"What's this mural about, Celestia? I haven't seen it before." Twilight was always curious, and taking a look at new things increased that curiosity tenfold. The secret hallway they were in held a story about a man in his big Blue Box.
"What's this mural about, Celestia? I haven't seen it before." Twilight was always curious, and taking a look at new things increased that curiosity tenfold. The secret hallway they were in held a story about a man in his big Blue Box. Of course all writers, artists and readers/admirers know that once a story starts, it can never end until told.
Each chapter of this story is based around a mural in the secret hall of stories dedicated to none other than the lone wanderer in his out-of-place time machine. However, i suck at Drawing so if you guys come up with an image based on the description, PM me and i'll put it in the story.
"What's this mural for, Celestia? I haven't seen it before." Twilight was always curious, and taking a look at new things increased that curiosity tenfold. Much like the close few ponies who knew of the hall, and rarely roamed it, the murals were different from the normal happy ones usually displayed within the stained glass. The hall itself was sealed with every spell known to exist, and even some ones yet to be rediscovered until Starswirl's works are found. It had no connections to the outside world, save for a portal, smaller than a pocket watch, yet larger than anything ever seen. Bigger on the inside. Princess Celestia internally chuckled. All fun aside, she stared back at the mural. Not one single inch of it was at all happy. The image before the two depicted a lone figure, shrouded in shadow to hide his identity, atop a massive pile of the dead. It wasn't just ponies, either. There were metallic creatures with protruding eye-stalks flickering and withering away, screeching in fear of the figure atop their new graves.
"Do you remember the Hall of Stories in Canterlot, Twilight?" her student nodded.
"Yes, each mural held a story, right? There was the one where Me and my friends defeated Nightmare Moon, there was also the one about Discord, and..." Catching on, the purple alicorn figured out what the murals were for.
Smiling was a facade when thinking of Him. He was everything that inspired Celestia to rule, and more. Yet, those last words spoken with Him long ago; they changed her into something better. YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER BANISHED HER! SHE WAS SICK! SHE WAS YOUR SISTER, AND SHE WAS SICK! Even when remembering, Celestia cringed at the echoed words. I'm done helping you. You twisted my friendship into a sick fantasy of me taking you under my wing. From this point forward, you are to regret what was done, just as I have in my travels. My last parting gift. You want to learn by following my footsteps, so you will learn. Regardless of the raw emotion she felt, Celestia stayed strong in the eyes of her pupil, confident that she will not make her into a fool as well. Holding back tears, Celestia began. "Let me tell you a story..."
No More... The words echoed in the old man's mind. In his TARDIS, The Doctor started recording a message, broadcasting on all frequencies, Time Lord and Dalek alike. He was old, older than the rest. His spilled blood poured age into his eyes, his grey hair reflecting the lifetime of regret he would have for the rest of his life because of the choice he needs to make on this day. "Time Lords of Gallifrey, Daleks of Skaro, I serve notice on you all. Too long have i stayed my hand." his raspy voice echoed throughout the empty hallways of his stolen vessel. "No more. Today, you leave me no choice. Today, this war will end. No more. No more..." The message delivered, his sentence finished, he stepped out of his stolen companion with a rucksack filled with the only machine capable of stopping this madness. It was simply known as the moment, the last of a vast assortment of technologies created by the Time Lords of Old. His destination was a decrepit shack amidst the middle of a desert devoid of life. 3 miles he walked, contempt in making his choice of leaving the TARDIS far away enough that she won't have to witness the foulest deed The Doctor has ever committed. He opened the door, barely staying on its hinges, and emptied the contents of the sack in the middle of the room. "I was here as a child," He said to no one in particular. "I had a nightmare." Clear of his reminiscing, the old warrior walked towards the object, observing it closely. It ticked away like a clock, and yet the mechanism had no clear interface to activate it. "Now, how do you work?" he turned it on every side, looking for anything at all he could use to access it. "Why is there never a big, red button?" Grunting in frustration, he turned around, shaking his head. Maybe this was a waste of effort. He thought.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound outside the door. That can't be right. He opened the old wooden door, looking all around for anything that could make such a noise. "Hello?" he yelled into the quiet dunes. Risking lives isn't what The Doctor took lightly, especially if they were innocent. "Is somebody there?"
