Lost Gear

by TheFoxern

2: Prophet

He felt strange sitting under a clockwork tree. Strange was the first word that came to mind. Usually the dreamscape felt comforting, but now it felt alien. Like he didn't belong there. Nothing had changed about how it looked, simply how he felt about it. There was no sense of comfort. He was alone. It was not the first time he had been alone in a hostile place, a place that didn't want him, but this time he had no place to run back to. No safe place to gather his thoughts. He wanted to be home. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be safe. Tears streaked down his face as he stared up through the branches at the starred sky. Did this world even have stars? Deep breaths did nothing to calm his mind.

There was suddenly the pressure of something entering his dreamscape. “Nightmare?” he asked as he looked around. But there was nothing to be seen. “L-Luna?” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “No, of course not...there is no Luna here...” He wiped away the tears, but that did not stop them. He hoped that he was not sobbing in his sleep. “Who is there?”

There was no answer, but he was sure that he felt something moving around in his mind. What sort of things wandered the dreams of the inhabitants here?

“Fine...whatever.” He leaned against the tree, a soft ticking inside gave him some sort of peace. “Don't come out then.” He almost longed for it to show itself, something to take his mind away from the sinking misery. I need to focus... he thought as he stared upwards. The world is dying, and I've no way of dealing with it. The first problem is the Priest- “What do you want?” he said as he sat up a bit. Whatever it was was getting close.

Yet there was still no response. Nothing to look at. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for. Some sort of Blood Horror that haunts the mind? He shuddered at the thought. “Why do you cry?”

The voice caught him off guard. It had the soothing tone of Nightmare but was drastically different. He leaned slightly to look around the tree, to see a small filly. But she was wrong, not quite there. She fled and hid behind a nearby tree when he looked at her. “Many reasons,” he said as he shifted around to the other side of the tree. A soft smoke flowed from around the other tree and her head slowly poked out. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

“That's what the last pony said.” Her head retreated, followed quickly by the smoke. “He said lots of things...”

Copper frowned slightly as he leaned against the tree again. “What sort of things did he say?”

“That I was important...that I was special...” He saw her poking out from the other side of the tree. “But he lied.”

“Why do you think that?” Again he wiped away the tears, thankfully this was enough of a distraction.

“Cus I'm not.” She was watching him with a sort of hesitant curiosity. “I wouldn't do what he said...he called me useless...and did something that hurt a lot...”

He assumed that she was talking about the Priest, or perhaps the Other. “I know what that feeling is like,” he said with a sigh. “But I've never let that stop me.” He looked back up at the sky. “I thought I was useless, so I did everything I could to make sure I wasn't. I did a lot of bad things...made a lot of mistakes...but I'd like to think I did a lot of good in the end.”

“So you are a bad pony?”

He could hear her a lot closer, but didn't look down. “Sometimes I think so. Actually, more than sometimes...”

“Then that's good...the other pony said he was a good pony.” Copper looked down at the little Nightmare that was sitting in front of him. He realized that's what she was, a filly Nightmare.

“Why is that a good thing?” She was staring at him with inky black eyes.

“Cus the good pony wants the world to die. That means the bad pony wants the world to live, right?”

He chuckled softly and looked back up at the sky. “Yes...and I wish I could save it...but I can't...” He took a deep breath. “My name is Copper Feather.”

“They all call me Nightmare...” she sounded miserable.

“How about I call you...Night, then?” He smiled slightly at her. “That sound better?” She nodded slightly. His mind was bubbling with questions. Why was she so small? Nightmare had never been this small as far as he was aware. “Where do you come from?”

Her brow furrowed. “The big glass things.” She waved her hooves vaguely in the air, trying emphasize something large.

Copper tilted his head to the side slightly. “Big glass things? Like, towers of glass?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes...the pony said that I was...” Her face scrunched as she tried to think of what he had said. “Compressed magic?”

It clicked in his head. They must have built something that absorbs all magic, but since they can't destroy it they simply pushed it all together and it made her... “Odd...”

“He said that I would help make everything better. But everything he told me to do made things worse...” She had curled up in front of Copper. “There are so few ponies now...there were so many... Where did they all go, Copper?”

