Chapter 6
“Well, maybe... maybe this will all work itself out. Just because they didn’t meet tonight doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t get married, right? You said yourself has a way of repairing itself. Maybe they just meet somewhere else, or-”
“Ditzy, face facts. That huge blip in the timeline started tonight. The only difference from the original line that we found is the fact that Torchwood and Acrylic didn’t meet. What else could it be?” The Doctor, who had been anxiously pacing around the TARDIS, finally plopped down in front of the control panel. He looked defeated as he half-heartedly glanced over the monitors, still displaying the same information as before.
“Well, maybe the future here isn’t so bad. Since Acrylic and Torchwood haven’t met, maybe Torchwood won’t start a new uprising. And when Chrysalis and Kindling tried to take over, they used Acrylic as bait. She’s not the Seventh Element in this timeline, so she won’t be of any use to Chrysalis to be ponynapped in the first place. Right?”
“She’s still a friend of the other Elements. They’ll do anything to keep each other safe, element or not. Remember when Twilight gave up all of Equestria’s alicorn magic to Tirek to save her friends? Acrylic may not be the Element of Forgiveness this time, but that doesn’t mean she won’t go with her friends to find Radiance and be snatched again along the way. And without Prince Stormwood to stop Kindling...”
“Maybe somepony else rises to stop Kindling. Maybe that’s why the timeline’s so warped. But that doesn’t mean the future is bad. Why don’t we peek ahead and find out?”
“NO!” The Doctor stood tall and covered up as much of the console as he could reach, even though Ditzy hadn’t made a move to touch it. “That will set the new timeline in stone! There will be no way for us to change it. Trust me, Ditzy, situations like this rarely turn out well. Our best bet is to fix things now. Time is still in the process of rewriting itself. If we can set things back on track before it sets new fixed points, we can correct the damage.”
“But how are we supposed to do that?” Ditzy asked.
“We, Miss Doo, are going to play matchmaker.”
“We’re going to get Acrylic and Torchwood back together?” Ditzy perked up. Maybe she’d get to see their first kiss after all.
“Indeed we are. That seems to be the source of all this trouble. If we fix that, and luck is on our side, the rest of the timeline may just snap back into place.”
“Great! That shouldn’t be too hard. Acrylic always said it was like love at first sight. If we can just get them together again, things should go back to normal.”
“I do believe it’s time we paid Mr. Torchwood a visit.”
“How? We don’t know where he is.”
“He’s from Vanhoover, isn’t he?”
“That’s not a lot to go on.”
“He worked at a gallery for Graphite Sketch, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, The Painted Page, I think. But I’ve never been. I don’t know where it is.”
“We’ll just have to ask around. Shouldn’t be too hard to find. That gallery had quite a rep. Would you like to do the honors?” He had been punching in coordinates to Vanhoover, and gestured for Ditzy to pull the final lever. She sighed, but complied. The TARDIS shrieked in protest, but the mechanisms pumped to life.
Ditzy clung to the rail for dear life as they were whisked away to the vast, bustling city of Vanhoover. The Doctor, on the other hoof, swayed and wobbled with the TARDIS, having the time of his life. When the roller coaster was over, he didn’t even trip as he bolted through the doors. But, as always, Ditzy needed a moment to regain her balance before she could follow him out. The pegasus found her friend already interrogating every pony he came across, most of whom were far too busy to be bothered, let alone stop to talk to him. The Doctor wasn’t deterred by his first, fifth, twelfth, or even twentieth attempt. Ditzy rolled her eyes. If it was up to him, nothing would ever get done. She eyed a couple of ponies on the other side of the road waiting at a bus stop. The trolley was not yet in sight, so they might just be willing to spare a few moments and speak with her. Given how heavy traffic was, Ditzy opted to fly over.
“Um, excuse me,” she landed heavily in front of a mare engrossed in a newspaper.
“Hmm? What do you want?” She huffed and put down her article.
“I was wondering if you could help me. I’m looking for an art gallery run by Graphite Sketch. It’s called the Painted Page.”
“Never heard of him or his gallery.” She went back to her paper.
“Oh, well, could you at least tell me if there are any art galleries in the area?”
“None around these parts,” a stallion chimed from the opposite bench.
“Really? Are you sure?” He looked up from his own magazine to give her an incredulous look.
“Well... thank you...” Ditzy hastily backed away, accidentally bumping into somepony’s luggage and causing the series of briefcases to topple like dominos. “Oh! So sorry! Here, let me-” In bending over to replace the bags, an innocent passerby managed to trip over her tail, sailing into a hot pretzel vender. While the pony running the stand yelled at the ‘clumsy oaf,’ the unattended cart began rolling away, right into traffic. A couple of taxi drivers skidded to a halt to avoid collision, some of them overturning their wagons until an impassible traffic jam had formed. Oblivious Ditzy had just finished picking up the bags. When she had righted herself, a mob of angry ponies were screaming at her. Those behind her still waiting at the bus stop were luckily too shocked to do anything but stare.
“Oh, did I do that?” she winced. “But I just don’t know what went wrong!”
“Ditzy! Over here!” The Doctor beckoned her from across the street. Ditzy darted to join him before the authorities arrived. When a couple particularly angry pedestrians tried to follow, both ponies made a mad dash for the TARDIS.
“What did you find?” Ditzy panted, sprinting beside her friend.
“Well, nopony seems to have heard of The Painted Page.”
“No kidding!” Ditzy agitatedly shouted back as they made a sharp turn down the alley where their timeship was parked. They made it inside and had locked the door just in time to hear some angry pounding from the other side. “Did you call me over just to tell me no one knows about his gallery?”
“No. I also called you over away from the angry mob.”
“Well... fair enough, I guess,” she blushed.
“Somepony nearby did know of another gallery nearby, though.”
“Really? When I asked that other stallion, he said there weren’t any.”
“Shows how much he knows. Come on, Ditzy. Maybe this gallery will at least know who Graphite is. Find Graphite, and we find Torchwood.”