The Doctor was confused. Sure, it was a little confusing in itself, the amount of paradoxes happening outside, but still, Octavia should’ve returned by now. Equestria had poofed already, so she should’ve been popped back into the TARDIS, had she not walked in. But she didn’t. She never came back. And The Doctor knew exactly what that meant.
“Rose, come on. It’s time to go meet Octavia as a Filly.” The Doctor said, pulling a few switches. He expected no response, as there was no more Rose there. His mind was furiously beating to deal with what he was processing up there, but there was no doubt the Time Colt’s mind could do it. Rose was gone, she never existed.
The Doctor jumped out of the TARDIS, circa 10 years ago. He was in a treeline, probably by the EverFree forest. He strolled out, to be greeted by a face he expected. Old as him, and looking as if it was made of stone, staring directly at him.
“Hello there weeping angel! Great to see you.” He said, as another came up behind him, with eyes wide open. The Doctor quickly ducked out of the way, leaving the angels staring at each other.
He continued by the treeline, and briefly saw a young 8 year old Filly with a bright gray coat and deep black hare dash by.
“Octavia, where are you going in such a rush?” He asked the speeding Filly, who ignored his presence and continued. He was walking in the dark forest for a while, and he felt uneasy. Not only because of the strange sounds of crickets and owls around him, or the strange creatures and leaves brushing his legs, but by the fact he was about to kill Rose.
He strolled by a clearing, where a Filly was explaining to her parents how music was a beautiful thing. But her parents didn’t listen. And The Doctor didn’t want to be anywhere near the scene in 5 minutes, so he started trotting faster. After 5 more minutes of crawling through dying bushes and leaves, he hit his destination.
He was standing on a small edge, above a brown Colt and a cream colored Mare, discussing why they were lost. The doctor prepared a small parchment, inscribed with a few hints on it.
Hey there me! Glad we could talk, well, as close as we can get. We know how it is, I suppose. But listen, Rose is going to die soon, well not die, but cease to exist for a few seconds, but, well, for the good of Equestria’s future. Just go pick her up from the cave when you’re done. She can’t know any of our plans. She’ll just ruin them. Feel free to pick her up when you’re done saving Equestria, she’ll be fine then.
He dropped the note onto the brown Colts head, who read it and nonchalantly chose to try the cave, with the groan of the cream colored pony. The Doctor quickly ran back to the scene, and found Filly Octavia crying over her Cello.
“Come on now, it’s not that bad. Here, I’ll show you where you can live!” He brought the Filly up the mountain to a Log shack, then returned down the mountain to the cottage, where Octavia was standing.
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Octavia was bored. She’d re-watched this memory over 20 times, and couldn’t find anything different. She tried the memory before, where she and Lyra were composing music up on Bass Mountain, just before the Memory, but no luck. She began to think of random encounters, her at the Gala, when those crazy 6 ponies ruined everything, or her at the Garden Party, were the same 6 ponies ruined everything again. She also thought to her first Colt-Friend, Big Mac, which gave her happy feelings.
Octavia was getting frustrated, not being able to remember a memory she needed to escape her mind, while being stuck in her own mind. Ironic.
Octavia decided to just continue watching the Memory. And finally, the 25th time was the charm. The thought to try to think of the word “Pause”, which immediately paused the Memory for her to take a closer look. Her parents, standing angrily and her, as a small Filly, cowering behind her Cello. She then noticed something else. A certain brown Colt, watching the scene, then retreating into the woods. THE DOCTOR? She exclaimed out loud in her mind. Why the buck was he there, watching her get-She could remember a small portion. Her parents, well, “Parents” suddenly stared behind her, afraid. Octavia turned, to see 2 statues of ponies, who had not been right behind her 10 seconds before.
These Pony Statues had their eyes covered, and were frozen right behind her. She took a quick blink, and they were right beside her parents. They screamed as she turned, and then they suddenly... Ceased to exist. Everything is just poofing away lately, she thought. As she continued watching the Memory, the Doctor came by and took the young Filly Octavia, up to a shack on Bass Mountain. He gave her a small pink bowtie and told her everything was going to be okay. Then, she forced herself to forget it forever. If I forgot it forever, why can I remember it right now? Oh right, because I don’t exist and I’m currently trapped in my mind, she thought sarcastically. As she observed the scene more carefully she realized that the dress her Mother was wearing, and the bowtie her father was wearing, were the ones given to her at her house, 20 years later. And the White Rose, was growing right beside the steps onto the porch, where her parents died.
