Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn

Book One: Chapter Nine

Book One: Gremlins and Gumm-Gumms

Chapter Nine

"No No No!" The Doctor trotted back and forth shaking his head. "Do you understand that I'm telling you no?"

"Doctor-"

"I'm retired Gandalf! Retired! This is my last regeneration. I'm tired. I don't have any more adventures in me!"

They were in the Doctor's home,in a cozily furnished living room filled with overstuffed plush chairs and antique hardwood tables. Twilight and the others were watching, silently at the wizard's request, while he went back and forth with the Stallion most of those present had known as 'Time Turner' over his ability and willingness to help with Gandalf's plan to journey to Earth and Eqqus in search of Starswirl and Merlin.

"I'm not asking you to get directly involved old friend." Gandalf said. "I do understand. I'm just seeking a little hand, or is it hoof? With transportation."

"I'm sorry but that's out of the running too. After my last escape the old girls not got much more in her... You can't ask my humanoid counterpart?"

"If he were here I certainly would. But he's not. You are." Gandalf sighed. "Is there truly nothing you can do?"

The Doctor gave a sigh of his own. "Maybe... I need to speak with someone in Arcadia. There's no truly fixing things long term. But there might, -might, Gandalf- be a way to acquire some technology advanced enough to get a few more trips."

"That's all I'm asking. When will you know for sure?"

"Come around the day after tomorrow." The Doctor answered. "We'll have some tea and I'll let you know what I've learned."

Having remained silent throughout the exchange, Twilight could contain herself no longer. But before she could speak, Rainbow Dash beat her to it, pointing at the Doctor and exclaiming "Wait a minute! Let me get this straight... You're an alien!?"

"Time Stallion, in point of fact, not that such would mean anything to you."

"But where's your spaceship then?"

"'Spaceship.'" The Doctor snorted. "My dear a Tardis is as far beyond a spaceship as a pony is beyond an amoeba. Further, really."

"And you've been here all this time, and didn't help us out!?" Applejack asked.

"As I said, I'm retired. Though, for that, who says I haven't?"

"Well..."

Twilight looked out the window, and saw the sun getting low in the sky. "Oh! I've gotta go, it's getting close to sunset."

"Ahhh yes, phase two. I'll come along." Gandalf said. "Doctor, I'll see you in two days."

XXXXX

They arrived at the canal to find that everything else was ready. The salvaged Mortax heat rays were placed at the top of the canal's eastern wall, with a row of nearly a hundred unicorns filling the space between them. The sun had already lowered far enough for trolls to be safe as long as they were careful to remain in more shadowed places, so Blinky was present as well, speaking with Bert Gumbal and Midnight Steel. Twilight and Jim joined them.

"Ahh! Master Jim! Perfect timing!" The troll said. "If Usurna moves as soon as it's safe, we should see the attack force in another ten minutes."

"Twilight, I'm glad you're here." Midnight said. "We were discussing matters with Blinkous, and it sounds like even if phase two goes perfectly, there's still one more hurdle: Capturing Queen Usurna could be risky."

"Indeed." Blinky said. "She wears a collar of feathers. It is crafted in such a way that the individual feathers can be pulled free with a light tug. And each has the vane sharpened to a point and coated in Creeper's Sun, a magical poison that can turn any living thing it contacts to stone."

Twilight shuddered. "Been there, done that." She said. "And I've no desire to repeat the experience. Especially not without a cockatrice to undo it. Yes, we'll have to be very careful."

"Speaking of that," Bert asked, "From what you say, there Is a way to undo a stone spell and save the victim right?"

Twilight answered "It's... situational. In the case of a cockatrice, for example, well like I kind of alluded to it's possible for the cockatrice itself to undo the gaze with another look."

"-And there is a medicinal counter to Creeper's Sun, though many of the alchemical ingredients are hard to come by even on Earth." Blinky added.

"But there's no single cure-all to all types of stone curses." Twilight said, "And that said none of them will work unless the victim is still intact. Should someone who's been turned to stone also be... ...shattered..."

Bert actually shuddered a bit at the thought. "No coming back from that I gather. All the more reason for caution."

Midnight said "Tactically, when we go in, a small team composed of members who are agile and/or can magically shield themselves should go straight for Usurna's most likely location inside the heartstone while everyone else clears the rest of the cavern."

"Is there a place in Trollmarket to hold Usurna if she's captured?" Twilight asked Blinky.