"It's nothing." The voice was female, full of so many emotions. "It's just a wolf."
His fear was confirmed, there was somebody else out here! Worst of it all was the woman was sitting on the sole object capable of destroying the entire planet! "Don't sit on that!"
"Why not?" the mysterious girl asked.
"Because it's not a chair, it's the most dangerous weapon in the Universe!" He grabbed the woman by her arms and ushered her outside the old cabin, hoping that she would flee from his words.
"Why can't it be both?" The woman was immediately back, and sitting yet again on the doomsday machine. The Doctor never got surprised anymore, living for 300 years could do that to a man. However, shock was a better description of what his face was showing. The woman showed a mock expression, almost taking enjoyment out of this. Almost like it was a game to her.
"Why'd you park so far away?" like a schoolgirl, a curious tone drowned her question. "Don't you want her to see it?" a smile crept onto her face.
"Want who to see?" It was clear now that the old man wasn't dealing with any ordinary woman.
"The TAAAAARDIS." She whispered, her smile turning slightly wicked. "You walked for miles!" His plain look felt darker. It didn't change, it just felt... more serious. "And miles, and miles, and miles."
"I was thinking!" he frustratingly exclaimed.
Her smile stopped. "I heard you."
Frustration morphed into curiosity on The Doctor's face. "You heard me?"
"No more." Her expression soon turned playful.
"No more." her body danced with the words, like a child learning a new word.
The words echoed once again in his withered, old head. No more...
"NO.MORE." she marched playfully around.
The words echoed louder this time. No More...
The more she said it, the more The Doctor hated those words. "Stop it!" he exclaimed.
"No more." she playfully replied. The woman's smirk indicated that this was no more than a game to her. Almost as if she called his bluff. Her actions, her movements; it all screamed at him "I Know you're faking! You will never be done!" It was manic, in a sense.
"Who are you?" He wanted to know. No, he NEEDED to know. This new entity before him seemed neither friend nor foe. The Moment whirred to life again, its mechanisms growing louder. "Its activated, get out of here." Regardless of the playfulness this being had before him, safety was still his concern. He knelt down to figure a way to stop the machine, inspect its parts. Once his hands touched the console however, they burned his hands, causing him to yelp in pain.
Concerned, the entity asked "What's wrong?"
"The interface is hot." He replied.
"Well, i do my best." the playful smirk returned.
Still trying to make sense of the machine, he explained to the entity what he knew. "There's a power source inside-" Wait, "I do my best"?
Suddenly, it made sense. The playfulness, the innocence, the noises, even her teleporting back into the room! She was The Moment, and The Moment was She. "You're the interface?"
"They must have told you The Moment had a conscience." He couldn't believe it! Most Time Lord relics were just fairy tales to their true power, but the tales about this final gift from the Ancient Gallifreyans seemed to become less legend, and more truth.
With a friendly smile, she waved, and excitedly said "Hello!"
"Aw, look at you. Stuck between a girl and a box. Story of your life, eh Doctor?"
He traveled the stars with numerous female companions in his "Police Box" and he was sure more was to come. "You know me?"
Her expression turned serious yet again. "I hear you." Fear drowned his eyes slightly. "All of you, jangling around in that dusty old head of yours. I chose this face and form especially for you." She motioned towards her body. "It's from your past. Or possibly your future, I always get those two mixed up."
"I don't have a future." His tone turned melancholy. She obviously didn't care, and went on babbling.
"I think I'm called" She struggled with the words. "Rose Tyler."
"No, sorry. In this form, I am called-." Her eyes began to glow. "Bad Wolf. Are you afraid of the Big, Bad, Wolf, Doctor?"
"Stop calling me 'Doctor'."
"Well, that's the name in your head."
