In the first story, Equestria was attacked. Now it's Earth's turn. Contains Doctor Whooves and Jacob
In the year 2011, Equestria was reunited with their ancient allies, the Human race, and they worked together to fight off a Dragon invasion. One hundred and ten years later, the Human race has been utterly destroyed by an invading force from another planet and two beings, one Ditzy Doo and the other Doctor Whooves, are trying to find a way to prevent it from happening. Not knowing what the future holds, Jacob Lighthand is living as a student alongside Trixie under princess Luna, living his life as any other being would. But that's about to change once again. ----- For those who have no idea as to why Earth and Equestria are allies or who the heck Jacob Lighthand is, the link to first story is below: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2059/MLP%3A-The-Last-Mage ----- Alright, I admit it, this fic will probably never be finished, but I recently have been feeling the itch to work on it again. We'll see how far it gets. A shame, really. I'd intended to do one more after this one that completed the Magi Time Lord cycle.
The Hasbro stuff isn't mine, and the BBC stuff isn't mine. They know what it is they own better than I do because I'm not them. :P -
Things do not always go the way we expect them to, for good or ill. When the Human race and the nation of Equestria were once more reunited through the efforts of both races in a time of desperation for Equestria, and in the end won out through the combined efforts of both races they began to reestablish the bonds that they had not shared since a time long-since passed. Both worlds entered a near-golden age over the course of the next forty years, and the events and beings that tied them together again found their way into history books and were called 'Boring!' by school children.
But which is worse, I wonder? To have a turn-point event in history called boring by an ungrateful child that takes interaction with another dimension and it's denizens for granted, or for that child to die in a war that Humanity as a whole was not ready for and to have both worlds destroyed by a race of beings unknown to all, save two?
MLP: A Favor Returned
Prologue
“Hmm...something is not right here...how this be the correct planet?” A brown pony with an hourglass for a Cutie Mark muttered as he stared at the green display screen in front of him. According to his machine's records and the current date (2211), Earth should have been thriving, and magical-energy readings should be fairly common-place in the United Kingdom, and other places as well (though to a lesser degree). Instead, however, his ship was detecting almost no energy readings outside of that which nature caused on its own, and no life readings except for small plants, one or two animal species, and a few hundred variants of insects. “Definitely not right at all.” If not for his ALD (Astronomical Location Device) stating that this was indeed Earth and that the soil was not reddish, he'd think that he was in orbit around Mars instead. Or perhaps a dead world of the Nartox system.
“Um, Doctor? Are you sure that this is Earth in two hundred years?” A gray Pegasus mare with misaligned yellow eyes asked doubtfully as she looked out of the ship's door at the world they were orbiting around. “You said that we'd be seeing a bunch of flying ships out here, but I don't even see the moon anywhere! All that's up here are a bunch of big and little white rocks!” The Doctor's latest companion, Ditzy Doo was right: the moon as one big rocky sphere was gone. In its place a ring of variously-sized and shaped broken rocks or boulders or dust orbited 'The Earth' along with a few occasional bits of broken metal which the ship they rode in, the TARDIS, said were once satellites.
“I don't understand, they were thriving one hundred years ago! What happened?” The Doctor said he joined Ditzy by the door and joined her in observing the barely-alive world. The Doctor returned to the controls and examined the oxygen content to see if it was safe to land on the ground and take a short walk. It was. “Ditzy, close the doors. We're going down there.”
The TARDIS landed in what should have been London, but was now little more than blasted rock and crumbling ruins of the once-great city. The two Ponies stepped out and took a deep breath. The air was tainted with something, but neither of them knew what it was. It was not pleasant and evoked a sense of dread.
“Doctor, I don't think we should be here. I have a really really bad feeling.” Ditzy said, looking around nervously.
“I feel it too, but the TARDIS said that there's nothing here but a few small animals and some bugs. We're perfectly safe.”
“If you say so...” Ditzy neither looked, nor sounded convinced, her misaligned eyes still roaming their surroundings. The pair of them walked away from the ship looking for any sign of what could have caused the world-wide mass-extinction. Certainly Humanity had the capacity to do this to themselves, but most of their world was in a state of peace. Why would they suddenly decide to nuke their own planet and kill everything? It just doesn't make sense. A tumbling newspaper rolling across the ground in the wind caught his eye and he galloped over to it before the growing wind could blow it away. Holding it down with his hooves The Doctor scanned the faded lettering a few times and then flipped it over and gasped at a familiar image that he prayed he'd never see in this universe. He looked about for the date on the paper and upon seeing it spun and galloped back towards the TARDIS, passing by Ditzy and yelled at her to hurry and follow him. Ditzy looked at the newspaper once more blowing around in the wind and then looked back at him and also galloped to catch up with him. When she came through the doors he was already working the controls and starting his machine again.
“Doctor, what's wrong? What did that newspaper say?”
“Ninety years ago this planet was attacked by a race of beings that I'd hoped would have taken a different path than those in my own universe or at the very least have died out. They came and destroyed Humanity, man, woman, and child, along with most of the life on this poor, unprepared world.”
“What?! Then, what about my world?!” Ditzy cried. “Are they all dead too?!” The Doctor froze before he could throw a lever and looked up at her. His face was very, very serious. He recalled the day that princess Luna rebuilt the gateway between worlds because he had watched it from the cover of the trees as she and several Humans stepped through into the Equestrian world from the Earth side. Four years later she had altered the gateway so that Humans no longer needed a Unicorn or Alicorn's help to open it. All they would need was an open palm placed into a hand-shaped groove. If all of the Humans had been wiped out, then the killing-race that had swept over Earth like an unending, blood-stained hurricane probably would not have gotten in. He said as much to Ditzy, who, though still looking a bit worried, was a little relieved.
“Either way, I need to know when they first arrived. If we can find that out we might be able to go back farther and warn them of what's coming early.”
“But Doctor, I thought you said that we couldn't get involved in big historical events! Won't doing that wreck the future or something?”
“Ditzy, if Earth's killers are allowed to roam the galaxy at will, then this universe has no future but death. Hold onto something, this is going to be a rough ride.” The Doctor cautioned before he again reached for the lever and pulled it down. The TARDIS tumbled, leaned, and rocked its way through the time-stream until finally arriving at its destination, if just a tad bit later than he'd hoped for.
Alarms screamed and eight red dots appeared on the ship's radar in front of where Ditzy stood.
“Um, Doctor? Are the red dots bad?” the Doc jumped to where Ditzy stood and yelled 'yes'.
“Red dots are always bad! The green dot is us, and-” A bunch of small red lines began flying towards the green dot and when they touched the TARDIS once more shook, but this time control panels shot fountains of sparks from them and the lights dimmed briefly. The Doctor dove back at the controls, hooves a blur, flipping two colored levers in one of the six sections, then jumped to another, pressing various buttons and spinning a wheel with a knob that fit ever-so-conveniently into the hollow of his hoof.
From where Ditzy stood (or rather hung from the control console) the green dot now was moving away from the red lines and dots, some of which gave pursuit.
“Doctor! Get us out of here!” Ditzy yelled over the racket that the alarms were making and losing her grip on the console as they were once again hit by something.
“What do you think I'm trying to do?!” He yelled back, bopping a whack-a-mole- mole on the head.
Suddenly another fast moving dot came up on the radar, this one yellow, but neither Ditzy nor the Doctor saw it, being occupied with other things (in Ditzy's case, trying to grab hold of something as she slid across the floor first one way, and then the other, and in the Doctor's case keeping them moving and avoiding as many shots as possible). Several of the red dots vanished from the radar screen, and the three remaining red dots turned away from pursuit of the TARDIS and began chasing the yellow dot instead.
A few minutes later the TARDIS was safely away from the enemies and was now orbiting the for-the-moment-intact moon.
“What the heck just happened?!” Ditzy said loudly, picking herself up from the floor. Her mane was a mess, and her hide a little singed where sparks had hit her. “I get that those guys probably the ones that destroyed Earth, but why were they attacking us? We're not from Earth!”
“Like I told you before, Ditzy, my people and theirs went to war back in my reality. Chances are, the same thing happened here, meaning they'd still see us as enemies, but they'd have probably have attacked us anyway.”
“You keep calling them 'them' or 'the killers', but what are they really called?” The Doctor frowned and tapped a few buttons on the console. An image of an object shaped loosely like a large cylindrical trash can appeared on the screen. Three shafts stuck out from the front of its body, each of a different length. The shortest had several ridges along it and a hole at the end, and was at the same height as it's longest arm on the body, which appeared to have a black suction-cup (or maybe a toilet plunger) at the end, and the second largest near the top of its domed head. If it could be called a head, that is. The whole body appeared to be made of metal, with no wheels or legs of any type to be seen. The majority of the body beneath the two metal arms had half-spheres on it a few inches apart from one another and were colored golden. Most of the body overall was a bronze color. The shafts were silver, and at the end of the shaft on the 'head' was a blue light that glowed like a strange eye. Ditzy looked at it, puzzled. It certainly didn't look very dangerous. Strange, certainly, but not dangerous.
The Doc pushed another button and an audio clip less than two seconds long played. The audio clip said one word: “EXTERMINAAATE!” The voice, like the body, sounded metallic, but unlike the body, sent a chill down her spine. There was malice in its voice, artificial as it sounded.
“They might be called something different here, but where I'm from, they call themselves the Daleks.”
__ __ __ __ __
Elsewhere the ship that had been the yellow dot on the TARDIS' radar screen zipped into the Solar System's asteroid belt, determined to make its escape now that the TARDIS ship was no longer being pursued. The ship took a hit from its Dalek pursuers and leaned to one side as one of its stabilizers shorted out. The pilot spun the ship into a wild barrel roll that took it dangerously close to ripping off its wings on two asteroids orbiting the sun close together. The two remaining Dalek ships (one had been destroyed when the pilot performed a loop and got behind them, buying the pilot time to get in a lucky shot) blasted through the large space rocks and continued their pursuit, shooting at every asteroid that came between them and their prey. The pilot, grinning, dove into a dense patch of smaller asteroids that any other pilot would have grimaced at the prospect of going through and dropped two mines. When the Dalek ships came barreling after the ship, blasting every stone that was too large for their shields to dissolve in time to prevent impact, the mines were tripped and one ship exploded. The other was knocked off course by the concussive force and and crashed into a rock as big as itself. Though not destroyed, it was heavily damaged, and the pilot spun around in one motion and fired twin laser cannons at it. One twin-shot and the shields were disabled. Another, and it became a temporary ball of flame.
“Woo! Eat that, Daleks!” The pilot of the ship whooped in triumph under its helmet before an ringing alarm in the ship began to go off. “What?!” The pilot looked at a power cell reader to the left. It read that it was nearly drained and getting lower by the second. “No, no, NO!! Don't cut out on me now, buddy! We just won! Don't tell me a little scratch like that did you in!” The alarm went from a ringing to a screeching that made the pilot's head hurt. “Alright, alright! I get it! Emergency Temporal Space Shift, now!”
The ship vanished from its location and reappeared above a primitive planet whose land shape was vastly different from the third planet that the pilot was so familiar with.
“Ah yes, I remember this world! It's been a very long time since any of my people came here! I wonder if anything's changed since-” A jolt shook the ship and the pilot placed its hands on the controls before it, readying the ship for landing on the world below until it could regenerate back to top form again.
The pilot landed the ship inside a large underground cave that had not been visible from the air and would otherwise not have known to be there had the ship's instruments not detected it. The pilot landed inside and carried a ladder out of its ship and once on the surface gathered vines and brush that grew wild in the area and made a pile near the hole. The pilot climbed down to the ship one last time and took several things out of it, and put several things in, mainly the jumpsuit it had been wearing, and the helmet. Once the helmet was removed it revealed a Humanoid woman that appeared to be of Asian descent, of average height and weight, with dark hair reaching just below her shoulders. Her eyes were gray, and she wore casual clothing from the twentieth century (T-shirt, shorts to the knee, white socks, casual but practical boots, and her hair had a scrunchy holding her hair in a ponytail). From her ship she pulled out two canteens holding enough water to last her for two days in hot weather, and longer in cooler weather. She also had a hiking backpack that held a few assorted odds and ends, including an emergency laser pistol that could fire thirty times with one charge, and a Sonic Screwdriver. Finally, she removed a violin case from her ship and exited the underground cave, and took great care to conceal it, including adding a roof that could support her weight. She even jumped up and down on it a few times to test it. Satisfied, she set out from the location. A day later she would find a wide field of long grass, and another half day later, she would stay with a few Zebras and stay a single night with them before moving on the next day.
It would take her ship several weeks before it was ready to fly again safely, and a few months before it would be capable of accurate time travel again.
Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and run into the pilot of that TARDIS and get him to cut my wait short by taking me forward the time needed for the ship to fix itself! In the meantime, I'll just go wherever my feet take me. She took a deep breath of the naturally recycled and unfiltered air of the planet and smiled. It was delicious after spending so much time in a star ship. She sighed and looked down, her enjoyment spoiled by an unpleasant memory. I just wish everyone else was alive to share it with me... Her sadness faded and again she smiled. At least I know I'm not alone in this dual-dimensional galaxy anymore!
I yawned and sat up from my bed. What had once been my guest room in the royal palace had eventually become mine and Trixie's official quarters. Trixie was already up and active, and was eating her breakfast.
Once the war was over and things had once again settled down I took her to a buffet restaurant on Earth and told her to pick whatever she wanted to try. That had proved to be a mistake as she wanted to try out her new taste buds and digestive system on everything, starting with the junk food. She filled a plate with several different cookies and cakes and even got a waffle cone of ice cream. I stood nearby to answer her questions as to what was called what and sighed inwardly. Sure enough, when she finished her plate off she groaned and leaned over to lie on the empty chair next to her. She did not throw up, but neither did she ever want to want so much junk food in one sitting again. Later on the following day after she felt better she tried out a bit of scrapple, scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese and cinnamon raisin toast and fell in love with it. Ever since then at least once a month she'd eat it (though we had to import the scrapple from Earth given that pigs were sentient here and neither of us felt comfortable bringing up what was went into it to the locals).
My own breakfast was waiting on the writing desk for me. It was mostly fruit, some scrambled eggs mixed with chopped hot peppers, and a few vitamins. Vitamins and dietary supplements had been one of the more popular items that came in from Earth for all the Ponies that had wanted to cut back a bit on their food intake but still wanted to be healthy.
“If you don't hurry up and eat it it's going to get cold.” She warned.
“Okay, momma Trixie.” I said in a sarcastic, though not unfriendly way.
I was now thirty one, and Trixie was sixteen, though you wouldn't know it from looking at us because for some reason that neither of the royal sisters knew, using magic somehow regenerated our cells Not only that, but because using magic burned a lot of calories, (which only encouraged Trixie to enjoy the various foods my world had to offer) that also meant that we had to stay in good physical shape so that our bodies would be as efficient as possible with our energy intake, which only made us healthier.
“By the way,” Trixie said after she swallowed another mouthful of her food. “Your biggest Pony-fan was the one that dropped off your food. She also left you a note under your plate.” Trixie looked as if she were trying really hard not to laugh, but her face was still all grin. For some reason Trixie found the strange (and irritating) attraction that Golden Rosa had for me extremely entertaining and had even once had gotten her to help play a prank on me after one of the yearly celebrations of our victory of the siege of Canterlot. I had underestimated the potency of Equestrian liquor, and stumbled out of the party room leaning heavily on my staff. I don't recall ever actually making it to my room or what had happened in between then and getting into bed, but when I woke up I had a splitting headache, and a guest under my covers, and most of my clothes were missing. At first I was confused, (and in pain) and wondering where the heck I had lost my pants and shirt, and then I saw that the person in the bed was not a Human.
When I tore off the covers the red and blond mare opened her eyes and smiled at me and complimented me on my 'night-time activity skills' and asked if I was ready for round three. I screamed in horror (and then grabbed my aching head. Screaming when you have a hangover is a BAD idea) at what I had supposedly done, and Trixie fell out from the behind the door frame of the bathroom laughing, and then Golden Rosa started laughing too. That was embarrassing enough once I found out the truth, but then miss Rosa bragged about the prank to the other servants, and within the week I was the laughing stock of all of Canterlot. I even now still occasionally got the line 'So, pick any good roses to scent your covers lately?' since that day.
Expecting another proposition from the Pony, I groaned and pulled the note out from under the plate and broke the plain wax seal and unfolded it. There were no words, just a single large symbol in the center, and a set of six dice surrounding it like the six points on a hexagon that all had sixes facing up. The symbol was my family's symbol.
“What?” I said, puzzled. I turned the 'note' over and saw nothing, and flipped it back. I sniffed the paper to see if it had been scented by anything, but it was just ordinary, non-factory-made paper. I shrugged and set the paper next to the tray and took a sip from my freshly-squeezed (with magic) orange juice and savored the tangy flavor. Yesterday it had been apple juice, and purple-grape juice the day before. Fresh juice is better than bottled any day! I licked my lips and took another sip. Trixie gave me a funny look and shook her head while rolling her eyes.
“You'd think that you'd never have had fresh juice before with how you're drinking it! We've only been having it for the last eight years!” I frowned.
“You like raisin-toast, and I like fruit juice. I don't mock you for eating it almost every day with your breakfast, so don't make fun of me.”
“Fair enough. So, what was on the note?”
“Nothing important, really. Just my family's symbol and six dice.” Trixie raised an eyebrow, curious.
“No name or message?” I shook my head. “Huh. I wonder who sent it?”
“Beats me.” I sat on the stool in front of the desk and ate some of my food before continuing our conversation. “So, are we actually going to spar today like we're supposed to, or are we going to play hooky and go see the Wonderbolts show later instead?” Trixie shrugged.
“Nah. Except for that one time where Rainbow Dash invited us to take part in it their shows of late always seem to revolve around out-performing your people's flight technology, which they always do. Let's go to the beach instead while the weather's still good. You can buy me an ice cream cone!” She said with a smile.
“You can buy your own ice cream!” I objected in a raised voice, annoyed. Almost every time we went anywhere it was me who paid for everything. At first it had been because I was the one that had a job and other than making and selling fireworks she didn't, and later it was out of habit. I lowered my volume to inside-voice again. “You and I may not age as quickly as other people do because of us using magic all the time, but as you're so fond of saying, Trixie, you're not a kid anymore. Why don't you buy me some ice cream this time instead?”
“Hmm...” Trixie rubbed a finger on her chin and set her plate down. She walked over to me and leaned forward until she was invading my personal space. “Nah, you can do it!” She gave me a cheerful grin with her eyes closed then stood back up straight again. I gave her a look and then turned back to my food. Frustrating female! I thought as picked up one of the fruits and bit into a red apple. It was, unfortunately, not from Sweet Apple Acres, as they were only recently starting to produce apples as they once had before the war and Ponies bought them up almost as quickly as they could be harvested from the apple trees. Which reminds me, I haven't visited Ponyville in a few months. I wonder how they're doing? I set my apple core down on my plate and reached for a pear next. Not liking the taste of pear skin I used my knife to peel it away and bit into it.
“Ugh!” I spit it out onto the plate and Trixie turned her head away from the mirror she had been looking into while brushing her hair. She gave me a questioning look. “It looks ripe, but if it is then I'm a Pony!” I tossed it back onto the plate. It bounced off and rolled to a stop at the end of the rectangular tray.
“Try the banana instead.” Trixie suggested. The banana was the only thing left on my plate that was not a vitamin. It's color was bright yellow with only a few small brown spots. I ate that fruit with no problem, and then also took my vitamins and drained my juice. “Better?”
“Much.” I glanced at the discarded pear. “That's the last time I'm going to eat those things when they're imported from Earth.”
“Out of season?”
“Beats me, but I've never had a bad fruit from your world except those Bryse Berries from Everfree.”
“Didn't that juice make you hallucinate?” Trixie asked. She had been there for some of it, but only the last two minutes or so before I threw it up outside of one of Zecora's windows.
I had been helping her as a test subject for a new potion (or as far as Human Doctors were concerned, medication) to help people see more clearly without the need for glasses. So we waited until a very foggy day came up, and then she had me drink some juice from them (along with some other things she'd mixed in). I saw through the fog like Superman saw through walls, but a few seconds later I also saw things that weren't there. Things (evil clowns) that made me scream like a little girl and run off into the woods. Zecora had to chase after me to get me to come back, and after knocking me out dragged me back to her house. When Trixie appeared outside the house to look for me I had been securely tied to a tree stump and Zecora had gone back inside to mix up something to counteract what she'd given me. Not knowing what had happened, Trixie untied me and shook me awake. Seconds after waking up again I grabbed my stomach and ran into the house, thinking it was my bathroom at home (on Earth) and puked out of a window, thinking it was my bathroom sink. Zecora had not been happy with Trixie for releasing me, and even less happy with me for barfing right next to her house, but not long after it was out of my stomach my body cleaned it out of my system and I could see straight again.
Never again! I'll let the more adventurous types try out new medicines in the future! I stuck out my tongue and made a disgusted sound, recalling the bad taste.
“So, are we going to the beach, or what?” Trixie asked, picking up her wand and using it as an extension for her arm to pick up a large towel on its end. “The day isn't getting any longer, you know.”
My reflections on the past and as well as my meal finished, I nodded and stood, and began gathering my things.
Trixie took a deep breath of the salty air, as did I. Warm sand was beneath our feet, gulls called above us, the sun's rays shone on our skin, and a few Ponies and people had set up umbrellas and eventually-to-be picnic lunches here and there out of reach of the rolling surf. It was all very nice, and so very cliché.
“Ahhh!” I let it out, followed by Trixie. “I love the smell of sea air!” I took another breath of it.
“You can love the air.” Trixie said and started walking away. “I'm going to go change into a swimsuit.” She headed to one of the small huts used for changing and knocked. Nopony (or person) was inside, so she opened the door, walked in, and shut it. I had come wearing my swim trunks, so the only thing I needed to do was take off my shirt and drop my stuff on the sand. It was not hard to find a spot as summer was pretty much over already. This day had been one of the warmer ones all week, though undoubtedly the water was still plenty warm.
As I began to apply sun block to my bare skin a Human woman looking like she was in her late sixties wearing a red bathing suit came up to me and asked if I'd be so kind as to help her put sunblock on her back. It felt a little weird being asked that by a stranger, but she seemed to have come to the beach alone, and her eyes held no hidden or creepy agenda, so I said I would and did so.
“Ah, thank you, sonny.” She said when I finished. It had taken less than ten seconds. “I've not had anyone to help me do much of anything in a long time. It's good to know that there are still some people in this world that will- oh wait, it's two worlds now, isn't it?” I nodded, smiling. “These worlds. Here,” she reached into a bag that she was carrying and began digging around in it. I tried to tell her that I didn't want anything in return, but she insisted that a kindness, no matter how small, should be rewarded. To my puzzlement, she handed me a small blue bag made of...Actually, I have no idea what this is! It was blue, and smooth like fleece, but tough as leather. Curious, I poured out the contents into my hand. Six common white dice. To my surprise, all six of them faced up as sixes. Recalling the six dice that I'd seen on the 'note' from earlier, I widened my eyes and raised them to where the woman stood and took a step back and looked around me in all directions, including up when I saw that she no longer stood in front of me. There were no footprints leading away from me, and in fact, I did not see any Human footprints leading to me either.
I poured the six dice back into the bag and looked at the other side. On the other side in golden stitching read two words: 'Fortuna's Gamble'.
I was still staring at the words when Trixie came back from the changing hut. She asked me a question that did not register in my brain, and she waved a hand in front of my face, which brought me back to Ear- Mythica.
“You awake?” She asked. I jumped and stuffed the bag into a pointless pocket on my swim trunks. I'd remove it before I made a run for the water, but for the moment my pocket would do.
“Y-yeah.” I replied. “Um, Trixie, you didn't happen to see an older woman standing in front of me a moment ago, did you?” Trixie gave me a concerned look.
“Are you feeling alright? You didn't eat more of those Bryse Berries while I was gone, did you?”
“No, but I could have sworn that...” I shook my head. I must have imaged it. “oh never mind. Let's go swimming.”
__ __ __ __ __
A lovely young Asian woman watched the two Humans race one another for the water, playfully shoving one another before diving into the surf and swimming outward. Unlike Trixie, she had seen the older woman, and she knew that whomever she was, Human was not it. A Human's eyes would not have seen it, but there was a shine to her flesh as if it were only an illusion of some kind. What the Human male had been touching, she did not know, but the same shine that had been part of the supposed-Human's skin also was on the bag of dice she'd given him.
She tapped two fingers to her lips and stood up from her fold-able chair and walked over to the pile of things that the pair had left behind. Glancing at them briefly to make sure they were not paying any attention she opened the pocket he'd dropped the bag into and found- Nothing? She checked all corners and folds of the pocket. There really is nothing here...other than dust, that is.
“Hey!” Someone said angrily from behind her. She turned and looked to see an angry five-year old Human child standing next to an earth Pony foal, who also glared at her. “Get out of their stuff!” He picked up a handful of sand and threw it at her. She coughed and blinked, staring at the pair in surprise. When she did not move he picked up another handful and pointed at the water where Jacob and Trixie had gone. “They're here to have fun, and you're stealing from them! Don't you have any idea who that man is?! If it wasn't for him, I'd have never met Dune!” He pointed at the foal next to him. “If you don't leave right now, I'll call one of the guards!” His pointing hand became a fist.
“Alright, alright! You win!” She said, and zipped the bag shut again and rose. “I'll go back to my spot, and I won't bother theirs again.” Both of the children watched her suspiciously and continued to watch her until their parents called them back for lunch.
True to her words, she stayed at her place and waited and watched for the same two to come up from the water, and then waited for them to leave before getting up again to follow them. Whoever that was that gave him that bag must have some sort of plan in mind for him. Most alien races don't bother with the Human race as all except as playthings or medicinal testing. She stopped briefly at the place where the woman had stood and waved an energy scanner in the air. No readings that would indicate anything scientific or magical. Impossible, unless this is an energy source that my people never found and had time to study before their demise. She turned her head to watch the two walk off the sands and onto a boardwalk.
Putting her scanner away, she turned and followed them out to where several bicycles and carts of various types were chained to poles and bike racks. There were also several clusters of lockers where the two briefly stopped and removed a rod lined with silver in a coil fashion like a huge candy cane. She frowned when the two vanished in a flash of light. There was, of course, a way for her to track where they had gone, but as with all magical traces done with her tech, it would take time for it to pinpoint their destination (because it needed to analyze the specific magical frequency first so it could match all future traces of it), and if it was outside her ship's tracking range, then it would only give her a vague direction to head in. As it was, she was only a few miles from being outside it's range radius. I really need to find some way to increase its range!
She was not much of a mechanic, but with her ship being able to repair itself on its own there had never been much need to learn. Now she couldn't learn unless she was willing to stoop to being taught by Humans, whose tech level was far lower than hers and would be for more than a thousand years. Well, for most of it, anyway. A bare handful of her people's tech they would be replicating in the next several decades or so now that they would be having magic as a power source. Once they discovered how to replicate it, that was.
Her device made a beeping sound and she looked down at it to discover, much to her annoyance, that wherever the two had gone, they were indeed beyond her ship's range. That's what I get for grabbing a Timux instead of a scout ship when I fled that dying orbital station! I guess I'll just have to go get it and fly it closer.
& & & & &
“Woah, woah, woah! Hold on!” Rainbow Dash said, interrupting the Doc. “I thought you said that you had not been there for all of it! How could you know about that lady if you weren't there?”
“Well you see, we have these incredible little things on our heads called 'ears'.” he wiggled his own. Rainbow Dash scowled at him. “All we need to do to use them properly when another person is trying to tell us something.” For a second, Rainbow Dash looked like she was going to slap him, but then she sighed.
“I guess I walked right into that one. But could you at least stop being so dramatic and actually tell us the names of people or ponies so that we don't have to figure out which she you're talking about when there's two shes?”
“Alright, fine!” He humphed. “The Asian woman is The Shield. Are you happy now?”
“You made that up!”
“No, really! That is her name!” The Doctor insisted. “Everyone in my culture has a name that has a meaning behind it! Not unlike your culture, Rainbow Dash. It's just that my TARDIS translated what the actual word was from my language so that you understand its meaning.”
“There's nothing his TARDIS can't do!” Ditzy said cheerfully, then her face became a mild frown. “Well, everything except bake its own muffins. Or make food at all, for that matter!”
“Or tea.” The Doc said followed by a sigh.
“Or a functioning toilet!” Jacob added.
“I told you already, it's not that it doesn't work, the tank just needs to be filled with water manually!”
“Are you kidding me? You're from an uber-advanced race of aliens that can bend time and space, but you don't have toilets that refill themselves? Our race solved that problem over a thousand years ago!”
Fluttershy raised a leg and the Doc nodded.
“Yes, yellow and pink Pegasus?”
“Um...I was....I was just wondering...did you ever find out why the moon broke apart?” The Doc nodded.
“Yes, but it's a rather upsetting explanation. Are you sure you want to know why?” Fluttershy thought about it a moment, then shook her head.
“Not if it's sad.” The Doc nodded and then suggested that everypony take a seat because there was quite a bit more to tell. Spike left briefly and came back holding a bowl full of gemstones which he happily began to munch on. He asked if anyone else was hungry, but other than Ditzy, who'd brought her own food, no one was. The Doc asked if anyone had any other questions at the moment. There were none.
“Alright then, where was I?” The Doc tapped his forehead a few times as if to jog his memory. “Ah yes, I was getting back to myself and Ditzy!”
* * * * *
(Year 2119)
The TARDIS popped into regular time flow again, still near the moon, but this time on the opposite side of it. Ditzy looked at the radar and saw several gray dots, but no red. She asked The Doctor what they meant, and he explained that gray dots were machines that had no sentient life forms on board.
“They're probably cell phone or television satellites. They're nothing to worry about.” He said calmly before walking to another section of the multi-sided control console. He watched a video screen and nodded. “This is two years before the invasion event. I'll see if the TARDIS can detect any non-Earth technologies like that ship we saw before. Or perhaps 'after' would be a better word given tat now we're before the-”
“Ugh!” Ditzy said, rubbing her head with her front hooves. “You're making my head hurt again! Just do the scan!” The Doctor gave her an apologetic look and he stopped talking and 'did the scan'.
A few minutes later he announced that no alien tech was detected (outside what should have been there from an assortment of crashed ships hidden in secret Human testing facilities, and none of those matched the ship they had seen). So either they're not here yet, or they came over from Mythica, or they have a very good cloaking device. The Doc checked the date. If the dating was correct (and there were times that he wasn't sure that it was) they had popped back in four years previous to the demise of Earth. Would that be far enough? Knowing Humans and their unwillingness to believe an early warning, no, but perhaps this can be averted another way...
The Doc brought a map of the universe in his Reality up on screen and began looking for the Dalek home world. He found it and entered the coordinates into the machine so that they'd appear near the eleventh planet rather than the twelfth. In his own Reality, the Dalek home world had been destroyed due to his efforts by indirectly causing their sun to go supernova, but perhaps that had not been the case here. If it had not, then they just might still have the majority of their forces stationed there, which would mean that if he could infiltrate it- I'm suddenly wishing that I was 'The Ninja' instead of 'The Doctor'- then he could alter the files so that Earth was not in them- And hope I'm not discovered.- and then make their escape! I wish I had gotten to know Houdini better! With all he'd been through in the past, this should be a cinch! If we don't die just minutes after appearing in that galaxy it will be a miracle!
“Um, Doctor, why are you making hurt faces over and over? Are you feeling okay?” Though he'd not realized it, The Doc had made pained expressions every time he'd had internal monologue while forming a plan.
“I'm fine, Ditzy. Just making a plan.”
“Well, while you make a plan, I'm going to go make lunch. I'm starving!”
Contrary to most assumptions about Ditzy, she was not going into the food preparation room to produce her trademark muffins. Instead, she made a fruit salad, and poured chocolate syrup on it. A lot of chocolate syrup. She made another for her host, and then carried the two back and set on on an empty space (actually, the only empty space) on the control console and sat on the floor and promptly dove into hers. Chocolate covered the front of her muzzle and mouthfuls of fruit chunks and more liquid chocolate coated the inside of her mouth. “Nom wan nom nom!” She 'said' before stopping to swallow. She let out a small burp, said “'Scuse me!” then went back to eating.
After a few minutes of listening to her eating 'dialog' The Doc became curious and looked into his own bowl of fruit salad. (He identified it by a little sticky note she'd pressed to one side of it.)
Salad? This looks more like soup! There is no way that the healthy value of the fruit offsets the unhealthiness of all that chocolate! He looked over to where Ditzy was now licking her bowl clean. If that doesn't make her sick, I'll be shocked. He thought as he tried to scoop a chocolate-drowned piece of fruit. He missed and he let the chocolate drain out of the frog of his hoof and then tried again. I miss having fingers! He thought mournfully. It had not been the first time he'd thought or said that, and unless the moon really was made of cheese (which could explain how Luna had not starved to death up there) he doubted that it would be the last, either.
“What's wrong, Doctor? Don't you like Chocolate-covered fruit?” Ditzy asked.
“I have no problem with fruit covered in chocolate, but this fruit is drowned in it.” He replied.
“Does that mean...” she sniffed and her eyes became a little teary. “Does that mean that you aren't going to eat it?” She gave him sad-puppy eyes and he suddenly felt very guilty, though he had no idea why.
“Not at all, Ditzy,” He tried to reassure her. “I just meant-”
“WAAaaah!” Ditzy threw her head back and wailed. The Doctor flinched and took a step back, feeling awkward, and looked down at the bowl. Some pieces of fruit had floated to the top, but most were buried beneath the chocolatey surface. He lowered his face to just above the surface, hesitated briefly, then plunged his nose into it and proceeded to eat the contents. It wasn't until the bowl was half empty that he realized that Ditzy was no longer crying and looked up from the bowl, chocolate running down his muzzle. Derpy was no longer crying, and in fact looked as if she had not been at all. Instead, she looked her normal happy self. Did I just get scammed? It feels like it.
“Well?” She asked eagerly. The Doctor had to admit that even though it was much sweeter than he liked, it was not bad and there was more fruit slices in it than he had originally thought. Rather than soup it made him instead think of cereal.
The Doc lifted his dripping head from the bowl and nodded.
“It's good. Though might I make a suggestion?” Ditzy nodded. “Next time do a chap a favor and let me decide how much chocolate to add, would you? I like fruit- well, with exception to pears- and I like chocolate, but not in this amount. But thank you, Ditzy.” Ditzy looked a little embarrassed and nodded and said that he was welcome.
“So what's the plan, Doctor?”
“'The plan' is to go to the Dalek home world and corrupt their files so that Earth is not in their database.”
“Corrupt their files?” Ditzy asked, picturing a filing cabinet.
“Yes.” He said. “We appear near their home world,” If it's there in this reality. “sneak past their defenses, infiltrate their star chart archives, and then release a virus-” Ditzy now pictured the trash-can thing wearing a doctor's operating mask and sneezing. “into their systems and hopefully cause permanent damage to them, thus removing the majority of what had been mapped of this galaxy and, if nothing else, delaying them from finding Earth for another century or so.” By then he was hoping that he would have had enough time to come up with a more permanent solution.
“Doctor, I don't think this plan is going to work!” Ditzy said, stating the obvious. Where they had appeared they were safe enough, but there was a cloud of the same ships they'd watched decimate Earth surrounding it.
“Nonsense!” He declared confidently, and walked down a set of steps into a room below. Ditzy, curious, followed him. The sound of a crash came from below and ran galloped the rest of the way down to see a tennis ball bounce by her face. She slid to a stop and looked to her left where the Doctor's hindquarters stuck out of a pile of junk. While he dug through it his tail waved back and forth and Ditzy, face turning pink, looked the other way until his head suddenly popped back up again with an object in his mouth that on one end she recognized as a microphone. On the other end was something shaped like a flower pot.
“Yeph! Nowf week cang gek crew no pocklem!” He said around the metal bar in his mouth.
“And a microphone will help us how?” Ditzy asked, one hoof facing upwards.
“It's not just any microphone! This little wonder has a built-in voice and appearance changer! I just spin the dial to select a race that's already programmed into it and- presto!- I look and sound like a Dalek!”
“But Doctor, what about the TARDIS? It won't change that too, will it?”
“Not at all, but that's where you come in, miss Doo!”
“Me?” Now her hoof was pointed at herself.
“You'll be acting as my prisoner.” He explained as they walked back up the stairs to the control room. “I'll claim that I captured this vessel and you, the pilot of it, and say that I'm taking you to be studied to determine where your world is.”
“That's brilliant, Doctor!” She exclaimed, impressed. “But there might be one problem.”
“Really? What's that?” He asked as he set the flower pot microphone down on the ground and, with some minor difficulty, extended it up to his height.
“What happens after we land? Will the microphone still hide what you are?”
“Nope! That's where it gets interesting!” The Doctor said with a crazy look as he flew the ship right up to the cloud of Dalek ships.
“IDENTIFY YOURSELF!” A screeching metallic voice 'greeted' them from the TARDIS' console. The Doctor cleared his equine throat and pressed a button on the console just below the speaker that the voice had come out of. True to what he'd said would happen, The Doctor's voice was altered.
“I AM RET-URNING FROM A SCOUTING MISH-SHUN! I HAVE CAPT-CHAD THIS VESSEL AND ITS PIE-LAT! REQUSTING PERMISH-SHUN TO LAND FOR PRISONER INTERRO-GATION!” The Doctor released the button and coughed and ran his tongue over his teeth. “Just hearing myself speak like that puts a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth!” He said to Ditzy. “Bleh!” He stuck his tongue out.
“REQUEST GRAN-TED! CONTINUE AND LAND AT PLATF-ORM SIXTY NINE!”
The Doctor clapped (or perhaps clopped would be a better sound description) his hoofs together.
“All-RIGHT!” He exclaimed loudly. “Now for the rest of our little impossible mission!”
Credit to Wikipedia, it gave me the information that the Dalek home world had been destroyed via Supernova, as well as the atmosphere being toxic. I've never read the Doctor Who books, (I hadn't even known that there were any until recently), but i do intend to read them now that I know.
Chapter 2
The TARDIS landed on an empty platform, but not the one that the Dalek they'd spoken to had ordered because The Doctor wanted to land unannounced. The Doctor grabbed his Sonic Screwdriver, and a cardboard cut-out of a Dalek and two breathing masks, one of which he gave to Ditzy and helped her put it on. Ditzy brought a box of six blueberry muffins and a WTF expression for him pushing the cut-out ahead of him.
“The Daleks are lethal enemies, but they aren't terribly imaginative.” He explained. At a distance if they don't look too closely they should think that I'm one of them.”
“And me?”
“Well, I did tell them that you were my prisoner, but you could always walk behind me.” Derpy blinked and sighed, getting the feeling once again that this was a bad idea, but she did trust him, and his wacky plans always seemed to work in the end even if they started to go horribly wrong, so she stepped in behind him and his cardboard cut-out and trotted across the landing's walkway to a door. When they stopped at it The Doctor stuck a hoof balancing his Sonic Screwdriver out from behind it and after a brief buzzing whistle the door opened and his leg once more retreated behind the cut-out.
The two Ponies followed a bland brass-colored hallway with no decorations, no change in color, and many doors or splits going either to the left or the right. So far they had seen no one, but that only made Ditzy more nervous. She felt as if there were eyes on her back, though there was not one sign that there was. The Doctor had given her a crash-course on Dalek surveillance equipment while they came down to the planet from space. She couldn't remember all the details about them and how they worked (especially how they worked. It made her head hurt trying to understand the finer points of it.), but she still remembered how to disable it if she saw it, which was why she brought the box of muffins. Apparently there was something in blueberry juice that ruined their lenses, and the last of the blueberries they'd had she'd made into a snack for later that evening. Or morning. Or midnight. Or whatever time it would be when several hours for them passed and they stopped traveling for a meal break. So she'd brought them along, a little annoyed at the possible wasting of perfectly good food, and constantly looked around them for any sign of the equipment.
After ten minutes of walking she asked The Doctor if he had any idea where they were, because with everything looking pretty much the same, she sure didn't.
“Not really, to be honest. This complex is a little different from the one that I'd seen in my Reality. Actually, it's rather empty. I'd expected a lot more Daleks than what we'd seen in orbit, as well. There's something going on in this time line that did not happen in mine.” A door to their right suddenly opened and the Doctor quickly turned the cut-out around so that it would face the incoming being. A Dalek rolled in and stopped to look at the cut-out. The eye-stalk on it's head looked up and down several times, and then it turned and quickly rolled back the way it had come, the door shutting behind it.
“That was close!” Ditzy said, sighing in relief. The Doctor's face became confused.
“Why did it leave? Up close there should have been no doubt in its mind that we were imposters.” The Doc stuck his head out in front of the cut-out and looked at it, his expression becoming delighted. “Ha! I'm smarter than I thought!” The cut-out showed a red Dalek instead of a bronze one, and it stood taller than the one that had come through the door.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. Let's keep moving.” Still pleased with himself, The Doctor continued down the hall, passing more doorways and eventually came to a ramp. They followed it as well, though he now had to hold onto the cut-out to keep it from falling over. When they reached the bottom they stopped because not one, but three Daleks were crossing the room. They stopped when they saw the cut-out, and then as the first had, turned and quickly rolled the other way. They're not being respectful, they're running! But why are they running?
The quickly crossed the open area and stepped up to a closed door. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at it and as with before the door opened.
“Doctor, if we don't know where we're going, then how are we supposed to find the file-place?” Dtizy asked quietly.
“Well, I suppose we could always ask directions.” He said, and carelessly stepped out from the cut-out and approached the only wall adornment they'd seen since coming. It looked like a window, but it showed other places, none of them outside. This must be one of those computer-things that The Doctor showed me earlier! Ditzy thought as The Doctor began prodding the screen with his Sonic Screwdriver. After a few minutes he nodded and rejoined her. “Well?” She asked.
“We're right above one of the terminals that would grant us access to it, but unfortunately it's four floors down and the Dalek hover technology made elevators a pointless invention. Any ideas?”
“Well, I am a Pegasus, Doctor.” She replied, giving him a look that told him that he was missing the obvious.
“Yes, I know that you're a Pegasus, Ditzy. But I don't see what- Oh.” He made his own 'derp' face. “You're a Pegasus. You can fly us down.” She nodded. “Well then I suppose we should get to work finding an elevation shaft.”
The pair spent the next several minutes checking one set of door after another until at last Ditzy found a doorway that opened into a shaft with walls that that went both up and down a very long way. For some reason neither of them could fathom (since the hall they'd gone through had not had this done to it), it had been covered with a reflective material that produced a fun-house-like reflection of them. Ignoring it for the moment she called the Doctor over to her and then she flew over him and wrapped her legs around his back and flapped harder and lifted him just enough to drag the tips of his hoof across the floor. The Doctor gripped one side of the cut-out in his teeth.
“Now rememfer, Difzy, four floorgs down.” The Doctor reminded her through a mouth of cardboard. She nodded and then slowly lowered them down the shaft. The first two floors were no problem, but while passing the third a Dalek was also entering the shaft and stopped when it saw them.
“Uh Oh.”
“INTRUDER A-LER-HURT!” It announced loudly.
“Faster, Ditzy! Hurry!” The Doctor spit the cut-out out of his mouth, its usefulness expired. Ditzy closed her wings completely and let them drop just in time to avoid her being shot. A laser shot flew over their heads where they had just been and slammed into the wall and ricochet back at it, temporarily stunning it. Now I understand! The Doctor thought as the Dalek said something about making a mistake. It's reflective so that if an enemy makes their way inside the elevation shafts above or below them The Daleks can fire a shot like a billiards player hits a ball and bounce it up or down the shaft. That's new!
Ditzy opened her wings again and angled them so as to arch their descent. The pair of them entered the floor that they needed to get to and then Ditzy released her hold on the Doctor, who hit the ground running with Ditzy flying close behind. He turned left and Ditsy followed him to a dead end facing a terminal with a hollow in one side that looked like it had been designed with the toilet-plunger arms of the Daleks in mind, which of course it had been. How in the world do they build anything with no arms? Ditzy wondered while the Doctor pulled his Screwdriver from Ditzy's mail bag, again with his teeth and aimed it at the hollow. It made it's buzzing whistling sound and then the front panel came off and he began messing with the machinery contained inside.
“EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!” A chorus of voices chanted from back the way they had come.
“Um, Doctor?” Ditzy said, looking over her back.
“Not now, Ditzy, nearly got it!” He said, making a shooing motion with one of front legs before continuing whatever it was that he was doing. Ditzy turned away from his and trotted back to the corner and cautiously eased her head out just enough so that she'd be able to see down the hall.
“TAR-GET ACQUI-YERD! FIRE-RING!” Ditzy ducked her head behind the corner again just in time to have shots hit the corner and melt it. She 'eeped', fell on her flank, and scrambled backwards twelve inches.
“Doctor, we need to go! NOW!” She said. She stood up and bit into his shirt and tugged him back.
“No! I'm nearly finished! I just need to flip this little lever!” He pushed her away and did so, and then grabbed his screwdriver, stuffed it back into her bag and began galloping to a door on the opposite side of the dead end they stood in. Laser shots impacted the wall. Ditzy waited a moment, and then followed. One shot burned through the hair of her tail, but she otherwise escaped.
