Chapter 8
The TARDIS rematerialized in a (fortunately) empty bedroom in the royal palace. The doors were flung open, and two Humanoid figures stumbled out, coughing on thick gray smoke that poured out of the large control room.
“Sorry guys!” Came Ditsy's voice from below the control deck. “I forgot about the batch of muffins I'd put in the oven before we arrived in the past!” Just then the sprinkler system that had been installed sometime in the last hundred years in the palace as well as the sprinkler system in the TARDIS' kitchen kicked on as well, thoroughly drenching everybody/pony on that side of the palace as well as Ditsy herself. The only being still dry in that area was The Doctor, who had packed away an umbrella underneath one of the benches for just such a rare occasion.
“Well, I needed a bath anyway.” Jacob said halfheartedly, sighing as his clothing began to cling to his body, water dripping from his hair and fingers. He flung several drops from his hands, but it did nothing to stop more from pouring down on him. The Doctor, looking chipper even with an umbrella in his teeth strolled out of the TARDIS followed by a soaked Ditsy Doo carrying an equally-soaked pan of several muffin-shaped pieces of charcoal. She gave them an apologetic smile and then set the pan down on a chair.
“Doc, do you think you could maybe use your blue wand-thing to shut off the sprinklers?” Jacob asked, blinking water out of his eyes after having looked up for the sprinklers above them.
“Not while my mouf ith full. Horry.” He replied around the umbrella handle.
“I'll do it.” The Shield said, pulling hers out of a pocket. She aimed it up, and pressed a button. After a few seconds the water stopped falling on them, but they could still hear it coming down in torrents outside the room in the hall. “There. That's better.” The Doctor closed his umbrella and carelessly tossed it back inside the TARDIS. Seeing his actions, Ditsy did the same with the muffin-charcoal pan, the muffins still sticking to it after flipping upside down. It clanged loudly against something, and then once more it was silent in the room, though there was still a little smoke coming out of the TARDIS' doors.
“So do we get some dry clothes on first, or do we just head to the throne room?” The Shield asked, frowning at her water-logged figure. Jacob shook his head a bit, scattering water droplets about, and then turned to look at her and Ditsy.
“Hold still a moment...” Jacob pulled all heat from the room and focused it all first on Ditsy, who's coat, mane, and tail steamed for a few moments, and then became dry. He then focused on The Shield, who made a comment about the room becoming humid, and then finally dried himself last down to his shoes. “There we go! Washed, dried-” Guards suddenly kicked the door open and told them to freeze. There was one Human, and two ponies. “-and put away.” Their group shared a collective sigh.
An hour after being placed in the dungeon for intruding and having their weapons and tools taken away (and The Doctor being told to keep quiet several times when he tried to talk their way out of the situation) the sound of a familiar voice came from the opposite end of the cell they'd been placed in telling the guards to open the door reached their ears. They stood to see none other than the elder princess herself step into the cell. Her eyes first went to the Doctor, who gave her a guilty grin. She rolled her eyes.
“Doctor, we have to stop meeting like this. It seems that for every one time that we encounter one another in a formal manner, you are arrested three times for trespassing! Why can't you just come in through the main gate like everypony else?” The Doctor shrugged.
“Oh, but where would be the fun in that?”
“You're a time traveler Doctor, not Discord. Please request an audience formally next time.” Next her eyes met The Shield. Celestia greeted her, and The Shield bowed her head. She smiled at Ditsy, who waved, and then her draw dropped to its maximum depth when she saw Jacob.
“You- you- you're supposed to be dead! You disappeared over a hundred years ago!” Celestia gave The Doctor a suspicious look. “Did you have something to do with this?” The Doctor made a weighing motion with his front hooves.
“Somewhat, but he got aboard my TARDIS on his own. Don't worry, I have every intention of returning him to his time when this is over with.” He tried to reassure her. She did not look convinced.
“That's what you said about that orange punch bowl you borrowed five years ago from that Gala event with the drunken duelists. You still haven't returned that!”
