Allons-y!

Chapter I: Allons-y!

Forty-two years before the founding of Equestria...

“AAAGH!”

“Derpy!”

“Nay, Doctor! Leave her be! She lies in no harm.”

A gray, yellow-maned pegasus with golden eyes, Derpy, sat beneath the only light in the library. Her snout was pointed up to the skylight. Her expression was blank and her eyes were focused on the light above her. She sat absolutely still, except for the occasional twitching. After screaming, she became perfectly silent, not even the sound of her breath could be heard. Derpy was fully immersed in a state of trance. Standing a few steps away from here were two ponies: an old bearded grey unicorn in elegant wizard attire, Starswirl the Bearded, High Sorcerer of the kingdom of Ponytopia, and a brown earth pony, the Doctor, the last remnant of what was once the greatest race in the Universe, the Time Stallions. Starswirl the Bearded relaxed as he sensed that his spell worked. The Doctor however, remained concerned for his companion.

“Are you sure it has to be her? I can’t take her place?” The Doctor finally broke the eerie silence. He tried to approach Derpy, but Starswirl stopped him.

“Neigh. The prophecy hath spoken of the pegasus who hath eyes that looketh into two directions. ‘Tis only she who can find the key to our salvation.”

As Starswirl finished speaking, Derpy began lowering her head. Suddenly her eyes went back to their usual position, with each pointing in a different direction, like the eyes of a chameleon. Derpy groaned and fell over. The Doctor galloped over and caught her in his hooves. When she regained consciousness, she rubbed her head and stood. Starswirl was the first to speak.

“What hast thou seen, Derpy?”

“I saw… I saw six things actually.”

“What were they?” asked the Doctor.

Derpy scratched behind her ear and told Starswirl and the Doctor of her vision.

“I saw a bunch of six-pointed stars, then three apples, then a cloud with colorful lightning, then three diamonds, then three pink butterflies and then three balloons. I didn’t see any muffins, though.”

Starswirl pondered on the vision. He had not heard of any vision like what Derpy had seen. The images seemed very abstract and he could not decipher their meaning.

“Strange. Strange, indeed,” he said, ”Doctor, mayhaps thine box can help us, as it mayest travel to any time and any place. I cannot interpret the vision, however, perhaps with thy companion and thou can search for these six things. I shall look into mine scrolls and attempt to find the meaning behind them. The fate of the world lieth on these six things and we must find them. Go.”

“Right away. Come along, Derpy.”

The Doctor and Derpy left the library and galloped down one of the long central hallways of Castle Equites, but stopped when they heard the roaring of dragons and pegasus battle cries. The pair looked through the stained-glass windows and saw dragons attacking the outer walls of the castle and unicorn guards, pegasus soldiers and earth pony soldiers keeping them at bay. The unicorn erected a magical wall to protect the castle from the fires as the earth ponies led the residents of the city outside the castle to safety behind the walls. As the Doctor watched the battle, he caught sight of the TARDIS which was on the walls and saw that the unicorns' wall was beginning to weaken and crack under the constant barrage of fires of different colors.

“We need to get to the TARDIS right away.”

The Doctor and Derpy galloped off, leaving the colorful windows behind them. Unicorn guards opened the giant doors of the castle for them as they hurried through the halls. They galloped through the courtyard and past the silver gates of the inner walls. When they reached the outer walls, the ponies were getting the upper hand, but the magical wall was on the verge of collapsing. As they climbed the stairs to get to the top of the walls, the magical wall finally gave way to a burst of white fire. The Doctor and Derpy crawled behind the battlements to avoid being roasted by dragon fire. Despite the collapse of the wall, the ponies were finally forcing the dragons back, but much to their dismay, when the Doctor and Derpy finally reached the TARDIS, a set of four dragon claws took hold of the TARDIS and carried it away. The Doctor stood and looked out at the battlefield. The dragons were retreating, and one orange dragon in iron armor was flying away with the TARDIS in its claws.

“Oh, that’s just great…” the Doctor sighed.

As the dragons flew away, all the soldiers immediately went to work putting out all the fires that blazed in the city. Shortly, a pegasus landed beside the Doctor. He took off his helmet and let his rainbow-colored mane flow in the wind. His black coat was ruffled and messy under his golden armor. He bore a weapon that he called a "sword" sheathed by his flank and beside his sword was displayed his cutie mark: A magnificent sword firing rainbow lightning. He stood a foot taller than the Doctor, but regarded the Doctor with the utmost humility.

“Doctor, forgive me for allowing the Blue Box to be stolen. Snatched from under my hooves by those sniveling dragons!”

“Oh, don’t blame yourself, Commander Rainbow Sword. Go and look after your soldiers.”

"Surely you shall need a team to find the Box? Shall I assemble my team of elites to go in search of it?"

"No, no, no. I won't be needing that. I can find it myself."

"Very well, sir. Kali tychi!"

Rainbow Sword flew off, leaving behind a trail of rainbow. Derpy looked at the Doctor and asked, "What now?"

“Well, I’ll just have to go and get the TARDIS back. We need to find those six things you saw. You stay here.”

“Awwww, why can’t I go with you?”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“But I’m hungry and I want muffins.”

The Doctor tried to retort, but he knew he could no longer argue. He knew of nothing more stubborn than a hungry Derpy. They went down to the iron gates of the outer wall and, under the noontime Sun, galloped through the city and into the countryside, heading in the direction of the Moonrise Mountains, the border between the kingdoms of Ponytopia and Drakonia.

~~~~~

"My tummy's rumbling."

"Quiet, Derpy. We can't let them hear us."

Two and a half days had passed since the Doctor and Derpy left Equites and now they were sneaking down a narrow path along the side of a pale blue mountain range. The Sun was beginning to set and numerous dragons patrolled the orange-tinted sky. So far, no dragon had spotted the pair. The Doctor carefully went down the path, taking one step at a time, with the sonic screwdriver in his mouth. Derpy followed close behind. At that time, the Doctor desperately wished that he had regenerated as a unicorn so that he could teleport to the TARDIS.

A dragon roar overhead startled the Doctor and he dropped the screwdriver. He quickly snatched it back before it rolled off the edge of the path. As they continued down the path, Derpy looked forward with one eye and looked down the mountainside with the other. Jagged rocks lined the bottom of the mountain and any slip would end in disaster. After a few minutes that felt like hours, the Doctor and Derpy finally reached a cave that seemed safe and hid inside.

The cave was too small for dragons to go through, but just big enough for the Doctor and Derpy to walk in. The air was dry and hot, and the only sources of light were the ends of a few tunnels that branched off of the main tunnel. The Doctor took a quick look out of the cave to ensure no dragons caught sight of them. Finally able to relax, the Doctor sat on a rock and gave a long sigh before speaking.

"Brilliant. We made it. Now, the TARDIS should be inside these cave networks somewhere. My screwdriver should find a signal from her and we’ll follow that." The Doctor began pressing various buttons on his sonic screwdriver, shook it and tapped it on the rock.

"Uh, Doctor..."

"Not now, Derpy. I'm trying to configure the frequency reception setting so I can pick up the signal."

"Doctor..."

"Derpy, please. Can't you wait?

"The TARDIS is right there."

Derpy pointed down one of the paths to her left. Down at the end of the path, in the middle of a large open cavern, was the TARDIS, illuminated by the yellow glowing stones that lit the cave.

"Oh... Blimey. That's embarrassing."

Derpy giggled at the Doctor's reaction."Oh, Doctor."

"Shh-shh-shh!"

The Doctor grabbed Derpy and covered her mouth with his hoof. He whispered.

"Listen."

The sound of monstrous snoring disturbed the silence. And the sound came from the direction of the TARDIS.

"We're not alone in here..."

The Doctor looked around the cave and cautiously tip-hoofed towards the TARDIS, carrying the sonic screwdriver in his mouth. Derpy cheerfully trotted down the tunnel, proud of having upstaged the Doctor. A hot foul-smelling breeze blew towards the pair from the cavern they headed towards. The odor grew worse as they got closer.

The tunnel path they followed ended in a cliff. Derpy, not watching where she trotted, fell off the edge. The Doctor dropped the sonic screwdriver and grabbed Derpy's tail. Derpy dangled above the rocky cavern floor far below her. The Doctor pulled her back up to safety.

"Careful, Derpy. Looks like we'll have to climb down to- Oh, no..."

The Doctor looked out at the cavern and saw that it was full of sleeping dragons. The TARDIS was on a platform where the orange dragon who stole it was sleeping. The dragon's head was resting right in front of the TARDIS doors.

"Ah, well... um... basically... This is a problem," the Doctor whispered.

"Don't worry. I can just fly us to the TARDIS."

"Are you sure? Can you handle my weight?"

" Of course! I used to work for a furniture moving company and I carried pianos and anvils."

The Doctor consented to her offer. The Doctor raised his front hooves and Derpy grabbed them. She flapped her wings and lifted the Doctor into the air. She prepared for a fast dive for the TARDIS. Before committing to the daring maneuver, the Doctor had to speak.

"And Derpy, if I don't make it, it's up to you. You have to find them. Those six things from your vision."

"Yup. Gotcha. I'll find them."

"Alright then... Ready?

"Ready."

The Doctor breathed in deeply and whispered, "Allons-y."

Monopony or Adventures?

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Chapter II: Monopony or Adventures?

Two-thousand fifty-four years in the future...

Thunder boomed and rain poured down over the quaint little town of Ponyville as the town's fastest pegasus made her way towards Sweet Apple Acres, home of the Apple family. With all the nimbus clouds in proper thunderstorm position and all of Ponyville drenched in rain, Rainbow Dash could finally take her break and spend her free time with her friends in Applejack's barn.

Rainbow flew in through the window to the top level of the barn and immediately began shaking herself dry as she spoke, "Alright, I have a few hours on break before I have to go and clear the skies. Let's finish this game! Am I still in the corral?"

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat in a circle on the hay-covered floor playing a game of Monopony, and Rainbow Dash shortly joined them, taking her seat at an empty spot between Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The room on the top floor was just painted maroon two days before and still had the aroma of paint all over it. Twilight picked up the pair of dice on the Monopony board and shook them in her hooves. She tossed and the dice landed with a nine.

"Yes! Looks like another stable for me. And with nine-thousand bits, that places me in the lead!"

"Ah, horse-apples!" Applejack shouted, "I was doing so good too! Are you sure you ain't just doing one of them fancy mathematic tricks to get more money than you actually have, Twi?"

Twilight giggled. "No, Applejack. I'm playing fair and square."

Rainbow Dash, seeing that her game piece was still under confinement in the corral, laid on her back impatiently. "I'm still in the corral?! I'm itching to move my piece again!" she said after giving a frustrated sigh. The hay on the floor rustled as she put her weight on it.

Lightning flashed and thunder cracked. Fluttershy shrieked and hid in a pile of hay, shaking the hay above her as she shook with fear. The others laughed together after they recovered from their moment of fright from the lightning.

Rarity picked up the dice and shook them in her hooves as she said, "Come on. I need a four to buy that fabulous stable. Please, please, please, please!"

As Rarity took her time shaking the dice, Twilight heard a strange noise coming from outside the barn. It sounded foreign and exotic, yet at the same time very familiar, as if she'd heard it many times before all throughout Equestria and all throughout her life. She quickly decided to ignore the sound and brought her attention back to Rarity's move. "No!" Rarity despairingly yelled when she saw that the dice gave a seven, "Back in the corral again!"

Applejack interrupted the game as she looked out the window and through the pouring rain. "Say, what's that there blue box on the field?"

Twilight joined Applejack and looked out the window. "Blue box...? Hold on, I think I’ve seen that before. In a scroll I found in Canterlot a long time ago. But…" Twilight gasped. "It can’t be. It’s the Blue Box."

"Well, yeah. I can see it's a blue box. And I think it's crushing my corn!" Applejack said.

"No, no." Twilight replied, "It's the Blue Box!"

"So what?" Rainbow Dash joined the conversation. "I'm sure there are tons of other blue boxes all over Equestria. Derpy even has this blue box she says she goes in to have these crazy adventures."

Suddenly, Derpy stuck her rain-soaked head in through the window, surprising everypony and getting rainwater from her mane on them.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash!"

"Wha- Derpy! What are you doing here?"

"Derpy!" A voice from outside called, "Do you mind helping? I don't exactly have wings and these hooves won't help me scale this wall."

"Oops, sorry." Derpy flew back down and, a moment later, she tossed in the Doctor, who fell on top of the Monopony board, scattering all the pieces about.

"Ow..." the Doctor rubbed his head as he got back on his hooves.

"Derpy, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash called out the window, "Who's this?"

Twilight circled around the Doctor, observing his every feature. "Hourglass cutie mark. Brown mane. Light brown coat. I-i-i-it's him!"

"And he is?" Rarity asked.

"The Doctor!" Twilight answered.

Fluttershy popped her head out of the hay pile and asked, "Doctor who?"

The Doctor looked at the ruined Monopony board and said, "Oh, I am sorry. I am really... so, so sorry. But yes, hello! I'm the Doctor! Just 'the Doctor'."

Derpy quickly flew back in through the window, pointed at Rainbow Dash's flank and said "That's one of them, Doctor. One of the six things!"

"Ah! Of course!" The Doctor shouted in delight, "Cutie marks! You saw cutie marks! Brilliant, Derpy!"

Derpy was excited by the Doctor's praise and said, "Ooh! Do I get a muffin now?"

"I'll give you a muffin when we get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor replied. He began walking around in circles around the Monopony board, being careful not to step on any game pieces, as he rambled his thoughts, "Now where will we find the rest of them? Let me think, we’re looking for stars, apples, diamonds, butterflies and balloons. Now that we know that they're cutie marks, that narrows down the field significantly. And we can more or less guess that all six will be found at around this time zone. Maybe even in this part of Earth. Do any you mares know where we can find ponies with those cutie marks?"

Pinkie Pie excitedly jumped in front of the Doctor and stuck her flank up for the Doctor to see, all the while asking, "Is it me? Is it me? Is it me? Is it me? Is it me?"

"Those are the balloons!" Derpy answered.

"Yaaaaay!" Pinkie shouted as she jumped for joy and giggled, "Ooh! How about Fluttershy?" Pinkie zipped to the haystack Fluttershy was hiding in, grabbed her by the flank, took her out and showed her cutie mark to the Doctor.

"Butterflies!" the Doctor said. He turned around in a circle and observed everypony's cutie marks. He put on his glasses as he inspected the details of each one, ensuring they were completely accurate to Derpy's vision. "Why, it’s you. It's all of you! Ah, brilliant! Molto bene! Well, that was a bit quick actually. I was hoping the search would be more… exciting. But no matter, at least that means we can be done with this sooner and we can move on to more exciting things! Never really liked all these end-of-the-world-scenarios I have to keep dealing with. Seriously, what does a pony have to give to have one peaceful visit to a world without the threat of imminent destruction?"

As the Doctor chattered, Twilight remembered all the stories about him from ancient books, poems and legends, and the disasters that followed in his wake, and began to worry. In any story about the Doctor that she encountered, there was always a horrible calamity and from one such story, she recalled one haunting line: "The Doctor has one constant companion: Death." She approached him and put her hoof on his shoulder, interrupting his rambling, "Wait! If you're here, that must mean something terrible is about to happen! Is there some kind of epic pony war in the near future?"

"Actually, I just came from the past. About two-thousand years actually, approximately," The Doctor replied, "And I need to take all of you back with me. Starswirl the Bearded needs you."

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight excitedly squealed upon hearing that historical name, easily forgetting all her worries about doom, destruction and death. "Starswirl the Bearded? He needs us?"

"Who's Starswirl the Bearded?" Rarity asked.

"Sorry, we don't have time to talk," the Doctor interrupted as he hastily began leading everypony towards the barn stairs, "we need to get going right now!"

"But you have a time-machine," Twilight retorted, "What's the rush?"

The Doctor suddenly stopped, having been caught off guard as he was far too lost in his keenness to move along, and struggled to find a quick and clever reply. "Well, we... the past... time... you see... umm... basically... look, do you want to stay here and play Monopony or go on adventures?"

The prospect of thrill and excitement grabbed Rainbow Dash's attention. "Adventure? I love adventures! They're cool. Let's do it!"

Pinkie too was eager to go on a little escapade. "Ooh! Adventure! I like adventures! How exciting! Isn't this exciting?"

"Well, it ain't much fun sticking around here with this kind of weather." Applejack said, gesturing at the pouring rain outside the window.

"Brilliant!" The Doctor said, satisfied at having convinced everypony to follow him. "Quick! Everypony come down and get in the TARDIS."

The Doctor, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack all hurried down the barn stairs while Rainbow Dash and Derpy flew out the window. Fluttershy, in the meantime, stayed in the barn, far from eager to go on an adventure and the danger that comes with such activities. Derpy then returned and pulled Fluttershy out the window by the tail, dragging her on the floor and then on the roof of the barn as Fluttershy struggled to keep a hold on the barn.

"Come on, Fluttershy. Don’t you want to go adventuring? We’ll be fighting dragons and mean old rhinoceroseseses and– oh, we’ll be getting muffins when we’re all done!"

Forty-Two B.E.

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Chapter III: Forty-Two B.E.

In the middle of the Sweet Apple Acres corn field stood a mysterious object. A tall wooden blue box. The box had white windows on all four of sides that gave off white light amidst the dark rain. It had a set of doors on one side and on the left door was a white poster with instructions in black letters saying,

"Pony Telephone. Free for use of public. Advice & assistance obtainable immediately. Officers & cabs respond to all calls. Pull to open."

Above the doors was a black sign with illuminated white letters saying, "Pony Public Call Box."

The box was twice as tall as the Doctor, and each side was only about four and a half feet wide. A box that size could only fit at most three ponies, and they would be packed like sardines.

"Aw, what in tarnation? Doctor! Your box thing crushed my corn!" Applejack complained when she saw corn stalks flattened underneath the blue box and immediately went down to retrieve what corn she could.

"Sorry! I was in a bit of a rush to park. It is a bit of an urgent mission we're in."

Rarity took slow, hesitant steps as she traversed the muddy cornfield, taking the utmost care not to dirty her hooves, though ultimately her efforts were to no avail. When she saw the blue box, she stopped. "Are... are we going inside that thing? All of us? It's going to be awfully crowded and I refuse to crowd inside a box with dirty, mud-covered ponies."

"No need to worry, Rarity." The Doctor said, "You can have your bedroom and you don't have to share bathrooms. I just had renovations last week - or last century, I never can tell - and I added a few new ones!"

Everypony but Derpy and Pinkie stared curiously at the Doctor, baffled by his strange words. They had no idea what he was talking about. How could a little blue box have a restroom? Applejack approached Twilight and asked, "So, uh, Twilight... are you going to tell us who in the hay this fella is?"

"I don't really know all that much, to be honest," Twilight replied, "But I've read a few stories and legends about him. He's appeared throughout all of time, from the beginnings of recorded history to recent history, but he never stays in one place long enough for anypony to know anything about him. All that anypony knows is what he looks like, that he brings his blue box with him wherever he goes, and that the box can travel anywhere in time and space. And wherever he goes, there's always trouble, but he fixes it."

"That's some crazy stuff," Rainbow Dash said, "I wonder if it's true."

While the others conversed, the Doctor busied himself with getting his keys and unlocking the doors of the blue box. He pushed the doors open, entered and invited the others inside. Everypony was hesitant to crowd into the little box, but Derpy and Pinkie eagerly entered. Twilight approached the box, inspected the exterior and then looked inside. She gasped in delight and immediately entered. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack, curious as to what Twilight saw, followed. Rarity stared with her jaw dropped and eyes wide upon seeing everypony somehow easily fit inside the blue box. She still hesitated to enter, but after seeing how dirty her hooves were getting and how wet she was getting from the rain, she finally went in. The sight that greeted her was beyond shocking.

"Welcome to the TARDIS!" The Doctor shouted.

Inside, the blue box, which the Doctor called the TARDIS, was a massive open room with a big complex console and glass column at the center that reached from below the floor to the ceiling and glowed a gentle cyan light. The walls and ceiling formed half a sphere around the console. The walls were dotted with rows of hexagons and oddly shaped stone columns supported them. Several hallways and staircases led to various other rooms. The TARDIS was a complete home as well as a spaceship, with bedrooms, restrooms, a swimming pool, a library, a kitchen, a dining room, and so on.

"Alright!" The Doctor said as he rushed to the TARDIS console and began typing in navigational directions. "Now, we'll be going back to the year 42 B.E." He then pulled the temporal opening lever and cranked the engine pump as he continued speaking. "That's two-thousand sixty-four years ago. At that time, ponies lived in the kingdom of Ponytopia, ruled by King Concordius, and the kingdom was locked in a war against the kingdoms of Drakonia and Hoofrica..." As the Doctor went on talking incessantly about the history of the time period and the complications of time travel while pushing various buttons and operating a myriad of mechanisms, the TARDIS began making a strange whooshing sound, the sound Twilight heard from the barn.

The Doctor spoke on and on, but nopony was listening. Everypony was staring in amazement - jaws dropped and eyes wide - at the TARDIS interior. It was like nothing they had seen before. To them, what they were looking at was an impossibility.

"It’s…" Applejack stuttered.

"It’s…" Rainbow Dash stuttered.

"It’s…" Rarity stuttered.

"It’s…" Fluttershy stuttered.

"Cool! It’s bigger on the inside!" Pinkie shouted as she hopped around.

"This. Is. Amazing!" Twilight yelled as she turned and twisted her head and neck and walked around everywhere, looking at everything in the TARDIS. She observed the lights, the columns, the floor, the console, the chairs, and whatever else she could find.

The Doctor finally finished navigating and ran back to the others, who were still standing by the doors staring at everything around them. "So, now that we're - oh, right. Yes, bigger on the inside. Uh..." The Doctor looked at Derpy and pulled her beside him. "Derpy, you take care of them."

"Right, Doctor, sir!"

The Doctor walked past the others, opened the doors and went outside. The others looked at Derpy and waited for her to explain. "It's the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside," she said

"I don't get it." Applejack said, scratching her head.

"Oh, Applejack." Pinkie replied, "It's just your basic trans-dimensional engineering. Due to the varying spacial properties of the dimensions inside the TARDIS and outside the TARDIS, one can achieve a space of greater size within the dimension transference center."

Everypony awkwardly looked at Pinkie for a few seconds before Rarity broke the silence. "All this is making me dizzy. I'm going to head back to the barn and- Oh, but no! It's still raining."

"Don't worry. I can clear a spot of sunshine for us," Rainbow Dash said, "This thing may be bigger on the inside, but still not big enough for me to fly around. Let's go outside."

They went outside and saw that they were in an empty courtyard. The courtyard was in a mighty castle built on the base of a mountain. The castle's grey stone towers stood tall and its granite walls were high and strong. The perimeter of the courtyard was marked by elaborate marble columns adorned on the top with statues of the Old Gods of the Pre-Classical era, such as Queen Faust, the supreme creator goddess, Sibsy the Wonderful, goddess of thought and love, and Ingram the Melodious, god of song and friendship. On the North side of the courtyard were magnificent silver gates. At the center of the courtyard was a great fountain with marble sculptures of royal alicorns. In front of the eight ponies and the TARDIS was a pair of massive wooden doors. The sky above was tinted pink as the sun began to rise. The Doctor stood in front of the castle doors and shouted to the others, "Welcome, everypony, to Castle Equites! Home of Starswirl the Bearded and King Concordius! Heart of the kingdom of Ponytopia."

"Now this is really starting to get at my head. What just happened? We moved," Applejack said as she looked around her, "I must've had one too many mugs of cider today or something."

"Silly Applejack." Derpy replied, "It's the TARDIS. It can go anywhere!"

"Well, this is... rather bleak looking." Rarity said as she observed the architecture around her. "A castle like this should be more majestic. The gates are nice, though. But the rest of the castle looks like a war zone."

"At this time in our history, ponies were locked in the Five-Hundred-Year War." Twilight explained. "So the castle would look like a war zone. You remember when we performed that play on Hearth's Warming Eve? This was the unicorn tribe's castle."

"Wait. We're in the past?" Applejack asked. "We're really in the past? You weren't just spitting out a load of manure with all that stuff about the Doctor and time-travel?"

"Silly Applejack," Derpy replied, "It's the TARDIS. It can go anywhen!"

"Come on, everypony!" The Doctor called from the massive doors where he stood, "Starswirl is waiting for us!"

The ponies, leaving the TARDIS behind, gathered in front of the doors, which then opened outward as the unicorn guards inside used their magic to push them. Inside was a long hallway with a red carpet and lining the walls were stained-glass windows with images of past pony kings and queens. Servants trotted through and across the hall attending to the guards and cleaning the windows. The eight ponies entered, with Twilight hopping in excitement and Pinkie hopping in unison with her. Shortly after passing by an intersection, they reached the end of the hall and met three doors. The door in front of them was enormous and magnificent. It was made of the finest cedar wood, lined with silver and studded with rubies. The plain wooden doors to the left and right were not as beautiful, but nonetheless impressive because of their size. The Doctor led everypony to the doors to the right.

"Aww, I was hoping we'd go through that gorgeous door over there." Rarity whined, "Whoever's behind it must be a pony worth knowing."

"King Concordius doesn't have time for us right now." The Doctor said, "Politics these centuries is bloody ridiculous."

The doors opened to reveal another hallway with stained-glass windows. The images on the windows were ancient texts and poems written by mighty sorcerers. As the ponies made their way down the hall, Twilight was amazed to see the words translate before her eyes from an ancient dialect of Equinese to the modern dialect. The texts were all the poems, speeches, sayings and proverbs Twilight loved when she was a filly. The TARDIS was at work in her mind, translating any language she encountered right in her head.

The Doctor stopped them halfway down the hall, in front of a door to their left. It was an iron door. On the center was a glowing swirling star. The door had no knobs and seemed to be a door that needed to be pulled. The Doctor stood in front of the door and recited an incantation. "Iuro ego sequi magicam amicitia."

A doorknob then appeared. The Doctor turned it and pulled the door open. Inside was a dark room lit only by candles and a skylight at the center. The walls were covered with full bookshelves and various magical contraptions and cauldrons were scattered throughout the room. By one of the scrolls was an old unicorn who's clothes were all too familiar to Twilight. The old unicorn wore a dark blue cape with star and moon patterns on it, and bells lining the end. He wore a hat with the same color and patterns and bells around the rim and on the pointy tip. He had a long flowing white beard that nearly toughed the floor. He was looking through the scrolls on the shelf and a pile of scrolls had already accumulated beside him. The old unicorn turned to look at who entered.

"Ah, Doctor. Thou hast found them, I presume." Starswirl the Bearded said.

"Yes." The Doctor replied. "The vision was a vision of cutie marks, it turns out, and these are the six ponies who had them: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."

"Greetings, my little ponies." Starswirl welcomed each of them with a bow. "Art thou aware of the task upon thy hooves?"

"I have no idea!" Pinkie answered.

"I see." Starswirl said as he gave the Doctor a disappointed look and sighed. He paced in front of the ponies as he explained the situation "As thou knowest, this land hath been locked in disharmony and chaos of five-hundred years. But, these past nights, I hath had most horrid nightmares. I hath seen an alicorn using the divisions betwixt the three kingdoms to sow discord and conquer all the land. And all throughout the dream, I saw the name, Tympanus and I hath heard a frightful sound. The sound of drums."

"Pfft! Drums?" Pinkie interrupted. "That's not so bad. I have drums stashed all over-"

Twilight stuck her hoof in Pinkie's mouth and scolded her. "Pinkie!" She looked at Starswirl and gestured for him to proceed. "Please, continue, Starswirl the Bearded."

Starswirl started pacing again as he continued his story. "One day, I hath remembered a prophecy I read in the Eldest Scrolls. It spoke of Derpy, who, in the time of our greatest need, shall find the key to vanquishing the evil forces that rise up in a time of chaos and bring harmony to the three kingdoms." He stopped pacing and looked at the six ponies when he finished.

"If you need a hero to vanquish evil, you've come to the right pony!" Rainbow Dash said as she stepped out from the group and put on a proud pose. Twilight quickly pulled her back in line.

"Looks like this might be a job for the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow." She said, "We should return to Equestria and ask Princess Celestia for the Elements."

"Yeah, let's go back," Fluttershy said, "and you can all just leave me behind in Equestria and not bring me back here where there's evil and drums and dragons. I'm sure Angel needs feeding."

Everypony looked at Fluttershy and rolled their eyes.

"Doctor. If you don't mind giving us another ride." Twilight said.

"If Starswirl doesn't mind us leaving for a moment." The Doctor said as he looked at Starswirl.

"Do what thou must."

"Alright," Twilight said, "come on, everypony."

The Doctor pushed the door to the hallway open and everypony galloped out the room. After, they had gone, Starswirl closed the door and looked at his scrolls. He stroked his beard and thought deeply.

"Hmmmm... Elements of Harmony. I know I hast heard of those before, but where..."

~~~~~

The doors to the courtyard opened as the Doctor, Derpy, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie galloped through. The Doctor talked as they made their way to the TARDIS.

"Now, if I'm correct, the date we came from was Neigh 24th, 2012... Wha-" The Doctor stopped when he beheld the shocking sight before him. "The... the TARDIS! It's gone!"

Everypony gasped and looked at each other.

"How are we supposed to get to the Elements now?" Applejack worriedly asked.

Suddenly a shadow appeared before them and a voice came from above.

"You won't!"

Tympanus

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Chapter IV: Tympanus

The voice came from a pegasus above them, who flew down and gently landed in front of the Doctor. The pegasus was as tall as the Doctor, but the Doctor looked at him with a panicked face, eyes wide, teeth clenched and breathing heavy. He had a cream-colored coat, a brown mane, wide wings and a fog watch for a cutie mark. His brown eyes and pearly white teeth gave him a charming face, but at the same time he appeared sinister. He faced the Doctor with a mischievous look and spoke.

"Hello. Did you miss me?"

"What are you doing here?" The Doctor replied.

"Oh, why are you always so rude? Normally, one returns the 'hello.'"

Rainbow Dash jumped in front of the Doctor and stood on her hind hooves with a loose flexible fighting stance, threatening the stranger with her front hooves.

"Hey! Where'd you put the TARDIS?" She said, "Who do you think you are?"

The pegasus scoffed and flew over Rainbow Dash as he spoke, "I don't answer to tomcolts like you. I can tell you the usual lie though: that my name is Tympanus." He then landed and looked the Doctor in the eyes and continued, "But I'm sure the Doctor has all the true answers. Why don't you tell them who I am? Say my name."

The Doctor paused as everypony looked to him. He took a deep breath through his nostrils and said, "Master."

"Thank you, Doctor. It's ever so nice to hear you say my name. Now let's see..."

"What are you doing here, Master?"

"Oh, don't interrupt me like that."

"How are you here?! You died! You died in my hooves, refusing to regenerate, and I burned your body. How are you here?" The Doctor stamped his hoof as he demanded answers. The Master walked about the courtyard and the Doctor followed closely behind, listening to hsi adversary's answer.

"Amazing beasts, those zebra shamans. They seem to have potions, brews and concoctions for everything. Did you honestly think I had no back up plans? Did you really think you could beat me that easily? I always thought you not quite that stupid. All I needed was one loyal zebra who's a master at potions and here I am. Although, I am surprised they brought me back in such good condition out of my remains. Oh and it came back as well. The drums. The never-ending drums. I heard them once again, throbbing in my head. One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! I'm not sure if I missed them or I was glad to be rid of them, but it is nice to have everything back. Anyway, where was I? Oh right! I’ve effectively disarmed you. Hah! No TARDIS, and no screwdriver. They're all mine." The Master hopped into the air and smacked the Doctor across the face. "And now there's nothing you can do!"

The Doctor turned his face back at the Master and looked at him as he demanded, "What's the plan then? Go to the future and take Equestria? Because you have no chance against the Princesses!"

"Oh, no, no, no. I've got something much better. Listen closely: I'm going to become an alicorn!"

"An alicorn?" Rarity said, "How can the likes of you become an alicorn? It's impossible!"

The Master snickered as he turned and flew towards Rarity. "Oh, don't worry your pretty face about that. The magic this little rock in space holds no bounds," he said as he stroked Rarity's face with a feather. "And once this whole world is mine, I'll be needing somepony by my side."

Rarity slapped the Master's wing away and glared at him viciously. "Don't touch me, you scoundrel!'

The Master looked at her with a mocking jaw-drop and shocked face. "My, my, aren't you a violent one. I can't have a violent partner. No, no." He then gave a mischievous laugh and flew back up above the courtyard, looking down at everypony. "And besides, you're hardly the most beautiful pony I've set my eyes on. But, she certainly makes a good candidate." He looked straight at Fluttershy and winked.

"Well, it was nice meeting everypony. I'd love to stay for some tea, but I've got a terribly busy schedule today. And don't you worry, Doctor. I'll be creating what I'm sure you'd be glad to see: a new Time Stallion empire. I will burn this world and turn it into Gallopfrey reborn! Now, if you don't mind, I'll be off, following the drumbeat. Buh-bye!"

The Master flew away at full speed to the West, where the Kingdom of Hoofrica was. Rainbow Dash flew up and began chasing after him, leaving a trail of rainbow behind her. "Hey! Get back here, you! Give us back the TARDIS!"

Rainbow Dash was stopped short, however, as Twilight pulled her back by the tail using her magic. "Don't, Rainbow! You can't go after him on your own!" Twilight shouted as she struggled to pull the stubborn pegasus back to the ground, "If we're to beat him, we have to beat him together!"

Once Rainbow Dash felt the marble floor of the courtyard under her hooves, she gave up and dropped down. Twilight's face then lit up with excitement as she gave a squee.

"And that was the Tympanus! Oh my gosh! I can't believe I just met Tympanus from the Legend of the Blue Box! Of all the characters in the epic, he was the one that stood out the most and, well, frankly, the only one besides Starswirl and the Doctor that I can remember! Oh, this is simply the best day ever!"

Fluttershy looked worriedly at the Master as he flew further and further away. She shuddered at the thought of whatever he would have wanted out of maker her his "partner." She walked up to the Doctor and tapped his shoulder. "Does this mean we can't go home? Because I think we should really just go home. I can't stay here. What about Angel? And the squirrels and ducks and possums and robins and mice and sparrows and chickens and-"

"Now, now. Calm down, sugar cube." Applejack interrupted, "I'm sure there's another way to get at that Master."

The Doctor stared anxiously at the sky, and then at the spot where he had parked the TARDIS. "No TARDIS, no screwdriver..." He sat down on the fountain and skimmed his hoof on the water. "Well, I certainly feel helpless, especially with no technology whatsoever around. I'm going to have to improvise with archaic tools and magic. That should be a new experience. Not quite sure how well that'll work, but I'm sure I'll figure something out sooner or later, hopefully sooner. I wonder if there are any materials around the castle that I can use... I should ask Starswirl."

"You'll find out something soon, Doctor," Derpy encouraged him, patting his head, "you always do! Like when you stopped the Jixen from burning down the Everfree Forest with a kettle and a bit of string."

"Oh, I had a bit more than kettle and string," the Doctor modestly replied, "Although, I do have to say, that was one of my more... well... my more magnificent moments."

"Well, before we do anything," Rarity said, "would you care to tell us who that arrogant colt was?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie shouted, "He seems like a fun pony! Maybe we can play the drums together!"

The Doctor's face immediately became solemn as he recalled memories of his and the Master's past. Everypony gathered around him as he looked up reminiscently at the sky. They sat by the fountain, underneath the gaze of the statues surrounding them. Once he had everypony's attention, the Doctor cleared his throat and began.

"Well... the Master and I. We grew up in Gallopfrey, the lost planet of the Time Stallions, the oldest and mightiest race in the Universe. Ponies who were always watching over space and time, sworn never to interfere, only to watch, like ancient sentinels keeping an eye on everything, and ensuring the laws of time were followed and protected. If you look up, Gallopfrey was once right around two-hundred fifty million light-years in that direction." The Doctor pointed at the sky to the North just a few degrees above the horizon.

He sighed longingly and gave a smile that was happy, but at the same time agonized. "Oh, you should've seen that old lovely planet. Our home was in the great citadel of the Time Stallions, encased in a great dome of glass. That beautiful city in the continent of Wild Endeavor, between the mountains of Solace and Solitude. The second sun would rise gracefully from the South and make the mountains shine, and the trees with leaves of silver would sparkle. Oh, how I miss that sky, the lush grass of my father's estate... We, the children of Gallopfrey, at the age of eight, we were taken from our families and brought into the Academy. And they say that's where the Master began... as a child, when he saw Eternity. As part of the initiation into the Academy, he was taken to look into the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality. He looked into the whole of time and space, in all its raw power, magnificence and terror. Eight years old... Some would be inspired. Some would run away... And some would go mad."

"Gosh," Applejack said, "That's mighty tragic. But how'd he end up in these parts? Don't you Time Stallions keep a hold on mad ponies like him?"

"Well, it's because they're gone... they're all gone. The Time Stallions are all gone, forever." The Doctor explained. He looked down dejected and stared at his reflection on the water. "There was a war. The Last Great Time War. The Time Stallions fought a species called the Daleks for the sake of all Creation. And we lost. Everypony lost. And Gallopfrey was destroyed, forever cast into oblivion. My family, my friends, my colleagues. They're all gone now. The Master and I are the only survivors. I once thought only I escaped but he somehow survived as well. During my travels I encountered him here on Earth. He tried to take over this world. He nearly succeeded but I stopped him. I undid everything he did, and for everypony it was as if nothing ever happened. But his wife killed him, and the Master died in my hooves. I took his body and burned it. Once again, I was the last of the Time Stallions."

"But then he had zebras bring him back?" Rarity said. "Why would anypony do such a thing for such a mad pony?"

"The Master has a way with words. His charisma is almost hypnotic." The Doctor said as he stood up. He walked some distance away from the fountain and looked to the West. "He can charm his way into anything, and he's sure to have followers that would do anything for him. Given the chance, he could rally an entire kingdom against its rulers and lead the citizens to their own demise. He's the terror of Starswirl's nightmares. He's the threat we need to stop."

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie gave each other anxious glances. Rarity looked to Twilight and broke the silence.

"What do we do, Twilight?"

" I… I don’t know. But whatever we do, so long as we stick together, nopony can stop us. Remember, even if we don’t have the Elements themselves, we still have their spirits… I just hope we can use them…"

The eight ponies retreated to the shade of the castle as the late morning sun beat down on them from a cloud-free sky.

The Rhino Emperor

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Chapter V: The Rhino Emperor

At little under one millenium old, Hoofrica was the youngest kingdom in the land, as well as the most diverse, most vast and most progressive. Rhinoceroses, gazelles, zebras and warthogs all lived in harmony under one ruler.

The kingdom was born out of the Hoofricans' mutual resentment against the dragons that freely entered into the forests, grasslands and mountains to mine for gems and precious metals. After the dragon Scorching Stomach first discovered delectable diamonds in the banks of the Uzima River in 1434 B.E., wave after wave of dragon miners came to Hoofrica and violated the land in search of the finest organic ingredients for high-class cuisine. They burned the forests, dammed the rivers, dug up the lush plains and tore down the mountains. Some dragons snatched native Hoofricans and kept them as slaves. The Hoofricans learned to hide in fear when they heard the sound of dragon roars, and the many tribes soon began to collaborate in order to survive the dragon occupation, which continued for four-hundred years.

In the year 1099 B.E., a zebra shaman spoke a prophecy after she ate a raw Heart's Desire flower.

"By the setting of this thousand and the rising of that thousand, a light shall shine.

Atop the tended tallest tree, it lights the path to an ending to the pain and agony of thine.

The mighty Queen, receiving the light, will perform a final act of justice when she hears our plea.

And a kingdom will rise high and strong, born from the beauty of the deepest roots of our holy tree."

The four tribes of Hoofrica brought together their wisest sages to decipher the prophecy. The rhinos sent Moto. The gazelles sent Hewa. The zebras sent Maji. And the warthogs sent Ardhi. They realized that the prophecy was an instruction to send a prayer to the great creator goddess, Queen Faust, and the prayer was to be sent through an enchanted tree. In the distant past, when the Old Gods and mortals were still closely connected, the mortals sent their prayers to the heavens through fast-growing trees that burst with light at the top. As ages passed, the trees were used less and less, and by the second millennium B.E., they were all gone.

Moto, Hewa, Maji and Ardhi spent six years searching throughout the world for a seed of those trees, and they found one on the frozen peak of Mount Matumaini in the Barafu Mountains far to the North, at the edge of the Great Northern Desert. But the seed was shriveled and fragile after centuries locked in ice, and the soil in Hoofrica was dry and infertile. They planted the seed in the best patch of land they could find in all of Hoofrica, which was a small clearing in the Forest of Uhuru. With its tattered state and the harsh conditions, the seed took seventy years to grow into a full tree, and in every single day of those seventy years, the four sages tended to it and recited their prayer over it.

"Holy Queen. Creator of all. Hear our plea. Our land is suffering. Our kind are in pain. We beg of thee, bring it to an end. Free us from the greed of the dragons and bring life back to our land."

After seventy years, the seed grew into the tallest tree in the forest. One day, in the year 1023, as the frail old sages were about to recite their daily prayer, a great light burst from the top of the tree. The light floated up into the sky and disappeared as it went beyond the clouds. Inspired by the sight, the sages made the decision to name the tree the Tree of Light. Moments after the light from the tree lifted above the clouds, the sound of dragons groaning and complaining of stomach ache were heard all over Hoofrica and Dragonia. Every single dragon in the world was feeling stomach pain, and shortly, every dragon burped out a sealed letter. The letter was an order for the dragons to leave the lands of Hoofrica and let the indigenous creatures live in peace. At first the dragons were reluctant to heed a letter from a goddess not heard from in centuries, but the elderly queen of Dragonia, Cinder, knowing it was unwise to anger the gods, decided to discuss the issue with the Hoofricans. Queen Cinder met with Moto, Hewa, Maji and Ardhi on a field full of pink rose bushes. The king of Ponytopia, Solus II, oversaw the meeting, in order to ensure Queen Faust's expectations were met. At the end of the day, while King Solus was focusing on setting the Sun, Queen Cinder and the four sages finally came to agreement. The dragons were to leave Hoofrica and never enter without the permission of the sages.

As the Hoofricans celebrated their liberation, Moto, Hewa, Maji and Ardhi met together to plan the future of Hoofrica. They knew that Hoofrica needed leadership if it was to survive, and they knew their time in this world would not last much longer. They wrote a constitution for Hoofrica and assigned Moto's son as heir to the sages. The sages died peacefully, Moto's son, Nguvu, became the first emperor of Hoofrica.

The new kingdom of Hoofrica advanced quickly with the assistance of the ponies. The Hoofricans learned from pony magic, architecture, and weather control. The Hoofricans built their capital, Rhinopolis, from scratch and built the Emperor's palace around the Tree of Light. Soon Hoofrica was a kingdom as magnificent as Ponytopia, using modern names, attire and language.

No longer a fledgling kingdom needing aid, Hoofrica was now a kingdom fit to be a rival to Ponytopia and Dragonia.

~~~~~

"Your Highness, here's this week's copy of the Gazelle Gazette. The publishers apologize for the lateness. There was some controversy over the gossip column and they had to delay printing to sort it out."

A gazelle in a butler suit entered the Rhino Emperor's throne room while balancing a silver tray with a newspaper on his head. He approached Emperor Bluehorn and bowed before the throne. Bluehorn sat on a magnificent ornate throne carved into an ancient and mighty tree. The throne was decorated with gold, diamonds and detailed carvings of rhinos, gazelles, zebras and warthogs. Above the throne, on the trunk of the tree, were carved these words in the old language of Zwahiri:

"By the setting of this thousand and the rising of that thousand, a light shall shine.

Atop the tended tallest tree, it lights the path to an ending to the pain and agony of thine.

The mighty Queen, receiving the light, will perform a final act of justice when she hears our plea.

And a kingdom will rise high and strong, born from the beauty of the deepest roots of our holy tree."

Emperor Bluehorn took the newspaper from the butler and said, "Tell them not to worry about it Alfalfred. Unlike my old man, I'm patient enough to allow a late newspaper."

Bluehorn was a stout rhino, but he had an impressive horn with a brilliant royal blue glow. The glow lit up the entire throne room as he used his magic to open the newspaper and levitate it in front of his face. Bluehorn wore a tall golden crown studded with diamonds, big golden nose rings and a traditional turquoise collar necklace. His cutie mark was a pair of scales.

The throne room had massive clear-glass windows, but for hundreds of years, the emperors kept them covered with velvet curtains. The light of the sun and moon were controlled by the pony kings, and the emperors refused to let such light enter the throne room. The floor of the room was of pure white marble and on the ceiling was a beautiful fresco depicting scenes of the goddess, Queen Faust, creating the world and all its inhabitants. A warthog was about to begin scrubbing the floor when Emperor Bluehorn gave a loud hearty laugh while reading his newspaper.

"Corn on their horn. Haha! Too rich! Ah, what else is there? Oh my Faust! 'Renowned Poet, Spoken Heart, found Dead With Head In Oven!' Noooo! I loved her poems." Bluehorn looked up and shouted, "Everyone! A moment of silence for Spoken Heart! Now! And hats off!"

Bluehorn took off his crown, the guards their helmets and the warthog his cap. They all looked down and remained silence. During the silence, a strange exotic noise was heard out of nowhere. Bluehorn looked up and saw a strange object slowly appearing right before his eyes. From out of thin air, a tall blue box materialized in front of the throne.

"What the Tartarus? Guards!"

The guards all put their helmets back on, picked up their pikes and surrounded the blue box, pointing their weapons at the strange object. Bluehorn gave the captain of the guards a nod and the captain banged on the doors of the blue box, shouting.

"Who's in there? You've infiltrated the Emperor's throne room! Come out and face the consequences for this crime! You have the right to an attorney!"

There came a small click and the doors of the blue box slowly creaked open. A pegasus calmly walked out of the box and gave Bluehorn a short bow, saying,

"Salutations, Your Royal Highness. Fine afternoon we’re having."

The guards immediately took hold of him and the captain pointed his horn at the pegasus' throat.

"I say. What a wonderful butler! He's so violent!" the pegasus said.

"Silence!" the captain shouted. "Speak only when spoken to! And I'm not some lowly butler!"

Alfalfred gasped at the captain's remark, glared at the captain and said, "Well. I never!" Then he began to walk out of the room.

The captain looked at Alfalfred walking away and shouted, "Wait! Alfalfred! I didn't mean it that way! Oh come on! Don't take it personally!"

"Anyway!" Bluehorn interrupted, "Back to the intruder. You! Uhh..." The Emperor hesitated and whispered into a guard's ear, "How do I start an interrogation again?"

The guard whispered back into Bluehorn's ear and Bluehorn looked back at the pegasus, saying, "State your name, rank and intention!"

"Well, my name is Tympanus. My rank... hmmm.... not sure about that. I suppose the best I can come up with is 'renegade.' And as for my intention, I have only one intention and that, Your Highness, is to help you."

"Oh, you're here to help." Bluehorn said, "In that case, guards release him."

The captain gave a sigh and spoke, "Your Highness, he's a pony. He could be lying. We can't trust him."

"Oh, yeah, right. Guards, keep a hold on him." Bluehorn looked the Master in the eye and asked, "And how am I supposed to trust you, Tympanus? If that's even your real name! Are you a spy?"

"Ah, you need a token of my trust. Of course. Well then..." Tympanus reached in the blue box and took out a piece of paper. "Here's my I.D." He flipped the same piece of paper to show a new set of text. "Here's my resume." He flipped it again to show yet another set of text. "Here's a wanted poster signed by King Concordius." He flipped it one more time. "And here is my- Oh, jeez! Oops! That's Cheerilee's phone number. Can't believe I still have that. How embarrassing. Hehe..."

"What on Earth is a 'phone number'?"

"Oh right. Phones haven't been invented yet. My bad. Anyway, if you're still skeptical, take my blue box. You saw it with your own eyes. It just appeared here. This box can go anywhere in the world and you can use it to your advantage. And with my help, you might be able to finally put an end to this war, Your Highness."

"He's just some mad pony, Your Highness." the captain said, "He belongs in the dungeon."

"Hold on, captain." Bluehorn said, "A pony with a box like this might be worth listening to, even though he seems insane."

"Oh, you have no idea." Tympanus said with a small laugh.

Emperor Bluehorn faintly chuckled at the funny pony before becoming serious and asking, "Tell me why. Why would you turn against your own kingdom?"

Tympanus let out a tiny smirk. Everything was going according to plan.

"Oh, Your Highness, I just want to put an end to all the suffering these centuries of war have caused. I tried to convince King Concordius to end it, but he wouldn't listen. He's a bloodthirsty tyrant. But I know you're a kind, noble and understanding emperor, Your Highness. You reign justly over your subjects and have only their wellbeing in mind. A far greater ruler than Concordius could ever be, if you ask me."

"Go on..."

"If you win this war, you can usher in an era of harmony and friendship, with all your rhino, gazelle, zebra and warthog subjects with your foes as slaves farming the lush fields and bustling through the magnificent streets of a new paradise: Camelot!"

"Camelot?" Bluehorn disgustedly replied.

"Hmmm... yeah, forget Camelot." Tympanus answered. "Rubbish name. Who would name a paradise after those bloody desert dwellers? Oh, I got a good one! How about the United Kingdom?"

Emperor Bluehorn leaned back on his throne and dreamingly stared off, saying, "The United Kingdom... my subjects, living in harmony..."

Tympanus interrupted Bluehorn's fantasizing. "But of course the box alone can't win the war. Look at it. So tiny. You'll need me, Your Highness, and all I need is access to your best alchemists."

Tympanus deeply bowed his head as he made his request. Bluehorn put his hoof to his chin and thought deeply on what Tympanus had said. After a few moments, he smiled and said, "Alright then. Captain, release him and escort him to the laboratory."

The captain looked with a raised eyebrow at Emperor Bluehorn, then gave a skeptical look at Tympanus. He signaled for the guards to let go of Tympanus and Tympanus rubbed his shoulders once his hooves were finally free.

"What a rough lot, these guards. I thank you dearly, Your Highness. Hopefully your alchemists are more... gentle."

Tympanus let out a laugh and Bluehorn laughed along with him.

"Hurry along, pony." The captain gruffly said.

Two guards opened the door out of the throne room and followed the captain as he led Tympanus to the royal laboratory. Tympanus strutted with a mischievous smirk down the halls of the palace. His plan was going by smoothly.

A Rhythm of Four

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Chapter VI: A Rhythm of Four

Nine-hundred years ago, on the planet, Gallopfrey...

"Why do you want everypony to call you 'Doctor?'"

"I don't like my old name. It's rubbish. I want my name to tell a lot about me."

Two foals, one an earth foal with an hourglass cutie mark, the other a pegasus with a blank flank, sat beneath a silver-leaved tree atop a hill on a vast pasture of red grass. They faced North as they watched the second sun set.

"But your new cutie mark is an hourglass. It's not anything doctory." the pegasus foal said.

"I don't mean it like-"

"It's stupid. If you're going to be a doctor, you should've gotten a stethoscope or a syringe for a cutie mark. I doubt you've ever even used a stethoscope."

"Yes I have! I know what our heartbeat sounds like! It goes 'dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun."

"Well, duh. How bloody daft are you? Everypony knows what the heartbeat of a Time Stallion sounds like."

The earth foal could not find a good retort and he fell silent. After a moment, he spoke.

"I like the name 'Doctor' and you have to deal with it. 'Doctor' doesn't always have to mean somepony who works in a hospital." The foal turned and faced his friend. "What about you? If you'd want to change your name, what would you change it to?

The pegasus looked curiously at his friend for a few seconds and laughed.

"Look at you! You're all different now that you've seen the Untempered Schism and got your cutie mark. All your silly talk about changing names."

"I'm the one who got his cutie mark first! I'd say it's you who's being silly. I wouldn't be surprised if you never get your cutie mark. You're always misbehaving."

The pegasus looked shockingly at the earth filly with his jaw dropped and furious eyes. He could not believe that his friend would stoop so low as to insult him for having a blank flank. He turned and faced away from his friend.

'Sorry. I'm sorry." the earth foal said, "I guess I was being a bit arrogant." The pegasus did not reply. The earth foal tried again, "Come on, I said sorry." Still, his friend wouldn't turn around. The two foals sat quietly until the sun had set and the other sun neared the Northeastern horizon.

The earth foal broke the silence. "Oi! I think we should be getting back. It's getting pretty late. The dorm supervisor will be looking for us soon."

"Yeah, let's head back."

"And it smells like they'll be serving sausages and scones for supper. Fantastic."

"Hahaha! That ridiculous nose of yours never fails to amaze."

"I'll sneak a cup of tea into your room after supper if you like."

"Why would I need tea?"

"You'll need some to calm yourself so that you can sleep well tonight. Tomorrow's the big day. Your initiation! Mom always told me that I'd need a good night's rest before seeing the Schism, and she was right."

"Idiot! I had almost forgotten to worry about the ceremony. Now you've reminded me of it!"

"Oops... sorry."

~~~~~

"Nurse! What is the matter with my student? He's shivering and mumbling nonsense! What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, professor. They sent him in a few hours after his initiation ceremony. They said he was starting to go mad."

The pegasus foal lied on a convalescence chamber in the infirmary. From head to tail, he shook like a leaf in a hurricane. His eyes shot back and forth, looking all around the room. He was drenched in sweat and his mane was a tangled mess. He cringed every time the nurse approached him.

"It won't stop. It just won't stop. It never stops. It never stops." The foal mumbled, "It doesn't stop. It's getting closer, and closer. It's coming closer. Oh, make it stop..."

"Professor," the nurse said, "due to a condition as serious as this, I don't think the infir-"

Suddenly she was interrupted by the foal's screaming.

"MAKE IT STOP! AGH! PLEASE! Make it stop! Make it stop! Please, make it stop!" He flailed his legs in despair and fell off of the chamber. The professor and the nurse ran to his side and helped him sit up.

"Make what stop?" the professor asked, "What's the matter? Come on, tell me. I can help you."

"The drums," the foal answered, "the never-ending drums. They won't stop and they keep coming closer. Oh, please professor. Make it stop."

"Shh, shh, shh. Stay calm. Everything will be alright. We'll take care of it. Now why don't you get back in bed and get some sleep."

"But the drumming, sir. It's pounding in my head and it won't stop. It keeps on going. The never-ending drums. Coming closer and closer and closer! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!"

The foal continually repeated "One-two-three-four!" as he lied on the floor and curled himself up. The professor and the nurse picked him up, laid him back on the chamber and tucked him in under a blanket. They walked across the room and stood by a medicine dispenser.

"I don't know what's wrong with him, professor." the nurse said, "I've never seen anything like this."

"I think I might have an idea of what it is." the professor said, "He seems to have a rhythm of four drumming in his head."

"Well, what does that mean?"

"A rhythm of four: the heartbeat of a Time Stallion. Some ancient records say that the drumming is a warrior's mark, but some dismiss it as a symptom of insanity."

"Is there anything we can do about it?"

The professor paused for a minute. He looked worriedly at the filly. He feared for the young Time Stallion's health, but at the same time, he feared what he might grow up to become. He sighed and scratched his head.

"There's nothing we can do. There aren't really any recorded cases of this. Just legends and old fairytales. As far as I know, he'll have that drumming in his head for the rest of his life. Whether it will turn him into a great warrior or drive him insane... only time will tell."

The professor left the infirmary and the nurse returned to tending to the foal. He seemed to be asleep when she checked on him, but he was still whispering, "One-two-three-four," repeatedly. She checked his temperature and found that he was burning up. She injected body-cooler fluid into his shoulder to try to put his temperature under control. The temperature immediately returned to normal levels and the foal began to calm down, the whispers slowly becoming fainter. Though the foal had calmed down, he could still hear the drumming. Through the whole night and into the morning, he continued whispering, "One-two-three-four." After two days, he seemed to be back to normal, and he was released from the infirmary.

~~~~~

"Hey! What happened? You've been gone for three days." The earth foal with the hourglass cutie mark said as he entered the pegasus' dormitory. The pegasus sat at his desk reading a text from his computer, and he tapped a rhythm of four on the floor with his right rear hoof as he read. On the pegasus' flank was a new cutie mark: a fob watch.

"Morning, Doctor."

The earth foal gave a delighted gasp at hearing the pegasus' greeting. "You called me, 'Doctor'!"

"Well, it is your new name." The pegasus said as he turned to face his friend.

"Hahaha. So, how did the initiation go? Why were you gone for so long? Ooh! You got your cutie mark! A fob watch? Fantastic!"

"Yeah... about the initiation... umm.... I really just don't want to talk about it."

"What's the matter? I can help. Trust me."

The pegasus did not speak. He simply looked at the Doctor with eyes that suffered from days of anxiety. Everyone he had told about the drumming in his head called him insane. The doctors and nurses only let him out of the infirmary when he stopped complaining about the drumming. After a few minutes he finally spoke.

"Remember the afternoon before my initiation, when you asked me what I'd want to change my name into? I think I've got one... My name is the Master."

"Fantastic! And what's the meaning behind the name?"

The Master took a moment to think before responding, "My father said I have a talent for politics. I was always able to tell who gets any open seats in the High Council, or who would win the big debates. He told me that one day, I might be a member of the Council, or even better, I might become Lord President of Gallopfrey. The successor to Rassilon. I'll be the supreme ruler of the Time Stallions. And with that kind of power, I can finally end this bloody war, destroy the Daleks, and own all of time and space! I will be the master of the Universe!"

"That's... pretty ambitious, Master."

"And you, Doctor. You could be my right hand pony. We could be a pair to bring the Time Stallions to ever greater glory! We'll be the new Rassilon and Omega!

"Master, calm down. I think you're taking this a bit too-"

"Because it's calling me to do this! Can't you hear it, Doctor?! The drumming! It's calling me! Calling me to become the master of time and space! And it keeps getting closer and closer and closer! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!"

"What drumming? There is no drumming."

"It's everywhere and it won't stop! The never-ending drums! I hear it every waking moment! One-two-three-four! Can't you hear it?! One-two-three-four!"

"What's the matter with you?! Stop it! Just stop it! You've gone mad!"

The Master stopped and fell silent. Now even his closest friend has dismissed him as insane. There was nopony left for him anymore. He was alone. He turned around, facing away from the Doctor and said,
"Get out."

Hall of Heroes

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Chapter VII: Hall of Heroes

"Well... This is a bit of an awkward situation, isn't it?" Rarity said after Twilight reported the unfortunate turn of events to Starswirl the Bearded.

Starswirl paced around the circle of light below the skylight. The pile of scrolls he had built up earlier that day had grown twice as large. The other ponies stood in a semicircle around the light, all looking crestfallen, except Pinkie Pie, who jumped into the huge pile of scrolls, saying, "Wheee!" The Doctor had left ponies at the courtyard earlier, not saying what his intention was, only directing them to go to Starswirl.

"Awkward?" Starswirl said, turning towards them, "This is disastrous! Art thou sure thou know of no other way to stop this villain? This Tympanus?"

"He took the only way back to Equestria and the Elements." Twilight said. She scratched behind her left ear. "I'm sorry."

"We're stuck like a rat in a cider barrel." Applejack said.

Starswirl turned away and continued his pacing. The room was silent save for the sound of Starswirl's hooves on the stone floor. Then they heard a voice outside the door recite an incantation, and the Doctor came bursting through the door.

"Alright! Molto bene! I went around the castle and it turned out most of the materials I needed were available. I got a few bits of string, some copper from the blacksmith which he made into a few wires for me, a dragon scale - a source of small amounts of phosphorus - from the walls, bits of the king's mane, which sort of work as a replacement for optic fibres - emphasis on the sort of - and conveniently also contain a good amount of ruthenium, from the royal barber, a hollow stick, some glass, crystallized carbon, and a vial of dragon blood, which contains trace amounts of rubidium hydroxide. All I need now is a drop of hydrochloric acid, which Starswirl has plenty of, and electricity, which unicorn horns are rich in."

The Doctor ran to one of Starswirl's shelves, took a pipette, filled it with acid from a jar and carefully used his mouth to squeeze a drop into a hollow wooden stick he held in his hoof. He then went to Starswirl and asked, "If you could kindly give it a little electric shock, please."

Starswirl used his magic to discharge some electricity into the stick, which then lit up its yellow LED lights. The Doctor had made a rudimentary make-shift sonic screwdriver with all the materials he had at hoof. He then proceeded to ramble on.

"Voila! A sonic screwdriver! Extremely primitive though. It would be able to probe and scan, but that's about it. Can't unlock doors or fix machinery or short circuit electronics, among other things, but it'll have to do. Now, no TARDIS. No proper sonic screwdriver. How are we going to do this? Ally with the other kingdoms to try to find him? No. Monarchs are too stubborn for anything like that. Predict his movements? No. He's too clever for that. And I don't see anything in this time period that he can work with. So he'll leave this time and head for the future. If he goes to the 21st century, he could make his way into the court of Canterlot and seize the throne from the princesses. Oh, but the prophecy said that he'd act within the Five-Hundred-Year War. So he must have a-"

"Doctor!" Starswirl interrupted, "Silence. This burden is not thine to bear. The prophecy spake of these six mares. 'Tis they who shalt vanquish Tympanus and the path shalt be shown unto them."

"Oh, don't be so daft, Starswirl. I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Stallion. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 906 years old and I'm-"

The Doctor stopped and came to the most shocking realization. For once in his centuries of existence, he was not the one who would save the world from extraterrestrial incursion. The realization stuck his ego and he took a step back with his jaw dropped. After a moment, he closed his mouth and looked intently at the six mares before him.

The Doctor walked up to Applejack, bowed down and said, "The Champion of Truth."

He then walked to Rainbow Dash, bowed down and said, "The Knight of Fidelity."

Next, he approached Rarity, bowed down and said, "The Ever-Giving Jewel."

He came to Fluttershy, bowed and said, "The Purest Heart."

He walked towards Pinkie Pie, bowed and said, "The Light of Joy."

He then stood before Twilight Sparkle, bowed and said, "The Enchanted Power."

The Doctor stood by Starswirl the Beareded and addressed all six mares.

"Blimey, I never imaged how hard it would be to leave the fate of the world in somepony else's hooves. It's up to you six now. You're the only hope this world has now. I can try helping you, but without any technology, I can't stop the Master. So-"

"Ooh! What about me, Doctor?" Derpy interrupted.

"Sorry, Derpy," the Doctor said, "But you can't save the world either. I'm sorry. The two of us can't do anything."

"Oh, okay!"

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked at each other with uncertainty. If they had the Elements of Harmony, they would have had confidence in the power of their friendship, but in a strange land, in a strange time, faced with an opponent from across the stars and without access to the magic that aided them through their troubles before, they were nervous. Fluttershy folded her ears down, daunted by the task at hand. Applejack scratched her head, not knowing how to respond to such a responsibility. Even Rainbow Dash had a concerned look on her face. Finally, Twilight spoke.

"But without the Elements, how can we possibly stop him? Without a way to return to Equestria, there's no chance we can find them. And the only way we've ever been able to stop our enemies before was through the Elements. Except for that time Cadence and Shining Armor defeated the Changelings, but we can't get to them either.

Fluttershy then decided to speak up. "But um... this is just an idea... we did make the Elements appear when we faced Nightmare Moon, right?"

"Yes, Fluttershy, but this is a whole different time we're in. It's before Equestria, before the Princesses, before the Elements themselves even existed. I don't think we can just make them appear this time."

Starswirl the Bearded then had an idea. "These Elements thou speakest of, they sound to be of the magic of royalty. Mayhaps thou needest an alicorn. Come, we shall see His Majesty, King Concordius. Surely he may help us with his wisdom and power."

"We ain't got any better options," Applejack said, "Why not?"

"Yes!" Rarity shouted, "We're finally going to meet the King! Oh, I can't wait to see what the royal wardrobe looks like."

Everypony left Starswirl's library and proceeded down the hall towards the great wooden doors at the central hallway intersection of the castle. A pair of unicorn guards opened the doors with their magic and let Starswirl and the others through. They then stood before the huge silver-lined, ruby-studded, cedar doors. Everypony looked at the magnificent doors with admiration and anticipation for what was beyond it. Starswirl the Bearded touched his horn on a round ruby at the center of the doors with carvings of the Sun, Moon and stars. He recited an incantation.

"Sol et Luna. Die ac Nocte. Lucem ac Tenebras. Pars via. Ostende mihi sedem regiam."

The central ruby split at the center and the doors opened. The sound of the hinges turning rumbled through the hallway. Behind the doors was a magnificent hallway lit by lights of every color. All shades of blues and greens, brilliant reds, oranges and yellows, elegant purples and pinks and so forth. Everypony stared with amazement at the sight.

"Welcome to the Hall of Heroes!" said Starswirl.

And the hall was rightly named. The walls had stained-glass windows all the way down the hall. The windows contained images of great warriors and wizards facing terrible foes and performing feats of great valor. High above the ponies, on the ceiling, was a fresco of the creator goddess, Queen Faust. The depiction of the goddess was like nothing the ponies from Ponyville had ever seen. The goddess was an odd figure that stood on two legs. She had a maroon mane on her head, but no coat on her body. She instead had clothes covering everything but her head and where her hooves should be. Strangest of all, she had no hooves; each of her forelimbs instead ended in a flat shape with five protrusions. The Doctor explained to the others that what replaced her hooves were called, "hands." Queen Faust held a quill on her right hand, which she was using to draw the first pony.

Finally, Pinkie Pie broke their trance by pointing to one of the windows and shouting, "Ooh! Look at this window! That one looks like the bad guy from the Daring Do books!"

Rainbow Dash, hearing Pinkie mention Daring Do, immediately flew over to the window. "Hey, it does! That thing looks just like Ahuizotl! That's so cool!"

Rarity them walked up to look at the window and said, " But that wizard fighting him looks absolutely ridiculous. Just look at his mane-cut. And that cape, ugh!"

"Yonder wizard is myself, in mine younger years." Starswirl said.

"Oh... sorry, I didn't really mean it. I think the cape looks... very unique."

"And yonder beast was indeed Ahuizotl. He sought to usurp the throne and allied himself with the dragons. Alas, due to his old age, His Majesty could not stand against Ahuizotl, but I defeated him and banished him to the distant land of Mexicolt."

The window depicted the young Starswirl as a blue unicorn with a red mane and short beard wearing a dark purple cape covered by patterns of constellations. He stood at the bottom of the window, striking the image of Ahuizotl directly above him with a golden ray of magic and encasing him in a sapphire stone.

"Wow!" Twilight said, "That must have taken some powerful magic!"

"Indeed, madam. But, alas, I hast lost much of the power of mine youth. I am but a frail old pony now."

"Speaking of magic," Rarity said, "I'm a bit confused by the magic you perform. How come you have to use words with your spells? Back in Equestria nopony - hmmpphhff!"

The Doctor stuck his hoof in Rarity's mouth to stop her speaking and said, "Spoilers!" He then whispered to Rarity, "Starswirl uses old magic. Old Magic requires incantations to invoke its power. Don't tell Starswirl how we don't use incantations anymore. New magic that doesn't use incantation is starting to rise among the younger unicorns, but Starswirl is meant to die believing that the old ways will triumph over the new."

"That's terrible." Rarity whispered back.

"Yes, I know. But there's nothing to be done. His death is fixed. Any foreknowledge, any change in his beliefs might alter that and cause a paradox that will rip a hole in space and time."

"Ummm... okay?"

Fluttershy then began, "These widows are scary... There're so many scary monsters and d-d-d-dragons."

Starswirl placed his hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder to calm her and said, "These all art depictions of the marvelous endeavors and feats by great ponies who defeated all manner of terrible beasts and villains who threatened our kingdom."

He pointed to a window depicting a yellow pegasus with huge wings and wielding a magic spear dueling a ferocious white dragon among stormy clouds.

"Vronti Pteryga, who defeated the dragon Llosgi and thus became the first pegasus to tame the sky."

He next pointed to a window containing the image of three earth ponies, one to the left playing a lyre, one to the right playing a flute, and one at the center singing. Around the three ponies was a circle of parasprites.

"The Music Sisters, who, using their melodies, lured away a plague of parasprites that was to devour everything across the land."

The nine ponies came to another huge set of beautiful doors at the end of the hallway. On these doors was a painting depicting a golden alicorn and a dark blue alicorn flying in a circle around a spiraling black mass containing a pair of malevolent green eyes.

"The kingdom’s first king and queen, King Lux and Queen Nox, who, through the power of their love, vanquished the dark lord whose name never shall be spoken and inherited power over day and night from the Old Gods."

"That is so awesome!" Rainbow shouted.

"Now, it taketh two unicrons to open these doors." Starswirl said as he approached the doorm. "Hm, often there be'eth a pair of unicorn guards by the doors. I ponder on where they hath gone. Madam Twilight, prithee, open these doors with me."

Twilight walked up to the doors and Starswirl gave her instructions, "The incantation for opening the doors be this: 'Spondeo ad rex. Quaero servire. Ostende mihi faciem eius.'"

Twilight nodded, "Got it!"

The two unicorns recited the incantation and cast the spell on the doors. The painting parted between the two evil eyes and opened. The sight behind the door caused the Doctor and Starswirl to skip a few heartbeats and everypony gasped.

Chocolate Milk

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Chapter VIII: Chocolate Milk

The rhinoceros guards shoved the Master past the door and into the alchemy laboratory. The walls of the laboratory were lined with shelves full of scrolls, alchemy ingredients and various strange chemicals of every color. Rows of tables were placed across the room. Scattered throughout the room were cauldrons of all sizes and many jars, vials, utensils and beakers.

"Afternoon, Golden Lead! Afternoon, Pyro!" one of the guards said. Then a rhino popped her head out from behind a table, followed by a smaller head. "You have a little something on your face there, Pyro."

"Oh, better wipe that off." the smaller rhino said.

"Sorry if we kept you waiting." the larger rhino said. "Pyro dropped a jar of grasshopper legs and made a huge mess." She took off her lab goggles and greeted the guards. "Afternoon, sirs. How can I help?"

"This pony," the other guard said scornfully, "is given royal permission to be here by His Highness, Emperor Bluehorn. You are to assist this pony with whatever alchemy he asks for."

The guards let the Master go and left the room, closing the door behind them. The larger rhino wiped her horn with a towel and approached the Master.

"Hm. A pony." she said, as she inspected the Master. She circled around him, observing his wings, hooves, tail, mane and cutie mark. "Pardon me, it's been years since I've had a chance to study a pony." She took out a notebook and drew a sketch of the Master's fob watch cutie mark. She finished, put away the notebook and said, "Well, if the Emperor trusts you, I'm sure we can too. Hello. I'm Golden Lead. This is my little brother Pyro."

The Master shook hooves with Golden Lead, and then with Pyro. Golden Lead was a tall rhino with a short white horn and a cutie mark of a circle with a dot at the center. Pyro was a short young rhino with a relatively long yellow horn for his age and a cutie mark of an equilateral triangle. Both wore dragon-skin aprons over their backs and chests for protection.

"What do you need?" Golden Lead said.

The Master started taking a few steps towards the two rhinos as he spoke. "My name is Tympanus. I'm here to assist His Royal Highness in ending this war."

"Why come to us then?" Pyro said, "Why would you help Hoofrica instead of your own kingdom? Are you a spy?"

The Master put his hoof to his face at Pyro's questions and grumbled, "Ugh, not again."

"Relax, Pyro," Golden Lead said as she put her hoof on her brother's shoulder, "His Highness probably already interrogated him, and I suppose he found him trustworthy."

Pyro stopped talking, but continued to watch the Master with suspicion. The Master's calm smile unnerved him, and he could only imagine the worst coming from giving a strange pony like him access to rhino alchemy.

"Back to the point," the Master said, "In order to finally put an end to this war, which I should mention has been bringing terror and suffering for centuries, I need to become an alicorn. I need an alicorn's horn and wings."

"Ridiculous!" Pyro interrupted, "Sis, you can't let him have power like that!"

"Hush, Pyro!" Golden Lead scolded. She too found the request suspicious, but the Emperor ordered her and Pyro to help the foreigner, and so she had no choice but to trust the Emperor's judgment. "But, why would you need to become an alicorn?"

"The power of the kingdom of the ponies rests on King Concordius' authority over the Sun and Moon. If I become an alicorn, I can challenge his control, and give power over day and night to Hoofrica."

Golden Lead nodded to Pyro and he went and looked through the bookshelves, searching for a book transformation potions. He found one on the highest shelf and levitated it down. It was a dusty old book of papyrus paper with a snake-skin cover. The worn down gold-leaf title on the cover said, "Potion Recipes to Change the Form of the Body," and the author was Ziwa, daughter of Mto, son of Maji the Great Sage.

These potions were potions of ancient magic, once mastered only by the zebra shamans long ago. The rhinos imitated the ways of the zebra shamans and turned the art of potions into the science of alchemy; it was easier and less demanding than zebra potions, but lacked the full potential for great power. Golden Lead and Pyro, however, understanding the benefits, studied zebra magic extensively, and, through their superior potions, made their way up the ranks of alchemy to become Emperor Bluehorn's personal alchemists.

"A transformation like that is going to take some pretty powerful magic. That sort of thing would call for a potion with a really really really strong friendship between the brewers." Pyro said.

"But of course," said the Master as he walked further into the laboratory and around the tables, observing the various contraptions, tools, equipment and ingredients. He took a sniff of ground spider legs and had a coughed from the foul odor. "And I'm sure the power of the friendship between you two can create the most wondrous of concoctions. The big sister and the little brother, such a fine friendship. I'm sure it will do."

Golden Lead looked through the book Pyro found, delicately flipping pages with her magic. This book was a priceless antique and precious source of knowledge hundreds of years old. She saw potions for transforming others into another species, potions for disguise, aging potions, gender-changing potions, among many others. After a few minutes of searching, she finally found the potion recipe that seemed closest to providing what the Master asked for. The sections was entitled: "To Steal Another's Body." The entire beginning page was dedicated to a warning:

"Be wary. This is magic not to be taken lightly. Tamper not with this potion save for when the kingdom be in the most dire of circumstances. The use of this potion by the hooves of those whose hearts are tainted by avarice, malice, deception, infidelity and wrath shall bring about the greatest evil and spawn a monster of chaos."

" Hmmm… There is something here that might do the trick." said Golden Lead, "But it looks a bit shady. I should go consult His Highness before we proceed."

She began walking briskly towards the door, but the Master quickly flew over and blocked her way.

"No, no, no. I'm sure His Highness - may Faust shower her blessings upon him - will be completely fine with whatever we do here. He trusts me completely. And if the potion is as extreme as you seem to make it out to be, well, we have a huge task and it calls for extreme measures."

"But I-"

"You don't want to disappoint His Highness by failing to do your job properly now, do you?"

Golden Lead hesitated to respond. She cannot trust this pony. Whatever she found endearing in him before is all gone, and now all that remains is intimidation. She gave one last attempt to deter him.

"But you'll need an alicorn to take the horn and wings from and the alicorn in turn has to be transformed. And to do that, you need to fill the alicorn with hatred and disharmony, so that even the bonds holding the body together are broken. And King Concordius is the only alicorn in the world and he's very well protected as I'm sure you know. There's no way you can accomplish something like this."

"Getting to Concordius should be no problem." The Master curtly responded, "Just give me the potion, and I'll take care of the rest."

Golden Lead could find nothing else to argue with, so she finally conceded. "Alright then... Pyro, get a little cauldron, about two gallons, and put in the following ingredients."

Pyro reluctantly cleared a table, brought over a two-gallon cauldron and put in the ingredients his sister listed off.

"A deer antler, a goat horn, a dragon fang, a lion paw, an eagle talon, a snake tongue, a lizard leg, a bat wing, a pegasus feather, and a snake tail."

"How in Faust's name do we have all these things?" Pyro asked.

"Some are donations, I'm sure. And some definitely were taken from battlefields. The rest... I don't want to think about it." Golden Lead replied. "And lastly, fill the cauldron up with... chocolate milk? Did I read that right? Hm, how interesting. Chocolate milk it is then."

Pyro opened a cabinet and took out a jug full of chocolate milk.

"Wait, where'd you get all that chocolate milk?" Golden Lead asked.

"I always keep myself a supply of chocolate milk. Can't resist that stuff. Sometimes I wish it would rain chocolate milk."

"I warned Granny about introducing you to chocolate. You have the most ridiculous sweet tooth." And then Golden Lead sighed before continuing giving Pyro instructions. "Alright, Pyro, boil it."

Pyro placed the cauldron over the fire place with a pile of coal and used his magic to light up the coal and the concoction shortly afterwards began to boil. The cauldron shook as the potion boiled, and the vibrations reverberated through the room. The Master smiled as he watched. The cauldron began to spew sparks that crackled loudly, and then the potion began to glow a lime green light. The fire underneath the cauldron then changed into a vibrant flame of many colors and engulfed the cauldron. A burst of wind came from the cauldron and blew the fire away. Now the fire place was empty except for the cauldron and covered in a sheet of frost. Pyro touched the cauldron and it was cold as ice. He took a large jar and filled it with the potion. The liquid was of the same color, smell and consistency as chocolate milk.

Golden Lead took the jar from Pyro and hesitantly handed it to the Master, saying,

"Now to make the transformation occur, as I've said, you have to fill your victim with hatred, anger and despair, leaving only disharmony in his soul and there disharmony in his body. Then you and your victim have to drink the potion together and the same time, and you both will transform."

The Master took the jar, chuckled and exited the room.

Under His Wing

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Chapter IX: Under His Wing

Seventy-four years ago, in a small nameless village near the border of Ponytopia, a day's gallop from Castle Equites...

"My name is Starswirl, son of Starlight, son of Nightfall, son of Night Praeco, son of Moon Follower, son of Sectator Stellus, son of Servus Caeli, son of... son of... uhh..."

"Fairly good, Starswirl. Fairly good. I shall give you a B. You are dismissed. You may go home."

"Thank you, teacher. May the Sun bless your day."

"And may the Moon guard your night."

The little blue-coated, red-maned unicorn foal with a blank flank left the schoolhouse and trotted his way home. The Sun shone a light yellow as it approached the Western horizon as the villagers conducted their afternoon business. The foal stood out among the villagers as he was the only unicorn, while all the ponies around him were earth ponies. Little Starswirl arrived at his house shortly afterwards. His house was much grander than the other houses in the village as his father, Starlight, was the head sorcerer of the village. Starswirl stood in front of the door and decided not to knock; he wanted to try using magic. He had heard his father use a spell to unlock the door some time ago, so he pointed his horn at the door lock and recited the incantation, "Claustrum Patefacio." Starswirl put all his energy into the spell and the effort it took began to hurt his head. He was about to give up when he heard a click. Starswirl stopped and approached the door. He pushed and the door opened. Starswirl was overjoyed and galloped into the house, calling for his mother, Four-Leaf, who was at the stove preparing supper.

"Mama! Mama! Mama! I got into the house all by myself! Mama! Look! I used papa's spell to unlock the door! I did it all by myself!"

Four-Leaf turned around quickly and gasped, startled by her son's sudden entrance. She was a beige-coated earth pony with a flowing dark green mane and tail, and a four-leafed clover as her cutie mark.

"Oh, Starswirl! You startled me. Don't scare your mama like that."

"But mama! Look! I opened the door all by myself!"

"Well, that is very nice. Only five-years old and already you're performing some simple spells." Four-Leaf said as she patted Starswirl's head.

"I'm six now, mama! It's my birthday!"

"Oh, that's right! I always forget how fast you are growing up. Now, I must return to making our special supper for your birthday."

Four-Leaf turned around and continued cooking as Starswirl kept talking.

"And I got a B in my genealogy test today, mama! Teacher June Bloom said I performed fairly good!"

"Fairly well, Starswirl. Not fairly good. And you could have done better. I was expecting at least an A-, Starswirl. You should have spent more time studying than playing out in the fields at night."

"I wasn't playing!" Starswirl retorted, "I was stargazing!"

"That's enough!" Four-Leaf snapped, "You should have studied more and that is all. Now, dress yourself. We shall be having visitors for supper."

Starswirl looked down dejected and sulked up the stairs to his bedroom. He hopped onto his bed, lied down and looked out the window towards the setting Sun. A scolding from his mother happened nearly every time he came back with test results, regardless of the grade. And on the rare occasions when he received an A+, his mother would simply pat his head, say, "That's nice," and go back to whatever she was doing.

Starswirl heard the door open downstairs as his father entered the house. He listened closely to the ensuing conversation between his father and his mother.

"I'm home, dear."

"How was work, Starlight?"

"Dreadful. I've received even more complaints regarding pests. Apparently, earlier today, an army of ants and a few rats penetrated my vermin shield and cut apart much of the crop in the Grassroots farm. According to the pegasi scouts, the dragons have been burning the forests across the border and therefore all of the creatures flee to our side and now I have twice as mcuh vermin to protect our farms from."

"How unpleasant."

"How is Starswirl?"

"Your son got another B in a test. Do you know why? It's because he always goes to the fields and plays instead of studies. I do not understand why you can't discipline him more. I'm too busy cleaning up after him to address his study habits."

"Well, I-"

"He is upstairs, in his room. Go and lecture him or something of the like."

Starswirl hopped off his bed and went to his dresser to start looking for his formal clothes. Starlight knocked on the door and entered. He was a short unicorn, shorter than his mother, with a grey coat, a black mane and short beard, and exceptionally long horn and the constellation Leo as his cutie mark. He wore a dark blue cape with star and moon patterns on it, and bells lining the end and he wore a hat with the same color and patterns, and bells around the rim and on the pointy tip. He placed his hoof on Starswirl's shoulder and spoke.

"Son, you're mother is right."

"About what?" Starswirl said, feigning ignorance about the conversation dowstairs.

"Come now, Starswirl. I know you've been listening to us. And she is right. You need to study more. I know you want to go out and improve your magic, but for now, you must make school the higher priority. We two are the only unicorns in the village, so to make your way in here, you need to do well with an earth pony education. I know it is frustrating. I was just like you when I was young and now I regret not striving to do well in school. Luckily, your grandfather forced me to study and study and study for hours and now here I am."

"But teacher June Bloom said I did good."

"Yes, son. A B is good. But you are in line to become the village's head sorcerer. You need better than a B. You need to be the best in class if you are to become a good leader for us. Being the head sorcerer is more than just magic. You need logic, oration, writing, history, even arithmetic. A good leader is a well-rounded one."

Starswirl sighed and conceded. "Okay..."

"Promise me, Starswirl, that you shall always strive to be the best."

"I promise."

"There's a good lad." Starlight turned and walked towards the door. "Now dress yourself and be ready to celebrate your birthday."

