Colgate, Clockwork, Bright Eyes, Matilda, and a universally-displaced Daring Do travel to discover the hotspot of dimensional rifts in the Equestrian universe.
Colgate crosses paths with Clockwork and Bright Eyes following her arrival in the tourist-centered, mysterious country of Elmheim. Upon crossing paths with Matilda and a universally-displaced Daring Do, the group sets out into the jungle to discover the hotspot for dimensional rifts in the Equestrian universe. But their trip to the rift epicenter will be far from simple.
Elmheim Temple Gate, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Summer, 1002 C.E.
Daring Do let out a triumphant sigh as she stared at the golden gate before her. Finally found it! she thought happily as she passed through the threshold. The air was hot and bugs flew through the air in bucketloads. A long, dirt trail spread out before her and a golden tower rose up from the jungle trees in the distance. Daring groaned a bit as she stretched her sprained wing. It would be a few hours at least before she would be able to fly again.
As she walked along the trail towards her destination, she thought back over the previous months she had spent preparing and researching for this trip. Many ponies across time had given everything to find the Elmheim Temple, but Daring Do was the first pony to actually manage to find the gate and the trail that led to it. "Wait until the gals back home hear about this!" she stated joyfully as she ran down an incline that led towards the clearing in the jungle that held the temple.
The trail to the temple opened up into a large opening. Tall, stone pillars were placed randomly throughout the clearing. Some were falling apart, some had fallen over, and a few had managed to stand upright and untouched throughout the years. In the center of everything was the temple: a massive, glowing collection of gold spires that rose high into the sky and became invisible when looked at through a certain angle with the Sun. A series of steps rose up towards the entrance of the temple, which was an intimidating silver door.
Daring raced up the steps at her usual, quick speed. Even when she couldn't fly, she was still a fast mare. However, she found a truly unexpected surprise waiting for her at the entrance to the Elmheim Temple. A pony in a black cloak was standing in front of the door and examining it closely. A strange rod of sorts with a metal tip was strapped to the pony's waste. Based on the pony's stature and size, Daring deduced that it was a mare. Somepony else is here?! How?! Maybe...maybe this is one of the rumored guardians of the temple, Daring thought. Daring cleared her throat and the cloaked mare turned to face her.
Before Daring could say anything, the cloaked mare let out a cold, sinister laugh that chilled Daring to the bone. "Daring Do?! You're kidding! This is just too precious!" cackled the mare. "Sadly, you aren't the mare I wished to come across."
"Okay. Who are you?" Daring asked bluntly. "How did you manage to find the Elmheim Temple?"
The mare waved a hoof in a bored manner. "I did no research or traveling to find this place like you undoubtedly did, if that's what you're thinking. I simply appeared here. I would have preferred Cloudsdale or Ponyville but at least I'm out of Celestia's dungeon."
"Appeared here? How? The temple has enchantments that prevent ponies from teleporting to it." Daring instantly took notice of the mare's mention of being out of Celestia's dungeon.
"As to who I am, you could just say that I'm a fan of yours."
"A fan?"
"Yes. I used to read your books all the time before I became in charge of the Factory."
"Factory? Books? I haven't written any books! Who are you?!"
"I told you. I'm just a fan."
"Or a criminal on the run."
The mare shook her head. "Oh. I guess I said too much earlier about Celestia's dungeon. Oh well." The mare revealed herself to be a pegasus by spreading out her cyan wings. She then grabbed the rod with her mouth and the metal tip began spitting out electrical sparks. "I know you'll try to return me to prison. Sadly, I can't allow you to do that. You may be one of my old heroes...but I must do what I must do to get my revenge."
The mare lunged at Daring and Daring quickly dodged the electrified rod. Daring spun around and attempted to knock the mare over. The mare flew into the air and swung the rod at Daring. Daring ducked and flung one of her hind legs up into the mare's chest. The mare gasped as the air was kicked out of her and hit the ground. As the mare stood back up, her hood fell. Daring instantly took note of the mare's cyan coat, rainbow mane, and abnormally red eyes. Her face was contorted and caught in a sadistic smile that sent a chill down Daring's spine. "Who...who are you?!" Daring asked.
"If you must know, the name's Rainbow Dash," replied the mare before she lunged at Daring again. Daring dodged the attack and nearly fell down the steps in the process. "A bit less coordinated than I originally pictured you to be, Daring."
"Don't be disappointed yet! I'm just getting warmed up, Rainbow Dash!" Daring quickly ran at Rainbow Dash and knocked the rod from her mouth. She then grabbed onto her and attempted to pin her to the ground. Rainbow extended her wings and took off with Daring still holding onto her. The two mares continued to struggle as they flew through the air around the temple. Daring gasped as Rainbow grabbed her sprained wing and pulled it back. She let out a shrill scream in response and Rainbow kicked her hard in the gut. Daring lost her grasp on Rainbow and began falling towards the ground below. Acting on instinct, she extended her free wing and used it as a glider to weaken her fall. She still managed to hit the ground hard and bruised one of her legs up pretty good.
Rainbow Dash flew back to the ground and grabbed her rod. "Let's just finish this already. I have a goal to meet and no more time for this." As Rainbow raised the rod, the air above the two mares exploded in a blast of white light. Daring Do watched as Rainbow Dash was pulled through what appeared to be a rip in the fabric of reality itself. Her eyes then focused on the Elmheim Temple, which was glowing brightly and emanating a rainbow of different colors. A powerful force began pulling on Daring's body and bringing her closer and closer to the rip. She tried to grab onto something but there was nothing to grab onto. Daring could only struggle and curse angrily as she was pulled into the bright portal.
Sunny Beach, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Daring yelped as she flew out of the portal and found herself rolling over a sandy surface. She rolled over again and again until she came to a stop right next to somepony. Daring looked up to see a mare with a red coat and purple mane. The sky was blue and sunny but the mare's large, pink, brim hat was protecting Daring's face from the bright sunlight, allowing Daring to see the mare's amused expression.
"Daring Do, I presume?" asked an interested Matilda as she looked down at the confused adventurer. "Today has certainly become much more interesting."
Sunny Inn, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
To say that Colgate was stressed out and extremely confused to boot was an understatement. On the outside, she remained calm and quiet but, on the inside, she was screaming like a madpony and flying up and down the walls. So many questions were zooming about her thoughts. Where was she? Who was the strange mare that had sent her here? How had the mysterious mare teleported her away? And why did these two random ponies that she ran across look so much like the Doctor and his friend Derpy Hooves?! Colgate hadn't told the ponies known as Clockwork and Bright Eyes much information about herself. All she told them was her name and, despite being on her guard, accepted their sudden invitation to join them for a quick meal in a bakery that was located within a nearby inn known as the Sunny Inn. When will I get a break?! I get terrorized by a creature from another universe for months on end, which turns out to be my father, and now I've been sent away to Celestia knows where! Colgate thought angrily as she entered the bakery alongside her two new acquaintances. Well, I might as well learn as much as possible about where I am...as well as try to learn why these two look so much like the Doctor and Derpy.
Clockwork led Colgate and Bright Eyes over to a table before heading over towards the counter to order a small collection of beverages and sweets for them. While he ordered, he mostly focused on thinking about the mare known as Colgate. She seemed nice enough but Clockwork could tell that she was hiding something. He was especially interested in learning about how she ended up here in the country of Elmheim. The way she had appeared didn't resemble the normal teleportation process of a unicorn, and Clockwork had plenty of experience with unicorn teleportation thanks to his late wife. While Clockwork was mostly suspicious of Colgate and made a promise to himself to keep his guard up, it would be a lie to say that he wasn't feeling a tiny bit excited. He and Bright Eyes hadn't been traveling in this alternate Equestria for that long following their departure from Ponyville and they were already stumbling across something that Clockwork assumed the Doctor would have been more than happy to look into.
When the order was done, Clockwork took the tray of sweets and drinks and brought it over to the table. "Here we go," said Clockwork with a smile as he placed the tray on the table before sitting himself down.
As Colgate eyed the sweets, she suddenly found herself becoming very hungry. She had hardly eaten anything at Pinkie Pie's welcome party for Donna Noble due to her mostly thinking about leaving Ponyville. Now, with all these new situations of drama coming up, her stomach was more than eager to have something sweet inside it. "Thank you," Colgate said as she took a cookie with blue icing and began munching on it. Bright Eyes grabbed a muffin and began to lovingly nibble on it. She loves muffins like Derpy! Colgate thought. If I didn't know better, I would say that this "Bright Eyes" and Derpy were the same pony!
Bright Eyes let out a loud mmmm before taking a few more larger bites out of her muffin. "That zebra on the boat was right! These muffins are to die for!" Bright Eyes exclaimed. She then proceeded to give a somewhat guilty look. "I wish Derpy could try some of these too."
Colgate's ears shot up and her eyes grew wide. She knows Derpy! she thought in shock.
"When we're done here, we could package them and take them with us," said Clockwork. "We could give them to Derpy the next time we're in Ponyville." Bright Eyes nodded in reply. Clockwork turned towards Colgate and quickly noticed her shocked expression. "Are you okay? You look like you've heard something impossible."
Colgate forced herself to relax and her ears drooped down. They know Derpy. Perhaps they know the Doctor as well, she thought. Still...I can't be entirely sure if I can trust them yet. I don't want them to know that I know the Doctor until I'm sure that I can trust them. Playing dumb might work for now. Colgate cleared her throat and gave a small, albeit forced, smile. "I'm fine," she replied. "That name that Bright Eyes said just sounded odd to me."
"You mean Derpy?" Bright Eyes asked with a tilted head.
"Yeah! That! It's such an odd name. Never heard anything like it."
Clockwork raised his eyebrow in suspicion for a few seconds. "She's a friend of ours. Derpy Hooves is her full name," Clockwork explained.
"With a name like that, she must be quite an interesting mare," said Colgate with a chuckle.
"Actually, she's a lot like me!" Bright Eyes exclaimed.
"Really? Well that's nice."
That mare's definitely hiding something, Clockwork thought. I have a feeling that this isn't the first time that she's heard Derpy's name. I think it's about time to ask you a few questions, Colgate. Clockwork sat up a bit and took a sip of his coffee. "So, Colgate, where do you call home?" he asked.
Colgate froze. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell them my hometown, she thought. "Hoofston," she replied.
"Hoofston, huh? So what brings you all the way over to Elmheim?"
So that's where I am! Colgate thought with relief due to now knowing where she was. Elmheim. Come to think of it, I don't know much about it. I think I remember my mom mentioning it to me once and telling me that it was mostly a jungle-filled country that had an economy based around tourism. That would certainly make sense with all the shops and inns that are scattered all over the place. And...that mare mentioned it to me before teleporting me here! "A desire to see the world, I suppose," Colgate lied.
"Did you teleport here or take the boat like Bright Eyes and me?" Clockwork asked.
"A little of both." Colgate raised her shoulders a bit.
"That was certainly an odd teleportation spell you performed when we met out on the beach."
"Yeah." Colgate gulped as she remembered Clockwork mentioning her teleportation earlier. This stallion may just be as suspicious of me as I am of him! she thought. "It was a...new spell that a friend of mine was working on."
"A friend, hmm?" Clockwork took another sip of his coffee and Bright Eyes simultaneously took a bite out of her muffin. Colgate followed suit and finished eating her cookie.
"Thank you for the food. You didn't have to do this."
"It's no problem at all. Just trying to be a nice pony."
"Again, thank you. So...are you two staying at this inn?"
"Yep! We're looking forward to discovering all the secrets that Elmheim has to offer!" said Bright Eyes.
"Are you going to be staying here as well?" Clockwork asked.
Colgate's eyes moved over to her luggage, which was standing next to Clockwork and Bright Eyes's luggage, before looking back at Clockwork and Bright Eyes. I'd much rather get back home...but I'm definitely interested in learning a bit more about these two. Besides, that mysterious mare sent me here for a reason. Hopefully I'll run into her again and I'll be able to get some answers out of her, she thought. "Of course," she replied. "Hopefully the three of us will be able to discover the secrets of Elmheim together!"
"Yay!" Bright Eyes cheered as she clapped her hooves. Colgate got uncomfortable flashbacks to Derpy as Bright Eyes's eyes began to invert slightly.
"A toast...to the truth," said Clockwork as he raised his cup of coffee. Colgate followed suit as she raised another cookie from the tray and tapped it against Clockwork's cup. Clockwork proceeded to take a sip of his coffee while Colgate bit into the cookie. I've got my eye on you, Ms. Colgate, thought Clockwork as he glared at Colgate.
I've got my eye on you, Mr. Clockwork, thought Colgate as she glared at Clockwork.
Sunny Beach, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Daring Do rubbed her head as she stood up. She dusted the sand from her mane as she took in her surroundings. Damn! I'm back at Sunny Island Port! she thought angrily. Now I'm going to have to trek back through the jungle again in order to continue my exploration of the temple!
"You seem to have a lot on your mind," Matilda said with a giggle.
"How would you be able to know that?" Daring asked bluntly.
"I know ponies. Besides, you've got a look on your face the quite clearly spells it out." Matilda stepped forward and shook Daring's hoof. "I must say that it's quite an unexpected pleasure to meet you, Ms. Do. I'm Matilda."
"Nice to meet ya, and please don't call me Ms. Do. Daring Do or just Daring will work."
"Okay, Daring."
Matilda smiled at Daring while Daring began frantically looking around the beach. That crazy mare isn't anywhere in sight, Daring thought. What was her name again? Rainbow Crash or something like that?
"Looking for somepony?" Matilda asked.
"You could say that," Daring replied. "Have you happened to see a mare with a cyan coat, rainbow mane, and wearing a black cloak?"
"I can't say that I've seen a pony that meets that exact description today."
"Well, if you see her, watch your back. She's dangerous."
"Thank you very much for the warning, but I hope you're not planning on running off just yet."
"Why would I not? Not meaning to be rude or nothing, but I have things to do."
"Oh, I have no doubt about that. But whatever you were doing prior to arriving here can wait a bit longer. There are much more important things at hoof at the moment than finding some old temple in the jungle." As Matilda examined her vortex manipulator for a moment, Daring gave her a wide-eyed stare.
"How...how do you-"
"Know that you were just searching for the Elmheim Temple? You're Daring Do. That's what you do. I only took a guess that it was the Elmheim Temple specifically because Elmheim is where we happen to be."
"Okay. Spill it, lady."
"Spill what, exactly?"
"The beans!"
"I'm afraid that I have no beans to spill at the moment."
Matilda grinned at Daring while Daring gave a loud, annoyed groan. "You know what I'm talking about! You know something about this!"
"About what, I might ask?"
"How I ended up here! You know something about it!"
"I'll admit that I'm definitely interested in finding out how you ended up here but, sadly, I have yet to acquire the right information to answer the questions that both you and I have."
"I know ponies too, ya know."
Matilda smiled and waved her hoof in front of Daring. "Ah! But not as much as I do!"
"Whatever. But I can definitely tell when somepony's hiding a secret!"
"We all have secrets, dearie. How well we keep them and how well we hide the fact that we have them in the first place is what matters."
"Well you're doing a pretty bad job at hiding the fact that you're hiding something."
"Don't think you've solved me just yet, Daring Do. I may or may not have more secrets to keep than any other pony on this beach." Matilda winked at Daring and began making her way across the beach. "However, if you truly wish to uncover the secrets that you are so sure that I'm hiding from you, why don't you follow me over to the Sunny Inn? Besides, I definitely have a few questions for you. You try to solve me, I try to solve you. Should be a nice way to spend one's afternoon!"
I'm getting all of the odd characters today, aren't I? Daring thought as she took a few steps forward. "Sure," she replied. "Why not?"
"Excellent!" said Matilda happily. "This way then! Oh, and try not to attract too much attention."
"Why would I attract too much attention? Last time I checked, I wasn't really that well known."
"The answer for that is for another time and another place. This way please!"
Daring groaned and grudgingly followed Matilda towards the Sunny Inn. This should be fun, she thought sarcastically as she walked alongside the teasing mare.
This should be fun! Matilda thought happily as she walked alongside the confused pegasus.
Sunny Inn, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Colgate stared out at the beach through the window in her room. She watched the blue waves roll up onto the shore and spread out across the golden sand. They didn't name this place Sunny Island Port for nothing, Colgate thought as she stared at the glowing Sun in the sky. But...where does the "island" part come in?
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Colgate turned away from the window, approached the door, and opened it. Beyond the door stood Bright Eyes, who was smiling fiercely, and Clockwork, who was giving a stare that seemed to cut through Colgate's skin like a knife. "Hello!" chirped the pegasus.
"Oh! Hello," Colgate said in return. "What's going on?"
"The two of us were heading over to the Sunny Island Museum and we were wondering if you were interested in joining us," said Clockwork.
"Sure! Sounds like fun," Colgate replied. Hopefully this will give me more of an opportunity to learn more about these two, she proceeded to think.
"Well come along then!" Bright Eyes said as she bounced down the hallway. Colgate chuckled at the excited Bright Eyes before closing the door to her room and locking it. She then followed Clockwork and Bright Eyes towards the stairs.
Meanwhile, down in the lobby, Matilda and Daring Do had just entered. A few of the tourists in the lobby noticed the two mares and gave impressed nods in Daring's direction. One stallion wearing a shirt covered in flowers approached Daring and shook her hoof. "I just wanted to say how great your costume is. My wife's been trying to pull off Daring Do for years but never gets it right," he said as he smiled through his tan mustache. "So is there a Hearth's Warming Eve costume party or something?"
Before Daring could respond, Matilda stepped in between her and the stallion with a large grin on her face. "None of the sort! She's just celebrating Nightmare Nate late," Matilda replied.
"But why-"
"I'm sorry but my friend and I have places to be at and ponies to talk to. Ta-ta!" Matilda then wrapped a foreleg around Daring and moved her towards the front desk. She leaned in close to Daring's ear for a couple seconds and whispered into it. "I'll explain everything shortly. Just...ignore any comments like that for the time being." Matilda then turned her attention to the receptionist.
"So how far away is this museum?" Colgate asked as she, Clockwork, and Bright Eyes entered the lobby.
"Not too far. It's over towards the port," Clockwork replied. "Elmheim has quite an interesting history, I must say." No matter which universe you're in, he added in thought.
As they walked past the front desk, Bright Eyes's attention was caught by Daring Do. "Ooh! Nice Daring Do costume!" Bright Eyes said to Daring as she walked by. Daring looked as if she wished to say something but remained quiet and instead gave a polite nod to Bright Eyes.
Colgate was at the exit to the lobby when, for a second, her eyes glazed over Matilda's large, brim hat. "Wait a second," Colgate said under her breath.
"Come along then!" said Clockwork as he politely pushed Colgate through the front door with Bright Eyes following close behind.
While Colgate, Clockwork, and Bright Eyes took their exit, Matilda accepted the room keys from the receptionist and tossed one to Daring. "Here you go. The key to your room," said Matilda as she began trotting towards the stairs.
"So what now?" Daring asked as they began to ascend the staircase.
"Firstly, we unpack," Matilda replied.
"Well that won't take long. All I have is my backpack and you...you don't have any luggage to unpack."
"Don't be so sure." Matilda giggled as she presented a small, red purse. She shook it and Daring's eyes widened as she heard what sounded like a warehouse of items bouncing around within it. "Yep. It's a purse that's bigger on the inside that it is on the outside. I got it from an incredibly magical world I visited once, mostly because it reminded me of a dear friend of mine."
"An incredibly magical world? What, have you been to outer space or something?"
"Why, of course, but that's not where I got this from. It'd be hard to find a place exactly like Diagon Alley anywhere in this universe, sadly."
Many questions were zooming about Daring's head and the question she proceeded to ask she picked completely at random. "What's Diagon Alley?"
"That, my fellow adventurer, is a story for another time. Come, let us unpack so that we can head over to the museum!"
"Museum? What's at the museum?! I thought you were going to explain to me what the hay is going on!"
"All in due time, I promise. I didn't travel to Elmheim for no reason, you know. I have my own series of things to look into; and, now that I think about it, I think both of our quests may have a bit more in common than we realize."
Daring groaned and shook her head. What an impossible mare, she thought as she trudged after Matilda.
Sunny Island Museum, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Colgate's eyes scrolled across painting upon painting of various explorers as she walked down the museum hallway with Clockwork and Bright Eyes. Colgate was definitely learning a bit more about Elmheim from her walk; such as how Elmheim got its name due to the first explorers inhaling a strange fume from the jungle that made them mistake the jungle trees for elm trees and how Sunny Island Port got its name from a glowing island that used to be located a little ways away from the shoreline, but it mysteriously disappeared a few decades back. However, despite these interesting bites of information, Colgate had yet to learn much more about her new companions. It was very clear to Colgate that Clockwork was hiding information from her and, in turn, she could tell that he knew that she was hiding information as well. One of us is going to say the wrong thing soon...and pray to Celestia and Luna that it isn't me, she thought as she looked at an old sculpture that had been constructed by an ancient tribe that once lived in the Elmheim jungles.
"There's so much interesting stuff here that it's hard to take it all in!" Bright Eyes exclaimed.
"But we haven't even reached the best part yet!" said Clockwork with a chuckle.
"And that would be?" Colgate asked.
"The Hall of Myths...and here it is!"
Colgate turned to see a long, massive hallway expanding out before her. The walls magically changed color (probably due to some unicorn influence) and several odd objects, paintings, pictures, and framed articles hung from said walls. The mysterious aura of the hallway and the legends held within temporarily made Colgate and Clockwork forget their suspicions for each other and it didn't take long for them to get wrapped up in the stories and myths that were displayed within the hallway.
From origins of old legends like the Headless Horse and the Olden Pony to vases and statues rumored to contain the angry spirits of old Elmheim natives to tales of cursed gold, life-prolonging fountains, and zombie ponies, the Hall of Myths and, by extension, Elmheim seemed to have it all. And, at the end of the hallway, was the crème de la crème of all Elmheim legends: the Elmheim Temple. A temple constructed out of golden stone and rumored to contain priceless treasure, angry spirits, powerful potions, and a series of magical scrolls and spells that could put Star-Swirl the Bearded to shame, it was the ultimate goal for any adventurer or treasure hunter. The exhibit for the temple came in the form of a makeshift replica that had its own atrium at the end of the hallway. "Many ponies have lost their minds and even their lives in order to find the Elmheim Temple. Sadly, since the days of the first settlers, there has been no further evidence to prove the temple's existence," Colgate read aloud from one of the articles scattered about the room. She looked up at the replica of the temple in awe. "Interesting."
"I'll say," Clockwork added as he stepped next to Colgate.
"You seem to be very interested in secrets, traveling, and all that stuff. Is that what you do for a living?"
"That's only a recent hobby. I used to be a clockmaker."
"Ah. Well that makes sense." It also explains the cutie mark, Colgate thought as she looked at Clockwork's hourglass cutie mark.
"So what about you?"
"I'm honestly not really sure about what I want to do with my life."
"Well you must have some idea. You do have a cutie mark after all."
Colgate glanced at her own hourglass cutie mark. "It's complicated."
I'm sure it is, Clockwork thought as he, Colgate, and Bright Eyes continue their trek around the surprisingly large replica of the Elmheim Temple.
At this moment, Matilda and Daring Do entered the Hall of Myths. "Ah! Here we are! The interesting part of the museum!" Matilda exclaimed as she began glancing at the various objects and articles. Daring gave a bored sigh as she followed Matilda down the hallway. "Come now, Daring. Why not try to have some excitement? Surely you, of all ponies, would take an interest in old legends and stuff like this."
"I've already seen and read about all of this when I did my research for the Elmheim Temple," Daring replied. "There's nothing really new here."
"Oh, don't be so sure. There's a possibility that there might be a few altered details here and there."
"And what do you mean by that?"
Matilda sighed as she turned to Daring. The two mares came to a halt in front of the Elmheim Temple replica and were standing immediately next to each other. "I mean that this isn't the same Sunny Island Port that you visited when you were investigating the temple."
Daring groaned and shook her head. "That doesn't really answer my question. What does that mean?"
"Do you believe in alternate realities, Daring?"
"Alternate...realities?"
