Doctor Whooves - The Series: Episode Three - Along Came a Spider

Chapters

Prologue: Mixed Signals
Ch. 1: Desperation and Hesitation
Ch. 2: A Dry Reception
Ch. 3: All Roads Lead to Thunder Drum
Ch. 4: Cause and Effect
Ch. 5: Trouble Brewing
Ch. 6: Breaking Expectations
Ch. 7: The Heart of Thunder Drum
Ch. 8: Whom the Gods Fear
Epilogue: All Worth It?
—Coming Soon—

Prologue: Mixed Signals

Stirrup Street
Ponyville, Everfree Province of Equestria
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R. (Celestia’s Reign), 1:45 p.m.

“Oh, Doctor Clockwork! Thank you so much!”

“Um…” The brown stallion drew back slightly, unsure of what to say. “Really, it was nothing… Mrs. Cake, was it?”

“Oh, please, call me Cup.” The somewhat pudgy blue mare nodded pleasantly, one hoof to her chest as she spoke animatedly with the stallion. “I mean, really, thank you! Carrot and I have been fretting over that broken oven ever since we put the new nursery to use. Then, Pinkie brings you in and, wouldn’t you just know it? It’s not only fixed up, but it’s preheating faster and running more smoothly than even those expensive new deluxe baking ovens like in the catalogs!”

The Doctor shifted uncomfortably on his hooves, but the mare continued talking. He was feeling cornered as he looked over towards the door where Spike had disappeared through only a few moments earlier. “It was no trouble, Mrs. Cake--”

“Cup, dear,”

“Cup... But I really…” The Doctor took a slight step back. “...should be…”

“Oh, Doctor!”

The Time Lord pony stopped and cringed in place as a new voice came up behind him, this one belonging to another older mare. Brown-coated with a white mane done up in a conservative bun, her cutie mark displaying an open newspaper, she trotted up excitedly along his flank.

“The modifications you made to my printing press are absolutely amazing! At this rate, we may be able to publish the Ponyville Express on a daily basis and still have time for our jobs at the bookstore! It's like a dream come true!”

“Oh! Well, then, you’re welcome, Mrs. Ream.”

“Please, Doctor, call me Page.”

“Page… It was nothing, really. Twilight said that you might need a hand-- hoof! Might need a hoof with--”

“You’re quite the Mr. Fix-it, aren't you, Doctor?” Cup Cake interjected, moving to box the stallion in as she maneuvered to his opposite flank. “Have you considered opening up a repair shop? I know a few ponies who would be happy to invest in--”

“Ohhh, a new business in Ponyville? I would be happy to run advertisements in the paper for you, Clock. May I call you Clock? Absolutely no charge, of course, given your help.”

“Just… Doctor would be more… Ahem, ladies?” The Doctor was feeling more and more out of his element as he felt the two mares literally pressing in on him, flank to flank to flank as they continued to talk excitedly.

“Oh! And a grand opening! We could provide a full spread. Pinkie could supply the banners and Carrot and I could set up a stand.”

“I personally think Mayor Mare would love the idea. You’re so handy, and all.”

“Personal… bubble…” The Doctor cringed with a small, terrified voice. “...has been breached…”

“Uh, Doc?” the prepubescent voice of a small purple reptile jumped in out of nowhere, seeming to the distressed stallion like a life preserver. “They don’t have any of this ‘dar-jeeeliee’ stuff you wanted, and nopony I’ve talked to has ever heard of a pony named Earl Grey. Which province is he supposed to live in?”

“Spike! Oh, so sorry ladies, duty calls! I have quite a busy day ahead of me. Ta-ta! Thank you! You’re welcome! Goodbye!”

The Doctor bolted forward, causing the two mares to fall into one another as the stallion between them all but vanished in a burst of velocity, scooping up the purple and green baby dragon before breaking away at top speed.

For a moment, Cup Cake and Page Ream looked at one another, quite confused as to why the colt had rushed off in such a panic.

————————

“So they just wanted to thank you for helping out?” Spike asked, leaning on the Doctor’s back as the brown stallion fell into a slower pace now that the two mares were out of sight. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing wrong with that, specifically, it just… feels strange. I mean, those repairs were minor; nothing truly extraordinary. I did those things at Twilight and Pinkie’s request, just as I assisted Rarity with her sewing machine. Just my way of making up for their expenses on my behalf. I didn’t do it for praise or recognition, and certainly not to get the attention of the local mares.”

“You do realize that Mrs. Cake and Mrs. Ream are both married, right?”

The Doctor shivered slightly. “Even more reason not to draw attention to myself. From what I’ve seen of gender dynamics around here, there are at least five mares for every stallion, and that makes me a prime target.” The Doctor shook his head, looking from side to side as he took note of the occasional glance he got. “I never have understood that, to be honest. What is it about me that draws them in? Animal magnetism? The allure of danger? The mystery?”

Spike climbed forward on the Doctor’s shoulders, placing a set of claws on the Time Pony’s head before tugging on his ear slightly. “Turn here… And don'tcha think you're being a little dramatic, Doc?” The dragon smirked, his tone filled with sarcasm.

“Did you see how close they were getting!? They were practically on top of me!”

“They were just being friendly,” Spike explained. “It’s not like it’s Hearts and Hooves Day, or anything. You’re new in town, and they’re trying to make you feel welcome and appreciated. I mean, you probably seem like even more of a shut-in than Twilight, and that’s saying something.”

“I’ve only been here, what, a month?” The Doctor shook his head in frustration again. “I still don’t understand why Twilight insists I come out with you on these errands.”

“Well, ponies need to get used to seeing you around town. They need to have some idea of who you’re supposed to be. Otherwise, any time you do come out, they’ll be all like, 'Hey, it's that weird pony again. What's he doing?' How else are you gonna get accepted into the community?”

“Accepted into…” The Doctor snorted spitefully. “Spike, I’m a Time Lord.”

“Yes, I know you’re a Time Lord.” Spike rolled his eyes, his tone slightly sarcastic as he leaned over on the Doctor’s neck.

“You don't understand just what that means.... I'm not a pony. I walk in eternity. I’m a traveler.”

“Really?” Spike’s sarcasm was unabated. “I had no idea.”

“I’m like an awkward piece of a puzzle…”

“You can say that again.”

“I can’t just be pushed down and made to fit…” The Doctor paused, his expression turning sour. “…And you’re mocking me, aren't you?”

“You know, for somepony that’s so smart, you're a little slow on the uptake, sometimes.”

“Oh, never mind…” The brown stallion's tail twitched with annoyance. “Let’s just get this over with and get back to the library. What’s our next stop?”

“Said Grumpy the Time Lord pony.”

“I’m over a thousand years old. I’m allowed to be grumpy.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s see...” Spike produced the checklist that Twilight had given him. “That’s a no-go on the freaky tea stuff that you wanted at the Juice Bar, soooo… The Pony Express Station. We need sealing wax and stamps.”

Spike paused as he looked up from his checklist, a sudden feeling of being watched overcoming him as he looked back down the road where they came. Just in time to note a blur of orange, yellow, and white dart behind a bush.

“Uh, Doc?”

“I know… it’s alright. Let them.” The Doctor smiled slightly.

————————

“The Cutie Mark Crusader Investigators…” Scootaloo pulled one branch down from the inside of the bush, getting a clear look at the brown stallion. “The Masters of Stealth.”

“Or Cutie Mark Crusader Stalkers…” Apple Bloom interrupted, the farm filly shaking her head with a less than thrilled tone as she looked to her pegasus friend. “You, too, now?”

“Well, duh, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo let go of the branch, obscuring their vision again. “You gotta admit, this whole thing is weird.”

“Yeah. A colt hangin’ out with Spike and goin’ to stores. Soooo weird.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, her flat tone showing a lack of her usual enthusiasm. “We’re missin' one a' Pinkie Pie’s Free Cupcake Afternoons at Sugarcube Corner fer this?”

Sweetie Belle stuck her head out of the bush, signaling the all clear as the brown stallion put some distance between them, and the three fillies piled out of the bush. “You can’t argue with the facts, Apple Bloom, and all the facts say that there’s something fishy going on with this guy.”

“He fixed a clock, then covered up that you broke it, and he’s stayin’ at the library with Twilight,” the yellow filly stated frankly. “Yeah, Snips and Snails mark way higher on the weirdometer than that.”

“You saw him at the Spring Bloom Festival," said Scootaloo. "I mean, he sounds like he’s from Trottingham, says he’s from Hoofany, and it took how many tries for him to get his own name right? And that's on top of all that other stuff that happened that day.”

“It’s not just that,” Sweetie added, the three fillies attempting to remain stealthy as they moved along the side of the road. “You didn’t hear the way my sister talked to him. Rarity doesn’t talk to anypony like that. It was like she was in awe.”

“Maybe she just has a crush on him… or maybe he’s rich.”

“Not awwwww.” Sweetie’s eyes got wide and watery for a moment as she accented the sound with her expression. “I mean like… ahhhhhh.” Her expression changed again to one of breathless shock, a slight twinkle obvious in her eyes.

“And it’s not just her,” Scootaloo informed their still unconvinced friend. “I heard Rainbow talking to Pinkie the other day. It was Doctor this and Doctor that, just going on and on…”

“Well, what was she saying about him?”

“I dunno...” The pegasus filly looked away shamefully. “Mr. Cake caught me snooping near the private booth and gave me a talking to about eavesdropping.”

“What are ‘eaves,’ and why were you dropping them? You should have been listening.” Sweetie tilted her head curiously.

“We’re missin’ out on free cupcakes!” Apple Bloom reiterated, giving herself a facehoof as she listened to her two friends rambling. “Free. Cupcakes.”

“Aw, come on, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie pleaded. “Let’s just see where he’s heading.”

“Yeah. After that, we can cut over to Sugarcube Corner for a quick bite. Will that make you happy?”

“Bet they’re already out of the applecake...”

“Bloom, seriously, don’t you ever get tired of apples?”

“Tired of apples!?” Apple Bloom looked aghast before her eyes narrowed in a determined manner. “Never!”

“Uhhh, girls… where did he go?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking about as her friend’s attention returned to the road.

It was just then that the Cutie Mark Crusaders realized their quarry had slipped out from under their little noses.

————————
Pony Express Station
Ponyville
A short time later

The post office of Ponyville was one of the oldest non-residential structures in the town, a two-story building with a thatched roof that had been hastily constructed by earth ponies when the town’s first pegasus-owned business, the Pony Express, had opened up a local branch to deliver mail and distribute packages from all over Equestria to the growing township.

Easily recognizable by the parked set of sky-carriages designed for fast air transport of goods for those that could afford the service, the building was a constant hub of activity in the town as Pony Express ponies were constantly bringing in and taking out packages and mail for everypony.

But there was one mailmare in particular whose job it was to distribute letters to all the local residences and, on occasion, had the unenviable task of speaking with ponies whose service had been less than satisfactory. Such was the situation that Ditzy Doo Hooves found herself in today as tried to keep her attitude calm and professional.

“What do you mean, you do not know?” a somewhat harsh and deep voice came from a mare who stomped her hoof angrily. Nearly a foot taller than Ditzy stood Zecora, the exotic zebra mare that had at one time been feared by the whole of Ponyville. And now, wrapped as she was in a brown cloak and bearing down angrily on the pegasus, Ditzy could easily remember why they had found her so intimidating. “The shipment should have arrived weeks ago!”

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Zecora… but it just never got here,” Ditzy Doo told Ponyville’s only resident zebra, her tone apologetic as she stood her ground, doing all she could to focus and prevent giving the impression she was distracted. “I’ve told the Pony Express Head Office how important this is, but they don’t know what’s happened, either. Is it at all possible that the issue is not with the transit, but with the sender?”

“It was certainly sent, know this much, I do.” The zebra said, taking a deep breath to steady herself. “Letters from that place are still coming through.”

“Then rest assured, we will find it and…” Ditzy started, then drew back as the zebra glared at her.

“For almost a month, you have fed me this tale!” she all but shouted, drawing more than a few eyes as the zebra dug at the ground with one hoof. “This is much too important to be lost in the mail!”

Ditzy tilted her head a bit to one side, trying to keep one eye on the zebra while the other wandered in spite of her attempts to keep it steady. The zebra's brow was beaded with sweat. She was swallowing hard and out of breathe, it seemed, signs even to a laypony that something was clearly wrong.

“Ms. Zecora… a-are you alright?” the grey pegasus asked, now very concerned.

“I… I am not feeling well, this much is true.” Zecora took a step back, her expression clearly one of embarrassment as she started away. “But please, I beg that you find it, Ditzy Doo.”

“I’ll do everything I can… but maybe you should call a doc--” Before Ditzy could finish her sentence. the zebra turned and started out the door, her head down as she moved and her walk giving an impression of a limp.

“That is not required, I will be fine,” the zebra said quickly as she moved to the door. “The only medicine I trust… is mine.”

She was not paying attention, it seemed, as she moved through the door and out into the sun, where her leg suddenly bumped into something small and scaly.

“Umph!” Spike went back a couple of steps as the zebra’s leg impacted and pushed him to the side. “Hey, watch it!”

Zecora huffed angrily, turning to the dragon with a glare that immediately took the wind out of his sails before catching herself, realizing the effect on her scaled friend. “Apologies, Spike, I don’t mean to be surly,” she said quickly, turning away. ”But I’m afraid I am in quite a…” She froze as she came face to face with the dragon’s compatriot, a brown stallion with a spiky mane right in front of her as she froze up. “…hu…rry...” she finished with a stammer.

“Oh, hello.” The stallion nodded pleasantly in spite of Zecora’s manners as he looked her up and down. “My word, are you a zebra!? Fascinating! I had no idea zebras were included in this planet's roster of intelligent ungulates.”

Zecora took a step back, her eyes wide.

“Though, I guess it's to be expected. After all, I've seen donkeys and cows and whatnot milling around, so why not a zebra? Coloration is clearly a regional acquirement, so it would stand to reason that various continental divides would lead to a variation of the species with--”

“AAAGGGGGHHHHHH!”

The Doctor was snapped out of his ramblings as the zebra suddenly fell back over herself, screaming in terror as her hooves caught up on the edges of her cloak and nearly tore it from her back while she scrambled away.

“I say, are you alright?” The Time Stallion took a step closer, concerned at the reaction.

“Back! Begone! Keep away!” Zecora cried out frantically, taking three steps back per one of the Doctor's. “If you have any mercy, remain at bay!”

“I have no intention of harming you...” The Doctor held up one hoof defensively, trying to get a grip on the sudden situation. “I’m the Doctor. Or… what was it…? Dr. Clockwork, if you like.”

“I know who you are, better than you think! And if you are here, God Slayer, then we are all on the brink!” Zecora spat out, her legs pulling her back as the Doctor recoiled a bit from the accusation.

“What did you call me?”

“Certain as the cauldron bubbles...” Zecora shook her head, turning as she steadied her legs, clearly having difficulty as she broke into a gallop. “Your presence here shall bring naught but troubles!”

“Wait!” The Doctor hesitated, considering chasing after her for a moment before looking back to his escort, the purple and green dragon looking nearly as shocked as him.

“What did she say?” Spike asked quickly, clearly concerned as the zebra raced off into the distance towards the edge of the forest. “Something about a cauldron?”

“Who was that?” the Doctor asked quickly, his tone serious.

“Her name’s Zecora. She lives in the Everfree Forest and she’s a close friend of Twilight’s,” Spike explained as he moved around and jumped up onto the Doctor’s back to ride. “How weird... I’ve never seen her like that before. She's usually really nice.”

"Hmm... God Slayer..." The stallion got a faraway look in his deep blue eyes, before he shook himself out of it. “The stamps can wait, Spike. We need to get back and see Twilight.” The Doctor ignored the concerned glances from passersby as he set into a gallop back into town, making a direct break for the library.

Almost completely unnoticed in the bizarre events outside the Pony Express Station was the form of a small yellow filly rushing off in the direction of the Everfree Forest, where few sane ponies dared to tread, following the tracks of the zebra.

“Okay…” Apple Bloom said to herself, trying to figure out what she had just seen in the Cutie Mark Crusader’s surveillance of the Hourglass Stallion. “Now Ah’m a believer.”

—————————————————————————————

*Opening Theme*

Featuring:
The Doctor
Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy
and
Zecora the Zebra

Doctor Whooves: The Series
“Along Came a Spider”

Ch. 1: Desperation and Hesitation

Chapter 1: Desperation and Hesitation

Edge of the Everfree Forest
South of Ponyville
2:15 p.m.

“Apple Bloom! Come back!” Scootaloo shouted, now regretting her decision to leave her trademarked scooter behind as she and Sweetie Belle raced away from the edge of town after the farm filly.

On hoof, Apple Bloom was easily the quickest of the Crusaders, and after the scene they had come across at the Pony Express Station, she had gotten quite a head start as the unicorn and pegasus had been stunned by Zecora’s reaction to meeting the Hourglass Stallion.

Until the appearance of Nightmare Moon well over a year ago, back before they were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Zecora had been the scariest pony they knew. For as long as they could remember, her emergence from the Everfree Forest was cause to rush inside and hide not only for them, but for all of the grown mares and stallions in Ponyville. And even though her nature had been revealed as benign after Apple Bloom and Twilight Sparkle had sought out the mysterious zebra, she was still a bit intimidating to many of the local foals.

So if she was afraid of Doctor Clockwork to the point of running away screaming… then what did that make him?

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie called after the red-maned filly as she moved to the edge of the forest, that line of shadow between the safety of pony civilization and the dark, wild place where monsters came from… and broke past it without a single look back.

Sweetie and Scootaloo came to a stop just short of that all too visible line, looking at one another nervously. No words needed to be shared.

The two fillies had followed Apple Bloom into the Everfree Forest once before, and that night would have ended in disaster had it not been for the amazing abilities of Fluttershy, who had been foalsitting them that night. And it was an experience that neither the daredevil pegasus nor the white-coated unicorn wanted to repeat.

“Apple Blooooom!” the two cried out together, hoping that they might be able to get the stubborn farm filly’s attention before they had to choose between the safety of Ponyville and the bond of loyalty they felt as Crusaders.

“Jeez, I hear ya already, gosh!” the yellow filly’s voice fluttered back through the underbrush and low-lying trees, though Sweetie and Scootaloo could only barely make out their friend’s bow-topped form several meters in, obscured by the shadow of the forest.

Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, whew… You had us worried, Bloom. Fast as you were going, we thought you were halfway out of earshot by now.”

“Don’t worry, Ah’ll be fine,” the farm filly assured them, waving a hoof to rustle the bushes hiding her slightly so they could see her, but remaining in the shadows. “Ah’m just gonna make sure Zecora’s alright. You girls go ahead. Ah’ll meet y'all at Sugarcube Corner in just a bit.”

“A-are you sure? We could… you know…” Sweetie hesitated, sincerely hoping that the offer wasn’t taken up on. “…go in with you?”

“It’s fine, Ah come here ta visit Zecora all the time,” Apple Bloom’s voice responded, the filly sounding quite calm. “You go, Ah’ll catch up. Oh, and do me a favor, wouldja? Applejack’s outta town at that convention thingamajig with Rarity, and Ah kinda promised her I wouldn’t go into the forest while she was gone. Couldja… not mention it ta anypony? Ah don’t wanna get in trouble.”

“I know what you mean.” Sweetie nodded. “Rarity would spit a bit if she knew I was even this close to the edge of the forest.”

“Well, if you say so…” Scootaloo nodded in agreement, her concerns greatly eased by the confidence in her friend’s voice.

“Just save an applecake for me if they still have any, ya hear?” They saw Apple Bloom’s bow bob slightly before they turned and started back towards town.

“Sure thing… just be careful in there, alright?” Sweetie called back.

“Always am,” Apple Bloom’s voice assured them as the two fillies moved away from the edge of Everfree, the silhouette of the young farm pony appearing to watch them for several moments.

Then, the leaves and twigs standing in for the farm filly’s mane and bow fell to the forest floor with all the grace of a puppet having its strings cut. From the lifeless heap of foliage, an oily smoke tinged black and blue swirled its way up, out, and off in the direction that the true Apple Bloom had run off without pause.

————————

Everfree Forest
2:25 p.m.

“Zecoraaaa!” Apple Bloom called out, her throat beginning to grow hoarse as her little legs grew sore.

She had been running for some time now, looking around wildly as her eyes adjusted to the shadowy nature of the Everfree Forest. The young pony had come here quite often in the past few months since her first adventure beyond the treeline, and she knew the safest path to the zebra’s hut.

Unfortunately, she had left that path some time ago following the wake of broken branches and hoof marks recently left behind by the rushing zebra.

Still, she wasn’t scared. She was a Cutie Mark Crusader. She wasn’t scared of anything.

Her legs were just tired. That’s why they were shaking so much as she trudged a bit deeper into the overgrown foliage.

“Ze…Zecoraaaa!” she cried out again, coughing slightly as she looked about for any sign of where her friend had went as the forest opened into a clearing. “Where are ya!?”

Apple Bloom stopped suddenly as her hooves came down on the ground inside the clearing. It felt… strange. Soft and sooty, like ash that had been spread out after a fire. Looking around, Apple Bloom saw just how different this clearing was from anywhere else she had seen in the Everfree.

The ground was bare, save for a layer of ash and charcoal that seemed to spread out from the center, all of the foliage having been somehow pushed back and tamed, even though such an idea was hard to fathom after seeing how wild the Everfree was.

Absolutely nothing was growing here, and for a few moments, Apple Bloom thought the ground was flat until she set a hoof into a narrow hole dug into the ashy dirt. Then she looked out at the center of the clearing.

“Oh, mah stars… Zecora!”

Laying on her side, almost directly at the center of the clearing, the zebra was laboring for breath, a small cloud of ashy dust rising with every exhale as the farm filly rushed to her side.

“Zecora, please be okay... Oh, mah goodness…”

“Apple… Bloom…?” The zebra’s tone was shocked, but her voice was barely there as the mare opened her eyes. “What are you… doing here?” As the older mare tried to lift her head, the hood that was covering it slipped off, causing the farm filly to draw back slightly from what she saw. “It’s… a poor time for a visit… I’m afraid… my dear.”

Apple Bloom’s expression softened as she noted the pain in the elder mare’s voice. “...What happened to ya?”

“T’was a foalish choice… I once did make…” Zecora attempted to push herself to her hooves, but hardly got her shoulder off the ground before her legs gave out under her. “And I fear you have… made the same mistake.”

“Ah was worried about ya.” Apple Bloom tried to help by pushing up against the zebra’s flanks. “And with y'all lookin' like ya do now, Ah'd say Ah made the right choice.”

“It was not… my intent to mock,” Zecora strained, turning her head a bit, her expression urgent. “Flee now, filly! Beware the Roc!”

“A rock?” Apple Bloom shook her head, redoubling her efforts. “Ah ain’t about ta leave ya here and Ah don’t care about some dumb ol’ rock! Y'all need a doc--”

"SCREEEEEEE!"

Apple Bloom turned her eyes upward in shock as a piercing cry was heard overhead, causing her to squint as the bright sun bore down into the center of the clearing. It took a few moments for her to realize the dark shape growing against the bright blue sky as it dove down towards the ground, and a moment longer to recognize the sheer size of the thing. The bird, as it was increasingly apparent that it was, had to easily be the largest she had ever seen.

“Filly, run! Into the trees, just flee!” The zebra gasped for breath, trying again and failing to push herself up. “This accursed bird wants only me!”

Apple Bloom’s heart pounded in her chest as she gulped, seeing the shadow of the enormous eagle-like creature growing larger atop the two of them. Every instinct told her to run; to do as she was told. Then she turned to see the weakened zebra, her friend, laying there… and knew that she could not.

“No! Come on!” Apple Bloom moved around, grasping the neck of the zebra’s cloak in her teeth and pulling for all she was worth, grinding her hooves into the ground as she strained to slowly drag Zecora over the barren, ashy landscape.

"SCREEEEEEE!"

The shadow of the creature Zecora called 'Roc’ grew larger, its wings folded into a dive. An ominous dark spot against the otherwise bright sun. Sweat beading on her brow, Apple Bloom gritted her teeth and pulled harder, yanking at the fabric fastened securely around the zebra and leaving a trail in the ash as she slowly but surely pulled her to the treeline.

“Apple Bloom… go… You should not be here…” Zecora winced in pain, her limbs feeling like dead weight even as the filly tugged and struggled. “I have known… this was coming… for many a year…”

The farm filly’s jaws hurt from holding on, but she stubbornly kept hold, pulling and tugging even harder.

"SCREEEEEEE!" The Roc bore down on them, growing larger as its wings flared out, a gleaming talon reaching forward.

Apple Bloom dug her hooves into the soft ground and pushed harder against it, getting all the traction she could. Just a few more feet to the treeline... but the bird was too close; they didn’t have enough time. It was going to get them.

As the creature angled down, she spared a moment to look up and then desperately wished she hadn’t.

Nearly half as large as a dragon, the enormous eagle nevertheless looked malnourished and thin, its head free of feathers, showing blood-red skin where a black beak and eyes were not already dominating its face. The large black feathers covering the rest of its body, like those of a buzzard, all but blotted out the sun where its shadow was cast.

Her blood turned to ice and, more frightened than she had ever been in her life, the farm filly clenched her eyes and kept pulling.

Black talons opened as it descended, slowing as the creature skimmed the ground on its approach, wings nearly large enough to touch each end of the clearing from tip to tip.

"SCREEEEEEE!"

"WAAAAAAAAAARK!"

A flash of gold and scarlet streaked in from out of nowhere, burning through the air and creating a warm gust of wind that sent Apple Bloom’s bow flying from her head and her tail and mane sweeping forward. Her eyes still closed, she saw nothing as she continued pulling.

"WAAAAAAAAAARK!"

"SCREEEEEEE!"

Air rushed about as if blowing in a storm, sending Apple Bloom’s mane swishing from side to side as the wind whipped around, the filly’s eyes still remaining shut. There was the sound of wings beating wildly as she pulled at the cloth in her teeth, not daring to look for fear of losing what nerve she had left and knowing only from the weight of her load that she was still dragging Zecora along.

She dared not open her eyes even as she felt the ash under her hooves give way to the underbrush of the Everfree. The sound of crunching leaves was welcoming, while those of wings and screeching faded into the distance as she pulled her friend to safety at any cost.

————————
Fluttershy’s Cottage
Outskirts of Ponyville
2:35 p.m.

“…and then he said, ‘Are you sure you’re not even a little bit satisfied?’” Fluttershy beamed openly. “And I told him, ‘No means no!’ ...And then he just rode off. I don’t think anypony ever stood up like that to him before. He didn’t know how to react.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled as she listened to Fluttershy’s story, blowing on the lukewarm tea that had been made for her as the two friends regaled one another with tales of what they had been doing over the past few days.

While she loved her timid friend dearly, she was glad that the yellow pegasus had found a balance between her natural kindness and the ability to assert herself to keep that kindness from being taken advantage of.

“Pinkie and Rarity were so proud… and you know what? So was I,” Fluttershy finished, nodding softly as she leaned forward, picking up the dainty teacup in her teeth and sipping slightly on it.

“That’s great news, Fluttershy!”

“I wish you could have seen it, but I really didn’t see you at all that day.”

“Heh, yeah…” Twilight drew back, a smile still on her face. “Rainbow finally decided on where she wanted to go with the Doctor, and we got wrapped up in this whole thing back in the year 500 C.R. involving the Pegalympics. That was a doozy.”

“O-oh… Well…” Fluttershy set her hoof to her mouth awkwardly, suddenly reverting to her familiar, slightly intimidated stance. “It sounds like you had fun.”

“It was… interesting.” Twilight nodded at the memory, thinking it best not to tell Fluttershy about the cheating scandal they had gotten themselves involved in… or how Rainbow had dyed her mane and coat (reluctantly) in order to take the place of the famous -- and incapacitated -- Thunder Streak to maintain the timeline and win the centennial Cloudsdale athletics competition. “But for the most fun, I gotta give that up to Pinkie Pie. I don’t know how he found it, but the Doctor got us to this one place... I think it was in the future. He called it a ‘vacation planet.’ Party City: literally a domed pony city where the party never stopped.”

“Wow…” Fluttershy smiled at the thought. “Pinkie must have been really, really happy there.”

“Oh, you'd better believe it. They even installed her as Party Queen for the night she was there, and she declared that if anypony was hungry, she would ‘Let them eat cake.’ I don’t know why, but that made the Doctor nervous for some reason, and we had to drag her back to the TARDIS after she finally passed out.”

“Oh… well, speaking of the Doctor, it sure sounds like he’s really turned a corner.” Fluttershy leaned back in her lounge chair as she folded her legs up under her. “I’m glad he’s finding his place here after coming so far from home.”

“Actually, that’s one of the reasons I came over,” Twilight started, glad that she was able to lead into the point of her visit so well.

“Oh?”

“Well, it’s just that… Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and I have all had our trips. Some have been more… vibrant than others, but it got me thinking that, well, you haven't taken your turn yet.”

“My turn…?” Fluttershy’s eye twitched slightly. “Oh, I don’t know... I thought you girls were doing just fine... I didn’t want to hold you back, or anything.”

“Aw, come on, Fluttershy.” Twilight smirked a bit, sipping on her own tea as it floated to her lips before setting it down. “There has to be something you're curious about. Maybe somepony you've always wanted to meet?”

“Well, it’s just... Applejack told me about what happened in Roan, and… it just sounded so… so dangerous.” Fluttershy withdrew slightly, causing Twilight to sigh.

Thanks, AJ, Twilight thought to herself. Why did you have to give all of the facts to Fluttershy?

“Yeah, but we all came out of it just fine,” Twilight replied casually. “Like the night you scared off that cockatrice, or when I managed to repel that Ursa Minor.”

“But… those were both still really scary nights.” Fluttershy shook her head, still unsure. “And if that’s what it’s going to be like traveling with him, I… I’m just worried that maybe… I was being a little... um... rash, the night we met him.”

“True... But once they were over, we both know that they made things better. And now they’re great stories and memories.” Twilight nodded. “Besides, the Doctor can take us anywhere we want. I'm sure you can think of something without any danger whatsoever. It doesn't have to be big; just enough to get your hooves wet.”

“I-I still don’t know…” Fluttershy drew back, her mane falling in that adorable way that hid half of her face.

Twilight couldn't help but smile. She knew her friend well enough to see that she was considering it… She just needed a positive assurance to give her that last boost of confidence to take the leap.

She sort of wished Pinkie Pie was here for this… but as she took a breath, she just knew that she would be able to get this to work!

“Come on, Fluttershy. Put on your Ponyville Best!” Twilight hopped up in her seat. “We’re going on a trip! Next stop, everywhere!”

Twilight suddenly stood up on her hind-legs, moving her front hooves in a wide sweeping motion as her voice took on a specific pitch. Seemingly from nowhere, a whimsical musical number started up around them.

“Out there~
There are worlds outside Equestria~
Way out there beyond this one town, Fluttershy~
There are new worlds, Fluttershy~”

“Um… okay, if you say so…” Fluttershy murmured, shifting uncomfortably and feeling a little exposed despite a relative familiarity with this sort of thing.

“Out there~
Trust your ol’ friend, Twilight Sparkle~
Close your eyes and see ‘em glisten, Fluttershy~
Listen, Fluttershy~”

“Do you mean the music? But I-- Wha-whoooaaa!” Fluttershy was interrupted mid-sentence as Twilight closed the distance between them and swept her up by her hooves.

“Put on your Ponyville Best, there’s so much more out there!
Wonderful worlds ‘cross time and spaaaace.
We’re gonna find the beauty hidden everywhere!
Fields alight, in the gleaming night and sparkling ‘neath all of the staaaars!”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up slightly, taken in by Twilight’s enthusiastic display. “That... does sound nice...” she admitted, Twilight starting to edge her towards the door of her cottage.

“Put on your Ponyville Best, it’s time to ride the ups and downs!
In that magic box, taking us near and faaaaar.”

“I-I can do that!” The yellow pegasus’ confidence was on the rise, a smile spreading over her face as she bobbed her head in agreement before adding her own melodic voice to the music flowing around them in a duet so perfect, one might have thought they had rehearsed it.

“We’ll see the things,
Made of hopes and dreams,
If the Doctor says that we caaaaan!
And when we get home we can do it all agaaaaain!”

The music started slowly fading away, though still keeping a steady, lighthearted rhythm as the two friends reached the door. Twilight took a deep breath as she placed a hoof on the wooden surface and Fluttershy fell into step beside her.

“Oh, Fluttershy~ There are so,
Many,
Worlds,
Out,
There!”

With a sudden motion, Twilight thrust the door open with a flourish. And before Fluttershy could take a single step, her smile and enthusiasm were robbed from her, her eyes going wide in shock as one hoof went to her mouth in a startled gasp.

Two feet in front of her door, panting and looking to be on her last, wobbly legs, a yellow-coated, red-maned filly they both knew very well stood with a full-grown zebra mare’s foreleg over her shoulder in a size mismatch that might have been comical to some ponies. But with one look, it was clear that there was nothing amusing about this scene.

Zecora was clearly unconscious, her body a dead weight that the farm filly struggled desperately to support, but the small cuts and bruises along each of her legs, and the twigs and leaves in her mane, indicated she had been mostly dragged through a difficult and wild terrain.

Trembling with exhaustion, Apple Bloom looked up to the two stunned mares with a pleading expression that few could match before a dry, cracking gasp escaped her. “...Help...”

And with that, Apple Bloom collapsed, her zebra friend tumbling off to her side.

————————
Waiting Room, Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
Ponyville
4:42 p.m.

Twilight Sparkle paced the sterile white waiting room of the hospital, her hooves clicking crisply on the solid floor as her eyes continued to dart towards the large double doors leading to the patient wing. Laying on the sofa nearby, Apple Bloom remained uncharacteristically still as she leaned into Fluttershy, the caring pegasus acting as something of a pillow for the filly who kept her eyes trained on the doors with a desperate intent. Fluttershy was likewise quiet, which made the clipping of Twilight’s hooves the only real sound in the waiting area.

Having trouble with this as her overactive imagination went wild with the different treatment plans that the doctors could be trying at that very moment, Twilight took a deep breath, compelled to go over the details again out loud. “Okay… So you found her in a burned out clearing in the Everfree Forest…”

“Yeah… Ah know Ah wasn’t supposed to be in there while Applejack is gone, but…” Apple Bloom tried to defend herself halfheartedly, only to be shushed softly by Fluttershy.

“Nopony cares about that right now,” the yellow pegasus assured her, running a hoof though her mane, which was still stuck out at odd angles as if it had been in a windstorm, her pink bow conspicuously missing.

“Fluttershy's right. You absolutely did the right thing,” Twilight assured her as well. “But what else can you tell me about this giant bird?

“It was big,” Apple Bloom stated plainly.

“Yes, I got that from the word ‘giant,’” Twilight replied flatly, trying to keep in mind that Apple Bloom had to be at least as worried as she was over the condition of their mutual friend.

“Ah don't know what else ta tell ya. It was like… like a super buzzard, or somethin’. Zecora called it a ‘rock.’”

“I’ve never heard of a bird called Rock, before... Rocky, maybe, but that still seems like such a strange name for a bird,” Fluttershy added.

“It sounds kind of familiar...but I can’t put my hoof on it.” Twilight tapped her chin lightly. “Is the bird what made her face... like that?”

“No. At least, Ah'm pretty sure.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “That monster didn’t show up till after Ah did, an' she was like that when Ah found her... But Ah saw her in town just a little bit before, an' Ah didn’t see nuthin’ strange then.”

“Where did you see her before?” Twilight inquired, at which point Apple Bloom seemed to withdraw a bit.

“She was... at the Pony Express Station, an'...” The filly trailed off.

“And... what?” Twilight pressed a bit further.

Whatever information Apple Bloom was withholding was forgotten a moment later when the double doors opened suddenly, snapping all three girls’ attention their way as the caramel-coated, brown-maned Dr. Stable stepped through. Twilight recognized him at once as the pony that had been Rainbow Dash’s attending physician when the athletic pegasus had fractured her wing several months back. He paused a moment next to a wastebasket, turning a bit to one side as he looked about, making the heart monitor that made up his cutie mark plainly visible. His horn took on a slight glow as he removed the surgical mask from his muzzle and disposed of it.

Twilight cringed; the frown on his snout was not very reassuring at all. “Dr. Stable... how is she?”

“Yeah, is she alright? Can we see her? What happened?” Apple Bloom pulled herself up. Although still obviously sore from her earlier exertions, she was as eager as anypony to get in to see her friend.

Dr. Stable was solemn as he looked to the trio of mares. “We... will need to contact her next of kin,” he said plainly, the words impacting Twilight like a stake through the heart.

“Y-you don’t mean...”

“No, rest assured, she’s still with us,” Dr. Stable reiterated, clearly realizing his misstep. “But she’s in no condition to make medical decisions for herself. Does she have any family here?”

“What? No... I don’t think she has any family in Equestria,” Twilight told the doctor as Apple Bloom moved up beside her, along with Fluttershy.

“Then we’ll need somepony to act as her proxy,” Dr. Stable informed them.

“Ah’ll do it!” Apple Bloom jumped up, shouting to get the Doctor’s attention. “She always says Ah’m just like family ta her.” Then she paused, looking back to Fluttershy sheepishly. “Wait. What the hay does ‘prock-see’ mean?”

“It means that when a pony is very sick and can’t make decisions for themselves, a good friend is trusted to make decisions for them,” Fluttershy explained.

“And I’m sorry, my dear, but I’m afraid that said pony’s... or in this case, zebra’s proxy has to be an adult.”

Twilight nodded. “I know her best, I think. Aside from Apple Bloom.”

Dr. Stable gave a weary sigh and looked to Fluttershy and the farm filly. “She's sleeping right now, so I suppose there's no harm in seeing her. She’s in rough shape, however, so please do not disturb her. And whatever you do, don’t... touch her,” he said sympathetically, pushing one of the doors open for Fluttershy as the pegasus chaperoned the eager earth pony filly.

As they left, Twilight’s expression drooped a bit more. This was certainly one of the downsides of being an intelligent, responsible adult mare.

“What’s her condition, Dr. Stable?” she asked, fearing the answer. “I’m guessing since you're letting us see her that it’s not infectious.”

“That's correct, but as for her condition, we... don’t think she has very long.” Dr. Stable shook his head, sighing. “To be honest, we’ve never encountered anything like this kind of wound.”

“Wound?” Twilight inquired, now confused. “What wound? I thought she was sick.”

“She is, but... allow me to explain.” The medical doctor motioned to the doors, leading Twilight through and continuing her conversation as the two of them walked. “When we got her into the emergency room, we attempted several forms of magic and medicine to stabilize her condition. As part of hospital protocol, we had to remove her jewelry. The gold rings in her ears and around her foreleg came off easily enough, but... for the rings around her neck, that was not the case.”

“Now that you mention it... I’ve never seen her take those off,” Twilight confirmed.

“That is because they couldn’t be taken off, Ms. Sparkle. Not by mundane methods, anyway,” Dr. Stable told her. “They seem to have been forged into place around her neck under enormous heat and pressure. We had to resort to magic in order to finally pry them off.”

Twilight drew back in shock. She couldn’t believe that in all the time that she had known the zebra, she had never thought to ask. She just always assumed that the five gold rings that Zecora always wore around her neck were some sort of cultural thing, as much as wearing ponyshoes was for most ponies.

“Once they were removed, well... we found the source of the problem.”

Stopping short, Dr. Stable directed Twilight’s attention to the transparent wall of one of the intensive care units, which allowed the doctors in the hospital to keep a close eye on their more serious cases. Inside, a single bed and several magically powered medical devices stood, with Apple Bloom leaning against Fluttershy’s foreleg, tears running down her face.

On the bed, covers pulled up to the top of her chest, lay Zecora... although if not for the stripes and mohawk mane, Twilight would have hardly recognized her.

The right side of her head was covered in bright green veins that seemed to glow, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. As she labored for breath in her sleep, her skin and fur looked parched, as if the moisture had been drained from around the afflicted areas. But while Twilight had seen the sorry condition of Zecora's face back at Fluttershy’s cottage, she had not realized that it looked downright benign compared to the what lay slightly below that.

Along the right side of her neck, it was as if there was a piece of her hide that had been torn from her; a furless, ragged patch of skin upon which sat a wicked, green scar that looked very old, and yet had never healed over. And what was worse, it seemed to be bleeding, the greenish fluid having already overburdened the bandages that had been wrapped over it and exposing the wound itself.

“It acts like a toxin, but every attempt we’ve made to purge it from her body has been completely ineffective,” Dr. Stable told Twilight as she looked on in worried shock, both amazed and horrified by how weak and frail the normally formidable zebra looked. “The wound appears to be some sort of bite mark, but we can’t match it to any creature on record, and none of the anti-venomous spells we have available have proven the least bit effective. And that's not even the strangest part.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“As far as we can tell, the infection looks fresh, but the scar tissue around the wound is anything but recent. Judging by the thickness of it, we would have to say she’s had this injury for at least twenty years.”

Twilight cringed as she looked back to the zebra in the room and took a breath as she steadied herself. She needed to be strong now. “...What are her options?”

“When the standard purge and treatment spells failed, we attempted to excise the wound with more… physical methods,” Dr. Stable continued, grimacing a bit as he clearly disliked having to resort to something so primitive and inefficient as mundane surgical techniques. “But the slightest incision caused her vitals to plummet, as has any attempt to prod or take a sample of the wound itself. This kind of reactivity can only be magical in nature, and we're afraid to do anything more for fear that it might worsen her condition. We’ve sent a message to Canterlot to see if the Royal Medical Institute can help us in diagnosis, but those sorts of things take time.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed, her ears flattening against her head in annoyance as she recognized what had been left out of the medical pony’s long-winded tangent. “You didn’t answer my question, Doctor.”

Dr. Stable sighed, drooping slightly. “I’m sorry, Ms. Sparkle, but… frankly, all we can do is make her comfortable, and hope that the Institute can find us a solution.”

“But…” Twilight shook her head, fighting tears of her own. “There has to be something! An experimental treatment… A crackpot theory… Anything!!”

Dr. Stable stiffened his posture as he tried to project a disciplined calm. “We do everything we can, Ms. Sparkle, and under most circumstances, it is enough. But there comes a time when we have to accept our limitations. We’re doctors… not miracle workers.”

Twilight bowed her head, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“I’m sorry… but there’s nothing else we can do. Some things… we just can’t fix.”

Twilight opened her eyes again, but rather than the despair Dr. Stable expected, there was a harsh determination as she looked into the room, taking note of how the zebra was stirring and Apple Bloom moved up to the side of her bed.

“Maybe you can’t…” With a snort and a stomp of one hoof, Twilight turned that gaze to the practiced medical professional, who had to fight not to cringe under that stern, commanding glare. “I understand… Take care of her and do whatever you can to keep her stable. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Without any further hesitation, Twilight Sparkle turned and walked past the Doctor, who turned to watch her leave. “Ms. Sparkle, where are you going?”

“To get a second opinion!”

————————

The waking world was a haze of pain as Zecora came to, a soft moan escaping her lips while her entire right side throbbed with pain in time with her heartbeat. Opening her eyes slowly as each breath caused her to wince, the blur of a fatigue-driven sleep lifted slowly as her surroundings came into focus.

She lay in a soft, downy feather bed, a commonplace standard of the natives of Equestria. The walls around her were sterile and white, lacking of any character in order to give the impression of a clean, healthy place. Such a depressing and bland decor brought her to a single conclusion as to her whereabouts, the deduction obvious even in her state.

She had never wished to set hoof inside of the confines of the hospital at the opposite end of Ponyville from the Everfree, and yet it seemed fate had something else in mind.

“Zecora! You're awake!”

The zebra winced a bit at the sudden noise, but welcomed it all the same as she tilted her head forward, for the first time coming to realize she was not alone in this place. And in spite of the pain, she felt a small smile creep over her face.

She wouldn’t have chosen any other company over this one.

“Ah… my little hero… Apple Bloom,” she started, her tongue feeling heavy and leaden in her mouth as she had to pant for breath between her words. “It appears you saved me from… a certain doom.”

“A'course Ah did!” Apple Bloom moved up the side of the bed, looking to the pained mare with a forced smile at the praise, as though she feared letting on just how in bad a state the zebra looked. “Ah ain’t gonna leave no friend a’ mine out for the birds, no matter how big they are.”

Zecora chuckled lightly. “Such courage… in the face of what you found… Surely, my dear… you shall be… renowned.”

A painful pulse from her neck caused the zebra to shudder suddenly, stealing the smile from her face as she fell back into the pillow that was too soft for her liking.

“Zecora… are you going to be alright?” a new voice caught the zebra’s attention, causing her to perk up.

She looked up past Apple Bloom to see the overly shy pink-maned pony standing back a bit, clearly hesitant to interrupt and looking more than slightly disturbed by the zebra’s appearance.

Zecora’s eyes widened with realization as she turned her head a bit to the right, her neck cramping badly when she realized her rings had been removed, exposing something she had kept hidden away for many years. Still, forcing through the agony, she craned a bit more to look to her side, just in time to watch a familiar purple flank and tail move out of sight, on the other side of the transparent wall.

“Full circle… events have come,” she panted as the throbbing pain forced her to turn back, straightening her neck at the cramping sensation. “After all this time… what's been done must be done.”

“What? Whatcha talkin’ about Zecora?” Apple Bloom looked to the zebra with a worried expression. “What needs to be done?”

“Fluttershy… please… answer me true.” Zecora seemed to ignore the filly for that moment, looking to the timid mare past her. “Does Twilight seek… a brown pony… with old eyes of blue?”

Apple Bloom tilted her head curiously as she turned to Fluttershy with a puzzled gaze. The yellow pegasus’ reaction was quite telling as she drew back, one hoof over her mouth, her tail seeming to sweep up and around her front defensively.

“H-how do you know about… I mean… I mean, I don’t know if… well, she… might be… I don’t…” she stammered, her soft voice growing more quiet as she clearly disliked the inquiry.

Apple Bloom looked between the two mares, now feeling very left out. “Went to see who? What’s goin’ on? Zecora?”

“Apple Bloom… your company I will… certainly seek,” Zecora said, her tone steady in spite of the apparent agony she was still suffering. “But for this moment… alone with Fluttershy… I must speak.”

“But…” the filly started to protest.

“Apple Boom, do as she says... This sounds like it's important,” Fluttershy interrupted, an action that again made Apple Bloom gape slightly. “Out to the waiting room, please. I’ll come get you in a moment.”

“But Ah--”

“Apple Bloom… please do as I say,” Zecora panted, her tone urgent. “After we’re done… then I would beg you to stay.”

The farm filly looked down and away, seeming much smaller without her large pink bow; a consequence Zecora was certain came from her decision to aid her in getting to the apparent safety of this place.

“...Okay… I’ll wait,” she responded in a defeated tone as she dragged her hooves all the way to the door, opening and shutting it quickly before skulking quietly away.

Zecora sighed at the sight. She hated to have to send her friend away, but the zebra knew that this would be a very delicate matter.

“How do you know about the Doctor?” Fluttershy asked the moment that the door had closed, looking to Zecora with eyes wide and tone frantic before the zebra held up a hoof to stop her.

“Before you start… think on what I say.” Zecora shook her head a bit in a slow, controlled motion. “Since when do… curious fillies… ever obey?”

Fluttershy paused, having to think those words over for a moment before her stunned expression was replaced by understanding. In three swift steps, she moved over to the door and opened it suddenly, allowing the filly with her ear pressed up against the crack in the door to fall over on her side into the room.

“Oh! Um, uh, you meant the waitin' room, didn't ya? I thought y'all meant wait... outside the door...”

Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed in a stern manner, a threat of something far more terrifying directed towards the young pony. Apple Bloom, recognizing this signal, scrambled to her hooves.

“Alright, alright! Ah’m a'gettin’, Ah’m a'gettin’!” Apple Bloom broke into a trot down the hallway before Fluttershy closed the door again, regretting the sudden impulse she had followed to frighten the filly into submission immediately.

The zebra laughed weakly at the display for a moment before a pronounced wince stole the mirth from her face, causing her to curl on the bed for a few seconds before it passed, drawing Fluttershy out of her self-admonishment and towards the more immediate trouble.

“Zecora… What is going on?” she asked, her nervousness overcome by concern. “What happened to you?”

“A consequence from a long past time…” Zecora answered, her tone inherently cryptic. “Back even before I was made to rhyme.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy questioned again as she moved to the side of the bed, her empathic tone begging for an answer.