~~~~~

"Happy birthday to thee! Happy birthday to thee! Happy birthday dear Starswirl! Happy birthday to thee!" sang the crowd of relatives, neighbors and classmates gathered around the table.

Starswirl leaned over towards his cake and blew out the candles and made a wish. The crowd clapped their hooves and whistled. Starlight then used his magic to slice the cake into equal pieces for everypony. After everypony had enjoyed the cake, they proceeded to the gifts. Starswirl grabbed the first gift, wrapped in red paper. It was from his father. Starswirl opened the gift and gasped. "Papa! It's your sorcerer hat! Are you giving me your hat!?"

"Every great and powerful sorcerer needs a good hat, does he not?"

"Oh, thank you papa!" Starswirl put the oversized hat on and it covered his entire head. The bells jingled as he turned his head side to side. "I can't see."

Starlight chuckled and took the hat of his son's head and said, "Well, perhaps you could grow a bit more before you can start wearing it everyday."

Starswirl began to reach for the next gift when there was a sudden hard knocking on the door and a pony called out, "Starlight! Starlight! Help! Dragons! The village is under attack!"

Starlight quickly stood and galloped out the door. Starswirl tried to follow him, but his mother pulled him back and said, "No, Starswirl! Do not go out! We must stay here."

Outside, Starlight saw the Grassroots farm ablaze and a band of young dragons strutting down the road, spitting fire at fleeing ponies. Up in the sky, more dragons were flying around attacking the pegasi busy clearing away clouds. The calm night was being ruined by the raid. Starlight pointed his horn to the fire-lit sky and shouted the incantation, "Restinguo ignis! Abs ignis contego!"

From the tip of Starlight's horn burst a wave of blue light that put out all the fires and pushed away the dragons. Then a bubble shield around the village formed to keep out the dragons. He stood there still pointing his horn to the sky and called for all the villagers.

"This shield should keep the dragons at bay, but I need to focus solely on it, so all of you must repair the damages without me until the dragons leave. First, put out whatever fires are left and tend to anypony who is hurt. Then inspect all the buildings and take care of anything that is structurally compromised. Go!"

Starswirl approached his father and rubbed his head against his father's leg.

"Papa, I'm frightened."

"Worry not, son. Those dragons can't get through the shield. So long as I stay here keeping the shield up, they cannot hurt us. And soon they shall simply give up and fly away. Now, go and help your mother care for the injured. This is your first chance to serve the village, Starswirl. Make me proud."

Starswirl trotted off to his mother and Starlight turned his eyes back to the sky. The dragons above the village were gathering above the center of the village, where Starlight stood, and flew around in circles. Starlight kept a sharp watch on the dragons, waiting to see them leave the village alone. But the dragons would not leave. They concentrated themselves over the center and looked down on Starlight. It was then that Starlight realized what they were intending to do. He alone would not be able to stand against them; he needed aid from Castle Equites. He called to all the villagers.

"Everypony! Everypony! Listen! The dragons are going to concentrate all their fire and break through the shield! I cannot hold them off alone! Only soldiers from Castle Equites can stop them! Prepare to flee the village! When they break the shield I will send out a flare to call for help from the King, and I need all of you to flee!"

The villagers all panicked and galloped to their houses to gather their belongings before leaving their dear village, the one home they've known all their lives. Starlight called his son to him and gave him his cape.

"Take my cape, son, and run with your mother. It was made from the fur of a manticore. It will protect you from any fire. Now, go. Hurry."

"Papa..."

"Go!" Starlight shouted. Starswirl ran to his mother and together they ran to the edge of the village. Starswirl looked back to his father.

Above the village, the dragons drew in their breath, and then all together spewed fire at the center of the shield. The shield began to crack under the heat and pressure until it finally shattered and collapsed. The moment the shield broke, Starlight cried out an incantation that Starswirl could not hear over the roaring of the dragons and a pulse of red magic shot up from Starlight's horn into the sky and flew towards Castle Equites, leaving a trail of red luminescence across the sky.

Starlight stood his ground at the center of the village, firing spells at the dragons in order to buy the fleeing villagers time. His magic pushed the one dragon back at a time, but soon too many had descended for him to keep fighting. The dragons landed and circled around Starlight, ready for the kill.

"Papa!" Starswirl yelled as he saw the dragons surround his father. He left his mother and galloped towards Starlight. The largest dragon, the leader of the band, raised his head, opened his mouth, baring his sharp teeth, and struck.

"PAPA!" cried Starswirl. The circle of dragons opened and the dragons turned to see the little helpless foal a few feet away. Starswirl saw his father's lifeless body in the jaws of the lead dragon, and tears streamed down his face. The dragon spat the body out and spoke in Draigish, taunting Starswirl, but he could not understand the dragon. He collapsed, covered his face with his hooves and wept. Four-Leaf arrived and stood in front of her son.

"Starswirl! Run!" she shouted as she helplessly stood against the dragons to protect her one child. But she heard a soft word from behind her in a strange otherworldly voice, "No..." She looked behind her and saw Starswirl standing, his eyes glowing white and his face covered in rage. Starswirl horn glowed brighter than any horn she had ever seen. And the voice came again from Starswirl.

"NOOOO!"

A blinding golden light shone from the tip of Starswirl's horn and the little unicorn charged at the dragon that killed his father and struck him in the chest. The dragon cried out in pain and dissolved into dust. The other dragons backed up in shock of what happened to their leader. Starswirl turned to the one to his right, who readied himself to spit fire on him, and as the dragon was about to breath out his flames, Starswirl shot magic at the dragon's neck, severing his head. Other dragons then together tried to attack Starswirl, and the little unicorn split the earth beneath them. They fell into the crevice and Starswirl closed it, crushing the dragons inside. The few left recognized the danger and began to fly away, but Starswirl used his magic to pull some back and tied them by the tail to a tree. He then lifted his burning house, levitated it over them and dropped it. Starswirl then galloped towards the last dragon, who had begun to fly away, and used his magic to gallop faster than any creature could go. He levitated himself up, landed on the dragon's back and then made the dragon's blood boil inside his veins. The body fell to the ground, cushioning Starswirl's fall. Having killed the last dragon, Starswirl calmed and returned to normal.

Starswirl was shocked to see a dragon's body under his hooves and he quickly backed up. He stared at the dragon for a few moments, thinking to himself, "Did I do that?" He turned around and saw the silhouette of a tall alicorn with a battalion of pegasi armed with spears, backed by the light of the burning village. The alicorn approached Starswirl and lowered his head as he spoke.

"That is great power thou keepest within thy horn, young one. 'Tis magic we have seen in no mere unicorn.

"Oh, I'm- I am sorry, sir. I didn't mean to kill all these dragons. I- I- I should have left it to you to take care of, sir. I... the dragons... they-"

"What is thy name, young one?"

"Starswirl, son of Starlight, son of Nightfall, sir."

"Ave, Starswirl, son of Starlight. We are thy king, Concordius, son of Lux V."

Starswirl gasped and immediately bowed. "Oh, Y-Y-Your - I mean, Thy - Majesty! 'Tis an honour!"

"Tell me, young one, what purpose doth a powerful sorcerer such as thee have in such a village?"

"I was born here, Thy Majesty."

"Hmmm..." The King looked back the village, which was almost completely destroyed, and continued, "'Twould seem this is no place for thee, now." Concordius spoke the incantation, " Restinguo ignis," and let out a wave of white light that put out all the fires. Now the night was dark and the only light was the torches carried by the pegasi soldiers, and the glow of Concordius' horn, which revealed his aged face to Starswirl.

"We hath always sought a young unicorn worthy of being our apprentice whom we may taketh under our wing. Mayhaps we hath found him..."

The Empty Throne

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Chapter X: The Empty Throne

"Thy Majesty? Thy Majesty?! Where art thou?!"

Scattered around the throne room were unconscious unicorn guards in golden armor and several servants. At the end of the room opposite from the doors, the throne stood unoccupied, with an ornate jewel-studded golden crown fallen on the purple velvet carpet in front of it. Starswirl ran about the room trying to wake each of the guards.

"Awake! Awake ye foals! Where is His Majesty? Awake, I say!"

None of the guards stirred. Whatever put them to sleep was highly effective. Starswirl resorted to magic and used a spell on a guard to wake him.

"Expergefacio et evigilo."

The guard's eyes slowly opened and, with difficulty, he tried to stand, but his legs were still too weak and he fell back down.

"Where is His Majesty?" asked Starswirl.

"I... know not, sir." the guard answered.

"What is thy name?"

"'Tis... 'tis Ferrous, sir."

Ferrous made another attempt at standing and with help from Fluttershy, he finally got back on his hooves. The Doctor approached one of the unconscious guards as Starswirl woke the other guards. He examined him with his sonic screwdriver and said, "Sleeping gas, looks like. The nasty type too. Blimey, something like this can even make a full grown dragon drowsy."

"What happened?" Twilight asked Ferrous.

"Yeah, who did this?" Rainbow Dash joined in. "I'll find them and make sure they pay!"

"Why would you want them to pay?" asked Pinkie Pie, "They didn't buy anything from you. You don't even own a store, Dashie!"

Everypony stared awkwardly at Pinkie. Rarity giggled and shook her head. Rainbow Dash facehoofed.

Ferrous cleared his throat to break the silence and proceeded to describe the occurrence.

"'Twas not long ago... Less than half of an hour, 'twould seem. The Sun is still upon the same place in the sky. I stood by His Majesty whilst He had afternoon tea. He conversed with us about spoiled milk and the process of making cheese."

"Yes, and then He began to complain of the lack of banquets hosted by the nobles." said another guard who had just woken up.

"Silence, Silver! I am speaking!" Ferrous scolded, "But indeed, His Majesty went on to speak of the nobles. He hath some intriguing gossip as well. In particular, Lady Juniper of the Bridle Gem estate seems to hath become particularly well acquainted with one of the young sons of Sir Lionfall, if thou knowest my meaning. Ha! Her husband certainly won't be happy if he hears about that."

"Oh my," Rarity said, "How scandalous!"

Fluttershy tried to bring everypony back on topic, saying, "Umm... I don't really see how this is relevant. Shouldn't we try to-"

"And then," Ferrous continued, "in the will of the late Lord Derbus of Trottingham, he didst not pass his properties unto his eldest daughter by his current wife, but unto his son by his first wife, whom he supposedly disowned ten years ago."

"What?" the Doctor said, "Oh, now that has got to be a fraud!"

"What else hath His Majesty told thee?" Starswirl excitedly asked.

"But, uhh... excuse me. Shouldn't we be focusing on finding-"

"And there be that former peasant," Ferrous went on ignoring Fluttershy, "the one that hath risen up to great wealth and now mayhaps lies within reach being granted a noble title - Berry Catcher is his name, methinks. Well, somepony hath looked through his family history - which, mind thee, he keepeth very secret - and 'twould seem he is not a peasant at all, but a fallen noble. And not any mere noble, but the grandson of-"

"HEY!" Fluttershy yelled. Everypony turned to her and fell silent. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie looked at her with shock and wide startled eyes. Fluttershy's face had the expression of the rage of a minotaur, while her shoulders were hunched and wings flared. Upon finding everypony's attention on her, she returned to normal and spoke.

"Oh, um, I just... I... well, don't you think we should be focusing on finding out what happened to the king, if that's okay. You know, that's sort of why we're here to begin with, so, um, I think we should do that, if you don't mind..."

"Yeah! Let's find the king!" Derpy said in agreement.

"Alright, let's get 'er done." said Applejack, "Now what happened to His Majesty after all them gossip you gone talked about."

Ferrous, embarrassed that he was so distracted, tried to continue "Oh, yes, indeed, that. Um..."

"A box." said another guard, Armor Aurum, "A blue box. It appeared as from the air itself."

"Silence, Armor Aurum! I am speaking!" Ferrous scolded.

"Um, no offense," Applejack interrupted, "but I'm thinking maybe we should let somepony else tell us what happened. Somepony who won't be goin' off on any tangents about them nobles."

Ferrous conceded. Armor Aurum smirked to see his commander humbled and proceeded to speak. "A blue box appeared. It hadst hoors and when they opened, forth came a thick fog. Mine vision faded and a faint figure of a pegasus appeared from the box. I saw nothing afterwards."

"The mist must hath put us unto slumber whilst His Majesty was abducted!" said Silver.

"Yup, sounds like sleeping gas. Let's see here." The Doctor probed the air with his improvised sonic screwdriver and checked the results. "Aha! Methoxyflurane! A high enough density of that stuff could knock a whole battalion of guards out in a snap."

Starswirl walked to the front of empty throne and dropped down to his knees. "Of all the days His Majesty would be lost, it happens today, upon my birthday. I hath intended to perform a minor age spell to revive some of His youth for Him. He hath for long spoken of wishing to battle in the front lines once more as he did in his youth." Starswirl stood back up, picked the crown up from the ground and looked at it intently before placing it gently on the throne. Then he stomped his hoof in anger "What sorcery is this? Who could perform such an accursed feat?"

"Well, I'm no expert in sorcery," the Doctor said, "but I think I have a pretty good idea who's responsible for this..."

The Doctor sniffed the air and smelled something suspicious. "Wait a minute..." he probed the air again with his sonic screwdriver and looked at the results. "Oh... that's a problem."

"What's wrong, Doctor?" Derpy asked.

"There's still enough meth - methoxyflurane, I mean - in the air to knock us out if we breath it for fifteen minutes."

"How long have we been breathing the air?" Twilight asked.

"Well, since we spent a good five minutes talking about the nobles' affairs, it's..." the Doctor checked his watch for the time before continuing, "Oh, of course, it's been fif... fifteen... fifteen mi... oh, here we go... Goodnight every... pony... zzzzzzzzzzz"

Everypony in the room collapsed and fell to sleep.

Hatred

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Chapter XI: Hatred
Box... Doors... Pegasus... Pulling me... Machine... Metal floor...

Slowly the king struggled to open his eyes, but sleep gripped him tightly, and his eyes shut again. Again, he tried and soon the blurred sight of a pegasus operating a strange machine that glowed with a cyan light. He blinked ever so slowly, taking care not to let his eyes stay shut, and his vision began to clear. The pegasus had a brown mane and a fob watch cutie mark. The pegasus pulled a lever and then rotated a knob before he quickly walked to the other side of the machine to strike it with a mallet. "Wha-" The king then put his weight onto his hooves and attempted to get up, but to no avail; his legs were still numb. He let out a moan as he lied on the floor. The pegasus heard him and said, "Ah you’re awake! Good afternoon Your Majesty! Would you like some muffins? There are plenty in the kitchen. The blueberry muffins are excellent."

King Concordius shook his head vigorously and, with effort, once life returned to his legs, finally got back up on his hooves. "Ye... insolent knave," he said, "how... darest thou abduct us!" Once he stood completely straight and felt that all his energy had returned, he flared his wings, and charged at and knocked down the Master. He pointed his horn between the Master's eyes, the horn glowing white as he threatened to fire his magic. "Where art we?"

Concordius was a tall grey alicorn, with a great long perfectly spiraled horn and enormous wide wings. His short beard and thick eyebrows were pure white, while his eyes were yellow all over with red irises. He had a long flowing mane that shined with various shades of gold and a flowing black tail that sparkled with stars. His cutie mark was a magnificent jewel-studded crown. Concordius was the very image of regality and royal prestige, though age had taken its toll on him.

The Master stayed down, completely calm, and replied, "No muffins, Your Majesty? Alright, I suppose you're more a cupcake kind of pony."

"Answer us, knave!"

"Your Majesty, I think you misunderstand. I didn't abduct you. I rescued you!"

This reply confused Concordius, and naturally he was unconvinced. "What?! Thou speakest absolute nonsense!"

"You sure you don't want any muffins?" the Master continued trying to change the subject and appear non-threatening. "How about a jelly baby? Would you like a jelly baby?"

"What are these muffins and jelly babies thou speakest of knave?"

Seeing that Concordius was unwilling to begin friendly conversation, the Master proceeded to carry out his main intention. "Alright, alright, fine, I'll get right to the... uh... the point," he said as he indicated to the tip of Concordius' glowing horn. Concordius lifted his horn away from the Master's face, allowing him to continue to speak, but he remained on top of him, ensuring he was pinned down and could do no harm. "Ahem. Your most trusted commander conspired against you, Your Majesty."

"Commander Rainbow Sword? Never! Durst thou think us a fool? 'Tis a lie! He be'eth the most loyal pony in the realm." Concordius pointed his horn at the Master again, threatening to kill him, but the Master could see in his eyes that the king was not as steadfast in his trust of Rainbow Sword as his actions suggested.

"Oh, but it's true." The Master said. "I'm the most honest pony you'll ever meet Your Majesty. Trust me."

"Thou swearest that what thou speakest art the truth?"

"Cross my heart. Hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye."

Concordius looked at the Master skeptically for a moment before giving a disgruntled sigh, lifting his horn away and backing off of him. "Very well, we shall hear you out. Nopony may swear the Sacred Oath lightly, and we kings of Ponytopia art obliged to trust it."

"Ah, thank you, Your Majesty." the Master said as he carefully and respectfully stood up and knelt before the king, "You truly are the best, most regal, most noble king in the world."

"We appreciate thine flattery, but still, we cannot believe that Rainbow Sword would betray us." Concordius began to observe the room around him as he allowed the Master to speak.

"Oh, but I heard it with my own ears, Your Majesty. I was flying by a window when I heard him speaking to your precious Starswirl the Bearded. They planned to use the Royal Guard and Starswirl's powerful magic to capture and imprison you, and then divide the kingdom between the two of them. Such treachery!"

Concordius quickly looked back at the Master with a glare and snorted. "Thou shalt watch thine accusations! Starswirl hast been our trusted apprentice and friend since he was but a filly. For him to betray us simply cannot be." Concordius took a step towards the Master, who took a step back and lowered his head.

"I swore the Sacred Oath, Your Majesty. For me to lie would be to invoke the fury of the gods. If you respect the gods, Your Majesty, then perhaps you should respect the oath and keep an open mind. Times have changed and things are not like they used to be. You know this. Even the deepest of loyalties wear with time. And as a three-hundred year-"

"Two-hundred seventy!"

"Of course, Your Majesty. As a two-hundred seventy year old king, you know better than anypony the things time does." The Master struck a chord. He revived the haunting memories of Concordius' past, memories that pained the king's heart more than anything.

"We still cannot believe that Starswirl would betray us..." Concordius quietly said as he tucked his wings back in.

"But such a thing should not surprise you, Your Majesty. Surely, you remember your brother. All those years ago, he led a mob of angry earth ponies against you. The ungrateful wretches. You’re a generous and kind king, giving them a brilliant Sun and beautiful Moon, but they don’t appreciate it. They would have sooner followed your selfish brother, who tricked them with his lies and empty promises."

Now it was the king's turn to lower his head. Concordius looked down, crestfallen, sighed and despairingly said, "Thou speakest correctly."

The Master walked towards Concordius and stood by his right side. "And your own daughter. Though of course, the impatient wench isn't worthy of being called your daughter after what she did. She joined the Hoofricans, hoping that with them she could take over the kingdom and become queen. How fitting that in turn, the Hoofricans turned against her and cast her out into the desert. She showed no appreciation for the tender loving care you and your gracious wife showered on her."

"'Tis true..." Concordius' voice trembled and the Master could see a tear welling up in the king's eyes. Concordius was especially vulnerable to memories of his wife, Queen Stella. With Concordius near the brink of a breakdown, the Master ventured to place his hoof on his shoulder, pretending to comfort him. He could feel the Concordius' body shivering, but Concordius pulled his shoulder away. The Master smirked at this rejection of his consolation, a sign that he did not have far to go.

"And now, in your old age, your ponies no longer think you’re a great king. You might not have seen or heard it, but I’ve been with the worthless peasants and overheard their horrendous gossip. They mock and laugh at you. They call you an old goat. The pegasi make fun of your flying when you turn your back, saying that you fly like a crippled bat. And I’m sure you’ve noticed how the unicorns haven’t been inviting you to their banquets. They prefer the company of young upstarts, who've barely begun their careers, over the company of Your Most Royal Majesty." The Master leaned in close to Concordius' ears and whispered, "Maybe that would explain why so few of them attended Queen Stella's funeral..."

"THE UNGRATEFUL WHELPS!" Concordius shouted, stomping his hoof on the floor, causing a loud clap and a mighty tremor to reverberate through the room. On his face was an expression of both rage and anguish. He clenched his teeth and finally allowed the tears to stream down from his eyes.

"What's the point in being a good king if alll your subjects do is mock, exclude and conspire against you." The Master whispered, "If your subjects don't love you, why should you love them?"

"Thou art right! They deserveth none of our love!" Concordius flared his wings and his glaring eyes glowed yellow.

"Hate them Your Majesty. You can't rely on your friends. Your friends as traitors and fiends. Your subjects are wretches and scoundrels. Give up whatever friendship you feel towards anyone. You'll only find comfort in hatred."

Concordius let out a wrathful scream and a burst of wind that knocked the Master back. "Indeed, our noble pegasus. Prithee, tell us your name."

The cream-colored pegasus stood back up, faced the king, and, with a mischievous smile on his face, said, "My name is the Master."

Concordius walked up to the Master and placed his right hoof on the Master's shoulder. He looked the Master in the eye and said, "Noble Master, we thank thee. Thou hast opened our eyes. Friendship is of no benefit to us. We cannot live in harmony with such shameful ponies..." Concordius paused, put his hoof down and looked at the floor once more. The bright golden colors of his mane began to dull.

"We..." then the stars in his tail faded. "Hate..." he then slowly looked up again, glaring, and growled, while the color in his eyes began to turn black. "Them..."

Concordius' entire body shifted into a darker shade of grey, and no color remained anywhere.

The Master had broken the King.

His First Murder

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Chapter XII: His First Murder

Seven-hundred years ago, on the planet Gallopfrey...

A pegasus with a fob watch cutie mark was sitting on a bench in a park having a cup of tea. He looked out into the expanse of red grass and silver-leaved trees, but he could not appreciate the beautiful tranquility. In his head was a never-ending drumbeat in a rhythm of four. He took a sip and breathed in the aroma of the tea. He found that tea calmed his mind and helped him almost ignore the drumming, if only for a short while. But he suddenly began to hear a noise. A noise he had not heard since he graduated from the Time Stallion Academy a hundred-fifty years ago. And then, a short distance away from the bench, a short, but thick-trunked tree appeared out of thin air, fading in and out a few times before finally becoming a solid image. The tree's bark opened and out came an earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark, who ran up towards the pegasus.

"Master! Quick! Come along!" the earth ponies called.

"Doctor..." the pegasus said, "where did you get that TARDIS?"

The Doctor replied, "Well, uhh... I borrowed her from a museum... And now I'm running away with her."

The Master burst out laughing and said, "You do know the penalty for the theft of a TARDIS is the removal of two regenerations, right?"

"Hence the running away." the Doctor replied, "So let's get out of here and go out into the Universe! We'll finally see all those worlds we've been told of in the academy! There're billions of galaxies out there waiting for us!"

"Alright, alright! Let's go."

The two Time Stallions ran to the tree and entered through the tree bark doors. Inside was a large white room. The walls were patterned with rows of circles and the floor appeared to be made of white linoleum. At the center of the room was the console: a complex machine with various levers, buttons, pumps and dials, and a cylindrical time rotor as the centerpiece.

"Oh, this brings back memories," the Master said, "A type 40 T.T. capsule, am I right?"

"Yes. Obsolete, but she works." the Doctor replied.

"And you had the gall the steal it..."

"Borrowed!"

"Borrowing implies you're going to return it someday."

"I will... once the law stops pursuing me and lets me go back to the museum without pain of punishment..."

The Master shook his head and sighed, but nostalgia quickly overcame all other feelings and he helped the Doctor man the TARDIS. He felt the warmth emanating from the engine of the beautiful machine and breathed in the scent of the coral of the living TARDIS within the console.

"Beautiful isn't she?" said the Doctor as he manned the controls next to the Master, "When I first touched the console I thought to myself that she is the most beautiful thing in the entire Universe."

The Doctor and the Master stopped for a moment and listened to the whooshing noise of the TARDIS as it entered into the Time Vortex.

"So, we have all of time and space. Everything that is, was, and will be. Where should we start?" asked the Doctor.

The Master was quiet for a moment as he thought of all the places all over the Universe he wanted to see, and he simply could not decide. Finally, he spoke.

"Does this TARDIS have... adventure mode?"

"What kind of TARDIS would she be if she didn't? Adventure mode it is!"

The Doctor ran around the console pulling various levers and pressing buttons. When he finished he stepped away from the TARDIS and watched the time rotor move up and down and flash its bright red light. When the TARDIS arrived at its destination, the noise stopped with a low metallic ding and the rotor was still. The Doctor and the Master stood in front of the doors, eager to see what awaited outside.

"Through those doors is a random time and place." the Doctor said, "It can be anywhere at all. It could be the crystal planet of Midnight, with the most renowned resort complex in the Universe. It could be the middle of a battleground in the war between the Sontarans and the Rutans. It could be the mines of Androzani Major, or maybe Androzani Minor. It could be quite close to home, on one of Gallifrey's moons. Or it could even be-"

"Shut up, Doctor." the Master interrupted, "Let's go!"

The Master burst out the doors and the Doctor followed close behind. Outside was a junkyard full of piles of scrap, trash and countless machines and devices left in disuse. Beyond the junkyard though, was a bustling city of tall exotic buildings and noisy, crowded roads. The Doctor and the Master did not think much of the sight of the junkyard, but not far away, through a chain-link fence, they saw a magnificent city full of creatures of the same form as they were: ponies. The two Time Stallions backed away from the fence and returned to the TARDIS. They saw that the TARDIS was now in the form of a tall blue police box with white windows. It had a set of doors and on one door was a poster with instructions saying,

"Pony Telephone. Free for use of public. Advice & assistance obtainable immediately. Officer & chariots respond to all calls. Pull to open."

Above the doors was a big sign saying, "Pony Public Call Box."

"According to the TARDIS navigatory time-space coordinate display, this planet is Earth in the Cider Way Galaxy." the Master said, "Dominant indigenous species: the ponies. It is registered as a level three planet. The city out there is Londerby. The year is 1963 A.E. in the pony dating system known as the Celestial Calendar. Oh my word, I never thought I'd ever say that outside of the classroom!"

The Doctor smiled at the Master and said, "Looks like all those hours of intergalactic geography class have paid off." The two Time Stallions approached the TARDIS doors again, wearing pouches with tourism supplies on their backs, ready for a proper exploration of the world before them.

"Oh, this is going to be spectacular!"

"I know!"

They exited out the TARDIS doors and walked through the junkyard and out into London. They strolled through the streets with wide eyes, marveling at the attire of the ponies walking by, the countless shops they passed by, and the carriages that filled the road. There were earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns and even the occasional zebra. The smell of the city was foul, but the two were too preoccupied with admiring foreignness of the odor. Here they truly were on an adventure like nothing they could have imagined back on Gallopfrey. As they passed by a pony with a radio, they heard beautiful exotic music with the lyrics,

"Love, love me do.

You know I love you.

I'll always be true.

So please, love me do."

The Doctor and the Master retreated to a dark alleyway to relieve themselves of the tight crowds. They laughed together and clasped hooves. They sat down and talked about all they had seen and how amazing it was to be in a completely alien world.

"From what I've heard from conversations between the ponies, it seems that tea is a particularly special delicacy in this city." the Master said, "We should go have some!"

"But how will we pay for it?" asked the Doctor, "We don't have any of this planet's currency."

The Master reached into his pouch and took out a sheet of paper in a leather sleeve and replied, "You're not the only thief in Gallopfrey. I have here a little trinket I stole from the academy ages ago."

The Master showed the paper to the Doctor, who then said, "But it's just a blank piece of paper... Unless..." The Doctor gasped, "Oh, this is psychic paper isn't it? How in the world did you get this from the academy?"

"A little slight of hoof."

The two laughed together, reminiscing on all the mischief they had done.

"So, with this," the Master said, "We can very well purchase anything we want, access whatever place we want, or talk to whoever we want!"

They laughed again, but a moment later, the Doctor found a knife pointed at his throat. He looked to his right and saw a dirty, scrawny earth pony holding the knife. The pony had tired weary eyes, yellowed teeth and emitted a foul breath as he spoke, "That there paper can buy anything, eh?"

The Doctor quivered as the sharp point came dangerously close to piercing his skin. "Yes. Yes it can."

The pony looked to the Master and said, "Give it to me. Give me the paper, or I'll cut this bloke here."

"Now, stop it," the Master replied, "You can't use this paper. It's isomorphic."

"The hell is that supposed to bloody mean?"

"Only we can use it." the Doctor said, "The paper won't respond to a pony DNA signature."

The pony turned to face the Doctor again, adding a tiny bit more pressure to the knife, and said, "You shut your trap and stop your damned rubbish!" While the pony was distracted, the Master took the opportunity to tackle him and take the knife from his hoof. Now the Master had the pony pinned down and held the knife to his throat.

"You'll pay for thinking you can steal from us, you sniveling thief." said the Master, "And you'll pay with your life."

"No, no!" the pony cried, "Please! For Celestia's sake, don't kill me!"

"Master, what are you doing?" the Doctor said, "He can't do anything to us now. Just let him go. Let the local law enforcement deal with him."

"This thief tried to kill us."

"That's no reason to kill him."

"Of course it is!"

"Master! Put the knife away!"

The Master stood and confronted the Doctor, while keeping a rear hoof on the pony's tail. He glared at the Doctor and held the knife in his hoof, this time pointed at the Doctor again.

"The drums... I can hear them again, Doctor."

"That has nothing to do with this!"

"I need to make them stop!"

"Master, killing this pony won't stop them!"

"But that's what the drums want me to do!"

"That's just your insanity! Nothing more! It's not calling you to anything! Listen to me! Just listen! Killing him is wrong. Can't you see he's just a destitute pony forced into thievery to feed himself or perhaps his starving family? Just let him go, Master. Don't kill him."

"Yeah! Listen to your mate there!" the pony begged, "Please, just let me go! I have foals!"

The Master ignored the Doctor and turned around to face the pony again. He swiftly lifted up the knife and prepared to strike, when suddenly the Doctor tackled the Master, allowing the pony to flee into the darker alleys. The two Time Stallions struggled over the knife, rolling over each other, each trying to pin the other to the ground or against the wall, until suddenly...

The Doctor found himself over the Master and holding the knife that pierced one of the Master's hearts.

The Doctor stood and backed away from the Master, who coughed and looked at his chest to see the fatal injury. His bicardiovascular system was compromised and his body faced death.

"You bastard..." Then the Master's entire body began to glow golden and yellow energy began to emanate from it. The Master stood up with the knife in his chest and looked at his left hoof as it glowed. His wings slowly unfurled and he began to grit his teeth as he anticipated the pain that was to come. In his last moment, he glared at the Doctor, who had turned and galloped away, back into the crowded streets. The Master lifted his head and burst in a blinding explosion of golden light and energy that lit up the entire alleyway and caught the eyes of everypony passing by. The old Master was now dead, and a new Time Stallion came. The golden energy and light dissipated and the Master emerged completely transformed. Now, he was a pegasus with a brown mane and cream-colored coat. He retained his fob watch cutie mark, and his wings were now wider. His eyes were brown and his teeth pearly white.

Quite a distance away, the Doctor weaved through the crowds as he galloped back to the junkyard and back to his TARDIS. He closed the police box doors behind him and walked to the console. He put his hoof on one of the levers, but stopped as he could no longer hold back his tears. He wept. He wept over the death of his childhood friend's body, and over his grievous crime. He had killed. He had committed his first murder.

His tears dripped onto the console and seeped into the machine. A burst of sparks came out of the console and the entire TARDIS quaked for a few seconds. The Doctor looked at the TARDIS mechanical condition display, which read, "Chameleon circuit impaired. TARDIS disguise permanently locked to current image: Blue Box."

To Fall Into A Star

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Chapter XIII: To Fall Into A Star

The Master could not help but giggle. Everything was going just as planned.

"Come, Your Majesty. I'm sure your just dying of thirst." The Master led Concordius out of the TARDIS control room, through one of the hallways and into the dining room, the grey-tiled walls of which were decorated in a rather disorderly fashion with circular glass sheets and paintings of muffins. A work of Derpy's artistry. The dining room was oval-shaped and the oval-shaped table at the center had room for six ponies. The white table cloth was stained with banana juice on one end of the table, and on the other end, it was covered with muffin crumbs.

"Let's have some chocolate milk and muffins." The Master replaced the table cloth with a clean one and set the table with a muffin and a glass on each end, and a large fluffy pillow on the floor for Concordius to sit on. Then he took out the jar filled with the potion brewed by Golden Lead and Pyro, and poured the potion into both glasses. Concordius sat at one end and levitated the glass.

"Ah, the milk of the cocoa bean. A fine drink it is. A delicacy of yonder barbarians, the Hoofricans."

The Master stood at the other end of the table. "I imagined Your Majesty would like a taste of something exotic, though not nearly as fine as good traditional apple cider."

"Darest thou to comment on our tastes?!" Concordius snapped, glaring across the table. "And think not that thou mayest sit upon the opposite head of the table! Hast thou the hubris to think thyself our equal? Sit upon the floor away from the table's head!"

The Master bowed his head and humbly obeyed. His success had certainly made the king a much less pleasant pony, but he knew he did not need to submit for very long.

"We thank thee, Tympanus, for thy submission. Prithee, tell us: Art thou learned in the art of poetry?"

"Well, of course, Your Majesty. What kind of a subject would I be if I didn't know the kingdom's finest art?"

"We doth not appreciate thy rhetorical inquiry!" Concordius scolded. Then he calmed and continued, "And art thou learned in the verses of the poets of old?"

"Oh, I spend hours on end studying the ancient poems, Your Majesty. I can't get enough of them."

"Recite then! A poem of thy choice. Or thy own works if thou hast any."

"Ah, but first Your Majesty. Why don't we have a toast?" The Master raised his glass from the floor and Concordius levitated his up from the table. They awkwardly sat there, holding up their glasses, but not coming to a toast.

"We shall not lower our glass to thy level that we may toast. A king stoops for nopony."

The Master sighed and stood to tap his glass against Concordius'.

"To His Most Royal Majesty, King Concordius, son of Lux V, highest sovereign of the Ponies, master of the Emerald Plains, ruler of the Hills of Lauren, lord of the Sunrise Mountains. May the Sun bless His day. May the Moon guard His night. And may He live forever in bliss eternal."

The Master and the King both drank and then put their glasses down on the table. Concordius wiped his lips with a napkin and said, "Now, recite."

The Master took a few steps back and stood up straight. He cleared his throat and recited a poem by the pre-Classical poet Shimmer Verse. Concordius closed his eyes and listened.
"So it was my destiny to travel as far as,
That land lying below the northern pole,
And neither ye gods, nor thou, holy Queen Faust,
Cultured crowd though thou art, gave any help,
To thine own priest. I’ve suffered innumerable perils on land and sea.
But now the trip’s done, the toil of traveling,
Ended. Now I’ve reached the land of my undoing,
Hatred’s my only pleasure, the bitterness comes flooding
Fuller than melted snow in the wrapping of winter.
Equites and home haunt me, all the places I know and yearn for,
Whatever's left of me in the City I’ve lost.
Ye gods, spur on, I beseech you, the laggard Jockeys,
Forbid the portals of chaos to be closed."

The Master finished and sat back down. Concordius opened his eyes and nodded his approval to him.

"Hm, 'tis a rather morose poem, but it shall do. Now, we must ask, Tympanus, what art these 'muffins' thou- AARGH!!!"

Concordius felt a sudden burst of icy pain in his chest, as if his heart had frozen over. He put his hoof to his chest and could no longer feel his heart beating. Another wave of pain reverberated through his chest again and he collapsed backwards, his shoulders shivering and his legs jerking. He let out another scream.

"GAAAAH!!! What hast thou done to us?! Hast thou poisoned us?! Traitor!"

Concordius tried to stand, but his legs refused to respond. He tried to use his magic, but his horn had lost all its power. He tried flapping his wings, but they instead flailed around aimlessly. The cold then moved in a wave through his entire body, from his snout to his tail. Finally, his entire body went limp. He could not move, speak, turn his head, or even look around. Every part of him was still.

In the meantime the Master watched Concordius suffer while munching on a blueberry muffin. Then he spat out the chewed muffin, as he found the taste of blueberry disgusting. "Bleh! Blueberries! What was I thinking? Oh, anyway, stay calm. No point in resisting."

He lowered his head, looked at Concordius in the eye and whispered, "Not while I'll soon have your beautiful horn and wings." He raised his head back up and laughed.

A blinding flash of light came from both the Master's and Concordius' bodies and their foreheads were connected by a bolt of electricity. Both cried in pain as Concordius' horn shrank and vanished, leaving the king's forehead blank, and as a new horn grew out of the Master's forehead. The electricity stopped for a moment, allowing the two to breath, and then came again, this time connecting them by their wings. Just as before, Concordius' wings shrank until they disappeared completely and the Master's wings grew thrice their original size. The electricity stopped again and then returned one last time, enveloping the Master's and Concordius' entire bodies. Concordius himself shrank and shrank, until he became the size of a newborn earth pony, while the Master grew taller into the size of a full-grown alicorn. The electricity stopped for the final time. The Master, breathing heavily, fell on his knees from the exhaustion of the transformation. Concordius curled into a fetal position and lied on the floor, his whole body shivering violently.

The Master, once he had regained his strength, stood up and walked to a mirror. He spread his wings and admired all his new features, basking in his new glorious form.

"Oh, hello there, you sexy thing. This is so much better than any regeneration. I am absolutely gorgeous! And that horn. Magnificent! And then there's these wings. Oh, I can flap these all day. Teeth? Meh, still the same. Hair? Also the same. Well, that just makes things a little less exciting. But, the things I can do now with this body, haha! This is just too much fun. I don't even know where to begin."

Then he turned and looked down at Concordius, a pitiful tiny grey pony lying and shivering on a cold floor. "I told you, Your Majesty. You can't rely on friends. You can trust nopony. Not even me. Poor thing." The Master knelt down to get closer to the former king. "It sort of makes me reluctant to kill you. Well, I don't plan to kill to begin with. There's still some use for you. But right now, if you don't mind, I'll have to imprison you so that you won't cause any trouble."

The Master stood and fired a ray of white magic at Concordius. Concordius was enveloped in the white light and levitated into the air. Then an emerald sphere formed around him, locking his body frozen inside. Then emerald fell and hit the floor with a loud thud.

The Master levitated Concordius' encasement and carried it to the control room. He manned the controls of the TARDIS and set it on a course. The engines started and made the whooshing noise. When the TARDIS stopped at its destination, the Master used his magic to open the doors. The TARDIS was floating just a mile above the surface of the Sun. The Master then brought the emerald sphere to the doors.

"And the remainder of your transformation will take centuries and I don't want to lugging you around the TARDIS for that bloody long. So here's a little catalyst for you. Have fun in the Sun!"

The Master laughed like a filly playing in the rain and flung Concordius' emerald prison out the doors and into the Sun.

What Do - Wha- Pinkie Pie, What are you- Hey! Stop that!

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Chapter XIV: What Do - Wha- Pinkie Pie, What are you- Hey! Stop that!

Pinkie! No, don't! Get back in the computer. Aw, Pinkie! Don't you have any respect for the Fourth Wall?

"I just want to talk to the readers."

No, Pinkie. You're not allowed to do that. It's against the rules. Stories don't work that way, unless the story is narrated in the first person, and this story is not narrated in the first person. Now get back in the computer. We have to continue the story and I can't do that with you sitting on this side of the wall.

"But-"

No buts.

"What about the plot?"

... I see what you did there... But that doesn't matter, now go!

"Can't I just talk to the for one chapter?"

No.

"Pretty please, with a sugar coated cherry on a chocolate sculpture with rainbow sprinkles on top?"

No.

Pinkie then proceeds to make a pouty face and wimper like a puppy as she dejectedly walks back to the computer screen. How could I possibly say no to her?

"Yay! Does that mean I can talk?"

I sighed. Yes. But just a few rules. No spoilers. No breaking the wall into other stories outside this one. And all opinions expressed in this chapter are the opinions of Pinkamena Diane Pie, and not of Time Ponies Are Cool. Understood?

"Yes, sir, ma'am, sir! Hi, reader! I'm Pinkie Pie and I'm here to talk to YOU! So I'm enjoying this story, but I think it's gotten too sad. But I'm having lots of fun at least! I got to jump in a pile of scrolls! That was my favorite part. But poor King Concordius didn't get to play... I wonder what's going to happen to him? He's not dead is he? Right Time Ponies Are Cool? He's okay right???"

Hush! I can't say anything about that. Just move on.

"Okay, then. So that Master is a real meanie pants, isn't he? He siad that blueberry muffins were disgusting! How can anypony not like blueberries? They're scrumptious! I really hope we beat him soon so that I can show him a lesson on the taste of blueberries! I thought it'd be fun to hang out with him and play the drums, but his drumming is boring. He just goes one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four. I mean, come on, you can add a five in there. Ooh! Or maybe a two and a half. Or how about make it one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight instead of one-two-three-four?

"I did have fun passing out from the thing the Doctor called methoxuuu... uhh... methoxubalaaaauhh... I can't remember what it was. I'll just call it, 'meth.' That's much easier to say! Meth! I had a dream while I was sleeping that we all went on a really long trip to no place. Then suddenly I got separated from everypony else, but then I just started giggling and then they were back again! ... But then the dream turned into a horrible nightmare. I can't even remember why. I can't remember. I saw... Oh, why can't I remember? Something terrible happened to somepony... My Pinkie sense started going on overdrive and it woke me up...

"But anyway, you know what I don't like about the pre-Classical era? They don't have any candy! The sweetest thing they have in the castle is honeyed tea! And it's really really really really hot! It takes way too long to cool down. How can anypony wait for a drink to cool down before drinking it?! It makes me want to go back to Sugar Cube Corner and have a whole humongous box full of cupcakes with strawberry flavored icing! Mmmm! Oh gosh, we really need to find the TARDIS ay-sap! I don't know if I can last much longer waiting for my tea! I need to get back in the story! Bye everypony!"

And so Pinkie jumps through my computer screen and returns to the story.

Once awake and back in Castle Equites, she found a black pegasus stallion in gold armor with an eye-patch on his left eye looking down on her. The pegasus began to interrogate her, but her hearing had not fully recovered. The pegasus took off his helmet, allowing his rainbow mane fall over his shoulders.

What Do We Do Now?

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Chapter XV: What Do We Do Now?

"Dashie... Dashie..." The image of a pink pony began to come into focus as Rainbow Dash began to wake.

"Pinkie? ..."

"Dashie! You're awake!" Pinkie Pie picked up Rainbow Dash and hugger her. The sudden movement woke her and cleared her vision. Rainbow Dash looked out the window and saw the Sun was right on the Western horizon and some stars had begun to shine in the pink and purple sky. Suddenly a sight by the throne caught her eye. She saw a black pegasus with golden armor talking to Starswirl and the Doctor, but what was most alarming was his rainbow mane and cutie mark of a sword with rainbow lightning.

"Pinkie," Rainbow Dash whispered, "who's that guy? He has a rainbow mane just like me! I've never seen anypony with a rainbow mane except my dad."

"Oh, him?" Pinkie replied, "That's Commander Rainbow Sword. He's the stallion version of you."

"What?!"

"Don't you remember Rule 63?"

"What the heck's Rule 63?"

"Or he could be your great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather."

"Okay, that one makes more sense."

"Now let's wake up the others!"

Pinkie zipped around the room and bounced on Rarity's back, and then Applejack's back, then Fluttershy's, then Twilight's, then Derpy's. Rainbow Dash helped them stand as each slowly regained consciousness. Once everypony was awake, the Doctor gathered them all together.

"Everypony, " he said, "so, basically, we have a big problem on our hooves. The Earth has not rotated in three hours."

"Rotated?" Rarity asked.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Twilight said.

"Oh right! You ponies still believe in a geocentric solar system and think that the Sun, Moon and stars move around the Earth."

"Well, don't they?" Fluttershy said.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Never mind. Forget I said anything. I open my mouth and words come out and they don't always mean anything. But anyway, Commander Rainbow Sword - your ancestor, Rainbow Dash, so don't tamper with his life or yours could be erased from all time and space - asked us to go to the Clear-Glass Dome to have a meeting with the Council of Nobles to find a solution. Hopefully they don't all start blaming the other kingdoms and start escalating the war effort, which can only be a bad thing."

~~~~~

"This a trick by the Hoofricans!"

"'Tis the responsibility of the Dragons!"

"They both hath conspired this together!"

"They seek to destroy us once and for all!"

"We must act!"

"Intolerable! Their actions against us is intolerable"

"We must fly against them! 'Tis the only way!"

"Destroy them once and for all!"

"Destroy them!"

"SILENCE!" A flash of lightning lit up the room and caught the attention of the Council, silencing the commotion. They looked towards the entrance of the Clear-Glass Dome, and there stood Rainbow Sword holding out his sword which crackled with electricity. He sheathed his sword and led the Doctor and the others to their seats.

The Clear-Glass Dome was just as its name suggested. An enormous dome of completely clear glass, a rare luxury and an art known only to the Dragons, who built the Dome for the Ponies centuries ago in a time of peace. Inside the Dome was an amphitheatre with three-hundred seats for the noble ponies who gathered in a council when summoned. Above, everypony could see the still sky, a spectrum of colors from pink to dark purple as the Sun lied stuck on the Western horizon and the Moon lies stuck on the Eastern horizon.

Starswirl stood before the Council and spoke. "Brethren, my noble countrymen, I speak before thee to assure thee of the truth behind the loss we hath suffered. This is no act or plot or scheme devised by the other kingdoms. This is the deed of a heinous criminal. A pony who hath betrayed his kin, his kingdom, and his king."

Murmurs rippled through the Council. All were concerned as to the fate of the king and in turn the fate of the kingdom.

The Doctor then came before the Council and spoke. "And this needs to be clear: he is not an agent of the other kingdoms. He has no loyalty to any pony, dragon or rhino. He is just a madpony with a lust for power."

The murmurs came again. This time somewhat louder.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked the others.

"No Elements. No time machine. No king." Applejack said, "How are we ever gonna stop that Master?"

Suddenly Rainbow Dash flew up above the Council and said, "We have an army! What can one pony do against our army?"

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted, "He has the most powerful pony in the world as a prisoner!"

"So what? With me and a hundred other pegasi, we can take him down easily!"

"That mare is right!" Rainbow Sword joined in. "Whoever abducted His Majesty, he is only one pony. And one pony against a hundred pegasi simply does not put the odds in his favor."

"However," Starswirl retorted, "He hath held our king for some time now, and as we see in the sky, hast kept His Majesty's power at bay. As that mare hath spoken, His Majesty is the most powerful pony across the land. No mere pegasus can subdue him as this villain hath. Thus stopping him cannot be as simple as sending an army against him."

Murmurs again, and again louder than the last. One pegasus noble stood and said, "Then what are we to do?" The other nobles joined him and raised a great commotion, demanding a solution from Starswirl, who balked at the pressure from the nobles.

"I know not, but there is surely a solution to be sought after within magic that-"

"Oh, magic, magic, magic!" Rainbow Sword interrupted, "You unicorns are always looking down on the rest of us, are you not? Though we pegasi fly above your heads. You always think the solution is magic and that we simple ponies can never accomplish anything great."

The pegasus nobles all stood, shouting their support for his words and flapped their wings. The unicorn nobles whined and called on Starswirl to retort and silence the pegasi. As the Council grew ever louder, Starswirl flashed a bright light from his horn to get the Council's attention.

"I sayeth no such words, Commander!" he said, "I merely come to logical conclusions."

"And where has your logic taken us?" Rainbow Sword replied, "Kingless!" The pegasi all shouted their dissatisfaction with Starswirl. "I should assume the role of leader until we've brought His Majesty back!" The pegasi roared in support, and the flapping of their wings caused a powerful gust of wind that blew through the Council. While the pegasi cheered, the Doctor brought Derpy, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy to him.

"Thou shalt watch what thou sayest, Commander!" Starswirl shouted with a powerful voice, "The throne shall go to His Majesty's neice!"

"But Princess Amicitia is but a filly! She does not even have her cutie mark yet, let alone wings to make her an alicorn!"

"I am His Majesty's most trusted sorcerer, Commander! Know thy place!"

"Now, now." Applejack said, trying to calm them, "Take it easy you two."

But Rainbow Sword ignored her and continued, "We need proper leadership if we are to make it through this disaster!"

"Thou art not fit!"

"Oh, we shall see about that." Rainbow Sword threateningly folding his ears back, hunched down and put his hoof on his sword's hilt. Starswirl stood tall, lifted one hoof and lit up his horn as he pointed it at Rainbow Sword. The Council gasped and fell silent as the two threatened violence on each other.

"EVERYPONY STOP!" Pinkie yelled as she jumped in between Starswirl and Rainbow Sword. "This isn't the time for fighting! We just have to talk it through. Here have some cupcakes!" She took out a pair of cupcakes and stuck them in Starswirl and Rainbow Sword's mouths. Everypony calmed and murmurs of agreement with Pinkie arose in the Council.

"Pinkie, be careful!" Rarity shouted, "You don't want to get any frosting on Commander Rainbow Sword's armor. It must be very expensive and I'm sure takes forever to polish well." She took out a napkin and wiped off a bit of frosting that spilled on the commander's armor.

All was quiet again. Nopony spoke, though a weak cough came from the Council. Finally, Fluttershy tried to speak, "Ummm... if Tympanus has the pony with the most powerful magic in the world, then... um... this is just a suggestion... why don't we just find a magic that's even more powerful? I mean... if you think that's a good idea... if the pegasi are okay with that. I mean, I'm sure whatever the magic is... um... it would take more than a unicorn to do it."

"Yeah, but where are we going to find magic like that?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh, um... I don't know. I guess we can't do that. Forget I said anything."

"Wait," Twilight said, "I've read the story of what happens with Tympanus here before. I've read it in the future, I mean. I will read it? But anyway-"

The Doctor stopped her short, covering her mouth, and whispered, "The Council doesn't know that we're time-travelers. Neither does Rainbow Sword. Just Starswirl. So don't tell them anything."

Twilight nodded in response. The Doctor then moved on to address the confused Council.

"Don't mind her! She hasn't had much sleep lately and so she's not making much sense when she talks. But anyway, this pony who's abducted our king: I know how to stop him. And so you must leave it to me, Starswirl the Bearded, Commander Rainbow Sword and our companions here to bring His Majesty back. I promise you that. I promise you on my life that His Majesty will return safely. All of you just need to maintain order here and live on as if nothing is wrong. When His Majesty returns, it'll be as if nothing happened."

"And what merits dost thou have that thou mayest take up this task?" a unicorn shouted, "Thou art but a lowly earth pony!"

"I know this pony. And I've beaten him time and time again. I know him better than anypony here and know how to deal with him. He is my responsibility, because... because... he's my brother!"

The Council was silent. Even Starswirl, Derpy and the six fell silent in shock of what the Doctor said. A pegasus finally spoke up, saying, "And how are we to trust a pony whose name we do not even know? How do we know that he is not an ally of the villain?"

Starswirl spoke in defense of the Doctor. "I trust him! He hath been a friend and ally of mine and is ever loyal to the kingdom. That shall be enough for thee."

"Can we not even have this stranger's name?"

"His name is the-"

"Time Turner! My name is Time Turner. See my cutie mark? It's an hourglass. It's about time, you see. It's very cool."

The Council mumbled and discussed, creating a din of noisy conversations, until Rainbow Sword addressed it.

"So it is decided! The mission shall be placed in the hooves of this company! All discussion on this shall end! Council di-"

"Commander!" Starswirl interrupted, "It is my place to dismiss the Council, not thine!"

Rainbow Sword glared at Starswirl and conceded. Starswirl stepped forward and addressed the Council.

"The Council is dismissed!"

Everypony left the Clear-Glass Dome. The Doctor, Derpy, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight walked down the torch-lit hall away from the Dome.

"Doctor," Rarity said, "You never told us that the Master was your brother."

"Yeah!" Applejack said, "Why in the hay didn't you tell us? And, I don't wanna offend, but what ever happened to us being the ones meant to do this, like you and Starswirl said?"

"Oh, sorry!" the Doctor quickly replied, "I guess I'll need to fill you in on the rules now that you're travelling with me. Well, basically, rule number one: the Doctor lies. So no, the Master isn't my brother. Though he was quite close to being one. Blimey, brings back memories... Well, anyway, so, yes, I lied to the Council. I needed their trust and I didn't want to cause any more complications."

"That's not very honest..."

"I know, Applejack. But it's what I needed to do. And besides, even if I do lie, you can always trust me. I'm the Doctor."

"What if you were the Plumber?" Pinkie said, "Would you still lie if you were the Plumber?"

"You know, I actually thought of changing my name to 'The Plumber' or 'The Maintenance Man' once. But then I decided, 'No. Those are rubbish names.' And then I started thinking-"

"But Doctor," Twilight interrupted, "About what I was saying back there: I read the story of what happens here before. Or at least, I somewhat remember the plot line. The Doctor and his companions defeats Tympanus in the end. So whatever happens, we know he can't win."

"Time can be rewritten," the Doctor replied, "This moment in history is in flux. He can still win and change the future of the world. Now, try to talk about that story as little as you can. We don't want any foresight. Foresight is dangerous. But the prophecy and Starswirl and Derpy's visions still hold true. The fate of the world lies in the hooves of you six. Not an army. Not a wizard. Not a doctor."

"What about a firepony?" Pinkie asked, "Or a mayor? Ooh! How about a pirate?"

"Oh, I got one!" Derpy joined, "The Muffin Pony!"

Everypony laughed as they continued down the long hall.

The Dragon Princess

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Chapter XVI: The Dragon Princess

The oldest of the three kingdoms, Drakonia originated in the beginning of creation and endured for millennia with an uninterrupted line of succession from the first dragons until the dragons of the pre-Classical era. Drakonia was the kingdom with the richest traditions and the most renowned works of art in the world.

In the beginning of this age, far beyond the memory of recorded history, after the cleansing of evil and the beginning of a creation of a new world, the goddess, Queen Faust built the First Mountain, a mountain of jade and emeralds. To protect the mountain, She created the first dragons: the Blue Dragon, bearer of the cooling fire, the Green Dragon, bearer of the cleansing fire, the Red Dragon, bearer of the warming fire, and the White Dragon, bearer of the destroying fire. These dragons acted as Her servants and messengers as She set out to create the world. Queen Faust ordered the Four Dragons to carve out valleys and canyons, and to build up hills and mountains. They dug on the earth to create Lake Pedwar Draig, now the Salt Flats of Pedwar Draig, Porffor Lake, now Purpura Lake, Lake Cynhaliaeth, now Lake Riziki, the Shallow Sea, now the Great Northern Desert, and the Deep Sea, now simply the Sea. Out of the earth, rocks, metals and gems they dug out, they built up the Gwyrrd Mountains around the First Mountain, then the Hills of Lauren, the Glas Mountains, the Coch Mountains, now the Nyekundu Mountains, the Gwyn Mountains, now the Barafu Mountains, the Nos Mountains, now the Moonrise Mountains, and the Dydd Mountains, now the Sunrise Mountains. The Four Dragons gave shape to the flat expanse of earth and created a landscape of great beauty and magnificence.

From their home in the Gwyrrd Mountains, the Four Dragons flew out into the world spreading the words of Queen Faust. They spat out scrolls with the goddess' messages through their fires as She created the other creatures of the world and assigned them tasks to assist in creation. As such, the Four Dragons and their descendants took responsibility for governing the affairs of the various political entities of the world and ensuring the goddess' words were obeyed and peace reigned. They managed the weather, changed the seasons, enforced the laws of the gods, and resolved the conflicts of the other creatures.

For thousands of years, this state of peace lasted. However, power inevitably leads to corruption, and the dragons held a position of great power. At around the year 2500 B.E., the farthest reach of recorded history, Queen Faust lessened Her influence on the world and all signs of Her power over the world vanished. At this time, a dragon whose monstrous name shall not be spoken, a descendant of the White Dragon and one of the four rulers of Drakonia, led a coup against the other three ruling dragons, murdered them and claimed absolute power over the kingdom. He gave himself the title, "Arglwydd," and proceeded to extend his power beyond the borders of Drakonia.

The kingdom of Drakonia prospered, but the rest of the world suffered. Under the Arglwydd's reign, Lake Pedwar Draig dried up, becoming a vast salt flat, and the Shallow Sea dried up, become a seemingly endless desert. The dragons tore down great segments of the four great contiguous mountain ranges that bordered the former Shallow Sea, Gwyrrd, Glas, Coch and Gwyn, turning them into separate lesser ranges.

After nearly three-hundred years of tyranny, the pony tribes began a revolution against the Arglwydd. They were led by a pair of earth ponies, a husband and wife, whose original names were forgotten. The revolution, however, could not stand for long against the power of Drakonia. In the year 2204 B.E., the husband and wife were captured and as they were about to be thrown into a volcano in the middle of Pedwar Draig, they held each other in their hooves and vanished in a burst of light. Moments later, they returned in a burst of light as completely new ponies, like none ever seen before. They had both wings and horns and were twice the size of ordinary ponies; they became alicorns. They held in their mouths a pair of scrolls and the scrolls contained orders from the goddess, Queen Faust. The first, held by the husband, ordered the Arglwydd to step down from his throne and restore peace and order. The second, held by the wife, granted the pair of alicorns the powers of day and night.

The Arglwydd refused to back down, bringing the alicorns to resort to coercion against him. They brought about an eclipse in the sky, which terrified every creature in the world, and opened a hole on the First Mountain that led to its center. They then used their magic to throw the Arglwydd away from Mount Inferno and cast him into the hole. They sealed the hole, forever imprisoning the evil dragon. These alicorns were Ponytopia's first king and queen: Lux and Nox.

Despite the fall of the Arglwydd, the dragons continued their heinous deeds for another millennium, though the ponies' control of day and night made Ponytopia a difficult obstacle. The bitter rivalry between Ponytopia and Drakonia kept the lands protected by the ponies safe, and slowly the great power the dragons had in the beginning began to wane. In the year 1755, the dragons lost their power over the weather when the pegasus, Vronti Pteryga, defeated the Arglwydd's grandson, Llosgi, tore off his wings, and exiled him into the Great Northern Desert, where he died lonely and detested; the power over the weather was then inherited by the pegasi. The evils of the dragons finally ended in the year 1023, when Queen Cinder, after she agreed to forbid the entry of dragons into Hoofrica, came to realize the gravity of the sins of her predecessors and abdicated the throne, thus putting an end to the period of the Drakonic Desolation. She created a Senate for Drakonia, which had the authority to elect and impeach royal families into and out of the throne of Drakonia. The Senate house was built into Mount Inferno, and in the first meeting of the new Senate, Obsidian and his family were elected as the new royal family of Drakonia, and his family remained in power for one thousand years.

~~~~~

The dormant volcano at the center of the Salt Flats of Pedwar Draig, Mount Inferno, was less a volcano, and more a great towering citadel of white alabaster. In one of the royal bedrooms, Princess Sapphire, great-great granddaughter of King Obsidian, lied on her back on her bed of gold coins and trinkets. She hummed a song as she snacked on turquoise.

Princess Sapphire was a young pale-blue dragoness with long slender legs, a fairly short neck and white wings. She had floppy spines down her neck, back and tail, and a large tuft of white hair on the end of her tail. She had black curled horns, like those of a ram, and her eyes were deep gold with green irises. She wore a silver collar around her neck and hung silver beads from her horns, which jingled when she moved her head.

Sapphire sighed as she pondered on what to do with her time. She decided to read an epic poem.

"Slave!" she called out. A unicorn whose horn was covered in shards of volcanic rock entered her room.

The unicorn bowed and spoke in Draigish, "What do you need, feistres?"

"Bring me a book. Um... I want... the Epic of Seren-Dilynwr. Go." The unicorn trotted to the shelves across the room and, after a moment of searching through the scrolls, took out one and carried it in her mouth to the princess. Sapphire grabbed the scroll from the slave's mouth and the slave stood there for a moment waiting for any more orders. Sapphire opened the scroll and gestured for her to leave. She proceeded to read the Epic of Seren-Dilynwr, the tale of a great dragon who flew across the world to prove that it was round, and the various adversities he faced on his journey.

Sapphire's room was a white semi-sphere dome with a polished granite floor. Glowing yellow stones were evenly patterned across the dome, creating gentle dim lighting for the room.

As Sapphire silently read the epic, she heard a strange exotic noise out of nowhere. She looked around the room and saw a strange object slowly appearing right before her eyes. From out of thin air, a tall blue box materialized in front of her bed of gold.

"Hm. What's this? The blue box? My brother's worthless battle prize? Comet! What is your box doing in my quarters?!"

Suddenly, from inside the box, Sapphire heard a voice say, "Oh, I wasn't sent here by your brother."

Sapphire looked intently at the blue box and circled around it. "Is there somedragon within?"

The doors of the box opened and out came a brown-maned alicorn. "Greetings, princess! I hope I'm not interrupting anything." he said.

"Hmph! Merely another pony. Begone! Do not bother me."

"Oh, I have no intention of leaving just yet, princess."

"Do not try my patience, you hoofer!"

"Oi! That's racist!"

Princess Sapphire glared at the alicorn, growled and spat red fire at him, but the fire was deflected by a force field protecting the alicorn and the blue box.

"Extrapolator shielding is simply brilliant isn't it? Imagine if I combine that with a magic shield once I learn how to make one."

"Ugh! You unicorns and your magic! Stupid pony. What do you want?"

"I'm just here to strike a deal with you."

"What can you possibly have that I would desire?"

"That's up to you, princess. I can grant you any wish."

"Hah! A tempting offer, but I know my wish is something nodragon can fulfill."

"No dragon... Just tell me what you wish, princess. And let me decide whether or not it's impossible."

"Well... I wish for my mother's love."

"I see. She doesn't appreciate you does she? She keeps you cooped up in here while your brothers and sisters are allowed to go out, see the world and gain glory in battle."

"Indeed. She showers them with praises for their victories, but she rarely ever speaks to me. I am trapped here guarding that egg." Sapphire pointed across the room to a pedestal with a reinforced clear-glass case on top containing a yellow and orange phoenix egg on a red pillow. The case was attached to the pedestal with a lock that could only be opened by members of the royal family, who bore the four fires. The alicorn looked at the egg with great interest. Sapphire noticed this and she placed herself between the alicorn and the egg. "Why am I telling you all this? You are not one I can trust. I do not even know your name!"

"Of course, my name! How rude of me. My sincerest apologies, princess. I am Tympanus. And rest assured princess, you can trust me completely. I was exiled from my home in Castle Equites-"

"What is 'Castle Equties'?" Sapphire interrupted.

"You don't know what Castle Equites is?" Tympanus asked and Sapphire shook her head in response. "Well..." Tympanus continued, "Castle Equites is the political heart of Ponytopia, the kingdom of the ponies, and it was once my home. But I was exiled because of the crimes I committed, and now I'm on a quest to atone for my sins by fulfilling the deepest wishes of restless individuals across the world. I have heard of your unhappy troubles and want to help you."

"That is indeed noble of you." Sapphire said, "Nobler than any of the ponies I've met, the slaves that they all are. You are like the hero, Lleidr, in the Adbrynu."

"Yes, of course. You can look at it that way. But anyway, yes, you're like a prisoner within your own home. Truly, a tragic circumstance."

"I know! And this egg is worthless. For ninety-seven years I have guarded it, and still it has not hatched! And whenever I attempt to leave the mountain, my mother or her minions come and send me back. I tell her that the egg is not worth the effort, but she listens not. Always she says, 'That egg must never be left alone. 'Twould be a disaster if it fell unto the wrong claws.'" Sapphire imitated her mother's voice as she spoke. As she complained about her mother, she wandered around the room and ended up sitting on her bed. She picked up a gold coin and flicked it across the room and just barely missing the egg case. "I am even deprived of the essential experiences of every young dragon. By their fortieth year, every dragon must take a journey across the Great Northern Desert to the Sea and bring back a mouthful of seawater, yet I've never flown anywhere beyond the salt flats! Ugh!... I do not mean to be ungrateful. She gives me whatever toys, jewels, pets or slaves I desire, but... I just want her to praise me or acknowledge my efforts once in a while. My brother said that even when I was a hatchling, mother gave little thought to my first fire..."

"I know how it feels." Tympanus ventured to move closer to Sapphire as she dejectedly sat on her bed. "My parents never appreciated me that much either. When I had my first flight, my parents weren't there to watch. When I brought back a gazelle skull as a battle prize and gave it to them as a gift, they tossed it in the rubbish bin! I know how you feel, princess. We're very much alike. However, that means I know how your problems can be fixed! If you prove yourself worthy of something more than the egg, you're mother might finally give you what your heart most desires. A trophy is what you need. A prisoner of war."

"And how am I to capture one if I cannot even leave the mountain?"

"You have me, princess. Lock me in chains and pretend that you single-clawedly caught me while I tried to infiltrate the mountain. Your mother will be most impressed and you'll gain the admiration of your peers, because I'm an alicorn, you see. And we alicorns are the most powerful of the ponies and the rarest. No other dragon in all of history has ever captured an alicorn."

Sapphire turned and looked at Tympanus. "A worthy offer... but what then will become of you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. Once you've thrown me in a prison or slave quarters, I'll create a magical clone of myself that will stay here and then I'll make my escape and continue my journey of atonement. Although, I do ask for one little favor in return for me services: I want that egg."

Tympanus' request startled Sapphire and she grew suspicious of the alicorn again, though she was convinced that his motives were noble and good. She stood and walked towards the pedestal with the phoenix egg. She could see Tympanus' distorted reflection on the glass case.

"I am unsure. This egg... 'tis my one duty. Mother told me never to let it out of my reach, out of my protection. I cannot simply give it to you, even though it has been the bane of my existence. Mother will be furious. She would kill me."

Tympanus walked to Sapphire's side and looked at her with friendly, sincere eyes, as she looked back at him. "Princess, do you think you can find anydragon else who can understand how you feel? Anydragon who looks at things your way? Just trust me, princess."

Sapphire turned and walked away from Tympanus. "I know not..." She sat back down on her bed and put her head in her claws as she thought deeply.

"My captivity is all your heart desires. The egg is all your heart despises." Tympanus said, "Do we have a deal?"

Princess Sapphire was being torn apart by the dilemma. She growled in frustration as she struggled to decide. She lied down on her bed and looked away from Tympanus as she continued to think. After what seemed to her like hours of contemplation, she finally turned to face Tympanus and gave her decision: "Deal."

Sapphire stood and walked to the pedestal, which had a small hole on its base. She lowered her head and breathed blue, green, red and white fire into the hole, unlocking the glass case. She removed the case, took the phoenix egg and brought it to Tympanus.

"Thank you, princess."

"No, Tympanus. It is I who must thank you."

Sapphire shook Tympanus' hoof and gave him the egg. Tympanus levitated the egg in front of him and smirked as he stared at it.

"Now," he said, "I'll just put this in my box for safekeeping and then we can proceed with our plan. Then you will finally have all you ever wanted." Tympanus walked with the egg into the blue box and closed the door behind him. In the meantime, Sapphire jumped back on her bed and giggled with excitement at the thought of impressing her mother with an alicorn captive. Suddenly she heard hysterical laughter coming from the blue box and Tympanus' voice saying, "What an idiot!"Then she heard the strange noise from when the box first appeared. She quickly got back up and looked to the blue box. It was starting to fade away and dematerialize, and from inside the box Sapphire heard Tympanus call out, "Buh-bye, Princess!"

"No, no, no! No!" Sapphire yelled, "NO! NOOO!" She desperately spat a powerful stream of white fire at the blue box, but she could not break through the extrapolator shielding, no matter how hard she tried.

The box completely vanished and shortly afterwards, Sapphire's mother, Queen Ember, knocked on her door.

"Sapphire, what is all the yelling for?"

"Oh, uh, hello mother... hehe... I have some unfortunate news..."

Take Flight

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Chapter XVII: Take Flight

"Iuro ego sequi magicam amicitia."

Starswirl led the Doctor, Derpy, the six, and Rainbow Sword into his library and saw his young apprentice, Clover, a light blue filly with a navy blue mane and a brown cloth cloak, cleaning up the pile of scrolls Starswirl had left on the floor earlier that day. He immediately gave his apprentice directions to find a certain scroll. As Clover searched through the scrolls, Starswirl said, "Thou hast spoken of what thou callest, "The Elements of Harmony." I know not of such magic, but I hath once read of something that seemed of similar nature."

The skylight at the center of the room had ceased to function properly, as it received both sunlight and moonlight from the Sun suspended on the Western horizon and the moon that had moved ever so slightly farther from the Eastern horizon. Clover found the scroll Starswirl specified and gave it to him.

"So this is where you spend your hours," Rainbow Sword said, "In a little library far from the battlefield, safe from any dragons or Hoofricans. You sit here reading your books while we go out and die to protect the kingdom. While you're comfortable looking through shelves, I lose my eye!"

"Oh, I forgot to ask about that." the Doctor said, "What did happen to your eye?"

"I was leading a raid into a dragon settlement in the Northern side of the Moonrise Mountains, and after we drove all the dragons out, an infant dragon crying by its mother's worthless corpse spat in my eye and burned it."

"Blimey, that must have hurt."

"Yes, and now I have this eye-patch. Of course, we executed the little cur on the spot."

"Be silent, Commander!" Starswirl snapped as he opened the scroll Clover gave him, "Now, thou six spake of magic that thou used to vanquish what seemeth to be great evils, and as I judgeth from thy significance in Derpy's foresight, thou hast employed this magic to prevent the end of days."

"'End of days!' Haha!" Pinkie laughed, "I get it! It's because Nightmare Moon wanted to make an endless night, so it'd be the end of days! Hahaha!"

Starswirl opened the scroll and as he read it he said, "This scroll speaketh of a magic that is to be needed when the balance of the world is under the direst of circumstances. It draws its strength from peace and friendship and shall appear when all who inhabit this realm come together in harmony. I believe this may have relation to the Elements of Harmony thou hast spoken of, and thus we may be able to use it to vanquish Master Tympanus."

"Um," Fluttershy began, "that's sort of what I was suggesti-"

"It sounds as if we need to make peace with the other kingdoms to make that work." Rarity interrupted.

Rainbow Dash flew over to look at the scroll over Starswirl's shoulder and said, "So much for that plan. We'll never get everypony to get along."

Rainbow Sword, Rarity and Applejack nodded in agreement. Starswirl sighed and lowered the scroll, conceding that the idea was severely flawed. In the meantime, Twilight was struggling again to contain her excitement as she watched Clover, soon to be known as Clover the Clever, organize scrolls.

"Well, um," Fluttershy said, "I still think there's a chance for peace. You never know, the, um, other kingdoms might be tired of the war and are willing to end it."

"Yeah!" Pinkie agreed, "We just have to sing a song for them about sharing and caring!"

"Exaclty!" the Doctor joined, "Well, maybe not through song, I'm not much of a singer, but you have to believe that the kingdoms will find peace. There's still hope. One thing I found in all my years is that there is, surprisingly, always hope. So you all should never lose it. When everything falls apart and worst comes to worst, hope is the only thing you have to hold on to, and more often than not, it's enough to make it through the darkest of times."

"A fine speech, Doctor," Rainbow Sword said as he walked across the room and turned to face the others. "There is indeed hope, but it doesn't lie in anything magic can give us. We waste our time searching for an ultimate spell to be our salvation! Hope lies in taking action against our foe in any way possible. I shall fly out with my team and search for this Tympanus."

Rainbow Sword began to walk towards the door, and Rainbow Dash soon followed behind him. "I'll join you, Rainbow Sword!" she said.

"You shall address me as 'Commander.'"

"Oh, right. Yes, Commander!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted.

Rainbow Dash stopped and turned around to face the others. "Look, so far, magic hasn't done us any good. We just keep standing around here and wasting our time talking about plans that aren't going to work. Well, it's just like the commander said, we need to take action! The least we can do is try to find out where Tympanus is. What's the point of a spell that can stop him if we don't find him first? You guys can talk all you want, but I'm going to fly!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Rainbow Dash! Listen to me!" the Doctor said, "Remember, don't say anything that can alter timelines. Be very careful!"

