//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twelve: Soldier's Mercy 
// Story: Cranks and Bubbles 
// by guppygirl 
//------------------------------//

   “Oh no,” Derpy whispered, eyes wide as she stared at the image before her.  “Oh, no, no, no.”
   “What?”  Jot was almost breathless with confusion as he approached the mirror, careful not to bump into the mare.
   The Doctor rapped on the mirror, mouth moving quickly as he fired off some rapid speech.  However, not a sound traveled through to their side.
   “Hang on,” Tick Tock said, horn igniting with a shimmering sound.  With a concentrated expression, he generated a small spark of light that traced glowing green words in midair: We can’t hear you.
   The Doctor blinked, expression rapidly changing from fear to confusion to understanding and annoyance.  He appeared to be muttering something as he jerked an object out of his pocket.  Flipping open the black notepad containing his psychic paper, he held it up against the glass.
   Tick Tock and Derpy both stared blankly at the Doctor for a few seconds before turning to look at one another with the same expression.  Finally, with a sigh, the stallion turned to Jot.  “Can you read that aloud for us, please?”
   Jot gave him a confused look.  “Um, okay?”  Returning his gaze to the mirror, he read, “‘What happened?’”
   Tick Tock snorted.  “That was pointless.”  More words appeared over his head.  We don’t know.
   The Doctor looked irritated as Jot translated, “‘Well, obviously not, but it’s not like I can do much to figure that out from in here!’”  Looking at the Doctor’s companions, he commented, “He’s kinda grumpy, isn’t he?”
   “You have no idea,” Derpy muttered before focusing.  “Anyway, what do we do?  We can’t just leave him in there!”
   Tick Tock was already transposing her question into the magic letters.  Jot continued reading.  “‘Go back to Keleth, of course!  He seemed to have some idea of what was going on, and might be able to set up contact for you with the family of other victims of this.  Beyond that, you’re on your own.  I’m going to take a look around here and see if I can find anything out myself.’”
   With that, the Doctor stuffed his psychic paper back into his pocket, turned on his heels, and trotted away.
   Derpy couldn’t help a small sigh of relief.  “All that flickering was giving me a headache.”


*o*o*o*o*


   “Keleth!”
   The voice, somewhat familiar, rang out like a bell.  Keleth turned in answer and found Jot, along with two ponies from before.  “Jot.”  He raised a scaly eyebrow.  “You don’t have any of the decorations.  Where’s your third friend?”
   “Trapped in a mirror,” Tick Tock said flatly.
   He only got a confused look back.  “What?”
   “Do you know anything about the mirror in the Fourth Warehouse?” Jot broke in.  “Seems like the Doctor’s gotten trapped in it.”
   Keleth only looked more confused.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  None of our records show a mirror as having been stored in the Fourth Warehouse.”
   The mare - Ditzy Doo, it would seem - reared onto her hind hooves.  “W-What?  That’s not possible, we saw that mirror!”
   Keleth set down his clipboard.  “Why don’t you accompany me to the warehouse?  I’ll take a look at this mirror, and we’ll see if we can figure out its point of origin.”
   “Excellent idea,” the unicorn commended him.  With a small smile of gratitude, Keleth followed as the three led them to the warehouse in question, trying to put his unease about the place in the back of his mind.


