Doctor Whooves Episode 20: The Cure

by Doctor Perseus

The Impossible Savior

Chapter 5: The Impossible Savior

Rebel Headquarters, Underneath Manehattan, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

The Doctor followed Colgate down the hallway in silence. The walls were hardly any different from the walls of the hallways he had passed through on his way to the meeting room. All of them solid white, though some having different shades. The Doctor kept processing the details of the meeting over and over again. However, he often found himself distracted by the constant aroma of bananas. He tried to ignore the scent but it was incredibly strong and forced its way into his nostrils. While he found it distracting, he couldn't help but feel a bit happy too. He did like bananas.

"So where's the bananas?" the Doctor asked with a chuckle.

"What?" asked Colgate with a raised eyebrow.

"The bananas. I smell them all over the place. Do you have a warehouse here full of them or something? A warehouse full of bananas. That sounds nice. I should try and find one at some point. God knows there's probably one somewhere out in the stars of this universe."

Colgate gave a small smile. "Bananas? Is that what you smell?"

"Of course! Don't you smell them?"

"Somepony or someone here might along with you but not me. I smell toothpaste."

"Toothpaste? Since when did toothpaste and bananas have scents that could get mixed around?"

"They don't. This facility has special, magical air filters that produce a scent that's different to anyone or anypony that smells it. When someone or somepony inhales the scent, they smell an aroma that they find attractive. I like the smell of toothpaste. It reminds me of the times I used to spend with my mother in her office when I was a foal. She's a dentist, you see."

"Interesting. A scent that takes on the aroma of whatever someone or somepony finds attractive."

"Basically. It's a little something we added so that, even on the worst of days and in the worst of times, us rebels could have something nice to think about."

The pair fell silent once again as they passed through another door and began to walk down a hallway filled to the brim with various doors, openings, and windows that displayed larger rooms located beyond them. "This is quite a complex facility you have, I must admit," the Doctor commented as he looked out one of the windows, which presented a gargantuan room full of various transportational vehicles. "I have to ask, though, how did you get all of this built in a mere year?"

"It helps when you have a few hundred hands on your side as well as more than a fair amount of technology and magic. Also, having someone like Princess Luna has proved useful," Colgate replied.

"Ah, yes." The Doctor cleared his throat as he and Colgate passed through another door. They turned towards a stairwell and began to descend. "Speaking of Princess Luna, might I ask as to what exactly has her...well...occupied?"

Colgate sighed. "It's this world's Princess Celestia." They stopped at a door about four floors below the one they had originally come from. Colgate passed a card in front of a scanner on the door and the door slid open with a soft hiss. "She's missing."

The Doctor followed Colgate through the door before it closed. "Oh. Oh dear."

"It's been about two and half weeks now. She was doing a simple rescue mission. We received a distress signal from some people in Rainbow Falls and she volunteered to go along. She and the others we sent haven't returned and we have yet to hear anything from them. And, nowadays, when someone disappears they don't usually return and if they do...well-"

"Let me guess. They come back as Cybermen."

Colgate sighed and nodded. "You got it."

The hallways they were walking through now had taken on a silver coloring and were lit with slightly dimmer lights. "So...I believe you had some topics to discuss with me," said the Doctor.

"Yes. I wanted to tell you about what happened to Clockwork and I a year ago," Colgate replied.

"Well, I'm all ears." The Doctor flapped his ears.

"It's a bit of a long story but we still have some walking to do before we reach what I want to show you."

"Alright then. Please, begin."

Colgate nodded and cleared her throat. "It all began the night I was leaving Ponyville after you helped me, which I'm sure was only a few days ago for you. I was waiting for the train at the station when I stumbled across Matilda...or rather, she stumbled across me; and I can tell you now that it was no accident."

Twi didn't know how but her aimless wandering through the facility had brought her to a room with a massive television screen acting as one of its walls. The screen depicted a single, static scene of a grassy field at high noon. The sun being portrayed in the scene was so vibrant and welcoming that Twi almost thought she could feel the sunlight pouring down over her skin. Thinking back to the other Ponyville, she took note of how wonderful it had felt during her brief moments running through the sunlit, snow-covered town. It had been simply perfect.

Suddenly, Twi gasped and grasped her head. From nowhere, she could hear voices echoing around her. She knew the voices were coming from inside her head but that didn't mean they weren't once real. Something deep within her could tell that the voices she was hearing once passed through the pocket of air in this room at one point in time.

