiting for you," said Fluttershy.
"Don't forget to write!" said Pinkie Pie as she rushed forward and wrapped Twilight, Derpy, and Donna in a big hug.
"And be careful," Rarity implored.
"We'll try our best," replied Twilight as she was released from Pinkie's death grip. Twilight's gaze suddenly trailed over to Spike, who was looking down and shuffling his feet.
"Be safe...Twilight...everypony," he said awkwardly.
Twilight glanced at the Doctor and her friends before turning back to Spike. She slowly approached her number one assistant and knelt down in front of him. "Listen, Spike," she said softly. Spike looked up to meet her gaze. "Why...why don't you come with us?"
Spike's face lit up like a firework. "You mean it?!"
"Of course! I've missed having my number one assistant in the TARDIS with me." Twilight smiled at Spike and Spike gave Twilight an affectionate hug. Twilight then turned back towards the Doctor. "Is that alright with you, Doctor?"
"Sure! Just don't let him spew fire on the console. I'm still working out the last bugs caused from last time," the Doctor replied with a smirk.
Spike stepped back and blushed a bit. "It's not my fault! Pinkie Pie threw pepper in my face!" Spike argued.
"Hey!" snapped Pinkie Pie. Everypony let out a cheerful laugh.
"I guess we better get moving then," said Derpy.
"Are you all prepared?" the Doctor asked as he looked over his companions.
"I've got first aid supplies!" said Twilight as she raised a white box with a red cross.
"I've got snacks!" said Derpy as she raised a basket full to the brim with muffins.
"Then I guess we're all set," said the Doctor.
"You're forgetting one thing," stated a familiar voice. Everypony looked to see Twi stepping through the doorway. "Me."
"You have a weird habit of popping up out of nowhere," said Rainbow Dash.
"You're going with them, Twi?" Pinkie asked.
"Yes. I need to," Twi replied sternly.
"Don't you need rest? You are suffering from amnesia right now," said Donna.
Twi continued to give a serious glare at the group. "Pieces are returning. I don't remember everything but I know that I must go with you. The world you're going to is very dangerous."
"No different from most of the places the Doctor's taken us," Twilight said.
"Still, I need to come with you," said Twi. The alternate Twilight approached the Doctor. "Please...Doctor."
The Doctor looked up at Twi and, after a moment of thought, sighed and nodded. "You may come," he said. "Your returning memories may prove useful." The Doctor clapped his hooves and the TARDIS doors opened. "All aboard!" The Doctor gave a quick bow to those who were staying behind. "We shall return!" He then turned around and disappeared through the TARDIS doors. He was followed by Donna, Derpy, and Twi.
Twilight and Spike stood in front of the TARDIS and looked at their friends. "We'll come back," said Twilight.
"That's a promise!" stated Spike with confidence.
"Good. Now go help that there crazy stallion save another world!" Applejack said with a smirk. Twilight's smile grew a bit wider as she turned around and boarded the TARDIS alongside Spike.
The TARDIS doors closed as soon as the unicorn and the dragon had entered. The Doctor, Derpy, Donna, and Twi were standing around the TARDIS console. "Everypony hold on," the Doctor ordered. Twilight and Spike approached the console and held on like the others. The Doctor reached for a nearby lever. "This is going to be a bumpy ride." He pulled the lever down.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity stood and watched the TARDIS slowly fade away into the fabric of space and time. Once the blue box had completely disappeared, everypony sighed and turned to each other for comfort. Pinkie suddenly let out a loud laugh. "Pardon me, but what exactly are you laughing about?" Rarity asked.
"An earth pony, a unicorn, a pegasus, a dragon, and two humans walked into a TARDIS!" Pinkie Pie replied with a huge grin. The others gave confused looks. Pinkie's face contorted into a thinking expression as she started scratching her chin. "There's a joke in there somewhere...and I'm gonna find it!"
Town Hall, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The Doctor and his companions grasped the TARDIS console tightly as the blue box shot itself through the dimensional barriers. The Doctor hadn't been kidding when he said it was going to be a bumpy ride. The entire ship vibrated around them like a massage chair in an earthquake. Sparks poured down from the ceiling and the monitors on the console filled with static. The ship tilted at very sharp angles. The humans and ponies could feel their respective feet and hooves slipping back and forth on the TARDIS floor. "Are we almost there?!" Derpy managed to ask.
