Don't Blink
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath of the foreign air as she stepped off the zeppelin. As the metal cocoon climbed back into the sky, she stretched her wings, which had been underused during the past week of travel. The journey from Ponyville had been long, but hopefully worth the trouble. News of an archaeological find in a land far to the east of Equestria had drawn Twilight away from her home and to this unimpressive island. Fields of tall grass stretched out far around her, right up to the edge of the cliffs that dropped rapidly to the white, sandy beaches. So far as she could see, there was nothing here of interest at all.
“Princess Twilight!” a voice called out across the sea of grass, “Over here!”
The lavender alicorn turned in place until she caught sight of the voice’s source. An orange-coated unicorn stallion waved for her to join him at the edge of the cliffs. Recognizing him as the senior archaeologist assigned to this dig, she trotted over, levitating her luggage behind her.
“Did you pack enough?” the stallion asked jokingly as she reached him, and he grabbed a few of the cases with his own magic.
“Only the necessities,” Twilight replied.
“No offense, your Majesty, but I never took you for the kind of mare to have a large wardrobe,” the stallion replied, chuckling.
“I don’t. Most of these cases are filled with books, and a few have some old records I listen to when I need to relax.”
“Of course. Your reputation precedes you, your Highness.”
“There’s no need for that kind of formality,” Twilight said, “Not out here. Please, just call me Twilight, no titles.”
“Of course, Prin- I mean, Twilight,” the stallion said.
“And what may I call you?” the alicorn asked.
“Harvest Rain, chief archaeologist,” he introduced himself, extending his hoof and shaking Twilight’s, “My crew calls me Harvey.”
“So, Harvey,” Twilight said, scanning the horizon, “Where are these ruins I’ve heard about?”
“Right this way,” he replied, heading toward the edge of the cliffs, “The natives built all their structures into the cliff faces. Beneath this meadow is an elaborate system of tunnels that runs the whole length of the island.”
“Fascinating,” Twilight said honestly as they reached the edge and she stared down at the doors and archways built into the cliffs.
“It is quite a sight, isn’t it,” Harvey said, admiring the view with Twilight.
“This way,” he said, after allowing Twilight to take in the view for a moment, “My team’s waiting inside.”
The two ponies headed down a set of out-of-place stairs, no doubt erected by the researchers to allow them passage between the beach and the meadow. Waves crashed against the shore as they trotted across the beach to a grand archway from which the Equestrian flag fluttered. On either side stood a towering statue of an alicorn rearing up to gaze at the heavens, its wings flared out behind it. As they entered the ruins, following the strings of flickering electric lights and gas lamps, Twilight noticed more of the alicorn statues lining the ancient halls.
“I thought this city was built by Griffins,” Twilight commented to Harvey as they passed yet another of the silent sentinels.
“It was, or at least there’s a substantial amount of evidence to suggest so,” he replied, “The catacombs are filled with Griffin bones, and the hieroglyphs on the walls have a loose resemblance to an extinct Griffin language.”
“So, why all the alicorn statues?”
“Now you see why we’re so intrigued,” Harvey said, guiding Twilight down yet another passage, “It appears from the runes and murals on the walls that the Griffins here once worshiped the alicorns as gods. They call them the ‘great beings that fell from the heavens,’ or sometimes krept-parek: weeping angels.”
Twilight took another look at the statues. Unlike the ones outside, these all had their hooves covering their eyes, as if they were crying.
“But that’s not even the strangest thing, certainly not worth calling you here,” Harvey said, rushing ahead of Twilight into the next room, “This is.”
Twilight’s luggage dropped to the ground as she joined Harvey. A perfectly ordinary wall stood before her, covered in Griffin writing. Part of it had been chipped away, revealing a second wall directly behind it, and it too had writing on it. However, this writing was in perfect Equestrian, and while the top inscription had been neat and ordered, these words appeared to have been written frantically: RUN TWILIGHT SPARKLE!
“This is why you’re here,” Harvey said as Twilight stood there with her mouth hanging open in shock, “One of my researchers got clumsy and chipped a bit of the wall off. Then he noticed there was writing underneath, and tried to chip away enough that it was readable. He stopped when he figured out what it said.”
“What does it mean?” Twilight asked, finding her voice.
“We don’t know,” Harvey admitted, “This ruin is well over a thousand years old, yet somehow your name is written here, in a language we can understand.”
“There you are, Harvey!” a third voice interrupted the dialogue between Twilight and the Chief Archaeologist, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
A scrawny pegasus stallion ran into the room. His close-cut icy blue mane contrasted sharply with his bright green coat. A pair of spectacles sat upon the bridge of his nose, but tried to make an escape as he came to an abrupt stop. Pushing them back up with a hoof, he used his wings to maintain balance and keep from falling flat on his face.