"There is, though I don't expect it to be used." He answered. "In all probability, she will fight to the death, or use the Creepers Sun on herself rather than be taken alive. Though, given that this is Usurna, she will do so only if there is nowhere to run. She will place preserving herself first unless she has absolutely no other alternative."

Twilight shook her head. "No offense Blinky, but I really don't understand warrior culture mindsets like that."

"No offense taken my dear. I often wonder myself. So, we should quickly decide who will be on the 'point' team as it were." They put their heads together for discussion, but really there was little to decide on. The choice was made in mere moments.

Bert produced a megaphone from a satchel at his feet and began to address the rest of the gathered crowd. "Okay! Things should be starting at any time now. Remember, the unicorns will go first with the memory restoration spell. As soon as it's done, Blinkous and the other trolls will go in and get the freed trolls to safety. At the same time the heat ray crews will take aim at any Gumm-Gumm soldiers that are not affected by the spell. Aim only at the Gumm-Gumms. The rest of the team will handle any Gremlins with more traditional methods."

Twilight added "As soon as the battle here is over, Jim and I will be leading the way down into Trollmarket to capture Queen Usurna. We expect that to be very hazardous, so unless you are a part of the point team, stay back."

Five minutes later, the door to Trollmarket opened. Gumm-Gumms and gremlins poured out en-mass, roaring and shouting loudly as they headed directly for the eastern wall of the canal and the force waiting there for them. Unicorn horns began to glow as the spell was charged, but Twilight called out "Hold! Wait until they're all out, we don't wanna have to do this twice!" The army kept coming, the leading edge reaching the sloping concrete wall and trying to climb up but having a hard time of the steep angle at which it rose. Or at least the Gumm-Gumms were have a problem with it, the gremlins climbed with alacrity.

The Trollhunters, along with several other humans and earth ponies, stepped up, in between the unicorns, and started dealing with the gremlins as they reached to top of the wall. The creatures fell left and right but just kept coming. Twilight, closely watching the door, began to despair that they had underestimated the number of soldiers in Trollmarket. Then just as the first wave of Gumm-Gumms were drawing near the top of the canal wall, the flow of them out through the door stopped.

"Now!" Twilight exclaimed, and a hundred horns flashed brighter as they cast the spell together, Twilight noting in passing that there seemed to be a boost in power coming from Gandalf who was standing atop a nearby rock with his staff held high. The spell surged outward, across and down into the canal.

The effect was immediate. Of the nearly two hundred armed Gumm-Gumm soldiers that had poured out into the canal, over a hundred and eighty had the enchanted armor they wore vanish as their minds returned and they looked about in confusion, remembering nothing since the moment before Gunmar took control of them. They were disoriented, confused, and vulnerable as the remaining troops and even gremlins realized what must have happened and turned on them.

There was panic, and a troll named Grendak had to run for his life with gremlins clinging to his back and a Gumm-Gumm coming right for him, sword held high. The troll made his peace, then jumped when a blazing light slammed into the approaching soldier and vaporized it before his very eyes. Then the Trollhunter and some kind of horse were there, cutting the gremlins off his back and a fellow troll beckoning him to safety.

"Go!" Macintosh shouted to the confused troll, who finally turned and ran.

The heat rays blasted again and again, scoring some hits though the troll soldiers were remarkably fast for their size and weight. Though initially much larger in number, the gremlins were falling fast, and soon abandoned the battle, running for their lives down the canal and out of sight. By the time they had fled, just twelve of the Gumm-Gumms remained.

Twilight found herself facing off against one of them. It was fast, hefting it's massive blade high and swinging in wide arcs and bringing the weapon crushing down hard onto the concrete floor of the canal. It was fast, but teleporting made Twilight faster, and the troll roared in anger and frustration as she practically danced around it, firing off largely ineffective magic blasts as she did so.

"Think Twilight!" The mare thought to herself, "Yes it's big, but it has to have a weakness!" She examined her opponent's armor as closely as she could in the few seconds she had between each teleport, seeking any kind of flaw no matter how minor. But there were none to be found: Say what you might about Gunmar, the troll dictator clearly bought quality gear for his soldiers. And even as that thought crossed Twilight's mind, she considered it from another angle... Bought it where? He'd been trapped in an extradimensional prison for centuries. Could that mean...

The distraction of thinking the issue through was nearly Twilight's undoing. She delayed a half second too long, and the flat of the troll's sword sent her flying half way across the canal. She was lucky, really, that it hadn't realized she was distracted, and had been making only a half-hearted swing it fully expected her to teleport away from.Twilight landed roughly, bounced twice, and rose shakily to her hooves as the Gumm-Gumm approached.