Octavia suddenly felt a rush. The white pitch she was growing accustomed to was slowly bleeding black, and she could feel herself becoming very very nauseous. And then, the beautiful white went black.
Octavia woke later on to the friendly room of the TARDIS, and Rose staring right into her face.
“Good morning, and welcome back to life.” Rose said, a hint of sarcasm floating into her voice as she flipped her hair and turned to the Doctor. “Doctor, she’s awake.”
The brown Colt quickly bounced over to her, and began checking her out.
“You’re perfectly fine, let alone a few bruises, yet you had died just a few seconds ago. You were probably trapped inside your subconscious hm? Happens to the best of us. Either way, what did you learn?” He didn’t take a breath as he continued to stare directly into the dazed Mare’s face.
“We need to go back to when I was a Filly. Down somewhere near Bass Mountain. There’s a White Rose there, and a copy of my Mother’s dress.” Octavia said with determination, sitting up on her... plot.
“Alright then, Mare on a Mission. That’s good.” The Doctor replied, flicking a few switches on the console and then giving off a satisfied expression when the TARDIS roared to life. A few seconds later, “Ding we’re here!” He said. “Rose and I will go looking for anything suspicious, meanwhile you go get your Rose and Dress.” And with that, he dragged Rose out of the TARDIS, who gave Octavia a look of regret.
“Oh, and meet Filly me at the Cottage when you’re done. I need you to bring Filly me up to the Log Cabin on Bass Mountain.” Octavia shouted out the door and followed them out, and headed off in the direct direction of the Cottage. It was around before Filly Octavia came home, and she knew that there was a cellar entrance to the home under a patch of grass her parents didn’t see.
Octavia entered the cellar and took a nostalgic look around. The dusty gray cellar was filled with bottles and garbage, and the stairs to the upper floor would’ve been completely hidden to Octavia had she not been here when she was a Filly. She went up the stairs, trying to make them creak as little as possible, an extremely slow and hard process.
When Octavia finally made it up the stairs, she was greeted by a familiar room, with sleek white walls, and blue trim around the bottom. The room was completely void of any type of garbage, which her parents usually kept in the cellar. The brown leather couch was in the exact same place as she remembered it, against the long wall with a painting of her parents above it.
They had no care for me. They had the Weeping Angels coming. They deserved it, she thought in a sorrow tone. She took a peek out the window by the porch, and saw that Filly Octavia was explaining to her parents why Music was so important to her. Octavia grinned sadly and went into a room with an orange door, her parents room. Inside was the same trim and walls as the other room, but much smaller and had a bed in the middle, with a wardrobe on the wall opposite to the bed.
She opened up the wardrobe and took out her Mother’s dress, which was as she found it on her doorstep. She then proceeded outside, just as The Doctor was taking away Filly Octavia. The only thing confusing her was the lack of Rose. She had originally thought that the lack of Rose in her memory was because the cream pony was not important to her, but that was not the case.
She opened the porch door and trotted down, to where the White Rose was growing. She plucked it up with her mouth, and then took a green cloth dotted with apples from the porch table. She was now only missing the heart shaped jade and the note.
The Doctor had now returned, and watched Octavia step off the porch and walk towards her.
“Where’d Rose go?” Octavia asked, looking around confused. She sat in front of the Doctor, wrapping up the Dress and the Rose together.
“Oh, I told myself to keep her in a cave for a bit. Don’t worry, she’s just living to death at the moment.” He replied calmly, giving her a supportive look. But this still shocked Octavia.
“Listen, I’ll be right be back. Well, I won’t, but I will. Just, see you later.” He said, then ran off to the TARDIS, which was by the clearing. She slowly trotted towards it, but it faded away with a strange screeching and yelling noise.
Did... Did the Doctor just abandon me in the past? WHY! I thought he needed me to save Equestria. What the hoof, Octavia thought, slumping down on the grass on top of the dress and the Rose.
“Hey Octavia! Why so sad looking?” The Doctor had appeared behind her, comfortingly patting her shoulder.
“WHAT! But, I, You,TARDIS, What?” She stammered. Only a minute ago she saw The Doctor leave in the TARDIS, yet here he was.
“I won’t but I will. Just, see you later.” She understood now. She saw the Future Doctor, talking about the past Doctor.
“What are you talking about?” He asked, just as confused as she was, but for the wrong reason.
“No reason, let’s get going to the TARDIS.”