“Ack! My tail!” Dizty exclaimed, looking at the smoking remains.
“It could be worse! Keep ru- er, galloping! We need to find another elevation shaft!”
“But won't they just come in too and shoot us?”
“The Dalek's weaponry is deadly, but their fatal flaw is that they can't shoot anything directly above, or below them. If something is behind them they can spin around, but flying up horizontally or down is something I've never seen them do.” In my reality He didn't add. Hopefully that was another hing about them that had not changed along with their solar system still being here, and they would not use the billiard-shot idea on them. I suppose there could be another reason for it being reflective..
Shots flew past their bodies, striking walls, the floor, and the ceiling, and even grazed The Doctor's shirt, much to his annoyance.
“Drat, I liked this shirt!” He muttered, and turned a corner, and ran into another Dalek! The Doctor began to slow out of instinct, fearing that he was about to be shot, but Ditzy hopped into the air again and grabbed him, lifting him up over the Dalek even as it shot at him.
“Which way, Doctor?!” She yelled to him, scared, as they came to a crossing, beating her wings faster and doubling the speed she'd had on hoof. He had no idea, but he gave her an answer anyway.
“Left!” She darted to the left as more shots flew past them from the surprised Dalek that had just finished turning itself around. “Right!” He said at another crossing. Ditsy's eyes caught sight of another opening without a door and guessed that it was another elevation shaft and dove in, flapping her wings hard to lift them up four floors.
Ditzy began to sweat from her efforts and began taking deeper breathes but continued to carry him as they zoomed through the halls, zipping past enemies and multiple doors until at last coming to the door they'd entered through. It was guarded.
“Ditzy! Drop me and buck their eye stalks! That's their armor's one weakness! Blind them!” The Doctor commanded. Without thinking Ditzy dropped him and did exactly that. Their shields dissolve bullets, but something as primitive as brute force might still hurt them. Please, if there's a Maker out there, let it work!
Trusting The Doctor but heart filled with fear, Ditzy flew at them faster without the Doctor weighing her down and rolled through the air, dodging the shots fired at her, ducking under and then above them until she was right in front of them, where she pulled up, spun around, and kicked the blue lenses with both legs at the same time as hard as she could. She heard the sound of breaking glass and both of the trash-can looking-things began shrieking that they could no longer see.
Feeling proud of herself, Ditzy gave them another kick on their domed heads while The Doctor joined her.
“Fine work, Ditzy Doo! If I had a medal I've give it to you, but since I don't how about I just get us out of here?” Ditzy saluted and then they made their escape to the TARDIS where he leaped at the controls and dove back into the time stream once more.
While the TARDIS rocked back and forth and The Doctor grinned at their successful mission Ditsy took the box of muffins she had stuffed into her mail bag out and ate one from it. We ruined the Bad Guy's files, I blinded two of them, neither of us are hurt (other than my tail), and no food was wasted. All in all, I'd call this a good day!
& & & & &
“But, if you successfully destroyed the information they had on where Earth was, how come you needed to take Jacob to fight them again later?” Twilight asked when The Doc stopped for a drink of tea.
“Do you really want me to spoil it now, or would you prefer to wait? It will be explained in due time, trust me.” He said before again lifting a teacup carefully to his mouth and sipping. Jacob joined him in having tea, but he used a small thermos instead of a teacup. Twilight looked at the other girls, whose expressions varied. Some of them shared her curiosity, others did not. Trixie seemed more interested in Jacob than in the story itself. She kept looking him over, her eyes looking as if she were dreaming while awake. Ditzy had left an hour ago, saying she had mail to deliver that was a bit overdue in some cases.
“No, I suppose I can wait. I used to hate it when somepony told me how my favorite books ended before I'd read them.” The Doctor nodded, a small smile on his face. “Another question though,” He nodded once again. “Why is it that when you tell your part of the story you do it in third-person, and Jacob tells his in first-person?” The Doctor turned his head to look at Jacob and shrugged.
“I don't really know. I suppose it makes it easier to tell our parts apart that way.”
“But you're both speaking separately. How is that hard to tell apart?” The Doc pointed at a book in Jacob's hands. Jacob also held a pen in one hand.
“You see that? He's writing what I say down in it so as to combine it with his own journal in the future. I've read from his travel journals before, and when he writes about his own actions he does it in first-person so it seems as if he's talking to the reader directly. If I talk in first-person it messes him up. It would not be the first time it's happened.” He stopped and considering the last sentence a moment. “Actually, technically, given the time period we're in now, it would be, but from our point of view it's not.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Twilight turned her head to look at Jacob, who was writing furiously. “Hey Jacob?” She called to him. He looked up, looking surprised. “Can I read your journals sometime? I'd like to know what I've missed.”
“I'm sorry, Twilight, but without permission from Celestia I'm going to have to say no.” Twilight's eyebrows rose.
“Celestia knows what you've been doing?” Jacob made balancing motions with his arms.
“Not yet, but she will know some in a few years when Luna gives her my rough-drafted journal, and then she will again when she sees me again in a hundred and ten years. If Celestia gives me permission then I'll gladly let you read them.” Twilight looked excited all of a sudden, like a child waking up on Christmas morning. She was probably considering adding it to her library collection.
The Doctor set his empty tea cup down and stood up again and announced that he needed to use the stallion's room and promptly trotted out of the cave.
“So, what have I missed while I was away?” Jacob asked the girls.
“Well, in my case,” Twilight began. “not very much. I'm still studying and taking care of the rebuilt library, and that's about it.”
“You forgot to mention your boyfriend, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie objected. Twilight blushed. “He's the nicest Pony-guard I've ever met! He even responded when I said hello to him!” Recalling the unfriendly indifference the guards often showed any who greeted them besides the princesses, Jacob had to smile. He already knew that he and Twilight would marry and have a few kids, but pretended to not know.
“Really? A guard with a personality?” He turned his gaze back to Twilight. “Don't let such a rare breed as that get away, Twi.” He looked at Applejack. “How's business? If I recall, the last time I was in the right time they flew off the carts almost faster than you could buck them!” Applejack nodded and looked proud.
“We ain't never had so much money pouring in! One of ya'lls people suggested a sellin' method of lettin' folk pick their own fruit and then sellin' it by the pound instead of the single apple on a cart. Its saved us so much effort and tine on the farm, and the children love it and treat it like a game!” Her expression soured. “Though there's been more'an few times we've had to throw a few thievin' varmints off the premises for eatin' without payin'!”
“Well, to borrow a phrase from my world, you can't have a garden without needing to pull up a few weeds. I'm glad that things are doing better now.”
“You should come by sometimes. I know Applebloom and Big Mac wouldn't mind havin' ya over!”
“As long as your cider is as good as I remember, I'd have to be a fool not to.” He said with a grin.
“Say, uh, do ya think you could perhaps give me a few business hints from the future?” She asked, leaning forward and lowering her voice even though everypony (and Dragon) could still hear her. Jacob laughed, as did every other Pony. Spike's mouth was full, so he couldn't.
“Sorry, Applejack, but that'd be cheating, and worse, it could screw something up in your family's future. I may not always be around, but I do care about what happens to you and your kin. I will say this, though. You'd be proud of them if you ever met the future generations that I have, and Sweet Apple Acres will be in your family for centuries to come.” AJ sniffed and smiled again.
“What'd I miss?” The Doctor said as he re-entered the cave.
“Nothing, Doc. Feel better?”
“Much! Shall we continue?” He asked, looking at the girls. “There's still a bit more to tell before we ran into Jacob.”
“Certainly, but I must ask first, Doctor,” Rarity said. “You said that that shirt I made for you- which, I don't recall actually making one for you- was damaged. How then is it that it looks perfectly fine now?”
“Simple! It was given to me by you!” Rarity blinked.
“I'm sorry?”
“Well you see, in the future, I received a vacuum-sealed package that came with a note from you that scolded me for damaging the first shirt you'd made for me along with its replacement! The note said that it was me at this time that told you about it, hence how you knew that I would be needing it in the future. Thanks for that, by the way.” He winked at her and she smiled and tilted her head upward a bit and in a way that moved her hair out of the way to allow her full face to be seen.
“You're welcome, my good Doctor. But what about the first suit?”
“Ah, yes.” The Doctor stopped and thought for a moment, as if wondering if he should really tell her. “Do you recall a certain brown Pegasus that also had a sand timer for a Cutie Mark?” Rarity thought for a moment, and nodded, looking puzzled. “That was me.”
“But-”
“I know, I'm not a Pegasus now, but for a brief time, I used to be. I'd explain it, but it would probably just make your head hurt. It has that effect on most people, or Ponies in this case.” He sat down on a stool this time rather than a table and got as comfy as he could. “Shall I continue?”
* * * * *
The TARDIS popped back into the Galaxy that Earth was in next to a star that was very close igniting. Another four years and a 'spark' and it would become another beacon of light in the blackness that was empty space. At the moment though, it was a cloud of mostly-green and blue gases and some dust.
“Oooh!” Ditzy said as she peeked outside. “So pretty!” The Doctor nodded, also smiling, though more at her delight than at the beautiful sight near them. The look of wonder and joy that came into the other races' eyes when they saw for the first time the near-infinite wonders of space was his delight. He had been around for a very long time, and there was very little (from a matter of perspective) that he had not yet seen at least once, and to borrow an Earth phrase: 'If you've seen one Academy Award movie, you've seen them all.' There were literally millions of forming stars all throughout the universe in various stages of it, and other than the rare sight of a joint-forming that usually resulted in a smaller star orbiting a larger, nebulae had nearly lost his interest.
Ditzy continued to watch as several wisps of gas were slowly being pulled into the larger cloud like the smoke of a cigarette wafting through a room into portable air filter (though Ditzy herself would have had no idea what a portable air filter looked like).
While Ditzy watched the Doctor removed his shirt and placed it on a chair in the bathroom and took a shower to wash what of the Dalek atmosphere out of his hide and hair that had clung to him. He had a more advanced version of a shower stall elsewhere in the TARDIS, but there were times that he preferred what both the Humans and Equestrians called a 'proper shower' to a simple decontamination scan.
When he had finished and stepped out he toweled off just enough so that he'd not leave a trail of water in his wake, and then headed back up to the control room. Ditzy was nowhere to be found and for a moment he panicked and ran to the door. To his relief it was closed and secured. Still, this left the question as to where it was that Ditzy had gone to. He trotted to the steps and checked the first level down, which was a juice room. Inside was a very extensive collection of various fruit juices from all over the universe, some of which, ironically, were toxic to him, and many other races that he's encountered and traveled with. He couldn't recall personally having ever used it for anything at all, and Ditzy was not in it, so he went to another room, this one full of-
“Plants?” He was not overly fond of plants, but he supposed this would explain where Ditzy had gotten the mint leaves for the tea she'd made the other day. Or other decade, depending on how you look at it. he thought with an amused expression, and trotted amongst the rows of flora. “Ditzy? Are you in here?” He called, but he got no response. He had been about to leave when he heard a crash coming from the other end of the room. Crashes being fairly common with Ditzy around, he wasn't worried, but he went to check on her anyway.
The Doctor blinked in surprise at the sight of seeing Ditzy rolling around on the floor. He raised an eyebrow as she rolled over to him and stopped against his forelegs. He looked down at her and she stared up at him with a dumb smile on her face and waved a hoof at him.
“Hi, buddy!” She said in a happy voice.
“Ditzy, did you eat anything in here a moment ago?” He swept his gaze around the room, not that probably he'd know it if she had taken anything. Plants weren't really his specialty.
“Eeyep!” She pointed a hoof at a cluster of orange-cream colored mushrooms with pink bumps on them. They were shaped like small pancakes on stalks. “They smell like fresh-cut alfalfa, and taste like strawberries! You-” She tried to sit up and then fell back onto her extended wings again. “you should try one!” She rubbed her stomach. “Tasty!” The Doctor sighed at the realization that his assistant was high and lifted her up and slung her over his back. “Yay!” Ditzy clopped her hooves together and then poked him in the side as he carried her out of the plant-room. “Giddy-up, Doctor!” He rolled his eyes and ignored her, carrying her to one of the bedrooms and with some effort got her onto it. It was a very large bed, in fact one of two that was still Human-sized in length. It used to be his bed, but given his new form and how small it made him feel in it, he had recently moved to one of the others that had altered when he'd entered the Mythica world.
As he turned to leave Ditzy grabbed (again, still don't know how with no fingers) his tail and stopped him. “Doc, thank you.” She said, still with that dumb smile, though it was less dumb now and held gratitude.
“For what?”
“For picking me to travel with.”
“And thank you for agreeing to come, Miss Doo.”
Twenty three hours later (some of which he'd spent sleeping himself) Ditzy was back to normal and had made use of the swimming pool four levels down while The Doctor snoozed away. When she was finished she climbed the steps, hopped to the ground, extended her wings, and shook off like a dog, flinging droplets of water everywhere. She then grabbed a blue towel off towel rack and dried herself off more thoroughly and then hung it on a hanger.
Ditzy sighed contentedly, feeling absolutely wonderful after her nap and swim and trotted up to the control room, expecting to see The Doctor standing before the controls like she normally did after a nap, but found that he was not there. Ditzy looked about the room a moment, then approached the control console herself. The Doc had given her a basic overview of controls in case of an emergency situation, but she had never actually tried to use it herself before, nor did she intend to now. She just wanted to get a closer look at them.
If I had to guess, I'd say that it's meant for more than one Pony to pilot. It looks like it's supposed to have at least three. I wonder why he travels alone? Although she and the Doc had been traveling (what felt to them) more than four months, she knew very little about his past. Every time she brought it up he got a really sad look on his face when it did not become completely blank.
Occasionally he'd say something about his home in passing or someone he'd traveled with in the past, but rarely was it that he'd go into detail. She guessed that he was much older than she was even if his body didn't look it because of how she felt she might lose herself if she looked him in the eyes for too long. Her mother had once told her that the eyes were a window into the soul if you knew how to look, and when Ditzy looked him in the eye she felt as if she were falling in the vast open sky but was falling up instead of down. In a way it scared her, but she also wanted to know what it was that he kept locked up so tightly that no one else could see it.
“I call him my friend, but he knows far more about me than I know about him.” Ditzy thought aloud. She tapped the control console with the edge of one hoof, not trying to press anything and not really having a reason for the action. “Doctor, I can tell you're lonely. If you weren't then you probably wouldn't have brought me along with you.
“As much as I'd like to think that I'm special in some way, you've told me time and again that big historical events can not, or should not, be altered. When I'm with you I disappear from the time-line. Nothing seems to have really gone wrong, which means that if I were to die right here and now the worlds at large would not miss me.”
“But I'd miss you.” The Doctor's voice came from the top of the staircase. Ditzy jumped and looked at him, blushing slightly at her monologue being discovered. The Doctor slowly crossed the room towards her. While he did he continued to speak. “Your friends back home would miss you. Your relatives would miss you. The Ponies whose mail you deliver would miss you.” He came to a stop before her and gave her a small smile.
“History is full of beings with names that will be remembered until the end of time, Ditzy, but those beings could not have become famous without the events and now-forgotten-by-scholars beings that came before them that shaped the world they lived in first.
“Each time we interact with someone or somepony we change that someone or somepony, and they change us. Sometimes it is a big change, and sometimes a small or even infinitesimal one, but the changes do occur. A smile and a cheerful greeting on a gloomy morning or afternoon can alter a mood from grumpy to also being glad.” He placed a hoof on Ditzy's shoulder and she looked at it a brief moment before once more looking into his bottomless eyes.
“You may not be a princess, a magician, or an artisan, but in some ways you impact the worlds around you more than all three of those. Believe me, Ditzy, you would be missed.”
Sadly, their 'moment' was wrecked when when the TARDIS suddenly shook for half a second, and then settled again. Curious, the Doctor removed his leg from Ditzy and went to the controls to examine them.
“It would seem that we've landed somewhere. You didn't touch anything while you were up here alone, did you?” He sounded curious, not annoyed, to her relief.
“Well, I touched the side of the console, but I didn't push any buttons or anything.” Ditzy admitted.
“What was you emotional state when you did?”
“I was a little sad. Why?”
“I've told you this before, but the TARDIS is a living ship, and it seems to be able to at times sense moods. If you felt sad and it liked you, which I can’t imagine why it would not, it would do something or go somewhere that would cheer you up.”
“Well, I've always liked the saltwater beaches!” She offered. “Except for when I fall asleep and then a crab pinches my wings or a seagull steals my food, that is.” She frowned a little at the thought. The Doctor's face became a grin.
“Well it's been a long time since I've been to any salt-water beaches, and we did just save the Human race. What do you say we reward ourselves and build a sandcastle?” Ditzy hopped up and down like Pinkie Pie a moment, then blushed and said that it sounded fun.
“But Doctor!” Ditzy complained as they followed the Asian woman out into the wilderness, taking care to not be seen (or heard). “We came here to relax! Why are we following that Human?”
It had started out fun enough, and they had appeared in the early morning before many people had begun arriving, so they had fun-in-the-sun for several hours and had stopped to have pretzels and slurpees for lunch, but when he caught sight of a Human with angled narrow eyes and dark hair he tapped Ditzy on the shoulder and said that he was going to follow her. Not wanting to be left by herself, Ditsy reluctantly followed him, leaving their sand sculpture of a mailbox behind.
“Because that's no Human.” He said seriously, not really explaining anything.
“What?” Ditzy asked as dry dead grass crunched under hoof.
“No Human has that kind of scanning technology, and won't for more than a thousand years. She's something else.”
“Scanning technology? Where? I don't see it.”
“It's in one of her pockets. I want to see what she's up t-” The Doctor froze as the woman whirled around with a gun in her hand, pointing it first at him, then at Ditzy.
“Alright, who are you two, and why are you following me?” She demanded in a suspicious voice, her eyes narrowed. Both the Doctor and Ditzy raised their front hooves up in the air in a form of surrender. Rather than answer her question, however, The Doctor stared at her gun in shock.
“Is that a Nicca 396 emergency laser pistol?!” He outburst, incredulity heavy in his voice. The woman blinked and for half a moment she lowered her weapon, and then realized what she was doing and raised it again, her face even more suspicious now.
“How could you know that?! The locals of this world don't have a weapons technology level outside of what the Humans call the 'Middle Ages', and the Humans have yet to weaponize laser technology!”
“Doctor, why do you look like that?” Ditzy asked him. The Doctor leaned his head towards her slightly, his eyes wide.
“Her weapon is one that only my people used during the Time Wars against the Daleks in my home Reality. It was keyed to work only with our biology, meaning that if any other race touched it, it might as well have been a toy.” Ditzy understood now.
“So, does that mean she's like you? A Time Lord?”
Reading Ditzy and The Doctor's lips, the woman gasped loudly and dropped her weapon, staring at the pair of Ponies before her. The Doctor and Ditzy looked at the woman who stared The Doctor in shock.
“Given her reaction Ditzy, I'd say that's a very real possibility.” ------
Yeah, focusing on the Doc and Ditzy this time around. I've noticed as I keep writing Ditzy's name that I keep almost calling her Derpy. Let me know if I goofed anywhere.
For any curious as to what The Doctor's actual age is according to the original story, good luck finding out. While we can safely assume that he's over nine hundred as of the most recent Doctor (not including Doctor Whooves, since he's fan-made), as the link below states, http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor%27s_age
There are contradictions. So if something I've written seems a bit off (other than my own errors in which I've forgotten something I've previously stated, in which case, feel free to point it out to me), that's why. I simply could not find an approximate age.
You know, if I were smart, I'd be saving these chapters on my computer as separate documents like I did for two fics I wrote a long time ago (granted, each chapter was twenty or so pages long back then). It would make editing back and forth from here to there SO much easier!
--------
Chapter 3
Me and Trixie reappeared inside the bathroom of our bedroom and tossed our swim suits and towels into the laundry chute (after the first time I used it I found out later that each chute had its own laundry basket at the bottom that caught each individual’s laundry when, during a drunken dare from Trixie, I threw myself down the chute. After walking all the way back up to our room, as part of the deal, she did the same thing. We went for several more rides after that, which scared the crap out of a few servants when we dropped down out of the chute in front of them. We later were scolded by the guards for doing something so reckless and after Luna and Celestia found out they gave us extra-hard lessons as a punishment).
“That was fun!” I declared as I briefly showered myself off and then dried off again. Trixie did the same.
“Fun for you maybe! I got sunburned!” Trixie said, moving her arms and legs slowly to avoid pain.
“I told you to put on sunblock before we got in the water, but you didn't want to!” I pointed out as I pulled on a shirt. My ears had gotten a little crispy, but that was because my hair had wiped the sunblock off them while we were in the water. Trixie had simply neglected to apply it to herself at all.
“Yeowch!” She exclaimed as the hot water hit her.
Heated water had been one of several advancements that my people had been permitted to bring to Equestria by Celestia and Luna. Nearly every home in Canterlot had gladly accepted it, including those in the poor district, whom had been given a large discount due to their lack of funds.
“Try using luke-warm water, Trixie. It's more gentle on the skin.” I suggested. Trixie quickly did so, and sighed in relief as the cooler water ran over her flesh.
Dressed again, I exited the bathroom and checked to see if any notes had been left for us by anyone (or anypony. Hardly any Humans sent us any messages except for the occasional fan mail or request to be taught magic). There was nothing, so I tossed my tired body onto the bed that Trixie often claimed. The sheets had recently been changed, and they smelled good. I rolled over and buried my face in it, inhaling deeply.
A knock came at the door and I rolled over again and gave them permission to enter. The door opened and a Human dressed in a business outfit strolled in. Oh great. Another company wanting me to endorse something. I groaned inwardly.
“Mr Lighthand, am I disturbing you?” he asked in a falsely apologetic tone.
“No,” I lied. “is there something I can help you with?”
“Why yes, actually. You see, I represent the Official Board Of Magics Study And Replication.”
“OBOMAR?” ((Oh-Bah-Mar)) I pronounced rather than said in acronym form. He nodded enthusiastically, not noticing my bored expression.
“Yes! You may recall a letter we sent you about three months ago.”
“I was out of town three months ago helping a young Dragon hunt for gemstones around Tripple-Top Mountain for a week.” It had not been fun. Though we found what we were looking for, me and Spike had nearly gotten buried in an avalanche.
“Ah. Well, no matter! We've already approached the princesses regarding the study of magic, and we've had several volunteers from the local populace. Unfortunately, even though we've learned much from them, we still have yet to discover what specifically it is that allows them to use magic itself. Given that you and the girl are the only Humans to have the ability to use the same magic that the Unicorns and Alicorns do, we'd be honored if either you or her would join us in our pursuit of knowledge!”
“You can ask Trixie if you like, but I'm not interested.”
“But surely you can understand the benefits that magic could bring Humanity overall!” He sounded surprised, shocked even, that I was turning him down. “We'd no longer need to burn fossil fuels for transportation and making electricity! We could heal almost any illness or injury without the need for surgery! We-”
“You said that you've spoken to the princesses.” I interrupted. “What did they say?”
“Well, they themselves declined to be part of the study which, giving their occupation is understandable, but gave us permission to ask others.”
“I'll tell you what, if you ever find out what exactly it is that allows magic to be controlled, then I'll join you in your studies, but not before. I'm still a student myself, and most of my experience with magic is based more on instinct than actual understanding. I'd like to be sure I'm not going to destroy a town during a bad dream before I commit to anything else.” At my words of 'destroy a town in a dream' he swallowed and looked a bit nervous. He coughed and edged towards the door.
“Well, if you should ever change your mind, we have a building just outside of Canterlot. Good day, mister Lighthand.”
“Good day.” He turned and left, shutting the door behind him. I sighed. That man had not been the first representative of OBOMAR to ask me to join them in their study of magics, and I doubted that he would be the last of them. Once a year for the last five years that they had been bothering either me or Trixie to join their mission to uncover the secrets of magic, and while I could see benefits to magical integration with technology, there were also many bad things that could be done with it. Still, I meant what I said about taking them up on their offer if they could find out what made magic 'tick' if for no other reason than to see if I could find a way to keep my staff from decaying. As the years had gone by the color had faded a little, and I suspected that it would only become paler as time and use wore on. With the only other Alicorn horns being Melinda's and Thanatos' horns, (and Celestia and Luna's mothers if you wanted to get technical) and mine having given Melinda's to Trixie for her use and the others being the remains of the royal family I was not about to ask them for them as replacements. It would not have been right.
Obtaining more Unicorn horns would not be a problem if I really needed to get a few, but once my staff was gone I'd never get the same level of power from a wand again, which was the reason that Trixie had used her wand for our transportation to and from the beach rather than having me use my staff.
Trixie walked out of the bathroom still toweling her hair off. We both need haircuts. I thought as she removed the towel and tossed it to one side. Toweling off never took this long when it was shorter.
“Who was that?”
“Just a representative from OBAMAR trying to recruit us for their studies again.”
“What'd you tell 'em?”
“What do you think? I refused.” Trixie pulled a nightgown over her head, not bothering with a full outfit this time (because neither of us really cared), and then went to a pitcher to pour some water. She drank it and offered me some, I accepted, and also drank my fill (from my own cup). When we'd had our fill I looked out of the window. The sun was still high in the sky and from what little I could see from the windows there were few clouds to mar the rich blue open air.
A Pegasus flew by carrying a mail bag on either side of it, performing a barrel roll as it did so. It's lucky that it's letters aren't scattering everywhere. Actually, that reminds me, I haven't seen that one mailpony in awhile...what was her name? Ditzy-something? I didn't know her personally, but she had delivered letters both for and to me on multiple occasions and she always seemed happy to be doing her job and always had greeted me with a smile even when it was pouring rain out and water ran from her body in streams after she'd landed in the mail sorting room.
“I've got some mail for you today!” She's announce for all inside to here in a cheerful voice and a grin on her face, usually she'd also close her eyes (which I never saw a reason for, but it made her look cute). Maybe there's just been no mail? Yeah right. This is the Canterlot royal palace, and I just got some mail this morning!
“Are you going to put your stuff away, or just leave it in the duffel bag like you did last time?” Trixie asked.
“What stuff? All that I brought we tossed down the laundry chute when we got here. Just must swim trunks and my shirt and beach towel.”
“What about that little blue pouch that you stuffed into that one pocket?” Oh! The dice bag! I slid off the bed and trotted over to the bag we'd dropped in the bathroom and dug through the pockets until I found it again and drew it out. The dice inside it clicked as I changed my grip from the drawstrings to holding the pouch itself and I suddenly felt the odd desire to pour them into my hand and send them bouncing across the floor. I rolled my eyes and pushed the silly impulse away and carried it back into the bedroom.
“What's in that thing, anyway?” Trixie asked as I came back in.
“Dice.”
“Dice?” She looked at the bag doubtfully. “I never thought of you as much of a gambler.”
“I'm not. Someone at the beach gave it to me while you were changing.”
“Huh. Can I see it a minute?” I shrugged and tossed her the pouch. She caught it in one hand and loosened the strings around the mouth and dumped out- nothing. She and I both blinked in surprise. I knew that the bag was weighted with the six dice when I tossed the pouch to her, and clearly she had felt it too when she caught it, but now the pouch was empty. Trixie held it above her head and stuck a hand inside and felt around, but still found nothing. She gave me an accusatory look and asked me if I'd bewitched it as a joke. I answered that I had not and she tossed it back to me. As before I felt the weight of the dice and tipped the pouch over as she had. To both of our surprise six dice tumbled out into my palm, once again all facing up with sixes. Are they loaded dice? Wait, that's not important right now.
“Well, you may not have enchanted it, but whoever gave it to you sure did! I have to wonder if it was done as a joke or if they're enchanted to do something.” I shrugged, and once more felt the urge to toss them from my hand and let them roll across the room as they would.
“I guess there's only one way to find out.” I did so. They clicked as they impacted against the stone floor and tumbled forward, numbers whirling and spinning and scattering across the room. Each one of them eventually came to a stop in six different locations, but this time they did not all face up sixes. Each one faced up a different number, and each one stopped at six hexagonal points equally distanced. They did not all stop at the same time or in numerical order, and a few of them even bounced off of furniture first, but they all reached their places eventually. This of course, held no significance to Trixie since she had not actually seen the 'note' from this morning.
“I guess they're just dice after all. Maybe it's just the bag that's enchanted.” Trixie said, probably thinking aloud. I walked over to where they'd stopped, having a hunch that the dice and the note were connected somehow, and scooped them up and returned them to the pouch, pulling the drawstrings tight again. I then walked them over to the writing desk where I'd left the 'note' and set the pouch down on top of it. I'll get back to this later today when Trixie's not around. It did not pour the dice out when she held the pouch, so it's likely that if the two are related that they won't react to one another while anyone else is here.
Getting out of Trixie's company in theory should not be overly difficult, but keeping her out of my hair for a few hours likely would be. Pretty much all the fun stuff there was to be enjoyed in Canterlot was lessened in enjoyment by the rich snob Ponies that lived here. Most of the fun-type things that both me and her enjoyed could be found in the middle class district which most of the richer Ponies stayed away from, but they were almost always crowded with tourists from both worlds this time of year. It would not be until it was winter time again that the flow would stem off a bit and we could spend more time enjoying ourselves rather than standing in line for an hour just to get into the building. Of course, I could just buy her a movie ticket to that new video series she's into. That would make her happy, and I'd get plenty of time to try puzzling through this. Though really, neither the note, nor the dice will be going anywhere. I decided that they could wait.
“We've still got plenty of day to burn, Trixie. Any ideas?”
“Well, we could actually do what we're supposed to do, or we could play a prank on Celestia or Luna and make it look like the other did it, which could be funny as long as we didn't get caught. Or we could-” she listed off several other suggestions, including going down to the nearest freshwater lake and freezing it solid so we could ice skate out of season.
“While that last one sounds cool, no pun intended, I've never been much good at ice skating.”
“You roller blade easily enough, how is this different?”
“You don't get brakes with ice skates, Trix.”
“You've got magic!” Trixie argued back. “What better possible brakes could you ask for? Besides, it's not like you have to use your staff. Luna has been keeping all the horns from executed prisoners over the years just a just-in-case situation. She's got seven hidden away already. Just borrow one of them.” This was news to me.
“She does? She never told me that.”
“That's because they're not actually meant for me and you. She's keeping them for when your people figure out that having a Unicorn horn will grant them magic so they can study them for the purpose of making an imitation. I only found out because I followed Luna after one of the executions back to where she hid the other two because I was curious as to what she was doing with the horn she'd taken. When she caught me outside her door and I confessed that I was following her she made me promise not to tell anypony.”
“But you told me. You just broke your promise.” Trixie smirked and shook her head.
“Anypony, she said. You're not a Pony.” I laughed. Trixie had changed in a few ways over the years, but her mind'a talet for finding loopholes had not. “I appreciate the information, Trixie, but I'm not going to steal from my instructor, especially when she's a princess.”
“A wise decision, Jacob Lighthand.” Came Luna's voice from our door. She had opened it soundlessly and stepped inside. She looked at Trixie sternly, and Trixie squirmed a little. “I shall speak with you later about 'splitting hairs'.” She promised. She turned back to me, her face no less stern. “I detect the remnants of a teleportation spell. Where are you two returning from? You were told to practice what you'd learned last week, today.”
“We went to the beach while the weather was still good.” I confessed. “We would have invited you, but you were asleep at the time.” We might have done that given that Luna did not get out very often. Usually Luna was up and active during the night time hours rather than the day, and it was understandable why given her duties. “We might be up for another swim later tonight if you'd like to come then.”
Luna had not expected the invite and for a moment she forgot that she was displeased with us. She said that she would consider it, then again recalled (to my disappointment) that she was still displeased.
“I had been coming to tell you that you would not be having lessons tonight as a reward for all your hard efforts these last few months, but seeing as how you two already took it easy earlier today, I suppose that we can skip that and return to your studies.” Both me and Trixie groaned and Luna allowed a hint of a smile to appear at the corners of her mouth. “However, because you chose to be honest about it and not make something up, we shall only review last week's lesson, and then you'll be free to spend the night as you please.” We nodded and followed princess Luna out of the room.
* * * * *
“Oh. I see.” The Humanoid said after the Doctor had explained who he was, and how he'd come to be on Mythica. “So technically, you're not one of my people after all.”
“I'm afraid not, miss Shield.” The Shield sighed and looked crestfallen. She kicked at a small rock and sent it bouncing across the ground. “Believe me, I wish it were otherwise as well.” She sat down on the ground.
“So what's it like? Being a Pony, I mean.” The Doctor looked at his hooves and lifted one up as if examining it.
“It is certainly different, and a bit inconvenient at times. I still haven't quite figured out how to grip things like Ditzy here can.” He pointed at Ditzy, who was drinking from a bottle of water with one hoof. Ditzy lowered the bottle and offered it to The Doctor, who drank the rest using both hooves. “Fortunately when I changed the TARDIS also changed and the controls became simpler for me to use. That's not to say there that it's easy. I still am the only one flying it.” Ditzy frowned at The Doctor, feeling unappreciated. “Well, Ditzy helps, of course, but she only knows so much.”
“How long have you been traveling by yourself? Well, other than your companions, of course.”
“Since I left Gallifrey. Over seven hundred years.” The Shield's eyebrows climbed to the top of her head.
“Wow! You're way older than I am!”
“Really? How old are you?”
“I'm only three hundred and fifty years old, and a few extra months.”
“You don't look it! When did the Time War end here?”
“Oh, the Time War ended before I was born. I come from a family of refugees that made their home on an outdated abandoned defense space station in orbit around the only solid planet in the Fumas system.”
The Fumas system was a solar system made up of ten gaseous planets, only two of which being giants. After researching via time travel the Time Lords discovered that this had happened when the central cloud of the nebulae that had formed the star ignited and the resulting shock-wave had pushed all the further-out gases away from it. Over time (a very lengthy amount of it) the remnants that had been pushed out formed several planets after being pulled toward chunks of rock caught in the star's orbit as it passed through the remaining cloud over and over (like rolling a small snowball down a snow-covered hill). Over time other passing solid bodies picked up gas as well or new worlds came hurtling through space and were caught by the sun's pull as well.
For a time that system had been used as a fuel source for non-time traveling craft , but once alternatives were found the system was largely ignored except in children's science classes.
“There we lived in peace for two hundred and thirty years before they found us again and-” She paused and hesitated before continuing. “I ran. There was no hope of victory, and an alarm to abandon the station sounded, so I fled to the hanger from my post, jumped into a Timux battle craft, and I fled before the station was destroyed. After that I wandered for a time, hoping to find other survivor colonies, but what places that I had found had already been destroyed or had been abandoned long before I got there. I suppose it's possible that they jumped into this dimension and are hiding elsewhere like I did after I saved your ship from them, but this universe is a bit different from the other one.”
“So not only was this war fought throughout time, but also in both dimensions?!”
“Yeah. From what my mother told me we were doing great and won nearly every encounter for almost half of it, but then our counter-parts in this universe had some kind of plague and nearly all of them died out. My mother said they had some kind of strange weapon that we couldn't replicate and only they could use. When they died out things went very badly for us and we started losing, and lost more and more often as linear time went by. Eventually we lost the home world, and you can guess the rest.”
“A strange weapon only they could use...” The Doctor mused. “Were the Time Lords of this dimension the same as us in your dimension? That is, Humanoids?” The Shield shrugged and shook her head.
“I have no idea. I was born after the end of the Time War, remember?”
“I wonder...” He said, looking over his shoulder towards Canterlot.
“What's on your mind, Doctor?” Ditzy asked, looking the same way out of curiosity.
“Nooo...it couldn’t be...could it?” He muttered, thinking aloud with an intrigued smile on his face.
“Does he do this often?” The Shield asked Ditzy. Ditzy nodded.
“Usually before he decides to-” The Doctor started galloping back towards the beach without another word, leaving Ditzy and The Shield standing in the wilderness by themselves. “do that, and not tell anyone what's on his mind.”
“Should we follow him?”
“If we want to know what's on his mind, I think we should.” Ditzy turned and began galloping after him. The Shield did her best to keep up, but she only had two legs to their four, and she gradually fell behind.
The Doctor did not leave Ditzy behind this time as he had recalled how irate she had been with him the previous time and left the door open for her. He was a little surprised when The Shield also came in behind Ditzy out of breath a minute and a half later.
“Woah!” She said as she saw the inside. “It looks so...”
“Much smaller on the outside?” Ditzy offered. (((Yes, I stole this line from Doctor Whooves and Assistant. For those of you who don't know about it, great show. Go listen to it on Youtube.)))
“No, I was thinking of 'simple' or 'retro', actually. Maybe both. The space difference I had expected since this is actually pretty common. Every other room in my ship is like this if you're not in the cockpit.” The Shield pulled the door shut and walked over to the console, which, though the perfect height for The Doctor, was about the height of a child's picnic table to her. Unlike the controls of her own ship, which were reminiscent of Earth's fighter jets, this control system was much more complex, and looked as if a child had a hand in building it. There were a number of devices that had been put in place of buttons or levers that clearly did not belong in the original design, and there was even a carnival whack-a-mole above what would have been a manual activator for a stabilizer. “When was the last time you had this ship perform a long-term repair sequence?” The Doctor blinked, surprised.
“I don't recall having ever done that. It can do that?”
“My ship can. I'd assumed yours could as well.” The Doctor shrugged.
“Is it the blue button here that's labeled 'Rest and Repair'?” Ditzy asked, pointing at a a button that had a plastic case covering it and a Hawaiian hula-girl bobble-head next to it. Both the Doctor and The Shield came around to where Ditzy stood. The Shield gave The Doctor an 'you're an idiot' look and he blushed a little and chuckled.
“I had thought that was the 'vacation' button!” He lied. In truth, he had simply ignored it.
“Riiiiiight.” The Shield said sarcastically. “Either way, if you've never done a repair sequence, then you really should.”
“No need.” The Doctor stated confidently, returning to the coordinates computer. “The TARDIS recently regenerated itself about eight linear years ago along with my first regeneration into a Pegasus.”
“But...you're an earth Pony.” The Shield said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yes I am now, but When I first came here I had wings.” He explained. “It was quite fun actually, being able to fly, but unfortunately I had a run-in with a rather unfriendly Griffon just after the siege of Canterlot and it dealt me some injuries that I would not be able to recover from, including the forceful removal of one of my wings.” The Doctor grimaced at the memory. “Shortly thereafter I passed out from pain and woke up a new Pony.” The Doctor flipped a lever and his machine started transporting itself to a new location.
“So where are we going?” Ditzy asked as the object in the center of the see-through column in the center began pumping up and down.
“Already there!” The Doctor said as he returned the lever to its original position. “Come on!” He trotted toward the door and pushed it open again and stepped out without telling them anything more. Ditzy and The Shield followed to discover that they'd reappeared inside the back of what appeared to be an indoor crypt. The air was stale and thick with dust and smelled slightly of sulfur as if someone had once set off old-fashioned explosives inside, but at least they were alone for the moment. It was also very dark.
“Well it's certainly out of the way...” The Doctor muttered, as he turned only the light on the end of his Sonic Screwdriver on to light up the area. The TARDIS had wedged itself between a large stone coffin and an Alicorn statue next to it, of whom he assumed the coffin contained. Feeling uncomfortable around full-body statues of any kind, the Doctor took a step back from it and eyed it warily.
Ditzy and The Shield stepped out after him, and also looked around.
“Where are we?” The Shield asked.
“If I had to guess from the Alicorn statue on one side of the TARDIS, and the stone coffin on the other, I'd guess we've appeared in the royal crypt!”
“I'm telling you, I heard something weird coming from the crypt!” Came a muffled voice from the other side of what appeared to be a stone wall. All three of them froze a second, looked at each other, and then ducked behind a stone support column, a coffin, and one of the doors of the TARDIS. A few moments later the sound of stone grating on stone came as two earth Pony guards pulled the doors open and stepped into the crypt, kicking up dust and lighting the room with small flashlights that had been installed on the tops of their helmets. They frowned as they swept the room with light, eventually catching sight of the large blue box.
“What the?”
“Where'd that come from?!"
“And what the heck is it?”
Oh, not good. It seems that I should have listened to The Shield! I forgot to take into account that the TARDIS was shot earlier by Dalek weaponry. It seems that the camouflage tech is malfunctioning!
The two guards approached the TARDIS hesitantly, passing by The Doctor, who held his breath and then as quietly as he could crept around to the other side to watch. They'd never get inside it, of course, unless someone let them in, and he doubted Ditzy would do that.
The guards began prodding at the walls and door of the TARDIS, running hoofs over the surface of it, and knocking on the door. At the knock, Ditzy opened the door, and asked if she had arrived in Canterlot's royal palace with a carefree smile on her face. The two guards looked at one another blinked a few times, and then answered that she was indeed in the palace.
“Oh goody! I have some mail for the princesses, and several others too! Excuse me!” Ditzy pushed past the two guards with her mail bags on and pulled the door shut behind her. She looked around the crypt, her face becoming confused. “Um, I don't think I was supposed to appear here...dratted faulty Human teleport-machinery!” She stamped a hoof on the dusty floor and frowned.
“Human teleport machinery?” The taller guard asked.
“Yeah.” Ditzy sighed. “It was supposed to make the delivery of packages both large and small faster and easier, and this was what they called a 'prototype'.” She shook her head at the TARDIS, still frowning. “I think I would have been better off flying! Looks like I'm lucky i didn't end up inside a wall!” She looked at the two guards, who weren't sure how to react to this information. “Anyway, I've never been here before, so could one of you handsome stallions please lead me to the mail room? I'd be ever so grateful!”
One guard looked at another and shrugged.
“Sure, why not. I'll do it.” The two guards followed Ditsy out of the room and shut the door behind them, returning the room to darkness. Both The Shield and The Doctor let out a sigh of relief.
“Will she be alright?” The Shield asked.
“I don't see why not.” The Doctor replied. “Ditzy is indeed a mail mare, and Humanity has, as I'm sure you're aware, been trying to imitate magic through machinery for a few years now. As long as they don't research her claims about the post office trying a faster method of delivering mail involving Human tech, she should be fine. In the meantime, let's have a look around.”
“But...what about the other guard?”
“Oh, that's easy enough! Just claim that you're the pilot of the 'package transporter' and that I'm your assistant! Here, hold on.” The Doctor went back into the TARDIS and brought out his trusty Psychic Paper 'ID badge'.
“Psychic Paper?” She asked, examining it.
“Yep!”
“I wish I had some of my own. Oh well.”
Getting past the guard was easier than baking Pinkie Pie's cupcakes and in almost no time at all they were on their way through the palace looking for the mail room and Ditzy Doo. The Doctor had not yet been in the Palace yet and stopped form time to time to examine wall paintings and furniture. The Shield had been in here once before during the time when the palace was being rebuilt, but it was still under heavy construction at the time. Now it looked quite different.
They passed multiple servants, and the occasional guard, and stopped one from time to time to ask if any had seen a gray mail-mare anywhere. Eventually they were directed to the mail room where Ditzy was busy at unloading her mail bag and sorting it. Most of what she had was for Canterlot proper rather than for the palace, but there were two letters and a dirty magazine that needed to be delivered here first. Once Ditzy was done sorting she replaced everything that was to be delivered elsewhere back into her bags and and held the three remaining items in hoof and flew out of the room.
“Ah! Doctor! Miss Shield! Sorry to just leave you behind like that, but it was the only thing I could think of to get rid of those two, and I really did need to deliver these. They're a bit late.”
“Oh, we're not upset Ditzy. That was absolutely brilliant, really!”
“Yes, thank you.” The Shield agreed. “So I take it that you need to deliver those as well?” Ditzy nodded.
“The magazine is two weeks late, but fortunately that's normal, so it's not likely to be missed. The other two letters are for one of princess Luna's students. He's a nice guy and I feel a little guilty about bringing him his letters late.”
“I'm sure he'll forgive you, Ditzy. After all, the last time he had late mail, it brought him to your world.” The Shield said, trying to reassure her.
“You know this student?” The Doctor asked.
“Not personally, no, but I know of him.”
“Well then I'll introduce you!” Ditzy declared. “Follow me!”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I flopped on the bed again and Trixie flopped down next to me. Even though it had only been a review of last week's lessons, it had still been a tiring experience. Last week's lessons had been about altering the position of celestial bodies. Long and complicated explanation short, we were being taught how to eventually be able to raise and lower the moon. When we asked why we would need to know how to do this when it was likely that we would never need to know how to do it, Luna smiled and said that she'd like to be able to go on vacation with her sister within the next thirty years and needed someone who knew how to do it while they were gone.
“You know, Jake, I have to wonder who Celestia's going to get to raise the sun in her stead if we're going to need to work together to raise the moon!”
“Yeah, especially when we struggled just to control the direction of a large comet! On Earth it's natural gravity that manipulates how things move about in space. Maybe we could try putting the moon in orbit around this planet rather than actually raising and lowering it manually.” Trixie and I both considered this a moment, and then shared the mental image of us somehow screwing up the orbit and having the moon crash into the planet. Our eyes met, and we both spoke our conclusion in unison.
“No!”
A knock came at our door and we both looked at it a moment before asking who it was.
