The Lost One part five
We arrived at the present/past (time travel is really confusing, especially when you're in a different universe) at night, so everyone went to sleep. By everyone I mean Twilight and Derpy, as the Doctor doesn't sleep and I am apparently an insomniac.
The last 20 or so hours had been exceedingly strange, to say the least. And if they weren't the most dangerous hours of my life, then maybe it was better I didn't return to my world. I just couldn't remember.
"Thank you for helping Derpy." The Doctor said, snapping me out of my ruminations. "She really needed to hear that."
I gave him a half-smile. "Anytime. I think."
"Still having trouble remembering things?" I nodded his way. "Well, don't worry. It'll come back to you."
"I don't think it will." I told him.
"What do you mean?"
I sighed. "From the start, I've only been able to remember enough to manipulate the situation. I remembered Twilight's history, multiverse theory, you. Then we ran into that creature and suddenly, I can fight."
"So the sight of the thing shook some memories loose." The Doctor theorized.
"Maybe. I hope thet's it, that you're right." I ran a hoof through my mane. "But I'm starting to suspect that whatever pulled me to the girl's world is surpressing my memory."
"You only remembered this world when you woke up, didn't you?"
I nodded again. "Though whether that was because I just didn't think about it is unclear."
He was silent for a moment before speaking again. "So what do you want to do?"
"We'll let the girls sleep. Then, in the morning, we start kicking down doors."
I didn't think I would actually have to kick any doors, but here we were.
When she woke up, Twilight suggested we search the home of an obscure pony scientist. She had read an article detailing the research this pony'd been conducting in the field of multiverse theory. Maybe, just maybe, we'd find a solution to our problem. At the very least there'd probably be a clue as to where we should go from there.
That seemed sensible, so away the Tardis went. The place the scientist pony had lived turned out to be a rather secluded cabin at the foot of a mountain. It also turned out to be inhabited by two unicorns, a mare and a stallion.
The occupants had seemed friendly enough, as they came outside to inspect the strange blue box that had appeared on their front lawn. Friendly and curious. That changed when they saw my cutie mark.
After the mare shrieked, and the stallion noticed what she was shrieking at, they both bolted back into the cabin and barred the door. Derpy flew over to it and knocked. "Don't worry, Verdant's not as mean as he looks. Please let us in."
The only answer came in the form of a gunshot. Not near any of us, it was probably aimed at the roof. The message got across, though.
"Jeez." She turned to face us as we met her at the door. "What's got them so grouchy?"
"My mark."
She looked down at it. "Oh..."
"They think we're here to hurt them, so there's no way they'll let us in. What do we do now, Twilight?" I looked sideways at her.
"The data in there could be our ticket home." Twilight sighed. "Knock down the door. Hopefully, when they see that we aren't trying to kill them they'll be a little more helpful."
"If they don't shoot us." The Doctor quipped.
I lifted a leg. "Getting shot can't hurt more than having all my internal organs smashed."
Which brings us full circle.
The little wooden door flew off its hinges. I didn't know how much force I could generate from being on all fours, so I ended up using a lot more than I needed. All four of us walked in after it.
"G-Get out of here!" The stallion was shakily pointing a gun at us with his magic.
"Please, calm down." Twilight said, soothingly. "We don't mean you any harm. We just want to talk."
He wasn't listening, though, and the gun stayed where it was. I tensed, preparing to spring at him and wrestle the pistol from his magical grip. I needn't have bothered.
After a few seconds, he tossed the gun down and raised a tablet to his mouth. The mare did the same. "You'll never take us, Raiders!"
"No, don't!" The Doctor was just a heartbeat quicker than I was in realizing what those tablets were. He was still too late. They bit down hard and moments later they dropped to the floor, gagging and writhing.
Then they were still.
From the effects, and the smell, I knew it was whatever the pony version of cyanide was called. The fact that I knew what cyanide was, and how to identify it sickened me.
But even worse were the photos. A line of them decorated a nearby wall. Family shots. Pre-war, in a Stable, and finally in this cabin again, an unbroken record. The oldest included the pony Twilight had described.
And in the newest, a younger version of the now-dead mare smiled at the camera.
"Wha- Why would-?" Derpy sputtered.
I turned to face them. "Doctor, take the girls back to the Tardis. I'll search by myself."
"Do you know what you're looking for?" He asked. His eyes flicked over to the pictures, then back to me. He knew why I'd told him to do what I did, but he also didn't want miss any clues that might be here.
"I do."
He nodded grimly, then started to usher the others out. Still shocked by what they'd seen, they didn't protest too much. When they were gone, I walked over to a drawer and pulled it open.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Whatever research that'd pony had been doing must've been left behind in the Stable.
When I came in to tell everyone, only Derp and the Doctor were in the control room. After I filled them in, I went off to inform Twilight. I found her in her room. The door was open and I could hear sniffling. I knocked on the frame.
"Oh, Verdant. You're back."
"Yep." I confirmed as I entered. She was sitting on her bed, wiping the last of the tears away.
"You didn't find anything, did you?" When I just looked at the floor, she continued. "So we destroyed that family for no reason."
"Did the Doctor tell you?"
She shook her head. "I'm more than capable of noticing pictures on a wall."
"Look, Twilight, this... is a hellish place. You didn't know they'd do that." I tried to sound soothing. "You couldn't. You're unable to even think like them, because you didn't grow up in this world."
"That's not why I'm sad, Verdant. Well it is, but it's not the only reason. I was thinking of my friends. I..." She stood. "I need to know. I need you to show me what happened to them. To us."