“Oh, I forgot we were due for company,” he said, looking at Twilight as he regained his composure.
“This is Leopold,” Harvey introduced the new arrival, “He was the one who discovered this writing.”
“Princess,” Leopold said, giving a small and slightly awkward bow, “What do you think this means?”
“I honestly have no idea,” she replied, scanning the wall again and the unsettling words written upon it.
“Who could have known you’d be here?” Leopold asked, “And why would they be so determined to tell you to run?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said before turning to Harvey, “I see why you couldn’t specify in your message what you’d found. The only way I would’ve believed it is if I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Leo, did you manage to find him?” another voice chimed in as an orange-coated pegasus flapped through another doorway.
“Twilight, this is Auburn Dusk, another member of my team,” Harvey introduced her.
“You completely forgot to tell him, didn’t you?” Auburn asked Leopold before turning her attention to Harvey, “We’ve just made another big discovery in the southern tunnels. You need to see this.”
“Right; well, I guess we’ll have to look into this wall business later,” Harvey said, clapping his hooves together, “Leopold, you take Twilight to the living area and get her settled in. I’ll be with you after I see what’s going on in the southern tunnels.”
~ ~ ~
The living area turned out to be no more than a large atrium that the Griffin inhabitants had probably used for meetings. Cots were set up in a haphazard method across the space, separated by stacks of luggage and equipment. Typewriters were everywhere, sitting atop more than a few makeshift desks. Next to them were stacks upon stacks of files containing everything that had been discovered here during the last few months of the expedition.
It pained the organizer in Twilight to see such a mess, and in her head she was silently coming up with better ways to sort and keep track of all that valuable data. The majority of her focus, however, was on Leopold’s incessant chatter. He talked the whole way to the living area, and continued as Twilight was unpacking. She didn’t mind, really. At least he had something understandable and interesting to say, and Twilight was soaking up every morsel of knowledge he passed on about this ruin and ancient Griffin culture, which seemed to be his specialty.
Soon a third pony joined them, a gray-coated earth pony mare by the name of Silver Quill. Silver wasn’t quite as excitable as Leo, but was still enthusiastic about the research being done there. From the conversation between the two archaeologists, Twilight gathered that Silver Quill had been working alone in the northern section of the ruins instead of the south, where the discovery that had ruffled Leopold’s and Auburn Dusk’s feathers had taken place. Leopold was more than happy to share the little he’d been able to gather before he’d left to fetch Harvey.
Apparently a large box with Equestrian runes written on it had been uncovered in the lower levels. Considering the significance of the last discovery of this type, Twilight understood the excitement gripping the researchers. Harvey and Auburn returned with a third researcher, a chocolate earth pony mare named Silent Sparrow. After Harvey assured Twilight that they’d take her to see the discovery the next day, the six ponies sat down for a light supper before going to sleep.
Before she drifted off, Twilight’s mind turned to her friends back home. She would have loved to have them accompany her, but everypony had different plans. Rainbow had been called up for Wonderbolt duty only days before Twilight received the message urging her to come to the island. Fluttershy was gone on her annual trip to see the Breezies in Western Equestria and guide them home. Applejack was preoccupied with the zap apple harvest and couldn’t spare any time from her work. Rarity was gone to Manehattan, as she more and more frequently was these days, making clothes for the upper crust of the great metropolis. The trip here also just happened to coincide with Pinkie’s trip to visit her family on their rock farm. Even Spike was unable to accompany Twilight, called to Canterlot on official royal business.
She knew it shouldn’t have bothered her nearly as much as it should have, but it seemed that she was seeing her friends less and less. They all had responsibilities too, and to be honest, most of the time Twilight was away from them was due to her trips to the far corners of the world. As both Princess of Friendship and head of the Equestrian History and Archaeology Society, she had responsibilities as well. She just wished they didn’t take her far from her friends so often. Resolving that when she returned to Equestria she’d resign from leading the EHAS, Twilight rolled over on the cot, tucked her wings close to her body, and went to sleep.
~ ~ ~
When Twilight awoke, precisely on time, as always, the other researchers were already up.
“Where’s Auburn Dusk?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes, noticing the pegasus was missing.
“She left early to set up lights around the box we found last night,” Harvey explained as he brought Twilight some breakfast.
“Who else is missing?” Twilight asked, noticing a second cot with no owner as she munched on a crude biscuit.
“That would be Dr. Song,” Harvey replied, “She disappeared a few days ago, but with her that’s not unusual.”
“Right. I worked with her in exploring the frozen north.”
“Odd, she never mentioned it.”
“What we found was . . . classified,” Twilight stated, thinking back to the discovery within the ancient earth pony ruin.
“I see. Well, I’m going to go work on that wall with your name on it,” Harvey said as he trotted off, “Feel free to join me when you finish breakfast.”