Zecora took a few breaths, steadying herself as she felt the pulsing fire in her veins throb along the side of her face. “One thing you are certain to call a sure bet…“ she began, taking long, steadying gasps as she seemed to slip into the familiar patterns of verse that Fluttershy had become accustomed to hearing from her. “If you will, remember how it was that we met.”

“How could I forget?” Fluttershy took a step closer towards Zecora’s bedside, setting a hoof up on the mattress as she tried to keep the zebra’s mind off her obvious pain. “We were all terrified of you… and then all those things that happened from the Poison Joke… we thought you had put a curse on us.” Fluttershy couldn’t help but shake her head at how foalish it seemed now: stomping off thinking that Zecora was an evil enchantress. “What happened that day taught us all a lesson we’ll always keep close to our hearts.”

“Memories we share shall always endure...” Zecora told Fluttershy, pausing for a deep breath. “But take my advice: Do not be so sure.”

Fluttershy looked to Zecora curiously, then nodded her head for her to keep going.

“There is more to this tale than within any tome…” Zecora went on. “But the hope for my future… lies in the past of my home.”

“Zecora, I don’t understand... What does this have to do with what’s making you sick? We met over a year ago and you’ve never been like this. If something in the forest can help you, can’t you just tell me what we can do to make you better? If it’s some sort of herb, surely Twilight can mix up a potion.”

Zecora seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sighed. “‘T'was longer than that, if you would believe… You see, the home that I speak of... is not the Everfree.”

Fluttershy shook her head, still not comprehending what she was being told. “Zecora, you need help... Why can’t you just tell me how to help you?”

The zebra looked away a moment, still hesitant before turning back to the pleading Fluttershy. “In Zebrica, the land I am from… there is a mountain called Thunder Drum… At its base grows a plant called the Ashmed... A brew of this plant will free me from this bed.”

“That’s it? That shouldn’t be a problem… We can--”

“I know Twilight has great skill… but one tiny mistake, and this potion can kill… Only one other zebra I ever knew… could prepare this tricky brew,” Zecora cut Fluttershy off. “But he cannot aid you in this goal… for he was lost when I was but a foal.”

Fluttershy drooped, tilting her head a bit, catching the sad tone in the zebra’s voice. “...Who was it?”

“The bravest zebra to ever inspire…” Zecora bowed her head, her tone deep and respectful as she seemed to struggle to match her words in her usual form. “His name... was Zilaka… and he was my sire.”

“And...” Fluttershy looked up, her mind putting together the pieces. “...this Zilaka... he knew how to make the potion to cure you.”

“My father taught me all that he knew… of all manner of plants and how to brew.” Zecora nodded, clearly pained as much by memory as the illness that coursed through her body. Looking up, the zebra took note of the suddenly determined expression on the normally timid pony’s face. “And I know, while I stay here and rest… that you and Twilight will try your best,” Zecora said, her tone even. “But know this, my friend… be you ever so sweet.”

Fluttershy looked straight into the pained eyes of the zebra, her only real choice clear as Zecora gave her a look of sympathetic concern.

“If your fear overcomes you…” The zebra moved one leg free of her covers, setting a hoof over Fluttershy’s as it sat on the bed. “…we never shall meet.”

————————
Books and Branches Library
Ponyville
5:09 p.m.

“Doctor!” Twilight practically threw the door of her beloved library off of its hinges as she came barreling in, the book-laden shelves reverberating from the loud slam. The force sent a shock-wave through the wooden foundation, from the floor up through the ladder to the top shelves, much to the concern of the purple and green dragon that was on the top step.

She looked about to see her assistant balancing precariously on the ladder, which had bounced upright and forced the young dragon to hold on as he shifted his weight.

“WHOAAAAAAOOOOOAAA!” Spike cried out, a book in his claws dropped unceremoniously when he grasped the ladder’s frame as it overbalanced and started to fall back towards the floor.

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

*CRACK-THUMP*

The baby dragon vanished in a burst of purple magic as the ladder fell back to the floor with a crash.

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

Only to reappear right in front of the unicorn as he fell a scant few inches before hitting the floor himself.

“Spike!” Twilight didn’t hesitate for a moment as she leaned over the dragon’s face. “Where is he!?”

“...I’m fine by the way, thanks for asking,” the young dragon snorted grumpily as he sat up.

“This isn’t a joke, Spike! I need to talk to him right now! Somepony’s life depends on it!”

“Okay, okay! I get it! Urgent!” Spike drew back, realizing that this clearly was no time for jokes as he brushed his scales off. “He went out looking for you a few hours ago after we ran into Zecora while we were doing those errands you sent us out on.”

“Ran into… Zecora?” Twilight drew back in shock.

“Yeah, literally. She just about stampeded me. I’m surprised I don’t have a hoofprint on my scales.” Spike turned to better relate his tale to Twilight. “Then she saw the Doc and went completely nuts, running for the treeline and shouting that bizarre mumbo-jumbo of hers.”

That was odd news... Why would Zecora be afraid of the Doctor? As far as she knew, the two had never met before.

Twilight hadn’t seen Zecora since the Doctor first came to Ponyville, the zebra’s monthly visit having happened only a day or so before the TARDIS crashed into her library. And she had been so busy with everything else that was going on to visit the Everfree in the meantime, so it wasn't like she'd had a chance to talk to her about him.

So why would Zecora react so strongly to seeing the Time Pony? He looked just like any other stallion on the outside. And unless somepony were to get out a stethoscope and check his pulse, there was nothing outwardly alien about him.

Shaking her head, Twilight pushed that curiosity aside, determined to deal with one crisis at a time. “Great, he could be anywhere in town! It could take hours to find him!” She flattened her ears in an annoyed manner.

“Twilight… I think someone broke your door,” said the Doctor’s voice as it came from behind her.

*Whiirrrrr*

“There we are, good as new.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she turned around, not sure why she even bothered to get worked up as the brown stallion she was seeking closed the door behind him, walking into the library casually.

He certainly lived up to his species, as she had discovered over the past few weeks; his sense of timing was nearly as remarkable as Pinkie Pie’s, even if he didn't share her tendency to pop out of the most random of places when he appeared.

“It's about time I found you, by the way,” the Doctor breathed out in a sigh of relief. “That cinches it, I am getting you a mobile. I don't care if the technology doesn't belong here, being separated from you lot without a direct method of contact is going to spell problems down the line. For example, do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?”

“Doctor--”

“I was looking everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. The Bookstore-slash-Printing Office, the Joke Shop, the Fan Shop, Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique...”

“Doctor, I--” Twilight’s eye twitched a bit as the Time Pony continued to prattle.

“…the Quill and Sofa -- well, they were out of quills, again, so I guess it was just the Sofa this time. They really do need a new quill supplier, don't you agree? But I digress. I even took a look in Applejack's cellar at Sweet Apple Acres. At least, until that wrinkly green mare chased me off with a pitchfork… She is surprisingly spry given her age…”

“DOCTOR!” the unicorn shouted violently, her decibel level rising to match that of a dragon’s roar.

“Um… Yes, Twilight?” The Doctor flicked an ear slightly, trying to stop the ringing he had grown used to when his companion became… vocal.

“Somepony needs your help! I need you to come with me to the hospital, right now!”

The Doctor perked up, his attention certainly caught as he looked to Twilight with a more serious expression. “What’s happened?”

“It’s my friend, Zecora!” The Doctor drew back slightly at Twilight's mention of the name. “She’s fallen ill with some sort of mysterious toxin. The doctors there can’t help her and I think whatever happened to her might fall into your area of expertise. I mean, it looks alien enough. She has this wound on her neck that’s--”

“Twilight… stop.” The unicorn paused, looking to him urgently as the Time Pony sighed sharply. “I can’t… Not this time.”

“What!?” Twilight was aghast. “Why!?”

“Uh, eh-heh…” Spike chuckled nervously, taking a step away from the two ponies and towards the door. “I think I hear an ice cream sundae calling my name at Sugarcube Corner… I’ll… just…”

“I met this same zebra briefly this afternoon,” the Doctor explained, ignoring his young dragon friend. “And she reacted to me… badly.”

“So what? Just because you had a bad experience with her doesn't mean you can't still help her!” Twilight shook her head.

“I can’t interfere in something like this, Twilight. It’s dangerous!” the Time Lord countered.

“You do it all the time!” Twilight stomped a hoof as Spike snuck out the door, closing it behind him as he put distance between himself and the arguing ponies.

“Yes, but only while operating from an outside perspective. This is somepony you know; part of your own personal history. Somepony that somehow recognized me. That puts this into the ‘more dangerous than usual’ bin. If we're not careful, this situation could easily turn into another paradox. Do you really want to have another Reaper rampaging through Ponyville?”

“Wait, Zecora recognized you?” Twilight turned a bit, giving the Doctor a sideways look. “What did she say?”

“Did I mention possibility of a paradox? Time monster… devouring the town to clean up? I seem to remember mentioning that.”

“What did she say?” Twilight asked again, clearly seeing this as being an important clue as to why the Hourglass Stallion was being so hesitant.

“Oh… it was nothing… too strange.” The Doctor waved a hoof, although his tone indicated that this was not entirely true. “She was just shouting at me as she... ran away at full gallop... There might have been some name-calling.”

“You’re refusing to help her because she called you names!?” Twilight reared back in disgust. “She’s dying!”

“Twilight… we’re all dying,” the Doctor said blankly.

Twilight was taken aback. This was her friend she was talking about. “...How can you be so cold about this?” She drooped, her expression showing a pained disappointment.

“Twilight, I’m simply stating a fact.” The Doctor shook his head, clearly growing uncomfortable with this conversation. “You and I, Spike, and everypony that is out there… We’re all dying. Every day. But at the same time we’re living. We’re mortal… That’s what we do.”

“But… you can save her... Can't you at least try?”

The Doctor sighed. “I learned a long time ago… that I can’t save everyone, Twilight. No matter how much I want to,” the Doctor said, his tone falling. “And even if I tried, she may not even want my help. And if I go to force my help on her, I could easily learn something that could cause another paradox. We got lucky last time, Twilight. No one was hurt.”

The purple unicorn lowered her gaze, remembering all too well the monster that had been unleashed in the Toy Shop on the day of the Bloom Festival.

“I am just starting to get used to this town,” the Doctor admitted. “I don’t want to be the one to put it at risk.”

“I…” Twilight’s eyes, like her mood, were downcast as she listened to what the Doctor had to say. “I just…”

*knock-knock-knock-knock*

The Doctor and Twilight turned to the door as it cracked open.

“Um, excuse me... Twilight? Doctor?”

“Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, surprised as the timid pegasus opened the door the rest of the way and slipped inside, shutting it behind her as if she were trying to be secretive. “I thought you were staying with Apple Bloom and Zecora.”

“Oh, I was… but I... well…”

“Did something happen?”

“Oh, yes… Well, no. I mean… Zecora’s still okay. I left Apple Bloom with her and told the doctors to contact Big Macintosh and Granny Smith to let them know she was there,” Fluttershy said quickly, rubbing her left foreleg with her right hoof. “But I wanted to talk to you, Doctor. I know where I want to go now.”

Twilight drew back for a moment in shock. “Uh, Fluttershy? I’m happy for you and all… but I don’t think this is the time for--”

“Actually, you know what? It’s the perfect time.” The Doctor moved over to Fluttershy’s side, causing the shy pony to draw back just a bit as he set a leg over her shoulders. “I’ve been looking forward to this, Fluttershy. You know, I really have. I’m sure that you’re just the filly that knows where we might go to have a nice… peaceful trip.”

The Doctor’s smile and enthusiasm were forced, Twilight could tell. Clearly, he was trying to detach himself from what was happening with Zecora and distract his suppressed impulse to help with a jaunt in the TARDIS.

“You don’t have to come, Twilight. I’m sure that Fluttershy and I can find a nice… glade to relax in, or something. So! Where to, Fluttershy, my dear? Anywhere you like!” The Doctor flashed a full grin.

“I want to go to Zebrica. A place called Mount Thunder Drum… about twenty-five years ago or so?” the pegasus said in her usual soft manner.

The Doctor’s grin and enthusiasm were punctured in an instant while Twilight's were simultaneously raised. “Zebrica…?” he asked, removing his foreleg from her shoulder.

“That’s right,” Fluttershy confirmed.

“As in, the place that zebras come from?”

“I see you’ve been studying.” Twilight smirked slightly.

“Kind of obvious from the name, wouldn't you say?” The Doctor shook his head, looking to Twilight suspiciously. “Did you two plan this?”

“First that I’ve heard about it,” Twilight replied honestly. “But you did say anywhere.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened as the two mares watched him, Twilight moving around to Fluttershy’s side as he walked away. “Oh, no… I can see what's going on here.” The Doctor shook his head vibrantly. “This trip has an agenda! As I recall, Rule Number Two--”

“Doesn’t apply,” Twilight interrupted quickly. “Doctor, twenty-five years ago goes back to before either of us were even born, so it’s not part of our personal timelines. It’s outside of Equestria, so it can’t influence our families either.”

“But…”

“Doctor…” Fluttershy tilted her head, her eyes shimmering slightly. “We have to go… please.”

The Time Lord swayed his head back and forth, clearly engaging in an internal debate before he huffed stubbornly. “For the last time, I refuse to get involved in this! I can’t! And nothing either of you say can convince me otherwise.”

Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged a look before both turned back to the Doctor.

“Fluttershy… Hit him.”

The Doctor drew back at this flat instruction, rather surprised. “Violence, Twilight? Really? I had thought you were more… more…” The Doctor paused, catching a sudden change in the pegasus’ demeanor and posture; the way her ears suddenly flattened, her pupils expanding as her lower lip trembled… her eyes rimmed with tears as she made a soft, sad squeal.

————————

The TARDIS
Ninety seconds later

“Alright! So, Zebrica!” The Doctor rushed to the center console as Twilight closed the door behind her, still smirking as Fluttershy fluttered over quietly. “Where I’m sure stripes are always in fashion. Now, to be absolutely clear: This is a quick drop in. We’ll see the sights, stay an hour tops… then right back. No getting involved with anything, am I clear!?” the Doctor directed as he grasped a pulley-switch in his teeth, then hit a button.

“Oh, yes, Doctor. Absolutely crystal clear.” Fluttershy nodded obediently, still smiling softly. “We’ll stop, pick up what we need from the nearest shop, and come right back.”

“And don’t think that trick will work a second time… I’m on to you Miss ‘I’m so innocent.’” The Doctor glared accusingly at Fluttershy, who withdrew half a step.

“Why, I have no idea what you mean, Doctor.”

The Doctor shuddered a bit, looking away before he could have another lapse of reason on account of the yellow pegasus and focusing on the purple unicorn, who had taken the opportunity to grab several books from the library shelves before they came down to the basement where the TARDIS had been resting. “Alright, Twilight, where am I going?”

“Let’s see… according to my Equis World Reference…” Twilight levitated a large red book with an emblem resembling a globe on the cover in front of her, flipping the pages open in a swirl of purple magic. “Ah, here it is: 'Zebrica, discovered by Polo the Explorer in 1521 A.R. on his eastward voyage around the world, lies to the south of the Camel-held deserts of the Sandhara.'”

The Doctor paused, glancing around the TARDIS’ time rotor to give Twilight a puzzled stare. “Sandhara? Please tell me you’re making that up.”

“Why would I?” Twilight shrugged.

“Oh… no reason.” The Doctor shook his head, amazed that he was still even surprised by the ever-growing number of puns and wordplays that he encountered before Twilight continued to read.

“‘The temperate landscape is home to a diverse array of exotic flora and many unique creatures that roam the wild plains, of which few ponies have ever witnessed. Native to this vast, untamed frontier are the Zebra Tribes, a variant species of earth pony. Little is known about their culture due to the insular, nomadic nature of the tribes, typically numbering in the hundreds, which continue to exist in a foraging and gathering society much like the pre-civilized ponies of the Wild Era, with only the largest and strongest tribes maintaining permanent settlements around sites of spiritual and cultural significance.’”

“That’s very enlightening, but I need something I can plug in for coordinates Twilight,” the Doctor told the unicorn.

“Well, I have a world map here. It’s a little dated, but it has longitudes and latitudes. And I can see Canterlot on it... Hold on a minute...” Twilight squinted a bit, looking closely at the detailed map. “Yes! Thunder Drum Mountain is listed on it. It must be one of those permanent zebra settlements.”

“Oh, good! Good!” The Doctor motioned her to levitate the book over to see the map for himself. “Alright, let’s see… that looks like the equatorial line… assuming static latitudes… factoring in orbital velocity…”

“Ummm, what’s he talking about?” Fluttershy asked, looking to Twilight curiously.

“Honestly? I think he makes it up as he goes,” Twilight told her as she watched the Doctor rush around the console, his hooves clicking against the glass floor before he pulled one more lever.

“Right, quick trip to the past and back! Nothing to worry about! Won’t be any problem at all!” the Doctor reassured himself as the TARDIS began to rock violently, Twilight already catching hold of a railing while Fluttershy, far less experienced, found herself tumbling as their entire world shifted.

Ch. 2: A Dry Reception

Chapter 2: A Dry Reception

Intensive Care Ward, Room 7
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R. (Celestia’s Reign), 5:33 p.m.

“Said this before, I know that I did…” Zecora’s eyes narrowed on the nursemare before her, herpink mane tied up into a conservative bun, as the zebra reached a hoof up, gingerly touching the freshly replaced bandages at her neck. “I will not be made into an invalid.”

“I assure you, Miss Zecora,” Nurse Redheart pleaded, holding out a hoof with two small red and white capsules. “It will help. The side effects are--”

“Better it is, to endure the pain… than to be without a brain.”

Apple Bloom stood off to the side, her eyes moving back and forth between the concerned nurse and the stubborn, sickly zebra, confusion obvious on her face as the nurse lowered her head with a sigh, setting the two capsules on a tray next to Zecora’s bed.

“In case you change your mind…”

Zecora opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she was going to say was lost as her eyes clenched shut, wincing with a now familiar fashion while a painful spasm caused her to curl up slightly on the bed a moment before relaxing back as the wave of agony passed.

Not wanting to initiate a new argument with the nurse, Zecora nodded in compliance, biting back what was likely another remark condemning the hospital’s approach to treatment.

The medical mare then turned to Apple Bloom with a soft smile and nodded. “We’ve let your brother know that you’re here, sweetheart. I understand that he’ll be along shortly. Now, if there are any problems, dear, if you see anything wrong, you let us know, alright?”

“A’course!” Apple Bloom nodded, practically projecting a golden halo over her head as she stood up straight and proper.

With one last look of concern to her patient, the nurse walked politely out of the room, turning to close the door behind her and soundlessly walking past the observation window.

“Ya know, Ah don’t like takin’ medicine neither…” Apple Boom stated, moving to the zebra’s bedside, her eyes soft as she brought her front hooves to rest on the mattress. “But if it hurts so much, why don’tcha?”

“It is difficult to explain, my dear… But to survive this, my mind must be clear.” The zebra let out a heavy sigh, looking to the filly a moment before allowing a slight smile to grace her lips. “My outlook would be filled with gloom… without you here, Apple Bloom.”

This seemed to lift the filly’s spirits a bit. “So, um… W-what can Ah do? Ya know, ta help?”

“A game, of sorts, if you would be so kind… A back and forth to ease my mind.” The zebra nodded, before one eye suddenly clenched shut as she suppressed a grunt of pain, the glowing green veins along the side of her face almost visibly throbbing. “...Ask what you will, and I’ll answer as best I can… Though, if some things I withhold, understand I mean no harm.”

The zebra gasped, although not in pain, her eyes widening as Apple Bloom rocked back slightly with realization. “Z-Zecora... that didn’t rhyme.”

“It did not. Now there is no doubt…” The zebra brought a hoof to the left side of her head where there were no markings. “...that my time… is running out.”

“How did this happen?” Apple Bloom asked, her heart falling as she noticed the bandages that had been changed only moments ago were starting to show a splotch of green bleeding through from the wound on the zebra’s neck.

Zecora lowered her gaze a bit, looking down at the foot of her bed as she mulled over the question she had most anticipated… and dreaded. “It began on a day… far away and lonely…” the zebra began, obviously struggling for every word. “The day I saw my very first pony…”

————————
The TARDIS
-In Transit-

The door to the TARDIS swung open suddenly as the brown-coated stallion rushed in, soaking wet and dripping all over the smooth floor. Behind him, angry, unintelligible shouts could be heard as the Doctor kicked the door shut, the sound of impacts heard a few moments later as something heavy slammed into the door.

“Well, that could have gone better.” The Doctor shook his head. “Twilight, can I see that map of yours again? I think we’re a little too far north.”

“You were gone for less than two minutes…” Twilight looked up, half amused, half surprised by the Doctor’s dripping mane and panicked entrance. “What happened?”

“Apparently, we landed inside of a bathhouse.”

“How does that…?” Fluttershy started as the Doctor walked over towards the center console while he tried to shake his hooves dry and wipe some of the sand sticking to him off of his vest.

“Well, if I had to guess, I would think the bathhouse was currently catering to a sultan’s daughter… and the laws of local etiquette didn’t take kindly to my accidentally falling into her bath.” Twilight had to hide a smirk while Fluttershy’s blush practically turned her yellow fur a burnt shade of orange. “I honestly don’t think she minded so much, but the guards seemed to lack her sense of humor.”

"So we are in the Sandhara, then?” Twilight smiled smugly, glad to have been proven right in her initial assumption when they had opened the door and noticed the completely unzebra-like decorum of the storage room the TARDIS has materialized in.

“It’s hardly my fault that your cartographers take artistic liberties with their world maps.”

“Are you sure you’re not just holding the book upside down? It wouldn’t be the first time,” Twilight teased lightly.

The Doctor huffed, his ego a bit bruised, letting the comment slide as he started moving around the time rotor, focusing instead on trying to redirect the TARDIS to their desired location. So involved was he that Twilight felt more comfortable in turning back to Fluttershy, continuing their conversation from before the Doctor had burst back in.

“So, what is this ‘Ashmed’ plant?” Twilight asked curiously. “I’ve never heard of anything like it in Equestria and I don’t remember it being in the Super-Naturals book.”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. “From what she said, it sounds like it’s poisonous and really dangerous to handle. But her father used to make a potion with it that would help her now.”

“Did she tell you anything about her dad?” Twilight asked, worried that trying to find a specific zebra in a Zebrican city was going to be like trying to find a black and white needle in a striped haystack.

“His name’s Zilaka,” Fluttershy explained to her friend, looking over to the Doctor as he started talking to the TARDIS in a rambling fashion, much of what he was saying flying right over her head. “He was some kind of potion maker. She didn’t give me many details, but from what I understand... he passed away when she was a little filly.”

“That’s it? You didn’t ask anything else?”

“I didn’t know how...” Fluttershy cringed back a bit at the perceived accusation. “I was afraid that she would get suspicious, and then I would have to tell her about the TARDIS and the Doctor after we all promised to keep it a secret.”

Twilight sighed, nodding. “I know… You’re right, I’m sorry.” The unicorn facehoofed as she tried to think over the vague information they had been given. “Okay, we can do this. We pose as explorer ponies, say we’re there to study the plant life, and try to find out where Zilaka is. Maybe we can find something to trade him for some of this potion. From what I've read, zebras were really impressed with unicorn magic back in the Reneighssance, so it should be easy enough. Probably... Hopefully."

Fluttershy perked a bit at this news, daring to hope for a moment that everything would be alright soon.

“Twilight!” the Doctor’s voice suddenly came from over the sounds of churning and humming that were coming from the TARDIS’ center console. “Remind me when we get back to Ponyville to lodge a formal complaint with -- hold on, who published this thing…? -- the Equestrian Explorers League. Any Cambridge professor worth his salt would be horrified with the egregious inaccuracies of this map!”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she looked around to the Time Pony, who was watching an image of spinning glyphs and sigils on one of the monitors, although what it told him, Twilight could only guess. “Are we going to have to stop in Prance for directions again?” the unicorn mused sarcastically, a tone that drew a slight glare from the chestnut-colored pony.

“Oh, hardy-har-har,” the Doctor replied flatly. “Alright! Here we go, take two.” With a quick flourish of his hooves drawing himself up dramatically, the Doctor made sure that he had both of the mares’ attentions before pressing down on a single apparently random button.

The TARDIS was jarred violently in reaction, sending the poor brown pony stumbling back on his hooves as he lost his balance while Twilight quickly grasped for a railing again. Fluttershy, taking a page out of Rainbow Dash’s book, pulled herself up and hovered a few inches over the floor to keep from being affected by the worst of the time machine’s erratic shaking.

Soon, with a heavy thump, the shaking stopped, a now-familiar sound ringing around them that Twilight had come to relate with the blue box’s landing and taking off.

“Okaaaay…” The Doctor untangled himself, taking a moment to get his hoofing before getting back upright and shaking his head. “She didn’t like that one little bit. Sorry about the temper-tantrum, girls, but my old TARDIS tends to get a bit… Oh, what would be the proper expression…?” The Doctor tapped his chin thoughtfully for a moment as he mulled over his admittedly large vocabulary. “…ornery when she gets a feel of something she doesn’t like.” The colt moved to the center console and looked over the monitors, which continued to flash in the symbols that Twilight, in spite of what she had been told about the TARDIS’ Translation Circuit, still couldn’t comprehend. “Hmmm, we overshot the mark in the time-stream a little bit. We’re about twenty-six years before the time we left.”

“Doctor, why does the TARDIS shake like that?” Fluttershy asked, genuinely curious as she set her hooves back down on the floor and folded her wings to her sides.

“Oh… well...” The Doctor hesitated, just for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck with one hoof and drawing Twilight’s attention.

Normally he loved answering these sorts of questions, although the purple unicorn realized that this was the first time she had considered this particular point. She had just assumed that that was the way the time machine was supposed to travel, like how a boat rolled on the waves of the ocean and had to adjust for the pull of the tides. But the fact that the Time Pony seemed to grow uncomfortable immediately made Twilight reassess whether or not it was something that should have been asked sooner.

“Truth be told… she’s a bit of an older model,” the Doctor explained. “She's a Type 40 TARDIS, and by the time I departed Gallifrey last, they were already producing Type 100s. Plus, I have run her rather hard over the years; burnt out the shock absorbers long ago. Close call with a neutron star collision… long story. Never got around to replacing them. Besides, it’s more fun that way, isn't it?”

Twilight didn’t know why, but there was something about the Doctor’s smile that made her doubt this was actually the case. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, just nodded and made a small, accepting noise that replaced any words she might have had on the subject.

“Alright! So, since we were obviously off the mark last time, Twilight...” The Hourglass Stallion turned his attention to the unicorn. “What is it that we should be looking for if we’re in the right place?”

“Oh.” Twilight stood up straight, smiling as she effortlessly summoned some of the research she had done on Zecora’s homeland after she had met the zebra a year ago, walking alongside Fluttershy while the Doctor led them towards the door. “Well, Zebrica's supposed to be a particularly beautiful place. Rolling plains of golden grass that go on forever, dotted by solitary acacia trees. Since the zebra herds are nomadic in nature and don’t have the same ability to control the weather or tame nature like ponies do, they are better equipped to live off the land, and their culture reflects an admirable respect for the whims and ways of the wild.”

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS door and pulled it open, stepping outside with Twilight and Fluttershy right behind him.

“It’s too bad we’re only here for a short visit. I would have loved to take some time to study the zebras’ shamanic magical disciplines. Zecora’s shown me a few things, like that Illustration Powder she used on Nightmare Night last year, but she admitted herself that her knowledge of that sort of magic is limited compared to--”

*crunch-crunch*

Twilight’s rambling lecture was cut off as she stepped over the threshold of the TARDIS and onto the ground, which sunk half an inch with her hoofstep and gave a distinct crunching sound as she pressed her weight down on it. Her own startled silence at hearing and feeling this was then replaced by a gasp as she looked up and past the Doctor’s flank, taking in the scene before them.

Fluttershy paused, completely speechless as her eyes widened with horror, she too fully realizing what it was they were seeing.

The TARDIS stood atop a soft rolling hill, elevating the trio a bit above the plains before them and granting a panoramic view of what Twilight was sure should have been a beautiful, natural landscape.

But instead of waves of golden grass, a muted, dull, dusty brown color dominated the ground, cracked lines creating patches of broken earth where absolutely nothing grew. The Sun, normally such a soft and comforting beacon of warmth, bore down on the dry land with a blistering, baking heat that was all but unheard of in Equestria, causing shimmering waves to rise from the ground in the distance.

Off to one side, the trio was able to take note of a deep depression in the ground that dipped in an irregular pattern that was, like the higher ground surrounding it, bone dry. It took Twilight a moment to come to the realization that the ‘depression’ must have been a lake at one time.

It wasn't as if Twilight was any stranger to arid habitats. Last year she had joined Applejack on a trip to Appleloosa and saw firsthoof the sort of environment that lay outside the jurisdiction of Equestria’s Weather Control Authorities. But the native lands of the buffalo-held Southwestern Equestrian Continent, which may have seemed barren at first glance, actually teemed with all manner of hardy flora and fauna that had adapted to the lack of rain and somewhat poorer soil.

This was something different, however... This land was not arid, or even harsh.

It was dead.

“Oh… my… Celestia…” Twilight managed, taking another set of steps, each one crunching as the topsoil broke away into dust under her hooves. “...Doctor?”

The Doctor took a deep breath, but his expression and voice remained neutral. “Well, this is just… bad timing,” he sighed. “It looks like we'v arrived right in the middle of a drought.”

“What’s a drought?” Fluttershy asked, moving up to stand alongside the Doctor’s other side as Twilight just kept looking out, unable to tear her eyes away from the ecological devastation before her.

“Really?” The Time Pony’s snarky tone shook Twilight from her stunned state, turning to glare as he started speaking. “How could you not know what a drought--”

“Doctor,” Twilight scolded before the Time Pony could (even unintentionally) undermine her winged friend’s confidence. “Pegasi are masters of weather manipulation. What you’re talking about hasn’t happened in Equestria for centuries, not since before Cloudsdale produced the first working storm cloud prototype. Heck, most towns maintain a weekly weather schedule that's posted in the daily newspaper. Most ponies have never even heard of the sort of disaster you’re talking about, unless they specifically study history.”

“Really?” The Doctor raised an eyebrow, sounding stunned and clearly impressed. “I thought that was just the weekly forecast.”

He had learned, of course, that pegasi like Rainbow Dash could indeed control the weather, moving clouds around to create rainstorms and kicking them to expel lightning bolts. But apparently he had failed to realize the extent to which the winged ponies' mastery of Equestria’s skies reached.

“No, that’s a schedule.”

“Um… I’m sorry… I don’t mean to interrupt, but…” Fluttershy’s soft voice suddenly drew the two more academically minded ponies attention. “You didn't answer my question...”

“A drought, my dear Fluttershy, is what happens when there is no precipitation for a prolonged period,” the Doctor explained. “It prevents the continual evaporation and condensation cycles from taking place, and tends to cause a complete breakdown of an ecology if prolonged.”

Fluttershy blinked a few times and then turned to Twilight.

“It means that it hasn’t rained in a long, long time, and everything’s dried out,” Twilight simplified, then thought for a moment. “Wait, Fluttershy, you’re from Cloudsdale. I could see an earth pony or even a unicorn not knowing about ancient ecological conditions, but don’t they teach that in pegasi history or at the Weather Factory?”

“Oh, I didn’t attend the advanced lessons in Flight School like Rainbow Dash did. I kind of... 'dropped out,’ remember?" Fluttershy reminded her friend. "I finished my basic education when I moved to Ponyville.”

“Oh, right…” Twilight nodded, then turned back to the more immediate concern as she scanned the area. “So, what could have caused this?”

“Well, not to get all technical...” The Doctor took in a short breath and nodded academically. “But I would say ‘a lack of rain.’”

Fluttershy blushed, obviously feeling more than slightly put down while Twilight glared at the Doctor again for his sarcastic snark, but the Time Pony, prepared this time for a reprimand, shook his head with a short huff.

“As tragic as seeing something like this always is, I think we can both agree it has nothing to do with why we are actually here. So, not to sound cross, or anything, but let’s focus on that and get back to Ponyville quickly, shall we?” The Doctor turned around, trying to get a better view of their surroundings as he moved to the other side of the TARDIS, attempting to get some bearing of where they were as Twilight followed him with her eyes.

More than slightly agitated, the unicorn suddenly moved after him while Fluttershy continued to be held in terrible awe of the devastation. “Okay, that’s it! What is your problem!?” Twilight demanded, keeping her tone low enough to keep from drawing the timid yellow pegasus into the confrontation.

“Twilight, I don’t have a--”

“No! You’ve been snappish ever since I mentioned Zecora back in the library,” the unicorn pressed. “In the past month, we’ve gone on how many of these trips together? Six? Seven? And you’ve never been like this. Even when we went into that…” Twilight grunted a bit, not caring for the memories she stirred up when she considered her first trip in the TARDIS. “…future… you were taking it all in stride. I mean, Roan, Party City, Cloudsdale; you were all for it. Enthusiastic, excited, even. But now, when there is something actually important to us at stake, you’re acting like you’re being dragged along for some chore you don’t want to do!”

The Doctor shook his head roughly and avoided the unicorn’s eyes. “I don’t like traveling with an agenda. It never ends well.” the Time Lord stated plainly. “And I also don’t appreciate having my friends hold back information from me only to exchange it in low whispers while I’m busy driving.”

Twilight cringed slightly at this accusation, but didn’t argue or deny it.

“Your friend gets sick right after meeting me, and shortly after, we find ourselves in her homeland, years earlier. Coincidence-driven events like these are the temporal equivalent of thin ice and we are skating out onto it. We know just enough to get us into trouble and not nearly enough to avoid it.”

Twilight looked up into the Time Pony’s blue eyes for a moment before she spoke again. “What did she say to you?” the unicorn asked.

Now it was the Doctor’s turn to cringe, cursing his proportionally larger eyes as they betrayed his emotions so much more clearly than a humanoid face ever could. He had no doubt that Twilight was certain she was on the right track.

“Um, Twilight...” Fluttershy’s voice could barely be heard as her wings brought her up to stand on the top of the TARDIS, looking down upon the two earthbound ponies.

“Fluttershy, we’re kinda in the middle of something.” Twilight suppressed a disgruntled sigh, already fairly sure the Doctor was going to use her interruption as an excuse to evade the question.

“The giant bird...” Fluttershy started again, her anxiety clearly showing even as the two ponies had to strain to hear her ever-lowering voice. “...the one that Apple Bloom was talking about...”

“What about it?” Twilight looked up, ignoring the curious expression of the Doctor.

“It’s...”

A sudden shadow fell over the three ponies and the blue box, sending a certain chill down Twilight’s spine that she had only felt a few times in her life. Looking up, it was a simple matter to find the culprit overhead: an enormous bird that was easily half the size of a dragon flying only a few hundred feet above them.

Then, just as suddenly as it had fallen, the shadow of the large creature passed by, the unearthly chill disappearing as the sun again bore down on them.

“...here...” Fluttershy finished with a squeak, her irises having shrunk to pinpoints against the whites of her eyes as she remained frozen in place.

Pausing only for a brief glance to her friend to make sure she wasn’t about to fall off the top of the TARDIS, Twilight quickly moved to the Doctor’s side and followed his gaze to watch the creature as it soared with an eerie majesty over the desolate plains.

“Bird of prey? No, the build is all wrong. More like a condor... or a vulture. I take it that sort of thing isn’t common in Equestria?” The Doctor’s eyes narrowed, his flat tone indicating that what the unicorn had felt had not been a product of her imagination. He had felt it too.

“Not even a little.”

The large avian’s direction of flight changed suddenly as it neared the limit of the ponies’ range of vision, the feathered creature turning into a wide angle that became a gentle curve in the air.

Fluttershy’s wings brought her to the ground as she watched with a growing anxiety. “Oh, please don’t start circling... please don’t start circling...” the timid pegasus pleaded under her breath where Twilight could only barely hear it. And there was apparently no chance that the distant creature could hear it either, as its curve came, quite literally, full circle, causing the creature to fly in a wide ring over the distant plain.

There was a moment of silence shared between the three ponies. None of them needed to ask what the significance of this was.

“I know I’m going to regret this...” the Doctor stated, gritting his teeth.

Twilight’s eyes darted to Fluttershy, who was already taking deep breaths as her innate protective instincts overrode her timidness, and then back towards the Doctor. “No, you won’t,” she replied simply.

————————

Zebrica Plains
69th of Spring, 975 C.R., 6:45 p.m.

Not a word had been spoken between the three ponies for more than half an hour since they had started their trek (or in Fluttershy’s case, extreme low-altitude flight) across the barren Zebrica plains, eight hooves and two wings kicking up a small dust trail behind them as they carried on at a quick canter.

Weighed down by saddlebags packed full with water, the run was grueling, but although Twilight had suggested traversing the distance in the TARDIS, the Doctor had vetoed the idea. Aside from citing the obvious need to preserve fuel after their previous close call in Roan, he had brought up a valid point that the appearance of a flying magic box filled with ponies would likely cause a panic among any of the native zebra in the area. It would be hard enough on the perception filter already, distracting attention from the tall blue rectangle sticking out amid the barren savanna landscape.

Although Twilight was only just beginning to develop a stitch in her flank from the continuous run, the Doctor kept himself face forward, intent on what had come into view in the distance a short time ago as they followed the shadow of the circling bird. Fluttershy, however, seemed to be having far more serious endurance problems.

“Could we please... hah... take a break now...? These bags are heavy,” Fluttershy panted, her wings beating in a slow, steady manner as she struggled to keep up with the two running ponies. The Doctor looked back up towards her over his shoulder, noting with a little annoyance how the pegasus’ hooves were nearly dragging along the ground before he acquiesced.

“Alright… I suppose we can slow down a bit, take a drink, and catch our breaths. We don’t want to be completely worn out,” he said, slowing to a trot, then a walk, as the yellow pegasus came to ground, drawing heavy breath. Twilight was also glad to slow down for a moment, looking back and realizing just how much distance they had put behind them. The TARDIS and the hill it sat on were out of view now, and the flat, dusty nature of the plains would have made it all but impossible to tell which direction they had come from were it not for the trail of hoofprints they had left in the dead ground.

She also was astonished that, in spite of the late afternoon heat, the stallion had barely broken a sweat yet. But then again, judging by some of the stories she had heard him telling Spike, it was apparent that the Doctor was quite used to running.

“The sun will set soon, but it’s still a good idea to stay hydrated,” Twilight commented, reaching back into her own satchel and withdrawing a small container she could hold in one hoof, pulling the cork open with her teeth and downing its contents quickly before adding, “I’ve read that there are places in the Buffalo Southwest and the Sandhara where the heat can sap a pony’s strength in no time flat.”

“Oh, it can do worse than that if you’re not careful. Hmmm…” The Time Pony looked up towards the bird, which continued to circle overhead as they closed in on it. “Fluttershy, Twilight told me that you’re a professional animal caretaker. Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to try and get a bit of altitude; get a closer look at this creature. We can hold onto your water pack if you--”

“Ummm, I’d really rather not, Doctor.”

“But, Fluttershy...” Twilight seemed taken aback by her friend’s reluctance. “You’re great with animals. Why wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know, I just…” The pegasus looked upward and Twilight noted how her wings pressed a bit tighter against her side. “I have a bad feeling about it.”

“Well, that’s not a good sign.” Twilight shook her head, then turned to explain to the Doctor. “I’ve learned to trust Fluttershy’s instincts when it comes to animals. If she says it’s dangerous, then it’s really dangerous.”

“Well, it’s ignored us so far and I doubt it just hasn’t seen us. No offense, girls, but out here, you do stand out quite a bit,” the Doctor thought aloud. “And judging from the circling manner, it’s probably a scavenger. And since it hasn’t descended yet… there’s a chance we may be able to do something to--”

“Come no closer!”

“EEP!”

“WHOA!”

“Oh… hello, there.”

The sudden bellow of a deep and baritone voice all but blew over Fluttershy, the pegasus cowering behind Twilight as the lavender unicorn, taken by surprise, tried to comprehend the situation.

Less than twenty feet away from them stood a zebra stallion, his coat a dusty white with long, thin black stripes that wrapped around his body at regular intervals. He was nearly as tall as Big Macintosh, but was much leaner in build, his ribs visible through the fur as if he had not been eating well recently. Along his back, a small harness made of reeds and wicker held two short spears, although there looked to be spaces for at least four more, angled so that the stallion could easily turn his head and grasp the nearest in his teeth to pull free.

Where did he come from!? Twilight wondered.

They hadn’t seen or heard any signs of approach, and while it was true they were a bit distracted discussing the giant bird, it just didn’t seem possible that a monochromatic pony of that size could have gone unnoticed against a flat, dusty brown, perfectly lit plain. Sparing a glance behind him, Twilight realized the zebra had left no hoofprints in the ground, and even where he now stood, his weight did not break the thin, brittle layer of crunchy topsoil.

For one embarrassing moment, Twilight found herself suddenly very concerned about her weight.

“The Towiki Herd has claimed this place for the night!” the colt started again, his tone lowered and a subtle edge of concern laced with his hostility. “We have our own to tend to. We have not the time to play host to… to…” The zebra broke off as he looked between the three, his earlier outrage giving way to what sounded like fear as he realized that in spite of their similar shape, these three creatures were not zebras. “…What in the name of the Plains are you?”

“How do you do? I’m the Doctor,” the Time Pony started with a smile, bringing a hoof up to point at himself, then his companions. “My friend here with the horn is Twilight Sparkle, and the yellow mare in the fetal position here is Fluttershy.”

“We’re ponies,” Twilight quickly interjected, stepping a bit forward to cut into the Doctor’s introduction. “Explorers from the land of Equestria across the sea. We did not mean to intrude, we were just following that bird.” Twilight pointed a hoof to the sky, the zebra only taking a brief glance back.

This seemed to take the colt aback as he looked between them, clearly confused. “I know not this... ‘Equestria’... but you must certainly be strangers here, for only a foal seeks out a Roc. You should simply be grateful it passed you by this day, ponies. It seems our misfortune is your gain this night.”

“Oh, my goodness… you poor thing,” Fluttershy interrupted suddenly, pulling herself up and out from behind Twilight, her eyes glimmering with a familiar shine. “When was the last time you had something to drink?”

Any fear that she had shown before was gone in that instant, the pegasus’ wings pushing her forward in front of the zebra so quickly that the native stallion drew back a step, turning as if preparing to reach for one of his spears. Then he stopped, the hostility in his eyes fading the moment they locked on the large blue orbs of the yellow winged pony.

“A… drink…?” The zebra sounded astonished as Fluttershy turned and dipped into the saddlebag at her side, offering a corked container similar to the one Twilight had drank from only moments ago.

“Just look at your lips… They’re all dry and cracked, and your coat is so dusty!” Fluttershy commented, her voice taking on a soft and tender quality that all but disarmed the zebra as she shoved the bottle to his chest.

There was an awkward pause, the native zebra clearly unsure what to do as he looked down at the open container a moment before his eyes widened in realization.

Bringing a hoof up to balance the bottle, the zebra tilted it back quickly, pouring the clear water into his mouth with a desperate surge. Some dribbled down the corners of his mouth before his rush to gulp down the water caused him to choke up slightly, requiring Fluttershy to quickly catch the bottle she had offered him.

As the zebra recovered, Twilight caught the small smile that played on the Doctor’s lips, indicating to her that he had a plan already in mind.

“A gift for the Towiki Herd.” The Doctor shifted his back to slip his own saddlebags off to the side and then scoop them up with one leg, offering it towards the zebra with a small shake to indicate that it was filled with similar containers to the one that Fluttershy was passing back to him, allowing him to drink the rest. “Which we are more than willing to trade in exchange for a small favor. Please, take us to your leader.”

————————

With the sun rapidly falling into the west, their new guide did exactly as he was bid, leading the three ponies straight across the barren landscape and under the shadow of the circling bird.

What they found on this approach shocked Twilight and Fluttershy nearly as much as what they had witnessed as they first stepped out of the TARDIS, for it was not until they were directly on top of of their location that they saw another living thing. Completely cut off from view to anypony not at its edge, a large depression in the plains formed a bowl-like dip several dozen feet across. While it was only perhaps six hooves deep and sloped gently enough down that the three ponies were easily able to follow the young zebra colt down into it, the simple trick of the landscape had completely hidden two raggedy-looking tents, what looked like a large, overturned drum, and at least a dozen zebras that were milling and laying about, looking thirsty, hungry, and exhausted. While she had read about and knew something of the zebras from her tea time visits with Zecora, Twilight still found herself somewhat surprised at the lack of variation that there seemed to be among the natives of this land.

In Ponyville, Zecora’s striped coat was so unique, so exotic, that she had on occasion pondered what it would be like if there were many more zebras about. And the answer to that question? Confusing.

The patterns were different, but unlike the ponies, the differences were subtle and (quite literally) written in black and white. Much to her shock, Twilight realized that none of these zebras had cutie marks, a realization that sent her scholarly mind for a loop. Whereas ponies tended to stand out regardless of the situation with bright colors and identifying cutie marks, these zebras almost blended together, particularly when they started to gather into groups. And as much as she hated to admit it, she was having some difficulty telling them apart from one another.

But as strange as she found the situation, it quickly became clear that, to the inhabitants of this land, she and her friends were the strange ones. Fluttershy cringed and tried to pull herself low to the ground between the Doctor and Twilight as the trio of more brightly colored equines instantly became the center of attention for the zebra herd.

Small murmurs could be heard among those that watched on as the colt they met on the plains led the ponies towards the nearest of the two tents; some of curiosity… and others of fear.

“Wait here, travelers,” the colt said as they drew closer, waving to the ponies as he continued into the tent, the Doctor’s saddlebags still over his back.

“This is going quite well.” The Doctor smiled, nodding to Twilight, who gave a sarcastic grunt.

“Yeah, we’re not being attacked. That’s a plus.”

“Well, the day’s not over yet,” the Doctor replied, sounding far too excited over the prospect.

“Um, Doctor…? Why are they staring at us?” Fluttershy’s voice was low as she ducked her head down, practically hiding behind her hair and tail.

“Well, judging from our new friend’s reaction, I would guess they’ve never actually seen a real pony, unicorn, or pegasus before. And now all three in one day, well, that’d be enough to get anyone curious. I’d guess that they have more dire problems to deal with, but we serve as a much-needed distraction.”

Only half listening to the Doctor’s explanation, Twilight looked over the zebras that had gathered around them and gave a soft and friendly smile to one of the closer fillies, a small, wiry foal with a long, solid white mane. “Hello…”

Almost immediately, the filly was pulled back and two older zebras stood in front of her, pressed side to side as if attempting to form a striped wall.

Unbidden, a memory bubbled up in Twilight’s mind…

"No good reason!? You call protectin’ yer kin no good reason!?"

The mental image of Applejack, in a frightened panic inside Sugarcube Corner that day more than a year earlier, was nearly enough to make Twilight physically ill. That was how they were perceived by these zebras?

Considering how it felt, Twilight was developing a whole new respect for Zecora.

The sound of the rough, canvas-like material being pushed back from the tent opening snapped the unicorn from her thoughts as their guide reappeared, followed by a smaller, elder zebra mare that for some reason immediately reminded Twilight of Mayor Mare.

“Oh, good evening, Ma’am. Or Chief. Or what-have-you.” The Doctor bowed his head respectfully, while Fluttershy remained quiet at his side.

“I had hardly believed it… but it is true. Ponies, here.” The mare seemed taken aback for a moment, then nodded to the colt, who immediately darted away, drawing the attention of the crowd away from them, towards the large, overturned drum a short distance away. Pulling the saddlebag open while the zebras moved into a line at the drum, they watched eagerly as he began uncorking the bottles in the pack one after another, dumping their contents inside.

“Your gift is appreciated, pony, and it has bought you my time and tonight’s favor… although you will forgive us if we are not as hospitable as we once were. These are harsh times, resources are scarce, and trust is a commodity few among our herds can afford. And no offense is intended, but many of the herds consider your kind little more than myth,” the mare told them, drawing Twilight’s attention as Fluttershy managed to get to her hooves, watching the Doctor stand with a soft expression apparently glazed over his face. “I am Teaka, Acting Chief of what remains of the Towiki Herd. Who are you?”

What remains? Twilight didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“I am the Doctor,” the Time Pony stated, which drew a confused look from Teaka.

“The what?”

“Doctor,” the stallion stated again, genuinely surprised by the lack of recognition of the word. “You know… a Doctor. I’m sure you have those here. Every culture has them, it’s a fairly universal title. Wisema-- pony… Wisepony. Scholar. Academic. Intellectual. Healer.”