"It shouldn't be." Nothing was more melancholy than the old man's words.
"Never say never." Bad Wolf chuckled.
"How do you know what I am about to do?"
Her tone turned serious again. " 'And so it was written that The Moment may pass Judgement on those who seek its power, blah...blah...blah'."
"...You can read my timeline." This earned a smile from the Interface.
"Surprise!" she excitedly yelled. Then, her face fell once more, and her eyes glowed yet again. "At least, one of them."
One of them? "You need to start making sense, young lady."
"Uh, hello? Centuries old Doomsday machine?" she sarcastically questioned.
"Right, sorry."
"As for your timelines, We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
"What happened next, Celestia?" Her faithful student asked.
"I-I'm afraid it will be too much to handle..." She has a right to know. Her mind and her heart worked to the brim trying to fight one another.
With a sigh of defeat, she answered her Stud-peer. "Do you ever think 'what would happen if I were given a choice I didn't want to make, but had to'?" A shaking of the young mare's head confirmed her suspicions. "He had to make that choice..."
He stood before the box yet again, contempt on the choice that he didn't want to make, but the choice that needed to be chosen. A large ruby, blanketed on several corners with golden fittings, it glowed and protruded from The Moment. "You did say you wanted a big, red button." Bad Wolf forlornly exclaimed.
"I do this for the sake of the Universe." No more running. No more fighting. No more adventures. No more...
She stood behind the crate, staring at him with sad eyes. "Are you sure of your choice?"
Sadly, he nodded. His old, weary hand shook towards the button that would doom him for the rest of his waking days. "You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing, groaning?" He took his eyes off the infernal button, and stared longingly at the entity calling herself "Bad Wolf".
"For a lot of people, it brings hope." His eyes brightened.
"Yes, I like to think so." Suddenly, the trademark groaning of his beloved TARDIS began to make itself heard.
"It brings hope... Even to you, Doctor." The TARDIS materialized behind him, and threw open its doors, calling him to take refuge and fly away, just like all the other times he has. "Run you clever boy, and Never Forget." She held out her hand, sending a blast of energy, knocking The Doctor unconscious in his time machine, and causing the vessel to de-materialize.
Hours later, he awoke nearby the console, blood dripping out of his skull. Dazed, he slowly got up, and switched the monitors on, only to witness the most emotionally scarring scene he would ever face- the destruction of his people and his home-world, Gallifrey. The brief two seconds, he saw his planet just like it was back before the Time War. It shimmered in the light of its sun, its red grass glowing with radiance and purity. Then, a bright light engulfed the entire planet, causing it to slowly implode "NO! NO NO NO NO NO!" Tears were flowing down his wrinkled cheeks as the regeneration began. The whole time, her words echoed in his mind, and the image before him never tore from his eyes. He slowly lost his face to someone else, someone contempt on helping people. Someone contempt on being a Doctor- The Doctor he could never be, and so, his old face was buried in the subconscious, never again to resurface. Never would The Doctor allow himself to remember the coward he once was.
Celestia's facade was no longer present. There was no more use in pretending when the secret was finally out to another. Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches, tears threatening to stain her coat. "S-so this man, he... H-h-he..."
A forlorn sigh escaped the Sun Princess' throat. "Yes, Twilight. The Doctor doomed himself to isolation in order to save everyone else. H-he... murdered his kind in order to keep the Universe safe."
"W-why are you s-showing me these murals, P-princess?" The purple alicorn was intensely sobbing now, feeling sorry for the pony in the mural.
"Because, Twilight- It is a reminder of who I almost turned into."
The next mural the two Princesses stood before was of the same figure, only this time plummeting to the Earth below, a pegasus mare looking towards the scene. It seemed so long ago, and yet it wasn't even one year since he 'officially' arrived. "This is when he first came here. You might recognize the mare in the picture as a friend of yours." Looking closer, Twilight took notice of the mare's cutie mark- a series of bubbles slowly rising.
She gasped. "Derpy!" Celestia nodded.