"Yes. Alternate realities. Other universes. Different dimensions. That kind of stuff."
"I've heard theories about it, sure. I've never really given it much thought."
"Well you will after this. You were right, to an extent, about something earlier, Daring. I do have a solid idea as to how you ended up on the beach."
Matilda turned towards Daring with the expectation of an angry outburst or something. Instead, Daring remained very calm. She proceeded to give Matilda a slight nudge. "Well, go on. I've waited long enough for your explanation. I'm saving my outburst for later." Daring gave a devious grin and Matilda chuckled in reply.
Meanwhile, Colgate and Clockwork were continuing their conversation as they walked around the temple replica. Bright Eyes was busy reading all of the articles about the temple. "So, I'm guessing that you have a talent with time, perhaps," Clockwork guessed.
"You could say that I did," Colgate replied awkwardly.
"Colgate, I'd hate to be blunt but you seem to be hiding a great deal of information from me that I think could help answer the questions that we have about each other."
Dropping the ball already? Fine. Let's continue, Colgate thought. "I don't see why I should tell you or Bright Eyes any of the secrets I have. If you recall, we've only just met. Since when has anypony told their secrets to a complete stranger?"
"That's true but, whether you call it rude or not, I'd personally be very happy to learn about secrets that involve me and my friends."
"And what makes you think that any secrets that I may or may not be keeping have anything to do with you?"
"Come on, Colgate. I'll admit that you can put on a somewhat convincing act at times but you're certainly no expert at hiding the fact that you're hiding something."
"And you're no expert at hiding your suspicions."
"It's hard for me to hide my suspicions when something fascinates me. Everything about you fascinates me suspiciously. Your mysterious appearance on the beach, which I highly doubt was some experimental spell from some friend of yours, the odd way that you eye Bright Eyes and me as if you've seen us before, and your fascination with Derpy's name earlier; and I have a strong feeling that you've heard the name Derpy somewhere before." Colgate remained silent. "In fact, I have a feeling that we have a common friend and ally and that our suspicions are keeping us from becoming valuable allies in turn." Clockwork looked sternly into Colgate's eyes. "I believe that you too know a stallion known as the Doctor and that you're currently wondering about why I and Bright Eyes look so much like him and Derpy Hooves respectively."
Colgate was about to say something when something caught her eye. She, Clockwork, and Bright Eyes had finished their trek around the temple replica and now she was facing something she had definitely not expected to come across here: the mare with the large, brim hat who had sent her to Elmheim. It took Colgate a second to decide on which mystery to currently press into. "Let's put this on hold for a moment, Clockwork. I've got somepony else that I need some answers from," Colgate stated as she began marching towards the mare.
"I guess you have waited long enough for an explanation," Matilda said to Daring with a chuckle. She was about to start her explanation when somepony interrupted her.
"Hello there," said Colgate as she approached Matilda. Matilda and Daring turned to face Colgate. "Remember me?"
Matilda tilted her head in confusion. "The cutie mark looks familiar but, other than that, I can't say that I remember you from anywhere."
"Save it." Colgate marched up to Matilda and glared deep into her eyes. "You listen here, whoever you are. I have been through a lot recently and I have so many unanswered questions in my head right now that I think I'm about to explode. So, please, I would very much appreciate it if you could just tell me everything."
"Everything...about what?"
"About what? ABOUT WHAT?! You knowing to send me to the Doctor! You sending me here to Elmheim with that device on your hoof!"
Matilda glanced down at her vortex manipulator. "Who are you?"
"You know who I am! Don't try to play dumb!"
"I swear that I'm not playing dumb and I don't doubt for a second that you've met me before. But just tell me your name."
Colgate rolled her eyes. "Tell me yours first then."
"Matilda."
"Colgate."
"Excuse me!" Daring snapped. "I'd hate to interrupt....okay, no I wouldn't, but what happened to the explanation you were giving me?!"
"I'd hate to be rude here but this mare owes me an explanation about something very urgent," said Colgate.
"And what makes you so special?!"
Matilda turned back and forth between Daring and Colgate with a stressed but suave grin on her face. "Ooh! It's the mare dressed as Daring Do again!" exclaimed Bright Eyes as she flew over and landed next to Daring.
Daring groaned loudly and screamed, "I AM DARING DO! SINCE WHEN WERE THERE EVER COSTUMES OF ME?!"
Some of the other tourists began to glance in their direction. Clockwork hastily walked over to calm down the four mares. "Ladies, I think we should all just calm down. We're starting to draw unwanted attention," Clockwork said with a slight whisper.
Matilda froze in her place upon seeing Clockwork. A sly grin then appeared on her face. "Doctor? I didn't expect to see you here as well," she said.
Clockwork cleared his throat awkwardly and took a few steps back. "Yeah...about that-"
Just then, the lights in the museum went out. It wasn't completely dark, thankfully, due to the sunlight pouring in from the atrium's glass ceiling. Tourists gasped and screamed around them. Daring caught something out of the corner of her eye. Something was moving about the top of the temple replica. Daring quickly realized that it was a mare wearing a black cloak...and weilding an electrified rod. "LOOK OUT!" cried Daring as the crazy mare known as Rainbow Dash dived towards her and the others with her electrical weapon at the ready.
Sunny Island Museum, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Daring quickly shoved Colgate, Matilda, Bright Eyes, and Clockwork aside as Rainbow Dash flew down towards them. Colgate fell backwards and hit the ground while Matilda, Clockwork, and Bright Eyes stumbled to the side. Daring charged at Rainbow Dash and attempted to knock the rod from her muzzle. Rainbow was quick and nearly managed to jab the electrified tip into Daring's gut. "And just when things were starting to get interesting," Matilda sighed as she looked up at the fighting pegasi.
What the hell is Rainbow Dash doing?! Why is she attacking us?! Clockwork thought as he looked on.
Daring was beginning to lose the fight and her slightly sprained wing wasn't helping. Daring's eyes went wide as Rainbow finally managed to get a good hit. The tip grazed Daring's hoof, but that was more than enough to send her falling back to the ground in a fit of electrical pain. Clockwork lunged forward and caught Daring in his forelegs to soften her fall a bit. Rainbow Dash laughed as she flew towards Daring and Clockwork.
Just then, an orb of blue magic flew out of nowhere and knocked Rainbow Dash to the ground. "Leave them alone!" Colgate snapped as her horn emanated a bright, blue light. Unfortunately, Colgate's attack wasn't extremely effective and Rainbow was able to recover quickly.
"You'll regret doing that!" Rainbow snapped as she flew towards Colgate with her rod aimed at Colgate's chest.
"GET OUT OF THERE!" Bright Eyes cried. Colgate didn't move. She remained still and stood her ground as Rainbow drew closer and closer to her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Colgate winked at Bright Eyes as Rainbow's rod collided with her chest...and proceeded to snap like a twig. Rainbow came to a sudden halt in front of Colgate and her eyes widened upon seeing what had happened to her weapon. "What?!" she asked.
"Surprised?" Colgate asked with a big grin before pulling one of her forelegs back and throwing her hoof straight into Rainbow's jaw. Rainbow fell back onto the ground screaming in pain as a few of her teeth fell out.
"Wow...that mare's got some muscle," said an impressed Daring Do.
Rainbow clutched her injured jaw as she reached into her cloak and pulled out a small, golden box. "This isn't over," she snapped as she clutched the box in her hoof. Then, she was gone. In the blink of an eye, the crazy Rainbow Dash had disappeared from view. The lights in the museum flipped back on and everypony in the hall was silent for a moment.
Colgate hardly had a moment to take in the scene around her before she was grabbed by Matilda. "I think it's best that we get out of here now. There's too much to do and discuss at the moment. We don't have time to answer stupid questions from the guards," she said. Matilda activated her vortex manipulator and she, Colgate, Clockwork, Bright Eyes, and Daring vanished in a flash of light.
The Sunny Side Eatery, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Clockwork accidentally nudged Colgate when the teleportation process had finished. The group was now standing outside a friendly café connected to a large dock that extended out towards the bay. A large, yellow and red sign with the words The Sunny Side Eatery was hanging immediately above their heads. "And how nice! It's empty right now! Let's get a table in the back!" exclaimed Matilda as she trotted over to the door. She looked back at Clockwork with a teasing smile. "Well? Isn't the strong stallion going to hold the door open for us nice mares?"
Clockwork nodded quickly before running over to the door and holding it open. Bright Eyes giggled as she passed through the door alongside Matilda. Clockwork entered the café behind Daring and Colgate and followed them over to a large table in the back. A waiter was already at the table taking orders from Matilda. The waiter nodded before heading back into the kitchen. Once everypony was seated, Matilda put on a serious face. She means business now, Clockwork thought as he found her sharp eyes cutting into him.
"I think it's not dangerous to say that there's a lot of confusion right now and many questions that desire answers," she said.
"Yeah. Like how you apparently don't remember sending me here," said Colgate as she looked at Matilda.
"And why everypony's treating me like some fictional character," said Daring.
"And how you could survive that attack from Rainbow Dash!" exclaimed Bright Eyes as she pointed at Colgate.
"And how you look so much like the Doctor," said Matilda as she looked at Clockwork.
"And who exactly you are," Clockwork said right back to Matilda.
"So where do we start?" Bright Eyes asked as she looked around the table.
"Let's start with the most obvious one," said Matilda as she looked at Daring. "Daring, you are a fictional character...well, here anyway."
Daring's eyes went wide before she cracked a nervous smile. "Wait...what?" she asked. "You're not serious, right? I'm no fictional character. I'm here, aren't I?"
"Yes you are. However, remember what I said earlier about this Sunny Island Port not being the same Sunny Island Port you visited earlier?"
"Yeah."
"And how I asked you about alternate realities?"
"Yeah."
"And how I had a solid idea as to how you ended up on the beach?"
"Oh just spit it out already!"
"You're in an alternate reality, Daring Do. This world around you is not your own. You still exist in this world, however, as the main character in a book series."
Daring was silent for a moment. "I...uh...I...I don't believe it!"
Matilda reached into her red purse and pulled a few books out. "See for yourself," she said as she slid the books across the table.
Daring's hooves were shaking as she picked up the books and looked at them. "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone? Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet?! Daring Do and the Half-Blood Princess?! Daring Do and the...the Elmheim Temple!" Daring said as her eyes scanned over the books. Daring felt her body freeze in disbelief.
"Uh...is she okay?" Bright Eyes asked as she waved a hoof in front of Daring's frozen face.
"It's just reality shock. She'll get over it in a minute or two," Matilda replied.
The waiter returned a moment later with a tray of hay fry platters and glasses of water. "Hey! Cool Daring Do costume!" said the waiter as he looked at Daring. "My daughter's been trying to pull it off for years!"
It wasn't until the waiter retreated back into the kitchen that Daring snapped out of her shocked state. "I...just...can't believe it," she said as she looked up at Matilda. "How...how did I end up here?"
"My guess is that it was one of those dimensional rifts that I've been looking into."
"Did you say dimensional rifts?!" Clockwork asked.
"Yes. I suppose you've heard of them before."
"Yes." Clockwork looked at Bright Eyes. Bright Eyes gave a consoling nod. Clockwork nodded back before turning his attention back to Matilda. "In fact...that's how Bright Eyes and I ended up here." Colgate leaned in further and her ears perked up upon hearing this. "I assume that you know the Doctor and Derpy Hooves, Matilda."
"More than you or they know," she replied with a grin.
Clockwork then glanced at Colgate. "And you know them too. Right, Colgate?"
Colgate nodded in defeat. "Yes...I do."
"Then I guess I can trust you with this information. Bright Eyes and myself are alternate versions of Derpy and the Doctor respectively from another dimension."
Alternate versions of the Doctor and Derpy?! Colgate thought as her eyes moved between Clockwork and Bright Eyes. It certainly explains a lot, but still...wow.
"I figured as much upon meeting you back in the museum," said Matilda. "At first I thought you were the Doctor, but then I noticed that you didn't feel the same as him."
"I didn't feel like him?" Clockwork asked.
"Exactly. You give off an different aura than he does. A much younger aura, I must say. However...your eyes are just like his almost."
"How?"
"They're sad," Bright Eyes said suddenly. "They've been sad for a long time." She reached over and placed one of her hooves on one of Clockwork's hooves.
Clockwork smiled back at Bright Eyes before turning towards Colgate. "And that's our story. So what's your story, Colgate?" he asked nicely.
Colgate sighed and rubbed her temple. "I haven't known the Doctor that long. I only met him recently," she explained. "He helped me deal with a problem I had."
"What sort of problem?" Matilda asked.
"Does it have something to do with you being able to survive that attack from the crazy Rainbow Dash?" Bright Eyes asked.
Colgate nodded. "Yes," she replied. "That was part of it. Somepony was stalking me. Somepony who had a connection with a series of odd, terrible abilities that I was born with. This somepony turned out to be a creature from the Doctor's universe known as a Weeping Angel." Matilda and Clockwork gave worried looks. "You know about them?"
"I've come across many in the past," Matilda replied.
"I've seen some in my dreams, which sometimes show the memories of the Doctor," Clockwork explained.
"Yeah, well, this Weeping Angel turned out to be my father," Colgate stated with a hint of disgrace. Matilda and Clockwork glanced at each other. "That's why I was able to survive Rainbow Dash's attack. As long as a living creature is looking at me, my skin becomes as invincible as the toughest of stone. It's also why I have an hourglass cutie mark. You see, I was born with my cutie mark."
"How can you be born with your cutie mark?" Daring asked. Her voice was still a bit shaky for she was still coming to terms with the fact that she was in a dimension where she was a fictional character.
"It makes sense when you think about it," said Matilda. "Weeping Angels are creatures of time and energy. An hourglass cutie mark would make sense. In terms of you being born with it, that too makes sense for you aren't entirely of pony DNA."
"So, if your father's a Weeping Angel, does that mean that you can do what they do?" Clockwork asked. "Like...send others back in time by touching them?"
"I used to have that ability. I hated it. Thankfully, the Doctor was able to block it," Colgate replied.
Clockwork was about to ask if she had actually sent others back in time, but, from the look on her face, he was able to tell that she had and that she deeply regretted it. I better not dig up anymore bad memories, he thought.
"And what happened to...your father?" Matilda asked.
"Gone," Colgate sighed. "A dimensional rift pulled him into another universe. The Doctor thinks he might have gone back to his original universe but I don't know, and I don't care. I'm glad he's gone." Her voice cracked a bit. Matilda tried to console her but Colgate hastily pulled away from her. "And now let's talk about you, Matilda."
"Okay," Matilda said back.
"Why are you acting like you've never met me before? I clearly remember meeting you."
"Before I answer that, could you tell me about the times you met me?"
"Um...okay. Before I met the Doctor in Ponyville, I traveled to Canterlot to seek some help with my problem. I ran across you in a tea shop and you directed me to the Doctor. Then, after the Doctor helped me, I was leaving Ponyville and waiting for my train. You appeared on the platform next to me and told me about how a storm was coming and something else about the Doctor and his allies needing to come together. You then used that thing on your foreleg to send me here."
Matilda reached into her purse and pulled out a blue notebook. She then quickly jotted down a few notes. "What's that?" Bright Eyes asked.
"My notebook. A dear friend of mine got it for me. She prefers to use a diary but I'm a notebook mare myself," Matilda replied as she stored the notebook away. She then turned to look at Colgate. "I have no doubt that you've met me before, but I'm telling you the honest truth when I say that this is the first time that I have met you." Colgate tilted her head in confusion. "It's actually quite simple. This thing on my foreleg is called a vortex manipulator. It allows me to travel between locations, times, worlds, dimensions, etc. Because of this, I'm sort of stuck in an 'out of chronological order' basis with the Doctor and his friends."
Colgate nodded her head as she put the pieces together. "So what you're saying is that when I met you in Canterlot and in Ponyville, those were your future selves?" Colgate asked.
"Exactly my point."
"And you wrote down what I just told you in that notebook, didn't you?"
"Yep!"
"So that means that-"
"You telling me about what I'm going to do is going to lead to me doing what you told me what I was going to do which, in turn, will lead to your past self telling my then past self, who is currently me, what she will do."
"My head hurts," said Bright Eyes as she rubbed her head.
"I'm right there with ya," said Daring.
"Explaining time travel does that to you," said Matilda. "Now that we're all on the same page, let's get down to business."
"Business?" Clockwork asked.
"Yes. Obviously, the five of us ending up here is by no means a coincidence. The multiverse has drawn us together." Matilda pointed at Clockwork and Bright Eyes. "You two are alternate versions of the Doctor and Derpy Hooves." She pointed at Colgate. "You're a new ally of the Doctor's who my future self sent here for, what I assume are, important reasons." She pointed at Daring. "You're an adventurer who's currently seeking out the Elmheim Temple and has now been pulled into this universe by a dimensional rift." She pointed at herself. "And I'm a big ally of the Doctor's who has come here to search for the hotspot of dimensional rifts in this universe."
"Are these dimensional rifts really that important?" Daring asked. "I was starting to think that they were just random things."
"Oh no," said Matilda. "They're much more than that. These dimensional rifts aren't natural. They're being caused by something. Something out there amongst the many worlds of the multiverse. Something desperately is trying to find its way into this universe and I have a feeling that it isn't good."
"So what's the plan?" Clockwork asked.
"We find the source, of course. And, in order to find the source of the rifts, we need to find the biggest hotspot of rifts in this universe: which happens to be right here in Elmheim."
"And do you have an idea of where to look in Elmheim?"
"Of course. In fact, I think I know the very location."
"And that is?"
"The Elmheim Temple, of course!"
"The Elmheim Temple? But that's just an old legend."
"Oh, I don't think so." Matilda turned towards Daring. "Because you found it, didn't you, Daring?"
Daring looked away from the books about herself and faced Matilda. "Yeah. It's where I was right before I ended up here. It's also where I came across Rainbow Dash."
"Don't worry. The Rainbow Dash in this universe is much nicer. I have a feeling that the Rainbow Dash who fought you and attacked us in the museum is another dimensionally displaced pony."
"And we probably haven't seen the last of her."
"Wait a moment," said Clockwork. "Getting back to the Elmheim Temple, no offense to you, Daring, but that was in a book: Daring's universe! The temple may exist in Daring's universe but it may not exist here!"
"Who knows?" Matilda asked with a gleam in her eye. "One thing's for certain, there's a rift hotspot in that jungle and I'm here to find it." She began looking around the table. "And, I could probably use some help."
"I'm in!" said Bright Eyes. "The five of us must have been brought together for a reason!"
"Well if you're in, Bright Eyes, then I'm in too," said Clockwork. "Besides, I think you could use a Doctor, Matilda. Even an alternate one." Clockwork and Matilda exchanged teasing glares.
"And what about you two?" Matilda asked upon facing Daring and Colgate. Her eyes focused on Daring. "We could use an adventurer like you to get through the jungle."
Daring was silent for a moment. A confident smile appeared on her face as she grabbed her hat. "This may not be my universe, but that doesn't change my love of adventure! Besides, I'd love to get that Rainbow Dash back for earlier!" Daring replied.
"And you, Colgate?"
Colgate, like Daring, was quiet at first. She let out a deep sigh and leaned back a bit. "The future Matilda obviously sent me here for another reason other than to keep this cycle of time going. From what she said, I can guess that what we'll do here will help the Doctor and the others save this world from whatever's out there. The Doctor and his friends helped me out in my time of need. I think it's only fitting that I help them out in return," she replied. A small smile appeared on her face. "Yeah. I'm in."
"Hurray!" cheered Bright Eyes.
"Then it's settled," said Matilda as she raised her glass of water. "Tomorrow, we enter the jungle. And, dearies, it's certainly going to be an interesting trip."
Sunny Inn, Sunny Island Port, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Colgate awoke early the following morning to a series of knocks at her door. As she walked to the door, she noticed her reflection in a mirror. Her mane was a mess; and for good reason. She hadn't had a very good night's sleep. All night she had been plagued by relentless nightmares and visions that made her feel sick to her stomach. Screaming and running ponies, torture chambers, a castle in flames, terrible creatures of metal, and the Doctor...drowning in a pool of black sludge.
"Sleep well?" asked Matilda, who greeted Colgate at the door. Colgate let out a loud moan in response as she attempted to comb her hair with her hoof. "Oh. I see not. Don't worry, I can fix that mane of yours." She proceeded to reach into her purse and pull out what looked like a perfume bottle. She then sprayed a fruity mist onto Colgate. Colgate gasped as her mane came to life for a few seconds and made itself.
"What the hay was that?!" she gasped.
"A special hair spray I picked up in 3209. Are you packed?"
Colgate looked back at the bags she had packed the night before to prepare for her trek into the jungle with the others. "Yeah."
"Excellent! Get yourself ready then and meet me and the others downstairs shortly! I'll go wake the rest of them up!"
Colgate let out a yawn and nodded at Matilda before heading to the bathroom to prepare herself.
A few minutes later, Colgate was in the bakery downstairs. She had found a comfortable seat at a table by a window and was sipping on a warm cup of coffee. It wasn't long before she was joined by Daring Do. "Ya ready for some exploration?!" asked the adventurer with a twinkle in her eyes.
"As ready as I'll ever be at this time in the morning," Colgate replied with a yawn. "You seem awfully happy. Yesterday, you were frozen with shock about finding out where you were."
"That was just temporary. Nothing can hold Daring Do down for long! Not even the walls of reality itself!"
Quite an ego you've got there, Colgate thought.
"Must. Have. Muffins," said a familiar, tired voice from nearby. Colgate watched as Bright Eyes marched towards the food table liked a zombie pony.
Clockwork approached them with a tired, yet adventurous, smile on his face. "Perfect morning to start a trip into a jungle, I must admit," he said with a chuckle.
"Whatever you say," Colgate said back.
Matilda then appeared with her brim hat still perched neatly on her head and a grin plastered confidently on her face. "Everypony ready to head out then?" she asked.
"Don't we at least get breakfast?" asked a still tired Bright Eyes as she walked towards the table with a tray of muffins and various other breakfast goodies.
"We can eat along the trail." Matilda presented her purse to Bright Eyes and opened it. "Dump it all in."
"Just...dump it?"
"Yep!"
Bright Eyes shrugged as she took the tray of food and poured it into the small opening of the purse. Bright Eyes watched in amazement as the food was magically sucked into the purse like a vacuum. She managed to catch one muffin, though, and hastily stuffed it in her mouth.
"Well let's get moving!" exclaimed Daring as she flew a few feet into the air. Colgate slowly stood up and let out yet another tired yawn. "Come on!" Daring grabbed one of Colgate's forelegs and pulled her towards the front door of the inn.
"I can walk myself, thank you very much," Colgate replied as she struggled to break free from Daring's surprisingly strong grasp.
The Western Cluster, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
It wasn't long after the group passed through the jungle entrance that any sight of Sunny Island Port was blocked from view. The bright, yellow light from the Sun disappeared and was replaced by a strangely calm, green haze. The trail they were on started out wide and welcoming but gradually transitioned into a thin, wormy pathway. The thick vegetation of the jungle rose up on both sides of the trail and acted almost like thick walls that kept the five ponies trapped on that one, single trail. Eventually, the trail became so thin that the ponies couldn't even walk side-by-side and had to stay in a single file line. Colgate found herself in the middle with Daring Do and Matilda ahead of her and Bright Eyes and Clockwork behind her.
"Sure is quiet," said Bright Eyes as she looked at the tall trees bordering the trail.
"I agree, and I hate to sound clichéd but it's too quiet," Clockwork added.
The group suddenly came to a halt as Daring Do, who was leading, stopped. Her ears perked up and she examined her surroundings with a look of suspicion on her face. "I'm with you guys on that one. During my first trek through the jungle, there were strange, exotic sounds to be heard everywhere I went," she explained. "Here...it's just silent." The group spent another minute looking at the the vegetation surrounding them before continuing on their way.
It wasn't until an hour later that the trail opened up into a small clearing. A little stream was flowing through it and the canopy opened up to allow yellow sunlight to pour down upon them. "We should rest here for a bit," said Daring as she placed her backpack next to the stream.
Bright Eyes fell down onto the ground and let out a groan of relief. "A rest sounds nice," she said.