“Healer!?” Taeka’s stern, guarded demeanor fell away in an instant, looking to the stallion as if he had just turned to solid gold. “You are a healer!?”

“Well, I don’t like to brag, but… yeeaaaah, I’d say I’m pretty good.”

“Come with me!” The older zebra mare didn’t allow the Doctor to finish, nor take interest in the two other ponies as she suddenly turned and moved towards the second tent.

————————

“Twilight...” Fluttershy whispered, her eyes wide in horror as the two young mares stood at the entrance to the second tent.

“I know...” the purple unicorn answered, her own expression guarded as she took in the scene in front of her.

Laying on a cot in the center of the room, the Doctor now leaning over him with a grim expression on his snout, was a young zebra, a colt perhaps a year or two older than Apple Bloom and her little friends.

On his right hind leg, just above his fetlock, there was a green, ulcer-like wound from which radiated a throbbing, almost glowing web of veins that encompassed his leg and looked to be working up his flank. The agony the foal was in was apparent on his face as he grimaced, his fur splotchy and crusted over with dried tears as if he was unable to cry any more.

“How long has he been like this?” the Doctor demanded, examining the colt while avoiding contact with the young zebra. There was no sign of his usual, pithy self at this moment, the stallion’s intense eyes narrowed in an almost frightening determination as he studied the affliction.

“Three days,” Teaka answered. “And he is only the most recent. We have lost many of our herd to the Bite. We had hoped that he could last until we reached Thunder Drum... but his Roc already circles in the sky. Without an intervention, I fear he will not make it.”

“Twilight,” the Doctor called out, flicking a hoof forward as his sonic screwdriver extended. “I’m kind of busy... could you ask Acting Chief Teaka the obvious questions outside the tent, please? I’ll get the Cliff's Notes later. Fluttershy, I need you to see if you can scrounge up a towel, some smooth pebbles, and something with a sharp edge. The tips of that spear that our friend was carrying should do. Then get back here, I might need your assistance.”

“But... I... I only really take care of animals... I don’t know if...” Fluttershy hesitated.

“Fluttershy, a colt’s life is on the line,” the Doctor stated, his tone remaining neutral. At this, the yellow pegasus’ demeanor almost completely changed, her shoulders straightening and her trembling ceasing in an instant.

“Yes, Doctor,” she responded simply before turning and exiting into the quickly darkening dusk.

Twilight, meanwhile, looked to Teaka, who still seemed worried as the Doctor ran his alien device up and down the colt’s leg. “Silurian? No, the toxin’s not mutagenic. Similar appearance, different method of attack,” the pony mumbled under his breath while Twilight set a comforting hoof on the zebra mare’s shoulder, leading her outside.

“Trust me... he’ll figure it out,” Twilight told her. “Now, Teaka, please... tell us what is going on.”

The older zebra turned her worried expression towards Twilight, seeming to size the unicorn up for a moment as her harsh grey eyes fell into their earlier state of guarded suspicion. “Our matters are our own, pony.” Teaka shook her head, pushing the unicorn’s hoof from her shoulder and moving past Twilight and to the tent’s exit. “I thank your friend for his aid, and you may share our camp tonight. But we leave at dawn for Thunder Drum. Now is the time for rest... not talk.”

“But...”

“Twilight, don’t push her,” the Doctor said suddenly, drawing the unicorn’s attention. “She’s got the weight of her entire world on her shoulders and I have a feeling if she were not so desperate, we wouldn’t be here.”

“But isn’t she the chief? I mean, that’s what she’s supposed to do. I get that we’re strange, but we’re just trying to help. You would think she’d be grateful.” Twilight shook her head, shocked at the proverbial cold shoulder they had garnered from the zebra leader.

“That’s because you are still thinking like a pony, Twilight,” the Doctor responded, holding up his sonic screwdriver to look at it. “Cultural standards are different here. They are not looking to make friends or add to their herd. To them, we’re not guests; we're three more mouths to feed when they can barely keep themselves fed.”

“But we brought them water,” Twilight debated, still having difficulty understanding their host’s actions.

“And you didn’t stop to ask why they dumped it all into one barrel?” the Doctor replied coolly, drawing a curious stare from the unicorn. “I doubt you’ll get any information from the locals, Twilight, but you’re welcome to try. It would be nice to have some idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“But why can’t you? I mean, you’re good at getting ponies to talk.”

“Because whatever this is...” The Doctor shook his head, turning back to his work as the device cradled in his hoof-band whirred. “...it is aggressive and it’s spreading and I need to focus. The primitive setting isn’t helping, either. Now, I might be able to slow it down... but it’s going to take some time. And I’ll need you to leave your own saddlebags. I’ll need all the water I can get for this.”

“Fine, fine. I get it... Don’t disturb the Doctor,” Twilight huffed, shifting her shoulders to dislodge the saddlebags strapped along her back and feeling somewhat upset at the thought of being dismissed out of hoof.

Pausing for just a moment, Twilight’s horn ignited in a violet glow as she undid the latch on one of the satchels and pulled free a bottle for her own use, pulling it along beside her as she left her companion to his work.

Stepping out of the tent, Twilight shook her head with a grunt of frustration. He was just so frustrating sometimes! Normally, he was joking and just trying to have a good time, but now it was like he was a completely different pony. When he got that intense look in his eyes, it was like nopony knew better than he did. And considering how many times her well-read plot had been wrong today, from the state of Zebrica to the nature of the zebras themselves...

Twilight looked towards the center of the "camp" (for lack of a better word) and saw how several zebras were still lined up at the barrel in the center as she realized what the Doctor was talking about.

A large ladle had been set at the barrel, giving each zebra a measured share of the water that they had received earlier, rationing it so that each could have a bit, though not nearly enough to sate them.

“Um... H-hello?” A small voice came from Twilight’s side and for the second time that day, the unicorn jumping as a zebra had snuck up on her. This time, however, she recognized the little filly that she had tried to be friendly with earlier.

“Hi, there...” the unicorn responded.

“Ummm, my parents are asleep... so... I... I was wondering...” The young zebra dug at the ground a moment, looking both intimidated and in awe of the purple pony. “D-do you have any more water?”

Twilight’s expression softened a bit, noting how the filly was licking her dry, cracked lips... and the way her ribs were showing on her coat.

“Okay. I mean, yes.” Twilight sighed, levitating the bottle she had brought with her towards the filly. “Here you go.”

Her cringe confused Twilight for a moment before she realized: zebras were unfamiliar with unicorn magic. And watching the bottle float through the air, wrapped in a glimmering aura, was something that clearly unnerved the foal. Realizing her faux pas, Twilight brought the water bottle to her hooves, ceasing her magical grip before offering it to the filly.

Thirst obviously trumped fear as the young zebra took and drank down the contents with a frantic eagerness.

“My name is Twilight.”

“Ahhhhh...” the filly gasped with a refreshed relief as she let the empty bottle drop to the ground, a small smile on her face. “Thank you, Twilight... I’m Evoria.”

“Well, Evoria...” Twilight returned the smile, now grateful for her experience in dealing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders when it came to handling children. All it took was the right combination of words to make a young filly feel comfortable. “I’m glad you enjoyed that. Most of the zebras here are all afraid of us. But not you, right? Such a brave filly.”

Evoria’s grey eyes looked up to the unicorn, blushing slightly at the praise.

“And I bet you’re smart too...” Twilight continued.

————————
Trail of Stone-Water
Zebrica Plains
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 8:20 a.m.

The Towiki Herd had broken their camp at first light, collapsing the tents and covering the large drum that had been filled to less than a third of its depth with the water that they had received from their strange visitors. And now they moved along the plains in what almost seemed a random direction, although it had been revealed that their destination was shared by their unexpected guests.

Fluttershy snored soundly, draped as she was over the Doctor’s back while the Hourglass Stallion walked cautiously to keep the pegasus from slipping off. Twilight was likewise tired, yawning as she put one hoof in front of the other, but being no stranger to late-night study sessions, she was managing to keep herself awake.

But her drowsy state wasn’t at all helped by the Doctor, who offhoofedly boasted to being fine without having rested at all and had been so kind as to inform her that Time Lords didn’t require much sleep. And, come to think of it, even when Twilight and her friends would retire to their rooms in the TARDIS, the Doctor would always stay present in the console room, tinkering away or monitoring the controls apparently from when they fell asleep to when they rose again.

Most of the time, she didn’t mind, finding it fascinating to discover the many subtle ways in which his species was different from her own. But now she was starting to get jealous.

However, armed with the knowledge shared by Evoria over the course of their long discussion the previous night, Twilight felt she had a much better grasp of the situation.

“Is the colt going to be alright?” Twilight asked, although she had already guessed the answer when she looked up at the sky that morning and saw the large bird had dropped in altitude, still wheeling overhead as it followed the procession of zebra, trailed by three ponies.

“He’s still in pain.” The Doctor’s tone was clipped. “I managed to use a few tricks to stem the poison’s spread, but he needs something more advanced than a circulatory reroute to prevent it from getting worse.”

“Any idea what it is?” Twilight asked, thinking better than to ask the Doctor to explain what was done.

“You mean aside from being the exact same thing your friend is suffering from?” the Doctor commented, his eyes darting towards Twilight with a hint of accusation.

Now it was Twilight’s turn to cringe. “How did...?”

“Fluttershy told me. Turns out when she gets worried she puts Pinkie to shame in the chatterbox department,” the Doctor said to Twilight. “She told me about how you found Zecora… and about the cure her father is supposed to be able to cook up. I have to say I am grateful she was so forthcoming, although it would have been better if you had said something in the tent… or back at the TARDIS.”

“I didn’t think it was a good idea, what with you being so reluctant about all of this. I thought that... maybe...”

“Maybe what?” The Doctor raised a brow, almost as if he was daring the unicorn to say what she was thinking.

“Never mind.” The unicorn waved the notion off, hoping to cut down on any more conflict with the Time Pony while she could. The last thing they needed right now was for them to be glaring at one another for the rest of the day. “I managed to get some information about what is going on around here, if you're still interested.”

“Oh? Do tell.” The Doctor allowed the subject to drop, clearly more interested in whatever answers that Twilight might have been able to dig up.

“Well, for starters, this whole drought situation isn’t new. In fact, it’s been getting steadily worse for the last few years,” Twilight launched into a steady academic lecture, summarizing what she had gathered from Evoria the night before. “According to my new zebra friend, the water holes dotting the savanna have been getting lower and lower since she was born, and when they finally ran out earlier this year, everything went from bad to worse. The zebra call it 'the Parching.'”

“Ominous...” The Doctor shook his head, looking about at the small herd of zebra that moved at a steady trot in front of them, only a few inches of space between each member of the herd. “Could be a natural phenomenon, but I doubt it. Ecological devastation on this scale usually has some sort of external factor. Alright, so where are they going?”

“Thunder Drum Mountain,” Twilight answered.

“Coincidence after coincidence...” The Doctor didn’t sound happy about this, but let Twilight continue.

“Apparently, the herd that controls the mountain has a large supply of water and have been sending out envoys to invite the independent herds to come together there. Chief Towiki was being stubborn about accepting it, even while his herd was suffering. But he passed away about a week ago and now Teaka is leading them to Thunder Drum.”

“How did the old chief die?” the Doctor asked, but then shook his head, his tone growing skeptical. “No, wait, let me guess.”

“Yeah, they call it 'the Bite.' They only started seeing it a few years ago, but it’s become a crisis in and of itself. They think it’s some sort of insect, but nopony really knows what causes it. However, they are very familiar with the symptoms: Bright green bleeding ulcers, debilitating agony, and an unquenchable thirst.”

“Sounds about right. A very strange affliction. I’m having trouble believing it’s natural,” the Doctor explained, deciding to share what he had learned as well. “The welt is just the initial infection point, but the toxin that is introduced into the system causes some sort of blood contamination and attacks nerve endings, causing pain, but no actual physical damage. The real danger is that it drains moisture from the areas infected. Dehydration; a symptom you don’t want during a drought. The thing is, I couldn’t pin down the cause. It’s almost like whatever was introduced into the system was turning the body’s own blood cells against it.”

“And Zecora?” Twilight asked worriedly.

“I’m not sure,” the Doctor answered honestly, his tone firm and even. “Even if the hospital keeps her hydrated, the pain alone might eventually reach a point that--”

“Don't you say it!” Twilight interrupted, drawing a glance from the Doctor, which caused her to withdraw a bit. “I mean… we’ll figure this out. We’ve got to.”

The Doctor sighed slightly, looking to Twilight. For a moment, she saw them: the old, sad eyes that Pinkie had pointed out back in Ponyville, which seemed so long ago, now.

He gave a small, forced smile as the Doctor’s eyes suddenly seemed to cheer up, offering some comfort to the unicorn. “Of course. You’re right,” he said, his voice far more understanding before he changed the subject, which Twilight was grateful for. “So, what’s the deal with that fellow?” The Doctor jabbed a hoof skyward, pointing out the large bird that continued to soar over them, continuing its ring-like flight. “It hasn’t come to ground at all, not once. It’s just up there… looming.” The Time Lord sighed. “It’s getting rather annoying, actually.”

“It’s called a Roc. Ar-oh-see,” Twilight explained, her tone moving from academic to skeptical. “Part of the zebras’ belief system, apparently. Evoria called it ‘the Undertaker Bird.’ I don’t know if it's magical, or even sentient, but the zebras believe that they are the escorts for the recently departed. Their appearance is practically a death sentence because they always show up to whisk a dying zebra away to their ‘afterlife.’ They circle when they're not sure if the one they're coming for is going to die or not... waiting for some sort of confirmation.”

“Oh… Well, in that case, it just went from being annoying to being downright terrifying.” The Doctor’s eyes darted upward again, although in spite of his words, he didn’t seem particularly frightened. “Probably best not to tell Fluttershy, she’s enough of a nervous wreck without hearing that we have the Grim Reaper's pet birdy hovering overhead.”

Twilight was about to ask what the Grim Reaper was, her mind immediately cast towards the monster that appeared in Ponyville during the Bloom Festival, but then stopped herself as she realized the seriousness that the chestnut-colored pony was speaking with. “Wait, don’t tell me that you believe all that stuff.” Twilight looked to the Doctor in surprise.

“You don’t?” The Doctor raised a suspicious eye again.

“Of course not. I mean, come on, a giant bird spiriting away ponies to the 'Land of the Dead’? That’s absolutely ridiculous! Not just from a scientific perspective, but from a magical standpoint as well.”

“Twilight, you believe that your Princesses raise the Sun and the Moon every dawn and dusk,” the Doctor stated flatly.

“It's not a belief.” Twilight set her hoof against her chest, closing her eyes as she finished in a solemn, absolute fashion. “I know it's true.”

“So… who’s holding up that big fireball in the sky here in Zebrica?” Twilight’s eyes sprung open as she rocked back slightly from the Doctor's insinuation. “After all, Princess Celestia is probably snoozing away in her castle right now, so does it just keep going on it’s own until she wakes up to bring it around, or what?”

After a stunned moment, her eyes dropped as she stalked alongside the Doctor in a grumpy slump. “...Shut up.”

“I’m just saying… don’t dismiss the beliefs of the locals out of ha-- hoof,” the Doctor stated. “Whether you agree with them or not, they have those beliefs for a reason and it is rarely without at least some merit.”

Twilight grunted again, looking down at her hooves as she considered the Doctor’s words. “Anyway, the old chief was stubbornly trying to keep his herd independent, regardless of the cost. Evoria even said the envoys from the herd at Thunder Drum were, quote, 'Really scary.’”

“Well, I suppose we’ll find out why… and soon,” the Doctor said, bringing Twilight’s attention up and giving the unicorn a moment to gasp.

On the distant horizon, a single lonely mountain had begun to come into view: a grey stone spire that she found difficult to believe she had been unable to see earlier. Was it some sloping quality of the plains? Some sort of illusion caused by the contour of the land that made it seem flat when it was in fact much more hilly? She wasn’t sure. All she knew for certain was that, at their rate, it wouldn’t be long until they reached the mountain and, with any luck, could set out to finding Zilaka.

The Doctor fell silent, likewise in deep thought as he took note again of the Roc, circling over the herd that had picked up pace as Thunder Drum Mountain came into view.

Under his breath, he found himself muttering to it, “Don’t even think about it…”

————————
Thunder Drum Mountain, Foothills
Zebrica Plains
11:00 a.m.

Fluttershy wasn’t used to the sort of long nights that came with tending to a patient. Even with the nap that she had managed to indulge in, carried along by the Doctor, she felt horribly drained and a little hungry.

But as she followed closely behind her two friends, the looming mountain coming into full view, she felt it would be petty to complain about her own meager worries. And so she stayed back and kept quiet, keeping her hooves just an inch or so off the ground rather than walking and making that terribly annoying crunching sound, her wings set into a soft, steady beat so that she could pantomime walking. It was a trick she had learned long ago to keep her clicking hooves from waking sleeping critters, but she also found that it helped others concentrate on more important things by keeping out of the way.

They had been kind enough to bring her up to speed, of course. Twilight was always considerate like that, explaining what was going on. But all it did was make her feel worse.

To think that these zebras had been suffering like this for so long, and that so many others had been in the same sort of pain that she had been trying to help the Doctor to treat last night was terrible. It didn’t matter that in some part of her mind she realized that this all happened before they were born. To her, it was right here, right now, right in front of them.

She wanted to help them all, but unfortunately for her it seemed, the greater concern between Twilight and the Doctor wasn’t the suffering of the zebras, but the cause of it. That seemed silly to her.

When a pony dropped a flower vase, it hardly mattered if the reason was because your hooves were slippery or the glass was wet. Getting angry or upset wasn’t going to help anything. Instead, the pony just had to get to the job of cleaning it up and trying to find somewhere else for the flowers.

That was what this felt like as she half listened to the two more academically-minded ponies talk back and forth about what had caused the Parching. From discussions on the intricacies of weather control to fears that perhaps the manipulation of plentiful rainfall in Equestria might have somehow made it harder for the unmaintained areas outside of the ponies’ home to get rain.

She would never say so, of course, but she didn’t feel that debating the issue was going to get them anywhere. Except maybe closer to that big, scary, looming mountain that was casting its shadow over them all.

Truth be told, Fluttershy never did care for mountains. They weren’t like the light-filled forests and meadows where her animal friends lived and romped free of care. Mountains were places where bigger, more ferocious sorts of creatures lived, looking down on the very things she cared for, as if they were somehow clearly better. Granted, often, it could be argued they were.

From dragons, to griffins, to quarry eels, the creatures that lived on and inside the mountainous regions of Equestria were often on a far more dangerous level than what she usually contended with. And even though she had managed (with some difficulty) to journey with her friends up the side of Dragon Mountain to deal with the grumpy, smoke-snoring adult dragon that was napping there, it was not an experience she wanted to repeat.

“What do you think, Fluttershy?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy’s introspective was suddenly interrupted as the Doctor turned to look at her over his shoulder, surprising the yellow pegasus as she assumed she had faded into the background of his in-depth discussion with Twilight.

“You’re a pegasus. I was asking if you thought it might be possible to get some clouds together and set up a small shower as a token of goodwill,” the Doctor reiterated. “We don’t want any trouble and I somehow doubt that the herd that is living here will be as accepting as the Towiki have been.”

“Oh, um...” Fluttershy cringed a bit, hiding behind her mane as she looked away, unwilling to meet the Time Pony’s eyes. “I guess we could do that, but I’m not really a weathermare... I mean, Rainbow was always good with clouds, but I don’t like bouncing on them... or kicking them... I’m not even very comfortable standing on them, really.”

The Doctor looked a bit disappointed, an expression that all but tore the timid pegasus up inside before Twilight came to her rescue.

“Well, it’s a moot point, anyway. There’s not a cloud in the sky,” the lavender unicorn stated looking up, although her eyes kept drawing back towards the enormous bird that was circling overhead.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure, but now she was wondering if perhaps the question had really been a serious plan at all, or if the two brilliant ponies were just needing to fill the silence by talking and speculating. She could understand that. Both Pinkie and Rarity had the same habit; unable to handle prolonged silence.

Fluttershy, on the other hoof, preferred the quiet. Only now it seemed she wasn’t going to have any chance to enjoy it as the Doctor stopped short, squinting his eyes a bit.

“Somepony’s coming. Looks like a welcoming party.”

“Yeah, I see them too,” Twilight confirmed, though Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure what they were talking about as she really couldn’t see past them. Much to her discomfort, Twilight turned to the pegasus with a smile she had long ago learned to fear: the "Could you do me a favor?" smile.

“Fluttershy, could you fly a little higher and try to get a better look at who’s coming to meet us?”

“Oh, um... I-I guess. If you really want me to...” She herself didn’t want to, and that was for sure.

Fluttershy didn’t want to get any closer to that big, scary bird than she had to, and honestly, this whole "adventure" had been quite enough for her so far. If it were not for the fact that Zecora needed them... Fluttershy would have just as well stayed behind in the TARDIS.

But instead, against all of her instincts and desires to remain out of the way, she started beating her wings more forcefully and gained some altitude, keeping her body upright and holding a hoof over her brow to block the overbearing morning sun. She didn’t need to rise far off the ground, only about thirty feet or so, and from that vantage point she was more than able to survey for probably a dozen miles in all directions.

She could see the trail that Twilight and the Doctor were making, broken hoofprints in the dry soil, while the entire herd of Towiki zebras didn’t seem to even break through the top layer. Thunder Drum Mountain remained towering before them, and although there was not a cloud in the sky, the jagged grey stone of the mountain had a sinister feel to it that made Fluttershy imagine that there should have been dark storm clouds and scary bolts of lightning near its peak.

Closer to the base, however, was what looked like a quickly assembled town. A village of single-story huts and reed-topped roofs that looked quite ramshackle and poorly constructed -- although she would never have admitted it to the zebras that likely lived there.

From this height, she could also make out what looked like a large cave opening at the base of the mountain, and she could make out the figures of pony-shaped zebras milling about in the town, going about their business.

Finally, Fluttershy caught the small dust cloud and the trail of zebras that seemed to be heading directly their way with an obvious intent to meet the Towiki Herd head on. And she also noticed that the Towiki were speeding up from steady trot to a full gallop.

“Uhhh, Twilight... Doctor...” Fluttershy said softly, swooping down. As she reached ground level, it was obvious that both Twilight and the Doctor had noticed the sudden urgency of the herd that had been leading them all morning. “I think something’s wrong...”

“I think you’re right.” The Doctor nodded before he too began running ahead at full tilt. “Come on, girls!”

————————

Even with the short head-start they had taken, the Towiki had proven far more swift than the three ponies following them, having come to and remained at a complete stop several minutes before the Doctor, Twilight, and Fluttershy had managed to catch up. And as the trio approached the herd, they took notice of a defined change in the zebras they had met the night before, all of whom were gathered so closely together that they seemed to be right on top of one another.

As they moved around, giving the condensed herd a wide berth, they noted only one zebra they knew that had broken away in front of her tribe, speaking with seven very severe-looking zebras.

Each one sporting similar cropped manes and bobbed tails, these zebras looked far healthier, heavier, and more aggressive than their striped counterparts in the herd, their coats almost identical and giving a strange impression that perhaps the ponies were seeing some sort of mirror images.

Like the young colt they had first met, these stallions bore a back harness that held six spears each, and tied to the top of their forelegs, what looked like small reeds, although neither Twilight nor Fluttershy were entirely certain of their functions.

The Doctor, however, came to a sudden and abrupt halt, kicking up a small cloud of dust as he put out a hoof at his side, indicating for Twilight and Fluttershy to do the same.

“Ah, I see...” The Doctor smirked, directing his attention to the Towiki chieftainess.

“I am sorry, pony... but I must do what is best for my herd.” Teaka shook her head, not meeting the Doctor’s eyes.

“Wait, what?” Twilight tilted her head, echoing what Fluttershy was thinking as the two felt to be at a complete loss.

“Take your herd to the Mountain, sister,” the foremost of the larger zebras huffed, his tone harsh. “We will tend to the stripeless ones.”

“Well, there's another name I can add to my list of pony deprecations...” The Doctor shook his head, his companions still quite confused as the line of stallions moved aside, opening space for the dozen or so members of the Towiki Herd to pass by.

Twilight watched them leave, shocked that none of them turned to look at the three ponies.. save for one set of young, cool grey eyes that looked back, tinged with regret.

“Twilight... Twenty feet straight ahead,” the Doctor said under his breath, putting on a large smile. “Wait for my signal.”

“What signal?”

“Won’t be able to miss it.”

“Okay... I’m really confused... What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, her voice cracking a bit as she looked around at the large stallions who had all turned towards the three with cold, angry eyes.

"Teaka just traded us for safe passage," the Doctor explained, lifting one hoof as he glared at the zebra stallions. "I'm guessing that these folks don't care much for outsiders."

“Indeed. You stripeless are trespassing in the Grand Kingdom of the Anasi!” the foremost of the zebra stallions barked suddenly, his tone harsh.

“The mightiest of the herds!” another continued, his voice sounding nearly identical to the first.

“The horned one and the winged one shall remain! Prizes of the Anasi!” a third, again with a nearly identical voice, chimed in as they began to move around, circling the trio as Twilight and Fluttershy turned about, setting the three ponies into a Y-like pattern.

“Okay... that voice thing is just creepy,” Twilight commented while Fluttershy swallowed nervously, a bead of cold sweat running down her snout.

“And what am I supposed to be doing, you know, since you’re planning on capturing my lovely assistants, here?” the Doctor asked, ignoring Twilight for the moment and sounding far too cheerful, given the situation.

“You shall be allowed to flee, and take word to your meager kind!” yet another zebra stated, the Doctor not even turning his head to see which, as the tone remained the same. “The Anasi will tolerate no interference in our affairs! The ponies will keep their pact!”

“Pact?” Twilight huffed in disbelief. “The Sisters’ Pact? Nopony has taken that seriously in centuries. It’s just a formality at this point.”

“The horned one is intelligent... it could be dangerous,” one of the stallions muttered to his companions.

“We do not fear its magic,” another stated. “It will obey, as they all do.”

“It!?” Twilight’s temper flared, causing her eyes to take on a menacing glare.

“Twilight...” the Doctor chided softly as the zebras all suddenly took a step forward. Their hoofsteps were perfectly coordinated, creating an impressive and disciplined motion as they moved together with a strictness that rivaled elite Royal Guard drills that Twilight had seen in Canterlot.

“You will flee, stripeless!” one of the stallions stated, more than a bit of force behind this demand.

“No, I really don’t think I will.”

“You believe you have the might to resist?” another started.

In unison, the zebras took another step towards the trio and caused Fluttershy to emit a frightened squeak as she backed up and into the Doctor, her eyes wide.

“Steady, Fluttershy. It will be alright,” the Doctor assured her.

“Oh? And why would you think that?” one of the stallions chuckled cruelly.

“Dry bread.”

All six of the zebra stallions paused, clearly confused as they all tilted their heads in unison as well.

“Ever tried to get some bread and it was just really dry and stale? Well past its shelf-life?” the Doctor continued to babble. “You pick it up and it just breaks apart and crumbles in your hoof and on your teeth. I mean, you know how you describe something like that? Crumbly and brittle.”

“You are testing our patience, pony!” one of the stallions barked, hostility apparent in his tone.

“Crumbly and brittle...” the Doctor said again, smiling.

“This is your last chance to flee, pony!”

“You know what else fits that description?” the Doctor asked, bringing one hoof up to animate his point.

There was a moment of silence.

*click*

“Look down.” The Doctor smirked and then stomped his hoof into the ground.

*Whirrrrrrr*

*VRUMMMMM-VOOM*

The sudden shock wave that rippled through the ground was easily visible, creating a wave of dust and dirt that rolled out under the zebra stallions’ hooves in all directions.

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

The stallions flinched simultaneously as a bright flash of purple light engulfed the three ponies, causing them to vanish from sight...

*Krrriiisssshhhh*

…as the ground under their hooves gave way, forming an enormous sinkhole that sent the stallions stumbling and crashing into the newly formed depression.

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

The three ponies reappeared just past the edge of the sinkhole that had opened up, Twilight shaking her head as she tried to reorient herself.

"Sonic pulse right into the ground. Broke down the bonds holding the topsoil together. Instant collapse of the supporting structure." The Doctor smirked victoriously.

“Can we run now? Please?” Fluttershy asked in a small voice, clearly less than thrilled about the confrontation with the stallions.

“That’s the idea.” The Doctor nodded, leading the way as Twilight followed closely behind him. “Hurry! Let’s get to the city and--”

*thwip*

“Ungh!” The Doctor staggered forwards, Fluttershy gasping as she brought both hooves to her mouth in shock and took to the air with a startled jump.

For just a moment, the Doctor stumbled, having to shift his hooves to keep his balance as both mares took notice of the down-covered dart that had impacted his rump.

“Doctor! Are you...” Twilight rushed to his side, prepared to offer aid.

*thwip*

“Unnhh...” Twilight’s eyes widened for just a moment before her shoulders slumped. Her eyes rolled to the top of her head before her legs simply gave out under her and sent her collapsing onto the ground with a flume of dust as a similar dart was lodged in her back.

The Doctor fought the effects a moment longer, his mind scrambling as he turned his head to take note of two of the zebra stallions already pulling themselves over the edge of the sinkhole. They had recovered quickly. Far more quickly than he had expected, and already, two more sets of hooves were pulling their attached warriors over the precipice of the pit.

Panting for breath, the Doctor turned with an urgent look towards Fluttershy. “Fly!” he uttered.

The yellow pegasus gasped and pulled back suddenly in the air; an action that saved her as...

*thwip-thwip*

...two more of the darts were launched, just barely missing her flank and wing.

With a terrified look back, Fluttershy saw the last of the stallions pulling themselves free of the Doctor’s trap and did the one thing that she knew to do. She panicked, rushing away in a swirling burst of yellow and pink as her wings pushed beyond their usual limit to rival those of a more practiced flier like Rainbow Dash.

The Doctor shook his head, resisting whatever chemicals had been introduced into his system as he turned towards their aggressors.

*thwip-thwip*

Two more darts buried into his shoulders and he lost feeling in his forelegs, sending him sprawling on the ground.

*thwip*

Another struck him along the ribs, and almost instantly he found breathing to be a great deal harder than it should have been while he struggled to stay upright.

*thwip*

One more dart to the neck finally brought his struggles to a halt, the pony still glaring daggers at the offending zebras until his eyes fell shut as if they had lead weights attached.

————————

“Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness!” Fluttershy panted as she darted across the ground at her top speed, tears forming in her eyes as she dove towards the huts that surrounded the base of the mountain.

What had just happened? She wasn’t even sure. They had been heading to the mountain to find a cure for their friend and then everything just fell apart. Those creepy stallions had shown up and done something to the Doctor and Twilight.

What was she supposed to do now? She considered her options.

Panic? She had already done that, and funnily enough, it was bringing her towards the big scary mountain that the creepy zebras had come from.

Find her friends? That was her immediate Plan B for most situations that she considered scary. Find a stronger, braver pony like Rainbow Dash or Applejack, or a smarter pony like Twilight to help. Even Rarity or Pinkie would be a comfort in this situation.

But this was obviously not an option, as some still calm portion of her mind (she had no idea which part that was) reminded her that she was not just in Zebrica... she was in Zebrica over twenty years in the past.

Fluttershy reached the outermost grouping of huts as her wings began to cramp suddenly, causing the yellow pegasus to wince and drop in altitude almost immediately. While it was true she could perform great bursts of speed when properly motivated, she simply wasn’t in the same league as Rainbow -- or most other pegasi, for that matter -- when it came to endurance. Her wings were more dainty and she lacked the wingpower to carry more than a sky-cart full of frogs.

Bringing herself down on her hooves and fighting off the overwhelming need to hyperventilate, Fluttershy landed with a bit less grace than she was known for.

What was she going to do? What was she going to do?

Looking around, the yellow pegasus saw nopony around and, sticking low to the ground, attempted to dart between two of the huts, looking for a proper hiding place where she could get a better grasp of her situation and try to figure out what to do next.

The sudden sound of heavy hoofsteps took her attention and caused her to give a squeak as she dove into the window of one of the huts without thinking. She landed on the other side and immediately ducked down, setting her back against the wall as she stood on her hind legs and tried to take a quick peek.

Sure enough, two zebra stallions, identical to the group they had met outside the town, were moving down the streets, their hooves touching down on the ground in a rhythmic unison as they stomped past the huts with an aura of authority. Her heart pounding in her chest, Fluttershy pulled back when one of the guards looked in her general direction, praying to Celestia that they didn’t see her. This also gave her a moment to take a look at the room which she had jumped into.

Two small rolls of cloth made up what could only jokingly be called a "bed" right in the center of the small room, which was cut off from the majority of the hut with a wall that looked like it was all molded from some sort of dusty brown blocks. A set of smooth-textured masks adorned one wall, made of wood and formed like a ghastly set of skeletal pony heads. They both had a green finish with highlights of red... and blue.

Fluttershy was taken aback for a moment. She actually recognized those.

“Um, excuse me?” Fluttershy felt something prod her cutie mark, causing her to squeal for a moment before clamping a hoof over her own mouth.

Standing before her, no older than nine or ten, was a very confused zebra filly. Her stripes, however, were much thicker and more stylized; not the black, uniform lines that she had seen on other zebra, but a lighter grey at angles that gave them more character. The "white" parts of her coat also lacked the bleached look she had seen, in favor of a brighter shade of grey than her stripes. And done up in a ridiculously large mohawk that seemed to be too large for her head, her striped mane maintained an alternating grey and bleached white pattern.

Bright blue eyes looked to the yellow pegasus, filled with a mix of shock and wonder at the creature that was before her as Fluttershy came to a sudden realization.

“...Zecora?”

“What are you doing here? I... Wait... how do you know my na-- GAH!”

The little filly was scooped up suddenly and pulled into a powerful, desperate hug as the freakish yellow equine with wings grabbed hold of her, bringing the young zebra to her chest and setting a tear-soaked cheek against her ear, making the filly cringe awkwardly.

“It’s okay, Zecora. Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright... I promise.”

————————
Intensive Care Ward, Room 7
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 5:46 p.m.

“What happened next?” Apple Bloom asked curiously, actually rather surprised that Zecora would bring up her first meeting with an Equestrian pony.

Zecora smiled slightly. “She grasped me close and held me tight... telling me that everything would be... alright.” She then flinched a bit as she looked towards the ceiling. Her smile faded. “Until this day, I knew not what she meant... or why it was, that her eyes were wet.”

"Who was she? Did she have a name?"

Zecora’s eyes were suddenly drawn away from the ceiling as she noticed several of the doctors and nurses rushing past her room, heading to the exit.

“Zecora?” Apple Bloom watched her friend, concern obvious in her large eyes. “What’s wrong?”

To which the zebra said nothing, simply staring blankly forwards with a look of grim foreboding. Then, she closed her eyes and lowered her head, taking a long, painful breath.

————————
Just outside

Several nurses stood just beyond the sign outside the hospital, staring up slack-jawed as two doctors came rushing out to see what the fuss was about and why it had startled several of their patients. Although their initial intent had been to scold the nurses who had left their posts, the doctors too stopped as they followed the mares’ collective gaze.

High overhead... flew the largest bird that anypony in Equestria had ever seen, its black feathers a stark contrast against the blue, late afternoon sky.

Soundlessly, the creature flew in a sickeningly slow arc... Waiting... Forming a tight circle with its flight over the hospital as its menacing shadow filled the patients inside with an unspeakable dread.

Ch. 3: All Roads Lead to Thunder Drum

Chapter 3: All Roads Lead to Thunder Drum

Outside Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
Ponyville, Everfree Province of Equestria
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R. (Celestia’s Reign), 6:10 p.m.

“You don’t think something happened to her in the forest, do you?” Sweetie Belle called out in a frantic voice over the buzzing sound of her pegasus friend’s wings as they tore down the road leading to Pranceton Plainsboro.

“I don’t think so,” Scootaloo replied, maneuvering her prized blue scooter, red wagon in tow, to avoid a small pothole as the white building came into view. “No way Big Macintosh would still be working on the farm if Apple Bloom was really hurt.”

“Sometimes I just wish he had a bigger vocabulary.” Sweetie shook her head, still frustrated by the lack of information they had gotten from the brief interrogation of the eldest Apple Family sibling when their friend had failed to meet them at Sugarcube Corner. “He could have at least told us why she was at the hospital.”

“Are you kidding?” Scoot shrugged, not even sparing a glance back at her unicorn friend. “We’re lucky we got more than an ‘Eeeyup’ or a ‘Nnnope’ out of him.”

“Whoa…” Sweetie’s response was soft, and while Scootaloo was quite used to other ponies being in awe of her amazing daredevil maneuvers, she had hardly done anything on this ride that was "whoa" worthy. Sparing a glance back towards the off-white unicorn, Scoot realized that her friend’s eyes were turned up towards the sky.

Turning back to check her path for hazards for a moment, the orange pegasus filly spared a glance upward to try and figure out what it was that had stolen her friend’s attention away.

Her eyes went wide as she echoed Sweetie’s comment. “Whoa…”

The scooter skidded to a halt as Scootaloo applied the brakes and brought their momentum to zero just short of the sign that marked the turn-in entrance for the hospital. Removing their helmets, both fillies kept their unblinking eyes on the sky as they both observed the large bird that was circling overhead.

“What is that?” Sweetie sounded worried, clearly unnerved by the size of the creature that was lazily flying above them.

“I don’t know… You don't see birds like that in Ponyville, that’s for sure,” Scootaloo responded, stowing her helmet in the wagon.

“It looks kinda like a vulture, don'tcha think?”

“Oh, come on. That’s ridiculous.” Scoot shook her head, injecting a tone of objection to her voice as she took her eyes off the enormous creature. “What would a vulture be doing…” Her tone dropped suddenly. “...at a… hospital...?”

The two fillies shared a nervous, fearful glance, Sweetie Belle gulping slightly as they nodded in a mute agreement and started walking towards Pranceton Plainsboro, their eyes firmly and totally locked on the doors, and very pointedly not on the skies.

————————
Semi-abandoned Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 11:28 a.m.

“Hush, now… quiet, now… I won’t let anything happen to you. Everything is okay…” Fluttershy muttered quietly to the filly’s ear, feeling her heart calm as she cradled the comfortingly familiar pony for a moment. More than anything, that was what she needed: something to take care of. And in doing so, adding some semblance of normalcy to her troubling situation.

This particular zebra, however, hardly seemed content to play the part.

“No, it is incredibly creepy and uncomfortable,” the little zebra objected, having to shrug her shoulders to get her front legs up between the two of them, roughly pushing away from the yellow-coated equine with her hooves. “Get off!”

Fluttershy was taken aback as the filly reeled back and away from her, eying the pegasus suspiciously.

“Now, who are you and how do you know my name!?” the filly zebra demanded, stomping a hoof.

“Zecora… It’s me…” The pony smiled softly, looking to her with a pleading expression. “Fluttershy. You know me.”

“...Nooooooo… I think I would remember someone so…” The filly tilted her head, eyes narrowed suspiciously as her tone displayed her disbelief. “…colorful.”

“But, you--” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in realization as the bit dropped. This wasn’t the Zecora she knew; the one that lived in the Everfree Forest and visited Ponyville every month. Not yet, anyway.

This was her younger self, back in Zebrica. Fluttershy hesitated a moment as the ramifications came crashing down on her.

They had come back in time, specifically to the zebras' homeland, to find Zecora’s father. Fluttershy didn’t know how she hadn’t considered that, while trying to find him, they ran the possibility of encountering a younger version of Zecora herself.

“Wait… you’re a pegacorn, aren’t you!? From across the sea!” Zecora suddenly pulled back, her expression a mix of horror and wonder.

“Um… That’s pegasus. And I am from Ponyville, but--”

“Aha! So the ponies are invading!” the young zebra exclaimed loudly before she lowered her head aggressively with a snort, to which Fluttershy backed up, pressing into the wall under the windowsill.

“Invading… What? No! Of course not!” Fluttershy reeled, her tone still shocked as she shook her head violently (relatively speaking), trying to get a grasp on the situation. “What in the world would give you that idea?”

“The Anasi,” the filly stated simply.

“Anasi? What is--” Fluttershy started before a sudden and deep pounding of hooves sounding from the other side of the hut’s interior wall brought back a sense of urgency to her situation.

————————

Two zebra soldiers went into the small half-room that was separated from the rest of the hut, neither announcing their presence or requesting access as they moved across the door’s threshold and each scanned a side of the small resting room before their combined gazes fell upon the zebra filly that stood in its center. Both adult zebra shared a quick glance before motioning to the filly.

“What are you doing here, little one?” one of them asked, pulling forward and moving to her right.

“You should not have left home. After all…” the other remarked, his voice eerily similar as he moved around to the small zebra’s left side.

“...it is dangerous at the village edge,” the first started again, picking up on the thought of the second.

Zecora huffed as she stood there, clearly unconcerned and showing a complete disinterest. “I needed some space,” she said, not intimidated by the larger, aggressive-looking zebras as she continued with a flat, unimpressed tone. “And it is not as if this hut’s taken. One of the Rocs cleared out the owner weeks ago.”

“Your father will be worried, Ash-Stripe,” the first stallion began again in a patronizing fashion, the pair circling around her in opposite directions.

“If he even notices I am gone…” Zecora shrugged her shoulders with disdain. “But you are not here about me squatting in a hut, so what do you want?”

One of the stallions, apparently agitated at the lack of effect that he was having on the small zebra, nudged the filly with a hoof, pushing her a step forward. But although her eyes narrowed, she did not turn towards him.

“A stripeless beast…” the second of the pair stated. “A deviant, wicked creature that would deny us our right...”

“...as Masters of the Plains… The Strongest of the Herds…”

“The creature bears the wings of a bird, and stands out from the herd with a sickly yellow coat and a mane of light red…”

As both zebra warriors stood behind her, glaring metaphorical spears she could almost feel boring into the back of her head, Zecora chanced a look upward, her eyes moving to the ceiling. There, in the upper corner, thus far unnoticed by the two zebra stallions that were so focused on her, was the yellow-coated, pink-maned pony, her wings beating quietly as she pressed herself as tight as she could against the ceiling wall, keeping as silent as a field mouse.

“...Pink,” Zecora stated flatly, closing her eyes, causing Fluttershy’s heart to all but freeze.

“What?” the first zebra stallion asked, coming around to glare down at the filly again.

“Pink is the word for light red,” the filly clarified, “And yes, I saw this creature…”

Fluttershy shook her head in horror, her eyes pleading even if she knew the young zebra couldn’t see her the way she was staring straight ahead.

“Where?” The stallion leaned in, towering over the filly.

Zecora smirked. “Lift your tail, and perhaps you will--”

*CRACK*

“Ungh!”

Fluttershy turned away, wincing as she suppressed a horrified cry at witnessing a moment of cruelty she had never before seen inflicted on so young a foal. Too in shock to even react, she turned back seconds later to see the filly forced to her knees.

“Little ones should show their betters respect.” The second zebra, still standing behind her, glared as he spoke.

“...Do something worth respect and maybe I will start showing it.” Zecora looked up defiantly, the sneer on her lips contradicting the tears welling up in her eyes.

The yellow and pink pony cringed again as the first zebra stallion leaned towards Zecora, a war raging in the pegasus’ mind as to whether or not to dive down and Stare the two bullies into submission… or try and remain out of reach of those very sharp and dangerous-looking spears.

“You… are very a lucky filly,” the stallion practically hissed. “Any other member of the herd would be given to the Pit for less.”

“I am not part of your herd, Zulu.” Zecora glared back. “And I never will be.”

The two held their stares for a long moment, tension thick enough to cut with a knife, before the second zebra stallion looked up, his expression blank. “The Ash-Stripe is of no concern. We have more important matters to attend to.”

“Indeed. This distraction is beneath us.” The lead stallion turned away, moving out the door from whence they came. His compatriot followed without another look back.

“Go back to your sire, Zecora,” the stallion huffed, his tone shifting, taking on a bit more emotion. But it was masked well enough that the pegasus keeping out of sight just above him couldn't tell if it was concern or spite. “Perhaps then you will remember your place.”

Zecora’s head drooped as the hoofsteps of the two zebra stallions moved away, past the threshold and out of the hut completely, several seconds passing in silence before the pegasus came to ground, gliding to the filly’s side.

“Are you alright, Zecora? Did they hurt you? I’m so sorry. I didn’t think they would… I didn’t think anypony could... Those… big… mean… bullies! Picking on a sweet little…” Fluttershy was beside herself, trembling half with fear and half with an uncharacteristic anger. There were very few things in the world that could get her ire up… but what she had just witnessed...

“I am fine!” Zecora looked up, her left forehoof quickly running over her eyes to wipe them clear as she barked forcefully, her other hoof shoving Fluttershy away. “And I do not need your sympathy, stripeless! I am not some whiny, weak little foal that needs nurturing and protection. And I certainly do not need it from some trembling yellow pony.”

“I… never said that…” Fluttershy withdrew, stunned by the filly’s direct and aggressive tone. “I just wanted to…”

“Do not thank me,” Zecora huffed in annoyance, looking away and rolling her eyes at the pegasus’ timid tone. “I did not do it for you.”

Fluttershy was at a complete loss for words as she looked over the mohawk-wearing zebra, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. This couldn’t be the Zecora she knew; the kind and sagely mare that made salves for injured ponies, and potions to restore a rooster’s crow.

“Wait... You can fly...” The aggression in the filly’s voice was gone, replaced with an almost shocked realization, as if what she had witnessed were only now making an impact.

“What?”

“You can actually fly!” Zecora looked the pegasus up and down, her eyes lingering on Fluttershy’s delicate wings, the wheels clearly turning in her mind.

A notion that for some reason filled Fluttershy with dread.

“Y-yes…?” she answered hesitantly as the young zebra moved up beside her and set a hoof to the wing folded to her side.

“Could you carry me?”

“Huh? Oh...” Fluttershy perked up, a soft smile spreading across her face as the realization dawned on her. “Yes, I can do that. I can fly you out of the village and try to find somewhere safe for us to hide until Twilight and the Doctor find us. That’s a terrific idea!”

Zecora looked to the smiling pony for a moment, her expression flat. “...That is not what I had in mind.”

“Huh?”

“Must I spell it out? You are taking me to Thunder Drum!”

“What…? Y-you mean the mountain? B-but…” Fluttershy stammered a bit, confused as to why Zecora would want to go to the looming, scary peak that sat in the middle of the desolate plains.

“You owe me, stripeless.” Zecora grew animate in an instant, jabbing a hoof at the pony. “So, let us keep this simple. You… take me... to Thunder Drum.”

“But--”

“Or…” Zecora stomped a hoof down, glaring with an angry, remorseless gaze that seemed determined to impress her sincerity on the pegasus. “I yell at the top of my lungs, and we see how fast you can fly with spears coming at you from every direction.”

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped at the sudden and blatant threat, her shoulders drooping as she tried to wrap her head around how things had gotten so completely and utterly out of control.

With only a few moments to consider her position, Fluttershy swallowed, trying very hard not to cringe as she uttered a carefully selected response. “…Okay…”

————————

Intensive Care Ward
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 6:21 p.m.

“Apple Bloom!”

The duet-like cry surprised the small Apple filly, forcing her to shift quickly to keep the large tray precariously balanced on her head from toppling over. The large water pitcher on top sloshed a little as she did, while her fellow Crusaders came up to flank her.

“There you are! We were so worried!” Sweetie stated, only just barely restraining from throwing her forelegs over her friend’s shoulders, taking note of the tray. “When Big Mac said you were down here, we thought you'd gotten hurt.”

“What happened? We were waiting for you down at Sugarcube Corner, and when you never showed up-- Wait, where’s your bow?” Scootaloo asked, interrupting her own story when she noticed her friend's unadorned mane.

The yellow-coated, red-maned filly’s eyes darted from side to side between her friends for a moment as a knot formed in her chest, expressing as a sudden flush to her cheeks. “Girls!” she shouted, a bit more harshly than she intended. “Just... be careful and gimme some room... Ah need ta get this water ta Zecora.”

“Zecora?” Sweetie asked. “Why would she be here? What’s going on?”

“Well, she’s sick. Like, really sick,” Apple Bloom explained, trying to keep her temper down. “Ah’m tryin’ ta keep 'er comfortable while Twilight and Fluttershy 're gone.”

“Oh! Well, why didn’t you just say so?” The white unicorn perked up a bit, smiling as she looked to Scootaloo with a slight wink. “We can help! We can be..."

