Derpy Meets The Doctor

by Heavyhauler75622

Chapter Nine: "...in the background..."

“Well hello, my little pony. I’m wondering why you’re out here alone, when so many of your friends are waiting inside for you,” Celestia said cordially, smiling at the distraught mare under the birdhouse tree, her hat dangling by its cord along her back.

“I can’t do it. It’s not me. It’s not me, Princess...”

“Call me Cely, Derpy,” she said in sunlit tones.

“I can’t possibly do that, Princess. You’re my ruler. This thing…it’s overwhelming me. Ponies I look up to, even ponies I worship, creatures of tremendous power, asking me for advice about things so beyond me…”

“Derpy, could we take a little walk? I find the exercise and fresh air to do me good when I’m thinking about such things.” Celestia asked.

Derpy sighed, nodded dejectedly, trudging alongside the dazzling Alicorn, her head down.

“This is turning out to be quite a lovely day, isn’t it? You never quite know after the Winter Wrap-Up how the remainder of the year might turn out, but things seem to be working out just fine,” Celestia said. “Don’t you think so?”

“I suppose,” the grey mare replied. She took a deep breath, tried again. “I would suppose so, Majesty.”

“I received a request from one Filthy Rich concerning his daughter Diamond Tiara. Something to do about a party?” Celestia pressed.

“Dinky said she was upset and jealous that Princess Luna had let the children come to Canterlot for her Game Night. She doesn’t handle such things very well, like being left out of anything she suddenly deems important,” Derpy commented.

“Ah,” said the Alicorn with a knowing smile. “I understand.” She paused for a few minutes, and then went on.

“Your little filly, Dinky? Cherilee her teacher is very impressed with her. ‘Intelligent, perceptive, talented,’ I believe she said about her. Knowing her mother, I would tend to agree,” Celestia said.

“Thank you, Princess…”

“Cely,” Celestia said, a little firmer.

“Princess Cely,” Derpy said automatically. Celestia sighed ponderously, her cheeks puffing out.

They walked for a few more minutes in silence, until a graceful cottage came into sight.

“Ah, we’re here.” Celestia indicated Derpy’s home. “Would you mind if we went inside for a bit? I’d appreciate some water, and a turn at the facilities. I haven’t gone since the castle, and a pressing need is beginning to overtake me,” she said, smiling.

“Certainly, Princess, please, come in,” Derpy said as she unlocked the door. “There’s a bathroom just over there. Would you like anything else? I may have a muffin…” she said, putting her hat on a rack on the wall.

“No, the bathroom and some water would be fine,” Celestia said, setting her serape on the table, making for the facilities first; leaving Derpy alone with her thoughts.

“Ohh, thank you, Derpy,” Celestia gushed a few moments later when she returned. “You can tell ponies are conditioned response creatures of habit. That throne dais of mine and that stupid waterfall. Just add tea, or any caffeine at all, and my bladder instantly fills. Even a cupful at Fluttershy’s does it. Then it’s the waterfall chanting quietly in your ears, ‘Where’s the bathroom? Where’s the bathroom?’ constantly, over and over again…”

Derpy chuckled behind a hoof; she couldn’t help it. Celestia smiled.

“It’s nice to see you can still smile, Derpy. I was becoming concerned, after what happened,” Celestia said, sitting down on a cushion.

“Celestia…Cely,” Derpy said, as Celestia beamed. “I just don’t know if I can handle all this, having friends like all of you. Thursday, I was always in the background. My friends were noted more for their lack of visibility than their standing out. Vinyl and Tavi are famous in their own way, but nothing like the Equestrian Heroines, or the Princess Diarchy, or the Lord of Chaos! And ‘John’ is a total enigma! And these, titans, known everywhere on sight, are now my friends, and ask me for opinions, when I feel I should scrape myself from their presence in the least noticeable manner...”

She flopped onto the nearby unoccupied sofa, near tears. “Something is going to go wrong, I just know it,” she snuffled.

“Ditzarella Derpemina Esmerelda Von Doo, I am surprised at you. Who amongst us ever said you had nothing to contribute?” Celestia asked calmly.

Derpy goggled at her. “You…you know?” she managed to stutter out.

