Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapter 13: Here We Go Again

Outside of the library tree house, the Tardis re-materialized. The door opened up as Twilight stepped out still in a panic. The Doctor followed calmly behind her.

“When are we, Doctor? Do we have time to stop all of this?”
Twilight asked hoping to warn the princess about the coming events and prevent everything that’s happened.

“About a week before we left. Don’t worry Twilight. We have plenty of time. We’ll get this problem nipped in the flank and be home in time for tea.”
Whooves assured her, smiling and placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Just then, Whooves felt a disturbance in time, and turned around to face it.
“I may have spoken too soon.” He said as his smile faded. “But that’s impossible! I have the only Tardis in this solar system.”

“What is it, Doctor?” She looked out in the distance to see if there was something she was missing.

The Doctor’s squinted to gaze in the distance as he waited for what he expected to be another Tardis to appear, when suddenly, the DeLorean appeared only a few feet in front of them, heading on a collision course for the two ponies. The Doctor’s eyes widened in astonishment, reacting with just enough time to push Twilight out of the way before the car hit him. The time traveling vehicle crashed into the Tardis behind him, destroying it on impact, and pinned him to the tree that housed the library.

Pinkamina stabbed the airbags and smiled as she was met with the sight of the Time Lord struggling to pull himself free. The front end of the car was totaled, but she didn’t care. She admired the extent of the injuries she’d caused, even if they were accidental. He was immobilized from the waist down and there were several cuts covering the stallion’s body from the impact. Most likely, anything under what was poking out above the hood was crushed and useless. He writhed in pain, and blood gushed from his mouth.

Discordia, a little shaken from the crash, looked over to Pinkamina and yelled
“Are you trying to get us killed!? Where did you learn how to steer this thing?!”

“Steer? I wasn’t steering! There’s no way my hooves can hold onto the wheel. Why do you think I crashed into the clock shop earlier?” Pinkamina explained, looking at her hooves.
“Now that I think about it, I probably should have asked you to drive. Since you can magic and all. Oh, well, too late now. But look, I got one of them!”
She excitedly pointed out the broken windshield to the dying Doctor.

Twilight ran up to The Doctor. He was in pretty bad shape and blood began to run down the side of his face and over his left eye. Through the pain Whooves turned to Twilight and with the last of his strength he forced out the words,
“Run…you have…to warn the princess. You’re…Equestria’s only hope.”, then fell limp across the hood.

Twilight shed tears for her fallen friend, openly weeping on the hood of the car as Discordia struggled with her seat belt.

“Pinkamina, get me out of this thing!” She commanded, trying to pull herself free. “We can’t let her escape!”

Upon hearing that, Twilight looked up, seeing the difficulty counterpart was having, and realized that this would be her best if not only opportunity to make her get away. The purple unicorn took off at a full gallop, while Pinkamina attempted to cut Discordia free.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, Princess Celestia’s face filled with worry. She stood up and looked out the window facing Ponyville.

The head of royal guards saw this and asked
“Your Majesty, is everything alright?”

“I’m not sure, Captain. But something in the balance of harmony. I can feel it.”

“Do you think Discord has escaped again, Milady?”

“No I don’t think so. The energy feels similar to his, but I also sense something foreign...a powerful source of dark magic and intense madness…Whatever it is, something is definitely wrong.”
Celestia focused at the Captain with a grave look. “Lead a team guards to the sculpture garden and check on Discord. We need to be sure. And have the Captain of the Lunar Guard send for my sister. I want her here by my side in case we must defend the castle.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He bowed and rushed away to carry out his new orders.

Celestia summoned a quill and paper, and began to write.
“To my dearest student, Twilight Sparkle...”

The Twilight of the present timeline was trotting home after spending the morning with Applejack, learning about the different kinds of work that goes into maintaining a farm. She was tired and ready for a nice afternoon in her study. Spike sat on her back as she made the walk back.

“Hey Twilight, you gonna be ok?”
The little dragon peeked over to one side of her head, seeing that she was exhausted.

“I’m fine, Spike. I just need a little rest. It’s been a long-...”
She stopped mid-sentence, catching a second wind from the surprise of what she saw ahead. A short ways away, most of the ponies in Ponyville were huddled near her home looking at something and talking amongst themselves. Twilight ran up to see what the commotion was about, but was stopped by a bluish grey unicorn with a white mane and moustache. He was wearing a police officer’s uniform and seemed to be keeping everypony back.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you through here, Miss.” He said, as he stood in the purple unicorn’s way.

“But I live here.” She protested “Who are you, and what’s going on?”

“I’m Officer Buckington of Ponyville P.D., and it it seems some sort of contraption accidentally crashed into the library, badly injuring a citizen...the clock maker.”

“Mr. Whooves? Is he going to be ok?”

“I’m sorry, but no. I’m afraid he didn’t make it.” He looked to the floor and shook his head.

Twilight also bowed her head for a moment. “Is there anything I can do to help, Officer?”

“For now, we just need everypony to give us some space so we can gather evidence.” The old grey unicorn looked out at the crowd. “The department hasn’t seen an accident like this in decades. Do you have somepony you can stay with till investigation this is over, Miss?…I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.” He took out a pen and a notepad.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and this here is Spike, and don’t worry. I’m sure one of my friends will be willing to let me stay with them until this is all sorted out.”
Twilight’s tone became somber as she took in the information that was given to her. “I didn’t know Mr. Whooves well. Did he have any family?”

“Not many did. He kept to himself mostly. No family that we know of, but testimonies from some of the other ponies say that he had an assistant that lives with him at the clock shop, a Miss Derpy Hooves. Do you know her?”.

“Derpy?! Oh no…” Twilight’s heart sank, trying to imagine how she’d take the news. “Yes, I know her Officer. She’s a pegasus that works part time at the Ponyville Post Office. She’s accident prone and doesn’t have very many friends. This is going to break her heart.”

Officer Buckington shook his head again and sighed. “Look, I’m no good at delivering bad news like this in a subtle manner. Think you could do an old stallion a favor and break it to her delicately for me?”

“I…” Twilight paused unsure of how to handle the situation. “I’ll do my best to comfort her.”

“I really appreciate it, Miss Sparkle. Tell her that if she has any questions, she can contact me at the P.P.D.”

“Ok, Officer. Will do.” Twilight set her dragon companion down. “Spike I need to write a letter to the princess and inform her of what’s happened. When the investigation is finished, just go inside and wait for me to come home. I’ll be back to check up on you as soon as I’m done delivering the bad news to Derpy. Ok?”

“Ok Twilight.” He said with a little worry. “But what if he’s not done when you get back?”

“Then I’m sure Applejack will let us stay with her for a while. I have to go Spike.” As Twilight left, she craned her head around the officer to get a glimpse of the accident. The sight of it made her shudder. It was the worst thing she’d ever seen in her entire life. The blood made her sick to her stomach, almost to the point of vomiting. She looked down at the ground, trying to take her mind off of it. And there she saw it, some sort of pen shaped device with a green light at one end. She picked it up and looked it over.

“Maybe this belonged to Mr. Whooves...I’ll bring it to Derpy so she’ll have something to remember him by. It’s the least I can do” She thought out loud, as she picked up the odd trinket and galloped off to the clock shop.