Copper felt his heart sink. He had explained death to young ponies before, but it was not something he ever enjoyed. “How do you know there are less?”

“There are less sleepers. Do they stay awake to avoid me?” She was not looking at him, instead she was staring down at the ground, at the inner workings of the ground bellow them.

“No...” He gently brushed her mane, for smoke it felt oddly solid. It reminded him of one time he had touched Celestia's mane when he was young, or when he walked on clouds. Something that felt like it wasn't quite there but felt soft and semi solid. “They are gone.”

She looked up at him, her head tilted to the side slightly. “Why did they leave?”

“They didn't have a choice...sometimes ponies leave, because it's their time to go. But other times they are forced to leave. To go to a place that only those that leave know.” He only knew part of the journey, not its end.

“There are lots of sleepers near you...but so few anywhere else...” She laid her head down.

His mind was working out new plans. If he was going to save ponies he needed a firm hoof hold to start from. “Do you think you could help me?” She looked up at him with confusion. “I cannot save this world...but I'm going to try to save the ponies living in it.”

“Even me?”

He couldn't help but smile, stroking her mane once again. “Of course you. Especially you.”

“How can I help?”

“I need to find a pony who calls himself the Doctor. He has a...strange blue box.” She had moved closer to him. “He can help me. And I'll also need your help getting everypony together...so that if I can figure out how, we can all leave.”

She was smiling softly and she nodded. “So I need to find a Doctor with a blue box?”

“Or somepony who knows where he is, or how to find him.” It was the only thing he could think of to start.

“Is he really that great?”

He looked up at the sky. “I think so...”

There was a few moments of pause before she nudged him gently with her hoof. “Do I have to go now?”

He looked down at her and smiled. “No,” he said as he shook his head. “I think it can wait until tomorrow.”

~

He awoke to the noise of arguing. There was a rather heated debate going on amongst some of the bat ponies on the other side of the room. He had to be honest with himself, he didn't want to get up. It was the first time he could remember that he didn't want to get up and do something. There was a lot to be done and he didn't want to do it. It wasn't that he was even that comfortable, in fact the floor was misshapen and very uncomfortable under the padding, but he did not want to be awake.

Night had been an odd comfort, one that he would have not expected. There was something so comforting about her presence; something he couldn't explain. He just assumed that it was because she felt like Nightmare and that made him feel like he was home. He let out a soft groan as he sat up, he was sore from sleeping in an awkward position. He felt oddly stiff and began stretching. The arguing had stopped. “No, please. Go on with whatever you were talking about,” he said with a vague wave of his hoof. He hadn't been listening to what it was about. “Could I have some water?”

There was a mad scramble of ponies as they moved about. “How did you sleep?”

Copper looked at the king and then shrugged. “I've slept worse. But at least I have some things in motion...” He had already felt Night leave.

The king looked confused, but didn't question it. “What are we to do now?”

“Well...” He drank some of the water that had been rushed to him. “First things first, we need to get out of here and back to the surface. The Priest needs to be dethroned.”

“And...how are we to do that?”

“By killing the Blood Horror,” Copper said as he stood up. There was a lot of ponies shifting away from him. “There has to be a reason this place is safe. Who has been here the longest?”

“That would be me,” the king said as he stared at Copper.

“What was here when you got here?”

“Here?” The king looked around. “Nothing. It was the only dry area and I was exhausted from running...”

“Nothing at all?” Copper was looking around as well. “Just these empty rooms?”

“Yes...I am sorry.” His brow furrowed slightly. “I...it's been twenty years...I had resigned myself to die and simply laid down. But after a few days it did not come to kill me. I sat and waited for death, eating these mushrooms.”

“So the mushrooms were here?” Copper was trying to jog his memory, any little detail could be useful.

“Yeah...the mushrooms have always been here. The caretaker of our sewers grew them...and sold them in the market. They weren't very popular, for obvious reasons.”

“Anything else?” He only had two things to go on, the fact that it was dry and the mushrooms. “Was the sewer always filled with blood?” The thought had popped into his head.

The king shook his head. “No. That was something caused by the Blood Horror...it like...pours blood from itself. The Priest never explained to me how it came, or even what it was. Nothing but that the Other had brought it from the Depths. Whatever that is.”