Celestia chuckled. “I would make a terrible Princess if I didn’t know. Derpy, I can hardly remember one line from the Zebra treaty, and I was reading it just this morning. But like it was moments ago, I remember how your great-great grandparents stood shoulder to shoulder in the Knifeslit Pass against the invading Malokarachavesky as their children fled through the mountains behind them. Their children’s wonderment of ships as they crossed the ocean to come here, alone. I remember the very moment your tiny hooves touched the surface of this planet, as your mother Topsy Turvy gave birth to you, and Smooth Storm your father stood over both of you. The sadness in your heart when your grandmother passed from pneumonia. How you helped care for your grandfather as cancer wracked his body, and how hurt you felt when he died, yet grateful that his pain was ended.”

“I knew the day you found out about swimming, something the others in Cloudsdale teased you unmercifully about. How you discovered flying underwater, and how strong it made your wings. The day those bubbles appeared on your flank.” Celestia levitated the glass of water Derpy left on the table to her, held it steady in her aura.

“I heard the echoes in your head as you went through school, how that hard thing others called ‘math’ made so much sense to you. Your curiosity about everything. How you loved to read. And I heard the cruelty some heaped upon you because of your eyes.” She walked to her, sat near her as she covered her with a wing, like her mother did when she was upset, as Derpy cried. She handed her the water.

“I felt it all, just as I feel it with everyone, Derpy. Treaties are just words on a piece of paper. I have archives for those. Remembering this about you…that’s what’s important.”

Derpy drank some of the water, trying to calm down. “You remember all that…”

“And more. The Wonderbolts. The day you came to Canterlot for college. That crazy harpist roommate of yours, Lyra. The chronoton discovery. The anticipated triumph, the reality of failure. How you drifted in disappointment…”

“And your former husband,” Celestia said calmly.

Derpy froze, stock still on the cushion in her living room in shock. Celestia turned her head and looked at her.

“The Canterlot Attorney General’s office was not very happy. They were rather looking forward to sending him to the Shattered Hooves Correctional Facility. The EUP Law Enforcement Hazardous Warrant Team was on the way to take him into custody that very night.”

She went on, matter-of-factly. “The breeding for Dinky happened days before, hadn’t it? Then he started with the machine, the forbidden dark magic of Necromancy, a psionic entity…and the minute the get was confirmed of your pregnancy, how the real horror began.”

Derpy shivered violently, sickened as the feelings flooded back. The beatings, and the drugs, the isolation, and the pain. The wing snuggled her closer.

“I sent a champion to you. I could not do what had to be done, and the EUP would have died in vain. I found the only one who could help, and sent them to free you from the house of bones that monster sought to build,” Celestia said quietly.

“I remember so little of it…” Derpy said, though her body was saying the exact opposite with every tremor and flinch. She drank the rest of the water, trembling, and Celestia used her aura to put the glass back in the kitchen.

Celestia didn’t speak of the obscenity her former husband had done to her, probing her with tools and magic, waiting for the opportune moment to cut her open to reach the tiny foal that would soon be growing within her, to bind the foal to some horrific thing he had fallen under the sway of. Not that he had been forced into that servitude; he had welcomed it with loving forelegs. How the warrior had arrived just as the skin knife had been dragged along her belly, the blood welling up, and the maniacal laughter as her husband reveled in what he was going to do. The short, intense, violent confrontation that followed. The burns Derpy suffered before he managed to free her, just before the two of them would have died. The treatment Celestia herself had given, with hardly any rest or break other than to raise and lower the sun and moon; as her advisors were put in the uncomfortable position of doing exactly, ‘What Would Celestia Do?’ while she tended the grey Pegasus. The terrible toxins she removed from Derpy, then for safety’s sake, teleported into the raging fires of the Dragon’s Kiln, the most active volcano on the planet itself for destruction. And how amazingly well she had healed without horrible scarring due to Celestia’s efforts.

Then one night, she watched the painful, fitful sleep the grey Pegasus was enduring…and dimmed the memories Derpy held of the terrible event as well, as Celestia’s compassion had demanded. Derpy did not recall much of the horrendous experience, because Celestia had made sure of it.

No. No reason to see the return of that terror upon the kind Pegasus. It was unneeded, and unkind. She went on elsewhere.

“Derpy. Those who seek after power, sometimes, are the very last ponies that should have it bestowed upon them. I would rather have the opinions of a pony that was resistant to give them, than the free-flowing musings of insanity, or those of manipulators.” Celestia looked up and out at a world only she could see in her mind’s eye.