"We should be!" the Doctor replied as he pressed a collection of buttons, causing sparks to shoot out of the console at Donna and Spike.
A series of booms could be heard in the distance and miniature lightning bolts shot horizontally through the air above their heads. A violent tilt of the TARDIS sent Twilight falling forward into the console. Another tilt nearly caused Derpy to bang her head on one of the many levers. Donna gasped as a loud bang emanated from outside the TARDIS and the whole ship jolted as if something large had smashed into it. The ship then began to spin rapidly in a nauseating vortex pattern. Layers of sparks rained down on the Doctor and his companions and singed their clothes and fur.
"HANG ON!" the Doctor ordered as he grasped onto two levers and pulled them down. The TARDIS lights flickered and the cloister bell rang out a couple times. Then, with an abrupt clang, the TARDIS came to a halt. Everypony fell onto the floor surrounding the console and spent several seconds lying in their respective spots, breathing heavily.
"My head!" groaned Donna.
"My neck!" sighed Twi.
"My legs!" grunted Twilight.
"My back!" griped Spike.
"My muffins!" whined Derpy.
"My kidneys!" gasped the Doctor.
"Well...this trip has gotten off to a smooth start," said Donna after standing up. It didn't take long for everypony to get up and recover from the bumpy ride.
"Did we make it?" Derpy asked as she approached the Doctor.
The Doctor looked at one of the monitors that was still covered in static. He abruptly tapped the side of the monitor and the static disappeared. "There we go! Let's see! Ah...oh...hmm...well...yes! We've made it!" the Doctor answered.
Suddenly, everypony fell silent and turned towards the TARDIS doors. "Well...let's head out then," said Donna. The Doctor nodded and everypony began making their way towards the doors.
As they started walking towards the exit, Twilight and Twi met each other's gazes. Twilight found herself freezing for a moment. At this random second, the realization of who exactly Twi was hit her. She's an alternate, human version of me, Twilight thought. This was really the first time where Twilight had given any time to get a good look at Twi. Her eyes fell across her fair skin, her dirty uniform, and her purple hair. A strange uneasiness fell across her whilst staring at her dimensional double.
"Is something wrong?" Twi asked at one point with a calm, endearing smile on her face.
Twilight shook her head and tried her best to authentically smile back at Twi. "No...nothing's wrong. I'm just preparing myself for what's waiting for us," Twilight replied quickly.
"That's good." Twi's face became uncomfortably serious. "You're going to need to be prepared for what's in store for us."
Twilight turned away from Twi and followed the others out through the TARDIS doors.
A pitch black room awaited them beyond the TARDIS doors. "We sure could use some light," said Donna. With that said, three lights appeared in the darkness: one from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, one from Twilight's horn, and one from a lavender wand in Twi's hand.
"I remember...I'm good at magic!" Twi stated with a smile. With the three lights, the group was able to get a decent look at their surroundings.
They were standing in what appeared to be a decaying, abandoned meeting room with balconies a level above them. "This is Ponyville's town hall!" Twilight gasped.
"You're right! It is!" Derpy agreed. Derpy let out a hard cough. Thick layers of dust covered the floor of the town hall, including the various objects and pieces of furniture scattered about. The air tasted of rusted metal, dust, and ash and was hard to breathe in at certain areas in the room.
"It's like nopony's been here in years!" Spike said.
"No. Only one," Twi explained with a glassy look on her face. Before anypony could ask anything else, Twi made her way towards the doors, pushed them open, and exited. The Doctor and the others quickly followed.
Town Square, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The group exited the abandoned town hall to be hit with a wave of lukewarm air and a mouthful of ash. The air felt incredibly acidic and their eyes and throats stung upon contact with it. "Gah! My eyes!" Spike gasped as he closed his eyes tight and placed his claws over them. Everyone in the group followed suit.
"The air! It must be polluted!" Donna said as she covered her eyes and mouth.
As Twi covered her eyes, she scratched her head vigorously in order to try and fully remember a memory that was creeping up on her. When the memory finally came into full view, she waved her wand. A blue flash of light emanated from her wand's tip. Within seconds, the stinging inflicted upon everypony's eyes and throats went away. "What spell was that?" Twilight asked as she turned to Twi.
