Perhaps Death

by WritingSpirit

The Maretryoshka Missile Conspiracy: Finale - A Solemn Blessing

2092 AC, Second Fall, 17, 13:12:43

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Today was the day Camomile died.
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Today was the day Solomon feared to reminisce.
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Now... he was here to relive it once more.
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There was only one question that summed it all up.

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"Why?"

The TARDIS came to a halt, our grips loosened from the banisters, yet our gaze was still firmly stuck to the dates. We could hear it all happening outside those two blue doors: the screaming, the cries, the loud, earth-shaking booms... it was a nightmare outside. I broke my gaze and turned back at the doll, which still smiled that smile. All this time, it knew. It waited for us to take it so it will bring us back here... but for what reason?

"What now, Doctor?" Twilight asked.

"We know what's happening outside at this very moment," I began. "What we don't know is how this doll might fit into all of this."

"But it brought us back here after the war started... it wouldn't have been part of the war."

"It wouldn't... unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Remember, the doll possesses an immense amount of energy," I said, thinking. "There's a chance that we might not be the only ones who knew of this doll. Did I mention that inside was a fixed point of Watersaddlle Gorge, and that the actual gorge was destroyed? It wouldn't be possible still for pony technology to be able to capture a figment of time itself and embed it into a form of space, meaning the doll. The only reason that a sentient being would store it could use it for some battery or generator of sorts, aside from a bomb, of course."

"So?"

"So whoever, or whatever, that placed it into the doll must've wanted it back..."

Pretty terrifying thought to behold. Twilight just silently stared at me, blinking a few times, no doubt thinking of something to say, but all I could hear from her was a small, rumbling gulp. Once again, I glanced at the doll, plucking it free from the wires and picking it up in my hooves, tossing it about. Funny how it seems so light when it has an actual world right inside.

"I'm assuming they traced the doll from whatever mothership they're in. What device that wouldn't detect something that gives off this amount of energy would not exist."

"But why get it here?" Twilight asked. Excellent question, indeed. "Why didn't they get it back from the laboratory?"

"Not every alien time travels," I answered. "Only a few species in the known universe have the ability, and among them are Time Lords such as myself. These aliens probably didn't have the technology to travel, but they must have had the technology to detect the doll at its coordinates in the space-time continuum, so if they were tracing the doll, they would've found it at around their own timeline and in order to do that, they needed it to go back to their time stream, which in this case I believe it had been our job..."

"Does that mean..."

"We're gonna have something bigger to worry about than ponies at war."

"Celestia..." Twilight muttered, dumbstruck. "But... but if the aliens were the ones that made us come back here..."

"It's a trap."

Everything that we've discovered clicked into place. I have to hand it to them, these fellows are pretty much on the bright side. They knew we would trace the doll. They knew we would come back here and bring it closer to them. All they needed is a small squad to retrieve it, most probably murdering any potential witnesses and their mission would be complete. Then again, I believe they didn't account for my involvement, as usual.

"Alright, Twilight, here's the plan," I began. "First, we have to know what species we are dealing with here, just to see if they were a threat, which means we would have to lure them here ourselves. If, by any chance, they're not a threat, then we could just give the doll and everyone would go home happy."

"A-And if they are?"

"I'll improvise."

"Okay. Great! Improvise!" Twilight chuckled nervously. "That's certainly going to work..."

"It will," I said with a wink. "You know me long enough to know that it works. Now, as for you, Solom--"
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Do you ever have one of those moments where you suddenly realize something?
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What do you call it... an epiphany? Yes, that.
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Well, let's just say I had one of those moments where I realized something.
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Solomon would never, ever, be that quiet in his entire life.

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"Solomon!!"

The doors were already wide open when we galloped out from the safe chambers of the TARDIS and into the depths of war. We were generally in the same spot yet from a different time; instead of the peace it had in the future, there was only an uproar of screams and shouts, shell after shell bursting from the gray, smoky skies and crashing with a boom into anything it lands on. Every stallion and mare we saw were scrambling for safety, with what seemed to be two different armies advancing from both ends of the road. On top of all that chaos, Solomon was nowhere to be seen.