“How did the caretaker get down here?” He looked towards the ceiling.

“I don't know. He was reclusive, kept to himself.” Copper was looking at the large mushroom patches that the ponies were cultivating. Apparently the argument had started back up again; it was over food. They did not like the fact that they were not to eat meat anymore.

He pulled one of the mushrooms carefully from the bed, examining it. Things were usually not this easy, but he wanted to find out. He stretched a bit more before heading to the other chamber, the one that lead out to the sewer. He wondered what sort of pony used to live down here. He did not want to think about what sort of lifestyle it would have been. He stared at the flowing blood, it looked as unwelcome as ever, but he trudged out into it, holding the mushroom in his mouth. “What are you doing?!” somepony called out.

“Experimenting,” he muttered as he headed towards a crossroad. There was nothing ahead of him but he had a feeling the Blood Horror was not far. A feeling that was confirmed when he saw the soft light off to his left and heard the dripping. He threw the mushroom down the tunnel, pushing the blood in such a way to cause it to flow down towards it. “C'mon ya bastard...breakfast time.” It moved towards him at a slow, meandering pace. “Remember this?” Shink. The light actually stopped. “So it can be taught.” He was watching the mushroom float down towards the light.

“Please, Prophet! Come back!” There were ponies trying to shout to him as quietly as they could. They dared not follow. Copper could actually see the tentacles now, slithering along the cracks in the wall as it continued its approach, it had quickly shaken the fear of pain. It was much brighter here than during the last encounter and he had adjusted quickly to the darkness of the underground.

But Copper's focus was on the mushroom, floating down towards the Blood Horror. Then it cringed, quickly backing away. “Oh really? Is that so?” Shnikt. Copper was almost frustrated that it was as simple as that. How does a fungus have such an effect? It writhed and retreated quickly back the way it had came and went down a side passage. Copper made his way back to the group fairly quickly. “Well that is very interesting. Lucky and very convenient.” Once on dry land he tipped his arm to pour the blood from it.

“What was that?” The king was there to great him. “What happened? What did you do?”

“You are the luckiest bunch of ponies. I cannot believe you're- we're all alive because of dumb luck.” Then again, he knew that his own life had been saved by dumb luck more times than he could count. “But I'm not about to question it at this point.” The king looked very confused as Copper walked back to the other room, dripping in blood. “Take half the mushrooms, and starting floating them out the left tunnel.”

“But...why? That's our food.”

Copper looked at the king. “I am aware. We can gather them up and wash them later.” He began carefully picking the mushrooms and noticed that most of the ponies had joined him. Apparently he had higher standing's than their own king. “It does not like the mushrooms, for some reason and I'm going to use that to my advantage.”

“But...are you sure? Are you sure it's the mushrooms? Not because it's dry here?” The king was grasping at the same straws Copper had held moments ago.

“It is not in the blood at all. It clings to the walls and crawls through the tunnels. I got a good look at it and it's definitely not even touching the blood, if that even is what it is...it's more like some sort of secretion that drips off it. It just mimics blood. Who even knows why it does that...” He was helping the ponies push the mushrooms out, but he was the only one who actually went into the liquid. “That's enough.” Copper said as he began guiding them to the best of his abilities.

“Good luck, Prophet,” the king said as he watched from the dry land.

He watched them all crowd around, but not one touched the liquid. He would have thought them cowards if he was not afraid himself. It was a lot to throw at a hunch; just a guess. He tried to push as much of the mushrooms towards where the Blood Horror had gone and when he got to another cross road, he saw the light. “C'mon...” he said, struggling to get the mass of mushrooms to float down the liquid. The light paused as it caught sight of Copper. There was a slight shift as it moved towards him and then it fled.

Copper pursued. He had probably started with thousands of mushrooms, but now only had a handful. But as he had lost them, they had drifted about the tunnels and now the Blood Horror was trapped. It had backed itself into a corner of sorts, behind it Copper could see daylight. This was the way out. It made chittering noises at him.