"Back in here again?" asked a voice whom Twi recognized was Flash Sentry's.

"I like this room. Sue me," joked a voice in reply whom Twi recognized as her own.

"I don't blame you. I come here often too." Twi could hear Flash sigh. "It helps remind me what we're all fighting for."

"I wonder if we'll ever see the Sun again."

"We will. I know we will."

Twi could feel tears starting to roll down her face. "But some of us won't," her ghostly voice said.

"Hey. We won't let their deaths be in vain. We've got to live for them as well as for ourselves," said Flash's voice in response.

"I know. I just really miss them."

"Me too, Twilight. Me too."

"Oh!" gasped a new yet familiar voice. Twi jumped and turned to see that her pony double had entered. "I was just exploring." She chuckled. "Probably same as you. I'll leave you alone if-"

"No! You can come in," Twi replied with a friendly smile.

Twilight nodded before entering the room completely and approaching the screen. "I wonder if this was a real place at one point."

Twi crossed her arms and took a couple steps towards the screen. "This was probably put here to help the soldiers remember what they're fighting for. At least, that's what I remember liking about this room." Twi looked at Twilight and Twilight smiled back at her.

"It's funny," Twilight commented. "You and I have hardly talked to each other so far."

"It's not like we've had much time to do so. There's been a few, shall we say, distractions of late," Twi replied.

Twilight chuckled. "Definitely. But...I guess this is our chance to talk."

"I suppose." The unicorn and the human fell into an awkward silence for a brief moment. Twi rubbed the back of her neck while Twilight stretched one of her forelegs forward. "I wish I could give you a better conversation. If I didn't have amnesia, I'm sure I'd have a lot to talk about with you."

"I'm sure the two of us can find some topics to discuss. It doesn't matter if you can't remember everything about your life right now. I bet you were brilliant when you had your memories and I bet you're brilliant now. You are a Twilight Sparkle after all."

"Heh." Twi gave a quick chuckle. "Weird. A Twilight Sparkle. It's an odd feeling, I must admit. Knowing that there's more than one version of me out there beyond the folds of this reality. An infinite number of alternate variations of you and I as well as of everyone we know."

"And everypony."

"Yeah...that too."

"It's certainly weird for me too," Twilight stated. "I still remember the first time I came across an alternate version of somepony I know; and it wasn't a very good experience, mind you."

Twi leaned against the screen wall and crossed her arms. "What happened?" she asked.

"It was an evil, sadistic version of my friend Rainbow Dash. This horrible, twisted version of her from a universe where rainbows were made from pegasus fillies who failed their flight tests."

Twi chuckled uncomfortably. "That sounds like something out of a bad horror flick."

Twilight cocked her head slightly. "A bad horror what?"

Twi waved a hand. "Nevermind. It's not important." Twi cleared her throat. "What happened to this other Rainbow Dash?"

"She got sent back to her own world and all of her crimes in that world were exposed. She's imprisoned right now."

"And yet, out there in the multiverse, there's probably another version of that world where that evil Rainbow Dash is still performing those crimes."

Twilight looked up towards the ceiling. "Other versions of my Equestria. Some similar and yet some so vastly different."

Twi followed Twilight's example and turned towards the ceiling too. "Other versions of my own Equestria as well. Maybe...there's a version out there where none of this ever happened. Maybe there's versions that are just like this one. Ones where we fail. Ones where we lose. Ones where you came to our rescue and ones where you never even passed through the dimensional walls to aid us. Alternate, linked realities. Constantly colliding. Constantly isolated. Constantly different. Constantly...infinite."

Twilight and Twi were silent for a few seconds before shaking their heads and simultaneously groaning. "Okay, now my head hurts," said Twilight.

"I'm right there with you on that one," Twi added. The two Twilights looked at each other and broke into a fit of amused laughter.

Twilight pointed at Twi. "And you said we wouldn't have much to talk about!"

"Preferably, I would have rather talked about nothing than suffer from the brain crash I'm having right now!" Twilight giggled and Twi leaned back against the screen before sighing. "I hope this is one of those realities where we succeed."

Twilight approached her human counterpart and patted her side. "We're going to save this world. I promise you that."

Twi smiled at her pony counterpart. Suddenly, a pair of familiar voices echoed from the hallway outside the room. "So your Twilight's an egghead too?" asked the voice of Spike the dragon.

"Yeah!" chuckled the voice of Spike the human. "Though, I'll admit that I kind of miss her egghead stuff now that she has amnesia."

"I'm sure she'll get her memories back. I've already seen her remember a few things. Then the fun can continue for you."

"I feel that I should be happy about that but a part of me remains very afraid."

The door opened and the two Spikes entered, laughing hard. They stopped and fell silent when they came face-to-face with Twilight and Twi, both glaring at them with raised eyebrows. "Oh! Hi, Twilight! Hi, Twi!" gulped Spike the dragon.

"Talking about us behind our back, huh?" Twilight asked as she approached the two versions of her number one assistant.

"No. Maybe. Sorta. Kinda. Nevermind!" croaked Spike the human.

"It's not good to talk about people, or ponies, behind their backs, Spike," said Twi as she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the two Spikes.

"Yeah! I thought we taught you two better than that!" snapped Twilight as she aimed her horn.

"Well, I guess they could use a good lesson in manners right now." Twi turned to Twilight. "Agreed?"

Twilight nodded to Twi. "Agreed."

The two Spikes looked at the two Twilights with ghostly white expressions before turning towards each other. "Run?" asked Spike the human.

"Run," replied Spike the dragon with a nod. The two Spikes raced through the door faster than a determined Pinkie Pie. It wasn't until the two Spikes were well down the hallway that the two Twilights once again broke out into laughter.

"Now where am I?" Donna asked herself as she found herself in a hallway with a massive window that overlooked a large hangar of sorts. "I wander around for five minutes and then I'm lost. Brilliant." She continued down the hallway. "Well it's not like I was really going anywhere to begin with. We're all just busy wandering about and preparing to invade this Discord Whooves's castle." Donna walked over to the wall opposite to the window that overlooked the hangar and leaned against it. She rested her head back and sighed. From what she had seen of this world, she was definitely ready to get back to the friendly, warm atmosphere of Ponyville. But she also couldn't help but feel a pull deep within her. A desire for something she sorely missed. She loved the Doctor. She loved the adventures she had been partaking in. She loved Equestria. She loved the colorful characters she had gotten the pleasure to meet. But that still didn't stop her from missing Shaun and their cozy home in Chiswick.

Suddenly, a door down the hallway opened and a young woman with fair skin, brunette hair, and wearing a similar camo fashion style to the rest of the soldiers in the facility passed through it. She came racing down the hallway but came to a stop when she saw Donna. "Ah! Hello! Quick question. Have you seen Derpy Hooves anywhere by any chance?" she asked.

"Pony or human?" Donna asked in return.

"Definitely human."

"Sorry, haven't seen her."

The woman took a closer look at Donna. "You're one of those visitors, aren't you? Part of that group that came here with the Doctor?"

"How could you tell?"

"The way you're dressed, and you don't seem as...gray as everybody else."

"Gray? If you ask me, everybody here's more camo than gray."

The woman glanced down at her own clothes and laughed. "Well...at least we have more diversity than the Cybermen."

"That's for sure!"

Donna and the woman laughed just before another door in the hallway opened. A girl with blonde hair, fair skin, and inverted eyes exited. "There you are, Derpy!" said the woman as the human Derpy approached them. "I've been looking for you."

"Sorry. I was a bit hungry," Derpy the human replied with a blush as a few crumbs fell from her shirt.

"It's all right. No harm done!" The woman placed a hand on Derpy's shoulder. "Come along then. Thunderlane wants us to help do a few routine checks on the vehicles."

"Again?"

"Yeah."

Derpy the human lowered her head and Donna chuckled at the sight. Suddenly, she felt as if something was watching her. She turned around abruptly and was instantly blinded by a harsh, golden light. Through the light, she could just barely make out the outline of a pony but that was about it. She couldn't tell if it was a unicorn, a pegasus, an alicorn, or even a regular earth pony. There was just a pony standing at the end of the hallway, bathed in gold light.

Donna shivered as a whispered message phased through the air from the pony and into her being. She felt the message course through every inch of her brain before spilling out of her mouth in a quick statement. "Her time to howl with us is near," she said.

"What?" asked the voice of the woman.

Donna turned back towards the woman and Derpy the human, gasping for air. "What is that?!" she asked as she pointed back in the direction of the golden pony.

The woman and Derpy exchanged a confused glance. "What's what?" asked Derpy.

Donna turned back down the hallway and was shocked to see no sign of the blinding figure. "You didn't see it?" Donna asked as she turned back to them.

"There's been nothing in this hallway aside from us and you," the woman explained.

Donna clutched her forehead and sighed. "I think I'm going mad."

"Join the club!" giggled Derpy. Donna chuckled in response and smiled. "So you're part of that group from the other world?!"

Donna cleared her throat and nodded. "Pretty much, though I'm not from the same world as the ponies. I'm from another human world. I'm Donna, by the way. Donna Noble."

"Nice to meet you!" Derpy extended her hand at an odd angle. "I'm Derpy Hooves."

"I know who you are." Donna shook Derpy's hand. "I'm friends with the pony version of you."

"There's a pony version of me here?! I need to go meet her right now!"

Derpy suddenly began to levitate up into the air when the woman pulled her back down. "Not so fast, Derpy. We've got to go help inspect the vehicles," she said.

Derpy crossed her arms and pouted. "It's not fair!" she snapped.

"So...you can fly?" Donna asked awkwardly as she pointed at Derpy.

"I'm a flier. It's kind of our thing."

"A flier?"

"In this world, there are five types of humans," the woman explained. "There are ordinary humans, such as myself. There are fliers, like Derpy, who can...well...I think their ability is pretty self-explanatory. There are humans who can perform magic, like Twilight Sparkle. There's magical fliers, who can both use magic and fly. An example of that would be the Princesses. And there are random humans, people with any sort of random ability. Twilight Sparkle's friend, Spike, is an example of that if I remember correctly. I think the guy can control fire or something like that."

"Fitting." Donna's eyes widened momentarily. "Sorry, but I don't think I've learned your name yet."

"Oh! Sorry about that." The woman gave a small smile and extended her hand. "My name's-"

"What are you two doing?!" snapped an annoyed voice. Donna looked to see a black man with a silver mohawk and dressed in camo approaching them. "I told you two to go help check on the vehicles, didn't I?!"

"No need to get angry, Thunderlane," said the woman. "Derpy and I were just heading over there. We were just talking with Ms. Noble for a minute."

"The talking can wait for later, Oswin! Now you and Derpy head over to the vehicles hangar now!"

"We're going. We're going."

Thunderlane began to lead the two of them away. "Bye!" said Derpy as she waved goodbye to Donna.

"Nice meeting you!" said the woman named Oswin.

"See you around!" called Donna as the three soldiers vanished down the hallway. Once her company was gone, Donna turned her attention towards the spot where the golden pony had been. "Where'd you go, my mysterious little pony?" Donna straightened herself up before continuing down the hallway.

"And that's what happened," Colgate finished with a loud exhale.

The Doctor had carefully taken in every detail Colgate had explained to him. The two versions of Matilda, Elmheim, Daring Do, the temple, the rifts, Thalia, the crazy Rainbow Dash, Rumplestiltskin, Jeff, the rift vortex, losing Bright Eyes, Edgar Roger Stevens, the warning about Discord Whooves, arriving in this Equestria, and the method of Colgate and Clockwork's escape into the past. He had let every detail soak in and thought each of them over very carefully. "I must admit, that's quite a mad story you've got there," said the Doctor.

"And, look, I finished telling it just in time."

The Doctor looked to see that he and Colgate were now standing in front of a steel door. Colgate waved her card in front of the door's scanner and the door slid open. The Doctor followed Colgate through the threshold and found himself in an average-sized room with a large, white light hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a metal table and a gorgeous, red cloak was spread out on the table's surface. "This is what you wanted to show me?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes," Colgate replied. "It's the very same cloak that I found in the Elmheim Temple a year ago. The cloak that helped Clockwork and I escape into the past. It's thanks to this cloak that we were able to escape the Cybermen for the first time. It's thanks to it that we were able to travel back and form this army against Discord Whooves. It's thanks to this cloak that you're here to save this world now. Without this cloak, there would be no Clockwork or I here and you likely would have never known about any of this. In a way, I guess you could call this cloak our first savior."

The Doctor eyed the cloak and couldn't help getting a series of odd sensations from it. "So I'm guessing this one, big question you wanted to ask me involves this cloak. Am I right?"

"Yes. I've been wondering about this cloak for a year now. I just want to see if you can find out anything new about it. I mean, you were able to seal away my temporal touch so this should be no problem for you, right?"

"Sealing away your temporal touch and examining an object such as this are two very different things, Colgate."

"Are you saying that you're not going to look at it?"

"Of course not! A chance to examine an other-worldly cloak with the powers of time travel woven into its fabric? Why in the name of Kasterborous would I refuse such an offer?"

Colgate giggled as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and approached the cloak. He moved it over the fabric for several seconds before looking at the device to examine the results. "Found anything interesting yet?" Colgate asked.

The Doctor continued to look at his sonic in silence. "Hold on. That can't be right," he stated. He quickly scanned the cloak again and looked at the results. "It can't be!" He grabbed the cloak with his hooves and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the Doctor let out a great scream unlike anything Colgate or the Doctor himself had heard before.

"Doctor?!" The Doctor let the cloak fall back onto the table before hastily backing up into one of the walls of the room. Colgate's heart began to beat faster as she tried to understand what was happening. "Doctor?! What is it?! What's wrong?!"

"It can't be! That thing can't be here! It's impossible!"

"What?" Colgate glanced back at the cloak. "Why?!"

"It's impossible! That thing shouldn't be in this world! It shouldn't be in any world! It's impossible! It can't exist! It shouldn't exist! It musn't exist!" The Doctor's breathing slowed down before he turned away from the cloak to stare at Colgate, his eyes looking glassy and dazed. "In fact...it doesn't exist at all."

Comments

[Crossfiction]

....Clara? oh....Sh*t... I knew she would make an appearance here. Donna! I miss your sassiness!

[Commander Jenna Cipher]

Clara Cameo...

OUT OF BUCKING NOWHERE!!!!

This series gets more awesome with every chapter.

[MariusIoannesP]

"There's been nothing in this hallway aside form us and you," the woman explained.

I think you mean "from".

She loved the Doctor. She loved the adventures she had been partaking in. She loved Equestria. She loved the colorful characters she had gotten the pleasure to meet. But that still didn't stop her from missing Shaun and their cozy home in Chiswick.

I've heard all that before. It sounds like when all is said and done, Donna's going to want to go back home.

We received a distress signal from some people in Rainbow Falls and she volunteered to go along.

Subtle Season 4 reference.

Suddenly, a door down the hallway opened and a young woman with fair skin, brunette hair, and wearing a similar camo fashion style to the rest of the soldiers in the facility passed through it.

Donna's eyes widened momentarily. "Sorry, but I don't think I've learned your name yet."
"Oh! Sorry about that." The woman gave a small smile and extended her hand. "My name's-"

Wait. Impossible Savior. It can't be...

"The talking can wait for later, Oswin! Now you and Derpy head over to the vehicles hangar now!"

"Nice meeting you!" said the woman named Oswin.

Oh my gosh! It is Clara! So, can Clara only exist as a human? There's no pony Clara running around Equestria somewhere.

There was just a pony standing at the end of the hallway, bathed in gold light.
Donna shivered as a whispered message phased through the air from the pony and into her being. She felt the message course through every inch of her brain before spilling out of her mouth in a quick statement. "Her time to howl with us is near," she said.

Bad Wolf? But as a pony. Don't tell me Bright Eyes is going jump into the Heart of the TARDIS or something.

Well this story continues to surprise me. I can't wait for more. Keep up the very good work.

[Authora97]

The talking can wait for later, Oswin! Now you and Derpy head over to the vehicles hangar now!"

Mother bucker! That's ingenious!

[Ethanland]

Wait, if there's a Clara in human Equestria, then there should be a Clara in normal Equestria.

[Sweetie15]

Oswin! OSWIN!!!!!! Why do I keep getting surprised! I think that you have to be my favorite fanfic author ever cause every time I read your stories I get just the right amount stuff. You never go overboard and you never hold back to make something out of nothing. I bloody love you!!!!!!

[DrWhooves007]

the woman named Oswin.

Wait WHAT!!? Clara Oswin-Oswald is here!?

[Sr Face Tear]

3915291 she go's where she is needed in the doctors time line so there dusnt need to be

[Firebirdbtops]

geez, with a cameo of that caliber on the Doctor side, who can you drop in that hasn't appeared on the MLP side to even it out? I vote Princess Erroria.

[Starlight Crystal]

Whoa, what's got the doctor so worked up about that cloak? How can it not be possible for it to exist? What the hay is going on!!?!?

[Remmy4warlord]

Oswin??? Clara Oswin Oswald?

The cloak is there because she gave it to herself.

[Daring Cammie Do]

"The talking can wait for later, Oswin! Now you and Derpy head over to the vehicles hangar now!"