"She was the first pony to ever meet The Doctor." His first companion. Regardless of the friendship she would make with the mare, Celestia was always envious of her. She would travel through time more times than anypony could count, exploring the Universe with the most famous Time Lord.
"How did he come here?" Twilight asked innocently. She now understood The Doctor's secret pain, but still remained oblivious to his adventures.
"He came here painfully." She looked at the box in the image floating above the falling Doctor. It was on fire, burning, quaking, destructive. "He wasn't always who he is now, this much you know." Her voice and tone grew more melancholy as time passed by. "He fell."
Confusion now gripped the purple alicorn. "I know, Celestia." She pointed a hoof towards the mural.
The Sun Princess shook her head yet again. "No, Twilight. He fell through Time..."
Your song will end soon, Doctor. The words echoed silently in his mind, rattling his brain every which way. He sat alone, listening to the TARDIS hum with patience, pacifying his racing mind. Only, he was younger. Much younger, and yet so much older than Him. The Doctor wore a trench coat, with a striped dark blue suit underneath. He was no longer forlorn looking. Instead, he gave off a sense of pride, of accomplishment. A hero. I don't want to die... he thought. Throwing his coat to a nearby seat, The Doctor began to push buttons and pull levers on his ever faithful companion, the TARDIS. "I won't die anytime soon. Not today." Suddenly, the TARDIS whined, and the cloister bell rang as loud as it could, indicating immense danger was nearby. Jumping into action, he began looking over monitors, and checking star charts for his location. Then, he gazed upon IT. IT was impossible. IT was a blemish on Time. IT was there, and it was menacing, and IT DIDN'T BELONG. A crack, but not just any crack. It was a tear in the fabric of reality. Doing all he could, he frantically hit everything he could get his hands on just to prevent nearing any closer to the hole in the Universe. "No, not any hole! Come on, Think!" He sprinted to the other end of the console, pulling down a monitor for closer inspection. It glowed brightly with a strange light, growing in intensity after every passing second.
"No, it can't be!" The cloister bell ringing yet again confirmed his suspicions. "It's a Time hole!" Time Holes were essentially black holes, except even more unpredictable, and very dangerous to get near with a type 40 TARDIS. Every waking second he spent on trying to keep his beloved vessel away from the blemish was fruitless. The pull was too strong. His TARDIS can't resist the pure Time energy emanating from the tear in reality. "Well, it looks like I don't have a choice!" he exclaimed, releasing the hand brake. "I'm gonna have to ride you all the way through! Allon-sy!" The Doctor pulled a lever, shooting the time machine towards the hole like a bullet towards its target. Creaking and groaning, the TARDIS erupted in flames, explosions happening everywhere around him. "Almost there!" Gritting his teeth, he held on for dear life. Suddenly, the console erupted, hurdling The Doctor to the opposite side of the room. "Agh!" he exclaimed, his spine breaking. "I-I n-need to s-save her." He weakly stumbled towards the destroyed console, faintly glowing. No, n-not y-yet! Once he reached the scorched interface, The Doctor began to speak, grunting with pain. "I-initiate Emergency Protocol Omega-6!" The engines roared to life yet again, and the TARDIS flung itself out of the whirlwind of Time.
"Oh, thank goodness!" He sighed in relief. His victory was short lived however, as his body began to glow brightly and he began to grunt in pain. Looking at his hands, they began to morph and change, just like any other regeneration. "No, this one, it feels...different." There was no holding it back now. "Oh, I hope I get some good ol' ginger! Don't fail me now!" His body erupted in golden light, and he began to change into someone else. His back healed, but stretched and cracked. "Wait, that's not right!" He grunted again, this time growing a...tail? His clothes ripped, and fur erupted all over his body. His hands turned into large lumps, and he lost height. A lot of height. "No, This isn't right!" panicking at what was happening, The Doctor failed to notice the console exploded yet again, sending him hurdling out of the doors. His coat snagged against one of his stubs on his way out, covering most of his body. His vision blurred as he heard a woman screaming. "R-rose?" Darkness welcomed him coldly as his body went numb. Towards the end, he could've sworn he heard wings flapping. Maybe a bird rushing past his falling corpse?
