Chapter 15: 1800 Words of Filler

Chapter 15: I Have Altered the Plan. Pray I Do Not Alter It Further

The captain of the Royal Guard returned, walking back into the throne room with four soldiers behind him forming a V formation. He and his men came up to Princess Celestia, who was now accompanied by her sister, and bowed before them. Celestia was holding a letter she’d just finished and whisped it away with her magic, then looked down at the guards and motioned for them to rise.

The captain began his report.
“You’re majesty, we’ve returned from our investigation at the gardens. I’m pleased to report that as of this moment, Discord is still contained within his stone imprisonment, but we did notice some disturbing oddities in the statue that lead me to believe that his current state may only be temporary.”

“What kind of ‘oddities’ have you found?”

“There seems to be some sort of unidentified black fluid beginning to form around the eyes.”
He then turned and pointed to a pegasus guard behind him.
“And Cloud Stomper here, flew up and noticed a small crack on the forehead with a faint purple light escaping from it. How do you suggest us to proceed, Your Highness?”

Celestia thought for a moment.
“Take us to him. I need to see for myself before I can decide how to handle this situation. Perhaps Luna and I can fortify the seal, until we can send for my student and her friends. ”

The captain nodded and turned around. Celestia and Luna followed behind as his men took a square formation around the princesses. Once the they were secured between their royal escorts, they all departed for the sculpture garden.

Pinkamina walked up to the library. The police were still there, but the crowd had died down a bit. She was a little surprised when she saw the police and cautiously reached for her knife, momentarily forgetting that she’d been forced to leave it behind, before catching sight Spike in the distance of Spike and running over to him.

The little dragon saw her and waved, “Hey Pinkie. Crazy day, huh? I like what you’ve done with your hair. Did Rarity help you with it?”

She looked over at the crime scene smiled nervously, before drawing her attention back to Spike.
“Yeah, thanks. Have you seen Twilight? I have to tell her something. It's kind of super duper important.”

“Twilight went over to the clock shop to give Derpy the bad news. She should be back soon. You’re welcome to wait with me in the library once Officer Buckington says it’s ok to go inside.” He pointed to the mustached unicorn examining the crime scene. "I’d really appreciate the company.”

Pinkamina was about to accept his invitation when it occurred to her...she’d only killed the future version of the Doctor. What will happen if Twilight arrives at the shop and finds him alive and well? This was bad…very bad. It could compromise Discordia’s plan, and the thought of whatever horrifying punishment awaited her, should that happen, made Pinkamina cringe. The pink mare began to panic, placing her hooves on Spikes shoulders, shaking him. “What?! How long ago did she leave?”

“Whoah Pinkie, calm down. She left about 20 minutes ago. The shop’s not all that far away. Just wait here. She should be back soon, and you can tell her whatever you need to say.”

“There’s no time! I have to get to her or there will be big trouble!”

Spike stopped her as she tried to rush away. “Hey wait! If you’re going that way anyways, can you give this to Twilight? Celestia sent a note for her to bring you and the rest of the girls to Canterlot.” Spike reached out and handed the paper to Pinkamina.

“What?! The Princess?!” Pinkamina panicked, wondering if future Twilight had gotten to her before Discordia could intercept. “Oh, um…sure thing, Spike. I’ll make sure Twilight gets it.” She took the Celestia’s letter with no intention to deliver it and ran off.

By the time she’d arrived, the clock shop was empty. Pinkamina walked in and frantically called out for the purple unicorn. “Twilight?! You in here?”
There was no response. She walked up to the Tardis and attempted to open the door, but it was locked. Feeling short on time, she proceeded into the back room. The air still smelled faintly of smoke and the kitchen was a mess. Derpy and Dinky didn’t have time to clean up before leaving.
Pinkamina called out again “Twilight! Spike sent me. I need to talk to you. Come out!” Still no response. It was obvious now that no one was home.

Discordia was waiting just outside of Canterlot, and was growing impatient. She concentrated, casting a spell to speak telepathically with her minion and opened a viewing portal to see her. “Pinkamina, have you found Twilight yet?”

Not expecting the sudden sound of Discordia’s voice, the pink pony jumped in the air. She looked around to be sure that no one was in the room with her, then spoke aloud
“Well…no. She wasn’t at the library when I got there.”

