The Doctor Whooves Chronicles Episode 6: Twilight Falls

by Doctor Perseus

City Centre Infiltration

Chapter 8: City Centre Infiltration

Nymphadora, 1678 C.E.

Marcus gave an annoyed grunt as Ash poked him, a temporary ice patch appearing on his shoulder. He had been on his way to press the elevator button. "I think it would be wise for us to use a method of getting up to the top that wouldn't immediately alert Dusk about our presence," Ash stated with a snide grin.

Marcus grunted. "I think the zombies outside are already doing that," he said.

"Not at the moment. Right now, if Dusk has noticed them, he probably thinks of the Indecisive as a random monster gathering and nothing more. There's been plenty of them throughout the past month. Believe me, I've seen a few."

Derpy glanced back at the crowd of deformed, tormented monsters swarming just a few feet away from the exterior of the building. She quickly turned her attention away from them for she wasn't too keen of making eye contact with them again.

"We take the stairs," Ash insisted. "It's a bit of a climb but it'll at least give us the element of surprise."

The group began making its way towards a nearby stairwell entrance. Derpy groaned a bit as she walked along. She was still pretty sore from being thrown through the window.

"You holding up?" Marcus asked as he held onto the Doctor's suitcase tightly. Derpy was a bit impressed that he had managed to hold onto it throughout all the chaos.

"As good as I can right now," Derpy replied with a cheeky, weak grin.

"Need me to carry you again?"

"I'm fine."

"You didn't ask me if I wanted to be carried," Sylvia teased.

"Since when did you need to be carried by me? Last time I checked, you were holding out just fine!" Marcus teased back.

Sylvia pushed the door open and the group passed through the threshold to be greeted with the sight of a stairwell that seemed to stretch to infinity in both directions. "Well, we better get started then," she stated as she clutched her bag of weapons tighter.

Derpy already didn't like the City Centre. She hadn't been very fond of it during her first visit due to the fact that President Targaryen had brought her and Twilight there via ponynapping but she definitely didn't like it now. She could sense the foreign, dark magic swelling through the walls and air around her.

As she walked up the stairs and felt the magic coursing around her, she thought back to her early school days. She remembered learning about how all types of ponies had a form of magic within them. Unicorns, obviously, were the most connected with the magical auras of Equestria and had the ability to control it. Pegasi had magic which allowed them to fly and control the sky. Earth ponies had magic which connected to the earth and gave them greater strength than that of the other races.

She remembered a particular note about how spells, enchantments, and the like were normally only sensed by unicorns due to the type of magical power within them. However, if strong enough, a spell or enchantment could also be sensed by pegasi and earth ponies, even still it would take a lot of focus to even get a twinge of notice about the magic's presence.

Here, Derpy could definitely sense the magic around her and she wasn't even trying. The last time she had felt this way had been back when she had visited Canterlot with the Doctor prior to coming to Nymphadora. But she assumed that was mostly due to the large abundance of unicorns there and that it was home to three alicorn princesses. However, what she had felt in Canterlot was far different from what she was currently experiencing. Canterlot had been filled with light magic. Magic that gave her strength and positive emotions. The City Centre was filled with dark magic. It made her itchy, incredibly uncomfortable, paranoid, and also seemed to slow down her body's healing abilities with her cuts and bruises continuing to throb for quite some time.

"You doing okay?" Marcus asked.

Derpy snapped out of her thoughts and rolled her eyes in a way that reminded her of certain spoiled filly she had come across back in Ponyville once. Metal Crown her name was, if she remembered correctly. "Didn't you just ask me that?! Yes! I'm fine!" she snapped.

Marcus was a little taken aback by Derpy's agitated state. "First, I asked you that about half an hour ago. And second, you don't seem fine."

Derpy's eyes widened in disbelief. "Half an hour?! No. It can't have been that long! We only just started climbing the stairs!"

"Marcus is right, Derpy. We've been climbing for the past half hour or so. Give or take a few minutes," Ash informed with a goofy smile.

Derpy twitched a bit. The dark magic was everywhere. "I think this place is getting to me," she stated in an almost emotionless manner. She looked at the pitch black abyss that stretched upwards and downwards in the stairwell's chamber. "It's the dark magic. There's a lot of it."

"No doubt about that," said Marcus as he nervously looked around. He looked at Ash. "How much further do we have to climb?"

