Adventures in the TARDIS

by Scroll

Epilogue WHO ARE YOU!!!

The ape-like purple creature with a white belly, very elongated face and hands on the end of his arm and tail lifted up a glowing opal jewel dramatically above his head which is glowing white but has lots of cracks in it. This seems like a design flaw in the jewel, but it is not. This temple head guard, Ahuizotl, is the leader of this ceremony which is meant to further empower the jewel he has between his hands. He stands on a dais which is in front of a short pyramid which is composed of various steps. Ahead of him is row after row of ponies wearing tribal paint. They are chanting, “Ho, ho, ho-ho-ho” over and over again while pounding the spears they are holding on the ground each time they say the word “ho” and they do it simultaneously.

“Behold, my loyal minions, The Chrono Trigger, otherwise known as The Jewel of Fractured Time!” Ahuizotl announces with dramatic tempo. “With it, we are on the precipice of a brand new era! Armed with this Jewel, not only can it be used as a new gatekey for our Stargate, but it will also allow us to use it to travel through TIME!” he announces with dramatic flair.

The temple guards raise and shake their spears as they cheer.

“With this Jewel in our hands . . . absolutely nothing can stop us! We can travel into the past of Tenochtitlan Valley and erase any of our would-be enemies from existence! Just imagine, with the ability to re-write history, we can reforge ourselves into the greatest empire this world has ever seen!”

Ahuizotl raises the The Chrono Trigger higher proudly. “THE KEY TO UNLOCK THE FACE OF DESTINY IS NOW IN OUR HANDS! ALL WE NEED TO DO IS FURTHER CHARGE IT AND . . .”

Ahuizotl grows annoyed when one of his loyal pony minions tugs at his tail. For this interruption, Ahuizotl roars “WHAT?!” to that minion. The face of that minion flushes in embarrassment but he also holds resolute. With a hoof, he gestures for his master to bend down so the pony can whisper a secret. Still feeling annoyed but now also curious, Ahuizotl bends down to and lifts an ear above and to the side of his head to give this pony closer attention. The minion whispers something into the temple leader's ear. Ahuizotl ends up nodding several times before wincing then turning his very forward elongated face at his minion and says in disgust, “What? That's all you wanted to tell me? You interrupted our sacred ceremony to further empower The Chrono Trigger just to tell me that?”

Ahuizotl stands up straight again and gives his loyal minion a dismissive wave while also saying, “Whoever this intruder is, I'm sure our many temple traps will deal with this pony in short order. I'm sure we have nothing to worry about.”

In response, the minion that tipped off his master about the new intruder simply shrugs.

“Now go away!” Ahuizotl bids as he gives a dismissive gesture with the hand on the end of his tail since it is not currently holding the Jewel. “We need to proceed with the ceremony. It cannot be paused and bothered with trifle matters. Once we finish, the fates of Time itself will be at our command. Until then, however, interruptions and pauses in time is a nuisance.”

As bidden, the temple guard that informed his master of the new threat leaves.

Ahuizotl scoffs one more time as he shakes his long head. “Intruder. Ha! I'm sure that's the last we'll ever hear of that little pony!”

---

Amazingly and annoyingly, the great temple master Ahuizotl ends up getting interrupted by the same loyal minion several minutes later. It turns out it is for a very similar reason as well. The only difference is adding the report that this new intruder managed to get through the temple traps at the lower floors of this temple.

Still, Ahuizotl shrugs carelessly as he says, “So what? This pony obviously got just a little lucky is all. That hardly matters. Once the intruder meets up with our enchanted stone gargoyles, this will be the last we'll ever hear of the intruder.” Ahuizotl chuckles darkly before he adds, “Whether it is skill or sheer dumb luck that got this pony through the lower floors of our traps, it doesn't matter. Our gargoyles are a little more sentient. If our intruder lacks the correct keystone or passwords to safely bypass our little guardians, they'll lock onto our intruder and never give up until this little pony is dead. We have nothing to worry about.”

The temple guard that updated his master about the threat does not seem as confident. He passes his master a facial expression that remains concerned.

“Now go away!” Ahuizotl bids his minion again. “This is the last time I want to hear of this matter. It shall be cleaned up in short order.”

Reluctantly, the temple guard bows his head and trots off backwards away from his master.

Watching the guard go, a tiny flare of concern ignites in Ahuizotl's eyes. This causes the master to lift a finger with his tail as he bids, “Wait.”