"I believe it was the Pure Air Shield Spell," Twi replied as she examined her wand in awe. "It's come in handy a lot since this world became diseased." Now that the pain was gone, everypony was able to get a good view of where they were.
They were standing outside the Ponyville Town Hall, which looked even more decayed from the outside. The sky was gray and filled with dark gray clouds, the sun appearing as merely a dim, white circle in the center of the sky. An endless rainfall of ash descended from the sky and fell towards the land below. The ground was covered in a thick layer of ash and dirt. The air was filled with a light amount of smoke, giving the surrounding area a milky, dirty aura. Through the smog, the group was just barely able to make out the various buildings surrounding the town square. They resembled the buildings back in their Ponyville but were also slightly different. The Doctor could see that they looked more modern with electrical wires extending between the houses and satellite dishes attached to the roofs. The other buildings looked just as decayed and abandoned as the Town Hall. Not one ounce of life to be seen anywhere. No ponies. No humans. No animals. No vegetation. Nothing. Just ash, smog, and decay.
"This Ponyville...it feels...sick," said Twilight as a quick cough escaped her lungs.
"This whole world feels sick," the Doctor added.
"Wait a minute. What's that?" Derpy asked as she pointed towards an object a few yards away, embedded in the earth.
"Let's find out," said Donna as she approached the object, the others following close behind her.
When they reached the object, it was revealed to be a Welcome to Ponyville sign that was normally seen on one of the various roads that led into town. The once-red sign was now dark gray with only a few bits of incredibly dry and cracked red paint left behind. The words, on the other hand, remained alongside a few added phrases and edits.
The word Ponyville on the sign had been scratched out and was now replaced by the word Equestria. Beneath the new Welcome to Equestria phrase were several other phrases scribbled or etched into the sign's surface. Spike stepped forward and read the words on the sign aloud. "Welcome to Equestria. The land of death. Hell on Gaia. The new Tartarus. The diseased country. The end of the line. Your final resting place. Our final resting place," he recited. The young dragon gulped and turned back towards the others. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Hold it," said Donna as she approached the sign. "There's something else written on there. At the very bottom."
Spike squinted his eyes. "Oh! I see it! I must have missed it."
"Not hard to do. Could whoever wrote this have written it any smaller?!"
"What does it say?" Derpy asked.
Donna and Spike leaned in closer. "It says..." they started. The two of them froze as their eyes glazed over the final phrase. They looked at each other and then turned back to the others.
"What is it? What does it say?!" Twilight asked.
Donna and Spike turned towards the Doctor. "The Doctor's domain," they replied with a confused tone.
"Huh?" asked a confused Derpy. "What's that supposed to mean?" Derpy turned to the Doctor. "Doctor?" Derpy suddenly gasped. The Doctor's face had grown incredibly dark. An angry fire appeared to be burning deep within his old eyes.
"Doctor?" asked Twilight with a concerned look.
The Doctor exhaled hard before looking at his five companions. "I know how this Discord Whooves is related to me now," he replied. Everypony fell silent. "He's-" The Doctor suddenly cut himself off. His ears twitched and his body grew still. "Do you hear it?"
Everypony looked around. "Hear what?" Derpy asked.
"The thumping," the Doctor replied.
Twi gave a surprised, fearful expression. "I hear it too," she said.
"Doctor, what do you hear?" Donna asked.
The Doctor turned and looked towards the gray, smoggy abyss that cloaked the dead town of Ponyville. His hearts were beating like mad. He had heard this sound before. He knew this sound...and he knew what was making it. "Run," he said gravely.
"What'd you say?" Twilight asked.
The Doctor turned towards Twilight, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. "RUN!" The Doctor took off towards the smog in the opposite direction from where the sound was coming from. "COME ON! RUN!"
"Do what he says," said Twi coldly. "Run." Twi took off after the Doctor. Though they were confused, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and Spike followed suit. Whatever the Doctor was telling them to run from was probably something they wanted to be as far away from as possible. Twilight levitated Spike and placed him on her back, Derpy took to the air, and Donna ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
"DON'T LOOK BACK! JUST KEEP RUNNING!" the Doctor ordered from ahead.