“Mail pony Ditzy here! I've got some mail for ya!” Came a cheerful voice from the other side. We sat up and told her to come on in. The handle on the door dipped downward and then the door was pushed inward. Sure enough, it was indeed Ditzy. She hovered over to me and hoofed me two letters.
“Where have you been, Ditzy? Normally even when you don't have mail for me you at least stop in and say hello. I was starting to think that you'd gotten a new job!” I asked. Ditzy replied that she'd been busy for the last few weeks traveling just about everywhere I could imagine. A sparkle came into her eyes as she said it, and I had to wonder exactly where it was that she had gone, and what she had seen.
“Oh! That reminds me! I've got some friends I'd like you to meet! May they come in too? They're just out in the hall.” I looked at Trixie, who shrugged.
“Sure thing, Ditzy. We don't mind.” Ditzy nodded and flew out into the hall a moment and spoke to someone we could not see. A few seconds later a tan earth Pony with a dark brown mane and tail trotted in, followed by a lovely Asian woman. The Pony had a sand timer for a Cutie Mark, which I found a little unusual, but I did not mention it, and neither did he. The Asian women looked vaguely familiar, but I did not know where I had seen her before, which was not really saying much anymore. There were many Humans that I vaguely recognized and did not really recall.
“Have we met somewhere before?” Trixie asked, saving me the trouble.
“No, I do not believe so!” The tan Pony stated. “I've heard about you two, though. You're The Great and Powerful Trixie, formerly a Unicorn, and he's Jacob Lighthand, a former resident of Earth!” I snorted. Almost everyone and everypony knows that!
“These are-” Ditzy stopped and thought a moment. She can't remember her own friend's names?
“Smithers.” The Tan Pony finished with a friendly smile. “Johnathon Smithers. Just call me 'John'.” Bull. I fought the urge to snort. I've met or heard of only a handful of Ponies with Human names, and most of them were born within the last few years. I looked at the Asian woman and said, tone laced with just a tiny dash of sarcasm,
“And I suppose your name is Janette Doe?” She opened her mouth, and then shut it, looking surprised. It seemed that was exactly who she was going to claim to be. “I guess it doesn't really matter what your real names are.” I got out of the bed and stood and extended a hand first to her, then to 'Jonathon'. “If Ditzy likes you, you must be good people. Welcome to Canterlot palace.”
We had a short conversation, which mostly involved 'Johnathon' asking question after question about the princesses as well as a few oddballs. I found it a little odd, but answered as best I could.
How old were they? Did they have any relatives? Were they always here, or did they come from someplace else? How long have you been their students? Oh, just Luna? Did Celestia have a private student? Had we ever seen any sign of aliens during our stay here?
“Really? When?”
“It wasn't too long after I'd first come to Canterlot. One night after a lesson in magic under Luna, I went for a walk and saw this weird box-shaped object whirling through the night sky. It flew through the air for about five seconds, and then vanished as if it had never been.” Ditzy, 'Janette', and 'Johnathon' shared a look that said they recognized it. “I had thought I was imagining things. Clearly not, though.”
“What?” 'Johnathon' asked. “No, no, probably just imagination!” I focused my gaze on him. He didn't look away, but didn't drop a goofy innocent smile, either. I broke eye contact first. Something about his eyes unnerved me. They gave me the feeling that I was standing on a cliff's edge and looking down into a bottomless cavern filled with water.
We spoke on a number more of subjects ranging from the weather to how the study on magic was going, the latter in which I had little to no information. Eventually Ditzy said that she needed to get back to work and left the room, and the other two said that they'd better be going too.
“You never know when the worlds will need saving!” The tan Pony said as he walked out last, shutting the door behind him. Me and Trixie looked at one another. That guy was weird!
% % % % %
“So why did you ask him instead of asking the princesses those questions?” Twilight, this time, addressing The Doctor.
“Several reasons, the main being convenience. He was there, Ditzy knew him if only because she delivered mail to him from time to time, and she was a student to Luna herself, which meant that he might have been able answer some of my questions right from the start.”
“So what was it that you were suspecting?” Trixie asked. “Your questions at that time confused me, how you asked one after the other.”
“You haven't guessed?” Twilight asked her. “He thought that Luna and Celestia could have been this dimension's version of Time Lords!” The Doctor grinned.
“You are a clever one, aren't you!?”
“Were they?” The Doctor continued to grin, and shrugged. “You don't know?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“So are you going to tell us what's on your mind, Doctor?” The Shield asked while they followed Ditzy to her to the room of the magazine's owner. She had not really had much opportunity to speak once they were 'introduced' to the two Humans. Shield was already pretty sure she had an idea as to why he had taken them all here from the questions he'd asked, but it seemed a bit far-fetched to her.
“Just a hunch, that's all.” He said nonchalantly. “Idle curiosity.”
Right, and I'm more fooled than that Human male was. Shield thought, with much more sarcasm in mind than Jacob had voiced.
“Give me some credit, Doctor. I'm younger than you, but I'm not stupid.”
“I never said that you were.”
“He really does just act on whims sometimes, miss Shield.” Ditzy explained. “I think old age has made him a little eccentric.”
“Hey! Old age?! I'm right here, you know!” Ditzy looked over her shoulder, still walking forward.
“Well, miss Shield is over two hundred, which is longer than Humans live and much longer than we Ponies live, and you're way older than she is.”
“But Celestia and Luna are far older than I am! By your own words from a month ago they're Ponies too!” Even if they're closer in size to horses and if my theory is right, not equine at all.
“But you're not really a Pony, Doctor, as you keep telling me.” She turned her head to face forward again and quickly stopped to avoid walking into a servant who was paying even less attention to where she was going than Ditzy had been.
Why is it every time I am in the company of more than one female, regardless of specie, they take conversational sides against me? After all this time of having traveled with multiple women from multiple times and worlds, you'd think that I'd at least have a bare-bones understanding of the female mind by now! The Doctor mentally complained to the ceiling as Ditzy came to a stop outside of the servants' quarters.
Ditzy knocked on the door and announced that the mail had arrived and read off the name on the sticky-label stuck to the back of the magazine. The muffled sound of a Pony galloping to the door came through it and shortly after a red and yellow mare opened the door and practically snatched it out of Ditzy's hoofs. She stared at the person on the front, her eyes becoming wide and a smile that all of them but Ditzy (who had become used to it by now) found disturbing spread across her face. She shook one of Ditzy's hoofs vigorously and thanked her and hoofed her a small envelope as well as gave her two large coins as a tip. Ditzy tried to give the bits back but the customer insisted and Ditzy stuffed them into a pocket and wished the customer good day before turning away. Ditsy read the front of the letter and then stuffed it into the mailbag she was using for letters that went back to Ponyville.
“Okay, I'm done here. If you want to see the princesses, Celestia should be in the throne room right now listening to petitioners and whiners.”
“Winers?” Shield asked. “Does Celestia often sample wine?”
“No, no, not that kind of 'wine'. Whiners as in complainers. From what the servants have told me the majority of the Ponies that come to see Celestia are there to complain about something and expect her to fix it rather than trying do it themselves even when it comes to something simple.”
“The more I hear about royalty, the more I think that being a member of them would just one big headache.”
The trio stopped outside of the throne room and waited to be noticed by the guards, who pretended not to notice them at all, even when The Doctor cleared his throat several times. Finally, he stepped directly in front of one and stated that they'd like to see the princess.
“No, really?” The guard asked, voice practically dripping with sarcasm. “And here I thought you were here to shine my hoofs.” He turned his head to his companion standing on the other side of the doors. “Hey Patchy! They're here to see Celestia! Can you believe it?!”
“Just let them in, Lemon Life. You don't need to take out your sour mood on civilians.”
“Ha ha ha. Very punny.” He turned to the doors and pushed one open with a leg. “She's got a bit of a line, so you'll need to wait for the others to finish first. If you'd prefer not to wait you can either leave and come back later, or you can try asking a Unicorn to try sending you into the future.” The Doctor looked into the throne room to observe the line of fifteen various Ponies waiting in line behind a sixteenth. He considered briefly taking the sarcastic guard's suggestion seriously, but decided against it and trotted inside, followed by Ditzy and The Shield.
Most of those in line were there, as Ditzy had said, to complain about something that they probably could have dealt with on their own. One of them even came to say that her pet cat had gone missing. That's a fully-grown woman er- mare! Why is she telling the princess her cat is missing?! The Doctor thought as he watched, not so much annoyed at the princess' time being wasted, but their own.
One after the other, the Ponies stated their business until there were only four left before it was their turn. Ditzy yawned loudly, making a cute little sound as she exhaled. The sound drew every other Pony's attention in the room, including Celestia's. When she saw The Doctor standing next to Ditzy her eyes widened in surprise and recognition and she announced that an important messenger had arrived and that the remaining petitioners were to leave their written suggestion, reports, or complaints in the care of the two guards by the door. The Shield, annoyed after having to wait for as long as they had (close to two hours) began to protest, but Celestia quickly interrupted her and said that the report could wait until after the others had left. Curious as to how the princess apparently knew them, she became silent and waited. Once the other Ponies had left, Celestia bid them to come closer.
“It has been long since I last saw you, Doctor.” Celestia stated formally. The patient smile she had worn like a mask when listening to the whiners and petitioners had been replaced with a more serious expression. “Nearly five hundred years, I think. Tell me, did you succeed in your search for the Sapphire Stars?” The Doctor was confused, and asked Celestia what she was talking about. Celestia face-hoofed and told him to forget about it. “I sometimes forget that though our paths have crossed many times and that you've had several different forms in the past, and perhaps even the future, that you have not yet as far as you know, been a part of it. Forgive me.”
“Oh, it's no problem, you highness, I've had encounters like that before. 'Spoilers' she always told me.” He muttered under his breath and seemed to be irritated for a moment, but quickly returned back to his Doctor-y self. “So, may I assume that you already know why I'm here?” Celestia shook her head.
“No. 'Spoilers' is often what you” she looked at Ditzy. “or she would tell me as well. But always when we needed your help and magic alone was not enough you were there, and I owe you more gratitude than I can ever hope to repay.”
“Perchance, did you ever see me as having a red mane and tail and a whitish hide?” Celestia shook her head. “Blast! Will I never be ginger?” Ditzy tilted her head.
“You want ginger? What for? Do you want use it for seasoning?”
“No, no, Ditzy, not for food. Ginger when referring to one's self is- oh never mind, it's not important.” Deciding to be direct, The Doctor asked if Celestia knew what Time Lords were. Celestia nodded, and for a moment he felt the joy of having one of his wild theories (once again) being right, but he was disappointed half a second later when she said that it had been him that had told her about them, and that he, and the young woman standing behind him, were Time Lords, and said nothing about herself or her sister.
“You also told me of several great deeds your peoples performed, and of their downfalls. Why do you ask?”
“Because Shield told me that there was another race of Time lords in your universe as well. A race of Time Lords that had a weapon that no other race could use, including her own.”
“I was not aware of this. None of you had mentioned that to me in my past. What sort of weapon, miss Shield?”
“I don't know. The Time War ended before I was born, and the race from your world, according to my parents, supposedly died out from a plague.”
“I believe, princess Celestia, that the weapon those Time Lords used was magic, and that you and your sister are descended from those Time Lords.” Celestia looked at the three of them a for a few moments each to see if they were serious, and then started laughing.
“An interesting theory, Doctor, but as you both have told me, every so often, when a Time Lord reaches a certain point or if they become fatally injured, they regenerate and their form changes. Neither myself, nor Luna have ever done this.”
“This is true. However, neither you nor Luna have ever gotten into the position that you've needed to regenerate, and more than that, you've got the use of magic and could probably heal any injury you gained. More than that, I've seen Unicorns shape-shift themselves with magic. If the Time Lords of this universe could also use magic, it would be a small thing with your abilities in magic to simply change their shape and hide out here from the Daleks.”
“Daleks? What are they?” Ditzy tried to answer that they were the things that would be destroying Earth in about two hundred or so years, but The Doctor covered her mouth with a hoof.
“If you don't know, then it seems my theory was wrong. Thank you for your time, you highness.” The Doctor bowed and left, the two girls doing the same, though Ditzy looked back a few times and waved before they reached the door.
“Doctor!” Celestia called to them. The trio stopped and looked back. “Contrary to what legends tell, my sister and I were not the first Alicorns on Mythica. If you really think that me and my sister could be Time Lords, you would need to ask our mother, father, or uncle to find out. Go backward in time. Go back more than eight hundred years, and you'll find them.”
The TARDIS' engine hummed to life as The Doctor put in the time frame for their next little trip. Before he went into the past to satisfy what he believed to be mere curiosity, he would find out when exactly the Daleks were to be attacking now that he'd scrambled their information systems. First, as he had done the first time, he checked the year two thousand, two hundred and eleven (or 2211, to be simple), but a few hours after their first trip so that they'd not see one another and cause a paradox. To his distress, as well as that of Ditzy, the Earth was still as lifeless as it had been the first time they'd seen it in this time period with a few differences such as a number of downed Dalek ships and destroyed soldiers that the TARDIS detected in the UK. Curious at this change, The Doctor took the TARDIS down to the planet's near-lifeless surface and stepped out once more onto the surface to investigate.
Upon scanning several of the downed ships (both The Shield and The Doctor used their tech) they determined that they had been brought down with a combination of blaster fire from tech that once again, Humanity would not have possessed in that time period, and with something else that The Doctor's tech could not identify. Shield's tech however, could.
“There's a faint residue of magic on this one, but only this one and the one we found half an hour ago. It looks like the others either had technical problems or were shot down by...my ship?” She looked at the Doctor. “Did you see an alien craft get involved the first time you watched this happen?” The Doctor shook his head, but Ditzy, who stood next to him, nodded. The Shield looked at Ditzy, and then frowned at the Doctor. The Doctor raised and eyebrow and then also glanced at Ditzy, who had begun rapidly shaking her head as if to make up for the 'nos' she should have been doing. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because we had not known it was yours when we saw it, and really, still do not know for certain that it was you piloting the ship. Ditzy and myself had not known at the time that there were other Time Lords alive still, and even if we had, we had not yet met you, and after we did, we did not know what your ship looked like. And really, until we find that ship here and a burned corpse in it, we won't be certain that it's really yours.”
“That's a thin reason, Doctor. In all the time I've spent searching for others like me or some other remnant of our civilization I've not found another intact ship like mine. Besides that I've gotten into several fights with several different races. I know the marks my weapons make on star ships.”
Ditzy, becoming bored, wandered away from The Doctor and The Shield and began inspecting something partially buried in a pile of rubble down (what was left of) the street from where they stood inspecting the crashed Dalek ship. It was old, but it still caught the light of the sun which is why she had noticed it in the first place. Ditzy dug most of it out of the rubble and then took hold of it with her teeth and pulled. No result. She pulled again, harder this time, and it came loose with a scraping noise and she plopped back on her rump with a long object that reminded her of a Human weapon that she'd seen a few years ago. Recalling how the Human had held it she tried to imitate, but her body was not the right shape for it and she had no fingers and only succeeded in dropping it. She frowned and tried again, and again, dropped it, but this time it landed on a bone that she'd also dug out, and the weapon discharged a yellow laser shot that ricochet off the hull of the crashed Dalek ship and hit the ground at the Doctor's front hoofs.
“What the- Ditzy! What are you doing?!” Ditzy danced back from the weapon and pointed a hoof at it.
“I didn't mean to! I just dropped it and-”
“Hold on a minute!” The Shield exclaimed, scanning the ground where the shot had hit. She then jogged to where the gun had dropped and picked it up, examining it and turning it over in her hands, and then scanned it as well. Her jaw dropped and she stared at the weapon in her hands. “That can't be right.” The Doctor joined the two girls in examining the weapon. To him it looked like a standard (if a bit computer-integrated) military-issued weapon that would have been used about ninety years ago.
“What is it?” He looked at the weapon in The Shield's one hand. “It doesn't look particularly special to me, if you ignore the casing and the little ammunition counter.”
“This isn't Human tech.” She replied. “I mean, it was made from materiel here on Earth, but the design of this comes from my people! This is a Human version of a Time Lord combat rifle! It even has a bio-key!”
“Then why did it go off? None of us are Human.” The Doctor asked.
“Well,” Dtisy pointed at the bone the weapon had fallen on. “when I dropped it the second time it landed on that bone. May it belonged to a Human?”
“Perhaps, but since when do Humans have Time Lord weaponry? I know that I've never given it to them!”
“Neither have I.” The Shield added. “I only have two weapons from my people, and I've kept both of them. The one is my emergency pistol, and the other does not work because the energy conversion chamber (it was what converted energy from the power cell into a weapon projectile form) was damaged a century ago and I don't know how to fix it. It's inside my ship on Mythica, hidden in a underground cave.”
“Really? I can help you with that, if you like.” The Doctor offered.
“Really?! I'd appreciate it!”
“I'll probably need a replacement part for it, though, so let's hold onto that, for now. We may be able to adapt the Human version to function with yours.” He pointed a hoof at the weapon in The Shield's hand and she nodded.
The trio explored the general area for a time, but eventually returned to the TARDIS. The Doctor wanted to go back farther as he had before to find out exactly when the Daleks had attacked this time, but first, due to them previously having witnessed the entire thing from behind the moon the first time around they had to go to the other side of the planet and cloak the TARDIS' energy signature so that their earlier selves would not detect their presence. Unfortunately, though they briefly detected the 'other' TARDIS, (and according to the time readout the year was indeed 2121) they arrived to find that the planet was already decimated. Disturbed at finding this, The Doctor had the TARDIS travel back farther in increments of two weeks until 2120- one year before the original invasion date, and one year after the Doctor and Ditzy had tried to avert the attack.
The Daleks came sooner this time! But why? And how could they have found Earth so quickly? Wait...
The Doctor's mind flashed back through several memories. First, came something that The Shield had told him, albeit not in direct quote:
“My people and the Time Lords from the Mythica universe were allies and we fought the Daleks.” Then, it flashed to him and Ditzy flying the TARDIS down to the Dalek home world. They would have known exactly what the ship was and who had grown it even if they had not known which version had grown it. Then it flashed forward to him telling Ditzy to take out the lenses on the two Daleks trying to prevent his and Ditzy's escape from the planet. She flew forward in slow motion in his mind's eye, whirling and dodging shots, one of which he had thrown himself to the floor to avoid being hit by. Ditzy smashed the lenses, and then kicked them a second time on their domed heads. Kicked their domed heads.
This time his mind went back farther to when he was still traveling with Rose. She had once touched a damaged Dalek with a bare hand and it identified fresh DNA and used the DNA to reconstruct himself. Identified DNA from touch!
“No...” He whispered, his mind still putting more pieces together but knowing ultimately what had happened and why. His mind flashed back to two sentences in the linear future following the same result, but a different subject.
“I only have two weapons from my people, and I've kept both of them.” and also “It's inside my ship on Mythica, hidden in a underground cave.” His mind switched to the memory of the three of them looking down on the dead-again Earth. There had been several ships that had been shot down by her ship, according to her later claims.
“The first time it was just me and Ditzy and the Shield alone flew to defend Earth with the only weapons of their kind to ever visit Earth.” He continued whispering. “She had not met us, and so she had eventually returned to her star ship. But when we tried to change things we ran into her, and she came with us instead, leaving her ship unguarded.” All it would have taken was for one Pony or Human who'd seen enough sci-fi movies to identify it for what it was: an alien ship, and it would have been transported elsewhere for study as soon as word got back to the right people.
War ships were not safeguarded as much as true time-traveling ships were. Eventually, especially with the aid of magic, they would have forced a way in, and would have begun studying the tech inside. Which would explain the Time Lord-based weaponry we found in the future! The Doctor thought. Weapons are easier to replicate than a full star ship, which would explain why they had the guns but only her ship to fight with...
“Doctor?” The Shield asked. “Is something wrong?” he didn't answer them, but instead continued staring straight ahead while his gears turned and shifted back to the subject of discovery.
“They would not have had data on the Echo Dimension's Sol system and the galaxy it was contained within, but-” He cut himself off and looked at The Shield. “Could the Daleks of both worlds hop dimensions like you can?” She shrugged.
“Again, the Time War ended before I was born. But I suppose it's possible. Why?”
“Because if they could then it would explain how they knew where to find Earth and why they came so quickly. I caused their archive memory banks to become corrupted when it came to the Milky Way Galaxy (as the Humans call it) so that they would have to explore it all over again, but if they had access to their counterparts data archives in the Mythica dimension, then they could have restored the data in mere hours!”
“But all the Daleks of the Mythica dimension were wiped out. Even if they had backup data elsewhere, what would it matter?”
“Because they found your parents hiding out on that old space station. The Daleks weren't content just to end the war, it's not their way. They don't conquer, they exterminate!” Her eyes became wide.
“They were searching for us!” He nodded.
“Systematically. One galaxy after the other. During the Time War of my Reality Humans were little more than smart apes, no reason to pay them any mind, which means they would have no reason to return. But I wiped that data out and brought them proof that not all the Time Lords were dead and dealt with, which to them, would mean that I was trying to hide something from them, which, of course I was, but not for the reasons they probably think. If they thought for even a second that there were still some of your people left, they would use all available resources to find you, and if they could hop dimensions...”
“They would search out their own counterpart's bases-” The Doctor nodded while continuing the sentence she's started.
“Use their data to fill in the blank space in their own archive-
“And head here as fast as they could to find a last Time Lord hiding place!”
“And what they found were the Humans, who look exactly like you do, and detected weaponry similar to that of the Time Lords, and invaded without a second's hesitation and destroyed them all!”
Ditzy, The Doctor, and The Shield looked at one another.
“We killed the Human race!”
% % % % %
“At least, we did that time around. As to the first time we may never know what brought that along. Perhaps The Shield had been detected by them during a re-scouting mission and then they found Humanity. Or perhaps the magic being used on Earth gave off an energy signature that was more detectable than the noise that little world was making with their primitive (in comparison to their own) communication devices.”
“Not that it matters now, Doc.” Jacob set down the book he'd been writing in and flexed his fingers, which had become stiff from the constant writing and wished he'd had a laptop instead. “We beat them.”
“Yes.” He sighed. “For now. But they will come back again. They always come back. It might not be for a few years, decades, or even centuries, but they'll be back, and next time you Humans and Ponies might not be so fortunate because we won't be able to use the same tactic. It will be up to that generation to beat them on their own.”
“Tactic?” Twilight asked. “What tactic?”
“I hate spoilers, so let me just say this: sometimes studying the past can help change the future.” The Doctor said, looking pleased with himself.
“Okay, Doc, you've held the spotlight for long enough and you still have not explained why Jacob went missing.” It was Trixie that spoke this time. “Let him have a turn. I remember that encounter we had with one another, and also I recall Jacob had been acting strange during the afternoon of the following day, but he never told me why and it's been bothering me all this time.” Jacob hesitated.
“I had my reasons.” He answered evasively. He didn't want to reveal the reasons behind it to everypony here, but he did feel that he owed her an explanation. The two of them had been close (good friends, nothing romantic) at one time, and for him it still felt almost like last week since he'd seen her, though it had been closer to two years for him, a little over twelve for her. “Trixie, if you really do want to know, then I'll tell you, but only you.” Trixie raised her eyebrows and looked at the other girls and then back at him. “It's not something I'm supposed to explain to everyone, but I'll explain it to you. I learned some things.” Jacob glanced at The Doctor, who was pouring himself another cup of tea and was pretending to not be listening. Jacob knew better. “Some things that have nothing to do with The Doctor's story.”
Trixie rose to a standing position from her seat on the floor and nodded. Jacob crossed the room and the pair went outside.
The two of them kept walking until they reached the TARDIS, which Jacob opened and stepped into, motioning for Trixie to follow.
When Trixie stepped into the blue box she gasped and gazed at the large room contained inside the deceptively small box. She touched a bench, ran her hands over them to make sure they were real, and then sat onto it a few seconds, then stood again and walked to the control console. She traced the outline of several buttons, knobs, and levers, and then looked at me a few seconds before she crossed the room and stopped at the stairs and looked down.
“The Doctor claims that none of this is magic?! How could this possibly be a wonder of technology?!” Jacob smiled and joined her.
“Human technology is primitive compared to Time Lord tech, but so is every other race except for a small handful of exceptions, and will be for many millenia to come. But we Humans can do something that only two other races in this entire universe can.”
“Magic?” Jacob smiled and nodded. “Granted, we are the only ones that need to be in contact with another object first, but we can still do it.”
“Speaking of magic, did you ever find out why we need to be touching a horn in order to use it?” Jacob nodded. “OBAMAR would love to know that! They've been pestering me on and off for the last decade since you disappeared to join them in search for that answer!”
“They wouldn't believe me if I told them. Trix, do you recall the day that you first tried to turn into a Human?” She nodded.
“How could I forget?” She asked as she walked back across the room to stand in front of Jacob, who had closed the door behind him. She caught him in a hug. “It was the day we met!” He hugged her back. As they held one another, tears trickled down her face. “I missed you, Jacob!” She squeezed him tighter. “I heard what you said to Spike back in the cave about leaving again. We all did.” She looked up into his face, though they were near the same height now, and she did not have to look far. “Please stay this time.”
“I will stay for a time, but you heard what the Doctor said, Trixie. The Daleks will come back again. I'm going to ask the Doctor to take me with him so that if we do run into them again in the future I can fight them. They are terrible, Trixie. You can't even begin to imagine them and the damage they can do, and I'm glad that you won't be able to naturally live long enough to see them. You and the others.” He wiped her tears away with a hand, loosened his hold on her, and took a step back. “Come, I want to show you something.”
He led her back across the room to the steps and then down them two floors until they stopped in the area that would have been where the pilots would have slept had there been any besides The Doctor (and Ditzy and eventually Jacob, who didn't know nearly enough to be of much help in that regard). He stopped before an orange door and placed his hands on it. The door slid open silently and he led her in.
The room, contrary to most of the rest of the ship, was rather small. It was only about half the size of their bedroom in the Canterlot palace, and was almost bare of decoration save for a small strange tree with a smooth trunk and white flowers with golden centers and silver leaves that seemed to give off their own light. It was a tree that she recognized, though she had seen it only once many years ago.
“That's one of the trees from Earth's version of Everfree forest before it was destroyed by your ancestor and Thanatos!” Jacob nodded. “But that tree is extinct!” Jacob smiled.
“Not anymore. Actually, I have a favor to ask you regarding that tree. That tree won't be able to germinate for another three years of linear time and I need someone to take care of it after I'm gone and ensure that it multiplies. Would you be willing to do that for me?” Trixie looked at the tree for a time, then at Jacob.
“What's so special about it?” Jacob shrugged.
“It's a beautiful extinct tree that we can revive here in this era. Does it need to be more special than that?”
“I guess not. So was this tree what you wanted to show me?” Jacob shook his head and walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it and put a hand down his shirt at the collar. Trixie hear the sound of something jingling and a moment later he pulled out a single object that Humans in the military called 'dog tags'. Instead of a name indented in the metal there was a small picture of six dice that all had sixes facing up on one side. He turned the tag around so the back showed and she saw his family's symbol.
“Do you remember that bag that I tossed to you the day we went to the beach and then later met The Doctor?” She nodded. In truth she had forgotten about it until Jacob and The Doctor had begun telling their story, but now she recalled it almost clearly once more.
“It was empty until you held it.”
“When I tossed the dice, they all faced up sixes, the same as on this tag.”
“So?”
“I don't think that I've ever told you about this, or anyone besides my parents, but on the day that Melinda left I was present.”
Jacob explained to her why Melinda had disappeared and what had happened after that. Trixie was just as puzzled as his parents had been. Then he explained the riddle out. The thing he'd trusted to the most throughout his adventure had been luck. When things looked hopeless or close to it he ignored the odds and ran headlong into it and hoped for the best, and he had always gotten extremely lucky.
“While you were out that morning running an errand for Luna while she slept I flattened the scroll out and placed the solid dice on the drawn dice on the picture I'd received...”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Trixie had gone out of the palace on a personal errand that Luna had sent her on, leaving me to my own devices until later tonight. This was going to be the best time to test my theory regarding the note and the dice provided no servants walked in, and I'd already locked the door to prevent such an intrusion.
The note was on the writing desk where I'd left it yesterday along with the dice bag and a candle, quill, and ink well. The quill I often treated as a decoration rather than an actual writing tool because the last one I'd tried to use I'd broken several times until it was too short to be used. From then on I'd stuck with click-pens or pencils.
Putting the candle, ink well, and quill pen to one side I unrolled, spread out, and weighted the paper (not parchment) down so that it would not re-roll itself up again. I then picked up and opened the pouch and dumped the dice into my hand and placed them one after the other onto the dice on the picture in the order that they'd stopped on when I'd tossed them to the floor and waited. Nothing happened. I waited longer, pulling the bench it had come with out from under the desk and sat on it for ten minutes, silently watching. Still nothing. Feeling foolish I collected the dice again and poured all but one back into the bag. That one slipped over the edge of my fingers rather than my palm where the others had fallen and bounced on the paper beneath it. When it stopped I reached for it, then saw it had stopped on one of the six points I'd just cleared. Huh? I plucked another die out from th ebag and dropped it as well. It bounced backward and spun several times which tossed it to one side, and then also stopped on a drawn die space. I turned the pouch over in my hands and once more read the two words on it. Fortuna's Gamble...Fortuna...Fortune! Luck! That's why nothing happened when I placed the dice on the spots! I'm supposed to trust to random luck and toss the dice! I poured the remaining four dice into my hand again and tossed them lightly onto the paper below. As they had with the floor the dice tumbled, bounced, and rolled, and just as they had when tossed on the stones of the floor, they all stopped on the six points!
I smiled to myself, feeling oddly proud of what I'd accomplished, though other than dropping a few plastic objects on paper I'd not really done anything. This feeling faded into annoyance as, once again, nothing happened.
“What do you want me to do,” I yelled at the paper. “Sign my name in blood or something?!”
“Nothing quite so dramatic, still-young Jacob Lighthand!” A familiar voice said from behind me, followed by a chuckle. My door had been shut, and locked. No one could have gotten in without either using magic or without breaking the door down (unless they flew in through a window, but none of my windows were broken). I looked behind me and saw that my entire bedroom had been filled with white fog just as Melinda's home had been those years ago. With the exception of the desk that I sat at, none of the other objects in my room were visible except and outline or two. “I just needed to fill your room with fog first.”
“Why?” The same woman that I'd seen earlier at the beach, now dressed in a red dress like you'd expect from a stereotypical blond from a casino-related movie to wear walked out of it and stopped in front of me. Her hair color, which I had forgotten before, was also, according to the stereotype, blond.
“Why, dramatic effect, of course! Have you figured out who I am yet?” I considered her question and took a shot in the dark based off several things: one, the dress she was wearing, two, the pouch of dice she'd given me, and how up until the siege on Canterlot there hadd been many instances where I'd been unusually lucky (and from how few people would gamble against me when games of chance were involved) and that Melinda had said that she'd sensed an 'interference aura' about me that belonged to the woman standing before me.
“Are you...Lady Luck?” Her face lit up and she walked forward and gave me a hug and patted me on the back. After a moment she released me and stepped back.
“Well done! I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever figure it out! Now that you have, we can get down to business! I'm here offer you a job.”
“Melinda's old job?” My neck had started to hurt, so I turned around on the bench. She shook her head.
“No, no. Her part in this Reality is done, and other than her first failure, which was only a minor setback in the grander scheme, she succeeded quite well.”
“If you don't mind my asking, what was her new job? All she said was that you'd given her a second chance and then she gave me my staff.” She wagged a finger at me.
“Sorry, dear mortal, employer-employee confidentiality. Besides, if I told you it would ruin the job I have in mind for you, if you're willing.”
A job, huh? I thought, being careful to keep my expression neutral. When Melinda messed up, rather than getting fired she was stuck in this world for hundreds of years in a body that was not her own. Clearly, this woman has no problem letting others know when she's not happy.
“What's the job?”
“You didn't ask what the pay was first. You're smarter than the last mortal that worked for me.” She seemed please by this. “The job is very simple. I want you to travel with a certain brown Earth Pony that visited you earlier today, and to continue traveling with him until you meet someone you've killed. That's all.” I raised an eyebrow.
“Huh? Just traveling? That's it?” She nodded.
“That's it. Just travel with him. You don't need to do anything else.”
“Wait a second, how can I meet someone that I've killed? That doesn’t make any sense!” She didn't answer that question, and only waited. “And really, why would I want to meet someone that I've killed? The only beings that I've killed were ones that meant me harm. I don't want to encounter any of them again!”
“So are you turning me down? I won't be angry if you do.”
In the end it was curiosity that won me over. I wasn't sure if I believed that she was truly a Deity, but in a weird world like ours I supposed it was possible, and this was indeed the same person from before in Melinda's home.
When I said yes she gave me a thumbs-up and told me that I'd not regret it and told me to place an open hand on my family's symbol to seal our contract. I did so and the black lines of ink shone like you'd expect to see in a TV show back home. After a few seconds the light went out and the design and the dice all vanished, leaving my palm touching the now-empty desk. When I looked up from the desk the fog was gone, as was the form of Lady Luck. She had not left entirely, however, and her disembodied voice warned me that I would only have a brief window of opportunity to include myself into the company of the traveler.
“He will come again briefly tomorrow in the Zebra lands. He'll never take you along if you just ask, so you'll need to find a way to board his ship on your own. Once you're inside he'll be too baffled as to how you got in if you shut the doors behind you to want to throw you out.” She gave me a description of what to look for in terms of his traveling craft.
“But the Zebrican lands are huge!” I objected. “How am I supposed to find something so small even if its colors make it stand out like an Eagles fan sitting alone in a Ravens stadium?!” But she did not answer, and I sighed.
Lady Luck had warned me that telling the wrong people about her could cause trouble, but refused to go into much detail on the subject, saying that she was telling me 'all that she safely could' whatever that meant. I now understood why Melinda didn't seem to like her. I felt more confused than a fish caught in a water spout (an ocean tornado). He would come tomorrow, which meant that I'd have very little time to come up with an excuse to just up-and-leave, and it would have to be a good one, otherwise Celestia would likely send somepony looking for me. People who traveled for a 'living' often didn't stay in one place for very long, and I had no way of knowing when (or even how, for that matter) that I'd be meeting someone I'd killed. It sounded more like a riddle than anything else, but then, she seemed to like throwing out odd statements for me to puzzle through. Hopefully this one won't take me years to decipher like the first one did!
% % % % %
“And from there I have no problem telling the rest of the story to the other girls. I won't tell them why I was searching their group out like I've told you, but you'll know, and I'll add it to my journal later. Celestia can decide whether or not to let them know.”
“Can I...come with you?” Trixie asked. Jacob broke eye contact, sighed, and shook his head.
“Trixie, you're a part of this time line that we cannot afford to change. I'd explain why, but it could ruin something very important that needs to happen. I'm sorry.” Trixie began to look sad again, so he rose from the bed and hugged her again. “Don't think that I won't be coming back to visit you and the others again in your future. It'll just be awhile, that's all.” Trixie looked up at him again.
“I'll find a way to make it happen sooner than you think.” She declared, no longer looking sad. Jacob knew what she was thinking, because he'd already read about it in the future's history books. By telling her that he'd see her in the future when she wanted to go now, and her having listened to the story told by him and the Doctor, it would be her that would 'discover' The Shield's Timux star ship, which in turn would make the future that the Doc, Ditzy, and The Shield saw come to pass, which would then drive them to go back and try again.
This was the reason that The Doctor said to never get involved in big historical events (or historical events at all other than to observe). Even though linear time would be altered by their interference, there were more layers to time-flow than that. Linear time was only what those living in it saw. Those not bound to live in linear time would also be able to see and appreciate what had brought it about, down to the smallest alteration, which could ripple out and cause a much different 'ending'. Or, to put it as The Doctor often 'explained', “Wibbly wobbly timey-wimely...stuff.”
Jacob and Trixie (Trixie carrying the plant along) left the TARDIS and returned to the cave where Pinkie had somehow acquired a cake and several bowls of pretzels, chips, and a few two liter bottles of soda which she had dumped all together in one punch bowl.
“What?! You brought out the cake without us?!” Trixie yelled at Pinkie Pie, who was scarfing junk food from the pretzel bowl (and occasionally squirting mustard in her mouth) about as fast as Garfield did in the newspaper comic strips.
“Well you were taking a long time, and we figured that since you two hadn't seen one another in awhile that you might want even more time to yourselves,” Pinkie Pie winked at the pair and Jacob got the distinct feeling that Pinkie had jumped to the wrong conclusion about the time they'd spent in the TARDIS. Trixie had the same feeling. “so we broke out the snack food that we'd hidden in Spike's pantry and threw a party!” Pinkie threw up her hooves and from nowhere a pink and yellow cloud of confetti blasted behind her and drifted down to the floor. She picked one strip of it out of the pretzel bowl and continued inhaling.
“Pinkie! Rainbow Dash scolded, placing a hoof in the space between the food and Pinkie's mouth. Her leg went down Pinkie's throat and stopped at the shoulder. Pinkie blinked in surprise and pulled RBD's leg (now coated in saliva) back out again. “Stop eating all the pretzels! They haven't had any yet, and you've already eaten most of the cake!”
“But I'm hungry!” Pinkie objected. “We didn't have time to pack any real food on such short notice, and then we were listening to the story instead of eating!”
“Eating a bunch of junk isn't healthy for you, Pinkie.” Twilight futilely pointed out, not for the first time since they'd started being friends. As far back as she could remember Pinky Pie ate enough sugar on a daily basis to knock out a horse, and yet it never seemed to affect her in the slightest. Other than her teeth, that was. At least once every four months Pinkie Pie had to pay a visit to the dentist, and she almost always walked away with a large bill in hoof and infinitely shinier teeth than they had been before.
Both Jacob and Trixie helped themselves to the snacks that had been brought, and once they each had a disposable plate with some snacks and a paper cup full of drink the group of ponies turned to Jacob and awaited his 'turn'. When he noticed they were watching him he stopped in mid-chew and then rapid-chewed and swallowed.
“Alright, I guess I'm up, then!” Jacob drank from his cup, and then began his next part just before he had gone to dinner. ______
Well, well, well! It seems that Derpy is now the official name. Having come as far with this as I have calling Derpy Ditzy, however, I don't think I'll be changing it. besides, my version of Derpy isn't as clumsy as official Derpy is.
If anyone is wondering what the Magi-Time Lords looked like, just look at a (good) drawing of an anthropomorphic version on either Luna or Celestia. That's close enough. Also, I didn't much like this chapter, or the one before it because I thought it had way too much dialog. I'll try to cut back on that in future chapters.
Chapter 5
The day after The Doctor visited passed by without much of note other than the assignment that Luna had given us for the night, although both of us had received an invitation to go to a party in upper Canterlot, which we turned down using the excuse that we had lessons to practice (which we did, but really just didn't want to go. Rich-Pony parties in Canterlot had a tendency to be boring with few exceptions). Luna had already told us before that there might be times we'd be required to attend a party in Canterlot for political reasons, and that we'd not be able to get out of it, but fortunately this was not one of those occasions.
Like the previous night we were to work on moving celestial bodies, but this time it was for something far more practical than simple training. There was a meteor storm that Celestia had cautioned us would occur in a few hours and if not altered it would destroy several farming lands. Luna would be coming with us as she had the first time, though she'd be helping us alter their trajectory rather than simply watching so that they'd harmlessly burn across the atmosphere and delight any who saw them. Unfortunately the weather forecast was rainy, so we'd we'd need to be standing on the clouds (which I still had not perfected. Trixie frequently teased me about it.) in order to see the sky above. This would not be a problem for Luna, who could walk on clouds like any Pegasus, so the only one who'd struggle would be me. Lovely.
But it really had not been as hard as I'd expected thanks to Twilight Sparkle's generosity. She'd heard about what we were going to do tonight from Celestia after one of her lessons with her during the day and placed a Cloud-Walk spell on me. I thanked her for her help and she replied that it was no problem.
When we (myself and Trixie, that is) arrived at the farmlands Luna had not yet arrived as the moon had not yet been raised. In truth the raising and setting on the sun and moon did not really make much sense to me even after all these years of living in a magical world. Everything that I'd been taught in school screamed at me that the sun and moon moved according to gravity, and not according to the will of any individual beings, and yet-
We looked to the east and watched as the pale white face of the moon rose from behind the 'edge' of the world and drifted into the night sky dusted with the shining lights of stars. As the moon rose I could not help but wonder if there were other planets like this one that we stood on with their own version of Celestia and Luna raising and setting their suns and moons, or if this speck of rock, water, and gas was unique in both universes. Maybe this world was built rather than forming naturally, and the movements of the sun and moon were initiated not by some spell, but rather magical energy being poured into some sort of unseen machine like plugging a generator into a house's electrical system when the power is out. It sounded silly to me, but then again, if someone had told me nine years ago that Unicorns, Pegasusi, and most of all, magic itself was real, I'd have asked what they had been smoking.
The sound of Luna's wing beats reached us before we saw her, as her coat and mane allowed to blend in so well with the night sky.
“Art thee-” She stopped and corrected herself to modern speech. She had gotten used to doing so over the years, but she still slipped back into it from time to time. It did not bother myself or Trixie when she spoke in the old way, but for the sake of her other subjects she endeavored to correct herself. “Are you two ready? The meteors shall be arriving soon. You can already see their glow in the distance.” We looked and found several dots of light in the sky that were indeed brighter than the others. We nodded and replied that we were as ready as we'd ever be. Luna also nodded and turned her body so that her face pointed in the direction of the falling space rocks.
The next several hours were spent in deep focus. We blocked out the world around us until it seemed that only two places existed. The spot where we three stood, and the sky above us. The moon was a figment of imagination, the lower area surrounding us a dream. There was only us, and the dark canvas of night sky and stars and the out-of-place streaks burning their way across it.
Luna informed us that because we were just learning how to alter celestial paths of outer space objects that she would take care of the larger burning meteors, but warned us that she could not focus her will on all of them at the same time, so we would need to handle the others.
“This kind of reminds me of that pool table in that bar we visited the other day with the guards. The slightest change in angle when you strike the cue ball with the stick can make it bounce to one side rather than roll, and a higher-aimed hit will make it roll a shorter distance even if you hit it with all you've got!”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “but if a pool ball hits the wall, that's no big deal. If we screw this up we could put a very big hole in the ground and flatten everything around the impact zone!”
“Focus on the task at hand, students!” Luna scolded. “You may talk when we are finished.”
“Yes, princess Luna!” We both acknowledged.
Our efforts, though tiring, were well worth the time and energy it took, and I saw the greatest natural light show of my life! Most of the meteors burned up very quickly and we did not need to touch them at all, but for the ones that we did, it took much less effort than I thought it would. Still, this did not stop me from sitting down on the ground to rest when we were finished. Trixie said that she preferred the soft clean mattress back in our room to rest on rather than the cold damp (damp from dew. It was rater late by then.) packed dirt I'd plopped myself on. Trixie bade me good night, and then teleported back to our room, leaving me and Luna alone in the farmland area.
For a time we said nothing and watched the darting lights zipping across the sky, enjoying the cool night air and the quiet. Eventually Luna spread her wings and flapped them a few times to stretch them, and then also joined me in sitting on the ground. I folded my arms behind me head and laid down on the ground, looking straight up.
“You've outdone yourself this time, your highness.” I reached one hand up and traced a Row Of Three constellation. My great grandfather had once told me when I was little that the 'Row Of Three' was a mark in the heavens from the Maker that there was, at least at one time, three intelligent races living on our world. Now with the knowledge that Dragons and Unicorns had once lived on Earth, I knew it to be true. And now they live there again! I smiled. It truly was a wonderful thing.
“Jacob, who visited you earlier yesterday?” That was random!
“Why do you ask?” I replied, still looking at the sky.
“Because mine sister told me that an old acquaintance of hers paid her a visit in the company of a mail Pegasus and a Human woman.” Ah. I thought she might have been talking about someone else. Good.
“Mail Pegasus? Was she Ditzy Doo? She introduced me to two friends of hers yesterday, and they match that description.”
“I be not familiar with that name. Dost she possess a blond mane and tail?” I nodded. “Then that wouldst be a yes. What didst they want?”
“Well, I don't know if the woman wanted anything, but Ditzy delivered me some mail, and Smithers- that is, the tan pony- asked me a bunch of questions about you and Celestia.”
“I see.” Luna bit her lower lip and lightly chewed a minute.
“Is there something I should know about him? I didn't get a bad vibe from him, but if he's bad news, I'd like to know so I can tell Ditzy to get away from him.”
“No, no! He beith not a bad Pony, it just seems that trouble pursues him no matter where he goeth, is all. He claims that he ist not looking for it, but wherever he turns up trouble almost always follows in his wake.”
“Um, Luna? You've slipped again.” She raised her eyebrows.
“Hmm? Oh! Oops.” I laughed.
“You'll get it eventually.” I sat up and then stood up again and brushed my back side (the entire back side, not just my butt) off. “Well, I've got some things I need to do tomorrow, so I'm afraid I need to be getting to bed, princess Luna.” I picked my staff up from the ground.