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER NURSES!"

The sudden rise in her friends’ volume jostled the Apple filly as she suddenly jerked back, some of the water from the pitcher splashing down into the tray on her head when she tried to regain her balance.

For some reason, the usually enthusiastic trademark shout that the three fillies used to emphasize their favored pastime of crusading for their cutie marks had a very adverse effect on Apple Bloom’s already somewhat-frayed nerves.

“Goshdarnit, Sweetie! This ain't the time to be worried 'bout our cutie marks!” she snapped, glaring at the young unicorn, her harsh tone deflating the enthusiasm injected into the conversation in an instant. “This is serious!”

Sweetie Belle took a step back, stunned by Apple Bloom’s reaction. “I… I’m sorry, I just thought that…”

“Whoa, hold on, AB, that was uncalled for.” Scootaloo stepped between them, trying to keep her own temper in check after witnessing the normally happy yellow filly shout like that. “What happened? What’s the matter with you?”

“What’s the matter!? Ah went runnin’ after Zecora ta find out what was wrong, we got attacked by some big bird monster, then Ah had ta drag 'er all the way ta Fluttershy’s by mahself cuz she'd done passed out! Where the hay were you two!? Ah coulda used yer help!” Apple Bloom’s tone did not relent, a sudden need to vent causing her to shift and the water that had spilled before to drip around the edge of the tray she carried.

“We were waiting for you at Sugarcube Corner… We thought…” Sweetie tried to speak up, but clearly growing more reserved as she cringed, doing what Scootaloo considered to be a spot-on impression of Fluttershy when she was faced with danger.

“Sugarcube Corner...? Y'all were busy eatin’ sweets while Ah was... Humph! Some friends, you are!” Apple Bloom slumped, disappointment clear in her voice.

“But… but you said…” Sweetie sounded close to tears as she withered under the farm filly’s glare.

A sight that caused the pegasus of the trio to step up. “Hey, that's not fair! You told us it was fine! That you go in there all the time! You asked us not to tell anypony!” Scootaloo stomped a hoof, interposing herself between the earth pony and unicorn as she went on the offensive, causing Apple Bloom to pause for a moment.

“What in tarnation? Hold on, now! Ah may not be no Element of Honesty, but Ah know fer a fact that Ah didn’t say nuthin’ like that! Ah didn't even stop ta talk ta y'all! Ah thought y'all were right behind me!”

“But... no... you stopped at the edge... You said to wait for you... at....” Sweetie bobbed out from behind Scootaloo for just a moment, cringing back when Apple Bloom glared at her again.

“Ah know Ah didn’t and so do you!”

“Oh, so now we're the liars!?” Scootaloo clearly took offense, again. “That’s a pretty bold claim from the filly who once faked her own cutie mark and lied to the entire town!”

“Oh, don’t you start talkin’ ‘bout that now!” Apple Bloom’s cheeks flushed, her own outrage rising, surging forward suddenly as she put herself nose to nose with Scootaloo.

“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo! Stop it!” Sweetie looked around, her voice falling on deaf ears as she scanned the hallways for an adult who could intervene... with none in sight.

“Ah ain’t got time fer little foal stuff right now! Ah got a friend that needs me!” Apple Bloom declared, her eyes unwavering as she waited for Scootaloo to blink.

“Oh? So what are we, then?” Scootaloo glared right back, refusing to yield.

“Well, ya ain’t lyin' in a hospital bed wit' Celestia knows what makin’ ya sick, Ah can tall ya that much.”

“So, what? We’re just ‘fun time’ friends, not 'real' friends you can depend on like Zecora is!? Do you really think we wouldn’t have come right behind you unless you told us not to!?” Scootaloo threw right back at her, her wings starting to buzz as their argument grew more pitched.

“Right now the only thing y'all are is in mah way! Move!” Apple Bloom stepped forward, setting her shoulder against Scootaloo’s in a sudden and aggressive show of dominance... one that the orange pegasus did not give way to.

“Make me!” Scootaloo refused to move and pushed back.

The sudden jostle finally proved to be too much to the Apple filly, both foals forgetting in their heated back and forth that Apple Bloom still had a tray with a water pitcher perched on her head.

*SPLASH*

And all of a sudden, she had just a tray, as the pitcher fell forward, the water deflecting and drenching the orange filly with a torrent of cold liquid.

After a moment of shocked realization, Apple Bloom reached up and pulled the tray off her head, baring her teeth in aggravation. “AGH! Now look what you did!”

“What I did!? You're the one who just dumped water all over me!” Scootaloo shouted back, all but ready to dive-tackle the earth pony.

“Scootaloo, that’s enough!” Sweetie piped up suddenly, rushing in front of her friend while Apple Bloom stepped back and reached for the fallen pitcher, grateful it hadn’t broken when it fell.

“What, you’re taking her side!?”

“I’m not taking anypony’s side, but this isn’t helping!” Sweetie pleaded before Apple Bloom turned to both of them again.

“Ah don’t have time fer this! You two jus' get on outta here and play somewheres else, why don’tcha!?” she snapped dismissively, sounding more than a bit like her elder sister as she spoke.

“'Play'? Since when is crusading just ‘play’ to you!? Nothing's more important to you than getting your cutie mark!” Scootaloo shot back. While still angry, being suddenly doused had taken some of the fight out of her.

“Right now, Ah’d stay a blank-flank forever if it'd help Zecora! And anypony that wouldn’t is no friend a' mine!” Apple Bloom stated with a tone of finality, her expression accusing.

“Hey! Don’t go twisting my--” Scootaloo started again, only to be blocked by the still dry white filly.

“Scootaloo… we should go.”

“But, she--”

“Scootaloo… please,” Sweetie pleaded, clearly upset by the fighting.

Without another word, Scootaloo turned and started away, her tail and wings flicking water all about as she took several steps with Sweetie Belle right behind her. The unicorn looked over her shoulder sadly as Apple Bloom ignored the pair of them.

Stalking past the doors leading out of the Intensive Care Ward, Scootaloo bowed her head, attempting to shake herself dry for a moment and keeping her face turned away from Sweetie.

“So much for the Cutie Mark Crusaders…” she grumbled, trying her hardest to believe the water streaming down her face was just that... and not something else.

————————
Medicine Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 12:08 p.m.

“You promised instant incapacitation!” a deep, angry voice suddenly surged forward, a beacon in the endless darkness of the Time Lord’s slumber. “One drop and nothing could stay on its legs, that is what you said!”

“No. I said no zebra could stay on its legs. I cannot be expected to account for the reaction of a creature I have never encountered before.”

The Doctor’s brown ears twitched slightly as the voices registered, his blue eyes snapping open as his mind leaped from a serene dreamless oblivion to a frantic, fully alert state in an instant. As memories of what transpired before he was rendered unconscious came gushing back to the front of his thoughts in microseconds, he managed to suppress his immediate instinct to bolt upward, realizing that he was, in all likelihood, a prisoner. His eyes darting about, the chestnut-colored pony took in his surroundings, subtly shifting his weight to get a full accounting of his current situation.

He had apparently been set into an alcove in the hut atop what felt like a coarse blanket. Judging by the awkward feeling of his fur coat catching on the cloth and how light his head felt, he determined that his vest and goggles had been stripped off of him while he was unconscious. A spare thought meant to ping his sonic screwdriver’s psychic interface went unanswered, indicating that it too had been taken away and was now well out of range.

His respect for the zebra warriors was growing. Their approach was to disarm and study rather than simply destroy outright, which proved foresight and efficiency; a plan behind their aggressive xenophobia. Unfortunately, it also limited his options and left him feeling, quite literally, naked.

Without turning his head, the Doctor came to fully appreciate the wider range of vision that his latest regeneration’s enormous eyes offered for the first time, taking in much of the room he was in with a single scan.

Unsurprisingly, he had been moved. And judging by the concave nature of the ceiling overhead, he guessed he was indoors… probably inside one of the huts that he had glimpsed from a distance as he and his friends had approached the village at the base of Mount Thunder Drum. Light from an open window, devoid of any glass or other barrier to the outside, indicated that he had not been asleep for very long… Unless, of course, it had been more than twenty-four hours, and the sun had come back around to a midday angle, but he dismissed that notion as he gauged his thirst and hunger; neither of which were of an overwhelming intensity.

The area around him was filled with jars, pitchers, and pots of all shapes and sizes, some lined up on shelves, others hanging from the ceiling by a small cord, many colored with stylized designs that could have had any number of meanings. In spite of an obvious water shortage from the Parching, there was an enormous cauldron near him, set in a shallow pit that sounded like it was quite full and bubbling, with a distinct lack of flames or smoke coming from underneath it.

And most predominantly in the room was a pair of zebras standing on the other side of said cauldron. Like most of the striped equines the Doctor had encountered so far, they were taller than him or any other ponies he had met aside from royalty, but their stripe patterns were actually quite… varied. Well, in comparison to the more uniform style that adorned most of the zebra of the Towiki, or the warriors that had captured him.

“One drop, you say! And yet this ‘pony’ took five and even then struggled against it!” one of the zebras stated, this one shorter and apparently younger than his counterpart. He more than made up for it by having a muscular chest and legs that were far thicker than the other’s. His tail was bobbed like the warriors from outside the village and he wore a similar harness and spear-pouch across his chest and back, but his mane was styled differently. Instead of being cropped almost to the fur, his was pushed up into a mohawk and then apparently cut down to a clean edge around the height of his ears, one of which sported a small gold ring. His stripes were not black, but possessed an ashen quality and covered his body in symmetrically angled "slash" patterns, the most attention grabbing being a pair of stripes that ran down his face and over his eyes like blades.

Speaking of eyes, his were strange… for a pony, that is. His pupils were almost entirely black, lacking any colored iris and giving a stern, haunting impression of being distracted, occasionally darting away from the zebra in front of him.

“No, your warriors wasted three darts,” the opposite zebra replied, his voice slightly deeper, but calm and dismissive.

This one was the taller of the two, but also seemed older and more fragile. His legs were long, almost spindly compared to the heavier set warrior, and he wore his mane in a similar manner, though his own mohawk was far taller, adding even more to his impressive height. Like the younger zebra, the elder’s stripes had an ashen grey tone as opposed to the more common black, and shared the angled designs, including stripes that ran from his maneline, down over his eyes, and continued down the bridge of his snout to meet in a "V" shape at the tip of his nose.

Also, whereas the younger of the zebras had a single golden ring in his ear, the elder bore two in each, evenly spaced and clearly of some cultural significance. In terms of dress, he was also set apart, wearing an odd collar-like band around his neck that bore what was either a very large pendant… or a very small dinner plate. On the somewhat awkward neckpiece was a symbol that clearly had some importance: a counterclockwise swirling spiral surrounded by outward facing triangles along its outermost edge.

“The sting releases its venom upon impact, Zulu,” the taller zebra explained, his tone somewhat smug. “You said before: the pony was clothed, and by your description, your warriors struck him in both the shoulders and the chest… where he was covered. The darts may have stuck, but they released their drought before they pierced his skin. You struck him not five times… but twice.”

“That is still one too many…” The younger zebra, apparently named Zulu, narrowed his eyes, clearly taking offense at the older zebra’s sagely tone. “If we are to proceed as Anasi demands, then the first sting must be the last!”

“The stamina of the earth pony is legendary. It should be of no surprise that they prove more resilient, would you not say?”

There was a moment of silence as the Doctor observed Zulu suddenly look away, his eyes distant and distracted while the taller zebra looked over towards the captive pony. Too late to react or feign unconsciousness, the Time Lord’s eyes locked with the academic zebra’s, the latter of which widening in realization.

“She wants the stripeless interrogated,” Zulu spoke up suddenly, snapping the taller zebra’s eyes back to him. “Wake it.”

The Doctor tested his mobility subtly, making sure that he was not bound with a slight twitch of his hooves, wanting to ensure he could at least get up if the need to run arose. But as he suspected by the elder zebra’s initial response, such an action was not required.

“Absolutely not.” The pendant-wearing zebra shook his head.

“You do not choose which words of the Prophet to obey and ignore, Potion Maker!” Zulu stomped a hoof angrily, glaring without abandon.

“You brought the earth pony to me for a reason, Zulu,” the older zebra explained quickly. “We do not know enough about this enemy. The pegasus and the unicorn may be the more obvious threats to Anasi and her ‘Prophet’… but we have clearly underestimated the simplistic earth pony. Already, it proves resilient to our strongest debilitating brews. We have no idea as to what a restorative may do. What if I should give it the remedy and it gains the strength of ten zebras and energy enough to run the whole of the Plains in a night? I need time to study it first.”

Zulu seemed to consider this for a moment, looking away again as the two held an awkward silence.

“It goes against my better judgment… but the Prophet agrees,” Zulu stated, his displeasure at saying it obvious. “You are to do whatever is required short of giving it to the Rocs to garner information from the earth pony. When you have determined the best course of action to wake it up, we will take care of the rest.”

The elder zebra looked off to the side dejectedly. “As she wishes…” he replied with a tone completely devoid of enthusiasm.

Zulu pushed forward, nudging the taller zebra out of his path as he made for the doorway of the hut.

“I do so enjoy these talks, my son… You should visit more often.” The Potion Maker sighed deeply, his voice filled with regret and remorse as his head dipped sadly.

“Oh, and by the way…” The warrior paused, glaring over his shoulder. “You should keep better tabs on your ‘possessions.’”

The Doctor remained still, his eyes only cracked open as the warrior was now turned more in his direction, but he could still make out the sudden wide-eyed expression on the academic zebra’s face.

“I will not always be able to mitigate the punishment for her insolence,” Zulu continued, turning away from the elder zebra as he seemed certain he had the potion maker’s attention. “She is in an abandoned hut on the outskirts of the village. I suggest you take steps to reign her in before the Goddess loses patience.”

With nothing else to say, the warrior zebra moved out of the hut, leaving the potion maker alone with the brown stallion.

“Well…” The Doctor lifted his head, daring to speak as he tested his limbs, satisfied that there were no lingering side-effects. “That was rather informative.” The tall zebra looked up towards the pony with an expression of shock. “By the way, those darts; my vest didn’t even slow them down. I’m guessing they’re fashioned after insect stingers. Hypodermic, am I right? They didn’t release anything until they were already buried in the skin.”

“Forget being awake, pony,” the zebra uttered, his eyes still wide as if he couldn’t believe it. “How are you still alive? That much sleep drought would have put down a rampaging dragon for a full season!”

“Weeeeell…” The Doctor shrugged, pulling himself into an upright sitting position and kicking out his legs to make sure they were not about to cramp up. “I could go into a detailed anatomical lecture about xenobiology, pharmaco-toxicology, and metabolic rates, as well as the interactions of local enzymes on ponies of my rather unique make and model, but as I don’t have a chalkboard and neither of us have the time… allow me to just say that I’m the Doctor. I feel that’s explanation, enough.

“Doctor? What sort of a name is ‘Doctor’?” The zebra drew back slightly, still looking amazed as the Doctor hopped down from the bed, stretching his legs and looking quite fit in spite of what should have been a fatal overdose.

“It’s mine. And it’s really more of a title than a name, but that’s neither here nor there. More important things to worry about at the moment. I'm guessing that things are not going very well for you zebras at all, eh, Zilaka?”

The zebra took a step back. “H-how do you know my--”

“Mutual friend. Well… friend of a friend that actually wasn’t that friendly with me. But, hey, mares… what are you going to do?” the Doctor explained, which drew another questioning look. “Anyway, long story short, I’m the Doctor. Pleased to meet you. You’re Zilaka the potion maker, and you are exactly the zebra I needed to talk to. My friend has been captured. I need to know where they’ve taken her and what is going on with this ‘Anasi’ that everypony is going on about. Some history would also be helpful so that I can have a little context on what is happening… Oh, and by the way, we need your cure for the Bite.”

Zilaka’s head was spinning as this "Doctor" moved about the hut, looking over everything as he spoke at a mile a second, nosing through the potion maker’s supplies.

“Is this Camellia Sinensis? Oh, add this to the shopping list for sure. One thing I miss most about Earth: the tea.”

“H-hold on, Doctor…” Zilaka shook his head, clearly trying to get a grip on the situation, although his tone grew more upbeat. “Wait… your friends… How many of you ponies are there? Is your kind intervening?”

“Well, I wouldn't know about my kind, aside from the two I came here with...” The Doctor turned to the potion maker, his tone suddenly serious. “But two things, first…”

Zilaka watched the earth stallion for a moment, hanging on every word as he dared to have renewed hope.

“First, put some tea on. Then, tell me everything you know about the Parching, the Anasi, and the Bite.”

————————

“...This village used to be ours,” Zecora said suddenly, drawing Fluttershy’s attention as she rested her wings on the roof of a large hut.

They were the first words that had been spoken between the two since Zecora had "convinced" Fluttershy to covertly sneak them towards the mountain. A trip that had been slow as Fluttershy had required frequent breaks from the strain of carrying the filly over the rooftops, and pauses in hiding to avoid detection from the warriors that patrolled the worn dirt paths between huts.

“Stone-Water… the home of the Ash-Stripes… Herd of Sages,” the filly continued, looking out over the somewhat rundown huts and twisting paths that surrounded the base of the mountain. “A place where all herds were welcome to come and trade knowledge and tales of their wanderings... They tell me it used to be so... alive. Zebras from every herd walking the streets together.”

Fluttershy watched the filly Zecora for a moment, wondering where this had come from before she chanced a glance skyward, taking note of three large winged figures circling overhead.

Seeing the opportunity to try and reach out again to the filly, Fluttershy found her voice. “...What happened?”

Zecora turned to the pony, as if surprised to hear her speak and on the edge of making another snide remark. Something that she apparently managed to swallow before looking back out over the village.

“...The Parching happened.”

————————

“The Plains became dry and cracked… the golden fields withered and died… the beasts and creatures that called them home fled in a mass exodus to the south, toward the Jungle of the World,” Zilaka explained, setting an oddly shaped gourd with a cork in its stem into the cauldron, which continued to bubble as the Doctor watched, intrigued by the zebra’s method of brewing tea.

“It was gradual. In my youth, it was not even harsh enough to be a true problem. The Elders of my time said there was no cause for alarm. So, we continued on living, believing it merely part of the great natural cycle. But as the years passed… the water holes across the Plains grew lower and lower… the earth gave no bounty… and the herds began to grow harsh and reserved, fearing that there would not be water enough for all.”

“When was the last time it rained?” the Doctor asked.

————————

“Rain?” Zecora tilted her head curiously. “What is 'rain'?”

“You know, rain… Water that falls to the ground from clouds up in the sky. It’s how lakes are formed and plants get their water,” Fluttershy said, surprised by the filly’s question. “Back in Equestria, where I’m from, pegasi like me move the clouds around to where they are needed to make rain.”

Zecora huffed sourly. “What a surprise: lucky ponies have all the water they need,” she griped before shaking her head. “What you say is freakish. Unnatural. Water does not come from the sky! It comes from the ground!”

“Well, I guess that’s true, sometimes… with springs and reservoirs and things like that,” Fluttershy added.

“Not 'sometimes,' always! My father says that back before I was born, a zebra could get a drink just by digging with their hooves and breaking the surface of the soil!”

“Zilaka said that?”

Zecora’s eyes grew wide as she turned to Fluttershy in shock… then narrowed in agitation. “How did you…? Never mind, I do not care.” She waved a hoof dismissively. “Anyway, those days are long since gone... There are almost no Ash-Stripes left. The Time of the Sages is over… Stone-Water and Thunder Drum belong to the Anasi now...”

————————

“Who are the Anasi?” the Doctor asked, nudging a small cup under the spout that was cut into the now blackened gourd that Zilaka was using as a tea kettle. “Specifically, I mean.”

“Well, until a few years ago, they were considered lunatics. Made up of the castoffs and madzebras that had been driven off from their own herds. They claimed to hear… voices… from under the Plains,” Zilaka explained as he carefully held the gourd in his hooves, tipping a dark brown brew into the Doctor’s cup. “My kind are spiritual equines, Doctor, but our spirits do not speak to us directly. That is not a sign of devoutness… it is a symptom of madness. We take heed of the signs of nature and pay homage to the great cycles of the world. But the Anasi were fervent in their own beliefs. They believed their ‘Goddess’ lived under the Plains. The ‘Queen of Spiders’ that had grown angry with the stagnant ways of the herds and sought to forge us together to take our rightful place as the dominant creatures of this land and beyond.”

“And spiders are… bad in your culture, I take it?” The Doctor blew slightly on the piping hot tea as he held the zebra’s attention, concentrating very hard on keeping the cup balanced on his hoof to avoid a repeat of what had happened that time in Roan.

“Not particularly.” Zilaka shook his head. “Until recently, spiders were just creatures, like the birds and the hyenas. Some were dangerous, but no more so than any other living thing. They had their place in the cycle, as all things do.”

“I see…” The wheels in the Doctor’s head were clearly turning as he took a sip of his tea, the bitter brew still a bit too hot for his tongue. “Ouch... Go on.”

“They preached a single doctrine; a single order. A unification of all the herds into a force that would take command of the Plains, march on the Humpbacks to the north, and eventually travel across the sea to topple the false Sun Goddess of the stripeless ponies,” Zilaka said, although he seemed hesitant, watching the Doctor for any sign that he may have offended the stallion. When no objection was raised, he continued. “It was utter madness, of course, and the herd chiefs knew it. Our people were going thirsty and hungry as the Parching grew worse. The idea of marching to war for the sake of some foalish campaign was outrageous! No herd was ever meant to survive alone, and no single species can dominate the entire globe. And even if we did, to what end?”

“But… something changed,” the Doctor reasoned.

————————

“Tagati... ” Zecora lowered her head, not meeting Fluttershy’s eyes as she opened up.

They had moved to a new roof, but were held up as a pair of guards seemed to be inspecting the hut across the street, a bony-looking zebra cast back and aside as he fearfully declared having done nothing wrong.

“...Who is that?”

“They call her the Prophet now… The voice of Anasi,” Zecora whispered, shaking her head. “She was once a shamaness, one of our spiritual leaders. A very… well-respected… well-loved shamaness. But, one night, she disappeared… and something happened to her.”

Fluttershy recognized the slight, sad crack in Zecora’s voice, a pain that she was desperately holding back, and the way she was keeping her head turned away from the pony as she kept talking, even if she wasn’t sure why Zecora had felt the sudden need to fill the silence. She kept this to herself, however, fearing that if confronted about it, Zecora would withdraw and respond with another harsh rebuttal.

When Fluttershy said nothing, Zecora continued, watching from the roof as the pair of warriors moved out of the hut across the path and moved on without a word to its owner, clearly having torn the hut’s interior apart and found nothing of value.

“She claimed she had seen Anasi herself; had been brought into the presence of greatness, and that all of Zebrica was rightfully hers. She had also gained… powers… like no zebra had ever seen before. In a day, she had ensorcelled the Ash-Stripes’ finest warrior and made him her Warlord. Then he gained some sort of magical power from the Spider Goddess, too… and the warriors sworn to him became almost unstoppable.”

Zecora paused as another crash could be heard, a colt and smaller stallion thrown from their home as the pair of warriors proceeded to ransack the hut they had wandered into apparently at random.

“Within two days… any zebra in Stone-Water that objected to the authority of the Anasi were made to meet their Roc. And with one exception, every Ash-Stripe objected… vocally.”

————————

“The Warlord…” the Doctor ruminated, taking another sip of his tea as it cooled. “Zulu? The zebra that was in here before?”

“He took an interest in you.” Zilaka sighed. “Zulu has always been a skilled warrior, but his real prowess has been in planning and strategy; in organizational… discipline. He makes it a point to know his enemy’s ways before any move is made. Your resilience to my toxin, and whatever magic you performed when you faced his warriors… it has put him off-balance. He wants me to find a way to counter you.”

“And you clearly don’t want him to have that,” the Doctor reasoned.

“Of course not! The Anasi’s path will bring nothing but ruin to my kind,” Zilaka spoke up, his voice taking a outraged tone. “I do not know if this Spider Queen of theirs is real or simply a figurehead given meaning by some mass delusion, but whatever it is, it is a savage and malevolent abomination, nonetheless.”

The Doctor was quiet for a moment. “So, why don’t you do something about it?” he asked, his expression flat.

Zilaka was at a loss for words, his outrage doused in an instant.

————————

“My father?” Zecora grunted in disdain. “He is a coward who thinks that boiling herbs all day is more important than standing up for himself.”

Fluttershy grimaced a bit at the description, as well as the venomous tone that Zecora had taken the moment that she had been asked about Zilaka. It certainly wasn’t the reverence that Zecora had shown him back in the hospital.

“I’m sure he has his reasons...”

“Yes, yes, of course… ‘Preserving knowledge is more important than fighting back.’ Or, ‘A wise zebra bides his time until the opportune moment.’ I have heard them all before. And it is all a great big pile of hyena dung!” The filly shook her head, making her distaste obvious. “The truth is, my father does not have a warrior’s bone in his body. Our entire way of life was given a hard kick in the backside and what did he do? He rolled right over! At least the other Ash-Stripes went down fighting... and now, he makes weapons and poisons for those monsters.”

Fluttershy's mood dampened even further, amazed at the animosity that the filly was projecting not just towards her, but at every pony and zebra she spoke of… Towards the Anasi, the poor, groveling zebras that were being terrorized, and even her own sire, whom Fluttershy was now wondering if she actually wanted to meet.

“But… he’s a medicine maker as well, isn’t he? I mean… he has a cure for the Bite… that’s something.”

“What?” Zecora tilted her head, skepticism deep in her voice. “What mushy-brained, drooling foal of a hyena told you that?”

————————

“I am sorry to disappoint, Doctor, but I have no cure for the Bite… Not for lack of trying, mind you,” Zilaka admitted, motioning a hoof over the jars and gourds that were all about the hut. “The Anasi keep me around because of my ability with brews and alchemical pursuits. They push for me to develop empowering tonics and debilitating poisons, but that only takes up a tiny fragment of my time. I have spent most of it trying to find a way to ease my kind’s suffering: tonics to sate thirst, something to nourish the body in the absence of food… and of course, a cure for the Bite. I do what I can, but I am only one potion maker. And there is only one other zebra in Stone-Water who has the skill and the knowledge to even understand what I truly do with my mixtures… even if she has grown… distant from me.”

There was a moment of silence as the Doctor set his now empty cup down, trying not to congratulate himself for the minor victory of not spilling it all over himself. “Zecora… your daughter.” Zilaka did not look up, nor did he question how the Time Pony knew of this. “That is what Zulu was referring to. That’s what the Anasi have on you, isn’t it? Your cooperation spares her from their wrath.”

“She is only a filly… she does not understand. The things she does, her attitude... she has become increasingly resentful. Combative… And if she continues on that path, there will come a point where it will matter not what I do… It will be the Pit for her.”

“The Pit?” the Doctor inquired.

“It is how the Anasi make examples of dissenters and ‘deviants.’ It is a great hollow inside Thunder Drum. They claim those that are given to the Pit feed the Spider Queen. Aside from the Prophet… nothing that goes into the Pit ever comes back out again. And believe me, the Anasi are… keen… to remind me almost daily how close they have come to... to throwing my Zecora…” Zilaka broke off, unable to continue as he gave the Doctor a pleading look. “I doubt you can understand what that is like.”

“Of course I can,” the Doctor assured his new striped friend, setting a hoof to the zebra’s shoulder. “I was a father once, myself… a long time ago… You’re doing everything you can to protect her, and that’s only human… Err, equine.”

“...The ponies are not coming, are they?” Zilaka asked suddenly. “Your Sun Goddess does not even know of our plight, does she? No liberating army or altruistic crusade… No, you being here is mere coincidence, is it not? We are on our own.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed, taking note of the sudden, sullen tone that Zilaka had taken on. A sad desperation that struck a deep, resonant chord in the Doctor’s very being.

“Yes, ‘we’ are…” he confirmed. Zilaka looked up, hearing something… very different about the pony’s tone as a harsh expression came across the brown stallion’s face. “But now ‘we’ happens to include me,” he continued. “But first, I need your help in finding my friends.”

————————

“Are both of your pony friends as whiny as you are?” Zecora shook her head in some disgust at the yellow pegasus, who was cringing back in the shadow of Thunder Drum as the pair landed on a rocky outcropping, finally having flown clear of the huts that made up Stone-Water and landing in the solid stone crags that started the sudden ascent up the mountain.

“...No.” Fluttershy felt a rush of assertiveness at the insult, although the fact it was directed at those she cared about rather than herself managed to keep her ire up for a few moments longer than normal before she recoiled. “I mean… not really. And I don’t mean to whine, I just… haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday.”

“And I have not had anything in three, but you do not hear me complaining.”

“Flying takes a lot out of a pony,” Fluttershy tried to explain, although her lack of conviction failed to impress the zebra filly. “I could eat anything right now... I wouldn't even care what it tasted like, as long as it was green...”

Zecora rolled her eyes again as she looked over the edge of the crag they had landed in, trying to get sight of the opening that led into Thunder Drum itself.

“Or something grey… I guess I could settle for that…” Fluttershy’s voice seemed to perk slightly, sending another wave of annoyance up the zebra filly’s spine.

“Would you be quiet, stripeless? I am trying to think…” Zecora’s eyes suddenly widened. “Grey?”

She turned about to see the yellow winged pony leaning over what looked like a soft, ashy pit, her mouth open as she leaned towards a curled grey prong that had sprouted from a corner of the crag.

“Stop!” Zecora bolted forward faster than she realized she could move, darting under the pony and shoving a hoof into her jaw, causing the pegasus to bite her tongue as her teeth were suddenly forced close with a snap. “Are you mad!?”

“Owwwwwwhhhhh!” Tears welled up in Fluttershy’s eyes as she brought her hooves up to her mouth, pain obvious in her speech. “Ow ow ow ow… Why would you do thaaaat?”

“What I just did was save your life, Fluttershy!” Zecora’s eyes narrowed sternly. “What were you thinking!? That is Ashmed! Deadly! Put even a single tiny bit in your mouth and you will be meeting your Roc in seconds!”

The pegasus didn’t move for a moment, her eyes darting to the grey, rolled-up prong-leaf, which looked an awful lot like the edible forest prong that was sometimes served in dishes back in Equestria, as realization of what had just transpired hit her.

“You... saved me… and you called me Fluttershy.” She smiled in spite of the pain from biting her tongue, her eyes shining with a more happy kind of tears.

“Ugh! Do not get sappy on me, pony… Just… try not to eat the poisonous weeds. You are of no use to me dead.” Zecora looked away, sounding like she was already regretting it as she moved back to the edge of the crag.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Fluttershy spoke again. “Ashmed? This is Ashmed?”

“Yes. It grows in the ground-up dust that gathers in the crevices of Thunder Drum,” Zecora explained absently, watching the patrolling zebra stallions below as she tried to determine at which point they would be best able to fly higher up the mountain without being noticed. “And even day-old foals know better than to make a meal out of it.”

There was quiet again as the young zebra filly’s words stung like the lash of a whip, Zecora appreciating the lack of distraction as she watched, waiting for anything that looked like a gap in the guard zebras’ vigilance.

One random upward glance would set the entire mountain on alert and tip off the last zebra in the world she would want to know about her new ‘acquaintance’.

“Zecora… Why do you want to go in there, anyway?” Fluttershy asked suddenly, moving up besides the filly.

“Would you get down!?” Zecora hissed quietly as she reached over to the top of Fluttershy’s head and pushed, making the pony bow. “Your colored mane does not exactly blend in with the rocks!”

“I'm sorry. I don’t usually do this sort of sneaking around… I’m just wondering... You know…”

“I have my reasons… and no, I do not wish to talk about it. I think we have talked quite enough,” Zecora snapped, keeping her own head down. “...Ugh, why can they not slack off every now and then? You would think they would lose interest and stop to chat with some… Wait… What in the name of the Plains is that?”

Taking note of the sudden confusion in her voice, Fluttershy chanced a peek again, trying to get a look at what it was that Zecora was talking about. Her eyes went wide as she recognized a chestnut-colored stallion walking quite calmly into the open, a grin apparent on his face even from their distance as the mid-afternoon sun glimmered off the gold of his cutie mark.

“...Doctor?”

“What is a ‘Doctor’?” Zecora asked, squinting her eyes. “Wait… that is a pony, is it not? Another stripeless. What is he doing?”

“Yes, he’s an earth pony, and a friend of mine… He’s really, really smart.”

The pair watched a moment more as the zebra guards caught sight of the brown stallion and moved to surround him, which he reacted to by waving and chatting away happily, although he was too far away for Fluttershy or Zecora to make out what he was saying.

“And… he just surrendered to the Anasi. Some smart pony he is. Your friend is as good as in the Pit now.” A moment passed before a look of realization dawned over Zecora’s face. “They are distracted. Now is our chance!” She pushed away from the edge of the crag and pointed up the mountain. “There! Do you see it?”

Fluttershy looked up and squinted. “That little gap in the rock near the top? Yes, I see--”

“Take me up there! And be quick about it!”

————————

“Oh, this is lovely!” the Doctor prattled a bit, walking in the center of a ring of warriors, each one a good deal larger than himself as he crossed the threshold of a large cavern, entering the mountain itself. “Nice and dark. Perfect place to get out of the sun. Really, how do you deal with that sun? Do you have zebra stripe UV protection or do you just duck in here for a while? I could see that.”

His escorts said nothing, which seemed to be all the excuse the earth pony needed to keep talking.

“And now it starts with the creepy atmosphere... I see off-shooting tunnels, ragged edges that denote natural weathering rather than any hoofwork, and it’s just not smooth enough for gorgons. Oh, you really must meet the gorgons. Now, those colts and fillies are something else, and they would just love what you’ve done with this place.”

As he continued, the Doctor’s eyes scanned his surroundings. It was sparsely decorated, but the cavern did have a feeling of age that was given credence by the stalactites hanging overhead from the vaulted ceiling.

Equestria, as he had discovered over the past month, was an amazingly accurate analogue of Earth in terms of its physical formation, but this place had no terrestrial analogue that he could imagine. Unlike the many cavern systems that he had once been in, he saw no evidence of geological upheaval. Nothing here screamed "volcano," extinct or otherwise, and he saw no evidence of pumice, igneous rock, or other forms of magma-related leftovers that would be expected. But at the same time, he saw no evidence of artificial tunneling or external influence.

A delightful puzzle that he certainly wished he had time to further study, but as it was, his very brief moment of academic exploration was cut short as the nearly identical zebra warriors stopped short and moved aside, showing the imposing figure of Zulu approaching him.

“What is the meaning of this!?” the zebra stallion demanded, glaring at the brown pony that, to his understanding, should have still been comatose.

“This? Oh, that’s an easy one.” The Doctor cleared his throat for a moment. “‘This’: Simultaneously an adjective, pronoun, and an adverb. A grammatical word used to indicate somepony or something already mentioned or identified, or something understood by both the speaker and listener--”

“SILENCE!”

“Oh, did you want the meaning of that, too? I can do that, I’m a regular dictionary over here.”

The stallion glowered at the Doctor before stomping one hoof, wordlessly giving an order it seemed, as the zebra turned on him in unison, each reaching back with a fluid motion to retrieve a spear that they held long-ways in their teeth.

“I do not play games, stripeless,” Zulu growled deep in his throat.

“Oh, but why not? I mean, you’re doing so well with your toy soldiers, here.”

“Where is the potion maker!?” the Anasi Warlord demanded, glaring all the while. “What have you done with him!?”

“Who?” The Doctor’s tone was curious, then dawned in realization. “Ohhh, the spindly zebra with the tall headpiece... Yeah, stuck him with one of those darts of yours and left him sprawled out in the hut. Really, 'A' for effort, but, one equine to another, probably not the best idea to leave an academic all alone with an elite military envoy.”

The Doctor suppressed a smile as Zulu’s brow raised, clearly catching his interest. “Envoy?”

“What? You didn’t think that you Anasi were just going on, doing your zebra thing, oppressing your fellow hoofed brethren without somepony noticing, did you? The Princess doesn’t much care for challenges to her authority. I mean, really, we come out here to ascertain whether or not this little regime you set up was a passing fad or if you were an actual threat, and here you just come right out and attack a unicorn diplomat, a military envoy, and their pegasus guard. Not the wisest decision with our legions waiting to hear from us at the northern borders. Especially since, if they don’t hear from us in the next couple of days, well… boom goes the mountain.”

A slight sneer came to Zulu’s lip as the Doctor continued.

“What? You didn’t know that? Yeah, Princess Celestia wanted us to let you know but you kind of attacked before we had the chance. Oh, well, I guess you have been busy keeping your own kind oppressed. Shame, really. No counter intelligence. No view of anything happening outside of your own little region of the world... Of course, if we were to have simply been ‘held up,’ I’m sure that something could be worked out. After all, maintaining such a large force is troublesome if it can be avoided. So, perhaps we can discuss this like rational beings.”

Zulu glared at the stallion, who kept an easy, calm front. “You are bluffing,” he said.

“Maybe I am… but you have no way of knowing for sure, now, do you?” The Doctor nodded, remaining quite lucid. “After all, it's not like you can read minds.”

Zulu glared a bit harder at the bold pony, his sneer curling enough to show teeth for a moment before the zebra warriors on either side of the Doctor took a sudden step back, in unison replacing their spears into the holsters on their flanks.

“I didn’t think so,” the Doctor added confidently, having felt nothing.

In spite of the interloper’s misplaced confidence, it was Zulu’s turn to smirk as the zebras moved back into a formation, two of them setting their shoulders to either side of the Doctor’s in a fashion that he had seen before, in Roan, when Astrolia’s Rainbow Sentries were "escorting" Graphis away.

“Such arrogance… I think it is time that the earth pony came face to face with real power.”

“I don’t suppose that ‘real power’ has a sandwich, does it? Because I could really go for a daisy and daffodil on rye right about now,” the Doctor quipped, which drew another stern glare and growl from Zulu.

“Take him to the Prophet!” he barked, the zebras on either side moving and pressing their shoulders into the Doctor’s at once.

As they did so, the Doctor came to realize that this was actually a pretty effective method, the pressing of the muscles shoulder to shoulder cajoling his own legs to motion even if he tried to resist or keep them still, coercing cooperation.

“Just so we’re clear… you say it out loud for my benefit, am I right?” the Doctor commented as the two zebras walked along, pulling the stallion along with them as the others kept behind, following in a line and watching for any signs of resistance.

Zulu said nothing as he watched them pass, the Doctor smirking slightly as he thought to himself, So far… so good.

————————

Fluttershy'd had bad days before, but today was definitely one that her diary would be hearing about when... if she ever got back home.

Tired, hungry, and more than a little dehydrated, the yellow pegasus pony had been attacked, scared almost to death, shouted at, bit her tongue, and now was scraping up her coat and sides as she wriggled through the small passage that she had carried Zecora up to in the side of the mountain.

“Is it much farther?” she asked quietly, not wanting to cause any sort of echoing as she tried to press her wings as tightly to her body as she could, keeping the delicate feathers from being rubbed into the rough rock.

“How should I know? I have never actually been in here before,” Zecora answered back, having far fewer issues due both to her size and the fact that she didn’t have wings to be concerned about. “You saw the entrance, it is not like any zebra can just walk up here and use this tunnel.”

"Entrance" would have been a generous word for the small hole in the side of the mountain they had climbed into. Fluttershy saw little choice except to trust that the filly had a very, very good reason for what she was doing, and followed her in.

“Well... how did you know about it?”

“My brother told me…” Zecora paused, sighing slightly with her shoulders drooping as she seemed to remember something. “...Back when I actually had a brother.”

“You have a brother? You never said anything about that.”

“Really? I cannot believe I forgot to mention it in the two hours that I have known you.” Zecora rolled her eyes sarcastically, glad for the slight glimmering light that seemed to radiate from the stony walls, just barely enough to see by.

“Oh... I meant during one of my visits.”

Zecora paused, turning back towards the pony with a puzzled look. “…What visits?”

“You know, the ones at your…” Fluttershy paused a moment before shaking her head. “Never mind... Wow, this is… really a lot more confusing than I thought it would be.”

“You are confused? I am not the one who seems to know everything about you, am I?” Zecora huffed again. “You know, you do not have to follow me. You brought me where I needed to go… you can leave now.”

“No, I don’t think I should.”

“Why not?” Zecora started forging ahead again, “All you have wanted to do since we met is run away and hide.”

“Because as scary as all of this is… and as mean as you’ve been...” Fluttershy sighed. “You’re still my friend.”

Zecora grunted as she pulled herself over a rocky outcropping in the floor. “For the last time, we are not friends, stripeless!” the filly asserted.

“...Not yet,” Fluttershy answered before she could stop herself.

Zecora let out an exaggerated moan, having to shift her weight as she slid on a slight downward slope. There was now enough room in the tunnel for Fluttershy to finally spread her wings and float down the short drop. As she landed, the zebra started to scramble to her hooves, glaring at her while the pegasus’ ears twitched slightly.

“Enough! I have had it with you! Who are you, and why do you keep claiming to know me!?”

“Zecora, shh...!”

“No! I have had it with the cryptic comments and the randomness spouting from your lips, stripeless! I want to know exactly-- MMPH!”

“Hush now...” Fluttershy put a hoof to Zecora’s mouth, closing her eyes as she tried to focus. “Do you hear that?”

————————

“Hmm... Tied up, no clothes, awkward position, dark room... Wow, that’s a rather nostalgic feeling. All I need now is River, a bowl of jelly babies and a set of handcuffs, and it’ll be just like my last honeymoon.” The Doctor smiled bemusedly at the memory while he considered his rather precarious situation.

Upon being walked into the dark chamber, the zebra stallions had immediately knocked his hind legs out from under him, and with a practiced, choreographed unison, tied his forelegs to a set of posts with what he guessed were some sort of dried out reed twines. They were incredibly tough, and he quickly found himself held firmly in an upright position with his forehooves stretched out to either side before he was raised to stand on his hind legs, held so that his center of gravity was not allowed to shift and let him fall over in his now-familiar four-legged stance. After that, without a word, the zebras had left, rolling what sounded like a heavy stone barrier over the entrance and sending the room into a pitch black darkness.

When he had first come to Equestria, the Doctor had actually adapted to his body's four-legged gait quite easily, and now that he was used to it, being held at this position was actually quite uncomfortable, he realized.

“Alright, so… The Prophet.” The Doctor scanned the area that stretched out before him, quite incensed to find that the darkness answered him with silence. “You know, I’ve met several quote-unquote ‘prophets’ in my time. They tend to fall into two categories: the reluctant and the theatrical. So, which might you be?”

Nothing.

“Ah, the silent type, eh? My favorite,” the Doctor quipped. “You know, if this is a bad time, I could come back later.”

For another long moment, the Doctor listened, trying to gauge some sort of reaction before his ears finally flicked around, detecting a soft clip-clop against the stone and the sound of rustling fabric in the otherwise mute chamber.

“Interesting…” came a sudden voice from in front of the Doctor, female, but scratchy, with an odd rasp to her tone.

With a hiss, a patch of light suddenly shone down from the ceiling, the spotlight focused over a dozen feet in front of him as a cloud of smoke came billowing into view, refracting the light into an eerie aura around the chamber.

With a crisp set of clops, a dark equine figure emerged gracefully into view, cloaked in a wispy black outfit that fluttered in a non-existent breeze. But rather than the face of a pony or a zebra, a wooden idol could be seen where the head should be. A mask, carved into the vestige of a fearsome arachnid, with two large ovals cut in the front to reveal a pair of eyes; wide, white, and bloodshot, with pinpricks for pupils. Glittering gemstones cut into the shape of smaller eyes were set into the sides around the eye-holes, completing the set of eight, and the wood was edged with metal fangs that hung down like mandibles from the base of the mask.

Lifting a foreleg with a flourish, the Doctor could see a blackened, burnt look to the figure's hoof, with cracks running up and down it as if she had run repeatedly over hot coals.

“Oh, wonderful. The theatrical sort. And here I was worried the performance had been canceled tonight,” the Doctor noted flatly, taking in every detail he could.

“It speaks and speaks… and yet, it says nothing.” The figure moved forward, the light following it along the floor as a rush of cold air washed over the Doctor and made his legs shiver involuntarily as he licked his lips. “The creature is not what it seems… No... Like the other one, the hoofed beast conceals its true nature.”

“And there’s the speaking in riddles, right on cue. Do all of you prophets read from the same script? Is there a how-to book? Really, can we skip this part, Tagati? I’m bored already,” the Doctor sighed, although her previous statement brought questions to his mind that he felt needed to be kept on the back-burner for now. He needed to keep on the verbal offensive. “By the way, is that CO2 in that fog? That’s a nice twist. Dry ice; more elaborate than I would have thought for a low-budget production.”

The mask tilted, the zebra mare’s entire body seeming to lean with the motion, clearly considering something as those pinpoint eyes continued to glare at the Time Pony; an expression that would have likely unnerved most in the Doctor’s position.

“It attempts to play mind games, does it? Probe us and drop hints of knowledge it should not have… to make us ask questions. It seeks to catch the Prophet of Anasi off-guard. Spar and parry, learn what it can from Tagati’s reactions... This is promising.”

“Third-person references? I get that you're trying to be mysterious and all, but you're going to have to try harder than that if you want to impress the Doctor... See what I did, there?"

“Must we?” The sadistic grin didn’t have to be seen under the mask; it was apparent in her voice. “No… It is fortified and ready to spar with mind and tongue. A field of battle that is usually ours... Perhaps... another field of conflict is required.”

The Doctor narrowed his gaze, honestly surprised as the so-called "Prophet" took a step back. She was evasive… and that mask made it difficult to get a good read on her. And those eyes… They were disturbing, even to him. Having grown accustomed to larger, more expressive pony eyes over the past month, it was very disconcerting to see them when they belonged to someone so obviously off her rocker.

“Shall we try a more… personal approach, Doctor of the Ponies?”

Another patch of light suddenly opened behind the spot where Tagati had first appeared, drawing the Doctor’s gaze past her.

There, floating in place, clearly unconscious with her mane and tail blowing and falling against gravity as if held in an updraft, was the familiar lavender figure of the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. But to the Time Lord’s shock, her solid purple coat had been marred by large, sweeping black lines that formed various designs across the whole of her body, covering her almost from horn to hoof in strange glyphs and symbols.

Whatever calm detachment the Doctor was holding must have cracked as the sadistic smile returned to the masked zebra mare’s voice. “We assume we have its full attention now?”

The Doctor’s eyes left the unicorn and drove a harsh, dangerous glare to the zebra hiding behind the spider facade. “Lady... you don’t even want to know what you’ve got now...”

Ch. 4: Cause and Effect

Chapter 4: Cause and Effect

Prophet's Chamber
Thunder Drum Mountain
70th of Spring, 975 C.R. (Celestia's Reign), 4:28 p.m.

“What did you do to her!?” the Doctor demanded, his tone far more confident than his current position should have allowed him to be as he glared at the masked zebra.

“Ohhh, concern… So concerned… No need to fret, Doctor of the Ponies,” Tagati replied, stepping back towards Twilight without taking her eyes away from the brown stallion, her raspy tone a sugary-sweetness that was surely intended to mock.

Bringing one hoof up, the zebra mare pushed against Twilight’s chin, raising the limp unicorn’s face as the Doctor made out a soft trail of chilled breath from her nose when she exhaled softly.

“The star-crested creature has not been harmed,” Tagati explained, her tone maintaining a patronizing, sickening sweetness. “We are many things… but we are not wasteful, no. There are many tests to perform. Things we must understand before its kind submits. However, we grow impatient as we wait for the drought of sleep to run its course. And we have questions, yes... Now we shall ask… and it shall answer.”

The masked zebra watched the Doctor carefully, her head swaying back and forth in an almost serpent-like fashion as she lowered her hoof, allowing Twilight’s head to nod back down towards her chest.

“To believe itself so mighty, only to discover how helpless it is in the face of true divinity,” she said, stepping towards him again, clearly gauging his reaction. “Tell us, Doctor of the Ponies… Does it feel... humbled? Scared? Angry?”

The Doctor huffed, leaning forward and relaxing as he allowed his weight to shift, pulling taut the twine holding his forelegs apart. “Not yet... but you are treading on very dangerous ground right now,” he stated plainly. “Lay another hoof on her, and believe me, you won’t have to ask... You’ll know when I’m angry.”

————————

Fluttershy and Zecora were edging their bodies along the narrow, rocky path now, the voices coming from the end of the corridor making them both very self-conscious of the clipping sounds of their hooves against the stone, the pair keeping perfectly quiet as they listened in. Straining her ears as she tried to ignore the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest, Fluttershy was beginning to pick up snippets of the conversation echoing through the tunnel.