“We are slowly ending the threats to everypony here on our planet. But I am worried that The Doctor’s arrival heralds the beginning of a new type of conflict, one of creatures from beyond which we cannot yet stop without help. He is a tremendous factor in that, but, we still need to marshal our own resources as well,” Celestia said candidly. “If what you say is correct, and I believe it is, your intelligent estimation and kindly acceptance of one of the most powerful creatures on this planet may have just helped turn the tide more in our favor…and all by you just being you.”

Derpy responded in the only way she could to that. She hugged Celestia. It was lovingly returned, by a being that needed many more of them. The kindness being shown to The Princess of Day was gentle rain on parched earth.

Celestia smiled brilliantly, her eyes moist and bright. “Well, if we have settled it that quickly…we need to get back with the others. There is one very concerned Time Charger in a silly hat waiting,” she said, as she levitated her serape once more onto her back. Though she wouldn’t admit it publicly, she liked the colors of hers immensely as well.

As they walked back, Celestia watched her Sun reaching zenith. Amazing how full the morning had been, she thought to herself. Soon, the day would ebb, she would capture her celestial body; though she pretty much felt all she was doing was insuring its continued passage around the opposite side of the world, and Luna would do the same releasing hers. It did help that the Moon actually moved west to east, and her Sun east to west. Otherwise, the Raising Celebrations would be even more complicated than they were.

They both walked back in relative silence, thinking, each about their own little part in this play. As they crested the small hill, Derpy pointed.

“Is that…him?” she asked, incredulously.

“Yes, it is. Ridiculous hat and all.”

“He’s been there all this time?” Derpy asked, still not quite believing it.

“From the moment we left, Derpy. He’s…well; he’s quite concerned for you. I told him we needed a few moments to talk alone. I must admit, though, I didn’t expect him to stay out here to wait for you,” she stated, as the distant figure took to waving the outrageous hat at them. “But, I also have to say, I’m not surprised he did it, either.” Celestia chuckled. “He’s rather impulsive; let’s his emotions lead him where they will. And they led him to wait right there while holding that hat.”

Derpy watched the chestnut pony with the orange hat thoughtfully…

He ran up to them, smiling at the mailmare. “And?” he asked in a hopeful rush.

Derpy smiled at his enthusiasm, she couldn’t help it. “Oh, stop it, clever boy. You knew I’d figure it out eventually.”

He frowned a tiny bit. “Em…was that a no, or a yes? Mares can be confusing,” he said, sitting down in the middle of the road, rubbing his head again. Derpy went straight for his tie.

“Why does this thing keep getting askew? Is it sentient, or something else bizarre?” she said as she fixed it. Celestia chuckled, kept walking toward Fluttershy’s home.

“There. Come on, let’s see this through,” Derpy said, as she smiled.

A few minutes later, all of them, including Princess Twilight Sparkle, and a new Alicorn he’d never seen before, both summoned by a note sent by Luna and who arrived by teleport, crowded into Fluttershy’s living room. She was introduced as one ‘Princess Cadance’ from someplace up to the North called ‘The Crystal Empire’.

“You look absolutely lovely like that, Cadance,” Celestia said, as she took in the Crystal Pony appearance, the translucent rose colored body and intricately styled mane and tail, as they hugged.

Cadance laughed. “My ponies and I like it a lot, too, Celestia. I decided to just stay like this, rather than change back and forth depending on where I am. Luna’s message said you had an urgent need…”

‘John’ stared at the newcomer. She was radically different than the others; her body was translucent and crystal-like, though the physiology still looked and moved like a biochemical one did. Light transmission definitely was involved; he could see shadows and reflections, and watched the light from the window pass through her, but there was absolutely no sign of anything like internal organs or skeletal support that he could identify even with intense scrutiny. Even her mane and tail were translucent and highly stylized. Intrigued, he followed her with his eyes as she sat near Twilight, after doing some ritualistic dance with her concerning ladybugs. Cadance was unnervingly aware of his inspection, and was relieved when Derpy sat between her and him.

Cadance suddenly let out with a startled, screamy “Hey!” a few seconds later. She had looked over to see that ‘John’ was reaching around Derpy, and had started buzzing her with a bright blue light that made a strange pattern on the wall beyond her as it passed through.

Derpy blanched, whirled on him. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded loudly.

“She’s not rock. She’s shiny and translucenty-gemmy like a rock, but she’s not one. But she doesn’t look like she even has the usual stuff inside a pony, like lungs or a heart or a tummy. It’s like she’s a living Jelly Foal. I can’t even see bones. She should just squishy right to the floor. But she doesn’t. How does she do that? How do you do that?” he asked Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire.

