Octavia started to scream. As did many other ponies around her. And then; Nothing. Nopony screamed, nopony moved, except Octavia. Birds were frozen mid air outside the window, and Lyra was almost done spilling her pink Punch. Octavia took the chance to whip her deep black hair in the face of a Changeling, then smack it across the face with her hoof. That'll show it, She thought. Feeling disoriented, she thought it was just a dream, and stumbled over to her Cello. She grabbed the strap, and dragged it out the door.
Only once she was out the door did she realize the thunderous rumbling coming from the direction of Canterlot. She could feel the motionless earth shaking beneath her, adding the the quaking and disorientating nausea. Then she saw it. A flash of white. No, an explosion of white. Coming from Canterlot, completely removing everything it touched.
“HEY! Octavia! Come on, hurry up!” A colt's voice came from behind her.
“Come on, Octavia, no time to lose!” A female voice shouted. Octavia turned around, to see her Colt and a mare with peach cream skin and a rose red mane running towards her. The thundering was getting louder, and she could hear tormenting, twisted, out of tune screams coming from the White Explosion.
“Well congratulations Octavia, you got to see the end of Equestria.” The Colt said, dashing towards a strange blue phone box. “Not like it's a great achievement, but hey, I feel for you. Had to sit back and watch my Civilization die too.” That Colt just did not stop talking! “Come on~ we've gotta get moving Octavia!”
Octavia broke out of her trance and followed the Colt. How the buck is this small Police Phone Booth going to hold all three of us? Are these ponies MAD? Octavia was now in full blown temper mode. She wanted answers. And when she broke through the doors of the police phone booth, she got them.
“Welcome to the TARDIS Octavia! Small on the outside, bigger on the inside. Quite a roomy place, don't you think?” The Colt said, waving his Hourglass cutie mark around. It was true, the small aging blue box on the outside was a huge, golden, steampunk feel-inside, with a glass platform in the middle, and in the middle of that a control center. The walls rose up in a slight dome shape, with small round indents inside and four flights of stairs leading off of the glass platform.
“Doctor! Calm yourself. This pony just witnessed our civilization die. She needs answers.” The rose pony exclaimed, almost insulted by his attitude.
“Alright, alright. Octavia, this is going to be hard to understand, but I need you to listen. Equestria no longer exists. Wiped from the universe – Poof. I've watched it happen 72 times now, each time more confusing than the first. So I left that note on your doorstep, the one which complimented you and told you to go to that party. In all the other 71 times I watched this place poof, you never showed up at that party, and we couldn't find you. There's something about you, Octavia, something that didn't freeze you in time when the rest did.” He explained everything so calmly and smoothly, as if he was an old man talking to a kindergarten student.
“You see, a while ago, before the return of Discord, the Changelings had discovered an ancient technology, called Weeping Angels. These statues- Okay, not statues, creatures, are living pegasus-like beings who can only move when you're not looking. They will cover their eyes, to protect eachother from seeing one another. And when they catch you oh when they catch you, they will send you back in time to before you were born to quite literally, live to death. They are the only psycopaths to kill you nicely. But the Changelings had no effect on them, and vice versa. Therefore the two species worked together in revenge to take over Equestria.
Sadly, they created a paradox. This paradox was huge, as in 2 Princess Celestias. These 2 Princesses met together and tried to fight one another, in belief that the other was the false Celestia and... Poof. There went Equestria.”
Octavia stared with her mouth wide open. It made no sense to her, yet the emotion in his voice entitled her to believe him. She slowly nodded, without saying anything.
Finally, the creme colored pony piped in, “That's why we're here. My name is Rose, and this is the Doctor.” She said with a quick point to each. “The Doctor is a Time Colt, a species similar to earth ponies, but has the ability to regenerate their body should they be close to dying. I am a simple earth pony like you.”
“O-okay. Can-Can I sleep for a bit?” Octavia asked. She felt incredibly nautious, and the news of Equestria's -Poof- as the Doctor said, didn't help.
“Go up those stairs and to the right. Not the swimming pool, but the next.” The Doctor said, fumbling with controls on the main dashboard in the center. Rose followed Octavia up, and took the room across.
“Goodnight Rose. When should I wake up, around what time?” Octavia asked, half asleep.
“Octavia dear, there's no such thing as time in the TARDIS. Goodnight.” Rose said, slamming the door halfway through her goodnight.
Octavia waltzed into her room and gingerly laid on the bed. She took a look around the room, and suddenly it morphed to exactly what she wanted it to be. Just like home, bleach white walls with a window on the left side of the bed, and an oak nightstand beside the bed, with gold covers over the pillows and matress. The only thing that was missing was the Cello laying beside her. This can't be happening. Equestria's gone. But they want ME to bring it all back? I can barely catch a decent Colt. And what's a TARDIS?
She fell asleep in an awkward position, with her hooves wrapped behind her back. But to her, it was just as comfy as home.
Octavia woke in the morning to some celery sticks and custard lying in a bucket on her nightstand. Her first reaction: What. Her second reaction: This looks bucking delicious. And for the first time in however-long-it-is-when-you're-not-affected-by-time, she ate. The celery had a very fresh taste, and was warm-ish, the way she likes all her veggies.. The custard was mildly cold, just the way she liked it. And every time she finished one, another would pop up on the plate.
After pigging out for an undeterminable ammount of time, Octavia finally left her room, and trotted to the control room, where the Doctor was furiously playing with the controls.
“Ah, Octavia! Good to see you. I hope you slept well?” He asked, not even looking at her or breaking his pace.
“Yes, it was great. Especially the celery and custard.” She said, as she came down the steps. There were still so many questions about where she was, what he was, what the plan was, but she thought it better not to ask.
But she did anyways. “What's the plan, Doctor?” Leaning over to look down at some cords hanging under the glass platform.
“Well, I've got us locked in time the morning of the Day Equestria Dissappeared. Whenever you decide to take a step outside I'll unlock us and let you go free. The TARDIS will automatically find you and stick you back inside when Equestria goes poof, so don't worry. Oh, and avoid yourself.” He said, still not looking at her or breaking his pace.
“Alright, seems easy. But what am I looking for?” She asked, sprinting up a flight of stairs, to see that there was in fact a wardrobe room. And she tried on EVERYTHING.
“You see, that's why you're out there. You're going to look for what you need to look for, so we can look for what we need to look for.” His last words were cut off by a clunk, and he pulled down a lever. The TARDIS stopped making some noise, and seemed to step into an Idle mode. He finally backed away and leaned on a railing.
“Doctor, you make no sense. Do we know ANYTHING about what I need to look for?” She asked, coming out in a pink bowtie and a small blue hat.
“Nah, not your color, try blue and blue. And yes, there is. Changelings and Weeping Angels. Watch out for them.” He said, adjusting his bowtie.
Wait, bowtie? Since when did he wear bowties? And since when was he wearing that bowtie?She thought, completely mystified by the magical appearing red bowtie. She came out in a blue sunhat, that flopped over the corners, and some blue earrings that drooped to her shoulders. She liked it, seemed very incognito, considering her depressive social attitude.
“Perfect Octavia! Are you ready to go?” He asked. He trotted over to the door, and pulled them in.
“I guess. So you'll reel me in when Equestria goes Poof?” She asked, because well, she didn't want to go poof with Equestria. She'd rather stay non-poofed.
“Absolutely. Go get it, kid. Tell me what you find. Anything.” He answered with a Wink.
And with that, Octavia was off. Her first steps into the green grass assured her she was
in Ponyville. On The Day Equestria Went Poof.