Dr. Whooves- Parallel Complications

The pony universe
Saddle Arabia
900 years before the dalek attack

Sand began to stir as a breeze flew in, stirring the carefully laid grains into the air, whisking them about. The desert stretched on for miles and miles, with no life able to grow in the hot, dry ground.

Evidence of former civilization showed itself, however. Hidden in the desert stood great temples, decorated finely with arches, pillars, and beautifully sculpted statues. One such temple was the temple of Sa Myong, where many years ago, something had fallen from the sky. Ancient pony civilization built a temple to hold it, and a prediction was transcribed onto the walls. “Time turns and turns; past and future do not matter. Events once done and what shall be done are all commencing now. Time is out of balance as world hits world. The Gods cannot determine the destiny of all. The key will either lock the door, and all shall become what once was, or the loss of balance will cause the end of all things.”

After a brave researcher translated the prophecy within, he was never seen from again. His work was found at the entrance to the temple, with furious scribbles about hiding from some sort of creatures, and a warning to not enter. He called these creatures the children of the void. His papers were put in a safe place, later to be found by Starswirl the Bearded. Anypony that tried to expand on the researcher’s findings never came out of the temple.

Starswirl visited the Sa Myong temple once, and stood on the outskirts in order to sense how much magic power was within. When he finished sensing the temple, his fear overruled his curiosity, and he never explored, feeling more magical potential than he felt from the royal sisters combined.

But now, after researchers had given up on returning to the temple, heeding the warnings of the one researcher to write down findings before disappearing, and Starswirl the Bearded, a sound known across time began to echo across the ever shifting desert. A tall, blue box faded into view in front of the temple, and the doors of the TARDIS swung open. “Alright, temple,” the Doctor said as he stepped out onto the sand. “Let’s see what’s got everyone so curious…”

***

Paige raised a hoof in front of her eyes as she stepped off the TARDIS to guard herself from the sand blowing in the mild wind. “This is the temple the book spoke about?” She asked.

Minuette checked a page in the book she had found during their last encounter. “Yes, the Sa Myong temple. This is it.” She closed the book, set it on the floor of the TARDIS, and stepped out into the sunlight.

“I got the time right, we’re here about a year after researchers gave up. Just think, somewhere far away from here, Starswirl the Bearded is alive right now,” the Doctor said.

“I bet he’d love to see that some still read his book,” Minuette replied with a chuckle.

Jack stepped out of the TARDIS last, and closed the doors behind him. “I like all the architecture. Fancy stuff for an ancient civilization.”

“I never understood how they did all this, these statues are gorgeous,” Paige said. On either side of the temple entrance, half a dozen pony statues stood at even intervals along the path to the doors.

“It’s the same way on my version of earth. Ancient people managed to do some pretty impressive things,” Jack said, admiring the statues as well.

“I’m sure the interior is even more beautiful,” the Doctor said. “Just be alert. One of the most powerful unicorns in the history of this world didn’t want to go in here. I on the other hand, say why not.”

The Doctor walked forward, and the other three followed, leaving the TARDIS behind and moving into the darkness.

The first chamber was a large, square room, illuminated by the sunlight shining in from the arched entrance. Several pillars stretched from the floor to the high ceiling, and writing covered the walls.

“Doctor, I thought the TARDIS translated everything?” Paige said, looking at the markings.

“It takes longer with written word, especially old characters like these,” the Doctor replied. “But once we’ve been in here a little while it should start translating to where we can read what’s in here.”

The travelers looked around, seeing several possible paths from this room to move on. “I can tell you one thing,” Minuette said. “There’s a drawing here in Starswirl’s book. According to the researcher’s papers, that doorway is the one we want.”

The Doctor walked over to Minuette, examining the page. “These drawings will be very helpful. Any drawings of the children of the void, perhaps?”

“No, there’s none in here.”

“Alright then. That remains a mystery. Everything seems calm so far, however.”

Following what the book showed, the four travelers moved from the large room to a smaller hallway. The hallway was dark, but Minuette was capable of levitating the book while also casting a light spell, her horn acting as a flashlight

“So I have a question,” Jack said as they began to walk down the temple hallway. “How do we trust the findings of this wizard about the key to the void and all that when he never even set foot in this temple?”