Colgate walked over to a smooth rock close to the stream, sat down, and leaned against it. Daring proceeded to gather some of the stream's water in various containers while Clockwork took a few moments to examine the boundaries of the clearing. While Colgate rested her head against the rock, Matilda approached her. "Mind if I join you?" she asked.
"No. Take a seat," Colgate replied. Matilda grinned as she sat down next to Colgate. "Say, Matilda, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"That vortex manipulator of yours. You can use that for teleportation, correct?"
"I know what you're going to ask and, no, I cannot use it to teleport us to the source for dimensional rifts."
"And why not?"
"The rifts are the reason. There's so much temporal and dimensional interference in this one area of the universe that it's impossible for my vortex manipulator to pull off any major actions. Believe me, I've tried. Not even the TARDIS itself would be able to land in this jungle." Matilda gave a quick glance at Colgate's horn. "Even a teleportation spell from a unicorn would be ineffective here."
Colgate's ears perked up as she heard something reverberate through the jungle. It was a soft ringing sound that seemed to bounce off everything around her. The sound lasted for a few seconds before fading away into nothing. "Strange."
"So how far are we from the temple?" Bright Eyes asked Daring.
"In the case that the temple exists in our universe as well," Clockwork added.
"Quite a ways," Daring replied. "It took me two days in the jungle to find it. The temple's towards the center of the jungle and we're still in the Western Cluster. We've got a long way to go."
Derpy laid back down and groaned. "Hold on...what's this?" Clockwork asked suddenly as he noticed something in the brush. "I've found something!"
Matilda hastily stood up and made her way over to where Clockwork was standing. "What is it?" she asked as Colgate, Daring, and Bright Eyes attempted to get a peek.
"Something's in the brush," Clockwork replied as he pointed at something almost completely concealed by the jungle grass.
As Matilda bent down and wrapped her hooves around the object, she turned back to look at Daring. "Daring, could you be a dear and help me out?"
"Sure!" Daring replied as she ran over and proceeded to help Matilda pull the odd object into the clearing.
"What...what is it?" Bright Eyes asked as soon as she and the others got a good look at the object before them.
"Oh my Celestia," said Matilda with a chuckle. "It's a motorcycle!"
"A what?" asked Colgate, Daring, Clockwork, and Bright Eyes together as Matilda examined the rusted, black and silver motorcycle lying before them.
"A motorcycle. It's a transportational vehicle. It doesn't look like a human motorcycle so I'm guessing that it's Equestrian. Ah! Of course! There's Celestia's seal of approval!" Matilda laughed as she patted her hoof on a picture of a smiling Princess Celestia that was welded into the side of the vehicle. "But Equestrian motorcycles of this kind won't be commonplace for nearly another five centuries or so. Heck, the first motorcycle is still eighty years away."
"A rift must be responsible then," said Clockwork. Colgate, Bright Eyes, and Daring turned to look at Clockwork. "What? Was I the only one here listening to her ramblings about the motor...bike?"
"Exactly my thoughts, Clockwork," said Matilda as she stood up. "Oh and, don't worry, they're called that too."
As Clockwork smiled at Matilda, Colgate felt a strange force beginning pulling on her backside. Suddenly, Bright Eyes screamed, "COLGATE! LOOK OUT!"
Colgate turned around and found herself staring at a large patch of bubbling air immediately behind her. Just then, the spot of air ripped open and an explosion of light filled the clearing. Colgate felt herself get lifted off her hooves and pulled towards the rift. Bright Eyes hastily grabbed onto Colgate, Clockwork grabbed Bright Eyes, Matilda grasped onto Clockwork, and Daring wrapped her hooves around Matilda. "COLGATE! DON'T LET GO!" Matilda ordered.
"WHY IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WOULD I DO THAT?!" Colgate snapped back. Colgate felt her rump enter the rift. A feeling resembling that of hot and cold water rushing over her body began to flow through her skin. Her body shook violently and her teeth started to chatter vigorously.
"I'M LOOSING MY GRIP!" Daring cried as her hind hooves began to slide along the earth. The golden yellow pegasus began to frantically flap her wings in an effort to prevent herself and the others from falling through the dimensional portal.
"WE CAN'T GO THROUGH!" stated Clockwork. "WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE IT'LL TAKE US!"
The group began to slide into the rift at a quicker rate. "I'M AFRAID THAT WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!" Matilda cried.
Colgate couldn't help but let out a shriek of horror as Daring and the others finally lost their grip and everypony flew right into the rift.
The Jungle Field, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Colgate's ears were ringing as she and the others fell out of the rift. She rolled over a few times and came to a stop on an area of soft, dead grass. Her eyes popped open and she found herself looking up at a wide, blue sky. A large family of birds flew across the sky as Colgate proceeded to sit up. She was relieved to see that she and the others had made it through okay.
"That...was not fun," sighed Bright Eyes as her eyes began to invert in various, odd angles.
"Traveling through rifts is hardly fun," Matilda said as she stood up.
"Where are we?" asked Clockwork. He looked to see that he and the others were in the middle of a large field. The field was bordered on all sides by a thick jungle.
"We're in the Jungle Field!" Daring exclaimed.
"The what?" Colgate asked.
"The Jungle Field! It's basically just a field located deep within the jungle. We're practically in the Deep Cluster: the center of the jungle!"
"But what universe are we in?" Clockwork asked.
"The same one," Matilda replied as she looked at her vortex manipulator. "We're still in the same dimension."
"So...that's all the rift did? It just shot us deeper in the jungle?"
"And that's not so bad. We're closer to the temple," said Daring.
"No. It's not bad at all," said Matilda. "The rift even went and gave us a little bit more time."
"What do you mean by that?" Colgate asked.
"According to my vortex manipulator, the rift sent us about three days into the past."
"We traveled back in time?!" asked Bright Eyes.
"Yes, and I'm glad that we did. This gives us more time to sort things out."
"More time? You talk as if we have a deadline," said Daring.
Matilda gave an unsure look. "Do we?" Colgate asked.
"Not really," said Matilda. "It's just...I have a bad feeling about this year's Hearth's Warming Eve." Before anymore questions could be asked, Matilda began walking out into the field. "Come along. We best be getting to the temple.
Whoa. That was an unexpected, serious turn, Colgate thought.
"The temple should be this way," said Daring as she began leading the group across the field.
As she followed the others, Colgate couldn't help but feel that she was being watched. She turned around and what she saw made her skin crawl. Standing a few feet away from her was a familiar looking unicorn mare. "T...Twilight?" she asked. The mare looked like Twilight but she had pitch black eyes and hair, a pale coat, and blood-red lips. Her mouth was curved in a horrible smile that made Colgate shake something fierce.
"Have fun in the temple," chuckled the dark Twilight.
"What?"
"Hey Colgate!" called Daring. Colgate turned back towards the group. "Come on!"
Colgate nodded and quickly turned back around towards the dark Twilight only to see that she had disappeared. Colgate gulped hard as she turned around and continued following the others. As she walked, she could hear a cold, terrible laugh echoing through the surrounding jungle; and it only made her feel worse when she concluded that she was the only one who heard it.
The Deep Cluster, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The group decided to make camp in a small clearing once the sun had begun to set. "I thought you said the temple was only a couple hours away," Bright Eyes said to Daring, who was busy stoking the campfire.
"Okay...I might have been off a bit," Daring chuckled as the campfire roared up into a nice, warm flame. A few feet away, Clockwork and Matilda had finished setting up the tent that Matilda had pulled out of her purse of a million and one items.
"I say," gasped Clockwork as he looked through the front entrance of the tent. "This tent's as big as a house on the inside!"
"Yes. Another item I picked up in Diagon Alley," said Matilda as she sat down a few feet from the fire. "I should probably visit there again once all this drama has passed."
Colgate sat a couple feet from the fire and munched on a few leftovers from breakfast as she stared deep into the hot, orange flames. "You okay?" Bright Eyes asked as she sat down next to her.
"I'm not sure. I'm afraid I might be going crazy," Colgate replied with a chuckle.
"Well, we are an odd group. A unicorn whose skin becomes as hard as stone when somepony looks at her, an adventurous pegasus who's from a book series, a mysterious mare with a purse that's large on the inside and an abnormally large hat, and a stallion and a mare who are alternate versions of a two ponies already in this universe. I think it's alright if any of us starts to feel a bit crazy."
Colgate chuckled again in reply. "If only it were that simple, Bright Eyes. I...I think I saw Twilight earlier. Right after we fell out of the rift."
"Twilight? But she's all the way back in Equestria."
"I know...but it wasn't the Twilight we know. This Twilight looked all wrong. Her coat, mane, and eye colors were off and...that smile. Oh Celestia, that smile. Let me tell you, I've never seen something so disturbing in my life...and that's saying something as I've definitely seen some disturbing and frightening things."
"It was that bad?"
"Yeah." Colgate leaned back and looked up at the starry sky. "Weird."
"Hmm?"
"The rift. We're three days in the past. That's not very far. Right now, at this very moment, there's a past version of myself over in Equestria...and she's scared out of her mind," Colgate said as she continued to gaze up at the stars.
"And there's past versions of Clockwork and I making their way across the ocean on a boat to get over here to Elmheim," Bright Eyes added.
"Weird when you think about it, right?"
"Yeah. It kinda is."
The two mares fell silent as they stared up at the stars for a couple minutes. Daring continued to stoke the fire and eat a few bits of leftover breakfast food, Matilda was busy examining her vortex manipulator, and Clockwork was exploring the interior of Matilda's magical tent. Suddenly, a soft roar began to reverberate through the trees of the jungle around them. It wasn't the roar of an animal but more of a...produced roar. A roar that sounded like it was coming from a machine of sorts. "Now what the hay is that?" Daring asked.
Colgate and Bright Eyes gasped as a massive, metallic machine suddenly flew over the top of the clearing. Colgate, Bright Eyes, Daring, and Clockwork stared up at the odd machine as it continued to fly through the sky. Matilda, however, didn't seem affected by the sight of it. "Don't worry. It's just an airplane," she said. A few seconds later, there was a large flash of light in the sky and the airplane disappeared.
"A what?" asked Daring.
"An airplane. Like the motorcycle, it's another futuristic device. However, that appeared to be more of human origin."
"More rifts, I assume," Colgate guessed.
"Of course. You better get used to random sights like that. We're getting into the heart of rift country. That plane was only just the beginning."
"Something's telling me that I'm not supposed to feel really excited about that."
Matilda smiled at Colgate before returning to her examination of her vortex manipulator.
Later that night, Colgate awoke in a cold sweat. The sadistic smile of the dark Twilight had been haunting her dreams throughout the night. She pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen of Matilda's house-tent. After making herself a glass of water at the sink, she quickly gulped it down. She prepared to head back to bed when she heard the sounds of snapping twigs and hoofsteps on leaves coming from outside. She wanted to ignore the sounds, but something drew her to them.
She quietly exited the tent and stood in the middle of the campsite. The remnants of the campfire sat in the middle of the clearing and the pale light of Luna's Moon cast down over the jungle. Colgate turned her head as she heard the sounds emanate from a little ways away from the campsite. Every instinct in her body told her to flee but something else was begging her to follow the noise. Eventually, this other force won. Colgate gulped as she began following the noises into the jungle.
The jungle was eerily quiet as Colgate made her way through the cluster of dark trees. She made sure to keep a safe distance away from the source of the noise. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was soft and raspy. She slowly followed the source of the sounds for a few minutes before it seemed to fade away into the jungle. Colgate carefully examined the scene around her. She wanted to illuminate her horn to get a better look but a certain feeling told her not do. After a minute of looking around, she shrugged her shoulders and was about to head back when she noticed a clearing nearby. It didn't take her long to notice that somepony was standing in that clearing. Colgate gulped as she slowly approached the edge of the clearing and watched whoever was standing within it. Then...Colgate realized who it was.
It was her. It was the dark Twilight she had seen hours earlier. She wasn't doing anything. She was just standing in the clearing...waiting. Colgate noticed something lying on the ground next to the dark Twilight. It was the crazy Rainbow Dash. She was unconscious but was dressed in her black cloak as well as armed with her electrified rod. Just then, a dark humanoid figure emerged from the other side of the clearing. Colgate couldn't really make out who the figure was but what she could see was that it was male and had an incredibly pale face. "They're all sound asleep. Just how I like them," chuckled the figure. Colgate shuttered as she heard the unsheathing of a knife. "Shall I go have my fun?"
"You shan't," replied the dark Twilight sternly. "Not yet. Those ponies have their purpose. Once that purpose is fulfilled, you can then do whatever you wish. I know it may be hard for one as normally as...unpredictable as you to follow such orders but I assure you that your time is coming."
"I hope so. It's been far too long since I've had any fun. So what about her?"
The dark Twilight nudged the unconscious crazy Rainbow Dash and chuckled. "She has her purpose too. A rift is going to open soon and take her to an alternate world. From there, we'll just let her do her own thing. I've studied her past actions and I think she can do enough damage on her own. Eventually, her path should intertwine with the others."
"Don't let her take any of my meat!"
"I wouldn't dream of it. Don't worry, my psychotic friend, there is plenty of fresh meat around to satisfy your hunger." The dark Twilight began walking towards the edge of the clearing. "Come. Let us head to the temple and prepare. Tomorrow should be an absolutely enjoyable day."
"Yes. I look forward to it." The figure proceeded to let out a horrible, nightmare-inducing laugh before following the dark Twilight into the jungle.
Colgate stood there, frozen in fear, for at least five minutes. It wasn't until a rift opened and took the unconscious crazy Rainbow Dash to another dimension that Colgate finally gained the strength to head back. Her mind became fuzzy and she hardly remembered her walk back to the campsite when she finally made it back into the safety of Matilda's tent. It took her quite a while to fall asleep when she returned to her bed. The voices of the dark Twilight and her sadistic companion tainted her thoughts and chilled her to the bone. Eventually, however, she managed to push the thoughts away and drift off into a deep sleep.
Bright Eyes was the one who woke Colgate up the following morning. "Sleep well?" she asked with a glowing, cute grin.
Colgate let out one of her usual early morning groans and rubbed her messy mane into place. "Not exactly," she replied.
"Nightmare?"
"It sure felt like it." Bright Eyes gave a confused and concerned look. Colgate was about to explain to her about the events that had taken place during the night but Colgate concluded that Bright Eyes wasn't the one to speak to about this. "Nevermind. It was just a realistic nightmare." Colgate hastily got out of bed and made her way out of the tent.
I need to speak with Matilda, she thought. Clockwork and Daring were busy eating breakfast in the center of the campsite while Matilda was sitting towards the edge of the clearing and was once again examining her vortex manipulator.
"You look like you have something on your mind," Matilda said when Colgate approached her.
"I do," Colgate replied.
Colgate sat down next to her and proceeded to tell her about what she had witnessed during the night. When she was finished, Matilda gave a serious look. "At least we have a clearer picture as to how and why the crazy Rainbow Dash crossed paths with Daring back in her universe," she said.
"Personally, the other two intimidate me more than the crazy Rainbow Dash," said Colgate.
Matilda was silent for a few seconds. "I know who this dark Twilight is. The one you've seen."
"You do?!"
"Yes. Her name's Thalia. She's an evil clone of Twilight."
"A clone? When was she created? How was she created?"
"Celestia knows. Like me, she encounters the Doctor and his companions out of chronological order. From this point in time, she's yet to be created."
"And yet she's here now. Does she have a vortex manipulator like you?"
"I think so. Where she got one, I do not know. But what I do know is that things have gotten much more difficult for us now that Thalia's involved. Celestia knows what plan she has now."
"Is she one of those I'm going to take over the world types?"
"No. She's more like those I'm going to destroy you no matter what it takes and destroy as much as I can in the process types."
"She sounds fun."
"You don't know the half of it."
"But...there was somepony else there too. A human."
"Yes, speaking of that, what did this human look like?"
"I couldn't see much, as it was very dark, but I could tell that it was male, was wearing a trench coat, was wielding a knife, and had an incredibly pale face. I think he also had matted, black hair but I couldn't really tell in the dark."
"Sounds a lot like somebody I read about on the internet once."
"The what?"
"Nevermind. From what you told me about what he said, he sounds like somebody whom Thalia has teamed up with for this current plan of hers."
"And he was also really sadistic. He was in our camp last night! He had a knife! He wanted...he wants to kill us!"
"Oh. From the sound of things, I think he wants to do much more than kill us." Matilda fell silent for a couple more seconds. "But we musn't think of that. We have to think about what we're fighting for. The Doctor. Our families. Our friends. Equestria. The universe. We must think of these and not what horrible things our enemies wish to do." Matilda stood up. "We best pack everything up. We need to get to the Elmheim Temple as soon as possible."
"They're waiting for us there."
Matilda gave a snarky, yet confident, grin. "And we'll be ready."
The Deep Cluster, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
It didn't take long for everything to get packed and the five ponies to set off once again. Clockwork lost himself in his thoughts for a little while while he and the others walked. He thought over what had recently happened, his latest travels with Bright Eyes, his encounter with the Doctor, and...Twilight. He thought back to her smiling face and her sweet, intelligent voice. He couldn't help but crack a sad smile. I don't think I'll ever stop missing you, Twilight, he thought as he looked up towards the green, shady canopy of the jungle. I hope I never do.
Suddenly, the atmosphere around Clockwork and the others changed drastically. It was a change that could best be described as the feeling one would get if they were standing in the middle of an electrical field. The change of atmosphere had differing effects on the group. Colgate began to breathe heavily and her body started shaking slightly. The hairs on Clockwork's body stood up. Matilda began to feel itchy and uncomfortable. Bright Eyes began to grow sleepy and disoriented. And Daring began to feel like she was being watched from all sides and began to look around like a paranoid nutcase. "Did you hear that?!" Daring snapped as she looked at a nearby bush.
"There's nothing there," said Clockwork as he quickly examined the bush.
"Does anypony else feel...weird?" Bright Eyes asked as she struggled to walk in a straight line.
"We must be getting close," Matilda deduced. "The concentration of temporal and magical energies in the area is bound to cause some strange side effects. We must press on."
"Right," said Daring as she looked around the trail. "I remember the temple being...this way." Daring darted off the trail and the others followed in hot pursuit.
As they continued through the jungle, Colgate and the others began to notice odd things moving about the trees. Blurry images of animals that didn't exist in this world, futuristic devices, trains, and various other, shadowy visions moved about. "What are those things?" Colgate asked Matilda.
"Echoes," she replied. "Visions of others worlds and times that are being shown here due to the temporal energies of the rifts." Some of the visions were friendly and weird, such as four human children following a pair of beavers and a man with a childish smile and wearing a long, multicolored scarf running about. But others were more intimidating and darker, such as a human boy with black hair and glasses being chased through trees alongside his two friends by a group of shady men and metallic ghosts marching after a cluster of frightened ponies. Colgate shivered and Matilda placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Best not think about them too much. Just keep moving forward."
Colgate gulped, nodded, and followed Matilda's advice as she turned forward and tried her best to not focus on the shady echoes surrounding the trail.
Elmheim Temple Gate, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
"Ha! Here it is!" exclaimed Daring as she ran towards the golden structure that was situated in the middle of the jungle. "The temple's just down this trail!"
The others looked down the trail before them and could just make out a golden tower rising up in the distance. "So it exists in this world after all," said Clockwork with a happy smirk. "I still don't get how the temple's in the same place here as it is in an alternate universe that's a book series here."
"I'm sure it isn't normally," said Matilda.
"More stuff from the rifts?" Bright Eyes asked.
"Yes. I have a feeling that the temple was in a slightly different location here originally, as was the temple in your world, Daring."
They began to quickly make their way down the temple trail. "So both the temple here and the temple in Daring's world were moved?" Colgate asked.
"Yes," Matilda replied.
"Why?"
"Because this is where the source is. Whatever world holds the Elmheim Temple that contains the source of the rifts is affecting the alternate versions of the temple. Whether it's an intentional move by whoever's behind this or it's an unintentional side effect, I cannot determine yet."
Bright Eyes gasped and Colgate's mouth went wide as the trail opened up into a clearing filled with tons of tall, stone pillars. But, of course, the main attraction was the Elmheim Temple itself: a gorgeous and truly marvelous collection of golden spires, towers, and domes. There was definitely a sense of strong power emanating from the temple for a soft, electrical hum was reverberating through the air. The hairs on the ponies' bodies stood up and their muscles began to tighten. Daring reached into her backpack and pulled out a whip. "That Rainbow Dash could be here somewhere," she said.
As they walked, everypony prepared themselves for a surprise attack. Colgate and Matilda were more prepared for an appearance by Thalia or her pale, human accomplice. Thankfully, no obstacles came to greet them as they approached the front entrance of the temple.
"There's no turning back after this," said Clockwork as they reached the top of the stairs and came up to the front doors.
"Please, dearie, we passed the no turning back point a long time ago," Matilda chuckled. Both Colgate and Bright Eyes gulped and Daring wiped her sweaty brow.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Clockwork asked. "Let's head in."
Everypony nodded as Daring grabbed the handles of the doors and pushed forward.
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The entrance hall of the temple certainly was not what Colgate had expected to see. She and the others had expected to step into a room with torches, cobwebs, and golden brick walls. Instead, they were standing in the middle of a clean foyer that one would normally see inside a mansion. The walls were covered in white wallpaper, the floor was jade tile, and, from the ceiling, there hung a truly spectacular chandelier that glistened with the bright and exuberant colors of a rainbow. Warm, welcoming sunlight poured in through the windows on both sides of the entrance doors. When the ponies looked out, they saw not a jungle but a series of clean cut acres of grass and flower beds spreading out.
"Wow," said Bright Eyes.
"Wow indeed," Clockwork added.
"You thought the jungle was weird. We're in the belly of the beast now, dearies," said Matilda. "Things will only get crazier from here."
"Oh goodie," sighed Colgate.
"I'll take on anything!" exclaimed Daring.
"Good!" said Matilda with a grin. "Now let's move on!"
The group decided to go through the door immediately across from the entrance. Through the door was a dark hallway filled with cobwebs, old lanterns, and walls covered in peeling, pink wallpaper. As soon as everypony had entered and they had shut the door to the foyer, the whole temple shook around them. "What the hay?!" gasped Colgate.
Clockwork turned around and opened the door to the foyer, only to find himself looking out into a large cavern with a pool of magma in the center. The heat was intense and he hastily shut the door once again. "Definitely not going back that way!" he said.
"This temple's a labyrinth. A magical labyrinth," said Daring as she began looking around anxiously.
"We better stick together then," said Bright Eyes. "We don't want to get separated in here."
"Right," said Matilda. "Everypony stay close."
The hallway they were in was devoid of doors. The only other objects in the hallway aside from the cobwebs and the old torches hanging from the walls were old painting of elite stallions and mares from Equestria's past. Bright Eyes gasped as a pair of eyes on one of the paintings moved. "Just keep moving," said Clockwork as he pushed Bright Eyes along.
At the end of the hallway, a single metal door was there to greet them. It was terribly rusted and it opened with ease. On the other side was a large room filled with empty prison cells. Dim, white lights hung from the ceiling and flies circled around them. The air smelled of cigarette smoke and toilet water and the floor felt dirty and rough beneath their hooves. The cells weren't entirely empty though. An occasional cell would have a chain or a chair sitting in the center. When Daring stopped to look in at one that had three chairs in it, all three chairs slid towards the back on the cell on their own accord. Daring didn't say anything but the look of uncomfortable fear on her face made it clear that she was definitely eager to get out of this particular room.
The next room was more like a room that one would find in a temple. It was a roomy chamber with bright, white and yellow torches hanging from the walls and odd, dusty boxes sitting in various compartments that were dug out in certain portions of the walls. A old fountain was situated in the center of the chamber but there was no water to be seen in it. Colgate approached one of the compartments and picked up one of the boxes. It was a wooden box but, despite being dusty, it felt like it was brand new. Colgate opened the lid and peered inside. Within the box, there sat a note that read: Just go to sleep! A cold sensation washed over her shoulders and she hastily closed the box and put it back into its compartment.
