//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Return // Story: The Scrapper // by J8ck78 //------------------------------// "Alright Gentlecolt and Fillies!" Announced the Doctor with a smile on his face, “Welcome back to the Royal Palace, not twenty minutes after we left." He stepped out silently gloating. The rest followed him out and looked around with impressed expressions. "Not bad Doctor." remarked Scrapper, "I'm rather impressed." "The TARDIS actually landed where it was supposed to." Added Twilight, "I'm impressed Doctor. You outdid yourself this time." "Uh, I'm not sure." spoke Scrapper, "The sun is going down." "You got to be kidding!" yelled Whooves, "I set it for twenty minutes after we left! Not a couple of hours!" "That's the TARDIS for ya." laughed Derpy "Wow, Canterlot! This is so amazing! Are we near the royal Kitchen?" asked Pinkie tumbling out of the TARDIS "Ooh! I think it's over there!" Exclaimed Derpy flying out behind Pinkie. "Quick let's go!" Pinkie ordered The two ran off while Colgate walked out of the TARDIS and marvelled at the large hall they were in. She smiled at her memories of studying here before moving back to Ponyville, not long after Twilight left for Ponyville. "Step lively! I still need to deliver Miss Hooves back to her house, after she gets back from the Royal kitchen." As he spoke, he heard a hoof slap the side of the TARDIS. He turned angrily. Why anyone would dare touch his sexy without his permission, he never knew. On the front was a ticket from the Equestrian Royal Guard, with a fine for 60 bits. He tore it down and looked at it in shock. "What, what is this?" "Ticket sir." came a voice Whooves looked up to see a brown coated Royal Guard standing above him. "I demand to know why I got this ticket!" Yelled Whooves, "You parked too close to the Canterlot Royal Palace!"replied the Guard, "I did no such thing!" Rebutted Whooves, "I-!" "You parked your box right in the middle of the Palace!" Interrupted the Guard, "I didn't even think that was possible!" "Then explain to me why this ticket is for 60 bits! That's my weeks pay check!" "Doctor, you don't work." claimed a confused Twilight Whooves tried to shush her as the Guard stood his ground. "Standard fine for parking one cart, wagon, chariot, or other means of transportation is 15 bits. For every foot to the castle past the allotted mark is a added bit, and since it's 30 bits to the closest wall, that's 45 bits. Touching the palace wall is a added 15 bits, bringing it up to a total of 60 bits. Take it or leave it." Whooves was left there with his mouth wide open, eye twitching involuntary. "Who do you think you are giving me this?" He asked throwing the paper down, "Do you know who I am? I'm the Doctor! THE DOCTOR!" "And I'm Staff Sergeant David, Royal Guard." Finished the Guard with a smug smile. Whooves had half a mind to send this Guard to a myriad of planets all across the Universe, or set him up with a date with doom, when Twilight came to the rescue. "Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's student." "Oh, he's riding with you." said David, "Well, never mind then. Use that paper for a book mark or something, your fine. Though, uh, I'd move that before some other pony tickets it." "Where would you be without me Doctor?" asked Twilight walking past him "Paying 60 bits for parking violations." chuckled the Guard Twilight smiled, rubbing it in Whooves face, when she turned to the Guard and recognized him: "You're that Guard that picked up Scrapper!" "Yep. I guess I screwed one up big with the ticket. Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, kinda." With that, he walked away behind the TARDIS. Whooves looked to see him sit at a desk right behind the TARDIS, and made mental note not to park the Old girl in random large hallways again. Twilight herself charged her magic and in a few moments both Pinkie Pie and Derpy popped in out of nowhere, Pinkie was stuffing a cake in her mouth whilst Derpy filling her mouth with muffins. Twilight looked at them angry, and in turn they gave Twilight a sheepish grin and hurried into the TARDIS. "Coming Miss Sparkle?" Whooves asked Twilight. "No, I think I'll be needed with Celestia when Scrapper tells her of the gem." "Alrighty then! Miss Colgate, will you be joining us?" "Sure I guess." she called to him, "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you Uncle Scrapper." "Uh, yeah. I guess seeing you are the only family member I know I guess I'll visit." "I'll be in touch, Grandma Menuet told me to keep an eye on you." Scrapper snorted at this, but nonetheless he gave his niece a hug before she stepped back into the TARDIS, followed by Whooves. He nodded goodbye before shutting the door. The TARDIS whirred up and slowly faded into nothing. "Is that pony really named after Toothpaste?" asked David sitting at his desk Twilight and Scrapper didn't know what to say and just looked at him. "Never mind." ---- "Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight poking her head through the door "Hello my dear Student." greeted the Princess, "Have you come back from your quest?" Twilight entered with Scrapper in tow. Twilight had walked them to Celestia's private study, and Scrapper had to admit, this was allot of books. So many books his head spun dizzy from the sheer sight of it. "Scrapper, I see you got your wings back." noted Celestia "Huh? Oh yes, I got my old prototypes." Scrapper answered her, coming out of his daze "So, what did you learn about that gem?" asked Celestia "It's not pretty." answered Scrapper "There's some powerful mysterious entity trapped away in it." continued Twilight, "Even half sealed inside the gem it was almost able to escape and wreak havoc." "Do you know who it is?" inquired Celestia Both Twilight and Scrapper stopped dead at the question Celestia had asked. Neither did their entire trip back to then. Did they even think about asking who it was, despite the fact it was so obvious! It was especially obvious when Bennett went crazy and tried to attack Scrapper. Celestia, from their expressions, figured out they didn't know the answer, but gave them a reassuring smile either way. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. So long as whoever it is sealed away inside that gem stays sealed up, there is no harm to come from it." "Whoever it is though, she can break free from the gem when the sun shines on it." Twilight spoke up "She?" inquired Scrapper "When I was in the cave, there was a mare's voice talking inside a giant green cloud, and it was the same voice as on the train." "Scrapper, ring any bells?" Celestia Questioned him. Scrapper thought hard on it, digging into the deepest recesses of his mind to try and figure out who this mysterious voice could be. He knew what Twilight was talking about, he knew the voice now, laughing, mocking him almost for not knowing who she was. He hit the side of his head with his hoof, it was right there, right there! Hanging just out of his reach. "It's okay Scrapper you can stop." Scrapper pulled out of his thoughts as Celestia spoke, but he hung his head in shame and stomped his hoof in anger. "I know that voice! I know that voice! Why can't I remember it!?" "She put a memory spell on you, made you forget." Said Twilight, hoping to calm Scrapper "It's not your fault." Scrapper snorted at his failure and sat down. He shook his head, he knew that name, he knew it, it was right there on the tip of his tongue. "She's an Alicorn." he finally spoke "What?" came a union of both Celestia and Twilight "Not by birth, somepony transformed her into a Alicorn, Pegasus Unicorn if you will, either way, she's twisted, evil... that's all I got." He looked up to see the Twilight and Celestia pondering the idea of a evil Alicorn, but none came to their minds. "I'll look into it." finally came Twilight "I will too." seconded Celestia, "In the meantime, where is the gem?" "Right here." answered Scrapper He pulled the gem out of his vest, still wrapped in the blanket Twilight and Colgate had from earlier on the train and handed it over to Celestia. Celestia held it mid-air and could feel the magic radiating off it. "I will gather up some of my Guard and we will deliver it to the deepest parts of Tartarus. Where the sun never shines. It will be safe there." "That will work!" remarked Scrapper, "But, how will you move it there? If the sun hits it by accident-" "It will travel in the night." Celestia interrupted him, "There it will have no chance of getting hit by the sun." Scrapper smiled and nodded in respect for the idea. "In the meantime," added Celestia, "I guess we'll try to find out who this mysterious Alicorn is." Scrapper nodded in respect, until a thought crossed his mind. "Hold up, in speaking of the moon and travelling in the night, where is Luna?" Celestia looked outside at the starry night sky and had what he was looking for: "She should just be finishing up the night sky." She turned back, only to see Scrapper running out. She smiled before grabbing five books from her shelves, and handing two to Twilight. "Best get to studying." she told her student Twilight felt giddy at the chance to study with her mentor once again. ---- Luna landed on the Palace tower as she finished all the stars in the night sky. She looked over the land and smiled. "Rest my subjects. The night shall welcome your sleep." "Well, I always did my best work in the night." came a voice A surprised Luna turned around to see Scrapper standing on eh top of the tower looking over the night sky in admiration. At first she was elated to see him, but confusion soon set in. "How did you get up here? Only ponies with wings or my sister and I with the right password." Scrapper just smiled and unfolded his makeshift wings. Luna looked on and smiled. "Aren't those your old wings?" "Yeah, I didn't have time to make a new pair, so I went with the tried and true." answered Scrapper "How is that possible?" noted Luna, "But that would mean- The Doctor?" "Brown hair, brown mane? Hour Glass Cutie Mark?" "That's him." finished Luna, "Yes, my sister and I have had many run-ins with him before. A ingenious time meddler he is. So, what was the gem?" "A prison." replied Scrapper, "A prison for some powerful entity which I have little to no idea who she is. All I know she is a Alicorn like you, Cadence, and Celestia, but nothing else." "I do not know of this Alicorn of which you speak. We are very rare." "Tell me about it." "And the gem is?" Luna inquired "Celestia has it. It's in good Hooves." "Yes. I take it she is searching in her study for this mysterious individual?" "With Twilight." "Of course." chuckled Luna, "Those two will find out your answer soon enough." She finished and looked out again over the horizon. Scrapper smiled and looked up at the night sky again. This was the first night sky he had really looked out upon in a long long time. Stars twinkling in the distance, constellations set up long before Luna took the throne of Pony heroes past, even the moon seemed perfect. As he gazed past, he spotted a light trailing past at high speed leaving a trail of light behind it, a shooting star! "Luna, did you do that?" He turned to her and saw her blush. He laughed and looked back at the shooting star as it trailed off into the distance. "It's been a wish of mine to watch the night sky for a while now, but everypony is too scared or too formal." mentioned Luna "I'm not either of them." chuckled Scrapper Luna moved closer to Scrapper as the two of them watched the night sky. ---- The TARDIS took off towards the Home of Derpy Hooves as Colgate walked into her house. She couldn't wait to tell Berry Punch about her crazy adventure, and the fact she not only met her Grandmother from a thousand years ago, but her Uncle as well. As crazy as it sounded, Berry Punch was probably so far into her drinking that she would believe anything she told her. She was sure that Berry Punch would believe this when she noticed that the lights in her house were off. She opened the door and called out to her friend. "Berry! Berry! You wont believe what I did today!" She tried to turn the lights on, but nothing happened. She tried switching them on several times, but nothing was happening. It was at this point she was starting to get worried. She lit her horn to see, and recoiled in fear. Berry was there, unconscious, strung to a wall in what looked like webbing. Colgate took a few steps back in fear and tried to run for help. As She turned, she bumped into a large, imposing dark figure standing behind her. It looked like a pony, but the outline revealed other, frightening aspects of it's form, such as the fact it had two horns on it's head that didn't match, and three tails. "Hello, Miss Colgate is it?" The dark beast spoke.