• Published 29th Dec 2016
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Lost Reflections - Purple Patch



The Bearers of Harmony will fight long and hard to protect Doctor Whooves, Derpy Doo and their precious daughter Dinky from the terrors of their past.

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Chapter 5

Very Long Ago


The Rejuvenation Festival.

One of Canterlot’s busiest of days. Ponies from far and wide came to the capital to pay their respects to the Great Rejuvenator of Ponykind, she who had rescued the ponies from slavery and hardship and united the three tribes as one, the founder of the Alicorn Monarchy and first crowned Princess of Equestria.

Laurelore the Firsticorn.

The Doctor was among those ponies. In fact, he was a pony on a mission. A mission to acquire forgiveness.

He had hurt Laurelore before she left him.

Back when she was young and hungry for adventure.

He wasn’t afraid to deny it, he’d been clinging to her. Giving her responsibilities that were his while ignoring her own. Caught up in his little world without limits, he disregarded her world.

She wasn’t an ‘assistant’ or ‘companion’ anymore. She was the Princess of a kingdom.

He’d tried his very hardest to make her forget that.

He’d hurt her because of it.

And he was sorry.

He honestly didn’t know how she’d react to his return. It had certainly been a long time. Years, not centuries, but those years had been so very lonely for him.

He still had the gift she’d left him the last time they spoke. An amulet crafted from the magic of the Elements, fitted on a necklace he’d worn for this occasion. A piece of her heart to keep with him always. To remind him that, once...long ago...he had a friend.

Laurelore was never without friends. Those she knew, those she met, those who simply heard of her, she had always been a charming mare through the compassion and resolution that had founded a kingdom devoted to the ideals of Harmony.

The Elements would be beside her. He knew them well.

Aurora, Bearer of Magic; Iris, Bearer of Loyalty; Nuzzle, Bearer of Kindness; Cornflower, Bearer of Honesty; Adamanta, Bearer of Generosity and Zipadee, Bearer of Laughter, the only stallion among them.

They’d taken to finding the Doctor slightly suspicious. But in their daily lives that was expected. The Doctor had been a prominent player in the Badlands War against Marephistallion and had popped up whenever something untoward happened.

In any case, how they’d react to him appearing on this very special day would, for better or worse, be quite something.


Elsewhere, however, another pony had plans to pay the Princess a visit. One who hadn’t yet had the chance to meet her.

And was anticipating doing so with much enthusiasm.

The Wonderbolt hadn’t put up much of a fight.

Then again, nopony ever did when caught by surprise.

Her mistake for coming across the zip-line.

If the knife to the throat hadn’t done it for her, the force of his landing had probably finished her off.

The guard had been even easier. But then he’d been so easily lured into the darkness.

What sort of guard left his post at the cry of a vagrant in jeopardy?

Then again, the High Hooves, or at least the pitiful remnants of kinsponies who clung to their ways, had never been warriors or commanders of any meaningful competency.

Tirek hadn’t paid a visit to Equestria for centuries and Marephistallion had just been destroyed.

The depletion of their enemies had made them slack.

How long that would last, however, was not to be disregarded.

With Star-Swirl missing, there was no longer an all-seeing eye in Canterlot.

And many of Equestria’s strongest warriors and wisest scholars had set out to explore the Known World and spread the teachings of harmony and the magic of friendship among every race and region.

This was a golden opportunity...not to be lost.

The Elements would be here soon.

Time was of the essence.

Finding the patrol, the newcomer, dressed in the helmet, armour and cloak of the Royal Guard headed to the Arch of Unity. Built soon after Canterlot was made the capital of Equestria, the Arch of Unity lay on the road to the palace and served as the entrance to the Royal District. It depicted the names and portraits of many of the kingdom’s greatest heroes in solid marble and, at the arch itself, showed alicorns of all colours and shapes holding hooves around the Elements of Harmony.

The arch towered high above any pony, near as tall as the spires of the palace. Visitors from far and wide, coming to the Rejuvenation Festival, passed under the arch dozens at a time.

The guards were to march to and fro, from the palace entrance to the arch.

They were halfway between them.

Just coming up to where he’d placed the detonator, its lead hidden in the ridges of the stonework.

‘Perfect’ the newcomer thought, the butt of his spear raised above the button hidden in a flowerbed.

‘Time to make history’


“Forsooth, O Traveller. Whosoever woudst boldly crosseth the Bridge of Death must verily answer me these questions three, ‘ere t’other side they see!”

“Do so asketh thine three questions, O Bridgekeeper, I...thy...ugh...Luna, how do you talk this way? This is maddening!”

“Pleeeeaaaase, Tia?” the little navy alicorn filly gave her elder sister a pleading look “You sound so funny”

“I’m bored with this game anyway” the elder sister, pearl-white of coat and primrose-pink of mane, sulked.

“Oh, but one day I’m going to make it famous! Everypony will play it! It’ll be so much fun!”

“Luna, I know you came up with it and you’re very proud of it but Ogres and Oubliettes stops being fun really quickly if you can just make anything up”

“Nonsense! Just the opposite” Luna snapped, folding her little hooves “Now you can either carry on playing or I won’t be your night-light tonight”

Young Lady Celestia sighed and continued, waving around her figurine.

“Do so asketh thine three questions, O Bridgekeeper, I be’est not afraid”

“What be’est thine name?” Luna said, grinning as she, in turn, waved a goat figurine atop the arm of a chair, representing a bridge.

“I be’est Lady Knight Sereneph of Canterlot”

“What be’est thine quest?”

