//------------------------------// // Part 10: Save us, save us from the (Wo)Man with the Hex... // Story: MLP: The Magic of... Music? // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// Through the ever twisting spirals of time and space, the Tardis rushed. It spun through it's many bends and folds crossing dimensions with the Doctor at the helm. The Last of the Time Lords frantically pressed buttons, and used the controls. Something was very wrong and whatever it was it grew worse by every passing moment, as evidenced by the ever growing bonging of the Cloister Bell in the background. "Okay, I'm officially freaked out now! This is so not cool!" Rainbow Dash panicked as everypony was thrown around by the Tardis's travels. At one point, the CMC went flying and nearly crashed into a side wall, but thankfully Luna reacted just in time and caught them with her magic. "...Oh, I think I'm going to need a airsick bag..." Scootaloo muttered to herself before she threw up on Luna's necklace. The Princess of the Night could only sigh. "Doctor, how much longer must we be kept being bashed around like rocks in a quarry?" Rarity exclaimed in anger and fear. She received no answer, and only the muttering of the Doctor to his machine. "Come on, come on!" The Doctor muttered to himself, sparks flying from the control console as he pushed the Tardis ever harder. it had already been through one dimension crossing today, and two made it protest but the Doctor was having none of it. He leaned in low to the Tardis's panels and whispered to his girl. "Come on sexy, just one more trip. You can do it, I know you can." He whispered, and the Tardis almost seemed to respond and with one mighty Thud it landed right back where it first vanished in Equestria, outside the Whooves household. Almost at once, everypony began to slowly recover their bearings. "Okay, Ah am so not sighing up on that particular train ride again..." Applejack muttered as she picked up her hat and fixed it back on her head, as it been thrown off during the trip back. "Agreed." Rarity put in with a nodding of her head. "Okay, even I don't find that fun. That was the exact opposite of fun!" Pinkie yelled, while looking a little green before she couldn't hold back what was building and threw up right on the Tardis floors. A few others didn't look far behind her. "W-Well, that was... indeed something." Celestia murmured, before she felt it. Something, something outside the doors of the Tardis was wrong. Very wrong indeed, almost as if the love and harmony that bound Equestria's very magics had been replaced by something dark and twisted to it's core. "No, something's wrong..." She murmured again, with Twilight nodding along. "You feel it too, Princess?" Twilight asked. While it wasn't as strong for her as she had yet to reach full Alicorn maturity and become as interconnected and in-tuned with the magicks of Equestria as Celestia and her sister (Or her old foalsitter Cadence for that matter) were, she did feel the pinpricks throughout her whole body. This, combined with the warnings of somepony or something breaking into her Library made her feel very worried indeed. Then the doors were opened, and almost at once both Twilight and Sunset felt a familiar feeling of unease come over them. They'd felt this once before, but not in this world but in the human world. They didn't know how, but the Dazzlings were back and at full power. "N-No, it can't be... It's all gotta be some kind of dream." Sunset muttered. This had to be, it had to be the only explanation. It was a nightmare brought on by eating too many tuna sandwiches before bed. But Sunset's denial didn't last long, it never could have. Not when everything she had experienced, meeting up with her old friend Twilight again, the Tardis and the rides through time and space to various musical concerts had occurred. Those memories were too real to be those of ones from a dream. "B-But how?" Twilight asked as she looked around the streets of Ponyville. They were barren, (Ponyville's streets were never barren as they always had ponies going about their lives each and every day) and a all too familiar dark green mist was about floating in the air all around them. "They must have hitched a ride with me when I came back from the Human World! Damn it!" Sunset cursed to herself. "I knew something was off with the transition and yet I just put it in the back of my mind!" "It's okay Sunset, you couldn't have known." Twilight said, and laid a hoof on her friend's shoulder with a blush coming quickly to their