“She can fly. What makes you think she would stick around?” It was faint, but that was certainly the Doctor’s voice, she realized.

“Answer without answering… Questions given questions in return, it fashions its words like a labyrinth... Does it stall for time? Does it believe rescue to be on the way? Anasi thinks not.” The second tone, while vaguely female, had a sinister delight to it that made the yellow pegasus shudder as the faint glow of the rocks around them gave way to a light at the end of the tunnel.

Emerging from the narrow passage, the pair of equines came to what appeared to be a dark chamber with shafts of sunlight jutting down from the ceiling in perfectly positioned beams that cut through the murk all the way down to the floor. They pulled themselves from the corridor and onto a small ledge that jutted out from the wall, likely obscuring the gap in the rocks from below, but barely large enough to hold the filly and mare as they peeked over the edge.

More than five stories below them, the pair could make out the forms of three equines: A brown one tied up in an awkward fashion, one wearing a black gown and a wooden mask, and a purple one apparently floating in one of the spotlights as the other two were speaking, bits and pieces of their conversations echoing up towards the small alcove they found themselves in.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy uttered softly, her eyes wide with recognition. “Doctor?”

“Tagati...” Zecora leaned a bit more over the edge, her own eyes wide as if she hardly believed what she was seeing. “She is actually here?”

“It’s alright, Zecora…” Fluttershy assured the zebra quietly, her empathetic nature picking up on the sudden rush of anxiety that the filly was feeling. “Everything will be alright…”

She looked back down as she took note of the zebra moving in on the helplessly bound Doctor, a hoof raised menacingly as he prattled a moment longer.

…somehow… Fluttershy thought.

————————

“It hardly matters.” Tagati shook her head, ending her inquiry into the escaped pony with a confident dismissal. “The flying one concerns us not. We are far more interested in this pony, yes… And the tools it carries.” Tagati’s tail, a mangled, frayed brush of grey and white striped hair, pulled up along her side and dipped into a small pouch that sat on her haunch, showing an amazing degree of prehensile range as it drew out a familiar-looking object and deposited it in the prophet’s outstretched hoof.

“We will give it a chance to ‘cooperate,’ for Anasi is a kind, merciful goddess… So, Doctor of the Ponies, would it be so kind as to tell us… what this is?” The zebra held up the small metal tube, keeping it well out of reach of the brown stallion as his eyes ran over the scuffs on the silver finish and the lack of light emanating from the rainbow-colored crystal at its tip, both signs that the zebra had attempted (unsuccessfully) to dismantle the device.

The Doctor tilted his head from one side to the other as he looked over the metal cylinder, his expression one of thoughtfulness. “Is it a hammer?”

Tagati’s dilated eyes narrowed, clearly incensed, but maintaining an imposed, tranquil calm. “This world is primitive, its dominant species little more than beasts of burden.”

“Oh, now that is just rude!” the Doctor objected, although the zebra did not seem to notice.

“The creation of this artifact requires knowledge beyond its ability,” she stated plainly before demanding, “Where did it acquire this device?”

The stallion turned away, refusing to speak.

“It wishes to try our patience?” The zebra snickered, returning the alien device to her pouch, taking no notice of its slight glow as a streak of malevolence seeped into her tone. “Very well…”

The stallion’s defiant expression faltered suddenly, his eyes widening as the masked zebra indulged in a bit of sport. It was only a few moments later until he was crying out in pain.

“…One way or another… its secrets will be ours.”

————————

“What is she doing to him!?” Fluttershy whispered, sounding terrified as the brown stallion squirmed and convulsed in his restraints,

“I do not know…” Zecora admitted. “She did the same thing to the Ash-Stripe Chief, inflicting pain without laying a hoof on him... All I know is that I do not envy your friend right now.”

Fluttershy bit her lip, her ears flattened back as she found herself torn between running away and diving into the situation in a rush to stop it. This situation was so far beyond her, witnessing such cruelty.

As she battled with herself, she didn’t fully register the small form of the filly leaning forward, but what she did notice was how the Doctor looked up, twisting in agony…

...and shook his head.

“Wait.” Fluttershy set a hoof against Zecora’s shoulder, holding the filly back.

————————

“How…?”

The brown stallion fell forward as the pain, like hot brands setting against his skull, suddenly faded, the pressure on either side of his head releasing, allowing him a moment to recover as his vision began to clear and the pain faded to nothing. Before him, Tagati looked to be a bit unsteady on her hooves, clearly having exerted herself in spite of not moving.

“Ooowwwww… Ow ow ow…” the Doctor managed to say, wishing his hooves were free so he could rub his temples. “Well, that was… unpleasant. Does that sort of thing happen often around here? Might want to leave it off the brochure; your tourism industry would never recover.”

“How is this possible? Its resistance is stronger than we anticipated… Far stronger… Like the horned one, it defies us. How?”

“Sorry, ears are still ringing. I’ll get back to you after the liberation is over.”

“Liberation?” Tagati perked up, now curious. “It believes that it will be rescued?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” The Doctor shook his head, his calm facade beginning to wear thin as he panted for breath. “My pegasus friend is long gone by now, likely heading back to the forward base. Shouldn’t be long now.”

“Forward... base? Oh, yes…” Tagati's tone was dismissive. “The ‘Pony Legion’ readying itself along the northern border of Zebrica which it informed Zulu of.” She waved a hoof absently. “We have dismissed this claim.”

“Dismiss it all you want, doesn’t mean that you’re going to win. I mean, think about it: You’ve got an elite guard of highly trained zebra soldiers with spears, that freaky head magic, a nifty little knockout drug (although between you and me, that stuff could use a little more kick) and a population of several hundred repressed, malnourished, and thirsty zebras that will be eager to welcome the liberating herd. I’m no tactician -- failed that class back at Academy, should have paid more attention -- but you’ve hardly got the makings of a war machine, here. What you have are a few snazzy tricks that won’t really make a large impact on the greater battle,” the Doctor continued speaking unabated as the masked mare moved closer to him, smirking as she took note of the way his voice was becoming more rushed. “If you pick a fight with the camels, never mind the ponies… you will lose,” he finished, although his confidence seemed to be cracking, a sign of weakness that Tagati was all too eager to jump on.

“That hardly matters,” the zebra snickered wickedly.

The Doctor was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry, but you can’t possibly win a war with what you have here. What part of that does not matter?”

“Any of it.” The Prophet shook her head, clearly amused. “It believes itself to have the advantage, but it has no idea what is laying in wait here, Pony-Doctor. If this so-called 'army' is coming, all the better… It saves us the trouble of luring them to this place under the pretense of diplomacy. Though, its claim to have a legion is nothing but a fabrication. The ground is still. There is no army marching across our lands... And we very much doubt the winged freak abandoned it at all.” Tagati flourished a hoof, taking a step back as she took the center stage. “We have concluded that, like the zebras, the ponies are weak. Naive. A passive herd race, overly obsessed with their childish morals and loyalties and idealism. So certain in the belief that they are the greatest power of the cosmos.” Tagati spat out a cruel laugh.

“You know, it’s rather interesting you say it like that. It’s as if… you’re not actually one of those zebras,” the Doctor noted, squirming in his bonds as he seemed to feel a sense of panic seeping in. “But of course... that would be absurd.” There was a moment of silence. “Wouldn’t it?” The stallion looked to either side, tugging against his bindings as he started to show his anxiety.

Tagati said nothing, her eyes almost smirking at the Doctor’s revelation.

“Let the animals come, like the cattle they are!” she continued, taking an obvious delight in the pony’s apparent shock. “For its meager kind cannot even begin to comprehend what it is we possess. Whatever it thinks it knows about power, Pony-Doctor… whatever ‘miracles’ its unicorns perform, or blasphemous claims it heaps upon the false goddess, we assure it... all lies. Real power lies here, under its very hooves. Power more than sufficient to dominate the whole of this world.”

“But… Wait, if you’re not a zebra, then… then what are you?” The stallion appeared unnerved, drawing himself back and trying to pull against the vines holding him in place.

“We are so far beyond its imagination. We have already begun to study its species, extracting precious nuggets of information from its crested companion.” The masked zebra gestured behind her to the still unconscious Twilight, which drew another concerned gasp from the Doctor. “Oh, but fear not, Doctor of the Ponies… We had barely begun to skim the surface of its delicate, fragile psyche. We hoped that perhaps the male of the species could be more… cooperative… and spare us the effort. But rest assured, we are more than capable of digging deeper... should the need arise.” Tagati’s wicked grin was visible in her eyes as much as it could be heard on her voice, a clear, deliberate attempt to incite the brown stallion. “This is our true power, pony! The power... of the mind!”

There was a moment of silence between them as the over-the-top dramatic reveal echoed across the cavern, the zebra enjoying watching the stallion squirm under the revelation. Then he stopped, his frightened expression fading in an instant as he relaxed, dropping his act.

“Oh, is that all?” the Doctor stated suddenly, his tone now very unimpressed. “Psychic parlor tricks? You really are just a one-trick pony, aren’t-- Or, perhaps one-trick zebra... What’s your angle, I wonder? Maybe remote consciousness grafting, brain stem parasites, perhaps? Oh, oh! Blood control! I haven’t seen blood control in years! Classic. But no... you had to go for the old hat trick. Brute force mental domination. Pfft… not nearly as impressive as you think.” The brown stallion let out a breath, shaking his head.

Tagati, for the first time, was taken aback. “What!?”

“Well, it’s hardly subtle, now, is it? What with your remote control operation and shared senses of the warriors and whatnot. I’m guessing they volunteered, and since Zulu sounds less like a mindless drone and more like a disgruntled employee, I’ll assume his will was too strong to just dominate directly, so you patched him in to a psionic link to impress him. Easy enough to convince him considering who you decided to focus all of your effort on. It’s a nice act; the whole ‘Prophet’ and ‘Masters of the Plains’ bit… but that’s all it is. An act.”

“WE ARE TAGATI! PROPHET OF THE GODDESS! WE SPEAK FOR ANASI, QUEEN OF ALL!” the Prophet raised her tone for the first time, glaring out of the mask, insulted as the pony seemed to refuse to be in awe.

“As I said earlier, you'll need to step up your game to impress me. But you can drop the act now, the vines are starting to chafe. Oh, I know! Any chance I can talk to the actual Tagati?”

The zebra mare huffed, glaring at the Doctor angrily... before drawing back in shock as the stallion merely smiled.

“Trying to apply the mental schtick again? Yeah, that’s not going to work a second time; I think I’ve got the frequency down. That’s the problem with brute-force psionics, you see: zero versatility. Once somepony figures it out, you might as well be blowing smoke in their face.” The Doctor's mouth then gaped open in understanding. “Ohhh, I get it. That’s why you’re having to go the direct control route, isn’t it? She was starting to fight back. Is that why you keep the mask on her? You clearly have a rudimentary understanding of psycho-reactive crystalline structures, because I’m assuming that’s what’s set into that creepy mask of yours. A little something to keep her on a leash so you have a proper mouthpiece? What’s the matter? Afraid of showing yourself to the ‘primitive beasts of burden,’ so you simply snatch a respected shaman from her life -- from her family -- and try to twist her into a puppet? Just who is it you think you are?”

Tagati huffed, clearly sounding insulted. “YOU DARE TO QUESTION THE QUEEN OF--”

“That was a rhetorical question, dear. Now, do shut up, I’m talking.” The anger in Tagati’s eyes burned with a hellish fire as the brown pony kept going, his tone never changing. “So, here is the deal: You let Tagati go, release my friend over there, break the link you imposed on the zebra warriors and whatever hold you have on Zulu, and I'll let you leave this place in peace. It's a bargain, really. Generous, even, considering the horrors you’ve inflicted and the zebras who have died in your attempt to usurp their entire existence. But, what the hay, I’m feeling charitable today. So, do we have an arrangement?”

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two equines, the Doctor smiling obliviously while the zebra in the black gown seethed with rage. After a moment, she reached up, pulling the mask free from its place and revealing the rest of her face for the first time to the Doctor.

She might have been quite lovely once (although the Doctor considered himself a poor judge of equine beauty), but it was clear that malnourishment and whatever trials that her body and mind had suffered had taken a toll on the zebra mare. Her cheeks were hollow, her facial fur looking disheveled. Stray strands of her messy white and grey striped mane fell into her eyes, the small spiders that scurried and nested inside it adding to the disquieting effect as she revealed a demented grin that did not match the sheer anger that had set into her dilated, pinpoint eyes.

Behind him, the Doctor heard a sudden shifting of stone as the rolling door was pushed aside… and the clipping of hooves stomping in unison on the stone floor.

“It seems to have forgotten one very crucial detail,” the Prophet stated, her manic grin growing larger as she moved forward, leaning towards the stallion’s face. “It forgets that it… is the prisoner, here.”

“Oh, right… I hadn’t thought of that…” The Earth pony nodded, not contesting the point as a pair of zebra warriors moved to flank the Prophet, their own expressions blank.

“This one goes to the Pit. Its existence is an offense to the Queen of All. We shall get our answers from the crested one.”

“Oh, but before I go… There is one last, little, tiny thing that I should mention.”

“And what, pray tell, is that?” Tagati moved to replace her mask, clearly caring little for the words of the condemned stallion.

“It was a really… really bad idea to show me where my screwdriver was,” said the Doctor, as Tagati set her mask in place before looking to him curiously while the two zebra cut his bonds, allowing his forehooves to fall to the ground. “And a worse idea to keep it in psychic range after exposing me to your operating frequency.”

*WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

The sound emanating from the Prophet’s pouch wasn’t loud by any means. From his position, his hind legs still strapped into place, the Doctor could barely hear it. But its effect was immediate as the two zebra guards suddenly cried out, hooves going to their heads as they tumbled over while Tagati went rigid, letting out a pained gasp and falling to her knees.

“FLUTTERSHY! NOW WOULD BE GOOD!” The Doctor surged forward suddenly, straining against the lashings on his hind legs and bucking slightly as a mirrored echo of pain reverberated throughout the mountain and the small device continued to sound out.

“Doctor! Are you alright!? What did you do!?” Fluttershy spoke up, her soft voice still echoing as she looked down at the scene, amazed and disturbed.

“Forget that! We have got to get down there, now!” Zecora shouted, shoving her shoulder into the yellow pegasus, who was thrown from the ledge they had been watching from and flailed in the air a moment before her wings started to beat, allowing her to descend with the filly holding onto her neck.

“Hurry!” the Hourglass Stallion shouted as Fluttershy made it to the ground, the filly leaping from her back and to the pained figure of the Prophet while Fluttershy moved to the Doctor’s side, reaching down to bite into the vines. “I’ll give you the run-through later! We only have a few moments before they recover and alter their psionic frequency!” the Doctor explained, pulling the strap taut and allowing Fluttershy to get her teeth into his bindings with a snap. “I’ll get the last one, you get Twilight!”

“Yes, okay! Then can we please get out of here!?” Fluttershy pleaded, the entire situation making her feel more than a bit overwhelmed.

“That’s the idea, now go!”

Not questioning him any further, Fluttershy darted away, moving to where Twilight still floated apparently weightless as she dove through the air. Hooking her forelegs around her friend's limp shoulders, Fluttershy then used the cool, crisp updraft she was held in to boost herself up, flying towards the rocky outcrop she had used to sneak into the chamber.

Meanwhile, the Doctor turned a bit, pulling his hoof as he strained against the last vine around his hind leg, about to take action now that he could reach it himself. Then, he paused, only now taking notice of the filly that was standing a few feet in front of him.

“Come on… Come on!” Zecora pleaded desperately as she pulled her hooves up, taking and working the mask that was in place over Tagati’s face and pushing it off of her head with some difficulty. Exposing the pained grimace of the Prophet underneath, Zecora hefted the heavy wooden idol to the side, where it clattered heavily to the ground.

“Let her go!”

With a violent, angry burst of energy, the young zebra rushed forward, stomping on the wooden mask with both forehooves and ellicitng a dry crack. At first, it appeared undamaged, but as Zecora continued to lay into it, smashing the thing with all the power her tiny body could muster, it didn't hold up for long. In just a few seconds -- and about a dozen blows later -- the mask was reduced to nothing but a pile of broken wood, loose gemstones, and splinters. The effect was immediate, causing Tagati's body to go slack and slump to the ground.

With a sudden, heart-chilling recognition of who it was that was accompanying Fluttershy, the Doctor turned about, straining to get a grip on the vine that was holding his hoof back.

“Mother!” Zecora moved back under the Prophet, attempting to push her up as she shouted at her. “Mother, wake up!”

Tagati shuddered for a moment, seeming to struggle in lifting her head up. Her eyes fluttered open, showing wide, round blue irises as opposed to the tiny dots that were there before. “Z…Zecora...? W-what are you doing here?”

The Doctor redoubled his efforts, now regretting sending Fluttershy away to tend to Twilight before freeing him.

“I came to save you, Mother!” Zecora set her head against Tagati’s front affectionately, tears running down her face as she did so. “It is okay! It is all okay! I am here! We... we can go home now!”

“Zecora! Get away from her!” the Doctor shouted, having worked a fray into the vine and now pulling against it with all of his earth pony strength as he snorted in an undignified, equine fashion.

“No! I destroyed the mask! The nightmare is over!”

“Zecora…” Tagati’s voice trembled as she regretfully pushed away the distraught filly, her eyes shimmering with pained tears. "You must leave..."

“Mother…?”

“Leave me, child! Run!”

“No... No! Fight it, Mother!”

Tears ran freely down the filly’s eyes as she watched the elder mare shakily get to her hooves and stumble back, all while clutching her shaking head. Then, she froze, lowering her forelegs and bringing her head up, her face a portrait of turmoil while she kept her eyes shut...

...until they opened again, revealing two angry, remorseless black dots against oceans of red and white.

“Mother, no! Give her back, you-- AGGHHN!”

Zecora reeled, crying out in agony as a sudden, harsh pain she had never known pressed against her head, feeling as if hundreds of sharp needles had been hammered into her skull at once and sending the foal to her knees.

“Too far! This time it has gone too--”

*thwip*

The pressure released immediately, the pain fading into a slight throb as relief rushed in, allowing Zecora to open her eyes and blink away the tears as the older Ash-Stripe mare stumbled a bit on her hooves.

“...faaaar…”

Tagati’s eyes rolled up to the back of her head as she fell over in a deep slumber, a familiar-looking dart sticking out from her shoulder.

Turning her head, Zecora saw the brown stallion with the hourglass mark on his flank dropping an unconscious zebra warrior’s foreleg, having utilized the blow-dart mounted on it before moving towards her, his eyes narrowing.

“It… it is not her fault! Do not hurt her!” The filly attempted to throw a degree of authority into the order, though a sudden wave of nausea made her unsteady on her hooves. “Please… do not hurt her...”

“I know, and I won’t,” the Doctor assured her, reaching down with a hoof to open the satchel at Tagati's flank and reaching into it with his mouth to withdraw a small metal tube, balancing it on his hoof as he slipped it behind his ear and turned to her. “I’m sorry, but the hold Anasi has on her was stronger than the others'. Breaking up the mask disrupted it for a moment, but-- ZECORA!”

The Doctor’s eyes widened as he looked to the filly, his explanation broken into a dire warning as he saw the small black spider crawling down from the filly’s mane and onto her neck.

*crunch*

“Ah!” Zecora brought her hoof up reflexively, smashing it into the small arachnid and crushing it in mid-bite, then rubbing her neck as the initial sting faded.

“Doctor!” Fluttershy called down from the alcove, setting the still-unconscious Twilight down as she looked back down at the scene. “What happened!?”

The Time Pony sighed deeply as the young zebra brought her hoof back, revealing a bright green mark in the spot where the spider had gotten ahold of her. “Exactly what I was afraid of…” he uttered under his breath as the filly looked at her hoof, her eyes widening in terror at the green fluid that was dripping off of it.

————————
Intensive Care Ward, Room 7
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 8:12 p.m.

Zecora the zebra laid back into the pillow, the hospital bed having been brought up to a sitting position as laying down straight had become too painful to bear, watching as her young friend set another large glass on the tray next to her. But in spite of her pain, it was the troubles of her bedside companion that were truly worrying her now.

“…An' they say Ah told ‘em ta do it! Can ya believe the nerve!?” the farm filly continued, stomping a bit as she paced in front of the bed. “After all that happened ta ya, and everythin' Ah went through, they was just sittin’ in the bakery, enjoyin' free treats!”

“So now you believe, because you are right…” Zecora panted a bit as she spoke. “That it gives just cause for friends to fight?”

“Hey, it’s not mah fault Scootaloo got all up in mah face!” Apple Bloom defended herself. “Ah mean, Ah was jus' tryin’ ta get back here, Ah didn’t start nuthin'.”

“A fight, I never said you tried to pick… but did they not offer to help with the sick?” the zebra asked.

Apple Bloom winced a little, looking over the zebra.

In the last couple of hours since Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had left, it was certain that Zecora’s condition was getting worse. Already, the green veins that lined her face were creeping across her snout and up over her head towards the left side. And if this were not bad enough, it was clear that the sickness was spreading down from her neck as well, her entire right foreleg already covered in the throbbing green veins and twitching at the zebra’s side.

If she felt half as bad as she looked, Apple Bloom was amazed the zebra was listening to her at all, and not just wallowing in pain.

“Ah’m sorry, Ah shouldn’t be buggin’ ya with mah own silly little troubles,” the filly offered apologetically. “Ah’m… sure Twilight an’ Fluttershy'll be back soon. Ah don’t know what’s takin’ 'em.”

“I know all too well, the concerns of a filly. And I know just as well that they are not at all silly. As for our friends, I am not worried.” Zecora shook her head. “What they are doing now should not be hurried.”

“Where did they go, anyway?” asked Apple Bloom.

“That… is a tale of which I know only half,” Zecora admitted, lying back into her pillow. “And what I do know, most would say, is daft.”

Apple Bloom licked her lips slightly, moving back to the side of Zecora’s bed as the zebra leaned over, taking a pull on the straw placed in the nearby pitcher of water. “...Does it have sumthin’ ta do wit' Doctor Clockwork?”

Zecora choked a little bit, pulling back and coughing, having swallowed awkwardly at the mention of the stallion before drawing back to look at Apple Bloom.

“We were followin' 'im earlier today… when we saw you at the Pony Express Office…” Apple Bloom confessed, causing Zecora to look away. “Are y'all scared a' him?”

Zecora lowered her eyes, unable to meet the filly's as she nodded slightly.

“Why?”

The zebra shifted uneasily in her bed, her mouth opening for a moment as if she was fighting to think of what to say, when the door opened suddenly, and Nurse Redheart stepped in.

“Apple Bloom, your brother is here to pick you up.”

————————
Prophet's Chamber
Thunder Drum Mountain
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 5:12 p.m.

“Oh, no…” Zecora reeled in shock, staring at the bright green mark staining the hoof she had used to swat at the thing she'd felt bite her. Bringing her other hoof back to her neck, she rubbed the spot again and brought it in front of her face, seeing how the green stain was now painted across it, too. “No, no, no…”

The young zebra’s heart hammered loudly in her chest as she tried to comprehend what she was looking at... and the implications brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes.

This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening!

...She couldn’t be--

A sharp pain stung her shoulder, pulling her out of her panic for a moment as she turned about. Her tear-blurred vision caught sight of the larger brown stallion that had moved up beside her, just as he pulled back with a colored dart between his teeth.

She blinked once, her heart slowing as she staggered slightly. Then, her fear and pain faded into a sudden, quiet oblivion as the drug took hold, sending her into a deep sleep.

“Doctor! What did you do!?” Fluttershy, gliding to the ground, demanded in a tone that was torn between being frightened and angry as the filly zebra collapsed into the Doctor’s forelegs.

“I wasn't able to warn her in time... It's the Bite,” the Doctor explained quickly, doing what he could to pull Zecora away from Tagati and watching the ground for any more of the small arachnids. “The venom is blood-borne, and her panicking would have led to a higher heart-rate, causing it to spread that much faster. Zilaka’s sleep drought will keep her calm for the time-being until we can sort out a cure.”

Looking over the ground, Fluttershy pulled her hooves up and hovered in place with a squeak as she saw one of the spiders from Tagati’s mane crawling towards her.

“But… that means…” Fluttershy beat her wings a moment longer as the train of thought caught up with her, looking to the green mark on the filly’s neck and the sickly veins already spreading outward from it. “She… she's sick back in our time… b-because we…”

“Now is not the time to think about that! All it means is that we have to go, now!” The Doctor waved Fluttershy over, lifting the filly up so that the pegasus could get a grip on her and begin to carry her up towards the alcove where Twilight was laying.

While she did that, the Doctor scanned the room again, reaching up for his sonic screwdriver and setting it in his teeth as he took note of one of the black spiders moving toward him with a defined purpose.

*click*
*Whiirrrr*

The arachnid shuddered and promptly rolled over, its legs curling up, and the Doctor grimaced at it as he spat out the device in his hoof and replaced it behind his ear.

“I thought so…” he muttered, moving quickly, but carefully, to the Prophet’s side, while keeping care to avoid the nest of spiders that was still moving around in her mane. Pulling the pouch off her flank and shaking it upside down to ensure it was completely empty, the Doctor again cursed his lack of pockets as he leaned down and scooped the stunned spider into it.

Setting the harness across his own back as Fluttershy started back down, the Doctor wasted no time moving towards her, pausing only briefly to scoop up another souvenir on his way before he closed up the pouch tightly to ensure nothing would get out.

It was then that he heard the stomping of hooves echoing up the cavern.

————————

Zulu, Warlord of the Anasi, rushed into the Prophet’s chamber, looking around at the scene.

Two of his warriors were only now beginning to recover from the shock that seemed to affect every one of his zebras and felt like it had driven a spike into his own mind. The two prisoners were gone as well, and here was their Prophet laying unconscious on the floor, her mask, a gift from their goddess, sitting in pieces before her.

The zebra warrior snarled, his lips pulling back. He knew it was a mistake to leave them alone. Knew that the brown pony was too formidable to have just surrendered like that without a plan. The voice of the Goddess had disagreed, but he had never once doubted that something like this could happen.

And now that the voice had fallen silent, he felt he couldn’t help but acknowledge a growing amount of respect for the brown earth pony, who had somehow managed to escape despite all of their precautions. In fact, it was impossible to think that he could have gotten away with the purple female in tow by leaving the way that he had just come… There was only one corridor into this chamber that a zebra could…

Zulu’s eyes widened in realization as his gaze went up towards the ceiling. As the two zebra warriors began to pull themselves up, the Warlord made out a hint of a brown tail that slipped over the edge of the alcove that he had long ago tagged as a possible security risk. A secret passage only birds could reach… and that only one other zebra alive knew about.

“How… dare… It will be punished!” one of the zebra warriors stated, still somewhat shaky as he pushed himself to his hooves.

“To the pit! The Queen of All shall--” the other started.

“They are gone,” Zulu said, drawing the attention of both zebras. “We must tend to the Prophet and regroup. This pony, this... Doctor has struck a blow that must be avenged.”

“Gone!?”

“Escaped!?”

“How? How is this possible, Warlord?” Both zebra warriors bore down on Zulu for a moment, although the slightly smaller, grey-striped zebra did not flinch.

“Is it not obvious?” Zulu stated flatly. “The unicorn is capable of magic. It must have been awakened and transported the other one to safety the way you described from your first encounter.”

“That should not be possible!”

“We were promised…”

“And yet, they are not here, and I did not encounter them as I came to the Prophet’s aid. Have you another explanation?”

“Remember your place, Warlord!” One of the zebra warriors moved threateningly closer.

“I know my place…” Zulu replied calmly. “And you should know yours, which is to follow my commands."

The zebra warrior took a step back, immediately bowing his head in submission.

“The only way of escape open to the stripeless is out into the Plains. Even if their claim of a pony army is false, they are still a threat so long as they remain free.” Zulu nodded to himself, a plan of action already formulating in his mind. “You two, bring the Prophet somewhere safe. I will organize the others and try to head them off at the outskirts of the village.”

“You shall be without sight, Warlord! You brought this creature to us… you shall prove your worth in its capture.”

The Ash-Stripe stallion did not balk at the accusation, remaining as composed as he had before. “So be it… I do not require the gifts of the Goddess to track down two ponies on my own land.”

The two warriors, apparently satisfied, turned away from him and worked in unison to lift the limp Prophet from the ground, carrying her towards the door as the Anasi Warlord stood there a moment longer.

And as they left, Zulu looked up again towards the alcove above with a proud smirk. “Clever filly…”

————————
Medicine Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 9:35 p.m.

The sun had set behind the distant western plains some time ago, a mark of how much time had passed that was beginning to weigh greatly on the potion maker as he paced around his hut, glancing out the window occasionally to take note of the dozen or so black shapes that were now circling over the village.

To say that Zilaka of the Ash-Stripes was on edge would have been a gross understatement. It was only the staunch realization that his mind would need to be clear should the pony stallion actually manage to keep his wild promise that kept him from reaching for one of his more… "potent" concoctions.

It was a foal's errand, he knew, walking right into the grasp of the Anasi. And even as he played his part as the Doctor asked, telling the zebra warriors sent to check on him that he had indeed been overpowered by the earth pony, he was replaying the conversation over and over again in his head and found it difficult to believe that he had agreed to this.

But there had been something about the pony himself; a confident intelligence… something that Zilaka couldn’t help but admire and trust. Something that had led him to cover the windows of his hut as he continued to wait in the soft candle light.

*knock-knock-knock*

Zilaka nearly jumped out of his coat with a startle as he twisted towards the light wooden door of his hut, standing still for a moment before another rapid series of knocks brought him back to his senses.

It couldn’t be… He couldn’t have possibly...

The zebra moved to the door and gripped the handle, pulling it in as he looked out into the dark alleyway.

“Zilaka…” the Doctor huffed, out of breath as an unfamiliar purple mare was laid out across his back. Behind him, another mare, this one a pastel yellow and looking about ready to fall over, stood with something smaller across her own. “Things didn’t quite go according to plan.”

The medicine maker shook his head after a moment, stunned that the brown pony was there at all. “Inside, quickly! Before someone sees you!” he whispered urgently, looking out and to either side of the path that led to the medicine hut fearfully as the two ponies and their burdens quickly ducked past him. “Where have you been all this time?”

As he closed the door, the potion maker was quick to bar it, slipping a thick looking reed staff across the doorway to block easy entry and turning to the ponies as they set down their burdens.

“We had to take it slow in coming back. I didn’t want to lead the Anasi right to your doorstep. As it seems, most of them have gone out of the city. They probably think we’re making a run for it,” the Doctor explained as he leaned down on his knees to help ease the mare he had carried in. She was clearly a unicorn, with a bright and lovely face that gave her an exotic enough appeal without the horn that emerged just above her eyes. She had been what the Doctor was aiming to rescue, and in all honesty, the potion maker had never expected him to succeed. But what took his immediate attention as he now saw her in the soft candle light was the smaller, striped foal that the strange yellow pony had carried over to his bed.

“ZECORA!” The tall zebra all but bowled Fluttershy over, shoving her to one side as he rushed to the bed alcove that had been set into the wall where the pegasus had laid her down. Looking her over with the urgent, critical eye of a frantic father, it was mere seconds before the potion maker saw and diagnosed his daughter’s affliction.

“I’m sorry…” the Doctor said softly, setting his own burden down as gently as he could, the purple unicorn still showing no signs of waking. “But we have to work fast now. Did you get them?”

“What? Yes… yes, over there…” Zilaka waved a hoof to one side of the hut as Fluttershy looked about, surprised at realizing that the inside of this hut was almost identical to what was inside Zecora’s Everfree home, right down to the bottles hanging from the ceiling. Drawing her attention to the side as the Doctor moved to where Zilaka pointed, she took note of the vest, goggles, and hoof-band that were laying on the floor.

“I appreciate it,” the Doctor thanked curtly, slipping the zebra side-pouch from his back before pulling the sonic screwdriver from behind his ear, placing it into the hoof-band and using his teeth to pull it onto his fetlock. “I’m rubbish without pockets, and this will make things easier now that I have my sonic back.”

“What happened? How did she even get involved…?” Zilaka swallowed hard, his hooves pressed against the edge of the alcove bed where his foal now lay as his voice grew more stern, turning to glare at the pony. “What is the meaning of this, Doctor!? This is not what we agreed!”

“We agreed that I would help you and the zebras if you could help me get to Twilight and find the cure for the Bite. That has not changed in the slightest. I told you things didn’t go as planned…” the Doctor defended himself as he stood up, struggling to pull his vest over his head while Fluttershy moved to his side. “And it didn’t help that you withheld vital information from me. I had assumed that Zulu was your son… but why didn’t you tell me Tagati was your wife?”

“Because it was not important.” Zilaka shook his head, his expression angered while the Doctor slipped his legs into their proper holes. “Whatever else she has become, Tagati is no longer the mare I married… The only thing that matters to me right now is my daughter, and so far, the only thing you have done is bring her home with a death sentence written on her neck!”

“It’s not his fault…” Fluttershy cringed as the zebra’s eyes turned to her, causing her to pull behind the Time Stallion. “I... found her… out in the village. She made me take her to Thunder Drum.” The mare withered under the zebra’s harsh glare, becoming more and more withdrawn.

“Who are you, pony?”

“I-I’m…” The shy pegasus lowered her head a bit, her voice dropping as she felt the zebra’s glare on her.

“This is Fluttershy, my other companion that I told you about,” the Doctor introduced her, feeling that now was not the time for a protracted meet-and-greet. “And she saved your foal’s life. If she hadn’t been there, none of us would have made it out of the mountain.”

“Oh, well, I didn’t… I mean, I really wasn’t all that…” Fluttershy blushed slightly, a pink tinging her cheeks.

“Don’t be so modest, Fluttershy. Without your wings, we wouldn’t have made it anywhere near the exit before the Anasi managed to get back on their hooves. You just saved all of us.” The Doctor looked to her with a warm smile as he fumbled to get his vest on straight, clearly grateful for her assistance. A bit of praise that, for some reason, made her aches, pains, and exhaustion all seem worth it.

“I… see... My apologies, Fluttershy. Under normal circumstances, I would be far more amicable, but…” Zilaka shook his head, his eyes falling back towards the foal in the bed. “Why in the name of the Plains would she want to go to Thunder Drum? She knows as well as any zebra that--”

“She was trying to save her mother,” the Doctor interrupted as he shifted his shoulders, straightening his side pouch and red bow-tie.

Zilaka glared at the Doctor again, Fluttershy in awe of how calm the Hourglass Stallion was about the whole situation as he reached down for his goggles and set them into place on his head. Although it seemed for a moment that the zebra was about to start shouting at the brown pony, he deflated instead.

“Yes… reckless, well-meaning, and without any forethought of what she would actually do once she got there. That sounds like something she would do,” he admitted, bowing his head. “And so she was struck down for opposing their goddess, by her own mother, I assume.”

“It’s not a curse or some supernatural affliction, Zilaka,” the Doctor told his new friend, moving towards the cauldron as Fluttershy sat down against the wall, clearly exhausted and grateful not to be the center of attention. “It’s a venom. ‘The Bite’ is a spider bite… and the Anasi are behind it. All of it.”

This caused Zilaka’s eyes to go wide as the implications crashed down around him. “Y-you are sure? I have treated several victims; none of them mentioned being bitten by a spider.”

“They probably didn’t see or feel it,” the Doctor surmised. “The one that bit your daughter was crawling down the side of her head and she didn’t even realize until it bit down. I tried to warn her, but it was too late.”

“Perhaps... The placement of the wound is odd. It is usually on the hind legs, rump, or along the spine...” Zilaka moved back to his daughter, looking her over as she turned fitfully in her sleep, his tone going from frantic to academic. “I have been treating it as an illness, only focusing on the symptoms... But if it is a venom, we might be able to come up with an antitoxin. That is, if we had a raw venom donor.”

“Way ahead of you.” The Doctor smirked, moving to the pouch he had set on the floor and taking a small bowl from one of the potion maker’s shelves. Bringing it up to a work table, the brown stallion brought over a small cutting board and opened the pouch, emptying its contents: a round, glittering red crystal the size of a walnut, and a small black spider frantically rushing away.

*click*
*Whiirrrr*

The spider promptly stopped and flipped over, twitching a bit before the Doctor swept it into the bowl.

“Sonic screwdriver,” he explained to the amazed-looking zebra. “Just one of the tools of my trade, among other things. It can imitate various sounds, including the frequencies of a cry used by a specific species of echo-locating nocturnal mammals that can paralyze most insects and arachnids. So, shall we get to work, my friend?”

The potion maker nodded, daring to hope for the first time in a long time.

“Wait...” Fluttershy spoke up suddenly, pulling herself somewhat reluctantly to her hooves as she managed to get the two stallion’s attention. “You’ll need this.” The pegasus reached up with one hoof, ruffling her mane and wincing as she untangled something from her silky pink locks, drawing forth a curved prong-like grey plant and setting it on the worktable.

Zilaka wrinkled his nose and withdrew a bit, identifying the foliage on sight. “Ashmed?” He tilted his head in surprise. “That is not a medical herb, it is a weed. This will make anything it is added to poisonous in any concentration. I do not use this for any of my brews.”

“I was told it was the key to a cure for the Bite...” Fluttershy drew back a bit, now wondering if she should have brought it up at all.

“Who told you that?” Zilaka looked to the yellow pegasus skeptically.

Unsure what to say, Fluttershy looked to the Doctor, who nodded, waving her back with a grateful nod.

“Somepony you should trust,” he said curtly.

Zilaka huffed a little, looking between the bowl that now contained one of the little monsters that had been making his kind suffer, and then back towards the weed.

“Alright... I can think of at least one good use for it, I suppose.” He shrugged, moving to the table as he started to pull down gourds and small vials with a practiced ease. The Doctor, meanwhile, kept a close eye on the tiny spider, alert for any signs of it recovering, before he felt a prod on his flank.

“Um, Doctor?” Fluttershy whispered lightly, drawing closer to him. “I think the proper term is ‘somezebra,’ not ‘somepony.’ Thought you might want to know.”

The brown stallion stood still, absorbing what the yellow pegasus said before he brought a hoof up to his face. “Oh, now don’t start that again!”

————————
Intensive Care Ward
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 8:19 p.m.

“Ah ain’t goin’ home.” Apple Bloom crossed her forelegs, sitting back on her haunches as she turned away from her elder brother. “Zecora needs me here.”

Big Macintosh shook his head, looking up at the large, round face clock that was indicating just how late it had gotten. With a light sigh, he looked back to his youngest sibling, rather wishing that Applejack wasn’t away at that convention with Rarity in Yokelahoma City. She was so much better at this than he was.

“Bloom...” the large red stallion started.

“Ah know what yer gonna say, Big Mac, and no, this ain’t jus' me bein' ornery and this ain’t like bein’ over at Sweetie Belle’s house an’ not wantin’ ta leave.”

Big Mac opened his mouth again, preparing to say something.

“This is different! Zecora needs me here! She’s sick an' scared an' far away from home an' she needs ta know that there’s somepony here that cares 'bout 'er. Somepony that can help take care a' her. What wit' Twilight and Fluttershy up an' leavin’, that jus' leaves me.” The filly got to her hooves, looking up at the large colt.

Big Mac was about to try speaking when she started up again.

“Yeah, Ah know it’s late an' Ah know Ah’m jus' a little ol' filly an' it ain’t supposed ta be me worryin' an' frettin' in a hospital! Ah know Ah can’t do anythin’ but watch 'er sleep an' try ta keep her spirits up an' goin’ till Twilight gets back! But Ah can’t jus' leave 'er here! Ah won’t! Even if Ah can’t do nuthin’ else, Ah can be here! When nopony else can! That's what Ah can do!”

Big Mac took a slight step back, this time keeping his mouth closed as he looked down to Apple Bloom with an expression of sad understanding.

“No different than what any a' us'll do when it’s Granny’s turn ta be here...” Apple Bloom bowed her head, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked away.

Big Mac let out a small sigh. “...Eeeyup.”

There was no cheer at getting her way; no victory in talking the large colt into allowing her to do this. Apple Bloom just swallowed slightly as Nurse Redheart exited the critical care room.

“I’ve given her a mild sedative. It will help her sleep, but she’s still refusing pain medication,” she informed Big Macintosh, the nurse herself looking quite tired and worried. “We can’t go against her wishes while she’s still awake, but there’s... been no word from her medical proxy for hours. She just... hasn’t come back yet. I know Miss Fluttershy said she could stay with the patient, but...” The white-coated nurse looked to Apple Bloom with a sad expression. “...without adult supervision, I really can’t let her stay overnight.”

Big Mac looked to Apple Bloom, whose eyes were wide and pleading. With a sigh, the red stallion looked to the nurse and nodded. No more words were needed as Nurse Redheart started away to continue her rounds.

Following the youngest Apple back into the hospital room, Big Mac moved to lean back against the wall and watched as the filly immediately placed herself next to the bed, watching as the zebra mare drew in painful, ragged breaths.

“Don’t worry, Zecora...” The Apple filly patted her hoof, keeping her tone low even as a tear ran down her cheek. “Ah’m sure... Twilight'll find a way... She always does, no matter what... Jus' you wait.”

She bowed her head as the zebra gasped, twisting fitfully in her sleep.

Hurry, Twilight... Apple Bloom clenched her eyes shut, unable to stop the tears.

Please...

————————
Medicine Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 10:08 p.m.

“Unnnggh...” Twilight Sparkle had endured many kinds of headaches in her time, and had even categorized most of them.

There were Sugar Rush Hangovers that were often the result of a visit to Pony Joe’s, or the particularly addictive sweets at Sugar Cube Corner; Apple Cider Throbs that accompanied indulging in too much of Applejack’s prized family beverage; the Magic Migraines that were all too familiar to any unicorn that overexerted themselves or channeled their power for too long; and, of course, the Study Pounding, that "too tired for words" head trauma that often occurred after two or three successive all-nighters right before her body simply overruled her curiosity and forced her to sleep.

But as consciousness seeped back into her body, she had to admit, whatever was causing this particular headache surpassed them all.

She hesitantly tried to open her eyes, only to grind them shut as the soft candlelight caused the pain to increase exponentially. With pain and the cold dirt floor under her making it impossible just to drift back to sleep, Twilight wiggled her ears around, trying to get some bearing on where she was and what had happened.

“Alright, small portions of the sky blossom, Doctor. I have a very limited supply of those, but it may help,” came a deep, wizened voice she did not recognize.

“What about this?” followed the lilting accent she had come to associate with both adventure and trouble.

“Dried tangle berries? Doctor, these are for indigestion, which is something I have not had to treat around here for quite a long time. Would you kindly stop pulling things off the shelf at random?”

“Sorry, I thought they were... Well, I have to admit, this is one area of expertise where my previous studies are completely useless. How do you keep up with all of these things making six experimental potions at once?”

“Many long years of practice...” the deep voice came again. “Alright, here, crush this with the metal spoon there, would you? And try not to let any get in your mouth.”

“Why? What would happen?” the Doctor asked cautiously.

“I do not know... and that in and of itself should be enough to dissuade you.”

“I am liking this potion-making business of yours less and less every passing minute... Alright, so... what does this root cure?”

“Hunger. That is my dinner.”

“Excuse me... may I have some of that? I’ve been flying almost all day and I’m starving,” came Fluttershy’s voice from a short distance behind the unicorn, who was starting to roll over on her front.

“Unnggh...” Twilight was done listening, her head pounding as she forced her eyes to slowly open in spite of the light. “Doctor...? Fluttershy...?”

“Oh! Twilight!” said Fluttershy, surprisingly loud (for Fluttershy, at least) as she suddenly was in the unicorn’s field of vision, wrapping her forelegs around her sore body. “You’re awake! That's great! Are you okay? We were so worried...! Why are you grinding your teeth like that?”

“Because... you’re talking... in my ear... and it hurts.” Twilight grimaced, trying to contain herself.

“Oh, I'm sorry... So... um... I should let you go, now?” Fluttershy whimpered apologetically.

“That would be appreciated, yes.”

Twilight wobbled around a bit as Fluttershy released her, drawing herself up in a semi-seated position before trying to focus on making sense of her surroundings. “Oof... My head...” Twilight brought her hooves up to her temples as she shook her mane back and forth. “Doctor, what happened...? And why are we at Zecora’s house?”

“What? I thought you had been unconscious since you arrived,” came the deep voice again, Twilight managing to look up towards a large, bubbling cauldron to see the Doctor and a tall, thin-looking zebra stallion with a large mohawk and wearing a pendant with a somewhat familiar symbol on it. “How do you know my daughter?”

Twilight blinked a bit, her confusion only slightly clearing up as she came to a realization of who this was. “Okay... What exactly did I miss and how long was I out?” Twilight asked, reaching up and feeling her flanks and chest. “I didn’t get turned to stone again, did I?”

“...Do you want the truth or a lie?”

Twilight felt herself slump, having learned quite well that when the Doctor asked that question... things were looking pretty bad.

“Give it to me straight, Doctor. Who, or what, did we upset this time?”

“This time?” Zilaka asked, turning towards the Doctor with a suspicious glance.

“We travel quite a lot. Trouble finds us more than occasionally,” the brown stallion offered as explanation, moving towards Twilight, who was now blinking and looking about, taking in her surroundings.

Yeah... 'occasionally,' Twilight thought, rolling her eyes grumpily as she moved her head about, still feeling a mild throb, although it was lessening.

If it were not for the fact that her father was there and the slight difference between wood and molded terracotta backdrop, Twilight would have sworn they were inside Zecora’s hut in the Everfree Forest. While covers had been put over the windows, Twilight was able to deduce it was nighttime judging by the lack of any sort of glare through what was a relatively thin cloth.

Turning around to look behind her, she took note of a filly sleeping in the alcove carved into the hut’s wall, with a grey and white coat. Taking into consideration who the stallion standing at the cauldron was, it didn’t take much for Twilight to put the pieces together.

Then she stretched, attempting to work out the kinks as her forelegs came into view, and Twilight’s breath caught in her throat.

“...No... Oh, Celestia... No no no no...” The unicorn looked down her body, her heart suddenly hammering as she caught sight of similar black markings running down her chest and hind legs. “Mirror! I need a mirror!”

“Oh, right. Not quite sure what the deal is with those yet. Maybe they wanted to try giving you some stripes and somepony got creative?” the Doctor started with a smile. A smile that faded as he saw the look of horror that had gripped his friend’s face. “Twilight... Twilight what’s wrong?” The Doctor’s humor gave way to genuine concern as he leaned in, watching her carefully.

“Mirror!” Fluttershy rushed to her side, holding up a large polished silver bowl that seemed to be good enough for the unicorn as she took it in her hooves and looked into it.

Her eyes wide, her body went rigid as the polished bowl then slipped from her hooves with a deafening clatter.

“Twilight... what is it?” the Doctor asked, now very much worried about his companion’s reaction. “It’s alright… you’re safe now… Everything is going to be alright.”

“No... No, it isn’t, Doctor…” Twilight’s head bowed, her shoulders slumping forward as tears began to form at the edge of her eyes. “It’s… it’s gone…”

“What’s gone?” Fluttershy asked, looking to her friend with a mix of sympathy and worry.

“M…my magic…” Twilight tried to explain, barely able to form the words. “It’s just… gone.”

Ch. 5: Trouble Brewing

Chapter 5: Trouble Brewing

Medicine Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R. (Celestia's Reign), 10:32 p.m.

“Now, Twilight, I’m not an expert…” The Doctor tilted his head slightly, watching the lavender unicorn as she carefully tilted the gourd of hastily brewed tea to her lips with both hooves, thirst taking precedence over panic. “But I’m pretty sure you can only do that to male equines.”

Fluttershy blushed horribly as Twilight choked on her tea, fumbling with her hooves to keep hold of the dried husk of vegetable.

“No. No, Doctor. No.” The unicorn, cheeks flushed, shook her head violently as she came to a rather abrupt realization of what the Time Pony was talking about. “Not that kind of gelding, jeez. Nopony’s practiced that horrible tradition in… ugh… centuries. No, I mean Unicorn Gelding.”

“Ah…” The brown stallion nodded for a moment, then returned to a neutral, blank expression. “I still don’t get it.”

Twilight let out an exasperated sigh as she set down the blackened gourd filled with zebra herbal tea, resigning herself to sit back and explain in spite of wanting nothing more than to curl up in a ball out of shame.