Rainbow Dash nodded, then she and Rainbow Sword both rushed out of the room and galloped down the hall.

~~~~~

Castle Equites and its surrounding city, Equites, and farms were built by the base on the Northern side of the Sunrise Mountains, a range of wide dark purple mountains, and on the highest peak of the mountains behind the castle, the pegasi built their city: Pegasparta. Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Sword flew up from the castle, through the clouds and landed on a field of alpine grass outside Pegasparta. The field ended with the edge of the North-facing cliff. From this field, legions of pegasi soldiers would take off to fight for king, queen and country.

Dash and Sword entered the city and walked through the busy market, where many pegasi merchants sold food and goods bought from the earth ponies that lived in and around the city of Equites. They took a turn into a slightly less crowded uphill street which ended at a wide stone building with a roof of stratus clouds. Rainbow Dash followed her ancestor down the street towards the sizable pinewood doors of the building.

As the two walked side by side, Rainbow Sword spoke. "Now tell me, madam: How did you come to have a rainbow mane? Surely it's not natural."

"Well, um, actually it is, commander. I was born with it." Dash replied.

Sword raised an eyebrow in surprise at her response. He had never seen anypony other than himself with a rainbow mane.

"From where do you come, madam?"

"Oh, uhh... that's strictly classified. Orders of the Doctor. But I do come from somewhere really far away, so I'm sure you wouldn't have met anyone like me. And you can just call me Rainbow Dash. No need for any of those fancy names."

"Are there many like you in your homeland?"

"N-no, not really. My dad and my grandma had it, but now it's just me."

Sword did not respond, putting an end to the conversation as they reached the doors and entered the building. Inside was a tavern half-full with pegasi calmly conversing and drinking apple cider. Sword spotted one lone pegasus sitting at the bar with several empty mugs.

"Stay here." Sword said to Dash as he left her and walked to the pegasus at the bar.

"Had one too many drinks, Fleet Feather?" Sword said to the pegasus as he shook her shoulder. The pegasus raised her head to look at Sword. She was a fairly small sky-blue pegasus with a yellow mane and a cutie mark of a white shooting star. Her mane was ruffled and she had cider foam around her mouth. She hiccupped as she spoke

"Oh... h-hi Swordy! How're -hic- you on this fine day?"

"Stand up and attention, Fleet Feather! There is work to be done!"

"Nawwww, I am fine! I don't -hic- need work. I haven't finished my drink yet. I'll be finished when -hic- the Sun is down."

"The Sun shan't be down any time soon. The Sun has stopped moving. And look at me when I speak to you!"

"Fleet Feather -hic- isn't here right now. Please come back laterrrrr!"

"Oh for the love of Faust!" Sword drew out his blade and gave Fleet Feather a light electric shock, which instantly sobered her.

"Ah! Sir, yes, sir! Forgive me for drinking, commander! What are your orders, commander!"

"Assemble the team. We shall meet at the take-off field."

"Immediately, commander!"

With great speed, Fleet Feather charged out of the tavern and galloped off to carry out her orders, leaving behind a trail of dust. Sword returned to Dash and led her out of the tavern.

"So," Dash said, "Who was that?"

"Her name is Fleet Feather. She is a member of an elite team of pegasi, the finest pegasi in the kingdom. We call ourselves, 'The Bolts.' Fleet Feather is the fastest galloper among us, and second only to myself in flight. And her agility is unmatched."

They passed through the market again, but this time it was less crowded, as many vendors, realizing that the Sun must be far behind schedule, began to close their shops. And this time, Dash attempted to initiate a conversation.

"So how did you get your rainbow mane? Were you born with it?"

"Neigh. It was bestowed upon me, although my memory of it is vague. I do remember my master who raised me when I was a colt after my mother and father were murdered by Hoofricans. He taught me everything I know, and one day he led me into the Great Northern Desert, where the gods blessed me with a new mane and my master granted me a new name."

"That's pretty cool."

"What is?"

"The way you got your mane and all that."

"I fail to see the relevance of the temperature."

"Never mind. I just think it, um... has some awe? ... So you don't know anypony else with a rainbow mane? You're the first?"

"What do you mean by 'first'? I know not of any others. Before you came, I was the only one."

"Oh. Yeah. Right. Just forget it." Dash decided to stop talking before she said anything dangerous. When the two arrived at the field outside the city, six pegasi were gathered and Fleet Feather, followed by a large muscular pegasus, landed by Sword's side a moment later.

"Everypony is gathered, commander."

"Good work, Fleet Feather." Sword said. Then he turned to Dash and brought her to the large pegasus, who was brown-coated with a yellow mane and had a cutie mark of a bundle of three arrows. "Triple-Shot, introduce yourself. Name and specialty."

"I am Triple-Shot, and this is my weapon." The large pegasus spoke with a deep rough voice and presented his impressive bow, which was made from gazelle horn. "She weighs one kilogram and fires fifty bit custom arrows at thirty-six arrows per-"

"He's talking math. I'm bored." Dash interrupted, "I wanna meet the others!"

Sword proceeded to introduce Dash to the rest of the Bolts.

Fireball, a yellow mare with a spiky red mane and a cutie mark of a stream of fire. She carried her weapon over her shoulder, a weapon her mother invented. It shoots a stream of burning oil that would light aflame everything in front of it. Her mother called it, "Dragon Throat." Fireball had a burning passion for her job that even made her teammates uncomfortable.

Ekrixi, a old grey-maned black stallion with a cutie mark of a circle with a line down the middle. He was a master of explosives after many years of experience raiding Hoofrican alchemy laboratories and executing alchemists. He carried bags full of little sacks of saltpeter on his back, and always had a box of matches at hoof.

Ifaistos, Ekrixi's younger brother, also advanced in age. He had a maroon coat and his mane was partly grey and partly black. His cutie mark was a saw and hammer. He fought for years alongside his brother and became an expert in the engineering styles of all three kingdoms. He could build a staunch defending point out of scrap and also knows how best to take down any building.

Dr. Sweet Sting, an olive-green mare with a deep-blue mane and a syringe for a cutie mark. She was Pegasparta's most renowned field surgeon and saved the lives of countless pegasi soldiers. While most of Ponytopia's doctors stayed far from the front lines, she marched among the soldiers and would tend to them in the midst of battle. Rainbow Dash noticed that Rainbow Sword was particularly friendly with Dr. Sweet Sting.

Bee-Spotter, an orange mare with a pink mane and a bulls-eye cutie mark. Using her composite bow, she could spot and shoot down a bee on a flower from thirty feet away without a scratch on the flower. She honed her skills as she grew up among earth ponies in the wooded Southern slopes of the Sunrise Mountains.

Lastly, there was Kryfto, a purple stallion with a white mane and a pegasus' shadow for a cutie mark. He always kept his face hidden behind a black mask. He was a master of stealth and disguise, and wore a strange device around his neck that, when activated, made him unnoticeable even when in plain sight.

Once introductions were finished, Sword explained the mission to the Bolts.

"Now, we have a most vital and daunting task on our wings today. You may have noticed the Sun has not moved for several hours, save for Fleet Feather, who has been spending her hours in the tavern... again. The reason for this is that a heinous crime has been committed: His Royal Majesty, King Concordius, has been abducted." The team gasped. Sword continued, "Our mission is to find His Majesty's captor, a pegasus by the name of Tympanus, bring His Majesty home, and bring Tympanus to justice. This shall be no easy task as this villain has a magical box that can travel anywhere in the world. It is a tall blue wooden box. I am sure you have seen it before on various occasions around the castle. If there is anypony who has any chance of finding that box, it is us. We begin without delay. Arada!"

The Bolts lined up at the edge of the cliff. Fleet Feather, Bee-Spotter, Ekrixi, Ifaistos, Rainbow Sword, Dr. Sweet Sting, Fireball, Triple-Shot, Kryfto. Rainbow Dash joined the line at Fleet Feather's end.

Rainbow Sword then gave the command, "Na ptisi!" The Bolts took off and flew North.

The Key To The Gates

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Chapter XVIII: The Key To The Gates

"How could you let this happen, Sapphire?!" Queen Ember furiously yelled at her daughter upon hearing news of the loss of the phoenix egg. The doors of Sapphire's chambers were broken down and burning in red fire as the slaves hurried about trying to clear away the debris. Queen Ember had her wings flared and her fangs bared at Princess Sapphire, with her mouth glowing with red fire behind her teeth. Her yellow eyes were full of fury as she glared at her daughter. The queen was a corkscrew horned, dark green dragoness with wide wings and a whip like tail. "Do you understand what you've done?! I told you never to let that egg fall unto the wrong claws!"

Princess Sapphire stood still, petrified of her mother's rage. Sapphire could not bear to look at her mother's glaring eyes, so she averted her own eyes and said, "I'm sorry, mother. I... I..."

"You what?"

"Nothing... I merely thought that that if... Well, 'tis not my fault! The pony tricked me!"

"Are you really so naive as to be fooled by a simple pony?! You are a disgrace! I cannot believe how I ever could have called you my daughter!" Ember turned away from Sapphire and walked towards the pedestal. She stared at the empty space atop the pedestal and furiously spat white fire at it, turning it into a pile of dust and rubble. "The protection of the egg is the single most sacred duty of the royal family! And you failed! Since the abdication of Queen Cinder we have kept the egg safe! Your grandmother's grandfather protected it! Your grandmother's father protected it! Your grandmother protected it! And I protected it before passing it unto you! You had one duty! How could you have failed?!"

Sapphire was struggling to hold back her tears. She kept her face out of her mother's view, fearing how her mother would respond to seeing her cry. One tear escaped from Sapphire's eyes and fell to the granite floor, and around the spot where it fell, a layer of frost covered the floor. The tears of dragons have magical properties: tears of anger come from the white fire and is acidic, burning through everything they fall on; tears of happiness come from the red fire and makes the ground fertile where they fall; tears of laughter come from the green fire and makes flowers grow where they fall; tears of grief come from the blue fire and freezes anywhere they fall. Ember turned around to face Sapphire and noticed the patch of ice on the floor. She realized how cruel her words and actions were and calmed down.

"Oh Sapphire... I apologize. I was too harsh." Ember softly said.

Her mother's sudden tenderness made Sapphire break down and she fell down on her bed crying. What was worse than her mother's rage was her own guilt. Through her weeping Sapphire said, "No, it is I who must apologize, mother. I felt that you did not love me and the pony promised me..." Sapphire paused to wipe away her tears and turned to face her mother. "He promised me that he would pretend to be my captive and upon seeing that I've captured an alicorn, you would come to appreciate and love me."

Ember sat beside her daughter on the bed and gently placed Sapphire head on her shoulder as she stroked the spines down her neck. "Sapphire, my dear little girl. Of course, I love you. You are precious to me. And I know it for truth that you are a capable and responsible young dragoness. Why else then would I entrusted the egg, our kingdom's most crucial possession, to your protection?"

Sapphire wiped her tears away again and sniffed. She lifted her head from her mother's shoulder and said, with a confused face, "But 'tis just a cold lifeless egg. What value is there in that?"

Ember sighed and stood. She dismissed all the slaves and ordered them to leave the room, allowing her and Sapphire complete privacy. Once all the slaves left and Ember ensured that nopony was listening, she spoke. "Sapphire, it is time you learned what the egg is... 'Tis the key to the Gates of Tartarus."

Sapphire went pale with shock upon hearing the truth and she gasped. "By the gods... What have I done?" She grasped her chest and collapsed onto her bed. "Oh, what have I done? W-w-we have to find it! We cannot allow that pony anywhere near the Gates! We have to stop him!"

Ember placed her claw on Sapphire's shoulder to calm her down. "For now the Gates are safe. The gods placed many barriers to thwart any attempt to open them. The dragons, Mount Dechrau, Cerberus. All the greatest evils of the world are locked behind those Gates. One does not simply make it through such obstacles. And even if such a feat is accomplished, one needs incredible power to break the egg. Only absolute masters of each of the four fires or a pair of centuries-old alicorns could possibly have enough power."

Sapphire relaxed as she listened to all the things in the Master's way and was convinced that opening the Gates was an insurmountable task. She quickly stood and said, "So, 'tis impossible for the pony to open the Gates? He is but one alicorn, and it requires two. And he seemed quite young. Surely he cannot be hundreds of years old. We are still safe, yes?"

"Quiet, Sapphire." Ember scolded, "Do not take this as an excuse for your fault simply because the gravity of it is not so great." Using her right claw, she flicked a chip of wood from the broken door across the floor. She walked out of the room, into the hall and motioned for Sapphire to follow her. Sapphire obeyed and followed her mother down the alabaster-walled and basalt-floored hall.

Ember spoke as she led her daughter through the halls. "Though he is one mere alicorn, I doubt that we can simply dismiss him as an irritation. The Sun has been lying still on the Western horizon for six hours. It has not moved, which can only mean King Concordius has lost his power. We can only assume this pony is responsible, and if he was able to overcome Concordius, the most powerful pony in the world, then 'tis best that we regard him as a serious threat." The two dragonesses walked through a pair of doors opening out into a terrace on the side of Mount Inferno. To their left was the side of the mountain, and carved into the white alabaster was a relief of the Four Dragons flying across the sky and presiding over the seas, forests, plains and mountains of the world. It was an image of the lost glory and grace of Drakonia.

Queen Ember called for her personal slave and a zebra entered the terrace. He knelt before the queen and waited for orders. Ember spoke to the slave in Zwahiri, "It seems the time came sooner than I expected. Bring me her armor. And bring Comet, Amber and Ruby. Quickly." The slave ran off to carry out the orders, then Ember turned to Sapphire and said, "Look at the Sun, Sapphire. 'Tis been such for hours, now. If it continues, the balance between night and day will have collapsed and order will fall. If you capture that pony, we may find a way to restore the sky."

Sapphire looked at her mother with surprise. "What do you mean by, 'you'?"

"The egg was your responsibility, still is, and shall be 'til you pass it onto your own children. So 'tis your duty to bring the egg back. This is your chance to redeem yourself. Do not fail me twice."

Shortly afterwards, the zebra slave return with several other slaves, each bearing a piece of iron armor on their backs. Ember then ordered them to equip Sapphire with the armor. They put on her chest plate, gauntlets and mask. Once the princess was fully dressed, her brother and two sisters, all wearing their armor, entered the terrace. Comet, Ruby and Amber.

Sapphire's eyes widened and her mouth curled into a smile as she realized what was happening. Ember continued talking.

"As far as we are aware, only the dragons know where the Gates are, so that pony will likely be flying in search for it. I shall go with the Royal Guard to protect the Gates for the next few days."

Sapphire, once she had coped with the delightful shock, embraced her mother and said, "Thank you, mother! Thank you! I shall find him, and I shall ensure he is a pile of ashes by sunrise."

Ember returned the embrace. "The Sun shan't rise at all if you cannot find him." Then she let go of Sapphire and spoke to her other children. "Comet, Ruby, Amber. You have a vital task on your claws. The phoenix egg has been stolen from Sapphire and 'tis essential that it be found. You shall accompany your sister as she searches for it. This shall be her first journey away from home, so take good care of her."

The three siblings nodded and lined up at the edge of the terrace, ready to take off. Sapphire then joined them.

Before they took off, Ember gave them some final instructions. "And whatever you do, do not let the Senate know of this misfortune. They may vote our family out of the throne for it."

"Yes, mother." Sapphire replied, "And I swear, mother. I swear, I shan't let you down this time."

Ember smiled. "Now go." Ember raised her head high and breathed out a plume of all four fires, signaling for the four young dragons to fly. Comet, Ruby, Amber and Sapphire leaped off the edge and spread their wings. Sapphire briefly struggled and frantically flapped her wings, but her two sisters helped her gain a good gliding posture and they all glided gracefully to the South.

The First Act of the Goddess

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Chapter XIX: The First Act of the Goddess

The Master stood by the TARDIS console manning the controls. He flipped handles, pulled levers and smacked a mechanism with a mallet. He set the destination coordinates for a certain spot in the Great Northern Desert, where there was an enormous yellow tent, the mobile abode of the mercenary dragon, Thorn. There was a vital piece of information he needed to gain from the dragon.

The TARDIS parked and the Master opened the doors. Outside, the Master saw a large purple dragon, Thorn, cuddling on a huge bed of silver and gold coins and jewels with a young dragoness.

"Oh, sorry! Bad timing. I'll come back in a few hours." The Master shut the doors and returned to the console. He set the TARDIS to go forward two hours and opened the doors again. Outside he saw a four gazelle slaves with their horns blunted holding spears pointed at the Master.

One of the gazelle called out, "Master! That blue box with the pony has returned!"

Then, from behind bead curtains, Thorn entered. He was much larger than the average dragon, larger than Queen Ember, even, because of all the possessions he had amassed. His white spines were long and stiff, and his tail ended in an arrowhead shape. He wore a variety of jewels and the most dazzling of them all was the golden cuff on his right wrist, which was adorned with a fang-shaped diamond. One thing he lacked was a pair of wings. Thorn gestured for the slaves to move aside and crouched down to look at the Master in the face. He glared at the intruder with his menacing green eyes and bared his fearsome teeth.

"And to what do I owe the honor of being visited by the king of Ponytopia?" Thorn said with false sincerity, "And you seem much younger now. Are you so vain as to use an age spell on yourself, Your Majesty?"

"We cometh with a deal for thee, Thorn." The Master said, using a royal voice.

Thorn stood up straight again and walked around the TARDIS. "I appreciate your business, Your Majesty. I also notice that your Drakish has much improved since we last spoke. You sound as if you hail from Mount Inferno. Though, I do have questions aplenty. Firstly, why in the name of Faust are you travelling in a little box?"

The Master stepped out from the TARDIS and walked to face Thorn directly, though he stayed within the TARDIS extrapolator shield. After Thorn lowered his head to be face-to-face with who he thought was King Concordius, the Master said, "We are simply here to discuss our business. There art no time for inquiries."

Thorn exhaled heavily out of his nostrils, blowing a plume of smoke at the Master. "And you have certainly become quite rude," he said, "But that matters not. So, what do you wish for and what do you offer, Your Majesty?"

"We seek information."

"Oh, now that is new! What is it you seek?" Thorn walked to his bed and lied down as he listened to the Master's response.

"We wish to know the secret known by all dragons. The secret the dragons hath kept for millenia."

"Why come to me then? Can you not demand an answer out of some other dragon?"

"Thou art a mercenary. Thou hast no allegiance to the kingdom of Drakonia. Thy allegiance lies only with the right price." The Master then took out a heavy sack from the TARDIS and dropped it in front of Thorn. In the sack were the jewels and ornaments worn by King Concordius.

"Well then, Your Majesty, perhaps if you ponies did not mercilessly kill on sight every dragon you come across, you may be able to torture one and force an answer out of him. But, never mind that. This is quite the price you lay on the table. What then is the information in question?" Thorn rested his chin on his claws as he listened to the Master.

"We wish to know the location of the Gates of Tartarus."

Thorn raised his head in surprise. He then stood and glared at the Master. "You insult me, Concordius! I may have no allegiance to any kingdom, but I still have my honor as a dragon. The location of the Gates is the most sacred secret kept by the dragons since the dawn of time. To keep this secret is the duty handed to us by Queen Faust. You know this! Have you lost your respect of the gods? You have even abandoned your duty over the Sun and Moon! And you call yourself a king?"

The Master decided that he would get no farther with Thorn. In matters of honor, no dragon can be swayed. Their sense of honor is immaculate. "Oh, I definitely don't call myself a king, Thorn." He then returned to the TARDIS and spoke to Thorn from the doorway. "You were simply so stupid that you mistook me for the king and then refuse my offer. Well, then, I suppose I should be moving on to the next option."

"What? If you are not the king, then who are you?"

"I told you. No questions. I was just here for business. Now, good-bye." The Master then shut the TARDIS doors and set the TARDIS on course for a new destination. Thorn stared at the blue box as it vanished before his eyes. He sighed and ordered his slaves to bring him a bowl of topaz.
~~~~~

The Master set his course for the Uruhu Forest, in the heart of Hoofrica. With his attempt to gain information from Thorn turning fruitless, his next option was to seek the help of his followers. He opened the doors and saw outside zebra bowing down before him. The TARDIS had landed outside a zebra shaman's hut deep in the forest. The surrounding woods were wet and dark, and the sound of insects droned endlessly. The only lights came from the TARDIS, the hut and a very few holes in the canopy where moonlight seeped through.

"Master, you told me not that you were coming to my home. I failed to prepare to welcome you as you return from wherever you roam." the bowing zebra humbly said. The zebra was short and skinny, as a result of his ascetism. He wore copper rings around his long neck and had golden ear rings. His cutie mark was a single all-seeing eye.

"Lift your head up, Rundo Ndizi. I have a task for you."

The Master entered into Rundo Ndizi's hut and sat by the table, where Rundo then placed a clay cup of tea for him. As the Master drank his tea, he spoke. "So, you're the one responsible for the Pool of Seeing, am I right? You tend to and use the Pool?"

"You are correct, indeed, my noble lord. The Pool is mine to care, as you have said by every word."

The Master finished his tea and said, "Excellent.Show it to me."

Rundo Ndizi took a bag full of powder and potions led the Master out the back door of the hut and down a narrow trail through the woods lit by jars of fireflies. They walked on for a few minutes and reached a wide hole in the ground. On a nearby tree was tied a rope that led down into the hole, which continued far beyond the reach of light. Rundo stood at the edge and took out a small sack of powder. He emptied the blue contents onto his hoof and sprinkled the powder down into the hole. Moments later there was a flash of light hole and as the two looked down, they saw a light blue glow coming from the bottom. Rundo Ndizi grabbed the rope with his mouth and slowly climbed down into the hole. The Master slowly flew down, following the zebra's lead.

The hole was perfectly cylindrical and straight, clearly not a natural creation, but no pony, dragon or Hoofrican was responsible for it. As the Master observed the hole, he took out the Doctor's screwdriver, which detected major temporal disturbances all over the deep hole. This hole was a gap in the fabric of time and space, where anything from all of time and space can interact with this specific part of the Universe. The gap was responsible for the perfect shape of the hole, and for the magical properties of the Pool down below.

After a few minutes of descending, Rundo Ndizi and the Master reached the Pool of Seeing, a small underground lake glowing light blue. Rundo dropped down from the rope and landed on a cylindrical rock at the center of the Pool. At the edge of the rock was a ladder that led into the water.

"What, Master, is it that you wish to see? Anything, I can show you, so long as it is known to me. I must tell that secrets beyond my knowledge are shrouded behind the veil where all mysteries are crowded."

"Show me the day of Creation. Show me when Queen Faust banished the evils of the world into Tartarus."

Rundo Ndizi nodded and put down his bag. As he took out various sacks, jars and vials, he told the Master the story of Queen Faust's first action upon the world: The Great Cleansing.

"We live now in the Fourth Age, and before this there were three. This is the story passed down from the dawn of this Age and reaches me. The First Age was a time of goodness created by the First Goddess, Bonnie Zacherle. But soon that Age fell and came to the Ages where the gods ruled wickedly. The Second Age was a time of heinous depravity and licentiousness. Then came the Third Age, the worst of all, void of all good and full of revolting wickedness. So great was its evil, few now would dare to speak of its existence. Such is the result of a time where goodness is seen as nonsense."

Rundo Ndizi finished preparing his potion. The potion vial contained a violet liquid of the same consistency as water and smelled like elderberries. He stood at the edge of the rock and poured the potion into the Pool. The violet color spread and the glow also turned violet. As the potion spread, Rundo Ndizi continued the story.

"But, listen now, I say, for hope was not all lost. For then rose the greatest of all the gods, Faust. With a stroke of Her pen, all evil was washed away. The time had come for Her to create a new day. She locked away all the demons, that they may not further continue their crime. She sealed them in an inescapable prison, behind unbreakable doors of Adamantine. Countless evil ponies were imprisoned within the confines of Tartarus. And with that done, she turned to the task of creating us."

Now the whole pool was glowing violet and gently swirled around the central rock clockwise. Rundo Ndizi invited the Master to the edge of the rock and said, "These things came to pass from a time remembered only by word of mouth of we zebras. The beginning of the Fourth Age was eight-thousand twenty-four years before us. These things took place deep in the dragons' kingdom. In there the beginning of this Age had come."

"A very nice story, Rundo." the Master said, "but now I want to see it."

"We must jump, my master, into the pool. Then we shall see the beginning of the goddess' rule."

The Master nodded and he and Rundo together dove into the glowing violet water. The Master's vision was clouded in violet and later the coolness of the water disappeared and he felt as if he was floating in air. The cloud of violet then vanished and the Master and Rundo were standing on a vast empty white plain. The land was flat and featureless for as far as the eye can see, and the sky too was completely white and blank. There were no clouds, Sun, Moon or stars. Everything was silent. The Master could not hear his own breathing. Even the sound of drums that had been beating in his head for centuries stopped. He looked to Rundo Ndizi, who appeared ethereal and ghost-like. Rundo put his hoof over his mouth, gesturing for silence. The Master looked at his own hoof, which also had a ghost-like appearance.

Suddenly, there was a faint spark of light high in the sky, and shortly afterwards a perfectly straight stream of black liquid poured down from the sky a mile away from the Master and Rundo Ndizi. The Master flew off to get a closer look, and Rundo galloped following him. Upon touching the white ground, the stream simply bore through it. The stream then suddenly stopped, leaving a circular dot on the spot where it poured. Suddenly, the ground trembled and an enormous black rock emerged from the black dot. The rock stood tall and wide, its peak at least twenty times higher from the ground than the tip of the Master's horn.

Then a stream of grey liquid poured from the sky and into the side of the rock. Where the liquid struck, a pair of enormous thick metal doors formed. The doors spanned from the base of the rock to half-way towards the peak. The doors then swing open with an earth-shaking creak. Inside the doors was nothing but empty darkness.

Then there was an sudden deafening bang and the open doors began shaking. The Master and Rundo Ndizi did not feel anything, but the darkness was sucking in everything around it, though initially there was nothing to suck in. Then from beyond every horizon, colorful clouds began flying towards the rock. As the clouds came closer, the Master and Rundo saw that they were in fact great hordes of creatures. Ponies, little dragons, pony faeries, and countless other abominations of the Third Age. The Master and Rundo ducked as the hordes all flew through the doors and were sucked into the darkness. They were all screaming and wailing as they were sent into their eternal confinement. Minutes passed as the hordes continued to be sucked into the darkness. Once they all had been trapped within, the metal doors closed shut with a thunderous thud.

A narrow beam of blinding white light then came from the sky and struck the bottom of the doors at the center. The beam then slowly moved up the center of the doors. The door crack disappeared as the beam moved up until finally it was simply a plain blank metal wall in the shape of a doorway.

After the light vanished, a stream of multicolored liquid poured into the center of the metal wall. Where the stream made contact, an orange and yellow egg formed with an indent on the wall where the egg fit perfectly. Then from out of the egg radiated a pattern of swirling lines of black and white carved into the metal. Then the egg fell from the wall and onto the white ground.

Lastly, a pillar of green fire came down from the sky and smothered the giant rock in its green flames. From the fire formed a magnificently tall green mountain of emerald and jade. It reached high into the sky and seemed to touch the very heavens themselves. Yet, it cast no shadow, as there was no single source of light. On the peak of the great mountain lied the egg.

The Master's vision was once again clouded in violet and he found himself floating in a small lake of glowing violet water. He swam up and took a breath upon reaching the surface. He looked to his left and Rundo Ndizi climbing the ladder back onto the cylindrical rock. He tried to fly out of the Pool of Seeing, but he could not fly with his soaked feathers and the weight of his wet mane, coat and tail. He swam towards the ladder and climbed behind Rundo. As the Master climbed the ladder, the violet water turned light blue once again.

"Is that all you wish to see? Or is there more you want from me?"

"That's all I need for the time being. Now, I must go and, well, learn magic. Should take me ten years, at the most. And there's a certain pegasus whose loyalty I need to secure. For you, of course, it will be just a moment, or maybe a few days. I don't know. But anyway, it won't be long until all our work will come to fruition."

"There shall be much rejoicing when it comes. Great feasting for your victory, we zebras shall prepare in our homes."

Rundo Ndizi took out a small sack of yellow powder and threw some of it at himself, making his body dry instantly. Then he threw some at the Master, making him dry instantly. The Master test flapped his wings to ensure they were dry enough for flight. Then he took off flying up the hole back to the surface and went on to his next move.

Author's Notes:

In case anybody gets confused, the size of a dragon is determined by his/her greed and the amount of possessions he/she has hoarded, as we saw happen with Spike in the episode, "Secrets of my Excess." So most of the dragons in this story are not the size of the huge dragons we see in the show, as they are lawful citizens of Drakonia and exercise moderation by not excessively hoarding possessions and are moderately sized. Princess Sapphire, for example, would be about six times the size of Princess Celestia. Queen Ember would be about ten times the size of Celestia. And Thorn would be about fourteen times the size of Celestia. The only dragons in this story that would be around the size of the giant dragons we see in the show are the first Four Dragons, and the Arglwydd.

A Dancing Sky

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Chapter XX: A Dancing Sky

"Your Highness, you need to take a look at the sky." The gazelle butler, Alfalfred, said as he entered the Emperor's throne room.

Emperor Bluehorn looked up from his newspaper. "Hm? What's going on, now?"

"The sky, Your Highness. You need to see it!"

"What's the matter with the sky?"

"Just go out and look at the sky."

"Alfalfred, I'm busy reading about the affair between the head chef of- Hey! Hey!! Hey!!! What do you think you're doing?!" Bluehorn yelled as he saw Alfalfred reach for the one of the window curtains. He gestured for the guards to grab him and stopped the butler before he opened the curtains. "Those curtains have not been opened for three-hundred seventy years. One does not simply open them to see the sky. My mother kept these curtains closed. And her father before her. And his mother before him. And her mother before - er, actually no. Queen Askari was my great-grandma's aunt-in-law through her twice-removed cousin - But anyway, and her father before her. And so on and so forth." Bluehorn put down his newspaper, got off his throne and walked towards Alfalfred. He gestured for the guards to let go of him and said, "But I know you. If you think whatever is wrong with the sky is so serious that you need to break a centuries-old tradition, then maybe it is that serious."

Emperor Bluehorn pulled aside the curtain next to him, revealing a shocking sight.

"By the gods..." A gibbous Moon was rotating high at the center of the sky, and the Sun was lying to the North. It had been moving to the right along the horizon. Opposite in the sky from the Sun, the stars shined. The mountains and forest cast shadows where they've never touched before and places normally veiled in darkness were bathed in light. As he stared at the sky, Emperor Bluehorn asked, "How long have I been reading that newspaper?"

"Well, actually, you haven't been reading the newspaper for that long," a guard replied, "Although, you've been in your chambers reading letters from the people and working on repealing a law for a few hours and before that you were in the indoor ampitheatre watching 'Mfalme Miguu Ndogo.'"

"An absolutely fantastic play, by the way." Bluehorn said, "You really should see it some time, Alfalfred. Experience the theatre a bit!"

"Yes, yes, Your Highness," Alfalfred replied, "but more to the point: What do we do about the sky?"

The Emperor pondered for a moment. "Well... it must have been that pony, Tympanus. He said he would help us win the war and..."

"Your Highness, do you even know what he planned to do?"

"N-no... He just said he needed the blue box for the time being and would return by sunset."

"At least he's kept that part of his promise. The Sun still hasn't set. It's been stuck on the horizon for the past fourteen hours."

Bluehorn's eyes widened in worry. He shut the curtains and hurriedly walked out of the throne room and down the hall to the alchemy laboratories, his jewelry jingling as he took long brisk strides. Alfalfred and one of the guards followed. As they walked down the wide torch-lit stone corridor, Bluehorn said, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"Before now the Sun was just sitting on the Western horizon and I thought it was just the Pony King neglecting his duties," Alfalfred replied, "but now suddenly, the sky went into chaos. Something much more serious must be happening."

Bluehorn abruptly stopped in the hall and Alfalfred bumped into his rear. The Emperor turned, looked around and scratched his head.

"Wait, where's Golden Lead's laboratory?"

"We just passed it a moment ago, Your Highness." The guard answered.

"Why don't you lead the way."

The guard nodded and turned to walk the other direction. The three arrived at an iron door that had an engraving of circle with a dot at the center. From inside they could hear Golden Lead yelling to her brother, "Get the chains! Get the chains! Hurry up, I can't hold it down forever!" along with the hideous screeching of some strange creature. The guard took out a set of keys and unlocked the door.

As he opened the door, Golden Lead yelled, "Stop! Don't open the door!" But it was too late and a strange skinny four-legged creature charged out the door and past the guard, Alfalfred and Bluehorn.

The Emperor quickly turned and shouted "Mwamba hadi!" as his horn lit up, illuminating the corridor with its bright blue glow. A patch of the stone floor down the hall lit up with the same color and Bluehorn swung his head up. That patch of the floor detached and rapidly flew upward, hitting the escaping creature as it tried to fly down the hall. The creature was knocked out by the rock and fell to the floor. The guard quickly proceeded to tie it with a nearby rope, and Bluehorn and Alfalfred walked over to inspect it.

The unconscious creature was of the size and shape of an earth pony, but it was like nothing either the guard or Alfalfred had seen and Bluehorn had seen the like only once before. It had skin of black scales and a hard dark blue shell on its back. Protruding from the shell were a pair of translucent insect wings. It had a curved black horn on its forehead and ears that appeared as if the top half of them were eaten off. The legs were similar: they were jagged and had holes in them, as if a caterpillar had feasted on them. Instead of a mane along its neck, it had webbed spines.

Bluehorn turned around and saw Golden Lead and Pyro by the door to the laboratory, both looking embarrassed. Bluehorn walked to them and irately said, "Explain."

Golden Lead hesitatively answered, "It-it's a hybrid, Your Highness. A pony-dragon-insect hybrid."

Alfalfred gasped and quickly stepped away from the creature. Bluehorn frowned and scolded Golden Lead and Pyro. "I thought I cut off all funding for your hybridization experiments last year! Didn't I make it clear enough that I wanted this to stop?"

"We did stop, Your Highness." Pyro responded, "But, um, this one just hatched from an egg in the storage room."

Bluehorn heaved a frustrated sigh. "Golden Lead, I thought I told you to get rid of all the eggs!"

"I did, Your Highness." Golden Lead replied, "It's just that- it seems there was one egg accidentally left over. But I made sure all the other eggs were dumped into the Sea."

"Dumped into the Sea? Are you sure that's enough to destroy them?"

"Well... um, no. But I'm certain that wherever they are now, they're either destroyed or carried far away."

"I hope to the Gods that you're right."

Suddenly the rhinos and Alfalfred heard a screech from behind them. They turned and saw the hybrid struggling to escape from the rope. As they approached it, the hybrid hissed at them, baring its long fangs and glaring with its completely blue eyes.

Bluehorn sighed again, "I don't have time to deal with this now. Guard, kill it. Hybridization is dangerous, and I just want it ended once and for all."

The guard nodded and levitated a torch over the hybrid. He then dropped it and let the creature burn. Its horrid deafening screeches of pain echoed through the palace, reaching the ears of everyone within. The hybrid writhed and squirmed in anguish as it was engulfed in flames. Soon it stopped and fell limp and lifeless. The guard let the fire continue for a while longer and then lit up his orange horn and said the incantation, "Kuizima mwali," to put out the fire. All that remained of the hybrid were its ashes.

"Anyway," Bluehorn said as he turned to face Golden Lead and Pyro, "we have a larger problem on our hooves. Tell me, did that pony, Tympanus, say anything about what he was planning? What did he have you do for him in the laboratory?"

"He said he wanted to become an alicorn in order to take the power over the Sun and Moon away from King Concordius." Golden answered, "So we made him a potion that would take the horns and wings of the king and give it to Tympanus."

Bluehorn thought for a moment and said, "So... if Tympanus was successful then that means that Concordius fell. And since Concordius is the only one who can control the sky, then that explains why the sky is dancing. So we have nothing to worry about after all! Everything is just going according to plan!" Bluehorn turned and began walking briskly down the hall towards the throne room, but Pyro ran over and stopped him.

"Wait, Your Highness! Did you say the sky is dancing?"

"Yes. The Moon is spinning and the Sun looks like it's been moving along the horizon and all kinds of chaos must be happening with the Stars. So it's a clear sign that Tympanus succeeded in his mission."

"But, Your Highness, I read that when there is no control over the sky, then all the celestial objects would just hold still. For them all to be moving around like that would take powerful magic from an expert sorcerer. If Tympanus took Concordius' power, then he must be the one controlling the sky. So why isn't he keeping the sky in order?"

Bluehorn took a few pondering steps past Pyro and down the hallway. He sighed as he came to the realization that he made a foolish mistake in trusting Tympanus. He sat on the floor and put his hoof to his forehead. Alfalfred walked over to him and said, "Your Highness, what is it?"

"Oh, Alfalfred. Why am I such an idiot?" Bluehorn said as he stood back up. "Why did my old man ever think I was capable of being the Emperor when I'm so thick?"

"Your Highness, don't be hard on yourself like that."

"No, no, no. I made a vow at my coronation that I would do only what was best for my people, and I failed. You can see from the sky that Tympanus obviously never planned to bring peace and harmony at all!"

"Your Highness," the guard joined, "maybe, instead of being down, you could try doing something about it?"

Bluehorn was silent for a moment and saw the wisdom in the guard's words. "Right! Absolutely right! What do we do? We have to find him! So, send out our fastest gazelle across the Emerald Plains. Post guards on every watch tower inside and outside the city. Set out scouting hawks. Send our zebras into the Uruhu Forest. Tell them all to find an alicorn going around in a blue box... and that sentence was not as silly as it just sounded. Now, go!"

The guard smiled to see Bluehorn finally taking on military action as the Emperor. "Immediately, Your Highness." He proceeded to carry out the Emperor's commands as quickly as possible, and soon the entire military in Rhinopolis was mobilizing to search for a blue box.

Follow Polaris

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Chapter XXI: Follow Polaris

Twilight Sparkle stood in the hall outside of Starswirl's library and admired the stained-glass windows containing ancient texts. The Doctor and Starswirl allowed the ponies to go out and explore the castle while they spent the past few hours examining the scroll that Starswirl showed them earlier. Twilight was awed by the beautiful glass calligraphy and even more so by the beauty of the words. She had been studying ancient Equinese back in 21st century Ponyville and was semi-fluent, but thanks to the TARDIS translation matrix, she could read the text effortlessly. She stood in front of a speech that she had been working on making her own translation of. It was the elegy given by Queen Bella at the funeral of her husband King Dux I, who died in battle two years after the beginning of the Five-Hundred Year War.

The Pony King led an army of pegasi and earth ponies that cut a destructive swath through the kingdom of Drakonia and reached the Salt Flats of Pedwar Draig. The pegasi brought with them rain clouds to counter the dragons' fires. But the Dragon King, Cyfiawnder, was a step ahead and set up an ambush. As the pony army trudged across the salt flats, they reached a point where there were seasonal periods of powerful Easterly winds. The winds blew away the clouds brought by the pegasi and then a small army of white dragons led by Cyfiawnder and cleverly camouflaged into the flats, attacked the army. King Dux I quickly erected a magic wall to protect his army from the dragons. In response, King Cyfiawnder, concentrated all his energy into creating a powerful beam of white fire. He let loose the beam, which penetrated the wall and burned through King Dux's chest. At the last moment, just before his death, Dux took some of the power from the white fire and redirected it into his horn, giving himself a moment of unparalleled magical power. He used the power to teleport himself and what remained of his army to safety, through the greatest distance any teleportation spell had ever reached in all of recorded history.

Twilight found that the TARDIS translation was very different from her translation.

"On the ground in silence sit,

The old ponies of daughter Dienocte.

They strew dust on their manes,

And gird themselves with broken saddles.

Worn out from weeping are our eyes,

Within us all is in despair.

Our sorrow is poured out on the ground,

Because of the downfall of the leader of our people.

Cry out to the Queen.

Moan, oh daughter Dienocte.

Let your tears flow like a torrent day and night.

How tarnished is the gold,

How changed the noble metal.

How the sacred stones lie strewn,

At every street corner!

The joy of our hearts has ceased,

Our dance has turned into mourning.

The garlands have fallen from our heads.

Woe to us, for we have been smote!

Over this our hearts are sick,

At this our eyes grow dim.

That Dienocte should be desolate,

With timberwolves roaming there!"

Twilight was intrigued by the poem. Everypony who knew about the abduction of King Concordius surely felt the same way as those ponies in the funeral of Dux I.

From behind her, Twilight heard Applejack's voice. "Hey, Twi. Come in here. I think Starswirl and the Doctor got something." Applejack then went off to fetch Rarity, who was conversing with one of the guards, Fluttershy, who was out in the Royal Gardens, and Pinkie, who was in the courtyard hard at work slowly pouring copious amounts of honey into a cup of tea.

Twilight recited the incantation and entered Starswirl's library. Starswirl the Bearded and the Doctor, who was wearing his glasses, were by a North-facing window looking over the scroll. Derpy was napping on a cloud just outside the window on the far side of the library. The Sun was now upon the Eastern horizon and slightly higher up. The gibbous Moon remained rotating at the center of the Sky.

"So there's a text somewhere around here that tells us how to create a magic powerful enough to defeat an alicorn."

"Aye. It sayeth hither, 'No sum of horn, wing or hoof may stand against it. It shall be the bane of the most nefarious of villains. Demons shall tremble in fear of it. But, lo, to the righteous, it gives the power of a hundred kings and queens.' I hath found no other magic that seem to be comparable to it, save for the power of the almighty gods."

Twilight approached them and said, "Um, hi. Do you two need me?"

"Ah, yes! Come here, Twilight." The Doctor said, gesturing for Twilight to come to his side and look at the scroll. "This scroll here says that there's a text somewhere in the upper castle - the part of the castle we've been in, you haven't seen the lower castle yet, that's where the nobles live - but anyway, and that text will tell us how to create the Elements of Harmony, or something like it, or maybe something completely different. I don't know. But it is very powerful and was meant for the worst situations. So it's a matter of finding that text. And we have to find it soon. I don't know what the Master's planning, but whatever it is, it has something to do with the chaos in the sky."

"The location of the text hath eluded me for many decades." Starswirl said, "The queen, Magia, blest be she, wrote this prophecy. Noble and powerful though she was, the gods seemed to hath cursed her with dreadful and horrid visions in her sleep. After one such sleep-vision, she wrote this, and 'twas stored within this library for seven centuries."

"'Sleep-vision'?" Twilight asked.

The Doctor whispered a reply in her ear. "They don't have the word nightmare yet. In fact, the word comes from Nightmare Moon, who won't be around for another thousand years, approximately."

"Know you not what a sleep-vision is, madam?"

"Oh, sorry, never mind," Twilight said, "Forget I said anything. My mind was just going blank. Hehe..."

They heard the door open behind them and Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity entered. The sound of the door woke Derpy and soon she sleepily flew in through the window, just barely missing bumping into a statuette of the first monarchs, Lux and Nox.

"Dang it!" Applejack said as she walked in first, "That incantation's harder to say than Granny Smith's dern tongue-twistin' nursery rhymes."

"Dearest mares, come hither," Starswirl said as he brought the scroll to a table near the door. He laid it out on the table and lit a candle. Everypony gathered around the table. "Mayhaps thou canst decipher the meaning of the text."

"Oh my, what gorgeous writing! Makes me wish I could do calligraphy. So what needs deciphering?" Rarity said.

Starswirl pointed at a paragraph near the bottom of the scroll and said, "Here: 'The recipe of this saving magic be'eth upon one beneath all hooves. None among the great see its worth and it is forever rejected. To the low it has use and it is forever accepted. It shan't be found within places high nor within places central nor within places well lit nor within places kept tidy. Far it has travelled, from desert wastes, through scorching white plains, through winding rivers, through the purple lake, and through vast hills, 'til it reached the House of the Sun and the Moon, where it stays hidden yet unconcealed. There is only one who may find it, for 'tis meaningless to all but him and his uncontrolled reflection.' What make you of it?"

Applejack was the first to answer. "Gosh, I don't know. It's all clear as mud. I can't see how anypony can know what it means."

"Well, at least it tells us where it isn't." Fluttershy said.

"But it might not be that literal. The whole thing might just be one big metaphor." Twilight replied.

Pinkie, bounced up and down behind Applejack and Fluttershy to get a better look at the scroll. "Did you say recipe? Is it a recipe for magic cupcakes?!"

"Pinkie, calm down. There aren't any cupcakes here." Rarity said before turning to the scroll again. "Well, let's see, first things first: who wrote this?"

"Queen Magia. The eighth Queen of the Night." The Doctor answered. "She wrote it about, ehhhh, approximately seven-hundred years ago."

"Alright." Rarity continued, "Then when she talks about 'the low,' she's clearly talking about the servants in this castle. If I know anything about upper crust unicorns, they love to look down on working ponies. But it has to be one of the servants: cleaning-ponies, bus-colts, garbage collectors, and all the like. With chefs, butlers, barbers, maitre'ds and others, though, not so much. And it can't be one of the common ponies because, as you said, Doctor, whatever we're looking for is in the castle."

"There we go then! Rarity, you are brilliant!"

Everypony agreed with the Doctor and gave Rarity their praises.

"Oh really, it's nothing. I simply like to keep track of Canterlot social trends."

Everypony returned to the text again and tried to analyze it further.

"So now it's narrowed down a lot." Twilight said, "Whatever it is we're looking for the servants accept it and use it."

"But then what in the hay does it mean when it says 'accept' and 'use'?" Applejack asked.

Everypony quietly gave the words thought for a moment until Fluttershy said, "When I accept anything or newly arrived animals at Ponyville, I bring them to my house."

The Doctor came to a realization, gave a loud "OOOHHHHH!" and stepped back from the table. "It's 'accepted.' 'Accepted.' Brilliant Fluttershy! This thing, it travelled far. And what do you do when you accept a weary traveler? You welcome him into your home! A servant accepted it into his home."

"Ergo, 'tis within the servant quarters!" Starswirl excitedly said. He and the Doctor began to go towards the door, but Applejack stopped them.

"Wait, hold on now! We don't even know what we're looking for. It says 'There is only one who may find it.' How on earth do we know who this pony is?"

The two stopped and, realizing that Applejack was right, quickly returned to the table to continue deciphering the meaning of the prophecy.

"Aww, I'm tired of waiting around here!" Pinkie said, "Whoever it is, if we're meant to find it, then one of us is the one! Come on! Let's go!"

"It can't hurt to at least take a look." Twilight joined.

"Well, I reckon you're right." Applejack said.

Everypony agreed to move on and search through the servant quarters. Starswirl brought the scroll along as they walked through the halls. They passed through the central intersection of hallways, where many servants were busily walking to and fro from one room to another, and four noble unicorns were vehemently discussing an issue the nine ponies paid no attention to. As they briefly stopped to wait for a set of enormous doors to open, Applejack asked Starswirl, "So if this here scroll's been around for seven-hundred years, how come nopony's ever gone lookin' for that, um... thing?"

"None hath thought the time to be proper to begin searching. And none hath devised a suitable interpretation of the text before now. That much of the prophecy hath now been deciphered must be a sign that the time for its fulfillment is nigh."

The great spruce wood doors before them finished opening and the eight continued walking.

"While we're going, we should try to figure out the rest of the prophecy." Twilight said, "What about the part that says that it's in 'one beneath all hooves'? I think that would tell us what it is we're looking for."

Rarity and Twilight slowed down as they gave the words some thought. The others stopped when they reached a distance from the two. Rarity, realizing that she was falling behind swiftly trotted forward to the rest of the group, though Twilight remained deep in thought. When Twilight finally caught up, Fluttershy tapped her shoulder and said,

"Well, um, I was thinking, does 'beneath all hooves' mean that it's always being stepped on by everypony?"

Twilight quickly snapped out of her contemplation and looked at Fluttershy with pleasant surprise. "Fluttershy, you're a genius! It's something everypony steps on. Quick, think of things that you step on!"

Everypony began listing off their thought all at once.

"Stairs!"

"Wooden boards!"

"Insects!"

"Crunchy leaves!"

"Puddles!"

"Dirt!"

"Dresses that are much too long for me!"

"Grass!"

"Wait! Everypony quiet!" The Doctor silenced them all and said, "One at a time please. Let's try to stay orderly. Now, who would like to go first?"

Applejack raised her hand. The Doctor gestured for her to speak and she said, "How 'bout a rug?"

"A rug? A rug. OOOHHH! Yes! A rug!"

"'Tis perfect! A means of recording a text, forever stepped upon, and in the possession of a lowly servant!" Starswirl joined.

"Great!" Twilight said, "Now we know what we're looking for!"

The nine quickly continued down the hall and reached a pair of average-sized wooden doors. The Doctor pushed the doors open and revealed a very plain dimly lit narrow hallway with walls of brick and floors of cobblestone, starkly contrasting with the bright and beautiful main hallway. The hallway was lined on both sides with many doors, each leading to a room shared by five servants. At the end of the hallway was the door to the servant baths and two branches of the hall, the left of which led to the courtyard, and the right of which led to a storage room. In the interest of time, the nine ponies all split up and visited each and every room.

The doors were all numbered with ancient Equinese numerals and the whole place was more or less empty as the servants were all busy with other things. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie took the five closest rooms. Starswirl entered the a room farther down the hall and Derpy went to the room at the opposite side of the hall. The Doctor decided to go to the baths, as he was curious about what they would look like in compared to the royal bath, which Princess Venusta, youngest daughter of King Solus III and Queen Nox III, invited him to see before she unsuccessfully tried to seduce him.

The Doctor opened the door to the baths, which was labeled with the number ten. Inside was a delightful surprise. The baths were tidy, organized and complex. It was lit by many candles, but the room was still relatively dim as it lacked sunlight. The residents of Castle Equites seemed to highly value the hygiene of the servants. The Doctor explored the various rooms containing the baths themselves, admiring the durable tiling, the sturdy piping and well made bathing pools. He also noticed interesting rugs at the doors to the individual bathing rooms. They were cheap and worn, and few appeared to have been made in Ponytopia. Many had exotic designs.

Then the Doctor came upon one rug which contained a design that made his hearts skip a beat. He stared at it for a long time with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. It was a sight he had not seen for centuries. He backed away from the rug and muttered, "Impossible..."

Now he understood what Queen Magia meant by the text being meaningless to all but one and his uncontrolled reflection. She wrote of the last two Time Stallions: the Doctor and the Master. The rug before him contained a text written in the only language in all of space and time that the TARDIS cannot translate. The intricate circles and rings that composed the design on the rug were a message written in Gallopfreyan.

It read, "The recipe to create the Elements of Harmony are as follows: one reproductive unit of Earth's only species of bioluminescent tree, a reptilian tooth composed of crystallized carbon, the life force of an alicorn contained in the form of a pollination mechanism, a one-kilogram piece of a white dwarf star, thirty grams of purified melanite, thirty grams of purified howlite and any amount of the ultimate essence of all matter and energy in the Universe. Doctor, you and your companions will find these things by going in the direction of the star MW-11231963SN, known on Earth as 'Polaris.' Good luck."

Without hesitation, the Doctor snatched up the rug and carried on his mouth as he galloped to find the others. He went to each room calling for each of them. He led them all back to the main hall where there was enough light and space. He laid the rug out on the floor for everypony to see.

"This is it! This is the recipe." he said.

"Looks like a bunch of circles to me." Applejack said.

"It's a message written in Gallopfreyan, the language of the Time Stallions."

"But what's it doing here on Earth?" Rarity asked, "You said you're people were destroyed."

"Maybe the Master made it?" Derpy joined.

"I don't know how it got here," the Doctor replied, "but it can't have been from the Master. This rug's been here for decades." He licked the rug to taste for the age and said, "Hmmm, I'd say sixty years, give or take. But anyway that doesn't matter. What matters is that now we know how to create the Elements of Harmony."

Everypony gasped delightfully at the good news. "That's wonderful!" Twilight said, "Then we might have a chance!"

"But the thing is," the Doctor continued, "What we need aren't readily at hoof. One of the things that the text lists can't even be found on Earth. And with one of them, I don't even know what it is. The only clue it gives us is this one instruction: to follow Polaris. So we don't have much time. Looks like we'll have to go on a long journey. Pack quickly and lightly."

"Doctor, we don't have anything to pack." Rarity said, "All of our things are back in Ponyville."

"Well then, let's not pack anything more than food and some blankets. I'm sure Starswirl can secure the supplies for us."

"As Head Sorcerer, I shan't be denied such a request."

Just as everypony was about to go and prepare for the long trek ahead of them, Fluttershy said, "Wait. What about Rainbow Dash?"

Everypony stopped. "Oh, Rainbow Dash..." Twilight said, "Should we wait for her to come back?"

"Yeah, we need Rainbow Dash if we're gonna do this." Applejack said.

"I don't think we have time to wait." The Doctor replied.

Starswirl joined him, saying, "If I know Rainbow Sword, he shall not halt his mission until 'tis complete. I doubteth that there be a time near when he and Rainbow Dash shall return, unless they hath found Tympanus. And should they find Tympanus, then we hath the villain in our grasp and we may use thine Elements to vanquish him once and for all."

"As much I hate the thought of us going on without her," Rarity said, "I think we'll just have to trust that Rainbow will do her part and we can do ours."

The other ponies slowly gave their consent and agreed to begin the journey without Rainbow Dash. If Rainbow Dash did decide to return, she could easily and quickly catch up with them. And yet, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were reluctant to leave behind their friend.

"Well then," the Doctor began, "Allons-y!"

~~~~~

"Starswirl, I really don't find it necessary to bring an army with us."

"'Tis for our own safety, Doctor. I hath heard reports several days ago of a mighty Hoofrican army approaching our border. And yesterday, or rather, the day before the abduction of His Majesty, there cameth a report of that army marching Southeast through the Emerald Plains. And should we follow Polaris beyond the Northern border, we entereth unto Drakonian lands. Think you not that we must defend ourselves?"

"We don't need an army to defend ourselves. I don't want any more lives put at risk!"

"As Head Sorcerer, Doctor, I decreeth it! Thou art too late nevertheless. A legion of earth ponies already hath gathered outside the city, ready to escort us."

The Doctor sighed and conceded. On military matters, Starswirl was always unreasonably stubborn. The two walked into the courtyard where the other six were waiting with supplies they packed over the past hour: bags of hay and granola, flasks full of water and bundles of quilts.

They all faced North. Before them were the silver gates of the upper castle walls. Beyond was the lower castle, and the beyond that was the city of Equites, and beyond that was the world. The gates opened. The eight passed through and descended the marble staircase to the lower castle, where the three-hundred nobles of the Council and their families resided when they were away from their country-side villas. They walked down the central street, decorated with birch trees and flowers of every color. As they approached the walls of the lower castle, the division between Castle Equites and the city of Equites, they began to hear the sound of a large crowd shouting and protesting.

When they arrived at the iron gates of the lower castle, they saw what was awaiting them in the city. The sight made Fluttershy let out a quiet "Oh... my..."

The main central road through the city was clear and lined on both sides by unicorn guards holding up magic walls on either side of the cobblestone road. Behind the walls were the masses of Equites. Countless earth ponies stood against the wall, banging on it with their fore hooves and shouting at the eight ponies. Above them, pegasi were kicking at the wall and yelling out their protests. Others still called out from the windows of their wood and stone thatch-roofed homes. All were there demanding answers as to the state of the Sky.

"What happened to the sky?!"

"What have you done with the King?!"

"Why are the Sun and Moon like this?! Put them back where they belong!"

"Where is the King?!"

"Why has he abandoned us?!"

The iron gates opened and one of the guards indicated for the eight ponies to proceed, saying, "Thy Excellency, the army hath been prepared. Prithee, hurry through the city before the commoners art further incensed."

The Doctor looked at all the ponies around him, saw their concerned and despairing faces. He listened to each and every voice, voices of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers. He wanted to stay and assure all of them that by his life they would be safe. It pained him to simply leave them all as he went off on an expedition to faraway places. Suddenly somepony tugged at his mane. He turned and saw Derpy, who said, "Come on, Doctor. We have to go. Allons-y, right?"

The two had fallen behind as the others trotted down the street. They quickly galloped to catch up. The eight ponies passed through the central market, where there was a sea of ponies waiting for them all shouting protests and demanding answers. Some stood on the rooftops and the tops of store stands, holding up signs saying, "The End of Days!" "The End Is Nigh! Faust Protect Us!" "Down With Concordius! Long Live The Ponies!" "It Is Time For A New Order!" "Our Allegiance Is To The Goddess Alone!" and many others of the like. Panic and distrust had gripped the common ponies and brought them to the brink of revolution.

After enduring the haunting sight of an angry populace, the eight finally reached the walls of the city and passed through the gates to the outside world. Waiting for them was a legion of spearponies. All of the soldiers wore bronze armor and carried curved rectangular shields and long iron-tipped spears on their backs. They stood on the road leading north, the Via Borea, and then, all in unison, split at the center, allowing the eight to walk through to the leader of the legion, Legate Daisy Dancer. She saluted Starswirl and said, "Legate Daisy Dancer of the thirteenth legion, Your Excellency. It is an honor to serve you."

"'Tis thine honor indeed. Thou knowest thy instructions. Thou art to protect this company as we traveleth North. Should thou fulfill thy duty, thou shalt receive thy promotion to August Legate."

"I will not fail you, Your Excellency."

"I doubt thee not. Now, we go."

The Field of Pink Roses

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Chapter XXII: The Field of Pink Roses

Twenty-four hours had passed since Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Sword and the Bolts left Pegasparta and began their search for the Master. They had spent their hours scouring the Southern areas of the Emerald Plains, West of Pegasparta and Equites, and were now approaching the border between Ponytopia and Hoofrica. The Sun had made three full circles around sky since they left and was to the East once again and a still a little higher in the sky. The gibbous Moon remained at the center of the sky and continued to rotate.

"He's nowhere in this part of the Emerald Plains." Bee-Spotter said, "We should go on to search somewhere else."

"Agreed." Rainbow Sword responded, "Let's rest and discuss where next to go."

The ten pegasi all landed on a nearby cloud and sat in a circle.

"He's probably in Hoofrica." Rainbow Dash said, "Last time I saw him, he was flying off to the West. That's where Hoofrica is right?"

"Indeed," Ekrixi replied as he inspected the fuses of his explosives, checking to ensure that they did not get wet from the cloud. "However, Hoofrica is a dangerous place for any pony. If the Hoofricans find him, they would surely kill him on the spot."

Dr. Sweet Sting joined as she dropped her medical equipment on the cloud. "We should move North. We still have half of the Plains to search through. Also, there is a Hoofrican army marching through there and the five legions sent to face them may need our aid."

"I agree. We should search Northward." Fireball said, "But we mustn't allow ourselves to be distracted from our mission."

"North it is then, towards the Field of Pink Roses." Sword concluded. "We shall rest and then continue at dawn- er, rather... well... as soon as I wake. Curse the state of the sky! I can never tell the time now."

The ten pegasi set up camp on the cloud. Dash, Fleet Feather and Triple-Shot took the edge of the cloud and folded the cloud over the camp in order to provide shade as they all slept.

"Kryfto," Sword said, "You keep watch."

~~~~~

Twenty-four hours had passed since Princess Sapphire, Prince Comet, Princess Ruby and Princess Amber left Mount Inferno and began their search for the Master. Over the past day, they looked through all the areas surrounding Mount Inferno. They searched through the Salt Flats of Pedwar Draig, the Glas Mountains, the Gwyrrd Mountains and the floodplains of the three rivers leading to the Drakonian side of Purpura Lake. They landed on the bank of the farthest west of the three rivers, Clai River, to drink.

"No sign of him in the flats. No sign of him in the mountains. No sign of him in the floodplains," Comet, the second oldest sibling, began. He was a slender, long-necked orange dragon with lime green eyes. He had corkscrew horns like his mother, Queen Ember, and only half of a tail, as the other half was lost in battle. "Not even word any sightings from any dragons. We are hunting for a rock toad in a quarry." He took off his iron mask, thrust his snout into the river and began digging through the sediment.

"We mustn't yet give up, brother," Sapphire responded, "We cannot. I swore to mother that I shan't fail her."

Amber, the youngest of the siblings, replied as she removed her helmet, "Indeed you did, but we made no such oath. However, you are our sister. Rest assured we shan't abandon you. But we do need a better course of action than simply searching through the whole of Drakonia. So perhaps, 'twould be best if you stop flying about as you wish and let Sister Ruby lead the way." Amber was the youngest of the four and was named for the color her beautiful eyes. Her scales were brown like the desert sand and her wings had the rare feature of having a pattern: streaks of gold that glimmered when directly under sunlight. She had a pair of straight horns and a tail that ended in a tuft of white hair, like Sapphire's.

Comet finished digging through the sediment and took out a mouthful of clay. He savored the rustic taste and, after swallowing, said, "I agree. We need a plan if we are to find him, sister. The course we are taking now is foolish. Sister Ruby is the eldest among us and the best tracker."

"Why did you not say so earlier?" Sapphire replied, "I would gladly let her lead." She turned to call to Ruby, who was further down the river, sniffing at the ground. "Sister! You shall lead the way for us from here on!"

Ruby raised her head from the ground and looked over her shoulder at her other siblings. She was a tall red dragon whose red eyes looked out from behind her iron mask. She had a relatively short tail that ended in a club. She had no horns, but she did have a magnificent yellow frill. On the right side of her face, she bore a burn scar, given to her by a pegasus with a weapon that spewed fire. She walked back to the others and said, "We shall rest here. Then we shall go to the Southern border and follow it Westward."

The four dragons settled down on the river bank and folded their wings over their faces as they slept under the half orange, half purple sky.

~~~~~

Sixteen hours had passed since Sergeant Urujuwani and the ninth gazelle scout regiment left Rhinopolis and began their search for the Master. They had been galloping East towards the meeting point of the borders of all three kingdoms and were now at the Uzima River, halfway to Hoofrica's Eastern border. Urujuwani leaped from rock to rock to cross the river, the longest river in the three kingdoms and once the border of the Uruhu Forest, before the dragons invaded and destroyed much of the forest over a millennium ago. The ninth regiment, a group of twenty elite gazelle scouts and the fastest runners in Hoofrica, followed the sergeant, leaping on the rocks all the way across the river. Urujuwani did a head count as the last few gazelles finished crossing.

"...eighteen... nineteen... twenty. Alright, that's everybody." The sergeant raised her hoof and signaled for the regiment to be at ease. She was a tall violet-eyed yellow gazelle, with much of her height owed to her long strong legs. She and all her soldiers wore light leather armor and mask. She called for her two most trusted soldiers, Copper Shine and Kimbunga, to discuss their course of action.

"We'll rest here for a few hours. I don't know how long though. With the Sun like this, it's impossible to tell the time." Urujuwani said.

"Do you think it's wise to split up?" Copper Shine, a young orange long-horned gazelle, asked, "I don't think it would be safe."

"It's the most efficient plan we have right now," Urujuwani responded, "If we are to find this Tympanus, or whatever his name is, we need to cover as much ground as possible, and to do that we'll need to separate. And besides, since we are assigned to search in the other kingdoms, then maybe being in smaller groups will make us less noticeable."

Kimbunga, an old tall brown gazelle, untied his mask as he spoke, "Are you sure it's acceptable to enter the Field of Pink Roses on military terms? It's forbidden to walk on sacred ground like that."

The sergeant sighed and also began removing her mask. "Kimbunga, that's an old decree from centuries ago, from before the beginning of the war. Do you think anyone cares about sacred ground nowadays? Don't worry about it. We'll go to the Field and from there split. Both of you tell the rest of the regiment. Also, tell them to set up camp."

Copper Shine and Kimbunga nodded and left to carry out their orders.

~~~~~

Rainbow Dash and the Bolts flew North and were drawing near to the meeting point of the borders of all three kingdoms, the Field of Pink Roses. They had been flying without stop since they awoke from their rest on the cloud. The Sun was now to the South and again slightly higher. Also to the South were a pair of dust clouds, caused by the Hoofrican army and the Ponytopian army as they approached each other. A terrible battle was at hand.

Finally, a patch of pink that stood out from the green of the Emerald Plains came into view. The Field of Pink Roses was unlike any place in all the three kingdoms. The field was expansive, with a mile-wide breadth. The roses grew independent of any bushes and sprouted straight from the ground. They bore no thorns and gave off the sweetest aroma of any flower. And unlike all other flowers, they bloomed only during nights of a full Moon. It was said in legends from all three kingdoms that the Field was the one spot on Earth where a god set foot on mortal ground. The legends said that Ingram the Melodious came down shortly after Creation, gathered all the creatures of the Earth and taught them how to sing. When He left and returned to the realm of the Gods, he left behind him the Field of Pink Roses.

As the ten pegasi began to descend, Rainbow Dash's attention was caught by long and dispersed dust cloud by the Field of Pink Roses. She called out to the others, "Look! What's that down there?"

"A sight we've seen much too often to mistake. Those are gazelle." Ifaistos said.

"Do you think they might know where Tympanus is?" Dash asked.

Ekrixi replied, "I know not, but they're a small regiment and stand no chance against us. Let's stop them before they cross into pony territory!"

"We must focus on our mission!" Rainbow Sword ordered, "If we are to have anything to do with them, it would be to interrog-"

The other Bolts would not listen, as they were far too stirred by battle fervor. They shouted their battle cries and dove down towards the gazelle. Sword gave a frustrated sigh and followed. Ekrixi, laughing as he descended, was the first to send a blow and threw down a sack that exploded on impact with the ground. The agile gazelle easily dodged the bomb and went into a formation, with horns pointed forward, creating a wall of sharp spikes and behind that wall, another line of gazelle stood on their hind legs and drew their bows. The Bolts landed on the Field and Fireball readied her Dragon's Throat to unleash a barrage of fire on the gazelle while Triple-Shot drew three arrows into his bow and aimed for their opponents. The gazelle meanwhile began to charge at the Bolts, ready to impale them on their horns. Fortunately, Rainbow Sword quickly stopped them all from clashing, striking the ground between the pegasi and the gazelle with lightning from his sword and shouting, "ENOUGH!"

The gazelle stopped charging, but maintained a defensive formation. Behind them was a trail of trampled roses. Sword landed on a the patch of singed ground he made with his lightning and scolded his team, "Have you no discipline?! We are to remain focused on our mission and find Tympanus! We have no business with these gazelle, much as I would love to cut off their heads!" He then turned to the gazelle, pointed his sword at them, and spoke in Zwahiri, "And you! I spare you because I have a more important task at hand. If you have any wisdom, you shall turn around and return to the rotten wilderness from which you came!"

Urujuwani, the gazelle sergeant, retorted as stepped forward from her regiment, "How dare a primitive pony like you call our great kingdom a wilderness! You need a lesson in respect you little horse-bird!"

"Stop! Stop!" Dash shouted as she landed between Urujuwani and Sword, "Stop fighting! Commander, don't you think they might know something about Tympanus? They could help us!"

"I refuse to stoop so low as to seek help from a Hoofrican!" Sword replied.

"Wait," Urujuwani said, "Did you say 'Tympanus'? You know something about Tympanus?"

"Well, we're looking for him," Dash answered, "I was hoping you might know where we could find him. He kidnapped our king and we need to stop him!"

"So it's true then. Concordius has fallen and now the sky is in chaos." Urujuwani said, "We're also looking for this Tympanus. He tricked our emperor and abused our alchemy. He must be punished for his crimes!"

Dash took a step closer to the gazelle sergeant and said, "Looks like Tympanus got both sides against him. What do you guys say about working with us to stop him?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Sword scolded, "How dare you think of consorting with the enemy! They cannot be trusted! We are leaving now and continuing the search! Na ptisi!"

Sword and the Bolts took off from the ground and were about to fly off when Dash gave one final plea. "Commander, just listen! Whatever Tympanus is up to, it's much worse than anything the other kingdoms can do. We need all the help we can get! And I've seen enough action to know it's always best to work together to stop a disaster."

One of the gazelle, Copper Shine, stepped out from the line and joined Dash, saying, "She's right. Our leaders might be against each other, but, really, I don't mind working with you all if it means the sky will be back to normal. If it goes on like this, crops everywhere will fail and everyone will suffer!"

Sword would have none of it, though. His enmity to the Hoofricans was too great, but just as he and the Bolts began to fly away, they saw above them four dragons gliding down in circles. The dragons landed on the Field, crushing the roses beneath their claws. Princess Sapphire walked up to the gazelle and pegasi and spoke, "Stay where you are, you hoofers! And you will tell me where that filthy pony Tympanus is now!"

"Don't you know that it's impolite to use racial slurs, little snake?" Fireball responded as she landed herself in front of Sapphire, fearlessly facing the princess, who was easily over ten times her size.

"Fireball," Sword said, "we have no time to waste quarrelling with this petty-"

"Hold on!" Princess Ruby interrupted as she walked forward and faced Fireball. "I know you. You gave me this!" She turned her head and displayed her scar.

"Ha! Of course," Fireball replied, "the dragon princess whom I so easily humbled at the Battle of Serpente Delta."

"Humbled?!" Prince Comet retorted, "Laughable! 'Tis the likes of you that needs a lesson on humility!"

"A scar on your face will be suitable." Ruby added.

"I'd like to see you try." Fireball said.

She immediately began preparing her Dragon's Throat as Ruby reared her head and gathered red fire in her throat. Fireball aimed at Ruby's mouth and Ruby aimed for the right side of Fireball's face. Both let their fires loose and the two bursts of red fire clashed, both pushing against each other with brilliant beauty and fearsome terror.

Suddenly Fireball and Ruby heard a cry, "STOP IT!" and there was an explosion between them that pushed them apart and dispersed their fires. When the smoke from the explosion and the fires disappeared, they saw a old tall brown gazelle, Kimbunga, standing between them wearing a green amulet around his neck. "Have you no respect?! This field is sacred ground, and you threaten to turn it to ashes with your fighting!"

"Wait, hold on, Kimbunga," Urujuwani interrupted, "you have magic?"

"Enchanting amulet. Let's non-magical creatures use magic. Family relic. Long story. But anyway, this is a field with a history of peace and friendship. It was created by a god who gathered all who inhabit the Earth and, on this field, taught them to sing. And the last time dragons, ponies and Hoofricans met on this field was a thousand years ago and that meeting led to an era of tranquility and harmony for all of us. Why taint that history by spilling blood on it? By spreading fire and causing scars? It's shameful! How far we've fallen from our respectable ancestors in the course of five-hundred years. The Gods must look down upon us and avert their eyes when they see our repulsive actions. This is no time and no place for anger and hatred. Just for one brief moment, can't we just meet as decent civilized creatures with only peaceful intentions?"

Kimbunga finished his speech and all around him were silent. Dash broke the silence by applauding. "Woohoo! Go Mr. Gazelle! Great speech, great speech! But, um... yeah, he's right! We shouldn't fight. And you, sorry, what's your name?"

"Princess Sapphire, daughter of Queen Ember, daughter of Queen Diemwnt, daughter of King-"

"Okay, got it. Princess, you asked us where Tympanus was. So you're looking for Tympanus and so are we. What did he do to get you mad?"

"He stole something precious from us and shamed me!"

"What did he steal?"

"Why should I tell you hoofers? You can't be trusted!"

"Princess Sapphire," Dash pleaded, "He's our enemy just like he's yours. He kidnapped our king!"

"And he is a traitor to our emperor!" Urujuwani joined.

Sapphire gave Dash and Urujuwani's words some thought, and then turned to her siblings and asked, "What say you? Can we trust them?"

"The decision is yours, sister." Princess Amber replied, "We are merely your helpers. The responsibility for our mission is yours. Our move rests on your judgment." Comet and Ruby nodded in agreement.

Sapphire smiled to see her siblings treat her with such dignity and respect. She turned back to Dash and Urujuwani and gave her decision. "Mother always said, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' I suppose I do not bear any personal grudges against you. So perhaps we can work together."

Kimbunga and Copper Shine went to Urujuwani and urged her to agree to work with the dragons and pegasi, while Dash flew up to Sword and implored him to cooperate with the gazelle and dragons. They spent much time trying to persuade their respective leaders, and eventually, with much reluctance, Sword and Urujuwani conceded.

Sword, Sapphire and Urujuwani met at the center of the three groups. Sword opened and closed his wings three times, a pegasus' gesture of peace. Sapphire breathed green fire through her nostrils, a dragon's gesture of peace. And Urujuwani lowered her head and touched the ground with her horns, a gazelle's gesture of peace.

"So," Urujuwani began, "What is it that Tympanus stole from you?"

"The situation is far worse than you realize," Sapphire responded, "because Tympanus stole the key to the Gates of Tartarus."

The other two went pale upon hearing the princess' words. It was indeed far worse than any situation they could even imagine.

"By the Gods, no..."

"Sun and Moon protect us..."

"My mother has her Royal Guard monitoring the Gates," Sapphire continued, "but we can never be certain that Tympanus hasn't some ploy to slip past them. So do not relent in your search for him."

"We should also send news back to our emperor," Urujuwani said, "he may be able to help defend the Gates."

"I doubt that my mother would accept your emperor's help, but 'tis worth a chance." Sapphire replied.

Urujuwani turned and began going towards his gazelle. Sword did the same as he spoke. "I'll need to report this to Starswirl and the Doctor. He'll know how to handle matters like this."

Sapphire gave Urujuwani and Sword some final words before they all parted. "The Gates of Tartarus are within Mount Dechrau. 'Tis the tallest of the Gwyrrd Mountains. The First Mountain. If we cannot find Tympanus anywhere, then the only hope left is to stop him at the Gates."

Sword leaped off of the Field of Pink Roses and faced his team. He nodded. The Bolts formed their line in the air and awaited the commander's order.

"We are to return to Castle Equites. We have vital information for Starswirl the Bearded and the Doctor. Na ptisi!"

The Last of the Time Stallions

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Chapter XXIII: The Last of the Time Stallions

Every time at once ago before at now forever...

The Master had been defeated by the Doctor in a coup to take the presidency of Gallopfrey and fled the planet in a small space pod, but he inadvertently entered the Medusa Cascade, a region in space full of openings, rips and cracks in space and time. A moment later he found himself falling, falling through darkness and light, through visions of the past, the present and the future, and through the time vortex, until finally he landed. He had fallen through a rift in space and time, an opening in the time vortex through which anything can pass in and out. The fall drained all of the Master's energy and he passed out from exhaustion, collapsing on the rocky ground. His last sight was a vast expanse of empty lifeless desert.

The Master woke to find himself in a tent and outside he saw a campfire and a pair of camels discussing what to do with their guest. As he listened in on their conversation, he sneaked around the tent, looking at the goods the camels had. He found one very interesting trinket: a perception filter, a device that allows the wearer to become unnoticeable, something that was not from Earth. The perception filter was designed like a necklace, so the Master put it around his neck and snuck out of the tent, passing right in front of the camels. The Master took some of the camels' food and water and flew off into the desert.

After three days of wandering the desert, the Master ran out of food, and continued wandering parched and famished. On the fourth day, as he was on the verge of fatal dehydration, he found a range of red mountains. He flew over them and landed in the forest on the other side. He trekked through the forest until he found a village of zebras. He turned off his perception filter, entered into the village and asked for food and water. The villagers immediately tried to drive him away and some called for his execution. But the village shaman, who also was the leader, after seeing the pitiful decrepit state of the stranger, stopped the villagers, scolding them for their impious lack of hospitality, and welcomed the Master into his home. The shaman and his family cared for their guest and nursed him back to health. The Master stayed in the village for two days, during which time he discovered that the year was the five-hundred eightieth year since the liberation of Hoofrica, which was 443 B.E in the Celestial Calendar, and he was in the Northeastern Uruhu Forest in the kingdom of Hoofrica.

The Master left the village and followed the shaman's directions to the capital city of Rhinopolis, though the shaman warned him not to enter the city as it was too dangerous for any pony. He turned the perception filter on again and traveled down the Kuzaliwa River towards Rhinopolis. He entered the city undetected and from inside he created a disguise. He dyed his coat black and white, like a zebra's, fashioned his mane into a zebra's mane, tied his wings, and wore a red robe over his body. He then set off to forge a new identity for himself: Dogori. Dogori was a son from a noble family that resided by the Uzima River, but was annihilated by ponies. He was a graduate of Haki University and a favorite apprentice of the recently deceased most famous shaman in the Uruhu Forest. He was a captain in the Hoofrican army for ten years and earned dozens of medals and awards. He established the Barafu Creeks Water Distribution Company, which quickly dominated all of Rhinopolis' water supply. He even took a wife, a beautiful gazelle named Kuaminika. All this he accomplished through his clever deception and impeccable forgery.

For one year, Dogori carried on with his plans in the city. He worked with some of the city's alchemists to create a potion which made the sound of his voice charming for all who drank it. He had high volumes of the potion made and he mixed it into the water of his Barafu Creeks company. With this, he gained a hypnotic grip on the city, with nearly every resident agreeing with every word that came out of his mouth. In the meantime, he took advantage of the weariness of the citizens over the war, which was nearing its hundredth year. He called for an end to the war, for the return of the thousands of soldiers, and for the Emperor, Nguvu II, to focus his concerns on the commoners, "the true rulers of Hoofrica." The city residents, as well as Hoofricans from the surrounding country side and the Uruhu forest, rallied behind Dogori in protest. Many times, Emperor Nguvu II threatened Dogori and demanded that he silence himself, but Dogori would not yield. While he was not busy maintaining his image in the city, Dogori returned to the place where he first arrived in the Great Northern Desert and had dealings with the camels, who possessed devices and materials that arrived through the rift. Using the goods he bought from the camels, he built a laser screwdriver and a set of temporal disablement mechanisms.

On the one-hundredth anniversary of the war, Graze 28th, 442 B.E., Dogori rallied the citizens of Hoofrica and gathered his largest group of protesters yet. He led them to the gates of the Emperor's palace, but this time Nguvu II had lost his patience. The Emperor ordered his Royal Guard to arrest Dogori and sentence him to death, but when the guards laid their hooves on Dogori, his followers retaliated. They sent the guards back, and, in their fury, stormed the palace. No number of soldiers or guards could stop the assault of the masses. Soon the palace was taken, and Emperor Nguvu II was beheaded along with his wife and children. The rebels placed Dogori on the throne of Hoofrica and gave him absolute power. Dogori ruled benevolently, though he held off his promise of peace, until the Doctor arrived.

The Doctor decided to show his companion, Octavia, a cellist from 21st century Canterlot, the Great Hoofrican Revolution, a display of the force of will of the commoners against the face of tyranny, and brought her to Rhinopolis in the year 442 B.E. They wore perception filters to avoid Hoofrican hostility and together they watched from a very close view the leader of the revolution, Dogori, as he gave his victory speech to the citizens of Hoofrica. The Doctor was shocked to smell a familiar scent, hear a familiar tone of voice and see a familiar set of fierce eyes. He knew who Dogori was all too well. He was the Master.

The Doctor and Octavia immediately returned to the TARDIS and moved it into the Emperor's throne room, where they could confront the Master after he finished his speech. The Doctor took off his perception filter and burst out of the TARDIS doors into the throne room, but after a brief greeting, the Master took out a handful of temporal disablement mechanisms and threw them towards the TARDIS. The mechanisms, small metal balls with a single flashing green light, activated upon sensing the presence of a time machine and attached themselves to the TARDIS, which then immediately shut down, and with them attached to the TARDIS, the Doctor could not open the doors in any way.

The Master then ordered the Doctor to be held down as he tortured him with his laser screwdriver. The Master then left the Doctor be for a moment as he gloated in his victory, removed the temporal disablement mechanisms from the TARDIS and entered it. The TARDIS dematerialized and then a moment later rematerialized. The Master exited and showed the Doctor what he had done inside. The sight almost put the Doctor to tears. The Master had taken the TARDIS, cannibalized it and turned it into a paradox machine, a machine that could suspend the laws of time and allow a time paradox to occur. The Master then pointed his screwdriver at the console, which now glowed red rather than cyan, pushed a button and activated the machine.

Immediately, there came a quake that shook the whole world and beyond the Nyekundu Mountains, over the Great Northern Desert, a hole was torn open in the sky. The machine had ripped the rift in the desert open and through the tear came an army, an army the Master had created millions of years in the future. When the Master took the TARDIS, he went two million years into the future, when climate change was about to destroy a species known as the changelings. He took the last changelings on Earth, brought them to safety and bred and cloned them into a huge population. He mass produced advanced weaponry and cyber technology that takes a changeling's brain, strips away its free will and makes it completely obedient to its master. The Master took three billion changelings and fused the technology into them. Within a year of work, he had an army like nothing the Earth had ever seen in 443 B.E. As a final task, the Master turned the TARDIS into a paradox machine, allowing him to take his army into the past and change history, without any fear of altering fixed points in time. The price to pay for doing such to the TARDIS was the loss of its ability to travel to any time or place except the last that it went to: the Emperor's throne room in Hoofrica, 443 B.E.

The Master's three-billion strong army poured out into the Earth and immediately set to work following orders. With their superior technology and overwhelming numbers, the cyber changelings quickly and easily overpowered the other two kingdoms and all civilizations beyond the known world. Ponytopia and its king and queen, Dux II and Stella I, fell. Drakonia and its queen, Diemwnt, fell. In one fell swoop, the Earth came unto the possession of the Master.

While the Master was busy giving his army orders to conquer the Earth, the Doctor whispered to Octavia, who stood by his side completely unnoticed as she still wore her perception filter. He gave her instructions on what to do to stop the Master. With the Doctor in captivity under the Master, only Octavia could do anything to help. Slowly and reluctantly, Octavia obeyed the Doctor. She left the throne room, left the city and went out into the world as it was being decimated by the cyber changelings.

The Master brought in a master zebra shaman and forced him to brew an aging elixir to make its victim age a thousand years. After the elixir was done, the Master forcefully poured it down the Doctor's throat and the Doctor withered and aged a whole millennium without regeneration. The Doctor was now decrepit, frail and weak, and the Master had him bound in chains and hung from the ceiling of the throne room, from the fresco depicting Queen Faust creating the world. The Master kept the Doctor there for a year, keeping him fed and watered just enough to stay alive. Throughout the year, the Master put his empire to work creating a fleet of space ships and an endless array nuclear missiles capable of waging war against the rest of the Cider Way Galaxy. By the year 441 B.E., three-hundred sixty-five days after he first opened the rift and unleashed his army, the Master was ready to spread his empire into the stars. But Octavia was there to stop him.

Throughout the year, Octavia carried out the instructions the Doctor gave her. She set out to journey across the world and seek out four individuals who survived the Master's assault on the world: Tellus Custos, an earth pony and most successful farmer in Ponytopia, if not the world. Asifat Ramliyya, daughter of one of the camel tribe leaders, known as sheikhs, and a talented sorceress. Gwyn Adain, a little dragoness bearing blue fire, still a child at only fifty years old, and top of her class in her flight school. Mtandao Buibui, a warthog and one of the advisors of the late chief general of the Hoofrican armies.

Half of Octavia's year was spent finding these four, and the other half was spent with the new team in the Great Northern Desert preparing to confront the Master. To protect the team from the countless cyber changelings all over the world, Asifat Ramliyya intensified the effects of Octavia's perception filter using her magical scepter in order to create a mobile bubble of invisibility that rendered them completely undetectable. Within this bubble, Octavia passed on the instructions to the others and they all worked together to prepare themselves and devise a plan of action to dethrone the Master. During this time, Octavia learned the amazing talents and abilities of each of the four individuals. Tellus Custos wore magical horseshoes that allowed him to feel and control the earth around him. He had used his ability to make his fields the most fertile and durable in the known world. Asifat Ramliyya owned a magical scepter that she discovered when she was a child deep in the desert, around the area where the Master's army first swarmed into the world. Gwyn Adain was an exceptional flyer and extremely agile. In her flight school, she had passed with ease through obstacle courses that Drakonia's most elite and expert flyers believed were nearly impossible to complete. Mtandao Buibui was a strategic genius, though he never held leadership as his status as a warthog prevented him from doing so. He was the mastermind behind many of Hoofrica's military victories and most of them were from odds that seemed hopeless for the Hoofrican army.