I don't want to go...
"So, did he survive? I mean, it sounds like he could never die, but even still, a fall like that would kill anypony!"
Celestia chuckled at her pupil's ignorance. "No, Twilight. Surely you must have guessed that Derpy Hooves was the one to save him?" Her averted gaze said otherwise. Oh my sister's stars, she's serious. "Twilight, what do you think the flapping wings were?!"
"A nearby bird?" she chuckled nervously.
Dark, so dark...
"Dinky, go to your room! He's hurt!"
A...voice? It sounds sweet, like...Rose...
The voice gasped. "Are you alright, mister?"
His eyes squinted to life. "R-Rose? Is that you?"
"Rose? My name's Derpy Hooves. Oh! Do you mean Roseluck?"
The Doctor shook his head to clear it of the fuzziness. "Roseluck? Wha-who?" His vision cleared, and before him stood a horse in some sort of bedroom. The strangest part was the horse had wings. He looked left and right, hoping that he could meet the face attached to that songbird voice. "Who's there? Show yourself, i won't hurt you!"
"Oh no! Is he blind?!" The horse talked. The horse...talked!
With a gasp that Pinkie Pie would be jealous of, The Doctor exclaimed "OH MY GOODNESS, A TALKING HORSE!"
"Horse? I'm a pegasus."
"Tomato, tomahto." He jumped out of bed, eliciting a surprised gasp from the mare. "Either way, this is simply fascinating! What do pegasuses, pegasi? No matter, what do you do? Do you have an economy, what about religion? *gasps* DO YOU EAT OATS?!"
Boy, this pony's a weird one... Derpy thought. "Uh, mister-"
"You can call me Doctor!"
"Al...right. Doctor, you're a pony too. Try to remember, you should have learned all this by now."
"What are you talking about, I'm a hu-" he looked down to two stumps that replaced his hands. "What happened to my hands? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HANDS?!" A grunt of pain prevented The Doctor from talking any further. "W-what happened?" he asked weakly, crawling back into the bed.
"You...fell a long way. There was some sort of bright light and there you were, going towards the ground!" she twiddled her hooves nervously. "I thought you were some pegasus doing a stunt or something like that, but when your coat flew off-"
He stopped her with a raising of one of his... hooves. "My coat?*Coughs* Was it brown, and kind of long?" She nodded. "Okay. I need you to go get it Miss..."
"Derpy. Derpy Hooves." She smiled.
"Okay, Miss Derpy. That coat is very important to me, and if anything were to happen to it, I would be gravely upset."
"Oh! O-of course, I'll go get your coat. You just try to get some rest, okay?"
He nodded his head. Before leaving the room, the Pegasus mare turned her head around to say one last thing. "Oh, and be mindful of Dinky, she's a really curious filly! If she bothers you, just don't pay it no mind, she'll leave soon enough."
With those last words, Derpy Hooves set off on an adventure she thought she never would have...
Celestia sighed forlornly. Oh, Doctor. If we met sooner, maybe things might've been different...
"I understand that him arriving to Equestria was important, but why are you telling so much about this particular day, Princess?" Twilight asked, ever the more curious.
"Because Twilight, this day was the single most important day to date within Equestria." She turned, and smiled at her ex-student. "This was the day Nightmare Moon was defeated by six talented and brilliant ponies, who all became friends..."
Her eyes shrank to the size of pinpricks. "S-so, you mean, he helped?"
"It is like him, don't you think?" This confused Twilight even more.
"I don't really know much about him yet, Celestia..." the purple alicorn exclaimed.