Twi was running fast. As her legs made her soar across the ash that cloaked the ground, another memory started to crop up from deep within her psyche. Her fear of the thumping slowly began to fade away and was being replaced by a sense of security. She felt safe. She felt secure. She knew nothing bad was going to happen to them. All they had to do was reach the library. She caught up to the Doctor. "Follow me. I know a way to a safe place," she said. Before the Doctor could ask any further questions, she raced ahead of him.
Outside the Home of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Twi felt her heart soar as the Golden Oak Library came into view. "Home," she said under her breath. She came to an abrupt stop a couple yards away from the front door. The Doctor, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and Spike stopped as well.
"My library," said Twilight with a melancholy voice.
"Is this the safe place?" the Doctor asked.
"No," Twi replied before turning back. "This is a rendezvous point for us to be taken to the safe place."
Everypony started looking around. "I don't see any help coming!" said Twilight.
"You're right!" Twi gasped as she started to frantically look around. "Why is that? Why is that? Why...is...that?" She scratched her head and tapped her wand against her temple. Her eyes trailed over to her wand and she let out a shriek of realization. "THAT'S IT!"
"What is?!" asked Derpy.
"I have to signal help with my wand!" Twi replied.
"Well do it then!" the Doctor ordered.
Twi's face became flushed and she started to nervously scratch her head with her wand. "Well...you see...I...sorta...don't remember how to cast the signal."
The faces of the Doctor, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and Spike fell faster than water off a waterfall. "You're kidding me," said Spike.
Suddenly...they heard it: the sound of many, many metal feet thumping against the earth. The Doctor turned towards the smog. "They're almost here," he gasped.
Twi started pacing back and forth, tapping her wand against her temple and going over the unfinished memory time and time again. "What was the signal? What was it? Was it blue? No...green? No...purple? Yeah! Maybe it was purple!"
As Twi rambled on, the others looked towards the army of shadows emerging from the smog. "Doctor...what are those things?" Twilight asked.
"An old enemy of mine," the Doctor replied.
"Maybe we should get out of here," Donna suggested.
"WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!" announced Twi as she pointed her wand towards the cloudy heavens. A massive blast of purple energy shot from her wand and up into the sky. The blast traveled up and up until it exploded in a shower of purple, spreading some of the clouds apart and raining beautiful sparks down upon them.
The advancing enemies stopped for a moment and stared up at the falling sparks. However, only a few seconds later, they continued their walk. "Twi, how long does it take for help to arrive?" Twilight asked.
"I dunno. They should be here pretty soon," Twi replied.
"They're going to be here pretty soon too!" Spike gulped.
"Doctor, what are those things?!" Donna asked as the metal humanoids came into view.
"Cybermen!" the Doctor replied with a growl.
The army of Cybermen was approaching fast. They had the group in their sights and were now headed their way. "I don't think we have anymore time to wait!" said Derpy.
"They should be here quickly! They're really fast!" Twi argued.
"Let's hope they're fast enough!" gulped Spike. The others began to back up as the horde of Cybermen advanced.
"Twilight...you should probably prepare to teleport or something," Donna suggested.
"That won't be necessary," said a masculine voice nearby. Everypony turned to see a cloaked figure standing a few feet away with a rocket launcher of sorts. He proceeded to carefully aim it in the direction of the oncoming Cybermen. "If I were you, I'd get out of the way." The Doctor and the others hastily moved out of the line of fire. Not one second after they were in the clear, the figure fired the weapon. A large, blue projectile soared through the air and smashed into the heart of the Cybermen army. An explosion of metal and sparks erupted and disturbed the smoggy landscape. Pieces of Cybermen started to rain down from the sky while the surviving Cybermen continued towards them at a slower pace due to their injuries. "That should slow them down." The figure turned towards the group and approached them. He looked at Twi and nodded. "Nice to see you're alright, Twilight."
"Sorry but...who are you, exactly?" Twi asked.
"I see. Colgate told me about this possibility. Well, I'll explain everything to all of you later. Now I've got to get you to headquarters." The figure reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a green powder. A slightly annoyed sigh escaped from the hood. "Sorry about this." Before anyone in the group could utter a single word, the figure threw the powder on the ground. An explosion of green mist erupted around them, blurring their vision. A second later, they all blacked out.