*o*o*o*o*


   There was no light.  No landscape.  No markers to tell where he was.  He’d lost sight of the glass hours ago.  Or had it only been ten minutes?  His time sense, usually impeccable, was all mixed up now.  Time didn’t seem to pass in this place, not really anyway.  It was almost like the TARDIS, but it felt far more sinister.
   The Doctor tried to shrug off the feelings and move forward.  The sonic screwdriver clenched between his teeth lit his way with a blue glow, but its light only traveled less than a foot away before being swallowed up in the gloom.  There was no way to see anything, he’d already given up trying when his eyes had begun to ache from straining so hard.  It had almost become mechanical now, walking forward.
   There was no point in wondering, no answers were to be had.  There was no point in speaking, no one was there to hear.  There was only space to be walked across - though for all he knew, he wasn’t really moving at all.
   Sudden sound in the darkness, movement of black on black in the corner of his eye.  He turned abruptly, blue light catching the edge of a black cloak before it moved too far away.
   He removed the screwdriver from his mouth - the vibration was hurting his teeth, anyway - and spoke, voice commanding.  “Who’s there?”
   Silence reigned for a long, long moment, until he wondered whether he’d imagined what he’d seen.  Uneasily, he turned back ahead and spotted something white reflecting back the sonic’s glow.  He approached cautiously, before letting out a whinny that verged on a scream and scrambling back.
   It was the bones of a dragon.
   Laughter began to echo around the cavern that was not a cavern, bouncing off of walls that were not there.  The Doctor glanced around, eyes fearful, and suddenly he was there, with the scarcest hint of movement.  Ruby red eyes burned from the shadows of his hood.
   The Doctor spoke, false bravado lacing his voice.  “Y-You’re the one trapping everyone here, then?  What for?  Answer me!”
   The being raised its head, blue light illuminating a sickening, fang-toothed grin.


*o*o*o*o*


   When the doors rattled open, darkness loomed.  Jot blinked uneasily.  “I thought we left the lights on in here…?”
   “Hang on, I remember where they are,” Derpy announced, spreading her wings.
   “Are you sure?” Tick Tock asked, green gaze concerned.  “You bumped into a statue earlier, don’t get hurt trying to turn them on in the dark.”
   Derpy shook her head.  “I’ll be fine, Tick Tock, thank you.”  She took to the air before he could say another word, darkness swallowing her up.
   Thankfully, the stallion and two dragons didn’t have to wait long before they heard the click of a chain being pulled and the lights flickered on.
   Derpy was fluttering nervously by the string, a smile on her face.  “S-See, the mirror’s right-”  She turned to point, and froze.
   Keleth blinked before shaking his head.  “I’m sorry, but if this is some kind of joke, I’m afraid I’m not seeing the amusement.”
   “N-No, it was right there a minute ago!”  Jot protested.
   Keleth gave Jot a disappointed look.  “I thought you were above this kind of tomfoolery, Jot.”  With a sigh, he started to head towards the exit.  “I’m afraid I have duties to look over, so you can tell your friend that your little prank failed.  And do bring the decorations next time.”
  “Wait-!”
   The door thudded shut behind him.


*o*o*o*o*


   Jot examined the spot against the wall where the mirror had previously leaned.  He appeared to be searching for cracks in the wall, or any other sign of what may have become of the instrument.  Tick Tock, meanwhile, was pacing, rhythmically clicking his tongue while he tried to work out what kind of trickery had gone into these occurrences.
   Derpy was sitting on the floor by the light chain, simply watching him walk.  He was so lost in his thoughts that his movements had become extremely labored, from the way he couldn’t quite manage a full range of motion with his shoulders to the way he put so much focus on his front hooves that he almost seemed to forget about his back ones, resulting in an odd, almost limping gait.
   “It’s not hurting him.”  Derpy jumped as Jot spoke softly beside her.  He was giving her an understanding look, a smile curling his reptilian lips.  He sat down, continuing, “The sting happened at the base of his neck - you can’t see it under his mane - so the front half of his body, including his face and shoulders, are the most affected by his paralysis.  When he was first relearning to walk, he’d forget to move his back hooves at all because he was concentrating so hard on the front two, and fall down a lot.  He’s gotten a lot better, but he still slips back into that if he’s not paying too much attention.”
   “I see.”  Derpy gave Jot a half-hearted smile, gaze trailing slowly back to the empty wall.  Jot placed a comforting claw on her shoulder.
   “We must have done something differently, when we first came in here,” Tick Tock announced suddenly, interrupting their conversation.  “Something that triggered the appearance of the mirror.”
   “Well, didn’t Ditzy bump into a statue?”  Jot asked, glancing at the statue in question - a depiction of a dragon, using its fire breath to battle back a Windigo.
   “I don’t think that made much of a difference,” Derpy said.  “It didn’t do much. I barely tapped it.”  Suddenly, her golden eyes widened.  “Wait!  When we first came in, the lights were off, weren’t they?  And then Jot-”
   “Lit up the room with his fire breath,” Tick Tock finished.  “That must be what triggered the mirror’s appearance!”
   Jot’s brow furrowed.  “But everyone in this community is a dragon - everyone would have done that.”
   “That must be why none have returned,” Derpy said, voice trembling.
   “The mirror would have taken the Doctor because he was closest,” Tick Tock said.  “But this was definitely a trap laid for the dragons here.”
   Jot’s eyes darkened.  “Only question is, what did they need the dragons for?”
   Silence reigned for a moment before Tick Tock spoke resolutely.  “Only one way to find out.”  Beside him, Derpy gave a determined nod.  Jot blinked in confusion before sudden understanding lit his face.  “A-Are you sure?”
   “We have to find him,” Derpy stated simply.  “Who knows what’s on the other side, or what they’re doing to him!”
   Jot smiled at the mare’s loyalty to her friends.  “Okay.”  He drew in a deep breath, reached up overhead, and tugged the chain, the lights dying immediately.