The room after this was a welcomed change. The ponies were now in what appeared to be a child's room. The walls were painted light blue and pink, the floor was covered in white carpet, and sunlight poured in through a nearby window. Matilda looked through the window to see that the room they were in was located at the top of a tall building. She could see humans walking alongside the street far below and the street itself was filled with carriages being drawn by horses. "Appears to be an early 20th century city," she deduced. She looked further and could see the ocean in the distance.
"Are those ponies down there?" Colgate asked as she peered down to the street below.
"No, dear. Those are horses. Completely different creatures," Matilda replied.
"I guess we better get moving then," said Daring.
"Must we? I actually really like this room," said Bright Eyes.
"She said that you'd come," stated a new voice. Everypony looked to see a little human girl with fair skin, blonde hair, and a white dress sitting on the bed.
"Where'd she come from?!" Daring asked.
"Nevermind that," said Matilda as she approached the girl. "Who said that we'd come?"
"Ms. Thalia. She said this would be the perfect time and place for you to come," the girl replied with a robotic expression.
"And...where and when exactly are we?"
"San Francisco, April 18, 1906."
Matilda's face became pale. "Matilda? What's wrong?" Clockwork asked.
"Everypony get out of the room now!" Matilda ordered. Before anypony could make it to the next door, the building began to shake violently.
"What's going on?!" asked Colgate as she held onto the bed.
"Earthquake!" Matilda cried. Everypony screamed as the building crumbled around them and they all fell into darkness.
Colgate awoke to find herself lying down on the floor in the middle of a massive, abandoned warehouse. It would have been pitch black if it were not for the series of yellow lights dangling from the ceiling. "Hello? Matilda? Clockwork? Bright Eyes? Daring Do?" Colgate asked as she stood up. She looked for any sign of the others but they were nowhere to be seen. Stacks of crates and junk lined the interior of the warehouse, creating long shadows that stretched over Colgate like lustful claws. Just then, the sound of shoes on concrete began to echo around her. "Who...who's there?!" For several long, agonizing seconds, the footsteps reverberated through the air and Colgate felt like she was going to explode from anxiety. Then a cold, menacing laugh joined the footsteps. Colgate wanted to run but her body had frozen in place. She eventually managed to turn around and, as she did, a figure came into her line of sight.
She instantly recognized the figure as the human that had met with Thalia in the jungle the previous night. Now that she could see him in the light, she wanted to learn nothing more about him. His face was abnormally white and a mop of black hair sat on his head. A permanent smile was carved into his face and black outlines covered his non-blinking eyes for his eyelids had been burned clean off. The man laughed again as he took a few steps towards Colgate. A large butcher knife was in his hand. He can't hurt me with that knife. As long as he looks at me, which shouldn't be a problem, I'm as tough as stone! she thought. But...that knife is still a little intimidating.
"Who...who are you?!" Colgate asked loudly after finally gaining the courage to do so.
The man laughed again and swung the knife back and forth. "I'm Jeff...nice to meet you, Colgate," the man replied.
"How do you-"
"I've taken some time to get to know you in the Memory Room." Jeff gave another chuckle and began twirling his long hair with one of his fingers. "I even know that your skin's as hard as stone right now. So I guess this knife wouldn't have any effect on you." He looked at his knife as he balanced it in his hand. "But...it doesn't matter. I can still have my fun...as long as I don't see you." He reached into one of his trench coat pockets and pulled out a small controller with a big, red button on it. He looked at the button and proceeded to let out another loud, chilling laugh as he turned to smile sadistically at Colgate. "Now...just go to sleep." Jeff clicked the button and every light in the warehouse turned off.
Colgate gasped as she heard Jeff running towards her in the darkness. She blindly turned away from the direction where Jeff was coming from and broke into a quick run. She tried to keep her breathing as quiet as possible as she ran through the darkness. Jeff's footsteps began to fade away but Colgate soon found herself running into a stack of crates. The loud sound of falling crates and splintering wood rang out. This was quickly followed by Jeff's signature laugh and more footsteps.
I need to find a door! I need to find a door! Colgate thought as she ran through the darkness. I can't die here! I won't die here! Whenever she would start to lose Jeff, she would run into another stack of crates and Jeff would start trailing her again. This process repeated for several minutes until Colgate finally decided to stop running. By some amount of luck, Colgate was blindly able to come across a place to hide. It felt like a table covered in a variety of quilts and sheets. She hastily and quietly slid under the table and waited.
Silence fell in the dark warehouse. Colgate listened as Jeff's footsteps reverberated around the interior of the room. All the while, she remained silent. Then...she felt something poke her side. It felt like a hoof. She wanted to gasp but she placed her hooves over her mouth to keep herself quiet. Something or somepony was lying next to her. However, Colgate decided to stay under the table for she felt safer under the covered table with a stranger versus being chased around in the dark by Jeff. After several minutes of Jeff running around the darkness and Colgate hiding, the lights came back on. Colgate was finally able to take a look at her surroundings.
The table she had hidden under was wooden. All of its sides were covered in layers and layers of sheets of various colors. She then turned to see what was lying next to her. A feeling of relief washed over her as she looked and saw an unconscious Bright Eyes. Oh thank Celestia, Colgate thought.
Just then, Bright Eyes began to wake up. Colgate quickly placed her hooves over Bright Eyes's mouth to keep her from making any noise. "Just keep quiet!" Colgate whispered into Bright Eyes's ear. "There's a maniac with a knife in this warehouse looking for me!"
Bright Eyes nodded as a sign that she understood what Colgate had said. The two mares held their breath as the heavy footsteps of Jeff began to draw closer to their location. Jeff came to a stop a few feet from where Colgate and Bright Eyes were hiding. The two mares' hearts began to race and sweat proceeded to roll down their faces. After a minute or two, Jeff turned around and walked off in a different direction.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Bright Eyes whispered to Colgate.
"We just have to wait for the right moment," Colgate whispered back.
Just then, Colgate heard a new series of footsteps. However, these sounded more like hoofsteps. Then a familiar voice spoke. "Found any of them yet, Jeff?" asked the voice of Thalia.
Jeff's signature laugh rang out. "Colgate's in here somewhere. She's decided to go and play hide and seek with me," Jeff chuckled.
Thalia let out a sigh and took a few steps in Colgate and Bright Eyes's direction. "She's over there." The two hiding mares gasped as the table above them was magically flung through the air. Thalia was standing a few feet away from them and Jeff was not too far behind her. "And, look, the pegasus with the weird eyes is with her."
"Run, Bright Eyes!" Colgate ordered. However, they quickly discovered that they couldn't run for their hooves were now being magically held to the floor.
"You can have your fun, Jeff," Thalia chuckled.
Jeff approached Colgate and Bright Eyes with the light button in one hand and his knife in the other. "Now where were we?" Jeff asked with a smile. "Oh, that's right! You were just about to go to sleep!"
"Why are you doing this?! What do you want?!" Colgate asked as she looked at Jeff and then at Thalia.
"Revenge," Thalia replied.
"Revenge?" Bright Eyes asked.
"Well, not just revenge. This is also just really fun for me."
Colgate looked as Jeff raised his knife and prepared to turn the lights off. No...I can't die here. I...I just can't, Colgate thought as she stared at her own reflection in Jeff's knife. However, before Jeff could turn off the lights, another laugh broke the silence. This one, surprisingly, didn't come from Jeff. It was giddy, joyful, and had a mischievous tone to it.
"Come now, dearie. Is that really a way to treat two mares?" asked a male voice. Colgate, Bright Eyes, Thalia, and Jeff looked to see a man with sparkling skin, messy hair, a leather vest, and a fur coat standing a few feet away from them.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Thalia asked.
The man gave a giddy chuckle and then bowed politely. "Name's Rumplestiltskin, dearie. Now I suggest you let those two go before things get nasty."
"Oh...but they've already gotten nasty," chuckled Jeff before he began to charge towards the man known as Rumplestiltskin. Rumplestiltskin simply waved his hand and Jeff went flying off towards the edge of the warehouse. Thalia sent a burst of dark magic at Rumplestiltskin but he simply deflected it and sent it back at her. Thalia shrieked as the repelled attack burned at her skin.
The evil clone glared at Colgate and Bright Eyes and snapped, "This isn't over." She then disappeared in a flash of light.
Colgate and Bright Eyes smiled as they realized that they could now move their hooves again. "Thank you," Colgate said to Rumplestiltskin.
"Oh don't mention it, dearie. But, now, you two must adhere to the agreement," Rumplestiltskin replied.
"Agreement? What agreement?" Colgate raised her eyebrows at the magical man.
"My services aren't free, you know. Your friend Matilda appeared in my castle through means of the strange workings of this fine establishment and she made a deal with me to have me rescue her friends, that being you, from whatever horrors that you were facing. In exchange, you, her friends, would have to get something for me."
"Whatever happened to just doing a kind deed without asking for anything in return?" Bright Eyes asked.
Rumplestiltskin shook one of his fingers. "That's not how I work. I can easily bring those two back and let the four of you continue where you left off."
Colgate shivered slightly. It was at this moment that she noticed a dark aura emanating from Rumplestiltskin. It was thick, heavy, and made Colgate feel quite scared...and a little sad. "You're as dark as them," Colgate accused.
"Oh, dearie...I'm darker." Rumplestiltskin leaned in closer to the two mares. "Much darker."
Why in the name of Celestia would Matilda make a deal with this creep? Colgate thought. "Fine," she said. "What do you need us to get?"
Rumplestiltskin let out a giddy laugh and extended his hand forward. There was a puff of purple smoke and a map appeared in his outstretched hand. "As you've come to realize by this point, this temple is a labyrinth. Constantly changing, constantly moving, constantly dangerous. This map will help guide you the room where you'll find what I seek."
"So what is it that you want?"
"An aspect of true love."
"True love? How exactly can we bring true love to you?"
"In this!" Rumplestiltskin smirked as he magically produced a small vial. Colgate cautiously took the map and the vial from Rumplestiltskin's hands.
"So how come you couldn't get it?" Bright Eyes asked suddenly.
"You see, my little pegasus, true love, shall we say, isn't exactly a product that I am able to obtain easily. True love tends to favor the light over the dark. You ponies are naturally good creatures, for the most part, so it should be no difficult feat for you in obtaining it."
"We need to hurry, Bright Eyes," said Colgate. "Let's get this done, find the others, and then find the source."
"That brings me to one, last thing, dearies," said Rumplestiltskin.
"And that would be?"
"As I'm feeling a bit generous today, I'll make you a second deal."
"How is that generous?"
"Because what I'm offering will help you ponies out. I've already asked you to find one aspect of true love in exchange for me saving you. Now, in exchange for me helping you find this source, all you have to do is find another aspect of true love."
"Another aspect?"
"Yes. True love has many forms, dearies. I want you to find a pure aspect of it and then, for our second deal, I want you to find a dark aspect of it."
"How can true love be dark?" Bright Eyes asked.
"Like I said. True love has many forms."
"I don't know," said Colgate.
"Maybe we should make this other deal," Bright Eyes suggested. "I mean, this place is definitely a labyrinth. It might take us forever to find what we want. But he can direct us through the labyrinth."
Colgate glared at Rumplestiltskin. "How can you do that?"
Rumplestiltskin waved his hand. "You know. Magic."
"Dark magic."
"Perhaps. But, from how things are looking right now, dark magic might be your best bet at finding what you seek. Besides, it's not like you're the ones using it."
Colgate and Bright Eyes exchanged nervous glances. After a moment of silence, the two mares nodded. "Fine," said Colgate. "We accept the second deal and we'll stay true to the first."
"Excellent! The path to the room you seek starts on the other side of that door!" Colgate and Bright Eyes looked to see that a new door had appeared in the room. They nodded to each other and began making their way over to it. "Oh, and a few words of advice for the future, dearies." They turned back to look at Rumplestiltskin. "I'd suggest being careful. All magic comes with a price and this place is full of it."
"All magic comes with a price, huh?" Colgate asked. "Even yours?"
Rumplestiltskin's face suddenly became quite serious. "Yes...even mine." The magical man then disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
"Come on, Colgate," said Bright Eyes. "We've got some true love to find."
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Daring Do awoke to find a hard, stone surface beneath her and something heavy and alive lying on top of her. She quickly jumped up and the thing on top of her tumbled to the ground next to her. She turned and sighed upon seeing that what had been on top of her was an unconscious Clockwork. It was here that Daring got a good whiff of the air of the room she was now in. It smelled of dust and candles. Upon looking around the room, it wasn't hard to figure out why.
The room that Daring and Clockwork were in was filled with rows upon rows of wax figures. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, alicorns, minotaurs, rabbits, dragons, zebras, mules, donkeys and any other creature that came to Daring's mind was represented by at least ten wax figures in the room. Daring wasn't one to normally get creeped out but the wax figures were doing a pretty good job at doing so. Their eyes were glassy and emotionless and glimmered slightly in the light of the lanterns that dangled from the walls like loose limbs. Daring soon found herself quickly looking in every direction. Everywhere she looked, there was a wax figure waiting to greet her with its frozen, dusty face. I think it's time to get out of this room and find the others, Daring decided in thought as she hastily slung the unconscious Clockwork on her back and started searching for an exit.
The room of wax figures was huge, to say the least. It was almost like a temple in itself. The thick smell of dust and candles lingered in every inch of the room and the glass-like eyes of the figures seemed to follow Daring wherever she went. "They're only wax figures. They're only wax figures," Daring mumbled to herself as she walked past a wax representation of a spider the size of six grown stallions. A series of cold, strong shivers shot up her spine and she silently wished for Clockwork to wake up so that she would no longer be practically alone in the room with the figures.
"Creepy? Aren't they?" chuckled a familiar voice from the shadows.
Daring quickly identified the voice as that of the crazy Rainbow Dash. "Let's just skip the taunting through the dark and you just come on out," Daring sighed. Rainbow Dash emerged from a cluster of pegasi wax figures and grinned sadistically at Daring. "So, we meet yet again."
"You talk as if that's a bad thing." Rainbow balanced her electrified rod in her hooves as she kept her focus on Daring.
Daring placed Clockwork on the floor and pulled a whip out of her backpack. "Let's just get this over with. I have some friends to find."
Rainbow laughed in response and stored her rod away. "Now, we could just go one-on-one again but that wouldn't be fun for me." The cyan pegasus reached into her cloak and pulled out what appeared to be a magical remote of sorts. "That nice unicorn gave this to me when I returned to the temple. Let's see how handy this proves to be."
Rainbow proceeded to click the button on the remote and every head of every wax figure in the room turned to look at Daring. Daring felt as if a rock had dropped into the pit of her stomach. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."
"You may tear her apart, wax minions," chuckled Rainbow as she smiled at the wax figures.
Daring gulped as the figures began to come alive and slowly surround her and the still unconscious Clockwork. As much as I'd normally love to go tearing through an army of creepy wax figures, I don't have the time. I need to find the others! Daring thought as the wax attackers drew in closer. Daring quickly slung Clockwork back onto her back and took off into the air. It was a little bit harder than usual due to the extra weight but Daring managed to get some good air. However, as soon as she began to fly her way towards the nearest exit, the wax figures with wings, such as the pegasi and the dragons, took flight and headed straight for her. Daring swerved away from a group of wax pegasi and just barely dodged the spiked tail of a wax dragon. A cluster of wax parasprites dived for her and she managed to get out of their way but grazed one of her legs in the process.
"What...what's happening?" asked a voice from Daring's back.
Daring gasped a bit at the sudden awakening of Clockwork. "Now?! You're waking up now?!" Daring asked as she flew under a pair of wax dragons.
"What...what's going on?!"
"Just hold on tight!" Daring increased the flapping of her wings and dived towards an exit at the far side of the room. Clockwork grasped onto Daring tightly as the dusty air blew through his mane. Daring dodged a few more groups of flying wax figures as well as avoided projectiles being thrown up by the figures on the ground. "We're almost there!"
"Good! 'Cause I think I'm about to be sick!"
"Don't you dare-" Daring let out a scream of pain as a massive, electrical shock unexpectedly coursed through her body. Her muscles went numb and she proceeded to fall to the ground below. She and Clockwork hit the ground hard just a few yards from the exit.
After a series of rolls on the ground, Clockwork stood up and got his senses back. "Daring!" He ran to the weakened pegasus's side and was grazed by an electrical burst. He looked up to see the crazy Rainbow Dash approaching him and Daring, her electrical rod at the ready, and the army of wax closing in.
"I think it's time we finished this," chuckled Rainbow Dash.
"Clockwork...run," croaked Daring.
"No! I'm not leaving you! Besides," Clockwork stated before looking back towards the exit to see that a group of wax gorillas was blocking it now, "I don't think I could if I wanted to." Clockwork gave a hard gulp. He pulled Daring closer and balanced the injured adventurer in his forelegs as the army of wax drew in closer.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of purple smoke that seemed to emanate from the center of the room. As the smoke spread out, the wax figures melted into pools of liquid mush. Within seconds, Clockwork, Daring, and Rainbow Dash were situated in the middle of a thick sea of melted wax. "What...WHAT THE HELL?!" snapped the crazy Rainbow Dash. A giddy laugh echoed through the room and the three ponies turned to see a strange creature approaching them.
"That turned out a bit messier than I had expected," chuckled Rumplestiltskin as he approached the ponies. Rainbow aimed the rod at Rumplestiltskin but he simply sent it flying away with a wave of his hand. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to hurt me, dearie."
"I'm just getting warmed up!" Rainbow flew towards Rumplestiltskin but he waved his hand again and she froze in place.
"I'm in a bit of a hurry so I don't really have time for a fight. Since I'm feeling a bit generous, and the deal doesn't include me killing you, I'll just send you back to your little master." Rumplestiltskin waved his hand one last time, a vortex opened up in the mush of melted wax beneath Rainbow Dash, and the frozen Rainbow Dash fell into the vortex and disappeared. Rumplestiltskin let out another chuckle as he turned his attention to Clockwork and Daring. "Your welcome."
"Thank you?" Clockwork replied. Although he was happy to have been saved from the crazy Rainbow Dash and the wax figures, he still couldn't help but notice a dark power emanating from his rescuer. "And you are?"
"Rumplestiltskin!" replied the magic man. "You can thank your friend Matilda for making the deal with me that encouraged me to save your lives."
"Matilda?"
"Yes! Oh and speaking of her, we best be getting back to her now so we can wait."
"Wait? For what?"
"For your other little friends to get what I asked them to get. Off we go!" Rumplestiltskin gave a childish chuckle and, before Clockwork could ask anything else, the three of them disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
After passing through a hallway of nothing but yellow wallpaper, Colgate and Bright Eyes entered a classroom filled with dusty chairs and piles of old school equipment. The room was dark and the only source of light was the luminous moonlight pouring in through the old windows. The wooden floor creaked with every step they took and various critters scuttered across its surface. "Creepy," said Bright Eyes.
"This whole temple is creepy," Colgate added. "The way its rooms change. It's like we're walking through a blender of rooms and hallways from different realities." She approached one of the windows and peered outside. A castle spread out before her and a vast lake could be seen glimmering in the distance. "Sometimes, I forget we're even in the temple. It's almost as if we're in these other worlds altogether."
"Actually, you're in both," came a voice from the shadows. Colgate jumped and swung around. Her jaw dropped as she saw herself emerging from a dark corner in the room.
"What the hay?!" gasped Bright Eyes.
"Don't worry! I'm not a threat," explained the other Colgate.
"Then...what are you?" Colgate asked as she awkwardly examined her double. "A clone?"
"No. I'm you from a few minutes in the future."
"What?"
"I know it's confusing. Trust me...er...yourself. I'm...er...you still don't quite get it."
Bright Eyes's eyes began to spin around like tops. "My head hurts," she sighed.
"You'll understand once you get to the junk room...hopefully," said the future Colgate.
"The junk room?" Colgate asked.
"Well...that's what I decided to name it." A look of realization appeared on future Colgate's face and she began making her way towards one of the desks. "Let's see. Ah! Here it is! The desk with the drawings!" Colgate looked at the desk that her future self was approaching and saw that a great number of scribbles had been drawn on its surface. Future Colgate stood in front of the desk and smirked at Colgate and Bright Eyes. "Don't worry, Colgate, you'll get everything right. And, Bright Eyes, I hope you're waiting on the other side."
And, with that, future Colgate lifted the lid of the desk. A bright, white light emanated from within the open desk. Colgate watched as her future self jumped into the light. The lid of the desk slammed shut and the light vanished. "What the hell?!" Colgate asked as she ran over to the desk in question and lifted the lid. There was nothing inside the desk aside from some old paper, used chewing gum, and a family of cockroaches. She let the lid fall back into place and walked back to Bright Eyes.
"I'm guessing the junk room's going to be an interesting place," the pegasus deduced.
"Yeah...I'm just a little nervous about what's waiting for me on the other side of that desk portal."
Using Rumplestiltskin's map, Colgate and Bright Eyes safely made their way through a few more rooms on their journey to find true love. One room they ended up in was filled to the brim with stuffed animals and quilts. Bright Eyes enjoyed the room until the toys began to come alive and say threatening things, which encouraged the two ponies to get out of there.
The next room was nothing but a simple, gray, concrete basement with fluorescent lights on the ceiling emanating a bright shower of white light. However, the two mares weren't alone in the room for moving about were more echoes of ponies, people, and creatures from other times and worlds. The echoes were blurry, disfigured, and muffled. Soft fragments of dialogue moved with them.
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed-"
"See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the-"
"The evil time will be over and-"
"My friends are my p-"
"We're in a land without magic-"
"This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own-"
"Now, look who's a liar. Anypony can plainly see that I'm not-"
"I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to-"
"I am that male. Artemis the Hunter. I hunted-"
"I met this six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest-"
"Let's move on," Colgate said suddenly as several chills traveled down her spine.
"Agreed," Bright Eyes added with a quick nod.
A puke green hallway waited for them following the concrete room of echoes, a simple temple-like chamber came after that, and a room filled with sunflowers and roses was after that. Colgate made sure to carefully follow Rumplestiltskin's map and, with each room she and Bright Eyes passed through, she could feel herself growing closer and closer to the room that held what the magical man needed.
After exiting a room filled with photos of creepy dolls and maps of strange countries, Colgate found herself getting smacked in the face with a branch. She pushed the branch aside to see a small forest spread out before her. "A forest?" she questioned aloud as she walked her way into a small clearing in the center of the forest room.
"What else does this temple have?" Bright Eyes asked in wonder as she stared up at the starry sky above them. A blue, electronic wave phased across the sky and Bright Eyes gave a disappointed sigh. "It's fake."
"Obviously." Colgate examined the map closely. "The room we're in has several exits but the exit we're looking for is the one on the...right!" Colgate took a step to the right when she noticed something appear on the map.
"What's wrong?"
Colgate took another look at the map and gave a confused stare. "That's weird."
"What is?"
"A message just appeared on the map."
Bright Eyes stepped closer to Colgate and examined the map. Just off to the side, a simple sentence had appeared: Look out for temporal separation, dearies. "Temporal separation?" Bright Eyes asked as she took a look around the room. "What do you think that-" Bright Eyes froze as she turned back to Colgate only to see that the blue unicorn had vanished. "Colgate?" Bright Eyes began to panic as she spun around in a circle and proceeded to yell in every direction. "Colgate? Colgate?! COLGATE!"
"Sweetie, calm down," said a familiar voice. Bright Eyes turned to see Matilda emerging from the left side of the room.
"Matilda? How did you-"
"I don't have time to explain. I just need you to know that everything's going to be okay."
"What about-"
"Colgate's fine. She'll be back in a moment." Matilda's face suddenly grew very somber. She slowly and awkwardly approached Bright Eyes and gave her a quick, yet tight, hug. "No matter what happens, everything's going to be okay. Don't forget that." Bright Eyes looked deep into Matilda's eyes and nodded. Matilda smiled back. "Good. Oh and thanks for the heads up on that chandelier."
"Yeah. That's an odd phrase," stated a voice behind Bright Eyes. The confused pegasus turned around to see Colgate standing there, holding the map. "Temporal separation...it sounds like some more of that-" Colgate felt the air knocked out of her lungs as Bright Eyes lunged forward and wrapped her forelegs around her. "Whoa! What's all that about?"