There were a hoof-full of immediate reactions. Cadance was so far beyond shocked, ‘traumatized’ would have only made the footnotes. Derpy was mortified, completely and thoroughly. Twilight was a close second, with a large helping of anxiety thrown in for her sister in-law. Fluttershy had taken to peeking around Twilight after a startled *eeep*, wondering if the crazy alien was going to buzzy her next, just like she was frightened before of other such raucous things happening. The Diarchy was evenly split between facehooves and exasperation, and slowly oscillated between them. And Discord…

Was trying to asphyxiate himself with laughter. The more he looked at everyone, the more hysterical the laughing became.

Suddenly, it all caught up to The Doctor with the alias of ‘John Smith’.

“I did a thick again, didn’t I?” he asked, beet red with embarrassment, as he slowly put away his Sonic Screwdriver.

“‘John, what did I tell you about thinking?” Derpy said, aggrieved. She held out a hoof.

“What?”

“Give it to me,” she said, using the same tone she reserved for Dinky after the craft cutting wheel occasion, the disassembly of the toaster event, the fireworks experiment with the CMC’s…and the blue food dye incident. The ‘Mom’ look was being sternly applied as well.

‘John’ sheepishly handed it to her without a word.

“You’ll get this back at the end of the semester,” she said, “…or sooner, if you behave.” She sat down firmly next to him with the utter authority of a mother severely enforcing limits and boundaries with an unruly foal of hers.

Discord laughed even harder, as he gave ‘John” a thumbs-up.

I couldn’t have done better if I had planned it, Discord thought to himself…

---

Once everyone had calmed down, Princess Celestia brought everyone back to the task at hand.

“Well, if there are no further ‘faux-pas’, we can now continue,” she said, giving ‘John’ a significant look, which was duplicated on most present, the notable exceptions being Fluttershy, who saved all her significant looks for her “Stare”, and Discord, who being Discord, had enjoyed the entire incident immensely.

‘John’ wilted significantly under the scrutiny, his ears drooping.

Celestia quickly continued, rather than let The Doctor become the focus of the gathering. “Princess Cadance, Princess Twilight Sparkle: what has occurred previously here was the beginning of the establishment of a non-aggression and mutual aid pact between the represented groups. Although Fluttershy has proven to be an able representative,” she smiled gently, as the yellow Pegasus blushed, “…Princess Luna correctly felt that the point had been reached that the Leader of the Equestrian Heroines was needed for her input. The Princess of the Crystal Empire was also sought out for the same reason.”

Fluttershy continued to smile, well, shyly, after the mention of her name. Excusing herself, she went to make refreshments. Shy she may be, but she did enjoy the occasional stroking of her ego.

“Princess Cadance, we shall go over the previous information with you, to include the, er, ‘pony’,” Celestia said with emphasis, to include even using her forehooves in the air to insert the ‘quotes’, “…that startled you. Though to be fair, he’s only been a pony for what, two days?”

Cadance suddenly was staring wide-eyed at the chestnut stallion. He gazed at the floor as he rubbed the back of his neck vigorously.

“Well, even with saying that, I understand how she feels,” ‘John’ said. “I’m sorry, I’m terribly sorry. Just never met a translucent life form before. It’s brilliant, by the way. I won’t ask what happens when you eat. Definitely not a good idea.”

There was a sudden fleeting moment when all the individuals present, including the subject pony, wondered the exact same thing. Cadance made a mental note to spend some time after lunch one day in private to investigate.

“Two days?” Cadance asked.

“I’m what was called in my original form a ‘Time Lord’…” ‘John’ began, summarizing the process and events leading to his presence. When he finished, she stared at him even more.

“Well, when you put it that way, I think you’re doing fairly well. Your apology is warmly accepted,” she said with a smile.

‘John’ brightened immensely. “Why, thank you, Princess Cadance.” He smiled at Derpy next.

“Well, all right,” Derpy said, handing back his Sonic Screwdriver. “No more pointing that at friends, okay?”

He took it, stuffed it into its pocket.

“Does that explain why you’re here, Discord?” Cadance asked next.

“More or less. I’m certainly as threatened as all of you are, if not more so. And everypony is also interested in giving me more latitude to allow my expression of self, as it were. Though with him around,” he said, pointing and sniggering, “…I hardly have to lift a digit one.”

‘John’s’ head drooped an increment.

