Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapter 14: Wait…Who Died?

Twilight took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the shop.

Almost instantly, Derpy opened the door and excitedly greeted her guest. “Oh hi, Twilight! What are you doing here? Oh! You have to come in! Me and Dinky are making muffins. You have to try some!” The pegasus pulled the reluctant Twilight inside as Dinky stepped out from the back room. There was smoke billowing out from the door and the smoke detector could be heard blaring its alarm.

The little unicorn filly was wearing an apron and covered in flour and muffin mix. “Hi Twilight! Did you come over to share muffins with mama and me?” She asked with a smile and tilt of her head.

“Um…I’m sorry but no. I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Twilight said as she tried to figure about how to tell them gently.

Derpy’s smile turned to worry.
“What’s wrong? Are you allergic to muffins?”

“No Derpy. It’s about Mr. Whooves.”

“Doctor Whooves.” Derpy corrected her.

“Really? Doctor? Then why does he sell clocks?” She asked, momentarily forgetting why she was there. "You know what? It doesn’t matter. You see, I’m here to tell you that...well, the Doctor was in pretty bad accident, and he...he didn’t make it. I’m sorry, Derpy.”

Derpy’s eyes crossed and filled up with tears as her lip began to quiver. “But…I just saw him this morning.” The wall eyed mare began to cry openly. Dinky, almost in tears herself, walked over and embraced her mother, attempting to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry, Derpy. Will you be alright?” Twilight extended a sympathetic hoof, attempting to console her friend as Derpy's crying got progressively louder. She embraced Twilight as she wailed in sorrow.

Just then, the door to the blue booth in the corner of the room opened up. A bit of fog escaped from it as a brown male pony wearing a collar, a tie, and a red fez stepped out.

“What’s the bloody hell is going on out here!?” He looked around at all the smoke. “Derpy! What did I tell you about leaving the oven unattended?”

Twilight stared in amazement and confusion.

Derpy turned to look, and as she caught a glimpse of him, her eyes sparkled and she beamed with joy. “Doctor! You’re ok!” She flew as fast as she could to him, knocking him over as she gave him a big hug.
Dinky followed, running over and nuzzling up against him.

He laughed playfully as he sat up, adjusted his hat, and reached out to dry her eyes. “I’m glad to see you two as well, but why the tears? Is everything ok?”

Twilight stepped forward. “But I saw you at the library! You’re dead!”

“What? Dead? Well obviously there must be some mistake, as you can plainly see. Now there’s a pegasus in Cloudsdale that looks very similar me. Are you sure it wasn’t him?”

“I was almost positive it was you, and so were the police. I saw the body myself. The body was badly mangled, but there were no wings that I could see. Do you have a twin brother or something? ”

The Doctor’s relaxed demeanor instantly changed. “Then something grave must have happened to the time line. I wouldn’t travel to a time and place where I might risk running into myself. Twilight Sparkle, what happened to me?”

“What? Time travel? But only unicorns can perform time travel spells, and even then it would take years of study to be able to sustain more than a few moments in the past. I-I don’t know exactly what happened. You...uh, I mean the other you was hit by some kind of machine. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was pretty bad. It looked like half of him was crushed. Are you telling me you can time travel?”

“I don’t have time to explain it all, but in short, yes, I am part of an alien race with the ability to travel through space and time. You must have come across a later version of myself, and he or perhaps I should say 'I', must have been desperate to risk this kind of damage to the timeline. I need you to take me to my body to retrieve my sonic screwdriver. It should have the information I need”

“Wait, do you mean this thing?” Twilight pulled out the device she’d picked up.

“Yes! Where did you get that?!”

“It was on the ground near the accident. I figured it was yours and picked it up as a memento for Derpy.”

“I see. Well it’s a good thing I came out when I did. With something like this, my dear assistant might inadvertently destroy the entire bloody town.” He took the device and aligned the jeweled end with his own sonic screwdriver, causing it to fire a ray of light. The beams locked and destroyed the device Twilight brought to him.

Whooves looked into green light at the end of the device as the information was transferred to his mind. His expression immediately changed to one of horror. “By Celestia! This is very bad, indeed. We have to go. Now!” He immediately began to run out the door.

“Wait. What’s going on?” Twilight stopped him, tugging his tail with her mouth.

Whooves struggled, pulling away from her. “No time! I’m sure your future self is already headed to warn the Princess. I’ll meet her there. I need you to gather your friends and meet us at the castle. I’ll reveal everything once you arrive.” The Doctor calmed himself for a moment and looked over to his assistant. “Derpy, take Dinky and get her somewhere safe. You both are in grave danger. Get as far away from Ponyville as possible. Do you understand?”

Derpy nodded her head and kneeled down so her daughter could climb on her back. She walked over to the Doctor and gave him a hug.
“Be careful, Doctor. I’ll have muffins waiting for you when you get back.”

“Don’t worry about me. Everything will be fine.” He lied to comfort her. “Now we have to go.”

With the urgency in his tone, Twilight knew her questions would have to wait. They all had things to do. The group spit and went their separate ways.

“So what’s the plan, boss pony?” Pinkamina asked Discordia.
“There’s no way we’ll make it there before Twilight.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Pinkamina...but we’ll have to handle this delicately. Go back to the tree house-”

“-and kill Twilight?” Pinkamina interrupted excitedly.

“No, and warn Twilight that there are two Twilights from the future. Let her know that one of them is evil and tell her to follow you to the castle.”

“How’s that gonna help us?”

“I’ll take care our Twilight and I’ll get her former self to help me and then I’ll kill her as well. All we need is a slight change of approach” Discordia’s horn, wings, and eyes lit up. She focused as her wings faded away and her eyes changed to match those of her counterpart. The black crown upon her head appeared to change back to its original form except for one small difference, the crack in the star shaped gem at the center.

“Oh, I get it!” Pinkamina looked down at her jacket and vest proceeded to discard her cloths. “Guess I don’t need this anymore.”

“Now get moving! I’ll teleport to Canterlot and wait for you outside the castle. That way I can stop our friend from warning the princess before I have a chance to strike.”

“Okie Dokie. I’ll meet you at the castle” Pinkamina said with a salute, and began hopping away.

“Pinkamina, wait! One more thing.”

The pink pony stopped and turned around. “Huh?”

“Leave the knife. I don’t need you causing any trouble until we’re ready to finish off the Elements of Harmony.”

Pinkamina frowned. She pulled out her blade and placed it on the floor. “Awe, you’re no fun.” The pink pony whined, and trotted off much less than enthusiastically.

The evil unicorn watched as Pinkamina walked off for a few yards, making sure she didn’t return for the weapon. Then Discordia faced Canterlot. Her horn glowed and in a flash of purple light, she was gone.