“To seek the-”

‘BRAKA-DOOOOOOM!!!’

The two fillies gave a shriek and dived under the covers of their bed as the sound and feel of a massive explosion shook their bedroom.

Several moments later, they poked their heads out of the blanket.

“Wh-wh-what was that?” Luna asked, stammering with fear.

“I...I don’t know Luna?” Celestia answered, hugging her little sister instinctively.

“Tia? Do you...do you think everypony’s okay?”

Celestia gulped and chose to be honest.

“No Luna...I don’t...”

“Tia...” She felt her little sister bury herself in her forelegs, trembling “I’m scared”


The Doctor collapsed in a heap as the tremor rocked the city. The Arch of Unity was coming down, its pillars crumbling as smoke and flame rose from the cracks. After the explosion came the screams as hundreds were crushed beneath the falling debris.

The time-traveller watched in horror as the carnage unfolded before him before rushing as fast as his shaking hooves could carry him. The heavy marble fragments lay sprawled across the entrance to the royal district, chunks of stone as big as houses littering the area. All around were bodies of the dead or injured.

Instinctively, he set about doing all he could.

Beside him, Captain Bold of the Royal Guard gaped, paralysed at the sight.

“Sweet Rememberly!” he gasped “Sweet Sacred Rememberly, what the hay happened here?!”

“Captain!” a nameless guard exclaimed “The Princess must be informed!”

“Yes...yes...” Bold slowly found his senses “Quickly! Head to the palace!”

“Yes, sir”

‘Perfect’ he thought ‘Equestria wasn’t built in a day...but it might fall in one’


The court had been quiet for the few moments since the explosion. Too shocked and worried to think properly.

Then, slowly, the Princess turned to look out the mighty glass wall behind her throne.

The Arch was burning.

The city was burning.

“Burning!” a terrified, breathless guard burst through the doors and practically skidding on his knees as he bowed before the Princess.

“The arch has collapsed! The city’s in chaos! You...you have to help them!”

“I will. Of course, I will” Princess Laurelore turned back to the court, her bright eyes full of fear for the lives she cared for “My faithful friends, you will go out into the city and do all you can to help those in danger! Quickly!”
The court was cleared as the commanders, ministers, lords and ladies rushed into the city to do their part.

“Majesty, let me show you where the city is most in need of your magic” the guard panted.

“No need. Come with me”

Taking the guard’s hoof, she pulled him gently onto the podium of her throne.

Her horn glowed bronze and the decorative glass layer of the podium rose high in mid-air above the marble beneath it as the ceiling opened up before them.

“The light of the sun and moon and stars and all the colours of the earth, wind and life itself” Laurelore prayed “Here I shall be at my most powerful. Here I shall be able to do my very best”

The podium came to a stop as they stood upon the roof on the palace, the spires towering over them as they surveyed the city.

“Tell me quickly...” Laurelore’s voice was heavy with equal amounts of anxiety and determination “Where is the city most in danger?”

Her ears piqued at the sound of two object sliding across each other.

Then her eyes snapped open and her mouth gaped in silent screams as she felt a blade bury itself between her wings.

“Right here”

The guard’s voice had changed and, as she managed to turn her head, her entire body jolting with spasms of agony, she saw the guard had discarded his armour, cloak and helmet and looked so very different.

He was smiling. And strangely, the smile showed no malice or sadism as she had expected.

It looked ever so...calm.


The Doctor was halfway through helping a filly to her hooves again when he fell to the ground, clutching at his neck.

Agony shot through his body like lightning.

“Sir?” a unicorn healer placed a hoof on his shoulder “Are you injured? Can you show me?”

“No...No...I...” the Doctor pulled the amulet from out his coat and gave it a glance.

It was burning in his hoof and steadily losing colour.

He paled at the sight, knowing what that meant all too well but never imagining it would actually happen in his lifetime.

‘Oh no...Not now!’ he whispered before looking up at the nurse with a desperate expression.

“Please, I need to go. Can you look after the others?”

“Of course. Good luck, sir”

“Right! Bold!” He pointed to the Captain “Take your best soldiers and guard the sister’s chamber. At all costs!”

“What?” Bold looked perplexed.

“This was not an accident! The one who did this is after the Princess and her family! Go, quickly!”

As Bold gathered his troops, the Doctor was on his hooves and racing toward the palace in a heartbeat, a look of pain, fear, despair and regret engraved into his features. He had come too far to see his best friend leave the world she chose to save.

He had to help her.

That’s why he’d come back in the first place.

As long as he lived, he wouldn’t give up on her.


Laurelore fell to her knees as she felt her horn sizzle and spit as if fried by acid. It blacked and started to crack down the middle.

She felt no magic.

Only pain.

“Wh...Wh...Why?” she gasped, staring in shock at the stallion before her “Why have you done this?!”

The stallion’s smile widened slightly at the edges and he leaned toward her.

Nothing about him looked evil.

But what he’d done today...this was beyond anything she’d ever seen.

He had destroyed a monument of peace and killed countless ponies in its wake...

Just as a distraction.

He spoke, his voice as calm as the rest of him.

“That...Princess Laurelore...is something you don’t need to know”

The pain searing through her veins was becoming too much to bear. Her vision was blurring. Her legs felt so heavy. She could taste copper.

‘No’ she thought, gritting her teeth ‘I refuse...I refuse to leave Equestria at his mercy...I refuse to let him win!’

A heavy hoof came down upon the podium, causing a crack that swiftly began splintering like a spider’s web.