“That's right. It's either face me, or face the daylight. I bet the light hurts your eyes, doesn't it?” He continued to push the few mushrooms he had ahead of him. “Which is worse, the light or the mushrooms? What is it, the smell?” He could see the mass of the monster in the daylight behind it. “You don't have eyes...” The mushrooms did have a distinctive smell and he could smell it over the blood easily. “That has to be it...it is a smell you do not like.”

“Prophet.” Copper glanced behind him and he saw the king and all the other bat ponies behind him. “We are with you.”

Copper focused on the creature. These ponies were a group in search of a leader. The king would have stayed behind, he was sure, but the majority pushed him to follow. But none dared come close, not as close as Copper. He was trying to figure out what the creature reminded him of. Some sort of octopus with a dozen more limbs. It had a large sac, bellow which sat an orb on one of its many tentacles; its angler. Copper could see the large toothy maw, with it's long jagged teeth. He saw it flinch, shink. He slashed as the tentacle lunged for him and the creature shrieked as it retreated further. “Face me, or face the light!” Copper shouted as he charged it.

It made one more attempt to hit him, which did not even come close to Copper, before it fled into the sun. It screeched as smoke billowed from it. It clambered out of the hole, trying to find respite; trying to find cover from the odd harsh sun of this world. He came after it and saw that they were near one end of the city coming out of what Copper guessed was a large storm drain. But there was no place for it to hide. Around the trench there were several ponies to witness the event. The Blood Horror flailed and shrieked before it finally slumped to the ground. It withered, baking in the sun. This was a creature that was never meant to be in the light and it was showing. It was a creature of darkness, one that thrived in it.

Copper held the gauntlet upwards and the blade retracted with a loud chink. The blood liquid poured from his arm, splattering the ground. Ponies ran as the others came out behind him. “Bathe in the light of this day,” Copper said as he looked back at the group. “It is a day of importance. It is the day that we begin to save the city and all who dwell within it, and outside it.” It was an impromptu speech and Copper would regret it later; there were many words that he could have used that would have been more appropriate, but it was what came forth. The cheering of the crowd behind him only stirred his adrenaline.

“What are we to do now, Prophet?” The king had relinquished any doubt he had had in Copper.

“As I said. We dethrone the Priest.” Copper knew that this would not last long, he knew how crowds worked and he was working out several of his next moves as he walked towards the cathedral followed by the large procession. It seemed even the city was turning on to Copper's side. All that had to be mentioned was the word 'Prophet' and ponies leaped to his side. He had stirred doubt in the Priest with his speech on the stand, and now he walked out with dozens of ponies they all had believed dead.

Nopony tried to stop them, and in fact the guards pushed open the broken doors, as if they had expected him. “For the crimes you have committed against our Lord, you are-” the Priest stopped as he saw Copper walking, once again, to the stage.

The other pony saw his chance and leaped away, Copper saw that they had already shredded his wings and blood streaked behind him from the fresh wounds. It was a brutal punishment, robbed of the ability of flight and then stood in front of ones peers and dropped to certain death. But Copper was not foolish enough to get on the platform and instead walked around it. “Now then, Priest. As I was saying before you interrupted our conversation...”

“H-how?!” the Priest stammered, looking around for somepony who would come to his aid, or more likely somepony who he could throw between Copper and himself.

“You have doomed your world by following the will of the Other. Your world and all your ponies.” Copper stopped, not very far off from the Priest.

“How do you still live!?” the Priest screamed.

“Your beast is dead, choosing to take its own life rather than face me.” There was utter silence aside from Copper's own voice. He hated it, but he had to play up the part. He needed these ponies to believe he was far above them to buy himself time to work out a plan.

“The Horror is...dead?” The pony who was about to be sentenced was the closest to the two of them, as he had been unable to escape very far; now he was trapped in a corner.

“That is impossible,” the Priest said, having regained some sort of composure.

“Then how do I, and your king, still live?” The Priest's gaze stared beyond Copper at the king and the ponies he brought with him. “You have made mistakes, Priest.” The gaze snapped back to Copper. “Everypony makes mistakes, but now is your chance to change that. To be reasonable, to admit that you were wrong. I have made more mistakes than I can count, but please...this needs to end. The Other seeks nothing but your destruction.”