“Then find her!” Discordia voice rumbled inside of Pinkamina’s mind, causing her head to ache and her ears to ring.

“That’s what I was doing! But I’m afraid we have a problem. Spike told me that she was headed to the clock shop to tell Derpy about the Doctor’s demise. I rushed over as fast as I could to stop her, but when I arrived, everypony was already gone. I think she made contact with his past self, and no doubt they’ll wonder about the body.”

“I see. This may complicate things.”

“It gets worse. Spike gave me a letter from the Princess requesting Twilight gather up the girls and meet with her at the castle. I got it before Twilight could see it, but if she runs into Spike, he’ll probably tell her. How do you want me to handle it?”.

“The letter matters not. Meet back with me outside of Canterlot. It was always my intention to have Twilight to come here, but I’ll just have to change the plan a bit. I need you to help me take care of future Twilight before they meet. With her out of the way, you and I should be the only ones with information about the future. We’ll deceive them long enough for me to lure Celestia and the Elements of Harmony into a trap and eliminate all of them at the same time.”

“Alrighty. I’m on my way.” Pinkamina was about to turn around and leave when the thought crossed her mind, “ Wait a minute. This is a kitchen”. She walked over a drawer next to the sink and opened it. Her eyes gleamed as she reached in and pulled out a large knife.
“Jackpot.” She said with excitement, staring at her reflection in the blade, and tucked it away in case she needed it later, before leaving out the front door.

Future Twilight was almost to Canterlot when she caught sight or Discordia in the distance. She saw the portal and though she couldn't quite hear what was being said, Twilight recognized the telepathy spell almost instantly. For a moment she thought perhaps it was her past self, but Twilight didn’t know how to cast telepathy, and then her keen eye for detail quickly noticed the cracked gem on Discordia’s tiara. The cautious unicorn ducked behind a large rock, before Discordia had a chance to see her as well.
“What do I do now?” She said to herself, trying to think of a way to sneak by without being seen. The distance was too far for her to teleport, and there was no back way into the city.
“I have to warn the Princess…but how?”
Twilight peeked around the rock to see if her foe was still there.

At that moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder as a male voice whispered from behind.
“You must be future Twilight Sparkle.”

She jerked with fright and spun around, holding her hooves over her mouth to muffle the scream escaped her lips. Her eye widened in disbelief as she saw the source of her fright. “Doctor!? But you were crushed by that machine. How did you-?” She whispered

“I’m the Doctor from this time, Twilight. Your past self came to my home and filled me in on what’s going on.”

“How could I-? I mean how could she fill you in? I haven’t had a chance to warn anyone yet.”

Whooves pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
“Do you remember seeing my future self with a device like this?”

Twilight nodded her head.

“Well this device records historical event should I need to play them back later for reference. Twilight found my future counterpart’s sonic screwdriver and brought it to give to my assistant. I just happened to hear the commotion when she informed Derpy of my untimely end, and stepped out of the Tardis to see what all the noise was about. I must admit, we were all rather confused at first, but when she presented me with another sonic screwdriver, I knew that something terrible must have happened in the future. I synchronized them both and destroyed the one she gave me to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Then I came to find you. Your past self is back in Ponyville gathering your friends. I’ve instructed that they meet us at the castle.”

Twilight accepted his explanation and started getting him up to date on her plan. “We don’t have time to wait for them. I have to warn Princess Celestia. There are less than three days before all of this happens again, but my evil copy is on the other side of this rock. I can’t get past her without her seeing me, and I’m afraid that if I used an invisibility spell, she’ll be able to feel it. I’m not strong enough to fight her magic alone if I get caught.”

Whooves looked down at his sonic screwdriver as an idea came to him.
“I might be able to help with that, Twilight Sparkle. You say she might be able to sense your magic, but this runs on technology. I can create a temporary invisibility field to hide us long enough to get into the city, but we’ll have to hurry. The camouflage field requires a lot of energy and maintaining one big enough to cover both of us for too long could cause a short.”

“It’s the only chance we have. What do I need to do?”

“Just stay close to me and move swiftly. We only have one shot at this.”

The sonic screw driver formed an energy dome around them. From the inside everything outside seemed to ripple as if separated by a wall of water.
“Alright, let’s move.” Whooves instructed, as they sprinted together for the city gates.