The sight of genuine dismay, genuine fear on his face, however brief, however slight, was very satisfying.

Princess and assassin tumbled into the throne room with a crash.

‘My precious ponies...forgive me...’

Laurelore’s body did not move. Her enormous wing covered her side like a blanket as she lay still.

The assassin, meanwhile, gave a groan as he found his hooves, pulling a shard of glass out of his foreleg with a pained snarl.

“Damnit!” he growled “This was not how it was supposed to go!”

“YOU!”

He looked up to see a steadily approaching cadre of guards, staring at the scene with horror and fury.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

They drew blades.

The assassin rolled his eyes and gave the shard of glass in his hoof a glance.

‘Oh well. In for a copper, in for a gem’

He spun the shard to face them and gave them a smile.

‘Alright then, but I’d better get paid overtime for this’


“H-hello?” Lady Celestia poked her head an inch out the door “Mother Laurelore? Is...Is everything okay? What’s happened?”

There was the sound of heavy hoofsteps as the grey dappled, purple-maned unicorn Captain of the Royal Guard appeared alongside Jumbo Jet, the hulking yellow Wonderbolt Lieutenant, and twenty-three hoof-picked warrior elite around Canterlot.

“Lady Celestia, Lady Luna” he said approaching with a look of concern “You are advised to stay in your chambers until the threat to the city is over”

“Captain Bold, what’s happened?” Luna piped up.

“I promise you, you will be informed once the Princess is certain you are safe”

Bold closed the door and locked it on the outside and then, with his magic, on the inside.

Then, with a deep breath, he turned to his cadre.

“Nopony enters the chambers. Understood? Nopony. Until the Princess arrives and we are certain the city is no longer under threat, we hold this door and defend her highness’s children. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!” Every armed stallion and mare cried in unison.

“Captain” the soft-spoken Jumbo murmured “I have to find my sister, she was patrolling the city. She must have seen something!”

Bold thought a moment.

“Alright. Find Jaguar and then get the Wonderbolts together. We need all the help we can get right now”

The Wonderbolt took off on mighty wings as the guard formed a semi-circle around the chamber, Bold at its head, and adopted a shield-and-spear stance.

Near impregnable.

“C-c-captain...”

Bold raised a hoof to his unit as a guard approached from the throne-room, bleeding and staggering.

“Soldier! What happened?”

The wounded stallion fell into the Captain’s forelegs as Bold laid him down behind the circle.

“What happened out there?”

“A-a-assassin...” the guard gasped “Cutting through...everypony...nothing can stop him...he-argh!

“Don’t move. I’ll tend to you, here” The Captain took off the chest-plate of the guard and checked before looking up with an expression of mild perplexity “How did you get these wounds when your chest-plate’s still completely intact?”

He had just enough time to look more closely at the stallion, noticing the distinct lack of his previous pain and despair on his face.

Now he looked calm. So very calm.

As Captain Bold became aware of the chill from the glass shard piercing his neck, the guard he’d been tending to whispered in a voice without pity.

“Because I go for the throat”


Celestia and Luna clutched each other tightly as the sounds of clashing metal, cutting flesh and cries of pain and dismay sounded from outside their chambers.

“Tia! Bold’s out there!” Luna whimpered “Our friends are out there! What’s happening to them?”

“Shh...it’s gonna’ be okay, Luna...it’s gonna’ be okay” Celestia held her tight and gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

There was a flash between the door and the wall as the lock was broken.

With a small gasp, Celestia stood in front of her sister as she lit up her horn, ready to defend the two of them against whatever form of pony or beast came through that door.

But it was no beast that entered.

It was chains.

Heavy, hissing chains that flew forward like serpents and, with great glowing manacles, snapped round the filly’s necks.

Celestia gave a scream as her magic was suddenly cut off from her mind, filling her head with a ringing tremor and bringing her to her knees, Luna beside her experiencing much the same.

As Celestia fought to stand again, she heard a voice and heavy hoof-steps enter the room.

“Sorry about that. Have to make sure you won’t run off. The powers of a deity in the hooves of a couple of fillies...what is your society doing with itself?”

“Who...who are you? Wh-what have you done to us?!” Celestia cried, looking up at the stallion before her, who towered over her in a plain beige and brown dappled cloak.

“I’m here on what you might call a diplomatic mission to Equestria. Unfortunately that mission went a little sour. The chains are a centaur creation. A gift from their king. They prevent the magic from the horn and the strength from the heart from meeting, rendering your powers useless. It also impairs many of your muscular functions, such as your wings. Your limbs however will work alright for now. You can’t run or strike me but we can keep up with each other” He raised his hoof to show the ends of the chains clutched in one hoof.

Celestia had never seen ponies holding things in their hooves. She knew it was possible, mainly among those who did great amounts of manual labour, but this was the first time she had actually witnessed it.

It rather unnerved her.

“Now come on, children...” The captor said, smiling “Come and kiss your mother goodnight”

He gave the chains a tug and the two fillies were dragged forward out of their chamber. Luna tugged on her manacle frantically, beating it with tiny hooves while Celestia placed one weak, stiff wing across her little sister for comfort.

A horrifying sight met their eyes as they left their chamber that had Luna falling into her elder sister’s forelegs, weeping, and Celestia struggling not to cry.

Captain Bold lay dead, his neck slashed open, sprawled out in a pooling puddle of blood. Every guard around him had suffered similar fatal wounds, deep gashes across the neck, belly, eyes, temples, three were decapitated, their heads a distance from their bodies as the corridor outside the sister’s bedroom was awash with blood and corpses.