Through the half year, Tellus learned new properties and powers held in his horseshoes. He worked to learn control the ground beneath his hooves at a much grander scale. He learned to move huge boulders, hills, and eventually, mountains. Asifat studied magic intensely and mastered every spell in all her books, and for the purpose of her mission, she especially focused on perfecting the sound amplification spell, which, if used to its full power, could take any noise and spread it such that it can be heard by every living being on its half of the planet. Gwyn practiced and trained in flight, improving her speed, agility, reflexes, form and technique, as well as studying the powers of blue fire. Mtandao labored endlessly over maps and ancient construction plans of Rhinopolis and the Emperor's palace, as well as calculating the team's advantages and disadvantages, in order to formulate a plan to retake Hoofrica and liberate the world from the Master. Octavia composed a piece for the cello, a piece with what she hoped were special properties, as the Doctor simply instructed her to compose with fervor and fit the music to the sound of Mtandao's plans.

On Graze 28th, 441 B.E., the day the Master was ready to launch his war machine into the galaxy, Mtandao Buibui finished devising the plan and so the team began. Octavia, Tellus Custos, Asifat Ramliyya, Gwyn Adain and Mtandao Buibui left the Great Northern Desert and, with Tellus' control of the earth, climbed to the highest peak of the Nyekundu Mountains. They brought with them Asifat's scepter, a cello, a few sheets of music and a huge sail-like sheet of cloth. On the peak, Octavia took out her finished composition and began playing it on her cello. Asifat used her scepter and spell to amplify the sound of Octavia's music over the entire known world. Moments later, parasprites began gathering around the peak, and then, after a few minutes, there was a great swarm, the largest the world had ever seen. All were entranced by Octavia's music.

Tellus Custos leaped off of the peak and dove underground. Using his horseshoes, he formed a tunnel leading to a spot directly below the Emperor's palace in Rhinopolis. He felt his way through the ground beneath Hoofrica and traveled completely undetected to fulfill his part of the mission.

Gwyn Adain took off from the peak and flew at top speed towards Rhinopolis. She timed her take-off with Octavia's music such that as she flew, the music commanded the parasprites to fly the same way. Gwyn flew with a wall of parasprites protecting her. Just at the right time predicted by Mtandao, a mass of cyber changelings gathered to attack Gwyn, but the parasprites ate the changelings' metal parts, rendering them completely powerless. Gwyn was then able to easily fly by them, dodging all the flying bodies in her way. The same thing happened continually as she flew to fulfill her part of the mission.

Tellus Custos arrived to the spot beneath Rhinopolis that Mtandao instructed him to go to and firmly planted his hooves into the ground beneath him. He focused his mind, feeling the vibrations of the earth around him to create a mental image of the entire city. Then, with all his strength, focus and effort, he moved the palace above him. The earth shook as the Emperor's palace was detached from the city and raised into the air, carrying Tellus with it, where the Master's armies of Hoofrican foot soldiers could not reach.

Gwyn Adain arrived at the palace floating in the air, with the parasprites protecting her from aerial attacks. In the final movement of Octavia's piece, the parasprites formed into a sphere around the palace, keeping it cut off from all interference from the outside world. Gwyn then flew into the palace. With her small size, a size only twice that of an average pegasus, and nimbleness, she could traverse through the halls and rooms of the palace without even touching any walls or the floors. She made her way towards the throne room. When she entered the room, the Master was there with his wife Kuaminika looking out the window with his laser screwdriver in his right hoof. Gwyn flew at the Master, kicked the screwdriver out of his hand and snatched it in mid-air before quickly flying away. Her maneuvers were so fast, the Master had no time at all to react. Gwyn was perfectly timed to finish just as Octavia finished playing her piece and the parasprites were commanded to return to their places of origin.

Asifat Ramliyya, now done with the amplification spell, used her scepter to summon a sandstorm from the Great Northern Desert. While Asifat was busy with the storm, Mtandao and Octavia prepared the cloth sheet to catch the winds. They held it aloft and when the sandstorm reached them, they grasped Asifat's hooves and all three rode the storm towards the floating palace. Once the palace was within view, Asifat cast a teleportation spell and moved them all to the throne room.

After taking the laser screwdriver, Gwyn Adain set off to use her blue fire to create a sphere of ice around the throne room to delay the cyber changelings when they arrive to protect the Master and the paradox machine. Octavia, Asifat Ramliyya and Mtandao Buibui stood in the throne room facing the Master and Kuaminika blocking the way to the TARDIS and a pair of rhino guards, who both were still too afraid of the Master to betray him, yet also too uncertain about their prospects of victory if they acted against the three. Above was the aged Doctor hanging from the ceiling. Mtandao whispered into Asifat's ear and Asifat cast a spell to break the chain holding the Doctor up. The Doctor fell from the ceiling and landed on the Master, who collapsed under the weight, while Kuaminika quickly leaped out of the way. The two guards took the opportunity to abandon the Master. They dropped their spears and fled from the room.

With the Master down, Asifat cast a healing and aging spell on the Doctor. The Doctor returned to his original age and his healthy condition was restored. The Master, then cowered before the Doctor, because he knew what his nemesis would do now that he had the upper hand. The Doctor took the Master in his hooves, embraced him and said that he forgave him. Gwyn returned to the throne room and Tellus also, walked into the throne room, though with great difficulty as he still was concentrating on keeping the palace aloft. Outside, three billion cyber changelings were melting away the shield of ice. Gwyn had with her the Master's laser screwdriver and she handed it to the Doctor, who entered the TARDIS, pointed the screwdriver at the paradox machine, pressed a button and destroyed it.

Suddenly there came a great wind and the Earth quaked as time began to reverse its course. The Doctor, Octavia, Asifat, Mtandao, and Gwyn braced themselves against the turmoil. Above the palace, the sky moved in reverse. The Sun set in the east and rose from the West three-hundred sixty five times. When the team looked up, the palace was on the ground in Rhinopolis. Time had reversed to the moment when the Master activated the paradox machine. Outside was a bustling city with a happy populace. With time reversed, everyone forgot everything that happened in the year that never was, except for those in the eye of the storm, in the throne room: the Doctor, Octavia, Tellus, Asifat, Gwyn, Mtandao and Kuaminika. For all the Hoofricans outside, it was as if nothing had happened.

While the team was reuniting and rejoicing in their victory, the Master took the opportunity to escape and flee Rhinopolis. However, Kuaminika took one of the spears dropped by the guards and hurled it at her husband. The spear struck through one of the Master's hearts. The Doctor saw this and quickly galloped to the Master to tend to him. He pulled the spear out of the Master and held him in his hooves, getting blood on his coat. He begged the Master to regenerate, but he refused. The Master took one deep final breath and died. Now, the Doctor was truly the last remaining relic of Gallopfrey, the last of the Time Stallions.

The Doctor took the Master's body and his team into the TARDIS and they all left the palace, leaving Kuaminika alone with one final set of instructions from the Doctor. They went to the desert and prepared a pyre. The Doctor placed the Master on the pyre and lit it aflame. The other five watched as the Doctor stood before the tall fire that consumed the Master's body.

Back in Hoofrica, the rebels found themselves leaderless and the revolution quickly fell apart. Nguvu II's niece ascended to the throne as Empress Haki III. She was a just and fair ruler and had a long healthy reign. Though the revolution was a failure, it was remembered as it was an event like nothing else in the history of the kingdom of Hoofrica. And more importantly for the Doctor, a set of names was recorded in history, the names of the individuals responsible for the death of Dogori. Kuaminika provided these names, just as the Doctor instructed her: an earth pony called Tellus Custos, a camel called Asifat Ramliyya, a child dragoness called Gwyn Adain, a traitorous warthog called Mtandao Buibui, and a pair of strangers from the stars, whose names she said she did not know.

All seemed to have ended cleanly, but one detail escaped the Doctor, a detail that drifted in the air. A tuft of hair from the Master's mane escaped the funeral pyre and floated away on the hot wind. The tuft was carried into the Uruhu Forest, where it landed before the door into the hut of a zebra shaman loyal to Dogori. The day before the revolution, Dogori gave his zebra disciples a set of instructions should he be killed: They were to take any piece of his body, anything that carried his DNA, and, when the time was right, create a potion to restore a full living being from a part of his body. The zebra shaman discovered the tuft of hair and recognized the scent as that of Dogori. He kept the hair and it was valued possession of his family as he and his descendants waited until "the time was right." In the year 42 B.E., one of that shaman's descendants, Rundo Ndizi, saw a comet with a red tail and a black and white head. He saw this as a comet with a resemblance to Dogori, a zebra who wore a red robe, and interpreted it to mean that the time had come to resurrect the great leader. He created a potion to bring life back from a small piece of a living being and dropped the tuft of hair his family kept for centuries into the potion. The chemicals of the potion and the DNA in the hair interacted, and in a great explosion of light, electricity and smoke, the Time Stallion known as the Master returned.

The Great Northern Desert

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Chapter XXIV: The Great Northern Desert

Dash, Sword and the Bolts flew South towards Castle Equites and flew above the clash between the Hoofrican and Pony armies on the Emerald Plains. The Sun had made another four circles around the horizon since the meeting at the Field of Pink Roses and rose slightly higher. The ten pegasi could hear the violence below them. The clanging of metal, the arrows whizzing through the air, the countless hooves stomping on the ground, the ringing of battle cries, the pounding of war drums and the screams of hundreds of dying soldiers. The clashing armies created a dust cloud rising from the field and darkening the sky, and the pleasant green plains were tainted red with blood. Already vultures were circling above the battlefield.

Sword was certain that his team was flying far beyond the reach of any weapons when suddenly, as he looked down, an enormous flaming arrow-like projecting flew at him. Fleet Feather, quick to react, lassoed the projectile with a rope she always kept at hoof and pulled it off course, saving her commander's life.

"Are you alright, commander?" Fleet Feather said.

"Fine. I'm fine," Sword replied, "But what on earth was that? No Hoofrican arrow should be able to reach this high."

"That was no arrow, Commander," Bee-Spotter replied as she looked through a spyglass at the battle below, "The Hoofricans have something new. It looks like some kind of machine. An enormous bow laid sideways on a machine that draws the string back. It looks powerful."

"A ballista?" Ifaistos joined, "It could be a ballista. I saw Hoofrican blueprints once of a weapon they called a ballista. It's similar to a bow, but much grander and shoots huge arrows."

"There are other machines down there. Here. You take a look," Bee-Spotter said as she handed her spyglass to Ifaistos, who looked through it at the battlefield. He saw a variety of other new weapons that devastated Ponytopian troops.

"By the gods... these Hoofricans are armed to break down the walls of Castle Equites." Ifaistos observed each war machine, but was then distracted when he saw a number of chariots separating from the main battle and heading East. The chariots carried on them machines that could fire fifty arrows in one shot. He looked ahead to where they were going and saw a lone legion of earth ponies marching Northward and keeping its distance from the battle. He also saw what appeared to be civilians travelling with the legion. "Commander, I believe there is something you need to see."

Ifaistos gave Sword the spyglass and pointed to the lone legion. Sword looked and saw eight familiar ponies. "What in Faust's name are those fools doing?" He then saw the chariots racing to attack the legion. "A change of course! We are to fly down there and rescue Starswirl, the Doctor and Rainbow Dash's friends!"

The Bolts turned East and sped down towards the legion.

~~~~~

The thirteenth legion under Legate Daisy Dancer marched across the Emerald Plains and took caution as a battle between two armies was raging not far to the West. Starswirl the Bearded and Rarity sat on a chariot pulled by a pair of soldiers. The Doctor, Derpy, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were offered chariots to ride on, but they insisted that they could walk on foot alongside the soldiers. Starswirl looked with concern at the sky, Rarity watched the battle in the distance, and the others focused on keeping up with the soldiers as they were unaccustomed to long marches, and this march had been going on for the equivalent of two full days and nights.

"Starswirl, what's that over there?" Rarity asked as she pointed West. She had noticed a set of figures and a dust cloud rapidly approaching the legion. Starswirl squinted as he tried to identify the figures.

"Soldiers from the battlefield, without doubt. But I see not whether they be ours or the enemy's," Starswirl replied, "Legate Daisy Dancer, what sayest thou of those soldiers approaching us?"

Daisy Dancer turned her head and looked to where Starswirl pointed. She gestured to one of her soldiers to give her a spyglass and she looked through the spyglass at the figures in the distance. She then said, "Rhinos. They're coming at us very quickly with war machines. Trium Ordinum!" The soldiers all simultaneously turned West and made three rows facing the oncoming enemy and protecting the civilians in their company. Shortly, Daisy identified more details. On the rhino-drawn chariots were machines that each had an array of mechanized bows that fired multiple arrows. Manning the machines from the chariots were warthog soldiers.

As Daisy watched through the spyglass, the chariots came within range to shoot their arrows. She saw the machines fire and create a horde of arrows that flew towards the legion. She quickly reacted, shouting, "TESTUDO!" The soldiers took out their shields and held them in one hoof. They formed a rectangle with the civilians at the center, locked their shields together and created a box of iron protecting them on all sides. The arrows struck and the formation held up against the barrage. A few though penetrated some of the shields and killed or injured the soldiers holding them.

Daisy peeked out from behind her shield and saw the rhinos continuing to charge towards her legion while the warthogs prepared the machinery to fire another round of arrows. "Trium ordinum! Shields up! Spears ready!" The legion changed from their testudo to three lines with the front line holding up their shields in front of them. "Await my order!" Daisy watched the approaching enemy intently, waiting for the right moment. The rhinos came ever closer, but the warthogs had finished preparing the machines and were ready to fire again sooner than Daisy had anticipated. She did not have time for her legion to form a testudo again. She had made a fatal miscalculation and faced imminent death. But at that moment a burst of fire came from above and set three of the chariots on fire. At the same time, an arrow struck a warthog through the head, killing him instantly, and continued on to strike the side of the warthog on the next chariot, and another two warthogs mysteriously died of knife stabs to their backs. Also at that same moment, a fast-flying pegasus swooped down with a rope, lassoed a rhino and pulled him to the side, causing his chariot to crash into another. On another chariot, the machine was blown to pieces in a great explosion. Three more warthogs were taken down by a barrage of arrows that came in sets of three. The last two chariots were struck by lightning. Only the rhinos remained now and continued to charge towards the legion. At the last moment before the rhinos trampled the ponies in front of them, Daisy shouted, "HYSTRIX!" The back two rows of ponies held their spears out in front of the row of shields and impaled the rhinos that charged onto them.

The legion broke formation and removed their spears from the rhinos' bodies. Ten pegasi, the Bolts and Rainbow Dash landed on the ground before them. Rainbow Dash galloped over to her friends to reunite with them. Ifaistos immediately went to the machines that remained intact and studied them. Dr. Sweet Sting put herself to work tending to the soldiers who had been injured. Commander Rainbow Sword stepped forward and greeted Legate Daisy Dancer. They both saluted each other.

"Thank you, Commander," Daisy began, "I was certain we were doomed until you came."

"The Hoofricans are difficult to handle," Sword said, "The dragons at least are predictable, but the Hoofricans seem to have some new abominable contraption every time we battle."

Meanwhile, the Doctor went to Dash and asked, "So, any sign of the Master or the TARDIS?"

"We found nothing. But we did meet up with some dragons and gazelle and the dragons gave us some really bad news. Things just got a lot more serious. That Master guy is going to open the Gates of Tartarus!"

Starswirl gasped. "By the gods, no!"

The Doctor widened his eyes in shock and said, "Oh, he's desperate."

"And that's might bad, I reckon?" Applejack asked.

Twilight replied, "Tartarus is a prison for all the evil creatures who roamed the world long ago. If the Gates are opened, they could escape and wreak havoc on the world again!"

"Did you say... e-e-evil creatures?" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Yes, and we have to stop them from getting out at all costs!"

Sword and Daisy then approached the ponies and Sword said, "Judging by your solemnity, Rainbow Dash has already told you."

"The circumstances hath become more dire," Starswirl said, "All of creation now is at stake..."

"That explains the sky then," the Doctor said, "That last time the Gates were opened was when King Lux and Queen Nox opened it to imprison-"

"Say not his name, Doctor!" Starswirl interrupted.

"Oh, right, sorry. Excuse me: to imprison the Arglwydd. Anyway, when they did that, they created a total solar eclipse over the exact spot of the Gates. So the Master put the Earth on a course to- er, sorry, I keep forgetting. Geocentric universe. The Master put the Sun on a course to come into an eclipse with the Moon over the Gates."

"How come he can't just put the Sun and Moon right into an eclipse, instead of having to make the Sun go all around like this?" Rarity asked.

"Normally, two alicorns control the Sun and Moon separately," the Doctor answered, "Two minds controlling two heavenly bodies. With that an eclipse shouldn't be too hard. But the Master is just one pony somehow controlling both. Actually, he's probably an alicorn now. He said himself that he was going to become an alicorn. I suppose he succeeded and now controls the sky. But anyway, yes, controlling both the Sun and the Moon with perfect precision is a bit too much for one mind to handle, even a Time Stallion mind. So, rather than control both, the Master preset a course for the Sun to follow that will eventually make it meet the Moon, which he puts most of his focus on to just keep in place directly above the Gates, and make a total solar eclipse."

"But mastery of the sky taketh years for an alicorn to learn," Starswirl said, "Thou hast said that this Master is a pegasus. If he hath become an alicorn, 'twas a mere few days past. How couldst he learn to direct the Sun and Moon with such haste? How couldst he become an alicorn at all?"

"I don't know about becoming an alicorn. Maybe the Master forced the King to make him an alicorn. Or maybe he stole the King's body. Yeah, that seems more like something he'd do. As for learning to control the sky, well, he has my box. With that box he can travel anywhere in time and space. He has all the time he wants. He very well could have gone to another time zone and spent a whole century mastering alicorn magic. Although, judging by how he's managing the sky and knowing how impatient he can get, he probably spent a decade. At the most, fifteen years."

"So how long do we have?" Pinkie asked, "If the Sun's just going on and on in circles until it eclipses, how long's it gonna take?"

"Well..." the Doctor looked at the Sun, Moon and stars, and went around in circles several times. "I could use a calculator to make a more precise estimate, but I'd say, as of right now, we have eight days, more or less. Ten days in total from the Sun's starting position on the Western horizon. It's been two days or so since the sky went all wibbly wobbly. So, yeah. Eight days."

The ponies looked at each other with great concern. "Do you think that's enough time to get everything we need?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor replied, "I haven't the faintest idea where to find what we're looking for, let alone how long it'll take us to find them. But I can say, we'll be much more efficient if we take a more delicate approach to the mission and not have an entire legion accompanying us." At that last sentence, the Doctor looked at Starswirl.

"Thou hast seen for thyself, Doctor, that we needeth these soldiers. They saved our lives!" Starswirl said.

"At the cost of their lives!" The Doctor retorted, "I am not glad to have ponies needlessly die for our sake."

Starswirl gave a moment to think before responding, "The desert. We shall continue with the thirteenth legion until we reacheth the Great Northern Desert. Then I shall send them back."

The Doctor decided that it was an acceptable compromise. "Alright then. But not a step farther."

Starswirl had no reply. He was satisfied with the compromise. Dash then spoke up to change the subject. "Also, I should mention that the Gates are at the base of Mount Dechrau in the Gwyrrd Mountains. It's the oldest mountain in the world. In case anypony was wondering."

"Thanks, Rainbow," Twilight said, "So we have eight days. We should get going then."

"The Bolts shall accompany you," Sword offered, "Extra protection until you reach the desert."

Sword flew to his team and gave them orders to fly above the company as aerial protection. Daisy gave her legion the order to reform marching formation and continue North. Starswirl and Rarity went back onto their chariot and the others continued walking with the soldiers. Meanwhile, the battle to the West was drawing to a close, with the Hoofricans on the retreat and the ponies pushing their advantage to secure victory.

~~~~~

The grass ahead shortened and faded and dissipated until it gave way to an endless expanse of sand. The view ahead was distorted by the haze of the heat rising from the sand. The Sun was to the West after four circles around the sky. The Moon above was between the gibbous phase and the quarter phase. By this time, the Sun was so high that only the stars at the edge of the sky opposite from the Sun were visible. Legate Daisy Dancer stopped her legion on the edge of the Great Northern Desert and gave her farewell, "As agreed on, Your Excellency, this is where I must leave you."

"Thou hast done well, Legate," Starswirl said.

"You did very well," the Doctor join, "So well that I'd say you deserve that promotion."

"Indeed," Starswirl said, "Giveth me a paper, quill and ink, Legate." Daisy took out writing materials from her saddlebag and gave them to Starswirl, who levitated them as he wrote,

"By decree of His Excellency, Starswirl the Bearded, Head Sorcerer of Equites, whose words art sanctioned by His Most Royal Majesty, King Concordius, son of Lux IX, highest sovereign of the Ponies, master of the Emerald Plains, ruler of the Hills of Lauren, lord of the Sunrise Mountains: Daisy Dancer, daughter of River Dancer, legate of the thirteenth legion, hast been seen to be worthy and shalt be bestowed with the rank of August Legate and authority over the thirteenth legion, the twenty-second legion and the thirtieth legion, with all honors, powers and responsibilities therein."

Starswirl put in his signature, rolled up the paper and touched it to his horn, placing his magical seal on it. He handed it to Daisy, who gratefully accepted it and put it in her saddlebag. Daisy then went to the other ponies and saluted each of them, wishing them good fortune on their mission. She then gathered her legion and gave orders, "About face!" The soldiers all simultaneously turned and faced South. "Eo!" The soldiers in unison began their march South back to Equites.

In the meantime, Starswirl, the Doctor, Derpy, the Bolts and the six prepared for their journey into the Great Northern Desert. The Bolts and Dash went to work gathering all the clouds in the area to create a cloud layer for shade from the never-setting Sun. Pinkie and Fluttershy went to a nearby creek to replenish their water supply. Rarity and Applejack examined their food supply and replenished some of it by collecting grass. Starswirl, the Doctor and Twilight studied maps of the Great Northern Desert to decide on a course of action to continue their journey North, though the maps were mostly blank beyond a few miles into the desert, as few who enter ever leave.

They finished their preparations and were ready to begin. Sword addressed his team and said, "Bolts, at this point, I shall say your mission is done. For now, you are not needed. You are to return to Pegasparta and resume your duties as defenders of our home."

"Sword, are you sure about this?" Sweet Sting concernedly asked, "The desert is a dangerous place. What if they need us?"

"There is only enough food to last eight days for ten ponies. Having more mouths to feed shan't be helpful. I shall travel with them as their protector. The rest of you will return home."

Sweet Sting looked at Sword with much worry for a moment and then embraced him, and Sword replied to her embrace with an even tighter one. Then Triple-Shot joined them, lifting both pegasi up, and then the rest of the Bolts joined in a great group hug. Sword then gave his team the order, "Na ptisi," and the Bolts flew off.

Afterwards, the Doctor presented the plan to everypony, "So, we've come a conclusion from studying the maps: this desert... is really big and rather impossible to navigate without orderly stars. So, in other words, there is virtually no way for us to know where we're going in this desert. But luckily there's me and well... I am a bit brilliant. We can see Polaris in its proper position to the North when the Sun is to the South. The last time the Sun was to the South was about one and a half hours ago and now the Sun is to the West. So, for now, we can say that the Sun takes about one and a half hours to make a quarter circle around the sky. However, the circumference of its course gets smaller as it approaches the Moon. And fortunately, the Moon can help us. As the Sun gets closer to the Moon, the phase of the Moon will change. When the Moon is at its quarter phase over the next few days, the Sun should take more or less four hours to make a full circle. And when the Moon is at crescent, a full circle will take about two. So if we keep a very good track of time, we can find Polaris when it's at the right spot and know which way North is!"

Everypony stared at the Doctor blankly. None of them understood his plan. Then the Doctor took out a pair of wooden contraptions and said, "Also, I made two wind-up clocks out of wood to help us keep track of time. One for each group."

"Each group?" Applejack asked.

"Yes. We're going to split into two groups so as to cover more ground. As I said before, we have no idea where the things we're looking for are. Our best chance of running into anything worthwhile is if we cover as much area as possible and to do that we'd need to split up."

"Sounds like a fun plan!" Pinkie said, "Who's on my team?"

"We decided to split the groups like this," Twilight began, "The Doctor, Applejack, Rainbow Sword, Fluttershy and I are together going slightly to the East. Starswirl, Derpy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie are together going slightly to the West."

The ponies gathered into their groups and split their cloud into two. Dash and Derpy held one half of the cloud and Sword held the other. They faced the Great Northern Desert, ready to begin the most difficult stretch of their journey, but as they were about to start, however, they heard thunderous roaring from some distance behind them. They turned South and watched in horror as a flock of dragons attacked the thirteenth legion and the Bolts. The many streams of red and white fires set the ground ablaze and the ponies under attack cried out in pain as they burned. Daisy Dancer and her legion tried to defend themselves but there were too many dragons. The Bolts also tried to fight off the dragons, but the odds were too far against them. The eight pegasi fled and flew away with all haste from the dragons. The thirteenth legion was left helpless against the onslaught and was destroyed.

"No..." Twilight whispered as a tear escaped from her eye.

Starswirl took off his hat and said, "May the Holy King Thiessen give rest to their souls."

The Doctor then said to everypony, "Gallop." The others looked at him with confusion, but the Doctor simply raised his voice and yelled, "GALLOP!"

The ten ponies turned and went off into the Great Northern Desert.

Rainbow

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Chapter XXV: Rainbow

Twenty-one years ago, in the pegasus city of Irida, on the Western edge of the Sunrise Mountains, near the source of the River Hibernis, which flows from the Sunrise Mountains and merges with the River Aestas, which empites into Hoofrican Lake Riziki...

A little pegasus colt with a white mane and a black coat watched the Sun setting in the Western horizon and his parents and older sister working with other pegasi to prepare clouds for evening rain. He looked down at the farms below at the base of the mountain and watched as the earth ponies lit up their homes for the coming night. The rainclouds were at an elevation only a few feet below the cliff the colt sat on. Once the clouds were done, they appeared to the colt like a pristine sheet of orange fluff as they reflected the light of the setting Sun. It was a sight the colt enjoyed every week. He wanted to grow up to be a weather pegasus and create beauty like this, as was shown in his cutie mark: paintbrush lying on a cloud. The colt's name was Ourano Vafi

Ourano then saw his family swiftly flying their way back and he returned to his house built at the edge of Irida, right by the cliff. But when his father, mother and sister arrived, they both looked panicked and hurriedly collected their valuables.

"Gather your things, Ourano" the father said, "And hurry!"

"What's the matter papa?" Ourano asked.

"Hoofricans, son. An enemy army. They've rowed up the river." The father held his son and looked at him lovingly. "But worry not. So long as we reach the inner city, far from the cliff, we shall be safe."

Ourano quickly went about the house collecting his favorite clothes, his drawings and his toys. He put them all in a little saddlebag and left the house with his family. The four pegasi galloped away from their house as the Hoofrican assault of Irida began. But Ourano suddenly remembered something. "Wait, I forgot something!"

"We don't have time! We have to go!" his mother said.

"I forgot Flopsy! I need to get Flopsy!" Ourano turned and ran back to his house. Behind his house, beyond the cliff edge, balls of fire penetrated the clouds and arced towards the city, leaving behind holes in the once perfect cloud layer. The balls struck the ground around the colt, setting the alpine grass ablaze and cracking the earth. Ourano's father, mother and sister all turned and ran after him.

Under his bed in his room, Ourano found Flopsy, a brown stuffed bunny. But as he made his way out of the house, towards his family, who ran in to get him to safety, a fireball struck. Half of the house collapsed under the force of the strike and the roof and walls fell upon Ourano's father, mother and sister. The sister was crushed and killed by a stone slab thrice her size. The father, in an attempt to save his daughter, got his fore hooves caught under the stone slab, thus rendering him immobile. A burning wooden beam then fell on him and he burned to death. Ourano could hear his father crying in agony as the fires engulfed his body, but the little colt , overcome with fear, remained silent and still. The mother tried to rescue her son when another stone slab fell on her wing and broke it, but she did not allow the injury to stop her. She pulled out her broken wing and hurried to her son, just barely escaping the collapse of the remainder of the house, which completely buried her husband and daughter and blocked the way out of the house. Only Ourano's room and the hallway by it remained intact.

Ourano's mother held her son in her hooves and stroked his mane as he wept. She comforted him, saying, "Worry not, Ourano. All will be right. The gods will protect us from unjust suffering."

"Mama, I'm scared..."

"Be not afraid. I'm here and I will never let anything or anyone hurt you for as long as I live. Now, you must be brave, because only you can escape now. You must fly out the window and go quickly as you can to the city, where you shall be safe."

"What about you?"

"My wing is broken and I cannot fly. And yes, I know you haven't mastered flying yet, but there's no other way. You have to go. Now!"

"I won't leave you, mama!"

"Ourano, please!"

Suddenly, the house shook and shifted downward. A fireball from the Hoofrican army below made another strike against the cliff the house was built on and the cliff broke away from the mountain. The house then began to fall. The mother with difficulty stood and picked her son up in her mouth. She brought him to the window and tried to push him out, but he resisted.

"No! No! NO! I won't leave without you, mama!"

"Ourano, you must! Now, GO!" The mother put the last of her energy into turning around and bucking her son out of the window, just before the house crashed into the ground below.

Ourano, still holding his doll, Flopsy, struggled to fly as he fell down after his mother kicked him out of the window. He could not flap his wings enough to fly, so he instead used his wings to guide his fall, and he fell into the River Hibernis. He looked up and saw Hoofrican river ships above him. The river carried him down away from the mountains and past the ships. As he drifted down the river, Ourano began to run out of breath and he did not know how to swim. He was on the verge of drowning, but as he was about to lose consciousness, he saw a unicorn's head reach down into the water from above him and lift him up to the surface.

~~~~~

Ourano awoke next to something pleasantly warm. As his vision came to focus, he saw in front of him a small cylinder that emitted a yellow light. The cylinder had a metal base covered in a variety of buttons and light emitting dots, and the rest of it was glass. Ourano looked up and saw that he was in a barn, an old and long-abandoned barn with the starry sky peeking through the holes in the roof. He then heard a voice behind him say, "Do you like my heat lamp?" Ourano quickly turned around in surprise and saw a brown-maned alicorn with a cream coat. His horn was more magnificent than that of any unicorn Ourano had seen before and his wings were the most impressive he had ever seen.

"A-ar-are you the king, sir?" Ourano stuttered. He had never seen an alicorn before and knew that the only alicorns in the world were the king and queen of Ponytopia and the crowned successor. He had no idea how to act in the presence of royalty.

"Don't worry, Ourano. I'm not the king. No need to give me any special treatment."

"Wh-who are you then? How do you know my name?"

"I've known your name for a long time, Ourano. I had a vision once that there would be a little pegasus who would need me. A pegasus without a family, without friends, without anypony to look after him. It was my duty to take up the responsibility of caring for this pegasus, and his name is Ourano Vafi. Now for your other question, it's a bit of a long story, but to put it simply, I was once the crown prince of Ponytopia, heir to King Concordius. But my father betrayed me. He took away my place as heir to the throne, made my sister an alicorn and named her crown princess. He then banished me from Equites and erased all memory of my existence. Does that answer your question?"

"Um, yes, sir."

"Excellent. Now, you must be hungry." The alicorn went to the corner of the barn and took a bucket of oats and placed it before Ourano. The famished little pegasus immediate dove in and devoured the oats. When he finished, he watched as the alicorn levitated the bucket away.

"Are you very skilled at magic? Can you show me some of your powerful spells? I've never seen any impressive magic back home."

"Well, you see, I never learned magic. My father and mother never taught me magic or put me under the apprenticeship of a sorcerer. The only spells I know are levitation and one that I taught myself, a spell for imprisoning a pony in an emerald sphere. So don't you get any ideas about misbehaving or I might have to imprison you, and I don't know any spells to break open the sphere."

"Oh... that's unfortunate. I'm sorry I asked."

"It's quite alright," the alicorn said as he kneeled down, "Now, hop on my back. We have a lot of flying to do to our new home."

"New home?"

"Your family is dead, Ourano. You saw it happen with your own eyes. And your home also is destroyed. All that's left for you now is me."

"Oh... my family is gone..." Ourano began to tear up, but with effort, he pushed the tears back and said, "Very well then, sir." He jumped onto the alicorn's back and held on to his long neck. He then asked, "Before we fly, sir, can I ask, what shall I call you?"

The alicorn chuckled before responding, "Well, since I'm going to be taking care of you, teaching you and raising you from now on, you can call me, 'Master.'"

~~~~~

The alicorn flew North, into the Great Northern Desert and, after three days, landed on a rocky outcropping. It was a small spot in the desert free of sand and its height gave it a good view of the surrounding desert, though there was nothing of interest anywhere in sight, just sand. It was a safe place where Ourano could live and grow up isolated from the rest of the world. On the rock, the alicorn had already built a home, a little shelter composed of a cloth tarp and three dry wooden walls. The side lacking a wall was the Eastern side, thus letting the light of the rising Sun into the shelter. At the base of the rock was an opening into a cavern underneath the rock, but the alicorn forbade Ourano from ever entering.

Ourano and his master spent ten years living on that rock. Somehow during those ten years, they had remained completely alone. Even when Ourano saw caravans of camels pass by once a month, carrying their valuable cargo, the camels did not pay any attention to the little home on the rock. Ourano longed to meet others, but his master strictly disallowed any interaction with the outside world, and he obeyed for ten years. The alicorn looked to Ourano's every need during these years. He was especially attentive to the food, drink and medicine he provided. The meals all seemed to be familiar enough to Ourano, but had a very subtle difference in taste. The water too tasted ever so slightly different from the water Ourano was used to in Irida.

During this time, the alicorn trained Ourano to become a skilled flyer. Every day, they would drill wing flapping, steering, rising, diving, gliding, and so on. Countless hours of training made Ourano an extremely powerful and agile flyer, and within five years, he became more skilled than any flyer in all of Ponytopia. He could fly at impossibly great speeds and turn with the precision of a hummingbird. He could dive as fast as a falcon and shoot himself into the air like an arrow. The rate of his learning also was incredible, as he achieved in five years twice what a professionally trained flyer could achieve in fifteen. Ourano noticed this anomaly and asked his master how he could become so skilled so quickly. The alicorn merely told him that he was an incredibly naturally talented flyer, but Ourano could not believe this as he had always been a poor flyer back in Irida.

At the same time, Ourano's master also trained himself, studying and practicing magic through the hours of the night. Every week, Ourano would find new books and scrolls lying in the shelter or around the rock, and they all seemed to come out of nowhere. On the nights before the appearance of the new books, however, he would hear a strange noise, a whooshing noise like nothing he'd ever heard before. The source of the noise was the cave under the rock and Ourano believed that it was the snoring of a terrible monster, so he kept away from the cave opening. One night, however, he saw his master approach the cave wearing a saddlebag. He followed and, from a hiding spot behind a boulder saw his master enter the cave. He heard the monster's snoring and then, after the noise stopped, his master came out carrying books and scrolls in his saddlebag. Ourano did not question anything he saw, as he knew his master would be cross at him for eavesdropping. When Ourano went to sleep during the night, his master would read through the books for endless hours and at times fly out into the desert to practice newly learned spells. Sometimes, Ourano would wake in the middle of the night to the sound of explosions, electricity or other magical noises and see bright flashes of white light coming from the desert.

In addition to flying, the alicorn also taught Ourano some intellectual skills. Some of the books were books on writing, rhetoric, law and history. First The alicorn taught Ourano more eloquent writing and speech. Ourano was very quick to learn rhetoric and was soon a skilled orator with a very moving voice. Lastly, he studied Ponytopian law and history. He was not fond of these subjects, but he worked hard in his studies to please his master. His master was a stern teacher and trainer, but an effective one.

~~~~~

Ourano only entered the cave beneath the rocky outcropping once in his ten years in the desert. It was in the winter of his fifth year. The alicorn woke Ourano one cold morning and said, "Get up. It's time to move on to the next stage in your training. Follow me."

Ourano put on a scarf followed his master down to the base of the rock. The Sun was just starting to peek out of the Eastern horizon. The steam of his breath was very thick and visible in the cold dry desert air. The alicorn tucked in his wings tightly, lowered his horn and crouched low to the sand. He crawled through the little hole in the rock and into the dark cave within.

"Come in, Ourano."

"But, you said it's forbidden to enter that cave. And there's a monster living in there."

"How ever did you come up with that nonsense? The only thing here is me. And I'm making this one exception. Only this one time can you enter this cave, because it's important that you do."

Reluctantly, Ourano crouched down and crawled through the hole. Inside was not a totally dark cave, but a dimly lit one. The source of light was a tall blue box standing at the corner of the cave. At the top of the box was a little lamp and the box's doors were slightly open, letting out the white light from within. Through the door, a strange metallic rope came out from the box and attached to yet another exotic item; it looked like a knife, but much larger and longer. The metal blade had a perfectly straight blunt slide and a sharp curved edge for the other side. The blade was pristine and completely flawless and brilliantly reflected the light from the blue box. The handle of the blade was an odd shape, like a deformed bell, but Ourano noticed that it was shaped to perfectly fit a hoof, namely his hoof.

"It's called a sword."

Ourano quickly turned around in surprise and saw his master standing behind him. He asked, "What is a sword?"

"It is said to be a weapon of the gods. In the old legends told by the Judoon, foot soldiers of the Shadow Proclamation, the gods bore weapons called swords which they used to fight away the evil forces that threatened the Universe. But one day, the gods, disappointed by the wickedness of mortals all over the Universe, decided to give up on their effort to protect the mortals. So they gave the responsibility of keeping law and order in the Universe to the Judoon and granted them the power to wield the sword. The Judoon have for quite a long time stopped using swords. It's a primitive weapon to them now, since they have gamma ray guns, but here I have one just for you, Ourano."

"I'm not sure that I understand."

"Well, you don't really need to understand. Just know that it's a very powerful weapon, and it will bring you far. In this weapon lies your destiny."

"But, I've always wanted to be a weather pega-"

"Don't be daft. There's no glory in that. You are destined to be a soldier! When I first met you, I said I had a vision that I would raise you, but I didn't tell you the second part. I saw my little Ourano grow to become the greatest soldier Ponytopia has ever seen. The armies of Hoofrica and Drakonia cowered when they heard his name or saw him flying across the sky. To all his enemies, Ourano was the harbinger of death, and he was destined to secure the victory of Ponytopia and end these five-hundred years of war."

"So I can't be-"

"No."

"Okay."

Ourano lowered his head and heaved a sigh of great disappointment. It seemed the Jockeys had woven for him a fate different from what he imagined. He never expected that his place would be on the battlefield. He faced the sword and looked at his reflection on the metal. The sword seemed to have some sort of life to it, and he something inside him drew him towards it.

"This sword's blade has a core of a pure silver wire and the blade itself is made of hardened titanium. It was forged on the surface of a white dwarf star, and it is powered by a piece from the core of that star. In the hooves of a truly skilled swordspony, it can slice through any armor and fire nine-hundred thousand kriphs of electricity up to five hundred paces. I've engineered it to be responsive to your DNA and it will obey your every thought. This is the most powerful weapon on this planet right now, and it's yours. Do you accept it, Ourano?"

Ourano hesitated, unsure if he likes the destiny his master presented to him, but soon he conceded, "I accept."

"Place your hoof into the hilt. That's the bell-shaped thing there."

Ourano inserted his right hoof. His hoof fit snugly into the hilt. It was a perfect fit, tight enough that the sword would not easily slide off, but loose enough for him to take off without difficulty. The alicorn then entered the blue box and came out holding in his mouth a strange device that looked like a metal wand. It had a blue tip and a silver body covered in various buttons and lights. The alicorn took it in one hoof, pointed it at the sword and said, "Now, this may hurt a bit. Also, I should mention the side effects. While the sword is designed to work with DNA, the DNA may not be completely compatible, and so the sword will attempt to alter the bearer's genes to fit its needs. For the Judoon, this side effect meant their heads turning into rhinoceros heads. For you, it will be something... a little different."

"Wait, wha- AAAAGH!" Before Ourano had a chance to comment on the side effects, the alicorn pressed a button on his metal wand and he felt excruciating pain on his right hoof. He tried to pull his hoof out, but it was somehow stuck to the sword. He screamed in anguish as the connection between the sword and the metal rope glowed. Electricity crackled all over the blade and countless sparks jumped from the hilt. Ourano squirmed and struggled to escape the pain but all his efforts were to no avail. The white strands of his mane all stood straight as electricity flowed through Ourano's body, and one by one, each strand changed color. His cutie mark too began to change shape and color. The electricity then stopped and the pain in Ourano's hoof ceased. Ourano collapsed on the cave floor, his right hoof pulling the sword down with him. A moment later he opened his eyes and found that he was facing his flank, and on it was a cutie mark of a sword firing rainbow lightning. He stood and then looked at his hoof and it was attached to the sword. He pulled the sword off with his mouth and dropped it on the ground. He looked at it and the sight of his reflection shocked him. His mane was colored like a rainbow.

~~~~~

For the next five years, Ourano trained with his master in the use of the sword. Just as with his flight training, he spent unending hours perfecting the art. He learned not only the sword fighting styles of the Judoon, but also the styles of other civilizations across the Universe that used swords. He spent his days drilling every motion, stroke, form, block, and lightning strike. He practiced slicing, stabbing, blocking and deflecting. Every week, his master would come out of the cave with a practice dummy for Ourano to fight. The sword itself worked with Ourano perfectly, allowing him to carry out movements with ease and shooting just the right amount of lightning whenever he concentrated his thought into it. Camels passing by near the rock outcropping would wonder about the mysterious scorch marks and melted sand they found around the area. Ourano then moved on to using his sword in flight. First he practiced with objects thrown into the air, but soon, his master brought live birds. The desert around the rock was quickly littered with the corpses of birds cut in two or roasted by lightning.

Ourano grew to become a magnificent, strong and unique stallion. His forehooves were strong from his sword training, and his chest and wings were powerful from his flight training. His rainbow mane and tail were like nothing the world had ever seen, and wherever he flew, he would leave a rainbow trail in his wake across the sky.

One day in his tenth year in the desert, Ourano noticed something strange about the sky. Early in the morning, shortly after sunrise, the Sun stood still for a few hours. The same happened the following night. When the Moon was at the peak of the sky, it stood still for a few hours. The next day, Ourano returned to the shelter after his training and saw his master sitting on the ground with a tea set prepared. Tea was a very special treat for Ourano that he drank very rarely, so he eagerly sat across from his master and poured himself a cup of tea.

"You have been a brilliant apprentice, Ourano. I'm quite proud of you. You have ahead of you a life like no other," the alicorn said.

"You make it sound as if our time together is ending."

"It is. Your training is complete. You've mastered flight and you've mastered the sword. And so my job here is done. It's time for you to return to the world and fulfill your destiny."

Ourano looked at his tea with mixed feelings. He was happy at the thought that he could finally be free to see the world, but sad that his time with the most important pony in his life was ending. "I don't know what to say, master."

"Just drink the tea. This will be our little closing ceremony. A graduation, so to speak." The alicorn raised his cup of tea, and Ourano tapped his cup against his master's in a toast. Together, the two ponies drank their tea. Shortly after drinking, Ourano began to feel dizzy.

"Now, hopefully the selective memory deletion is precise enough," the alicorn said as he put his tea cup down and stood, "I don't want you to be losing any vital memories."

"Wh-what?"

"Shhh. Just relax and let the chemicals set in. And don't worry, you won't completely forget it all. The mixture will erase certain things from your immediate memory, but they'll still be in your subconscious memory."

"M-m-master, what did... you..."