“These…” Twilight motioned to her chest and forelegs, indicating the intricate black patterns that were drawn along her coat. “…are Gelding Marks. They use arcane patterns and runes to act as a buffer between a unicorn’s internal magic and the rest of the world. They were developed thousands of years ago by Sir Justice the Templar during the Reign of Dame Dawn, specifically for the purpose of defeating the Hierarchy of Arcana, a unicorn faction that attempted to overthrow their alicorn ruler. Captured members of the Hierarchy were ‘gelded,’ robbing them of their great advantage and eventually ending the civil war. These days, the technique is performed on unicorn criminals that abuse their magical prowess, or cast forbidden magic on other ponies.”

“So, it’s a magic blocker?” the Doctor asked as Twilight took a breath.

“More like an... insulator. You see, magic comes from within; it can't be extinguished as long as a pony is alive. But to effect the rest of the world, it has to be channeled, that's what unicorn horns are for,” Twilight explained, pointing towards her horn, where a branching set of lines were centered before running down the sides of her face. “The runes run down from my horn and ground any magic I try to focus before it can be released. The term ‘gelded’ came along as an insult to the Hierarchy unicorns that used their magic to lord over earth ponies, and were rendered impotent.”

“Can’t we just wash them off?” Fluttershy asked timidly, taking one of Twilight’s legs and running a hoof over her coat, attempting to rub the black mark out of her fur for a moment before the unicorn pulled away.

“If it were that easy, it couldn’t have ended a war!” Twilight snapped, causing her friend to cringe. The unicorn sighed and shook her head, regretting her tone immediately. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy… You see, Gelding Marks can be removed, but the secret of how to do so is known only to ranking officials in the Arbiter’s Court, the Judges and Lawmakers that advise the Princesses and nobility in legal matters and settle disputes that fall above the local authorities.”

Twilight crossed her forelegs, the most pressing of the questions on her mind given sudden voice. “The Arbiter’s Court officials are also the only ponies in Equestria that know how to apply Gelding Marks. According to my studies in Canterlot, it’s only been done maybe a dozen times during Celestia’s Reign; the punishment is reserved only for the worst of the worst offenders.” Twilight looked at her hooves again, her shoulders slumping in realization. “And now... me.”

“Which brings to mind the question…” The Doctor turned towards the cauldron, where the zebra potion maker had been continuing his work unabated while the ponies had been tending to their own. “Zilaka, do you know anything about this?”

“My mastery is of potions, salves, and powders,” the medicine zebra stated plainly, lifting a gourd out of the bubbling cauldron and checking it -- for what, exactly, the Doctor did not know. “I know of unicorns from the tales woven by our old storyteller, but I have never seen one until this day, just as I have never seen a pegasus or earth pony. And I most certainly have never heard of this ability to counteract their powers. But the Anasi have proven time and time again to be very resourceful.”

The Doctor tapped his chin thoughtfully as Twilight moved to her hooves and stretched. “Twilight, the Anasi have mental capabilities. Is it possible they were able to read your mind while you were sleeping and extract what you know about this so they could use it against you?” he suggested.

“No, impossible. I can recognize them and I know the history behind them, but there are secret rituals and special inks needed to perform a Gelding, none of which anypony outside the Arbiter’s Court knows the details of.” Twilight shook her head before allowing herself a small smirk. “Besides, if they had read my mind…”

Twilight trailed off, looking to the Doctor who nodded in agreement as he ran over what he himself knew. If they had somehow managed to read Twilight’s mind, that meant they would know about the TARDIS, and the fact that they were not simply ponies. Both facts that the Doctor doubted the Anasi would have failed to act upon while he was being interrogated.

Tagati, acting as little more than a mouthpiece for this "Anasi," had said that Twilight "defied" them, which wasn’t surprising. In the time that he had known her, his horned companion had proven to be quite willful and intelligent; two traits that lent themselves heavily to psychic resistance.

But if they hadn’t gotten the details about the Gelding Marks from Twilight… then how?

“Ugh! I hate this!” Twilight futilely pounded her hooves on the floor, drawing the Doctor’s attention again. “I’m... useless now.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Twilight. Of course you’re not,” the Doctor tried to comfort her as she shrugged off Fluttershy’s sympathetic hoof on her shoulder and closed her eyes, clearly focusing with some effort. Whereas before, any use of magic would cause Twilight’s horn to glow with power; now, there wasn’t the barest flicker of a spark to be seen.

“Ungh! Ouch… I can’t even make a light. I can’t teleport us… I can’t cast spells… I’ve tried to go without magic before, and I make an absolutely horrible earth pony.” Twilight’s shoulders slumped.

“So do I,” the Doctor admitted with a shrug. “Hasn’t stopped me yet.” Twilight looked up into the brown stallion’s blue eyes as he held her attention. “I know it’s difficult, Twilight, but if we’re going to get through this, I need your A-game right now… and I don’t mean your magic. You’re the cleverest unicorn I’ve ever met.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she smirked mockingly, breaking the moment up with a bit of snark. “Aside from me, name all the unicorns you've spoken to for more than five minutes,” she asked of him.

“Rarity...” the Doctor said without hesitation.

“Yeah, that’s what I thou--”

“...and Leonard,” he finished, causing Twilight’s smirk to vanish at that comment. “With that in mind, I stand by my original assessment.”

There was a quiet moment between the two of them that Fluttershy watched, taking in how her good friend’s face cycled through several emotions before nodding with a huff. “Okay,” she started, getting up on all fours. “You’re right… I’m okay now. So, what did I miss?”

As the Doctor started to give Twilight a rundown of the events that had transpired since her incapacitation, Fluttershy found her attention wandering and drawn over to the still frantically-working zebra that was pulling multiple gourds from the boiling cauldron. Taking a look at how there were no flames or smoke coming from under the black metal pot, the pegasus couldn’t help but ask, “How are you heating that?”

The zebra was brought out of his internal considerations as the yellow mare approached. “I beg your pardon?”

“The water… how are you heating… Wait…” Fluttershy leaned over the cauldron and sniffed, surprised by the slightly acidic smell that emanated from the brown, bubbling substance. “That’s… not water.”

“Of course not. Water has become very valuable these days. Enough to fill this cauldron would probably be more than all of Stone-Water is allowed to drink in a week, barring the Anasi…” Zilaka answered, using a set of tongs to pull a gourd from the cauldron and setting it on his small workbench, unplugging the cork in the top and sniffing at the contents. “Over the past few years, I have learned to improvise. This is the juice from the Mau Root: a plant that is unpalatable to all but the most desperate of creatures and still found in abundance around the Plains. It has survived the Parching because it stores moisture for long periods and effectively dissuades anything from eating it.”

“So it’s poisonous?” Fluttershy tilted her head, looking at the zebra as if he were crazy. “You’re mixing potions in a toxic soup?”

“No, it is drinkable… although some zebras might prefer dying of thirst rather than resort to putting any in their mouths. Still, it works as a substitute for water in several applications, potion preparation being one of them. The gourd’s hard outer skin prevents the flavor from seeping through, yet transfers the heat from the boiling Mau Root Juice to the potions inside and simmers them appropriately.”

“I can’t imagine that a thirsty pon-- err… zebra would pass up something just because it tasted bad,” the pegasus commented, trying to wrap her head around the idea.

Zilaka smirked, reaching up and pulling a wooden ladle from the bench with his teeth, which he then dipped into the bubbling cauldron. “Hold out your hoof,” he instructed, still gripping the ladle, which he promptly turned upside down so it was dripping slightly.

Unsure where he was going with this, Fluttershy did as asked, having to resist flinching when the zebra brought the ladle over her hoof and shook it, allowing a drop to fall along the edge of her fetlock. Much to her shock, rather than singe or burn, the off-brown liquid only felt lukewarm, but also...

Fluttershy's entire muzzle twisted in a grimace and her tongue committed mutiny against her brain, as if trying to punish her for even thinking about taking a taste.

“Unnggh!” the pegasus exclaimed with a softer than expected tone despite the overwhelming amount of disgust. Quickly, she tried her hardest to scrape off the offending substance onto the floor. “I can taste it in my mouth! That's... horrible!”

Zilaka set the ladle aside, showing an amused expression as he continued his work, his hooves carefully dipping the tongs into the bubbling mix without touching the liquid himself.

“Now imagine that… only a dozen times worse. Most zebras will retch if they try to drink it,” Zilaka explained. “When I was young, my mother used to use it as a method to discipline my brother and I when we got into trouble, so we became very familiar with its taste. I promised myself I would never do the same with my own foals…”

Any mirth he felt was lost in an instant as Fluttershy followed his eyes towards the far side of the hut, where the small striped foal still lay, her back towards them as she convulsed and murmured in a restless, pained sleep.

“...For whatever good it did.” Zilaka’s lowered his head with a soft, sad sigh. “Perhaps if I had been sterner, or… if I had raised her more traditionally… I could have--”

“What happened wasn’t your fault,” Fluttershy stated quickly, interrupting the zebra and drawing his attention towards her.

“Was it not?” Zilaka shook his head. “If not I, then who? I never should have let her out of my sight; should not have encouraged her curious nature. I should have kept her close at hoof, protected her from--”

“Zilaka…” Fluttershy uttered softly. “It wasn’t your fault.”

The zebra was silent for a moment. “Do you have any foals of your own, Fluttershy?”

“Not of my own, no… but I take care of a lot of animals. And I know that, like foals, you can’t always protect them from their own nature... Sometimes, you have to let them find their own way.”

“Then our societies differ greatly, my winged friend,” Zilaka pointed out, turning back to his work as he spoke. “In Zebrica, colts and fillies are supposed to be groomed; to have ‘defined’ roles in our culture. Colts learn trades and defend the herd from threats, while the fillies among us are supposed to be taught to give back to their herd. To tend to the spiritual and practical needs of others. She was never content with that,” the striped stallion confided, his own thoughts introspective as his eyes moved back towards the young filly. “From the moment she was old enough to think for herself, she refused to conform… to be what others wanted her to be. She wanted to learn and explore, she wanted to discover new things. And most peculiarly… she wanted to do it on her own.”

Fluttershy bit her lip for a moment. “She… spoke very highly of you,” she stated hesitantly.

Zilaka bit back a sharp laugh. “I doubt that very much,” he rebutted her, shaking his head. “She has never forgiven me for not resisting the Anasi like the other Ash-Stripes. For not being able to sway her brother to stay with us rather than serve them... or save her mother from whatever twisted her into her current state.”

The potion maker turned back to his work, handling a gourd carefully with the hardened edges of his hooves before unplugging the cork and taking a sniff.

“And she is right not to… Spirits know that I have not even tried.”

————————

“So, she only ended up in her current condition because we came back to find a cure for her current condition…” Twilight shook her head, a new headache she was on the verge of dubbing the "Timey-Wimey Winces" forming in her temples as the Doctor brought her up to speed on the events that had transpired while she had been drugged.

“Yes, my old friend, the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle,” the Time Stallion explained, keeping his voice down so that their conversation did not travel to the zebra stallion’s ears. “The consequences of what happened here caused us to come back to cause the events that lead to those consequences in the first place.”

“So… you're saying it’s not a paradox?” Twilight asked hopefully. “We don’t need to worry about another one of those things tearing Ponyville apart again?”

“Not yet. But we’re on thin ice, here.” The Doctor huffed. “If we deviate from what Zecora remembers or her interpretation of events, especially if they lead to her altering the future decisions that led her to Ponyville or her current condition, the time-stream could fracture and, assuming that our previous travels haven’t shored up the timeline enough, it could cause a paradox.”

“But, Doctor, we don’t know how she interpreted these events. I’ve known Zecora for almost two years. Why didn’t she ever mention anything about this?”

“If I had to hazard a guess…” The Doctor set one hoof against his chin. “It’s because somepony told her, or will tell her, not to.”

“Ugh…” Twilight facehoofed with a frustrated grunt as she gave up trying to follow the Time Lord’s train of thought.

“I warned you: traveling with an agenda gets complicated fast,” the Doctor said, nodding sagely.

“Can you at least save the ‘I told you so’ until we get back to the library?” Twilight asked, not wanting the sagely tone to turn smug.

The Doctor smirked playfully. “No promises…”

“Doctor…” Fluttershy moved up next to the brown stallion, her expression oddly bright given how tired she looked. “I just had an idea.”

“And here it comes…” the Doctor sighed, shaking his head; a sign that the yellow pegasus either missed or ignored.

“Why don’t we simply go back to the TARDIS, head to Canterlot to get those marks off Twilight, and ask Zecora for the recipe to this potion so that we can come back and--”

“No.” Twilight and the Doctor both cut her off, sharing a blank expression as they spoke out together.

“But… why not?”

“First, we would have to get to the TARDIS, which is miles away sitting on a wide open plain…” the Doctor started…

“…while avoiding Celestia knows how many Anasi warriors who are familiar with the terrain.” Twilight finished for him.

“Assuming we got there, we would have to actually leave…”

“…and since we’re already part of the events here, there is absolutely no guarantee that we would make it back to the same year, much less the same day.”

“Then to Canterlot and the Arbiter’s Court to have the Gelding Marks removed…”

“…which I'm sure the Arbiters will be very interested to know how I ended up with them on me in the first place.”

“And even assuming we can get them removed, we’d have to convince Zecora to part with the recipe...”

“…when she could have just done that before, yet didn’t for reasons that we still don’t understand.”

“But…” Fluttershy trying very hard to follow the two as they traded off explaining the flaws in what she had thought was a pretty straightforward plan. “But we already know that whatever we do here… it works. I mean…” The shy pegasus looked down, her voice growing more quiet as she lost whatever confidence had bolstered her moments ago. “We know Zecora survives this and moves to Ponyville… We…” She lowered her head, hiding behind her hair as the Doctor’s deep blue eyes turned to her, filled with concern. “W-we win… don’t we?”

“Fluttershy, I know this is hard… but there is a key rule to time travel that you have to understand, here.” The Doctor shook his head, his tone caring and soft. “Remember what I said that night on the Moon? That there are fixed moments that must always happen?”

“Y…yes, I remember.”

“This isn’t one of them. This moment in history is in flux. That means that whatever happens here is not set in stone. History can change and time can be rewritten,” the stallion explained. “We are part of these events now… and we have to see it through to the end as best we can, no matter what.”

The pegasus swallowed visibly as the implications seemed to strike a chord in her, realization of the weight of their situation sinking in for perhaps the first time.

“Are you alright?” the Doctor asked, his tone still concerned as he internally cringed, wondering if he had been too harsh and direct in handling the admittedly frail mare.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight likewise sounded worried.

“I… I just… um… need some air…” The pegasus looked as if she was fighting down panic, the pressure of realizing just how much was now riding on their actions all striking home suddenly as she started towards the door.

The Doctor, still concerned, looked to Twilight.

“I’ll go with her. We’ll go up on the roof so we can stay out of sight,” the unicorn answered with a sigh, now feeling more than slightly guilty after having gone all out and trying to coax Fluttershy into traveling along with the Doctor with promises of how amazing and wondrous it was.

The Doctor nodded, waving Twilight to go after her and amazed at his own patience in this situation. In past incarnations, Fluttershy’s timidness and withdrawn nature in the face of danger would have been an annoyance at best… or enough to incite actual anger in some of his harsher mindsets. She just didn’t have the sort of personality that he usually sought out in his companions, and now, he was wondering why he had agreed to bring her along at all.

Still, this was yet another introspective curiosity that he had to shove to the back of his mind as the two mares moved cautiously to a window, Fluttershy lifting the black curtain while Twilight peeked out for any sign of the Anasi. He had more pressing matters ahead of him as he watched Zilaka lift the last of six blackened gourds from the bubbling mixture in the cauldron.

“Are they ready?”

“The brewing process is done, yes," the zebra answered. "Although whether or not they will work, there is only one way to find out.”

The Doctor looked to the stallion’s workstation, intrigued to see how this was going to proceed. He had already been impressed by Zilaka’s expertise in instantly identifying the dried leaves and ground-up powders that were inside the unmarked vials, jars, and gourds that were all about his hut, putting them together with an ease that came from a lifetime of professional practice. But now there was the most crucial point of any experiment: the testing.

Although, given the lack of any guinea pigs, small rodents, or some other testable creatures on the table, the Doctor was more than a bit curious as to how the intelligent zebra was going to test his concoctions. A curiosity that was only enhanced when the zebra brought his forehooves to the worktable and reached up to take a small wooden box from a shelf, setting it down next to a vial filled with a glowing green fluid.

“Hold on a moment… When did you…?” The Doctor raised an eyebrow as he took notice of the fluid, his eyes scanning the table a moment before he saw the black spider trapped under an overturned glass.

“Is something the matter, Doctor?”

“You already milked the spider?”

“Oh, yes, some time ago. You were busy speaking with your marefriend.”

But, when did...? How did you…? Without any fingers…?” The Doctor’s train of questioning was thrown awry as what Zilaka said suddenly hit a chord, causing the Time Lord to stumble. “Wait, Twilight? She’s not my… Hold on, why does everyone keep jumping to that specific conclusion?”

“I meant only that she is your friend who is a mare…” the zebra stated blankly, opening the small wooden box and turning it upside down, revealing it to contain an assortment of fresh, star-shaped, brown-colored leaves with bright white veins. "What did you think I meant?"

“Ohhh… of course. Right. That’s exactly what…” The Doctor’s flustered moment passed as he decided it wasn't worth it. Why was he even worried about this? There were a dozen more pressing concerns to be dealt with at the moment. “Never mind. So, what do you have here?” The Doctor decided to move along, taking note of how the zebra was using a smaller set of tongs in his mouth to pick out several leaves and set them into a line.

“Leaves from the Limus tree,” Zilaka told the brown stallion, managing to speak clearly in spite of the wooden tongs gripped at the front of his lips. “Do you ponies not use something similar to test your own medicines?”

“Honestly? I don’t know how pony pharmacists work,” the Doctor admitted, suddenly realizing how the use of live animals to test medicinal products, a staple practice for many species of his home universe, would be considered beyond horrific by the more environmentally synced ponies. “Something I really should investigate when we get back...”

“Well, here in Zebrica, we use Limus leaves,” the zebra explained. “The leaves have a similar tolerance to stimuli as a grown zebra, but in a faster, more easily observed scale. By mimicking the symptoms of ailments in the leaves and observing their reactions to different substances, the Ash-Stripe ancestors long ago were able to determine the use of the Plains’ bounties, both good and ill.”

“A plant analogue…” The Doctor nodded, looking at the leaves with an intrigued smile. “Brilliant... Most species I've come to know have to resort to trial and error with their ill to find their cures.”

Zilaka huffed. “How barbaric.”

“Well, you can’t fault them for trying,” the Doctor defended.

“In any case… all we need… is a drop… on the stem.” Zilaka reached over with his hooves, taking hold of the small vial with the glowing green venom inside and lifting it.

The Doctor, his attention now focused, took note of the slight trembling of the glass in the zebra’s hooves and how the medicine maker was taking deep breaths to calm himself. A trembling that was not just the result of frayed nerves.

“Zilaka… are you alright? You look a bit… twitchy,” the Doctor asked, watching the zebra as he held his tongue between his teeth, attempting to steady himself.

“I am fine.”

The Doctor, taking note of how quickly the zebra responded, flicked one hoof forward.

*click*
*whirrrrrr*

The Doctor brought the extended device up to his nose, looking at it as the medicine zebra, with some difficulty, managed to tip a tiny drop onto the stem of each leaf, watching as the thin glowing fluid was drawn into the white stem.

“…No, you’re not.” The Doctor’s tone was soft but stern.

The zebra stallion didn’t look up. “If you would kindly put away the magic stick, Doctor…” came the striped stallion’s response, watching as the white veins in the leaves each turned green and their fleshy brown surfaces grew parched. “There are more pressing issues before us.”

The Time Lord was quiet for a moment, watching the thin zebra as he reached over for one of the gourds containing the first experimental potion.

“First test: a small dose of venom with natural detoxification agents…” The zebra shook several drops free onto the first leaf, which promptly became worse as the green veins multiplied and spread further, sucking up all the remaining moisture until the leaf itself crumbled to dust.

“I’ll take that as a failed test,” the Doctor noted.

One after another, Zilaka applied his experimental potions, the Doctor taking astute note of the results, which ranged from nothing at all happening, to a complete collapse of the leaf’s structure, to accelerating the venom’s spread until the leaf failed due to dehydration, like the first one.

Finally -- and rather reluctantly -- Zilaka moved to the last small gourd, although his expression was clearly far from hopeful.

“Ashmed-laced detoxicant.” The zebra shook the gourd, the contents swishing about inside. “I would advise standing back, Doctor.”

The Time Lord did as asked, watching with interest as Zilaka handled the gourd as if it were about to explode at any moment, carefully dribbling a small amount on the stem of the Limus leaf.

For a few moments… there was nothing.

The Doctor tilted his head to the side. “Well, that was rather anti-clima--”

*FWOOOSH*

Without warning, the leaf burst into grey, smoky flames that fizzled and sparkled like a small firecracker.

“Oh… Never mind.” The Doctor’s eyes went wide as he made a mental note of the "spontaneous combustion" side-effect.

Zilaka shook his head in disappointment. “As I suspected. Ashmed is too dangerous to even... Wait!”

As both stallions looked on, the oily flames were swiftly doused by a surge of bubbling, frothing green goo that rose up from the flesh of the leaf and spilled over onto the table, sizzling all the while. When it finally calmed down, Zilaka's workspace was a bit of a mess... but of the toxic green venom, not a drop of it remained on the leaf's crispy surface.

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, then...” The Doctor smirked slightly. "Aside from the obvious drawbacks, I would say we were on the right track."

————————
Medicine Hut, Rooftop
Stone-Water Village
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 12:35 a.m.

Twilight Sparkle could faintly hear the movement of activity below them as the Doctor and Zilaka spoke and worked, the two clearly having discovered something of interest -- although what, exactly, the well-read mare was uncertain.

She had another problem to deal with currently.

“I shouldn’t be here...” Fluttershy shook her head, her eyes downcast as she lay across from Twilight, the two having shared an awkward silent company since the pegasus had brought them up and out of the small hut.

“You’re wrong, Fluttershy,” Twilight assured her, trying to think of how to keep her friend’s fragile confidence from shattering.

“But I’m not smart like you... or brave like Rainbow Dash... or strong like Applejack... The Doctor probably thinks I’m just a silly, whiny little filly, getting pushed around by a foal and thinking that I was being so clever for a bunch of stupid ideas...”

“I asked about doing something similar when we went to Roan, Fluttershy. It’s not about you being ‘silly,’ it’s all really complicated stuff that takes time to understand. You’re doing great, so far.”

“I ran away while you and the Doctor were captured... got blackmailed and bullied by a ten year-old filly... against my better judgement, flew her into a dark, dangerous, scary cave inside a bigger, scarier mountain... and then let her get bitten by that mean little spider...”

“You didn’t ‘let’ her get hurt, Fluttershy, it just happened,” Twilight stated in a matter-of-factly tone. “And, honestly, I think that Zecora knew that's how things were going to turn out when she told you about her dad.”

The pegasus looked over to her friend. “...What?”

“Fluttershy, think about it.” Twilight’s tone remained calm, but edged with a sternness that she tended to use during her many lecturing moments. “The Zecora we know told you specifically about the Ashmed and Mount Thunder Drum. She told you about her father and how far back to go when you didn’t even mention anything about us having access to a time machine, right?”

“Y...yes...” Fluttershy nodded.

“Why would she do that unless she knew that we would be here? Doing the right thing and trying to help her.”

“But the Doctor said--”

“He said things could change. We just can’t sit back and take for granted that we’ll win. That’s all he meant,” Twilight explained, trying to make her friend understand. “Maybe time can be rewritten, but it’s up to us to do the best that we can. And Zecora didn’t ask for Rainbow Dash, or Applejack, or even me, specifically... She told you.”

“Only because I was already there...” Fluttershy countered.

“And now you’re here,” Twilight noted confidently. “Right where we need you.”

Fluttershy was quiet for a moment, absorbing her words, before looking up into the clear night sky. High above them shone a beautiful full moon with darker surface markings in the outline of a unicorn, and after a moment of trying to figure out what was out of place, Fluttershy realized what it was.

“The Mare in the Moon,” she gasped.

“Yeah...” Twilight nodded. “It’ll be another twenty-five years before Nightmare Moon attacks Equestria and attempts to bring about nighttime eternal. So we have that to look forward to.”

“I never thought about places other than Equestria seeing Princess Luna up there...” Fluttershy remarked.

“Well, they may not know the story, but I’m sure everywhere they can see the Moon, there are equines and griffins and dragons and all sorts of other thinking creatures that have looked up and wondered...” Twilight paused, her sky-cast eyes catching a sudden shadow moving across the silvery moon. “What was that?”

“I know what you mean. I had never even heard the real legend of Nightmare Moon. You know, except for the Nightmare Night version where Princess Luna was--”

“No, I mean what was that? Did you see that?” Twilight squinted, looking up into the starry sky and, for the first time since she had awoken, taking a good long look and realizing for the first time just how few stars were actually visible.

And it took her a few seconds longer to realize why so much of the starry night seemed to be blackened out.

————————

Several more gourds, each filled with varying combinations and concentrations of the dwindling supply of Ashmed were now set into the bubbling cauldron as Zilaka righted the last container of the batch and ensured it would float in place without turning to expose the open steam-vent in the stem to the bubbling Mau Juice. They had marked the gourds this time, hoping to find a balance where the concentration of the poisonous prong weed could react with the spider’s venom and expel it from the body without instantly killing the patient.

But now there was little for the zebra stallion to do but wait while the potions simmered, so he turned toward his unexpected partner in this endeavor, who had some time ago admitted to simply being in the zebra’s way and went about studying the stone that he had carried in the satchel along with their venom donor.

“What is that thing, anyway?” Zilaka asked, attempting to ward off his own late-night exhaustion by staying invested in what was going on around him.

“It’s a psycho-reactive crystalline structure.” The Doctor rolled the round object in his hoof a moment, speaking casually.

Zilaka was quiet as he thought for a few beats. “No, I mean the thing you are holding there,” he restated, hoping that this time he might understand what the brown stallion was saying.

“Surprisingly dense and heavy for its size...” the Doctor went on, ignoring the second question. “Irregular angles and a lack of polishing... Hmm. If I remember correctly, Twilight said that gorgons seeded and grew the gemstones that were common in Equestria. Zilaka, I’m curious: Do your herds have access to precious stones?”

“The glittery rocks that drakes and dragons covet and devour?” The zebra shook his head. “No. The zebra herds hold no value for such trinkets. They are just more weight to carry for nomads during their migrations.”

“Well, what about those?” The Doctor gestured to the zebra’s ears, causing Zilaka to reach up and touch at the two golden rings he wore in each ear. “I mean, it’s hard to get much more heavier than gold.”

“Oh, these? These are an Ash-Stripe tradition!” the potion maker explained proudly. “Sages of our herd wear a gold ring as a symbolic representation of mastery over a specific discipline. Stallions wear them in our ears, while mares tend to wear larger ones around one leg or around their necks.”

“I see...” The Doctor nodded, looking back towards the round crystal in his hooves. “Out of curiosity, what do yours stand for?”

“I am a sage of plant knowledge, medicine, poisons, and witchcraft,” Zilaka answered, no small amount of pride in his voice as one hoof pointed to each of the rings in his ears.

“Well, I’m sure glad my kind didn’t have that tradition on Gallifrey. I’d never be able to lift my head off the ground,” the Doctor remarked with some humor before taking note of the last item on that list. “Wait... ‘witchcraft’?”

“Your unicorns are not the only ones with knowledge of the arcane. Long ago, unicorn travelers traded secrets with our sages, and they cultured skills that mixed their supernatural power with our potion-making traditions. I believe your kind refers to it as ‘Alchemy.’ Although, I have not practiced its use in many years. The reagents required are rare at the best of times; in the Parching, they are all but extinct.”

“So, let me get this straight...” The Doctor’s muzzle suddenly was covered in a goofy grin. “You’re a medicine maker...”

“Yes...?” Zilaka confirmed, unsure where the brown stallion was going with this.

“...who is also a witch?”

“I do not think I would go quite that far.”

“And you don't have a word for 'doctor' in your language. Why?”

“That is your name, is it not?”

“Oh, no... I don’t make it a habit to give out my actual name. As I said before, ‘Doctor’ is more of a title than anything else. But we’ve gone way off topic here, haven't we?” The Doctor shook his head and looked back to the crystal in his hooves, setting it down before flicking his hoof forward.

*click*

“That's one thing I can’t seem to get a hold of, pony ADD and all. I get distracted far too easily... In any case, nothing else for it, so let’s see what’s going on inside.”

*Whiiiirrrrrr~rrrrrrrrrr~rrrrrrrrr*

The sonic screwdriver head glowed in a rainbow of colors as the Doctor held it over the stone, the pitch and frequency of its emissions bouncing between extremes...

*crackle-KRISH*

...before the stone cracked wide open, falling into two irregular halves and exposing a dark reddish-colored interior lined like a geode, with black lines etched along the dull crystals and a hollow pit in the center.

“Oooooh, hello, there...” The Doctor stepped down on his device, which stopped its noise as he picked up a half of the strange stone, speaking aloud to it like the object could hear him. “You’re not from around here at all, are you?”

“I don’t understand... What is it?” Zilaka watched the Doctor lowered his goggles over his eyes and brought the broken half of the stone closer to his face.

“It’s a self-contained crystalline lattice,” the Doctor explained. “A sort of... amplifier for a specific type of energy. In this case, psychic energy.”

“Meaning...?”

“Mind magic,” the Time Pony simplified, bringing the piece so close to his face that the crystals were almost touching his goggles. “You can find these on some worlds under absolutely perfect storm conditions. But from what I’ve seen of Equis, this world isn’t one of them. These stones didn't form naturally... they were grown -- forcibly grown, from the looks of it. Something’s wrong with the process.”

The Doctor held out the stone and lifted his goggles.

“These black lines are striations; they indicate extremely rapid growth, which causes anomalies in the crystals and reduces their effectiveness. Must be why they needed so many in one place to work. That means that Anasi, whoever and whatever she is, has an understanding of the basic principles behind creating a crystal lattice, but no method of refining the process in order to...”

The Doctor stopped speaking suddenly, and his snout broke into a wide grin.

“What? What is it?” Zilaka asked, not fully understanding what the Doctor was saying, but taking from his long-winded explanation that it was something important.

He wasn’t sure why, but the brown pony’s sudden chuckle sent chills down his spine.

“I know who they a~are.” The Time Lord’s tone took on a dangerously lighthearted singsong quality as he shook his head, clearly reveling in some unspoken revelation. One that quickly went from gleeful to concerned as his grin faded and he looked at the broken piece of stone in his hoof. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh? What ‘uh-oh’?” Zilaka’s earlier chill was replaced with a dread he couldn’t quite understand falling into the pit of his empty stomach.

“I overlooked something. Crystal lattices can act as an amplifier, but they can also work as a storage unit for psychic energy. Even if that’s not their intended use, they build up charges inside just from having that sort of ‘magic’ run through them for a prolonged period,” the Doctor explained.

“I do not understand...”

“Well, most crystals are rather hard, but brittle if you can hit them with just the right frequency...” The Doctor set the stone down and reached over to take hold of a stave sitting in one corner, taking it in his teeth and jamming it up to thump against the ceiling a few times. “The resonance can crack them right open,” the Doctor continued when he set the stave back down.

“You are not making any sense, Doctor.” The zebra’s tone was confused as the brown pony moved around to the window, lifting the curtain just in time to see Fluttershy’s face.

“Doctor! Twilight just realized something! The Rocs are--”

“Fluttershy, stay on the roof and out of sight. Tell Twilight to trust her instincts and I’ll see you both as soon as I can.”

“Wha...?” Fluttershy’s face showed a moment of confusion, her immediate concern derailed.

“Go!”

With that, the Doctor lowered the curtain, leaving the confused pegasus without any further answers as Zilaka started to lose patience. “What are you going on about, Doctor?”

“Zilaka, I just want you to know, right now... that I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Breaking open that stone didn’t just break the crystal’s physical structure.” The Time Lord sighed, his ears perking up. “It released a burst of psychic energy... which would have been like a flare to creatures sensitive to it.”

*BAM-BAM-BAM*

“They’re here,” the Doctor stated calmly...

*BAM*

...before one last, hard kick sent the door to the medicine hut flying into pieces.

————————

“Ohmygoshohmygosh...” Fluttershy whimpered quietly as she and Twilight lay low on the roof, trying not to draw attention. They watched as two more pairs of the large zebra warriors darted from between the huts across the pathway to join the loud crashing of the struggle taking place inside. Twilight remained silent, holding a foreleg over her friend as she tried to calm her.

They had only managed a few seconds’ warning between when Fluttershy had relayed the Doctor’s cryptic message and when she had noted the first pair of the burly, nearly identical zebras rushing forward to kick at Zilaka’s front door, allowing her just enough time to pull herself and Fluttershy flat against the top of the roof to avoid being seen from below.

While this wouldn’t have been an effective method in Equestria by any means, as pegasus guards and other winged authorities would be sure to check the rooftops of any building containing hostile ponies, zebras didn’t seem to have that problem, having never really encountered beings capable of easily accessing such heights, and thus gave them no thought.

Internally, Twilight was torn as she listened to the continued struggle, the sound of crashing gourds, the high-pitched whine of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, and the clattering and crashing of metal as the two attempted to fend off and resist multiple larger and far more well-trained equines.

Part of her wanted to go down and get into it as well; to help fend them off. But she knew full well that, without her magic, she would stand even less chance than Fluttershy, who, when properly motivated, could overpower creatures far larger than herself.

Now it was her turn to feel useless...

...No! She couldn’t start thinking like that. Nopony is ever useless, the Doctor taught her that much, at least.

As the crashing started to calm down, Twilight got Fluttershy’s attention, bringing a hoof to her lips to indicate her friend needed to stay quiet as she slowly and silently tried to pull herself to the lip of the roof, watching and listening intently.

————————

Pain. Burning. Chest on fire. Blood on fire. Cannot breathe.

Cannot breathe!

Zecora’s eyes snapped open as she was suddenly wrenched out of unconsciousness, a thousand thoughts all rushing in at once, with two being the most prevalent of the mess.

Namely, the pain throbbing from her neck... and the fact that there was a hoof placed right over and under her snout.

Thrashing violently and squealing in shock, the foal’s teal eyes were filled with terror as she looked up to the cold, merciless face of the striped Anasi enforcer that held her down. Holding her for a few more moments, the filly flailed and squirmed, panicking as a lightheadedness started setting in while her shoulder and part of her face throbbed in agony with every rapid heartbeat. Her legs kicked out as she tried in vain to dislodge the hooves holding her mouth shut and covering her nostrils.

Just as she started to see a grey tunnel forming around the edges of her vision, the zebra stallion suddenly released her, causing the filly’s mouth to open and her body to fall back. Gasping for breath and turning on her side, her muscles were burning almost as badly as the green veins that were visible under her coat.

“Uuuunngghh...” was all the filly was able to relay as she curled up into a ball, the worst pain of her life tearing across her body.

“Where is the horned one?” the adult zebra asked in a cold, careless tone that offered absolutely no sympathy for her condition. The filly whimpered in response, barely hearing the question.

“It is in no condition to answer us,” another stallion noted, his own tone of voice eerily similar as the foal attempted to recover, gasping for breath and able to do little else. “To the Pit?”

Unable to speak, flee, or even move, Zecora had never felt so helpless and vulnerable in all of her life. Tears rimming her eyes, she tried to get a bearing on her surroundings, realizing with some shock that she was in the familiar setting of her own home.

What had happened...? What was going on?

“No... Her fate is sealed already, and in light of the Prophet’s renewed... reluctance... and the Warlord’s fragile loyalty, both could become a concern if this one were to meet the Pit. Take the two stallions, search elsewhere for the horned mare.”

Zecora tried to lift her head, crying out in agony as the side of her neck burned as if she was suddenly being stabbed with a spear.

A new shiver went down her spine as she heard the stallion spoke again. “Leave the little one to suffer.”

Barely able to move and unable to speak, Zecora lay there, pain ripping through her body as she clenched her eyes shut.

This wasn’t happening. This couldn't be happening. She was smarter than this... She had to... to...

Agony interrupted her thoughts as her neck throbbed again, like piercing needles underneath the skin.

She heard them moving around, heard a splashing sound and could smell a slightly sour aroma... Mau Juice... Her father’s simmering cauldron; they had turned it over.

Her father... Was he...?

PAIN!

Her thoughts were cut off by another jabbing pain that caused the filly to grind her teeth to the point of feeling as if they would crack. The sharpness of the agony faded after a moment, a lull that she was growing to fear as much as the surges.

There was no sound... had they vanished? No, she had... she must have blacked out for a moment...

Zecora tried to raise her head and take a look around. Her home was a mess, her father’s containers and bottles thrown and smashed with abandon, only a few remaining in place. And the large cauldron had indeed been overturned, its contents, along with several blackened gourds, laying all about on the floor.

She tried to pull herself forward... If she could just--

PAIN!

“Ah...!” Zecora bit her lip, drawing blood as she suddenly went tumbling off of the alcove bed and onto the floor, her coat becoming soaked and a horrid taste filling her mouth as she fell in the brown fluid that was now pooled there.

It was too much... This was horrific, unbearable, torturous...

It was also all her own fault.

The realization was so stunning it nearly endured her to the next wave of agony that washed over her from her neck. Almost.

“Unnngh!” Zecora kicked out her legs as she tried to pull herself up, failing miserably. “Mother... Father... Zulu...” she whimpered pathetically, laying her head to the side as the terrible taste of the Mau Root juices seeped into her skin and stung at the sensitive edges of her inner ear.

Panting for breath, she stopped trying to move as a renewed wave of pain tore through her body, feeling as if those needles in her flesh were being pressed even deeper.

She was helpless... in terrible pain...

...and had no one left. Nothing but the strange, quiet sound of ruffling feathers that was suddenly overhead...

Zecora winced as she felt a set of hooves suddenly grip her midsection and lift her off the floor, her eyes opening as she feared the return of an Anasi warrior that perhaps thought her current state was not punishment enough. But instead, she was greeted with a warm embrace that held her against soft yellow fur.

“It’s alright... I’ve got you.”

“F...Flutter...shy?” Zecora gasped and winced as another pulse of pain rippled out from her neck, causing her to latch onto the pegasus as she carefully maneuvered the two of them over the spill of brown juice and set her down on her father’s worktable.

“Don’t worry, they’re gone... You’re safe now...” Fluttershy cooed softly, and then was stunned when the small zebra suddenly reached up and grabbed hold of her, hugging her around the shoulders sobbing into the older mare’s neck, who didn't recoil in spite of the taste of the Mau Root Juice filling her mouth from where the zebra's fur touched her.

“I am sorry, Fluttershy! I am so, so sorry! About everything I said... what I did... calling you stripeless...” The filly winced, her apologies hampered by the same pain that was attributing to her tears. “I just... I just...”

“You wanted to save your mother... I know.” Fluttershy patted the filly, keeping her voice low and soothing. “It’s alright... I don’t blame you for any of it.”

“And I’m sorry too, Zecora... but we need your help,” a new voice greeted the young zebra’s ear, causing her to attempt to turn, an action that wracked her face and side with pain as the wound in her neck felt like it was torn anew.

Gasping and panting to recover, Zecora heard a set of hoofsteps against the floor as the purple mare she had seen in the Prophet’s Chamber moved around in front of her, black lines running over her fur in a pattern that she might have considered quite artistic under different circumstances.

“Zecora, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn stated. “You don’t know me. Yet. But right now, I need you to trust me. The Anasi have taken your father and our friend, the Doctor. If we’re going to get them back, we need your help.”

“B-but I cannot...” The filly clenched one eye shut as she shuddered, suppressing another painful cry as she tried to speak. “...What can I do? I can barely move...”

“Fluttershy says that you told her your father taught you everything he knew about potion-making.”

“What...? I did no such thing... Ah-aaah...!” Zecora’s confusion was cut off as she experienced another wave of pain.

“Zecora, this is important... We need a potions expert. Can you help us?” Twilight pleaded, leaving the comforting to Fluttershy as she regretfully pressed the pained filly to answer.

Trying hard to keep her breath, the filly looked around the hut that she grew up in, from the sparkling red stones that lay under where the cauldron normally sat, to the bottles and jars that were still lining some of the shelves or laying intact on the floor.

Biting her lip, the filly nodded.

“Good... Let’s start with the recipe for your father’s sleep drought,” Twilight’s expression was determined as she watched the filly expectantly.

————————
Intensive Care Ward, Room 7
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 9:31 a.m.

Apple Bloom didn’t know how long she had been asleep... but the sounds of soft laughter roused her from slumber with surprising ease as her ears twitched and flicked around.

Drowsy at first, the farm filly wasn’t quite sure where she was or why she had no covers over her, but at hearing a sudden, pained gasp in the room with her, her eyes bolted open and memories flooded back in of the day before.

“Zecora?” Apple Bloom looked around, realizing she had laid down on the floor at some point and must have dozed off.

Standing next to the bed was Big Macintosh, who turned to face her with a soft smile as she looked past him... and gasped in shock of what she saw.

Zecora, whom Apple Bloom had always considered to be a lovely mare, looked far worse this morning than she had the night before. The green veins that had only covered half of her face now encompassed the whole of it, giving her a hollow, deathly complexion that must have been absolutely agonizing. Yet in spite of this, she still held a soft smile on her lips.

“Oh, mah stars... Zecora... are you...?” Apple Bloom stopped herself from finishing that sentence. Clearly, the zebra was far from alright.

“I have been better.” Zecora nodded. “I woke up some time ago. Your brother has been keeping me company.”

Apple Bloom’s jaw all but hit the floor. “Y...yer talkin’...”

“Actually, your brother has been doing most of the talking. I was unaware that he was so... well... We really have not spent much time together at all, before,” Zecora noted, looking to the red stallion, who averted his gaze, blushing a bit. “Later, if we have time... we will have to remedy that.”

“No... Ah mean...” Apple Bloom as amazed at how relaxed the zebra seemed, in spite of her looking so horrible and wincing at regular intervals as the pain she had been fighting since the day before continued to wash over her. “Ya ain’t talkin’ in rhymes.”

Zecora sighed. “No... and it is the first time in my entire adult life that I have not.” Zecora looked to her left hoof, which Apple Bloom noticed had also been covered in green lines overnight. “My treatment has worn off completely... and the pain has diminished.”

“W-wait, so... yer gettin' better?” Applebloom looked up hopefully.

The soft smile on Zecora’s face faded. “I am afraid not. This is merely the second phase of my condition,” the zebra explained with a dose of melancholy. “A bit of a respite before what ails me takes full hold of my body.”

What little hope Apple Bloom had was dashed as Big Mac bowed his head, looking more morose than the filly had ever remembered seeing him. “S-so... what happens next?” she asked, fearful of the answer.

“The Bite will take full hold and the pain will become constant... as if I was being burned alive from within. And once it drains all of the water from my flesh... my Roc will suffer no obstacle, wall or pony, to prevent it from taking me.”

Almost as if on cue, there was a shadow that darkened the window for a few moments before passing over, filling the young Apple filly with a terrible chill.

“At that point, my young friend... it will take a pony far stronger and braver even than you to save me.”

————————
Medicine Hut
Stone-Water Village
71st of Spring, 975 C.R. 6:28 a.m.

Fluttershy bent down, picking up yet another gourd as Twilight moved around the righted-up cauldron and clumsily attempted to lift the container she had been using for her attempt to recreate Zilaka’s sleeping drug. She had spent the last several hours helping to clean up the area, as well as restoring the condition of Zilaka's potion-making setup. All so that Twilight, guided by Zecora, could try to replicate the same drug that the Anasi Warriors used, though she had yet to explain what good this was going to be in rescuing the Doctor or Zilaka himself.

Zecora, who had been watching and advising between bouts of pain, lay on the workbench with an exhausted expression and hollow eyes as she tried desperately to focus.

“C...careful... If you shake it too much before it settles, it will bubble over and the entire mix will go to pot... Four hours wasted...” The filly winced a bit, the pain still constant and terrible. But as the infection seemed to spread slowly over her skin, she found it steadily easier to deal with, if only because it was less concentrated. “That is the secret to how it works so quickly. When it hits blood, it evaporates and mixes into the system at high speed, right to the vital organs, and sends them into relaxed state. Instant sleep.”

“But do you think my modification will work?” Twilight asked, placing the gourd as gently as she could on the table next to a set of clay jars as Fluttershy moved up on the opposite side, placing the last of the picked up containers in a pile.

“It sounds like it might... But my father never even thought of using it like you are wanting to now.” Zecora broke off as she winced, biting on her lip again. Something she had done so often over the past few hours that Twilight was now wondering if those scars would still be present if and when they got back to Ponyville.

“Zecora,” Fluttershy spoke up, drawing the filly’s attention. “You know, there has to be something in here that could dull the pain... Would you like us to--”

“No,” the filly sighed, grunting as she tried to endure another wave. “Anything that lessens the pain speeds the spread... My father said that... ah... the blood thins when pain medicines are given to zebras... and it makes them worse much more quickly.”

“We have to do something...” Twilight pulled herself up a bit on the workbench, setting her forelegs out as her focus stayed on the filly that had aided her in what was likely their only chance to see the Doctor or Zilaka again. “I know your dad was working on a cure, so maybe one of these--”

“First rule of medicine...” Zecora interrupted with a huff. “Never take anything you did not either make yourself or watch being made.”

“Well, sometimes you just have to trust your doctor,” Fluttershy responded, moving around in front of the young zebra as Twilight moved away.

“Doctor... You mean your other friend?”

“Well, no. That is, I do trust him, but... Oh, right. Zebras don’t have a word for that... A doctor is... kind of like what your father does. A pony who helps other ponies.” The yellow pegasus hesitated a bit in her attempt to explain. “Of course, he’s going to help the other zebras too if he can--”

“FLUTTERSHY!” Zecora cried out suddenly, causing the pegasus to recoil as the filly, in spite of her clear and apparent pain, reached over and grabbed one of the gourds in the nearby pile. Fluttershy flinched reflexively, drawing both hooves over her head as the zebra then brought it down in front of her.

*SLAM*
*CRACK-FZZZZZT*

The blackened gourd smashed against the edge of the table where Fluttershy’s foreleg had been just moments before, crushing the small black spider that had been liberated from its milking duties and, hidden amongst the overturned and scattered debris of the medicine hut, was waiting for a new victim to come into reach.

The force of the strike itself caused the dry, boiled gourd husk to crack and split, the contained juices spraying out in all directions as its container failed catastrophically.

Fluttershy, who had escaped being completely soaked by the gourd’s contents due to her defensive positioning, still had to wipe the clear liquid from her brow before looking at Zecora, who was still holding a broken piece of the gourd, but was now soaking wet with its contents.

“...Got it...” was all the filly managed to say, her mohawk mane now laying flat from the moisture that dripped down her face.

“Jeez! I turn my back for two seconds and you two are--” Twilight sounded annoyed at first as Fluttershy came to a realization of just what happened.

“No, no, it’s alright," Fluttershy interrupted, raising a hoof to get Twilight to back down. "She... she saved me... That spider the Doctor caught. it was...”

“Ow,” Zecora said suddenly with an odd flatness to her voice. Both ponies looked to her.

“Zecora? Are you--” Fluttershy started, only to be stopped mid-sentence as a new sound filled the hut.

*Fzzzzzzzt*

“Ow... Ow, ow, ow! AHHHH!” The zebra suddenly doubled over as both hooves went to her neck, which was suddenly bubbling as if her blood had begun to boil. A small river of green pus started running down her shoulder and chest as she cried out, the bite mark on her neck bleeding profusely.

“Whoa!” Twilight rushed forward, steadying the young zebra as best she could without touching the venomous-looking bile and preventing the filly from falling off the table.

“Ohmygosh!” Fluttershy, unsure what to do, looked about and dove off to the side, taking up in her teeth the small coarse blanket that was laying on the bed and rushing over to the crying zebra filly’s side.

Twilight held her still as Fluttershy moved in and tried to wipe the ooze away, and when she did... what the unicorn saw was nothing short of remarkable: The green lines that were spreading across the foal’s face and shoulder receded, drawing back to the bite mark itself as the sizzling and bubbling stopped, and the zebra fell limply into her.

“Zecora! Zecora, are you alright!? Zecora!” Twilight resisted the urge to shake the filly as she pushed her up, the striped foal looking as if she was about to pass out.