“You...you killed them” Celestia whimpered.

“Very astute” There was no hint of guilt in the assassin’s voice.

“Wh-wh-why?” She made sure to cover her little sister’s eyes as they walked on.

“They were in my way. Now they’re not. Practicality” He held up a bloodied dagger he’d tucked in a sheath under his foreleg “In a tight spear and shield formation, an army would have had trouble getting in. But in close-quarters, from behind, they weren’t so impregnable”

“You...you’re pure evil!” Celestia wailed, stamping one fore-hoof and glaring at him as hatefully as she could manage.

“I just live a different life to yours. Don’t judge me for it” He gave her a withering glance, his eyes as cold and piercing as daggers of ice. There was loathing in his voice “Not all of us are as lucky as Equestria to have a wise and loving demi-goddess as a ruler. Some of us...have to do things we’d rather not do to get ahead”

On they walked, corpses by the dozen littering their path. Some not yet dead but many bore the faces of ponies they knew, twisted by agony and despair. Just outside the throne room, Jumbo Jet had fallen, the massive pegasus impaled through the spine, the body of his sister, Jaguar, still cradled in his hooves while the Steward, Knickerbocker, lay slumped against the wall, missing a back-leg, as he clutched the still form of his wife, Farthingale, in a grief-ridden trance, begging her to wake up.

Not once did the assassin register any form of acknowledgement to the suffering he’d caused.

They approached the throne room as the assassin coolly opened the door.

“Now don’t worry about your mother...she’s not going anywhere without you...I’ll make sure of...” He stopped, staring blankly at the scruffy-looking brown stallion in a woollen coat and stripy scarf tending to Laurelore who was just managing to move herself.

The Doctor looked up and stared at the assassin defiantly.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, young stallion” he said flatly.

“Wh...WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!” In the time it took to blink, the assassin’s composure was gone completely as he threw away the chain on the two fillies and drew his blade “YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!

The two stallions flew at each other. The Doctor landed several punches upon his opponent’s face with one fore-hoof while the other struggled with the blade.

“You better not have killed her!” he growled before the assassin’s free hoof grabbed him by the throat. The time-traveller was hoisted high in the air before the assassin slammed him into the ground with a roar, his blade an inch from the Doctor’s eye.

You better not have saved her!” the assassin snarled “Who are you?! Why are you here?! Tell me or I’m going to make what’s left of your life very painful!”

“Mate...you have no idea what’s left of my life. Also, you might want to watch your hoof”

The assassin had enough time to blink before a blast of bronze-coloured magic burnt the blade to cinders in his hoof.

“Let him go” Laurelore had gotten to her hooves and was seething at the stallion who’d failed to kill her “And get away from my daughters, you murdering bastard!” Her eyes blazed with flames of every colour as reinforcements of the Royal Guard flooded into the throne room.

The assassin was surrounded. He held the Doctor by the scruff of his coat but the scruffy stallion gave no sign of fear.

“Give it up!” he barked “You’ve nowhere to run!”

“You think I’m running?” In the assassin eyes was a spark of madness mixed with no small amount of malicious confidence “Clearly you don’t know me well”

He raised his head and turned to the ponies surrounding him, his expression and tone dripping with loathing and contempt.

“I am Cascadius...Remember my name...You'll will be screaming it in your last moments very soon”

And with that, he removed a small, light grey stone with an odd rune inscribed on it from out his cloak and slammed upon the floor.

Instantly, it shone a pale yellow and let loose a burst of sepia mist, enveloping Cascadius and the Doctor and blotting them from view.

A heathstone, a form of non-magical teleportation, the art of using one abandoned for centuries.

The guards readied bows and magic but a hoof raised from their princess prevented them from firing. The assassin would not be beneath using the time-traveller as an equine-shield.

And to their horror, once the mist had cleared, the assassin and the doctor were gone.


“And that’s pretty much part one of ‘Why you don’t want to let Cascadius run around free’, to sum up” the Doctor said grimly, finishing his tea.

The Elements looked utterly stunned. Twilight Sparkle and Spike stared blankly at their narrator. Rarity had a delicate hoof to her mouth in shock. Fluttershy shut her eyes tight, quietly crying. Rainbow Dash eyed her shaking hoof as she grinded her teeth. Applejack shook her head, removing her hat in gloom. Even Pinkie Pie looked downcast, her expression seemingly uncertain of just how to cope with what she’d just heard.

“That...that’s horrible!” Spike managed to say at last “I mean...why did he want to kill Princess Laurelore? And why did he kill so many ponies to get to her? How can a pony just...kill...so easily?

“Don’t try to understand, Spike. There’s never a good enough answer” the Doctor said mirthlessly.

“But Doctor,” Twilight asked with concern “Where did he take you?”

The Doctor gave a glance at his right fore-hoof, as if checking to see if it was there. Looking back up at the Elements, he answered.

Acheron

“Where?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“A hidden pass into Tartarus” Twilight answered “On the far outskirts of Equestria. A labyrinthine cave system. The unicorns called it Grym d’Arc and claimed that one could enter Tartarus by following the right passage. The right way used to be identifiable through a river running through it but it dried up when Lavan began his invasion. There’s an ancient legend that claims that Apollonia Heartstrings could find a way through the magic of an enchanted harp. But it hasn’t been seen since Celestia and Luna came to the throne...” She pieced her words together “Did you...have anything to do with that?”