“Punch bowl?” The Doctor scratched the side of his head. Then his eyes alighted and he clapped (clopped?) his hoofs together. "Oh! That punch bowl! Yeah, sorry about that. I needed it.”
“And?” She persisted. “What did you do with it?”
“I put it above your bed to catch a leak that would have otherwise woken you up for a reason that I can't tell you otherwise it might ruin part of Luna's future. It should turn up in about another four years or so.” Celestia sighed and put a hoof on her face.
“Why do I ever ask you what you're doing? Your answers almost always bring more questions!”
“On another subject, your uncle answered my question.”
“Which one? You always seem to have new questions whenever we meet.”
“The one I asked you before we left with Jacob. You and your sister are descended from Time Lords. More specifically, Magi-Time Lords.” Her mouth did not drop this time, but her eyes did widen.
“What?!”
“I'd go into the back-story and the details, but that would take awhile and at the moment is the least important subject. Right now we have something much more important to deal with.”
“Let us discuss it somewhere more comfortable. I get the feeling from past experiences that I'm not going to like what I hear.”
“I was right, I don't like it.” Celestia shook her head. “I had hoped that after the confrontation with Drahgov and with our efforts at creating peace on the Human's world that we had seen the last of war.”
“If there's something I've learned about Humanity, it is this:” The Doctor said. “when they are not actively pursuing war, war comes to them. It might be spaced a few decades or a few hundred years apart, but sooner or later they'll be drawn into conflict again.”
“Knowing that, perhaps it was a mistake connecting our two worlds together...”
“The Daleks would have come to the Primary dimension eventually anyway. Once they discovered that there was indeed a Time Lord still alive in the Echo Dimension, they'd have come here next, and in greater numbers. Our race in my own dimension were their toughest enemies, and in yours your ancestors beat them. They would not have taken any chances. With your world unprepared, they'd have swept across your planet with even less trouble than Earth. Earth probably only lasted as long as they did because they're so used to war.”
“So either way, we're doomed.”
“No!” Jacob and The Shield both said simultaneously, leaping to their feet from the chairs Celestia had sent for so they could speak in comfort. They looked at one another in surprise, then The Shield continued. “We can beat them if both worlds fight together as they did in the past! The Magi-Time Lords won against the Daleks in the Primary Dimension because they used both technology and magic to fight their enemies. Your ponies are primitive as far as technology goes, but that's what you've got Humanity for!” Jacob nodded and added his own piece.
“Your uncle told us that Humans, Pegasi, and Unicorns were made by your family and one other in an attempt to preserve your race after the last of their kind had gone from the world of the living. Don't you see? It's destiny that we're to work and fight together!” He said, smiling and tightening his grip on his staff, now held with both hands horizontally and holding it out away from his body so it could be seen better. “When I touch a Unicorn or Alicorn's horn my DNA comes into contact with their DNA and we become closer to being the original creature! That must be why Humans can use magic when we touch your ponies' horns! Unicorns have magic and the Pegasi can fly, and we can build the technology that allows us to do mechanical imitations of both! If we stand together, not even the Daleks will be able to beat us!”
Celestia chuckled and gave him a sad smile.
“An inspiring speech. Any other pony, perhaps even my own guards would jump at the chance to stand with you against them after hearing that, and there are no doubt plenty of others descended from those that fought in the defense of Canterlot during the Dragon war that would join you out of a sense of obligation of honor. Unfortunately, there is a problem with us coming to assist you. One of our laws state that only the king or queen of Equestria can declare war on another nation or race, and as you well know, Equestria has had no king for over a thousand years.”
“But- but you've been this nation's ruler for countless generations!” Ditsy objected. “What more could it take for you to be a queen?” Ditsy, recalling who she was speaking to so bluntly, covered her mouth with both hooves and looked worriedly at her princess. Celestia sighed.
“Do not be concerned for your words, my little pony. Though only the nobility and adopted royalty care about this, the law- written by my uncle after my father and mother's death- states that in order for there to be a queen or king, a princess or prince must marry another member of royalty. It does not have to be of the same species, but they must be of royal blood. My uncle did this so as to encourage strong diplomatic connections between the multiple races of this world and to prevent conflict. We may defend ourselves if we are attacked, but we may not gallop to war.”
“Well, that certainly would explain why none of you came to investigate Earth during the attack and after the Daleks wiped them out.” The Doctor said, stroking his chin.
“So unless you or Luna marry someone-”
“And marriages cannot be performed for royalty until a full year after an engagement has been declared in case one party has second thoughts.” Celestia interrupted. “I really am sorry, but there is nothing I can do. Legally speaking, my hooves are tied.”
“.......Buck.” Jacob said, rubbing one side of his face.
The Doctor idly bounced an apple from one hoof to another while Jacob paced back and forth across the guest room that Celestia had offered the two of them. Ditsy and The Shield were in another room.
“You know, if you keep that up long enough you're going to wear a trench in the floor.” He said, bouncing it up into the air and catching it in his mouth (it had not been very large).
“This isn't fair! The solution is right in front of us, but there's an iron grate separating us from it!”
“'An iron grate'. A very good description of political laws; where it's not solid, it's full of holes.” He said in a apple-muffled voice. “But as I'm sure you know very well, life isn't always fair.” He swallowed the mouthful of mush and seeds. Jacob continued to pace for several more minutes.
“Full of holes...” Jacob repeated suddenly, stopping in place. The Doctor looked away from the candle flame he'd been blankly watching dancing on the burning wick and looked at him. “ Something could get through...a loophole in the system...”
“Nothing large, mind you.” The Doctor said, seemingly speaking about a literal grate. “The holes in grates are often only large enough for a finger or perhaps a fist to fit through.” Jacob turned his whole body, looking at the staff he'd set on the table The Doctor sat at. He ran his eyes along the pole and stopped at the top of it. His eyes narrowed and he walked over to it.
“Loopholes......” Jacob ran a hand over the ivory part of the staff He looked up from it a minute later, eyes still narrowed, but smiling. “Doctor, I've just had a crazy idea.”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I knocked on the door of the girls' room and The Shield opened it.
“What's up?”
“The Mad Magician just figured out why we went farther into the past, though we still don't know how we're going to pull it off.”
“Pull what off, Doctor?” Ditsy asked, joining The Shield at the door.
“I just figured out a way to meet the requirements of the law in time to save Earth! We need to go back into the time when Celestia and Luna's father and mother were still alive, and convince them to come to the future with us so they can declare war on the Dalek race!” Ditsy looked at The Doctor and asked him if I had gone crazy.
“He's no more insane than I am.”
“That's not reassuring, Doctor.” The Doctor jabbed the spot over one of his hearts with a hoof.
“You wound me, Ditsy! Don't my plans always work?”
“No.” She replied bluntly. He made a hurt expression and sniffed like he was crying. Ditsy wasn't fooled and neither were me or The Shield. “The last one caused the extinction of the Human race!”
“If you recall, Ditsy, that would have happened anyway, and we were trying to prevent that!” The Doctor was now frowning.
“You still-”
“Regardless,” The Shield interrupted. “We still need to go into the past and convince them to come forward with us from a peaceful era into a time of war. That is not going to be easy.”
“No, it probably won't be.” I said grimly. “But what other choice do we have?”
We went to the mess hall to get some food- Funny, this tastes the same as food from the past. You'd think that there'd be some improvements over the years!- and once we'd eaten our fill we requested an audience with Celestia. She found it a bit odd that we wanted to speak with her again after only having been apart for a few hours, but granted the request nonetheless when she was able. An hour and a half later we once more stood before her and thanked her for her hospitality and promised to come back very, very soon.
“I am sorry that I cannot come to your people's aid like you came to ours.” Celestia looked away from them, ashamed.
“Don't sweat it, your majesty!” Ditsy said, a smile on her face. “Jacob has a plan to get around that!” Celestia looked back at them with interest.
“You do? How?” Jacob smiled secretively.
“Let's just say that the future is going to get a blast from the past.”
“I don't understand.” She said, tilting her head to one side.
“Oh don't worry, your highness. You'll like what he has in mind as long as it works.” The Doctor assured her. “For awhile, at least.”
“Okay?”
Our trip back to the TARDIS was rather uneventful other than a few ponies and Humans alike commenting that I looked familiar to them. We also passed a few small centaurs of varying color and height and gender.
“You've got to be kidding.” I said after we passed the ninth one. “Just how many kids did Golden Rosa have?!”
“Oh, these centaurs are from other, more recent Human-pony couplings.” The Doctor explained. “Once it was discovered that they could produce offspring inter-species relations took a turn for the better.”
“I'm not sure if I should feel glad about that, or sick.”
“Your reaction was much the same as the rest of your race for the first sixty or so years. But ponies weren't the only races from this world that your race tried to mix with.” The Doctor continued, grinning.
“Please, I really don't need to know.” I begged.
“Oh but it really is interesting! Did you know that even though Diamond Dogs-”
“I SAID I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!” I shouted at him, creepy images already forming. A servant looked at us and hurried away.
“cannot crossbreed with Humans,” Oh thank the Maker! But that doesn't get rid of the images! I inwardly groaned. “They can cross-breed with most breeds of wolf and dog?” He frowned. “Except for poodles and chihuahuas and most other smaller breeds. But then, who'd want a Diamond Dog pup with an ego bigger than Las Vegas?”
We arrived at the bedroom the TARDIS had parked itself in and opened the door to a pair of servant Unicorn ponies still sponging and mopping up the water mess we'd caused after opening the TARDIS' door and letting the smoke pour out. They looked up from what they were doing for a moment, and then got back to work, ignoring us as we stepped into the large blue box.
% % % % %
“Why didn't you take the time to look around a bit? I'd think that you'd want to see how things have changed.” Twilight asked the pair of time travelers in front of her.
“I was more concerned about saving my race from extinction at the time, Twilight. If we could do that, then we'd have plenty of time to do it later.”
“But you had a time machine!” Rainbow Dash objected. “Would it really have mattered how long you took?”
“Time travel is not as simple as some think it is, my dear prismatic pony.” The Doctor responded. “Yes we could go to the same event over and over again, but we'd need to make ourselves look different to the point that we'd not recognize ourselves, otherwise we could cause a paradox, and that could end with the destruction of the universe. Or, at least this part of it. I've been a part of a paradox before. It was not fun. I got eaten.”
“So why didn't you just make yourselves look different, then?”
“Me.” Jacob said, standing and walking to where his staff leaned against a wall. “The only other magician to make a mage-staff, as they came to be called in that time period, was Trixie. The reason for this being that the only other Alicorn horns available for use belonged to the princesses' deceased relatives, and no one with any sense of decency wanted to ask them for them. Myself and Trixie were the only Humans to receive the title of 'Mage' in the history books. More importantly, both mine and Trixie's faces were very well known from those same history books. Without some good illusion magic, which was never my strong point, I'd be discovered very quickly.”
“So why not just leave the staff in the TARDIS?”
“I'm too used to having it with me. Without it I feel exposed.”
“I feel much the same about my own staff,” Trixie agreed. “Though I keep a Unicorn's horn hidden on my person for when I do need to leave it behind.”
“That's actually not a bad idea! I'll have to remember to pick up a Unihorn 2.0 the next time I go into the future.” Jacob thanked Trixie for the idea again, and she nodded with a satisfied smile. “As I was saying-”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Perhaps the servants looked up in shock at the noise the TARDIS made is it slipped from the current time into the time stream, and perhaps they didn't. At the moment that did not concern me. What did was the roomed flipping upside down leaving me to dangle from a guardrail.
“Come on, Doc! There's machines in over a hundred science fiction movies, books, and cartoons that are supposed to lessen the affects of inertia and generate their own gravity! Are you telling me this thing doesn't have them?!” I shouted over the racket, my legs swinging back and forth as the room rocked back and forth.
“They are already active! If they weren't we'd be bouncing around more than a bag of rubber balls in the hands of school children! Ditsy!” The Doctor called up to her from the ceiling. Ditsy, being the only one with wings, was largely unaffected by the shift in gravity and was hovering back and forth near the middle of the room as the TARDIS rocked so as to keep from hitting the walls or the glowy column in the center. She looked down-
% % % % %
“or since he was on the ceiling, maybe it was up???” Jacob looked at Twilight first, facially asking her which it would be, who shrugged. They looked at The Doctor.
“Well since the center of Gravity is artificial while inside the TARDIS and the field was fluctuating- which is how I wound up on the ceiling- really there was no 'up' or 'down'. It doesn't really matter.” Jacob nodded.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
She looked down at him and waved.
“What's up, Doc? Oh, I guess it'd be you since you're on the ceiling!” She giggled.
“Ditsy, this is no time for jokes! I need you to fly up to the control console and-”
“But 'up' takes me to you, Doctor, not to the controls! Did you hit your head when you fell?” The Doctor sighed and face-hoofed.
“Alright, fly down then, to the controls and please press the red square button, the yellow round button, and the blue round button right next to it. In that order, if you would.” Ditsy nodded and flew up- er, down to the controls and pressed the buttons in the sequence the Doctor said. Suddenly I felt completely weightless. Oh great. Now there's no gravity at all! How is this an improvement?!
“Doctor, you are aware that if we get hit now we'll likely be catapulted into the other wall on the other side of the room and die or break something, right?” The Doctor ignored my sarcastically-spoken question and vaulted up to the controls, grabbing onto the edge of them and 'righting' himself so he'd be able to look down on them.
“You might want to join us standing on the floor, Jacob. Unless of course you feel the want to be performing a hand-stand from the top of that guard rail when I correct the center of gravity.” Why didn't I listen to The Shield and go to my room to rest? I could be dreaming about the days when the most I had to worry about was making sure my work outfit didn't have any stains or holes in it! I did as he recommended, still being jerked back and forth by the movement of the room. I let go of the bars. To my relief I stopped being hauled back and forth and gave the Doctor a upped thumb. He nodded once and his hoofs began flying from one area of the console to another. A few seconds later gravity realigned the way it was supposed to and our hooves and feet landed on the ground. Ditsy continued to fly in midair, now upside down as far as my vision was concerned. She frowned, looking confused as she began to fall to the floor. I ran to where she was falling and caught her, turning her carefully over before setting her down on the floor.
“Thanks!”
“You're welcome.” I looked up at The Doctor, who was hard at work. “We almost there yet, Doc? I'm starting to feel sick, and I get the feeling The Shield is going to be rather angry at you when she gets up here.”
“Angry? What about? I didn't do anything to her.”
“Other than probably toss her out of bed, fling her around the room, turn off the gravity, and then turn it back on without announcing your intent to do so to her first.” The Doctor made a face and gave the steps to the lower decks a cautious glance. No Shield-lady.
“I'll land us then, shall I?”
When we settled The Doc, Ditsy, and I all headed below deck to survey any damage that our latest rock-and-roll trip may have caused. The kitchen area was fine, as it seemed the cabinets locked themselves automatically when we transitioned into the time stream. Useful. The library was soaked. For some unimaginable reason there was a bolted-down swimming pool in the middle of it, and now nearly all of the water contained therein was was gone from the floor-level pool, leaving barely two feet of water in it. The rest of the water had coated and soaked everything else. A good portion of it had gotten into other rooms as well.
“Oh great.” I sighed. “Doctor, please tell me you've got an automatic drainage system.”
“I do.”
“Oh. No problem th-”
“But it hasn't worked in over three hundred years.”
“....”
“What? I'm 'The Doctor' not 'The Plumber'! The pump itself works; every time I regenerate the TARDIS does too. But for some reason the pipes that handle transport for the disposal of water are always clogged!”
“And you never thought to try hiring someone to fix it in all that time?” He gave me a 'are you stupid' look. “Doc, there are literally millions of alien enthusiasts on Earth. I'm sure one of them would be more than happy to try fixing your plumbing problem. Best case scenario, they succeed and they leave without making a fuss. Worst case, they fail and you have to throw them out.”
“You're forgetting the part about where I'd lose my anonymity.”
“You're forgetting that very few non-alien-enthusiasts take believers seriously. If they took pictures, people'd think they were altered images, and if they tried to lead reporters to you, you could just move the TARDIS the second you threw them out. What is so hard about that?”
The Doctor looked at Ditsy, who listened to our argument without comment. From the way her ears and head drooped she did not look like she was enjoying it, though.
“Now see? You've upset Ditsy!” The Doctor scolded me.
“W-what?!” I stammered, looking at Ditsy, who looked at me, and then I looked back at The Doctor.
“You're arguing with me, and it's making her sad!” He stated, stamping one of his front hooves on the floor. I splashed, throwing a few water droplets about that created tiny ripples. “Now tell her you're sorry!” How is this my fault? He was arguing too! I looked at Ditsy, who, like me, looked a bit confused.
“Uh...we were arguing, and...we should not have been doing that...I apologize if we upset you, Ditsy.” Ditsy brightened and smiled again.
“That's good! Friends shouldn't fight each other! Group hug!” Ditsy stepped forward and hugged one of my legs and The Doctor's neck. I looked down at her, feeling a mixture of awkward and mirth. The sight of a pony less than half my height hugging my leg like a little kid and a second pony was funny, but at the same time I was still a little agitated by The Doctor trying to put all the blame on me. In the end I decided it was better to have Ditsy smile than it was to make a big deal over his blame-shifting techniques and crouched so I could hug her back.
“What in the worlds?” The Shield said from behind me. I turned my head around to see her yawn, her hair a mess. “Did I miss something?” She looked at the floor. “And why is there water in most of the rooms?”
We stepped out of the TARDIS in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. There were no trees, no houses or huts, no anything. Just long green grass as far as the eye could see with one exception not including the TARDIS and us.
“Uh, Doc?” I said as I checked behind the TARDIS to see if we were just looking the wrong way. We weren't. There just really was nothing to see but grass with the exception of a single mountain that jutted up from the earth. “What's the date?”
“In which planet's years?” He asked in complete seriousness, joining us.
“Never mind, different question. How far back have we traveled in comparison to when we went into Canterlot's past and spoke to Thanatos?”
“Hmm...let me check.” He trotted back into the TARDIS for a few minutes, then trotted back out again, a frown on his face. “It doesn't say for certain.”
“What do you mean?” The Shield asked.
“Well, I can tell we've gone back further than six hundred years, but when I try to get a more precise lock on our current time, the number readout begins going crazy as if it's reacting to some sort of interference.”
“Any idea what it might be?” The Shield asked. “If the date readout has gone nuts I don't think we'll be able to safely time-jump again. There's no knowing when or where we'll turn up.”
“I can guess, if you like.” The Doctor offered.
“Well, if it's more than six hundred years, isn't it possible that it's just the TARDIS reacting to Celestia and Luna's mom and dad?” Derpy asked. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Shield said something about a time war. Did both sides have time-travel machines?” Both The Doctor and The Shield nodded. “Then maybe the reason your clock-thingie isn't working is because they put a spell on the planet to mess up those machines so no one from that war would want to come here! That makes sense, right?” The Shield and The Doctor looked at one another, and smiled.
“Brilliant, isn't she?” The Doctor said. “Brilliant and brave.”
“And a cute blond?” The Shield asked, smirking. The Doctor coughed and averted his eyes. Her smirk got bigger. Ditsy blushed and also looked away, though her eyes flicked towards him a few times as he shuffled a little. Ditsy and The Doctor? Hm. Sounds like a cliché romance novel. I thought before I returned my attention to the empty nothing (and one mountain) around us. Wait...a mountain...
“Hey Doc, did our position change any?” The Doctor refocused and trotted back into his time machine for a few moments.
“Yes, but not by more than a few miles. we should still be in Canterlot.” I looked at the mountain again and nodded. I get it now! Canterlot hasn't been built yet! …Unless of course, we're just on the wrong side of the mountain...well, I won't know until I get to the other side, will I?