Discord sighed ponderously. “This friendship thing has proven to be a novel concept for me, but it has its advantages. I’m in.”

“No qualifications?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, I’m sure all of you have stipulations. I’m willing to listen.”

Twilight looked at Celestia, surprised.

“We are going to allow him places to exercise his abilities without harming others. I am wondering about interactions with the general populace, though. Chocolate rain is fairly benign. Turning others into creatures or inanimate objects, even with consent, might be different.” Celestia was remembering something Twilight Sparkle herself once did to her parents, turning them into potted plants with normal magic, though that was accidental.

“And I draw the line at Dark Magic or Necromancy,” Celestia finished.

Discord sighed once more. “Of course.”

“She has a point about Dark Magic and Necromancy, Discord,” Twilight pointed out.

“This is really about Nightmare Night last year with me dressing up as a zombie, isn’t it?” Discord said defensively.

Twilight shuddered. “Discord, you didn’t ‘dress up’ at all. You actually were a ZOMBIE! You were scaring everypony half to death!”

Discord sighed again. “See? I told you so.” He turned to face Twilight. “Everypony at the library liked it. I won the best costume trophy, remember? You’re just mad that your Starswirl the Bearded didn’t win. Again. After four tries, don’t you think you should try to be somepony else?” he said, aggrieved.

“All right, all right,” Celestia said, raising a hoof in truce. “I understand Chaos Magic doesn’t neatly fit into the ‘light’ or the ‘dark’, Discord. One of the reasons for you to have your own place among us. This has to do with those more like Derpy, who have a more narrow understanding of what ‘magic’ like that entails, and could be frightened by the effects. Also, those with irrational requests that change their essential nature permanently.”

Derpy nodded. “I can see some doing just that. Like wanting to be a Windigo, not realizing that doing it would be restraining yourself for all time,” she said, thinking about having to live forever while confined to a high mountain top.

Celestia smiled. “Even so; all existence has tradeoffs. A planet filled with Pegasi or Unicorns or even Alicorns is not healthy for us. Thirteen million Time Chargers or Earth ponies, for example.”

“Or Discords,” Twilight Sparkle pointed out.

Discord snorted derisively. “Oh, all right, though I really don’t see what the problem would be if there were thirteen million of me…”

“Really? How about thirteen million Pinkie Pies?” Twilight asked pointedly.

He shrugged. “Not so bad...”

“Or that many of me?” retorted Twilight.

Discord’s eyes went wide. “Okay. I get it now.” He poofed into existence a white gallon bottle, popped open the top of his skull, and lifted his brain out of his head with his paw. He then rinsed it out with the contents of the bottle, marked ‘Brain Bleach’.

While everypony else looked on in shock or restrained horror, Derpy giggled.

He shook it out, and then replaced it in his head, closing the top of his skull with a thunk as his eyes rolled around a bit.

“There,” he said with finality. “Better,” as the bottle disappeared.

Twilight facehooved, not at all happy that she was once more the butt of one of Discord’s jokes.

She had a sudden thought, rounded on ‘John’.

“So, you said a time ‘accident’…” Twilight stated, all the way to doing the ‘airquotes’ with her front hooves, “…brought you down here…”

“Multiparallel interdimensional temporal rupture, Princess,” said ‘John’ factually.

“…due to Discord tweaking the time line while helping Derpy,” she continued.

“Near as we can tell, yes. I could firm that up a bit more with a few minutes using my instrumentality, but it fits the situation. Occam’s Razor and all that.”

There were several post-secondary educations in that room, and almost everypony knew about ‘The Razor’.

“…’John’…I myself used a time travel spell; nothing this intense came about.” Twilight Sparkle finished.

‘John’ frowned a bit. “Mind?” he said, as he pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out.

Twilight started a bit, but stood her ground. “Go ahead,” she said, with more confidence than she felt.

‘John’ buzzed about her with the tool, then glanced at it.

“Aha!” he shouted, making everyone jump. “You only bent things up, not broke them completely. Close one, that.” He looked at her. “Tell me all about it.”

Twilight went on to tell ‘John’ when she used a Time Travel spell to warn herself not to try to change things, not realizing until later that her trip set the very events she was seeking to influence into motion in the first place.

“It’s ‘cause you mucked up your own line, Princess. You didn’t influence anyone, anypony, or anything else, you tried to issue a warning to yourself that set the thing into motion, eh?” he chuckled.