Twilight dug into the food. It was simple fare, the kind that ponies living far from civilization ate. The biscuits were no doubt made from a pre-prepared mix, but the daisies were fresh at least, probably picked from the meadow they were living under.
“I’m a time traveler. Or I was. I’m currently trapped in the past,” Twilight heard an unfamiliar stallion’s voice say, and craned her neck to try to find the source.
Locating it, she trotted over to where Leopold was sitting next to a phonograph, contemplating the words coming out of it.
“Quite possibly,” the voice continued, and this time Twilight picked up a trace of a Trottingham accent in it, “Hold on a second, I’ll see if I can get visual.”
A buzzing emanated from the phonograph’s horn for a moment, before it went silent again.
“What are you listening to?” Twilight asked, nearly causing Leopold to jump into the air.
“Sorry,” she apologized as he stopped the record, “So what is this?”
“Oh, it’s just a bit of a hobby of mine,” he said, “Sometimes the manufacturers of records cast a spell on them that when they’re played backwards a secret message is revealed. Usually it’s something like an extra song or a note from the musician to her fans. This message, however, makes no sense. It’s like you’re listening to half a conversation. The weirdest thing is, this message is repeated. It’s on seventeen different records, all of which have nothing to do with each other, and it’s exactly the same every time.”
“It’s almost as if somepony really wants to get the message out. I’ve been working with other ponies in Baltimare to try to figure it out, but we’ve had no luck. Neither have the other groups like us in Vanhoover, Los Pegasus, or Fillydelphia. It’s a mystery.”
Leo reached over and started the record turning again.
“Good, now you can see me,” the stallion’s voice spoke again.
“What’s he talking about?” Twilight asked, “I can’t see a thing.”
“You’ll be able to later,” the mystery stallion said.
“Who is he?” Twilight asked, intrigued why anypony would record half a conversation on a record.
“I’m the Doctor.”
“It’s almost like he knows what I’m saying,” Twilight commented.
“Well, that’s because I do know what you’re saying,” the Doctor said.
“Did you see that?” Twilight exclaimed in shock, “He just responded to me.”
“No, he didn’t” Leo said.
“Yes I did,” the Doctor replied.
“Now he responded to you.”
“No, the first time everypony hears this, they think he’s talking to them,” Leopold said as he turned the volume on the phonograph down, “But it’s just a coincidence. Either that or whoever recorded this was very clever in anticipating how ponies would respond to it. Personally, I’m a fan of the second option.”
“Right,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “Of course he’s not talking to me. How crazy would that be?”
“Not as crazy as this next bit,” Leo said as he turned the volume back up.
“Time’s not what you think it is. Ponies think it’s a strict progression of cause to effect, but from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey . . . stuff.”
“Timey-wimey stuff?” Twilight laughed.
“Yeah, the sentence got away from me,” the Doctor said, and after a pause, “What’s your friend doing?”
“It goes on like that for a while,” Leopold said, stopping the record, “Most of it is complete and utter gibberish.”
“So why do you listen to it over and over?”
“A lot of the stuff the Doctor says is really wild, like about other worlds and creatures. I don’t know, I just like to imagine it, I guess. Imagine a world so much bigger than our own. There’s just so much we don’t know.”
“Yeah, I guess I know what you mean,” Twilight said.
Having finished her breakfast, she brought her plate away before returning to her living area and getting organized. She had just gotten her quills out in preparation for making a checklist for her time here when Harvey ran into the room, a letter held in his magic.
“Everypony, come here. You’ve got to see this,” he said as he deposited the envelope on a crate-turned-desk.
Leo, Silver Quill, Silent Sparrow, and Twilight all flocked over to where Harvey was carefully examining the envelope, scribbling down his observations on a clipboard.
“I think we need to devote more time and resources to that wall,” he said, “I was chipping away at it, trying to cut away a slab for transport, when I found this tucked between the inner and outer layers.”
“It’s got Equestrian writing on it!” Silent Sparrow exclaimed as she got a good look at the faded ink marks on the paper.
“Indeed,” Harvey said, pulling out a letter opener and carefully slicing the envelope open, “This site is turning out to be a treasure trove of discoveries!”
“The letter within is written in Equestrian too!” he said with glee as he examined the ancient paper.
He cleared his throat before beginning to read what was written on it.
“Hello everypony. I don’t know if this letter will reach you, but I hope that it does. There are some things that you need to know. Please don’t be alarmed when I tell you that I am . . . that can’t be right.”
“What can’t be right?” Leopold asked, “Keep reading.”
“When I tell you that I am Auburn Dusk, your colleague on this expedition,” Harvey said in a daze.
“Is this a prank?” Twilight asked, “Is she playing a joke on us?”