“This isn’t the only temple with allusions to some sort of key,” Minuette replied, having read the book several times over during their rest period after the dalek fight. “There are many temples that were all part of this ancient civilization. All of them were brimming with life before the royal sisters were even known by recorded history to exist. All the temples have references about some great prophecy, and a great key. And all the signs point to this temple as the heart of those writings.”

“When something falls from space onto a barely developed society, there’s going to be quite a lot of talk about it. To them it was sent by some sort of god,” the Doctor said.

“Good enough answer for me,” Jack replied. “But still, what in the world do you think guards this?”

“Something of Chaos’s creation, which means something not good,” the Doctor replied. “That’s why we need to keep our eyes peeled, watch out for any sort of traps-“

As the Doctor spoke, the group suddenly felt themselves fall through the floor. Their screams echoed through the temple, and they hit the ground below with a thud.

Minuette scambled to her hooves, shrouded in darkness after losing concentration on her magic. She lit up her horn again, looking up to see he floor that had opened close. They were in another hallway, one even darker than the last. “Is everyone alright?”

“I’ve had better days…” Jack groaned, trying to stretch his back as he brushed dirt off of him.

“I don’t understand,” Paige said, coughing for a moment. “Nopony stepped on anything strange. There was no trip wire. What caused the floor to open?”

“We’re being toyed with.”

The other three turned to the Doctor, who slowly rose to his hooves. “Do you feel watched? If not, you should. No one activated anything because it wasn’t us. Whatever’s in here knows we’re here. And they’re eying us carefully.”

Paige looked around, searching for any sign of something watching them. “I don’t like this.”

“I don’t either, but we need to keep going,” the Doctor replied. “Where did we land?”

“I think we’re just lower down in the temple, which is where we wanted to go anyways,” Minuette said.

“Look, the text is starting to translate,” Jack said, noticing more text on the walls. Slowly, the appearance of the walls around them changed. The ancient text changed to the eyes of all the travelers, making it readable.

“It looks like it’s talking about the key,” Minuette said. “I bet if we follow the direction of the text, it will take us where we need to go.”

“Good thinking,” Jack said. “Even if not, we’ll have a good read.”

The group followed the text on the wall, walking through the pitch black halls of the temple, the only illumination coming from Minuette’s horn. With every step they took, the path behind them fell back in to darkness, and filled up with watching eyes.

No sound could be heard but the hoofsteps of the four traveler’s and Paige’s voice, reading the text as they continued on. Spiders scurried away from their steps, hiding away in their homes.

All the preceding text was unknown, but Paige read from where they had landed. “’…and this temple was created, to protect the sacred key until the chosen one arrives. But our claim to protection shall end soon, for the children of the void are coming to steal this temple from us.’”

The Doctor spun around, causing the other three to stop in shock.

“What is it?” Minuette asked.

“I feel as if…” the Doctor’s breath was quick, and he had to slowly let himself calm down again. “I just don’t like this. Every time we’ve tried to stop on of Chaos’s plans, it has instantly involved danger. Time out of sort, insane ponies, daleks. This is too easy. And even though it was a bit painful, the drop down here benefited us.”

“Should we turn back?”

“I don’t like the sound of that either,” the Doctor said, trying to make his eyes break through the darkness of the path they had left behind.

“Then let’s keep going,” Minuette said. “We’ll find this key, and get out. If complications come up, we can handle them.”

“I just… I don’t know… I feel like I should have seen something…”

“Whatever’s in here hasn’t tried anything but that fall yet,” Jack said. “They haven’t tried to do much to us, which means they’ve got a weakness we can exploit. If a floor trap that helps us is their idea of toying with us, I’m not that scared.”

The Doctor sighed. “You’re all right. Let’s get this key and run. For once my curiosity doesn’t have me wanting to explore this temple more than we have to.”

Paige, Minuette and Jack began walking again, and Paige resumed reading. When the Doctor turned and followed, those that watched continued as well.

“’The children of the void are servants to the darkness. We do not understand the magic that they possess, but our gods cannot protect us from it. The prophecy shows the fall of our people, and we must be accepting.’”

“Wow, they just took what the prophecy said and rolled with it?” Jack said. “That’s some dedication.”