"You disappeared!" Bright Eyes exclaimed.
Colgate gave a confused look. "I did? When?"
"Just now! You were here and then you were gone!"
"Really? I don't remember."
"Matilda saw it too. Right, Matilda?" Bright Eyes turned around and was shocked to see that the mare with the brim hat had vanished.
"Matilda? What about her? I thought she was with Rumplestiltskin."
"But she was just here! She appeared when you disappeared."
The two mares looked around the forest room and gulped. "I have a feeling that this temporal separation had something to do with what you saw and I believe it's time for us to continue on our way," said Colgate.
"I'm with you on that one," Bright Eyes replied. The two mares then hastily made their way towards the designated exit.
After passing through a few uneventful rooms, Colgate and Bright Eyes entered a room that sent a few shivers down their spines, especially Colgate's. It was a large room that was covered in an orange haze, which was being created by the dozens of yellow ceiling lights. It was also filled with tons upon tons of broken and/or forgotten objects. Old toys, torn books, ripped dolls, aged pictures, burnt tables, smashed crates, rotten food, and almost any other type of leftover junk that one could think of was stacked about the room. Bright Eyes turned to Colgate and gulped. "This is it, isn't it?" she asked.
"I think so," Colgate replied as she took a few steps forward. "The junk room." The sound of shuffling papers could be heard and one of the smaller stacks seemed to fall over on its own. "Keep your guard up."
"Don't worry. I am." The two mares turned to each other, nodded, and began to make their way into the depths of the room.
The room proved to be much larger than either Colgate or Bright Eyes had expected. It seemed to go on for eternity in almost every direction. Bright Eyes flew up to try and get a better look but it didn't help for there seemed to be powerful magic working in the room that prevented her from flying too high. "What does the map say?" Bright Eyes asked as she landed.
"Just keep going straight," Colgate replied. "The room we're looking for is after this one."
"At least we're almost done with this side quest."
"Something tells me that finding the source of the rifts isn't going to be that much easier."
Bright Eyes nodded and sighed. "You're probably right." They paused for a moment before continuing on their way. "I hope the others are alright."
"They should be."
"I dunno. I don't entirely trust that Rumplestiltskin."
"Me neither. Celestia knows why Matilda would ever strike a deal with him. But, he did save us from Thalia and Jeff."
"Thalia...I've heard that name before."
"Haven't I told you about her?"
"No."
"I thought I had. I guess I was focused on other things."
"And for good reason."
The two mares chuckled. "Yeah. Anyway, I think I know where you heard that name. It was when we were in that girl's room that collapsed and the girl mentioned a Ms. Thalia."
"Oh yeah! I remember! Who exactly is she?"
"According to Matilda, she's a future, evil clone of Twilight."
"Oh...wait a minute. When did Matilda tell you that?"
Colgate gulped a bit. "Earlier this morning."
"Why? Did you see her before we entered the temple?"
Colgate exhaled deeply. "Yeah. I saw her and Jeff last night. That's how I found out that they were waiting for us somewhere in the temple. I told Matilda about it in the morning."
"But neither of you told me, Clockwork, or Daring Do? Why?!"
Colgate froze. "I...I don't know. The only reason I can think up is that we didn't want to worry any of you anymore than you already were."
"Well that's a dumb reason. A little heads up would have been helpful!"
"I know and...listen, Bright Eyes. I'm sorry about not telling you about Thalia, but I'm not sure this is the best time to be discussing this."
Bright Eyes rolled her inverted eyes and agreed. "Fine. We're continuing this later," she scoffed.
"I'm counting on it," Colgate replied with a guilty, sad smile. Suddenly, Colgate caught a strong whiff of something. Up until this point, the air in the junk room had smelled surprisingly bland. However, now there was an incredibly strong and disgusting odor in the air. It smelled like a combination of rotting fish, body odor, and a public restroom that hadn't been cleaned in months. Colgate and Bright Eyes clenched their noses and coughed. "Dear Luna! Where the hay is that coming from?!"
"I don't know but it's making me sick!" Bright Eyes replied. Just then, something appeared in Bright Eyes's line of sight. It was a figure. Shaped like a pony. Slowly approaching them. Blurry at first due to how far away it was. "Somepony's here with us." Bright Eyes cautiously took a step in the direction of the approaching figure. "Uh...hello? Who are you?"
At first, there was hardly a response. Then there was a loud, sick groan. As the figure drew closer and closer, Colgate and Bright Eyes realized that it was no friend to them. It appeared to be a stallion with torn, brown hair and a faded, tan coat. Bits and pieces of its body were missing and it had a look of uncontrollable hunger in its rotting eyes. "Is that what I think it is?!" Colgate gasped.
"I think so."
The zombie pony let out a loud shriek and Colgate and Bright Eyes watched as several more trudging figures began to emerge from the various stacks of junk. "I think now would be a good time to run."
The two friends turned away from the zombies and began to gallop as quickly as possible towards the designated exit on the map. With every junk tower they passed, more and more zombie ponies seemed to appear and begin following them. The once silent room of junk was now filled with the groans, shrieks, and screams of zombie ponies. "How many of them are there?!" Bright Eyes asked.
"I don't know and I don't want to find out!" Colgate replied. She took another look at the map as she ran. "This way!"
Colgate and Bright Eyes turned a corner only to see a sea of zombies marching towards them. "Where did they all come from?!"
"How are we supposed to get past them?" Bright Eyes extended her wings. Colgate looked at her and shook her head. "It's too risky. You might not be able to get enough air."
"What other options do we have? You can't teleport and we're being surrounded. I have to fly us out of here! Now grab onto my hind legs!" Colgate didn't take up much time to agree to Bright Eyes's plan. She hastily grabbed onto her friend's hind legs. Bright Eyes then jumped into the air and flapped her wings vigorously. The foreign magic in the room didn't allow them to get too high but they were able to get high enough to fly straight over the hungry zombies.
There's so many, Colgate thought as she looked down at the hundreds of screaming, rotting faces. This whole place is a living nightmare.
"Are we getting close?" Bright Eyes asked as she turned around a corner.
Colgate quickly glanced at the map, which was currently being held in her teeth. "Yeah. We're nearing the door," she replied through her closed teeth. She looked past Bright Eyes and could see one of the walls of the junk room drawing near. A feeling of hope and relief began to rise up within her when, out of the blue, something flew up and smashed right into Bright Eyes. It had been a chair that one of the zombies had picked up and thrown.
Everything seemed to slow down as Colgate felt her grasp on Bright Eyes's legs slip away. The map flew up out of her shocked mouth and got caught on the zipper of one of Bright Eyes's bags. Barely a second and a half after the chair had hit Bright Eyes, the two mares slammed into separate towers of junk. While Bright Eyes landed on the stable top of one stack, Colgate collided with the side of another and, along with a small avalanche of various objects, began to fall towards the zombie horde below. Colgate could hear Bright Eyes screaming her name as she fell but it was blurred and distant. An old mattress broke Colgate's fall but it didn't stop her from getting weakened by the recoil. All she could manage to do was look up as the zombies closed in around her. How can this be it? This certainly can't be the end. I've survived so many near-death encounters already. I can't die here in a zombie horde. It...just doesn't make any sense, she thought. Suddenly, something above her caught her eye. A sparkling, red robe was falling down towards her. It seemed to give off a warm, welcoming aura that discouraged the zombies from coming any closer to her. As if being instructed by an outside force, Colgate reached up towards the robe. After what felt like an eternity and then some, the robe concluded its descent and wrapped itself around Colgate. Instantly, the cries of the zombies and Bright Eyes's screams faded away. All Colgate could hear now was the sound of her own heart beating. A refreshing chill washed over her before she proceeded to fly away into the darkness.
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Colgate was unsure of how much time she spent curled up in that red robe. Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? Her dulled, confused senses prevented her from being entirely sure. It didn't take her long to notice that she was lying on a dusty, wooden floor and several clouds of dust particles were occasionally creeping their way into her nostrils, thus causing her to give a series of quick and silent sneezes. During her time under the robe, most of Colgate's thoughts and memories were muffled. There were moments where she forgot her location, her objective, her friends, and even her own name. Thankfully, she managed to pull her memories together in the end and slowly pushed the robe off her body.
Upon taking in the scene of the dusty castle classroom in front of her, she knew where she was. That classroom, Colgate thought before turning her attention back to the red robe that had previously concealed her. She picked it up in her hoof and examined it closely. It seemed to sparkle a bit in the moonlight pouring in through the dusty windows of the classroom. Colgate could definitely sense a strong amount of magical power emanating from it. However, the magic within the robe was not Equestrian in nature. This is definitely from another world. A part of her wanted to hide the robe away in the dark corner of the classroom to never be found again but something convinced her to take it with her. I'd definitely like to learn a bit more about this robe. Who knows...it might prove useful somewhere in the future. She quickly stuffed the robe into her bag before slinging said bag over her back. As she did this, the sound of hoofsteps and talking could be heard from the other side of the door at the far end of the room. This is it.
Colgate hastily and quietly shuffled her way into the darkest corner of the room just as the past versions of herself and Bright Eyes entered the room. "Creepy," said Bright Eyes as a few cockroaches made their way across the floor.
"This whole temple is creepy," Past Colgate added as she made her way towards one of the windows. "The way its rooms change. It's like we're walking through a blender of rooms and hallways from different realities."
Colgate prepared herself. My part's coming up! she thought before taking a silent, deep breath.
Past Colgate stared out the window at the castle exterior. "Sometimes, I forget we're even in the temple. It's almost as if we're in these other worlds altogether."
It's show time, Colgate. Just play it cool, Colgate thought as she straightened herself up and began to step out of the shadows. "Actually, you're in both," she stated calmly as she professionally approached her past self.
"What the hay?!" gasped Bright Eyes.
"Don't worry! I'm not a threat." Colgate gave a calm, soothing smile following her statement.
Past Colgate gave a suspicious glare as she cautiously approached her future self. "Then...what are you?" she asked awkwardly. "A clone?"
It's still weird, even from this point of view, Colgate thought as she continued to smile warmly at her past self. "No. I'm you from a few minutes in the future," she replied.
"What?"
"I know it's confusing. Trust me...er...yourself. I'm...er...you still don't quite get it." Stumbled a bit there but I think I'm good, Colgate thought.
Bright Eyes grabbed her head as her eyes began to spin like tops. "My head hurts," the pegasus sighed.
"You'll understand once you get to the junk room...hopefully," Colgate replied with a nervous chuckle.
"The junk room?" Past Colgate asked.
"Well...that's what I decided to name it." Or it's just me copying my own future self but whatever, she thought. Just then, she thought back to her own encounter with her future self and she inadvertently gave an expression of realization. Time to go into the desk! Where is it? Where is it?! "Let's see." Colgate quickly glazed over the rows of desks until she found the one she wanted: the one with the series of scribbles drawn on its surface. She quickly, yet calmly, made her way over to it. "Ah! Here it is! The desk with the drawings!" She stepped in front of the desk and let her past self get a good look at it before smirking at her and Bright Eyes. "Don't worry, Colgate, you'll get everything right." 'Cause I managed to at least. "And, Bright Eyes, I hope you're waiting on the other side." Please be waiting on the other side, Bright Eyes! She pulled open the lid and felt her heart sink like a rock.
She knew that her past self and Bright Eyes were seeing a bright, white light but that wasn't what Colgate was seeing now. Sitting in the confines of the desk appeared to be a murky mesh of different substances that gave the appearance of a vat of dirty blood. For a split second, Colgate thought about closing the desk lid and backing away...but she couldn't. She knew this is what had to happen or the established timeline would be thrown out of whack. There's enough paradoxes and time travel nonsense going on in this temple already. I don't need to create any more havoc, Colgate thought. With a hard gulp and a quick glance at her confused past self, Colgate leaned forward and dived straight into the murky substance.
Colgate heard the desk lid slam shut behind her and vanish a second later. There was no going back. The substance around her felt like cold gelatine and had the aroma of really dry wine. Colgate could feel the red robe in her bag bouncing around a bit. Clearly, the robe wasn't taking a liking to the substance. "I better find a way out of here before the robe has a nervous breakdown...that is if robes can have nervous breakdowns," Colgate stated as she began swimming through the mesh. For a moment, she questioned how she was able to breathe within the thick substance surrounding her but she decided not to question it given all of the other far more extraordinary things she had come across in her life thus far.
After a few minutes of swimming, a bright blue light appeared immediately in front of her face. She didn't know whether or not this was the exit; but she didn't have a choice either way for she was quickly pulled through by a strong external force. The light blinded her and she wrapped her hooves around her face to keep herself from going blind. After her eyes had been closed for only a few seconds, she felt the strange mesh vanish and a solid floor appear beneath her. Her eyes shot open and she found herself lying on a metal floor in a room filled with what appeared to be thousands upon thousands of flickering projection screens.
Before Colgate could get the chance to fully take in her new surroundings, she found herself being wrapped in a colossal death hug. "Colgate! You're alright!" exclaimed the being that was hugging her.
"Bright Eyes?" asked a relieved, yet dizzy, Colgate.
Bright Eyes broke the hug, stepped back, and smiled at Colgate. "I'm so glad you're okay! What happened to you?! I just saw a robe fall on you and then both you and that robe disappeared!"
Colgate rubbed her temple and rolled her head around to stretch her neck muscles. "I'm not sure how or why but the robe that fell on me sent me back in time. I ended up back in that classroom where you and I ran into my future self, who I became after going back in time. I then jumped through a portal in a desk that sent me into this world of red mush. I swam a bit before falling through another portal, I think, and ending up here and...I'm really glad that you were waiting for me on the other side, Bright Eyes."
Bright Eyes's smiled widened. "It's good that we're together again. Now we can finish that side quest for Rumplestiltskin, get back together with the others, and find the source."
Colgate turned away from Bright Eyes to examine the room they were now in. "So...where are we?"
"Where we need to be," Bright Eyes replied as she pulled out Rumplestiltskin's map and presented it to Colgate.
She saw they were in the room that was just beyond the zombie-infested junk room. It was here that Colgate looked up and made a further examination of the room. It was definitely large and seemed to stretch on into infinity. The walls were lined with rows upon rows of flickering screens with blurred images moving about. Small lifts of sorts were situated every few feet along the aisle which Colgate assumed allowed one to move themselves between the stacked rows of screens. "So this is where we're supposed to find these two aspects of true love?" Colgate asked as she pulled out the two vials Rumplestiltskin had given her.
"According to the map, yes."
Colgate looked at the screens and sighed. "I guess the aspects are in two of these screens."
"We better start looking then."
Colgate handed one of the vials to Bright Eyes and started walking towards the lift while Bright Eyes began flapping her wings. "So how were you able to get in here?"
"What?" Bright Eyes asked.
"How'd you get past the zombies?" Colgate asked.
"Oh! I just followed the map and flew!"
Colgate looked back at Bright Eyes suspiciously. It was a simple and believable answer...but something felt off. It felt as if Bright Eyes was hiding a few details. Before she could press further, however, Bright Eyes took off into the air to examine the screens. Colgate followed suit by stepping on the lift and using her magic to operate the pulley system.
She quickly lifted herself up to the first row of screens and peered inside one. As she leaned forward, she realized that the screens weren't solid for she found herself leaning right through the surface. It was like passing through a wall of water without getting soaked in the process.
On the other side of the screen, Colgate found herself looking into a very familiar living room. Green carpet stretched across the floor, the walls were painted in light blue, and a collection of violet sofas and cushions were scattered about. The colors didn't meld that well together. The smell of fresh cookies wafted through the air and snow could be seen falling past the exterior of the nearby window. "Can I go outside, Mom?" asked a voice that Colgate quickly recognized as her own, but at a much younger pitch. Colgate watched as her young, filly self entered the room with her mother walking alongside her. Neither of them noticed the head of a future Colgate sticking out of thin air so Colgate figured that they couldn't interact with her.
"Not today, honey," said Colgate's mother Blue Crest. She had a blue coat similar to that of Colgate's, a red mane, and a purple toothbrush cutie mark. "The pegasi have scheduled a storm for today." Young Colgate let out an annoyed groan before walking over to the nearby Hearth's Warming Eve Tree. She sat down next to the trunk and looked up at the ceiling, a bored expression now on her face.
Colgate pulled her head back through the screen and shook it a bit. "What is this place?" she asked herself as she looked at the seemingly infinite collection of screens. She then moved the lift over to the next screen and peered inside.
On the other side, she found herself staring at the interior of Twilight's library. For a few seconds, nopony was there. Then the door opened and Spike, followed by Princess Luna and the rest of Twilight's friends, entered. "Twilight?! Twilight?! Are you here?!" Spike called frantically.
"Please say something if you're here, sugarcube!" Applejack pleaded.
Spike gasped as he ran over to a particular spot in the library. "It's gone! That blue box is gone!" An angry and hurt look then appeared on Spike's face. "He took her. That...Doctor took her!"
Colgate pulled back out of the screen and moved on to the next one. Through the next screen she saw a dark forest. She quickly noticed a blue light floating in the forest and Colgate focused on the light to see that it was a small, human-like creature with wings and a blue dress, which Colgate recognized as a fairy. Standing close to the fairy was...Rumplestiltskin. He was wearing dark brown robes and a long, jagged dagger was in his hand. The fairy and Rumplestiltskin appeared to be partaking in quite a heated discussion. "You drove him away," stated the blue fairy coldly.
Rumplestiltskin proceeded to angrily swing his dagger at the fairy a few times before she took off into the night. "I WILL FIND HIM! I WILL FIND HIM!" Rumplestiltskin screamed angrily at the fairy. "I will find him."
This was where Colgate pulled herself back out of the screen. "These screens must be windows to the past or something," she thought aloud.
A few rows above, Bright Eyes pulled her head back out of a screen that had shown her a volcano erupting and hastily moved over to the next one. She pushed her head through the screen and felt a sinking feeling rise up from within her. The scene before her was a playground outside a small schoolhouse. A filly Bright Eyes was sitting alone at the edge of the playground. She was sitting on the ground and playing with a few makeshift dolls. She was the only pegasus filly in town and everypony knew it.
Bright Eyes watched as a group of earth ponies approached her younger self and began to tease her. "Derp face!" laughed one colt.
"Good one!" chuckled a filly nearby.
A look of pure hatred and anger came over the young Bright Eyes's face. She stood up and screamed at the bullies. "Just leave me alone for once!" she cried. Time seemed to slow down as the young Bright Eyes threw one of her dolls at the main bully of the group. The force of the throw caused the doll to come undone. A previously undetected sewing needle came loose and made its way over to the bully's right eye.
Bright Eyes pulled her head back out of the screen as the pained screams of the bully rang through her ears. She never forgot those screams There had been so much blood. So much blood. "You alright up there?" asked Colgate from below.
Bright Eyes noticed that she was shaking fiercely and her teeth were chattering a bit. "I'm fine!" she replied back quickly. "Just saw something that wasn't really nice."
"You're not alone. This screen here showed me Princess Celestia...on second that, you don't want to know." Colgate stuck her head through the next screen and Bright Eyes followed suit.
The scene presented through the next screen was nicer than the previous ones that Bright Eyes had experienced. It was the park in Ponyville on a lazy, summer afternoon. For a few seconds, nopony was around but then two ponies appeared: Clockwork and Twilight Sparkle.
"I don't understand why nopony's out and about," Twilight said as they walked. "It's not a very hot day so where is everypony?"
"Who knows?" asked Clockwork with a guilty smile on his face.
"Do you know something about this?"
"Who? Me? I know nothing at all. Now, please, sit." Clockwork led Twilight over to a nearby tree and the two of them sat down.
"Well, whatever you're up to, this is still nice."
"Every moment I spend with you is nice."
The two exchanged loving glances for a moment before Twilight broke the silence with a chuckle. "Okay, what's going on? You seem to know why nopony's out here with us," she said.
"You're right. I'm guilty. I got Pinkie to make sure that the park was empty while we're here. I want this to be perfect," Clockwork replied.
"What? Our date?"
"Not quite." Clockwork stood up and pulled Twilight up as well. "There's something I want to ask you." Twilight's face began to glow bright red. She seemed to know what was coming. "Twilight Sparkle." Clockwork knelt down before his marefriend and presented an engagement ring. "Will you marry me?"
Tears began to form in Twilight's eyes and a smile of extreme joy began to engulf her face. "Clockwork...I...I don't know what to say!"
"A simple yes or no will suffice."
Twilight began to vigorously nod her head. "Yes! Of course I accept!"
Clockwork smiled at his marefriend-turned-fiancée as he reached upward and slid the ring onto Twilight's horn. Twilight reached forward, grabbed Clockwork in a fierce hug, and kissed him dead on the lips. Bright Eyes couldn't help but smile at the scene before her. However, she suddenly noticed that the vial she was holding was beginning to shake. She watched as a golden substance of sorts seemed to emanate from the kissing couple and flow through the air over to the vial Bright Eyes was holding. The golden substance filled up the vial almost completely. Once it was full, the vial magically closed itself and Bright Eyes pulled her head back out of the screen.
"I think I got the true love that Rumplestiltskin wanted us to get!" Bright Eyes exclaimed as she looked down at Colgate. She fell silent when she saw that Colgate was looking through a screen but her body appeared to have fallen limp. "Colgate?"
Colgate was staring upon a campsite in a dark forest. The only lights in the area were the full moon above and the light from the roaring campfire. A single tent was situated a few feet away from said fire and a lone mare sat before the flames: Thalia. A nervous look was carved into her face. She appeared to be waiting for something. Suddenly, there was a rustling in the nearby bushes which was followed by the appearance of a shadowy stallion. The stallion carried himself well and had a walk that signified a knowledge of first class etiquette. The stallion entered the light and Colgate gasped to see that the stallion was the Doctor...and yet it wasn't. This Doctor was a pegasus with a gray coat, black mane, and cold, dark eyes. A black bow tie was wrapped around his neck and a curious yet confident smile was etched into his face.
"Why hello there," said the dark Doctor. His voice was like the Doctor's but smoother and much more seductive. Colgate herself could feel her hormones begin to rage at the sound of this Doctor's attractive vocals.
Thalia stood up, saddened joy beginning to encompass every part of her face, and began to approach her visitor. "You came," she said.
"Of course. I had to investigate. It's not every day when I get an invitation in the form of psychic paper." The dark Doctor cocked his head a bit as he examined Thalia. "You look a bit familiar. Are you related to that Twilight Shine or whatever her name was?"
Thalia reached her forehooves forward and wrapped them around the dark Doctor's head. "Let's not talk about her right now. You don't know me yet. I'm from your future. I've just come back...to see you again."
A look of interest began to appear on the dark Doctor's face. "My future? So what can you tell-"
Thalia quickly locked lips with the dark Doctor. They both closed their eyes and continued to kiss for a full minute before parting. "Let us not talk about the future right now. It would be pointless. I can't change it and neither can you." Her voice was beginning to grow as seductive as the dark Doctor's and he was quickly giving in. "Let us just enjoy this one moment together before you forget." Thalia's lips sparkled slightly as she said this.
"Can I at least know your name before I forget it?" The dark Doctor appeared to not care at all about forgetting this event or questioning further about his future. All that seemed to matter to this Doctor now was getting lucky.
"It's Thalia." Thalia proceeded to lock lips with the dark Doctor again before pulling him over into the tent and closing the flap.
Colgate listened awkwardly as passionate sounds began to emanate from within the tent. It was here that the vial she was holding started vibrating. A purple and black substance began to emanate from within the tent and move over to the vial, which it proceeded to fill. Once the vial was filled and closed, Colgate regained the strength to pull herself back out of the screen.
She fell back off the platform but her fall was quickly prevented by an interfering Bright Eyes. "Got you! What happened?!" the pegasus asked as she lowered Colgate to the ground.
Once Colgate regained her footing, she examined the vial in her hoof as well as the vial in Bright Eyes's grasp. "I'm fine. Just a little weirded out," replied the unicorn. "So...is that-"
"I think it is." Bright Eyes examined her vialed aspect of true love. She then looked at Colgate's sample. "I'm guessing that's the dark aspect Rumplestiltskin was talking about."