*o*o*o*o*


   “You’re insane!”
   The figure opposite the Doctor was still smiling its eerie smile.  The Doctor’s chest heaved as he stared it down.
   “What is insanity?” it rasped, voice neutral.  “Because, my dear Doctor… I know that you’ve been there before.”
   Echoes emerged from the shadows, from images not quite clear in the darkness, whispering in the Doctor’s ears.  “The laws of time are mine, and they will obey me!”  “One day it would drop out of the sky and tear down your world.”  “Good men don’t need rules.”
   The Doctor’s eyes burned as his ears dropped back, his whole demeanor changing in seconds.  For a moment, he was no longer the Doctor, savior of galaxies.  He was the same lost soul he’d been as he’d watched the life fade from the eyes of all those his adventures had killed.
   “Join me,” the dark voice whispered, rattled, echoed.  A sickly white glow appeared in the blackness, beckoning.
   It was like a blanket, descending over the Doctor’s mind.  Everything deadened, grew darker and blurrier, and he just felt so tired.
   Without even willing it to happen, he could feel his mouth fall open, his voice begin to rasp his answer.  “Ye-”
   Another voice broke in, this one much brighter.  “Oh, no, you don’t!”
   “What?” snarled the other, recoiling.
   The Doctor, meanwhile, turned his head.  “Ditzy?”  And sure enough, there she was.  Winds flared to catch the nonexistent breeze, blonde mane streaming out behind her, his sunbeam ponified.  What was she doing here?  Didn’t she know the darkness would stifle her light?
   “I must admit, it was an ingenious plan.”  A third voice now, quieter, expression more subtle but still definitely there.  “Shame you never thought to factor in all the exponents.”
   Another pony emerged from the darkness.  Tick Tock, the ex-soldier, the inventor, the kind-hearted unicorn.  They’d both come.  To rescue him?
   A sinister chuckle filled the air.  “I may have overlooked the two of you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t eliminate you now!”  A bolt of lightning split the darkness, Tick Tock leaping in the way just in time to raise a magical bubble to protect them.
   They were protecting him.  They were risking their lives to save him.
   But then, that was something they did every day, wasn’t it?
   As the unseen figure screamed out in rage, the fog cleared from the Doctor’s mind.  Blue eyes blazing, he stepped forward to stand beside them, raising his voice in a shout of his own.
   “Stay away from my assistants!”
   The creature snarled, doubling its attack.  Tick Tock winced under the effort of maintaining his shield, but a high-pitched buzz relieved some of the strain - the Doctor, supporting the magic with his screwdriver.
   “What’s going on, Doctor?” Derpy asked, eyes wide and voice hushed.
   “That thing is responsible for all the disappearing dragons,” the Doctor answered, fiddling with the dial on his device.  “It’s draining the life from them and using their magic to bolster itself.  All it needs is one more victim to break through!”
   “One more dragon… or three ponies!” came the growled response.  A sudden, bright burst of stronger magic shattered the shield, and all three ponies stumbled.
   With a dark delight, the voice cried, “Time to end this little game!”
   Derpy sprang to her hooves, golden eyes burning as she stamped a forehoof.  “No!”
   Both stallions began scrambling to a standing position, trying to stop her, but the other creature recoiled as though it had been struck.  “What?”
   Derpy took advantage of the creature’s confusion.  With a cry, she leapt forward, beating her wings in its face.  The thing cried out in response, stumbling back as its hood fell.
   “It’s a Windigo!” the Doctor declared, shocked.
   The horse-creature hissed, baring its fangs at Derpy.  The mare, however, refused to be intimidated, using her still-airborne status to avoid its swipe at her throat.  “Tick Tock, now!”
   The Windigo made its fatal mistake: looking at the pony she’d named.
   A small device suddenly landed on its forehead, a light shining from the center.  With a cry, the Windigo fell to its knees as balls of brilliant light shot forth, scattering in the surrounding dark.  Finally, the device went dark as the creature fell to the ground.
   “What was that?” the Doctor asked in disbelief.
  “My newest invention,” Tick Tock answered in a satisfied voice.  “Magic-draining badges.  They take away just enough of the enemy’s strength to leave them alive, but unable to continue fighting.”  His voice darkened somewhat as he added morosely, “I assume those energy pockets we saw before were the dragons’ souls.”
   “That’s brilliant!” the Doctor declared, smiling at the unicorn.
   Tick Tock affectionately flicked his ears towards Derpy.  “You should be thanking her.  Without her advice, I never would have thought of them.”
   Derpy grinned even as she blushed.  “See?  You can think like a soldier without hurting anypony!”
   “Agreed,” said the Doctor warmly.  “And I must say, I am proud, Ditzy Doo.  That was incredibly brave.”  Then, as the Windigo groaned, he added, “I’d better take that creature back to its home planet.  Let’s not keep Jot waiting!”