“’We fear that the children of the void will aid in bringing about the end of all things, but the winds of fate cannot tell us. And even if the chosen one claims the key, the end may still be upon creation.’”

“I think I see something up ahead. This hallway is about to bring us somewhere.”

The hall slowly began to narrow as everyone neared the end. As they continued they had to shift in to single file, squeezing through.

“’Those of us that are left leave our markings behind, to tell our tale before it is too late. The children of the void get closer and closer, and we fear that some of them may already be hidden among us.’”

“Woah.”

Jack was leading the way, and was the first to step out of the narrow hall into somewhere much bigger. No one could see walls next to them any longer. They had entered a room of unknown size.

“Where are we?” Paige asked.

“Hold on…” Minuette concentrated, her horn glowing brighter. With one last push, the light that had been attached to her horn broke off, and flew upwards. Finding the center of the room, the magical light halted, and increased in intensity.

While the room was still very dimly lit, the entirety of the room came in to view. The room was square, with dozens of long diminished torches lining the walls. There were three other entrances to the room, one on each wall, and all had a carved path leading to the center of the room. There, a small, bronze sphere floated on a white pedestal.

“There’s more writing, but the translation hasn’t caught up to where we are,” Paige said.

“Give it a bit…” the Doctor replied, slowly approaching the pedestal. Minuette followed, finding herself staring at the sphere. “Why do I feel… it’s like…”

“There’s nothing there,” Jack finished. “I have the same feeling.”

“This…” the Doctor reached the pedestal, leaning in to look more closely at the sphere. “This is time lord technology.”

“But why do I feel so… weird…”

“Don’t look at it too long,” the Doctor said, turning his own eyes away. “It’s an early stage void drive. The void technology is what’s making you feel weird.”

“A what?” Paige caught something out of the corner of her eye, and noticed the small amount of text on the walls of this room were beginning to translate. There was even some text on the floor she had not noticed. “There we go, I can read more, this room is slowly coming to,” Paige announced.

“Before all the time lords were gone, travel between universes was easy, there was no danger to it. That technology was lost with Gallifrey, however. Before we were capable of doing that, we had the technology to travel into the void and exit somewhere else, but at the cost of tearing the fabric of the universes, which we discovered couldn’t be done without major consequences. This is a void drive from before travel between the universes was flawless, traveling isn’t seamless but it grants you the ability to keep your ship in the void for extended periods of time. However, since Chaos currently has the fabric of the universes tearing apart anyways, I could install this in the TARDIS. We could travel into the void, back to my universe, anywhere.”

“I recognize the technology too, and it explains the prophecy a bit,” Minuette said. “Clearly the creator was gone before any true pony civilization began, because she is not mentioned in any written text. So clearly it was not her who told them of this prophecy. During my time here I’ve studied a lot about magic, even though I’ve never been able to become extremely skilled at it myself. There were once unicorns who claimed they could receive visions from the gods using their magical power. I think these visions were actually glimpses of other universes. With the tears in reality a window opened for extremely capable unicorns, and with their magic that is long gone like Starswirl explained, were able to actually receive these visions.”

“So they weren’t just making stuff up for money,” Jack said.

“Not at all,” Minuette continued. “This piece of technology came from Gallifrey, which can explain why the Doctor seems to be the chosen one of this prophecy. The unicorns glimpsed into our universe, and saw him. I’m still not sure on this whole winds of fate thing, but I would guess that the defeat of or loss to Chaos hadn’t happened yet in the Doctor’s time stream when they got their visions.”

“The winds of fate were mentioned when the creator spoke as well,” the Doctor said. “I think it’s just a different way of talking about the inability to determine the outcome of any event. Time is always fluctuating, always changing, you can’t take a picture of the entire universe and then write out the rest of time from that picture. Whether or not there are actually ‘winds of fate’, I don’t know. But what I also don’t know is the purpose of this. This can get us into the void, but how do we seal all the tears in reality?”

“Hold on, listen to this Doctor,” Paige said, reading some of the text in the room. “’We did what we could, but our era of protecting the key is almost over. If the chosen one arrives, take the key. Defeating he who began the end of all things will heal all the wounds he created.’”