“I think... I am ready... for bed...” she uttered, sounding far beyond exhausted. There was a moment’s pause as the filly seemed to suddenly lose her breath before quickly spitting out, “Wake me later... if I am not dead.” Zecora then gasped with a sudden inhale, as if she was unable to do so before finishing her sentence.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Fluttershy looked to one another, eyes wide.

“W... why did I do that...? Why did I rhyme?” Zecora shook her head, her eyes drooping as she started to feel heavy in Twilight’s hooves. “Why do you look... as if I committed... a crime...?”

With that, Zecora passed out, her head bobbing forward as the two ponies shared a stunned expression.

————————
Stone-Water Village, Outskirts
7:12 a.m.

Evoria of the Towiki Herd lay quite awake on the dirt floor of a crowded hut as she watched the sun start to peek in through the window. With a dry tongue and a growling belly, the young filly’s enthusiasm at seeing the village of Stone-Water earlier had long since worn itself out, perhaps even before they had entered the village itself.

Now, rather than the open Plains, there were huts that she and her parents seemed to be moving to and from, attempting to find something to drink or eat as the herd she had known all her life split up.

She had been told that it would be better here, that the Anasi shared their water freely. But the only water she could remember being offered "freely" had come wrapped in an aura of glowing purple light the night before last. It might as well have been a few months... or a few years ago.

Still, the sun was rising and the new day was just beginning. She had to hope... to believe that something was going to get better.

She had to.

“Evoria...” came a strained, tired voice that caused the filly to lean up, rolling to her hooves as she turned to see who it was that had called her.

“Yes, Father?”

“I think... I remember Teaka saying...” Evoria’s father panted, and the filly winced as he coughed dryly. As thirsty as she was, she realized, her father must have been doing worse, having had precious little to drink himself over the past few days' journey. “Saying that they bring out supplies... at dawn. See if you can... fetch some before... any of the others wake up.”

Stretching a bit and popping her knees, the filly nodded, stifling a yawn and not wanting to speak any more than she had to as the taste of sand gritted on her tongue.

Rubbing her eyes with one hoof, the filly started to the door of the hut, having to leap and climb over several other zebras of different herds that had also taken shelter there because it was closer to the mountain itself, where it was said the Anasi maintained a great spring.

Her imagination ran wild with the idea of so much water... A rushing brook. or even a river, right under the mountain. Being able to lean down and submerge her snout in it as it flowed past... Just the thought of it was enough to lighten her hoofsteps as she moved out the door and blinked in the bright sunlight, only to have another zebra nearly bowl her over.

“Ugh!” Evoria was about to say something in retaliation until she actually took a second to look over the zebra, an older colt who was actually moving back and away from the village center... Strange, for that was where the Anasi would likely bring out any rationed supplies... What was stranger still was the fact that his neck was craned upward, his eyes wide and his expression fearful, gasping for breath.

A cold sensation suddenly filled the filly that had nothing at all to do with the final chill of the previous night as her eyes too were drawn upward.

“...F-father...?” she uttered quietly, taking a step back towards the door. “MOTHER! FATHER!”

Evoria scrambled back under shelter, desperately wishing to unsee what she had seen as her cries were echoed across Stone-Water by zebras young and old alike.

Outside, the collective terror of the great many zebra herds filled the air with a palpable sense of impending doom. The ground was a flurry of motion and chaos as those few who were awake at this hour roused their friends and loved ones, children cried out for their parents, and zebras of all stripes ran to find any kind of shelter they could.

Shelter... from the unflinching, uncaring, soulless black eyes that gazed down from above with a detached, clinical interest. Their wings beating in deathly silence, Roc after Roc flew above, below, and beside each other in mechanical patterns.

They circled Thunder Drum like a gathering tempest of inky black feathers, darkening the very sky around the mountain with the sheer magnitude of their numbers.

Watching.

Waiting.

Ch. 6: Breaking Expectations

Chapter 6: Breaking Expectations

Stone-Water Village
71st of Spring, 975 C.R. (Celestia's Reign), 10:04 a.m.

Clarity.

That was the only way to describe what Zulu, the Sage of War, was feeling as he moved at a brisk trot down the familiar paths of Stone-Water Village. He was also having a modicum of success at blocking out the chilling feeling that attempted to send him into a similar panic that had befallen his fellow striped equines that morning.

He had been some distance from Thunder Drum when he saw it, looking up in the early light of dawn to make out the thick cloud of shifting black feathers and cold certainty that circled the mountain. More than anything else he had seen; more than the wasteland that was once the golden plains of Zebrica or the pitifully dry wells that dotted the landscape, it was this sight that drove home the precarious position his people now found themselves in.

And now, there was no soothing, reassuring voice in the back of his mind to assuage him that his concerns were unfounded. There was no flood of sight and sound that brought his mind first to his duty. For the first time since he accepted his role as the "Warlord" of the Anasi, his senses were entirely his own.

And he did not at all care for what they perceived around him.

Unbidden, his eyes flickered overhead to the ominous black cloud that almost completely covered the blue sky above with their shifting wings and lazy circling motions. It was no wonder to him why such a grouping was called a "murder."

As he moved through the empty, eerily quiet paths, he found he could also consider his own position. By all rights, he had broken ranks and was ignoring a direct order from the Goddess that he had been sworn to serve, leaving his halfhearted (and in his mind, futile) attempt to recapture the unicorn and the enigmatic Doctor behind as he raced back to the city of his birth, intent on consulting the only stallion left whose council he still cared for.

But as he approached the broken doorway, the calm, rational justification for his rush back home was lost, and the zebra sprinted into the hut, throwing his gaze around the simple room.

“Potion Maker!” he started, his tone perhaps more frantic than he intended as his warrior’s eyes took in the scene.

The ground had been dug into; there had been many heavy hooves tearing at the heavily packed flooring here, and a dampness that he could only attribute to a massive spill from the large cauldron. While he had never been one to follow Zilaka’s myriad of potion ingredients, he was more than aware that many of the containers that lay on the shelves or hung from the ceiling had been knocked from their resting place, only to have been cleaned up again and placed in the wrong order.

"Father!?” Zulu’s tone became decidedly less edged as he began, not for the first time, to miss the calming tone in his mind assuring him that all was well and that he need not concern himself. He missed it... but as he looked upon the scene, he found a comforting replacement in the steadily rising heat within his chest.

Walking towards the workbench where his father often spent hours on end, the zebra warrior took note of the dampness, the sickeningly pungent greenish fluid that seemed to have spilled over on the table and floor, and the broken pieces of one of the gourds his sire tended to use for his potion brewing. He also made out fresh dents in the table; hooves slammed and scraped into the surface in a frantic state that were far smaller than those of his own or the elder sages…

...Zecora? Zulu puzzled for a moment, trying to piece together just what had happened here. Wait a moment…

Zulu turned to the cauldron, taking a sniff and immediately identifying the sour and unpleasant aroma of the Mau Root, but was surprised to see the that surface of the cauldron’s contents was completely placid. Risking a searing burn, Zulu moved his leg up to press against the metal boiling pot. It was cold.

Eyes widening with realization, Zulu turned without a word and bucked a back hoof into the cauldron hard, sending it rolling with a reverberating gong and spilling its unappetizing contents yet again across the hut’s floor as he confirmed his suspicions: the hollow space under the cauldron was empty.

“Clever filly…” Zulu huffed. “Now… where would you go?”

————————
Holding Chambers
Thunder Drum Mountain
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 10:25 a.m.

“Zilaka!” A lilting, familiar voice cut through the haze of dark unconsciousness to bring the potion maker up into a state of equally dark awareness. “You still with me over there?”

“Uuunnngghhhh…” the sage moaned softly as he turned onto his back, his legs folded somewhat awkwardly towards his chest. Already, he could feel several sore welts across his body from the stomping pummeling he remembered at the hooves of the Anasi warriors that invaded his home and workplace.

“Can I take that as a yes?” the Doctor asked, his tone surprisingly light considering what he likely endured before being forced into submission.

“...For now,” the zebra stallion admitted, his tone far less upbeat as he tried to roll up onto his hooves, failing miserably at it before his thoughts were cast to a more important matter. “Zecora?”

“I’m not sure... She’s not here with us, at least. In fact, I believe they left her there. Not too surprising; in her current condition, she’s not exactly a threat,” the Doctor rattled off as Zilaka’s eyes adjusted to the dark a bit better.

He was in a small chamber made up of three stone walls and a solid turn-stone door that was clearly only capable of being opened from the outside. It was quite cramped, with just enough room for him to stand and lay down in from wall to wall. It wasn’t exactly pitch black, as there was a bit of ambient light filtering into the cramped cell from a square cut hole running from the top of either wall. If he had to guess, it seemed to double for ventilation as well as to allow prisoners to speak with one another, as it was from this hole that the Doctor’s voice came again.

“I’m sure she’s fine. She’s in good hooves with Twilight and Fluttershy,” the earth pony’s voice assured the zebra as he pulled himself into a more comfortable laying position.

“Right, perfectly fine… save for the fatal, agonizing poison and the equally, if not more-so, fatal variations of ‘medicine’ that we did not have time to test,” Zilaka pointed out, his tone more than a little agitated.

“Well, I wasn’t going to mention those…” The earth stallion’s tone was apologetic, but Zilaka merely sighed. “But may I recommend we focus more on our current situation before we get back to saving her?”

“There is no getting back, Doctor. We tried to go against the Anasi and now they intend to make an example of us,” Zilaka explained, his situation feeling more hopeless the longer he spoke. “We are in the Dark Rooms.”

“Riiight… the Dark Rooms. Why can’t prisons and dungeons ever hold captives in a Flower Room? Or the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Room? Although, I suppose those would technically be the same thing here, wouldn't they?”

Zilaka looked up at the vent from which the Doctor’s voice came with a quiet, puzzled expression for a moment.

“...Never mind, I’m just a wee bit hungry. Please continue,” the Doctor said, clearly disappointed at the silent response to his quip.

“The Ash-Stripes used them for meditation, to cut off a sage from all distractions in an effort to draw forth inspiration or enlightenment,” Zilaka explained. “But for the Anasi, it is merely a place to hold troublesome zebras until they are able to bring in a crowd to watch them be given to the Pit.”

“Oh, of course. Good old public executions: the fallback of tyrants in this and every dimension, it would seem,” the Doctor huffed. “A bit extreme for what I’ve seen of Equis culture though, both pony and zebra. I'm guessing it wasn’t something that happened before the Anasi.”

“No… they started doing that after a few young stallions were caught trying to steal from the Anasi’s water supply some time ago.” Zilaka shook his head in disgust. “The Prophet accused them of everything from the theft, to starting the Parching itself, trying to incite the herds against them. It did not work, of course. The herds saw it for what it truly was: an overt and disgusting display intended to cow them into submission, with the threat that they, too, were one misstep away from sharing the same fate. Unfortunately, just because they knew what it was did not keep it from working.”

“So now it’s ‘to the Pit’ for us, it seems,” the Doctor’s voice came again. “What exactly does that entail?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. The Pit is a natural hazard in the central chamber of Thunder Drum. It has been there since the Ash-Stripes first built Stone-Water; just a large hollow that seems to go on forever. Some believed it was a passage to another world, while the Anasi claim that it is from the Pit that their Spider Queen will rise to strike down all opposition to her rule. Personally, I think it is just a deep hole that likely has sharp rocks at the bottom.”

“You know, for a sage of witchcraft, you certainly don’t seem too enamored with the mystical nature of the world.”

“I am simply a pragmatist, Doctor…” The zebra sighed with defeat, doing what he could to make peace with his fate.

The Doctor drew in a sharp breath. “My condolences, then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you see, the problem with being a pragmatic pony is that once you run into the dead end of reason, that’s it. Everything ends.” The Doctor’s voice was again surprisingly upbeat given their situation, giving the zebra a moment of pause. “When a pragmatic sort runs out of viable options, they just stop and say ‘Alright fate, you win.’ Then they wait for it to hit them.”

“Fate always wins out in the end, Doctor,” Zilaka countered philosophically.

“Is that the real reason why you didn’t fight back?”

The simple question stung, and there was no denying or hiding it as the potion maker turned towards the source of the voice. He wanted to get angry about it, riled by the insinuation. But unfortunately, the zebra couldn’t find it in himself to do so. “Well then... what would you suggest?” Zilaka asked instead.

“Well, I’ve been in a prison or two in my time, and I’ve had plenty of experience with getting out of tight situations,” the Doctor boasted proudly. “Under most circumstances, I would come up with a brilliant plan or three to get out of the cell, get around to where the enemy least suspects me, strike a decisive blow against my opponents, regroup with my plucky companions, and then do something incredibly clever to save the day.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Rather lofty boast…” Zilaka huffed, amused by the absurdity of the situation.

“Or, as I like to refer to it: Saturday. Saturdays are always the most exciting.”

Zilaka could hear the grin in the pony’s voice, and had to admit that his optimism was certainly appealing in these dire straits. “Well, by all means, Doctor. Do not let me stop you.”

“You aren’t,” the Doctor assured him, the grin fading and his optimism deflating “There’s just one... tiny problem.”

In the neighboring cell, the Doctor squirmed as his brown mane brushed the ground, his hindhooves strapped together and tied by a length of vine to the roof of his cell. With either foreleg strapped down along his flanks by thicker, more robust vines, it was all he could do to sway like a pendulum in the limited space. Coupled with the fact that his sonic screwdriver had been wrested away from him during the conflict at the medicine hut and was now nowhere in range of his thoughts, it brought him to an unfortunate conclusion.

“...They’re learning.”

————————
Intensive Care Ward, Room 7
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 10:25 a.m.

“This is a rather… irregular request.” Doctor Stable attempted to hide his discomfort as he stood at the foot of the patient’s bed, Nurse Redheart at his flank and the muscular red stallion known as Big Macintosh standing along the side.

“It is a long-held zebra tradition,” Zecora explained, her voice raspy as she panted for breath. To the medical unicorn, she looked dangerously dehydrated despite the large amount of water that she was being given. An observation that was only granted greater weight as she coughed dryly before leaning over to take the straw from another rapidly depleting pitcher of water.

“You are asking us to roll you outside into the talons of a predator!” Nurse Redheart clarified, having a great deal more trouble keeping a calm disposition than the caramel-coated stallion, who held up a hoof to quiet her.

“We’ve been keeping tabs on this… ‘Roc’ creature since it first appeared over the hospital. It’s caused a bit of a panic among many of our patients, but so far it hasn’t shown itself to be any sort of threat. Now, I’m not familiar with your customs, Miss Zecora, but--”

“My Roc is here for me… and nopony else,” Zecora interrupted, Big Mac standing silent as she tried to make the two ponies understand. “When my time comes, it will do whatever is required to take me. And I can tell you from experience that you will not... cannot stop it. It will crash through the roof and tear the walls asunder to take me to my final rest, and woe befall any beast, pony, or zebra that dares to stand in its way.”

“But what you’re asking…”

“When the time comes… I ask only that you take me outside and do not interfere,” Zecora stated, drawing in a deep breath. “I have been granted a reprieve… a precious day and company I would not trade away for anything, and for that I am grateful… But, soon...” The zebra closed her eyes and bowed her head sadly. “I want nopony else harmed on my account.”

“Mr. Apple-- er, Big Macintosh…” Doctor Stable turned to the red stallion, who had remained mute throughout the entire exchange. “In the absence of Miss Sparkle, I think that it’s safe to assume you can take up her responsibilities as proxy. I mean, she clearly isn’t in the right mind to… That is to say…” Dr. Stable took a steadying breath. “If you could talk her out of it...”

“Nnnope,” was all that Big Mac said, although his tone was equally sad and defeated.

“But--”

“Physician Stable…” Zecora interrupted, feeling slightly put off that he was trying to find another venue to dismiss her request right in front of her. “If you wish to help me, then I would appreciate it if you and the kindly nurse would stand in my Mourning Line.”

“I’m sorry?” Nurse Redheart brought a hoof to her chest, a confused look on her face. “Your what?”

“It is part of the Zebrican tradition. Friends and family bear witness at a safe distance; a solemn vigil for the one to be taken. There are no ceremonies or eulogies involved. All that is required is presence… and a respect for the one whose time has come.”

Stable and Redheart turned to look at one another for a moment, their eyes clearly asking the same question. After a quiet few seconds, they both turned back to the zebra.

“...If that is what you want,” Nurse Redheart said in a defeated tone.

“Is there anypony else you want us to contact? To attend?” Dr. Stable asked. “Miss Pie, or Miss Dash, perhaps?”

“No, my dear physician. I do not want them to see me…” Zecora looked at one hoof, the green veins running up to encompass her entire foreleg with a quiet throbbing. “…like this. I want them to remember me as I was. With dignity… and bearing.”

Big Mac looked to Zecora with a worried expression. “‘Bloom?” he asked simply.

More than anything else, this one word brought down the peaceful contention that Zecora had made with her end, looking towards the closed door. “That… is her choice to make.”

...Outside the door, Apple Bloom sat with her back against the wall and her legs splayed out under her, her face buried in her hooves as she sobbed uncontrollably, more alone and helpless than she had ever felt in her entire life.

————————
Stone-Water Village, Outskirts
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 11:15 a.m.

“Tell them I do not care what the Prophet decrees!” Teaka, the former acting chief of the Towiki Herd, now little more than another thirsty refugee, stamped her hoof into the brittle ground as she looked to the messenger that had the gall to interrupt this most sacred of rites. “We will come to the mountain for whatever that lying striped mother of a hyena wants after we have seen to this! Not a moment before!”

The colt who had been sent to gather the precession moving to the outskirts drew back, clearly less than eager to press the point in the face of the infuriated mare. “For your own sake and that of your herd--” he tried to reason, only to have his snout pressed back as the formidable mare bore down on him.

“My herd is broken up and scattered across this accursed village, begging for scraps of food and mouthfuls of water when it was promised to be a haven and being bullied by the so-called ‘protectors’ of this place! So, colt, explain to me how abandoning something of this importance to obey the whim of Anasi’s Prophet will ‘aid’ my herd!”

The striped colt’s ears flattened back, his expression suitably frightened -- although, given the nature of what they had awoken to find, that was not surprising -- and took a few steps back, clearly not wanting to lengthen his confrontation with the Towiki elder.

“We will attend when this is done,” Teaka stated again, moving to return to her place. “Now, show some proper respect… or leave.”

The colt hesitated, but after a moment, it became clear that his fear of reprisal by the Anasi far outweighed whatever fear he had of one incensed old mare, and he turned to spring away at high speed. Teaka sighed as she moved back into the line that had formed along the edge of the village.

Perhaps two dozen zebras were in attendance, only a few of them actual members of the Towiki. The others were of those they had met over the last day that could sympathize with losing someone to the mysterious ailment that had afflicted so many. Most notable among the Mourning Line was a nearly inconsolable mare, held back by her mate as she seemed on the verge of rushing forward in the hope of sharing the fate of the one at the center of attention.

Laying on a plain reed mat, out in the open and made as comfortable as could be done, was a single colt squirming and moaning in a constant, agonizing pain.

Teaka played over the events of the past few days again and again in her mind as she tried to get her hoof at where things had turned for the worse. From the moment they had entered the village, things had gone wrong. Instead of open sharing, many of the zebras here had taken on a fearful and reclusive manner, preferring to hide away from the sun and dart out only for the crumbs and drops offered by the aggressive Anasi stallions.

Or was it before that, when she had gone against her better judgment, thinking to win favor with such a cowardly act as turning the "outsiders" over to the Anasi in order to curry their favor?

Now that she thought back on it, this was a folly that she regretted the most, for the kindness that the three traveling ponies had shown her was the last that she had known. The water offered to them freely had been enough to help keep the young colt alive for this long, but now even than had run out, divided and shared as much as they could between the few allies they had made among those that remembered to respect the old ways.

Or perhaps she had been wrong all along. She had let her own desperation and hope in the promise of safe haven at Thunder Drum cloud the sound judgment of her predecessor, who had gone out of his way to avoid the Anasi right up until his death.

As she brought her gaze up to the colt, who gritted his teeth as he held on dearly to whatever had kept him going this far, Teaka felt the guilt stab into her like a spear. To think he had lasted longer than any other who had suffered the Bite… and the only cause she could imagine was due to the brown pony, whom she had betrayed in an instant for the hollow promise of water.

Her gaze moved higher, to the circling murder of Rocs above them. Never before had she seen them gather in such numbers, and in spite of the fear she felt at the sight of them, she couldn’t help but wonder if what she had done had attributed to it; attributed to whatever tragic horror was upon them that brought the harbinger birds out in such force.

Her intuition told her that whatever oncoming storm was upon them, it was likely that they would soon be joining the colt in his fate.

Brushing those dour thoughts away and returning her focus to the present, she turned to look down the line, to faces familiar, new…

...and cloaked?

Teaka was snapped from her introspection as she took note of a pair of cloaked equines near the end of the line, almost completely hidden by two improvised sheets made into coats. Preparing to call out to them and demand explanation for their presence, the former Towiki mare heard a cry that drew her attention back to the colt’s mother, whose eyes were directed upward.

Following her gaze, Teaka watched as a single Roc, smaller than its brethren, peeled away from the murder and began to descend, its wings spread wide as it gracefully began to swoop down towards them.

All other distractions would have to wait, as Teaka steeled herself to bear witness to a small filly rushing out past the line.

...Wait, what?

Teaka was speechless for a moment, watching as the filly dove forward, a gourd tied to her back and a brown cloth wrapped around her neck. Her mane done up into a mohawk and bearing stripes at awkward angles in a shade of grey, the realization struck her as the Mourning Line broke out into utter confusion and cries from the adult zebras were heard.

“An Ash-Stripe?”

“I thought they were wiped out!”

“What are you doing, filly!?”

“Get back here!”

The crowd was torn between shock and awe as Teaka brought her eyes upward again, watching the Roc fold its wings in and gain speed in its descent, as if recognizing some sort of threat to its duty. And the Towiki elder could only look on as the young zebra slid into place next to the colt.

“W…who are you?” the young, afflicted zebra tried to ask, his body quivering with exhaustion as he panted for breath.

“Please my friend, you must hold still!” Zecora barked out, twisting her body and pulling the cork of the gourd free with her teeth. “I have just the thing to fit the bill.”

"SCREEEEEEE!"

The furious, piercing cry of the Roc set back many of the adults, and those who were not utterly stunned to actually hear the voice of death itself merely watched as the remarkable scene unfolded.

“Quiet, bird! Shut your beak!” The filly tilted her body forward, bringing the gourd off her back to be cradled in her forelegs as she allowed indignation to overpower her fear. “You will not win… unless this brew is weak!” With the Roc descending, gleaming talons outstretched, Zecora upended the gourd, pouring a clear fluid onto the colt’s hind leg. “Whatever my doubts, at least those I confess... Please let this potion be a success…”

Zecora took a step back, her eyes turning up as the Roc cried out again.

"SCREEEEEEE!"

*Fzzzzzzzzzzt*

“Ah! Aaah-hah!” The colt thrashed and convulsed in place as a bubbling green froth suddenly seemed to boil over on his leg.

“ZECORA!”

One of the cloaked figures dove forward, her cloak falling back to reveal a curled and disheveled pink mane and yellow coat.

"SCREEEEEEE!"

*FLUMPH*

Teaka tore her eyes away from the winged pony, looking back towards what had sounded like the ending beat of a dive, and stood with her mouth agape as the Roc’s voluminous wings beat in place for a moment, stopping its momentum cold. It hovered in place, casting its wide shadow over the proceedings as it watched the colt intensely with its beady black eyes.

The green lines across his body were gone… a puddle of bubbling pus pooling on the ground underneath him as the Ash-Stripe filly stood over him protectively. Her eyes betrayed no fear, in spite of the fact that she was standing closer to the Roc than most zebras would ever come before their own time.

There was a moment of absolute silence, save for the sound of beating wings, as the fizzing sound died out and the colt’s body went slack.

*FLASH*

Zecora didn’t look away as a magical light burst into being behind her head, her eyes locked with the harbinger's.

*FLUMPH*

And with a powerful thrust of its wings, the Roc flew skyward… perhaps the very first of its kind to come out of a dive with its talons empty.

The Mourning Line watched as Fluttershy moved up behind Zecora, who seemed frozen in place while the pegasus checked on the colt, followed swiftly by the colt’s mother, who pulled forward as her husband remained awestruck.

“He’s alive… He’s breathing…” Fluttershy observed, the mother zebra utterly beyond words as she scooped up her unconscious foal, now merely black and white with only a trace of green on his leg, and cradled him.

Meanwhile, Teaka’s eyes remained fixed on the foalish, courageous Ash-Stripe filly, stunned to see the symbol that had miraculously appeared on the young zebra’s flank, and recognizing it for what it surely was.

The first cutie mark of Zebrica...

The Tribal Sun; the symbol of the Healer.

“Teaka,” a new voice grabbed the zebra mare’s attention, causing her to turn to the face of a purple pony mare, horn on her head and black lines running down either side of her face. “We need to talk.”

————————
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital, Front Steps
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 11:14 a.m.

Apple Bloom sat somewhat awkwardly on the front steps of Pranceton Plainsboro, looking up with contempt at the dark bird circling the sky and trying to imagine a way to keep it at bay.

So far, her best plan was a mental image of herself bucking the buzzard square on the beak if it came in for a dive. Not the most subtle, detailed, or even feasible of tactics, but at the moment it was all that she had.

*thud*

A sudden sound brought her attention back down to Equis as the yellow farm filly turned to take note of the white box with a red ribbon that had been placed in front of her, behind which stood two fillies she was honestly surprised to see.

“Hey…” Scootaloo started, her eyes downcast and with a tone to match.

There was a moment of silence.

“Hey,” Apple Bloom replied, unsure what else to say.

Another moment of silence.

“Are you two ordering off a menu or are we gonna talk about what’s wrong?” Sweetie asked, her expression uncharacteristically impatient as she moved from Scootaloo’s side to stand between her two friends.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at one another for a moment, neither saying anything as the white unicorn rolled her eyes.

“Ugh... I’m gonna have to do this myself, aren't I? Okay, fine!” She took a breath before pointing a hoof at Scootaloo. “You’re sorry that you got all up in Apple Bloom’s face and made her spill that water all over you.”

Scootaloo’s cheeks flushed as she looked down and away. “...Yeah...”

“And you’re sorry…” Sweetie pointed her other hoof at Apple Bloom. “...for being stubborn and snapping about playing games when we offered to help.”

Apple Bloom let out a sad sigh. “...Yeah…”

“And you’re also sorry…” Sweetie’s right hoof twisted back so that two hooves were pointed at Scootaloo. “...that you brought up the mess with the Cutie Pox.”

“Okay, yeah, I get it, Sweetie,” Scootaloo huffed with an embarrassed smirk.

“And you are also sorry for-- W-whoa-ah!” Sweetie Belle wobbled on her hind legs for a moment, having neglected to shift her weight upright as she pulled both of her forehooves around towards Apple Bloom. Her momentum sent her tumbling forward with a startled cry, her voice cracking ever so slightly as she ended up on her belly with her nose against the small gift box.

Unable to hold back, both the pegasus and earth pony were immediately overcome with a fit of giggles at their unicorn friend’s almost Pinkie-esque antic. And while it was short-lived, it seemed to lighten the air considerably as the two fillies met one another’s eyes and, with an mute nod of agreement, both reached over to help their fellow Crusader to her hooves.

“I'm okay, I'm okay," Sweetie said quickly, rubbing her shoulder to work out a kink from the fall. "I lost my place, where was I?”

“We get it, Sweetie… Thanks.” Scootaloo smirked, looking to Apple Bloom a moment before pushing the gift box to her.

“What’s this?” Apple Bloom cocked her head a bit in surprise.

“Open it.” Sweetie grinned as Apple Bloom did as asked, using her teeth to pull the ribbon top loose and both hooves to slip the top off the box.

The farm filly’s eyes widened as she looked inside. “Oh, mah stars…” Apple Bloom exclaimed, stunned, as she reached in and drew out a familiar pink silk bow. Scootaloo and Sweetie beamed at her reaction. “Y'all went inta the Everfree an’ got it back?” she asked breathlessly, beyond excited to see her bow again. “Ah thought Ah’d never see this again!”

“Ummm…” Scootaloo and Sweetie exchanged a glance.

“Actually, we swiped it from Carousel Bou-- OOF!” Sweetie started, receiving hard nudge in the ribs from her orange friend.

Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom a huge, guilty grin as the farm filly sent them both a blank look, holding the over-sized bow in her hooves... and then cracked up laughing.

Scootaloo and Sweetie looked at one another again and joined in with nervous chuckles before Sweetie brought herself to ask, “It’s… okay, right? I mean, I had to guess at the size, and there wasn’t a whole lot of pink silk."

“Are ya kiddin’? Y'all 're riskin’ Rarity gettin’ mad atcha and sneakin’ in the Boutique when Opalescence is there all by yerselves? Forget the Everfree, that has ta be like, a hundred times more dangerous.”

“Tell me about it…” Scootaloo rolled her eyes, twisting a bit to show a huge set of scratches that lined her rump, barely visible against her orange coat. “After we got away from that little monster, I was thinking we were better off risking the manticores.”

“At least you don't have to stay with that monster every other weekend,” Sweetie pointed out.

“Hey, that's why I offered to run interference in the first place.”

“Girls…” Apple Bloom got both of their attentions, her moment of relief starting to be dragged down as it wore on, but managing to keep a tired smile. “Thanks… Ah really… really appreciate it.”

“Apple Bloom… you know we'll always be here for you.” Scootaloo sidled up to her as Sweetie moved around, taking up the bow and carefully setting it under the farm filly’s mane.

“Now…” Sweetie started the difficult task of tying the bow into place with her hooves. “Talk to us. What’s really going on?”

————————
Central Chamber
Thunder Drum Mountain
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 11:15 a.m.

One thing is certain, the Doctor thought to himself. They are definitely learning.

Looking out over the central chamber from atop a flat-topped boulder that had clearly been moved into this room for a dramatic purpose, the Time Lord attempted to analyze his current situation.

The area was kept bare, no ornamentation or ceremonial fetishes needed to give the chamber the gravity it deserved. Unlike other places of execution that the Doctor had found himself in over his long and storied life, he was pleasantly surprised to see no bloodstains or signs of torture left by previous zebras that had found themselves in this unfortunate place.

It seemed that, for the Anasi, an efficient and mess-free execution was enough to put the required fear into the natives, coupled with the chill in the air that wafted from the dark, square-shaped, pit behind them and made it more than slightly uncomfortable in the room. That feeling alone probably had a huge psychological impact on the zebras who were accustomed to living in the heavy, dry heat of the Plains.

For this occasion, the vast majority of Stone-Water’s refugees had been forcibly summoned to attend, with guards at the front of the stage-like boulder and at the back of the room, boxing in the crowd of malnourished zebras as they anxiously awaited whatever had brought them there; a literally captive audience. It seemed Anasi required such measures to get any of these poor equines to listen to her. The Doctor supposed he wasn’t so special after all in that regard.

As for his more personal situation, the Hourglass Stallion found that he was fairly well secured, his hooves strapped together at the fetlock and knee to prevent him from moving in more than an awkward, hobbled gait, and his neck tied back at the base of his tail in an uncomfortable manner and left him in a thoroughly undignified position.

All of this wouldn’t have been a problem except that the Anasi seemed to have had one bit of sense most lacked, and had also managed to muzzle him, clamping his snout shut with a rather thick set of vines and robbing him of perhaps his most formidable tool: his words.

Now he was starting to get a teeny little bit worried.

Zilaka, while similarly bound at the hooves, kept a surprisingly dignified posture next to the Doctor, clearly not seen as being the same sort of threat. Still, he remained stoic, as Tagati, forgoing her theatrics, simply walked up onto the stage with a sharp, crisp step.

“Mmmapphhahh mamphaha uahhh,” the chestnut-colored earth pony tried to say.

Had he been capable of more than mumbling, he was sure whatever he had to say would have been something clever and humbling that might have turned the tables and kicked off his next daring plan. Or he might have just commented on how the black gown the Prophet wore clashed with her bloodshot, crazy eyes and asked why she hadn’t bothered to try and put her mask back together. He was also sure there was a glue factory joke to be made in there somewhere.

“Our beloved subjects...” Tagati started, her tone measured but hardly soft as she paced across the stage. “We know that they have grown weary in these harsh times. We know that many of them are disheartened by the measures we have had to take to ensure that our supplies may last. And we are aware that some of the more foalish among them have begun to whimper and whine in discontent.”

Oh, sure… the Doctor thought, rolling his eyes. Insult them. That’s the way to get them over to your side.

“But now they can see where dissension brings us... As we speak, the skies are filled with darkness. The wings of death flock and beat overhead. And they ask how this has come to be…” Tagati took a breath and cast her hoof aside towards her prisoners. “Here is their answer! The unclean invader and the collaborator, each a blight upon the Plains and an insult to the Queen of All!”

Right, right, blame the newcomers as a scapegoat. How predictable, the Doctor considered as he observed Tagati’s movements.

Pony body language was still rather new to him, and zebras were admittedly different from ponies on many levels. But even so, he was sure that he was noticing some tensions and twitches that were certainly not on par with what he knew of them.

The Prophet wasn’t a performer -- not really. The Doctor had recognized that the day before during their so-called "interrogation." Her show was crude and much of her cloak-and-shadow theatrics had relied on the bedeviling nature of that mask she had been wearing to throw off her "audience."

Now, she was off her balance. Tagati, or whatever was working her puppet strings, may have talked a good talk, but there were a thousand subtle motions that denoted her stress and fear. The conclusion that the Doctor reached was certainly… interesting.

If he was right, then Anasi was just as in the dark as to the overwhelming presence of the Rocs as they were. And while she tried to play it off, she was smart enough to understand that in addressing this issue to the zebras… she was playing with fire.

All that was needed was a bit of fuel to set it out of her control.

————————
Prophet’s Chamber
Thunder Drum Mountain
At that exact moment

Fluttershy was panting a bit as she and Zecora dropped the last few feet to the floor of the dark chamber before simply letting herself fall in a heap on the ground.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight moved to her friend’s side, clearly concerned as the filly zebra moved around to the other side. In the cold silence of the room, they could hear the pegasus' stomach grumble audibly.

The plan had gone off well enough, utilizing the secret passage that they had escaped through the day before to sneak back into Thunder Drum while the Anasi were distracted with what was happening earlier. But the crux of the plan, their winged yellow friend, had been showing more than a few signs of fatigue in pulling the two up to the entrance and then allowing them to reach the ground.

“So… hungry…” Fluttershy groaned, taking several deep breaths as she tried to keep her wings from cramping up by leaving them unfolded.

“I know,” Twilight sighed, pulling her hood back as she gave her friend an apologetic look.

It was no secret that pegasi that flew constantly had to eat more than most other ponies -- Pinkie Pie notwithstanding -- just to keep their energy up. And while she didn’t know the exact caloric intake to exertion ratio, Twilight understood that Fluttershy had had barely anything to eat and very little to drink for the last day and a half.

“I… I’ll be alright.” Fluttershy nodded, looking around the room. “I’ll be-- EEP!”

At Fluttershy's startled cry, Twilight turned in place towards the direction she was looking, and immediately assumed a defensive posture upon noticing the silhouette of the zebra stallion standing in the entryway.

“The main entrance is guarded, and there is only one other way in…” he stated, walking into the open and revealing his ash-striped fur, his legs set apart and his eyes tracing across Twilight's body, sizing her up. “As clever as you may believe yourself to be, this move was unfortunately predictable.”

Twilight snorted as she dug a hoof into the ground, clearly not intimidated, which was something that the trained warrior could respect. But what he hadn’t counted on was the filly that suddenly moved in-between them.

“Zulu... Brother, have you gone mad?” she started, absently reaching up to the cloth wrapped around her neck when she seemed to labor for her next breath. “These ponies are trying to save us, you cad!”

That got the stallion’s attention as he rocked back, taking note of her sibling's very... odd speech pattern. “What in the name of the Plains was that?”

“The price that was paid to end the spider’s curse.” Zecora pulled at the cloth, exposing the still bright green mark that was left on her neck, a sight that Twilight noticed was enough to cause the warrior to recoil. “Stopping the pain means I must now speak in verse.”

“The Anasi have been lying to you, Zulu,” Twilight spoke up, taking note of how much difficulty Zecora had speaking.

The rhyming was compulsive, as they had come to learn in the hours since she had woken up. True, the pain from the spider’s venom was gone, drawn out by the potion she had managed to (with great difficulty) recreate based on smell and feel, but there was a tradeoff: If she couldn’t think of a proper couplet to finish her words, the filly found she suddenly had a very difficult time breathing, as if her body itself refused to let her drop the verse.

“Your mother’s possessed and your sister was poisoned," Twilight continued. "The Bite is of the Anasi’s own creation. Those little spiders your Prophet keeps in her mane? They’re the cause! Zecora was bitten trying to free Tagati from their magic. And now they have your father!”

There was a moment of silence.

“...I know,” Zulu stated simply.

Twilight recoiled in disgust. “And you still serve this thing?”

“It was the only practical path,” Zulu told the unicorn. “She explained it to me… Anasi spoke to me directly… and it all made sense. The Plains were in ruin, there was no water, and the earth had gone dry. If the herds were not brought together under one banner, under an iron hoof, then they would destroy each other. War over crumbs of food and mouthfuls of water. We... had to make them fear us… It was the only way to save them… even if…” Zulu looked down and away, his voice catching in his throat. “…sacrifices… had to be made. To keep the herds in line.”

“You stood by while they murdered fillies and foals!” Zecora shook her head, jabbing a hoof at Zulu accusingly. “What good is it to live if it costs us our souls!?”

“It all made sense… she told me…” Zulu shook his head as Twilight’s eyes widened in realization.

“You can’t hear her anymore, can you?”

Zulu didn’t meet the unicorn’s eyes. “No… Not since your ‘Doctor’ was here. I do not know what magic he used, but the pain he caused her... I felt it only for a moment, and since then, it has been so… quiet. For years I never gave thought to what was being done; there was always so much happening… I could see so many things, feel so much going on. I had to keep order; had to maintain discipline. It was the only way we were going to survive the Parching… To make sure that the herds would--”

“You followed blindly and you do not even know why!” Zecora cried out, taking another step forward. “You want to know where Anasi will lead? Just look to the sky.”

“I…” Zulu started, but trailed off. “It… all made sense…”

“You sacrificed too much, Zulu… and now your father and our friend are supposed to be next on that list,” Twilight said grimly.

“If you want to fight us… I know we will lose,” Zecora stated bluntly, having no doubts about her elder brother’s combat prowess, as he had achieved the status of Sage of War when he was barely her own age. “But if your mind is your own… then what do you choose?”

Zulu looked back up, watching as a filly who seemed so much older than she actually was, the line-covered purple unicorn, and the recovering yellow pegasus, stood together to oppose to him.

————————

“This... treason… would have been the end of us…” Tagati went on.

Oh, for the love of… is it over yet? the Doctor thought to himself, glancing back towards the Pit. Okay. Ten more minutes… and then I’m jumping in myself.

“Had it not been for the glorious vision of the Queen of All…”

Make that five minutes.

The Doctor drooped, trying to tune out the babbling zebra mare and looking out towards the audience. Many of them still wore an expression of frightened submission, although he did have to applaud the zebras as a whole for not jumping on Tagati’s words or cheering on the (apparently indefinitely postponed on account of yammering) execution. But he also took note that quite a few of the colts and fillies among the audience were starting to look downright bored, like humans in a church they didn’t actually believe in.

And then, he saw them: a handful of determined-looking faces among the sea of stripes. And while he wasn’t a master of differentiating the zebras from one another, particularly when they were so tightly packed together like this, the Doctor couldn’t help but shake the feeling that some of them looked rather… familiar.

“…with this one’s fall!” The Doctor was drawn away from his observation as Tagati hissed in his ear, drawing him forward with a hobbled step. “This creature calls itself ‘Doctor.’ A name for a healer and academic… a title that belies its aspirations as a trickster and seditionist,” Tagati touted, her hooves clicking sharply as the Time Pony stood, turning to the side. It could have been worse, he supposed -- at least this time they had not bothered to remove his outfit or even his goggles. That would be embarrassing, being up on the stage in this position while completely naked.

“And here, a true traitor, once respected… once loved… The last of the Ash-Stripe dissenters! The Sage, Zilaka!” Tagati nudged the zebra stallion forward, though he did not so much as falter in his contemptuous expression. “To think that it whom we believed embraced the way of the Queen would be in league with the stripless foal who brought the Rocs to our skies.”

Zilaka huffed as he locked eyes on with Prophet of Anasi, her own expression that of a raving madmare.

“Do the condemned have any last words?” Tagati grinned wickedly at the Doctor.

“Mmuahpph dhahhda, ummapphhh,” the Doctor mumbled pleasantly, which brought an amused huff from Tagati as she moved down the line.

“And you… my love?”

Zilaka’s eyes narrowed. “Do not even pretend to be the mare that I loved,” he stated coldly. “She would not have left our filly to die.”

There was a moment, a brief hesitation… and the Doctor’s keen eye saw the instant of overpowering defiance.

“...Zecora…?” Tagati’s tone softened just a little bit. And then the defiance was crushed, an angry glare replacing concern as she raised a hoof with an authoritative declaration. “TO THE PIT!”

The zebra mare nudged him, clearly feeling in complete control as she stood next to the hobbled stallion.

“We would hear the Doctor’s last words.”

The elder sounding mare’s voice came from the crowd, and was met with quite a few whinnies of agreement. Tagati seemed… stunned. “Who dares speak?” she demanded.

The Doctor scanned the crowd as the elder voice spoke up again. “By the great Anasi’s leave, we would hear the last word of the pony.” He knew that voice... Teaka? “What harm is there if we wish to hear him beg for mercy, oh, mighty Prophet?”

There was an assortment of nods, the Doctor noticed, as he looked over the crowd. Oddly enough coming from several zebras who were edged along the front of the audience. Always one to try and see the whole picture, the Doctor glanced towards the back, to the cave's open entryway... and allowed himself a small surprised huff.

“The herds wish to hear it beg? So be it,” Tagati cackled as she dipped her head into a satchel along her back, pulling out a sharpened stone knife and expertly cutting along the side of the Doctor’s head. All she did was slash only the vine, although her leer made it clear that she could do much worse if she wished.

“Thank you, Anasi.” The brown pony flexed his jaw for a moment, making several faces as he tried to work out the soreness of his snout. “And don't worry, I have only one thing to say.”

“Being?” Tagati managed, holding the knife loosely with her teeth as she spoke.

Then the Doctor grinned, and Tagati’s expression dropped, the knife falling from her lips at the sight and realization of her mistake.

“NOW!”

“HEY!” Half of the room turned towards the sudden shout as a bright purple unicorn rushed into the room, discarding her cloak and pulling herself up on her hind legs to wave her forelegs about wildly. “LOOK AT ME! I’M A TARGET!”

In almost perfect unison, there was a shifting of hooves as multiple zebra warriors turned to ready their spears and, just as predicted, taking all of their eyes away from the zebras in the crowd who went for their own weapons.

From the crowd, several members of the Towiki Herd began to lob clay vials into the air, each one containing a slightly altered mixture of sleep drought with a separate, smaller container suspended in the fluid that held a tiny chunk of Emberstone.

Emberstone, as Zecora had told her pony friends back in the medicine hut, was a naturally-occurring mineral that constantly gave off a steady heat. When concentrated in small piles, Emberstones could easily boil a cauldron for weeks without any smoke or other refuse. But as soon as those vials impacted the ground at the hooves of the Anasi warriors, breaking open as they did, the heat of the Emberstones caused the drought to instantly turn to steam...

*FWOOOMPH*

...the immediate effect of which was to render the warriors instantly incapacitated, dropping them to the floor like sacks of potatoes. All around, the remaining zebras in the room began to panic and run for the exit, with Tagati crying out in an unsuccessful attempt to restore order.

“Stripeless beast!” A guard who had managed to evade the bombardment bore down on Twilight, rushing her position as the chaos began.

*THWACK*

The warrior’s legs were swept out by a deftly handled spear haft as a grey-striped stallion moved up from the side, twisting his neck at the perfect angle to catch the charging zebra along the side of the head. Twilight gave Zulu a brief nod in thanks before diving ahead into the confusion, having to dart and weave across the veritable stampede as the Doctor laughed mirthfully on stage at Tagati’s apparent shock.

“What’s the matter, Anasi? Too much going on at once? Not sure whose eyes to follow?”

“What!? How!? HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS!?”

“Oh, this wasn’t me.” The Doctor shrugged as he took a hobbled, shuffling step to the side. “This is all them.”

“Mother!”

Tagati turned back at the sound of her son's shout, hardly believing that the mohawked warlord had closed the distance so fast in spite of the still rushing stampede. Quickly, the mare dipped down to retrieve her blade...

*Thump-THWACK*

...only to be caught in a practiced one-two strike that sent her sprawling over the edge of the stage.

“...I can only hope you forgive me,” Zulu exhaled sadly, looking about as several remaining members of the Towiki overpowered the last of the conscious guards, breaking open the sleep grenades that they had been given right in front of the stallions' faces in order to knock them out.

“Twilight Sparkle...” The Doctor grinned as the purple unicorn climbed up to join them on the stage. “You. Are. Brilliant!”

“It's just a silly idea I had.” The unicorn smiled in relief, amazed at how quickly the plan had been pulled off.

“Oh, it's not silly at all! It's as good as any plan I could've come up with. Really, I am thoroughly impressed right now.” The stallion warmly returned her smile, his words causing the mare to blush deeply. “What about Fluttershy? Is she--”

“She’s back near the entrance. All of the flying over the last few days has taken a lot out of her.” Twilight pointed back towards the doorway, where the Doctor took note of Fluttershy laying down, looking quite exhausted.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Teaka called from the now empty chamber, only the handful of volunteers that had been present for the miracle on the outskirts of the village now tending to the zebra warriors. “The mountain is taken! And without a single life lost!”

“Alright. Get them outside and tie them up, the sleeping gas won’t last forever. After that, we should try and round up any that are left,” Twilight stated, showing a degree of authority and leadership that continued to impress the still bound Doctor .

“This is most of the Anasi guard right here. Their effectiveness was in their discipline and ruthlessness, not their numbers. There may be two or three pairs patrolling the village itself,” Zulu told them quickly. “You should organize groups armed with these weapons to incapacitate them.”

“Right!” Teaka turned to her fellow Towiki zebras, clearly flushed with victory as they set about to quickly do as asked, and started dragging the zebra warriors past the pegasus in the doorway.

“That is my sleeping potion... turned to clouds?” Zilaka was aghast, realizing that the vapors’ effective ranges were extremely limited, but that they had been used to such a perfect effect that nearly all of Anasi’s soldiers had been taken out of the fight before it even started. “Add a steaming agent and a heat source... Why did I not think of that?”

Shaking his head exasperatedly, he looked to Zulu, the zebra colt moving up to him with an apologetic tone.

“Father... I am sorry.” The warrior bowed his head, unable to meet the elder sage’s eyes. “You were right all along.”

Zilaka, still stunned by the turn of events, merely shook his head harder. “No... it is alright,” he stated as the younger sage moved with spear in teeth to cut away his bindings. “What of Zecora? Is she--”

“I am here, father, in plain sight!” the filly called out, rushing across the room with a gleeful step and leaving Fluttershy next to the exit. “It is over! All is right!”

Zilaka gasped happily, moving down from the stage to meet his daughter up close. The moment they came together, Zecora craned her neck up to rest against her father's body, and he happened to notice the spot where the spider had bitten her, looking a lot more innocuous since the last time he'd seen it.

“The experimental potions... The Ashmed... you...” he was shocked and horrified for a moment that his foal would take such a risk.

“We were wrong about how it was applied,” Zecora tried to explain, setting her face to her father’s upper leg affectionately as a single tear dripped down her face. “It was to be poured on the wound, not imbibed.”

“Why are you speaking like that?” Zilaka asked, eying his daughter curiously as he knelt down.

On the stage, Zulu turned away from the reunion, trying to suppress his own feelings as he looked to the Time Lord. “Doctor, I believe this...” The warrior set his spear aside, moving towards the brown pony as he reached into his pouch, pulling free a familiar metal cylinder. “...is yours.”

The Hourglass Stallion nodded, directing the zebra to aim the device in his direction as it came to life at his command, and the vines keeping him bound snapped cleanly off.

“It’s over...” Twilight sighed with relief as she watched the Towiki pull the rest of the zebra warriors towards the exit.

“Over...?”

A ragged, scratchy voice drew every eye towards the front of the stage, where the Prophet was pulling herself up with trembling legs.