“One last thing?” I paused. “Little happens in our home without either myself or mine sister knowing about it. I know that someone else came to your room yesterday, and I know from the spells we've put in place that it was neither Pony, Human, nor Dragon. I trust you, and I know that if he or she or they meant us harm that you would tell me, but even so, I am curious.” I licked my lips. I had been warned not to tell by the person that had visited me to not tell anyone who had visited me and what I what I was going to be doing. I would have to tread carefully.
“Princess, you are my teacher, and you are my friend, and to date I've never lied to you. Tomorrow I'm going to be going away for awhile. I don't know for how long, and I don't know for certain where I will be going, and to be honest, I can't even say for certain if I'll ever be coming back, or if what happens while I'm gone will affect your kingdom.” Luna said nothing in reply and only listened, which I appreciated. “In case I don't come back, could you do me a few favors?” She angled her head a little, and waited. “If you can find the time, could you perhaps check on my folks once in awhile and make sure they're alright?” Luna nodded.
“I suppose you'd also like for me to not mention to Trixie and Twilight that you might not be coming back either?” I nodded. If all I was doing was traveling for a little while, then I saw no reason why I would not be coming back, but sometimes things happened
“If they ask, just tell them that I'm doing someone a favor or a job. That's the truth, at least. Even if it's not the whole story.”
“I've had to use similar methods in the past when it came to politics in the old kingdom. Give information if it is safe to if asked for it, and if you don't want to give away too much and still remain polite and honest, give a partial answer and let them draw their own conclusions.”
“Exactly. I hate not being able to tell you and them the whole thing, but I was warned not to. I apologize.”
“Just be careful, my young student.” Luna spread her wings and flapped them a few more times, this time lifting off the ground and rising into the sky. “Good night to you!” She flew away until her form blended into the night sky as it had before.
“Good night.” I replied, and returned to my room for the night.
The next day I received a letter from Luna stating that I'd be going on an errand and that I was to leave immediately, but it gave no description and I assumed that Luna had done it as a way for me to get out of town without anyone taking any real notice of me. I silently thanked her, ate breakfast, packed a few of my things in a new travel pack that I'd bought from a store in town for the previous vacation trip I'd taken a few years ago, and lastly, grabbed my staff before I headed for the library to get as modern a world map that I could get. The first one that I'd seen was made by a Pegasus that had died over four hundred years ago. Obviously, the world had changed vastly since then. I was hoping that since then either my people or a new Pegasus had made one, but I'd see.
It turned out that someone recently (within the last six years) had indeed made a new world map, and with minimal searching this time, found Zebrica with no problem. Unfortunately, it was a rather large area to cover. Most of Mythica was made up of two large continents that were relatively close to one another (and likely would have been about the size of Pangaea was supposed to be if they were pushed together), as well as several small scattered islands everywhere else. One of which I hear Drahgov was banished to. I have to wonder how he's doing. Not that it really mattered so long as he stayed out of our hair like he was supposed to.
I tapped Zebrica in its center and then rerolled the map and handed it back to the librarian. I then slung my bag over my shoulders again and gripped my staff and focused. I really had no idea what I'd find when I arrived, and hoped that the nearest 'safe teleport spot' (meaning not appearing where a tree or rock or another being stood) would not drop me off in front of some sort of hungry animal such as a lion. When my surroundings changed I looked down and screamed in fear before falling. It seemed that thinking about a location while having a bird's-eye-view of it in mind from looking at a map was not a good thing!
I fell for about ten seconds moving my legs as if running in midair would stop my fall as if I were some sort of cartoon character or something. It was at that time I remembered a very crucial piece of information: I had magic, and using it properly, I could fly. Fighting the urge to simply stop myself in midair (which could very likely cause me some very major damage or at the very least rip my clothing and make me fall to the ground Pony-naked) I first willed a gust of wind to gust up from the ground. It took several seconds for the updraft to reach me, but it was worth it. In just a few seconds I slowed to half my speed, and after a few more I felt more like I was sinking through warm water (minus being wet, of course, although that one cloud I fell through was a bit damp). Once I thought that I wouldn't rip through my shirt or neuter myself with my pants I levitated myself down until I was only four stories up, and then slowly spun myself around, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
He'll only be here a short while...but when will he show up? I frowned. Hours went by, and still I saw nothing. Twice I'd taken a break on the ground to rest, and then I'd risen up a little higher and moved to another location after making another quick sweep. This went on for most of the day, and it was not until the sky had started growing darker that I finally, finally, finally saw what I was looking for. The odd thing was, I had already checked this area once before, and I had seen nothing back then other than a plain of brown grass and a few stunted trees and rocks. I supposed that it was possible that it had simply been invisible to the naked eye, as I'd seen similar things done with magic before. I flew in closer until I was directly above it and then cautiously drifted down to the ground behind it. Or, at least I assumed that I was behind it. I had not seen any doors as I'd come closer to it, though I had seen several very dirty windows.
Slowly I made my way around it until I came to a door. I gripped the handles on the front and pulled, to no effect. I pushed with the same results.
“Hmm.” Locked. It was tiny, whatever this thing was. It said 'Police Box' in large bold letters, and in smaller lettering in between those two words it read 'Public Call'. What the heck is a police box? I had found a small hatch on the door that when pulled out revealed an antique-style telephone, but there was no dial tone, not that I expected one. I hung the ear phone part of the phone back on its cradle and closed the hatch and frowned at this large, blue, wooden puzzle box. I briefly considered knocking, but then practicality reminded me that knocking would defeat the purpose of trying to sneak aboard if anyone really was inside. But given the size of this thing, how could they not notice me??? Even if I were to become invisible whoever was inside would surely bump into me sooner or later, and then being invisible wouldn't be of any use at all.
There was a small common house lock below the right door handle. I crouched down in front of the door after another look around to make sure no one had shown up during the five or so minutes since I'd landed. I saw no one. Or nopony. It looked like a simple enough lock, although for some reason the metla piece that typically would have been pushed back when the key was inserted was blue like the color of the rest of the box even though the lock itself was silver (and looked much newer than the rest of the police box). I prodded at it with a fingernail first, and then a pocket knife second seeing if it would turn as I'd known some badly-made Earth locks to do on occasion. No result. Next I tried a scan with magic, but the mental image I got back from the scan was like I had scanned a wall of stone. I got nothing, which I did not understand, and only served to increase my annoyance with this blue porta-potty. As a last resort I went ahead and knocked on the door, but after waiting for two minutes and then knocking again several times one after the other with no result, I gave up on that as well. I kicked the door, threw rocks at the lock, yelled 'open sesame' at it, and even went said 'friend' in an elfish language from a movie I'd once seen several years ago. All to no effect. Feeling rather put out, I flipped it off. (That did not work either, though I'd have laughed hard enough to fall to the ground if it had.)
Feeling defeated, I turned away from the door and leaned against it and sighed. I had barely begun this 'job' and I'd already failed. Part of me whispered that this might have been what LL had intended all along just for the sake of playing a joke on me.
“Stupid blue porta-potty!” I grumbled, and kicked it with a foot. Nothing changed, but it made me feel better. “I guess this is it, then. I suppose I could always just-” It hit me then that I did not really need to find or force a way in so much as to just wait for someone (or somepony) to open the door themselves and then I could just walk right in behind (or around, as the case might be) them and wait for them to somehow use it for getting around. maybe it has wheels under it or something. I snapped my fingers as I made my decision. Yes, that is what I'll- my train of thought was broken as I heard a click come form the lock and looked down at it. “What?! I only needed to snap my **** fingers!?! I fought the urge to try setting it on fire with magic and grabbed the handles and pulled them. Nothing happened, and I pushed them open instead and strode in...and dropped my staff in shock and stared at the large room that could have housed roughly a third of a soccer field. “What in the Maker's name?” I backed out of the 'box' and walked around it to make sure I had not imaged the size of it from the outside. I had not, and after nodding to no one I once more stepped through the door frame and found that the inside was still larger. “This isn't possible! I must be seeing an illusion or maybe a hologram or something!” I walked along the perimeter of the room dragging a hand against the wall, which looked like it was made of some sort of tree bark, but it felt more like stone or maybe ceramic against my fingers. Unlike either of those though, it was warm to the touch, and I could swear that I could feel a steady, continuous vibration as if this thing, whatever it was, was alive and had a pulse. “What are you?” I asked the whatever-it-was as I reached the door again and retrieved my staff.
Recalling that I was supposed to be stowing myself aboard I closed and locked the door from the inside and then, fighting the urge to stare some more, began looking for a place to hide myself away. In this room there was literally nowhere to hide and it was not until I found a set of stairs leading downward in a spiral that I had any hope of really staying hidden. Even with the size of the room and invisibility, all it would take was a sneeze or a cough to give me away.
I passed several rooms, the first being a room that I took to be a bar, the second a greenhouse of sorts containing dozens (if not more) of plants that I'd never seen or smelled before. The next few rooms had a variety of oddities in them such as a library (whose books were mostly on disk or computer chips of varying kinds) with a swimming pool, a kitchen, a wardrobe room, a closet packed to the brim with various junk that avalanched on top of me when I opened the door and a mostly-empty room that held various pictures and several more outfits ranging from modern to something that I'd once seen in a nineteen sixties movie. I took it to be either a museum or perhaps a souvenir room and decided that this was not a good place to hide either. Finally, at the bottom of the ladder, I found a large storage room that seemed to mostly hold junk, though at the back contained various canned and dry goods as well as an assortment of various junk foods. Making an empty space to conceal myself in behind the front crates and boxes and grabbed a bag of chips and a can of cheese. I opened the can using one of the many variations of a Swiss army knife (kind of a funny name considering that the Swiss did not have an army) that I'd added to my travel pack and started chowing down.
When the bag was empty I stuffed it into an old crate and settled in as best I could using my bag as a pillow and waited until I dozed off.
I awoke later to something heavy dropping on my head.
“Ouch!” I exclaimed before remembering where I was. I shut my mouth and waited for someone to hear me and investigate, but it seemed that I was still alone. Alone, and rolling back and forth. I slid across the little cubby hole I'd made for myself first one way, and then another until I at last found something to hold onto (a bolted-down shelf that the object that had fallen on my head had fallen off of) and once secure I wondered what the heck was going on. Is this a freak earthquake or something?! Am I about to die?!
The rocking kept up for a minute's time, and then we came to a dead stop and everything was stable and safe again. I let out a breath that I did not know I had been holding and slowly released my grip on the shelf. I sucked in new air and slowly stood to my feet and reached for my bag. Slinging it over my shoulders I picked up the empty can and decided I'd play this the stupid way. I'd walk up to the first person (or pony) I saw and I'd ask where the garbage can was.
Strangely enough, it worked better than I'd hoped.
“What?” 'Smithers' asked as he, 'Janette', and Ditzy all stared at me open-mouthed as I reached the top of the steps.
“Um, hello again! Any chance any of you know where I can find a garbage can?”
“How- When- Huh?!” Janette asked in broken unfinished sentence introductions.
“Over there by the wagon seats.” Ditzy pointed at a garbage can strapped to one of the seats, which was secured to some sort of railing. Probably in place for that crazy rocking earlier.
“Thank you.” I walked over to it, unscrewed the lid, and tossed my trash into it, then resealed it.
“What?”
“You're welcome! Want a muffin?” She offered a blueberry one to me on one of her hoofs.
“Yes, thank you. The chips and cheese were good, but they weren't particularly filling.” I walked over to where they stood. Ditzy was just as surprised (at first) to see me as the other two were, but unlike the others, whose brains were still trying to make sense of mine being there, Ditzy had moved on. I walked to her and accepted it, taking a large bite from it. It was a big muffin, which was good, because as I'd just said, I was still hungry.
“But the door was locked when we left! You couldn't have possibly gotten in, and The Doctor said that magic-users can't get in either!” 'Janette' turned to 'Smithers', whom I now suspected was 'The Doctor'. “You are sure about that, aren't you?”
“What?!” He said again, with much more emphasis this time. One of his eyes twitched.
“I think I broke him.”
* * * * *
The Shield gave The Doctor a light slap to the face and he shook his head so quickly his face blurred for a second, and then he stopped and his eye focused first on her, then on Jacob.
“How in the Time Stream did you get into the TARDIS? It was locked!” He asked in a voice riddled with disbelief.
“Oh, you know, it was a- snap!” Jacob snapped the fingers on his muffin-free hand in tandem with the word 'snap and the door unlocked. The three of them stared at the door a moment, then at him. “I found that bit out completely by accident.” He confessed. The Shield glared at The Doctor.
“You mean to tell me that anybody with fingers can get in here any time they want?!” The Doctor shrugged.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time!”
The Shield turned to Ditzy, who was putting her box of muffins away again and asked if this was another thing he did often. Ditzy shrugged.
“According to him I've been with him longer than most of his previous traveling companions, and his daily actions are normally dictated by whims, but this one's is news to me.” Ditzy looked at Jacob. “So why are you here?”
“More importantly, how did you know we'd be here?” The Shield added.
“Did you check the date on that can of cheese before you opened it?” The Doctor asked. The other two women looked at him.
“Really? A guy we just met two days ago breaks into your TARDIS, and you're asking him if he checked the date on a canned good?”
“Well he won't be able to answer any questions if he's too busy vomiting the contents of his stomach up on the floor, now will he? Not to mention the smell that would leave! Besides, you two seem to have that line of questioning handled.”
“Um, can I ask a question?” Jacob spoke hesitantly. They're eyes all turned to him again. “What was with that rocking motion earlier? And how is this all possible?!” Jacob pointed around the room. “It's- it's-” The Doctor grinned and looked like he was expecting something. “It's bi-”
“Smaller on the outside?” Ditzy offered, using the same line she'd suggested to The Shield. The Doctor's face fell.
“Yes! That's it exactly! Outside we're the size of a porta-potty, but in here-” The Shield snorted and started laughing. “What did I say?”
“This may be one of the most advanced pieces of technology to be present in this universe ever, and you just compared it to an outdoor toilet!” She continued laughing while the Doctor frowned.
“I don't see what's so funny about that!” The Doctor said. “I'm rather insulted, actually! A porta-potty is much smaller than my police box, thank you very much! But more importantly, you still haven't said why you're here and how you knew where to find us.” Though I suppose it could just be one of the random happenings of the Universes. He thought while he walked up to Jacob and began scanning him to see if there were any foreign influences that had about him. Jacob stood still while he did so watching The Doctor wave the object in his mouth up and down wile he circled him. When The Doctor finished he was surprised to find nothing at all. There weren't even notable traces of recently used magic about him, (he'd modified his own scanner after taking The Shield's apart and put it back together.) which only made him all the more curious. “Well, you're here now, and I can't simply leave you behind. There's no telling what trouble you could cause in this age.”
“This age? What do you mean? It's the year 2019, isn't it?” Ditzy suddenly became excited and in a happy voice began to explain to Jacob that the machine he stood in was called the TARDIS, and that it was a time machine and that the three of them were going back in time 900 years to speak to Celestia's parents in the hopes of answering a question The Doctor had. Jacob's jaw dropped and he stared from one of the other three beings in the room one after the other. “What?! I'm in a time machine!?!” So that's how I can meet someone I've killed! Time travel!
A part of Jacob felt giddy at being able to stand in a real-life time machine, but the more mature part of his mind saw the potential for huge problems that could be caused from it. “Are you three sure that that's a good idea? We could do a lot of damage to the future if we did that.”
“Oh, I wouldn't worry overly much about damage we could cause. Things couldn't get much worse.” The Shield replied. The Doctor shot her a look that said 'shut up'. Jacob was curious what she meant by that, but Ditzy told him he was better off not knowing, which only made him even more curious, and a more than a bit concerned as well.
In the end they decided to take Jacob along with him provided he keep his mouth shut about being Luna's student, amongst other things.
“Just let me do the talking.” The Doctor said. “Speak only if you're spoken to, and don't mention what your staff is made from or who taught you to use magic. From what I've read Humans are only a legend to everyone except the king, queen, and the king's brother. Only scholars of history truly believe in them in this era, though legends of them are still told in many households.”
“So me and Janette-” The Shield interrupted him.
“Shield. My name is The Shield.” Jacob thought her real 'name' odd, but kept his verbal opinion to himself.
“Me and The Shield are going to draw attention like cupcakes draw Pinkie Pie's mouth.”
“A- that's actually a very good comparison.” The Doctor had met Pinkie Pie once before, and had seen her mouth (and stomach) in action before. It amazed, and scared him a little. There is no conceivable reason that all that sugar hasn't rotted out all her teeth yet! “Just stick with us, and you should be alright.” Jacob nodded, and they went to the door and stepped outside.
The world they stepped out into was much different than any of them had expected.
“AAAaaah!” The first step was a doozy, and the the other three reached for The Doctor before he could fall to his death down the slop of a steep mountain. The TARDIS had somehow managed to land on the only flat ledge within two hundred feet up or down, and opened into the air with no actual 'first step' to step onto. The Doctor had intended to appear inside Canterlot's royal palace, but the palace as of this moment did not actually exist. The closest thing to it was a large house at the base of the mountain where the palace would eventually be built in the future. The palace was under construction, but would not reach to this position for several more years or possible decades depending on how things went.
The three beings still in the TARDIS hauled The Doctor back up into his ship where he turned his head back enough to see where he'd almost fallen and swallowed hard.
“Many thanks! What say we park the TARDIS somewhere lower?” There was no argument.
Two minutes later the TARDIS came to a stop in a back alley of Canterlot city, which at this time had no separate districts for the poor, middle, and rich classes. After a moment's time of walking through the streets and looking around they saw that the reason for this was that nearly everypony was in the same general level of prosperity. Ponies were more focused on what they and their neighbors needed to survive rather than on collecting wealth. It was, in Jacob's opinion, a breath of fresh air, and he smiled.
This. This is how I want my people and the Pony world to get along. We're all neighbors in this life, and we need to take care of each other.
It did not take long for the locals to notice the two bipeds (and pony strangers) walking their streets, and ponies paused in their daily activities to stare at them in amazement as they walked by. Most of the adults went back to work after they'd passed or whispered to their neighbors, but a large majority of children that saw them gasped and pointed, and then crowded around them and asked them many questions one after the other much like Scootaloo had asked Jacob when he'd first arrived in Ponyville. Jacob grinned and answered some of them such as his name, where he'd come from, what his favorite fruit was, his favorite color, yes he could show them how his hands worked (he turned his wrists back and forth and flexed the fingers of his empty hand while they watched in awe), what his staff was for (he answered that it was used mostly for when he was walking through rough ground for extra balance), and where they were going (which The Doctor answered). They tried asking The Shield questions too, but she pretended not to hear them and Jacob told the foals that she was just in a bad mood and not to take it personally.
Halfway to the royal estate a group of patrol ponies (looking much less stern than any guards that they'd seen in the future) stepped into their path and asked them what their business in town was. The Doctor tried to explain to them that they'd come to speak to the royalty, but the children that had followed them ran in between the two groups and started chattering all at once and many of them pointed hoofs at The Shield and Jacob with delighted smiles nearly splitting their faces. After several minutes of looking from one foal to another and trying to sort out all of what they were saying he stamped a hoof on the cobblestones beneath him and the children hushed.
“Yes, they're clearly Humans, and yes, they're clearly more than stories. I can see that. But no one has seen them for centuries. I doubt they'd have come here just to see the sights.”
“Actually, that is exactly why they're here!” The Doctor objected. The patrol pony that seemed to be in charge (he walked ahead of the other five ponies with him) focused his attention on The Doctor and listened attentively. “I and my Pegasus friend here” Ditzy waved. “just happened to be the first Equestrians they'd come across, and they asked us to show Canterlot to them from the town to the leaders and to see how you've been doing during their people's absence. That's why we're here.”
“Hmm.” The patrol pony looked like he wasn't sure he believed him.
“You've been doing wonderfully. What we've seen of this city so far is beautiful!” The Shield added. The patrol pony stuck out his front a little more and put a smile of pride on his face.
“We've done our best to recover from the wars and dangers of the world. It hasn't been easy, but we've got bold hearts in our chests and strong blood in our veins!” The other ponies behind him nodded and imitated their leader's stance.
“'Wars' plural? You've had a second war since the Dragon war?” Jacob asked, forgetting about the confrontation with Discord and later the occurrence with Nightmare Moon. The children started chattering up a storm again and again the patrol pony stamped a hoof.
“Yes. A strange creature calling himself Discord came during an absence of our leaders and took over for a time, and after Celestia and Luna, daughters of our king and queen dispatched him and turned him to stone, princess Luna was possessed by a dark presence and was banished to the moon. Shortly after, the now-deceased-king's brother returned from his journey and at the insistence of Celestia became our new king. They've been teaching us more efficient ways to do our daily labors. What once took a few days or hours now only takes half that time!”
“May they live forever! May they live forever!” The patrol ponies yelled in unison. The children imitated.
But they won't live forever. Jacob thought sadly. We came back 900 years, which means that- wait...Zandar would have already come and killed Celestia's father...why aren't they arresting us?
“Who is ruling now?” Jacob asked.
“Thanatos is currently ruling in his deceased brother's stead.” The patrol pony became remorseful. “According to history, a monster attacked out people 586 years ago and slew thirty or so of our people, including our king when he went with his soldiers to put the mad creature down. Thanatos was the one to put an end to it.”
“Do you know what it was that killed him?” The patrol pony shook his head.
“Thanatos concealed the creature inside a prison carriage and dealt with it in private. The poor queen fell into a permanent state of sorrow after that. According to history she died fifty years later of a broken heart.” Jacob sighed and placed a hand over his eyes. Was reuniting our two worlds truly enough redemption for my family's bloodline? Zandar killed Celestia and Luna's father and by extension her mother, Mace was indirectly responsible for Thanatos becoming a monster, and then I finished him in my time. Maybe I shouldn't have any kids. It seems to be my family's fate to slay Alicorns! Jacob thought with a shudder.
“It was by no fault of yours, Human, and we still have Celestia and her uncle. If you would like to see them for yourselves, come.” The patrol pony turned and began leading them up the road. Though the pony had not been able to read Jacob's mind (and it was avery good thing that he could not) Jacob found the words comforting and followed with a lighter heart than he would have walked with otherwise.
The Doctor, rather pleased at this turn of events when he had been a bit nervous that they might have been arrested for traveling in the company of two legendary creatures (I have been arrested for less before!) but instead they had been given some rather useful information. Celestia (of the future) had suggested talking to her father, but in this time period her father (And her mother too, and she'd just had to banish her own sister to the moon! Poor girl!) was deceased. Still, given that Thanatos was the brother of their former king (I have to wonder what the chap's name is...) he'd probably be able to give good information as well if the conversation was worded the correct way. Odd that Jacob would ask if they knew what had killed him. Though not so much the question itself rather than the tone he'd asked it in. It sounded like he knew and was afraid to have his suspicions confirmed. I'll have to ask him about that later when we get a moment to ourselves!
The children that had been following them left when the lunch bells rang throughout the (currently) small city, as did two of the patrol ponies escorting them. When they finally stopped again they'd arrived outside of the large, yet modest (there were almost no decorations either on the house itself or in the yard in front of it) house they'd seen from the TARDIS when it was perched on the side of the mountain.
“Celestia is probably busy studying magic at the moment, but Thanatos should not be very busy. I hope you all enjoy your stay in Canterlot!” The patrol pony trotted off back the way they'd come and the group looked up.
“It certainly is different here from our time!” Ditzy noted. “Almost no big houses, no royal palace, and there's actually a king! One thing puzzles me about him, though, how come I've never heard about them?”
“I suppose you'd have to ask Celestia that question, Ditzy.” The Doctor replied. “Perhaps she was just trying to forget unhappy times.”
The Doctor raised a hoof and tapped the door four times. A servant with a dark blue hide and blond mane and tail came to the door and gasped at the sight of whom she had come to greet and stared. The Doctor flashed her a winning smile and said that they were here to see the king. The servant continued to stare over The Doctor's head at The Shield and Jacob until he tapped her shoulder. She jumped and then focused on The Doctor, who flashed her another grin. “Hello! We're showing these Humans our fair city, and they wanted to see king Thanatos while they were here!”
“Sapphire? Who is it?” A crystalline voice called from inside the house.
“An earth pony, a Pegasus pony, and two Humans, my lady. They say they're here to see your uncle.”
“Two Humans?!” The sound of another pony galloping to the door came inside and a white Alicorn that everyone knew stuck her head through the door above the earth pony. “It can't be! I know you four, and none of your kind live that long! So you really do travel through time like my father said!” The Doctor, Ditzy, The Shield, and Jacob all traded looks with one another.
“I take it we've encountered one another before?” The Doctor asked. Celestia nodded.
“It was just my parents and uncle disappeared for awhile and Discord invaded!” Celestia became confused. “You...don't remember that?” Her question was met with a chorus of shaken heads. “Uh...oops. I guess you haven't done that yet. I'll get my uncle.” Celestia told Sapphire to show the time travelers in and bring them some refreshments while she went to tell her uncle who had come. Sapphire nodded and ushered their guests indoors to a waiting room with two couches and a table between them, and then left to brew some tea. Each of them sat down and waited for the tea, each to their own thoughts. Ditzy spoke first, and no, it was not to offer anyone a muffin.
“So we're going to be going further back then?”
“I suppose we'll have to eventually, if Celestia knows us from before now and we don't. I do have to wonder why her parents and uncle disappeared, though.”
“Maybe they went with us into the future to help us fight the Daleks?” Jacob hadn't missed that statement, and was quick to inquire.
“Fight Daleks in the future? What's a Dalek?” Realization dawned on his face and he looked at The Shield. “Is this what you meant when you said that the future couldn’t get much worse? What happens in the future?” The Doctor gave Ditzy a flat stare and she looked back with an apologetic smile. He sighed.
“Since the apple's off of the tree and you'll have died of old age long before it actually happens I suppose there's no point in keeping it secret anymore so long as you give me your word that you won't tell anyone in advance.” Jacob hesitated a moment, then nodded.
“In the year 2120 a race of alien beings that are called Daleks are going to invade your planet, and unless myself, Ditzy, and The Shield can find a way to manipulate events just enough to change things, kill every man, woman, child, and any ponies that happen to be on it at the time as well. Complete and total annihilation.” Jacob gripped his staff tighter and his eyes bulged. The Doctor nodded. “That's our ultimate goal: avert their destruction, and defeat the Daleks.”
“Is there any hope at all?”
“Well, I came in my own space ship with my own weapons, and I left it unlocked for your people to discover and copy if they can,” The Shield said. “but if it's anything like the second time we went forward, it will only slow the Daleks down by a few hours. We're going to need to find another way.” Jacob stared at her.
“You're an alien too?! But- but you look Human!”
“I know. I'm not sure why that is, but this was the shape I was born with. It's probably the reason my people were so fond of yours and often walked among you. You were like our younger siblings on the evolutionary chart.”
“Tea? Water?” Sapphire came back carrying a tray on one hoof (How do they do that?! The Doctor wondered anew) and set it down on the table between them.
“Wonderful!” The Doctor said as he lifted a cup up with his front hoofs. Ditzy lifted it with one, The Shield declined the tea and took some water, and Jacob also took tea. After sipping from it, all four looked at it in wonder. Whatever leaves the ponies used for this, it was absolutely delicious!
“Wow! What do you use for the tea leaves? This is great!” Ditzy asked.
“Flower petals from the Everfree trees. Their flowers bloom only once a year, so they need to be gathered with haste. I am glad that you like it.” She looked resumed staring at the two Humans in the group of guests. “If you don't mind my asking, are the two of you mates?” Jacob performed a short spit-take, and The Shield choked and started coughing. Ditzy shook her head.
“Nope! We just travel together, that's all! We only met them a few days ago. It's safer to travel with more folks along.”
“Really? The servant replied, eying Jacob with interest, who recognized the tone and look on her face and inwardly groaned.
“Perchance, miss Sapphire, is your last name Rosa?” He asked. Sapphire was surprised. That was indeed her last name, but how had he known? She asked him this and he said that he'd encountered another pony with the name Rosa before that had also taken an 'interest' in him.
“Well, my family always did have a liking for the exotic ones!” She laughed. “More tea? You did just spray out half a mouthful.” Jacob laughed nervously.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
While Sapphire Rosa cleaned up the mess Celestia came back with Thanatos. His coat was a bright orange (as was his mane, which from what they'd all seen was a rare thing) like it had been in the illusion left behind by Mace Lighthand all those- wait, it was the future as far as linear time was concerned. Ugh. My head's starting to hurt again! Ditzy thought as she ran the time line through her head.
He took one look at their group, and then told both Celestia and Sapphire to leave the room.
“What's wrong, uncle?” Celestia asked.
“Celestia, please. There are some things that you are better off not knowing. I was unable to prevent the Nightmare from possessing Luna because I was not present, and could not protect her from it, nor you from the sorrow of having to banish your own sister, but I can protect you from my own sorrows.” Celstia, looking sad from having to recall what she'd been forced to do only a year before, left the room with traces of tears in her eyes. Sapphire Rosa left close behind. When she had shut the large door behind her Thanatos turned his attention back to his guests. “Judging by your curious expressions I'd guess that this is the first time we've met for you, correct?” The group nodded. “Alright. Let me start by saying to the only actual Human in this room that I don't hold you accountable for your kind's actions against my kin.” Thanatos watched Jacob's reaction, and nodded. “Yes, him. Your race overall has proven that, like every other race we've encountered, that they have capacity not only for great good, but also great evils. I shall not condemn your whole race based on one's action. After all, we made your race into what they are, so if anyone is to blame, it is us.”
“What?!” Everyone except Ditzy jumped to their feet (and hoofs).
“What do you mean, you made us?!” Jacob demanded.
“And the Unicorns and Pegasi as well. This happened long before Celestia and Luna were born. It was so long ago I don't even remember what year it was now. It was a plan for genetic preservation. You see, a bio-weapon that our universe's Daleks created was unleashed on our people when we took their capital planet. We had never expected them to use such a tactic because they never had before, but it seemed that they'd made a last-ditch extermination plan should their home world be taken.”
“That sounds like the Daleks I know.” The Doctor agreed. “Determined to kill everything not like them to their last breath.”
“They very nearly succeeded, but as with everything normal in this Reality, there are always exceptions to the rule. There were a few dozen of us that were immune to the bio-weapon, but we were too few to both aid our allies and rebuild our race, so after checking on our other-world brethren to make sure they were doing well we decided to search the universe for a world to make a new home.”
“And you found Mythica!” Ditzy finished.
“Mythica?”
“That's what we call our planet in the future.” She explained Thanatos nodded.
“When we arrived here there were a wide variety of creatures that already called this place their home, so we moved to the least-populated area and began to rebuild our lives. For two hundred years we lived here and for the most part the locals of this continent, whom were the Zebras and the earth ponies, looked up to us as if we were gods. I suppose they still think that we are, but we are not. Back in those times we walked as Humans do, but we had hoofs instead of feet. We did, however, have hands as well as magic, which enabled us to build much more efficient tools and homes than the ponies. The locals tried their best to imitate us on their own, but had limited success, much to their sorrow.” He smiled while he reflected. “Nearly every other day they'd come to us after having built something like a child trying to impress their parents. They never gave up.”
“What about Humans? Where did they fit into this? You said that the locals, and by 'locals' I'm assuming you mean local intelligent creatures, were ponies.” It was The Shield who asked this.
“Humans in that time period were not Humans. They were little more than tall apes with the intelligence capacity of modern Human's children. They kept to themselves for the most part and usually stayed away from us, though they had good relations with the ponies.”
“Did your people teach us how to bake?” Ditzy asked out of the blue. Thanatos and the others turned their gaze on her a moment, then looked at Thanatos waiting for an answer to the random question.
“Actually, it was your people that invented baking. Well, earth ponies, anyway. When they found that they could not match us in what we already had, they began trying to make things that we did not have. If I recall correctly, the first baked good I'd ever tasted was a small sort of bread with some mashed blueberries mixed into it. It was very good. But back on subject, after those two hundred years” He looked at The Shield. “your people contacted us once more begging for help. It seemed that unlike our race, yours was losing the war against your Daleks after we stopped being a part of it. After considering and weighing the risks, most of us volunteered to go and aid you in battle against your dimension's Daleks once again.
“Out of the eighty four of us that went (twelve of us remained behind) only three returned from the war, and they brought three fully crewed Dalek warships chasing after them, blasting everything in their path. Just before reaching the safety of our town's defenses, the three small fighter ships they were fleeing in were destroyed. One was destroyed directly in midair, and one of the other two careened into the second after its thrusters were damaged. Both of them crashed to the ground and were smashed, leaving only twelve of our number left. We threw up our defensive shield spells, but when the Daleks discovered that there were more life forms on our new home than us they left three soldiers behind in each ship to ensure that we'd be trapped inside holding up the defensive barrier, and the others went on a killing spree.
“After watching them decimate the two large pony villages that had had been built near our own town, something in Celestia's mother, who had cared for the locals as if they were her own children snapped and she left the safety of the barrier and attacked them head-on hurtling the most powerful spells our people had made. Mantle, my brother, followed her out of a desire to protect her, and I of course followed him, along with my best friend. Working together we destroyed one of their warships, and then began assaulting the other. In the process of destroying the first they deployed all of their soldiers and my friend was killed. The rest of our number teleported to our position and raised a smaller barrier to defend us, but even with all our capabilities, having more than twice our number assaulting us at the same time was taxing for even us.
“ We fought them for over an hour, but when three of those holding up the shield collapsed to their knees from exhaustion I thought we were going to die for certain! But then something none of us expected happened.”
“What?” his captive audience audience asked.
“The remaining pony survivors from the two destroyed villages along with the apes that the locals befriended ran out of the nearby forest (that would later be named Everfree forest) and used what primitive weaponry they had to try and protect us!” He smiled sadly. “Those brave fools. They had only spears, clubs, and their bodies, but it was just enough to distract our attackers and bought us the time we needed to pool our remaining energy and use a forbidden spell that condensed all matter as densely as it could be compressed for a few seconds. We formed a temporary black hole in an attempt to destroy our enemies.” The Doctor whistled through his teeth.
“Dangerous. If you had messed up even a little and it had become permanent-”
“That was exactly why that spell was forbidden, and we paid a hefty price for it when all but myself, less than a quarter of the surviving beings that tried to defend us, my brother, one other Magi-Time Lord, and Mantle's wife were pulled into it. Now the only female left of our species that we knew of was Mantle's wife. In short, we were effectively doomed as a species unless we wanted to turn into race of inbred idiots within a few generations. So we did the only thing we could at that point: we asked for some volunteers from the local populace, and then after some extensive research we incorporated parts of our DNA into their genetic structure so at least part of us would live on after the last of us were gone. Some of the ponies we gave wings, others we gave spiral horns like our own for the use of magic. For the apes, whom we really did not expect to see of all 'races' come to our assistance, we gave higher brain functions and altered them so they'd stand upright as we did, and over time they became what you are today.”
“But what about us being able to use magic?” Jacob asked. “Did you give us that as well?” Thanatos shook his head.
“Not intentionally. Part of being able to use magic is wanting to understand the the world around you and at least grasping the basic concept of how it functions. Your evolutionary ancestors already had a natural curiosity for the world around them, so perhaps when we modified their brains this increased just enough for magic use.
“Have I satisfied your curiosity?”
“Nope!” Ditzy answered though the rest of their little group had nodded.
“What is left that you'd like to know, Pegasus?”
“You said you once walked like Humans. Why don't you anymore?”
“After we'd finished our genetic experiments we used magic to transform ourselves into a shape closer to that of the locals in the hope that they'd eventually stop looking at us like we were Gods.”
“Did it work?” Ditzy again.
“Not really, but it made the other pony villages scattered around the continent less nervous around us.”
“What happened to the other Magi-Time Lord that teleported with you to safety?” The Shield asked.
“He began studying the world and left the teaching of the pony-folk to us. I hear from him from time to time, and in fact, he was the Alicorn that discovered the Echo Dimension which we began using to exile criminals, and then later to transport the Human race and a large portion of the Dragon-kin to it during this planet's first world war.”
He scratched one hind leg with his other and then looked out of a window at the bustling small city. “Ponykind have come so far from what they used to be, and I have no doubt that if we had not come that they still might have become what they are today on their own. In a way I feel guilty about having come here because I feel that we've taken something away from them by giving them a shortcut into their modern lives.” He looked back at them again. “Still, it turned out for the best, didn't it?”
The Doctor and the others did not really have much else to speak about as far as the past went, so instead they spoke of more recent (as far as Thanatos was concerned) events. Farming was much more efficient now and food was only ever an issue when the rainfall was poor (and they were working on finding a way around that. Ditzy wanted to offer a suggestion but all three Time Lords advised against it saying that it'd be better if the ponies discovered the method or methods on their own so they'd be less dependent on the Alicorns for their daily lives. Thanatos hoped that one day he and Celestia (and Luna when she returned and they'd dealt with The Nightmare) could stop being the rulers and retire (or as close to retirement as they could get). The Doctor and Ditzy knew from experience that if this time ever came at all, it would not be more more than another two thousand years into the linear future.
Feeling curious as to what the Magi-Time Lord's town looked like, The Doctor asked if they might be given permission to see it, but Thanatos shook his head, saying that after the death of the rest of their race, Thanatos and Mantle buried it and all remaining traces of their people under the ground. As of this moment, Everfree forest was in the process of growing over and covering it (Thanatos found it rather pleasing that a place of death was becoming covered with life). They could, if they so desired, visit the location it had once stood and read off the names of those that had once lived in it from two obelisks they'd placed in the courtyard. For a time they'd lived in it, but the memory of what they'd lost was too much to bear and they moved to where they were living now.
The Doctor and The Shield replied that yes, they'd like to go see it. Jacob and Ditzy preferred to remain in (old) Canterlot.
________
This Chapter, unfortunately, is heavily infested with conversation. I didn't much like it. I'll try to cut back on that for the next one.
“Do you seriously expect us to believe that Alicorns created Pegasi and Unicorns? The princesses are powerful, but I've never heard of them doing something like that!” Again Rainbow Dash took the role of neigh-sayer (yes, pun was intentional), and this time the others (with exception of Pinkie Pie) agreed.
“I'm her personal student, and Celestia's never mentioned anything about that to me.” Twilight said while shaking her head.
“I beg your pardon, darling, but I'm just a tad doubtful of this myself as well.” Rarity nodded in agreement.
“I don't think you would lie, Doctor, but...” Fluttershy trailed off in a quiet voice.
“OOOOOOH! So does that mean that my great great great great great great-” Pinkie pie kept repeating 'great' over and over and over while the Applejack also agreed that she doubted the bit about Thanatos, the princess's parents and an unnamed forth could have brought about her friend's breeds.
“Ah don't claim to know much about magic or Human tech-stuffs, but that one's a bit out there, Doc.”
To Twilight's statement, the Doctor explained that Celestia would not have mentioned it because she did not know. Mantle and his wife had decided to keep that a secret from their children as well as their ancestry so that, on the off chance they found a way to return to Gallopfrey ((Please don't hurt me for that one!)) they would avoid testing whether or not their different bodies were also immune to the virus that the Daleks had infected their race with. Thanatos had agreed with them that it was the best way, and so Celestia and Luna remained ignorant of their origins, as well as that of the non-earth ponies and Humans.
“And I would appreciate it if you would not mention this to Celestia once we're done here.” Jacob added from where he sat with his feet propped up on top of one another. “Luna will find out from my journey-journals soon enough, and eventually she'll give them to Celestia as well to read. Until then, just let it be our big secret.”
“-great great great great-” Pinkie stopped to take a breath and continued her 'great' listing for another three minutes while the others watched and listened. Finally she stopped and finished her sentence. “-grandma was the mother of the first Pegasi or Unicorn?! Oh! My! GOSH! That means I really could be somepony's Auntie! Well, somepony's great great great-” Applejack stuffed a hoof in Pinkie's mouth to silence her before she could spend five literal minutes repeating 'great' again.
“Actually, I think you've got two too many 'greats',” The Doctor corrected. “but yes, every Pegasi and every Unicorn is related to an earth pony unless by earth pony you mean one of Earth's ponies. Most of Earth's ponies are actually from Horse descent and were bred to be smaller, for whatever reason. I rarely understand why Humans do some things. That's what makes them so interesting!” The Doc smiled and tossed a broken chocolate pretzel in his mouth. “That and the variety of junk foods they make!” Pinkie Pie appeared next to him and hugged him.
“You and I are going to get along just fine!” She declared, and then released him after some begging for air on the part of the Doctor.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Ditzy Doo and me walked down the streets of (old) Canterlot, taking in the sights and sounds the old (or perhaps younger) world. Everywhere was filled with smiling or concentrating faces that looked up and waved at us when they didn't stare in shock. Once again children surrounded us and asked questions, but they stopped when several adults scolded them and told them to let us be. I mentally thanked them and we continued walking until we came across a familiar face talking to a Unicorn standing behind a wagon with various trinkets and some articles of jewelry on it.
“Another Alicorn? A girl Alicorn?” Ditzy asked, turning and tilting up her her head to look up at my face. “I thought that Mantle and his wife were dead already.”
“They are. That Alicorn is somepony that I know from the future. Her name is Melinda Jones.” Melinda's ears twitched and I suspected that she heard her name being spoken, but she did not look away from the Unicorn she was speaking with. “Let's not bother her, Ditzy. She looks busy. Besides,” I lowered my voice. “If I say the wrong thing to her it might change the future.” Melinda did not seem to hear that bit, and the two of us walked away from her.
After a time we stopped next to a cart that was being used a food stand for lunch. Sadly, the only thing on it that I could eat (and get any nutritional value out of) was a thin vegetable stew. Still, it was better (in my opinion, and not Ditzy's) than a flower sandwich. The vendor wanted to see our money before he'd sell us anything, but when both me and Ditzy dug out a few bits and showed them to him he gave us a confused look.
“This money is dated to have been made over a thousand years in the future! Is this some kind of joke?” Me and Ditzy looked at each other and chuckled at our absentmindedness and dumped the bits back into our pockets. I pulled out a small dark green emerald from a different pocket and offered that to him instead. His eyes became very wide. I guess gemstones are a bit more rare now than they are in the future. “Wow! That's better, but...don't you think that's a bit much to pay just for lunch?” I shrugged.
“Not if you don't charge us for anything else until we leave!” Ditzy suggested. I think her name is a bit off. This Pegasus is far from being a ditz! I'd have just told him not to worry about it!
“You two have just made me more money than I've made in the last two months combined! Not charging you for eating here later is the least I can, or should do!” The pony nervously rubbed his hooves together, looking flustered.
“That's all we want, though, don't worry about giving us any change!” Ditzy insisted. I nodded.
“Really, it's fine. One bowl of vegetable soup, if you please!”
“And one daisy sandwich for me!” Ditzy added, smiling.
The pony put the gem away and set to readying our meals. It did not take him very long because he'd already made several sandwiches of eat type he was selling ahead of time. The soup he ladled into a wooden bowl and handed (or hoofed)) to me, and the sandwich he removed from a paper wrapping and gave to Ditzy, who tore into it while I sipped the broth from one side. It wasn't the best soup I'd ever had, but then vegetable had never really been my favorite to begin with. I wish I had a spoon, but if a pony can eat this without one, then so can I! As the broth ran out I (to the best of my ability shook the contents of the bowl to my lips and pulled them into my mouth with either my lips or my tongue. They had been well-boiled and squished like ripe blueberries in my mouth (though they certainly did not taste like them!). When I was done I handed the bowl back to him and told him that it was good. He offered me another,r and I gladly took him up on the offer and repeated my eating process. Ditzy also asked for a second helping of what she'd picked. After our second helpings we'd eaten our fill and once more thanked the vendor for the food and then continued exploring the developing city.
We saw three fountains though only one was finished and functioning. The second was still having its basin formed, and the third (a rather small one that I did not recall having seen in the future) was being used as a basin for blue dye by a tailor. Now I know why I never saw it. There's probably a building built over top of it now where it's still being used for this! If it had not just been broken down and paved over, of course. Canterlot was a big place that seemed to change a bit each week, and I could hardly be expected to have memorized all of it (though modern Canterlot's 'Nobility' often acted as if I should and were often surprised when I said that I did not know about some building or art piece that had recently been put up on some street).
We also saw several different sculptures of varying quality and size, but they were of nopony that I recognized from the Equestrian history books that Twilight insisted I read. Ditzy said she had no idea who they were either, and theorized that they might just be of somepony that the sculptor knew personally like neighbor or a friend.
We saw almost no trees being used for decoration, but tons and tons of flowers in windowsill gardens and some types of creeper vines climbing up the walls of stone (and some wood, but much less of those) houses. In some ways Old Canterlot was not as pretty as (our) Canterlot, but it was less stiff and official here and now and more laid back and friendly. There was just something in the air that made you want to greet everypony that you encountered.
“You're grinning 'like you got lucky' as Vinyl Scratch sometimes says to me. Whatever that means. What's up?”
“I just feel really comfortable here. You ever have one of those days where you feel like nothing can go wrong?” Ditzy nodded.
“Sure!” Ditzy replied, nodded. She chuckled nervously. “That feeling usually doesn't last very long, though. Normally that's right around the time that something bad happens.”