“Auburn’s not the joking kind,” Silver Quill said, “Besides, how would she get the paper to appear so genuinely old?”
“It doesn’t just appear old,” Harvey said, “I cast an age spell on it to determine when it was written. This letter is almost a thousand years old.”
“What else does it say?” Leopold asked.
“Don’t worry about me or bother searching. I’m beyond your reach by now,” Harvey resumed reading, “I’ve been living these past few years with the Griffins, learning their ways and their language. They appear to hold a deep reverence for me as some sort of priestess or saint of their religion, so I’m safe from them. In fact, they even had a wall in the northern tunnels commissioned to commemorate my life.”
“This can’t be for real,” Silent Sparrow objected.
“You’re right,” Harvey said, putting the letter down, “I don’t know how she pulled off something like this, but she’s going to answer for it when we find her. Everypony grab a torch and search the tunnels. She’s got to be here somewhere.”
Everypony grabbed the lights and took off down the tunnels, searching everywhere for Auburn Dusk. Yet, no sign was found of the pegasus. Twilight, having not yet completely memorized the layout of the ruin, was tagging along with Silent Sparrow, using a detect life spell to search for Auburn through the walls. Not paying attention where she was going, she plowed right into her companion when she suddenly came to a stop.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, searching for the reason Sparrow had halted in the middle of a hallway.
Sparrow seemed completely paralyzed, her eyes locked on the wall. Twilight stepped around her to get a better look, using her horn to better illuminate the carvings. Inscribed on the wall was a mural in traditional Griffin art depicting a pegasus suddenly appearing from thin air. The next panel showed her sitting upon a throne, the Griffins showering her with praise. In the final panel she was lying peacefully on her deathbed, a sealed letter atop her chest.
“Just like in her letter,” Silent Sparrow whispered softly, “Looks like we found Auburn.”
~ ~ ~
Other than the mural Twilight and Sparrow had found, there was no sign of Auburn Dusk anywhere in the Griffin city. Neither was she outside, though Harvey, still not convinced that she had really gone back in time, postulated that she might have flown away. Or, maybe she had found wherever Dr. Song chose to disappear to.
Despite everypony’s firm belief that Auburn was no prankster, it all seemed to be an elaborate hoax. The letter was properly aged, as was the mural, but there were signs that somepony had been in the living area while everypony was out searching. The backup supplies of lights had disappeared, as had Leopold’s records. Perhaps Auburn had discovered some unexplored area of the ruins, and had wanted to check it out alone, but that still didn’t explain Leopold’s missing things.
While Twilight contemplated what might have become of Auburn, she sat where all of this had started. In front of her, locked in her gaze, was the damaged wall, its chipped-away outer layer revealing the message beneath. RUN TWILIGHT SPARKLE! The words stared back at her, taunting her with their hidden meaning. If Auburn had really written the letter hidden in this wall, had she written this message too? Also, why would Twilight need to run?
Poking around with her magic, she inadvertently caused another section of the wall to break off. The chunk of stone stopped just off the ground, suspended in an aura of levitation. She set the section of wall off to the side, careful not to damage the Griffin runes carved into it. Looking back up at the wall, she saw that her little accident had revealed another part of the message: BE.
Focusing her magic, she broke off another piece of the wall, revealing the word BEWARE. Well, that wasn’t alarming at all, she thought. Carefully she pulled more pieces off the wall until the message was clear: BEWARE THE WEEPING ANGELS.
“Weeping angels?” Twilight asked aloud, before looking over her shoulder.
Behind her was one of the alicorn statues that filled the ruin. Hadn’t Harvey said the Griffins here sometimes called alicorns weeping angels? Twilight turned back around and began pulling more pieces off the wall.
YOU NEED TO LEAVE the message soon read. NOW it added for emphasis. The next sentence was even odder. YOU NEED TO DUCK! Puzzled, Twilight continued to pull away pieces of stone.
DON’T BLINK!
DON’T LOOK AWAY!
AND ONE MORE THING, TWILIGHT SPARKLE
DUCK NOW!
A slight sound caught Twilight’s ear, and she did indeed duck, just as something went flying over her head before slamming into the wall. Jumping up from the ground, Twilight turned around and searched for her would-be attacker. However, nopony else was in the room, only the alicorn statue, though oddly this one didn’t have its hooves over its eyes. Looking back at the wall, she examined the item that had been thrown at her, one of Leo’s records, now shattered into pieces.
“Twilight, there you are,” Leopold said, rushing into the room before stopping and looking at the wall, “Wow, you’ve been busy.”
“What did you want?” Twilight asked, still a bit shaken up by the events that had just taken place.
“It’s Harvey,” Leo explained, “He’s disappeared.”
“What?” Twilight asked incredulously.
“I know. It’s not like him to wander off. And with Auburn gone as well . . . it’s starting to look like something sinister is going on.”