"Sleep..."

~~~~~

A black pegasus stallion with a rainbow mane and tail woke up in an alley in the middle of some city. He opened his eyes and saw the starry night sky above him. He rolled over and bumped his head against a chest. He stood and looked at the chest, which was labeled with his cutie mark. He opened it and inside was a sword, and several scrolls. He opened one scroll and read,

"If you're reading this, congratulations! You have now begun your new life! You are in the city of Equites, capital of Ponytopia. In the chest is your sword and your papers for identification. Those papers include your name, in case you forgot your name. There's also a letter in there requesting your entrance into the Ponytopian air force. You are to go to the castle, to the office of military affairs and present that letter. The rest is left to you and the Universe. May the Sun bless your day and may the Moon guard your night."

The pegasus then realized that he did not remember his name. He took out another scroll, the one containing his identification, and looked for his name. He found it and read out loud, "Rainbow Sword."

Author's Notes:

A kriph is a intergalactic standard unit of electric energy that I just made up. 900,000 kriphs is about half of the energy contained in the average lightning bolt.
Also, while writing this chapter, I developed a pantheon of gods out of the MLP crew. I'm not sure if I'll end up using it very much. But just to give y'all an idea:
(I'll start with the currently most relevant thing) The Jockeys, are the equivalents of the Fates. They are the show's writers.
Sarah Wall, producer, is the goddess of wealth and prudence, Wall the Wise
William Anderson, composer of the show's score, is the god of music and harmony, Anderson the Harmonious.
Daniel Ingram, the show's song composer, is the god of song and friendship, Ingram the Melodious.
Jayson Thiessen, who filled Faust's shoes after she left MLP, is the god of life and death, King Thiessen.
Terry Klassen, the voice director, is the god of speech and unity, Klassen the Eloquent.
Sabrina Alberghetti, a senior storyboard artist, is the goddess of thought and love, Sibsy the Wonderful.
etc. etc. etc

Generosity

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Chapter XXVI: Generosity

Days with a never-setting Sun make the desert an unkind place. In the sky above was the Moon at its quarter phase. The Sun had made ten circles around the sky and was now to the North and nearing the halfway point to the Moon. Even with the Sun far from its peak height, it's constant bombardment of sunlight on the Earth had made the Great Northern Desert reach unprecedented temperatures.

Starswirl the Bearded, Derpy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie trekked through the hot wilderness, with only a single cloud held by the two pegasi keeping the team protected from the merciless rays, and the cloud was shrinking, submitting to the heat and, little by little, dispersing the water it held. Even with the cloud's protection, the ponies suffered from the heat. The sands burned their feet, and the hot air forced them to sweat out what water they had in their bodies. The ponies had never encountered such miserable discomfort before. They came to an enormous sand dune and walked on its shaded side. It was a welcome relief for everypony to touch somewhat cooler sand. Everypony relaxed their steps for the time being, but then Pinkie Pie made a poorly placed step and disturbed the sand that was delicately held up by the dune. The sand below the ponies gave way and slid down, bringing the walking ponies down with it. Rainbow Dash and Derpy followed the others down the dune, bringing the cloud with them.

"Oops..." Pinkie said, "Sorry about that."

"Can we rest now please?" Rarity asked, "I can't take any more for today. I need to get this disgusting sweat off of me... again."

Rainbow Dash replied, "Rarity, we've only been going for an hour since our last break."

"Really? I lasted an hour?"

"Yeah. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm real impressed," Rainbow said as she flew down to give Rarity a pat on her sweaty back. "I never thought you'd even go five minutes!"

"Thank you, Rainbow, for your confidence in my endurance," Rarity sarcastically responded. Rainbow giggled and returned to the cloud. As she tidied herself up and tried to get the sand out of her mane and coat, Rarity looked to her left, and something caught her eye. "Wait, look over there! A tree!"

The other's looked to where Rarity was pointing and indeed saw what seemed to be a tree. "Where there's a tree, there's water!" Derpy shouted, "And maybe muffins!" Everypony mustered what energy they could and galloped and flew towards the tree. They ignored the pain from galloping over scorching hot sand, as they expected the reward of cool water and soothing shade. The closer they were to the tree, the clearer its image became. When they finally reached their goal, what awaited them was a terrible disappointment. The tree turned out to be nothing more than a rock. It was an oddly shaped rock, with a wide top, but a narrow base and center. It looked more like a mushroom than it did a tree. Out of a crevice in the upper portion of the rock, a vulture's head popped out and cawed at the ponies.

"A rock?!" Rarity yelled, "We came all this way for a rock!?"

"Save thy breath, Rarity," Starswirl said, "'Tis the desert playing tricks upon us. Let us return to our course. There be nothing to gain hither." But then he noticed something that concerned him gravely. "Where is our cloud?"

Everypony turned and looked at Rainbow Dash and Derpy, who looked back at the direction they came from. Rainbow saw their cloud being scattered and blown away by the desert winds and mumbled, "Oh, horse-apples..."

"Rainbow Dash! How could you lose the cloud?!" Rarity yelled some more.

"Sorry! I just forgot. I was so excited about the tree that I forgot about the cloud."

"Oh no, this really bad. This bad, bad, bad! Should we start panicking?" Pinkie began to lose her calm.

Starswirl then scolded Rainbow Dash, "Thou hast doomed us all, ye fool!"

"Don't blame her!" Derpy interrupted, "Uhh, blame me. It was my fault. I'm the one who can see two ways. and, you know, that means I... I should've been watching the cloud while flying to the rock!"

The others realized they had gotten out of hand and reacted inappropriately. Rarity then made the apology, "Sorry, Rainbow. That was harsh of me. Nobody is to blame for this mishap. After all, it was I who pointed out this rock and made us go off course. Dumb rock!" Rarity redirected her frustration at the rock and bucked it.

Starswirl, in the meantime was reluctant to admit to his fault, but decided to make an indirect apology, "Our time in the desert hath made me forget mine manners. 'Twas rude of me to raise mine voice. 'Tis only the royalty who may speak with such volume."

"So, I'm guessing we aren't supposed to panic then?" Pinkie asked.

"Neigh, Pinkie Pie. 'Twould be odiously detrimental to our efforts," Starswirl answered.

Pinkie then turned to the rock and looked at it intently, cocking her head from side to side and then making a full three-hundred sixty degree twist of her neck before letting her head snap back in place. She asked, "So why's this rock all funny-shaped like that?"

"Oh, oh, oh! I know this one!" Derpy excitedly responded and landed next to Pinkie. She then felt the burning pain of the sand and decided to return to flying. She continued, "The Doctor told me about how this rock happens! The sand eats it when there's a storm!"

"The sand eats it?" Rarity asked.

"Ooh! Is it like rock candy or something?" Pinkie joined.

"I guess so," Derpy said, "It's got to be if the sand can eat so much of it."

Pinkie then zipped to the rock and licked it, but the scorching hot surface of the rock burned her tongue and Pinkie jumped in pain and gallop around yelling, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Hot! Ow!" Starswirl then used his magic to pull Pinkie by the tail and stop her.

"We must not dawdle like such, dear mares!" Starswirl said, "We shall most briefly examine our provisions and move on."

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash gathered everypony's saddlebags and looked through the food and water supplies. What they found was not good news. "Ummm... we only have one bag of granola and half a bag of hay left," Pinkie reported, "and we're down to our last thing of water." Everypony gasped. The remaining supplies could not last them more than a day.

"This food was supposed to last us ten days! How did we run out so soon!?" Rarity asked.

Derpy then answered, "Oh, that was me. I used them to cover our tracks while we were napping so that nopony could follow us!" Everypony facehoofed.

Starswirl then tried to calm everypony before tensions rose again. "Oh, it matters not. Surely, the gods shall provide for us at the time of our greatest need. Now, we must continue forth with our journey. Now, upon where is the Sun..." Starswirl reached into his saddlebag and took out the Doctor's clock. He examined it closely, trying to remember the Doctor's instructions on how to use the contraption. "Uhhhh..." Starswirl was lost and wished he had devised a spell to point the way North. He instead tried to improvise, "This arrow pointeth to the number eight, therefore, eight hours hath passed... and therefore... uh... The Sun hath circled around the sky eight times and as such, the North is in yonder direction." Starswirl pointed to what actually was the Southwest. Starswirl wiped the sweat on his face with his cape and began walking. Not knowing what else they could do, the others followed his lead.

An hour and three minutes later, the constant walking and lack of shade made Rarity finally collapse and fall on the sand, though she immediately got back up upon feeling the searing heat on her side. She wanted to just stop and cry. The hardship was too much to bear. Everypony else felt this way also. Pinkie looked behind and shielded her eyes as she faced East, where the Sun now was. She observed their tracks which farther back became indiscernible as the heat haze distorted her view. She then came to see what appeared to be two figures walking towards them. She said, "Hey, what's that back there?"

The others turned and saw the two figures, but Rainbow Dash dismissed the sight, saying, "It's probably just another rock. Come on, we don't want to do what we did last time."

"But this time it looks like they're moving," Pinkie replied.

"She's right," Rarity joined, "They look like they're walking our way."

"Prithee, ignore it." Starswirl said, " 'Tis naught but another deception of this accursed wasteland."

Rarity, still observing the two figures, then saw the smaller of the two fall over on its side and the larger stopping and going down to tend to the fallen figure. "We have to turn around. They look like they could use some help."

"Rarity, we cannot alloweth further diversions. We must continue."

"But they need us!"

"'Tis but another trick. Be not fooled again!"

"I don't care! I'm going to help them." Rarity turned and painfully galloped to the two figures. Rainbow called for her to return, but to no avail. She then flew off to follow Rarity. Pinkie and Derpy shortly went as well. Reluctantly, Starswirl turned and followed.

Rarity came to the two figures: a mother and son pair of gazelle. The son, a little white gazelle, was collapsed on the ground, unconscious. The mother, a grey gazelle with yellow eyes and long magnificent horns, knelt beside her son with her head weeping on his shoulder. Both were severely starved and dehydrated. They're bodies were decrepit and reduced to little more than skin and bones. Their ribs were clearly visible on their sides. Their breathing was very laborious, yet still faint. The mother wept but had no water left in her to make tears. Her eyes were reddened by lack of sleep and exposure to the Sun, while her teeth were yellowed. The mother's hooves were misshapen and cracked from the endless walking. The only thing that seemed unaffected by the desert was the golden locket that the mother wore around her neck.

Rarity approached the two and said, "Um, hello?"

The mother turned and quickly shielded her son with her own body. "Please! Please don't hurt him! I beg of you, don't hurt my son. I know we're Hoofricans and all you want to do is kill us, but please, for the love of the gods, spare my son! You can kill me, but please let him go!"

"It's okay. It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to help."

"Help?"

"Yes. Look, I have nothing to do with this war. I'm not out to hurt anypony."

"Are... are you from Utopia?"

"From what?"

"Utopia. The city the camels talk about."

"Umm... no. Sorry."

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Derpy then arrived and gasped upon seeing the two pitiful gazelle. "Oh my gosh, are you two okay?" Rainbow asked.

"Don't be silly. Of course they're not okay," Pinkie said, "They're starving they must've not eaten for days!"

"Weeks," the mother said.

"I mean, weeks!" Pinkie corrected herself.

Starswirl then came along and saw the two gazelle. He scoffed and said, "Thou hast brought us off course to help a pair of worthless Hoofricans? Rarity, this is the last I shall let your distractions take hold of us! Leave them be. Let them die." Starswirl turned and began to walk away, but the others ignored him.

Rarity then said, "Pinkie, give me the water."

"The what?!" Pinkie reacted.

"The water."

"Wait, this is the last of our water!" Rainbow said, "We can't give any of it up!"

"Would you rather they die?" Rarity retorted. Pinkie and Rainbow had no response. They could not sentence the two gazelle to death by denying them water, but they also could not bring themselves to give up the last of their water. Rarity then went to Pinkie and levitated the last flask of water. Nopony stopped her. She went to the gazelle and offered her the water.

"No, no... I-I can't accept this," the mother said, "If I take this then you'll die."

"The gods will provide for us in the time of our greatest need," Rarity replied, "Now take it, please. I insist. I won't take no for an answer."

Meanwhile, Starswirl turned to see if anypony was following his lead and saw Rarity offering water to the gazelle. "Rarity! Ye fool, what art thou doing?!" He teleported himself between Rarity and the gazelle and took a hold of the flask with his magic. The two faced each other and glared at each other in the eye.

"Starswirl! Let go of the water and get out of my way. I will help these gazelle!"

"I shan't allow thee to threaten our lives for the sake of the enemy's!"

"They are a pair of poor helpless creatures! And you want them to die?!"

"'Tis what they rightfully deserve!"

"I beg to differ! They deserve to live!"

"They art Hoofricans! The Hoofricans are responsible for the deaths of thousands of our ponies. Thus 'tis just that every Hoofrican pay for their kingdom's crimes."

"These two have probably never hurt a single pony in their entire lives. They're innocent and there's no justification for letting the innocent die. Would your gods be pleased to see that you failed to give help to those who needed it? Or would they be ashamed to see somepony so selfish?"

Starswirl was silenced. He kept his eyes locked on Rarity's for a few moments longer before submitting and breaking eye contact. He looked down and watched his sweat drip down onto the sand and evaporate upon contact. He released his magic grip on the flask and stepped aside. Rarity proceeded forward and gently said, "Thank you."

Rarity gave the flask to the mother gazelle, who gratefully accepted and first poured water into her son's mouth before taking a drink for herself. A little bit of water remained and the gazelle offered it back to Rarity, but Rarity responded, "Keep it."

"You're too generous," the gazelle said, "I'm in your debt."

"So, why don't you tell us who you are? That's how most ponies begin when meeting strangers."

"Well... my name is Cottontail. My son's name is Mango. We're of the Mrasharasha family of the city of Gazellandria. We are directly descended from the great sage, Hewa. I am the daughter and heiress of Chief Midnight Sprint, and wife of Dr. Indigo."

"Tell us how you came to be here, if you don't mind, that is."

"Not at all. Almost a year ago, dragons attacked the countryside surrounding Gazellandria, and my family's farms were destroyed. So all the profits we would have gained from that year's harvest was lost. The disaster coincided terribly with the banks demanding payment on our loans for a project to build a new estate and loans for the tuitions for my two little brothers who went to Haki University. We fell deep into debt and extended the deadlines as far as we could..."

While Cottontail and Rarity conversed, Starswirl watched confusedly, as he heard Rarity speaking in Equinese while Cottontail spoke in Zwahiri and they somehow understood each other perfectly. He whispered to the others, "How doth they understand each other? They speaketh different tongues."

"What are you talking about? They're both speaking Equinese," Rainbow said.

Derpy, having faced the situation before, gave Starswirl the answer that the Doctor instructed her to give whenever any sorcerers asked about "wibbly-wobbly technology things." She said, "It's the Doctor's secret magic. I can't tell you anything about it. Sorry."

Meanwhile, Cottontail coughed and cleared her throat as she reached the tragic part of her story and Rarity, sensing that telling the story was saddening her, tried to comfort her by placing a hoof on her shoulder. As Cottontail continued, she stood up, picked up her son and carried him on her back. "Three months ago, we still couldn't raise enough money and the banks refused to give us any more extensions. The punishment for a failure to pay debts was indentured servitude and foreclosure. My father and mother were taken and our land was seized. My husband and I, we tried to take charge of what remained of our family and we took in my brothers. My brothers, though, were completely incompetent and just relied on our income. Still, as the eldest, I had a duty to support them. Then my youngest brother..." Cottontail began to choke up as she reached the point she had hoped to never remember.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Rarity said.

"No, no," Cottontail replied, "I have to face the truth of what happened. I have to be honest with myself. My brother... he... he sold us. He was at the tavern drinking the night away when he met with a camel who offered him a deal. So he sold us - me, my brother, my husband and my son - he sold us as slaves to the camel. With the contract sealed, my brother tricked us into going to the outskirts of the city and a gang of camels captured us and dragged us into the desert. The camels sold us to a dragon called Thorn. My other brother, he died. Thorn killed him for being a useless slave who only made life harder. A few weeks into slavery though, Indigo came up with an escape plan, but it would only work with two gazelle. So he let me and Mango escape while he stayed behind. And so, Mango and I wandered the desert with a little bit of food and water stolen from Thorn. But, by the grace of the gods, we ran into a zebra in the middle of the desert and she gave us a compass. Using that we found the Southwest and have been traveling that way ever since."

Everypony was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend just how tragic her life had become. "That's..." Pinkie began, "That's one of the saddest- Wait, hold on! If you're traveling Southwest, why are you going this way?"

"Because this is the way we're supposed to go..." Cottontail said.

"But we're supposed to be heading North, not Southwest," Rainbow replied.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, you've been going the wrong way," Everypony turned and glared at Starswirl the Bearded, who in shame hid his face behind the rim of his hat.

"Hm, now that you've pointed out our mistake," Rarity said, "I guess that means we are now the ones in debt to you."

At that moment, Mango coughed from his mother's back and slowly began to open his eyes. Weakly, he said, "Mom, are we home yet?"

Cottontail turned her head and kissed her son's forehead. "Almost, sweetie. You go back to sleep now." Mango then closed his eyes again and slept.

Rarity smiled to see Mango recovering. She went to Pinkie's saddlebag again and took out the last bag of granola. She levitated it to Cottontail, who said, "Oh, no. Please, miss, I can't take away any more of your things." Rarity gave her a look, and Cottontail understood that she would not take no for an answer, so she gratefully accepted the granola. However, she was agonized that she had not given the unicorn anything in return. Then she realized she had one last valuable in her possession. She took off her locket and gave it to Rarity. "Please, take this. As a token of my gratitude. I won't take no for an answer."

Rarity took the locket and admired it. "Oh my, this gorgeous. Look at those intricate patterns. Ooooh, and the carving is simply exquisite. And the gold must be twenty-four karat. This one's a keeper, most definitely."

Cottontail then smiled and said, "What's most valuable is what's inside." Rarity opened the locket and saw a tiny seed. Cottontail continued, "It's a seed of the Tree of Light. The four great sages who founded Hoofrica kept the seeds of the Tree of Light and passed it down from generation to generation. Sadly, many of the seeds were lost through the years. So far, the only known seed left is this one. Please, don't lose it."

Rarity closed the locket and put it around her neck. "I will protect this seed with my life, Cottontail."

Rainbow then interrupted the two, saying, "This is all very touching, and stuff, but we're still getting baked here. Maybe we should get going. So, which way is North?"

Cottontail took out her compass, showed it to the others and said, "I don't know if you ponies know how a compass works. It's a Hoofrican invention. Anyway, North is where the arrow is pointing. And actually, why don't you keep the compass? I can actually somewhat see the Nyekundu Mountains from here, which means home isn't much farther. You all seem like you have much longer to go, though, so you'll need this compass more than I do."

"Thank you so much, Cottontail," Rarity said.

"No, my dear... um... oh my goodness, how rude of me," Cottontail replied, "I never asked for your name."

"Rarity."

"Rarity... what a beautiful name. Well then, thank you ever so much, Rarity the Generous."

Cottontail, carrying her son, then walked past the five ponies and continued on her journey Southwest. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Derpy, Rainbow Dash and Starswirl the Bearded then turned and followed the compass North.

"Thou hast sealed our fate, Rarity," Starswirl scolded, "Now we hath almost no food and no water. How art we to last?"

"Wasn't it you, Starswirl, who said that the gods will provide for us at the time of our greatest need?" Rarity replied.

Starswirl gasped at the clever response, scoffed and remained silent. Rarity, confident in herself, led the ponies. This time, she lasted an hour and a half before surrendering to the heat. She lowered her head and stared at the sand around her hooves. She then noticed that the grains were drifting to her left. She wondered what was causing it and looked to her right. From the East was coming an enormous cloud of sand. "Oh my..."

The others turned and looked the way Rarity was looking. Starswirl then yelled, "Sandstorm! Gallop!" Everypony turned West and ran away from the oncoming storm. But the great cloud of sand soon caught up with them and the powerful winds lifted them off of the ground. The five ponies were carried away by the storm.

Honesty

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Chapter XXVII: Honesty

A few hours earlier...

The sand burned beneath their hooves as the Doctor, Rainbow Sword, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Fluttershy trekked through the Great Northern Desert. To the North was the merciless Sun and above was the Quarter Moon. Around the five ponies was nothing but the vast expanse of the desert, with occasional rock peeking out of the dunes. The only shade that protected the ponies was a solitary cloud controlled by Rainbow Sword, though it was slowly dissipating under the extreme heat. The ponies, guided by the Doctor, went on a steady straight route to the North.

"Blimey... Really wish I brought my sunglasses out from the TARDIS..."

The other ponies could not muster the energy to speak. They simply heaved heavy breaths through their nostrils, trying as much as they could to avoid opening their mouths so as to save as much water as they could, though their efforts were mostly in vain as so much of their water was lost through sweat. To make matters worse, the hot air irritated their sinuses. All the ponies squinted their eyes to protect them from the glaring sunlight and the occasional gust that blew sand at their faces. Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy had never experienced such miserable discomfort before, though Fluttershy had the benefit of flying above the sand and thus was not as distressed as the other two. Rainbow Sword appeared only mildly bothered by the desert.

"You know, I was once on a planet, San Helios, that was turned into a total desert. It used to be a lovely planet, full of some fantastic ponies. Their Sky Garden - well, they called it a 'garden' - was the crown jewel of their solar system. Then disaster happens and all that's left is desert. Fortunately for that desert, San Helios still rotates properly and- WOAH!" The Doctor tripped and his face landed on the searing hot sand. He quickly jumped back up and shook the sand off of his face. He turned at looked at what tripped him. It was what appeared to be the end of a horn, a very large horn. The Doctor had broken off the horn's tip when he tripped over it. The ponies gathered around and looked at the horn. The horn was coated in gold, but as the Doctor had broken off a piece of the horn, they could see the keratin that composed the horn underneath the gold layer.

A great gust of wind blew away a good amount of the sand and revealed what was attached to the horn: an enormous dragon skull. It would have belonged to a dragon like nodragon Rainbow had seen before. Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy had only seen a dragon of such size in very rare occasions. As for the Doctor, he'd seen bigger. The skull was so large that the ponies could one by one fit through the eye socket. The horn that the Doctor tripped on was one of an array of horns that created a frill around the dragon's neck. On the dragon's snout was a pair of horns, like those of a two-horned rhinoceros. The skull was bleached white and had an array of huge and frightening interlocking teeth, and a pair of fangs that were distinctly longer than the other teeth. On these fangs was an extremely rare trait among dragons: holes on the tips of the fangs that allowed for the injection of venom.

"EEEK! Dragon!" Fluttershy shrieked upon seeing the skull and hid herself inside the cloud. Sword was quick to kick her out. The Doctor, Twilight and Applejack approached the skull to study it, while Sword remained by the cloud to keep it from blowing away.

"This dragon is enormous," Twilight remarked, "And this skull... it's old. I mean, really really old. It must be at least a thousand years old."

The Doctor, without a moment of hesitation, added, "Seventeen-hundred thirteen, to be precise."

Applejack poked her head inside the skull through the eye socket and relished in the coolness within. "Oh, now, ain't that just sweeter than zap apple jam. Y'all get on in here. This place is mighty cool." Applejack crawled through the eye socket and laid down on the sand that remained untouched for over a millennium. The shade, the relatively cool air and relatively cool sand felt like heaven after all that time spent in the ruthless desert. Soon the others came in one by one and sighed in relief upon feeling the comforting temperature. Before settling down to enjoy the cool haven, Sword asked Applejack for some rope and went back outside to tie the cloud to the skull. Fluttershy alone was reluctant to enter. With encouragement from Twilight, Applejack and the Doctor, Fluttershy put one hoof in through the eye socket, and upon feeling sand that did not bring searing pain, she put aside all fear and jumped in. The five ponies all laid on the sand and relaxed.

"This is sooooo nice," Twilight began.

"Oh, you said it, Twi," Applejack said.

"Last time getting inside somepony's head felt this fantastic," the Doctor reminisced, "I got turned into a thought and I wandered into the head of a Hath who was dreaming of a lake of pear juice and then I moved on to the head of another Hath who was dreaming of making banana bread in a cooking show."

Fluttershy closed her eyes and said, "Can we just stay here until all this is over? This place is just so... nice."

"As much as we'd all like to, we can't," Twilight replied, "We've got to carry on. There's nopony else who can stop the Master."

"We can rest here though," Sword added, "As a place to rest, this skull is perfect. And it has been hours since our last rest. We can afford another."

"Alright then, let's eat up!" Applejack said as she took out some hay and granola from her saddlebag. Fluttershy took out a flask of water and passed it around for everypony to have a drink. They quickly devoured the food and then spread out their blankets on the sand. They laid on the blankets and readied for a much needed nap.

"Let's make it... ehhhh, one and a half hours?" the Doctor said.

"Works for me," Twilight replied, and the others mumbled their agreement as they drifted off into sweet restful sleep. As Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack slept, the Doctor went outside into the heat to ascertain the Sun's position. He climbed up on top of the skull, which was still cooler than the sand. He took out his wooden wind-up clock and checked the hours since the last time he checked on the Sun. He had carved a mark on the clock two hours earlier, when the Sun was to the South and Polaris was in the right position.

Rainbow Sword then also exited the skull and climbed up it to sit next to the Doctor. "So, from where does the Sun torment the world now?"

"It's been about two hours since the Sun was to the South. It'll be to the South again in three hours, so we can reconfirm that we're going the right way then." The Doctor put away his clock and knelt. In the distance, to what he correctly believed was the North, he could see his favorite part of the Great Northern Desert, the Mushroom Rocks. Sword also relaxed and admired the desert, recalling faint memories of his childhood and adolescence.

Sword then said, "This dragon. Never have I seen the likes of it before. I lived here for ten years and I've seen many things, especially skeletons. But I've never-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on! Did you say you lived here for ten years?" the Doctor interrupted.

"I spent ten years living in this desert with my master. This is where I learned everything I know."

"So you have ten years of experience in desert survival?"

"More or less."

"Okay... blimey, I should've put you in the other team. I'm afraid I put far too much competence into ours and very little in theirs..."

"How well do you think they've fared?"

"Well... Let's just hope the camels get them before the desert does. With the camels, we at least have a chance of saving them. And the camels probably did or will get them before they perish. In fact, most who get lost in the desert don't die from the desert at all, but instead get captured by the camels and sold into slavery. Or, if they're lucky, the camels will find them worthy and bring them to Uto- er, actually, never mind. I probably shouldn't mention that place."

"What place?"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

"Very well then... so, as I was saying, this dragon must have been impossibly large. Dragons this size are like those in legend and ancient history."

"Oh, this is a legendary dragon we're sitting on. You didn't know that?"

"No... who is it then?"

"This is Llosgi, grandson of-"

"Doctor! Do not say his name!"

"Sorry. Grandson of the Arglwydd. The mark of the Arglwydd is the coating of gold on the horns. He and all his successors until Queen Cinder coated their horns in gold. And Llosgi was the only one to die in the Great Northern Desert, so this must be him."

"We are sitting on Llosgi? The evil dragon that Vronti Pteryga defeated?"

"Eeyup."

Sword laughed heartily and fell over. "Haha! How that cur is so humbled now!"

The Doctor did not say anything. He was there at the great battle between Llosgi and Vronti Pteryga. History remembers it as a duel between the dragon and the pegasus, but in reality, the duel was merely the resolving moment of a three-week long clash between the Drakonian army led by Llosgi and the Ponytopian army led by Vronti Pteryga. In the end, the Doctor pitied Llosgi. Despite what a cruel and horrible dragon he was, the Doctor believed that giving a punishment of equal cruelty did not make the ponies any better than the dragons. After a moment of contemplating on Llosgi's fate, the Doctor then spoke, "We should get to sleep. We need every little bit of rest we can get." Sword agreed and they both returned to the cool of Llosgi's ancient skull.

An hour and a half later, the five ponies woke and continued their journey, with the Sun now to the Southeast. They came to the Doctor's favorite part of the desert and the only reason why he wanted to go on the team taking the more Eastern route. Scattered across this area were big oddly shaped rocks. All shared the same basic structure: a narrow base and center, and a wide top.

"Now these here are some real funny looking rocks," Applejack said, "They look like giant mushrooms."

"That they do," the Doctor said as he wandered around admiring the rocks, "That's why this region's called the Mushroom Rocks by the camels. It's a sacred place to them too, because this was their original homeland. Although, when the war started, they stopped caring, since the war made business boom and their minds turned to money-making."

Twilight observed the rocks and was fascinated by their color and shape. She wished she had brought a camera to take photos. "So how did the rocks end up like these? I can't be a natural formation, can it?" she asked

"Yes and no," the Doctor answered and explained as they all walked on, "These rocks were once shaped like your plain old ordinary rocks, but even rocks are vulnerable to the desert. When sandstorms come along, the tremendous friction from the blasting sand eats away at the rock, and the rock erodes. However, the erosion is uneven. The wind can't pick up heavy grains of sand as high as light grains, so the heavy sand hits the lower parts of the rock, while the light sand hits the upper part. And so we get the Mushroom Rocks we know today. These rocks occur all over the desert, but they're most concentrated here because this area was once one great big rock. Before the Shallow Sea became the Great Northern Desert, this area was a huge island, and that island was the place of origin of all the camels."

"So they're completely natural," Twilight said, "Wow."

"Well, they're natural in the sense that they're created by natural forces," the Doctor continued, "You see, nowadays, most of the sandstorms in the Great Northern Desert are caused by camel magic, rather than the natural flow of wind. And the camels' sandstorms are much stronger than natural ones. They use the storms to sail across the dunes or to capture anypony who gets lost in the desert and sell them as slaves to the dragons."

"That's awful," Fluttershy remarked.

"Well, it's not that bad being a slave to a dragon," the Doctor replied, "Dragons are actually quite nice to household slaves. I actually spent a month as a household slave to a senator and he treated me kindly. In fact, he wanted to promote me as the house manager, but I had to get away and do more important things. On the other hand, they're simply terrible to mining slaves, working hours upon hours digging out gems and metals and such. But of course, the Ponytopians and the Hoofricans aren't much better in their treatment of other species. The ponies don't show any mercy and just kill any enemy on sight. They're ruthless. And then the Hoofricans do frightful experiments on their prisoners and... yeah, I don't even want to think about it. Let's change the subj- oh, Commander Sword, sorry. I didn't offend you did I?"

"No, no. Worry not, Doctor," Sword replied, "It's fine. Ever since I met with those dragons and Hoofricans at the Field of Pink Roses, I've begun to think more on whether this war is just. And, well, much as I hate to say... perhaps we ponies indeed are no better than the dragons and Hoofricans."

At that moment, a strange voice spoke, "Such wisdom have I just seen below. With minds like yours, you can only grow."

The ponies looked around to find the source of the voice, and then Twilight pointed to the top of one of the mushroom rocks to the West. "Look! Up there!" The others turned to see where Twilight was pointing and saw a zebra balancing upside down on her head on a bamboo stick with her eyes closed. Unlike most other zebras, this one wore almost no ornaments. No earrings, no nose rings, no neck rings or any other jewelry, except for a pair of rings she wore on a string around her neck. She was very skinny from living an austere desert life, but her legs were very muscular. Her cutie mark was the symbol of dual balance. The symbol was a circle divided down the center by a curved line, and one half of the circle was black with a solitary white dot, while the other was white with a solitary black dot.

"Welcome strangers all to this the place of my abode," the zebra spoke again, "You may rest and set down the heaviest of your load."

"Oh no, for the love of Faust! Not a philosopher!" Sword complained, "Come. We must move along. We don't have time to stay and 'set down our load.'"

"'Tis not from the load on your backs that I say you may part. I speak of the load which bears heavily upon your heart."

The Doctor tried to stop Sword from flying away with the cloud, saying, "Now, hold on. We can spare some time. I'm interested in what the philosopher has to say. And besides, I'm sure our heroes would like to listen. You won't have to do anything. I'll take care of the talking." The Doctor turned to see the others' response, and, from their spot of shade by the zebra's rock, they all nodded in agreement, though in reality they all just wanted to some time to enjoy the shade. Sword sighed in frustration and submitted. The Doctor joined Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight by the rock, while Sword laid on the cloud.

Still maintaining her balanced position on the bamboo stick, the philosopher spoke, "Who, then, are you who have come so far from the green land? What brings you to endure the pain of this place of burning sand?"

"I'm the Doctor. These are my... companions. We're just travelers, doing traveler things."

"Hmmmm. Doctor, I sense falsehood in the telling of your name. For your title and your true identity are not the same. You speak not the truth in its full whole. You keep within a secret you've kept since you were but a foal."

"It's a secret best kept away from interrogation," the Doctor replied, "for there's unspeakable danger in its revelation. You sense this, don't you?" The philosopher gave a grunt of agreement and gestured for the Doctor to continue, "So... let's change the subject. Why don't you tell us your name?"

"What use is there behind something by a father unto his daughter pinned?" the philosopher replied, "A name is but debris carried by the desert wind."

"But the wind stings the most when what it carries is sand," the Doctor quickly countered, gesturing to the mushroom rocks.

The philosopher chuckled before she gave her response. "I've waiting many years to encounter wisdom such as yours. Perhaps 'tis a sign that my time on this rock will soon end its course."

"So anyway, what's that you said about setting down a heavy load in our hearts?"

"There are truths which haunt us and we try to hide them behind falsehood," the philosopher replied, "but through such action, we worsen the wound, like touching it with burning wood. How does one put an end to their torment? Honesty to self, acceptance of truth, leads to the beginning of merriment. Yet, this honesty, honesty to one's self, is the hardest. To wash away the lies we tell ourselves requires us to go the farthest. I seek to help travelers set down their load of lies. Which of you, then, has the greatest load beneath these skies?"

The ponies looked around at each other. Twilight shrugged. She did not want to admit to having any big lies that she told herself, and neither did Fluttershy. The Doctor was staunchly determined to keep his truths and lies to himself. Sword was disinterested. Nopony was eager to share their darkest secrets. Applejack though mustered her courage and walked closer to the rock. She had a sheet of lies that she used to cover a truth that tormented her for many years. "I've got a mighty heavy load I'd like to put down."

The philosopher remained perfectly still as she asked, "First speak the lie. Lay it bare now before the eye."

"The lie..." Applejack pondered. It was the story she told whenever she was asked, but still the story was something she rarely shared, as it touched a delicate part of her life. "The lie is... when I was a little filly, my mom and pop were out working on the farm, doing their business. I was out in the pastures chasing sheep around with my puppy Winona. Then one of our chickens got loose and wandered off. I saw my mom and pop head off to look for the chicken and that brought them to the Everfree Forest. I followed my mom and pop and then saw them go on into the forest and vanish. They weren't seen no more ever again." Admitting to the lie was a harsh sting to Applejack, and in her guilt, all she could do was cover her face with the brim of her hat. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at her in shock of what she said. The story she told of her parents' disappearance, the only account of the event anypony gave, was a lie. Applejack regained her composure and concluded, "That there's the darn lie. The lie I told everypony... and the lie I told myself."

From her upside down position, the philosopher smiled. She shifted her head and, with one quick movement, switched to balancing on her left forehoof. "In exposing the lie, one exposes the path to what is true. For that lie contains the path, the path that must be followed by you. To see the path, you must recognize the lie. To walk the path, you must find the reason why. Tell me, now, my friend: why tell the lie? Why did the truth have to bend?"

Applejack took a deep breath. Speaking truthfully had never been so difficult. "Well... somepony told me once that when all the truth does was hurt my heart, a lie'd be easier to take. I reckon that's what I did when I told that lie. There ain't anything else in my life that hurts more than the truth about my mom and pop. I just couldn't face it, so I hid it, covered it up, so I wouldn't have to see it no more." Applejack gave a pained sigh and clenched her teeth. "Please, ma'am, it hurts. Can we stop?"

"What does your conscience say?" the philosopher replied, "Do you truly wish to stop journeying this way?"

Twilight and Fluttershy, sensing Applejack's discomfort, tried to comfort her. Twilight put her hoof on Applejack's shoulder, while Fluttershy nuzzled her forehead on Applejack's neck. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Fluttershy said.

Applejack spent a moment to think and then silently embraced Twilight and Fluttershy before stepping away from them and walking out of the shade into the sunlight so that the philosopher could see her clearly, even though the philosopher still had her eyes closed. "I'm gonna keep going. I already told everypony the lie. I ain't gonna turn back now."

The philosopher then opened her deep blue eyes. She looked at Applejack and made eye contact. Nopony before endured beyond this point. Nopony before had the strength to confront their most painful truths. In another quick motion, the philosopher switched to balancing on her right rear hoof. She put her left rear hoof up, as if she were a flamingo, and she put her two forehooves together in front of her chest. She kept perfectly straight in this position and said, "Two sides, the Black and the White. They compose our souls, the Left and the Right. The disturbance of these two, Life and Death, ends in the loss of the happiness that should be as present as your own breath. Imbalanced are they, the High and the Low, when a path against harmony you go. Among the most frequent disruptions to the Big and the Small, is the telling of a lie, among the easiest sins of all. Their balance may be restored, the Young and the Old, when you undo the lies that you have told. Speak the truth then, to bring equality to Water and Fire, for I see, my friend, that you are no liar."

Applejack took off her hat and dropped it before her hooves. She looked down and watched her sweat drip onto the burning sand, then she noticed a solitary tear also dropped down. She took out a flask from her saddlebag and took a big sip of water. She took a deep breath of hot desert air through her mouth and began.

"The truth is... the chicken was me. I was a tiny little filly. Still a blank flank. My sis Applebloom was just born last week and the month before, my brother Big Mac got his cutie mark. I was always wanting to get ahead of him, even though he was three years older, so when he got his cutie mark, I went about trying to get my own. I tried everything to find my special talent. So, it was around time for zap-apple season to be getting started and one night I heard the timberwolves howling in the Everfree Forest. That's when I got the idea of trying to get a mighty fine wolf-fighter cutie mark, like I read about in an adventure book. The next morning I packed myself some rocks, frying pans and rope, and I left bright and early before anypony else woke up. I trotted into the forest and looked for the timberwolves. Soon enough, I got lost and wandered about the woods scared and alone. By then I gave up on getting a wolf-fighter cutie mark and just wanted to get on back home. Eventually, it was them timberwolves who found me. I took my pan and swung it about to keep them away, but they kept on coming closing and had me cornered against a cliff. It was just then that my mom and pop arrived."

Applejack paused as she watched a second tear drop down, and then a third. She held back the fourth as she continued on. "They came with some pans and slingshots and they showed them timberwolves a hard beating. The ones that didn't get away from my mom and pop had no more left of them. Just sticks and leaves. Then they galloped to me and took me in their hooves. I reckoned they weren't too pleased about my running off to the woods, but I could tell they were just so happy to see me safe, I started to cry. So my mom carried me on her back while we all headed back home. We stopped when we got to a big chasm with rapids at the bottom. There was a fallen tree across the chasm that we could use for a bridge, but my pop said it looked too weak to hold up more than one pony at a time. So he went across first to see if it was safe. When he got across, he called for me to go next. But I was too darn scared to go alone. I... was just..."

Applejack choked up and fell to her knees. She did not care about the pain of the hot sand anymore. It was nothing compared to the pain of her memory of that day. She stopped struggling and just let the tears flow freely. Her weeping came not only from the memory, but from how weak she felt. She took pride in her strength and grit. She would rarely ever cry. Whenever bad times came around, she would stay strong and hold herself high. Now her strength failed her, allowing her to have an emotional breakdown, and she found it shameful, so she cried even more. Twilight and Fluttershy galloped to Applejack and stood by her side. Fluttershy took out a piece of cloth from her saddlebag and wiped the tears from Applejack's face while Twilight stroked her mane to comfort her. Both tried to give words of consolation. With the help of her friends, Applejack continued to speak from behind her veil grief.

"I was a darn coward... I wouldn't go on that tree alone so mom had to pick me up and go across with me. She carried me in her mouth while she walked to pop. While we were going, I heard the wood under us crack... I-I looked down and saw the tree was starting to break. Mom galloped hard as she could, but the tree broke and started to fall. At the last moment she threw me and I landed on the other side. Pop grabbed one of the tree's roots and stopped it from falling. I galloped over to the cliff edge and called out to mom. I saw her hanging on for dear life to a flimsy little tree branch. But... the... the tree was too darn heavy for pop to hold up for long. Inch by inch the tree dragged him c-c-closer to the edge. He looked at me for a moment, tears welling up in his eyes, and... and..." Applejack sniffed. "The ground gave way. Pop fell, along with mom..." Applejack sighed. She wiped her eyes and stood. "I made my way out of the forest and when I finally saw Sweet Apple Acres in the distance, I stopped, fell over, and cried. I cried and cried for I don't know how long. Granny Smith and Big Mac found me and asked me what happened. I couldn't bear the truth... so I lied." She picked up her hat and put it back on. "There you go ma'am. There's the truth."

Applejack looked up at the philosopher and watched as she jumped off of her stick and landed on her four legs. She picked up her stick and jumped down from the rock. She walked up to Applejack and bowed. "To be honest to yourself is harder than to be honest to a friend. It gladdens me to see that my mission has now come to an end. I have been waiting many years to meet one whose spirit of truth is the greatest. Now I am done for we have met at last, dear Applejack the Honest."

The philosopher's words startled Applejack and also got close attention from the Doctor. Applejack asked, "Wait, hold on now, how do you know my name? I didn't tell you my name."

"Your coming was a prophecy that to me was foretold, by the revered Oracle, a griffin old," the philosopher answered. The Doctor walked out from the shade of the rock and stood by the philosopher. He was intrigued. He had heard rumors of an "oracle" in the desert, but never really understood what it was.

"So some griffin told you I was coming, and you've been waiting for me?" Applejack continued.

"Indeed, and for twenty years, on this rock, I have waited. In expectation of you, each passerby I tested. I awaited for one with the greatest spirit of truth, one for whom truth was a torment since her youth." The philosopher then took off her string with the rings and held them out to Applejack. One ring was completely black and the other was completely white. "The Oracle instructed me to give you these, the envy of kings. These two belonged to Lux and Nox, their wedding rings."

Applejack accepted the ring and held them in her hoof. The Doctor was quick to get close up to examine the rings. "The wedding rings of King Lux I and Queen Nox I. Brilliant," the Doctor said, "From the looks of it, the black ring, which I presume belonged to the Queen, is made of purified melanite, and the white one, the King's, is made of purified howlite..." The Doctor stopped and backed away from the rings. He turned his head and looked at the philosopher in the eye. "We need to meet this oracle."

"You shall meet the Oracle very soon now, though 'twould be dangerous foresight for me to tell you how," the philosopher replied, "As for me, my purpose in this world is done. The time for my departure has come." With that, she put her bamboo stick on the sand and with, one stomp of her hoof, broke it. A gentle breeze blew from the East, and the philosopher, starting from her head and down to her hooves, dissolved into dust, carried away by the wind.

Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy were dumbstruck as they watched the zebra vanish. The Doctor walked away and tried to find their tracks in the sand in order to determine the way North again, but their tracks had been covered by the winds. "Well... we've got a problem."

Upon hearing the word, "problem," Rainbow Sword woke and gave aloud yawn. He had fallen asleep during entire conversation with the philosopher. He looked out from the cloud and said, "What is it, Doctor? Did that zebra rob us?"

"No, no ,no," the Doctor replied, "She was essential to our mission. But it would seem we've made a bit of a, um, a stumble... We've lost the way North."

This distressing news fully woke Sword. He jumped down from the cloud and said, "Not good. How long then until we can find Polaris?"

The Doctor took out his clock, looked at it and said, "About an hour. Looks like we'll have to wait."

The ponies gathered in the shade of a mushroom rock and waited, just as the philosopher once did. While waiting, Fluttershy looked to the East. She shielded her eyes with her hoof and made out what looked like an enormous cloud of sand coming at them very quickly.

"Um, excuse me. I think there's something coming our way from over there."

The others turned and looked the way Fluttershy was looking. Rainbow Sword then yelled, "Sandstorm!" And the Doctor yelled, "Gallop!" Everypony turned West and fled. But the great cloud of sand soon caught up with them and the powerful winds lifted them off of the ground. The five ponies were carried away by the storm.

Laughter

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Chapter XXVIII: Laughter

"WHEEEEE!" Pinkie Pie screamed in delight as she flew about in a sandstorm. Derpy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Starswirl the Bearded were flying around her as they were high in the air zooming at extreme speeds. After a few minutes, the panic stopped and they redirected their energy into trying to survive the flight. Suddenly, something hit Pinkie in the head, a big mass of purple fur, mane and flailing hooves. She was dazed for a moment, but quickly collected herself and identified what hit her. "Twilight!"

"Pinkie?" the mass of purple replied. The mass turned and revealed a familiar face. "Pinkie! Am I glad to see you!"

"Oh, brilliant! You're all still alive!" The Doctor called out from behind them as he, Fluttershy and Applejack held on to each other. Rainbow Sword smoothly flew by and used his wings to guide his flight and avoiding crashing into the others. Rarity held on to Rainbow Dash's tail as Dash tried to gain control of her flight. Starswirl recited an incantation and created a bubble around himself to gain some control over his flight. Derpy was at the head of the storm-carried group and calmly looked at her friends with her right eye and at the direction the storm was going with her other eye.

Derpy saw the Doctor in her right eye and waved at him and called out, "Hi, Doctor! We got the seed!" He called something out in reply, but she could not hear him over the sound of the wind. Just as she was about to reply, she saw a faint shape begin to appear in her left eye. It appeared to be a pair great towers standing alone in the middle of the desert. The storm rapidly drew closer and closer, and Derpy turned to look at the sight with both eyes. She then saw that they were two huge rocky outcroppings, towing high above the desert.

"Hey, everypony!" Pinkie called out, "Look! Two upside down towers!" Pinkie was flying upside down as she caught sight of the rocky outcroppings. "Maybe there's friendly ponies living there! I bet they have lots of-" She was abruptly stopped as she was caught in an enormous net. Shortly after, the winds stopped and the grains of the sandstorm floated suspended in the air. Upon closer investigation, Pinkie saw that each of the grains had a yellow glow around them. The glow then disappeared and all the sand dropped. Pinkie looked around and saw that she and her friends were caught in a huge net spanning at least half a mile wide and held up by the two rocky towers. She tried to move, but found herself tangled in the ropes. "Hey! What gives?!"

"Well, this is inconvenient," the Doctor said, his head poking out from a ball of rope that held him, Fluttershy and Applejack together, "It looks like we're about to be enslaved."

"How long do we have to be up here?!" Rarity shouted from a part of the net a good distance away, where she was in a rope tangle with Dash. "The Sun is right at my face!"

"At least your face isn't between anypony's legs!" Dash said from her position in the tangle, where her head was trapped between Rarity's legs and her face was hidden behind Rarity's tail. "OW!" Dash cried out when she felt a sudden sting on her flank. She could not move her head so she called, "What was that?! Did anybody see what it was!?"

"Don't worry!" the Doctor answered, "It's just your basic sedative. Ow!" He too was stung, this time on his belly. "Their darts must have gotten bigger since the last time..."

"Darts?" Applejack asked, "Ow!"

"How humiliating," Sword complained, "Captured by camels and sold as a slave. I will not stand for this." He then felt the sting on his neck and shouted out to the camels far below on the ground. "Ha! You shall need more than that to subdue me! You have no power over me!" The camels responded by sending four more darts his way. Upon hitting their target, the darts made Sword immediately fall asleep.

The others were then hit by the tranquilizer darts and started feeling drowsy. The Doctor advised them, "Don't worry. I can get us out of this. Just don't resist. Let the... the tranquilizer take effect... Like this..." The Doctor slowly fell asleep, and soon enough the other's followed.

Upon waking, the ponies found themselves on a corner of a large wicker tent. They all had their hooves tied up. Dash, Sword, Fluttershy and Derpy also had their wings tied up, and Twilight, Rarity and Starswirl had strangle black crystals attached to their horns. The sand below them was fairly cool and the tent provided relieving shade, for which they were all grateful. A variety of boxes, barrels, chests, sacks, rolled up carpets and other odds and ends filled the tent. Nearby, a pair of camels unrolled a carpet and spoke to each other in Dromedary. Some distance away, the ponies' saddlebags, the Doctor's clocks and screwdriver, and Sword's sword were piled together on top of a box. Dash and Applejack began to struggle to free themselves, while Twilight, Rarity and Starswirl attempted to use their magic to untie the ropes. The unicorns then realized that the crystals on their horns was blocking their magic.

The two camels heard the ponies' struggles and the taller one told the shorter to fetch tea. The taller camel knelt down and spoke in Equinese. "Greetings and welcome, my little ponies. My name is Rajajat al-Falfal, daughter of Kuub al-Qahwa. I am the shiekh of the al-Qurmizey tribe." Rajajat was an exceptionally long-necked camel. She wore numerous decorations and pieces of jewelry, and her flank was graced by a cutie mark of sacks of spices. Around her head she wore a garland of azaleas. The centerpiece of this garland, at her forehead, was a hexagon-cut amethyst. "I hope that sandstorm was not too uncomfortable of a flight."

" Rajajat al-Falfal! Oh, how you've grown up," the Doctor exclaimed, "You were just a calf when I last saw you. Remember me? I'm the Doctor! I helped your father with that Dalek in the Barafu Mountains."

Rajajat cocked her head in confusion and replied, "I certainly remember the Doctor who helped my father, and you're not him. But anyway, how nice that you can speak Dromedary. That makes this much more convenient. I'm only conversant in Equinese."

"Oh, right. I was in a different regeneration then. Sorry. I got a new face, you see. It's a thing that happens when I'm dying. But I'm still me. Still the same old Doctor. Come one, you've got to trust me and let us free and not sell us into slavery... Please."

"I'm not convinced."

"Alright then, I'm going to have to tell a unique memory. Let's see... when you were a calf, your tribe freed that Dalek from a mountain glacier and it starting attacking your encampment. Your mother brought you to a tent and hid you in a box of oregano. But you sneezed and the Dalek heard you. It was just about to get you when I took you out of the box and I said to you, 'Run'."

Rajajat raised her eyebrows in surprise as she realized that this pony truly was the Doctor that saved her tribe all those years ago. She stood and chuckled, "Well, then. What a twist of fate that we should meet once more, Doctor."

"So, if you don't mind. We'd appreciate it very much if you untie us. And to remove the amirite from their horns. Magic is kind of necessary for us. So, no amirite please. That is amirite, am I right?"

"Yorite."

"I'm right?"

"No, you're wrong."

"But you just said I'm right."

"No, I said 'Yorite.' Their magic is being blocked by yorite."

"Oh, you're right. It's yorite. Common mix-up. They're both the same color and density. But also not from Earth. Where did you get access to yorite?"

"It's not any of your business, Doctor. Sorry. And I shall have to say no to your request to be freed. I owe you no favors. You persuaded my father to make my cousin co-heir with me and thus made our tribe split in two. And I'm sure you'll understand when I say that I was not pleased about that."

"Just let us go!" Twilight interrupted, "We're on a mission to put the Sun back in its place."

"Yeah!" Dash joined, "And if we don't do it in time, it'll be your fault for keeping us!"

"Sorry, I'm not interested," Rajajat replied, "My tribe is quite fine under this Sun. My magic is perfectly capable of creating shade and cooling down the sand and summoning sandstorms." She gestured to the amethyst on her garland.

Just then the other camel returned carrying a tray with a porcelain tea pot, a jar of sugar and ten tea cups on the saddle on his hump. Rajajat thanked him and levitated the tea down from his saddle. She then dismissed him and proceeded to pour cups of tea and mix in some sugar. Pinkie gasped at the sight.

"SUGAR! Oh my gosh! You have sugar! Please, can I have some? Please! Please! Please! I need that sugar!"

"What in Faust's name is sugar? And wherefore doth the Doctor's magic allow thee to understand their tongue, but not I?" Starswirl asked, though he was largely ignored.

"Wait, you're not supposed to have any sugar," Twilight said as she squirmed over to get a better view of the jar. "Nopony's supposed to have sugar around here until- well... um... nopony's supposed to have sugar around here." Twilight stopped before any knowledge of the future slipped from her mouth.

"How full of surprises you are. You even know what sugar is." Rajajat replied as she finished preparing the last cup. She then levitated all the cups simultaneously and brought them to each of the ponies' mouths so that the ponies could drink. "My cousin inherited my father's ships and trades across the Sea, to a very distant land, beyond where any pony, dragon or Hoofrican dares to go. It lies on the other side of the deepest part of the Uruhu Forest. On that side is land flowing in spices, herbs, sugar and other riches. My cousin even told me that on that side of the forest, there grew the most amazing apples that bore the colors of the rainbow."

"You mean zap apples?" Applejack interrupted.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Them rainbow-colored apples you're talking about. They're zap apples."

"Uh, ignore her, Rajajat," the Doctor stopped Applejack from continuing, "She's been in the desert for far too long and all that heat has addled her brain and loads of other nasty things."

As they spoke, Twilight began to wonder that perhaps the land Rajajat was talking about was Equestria from long before the ponies discovered it. Not wanting to miss a chance at learning some history from a primary source, she asked, "Did your cousin ever mention any indigenous residents of the land beyond the sea?"

"Oh, they're nothing more than barbarians," Rajajat answered, "My cousin keeps a record of the savages he encounters. There are 'griffins,' 'buffalo,' 'mules,' and occasionally uncivilized dragons. Also, there are filthy creatures who call themselves, 'diamond dogs,' whom my cousin does most of his trade with. They live underground and do nothing but hoard gems. Their greed and ignorance means great business for my cousin. With a few cheap gems he can fill a ship with all sorts of goods. Of course, that means he can sell his goods to me for a low price and that has made my business boom. But I'd very much prefer to be trading with them myself. My cousin has turned enormous profits from overseas trade, certainly larger than mine. I envy him."

Once the ponies finished drinking, Rajajat put the tea cups back on the tray and called for somecamel to take it away. She then turned and began to walk out of the tent, saying some last words to the ponies, "If you'll excuse, my customer is being disagreeable about the price to put on you. I must try to resolve things in my favor."

The shiekh exited the tent and a few moments later, the ponies heard her start yelling and a deep voice returned the yells. In the end they came to settle a price. Three-hundred gold for Applejack, Pinkie, Dash, the Doctor and Sword. Three-hundred silver for Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Derpy. And a hundred silver for Starswirl. The sorcerer was deeply offended upon overhearing the price placed on him.

The ponies were taken out of the tent and brought into an enormous round yellow silk tent. Rajajat and her tribe left and the ten were now possessions of the mercenary dragon, Thorn. The walls were easily over twice the height of the camels' tent and the roof rose even higher. The sand beneath the tent was covered over with carpets of various color and majestic designs. Gold coins, jewelry, goblets and other trinkets were scattered about the floor here and there. The slaves, hailing from every species in the three kingdoms, busied themselves with keeping the tent tidy and preparing their master's afternoon cider, though none of the tent's residents had any sense of afternoon anymore.

The ponies were released from their ropes by a rhino, who was the slave supervisor. His position was indicated by a tattoo of a star on his neck. He was an average sized rhino with a short green horn covered in black yorite crystals. He had a number of piercings on both his ears, but he wore no earrings. His cutie mark was a rolled up scroll tied with a pink ribbon. He spoke in a deep voice to the new arrivals in Equinese. "Welcome. I'm your supervisor, Mr. Tongue-Twister. We're all happy to have you here and I'll assure you that serving our master, Thorn, is a great honor. Now, come along. Your tour of the tent will start immediately."

The ponies silently followed the rhino and were shown all the features, facilities and workplaces of the tent. For a mobile home, the tent was surprisingly well-equipped. It had a kitchen, two bedrooms, slave quarters, a sitting room, a dining room, three restrooms and a library. All of these could be easily taken down, packed and moved across the desert as necessary. Tongue-Twister then led the ponies through a bead curtain into a luxurious bedroom, with a hoard of gold at the center. On this hoard laid a large purple dragon. His white spines were long and stiff, and his tail ended in an arrowhead shape. He wore a variety of jewels and the most dazzling of them all was the golden cuff on his right wrist, which was adorned with a fang-shaped diamond. One thing he lacked was a pair of wings. Tongue-Twister approached the dragon and said, "Master, the new slaves. I managed a suitable price. Three-hundred gold, four-hundred silver."

"Thank you, Tongue-Twister. I shall handle things from here. You may go and attend to more pressing matters," Thorn, the dragon mercenary, said as he got off of his bed of gold. He ordered his new slaves to come closer and he circled around them, observing their features closely. He first pointed at Starswirl and said in Equinese, "You are to be an usher. I've not had a usher in a while and it's a nice convenience for when my clients visit." He then said to Sword and the Doctor, "You two have sharp eyes. You shall be watch guards. Two of my guards went blind from too much Sun." To Dash, he said, "Roof maintenance. How fortunate for you. You shall have your wings freed." To Applejack, he said, "Kitchen assistant. The cook has been requesting for another one for the past year." To Twilight, Fluttershy and Derpy, he paused to think before saying, "Packers and movers. But I shan't be moving for another few weeks, so for now you are maids." He looked at Rarity and admired her beauty. He asked her, "Are you skilled in the art of dance?"

Rarity replied, "No, sorry. My skill lies in making dresses and making beauty in general."

Thorn was less impressed by her talent and focused on the fact that she just spoke to him in his native tongue. "Oh, you can speak Drakish. How nice. You will instead be the usher, then. The bearded one can be... hm... he can be a bus-colt."

"We all can speak Drakish, master," the Doctor said, "Except the bearded one and the eye-patch one." Thorn simply acknowledged his statement with a nod and moved on.

He lastly came to Pinkie, and he was stumped as to where to assign her. He asked, "Tell me, pink one. What is your special talent?"

"Oh! I'm good at parties!" Pinkie answered, "I get together all the decorations, I make lots of sweets, I invite all my friends and then I-"

"I have no use for parties in this tent, thank you," Thorn interrupted, "What else are you skilled at? Otherwise I shall have to place you among the packers and movers."

"I provide some great entertainment!"

Thorn raised an eyebrow and lowered his head to Pinkie's level. "Entertainment? Never have I had an entertainer in my possession. I've never considered it. This should be a nice change. Though, I must warn you that I've not laughed in two-hundred years."

"Challenge accepted!"

Thorn smiled and returned to his bed. He laid on his side, facing the ponies, and said, "So let us test you, pink one, to see if you are capable of carrying out the duties of an entertainer. If you can make me laugh, you shall be rewarded with this unique role. If not, you are a packer."

"Okay! Let's start with a joke: Why did the doctor's say that the egg was suffering from laughing gas? Because he was cracking up!"

Thorn kept a blank face that gave the impression that he was not amused. Pinkie tried again. "Twinkle Sprinkle was painting a forest on himself when he saw his friend Black Track pass by. Black Track just got a new set of silver horseshoes for his birthday and was showing it off around town. When Twinkle Sprinkle saw him, he went over, his face half-painted, and said, 'Wow, Black Track! Those are some cool shoes! I'm green with envy!'"

Still, Thorn was not amused. Pinkie decided to change tactics, as he clearly did not appreciate puns.

"A chicken, a pig and a pony go to a tavern and all three order a round of cider. The chicken says, 'You know, life as a chicken gets pretty boring. Being cooped up all my life, it gave me time to think. What's the point of it all? Why do I go through the effort of eating seeds, laying eggs, sleeping, waking and so on, when all I ever do is just stay in a farm doing nothing? I feel a lack of purpose. I want to go out and do things. Accomplish great feats and make me a chicken that every chicken should know.' The pig looks at the chicken and says, 'Hey, now, life ain't that bad. I think it's pretty darn sweet living on the farm. You ain't got a care in the world. All you got to do is relax and eat the food that's given to you. So, without worries, you can enjoy life and all its pleasures. You'll see how good life is, and living the good life is a purpose in itself.' The pony then turns to face both of them. She looks them square in the eye and takes a sip of her cider. She wipes the foam from her mouth and says, 'Why in tarnation do I even have you? I'm a vegetarian!'"

Nothing. Though Thorn did crack a little smirk. If anything, he was entertained by Pinkie's vain attempts at amusing him. Applejack went to Pinkie and said, "Come on now, sugarcube. Looks like nothing's gonna make him laugh."

Pinkie disregarded Applejack and pushed her away. She then kept on trying, "The king of Ponytopia, the queen of Ponytopia and their butler are on a ship. There's only one lifeboat and it only has room for one passenger. The king said, 'I should get the boat. I raise and lower the Sun that brings light into the world. If I drown, the Sun would stop moving and order will collapse.' Then the queen said, 'I should get the boat. I'm responsible for the Moon that bring the beautiful night into the world. If I drown, who then would cool the Earth after it has been warmed by the Sun?' And then the butler said, 'If it weren't for me, neither of Your Majesties could do your job! I polish your horns, clean your hooves, bring you your breakfasts, make your beds, prepare your clothes, bring you your mail, and organize your servants. If I were to drown, both night and day would fall apart and the world would go into chaos.' So which of them survived? Come on, guess!"

"All of them. The king and queen could just fly."

"Well, uh, the king and queen broke their wings. But they all did survive. Because the ship wasn't sinking!"

Thorn yawned. He smiled and gave Pinkie a look that said, "Give up yet?"

Pinkie smiled back. She sensed that her plan was working. Fluttershy then timidly walked up to her and quietly said, "Pinkie, maybe it's not worth it. We should probably just, um, move on. And I want to leave the room. His teeth are scary," Fluttershy's voice then began to rise as she grew more and more anxious. "We have to get out of here. I gotta get out of here! I can't take this anymore! I can't work for this dragon! Pinkie! Don't give up! Let's make a bet with the dragon. Excuse me, mister. We'd like to make a bet with you."

The other's watched with concern as Fluttershy approached Thorn and spoke so boldly to him. "What is she doing?" Sword asked, "I'm going to stop her before she angers him."

"No, wait, hold on," the Doctor said, "I think she just might find us a way out..."

Thorn lowered his head from his high spot on the hoard of gold and looked down on Fluttershy. The little pegasus squeaked in fear at such a close-up sight of the fearsome dragon, but she had gone too far to back away. She fearfully stared at him quietly. Thorn then said, "Well? What would you like to bet on? That if the pink one succeeds in making me laugh, I must reward you?"

"Um, y-y-yes. If it works, you'll let us free. A-a-also to give us back our things. I, um, I noticed the camels sold you those as well. Well, that is, if you don't mind..." The camels indeed sold the ponies' saddlebags, clocks, sonic screwdriver and sword, and they were added to Thorn's hoard of riches.

"What then would I receive if she should fail? You're already my slaves. You can't deny any of my orders."

"That's not entirely true!" the Doctor joined, "The Dragon Code does place limits on what you can do to your slaves without their consent. According to the code you cannot force, um, ahem, you-know-what, if you know what I mean, on a slave."

"Ah, yes, you're right. I know what you mean... So if the pink one fails, I shall have the consent to do um... you-know-what to a pony of my choice?"

"Is it a fair bet?" the Doctor replied.

Thorn was tempted. He never had "you-know-what" with a pony. He had a unicorn slave who knew a size-changing spell that would allow him to be small enough to do it. He then set his sights on the beautiful Rarity. He was certain Pinkie would fail, and all he had to give was some time to watch her fail He decided that the opportunity was worthwhile. He gave his answer. "I accept. If the pink one should succeed in making me laugh, you shall be given back your possessions and freed. If she should fail, I shall have the white one for, um... you-know-what."

Rarity was all a bit confused at what was going on and by the time she realized what the you-know-what was, Thorn and the Doctor had already sealed the deal. It was too late to protest. So she looked at Pinkie with her petrified eyes and mouthed out to her, "Don't fail."

Pinkie nodded to her and made the gestures of the pinkie promise. Thorn put his head back up and rested it on his hoard as he gave Pinkie his attention. She walked up defiantly and, from out of nowhere, she took out a black bowler hat, a white cane, and a moustache. She put on the hat and moustache, held out the cane in one hoof, and began to softly sing.

"The desert is hot.

Boils like a tea pot.

I'd love to see it meet with some showers.

It is quite a bore.

Always the same as before.

All that changes is the shapes of the dunes.

But wait! What's this?

Could it bring you some bliss?

A pony to lift up your damp and weary spirit.

Oooooohhh, yes!

It's she!

It's Pinkie Pie!"

As she sang she gave a grand crescendo and broke into dance. She did tricks with her cane and hat, spun, leaped, tap-danced and did other feats of acrobatics and choreography, all the while singing.

"Oh come on now, dear master, crack a smile.

You'll be so glad to see it stretch a mile.

The sparrow and the lark,

The good old bats in the dark,

Little bunny and big shark,

All the dogs who love to bark.

Here they come shout out, Hark!

We have a show to show!"

Some of the other slaves peeked into the room to see what all the commotion was. They had never heard the sound of such cheerful music resonate through the tent.

"Let me tell an old story,

Of a camel's long lost glory.

Rajajat Al-Fal-Fool!

She met a nameless Doctor,

A fearless monster-buster,

When she was just a calf.

The Doctor saved the day.

The camels cried, 'Hooray!'

But not Miss Al-Fal-Fool.

For she met a funny end,

Unlike the usual trend,

'Cus she was once the heir.

The Doctor told her father,

Something that was a bother,

Involving her auntie's son.

So it came to be,

That the sole heir was not she.

She had to share with her cousin,

That Rajajat Aaaaal-Faaaaal-Foooooo-WOAH!"

Just as Pinkie was belting out her final note while balancing on one hoof on her cane, she fell and hit her head on the floor. She sat up and rubbed her head. She had a disappointed expression on her face. Her poofy mane then deflated and became came down as straight hair. She stood up, looked at Rarity, who had a horrified expression on her face, and winked. She turned, tears welling up in her eyes, and depressingly said to Thorn, "I'm sorry I wasted your time..." She then fell on her back, flailed her hooves and began to sob at her failure.

Thorn chuckled. "What a fool you've made of yourself. And how you've humiliatingly failed your friend. Ha! I should be embarrassed to even be seen in your company."

Suddenly Pinkie jumped up high into the air and landed on Thorn's snout. She looked him in the eye and exclaimed, "AHA! YOU LAUGHED!"

The ponies gasped. The slaves gasped. Thorn gasped. The great dragon's jaw was dropped as he stared at the little pony before his eyes. He mumbled, "Impossible..."

Pinkie replied, "Not impossible. Just highly improbable."

"Wh-Who... who are you?"

"I am Laughter," Pinkie dramatically replied. Then her hair poofed up again and she said, "But you can just call me Pinkie Pie."

Thorn was speechless. He had experienced a sensation he had not felt in two centuries. He did not even remember what happened when he last laughed. He got off his bed and lowered his head so that Pinkie could safely hop off. He sat on the floor and just stared at the ponies, clueless as to what to say. Eventually, he found the right words. He smiled and said, "Thank you."

The ponies smiled back. Pinkie then said, "So. How about that freedom?"

"Of course. Just as I promised." Thorn reared his head and gathered green fire in his throat. The ponies gasped in horror and braced themselves for their imminent fiery doom. Thorn breathed and engulfed them in green fire. A moment later, the ponies found themselves perfectly fine, and the yorite crystals were removed from the unicorn's horns. "Do you not know that green fire can heal and cleanse?" Thorn then turned his head and called out to one of the slaves, "Indigo, cut the ropes on their wings." A skinny purple gazelle galloped over and carried out his orders. In the meantime, the dragon looked through his hoard to gather up the ponies' possessions.

Rarity's attention was caught by the name, Indigo. She walked up to the gazelle, who was busy freeing Dash's wings. "Excuse me. Are you Dr. Indigo? From Gazellandria?"

The gazelle was surprised to hear that somepony in the tent knew of him. He finished cutting Dash's rope and said, "Yes, I am. You've heard of me?"

Rarity smiled at him. "We met your wife, Cottontail, while traveling through the desert."

Indigo's eyes widened and he quickly asked, "Really?! How was she?"

"She and your son are alive and well. They're probably back in Hoofrica by now."

Indigo was overcome with joy and his eyes watered. He covered his mouth with his hoof and fell to his knees. He looked up, closed his eyes and said, "Praise be to the Gods." He wiped his eyes and said, "Sorry. I don't mean to fall apart in front of you like this. It's just... it's just such great news to hear. Thank you."

"Indigo! Have you finished cutting their ropes?" Thorn called out as he approached with the ponies' possession in one claw. Indigo quickly gave a farewell nod to Rarity and moved on to cut the ropes restraining Derpy's wings.

Thorn set down the saddlebags, clocks, screwdriver and sword, and then he reached for the golden cuff on his right wrist. He pulled out the fang-shaped diamond and held it out to Pinkie. "I met a zebra living in the Mushroom Rocks a few years ago, and she told me that an oracle told her that someday I would meet one who would make me laugh, and when I did, I should give her this. I never believed the loony old zebra, but now the prophecy has come true. I'd best follow that oracle's instructions then."

Pinkie took the diamond, though with great difficulty as it was very large and heavy. The ponies gathered around and admired the brilliant jewel.

"This is much more than a diamond," Thorn explained, "It is a fang of the White Dragon. I am descended from the White Dragon and the Green Dragon. This fang was passed down through the generations since the White Dragon's death and came to me. It is my most prized possession, so please be careful with it."

Pinkie gratefully accepted the fang and shook Thorn's claw. The great purple mercenary dragon then personally escorted the ten ponies out of the tent, provided them some food and water, and bade them good luck with their journey through the Great Northern Desert.

As the ponies walked under the merciless Sun, the Doctor had only one thought occupying his mind: "Who is the oracle?"

Kindness

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Chapter XXIX: Kindness

"Was it just me or did that dragon remind anypony of Spike?" Fluttershy asked.

"Hm, now that I think of it. He did look a bit like Spike," Twilight Sparkle answered.

Rainbow Dash then joined, "Wouldn't it be funny if he turns out to be Spike's ancestor? Haha! What a kick we'd get out of that!"

"If only. It'd be too rich," Rarity added, "But of course, Spikey-Wikey's a much too cute and gentle dragon to be related to that greedy brute."

"All this talk of Spike's making me miss home," Applejack said, "I wonder how everypony's doing."

Pinkie Pie responded, "Oh, don't worry about them. We have a time machine, so when we go back it'll be like we were never gone. And besides, who can worry about home when we finally have sugar!" She indicated with her head to the bag of sugar in her saddlebag that Thorn gave her.

The Sun above was to the South, allowing the ponies to see Polaris in its proper position and know the way North. The Moon was between the quarter and crescent phases and, from the ponies' view, was slightly to the Southeast, as the ponies had gone far in their Northward journey. They had reached a part of the Great Northern Desert that would normally be cold as it was near the Arctic, but the constant bombardment of the Sun's rays made it hot. Nevertheless, this region of the desert was much cooler than the regions the ponies' left behind them and they counted it as a blessing. The sand was not as painful to walk on. The Sun was not as direct on them as before. They had enough food and water to last the ten of them an entire week. They wore white desert robes to protect them from the sand-blasting winds, and white silk headgear to protect them from the Sun. To Twilight, their new attire made them look like merchants of Saddle Arabia.

"How much time hath we lost in our predicament with the camels and the dragon, Doctor?" Starswirl asked

"Well, according to the clock, we lost about one day, and a half, give or take. It needed a rewind while we were in captivity. Fortunately I was able to make an estimated calculation to compensate for the discrepancy that caused. But not to worry. We're on a roll! Derpy told me that Rarity got the reproductive unit of a bioluminescent tree, or, if you prefer, a seed of the Tree of Light. And then Applejack got the howlite and melatine. And just now, Pinkie got the crystallized carbon. We have three days left, and three more ingredients," the Doctor answered.

"What of the journey to Mount Dechrau?" Sword added, "If we are to take three days to find the last of the ingredients, we shall have no time to stop the Master at the Gates."

"Oh, we'll figure something out. And we never know, maybe we'll find all three today. We found the other three in the course of two days," the Doctor responded, though in reality he was worried about their time limit.

The ponies journeyed for six hours and nothing interesting happened. They stopped, pitched camp and rested. The journeyed for another six hours, and still nothing. The Sun was now to the East.

"I'm bored..." Pinkie complained, "When are we going to face danger again?"

"It's not so bad," Fluttershy said, "It's nice to have a quiet peaceful walk without any strangers, storms, camels or dragons around. Don't you agree Rarity?"

Rarity looked at Fluttershy and pulled down the silk covering her head. She showed her exhausted face and monstrously messy mane. Fluttershy took it as a no.

"I think it'd be best if we did meet another desert dweller," Twilight said, "So far it's been they who had the ingredients of the Elements. I'd bet the next one belongs to a camel. You know, it's been kind of interesting how we came to-"

"Hey everypony! Look! An oasis!" Derpy interrupted as she pointed to the Northeast. There was indeed what appeared to be a grove of trees and bushes. An oasis. On the horizon beyond, the ponies could see the ice-capped mountains of the Arctic. It was a welcome sight, but the ponies had learned to always doubt their eyes. Many times they had seen things of interest that turned out to be mirages. This however was not one of those times, for the Doctor said, "That's no mirage. This part of the desert isn't hot enough to produce mirages. It's real!"

Everypony cheered at the good news and galloped to the oasis. They were pleased to see that, upon reaching the oasis, it did not turn into a bunch of rocks. Pinkie was the first to jump in.

"WHEEEEE!"

Upon hitting the surface of the water, however, she found that it was not water at all. The image of water around her flickered, faded, disappeared and became a pool of thick brown slush. "Uh, oh... Don't jump in! It's quicksand!"

"PINKIE!" Everypony shouted and ran to the edge of the quicksand. They tried to help, but Pinkie had jumped to far into the pool for them to reach. They grabbed branches from the plants around them and reached out for Pinkie to grab, but it was to no avail. Applejack took out a rope and lassoed Pinkie. Everypony grabbed hold of the rope and tried to pull Pinkie out, but again she did not budge. The quicksand was indeed quick and she was soon only a face on the surface of the pool.

"Wait! Hold on..." Pinkie began as her face too began to disappear beneath the surface, the sludge getting into her mouth. "Bleh! I think there some- ... gah! bleh! There's something on the-" Before Pinkie could finish her sentence, she disappeared completely. She was gone. Everypony stared at the spot where she was lost and were completely speechless.

The Doctor took out his make-shift sonic screwdriver and scanned the quicksand the plants around them. He checked the results and reported, "It was a hologram. The water was all a hologram hiding the quicksand. And these plants. They're all synthetic. Not natural."

"What's the use of knowing that!" Twilight snapped, "It won't bring back Pinkie!" She then calmed a little bit and said, "Sorry..."

"Oh, but I think it can," the Doctor replied, "Because this oasis is made from technology far beyond what Earth at this time has. So somepony with advanced technology went through the trouble of making a fake oasis here. Now, we have to ask: Why?"

"To lure ponies to their doom," Dash bitterly answered.

"But then..." Applejack said, "What'd be the point in that? There ain't no point in killing ponies lost in the desert."

"Exactly," the Doctor said.

"So that means..." Fluttershy added, "Pinkie's not gone!"

The ponies gathered at the edge of the quicksand and all thought the same thing. There was only one way for them to save Pinkie. "Ready?" the Doctor said, and everypony nodded. All together, they jumped and allowed themselves to sink. It was not long before everypony was completely engulfed in the quicksand, but as they lost contact with the world above, the felt something else beneath. It was cold air. The feeling of thick sludge gave way as the feeling of cold air crept up their bodies from tail to head.

The ponies tried to get themselves around to get their heads out of the sand and into whatever was beneath. They found that the quicksand was suspended in air, and below it was a deep cave. At the bottom of this cave was a lake, and the ponies could hear Pinkie splashing around and laughing. Soon gravity pulled the ponies out of the quicksand one by one and they fell into the heavenly coolness of an underground lake.

"Hi! Glad everypony could make it!" Pinkie shouted.

"Oh, this is wonderful!" Rarity said as she let herself float freely on the surface of the lake, "Just what the doctor ordered."

"The Doctor didn't order this," Derpy said, "Or did he? Did you, Doctor?"

"No," the Doctor replied, "but if I could order an underground lake, I wouldn't hesitate."

Fluttershy, instead of relaxing, worried as her soaked robes made it hard for her to swim. "Um, shouldn't we go to the land and get our clothes off and bags before we swim. I, uh, I think that would be a good idea..."

"Goodness, she's right!" Rarity agreed, "We mustn't let our clothes and supplies be damaged by all this water."

"And, um, can I also have some help with getting to the shore. I... I can't swim with this on."

Applejack and Dash helped Fluttershy swim to the lakeshore and the others followed. They took off their robes, heavy from all the water and relaxed on the shore. The ground beneath them was, surprisingly, not bare rock, but loamy soil with some sparse grass sprouting from it The ponies next noticed that the cave was not pitch dark. It was dimly lit by stones on the cave roof that glowed yellow.

"Ah, luminescent rock," the Doctor remarked, "They occur in underground areas around the magnetic poles. We must be nearing the Arctic circle... So, let's start thinking. Who made that hologram to disguise the quicksand?"

Starswirl got on his hooves and said, "Mayhaps the residents of this cave. I senseth we art under watch." He raised his horn, which had been freed from its yorite shackles thanks to Thorn, and recited the incantation, "Illumino!" The tip of his horn emitted a brilliant white light that illuminated the entire cave. It was very expansive and the roof of the cave was also decorated with countless stalactites. Across the lake was another grassy shore with a few bushes. On that shore was a boat. To the right and some distance above the surface of the lake was a ledge, and on this ledge was a pink pegasus and a black dragon.

"Darn it! They spotted us!" the pegasus shouted, "Should we go to them?"

"They seem friendly enough," the dragon replied, "Let's go."

The pegasus and the dragon leapt off of the ledge and glided towards the ten ponies. As they gracefully approached, the dragon let his claw skim the surface of the lake, creating gentle ripples. They landed on the edge of the lake and greeted the ponies.

"Greetings!" the pegasus cried out in a more modern dialect of Equinese as she approached. She was an average sized young pegasus with a white mane and orange eyes. Her cutie mark was a palace guard's helmet. "Don't worry. We won't hurt you."

"We're a patrol. We just keep an eye on the area for new arrivals," the dragon said, also in Equinese. He was a middle-aged dragon, but was quite small. He was only twice the size of the pegasus. He had blue eyes, yellow spines, a club-ended tail and a solitary blunted horn on his snout. "I am Officer Sleek Scale."

"And I'm his junior officer, Moonstone."

They went to each pony and shook hooves and claws. Starswirl and Sword were both bewildered by what was taking place. Starswirl could not believe that a pegasus and dragon were working together as comrades, and Sword could not believe that these two were living beneath the Great Northern Desert. Sword asked, "Excuse me, I am rather confused. Why exactly are you patrolling for new arrivals? You speak as if there are many living here."

"Allow me to explain," the Doctor joined in, "I understand now how and why the hologram and synthetic plants were up there. We've reached Utopia."

"Oh, you've heard of us?" Sleek Scale asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"I've been here before, officer," the Doctor replied, "As a tourist more than anything. And don't worry. I haven't spoken a word of it to any living creature in surface."

Sleek Scale looked at Moonstone. She shrugged, and he shrugged in response. He then said, "Alright, then. I'll take your word for it. The interrogation will clear up any misunderstandings. So, come along. We'll be your escort to Utopia."

Moonstone whistled out across the lake and a yellow unicorn came out from behind a bush. The unicorn got on the boat and used his magic to push it out into the water. He then used his magic to create a gentle wave that brought the boat to the other shore. Upon arriving, the unicorn said, "This is a bigger group than usual. I'm not sure if they'll all fit."

"The pegasi can just fly," Sleek Scale responded, "If that's not a problem for anypony." Nopony complained. The earth ponies and unicorns boarded the boat and the pegasi flew off with Sleek Scale and Moonstone.

As they flew, Sword began to converse, "Utopia... That means 'No Place' in the ancient tongue of Pegasine."

"Yup. It's a pretty well-picked name. We all would want for this place - as far as the surface dwellers are concerned - to be no place." Moonstone said, "The city was founded four-hundred years ago by a pegasus injured in battle. He got lost in the desert and fell down a chasm. He found himself in a safe haven with food, water and technology beyond his imagination. He built a home and as the war dragged on, more poor displaced souls found their way here. It wasn't long before a little city came into being."

"Wow, that sounds nice," Fluttershy commented, "I thought this place was a bit scary, but 'safe haven' sounds... safe."

"It's unbelievably safe," Sleek Scale said, "There are a few flaws here and there, but overall Utopia is a paradise. And last week, we hit our three-thousand residents milestone."

"Sounds a little too good to be true," Dash suspiciously remarked.

"Believe me, when you get there- well, I should say 'if' - if you get there, you'll see how true it is."

The ponies on the boat enjoyed a nice ride as the unicorn pushed the boat away from the shore and magically created a wave to get to the other shore. Starswirl watched the unicorn use his magic without any incantations and scoffed. "Hmmph! Thou art among the unicorns who useth the new magic, am I correct?

"Got a problem with that, sir?"

"Oh, 'tis nothing. I merely thinketh that thine magic is uncouth and lacks elegance."

"Starswirl," Rarity sharply said, "Can you please not pick any fights? You may refuse to show decency to a gazelle but at least show some to a fellow unicorn." She easily silenced the old sorcerer and he sat down irritably.

The Doctor then joined the conversation as he leaned out the stern, dipped his hoof into the water and tasted it. "It's been a while since Utopia has last seen me. How has the population changed? And what new technologies has the rift given?"

"We hit three-thousand last week. The celebration was pretty lively. And technology-wise, I guess the biggest recent development is the new nuclear energy source we have. We got it last year. Although, the Prime Minister and Parliament still haven't disclosed much information about it."

The Doctor hmm'd in interest. Twilight was curious as to what they were all talking about. She thought of asking, but then decided that she wanted to learn about Utopia from firsthand experience. The boat went ashore and the ponies disembarked. Sleek Scale and the pegasi awaited them at the entrance to a tunnel hidden behind bushes and vines. The tunnel was well carved out of the rock and it was lit by electric lights. The flourishing grass was very green and well-trimmed.

The tunnel seemed to come to a dead end and everypony stopped before the rocky wall that blocked their way. At the center of the wall was a small speaker and microphone. Sleek Scale then knocked on the wall in five different seemingly random places, and from the speaker a voice came, "Sixty-six, forty-two, twelve, ninety-eight, twenty."

Sleek Scale moved his mouth towards the microphone, cleared his throat and said, "Tentacle, enigma, torque, toffee, sensibility."

After a moment, the voice replied, "Welcome back, officer. Anything new?"

"Ten new arrivals, officer. So please open the door and call for the immigration supervisors."

There was a thud from the wall and it opened like a door inwards, away from the ponies. Whatever was beyond the door was very well lit, and for a moment the ponies could not see through the light. The door finished opening with a loud thud and the ponies' vision began to gain focus as their pupils adapted to the light. The Doctor and Derpy smiled in delight. The others dropped their jaws at the spectacle before them. Twilight stuttered, "I-i-is... is that... is that what I think it is?"

"It will be," the Doctor answered.

Utopia, though relatively small, was the most magnificent city any of them had ever seen. The city had an outer ring, which contained the homes of the residents. The houses were built from crystals and stones of many colors, and they were of many shapes and sizes to accommodate for the diversity of the population. There was an inner ring which contained taller buildings made of crystal and stone, which were the public buildings, places of business and other necessities of an urban community. This ring also contained bustling markets. At the center of the city was a great round plaza and above the plaza was a floating palace of diamond. From the peak of the highest tower of the palace, a brilliant pale-blue, almost white, light shone across the city and beyond. The city was inside a gigantic perfectly semicircular cavern, carved out by the early residents. The roof of the cavern was dotted by countless luminescent rocks. If all the lights of the city were turned off, the roof would look like the night sky in all its brilliance. The ponies and their escorts stood by a cliff on the wall of the cavern and they were still quite far from the city. Once the door closed again, Sleek Scale and Moonstone led the ponies down a path that descended along the cavern wall.

"We still have quite a way to go," Moonstone said, "And keep a sharp eye. Outside the city, we're not completely safe."

"Not safe?" Fluttershy asked with concern in her voice, "I thought this was supposed to be a safe haven."

"What sort of not-completely-safe are you talking about?" the Doctor said, "Last time I was here, there were no threats at all whatsoever."

"About five years ago, a... unwanted visitor made her way to these caves," Sleek Scale replied, "The immigration supervisors found her unsuitable for admittance into Utopia and so she forcibly entered the city and tried to usurp power. Fortunately she was ousted and kept at bay. Even more fortunately, with our new energy source we've been able to power an extrapolator shield around the city with bioselective permeability. The shield has successfully kept the Unwanted Visitor outside of the city without much effort from us."

"Outside the shield though, she's a threat" Moonstone added, "But she hasn't been seen for a few months now. The Parliament and Prime Minister concluded that she was dead and it was safe for patrols to go out the city again. I have my doubts, though."

"As do I," Sleek Scale agreed. Something then caught his eye farther down the path. He saw that a section of the path had collapsed. "What in the world happened there?" He and Moonstone ran over to the collapsed section, which was just a little too wide for non-flyers to jump over. They looked down and saw at pile of dirt, rock and rubble far below. A faint and fading pink glow came from underneath the debris. Moonstone's sharp ears could just barely make out the sound of heavy breathing coming from below.

"Somepony's trapped down there!" she said.

"No time to lose then," Sleek Scale said, "You ten stay here and wait for us to come back." He and Moonstone then jumped off the path and flew down.

The ponies stood where they were and wondered whether they should obey orders or not.

"Hmmph! How haughty for a little dragon such as he to giveth me commands," Starswirl began.

"Well, it may be dangerous for us to join them," the Doctor said.

Dash then added, "Then I guess that means we've got join them. Where there's danger there could be the next ingredient!"

"That's the spirit! Allons-y!"

"You know, I'd really prefer to just stay here. I don't want to be running into that unwanted visitor," Fluttershy said, "And besides, not everypony here can fly and go down there so why don't we all just stick together and not go down there?"

"Don't be silly, Fluttershy," Dash rebuked, "Twilight and Starswirl can just teleport the others. And whatever the danger is, it's no match for us!"

Everypony but Fluttershy expressed their agreement. Twilight and Starswirl gathered the Doctor, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie, together and teleported down to pile of debris. Sword and Derpy flew down, and Dash pulled Fluttershy down by the tail. They came down to find Moonstone and Sleek Scale digging through the pile. The dragon turned his head to see who had arrived and, upon seeing the ten ponies, said, "I thought I told you to stay up there!"

"An escort must never leave his guests in the middle of a road, and vice versa," Rarity cheekily replied. Sleek Scale sighed and returned to digging.

Moonstone found a broken half of a unicorn's sky-blue horn. She dug some more and uncovered the other half, which seemed to still be attached to the head. The pink glow came from the broken part of the horn, which exposed the inside. She was suspicious when she realized that the two parts together composed a horn that was extremely long for a unicorn. Her suspicions were raised when she found sky-blue feathers among the debris. The horn was sticking out from below a few slabs of stone and she turned aside the slabs to find a face she hoped never to see. "Oh my gods... it's you..."

Twilight, Rarity and Starswirl gave their assistance by levitating much of the rock and rubble away to expose the rest of the unfortunate creature. She was an alicorn. She had a sky-blue coat and a dark blue mane. Her eyes were magenta and her cutie mark was a ring of stars around a full Moon. Her body was wounded, battered and bruised. Her coat and mane were disheveled and she had a black eye. Her left wing was severely contorted and her right foreleg was twisted in a way no leg should twist. Her face bore the expression of a pained soul, driven solely by rage and despair, and her entirety was colored with a slight tint of grey. She was a sight that brought pity to everypony's hearts. Even Starswirl felt some remorse, despite knowing who she was, what she was, and what she had done. The first words to escape his mouth were, "It cannot be..."

The alicorn coughed, spit out some blood and said, "Starswirl the Bearded. Old friend. Thou art the last pony I hath expected to see upon mine final moments."

"You know her?" Moonstone asked.

"Indeed," Starswirl replied, "She is Princess Sidera, eldest daughter of His Royal Majesty, King Concordius, former heir to the Throne of the Night, and a traitor."

Everypony was shocked to hear this. What was an heiress doing in a cave beneath the Great Northern Desert? Knowing how far she must have fallen made them pity her even more. Fluttershy dared to ask, "Should we help her?"

"Of course not!" Sword quickly answered, "I shall assume you know not her history. Seven years ago, she turned against His Majesty and joined the Hoofricans in an attempt to take the throne prematurely. She nearly succeeded but in the end His Majesty stopped her. After her failure, the Empress Silver Tongue turned against her and exiled her into the Great Northern Desert. And rightfully so."

"They didst not exile me!" Sidera retorted, "Never would I alloweth the wretches to lay a hoof upon me. I flew away. And with no place left where I could be treated with the respect I deserveth, I sought refuge in the desert."

"So that's how you found us," Sleek Scale said.

"And then thou casteth me out!

"Your soul was too tainted by evil and disharmony. We couldn't allow someone like you to enter. It would've been better if you died in the desert."

"But instead I shall perish here with what couldst be the mightiest empire in the world just beyond mine grasp."

"Are you responsible for the damage to the road?" Moonstone quickly tried to move them away from the subject of death, "Because this is government property."

Sidera replied, "Oh, talk not of thy laws to me. Thou knowest I am an outlaw, a despised criminal. But if thou must knoweth, I destroyed the road to end this misery of mine. I simply hath faced enough and see'th no purpose is continuing mine struggles. How unfortunate that my attempt should fail and instead leaveth me crippled and dying a slow death, while surrounded by the judging eyes of mine enemies."

Her words struck a chord. The Doctor, Derpy and the six were moved, but Starswirl, Swords, Moonstone and Sleek Scale remained steadfastly against her. The princess coughed again and the pink light from her horn finally died out. She did not have much longer to last. She lied there silently looking straight at them all with her hateful eyes.

"Let's go. The Prime Minister will be pleased to hear that the Unwanted Visitor is dead." Sleek Scale said.

The Doctor tried to persuade the two officers to help Sidera and bring her to a hospital, but the princess rebuked him. "There is nothing to be done. My light hast gone. My death is sealed. Just leave me."

Starswirl responded, "I cannot believeth that I am saying this, but... I agree. Let us leave her."

Everypony turned and resumed the walk to Utopia. All was silent save for the sound of Sidera's breathing, their hooves stepping on the grassy ground and Sleek Scale's wings flapping. The dying princess watched as the last of the living she would see walked away. She closed her eyes and was ready to be taken by King Thiessen, god of life and death. But then she heard a quiet little voice say, "Wait." She opened her eyes and saw the yellow pink-maned pegasus had stopped and fallen behind the rest of her group.

Fluttershy turned around and looked at Princess Sidera as she laid dying. After a moment she said, "Doctor, can I have the first-aid kit, please?"

"Fluttershy... there's nothing we can do," the Doctor replied, "She's right. Once the light of a unicorn or alicorn's horn goes out, that's it. There's no way to save her."

"I don't care. Well, I do care. I care for her, but I don't care for the fact that I can't save her. We can still help. So, if you don't mind, can I please have the first-aid kit?"

The Doctor gave thought to what she said and smiled. He took out the first-aid kit that Thorn provided and went with Fluttershy to the princess. Derpy, Twilight, Applejack, Dash, Rarity and Pinkie followed. Starswirl, Sword, Sleek Scale and Moonstone stayed where they were, watching the vain attempt to help somepony they believed to be beyond help.

Fluttershy knelt down in front of Sidera and first tended to her face. She took out a cloth and put some disinfectant in it. She said, "This might sting a little," and applied the disinfectant to a long cut on Sidera's cheek. She took out a bandage and covered the cut.

"Thou art wasting thy time, ye fool. Thou canst not save me."

Fluttershy ignored her and grabbed the broken piece of her horn. She put the parts together and bound them in a cloth. She then took out a ball of cotton and wiped away the blood from Sidera's face. She moved on to put a splint on the broken wing.

Sidera watched in disbelief Fluttershy's attempt to help, but it was not her determination with a lost cause that she found incredible. What amazed her was the simple fact that somepony cared, that there was somepony who didn't spurn and despise her. When Fluttershy finished working on the wing and moved on to splint the leg, Sidera asked, "Wherefore dost thou do this?"

Fluttershy answered as she worked, "Well, um, I don't need a reason. I'm doing this because I want to. I want to help you, princess. You've been hurt and I want to try to make it better. That's all." She finished with the leg, turned around the said, "Twilight, could you boil us some tea please?" She then began tending to a laceration on Sidera's back. She disinfected the wound and took out thread and a needle.

Sidera watched Fluttershy put her effort into sewing the wound together. She did not feel the pain from the needle as it repeatedly pierced her skin and pulled thread through. All of that was overwhelmed by another feeling. She began to breath more easily and softly. The hatred washed away from her eyes as she began to tear up. "I still understand not..."

"I wouldn't expect you to, princess."

"And thou callest me by mine former title. The others merely calleth me, the Unwanted Visitor."

"Well, I'm going to call you 'princess,' because that's who you are. Oh, thank you, Twilight." Fluttershy took out a pair of tea cups and took the pot of tea Twilight had boiled with her magic. She poured the tea and held a cup up to Sidera's mouth. Sidera drank the tea and Fluttershy drank from the other cup. Her friends joined her and they all sat in a circle around the princess. Twilight levitated the pot and a few cups and poured tea for everypony to drink.

Sidera looked at the ponies around her. It almost looked as if she had friends. She made an attempt to stand, but she still lacked the strength. She then said, "I am still going to die. Nothing thou hast done hath changed anything. Thine efforts art wasted."

"Maybe it's a waste. Or maybe it isn't," Fluttershy replied, "I don't think it really matters. You can disagree with me if you like, but, the way I see it, when there's somepony who needs some tender loving care, you shouldn't deny them that. Well, unless they're really scary that is... I'm not sure if I can help scary ponies or rhinos or zebras or... um... dragons... But you're not scary, princess. Seeing you made me sad more than frightened. I saw how hurt you were, and you were hurt in more ways than one. You looked like you've been through so much and all the while completely alone. Your life's so full of suffering and, um, I don't think anypony deserves to die with only their suffering to remember. So I decided to help you. I didn't expect anything to come of it, but I do know that a little kindness goes a long way, and it can make a big difference."

With considerable effort, she moved her functioning wing and wiped away her tears with her feathers. She sniffed. "I sayeth to you over and over, I am still destined to perish here and now. What difference couldst thou possibly have made? How can thy small actions do anything?"

"You'll be surprised by what they can do. Good doesn't always have take the form of rescuing lives, saving worlds or defeating villains, you know. Most of the time, it's the little things that ponies do day to day. Listening to somepony's problems, providing company, giving comforting words, hugs, even tea. Of course, I can't say that they're as big or powerful as magical spells or superpowers or anything like that, but they're still important."

"How very sentimental... I hardly deserveth such compassion. Thou hast heard the stories they hath told of me. I am a monster."

"You're not a monster, princess. You're a pony. No, you're a living creature. And every living creature should be given the care they need, whether they deserve it or not. No matter what they've done, no matter how horrible they've been, no matter their past. I see you as you are now, and what I see is somepony who needs my help. Nothing else matters."

Sidera remained silent for a moment to ponder Fluttershy's words. She looked down at the grass that was flattened beneath her and stained with a few drops of her blood. She looked up at her horn, held together by a white cloth. Every moment she felt her strength drain and death drew ever closer. She lowered her head and rested it on the grass. She looked Fluttershy in the eye and asked, "If thou truly believest that thou hast made a difference, what is it?"

"You tell me, princess." Fluttershy smiled warmly at Sidera and looked at her with her beautiful blue eyes. She reached out and held the princess' hoof.

Sidera sensed that her last minutes had come. She let her last tear pass and she smiled. At that moment, the veil of grey that shrouded her body vanished, and her colors shone in their full brilliance. "What is thy name?"

"Fluttershy."

"Fluttershy the Kind... Thou hast made a greater difference than any living being hath ever made. I thank thee." Princess Sidera closed her eyes, softly made one final breath, and was still.

Fluttershy let go of her hoof and stood. Her friends stood along with her. The others, seeing something had changed, approached and looked upon Princess Sidera's body. Just then, something sprouted from the ground in front of Sidera's snout. It was a little flower. A moment later it rapidly grew taller and larger, and it blossomed with a glow of pink light. It's dark blue stem stood up to half of Fluttershy's height. The flower's pink center was surrounded by an array of long sky-blue petals. It's shape resembled that of a Cosmos flower.

The Doctor approached the flower and studied it. "Fascinating... I've never seen a flower like this before..."

"Nopony hath seen one in over five-hundred years," Starswirl said as he approached the flower He looked at it with awe and wonder. "This is a Spirit Flower. When an alicorn diest with a soul completely at peace, their soul takes the form of a flower. No king or queen of Ponytopia hath had the privilege of such a death since King Lux IV. Spiritual peace was but a fantasy to our monarchs since the war began. For Sidera to die with a Spirit Flower... 'twas the last thing I hath expected." Starswirl picked the flower and gave it to Fluttershy. "This flower containeth the soul of Sidera."

Fluttershy took the Spirit Flower and looked at it knowing that in it was Princess Sidera. She said to the Doctor, "The life force of an alicorn." Carefully, she put the it in an empty pouch on her saddle bag.

With the whole business done, Sleek Scale turned and said, "Well then, on to Utopia."

Loyalty

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Chapter XXX: Loyalty

"Blimey, they've sure tightened the security since I was last here. Reminds me of airport security in Manehattan," the Doctor said as the ten ponies walked out of the immigration center and into city of Utopia.

"Airport?" Rainbow Dash asked, "What the heck is an airport?"

"Oh, sorry. Still not around for you. Don't mind me. Forget I said anything."

The Utopian immigration supervisors scrutinized each of the ponies, searching for any signs of deviousness, criminality and other possible disturbances to the peace of the city. They inspected their supplies, interviewed them with a polygraph, psychologically analyzed them, and tested them for potential disease carriers. They found the ponies acceptable and after hearing the story of their encounter with Princess Sidera from Sleek Scale, the supervisors gave them orders to see the Prime Minister in the great diamond palace at the center of the city.

The population of Utopia was a hodgepodge of every race among the three kingdoms. Earth ponies, unicorns, rhinos, zebras, gazelle, warthogs and camels walked side by side on the polished pavement made of lavender quartz that glistened under the light from the palace. Pegasi and dragons flew above the buildings with only friendly regards for each other. In the residential circle, the streets were lined on both sides by neat lawns, gardens and elegant houses. A dragon waved the ten ponies and called out a welcome as he used white fire to trim hedges. In the public circle, the streets were crowded as the citizens went to and fro doing their business. The streets were lined with shops, stores, cafes, restaurants, parlors, salons, offices, parks and markets. Around the central plaza were an enormous library, a police station, a fire station, a hospital, two schools and a university. Utopia was fully equipped as a functional modern city.

"What a disgusting and egregious city 'tis. How couldst they allow such rampant species mixing? Outrageous!" Starswirl the Bearded remarked as they made their way through the city towards the palace.

"I think 'tis quite pleasant to see these residents living in harmony, when above the ground they would be at each others' throats," Rainbow Sword said. The others expressed their agreement. In this city was a state of harmony that was a relic of a bygone age from shortly after the creation of the Universe. At the same time, the city's technology, organization and government was a vision of the future thousands of years ahead.

The ponies reached the plaza and stared in awe at the diamond palace floating above it. It was an enormous building that shined and glittered under the light. It's towers reached high towards the cave ceiling, with the center tower reaching the highest and containing the great light. Through expertly crafted windows, the ponies could see servants, employees, government officials, and others who worked in the palace. Around some of the towers, dragons were posted as guards, watching the area like gargoyles. The palace had three legs that reached towards the ground at its lowest part. At the center of the bottom was metal circle adorned with an engraving of a six-pointed snowflake.

"How does it float like that?" Twilight Sparkle asked, "It's got to take some really powerful magic to levitate a palace that big."

"Well, for starters, it's not really a palace," the Doctor explained, "Well, the Utopians made it into a palace, but it was originally a spaceship that came here through the rift. It's a bit of the founding story that was left out. The pegasus who founded Utopia discovered the spaceship here, made a life and, the rest is history."

"Cool! It's from outer space!" Dash said, "So this thing can fly?"

"Well, not anymore. The engines were severely damaged when it crashed and they were removed and made into scrap about two-hundred fifty years ago. In fact, it was about two-hundred fifty years ago that their understanding and use of technology really kicked off. Anyway, the ship's electromagnetic hover-mechanisms were in a repairable state so they got that up and running two and half centuries ago. The electromagnets are powered by rift energy, and this place is just swimming in it, so powering them isn't a problem. But rift energy can't be converted to a form of energy that the Utopians can use in anything else, so they need other sources. They were using plutonium reactors when I was last here, but I guess now they have something new."

"If we're just gonna stand around here asking questions," Applejack said, "Then I gotta ask: where did this here ship come from?"

"We have time to spare. Palace security is taking a while to let us in. So, the origin of the ship: This ship was a merchant ship from the Bridle Galaxy before it came here. That snowflake there is the symbol of the merchant classes of the planet-"

The Doctor was interrupted when suddenly, at that moment, the circle with the snowflake engraving descended to the ground as a floating platform. The upper side of the platform was also decorated with the snowflake. On it stood a dragon even smaller than Sleek Scale. She was only around the size of Rainbow Sword, the tallest of the ten ponies. She was a lime-green dragon with orange eyes and short rounded yellow spines. She had a long whip-like tail and a pair of straight blunted horns atop her head. Her wings were extremely impressive and very large relative to her size. She wore a white uniform decorated with several badges and the same snowflake as on the platform. She greeted them, "Welcome friends. I am Captain Magma, co-captain of the Urban Guard with Captain Cattail, and I'll be your escort today. Prime Minister Brass Hoof waiting to see you in his office."

The Doctor looked to Starswirl and Sword to see what they thought of seeing the Utopian Prime Minister. They shrugged, and he shrugged back. He looked to Twilight and she shrugged. He shrugged back. He looked to Pinkie and she just said, "What are we waiting for? Lead the way Captain, sir, Magma, ma'am, sir!"

The ponies walked on to the platform and stood in a circle around Captain Magma. The dragoness stood at the center of the platform and stepped on a button at the center of the snowflake. The platform vibrated for a moment and then ascended up to the palace. The interior was one of utter brilliance and beauty. Despite the ponies from modern Equestria having seen it all before, the sight was still one to behold and the design was different as centuries of history would change it. The room was decorated with sculptures of rubies, amethyst, sapphire, emeralds, and other gemstones. The floor was diamond and the room had no ceiling, allowing the ponies to see the interior of the central tower all the way to the top, where the great light that illuminated the city was. Captain Magma walked past the ponies and they turned to see a staircase built onto the wall. She said, "The Prime Minister's office is at the top floor of the tower. Follow me." She walked towards the stairs.

Twilight groaned, "You've got to be kidding me. We have to take stairs all the way up there?"

"Oh, of course not! That would be ridiculously silly," Magma said, "These stairs are just for decoration and for emergencies. We use elevators." She went to stand by a set of glass doors beside the stairs and, using her tail, pressed a button to open them. Inside was a small square metal room. Magma invited the non-flying ponies into the elevator and pressed a button labeled with the number sixty. She said, "It is strictly against safety policy to have more than seven ponies or the equivalent weight on one elevator. So it'd be best if we relieve it of any unnecessary weight. The pegasi and I'll meet you at the top floor." Magma walked away from the elevator and the doors closed. There was a little ding and the hum of the elevator as it began to ascend. She then faced the pegasi and told them to follow her. She opened her massive wings and flew up the tower with Dash, Sword, Derpy and Fluttershy.

As they flew, Dash said, "Listen, captain. I really don't think we have time to see your Prime Minister. The ten of us are kind of under a time limit."

"The Prime Minister insisted on seeing you after he heard of how you dealt with the Unwanted Visitor. Normally he's too busy to have guests, so consider yourselves lucky," Magma replied.

"But we have to continue our mission," Dash argued, "We've only got two days left and we need every minute we can get. Am I right, guys?"

She looked to Sword for agreement, but he said, "I am certain we have time to see this great city's ruler. Perhaps even to see what wonders it has in store. Rest assured, our mission shall be completed in time."

"You see? There's no need to worry," Magma said, "Everything will be just fine."

Dash looked at Fluttershy and Derpy, but they also looked like they wanted to stay. They reached the top floor, incredibly high above the ground, and stood by the elevator door, which opened to allow the others to come out. Dash immediately went to the Doctor and said, "Doc, don't you think we should get going on finish our job? We don't have time to see the Prime Minister."

"Don't be daft, Rainbow Dash," the Doctor responded, "We have loads of time. They're brilliant community, the Utopians. In every way. I for one would love to meet the new Prime Minister. I'm sure he's brilliant. And besides, what if he could help us find the next ingredient, eh?"

Dash thought about his words for a little while and conceded, "Alright, then. I guess, if you think so, we can spare the time to see him."

Magma led the ponies from the elevator, through a short corridor and to a set of silver doors. On both sides of the doors stood a pair of rhinoceros guards in the same uniform as the captain, but with fewer decorations. To the right of the doors was a keypad containing the numbers one to nine and the letters of the Equinese alphabet. Magma typed in a password and the silver doors unlocked. She stood up on her hind claws and pushed the doors open with her fore claws.

Behind the doors was a wide round room. The walls were lined with tall windows with black curtains. The snowflake was carved into the diamond ceiling and there was a magnificent round carpet spread across the diamond floor. The place had a spectacular commanding view of Utopia. At the center of the room was a round marble table with a large clock as its surface. The background of the clock was the image of the sky. As the hours passed, this image would change from day to night and from night to day. Luxurious sofas were placed on opposite sides of the table and several well-crafted chairs beside the sofas. Opposite from Magma and the ponies was a very short black wooden desk. At this desk worked a warthog. He wore a maroon suit and a crown made of oak leaves. He had his fore hooves on the desk as he worked. One hoof was made of brass. He looked up from the papers he was reading and saw his guests. He had a young and lively voice, "Ah, you're finally here! Welcome! Please, sit."

The ponies sat on the sofas and chairs and Prime Minister Brass Hoof greeted each of them. Magma stood at attention by the door. The Doctor returned the greeting. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Prime Minister. I'm the Doctor."

"Oh, yes. I know who you are. You think you wouldn't be recorded in our historical archives. Especially after you saved the city from the Krafayis-"

"Await! Be still!" Starswirl interrupted, "Thou art the Prime Minister?" "

"Yes. I'm Prime Minister Brass Hoof."

"What nonsense! I must protesteth to accepting this warthog as a leader, no matter how barbaric his subjects. A warthog canst not bear a ruling title. 'Tis wrong! He hath no royal blood!" Starswirl turned and addressed Magma, "Surely, thou agreeth with me? Warthogs hath not in their veins the blood worthy to rule."

Magma replied, "It's not a matter of blood, sir. The Prime Minister is an elected official. The majority of the Utopian population chose him and so he's our leader for a term of ten years."

"Election?! The population chooseth their leader?! Now 'tis just too much. This society is doomed to collapse without a secure monarchy. Even if thou hast no way to create a line of succession, thou must search for a sign from the gods as to whom they chooseth to rule thee."

"Our rulers don't get their power from divine intervention. Power should be derived from the majority decision of the masses."

Brass Hoof then stepped in and said, "Starswirl, take it easy. There is nothing wrong with a democratic society. My citizens chose me and they're happy. Isn't that enough to show that democracy works?"

Starswirl gave his words some thought and replied after a moment, "Well... Mayhaps thine government hath some virtues..."

"Great. I'm glad to see you can listen to reason. So anyway, Doctor! I never would've guessed that you'd appear again after three-hundred years and during my term. It's such an honor."

"It was nothing, really. The city's full of reflective surfaces, so it wasn't that hard. And the city's grown a lot since then. I'm impressed it's gone this far and civil disobedience hasn't been that big a problem."

"Of course not. We have a population of honest, happy, law-abiding citizens."

Dash then butted in, saying, "I'm sure you're all having a great talk, but there are more important things to get to. Can you help us on this mission we're on, Brass Hoof? We're looking for a dwarf star and the essence of the Universe."

Rarity then stopped her. "Rainbow! Don't be rude. The mission can wait."

"What the heck are you talking about?! We've only got two days left. Come on, Brass, you gotta help us out. Isn't that why you invited us here? You wouldn't invite us here for small talk, right?"

Brass Hoof stepped away from his desk and walked towards the ponies. He leaned against the table and said, "I do prefer if you called me by my proper title, miss."

Dash was flustered by his response and replied, "Fine. Will you help us, Prime Minister?"

The warthog answered, "Of course, of course. I've ordered preparations for you all to have places to stay in Utopia. They're very nice houses and well-equipped and in prime location with easy access to the city's amenities. I'm sure you'll be happy to work on your mission from there."

"That's sounds great!" Twilight remarked, "It'll be nice to be living somewhere not covered in sand."

Brass Hoof laughed heartily. "Haha! That's the spirit! Now, Captain Magma will escort you to your new homes. Enjoy Utopia."

The captain began to escort the ponies out of the office when Dash flew back and said, "Wait, can't you tell us anything that might help us? You run the city. You've got to know something."

Sword joined Dash and turned around to say, "Indeed. You must know something. Have there been any problems or incidents in the city? Anything where a historical or magical objects may be involved?"

"Well, there is a little bit of a disease spreading around the Western outskirts of the city, near the rift. Parts of ponies' bodies are being turned into crystals. But we've quarantined the area. It's not anything you should worry about."

Fluttershy the joined, "I'm sure maybe we could help them, if you don't mind."

Brass Hoof looked sternly each of the ponies and said, "It's not anything you should worry about."

"Okay, then," they all replied. Captain Magma led them all back down the tower and through the city towards their new houses. As they walked through one of the main streets, Dash protested against their current course of action.

"I really don't think this is a good idea. We don't have time to spend looking through the city. If we're going to find the next ingredient, we gotta look for trouble. Like that disease going around. We should check that out."

"Stop worrying, Dashie," Pinkie said, "Everything's going to be fine. This is the perfect place. There's nothing wrong with living here."

"You're joking, right? We can't live here! There's only two days left!"

"Ms. Pinkie Pie is right," Magma said, "There's nothing to worry about. Any troubles that you had in the surface are gone now. Here in Utopia you can live a life of peace and prosperity, and you will enjoy it."

"I believe Rainbow Dash may be right," Sword said, "I do not think we can spare the time to relax."

"Shalt thou cease attempting to cause mischeif!" Starswirl snapped at them, "'Tis a peaceful city that can promise us peaceful lives. Art thou so ungrateful to this blessing from the gods that thou shalt disturb it?"

Starswirl's words shocked everypony, including himself. He had despised this city less than half an hour ago and now he just praised it as a blessing. Starswirl looked around to see if somepony had answers to the questions that had begun throbbing in his head. Upon seeing nopony with any sign of certainty, he said, "Something is amiss... Something is rotten in the state of this city."

Magma then stepped in. "Nothing to worry about. Mr. Starswirl is just coming to accept the truth: Utopia is a perfect place and he wants to live here. And the rest of you want to live here too."

The ponies gave their agreements and Magma proceeded to continue escorting them to their homes. Dash was reluctant to submit, though, and continued to argue, "Okay, I'm sure it's possible for Starswirl to eventually accept Utopia but this is all way too fast. It's like Brass Hoof tells him to see this place is great and Starswirl does just that. Something's not right here. Starswirl'd never give in so quickly like that." Her protests however were to no avail. The ponies ignored her and continued following Magma. Dash flew over and landed in front of the ponies. "What's gotten into you?! You're obeying orders without question! It's like you don't minds of your own anymore!"

"I... I believe you're right," Sword said. He rubbed his head as if he had a headache. "I've had a strange feeling as if I am not in control of myself... I know not how, but I seem to always want to obey them."

"I sense it too," the Doctor joined, also experiencing a headache, "Wha-what have you done captain? What has the Prime Minister done?"

"Silence, Doctor, Rainbow Sword!" Magma said. She bared her fangs and glared straight at Dash. "Step aside, Rainbow Dash."

"No! You and your stupid prime minister gotta stop whatever you're doing and let my friends go!"

"Get out of the way. If you continue resisting, I'll have to arrest you."

The passers-by began to gather around and watched the rainbow-maned stranger argue against a captain of the Urban Guard. The crowd watched on from a distance and formed a circle around the ten ponies and the captain. They listened to the strangers' words. They began to think that maybe they were indeed being controlled. But Magma turned to them and ordered, "Ignore her! And ignore us! Go about your business!" They immediately obeyed.

Magma looked back at Dash, who still stood defiantly in front of her. "This is your last warning. Get out of the way."

Dash answered, "No."

The dragoness briefly looked back at the other ponies and said, "Stay out of this." Suddenly she whipped her long agile tail forward and wrapped it around Dash's neck. She pulled down and brought Dash to the ground. She stepped forward and pressed her claw down on Dash's head. She released her neck from the tail and tied it around her hooves. She then pointed her snout up and spat out a flare of red fire to call in officers to arrest the rebelling pegasus. But just then, somepony bucked Magma's head and knocked her unconscious, making her fall off of Dash and onto the quartz pavement. It was Sword.

After bucking Magma, Sword breathed heavily and grit his teeth. He shook his head, gasped at what he did and backed away, but then he stopped and shook his head again. He approached Dash and said, "I know not what is happening, but it feels as if there are two wills inside me. My own and that of another."

The other ponies then circled around Dash and tried to convince her to stop resisting. The Doctor told her all the while struggling and at moments shaking his head, "Rainbow Dash, stop worrying yourself over nothing. We can a life here and you're trying to prevent it. Just give- GAH! Ah! blehehehe- Rainbow! It's mass hypnosis. Brass Hoof is using some technology that's making everypony within the hypnotic field obey him and his supporters- BAH! Argh! Come on, let's go settle in to our new home."

"Doctor, snap out of it!" Dash punched the Doctor across the face and brought him back to his senses.

The Doctor rubbed his cheek and said, "Ow, that stings. That's quite the foreleg you have there. But anyway, yeah, it's hypnosis. I can't believe I didn't notice it before. It must be very powerful and have a very powerful energy source. Powerful enough even to subdue me. My guess would be it's fueled by their new source and I'd say that this source is a piece of a white dwarf star."

"Why isn't it hypnotizing me?"

The Doctor winced as he continued to fight the hypnosis. He hit his head with his hoof several times as he spoke. "You're more devoted to this mission than anypony else, Rainbow. Your loyalty to the ponies and their future in Equestria keeps you going... Grrgh! ... This hypnosis destroys our loyalty to anything from the surface but yours is unbreakable."

"What should I do?"

The Doctor looked up and pointed to the top of the palace's central tower. "That light at the top of the palace. That's the star. It's got to be. The light is distinctive of white dwarf stars. It's the source of energy for all their technology, including the hypnotic field. You have to go and remove it from the tower. Without the star, they can't power the field and everypony will be freed." At that moment, they heard the roaring of police dragons overhead and the galloping of ground officers. "Go! There's no time to lose!"

"Got it!" Dash jumped off the ground and flew as fast as she could to the top of the tower. The Urban Guard pursued her and she dodged to and fro, back and forth as the officers sent fire, ropes, stun beams, heat-sensing hoof-cuffs and other projectiles her way. She evaded everything, but soon a trio of elite pegasi flew directly behind her and were drawing closer. Dash tried every maneuver she could all over the city to lose the pegasi, but they remained close behind her. She swerved through the city streets, through windows and buildings, and through the open air. Her rainbow trail made a myriad of lines and shapes across the city. Finally, she decided it was no use and changed course to a straight flight towards the white dwarf star. Ahead of her, a group of dragons had moved into a formation to block her way and the blue fire bearing dragons were building a sphere of ice around the top of the tower to protect the star piece. Dash accelerated. She went fast and faster and a mach cone formed around her. Her body hurt and her eyes watered from the strain of the speed she was going. Then, she broke the sound barrier. In a deafening bang and a great explosion of light and color, she blasted off in a sonic rainboom. She dashed away from the pegasi, past the dragons and instantly reached the tower. The star piece was in a space at the top of the tower below the conical peak accessible only by staircase. The piece was surrounded by pointed arches in the diamond walls that let its light shine out. It floated at the center above an opening on the floor. Dash was about to lay her hooves on the piece, but then a rope lassoed around her forehoof and redirected her to crash onto the floor. At the other end of the rope was Prime Minister Brass Hoof.

"Rainbow Dash, I must insist that you not do this!"

"If you don't want me to then just let us go! Don't keep us in here!"

"I can't do that. I can't let anyone out of these caves and reveal our existence to the surface. It'll ruin us!"

"We promise not to tell anypony, if you'll just let us go."

The Urban Guard began closing in on the tower and was ready to arrest Dash, but Brass Hoof ordered them to stand down. They obeyed and left Dash and Brass alone. "I'm sorry. I'm not taking any chances," he continued.

"Then I'm gonna take the star. We need it to save the world."

"If you take our power source, you'll destroy the order and harmony that generations of prime ministers worked hard to build!"

"If I don't take it, something terrible will happen to the world on the surface!"

"That doesn't need to be your problem, Rainbow Dash. If you stay here, you can forget all the troubles up there and live in paradise. We're untouchable down here."

"You're crazy! You can't make a paradise by hypnotizing everypony! What kind of paradise has no freedom?!"

"What kind of paradise has full freedom? If I let my citizens do whatever they want, they'll turn to violence and crime and tear this society apart. Just look at the surface! Up there, they had freedom and they abused it. They fight and kill and cheat and so on. In that way, they've lost the beauty of their freedom. They ruined it. Now it's a place of chaos! I don't want anything like that down here. If I have control over this society then at least some of the virtues of freedom survive. Please, Rainbow Dash, you must understand. I'm doing this for the good of my citizens. For peace, happiness and security."

"If you'd take away their freedom just so that you can have a little security, then you don't deserve either. What you deserve is to lose both."

Brass Hoof released her from the lasso and said, "You're wrong. The sacrifice is worth it. You've got to understand freedom and perfection aren't compatible. An artist needs control of his paint to make a masterpiece. If he just lets his paint splash however it likes, all he'll get is a mess. You have freedom Rainbow Dash, and look at the mess it's gotten you into. The mistakes you've made. The mistake you're making right now. Because you're right next to the power source of all Utopia, and it's here that the hypnotic field is strongest. Not even you can resist it. So, I'll ask you again: please stop."

Dash stood and looked intently at Brass. She turned her head and looked out the tower into the city, towards where her friends were. She turned and looked into the blinding light of the star. She looked back at Brass and said, "I see..."

The Prime Minister walked to her side and put his hoof on her shoulder. "Forget your past loyalties. Forget your silly mission. The surface isn't your problem. Whatever bad things are happening up there, they're not our problem. They can't affect us, so why do anything about it. Here, you have peace and harmony. Who'd give that up for a world of chaos and destruction? You are Rainbow Dash the Loyal, that is, you are loyal to me. You have no allegiance to the surface, to Ponytopia or to the Pony King. Your allegiance is to Utopia."

"Yes... you're right..."

"Of course I am. Now I want you to fly back down and join your friends."

"I have no allegiance to Concordius or Ponytopia."

"That's right. Now go down and-"

"My allegiance is to my friends and Ponyville!"

"What?"

Just then, Sword threw his sword towards Dash. He had mustered what little willpower he could and fought the hypnosis until he was free. He flew up to the tower to support Dash. Dash caught the sword and chucked it with all her strength at the star piece. The sword knocked the piece out of its place and sent it falling out of the tower. Immediately, the lights of the city all went out and everything was dark. The only lights now were the luminescent stones across the cave ceiling and the falling star piece. Brass frantically galloped to the other side of the tower in an attempt to catch the star before it fell, but he was too late. Dash then bolted and flew after it. Brass watched as she made a sonic rainboom, blasted herself at the piece and caught it. As she turned and set her course for where she left her friends, he stamped on the floor with his brass hoof and cried out, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW AWKWARD THIS WILL BE FOR ME NOW?!"

Dash and Sword returned to their friends and landed on the street outside their luxury crystal homes. The Doctor sat on the steps in front of the door of one house and got up to greet the two. The others then exited from two other houses, all shaking and rubbing their heads. Around them, the citizens of Utopia were doing the same. A commotion began as they all saw the city in darkness, and it was not long before panic followed. Dash tossed the piece between her two hooves like a hot potato. "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!"

Sword gathered the ponies together and said, "We've taken the piece of the star. We must flee immediately!"

"But where do we go?" Twilight asked.

The Doctor answered, "To where no resident of Utopia wants to go: the quarantined zone."

"But ain't it diseased?" Applejack said.

"Oh, it's no disease. Or at least not a harmful one. We'll be fine. But first we need to put that dwarf star piece away safely because it is very hot and very high on radiation."

"Oh, there's a spell for that!" Twilight said, "I just learned it before we left Ponyville." She levitated the piece away from Dash, cast a spell on it and enveloped it in a layer of lead. The light was gone and Dash could hold it in her hoof. Now that they all could see it without the light, they saw that it was only the size of a tennis ball.

"Hm, the material must be greatly expanded for it to be that big and still be a reasonable weight. Must be a side effect of falling through the rift. Oh, well. Now that that's taken care of, allons-y!"

The ponies galloped off through the streets and headed to the West according to their compass. They passed crowds of ponies, rhinos, gazelle, zebras, warthogs, camels and dragons demanding answers to why the electricity had stopped. They evaded the Urban Guard wherever they appeared to control the crowds. After following one of the main roads towards the outskirts of the city, they found the quarantined zone closed off by a high metal wall. Sword drew his weapon and pointed it at the wall. He unleashed a bolt of lightning and melted a hole through. The ponies jumped through the hole and entered the quarantine. They were greeted by a crowd of surprised ponies whose various body parts were turned into crystals. It was a happy meeting as they had effectively freed the infected ponies by taking down the dwarf star piece and breaking open the wall. The Doctor spent a good hour explaining everything to everypony and assuring them that everything was fine. The quarantined zone had long been deprived of power, making the ponies accustomed to the dark. While the rest of Utopia was in uproar, they remained calm. When the Doctor finished with them, some of ponies returned to their daily business, some escaped the quarantine zone and some went to work setting up outdoor lights. The ten then discussed their next course of action.

"So what now?" Applejack asked.

"West of here is a rift in space and time. It's kind of a hole or a tear in the fabric of the Universe and stuff can pass in and out of it. That's where Utopia got all its technology. Junk from all over the Universe falls into the Time Vortex and some land in these caves. There's also a lot of timey-wimey stuff and radiation that reaches up to here. When Utopia expanded some ponies built neighborhoods far too close to the rift and that radiation alters their DNA. It changes their flesh into crystals. Despite what the Utopian government thinks, it's not harmful. And it won't affect us if we get a move on. I have a hunch that our next move would be to find the rift."

"Shouldn't we keep going North?" Fluttershy said.

"I don't think so. I think we've gone North enough. The last ingredient is the essence of all matter in the Universe. I'm not sure what that means, but if the instructions have led us here, then it must have something to do with the rift."

"Well, we have nothing else to go on," Dash said, "Might as well go for the rift."

The ten ponies continued past the outermost neighborhoods of Utopia and left the city behind them. They headed to the dark, untamed caves West of Utopia. As the ponies passed the last house, just before the entrance to the caves, Derpy briefly went over to admire the garden. The half-crystallized homeowner exited his house and saw Derpy sniffing flowers.

"I see you have an appreciation for flowers. I'm glad to see somepony who admires my work. What's your name?"

"I'm Derpy!"

"Derpy? That's... an interesting name."

"Do you know who lives in the caves over there?"

"Oh, um, the Western caves? Uh, nopony lives there... Well, nopony except the Oracle."

Magic

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Chapter XXXI: Magic

The air was getting warmer, much warmer than in the caves closer to Utopia and the ponies were unsure of whether to follow the heat or avoid it. With the warmth also came aridity, the damp cave walls of dark brown rock and earth gave way to dry light brown walls. The grass grew more sparse the farther they traveled from the city, as well as all other signs of life such as bones and cobwebs. The ponies had been navigating the caves for hours, with Twilight, Rarity and Starswirl using magic to illuminate the darkness.

The ponies then arrived at an intersection of five tunnels. The Doctor led them a little distance down the warmest of the tunnels and lowered his head to sniff the ground. Then he went over to a wall and licked it. "Hmmm, tastes sandy. This way must lead out to the desert."

"Shouldn't we turn back then?" Rarity asked, "Wouldn't going back into the desert be taking a step back? And besides, I'm sure nopony wants to go back into that heat."

"It might not be that hot if we do find the way out," Twilight said, "because we should still be underground, so we're probably just going some spot where the desert air can get into the caves, like a canyon or something."

"Ah! Of course! How could I forget?" the Doctor shouted out suddenly, "The rift sucked the rock and earth in and around it when it formed and created a canyon, a big scar across the Arctic! And the tip of the canyon reaches into the Great Northern Desert! Nice work, Twilight."

"So that means we should follow the hot air? Since it leads to the rift?"

"Look at you, brilliant you! Two for two! Yes, the heat should lead us to the rift and probably to the next ingredient."

The ponies followed the dark. meandering tunnel as the grass became bare rock and the sounds of their hoofsteps echoed all around them. At some parts of the cave, where the rock collapsed the blocked the way, the unicorns pushed the debris away, and at other parts, where they encountered a deep chasm carved by underground rivers, the unicorns and earth ponies teleported across while the pegasi flew. They went along the maze and always followed the heat and dryness. Soon enough, they found the light from the never-setting Sun at the end of the tunnel and the rock came to be covered in sand. The ten ponies reached the light and exited the dark caves. The covered their eyes as the sunlight was blindingly bright to them.

Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw that they were on a wide ridge along a wall of an enormous deep canyon. In front of them was a cliff edge, beyond which was a sheer drop that went down farther than sunlight could reach. Above them was the cloudless sky peeking through the opening of the canyon, just a sliver of blue behind the brown, orange and beige rock and sand. Various pieces of technology, machinery and weapons were littered around the canyon, as well as the dried up bones and exoskeletons of indigenous Earth species and aliens creatures. At some point above where the ponies were, however, the oddities did not appear. Pinkie noticed this and asked, "Hey, why isn't there any stuff way up there?"

The Doctor explained, "Ah, that's because the rift only deposits its debris below two-thousand feet down the canyon. Higher elevations are beyond its spatial reach. Another fun fact: the rift only interacts with the Earth on the week of the Spring Equinox."

"How come?" Applejack asked.

"Well, you see, the rift occupies a constant spot in space and doesn't move around... er, uhh... actually I shouldn't tell you. You're still on the geocentric universe model. Just... never mind."

Just then, an old frail voice that seemed somewhat familiar came from above them. "It's annoying to have foresight that you can't tell anypony, isn't it Doctor?"

The ponies were startled by the voice and looked up at the ledge above the tunnel they exited. On it was an old griffin. She had a white feathered head, neck and chest, a brown body, wings and tail, and yellow talons. Her fur was ruffled and dull in color, and her feathers also were less than fine. Her eyes were her most distinct features, as they were white. She was blind.

"You must be the Oracle then. Pleasure to meet you," the Doctor greeted.

"Dude, the pleasure's all mine. I've been waiting for you all for two-hundred fifty years now." The Oracle hopped down from the ledge and landed amongst the ponies. "But before we get to business, there's somepony I've got to meet." She turned around in circles and sniffed each of them. She smiled upon sniffing Rainbow Dash. Slowly, she moved her talon to touch Dash's face, but Dash quickly smacked her talon away.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Dash tried to look at the Oracle in the eyes, but she simply looked straight forward blankly with her white eyes. The blankness disconcerted Dash and made her avert her eyes.

"You really don't recognize me, huh?" the Oracle said with some amusement, "Just as I expected."

"What are you talking about?" Dash replied.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to know who you are?" Pinkie joined, "You're a big mystery mysterious shady unknown griffin mystery."

The Oracle turned and sniffed the pony that spoke to her. "Oh, I promise, you know me alright... dweeb."

The six ponies gasped. Dash managed to stutter out the Oracle's name. "G-gi-g-Gilda..."

"'Sup Dash. How've you been the past two centuries?"

Fluttershy proceeded to hide from the old bully behind Pinkie. The others began to put on an attitude of hostility against her, while also being completely baffled at her appearance two-thousand years before their meeting. Slowly they backed away from her. Gilda heard their quiet hoofsteps and said, "Still angry at me, huh? Well, I guess that's alright. I deserve it anyway after all I did."

As Gilda said this, Pinkie began to feel some sympathy for her, this griffin that lived for two-hundred fifty years in a dark canyon in the middle of nowhere. She walked up and said, "So how did you get here anyway? Did you get in a time-machine too? Was it the Master?"

"No, no. It was all just an accident," Gilda replied, "Although, if you look at it in the big picture of time and space, this is fate."

"What do you mean fate?" Twilight said, "What kind of 'accident' would make you end up two-thousand years in the past?"

"This is something for the Doctor to say. At this moment, it's the Doctor who explains what happened to me." Gilda, without turning her head, gestured with her wing for the Doctor to step forward and tell the story of her fate.

The Doctor looked at the nine ponies who waited for him to give an explanation. "Well, it's all because of the rift. Gilda here fell through a rift in 21st century Equestria, probably the one in Cardhoof. As she fell, she was exposed to the Time Vortex, and all of time and space poured into her head. She saw all that was, is, what will be and what must never be. All of history from the birth of the Universe to the death of the Universe. The rift then dropped her off here, in the middle of the Great Northern Desert in the 1st century B.E- er, actually, no, the 3rd century, since she's lived here two and a half centuries. Since then she's just been waiting here, doing what she knows she will and must do. As she lives here, the rift becomes the source of her life force. It's what's kept her alive all these years. She's responsible for teaching the Utopians how to use their technology, because she was meant to do that. She mentored that zebra philosopher and sent her out into the desert to do the work that needed to be done outside the rift: telling Thorn to give Pinkie the White Dragon's fang, and giving Applejack the wedding rings of Lux and Nox. All of it, she knew was meant to happen. And all this time she's been waiting for us. I can only assume this has to do with the final ingredient of the Elements of Harmony. Am I right?"

"What about amirite?" Gilda replied.

"No, I said, 'am I right,' as in am I correct!"

"I know, I know. I'm just messing with you. Haha, two-hundred years and I still got a taste for fun. And yeah, you're right. Every bit. Luckily for me, all I had to pay for this was my sight. Going through the rift made me blind. Usually, seeing all of space and time makes ponies lose their minds and go insane."

Starswirl approached Gilda and closely examined her white eyes. He remarked, "A blind prophet... How poetic."

"Just like the prophet in the Hoofrican play, Mfalme Miguu Ndogo. I know. I got that a lot since the play was written fifty years ago. So anyway, dweebs, we've a ton to do to get that last ingredient. Follow me." Gilda hopped off of the ridge and glided down to a narrow bridge of rock that spanned across the canyon below where the ponies were. The pegasi flew after Gilda, while the unicorns and earth ponies teleported to the bridge. Floating above the center of the bridge was a big round black metallic featureless sphere.

"Oh no, not another one of these again..." the Doctor said as he approached and looked up at strange object. "Where'd you get a Void sphere?"

"I built it. Yeah, I know, pretty impressive if I say so myself."

The Doctor looked at Gilda with surprise and admiration. Here, out of scrap and space junk, and completely on her own, she had built a vessel that was the stuff of legend, something that the most advanced societies could only dream of making. He looked up at the sphere with amazement and dread, because if Gilda built a Void sphere for them, then the most dangerous journey imaginable was in store.

"Anypony gonna tell us what in tarnation that doo-hickey is?" Applejack asked.

"This is a Void sphere," the Doctor answered, "a ship capable of traveling through the Void, the region between universes. There are countless parallel universes out there, all stacked up against each other, and between them is absolute nothingness. No matter, no energy, no space, no time. It is pure nothing. The Time Stallions called it Hell."

"That doesn't sound very safe..." Fluttershy quietly commented.

"No it's not. It's just about the most dangerous place to be in the whole of Creation. For something from space and time to go somewhere where space and time don't exist is against the laws of everything, and... well, let's say the consequences are dire. Only the Void sphere can bend those laws and safely enter the Void."

Everypony turned and faced Gilda. They all wondered what she was planning to do with this sphere and what it had to do with them. Everypony silently stood there waiting for an answer to their questions from the all-knowing Oracle, but then they remembered that she was blind and probably did not notice that they were staring at her. Twilight broke the silence, "So, you built a ship to go into the Void and now you're showing it to us and you've been waiting for us for hundreds of years, so I'm guessing we're supposed to get in the sphere and go into the Void?"

"Yeah, that's about it."

The ponies looked at each other and murmured in concern. After hearing what the Doctor had to say about the Void, they were not eager to enter it. They all stared at the sphere and its presence was strangely discomforting.

"Gilda," the Doctor began, "Are you sure this is a good idea, because it doesn't look like a good idea to me. To go into the Void, we'd have to break a hole in the walls of the Universe and you should know how dangerous that is."

"I know, Doctor, but you've got one big asset. You've got somepony who can break through the walls easily and safely, although even I don't know how she does it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Gilda then pointed at Starswirl and said to him, "Starswirl the Bearded, tell us, in your religion what's beyond the Universe."

"Beyond the Universe... uh, the ancients texts sayeth 'tis the Great Unknown," Starswirl answered.

"And what's between our universe and the Great Unknown?"

"The ancient texts calleth it 'The Fourth Wall.'"

Gilda than sniffed the air and located Pinkie. She turned and faced her. "I've seen all of time and space and there's one thing that bugs me more than anything else. Something I don't understand. Something that defies all logic. A freak of nature. In all of time and space, there's one pony and only one who can break through the Fourth Wall. And it's this little dweeb here." Gilda affectionately reached out her talon and ruffled Pinkie's poofy mane.

"Heehee! That tickles! But wait shouldn't this be Twilight's challenge?" Pinkie asked, "'Cause each of the ingredients came with a challenge to each of us, and now it's just Twilight who hasn't gotten one."

"Oh this isn't a challenge for you, Pinkie," Gilda answered, "Breaking the wall is a piece of cake for you. The real challenge is navigating through the Void, and that's what Twilight's got to do."

This shocked Twilight and she backed a few steps as all eyes focused on her. She looked at each pony with a hint of terror in her eyes. "But... but... why me? I can't drive a ship. I'm sorry, but I didn't study this. I never got a maritime education or an intergalactic one for that matter."

Gilda followed the sound of Twilight's hoofsteps and heavy breathing and put a talon on Twilight's shoulder. "It's alright. It's all cool. You don't need to study the ship. All you need's your magic. The final ingredient's the essence of all matter and energy in the Universe. Now, I don't have a clue what that means, but I do know that the Element of Magic is the key to finding it. Whatever this essence is, it's deeply connected to the force of magic. In fact, it's probably the source of all magic in the Universe. Yeah, it's kind of a big deal. I don't know where the heck it is, so that means it's outside the boundaries of time and space. And if there's anything that can track it down through the Void, it's magic. Specifically your magic because your Element is the most powerful magic ever. You have to navigate the Void and find this essence. The world depends on it."

Twilight heaved a disgruntled sigh and whined, "Ugh, why's it always me that the world depends on..."

"Oi! The world depends on me too sometimes!" the Doctor responded.

Gilda, with Dash's guidance, flew up to the sphere, and she touched it with her talon. Upon contact with Gilda's skin, the Void sphere gave off a loud clang, and it opened up, the shell rolling back segment by segment, revealing a plain white featureless interior. The sphere contained nothing, only an empty space for the ponies to occupy.

"It's a bit small," Rarity remarked, "It'll be awfully crowded in there."

"There's only room for six," Gilda said.

The Doctor quickly turned his head and said, "What?!"

"You, Derpy, Starswirl and Rainbow Sword aren't meant to be on this journey. It's for these six and these six only."

"You can't seriously think that I'll let them go into the Void alone!"

"It's what's meant to be, Doctor. You know better than to interfere with what's been set. I'd be happy to let you in if the laws of time allowed it, but sadly they don't."

"But-"

"Sorry, dude. This is fixed. There's nothing you can do."

The Doctor conceded. He knew better than to interfere with what time had predestined. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie walked over and stood directly beneath the open Void sphere. They looked up anxiously at the white circle above them.

From a safe distance away, beside the Doctor, Derpy, Starswirl and Sword, Gilda gave the ponies some final words. "Where you're going, even I have no idea what it's like. I don't know where you'll go, who you'll find or what you'll see. The Great Unknown's called the Great Unknown for good reason. This spot's the focal point of the rift, the easiest place to open the walls of the Universe. Pinkie, you've got to open a hole in the walls to get into the Void, and you need to open a hole to get out of it."

"Wait, isn't there a spell I need to learn?" Twilight asked.

Gilda answered, "There's no spell for this. No sorcerer, wizard, king, queen, princess or whatever has ever been where you're going. It's just you and your friends. Harness the power of the magic of your friendship, and it'll guide you. Just trust the pure essence of your magic... whatever that means... I just remember seeing myself say that to you, but I don't really know what it means."

Derpy then flew over to the six and hugged each of them. "I'm gonna miss you guys. Have fun in Hell!"

The Doctor did the same and said, "Be careful, alright. The last thing I need is six companions stuck outside of space and time. Last time I dealt with that, the only way out was the power of my imagination, and that was tough. So be careful! And good luck."

Starswirl and Sword, being less sentimental ponies, shook hooves with the six.

"The fate of the world is in thy hooves, my little ponies," Starswirl said, "May the Sun bless thy day and may the Moon guard thy night."

"Be brave, my friends," Sword said, "Whatever is ahead of you is more formidable than anything I've dealt with, and seeing the way you six conduct yourselves, I believe you can face it. The strength in your hearts is greater than in any pony, dragon or Hoofrican I've encountered. May fortune be on your side."

Everypony backed away from the six and stayed a good distance away from the Void sphere as Gilda instructed. Twilight breathed in deeply and exhaled long and heavily. Here was the greatest challenge in her life so far. It would make quite the letter for Princess Celestia if she makes it through. No, when she makes it through. She looked to Gilda the Oracle and watched her raise her talon.

Before Gilda snapped, Dash stopped her, "Hold on! Gilda, I just got to ask you something. Why are you doing this for us? After everything we went through, I thought you'd hate us all. But instead you spend hundreds of years in the middle of the desert just to help us. Why?"

Gilda smiled gently as she remembered the one day she spent at Ponyville with Rainbow Dash and her friends. Everything she did that day, and how that day ended. She said, "Two words: I'm sorry."

"Actually that's technically three words," Pinkie joined in, "since 'I'm' is a contraction of 'I' and 'am'."

Gilda giggled. "Alright. Now make like bees and buzz off!" She snapped her talon and the Void sphere began to hum. It sucked in Twilight, Applejack, Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie and closed shut. Above the sphere, there came a great white light that then split into a spectrum of colors. The light spread out into a ring swirling in the air and inside that ring was nothing but darkness. It was a portal into the Void. The rim of the portal sent out bolts of electricity that repeatedly struck the Void sphere. Slowly, the portal widened and soon it was big enough for the sphere to enter through. The circle swirled faster and faster, and the electricity striking the sphere grew more numerous and more powerful. Then, in a flash of light of every color in the visible spectrum, the Void sphere disappeared.

Author's Notes:

It was a tough decision, choosing between Gilda and Trixie to be the Oracle, since both were equally despicable characters, but then Trixie had her redemption in Magic Duel, so I went with Gilda and gave her a redeeming moment.
And in case anypony gets confused about how the Doctor knows what happened to Gilda, it's just him being smart and deducing the story from the facts available to him. He didn't have any prior knowledge about her.
And the quest for the ingredient of Magic is a two-part thing, so the next chapter is the part-two of this one, hence the relatively shorter length.

Also, 500 views! yay. *enter message thanking my audience for all their support and help in getting to this point*
And this fic's birthday (well, the day before its birthday but close enough). It's rather embarrassing to think that this has taken me a year now.

The Great Unknown

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Chapter XXXII: The Great Unknown

Twilight Sparkle quickly opened her eyes and looked around her. She laid on her side on soft cool grass. To her left, she saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack lying next to each other. In front of her was Fluttershy's flank as the yellow pegasus laid on her back. To her right was Rarity with her face flat on the grass. Twilight felt a weight on top of her and looked up to see a bit of curly pink hair. It was Pinkie Pie. She rolled over to get out from under Pinkie and the motion woke her up. She stood and turned around in circles trying to figure out where they had arrived.

All around the six ponies was nothing but rolling hills of lush green grass. Above was a beautiful deep blue sky with clouds scattered here and there. Yet, in the sky there was no Sun. The daylight seemed to be there on its own. A constant relaxing gentle breeze blew from behind Twilight, making the grass bend, and the bending of the grass with the wind made graceful ripples across the hills. Lastly, she noticed that there was no sign of the Void sphere.

"Where are we?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie answered, "Bliss." Pinkie then went about jumping on each pony's back and calling them to wake up. One by one, they all got on their hooves and admired the beautiful landscape around them.

Twilight continued, "I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'bliss.' Do you mean like 'eternal bliss,' or 'Heaven,' as in the place good ponies go when they die?"

"Don't be silly Twilight!" Pinkie answered, "Ponies don't really go to heaven when they die. They're taken to a special room and burned."

Twilight didn't know how to respond to this. She simply said, "Okay...?"

Applejack stood by Twilight and looked out into the distance. She took off her hat and scratched her head. "Well... it ain't the Void. It don't look like it. There's space. And there's time. And some pretty darn good soil by the looks of the grass."

"What happened to the sphere?" Rarity asked.

"I don't know," Twilight answered, "Maybe it can't go here. We're not in the Void, but I don't think we're in the Universe either. I guess that means wherever we are, the sphere can't exist."

This concerned everypony. As far as they knew, the Void sphere was their only way back home. "Does that mean we're trapped here?" Fluttershy asked, "And we can't get home?! We're stuck here forever?!"

"Easy there, sugar cube," Applejack tried to calm Fluttershy, "I'm sure we'll find some other way back. Maybe this 'essence of the Universe' will give us a way."

"Why don't we just explore?" Rainbow Dash suggested, "There's got to be something around here."

The ponies picked a direction and walked on. They walked and walked for hours and hours. They saw nothing but the green hills and the blue sky. They heard nothing but the sound of their talking, their breathing, their hooves stepping on the grass, and the breeze. As they walked, Pinkie explained that "Bliss" was the farthest point in Creation, and beyond was the dimension of the Gods. She did not, however, know how she came to know that. As they continued walking, Twilight stopped them. "Wait! Hold on. Listen."

The ponies became silent and listened closely to the emptiness around them. From the direction the breeze was blowing towards came the faint sound of voices. The voices became louder and louder and more distinct, until finally, a deep loud voice shouted something the ponies could not understand. The voices spoke in a strange exotic language. The deep voice's exclamation may be translated as, "Oh my God!"

The ponies looked in the direction of the voices, but they could see nopony, only the hills and the sky. "I'm scared," Fluttershy whimpered, "What if there're giant invisible monsters out here? What do we do?"

Twilight shakily replied, "I... I-I don't know..."

Twilight then discerned three different voices. One of them, the one that shouted, was much lower than the other two. She could only assume that that voice was male and the other two were female. Twilight then wondered why the voices were not being translated, as the TARDIS was supposed to translate every language in the Universe. But, then again, they were supposedly outside the Universe.

The voices' discussion may be translated as,

"All six of them! All six of them got through now!"

"Hello! Twilight, Pinkie! Can you hear us? Rainbow? Applejack? Fluttershy? Rarity? Can any of you hear us?"

"They can hear us, but they can't understand us."

"Huh. Fluttershy thinks we're invisible monsters."

"Well, what do we do? Pinkie's supposed to be the only one who can get out. What do we do about the others?"

"We can talk to them."

"But they can't understand us. Unless you want to recite the entire script and coding."

"But Tara can speak to them right?"

"Oh, right! Yeah. Go get Tara."

One of the female voices disappeared while the other two continued discussing. The six ponies kept close together and stared off in the direction of the voices, completely clueless as to what course of action to take.

"Maybe we should gallop away..." Rarity suggested.

"Head for the hills?" Applejack said.

"Yeah."

"But we're surrounded by hills!" Pinkie said, "How can we head for them if their all around us?"

"Well, we've got nothing else," Twilight said, "Let's go!"

The six ponies turned around and galloped away from the voices as fast as they could, but no matter what distance they went, the voices did not sound like they were getting any farther. The ponies went on and on through the hills until they were completely exhausted and could run no more. They stopped, sat down and caught their breath.

"That didn't work..." Dash said.

"You know, whatever's out here, if they wanted to hurt, they would have by now," Twilight said, "Maybe they're friendly."

Just then, the voice that left returned and she was joined by a fourth voice, a female one, and this the ponies could understand. The new voice said, "Hello. Can you understand me?"

"Twilight, that one sounds somewhat like you," Rarity said.

"I know... This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder..." Twilight walked forward and shouted out to the voices, "Hello! My name is Twilight Sparkle! Who are you?"

The new voice giggled and said, "My name's Tara Strong. I'm your voice, Twilight. In your world, I'm known as one of Klassen the Eloquent's muses, Lady Strong."

Twilight gasped and immediately fell to her knees, bowing down as low as she could. "Everpony! Bow! Those are the voices of the Gods!" Fluttershy, being quite literally god-fearing, was quick to bow down. Applejack humbly took off her hat and bowed. Pinkie and Rarity followed. Lastly, Dash reluctantly gave in to this act of piety and bowed. They listened as Tara Strong and the other voices laughed.

Tara spoke again, "It's alright. You don't need to worship us. Come on, stand up."

The ponies heaved sighs of relief and stood. Applejack respectfully kept her hat off and looked out to the voices completely amazed at the thought that she was hearing the voices of the divine. She dared to speak back to them, "Uhhh, pardon me, Your Holiness-"

"Just call me Tara. Please. I'm not sure I'm comfortable being called 'Your Holiness.'"

"Uh, right of course. Sorry. But, just a question, how come we understand you, but the other gods there talk some other lingo."

"Oh, that's because I'm one of the voice actors. Uh, in your world, the Muses of Klassen the Eloquent. We're the source of your voices, so you can understand us when we speak. The other Muses that have to do with your voices, like Dan, your god of song, can also speak to you. The others here are Sabrina, Charlotte and Jim. Um, let me see if I remember what you guys call them... Sibsy the Wonderful, the Jockey Fullerton, and Wooton the Green. Yeah, I think that's it. They're not actors or singers. They don't really have much to do with your voices, so you can't understand them. I think you should also be able to understand Lauren and Jayson since they've got such big roles in production."

As Tara spoke, the other voices reacted, apparently to hearing what they were known as in the ponies' world, since one of the female voices sounded flattered while the other two sounded confused. Tara spoke with the others to explain their roles in the pony religion and the logic behind their names. The ponies listened to the gods with utter incomprehension. Finally, Tara finished and returned to speaking to the ponies. "So, uh, do you mind telling me what you're doing on this side of the Fourth Wall?"

Twilight, eager to make some progress in the mission, quickly answered, "Our world is on the precipice of disaster, Lady Str-"

"Tara. Please, none of that. Just Tara."

"Uh, Tara... we need your help. There's a pony called the Master and he's trying to take over the world. He's trying to open the Gates of Tartarus. We, the Doctor, Derpy, Rainbow Sword and Starswirl the Bearded are trying to stop him by creating the Elements of Harmony."

"Oh great, that guy again. See, I warned the character design team about making background ponies from that show. Well, anyway, go on."

"We've been collecting ingredients to make the Elements and we came here to find the last one, or, at least, I think this is where we're supposed to find it. The final ingredient is supposed to be the essence of all matter and energy in the Universe. We're running out of time. There's probably only a few hours left before the Master opens the Gates. Please, will you help us?"

Tara said nothing for a moment and all was quiet. She then said, "Twilight, I'd be happy to help, but I'm not sure I know what this 'essence of the Universe' is. I've never heard of it before in your world or mine. Although, I'd imagine it's something in the studio if you came to this computer. Plus your entire Universe was created in this studio... Hm, what could it be..."

As Tara tried to think of what the final ingredient could be, the male voice, Wooton the Green, spoke to her. The ensuing conversation between Tara and Wooton the Green may be translated as follows:

"Oh! Maybe Lauren knows."

"Lauren? As in Lauren Faust?"

"Yeah. I mean it all began with her- well, G4 at least. She created 'Friendship is Magic,' so if anybody knows what the essence of their Universe is, it's her."

"Oh my god, you're right. Quick, call her. Get her here right away!"

The other two voices expressed what sounded like agreement and the male voice disappeared. Tara then spoke to the ponies again. "Okay, this news is probably going to be a real big deal for you."

"What is it?" Fluttershy concernedly asked, "You can't help us?"

"Oh, no, no, no. It's not that. We're bringing in someone who can help. It's your supreme all-powerful creator goddess."

Twilight gasped, covered her mouth and took a step back. "Queen Faust... Oh my..." She then smiled with anticipation. The other also were excited to meet the Creator. They all had their doubts about the existence of higher powers, but this encounter at the edge of everything was washing away their skepticism.

"Oh, and it'll be a few hours - maybe a day - for her to get here," Tara said.

The smile was wiped from all the ponies' faces. All simultaneously yelled, "WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry. She's really busy with other shows."

"Other shows?" Dash asked.

"Uhh, other universes, I guess, would be how you'd call it."

"So all this time she's been helping out other worlds but not ours?" Rarity said.

"Is that why she ain't around for us?" Applejack added, "Why our prayers ain't ever getting answered no matter how much and how hard we pray? Why there's evil the world?"

"The world's been plagued by war and terror for centuries, and you, the Gods, haven't done anything about it because Queen Faust is busy?!" Twilight joined.

"That's not very nice!" Pinkie shouted, "You're lousy gods!"

Tara tried to calm the ponies as they faced the "Where is God?" problem. She knew ponies would start experiencing this theological conundrum sooner or later, and this was why she never liked being looked up to as a god. "Hey! Hey! Take it easy! I'm sorry we haven't been the best gods ever, but even we've got our limits. We have our own lives, and life gets... well... busy. Lauren moved on to do other shows- er, other universes - once yours took off. And as for us, well, we just have our individual roles in your universe. I'm just a voice. Sabrina's just an artist. Charlotte's just a writer. Jim's just a director. We don't control every little thing, but we do what we can. I'm sorry if that's not enough for you."

The six ponies calmed down. They realized how inappropriately they had acted. They spoke out of line right in the presence of three gods. They were thoroughly embarrassed and worried that the gods would smite them for their insolence. Applejack stepped forward to apologize. "We're mighty sorry Your Ho- er, I mean, Tara - We didn't mean to get angry at y'all. Please, have mercy on us."

"It's alright," Tara said, "It's not a sin to speak your mind. Not in my book anyway. We do that kind of thing too. By 'we,' I mean we, the gods. We have a god we believe in, and lots of us wonder why He doesn't answer our prayers. Lots of us don't even believe He exists."

This sparked the ponies' curiosity. The gods were flawed. The gods had their doubts and uncertainties. Pinkie asked, "Wait, you guys have a god? Like, a god of a god? Godception?"

Tara giggled. She never in all her life expected that she would ever talk about religion with a bunch of candy-colored ponies. She replied, "Yeah. That's what most of us believe. I mean, there's always some bigger boss out there somewhere. Am I right?"

Pinkie then said, "Your god's called, 'amirite'?"

"No, I mean 'am I right,' as in, 'am I correct.'"

Wooton the Green's voice returned and spoke with Tara. Tara sounded disappointed to hear what he had to say and then reported it to the ponies. "Alright, I'm sorry to break this to you, but Lauren won't be arriving until next week. She has to finish up some work and then she to fly up from somewhere far away. I know this goes way over your deadline, but there's no other way."

The ponies were shocked. They were going to fail to complete their mission in time. In a few hours, the Master was going to open the Gates and by the time Queen Faust would arrive to help them, it would be too late. Twilight fell to her knees while the others struggled in vain to remain composed. She hit her head on the grass out of frustration. Then she stood and pleaded with Tara.

"Please, there has to be some other way! Somepony else who can help us! Or maybe you have some time-controlling god power to make her arrive here faster! Please! You have to do something!"

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but there's nothing I can do. You just have to wait. Maybe, if the Master does open Tartarus, you can still beat him and reseal the Gates when you get back and you can undo everything he does. There's always hope... wow, I never imagined I would say that while not acting..."

Twilight and her friends came to accept that there was nothing to be done. They could get no help in time from the Gods and they could not go back to the Universe to stop the Master some other way. They were completely helpless. The four gods tried to give the ponies what little assistance they could by bringing in another god to turn the world of endless green hills into a gorgeous tropical island with a luxurious beachside villa so that the ponies could at least live in comfort for the next week. This time, the world included a functional sun and moon. No amount, of worldly pleasures, however, could ease their minds of the thought of all the suffering the Earth would be going through. Nevertheless, they did make us of their time and the island to prepare themselves to battle the evil forces of Tartarus led by the Master.

The villa came with a little library that Twilight spent her days studying in. She learned many powerful spells and clever strategies to use in their upcoming fight. Dash used the clear open skies to practice flying and each day she broke her personal record for speed and for agility. Applejack trained by bucking coconut trees and kicking coconuts at targets. She improved her strength and accuracy more than she could have expected to in one week. Rarity designed and put together battle armor for each of them, achieving the perfect balance of protection and flexibility. When she was not busy with the armor, she relaxed on the beach and got a very nice tan. Fluttershy went into the island forest and tamed the ferocious jungle beasts she encountered, from tarantulas to black panthers. Before long, she had control of all life in the jungle. Pinkie built a wooden party cannon and made countless of coconut and banana cakes. On the final night of the week, they celebrated their last night of peace with a beach party. They swam in the ocean, played in the sand and feasted on cakes.

At midnight, on the night of a full moon, the voices of the gods came again from the direction of the Northerly winds. This time, there were more gods than the ponies could determine. It was as if the entire host of Heaven had gathered in one place to address the six ponies. The six walked out onto the beach towards the voices and stopped at the edge of the surf. The waves gently crashed onto the sand before them and washed over their hooves as they stood there in a line, waiting to hear the words of the Gods.

First came Tara's voice. "Hi again. Well, it's the moment we've all been waiting for."

"Oh my God! You weren't joking!" A voice that sounded similar to Rarity's burst in, "They're really on this side!"

Rarity gasped in delight and excitedly said, "Ooh! Is that- er, is she my voice?"

"Yeah," Tara answered, "This is Tabitha. Another muse. Andrea and Ashleigh couldn't be with us though. They had other things to worry about."

"Oh, this is so exciting!"

"I know right!" Pinkie joined, "I'm excited too! Are you excited Twilight? How about you, Fluttershy? Or Applejack? Or Dashie? Don't you think it's exciting?"

The voices of the Gods then stopped and all was quiet. Out of the silence, a gentle and beautiful voice spoke, "Hi everybody- er, I mean, everypony. Um, guess who?"

The ponies all stopped what they were doing and looked out to the voices. Twilight whispered, "It's Her..." and the ponies bowed.

"Oh, no, no. You don't have to bow. Get up."

The ponies obeyed and Twilight stepped forward to the water. "It's such an honor to meet you, Holy Quee- er, uh, I'm guessing you'd prefer to be called Lauren, right?"

"That would be less awkward for me. So yes," the Creator Goddess answered. She, like Tara, also did not like being looked at as a divine power. From Her experience with all the universes She worked on, being a god was a tough job. The ponies' universe, however, held a special place in Her heart, so She took the time and went out of Her way to save it from the diabolical evils of the Third Age that She worked hard to imprison. "Now, I hear somepony's trying to open Tartarus and you're trying to create the Elements of Harmony and the final ingredient you need is the essence of the Universe."

"Yes," Twilight said, "you must know what it is. You created the Universe."

Lauren replied, "I'm afraid I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. Your universe is made of lots of things. I can't point out one thing to be responsible for everything."

This news distressed the ponies. It seemed that even the most powerful of the Gods did not have the answer. If Queen Faust could not help, then nopony could. Hope continually faded away from them bit by bit. Twilight would not give up, though. There had to be something. "But you must know. Whatever it is, it has to have something to do with the creation of the Universe. If it's the essence of everything, it had to be involved in creating everything."

"But it's like I said. Many tools, people, and other stuff were involved with creating your universe. Unless this ingredient is the entire studio, I can't think of anything else."

"Please, Lauren," Twilight beg, "There has to be some single thing that was there in the very very beginning. Something that started it all."

"I'm sorry, Twilight..."

As all hope seemed to vanish, another voice spoke up, a male voice. "Wait! I think I have an idea!"

The ponies looked out and held off their despair for the time being. They were eager to hear whatever this god had to offer.

"Uh, hi guys," the voice said, "I'm Jayson. You know me as King Thiessen, God of Life and Death. Kinda scares me that I'm that god. But anyway, I might have an idea as to what you're looking for. Everything in this studio is used to make the show, but the show didn't begin here. These are all just means to create something out of an idea. Like every show, Friendship is Magic started off as a creative thought. And, Lauren, it was your thought. So, I think, this 'essence of the Universe' is your brain!"

"..."

The Gods were silent for a moment as their tried to take in what King Thiessen just proposed. Shortly, Lauren answered, 'Uhh, no. I'm not giving them my brain."

"Yeah, I don't think we want to take Her brain," Twilight said.

"But," Lauren continued, "that is a good perspective to look at the problem from. It'd be something to do with when I first started thinking of the show..."

The Gods and the ponies quietly waited and intently listened as the Creator spent a few seconds thinking. Each seconds seemed excruciatingly long as the fate of the Earth hinged on this moment. Then, the ocean shook, the winds gusted and the ground trembled as the Creator shouted out, "AHA! I got it!"

The ponies opened their eyes wide and beamed as they all asked, "What is? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?"

Lauren answered, "My pen! The pen that I used when I first made notes and sketches for the show! That's the essence of everything in your Universe!"

There was much rejoicing and jubilee among both sides. The Gods cheered and applauded, while the ponies jumped and danced all over the beach. After the brief celebration, Twilight asked, "So how will You get it us?"

"Easy," Lauren answered, "I just have to draw it. Someone get me a pen and paper!"

A moment later there was a great flash of white light above the ponies, and down from the night sky, from beyond the full moon, came a perfectly straight thin stream of black liquid. The liquid poured on the beach sand and stopped, leaving a black puddle. The liquid then moved and formed into a long, thin shape, like that of a short straight stick. On one end was a sharp point and on the other was what looked like a button. The shape then became more detailed and refined as it gained texture. Finally, the shape gained color. Lying on the sand was a plastic ball-point black pen. The six ponies walked towards the pen and stood around it in a circle. Twilight approached it and dared to touch it. She picked it up with her hoof and held it in front of her face. She whispered, "The Ultimate Essence of All Matter and Energy in the Universe."

The six ponies smiled and looked at each other with joy and relief. "We did it..." Dash said.

Applejack reared up and flailed her forehooves. "YEE-HAW! We finally done it!"

"Hooray! We can make the Elements of Harmony now!" Pinkie shouted.

"It's finally over!" said Rarity.

Fluttershy yelled out at the top of her lungs, "yay."

"It's not over yet, girls," Twilight then said, "We still have to fight the Master and send all the evil in the world back into Tartarus!"

It was a sobering reminder. A great and terrible task still laid ahead of them, probably the most difficult task they would ever face. The ponies were quickly taken by the gravity of the situation and they stopped rejoicing. Twilight then faced the first problem to tackle. She turned towards the Gods and said, "So, first things first, we're kinda stuck here and have no way back home. We came here in a ship but it's gone now. Can you help us?"

"No problem," Lauren replied, "We'll get you home straight away. Just give us a moment to get the program going..." She then proceeded to give various orders to the other gods. To the ponies, her commands all sounded very nonsensical and overall just incredibly confusing to follow. The loud commotion among the gods rose up again as they all - or just some, it was hard to tell - went to work.

As the Gods did as Lauren told, the voices slowly became more and more faint, as if they were going farther away. With each passing second, silence took over the sound of the voices. Soon the ponies could only hear Lauren, Tara and Tabitha speaking.

"Alright, you're all set to head home," Lauren said, "It was great getting to meet you. I'm proud of having created you. You've become an incredible bunch of colorful ponies."

"It's a pleasure to meet my character," Tara said, "I've always wanted to have a conversation with one of my characters but none of them ever got through the Fourth Wall... Good luck, Twilight. Good luck, everypony."

Tabitha also gave her last words, "Seeing all of you like this was pretty awesome, especially you, Rarity. But be careful, now. I don't want any of you getting hurt. Good luck!"

The voices faded more and more, and it was almost impossible to hear them when Lauren said, "Goodbye, my little ponies. And... I should tell you this now: I'm so sorry for the loss that..." The ponies could not hear the end of her sentence. The voices vanished.

Twilight tried walking towards where the voices once were, but she knew they were gone and she would likely never hear them again. She turned around and found that her friends had disappeared. She panicked and looked all around her. She turned to face the Gods again, but all that was there was the endless ocean. Then she blinked, and after blinking she found herself no longer on the island. She was with her friends again, and they all stood on a bridge made of dry desert rock deep in a canyon.

Mount Dechrau

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Chapter XXXIII: Mount Dechrau

"Well... that was quick."

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie turned around to find the Doctor, Derpy, Starswirl the Bearded, Rainbow Sword and Gilda the Oracle standing a good distance away, the exact same spot where they stood when the ponies first entered the Void.

Twilight smiled wide upon seeing them once again. She galloped over to them and said, "Alright. We're ready. We're ready to fight all the evils of Tartarus. We're ready to fight the Master. We're ready to free the world from his grip! We're going to send them all back through the Gates and shut them tight and bring harmony back!"

The ponies who had stayed on Earth looked at her with blank faces.

"Um, excuse me," Sword confusedly said, "But what exactly are you talking about?"

"... We missed the deadline, remember?" Dash responded with indignation, "Eclipse happened. Master opened the Gates. End of the World."

The four who stayed looked at each other with bewilderment. Both sides stared at the other as if they were three-headed. Derpy sat down, made her eyes go in circles and scratched her head. Gilda was content with letting the situation go on by itself with no intervention from her. The Doctor attempted to clear away the awkwardness.

"Uhhh... care to explain what it is you're trying to tell us?"

Applejack, frustrated with their failure to get the point, went up and tried to make it clear to everypony, "It's been a week! Ain't you been paying attention, Time Stallion? We didn't stop that darn Master before he opened up Tartarus, so he let loose all that evil and took over the world! We got the final ingredient and we've been training and training out there and now we got to go and fight to save everything! That explain everything for you?"

The Doctor stared at Applejack's angry eyes and made a few quick blinks. After a moment, he opened his mouth wide and mouthed out a long "Ohhhh..." He turned his head down and then back up. He bit his upper lip and looked up with his eyes, evidently trying to find a very difficult set of words. He took a deep breath and quickly exhaled. He slowly stepped back as he said, "Okay... I don't know how you'll take this news but..."

The six listened closely and with much anticipation to what the Doctor was about to say. They all leaned forward and looked the Doctor in the eye. Pinkie fell over on her face from leaning forward too far.

Finally, the Doctor said, "You've only been gone five seconds."

An agonizingly long pause. And then all six together, "WHAT?!?!?" They all followed Pinkie's lead and fell forward flat on their faces against the dry canyon rock. In unison, they groaned. Their entire week of hard training and bitter worry over the world was for nothing.

Twilight looked up and said, "But we were in that other world for an entire week... How could it have only been five seconds here?"

With a good amount of difficulty, the Doctor tried to give a possible explanation for what had happened. "Well, you see, ponies assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a-"

"Stop! Stop!" Twilight shouted, "Just don't. We're not in any mood to hear about time or space or rifts or whatever... Let's just get back to work."

Gilda led the ponies off of the bridge and to an outcropping lit by sunlight. Gilda then flew off and went down into the darkness below. She returned with a white plastic magnifying glass. She flew to the canyon wall above the ponies and felt along a large area of rock. She stopped upon feeling a smooth polished surface. She backed away from the wall and slowly raised the magnifying glass until she felt the warmth of the Sun hit her claw. The sunlight passed through the lens and focused on the polished spot on the wall.

Gilda then said, "Make sure you catch whatever falls down, or else I'm gonna have to kill you," and recited an incantation in Dromedary. "Duu' ashams, taksir assanduuq."

The point where the focused sunlight touched the rock began to smoke and sizzle, until finally the polished rock burst apart. From the explosion, a small wooden crate fell down. It fell past the ponies before they could react, but Dash was quick to swoop down and catch it. She gently put it down among the ponies. It was about a third the size of the ponies. Gilda landed by the crate and said, "Starswirl, at this point, you open the box."

Starswirl walked up the crate and cast a spell, "Aperi." The sides of the crate split and fell apart, revealing the many steel horseshoes contained inside.

Gilda proceeded to explain, "These are high-accelerative horseshoes. I've been collecting them over the years as the rift dropped them off. They let you gallop really really fast. Faster than Dash here on a sonic rainboom, and fast enough to get you to the Gates of Tartarus in time. There should be more than enough for all of you."

The ponies picked up the horseshoes and tried to put them on. They appeared far too large to fit on them, but upon making contact with their hooves, the horseshoes liquefied and morphed into a suitable size and shape. The ponies' steps clicked loudly as the metal horseshoes met the rock floor.

Gilda gathered the ponies around and spoke to all of them. "Now, time for me to finally leave this canyon. Back up to the desert, everypony." Gilda led the pegasi up to the light above the canyon, while the unicorns and earth ponies teleported up along ledges at various heights up the canyon wall.

The Great Northern Desert was hot, dry and miserable as ever. The Sun and the Moon lied beside each other and were dangerously close. The Moon was a pure black disk in the sky, and already its rim was touching that of the Sun.

The horseshoes made standing on the desert sand somewhat bearable. The Doctor took out the compass and the needle pointed to the Southeast, to the spot where the Moon was directly above. The ponies stood by the Doctor and they all faced Southeast and the great trail that was before them. Gilda then landed in front of them and began, "You have two hours before the Moon totally eclipses the Sun. If everything goes alright with the horseshoes, you should get there in an hour. The Master's gonna use the umbra of the eclipse and the positioning of the stars to break open the Key to the Gates. The Key looks like a phoenix egg and it contains controlled anti-matter, stuff specifically aimed to destroy the atoms of the Gates' locks. You got to stop him before he breaks the Key."

"Do we?" Twilight asked, "I mean, you've seen it. Do we stop him in time?"

Gilda shook her head, "I don't know. That point in time is in flux and there're lots of versions of it. It's all blurry in my head, so I don't really know."

Twilight heaved an anxious sigh. She looked at the Sun and Moon as they came closer together. "So how do we work these horseshoes?"

"You just gallop," the Doctor said, "They're solar powered and just a minute or so in the Sun is enough to get them fully charged up. All we have to do now is gallop to Mount Dechrau and hope we can stop the Master in time."

"We can do it!" Dash said.

"Yeah," Applejack joined, "Ain't nobody gonna stop us!"

Their spirits were boosted. Despite the impending disaster, everything had gone according to plan. They had all the ingredients for the Elements of Harmony, and they had time to go into action. From an optimistic viewpoint, there seemed to be nothing that could go wrong.

"Ready?" Gilda asked, and everypony nodded and gave a grunt in response.

The ponies readied themselves to begin their long and fast gallop. Before they took off, Gilda gave some final parting words, "Good luck, everypony, and kick some butt. I got no doubts that you'll win. You've made it this far and you're not gonna stop now. As for me this is goodbye." Gilda went around, sniffed each pony and embraced them tightly. The last hug was for the Doctor, and as they held each other, Gilda whispered into his ear, "If you win, Doctor, then I should say it now... I'm sorry. I really am so sorry."

The Doctor did not reply.

Gilda approached the cliff into the canyon and was about to jump back down when Dash grabbed her shoulder. "Hold on, Gilda. In case I don't see you again, thanks. Thanks for all of this. And... we forgive you. I forgive you. Remember that."

"Thanks, Dash. You have no idea how much hearing that in the present means to me. Now, get going! You got a world to save!"

Dash rejoined the ponies and altogether, they began to gallop. Then the horseshoes activated and the ten ponies zipped away at an incredible speed, leaving behind an enormous dust cloud trail.

Gilda flew back down into her canyon and felt along the wall for the hole that the explosion earlier had made. She reached in and took out two objects. One was a rug that her zebra apprentice wove under her instructions. On the rug was an intricate and complex design of circles and lines. It was a message written in Gallopfreyan. The other object was a watch-like device with various lights and buttons. It was a time vortex manipulator. Gilda took these two items down to the bridge. She felt buttons of the manipulator and pressed the buttons to enter coordinates. She then rolled he rug up and put the manipulator around it. She pressed a big glowing button and tossed the rug into the air. In the rug crackled with electricity and then vanished, leaving behind a little puff of smoke.

With that, Gilda's mission was complete. Her role was done, and so was one thing vital to her survival besides the energy of the rift: her purpose. With no further purpose, Gilda lied down on the bridge. She closed her blind eyes and took one final deep breath of the air of the world of the living. She exhaled slowly, and let King Thiessen take her spirit away.