“Me? No. An ancient home of nightmares that suddenly turns to rubble? What makes you think I’m involved?” he said sarcastically. Any other day it would sound humorous “The heathstone sent us there. It was stupid of him, really. The mist the heathstone gives off can easily be used to track where it’s taken somepony and he must have known that the Bearers would be sent after him. I didn’t understand why and Cascadius wasn’t telling me. The way he saw it, he was the one who was asking questions. And Cascadius is a pony who makes it hurt when he asks questions. He wanted to know exactly who I was and why and how I’d stopped him. So, once he had me chained up in one of the caves...manacles fastened to my hoof by a heavy iron nail...through my hoof” His right-hoof gave another shudder, along with Fluttershy, as his voice grew quieter and more cracked, as if every word was sapping his strength “He set about asking me his questions...I didn’t want to tell him...so he asked me again...and again...and again...”

He stopped as he was forcibly hugged by Pinkie Pie who had started sniffling and whimpering at his story.

“It’s okay, Doctor, it’s okay!” she assured him like a guardian “We’re not gonna’ let him get you...or Derpy or Dinky...We won’t let him hurt you. We promise”

“Yeah! We’ll kick his flank and make him eat dirt like the old Bearers did!” Rainbow Dash cried with confidence. Her friends were ready to agree when they caught sight of the Doctor swallow hard and wince.

“Sorry, was I hugging too tight?” Pinkie asked as she sat back down.

“That...that was...what happened right?” Rainbow suggested, showing unnerve “I mean...he didn't...he couldn’t have...could he?”

“Let me ask you this” the time-travelling stallion said in a dismal tone “When you were after Nightmare Moon or Discord or Chrysalis or any other big-name baddie out to make a name for themselves, did they ever appear before you in all their glory and give you the whole ‘Your efforts are worthless, Equestria will be mine, your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elder-berries’ gig?”

“Oh yeah, quite a few. Not always but when they get the chance, it usually happens” Spike answered.

“It must be a trend of theirs” Rarity added “It got rather tedious after the first couple, I must confess”

“Right...well...imagine if they didn’t follow the trend, imagine if they didn’t want to waste time mocking you or taunting you or delaying you. What would have happened, hypothetically, if they just waited till you’d dropped your guard, reached out...and killed you?”

There was silence.

“Oh dear...” Fluttershy squeaked.

“But...it couldn’t have been that easy, could it?” Twilight exclaimed.

“Of course it wasn’t” He leaned forward “Cascadius lives by a very strict rule of war- Never underestimate your enemy. He knew the Bearers had banded together and brought down countless enemies of Equestria with their powers long before he showed up. So he made use of every advantage. When he wasn’t around me, he was navigating the cave system, familiarising himself with every entrance, exit, hole and tunnel. Whenever you face one of these major threats, you all make mistakes on your first try. That’s fine. That’s normal. But the thing about Cascadius is he doesn’t give you a second try. The two of us were there for several days before the Elements found me. He’d left the hearthstone with me and hidden in the caves. And when they arrived, they set about looking for me...and walked right into his trap”


The prisoner gave another drawn-out cry of pain as he tried, once again, to pull the nail from the manacle.

He was no stranger to pain but now, of all times.

All he wanted was to see Laurie again.

All he wanted was to save her.

And now this was how fate saw fit to reward him.

Just as well he’d never believed in fate.

History, on the other hoof, was another matter.

Who was Cascadius?

Why had he tried to kill the Princess?

Would any of these questions be answered at any point in his life, he wondered? Would he even like the answer?

All he knew was that the nail through his hoof bloody hurt!

If he could get it out somehow, he might be able to remove the chain.

What he’d do afterwards was up for question as Cascadius had broken his back-legs several days ago.

Right now though, his goal was simple.

Remove giant, horrible, rusty nail from hoof first, plan escape later.

He gave another scream as he, once more, tried to force the nail off his hoof.

“Doctor!”

It was a mare’s voice. Not Laurelore’s to be certain but a familiar voice nonetheless.

“Doctor, we’re coming! Hold on!”

The Doctor slumped back upon the walls of the cave and covered his face in his blood-soaked hooves.

The Elements had arrived.

...He was too late.


The Elements had split into groups of two as the cave had divided into several tunnels and passageways.

Iris and Nuzzle took the central path.

Aurora and Cornflower took the left.

And Adamanta and Zipadee the right.

Hidden in the darkness, Cascadius watched and waited.

On the left path, the Bearers of Magic and Honesty paused as they approached a light.

A figure, hidden by a beige and brown dappled cloak, was crouching over a fire.

Instinctively, the two mares threw themselves up against the walls of the tunnels, facing each other on either side as they checked round.

The figure hadn’t moved.

“Okay...” Cornflower whispered “On three...One...Two...Th-hurk!

The Bearer of Honesty was interrupted by a single-edged sword jutting out her throat from behind the cave wall.

“Three” a voice said behind her “And you’re out”

Cornflower!” Aurora screamed as the body of her friend slumped forward into her hooves, choking and gasping for air, clutching at her open throat, spluttering incomprehensible words as one hoof clutched at the Bearer of Magic’s shoulder.

“Aura...hurk...Augh...Ara...”

“Shh...It’s okay...It’s okay, Cornflower, I’m here” Tears streamed down Aurora’s face as she watched helplessly while her best friend died before her eyes. Cornflower’s quivering hoof slowly reached out to the tunnel end while her other hoof removed her friend’s forelegs from her, letting her fall flat upon the ground.

“Gl...g...Go...”

As her head lolled back, blood pouring out her neck and mouth, there came a rumbling from behind her.