“Do the others know he’s gone?”
“They’re already searching.”
“All right. Let’s go,” Twilight said, leaving the room with Leo.
Both ponies were in too much of a hurry notice the alicorn statue now had its hooves over its eyes again.
~ ~ ~
After spending several hours in fruitless searching, the four remaining ponies returned to the living area. Nopony had any clue where Harvey had disappeared to, and nopony wanted to state their fears. Perhaps there was a wall somewhere in this ruin where he was drawn as well. As evening came, Silver Quill decided to head off into one of the tunnels to continue her work, too frustrated to sit around doing nothing. As Silent Sparrow worked on cataloguing the artifacts found before this whole fiasco had begun, Twilight spoke with Leo about the strange goings-on.
“I don’t know what to make of this,” the pegasus said, “First Auburn, now Harvey disappearing. I don’t like it. If it were up to me, I’d leave this island right now. When’s the next zeppelin due?”
“Three weeks,” Twilight replied, “It made a special trip without supplies in order to drop me off.”
“If we lost two ponies in a day . . .” Leo said, trailing off, though the thought was on Twilight’s mind as well.
“Do you think Auburn really was sent back in time?” Leo asked after a minute had passed.
“I must admit, it’s looking likely,” Twilight said, “The letter, the mural…”
“But it’s so improbable.”
“When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” Twilight quoted.
“Fetlock Holmes,” Leopold chuckled, “But that would imply time travel is possible.”
“It is possible,” Twilight said, “I did it once, but I’ll never be able to do it the same way again. Besides, it only lasted for a few seconds.”
“Auburn’s trip lasted much longer,” Leo said glumly, “I wonder why she thought it was so important we know what happened to her.”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said, retrieving the letter from Harvey’s desk and returning to Leo.
“Wait, there’s more to it on the back,” he said, pointing to the backside of the parchment.
“I’ll be fine here, so don’t even bother trying to come and get me,” Twilight read after flipping the letter over, “I have it on good authority that things will end well for me, and for Harvey too, but the rest of you are in grave danger.”
“Wait, Harvey’s with her too?” Leo interrupted.
“I guess, though it doesn’t really say so. Good authority, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“What else does it say?” Leo urged.
“The records are the key. I’m sorry I used to make fun of you for listening to them, Leopold. That message is your only hope. I’m afraid I can’t be more specific, or my letter may never reach you. Best of luck, Auburn Dusk; Ph. D. Archeology.”
“Great, just great,” Leopold said sarcastically, “Figures that’s the key when my records conveniently disappear.”
Twilight looked around her living area, finding the correct suitcase in a moment and floating it over. She undid the clasps and flipped it open, revealing a stack of records within.
“Here,” she said, passing the suitcase to Leo, “I brought some with me; maybe one of them has the message on it.”
“Worth a shot,” Leo sighed as he pulled the records out.
“This is uncanny,” he said after shuffling through them a moment, “They’re all here, all seventeen. Why do you own these seventeen exact records?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said, “They’re completely random.”
“I know—wait,” Leo said, interrupting himself to take a closer look at the records, “No, they do have something in common I never noticed before. All these records have the same contributor at the end of the list: Harvest Rain.”
“Are you serious?” Twilight asked, snatching a few of the records to see for herself.
“Weird; whoever this Harvest Rain, they must’ve put the enchantment on the records.”
“Leo,” Twilight said, grabbing his head with her forelegs, “Harvey’s full name was Harvest Rain.”
“That’s right!” he exclaimed before wrenching free of Twilight’s grip to get another look at the records in his hooves, “These records are only a few years old. If he did get sent back in time, it must not have been far. He’s probably still alive in Equestria!”
“Focus,” Twilight instructed the pegasus, who was becoming over excited, “If this is real, then according to Auburn we’re in danger.”
“Right, we need to listen to the record,” Leo said, before flapping over to his record player and inserting the disc.
After a slight crackling, the mysterious voice from before was projected from the phonograph’s horn.
“I’m a time traveler. Or I was. I’m currently trapped in the past.”
“Wait, I’ve heard this bit before,” Twilight said.
“Quite possibly. Hold on a second, I’ll see if I can get visual.”
Once again the odd buzzing emanated from the record player. This time, however, something happened. Multicolored sparks flew from the record before it projected a ghostly image into the air. It was as if a screen was floating in the air, and centered in it was a chocolate-coated earth pony with a wild mane of even darker brown. Around his neck hung a simple green necktie.
“Good, now you can see me.” the ghostly image said.
“Yes, now I can see you,” Twilight said, trying to recall how the conversation had gone earlier, “Now you’re going to tell me you’re a doctor.”
“I’m the Doctor,” the stallion said indignantly.
“How can he know what I’m saying?” Twilight asked, turning to look at Leo.
