//------------------------------// // Interlude to a More Recent Past // Story: For Everfree // by NPP6 //------------------------------// Smoke and embers filled the air, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. "Doctor!" Ditzy's voice felt raw, "Doctor I think you need to come up with something!" "Ditzy, I... I'm sorry. I don't know what to do." "Well think of something!" The pegasus looked down at the filly cradled in her hooves. "She breathed in a lot of smoke before we got here, I don't know how much time she has." "Ditzy... She might already be-" "I can feel her heartbeat Doctor, she's got a chance. We're not leaving her, but I can't carry her through this!" As if to punctuate the mare's statement, more of the upstairs hallway collapsed. The stairs behind her were gone. There was a twelve hoof gap full of flame and smoke between her and the other end of the hallway, where the Doctor and the TARDIS were. Wait... the TARDIS! "Doctor, maybe there's something in the TARDIS? Maybe you can bring it over here?" "NO! Ditzy, I... I can't risk it. If I miss, even by a minute... No. I'm not getting into that box without you." "Well then think fast Doctor, it's getting hard to breathe over here." "Breathe... Breathe! Ditzy, you're brilliant!" "I know dear, I know." "Alright, when I say so, take as deep of a breath as you can. Trust me, and fly right through the hole." "Tell me when." "Just a moment... calibrating... NOW!" For the sake of those readers who aren't knowledgeable about alien technology and advanced physics, I'll shorten the explanation the Doctor gave as to what he did. Basically, he used his sonic screwdriver to vibrate a cone of air hard enough to create vacuum conditions. The fire, starved for oxygen, bent around the cone, creating a tunnel. Ditzy flew through, clutching tightly to her cargo. Her eyes were screwed shut, which was inconvenient, as her course brought her directly into her travelling companion. All three ponies tumbled across the floor, the unconscious filly rolling through the open door of a large blue box. The adults quickly picked themselves up and dove in after her, and a few seconds later, the box was gone. Five minutes later, so was the building, though through entirely different means. Ditzy trotted up behind her husband where he was running the controls. She jumped up and landed on him, forehooves wrapping around his neck in an ambush hug. "She's sleeping right now. It doesn't look like the smoke inhalation did anything permanent." "That's good..." "So she'll be alright, right?" "Not yet. She's still sick." "Ah. So that's where we're heading." The alicorn outside their door wasn't mad really, she was just... miffed. "Two months. You missed by two months." "Come again?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Where is she?" "Right here," Ditzy stepped out with the filly on her back. "The fire didn't hurt her, but the Crimson Flu..." "I know." Celestia turned toward a group of ponies waiting behind her. "Lifeline. This filly has the crimson flu and recently survived a building fire. Take Steelwing and Heatwind, get her to a secure hospital, andremember that all of this is classified Blue Delta Four." "Ma'am? I'm Blue Gamma Five." "Congratulations on your promotion Field Medic, now go save that filly." The pegasus chariot flew off with the unicorn medic inside tending to the filly. Celestia turned to another of her guards. "Blue Shield, have somepony track down Alpha Tango, I want them on her security detail." To his credit, the guard's eyes only widened slightly. "Yes Ma'am." He galloped away. The princess finally turned back to the time travelers. "Now then. You two have arrived at a very inconvenient time. "We always knew you were coming, that you'd bring her to the future eventually, so that we could cure her Crimson Flu. We prepared for it, even made a special little niche in the government so we could take care of her when she showed up. 'Personal Student of the Princess.' Originally 'Princesses,' but after Luna... "Anyway. the point is, that you've now made things rather difficult. Two months ago, I appointed a new student. It is too soon to graduate her, she is too powerful to leave untrained, and I just got finished yesterday reassuring the nobility that I would not be taking any more foals under my wing in the near future. So, how do you propose I take care of her?" Ditzy and the Doctor exchanged a glance. "Actually Tia," Ditzy grinned. "We were talking about that on the way here." Her husband nodded. "We've been meaning to settle down anyway. That was our last trip to the revolution, we'd already gone through the entire war, just popped back to get her out of the fire." "And your suggestion?" Ditzy's voice was soft. "I think... I think after a thousand years, it's about time that filly got adopted by somepony, don't you?" Celestia's jaw didn't drop, but it took some willpower to accomplish that. "You mean..." Suddenly she straightened up, then facehoofed. "I owe Midnight forty bits." She shook her head, a light smile playing across her lips. "Well then, it's a good thing an old friend of ours insisted I always bring these with me to a meeting that could have been this." A stack of folders floated over in her magic. "What are those?" Ditzy cocked her head. "Paperwork. Trans-Dimensional Naturalization Form, Trans-Chronal Reintegration Packet, Citizenry Shift Form Version III-A, and adoption paperwork. Along with Royal Approval documentation for all of it so that you can bypass the bureaucratic red tape." "Okay... wait, what year is it? No, that won't help, time magic is always juggling the counting system... Your student! Celestia, which student did you just pick up?" "Her name is Twilight Sparkle." "Oh. Oh boy." "Something wrong Doctor?" "Spoilers. But yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any to raise a family. One problem though, I can fill out my own paperwork, and Ditzy can fill out her Trans-Chronal Reintegration thingy - You're about fifty years in the future by the way dear - but neither of us know much about the filly." "Worry not, I have been her friend for over a thousand years. I will handle filling out Amethyst Star's information. You just make sure Sparkler grows up happy."