Aurora’s ears piqued as she realised what Cornflower had meant.

The tunnel was caving in.

Cornflower hadn’t wanted to be carried. It stung Aurora to leave her, more than anything.

Throwing herself forward, she escaped the cave-in and landed before the fire.

Dust and gravel swept into the room in a great cloud, causing her to cough violently and shield her eyes.

The figure still hadn’t moved.

She tentatively reached out and pulled the cloak off.

To her dismay, it was simply a bunch of rocks and sacks piled on top of each other.

Cornflower was dead, buried under the rock, because of a dummy.

With a hiss that became an enraged howl, Aurora ripped the cloak to shreds with both her magic and her hooves, hot tears burning her cheeks, before turning with a demented expression toward the continuing tunnel, the signal from the hearthstone getting clearer.

That monster was going to die for this!


Iris and Nuzzle found the central tunnel getting darker and darker.

So much so that the two pegasi were forced to keep one fore-hoof upon the wall to make sure they kept in a straight line.

“Well...this isn’t creepy in the slightest” Iris muttered.

“This is a dark place in more ways than one” Nuzzle murmured solemnly “I sense nothing. Nothing lives here. Nothing has lived here for ages...at least, nothing good

“Well, hopefully, the Doctor will be living here” the Bearer of Loyalty said with determination “I mean, he’s kind of annoying with how full of himself he is but he did save Equestria and the Princess-”

She was cut off as her nose bumped against the wall of the cave.

Argh...darn it...Nuzzle, are you still here?”

“Course I am, Iris. Why?”

Iris pawed in front of her, finding nothing but solid rock.

“Shoot...this can’t be a dead end, there has to be a-”

Something clicked under her hoof.

The two mares froze as there came a gusty sound behind them.

“Hey...I see light!” Nuzzle said brightly, looking down the way they came. A moment later, her face fell as she weighed those words in her head.

The tunnel started to feel very hot.

“Oh no...oh no...” Iris’s normally steadfast temperament began crumbling as she frantically tried to find any means through the wall of stone around them before falling to her knees as she saw an almighty mass of flame racing toward them.

“Nuzzle...” she was starting to cry “I’m so sorry...”

Nuzzle said nothing. She simply knelt down beside her friend and held onto her, her hug always somehow making all things feel right with the world.

Returning the hug, Iris shut her eyes tight as the oncoming inferno closed in.


Zipadee took every step down the path slowly and carefully, aided by light from Adamanta’s horn. His instincts were never wrong. This passage was booby-trapped, likely in more places than one.

They’d need to go about this with expert precision.

“Can you see alright?” Adamanta asked.

“We’re okay so far” Zipadee answered “Watch that rock there...and big step here...you good?”

“I’m fine” the Bearer of Generosity followed the Bearer of Laughter’s every move “You’re incredible”

“It’s easy when you know how”

‘Well that’s hardly fair’ an unseen observer thought, drawing a knife ‘I put days into those traps...can’t let it go to waste’

There was a gust of wind from the side. Adamanta spun round, the light dissipating as she lost control.
In the middle of a careful step over a trip-wire, Zipadee just managed to get one fore-hoof out and hold the young unicorn by the shoulder.

There was light enough to make out her features but her head was bowed.

“Addie! Are you alright?”

“I...I can’t see...” Adamanta mumbled in the darkness.

“Light up your horn”

“I...I can’t focus...where are you?”

“I’m right here, silly”

“...closer...”

“Addie! I’m right in front of you!” Zipadee said, exasperation growing in his voice as Adamanta tried to light up her horn.

Her once-perfect face was marred by a horrific scar across both eyes.

Adamanta’s mouth quivered as she wondered why she couldn’t see her own light.

“I...I...I can’t see! I CAN’T SEE! I CAN’T SEE!

She flailed around, panicking, as both of them lost each other’s grip.

One of their hooves hit a rock.

It gave a click.

A moment later, the ceiling of the tunnel came down, burying the two under a torrent of stalactites.

Gasping for air as three heavy stone spikes through her chest pinned her to the ground, Adamanta’s hoof pawed across the floor, trying desperately to find Zipadee.

She found a hoof.

It had no pulse.

“Zip...” she whimpered, her breath wearing thin “I’m...sorry”


Aurora found him.

At last she found him.

The scruffy brown stallion was slumped against the cave wall, his body bruised and bloodied from countless wounds.

She took note of the chain and the means it was fastened.

Shaking her head at the cruelty, she checked his pulse.

He was barely conscious, struggling to move his head.

With great effort, the Doctor managed to open his mouth and speak.

“Run...” he mumbled “Run...away...”

“No, Doctor” Aurora said defiantly, taking hold of his shoulder “We’re gonna get you out of here. We’re gonna get you-ARGH!

She gave a scream as a tiny shard of crystal embedded itself in her back-leg. Jolting, she fell to her knees, trying desperately to remove the shard from her leg. Her horn began to dry up, blackening, and cracked down the middle.

“Ah...It works”

Depositing a blowpipe back inside his cloak, Cascadius emerged from the right tunnel as Aurora managed to pull the shard out of her leg. Shaking her head and gasping for air, she managed to regain her senses.

“S-s-stay back...and surrender!” she managed to yell “Or we’re gonna take you down!”

Cascadius paused and tilted his head sideways, his hoof reaching inside his cloak.

“There is no ‘we’

Five necklaces, each with a unique gem in the centre, clattered to the ground in front of them.