~~~~~

The Dragon Queen, Ember, decked in golden armor, perched on the snowcapped peak of the tall and mighty Mount Dechrau in the Gwyrdd Mountains. Many of her Royal Guard circled in the sky around the mountain and many more stood on guard on the slopes of rock, jade, emeralds, alpine grass. The lesser mountains around Dechrau also were made of rock, jade and emeralds and were graced with patches of grass.

In the sky above, the Sun was in the shape of a crescent as the black Moon covered it up more and more. The sky darkened and the stars around the Sun and Moon began to shine.

From the South came an armored blue dragoness, Princess Sapphire. She glided over to her mother and landed on a boulder just below the peak. "Still no sign of him. I have searched through the river plains and all around Purpura Lake. Nothing. Comet, Ruby and Amber also found nothing."

"Then that pony is very clever. Our soldiers have scoured the three kingdoms for any trace of him and found nothing. And to worsen our plight, the Hoofricans are interfering!"

Queen Ember pointed to the West where there was the camp in a large valley belonging to a small army bearing the Hoofrican flag, the design of which was a rhino horn, a warthog tusk and a gazelle horn meeting together at the center by their sharp tips, with a background of zebra stripes. One of the Hoofrican tents stood out from the others as the most opulent. It was made of golden silk and decorated with traditional masks, shields and spears. Clearly it was the Emperor's tent.

"That fool Bluehorn arrived yesterday with his army and had the audacity to demand that we leave the Gates for him to protect and accused us of failing to uphold our duty of keeping the Gates safe! I was eager to broil the wretch and feed him to the carrion birds!"

"Why did you not?"

"His alchemists erected a wall to stop our flames. I could have used our Guard to slay them with their claws, but the fools are not worth the effort and the bloody mess. And fortunately for their soldiers, Bluehorn is not so mad as to try to fight us with that meager army of his. So I let them camp away from us for the time being."

Sapphire climbed higher and stood beside her mother and at the same level. Quietly she began, "Mother... there is always the choice of working alongside them against Tympanus..."

"I shall hear it not, Sapphire!" Ember snapped, "'Twas bad enough when you told them of our situation and gave them the information to find the mountain. You will not encourage any further interference. We don't need it. After all, 'tis impossible for the alicorn to break open the egg, for he is just one. It takes two alicorns to accomplish the task."

"But mother-"

"That's enough! You have done enough damage. Just fly about and keep a watchful eye for him."

"Mother..."

"Go!"

Sapphire hesitated, but eventually she took off and joined her siblings who were circling around the mountain. She was hurt. All her efforts to impress her mother had just ended with her disappointment. First it was her deal with Tympanus, and now it was her attempt to seek help from the other kingdoms. Soon enough, the Ponytopians would arrive and further infuriate the Queen. Things seemed like they could not possibly improve.

Ember kept watching from her perch, but her attention was taken by a strange exotic whooshing and grinding noise. She looked down to find the source of the noise. Halfway down Mount Dechrau was a perfectly round plateau of pure jade. On the center of the plateau, an image began to form, as if from the air itself. The image faded in and out and in and out, each time become more distinct. Eventually, Ember realized that the object that was coming into view was a tall blue box. She raised her head and let out an enormous plume of blue, green, red and white fire, and called out, "Everydragon down! The blue box is here!"

The Queen jumped off her perch and dove down to the plateau, and all the dragons around the mountain followed her lead. One hundred armored, white fire bearing dragons gathered all around the plateau, waiting to turn Tympanus into ashes. The blue box had materialized near where the plateau gave way to a perfectly vertical sheer slope, almost like a wall. Its doors faced the slope. The dragons had the box completely surrounded. Queen Ember and her four children landed at the center of the plateau.

After a few seconds, the doors of the box opened and a handsome cream coated, brown maned alicorn stepped out. He looked up and saw dragons glaring at him from the mountain side, teeth bared. He looked to his right and left, and dragons were there too. He walked around the box and looked behind it to see the royal family.

"Ah, good morning! Or is it the afternoon? Evening? Blimey, I may have missed afternoon tea. What a shame... I guess that's the disadvantage of putting the Sun and Moon like this. But anyways, hello!"

Queen Ember stepped forward, reared her head and burst out a ferocious stream of white fire. Her children did the same, and all the dragons around followed. Tympanus and the Blue Box were engulfed in the searing white flames. When the flames dissipated, Tympanus and his box just stood there completely unharmed.

"My, my. You dragons are an impolite lot, aren't you? Didn't I tell you, Princess Sapphire, how great it'd be if I combined this box's extrapolator shielding with a magical shield?"

"We have no time for your jokes, Tympanus!" Sapphire shouted, "Return the egg!"

"Well, at least you go straight to business. Fine, I'll be straightforward too. Ummmmmmm... no."

Tympanus walked over to the five royal dragons until he reached the edge of his shield. Ember walked forward also and stood right in front of him. She then demanded, "How did you find this place? The location of the Gates has been the dragons' most sacred secret since the dawn of this Age!"

Tympanus replied, "Well, it wasn't much of a secret before the dawn of this Age."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's complicated. Your little brain wouldn't understand. Now excuse me. There's a world of demons and monsters I need to free." Tympanus turned around and faced the mountain. He began to walk away from Ember and approached the wall of jade, emerald and stone in front of the Blue Box.

Angered by the alicorn's arrogance, Ember charged forward to tear him apart with her own claws and teeth, but she was met by the shield. Upon touching it, she was pushed back by a burst of blue and purple bolts electricity. She fell to the ground, smoke rising from her body. Her children quickly went over and helped her back up. They all glared at Tympanus as they watched him do his work.

Tympanus stood before the mountain slope and eyed it greedily. He entered the Blue Box and came out moments later levitating a bucket of paint, some paintbrushes and a strange deformed rock. He put the objects down. He opened the paint bucket, which contained what looked like dark red paint, and levitated the brushes to begin making a symbol on the wall. As he painted he spoke, "You know, the last time the Gates were opened was when that pony king and queen - Looks and Nooks were their names I think - they banished your little Arglwydd. I don't think I remember the bloke's name. Anyway, they were only able to do it with the Faust's help. I, however-"

"How dare you speak of the Goddess without proper respect!" Ember snapped upon hearing Tympanus speak of the Creator Goddess in such a casual and irreverent tone.

Tympanus turned to look at her and replied, "Listen, you royal tart, I'm opening the prison of all the evils that Faust locked away at the beginning of the Universe. And you think I'm being disrespectful for omitting her title? Get a little perspective." He then returned to painting and continued, "So, where was I... ah, yes, I don't have Faust's help because why would she want to help me undo all her work? So I'll need a little bit of dark magic."

"Forbidden magic is a better word," Ember said, "That is not red paint, is it?"

"Clever you! You deserve a smiley-face sticker. Yup, good old Rundo Ndizi, he really meant it when he said he'd give anything in service to me. I almost miss him."

Tympanus finished painting and put down the brushes. The symbol was a red circle, with curved lines reaching inwards from the rim and meeting at the center. It was the ancient Drakonic symbol of Death. Ember looked wide-eyed at the it with the utmost dread and breathed heavily. Comet stood by his mother's side and put his arm around her to comfort her. Ruby, Sapphire and Amber then joined him to do the same.

They watched as Tympanus next took the deformed rock. "It's always fun to go searching for meteorites. Maybe I should pick it up as a hobby once I've conquered this galaxy cluster." He levitated the meteorite and then thrust it into the center of the symbol. The force of his magic made the meteorite bore into the mountain until finally it stuck to the wall. Tympanus stepped back and admired his work.

Ember made one more effort to discourage Tympanus from his task. "You shall never reach the Gates without facing Cerberus and letting him through your shield. And you cannot kill him for he is immortal. He shall tear you to pieces."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Tympanus lowered his head such that his horn was pointed directly at the meteorite at the center of the circle. Quietly, he began to recite an ancient incantation, an incantation for a spell to destroy a mountain.

"Genedigaeth, Bywyd, Marwolaeth.

Genedigaeth o Mynydd, Bywyd o Mynydd, Marwolaeth o Mynydd."

He repeated the incantation six times, each time louder than the last until he was yelling it at the jade floor. The symbol began to glow and the meteor lit on white fire. Lastly, Tympanus cried out, "DIWEDD!"

Tympanus' horn glowed white and he charged forward at the wall. His horn struck the meteorite and pieced through it and into the Mount Dechrau. Tympanus then felt searing hot pain on his horn, but he held his composure and resisted the urge to scream in agony.

Sensing what was about to take place, all the dragons who perched on the mountain above the plateau flew off and posted themselves on other slopes. Ember held her children close and covered them with her wings.

Around where Tympanus' horn struck, the mountain cracked. The cracks then extended further and further up Mount Dechrau. Bits of rock, jade, emeralds and other debris began to fall down all around Tympanus as the mountain trembled. Then, the trembling stopped and everything fell silent, but after a brief moment, the mountain exploded. The entire half of the mountain above the jade plateau broke apart and blasted away in a billion pieces. The remains of the mountain was scattered all over the area. Boulders, rocks, pebbles and dust fell down onto the rest of the Gwyrdd Mountains. Then a deep moaning sound echoed through the every peak, slope, cave, valley and trench in the mountain range, as if all the mountains were mourning the demise of their tallest and most magnificent sister.

All that remained of the upper half of Mount Dechrau was a tall outcropping of black rock. Built into the rock was a massive grey metal wall in the shape of a doorway. A pattern of black and white curved and swirling lines was carved into the wall. At the center was a small indentation in the shape of an egg. The wall spanned from the base of the rock to half-way towards the peak. In front of the wall, there was a strange creature sleeping. The creature, upon smelling the scent of intruders, opened its eyes and stood. It was a giant three-headed dog.

"Oh, hello Cerberus."

The World Is Mine

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Chapter XXXIV: The World Is Mine

Cerberus the Three-Headed Dog was an enormous black hound. His forelegs were thick and muscular while his rear legs were lean and powerful. His chest also was far greater in build than the rest of his body. He had a short tail and his three heads were those of ferocious pit bulls. He stared down at the alicorn standing before him, bared his fearsome white fangs and growled a growl so deep and powerful that it made the ground around him vibrate. He salivated copiously as he had been sleeping for thousands of years without a bite to eat. He sensed that there was a shield protecting the intruder and chose not to attack. He simply stood there, waiting for him to make a move.

Tympanus took out the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, pointed it back at the TARDIS and pressed a button. He extended the extrapolator shield so that it enveloped the Gates of Tartarus. He then extended his magical shield to do the same.

Sensing that the intruder was now unprotected, Cerberus charged forth at him, all three heads barking and snapping his fearsome jaws. He was stopped inches away from the intruder's face as his heads were held back by spiked dragon-scale collars and titanium chains. Cerberus' saliva splattered all over the intruder and his box as the three heads barked and bit at him.

Tympanus walked away from Cerberus and entered the Blue Box. He came out levitating a large barrel.

"Cerberus, you're a tough dog to get to. Really, I had to blow up half a mountain just to see your cute little slobbering face. And then I need to exploit your weakness..."

"Be not ridiculous!" Queen Ember said, "Cerberus has no weaknesses!"

"Oh really? Well, let me point something out for you, Your Majesty: See, Cerberus may be an immortal killer dog from the birth of the Universe, but, nevertheless, he's still a dog. And dogs are just so easily distractable."

Tympanus set the barrel down gently in front of Cerberus just beyond his reach.

"I'll have to apologize to Derpy for this later. She's going to miss these." Tympanus took the lid off the barrel and revealed the many fresh muffins stored inside.

Cerberus instantly stopped barking and eyed the muffins hungrily. He sat down, breathed quickly with his three tongues out and drooled over the jade floor. Tympanus smirked. Just as expected. Ember and her children looked on with shock as Cerberus succumbed to Tympanus' plan. Tympanus levitated the barrel up and moved it right and left, up and down, back and forth in front of Cerberus to further tempt his taste buds.

"Who wants some muffins?" Tympanus teasingly said, "You want some muffins? Do you want some muffins, Cerberus? I've got some really tasty muffins! Right here! They're right here! You want them? You want them, boy? You really want them? Fetch!"

Tympanus tossed the barrel of muffins and sent it flying off into the Salt Flats of Pedwar Draig to the East. Cerberus attempted to chase after it, but was held back by the chains. Tympanus cast a spell and shot a bean of magic at one of the links of the chain. The link glowed red, sizzled in the heat and broke, letting Cerberus loose to pursue the barrel full of delicious treats. The ground shook with each of the three-headed dog's thunderous steps.

Ember tried to stop Cerberus, flying after him and crying out, "No! Cerberus! No! Return to your post! Bad dog! Bad dog! Come back here!" It was not long before he outran Ember and went beyond her reach. The Queen, distraught that Tympanus was successfully breaking through each of the Gates' defenses one by one, tried something that her grandfather, King Cyfiawnder, used in the beginning of the war against the Pony King, Dux I.

She perched on a mountain peak next to Mount Dechrau. She reared her head and spread her wings wide. She opened her mouth as far as she could and focused her all her energy into creating concentrated white fire. Then she let it loose and sent a scorching hot white beam at Tympanus. The alicorn was quick to react and strengthened the spot on his shield that the beam was aimed at with his magic. Ember's white beam deflected off of the shield and went straight for her daughter, Ruby. But Ruby too was quick and let out a burst of green fire to counter and absorb the beam of white fire, saving herself from a painful end.

It was a close call. Her heart stopped for a moment when she saw her beam deflected towards her daughter and nearly killed her. She quickly flew over to Ruby and held her close, apologizing for her recklessness.

Suddenly, something appeared in the sky that seemed to be falling towards the plateau incredibly fast from the Northwest. It fell and landed at the center of the plateau, just behind Ember and her children. It formed a little crater into the jade, with cracks extending even farther, and from this crater climbed out a grey pegasus with messy yellow hair.

"I'm okay... I'm okay... I landed on my hooves..."

A second later, another object came flying in from between a pair of mountains and crashed into Princess Sapphire, making both tumble across the plateau. This one was a yellow pegasus with flowing pink hair. Both said simultaneously, "Ouch..."

Then, eight other ponies zipped in from the same direction as the first two. They came in at lightning speed and neatly stopped by the crater at the center of the plateau. Shortly, the dust cloud from their gallop caught up and briefly enveloped the area. The dust then dispersed, revealing Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Sword and Starswirl the Bearded standing in a line looking at the Blue Box. The Doctor was at the crater, helping Derpy climb out. Pinkie Pie went to help Fluttershy and Princess Sapphire get up.

"Always tricky, these horseshoes," the Doctor said as he pulled Derpy up, "You've got to ever so careful not to trip."

Meanwhile, Sword drew his blade. "Our journeying has at last come fruition."

"And the Master ain't opening the Gates yet!" Applejack said.

"We can still stop him," Rarity added.

"'Tis now or never!" Sword cried out. Electricity crackled and flowed through his blade and he charged forth with the speed of his high-accelerative horseshoes. He would have instantly been upon the Master with his sword, but it clashed with the shield. He grit his teeth as he pushed harder and harder against the shield. The collision of the two sent sparks flying out from the point of contact and multicolored bolts of electricity were let loose in every direction. The shield glowed blue and purple around the point of contact and rippled. The contest continued for a few seconds until Sword lost. He was violently pushed back in a burst of electricity. His sword was knocked out of his hoof and when he went to retrieve it he found that it was cracked.

"Impossible..." Sword said, "This weapon is unbreakable. My master told me this was unbreakable..."

"Sorry, I can be a bit of compulsive liar sometimes," the Master said, "But hey, at least I didn't tell you that it can break through a combination of magical and extrapolator shielding!"

"What nonsense are you saying?"

Before the Master could answer, the Doctor galloped over to the shield and pleaded, "Master! Whatever you're doing, just stop it! Please, just don't hurt this world! You can fight me all you want. We can go across the stars fighting each other, but please, don't-"

"Silence, Doctor! Give me a moment with my little apprentice!" The Master turned and looked Sword in the eyes. "Do you really not remember me, Ourano?"

"I know not what you speak of. I have never seen you before in my life. And my name is not Ourano."

"Hmmm, I see. Interesting. I'll need something stronger to jog your memory..." The Master entered the TARDIS and came out with a toy. It was an old brown stuffed bunny with a bit of its ear burnt off. The Master tossed the toy out through his shield and it landed in front of Sword. "Remember Flopsy?"

Rainbow Sword looked at the toy bunny intently. He narrowed his eyes. It looked familiar. And then it clicked. At that moment his eyes opened wide. All his memories from before his mysterious arrival to Equites suddenly flooded into his mind. He watched everything zip through his head. His childhood in the cliffside house in Irida. The Hoofrican attack on his home. His enigmatic rescuer. His years of training in the Great Northern Desert. Everything came back to him.

"Hello, Ourano."

"... H-hello... Master."

The Master smiled and gave a little chuckle.

"Commander..." the Doctor began as he took a step towards Sword, "What's going on?"

"This pony was my master. He saved me, raised me, trained me, protected me. Everything I am... I owe to him."

The Doctor quickly took back his step. He turned at looked at the Master with a panicked expression. Then he looked back at Sword. Then back at the Master, then back at Sword. "Rainbow Sword, whatever you do, do not listen to your master. He is not your friend! You cannot trust him, you cannot follow him, you cannot give him any allegiance."

Sword took a step towards the Master, eye locked on him and the TARDIS. "But... I owe him everything. He is my master."

"That's right, Doctor," the Master said, "Commander Sword is practically my son. I took him in. I sheltered him. I cared for him. I fed him. And I gave him drink. I especially fed him and gave him drink." He took out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at his old apprentice. He pushed a button and Sword immediately stood up straight and completely still, his expression completely blank.

"What've you done?!" the Doctor asked.

"For ten years, he ate and drank nanobots, nanobots that happen to be wired to follow the frequencies of this sonic screwdriver. Basically, I control his every movement."

The Master used the sonic screwdriver on Sword again and swiftly moved to point it at the Doctor. Instantly, Sword took his blade and swung it at the Doctor. The Doctor ducked down. The sword just barely grazed his mane. The Doctor jumped back as Sword took another swing, and another, and another. Sword thrust his weapon towards the Doctor's chest, and the Doctor, using the speed of his high-accelerative horseshoes, quickly stepped to the side. He took the opportunity and kicked the sword out of the Commander's hoof. It was in vain though, as he was quickly able to zip over to reclaim his sword. He pointed it at the Doctor and it crackled and glowed. The Doctor tried to gallop to dodge what was coming, but he galloped at a normal speed. His horseshoes had run out of energy. He turned his head and looked at Commander Sword as he fired a lightning bolt.

Just then, the Doctor saw a flowing blue cape flapping in front of him. Attached to this cape was Starswirl, whose horseshoes had not yet exhausted their power. The old sorcerer had his head down and his horn pointed forward, but he had it more than just pointed at the lightning from the sword. His horn was absorbing the lightning. Sword kept up the assault for a few seconds and all the while, Starswirl took in all of that electricity. Once Sword stopped, Starswirl swung his head up and released all that electricity up into the sky. The great lightning bolt from his horn curved through the air and struck the peak of the nearest mountain. Thoroughly worn out, Starswirl collapsed onto the jade floor.

The Master slowly pointed the screwdriver at Starswirl, and Sword walked forward towards him. He held his blade right by his opponent's throat. He said, "It was always coming to this, Starswirl. Our rivalry. Who would be the greatest pony in Equites? And it would only end with your death..."

"I am sorry, Commander..." Starswirl said, "I am so sorry that thou shouldst come now to murder. That thy fidelity shouldst be broken. That I shouldst hath failed thee."

The Doctor and the other ponies ran to stop Sword, but the Master cast a spell to stop them in their tracks and freeze them as they were. Rainbow Sword stood above Starswirl the Bearded at the center of an arc of frozen ponies, drawing his sword back slowly to strike through the sorcerer's throat.

Starswirl continued to speak as he watched the blade. "His Majesty knew thou hadst a promising career and thou wouldst achieve greatness. His Majesty told me to watch thy progress and protect thee from falling upon a vile path and keep thee within the cause of all that is good... 'Til now, I believed that I was succeeding, and yet, upon the moment where mine success was most vital, I failed... I am sorry."

Right when Sword was about to drive his blade forward and strike, he stopped. His straight mouth came to a deep frown. His pupil on his right eye widened and his eyebrows tilted. He looked at Starswirl with an expression of guilt and sadness.

With all quickness, he turned and swung his sword leg at the Master, sending the sword flying through the air, glowing and crackling. It struck the Master's shield and lodged into it. The sudden unexpected commotion startled the Master and made him lose focus on the spell to freeze the other ponies.

The Doctor, Derpy and the six ran over to Sword and Starswirl, and stood by them. All ten watched Sword's blade colliding with the shield again. Sparks and electricity burst out, and the blade cracked more and more, until finally it shattered apart into a million pieces and the hilt melted down into a deformed hunk of metal.

"Wow..." the Master said as he looked at the remains of the sword, "You've got some serious loyalty issues."

"My loyalty is to the cause of all that is good," Sword replied, "and right now, master, you are the one against it."

"Yes, yes, I know... Bet something like that runs in the family, am I right Dashie?"

"Bother her not!" Sword said, "This is between you and me. She is in no manner involved!"

"Oh, but I think she is. Why don't you tell him Dashie? Tell gramps the truth."

Dash looked to the Doctor for permission to tell Sword her secret. The Doctor nodded. She took a few steps towards the Commander, looked him in the eye, and said, "I'm one of your descendants, from the distant future, like, two-thousand years or something. I'm your great-great-great whatever many greats granddaughter."

Sword looked at Dash with utter bewilderment.

"Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe, but you got to trust-"

As Dash was in the middle of speaking, Sword dropped to the ground. He lied there completely limp and still with his eye open. The Doctor galloped over and examined him. He then gave whispered something to himself and gave a despairing sigh. "He's dead."

The Doctor looked up and saw the Master teasingly holding the sonic screwdriver. "Hello! Nanobots! They can stop all cell activity in that little bugger like he was a Jakabagataraz snail. Haha!"

The Master turned around the nonchalantly trotted towards the TARDIS, until he heard a sound that he loved to hear: the wrath of the Doctor.

"MASTER!" the Doctor cried out with all his fury, "You just killed my friend!"

"My bad!"

"I've tried. I've tried so many times to help you. I was the only one who ever tried to do anything about your insanity. But I've had enough. I will ask you one last time: stop it now, before I have to stop you."

"Well, good luck with that. The drums are calling me, Doctor, and they are calling me here! The Gates will open and this world will be mine!" The Master resumed his trotting and entered the TARDIS. In the meantime, the ponies gathered around Sword's lifeless body and mourned him.

Through her tears, Dash asked, "Doctor... if he's dead, then how do I still exist?"

"I... I don't know. Time is still in flux here. In any other case, you'd disappear, but right now the timelines undefined."

Afterwards, the deep sound of a horn bellowed through the peaks, valleys and trenches of the Gwyrdd Mountains. The rumbling of the hoofsteps of a thousand soldiers and the heavy wheels of machinery also came forth. The ponies and the dragons all looked to the West, the source of the noise, and saw a number of banner begin to rise from beyond the edge of the plateau.

Ember ordered her Guard to hold their fire as the first of the Hoofricans arrived at the plateau. Several grappling hooks came up and grabbed onto the edge of the plateau. Shortly afterwards, a number of armored warthogs climbed up onto the plateau carrying their kingdom's banners. Then climbed up a few gazelle with iron-spiked horns. They were followed by several zebra shamans and rhino alchemists, which included Golden Lead and Pyro. Then the ground rumbled as a hole opened up on the floor of the plateau and up this hole rose a platform of rock bearing a team of rhino Guards, who used their magic to tunnel through the mountain and rise up on a rock pillar. With them was Emperor Bluehorn.

The Emperor stepped forward towards the TARDIS and began shouting, "Come out Tympanus, you traitorous coward! Come out and face justice! I have an army waiting at the foot of this mountain and I won't hesitate to use it if I have to!"

Ember stepped in front of Bluehorn and blocked his way, "Force me not to say it again, Bluehorn!"

"He's a traitor to me and my kingdom and he's none of your concern, scaley."

"The Gates are under the protection of the dragons alone, so he is the concern of the dragons alone."

"Well, you sure have done a great job with that."

"Leave us now! I shall warn you one last-"

"Would you two quit squabbling like an old married couple!" the voice that interrupted Ember and Bluehorn was the Master. He had come out from the TARDIS and he was levitating alongside him a phoenix egg. "Oh, and I mustn't forget my manners. Good morevenoon, Your Highness, Bluehorn, sir! You arrived just in time to witness my victory!"

"The Egg!" Sapphire called out. She ran forward and reached for the egg, forgetting completely about the shield. She was painfully pushed back and ended up rubbing her aching claw.

Golden Lead then galloped over with her brother, Pyro, and pleaded, "Tympanus! Please, stop! This is Tartarus that your opening up! You don't know what you're doing!"

"It's alright. I know what I'm doing perfectly well," the Master replied, "I'm fulfilling my destiny to take over the Universe."

"You're mad, Tympanus!" Bluehorn shouted as he strode past Ember.

"Tympanus, Tympanus, Tympanus. You're a stupid lot, you know that. Can't even figure out that that might not be my real name."

"What's your name then?" Bluehorn asked.

The Master turned to approach the great metal wall with the Egg. He briefly gave a glance back to answer, "My name is the Master."

He stood before the wall and placed the Egg in the indentation, where it fit perfectly. He took a big step back and looked up at the sky. The Sun was little more than a white sliver of a crescent, as the Moon had almost completely eclipsed it. In the darkened sky around the Sun and Moon, the stars all shone. Forming a circle around the Sun and Moon, and shining brighter than all the other stars were the constellations Cancer, Draco, Cetus, Hydra, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the great celestial monsters whose earthly incarnations were imprisoned in Tartarus. The Sun and the Moon came closer and closer to an eclipse.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the Master said.