faces. In the background, Rainbow smirked and held out a hoof as if to ask for bits for a bet. "So, SunSparkle anyone?" Rainbow asked. Rarity was about to give her some bits, before she realized what she was doing and her eyes widened. She was acting just like her little sister. With a huff, she glared at Rainbow Dash. "Now I know where Scootaloo gets it. You're rubbing off on her, a bit too much I think!" Rarity harrumphed with her head held high. "Aww, can you blame me? I'm awesome, so it's bound to rub off on somepony! I'm flattered, actually." Rainbow bragged, only for Applejack to give her a deadpan look. "Ah highly doubt gambling could be seen as "Awesome", Rainbow." The farm pony said dryly, but was ignored as Rainbow had focused her attentions on the more obvious problem. "Hey, where is everypony? It's like a ghost town." Rainbow wondered aloud, while behind her Fluttershy trembled at the comparison. "I-I don't like g-ghost towns, or g-ghosts in general really..." She whispered in fear, and Rainbow put a foreleg around her and smiled at her best friend. "Hey, if any ghosts come out at you, I'll kick their asses." Rainbow said in a cocky tone, while Scootaloo exclaimed "Yeah, ass-kicking is so gonna happen one way or the other to whoever did this to our town!" Rarity sighed and grumbled something to herself about Rainbow under her breath, again more proof that the rainbow-maned pegasus rubbing off on her biggest fan wasn't entirely a good thing in her mind. "Remind me later, when this is all over to wash out your muzzles with soap." The fashionista told them both, and Rainbow stuck out her tongue at her. Rarity just facehoofed in response. Sometimes you just couldn't win. Then, sound filled the air, reaching everypony's ears. It came from the far side of town, near the Town Hall if a guess was to be made. "Hey, you hear that girls?" Twilight asked, and everypony nodded. Twilight narrowed her eyebrows as what sounded like the beginnings of music began to play. "C'mon, let's go and just see who's playing what!" The Princess of Friendship exclaimed before galloping off in the direction of the sound with everypony following. Well, almost everypony as the Doctor was still fumbling inside the pockets of his brown trenchcoat and blue suit for his Sonic Screwdriver, before at last he found it and only then noticed he'd been left behind. "Hey, wait for me!" He cried and ran off after his fellow ponies. The Doctor sighed as he did so, he really should just start wearing that old scarf of his. Less likely for him to lose something in it. Pockets, it seemed are so overrated. Like bottomless pits, they were. Eventually, everypony reached the Town Hall where a makeshift stage had been set up, and a crowd had gathered. A rather LARGE crowd to be exact. It seemed, and probably was, that the whole of Ponyville had gathered there. And right in the middle of the stage, with spotlights manned by Vinyl Scratch who also worked the sound systems were Adagio, Aria and Sonata casting their green mist which seemed to float into the crowd and enthrall them and have their attentions focused only on the Dazzlings themselves. "Alright Ponyville, are you ready to hear some real music...?" Adagio began seductively, and the crowd of ponies roared in response and stamped their hooves. Twilight and company were agape, what had happened while they were gone? Then the guitars began, but it was strange, as nopony seemed to be around to play them. The Doctor and company were astounded as they watched from behind some bushes and various other things to hide their forms. Here the Dazzlings were, singing about putting a spell on the ponies they'd gathered up, and singing it blatantly at that and nopony seemed to even give a damn about how obvious it was that they were being enthralled by the Dazzling's voices. "I... I don't believe it, they must have got the whole town under their spell!" Sunset stammered in disbelief. "But how'd they do it so fast? Those amulets of theirs, we broke them! They shouldn't even be able to sing at all!" Twilight exclaimed in equal shock and surprise. Rainbow gave them both a look of confusion as she scratched her head with a hoof. "Eh, you wanna explain what's going on? Y'know, fill us all in?" Rainbow asked, and Twilight and Sunset shared a serious look between them. "Come on, I'll explain everything once we're back at the library!" Twilight told Rainbow before galloping off towards the direction of Golden Oaks. They'd lingered too long, and now it was time for some answers... If they could get any.