“Well let's hope that my luck holds up then, and-”
A mail-Pegasus suddenly crashed into me from behind and I was knocked to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me and I struggled to pull air into my lungs for a few seconds. While I did so the mail-Pegasus spewed a continuous stream of apologies from her mouth and and took a piece of paper out of her saddle bags and looked from it to me and then dug something else out of her bags. It was a small box. She set it down next to me as I finally began to breathe normally again (Oxygen! Glorious oxygen!) and said one final apology before winging off into the air again saying something about it being her first day on the job.
“Are you okay?!” Dtizy asked, concerned. I nodded, wheezing. I didn't feel okay, but that feeling would pass with a little time. “First day on the job my hoof! More like first day out of flight school!” Ditzy declared as she helped me back up to my knees. Ditzy could not help me to my feet though, because she was too short, and I was probably too heavy besides (no doubt Applejack could carry me if she needed to, but most Pegusi were built with lighter frames for flight, and Applejack was strong anyway).
Now once more breathing normally again, and Ditzy reassured that I was not suddenly going to keel over from lack of air, we turned our attention to the box the Pegasus had left behind. It was only two inches wide, and four inches long, and half an inch in height. The box itself was red, and in golden letters on top in neat cursive it read: Contract concluded. My eyes widened in understanding while Ditzy's were confused. I pulled the lid from the box and saw a single Dog tag on a silver chain with six dice showing all sixes facing up. I unclasped the latch on the chain and put it around my neck, re clasping it to-
% % % % %
“Contract concluded?” Applejack inquired, interrupting Jacob's dialog. “Wut's that supposed teh mean? More importanly, how did ya know it was fer yew and not left there by mistake?” Jacob winced. He'd slipped up, forgetting that only Trixie knew about Lady Luck and that he was supposed to keep his mouth shut. Jacob clicked his teeth as he shut his mouth.
“Does it matter?” Trixie asked, trying to come to his rescue. “Regardless of his reasons, he did it.”
“Why are you trying to avoid him answering, Trixie? Wasn't it you who was more curious as to his role in this than the rest of us?” Twilight asked, finding Trixie's reaction a bit odd. Then an idea occurred to her. “Unless you already know why he knew it was his and want to keep the reasons secret. What are you two hiding, and why?”
“Ladies,” The Doctor intervened. “We all have secrets. Some of them are personal, and some of them are not. Truth be told Jacob hasn't told me the reasons for some of his actions either, but I don't explain the reasons for everything that I do and have done either. If he says something that does not make any sense to you, don't ask him about it. If he can explain it later, he will, but if he needs to keep something secret, don't take it personally. There are many things that I could tell and teach both your race and his to advance them to the worlds beyond your own, but that is a path that all races must discover on their own, lest they not respect the power they've uncovered. Let the magician keep his secrets.”
Though they did not press the matter further the girls were still obviously curious, and both The Doctor and Jacob could see the unspoken questions in their eyes just begging to be asked and answered.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
-gether so that it could hang on its own. The moment the tag touched my chest a chill ran through me and the feeling that nothing could go wrong returned, along with my grin.
“What's that?” Ditzy asked, hovering up to eye level for a better look.
“Payment for a service rendered.” Meet someone I've killed...must have been Thanatos, though technically it was Twilight that killed him, not me. Still, I won't split hairs.
Eventually me and Ditzy came to the edge of the city and looked out across the mostly-open plain ahead of us. Grass, grass, grass almost as far as the eye could see. Off in the far distance however, we could just barely make out some trees. Given that Everfree forest was the only forest I knew of this close to Canterlot, I assumed that that's what it was.
“I have to wonder what Everfree looks like in this time.” I said to Ditzy, staring out at the trees.”In our time it's dark, twisted, and scary. But here and now, in this time it's uncorrupted and pure.”
“Why don't we go check it out, then? You can fly using magic, right?” Ditzy asked, also feeling a bit curious herself. I nodded, though I had not done it in over a year. Though flying was more fun, teleporting or walking was far more convenient. Still, it'd be nice to do something different.
“Sure.” I replied, and focused my magic on the ground beneath my feet, tearing up a small platform of earth and grass.
“That's not flying!” Ditzy objected, frowning at me.
“It is when you're not born with wings!”
“Come on, I've seen you fly through the air without having something to stand on before! Put that dirt back and fly with me!” Ditzy sat her rump down on the ground and gave me a sulky look and refused to move until I sent the dirt and grass back down where I'd picked it up from. “Now pick yourself up.” I rolled my eyes and brought myself up a foot from the ground. Once I'd done so Ditzy's face lit up and she hopped into the air too. “Annnnd...we're off!”
Our flight was uneventful except for a stray dark cloud spewing short bolts of lightning that we had to circumvent and a huge hawk-like bird that made us look like a blueberry to an orange (in terms of size difference) as it flew over us. Is that...a Roc?! I thought as both me and Ditzy dove for a small patch of trees hoping to hide in case it had not already noticed us.
“What the hay is that?!” Ditsy gasped as it pumped its powerful wings and sent tornado winds surging through the trees. I hugged a young tree, and Ditsy held onto me. Fortunately, whatever that bird really was, it ignored us. Either it wasn't hungry, or we're just too small to be of interest. Either way, I'm happy! I've never seen anything like that before!”
“Maybe in our time it's extinct. My people have legends of birds that big, but that's all. Supposedly just one of its eggs was big enough to feed an entire village for a day, but the size of the 'village' is never mentioned. Probably yet another creature my people hunted to extinction in my world.” A part of me was disgusted by the thought, but another part, the logical part, could imagine just how devastating such a creature could be to livestock (as something that large undoubtedly ate a lot) or even a small village, and then I considered that perhaps I was too overly critical of my race sometimes.
Once the flying titan was gone we cautiously crept out of the patch of trees and continued flying (at an increased rate in case the bird came back again) until we finally reached the edge of the forest. In the distance we could see the castle that Thanatos had mentioned and The Doctor and The Shield were currently visiting along with Thanatos, whom had taken them there, but we did not see any of them, so they had to have gone inside of it already.
Everfree was remarkably normal, as far as forests (especially this one) went. Green leaves, mixed tree types, and the occasional creeper vine or mushrooms growing up a trunk. Maybe the reason the trees on Earth for here were so spectacular were that way because magic is normal here and rare or non-existent there. Our world was compensating, or something. Of course, that could have been completely off the mark and the trees could have just naturally been as impressive as they were. Then again, our oceans have fish that glow in the dark and there's nothing magical about them. Birds (regular ones) sang, squirrels jumped from branch to branch above our heads, and at one point a pair of rabbits ran by us and vanished into the trees.
“Well, shall we go in?”
The inside was much like what we had seen from the outside. Trees, plants, and small and a few medium animals. No menacing growls from hostile wildlife, no golden or red eyes watching us from the shadows, but no well-trodden paths either, which made our little hike more fun. At one point we waded through a slow-flowing clear-water creek and a big frog hopped off a rock in front of us and we got splashed. Both of us jumped in surprise, but unlike Ditzy, who possessed four legs, I lost my balance on the slippery bed of the creek and fell backward and got completely soaked. I am suddenly glad I left all my other things back at the royal estate! Most of what I'd packed had been clothing, and water-soaked clothing was heavy clothing.
Ditzy grabbed one of my arms and pulled me back up mere seconds after I fell, and I thanked her for it after wiping the water out of my eyes. She nodded and we finished crossing the creek without further event other than stopping to observe a large and oddly-patterns spider make a web. After the spider we continued deeper into the forest, going beyond the distance that would have (if this had been the our present) taken us to Zecora's house. In our time I (and Twilight Sparkle) had been curious as to what was further in, but had not wanted to risk a confrontation with any of the unsavory denizens of that dark forest, and so had not gone any deeper within than we'd needed to. Now things were a different story, and me and Ditzy walked until our appendages on the bottoms of our legs began to ache. We rested on a fallen tree for close to half an hour and a light snack consisting of a few handfuls of peanuts, and some wild berries (and a few blue flowers in Ditzy's case that I suspected in the future would become the Poison Joke flowers judging from their similarity in shape). While we snacked a gentle breeze blew through the trees and cooled us in the (odd thing, this time traversing!) summer heat. Apparently when we landed it was somewhere near the middle of summer rather than the end like we'd been at before (or maybe after, depending on your perspective).
Unfortunately, summertime weather in the here and now was a lot less predictable than the weather of the future (which of course was controlled by the weather Pegasi on Mythica and predicted through technological observation on Earth) and some heavy rainclouds had passed over the area of the forest where we were resting. Ditzy noticed it first, and then pointed it out to me.
“We should find a cave or a house or someplace with thick branches and leaves, or both of us will be taking a bath soon!” Following Dtizy's advice we ceased resting and began searching for shelter. A cave we never found, and though there were trees all around us the burden of the constant fall of water soon could not be held back by the leafy canopy above is. For awhile I used magic to form a see-through magical umbrella above us, but the umbrella did nothing to keep out legs dry as the ground and plants growing on it became damp as well. If I recall correctly, Zecora once mentioned two villages of ponies that lived in this forest...I wonder if we're anywhere near them?
According to Zecora, it had been one of those towns of ponies that had formed the majority of the original population of the Bloody Hooves. (The other one she said she did not know much about other than them becoming cursed at some point, and she did not know if it had happened before or after the fall of the other village.) But sadly we must have been no where near either of those towns (if either of them had even been built yet) and were stuck with wet legs (and in my case my lower pant legs went from damp to soaked again, along with my socks and shoes). Now resigned to discomfort we changed our direction and began heading back out of the forest, but grew tired of the weather and decided to fly above the clouds so as to avoid the rest of the rainfall.
As our bodies exited the tops of the dark gray clouds I asked Ditzy how Pegasi were able to stand on clouds. She shrugged and placed her hoofs on the cloud we'd just exited. She shifted her hoofs around a bit, and then looked at the cloud, poked it, and then looked up at me again.
“Hmm. No clue! We just...do!” I tried joining her knowing already that it would not work without the spell that Twilight had once tried to teach me (I had tried altering it so I could walk up a wall. I hurt my head and my feet got stuck to the wall for three hours until a passing Unicorn student happened across me and stopped laughing after I'd explained myself him). My feet sank into the water vapor as I had expected it to, and I quickly raised myself up again, shaking my head.
“'When in doubt in Equestria, magic is usually the explanation to nearly every odd thing'.” I quoted from one of the few ponies I'd met with a Human name (Reginald).
“Yeah, I've noticed that too!” Ditzy agreed. “Well, we've been in the forest, and we've been rained on. Let's go back to town and see if the Doctor and Shield are back yet. We've been out here for a long time, so they're probably done looking through the castle now.” I nodded, and we headed back.
To Ditzy's (obvious) disappointment, The Doctor and The Shield had not yet come back from the castle, which meant we still had some time to kill.
* * * * *
The Shield and The Doctor and Thanatos appeared outside of the old castle. It wasn't terribly imposing or impressive as far as castles went, but at the time it was built it probably had not been built with defense in mind. There were only three tall towers that stood above the rest of the castle, and the keep in the middle took up most of the inner area.
Thanatos muttered 'Home sweet some' and then told them in a louder voice to follow him. Thanatos led them to the closed portcullis and raised it using his magic, then also opened the door (it opened outward) and took them inside, his hoof steps echoing down a long and narrow tunnel just high enough for him to pass through. There were no windows or any sources of light in the tunnel other than the sunlight coming in from both the door they'd come in through, and the opening at the other end.
The Shield looked up at the ceiling and whistled. Murder holes! Heartless, but effective if used properly! Thanatos stopped at the whistle and looked back at them, then up at the ceiling.
“Yes. We left almost no windows on the outside to deceive any potential intelligent, combat-experienced enemies ground-bound enemies into believing that we did not know what we were doing when we built this castle. If the gates were ever breached and we had the weapons and living numbers for it they'd get a rather rude awakening when they tried to enter. Though really this castle, or perhaps fort would be a better term, had been intended as a place to live, and remember the names of those that had died. Come, I shall explain.” Thanatos lead them deeper into the castle and did not stop until they'd reached obelisks of granite that stood near the center of the (small) courtyard. Inscribed two inches deep into the obelisks were many names.
“The lighter obelisk is inscribed with the names of my people that came to this world, and our first generation of hybrid children amongst the ponies and ape-men, and Luna and Celestia. The left list on each face containing names are us, and the right are the hybrids.” Thanatos walked to the second obelisk. The Doctor and The Shield to followed him. When they had once more stopped he pointed a leg.. “This one's names are all those of those that came to this world from our own that are now dead, as well as, of course, those of the first hybrid generation.” Only his own name and his nieces were missing from the lists. “It has been so long since I've seen them that I can barely recall what they looked like anymore, save for my brother and his wife. Every time I looked at Celestia or Luna their faces and forms were refreshed in my mind.”
Thanatos showed them other parts of the castle as well, though most of it was already familiar to them as the modern royal palace seemed to have drawn inspiration from this place, though on a grander (and more decorated) scale. Where this castle had been built for practicality the palace had been built for comfort or for show. There was little furniture (though given that no one lived in it anymore it was a wonder there was any at all), and only one place in the entire castle to get water from a well (it was safely inside the keep's kitchen just in case the outer walls fell). Overall, if The Doctor had a comment to make on it, it was that it could have used a visit from a cleaning mare to clear out all the spider webs.
When the tour was over Thanatos brought them back to the city and asked them how long they intended to stay this time.
“The last time we met, from my perspective, anyway, we were together for less than twenty four hours.” The Doctor shrugged and sidestepped a speeding message carrier.
“I don't really know. I only came back this far in time to satisfy a curiosity, to be honest. Now that that's done the future needs saving.”
“Ah yes, the Dalek invasion.” The Shield and The Doctor stared at him.
“How did you know about that?!”
“Because you told me of it the first time I met you, of course, along with my brother and sister in law.”
“Why would I do that?” Thanatos smiled and shook his head, then said:.
“Spoilers!”
The Doctor frowned and muttered under his breath.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
We first stopped at a well and I turned the crank to haul up the bucket at the end of the rope. Why is there a crank shaped like this when ponies have nothing to grip with? I asked Ditzy this question and she explained that most ponies used their teeth to grip the handle and turn it. I stopped cranking and examined the handle to find that there were indeed teeth marks in the wood of the handle and changed my hand's location to another less-chewed part of it.
When the bucket had been brought up I set it on the rim of the well and splashed water on my arms and then washed the leaves, twigs, and dirt off of the bottoms of my shoes, finally rinsing off my hands. Resisting the urge to simply drop the bucket back down the well I reeled it back down, and then brought up some more so that Ditzy could do the same to her hoofs. When we finished we searched about for a place to dispose of the forest flooring that we'd washed off, eventually discovering a compost pile behind what seemed to be an inn. We added the handful of mess to the pile and then were lured inside by the sound of music.
It was nothing particularly special as there were only three instruments being played, but the players still possessed talent. One pony played an ocarina, another a flute, and a third a lyre. All of these I found to be odd choices given that they were all instruments meant to be played with fingers, but it seemed that their abilities with magic more than made up for this lack of anatomical appendage. The door was one of those odd ones that has two parts so you could open the top even if the bottom remained closed. In this case it was partially open and I had to unlatch it to push it open. The hinges squeaked which announced our entrance, and heads turned from drinks, food, and conversations to the door. There were several gasps, sounds accompanied by looks of awe, and a number of ponies looking down into their drinks as if wondering what had been put into them. One of them went so far as to look back up, shake his head, and then dump it into a nearby plant.
Feeling out-of-place I crossed the room led by Ditzy, who took a seat near to the performers and waited for them to start playing again. I followed suit, but found that (once again, as it normally was) pony furniture was too small for me height, so I pushed the chair aside and sat on the dirty floor next to Ditzy and also waited. When they, like the others of the room continued to stare and not play, I asked if their performance was over.
“If it is, we can leave.” The three musicians, now understanding our presence (or perhaps they ignored Ditzy) began once more focusing on their instruments and played through several tunes while we watched and listened. During their performance Ditzy told me that she was going to go look for The Doctor at the royal estate and left. I stayed for only two more songs, and then also left, but not before complimenting them on their skills.
“Excellent performance!” I declared, clapping my hands. “Your ability much outweighs the instruments that you're using.”
“We'd have gotten better if we could have afforded it, sir, but I'm afraid we're just barely scraping by.”
“Well I think you three deserve better! Here,” The Doc will probably have my head if he hears of this, but with Ditzy no longer here, that's not very likely... I pulled out another marble-sized gem, this one a ruby, and handed it to the Unicorn in the middle, who gasped. When his two fellow musicians leaned in to see what I'd given them, their jaws dropped and they stared at me. “I have no idea how much those are worth here, but I'm guessing from your expression that it's a lot. Go get yourselves some better instruments when you're done here.” I bade them farewell, and then left, once more being trailed by eyes and whispers.
% % % % %
“You did what?!” The Doctor shouted at Jacob. “You gave not one, but two gemstones away while we were in the past?!” The Doctor had held his piece when Jacob told the girls what he'd used to pay for his and Ditzy's lunch because it was a simple mistake, and nothing had seemed to come of it in the future, but he had been through enough of Equestria's history during his stay that he'd recognized that bit with the instrument players.
In fact, that bit of generosity was still impacting the time line in the here-and-now. Those three musicians had had several descendants that had become fairly well-known in today's age. One of them was a cello player named Octavia, another played a lyre and was named Heartstrings (or Lyra, to her friends and neighbors), and a third had decided to forsake regular instruments in favor of being a DJ. Granted, they weren't a particularly important piece of history (unless you were a member of one of their families and took pride in its history), but it still irked him.
“Hey, it's not so bad! Now whenever you go back to that era with Ditzy you can get free soup!” Jacob said defensively, hoping to distract The Doc with food. It didn't work.
“Don't try to change the subject! Every time we travel we run the risk of altering the how events go, and normally it is to minor effect, but the danger of doing so increases during the periods in which a kingdom is rising. The food-seller was probably more concerned about the food or Ditzy than you, but giving away a gem of high value away in front of a crowd when the idea of Humans is that of a creature from myth in the first place is a great way to turn yourself into a legend all your own!”
“Doctor, while I agree with you, try to recall that I arrived On Mythica before you did. Almost nopony had any idea of what I was, the few exceptions being the princesses, Melinda, nurse Heartblood, and Trixie. All three Alicorns had simply been alive when Humans were still around, and both Trixie and the nurse had only heard stories. Besides, no one had recognized me when I first met them, so it stands to reason that both I and The Shield were forgotten about rather quickly.”
“Maybe you and her as people were forgotten, but the fact that you liked wind and string instruments was not. Haven't you ever noticed that there are very few instruments that are played in this nation that would be practical for ponies to play?” Jacob lost his defensive mood and stroked his chin thoughtfully. Now that the Doc mentions it... “Drums, symbols, xylophones, tambourines, harmonicas, accordions- all of these and most percussion instruments seem to a rare choice here, whereas instruments that would require fingers if they lacked the use of magic are the prime choice for all aspiring musicians- well, with the exception of Vinyl Scratch, who uses stereo systems and record players.” And I'm not quite sure where she got the equipment for that! She's had that long before Jacob came to Mythica! The Doctor side-thought.
“You know, ah never actually thought abou' it mahself, but ee's right!” Applejack pulled a banjo out of nowhere and played a short ditty on it. “It took meh years ta learn a way to play this 'ere banjo, but ah've neva thought of playin' anythin' else cuz mah daddy played it, and his daddy played it before 'im!”
“But I've played lots of instruments before!” Pinkie objected. “All at the same time! I played a harmonica, a symbol, an accordion, a-” She listed off several other instruments and then said she'd used them to lead away a parasprite infestation.
“Yes you did Pinkie, and we are very grateful for it,” Twilight agreed. “but you're one of the only ponies I've seen that can play that many different instruments.”
“At the same time! That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, extending a hoof to Pinkie, Pinkie met her halfway.
“But other than Pinkie Pie, how often do you see ponies playing non-wind and string instruments?” The Doctor asked.
“I- I sing...sometimes...” Fluttershy said.
“Singing is not playing an instrument, dear.” Rarity corrected. “Though you do have a lovely singing voice.”
“So you're blaming me for a tradition?” Jacob scoffed.
“Traditions start somewhere.”
“That doesn't mean that it started with me and Ditzy visiting an inn's common room!”
“No? Maybe you should go speak to Octavia's grandmother and ask her about their family's history. Or perhaps you should go visit the Canterlot Instrumental Museum. They have instruments dating back to that time period, along with drawn images of the ponies they'd belonged to over the years. You just might see a familiar face.”
“Perhaps after we've finished our tale I will, but until then you'll never convince me that our little trip is the reason that nearly everypony whose talent is music-related chose their trade because of me!” ----------------------------------
I've actually had this chapter done for several weeks. I kinda forgot to post it, lol
Deleted scene 1 --= Originally I was going to have the Doc and Derpy go into Equestria and find princess Celestia all by herself in the other-wise dead world of Equestria, and she would tell them what had happened in detail. They'd had no warning, and they swept over their world like a plague until all but she were left. They even killed Luna, which is what caused the moon on Earth to explode. In the end (as you know), I cut it short and decided to take them from Earth of the future to Earth in the time that the attack had begun. --= i]But can we still get in? Neither of us have hands...maybe we can trick the door?
“I don't know, but we're going to find out.” The Doctor input new coordinates and in a few seconds they had reappeared outside the Stone Arch Gateway. Derpy was the first out of the TARDIS, followed a few minutes later by the Doc, who carried in his mouth a mannequin's arm that he'd kept from one of travels. The Gateway would not have been fooled by the fake hand, but then, he'd not needed it. The Gateway was already wide open, and an old Human skeleton picked clean (or perhaps rotted away) of flesh lay in the passage space between the two worlds. Someone had apparently tried to get away, and instead had probably doomed the very world he or she had intended to escape to. Derpy had not waited for the Doctor but had crossed the passage ahead of him. On the other side he heard her scream and he ran after her.
On the other side he found her lying on the ground and crying. He looked around him and saw instantly why: The Everfree forest, and all the areas surrounding it, were brown and dead just as Earth had been.
“I'm sorry, Derpy. I'm so, so sorry.” He said quietly as she wept on the ground. A beeping sound coming from one of the pockets on the suit that a certain white Unicorn with a purple mane and tail had once made for him. He twisted his head she that he could reach into it- I'm staring to wish that I'd been a Unicorn instead!- and then placed the object on the ground. It was a smaller version of the life and energy scanner in the TARDIS. Its range was not as good (its range was only about the distance from one end of the Asian continent on Earth to the other, and it would not detect anything smaller than a medium-sized Earth dog, but unlike on Earth, which had nothing of real importance to detect, something on Mythica still lived! Or at least is giving off a signal of some kind. I have to investigate this!
“Derpy, I'm going to go check something out. You should return to the TARDIS for now.” Derpy sniffed and shook her head, standing up.
“No. No, I'm going with you. If someone out there is alive, I have to know.”
The two of them walked for over an hour before reaching the remains of what they assumed were the foundations of a cottage. There was no way to tell who or what had once lived there, and so they kept going, following the blip on the screen of the Doctor's device until at last they reached the spot where it was coming from. The problem was, there was nothing there. It was just empty. No markers, no ruins, just empty ground.
===
Deleted scene 2 --= Trixie has a reason for making Jacob pay for everything. This is it. Cut because I was getting bored, and me bored when writing a fic is NOT a good thing. That ends with me quitting. --=
“Darn! And I was saving up for a new hat, too!” That's why she makes me pay for everything?
“What's wrong with the one you wore as a Unicorn?” She stuck out her tongue.
“That old thing? Have you actually stopped and taken a good look at it lately?” I admitted that I had not. “It is, as your people say, 'on its last legs'. The cape isn't in much better condition.”
“But you hardly ever wear it!” I objected. Was Trixie turning into a Human version of Rarity or something? “How could it be worn out already?”
===
Rejected idea 1 --= I was going to have Jacob try and cut his hair with magic and of course screw it up, but given that Jacob is in his thirties it occured to me that he'd have probably tried something like that a like time previously, so I deleted what little I had and kept going. --= ===
Deleted scene 3 --=
At the time when I started writing it I intended for Lady Luck to either bless Jacob or hire him before he met up with Ditzy and the Doc, but Decided not to involve her nearly as much and simply allow the story to progress. Her gift will play a part later in the story, but it is unknown at the moment who will toss the dice, and what the outcome will be.
It is now after midnight and I am sleepy. Good night. --=
Fortuna, also known as Lady Luck to more recent cultures, watched the mortals enjoy their time at the beach, nearly content with her gift to the still-young magician. Nearly, because she wished that she could simply get the charade that she'd begun over with.
She had watched him after his victory those years ago, waiting for just the right time to give him the offering of Melinda's old job, because as she had often observed with the recent generations, if a mortal did not want to do something because they were more comfortable with their current lifestyle, they often would not do it until the world was falling apart all around them (and by then it was often too late), which was part of the reason that Pompeii had suffered so many casualties when their volcano erupted.
She had tried to get them to leave by speaking to their leader directly, but when the initial quakes had not brought about their destruction her warnings were ignored by the foolish and greedy and those that returned died when toxins and ash released into the air by the earth poisoned them. They died choking, gasping for fresh air that was nowhere to be found within their city.
Seeing the foolishness of the Humans of her Reality, she sought a servant from another world to do her bidding, and found an entire family that served various Deities in exchange for a tiny portion of their power imbued on objects shaped like what some Human military forces called 'Dog Tags' upon the completion of their assigned task for their use whenever they wanted.
Good luck and bad luck were not something to be taken lightly, and so she had given him a bag of Gambler's Chance. However the dice would fall if they were cast would determine how his fate fell the next time he needed her help. If they were of a high number, he would be fortunate. If they fell low, he'd not be lucky, and if the numbers were really low, or really high, it could end overly-well,or very, very badly.
===
Deleted scene 4 --= More Lady Luck removed. I keep getting the urge to include her as a main-ish character, but given that she has not yet introduced herself to Jacob yet and given him the job offering, I keep feeling that the time is not yet right. This took place after the Time-lady left the beach. --=
Fortuna, also known as Lady Luck to the modern Earth civilizations, watched the Humanoid walk away from the beach area, through the tourist town that had recently sprung up nearby, and out into what would eventually become mostly-uninhabited wilderness. It was not her place to interfere directly with mortals to make them do something, and so that left much headache and indirect method. But this headache would be necessary if she were to avert what Fate had already set in motion.
Humans were an irritating race at times, but they were also the only race in all of Creation (and Creation was, and still is extremely large) that would rush headfirst into a situation that they knew could go very, very badly and could still somehow come out of it alive even if they were not successful in whatever it was that they were trying to achieve. This could perhaps have been due to interference of another Deity that chose not to reveal itself, but if that were the case then why would he in later years allow them to be annihilated?
===
Deleted scene 5 --= This was to take place in place of Deleted scene 4, but I felt like being lazy. --=
Still hiding behind the Earth's moon, Ditzy and The Doctor watched as the Dalek ships began to assault Earth. First, (according to the TARDIS' scanning system) they ran a scan on Earth's satellites, hacked into them, and then, having gleaned all information they could from them, destroyed the satellites and began entering the atmosphere. At first they did nothing other than spread out across the planet, but then smaller objects began to leave the dozen or so ships that had come and entered the cities. Within minutes the places they attacked were burning and within the hour the forces were splitting up and individuals headed outward to more inhabited areas.
Three days later, Earth was dead. Humanity had hit their attackers with everything they'd had, including nuclear weaponry, and it had proved useless when the Daleks (if that was what they really were) shot them out of the sky before they could come anywhere close to their destination. The few that did go off served only to speed their own world's demise because their shielding or perhaps their armor was too effective at blocking out the radiation.
At one point a strange craft that had not been built by Humans appeared as if from nowhere and began destroying the invaders, but the TARDIS had no record of what it might have been in the data banks. It's attempt at planetary defense had not lasted long, however. Minutes after it had destroyed one of the ships, all the others converged on that one spot along with the individual nearby 'soldiers' and they shot it down and destroyed it before it could hit the ground. Ditzy had gasped when the ship had been shot down, and covered her mouth with her hooves when it exploded.
“Isn't there anything we can do, Doctor?! We're just letting them all die!”
“They're already dead, Ditzy. It's far too late to help them now. We'll need to go farther back.” That had been one day ago. Now, with it all over he turned away from the door and walked back to the controls.
“Doctor! The moon!” Ditzy gasped again. The Doc ran back to the doorway to see cracks spider-webbing along the surface as if it were a glass ball that someone had videotaped dropping to a hard floor and shattering. He and Ditzy stared wide-eyed for a few moments, and then he galloped back to the controls once more.
“Ditzy! Shut the door and come help me! We need to get out of here!”
“What's happening?”
“Moons don't just crack apart on their own, Ditzy! Even if it did, its own gravity and momentum would still keep it mostly in the same shape until something else smashed into it from elsewhere. When we first popped up a ninety years later the moon had been a few million chunks of rock orbiting Earth, but there wasn't nearly enough of it for the amount that there is here now, which either means that someone mined it later, or that the moon exploded and a good portion of it flew out in all directions, and since that would be detrimental to our survival to our survival, we're not going to be staying here to find out.”
When they reappeared again, this time they were on the ground. More specifically, Earth's ground.
=== Deleted scene 6 --= This one took place after the Doc's and Ditzy's moment. --=
the door to the TARDIS suddenly opened and an Asian Human walked in. Both Ditzy and The Doctor's heads turned simultaneously and stared, their mouths agape. She was dressed in a bikini and was toweling off her head.
“Stupid starship and stupid magicians and-” She stopped when she realized that the floor beneath her feet. She tapped it a few times with a bare foot and then pulled the towel off her head and stared around the room, her own mouth agape.
“What?” The Doctor said, staring at her in stark disbelief.
“This...is not a beach changing hut!” The Asian girl said, stating the obvious and focusing on The Doctor and Ditzy.
“What?” The Doctor repeated. Her eyes focused on the control console and her mouth dropped again, this time all the way.
“No way!” She said loudly, and walked closer to it. “This thing parks itself next to two changing huts and I just happen to walk into it! There's no way this is coincidence!”
“[i[What?!”
((This would have been the end of the chapter)) ===
Deleted scene 7 --= It just felt drawn out. --=
How can I meet someone that I've killed? That doesn't make any sense.” She patted me on the head.
“Not to one bound to live in linear time, it doesn't, but to one like myself, it makes perfect sense, and if you take the job, in time, you will understand too. Payment will be given to you upon the day you encounter him.”
“And what is it you'll be paying me with?” This sounded like the stuff of insanity,
“The same thing that all Deities give those that choose to work for them of their own free will rather than being born into some ridiculous prophecy of destiny. I will grant you a portion of my power imbued in an object we genuine immortals call Deity Marks. They are shaped like what your military call 'Dog tags'. Or, if you prefer, I can give it to you in the form of a tattoo instead. The Vikings rather liked that idea.”
“And your power would give me...what exactly?”
“Well, given that you can never have too much good luck, I could imbue your reward with the same power that I blessed you with when you first came here, though to a slightly lesser degree.”
Something about this didn't feel right. My gut told me there was a catch, and my gut was rarely wrong (except for those times when I thought my stomach was telling me that I was having hunger pains when in reality I was about to need to really use the toilet). Apparently my expression wasn't expressionless.
“Lighthand, I've seen many Poker Faces in my eons. You do not have a good one, and yes, I'm not telling you everything. But trust me, I can't. If I do then you'll go down a path that will end badly for everyone.”
“So you can see the future too?! Then why bother asking me?”
“Because I don't see the future. I see the chances of how the metaphorical 'Dice of Fate' can fall and guess and try to manipulate it, but I don't control time's flow. That's where you come in. So, do you want the job, or not?”
I said yes in the end, though more out of curiosity as to how I could meet someone that I'd killed?
=== Deleted scene 8 --= This was going to be part of a mini-story that took place during Thanato's explanation as to their race making Humans, Unicorns, and Pegasi into what they are today. --=
An undisclosed amount of time long-since passed)
“I am in anguish to admit this to you all, but the vast majority of our people will die in the coming months due to the illness that I'm sure you've all seen signs of.” The dying leader of the Magi-Time Lords said as he spoke to his people. The bio-weapon had not been expected, because never before in all the centuries of their fighting had they tried such a tactic. It seemed that if they were to be destroyed that they were determined to take their executioners down with them. “Neither our expertise in healing magic, nor the technological capabilities of our other-world brethren have been capable of finding a way to stop this plague. It is predicted by those that have studied the disease's progression that those afflicted will survive for a total of two weeks after infection, and then their bodies will begin liquify over the course of the next two days after the victim's death. While we will never stop searching for a solution by studying those that seem to be immune, more than half of our total species' population are already showing symptoms, and it is likely that the rest will follow over the course of the next six days. I would like to thank you all for the time you've defended your people, as well as the lives of those living in the Echo Dimension. For those of you that have had the great fortune of falling into the
===
Deleted scene 9 --= This happened towards the end of Chapter 5. It wasn't really relevant to this story, so I cut it out. --=
“Doctor, I'm curious about something.” Twilight began.
“Curiosity is healthy for the mind! Ask away!”
“All of your people chose a name that means something. Thanatos means 'gentle death', Mantle is, according to earth schoolbooks, the layer of molten magma that is in between the solid part of a planet's surface, and the core, so I guess you could say his name is 'Fire'. You call yourself Doctor, which means you make ponies (or people) better, and The Shield is a defender.”
“Yes. I assume your going somewhere with this?”
“The Nightmare, Doctor. Was The Nightmare a Time Lord as well?” The Doctor opened his mouth to answer, and then shut it, and then opened it again.
“Does it matter? You defeated her.” ===
Deleted scene 10 --= This (would have) happened during The Doctor and The Shield's visit to the old castle --=
“How can you bear it?” The Doctor asked, thinking briefly of his own losses. Nearly a thousand years' worth of linear time had passed from his perspective since he killed his entire race and (most) of the Daleks of his reality in an attempt to save the rest of his universe. Or perhaps it has already been over a thousand. I'm not really sure. Having to save the universe (but mostly the Human race, as it never seemed to stop getting into trouble) almost with every stop he made was rather distracting, and he sometimes forgot things along the way. “How can you bear having lost your home planet, your family, all your friends and neighbors, and then also burying all that remains of your civilization under the ground? I know what such a loss feels like.”
“I have not lost it all. To quote something that the Humans used to say, 'Home is where your heart is'. My heart is with the ponies of this world, and my two nieces. They cannot completely fill the void left by the destruction of our kind, but it is...enough. What about you two?” The Shield answered first.
“I refuse to believe that all of my people are gone. I've been searching the universe for them one solar system after the next, one galaxy after another. Occasionally I come back to either Earth or Mythica to relax and let my ship recharge for a month or two before setting out again. Once in awhile I find signs that they were on one world or another, and it gives me hope.”
“And you, Doctor?” The Doctor looked up at the blue sky above him. Almost instinctively, he could point out the star that his now-ash world (if it had been in this universe) orbited.
“I don't really have time to miss them.” He lied. “There is too much to see and do in the universe- well...multiverse now, I guess, and too many alien races that think they can just waltz on in and take advantage of the less-advanced races. Particularly Earth.” The Doctor raised a hoof up with the bottom facing up. “I cannot tell you how many times I've had to intervene to make sure that history took the course that it was supposed to.” The Doctor chuckled. Thanatos looked at him a moment, then asked The Doctor if he'd ever considered that the reason that those things kept happening were occurring because he had stepped in in the first place. The Doctor nodded and sighed.
“I try my absolute best to not get involved in major points of history, but the problem is I already know how it is supposed to go, and I get this odd tingling feeling in the back of my head when I see it going wrong.” The Doctor looked down from th esky and looked at both Thanatos and The Shield. “Does that happen to either of you?” Both of them shook their heads.
“I have been told that it happens to those who have spent a large amount of time traversing the time stream, but because I am not one of those myself...” Thanatos trailed off.
“Nope!” The Shield answered as well. “Most of my time traveling sessions are far from liesurly. ===
Deleted scene 11 --= I was originally planning ot have younger-Celestia find out about the future ahead of time, but decided against it as I'd had writers block for awhile for this fic and didn't want to get mentally stuck again trying to find a way for them to undo this little issue. This took place during chapter 7. --= A sound outside the door drew their attention to it and when nothing was forthcoming as to what caused the sound Ditsy walked to it and pushed it open and looked out into the hall just in time to see young-Celestia's tail pull around a corner.
“What was that, Ditsy?” The Doctor asked from the couch he was lounging on.
“It was Princess Celestia knocking a painting off a wall. I think she was listening to us talking.” Both the Doctor and The Shield licked their lips. Both of them knew both from personal experience (and from the experience of others in The Shield's case) the problems that might cause. The pair both stood from their seats === --------------------------------------------- Yeah, this is all I've got right now. I promise I'll be posting more chapters, but my time has kinda been sparse lately. I'll get the next chapters for this and Necro Walk when I can.
Coming back from the inn was slow going because I wanted to burn the image of this place as it was now into my mind, that I might be able to shape my present day society into the idea that this place invoked.
Not that our modern day was so far from this, because it was not. Really I was happy that our worlds were getting along as well as they were because it was a far cry from the fears I'd had when I'd been the first of my kind to visit in hundreds of years. Though there had been a large number of treasure-seekers that had come running to Equestria when it was discovered how common gems were, Celestia made it abundantly clear that all travelers would be searched both before they entered her kingdom, and when they were going to leave. If anyone tried to bring in or take out something without permission first, it would be taken from them.
At first the treasure seekers tried all manner of smuggling gems out, including swallowing them, but after even that method failed to be hidden from a magical body scan it became clear that stealing gems simply was not worth the effort it took to dig them up and haul them back, and they instead turned it around and sold the gems to the Equestrians or Diamond Dogs instead, which proved profitable for all parties involved.
Other illegal activities sometimes took place such as theft, arson (though normally it turned out to be by accident from shooting fireworks off too close to towns), trespassing, (and so far very rarely) murder, and eating of sapient creatures, but both worlds were, from what I'd been told, taking steps to (hopefully) stop these occurrences.
I passed by the trinket cart again and the owner called me over. Not wanting to be rude I strode to it and looked over his things. Most of them were various small wooden or stone carvings of animals or Dragons, some variously colored crystals and smooth stones. There also were a few bits of broken metal that he claimed were taken from the remains of the Human capital city after it was transported away. I did not believe him.
“I don't just sell things, either. I also” His eyes flicked to my dog tags and briefly glinted. “buy them.” I politely informed him that I carried nothing that I wanted to sell, and at the moment I needed nothing that he had. He was not discouraged, however.
“Ahhh...how about something a bit more...exotic, perhaps?” He looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then made a motion for me to lean closer. I decided to humor him and did so. “How about shavings from an Alicorn's horn?”
“Thanatos and Celestia actually gave you that?” I scoffed. Given that I'd seen Melinda Jones arguing with him earlier, it seemed far more likely that he'd gotten it from her, if it was the genuine thing and not a Dragon's toenail clippings.
“Not them, no, but I do happen to know of another one that lives amongst the ponies of our fair city. She has ever so generously chosen to...donate it to my stand.” Donate it, huh? With how she was arguing with you earlier, I doubt that. My eyes ran over his wares again. I wonder if she's made some of those carvings or if she'd gotten into making silver jewelry yet.
“To borrow a piece of wisdom from my people, 'for best results, go to the source'. All too often vendors sell products at an increased price in comparison to how much the producer sells it for.”
“Hah-ha!” He said triumphantly. “Legally speaking, she can't sell you any! We have a written agreement between us and the other vendors that states that she can only sell her goods through me!” Okay, I guess I can't do that. Not that I really would anyway.
“Very well, but how do I even know it's real?”
“Feel it.” He replied. “Nothing else feels like the horns of magic-ponies. Not even bone.” The pony reached to the side of his cart and pulled out a drawer and withdrew a small bolt of cloth. He looked around again. A green pony passed the two of us by, briefly glancing at me, and then ignoring us. When he was gone the vendor cleared a space on his cart and unrolled the bolt. All along the inside were many small pockets lined up next to one another in the middle. About halfway done he stopped and angled what he'd unrolled so the mouth of the pocket faced the cart and gently shook it a few times. A few slivers of pale gray slid out and he ceased shaking the cloth and pointed at them with a hoof.
Giving him a doubtful look and, feeling some of the doubt that I displayed, reached a hand forward and picked one of the slivers up. To my surprise a chill ran through my hand. It was nowhere near as cold as the entire horn would have been, but it was, as the vendor had said, from an Alicorn.
“And what, pray tell, would you be charging me for this?”
“That would depend on how much of it you want.” He replied, brushing the other pieces back into their pockets. I returned the piece I was holding as well. “If you're just looking for a simple souvenir, ten bits. If you want more than that...” He trailed off and looked at me expectantly. Really, them being only shavings and fragments meant that they would not be worth very much in terms of using them. Probably that whole bolt- if the rest of the rolled bit contains any more- would be good for only a few uses. Unless I can find a way to merge it all into one little ball. Even if that doesn't make it any more resistant to wear It'd still be more practical to carry around, and especially more so if I should leave my staff somewhere.
“If I said I wanted the whole thing, what would you charge for it?”
“Far too much, that's for certain!” Came a female voice from behind me. Though I'd forgotten her voice, I'd not forgotten her face. Melinda Jones walked up to stand next to me and glared at the vendor, who only looked back, not the least bit intimidated. “Regardless of what this runth'tall is trying to sell you, he's charging you far too much for it!” The vendor snorted.
“Back again so soon?” He asked mockingly. “I thought you'd said that you weren't going to be doing business with me again.”
“I'm not. I'm here to take what's mine and get out of this place.”
“And go where? Canterlot is the largest city we ponies have ever built. Since you've refused to be hailed as royalty or adopted by the king you've needed to make your own living the same as the rest of us. You're written of in history as a warrior. In this era there's not much call for that sort of thing unless you're a patrol pony patrolling the caravan roads to keep the more dangerous animals away, and from what I've been told the pay ain't worth the danger.” he finished, looking smug. Melinda looked at me a few moments, her eyes landing on the 'payment' around my neck. Her eyes narrowed and she raised her gaze to my face.
“I see she snared another one. You local, or an outsource?”
“Local.”
“Local.” She repeated. “Hard job or easy?”
“That depends on your perspective.”
“Profession before hire?”
“Magician.” She looked at my staff.
“Performer?”
“Real deal.” Her eyebrows rose.
“Real deal? No wonder she wanted to hire you!”
“My turn. I know of you, but was never told that of all things you made souvenirs.” Melinda made a fierce expression and I took a step back.
“It's part of my punishment for failing. I can't leave this world and go home, so I need to make a living here instead. I never really had much of a profession outside of being a Maker's Mercenary, so my experience in other areas is limited. All I was really good at before I took up the family profession was carving, so that's what I do now.”
So that's why she was the way she was in the future. She was scraping by all the time until jewelry became popular and there were 'classes' of ponies that felt the need to have jewelry. But why would she turn down help from the royalty? Was it out of pride or a need to earn her own way?
“Well, you look healthy, so I'm guessing you're doing well?” Melinda laughed harshly.
“Hardly. I only look healthy because I've got the body of an Alicorn. Whatever magic it is that keeps them young also sustains them, but it doesn't stop me from feeling hungry.”
“Are you hungry now? I know of a vendor that serves decent vegetable soup.” She shook her head.
“I just ate, but thanks anyway. Now then,” She turned her attention back to the vendor, who had begun packing up his things while we spoke. He was probably intending on sneaking away. “Here's the original value of what I've made for you and the 'extra' as well,” She plopped a bag of bits on the cart and then levitated several of the nicer carvings off the cart. The vendor protested, saying that so long as he lived she'd never sell another thing in this city. Both me and Melinda laughed at the threat.
“What's so funny?!” The vendor demanded to know.
“I can easily outlive you, and every other pony in this city. All I have to do is wait about a hundred years, and no one other than the royalty will have any idea who I am.” The shopkeeper face-hoofed. Melinda's eyes landed on the cloth roll and took it as well, much to the anger of the vendor.
“I was doing business with that!” He growled.
“And now you aren't.” Melinda said simply, and unrolled the cloth and emptied the little pockets with magic. The bone fragments and shavings floated to her horn and filled into a number of imperfections in it, reforming it into a near-perfect slim cone. There were still a few uneven area, but barely any sign of what had once been. “Much better!” Turning back to me as the now-fuming vendor stomped away from us pulling his cart along behind him, Melinda turned our conversation to more casual topics such as how I liked this town. I answered that it reminded me of my own home back when I was a child and she sighed and replied that she wished hers had been.
“If it had been, I might have taken a different line of work.” She shrugged. “But I guess carrying around regrets won't gain me anything, will it?”
“Oh, I don't know. Some people use their regrets as reasons to push themselves forward.” Like when Trixie stabbed me with the horn back in the hedge maze, and when Celestia banished Luna to the moon, and the three tribes of old coming together to build a brighter future after a time of who-knows-how-long filled with distrust. “If this line of work isn't working out for you, try something new. Something you've never done before.”
“Yeah? Like what?” I shrugged.
“I dunno. You could explore and map out the world, you could study how magic works and make new spells, you could carve statues or make jewelry, you could become a scholar of history...” I listed several other things until finally Melinda placed a hoof against my mouth.