The guard pauses.

The same finger that lifted now points at the guard and says, “Just in case, keep an eye on this intruder. If, and only if this intruder manages to bypass our stone guardians somehow, come back and give me another report even if the ceremony isn't finished yet.”

Feeling more satisfied with the revised order, the temple guard backs off in greater confidence.

“Huh.” Ahuizotl rubs the end of his very elongated face with a finger at the end of his tail. “Who is this intruder, I wonder? Not just any pony can bypass our temple traps that easily. Was this pony tipped off somehow?”

Ahuizotl contemplates this for a moment. It is a disturbing prospect to consider that this intruder has information from a traitor among him. Someone who told this intruder how to bypass the traps on the lower floors. If it turns out that this intruder does indeed have a keystone or knows the password to safely pass his stone gargoyles then he's going to need to question the loyalty of his minions a lot more carefully.

For now Ahuizotl can afford to be patient and he has an important ceremony to resume besides. The fate of the whole world will soon be in his hands. One little thorn in his side can wait just a little longer.

---

“NOW WHAT?!” Ahuizotl cries in outrage when a blaring bell sound issues throughout the temple. Notably it is a warning system put in place that signals an emergency of some form is currently happening.

The Temple Master notes how his minions in the rows ahead of him have paused their chanting and are looking about in confusion and concern. In the meantime the ceremony has been interrupted yet again! What's even worse than that is it got interrupted during a critical juncture. They have actually lost some progress because of that. A great deal of energy was being channeled into the Jewel but it wasn't sealed yet. If, at any point during that critical moment the flow of energy gets interrupted, then all the energy they invested these past several minutes gets leaked back out. Worse, they have to actually wait for that new energy to fully drain before they can even attempt to refill the Jewel again.

Still holding the Jewel with one hand aloft, Ahuizotl now uses the other to clench into a fist and shake it.

“CURSES!” the Temple Leader cries out. “WHO DARES TO INTERRUPT OUR CEREMONY DURING THIS CRITICAL MOMENT? I'LL BURN AND CRUSH THE ENTRAILS OF WHOMEVER DARED TO DO THIS!!!”

The same temple guard that initially warned his master of the intruder the first few times reluctantly approaches his master.

Ahuizotl's shoulders sags as he exasperates, “Oh, don't tell me!”

The temple guard only answers with a sad nod.

Ahuizotl growls then shouts, “Oh THAT DOES IT! Our progress with this Jewel is interrupted anyway and we need 'time', ironically enough, for it to reset. In the mean'time', I want this intruder DESTROYED once and for all!” Ahuizotl waves outwardly dramatically. “Scatter and find this intruder. I order you to capture and/or kill this intruder for good! This is the absolute last time I will tolerate an interruption from this intruder again.”

As he bade, the remaining amount of his temple guards lift their spears, give a battle cry, then boldly charge out of the room.

Which leaves the Temple Leader mostly alone for the first time in awhile.

“Curses!” he repeats under his breath. “Who is this pony and how is this intruder managing to bypass all of my traps and obstacles? Curses! Have I underestimated this intruder too much? Hmm.” He rubs his chin then narrows his eyes. “Well . . . no more of that. I'll need to prepare some contingencies just in case this intruder gets this far.” He looks at the Jewel in his hands. “Above all, I cannot allow this intruder to steal The Chrono Trigger. I've come too far and come too close to my victory. Soon the world shall be mine for the taking and I shall not let anything stop me.”

Now feeling cautious but also determined, Ahuizotl retreats to the back of this room. He grasps a lever and pulls it down. As a result, a hidden compartment built into the wall slides up. At the same time, a chest on a moving platform slides forward. He hovers a hand over the chest as he wiggles each of his fingers excitedly as if he can't wait to touch the treasure inside this chest. Waiting no further, he touches the jeweled scarab that has its pincers through a loop in the chest. As long as that scarab is in the way, the chest cannot be opened. He pats the wings of the jeweled scarab. In response, it spreads its wings. Ahuizotl presses a finger on its exposed back and whirls it in a circle three times. In response, the wings of the scarab flutters then it opens its pincer and thus falls off the chest. Ahuizotl proceeds to catch the magical lock with one hand then opens the chest. Inside he beholds the chest full of various weapons he can throw. A few of them are even enchanted.