"Think, think, THINK!!" I yelled to myself, smacking my bloody brain silly.

"Where would he go?!"

"Come on, come on... war, kingdom... uh..." Then it clicked into my head, my face lighting up as I turned to Twilight and said:
"Solomon's looking for Camomile!"

"What?!"

"No, no, NO!! I should've seen this coming!!"

I paced around frantically a few times, before glancing at the palace. "He's using his chance to rescue Camomile before it's too late. Imagine, the Solomon that had lost his wife for so long coming back to rewrite history... time will collapse. If he ever rescues Camomile, the universe will implode in itself and everything we see now would be destroyed."

"Well, I'm not just going to stand here and watch it happen."

Twilight was always right. After getting the doll from the TARDIS, the both of us were galloping into the palace in a flash, rushing down the royal hallways without a second to lose. With our athletic training in all our travels, it wasn't long when we finally reached our destination: the last place that Camomile went before she perished, which was the west wing of the palace.

As expected, we were not alone.

"Solomon," I called out to my friend, standing there in the center of the room with his flintlock raised warily. "Come with us. There are bigger problems to worry about now."

"Shh!"

"I'm serious. We have to go now."

"For the bloody love of..." he cursed rather loudly. "Doctor, I would appreciate if you'd shut your mouth."

"Oh! Okay! Me shutting my mouth?!" I retorted rather loudly as well. "If you haven't realized yet, I'm trying to save you here, you damn moron! The moment you save your wife is the moment that would spell the end of Equestria as you know it!"

"Camomile is the least of my worries now, you half-witted pig!!"

The least? Did he say...? No, he couldn't have, he couldn't have! His wife was the only reason Solomon's not skulking about on his throne and lamenting over his ill-fated woes. To save her would mean the world to him, even if it also means destroying the world he's living on.

"There's something in this room," he explained. "Something aside from us."

I tensed up when he said that; I should've shut my mouth earlier.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but it conjured some sort of magic in this room. It disappeared before I could get a clear shot."

"Well, we've fallen right into their trap then," I muttered. "Twilight, is it possible for your magic doohickey to break their spell?"

"I d-don't think it's magic," she answered reluctantly. "I could feel it though... it's creating some sort of illusion. For some reason, it seems to be... streaming through our blood as well. I... I think whatever they're using, it's in the air."

"A weaponized, gaseous form of tenocyclidine," I answered. Typical, really; these foreigners have resorted to chemical warfare in acknowledge to my presence, it seems. "What we're breathing now is a form of disassociative drug, which distorts our perception of sight and sound, meaning that they managed to control what we see and what we hear through the air. The fact that it had been weaponized made it ten times more potent and effectively quick, which explains why you could only see them for a split second, Solomon."

"But is it lethal?"

"Fortunately, no. It just serves to disorientate us and made them... invisible, so to speak. Then again, our 'friends' might be carrying weapons of some sort, so in a way, it is lethal."

Jaw clenched, I stepped forward with my sonic raised, gazing around the empty room.

"Alright now, fellows. You caught us already. Enough with the mind games."

Silence.

"Why aren't they doing anything?"

"Because they think they're having the upper hoof," I answered Twilight. "They want us to give the doll without question. We give it, they take it and probably kill us, then leave with the doll in mind and use it for whatever purpose it may serve to them."

"O-Okay..." she stammered at my blunt answer. "So how can we, you know, not get killed?"

"Simple. We improvise."

With a grin, I raised my sonic in the air, my hoof tweaking with its settings before flicking it. Immediately, a loud, high-pitched screech resonated throughout the room that made Twilight and Solomon clasped their ears shut with their hooves, ducking down from the noise visibly rippling through the air. Really, I mean you could see these... these giant tidal waves but they're made out of air, you know what I mean? Sure, it might be deafeningly loud, but it was a tad beautiful to see.