*o*o*o*o*


   “Wow.”
   The three ponies stood with their fire-breathing friend and watched over the town as the dragons gathered in the street.  The crowd bustled with activity, everyone excited as the countdown began to light up the decorations running down the streets.
   “It’s so lively!” the Doctor declared.
   “Hearth’s Warming Eve is a big holiday,” Jot said with a smile.  “It’s a time to cherish with your family.”
   “Three!  Two!  One!”  The lights sparkled to light, bathing the crowd in a multicolored glow.  Sounds of wonder spread like wildfire, and Tick Tock was the only pony left in the town without a smile.
   “Uncle Jot!” a small voice called.  The dragon grinned as he turned his great head towards the source.  A pink-coated unicorn filly was waving ecstatically, while the blue-gray unicorn filly beside her watched.  “Just a moment, girls,” Jot called back with a wave of his own.
   “Who are they?” Tick Tock questioned.
   Jot smiled at Tick Tock.  “Those are your 25th-great grandnieces.”
   Tick Tock stopped, looking at Jot with his mouth halfway open to speak, but not a word was coming out.  Derpy, meanwhile, giggled.  “Aw!  Lightwing got married?”
   “That he did,” Jot answered with a small laugh.  “Anyway, I’d better go - looks like it’s time for me to go help set up our home with decorations.  It was nice to see the three of you again.”
   “The same to you, Jot!” Derpy answered exuberantly, trying to shake his huge claw.  “I hope we’ll see you again soon!”
   Jot chuckled.  “I feel the same.”  Then, suddenly, he leaned over and pressed his scaly lips to the mare’s cheek.
   Derpy felt her face going red.  “W-W-What?!”
   With a chuckle, Jot simply turned to his brother, who looked similarly shocked and somewhat like he’d been punched in the gut.  “Take care of her, all right?”  Then he walked away, leaving the three ponies wordless.
   The Doctor gave a quiet laugh and elected not to say a word about the way his companions were both fire-engine red.  “Well, we’d better get going.  Lots of places to see, things to do!”  He pushed open the TARDIS doors, Tick Tock following close on his heels, clearly headed to lock himself away in his room again.
   But as Derpy watched for just a moment longer, the fillies’ mother appeared, calling their names.  “Moonlight!  Starbright!”
   It was the same pony who’d cut her off in line for hot chocolate before.  The mare’s gaze followed her children’s, freezing when she spotted Derpy standing just behind Jot.
   With a smile, Derpy gave a friendly wave.  “Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve!”  Then she turned and entered the TARDIS, the sound of the engines backing up her cheerful sentiment until nothing remained of their presence but the indent in the snow where the blue box had been.