“So this is the mechanism… but I’m somehow going to defeat Chaos… how do I…” the Doctor sat down in thought.

“Wait, they made us fall?”

“What was that, Paige?”

“’We only hope that our efforts to protect the chosen one help. The children of the void are here, and watching. If this key is searched for, there are traps in place to change direction of travelers, in hopes of allowing enough time to retrieve the key before they follow you.’”

The Doctor stood up again, looking across the room to where Paige was reading. “So that wasn’t a fall to hurt us; that was magic set up to try and get us here more quickly. But why?”

“For if they find you, you will not be able to run. The children of the void can be held back, but eventually, as we must do when our writing is done, you will have to turn your back.”

“Oh no. Oh, no, no, no, I’m so stupid.” The Doctor’s eyes widened in fear, and he began frantically looking around the room.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

Minuette began to understand, and her eyes widened. “No… it can’t be…”

“I should have known when we walked in here, this is a trap the ponies couldn’t help us avoid,” the Doctor said. “I put us all in grave danger…”

“We knew the children of the void would be here, what’s changed?” Paige asked. Out of nervousness she joined the other three at the pedestal, staying close.

“Chaos may have created the children of the void, but they’re beings I’ve seen before,” the Doctor said. “A nightmare that has followed me across the universe my entire life… and I guess I never did know where they came from.”

“So Chaos…” Minuette was scared to even say it. “The void is the origin of…”

“Those weren’t statues at the entrance,” the Doctor said. “Chaos created the weeping angels.”

The light Minuettte had cast flickered, and suddenly the entire outer perimeter of the room was filled with what looked like statues of pegasi, standing on their hind legs, their front hooves covering their face and their wings stretched out.

“Doctor, what do we do?!” Paige shouted. The Doctor had told him so much about his universe she couldn’t remember it all. She had heard of weeping angels, but didn’t know how to fight them. She looked around, terrified by the sheer number that had appeared.

“Everyone, stand on different sides of the pedestal!” the Doctor shouted. “Don’t blink, keep looking at them!”

“Doctor, they’re interfering… with my magic…” Minuette’s head drooped, and the light ball in the center of the room flickered again. The angels were now closer, and their hooves no longer covered their face. They were stretched out, reaching for the travelers, their fangs baring.

“Stay focused, Minuette! We have to be able to see them!”

“There’re too many,” Jack said, backing up against his side of the pedestal. “We’re surrounded, no way out.”

Minuette fought to continue channeling magic to the light, but the angels had some magic of their own, and were fighting just as hard. The light fluctuated again, and the angels closed in, only several feet away.

“Doctor, they’re almost on me!” Paige cried, tears falling from her face as fear filled every portion of her body.

“I’m sorry Paige, but you can’t fly away,” the Doctor said. “If you fly, you have to look away, and then they’ll have you anyways. Just keep looking, don’t blink!”

“Doctor!” Minuette yelled, her voice filled with pain. “I can’t hold… the light…”

“You have to! Fight their magic with your own, you can do this!”

“They’re… too… strong…” Minuette screamed as her channeling to the light stopped for a full moment. It was long enough that before she could start channeling energy again, the light went out.

The angels fell upon them.

***

30 years in the past

The Doctor sat in silence, a bouquet of roses laying on the grass in front of him. His head was bowed, eyes closed as he fought back tears. Jack had walked away, and Minuette slowly approached the Doctor, laying a hoof on his shoulder.

“It’s my fault…” the Doctor whispered, wiping his eye with a hoof.

“You say that a lot, but it’s not your fault, Doctor,” Minuette said. “It’s going to be ok. We can still defeat Chaos.”

“This wasn’t deserved… torture me, do what you want with me, I’ve done plenty. But this…”

“We have to move on, Doctor,” Minuette said. “It’s what she’d want. We’ve lived through seven decades since the angels got us. We only have three more decades before we catch up to the time we were at. We won’t fail a second time.”

Minuette left the Doctor alone, turning away. After a few seconds more, the Doctor stood, wiping his eyes again and keeping his head bowed. With one last look, he turned away from the grave he had been in front of, the writing engraved on it too painful to look at again.

Paige Turner
Age 93
Lost but not forgotten