"Oh... I forgot. I'm sorry Twilight." her ears shrank down, and Celestia sat on her haunches yet again, but this time almost drowning in her own sorrow. "One thousand years since i've seen him last. I have waited every last second, hoping that he would return, that i could apologize for my actions." A single tear hit the ground between her pearl hooves. Then another. Soon after, she was crying, inevitable in their course. "I-I've waited so long, and became s-so v-very exhausted. And then he did, but he didn't know me yet!" She stood up suddenly, whole body shaking, her eyes full of sorrow and anger, mixed together. "Do you know how painful it is to know somepony, and yet they have no clue who you are?! A thousand years' worth of knowledge and wisdom, thrown out the window because I was a complete stranger to... Becau-... I-" She grabbed ahold of Twilight, sobbing her purple coat and soaking it wet. "P-please d-don't leave me! N-not l-like he did! I'm so alone! So scared! Please, I-I don't want you to-" Her mane no longer magically flowed, and all life drained out of her.
Is she...? Twilight thought. She shook her head, getting rid of the thoughts forming for a while. It doesn't matter now. You have a friend that needs you... "Shh, it's okay. I understand. I won't leave you" she hugged her former teacher back, hoping that affection would help ease Celestia's pain.
Minutes of sobbing passed. Then hours, until she finally calmed down. "Do you want to move onto a different one?" Twilight's eyes took on a motherly approach, reversing the roles for a time. No words, just a nod came out of the now grey alicorn. Her white and shiny visage was tainted by a matte grey, and her mane no longer flowed. In fact, it too was pure grey, not showing a single trace of its original tri-color pastel. With a little encouragement from Twilight, Celestia got up to all four hooves, and hesitantly led the way. She didn't want to lead. Everything she was reversed upon itself. And I think i know why... the mare thought.
"Princess-" She began, but was interrupted.
"No. No Princess. Please, just Celestia." The "Princess" muttered in a melancholy tone. She never took eye contact off from the floor, her ears clenching tightly to her skull.
It sickened her to see her once bright and shining mentor in this state, which is why questioning was needed. "Okay. Celestia, have you talked to Discord lately?"
Her ears perked up, and her color came back, if only for a few minutes. "No. Why? Has he done something wrong?"
The purple alicorn prepared the spell, walking closely to her mentor. "No, it just seems like you're, well, Discorded."
Her jaw opened, but only a grunt of pain came out. No, not yet, this has just started getting good! It certainly was his voice echoing through the halls, but it felt different from the one they knew. It seemed... Sinister, almost on the verge of pure corruption. And for your information, Miss "Princess of Friendship", I am not Discord. I am something...more. I mean why would I want to just let chaos reign when FEAR is much tastier! The voice cackled in a sinister manner, similar to somepony else, trapped in a Nightmare.
All while this was happening, Celestia could only hear whispers of the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind coming to fruition, all in his voice.
Princess of Equestria?! Do you remember what made that happen?
Or did you forget, what He said to you?
Please, mercy! Her mind cried out, begging for this torture to be ceased, only to be silenced even more.
I think enough "Mercy" was given to you. Didn't you learn your lesson? You wanted to be like him, so here you are! HE handed his position to you on a silver platter, and being the fat-flanked Tyrant you are, you licked it clean!
...
Have you given up yet, or should i go on?
... You made your point. I should never have taken on this task.
The words vanished, and Twilight was able to confront her oldest friend yet again. "Celestia, don't listen to-!" The next scene left Twilight immobile, spell vanishing from her horn.
Her color shifted to an even darker shade of grey, almost black. She levitated the crown off her head, and held it in front of her, memories flowing through her of the lies and deceit she fooled her subjects into believing. Tears forming, she threw the golden tiara to the ground, shattering it in two, sending the gem flying across the room to the still emotionally petrified Twilight. "I am not worthy of this crown" Next came off the crest, crumpling it in her magic. "Or this crest." The shoes were last. She simply took them off, hovered them around her "student", and let them clatter to the floor around the tear-ridden filly she once called faithful. Turning back around, she extended her once majestic, but now dark and sinister wings. Once more, she turned her head to say some final words. "Do not pursue me, or you'll wish a 'Princess' could save you." Her horn lit up, shining the murals in a golden light. "You want to know the story? Just ask, and your 'Princess' will guide you."