"Quite a bit," Ash replied.

"I'm really wishing we could have taken the elevator."

"Well if you want Dusk to give you a friendly welcome, by all means take the elevator."

"Let's see. Face a twilight king or climb a billion and one steps?" Marcus stroked his chin. "I think this is a pick your poison situation."

Ash rolled his eyes and continued up the steps. Marcus and Sylvia fell silent.

Derpy continued to say on guard. She kept her mind focused on walking. No more slipping back into the past. No more letting her mind wander. No more thinking about the dark energy suffocating her like a giant plastic bag. Get up the stairs. Find Twilight. Defeat Dusk. Save Nymphadora, she thought as she continued to climb. Get up the stairs. Find Twilight. Defeat Dusk. Save Nymphadora.

The Doctor and Klaus stopped a level short of the ground floor. Klaus leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. "So. Many. Stairs," he breathed.

"Oh it wasn't that bad," said the Doctor. "We've only climbed a little over 3000 steps."

"3000?!"

"Well, 3192 but who's counting?" The Doctor leaned over the railing a bit and looked up. "Still got a ways to go."

"Spectacular."

"Spectacular, indeed." The Doctor moved towards the next flight of stairs. "Come on then! Many more steps await to be walked upon!"

Klaus stood up and stretched his arms and legs. "Am I supposed to get excited now or later?" he asked with a deadpan expression.

"Whenever you like will work," the Doctor replied with a wave of a hoof. The Doctor turned away from Klaus and faced the stairs ahead of him.

"The time is coming."

The Doctor jumped and turned around.

Klaus came to a stop next to him and gave a curious expression. "You alright there? You look like you just smelled something awful," inquired the Ruleonite.

The Doctor turned away from Klaus and continued his trek up the stairs. "Just thought I heard something," he replied.

"Could it be one of those zombies?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No." He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "Something far more powerful than that."

Twilight wasn't sure how long she spent staring down at the bulging mass of monsters hundreds of feet below. She was curious about them, but she also felt a little sad as well.

"How long are you going to stare out that window?" asked the bored voice of Thea.

Twilight looked back. The ghostly Nymphadorian was sprawled out on her bed. She was focused on stroking her claws through her hair. Twilight smiled at the child.

"You don't have to wait around for me, you know. There's an entire building for you to explore," the unicorn stated with a chuckle.

"I've already been all over this place. It's boring."

Twilight pressed her chest forward and approached the girl with a smirk. "Well I find it fascinating...aside from the complete jerks that have lived in it recently."

"Well that's because you're an egghead."

Twilight froze. Every part of her seemed to melt like butter on a hot day. "What did you say?" she asked with next to no emotion.

"I called you an egghead." Thea lied on her belly and looked at Twilight with a childish grin, her back legs kicking up in the air dreamily. "Whatcha gonna do about it?" Twilight stumbled back and sat down on the floor. Tears started pouring from her eyes. She covered her face with her hooves as she started to weep. Thea jumped off the bed and ran to Twilight's side. "Whoa! Wait a sec! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings! I was just joking around!"

"I know." Twilight nodded as she wiped the tears away. "It's just that one of my friends calls me that all the time...and I really miss her. Her and the rest of my friends and family."

Thea stepped in front of Twilight and sat down, crossing her legs as she did so. "Tell me about Equestria."

Twilight wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and stared deep into the wide, yearning eyes of the young child sitting before her. "What?"

"Equestria. Tell me about it. I remember hearing a few things about it and Gaia during school. What's it like?"

Twilight smiled and calmed herself down with a few deep breaths. "Well, firstly, it's very beautiful and spans through many different climates. Forest, desert, beach, city, village, mountain, snow. We've got it all."

"I've never seen snow," Thea said as she played with her own hair.

"Really? Never?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

Thea leaned in close to Twilight. "In case you haven't noticed, Lupae's located in a desert. I don't know how things work on Gaia but, here, snow isn't usually found in the desert."

Twilight giggled. "The same rule applies on Gaia."

"Cool! Tell me more!"

Twilight scratched her chin slightly. She was about to start explaining to Thea about Equestria's political structure when an odd, yet familiar, feeling overcame her. A feeling of strength and power coupled with the uncomfortable sensation of being watched by something she couldn't see. Twilight looked around the bedroom, zooming in on every dark corner and shadow. She and Thea were no longer alone and it wasn't because of Dusk.