Dark true love, Colgate thought as she thought back to what she had seen. "Well...let's just get these vials back to Rumplestiltskin," said Colgate. Before she or Bright Eyes could take another step in any direction, a cloud of purple smoke appeared out of nowhere and engulfed them.
Dining Room, Rumplestiltskin's Castle, The Enchanted Forest, Winter, 297
When the smoke cleared, Colgate and Bright Eyes looked to see themselves standing in front of a long dining table situated in a magnificent room filled with beautiful tapestries and a collection of interesting objects. The two mares looked down the table to see Rumplestiltskin sitting at the very end, a cup of tea in his hand. "Bright Eyes!" exclaimed a familiar voice as Clockwork rushed forward and hugged his friend. Matilda and Daring Do weren't far behind as they ran up to greet them.
"Looks like you finished your side quest in one piece," said Daring with a relieved smile.
"Are you two okay?" asked Matilda.
"There were a few rough patches here and there but I think we'll live," Colgate replied with a smirk. Just then, the vials in Colgate's and Bright Eyes's hooves vanished and appeared on a nearby shelf.
Rumplestiltskin stood up and approached the group of ponies. "I'm guessing you're ready to get out of here and continue on your way," he said with his usual smile.
"Don't forget to hold up your end of the bargain," said Colgate as she eyed the magical man coldly. "I got you a dark aspect of true love. Now you've got to help us find the source."
"Of course." Rumplestiltskin extended his hand and another map appeared. Matilda took the map and examined it for a few seconds.
"Thank you, Rumple. Always a pleasure to do business with you," said Matilda with a somewhat teasing smile.
"Same here, Matilda. Feel free to visit any time you want in the future if you're in any need of deal making." Rumplestiltskin brought his hands together and let out one of his usual giddy laughs.
"Don't worry, you'll be seeing me again in the future." Matilda turned her attention to the others. "Come along then. I think it's time to bring this quest of ours to an end."
"So I'm assuming you have a history with this guy," Colgate whispered.
"It's a long story for another day."
Rumplestiltskin waved his hand and a silver door appeared before them. "This will lead you back into the temple you were in. I don't think I have to be the one to warn you about the changing rooms and the three psychopaths chasing after you," he said with another wave of his hands.
"No. We're already fully aware of that," said Clockwork as he began walking towards the door with Bright Eyes.
As the others began making their way towards the door, Colgate stopped and looked back at Rumplestiltskin. She couldn't help but think back to the scene with Rumplestiltskin and the blue fairy she had seen in one of the screens. "So...what exactly was that room that you sent Bright Eyes and me to?" she asked suddenly.
"None of the rooms in that temple have any names as far as I can tell. I like to call that particular room the Memory Room but you can call it whatever you like," replied Rumplestiltskin.
"A room with windows to the past...Memory Room sounds about right." Colgate let out another sigh. "I saw you in one of those windows."
"You did? How flattering of that room to include me in its collection."
"I saw you arguing with a blue fairy. You were screaming about finding him." Rumplestiltskin fell silent and turned away from Colgate. "This is just me being curious but...who are you looking for?"
The magic man was silent for a moment. Eventually, he turned back to Colgate with his usual smile on his face. "It was my dog," he replied.
"Your...dog?"
"Yes, my dog. Lovely little guy. The fairy took him from me because she was jealous. So now I'm searching for him. That's who I'm looking for."
Really? Colgate thought. He can't seriously think he's going to convince me with a story that could easily be found in a book for fillies. Colgate felt a hoof touch her shoulder. She turned to see Matilda standing there, silently beckoning her to follow her and the others through the door.
"I guess you all better be off then," said Rumplestiltskin as he turned his back on the ponies. "Have a nice, wonderful, dangerous trip." The imp gave one last flick of his hands followed by another giddy laugh before beginning to walk out of the room.
Daring pulled the silver door open and a bright light flooded the room. The ponies quickly began to walk through the threshold. Daring, Clockwork, and Bright Eyes were first while Colgate and Matilda took up the rear. "I don't think I need to tell you that it isn't his dog he's looking for," Matilda whispered to Colgate.
"I figured that out on my own. Who is he really looking for then?" Colgate whispered back as she glanced back at Rumplestiltskin.
"That...is a story for another time."
Colgate sighed as she glared at Matilda and took one last look at Rumplestiltskin before stepping through the door and heading back into the depths of the Elmheim Temple.
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The silver door led the ponies into a corridor one would normally expect to find in any ordinary temple: brick surroundings, torches on the walls, cobwebs all over the place, et cetera. Matilda looked at Rumplestiltskin's map and pointed to the left. "This way," she instructed.
The ponies remained silent as they continued down the long, dark corridor. They eventually reached a wooden door which transported them to what appeared to be a greenhouse. A pebbled path extended in front of them and it was bordered by a wide variety of exotic plants, which all gave off their own unique odors. "It's like being back in the jungle!" Daring stated with a smile.
"Yay," Bright Eyes sighed.
Clockwork looked up towards the ceiling to see what appeared to be two suns floating in the sky. "Interesting," he said.
Colgate jumped a bit as a small colony of grasshoppers passed by her hooves. "Can we move on please?" she asked. Matilda nodded and the group continued forward.
The greenhouse proved to be much larger than expected for the group quickly found themselves trekking through a series of curves and hills as the pebbled path extended on and on. After about an hour of walking, the group took a small respite when the path opened up into a clearing which had a wooden viewing platform. "Just how far away are we from the exit?" Clockwork asked as he sat down to rub his throbbing hooves.
Matilda examined the map. "That's...odd," she said.
"What is?" Daring replied.
"The map says that we need to take the tram."
"What tram?" Colgate asked.
"The one that probably extends over that," Bright Eyes said as she pointed in the direction of the wooden viewing platform. The ponies approached the edge of the platform to see that they were standing on the edge of a cliff which was situated above a pit that appeared to extend into oblivion. Across the gorge was a massive stretch of exotic plants, trees, and other types of vegetation. The vegetation came to an end at the glass wall of the gargantuan greenhouse, where something shiny could just barely be made out. A long cable could be seen extending across the gorge and all the way towards the shining object at the border of the greenhouse.
"The greenhouse must be half the size of Equestria!" Clockwork exclaimed.
"Or bigger," Daring said.
"If only I could use my vortex manipulator," said Matilda with a sigh.
"If only I could teleport in here," Colgate sighed.
"If only Daring and I could carry all of you," said Bright Eyes.
"If only you'd all stop complaining," Daring snapped as she stomped her hoof on the ground. "Come on! Let's find the tram and get into the next room!"
"If a greenhouse the size of a jungle is one of the rooms in the direction of the rift source, I can't wait to see what's next," said Colgate as she and the others continued onward.
After a few more minutes of walking, they stumbled across a small station of sorts. A red tram dangled a foot off the ground thanks to a sturdy cable and pulley system. The door was open and a small series of metal steps led up into the tram. "Ladies first," Clockwork said as he stepped aside to allow Matilda, Colgate, Bright Eyes, and Daring on before him.
A control panel was situated at the front of the tram. Matilda approached it and examined the various controls. Once Clockwork was on and had closed the entrance door behind him, Matilda pulled the red start lever. The tram lurched a bit as the pulley system activated. Colgate approached one of the windows and looked outside to see the the ground disappear and be replaced by an endless pit. "It looks like this is going to be a long ride," said Colgate as she took note of the tram's speed.
Daring sat down and leaned her back against the tram wall. She then crossed one hind leg over the other and lowered her hat over her head. "Let me know when we get there," she said before drifting off to sleep.
Colgate shook her head. "How can anypony...sleep...at a time...like...this?" A loud yawn escaped from her lips and she blushed.
Clockwork chuckled. "You should get some rest," he said with a smirk. He turned to Bright Eyes. "You too."
"What about you?" Bright Eyes asked.
"I'm fine," he replied. "Besides, I think Matilda could use the company."
"I'm actually quite fine but whatever you want to do is fine," Matilda said back with a chuckle.
Colgate and Bright Eyes followed Daring's example and were soon sleeping against the walls of the tram. Clockwork approached the control panel and stood next to Matilda. "So...how did you first meet the Doctor, Matilda?" Clockwork asked.
"Jumping to the personal questions already? No need to ask about the weather?" Matilda teased cheerfully.
"I honestly don't see the point in talking about the weather. It's obviously sunny with both suns in clear view."
Matilda chuckled before falling silent for a second. "I'm afraid I can't answer that question of yours."
"Why not? What's so secretive about how you met the Doctor?"
"Because my first meeting with him lies in his future. Spoilers, sweetie."
"I may be an alternate version of him but I'm not your Doctor."
"You're an ally of his. You might let slip some information. Nothing about my first meeting with him can or should be rewritten...no matter how painful it was."
Clockwork was quiet for a moment. "So...your first meeting with him wasn't under the greatest of circumstances, I'm guessing."
Matilda looked away from Clockwork and sighed. "I...I was almost the destruction for some very good ponies...let's just end it at that for now." A minute of silence followed before Matilda looked back at Clockwork with a smirk. "So...what about you and Bright Eyes?"
"What about us?"
"Do you care for each other?"
"Of course. She's been an excellent friend...despite how cruel I was to her back in our own world."
"You know what they say."
"What?"
"Okay, I lied. You know what I say?"
"Obviously not."
"True. Well, I say that it doesn't take much for two ponies to get out of the friend zone."
"Are you...no!"
"No?"
"Just...no. It's not like that. Bright Eyes is a great friend...but she's not that. Why would you just jump to conclusions like that? Is it weird for a stallion and a mare to just be friends?!"
"Whoa! Sorry if I hit a sensitive spot! I was just having a bit of teasing fun."
"Well, don't. Not about that."
Clockwork turned away from Matilda. Matilda rubbed her chin in thought before letting out a soft sigh. "You lost somepony...didn't you? Somepony you loved." Clockwork turned towards Matilda with a somewhat surprised expression. "I know ponies, Clockwork, and I've seen what it's like when ponies lose those they care for."
Clockwork rubbed one his forelegs awkwardly. "My wife...Twilight Sparkle."
"Ah. So you were married to Twilight in your world."
"Yeah. We were happy and then she went on a mission for Princess Celestia into the Crystal Empire. She didn't make it back home."
"I'm sorry."
"It wasn't easy losing her. I even almost...ended it all. But fate it seems didn't want me to go and I fell through a dimensional rift into this universe, met the Doctor, and the rest is history. I'm thankful to have Bright Eyes with me. She's been great...really great."
"I can understand why you're preventing yourself from trying to fall for her. You're probably thinking how it would be an insult to your wife's memory to simply replace her with somepony else. Meanwhile you're also afraid of losing your potential new love and going through the pain all over again."
Clockwork gave an awkward smile. "You sure do know ponies."
"It's basic stuff. I've seen it a million and one times in my travels through the multiverse. Clichés know no dimension." Matilda gave a small, comforting smile. "So how did you take it?"
"Take what?"
"When you met this world's Twilight Sparkle."
Clockwork blushed a bit. "I...uh...I kissed her and she slapped me."
"Well, hopefully things got better from there."
"They did but it was still...weird."
"I can imagine."
"So...what about you? Have you lost anypony you've loved?"
Matilda moved one of her hooves through her purple mane and sighed. "All the time. All of my relationships are out of chronological order. I sometimes see ponies die and then travel to another place and time to see them still living well. And you'd think that would make it easier...but it doesn't."
Suddenly, Clockwork noticed something odd on the map. "What's that?" he asked as he pointed at it.
"What's what?" Matilda asked in reply.
"The map. Something appeared on it."
Matilda and Clockwork examined the map. A new line of text had appeared. "Look out for the flying spiders."
"What does that mean? Spiders don't fly."
"Maybe not in your dimension or mine but this area of the temple is from another dimension altogether. It's best to keep your mind open while dimension hopping."
Clockwork walked over to one of the windows and looked down into the gorge beneath the tram. His eyes widened as he suddenly noticed a dark cloud flying up from within the depths of the pit and up towards the tram. Clockwork looked closely and saw that the cloud was comprised of giant black widows the size of large puppies with massive moth-like wings protruding from their backs. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Because that's what this jungle in a greenhouse needed: flying spiders!"
Four flying spiders reached the tram and slammed into the side, cracking the windows. Colgate, Daring, and Bright Eyes were quickly shaken out of their slumber. "What's going on?!" asked Daring as she pulled out her whip.
"Oh nothing. We're just being attacked by flying spiders the size of dogs," Matilda replied with a smirk.
Colgate and Bright Eyes looked at each other and then back at Matilda. "FLYING SPIDERS?!" they shrieked. Within seconds, the cloud of flying spiders had surrounded the moving tram. The airborne arachnids began to viciously attack the tram by constantly smashing into it from all sides.
"Can't this thing move any faster?!" Daring asked as she approached the control console.
"I don't think so," said Matilda.
Just then, one big spider flew at a window towards the middle of the tram and smashed through it. Luckily, it got stuck in the window thanks to its massive wings. Bright Eyes screamed and backed away. "I got this!" said Daring as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a hunting knife. She tossed the blade at the spider, striking it in the center of his face and sending it falling back down into the pit. Daring then quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a tarp and some tape. After a series of quick motions, the broken window was now covered. "That'll give us a little extra time with that opening. That's a durable tarp and some durable tape right there."
The tram shook again as more flying spiders smashed into it. "Well a little extra time isn't going to be enough for us to get to the exit," said Colgate.
Daring began to scratch her chin. "You thinking up a plan?" Bright Eyes asked.
"Well think about it," said Daring. "We're on a tram. Somepony built this. You'd think that somepony would install the tram with an emergency kit or something in the case a disaster occurred."
Bright Eyes looked out one of the windows and gulped. "You mean like, say, some giant spiders chewing through the cables?"
The others looked out the window and saw exactly what Bright Eyes had described: several of the spiders chewing their massive fangs through the cables. "They sure have a strong bite," said Clockwork.
"Let's just hope they don't get to biting us," said Colgate.
Daring headed towards the back of the tram and began looking around. "Come on. Who would build a tram without an emergency kit or something like that? Something has to be here!" she thought aloud as she paced back and forth. Suddenly, she saw it: a small, hidden handle built into the floor of the tram. Daring quickly reached down and pulled the hidden door open. Inside was a collection of food and water rations as well as a series of survival tools. "Thank Celestia!"
"Let's see what we've got!" Matilda said as she joined Daring in examining the the contents of the previously hidden emergency kit. Matilda smiled as her eyes fell on something. She reached in and pulled out a silver disk the size of a dinner plate that had a large, yellow circle in the center of it.
"What is it?" Bright Eyes asked.
"A portable rocket. They were created for emergencies involving trams or other suspended transportational vehicles getting stuck. You just stick it on the back window and a rocket will protrude and blast the tram to safety."
Another cluster of spiders slammed into the tram, causing a few more windows to shatter. "I'll get it!" Bright Eyes grabbed the disk and ran towards the back of the tram.
"Bright Eyes! Wait!"
Just then, Bright Eyes tripped and the disk flew from her hoof. It landed on the floor towards the back of the tram and proceeded to fold out into a miniature rocket booster. "Oh no!" Bright Eyes gasped. "I'm sorry!"
Matilda and Daring ran over to the booster. "Can we fold it back like a tent and put it on the window?" Daring asked.
"No. Portable rockets are only made for one use. Once it's unfolded, it's done," Matilda replied.
Daring's eyes suddenly fell on a pair of bent prongs on both sides of the booster. "What are those things on the side for?"
"Those would normally be used to help lock the rocket into place from the outside."
Daring smiled and beckoned to Clockwork. "Clockwork, help me get this to the back window."
Clockwork nodded awkwardly before helping Daring lift the rocket. "Daring...what are you doing?" Matilda asked.
"This thing hasn't gone off yet. It still has enough juice to send us flying. We can still use it. It'll be a bit bumpy but it should work," Daring replied. Once she and Clockwork were at the back window, she reached into her bag and pulled out a hammer. With a quick swing, she smashed the window out. "Hurry, Clockwork!" Spiders were already flying their way towards the new opening. Daring and Clockwork pushed part of the rocket through the broken window and angled it so that its prongs were over the exterior of the tram on both sides of the back window. "And to activate it, I'm sure we press this red button right on top."
"That's correct."
"Everypony, hold onto something." Daring and Clockwork held onto the part of the rocket still inside the tram while Matilda, Colgate, and Bright Eyes grasped onto the control console. "Here we go!" Daring slammed her hoof down on the red button as spiders began to swarm right outside the window.
A funnel of fire shot out of the jet and instantly reduced about twenty flying spiders into nothing but clusters of falling ash. Vibrations traveled from the rocket and into Daring's and Clockwork's bodies, causing them to shake as if they were standing right above the epicenter of an earthquake. The prongs on the rocket dug into the metal exterior of the tram and the tram shot forward like a speeding bullet. Everything became a blur as the tram shot along the cable. After a few seconds, the tram broke free from the cable but continued to flying straight through the air. The gorge and the cluster of flying spiders was soon left far behind them and they were flying over the last segment of the greenhouse jungle. The rocket soon ran out of juice and the funnel of fire vanished. The tram began its descent towards the ground and the ponies braced themselves. Pretty soon, the tops of trees were grazing the bottom of the tram. And only seconds after that, the tram had reached the ground and was sliding across the earth like an ice skater. Dirt and vegetation flew through the air behind the tram as it moved along the jungle ground. Suddenly, a large tree root found its way in the tram's path. The tram tipped forward and began to roll. The ponies tried their best to hang onto their respective spots. Bright Eyes could feel her grasp loosening. Thankfully, the roller coaster ride came to a surprisingly smooth end as the tram rolled over one last time and stopped in the middle of a grassy field at the edge of the jungle.
The ponies finally let go and fell onto the ceiling of the tram as the tram was upside-down now. After a couple minutes of lying on the hot ceiling and catching their breath, the ponies crawled out through the broken windows and stood up. "Let's...never do that again," said Colgate as she attempted to hold in the contents of her stomach.
"Well look where we are," said Matilda with a smile. The ponies looked forward to see that they had landed mere yards from the exit of the greenhouse jungle.
"Let's get out of here!" said Bright Eyes happily.
"Still got the map?" Colgate asked Matilda. Matilda presented the map to her and winked.
"Let's hope the next room is better than this one," said Daring as she opened the shining door.
The room that waited for them on the other side of the door appeared to be an old, rundown nursery in an abandoned hospital. A gray, mid-day light illuminated the surprisingly large nursery and the air was filled with particles that were neither dust nor moisture but something else entirely. "I think I preferred the greenhouse," said Bright Eyes as her pupils darted from left to right.
"Come on. It's just an old hospital room. Nothing to be scared about here," Daring stated with a cocky grin. One of the beds moved slightly and Daring proceeded to jump up into the air a few inches and gulp.
"Nothing to be scared about, huh?" Clockwork teased.
"I'm fine!" Daring raced towards the only other door in the room and attempted to pull and push it open. It wouldn't budge. "What the hay?! The door's locked!"
"Let me see," said Matilda. She approached the door and gave it a thorough examination. "Yep. It's locked."
"If only I knew a good unlocking spell," Colgate sighed.
Matilda shook her head. "Magic's not going to open this door. Something's keeping it locked."
"What is? Is it Thalia? Jeff? The evil Rainbow Dash?"
"No...it's something in here."
"What's in here that could be responsible for locking the door?" Daring asked as she crossed her forelegs.
Clockwork tapped Daring on the shoulder and pointed towards the other side of the room. "I think our new visitors could be responsible," he said.
Daring, Matilda, Colgate, and Bright Eyes slowly turned their heads in the direction Clockwork was looking. Standing in front of the door they had come through was a group of about twenty human children with three women joining them. All of them had skin as pale as dry, white paint and hair and eyes as dark as the loneliest reaches of space. They also had abnormally huge smiles on their faces that appeared to be so wide and forced that it looked as if their skin was about to rip from the pressure at any second.
"Just what we needed," Colgate said with a shaky voice. "A class of ghost humans with us."
"Everypony, stay where you are," Matilda ordered. Her voice was surprisingly a little bit shaky. "These aren't just any ghosts. They're Japanese ghosts."
"And...what does that mean exactly?" Clockwork asked.
"Now's not really the time to explain the difference races of humans but let me just say that I've visited the human world many times and have gained a nice amount of knowledge about many of their different cultures. And let's just say that the Japanese aren't known as the masters of horror for nothing. Their ghosts aren't to be underestimated."
The Japanese ghosts took a few steps towards the ponies before coming to halt. "Will you play with us?" they asked in sync.
"Of course they have to all talk at the same time. Because they weren't frightening enough," Bright Eyes said with a simultaneously annoyed and frightened tone.
The ghosts tilted their heads slightly and took another step forward, their smiles starting to appear darker and menacing. "Will you play with us?"
"What exactly do they want us to play?" Clockwork whispered to Matilda.
"I think I have a good idea," Matilda whispered back before stepping forward towards the approaching ghosts. She cleared her throat and gave a motherly smile. "I'm guessing someone's in the mood for Kagome Kagome!"
The ghosts nodded and their smiles grew even wider, which seemed impossible. "Which one of you will play?" they asked, their voices now flowing as if they were chanting a children's song.
"What's Kagome Kagome?" Daring asked.
"It's a Japanese children's game. The original version was that one child would sit in a chair, blindfolded, while the others would walk around in a circle and chant the song 'Kagome Kagome'. The blindfolded child would then have to name the person standing behind them once the chant stopped. However, I don't think that's the version they want to play."
"Well...what's the other version?" Colgate asked with a gulp.
"In the other version, somebody sits in the middle while the others circle around them while making scary faces. If the child in the center flinches, they lose," Matilda replied.
A rusty, metal chair suddenly appeared in the center of the room and the ghosts made a circle around it. All the while the ghosts made sure to keep their smiling faces glued on the five ponies. "Who's going to play?" they asked.
Matilda cleared her throat and forced another motherly smile. "Well," she started. "I guess-"
"I will," Colgate replied. The ghosts and the ponies turned towards her.
"Colgate?" Bright Eyes gasped.
"I will play."
The ghosts' smiles grew even wider, thus making their mouths appear to stretch literally from ear to ear, before they slowly made an opening in the circle. "Come on over then," they said. A few of the ghosts couldn't help but giggle.
"Are you sure about this, Colgate?" Matilda asks. "You know that if you flinch-"
"I lose...and, yes, I know what that probably means in this situation," the unicorn replied before giving a confident smirk. "Don't worry. These ghosts aren't getting any new victims. Even if I lose, I'll win."
Before anypony could argue further, Colgate began walking towards the chair. She didn't want to look at the ghosts' faces but she forced herself to in order to prepare her nerves for the game. Their eternal smiles sent shivers through her bones and an incredible chill passed over her as she entered the circle. She sat down in the chair as comfortably as she could manage. The ghosts closed the circle and joined hands. Colgate blinked a few times before facing the ghost in front of her. It was a girl who appeared to be in her late preteen years. "You know the rules?" the ghost girl asked with a giggle.
Colgate nodded. "Yes," she replied.
The ghost girl giggled once again. "Good."
"Let's begin," said all the ghosts in sync. Colgate used every ounce of her strength to render herself into a near emotionless mindset. She watched as the ghosts began to circle around her and make incredibly ghoulish faces that ranged from snarling to grinning evilly. At first, the faces weren't all that scary. They certainly weren't pleasant to look at by Colgate could handle them. Then...they got worse. One girl's mouth had become as wide as a dinner plate with nothing but darkness within. One boy now had needles and pins sticking out of his face. One of the women had her eyeballs sticking out. With each cycle, their faces became more graphic and much more sinister. Some of the children were smiling with such evil grins that it made Colgate want to cry and curl up in a ball in the corner. But she refused to give in. She had to win this game.
Be a statue, Colgate. Your father was a living statue...you can be one too...just this once, she thought as the faces continued to circle around her. Then, just to add the final sprinkles to the sundae, the ghosts began to sing a horribly creepy chant.