Aurora stared, wide-eyed, her mouth agape as she struggled to comprehend the realisation that her five best friends were dead by this stallion’s hoof.

“If it makes you feel any better...” he said flatly “...this was my plan. Not originally, of course, your Doctor put a stop to that...so I settled for the next best thing”

“You...” Aurora’s body shook as her breath came in out small gasps “You...You...YOU MONSTER!!!

As lost in rage as she was in despair, Aurora leapt forward.

Nonchalantly and with the grace of a cat, Cascadius sidestepped, drew a sword and brought in down upon Aurora’s outstretched neck.

The Doctor watched, helpless, as the Bearer of Magic’s head was severed from her shoulders, the two parts falling to the ground, unmoving.

Cascadius gave the sword a flick and sheathed it, giving the corpse of Aurora a small bow and turning to his prisoner.

“Did you see that?” he said it that horribly nonchalant tone “I hope so. They died because of you. And just think. I could have stopped at Laurelore. If everything had simply gone as planned...this wouldn’t have happened...I would’ve stopped”

“No...” the prisoner murmured, his face twisting into a scowl of disdain “You’ll...never...stop. Creatures like you...they never stop...”

Cascadius frowned and gave a sigh through his nostrils.

“Fine. It seems that, try as I might, I can’t get you to co-operate. You refuse to share your secrets with me...and I’ve no need for a bird that doesn’t sing”

He gave the chain a tug and, with little effort, pulled it loose from the rocks he’d fastened the ends to.

Dragging the limp body of the Doctor along the ground, deep into the caves.

He’d been staring, blurry-eyed, at the stone walls gliding past him for what felt like days when they finally stopped.

Cascadius had paused in front of an impasse. With the chain wrapped around one fore-hoof, he reached out with the other and found a semi-circular hole.

Waving the hoof slowly across it, there came the faint sound of harp-strings being plucked.

Then, with a rumble and a great sensation of a great chill and metallic stench, the Gates of Tartarus opened up.


Cascadius grabbed the Doctor by the shoulder and brought him to the edge, craning his neck down to see a staggering drop of countless miles straight down, the great abyss into the realm of unending torment.

“You see when they tell you there’s an entrance into Tartarus...they don’t say anything about an exit” he chuckled, turning the Doctor’s head to face him “Not even I know how deep that goes and I’m not sure you want to know. But you’re going down there. You have proven yourself a danger to my work and that is something I cannot allow to remain in this world. That’s the rule. Nopony stops me from doing my job. The thing is Tartarus is a school of hard knocks. The fall won’t kill you, however much it’ll try. Things don’t die in Tartarus. But if you’re already dead before you land, they won’t keep you. You saved the Princess of Equestria. That’ll get you sent straight to Paradise by my reckoning...Give the Elements my regards when you get there and tell them that their Princess will be joining them shortly” he gave him a smile “On the other hoof, if you’re alive when you take the plunge...that’s trespassing...an eternal sentence”

He gave the his prisoner another look at the drop before continuing.

“I can give you mercy if you give me knowledge...I’ll ask one more time then I’ll push you off the edge”

He leaned forward, his cold, pitiless eyes staring into that of the Doctor’s.

“What are you?”


The Doctor looked deep into those eyes of his.

He stared into the abyss...and the abyss stared back into him.

He knew nopony was safe while Cascadius lived.

Checking his chains one last time, he answered.

“I’m the Doctor...” he said, his voice suave and confident as it had long been in his adventures across space and time “I’m a Time Turner...I’m from the Planet Emelpi in the constellation of Zacherlasbros...I’m nine hundred and three years old...And I’m the pony who’s going to save the Princess’s life and all fifteen million ponies in the world outside”

Cascadius blinked, his expression one between the three circles of curiosity, scepticism and utter bewilderment.

“You got a problem with that?” The Doctor asked, content the chain would hold.

“Yes” Cascadius answered, matter-of-factly.

“In that case...” the Doctor gasped, his breath short, his teeth wavering, his two hearts beating frantically as he grabbed Cascadius’s shoulders.

The assassin’s expression stayed the same until the last instant where he promptly gave him a look that just screamed the words ‘Oh Buck!’

So very satisfying for the Doctor as he put all his weight into the side facing the edge, spouting out one last quote for the day.

“ALLONS-Y!”


Off the edge they went.

Their descent was sounded by a blood-curdling scream as Cascadius lost all composure and confidence, flailing and shrieking like a mad beast in the Doctor’s grip. He struck him, again and again and again, hard in the face, his hooves like iron hammers. His grip broken, the Doctor fell in limbo as Cascadius hammered him with fury and hatred beyond words.

The assassin’s face had changed entirely, twisted and contorted beyond measure, gripped in a mask of untainted rage and indignation.

The true face of Cascadius when pushed over the edge.

The mastermind was gone.

The monster was in charge now.

That’s what he was. That was all he could ever be rightfully called.

A monster.

That was the role he seemed determined to play.

So it seemed that the Doctor must play his.

The Stallion That Stops The Monsters.

The Doctor struck back just as Cascadius was bringing the knife out. It missed his face and embedded itself in his shoulder. With a cry, the time-traveller shoved the assassin back with his barely functional hind-legs and, without thinking, made a grab for the wall.

There was the sound of several cracks as his foreleg dislocated from the force, the hoof stuck in a fissure upon the rock.

How it hadn’t taken off half his chest, he’d never know but, seeing as how painful it was, the Doctor elected to scream.