The room suddenly fizzed like a broken television; the machine expelling all these chemicals had no doubt been destroyed by the screeching frequency I sent out. All three of our heads ached and swirled around like a drunk's in a stag party, our vision fluctuating for a minute until we could make out fuzzy, distinct shapes hanging from the ceiling. Have you lot ever been to stag parties? They certainly have some partying tricks up their hooves, those stags! Anyway, I was the first to stumble out of my hazy stupor, eyes lighting up at our captors right over our heads.

"Well, hello there."

Crawling above us with their flexible, needle-like legs are these creatures with the abdomen of a dark blue spider and the head of some pony cyborg, its largest eye being a scope of some sorts. Their mouths seem to be covered by some sort of vent, hinting the fact that they can't breath Equestria's air. Their foreheads are elongated and patterned with yellow spots, distinguishing each one from the others and holding in their hands, which seem to have sprouted from their shoulder blades, are a few Pyron shooters, which are these little black guns with red ridges around the barrel. One of them hissed at us, its blue, luminous saliva dripping onto the floor.

"Amazing..." I muttered in awe, gazing at the five of these creatures surrounding us. "Simply amazing!"

"W-What are these... these--?"

"Xaltharans, from the planet of Xalthar-Kaaran at the Pellanore Belt," was the answer to Solomon's question. "Humid place to be in until its sun burned itself out around two thousand years ago. Been looking for a way to bring their sun back to life ever since. If I'm correct, which I most probably am, they need the doll to use it as a power source."

"You mean... like turning it into their sun?"

I'd give Twilight a star for her imagination, yet however amazing it may be or however harmless it seems, the truth is actually ever the more harsher than one can possibly think. Technically, it was impossible even for a doll of that much energy to produce a sun; even if it did, it would only last around six minutes. That theory alone was enough for me to clutch the doll tighter in my hooves, my screwdriver at the ready once again for action.

"They're using it to power a device," I stopped to gulp. "To steal Equestria's sun."

Twilight and Solomon just gasped, the latter cocking his flintlock. Almost as if it understood us, one of the creatures let out a hiss, their legs cracking as they precariously crawled closer towards us, eyeing us with this malicious glint in their pupils. We had spent five seconds thinking of what to do, for anything brash could set off the wild goose chase around the palace at the moment, even if there was a war brewing outside, however big or small. Anything.

Five seconds later, Solomon fired his gun.

One loud bang and a dead Xaltharan later, we were soon running down the hallways, glancing back occasionally to see the remaining four creatures in pursuit, snarling and growling with the screeching hisses of a spider. Believe me when I say I really wanted to give my old friend a lecture he would never forget. I mean, come on! We could have been going through negotiations back then and no one would be hurt!

"This way!" I yelled, running into the next open door I could find. slamming it shut behind me and locking it when all three of us narrowly dived in. Our pursuers slammed against the simple barricade, which rattled violently in protest to the constant assaults it was forced to face. It was only when it stopped that we could finally catch our breaths.

"What do you mean steal our sun?" Solomon questioned, pacing about the room.

"Fight for survival, of course. Your sun burns out, the first thing you'd probably think of is getting a new one. If you're not capable of producing it, then why not just take one?"

"That simple?"

"Xaltharans are known to be simple," I answered heftily, glancing around for anything of use. "They're mostly a feral civilization, even with all their technology. Fighting is the one thing they're best at, which gives them the upper hoof on that part. On the contrary, their obsession with fighting is also the one thing that sets them back..."

"Doctor," Twilight called me with a smirk. "You're wearing that smile again."

I blinked for a second; I didn't even know I was smiling.

"What smile?"

"You know! The one you always make when you have a brilliant idea?"

"Ah... yes, that smile!"