Even as the unicorn got back up, Applejack and Macintosh were at her side. "Twi! Ya alright!?"

"Let's get you outta here Miss Twilight."

"No." Twilight answered, "Let's see if I'm right..." Charging power in her horn, she fired a spell at the evil troll that was bearing down on them. Not another attempt at the memory spell. Not another attack spell. But a simple dispel. The result was instantaneous. From one step to another, the troll's armor and weapon vanished, evaporating away as if they never existed. The creature stumbled in surprise, and got a buck in the head from Mac when it fell.

"Twilight! What did you do!?" Midnight Steel called out from across the canal.

"The armor isn't just enchanted!" Twilight shouted back, "It's entirely made of magic! Put enough power into a dispel and it'll disappear!"

Of course, Twilight herself was far stronger than any of the other unicorns present. The other had to work together in groups of three or more to get the same results. But between heat ray blasts, Jim's sword, and unicorn dispels the remaining Gumm-Gumms fell quickly, save for one that broke and ran back into the tunnel, closing the magic door behind itself as it went. The final tally included five of Gunmar's true, loyal soldiers captured and the rest destroyed.

XXXXX

Queen Usurna couldn't believe her ears. "Tell me again. What. Happened?"

The Gumm-Gumm who had fled knelt at her feet. "The fleshbags were ready for us. Laying in wait. They used magic, of a kind we've never seen, to restore those Lord Gunmar controlled, and killed the rest. Only I have escaped. And now O Queen, tell me what I must do."

Usurna roared and tore a feather from her collar, stabbing the Gumm-Gumm who turned to stone from the poison. "You must die." She sneered, and then smashed the stone to pieces. Taking a moment to regain her composure, she stepped out the door and motioned for her bodyguards, a pair of trolls of her own tribe, who Gunmar had not taken control of, to follow her. She swiftly crossed Trollmarket, and made her way to the entrance to the chamber within the heartstone.

"Wait here." Usurna said to her guards. "Do not let anyone, or anything, pass. Even at the cost of your own lives."

Once out of the guard's view, the Queen began to pace. How had it gone so badly? These were fleshbags, Gumm-Gumms should have been invincible to them. And now they would be coming. Coming in after her. And waiting for Gunmar was no longer an option, he would rip her limb from limb for loosing his army... "I have to find a way out." She whispered. "I have to run."

A sound of laughter, like tinkling bells, echoed through the air, and a feminine voice whispered "You will not run."

"Who...?" Usurna looked about frantically. "...Pale Lady?"

"No... I am not Morgana..." The voice echoed again. "You will not flee..."

"I have to!" Usurna exclaimed. She turned to run, but found herself unable to do move. "W... What? What have you done to me!?"

"I have merely taken what is mine... You have chosen darkness... So darkness will rule you... You will not flee... Stand Usurna, stand, and fight when they come... Fight to your death... For The Quiet Darkness..." And the voice laughed again as Usurna screamed in terror...

Comments

[Herald of Opera]

I have several questions about those last couple of lines, but the feeling that they'd be answered by knowing more about the other parts of the crossover, including the one potentially introduced by the speaker. No such avenue exists for explaining how the Doctor could ever run out of adventures in him. I previously said that only he could ever retire to Ponyville because even in canon it's got enough excitement to keep him rooted there indefinitely. I get it now. You weren't afraid of simply using the character. You were afraid of mishandling him. I hope you remember Rule One: the Doctor lies.

[Kieva Lynn]

9708663
Yeah it's pretty much as you say. I like the Doctor, but I've never had a chance to see all that much of the show and didn't want to risk something too wrong. That's why I put in the reference to his 'humanoid counterpart' (This isn't the Doctor from the show regenerated as a pony, but an alternate universe counterpart.) It's also why I went with him being retired, since it worked in another Pony crossover story (The Elements of Harmony and the Savior of Worlds.) I seriously considered leaving the Doctor out and trying to find a different alternative for the help they need from him. In the end, everything I could think of was even more contrived than this. I'm glad it worked out that way, though, because he does get a couple of fun scenes in later chapters.

[Venerable Ro]

Oh look, more agents in this already crowded theatre.

[badninja]

Great just great. Now we have a Gandalf who just crossed the dementional barriers looking for two of his companions and hopefully we can find out why they went missing and just what they both where sent to do. I get a very bad feeling that nobody is going to like the answer.