“No!” The hair on Copper's neck stood up as the Priest moved. The Other had given him power at one point, that was certain, and the Priest had kept some of it in reserve. The bright light that shone from him was entirely for show, but the energy that gathered in front of him was not. It would have been easy for Copper to say it was simply magic, but there was no magic, he could feel that. This was whatever power the Other had, something beyond magic. It was what was destroying the world now that the magic was gone.

Copper threw up his arms in an attempt to shield himself and black smoke billowed from around him, swallowing up the power and slamming the Priest into the wall. He lowered his hooves back to the ground, staring at the Priest. In his head, he heard a soft voice, “I-I can not do that again...”

“There is no need,” he said softly, smiling. He was draped in smoke, which was dissipating now. “How long have you been back?” He approached the Priest, who was trying to get back up onto his hooves.

“When you were shouting,” the voice of Night said.

“H-how?” the Priest stammered as he slumped against the wall. “Why does the Nightmare fight for you?”

“Because she does not like you.” He stood over the pony as the last of the smoke faded, a pony who stared up at him with bright red eyes. “Now, I will not offer again.” The Priest's brow furrowed. “This is your last chance to tell the truth. The Other has left you, abandoned you, why do you still defend it?”

The Priest closed his eyes. “What choice is there? The world is dying...all I can do is try to comfort my people...”

“And that is why I wont kill you.” The Priest stared at Copper, who was walking away. “Even if you went about it the wrong way, I can see why you did it.” Copper went to the king, who was looking as amazed as any other pony. “Do not hurt him. He has to live with what he has done.” He moved past the king, the crowd quickly parting ahead of him. “Now, take me to one of these glass towers.”

~

“Now, did you find the Doctor?” Copper was in the dreamscape again, while they rode in a cart towards one of the towers Copper had decided to take a nap.

Night looked sheepish, kicking her hoof slightly at the ground. “No...but I found the blue box...”

Copper blinked, looking down at her. “How?”

“It dreams.”

~

His eyes snapped open and he stared at one of the towers. It was behind the city, one of the first towers, he had been told. But Copper had not been allowed to walk there, they had demanded he be carried and had brought water for him to clean himself up. It had been awkward to wash in the back of a cart, but Copper had managed. “Can you lead me?” he said softly.

“It is far away...beside one of the glass towers,” the soft voice said.

Copper paused, he wanted to look at the tower and see how it worked; see if it could be turned off. But this was more important. He sat up slightly. “Not this one,” Copper said and the dozen ponies around him stared up at him with confusion.

“It is to the left...” the voice said.

“The one that way,” Copper pointed off to the left vaguely and several of the ponies began murmuring.

“There is not one that way,” one of the ponies said, quite confused.

He hesitated, looking at the pony. “N-not that we question you, Prophet,” another one of the ponies added.

Copper was looking out towards where he was being directed. “There was though, wasn't there?”

“Y-yes.”

The Doctor had tried to stop it. “It was the first one, wasn't it?” The pony simply nodded. “Then we go there first.” Copper settled back down, staring off into the distance at where they were now heading. One of the ponies went off to the city to inform the king, whom Copper had left in charge of the city. He had tasked him with two things, protect the ponies in the city and send out ponies to gather those not in the city. 'Make sure they understand the Other is gone and the Priest imprisoned,' he had said, 'Send those in the city who had doubts about the Other. Do not force anypony to come.' He wanted to gather everypony together, so if he found a way to save them they would not have to waste time gathering them.

Copper couldn't help but catch the stares of the ponies around him, all of them glancing away quickly when Copper looked at them. They were afraid of him, that was obvious. Honestly, Copper didn't care. He cared nothing for these ponies around him. They were just a means to an end. They were his way out, he knew that. The thing fighting the Other knew he could save them and the only way that he could leave is if he did that. But that did not mean he had to like them. Night was the only thing he liked in this world. She was now his drive. It wasn't about saving himself now, it was about saving her.

This world was a harsh place that reminded him of Zebrica. That had been a hard time in his youth; one of many. But he knew he was going to get through it all; he had to get through it. There were so many ponies that he wanted to get back to. So many that he wanted to see. What he wouldn't have given just to see Chrysalis, or to hear her voice, even if it were just for a moment.