I clapped my hooves together, strutting towards the window. It was a blazing battlefield outside, with smoke coming from all different districts of the war-torn city, but that's not our problem now; if the aliens stay here any longer, there won't be even a ruin to look at in the future.

"So the Xaltharans want the doll, right?"

"We know that already," Solomon answered hastily with a grunt. "What's that brilliant idea of yours that she spoke of?"

"Why not we give the doll to them?"

"But wouldn't that just help them steal our sun?"

"Ah, but you see, I have a sonic!" Putting the doll onto a table, I whizzed out my sonic and aimed it right at the doll, flicking the switch and hearing that lovely whir it makes. Twilight and Solomon just looked on, dumbfounded by what I just did, which they would soon find out when I explained it to them. "I've set the sonic screwdriver's frequency so that it could, in a way, charge the energy particles inside. That way, after a certain period of time, the doll would let out a huge discharge of energy that would eventually cause a massive sonar explosion."

"So we just give them an active bomb?"

I nodded.

"It will be a risk we're taking, but if it works..."

"I think it's worth a shot," Solomon muttered. "If it can get their blasted asses off our planet, then why the heck not?"

Twilight was not too sure on that. I could see it already, that urge of speaking out against us. Still, she held her stance, instead nodding reluctantly with all her plausible arguments withheld. She was never fond of violence, that I can tell; I still remembered her first meeting with a dangerous creature, having tried in vain to resort to peace even when the alien was trying to kill her. It wasn't a surprise that she'd still prefer negotiating when dealing with the wild and stubborn Xaltharans. Really, all those blue arachnids do are hiss and growl at you, before tearing you apart, of course.

"Alright then!" I said aloud, heading towards the door with my hoof on the knob. "Both of you stay here. If everything goes wrong, jump out the window."

"What?"

"Fine, don't jump out the window," I groaned. "Just... improvise."

Stepping outside, I was soon staring into the looming face of one of the Xaltharans, its comrades at the ready to fire just in case I try anything ridiculous. The Xaltharan before me gave me its insolent hiss, its spiny legs catching up with its thorax as it bears its fangs, a bluish venom dripping from the tips.

"Well, I say we're off to a pretty good start," I joked just to lighten up the mood. "Let's see... the doll, right?"

"Doctorrrrrrrr..." it creaked, which made me cringe a little. "We have been looking for you..."

"Wait, what?"

"The question still remains."

I frowned at that. They were not only here for the doll; no, they were also here for me. What baffled me was how a species that only knew violence and war as an answer would come and talk to me, of all ponies. Sure, I might be the Doctor, but I'm no intergalactic celebrity of sorts! It bothers me, how they would divert from their plan of stealing our sun just to strike up a question to me, which brings us back.

"What question?" I asked.

"A question... that came from the beginning and end. A question that stood still in the heads of every being in the universe against all laws of time and space. All of time and space it traveled, mouth by mouth, till one day it may reach upon you."

"I'm right here now, aren't I? So shoot! Make it snappy!"

"Where have you been?"

Where have I been? What kind of question -- a question that stood against the trials of time and space, remember that part -- would that even be? I've been to countless of galaxies, be it old or new, near or far through the past, present and future until sometimes I wonder if I ever forget any of them anymore! That doesn't mean I forgot any, of course.

"What does that even mean?"

"The Doctor does not know..." it growled in a low voice. "His knowledge exceeds many, yet he does not know the existence of the question even... dark times are coming indeed, just like the prophecy..."

"Exactly how old is that question?"

"Assss~ said: from the beginning and the end."

Before I could respond, I was pushed onto the ground from behind, the door having opened and the doll tumbling out of my hooves. Solomon came charging out like the rampant bull he was, firing his gun at Xaltharan number two before snatching the doll off the floor and galloping off. The remaining Xaltharans hissed with rage at their dead comrade, before scampering off after my foolish friend.

"What were you thinking?" I yelled at him.

"Saving your bloody arse, that's what!"