"You shall never harness the eclipse's power," Ember said with a hint of uncertainty, "Not you alone. It takes two alicorns to do so."

"'Tis true," Starswirl agreed, "All the texts concureth."

"Well, that's not quite completely true," the Master said, "Translations over the years probably got it off here and there."

All confidence washed away from Ember's face as she asked, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying: the Egg doesn't take two alicorns to break. It take two alicorn hearts. And guess how many hearts I have! HAHA!" The Master spread his wings wide and pointed his horn straight up to the sky.

The eclipse completed and the Sun was completely blocked by the Moon. At the center of the sky was a black circle with a thin ring of white light as its circumference. The sky flashed white and the Sun, Moon and constellations shone brighter.

Ember looked at the sky and at the Master. She backed away and held her children close as she whispered, "No..."

The Master closed his eyes and began chanting an incantation, an ancient incantation that nopony around him understood.

The Doctor, intrigued by the incantation, said, "It's not getting translated... That's impossible..."

Twilight then replied, "Not quite. The language sounds familiar. I think I've heard it before."

"What!? When? Where?"

"When we went into the Void, we heard voices speaking in this language. The Master's speaking in the language of the Gods."

"The language of the Gods..." the Doctor went into thought as he tried to recall anything he knew about it, "That's... that's English!"

As the Master chanted, the lights from the celestial bodies shifted and focused on the tip of the Master's horn. It appeared like a great cone of light whose tip touched the horn.

The incantation was a piece of poem written by a great god many times older than Queen Faust herself. The Queen merely took the excerpt and infused it to the Key of the Gates in its original language so that She alone and Her chosen ones could use it. Yet, after ten years of searching, the Master came to discover and learn it. The incantation translates as follows:

"Farewell happy fields,

Where Joy forever dwells: hail horrors, hail

Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell,

Receive thy new possessor: One who brings

A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.

The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

What matter where, if I be still the same,

And what I should be, all but less than He

Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least

We shall be free. The Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven."

As the ponies, dragons and Hoofricans watched the Master chant and harness the power of the Sun, Moon and stars, Starswirl whispered, "We came so far... We achieved so much... And yet we still fail."

The Master opened his eyes and mouth, and they all glowed with a great white light, making three rays of light shine out from his head. The ray of light from the Master's mouth slowly changed shape, as it slowly curled up into a malevolent smile. Then the Master began to laugh.

Bluehorn turned back and returned to the company of his guards. "We're doomed..."

The Master then began to speak, and he spoke with an otherworldly voice, a voice that sounded like the combination of a billion different voices. It was deafening and echoed through the mountains and beyond.

"Can you hear them? They're coming! The drums! They're getting louder and louder AND LOUDER!"

The Master then shot a beam of energy at the Egg mounted on the great metal wall. As the beam poured all that magic and cosmic energy into the Egg, it began to glow inside and vibrate, first gently but growing ever more violent. A little crack then formed, followed by another crack, and yet another.

The Master cackled maniacally as the cracks extended and came to cover the Egg. "HAAAA! HAHAHA! THE WORLD IS MINE!"

An enormous black pulse then shot from the Master's horn and through the beam and into the Egg, and the Egg cracked open.

Love

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Chapter XXXV: Love

Here is a story nopony really remembers. It was forgotten because it was twisted and bent by five hundred years of anger, hatred and deceit. Nopony truly knows all of it as it originally was. The events were altered. The times and places were changed. The characters were different. Everypony modified it, because the truth failed to tell what ponies wanted it to tell. That is why truth is the first casualty of war.

In a place called Castle Equites, in the Kingdom of Ponytopia, there lived a beautiful unicorn, Princess Bella. She was the youngest daughter of King Dux I and Queen Bella, for whom she was named. She had two older siblings. There was the middle child, Prince Sapientus the Riser, who was the Head Sorcerer of Ponytopia and was always famous for being the earliest pony in the castle to rise in the morning; he was even earlier than his father, who held the responsibility for making the Sun rise. The eldest was Crown Princess Stella, heiress to the Throne of the Night. Unlike her other two siblings, who were unicorns, Stella was a magnificent alicorn like her mother and father. When the King and Queen announced that she was chosen to be the heiress in the year 597 B.E, she was transformed from a unicorn into an alicorn. A few years later, Stella chose a suitable spouse, a noble stallion, Lord Arcus, who was to be transformed into an alicorn and given the royal name, Dux II, when it came time for Stella to ascend to the throne. The royal family ruled gently and benevolently. The ponies of their kingdom were happy and lived in near perfect harmony.

In a place called Mount Inferno, in the Kingdom of Drakonia, there lived a charming young dragon, General Rhyddid of the Drakonian land army, the section of the military composed of wingless dragons. He was younger brother of King Cyfiawnder, who was chosen to be their father's successor when he proved to be the most suitable dragon for protecting a mysterious and very special egg. He ascended to the throne in the year 712 B.E, along with his wife, a noble dragoness and senator, Shooting Star. They hatched their first child in the year 749, Princess Diemwnt. Rhyddid and Cyfiawnder also had a sister, eldest among the three, Grand Duchess Ffyniant, who was the wealthiest dragon in the entire kingdom, having established lucrative trade relations with the camels of the Great Northern Desert. They were the children of King Obsidian, who was elected by the Drakonian Senate into the throne after the fall of the previous dynasty. The royal family ruled justly and fairly. The dragons of their kingdom lived in lawful safety and achieved a degree of social equality.

In a place called Rhinopolis, in the Kingdom of Hoofrica, there lived a virtuous rhinoceros, Crown Prince Winter Wind. He was the elder son and heir of Empress Summer Joy and Emperor Longhorn, the second generation of monarchs of the Mshindi dynasty, which rose in 620 B.E, after the assassination of Emperor Mwindaji III, a direct descendant of Emperor Nguvu I, son of the Great Sage Moto. Winter Wind was renowned for his prowess as a warrior. He had won many matches in the arena without ever using any magic. But, most of all, he was admired for his sense of honor and righteousness. He had a younger brother who was almost a complete opposite, Prince Redhorn. Redhorn was greatly skilled in magic and focused more on his studies and spirituality than any physical pursuits. He was also extremely clever and crafty, and at times he used his wit to cause mischief. At a relatively early age, Redhorn married Wimbo Ndege, daughter of the Hoofrican Chief of Justice, while Winter Wind remained unmarried and unsettled. The royal family ruled wisely and efficiently. The rhinos, zebras, gazelle and warthogs of their kingdom prospered like no other society and their prosperity only grew greater.

The three kingdoms coexisted with each other in peace and amity. They had lived harmoniously since the end of the Drakonian Desolation five-hundred years ago. With such a near perfect state, virtually no pony, dragon or Hoofrican in the three kingdoms believed that the peace would end. They believed the worst was far behind them and only sunny fields and moonlit forests laid ahead.

~~~~~

On the Fall Equinox in the year 543 B.E, Princess Bella stood on the shore of Purpura Lake, not far from the delta of the River Serpente. Her family often took visits in the springtime to their lakeside villa by Purpura Lake when the snails living in the lake were breeding. During breeding season, the snails released a purple secretion into the water and made the lake appear to be of the color purple. Fisherponies collected the secretion to make purple dye, a valuable commodity used only by the rich nobles and royalty.

The princess was a tall beautiful young unicorn with a violet coat and short, elegantly curled black mane. Her eyes were cobalt blue and her horn glowed magenta. Her cutie mark was a pink rose. Her talent with the care and arrangement of flowers was the envy of every florist in Ponytopia. She herself was responsible for making the Royal Gardens of Castle Equites as glorious as they were.

Bella visited the lake on the equinox because on this day the water of the lake was completely still during the twilight hours. She waited for her father to bring the Sun below the Western horizon and once it did, all the little waves and ripples on the lake stopped and disappeared. The lake became like a mirror reflecting the spectrum of pink to dark violet that was the sky. Now was Bella's chance. She wanted to perform a spell that her brother, Sapientus the Riser, taught her, a spell that allowed her to walk on water when, and only when, the water was absolutely still. She looked to the bushes and trees behind her to see if any of her personal guards had realized that she wandered off and had come to fetch her. So far there was no sign of them.

Bella walked to the edge of the lake, her forehooves only an inch away from still water. She closed her eyes, focused her mind and cast the spell. "Aqua, aqua. Simil estis terra."

She took a step forward and felt a strange sensation under her hoof. The lake surface was solid, yet it was not ice; it still felt like liquid water. She stepped lightly and went further into the lake. Amazingly, her steps did not even cause the slightest ripple on the glass-like surface. She walked towards the center of the lake and simply enjoyed the wonder of the spell and the beauty of everything around her, completely losing all sense of the passing time in the midst of her enjoyment. This was a mistake. By the time she walked past the center of the lake, twilight had ended and the night began.

The disturbances in the water returned. The wind blew across the surface and the waves once again ungulated all around the princess. On Bella's next step, her hoof created ripples. And on the step after that, her hoof penetrated the surface of the water.

Princess Bella was petrified. She did not know how to swim nor did she know any spells to help her underwater. A second later, she fell into the water and sank. She flailed her legs in the water and tried to keep her head above the surface, but slowly and surely she went further and further down. She called out for help as loud as she could, but amidst her panic, she could not tell if anypony would come for her. She held her head up and pointed to the sky so as to keep breathing and keep calling out for as long as possible. Soon enough, her snout was engulfed by water and the lake flooded through her struggling nostrils and mouth. She then fell unconscious.

Bella opened her eyes and saw green light all around her. When she woke fully, she found that she was lying on a pyre lit by green fire. The fire, rather than being scorching hot, felt soothingly warm and her body was in perfectly good condition, as if she had never had an ordeal to begin with.

Standing by the pyre were her personal guard, a pair of pegasi and a pair of unicorns. With them was a yellow-scaled dragon. His long and smoothly curved spines were red and his tail ended in a club shaped like a hammer. He had magnificent wings with a white pattern like the veins of a leaf. Unlike almost all other dragons, he had no horns. He was not particularly large, being only three times Bella's size. As the princess stepped down from the pyre, the dragon looked at her intently with his green eyes. He introduced himself as General Rhyddid, brother of the Dragon King, Cyfiawnder, and he was the one who rescued her from the lake.

Bella thanked Rhyddid with all sincerity for saving her life and invited him to dinner with her family in the Royal Gardens at Castle Equites. Rhyddid graciously accepted and dined with her. He dined with her once more a week later, and a week after that, he invited her to dine in one of his family's palaces in the Glas Mountains. The unicorn and the dragon got along famously and enjoyed each other's company more than anything. Before long, the two went on strolls together through the countryside in both their kingdoms.

On the night of the Winter solstice, Rhyddid let Bella ride on him as he flew her up above the clouds. They spent hours high up, admiring Queen Bella's longest masterpiece of the year, with the stars glittering and the crescent Moon shining in all its glory. That night, the princess wrapped her forelegs around the general's long neck, rubbed her cheek against his neck and kissed the crown of his head.

~~~~~

Shortly after the New Year of 542 B.E, Crown Prince Winter Wind went on his first proper task as a political figure. Empress Summer Joy sent him on a visit to Castle Equites in order to have a diplomatic discussion with King Dux and Queen Bella. Bandits in the Southern areas of the Uruhu Forest had been attacking cargo ships that went up and down the Aestas River carrying valuable goods between the old wealthy trading city of Makka and Equites. The monarchs of both kingdoms hoped to devise a way to effectively handle the bandits while causing as little disruption to the local towns and villages as possible.

Winter Wind arrived in the capital of Ponytopia early in the afternoon. He received a warm reception from the citizens of Equites as he passed through the city and was graciously welcomed into the castle. Upon entering through the castle doors, smiling servants came to put away his coat, polish his hooves and lead him to the sitting room where the King and Queen awaited him.

The prince was a tall muscular two-horned rhino. His tough leather was of the color beige and his horns were white and extremely hard, as if it was made of diamond. His large eyes were a dark orange. His cutie mark was a fiery feather. Despite his great strength and bulk, Winter Wind's greatest skill was his gallop speed, which was as impressive as a gazelle's.

He walked through opulently carved doors and entered the magnificent sitting room. King Dux and Queen Bella each laid down on a sofa with royal poise. The first thing Winter Wind did upon entering the sitting room was to bow down before the monarchs and greet them with all the grace and manners taught to him by his mother, father and mentor. Only afterwards did he take a seat. It only took two hours before the three came to the decision of sending a small group of elite pegasi and zebras into the forest to eliminate the bandits.

After the talks, King Dux insisted that Winter Wind join the family for afternoon tea. The Prince politely accepted. The three went into another room and sat to wait for the rest of the royal family. First to arrive was Prince Sapientus the Riser, followed Crown Princess Stella. They waited a few more minutes for the last of the children.

Winter Wind's eyes widened when Princess Bella entered the room wearing her elegant jewelry and afternoon dress and took her seat on a pillow next to the Rhino Prince. Winter Wind and Princess Bella spoke and got to know each other throughout tea. The two got along more than well. She was the last he said farewell to with a kiss to the hoof as he left the castle.

Prince Winter Wind and Princess Bella spent plenty of quality time together. Winter frequently invited Bella to visit Rhinopolis or Gazellandria or Makka or the jungle city of Chini-Mwavuli whenever he competed in a fighting tournament. She watched almost all of his tournaments over the next two months and each time she came admire and think fondly of him more and more.

After one such tournament in Makka, Winter escorted Bella to her ship on Lake Riziki and bid her farewell as she began her journey back home via the River Aestas. As he went out the city gates with his personal guard, he noticed a magical magenta flare arcing through the sky in the East. He knew then that the flare was cast by the Princess and that she was in danger. Without hesitation, he galloped off as fast as he could in the direction of the flare, leaving his slower guards behind in his dust.

He arrived at the riverbank to find Bella's ship ablaze and a group of bandits carrying Bella, tied up in magic-resistant chains of yorite, into the Uruhu Forest. With all his strength and speed, Winter Wind galloped and jumped onto the burning ship, and then jumped off the ship to land on the other side of the river.

He saw that the bandits were remnants of those that he helped King Dux devise a way to deal with, and he personally led the team sent to destroy them. There must have been far more bandits than even Bella could handle with the power of her magic, as the river bank of littered with zebras and warthogs frozen in ice as well as slain bandits and bodyguards, and still she was captured.

Winter Wind charged at the bandits as they fled into the desert with all his might and quickly caught up. With a loud battle cry, he sent three of them flying with the force of his strike. The other five bandits dropped Bella and attacked Winter. He bucked and punched and swung his head about, beating the bandits into submission. He tied them up in vines to ensure they could not escape. Afterwards, he went to Bella. He put his longer horn through one of the links of her chains and, with one pull upwards, broke them to free the Princess.

Bella stood, almost in tears after the trauma of the incident, and embraced her rescuer. Winter, caught up in the emotional moment, drew his face towards Bella's as she left the embrace and his lips met hers. It was at that moment that he realized that he was shorter than the Princess. He then realized what he was doing and quickly drew away. He turned his blushing face away from hers, completely embarrassed at his rashness, and apologized.

Bella, instead of being offended, touched Winter's chin with her hoof and turned his face towards hers. Then, she returned the kiss.

~~~~~

Princess Bella was torn. She loved General Rhyddid and she loved Prince Winter Wind equally. She could not decide on who to choose, nor could she bear to think of the pain behind ending her relationship with either of them. She spent many nights lying restlessly in her chambers, struggling to come to a decision as to how to handle her situation. Bella sought guidance from her brother, Sapientus. He advised that she end her romances with both Rhyddid and Winter Wind, for her sake and for theirs, and return to having purely diplomatic relationships with them, but she refused to take such a course of action. Finally, she chose not to choose. She kept her affairs with Rhyddid and Winter Wind secret. She knew not how or if she would succeed at all, but she could not go with any of her other options.

With Sapientus' help, Bella put herself under the guise of an unofficial diplomat to Drakonia and Hoofrica, so that she may be able to visit her lovers without being questioned. She set aside one day of the week to visit Rhyddid and one day for an actual diplomatic visit to Drakonia. She did the same for Winter Wind and diplomacy with Hoofrica. At the ends of her intimate visits, she would cast an amnesia spell on her guards and her lovers' guards to ensure they knew nothing of her affairs. She knew that her two lovers were not very competent in foreign languages, so on the days she had to herself, she wrote letters to Rhyddid in Drakish and letters to Winter in Zwahiri so as to reduce the risk that one could intercept and read her letters for the other. Whenever Winter Wind and Rhyddid happened to visit Castle Equites at the same time, Bella retreated to her chambers and had Sapientus cast a spell to make her terribly ill so that neither of her lovers could see her. Sapientus would then frantically go about the Castle to ensure that Rhyddid and Winter Wind never crossed paths. For a while, Princess Bella's scheme worked perfectly.

A week before the Summer Solstice of the year 542 B.E, General Rhyddid led a dragon patrol along the border of the Great Northern Desert to protect the camel caravans of the Sugar Road, a vital source of Drakonia's wealth. At the same time, Crown Prince Winter Wind was assigned to lead a patrol along the Hoofrican border of the Great Northern Desert to protect the caravans that fed Hoofrica's wealth. Rhyddid led his patrol West, while Winter led his patrol East. In the meantime, Princess Bella tended to the Royal Gardens in Castle Equites, oblivious to the coming disaster.

A day into the patrol, Rhyddid marched with his soldiers past the Western reaches of the Gwyrdd Mountains, and Winter Wind marched with his soldiers past the Eastern reaches of the Nyekundu Mountains. Both patrols continued their march until they saw each other where the border between Hoofrica and Drakonia met the edge of the Great Northern Desert. After announcing their non-hostility towards each other by releasing pairs of doves with their respective flags attached to the doves' feet, Rhyddid and Winter allowed their patrols to meet together and intermingle. The two leaders shook hoof and claw, and spoke to each other in the one language they shared with fluency: Equinese. The dragon was first to offer his hospitality, so they met together in the dragon's tent to dine and drink cider. Rhyddid and Winter found that they both shared the same goal and were happy to work with each other. They shared what information they had regarding the safety of the camel caravans. Upon finding that any possible threats are insignificant if not non-existent, they proceeded on to casual talk as their patrols camped for the night. It was a merry evening with calming Drakonian music, good food, better cider and talk of work, home, friends and lovers.

~~~~~

Prince Sapientus the Riser barged into his younger sister Bella's chambers and shook her awake. He bore troubling news for her: General Rhyddid and Crown Prince Winter Wind demanded her audience in the courtyard. Princess Bella suddenly felt the weight of a mountain pull down on her chest. The day she had feared the most had come. She quickly got out of bed, but struggled to stand. Sapientus helped her stay upright and led her through the halls and out into the courtyard to meet the furious faces of her two beloveds.

The night was coming to an end and dawn was approaching to bring light into the sky. Rhyddid and Winter had flown from their camp to the castle. They stood by the fountain at the center of the torch-lit courtyard. The Rhino Prince was the first to demand answers. He demanded to know whether it was true that Bella and Rhyddid were lovers. After hearing Bella's answer, he asked if she even loved him at all. The question pained Bella greatly and she simply broke down, completely unable to answer. Then Rhyddid also bombarded her with his questions, also doubting if she ever truly loved him.

The Princess could not take the pressure of both questioning her, so she cried out in despair and cast an invisibility spell on herself, so she could hide. This bewildered Rhyddid and Winter Wind and they both realized that they were being much too harsh on the unicorn they loved. With Sapientus' help, they found Bella and undid her invisibility spell. They spoke calmly to her and apologized. Hearing the soothing voices of her two beloveds, Bella finally came to find the strength to tell them the whole truth.

The truth was not something Rhyddid and Winter were pleased to hear. It put them in a dilemma. They could not possibly go on with Bella having two lovers. It would be a source of scandal and ruin for her. And yet, neither were willing to back down and leave Bella so that she may have only one of them. So they came to a fateful decision. The conflict could only be settled in a duel, and for the settlement to be total - for Bella to truly be left with only one lover - it had to be a duel to the death.

The match was set to be at noon on the Summer Solstice. Rhyddid and Winter Wind spent much time squabbling over the location, but they came to the only choice that satisfied both, despite how impious it was. They were to fight where the borders of the three kingdoms all meet: the Field of Pink Roses.

~~~~~

General Rhyddid and Crown Prince Winter Wind stood facing each other on the Field of Pink Roses. Behind Rhyddid, on the Drakonian side of the Field, was his brother, King Cyfiawnder, the extended Royal Family and a hundred dragon senators and nobles. Behind Winter, on the Hoofrican side of the Field, was his family, close friends and hundreds of the wealthiest Hoofricans and high ranking government officials. They had all gathered to watch the Dragon General and the Rhino Prince duel to the death for reasons the contestants refused to disclose. As a neutral party, King Dux was there with his Guard to announce when the Sun was at its noon position and to supervise the match. It pained the Pony King to be there, as it felt like he was watching the undoing of a treaty his ancestor King Solus II supervised. Princess Bella stayed in Castle Equites, unable to bear the sight of her two lovers fighting each other. She kept herself in her chambers and completely sealed the room off from the rest of the world with a spell only her siblings and parents were powerful enough to break.

The wait was agonizing for everyone gathered. In hopes that Rhyddid and Winter Wind may call off their duel, Dux delayed noon as much as he could without disrupting the cycle of the day, giving them only a few minutes. Finally, it was time. The Sun was at its highest point in the sky on the longest day of the year. At Dux's command, the two duelists bowed to each other and awaiting the signal to fight. Dux released the signal from his horn: a golden firework that burst high in the sky.

Rhyddid let out a stream of white fire that turned everything before it into ashes. Winter Wind quickly dodged to the side and charged forward. He was stopped when the dragon grasped his longer horn with his claws. The two pushed against each other with all their might, causing burrows in the ground where they struggled to stay standing. Rhyddid then let go and swiftly swung his body around to strike Winter's side with his hammer-head tail. Winter fell on his side and Rhyddid held him down with his claw. The dragon readied to burn him in white fire, but he lifted himself up and pushed the dragon off of him. Winter swung his head to strike with his horn, but Rhyddid grabbed his snout sideways in his fang-filled jaws. The rhino's horn just barely missed stabbing through the dragon's head. Winter quickly pulled himself away from Rhyddid's jaws and rose up on his rear legs to punch Rhyddid across the face. He then turned and bucked his lower jaw. Rhyddid swung his claw and scratched Winter face, almost taking his left eye out. He then jumped back and quickly readied a burst of white fire. Winter charged forward, hoping to strike before his opponent can use his fire. Winter came closer and closer and Rhyddid's fire was ready. The dragon let out a burst of searing hot white fire and the rhino swing his head up, horn aimed at the dragon's chest.

The Dragon General stood still on the Field of Pink Roses with the tip of a horn sticking out from his back. The Rhino Prince stood in front of him, his tail hair alight with white fire. Winter Wind stepped back and pulled his horn out of Rhyddid's chest. Rhyddid fell forward, his soul now belonging to King Thiessen. Winter gave Rhyddid the one last courtesy of closing his eyelids. He turned and walked towards his family. Empress Summer Joy and Emperor Longhorn galloped over and nuzzled him in relief.

King Cyfiawnder and Grand Duchess Ffyniant ran over to the slain Rhyddid and mourned. Cyfiawnder was the first to break into tears. His younger brother was the only one he loved nearly as much as his wife and daughter. He blew green fire over the puncture wound on Rhyddid's back and sealed with flesh, skin and scales. The Dragon King held his brother close and his tears dripped onto his brother's back, creating patches of ice. But, after a while, the tears began burning through Rhyddid's scales; Cyfiawnder's tears of grief turned into tears of anger.

King Cyfiawnder stood and turned towards his brother's killer. Smoke billowed out of his nostrils as his rage fueled white fire. He opened his mouth and let out a huge stream of white fire. Empress Summer Joy and Emperor Longhorn quickly reacted by forming a magic shield to protect themselves and their son from the fire. The attempt on their lives was an act of war. There was no need to exchange words. Both sides knew what had now come. Drakonia had declared war on Hoofrica. The monarchs walked away from each other. The dragons took Rhyddid's body and flew home to prepare for the funeral. The Hoofricans returned to their homes to prepare for the coming storm.

King Dux was left standing alone there with his Guard, still trying to cope with the reality of what had happened. He looked forward and saw the Field of Pink Roses flattened, bloodied, singed and burning. He quietly cast a spell to restore the Field to its pristine state but he sensed that it would take something as momentous as an apocalypse to wash away the blood spilled there.

~~~~~

The first battle took place by the Hoofrican town of Udugu. Crown Prince Winter Wind and Prince Redhorn were in the Hoofrican army under General Jiwe Ukuta. The Drakonian army was led personally by King Cyfiawnder. Both armies were massive but virtually all the soldiers were inexperienced in a true battle, as this was the first war anypony had seen in centuries.

The clash of the two armies was earth-shaking and the casualties were beyond counting. The sky was darkened with smoke and ash, and the once green fields of tall grass turned into barren fields of bare soot-covered dirt. The Battle of Udugu lasted through five days of carnage. On the fourth day, Winter Wind and Redhorn were separated from their regiment and took shelter in a half-burnt barn. They had spent hours traversing the battlefield staying out of sight from the dragons. The barn was a relieving stroke of good fortune.

Winter Wind bore many burn scars, his left eye was gone, his tail was bitten off and the his longer horn was cracked. Redhorn was in a much better state, thanks to his brother's protection and his skills with magic. He was badly bruised and had claw marks across his back. Winter collapsed from exhaustion and laid on his back. He regretted ever challenging Rhyddid. He had seen far more death and faced far more suffering than Bella's undivided love was worth, but what's done was done, and now all he had to worry about was surviving so that he may see his beloved's face again. Redhorn sat down beside his brother and took a sip of what little water they had left. He worried that soon he may need to resort to drinking the blood of the slain to survive.

The battle raged on in the distance as they rested, but they were not free from its influence. The battle's reach went farther than where the violence occurs. From above, and very close by, came the agonized cry of a dying dragon. Winter Wind wanted to check what it was but he lacked the energy to stand. Suddenly, a dragon grazed the roof of the barn, its limp tail smashing against the wooden beams several times. The near-crash compromised what little stability the structure had. The barn collapsed down on the two Rhino Princes. Redhorn was able to teleport himself out of danger, but Winter was caught under the scorched beams. His body was buried under the debris, but he managed to get his head out into open air.

Winter called out to Redhorn and asked for his help. Redhorn answered his brother's call, but he hesitate to aid him. He stood there, looking at his suffering brother, and saw an opportunity. A wicked smile crept into Redhorn's face and Winter saw it with dread.

Redhorn cast the spell, "Mwanga moto," setting the collapsed barn on fire. He then turned and walked away as his older brother burned to death.

The Battle of Udugu ended in a bloody stalemate and Redhorn survived through the five days. He returned home, pretending to know nothing of Winter Wind's fate. When the report came in that the Crown Prince was found dead, the Empress was infuriated and her determination to fight the war was solidified. Redhorn was then declared the new heir to the throne of Hoofrica.

~~~~~

Princess Bella sat by the window in her chambers. She had not left the room since the day Rhyddid was slain and since then she had worn the same black mourning dress. She received a letter a week ago that Winter Wind was going into battle with the Hoofrican army. The only reason she had to wake now was for news of his safety and the hope that she would someday see his face again, for it was only face left that she loved more than anything.

Everyday, her servants brought in her meals and she awaited for the day her meal came with an envelope bearing the seal of the Hoofrican royal family. That day was a dark day.

The letter she waited for came in a cotton paper envelope and the message was written on the finest parchment. In the middle of reading the content, Bella dropped the letter. Her tears dripped on the parchment for a few seconds as Bella simply stared off. Her wailing was heard all throughout Castle Equites and everypony cringed at the saddening sound.

The Princess sealed herself into her room once again, this time with a spell stronger than before, as it was being fueled by her despair. It would have taken the combined power of the King and Queen to break the spell, but Dux and Bella chose to leave their daughter be so that she may mourn in peace. The Princess' weeping could be heard through the entire day and the entire night. The following morning was silent.

Prince Sapientus the Riser knocked on his younger sister's door and asked to see her, but there was no response. Then he realized that the room was no longer sealed. He slowly opened the doors and looked inside. He found Princess Bella lying on her bed, limp and pale. Startled by the sight, he galloped over to her bed. He scanned her with his magic and found no life left in her. Beside Bella's body was a book, a book of dark magic. It was opened to a page containing a spell to stop the heart. Sapientus wept bitterly. Then he took the book of dark magic, cursed it such that the next living being to use it would be eternally imprisoned and locked it away deep in the vaults in the heart of the Sunrise Mountains.

Princess Bella's death was reported to King Dux and Queen Bella. The King met it with deep despair. The death of his youngest daughter was the breaking point after he watched the once peaceful world descend into war and chaos. Dux retreated into isolation as he coped with his great sadness. For days, he would not appear in public and at times, he even forgot to move the Sun, allowing it to stay still for a few hours at a time. The Queen met the news of her daughter's death with sadness at first, but it was quickly replaced by anger. She took on her husband's responsibilities as he fell into a pit of despair and her first course of action was to place the blame for the Princess' death on somepony. The blame was placed on Drakonia and Hoofrica. Driven by her fury, Queen Bella declared war on both kingdoms in a quest to avenge her daughter.

Thus began the Five-Hundred Year War.

This fate could have been avoided if they all had a sassy gay friend.

Pax

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Chapter XXXVI: Peace

Out of the Phoenix Egg flowed a thick black ooze. It stuck to the great metal wall and crept along the pattern of lines carved into the metal. Wherever the ooze touched, there came sizzling sounds and wisps of smoke. The pattern radiated from the indentation where the Egg. The pattern appeared like elegantly curved branches of a tree. The black ooze crept further and further out from the Egg.

"..."

The Master stood there waiting for a few moments, but the ooze was moving ever so slowly. After a minute, it had actually only flowed out several inches. Slowly, the Master's smile turned into a displeased frown. "Well, the Key's taking its bloody time..." He then proceeded to take out from the TARDIS a parasol, a foldable reclining chair, a can of soda, a straw and a stereo system wired to a solar panel. He relaxed on the chair, sipped his soda and played songs by the Beetles, Princess, Led Chariot, the Tumbling Rocks, the Phoenixes, White Saturday, Marevana, the What, Pink Filly, FM/CM, Appleloosa and several more of Equestria's greatest bands. If there was anything the Master liked about the Earth other than the beautiful mares, it was the music of the 20th century. The first song to play was "Ladder to Heaven."

While the Master proceeded to relax and wait, Applejack stood up, moving on from mourning Rainbow Sword. She tapped the Doctor's shoulder and said, "The Elements. We need them now."

"Right! Yes! Let's do that! Aaaannnnnd Starswirl! Oh, we should have brought Queen Magia's prophecy with us when we left the castle... Ah... Well then..."

"Worry not, Doctor," Starswirl the Bearded said, also standing, "I hast the prophecy learned upon mine heart."

"Oh, brilliant you! Molto bene! What does the Queen have to say about putting the ingredients to use?"

"If I rememberest correctly, she wrote that the combined powers and wisdoms of the Ponies, the Dragons and the Hoofricans shall hold the key to unlocking this greatest of all magic."

"Oh, wonderful! We need the cooperation of the other two kingdoms."

"The Queen and the Emperor are here," Derpy said, pointing to Queen Ember, who was having an intense discussion with her children and highest ranking guards, and to Emperor Bluehorn, who, with his alchemists and shamans, frantically read through stacks of books and scrolls. "What do we do now?"

"A very good point, Derpy," the Doctor replied, putting his leg around her shoulders, "So we're going to do what we do best."

Twilight then excitedly said, "Lecture them?"

"Precisely!"

"Wait, hold on now," Applejack interrupted, "Sure, we're glad to be working with them, but you seen those two. They argue like Granny telling a beaver to get rid of its dam!"

"Well, let's focus on the pluses," the Doctor responded, "which I suppose isn't a lot, but we can work with it."

"Besides," Twilight added, "I think I remember from the Legend of the Blue Box that the Elements of Harmony appear and stop Tympanus. This has to be it."

"But it's like the Doctor said," Rarity said, "the history can be changed."

"It has to be worth a try!" Pinkie retorted, "If we don't stop him, that means no more cake! And no more candy! And no more fruit punch! And sarsaparilla and apple cider and zap apple jam and strawberry banana ice cream and blueberry pie and frozen yogurt and chocolate milk and-"

"Alright, Pinkie! We get it!" Rainbow Dash stopped Pinkie by sticking her hoof in her mouth.

"If we're going to talk to them, we should do it now," Fluttershy said, "So, um, who's going to do it? Because, well, I don't want to..."

Starswirl stepped around Sword's body and walked towards a point between the Hoofrican army and the Drakonian Royal Guard. On the way, he stopped and looked back to say, "Normally, 'twould be Commander Rainbow Sword - May the Holy King Thiessen give rest to his soul - who holdeth the duty as leader of the military to conduct this. The next pony the duty passeth on to is the High Sorcerer. I shall do him honor and accept nothing less than complete success."

Starswirl continued and stopped. He looked up at the dark sky, where the Sun remained eclipsed by the Moon and surrounded by stars, and he silently prayed for Queen Faust's blessing. He turned his head to his left, where the Hoofricans were, and to his right, where the Dragons were. He then cast a spell, "Vox clariore," and spoke in a greatly amplified voice. Starswirl's loud words disturbed the Master as he lip-synched to "Hotel Canterlot," so he put on some headphones and plugged it into the stereo. Starswirl was slightly relieved as he found the strange alien music to be very vulgar and uncivil.

Starswirl spoke in Equinese, the more widespread of the three kingdoms' languages. His words were "I, Starswirl the Bearded, High Sorcerer of Ponytopia, son of Starlight, servant of His Royal Majesty, King Concordius, seeketh audience with the Dragon Queen Ember and the Rhinoceros Emperor Bluehorn upon non-hostile grounds!"

Everyone's heads turned to look at the sorcerer standing at the center of the plateau. Ember blinked a few times and then, after a word of encouragement from Princess Sapphire, she walked over. Bluehorn was slightly more stubborn and had to be pushed by his Guards towards Starswirl, as it was dishonorable in Hoofrica to refuse a request for an audience without good reason. The three stood awkwardly in a triangle. Ember looked at Starswirl with an unwelcoming scowl while Bluehorn refused to look at the other two at all; he simply closed his eyes and held his chin up.

Following international decorum, Starswirl took off his hat, which had stayed on his head through all his ordeals because he cast a spell to keep it attached. He took a long low bow and sat down. He then waited for the other two to do the same.

Ember watched the pony conduct himself with impeccable politeness. She grumbled as she lowered her head, followed by her chest, in a bow. She snaked back up and blew some smoke out from her nostrils. She waited to see if Bluehorn had any manners, but saw him simply standing there aloof. She growled, but then saw Starswirl earnestly looking at her and gesturing for her to sit. She conceded and sat down.

The force of Ember sitting down made the ground shake and startled Bluehorn. He briefly opened his eyes and saw the other two quietly waiting for him to show some propriety, but being betrayed by the Master steeled his distrust of foreigners, so he gave a very audible, "Humph!" and resumed his former pose. A guard walked over and reminded him that he was compromising his honor with his behavior. Finally, he gave in a sat down, mumbling complaints to himself. Then he said in Equinese, "So what do you want?"

Starswirl cleared his throat and began, "I shall strive to be pithy, since thou evidently art loath to be in counsel with each other. The Master is a threat to all of us. We hath a common urgency to stop him. Therefore, I propose that our only chance to do so is through the cooperation of all of us."

"A free pony attempting to be friendly," Ember remarked, "Well, I am certainly surprised."

"Thou hast seen his might," Starswirl continued, "He hath thwarted the efforts of each of us alone. However, mayhaps our combined efforts shall succeed!"

"Why would the Gods entrust the protection of the Gates to the Dragons if they did not believe us to be capable? Can you not see that you hoofers cannot possibly help? Your suggestion is foolish!"

"Tell me then, Thy Grace, why alicorns beareth the power to open the Gates to begin with? 'Tis the will of the Gods that we shall work together. 'Twas spoken in a prophecy from Queen Magia of Ponytopia, long before this infernal war began. She spoke of a magic whose power is second only to that of the Gods, and to conjure it, we needeth the wisdom of all three kingdoms."

"I don't like where this is going..." Bluehorn commented.

Starswirl ignored him and continued, "It is time we ended this war. It is time for peace."

Ember rolled her eyes and began to stand up, "I should have known my time would be wasted. I have no intention of giving up on my grandfather's legacy!"

Bluehorn also stood and turned to walk back to his side of the plateau. "Haha! Very funny, but no thank you! I'm better off just defending my kingdom from whatever comes out of Tartarus."

Starswirl called out and ran back and forth between each of the two monarchs. "Wait! Please! Listen to me! The world shall suffer if we let our grudges hinder us! I beg of thee! Merely listen!" But it was to no avail. Ember and Bluehorn continued, completely ignoring Starswirl's pleas.

The Master turned his head and looked back to see Starswirl with his head down in dejection from having failed to gain the help of the other two. He smiled and proceeded to hum "Another One Sips the Mud."

Princess Sapphire watched her mother returning from the brief and fruitless discussion. She sighed and shook her head. Her mother was still terribly stubborn despite the fate of the world being at stake. She quickly ran up in front of Queen Ember and stopped her from getting any farther away from Starswirl.

"Mother! Please reconsider!"

"Get out of my way, Sapphire."

"Just listen to me."

"I said get out of my way!"

"No, mother! I shall not move from this spot! I ask that you put aside your pride for one moment and listen!"

Ember was surprised by this ardent act of defiance and fortitude. Her daughter was finally showing some of the strength it took to be queen. She relaxed herself a bit and listened.

Sapphire continued, "Our best dragons failed to stop that one pony. One pony! Think you that the monsters of Tartarus are any less dangerous? Please, just listen to that sorcerer and work with him."

Ember groaned and said, "I refuse to make peace with the hoofers! Not until we are victorious."

"Until YOU are victorious, mother!"

Ember gasped. "What are you saying, Sapphire!?"

"I am saying that you are being completely arrogant and self-centered and you are thinking nothing of the greater good of Drakonia! You know what is in that prison and what he will do! The Master is going to break the Gates' seals and free Lwsyffar from Tartarus and Lwsyffar shall bring a new Desolation worse than anything he has done before. You know what the legends say he swore before he was banished. Lwsyffar will bring the Apocalypse!"

"Sapphire!" Ember grabbed her daughter's snout and held it shut. "How dare you say his name!"

The Princess pulled herself out of her mother's grasp and kept on going, "I care not that his name is forbidden! I shall speak what is! If you do not make peace with Ponytopia and Hoofrica, Lwsyffar shall walk free upon the Earth once again!"

"Sapphire! Please! Stop it! There is a reason that name is forbidden from being spoken! It is cursed! Whenever that name is spoken an innocent soul shall die."

"Mother, 'tis naught but supersti-"

"It is the truth, for the curse struck down your great great uncle... and it was my fault."

Sapphire was bewildered and was completely silent as her mother continued.

"I said the Arglwydd's name, long ago, when I was but a hatchling, only two years old. I had just learned to read. My mother- she was merely the Crown Princess then - brought me to the Brenhinol Library and I went loose and eager to read every tome. I found a very old scroll and read through what texts I could understand. I came across an unusual name and said it out loud. The next day, my grandfather's brother was murdered by a prince of Hoofrica and millions of lives were lost over the five-hundred years after that. So don't you ever say that name in my presence again."

Sapphire struggled to find the right words. Suddenly, she heard the Master burst out singing, "I woke up in a stable doorway, a policemare knew my name! She said you can go sleep at home tonight if you can get up and trot away! I staggered back to the underground and the breeze blew back my mane! I remember throwing bucks around and preaching from my chair! Well, who are you?"

She and her mother awkwardly waited for the Master to stop before continuing. "Mother... I-I apologize. I regret saying it now... but the matter remains. All three kingdoms will lose if the Gates open. All that will remain is a kingdom of dust and ashes. All our efforts will come to naught. Please make peace, mother. If you care about your kingdom, why do you not choose to protect it from the threat most imminent? If you blame yourself for all the lives this war has taken, why do you not clean up your mess? If millions have fallen, why do you not end it?"

"My grandfather wills that the war be won."

"Was it he who was hurt? Was he the one that the Rhino Prince murdered? Does Cyfiawnder hold the right to bear a grudge to last centuries and cost countless innocent lives?"

"... Uncle Rhyddid does."

"And would he do anything as terrible as this war?"

"... No. He loved the ponies and he was fond of Hoofrica..."

"Then why keep fighting?"

Ember stood still and stared at the ground for a few moments. She recalled her five hundred years growing up and growing old in the shadow of the war. The war took her father's life and it took her best friend's. It drove her brother to insanity and scarred her daughter's face. It made her husband disappear and put her niece in prison. She breathed in deeply and heaved a very long and cold sigh that created a layer of frost on the jade floor. Ember raised her face and looked her daughter in the eye. Then she turned and walked back towards the Pony Sorcerer.

Meanwhile, Golden Lead watched as Emperor Bluehorn made his way back towards his Guard and away from Starswirl. He snorted angrily as he strode across the plateau. She bumped her younger brother with her elbow and gestured with her head to go and stop the Emperor. She and Pyro quickly went over to Bluehorn and walked alongside him.

"Your Highness," Golden began, trying to make eye contact with the Emperor, "with all due respect, I don't think refusal is such a good idea. Whatever magic that sorcerer was talking about is all we have to go with."

"We've looked through everything," Pyro added, "and there's no Hoofrican magic at all that's strong enough to stop Tympanus or stop the Gates."

"You two are just alchemists," Bluehorn brusquely replied, "you wouldn't understand!"

Golden tried to persist and grabbed his shoulder. "Your Highness, you're making a mistake."

"You're letting your pride get the better of you," Pyro said.

"There are bigger things at stake."

"Give peace a chance!"

Bluehorn abruptly shrugged Golden's hoof off, quickly turned around and answered them both, "You don't bear five-hundred years of history on your shoulders! My mom was a great ruler, and my grandpa, and my great-grandma and so on! My old man made sure I understood that after I was crowned as the heir and I'm not going to forget that and I'm not going to throw away all their efforts because some pony thinks the magic of friendship can save the world! What's at stake here is my honor, my family's honor and my kingdom's honor!"

"Your Highness-"

"Think of the shame!" Bluehorn stomped furiously and cracked the jade floor around his hoof. "I will not be the weakling who gave in to the pressures of the war and gave up our victory! I will not fail my ancestors!"

Bluehorn and Golden Lead stared off for a few moments, while Pyro timidly stood behind his sister. The Emperor then snorted and turned to return to the company of his Guard, He paced back and forth, and then growled upon hearing the Master whistling the tune of "Sand in the Breeze."

He was thoroughly angry at everything, at Starswirl, at Golden Lead and Pyro, at the Master, at the impending Apocalypse, and mostly at himself for trusting the Master to begin with. The betrayal was so traumatizing that it resolved his hatred of the enemy kingdoms. Before, he was rather disinterested in the war, but now he understood why his predecessors were so determined to win. It was because ponies and dragons are evil. After all, the war began with the dragons wrongly accusing Prince Winter Wind of murder and took their false justice into their own claws by putting the Prince to a brutal death in the Battle of Udugu. He looked behind him to see Golden Lead shaking her head.

"I'm disappointed, Your Highness," she said, "I used to admire you so much."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Bluehorn responded.

"It means I thought you were a great ruler, probably the best one we had since Haki III."

Pyro joined her, "You cared about your subjects. They were all you ever cared about as an emperor. From the richest gazelle to homeless beggar warthogs. They were your top priority."

"Now look what you've made of yourself this past week. You're not the same fresh young rhino who rose to the throne with great ideas and a love for his citizens."

Bluehorn had nothing to say in response. He simply stood there silently, looking at all the guards and soldiers around him.

Golden continued, "My grandma told me about a prophecy she heard from a shaman when she was just an alchemy student. The shaman said that rising son who has the courage and virtue to place his subjects above himself is destined to put an end to these centuries of bloodshed. Now, if I remember it right, you said in your coronation speech that you vowed never to let your own desires go before the greater good of the citizens of Hoofrica. So tell me, Your Highness, are you going to turn your back on that vow?"

The Emperor sat down and buried his face in his hooves, heaving a frustrated groan.

Pyro then said, "If the Gates of Tartarus open, the whole world will suffer and those five-hundred years of sweat and toil will have been for nothing. Please, Your Highness, remember your vow."

Bluehorn raised his face and looked up at the eclipse in the center of the sky, then at the Gates, where the black ooze was halfway to completely filling the pattern across the metal wall. He sighed and quietly recited his coronation vow to himself.

"Now let this be clear Hoofrica. I may be Emperor, but in the end what is the Emperor but a servant of his subjects. The Emperor bears the responsibility of leadership, and leadership is not a status or privilege or right. Leadership is a service, a service for whomever follows the leader. And a good servant is one who places his master's needs above his own desires. I am the servant and you, the citizens of Hoofrica, are the master. I say this to you, Hoofrica, that I shall do only what is best for my subjects, that I shall place my subjects before myself, and that I shall live up to the meaning of the word, 'leadership,' and to what it truly means to be the Emperor of Hoofrica. This I swear."

He then stood up and walked back to the Pony Sorcerer.

Starswirl heard Queen Ember's loud footsteps getting closer and he looked up to his right to see her holding out her claw. She said, "'Tis time I cleaned up my mess. I shall help you with your plan."

Starswirl beamed and gratefully shook Ember's massive claw. He then quickly turned upon hearing Emperor Bluehorn's voice say, "And I. I have a vow to uphold. So I'll join you." Starswirl and Bluehorn shook hooves, and then Ember walked over to Bluehorn and shook his hoof.

Starswirl then said the concluding word in ancient Equinese and the other two repeated after him.

"Pax."

The Three Kingdoms

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Chapter XXXVII: The Three Kingdoms

"They did it!" Twilight Sparkle cried out upon seeing the three representatives shake hooves and claws, and Pinkie Pie let out a burst from her party cannon, which she simply pulled out of thin air. Everypony but Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Derpy galloped through the rain of confetti over to Starswirl the Bearded, Queen Ember and Emperor Bluehorn. Dash, Fluttershy and Derpy stayed behind with Rainbow Sword's body. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and the Doctor gathered around Starswirl and praised him for his success in finally bringing the Five-Hundred Year War to an end.

"So how does this world-saving magic of yours work?" Bluehorn asked.

Starswirl cleared his throat and stepped forward with a commanding posture. "That is why we need thee. What we ponies know is merely part of the whole. The prophecy from which we learned of this magic spake of the wisdom of all three kingdoms. We need the knowledge of the Ponies, the Dragons and the Hoofricans to conjure it."

Bluehorn proceeded to turn around and call over Golden Lead and Pyro. The two prominent alchemists came over with smiling faces and bowed down awaiting orders from the Emperor who fulfilled all they hoped from him. Bluehorn said to them, "All-powerful magic, ancient knowledge and wisdom to stop the Apocalypse isn't really my area. So, it's your time to shine and really show the world your worth! You are to do everything the Sorcerer asks of you. I trust you have what it takes."

Golden Lead stood up and replied, "But, Your Highness, we've looked through pretty much everything already. There's nothing we know of that can help. There's nothing from the writings of the Four Sages to my dad's journals."

"All anything says about Tartarus is how it opens and what's inside," Pyro added as he too stood up.

The Doctor listened in on the conversation and walked over to ask, "Was there anything from around eight-hundred years ago? Any prophecies? Sleep-visions? Anything at all? Oh and I'm the Doctor, by the way." He offered out his hoof.

Golden shook his hoof and said, "A pleasure to meet you Doctor...?"

"Just the Doctor."

"Doctor. Well, I'm Professor Golden Lead and this is my younger brother Pyro."

"A pleasure. But really though, is anything little thing at all that took place eight-hundred years ago? Even the smallest, but out-of-the-ordinary, thing that may not seem to matter."

Golden gave it some thought for a few moments, but came to nothing. She shrugged and shook her head. "What's so important about eight-hundred years ago anyway?"

"That's when our prophecy came to Queen Magia. And around the same time there was kind of an event that made a big wibble in the Time Vortex and may have resulted in ponies seeing bits and pieces of other parts of space and time in their sleep-visions. Some others may have had sleep-visions similar to Queen Magia's and could help us."

The Doctor sighed in disappointment and scratched his head, trying to figure out another way to approach the problem. Golden stood there confused, trying to comprehend all the Doctor's talk about time and space.

Just then Pyro spoke up, "There is one thing..."

The Doctor's ears snapped up and turned in the direction of Pyro's voice. The rest of the Doctor's body soon followed.

Pyro continued, "There's an obscure old story about a mad warthog who lived eight-hundred years ago. He stole diamonds from the Emperor's vaults and made them into a cauldron. A cauldron of pure diamond. On the bottom of the outside of the cauldron he carved the words 'Mbaya Mbwa Mwitu.' He became notorious as the only living being ever to have broken into the Emperor's vaults."

"Yup. That's for me," the Doctor said, "'Mbaya Mbwa Mwitu.' Ancient Zwahiri for 'Bad Wolf.' Well then, I guess I was right. Rose did wibble the Time Vortex and cause Queen Magia's prophecy."

He chuckled gently to himself, remembering his times with his former companion, Rose and how she absorbed the Time Vortex to save him from the Daleks. When she did, she spread the words 'Bad Wolf' across all of time and space in order to lead herself to the moment she absorbed the Vortex. He remembered how she used the power of the Vortex to turn the Daleks into dust. Her actions must have caused a significant amount of turmoil in the fabric of space and time.

"There's just one problem," Pyro said, "the cauldron was returned to the vaults and locked away. It's all the way back in Rhinopolis." The optimistic delight from hearing of something helpful quickly washed away as the Doctor's smile turned to a frustrated frown. He tried to think again. There had to be some way for the Hoofricans to help, otherwise the prophecy would not mention the need for them.

"Actually, it's not," Bluehorn rejoined the conversation with a very optimistic look on his face and he appeared to be resisting the urge to laugh. Golden, Pyro and the Doctor turned with surprise to listen to him. The Emperor took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "It's in the camp. Last year, I was looking through the vaults and found a diamond cauldron and I thought it'd make a nice gift for my chef, who I happened to bring along with me to these mountains. Sorry, it's just funny because my butler Alfalfred insisted that I didn't need to bring the chef, so we made a bet on whether bringing her was a good idea or not."

The Doctor's smile returned and he galloped over to Bluehorn to give him a kiss on both cheeks and a big hug. A guard immediately grabbed the Doctor and pulled him away from the Emperor. Bluehorn then wiped his cheeks and calmly said, "I am going to forget that that happened. Now, Urujuwani!"

A violet-eyed yellow gazelle that Dash recognized as the sergeant she met at the Field of Pink Roses galloped over and kneeled down before the Emperor. She said, "Yes, Your Highness?"

"Get to camp as quick as you can, Sergeant, and tell my chef to bring the diamond cauldron over here immediately."

Sergeant Urujuwani nodded and carried out her orders.

Meanwhile Starswirl and Twilight were discussing with Queen Ember and her children on what was to be done. Just like Bluehorn, Golden Lead and Pyro, the Dragon Queen was out of her wits. She knew nothing remotely related to magic as grand as what Starswirl spoke of, nor did her children nor any of the guards around her. They too found themselves at a dead end.

"But the Dragons art the Keepers of the Gates," Starswirl tensely said, "surely there is something, something we hath failed to notice."

Twilight, overhearing the Doctor's conversation with the rhinos, tried his approach, "Was there anything from around eight-hundred years ago? Any prophecies or stories or writings?"

"There are none that I know of," Ember answered.

"How about you?" Twilight addressed Comet, Ruby, Sapphire and Amber, "Are any of you passionate readers? Dedicated to your studies?"

"You describe Princess Sapphire," Comet replied, "Always her head is in her books."

Sapphire gently punched her older brother in the arm and said, "'Tis only because mother keeps me in my chambers."

Comet chuckled and rubbed his arm. Despite the punch being meant to be a soft one, it actually turned out to be quite hard. He underestimated his younger sister's strength.

Twilight smiled and held her hoof out, happy to meet a dragon who was scholarly like her. She and Sapphire shook hoof and claw. Introductions aside, Twilight began inquiring into Sapphire's studies and quickly became distracted by the new knowledge she was encountering through this dragon.

"So the pony explorer Clipper wasn't the first one to circumnavigate the globe and proved it to be round after all! It was Seren-Dilynwr. Fascinating. Wow, this changes everything!"

Rarity sensed the course Twilight and Sapphire were going off on and decided to put them back on track. "Well, this is all quite nice. Milady, why don't you tell us about what you know from eight-hundred years ago that could help us. I'm sure these riveting tales of explorers and conquerors can wait."

"Ah, right. That. Hehe," Twilight blushed and scratched her head, embarrassed at having allowed herself to be distracted so.

"Eight-hundred years ago... Eight-hundred..." Sapphire went deep into though. She sat down and closed her eyes. She held out one finger and seemed to count off her thoughts in the air, tapping each thought in turn. She scratched her head and then continued counting. Occasionally she tilted her head and whispered ancient Drakish words to herself. She opened her eyes and appeared disappointed. She sighed and said, "There is nothing useful from eight-hundred years ago."

Twilight and Starswirl let their heads drop as the most learned dragon on the plateau reported her failure. They went into thinking again. Twilight paced and Starswirl cast a spell on himself to delve into the deepest parts of his mind and memories.

As Sapphire got up on her claws, she remarked, "In truth, everything eight-hundred years ago was peaceful and normal. Certainly more so than the present is. The strangest thing to occur was a line of nonsense in my fire-breathing teacher's aunt's sleep-vision diary."

This caught Twilight's attention, "Say that again."

"A line of nonsense in my teacher's aunt's diary. She, the aunt, kept a record of all her sleep-visions. One day I was alone in my teacher's home and I, curious as I was in my childhood, searched through her books. It was then that I encountered a peculiar set of three words repeated many many times and they were dated in the two-hundredth year of King Obsidian's reign, merely a few years less than eight-hundred years ago. But, surely 'tis nothing."

"Any little thing can help," Twilight insisted, "What were the words?"

"Tap Under Awa"

Twilight repeated the words as she pondered on it.

Starswirl also tried to figure out any meaning to it. "Hmmm... I know not what 'Awa' is meant to be. A name perhaps? Of a dragon or an object or a place?"

"I have looked into it several times over the years," Sapphire said, "The word does not exist in any dialect of Drakish, Equinese, Zwahiri or Dromedary."

"Baffling words indeed," Ember commented, "If it is not nonsense, then 'tis a truly difficult puzzle."

"A puzzle..." Twilight let the words out as she was deep in thought. Suddenly her eyes widened and she made a loud and long gasp. "A puzzle! Maybe that's it! Maybe 'Tap Under Awa' is an anagram!"

"Why... that is brilliant!" Sapphire joyfully said, "We must rearrange the letters."

Everypony and everydragon then began putting their heads together to solve the anagram, but Sapphire solved it in ten seconds. "Pedwar Tanau! Four Fires!"

All were impressed by the Princess' skill and showered her with admiration. Ember was especially encouraging, as she was proud. Her daughter and - unbeknownst to Sapphire - her heiress was quickly proving herself capable of bearing the responsibilities of the throne.

Sapphire continued, "We must use the four fires - blue, green, red and white - to conjure your magic."

"And if we are to use the fires," Ember added, "we must use them at full strength. Let us not underestimate the needs of this magic. Four fires, breathed by four dragons... or perhaps I should say four siblings." Ember nodded to her other three children and they lined up alongside Sapphire. Ember continued, "Comet's strength is in the white fire. Ruby's is in the red fire. Amber's is in the green fire. And yours, Sapphire, is in the blue fire." Her eyes glistened as she looked upon her four children. With Sapphire finally living up to Ember's expectations, all four had finally grown up. At this point, none of them really needed her anymore. It made Ember both happy and sad. "Make me proud. Save the world."

As they waiting for the diamond cauldron to arrive, the ponies, the Dragon Queen, her children, the Rhino Emperor and his alchemists then discussed all together how to arrange the union of all their efforts, how to put together the six ingredients, the cauldron and the four fires. The magic they were about to attempt was a combined magic, a unification of three forms. Such demanded balance and symmetry to reflect the equality between the parts making up the whole. They needed to be careful and make an arrangement as perfectly balanced as possible. By the time the cauldron arrived, pulled on a cart onto the plateau by a pair of rhinos, the discussions were complete.

Bluehorn gently placed the diamond cauldron at the center of the plateau. The cauldron had a smooth polished surface and was rounded in a shape akin to a cider barrel. The craftsponiship was very fine. The warthog who made it was certainly no stranger to sculpting, even with a material very near to being unbreakable; how he made a bunch of diamonds into a cauldron was always a mystery to storytellers. Then Golden Lead and Pyro approached the cauldron. Though they were creating something new, they were still dealing with a Hoofrican-made cauldron and its magic had Hoofrican needs. The most special of cauldrons required the most special of materials and this was clearly the most special of all. The two alchemists each carried a small bowl containing a paste made from water from the ice caps of Mt. Matumaini, minced root from the Tree of Light, ashes from grass burnt down by a wildfire started by lightning and the saliva of a manticore. Golden and Pyro smeared the grey paste on the outside of cauldron, making a series of symbols facing the four cardinal directions. Facing North was a monkey's handprint. Facing South was a falcon talon. Facing East were crisscrossing timberwolf claw marks. Facing West was a turtle shell. Having finished the symbols, the two alchemists stepped away from the cauldron.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie each placed the Seed, the Rings, the Fang, the Flower and the Star evenly in a circle at the bottom inside the cauldron. Twilight put Faust's Pen at the center, as it was clearly the centerpiece of the six, but then she sensed that that was not quite right. If it is a pen, then there must be ink inside, and the cauldron was awfully large to contain those six objects. The largest of the six was the White Dragon's fang, which was placed standing vertically, the curve fitting nicely to the curve of the inside of the cauldron, and the tip of it just barely reached the brim. The ingredients needed a liquid to float in, otherwise they would not need a cauldron. Twilight wondered: is the pen bigger on the inside? She unscrewed the pen using her magic and poured the ink into the cauldron. The black ink poured on and on, letting out gallons. It seemed like the ink was going to go on forever, but Twilight did not slow it down. The flow stopped perfectly right at the moment the ink filled the cauldron to the brim. The six friends then backed away. The Doctor gave Twilight a pat on the back for thinking outside of the box, and Pinkie patted her as well for thinking inside the chimney.

Lastly, Prince Comet, Princess Ruby, Princess Sapphire and Princess Amber gathered around the cauldron. Golden instructed the four not to strike the symbols directly with their fires, so they positioned themselves between the four cardinal directions. Comet stood to the Northeast. Ruby stood to the Southeast. Sapphire stood to the Northwest. And Amber stood to the Southwest. All four were equidistant from the cauldron and from each other, making a square. Comet was to breathe white fire. Ruby was to breathe red fire. Sapphire was to breathe blue fire. And Amber was to breathe green fire. Breathing the four fires separately and then combining them to conjure magic required strong unity between the fire-breathers, so the four dragons in unison recited an incantation to invoke the full and pure power of the fires.

"Gogledd, De, Dwyrain, Orllewin.

Poeth, Oer, Gwlyb, Sychu.

Mor, Tir, Awyr, Nefoedd.

Haul, Lleuad, Ser, Tywyll.

Geni, Byw, Marw, Codi.

Gwyn, Coch, Gwyrdd, Glas!

Tân! Tân! Tân! Tân!"

Energy mustered in the dragons' bellies and then rushed up through their chest and throat. They opened their mouths wide and simultaneously unleashed bright beams of the four fires. The beams lit up the entire plateau and were so bright that every pony, dragon and Hoofrican had to close their eyes and look away. Even the Master was distracted from listening to "While My Lyre Gently Cries." The force of the beams put a strain on the bodies of the four siblings and it took much of their endurance to keep it up until their mother gave them the signal to stop. After ten seconds, Ember called out, 'Enough!' and the four closed their mouths, stopping the beams. They breathed heavily and sat down, exhausted by the exertion.

Everyone on the plateau and the surrounding mountains looked to the diamond cauldron. It stood there unscathed by the power the fires, as if nothing had happened. The jade floor around it, though, had felt the effects. To the Northeast, the floor was melted. To the Southeast, it was covered in soot. To the Northwest it was covered in ice. To the Southwest, grass sprouted from the floor. Everyone anxiously waited for the cauldron to bring about the magic that was to save them all. Every second passed by excruciatingly. Twilight took a quick glance at the Gates and the black ooze was so close to completely unsealing the metal wall. A minute passed and still nothing happened.

Finally, Pinkie broke the silence, "I don't think it worked..."

The Elements of Harmony

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Chapter XXXVIII: The Elements of Harmony

The Master clapped his hooves together slowly. "Bravo. A very staunch effort, my friends. Really, I've got to hand it to you. I like the effort. It pains me to see such devotion come to nothing, but don't worry about me. I'm sure my absolute possession of the Earth will wash away all those sorrows." He turned and plopped himself back on his recliner. He crushed his empty can of soda, dropped it on the ground and opened another one. He put his headphones back on and listened to "Railroad to Hell."

"What went wrong?!" Rarity began to panic, "Where are the Elements?!"

"Oh my, this is bad. This is really bad," Fluttershy joined her, "What do we do? What do we do?!"

"Alright, alright! Calm down you two," Applejack said, "We'll figure something out."

The Doctor went in circles around the diamond cauldron, inspecting every inch of it. "Gah! What did we do wrong? There must be something we're missing, something staring us right in the face! Oh, what is it!?"

He turned around and looked at everyone's anxious faces. He knew what they were all thinking. Their last hope had failed and now doom was upon them. He had to keep up their spirits, for it was the only left that he could do. He was out of his wits. He did not have enough of an understanding of the Elements of Harmony to find a solution. He galloped over and paced in front of everyone.

"Listen, everypony! Just because it hasn't worked now doesn't mean it won't at all! There's still hope. I'm nine-hundred years old and one of the things I've found is that, no matter how bad it gets, there is, surprisingly, always hope. Now, I can't promise you that I can fix this, because I don't understand this magic. Neither does Starswirl nor any king, queen, alchemist, shaman or whatever. There are, however, six ponies among us who know it better than anypony else: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Our hopes rest with them, and I can promise you that they won't fail us."

The dragons and Hoofricans all fixed their attentions to the six friends standing behind Starswirl. Fluttershy hid her face behind her wings as she came to be part of the center of attention. Pinkie waved as everyone's face was turned towards her. Twilight gulped as the pressure mounted on her and her friends. She glanced at the eclipse in the sky and at the Gates. She doubted that there were more than fifteen minutes left.

"Alright! Yeah, we'll be sure to save you," Dash said with no small amount of unease, "Just give us a sec to put our heads together and figure things out. Then we'll kick butt!" She grabbed her five other friends and huddled them together in a circle with her a distance away from all the others. "Okay, what do we do?"

"I reckon we ought to use our melons," Applejack said, "Like the Doc said. We know the Elements better than anypony here."

"So what's missing from the recipe for the Elements?" Pinkie asked.

"We have all the ingredients. We combined the wisdoms of the three kingdoms," Rarity said, "What more could we need?"

"Well... um... I was thinking... remember how the horseshoes needed sunlight for energy?" Fluttershy tried to contribute, "Maybe the Elements need an energy source too."

"But the dragons hit the cauldron with four mega-huge beams of fire," Dash rebutted, "If that doesn't cut it to power the Elements, then I don't know what will."

"Wait, hold on!" Twilight said as she came to a seemingly obvious realization, "Why would the Elements need to be powered by fires? Magic like that isn't powered by physical energy... No, it's not the fires. They're part of the magic, but not for power, maybe as a spark to kick it off. The Elements need a power source to sustain them, otherwise they can't come into existence."

"So what is it then?" Rarity asked.

"The Elements are powered by the very things they represent," Twilight excitedly answered.

"Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty and Magic!" Applejack said.

And then Pinkie added, "Friendship!"

"Yes, the power of friendship," Fluttershy quietly tried to say, "That's what I was kind of, um, trying to say-"

"Alright, girls!" Twilight interrupted as they split up from the huddle, "We don't have much time left. Let's bring on the creation of harmony!"

All six gave a quick cheer and put their hooves together in a six-way brohoof.

Everyone watched anxiously as the six mares stepped forth with confidence. The fate of the world hinged on whatever they had to say now. Though they wore no armor or jewels or clothes and bore no weapons or scrolls or magical objects, the six seemed to everyone around them like a team of unlikely little heroes, like those in foals' ponytales.

Twilight went a few steps ahead and announced, "We have it! We know how to make the magic work!"

Anyone who didn't openly give a sigh of relief did so silently in their heads. The light of hope that had nearly faded away was flickering into greater brightness once again.

Twilight continued, "What we were lacking is friendship. We need to invoke the magic of friendship in order to power the Elements of Harmony and stop the Master, and for something as big as this, we need much more than the bond between six friends. We need the friendships of every pony, dragon and Hoofrican here."

Excited as they all were to find that there was a solution, no one quite understood what Twilight was on about. Bluehorn spoke up and asked, "And how do we go about doing that?"

"I'm glad you asked that question, Your Highness," Twilight answered, "We need all of you - and I mean all, as in every single one of you - to feel the bonds you have with all your friends, family and any other loved ones. Clear your mind of everything that doesn't have to do with your friendships."

Everyone was uneasy as they were still unclear as to what to do. Some closed their eyes and thought about their friends, but did not sense any magic or power flowing through them. Twilight noticed their puzzlement and took a more direct approach to the matter. She turned towards Ember and asked her, "Your Grace, who are you friends? Your family? Name them for me."

"Well, there was my late husband, King Haearn Adain. There are my children, Comet, Ruby, Sapphire and Amber..."

"Who else? Come on, recall your memories with them. See their faces. Say their names."

Ember reached deep into her memories and began speaking of her friendships. "My closest friend, Senator Glaswyrdd. We attended flying school together and always played mischievous tricks on the headmaster. Until I succeeded my mother and father, we hardly ever spent time apart. She also had the most magnificent long white horns. I have two brothers, Glo and Tanio. I never needed a fire-breathing teacher because of them. They loved their little sister so much. I remember them being so proud of me when I was announced the heiress, and I had expected them to be jealous. I could not ask for better siblings."

"Great!" Twilight moved on, "And you, Starswirl, who are your friends?"

Starswirl answered, "Before today, mine only friends were His Majesty, King Concordius, and my apprentice, Clover. But now, for his sacrifice, I shall call Commander Rainbow Sword my friend also."

"What was your best memory of any of them?"

"Ah, that would be the day Clover learnt his first spell. 'Twas a cold winter afternoon and merely a week since I tooketh him on as an apprentice of magic. The little colt poured himself into every book I gaveth him. For his first spell, we sat down together at a desk with a tome I hadst no use for, a book on camel cuisine. I opened the book and asked him to turn one page forth using his magic. The smile on the colt's face when he finally succeeded after five attempts brought a warmth to my heart like nothing I felt before. "

"Good, good!" Twilight said. She turned around and looked at everyone around her, encouraging them to do as they had seen Ember and Starswirl do. She continued on instructing others on how to invoke the magic of friendship. She turned to Derpy and said, "Derpy, what about you? Name your friends."

Derpy cocked her head and turned the thought around in her head for a moment. She ended up saying, "I don't know... Muffins? Other than the Doctor and muffins, I don't really have any friends."

"Oh... okay. I'm sorry to hear that." Twilight decided to move on. She awkwardly walked away from Derpy and asked somepony else.

"Pyro! What about you then? Who are your friends and loved ones?"

"Well uhh, I have my alchemy master, Majani Makali. She taught me everything I know until I started working with my sister. And I was her favorite student, even though I almost burnt down her school pretty much every other day. She was inspirational. She encouraged me to be an experimenter and always try new things. Without her, my sister and I wouldn't be where we are now. And there's my Uncle Sharp Nose. He's always the silly one in the family and he's the best collector out of all of us. Half of the ingredient in our lab were found by him. I remember one day he took me on one of his herb-collecting trips and got chased through the woods by a pack of timberwolves. Up until now, that was the most exciting day of my life."

"Alright, great!" Twilight patted his back and turned. She called out to everyone again, urging them all to bring out the feelings they have for their friends and family. "Come one, everypony! Just like what they all did! Each and every one of has to feel that bond and relish in the memories!"

Applejack then joined her, giving out her own instructions on friendship. "Remember all those little secrets y'all shared with your pals! Think about how you'd tell your friends everything and hide nothing. Picture in your head that friend you're absolutely honest to and could never lie to. The friends who you could just talk to about all your problems knowing that they'd listen and understand! Think of how the only thing you and your pals ever told each other was the truth!"

Rarity also added her words. "Remember everything you've given them and everything they've given you. Remember how there's not an ounce of selfishness among you. Think of how there's still nothing you wouldn't give or wouldn't do for them. Know how it feels to have such friends that your generosity to them knows no bounds! Most of all, think of how much of your heart and soul you've given to them, how you've given in to the bond you share."

Murmurs spread amongst everyone there. The ponies' words started to settle in their minds. They conversed with friends, reminiscing on all their good times and talking about how they treated each other with honesty and generosity. Bluehorn went to the edge of the plateau and called out to his army, giving them the instruction that the ponies were giving. Before long, the orderly Hoofrican ranks became a messy jumble of friends in light and happy conversation, like a crowd in a massive garden party. Likewise, the Drakonian Royal Guard began to focus less on the threat to the Gates and more on their friends.

Pinkie then joined in, zipping and hopping about between the many groups of friends that formed clumps of individuals. "Ooh! Think about all the fun you had with each other! Like all the games you played when you were little! And all the parties you had! And all the candy and cake and juice and fruit punch and muffins and chocolate and donuts and cupcakes and cider and jam and sandwiches and bagels and sarsaparilla and whipped cream and mayonnaise and apples and strawberries and lemons and anything and everything you ate together! Sing the songs that you love to sing together! Imagine the smile you and your friends always put on each others' faces! Think about how you love more than anything to see them smile and laugh! Hear it in your head, their laughter!"

Giggles, chuckles and laughs spread out through the crowds. Some began singing songs from their childhoods. On the next mountain over, one dragon was playing the crwth, an old Drakonian instrument, and the dragons around her clapped the beat and sang the Ballad of the Abdicator, a song about how Queen Cinder ended the tyranny of the dynasty of the Arglwydd by stepping down from power and began an era of peace for the known world. The voices of all the ponies, dragons and Hoofricans rang and echoed through the peaks, slopes, valleys and trenches of the Gwyrdd Mountains. Ember was the first to feel the full effects of the magic of her friendships. She felt a warmth in her chest as she told stories to her children about the adventures she shared with her friends in her youth. She smiled a smile wider than any smile she smiled since the day Amber was born, ninety-four years ago. A faint glow began to appear in her yellow eyes. Twilight noticed this and grinned. The plan was working.

"Think about how much your care about them," Fluttershy quietly began, flying around the plateau, but her timid voice was barely audible. So Twilight cast a spell on Fluttershy to amplify her voice. Fluttershy was startled to hear her voice suddenly become so much louder and covered her mouth. She looked to Twilight and she gestured for her to go on and speak. Mustering all her confidence, she continued, "Um, think of all the times they needed your tender loving care and how you provided it for them. And think of the times you needed the same care and they made sure you got it. Whenever you or any of your friends were sick, confused or sad, all of you put in every bit of yourself into making them feel better. Think of how you're never at all mean to each other. You were nothing but kind."

Golden Lead gave her brother a tight hug, and both her and Pyro's eyes began to glow. Bluehorn felt a warmth in his heart as he thought of his vow to his subjects and how he cared for them. Soon his eyes began to glow. The Doctor and Derpy laughed together as they recalled all the times he saved her from the villains they faced and how she saved him from the terror that was himself. Derpy thanked the Doctor for how much he cared about her, as nopony else ever did, and she nuzzled him. Sure enough, her crossed eyes glowed, as well as the Doctor's.

Rainbow Dash then flew about among the nearby mountains and the plateau, calling out to everyone below her. "Remember the promises you made to each other! Those vows you make as kids to be best friends with each other forever or the times when you give your word to stand by your friend's side! Think of your loyalty to your friends! You'd never turn your back on them for anything or anyone! You'd follow them across a burning desert if they needed you to, because you know that they'd do the same for you! Just like you always stand by them, they always stand by you, no matter what!"

Starswirl knelt down by Rainbow Sword's body and began tearing up as he recalled watching the pegasus rise up in the ranks of the Ponytopian military. He remembered how devoted Sword was to Ponytopia and its king, more devoted even than himself. He thought of his own loyalty to the King and how that loyalty meant also showing fidelity to Sword. He remembered how Sword, under the control of the Master, tried to kill him, but ultimately Sword's allegiance to goodness triumphed and, sadly, resulted in his death. He had seen no display of faithfulness greater than that. As Starswirl honored Sword's memory, his eyes began to glow.

Before long, the magic of friendship was flowing through the hearts of every single one of those on and around the plateau, and the glowing of their eyes lit up the darkness caused by the shadow of the eclipse.

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash gathered together again, and united in a great big group hug. They smiled and laughed together, jubilant that they succeeded to invoke the magic of friendship from everyone. Their eyes glowed the brightest of all.

Then, suddenly, there came a loud noise, like a mix between a clap of thunder, a clang of metal and a boulder crashing onto the ground. The source of this noise was the Gates. The black ooze had now completely filled the pattern carved into the metal wall, a sight to fear for every living soul. The blackened pattern then burst into white light whose rays streaked across the plateau and illuminated the slope of the mountain across from the metal wall.

The Master stood and got into the TARDIS to move it away from the path of the light. He then got out and moved his chair and stereo system as well. He watched as the white light spread across the metal wall. The only thing left in the path of the light was the diamond cauldron. On the slope where the light struck, it burned through the jade, emerald and rock.

Despite all this happening, everyone around stood completely still in the last position they were in before the magic they were invoking clicked, be it sitting, lying, dancing, rolling on the floor laughing or in a big group hug. There was only one change. Their faces all were fixed on the diamond cauldron and their faces locked on a peaceful smile. Their eyes glowed brighter and brighter, creating a medley of colorful lights with all the diversity of the world's eye colors. Even Twilight and her friends stood as they were, right in the path of the Gates' light, and they were unharmed by its burning intensity. Twilight's eyes glowed violet. Applejack's glowed green. Rarity's glowed azure. Pinkie's glowed cerulean. Fluttershy's glowed cyan. And Rainbow Dash's glowed cerise.

When the white light completely enveloped the great metal wall, the Master took refuge inside the TARDIS, and for good reason. The light grew more intense and then gave a great flash, sending out a wave that burned off the top halves of all the mountains in a ten mile radius. The resulting plateaus were all evenly leveled with the plateau of Mount Dechrau. The dragons that stood on the burned off mountains fell down onto what remained of them, completely unharmed and still fixed on the cauldron. The Master peeked out from behind the TARDIS doors and saw that the metal wall was gone, reveal the total pitch black darkness that was on the other side. He succeeded. The Master opened the Gates of Tartarus.

He laughed and galloped out of the TARDIS. He stood before the darkness and tapped a rhythm of four with his hooves. He began to sweat out of excitement and smiled from ear to ear. He stared into the darkness and said, "Come to me... Come to me my hordes, my army. I have freed you from your eternal prison and you are now mine! Hahahaha!"

Under his hooves he felt the earth begin to rumble, as millions of hoofsteps galloped towards him from the depths of Tartarus. A constant drone came forth, as millions of wings flapped in the air. The foul stench of rotten flesh drifted out, as the hordes of millions had been kept in Tartarus to decay for over eight-thousand years without death to relieve them.

The Master thought it was time to gloat. He remained facing the darkness as he spoke. "Well, well, Doctor. You may be able to stop swarms of cyber-changelings, the Daemon Azal, the deception of a Kamelion, the Rani, armies of Autons, the Dalek Empire, even Gallifrey itself and all the Time Lords. But this, Doctor, this is beyond you! You may be clever enough to stop anything in all space and time, but even you can't handle this! The hordes of Tartarus existed before this age, beyond the reach of any TARDIS and certainly beyond your own reach..."

The Master breathed in and smelled the odor of the hordes as they made their way to freedom. He turned as he continued speaking. "Forces like these can be stopped only by the most powerful of magic, and frankly, Doctor, you're rather helpless when it comes to ma.... magi... Oh..."

His victorious grin slowly drooped into a jaw-dropped frown as the Master watched the diamond cauldron glowing with lights of every color in the eyes of everyone gathered around the plateau. The soup of black ink inside was the source of the radiance. He looked around at their serene faces and fear the sight of their smiles and their bright eyes. Every pony, dragon and Hoofrican looked like statue sentinels guarding the entrance into Tartarus with eyes glowing with the brightness of stars. The diamond of which the cauldron was made scattered the lights, making a kaleidoscope of colors across the jade floor. Amidst the scattered spectrum was a pattern of pink and blue that was in the image of the Sun overlapping with the full Moon and surrounded by a ring of stars. The Sun was pink while the Moon and stars were blue.

The Master took one step back and then another as the diamond cauldron quaked and quivered with tremendous force, making the earth rumble even more than the hordes of Tartarus did. "No... No, no, no, no!" After several more steps back, the Master felt a sudden cold in his left rear hoof. He jumped away from the cold and realized that he backed up all the way to the edge of the darkness. He was cornered. He had nowhere to go. Driven to desperation, he turned around and faced the darkness. He shouted into it, "Hurry up, you damned bloody monsters! You bunch of rotten corpses! You spawn of demons! And you too Lwsyffar! Come out and destroy this world! If I can't have it, then you can burn it! Turn the Earth into ashes! I freed you and you are bound to obey your liberator! Come out!"

The Master was answered by a vicious hiss. In the darkness, a single eye opened, and out came the bearer of that eye, a pony from the Third Age. It was a hideous thing, even if the majority of its body had not rotten away. Its head was of an odd, box-like shape and its eyes were horribly deformed. It was shorter than most ponies of the Fourth Age and had thicker legs, but its body was dried and emaciated. This particular Third Age pony had half its face rotten away. Its left cheek was completely gone, revealing the teeth and jaw bone underneath. The rest of the left half was bare black flesh and the eye socket was empty. Its mane was gone and at certain spots of the head, the skull was exposed. Its front right leg was reduced to nothing but bone, while the other legs were without skin. The Master tried not to cringe at the sight, but to no avail.

The pony gave a nod to the Master and turned its head completely around to look behind. It opened its mouth and let out a frightening shriek. Then it galloped off, past the Master. Shortly afterwards, the hordes came out. Countless deformed and rotten ponies poured out of the darkness and galloped across the plateau and down the slopes of Mount Dechrau. In the air, more of the monstrous ponies flew out into the sky with their decayed butterfly wings. Despite all their numbers, none of the creatures took a moment to even look at the ponies, dragons and Hoofricans around them, as they were all being protected by the magic that was coming into being.

When the trembling of the diamond cauldron reached its most violent, it suddenly stopped. Then the cauldron rose up straight into the sky, amidst the swarms that blotted out the eclipse. Everyone's glowing eyes remained fixed on it as it rose higher and higher. Eventually, the cauldron disappeared into the swarm, but everyone continued to follow it regardless. When it stopped, so did they. For several seconds, everyone was completely still, staring into the sky. And then, in grand brilliance and astonishing beauty, the diamond cauldron exploded into a massive sonic rainboom. The rainboom was so bright and loud that its radiance briefly lit up a fifth of the Earth's surface and every living thing with ears in that area of the Earth heard its boom. Even the deaf heard it, for the magic carried by the sound restored their hearing, thus making the boom the first noise to pass through their ears. The force of the explosion blew away all the flying ponies around it, knocking them out of the sky and sending them back down to the ground. The sonic rainboom reached a radius of twenty miles before it faded away.

For a moment, the sky was clear of Tartarus' hordes and six objects gently floated down. Everyone's eyes followed these six objects as they gracefully descended and latched onto Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Five of the six were golden collars with a hexagonal jewel as the centerpiece. Applejack's was the orange jewel, forged out of the Rings of Lux and Nox. Fluttershy's was the pink jewel, forged out of the Spirit Flower of Princess Sidera. Pinkie's was the blue jewel, forged out of the Fang of the White Dragon. Rainbow Dash's was the red jewel, forged out of the Piece of a White Dwarf Star. Rarity's was the purple jewel, forged out of the Seed of the Tree of Light. The sixth was a crown, adorned by a magenta jewel, forged from the Ink of the Pen of Queen Faust. This one belonged to Twilight.

The glow faded away from everyone's eyes as the work of their magic was done. Once it was gone, they came into the attention of the hordes, and the living corpses attacked them. The guards and soldiers were quick to react and fought against the onslaught. The dragons slashed with their claws and breathed burning and freezing fires. Those who could escape from the piles of earth ponies took to the skies to face the winged ones. The Hoofricans returned into formations and did all they could to keep the hordes at bay, but all they managed was to create piles of rotten ponies that buried their front-most ranks. They fired ballistae, multi-bolt crossbows and mangonels. Havoc engulfed the mountains and everyone fought for their lives. The dragons and Hoofricans had some success in fending off the enemy, but many slipped past them. Thousands more already had in the moments before the Elements were created.

Twilight and her friends, however, remained safe. As the six were protected by the Elements, none of the corpses dared to go near them. Starswirl busied himself using his magic in combat. His mouth dry from constantly shouting out incantations to blast away the ponies around him. The Doctor and Derpy stayed with Starswirl, watching his back and bucking anypony that went near them. When Starswirl grew too tired, he cast a spell to create a shield to protect him, the Doctor and Derpy.

Corpses rained down on the Gwyrdd Mountains as Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie strode together across the plateau and towards the Master. He too walked towards them. They then stopped and faced each other.

"You should never underestimate the power of friendship, Master," Twilight said with righteous anger in her voice.

"You can't beat me, my little pony," the Master maliciously replied. He knew he could not gallop away nor fly to escape the six ponies' magic. He needed some other means. His eyes then darted to his right, towards the TARDIS. As quick as he could, he lit up his horn and tried to teleport into the TARDIS. But as the white glow was halfway surging up his horn, it stopped. The six were using the Elements to block the Master's magic. The glow drained back down the horn, and then the six's eyes flashed. In an instant, the Master's horn cracked and shattered.

Shocked by this display of power, the Master backed away slowly, stumbling at every other step as he tripped over corpses. He watched as the six opened a hole through his shield and walked through, forcing him further and further back. He looked in fear at their faces as they each spoke.

"You can't win," Rainbow Dash said.

"You have no power against us," Applejack then said.

Rarity said, "You are defeated."

Then Pinkie. "You know what happens now."

Lastly Fluttershy. "It's over."

The jewels they wore jingled. The eyes of all six ponies lit up in white brilliance and their hooves left the ground. Slowly, they floated into the air as they looked down on the Master.

The Master looked behind to see other monsters coming out of Tartarus: the incarnations of the constellations. First came Cancer, the giant crab. Then Hydra, the many-headed lizard. Then giant bear, Ursa Minor, and his even more giant mother, Ursa Major. Then Draco, the serpentine dragon. And last was Cetus, the monster whale, who swam in the air. Sensing that their liberator was in danger, Draco and Cancer tried to protect him. Draco coiled around the Master and bared his fangs. Cancer crawled over Draco and covered him and the Master with her massive claws. The Master though knew that it was all for naught.

"You may have stopped me, but you still haven't beaten me!," he said, "Imprison me in ice if you like! Banish me to the Moon if you fancy that! Turn me into stone! Why not?"

Applejack's element lit up and shot a beam of orange light that struck Cancer's claw, making the crab cry out in pain.

"You can bury me in the farthest depths of Tartarus and you still will not have beaten me!" the Master continued.

Rainbow Dash's element released red beam that struck Cancer's thorax and Rarity's element let out a purple beam that struck the other claw. Unable to bear the agony, the crab lifted away her claws and fled.

"There's someone even worse than me coming! My own little creation!"

Fluttershy's elements struck the back of Draco's throat with a beam of pink, and then Pinkie's elements struck Draco's eye with a beam of blue. Before long, Draco too slithered away, helpless against the power of the Elements.

"He's far more powerful and insane and wicked than I could ever be!"

Twilight's element then lit up and unleashed a magenta beam that struck the Master's chest. The other beams moved and focused on the spot where Twilight's beam hit. The Master winced and grunted in pain. But then his voice moved on to an insane laughter. He cackled as the beams grew brighter and brighter, bring him more and more pain.

"HAHAHAHA! You'll need your all to defeat this one!"

Finally, from all six Elements, a rainbow burst forth with incredible force and brilliance. It threw the Master off his hooves and sent him flying into the darkness of Tartarus. His laugh echoed through the black and slowly faded away until silence fell.

Gracefully, the six descended and gently landed onto the ground. The glow from their eyes vanished. They each looked at each other, panting and exhausted from using the Elements with all its new, fresh and raw power. They then smiled and embraced each other.

"We did it!" Twilight said, "We beat him. It's finally over."

Their joy was short lived. Suddenly, the earth shook under the footsteps of an enormous monster. There came a roar greater than any roar any living thing had heard in over two-thousand years. It struck fear into every heart that heard it. Even the hordes of corpses were terrified. They gave up their fighting and fled as fast as they could from Mount Dechrau, yelping and shrieking all the way. Some dragons and Hoofricans pursued the ponies, trying to take down as many as they could. Some others knew what was coming and took the opportunity to escape with their lives. Those with the courage to stay looked to the source of the roar. They saw the Gates of Tartarus still open. And in the darkness they saw a pair of massive and malevolent green eyes, and with them appeared a wide grin of vicious fangs.

Lwsyffar, the Arglwydd, had risen.

Greater Love Hath Nopony Than This

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Chapter XXXIX: Greater Love Hath Nopony Than This

"Go, go, go!" the Doctor cried out as he galloped by Twilight and her friends, "Close the Gates! Don't let Lwsyffar escape!" He galloped into the TARDIS, leaving the doors open behind him. Derpy followed closely behind. The light on the top of the blue box lit up and the box began to fade away, making its distinctive strange grinding whooshing noise until it had fully vanished into the air.

Twilight looked left and right, checking that her friends still had the energy to use the Elements of Harmony. She was slightly panicked. Throughout her time here in the Pre-Classical Era, she had been hearing from Starswirl and other learned individuals about the Arglwydd, whose true name she now knew. He was the single most feared and despised being in the history of three kingdoms. As far as Twilight knew, he was the first great villain, the first of the many who disrupted the balance of the world, such King Sombra and Nightmare Moon. She looked at the menacing eyes in the darkness before her and did not want to see the face that bore them.

"Okay, girls. One last thing and we finally go home. Let's send all these monsters back where they belong and be sure they stay there."

The other five silently nodded. They were eager to finish this adventure and return to their lives in 21st century Ponyville. The ground shook once more as the Arglwydd took another step to freedom and then another.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated with all her might, putting all her strength into her Element one more time. The jewel in her crown jingled and then glowed. Her eyes shot open and shone, as did Applejack's, Rainbow Dash's, Rarity's, Fluttershy's and Pinkie's. Slowly the six's hooves left the ground and they floated into the air. Their eyes brightened more and more and the air was filled with a high-pitched hum as the Elements of Harmony powered up to banish away the hordes of Third Age ponies, the constellation incarnations and the Arglwydd.

Starswirl the Bearded solemnly watched the six rise up and shine above the plateau. His greatest worry for the past month was finally coming to pass. It was finally going to end. But then, as he watched, what he saw put a horrified expression on his face and he fainted.

The light from the Elements and their bearers' eyes flickered, faded and died out. Twilight and her friends stayed up for only a moment afterwards and then fell straight down onto the jade floor.

Twilight stood back up, rubbing the back of her neck. The fall made her body ache for a while, but it was nothing compared to the shock of what she saw before her. She gasped. She said nothing as there were no words to express the terror she felt right then.

Rarity got up, quickly brushed any dirt off herself and saw the terrible sight. "Oh dear..."

"Not good..." Rainbow Dash said.

"Hey!" Pinkie angrily shouted, "What gives?! Why are they still open!?"

A deep malevolent laugh came from the darkness and echoed through the mountains. The tremors in the ground became stronger with each step the Arglwydd took. Pebbles on the floor jumped up and boulders on the slopes of what remained of Mount Dechrau broke free and rolled down. Some of the guards and soldiers around who were very nearly out of strength tumbled over as the ground shook beneath their hooves and claws.

When the shaking stopped, a great cloud of smoke burst out from the darknesss. Then, while he gave a long, deep growl, the Arglwydd moved his head out into the light. The flesh on his long narrow snout had completely decayed, leaving behind bone and fangs. His snout had a row of three horn coated in gold. A quarter of his fangs had fallen out, letting his constantly wandering forked tongue slip in and out from behind his malicious grin. Inside his mouth there was still some of the flesh and muscle and veins. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the world, his fire-breathing organs were still intact. The brightness of his white scales had dulled through his millennia of imprisonment. His snake-like eyes were more or less unharmed, though the surroundings of his eyes were not as lucky. His eye lids had rotted away, making it impossible for him to blink and making his impeccably steady stare tremendously intimidating. The inability to blink seemed not to affect him though, as he was little more than a living corpse after wasting away in the depths of Tartarus. His face bore many battle scars, the most distinct of which were a set of four claw scratches across the right side and a single long scar on his left side from the crown of his head, through his eye and down to his cheekbone. Where his head met his neck, he had a wide grand frill of horns, two of which stuck out longer than the rest and grew out together from the center of his brow ridge, almost appearing like a single U-shaped horn. The frill also was coated in gold.

He inhaled, smelling the open air of the Earth. It was the sweetest smell he experienced in two-thousand years, despite the smell being that of smoke, ash and death mixed with the flowery scent emitted by the magic of the Elements of Harmony. He spoke with an aged voice that was always accompanied by a faint hiss that emanated from his throat. He spoke in ancient Drakish, rather than the more prominent dialect of classical Drakish, so only learned dragons and those who have been on the TARDIS understood him.

"Lord Lwsyffar hath come once again unto the Earth! And by His fire, He shall have vengeance!" He raised his face up towards the sky and let out a burst of white fire that reached out for a mile into the air. The flame was so enormous, that it could be seen from Equites and Rhinopolis.

While the Arglwydd was doing this, the noise of the TARDIS came again, this time behind the Twilight and her friends. The blue box faded in and out, each time in becoming more and more solid, until it fully materialized with a light thud. Doctor galloped out from the TARDIS with his proper sonic screwdriver, followed by Derpy. He looked at the dragon and then at the distressed faces of the six ponies. He began, "Okay, I was worried this would happen. When I give you the signal, use the Elements to make a shield around this half of the plateau! I configured the TARDIS extrapolator shielding to encompass this area and just need to activate it once we're ready. We need to get everypony we can into this area for safety. In the meantime, use the Elements to restrict his movements. Whatever you do, don't let him hurt anypony!"

The Doctor galloped off and went all around the edge of the plateau, calling out to all the dragons and Hoofricans who remained to gather around the six. He tried to keep them calm, but at the same time emphasized the urgency of getting to the safety of the plateau.

Meanwhile, the Arglwydd walked out from the darkness. His long neck, led by his head, winded through the air, like a snake, as he observed his surroundings. The rest of his body followed and also bore a serpentine form. He was the largest dragon to ever live, and his shoulder height reached up nearly to the top of the entrance of Tartarus. His front legs were withered, but still was twice as muscular as the average dragon's legs. His gold-coated claws were twice the size of Princess Sapphire's head. If his eye sockets were not occupied, a full-grown rhinoceros could have crawled through. He had only reached the point where his wings were only starting to reach the light when he had to stop.

He sensed something amiss. He sniffed the air in front of him with his bone nostrils and discovered the magical shield that was inches from the tip of his snout. He turned his head and looked at the six ponies who were holding up that shield. He chuckled. Just as before, meek little ponies dared to face him.

He said to them, "Very well, Lwsyffar shall wait. He hath awaited two-thousand years for this day. He can wait but a short while longer."

"Is it traditional for Drakonian royalty to speak in the third person?" Twilight said to him.

"Oh ho, the little one understandeth Lwsyffar's words! He shall give thee the courtesy of an answer: 'Tis a tradition that He created. Tell him then, little one, hast His tradition endured?"

"Nope. Sorry to disappoint!"

"'Tis no matter," the Arglwydd said as he turned his head around, followed by his neck and body. As he continued, he climbed onto the rock into which the Gates were built. "To what end are traditions for when there be no world for them to be carried on with. How unfortunate that Lwsyffar shouldst be bound to that pest alicorn and destroy the Earth. His command leaves the Arglwydd with naught but an empire of dust."

Twilight and her friends watched his every move. Starswirl stood beside them, ready to contribute his own magic to hinder the Arglwydd.

As the dragon, coiled around the rock outcropping, the rest of his body emerged from the dark of Tartarus. All over his long slender body were large patches where his scales had fallen off, revealing the soft black skin underneath, and in some the skin rotted away to expose his dried flesh. His wings were tucked up against his body. The edges of the skin forming the wings were frayed and the skin itself bore many holes and tears. By the time his tail came out of the darkness, his head had fully circled the great rock. His tail ended in a whip of black hair. He breathed fire on the black hair, setting it ablaze. He whipped his tail at the six ponies and it cracked fiercely, making the ponies' ears hurt. The crack of the blazing whip also let out a brief burst of white flame. His fiery tail was the Arglwydd's personal favorite torture weapon when he reigned over the world. He climbed up the rock, wrapping his body around it, and rested his head on the peak. He was content to wait until the ponies exhausted themselves from holding up the magic shield against him. Like a snake, his greatest asset was his patience, his ability to wait for the perfect moment to strike, and strike hard.

Meanwhile, the remaining dragons and Hoofricans gathered behind Twilight and her friends. They were surprisingly few.

In the fight against the hordes, nearly all the gazelle were slain and the survivors fled. Only three of the zebra shamans were left and of the rhino alchemists, only Golden Lead and Pyro managed to stay alive. Half of the soldiers at the base of the mountain survived and climbed the slope to join the others. Only one of the Royal Guard remained, but he was not much to account for, as he was overcome with grief. He kneeled down by one dead body. He was grieving for he failed his most sacred duty. The other Hoofricans around joined him and all together they mourned the death of Emperor Bluehorn. Golden Lead, whose horn broke in half, knelt by his head and wept her tears onto his face. She reached out and slowly closed his eye-lids.

"He was a good emperor," she said, "He wasn't perfect, but he was better than his parents. He had ideals... And still his reign was so short-lived..."

"At least he ended it well," Pyro, who suffered from many bite marks along his side, said, as he too wept but also put his leg around his sister's shoulders to comfort her, "He wasn't just better than his parents. He was better than the past five-hundred years of emperors. He ended the war. He brought peace. And he died fighting for that peace. There isn't a more honorable death than that."

"But still, he could have done so much more. We need a leader like him to take us through a time of peace. All everyone knows in our generation is war."

"Then we'll just have to trust that whoever the Baraza za Wawakilishi is going to pick a good successor for him. The Gods can't allow a single individual to be responsible for too much good or he'll be seen as a god. You told me that yourself, sis."

"Yeah..." Golden sniffed as she stood up, letting the zebra shamans do their work with the Emperor, "You're right. And whatever happens, the worst is behind us. All there can be now's a bright future."

The zebras chanted prayers over the Emperor's body and sprinkled sanctified river sediment over him, as decreed by ancient tradition. The head shaman suffered from a gash on her front right leg and she used her blood to paint a star, the symbol of the afterlife, on the Emperor's forehead. Lastly, she took off his golden diamond-studded crown. Once it was safe to leave the plateau, the first priority of all of Hoofrica was to bring the Emperor's body back to Rhinopolis and hold a royal funeral.

The dragons too had their share of sorrows. Out of the one hundred dragons of the Royal Guard, only twenty remained. A quarter fell while fighting the hordes while the rest fled as soon as they realized that the Arglwydd, the stuff of their childhood nightmares, was coming. All of the royal family survived, but they were not free from injury. Comet's wings were both broken and twisted in terrible positions. The burnt side of Ruby's face was now accompanied by a severely bruised side. She also bore bite marks all over her tail. Sapphire suffered from a broken front right leg, her first battle injury. Amber's beautiful wings were ruined, as the rotten ponies bit and tore away at them, leaving the patterned skin in tatters. The prince and princesses gathered around their mother, who suffered the most. Her injuries were not particularly severe; she had a gash down her face, bite marks on her legs, and holes in her wings, but the strain on her body finally triggered the effects of old age and at five hundred two years old she could not endure.

"Children," Ember said as Comet, Ruby, Sapphire and Amber gathered around her with the utmost worry on their faces. "My time is coming..."

"No it's not mother," Comet retorted, "You shant die here. You accomplished something neither grandmother nor great-grandfather could achieve. You cannot stop now."

Ember replied, "I knew a wingless dragon who survived the Great Northern Desert for a hundred days and returned without so much as a scratch on him. The following day, he died drowning in Purpura Lake."

"But this is different," Amber joined, nuzzling against her mother's cheek, "You saved lives today! King Thiessen will grant you life for doing so."

"Death spares no one, my dear. I am five-hundred years old. I've already lived longer than most dragons. 'Tis not right for anydragon to evade death for too long. King Thiessen has decreed that it is now my time."

"But we still need you!" Sapphire said, embracing her mother by the neck as she began to weep, "You must rule Drakonia as she begins an era of peace. You must."

"Oh, Sapphire, Sapphire, daughter of mine. That is your burden to carry now."

"What?"

"You are my heiress, Sapphire. You now must sit upon the Drakonian throne and wear the crown on your head."

"But what of Comet or Ruby or Amber? Surely they are more suited for this. They have seen the world. I've been in my chambers watching the egg for all my years. And even with that I am clearly unfit. I failed my one duty and threatened the whole of the world. I cannot-"

"Shhh..." Ember stopped her. She reached out and held Sapphire's chin. "You are not a failure. If anything, through your mistake and how you dealt with it you have proven how worthy you are of bearing the responsibility. Besides, 'twas Comet and Ruby who convinced me to choose you, and I wanted to choose Ruby. I see now how much wiser they were than I."

Smoke began billowing out of Ember's nostrils and she coughed out more smoke. The four fires in her belly had been extinguished. When the billowing stopped, Ruby blew at the smoke, dispersing it high into the air. When she looked back down, the life had gone from her mother's face. Ember passed on with a tranquil smile. Silently, Ruby reached out and gently closed her eyelids. Despite her attempt to fight it, a single tear streamed down her cheek. She took the platinum crown, adorned with a diamond, a ruby, an emerald and a sapphire, from her mother's head and gently placed it on her younger sister's head. She then waited a moment and began discussing with her siblings the arrangement of the funeral.

The Doctor and Derpy watched the two kingdoms mourn the deaths of their leaders. The Doctor was no stranger to grief, but what agonized him the most was that their grief was only going to be followed by more sorrow. He knew what the next few decades had in store for each of the three kingdoms and the future was not a smooth road through a flowery field. He also felt awkward at that moment, as there was something he needed to do, but as he was surrounded by mourning, it was far from proper. It would have been outright disrespectful and unfair. Nonetheless, he had to do it now or risk losing the chance to do it at all. He had already taken too long to do it. Should he have failed to do so, he would defy the laws of Time and make history tear apart and violently implode simultaneously.

He held his sonic screwdriver in his right hoof and turned to face Rainbow Sword's body. He sat down and set to work pushing a multitude of buttons and at times shaking the screwdriver. Once satisfied, he stood back up and pointed it directly at Sword. He pressed the main button and the screwdriver's blue tip lit up and it gave off its high-pitched hum.

The screwdriver was put under great strain by its task, forcing sparks to burst out from its sides, until finally, Rainbow Sword shot his eyelids open and breathed in quickly and deeply, as if he had just barely escaped drowning. He quickly got on his hooves and clutched his chest. He looked back and forth in a panic, observing his surroundings. He saw the opened Gates and the Arglwydd and briefly gasped. He looked at the dragons and Hoofricans around him and was utterly confused. He was speechless for a few moments before he asked the Doctor, "What happened?"

The sound of his voice pulled a gasp out of Starswirl and Dash's mouths. Forgetting about the task at hand, she turned around and saw the old comrade and distant ancestor standing alive and well. The others turned and were also pleasantly shocked at the sight. Everypony beamed and galloped over to Sword to hug and nuzzle him with words of joy and relief, a sharp contrast from the mourning of the others.

This was the moment of weakness the Arglwydd had waited for. The giant dragon quickly raised his head up from the rock and opened his mouth wide to unleash a great spiraling column of white fire at the ponies. The fire burned through the air at incredible speed and took the ponies off-guard.

The four royal dragons, however, were quicker to react. Comet, Ruby, Sapphire and Amber all turned and breathed green fire to counter the white. The two infernos clashed in the air, with terrifying brilliance. For a moment, the fires pushed against each other at an even standoff, but before long, the Arglwydd gained the upper hand and pushed the four dragons' fires back.

This was when the zebra shamans decided to help in the fight. In unison, the three zebras took out small woven sacks of magical powder and tossed them into the white fire. As the sacks flew through the air, they shouted out the incantation, "Kufumukana!" The sacks went into the fire and exploded, forcing the flames to disperse, leaving a thick cloud of smoke.

Taking the brief opportunity, the Doctor shouted to Twilight and her friends, "Now!"

The six concentrated with all their might and, fast as they could, erected a spherical magic shield around their half of the plateau. Unlike before, the shield was visible as a great big pink bubble.

The Doctor entered the TARDIS and hastily manned a series of controls and smashed his hoof down on a big blue button. The TARDIS gave off a deep hum as it went to work reconfiguring the extrapolator shielding into the same shape as the shield the six created. The Doctor then relaxed and sat down, his back against the console. He let out a long sigh of relief. With the combination of the shields, the Arglwydd had no chance of harming them and the six did not need to put so much effort into defending against him.

From his seat, he shouted out in the midst of heavy breathing, "Twilight! It's alright now! You can take your minds off of the Elements and magic and stuff for now! Phew! The extrapolator shield and the Elements' shield should situate and arrange themselves in unison with each other's energy waves and therefore act as if they were one shield and the signal from the TARDIS will maintain the shape and integrity so long as the wobbly lever stays up."

As he sat there, he looked towards the door and saw Twilight, Applejack, Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Derpy, Starswirl and Sword pop their heads in to see him.

The Doctor began to get up on his hooves and Sword was the first to speak, "So, as I was saying: What happened?"

"Oh, well, that's simple. No offense, but you were dead. And now you're not dead." The Doctor went over to Sword and patted his shoulder. He then pulled at one of his ears to make sure the cells still maintained enough structural stability for a living organism to survive on. He continued, "The Master used the nanobots in your body to stop your cells. So, it was simply a matter of making the nanobots un-stop your cells and voila! Molto bene! You're alive! I just needed to get my sonic screwdriver back. This wooden piece of rubbish would never do for something that complicated." He took out his improvised sonic screwdriver and threw it off to a random corner of the TARDIS. He held up his proper screwdriver and gave it a kiss.

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and looked up at his hoofiwork. He admired the great pink bubble through which waves of blue rippled beautifully.

"So what in the hay do we do now?" Applejack asked, "We still got to close up them Gates."

"One problem at a time, Applejack," the Doctor replied.

"But there ain't no other problem. That's the only problem we got left."

"Oh, there are lots and lots of problems to worry about. There a hundred thousand billion of them out there. How to boil an egg from thirty paces away, for example. Although, personally, my biggest problem's always been-"

"Doctor!" Derpy stopped him from going on any further, "We need to concentrate on shaving the mold!

"... did you mean 'saving the world'?" Rarity asked.

"Oh! Right. Yeah, what she said."

The Doctor answered, "Well don't look at me. Ask Twilight!"

"What?! Me?!" Twilight was taken aback and looked back and forth between the faces that turned to her. "How am I supposed to know what to do?"

"You've read the Legend of the Blue Box haven't you?" the Doctor replied, "You know happens now."

"I was just a little filly when I read it. I hardly remember the vast majority of that epic!"

"Well then, good thing we have the TARDIS back." The Doctor reentered the blue box and beckoned for Twilight to join him, "Come, get in! You tell me where the epic's archived - the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, I'd expect - and I'll do the rest. Allons-y!"

Twilight did as the Doctor told her. Derpy also tried to enter the TARDIS but the doors closed and her face slammed into the instructional poster on the left door. She fell backwards onto the ground and rubbed her nose. She then watched as the TARDIS began to dematerialized. She then hung her head low in dejection, saddened that the Doctor left without her.

A second later, the TARDIS noise came again and the blue box rematerialized on a spot five feet North of where it dematerialized. When the Doctor came out, Derpy immediately galloped over and gave him a tight hug.

"Oh, no. Don't tell me I messed up the timing. How long was I gone?"

"Only a second."

"Then why are you acting like you haven't seen me in a year?"

"Because I missed you!"

Twilight exited the TARDIS levitating a very long scroll in front of her face and frantically reading through it. Her eyes darted back and forth across the paper as she searched for any clue as to how the Gates were closed. Clover the Clever, the author of the Legend of the Blue Box, was not known for his factual reliability since he wrote of events that he himself did not experience, but he managed to get the main details correct enough to be a worthwhile source of historical knowledge. Speed-reading through the epic brought back some of Twilight's memories from when she was a filly studying Pre-Classical history in preparation for her magic school entrance exam. It amazed her to think that for all this time whole time the story was about her and her friends, though Clover the Clever gave them slightly different names.

"AHA!" Twilight cried out as she pointed with her hoof at one of the lines in the scroll, "I think I found something!"

The Doctor, Derpy, Starswirl, Sword and the other five gathered around Twilight, anxiously listening for a possible solution. Everypony vied to get a good view of the text from over Twilight's shoulder.

"It says here," Twilight continued,

"'The wicked dragon, the Arglwydd, bringer of death, wrapped his body in coils round the mountain. The wretched corpse, dread of a million souls, let no light from either Sun, Moon or stars unto the ponies within. Though in safety from the Arglwydd's malice, the ponies thereon stood trapped in darkness darker than the Night. Hear me, for I say now was when they vanquished the wicked dark of the wicked dragon. One hero stood among them, a hero was the greatest though she was the smallest. Here was the one to whom all of the living owe their gratitude, for she averted the End. The Gods granted on their sacred chosen the strength to do as she did. She stood before Tartarus without fear and without hesitation to act as the Earth was in need of. Defying all sense of self and setting aside the fear of Pale Death, she took up the Elements of Harmony and..."

Twilight hesitated. She furrowed her brow as she silently read ahead. The excited smile was gone from her face.

" Is something the matter?" Rarity asked.

Twilight took a moment before slowly answering, "You're not going to like this..."

"What is it?" Pinkie joined, "Who uses the Elements to beat the bad guy? Ooh! Is it me?"

"Trust me, Pinkie. You don't want to be the hero in this... It says, 'She took up the Elements of Harmony and, leaving her comrades in her trail of dust, she galloped forth unto the great abyss of Tartarus. She so loved they who she bade farewell to for the final time. This noble pegasus gave of her own life to save those of whom she loved and those to whom she was but a stranger. In her act of altruism, the dark of Tartarus filled with the radiance of the Elements. Whereon, the abyss drew back into its depths all the evils it held captive.' And it goes on about how everything from Tartarus gets sucked back in and the Gates close."

Nopony spoke for a few moments. The closing of the Gates took a truly drastic measure. Now they had a new problem: who will be the sacrifice?

"Well, better get going then," the Doctor casually said as he held out his hoof, "The Gates can't wait forever. Give me the Elements."

"What?! No!" Twilight reacted, "Nopony's going to sacrifice themselves for this!"

"We have no choice, Twilight! Now that we've read the text and gained foreknowledge, we fixed the events there into our timelines. Somepony has to take the Elements and walk into Tartarus."

"But we ain't gonna let you do it!" Applejack said.

"I'm not going to let anypony die when it could have been me!" the Doctor replied, "I won't allow it!"

"I'll go," Twilight said, "I'm connected to Magic, the central Element. If any one pony's going to do it, it has to be me."

"No!" the Doctor quickly responded, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! You can't do it! Not you! You have a future. You're destined for great things, Twilight! Things that are fixed points in time. If you die now, those points will be altered and time will rip apart and I'll have a huge mess on my hooves."

"Then I'll do it!" Dash stepped up.

"Not you either! You have a great destiny too! None of you six can do it. You all have a future that can't be averted without damaging the Time Vortex. And you too, Starswirl! You have a spell you need to work on and end up never finishing, so don't even think about it!"

"What of me, then?" Sword asked.

The Doctor curtly replied, "You're Rainbow Dash's ancestor. So, no."

Nopony had anything else to argue with against the Doctor. There seemed to be no choice. Once everypony quieted down, Fluttershy took the chance to make her attempt at discouraging the Doctor. "But, um, it said in the epic that the hero's a she. And she's supposed to be a pegasus. And well, um, Doctor, you're a he and an earth pony."

"Details, details. A few minor words can be altered."

"Then maybe one of them dragons or rhinos or zebras will step up to help us," Applejack rejoined.

"I will not have somepony else take a fall that I can take!" the Doctor insisted, "And besides, the pony part is not a minor detail. If it ends up not being a pony, then Clover the Clever will have less reason to write it, since a pony isn't the hero in the end, and he may end up not writing it at all and that'll result in a paradox. Now, give me the Elements!"

When the six hesitated, the Doctor impetuously reached out and grabbed Twilight's crown. When he held it in his mouth, the crown rapidly heated up and began to sizzle. The pain took the Doctor by surprise and he let go, yelling, "Ouch!"

Seeing the Doctor's baffled face, Twilight said, "Princess Celestia told me that there are some ponies who are forbidden from using the Elements, or even from touching them. The Elements kind of have a mind of their own and what they hate more than anything is a murderer. They'll fight off anypony who's taken a life. The Elements will do anything it takes to stay away from a killer. That's why when the Princesses or when we use them, we don't kill. That's why Nightmare Moon was banished to the Moon and Discord was turned into stone instead of simply being destroyed."

"But I have perfectly good intentions," the Doctor replied, "I'm trying to save the world!"

"Doctor... It wasn't an ordinary reaction the Elements had against you. They're trying to keep you away at all costs." Twilight silenced him. His weak point was now being attacked. His shameful past.

"Doctor," Starswirl began, "Thou hast taken a life before? Thou hast killed?"

The Doctor didn't speak. He simply looked down with his eyes and slowly nodded. He hated to admit anything from his past that was against his moral code, but nonetheless they were true.

"How many have you killed?" asked Sword, his curiosity stirred by the thought that the Doctor had once used violence against somepony.

The Doctor sighed. He needed a moment to compose himself before answering. He looked off towards the Arglwydd and then the Gates as he spoke, his face the most solemn anypony had ever seen it be. "Billions... I've killed billions. I've destroyed entire worlds. I even annihilated my own species and my own planet in order to end a war... Blimey, I suppose you lot are much better at peacemaking that I am, given that... I try to be better. I try to save lives, but somehow I often see myself taking more than I save. Sometimes, I'm not even sure who the villain really is. Me or my enemies... Hm. Queen Magia was right. The Master's a reflection of myself."

Nopony knew how to respond to the Doctor. He had just told them of a side of himself that they never knew and never could conceive. They stood there looking at him and each other.

Despite the disheartening confession, their final problem still loomed over their heads. The Doctor could not so much as touch the Elements, and destiny prevented the rest from losing their lives that day. They seemed to have no options available to them at all.

Finally, after an agonizing minute of uncertainty, a little voice spoke up. "I'll do it."

Everypony turned to see who it was. It was Derpy.

The Doctor immediately tried to protest, but Derpy stuck her hoof in his mouth to stop him.

"I never killed nopony," she said, "And I want to help save the world. 'Cause if there's no world, then muffins will never get invented and the Universe will blow up because there won't be anything good to eat! And, well, I guess it'll be okay if I die today. When we first met, you told me there wasn't anything important about me at all, so if I die now, it won't matter and nopony can tear up time. Um, am I right? Does it work?"

"No! Of course not!" the Doctor said after pushing away Derpy's hoof.

"Why?"

"Because... Because..." the Doctor realized that he had no convincing answer. He stomped on the floor and simply said, "Because I won't let you!"

"Bet you a bucket of blueberries they'll let me," Derpy said, indicating to Twilight and her friends. The six did not say anything. They simply, looked down, unable to speak or meet Derpy's eyes, which was an impossible task to begin with as they never looked in the same direction. In response to their silence, Derpy cocked her head and smiled.

She approached Twilight and reached out for the crown that laid on the floor where the Doctor dropped it. She placed the crown on her head and then gave Twilight a hug.

While hugging Derpy, Twilight said, "I... I-I'm sorry, Derpy..."

"Don't be sorry! The Doctor said you've got a whole big important destiny to look forward to! How cool is that?"

"Yeah... pretty cool..." Twilight felt awful as Derpy pulled away from the hug.

The Doctor watched Derpy go to Applejack to take her Element and he went over to stop her, but Starswirl and Sword walked up and stood in his way.

"I am sorry, Doctor," Starswirl said, "But we hath no choice. Only she, according to thine own criteria, is suitable for this task."

"I'll figure out another way, I promise!" the Doctor pleaded, "She doesn't have to die!"

"And how long shall that take?" Sword replied, "How long do we have before the Arglwydd tires of waiting for us and decides to wreak havoc upon the rest of the world? We are fortunate he decided to do as he is doing now, rather than flying off to set about having vengeance against us all. Are you willing to take the risk by waiting?"

"I will if it means saving her!"

"We cannot allow that, Doctor," Starswirl said, "I am sorry, but there be larger matters upon our hooves."

The Doctor could see he had no way to argue against them. After a moment of furiously looking back and forth between Starswirl and Sword, he galloped forward and tried to push the two out of his way to stop Derpy from taking the Elements. Sword stopped the Doctor, tackled him and held him down on the floor. The Doctor struggled to break free and stretched out his hoof towards Derpy as he called her name. Starswirl then cast a spell and encased the Doctor's hooves in ice stuck to the floor. The Doctor tried to free himself, but his exertions came to nothing.

Derpy walked over to him, carrying all six of the Elements of Harmony. It pained her too see him in such emotional agony. She knew that what pained the Doctor the most was to see his companions suffer, but he did not understand that what pained Derpy the most was to see the Doctor, her only friend, suffer. The pain was mutual.

She knelt down to be closer to eye level to the Doctor, who was forced to stay laying on the floor. She looked into the Doctor's tormented eyes and tried to make her eyes go straight so that she could make some semblance of eye contact, but to no avail.

"Derpy, don't do this," the Doctor begged, "Please, don't You don't have to. We'll find another way."

"Sorry, Doctor, " she said, "but I don't think there's another way. So I just have to go. But before I do, I want to say, thanks. Thanks for everything. I never knew there could be so many flavors of muffins in the Universe and they're all so good. I can't ask for anything better than that. So thanks. Oh, and thanks for showing me all of time and space. That was pretty cool too! But yeah..."

Derpy nuzzled up against the Doctor's tear-soaked cheek and continued, "I remember when we first met. I got fired from the post-office for delivering the Mayor's mail to a crime boss in Manehatten. It made me sad, because I was out of a job for the third time that year. I was hiding and crying in an old abandoned house outside Londerby when a Weeping Pegasus tried to get me. Then you showed up told me not to blink. And me and you used my eyes so that we could watch the pegasus while running away and then we tricked it into looking at a mirror. After that you asked me what I was doing there and I told you my story. And then you asked me to go with you in your blue box and time-travel and all that stuff. I still remember everything from that day. It was the best day of my life. All the days we had together were the best days of my life. And now..."

Derpy closed her eyes and let a pair of tears escape to stream down her snout. She stood up and continued, "Now I guess the best days of my life have to end..."

Derpy turned her head towards Tartarus and stared at it for a moment. That eternal blackness was to be her prison forever. In there she would rot away and never would death relieve her of her suffering. She would become a walking corpse like those that the Master let escape. Though it was not quite a death in the literal sense, she might as well have died. Derpy, that odd, dim-witted, blonde-maned grey pegasus, would die and a monster would come into being.

She took a deep breath and walked forward to meet her doom. She passed Starswirl and Sword, who lowered their heads, too ashamed to look at her. Starswirl took off his hat to show her the deepest respect. As she passed by, Starswirl, while looking down, said to her, "Queen Nox once wrote, 'Greater love hath nopony than this: to give up one's life for the sake of one's friends.' Know that thy deed shall not be forgotten, milady. If the world is just, thou shalt be forever remembered for this."

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Dash also could not bear to watch Derpy make a sacrifice that they could not. They all knew what they truly felt about what it took to close the Gates. They knew that the truth was they did not want to sacrifice themselves to save the world. They were willing to risk their lives for their cause, but they were not willing to outright face an absolutely certain death for it. They offered themselves simply because they did not want to appear cowardly. Then the Doctor gave them a justification for their reluctance. Derpy also could have used the Doctor to avoid the duty at hoof, but she chose not to. She was stronger than they could ever be.

Twilight realized that that was why they failed to close the Gates. The friendship she and her friends had was powerful, but not enough. It took the power of absolute selfless love, a love that extended even to those one ought to hate. Derpy was far from an adored citizen of Equestria and she owed the ponies of the world nothing, since they gave her nothing but disdain. And yet, Derpy was willing to give her life for their sake. As the eight ponies watched her walk, they each began to weep out of shame.

As Derpy reached the center of the plateau, the edge of the combined magical and extrapolator shield, she drew the attention of the Dragons and Hoofricans. They took a moment to stop mourning and see what she was up to. She looked as if she was going to confront the Arglwydd.

The Arglwydd also looked to the little pegasus that stood at the edge of safety. She seemed stupid enough to walk right into his grasp. Her crawled over the peak of the outcropping and lowered his head by his long neck halfway down. He stared at her menacingly and licked his lips. He was ready to finally have his first kill in millennia.

Derpy stood still for a minute. She needed to muster the courage to commit to the task. She heard the Doctor call out her name once more, begging her to stop. She turned around to see the eyes of everyone around but the ponies focused on her. She thought maybe she should say a few words of farewell.

"Well, uh, it was nice meeting everypony -er, I mean, every pony and dragon and camel and rhino and zebra and gazelle and warthog. I had fun, I guess. I'm happy I got to meet some of you and spended time with you fighting zombies. Too bad it has to end..."

Derpy tried to keep her composure as she spoke. The other ponies, though unable to look her in the face, thought that she at least deserved to have their ears. As they listened, the tears welled up in their eyes. Twilight grit her teeth and whispered to herself, "I'm sorry, Derpy. Forgive me."

Derpy continued, moving her eyes all around to see everyone, as they would be the last of the living she was to see.

"It's okay, though. It's no biggie. I'm sure you won't even notice I'm gone. I'll just be another pony you saw and never saw again. I mean, a lot of ponies never really liked me anyway. Most of them kind of hated me, or at least didn't want to have anything to do with me. At school, all the fillies made fun of me and even now, when I'm all grown up, I still see people pointing and laughing, even though they try to hide it. But there are some ponies who don't laugh at me. They think I'm stupid and want me to just shut up and stay shut up, and when I don't shut up they get angry. I think it's because they don't like my voice or my eyes or my name and they want me to go away..."

She let out a quiet whimper as she gave in. Tears streamed down her snout and cheeks, creating damp lines across the fur of her face. She grabbed her mane and blew her nose on it. Then she used her leg to wipe her eyes, only to have more tears come through.

"I... I just know what went wrong. So, I guess I'll everypony what they want. I'll go away. Nopony will see or hear me ever again and, plus, I get to save everypony's lives, so that's good. I know you're all glad I'm doing this and I know nopony's going to miss me..."

The Dragons and Hoofricans now realized what she was about to do and murmurs rippled among them. The Arglwydd was also stirred by this, but he was confident he could stop this one little pony from doing whatever it was she planned to do. Out of respect, none of them spoke. Some took off their helmets and gave her a nod of appreciation. The Arglwydd remained silent as he found Derpy's misery amusing.

"Before I go, I just want to say sorry for all the times I messed up, or broke something, or dropped something, or ruined somepony's plans. I didn't mean to do any of those things. It was an accident. I... I'm sorry."

She paused. She turned around and looked at the Arglwydd's fearsome face. She squeaked in fear and took one step back. She was about to take another step when she stopped herself. She took a deep breath, allowing some tears to stream into her mouth, and exhaled loudly. She breathed in again and quickly glanced behind her. Through her wet eyes, she looked straight at the Doctor. She knew he hated goodbyes, so instead she quietly said, "Allons-y."

She walked forward and passed through the combined magic and extrapolator shield. As the Elements of Harmony passed through, the pink of the shield rippled away, leaving only the blue behind.

Having had enough of the entertainment, the Arglwydd opened his mouth and blasted white fire directly at Derpy. The blaze engulfed her and went on to strike the shield behind her. The Dragons and Hoofricans averted their eyes, certain that the pony met her doom. But as the fire dispersed, it revealed Derpy standing completely unharmed in a circle of melted jade. The Arglwydd tried again, breathing an even hotter fire, but nothing changed. The fire did not singe a single hair on the pony.

Derpy had her eyes closed as the fire was so bright, but when she opened them, she saw the frustrated and bewildered face of the Arglwydd. She looked down at the melted floor and then behind her at the Elements of Harmony. She saw the jewels growing brightly and heard them giving off a high-pitched hum. The Elements, strengthened by the power of Derpy's selfless love, protected her from the Arglwydd.

Derpy turned her face forward again and continued walking towards the darkness of Tartarus.

The Arglwydd lunged his head forward and snapped his jaws around Derpy, but his teeth merely passed through her as if she was nothing but air. He tried again and again, but still Derpy, protected by the magic of the Elements, walked on right through him, like a ghost. The same happened when he swiped with his claws.

The Arglwydd was genuinely afraid. This was powerful magic he was facing, more powerful than anything he had dealt with before, and perhaps powerful enough to banish him into Tartarus once again. Terrified of the little pony, he uncoiled his body from the rock and flew as fast as he could away to the East, towards Mount Inferno. His body waved in the air like a snake in water as he set out to at least do some of his work to destroy.

Derpy walked on until she reached the edge of the darkness. She stared into its infinite emptiness for a few moments. She did not dare to look back, for fear that she might falter upon seeing one more time what she was leaving behind, and fail to carry out the task.

She took one step into Tartarus, and the ground and air inside was colder than the Arctic. The cold made her recall the adventure she had with the Doctor in the North Pole during Hearth's Warming Eve of the year 3013 A.E. They discovered an Ice Warrior trapped in a glacier and helped him rejoin his race on a far away planet.

She took another step, bringing her head into the blackness. The dark was such that she could not tell by sight whether or not her eyes were closed. It reminded her of facing the Vashta Nerada in the largest library in the Universe and how terrified she was of the moving shadows.

Finally, after a few more steps, her whole body entered the darkness. She did not know what to do next, but she trusted the Elements of Harmony to do their job.

Through the pitch black darkness, the jewels of the Elements began to glow. They grew brighter and brighter, driving away the darkness and revealing a flat white floor. Despite the great brilliance, the space was still black all around, as there were no walls for the light to illuminate, only emptiness.

Then a ribbon of pink light emerged out of the Element, Kindness, and flew in circles around Derpy. Then a ribbon of blue came from Laughter and also circled around the grey pegasus. Then Honesty and Loyalty released their ribbon of light, followed by Generosity and, finally, Magic.

As these six ribbons circled all around Derpy, the Elements of Harmony suddenly let out hundreds of light ribbons of every color. Greens, yellows, browns, turquoises, limes, violets, cyans, ambers, golds, silvers, and a host of other colors all circled Derpy. The ribbons went faster and faster until she was enveloped in a rainbow-like semi-sphere. Then the sphere shrank until it briefly became little more than a speck of light before bursting out, with a loud bang, in a radiance that engulfed the entire entrance of Tartarus.

The whole opening on the great rock was filled with a blinding light, which was divided in the center into two colors: blue and pink. Everyone standing on the plateau shielded their eyes from the brightness.

Then, a powerful wind began blowing into the light as Tartarus began sucking its prisoners back in. Everyone grabbed on to what they could - the TARDIS, the edge of the plateau, boulders along the slopes and each other - to keep themselves from succumbing to the wind.

From the East, there came the sound of a long desperate roar as the Arglwydd was the first to be pulled in by Tartarus. The great dragon grabbed onto a mountain peak that was not harmed by the opening of the Gates and he flapped like a flag as he held on to his freedom, until the peak broke off and he was sucked in, returned to the depths of his eternal prison.

Dark clouds then appeared in all horizons, rapidly approaching Mount Dechrau. Soon, countless screams, wails and shrieks were heard as the remaining hordes made their return to their captivity. Clouds of decayed ponies flew over the mountains and over the many plateaus surrounding the entrance of Tartarus. Despite the fact that a third of them were taken down in the fight around the entrance, they were still numerous enough to blot out the stars and the eclipse. Everyone ducked their heads as the hordes were sucked into the depths, hopefully never to emerge again.

When the last of the corpses were taken in by Tartarus, the winds stopped and the great metal wall that was the Gates began to reform. Grey crystal-like metal crept up from the ground and glistened in the light from the Elements. Up from the bottom, the Gates came back into being, blocking the light as it rose. When the Gates were half formed, the light was blocked enough for everyone to uncover their eyes and watch Derpy's final work.

Finally, the very top of the Gates were completed and Tartarus was sealed away once more, with Derpy and the Elements inside. Silence fell.

Let's Go

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Chapter XXXX: Let's Go

The reign of peace over the three kingdoms did not last, nor did the kingdoms themselves. As the years passed, history brought about the disintegration of the realm.

Sapphire inherited the throne of a devastated kingdom. The escaped hordes that slipped past the solders and guards around Mount Dechrau wreaked havoc upon Drakonia, decimating the population and tearing apart the mountainous landscape. Through the sheer force of their numbers, they destroyed the infrastructure built into the Gwyrdd and Glas Mountains. They poisoned the rivers with the filth of their bodies. They also robbed the dragons of their food, which went with them when they were sucked back into Tartarus.

The Arglwydd had his share of the work, as he, on his own, turned Mount Inferno into rubble. After flooding the halls and rooms with white fire, he repeatedly coiled and constricted his body around vital structural points of the mountain to crush them and bring the whole mountain down. He killed every senator inside, along with their families and their slaves.

Queen Sapphire had a terrible burden on her claws and she wondered whether Drakonia could ever recover from the devastation. With the advice of her siblings, she decided to take a truly drastic measure. The dragons needed to find a new home.

Under her leadership, the dragons abandoned Drakonia and migrated far to the West, beyond the Sea and the Uruhu Forest. Some dragons, seeing Sapphire to be unfit to bear the responsibilities of the crown, betrayed their bonds of loyalty and left on their own to find a new home, free from the laws placed by the Drakonian Senate and royal family.

The dragons who stayed with Queen Sapphire discovered a beautiful, lush land beyond the reach of the three kingdoms. At first they attempted to settle in this land, but the natives saw them as demons and fought against them. Unable to bear more violence after the Five-Hundred Year War, Sapphire decided not to confront the natives of the new land and led her dragons further West, beyond any place even the camels could reach.

The migration took its toll on the dragons, as exhaustion, strange weather and foreign diseases took many lives. Through the journey, more dragons still abandoned Sapphire, confident in their ability to find their own homes by themselves.

After five long years of searching, Queen Sapphire and her dragons finally find a suitable home in a volcanic mountain range. A sign that the Dragon Queen found to indicate that this place was meant to be their home was the vast forest to the East where phoenixes thrived. Here they had abundant raw untouched resources from which they rebuilt their kingdom, though it was little more than a shadow of their former glory. One generation later, Sapphire's successor, King Hammerhead, began a tradition in which the dragons made a pilgrimage their former home in Old Drakonia during the first month of Spring every other year. This tradition continues on in the present day, over two-thousand years later.

The new Drakonia prospered for a while, but soon newer generations of dragons, unexposed to the traditions that were attached with Old Drakonia, succumbed to a dragon's most primal and powerful vice: Greed. The power of the royal family began to wane and more and more dragons disregarded the laws that limited their ownership of material possessions. These lawless dragons grew larger than the rest and came to dominate society. By the year 1000 A.E, the members of the royal family were no more than figureheads to create the illusion of rightful monarchial rule, while the true power lied with the wealthiest and biggest dragons.

