The Lost One- part 4
I dove through the door of the Tardis, just seconds before the cloud of bullets reached me. "This is not where I wanted to go!" I screamed.
"Then close the door so we can leave!" The Doctor shouted back.
I did, collapsing afterwards from the adrenaline. A few seconds later the whooshing told me we were on our way. I stood back up. "When I said 'New Appleloosa', what possessed you to take us to a FORMER PRISON?!"
"The Tardis doesn't know this place as well as you do." The Doctor shrugged. "But it's fine. We've got our bearings and we're locked on. Next stop, New Appleloosa!"
"I'll hold my breath." I muttered as the whooshing continued.
"Come on, Verdant! It's not like those griffons hit you." Twilight chided.
I started to respond, but the shuddering of the Tardis told me we'd landed. "Ok." I said after it stopped. "Everybody out. "Twilight, put that dress back on. At least until we get to where we're going."
Twilight groaned, but complied. Then she started toward the exit with the Doctor. Derpy, on the other hand, stayed put. "I'll stay here. It's not like I'd be much help anyway."
"Nope. You're coming with us."
"But- I-" Derpy sputtered.
"I shook my head. "No buts. You are the reason we're here. You have to see this."
"It's ok, Derpy." Twilight soothed. I promise it'll be ok. So does Verdant." She looked at me. "Doesn't he?"
I kicked at the floor. "Sure, I guess. We'll still be trapped in a post-apocalyptic Equestria, but other than that, yeah."
Reluctantly, Derpy followed us out of the Tardis. I led the way through the beat-up town, though it it was mostly luck when I found the right building. I didn't really know where I was going, but I did find out I could read Equestrian. That was a lucky break.
I went in first to make sure it was empty besides the mare we were looking for. Then, I waved for the others to come in. "Derpy," I said as the sullen pegasus entered. "Meet Ditzy Doo."
They both stared in shock. Ditzy recovered first and quickly wrote on her board. "Could you lock the door?"
"No problem." I did as she asked.
By the time I turned back, she'd already composed another message. "She's me, but how? Time travel?"
"No, she's from a different universe. Same with the Doctor and Twilight."
At the Princess' name, Ditzy finally looked at the other two, registering their presence for the first time. In a flash she tackled Twilight, hugging her for all she was worth. After a moment, she backed off and scribbled on her board. "I'm sorry. It's just been so long since I've seen my Twilight."
"That's ok, I guess." Twilight grinned a bit.
"What... what happened to her? To me?"
I looked to Ditzy. "I think it'll be faster if I explained. May I?"
"Fine with me. You seem to know a lot." Was the written reply.
"I won't let you down." I bowed and got a ghastly giggle in return. I straightened back up, and turned to my fellow travelers. "This is this world's version of Ditzy Doo." I flourished with a hoof.
"Her skin." Derpy's voice cracked. "Why's it so... rotten?"
I saw Ditzy wince. Not for herself, but with the realization of what her current form would look like to her younger self. "Ditzy is what the wastelanders have termed a 'ghoul'." I explained.
"Necromancy?!" That's impossible! Nopony would dare do something like that." Twilight was offended at the very notion.
"That's a debate for another day." I murmured. "But no. Ditzy is very much alive and, given her situation, in fairly high spirits. Right?" Ditzy nodded enthusiastically.
"Then why? How is she still alive?" Twilight had to know.
I cleared my throat and began. "200 years ago, during that war I told you about, Ditzy was caught in a bomb's blast. She wasn't close enough to be killed, but the radiation altered her physiology. Increased her life span and, well, made her body like that."
"So that's why she can't talk?" Twilight asked. "The necrosis?"
I awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck. "No... umm, some time ago, her tongue was cut out by Raiders."
It was too much for Derpy. She started crying. Before even the Doctor could react, Ditzy wrapped her other self in a sticky embrace. She held Derpy until the tears turned to sniffles, then wrote on her board. "It's ok, Other Me. It really is. I have friends, and I get to help ponies."
"But- your-" Derpy sniffed.
"She survived." I spoke up. "And surviving made her stronger."
Derpy sat. "I guess all I'm good for is surviving." She muttered glumly.
This wasn't working like I wanted it to. "The three of you go back to the Tardis. We have another stop to make."
As they shuffled out, Ditzy jotted something on her board. "She seemed sad. About more than what happened to me."
"Yeah." I looked at the door they'd just exited. "She hasn't had a good time of it, lately. First thing she went through in this world was a Raider attack."
"You'll help her, right?"
"I'll try."
"Good." She erased the word and wrote more. "I felt Twilight's wings under her dress. She's an Alicorn in your world?"
"In her world." I clarified. "They call her the Princess of Friendship."
She smiled. "I'm glad their Equestria hasn't changed."
I extended a hoof and we shook. "It was an honor to meet you. Sorry for being such a know-it-all." She shook her head. It was no problem. "Oh and, if you would, please keep this to yourself. I don't want to accidentally change this world's future."
"I won't say a word." Was her written reply. She laughed, and I joined in.
"Atta girl."
"Doctor, we need to jump ahead in time. Just for a little bit." I said as I swept into the Tardis. "But I don't know exactly how far. Can you hook me up to the controls so the Tardis will follow my memories?"
He nodded. "Shouldn't take too long."
Indeed it didn't. In a few minutes he'd wired a control helmet to the console and fitted it to my head. The ensuing whoosh was proof it worked. We landed and I ushered everyone out.
Outside was chaos. As we stood on a hill overlooking New Appleloosa, the townsponies and soldiers of the Pegasus Enclave slaughtered each other.
"Verdant, what is this?" The Doctor screamed at me, only partly to be heard over the cacophony.
Derpy covered her eyes. "No, no, no..."
I batted her hooves away and pointed up. "No! Don't look at the battle! Look up!" We all did, and at first all we could see were the massive Enclave warships crowding the sky.
Then a brilliant, sickly green wave burst the clouds apart. The shooting stopped as the sun's light fell on New Appleloosa for the first time in the citizen's lives.
"What was that...?"
"That, Twilight, was what will soon be known as a Sonic Rad-Boom." I answered.
"Rad-Boom?" The Doctor wondered.
I nodded. "It's what happens when a highly irradiated pegasus performs a sonic rainboom." I turned to Derpy and poked her on her forehead. "That pegasus was you."
She recoiled in disbelief. "Me? I- I can't do anything like that!"
"Neither could Ditzy." I told her. "But the potential was there, like it's there in you."
"What good is potential?" Derpy stubbornly asked.
"We need to get back in the Tardis. The air is getting bad."
We all followed the Doctor's advice, and as we did I stayed on Derpy's case. "What good is potential? Remember the creature? It was feeding on our potential."
Derpy wasn't quite convinced. "Well, yeah-"
"You're not getting it, are you?" I cut her off. "Potential is the entire point of the multiverse! Every action, reaction, every random shake of an electron, it's all born from potential. And in every universe where there's a you, there's the potential for a sonic rainboom- or Rad-Boom. Even if you never manage to do it, the potential's there and that makes you special. Makes you good for more than just surviving."
She smiled hesitantly. "You really think so?"
"I know so. And so do they."
"I wouldn't have asked you to come with me, otherwise." The Doctor reminded her.
"Everypony has something that makes them special." Twilight chimed in.
"See what I mean?" She nodded, so I turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, take us back to the time we arrived at. We have some searching to do."