I wanted to argue about how peace could be easily restored to the land and other medieval pish-posh when one of the Xaltharans lunged out of nowhere, pouncing onto Solomon and tackling him to the ground, the doll being thrown out of his hooves. We watched it roll across the carpet, the Xaltharans eagerly chasing after it like the primal creatures they are. The timer in my head was nearing its end; the finale draws closer and closer...

"Solomon?"

It was the voice of a mare; an aged voice, perhaps somepony in her late fifties or so. She stood there in the corridor, her head trying to make whatever sense of the scene before her. I mean, really, if you are seeing what she's seeing -- a sandwich of me and Solomon on the floor, Twilight Sparkle staring from the doorway and three monstrosities pouncing towards a nesting doll -- you'd really be baffled and probably laughing your voice out as well.

Shame she only had two seconds to see it.

"CAMOMILE!!"

The deafening explosion threw all of us off our hooves, our senses rattling violently in a hurricane. All I could see through my clouded vision was the open sky through the ruptured slate roof, so gray and cloudy in a mournful silence. Flames flicker from the corners like fireflies, lighting up the grave. The grave of two lovers.

"Doctor!" Twilight's voice rang through my ears, albeit a little fuzzy. I could make out her distressed face looking down at my prone self before giving me a helping hoof up. It was a desolate sight to behold when my vision finally cleared, with the three Xaltharans nowhere to be found -- no doubt obliterated from the explosion -- and the nesting doll they've lusted after lying on the ground, smoking from its experience yet its smile still stayed, never wiped off its face.

"Solomon!" I called out, seeing my friend at the side. Horror made my throat lurch and my hooves braking to a halt as I saw him sprawled on the ground, bruised and battered with one hoof clutching his stomach. He weakly groaned, his crumpled limbs reaching out with tears forming at his eyes, before gasping out:

"Camomile..."

"S-Solomo--" Camomile retched in a violent coughing fit, her broken body trapped underneath a pile of collapse rubble. She weakly stretched one hoof out, mirroring her mate's just as Solomon pushed himself towards her. Twilight wanted to stop him, though I blocked her with my hoof, shaking my head as their somewhat reunion blossomed.

"S... Solomon..." she tried again, this time with a touch of a smile. "Y-You... you look so old..."

"Oh, Camomile. You can never imagine."

"What..." she stopped to cough. "What happened here... what were those..."

"It's just a dream, Camomile."

Twilight and I exchanged surprised looks when Solomon says those words. Now, I don't know about my dear companion, but the moment he said that, I felt a little corner in my heart shaking like a bottle swimming in a stormy ocean, lost and searching for a reason, to no avail. It was a rare moment which brought a sliver of a tear to my eyes; a rare moment which reminded me of the cruel reality we live in. Of fate.

"Just a dream now, my love..." Solomon continued reassuring, hushing his dying wife even as he struggled to restrained his tears in his eyes. "Go back to sleep. You don't want to be late for the coming day."

Camomile just smiled, gently closing her eyes.

"You know how much I love you, Solomon..."

"I know."

"Even if you're just in my dreams..."

Solomon hiccuped on his tears.

"I know..."

"I expect to see you tomorrow then..." the mare said playfully in her croaky voice. "Goodnight, dear..."

"Goodnight."
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Just like that, Camomile Songbird Phothane Belgonquin passed on.
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She passed on, like they said, with a smile on her face.

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"Solomon..."

"It's okay, Doctor," he replied heftily. "I'm at peace, my old friend. Nine bloody long years, I wanted to know why she smiled. For nine long years, I squandered all that time to wonder upon such a mystery. I always called myself a useless degenerate for not being by her side when she passed, but oh, to think that I was there all along... I'm at peace. At a wonderful peace..."

Solomon suddenly coughed, shooting out a small splatter of blood across the floor. Quickly, I helped him up, glancing around for any form of life, be it pony or alien. Twilight just bit her lip, her heart still hammering in its panicked state as she watched me carry Solomon away, her frown growing darker and darker.