~~~~~

Hoofrica had fortunately remained beyond the reach of the hordes, as they were forced back into Tartarus before they could spread past Drakonia. The root of the kingdom's demise was Emperor Bluehorn's successor. After Bluehorn's funeral, the Baraza za Wawakilishi, a council of representatives from all over Hoofrica, gathered to choose a successor, as the late Emperor had no wife or children.

The Baraza chose his cousin, Dewdrops, for her mild manner, which seemed suitable for a time of peace. At first, she was a calm and fair ruler, but after a month on the throne, power unleashed an unseen and unpleasant side of the new Empress. The spark was the kingdom's treasury. The sight of gold stirred the greed hidden inside her heart and her lust for money became insatiable.

Dewdrops put Hoofrica's efforts and resources into every method of generating money, whether it was mining, lumber, the farming of cash crops, economic reforms and establishing stronger trade ties with the camels. For a while, her work solved the financial problems and made Hoofrica prosper, but still the Empress was not satisfied. Once the increase of income came to a standstill, Dewdrops raised taxes. As her greed grew, so did the taxes, and as the taxes rose, so did poverty and squalor. The vast majority of the wealth came to be owned by the Empress and a few nobles, while the rest of the population had close to nothing.

This economic stratification came in terrible timing with the hatching of a scientific abomination. Golden Lead and Pyro created eggs of hybridized creatures in their laboratory and, under the orders of Emperor Bluehorn, dumped the eggs into the Sea. In the eighth year of Dewdrops' reign, those eggs hatched and there rose an enormous swarm of shape-shifting creatures, which came to be known as Changelings.

The Changeling swarm swept Southward from the Sea and into Hoofrica. They infiltrated nearly every village, town and city in the Northern half of the kingdom, taking the places of the already impoverished Hoofricans, feeding off of their love and proceeding to breed. As they multiplied, they spread across the land like an unseen plague.

After a year, the Changelings were discovered and chaos ensued. The discovery of the truth behind the changeling in each household tore each family apart as the true Hoofricans fled their homes out of fear and searched for their real loved ones. Those who heard of the Changelings grew suspicious of everyone around them and the feeling of trust among all the poor disintegrated. In every part of the kingdom where Empress Dewdrops failed to exert her power, what little law and social order crumbled as the Hoofricans turned to crime and other lawless means to survive.

Even the Empress did not remain untouched by the swarm. She met a young and wealthy noble rhino. She took a liking for this noble and the two began a courtship, which over the course of five months led to their engagement and marriage. The truth, however, was that this noble did not exist at all. He was a changeling. When Dewdrops discovered this, she was infuriated and killed him. She then set out on a mission to kill every changeling in Hoofrica, a task made complicated by the fact that the targets looked like her own subjects.

Dewdrops did not care for this, however, and she ordered the death of any Hoofrican who behaved suspiciously. Her drastic actions led to further chaos and destruction, as countless innocent lives were taken, until all of Hoofrican society collapsed. The Empress was driven into insanity and her tyranny was only ended when her own Guard conspired and murdered her in 31 B.E.

The kingdom fell into anarchy and Hoofrica lost any trace of civility. The cities were abandoned and became hives for the Changelings. Those who wished to escape the chaos fled into the Uruhu Forest and a few dared to cross the deepest parts to reach the exotic land beyond. Those who stayed reduced to wild uncivilized barbarians. By the year 400 A.E, Hoofrica was forgotten, completely erased from the memories of the rhinos, gazelle, zebras and warthogs. What was once a great kingdom became a wasteland infested by bandits and changelings.

~~~~~

Ponytopia also remained untouched by Tartarus, but with the fall of King Concordius and Princess Sidera came the end of the line of alicorns. And it was the power of the alicorns that held the kingdom together.

Starswirl the Bearded and Commander Rainbow Sword returned to a Ponytopia with no ruler. The commotion amongst the earth ponies over the state of the sky had reached a boiling point and the kingdom was on the brink of revolution. Meanwhile, the pegasi exerted their independence from Equites by abandoning their military posts and remaining in the Sunrise Mountains.

The throne rightfully went to Concordius' youngest daughter, Princess Amicitia, but she was much too young to take on the responsibility and the late king did not have a chance to transform her into an alicorn before the Master brought about his demise. The Council of Nobles gathered in the Clear-Glass Dome and decreed that Starswirl was to become regent and rule in Amicitia's place until she came of age.

The Council, however, also made another more serious decision. The nobles knew that the earth ponies and pegasi would never follow a unicorn monarch. They only had respect for the authority of the alicorns. If they attempted to force the leadership of a unicorn upon them, the result would surely have been civil war. So the Council decided to split apart the kingdom and allow the three tribes to govern themselves independently of each other.

As the regent, Starswirl first needed to address the issue of the sky. With the Sun, Moon and stars in disarray, the cycles of life would be disrupted. So as his first action, he poured the kingdoms resources into researching the magic of the sky, bringing together every sorcerer and scholar in the whole of Ponytopia. After a month of relentless exploration into this magic, a way for unicorns to control the Sun and Moon was finally formulated. Ten elite sorcerers, chosen by Starswirl, learned the powerful spell and together with Starswirl, put the sky back in proper order in according with the calendar.

Starswirl's next concern was the division of the three pony tribes. He wished to reunite them, as he knew what consequences would come from the hatred that was festering. The only way to do so was to restore the alicorn line. Starswirl needed to transform the young Queen Amicitia into an alicorn. Starswirl put all of his heart and soul in the two tasks of governing the unicorns and creating the transformation spell.

In 29 B.E, Amicitia, at the age of eighteen years, finally took on her responsibilities as the Queen of the Unicorns. Three years later, she married Lord Titanium, and the next year, they had their first child, Princess Platinum.

Shortly after the birth of Princess Platinum, old age took its toll on Starswirl the Bearded. He weakened and grew too frail to continue his work on the spell for transforming a unicorn into an alicorn. To make matters worse, the fact that he could not continue his work emotionally agonized the old sorcerer, until he passed away in the year 24 B.E. Queen Amicitia chose Starswirl's former apprentice, who was now himself a proper sorcerer, Clover, to be the new High Sorcerer, and she gave him the name Clover the Clever for his sharp wit and foresight.

Commander Rainbow Sword's story was less tragic.

After the Council of Nobles decided to divide the three pony tribes, Sword returned to Pegasparta. Distraught by the division of the kingdom, he first made the decision to resign from his position as Commander of the Pegasi. To choose a new Commander, Pegasparta gathered together all the pegasi of the Sunrise Mountains and held a tournament to test the strength, agility, endurance and cunning of the best of the best. The champion was a young pegasus who was rapidly rising up the ranks of Pegasparta's military. His name was Hurricane. As it had always been, the new commander would hold his position for life or until his resignation.

Despite Commander Hurricane's prowess as a warrior, he was utterly submissive to his mother, who insisted that he give his little sister a position in the military. His little sister, Pansy, was his complete opposite. She was weak and cowardly, but pure of heart. Hurricane knew Pansy would never survive for long in the military, so he gave her the lowest position his mother would allow, that of a private.

After his resignation, Rainbow Sword married his beloved, Dr. Sweet Sting. The couple separated from the Bolts, moved away from Pegasparta and made their new life in Sword's home city, Irida. They built a house by the edge of a cliff with a beautiful view of the landscape that stretched far off to the horizon.

Sweet Sting established herself as the city's most skilled doctor, quickly overshadowing the other doctors because of her experience with the worst of maladies during the war.

Sword pursued his childhood dream. He became a weather pegasus and created artwork out of the clouds.

The two had three colts and one filly, all born in Irida. One colt inherited Sword's rainbow mane. He was named Rainbow Streak.

In the year 4 B.E, Sword passed away from old age and his wife followed shortly afterwards.

The decision of the Council of Nobles placed the Earth Ponies in a dilemma. They had close to no knowledge of government, as the vast majority of earth ponies were soldiers, farmers, artisans and merchants. The last time the Earth Ponies were an independent tribe was before the reign of Lux and Nox, over two-thousand years ago. The history of how the tribes governed themselves then was almost completely unknown.

In the midst of the uncertainty, one pony, Quick Quill, a learned mare and bookseller, proposed a revolutionary idea which she encountered on a few rare occasions in her books: the common Earth Ponies should choose their leader through an election. At first the idea met great opposition, but it gained support when everypony realized that it would spite the Unicorn and Pegasi, who believed that the idea of commoners deciding on who receives power and thus having some power themselves was absolutely absurd.

Soon Quick Quill's proposition was put to action and in 41 B.E. all the countryside farmers and urban ponies gathered outside the walls of the city of Equites to formulate the details of their new government and hold their first election. The Earth Ponies gathered in such great numbers that it intimidated the Unicorns and Pegasi, who dared not try to stop them.

The elected leader, which they called the Chancellor, was to hold his or her position for ten years, and every ten years, the ponies would gather to hold elections to choose a new leader or give the previous Chancellor another term.

Quick Quill was elected as the first Chancellor of the Earth Ponies. She held office for one term and retired to spend the rest of her years with her family and her books. In 11 B.E, the ponies elected their third Chancellor, Sugar Cookie. Unfortunately, Sugar Cookie fell victim to a terrible illness and perished on the sixth year of her term.

After Sugar Cookie's death in 5 B.E, the Earth Ponies quickly gathered to elect a new Chancellor. The two primary contestants were Sugar Cookie's daughter, Smart Cookie, and a popular dessert chef, Puddinghead.

Puddinghead was elected, as the ponies did not want any successor to be a direct descendant of the predecessor. They refused to follow the path of monarchy which the Unicorns followed. So, Smart Cookie instead took a position as Chancellor Puddinghead's secretary.

The three pony tribes lived with each other uneasily. Each tribe distrusted the others and did anything simply to spite them. All three competed for dominance over the former kingdom of Ponytopia.

The enmity between the three tribes festered for decades until their cold hatred manifested itself in a physical form: the Windigoes.

~~~~~

As Clover the Clever approached old age, he recalled all his adventures and the adventures of his mentor, Starswirl. He remembered one of Starswirl's stories that stuck with him the most through the years, the story of the opening of Tartarus. He pondered on it and decided that such a tale ought to be put into writing.

While much of the details were vague in his memory, he still remembered the main events. He remembered his mentor's sleep-vision, the arrival of the Doctor and the six mares of a distant land, the schemes of Tympanus, the journey through the Great Northern Desert, the passage into the Great Unknown and the battle at the Gates of Tartarus.

He took a quill and paper and wrote down the story, giving it the name, "The Legend of the Blue Box." He tried with all him might to remember the names of the six mares, but was forced to use the best guesses he could make: Midnight Sparkle, Apple Track, Rainstorm Flash, Scarcity, Flutter-n-Fly and Pink Sky.

There was one more mare in the company, but he could not in any way recall it, as it was a truly ridiculous name. He knew the sacrifice that she made and knew that he had to either give her a name that did justice to her actions or give her no name at all. In the end, he chose the latter.

In the year 11 A.E. Clover completed The Legend of the Blue Box and gave it a place in a section named after his mentor in a new library, which was part of a brand new and magnificent city built onto the side of a mountain, Canterlot.

~~~~~

In the year 96 A.E. a massive earthquake shook the now near-empty lands of the former three kingdoms. It was caused by a disturbance in the Rift that cut across part of the Great Northern Desert. The source of this was the use of the Void Sphere to pass through the Fourth Wall in 42 B.E. and its effects passed through time to emerge over a century later.

The Rift greatly imbalanced the tectonic forces holding the landscape in its current form and brought about drastic changes. The canyon caused by the Rift spread out and broke open vast areas of land, allowing everything below access open space. The underworld that now had room to expand did so with great rapidity. The earth shifted and quickly rose up to fill the gap caused by the canyon, bringing with it the incredible city of Utopia.

The Utopians met a world finally free of the vices which they hid underground to avoid. In this new world, they were free to breath open air, feel the warmth of the Day and bask in the beauty of the Night for the first time in hundreds of years. And with nopony in their way but a few remaining camel tribes, as the majority left the desert to find new trade routes, and petty Hoofrican barbarians, the Utopians were also free to expand.

Not all seemed to be good news for citizens of Utopia however. The increased activity of the Rift also accelerated the rate of the spread of the so-called diseased that the Utopians still feared after many years: the crystallization of ponies. The quarantined section of the city had been expanded continuously through the centuries as the number of affected ponies multiplied. Now it spread beyond the quarantined zone and faster than the Prime Minister could handle. The spread of the crystallization worsened more and more until finally, the Utopians began to flee the city out of fear. When the Prime Minister decreed it no longer safe to remain in the city, the unaffected populace of dragons, rhinos, zebras, gazelle, camels and warthogs evacuated and went on a mass exodus across the Great Northern Desert. The merciless landscape, however, showed the fleeing Utopians no hospitality, and they all perished in the burning sands.

The crystallized ponies were the only remaining Utopians, and they took their position to their advantage. Unlike the others, they recognized that their condition in fact did not affect their health in any negative way. They took over the abandoned city and established their presence in the middle of the desert. Using the advanced alien technology available to them, they altered the harsh landscape to meet their needs. They turned the sand into soil and hydrated the area to make an island of green. This island spread the next century until it nearly encompassed the whole desert.

The last of the camel tribes saw the transformation of the desert as a threat to their traditional way of life. A few accepted it and integrated themselves into the new society, but most resisted and tried to stop Utopia's expansion. When they realized that their efforts were of no use, they left to find the other camels who likely found a new desert across the Sea to trade in.

Since Utopia had been rapidly elevated by the earthquake, it had gone beyond the reach of the field in which the Rift deposited debris. While the city still felt many of the Rift's effects, such as crystallization and the energy of the Time Vortex, it no longer encountered the myriad of technology and aliens that came out to their side of the wormhole. Over time, the Utopians slowly began to lose their technological superiority, as the technology fell to disuse due to the city's great prosperity or became dysfunctional from lack of proper maintenance. Eventually, the Utopians stopped using alien technology altogether and only used that which was native to Earth. Nevertheless, they still maintained their superiority in the realm through the sheer scale of their power.

The Utopians were now the sole masters of the former Great Northern Desert and they decided that they needed a new name. Utopia was appropriate when the city was in hiding and was meant to be "no place," but now it grew into a vast empire revered by all lesser factions. Given the nature of the city and the ponies who populated it, they gave their civilization the name, "Crystal Empire."

~~~~~

In the year 0 A.E, a powerful tremor reverberated through the world, one of great magic. It was caused by a great surge of friendship and harmony, the kind found when enemies join together in mutual amity and create an era of peace. It originated from the reunification of the three pony tribes and the foundation of Equestria.

This magic had such penetrating power that it reached past the Gates of Tartarus and entered the great abyss itself, where there resided the Elements of Harmony. It stirred something deep inside the Elements and they began to glow once more through the eternal darkness. Laughter, Loyalty and Magic glowed, not in their respective colors, but in pink, while Generosity, Honesty and Kindness glowed blue. Countless little strings of lights of those colors emerged from the Elements and formed themselves into the shape of two ponies.

These two ponies born from the Elements of Harmony were a pair of fillies. The first one to fully form was a white alicorn with a bright flowing pink mane and a cutie mark of the Sun. She opened her magnificent magenta eyes and spread out her grand wings. Her mane gave off a bright glow like that of sunlight.

Shortly afterwards, the second filly came into being. She was a dark blue alicorn with a graceful elegant light blue mane and a cutie mark of the Moon against a splotch of black. She too parted her eyelids to reveal her beautiful cyan eyes and opened out her wings. Her mane gave off a subtle glitter, like starlight.

The two alicorn fillies looked to each other and smiled as if they recognized each other. Then they reached their heads out and nuzzled each other.

The blue alicorn asked, "Big sister, who are we?"

The white alicorn answered, "I am the Day and thou art the Night."

"I knoweth what we are... but who are we?"

"... I know not."

The two looked down at something in front of them, a yellow-maned grey pegasus lying completely still on the ground. They cocked their heads curiously and the blue one dared to poke her, only to receive no reaction. They then observed their surroundings, the darkness that enveloped everything around them. The little alicorns knew they had to leave Tartarus.

The fillies picked up the Elements of Harmony using their magic and put them on. When the blue alicorn placed Generosity, Honesty and Kindness by her neck, they reshaped themselves such that all three fit perfectly together around her neck and chest. The same happened with the white alicorn as she put on Laughter, Loyalty and Magic.

They looked to each other and nodded. They put all their concentration into activating the magic of the Elements. Random lights flashed and electricity crackled in the empty space in front of the two until the darkness was ripped open. In front of the two alicorns was now a round portal. Through the portal they could see a green plateau surrounded by many others like it. There was a sky bearing a brilliant spectrum of pink to dark violet as the morning twilight passed and the Sun was fast approaching.

The two alicorns levitated the grey pegasus and brought her with them as they used their wings for the first time to fly through the portal and out into the beautiful outside world. As soon as they came out, they closed the portal behind them. Looking back, they saw a great metal wall standing tall built into a rock outcropping.

The fillies carefully descended and set their hooves on the jade floor of the plateau, gently laying the grey pegasus down in front of them. They faced the East and watched the Sun rise up from the horizon.

The white alicorn felt a connection with this great yellow disk in the sky and dared to explore that connection. She used magic again, making her horn light up golden, and aimed her energy at the Sun. As she was doing this, she watched the Sun to see if she was affecting it, and suddenly she saw a small twinkle on the edge that was just a little brighter than the Sun itself. She smiled in delight as she saw the results, but then she began to worry.

Out of the twinkle came a tiny green dot that streaked through the colorful sky. As it got farther away from the Sun, it formed a bright fiery tail. The two alicorns flew away, bringing the pegasus with them, when they saw that the green object was rapidly flying towards them, burning across the sky. It came closer and closer, lighting up the area with its burning light, and then smashed into the center of the plateau, creating a huge explosion and sending debris high into the air and out across the surrounding mountain range. The green object destroyed the plateau it crashed into, leaving a huge crater in front of the Gates of Tartarus.

The two little alicorns, leaving the grey pegasus behind on a nearby plateau, flew towards the crash site and landed on the edge of the crater, flinching at the heat of the ground they stepped on.

They waited for the thick billowing smoke to disperse enough to reveal the crashed object and they saw an emerald sphere on the center of the crater. From the sphere came a crackling sound as it began to break apart, little by little. The cracks spread out from the top until one great crack lined all the way across and the sphere broke in half. At that moment, a ripple of magic of the most malicious sort passed through the pillar of smoke and turned it pink.

From inside the sphere, a small creature began to emerge. First came a little eagle talon, grasping the cracked edge. Then came a lion's paw and both pulled with all their strength to bring up the rest of the body. A pair of horns, one a goat's horn and the other a deer antler, rose up, followed by a pony's head. The creature had wide yellow eyes with red irises and out his mouth jutted a single fang. He opened his mouth to yawn and stretched out his forked tongue. He was not much bigger than the alicorns themselves.

He looked out at the world around him and then tried to remember his name, "C-con Concor... No... Discord."

~~~~~

The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors out to a rain-soaked town in 21st century Equestria. He parked his box by the door to a library built into a huge tree. He walked out and gestured for Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity to come out. He solemnly looked at the peacefulness around him, not minding the rain that soaked his mane. The six quickly galloped through the door to the library, seeking refuge from the downpour.

The Doctor looked in through the door and watched them shake the water off their coats. He remembered Derpy shaking herself dry after he pulled her out of the ocean and back onto a pirate that was under attack from a Leviathan. He then looked back into the TARDIS and stared into the emptiness inside. He thought that it was fortunate for him that it was raining, that way nopony could see that he was crying.

Twilight walked to the door and spoke with him. "Doctor, you should come inside."

"No, no. Thank you, though."

"It's been a rough time. You deserve at least to have a dry place to rest in. Come on, Pinkie said she'll make us a cake for dinner."

"I'd like to but I really should go... I have to keep on moving."

Twilight sensed what was on the Doctor's mind and tried to console him, "I am really sorry, Doctor. Truly. I can't even begin to imagine that kind of loss."

The Doctor turned and took a step into the TARDIS. He leaned against one of the open doors as he replied, "And hopefully you never will, Twilight."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"I would ask you to travel with me, but your timelines are riddled with too many fixed points. I have to leave you to find your own destinies."

"Then at least have dinner with us. Nothing helps more than spending time with friends."

"Sorry, Twilight. Maybe that works for you, but not for me. The more I delay, the more it'll just hurt." He paused to wipe his eyes and sniffed. "I've brought enough ponies to their dooms. I've lost enough. I have had enough... From now on it's best that I just travel on my own."

The Doctor turned around and was about to close the door behind him when Twilight said one last thing. "Doctor. We'll never forget you, and we'll never forget Derpy. When it gets dark and the stars come out, we'll look up at the sky and at those stars. And every time we look, we'll think of you and of Derpy. And if this'll be my last chance to say it: Thank you."

The Doctor briefly glanced back and gave Twilight a nod before shutting the doors. He walked over to his console and pulled a lever to send TARDIS into space to drift freely for a while. He looked to his left and saw a stack of papers, half of which contained drawings of muffins. He reached out and grabbed a blank sheet. Then he took out a pen and began writing a letter.

"Dear Tia,

It's been a while since I last wrote to you. I'm writing in 2012 right now, so it's been eighty-three years since the last letter. For me, it has been around thirteen, but that time was from the celebration of your defeat of Discord.

I'm writing, naturally, to tell you about what I learned on friendship in these past few years. To put it simply, I learned over and over again how much it hurts. I first learned this lesson from Rose. Then Octavia. And most recently from Derpy. They were truly the greatest friends a pony can ask for, and yet, through my own fault, I lost them all. And with each loss, part of me just gets torn apart like a soggy piece of paper. On that note, my apologies if this letter is soaked when it reaches you.

In my experience, friendship is the most difficult of all endeavors as it has only ever ended in tragedy. As another centuries-old pony among ponies who live such short lives, you can relate. Ultimately, this is the nature of friendship for everypony, no matter how long their lifespans. No matter what, everypony will always lose their friends eventually. The average pony simply has the fortune enough to not have to live with the aftermath for too long.

After all this, I end up asking myself, 'Why? Why do I always make myself suffer like this? Why do I keep trying to gain friends when I know that in the end I only lose them and I'm left alone all over again?' I realize now that the answer is because I'm an emotional fool who lets his selfish loneliness get the better of him. The more I think of it, the more I find that I've become so tired. I'm tired of the struggle. I'm tired of losing everypony that matters to me. I'm tired of watching everything turn to dust.

I've learned that for somepony like me, it's best not to pursue friendship at all. I am a curse, a curse to myself and to anypony whom I make friends with. The kind of life I live is not one that allows for friendship. It only allows loneliness. And for the sake of everypony else, it's best that I remain lonely. After nine-hundred years, it's time that I stop thinking of myself and take into account what's best for others. I suppose this end to my egotism is another lesson Derpy taught me. I have decided to travel alone from now on. I will no longer put any more lives in danger to satisfy my need for companionship. I am giving up friendship.

This news will probably upset you, but I know that this is for the best. You can rest easy knowing I won't endanger the lives of any of your subjects. If you want to see me, I'll be at Donut Joe's in Canterlot this coming Friday afternoon having some hot chocolate.
Your old friend,
The Doctor"

The old Time Stallion blew on the ink to help it dry and rolled it up, tying it closed with a piece of string. He then manned the console and drove the TARDIS to Canterlot. He opened the doors and saw the magnificent doors to Princess Celestia's palace, with a bewildered guard next to it. He took a step out and gave the guard his letter, asking him to deliver it to the Princess.

The Doctor shut the doors and piloted the TARDIS to another destination. The place was Donut Joe's cafe. The time was 2:30 PM on Friday of the same week. When the TARDIS materialized, the smell of fresh donuts, energizing coffee and hot chocolate penetrated the walls. The Doctor exited and found himself outside the cafe, amidst the outdoor tables and under a sunny afternoon sky. He looked to his left and saw the Princess of the Day sitting at a table while having tea and a glazed donut. Opposite of the table from the Princess was an empty chair and cup of hot chocolate.

"Long time, no see," Celestia said right before taking a sip from her teacup.

The Doctor sat down with her and silently drank the hot chocolate.

"I never knew this was what soothes you."

"Normally, I'd have a banana bread muffin," he replied, "But... I can't right now."

Celestia put her tea down and tried to look the Doctor in the eye, though he faced down at his chocolate, and said, "Loss is an inevitable part of life, Doctor. You and I know that better than most. Everything dies, in the end. Ponies are born and then pass away. Mighty civilizations rise and then fall. Planets, stars and galaxies come into being and then vanish away into the depths of space."

The Doctor nodded and took a long sip, breathing in the aromatic steam from his cup.

The Princess continued, "Nevertheless the Universe moves on, and as it moves, so must we, no matter the hardship or the suffering or the agony. If we were so quick to succumb to the pains of life, what would that make us? What kind of a world would we be left with if good ponies stopped what they were doing because they could not handle the misfortunes that befall them? Are we to define ourselves by our weakness at the face of suffering, or by strength to endure it?"

"Tia, you don't understand. Nopony has had the misfortune of suffering what I've suffered, or lost what I've lost. What I've been through, it's-"

"Doctor, don't speak as if I never banished my own sister to the Moon for a thousand years after I watched hatred consume her soul. Don't speak as if I never helplessly watched Cadance, under King Sombra's curse, completely forget her identity as the Crystal Princess for a thousand years. Don't speak as if for the thousand years before that, Luna and I faced what seemed like an endless struggle against Discord's tyranny. Don't speak as if I never befriended mortal ponies, only to see them age, wither and die. I've had my share of suffering, Doctor, and I do not doubt that there is more to come. And yet, I kept on going. Do you know why?"

The Doctor did not answer. He simply stared at the marshmallows floating in his drink.

"Friendship," Celestia continued, "I carried on because of friendship. It's the purest thing in the Universe. It's beautiful, dependable, joyful, loving, unfaltering and powerful. And most of all, it's worth the pain."

The Doctor remained silent and finished off the last of his hot chocolate, gulping down the marshmallows with it. He wiped his mouth and then stood up. He gave Celestia a nod and was about to turn around when she stopped him, saying, "I have something to show you. If you come with me to the palace, I assure you it will be worth your time."

The Time Stallion looked directly at the Sun Princess. He narrowed his eyes, unsure of what she had in mind, before answering, "Alright."

Celestia lit up her horn and cast a spell to teleport herself and the Doctor to the throne room in the palace. Luna was there, looking out the window. When she heard the noise caused by teleportation spells, she turned around to see her sister with the Doctor. She looked at his face and sensed that he had been through much pain, and she knew from the letter he wrote that Celestia brought him here for one purpose.

"Is it time, sister?" Luna asked.

"Indeed."

Luna went over and joined her sister as the two walked side by side out of the throne room and down a hallway, with the Doctor following close behind. They took a turn halfway down the hall to stairway, through which they descended several flights. They went so far down that they must have even been below the dungeons. They stopped when the stairs finally ended. They were at the lowest part of the palace.

In front of the stairs was a steel door, which had a faint glow from a spell that sealed it shut. On the door were two round deep holes.

"We knew that one day, you would suffer a loss so great that you would choose to give up friendship altogether," Celestia began to explain, "And for you, Doctor, such a thing cannot be allowed."

"You are a hero of the Universe," Luna joined, "But you cannot be a hero on your own. Friendship is the essence of all that is good, and 'tis necessary to have it in order to be good. We have seen what you can become when you are lonely, and 'good' is not a word to describe it."

"Two thousand years ago, we discovered one thing that can convince you not to abandon the path of friendship and we have dedicated ourselves to keeping her safe until it was time for her to be released."

The two princesses stood before the door and lowered their heads. They inserted their horns into the holes and simultaneously recited an ancient incantation, "Claustrum patefacio." Their horns lit up and jingled as they broke the magical seal on the door. Together they reached out with one hoof and pushed the door open, parting it down the center. Fog emerged from behind the door as the warmer air outside met the frigid air inside.

Beyond the steel door was a plain room, carved into the mountain itself. The walls were covered in frost and the ceiling decorated with icicles. At the center of the room was an enormous hunk of ice.

Princess Celestia made her horn shine with brilliantly with hot sunlight and the focused it onto the whole breadth of the ice, making it melt. As the ice deformed and liquefied, a figure in the block became somewhat discernible, though mostly blurred. After a few more moments, the Doctor could tell that this figure was a pony.

As the water level rose in the room from the melting ice, Princess Luna cast a spell on the surrounding stone floor and walls, allowing them to absorb the water. With the abundance of moisture, she was able to perform another spell, making a thin layer of fresh green moss grow on the rocky surroundings.

When much of the ice had been melted away, the Doctor saw the pony encased in the block. It was Derpy. He gasped and quickly went over to help Celestia, using his sonic screwdriver to send high-focus sound waves at the block, making it crack until it broke apart, freeing the grey pegasus inside.

Derpy fell over to her side, and the Doctor caught her in his hooves. He scanned her with his screwdriver, listened for her breath and checked her pulse to find something that brought a wide smile to his face. She was alive. The Doctor began crying tears of joy and gave hera kiss on the forehead.

"She shall be unconscious for quite some time," Luna said.

"That's an understatement," the Doctor replied, "She'll be in a coma for a few days if she's been in that ice for as long as I think she was."

"In which case," Celestia joined, "We'll leave her in your care. Just be sure to remember what you've learned about friendship today."

"It'll be centuries before I forget. Thank you, Your Highnesses."

The Doctor stood and lifted Derpy up with his head to carry her on his back. He listened to her faint and quiet breathing. Before he ascended the stairs and made his way back to the TARDIS, he whispered, "Let's go, Derpy. Allons-y."

THE END

Author's Notes:

After a year and two months, I've finally written the long awaited words, 'The End.'

The first thing I want to say is Thank You. Thank you to all my readers who've followed this fic through the months and have basically been my motivator to keep going and actually finish it. I could not have done this without your support. I know it sounds cheezy. When I read things where other people thank their viewers or readers, I keep thinking that they're just flattering their audience, but now I realized how sincere they are, and I too am completely sincere about it. I really really really really really really really really really really really really mean it when I say that I wouldn't have finished this if I didn't have readers like you. So, once again, thank you ^-^

Secondly, please pretend for a second that you're not friendly, amazing bronies and be absolutely ruthless in your constructive criticism. It'll help for my next fic.

Thirdly (and this probably a part you won't care about. if you like, you can skip to the fourth thing) the whole process of writing this fic has been a great experience for me personally. It's the single longest-running project I ever undertook and I've learned so much from it, particularly when it comes to writing; writing this fic has improved my writing by 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 times. So if you lot want a fun way to improve your writing skills, write a long fan fic. And as with anything with MLP, I've learned about friendship, even though I'm making the story. As I come up with ideas that have themes of friendship behind them, I end up thinking a lot about the nature of friendship and actually learn a lot about it solely through contemplation.

Fourthly, for those of you who enjoyed this fanfic a lot and are interested in another one, I am going to start writing again soon, and this time it will be a Sherlock-MLP crossover, starring Nurse Redheart, Gustav LeGrand, Donut Joe and Fancy Pants and a few OC's(although they're not exactly OC's since they'll be characters from Sherlock, but ponified.)