"B-but C-Celestia, you-"
"No. I am what I always was- a foolish little pest that thought playing dress-up would bring HIM back." With those final words, she flew away, not leaving a trace of her old self. Save for a single tear coming out of her still pink eyes.
She just sat there, crying. It seemed like hours have passed, but there was no way to tell. There was no sun or moon in this place, making it difficult to tell. Celestia would know... A part of her mind fought to claim hope for the distraught mare.
"But she isn't! She isn't here!" Twilight yelled to the empty halls.
Then it's time we found out The truth...
Her heart and her mind were done with their bickering. It seemed that the only way forward was through the murals now lit up with golden light. The one she sat before was of The Doctor and his new assistant, facing off a deadly foe, one made of concrete, and bearing menacing looks. Something was different however. Below this mural sat a warning, and peering away from the glass artwork for a second, the purple alicorn began to read the gilded plaque.
BEWARE ALL WHO LAY EYES UPON THIS MURAL. The statues, they aren't ordinary statues. They fell with me through the crack in time, weak and desperate for food. And, like me, they were forced to assimilate a more appropriate form. They are called Weeping Angels, and looking away for just a fraction of a second, and you're dead! They are fast, faster than anything you can imagine. If you want to survive, DON'T BLINK. And before you think "But Doctor, these are just paintings!" keep in mind that any image that represents an Angel BECOMES AN ANGEL. With some careful and precise enchantments by one Starswirl the Bearded, this mural sealed the Angels from breaching its glass prison, but another warning for the overly curious, and inanely stupid: DO NOT CRACK OR MANIPULATE THE FRAME. It is the only thing keeping you from having your life robbed from you.
-The Doctor
"He was here?! When?" Questions arose in her intellectual mind, still avoiding eye contact from the mural. "Did he know? Was that why he never came back?" Shaking her head, she looked back up. "It doesn't matter no-"
The mural was different this time, all stone eyes were upon her, and closer than before. Don't blink, Don't blink, Don't blink...
Don't blink, Don't blink, Don't blink! Those two words constantly echoed in the young mare's mind, remembering the words of wisdom from the ever vacant Doctor. It took her at least one whole hour to remember that the image could change, but she could never be attacked due to the special frame the mural was held in. Once that truth made its way back to her mind, she started to calm down.
Upon further inspection, the statues weren't that menacing. Sure, they could kill you somehow, but it's like they're trying desperately not to be scared. Their whole look reminded Twilight of her mentor, who wore that face when trying to look threatening or at the very least, serious enough to talk to. Another trait that the mare admired about the Princess. "But why? Why destroy your crown, why leave? I know Discord has some level of control over you." She glanced over to the golden regalia once adorned on Celestia, still sitting cold, silent, and mostly broken in its sad pile. "But, why do I feel like it wasn't him? Discord is nothing more than a bored teen at best, but the one i met... He felt like evil in its purest form." Grunting in frustration, she bucked one of the walls, causing most of the glowing portraits to lose their magical glow from the Princess' horn. "It's like the more I learn, the less I understand!"
Suddenly in the middle of the hallway, appearing just above Celestia's golden regalia, was a perfect hologram of Celestia, except a lot younger. In fact, exceptionally younger. She only had pink in her mane, and it was no longer majestically flowing, but the thing that stuck out the most was the fact that there were no wings. In fact, she even looked shorter than Twilight! "Initiating Emergency Protocol 71." It looked around, before gazing into the eyes of Twilight's shocked face. "Hello. This is an emergency broadcast sent in case either The Doctor or one of his companions is in perpetual danger." it said in Celestia's voice. "By hitting the wall, you triggered a self-defense mechanism shut down eons ago to redirect power. Once activated, the systems reactivated, and opened this interface. Ask any question, and I will be happy to assist!" For all it was worth, at least the hologram wanted to sound sincere.
"Where exactly am I?" Twilight wondered aloud. All these portraits, and now a strange projection of Celestia? This just keeps getting deeper! Oh Celestia, please be okay...