"What are you doing, Doctor?!" she questioned. "He needs some help! We have to call somepony over here! Moving him... would just make it worse!"

"We can't risk it."

"Risk what, Doctor?!" she scowled. "Solomon's dying, for Celestia's sake!! What could be more riskier than that?!"

"If he's spotted by the soldiers, the Solomon from this present and our Solomon would meet and cause a time paradox. So if you want to see the entirety of Equestria being destroyed in a flash of light, then be my guest."

"So you're just going to let him die?"

"I'm trying to think of something!"

"There's no time!!"

"There's always time!!" I yelled back, making her flinch. It really reminded me of the misunderstanding-- do you lot remember? I swear it would be listed as one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, and I've had lived a very long life for me to know that. I rose from Solomon's side and down the ruined hallway, gritting my teeth. "Just... I need to think, I need--!"

"Doctor..." Solomon weakly gasped, eyes half-open with the last inch of his soul drained from his pupils. The very fact of him calling me was enough "No more, Doctor... no more..."

"Stop your nitpicking, Solomon. You'll still live! You're the king of Stalliongrad!"

"Enough about me. Me, the dying king..."

"You don't understand! This goes beyond--"

"Beyond myself, I know... but sometimes ponies had to die. I know the deaths of many will follow mine, I had foreseen it, but sometimes... sometimes ponies just have to die. You, of all the beings in the world, know that. Plus, it would give me a little bit of company in the afterlife."

Only Solomon would chuckle at his own death. With a faint groan, he reached out his hoof not to me, but to my surprised companion, who could only bite her lip once Solomon gave his royal request: "Come closer, Miss Sparkle... I have something I need to tell you..."

Not one to disobey a lord -- even if it was a dying one -- Twilight Sparkle came closer the moment I stepped away, kneeling down once Solomon beckoned her even closer. He whispered something in her ear; something about me, I presume, judging from the few glances that she gave me during the one-sided conversation. Once Twilight was done, she cocked her head towards me, though she had this... spark of enlightenment in her eye... a queer spark.

"He wants to talk to you," she whispered almost absentmindedly.

A grim nod later, it was my turn: I knelt back down, stifling the best smile I could in this mournful situation. Solomon returned that same smile, his faint gasps drawing me closer before he whispered into my ear: "You knew of this fate..."

"I only knew you'd disappear. I didn't know... I didn't know it was because of this..."

"I d-don't blame you... You tried everything you could, I know, but I knew something that you don't... that this world has no need of me anymore. That my time had been coming. It's not something that you can rewrite or erase... and you know that..."

"A fixed loop..." I muttered. "But that was the doll... it was never you..."

"It was always me. Always had been... the doll just finished the puzzle..." Solomon coughed once more, before continuing: "But there are other things at hoof... a darker power... a power that emanated from a question..."

"You mean..."

"The question. The one that originated from the beginning and end of time..." he said, confirming my darkest fears. I had known many questions in my entire lifetime, but this one... this one I had never heard of. Strange, how every living being I have encountered, be it pony or Xaltharan, has knowledge of that question. How did it slip from my view? "That is my last request, Doctor... I want to know... I want you... to know..."

"What is it? What do you want to know?"

The question he gave me was simple. So simple that, in fact, it was ridiculously difficult to answer.

"Where have you been?"
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---

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2101 AC, Third Winter, 7, 1:14:12

"You okay, Turner?"

"Yeah, I just... I need some time..."

The outskirts of Stalliongrad are a cold, dreary place, as both of us found out. It had been a week since Solomon's 'disappearance' that had caused hysteria behind the doors of the Red Palace; a day since the week of him and the doll had been whisked away. I had to convince the ministers that it was not my doing, even though it inadvertently was.

We were standing in a graveyard of the aristocrats, where the past kings and queens of Pransyberia had been buried since it's incarnation. It sat upon the slopes of one of the snow-capped hills that looked over the grandiose capital, the deceased guarding their ponies even in the afterlife. Both of us just... donated a new addition, so to speak, having buried my old friend next to his fabled wife in secret. They did lower an empty coffin into the ground during the funeral, after all.