“Alright, alright, I get it! 'Always look on the bright side', am I right?” I nodded. “The bright side. Hmph.” She shook her head and looked away from me and out across the city. “I stopped seeing a 'bright side' to this over three hundred years ago.” She stared out over the buildings and perhaps into the flat grasslands beyond its borders for a few minutes, and then looked back. “Do yourself a favor, Human; don't bite off more than you can chew. If what you're trying to do looks like a mouthful and you can take a smaller chunk from it, take the smaller. Do that every time, and you might not end up like me.”
“Thanks for the advice.” I said seriously. “Mind if I offer you some in return?” She shrugged. “Everyone has a chance to redeem themselves. When your opportunity comes, don't hesitate.” Melinda lightly chuckled.
“I stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago, Human. Things like 'love meant to be' and 'second chances' when it comes to life simply don't exist.”
“I grew up my entire life thinking that Unicorns and Magic and other such things of myth were fairy tales. Yet there Unicorns are,” I pointed at a few Unicorn foals running by laughing and playing. “You used magic a minute ago, and both of us have done work for a Goddess of Luck. If these things are real, then second chances must be, too.”
“But not true love?” Melinda asked, a hint of a smile on her face.
“I've never sought out love beyond strong friendship, so I have no opinion on that one.” I replied, bearing a slight smile myself. “My point is, don't just assume that something isn't real simply because you've never seen it yourself.”
This time her chuckle was more audible.
“You know something, Human? You remind me of one of one of my little brothers. What's your name?”
“Jacob.”
“Nice to meet you, Jacob.” She lifted a hoof from the ground again, this time, thankfully, not to place over my mouth. I took her hoof on my hand and we shook.
Me and Melinda parted ways soon after that, she going home to gather her things and in preparation of leaving Canterlot, and me to head back to the royal estate. I'd asked her where she'd go now, but she only shrugged and said 'wherever the winds and my wings carry me'. I'll see you later, Miss Jones; then you'll find your redemption.
* * * * *
“Doctor!” Ditzy exclaimed happily as he, The Shield and Thanatos returned from their visit to the old castle. “How was your trip?”
“Dizzying. I will never get used to teleportation magic; it's nothing at all like real teleportation!
“And the palace in the forest?”
“Much more impressive in this time period than in yours, and a bit depressing. How about you and Jacob?” The Doctor glanced around the room, not really surprised to not see him, but still curious. Speaking of whom, where is he?”
“He's walking around Canterlot. He seems to really like it here. So what are we doing next?”
“I think we need to go further back in the linear time-line. Both Celestia and Thanatos said that they'd seen us before, and we have not, which means that at some point we go further back into the past.”
“Do you know why we went back?” He shook his head.
“It could simply be because we found out that we'd done it here.”
“But Doctor,” Ditsy began, confused. “If we didn't know that we were going to visit the farther-back past, and we already found out that the princesses were Magi Time Lords here, why would we have gone back in the first place?”
“Ditsy has a point, Doctor.” The Shield agreed. “Just going back for the sake of going back makes no sense. There might be some important piece of information we'll miss out on if we rush this.”
“Well going to the future makes no sense as things stand now. We already know how it's going to end, and it's with Humanity's extinction!”
“Yes, we know that, but Jacob doesn't. Maybe a fresh perspective could be of help to stopping it.”
“From what I've been told and read of him, he's more likely to try and get directly involved if he sees his world being attacked, and one more magician, even one with a teacher such as his along with an original staff's power is not going to make too big a difference for the outcome.”
“Well maybe he could convince Celestia and Luna to send them help!” Ditzy Doo piped up again. “The last time we went to Earth you two said that some of the ships had been brought down by magic. Sure, the Humans had made copies of Unicorn horns, but as both of us have seen, Doctor, they've never been able to make copies as good as the original thing. Maybe we Equestrians could be the force that tips the balance in Humanity's favor!”
The Shield looked at The Doctor, and he looked back at her and slowly nodded thoughtfully.
“That could indeed work...but taking him to see the battle and then taking him to Mythica to ask for help would be too late. We'll need to go sooner than that, but not too soon, and then convince her to send help before it's even begun. That will not be easy, especially when we have no proof. Celestia is not one to simply jump into things, especially where war is concerned, and wisely so.”
“Would Luna be any easier to talk to first?” The Shield asked. “If we can bring Luna to believe us, she could help us convince Celestia.”
“No,” The Doctor sighed. “Luna is supposed to be on Earth as a mediator between two countries trying to settle a disagreement during that time.”
% % % % %
Fluttershy gasped.
“So then....the reason Earth's moon exploded is-” The corners of her eyes became inhabited by a half-tear each. The Doctor nodded.
“The moon exploded because she was killed by the Daleks when she tried to help the Humans fight them.
Silence became heavy in the room as each of the ponies (and Dragon and Human) contemplated losing Luna. For most, the younger princess was a ruler, and a friend. For one of them, she was a teacher as well, and Jacob felt his throat tighten at the image of her being felled by a Dalek weapon.
“So did she still die during the fight?” The Doctor looked at Jacob, his expression serious.
“Should we tell them, Jacob?” Jacob shook his head, and said they'd find out soon enough.
The girls and Spike looked nervously at one another, and voiced that he should continue. The Doctor nodded and continued where he'd left off.
* * * * *
“So what's stopping us from dropping in on her and telling her what's going to happen? It's not like the talks won't be interrupted by the Daleks invading anyway.” The Shield asked. The Doctor shook his head.
“Each time we watched the fight the last thing to be destroyed was Earth's moon, but without any interference from the Daleks. I've had time to wonder about that, and I've come up with a theory; Because Earth is affected by what happens to Mythica, and Luna is the princess in charge of moving the moon, it stands to reason that her dying was what destroyed the moon, and that Luna wasn't killed until the very end. If we alert her to what's going to happen, that could change, and not necessarily for the better. It's probably best if we don't involve her any more than she already will be on her own.”
A loud clanging and clattering sound outside the door drew their attention to it and when nothing was forthcoming as to what caused the sound Ditsy walked to it and pushed it open and looked out into the hall to see Jacob with one of his feet stuck in a pail that had been left near the middle of the hall along with a mop and he'd apparently not been paying attention and had tripped over the mop and then stepped into the pail. Now he was fighting for balance. A fight he abruptly lost.
Jacob's pail-foot scraped across the recently-mopped marble floor, and then landed his other foot in a small puddle.
“Cra-HAAP!” He yelled as he fell and eventually collided with the floor. “Uugh...” Ditsy looked over her shoulder back at The Doctor and The Shield.
“It's just Jacob tripping over cleaning equipment and falling on his butt!” She informed them with a straight (or close to it) face. “So are we leaving now, or can we stay a little longer?”
“I think we should go.” The Doctor said, stretching after getting to his hooves. “We did what we came here to do, and if we ever want to come back later we can. Is Jacob on his feet again yet?” Ditsy looked out into the hall again where a grumbling Jacob was pulling a boot out of the pail. His foot had come out easily enough, but his footwear had become wedged inside it.
“No, but he will be soon.”
“Right then. Let's say our goodbyes and be off then!”
“But you've only just arrived! Are you sure there's nothing we can do to convince you to stay a little longer?” Celestia asked, standing to the right of her uncle. “You said you had a time machine, so couldn't you just pick up where you left off?” The Doctor nodded.
“We could, but unlike you, your uncle, myself and The Shield, Jacob and Ditsy have much shorter lifespans, and time-travel does not stop one from aging.”
“Don't worry, your highness!” Ditsy said with a smile. “We'll come back and visit you again sometime!” She promised. The others nodded their own agreement.
“This isn't the last time you'll see us, princess.” The Shied agreed. “A question, though.” She looked to both Celestia and Thanatos, and than asked if either of them had ever heard of artifacts called the 'Sapphire Stars'. Celestia shook her head, but Thanatos' eyebrows rose a little before he caught himself and returned them to their original position. Though most of their group failed to see this, The Doctor did not and mentally stored it away for later. Both of them replied that they had not, though having seen Thanatos' physical reaction, The Doctor knew better. “Well, no matter. I was only curious.”
“Thanatos, thank you for allowing us to be in your kingdom.” Jacob said, bowing to him. “It has been a pleasure both meeting you, and seeing your city.”
“You are most welcome, Lighthand. As are the rest of you. I wish you good fortune in all of your journeys.” Each of them bowed to the Alicorns, and then turned away from them and left.
As the four of them stood around the TARDIS' control console Jacob asked where they'd be heading now.
“To the future.” The Doctor replied. “There is something that we think you need to see.” The Doctor reached for a computer keyboard that had altered in size after his latest regeneration so as to fit his hoofs, but Jacob put a hand in his way. The Doctor gave him a questioning look.
“Can I ask you for a favor, Doc?”
“I...suppose. Won't promise that I'll do it, but you can ask.”
“Can we make a quick stop to the moon first? There's someone I want to see.” Ditsy made a frightened squeak and trotted to him and tugged on his shirt.
“You do know that princess Luna is Nightmare Moon right now, don't you?! She's dangerous!”
“She's right, Jacob. More importantly, if she managed to get inside my TARDIS, she might destroy it, or worse, figure out how to use it. Besides, we already know that things turn out alright in the end as far as her going home again goes.”
“But she's going to be alone up there, Doctor. Alone with herself and The Nightmare for one thousand years!”
“And she will learn from it.” He replied gently. “She won't know who you are in this time period, Jacob. I'd only be putting all our lives at risk by agreeing.”
“Sometimes it's best to just step aside and let someone burn their hands on the hot stove, Jacob.” The Shield said, agreeing. Jacob sighed and looked at his feet, likely his emotion warring with his logic. Finally he nodded.
“Very well.” He looked up and removed his hand from The Doctor's hoof. The Doctor nodded and punched in a few numbers.
“Alright everybody! Fasten your seat belts and place your trays in the upright position!”
“Huh?” Both Ditsy and The Shield said, giving The Doctor a puzzled look.
“It's a thing that Humans say when they're on an airplane.” He explained.
“Yeah, when they're landing, Doc. We're taking off.” Jacob pointed out.
“Well technically we're not actually taking off-”
“Just push the button!!!” Both Ditsy and The Shield yelled.
“Hmph! Fine!” The Doctor squeaked a rubber duck.
“Let me go! We have to do something!!!” Jacob wailed as he struggled against the hold of The Doctor, The Shield, and Ditsy Doo. He'd dropped his staff in shock at what he'd seen when The Doctor, wearing a grim expression opened the door to his TARDIS and bid him to watch the proceedings. He'd watched in confusion for six minutes, not certain what he was seeing, then as they began ravaging the world, he realized that these were the Daleks that The Doctor had spoken to Thanatos about in the past, and his home-planet was being annihilated.
“It's too late, Jacob!” Ditsy told him, desperately trying to keep him from reaching his staff again. If he did, nothing short of the Alicorn princesses would be able to hold him back. She kicked the rod with one of her back legs, sending it rolling further from the struggling Human.
“It's not too late! I can help them!”
“No, you can't!” The Doctor declared, gripping a pants leg in his teeth and talking around the cloth. “Both Ditsy and I tried going to their world directly to stop this from happening, and it only sped up the occurrence!” He turned his gaze on The Shield, who stood behind Jacob, holding his arms. I miss having those! The Doctor thought with a little regret, his legs wrapped around the same leg his teeth held. Ditsy held the other leg. “Then we picked up The Shield, and your people found her ship and studied it and the weapons she left on it and made their own Time Lord battle rifles and flew her ship into battle against them. Earth still lost! One more magician, even one with your training will not make much of a difference on your own!” Jacob struggled another second, then froze; he'd just come up with a similar plan to what Ditsy had, and he relaxed his body. It was just what the Doctor had hoped for.
“One more magician won't make a difference. How about a hundred? Or a thousand? Or two thousand?” Jacob looked at The Doctor. “I think I know where we can get more help.” Jacob looked at the assorted beings restraining him. “You can let me go now.” The girls looked at The Doctor, who nodded and released his own grip and made a face from the taste of Jacob's pant leg.
“Bleh! You need to wash those!”
“Laundry can wait. Doctor, can I ask you for a new favor?” He nodded.
“Take me back a month's time and then let's get into Equestria. I need to have an audience with princess Celestia, and time to prepare.”
The Doctor grinned and trotted to the console, pressing an assortment of gadgets and pushing buttons.
The TARDIS rematerialized in a (fortunately) empty bedroom in the royal palace. The doors were flung open, and two Humanoid figures stumbled out, coughing on thick gray smoke that poured out of the large control room.
“Sorry guys!” Came Ditsy's voice from below the control deck. “I forgot about the batch of muffins I'd put in the oven before we arrived in the past!” Just then the sprinkler system that had been installed sometime in the last hundred years in the palace as well as the sprinkler system in the TARDIS' kitchen kicked on as well, thoroughly drenching everybody/pony on that side of the palace as well as Ditsy herself. The only being still dry in that area was The Doctor, who had packed away an umbrella underneath one of the benches for just such a rare occasion.
“Well, I needed a bath anyway.” Jacob said halfheartedly, sighing as his clothing began to cling to his body, water dripping from his hair and fingers. He flung several drops from his hands, but it did nothing to stop more from pouring down on him. The Doctor, looking chipper even with an umbrella in his teeth strolled out of the TARDIS followed by a soaked Ditsy Doo carrying an equally-soaked pan of several muffin-shaped pieces of charcoal. She gave them an apologetic smile and then set the pan down on a chair.
“Doc, do you think you could maybe use your blue wand-thing to shut off the sprinklers?” Jacob asked, blinking water out of his eyes after having looked up for the sprinklers above them.
“Not while my mouf ith full. Horry.” He replied around the umbrella handle.
“I'll do it.” The Shield said, pulling hers out of a pocket. She aimed it up, and pressed a button. After a few seconds the water stopped falling on them, but they could still hear it coming down in torrents outside the room in the hall. “There. That's better.” The Doctor closed his umbrella and carelessly tossed it back inside the TARDIS. Seeing his actions, Ditsy did the same with the muffin-charcoal pan, the muffins still sticking to it after flipping upside down. It clanged loudly against something, and then once more it was silent in the room, though there was still a little smoke coming out of the TARDIS' doors.
“So do we get some dry clothes on first, or do we just head to the throne room?” The Shield asked, frowning at her water-logged figure. Jacob shook his head a bit, scattering water droplets about, and then turned to look at her and Ditsy.
“Hold still a moment...” Jacob pulled all heat from the room and focused it all first on Ditsy, who's coat, mane, and tail steamed for a few moments, and then became dry. He then focused on The Shield, who made a comment about the room becoming humid, and then finally dried himself last down to his shoes. “There we go! Washed, dried-” Guards suddenly kicked the door open and told them to freeze. There was one Human, and two ponies. “-and put away.” Their group shared a collective sigh.
An hour after being placed in the dungeon for intruding and having their weapons and tools taken away (and The Doctor being told to keep quiet several times when he tried to talk their way out of the situation) the sound of a familiar voice came from the opposite end of the cell they'd been placed in telling the guards to open the door reached their ears. They stood to see none other than the elder princess herself step into the cell. Her eyes first went to the Doctor, who gave her a guilty grin. She rolled her eyes.
“Doctor, we have to stop meeting like this. It seems that for every one time that we encounter one another in a formal manner, you are arrested three times for trespassing! Why can't you just come in through the main gate like everypony else?” The Doctor shrugged.
“Oh, but where would be the fun in that?”
“You're a time traveler Doctor, not Discord. Please request an audience formally next time.” Next her eyes met The Shield. Celestia greeted her, and The Shield bowed her head. She smiled at Ditsy, who waved, and then her draw dropped to its maximum depth when she saw Jacob.
“You- you- you're supposed to be dead! You disappeared over a hundred years ago!” Celestia gave The Doctor a suspicious look. “Did you have something to do with this?” The Doctor made a weighing motion with his front hooves.
“Somewhat, but he got aboard my TARDIS on his own. Don't worry, I have every intention of returning him to his time when this is over with.” He tried to reassure her. She did not look convinced.
“That's what you said about that orange punch bowl you borrowed five years ago from that Gala event with the drunken duelists. You still haven't returned that!”
“Punch bowl?” The Doctor scratched the side of his head. Then his eyes alighted and he clapped (clopped?) his hoofs together. "Oh!That punch bowl! Yeah, sorry about that. I needed it.”
“And?” She persisted. “What did you do with it?”
“I put it above your bed to catch a leak that would have otherwise woken you up for a reason that I can't tell you otherwise it might ruin part of Luna's future. It should turn up in about another four years or so.” Celestia sighed and put a hoof on her face.
“Why do I ever ask you what you're doing? Your answers almost always bring more questions!”
“On another subject, your uncle answered my question.”
“Which one? You always seem to have new questions whenever we meet.”
“The one I asked you before we left with Jacob. You and your sister are descended from Time Lords. More specifically, Magi-Time Lords.” Her mouth did not drop this time, but her eyes did widen.
“What?!”
“I'd go into the back-story and the details, but that would take awhile and at the moment is the least important subject. Right now we have something much more important to deal with.”
“Let us discuss it somewhere more comfortable. I get the feeling from past experiences that I'm not going to like what I hear.”
“I was right, I don't like it.” Celestia shook her head. “I had hoped that after the confrontation with Drahgov and with our efforts at creating peace on the Human's world that we had seen the last of war.”
“If there's something I've learned about Humanity, it is this:” The Doctor said. “when they are not actively pursuing war, war comes to them. It might be spaced a few decades or a few hundred years apart, but sooner or later they'll be drawn into conflict again.”
“Knowing that, perhaps it was a mistake connecting our two worlds together...”
“The Daleks would have come to the Primary dimension eventually anyway. Once they discovered that there was indeed a Time Lord still alive in the Echo Dimension, they'd have come here next, and in greater numbers. Our race in my own dimension were their toughest enemies, and in yours your ancestors beat them. They would not have taken any chances. With your world unprepared, they'd have swept across your planet with even less trouble than Earth. Earth probably only lasted as long as they did because they're so used to war.”
“So either way, we're doomed.”
“No!” Jacob and The Shield both said simultaneously, leaping to their feet from the chairs Celestia had sent for so they could speak in comfort. They looked at one another in surprise, then The Shield continued. “We can beat them if both worlds fight together as they did in the past! The Magi-Time Lords won against the Daleks in the Primary Dimension because they used both technology and magic to fight their enemies. Your ponies are primitive as far as technology goes, but that's what you've got Humanity for!” Jacob nodded and added his own piece.
“Your uncle told us that Humans, Pegasi, and Unicorns were made by your family and one other in an attempt to preserve your race after the last of their kind had gone from the world of the living. Don't you see? It's destiny that we're to work and fight together!” He said, smiling and tightening his grip on his staff, now held with both hands horizontally and holding it out away from his body so it could be seen better. “When I touch a Unicorn or Alicorn's horn my DNA comes into contact with their DNA and we become closer to being the original creature! That must be why Humans can use magic when we touch your ponies' horns! Unicorns have magic and the Pegasi can fly, and we can build the technology that allows us to do mechanical imitations of both! If we stand together, not even the Daleks will be able to beat us!”
Celestia chuckled and gave him a sad smile.
“An inspiring speech. Any other pony, perhaps even my own guards would jump at the chance to stand with you against them after hearing that, and there are no doubt plenty of others descended from those that fought in the defense of Canterlot during the Dragon war that would join you out of a sense of obligation of honor. Unfortunately, there is a problem with us coming to assist you. One of our laws state that only the king or queen of Equestria can declare war on another nation or race, and as you well know, Equestria has had no king for over a thousand years.”
“But- but you've been this nation's ruler for countless generations!” Ditsy objected. “What more could it take for you to be a queen?” Ditsy, recalling who she was speaking to so bluntly, covered her mouth with both hooves and looked worriedly at her princess. Celestia sighed.
“Do not be concerned for your words, my little pony. Though only the nobility and adopted royalty care about this, the law- written by my uncle after my father and mother's death- states that in order for there to be a queen or king, a princess or prince must marry another member of royalty. It does not have to be of the same species, but they must be of royal blood. My uncle did this so as to encourage strong diplomatic connections between the multiple races of this world and to prevent conflict. We may defend ourselves if we are attacked, but we may not gallop to war.”
“Well, that certainly would explain why none of you came to investigate Earth during the attack and after the Daleks wiped them out.” The Doctor said, stroking his chin.
“So unless you or Luna marry someone-”
“And marriages cannot be performed for royalty until a full year after an engagement has been declared in case one party has second thoughts.” Celestia interrupted. “I really am sorry, but there is nothing I can do. Legally speaking, my hooves are tied.”
“.......Buck.” Jacob said, rubbing one side of his face.
The Doctor idly bounced an apple from one hoof to another while Jacob paced back and forth across the guest room that Celestia had offered the two of them. Ditsy and The Shield were in another room.
“You know, if you keep that up long enough you're going to wear a trench in the floor.” He said, bouncing it up into the air and catching it in his mouth (it had not been very large).
“This isn't fair! The solution is right in front of us, but there's an iron grate separating us from it!”
“'An iron grate'. A very good description of political laws; where it's not solid, it's full of holes.” He said in a apple-muffled voice. “But as I'm sure you know very well, life isn't always fair.” He swallowed the mouthful of mush and seeds. Jacob continued to pace for several more minutes.
“Full of holes...” Jacob repeated suddenly, stopping in place. The Doctor looked away from the candle flame he'd been blankly watching dancing on the burning wick and looked at him. “ Something could get through...a loophole in the system...”
“Nothing large, mind you.” The Doctor said, seemingly speaking about a literal grate. “The holes in grates are often only large enough for a finger or perhaps a fist to fit through.” Jacob turned his whole body, looking at the staff he'd set on the table The Doctor sat at. He ran his eyes along the pole and stopped at the top of it. His eyes narrowed and he walked over to it.
“Loopholes......” Jacob ran a hand over the ivory part of the staff He looked up from it a minute later, eyes still narrowed, but smiling. “Doctor, I've just had a crazy idea.”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I knocked on the door of the girls' room and The Shield opened it.
“What's up?”
“The Mad Magician just figured out why we went farther into the past, though we still don't know how we're going to pull it off.”
“Pull what off, Doctor?” Ditsy asked, joining The Shield at the door.
“I just figured out a way to meet the requirements of the law in time to save Earth! We need to go back into the time when Celestia and Luna's father and mother were still alive, and convince them to come to the future with us so they can declare war on the Dalek race!” Ditsy looked at The Doctor and asked him if I had gone crazy.
“He's no more insane than I am.”
“That's not reassuring, Doctor.” The Doctor jabbed the spot over one of his hearts with a hoof.
“You wound me, Ditsy! Don't my plans always work?”
“No.” She replied bluntly. He made a hurt expression and sniffed like he was crying. Ditsy wasn't fooled and neither were me or The Shield. “The last one caused the extinction of the Human race!”
“If you recall, Ditsy, that would have happened anyway, and we were trying to prevent that!” The Doctor was now frowning.
“You still-”
“Regardless,” The Shield interrupted. “We still need to go into the past and convince them to come forward with us from a peaceful era into a time of war. That is not going to be easy.”
“No, it probably won't be.” I said grimly. “But what other choice do we have?”
We went to the mess hall to get some food- Funny, this tastes the same as food from the past. You'd think that there'd be some improvements over the years!- and once we'd eaten our fill we requested an audience with Celestia. She found it a bit odd that we wanted to speak with her again after only having been apart for a few hours, but granted the request nonetheless when she was able. An hour and a half later we once more stood before her and thanked her for her hospitality and promised to come back very, very soon.
“I am sorry that I cannot come to your people's aid like you came to ours.” Celestia looked away from them, ashamed.
“Don't sweat it, your majesty!” Ditsy said, a smile on her face. “Jacob has a plan to get around that!” Celestia looked back at them with interest.
“You do? How?” Jacob smiled secretively.
“Let's just say that the future is going to get a blast from the past.”
“I don't understand.” She said, tilting her head to one side.
“Oh don't worry, your highness. You'll like what he has in mind as long as it works.” The Doctor assured her. “For awhile, at least.”
“Okay?”
Our trip back to the TARDIS was rather uneventful other than a few ponies and Humans alike commenting that I looked familiar to them. We also passed a few small centaurs of varying color and height and gender.
“You've got to be kidding.” I said after we passed the ninth one. “Just how many kids did Golden Rosa have?!”
“Oh, these centaurs are from other, more recent Human-pony couplings.” The Doctor explained. “Once it was discovered that they could produce offspring inter-species relations took a turn for the better.”
“I'm not sure if I should feel glad about that, or sick.”
“Your reaction was much the same as the rest of your race for the first sixty or so years. But ponies weren't the only races from this world that your race tried to mix with.” The Doctor continued, grinning.
“Please, I really don't need to know.” I begged.
“Oh but it really is interesting! Did you know that even though Diamond Dogs-”
“I SAID I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!” I shouted at him, creepy images already forming. A servant looked at us and hurried away.
“cannot crossbreed with Humans,” Oh thank the Maker! But that doesn't get rid of the images! I inwardly groaned. “They can cross-breed with most breeds of wolf and dog?” He frowned. “Except for poodles and chihuahuas and most other smaller breeds. But then, who'd want a Diamond Dog pup with an ego bigger than Las Vegas?”
We arrived at the bedroom the TARDIS had parked itself in and opened the door to a pair of servant Unicorn ponies still sponging and mopping up the water mess we'd caused after opening the TARDIS' door and letting the smoke pour out. They looked up from what they were doing for a moment, and then got back to work, ignoring us as we stepped into the large blue box.
% % % % %
“Why didn't you take the time to look around a bit? I'd think that you'd want to see how things have changed.” Twilight asked the pair of time travelers in front of her.
“I was more concerned about saving my race from extinction at the time, Twilight. If we could do that, then we'd have plenty of time to do it later.”
“But you had a time machine!” Rainbow Dash objected. “Would it really have mattered how long you took?”
“Time travel is not as simple as some think it is, my dear prismatic pony.” The Doctor responded. “Yes we could go to the same event over and over again, but we'd need to make ourselves look different to the point that we'd not recognize ourselves, otherwise we could cause a paradox, and that could end with the destruction of the universe. Or, at least this part of it. I've been a part of a paradox before. It was not fun. I got eaten.”
“So why didn't you just make yourselves look different, then?”
“Me.” Jacob said, standing and walking to where his staff leaned against a wall. “The only other magician to make a mage-staff, as they came to be called in that time period, was Trixie. The reason for this being that the only other Alicorn horns available for use belonged to the princesses' deceased relatives, and no one with any sense of decency wanted to ask them for them. Myself and Trixie were the only Humans to receive the title of 'Mage' in the history books. More importantly, both mine and Trixie's faces were very well known from those same history books. Without some good illusion magic, which was never my strong point, I'd be discovered very quickly.”
“So why not just leave the staff in the TARDIS?”
“I'm too used to having it with me. Without it I feel exposed.”
“I feel much the same about my own staff,” Trixie agreed. “Though I keep a Unicorn's horn hidden on my person for when I do need to leave it behind.”
“That's actually not a bad idea! I'll have to remember to pick up a Unihorn 2.0 the next time I go into the future.” Jacob thanked Trixie for the idea again, and she nodded with a satisfied smile. “As I was saying-”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Perhaps the servants looked up in shock at the noise the TARDIS made is it slipped from the current time into the time stream, and perhaps they didn't. At the moment that did not concern me. What did was the roomed flipping upside down leaving me to dangle from a guardrail.
“Come on, Doc! There's machines in over a hundred science fiction movies, books, and cartoons that are supposed to lessen the affects of inertia and generate their own gravity! Are you telling me this thing doesn't have them?!” I shouted over the racket, my legs swinging back and forth as the room rocked back and forth.
“They are already active! If they weren't we'd be bouncing around more than a bag of rubber balls in the hands of school children! Ditsy!” The Doctor called up to her from the ceiling. Ditsy, being the only one with wings, was largely unaffected by the shift in gravity and was hovering back and forth near the middle of the room as the TARDIS rocked so as to keep from hitting the walls or the glowy column in the center. She looked down-
% % % % %
“or since he was on the ceiling, maybe it was up???” Jacob looked at Twilight first, facially asking her which it would be, who shrugged. They looked at The Doctor.
“Well since the center of Gravity is artificial while inside the TARDIS and the field was fluctuating- which is how I wound up on the ceiling- really there was no 'up' or 'down'. It doesn't really matter.” Jacob nodded.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
She looked down at him and waved.
“What's up, Doc? Oh, I guess it'd be you since you're on the ceiling!” She giggled.
“Ditsy, this is no time for jokes! I need you to fly up to the control console and-”
“But 'up' takes me to you, Doctor, not to the controls! Did you hit your head when you fell?” The Doctor sighed and face-hoofed.
“Alright, fly down then, to the controls and please press the red square button, the yellow round button, and the blue round button right next to it. In that order, if you would.” Ditsy nodded and flew up- er, down to the controls and pressed the buttons in the sequence the Doctor said. Suddenly I felt completely weightless. Oh great. Now there's no gravity at all! How is this an improvement?!
“Doctor, you are aware that if we get hit now we'll likely be catapulted into the other wall on the other side of the room and die or break something, right?” The Doctor ignored my sarcastically-spoken question and vaulted up to the controls, grabbing onto the edge of them and 'righting' himself so he'd be able to look down on them.
“You might want to join us standing on the floor, Jacob. Unless of course you feel the want to be performing a hand-stand from the top of that guard rail when I correct the center of gravity.” Why didn't I listen to The Shield and go to my room to rest? I could be dreaming about the days when the most I had to worry about was making sure my work outfit didn't have any stains or holes in it! I did as he recommended, still being jerked back and forth by the movement of the room. I let go of the bars. To my relief I stopped being hauled back and forth and gave the Doctor a upped thumb. He nodded once and his hoofs began flying from one area of the console to another. A few seconds later gravity realigned the way it was supposed to and our hooves and feet landed on the ground. Ditsy continued to fly in midair, now upside down as far as my vision was concerned. She frowned, looking confused as she began to fall to the floor. I ran to where she was falling and caught her, turning her carefully over before setting her down on the floor.
“Thanks!”
“You're welcome.” I looked up at The Doctor, who was hard at work. “We almost there yet, Doc? I'm starting to feel sick, and I get the feeling The Shield is going to be rather angry at you when she gets up here.”
“Angry? What about? I didn't do anything to her.”
“Other than probably toss her out of bed, fling her around the room, turn off the gravity, and then turn it back on without announcing your intent to do so to her first.” The Doctor made a face and gave the steps to the lower decks a cautious glance. No Shield-lady.
“I'll land us then, shall I?”
When we settled The Doc, Ditsy, and I all headed below deck to survey any damage that our latest rock-and-roll trip may have caused. The kitchen area was fine, as it seemed the cabinets locked themselves automatically when we transitioned into the time stream. Useful. The library was soaked. For some unimaginable reason there was a bolted-down swimming pool in the middle of it, and now nearly all of the water contained therein was was gone from the floor-level pool, leaving barely two feet of water in it. The rest of the water had coated and soaked everything else. A good portion of it had gotten into other rooms as well.
“Oh great.” I sighed. “Doctor, please tell me you've got an automatic drainage system.”
“I do.”
“Oh. No problem th-”
“But it hasn't worked in over three hundred years.”
“....”
“What? I'm 'The Doctor' not 'The Plumber'! The pump itself works; every time I regenerate the TARDIS does too. But for some reason the pipes that handle transport for the disposal of water are always clogged!”
“And you never thought to try hiring someone to fix it in all that time?” He gave me a 'are you stupid' look. “Doc, there are literally millions of alien enthusiasts on Earth. I'm sure one of them would be more than happy to try fixing your plumbing problem. Best case scenario, they succeed and they leave without making a fuss. Worst case, they fail and you have to throw them out.”
“You're forgetting the part about where I'd lose my anonymity.”
“You're forgetting that very few non-alien-enthusiasts take believers seriously. If they took pictures, people'd think they were altered images, and if they tried to lead reporters to you, you could just move the TARDIS the second you threw them out. What is so hard about that?”
The Doctor looked at Ditsy, who listened to our argument without comment. From the way her ears and head drooped she did not look like she was enjoying it, though.
“Now see? You've upset Ditsy!” The Doctor scolded me.
“W-what?!” I stammered, looking at Ditsy, who looked at me, and then I looked back at The Doctor.
“You're arguing with me, and it's making her sad!” He stated, stamping one of his front hooves on the floor. I splashed, throwing a few water droplets about that created tiny ripples. “Now tell her you're sorry!” How is this my fault? He was arguing too! I looked at Ditsy, who, like me, looked a bit confused.
“Uh...we were arguing, and...we should not have been doing that...I apologize if we upset you, Ditsy.” Ditsy brightened and smiled again.
“That's good! Friends shouldn't fight each other! Group hug!” Ditsy stepped forward and hugged one of my legs and The Doctor's neck. I looked down at her, feeling a mixture of awkward and mirth. The sight of a pony less than half my height hugging my leg like a little kid and a second pony was funny, but at the same time I was still a little agitated by The Doctor trying to put all the blame on me. In the end I decided it was better to have Ditsy smile than it was to make a big deal over his blame-shifting techniques and crouched so I could hug her back.
“What in the worlds?” The Shield said from behind me. I turned my head around to see her yawn, her hair a mess. “Did I miss something?” She looked at the floor. “And why is there water in most of the rooms?”
We stepped out of the TARDIS in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. There were no trees, no houses or huts, no anything. Just long green grass as far as the eye could see with one exception not including the TARDIS and us.
“Uh, Doc?” I said as I checked behind the TARDIS to see if we were just looking the wrong way. We weren't. There just really was nothing to see but grass with the exception of a single mountain that jutted up from the earth. “What's the date?”
“In which planet's years?” He asked in complete seriousness, joining us.
“Never mind, different question. How far back have we traveled in comparison to when we went into Canterlot's past and spoke to Thanatos?”
“Hmm...let me check.” He trotted back into the TARDIS for a few minutes, then trotted back out again, a frown on his face. “It doesn't say for certain.”
“What do you mean?” The Shield asked.
“Well, I can tell we've gone back further than six hundred years, but when I try to get a more precise lock on our current time, the number readout begins going crazy as if it's reacting to some sort of interference.”
“Any idea what it might be?” The Shield asked. “If the date readout has gone nuts I don't think we'll be able to safely time-jump again. There's no knowing when or where we'll turn up.”
“I can guess, if you like.” The Doctor offered.
“Well, if it's more than six hundred years, isn't it possible that it's just the TARDIS reacting to Celestia and Luna's mom and dad?” Derpy asked. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Shield said something about a time war. Did both sides have time-travel machines?” Both The Doctor and The Shield nodded. “Then maybe the reason your clock-thingie isn't working is because they put a spell on the planet to mess up those machines so no one from that war would want to come here! That makes sense, right?” The Shield and The Doctor looked at one another, and smiled.
“Brilliant, isn't she?” The Doctor said. “Brilliant and brave.”
“And a cute blond?” The Shield asked, smirking. The Doctor coughed and averted his eyes. Her smirk got bigger. Ditsy blushed and also looked away, though her eyes flicked towards him a few times as he shuffled a little. Ditsy and The Doctor? Hm. Sounds like a cliché romance novel. I thought before I returned my attention to the empty nothing (and one mountain) around us. Wait...a mountain...
“Hey Doc, did our position change any?” The Doctor refocused and trotted back into his time machine for a few moments.
“Yes, but not by more than a few miles. we should still be in Canterlot.” I looked at the mountain again and nodded. I get it now! Canterlot hasn't been built yet! …Unless of course, we're just on the wrong side of the mountain...well, I won't know until I get to the other side, will I?
“I'm going to head to the other side of the mountain and see if your ' few miles' dropped us off on the wrong side.”
“Oh, no need for that. I can just have the TARDIS fly us there.” I considered this, and then shook my head.
“No thanks, Doc. I appreciate the offer, but I'd prefer to just go on my own.”
“Alright, suit yourself. In the meantime I'll take the TARDIS to the old castle and see if they're still there. If they are then I'll swing by and pick you up.” I nodded and thanked him, and then started walking towards the edge of the mountain. In the meantime the TARDIS lifted off the ground until it hovered several feet above my head, and then leaned to one side and floated away like something out of a wacky dream.
I eventually grew bored of the 'swish swish' the tall grasses made as I waded through them while the mountain itself never seemed to become any closer to me, but the air was warm, the breeze blowing gentle, and the smells in the air were sweet; I could not complain. Certainly this was better than-
I felt a familiar tickling sensation on the back of my neck and whirled around, eyes searching the open plain of grass, but seeing nothing. I frowned and slowly turned around again, still seeing nothing, but the tickling sensation did not go away. Something is watching me, but this grass is too tall for me to see anything. Me and Ditsy encountered a rock in this time's future, but neither of us have seen one in the modern era. I have to wonder what other creatures died out before the Alicorn family made it safer... I grunted and shrugged, then continued walking towards the mountain, the hand gripping my staff tightening a bit in case I needed to use it to block a blow. Eventually the 'being watched' feeling went away, so I figured that whatever had been watching me either grew bored or found something else to stalk in the grass and I relaxed.
A few small birds flew overhead, and I smiled at them, watching them flap their wings rapidly to propel them along. Birds. They have so little to worry about in comparison to sapient life forms, and the current sapient life forms have so much less to worry about than we of the future do. Maybe that's why the Doctor takes it upon himself to try to protect us. He's giving us the opportunity to live in ignorant bliss as long as we possibly can. But that time was over, as far as my future was concerned. If we succeeded in our endeavor, both the Human race and the Pony race would be thrust into a much more stressful awareness. But in return for this awareness they just might survive another day.
“Still, it turned out for the best, didn't it?” Thanato's words echoed in my mind. Would it really turn out to be for the better? Warfare, or at least the idea of it was something my race was used to and had even turned it into a form of entertainment. The ponies, on the other hand in general preferred to avoid it if possible with the exception of a bit of rough-housing and the occasional bar fight, which was not even close to what we were trying to arrange. But do we really have a choice? The Doctor said that they'd have eventually gone to Mythica anyway and would have most likely wiped them all out too. Who would better know the Daleks than one whom has fought them?
I'd begun tapping into my magic almost subconsciously and had begun flying myself forward on a chunk of dirt and grass lifted from the ground so as to get to my destination faster. I hadn't realized this until a bird flew right by my face and startled me.
“Wha!” I jumped, and then yelled again when I found nothing underneath my feet and fell down to the grassy ground again. My feet struck my floating platform- now a pile of dirt- and I pitched forward and fell down onto my front, scraping my hands on the rough grass and bruising my knees and wrists as I did so. I pushed myself up so I'd be standing on my knees and examined my hands. To my relief there was no more damage than a few paper-cuts (or perhaps it was grass-cuts). They'd be annoying for awhile, but would not be worth the energy it would take to heal them here and now. Brushing my shirt and pants off I decided that I was tired of the scenery and opted for teleportation instead.
“Alright,” I cracked my knuckles, leaning my staff against my body while doing so. “time for a shortcut!” I visualized myself standing at the top of the mountain, which would give me a perfect view of the area around me, and once more took my staff in hand. Just as I was about to draw on the magic and form the frame of the spell needed for long-distance instantaneous self-transportation, I got that tingly 'being watched' sensation again and whirled, this time catching sight of a heavy shadow moving in the grass. I thought for a moment that I saw a glowing eye, but then it was gone, as was the 'being watched' feeling. “What in the worlds?” I breathed.
Whatever it was, I wasn't going to stick around to find out. I drew on my magic, and transported myself to the top of the mountain.
“Did ya eva find out what critter wuz watchin' you?” Applejack asked. Jacob shook his head.
“I asked Celestia in later a later meeting if she'd ever heard of a creature that could teleport that hunted in tall grass, but she denied any knowledge of such a thing. It could just have been a shy Zebra with magic, or Unicorn, but I doubt I'll ever know for sure. But then, I've seen much stranger things whilst traveling with Doc.”
“Like?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Like pink clouds made of cotton candy that rained liquid chocolate. Apparently at some point in your future the clouds nearly cause a crisis.”
“What?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Discord gets loose again, and in our lifetimes?!” They girls (with the odd exception of Rainbow Dash) all looked at Pinkie Pie, who gave everyone else a confused look.
“What? Why are you all looking at me?”
“No, no. Discord stays a statue. It's just a cloud-crisis. But somepony saved the day without our help. We just found out about it two weeks or so after it happened. All of Canterlot was chocolate-covered, as was most of the rest of Equestria. A few apparently even made their way to Earth, but it was raining on the other side of the Stone Arch Gateway, and the clouds dissolved to nothing.
Pinkie's face lit up at hearing that Canterlot had been covered in chocolate, and begged Jacob to tell her the date. He shrugged and looked at the Doctor. “You know, I can't rightly recall. You, Doc?” He shook his head too. Pinkie gave them a scary glare that rivaled Fluttershy's infamous Stare, but they both frantically repeated that they really didn't know.
“We were vacationing that day, and weren't really interested in an event that we didn't need to help avert.”
Ditsy landed and trotted back in, carrying several bags of both hay fries and french fries in a pair of disposable saddlebags that she'd not had when she'd left.
“Anypony hungry for some non-snack food? I brought ketchup too!”
There were both several nods and shakes of heads, and Ditsy passed around several bags. “So what'd I miss?” The girls summed up what we'd told in Ditsy's absence in between bites of food. “So we're not to the part where we found out Celestia's mother's name yet. Alrighty!” Ditsy made herself comfortable and tossed another mouthful of hay fries into her mouth, smiling while chewing contentedly.
* * * * *
Ditsy stepped first out of the TARDIS, followed by The Shield, and finally, The Doctor, who shut the door behind them. They had chosen to land the TARDIS next to, much to the dislike of The Doctor, an outhouse. First my TARDIS is compared to one of these things by a Human, and now it's parked next to one! Other than a frown and a sigh he voiced no complaint about it. Turning their heads a little to the right revealed the castle that they'd visited in the future. Though just saying future is a bit vague given how far forward we've traveled as far as linear time is concerned. Just saying 'the future' could mean ten minutes, ten years, ten- The Doctor's internal monologue was interrupted as both Ditsy and The Shield pinched their noses (though how Ditsy managed that given that she had no fingers and only used one hoof will forever remain a mystery) and made exclamations of how unpleasant the real outhouse smelled.
“Why couldn't we have parked next to a tool shed or a guard house or something along those lines?!” The Shield asked him in a off-voice.
“Well I could have, but then we'd be more likely to be noticed!”
“Oh, and parking a blue, and obviously better constructed box right next to it isn't as likely to draw attention?”
“Come on, guys!” Ditsy said, trotting away from the two 'boxes'. “The sooner we get away from here, the sooner it'll stop smelling bad!” Unable to argue with her logic, the two Time Lords followed her until they reached a road where they once more stopped and breathed in deeply, savoring the clean air.
“Ah! Much better! Now, let us see if this is in fact the place we are looking for!”
“How could it not be?” The Shield asked. “I'm no expert on Equestrian history, but if I recall correctly only a bare handful of castles were constructed on this planet ever, and we are still in Equestria.”
“I know how we can find out!” Ditsy stated, trotting away from them.
“Really?” The Shield asked. “And how's that?” Ditsy looked over her shoulder at them and rolled her eyes.
“We ask somepony, duh!” The Shield looked at the Doctor, who was smiling and already moving to follow her.
Ditsy stopped next to a pony at a place where the road split and headed south that seemed to be a patrol pony. His armor was rather simplistic and consisted of wood instead of metal. He as well as two others had seemingly stopped for lunch, and was contentedly munching away at a basket full of dandelions. Ditsy stopped next to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me.” He stopped eating an looked at her, blinking in surprise at her eyes, but not commenting on it or making a face, for which Ditsy was pleasantly surprised. “Can you please tell us where we are? We're new around here.” The guard looked at The Doctor, and then at The Shield, his eyes widening in shock at the sight of the latter, then breaking into a grin.
“By the horn of Mantle, tis' a Human!” His exclamation drew the attention of his fellow patrol ponies who stared in disbelief.
“Her name is Janette, and this is The Doctor. My name is Ditsy Doo! Pleased to meet you!” Ditsy closed her eyes and smiled, looking as adorable as she could. Sadly, the patrol ponies missed the adorable display in favor of staring at a legendary figure. The Shield, feeling a bit uncomfortable, waved and said simply,
“Hi.” The patrol ponies dropped their lunches and made their way to her, then walked around her, looking her up and down, occasionally rubbing their eyes as they tried to confirm that they were in fact, not imagining things.
“Hey Janette, they seem to be ignoring me. Why don't you try asking them?” Ditsy suggested. Still looking uncomfortable, The Shield repeated Ditsy's question. The trio stopped examining her and then all tried to answer her at once. They stopped and looked at each other and then laughed for a few seconds. When they stopped two of them pointed at the shortest of the trio, who then replied that they'd arrived at Alicorn Castle.
“Home of our noble king Mantel, our beautiful queen Elpis, and the king's brother, the wizard Thanatos!”
“Do not forget their children, Celestia and little Luna, Short Stack!” the middle-height pony added. “Little Luna is so adorable!” He made a 'Da'www!' face. The Doctor nodded and looked to Ditsy, who was still a little disappointed that her 'adorable' face hadn't worked. He patted her back.
“On the bright side, Ditsy, we now know that we are, in fact, in the right place!” The pair of earth ponies looked on as The Shield began being asked question after question in a repeat of what had happened in the relatively-speaking near future.