"Kagome kagome. Kagome kagome. Kagome kagome. Kagome kagome," they chanted. The words of the song pounded against Colgate's ears and flooded her thoughts. The continued chant mixed with the increasingly terrifying faces made Colgate want to scream to the heavens. Then, just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, the ghosts began digging into their necks, their skin ripping like wet plastic. However, strangely enough, no blood was coming out. It was almost as if the ghosts were wearing costumes and were now ripping them off to show their true selves. When the ghosts ripped their faces off, instead of seeing their skulls, Colgate saw the faces of those she knew: the Doctor, her mother, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Jeff, Applejack, Donna Noble, her last stepfather, Thalia, Matilda, and everypony else. Some of the imposters kept emotionless expressions while others continued to smile with a sinister glare in their eyes. Then...he appeared. One of the ghosts had taken the form of her Weeping Angel father. At first, his face was sad and repentant. Afterwards, he gave the most evil of smiles Colgate had ever seen and lurched for Colgate in typical Weeping Angel fashion. All of the memories flooded back into Colgate all at once. Her years of isolation, her temporal touch, her father chasing her, the showdown in Ponyville, and her father's final words to her. Colgate couldn't control herself. She flinched backwards and blinked.
When Colgate opened her eyes, the ghosts had returned to what they originally looked like and were back to smiling at her with their dark, innocent looks. "You blinked. You lose," said the ghost girl in front of her. Their smiles grew wider and the nails on their hands became as sharp as knives.
"You lose," they all said in an almost mocking tone. They raised their new claws up and prepared to attack. "You lose!"
Colgate remained still as the ghosts brought the sharpened claws down towards her seemingly vulnerable body. As soon as the ghosts' nails collided with her skin, they violently snapped. The ghosts shrieked and backed away in horror, their smiling faces now reduced to looks of fear and confusion. "Why?!" cried the main ghost girl.
"Why?!" they cried all at once.
Colgate smirked and smiled at them. "Yes. I lost. I blinked...but you didn't."
The ghosts grabbed their heads and screamed, unable to comprehend losing a potential victim. They proceeded to vanish and an unlocking sound emanated from the door. "Let's get out of here!" exclaimed Bright Eyes and Daring with shaky voices as they stormed through the unlocked exit.
Matilda and Clockwork smiled with relief at Colgate as she approached them. "I guess...being the daughter of a Weeping Angel comes in handy sometimes," she said with a smirk. The smirk quickly turned into a look of sadness once her face was out of Matilda's and Clockwork's sight. The remaining three ponies passed through the door.
The five ponies had now entered a massive ballroom with a golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling and silk tapestries clinging to the walls. "The map says that what we seek lies just beyond this room," said Matilda.
"Wow. We're practically there already?" Bright Eyes asked with a look of surprise.
"Well considering how the past couple rooms went, do you want to go through a bunch more?" Colgate asked.
"Fair point."
The ponies turned their attention to the door on the other side of the room. "Let's finish this," said Clockwork. As they reached the center of the ballroom, the ground beneath their hooves shook slightly. The shaking was followed by a deep rumble.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Daring.
"Hurry! To the door!" ordered Matilda. The ponies broke into a run towards the door. Just before they reached it, a magical surge emanated from the door and knocked them on their rumps. The door and its frame detached from the wall and began to float in the air, leaving a brick wall in its original location.
"I'll get it down!" Daring was about to take off when the door illuminated like a birthday candle and unexpectedly duplicated into twenty other doors. Daring face-hoofed and groaned. "Why couldn't we have gotten an easy room to get through?"
"Because the temple apparently hates us," Clockwork sighed.
"How are we supposed to find the real door?" Bright Eyes asked.
Matilda glanced at the map and her eyes widened. "The map!" she exclaimed before tossing it to Daring. "The map shows where the exit is in the room!"
Daring looked at the map to see the exit icon bouncing about the room they were in like a pinball. "It looks like it's the door that's moving the fastest," said Daring before turning her attention up towards the doors. Her eyes eventually found the door she was seeking. The exit door flung itself through the air, past the chandelier, bounced off one of the walls, and repeated the process. "Come on, Bright Eyes!"
Bright Eyes shook a bit as she took into the air after Daring. The two pegasi flew towards the door and attempted to grab it. Suddenly, a few of the copies began to fly towards them. "Look out!" cried Colgate from below.
"We see 'em!" Daring called back as she and Bright Eyes dodged the oncoming flying doors. Daring grabbed Bright Eyes and pulled her full speed towards the true door, which had just passed by the chandelier for the fiftieth time. Daring and Bright Eyes flapped their wings as hard as they could manage and reached for the door. Pretty soon they were only a yard away...then a foot...then an inch...then a centimeter. "GOTCHA!" Daring latched onto one side of the door and helped Bright Eyes grab onto the other. However, the door quickly proved that it wasn't going down without a fight. The door began to vibrate and kick back and forth like an angry bull. It continued its path of bouncing off walls and flying through the air but specifically tried to crush the two pegasi into either the walls or one of the flying clones.
"Hold on!" Matilda cried.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE TRYING TO DO UP HERE?!" Bright Eyes hollered back.
Just then, the door bounced off the wall and headed straight towards the chandelier. "Don't you dare!" Daring gasped as she realized what the door was doing. "Hold on, Bright Eyes!"
Bright Eyes was about to close her eyes and brace herself when she found herself looking down at Matilda, Clockwork, and Colgate standing on the floor below. Time seemed to slow down as she focused on Matilda and then looked at the oncoming chandelier. She's right underneath it, she thought. She suddenly had a quick flashback to what she had seen in the forest room.
"Oh and thanks for the heads up on that chandelier," Matilda had said.
"What chandelier?" Bright Eyes had asked in return.
Bright Eyes snapped back to the present and looked down at Matilda. "MATILDA! MOVE!" the gray pegasus cried.
Matilda heard Bright Eyes's orders clearly and jumped back. As she did this, the door smashed into the spot where the chandelier connected to the ceiling. Bright Eyes and Daring held on tightly to the door as it bounced away from the falling chandelier. Seconds later, the chandelier crashed to the floor. Glass and metal pieces shot out from the spot of the collision and Matilda, Colgate, and Clockwork covered their faces. Bright Eyes smiled a bit upon seeing that Matilda and the others had made it out okay but her focus quickly tuned in to the fact that she was losing grip on the door. "Hold on, Bright Eyes!" Daring ordered.
"I'm slipping!" Bright Eyes screamed back. Then...the door escaped her grasp. In a one-second effort to regain her holding, Bright Eyes used her wings to propel herself at the door. She flew forward and latched onto the doorknob. The knob turned as a result and the door flung open, leaving Daring holding on tightly to the doorframe. The door kicked upward and Bright Eyes lost her grasp on the doorknob. The door's kick was powerful enough to send Bright Eyes flying over the opened door and towards the exposed threshold within the doorframe.
Daring watched as Bright Eyes fell through the opening and vanished into the darkness. A crazy idea flashed through Daring's mind as she put all of her strength into directing the door. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Daring managed to lead the opened doorway in the direction of the three ponies down below. "Get ready!" Daring cried as she and the airborne threshold fell down towards them.
"Is she really doing what I think she's doing?" Colgate asked as she, Clockwork, and Matilda looked at the oncoming doorway.
"Yes she is," Matilda replied with an excited smirk. The three ponies took a deep breath before jumping towards the flying doorway and falling through the threshold into darkness.
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Clockwork let out a pained grunt as he found his body colliding into a hard brick surface. He heard Colgate's and Matilda's bodies hit the ground a couple feet away from him. After a couple seconds, he forced open his eyes to see that he had landed on a floor constructed from gray bricks. He rolled over on his back and looked towards the ceiling. The ceiling was arched and very high up with the lights of torches bouncing off here and there. He sat up and looked towards the open doorway just in time to see Daring fall through. The door slammed shut on its own a mere second after Daring had passed through the entrance and had landed on the floor.
Suddenly, two particular traits of the room they were now in became extremely noticeable to the ponies. First was the sound of electricity passing through the air and connecting with metal. Second was the incredibly strong smell of iron...though it was clear that the smell wasn't coming from iron itself but from something that was emanating a similar scent. Blood, Clockwork thought as a shiver coursed through his body.
He gave two strong sniffs and realized that the smell was coming from behind him. He turned around. A couple feet from where he was, Colgate and Matilda were lying on the floor and slowly trying to examine their surroundings. A few yards away from them, a massive metallic machine with monitors, lightning rods, and electrical bursts stood. Next to the strange machine there lay...Bright Eyes. Her eyes were wide open with fear and her entire body was shaking as if she were in the middle of a snowstorm. Raspy breaths were escaping from her mouth and her tongue drooped like a wet rag. Clockwork's eyes focused in on a particular substance that covered most of her torso area: blood. Fresh blood slowly dripping out of a ghastly wound in her chest. As soon as he noticed the blood, Clockwork heard a new sound in the room: dripping. It was then that Clockwork realized that something was standing next to Bright Eyes. It was a tall human male with pale skin, a smile carved into his face, long and matted black hair, and a large knife clutched in his hand. A steady trickle of blood dripped from the blade and onto the floor. Clockwork's eyes widened and he couldn't help but scream, "BRIGHT EYES! NO!"
Colgate and Matilda turned towards the injured Bright Eyes and her attacker. "Bright Eyes!" Colgate gasped. Colgate then turned her attention to the knife-wielding maniac. "YOU!"
Jeff the killer waved his knife like a magician's wand and chuckled. "I think it's time for dear Bright Eyes to...go to sleep," he said as he towered over Bright Eyes and aimed the knife.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Colgate stood up and time seemed to slow down as Jeff brought the knife down. Colgate felt an immense anger rise up within her and center around her horn. Just before Jeff's knife reached Bright Eyes's skin, a powerful blast of magic shot out of Colgate's horn and smashed into Jeff. Jeff flew through the air and hit the ground hard. The knife went sliding across the floor and disappeared into a dark corner. Colgate, Clockwork, and Matilda ran to Bright Eyes's side while Daring stood up and balanced herself, still not fully aware to what exactly was happening.
"Bright Eyes! Stay with us! You're going to be okay!" cried Clockwork as he cradled Bright Eyes's limp head in his forelegs. Clockwork turned to Matilda, who had now pulled out a strange, futuristic scanner from her purse and was passing it over Bright Eyes's body. "Well?! Is she going to live?!"
Matilda looked at the screen on the scanner and nodded slowly. "She's lost a lot of blood but the wound doesn't cover any major organs. However, she obviously needs medical assistance," she replied.
Colgate noticed Matilda's face become slightly confused. "What's wrong?" Colgate asked.
"This injury was made with precision. It was made with the intent to not strike any major organs."
"So...when Jeff stabbed Bright Eyes he had no intention to kill her?"
"Well...that's not entirely true," replied a giggling voice. Colgate, Matilda, and Clockwork turned to see none other than Thalia stepping out of the darkness with a satisfied grin on her face. She was joined by Jeff, who had recovered and was now armed with a new knife, and the evil Rainbow Dash, who was still armed with her electrified rod. "We wanted to kill her but we decided to keep her alive until the rest of you showed up."
Clockwork tightened his grip on Bright Eyes while Colgate and Matilda stood up and took a few steps towards the three psychopaths. Daring was quick to fly over and stand next to Matilda. "It looks like you have no magical imps to help you out now," chuckled Rainbow Dash.
"We won't need him," said Matilda.
"We're not afraid of any of you," said Colgate with a furious flash in her eyes. "I mean what's there to be scared of? A clone of the much better Twilight Sparkle who looks like she got taken out of a negative picture? A mentally disturbed version of Rainbow Dash who should probably return to the asylum she came from? A pale human who should have learned a long time ago not to play with knives? Please."
"Big talk for a little, fleshy pony who was running from me not too long ago," Jeff said with a snarl.
"That was then. This is now. We've gone through too much in order to find the source of the rifts to be stopped by you three."
"Well, you can be a bit happy that you've finally found it," Thalia said as she tilted her head in the direction of the mysterious device in the room.
"So that's it, huh?" Matilda asked. "The source of the dimensional rifts."
"Not exactly. Much like most of the rooms in this temple, it's an echo of the real thing."
"Of course. I figured as much." Matilda's eyes quickly honed in on a certain device wrapped around one of Thalia's forelegs. "So, tell me, where'd you get the vortex manipulator?"
Thalia laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She presented the foreleg with the vortex manipulator before Matilda. "Sorry, dearie. Spoilers."
Matilda shook her head. "Nu-uh. Don't start stealing mine and River's catch-phrases."
"Come off it, Matilda. I make it sound a lot better than you or Professor Song could ever manage."
"I beg to differ."
"Can we get back to the point?" Daring snapped.
"Yes," said Jeff as he raised his knife. "Let's."
Rainbow Dash readied her rod and a few sparks emanated from Thalia's horn. "Clockwork, keep Bright Eyes safe," ordered Matilda. Clockwork nodded in return as he continued to hold onto Bright Eyes and put pressure over her wound.
"I'll get Jeff," said Colgate.
"Dibs on Dash," said Daring.
"Then I guess I've got Thalia," chuckled Matilda.
Suddenly...there was silence. Nobody and nopony in the room made a sound. The only sounds heard were the electrical zaps of the machine and Bright Eyes's raspy breathing. Then it started. Jeff raced towards Matilda but Colgate jumped at him and knocked him to the ground. Daring and Rainbow took to the air and raced at each other. Matilda reached into her purse and pulled out a blaster of sorts that produced a shield from an oncoming magical blast from Thalia.
Rainbow tried to zap Daring with the rod but Daring was ready. She flicked her whip and the pulled the rod out of Rainbow's grasp, proceeding to send it flying off into one of the dark corners of the room. Rainbow flew at Daring and crashed into her. The crazed pegasus, with no other weapons, bit down on one of Daring's forelegs. Daring gasped in pain and unintentionally let go of her whip before kicking Rainbow in the gut, knocking the air out of her. The two pegasi broke apart and flew at each other again.
Thalia continued to send rapid magical blasts at Matilda. All the while, Matilda used her blaster shield to keep the attacks from reaching her. Thalia charged up one big blast and sent it at Matilda. Matilda, knowing that the blast was too large to block entirely, activated a new setting on her blaster and reflected the attack back at Thalia. Thalia used a magical shield to re-reflect the attack and, within seconds, Matilda and Thalia were caught in a chain of reflecting the attack over and over again. The magical blast was obviously gaining more energy with each reflection. Don't know how long I can keep this up. One of us is going to slip soon! Matilda thought just as she reflected the magical blast again.
Colgate kicked Jeff in the stomach and knocked him back. Jeff lunged at her and attempted to drive the knife into her back but, as expected, the knife couldn't pierce through her Weeping Angel skin. Colgate gave several more kicks and got in a few good shots. Jeff grabbed one of her legs and tossed her towards the wall. The impact against the wall didn't hurt as it normally would but it still dazed her for a few seconds. Jeff rushed at her and knocked her back. Colgate looked and saw that she and him were drawing closer and closer to one of the dark portions of the room. If he gets me in the dark, he'll be able to cut me, Colgate thought as she turned back at her opponent. She tried to force out another magical blast but it was to no avail. Instead, she rushed at him again and brought one of her forelegs straight into his face. He quickly recovered and lunged at Colgate again. This time, he managed to jump on top of her and pin her to the ground. He drove the knife down several times at her neck but was still unable to break the skin. Suddenly, there was a sickening flash in his eyes.
"Nobody can see the back of your throat...can they?" he chuckled. Colgate gasped as he grabbed her jaw and forced her mouth open. He raised the knife up, focused on his eyes her own, and drove the knife towards her open mouth. Colgate reached up and pushed her forelegs against Jeff's oncoming arm, stopping the knife just a inch or so from her face. The two struggled for a brief moment before Colgate gained a much welcomed adrenaline boost and kicked Jeff off her. This simple act became the starting point of a chain reaction that nopony saw coming.
Jeff fell back and hit the ground hard. His knife flew out of his hand in the process and flew over towards the dueling Matilda and Thalia. In the blink of an eye, Jeff's knife collided with the powered up magic blast that was still being reflected back and forth between the two mares. The knife and the magic blast combined and flew in a new direction towards Clockwork and Bright Eyes. "Clockwork! Move!" Matilda cried. Clockwork saw the oncoming attack and pulled himself and the injured Bright Eyes out of harm's way. The combined knife and magical orb flew straight at the object that had lay just beyond Clockwork and Bright Eyes: the machine. The orb smashed right into the heart of the machine. A powerful shockwave reverberated through the air, knocking everypony on their rumps.
Thalia was the first to get back up. Her eyes widened angrily at the sight of the destroyed machine. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she screamed. "YOU'VE DESTROYED THE HEART OF THE ELMHEIM TEMPLE!"
"The echo of the machine that's causing the dimensional rifts," said Matilda with a look of shocked realization. She turned towards Colgate and gulped. "We're in trouble."
Everypony looked as the machine began to pull in on itself. A bright, white light began to emanate from the destroyed heart of the machine. The machine then started to spin around and disappear into a small vortex of sorts. As the seconds passed, the vortex grew larger and the light grew brighter. Matilda and the others could feel a powerful force pulling on their bodies. The last remnants of the machine disappeared and now all that remained was a growing, white vortex. The room began to shake and the walls, floor, and ceiling started to crack.
"What's happening?!" asked Daring.
"The machine's broken apart! An uncontrollable rift vortex has been created! It's not going to stop until the whole temple's been drawn in!" Matilda explained.
"Where does the vortex lead?!" Colgate asked.
Matilda eyed Colgate. "Anywhere. Anywhen."
There was another shake and everypony fell on the ground. "BRIGHT EYES!" Clockwork cried. The weakened Bright Eyes was being pulled towards the vortex. Clockwork kept his hold on her but the pull of the vortex was becoming too strong. Everypony in the room began sliding across the floor towards the vortex. They all tried to find something to hold onto but it was no use. There was nothing to grip. Bright Eyes was growing ever so close to the vortex. "I'M SLIPPING!"
At that moment, Bright Eyes petted Clockwork's hooves and smiled. "I know you'll find me," she said with a sparkle in her eyes. "I know that everything's going to be-" Clockwork's grip was lost. The injured Bright Eyes fell like a rag doll towards the vortex and was sucked right in.
"BRIGHT EYES!"
At that moment, Thalia lost her footing and fell towards the vortex. "This isn't over! Not by a long shot!" she cried as she fell in.
"I'm sure of it," Matilda sighed back.
"Matilda!" cried Daring as she and Rainbow Dash went sliding past. Matilda tried to grab her but the adventurer was moving too fast. The two pegasi disappeared into the growing, white abyss.
Colgate heard a grunt next to her and watched as Jeff slipped and went sliding off into the vortex after Daring and Rainbow Dash. Now only Colgate, Matilda, and Clockwork remained. Colgate slid a bit closer to the vortex and came to a stop next to Matilda. She could feel the floor beginning to break apart beneath her. "We...we have to go through now...don't we?" Colgate asked.
Matilda nodded in reply. For a moment, the three remaining ponies eyes the expanding vortex. Eventually, they quickly nodded to each other before turning back to the vortex. "NOW!" Matilda cried. Simultaneously, they released their grips on the floor and allowed their bodies to be sucked into the swirling, white portal.
Laboratory Building, Fort Rice, The Forest of Shadows, Eugora, Autumn, 1899 C.E.
Colgate felt her body stretch and contract several times before she finally escaped the confines of the vortex. She looked around to see that she was standing in a dark hallway. A siren was going off and she could hear voices calling out from various locations around her. The loudest of all was a male voice calling out over a speaker. "We have an intruder! Look for the unicorn called Jean Locke! She has been killed and her body is now being used as the host for an extremely dangerous creature. Get her into custody or, if capturing her fails, kill her!" ordered the voice.
She was suddenly drawn to the window. She looked outside to see several buildings scattered about what appeared to be a fenced off facility within a forest. Four ponies could be seen running across the grounds towards one of the other buildings. Colgate gasped as she recognized two of the ponies. "Twilight?! Doctor?!" she gasped. Colgate felt the air in the hallway unexpectedly become very thick. A feeling of being watched by somepony washed over her. She turned away from the window and looked down the hallway. Her heart stopped for a second. Standing a few feet from her with its arms stretched towards her was a humanoid Weeping Angel. "NO!" Colgate took several steps back and unintentionally blinked a couple times, thus allowing the Angel to get a few feet closer. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" There was an explosion of white light behind her. She dared not look away from the Angel. However, a few seconds later, she found a powerful force pulling her back. A feeling of fear and relief washed over her as the rift pulled her in and the Angel vanished in a flash of white.
Viewing Hall 11, The Queen Philippine, Esther Space Station, Space, Winter, 4376 C.E.
Colgate stumbled out of the rift to find herself standing in what appeared to be a massive hallway with a red velvet carpet and a wide variety of furnishings. One of the walls was a gargantuan window that overlooked a silver-clouded planet suspended in space. Colgate suddenly realized that she wasn't alone and turned to see a stallion in a captain's uniform standing a couple feet away. He had a lime green coat, sapphire eyes, an ice-blue mane, and a cutie mark consisting of a black ship's wheel. In one of his hooves was a piece of metal with the words Cybus Industries welded into one of its sides. "What the...where the hay did you come from?!" gasped the stallion.
"It's a bit of a long story," Colgate replied with a nervous smile. "You probably don't want to hear it. It involves time and space travel and all that stuff."
"Ma'am, I just helped a time traveling stallion known as the Doctor save my ship from fire zombies. I think I-"
"Wait a second! You know the Doctor?!"
"Of course. He left just a moment ago." The stallion eyed Colgate suspiciously. "Who are you?" There was suddenly a bright flash of light and Colgate turned around to see another rift waiting for her. "What the hay?!"
Colgate turned back to the stallion. "I'm Colgate, an ally of the Doctor's. Now if you'll excuse me, Mr..."
"Kemp. John Kemp."
"Right! Now if you'll excuse me, Mr. Kemp, I've got some friends to save! Have a nice day!" Before John Kemp could say anything else, Colgate ran forward and jumped through the rift.
Adipose Industries, London, England, Earth, Spring, 2009 A.D.
After falling out of another rift, Colgate stood up and looked around to see that she was in a business place of sorts as several isolated desks were situated all around her. "Now where am I?" she asked under her breath. Her ears twitched a bit as she heard the sound of talking. She used her forelegs to pull herself a bit over the top of one of the isolated desks' walls to see five humans standing the middle of the room, which was surprisingly big. Colgate instantly recognized one of the humans as Donna Noble. Her attention was quickly drawn to the man next to her, who had pulled out a...sonic screwdriver. "Wait a minute...the suit...the screwdriver...Doctor?!"
The blonde woman facing the Doctor and Donna gave a remark and the two men with her aimed their guns. "Hold on, hold on, hold on! One more thing before...dying," said the Doctor. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?" The Doctor presented his sonic screwdriver in one hand and a black pen in another.
The blonde woman took a breath. "No," she replied.
"Nor me! Let's find out!" The Doctor pointed the screwdriver and the pen towards each other and activated them. A loud, sonic shriek reverberated through the air. Colgate fell to the ground and covered her ears. She could hear glass breaking around her and the floor shaking beneath her feet.
"Come on!" ordered the voice of Donna Noble just before the sonic shrill vanished. Colgate quickly pulled herself back up to see the Doctor and Donna running off in one direction with the blonde woman and her bodyguards walking off in the opposite direction. Not a second after they had all left, another rift opened behind Colgate.
Colgate looked at the rift and shrugged her shoulders. "Why not?" she sighed before jumping through.
Outside Powell Estate, London, England, Earth, Winter, 2005 A.D.
Colgate was spat out of the rift but she managed to make a smooth landing. She instantly took note of her surroundings. She was standing in a fairly large room with a grated platform, circular openings in the curved walls, a central control console, and tree-like columns. "What is this place?" Colgate asked aloud. Her eyes drifted over to a pair of doors which she deduced was the entrance. Suddenly the doors opened and Colgate hid herself behind one of the columns. She peered around the edge of the column to see the Doctor approaching the main console. However, this was still the same Doctor that Colgate had seen with Donna in her previous destination. A tall, lanky, human-like Doctor. But there was definitely something different about him here. He seemed sad and had a look of pain etched into his face. Colgate looked around the room again. Am I...inside the TARDIS?! she thought. The Doctor walked around the main console a bit before pulling down one of the levers. Colgate held on as the TARDIS began to move.