They came over a hill and Copper immediately knew they were getting close. The ground was blackened and cracked, far off there was the ruins of a city and amongst them stood the remains of a glass tower. “Dear Celestia...” He sat up, staring at the destruction. It was as if the air was at war with the world itself. It was no wonder the ponies had denied the towers existence.

“This is where I was made,” the little voice said. “What does it look like? I cannot see your world.”

“It is not my world,” Copper said softly as he hopped down from the cart. “My world is beautiful. This one is dying, scarred and battered beyond recognition. I have seen wars that have looked better than this.” The blackened earth felt hot under Copper's hooves as he walked. None of the other ponies dared touch the ground, save one. The other bat ponies with shredded wings stayed by the cart while the others flew around Copper, but this one, the one who had been on trial, stayed behind Copper. They had roughly bandaged the wings, but they were going to need to be changed soon judging from how bloody they were already. “Why were you being sentenced to death?” Copper asked and saw the pony practically leap from his fur at Copper's words.

It took a moment for the pony to answer, “I asked a question. One that questioned the words of the Priest.”

The pony shifted uncomfortably under Copper's gaze, and he realized that he was going to have to provoke him to continue. “What question?”

“I...it was a conversation amongst others...I asked if it was fair to try a pony that did not know the law.” The pony could not make eye contact with him.

“I see, so it was about me?” The pony nodded and Copper continued walking into the ruins of the city. It looked as though it was actually in fairly good shape, though there were brightly colored smears over the walls and on the ground. “What happened?”

“The tower exploded,” somepony in the air beside him said. “The Priest said it was due to us getting it wrong...due to our failure. But we got it right from then on.”

Copper was looking at the burnt and colorful cobblestones under his hooves as he walked, noticing how his hoof did nothing to it but the crystal steel of his other leg scraped some of it off with every step. The explosion must have been what created Night... The cobblestones were also hot, as if they had just recently gone out. “Do you feel the heat?” he asked the pony following him.

“I-it is very hot...b-but it has been getting hotter since we put up the towers...since the world has been...dying...” It was apparently hard for him to form words towards Copper.

“There are sleepers here,” Night said softly and Copper stopped.

He was focused on the wrong things, he had assumed that the city would be deserted, but only the followers of the Priest would avoid this place, and that was a perfect reason for others to use it as refuge. “I want all of you to go back to the cart. Except for you,” he added as he pointed a hoof at the pony walking beside him, who jumped slightly.

There was no protest as they all quickly and eagerly flew back to the cart. Copper watched them go, flying almost out of sight. “Wh-what's going on?”

“Anypony there?” Copper called out, looking around. “My name is Copper Feather.” He continued walking down the street towards the ruin of the glass tower. He spotted something move in the window, but pretended not to notice it. “I want to talk.”

“Drop your weapon.” There were suddenly several bat ponies around him and his associate, who immediately ducked to the ground. They were brandishing odd spears.

Copper didn't move aside from looking around. “If you're talking about this,” he moved his metal leg slightly, “I can't. It's attached. Now, I would like to talk with you.”

“Why are you here?” the pony demanded.

He stared at the pony. “I just said, I want to talk.”

There was an uneasy shifting of the group around them. “Then talk,” the pony said.

“I am looking for something here that could possibly save the lives of everypony on this planet.” There were confused looks on all of the ponies. “Which includes you and all of the ponies you have hidden away.”

“Big talk from some strange looking pony.” Copper wasn't sure if the pony was the leader, or just acted like it.

“The Priest has been dethroned and imprisoned,” the cowering pony beside Copper managed to belt out. “The Other is gone!”

Copper looked at him. “Good job, but ill timed.” He turned to the surprised looks of those around him. “But it is true. The king is not dead and is leading the city for now, while I search for what I hope could be our salvation.”

“Why is the Priest not dead?!” Somepony demanded. “If you wanted to make us believe that lie, you should have marched in here with his head on a pike.”

“You ponies are so barbaric,” Copper said and then started walking forward. “I will not stoop to the same level as him, or you.” They moved out of his way quickly and the cowering one followed after him quickly. “I know you must have ponies sick, or injured. I'm offering you help; hope. A chance to keep living in a better shape than you are now.” They were following him.