Twilight was already in the TARDIS the moment I had the confidence to step through those blue doors, reading some of the books she had picked out from the library somewhere in the TARDIS. She was as solemn as I was, mourning for the king she had only met in a day. While I fiddled with the controls, she was glancing at me, probably wanting to say something to snap me out of my dreary state and liven up the mood.

"What now?" she asked after a moment of thought.

"I have to return the doll to where they found it," I muttered despondently. "It is an event in a time loop, after all. The same doll, over and over, in and out of my hooves... it's the only way to complete the circle."

"Turner..."

"It was all me, Twilight. This was all my doing. If... if I hadn't come by, Solomon and Camomile would still be alive! Thousands of ponies would be saved! Perhaps thousands more would have existed even!"

"You couldn't save them if you tried," Twilight argued. "Turner, sometimes... sometimes we can't jump in! Sometimes we just have to watch. Whatever that happens, we might not like it, but we just... had to let it happen."

I just kept quiet. However unfair it sounded, it was still the truth; breaking the circle might mean the end of the universe in one go. Twilight strode away for a moment, picking up the doll and, to my surprise, handed it to me. She gave a smirk and a shrug at my widened eyes, though it wasn't long before I stifled a smile of my own in return.

"It really was sweet though," Twilight mumbled, her dreamy tone sparking my interest. "How Solomon and Camomile -- bless their souls -- loved each other, even when they were both dying. He might be dangerous and cruel as a king, but as a stallion... Camomile was certainly lucky to have him."

"Like a scene from a love story." Speaking of love stories, it reminded me of my one month contract with Twilight. I don't know about her end, but I still have my feelings for her, suppressed and locked in the depths of my heart. Funny how puppy love can grow so much in one span of a lifetime. Well, she is a special mare. "Shows that love truly is eternal."

"Do you... think we might be like that one day?"

I blinked at the question.

"Pardon?"

"I mean... if we ever get together... do you think... would you do what Solomon had done for Camomile?"

"I honestly have no idea..." I answered, disappointing her for a brief moment. "But... if you'd like, we can try."

Twilight's face brightened up when I said that, though she retained her composure, instead smiling and returning back to her books. Always an avid reader, this mare. Good, an avid reader is good...

"There's one thing I'd like to know, however," I began again. "Before he died, what did he tell you?"

"Who?"

"Solomon. Bless his soul."

"Well... n-nothing important. Just things I have to look out for," Twilight said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," I responded, looking down at the doll. "Well then. Time to finish the job..."

"Good luck," Twilight called out one last time as I stepped out of the door and into the whisking wind, the cobblestone pavement of the Palace Square beneath my hooves surprisingly cold as the tendrils of winter try their best to rob my warmth away, fortunately to no avail thanks to the TARDIS. With a grim sigh, I placed the doll on the floor, glancing up in time to see a lit window, where the familiar, wrinkled face of Solomon Phothane Belgonquin the Fifth was staring down at the city before him, unaware of both my presence and the days before him.

I really wanted to call out to him then, yet I know I couldn't. With a sigh, I returned to my ship, giving a nod to my companion as I stepped up to my controls and toggled with the levers and switches. When the engines whirred, Twilight was by my side, holding my hoof as she uttered three wonderful words.

"Bless his soul."

All I could do was sigh, smiling sadly at the departure of my friend. Solomon may be gone, but he will always be remembered in generations to come for his contributions to Pransyberia, even if it involves lopping heads and burning ponies on the stake like a barbecue. Really, trash all of the deaths and you would truly have the greatest stallion Equestria has ever known.

"Bless his soul..." I uttered one last time for my late friend.

Bless his soul indeed.
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Author's Note:

Here we go! The conclusion to the conspiracy!

Hope it was a good read!