Derpy had managed to keep herself focused for a great deal of time. Yet that didn't stop the external forces acting on her from annoying her and putting her on the edge of exploding in a cloud of emotional output.

She was thankful that the others had so far remained silent and hadn't asked her any questions. She didn't want to snap at them or be angry but the negative power surrounding her was certainly not making her feel any less paranoid or agitated.

She and the others had just climbed yet another flight of stairs when she came to a sudden, unexpected stop. A new feeling had made itself known and it was most definitely different from the other feelings she had been experiencing. It gave her strength and stamina but also increased her paranoia and gave her the impression that some powerful force was bearing right down on top of her.

The others quickly noticed the pegasus mare's sudden refusal to continue the trek upwards and turned to face her.

"Derpy?" Marcus asked.

"Is something wrong?" Sylvia asked.

Derpy's teeth started to chatter as she looked at her fellow anthropomorphic companions. "Something's here with us," she replied.

The Doctor and Klaus reached the ground floor. The Doctor stopped for a moment as he noticed a small but noticeable detail. "Hold on a moment," he said to Klaus as he approached the door that led out towards the ground floor lobby.

"What's up?" Klaus asked.

"Look." The Doctor pointed at the door, which was slightly ajar.

"Okay. I see a door." The Doctor leaned towards Klaus, expecting the Ruleonite to give further details. "Is there something else I should be noticing?"

"It's ajar."

Klaus took a couple steps towards the door and nodded. "Ah. Yes. I see. It is indeed ajar."

"Exactly!"

"Just one question, Doctor."

"Feel free to ask away!"

"Um...yes...well...why does it matter, exactly?"

"It matters because..." The Doctor rubbed one of his hooves against the door and gave it a quick lick. "It matters because somebody else was here." The Doctor licked his lips and looked up diagonally in thought. "And somepony as well."

"The others! They made it here!" Klaus exclaimed.

"Looks like it," the Doctor confirmed with a smile. Just then, a terrifyingly strong presence made itself known to him. He couldn't detect where it was but he knew it was close and it was constantly giving off waves of power that made the Time Lord feel an equal increase in both strength and uncomfortableness. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up. The Doctor could feel every part of him freezing up. Something was right behind him. Something powerful. Something with a plan. He looked to his left to see that Klaus was completely oblivious to their guest's appearance. "I'd stay still if I were you, Klaus."

Klaus turned his attention to the Doctor. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're not alone anymore. We have a guest. And they're right behind us."

Just before Klaus could turn around, the Doctor felt something resembling that of a great hand grabbing onto his back. A massive charge coursed through his body and everything suddenly appeared to be covered in white light. Strong winds blew past him from above and the stairwell dissolved into a swirling mass of liquid and electronic orbs.

The Doctor and Klaus were flying up.

Twilight fell over as a sharp pain rocked her skull. The entire City Centre seemed to rock back and forth around her. The floor shook and bent like the angry surface of the ocean during a violent storm. "Dear Celestia, that hurts!" she cried through gritted teeth. Waves of white light bounced up and down the walls of the room and potentially beyond.

Twilight grabbed her head and applied a great amount of pressure to it, hoping that in some vain attempt it would cause the pain to decrease. She looked up to see if she could gain any strength or composure from looking into the youthful eyes of her deceased companion, only to see that the young Nymphadorian was fading away.

"Twilight? Twilight?! Something's wrong! I'm fading! I'm going away!" cried Thea, her voice obviously shaking with fear and uncertainty.

"Thea?! Thea?!" Twilight cried as she reached for her ghostly friend. Seconds later, the Nymphadorian girl disappeared. "Thea! Come back, Thea! THEA!"

Derpy fell to the ground as a wave of white light coursed up the stairwell from far below. Marcus and Sylvia grabbed the railing while Ash seemed to freeze in place. The spiritual colonel started shaking. Trails of icy vapor floated up from his claws, eyes, nose, and mouth.

"Ash?!" asked a worried Marcus.

Ash's faced contorted and twisted in ways that Derpy figured only the dead were capable of performing. His arms and legs bent at odd, impossible angles and his head bent back at such a sharp angle that Derpy almost expected it to rip off. His body started to flicker in sync with the waves of white light now coursing up and down the walls around them.