“Well, that’s because I do know what you’re saying.”
“Okay, now you’re going to say ‘Yes I did’.”
“Yes I did.”
“I’ve got to write this down!” Leo said, pulling a sheet of parchment from one of the folders lying on his makeshift desk.
“This is so strange,” Twilight said, focusing on the stallion projected from the record, “How can you know what I’m going to say?”
“Like I said; I’m a time traveler,” the Doctor responded.
“I have some experience myself,” Twilight said, “But if you’re in the past, how can you know what I’m saying now?”
“It’s complicated,” the Doctor said, running a hoof through his mane.
“I’m a clever mare,” Twilight said, “I think I can figure it out.”
“Time’s not what you think it is,” the Doctor said after a sigh, “Ponies think it’s a strict progression of cause to effect, but from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey . . . stuff.”
“Now you’re going to tell me the sentence got away from you,” Twilight said, thinking back to the first time he’d said the ungainly phrase.
“Yeah, the sentence got away from me,” he admitted, just as before.
“But that still doesn’t answer my question,” Twilight said, “How can you know what I’m going to say?”
“What’s your friend doing?” the Doctor asked, gesturing over toward where Leo was frantically writing on his parchment.
“What’ve you got there?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, it’s the transcript of everything the Doctor says,” the pegasus said, holding it up so that Twilight could see, “I’m filling in the other half of the conversation, that is, everything you’re saying.”
“You’ve got the completed transcript,” Twilight said, piecing things together and turning back to the hovering screen.
“Exactly,” the Doctor responded.
“How are you reading aloud from the transcript of a conversation you’re still having,” Twilight asked, trying to wrap her mind around the paradox.
“Wibbly-wobbly . . . timey-wimey,” the Doctor said, making a pained expression, “Listen, the important thing is, we can communicate this way. And you’re going to need to listen now. They’ve got the blue box, don’t they? The angels have the phone box?”
“Of course,” Leo said, looking up from his writing, “The blue box we found in the catacombs yesterday.”
“So what if they have the box?” Twilight asked the Doctor.
“It’s my time machine,” he replied, genuine fear in his eyes, “The angels can feast off that time energy forever, and the damage they can cause with that power . . . your world doesn’t stand a chance.”
“The angels?” Twilight asked, “You mean all the alicorn statues?”
“They’re not just statues, they’re creatures from another world.”
“But they’re just stone, aren’t they?” Leo interjected.
“What?” he replied when Twilight gave him a look, “I want to be part of the conversation too.”
“Only when you see them,” the Doctor answered his question, “They’re quantum locked. They only exist when nopony is observing them. The moment somepony looks at them, they instantly freeze into stone. And you can’t kill a stone. Of course, a stone can’t kill you either, not until you look away, or you blink, and then it can.”
Twilight looked around the cavern, noticing a few of the statues standing around. Odd, they hadn’t been here earlier, had they?
“Don’t stop looking at them,” she said to Leo as she noticed he was now watching them as well.
“They’re often called weeping angels, but they’re not weeping,” the Doctor went on, “They cover their eyes because they can’t risk looking at each other and becoming stone forever.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Twilight asked, sneaking a glance at the Doctor in the corner of her eye.
“You’ve got to get to my time machine and send it back to me. Otherwise the angels will become so powerful they could switch off the sun.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Twilight asked, alternating between looking at the Doctor and the so-far motionless statues.
“Sorry, this is where the transcript runs out. I’m afraid that can only mean one thing. The angels are coming for you. Now listen!” the Doctor said, grabbing the edges of the “screen,” “Whatever you do: don’t blink! Don’t even blink! Blink and you’re dead! They are faster than you can imagine. Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and don’t blink! Good luck.”
With a pop, the image of the terrified stallion disappeared and the recording ended.
“What now?” Leo asked.
“You heard the Doctor,” Twilight said, “We’ve got to get to his time machine.”
A scream suddenly cut through the air. Twilight turned quickly to where Silent Sparrow had been sitting earlier. An alicorn statue with outstretched forelegs now stood in her place.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Twilight said breathlessly.
Leo nodded his head in agreement, shocked by the sudden disappearance of his fellow archaeologist. Twilight scanned the room, searching for a way out and trying to keep as many angels in sight as possible simultaneously.
“Leo, what’s the best way to the catacombs?” she asked.
“Uh, that way,” he said, pointing with a wing.
Unfortunately, the doorway he’d pointed two had angels stepping out of it, more every time Twilight looked at it.
“No good,” she said, “We need another route.”
“Well then, this way,” Leo said, stepping toward an open doorway, trying to keep the angels in sight.
As Twilight followed him, she noticed a few of the angels were now pointing their hooves at the lights set up around the living area. They began to flicker, and a few went out before the two ponies made it to the open doorway. As Leo led the way down the tunnel, Twilight walked backwards behind him, trying to keep the angels following them in sight.