And followed up by another scream as the chain on his other foreleg went taut, the nail through his hoof pulling the wound wide open as he hung in mid-air, both forelegs locked in agony between the weight of two worlds.

“HRRAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!”

The scream was not the Doctor’s. Glancing down, hoping he wouldn’t pass out from vertigo, he saw Cascadius hanging by the chain, still just as angry as he yelled out at the top of his voice to the stallion who had stopped him.

“THAT’S!!! CHEATING!!!”

The Doctor gasped for air between his reply.

“Oh...grow up...” He gave another tortured wail as Cascadius grabbed onto the chain with his other hoof, forcing himself upwards.

He was relentless, he could see that. Faced with a fate worse than death, Cascadius would try anything.

But faced with letting Equestria fall into the hooves of a monster, the Doctor would try much the same.

Craning his neck to the side as far as he could, ignoring the horrendous cramps and the pain between his forelegs, the Doctor untidily got his jaw around the knife in his shoulder and wrenched it out with a groan. With the remaining strength he could muster, he pulled his foreleg upwards and raised his hoof before his face.

Cascadius stared, perplexed as the Doctor glared at him furiously from above.

“I won’t let you hurt another living soul!” he growled between clenched teeth and pressed the knife into the fetlock.

“Doctor?” Cascadius’s face went from furious to confused and finally, to terror.

“DOCTOR! NO!!!”

There was fear in him.

Good.

He had earned that fear.

He deserved fear.

This was what he deserved.

Go to hell!” The Doctor screamed as he cut deep.

With a final tug, the hoof was wrenched off his foreleg, taking the nail, the manacle, the chain and the assassin down with it, screaming all the way into the abyss.

Within a matter of moments they had vanished from view.

Another matter of moments and the screaming subsided.

He’d done it.

He’d won.

He’d saved Equestria.


The Doctor hung there, every bone in both forelegs forcibly dislodged, bleeding copiously from his amputated hoof and his perforated shoulder, swaying like a broken doll on a string.

The pain was too much.

The loss was too much.

Aurora, Cornflower, Iris, Adamanta, Nuzzle, Zipadee, Bold, Jumbo Jet, Jaguar Jet, Farthingale...so many friends...

So many lives.

He cried. That was all he could now, separated from the world he’d only barely managed to save. Lost in pain and grief, he pressed his face against the walls and wept.

Then there was a light.

Warmth balanced with a cool breeze.

With near enough effort to leave him unconscious, the Doctor looked up.

Two alicorn fillies, one pearl-white, one navy-blue, were diving toward him, their faces fixed in determined expressions.

Spreading their wings, the two alicorns took hold of him and removed him from his prison in the rock, carrying his torpid form between them as they flew up back toward the cave entrance.

The Doctor could barely think, let alone acknowledge what was happening.

Was this Paradise?

Or another chance to run?

The fillies’ hooves found solid ground at last as they made their way out of the abyss and back into the cave.

Laurelore was waiting, her eyes red with tears as she enveloped the Doctor in bronze magic, staunching his bleeding and carefully mending and relocating his bones.

Guards around her solemnly covered six bodies in heavy grey blankets, marked by a symbol of the Elements.

The Doctor slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring into those of Laurelore.

“Laurie...” he murmured, breaking down at last as his frail body wracked with sobs “I...I’m so sorry”

“Doctor...” she murmured back as she held him close “Please...Take care of the girls”


There was another silence over Twilight Sparkle’s castle as the Bearers of the Elements tried their very hardest to hold back tears.

“Doctor...” Twilight gasped “It must have been...I mean how...I can’t believe...I’m so sorry”

“Don’t be” the solemn-faced time-turner said “Cascadius was my greatest failure...and now he’s back to remind me of that...He’ll take his war with me to the rest of Equestria...So you need to be ready”

“We’ll stop him, Doc, ya have our word” Applejack said stoically, putting her hat back on “We’ll bring him down and send him back where he belongs...and we’ll make sure he stays there”

“When do we set out?” Rainbow Dash asked, grinding her teeth “The sooner I can put all four hooves in his smug face, the better”

“The Princesses will be arriving shortly. They’ll give you the rest of the debriefing” He got to his hooves and nodded.

“I’d like to thank you for...giving me this opportunity to correct my mistakes...and thank you for wanting to protect me...and my family”

“Doctor”

Twilight Sparkle stopped him as he made for the door, staring at him with her violet eyes full of sympathy and understanding.

“We’ll look out for you, Doctor. We promise...That’s what we do”

Author's Note:

Well...this was quite a trial to write.
I mentioned I was about to make Cascadius sound ridiculously OP. :facehoof:
Please don't lose faith in me, this was mostly the result of too much Lucozade and few limits when it comes to writing about flashbacks. :scootangel:
But now you see how Cascadius became so loathed and feared by Equestria's protectors.
He's kind of a Reverse-Doctor in practice.
'One day he just fell into Equestria and did his damn hardest to bring down their world'
Although, those of you that hate the character (And rightly so) will probably find his literal downfall quite cathartic for now. :yay:
There's something very supervillainesque going on and the ones who have the sense to ask themselves 'Why Don't You Just Shoot Him' are the ones you need to watch out for.
If you think this is a bit much, let me know as I'm thinking I might come back to this if there's anything the fanbase finds particularly jarring. :duck::unsuresweetie::trixieshiftright:
There's a reference to Radagast from the Hobbit, see if you can find it.
Thanks for reading and please leave a comment. Your advice and approval is what keeps this fic going out of control. :pinkiecrazy::pinkiecrazy::pinkiecrazy: