905th Year of the Summer Sun Celebration
Twilight Sparkle did not want to attend the grand galloping gala. There were far more productive things to do with her time than go to a ''high society'' party where everypony thinks she's the best thing since Star Swirl's theory of magical feedback. The purple unicorn stomped her foot on the soft carpet of her bedroom in one of Canterlot Castle's large towers. "If the princess wants me to go, I'll go," Twilight exclaimed, "but only for part of the night. Then I'll come back here and study The Progression of Modern Magic."
At that moment Spike walked into the room. The baby dragon was wearing a suit and tie, a getup he didn't don often. "Ready to go, Twilight?" Spike asked, an eager look plastered across his face. Twilight let out a sigh and put away her books in a flash of magic. "Let's go, then," the young unicorn said, "and let's just hope it's not as snotty as it sounds."
===***===
"Ugh," Rose mumbled under her breath before turning to the Doctor and speaking to him directly. "I get that this is a black tie event, but ruffles!? Seriously?!?!" Rose (or Rose Luck, as they were calling her, since they were being incognito), was wearing a frilly pink dress with tons and tons of ruffles.
"Oh, come on," the Doctor exclaimed, his voice chipper, his hooves absentmindedly tapping on the Tardis catwalk in sheer excitement. "What fun is it to explore a different dimension if you don't immerse yourself its culture? I mean, look at me!!" the Doctor exclaimed, pointing at his outrageously overdone three piece suit and expensive-looking tie.
"Fine," Rose said, with a comically large sigh, before looking the Doctor's overdone attire up and down. She laughed as she noticed the Doctor's left pocket had a large yellow bulge in it. She giggled as she put a name to the small object. "Again with the banana?" Rose asked, amused but not at all surprised by the time lord's antics.
"What?" the Doctor said, in a jokingly defensive tone. "You should always bring a banana to a party."
Rose giggled again, remembering the time the Doctor had returned from 18th century France slightly tipsy, and had declared that very same line.
"Ready to go?" the Doctor asked.
"Ready to go to a party with talking ponies?!....HECK YES!" Rose exclaimed.
===**===
Rose had been excited to go to the gala and had almost trampled the stallion at the gate when he looked at their tickets (psychic paper), but soon after they were admitted, both the Doctor and Rose learned that the party was just a bunch of high society ponies showing off their pedigrees. The fact that the Doctor and Rose didn't have pedigrees made it harder to blend in.
"Doctor," Rose whispered, "what should I say?"
"I don't know; say you're an esteemed florist or something," the Doctor replied quietly. He had come up with his fake persona fairly quickly, but when the young prince who they were talking to had turned his attention to Rose, she had frozen up.
"I am . . . uhh . . . a sought after florist and socialite from Manhattan," Rose said. Then she remembered the Doctor's alibi and decided to go big. "I helped the Doctor here work on the Manhattan clock tower. He fixed the mechanics while I did the exquisite flower arrangements."
"Anyway, Prince Blueblood, have you heard of any strange magical energy around Canterlot?" the Doctor asked, getting down to business.
"No," the prince replied. "Why should I concern myself with such petty things? If you want to know that, you should talk to one of the egghead professors from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."
The pair of travelers excused themselves from their conversation with Blueblood and started their search for someone who could answer their questions. After talking unsuccessfully to Magic Spell, Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns' top charms teacher, as well as Silent Workings, an esteemed theoretic magic teacher and head of the board of chairs at Philadelphia's theoretical magic program, and even Spell Nexus, headmaster of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, they finally found somepony who had the information they sought.
"Oh, you mean the Centennial Pulse," Twilight said, glad to find somepony who shared her love of magic and who didn't have an ego the size of a dragon.
"So it's been happening for a while now?" the Doctor asked.
"Every century on the dot. This year is particularly strong, though. This elusive magic seems to have more than tripled this time around. It's still growing as we speak, and should continue to grow for the next two to three days, and then vanish without a trace."
"Interesting," Rose said. "Do you happen to have any other information? Anything you know would help."
"That's all I know off the top of my head," the young mare said, "but I could get some books real quick." Twilight's mood was rising, finding some ponies who were interested in magic.
"Thank you, Miss Sparkle, that would be very helpful," the Doctor said.
"Spike!" Twilight said, before realizing that the baby dragon was nowhere to be seen. Assuming that the dragon was off stuffing his face somewhere, she decided to get the books herself.
"I'll be right back," Twilight said. Before teleporting to her room, she quickly cast a keyword spell. "Centennial Pulse," she said, and came up with two books, each with glowing bookmarks in them. Twilight then quickly teleported herself back down to the gala, not missing a beat. "Here are the books," Twilight said, setting them down on a table near where the three were talking. She pulled out the first book, which was titled Strange Magic Phenomenon . She opened it to the page with the bookmark in it. The book presented no new knowledge, just reiterated what she had already told them.
"What about the other book?" Rose asked.
"Oh, that's just tales and myths, with no real fact to them," Twilight answered.
"Well," the Doctor said, "from my experience, myths are sometimes based off fact."
"If you insist," Twilight said, opening the book to the bookmark.
The Pegasus of Gold Smoke
"Some ponies say that statues always stay still, and this is true for most statues, but not true for all. For you see, every 100 years the Pegasus of Golden Smoke awakens, and it always awakens hungry. Every year it eats somepony, always leaving nothing but golden smoke in its wake. It is said on the year that the smoke triples and the Centennial Pulse sent by the strange dark magic grows, the Pegasus will take the servant, then the teacher, then the one with the shining destiny. Equestria will fall to darkness, having lost the kingdom's only hope. The pegasus knows the consequences of what she does, and is cursed with eternal sorrow for her acts of the present and the future. She covers her eyes in an eternal state of weeping."
"The servant, then the teacher?" Rose exclaimed. "What is that suppos..." Rose was cut off by a loud, boyish scream. Twilight heard the scream and bolted, the Doctor and Rose in tow. The three rounded a corner to see several gemstones lying on the floor, and discovered it was a dead end. There was no place that the screamer could have gone.
"Spike!?!?!?" Twilight wondered, picking up the gems with her magic.
"SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!" Twilight yelled, trying to find the dragon.
The only thing in the hallway was a statue of a Pegasus covering its eyes.
"Not again!" the doctor whispered, putting a name to their enemy. "Weeping angels."