The pegasus stopped, and Twilight backed into him as the sound of hoofsteps came from up ahead. The lights on the wall next to them began to flicker and eventually went out entirely, leaving them with only the glow of Twilight’s horn to see by. Both ponies kept their eyes peeled as they slowly made their way through the dark. Eventually the source of the hooffalls reached them, a gray-coated earth pony appearing through the gloom.
“Silver Quill!” Leo greeted her, grabbing ahold of her before she plowed him and Twilight over.
“The statues!” she exclaimed, looking frantically over her shoulder, “They-”
“We know,” Twilight cut her off, “We need to get to the blue box you found last night.”
“Why?” Silver asked.
“It’s a long story,” Leo said.
“Well, there’s no going back that way,” Silver said, looking back over her shoulder again, “The statues have been following me since I figured out they were moving.”
“We can’t go back the way we came,” Twilight said, “There’s too many of them! How are we supposed to make it past them all?”
To keep from hyperventilating from the stress, Twilight practiced the breathing exercises she’d been using for years.
“What if we don’t have to make it past them all?” Leopold asked before turning to look directly at Twilight.
“What if we thin out the herd?”
“How do you propose we do that?” Twilight asked, seeing Leo had an idea.
“We can’t make it down to the catacombs, and we can’t make it back to the living area,” he said, “But we can make it to the demolition stores. Even stone can’t handle being blown to bits.”
“There’s enough to take them all out?” Twilight asked.
“Haven’t you been reading all the supply requisition forms you signed?” Silver asked, “We’re equipped with some pretty heavy duty explosives to assist in the excavation.”
“Oh, right,” Twilight said, and of course she had read the requisition forms, but in the stressful situation she was in she hadn’t considered them, “Which way to the explosives?”
“There’s a side tunnel up ahead that should take us to the storage area,” Silver said.
“Lead the way,” Twilight replied.
Twilight increased the light projected from her horn so that it surrounded all three of them, and Silver took the lead, trotting down the path and keeping an eye out for angels. Only a few appeared before they reached the side passage, and the ponies were able to maneuver around them, careful to keep one set of eyes on each at all times. Through the twisting tunnels they trotted until they reached the room the archaeologists had stored the explosives in.
“How much do we need?” Twilight asked, keeping watch in the hallway as Silver and Leo began grabbing sticks of high-powered explosives.
“As much as we can carry,” Leo mumbled out through the stick grasped in his mouth.
Cases in the room lifted off the ground, surrounded by the soft glow of Twilight’s magic.
“Oh, right,” the pegasus said, throwing the explosives he’d grabbed back into the floating box, letting the alicorn do the heavy lifting.
As the three ponies trotted down the empty halls, Twilight kept a look out behind them for the angels pursuing them. Silver and Leo began stringing together the explosives, pulling them from the boxes as fast as they could. As they left a trail behind them, they instructed Twilight to set down a box now and then, stringing together dozens of the explosives at once.
“That’s the last of them,” Silver Quill said as she hooked the last stick to the line.
“Now what?” Twilight asked, staring down the cluster of stone alicorns standing motionless where the circle of light from her horn ended.
“Now we run,” Leo said, grabbing Twilight’s hoof and pulling her into a side passage.
As he did so, Silver pressed the detonator at the end of the wire. Fire shot down the hall the ponies had just been in, and the roar of explosions hurt their ears. Shrieks like they’d never heard before came as the angels were blown to bits. Those that didn’t die from the explosions directly were buried as the island fell upon them, trapping them forever.
Leo, Silver, and Twilight remained huddled on the ground until the rumbling stopped, the ruin becoming silent once more. Rising, Twilight peeked her head around the corner and looked back the way they’d come. Nearby, the shattered bits of statues could be seen, but she didn’t have to look far to see a wall of broken stone where a hallway had once been.
“We did it,” Leo said in disbelief, joining Twilight.
“Yeah,” she replied, “Do you think we got them all?”
Her question was answered immediately, but not in the way she would’ve wished. A scream from Silver Quill was suddenly cut off as she vanished, thrown back in time. Twilight and Leo spun around to find themselves face to face with the snarling visage of an angel, its hoof stabbing through where Silver had been standing.
“It’s not far from here to the catacombs,” Leo said, struggling to remain calm, “We can make it so long as we don’t take our eyes off it.”
“Right,” Twilight said as she kept her eyes fixed on the angel in front of her.
As she examined it, her eyes wandered down to its neck, around which hung a simple key. With her magic, she slowly lifted it off the angel before backing away. It could open any number of things, but if it was hanging around one of these creatures’ necks, it had to open something important.
“Twilight,” Leo said urgently as he noticed a second angel now behind the first.