A soft humming filled the air and Derpy gasped as the sensation of a large, icy blade driving into her from below passed through her. She wrapped her arms around her torso as the feeling faded away to be replaced with lukewarm heat.

Ash grabbed the wall and began to gasp quickly and heavily.

"Ash, what the hell is going on?!" Sylvia asked.

"Power...storing...up...very...strong...unstable!" Ash stuttered back. "Fading...trying...stop...can't...needs...power...going...up!"

Ash let out a fearful, angry screech as his ghostly form blew apart like an ice sculpture being hit by a comet.

The shaking and flashing light soon stopped and Marcus dashed over to the spot that Ash had been standing seconds earlier. "Ash?! ASH?! WHERE ARE YOU?! ASH?!" he cried.

Sylvia slumped against the railing. She appeared to be incredibly shaken by the event.

Derpy remained on the floor. She looked up into the dark abyss that was the upper floors and gave a look of determination. The dark magic that had been previously affecting her seemed dulled and lifeless now. Every part of her was now filled with a strong determination to reach the upper floors. To save her friend. To stop the tyrant.

"You haven't stopped us, Dusk," Derpy stated under her breath. "You've only made me want to defeat you that much more."

The Doctor and Klaus simultaneously let out a loud gasp as their electrifying trip came to an abrupt end. The silent stillness of the stairwell was no longer present. Instead, the two travelers were now embraced in a cold wind blowing around them with the sound of roaring thunder emanating from high above.

"Doctor? How the hell did we end up all the way up here?" Klaus asked.

The Doctor examined their new surroundings with an impressed smirk. He and Klaus were now standing on the very top of the City Centre. A small doorway presumably leading to the stairwell was situated behind them. The vast land of twilight spread out from the tall building and extended off into the horizon. Dark purple clouds were now orbiting above the building in a spiral fashion. Indigo and silver lightning occasionally appeared in the moving mass and was fittingly followed by thunder which roared with the ferocity of an angry lion.

"You should be happy, Klaus," stated the Doctor with a cheeky grin. "We no longer have to climb up all those stairs!"

Klaus gave a nod to the side. "Though we may have missed our mark by a little bit," he added.

"Yeah. Maybe a little." The Doctor sighed as he looked up at the swirling thunder clouds of twilight.

Twilight remained still for quite some time after the event of shaking and flashing had passed. She occasionally, weakly, called out for Thea to come to her; but she was met with no reply. Her companion had disappeared. Vanished like breath on a mirror.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy metal footsteps emanated from the hallway. Twilight groaned as she forced herself to sit up. She knew who was coming.

"That was quite a show, wasn't it?" chuckled Dusk as he entered the room. "It seems my old friend is growing restless."

"Your...old friend?" Twilight groaned.

Dusk snarled as he approached Twilight. He reached down, grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her up. He cocked his head a bit as he stared straight at her. Twilight could feel his soulless eyes drilling deep into the innards of her psyche.

"Whatever little plan you think you have, it's not going to work," chuckled the tyrant. "I already know that your little friends have finally gotten around to entering this building."

Twilight wanted to gasp but found that she was too weak to do so. The strength she had been previously gaining was now quickly slipping away. Dusk chuckled.

"I think the time for waiting has come to an end, don't you agree?" he teased. "We've been trapped in this stalemate for far too long, Twilight Sparkle. It's time that this war officially ended." Dusk tightened his grip on Twilight as he began to walk out of the room with her in his grasp. A terribly sadistic smile appeared on his face. "Come along, my lovely little spark. We've got a special show to put on; and everybody's going to be watching."

Author's Note:

It sure feels good to be back writing my Doctor Whooves stories!

Comments

[DiscordDraconequus]

Luna's stars this updated. I gasped for about ten seconds when I saw this.

[MariusIoannesP]

It sure feels good to be back writing my Doctor Whooves stories!

It feels good to be back reading your Doctor Whooves stories.

Metal Crown her name was, if she remembered correctly.

Oh my gosh. That's a reference to Sweet Apple Anthology!

I sense we are fast approaching the epic climax. I really look forward to it. Keep up the good work.

[DrWhooves007]

Surely I hate this story and the chronicles series as well but somehow I still read it