Orbit of Earth, The Solar System, Space, Winter, 2005 A.D.
A few seconds after the lever was pulled down, the TARDIS stopped shaking and became still. The Doctor continued to walk around the console, that sad look still carved into his face, and Colgate looked on from behind the column. Eventually, the Doctor stopped walking and proceeded to breathe deeply. As his eyes began to water up, he sadly stated, "I don't want to go." With that said, his body began to emanate a bright, golden light. Colgate could only watch as the Doctor's body grew brighter and brighter, his breathing becoming faster and heavier with each second. Then the Doctor spread his arms out and exploded in a flash of fiery gold. Light spewed from his hands and head like fireworks. The air in the TARDIS grew increasingly hot and the columns began to shake and fall apart. Sparks rained down from the ceiling and the entire ship shook back and forth. After what seemed like forever, the golden light disappeared and Colgate looked to see that the Doctor had transformed into the Doctor she knew, hooves and all. Before the Doctor could get a full look at his new body, the TARDIS tilted drastically and began to fall towards the ground far below. While the Doctor focused on the controls, Colgate's attention was drawn to a new rift. Another tilt of the TARDIS sent Colgate falling through.
Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glenfinnan, Scotland, Earth, Autumn, 1992 A.D.
Colgate had a rocky landing and hit the ground awkwardly. She tripped and fell over but it it didn't take her long to get back up. She saw that she was standing on a train track located on top of a tall viaduct. Beyond the viaduct was an expansion of green hills and trees. "At least I've landed somewhere nice," she said with a smile.
There was suddenly another flash and Colgate turned around to see Matilda standing before her. "Colgate!" Matilda gasped as she ran up to her. "You alright?"
"Been to a few weird places but I'm in one piece."
"Good."
"Why are all of these rifts appearing?"
"We fell into a rift vortex. We're going to keep falling through rifts until we reach our final destination."
"And that would be?"
"The actual source of the rifts. What we found in the Elmheim Temple was an echo. We're traveling to the actual source of it all."
Colgate glanced at Matilda's vortex manipulator. "Have you been able to get that working?"
"Not yet, sadly. I think there's too much disturbance for it to work-" Just then, something blue flew over their heads. "Is that a...flying Ford Anglia?"
The flying blue car began to slowly glide a few feet above the train tracks. "A what?" Colgate asked.
"It's another transportational vehicle. It's funny because I haven't seen a car like that since-" Matilda's eyes widened. The ground began to shake beneath their hooves and the sound of heavy wheels moving could be heard behind them. The two mares turned around to see a red steam engine heading straight for them. "RUN!"
Colgate and Matilda ran as fast as they could down the tracks but the train was quickly gaining up on them. Colgate's heart was pounding like a drum on speed. She felt a powerful adrenaline boost make its way towards her horn and, in the blink of an eye, Colgate unintentionally teleported herself and Matilda out of the train's path. However, where they ended up wasn't that much better. "Great...we're on top of the train," sighed Colgate as she found herself and Matilda now sitting on top of one of the train cars in the middle of the train. As she said this, there was a flash of light and Colgate looked to see Jeff the killer standing a few feet from her. "Really? You? Now?"
Jeff raced towards Colgate but Matilda greeted him with a series of kicks. As Jeff and Matilda became engrossed in a brawl, Colgate looked to see that the train had caught up to the flying Ford Anglia. The car veered off the tracks, flew around the viaduct, and up into the air at about diagonally above the train. Suddenly, one of the car's doors opened and a human preteen boy with black hair and glasses fell out, managing to grab onto the handle of the door. A red-headed boy within the car reached forward and tried to grab his friend.
Colgate's attention was then drawn back to Jeff and Matilda. In a sudden twist of luck, Jeff managed to pin down Matilda and was now choking the life out of her. Colgate ran over to Jeff and kicked him as hard as she could in the face. A cracking sound rang out from his nose before he rolled off Matilda, across the top of the car, and over the edge. Colgate watched as Jeff fell down towards the river that resided beneath the viaduct. She turned away just before he hit the ground. "Are you okay?!" Colgate asked as she ran over to Matilda to help her up.
"I'm alive. That's good enough," Matilda replied with a nervous chuckle. "That's one less psychopath we have to worry about now. Let's just hope not that many people on the train saw that." Luckily only one person in the train saw Jeff's fall and had instantly fainted upon witnessing it: a preteen boy with a round face, bucked teeth, and a toad in his lap.
Colgate turned her attention back to the boys in the flying car just in time to see the red-headed boy help the boy with glasses climb back into the car and close the door. "At least they made it out okay," she said.
Matilda smiled up at the flying car. "Good thing too. The Wizarding World's going to need those boys," she commented. Colgate gave Matilda a confused look and Matilda smirked back at her. "I'll explain later when I get the chance."
It was then that another rift opened up before them. "Let's get off this train now."
Matilda approached Colgate and took her hoof. "And let's stick together."
Colgate nodded. She and Matilda then jumped through the portal.
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Colgate and Matilda were still holding each others' hooves tightly when they exited the portal. Colgate let out an annoyed groan upon seeing where they were. Their current location was a room filled with trees and grass like a miniature forest. "Ugh! We're back in the temple!" Colgate groaned.
"How can you tell?" Matilda asked.
"Bright Eyes and I passed through this room while we were still doing that errand for Rumplestiltskin. This is that room where Bright Eyes said she saw-" Colgate fell silent.
"Saw...what?"
Another spark of light interrupted their conversation. Thalia, who had just exited a rift, limped towards them with an arrow sticking out of her side, a steady trickle of blood flowing out. Thalia snarled upon seeing Colgate and Matilda but lost her footing and fell over. Matilda approached the injured evil clone and looked down at her coldly. "My how the tables have turned. I guess you had a bad run in with some archers. Probably mistook you for a demon," she said.
"This...isn't...over," Thalia grunted.
"Of course it isn't. You're not meant to die here. No. Your final breath won't be taken for a long while. But this current conflict of ours is over."
Matilda turned her attention to her vortex manipulator and began to press a series of the buttons. "I thought your vortex manipulator couldn't work," said Colgate.
"Under these circumstances, it normally won't and still can't teleport us away. But, I think I've figured out whose vortex manipulator Thalia's belongs to." Matilda knelt down next to the injured Thalia. "And I'm here to return it."
"How...how could you know?!" Thalia snarled.
"It wasn't that hard once I examined everything, especially the manipulator itself." Matilda took Thalia's foreleg with the manipulator and presented her own. "Tell me, Thalia, do you know what happens when one vortex manipulator meets another version of itself from another point in time?"
Thalia looked up at Matilda with a look of absolute hatred. "No."
"Well, you're about to find out. Send whomever you're going to meet my regards." Matilda pressed her vortex manipulator against the one on Thalia's foreleg. A spark emanated from the touching devices and spread all over Thalia's body.
"NO!" Thalia screamed angrily as she vanished into the time stream.
"Where did you send her?" Colgate asked as Matilda stood up.
"The future," Matilda replied before turning back to face Colgate. "Now, tell me, what exactly did Bright Eyes see in here?"
"She told me that she met...you."
"Me?"
"Yes. This room in under the affect of something called temporal separation."
"Ah."
"You know what that means?"
"I've come across the actual thing a few times in my travels."
"Well...I guess you're about to come across it again."
"Colgate?" asked a familiar voice from a clearing a few yards away. Colgate and Matilda looked to see Bright Eyes looking around frantically.
"Go talk to her. You won't have much time, though," said Colgate.
Matilda nodded as she made her way towards the pegasus. "Colgate? Colgate?! COLGATE?!" Bright Eyes cried.
"Calm down, sweetie," said Matilda as she approached Bright Eyes.
Bright Eyes turned to face her with a surprised expression. "Matilda? How did you-"
"I don't have time to explain. I just need you to know that everything's going to be okay."
"What about-"
"Colgate's fine. She'll be back in a moment." Matilda couldn't help but give a somber face upon thinking back to the injured future Bright Eyes falling into the vortex. She stepped closer to Bright Eyes and gave her a quick, tight hug. "No matter what happens, everything's going to be okay. Don't forget that." Bright Eyes nodded and Matilda smiled at her. "Good." She was about to turn back to go back to Colgate's hiding spot when she suddenly thought back to the events of the flying door room. "Oh and thanks for the heads up on that chandelier."
Bright Eyes gave Matilda a curious stare. "What chandelier?" Not a second later, Bright Eyes vanished.
Colgate stepped into the clearing and began to approach Matilda. "Is everything going to be okay?" she asked upon stopping a foot or so away from Matilda.
"I believe so," Matilda replied. "What about you?"
Before Colgate could reply, a flash of white light appeared beneath Matilda and Colgate jumped as Matilda fell through a surprise rift. "MATILDA!" Colgate lunged for the rift but it closed before she could reach it. Colgate slammed her hoof into the ground and rolled over on her back. "Dang it! Alone again." Not a minute after that, another rift opened above Colgate and proceeded to pull her through.
Colgate landed on top of a large pile of junk within a familiar room. She looked down to see a horde of zombie ponies crowding around the pile she had landed on. "Great. This room," she sighed upon looking out upon the vast expanse of the junk room.
"Colgate?" asked a surprised voice next to her. Colgate looked to see Bright Eyes sitting with her on the same mound of rubble, Rumplestiltskin's first map in her hooves.
Colgate smiled awkwardly. "Hi...Bright Eyes."
"Where did you-"
"The future."
Bright Eyes threw her forelegs into the air. "Another future Colgate?"
"Yeah. I guess it's just one of those days."
"So where's my Colgate...I mean you...your past self?"
"I'm fine. Just get out of here and follow the map to the next room! I'll meet you in there."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry. My ride's coming shortly."
"Okay...guess I'll see you in the next room then."
Bright Eyes was about to take off when Colgate grabbed her foreleg. "Everything's going to be okay, Bright Eyes. I promise."
Bright Eyes looked at Colgate curiously. "That...that's exactly what Matilda told me back in that forest room."
Colgate was quiet for a few seconds. She pointed off towards the next door. "Now go!" Bright Eyes nodded and took off. "Oh! Don't tell my past self about this!"
"Okay!"
Colgate watched as Bright Eyes flew off towards the Memory Room. The next rift soon appeared and took her away.
Stevens Residence, San Antonio, Texas, America, Earth, Winter, 2012 A.D.
Colgate exited the rift to find herself standing in what appeared to be a closet. She softened her breathing once she heard the sound of a male voice emanating from the room beyond the closet door. She peered through a crack in the door to see a teenage human boy with black hair, fair skin, and green eyes talking on a cell phone, which Colgate couldn't identify, and was sitting in front of a monitor. "Did you see The Snowmen?" the boy asked. "I know! It was great! I wonder who Clara's going to turn out to be." The boy typed something on the keyboard and laughed. "Oh. You've got to go? Okay. Talk to you later then." The boy put the phone down and began typing something on a word document.
Suddenly, Colgate caught her legs of a small pile of clothing and fell out of the closet. The boy turned around and stood up as Colgate rolled out into the center of his bedroom. Upon realizing that she had been spotted, Colgate smiled and said, "Uh...hello. Sorry about the closet."
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"
Colgate slowly stood up and began to back away. "I'll just be out of here shortly and-"
"Wait! I have...something to tell you...I suppose."
Colgate froze. "Wait...what?"
The boy sighed and rubbed his face. "I can't believe this is happening. First there was that whole thing with Alex and Quinn during the summer and now this!" He lowered his hand and sat down in his chair. "I know about your situation, Colgate."
"How do you know who I am?"
"That's a bit complicated and I don't have time to go into that right now. My name's Edgar Stevens and...I need to tell you something about who you're up against. Who you're going to meet when you reach the world that's the source of the dimensional rifts."
"Okaaaay."
"You're going to be going up against...a dark version of the Doctor."
"A...dark Doctor?"
"Yes, if you wish to put it like that. He's known in my world too, though the version of him we know of it not as, shall we say, dark as the one you're going up against. We even have a name for him. We don't call him the Doctor or even the Dark Doctor."
"What do you call him then?"
Edgar beckoned Colgate to come in closer. She cautiously did as she was told. Edgar leaned forward and placed his mouth next to Colgate's ear. He then whispered a name so softly that Colgate almost missed it, but she was able to make it out nonetheless. Edgar leaned back and Colgate stepped away. "And there's one more thing you should know before you leave."
"And what's that?"
"You still have that red robe right? The one that sent you back in time while you were in the Elmheim Temple?"
"How the hay do you-"
"Just answer the question!"
"Okay...uh...yes."
"When you reach the world of the source, you're going to need to use it again."
Just then, there was a bright flash as another rift opened up. "It looks like my ride's here."
"There's a big fight ahead of you, Colgate. Be careful...but, don't worry, everything's going to be okay."
Colgate gave another curious look at the mysterious Edgar Stevens before turning back towards the rift. For another time, I suppose, she thought before launching herself into the white abyss.
Colgate stumbled a bit upon exiting the rift. She took in a deep breath and was immediately met with a mouthful of smoke and dust. Her eyes were blinded for a couple seconds and stung a bit from the various particles filling the air around her. She rubbed her eyes and eventually managed to open them and gain a full view at her surroundings.
She was standing in what appeared to be a plaza of sorts. The ground was constructed with bricks and several squares filled with dirt were scattered about every few feet. The bricks on the ground were covered in a mixture of dirt and ash and the dead remnants of lost vegetation could be seen poking through the dirt in the square sections. The plaza was bordered on all sides by old buildings that looked as if they had once been occupied homes and thriving businesses. Beyond the ruined homes and businesses lay a series of tall buildings with rusted pipes running along their exteriors. The pipes ran up to the tops of the buildings and gushed out a seemingly endless amount of smoke. The sky was dark and cloudy and the clouds had a rusted look to them, almost as if dark sandstorms were billowing throughout the air above the city constantly.
Colgate looked up through the smog and was just barely able to make out the outline of a familiar looking castle. "This place looks...so familiar," she stated. She looked around the deserted plaza for a couple seconds before it clicked. "Can it...no...it can't be!" She turned to examine the outline of the castle once more. "C...Canterlot?!"
Suddenly, three white flashes illuminated behind Colgate and she spun around to see Matilda, Clockwork, and Daring Do fall to the bricked ground, coughing violently. "Dear Celestia...where did all this smoke come from?!" Daring coughed.
"Daring?! Matilda?! Colgate?!" gasped Clockwork as he stood up. He clasped his chest and gave a loud sigh. "Thank Celestia! We're all together again!" Just then, he began looking around frantically. "Where...where's Bright Eyes?"
The others looked around as well. There was no sign of the injured pegasus in the mailmare uniform. "She's not here," said Colgate.
"But all of us are here! Where could she be?!"
"I'm not sure," said Matilda as she looked at her vortex manipulator. She proceeded to give out loud groan. "I can't believe this!"
"What's wrong?" Daring asked.
"Something's interfering with my manipulator."
"So you still can't use it?" Colgate asked.
"No," Matilda replied. "However...I can see where we are." She pressed a few buttons and looked at the screen before looking at her comrades. "We're here."
"Where?" Daring asked.
"The world where the true source of the rifts lies."
Everypony looked around. "It's not a very attractive place."
"At least we won't have to worry about Jeff popping up out of the smog," Colgate commented.
"Why? What happened to him?" Clockwork asked.
"Colgate kicked him off a moving train," Matilda replied.
"Oh...and Thalia?"
"I sent her back to where she belongs to return the vortex manipulator she stole."
"Oh...and what about that evil Rainbow Dash?"
"Don't worry. She's taken care of," Daring replied. "We ended up in some forest and a large purple cloud ate her up along with the forest. A rift came and took me away before the cloud got to me."
"Oh dear," said Matilda.
Daring raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Nothing. I can look further into that later. Right now, we need to focus on finding the actual source."
"That reminds me!" said Colgate. "I know who we're up against, the one who probably built the machine that's creating the rifts!"
"Really? How'd you find out?" Matilda asked.
"Before I arrived here, I ended up in the bedroom of some human named Edgar who knew an awful lot about me and-"
"Wait a minute! You're not talking about Edgar Roger Stevens are you?!"
"He said his name was Edgar Stevens. Didn't hear the Roger part. Do you know him?"
"I...uh...it's complicated. Let's just say that I usually know of him under a different name."
"Well, who is he? He knew about me and what's going on."
"That's also complicated."
"Can we get back to the point?!" Daring snapped. "Who are we going up against?"
Colgate cleared her throat and said, "Edgar told me that-"
Just then, the ground beneath their hooves began to vibrate. The four ponies fell silent. "Why is it I feel that we're not alone?" Clockwork asked.
Matilda looked and saw a collection of shadows appear in the dusty landscape. "It's because we're not," she replied. Suddenly, the shadows raced forward. "RUN!"
The others didn't dare waste time to ask questions. They just ran. The sound of metal limbs moving reached their hears as robotic cries started reverberating through the air. "STOP! HALT! SURRENDER! YOU WILL STOP!" ordered the voices. This was soon followed by the sound of something whizzing through the air. A projectile flew over the ponies' heads and smashed into the ground in front of them. The blast caught Matilda and Daring by surprise while Colgate and Clockwork miraculously managed to avoid most of the shockwave and jump over the hole. Colgate and Clockwork heard two gasps and turned around to see that the dazed Matilda and Daring had been captured by their pursuers. It was here that they finally got a good look at them.
They appeared to be humans constructed out of various metals. Their faces were merely stagnant, emotionless masks with simple square cutouts for the mouth and eyes. There were many of them and Colgate could see more of them walking out of the dusty shadows. "What...what are you?!" Colgate managed to ask.
"WE ARE THE CYBERMEN! THE ENFORCERS OF THE LAW AND THE PROTECTORS OF EQUESTRIA!" replied one of the robotic humans, its eyes and mouth lighting up with each word.
"I've seen these beings before," said Clockwork. "In my dreams of the Doctor's memories. They're monsters from his past."
"Run!" Matilda ordered. "Get away, you two!"
"IT IS FOOLISH TO RUN! YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" stated another one of the Cybermen.
"What do you want?! What are you going to do to us?!" Colgate asked.
"WE SHALL TAKE YOU TO THE RULER OF THIS LAND! HE SHALL DECIDE YOUR FATE!"
Colgate and Matilda met eye-to-eye. "You two have to get out of here!" she ordered as she and Daring struggled against the grips of the Cybermen holding them.
"How?!" Clockwork asked. "They've surrounded us!"
Colgate's eyes widened a bit as she looked back at her bag. The words of Edgar Roger Stevens returned to her. "You still have that red robe right? The one that sent you back in time while you were in the Elmheim Temple?" he had asked. "When you reach the world of the source, you're going to need to use it again."
"You're wrong, Clockwork," said Colgate. "There is a way out."
"Really? Can you teleport?" Clockwork asked.
"Not upon demand with my unicorn magic...but I have a way for us to escape." Colgate hastily reached into her bag and pulled out the red robe.
"SIEZE THEM!" ordered one of the Cybermen.
Colgate could hear Cybermen rushing towards her from all sides. She stared sadly at Matilda and Daring and they stared back. "We'll rescue you. We'll find a way to bring the Doctor here and we'll rescue you. We'll rescue everypony," Colgate stated.
"We know," Matilda said. "Everything's going to be okay."
"Now get the hell out of here!" Daring directed.
Colgate nodded as she readied the robe. "Hold onto me, Clockwork!" she ordered. Deciding to ask questions later, Clockwork grabbed one of Colgate's forelegs. The Cybermen were just about to reach her when Colgate tossed the robe over her and Clockwork. In the blink of an eye, the robe covered them both and the two ponies felt the world around them disappear.
Colgate and Clockwork were blinded for a moment as bright sunlight rained down upon them the second the robe fell off their bodies. A cold chill brushed against their coats and they could feel something icy underneath their hooves. Once their vision cleared, they saw that they were standing in a plaza covered in a thick, acceptable layer of snow. The smell of hot chocolate and lumber filled the air and Colgate looked to see humans walking about in winter clothing. Decorated trees stood in the square portions of the plaza and colored lights hung from the various homes and business in the surrounding area. The sky was an icy blue with thick, white clouds passing over and said clouds were busy depositing a perfect amount of snow over the land below. "Where are we?" Clockwork asked.
"We're in exactly the same spot we were...only in the past," Colgate replied before picking up the robe. "I found this robe in the Elmheim Temple. It has some strange time travel properties." She stuffed the robe into her bag.
"So...you had it take us back in time?"
"Yes. I thought about traveling back to before the Cybermen arrived in Equestria when I threw the robe over us. And I suppose this is what this alternate Equestria was like before the Cybermen appeared."
Clockwork and Colgate looked at all the cheerful humans making their way about the plaza, appearing to be too caught up in the joy of the holiday season to give the two ponies a second glance. "So...all this is destined to become that dusty, abandoned city we just came from?" Clockwork asked. Colgate gave a gloomy nod. Clockwork was silent for a moment. "I wonder...if we'll find Bright Eyes here in the past."
Colgate turned to Clockwork and took his hoof. "We'll find Bright Eyes and save the others. Before that, we need to find a way to get a message to the Doctor back in my universe and see how this whole Cybermen invasion began," she said. Clockwork turned her her and nodded.
Just then, the sound of a camera going off emanated from behind them. The two ponies turned around to see a human girl in her late teens standing a couple feet from them with a camera in hand. She had fair skin; flowing purple hair; and was wearing a lavender, hooded jacket with a familiar mark printed on it. She was joined by a boy who appeared to be a few years her junior. He had fair skin; spiky, green hair; and was wearing a purple, hooded jacket. "I can't believe I'm actually witnessing this!" squealed the girl with an excited tone. "Talking ponies! I've heard the stories but never imagined that I'd meet them one day!" Colgate and Clockwork glanced at each other awkwardly before turning back to the girl. The girl blushed as she stored her camera away in one of her pockets. "Sorry if I'm bothering you. It's not everyday that one finds talking ponies here in Equestria." The girl extended one of her hands. "My name's Twilight Sparkle and this is my close friend and assistant Spike!"
Spike the human waved one hand and yawned loudly. "Hey," he said as he head drooped a bit. "Sorry...it's too early for me and Twilight here made me get up for Celestia knows what reason."
Twilight the human turned to her friend and frowned. "How can you want to sleep in when the holiday season is in full swing?! Seriously, Spike, you can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes!"
Colgate and Clockwork turned back to look at each other. "Just when things couldn't get any weirder," Clockwork sighed.
Not one second later, the entire planet seemed to shake beneath them and a bright light flashed in the sky above the city. "And it looks like the surprises aren't done yet," Colgate commented as she looked up. The clouds in the sky had merged and were now spinning around like a massive funnel. The sky looked as if it were ripped open and now something was coming through. Colgate, Clockwork, the human Twilight Sparkle and Spike, and the rest of the human inhabitants of the alternate Canterlot turned to the sky and watched as a massive amount of debris began falling from the sky towards the ground below. Colgate looked closely at the falling objects to see that they looked like pieces of spaceships and other futuristic items.
"What the hell is that?!" asked Spike the human, his eyes now wide open.
"I need to call the Princesses and see if they know anything!" stated the human Twilight as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
"This is it," said Colgate. "He's coming."
Clockwork turned to Colgate. "He?" he asked.
"Yes. The one we're up against. The one who's behind the source of the dimensional rifts."
Clockwork and Colgate then noticed one, particular object in the center of the massive cloud of debris falling out of the vortex. Clockwork gasped as he saw that it was a familiar blue box emanating a trail of flames and smoke as a fell. "Is that...the TARDIS?!"
"We're going up against an alternate version of the Doctor, Clockwork. He's a darker version of the Doctor. Edgar Roger Stevens warned me about him. He's known about in Edgar's world too and they even have a name for him. He's not called the Doctor, though. Not even the Dark Doctor."
"Then what is he, Colgate?! What is he called?!"
Colgate glanced at Clockwork for a second before turning back to the sky, the falling TARDIS of the dark, alternate Doctor and the vortex in the sky being reflected clearly in the irises of her determined eyes. She took a deep breath and responded. "Discord Whooves."