The alicorn threw the key around her own neck before following Leo, keeping her eyes on the angels. As they slowly made their way through the stone passages, Leopold turned around, and just in time, as two more angels appeared ahead of them. Carefully passing them, the two ponies continued deeper into the ruins. The lights were on here, at least, not yet snuffed out by the angels, though they were beginning to flicker.
“We made it!” Leo exclaimed as they entered the catacombs.
“We’re not safe yet,” Twilight said as the four angels appeared at the doorway they’d just emerged from, “Keep an eye on them.”
As Leo watched the statues, Twilight got a look at the box the archaeologists had found. Its base was square, and it was a little more than twice as tall as it was wide. There appeared to be enough room for one pony to fit in comfortably, two if they didn’t mind close physical contact. Tiny glazed windows were near the top of each side and set into a set of narrow doors on one side. The whole box had once been painted a vibrant blue, but time had faded it to be nearer to gray. Along the top of each side were words printed in precise Equestrian.
Twilight had no time to ponder them as the lights around the room began to flicker. The angels in the doorway were still motionless, but once the lights went out, they wouldn’t be. A faint buzzing began to emanate from the key around Twilight’s neck, and she looked down to see that it was glowing. She gave a push on the door of the blue box before pulling the key from around her neck and sliding it into the lock beneath the handle. It turned easily, and the doors flew open.
“Leo!” she called over her shoulder.
She kept an eye on the angels as the pegasus half ran, half flew past her. Once he was inside, she backed in herself. Surprisingly, she found it wasn’t a snug fit after all. Turning around, she gaped in amazement at the sight before her. Within the box was a massive room in the shape of a dome. A clear tube filled with other cylinders in the center of the room connected the floor and ceiling, and around it were banks of controls. Doors around the edge of the room seemed to suggest that even more rooms waited beyond, a physical impossibility, considering the size of the box they were in.
“Twilight, the door!” Leo cut off her inspection.
Turning back to the doorway, she was shocked to see the angels standing just outside, fangs bared and stony eyes burning with rage. Quickly, she slammed the doors shut, and joined Leo near the controls. It only took a moment for the room to violently tilt as the angels grabbed the outside of the box. Leo and Twilight were both thrown off their hooves, and were forced to flap back to the controls.
“What are we supposed to do?” Leo asked frantically, scanning the bizarre bits that made up the control panels.
“I don’t know. The message ran out before the Doctor could say,” Twilight replied before spying a note attached to the console.
“There!” she exclaimed, scrambling for it as the room tipped again.
Grabbing a hold of the console to steady herself, she read the note. It was a simple instruction to pull the lever it was attached to and Twilight complied, pulling it as the room shifted again, threatening to tip all the way over. A bizarre wheezing sound came from the central column as the tubes within began to pump up and down.
“We’re going to escape,” Twilight said, breathing a sigh of relief.
That sigh quickly turned to a gasp of shock as the ghostly image of an alicorn statue appeared right next to her. They faded in and out in time with the wheezing of the Doctor’s time machine. Soon Twilight realized that the alicorns were not appearing; rather, the room around them was disappearing.
“No no no no no!” she exclaimed, “You’re not leaving us behind!”
She began pressing every button and turning every knob in sight in a futile attempt to keep the Doctor’s time machine from leaving Leo and herself behind. Eventually, the spacious room around them disappeared entirely, replaced by the abandoned catacombs and the four surviving angels.
After a minute of cowering, Twilight realized that the angels hadn’t moved since the time machine had disappeared. Before it had vanished, they’d been holding onto the blue box, each on a separate side, and now they were arranged in a circle around Twilight and Leo, their hooves nearly touching. As the two ponies crawled out of the circle, it became apparent why the angels hadn’t moved; each angel was being watched by one on the other side of the circle. Their view had previously been blocked by the box between them, but now they would be forced to stare at each other for eternity.
“We did it; we really did it this time,” Leo said, looking around to make sure he was correct and there were no more angels lurking nearby, “We beat the weeping angels!”
In the excitement, Twilight allowed herself to be embraced by the archaeologist. It truly was a relief to have succeeded and no longer have to worry about being attacked by statues in the dark. Together, the two ponies made their way back through the tunnels to the living area, leaving the angels in the catacombs frozen where they were, never to move again.
“Nopony’s going to believe this,” Leo said later, as they ate for the first time in hours.
“Maybe not,” Twilight said, “But stranger things have happened.”
“I’m still wondering, though,” Leo said, “How did the Doctor know exactly where to park his time machine, and where to write his warning, and which records to record his message on?”
“Sometime in the future, one of us must give him all the information,” Twilight said after thinking it over, “Or I might have written a book on it.”
“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to write,” Leo replied, “We’re still stranded here for the next three weeks.”