Octavia took a deep breath of air. The area smelt of roses, and grass, and from the corner of her eye she saw 2 fillies playing in the trees. She was definitely by the park in Ponyville, where ponies were sitting on wooden benches and cuddling, or throwing frisbees and chasing each other. Even the Fillies and Colts were getting into the Hearts and Hooves mood, but that didn’t phase Octavia. The Colts are not the main thing right now, right now I’m supposed to be avoiding myself, changelings, weeping angels and everyone else, she thought. And as if just on cue, Lyra Heartstrings trotted up behind her and gave her a playful nudge in the side.
“Hey there Tavi! Meeting up with a special Colt? You seem all dressed up for it!” Lyra said, trotting around Octavia playfully. “I know I am! He’s really nice, you might know him, he’s Star Hunter?”
“Never heard of the guy. Listen, I’m busy. Can we talk at the party later?” Octavia asked, looking around nervously for any Equestria-Poofers.
“Tavi, you alright? You seem really dis-THERE HE IS!” And Lyra dashed away fast enough to cause a small boom behind her. Back to the job at hand, no time to lose, Octavia, the nagging voice in her head was unstoppable!
Octavia managed to find herself by SugarCube Corner, around the time she would be finding the package on her step. Wait, if I’m over there getting the bow on my doorstep, does that mean there’s two of me who are coming to this party? How do I avoid contact like that? How do I even- Octavia’s thoughts were cut short. She saw the Changeling Doctor waltz through the door, and decided to follow, close quarters.
The Changeling Doctor didn’t do much at the pink party, just sat there in the corner and waited with a wicked smile. There’s something I’m missing. This Changeling didn’t poof Equestria. Octavia thought. Clock; 9:45. I’ll get here in 5 minutes. Guess it’s time to return to the TARDIS.
And with that, Octavia simply returned to the TARDIS as she said. She felt the rumbling as she got to it. There’s me, The Doctor and Rose, escaping, somewhere by sugarcube Corner. 2 Doctors, 2 TARDIS’es. This hurts to think of. She thought as she pushed in the door to the TARDIS, to the surprised eyes of the Doctor.
“Back so soon? Didn’t find anything I suppose.” He asked, turning from the console, giving her a concerned look. “Want to try again? We can do this as much as we want.”
Octavia gave a satisfied nod. She wanted to know WHY Equestria was poofing. This went on for 5 more times, Octavia trying different strategies, even returning to her home at one point while she wasn’t there. But found no information.
“Last try before I turn in for a bit, Doctor.” She told him, walking through the TARDIS doors yet again. And with no response, he simply flicked a switch and back in time they were. Octavia quickly trotted out the doors, and avoided every other circumstance she ran into before. Lyra, Pinkie, even Big Mac, all stopped her at one point. She needed to focus on the task at hand.
On the path from her house to Sugarcube Corner, she found it. A changeling, trotting by, and then morphed itself into the Doctor. This is it! I’ll just tackle the changeling and then see what happens. She thought, contradicting her thoughts of the Changeling not poofing Equestria.
She tackled the Doctor Changeling, and then pinned it to the ground. Giving a defeated look, the changeling retorted its disguise to reveal its dark, sleek form.
“You’re too late. You’re going to die.” It said in a raspy voice, giving a small wink behind her.
“Hey! What’s going on over there!” An extremely familiar voice cried out from behind her, british accent and all.
Tha-That’s my voice. BUCK! Octavia’s mind was racing. She turned around, and faced herself square in the eye. A rumbling started from under them, and everything froze. Then, just as Octavia saw, in the general direction of Canterlot from SugarCube Corner, was the familiar white explosion. But right under her. Octavia was the cause of the explosion. There were 3 Octavias, she realized in the blanket of white. Her, the one who stopped her, and the one at the party.
Then, all she could see was white. Octavia had ceased to exist.
“Welcome to your subconscious, Octavia” Her voice told her. It resonated in the whiteness, as if it literally came from her Subconscious, and she was literally inside it. “Do not worry, I’ve done this before. I’m your future self. There’s no paradoxes here, the one we’ve caused is enough. You see, I can’t spoil this any more, but we’re stuck in the same place. Us. In our subconscious, and we need to fix that. What I did was think of my Childhood, think of it vividly. Remember Bass Mountain.”
And so she did.
Octavia was suddenly enveloped in grass, laying under a tree, with music beside her. The ground took a sharp turn downwards, under where her tail was frizzy and flowing free. The sheet music beside her had many markings on it, gently swaying in the wind. And in the distance, more mountains, blocked from her by a valley hidden with fog. This was where she spent her childhood in entirety, up on a mountain. She lived there alone, in a log cabin, after her parents abandoned her and her taste of music.
The scenery changed to the day. It was bright and sunny, and her parents were sitting on the porch of a beautiful home in Canterlot. They lived just outside, surrounded by woods and trees, not too far from Bass Mountain. A small gray Filly, with a flowing black mane, came trotting back from the mountain with a Cello, given to her by her friend Lyra. Her parents gave each other a small glance, then a disapproving look at the Filly. She stopped, as she saw something in their eyes. An evil.
Her parents stood up and- Everything froze. There was no more to remember, as she had forced herself to forget the last, and most important part. She metaphorically facehoofed, if it’s possible when you’re nonexisting inside your subconscious. That was probably her key to escaping her subconscious, and she had made sure to forget it.
She was stuck in her own mind.