“Should we help her?” Ditsy asked as more ponies on the road joined the growing group surrounding The Shield. The Doctor shook his head.
“Nah! I'd say she's got it under control!” The Doctor turned his gaze to the mountain that Jacob said he'd be at looking for Canterlot, which had not yet been founded. “Besides, we have a magician to go pick up.
The Doctor apathetically left The Shield to be surrounded by curious ponies of several types and together with Ditsy took the TARDIS to the mountain. On their way there Ditsy asked what the names of the Magi-Time Lords meant.
“I mean, I know that a Mantle is a symbol of leadership from an Earth book that I read a year or so ago, but what about Thanatos and Elpis? I've never heard names like that before.”
“Those names are actually part of Human mythology, Ditsy. 'Thanatos' means 'Gentle Death', and was the name of a Greek God. Elpis is also from the Greek culture, and it meant 'Hope'. I suppose it's probably not too much of a stretch to theorize that the Humans that founded the Greek nation were recalling the old history of your two races, and it became twisted over time into something else.”
“Oh, okay!” Ditsy smiled. “But once more question, Doctor?” He nodded. “Who were the Greeks?”
__ __ __ __ __
The Shield grumbled under her breath as she walked towards Alicorn Castle. Though relieved that the ponies had needed to go back to their various other duties, her relief was cut short by her observing that both The Doctor and Ditsy had left her to the questioning-ponies' mercy. Really she supposed she should not really be angry with them. After all they'd not be getting anything done if they had stayed and waited for her since it had taken nearly an hour for them to run out of new questions and finally need to return to work.
Now I understand how the legend of Humans stayed alive all that time: we kept dropping into scattered points in time as living proof of their existence! Kind of funny how that worked out. The Shield stopped walking upon reaching an iron portcullis and looked up at the castle whose sturdy stone walls reached up over her head. I wonder if my people's old allies will recognize me for what I am? The Doctor did not, but then again he's from another Reality entirely. Thanatos did not seem to bear me any ill-will when I first met him and he apparently second-met us, but my people are indirectly responsible for their race's near-extinction. The Shield lowered her line of sight and walked under the portcullis and beyond the walls into the castle itself.
She was surprised to find that unlike the Canterlot of the 'present' (the 'present' in her mind being the time in which she first encountered The Doctor and Ditsy) there were almost no guards and she only saw a handful of them. It seemed that in this era the guards were less ceremonious and for more practical use- meaning that they were actually out and about patrolling the roads and surrounding areas.
As with the future of a few hundred years, the castle rooms were rather plain with few decorations other than a bare handful of tapestries and a few childish paper drawings that became more frequent as she drew nearer to the keep.
Crossing into the courtyard she stopped briefly at the two obelisks and once more began reading through the names. As with before, none of them were familiar to them save for the royal family, not that she'd expected anything different.
“I'm sorry.” She said, her voice soft. “I'm so, so sorry.”
“What art thou sorry for?”came the voice of a child from behind her.
The Shield quickly looked behind her to see a small blue Alicorn standing behind her looking up at her with curious eyes. She was only about as tall as the average non-Alicorn pony, eyes twinkling and so full of innocence. Her stubby little wings were in relaxed position against her sides, her tail and mane waving in the air though there was no breeze. “What art thou sorry for?” she again repeated.
“I'm sorry...that I don't know any of the beings these names belonged to?” little Luna trotted forward and tilted her head back to look up at the names inscribed into the stones. She tilted her head to one side, squinted up at them, and then shrugged and turned around again so she could see The Shield once more.
“It is fine! I do not know any of the beings mine self, either! Mine mother and father say that they be the names belonging to the ponies that welcomed and lived with them them when our mother and father and uncle first came to this world and that I and mine sister should not forget them. They never say why, though.” Little Luna's eyes abruptly became very wide. “Oh my! I'm being rude again!” She knocked herself on the side of her head and curtseyed. The Shield found the display rather humorous given that it was a pony that was doing it. “Mine name is Princess Luna, younger daughter of King Mantle, and Queen Elpis of Equestria!” Little Luna rose from her dip and settled back on four legs again. “What beith thine name?”
“My name is The Shield, but most people call me Janette. It is a pleasure to meet you, princess Luna.” The Shield also curtseyed in return. Luna apparently also found her version of it humorous, as she began laughing.
“Doth I appear as silly doing that as thee do?” She quickly covered her mouth. “I apologize.”
“No, no need for that. I confess that you did look a bit silly to me, so I guess its only fair that I looked silly to you. So what's it like being a princess? I've wondered that from time to time.”
“Oh, it is truly a joy!” Luna said enthusiastically, her face lighting up. “Everypony is always so nice to me, and I get to help mine mother craft the night time sky!” Her mother handled star arrangement in this system before Luna did so? Interesting. Truly magic is a power to be reckoned with! “Mine sister is learning how to raise the sun with the help of our father, and mine uncle is always teaching us some new spell when he ist not teaching the Unicorns.”
Luna circled The Shield twice, examining her as the patrol ponies had. When she finished she tried to stand on her hind legs. Luna teetered back and forth a few times, and then finally fell forward on her front hooves again. “How doth thee make that look so simple?”
“Years of practice, princess Luna. It also helps that I was born with only two legs.”
“Canst thee use magic as well?” The Shield shook her head. “A pity.”
“Not really.” The Shield displayed her hands to Luna and wiggled and flexed her fingers. “These, I think, make up for my lack of magic well enough.” Luna watched The Shield's hands with interest for a bit, and then a solid black Alicorn with green eyes joined them.
“Oh my!” The Alicorn exclaimed, its eyes wide with surprise. Its voice was female, so The Shield assumed it was queen Elpis. “We hath not seen thine kind since the Dragon war! How hath thine race fared?”
“The Human race has fared well in the Echo Dimension. Dragons are hardly a threat anymore, and their nations are on the rise. In time, they shall become very powerful.” Elpis raised an eyebrow and bore a puzzled expression. She had not missed the wording choice the Shield used.
“You speak as if you are not a part of the Human race, young female. Why is that?” I'm not sure if I should be feeling a 'whoops' moment for that or not...
“It is because I am not, your highness. Tell me, does the word 'Dalek' mean anything to you?”
* * * * *
“There he is, Doctor!” Ditsy called across the control room to the control console. Ditsy was leaning out of the door looking for Jacob manually given that the TARDIS' systems did not all seem to be working the way they were supposed to be. “He's on the very top. HEY, JACOB!” She yelled across the distance separating them from him, waving.
From where he stood Jacob looked up and turned his head, and then waved back and lifted himself from the mountain's peak and rose until he was level with the TARDIS' door. The Doctor stopped the TARDIS in front of him, and Jacob touched down in the door's frame and walked inside, whereupon Ditsy shut the door behind him.
“I take it they are still at the old castle?” he asked, laying his staff on one of the seats. “Wait a minute, where's The Shield? Did you three get separated?”
“In a manner of speaking, but she'll be fine!” The Doctor assured him. “Did you know that Luna is a foal in this time? We're told she's adorable! What say we go see her while we're here?”
While The Doctor piloted the TARDIS back to Alicorn castle Jacob asked Ditsy what the area where Everfree forest would eventually stand looked like. Ditsy, without a moment's hesitation said that it was very, very open.
“There's hardly any houses near the castle, as I'm sure you saw from the mountain there were very few trees near the castle that weren't stumps, though I don't know if you could see the stumps or not.” Jacob shook his head. “There were a few roads, but most of them were just packed dirt from ponies and carts traveling on them every day. What few homes were near the castle mostly seemed to be farmland. There's probably a town nearby, but we didn't see it.”
“There is a town, or at least a few small buildings around one another what I think is about twenty miles away,” Jacob confirmed. “but I doubt that anyone could see it and know it from just a glance from the castle. I didn't know what it was either until I enhanced my vision.”
“Oh. So did you see anything interesting?”
“Nothing much other than some weird animal that was stalking me for a bit.”
“What did it look like?”
“I have no idea. All I saw was a dark patch and a glowing eye. Then when it seemed to realize I was watching it, it just disappeared. It was probably just some animal that dove into a burrow, but I could have sworn that it used magic and teleported.”
“Well we've already seen a huge bird that could give a Dragon a scare. Maybe it was just another one of those creatures that died out before we came along?” Jacob nodded.
“Probably. So why did you and The Doctor leave The Shield behind, exactly?”
“She was surrounded by a bunch of Human-legend enthusiasts. They kept asking her a lot of questions and seemed friendly enough, so The Doctor figured that then would be the best time to go and pick you up. I feel kinda guilty for just leaving her to them like that, to be honest.”
“I'm sure she's fine, Ditsy.” Jacob said, patting her back with a hand. “If it really bothers you that much, you can always apologize to her when we get back, right?” He gave her a smile, and Ditsy nodded.
The TARDIS shook a bit as it once more set down on the ground, and The Doctor brushed his hooves together as if dusting off the hands he did not have.
“There we are! Settled and situated! Shall we go and retrieve miss Shield, then?”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I stepped out of the TARDIS and gripped my nose, gagging at the stench coming from what seemed to be a small tool shed. It was not until I got a more thorough look at it that I realized (and felt a bit stupid for not guessing it from the first) it to be an outhouse.
I had grown up with an indoor toilet, and even after coming to Equestria for the first time the toilet was still indoors and enchanted to suppress the resulting foul odors of its use. I knew that in both worlds in my modern era outhouses were still used in places, but I was spoiled, and a description is no match for the real thing. Unfortunately.
“Ugh!” I scrambled away from it, choking.
“Oh, don't be such a baby!” The Doctor scolded, pinching his own nostrils shut with a clothespin. Ditsy's cheeks were puffed out, so I assumed she was holding her breath. “It'll fade once we get far enough away from it.”
“Sooner rather than later, please?” I begged, heading away from the TARDIS and the TURDIS as quickly as I could. The Doctor rolled his eyes and followed with Ditsy close behind.
We were stopped at the castle's entrance by a single wooden-armored guard. This one was not the common white Pegasus that I was so used to seeing, but rather an earth pony. Also unlike the stern, immovable guards of the future, he had no poker face at all. He was staring at us, or rather, at me.
“Two Humans in one day! The age of legends truly is upon us!” He declared.
“Um, pardon me,” The Doctor began, stepping in front of me and prodding the guard to attention. “but would you mind perhaps letting us through?”
“Your pardon, citizen, but the king and queen have ordered that none are to enter the castle without his or her authority. Our rulers are discussing a matter of utmost importance.”
“Really? Well I'm a messenger on business of the royalty!” The Doctor reached behind his mane and (I wonder if Pinkie Pie taught him that trick?) and pulled out what looked like a single-fold black wallet. I raised an eyebrow, wondering where he had gotten the identification for such a thing.
The Earth pony looked at the identification The Doctor presented, and then snorted.
“I may not be able to read, stranger, but I do not need to be able to read to see that the paper beith blank. Even if I could read, I hath never seen royal identification papers before and probably would not know them even if I had seen them.” The Doctor froze, and then slowly put it back into his mane and sighed and face-hoofed.
“Psychic Paper foiled by ignorance! I just cannot believe it!” he muttered, barely audible. “Never shown psychic paper to someone or I suppose somepony that couldn't read before! I guess it had to happen eventually...”
“I...beg your pardon?” The earth pony asked. Apparently he'd not heard The Doctor's 'internal' dialog. The Doctor returned his hoof to the ground and I'm assuming broke into a grin because Ditsy did so.
% % % % %
“Yup, he did!” Ditsy confirmed, repeating the same grin she'd put on that day.. “For some reason every time he goes into personal-monologue mode he'll smile or cough, or tell a joke that almost always no one understands to cover it up. Normally whoever he's talking to will give him a strange look, and then seem to forget the whole thing!”
“It's just a social tactic.” The Doctor claimed. Jacob, after having observed the same situation several times, snorted, but did not comment. He didn't need to, as Rainbow Dash said voiced what he was thinking.
“More likely they just want to get the conversation with the crazy pony over as quickly as possible and not bring up him talking to himself.” The Doctor frowned at Rainbow Dash, while Jacob covered a smirk with a yawn.
“Oh hush, you!” Ditsy and the other girls tried not to laugh.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
“Alright, so you won't let us in. How about I give you a message to carry inside, then? Can you do that?”
“Well...I doth not know...the rulers said they did not wish to be disturbed...”
“Or how about my good Pegasus friend Ditsy?” The Doctor asked, grabbing Ditsy by her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. “She's a mail-pony. Could she carry in a message? Delivering letters is part of her job, you know!”
“I suppose...I suppose that would be alright...” He scratched the back of his head, and then stood at attention again and tried to look more authoritative than he had a moment ago. “But you two shalt hath to stay out here.”
“Oh, that'll be fine! We'll just have a look around, see the sights and such! Ditsy, Lighthand, if you two would follow me a moment?”
The Doctor led them out of pony-earshot and then informed them of his quick-thought-of plan to get them inside. “Ditsy, would you happen, by any chance, to be carrying a blank piece of paper and an ink pen in your saddlebags?”
“Well yeah, but what for if it's just a trick? And why bother with that at all if you're just going to have Jacob magic you two over the wall?”
“Because we'll need you to scout out the interior of the castle to ensure that we'll have a place unguarded long enough for him to carry me and himself over without being spotted. If the TARDIS were working properly I'd have just used it to get us inside, but with the interference with the scanners I'd rather not risk it.”
“I could just make us invisible for a minute and we could avoid wasting further time. And what are we doing here anyway? I thought we were supposed to be looking for The Shield?”
“We are looking for The Shield. She knew that we'd eventually try coming here looking for the royalty, so it stands to reason that she's already inside, and that she's the one that the royalty are speaking with!”
I glanced at Ditsy, who shrugged.
“He's usually right about these kinds of things.”
“You know, Doc, for being a little pony, you sure weigh a bit!”
“You're probably just out of shape!”
“'Out of shape?' Doctor, I get physical activity almost every day, and using magic takes a lot of energy too. Building up fat is not something I do very easily.”
“Being fat and being out of shape have little to do with one another. Lots of skinny people and ponies are out of shape.”
“Um, Doctor? I think somepony is coming!” Ditsy warned from the edge of the wall, peeking one eye around the corner. “Yup! Somepony is coming!”
“Guard, servant, or royalty?” I asked.
“No idea! Do the servants in this era wear clothes?”
“I don't know. Doc?” He shrugged.
“This is the first time I've been this far back in Equestria's history. Most of the interesting stuff happened during Celestia's solo rule. ”
Ditsy flapped away from the corner.
“We've got to hide, like, right now!”
“There's nowhere to hide!” I objected. “This place is more exposed than a nudist in an open field!” The Doctor stared at me a moment, then stated that he wasn't sure if he should be laughing, or feel disturbed. Ignoring him I told him and Ditsy to flatten themselves against the wall and remain perfectly still. “I'm going to make us invisible, but this version is only an illusion, so stay perfectly still.” They nodded and did so. Ditsy I vanished first, then The Doctor. Finally, and in the nick of time, myself.
A light pink Alicorn that I did not recognize walked around the corner humming a carefree tune and wearing a smile on her face. She passed Ditsy, then The Doctor, and then finally myself. I held my breath as she passed, hoping she was not yet good enough at magic to sense that a spell had been cast. She did not seem to, and as she neared another turn, I exhaled in relief.
She stopped for a moment, looking around in confusion, her eyes scanning the walls.
“Hello? Ist someone there?” She waited for a response, and frowned a little. “Luna, if this be another one of your jokes, know that while father may find it amusing, mother doth not, and I grow weary of having to put up with your pranks.” Again, I held my breath, and the pink Alicorn, which revealed herself to be Celestia in a much younger state, turned away and once more continued walking, less the tune she was humming. When I was certain that she was gone this time I dispelled the illusion and took a new breath.
“Oh my, that is what Celestia looks like as a child?” The Doctor rhetorically asked. “I wonder how she became white and gained an off-color rainbow mane?”
“It's often said that her using the Elements of Harmony did that to her, Doctor.” Ditsy explained. “Apparently when the Elements are used by one being instead of several it leaves something behind. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what I've been told.”
“Maybe her mane and tail are illusions and she just dyes her hide?” I offered.
“Well, whatever the reason, we still need to find The Shield and then speak to her parents.”
“Really? And why would you need to do that?”
“Have you forgotten already? We're supposed to be-” he stopped and we all looked in the direction that Celestia had left. There she stood once more, but we'd not heard a sound.
“Illusions art rather simple.” She explained. “I'm surprised you did not realize that I'd cast one. Actually, I art even more surprised that I did not detect thine illusion. Now,” She jerked her head to one side and my staff was ripped from my hand.
“Ouch!” She then surrounded us all with a pink magical aura, holding our legs to make us immobile.
“Who art thee, why have thee come here, and where doth thou hail from?” She glanced at all of us, and then landed her gaze on me again. “Thee especially. Humans haven't been on this world in a long time.”
“I get that a lot.” I replied.
“We're here to speak to your parents. It is a matter of utmost importance.” The Doctor said, his response more helpful than mine.
“If thee felt the need to sneak inside, then thee must have already spoken with the gate guard. Mine parents art already speaking with someone. Thee will have to wait. Now again, who art thou?” she repeated, frowning.
“'Ello! I'm The Doctor! This is my good friend, Ditsy Doo, and the Human is a man by the name of Lighthand.”
“I doth not recall seeing any of thee before, nor do I recall that accent.”
“Oh, we're from very, very far away.” The Doctor 'explained'. Celestia frowned and called for some guards.
“Since thee art unwilling to wait patiently, and are unwilling to answer mine questions, perhaps thee would prefer to wait in the dungeons!” Two Unicorn guards galloped around a corner and stopped behind Celestia to gape at us. “Take these three to the dungeons, and keep an eye on them. I shall inform the king and queen about them myself.” The guards bowed, and made shackles out of magic for our legs and in my case, wrists. I looked at The Doctor.
“Doc, I had never been arrested before I met you, and now I've been arrested twice within a twenty-four hour time period.” The Doctor offered me an apologetic smile.
“You get used to it.” Ditsy said, sighing.
__ __ __ __ __
“And that's as much as I can tell you without risking the time line.” The Shield finished. “Even with how much I've left out what I've said will probably have effects that I can't predict.”
The Shield had spent the last hour standing before the Mantle, Elpis, and Thanatos explaining the reason for her being in their kingdom. She also mentioned that she was traveling with several others, and gave their description. Mantle and Thanatos said nothing while they mentally digested The Shield's story. Elpis was a bit more inquisitive, and asked about the Nightmare Moon. Mantle laid a wing on her back, however, and warned against asking too much about the future.
“We already know that our daughters in the end triumph over it. We do not need to know more of it.”
“I know, but they are our children. How can I not be concerned for them?”
“I did not say we should not be concerned.” Mantle corrected. “New that our Echo-race failed to destroy their Daleks and were destroyed themselves is dark news indeed, and for them to have found our home once more when we are no longer around to protect it is darker still.”
“I doth not understand why Celestia ist not going to the aid of Earth, however. I thought thee said they were allies?” The Shield hesitated a moment.
“There is a law in place in the future that prevents Equestria from declaring war on another nation without there being a king or a queen, which can only occur through marriage to another royal. Because your daughters are still princesses, this makes it impossible for her or Luna to declare war without breaking the law. And not just that; Equestria is not made of warriors, and of what few there are, most of the ponies that know combat magic or tactics only use it for sparring matches or mock-battles with objects that aren't weapons at all. Even if Celestia or Luna were able to declare war, they'd be sending their subjects to their deaths, which is why we need all three of you to come forward with us.”
“Thee asketh much.” Mantle said. “Equestria is not young, but this planet is far from being a safe place. Much of our power goes into keeping this solar system hidden from the other advanced races of this galaxy, as well as warding off the more dangerous local creatures from attacking the ponykind settlements and raising and setting the sun and moon. No doubt thee hath noticed the reaction on your 'Doctor's' electrical systems.” The Shield nodded. “The spells we have in place for keeping this planet hidden need to be renewed weekly, or else they begin to decay. While it would likely take more than a year to fail completely, it is a risk that I would rather not take unless you can guarantee me that your Doctor can get us back within a month's time of our leaving. Can you do this?”
The Shield licked her lips. She wanted to say yes, but as she had already witnessed The Doctor was flying a TARDIS that was meant to be piloted safely by at minimum four Time Lords by himself, and it was far from being a smooth ride. In the end, she decided on an evasive response.
“You'd have to ask him that. My star ship has a very limited capacity for time travel, and it has a tendency to short out if I try using it to hop dimensions as well as jump in time.”
“Very well.” Elpis said, rising from the her couch. The others did so as well. “We shalt speak to The Doctor ourselves. In the meantime, please take a seat and remain here.”
The Shield bowed, and settled in to wait. I do hope that he was able to stay out of trouble...
“Remind me again why we're breaking out of jail when we could just wait for them to finish their meeting.” I said while he peeked around a corner.
Even though Celestia had told the guards to keep and eye on us, as soon as she'd left they took a length of chain and placed a simple lock over the two ends as an addition to the cell door's lock. They then left. When The Doctor was sure they were gone he smirked and pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out of a pocket and undid both locks. Against my better judgment I followed him and Ditsy out of the cell.
“Two reasons. One: I hate being forced to sit around and wait for something to happen.” I rolled my eyes. “Two: so that we can get your staff back before Celestia decides to use her magic on it to discover if she knows whose horns went into its making. I may not be able to use magic myself, but I find it highly doubtful that she would not recognize her father's horn. She might decide to have you and the rest of us executed before we even get a chance to explain ourselves if she learns we're time travelers and concludes that it was you that killed him!”
I could feel the blood draining out of my face and imagined that I looked quite pale. The Celestia of the future would not have done that, but I recalled the brief moment when I told her that her father's horn, when he was already deceased, went into the making of my staff. To say she was angry was putting it mildly. Fortunately for me she was very smart and recalled shortly after that I had been in the Everfree Forest at the time that the royal crypt had been broken into and was robbed. I had no alibi with this Celestia, and she lacked the wisdom that time and experience would eventually grant her. She might very well be that hasty in this time and it was not a risk I cared to take.
“As the Doctor prescribes.” I replied, following him and Ditsy around the corner he'd been peeking around. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the throne room is, would you?”
“Fortunately, yes I do.” He replied as we climbed a set of stairs back up to ground level. “When Thanatos gave us a tour of the old castle he covered the entire place. It's on the second floor of the keep, towards the rear. With security here being so low, it should be very easy to find. Now, Celestia's bedroom will be another story, if she took the staff there at all. She may have taken it to a lab for study, or a vault, or an armory. She might even still have it on her person. Hopefully she won't.”
We hid ourselves from a passing patrol of one in what seemed to be either a simple guest room or a servant's quarters. It was very sparse and small, and only had one small window that doubled as an arrow slit. There wasn't much light but there was an unlit candle on a small table next to the bed in case more was needed. There was also a small empty metal basin next to it, which I assumed was for washing. Once he was gone we left and did not see another guard for nearly eight minutes. When we did see a guard again he was asleep on his fee- er, hooves and was lightly snoring with a dumb smile on his face in front of an iron door with a small slot at pony-eye level and another higher at near my own eye level. That higher one is probably for a fully-grown Alicorn.
Cautiously and without hesitation The Doctor sneaked to the door and slowly opened it. Thankfully it did not squeak and we got through without waking 'Sir Snooze'. The iron door led out into what I assumed was the courtyard. Fortunately it was deserted. The Doctor nodded, screwdriver still in his mouth, and trotted across the courtyard with us in tow. I glanced briefly at the two large stones in the center with a large number of names carved into them, but only paid it minor attention as we passed them by.
When we arrived at a larger set of wooden doors opposite of another set of large wooden doors that led in the direction of what I assumed was the main gate The Doctor once more sonic'd the lock, which turned out to not be locked at all and he had to do it again to unlock it for real.
Ditsy face-hoofed while The Doctor, looking mildly embarrassed, scratched the back of his head and pushed the door open and then quickly and without warning grabbed me and Ditsy and shoved us to one side, himself included.
“What do you-” The Doctor shoved a hoof in my mouth. A mouth which now had hurting teeth in it. I wanted to vocally complain, but I was effectively gagged, and had no desire to taste whatever he'd been walking on. A few moments later to my surprise several Alicorns walked out with sad and serious expressions on their faces. Ditsy and me both turned our eyes of The Doctor, who looked like he was having his own internal discussion. Finally the Doctor put on a friendly face and stepped out from our hiding spot.
“Hello there! I take it that you three are Celestia and Luna's parents, yes?” While the Alicorn turned in surprise The Doctor continued to speak. “Sorry to just pop in unannounced like this and all, but we really need to speak with you on a matter of grave importance!” The Alicorns were facing him now, and The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Ditsy and myself. Ditsy and I looked at one another, and then also walked forward, stopping behind him. “These my loyal assistant Ditsy Doo, and the Human stowaway, Jacob Lighthand! My name is-”
“The Doctor.” said the black Alicorn. “We know.”
“I-” The Doctor paused, looking confused. “wait, you know?” The black Alicorn nodded.
“Yes. The Shield already told us who thee all are, and why thee art here.”
“Oh.” His face of confusion became a cheerful smile. “Well then, that speeds things up then, doesn't it!? So, will you help us?”
“Only if you can promise us that thee can get us back home again shortly after thee take us forward. If thou cannot promise this, then no, we shalt not.” The Doctor nodded, still smiling.
“Of course I can get you back to the time that I take you from! I've been flying my TARDIS for over nine hundred years!”
“Then go with you we shall, but not before we have a chance to speak to our children should we not return.” We had no problem with it. After all, the end of the world (again) wasn't going to happen for more than a thousand years. What was the rush?
“May I request one thing, your majesties?” I asked with an upraised hand. They said nothing to discourage me, so I continued. “earlier we got busted for sneaking in and your eldest daughter confiscated my mage staff. Could I perhaps get it back before we leave?”
“Mage staff?” Thanatos inquired, tilting his head to one side. “What is a mage?”
“Back home, the word 'mage' is a word for 'powerful magician'. It is with this staff that I am able to use more magic than any six of Equestria's most powerful Unicorns altogether at their best.”
“I can see why thou art against being apart from it. Whom did thee acquire the horns from to have an object of such potential?” I hesitated and looked to The Doctor, but it was Mantle that came to my rescue.
“Thanatos, just as we shouldst not ask questions about the villains that our daughters will one day face in our absence, so too should we not inquire after the demise of others yet to be born lest we avert them ever having been born in the first place.” Thanatos looked as if he might pursue his inquiry further, but then nodded.
“Very well.” Mantle also nodded, and then looked back to me.
“It shall be done. You shall need every bit of power and skill you possess, if your need is truly so great to risk the destruction of your time line by bringing us forward with you.” I bowed.
“Thank you, your majesty.”
* * * * *
The Doctor slammed the doors of his TARDIS shut and breathed in the freshly-recycled, non-crap-smelling air of the outhouse next to his TARDIS, and then breathed it in again, held it, and exhaled it all at once. Then he smiled and walked around his most recent control room. It was smaller than most of the others due to his own shrink in size, but he did not mind. Home was home no matter what the color of the walls or the make-p of the flooring was, and the one place other than this one that he felt most at home at was long gone in both his own dimension, and this one. His one constant companion, comfort, and method of transportation was beneath his fee-
Hoofs, Doctor, you have hoofs now! He reminded himself. -was beneath his hoofs and all around him. But in a month's worth of linear time it might not be. Once again I'm going to be facing an enemy that has haunted and seemingly chased me throughout all the ages and I've time and again pushed back. But this time it's not one or two ships, or a hundred. This time there's a whole galaxy of them out there, and even though we'll only be facing a tiny portion of them in the upcoming fight, what will happen if we win? Of course he knew. They would just send more, many, many more. Too many. No matter how hard this joint-dimension's defenders fought, eventually they would be overrun.
Still, they'll live a bit longer, and that's all that anyone really can ever realistically hope for in a war. One more day, one more hour, one more minute of dear, sweet or bitter life. The Doctor completed his circuit of the room and slowly approached the control console. He ran a hoof over it, almost caressing the worn, smooth warm metal that seemed to pulse with life. But then, a TARDIS was grown rather than built, which meant that in a way, it was a life form.
“I've put you through so much, old girl. No doubt, if we survive the upcoming confrontation, you'll be put through yet more.” The Doctor circled the console, keeping one hoof on it, dragging it along the outside. “We could just run, you know. We could leave them to their fate. It isn't like this is our reality. Their lives aren't our responsibility.” The lights in the TARDIS dimmed slightly. “But then, you'd never forgive me for that, would you?” The lights brightened to normal once more. “And what of miss Doo? She's young, she's brave, she's pretty, and at times I think that she believes that the crazy and adventurous brown pony and his magical blue box are indomitable. So many wonders we've shown her, oh yes. So many wonders, and so many horrors. Things that would have wiped her unprepared planet out a dozen times over if not for that wonderful blue box and its pilot there to save the day.” He sighed. “As always, I dread the day when she'll be proven wrong; the day that proves that even with all my experience, all my brilliance, and this wonderful you, that one day we'll get into trouble, and I'll be unable to save her...like so many others.”
% % % % %
A slightly-blushing Ditsy Doo from being called brave and pretty leaned forward and patted The Doctor on his right shoulder and told him not to worry.
The longer he'd spoken his part, the more saddened he'd begun to look until Ditsy patted him, and then he looked up into her own smiling reddened face and cheered up a bit.
“I'm a big girl, Doctor, and you've taught me a lot. I can handle myself when you're not around.”
“Besides that, Doc, hasn't Ditsy been the one to save our butts a few times?” Jacob asked. “Like that one time where you got you and me stuck after that cave-in and she convinced the local Diamond Dogs to dig us out? Or how about that other incident on Cothus nine in two thousand and sixty nine years from now when the carnivorous parasprite infestation in that interplanetary-food-import warehouse almost escaped and Ditsy crashed the bug-spray zeppelin into it?”
“Point taken; she's more than capable of handling a stressful situation and saving the day!”
“And just remember, Doctor,” Ditsy added, no longer smiling. “If you ever actually leave me behind again, you'll be leaving our daughter without a father. We may not be married, but she still loves you.”
The girls and Spike stared at The Doctor in disbelief, who spluttered.
“W- wait, it's not what you think! I-”
“How...un-gentlecolt of you, Doctor! It seems I was wrong about you!” Rarity hmphed. Pinke gasped loudly
“You two have a daughter?!” Pinkie asked. Then she went through her many Ponyville-resident memories. “Oh yeah! Dinky! I was wondering why you two were always around each other whenever you were in town! But wait, neither of you are Unicorns, so how does that work? Oh but the Cakes have both a Unicorn and a Pegasus for kids and neither of them are either, so maybe-” While Pinkie theorized aloud on Ponykind genetics, the Doctor quickly explained to a suspicious group of sapient female herd animals that Dinky was not his biological daughter.
Dinky had witnessed some of The Doctor's exploits in the modern era, however, and knew that he and her mother were good friends, so she had started calling him uncle first, and after he confronted several bullies making fun of her and her mother and later read her bedtime story, had upgraded that title to daddy before going to sleep.
“It seemed that I fell within her fatherhood parameters, so she decided to adopt me into her family.” He shrugged. “She had such big teary eyes and a hopeful-sad expression when she asked if she could call me that, I just couldn’t find the will to refuse.”
“Most kids, whether they're a Pony, Human, Diamond Dog, Dragon, or almost anything else seem to have that skill. It's like their own Stare, only heart-pulling instead of scary! So not fair!” Rainbow Dash said, thinking of the CMC. More than once their puppy-stare won over her better judgment and she'd helped on them in one of their harebrained plans to get their Cutie Marks. Rarity nodded, also having caved to the wishes of her little sister over such an expression.
“Alright, perhaps I was a tad too hasty. You have my apologies, Doctor.”
“Think nothing of it, Rarity. Actually, now that I'm thinking about her, how has young Dinky been?” Twilight opted to answer.
“She's-” Twilight halted. “Sorry, Doc, but 'how she's been' involved you. If you don't know how she's been then I can't tell you. It might ruin things for her.”
“So she's doing well then I take it? Good! Does she have colt-friend yet?”
“Oh, he's such a darling fellow, Doctor!” Rarity said, recalling her last encounter with him. “He's polite, kind, handsome, excellent at using magic, and has wonderful taste in fashion!” Rarity swooned. “If I were but a few years younger!” She sighed regretfully. Suddenly an idea occurred to her. She adopted a sweet expression. “Good Doctor, do you perchance think you could take me perhaps say...eight years into the future?” Everypony frowned at her, already suspecting her intention. Ditsy's frown was bigger than the others, complete with narrowed eyes. She lifted off the ground with her wings and landed in front of Rarity with all four hoofs. She stuck her face against Rarity's who pulled back slightly. Ditsy's face followed.
“I would have thought a 'lady' such as yourself would have a bit more self-respect than to think of stealing my little muffin's colt-friend! Since it seems not, let me be clear: I have a friend who has a time machine that can also teleport. That friend likes my daughter. Make my daughter unhappy, and I'll ask him to drop you off on the moon!” Rarity gulped and looked at The Doctor.
“You wouldn't really- I mean you're a protector- I did make that wonderful suit for you...or rather, I will eventually! Can't do that from a celestial body, you know!” The Doctor gave her a flat stare and said nothing. Beads of sweat ran down the side of her face. And she quickly tried to change the subject. “So, um...how did younger Celestia and Luna react to their parents saying they were going to be leaving?”
“Oh, they were far from happy,” Jacob answered, rubbing an odd scar on his arm that looked like a burn mark in the shape of a magic rune. “Especially Celestia, who knew after just a little study that one of my staff's ingredients was an Alicorn's horn. She'd thought I was going to try stealing her parent's horns!”
“So why didn't Celestia know who you were back when you first came to Equestria?” Twilight asked.
“Well that was close to two thousand years ago, Twilight.” The Doctor explained, returning his attention back to their story, to Rarity's relief. “Even my memory starts to get fuzzy on things after three hundred years' worth of linear time!” Ditsy fluttered back to her spot from before and sat down. Once comfortable she reached for Pinkie's popcorn, which she'd pulled from seemingly nowhere and waited.
* * * * *
Elpis gave her daughters one last hug, and then entered the TARDIS, leaving one daughter with concerned eyes for her parents and a look of strong distrust for the male Human who once more held the ivory and wood staff that she knew contained two Unicorn horns and one Alicorn's horn. He had given her his word that he would bring no harm to her parents and uncle, but she was hesitant to believe him.
Luna, her other daughter, waved goodby with a smile on her face and asked that they bring her and her sister something back from the future as a present.
“Like some candy, or a new pet! But I'd prefer candy!” Little Luna reminded why she waved goodbye next to her sister.
“We shalt return soon, daughters.” Mantle stated, also waving. “Take care of our subjects whilst we are absent. And of course, care for one another.” Celestia and Luna nodded, and Thanatos shut the blue door s of the TARDIS. A few seconds later, the TARDIS faded out of existence in that particular time, leaving little Luna and young Celestia standing alone with only one of their guards, who was stunned, and walked forward to examine the place in which the blue box had disappeared from.
“They're gone!” Celestia nodded.
“And we shalt await their return. Come, sister, there is much that we must do in our parent's absence.”
“Okay, Celestia!”
Celestia and Luna's parents would not return until after Discord's defeat, and what a bittersweet reunion it was, for their kingdom had been decimated by Discord's Chaos, and they already knew that it would be.
One did not remain a good ruler for long if they could not detect even the most obvious of lies, and the first rule of traveling with The Doctor was that 'The Doctor lies'.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I whooped this time around as the TARDIS finally 'landed' and stopped rocking like a roller coaster gone Discord. I recalled my first (technically second, since I was asleep for most of the first) trip through the time vortex and the looks on the three royal's faces were priceless.
Shaky-legged and bodies trembling, Elpis, Thanatos, and Mantle still clung to the guard rails around the control room.
“Doc, you should charge admission for that!” I suggested with a grin on my face. Now that I'd known what was coming I had prepared for it by raiding the clothing room for two leather belts and had secured myself to a bolted-down chair. “No theme park has anything on your TARDIS!”
“I thought thee said that thou had been flying this for centuries!” Thanatos exclaimed, voice also shaky. “How canst thee be such a poor pilot!” The Doctor snorted.
“Considering that none of you volunteered to help me I think I did a fine job!”
“Thine TARDIS' control scheme is different from our people's!”
“A likely excuse!” Ditsy said from one side of the control console.
Ditsy had been trying to help, and she had in that she'd stopped it from flipping upside down again. She then shared a high hoof with The Doctor. Now they were safely landed, and Ditsy trotted to the door to open it.
Greatly relived to be able to stand on solid, non-rocking ground again, the three royals galloped out, dropped to the marble floor and hugged it. Several guards that had been eating their meal a moment ago dropped their food and stared in shock at the three 'new' Alicorns.
“Mother of Celestia!!!” One of them exclaimed. Elpis lifted her head and looked at the guard.
“Yes? Doth thee require something?” she asked from the floor, which made the guard's jaw drop to the table that he'd just dropped his food to and elicited gasps from everyone in the room.
An hour as the sun started to set all of Canterlot was in abuzz over the arrival of three previously unseen Alicorns, though as of yet they did not know for certain whom the 'newcomers' were. Newspapers and letters were going out from Canterlot in all direction from both magical and mundane means, while other whom owned them used cellular telephones.
Celestia had been overjoyed to feel the embrace of her mother, father, and uncle once more. Once pleasantries and small talk and several more sudden embraces from Celestia occurred she composed herself and sent a message through her guards to temporarily break off contact with Earth at The Doctor's insistence. No one was allowed to go to Earth, and no one was permitted to come back from it.
This decision would be sure to cause an uproar all its own, but The Doctor explained that he felt Luna should be kept in the dark for now so as to ensure her not being distracted during her talks on Earth. She would have plenty of time to see them later, provided we succeeded in the purpose for which we had brought the ancient royals forward in the first place. Celestia wasn't entirely happy about the suggestion, but agreed.
While the royals and The Doctor, and The Shield as well discussed what they would do next, Ditsy and myself decided excuse ourselves to have a look around. As important as their plans no doubt would be, politics would probably make up most of the discussion, and I very much so disliked political discussions after having being forced to attend a Triple G, which was also known as the Grand Galloping Gala and put up with so many of Canterlot's 'nobles' trying to get in the royal's 'inner circle' as they put it, through me.
“Ditsy,” I said out of the blue as we meandered through the marble halls that were, with the exception of new decorative tasseled red curtains and a few various new (to me) paintings of ponies in various poses in various locations, mostly the same. Ditsy, fluttering along beside me rather than walking, turned her head to look at me. “did you know that the word 'Gala' is actually a type of apple?” Ditsy nodded her head twice.
“Uh huh, I knew! But I bet I know something that you don't!”
“I'd be surprised if you didn't, having traveled with The Doc for so long.”
“Well, that too, but I meant here on Mythica, not out in space.”
“Again, you've probably seen more than most historians do in their entire life.” I smiled.
“No, not really. I've not been traveling with The Doctor for very long yet. Most of what he's seen me wasn't so much about time traveling as it was seeing the galaxy as it is now. He says that most of what we've seen is similar to what's going on in his own galaxy, although there have been several places we've visited that were different.”
“Such as?” I asked as we exited onto a balcony that overlooked Canterlot, which appeared to be mostly unchanged with the exceptions that it had expanded to twice its original size (compared to my time), and there were just as many Humans walking about as Ponies.
“Well, we visited this one world on the outer edge of the galaxy and found this weird ring-shaped doorway on top of a pile of worn stone in a clearing. There were strange symbols all over it that the TARDIS couldn't translate!”
“And that means...?”
“It means that the ring's language was older than his race! According to him, Time Lords were among the eldest races in the universe! He says that he's only encountered a situation like that only once before in his own world!”
“Isn't it just possible that the race that made that language simply did not exist in his own reality?”
“That's what I asked him, and he replied that 'at the very least it was possible'. He then mused over the symbols for an hour while I had a look around. That place had tasty grass and flowers! I took some of it back to The Doctor's greenhouse for later!”
“He has a greenhouse in there?” I asked, once more amazed at the TARDIS' ability to contain things. Or perhaps places was a better word.
“And an anti-gravity ball-pit, too!” She grinned. “We had lots of fun playing with his balls!”
My face went from smiling to flat as the dirty part of my mind re-translated that. I coughed a few times and then changed the subject.
“So was that what you knew that I didn't?” She shook her head.
“Nope! There's-”
Ditsy was suddenly interrupted (to her mild annoyance) by a bit of excited chatter from behind us. We turned our heads and looked behind and saw a mix of schoolchildren of both ponies and humans and two adults (one of each with a male being a pony and the female a human), whom I assumed were teachers standing behind us. The teachers stared at my staff. Being teachers, they likely knew what it was, and through it, who I might be. With Celestia's deceased family seemingly coming back from death, perhaps Luna's student also returning would not be out of the question as well.
The chattering we'd heard was coming from the two teachers themselves, so this strengthened my thought.
“You...” One of them said, pointing at my staff. “Do you have any idea what that is?!” I nodded.
“Yes. It's my Alihorn staff. It was created by combining two Unicorn horns, one Alicorn horn, some platinum, and some wood so add some length.” The two teachers turned back to chattering with one another, and one of their students, an earth Pony with a chocolate-brown hide and a vanilla-white mane and tail and gold eyes stepped forward to continue where his teacher had left off.
I looked down at the kid as he approached us. He stopped a little over four feet away and then looked up.
“Are you one of The Great and Powerful Trixie's great-grand kids?” he asked. I shook my head. Trixie had kids? Well good for her! “Then why do you have her staff?”
“That's not her staff, Oreo! It's the wrong color and it's too long!” another Pony, this one a Unicorn possessing a sickly green hide and a bark-brown mane and tail, observed correctly. “He's probably a member of the Lighthand family. Don't you pay attention at all in history class?!” Ignoring the insult, Oreo asked if I was indeed from the Lighthand family. I nodded.
“Can we see some magic!? Do something big!” Several Earth children eagerly asked. At least, I assumed they were from Earth. In two hundred years, a lot could have changed. Perhaps Humans had been allowed to set up permanent residence since then.
“Now, now, students,” the Pony teacher began. “that staff is a relic from over two hundred years ago, and is likely very fragile from use by now.”
“Nah, it's fine!” I said, moving the staff so I could hold it with both hands. “What would you like to see?”
“Hmm...” Oreo rubbed his chin. He shrugged and looked over his shoulder. Several hands shot into the air and several of the children hopped up and down in place.
“A fireball!” Said one human child eagerly.
“Teleport!” Another called out.
“Fly!” A red Pegasus demanded, hopping into the air herself.
“Shape-shift!” A black earth Pony with blue eyes.
“Summon lunch! I'm hungry!” Ditsy piped up beside me. I laughed.
“We'll get lunch after this, Ditsy.” I looked back at the children. “Come on! Surely you can think of something cooler than that!”
The students cast their eyes about the room, wracking their brains for 'something cooler'. Finally it was the same Unicorn from before that came up with something.
“Do Luna's job; raise the moon!” The other students and the teachers stared at her, then looked expectantly at me. I raised my eyebrows, then made a nervous face and turned and looked at the opposite side of the horizon, hesitant. I have the power...but I don't know...I didn't finish that lesson before I left...
“Now hold on a moment, Crystal Shine!” One of the teachers objected. “If he's going to even try that he'll need the princess's permission first! He probably doesn't want to get thrown in a dungeon over a misunderstanding.”
“Indeed.” I acknowledged. “However, if we can get permission, then I will attempt it.” The way I saw it, she'd probably say no. But if she did say yes and I messed up in some way, (which I probably would) Celestia could correct it and all would be well. She probably will say no. My lesson on this subject was incomplete before I left. Trixie might have been able to pull it off, but she's probably dead now.
Though I knew that I'd probably see her again if we made it through the upcoming confrontation, the thought that, with the exception of Ditsy Doo, whom until recently I'd only know through the occasional delivery she made to the palace, everyone that I'd known from my time was dead, buried, and likely decayed into dirt by now. In a way, I was the last of my kind. At the very least, I was a displaced piece of history, not unlike my staff.
“So, since I need the princess's permission to do raise the moon, and since she's busy right now, any pony or any person have any other ideas?”
Before they could come up with an idea for me to show off, Ditsy and myself were once more summoned back to the throne room.
“That was quick.” I thought aloud as I reentered the throne room.
“We still hath yet much to discuss, human.” Mantle stated. “But for the moment we hath a task for thee.” I nodded. “Thee are to go with the group of Unicorns and those of your kind that shalt be assigned to thee. There is something in the Everfree forest we would have thee recover for us. If we are to have any chance at all without using forbidden magics, we'll shalt require it.”
“What will I be looking for?”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “I think that thee shalt know what it is when thou see it. Just do not attempt trying to activate it without us being present. Thee lack the endurance.” I did not know wha the meant by that, so instead I asked when I was to leave. “As soon as possible. The others hath already departed and shalt meet thee at thine destination. Dost thou recall the path thine military people made when they first came to our world?” I nodded. How could I forget? “Go there and await further instruction.” Again, I nodded.
“What about me?” Ditsy asked. Mantle looked at her, and then at The Doctor.