“I'm going to head to the other side of the mountain and see if your ' few miles' dropped us off on the wrong side.”
“Oh, no need for that. I can just have the TARDIS fly us there.” I considered this, and then shook my head.
“No thanks, Doc. I appreciate the offer, but I'd prefer to just go on my own.”
“Alright, suit yourself. In the meantime I'll take the TARDIS to the old castle and see if they're still there. If they are then I'll swing by and pick you up.” I nodded and thanked him, and then started walking towards the edge of the mountain. In the meantime the TARDIS lifted off the ground until it hovered several feet above my head, and then leaned to one side and floated away like something out of a wacky dream.
I eventually grew bored of the 'swish swish' the tall grasses made as I waded through them while the mountain itself never seemed to become any closer to me, but the air was warm, the breeze blowing gentle, and the smells in the air were sweet; I could not complain. Certainly this was better than-
I felt a familiar tickling sensation on the back of my neck and whirled around, eyes searching the open plain of grass, but seeing nothing. I frowned and slowly turned around again, still seeing nothing, but the tickling sensation did not go away. Something is watching me, but this grass is too tall for me to see anything. Me and Ditsy encountered a rock in this time's future, but neither of us have seen one in the modern era. I have to wonder what other creatures died out before the Alicorn family made it safer... I grunted and shrugged, then continued walking towards the mountain, the hand gripping my staff tightening a bit in case I needed to use it to block a blow. Eventually the 'being watched' feeling went away, so I figured that whatever had been watching me either grew bored or found something else to stalk in the grass and I relaxed.
A few small birds flew overhead, and I smiled at them, watching them flap their wings rapidly to propel them along. Birds. They have so little to worry about in comparison to sapient life forms, and the current sapient life forms have so much less to worry about than we of the future do. Maybe that's why the Doctor takes it upon himself to try to protect us. He's giving us the opportunity to live in ignorant bliss as long as we possibly can. But that time was over, as far as my future was concerned. If we succeeded in our endeavor, both the Human race and the Pony race would be thrust into a much more stressful awareness. But in return for this awareness they just might survive another day.
“Still, it turned out for the best, didn't it?” Thanato's words echoed in my mind. Would it really turn out to be for the better? Warfare, or at least the idea of it was something my race was used to and had even turned it into a form of entertainment. The ponies, on the other hand in general preferred to avoid it if possible with the exception of a bit of rough-housing and the occasional bar fight, which was not even close to what we were trying to arrange. But do we really have a choice? The Doctor said that they'd have eventually gone to Mythica anyway and would have most likely wiped them all out too. Who would better know the Daleks than one whom has fought them?
I'd begun tapping into my magic almost subconsciously and had begun flying myself forward on a chunk of dirt and grass lifted from the ground so as to get to my destination faster. I hadn't realized this until a bird flew right by my face and startled me.
“Wha!” I jumped, and then yelled again when I found nothing underneath my feet and fell down to the grassy ground again. My feet struck my floating platform- now a pile of dirt- and I pitched forward and fell down onto my front, scraping my hands on the rough grass and bruising my knees and wrists as I did so. I pushed myself up so I'd be standing on my knees and examined my hands. To my relief there was no more damage than a few paper-cuts (or perhaps it was grass-cuts). They'd be annoying for awhile, but would not be worth the energy it would take to heal them here and now. Brushing my shirt and pants off I decided that I was tired of the scenery and opted for teleportation instead.
“Alright,” I cracked my knuckles, leaning my staff against my body while doing so. “time for a shortcut!” I visualized myself standing at the top of the mountain, which would give me a perfect view of the area around me, and once more took my staff in hand. Just as I was about to draw on the magic and form the frame of the spell needed for long-distance instantaneous self-transportation, I got that tingly 'being watched' sensation again and whirled, this time catching sight of a heavy shadow moving in the grass. I thought for a moment that I saw a glowing eye, but then it was gone, as was the 'being watched' feeling. “What in the worlds?” I breathed.
Whatever it was, I wasn't going to stick around to find out. I drew on my magic, and transported myself to the top of the mountain.