“Honeyed and empty words.” There was a pony who came out from a nearby building. “You want us to walk into our deaths.”

“Nopony knew you were here. I am not here for you.” He looked at the female bat pony who had been watching things transpire. “I am here seeking a way to save as many ponies as I can.”

“And who do you think you are?”

“I am Copper Feather.” He took a deep breath. “A poor replacement for the Doctor, but I'm all you've got.”

She had no answer to that, but another pony said, “What doctor?”

“If you don't know, it doesn't matter. I need to see what he did to the tower in order to destroy it.” Copper began to trot towards the tower, followed by his cowardly shadow. He was tired of arguing with these ponies and if they were not going to try to stop him then he would not waste anymore time.

The glass tower was in the center of the city. He had expected pieces of it to be everywhere, but now that he was close he knew why there wasn't; the tower had melted. It was mostly just a massive lump of, as Copper got closer, some sort of crystal. Every part of it was made of the same type of crystal with extreme care and precision. Hundreds of different colors; now he knew what the smears were and why the city was so colorful. There was also no way to get inside. He sighed as he placed his bare hoof against the crystal, immediately regretting it and backing away; it burned him. “Are you all right, Prophet?!”

He had tucked his hoof under his arm, pressing it to the cool crystal steel that covered his arm. “D-didn't expect that...should have...”

“Prophet?” The female bat pony had followed him.

“It is what they call me,” Copper said as he stared at the glass tower. “Apparently I'm fulfilling some sort of prophecy they have, of saving everypony.” The burning feeling had subsided to a dull throb. “But this tower is useless.”

“The Doctor made sure of it.”

Copper looked back at her as he thought back to what he knew of the Doctor. “Is your name Rose, or something along those lines?”

She shook her head. “No. My name is Clearwater. How do you know the Doctor?”

He sighed softly as he looked around. “I'm not from this world. I know the Doctor in my world. What happened to him?”

“He died, destroying the tower...” She was staring up at what was left of it. “He told us all to run, and we did. I only knew him for a few hours and he saved my life...”

“Yeah, he does that sort of thing a lot.” He was still looking around. “Night, where is it?”

“What?” They two ponies looked at him.

“It is on the other side of the tower,” Night said.

He quickly trotted around the tower, trying to find it. It was all he needed, all he wanted. And there it was, the odd blue box. The Tardis. He walked towards it and placed his forehead against it, closing his eyes. Maybe he could actually pull it off and actually save everypony? Maybe he could get back to his own world and the ones he loved?

It was a wonderful sight that filled him with hope. He walked around it, the other ponies looking at it as if they weren't quite entirely sure it was there. It was beat up, the paint was chipped and it had dents and scratches throughout. Copper moved to the front, pushing the door open and looking inside. It was an absolute mess, yet some lights managed to turn on. The consoles were busted up; smashed by the looks of it, and some things were sparking. Wires looked pulled from the ceiling and the floor was burned and covered in debris. It caused his heart to sink as he walked slowly inside. “Oh my beautiful machine...what has happened to you?”

“D...Doc...tor?” He looked around quickly, but could see nopony. The voice was familiar. “D...Doc...tor?”

“Rose?” He could not be sure, but it was the only pony that he could think of that would be here.

“D...Doc...tor?”

Copper moved around the room, looking in every nook and cranny, but there was nopony there. “No, I'm afraid not.” He moved to the main console and looked up at what had been a large set of glass tubes, all of them smashed. “I am afraid not, my dear Tardis...I am not your Doctor...” He touched the console gently, wondering how you comfort a machine. He did not even know where to look, so he simply sat down.

It had fallen silent, the lights dimmed, some of them winking off. There was a dejected feeling in the air as things continued to slowly fall apart around Copper. It felt as though it was trying desperately to hold itself together, waiting. Waiting for its Doctor.

“What manner of magic is this?” Copper's cowardly shadow had gathered the courage to look inside. “It's massive on the inside!”

“It is not magic,” Copper said as he stared at the console. “It is technology.” He was crying. “Get out.”

Author's Note:

(Last Edit: 6/26/19)