But there is one more item here that catches his eye. He picks up a whistle that is in the shape of a cat. When he blows on it, several more of his loyal minions get summoned but, unlike the rest of his temple guards, these ones are considerably more feline. In total what he summons is a tiger, a cheetah, a lynx, a panther, and a fussy white kitten, the latter of which he scratches under the chin. This causes the kitten to close its eyes, lean into his hand, and purr in pleasure.

Feeling a bit more prepared, Ahuizotl turns back to the main chamber of this room and waits.

---

A few minutes later, Ahuizotl gets shocked and horrified when only a small handful of his minions make their way back into this chamber then collapse in exhaustion.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” Ahuizotl cries in outrage.

“The intruder managed to rig one of our traps against us!” one of his guards informs his master in horror. “We were chasing this pegasus mare across one of our hallways. Then, all of a sudden, she started flying up off the floor just a bit. We didn't know why until we caught up to a certain point and the floor suddenly gave out. The good news is the spike trap at the base of the pit didn't activate for some reason. Maybe the intruder rigged it so that it wouldn't come out for some reason? But the bad news is the majority of your guards got trapped in that pit. We ran back here to inform you and guard this central chamber.”

“IDIOTS! ALL OF YOU! YOU CAN'T EVEN CAPTURE ONE LITTLE PEGASUS MARE? THIS IS PATHETIC!” Ahuizotl roars with limbs shaking in anger.

“We're sorry, Master,” the same pony apologizes. “We did our best and at least some of us came back to warn you.”

Ahuizotl growls in frustration before asking, “How long do you think it will take before this mare reaches our center chamber?”

The guard shakes his head and says, “Honestly, Master, I wouldn't put anything past this mare anymore. Any report I give you might be out of date by the time I finish it.”

As if to agree with that last point, another guard points up with a spear while still lying on the ground and warns loudly, “SHE'S HERE!”

In surprise, Ahuizotl looks up and notices a ledge near the roof of this chamber. There stands a beige colored pegasus mare wearing a double breast pocket green button up shirt. She also has saddlebags off to her side and wears a egg-white pith hat which is currently tilted down enough to conceal her face.

At this moment she is currently standing on an area not normally accessible to anyone but, since she can fly, this isn't a problem for her. Seeing this flaw causes Ahuizotl to reconsider the design of his temple.

Ahuizotl stabs an extremely straight and dramatic, accusing point up at the pegasus mare as he cries out “ YOUUUUUUUUU! WHOOOOOOOO AREEEEEEEEEE YOUUUUUUUUU!?”

The only response the Temple Leader gets is the pegasus mare lifting up the edge of her hat just enough to reveal her daring grin.

Author's Note:

In the show canon alone, it's been heavily implied that there are other villains in Daring's adventures, but only two ever got any real focus: Doctor Caballeron and Ahuizotl. This chapter finally gives some focus on the other half of Daring's antagonists, and this one presenting it as their first meeting. This is also the only chapter not in Daring's perspective obviously, but her character arc was concluded in the last chapter. This one simply hammers in her progress one more time while also shifting perspectives enough to show what it is like to be on the receiving end against a seemingly unstoppable force. In the process, had to youthen his fussy "house cat" to "kitten" because these are earlier years.

This story will now go on a hiatus till I complete the next arc. Since 4/2/2024 I am up to 7 chapters in the next arc. Not sure how many will be typed by the time I am done, but I'd like to finish it and edit it a few times before resuming to post it to this story.

Well, I hope you all gained something special from this journey and look forward to hearing from you. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Walrusesarecute]

11869703
Cool, might start reading a bunch of your other stories now

[Scroll]

11872549
(Grateful smile) It is only a suggestion, and up to you, but if you're fond of my work, maybe give me a follow if you hadn't already. I used to think that gives you a notification of new stories and chapters, but apparently it only sends notification about blog posts. Maybe other things too? But it also serves as a link to my stories.

If you're interested more in my Cozy Glow stories, there is a few more in there that gives her a better ending than "Here I Am". One of them is unfinished though and I have another offline that I didn't post because it didn't finish. The story that focuses on the human version of Cozy called "The Shadow Queen" is complete and may be worth your time. That's got some umph to it too. The only word of warning I'll give on that story is it does have some foul language and one of the chapters is sexual. Indeed, it's the only one like it that I posted. But the story does give plenty of warning.

Another heads up is some of my stories are hidden behind maturity filter. You won't see them on the list unless you enable ability to see that. Very often, though, they are mature because of one specific chapter. It otherwise would have been T rated.