“Well…”

“See, your future self came back to reassure your past self, and by doing so, inadvertently put you, past self, into a panic intense enough that you, past self, made that exact tiny sound that started the avalanche.”

Twilight just stared. She thought she had him on a point of logic, and was suddenly surprised to find herself dangling from the horns of that particular minotaur.

“You came back for the warning. You didn’t do anything in the past as future Twilight except talk; and you didn’t do anything while you, as past Twilight in that now, involved yourself only in listening. No harm, no foul.”

“No harm! I was a total wreck the entire time…!”

“But your own wreck, Princess. You, fortunately at that, just had a little chat. It’s when you came out and started to act on that chat that things went wibbley-wobbly, timey-wimey on you. You skewed your own line, not broke it, thankfully. The advice you gave yourself wasn’t heeded, so it wasn’t as if you incorporated and accommodated future events; you gave ‘em the boot. Once more, a lesson in leaving Time in the hooves of a professional,” ‘John’ said cheekily.

Twilight just stared at the pony in the outlandish hat, as she willed her blood pressure downward, rather than burst. Into flame.

He had turned his back on Twilight to smile at Derpy, as Twilight worked mightily to calm herself.

“‘John’…” said Derpy uneasily.

“Eh, what?” he asked in a chipper voice.

“‘John’, go and quietly apologize to the nice Alicorn Princess…before she reaches the conclusion that it’s easier to just incinerate you,” Derpy said, watching Twilight warily.

His face blanched. “Told you, I’m rubbish as a pony,” he said, running over to do just that.

---

A little while later, they had a decent preliminary agreement. Discord agreed to become a member in defense of Equestria; in return, he was given much wider latitude to interact with those that desired it, as well as places where he had a much freer rein to indulge himself in Chaos, though any arising cult praising him would be required to just praise him, no rites or encouragements of entropy.

Cadance would also stand up in defense as needed. She would also get to participate more directly in Equestrian policy making with a larger role, rather than stay isolated. Cadance smiled at that; she had been hinting around for just that sort of accommodation.

Twilight and the Heroines would be allowed to join in any defense as usual, but gain latitude as where best to place their efforts, and be informed as to the reasons of their orders, if such orders were issued. Twilight also was granted a concession to learn what she wanted as to the day to day routine of Equestrian administration, ‘just in case’. That last had also been offered to Cadance as well.

The Doctor agreed to establishment as himself as the protector of Equestria from extra-equestrial threats, as well as the point leadership in dealing with them. He was also designated the technology lead pony, as well as Derpy as his assistant.

The Diarchy would maintain their responsibilities over equestrial threats, as well as magical ones. There were also concessions given to the other Alicorns to occasionally wield Canterlot authority and give the Diarchy some relief. Celestia took full advantage of it immediately, passing on the responsibility of the next Grand Galloping Gala to Princess Cadance as host, even allowing Cadence to hold the event at Canterlot as usual, or Crystal Citadel in the Empire. Cadance dubiously accepted; a little taken aback as to just how fast Celestia handed it off to her.

Luna snickered.

Derpy rapidly became the pony to ask questions of in regard to the opinions of the more normal equine inhabitants of Equestria. She immediately cornered Luna right after the gathering to express her discomfort in making decisions for every Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus citizen on the planet.

Luna laid a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Do not worry, my friend. Your function here, if I understand it right, is to function as a conscience for us, Derpy. You are our ethical standard-bearer.”

Luna sat down and looked at her. “Celestia and I try our absolute best to stand and remain ethical in all we do. But let me propose a hypothetical. We’re at war, a terrible war that is hardly dissimilar than the ones the Time Charger has been involved in. Say that somehow, Celestia was taken from us. The stress, the emptiness, the terror, works upon our minds. It would be up to you to try to keep us from falling into the madness.”

Derpy stared at her, incredulous. “How would I be able to influence anypony in that situation, Luna?” she asked. “I’d be hard pressed to maintain my own sanity in those circumstances.”

Luna smiled. “We never said such a thing as what you have been tasked with would be easy, my friend. We only ask that you try to find a way.” She patted her shoulder as she got up to leave.

‘John’ and Derpy left for her home as well, as Derpy considered her words.

Comments

[SoullessDCLXVI]

Confused as to what Discord did to time. I don't remember it.

[livi423]

Ditzarella Derpemina Esmerelda Von Doo

Nope.

[SoulSpirit]

No one ever takes the sonic!?!?!?!