"Unfortunately, my database can't answer that for you." The answer... shocked the mare to say the least. Wondering aloud with a magical projection is never a good option for sanity. She put that thought into the "Don't do" pile of her mind, which was quite small to be honest. Well, might as well see if this works...
Clearing her throat, she prepared to ask another question. "Do you know what happened to Celestia?"
"What do you mean?" it responded quizzically.
"You know, alicorn like me, has-had a crown, crest and boots. Raises the sun..." It still was confused.
She grunted in frustration. Calming down, she asked another question. "Okay, who is the pony you are currently disguised as?" It smiled.
"I am currently using the scanned image of Sol Invictus, but the logs indicate that this form had a nickname: 'Sunny'." It smiled again. "I find that name most pleasing! You may call me Sunny, companion of The Doctor."
"O-kay, 'Sunny'. The pony you scanned is a lot older now. In fact, ages older. Do you think you can find her?"
"Well, of course. Just tell me what she looks like!" The personality that this entity had seemed cheerful and serene. Must be how she was back in the day... Twilight thought. Upon looking closer, there was no false smile, or even any trace of a facade to hide behind. Most important of all, the sadness that was always in her eyes was non-existent, and this all brought up a new question. "What happened, Celestia?" It was almost like a whisper, and it just felt...wrong. She knew her smile all her life, and yet Twilight saw an entirely different pony in front of her. An idea popped up suddenly in the young alicorn's mind. "Sunny, i-is there a chance you can somehow gather data? New memories?"
The hologram thought for a moment, actually pondering on if it was able to do it. "According to regulations in my code, it should be possible to extract data from an individual, yes. Why do you ask such a thing?"
"I-I can't really describe 'Sunny'. There are too many variables that might have changed over the years..." Just thinking about her mentor's usual self almost caused her to go to the brink of tears yet again. "I can remember her plain as day, but... It's like if you painted a picture, but then other artists painted over it so many times that it's hard to recognize the original."
"Sunny" nodded in understanding. "I understand. The Doctor has changed so many times since the birth of my programming, but sometimes the data is hard to keep up with. Regeneration likes to make it hard to 'keep up with appearances' so to speak." It said, waving its hooves for emphasis. "Very well, I will scan your memories. Just stand still and-" Sunny was interrupted by Twilight.
"All except the new ones! I don't want you to remember her that way..."
A look of confusion spread onto the hologram's face.She-she doesn't want me to scan recent memories because, I-I might not like what i see? It baffled Sunny. *Chuckles* Huh! In all the years I've been activated, I have never been shown such kindness and humanity, save for Him! Smiling, she agreed to the terms. "Very well, then. Hold still, and I will scan your memories."
"U-up until I arrived in this hall of stories, please." It nodded in agreement. Once the conversation ended, the hologram's eyes glowed pure white, and scanned Twilight's memories of all she knew about the Princess. Delving into more recent memories, it was clear that something changed. No more smile and cheer. Sunny, or "Celestia" nowadays, was completely different. Wait a minute... Something is terribly wrong! It thought. Once the scan was complete, questions arose in Sunny. "She is... Not what I was expecting. What happened to her?" she asked the purple mare. "H-her smile is gone! And her eyes- her eyes only showed darkness and regret."
Trembling, Twilight finally got the answer that, regrettably, she knew was coming. "I-I knew it. My entire life I've seen her like that. I was just a small filly back then, but I knew something was wrong." Tears started to form in her eyes, glossing them over. "All those cold nights I would spend with her in the bedchambers as a small filly, she would have Nightmares. Tossing and turning, she'd soak the sheets, the covers, even the pillows, in her own sweat. Once every few bouts of mumbling, I would catch a word or two in my ears. They were always-"
Doctor... The word terrified the hologram.
Nightmare... Every word uttered made Sunny cower in fear.
Chaos... When the last word was spoken, Sunny's eyes were like pinpricks.
Mural... The last one terrified her the most. All evidence pointed to the stories contained in the murals, all of which stopped glowing since Sunny's arrival.