“Thee and The Doctor shalt be going to Earth to alert their leaders to the situation that shalt soon be occurring and attempt to better prepare their world for it.”
“We're committed now, Ditsy. Either we win, or we lose.” The Doctor declared, giving Ditsy a grim expression. “We're finishing this adventure.”
* * * * *
Ditsy shut the door of the TARDIS and trotted across the room, her hoofs clanking on the floor beneath her with each step until she stood next to The Doctor, who prepared to move the TARDIS to the gateway connecting the two worlds. All the jumping back and forth from one time to another had worn out most of the power cells. Too much more constant use and they'd die completely.
It was for this reason that they would enter Earth on foot- er, hoof and make their way to the nearest government center in this time. No doubt most of the area would be unchanged in terms of classical structures, but as he'd seen from orbit before the area where once the Stone Arch Gateway once stood by itself, there would now be filled with many buildings, some larger than others, and some extending deep underground.
Unlike in his own reality he spent much less time on or around Earth in this one having already seen much of its history already, which had been much the same as his own reality, and this one apparently possessing the advantage of not being invaded by hostile aliens every other decade. This did not mean they were never invaded, simply not by hostile races. This difference had given him much more personal time to simply enjoy a jaunt through time and space to one designation or another.
Unfortunately this was a double-edged sword as almost nobody knew who he was on Earth which meant that other than looking adorable as a Pony and his nearly one thousand years of persuasive ability and almost always being right he had very little to convince this human race that trouble was coming, and coming soon
The Doctor frowned a little as he set the coordinates to land them near the constructed facility that housed the Gateway. Most likely they'll do what they always do and have a mass-panic, or not listen to a word I say until its too late. As usual.
The TARDIS vibrated for a few seconds, and then settled. The Doctor nodded to Ditsy and told her to take anything she thought they might need.
“We'll not be coming here again until this is over.” he warned. Ditsy nodded and walked downstairs. The Doctor waited, having a feeling he knew what she was going after. He was surprised, then, when she came back carrying a scarf in her mouth, another wrapped around her neck, saddlebags, and a water gun from the 1980's balancing on her back several minutes later (the age of the good Supers-soaker squirt-guns.).
“Um, Ditsy? Why the water gun?”
“I filled it with blueberry juice from your fridge!” The Doctor saw where she was going with that and nearly smiled, but there was one small problem with her idea.
“You do know that you need fingers to pull the trigger and make it shoot, right?”
Ditsy raised one eyebrow, spit out the scarf, reached over to her back with one hoof and 'grabbed' the gun, then opened her mouth and pointed the gun at it and shot two squirts into her mouth. She licked her lips to clean up any she might have missed, and then gulped. The Doctor stared. “Never mind.” She smiled and once more retrieved the scarf, this time wrapping it around The Doctor's neck. “You might think you'll live forever, but you won't if you get sick from being cold!”
“Ditsy, it's a little over seventy degrees outside. I don't think we're going to freeze.”
“What if you need to go into a big freezer?” Why would I be going into a big freezer? Oh never mind, she means well. The Doctor smiled and bowed his head a little.
“I bow to your wisdom in these matters, miss Doo. Shall we go?”
The pair of intrepid adventurers were halted at the entrance to the Gateway building by a crowd of angry humans and ponies alike that were yelling at the building and demanding access.
“Hmm. Perhaps I should have landed us inside the building instead.” The Doctor muttered.
Ditsy looked at the crowd and then squinted at the doors and then the big window to one side that extended from the ceiling to the floor and was two and two-thirds meters long. On the window was a big sheet of paper that stated that until further notice the Gateway facility was closed by royal edict. It did not say why, so Ditsy asked The Doctor about it.
“Oh, that's my fault. I suggested to Celestia that we break off all contact with Earth for a little while to prevent news of the royal parents' return from reaching Luna until as late as possible. Remember, she's handling peace-talks on Earth right now. I suspect that she would be rather distracted mentally if she learned that her mother, father, and uncle, whom are deceased in this era, have seemingly come back from the dead. At the very least she would want to investigate the rumors herself by asking her sister about them, and I know that Celestia hates lying in general.”
“Is that why you and her don't really get along?”
“No, no, she forgives my lying to her as long as its in the best interests of her kingdom. She doesn't like it, but she forgives me.” The Doctor frowned at the building. “The reason she and I don't really get along is because both of us like feeling in control of a situation, and most of our encounters involved things she's never seen or had to deal with before. It is difficult having a near-stranger appear out of nowhere and take control of a situation that, even with all your expert experience and power you're no match for.”
“So with that edict in place, how are we supposed to get through?”
“Well, we could always try asking nicely.”
“Does that ever work?” Ditsy asked, her expression doubtful.
As it turned out, it did not work, but after a phone call to the royal palace and a frantic apology from the woman in charge both The Doctor and his adorable Pegasus assistant were allowed inside, to the outrage of everyone else outside, and their shouting increased in volume as the door swung shut once more behind them.
As they crossed the reception room several of the working staff whispered to one another, each one glancing at their boss escorting the two equines. A few tried to ask her what made them so special when so many others were being kept out, but she did not answer, her face annoyed.
They passed through through three small rooms, once of which including a metal detector and a screen for detecting anything being interdimensionally smuggled. Both The Doctor and Ditsy were pulled aside and searched, but other than trying to confiscate The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver, which took brief flashing of his Psychic Paper to allay, nothing out of the ordinary was found on them. His having two hearts however, drew stares of disbelief from the fat guy watching his security screen followed by a systems check for errors.
Once through the last security room they entered a long hallway. Every wall they'd seen so far was a boring white with a boring white tiled linoleum floor, and other than the occasional motivational poster or informative 'Dos and Don'ts' signs and the rare potted plant, nothing broke the dullness, and The Doctor voiced this.
“You've got entire worlds to draw cultural arts from, and all you've got is the standard office-building look? Really?”
“Art costs money.” Boss-lady explained. “This building is government funded.”
“Ah, I see. Makes perfect sense now.”
“It does?” Ditsy asked.
“Perfect sense, Ditsy. Most human government officials hate spending money on everything except themselves!”
“So then why is there a building here at all?”
“Security.” The Doctor replied, sighing. “Not every human is friendly, just as not every Pony is friendly or has the other world's best intentions in mind. In this time's past, there are several recorded incidents of various crimes committed by both worlds. This security building was built on both sides of the inter-dimensional doorway, with each building having the majority of their workers from the other world so as to best represent their home world's interests in safety and suggestions for interaction to those that wish to visit. This building also has several floors under our feet for educating first-time visitors on the finer parts of Equestrian society. There is another building for teaching Mythica's residents how to interact with some of Earth's cultures on the other side of the Gateway as well, and they also search everyone coming in too.”
“ They search those that go through the doorway? But we just-”
“Yes, well,” The woman said in a voice that suggested she'd heard this argument hundreds, if not thousands of times already. “Our equipment isn't perfect, and it's not built for looking for magical devices. OBAMAR's headquarters is on Earth, so their tech for detecting magical objects or enchantments is on that end. Cheaper that way.”
They stopped before a large and heavy metal door and the woman swiped a plastic card that she took from her back pocket and pressed five numbers on a keypad below the card reader. The door made a few grinding sounds that sounded as if they came from inside the door itself, and then it swung outward into the next, and final room. Inside stood both the stone doorway that was the original Interdimensional Gateway, and next to it an area that was ringed with blue paint on the floor that surrounded a hole in the air that revealed on the other side a room of similar design.
“Earth awaits you, messengers.”
Earth did indeed await them, and it was eager to learn why Celestia had decreed that all travel between the worlds was suddenly forbidden. Just as there were a crowd of Humans and Ponies and other races on Mythica trying to go across, so too were there a mix of races trying to go to Mythica, and many of them were angry, or afraid. So great was the group of protesters gathered outside the building that had been constructed around the Gateway that Ditsy and The Doctor needed to be escorted out of the building and across the parking lot.
Several news crews tried to get through, jabbing their microphones at both the guards and the two Ponies they escorted, but none of them said a word until they were sheltered within a helicopter that had arrived half an hour later at The Doctor's request. He might not have held as much influence in the history of this Earth, but that did not mean that he'd not saved several groups of individuals or even the planet several times over already and that those that knew he'd saved it weren't grateful.
Ditsy pressed her face against the plastic window of their helicopter and looked down at the weird (in her opinion) vehicles the locals of this world were using to get around.
“Wow! They have carriages that move on their own!” She exclaimed into the mic of her headset. For all the advancements Humanity had made, they still had not managed to successfully completely muffle the racket a helicopter produced as far as the cabin was concerned (nor had they managed to build flying cars that were purely technological). Muffling the noise outside would likely be impossible without magical interference.
“Indeed they do, Ditsy. They also have sea-vehicles that allow them to travel to the bottom of their oceans and others that let them journey to their moon and beyond.” Though they still won't find out Mermen and Mermaids really do exist for another hundred and sixty-three years! He chuckled. That encounter was going to be a doozy!
An hour later their ride landed beside a building that looked far from being anything official. Seeing this, The Doctor tapped the pilot on the shoulder.
“Correct me if I'm wrong, but we seem to be out next to a power station. You're supposed to be taking us to the CGC (Central Government Center) for this part of the world.”
The pilot looked over his shoulder at The Doctor wearing a poker face and then looked out of the window where several fourteen men dressed in stereotypical government-agent uniforms had exited the building and were now surrounding the helicopter. They were not pointing guns at them, but they did not look very friendly either. “Oh, dear...”
“If you'll step outside the helicopter, they'll take you to who you need to see.” The Doctor frowned
“Who I need to see are this world's leaders, not a secret organization. I've already gone through this sort of thing at least five times, and it rarely ends well for anyone! What I need to say is far more important than you can imagine!” The pilot did not respond other than to say that he and Ditsy needed to exit the vehicle again. “Fine.”
With a little creative maneuvering of his hoofs both Ditsy and The Doctor opened their doors and climbed out of the helicopter and stepped down onto the landing pad. Once they were both on the ground the helicopter's blades sped up enough for liftoff once more and it flew away. While Ditsy watched it go The Doctor trotted up to the nearest of the men in black and looked up at one. “Alright, you've brought us here. Now hurry and say what you wanted to say; we've got a lot to arrange to happen, and very little time to do it in!”
“I have nothing to say, Doctor.” The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “Yes, we know who you are. And your blond friend, as well. The one that wants to speak to you is inside that building in her office. If you'll follow me?”
“I take it that's not an actual request?” The man turned away, as did the others, and surrounding the two Ponies, began heading back to the building they'd exited from.
One brief explanation on electrical elevators to Ditsy and two dozen floor down later their group exited the large elevator they'd stepped into out into a large room filled with people, echoing footsteps, and the hum of machinery.
Scattered around the room several people were using magic, but they were few and far between, and those that were using it were all making use of it for moving something far larger than themselves. Also, the majority of them wore single-colored outfits of yellow, blue, red, and black.
“What do the different colors mean?” The Doctor asked, for there seemed to be nothing that really separated one from another. Nothing they carried, their physical condition, nor the pace at which they moved from one location to another seemed to indicate anything special about their arrangement.
“At the moment, because we are in a time of peace, nothing. Should we once more enter a state of combat, however, each color-group will be assigned to perform a specific task.”
“And those would be...?”
“I am not at liberty to say.” The Doctor nodded with an expression of mock-understanding on his face.
“Ah yes, I see. Completely understand! Well then, take us to your leader!”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I blinked at the bright sunlight shining down through the clouds and raised an arm to block it from shining into my face and continued blinking until my eyes had adjusted. When they had I turned around so that I'd be facing the edge of Everfree forest. To my confusion I found that I'd appeared more than forty feet away from it rather than the ten I'd been aiming for. I guess a few trees have been cut down since my time. I shrugged and Blinked to the actual edge, and then pushed a low leafy branch to one side and stepped into the forest.
I'd been told to go to the path that had been cut through the forest from the Gateway, but where'd I'd teleported to was not far from that place, and I would be there in less than five minutes, though with the trees blocking my way I'd likely not know it until I stepped out onto the road that Celestia told me was now there.
The forest had not really changed much from how I remembered it being from my time other than there being less birds singing and the mild ominous feeling that normally settled in seconds after entering the shaded areas was gone. Upon looking at the decomposing leaves on the ground I also discovered that much of it had been recently disturbed, and not in the 'running for their life' disturbed. If they had been running, there would have been a lot more ground kicked around than there was. There's another difference: someone's been willingly walking in these woods! I guess the forest has been tamed. Lifting my head from the eventually-to-be dirt I added my own footprints to the forest floor and with only a brief magical inquiry as to which way I needed to go I set out and continued walking, glancing about occasionally.
Once, I paused briefly, thinking I'd seen a phoenix flying by, but after a second glance I saw that it was only the movement of some flowers on a vine that almost completely covered a tree bobbing in the breeze. After that one distraction, however, another did not come until I reached the paved road and nearly got had one of my feet run over by the right rear wheel of a motorized carriage modeled after a horse-drawn carriage. This same carriage was pulling along a cart behind it piled high with several types of digging tools as well as a few small machines I did not recognize. Wouldn't a pickup truck have been better for that?
“Watch where you're going, you moron!” Yelled an irritated blue Unicorn, who stuck her head out of one of the wooden doors. “Didn't your mother ever tell you to look both ways before crossing the street?!” I opted not to answer and instead stepped off the road once more and followed it in the same direction she was driving. I did not have to walk long before arriving where they had found their destination. And given that a second vehicle had arrived shortly after I did, I took them to be the team that I was assigned to join up with.
Not wanting to waste any more time than I already had I walked closer to them and cleared my throat when they seemed to ignore me. Of course, the first person to say anything was that same Unicorn from before. She narrowed her eyes and trotted up to me and poked one of my legs with her hoof. “So, the would-be roadkill has followed us. What do you want?”
“Is this the retrieval team tasked with retrieving the 'object' from the Everfree Forest?”
“And you are?” asked a man old enough to be my grandfather (if my actual grandparents weren't dead). He did not sound grumpy, but not willing to tolerate foolishness either. If I had no business being present he'd no doubt have made sure I'd left post-haste.
“Jacob Pharoh Lighthand the Ninth.” I stated in a clear, loud voice so all those whom were not still speaking to one another could hear. “First Human student to Princess Luna, and time traveler.” I extended my empty hand. “And yourself?” I kept my face serious so as to not incur any ire, but other than the old man no one looked like the believed me, and most thought I was mocking the old guy. Several members of the retrieval team opened their mouths, most likely to tell me to get lost, but gramps took my hand and shook it.
“You're a little early, but that's a good thing.” He did not look impressed, but not doubtful in the slightest, which I found a bit refreshing. To him, I was just another man. “So, do you have any idea what we're looking for?” he asked, turning away from me and walking to the tool-laden cart. He spoke to a younger man and an earth Pony about the shovels, and then walked to a large cooler and removed a bottle of water from it.
“Sorry, no. I'd hoped that you all would.” He shrugged while he uncapped his drink.
“I know that we're to be digging something big up. Supposedly an ancient preserved city or something of the like.” The earth Pony and younger man walked between us carrying five two-hand chainsaws. The man carried two, the Pony three. “Unfortunately, the area where it's supposed to be is overgrown with forest, so we'll need to clear that area first. We've only got about ten actual chainsaws, though. The rest will be up to you magic-users.” He gestured to a group of six all-adult Unicorns who were carrying saw large round power-saw blades with their magic by their sides. The blades were larger in diameter than the length of their legs and the teeth were small in comparison and close together. “If it were up to me I'd simply set that area of the forest on fire and let it burn down and then just sweep the ashes out once its cooled off, but I was rather firmly instructed not to.”
“So now we do this the safer, yet longer way.” He nodded, then his face became one of nervous anger and he began waving his arms and looking over my shoulder.
“Careful, you idiots! Some of that equipment is worth more than you'll make in the next five years!” Moving surprisingly quickly for one that looked as old as he did he shoved me slightly to one side and walked quickly back to the truck where a pair of Pegasi were haphazardly juggling a piece of equipment a little larger than a full-sized watermelon but not quite as heavy between the two of them and trying frantically not to drop it. In the end they dropped it anyway and I caught it with magic and lowered it to the ground where someone or somepony could get it later. Looking and no doubt feeling sheepish, the Pegasi flew away from the truck and the old man's rantings.
The rest of our day was spent, for the most part comparing the forest's current size with the crude map drawn and sent to us by Celestia's parents of the forest in their time. It was not until the following morning that the group came to a decision on where to start cleaning the forest. I myself gave no opinion as I still was not certain what we were looking for. I had a theory, but it was only that, and given how much time had passed since the Magi-Time Lords had changed themselves into what they were today it was highly unlikely that their first home was still intact. Especially given that the forest had grown over it, meaning the roots could have effectively destroyed or disabled whatever it was the royals hoped to retrieve.
The following week was spent cutting down tree after tree after tree and removing them from the chosen site, and even with everyone available working all at the same time progress was slow in the making. For the sake of saving time I'd asked the people in charge why I could not simply rip the trees up with magic. They'd replied, however, that most of the trees in this area of the forest were very old, and it was very likely that their roots had intertwined with one another over the decades (if not centuries), which would have made trying to rip a few of them up similar to trying to pick up a blanket from its middle; the whole thing goes up, or none of it. In the end I was given the duty of teleporting the trees that were being cut down outside of the forest before they could completely fall. What was to be done with the unneeded lumber when we were finished here, I had no idea.
Once the trees were cleared we began digging down to expose and remove the roots, which proved to be an even more drawn out task, and finally, after another four days of digging, clearing away what we'd dug and yet more digging, we finally hit a flat surface. That surface turned out to be made of stone, and after finding its edges and more digging we discovered that it was a house. A house almost completely filled with soggy dirt. More houses in various states ranging from well-preserved to rubble followed the first until we had a small dirty town in a hole several feet below the modern surface in which Everfree forest grew upon.
Our finds were documented and sent in a report at the end of every day to the royalty, with little reply other than to 'keep digging down' until even our expedition leader was becoming annoyed. His annoyance vanished when some excitement in the A16 digging square drew onlookers from other areas.
“Oi! What are you all doing over there?” He yelled from the collapsible table that had been set up on the current era's ground level. Several workers near the 'overseer' stopped what they were doing and looked up at him, and then followed the direction his arm pointed as the old man made his way down the ladder we'd secured by rope to two separate trees and followed him when he reached ground level.
Though I was curious as to what they'd found, I knew far better than they that our time was short and kept at the task I'd been assigned and teleported the pile of dirt before me into the gorge that Twilight and her friends had needed to cross in order to get to the ancient castle that the royals had once called their home. After two transports of the pile, however, it was disposed of and I had been left with little else to do and joined the gathering.
What the people in square A16 had uncovered seemed to be a metal door completely without a trust or rust or tarnish (if you ignored the dirt) lying flat with the ground we stood upon. Etched into the door (which we discovered only after cleaning it) were several symbols that none of us recognized, as well as an indentation in the general shape of a hand, though the fingers were too long. A rubbing of it was taken to sent along with the daily status report at the end of the day. With this find, a sudden eagerness filled the other members and their tasks were taken to with an enthusiasm that lasted the rest of the day.
On the tenth day Elpis arrived in the company of Celestia and (once formalities were out of the way) asked where we had uncovered the door and then amplified her voice and called me to them, though I had no idea why given that none of us had managed to open it no matter the method we'd tried (that the excavation leader would allow).
% % % % %
“Why are you rushing this part?” Twilight interrupted Jacob. “You've given almost no details such as how humid it was or how damp or dry or cold the dirt you were all digging in was, or anything! You're just jumping from event to event to event!”
“It's a trait that many Humans share when they're eager to get to something, Twilight.” The Doctor explained. “The 'epic battle' is coming up, and he's eager to get to telling it.”
“Still, that's no excuse!” Twilight, ever the scholar, complained. “Besides, aren't the Human's version of battle usually horrible?” The Doctor sighed and looked sad.
“Twilight,” he began. “Your planet may be the only one in this entire galaxy that calls an extended food fight a battle. And yes, the confrontation was far from pleasant. Countless hundreds, if not thousands combined from both sides, died that day and night.”
“Then why is he eager to discuss it?”
“Because the brains of most Humans normally gloss over particularly bad memories so as to preserve the sanity of the individual experiencing it. And it helps that Jacob paid very little up-close-and-personal role in it.”
“Huh?”
“It was not until near the end that he joined the fight directly, but you'll find out more later.”
“So stop interrupting, Twilight!” Rainbow scolded. “You're slowin' them down!”
“I don't much like all the violence and all, but I would still like to know the rest, Twilight...” Rarity added.
“And the longer this takes them ter tell, the more you and the other girls will have 'ta tell me when I need to go home. Not all of us have an entire day's worth of free time, sugarcube.”
“Alright, alright! I'll hold my questions until they're done!” Twilight promised, annoyed, holding up one leg.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
“Yes, your highness?” I asked. “What do you need?”
“One of two things: either for thee to open the door, or for thou to give thine staff to another Human and let them open it.”
“What?” I asked, puzzled.
“What you hath uncovered is an outer hatch that leads into the star faring craft that we used to travel from our home world to this one. We built our town on top of it so as to conceal it from both the over-curious locals as well as hide any energy signatures that it might still be producing. By now its power sources will hath been long-since exhausted, so it will need an outside source to make it function again.”
“But what does my staff, or even me for that matter, have to do with it?”
“All of our more high-energy consumption machinery possessed two separate energy storage units. One stored electrical energy as a backup system, and the other stored and made use of our own magical energies. Both storage units are no doubt empty by this time, but if energy is applied to the door directly then it should still operate.”
“And if time and natural wear and tear have locked it in place and it's inoperable?”
“Then thou shalt need to dig down deeper until thee reach the hanger doors and then thou shalt try those doors as well. Should they not function, however, it shalt not matter if we can get inside of it or not.”
“Why not?”
“Because most of this vessel's firepower come from the two dozen or so fighters that are inside. Our journey to this world was meant to find someplace to live in peace, so we brought not a warship.” I made a face at this new information. If those doors don't open then all this effort digging down to the dang this will have been a waste and we'll still be screwed! I gripped my staff a little tighter in my hands. Well vending machine, here's my coin of hope.
Drawing on my magic, I asked what spell I should cast on the door.
“Nothing.” was the answer I received. I gave Elpis a confused look. How was I supposed to use magic without using magic? As if she had read my mind, Elpis explained. “Just let the magical energy fill thine body, and touch the door. It may require a little time for the energy to seep into the machinery, but the door shalt open for thee.” I did as she said, and waited.
The door, though it looked like metal, certainly did not feel like it. Like metal it was cold to the touch, but I felt an unsettling feeling as my skin remained pressed against it as if it were trying to pull my hand into the structure itself like a dry sponge set down on some spilled water. While the experience did not hurt, it certainly was not a comfortable one.
Several minutes passed and still we waited. Finally, Elpis sighed.
“I suppose it were too much to hope that it would still function. Not even our technology was infallible.” Looking over her shoulder at her daughter and the workers behind her, she raised her voice. “We shalt need to delve a little deeper and-”
With a loud grinding sound, the hatch slid partially open one third of the way, then stopped. Unless someone had brought along a foal, however, it still was not open enough to be entered through mundane means. Fortunately a good portion of those present were hardly mundane and in short order a group of volunteers had been selected to enter. After we had teleported inside the question of why we had not simply done that in the first place occurred to one of the diggers.
“It would have saved us a lot of time and effort!” she grumbled.
“Our ship doth absorb and function on magical energy. Anypony whom would attempt to enter our ship through those means would find themselves stopped just outside of it. With the door being open a little we have a gap that can be passed through.”
“What about now that we're inside it? Will the ship still absorb energy from us?” Celestia, this time, asked. Elpis shook her head.
“Unless thou should attempt to use the various machines that we have on board before the power throughout is restored, no.”
“Alright. Shall we go find it then, mother?” Elpis nodded.
After what felt like a few minutes but in reality was probably at least an hour (and our group splitting up several times at the instruction of queen Elpis) we arrived at yet another unpowered door and proceeded to charge and open it. Fortunately for us, beyond the air we were breathing (which smelled funny) carrying freshly stirred up dust motes nature had not had a chance to work its wearing on these doors and they opened with no problem once it's machinery was recharged. Inside, besides several blank white walls with several of what Elpis told us were viewing screens, was a large glass tank attached to several that led out of the tank and into the floor. Behind it stood what looked like a comfortable chair inside a glass ball. The chair itself had multiple insulated wires attached to it that went down into the floor.
“Hmm. Empty.” Elpis frowned as she stopped before the tank. “The coolant shalt not be easy to replace.”
“Coolant? I thought this machine ran on magic. Wouldn't you just use another spell to cool your tech?”
“Ran?” Elpis cocked her head a little. “No. Fly? Yes, but magic is only used as a fuel for the machinery in this case. Had we done otherwise it would hath placed an additional strain on our energy stores, so we allowed the non-magical technology our alternate-universe selves to compensate for it.”
“Mother,” Celelstia said, giggling a little. “that's what he meant. Our language has changed a bit during the time we've been separated from one another. There are more words than we had before, and some words have different meanings depending on their context.” Celestia (as well as myself) found it a bit amusing that her mother was having the same issue that Luna still did. Luna had gotten much better since my time, but given that Elpis and Mantel had just been picked up from their time and dropped off in ours, her speech was still in the classic era. “Why would be difficult to replace?”
“Because this liquid can only be found in two places that I know of, and both are located in two separate galaxies, neither of which being this one. Once it was common to all the planets of our native solar system, but when the Time War started we quickly consumed all natural sources of it. For a time our people produced a substitute, but I lack the knowledge to allow us the same.”
“So why not just try some of the engine coolants we have on Earth?” I asked. “We've been building machines for the last few hundred years; there's got to be something we can use!”
“Perhaps, but unlikely. Hopefully some of the fighters in the hanger have some we can use. If not, then our efforts here may hath been a waste of time.”
As it turned out, it did not work, but after a phone call to the royal palace and a frantic apology from the woman in charge both The Doctor and his adorable Pegasus assistant were allowed inside, to the outrage of everyone else outside, and their shouting increased in volume as the door swung shut once more behind them.
As they crossed the reception room several of the working staff whispered to one another, each one glancing at their boss escorting the two equines. A few tried to ask her what made them so special when so many others were being kept out, but she did not answer, her face annoyed.
They passed through three small rooms, once of which including a metal detector and a screen for detecting anything being inter-dimensionally smuggled. Both The Doctor and Ditsy were pulled aside and searched, but other than trying to confiscate The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver, which took brief flashing of his Psychic Paper (which the machine failed to detect) to allay, nothing out of the ordinary was found on them. His having two hearts however, drew stares of disbelief from the fat guy watching his security screen followed by a systems check for errors.
Once through the last security room they entered a long hallway. Every wall they'd seen so far was a boring white with a boring white tiled linoleum floor, and other than the occasional motivational poster or informative 'Dos and Don'ts' signs and the rare potted plant, nothing broke the dullness, and The Doctor voiced this.
“You've got entire worlds to draw cultural arts from, and all you've got is the standard office-building look? Really?”
“Art costs money.” Boss-lady explained. “This building is government funded.”
“Ah, I see. Makes perfect sense now.”
“It does?” Ditsy asked.
“Perfect sense, Ditsy. Most human government officials hate spending money on everything except themselves!”
“So then why is there a building here at all?”
“Security.” The Doctor replied, sighing. “Not every human is friendly, just as not every Pony is friendly or has the other race's best intentions in mind. In this time's past, there are several recorded incidents of various crimes committed by both worlds. This security building was built on both sides of the inter-dimensional doorway, with each building having the majority of their workers from the other world so as to best represent their home world's interests in safety and suggestions for interaction to those that wish to visit. This building also has several floors under our feet for educating first-time visitors on the finer parts of Equestrian society. There is another building for teaching Mythica's residents how to interact with some of Earth's cultures on the other side of the Gateway as well, and they also search everyone coming in too.”
“They search those that go through the doorway? But we just-”
“Yes, well,” The woman said in a voice that suggested she'd heard this argument hundreds, if not thousands of times already. “Our equipment isn't perfect, and it's not built for looking for magical devices. OBOMAR's headquarters is on Earth, so their tech for detecting magical objects or enchantments is on that end. Cheaper that way.”
They stopped before a large and heavy metal door and the woman swiped a plastic card that she took from her back pocket and pressed five numbers on a keypad below the card reader. The door made a few grinding sounds that sounded as if they came from inside the door itself, and then it swung outward into the next, and final room. Inside stood both the stone doorway that was the original Inter-dimensional Gateway, and next to it an area that was ringed with blue paint on the floor that surrounded a hole in the air that revealed on the other side a room of similar design.
“Earth awaits you, messengers.”
Earth did indeed await them, and it was eager to learn why Celestia had decreed that all travel between the worlds was suddenly forbidden. Just as there were a crowd of Humans and Ponies and other races on Mythica trying to go across, so too were there a mix of races trying to go to Mythica, and many of them were angry, or afraid. So great was the group of protesters gathered outside the building that had been constructed around the Gateway that Ditsy and The Doctor needed to be escorted out of the building and across the parking lot.
Several news crews tried to get through, jabbing their microphones at both the guards and the two Ponies they escorted, but none of them said a word until they were sheltered within a helicopter that had arrived half an hour later at The Doctor's request. He might not have held as much influence in the history of this Earth, but that did not mean that he'd not saved several groups of individuals or even the planet several times over already and that those that knew he'd saved it weren't grateful.
Ditsy pressed her face against the plastic window of their helicopter and looked down at the weird (in her opinion) vehicles the locals of this world were using to get around.
“Wow! They have carriages that move on their own!” She exclaimed into the mic of her headset. For all the advancements Humanity had made, they still had not managed to successfully completely muffle the racket a helicopter produced as far as the cabin was concerned (nor had they managed to build flying cars that were purely technological). Muffling the noise outside would likely be impossible without magical interference.
“Indeed they do, Ditsy. They also have sea-vehicles that allow them to travel to the bottom of their oceans and others that let them journey to their moon and beyond.” Though they still won't find out Mermen and Mermaids really do exist for another hundred and sixty-three years! He chuckled. That encounter was going to be a doozy!
An hour later their ride landed beside a building that looked far from being anything official. Seeing this, The Doctor tapped the pilot on the shoulder.
“Correct me if I'm wrong, but we seem to be out next to a power station. You're supposed to be taking us to the CGC (Central Government Center) for this part of the world.”
The pilot looked over his shoulder at The Doctor wearing a poker face and then looked out of the window where several fourteen men dressed in stereotypical government-agent uniforms had exited the building and were now surrounding the helicopter. They were not pointing guns at them, but they did not look very friendly either. “Oh, dear...”
“If you'll step outside the helicopter, they'll take you to who you need to see.” The Doctor frowned
“Who I need to see are this world's leaders, not a secret organization. I've already gone through this sort of thing at least five times, and it rarely ends well for anyone! What I need to say is far more important than you can imagine!” The pilot did not respond other than to say that he and Ditsy needed to exit the vehicle again. “Fine.”
With a little creative maneuvering of his hoofs both Ditsy and The Doctor opened their doors and climbed out of the helicopter and stepped down onto the landing pad. Once they were both on the ground the helicopter's blades sped up enough for liftoff once more and it flew away. While Ditsy watched it go The Doctor trotted up to the nearest of the men in black and looked up at one. “Alright, you've brought us here. Now hurry and say what you wanted to say; we've got a lot to arrange to happen, and very little time to do it in!”
“I have nothing to say, Doctor.” The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “Yes, we know who you are. And your blond friend, as well. The one that wants to speak to you is inside that building in her office. If you'll follow me?”
“I take it that's not an actual request?” The man turned away, as did the others, and surrounding the two Ponies, began heading back to the building they'd exited from.
One brief explanation on electrical elevators to Ditsy and two dozen floor down later their group exited the large elevator they'd stepped into out into a large room filled with people, echoing footsteps, and the hum of machinery.
Scattered around the room several people were using magic, but they were few and far between, and those that were using it were all making use of it for moving something far larger than themselves. Also, the majority of them wore single-colored outfits of yellow, blue, red, and black.
“What do the different colors mean?” The Doctor asked, for there seemed to be nothing that really separated one from another. Nothing they carried, their physical condition, nor the pace at which they moved from one location to another seemed to indicate anything special about their arrangement.
“At the moment, because we are in a time of peace, nothing. Should we once more enter a state of combat, however, each color-group will be assigned to perform a specific task.”
“And those would be...?”
“I am not at liberty to say.” The Doctor nodded with an expression of mock-understanding on his face.
“Ah yes, I see. Completely understand! Well then, take us to your leader!”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I blinked at the bright sunlight shining down through the clouds and raised an arm to block it from shining into my face and continued blinking until my eyes had adjusted. When they had I turned around so that I'd be facing the edge of Everfree forest. To my confusion I found that I'd appeared more than forty feet away from it rather than the ten I'd been aiming for. I guess a few trees have been cut down since my time. I shrugged and Blinked to the actual edge, and then pushed a low leafy branch to one side and stepped into the forest.
I'd been told to go to the path that had been cut through the forest from the Gateway, but where'd I'd teleported to was not far from that place, and I would be there in less than five minutes, though with the trees blocking my way I'd likely not know it until I stepped out onto the road that Celestia told me was now there.
The forest had not really changed much from how I remembered it being from my time other than there being less birds singing and the mild ominous feeling that normally settled in seconds after entering the shaded areas was gone. Upon looking at the decomposing leaves on the ground I also discovered that much of it had been recently disturbed, and not in the 'running for their life' disturbed. If they had been running, there would have been a lot more ground kicked around than there was. There's another difference: someone's been willingly walking in these woods! I guess the forest has been tamed. Lifting my head from the eventually-to-be dirt I added my own footprints to the forest floor and with only a brief magical inquiry as to which way I needed to go I set out and continued walking, glancing about occasionally.
Once, I paused briefly, thinking I'd seen a phoenix flying by, but after a second glance I saw that it was only the movement of some flowers on a vine that almost completely covered a tree bobbing in the breeze. After that one distraction, however, another did not come until I reached the paved road and nearly got had one of my feet run over by the right rear wheel of a motorized carriage modeled after a horse-drawn carriage. This same carriage was pulling along a cart behind it piled high with several types of digging tools as well as a few small machines I did not recognize. Wouldn't a pickup truck have been better for that?
“Watch where you're going, you moron!” Yelled an irritated blue Unicorn, who stuck her head out of one of the wooden doors. “Didn't your mother ever tell you to look both ways before crossing the street?!” I opted not to answer and instead stepped off the road once more and followed it in the same direction she was driving. I did not have to walk long before arriving where they had found their destination. And given that a second vehicle had arrived shortly after I did, I took them to be the team that I was assigned to join up with.
Not wanting to waste any more time than I already had I walked closer to them and cleared my throat when they seemed to ignore me. Of course, the first person to say anything was that same Unicorn from before. She narrowed her eyes and trotted up to me and poked one of my legs with her hoof. “So, the would-be roadkill has followed us. What do you want?”
“Is this the retrieval team tasked with retrieving the 'object' from the Everfree Forest?”
“And you are?” asked a man old enough to be my grandfather (if my actual grandparents weren't dead). He did not sound grumpy, but not willing to tolerate foolishness either. If I had no business being present he'd no doubt have made sure I'd left post-haste.
“Jacob Pharaoh Lighthand the Ninth.” I stated in a clear, loud voice so all those whom were not still speaking to one another could hear. “First Human student to Princess Luna, and time traveler.” I extended my empty hand. “And yourself?” I kept my face serious so as to not incur any ire, but other than the old man no one looked like they believed me, and most thought I was mocking the old guy. Several members of the retrieval team opened their mouths, most likely to tell me to get lost, but gramps took my hand and shook it.
“You're a little early, but that's a good thing.” He did not look impressed, but not doubtful in the slightest, which I found a bit refreshing. To him, I was just another man here to work. “So, do you have any idea what we're looking for?” he asked, turning away from me and walking to the tool-laden cart. He spoke to a younger man and an earth Pony about the shovels, and then walked to a large cooler and removed a bottle of water from it.
“Sorry, no. I'd hoped that you all would.” He shrugged while he uncapped his drink.
“I know that we're to be digging something big up. Supposedly an ancient preserved city or something of the like.” The earth Pony and younger man walked between us carrying five two-hand chainsaws. The man carried two in his hands and the Pony three on his back. “Unfortunately, the area where it's supposed to be is overgrown with thick forest, so we'll need to clear that area first. We've also only been able to about ten actual chainsaws on such short notice, though so the rest will be up to you magic-users.” He gestured to a group of six all-adult Unicorns who were carrying saw large round power-saw blades with their magic by their sides. The blades were larger in diameter than the length of their legs and the teeth were small in comparison and close together. “If it were up to me I'd simply set that area of the forest on fire and let it burn down and then just sweep the ashes out once they cooled off, but I was rather firmly instructed not to.”
“So now we do this the safer, yet longer way.” He nodded, then his face became one of nervous anger and he began waving his arms and looking over my shoulder.
“Careful, you idiots! Some of that equipment is worth more than you'll make in the next five years!” Moving surprisingly quickly for one that looked as old as he did he shoved me slightly to one side and walked quickly back to the truck where a pair of Pegasi were haphazardly juggling a piece of equipment a little larger than a full-sized watermelon but not quite as heavy between the two of them and trying frantically not to drop it. In the end they dropped it anyway and I caught it with magic and lowered it to the ground where someone or somepony could get it later. Looking and no doubt feeling sheepish, the Pegasi flew away from the truck and the old man's ranting.
The rest of our day was spent, for the most part comparing the forest's current size with the crude map drawn and sent to us by Celestia's parents of the forest in their time. It was not until the following morning that the group came to a decision on where to start cleaning the forest. I myself gave no opinion as I still was not certain what we were looking for. I had a theory, but it was only that, and given how much time had passed since the Magi-Time Lords had changed themselves into what they were today it was highly unlikely that their first home was still intact. Especially given that the forest had grown over it, meaning the roots could have effectively destroyed or disabled whatever it was the royals hoped to retrieve.
The following week was spent cutting down tree after tree after tree and removing them from the chosen site, and even with everyone available working all at the same time progress was slow in the making. For the sake of saving time I'd asked the people in charge why I could not simply rip the trees up with magic. They'd replied, however, that most of the trees in this area of the forest were very old, and it was very likely that their roots had intertwined with one another over the decades (if not centuries), which would have made trying to rip a few of them up similar to trying to pick up a blanket from its middle; the whole thing goes up, or none of it. In the end I was given the duty of teleporting the trees that were being cut down outside of the forest before they could completely fall. What was to be done with the unneeded lumber when we were finished here, I had no idea.
Once the trees were cleared we began digging down to expose and remove the roots, which proved to be an even more drawn out task, and finally, after another four days of digging, clearing away what we'd dug and yet more digging, we finally hit a flat surface. That surface turned out to be made of stone, and after finding its edges and more digging we discovered that it was a house. A house almost completely filled with soggy dirt. More houses in various states ranging from well-preserved to rubble followed the first until we had a small dirty town in a hole several feet below the modern surface in which the Everfree forest grew upon.
Our finds were documented and sent in a report at the end of every day to the royalty, with little reply other than to 'keep digging down' until even our expedition leader was becoming annoyed. His annoyance vanished when some excitement in the A16 digging square drew onlookers from other areas.
“Oi! What are you all doing over there?” He yelled from the collapsible table that had been set up on the current era's ground level. Several workers near the 'overseer' stopped what they were doing and looked up at him, and then followed the direction his arm pointed until he yelled at them to get back to work. Though I too was curious as to what they'd found, I knew far better than they that our time was short and kept at the task I'd been assigned and teleported the pile of dirt before me into the gorge that Twilight and her friends had needed to cross in order to get to the ancient castle that the royals had once called their home. Once it was disposed of and I had little else to do and joined the small gathering.
What the people in square A16 had uncovered seemed to be a metal door completely without a trust or rust or tarnish (if you ignored the dirt) lying flat with the ground we stood upon. Etched into the door (which we discovered only after cleaning it) were several symbols that none of us recognized, as well as an indentation in the general shape of a hand, though the fingers were too long. A rubbing of it was sent along with the daily statues report at the end of the day. With this find, a sudden eagerness filled the other members and their tasks were taken to with an enthusiasm that lasted the rest of the day.
On the tenth day Elpis arrived in the company of Celestia and (once formalities were out of the way) then were quick to ask where we had uncovered the door. Amplifying her voice, Celestia called me to them, though I had no idea why given that none of us had managed to open it no matter the method we'd tried (that the excavation leader would allow). If the door wasn’t jammed, then we were obviously doing something wro-
% % % % %
“Why are you rushing this part?” Twilight interrupted Jacob. “You've given almost no details such as how humid it was or anyone’s names and appearance or how dry or cold the dirt you were all digging in was, or anything! You're just jumping from event to event to event!”
“It's a trait that many Humans share when they're eager to talk about a particular event, Twilight.” The Doctor explained. “Besides, do you really want to know what kind of dirt or chunks of stone they were digging through?”
“That’s no excuse!” Twilight, ever the detail-obsessed scholar, complained. “Besides, isn’t the Human race’s version of battles usually horrible?” The Doctor sighed and looked sad.
“Twilight,” he began. “Your planet may be the only one in this entire galaxy that calls extended food fights a battle; yes, the confrontation was far from pleasant. Countless hundreds, if not thousands combined from both sides, died that day and night.”
“Then why is he eager to discuss it?”
“Because the brains of most Humans normally gloss over particularly bad memories so as to preserve the sanity of the individual experiencing it. It also helps that Jacob paid very little up-close-and-personal role in it. Nearly all that he knows about it he heard from others.”
“Why is that?”
“It was not until near the end that he joined the fight directly, but you'll find out more later.”
“So stop interrupting, Twilight!” Rainbow scolded. “You're slowin' them down!”
“I don't much like all the violence or the idea of digging a filthy hole in that dreadful forest, but I would still like to know the rest, Twilight.” Rarity added.
“And the longer this takes them ter tell, the more you and the other girls will have 'ta tell me when I need to go home. Not all of us have an entire day's worth of free time, sugarcube.”
“Alright, alright! I'll hold my questions until they're done!” Twilight promised, annoyed, holding up one leg.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
“Yes, your highness?” I asked. “What do you need?”
“One of two things: either for thee to open the door, or for thou to give thine staff to another Human and let them open it.”
“What?” I asked, puzzled.
“What you hath uncovered is an outer hatch that leads into the star faring craft that we used to travel from our home world to this one. We built our town on top of it so as to conceal it from both the over-curious locals as well as hide any energy signatures that it might still be producing. By now its power sources will hath been long-since exhausted, so it will need an outside source to make it function again.”
“But what does my staff, or even me for that matter, have to do with it?”
“All of our more high-energy consumption machinery possessed two separate energy storage units. One stored electrical energy as a backup system, and the other stored and made use of our own magical energies. Both storage units are no doubt empty by this time, but if energy is applied to the door directly then it should still operate.”
“And if time and natural wear and tear have locked it in place and it's inoperable?”
“Then thou shalt need to dig down deeper until thee reach the hanger doors and then thou shalt try those doors as well. Should they not function, however, it shalt not matter if we can get inside of it or not.”
“Why not?”
“Most of this vessel's firepower comes from a dozen single-pilot fighters that are inside. Our journey to this world was meant to find someplace to live in peace, so we did not take a warship. It hath its own defenses, yes, but given that they are most likely filled with the surrounding soil they will like as not fail to function.” I made a face at this new information. If those doors don't open then all this effort digging down to the dang thing will have been a waste and we'll still be screwed!
“But wait a minute,” one of our dig members began. “If more of your firepower is in these ships, then why are we going to remove the coolant fluid from them? Won’t it be better spent inside their ships?”
“And how doth thee propose to remove the ships from a hanger with inoperable doors that is buried beneath the ground?”
“Magic.” The pony digger replied. “Just teleport them to the surface!” Elpis tilted her head to one side, studying the dirty digger with a raised eyebrow.
“In thy mind, citizen, is it better to have a large target to distract thine enemies whilst the smaller ones do the real damage, or to have all the smaller ones targeted and quickly destroyed leaving the lesser-equipped part of your forces almost defenseless?”
“Uhhh….” He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.
“If we can power up this ship first and the Heart is still alive then we can Travel to another place and gather more coolant for the other craft.”
“The Heart?” I asked. “You mean like with The Doctor’s TARDIS?” When I made the mistake of asking how the TARDIS worked on our way from my ‘present’ on my second trip through time (before we internally spun out of control and were tossed all over the room) the time-pony launched into a lecture not unlike a certain purple unicorn I knew that quickly made my head hurt. He stopped with a knowing smirk two minutes later and gave me the highlights and one of them was that the TARDIS was more than just a machine. It had a heart and soul of its own, and if the TARDIS’ Heart were to die then it would cease to function.
“Yes.”
“But mother, was not your home world destroyed?”
“All life was, yes. But the planet itself was left intact, as well as, I hope, the automated repair station inside our third moon. We shall not be likely to discover any weapons within it, but we art not going there for guns.”
“And if the moon was destroyed?”
“Then we shall travel backwards in time until we arrive at a point that it was still intact, and relocate ourselves within it then. If we are to save your worlds, we have little other choice.”