“Stupid animals...” Tagati took a staggered step forward, casting a menacing glare at her assembled audience. “Everything we have worked so hard to set in motion...” Another step. “Our plan was perfect... Flawless... And then they come here, and attempt to defy the will of a GODDESS!?” Tagati’s voice cracked at the end of her sudden outraged shriek, her head raised high as if screaming at the heavens themselves.

Then she took in a deep, rasping breath before lowering her head sharply, her eyes having taken on a blackened color as she glared back at the ponies and remaining Ash-Stripes.

“And in their ignorance, they find their doom... for it is the last mistake they will ever make,” the Prophet growled in a voice drenched in boiling anger and cold certainty.

Suddenly, Fluttershy shrieked from the doorway, drawing all attention to her as the wide-eyed yellow mare pointed towards the stage. “Sp-sp...SPIDERS!” she cried out, giving name to the newest threat that was just now making itself apparent.

A rough skittering sound began to echo throughout the chamber, and from the Pit behind them, the chilling air brought forth a terrible new danger as dozens upon dozens of menacing black spiders, each the size of a hoof, began to crawl and scurry out and onto the stage.

Twilight let out a startled shriek as everypony and zebra recoiled from this new development, except for Zilaka, who rushed forward to grab the stunned mare and pull her back from the encroaching swarm.

“Zulu, my sonic!” the Doctor shouted, and the zebra warrior was about to toss it over with a flick of his head...

*THUMPH*

“Ungh!”

...only to be tackled by the Prophet, pushing them both off the back of the stage and flinging the sonic screwdriver wildly into the air. Rolling around on the cold stone floor as it swarmed over with spiders, Zulu and Tagati struggled for a moment, each one trying to get the upper hoof. Then, as if realizing she was about to be easily overpowered, the Prophet desperately wrapped her forelegs around her opponent.

“For the glory of Anasi!” she hissed loudly.

And then, without another word, Tagati threw her weight to the side, sending both zebras sprawling right into the Pit.

“NOOO!” The Doctor surged forward, his eyes widening in horror before several of the larger arachnids jumped towards him, their mandibles clearly visible as well as their eight, shining red eyes, driving him back.

Around the sides of the stage, even more of the creepy crawly creatures came, pouring from the edges of the Pit like water burst from a dam. Fluttershy watched in mute horror as Twilight moved towards Zecora, having to catch the filly by the tail before she dove after her brother, while the Doctor and Zilaka were surrounded on the stage.

*chink*

Gasping for breath, her attention was taken by the sudden sound of metal striking the floor next to her hooves.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” the yellow pegasus squeaked and shuddered as she looked to see the Doctor’s magic device and dove for it, fumbling with the ribbed metal in her hooves for a moment as she quickly came to a realization. “DOCTOR! I DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE THIS!” she shouted, terror filling her as she realized her friends were now all but surrounded by what must have been hundreds of scurrying black spiders that were now also moving towards her like a living wave.

“THE INTERFACE IS PSYCHIC!” the Doctor called back, his voice on the edge of panic as he and Zilaka pressed up against one another while the spiders closed in. “POINT AND THINK, FLUTTERSHY! POINT AND THINK!”

Point and think. Point and think. Fluttershy's hooves trembled as she tried to hold the device up towards the advancing swarm. Stop! she thought loudly in her head.

The swarm continued to advance.

Please stop!? She fought back tears as she tried desperately to hold onto the screwdriver in spite of her shaking, her attempt at thinking at the swarm dissolving into thoughts of panic.

Unbidden, her stomach growled painfully as her thoughts were diverted for just a second.

So hungry... Food... tea... bread... Fluttershy shook her head roughly as she tried to ignore her stomach, but not before it caused one of her memories to stir unexpectedly. Dry bread...

She remembered the Doctor saying that the day before... Remarking on the ground and how brittle it was... how it crumbled...

*whirrrrrrr*
*CRACK*

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she looked down, realizing that she had the tip of the magic stick pointed towards the floor... which now had a huge crack running through it.

“Oh no... No, no, noooo...” she pleaded softly as she watched the crack spread quickly under the swarm and across the central chamber.

*CRAAAAAAAAAAACK-KRSSSSSH*

“YIPE!” Fluttershy fell back as the ground in front of her gave way, dropping the cursed metal device in her effort to run from the widening fissure. She heard the cries of her friends and the panicked, scratchy scurrying of hundreds of insect legs as they tried to escape the splintering stone. Overcome with fear, she clamped her eyes shut.

Then... after a terrible few seconds... there was nothing.

“Oh, dear Celestia, no...” the pegasus whimpered, barely able to hear herself over the ringing in her ears. Shaking uncontrollably, she somehow managed to bring herself to her hooves and chance opening her eyes to see what had unfolded. In an instant, she wished she hadn't.

For the entirety of the chamber, from where she now stood to the walls on every side... the floor was gone. Nothing but a giant, dark, empty hole in the ground through which her friends had plummeted... likely to their deaths.

Tears filled her eyes as Fluttershy fell back, pushing herself into the wall of the corridor and curling into a ball on the floor as she covered her head with her hooves, desperately wanting somepony, anypony, to tell her that it was alright; that what she just witnessed didn’t actually happen.

But her heart felt torn in two as she came to the realization that it had happened. And far more terrible than that was a single fact that made her want to never crawl out of that dark, unforgiving place.

The fact that it was all her fault.

Ch. 7: The Heart of Thunder Drum

Chapter 7: The Heart of Thunder Drum

Corridor, Central Chamber
Thunder Drum Mountain
71st of Spring, 975 C.R. (Celestia's Reign), 1:35 p.m.

Trembling, curled into a fetal position, the only pegasus in all of Zebrica wanted nothing more than to disappear. She had lost track of just how long she had been laying there; how long she had been torn between shameless crying and mournful moans.

She was sure that some zebras had spoken to her at some point, but she didn’t hear them. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to answer their queries, and in the end, they had left her alone to wallow in her guilt.

Fluttershy regretted all of it, from the very beginning. What had she been thinking? Running off with the strange pony to this terrible place where there were so many horrible things happening. She was a coward. A weak, pathetic, helpless coward. She wasn’t a brave or heroic pony. She wasn’t like Applejack or Rainbow Dash. She wasn’t like Twilight or the Doctor. She couldn’t save the day.

She had tried to play the hero… tried to make a difference… and look what had happened.

Fluttershy looked out past her hooves with puffy red eyes as she peered again into the room, as if hoping that instead of the hole that had appeared, there would be solid floor, and that her friends and Zecora’s family would be there, perfectly fine.

But there wasn't, and they weren’t.

You couldn’t save them… a nasty, spiteful little voice in the back of her head started up, one she was familiar with, as it was her own. The voice she had taken on after her "assertiveness" lesson with the minotaur, Iron Will. How predictable. They were counting on you and you let them down.

“I’m sorry…” Fluttershy whimpered.

Yeah, you sure are, the mean little Flutter-Monster continued, Fluttershy almost able to imagine a tiny, dark personification of the attitude-laden pegasus sitting on her shoulder. What was Zecora thinking, asking you to help her? Miss Scaredy-Feathers? Ha!

Fluttershy kept watching the room in front of her, looking at the ground that had cracked and fallen away into a deep, dark abyss.

Scared. She was many things right now: regretful, depressed, guilty, and incredibly hungry, just to name a few.

But the little voice she imagined perched on her shoulder was right. Above it all… she was absolutely petrified.

——

“And I know, while I stay here and rest… that you and Twilight will try your best.

But know this, my friend… be you ever so sweet.

If your fear overcomes you... we never shall meet.”

——

Taking a breath, Fluttershy pulled herself up, trying not to tremble.

Huh? Hey, what are you doing? the little voice asked as she took a step forward. Fluttershy moved slowly towards the edge of the chasm, looking down. Nopony could have survived that. Well, except for a pegasus, but come on, you’re barely a pegasus, anyway.

The yellow mare took another deep breath of surprisingly chilly air as she stood there for a moment before extending one hoof over the edge of the pit. She licked her lip nervously as she shifted her weight forward, trying to psyche herself into diving after them.

You’re kidding, right? the harsh voice snickered. Come on, even if they did somehow miraculously survive your stupidity, what exactly are you gonna do?

There was a moment of silence in the pegasus’ mind, the only sound to be heard being her own breathing... before she brought her hoof back, drawing back and away from the edge again.

Yeah… that’s what I thought. The tone sounded smug, then fell silent as Fluttershy moved back into the corridor, her eyes closed.

So she didn’t take note of the inky black shadow that wisped around her shoulders and into the dark corridor, slinking away from her silently and leaving the mare alone as she opened her eyes and looked back down the hall in the opposite direction.

————————
Intensive Care Ward, Room 7
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 2:07 p.m.

“Hmmm... Pulse is regular but she still looks thirsty,” Zecora’s newest physician stated, looking at her right fetlock as she set her left hoof down on the zebra’s, apparently unaware that one couldn’t feel a pulse through a hardened hoof. Nor did it seem to matter that her right hoof lacked a timepiece of any sort.

“One hundred CCs of water, STAT!” cried Scootaloo, an over-sized doctor’s head-mirror strapped just above her brow as she pointed towards the door, holding out an empty pitcher in one hoof.

“On it!” Sweetie Belle nodded, taking the pitcher and moving towards the door, but pausing just as she came to the threshold. “Wait, what’s a 'see-see.'?”

“I dunno…” Scootaloo shrugged, trying to tune out the snickering from the bed. “But get it, STAT!”

“On it!” Sweetie rushed out the door, then reappeared a few seconds later, leaning into the room again. “Wait, what does 'stat' mean?”

“Ugh...” Scootaloo set her hoof to the top of her snout in agitation. “Just fill up the pitcher and bring it back here, okay?”

“On it!” Sweetie zipped away again. Scootaloo started to turn back to the bed when the somewhat higher pitched voice of her unicorn friend came from the door once more. “I forgot where the water fountain is.”

“AGH!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed angrily, lifting her a foot off the ground before she came back down. “I’m just gonna show you. Come on, it’s this way!”

The two fillies exited quickly from there, allowing the patient, one particular zebra mare, a moment of respite from the comedy of errors that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had taken to in the name of keeping an eye on her.

Apple Bloom, also wearing one of the awkward head-mirrors, couldn’t help but smile at the Zecora's delight. Her brother had gone for the moment to fill out some sort of paperwork that was required for the hospital in Zecora’s name, and she and her two friends had taken the opportunity to show the mare why they had won the award for "Best Comedy" at the Ponyville Talent Show two years running.

Of course, their original intent had been just to keep Zecora company, but one thing led to another, and, much like the talent shows, their original intent fell apart in favor of an almost unwitting improvisation sketch when it was realized that their friend could use the cheering up.

Zecora, for her part, had not said much as the three fillies assumed the roles of inept caregivers and proceeded to make a satirical mockery of the pony medical profession without realizing it. She just remained laying back in her upright position, their antics eliciting the occasional snicker or soft laugh as she continued to take in what liquids she could, seemingly unable to quench her thirst.

It was an appreciated distraction, that much was certain. And compared to the more somber methods and traditions of her native lands, Zecora found she greatly preferred the ponies’ focus on company and good cheer over mourning the soon-to-be-departed before the Roc even descended.

As Zecora leaned back into the "still-too-soft" pillows, the mare sighed. “I am glad you made up with your friends, Apple Bloom,” she said, the yellow filly dropping character to turn to her with an honest concern in her eyes. “Life is too short for silly disagreements to drag down the bond that you share.”

“Yeah, somethin’ weird musta happened in the forest yesterday. Dunno what, but it don’t matter.” Apple Boom nodded, her hoof reaching up to pat her new bow, making sure it was still there. “It’ll take more than a lost bow an' a pitcher a’ dumped water to break us up.” Almost as an afterthought, Apple Bloom came to comprehend what it was Zecora had said, and her expression grew more stern. “An’ don’tcha be talkin’ like that, ya hear?” she scolded lightly. “Ya ain’t goin’ nowhere till ya tell us how ya got yeur cutie mark.”

Zecora huffed, stifling another snicker. “I am afraid I am not much for stories right now, Apple Bloom… particularly not that story,” she said morosely, before a shudder ran through her body, causing what mirth there was to drain from her face as her lips pulled back to show her teeth.

Apple Bloom back up a step, her eyes going wide as she pulled the mirror-piece from her head. “Zecora… what’s wrong?” the filly asked, though just by observing the shudder, she could fill a book with the number of things that looked wrong. The change in the potion maker’s demeanor had happened so quickly that she might have missed it if she'd blinked.

“In case… I do not get… another chance…” The zebra mare had broken into a sudden, cold sweat, panting for breath as if she had gone for a run around Ponyville several times in the moments since she had been snickering at her friends’ antics. “I want to say…”

“Zecora… no!” Apple Bloom pleaded, leaning forward and placing her hooves on the bed. “No goodbyes! Yer gonna get better! Ah jus’ know it! Somethin’ will… will...”

“Thank you… my young friend…” Zecora set a hoof to the pale yellow filly’s mouth, quieting her long enough to get out what she had to, tears welling up in her tired, pained eyes. “Thank you... for your courage… and seeking me out when no other pony would.”

Before Apple Bloom could even respond, to say what she felt needed to be said, the mare on the hospital bed convulsed, crying out in agony as her forehooves came together over her chest and her hind legs kicked out, throwing the bedsheets askew.

“Help… Doctor…” the filly whispered, barely able to tear her eyes away from the terrible pain that was present before her as Zecora gasped for the breath to cry out.

“Doctor!” Apple Bloom finally felt her hooves under her as she moved to the doorway, fighting against the knot in her throat and preparing to scream out louder than she ever had before.

“DOCTOR!”

————————
Location: Unknown
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 1:35 p.m.

A frantic shout brushed across the back of the Doctor's mind; a cry that resounded across all of time and space, barely skirting on the edge of his consciousness and allowing him to feel it more than hear it. The Time Pony shuddered, a cloud of breath escaping his muzzle and unsettling the frost that was forming over his fur as reality came rushing back to him, his eyes snapped open, and his senses launched from oblivion to awareness.

Unable to ignore the impression of urgency, the Doctor gasped for breath and was stunned when an icy cold air filled his lungs, causing him to cough dryly. He pushed himself off of the hard, rigid ground and rolled from his side to his front, feeling a stickiness prickle his fur wherever it was exposed. In what seemed to be almost utter darkness, he took a moment to attune his senses and get his bearings as he went over the events in his mind.

The day had seemed won, but he should have known it had been far too easy.

Anasi must have had her "forces," those unusually large arachnids, in waiting at the edge of the Pit, whether for some sort of presentation of power along with the execution or in foresight of the ludicrously effective tactic that Twilight had managed to devise, he had no idea -- though he suspected the former over the latter. But whatever the case, when faced with the possibility of defeat, Anasi had played her apparent ace in the hole, with hundreds of the creatures intending to overwhelm the ponies and zebras with sheer numbers. Even if they didn’t possess the same poisonous bite of their more classically sized kin, judging by the size of the mandibles on those things, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience for anyone but the spiders.

And then, the ground caved in, which had certainly not been expected by either party. He had felt the sonic pulse that had resonated under his hooves, breaking apart what he now realized was a relatively thin shelf of stone that had been formed around the Pit, and dropping everypony that had been in the room into what seemed like a bleak, bottomless abyss.

Somewhere in that fall, between the shock of the never-ending drop and the sudden changes in temperature, he had passed out. And now he was here... but where was here?

He was underground, that much he was certain of, but that raised more questions than answers. If they had fallen into some sort of chasm underneath Thunder Drum, the fall alone should have been enough to kill any pony not gifted with wings, and if it had been shallow enough to survive the fall, they should have been able to make out a light above them.

*FLOOMPH*

A sudden gust of icy wind pulsed around the Doctor, his tail and mane thrown askew along with the airflow. But rather than sweeping at him from the sides as one might expect, it came from below him, rushing off of the cold, sticky floor with such force that the brown stallion was lifted off his hooves for a moment before the gust pushed past him and continued upward, not quite powerful enough to carry his weight aloft.

The Time Pony’s mind reeled, his memory stirring…

——

There, floating in place, clearly unconscious with her mane and tail blowing and falling against gravity as if held in an updraft, was the familiar lavender figure of the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle.

——

Settling his weight and planting his hooves down firmly on the ground, the Doctor felt around for a tactile sense of where he was standing.

There was a layer of sticky coating… Cobwebs? Yes, definitely cobwebs. And under that… not regular stone. Something harder, more angular in nature, and icy cold. So cold it was starting to hurt just standing on it…

——

Lifting a foreleg with a flourish, the Doctor could see a blackened, burnt look to the Prophet's hoof, with cracks running up and down it as if she had run repeatedly over hot coals.

——

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed as he felt around, his eyes all but useless in the all-encompassing darkness. A muffled clopping sound echoed all around him as he carefully and deliberately searched the floor for anything he could use. His sonic screwdriver would be preferable, but the last place he saw it was in Fluttershy's hooves just before the floor collapsed, so that wasn't very likely.

But, as luck would have it, he did at least manage to locate some kind of sharp, jagged stone; a piece of debris that had followed him from the collapse. Now he just needed something else…

After a bit more searching, the Doctor's hindhoof brushed against a wooden shaft, an instant later stepping back to set his weight on it so that it wouldn’t roll away. Bringing himself to stand over it and shuffling the rock shard into place, the pony quickly ran his hoof over each end to determine which had the tip.

Then, the Doctor smiled as a new sound made his ear twitch: a familiar male voice groaning with fatigue.

“Ungh... Why is it so cold? Am I dead?” Zilaka sounded woozy, his voice placing him perhaps half a dozen meters to the Doctor’s left. “Either way, all of this passing out and waking up in the dark is starting to lose its novelty.”

“Well, after awhile you start to miss it, take it from me. Oh, and no, we’re not dead. Anasi is not getting rid of us that easily.” The Hourglass Stallion chuckled, using his hooves to roll the spear tip in the cobwebs, gathering as much of it as he could while leaving the very end of the flint exposed. “Besides, dying sort of loses its spectacle when you have to go through it repeatedly. I mean, it’s been eleven times for me, already--”

“Slow down, Doctor. What happened? Where are we?” The potion maker’s voice shifted as he pulled himself up, interrupting the pony.

“Still working on both of those questions… You might want to shield your eyes, by the way. If I’m right, this is going to be rather… dazzling.”

There was a moment of silence, which the Doctor assumed was compliance as he pulled the stone shard up with both hooves and grunted with exertion as he brought it down on the exposed portion of flint.

*chink*

A few stray sparks lit up the Doctor’s hooves for the briefest moment, bouncing all about, with just enough of them dropping onto the end of his spear, with the webbing wrapped into a tight ball.

*FWOOSH*

The webbing caught fire almost immediately, and a crackling orange glow illuminated the blue, glimmering floor where the Doctor had cleared off the thick coat of cobwebs.

“Aha! Fire! And on the very first try!” The Time Pony felt a surge of primal pride as he leaned down, lifting the torch aloft in his teeth. Both the Time Pony and the Ash-Stripe zebra then winced as the single torch set off a sudden cascade of light that made the Doctor curse himself for not lowering his goggles and taking his own advice.

*SKITTER-SKITTER-SKITTER*

“MMPH!” The Doctor suddenly thrashed his head wildly as the brilliant display of light startled a veritable swarm of small bat-like creatures from their roosts along the walls. They immediately scattered and flew off, brushing past the two equines in their way with a flurry of screeching and flapping wings that carried on for several seconds. When their surroundings finally settled and the surprise started to wear off, The Doctor and Zilaka were able to take a fresh look at the room they were in.

Burning orange mixed with glowing blue as the firelight reflected off the floor and walls that had been imperceptible a few moments before, revealing a massive, open cavern around them. To one side, there was an empty cliff-like drop that seemed to go on forever, while to the other was a glimmering series of passageways that were lined with blue and purple crystal formations sticking out at every angle, sparkling in the places where they were not covered by thick coats of dull, grey webbing.

Unable to speak with his mouth grasping the spear-turned-torch, the Doctor dropped the burning stick to get out one very important observation: “Well, now... that’s something I was not expecting.” The Doctor couldn’t help but grin as he beheld the sight for a moment before reaching down to pick up the torch up in his hooves. “An entire subterranean biosphere… Absolutely brilliant!”

Zilaka blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light, looking up and around at the caverns in wonder. He was amazed by the sheer emptiness and openness of it all, as it seemed to go on for miles like a vast underground valley, the ceiling so far above them that it might as well have been sky.

Holding the torch and only source of illumination in his teeth, the Doctor looked about, taking notice of what looked like another swarm of the bluish-tinged bats as they rushed away, clearly startled by the beautiful display around them.

*FLOOMPH*

Another rush of air from the gaping chasm washed out below them with a tingling frigidness and then pulsed upward, nearly blowing out the Doctor’s torch as both he and Zilaka were lifted off their hooves for a few seconds.

“What was that!?” Zilaka cried out as he awkwardly came back down to his hooves, fighting to keep his balance while he looked around wildly.

The Time Pony spat the torch to his hoof, carefully keeping it at an angle so that he could keep hold of it. “Pressure wave,” he explained. “The crystal is acting as a transferal medium releasing short bursts of pressure near the base of the cliffs to defuse the buildup below us. That must be how we survived the fall. It seems somewhat sporadic in this area, though. There must be something preventing it from releasing a steady pulse.”

“I do not understand.” Zilaka turned to the Doctor, confused and clearly concerned about where their aggressors, those horrible eight-legged monsters, had disappeared to, among other things. “Where is Zecora!? What about Zulu and Tagati!?”

“I’m sure they’re all fine… The pressure waves grow wider and thicker as they travel upward…” the Doctor stated, running his hooves over the crystal floor as he took note of the black lines that were running through the structure. “As we fell, they must have slowed our descent considerably and the currents of air from the subterranean topography would have pushed us this way and that like leaves on the wind. It’s likely that, since the two of us were next to one another when we fell, we ended up in around the same place… so the same should be true of Twilight and Zecora, as well as Zulu and Tagati. But given the distance we must have fallen, the waves would have to be fairly regular…”

——

“By the way, is that CO2 in that fog? That’s a nice twist. Dry ice; more elaborate than I would have thought for a low-budget production.”

——

The stallion’s face fell as he looked upward. “Ohhhh… So that’s why the Rocs are circling around up there… This is bad.”

“Doctor, I still do not understand.” Zilaka narrowed his eyes on the pony. “We survived. How is this a bad thing?”

“Dry ice, frozen carbon dioxide, is a byproduct of the pressure waves, carbon dioxide being expelled during the process and crystallizing into solid form along any places where the pressure escapes, causing the amount of pressure released to drop and therefore the exponential buildup of force. I can’t believe I missed that,” the Doctor lamented, groaning in a frustrated tone. “I should have realized the moment I tasted it in her chamber. How else would she get her hooves on it? It’s not as if you zebras have refrigerators.”

“Doctor, please stop doing that.” Zilaka moved up beside the brown pony, looking to him with a concerned gaze. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

*Crrraaack*

The sharp, echoing sound reverberated over the caverns, causing another swarm of bat-like creatures, clearly native to this underground world, to take off and flutter around in a panic. Over time, the scurrying of wings faded as the deep bass of the sound shook both pony and zebra to their bones.

“Blast! The pressure cascade effect has already started… Come on, I’ll explain on the way.” The Doctor’s eyes were wide as he offered the torch to Zilaka, looking around for any obvious trails or paths. Apparently at random, he chose one of the nearest ones and started away at a hard canter. “We have to hurry! If we don’t find a way to relieve the pressure down here, Thunder Drum is going to explode and take every zebra in Stone-Water with it!”

————————

*Crrraaack*

“Ungghh... Brrrr...”

Twilight Sparkle grimaced, flattening her ears against the sharp, grating sound that echoed around her as she slowly climbed to consciousness. Meanwhile, her head was spinning and an alien, weightless feeling clouded her mind as she came to one sharp and very clear conclusion: Wherever she was, it was bucking freezing!

She brought her forelegs up and around her chest, feeling as if a windigo was blowing over her body. Then, her dangling hind hooves felt an initial rush before she felt her mane and tail blown upwards.

Wait…

Twilight’s eyes bolted open in confusion, realizing she was upright in the faint light that emanated from the walls around her. And directly in front of her was a very concerned filly standing on the edge of a cliff and shuffling on her hooves as she bit her lip, looking out over the precipice… facing her.

Facing her… on the edge… of a…

“Twilight! Do not look down!” Zecora suddenly burst out, which of course coincided with the unicorn doing exactly that.

Twilight looked down, her heart jumping into her throat upon gazing into the blank black abyss that was opened up under her, her body suspended by a solid, constant updraft.

“Ennngghhhh...” Zecora grunted, her breath stalling as she pranced frantically on her hooves for a moment, her trouble stealing Twilight’s panic away from her immediate danger when the unicorn realized that the filly couldn’t think of a rhyme.

“FROWN!” the well-read pony called out.

“To do so… will make you frown!” Zecora gasped, panting for breath as the compulsion was met.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked, her own panic quelled as she looked over the filly with concern.

“I am doing as well as can be expected… but it seems this curse, I have not yet perfected. I could not think of a rhyme to warn you, so… I assure you, I am fine… though.” Zecora stretched her rhyming meter slightly to make it work, but apparently it met her need to do so as she watched the unicorn. “I do not suppose that you told a lie, when you said unicorns could not fly?”

“I’m not flying… it’s air resistance. Something is pushing me up at the same speed I would normally be falling, holding my weight here exactly.” Twilight tried to shift, but without anything to shove off of, she had no way of gaining any forward momentum to try and push herself towards the edge. “Hold on, I’ll try to…”

Twilight closed her eyes and focused, and to the zebra’s shock, the black marks running down along her body began to glow faintly with a white light before the unicorn gasped for breath, the light fading as soon as she had done so.

Twilight looked to her forelegs and sighed. “Right… Gelded. Forgot I had these things on me... Okay, so teleporting my way over is out of the question...” The unicorn squirmed in place and tried to get some sort of forward momentum, managing to fall forward on her front. Her mane and tail flapped and billowed against her body as she tried to "swim" through the icy air, but to no avail.

Suddenly, Zecora looked around and darted off, the filly offering no explanation as Twilight watched her go. She probably just didn’t want to have to be forced to rhyme, Twilight figured. She had never questioned the zebra’s odd form of speech beyond their first meeting, but now that she saw firsthoof that it was something imposed upon Zecora against her will, she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry that such a thing had been inflicted upon her. Even if the alternative was an agonizing, ultimately fatal pain, it still seemed like a cruel game that the little filly was being forced to play.

“The answer is clear unless one is thick.” Zecora came back into view, pulling what Twilight immediately recognized as two spears tied together with what looked like a thick wad of webbing. “No time to waste, just take the stick.”

“Alright… almost got it… just a little bit further.” Twilight reached out with her hooves, stretching out in place as Zecora resorted to setting the end of one half in her mouth to reach it as far as she could. Finally, the unicorn’s hooves got a solid grip, and with a nod to her zebra friend, she began to pull her back.

Under any other circumstances, Twilight would have been intrigued by the sensation of being pulled along, weightless, as the updraft countered gravity perfectly. But, all things considered, she was just eager to get her hooves back on solid ground, which happened all too quickly as she was pulled over the edge of the cliff Zecora had been standing on. Gravity proved it was still working as her hooves and the front of her body fell right to it, her back legs dangling over the edge for a moment before she could pull herself up.

“Thanks, Zecora.” Twilight nodded, looking around.

“I still have to make up for past strife… assuming we are not already in the afterlife.” The zebra nodded too, visibly shivering as she set the spears aside and Twilight took in their surroundings.

The ground was hard and icy cold, like walking on a frozen pond without ponyshoes… except that she was wearing ponyshoes and it still felt that way. While she felt endured to the cold after having spent so long on that icy updraft, it was obvious now that she was this close to the zebra that Zecora was completely unfamiliar with the sensation and was shifting uneasily on her hooves.

“While glad I am, from the spiders we are free… I feel I must ask, where on the Plains are we?” Zecora looked around, the crystals glowing just enough to provide some illumination.

“I’m... not sure…” Twilight huffed, trying to puzzle it out herself.

*Crrraaack*

Zecora jumped and edged closer to Twilight as the unicorn’s ears perked, taking note of the distinct crushing sound that echoed around them. Then, her eyes widened as only one possibility came to mind, one that she had read about long ago during her studies in Canterlot. In particular, her geology studies.

“I don’t believe it…” Twilight whispered, appraising her surroundings with new understanding. “Cryovolcanism... on Equis...” Zecora tilted her head slightly and fixed the unicorn with a familiar, confused stare that she had often seen on Applejack’s face when the book-smart mare used a term that was over the farm pony’s hat. “Mount Thunder Drum… it’s an ice volcano! All of Zebrica is sitting on top of a giant glacial caldera!”

————————

“A what?” Zilaka looked puzzled as he moved forward, trying to ignore the searing sensation at the base of his hooves and the numbness under his thin striped fur as he followed behind the Doctor, carefully holding the torch in his lips.

“A geological miracle, is what it is,” the Doctor stated, looking around as he took in the sights. “I’ve encountered ice volcanoes before, but not quite like this. The ones I’ve seen had networks of liquid nitrogen, methane, ammonia, and other hyper-cooled gases, and are usually on planets that don’t have a habitable biosphere. But this is--”

“Doctor, please!” Zilaka huffed in frustration, still managing to hold onto the torch in his lips while still speaking clearly -- something he had noted zebras seemed able to do but ponies could not -- which was quite impressive in the Doctor’s eyes. “Speak in terms I can understand.”

“Alright, alright,” the Time Pony sighed, trying to reign in his academic excitement as he scanned the area. He abruptly turned to the right and down an apparently random path in what was quickly becoming a labyrinth of crystalline corridors. “What do you know about geothermal dynamics?”

An indignant snort was all the answer the Doctor needed as the zebra trailed up behind him.

“Right, sorry,” the brown pony apologized as he tried to break down the rather stunning revelation into a laypony-friendly form. “Well, the short version is that I know where your water comes from now... and what’s behind the Parching.”

“You said something about Thunder Drum exploding...”

“Well, 'explode' is such a dramatic term... More like erupting. Very, very violently.”

————————

“Erupt? That cannot be so.” Zecora looked puzzled. “My mountain home is no volcano.”

“Not in the traditional sense, no,” Twilight tried to explain, moving quickly along the ground as the two of them tried to find a way out. “From what I can tell -- and this is just theory, mind you -- there is a giant glacier right under our hooves; an aquifer of frozen ice just sitting here, thousands of feet beneath the Plains. According to the laws of geothermal dynamics, there would be pressure from below that in the mantle, that’s the really, really hot layer of our planet under Equis’ crust, that would push the glacier upwards toward the surface really, really slowly. Over the course of hundreds or thousands of years, it melted away. This whole cavern was probably once filled with glacier ice before it shrunk to what it is today.”

“What does this have to do with our land? And please, tell me in words I understand.”

————————

“The glacier warms as it’s pushed up, turning to water vapor, which in turn saturates the upper areas of the crust and would pool into depressions to form springs fed by groundwater. This aquifer has been supplying water to Zebrica for probably as long as zebras have lived there,” The Doctor explained colloquially. “And life up there has evolved to make use of it under the blistering heat of the sun. If the natural environment wasn’t so dry and hot, then the entire area would probably be a swampy marsh. The natural attributes of the Plains found a perfect balance between the scorching heat bearing down and the cold ice down here pushing up.”

“But why did the waters stop, then?” Zilaka tried to wrap his head around this revelation. “What caused the Parching?”

“This did.” The Doctor scowled, stomping a hoof on the glittering stone underneath them for emphasis.

————————

*chink*

Twilight’s hoof clipped hard against the wall, which she realized looked as if it had "shot up" from below them rather than being formed by a receding glacier.

“Crystals...” Twilight drew back her lips in a disgusted sneer as she brushed a layer of cobwebs away from a blue crystal that shined with an internal light, giving the unicorn and zebra just enough illumination to see by. “Crystals need water to form, and these have used the water from the glacier to turn into a geode. Like a giant diamond. But this wasn’t natural... Somepony planted crystal seeds here so they would form a sheath over the glacier and trap all the water!”

“But why would that happen, who would gain?” Zecora asked, pausing for a moment as she struggled for a rhyme. “What good would it do, to destroy our... our... domain?”

The filly sighed with relief as Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know.”

————————

“This geode took decades to grow and required an absolutely precise understanding of geology and natural sciences.” The Doctor held back a moment, trying to puzzle out what it all meant. “...Whoever did this was exceedingly clever.”

“You think that Anasi did this? That she robbed the Plains of water so that she could gather the herds together?” Zilaka asked, now moving to the front as he drew the torch back and forth, burning away an obstructing veil of webbing. “Like the crystals back in my medicine hut. You said she used them to keep her hold on my wi... on Tagati.”

“Honestly? Anasi doesn’t strike me as being intelligent enough to put this together. She probably had a part in it, but I don’t think this was entirely her doing. Those psychic lattices were crude, like someone cooked them up with a basic chemistry set. To form a geode capable of encompassing a massive underground glacier is an infinitely more complex task. And besides, these crystals are not designed to amplify mental energy -- or energy of any kind, for that matter. Given the sheer size of these caverns, Anasi would have been able to hold sway over every zebra on the Plains without any trouble.”

“But they have the black lines… What did you call them?”

“Striations, yes. And considering how quickly they had to form, that isn’t at all that surprising.”

“Quickly? Doctor, the Parching has been growing steadily worse since I was a foal.”

“And in geological time, that’s a snap of the fin… er… blink of an eye. But that still doesn’t answer the real question: Why do it in the first place?” The Doctor shook his head. “I’m missing something here, what is it?”

“What is there to miss? Anasi wants to destroy my kind out of sheer spite and stupidity, it seems.”

“That’s just it. It’s not in her species’ nature to destroy wantonly; there’s no benefit to them for it. Her kind attempts to control and manipulate the creatures around them. In the long run, this won’t help her achieve anything.”

————————

“She has to know this can’t last,” Twilight puzzled as she and Zecora rested for a moment, both feeling the fatigue and strain of their past day and a half with so little to eat or drink. “Crystals are strong, sure… but the pressure building up under it would have to be absolutely phenomenal. Even if it is blowing off huge updrafts, it’s just a fraction of the pressure that's building under the sheath.”

“At the risk of sounding dumb, what does this have to do with Thunder Drum?” Zecora asked.

“Okay… Imagine this whole cavern like one of your father’s medicine gourds. You pack a bunch of ice into it and then boil it. What happens?” Twilight tried to explain, using a metaphor that would give Zecora a visual concept of the danger.

“The frozen water would turn to steam and gas... and through the vent in the stem, it would pass.”

“Correct. So, what happens if you put a cork into the vent?”

Zecora’s eyes widened in realization, pausing for a few seconds as she tried to think out how to say it. “The steam would build and the gourd would go ‘boom’… and the cork would shoot across the room!”

Twilight nodded. “Thunder Drum is the cork. The Pit must have been what was left of a ventilation point for the gasses. That’s why it was so cold in the central chamber. The mountain is there because stone was thrown up around the Pit itself. It’s probably happened before, a long, long time ago before the zebras were even around. A violent rush of pressure from the glacier pushed up for some reason and broke through the surface, forcing all the stone and rock under the Plains up into one mountain that settled and was left hollowed out. Because of the way it would have formed with ice blocks inside of it, when they melted, they left behind all of the rooms and chambers inside.”

Zecora’s mouth hung open in realization of the fact that, whatever force that was behind causing the Plains to cough up an entire mountain, it would be so overwhelmingly powerful that the village standing at its base would have no chance at all of survival.

“We have to…” Zecora paused, apparently frozen as if the icy air had done its job and solidified the filly, catching her in mid-sentence.

It took Twilight a second or two to realize that there was something wrong as she looked over to her young friend and saw the filly’s eyes, still wide open and darting around in horror while the rest of her body seemed to have gone rigid.

“Zecora! What...” Twilight started forward, but felt her legs and joints freeze up as well, her jaw snapping shut as if something massive impressed upon her brain that movement was, in and of itself, impossible.

Unable to move, unable to do more than breathe, Twilight's eyes searched around for some explanation, her face not even able to display her fear as she felt a presence move up beside her.

“...Having trouble, unicorn?”

Twilight’s ears twitched involuntarily as she noted the way Zecora’s eyes started to water, like her own, as they were both unable to blink. But as much as she would have liked to have sneered upon recognizing the ragged tone at her flank, Twilight still couldn’t move.

————————

“It’s just so counter-intuitive!” the Doctor continued to puzzle, moving behind Zilaka, who was continuing his task of burning away the obstacles before them as the brown pony mumbled under his breath. “Any being with the knowledge to create this sheath would recognize that it was a short-term and pointless endeavor. I haven’t encountered any creature in this universe that would be so pointlessly cruel as to do something like this simply for the sake of doing so. Even where I come from, nothing of this degree of intelligence would go through this sort of trouble, enacting a plan that required so much planning and patience, just to attack the zebra herds. There has to be something to gain; some long-term benefit that I am not seeing here.”

“Or perhaps Anasi is just a monster that wants nothing more than to wipe away my people.”

“No offense is intended, Zilaka, but there are easier and faster methods of doing that.”

The zebra stopped in his tracks, turning back towards the brown pony with an accusing expression. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I did say ‘no offense intended.’” The Doctor drew back half a step, his ears flattening as he realized that Zilaka didn’t seem to take the first part of that statement to heart.

“No, what do you mean there are easier ways to--”

“I think it’s my turn take the torch,” the Doctor cut off the zebra, moving forward and seizing the still-burning spear shaft, pulling it from the zebra’s mouth and then pushing himself wholeheartedly into the task of clearing the way, leaving Zilaka hanging back, a suspicious look in his eye.

“Dake a bweak, Aie hot dis!” the Doctor tried to speak with his mouth full and failed miserably, musing for a moment how it was that zebras could do so before he turned and continued the task.

Now was not the time for division simply because of a slip of the tongue, and the Doctor realized that. It also wasn’t the time to go into issues that were not related to their immediate concerns.

As the Time Pony pressed forward, shifting his head to draw the torch over a patch of webbing over the walls while keeping an eye out for any small, venomous spiders that might be hidden among the strands -- a hazard that he and Zilaka were both being quite cautious of -- the flames illuminated a peculiar stretch of crystal that immediately caught the Doctor’s attention. Not because of its color or gleam... and not for its angular features or simply out of geological curiosity...

...but because this particular bit of crystal had something that looked like it had been painstakingly chiseled into it; lines that formed into words as he burned away more of the webbing that obscured it. As he found the end of the etching, the last of the webbing burning away into smokeless wisps, the Hourglass Stallion took a step back to take it all in.

And he promptly dropped the torch to his hooves, his breath catching in his throat.

The Clock Strikes Two: Ahead Lie Past Sins

The Doctor looked hard at the etching, which must have been made years earlier, crudely carved into the face of the crystal with something sharp and hard, covered in cobwebs and forgotten until this exact moment.

He brought up the foreleg where he wore his hoofband, which, while lacking his very sorely missed sonic screwdriver, was still affixed with a small watch that he had tinkered with at Rarity’s suggestion, adding a self-adjusting non-linear timekeeper that automatically changed its setting to match the exact local time of anywhen he might find himself in.

Ten seconds past two in the afternoon, according to the device. With a ten second adjustment for his stunned response, the implications of this left the Time Lord dry at the mouth.

“This took somebody… far more clever than Anasi...” The Doctor shuddered, not even thinking to alter his words to their culturally accepted equivalent.

“Doctor! Down this way, quickly!” Zilaka called out, drawing the brown earth pony’s attention away from the etching, although he did look back at it one last time before pulling up the torch and moving back towards his zebra friend.

————————

Twilight Sparkle was grateful that she couldn’t move, because as she felt a spider crawl across her chest, drawing yet another thick, sticky strand of webbing across her fur, she felt she might still be panicking and flailing in an extremely undignified and foalish manner.

“Now, children... Make sure those strands are nice and tight. We wouldn’t want our little horned friend here to fall, would we?”

Tagati stood before her, waving a hoof casually towards a dozen or so arachnids, each the size of her hoof. Her eyes were wide and her pupils dilated, but even in her own rather dire circumstances, Twilight realized that the mad Ash-Stripe was in far worse shape than herself.

Her black gown was missing, possibly torn off in the fall or simply set aside in the admittedly warm chamber where Twilight and Zecora, both paralyzed, had been carried into by a swarm of the spiders. Now Twilight could see that the Prophet was beyond malnourished, her bones pressing out against her skin as the muscles along her flanks and withers twitched erratically, a clear sign of cramping pain that didn’t show on her face. Her tail hung limply and Twilight had the clear impression that her tail stem was broken as she stood there in front of her. The unicorn could also see a deep, grey-colored bruise along the side of the zebra mare’s head, likely where Zulu had struck her before on the stage.

But despite all of this, Tagati showed no signs of discomfort, watching as the spiders continued to restrain Twilight.

Her eyes darting around, Twilight did the only thing she could do at the moment, which was to take in as much of her surroundings as possible and figure out where they were.

The large spiders milled about, scurrying and scuttling this way and that, although how they managed to maintain themselves, Twilight would have rather not known. She took note of a blueish-looking bat being wrapped in a cocoon by a pair of the creatures, which would have caused her to wince in disgust if she could only move.

No, she had to focus on her situation... on what was going on around her.

She was on a highrise that had been set to overlook the chamber, made almost completely of opaque crystals with several tunnels that led into and out of it, both on the balcony and at the ground level nearly a story below her hooves. The crystals, unlike those in the corridor which glimmered in their own light, were reflecting the glare of dozens of red-hot Emberstones that had been set around a large stage on top of angular growths, like quartz spires that rose up from the ground. The stage itself was set in front of what was by far the largest of the tunnels leading into the room that was a dozen meters directly in front of her, the glowing hot stones countering the icy chill of the caverns to create a comfortably balmy environment.

But there was no comfort to be had in this as Twilight’s focus was on the figure laying at the center of the stage, where Zecora had gone from being stiff as a board to collapsing into a limp heap when she was set there, unable to move.

“Comfortable?” Tagati moved close to Twilight, her grin grating on the unicorn's nerves as the Prophet maintained an upbeat tone. “It really should just relax and give in, it makes everything so much easier.”

Twilight did all she could to glare at the mare, but did nothing more.

“We shall take that as a 'yes.' Oh, the little pony shouldn’t worry… We have company for it.”

Company?

Twilight would have asked what the mare meant, but she just filled in the silence with her own voice.

“A very foalish creature filled with such naive ideas.” Tagati nodded to the side, Twilight’s eyes moving to follow, although her head couldn’t turn as a swarm of spiders moved forward along the ground level. Atop their backs they carried a large, cocooned figure that had been securely wrapped and immediately brought Twilight’s thoughts back to the bat she had seen being "set aside" for a later feeding.

Her heart then sank as she took note of strands of pink mane poking through the webbing and a very small window of an exposed yellow muzzle.

FLUTTERSHY! Twilight’s mind reeled with shock.

“We believe it was attempting to rescue them… Rather pathetic example, given the efforts of the other pony creature it traveled with.” Tagati grinned menacingly. “The moment it saw our children, it was frozen with terror, unable to so much as open its wings. If only it had done the sensible thing and flown away... Oh, well. She will make and excellent main course for the feast. You should consider it a reprieve.”

There were so many things Twilight wanted to say... if only she could bring herself to open her mouth...

Twilight felt her body shudder as a sudden surge run through her body; a faint, tingling rush across her fur that she could barely perceive. As if something she had lost was suddenly returned to her.

And in that moment, she found her voice.

“...Grrrrrr! LET HER GO!” Twilight strained, pushing forward at the webbing holding her awkwardly in place and causing the spiders around her to skitter way, scared and confused.

“Twilight! Is that you!?”

Tagati’s eyes, already wide, now showed an expression of confusion and anger at the pony's renewed defiance. Twilight struggled against the webbing while the cocoon-wrapped pegasus did the same, both having somehow regained both motion and speech, much to the zebra’s shock.

“Fluttershy! What are you doing down here!?”

“I came to help!” the pegasus responded, rolling around a bit and sounding surprisingly calm, all things considered.

“Yeah, and how’s that going?” Twilight had to fight back the snark in her voice, amazed that either of them were able to keep their wits about them.

“Not as well as I had hoped...”

“SILENCE!” Tagati demanded, bearing teeth as she leaned towards Twilight, all pretense and haughtiness lost. “How did it do that!? Its kind is primitive! Barely more than beasts! Their minds should be like clay! How do they continue to defy me!?”

Twilight glared back, now able to fully express her displeasure as she locked eyes with the mare. “Let! Her! Go!” she demanded again.

“It wishes for us to release our snack? That--”

“I’m not talking about Fluttershy,” Twilight spat out, as angry as she had ever been.

“...You’re not?” Fluttershy asked quietly, her tone denoting a touch of disappointment.

“Let Tagati go, Anasi! If you want to gloat over us, do it in person!”

The air was filled with a stale, dangerous silence that lasted for several seconds as the two mares stared one another down. Then, Tagati smirked.

“If it wishes to gaze upon divinity… so be it. This ‘Prophet’ has outlived its usefulness, in any case.”

The change was immediate, the mare’s eyes shifting as her expression fell like a stone. For a moment, she stood there as her dilated pupils grew to reveal her natural eye color to be a sky blue, before tears brimmed in those eyes, the mare falling to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably in front of Twilight now that the puppet-strings had been cut.

“I am sorry... I am so sorry... I could not stop her... I tried, and I tried… but I just...” Tagati, the real Tagati, gasped through her tears, her physical pain nothing compared to the clear emotional trauma she had been made to endure.

“It’s okay… Don’t worry, it will be okay. I promise,” Twilight whispered, still struggling as she tried to swallow back the overwhelming pity she felt surge through her at seeing Zecora’s mother in such a broken, vulnerable state.

“Oh, little creature…” a rasping, scratchy voice reverberated off the walls of the chamber, causing the crystals and Emberstones to shake as it rattled Twilight’s very bones. “You should not make promises you cannot keep.”

The terrible, malevolent presence cackled wickedly as Twilight’s eyes rose to the corridor behind the stage, her heart starting to pound when she saw the shadow of something large stirring in the darkness.

Then the voice, as sickly-sweet as curdled milk, began to sing a tune that Twilight recognized from her own fillyhood.

“The Itsy-Bitsy Spider…”

It was large. Not as big as a dragon, but still easily twelve feet tall. Large enough to stare her in the face while standing on the ground floor.

“Woke up from her warm bed...”

Two large, hairy legs emerged from the shadows, arachnid in form and with multiple joints. Covered in short, spiny hairs, they were a sight that filled her with dread.

“Found herself some ponies...”

“Oh, my Celestia…” Twilight gasped under her breath as the creature’s head and body emerged, a large, bulbous and ugly creature that was a grossly enlarged copy of the myriad of smaller spiders scurrying around on the webs along the wall. Fluttershy could be heard to squeal at the sight as she continued to thrash in the encompassing cocoon.

“And soon she was well fed.”

The gigantic spider strode easily over Zecora, the filly remaining still and limp, clearly unable to move even as the monstrosity stood over her. Its mandibles clicked, and all eight of its black, soulless eyes glared towards Twilight and the still-distraught zebra mare, who was fighting just to keep from collapsing altogether.

“You have invoked me, primitive creature of the four-legged!” the creature’s tone echoed and reverberated, Twilight wincing as she was reminded of a more frightening version of Princess Luna’s "Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice." “Now bask in my glory, for I am Anasi! Queen of All! Goddess of the Deep! Mighty! Unstoppable! Unknowable!”

“Unknowable, eh? Let’s just see about that,” another, lilting voice rang out, echoing off the walls and jarring every creature in the room for half a second before it started again, a shout as powerful as Anasi’s reverberating over the crystal. “ONCE UPON A TIME...!”

“Doctor!?” Twilight perked, turning her head as Tagati also looked up, her still wet eyes full of shock.

“In the not-so-magical region of space known as the Aceton Galaxy, there was a little blue planet named Metebelis III.” The Doctor’s voice echoed off the walls without giving a clue as to its origin, causing Anasi and her brood to shift around nervously. “Where grew a rare and magnificent blue crystal that could enhance the minds of living things.”

“What!?” Anasi’s voice faltered, clearly unnerved at the telling as she turned about, attempting to find the source of the sound.

“And on this planet, a ship of human colonists crashed. A decent enough sort, just looking for a place where they could lead a simple, quiet life. Although it was not their destination, they quickly made the world their home… as did something they brought with them. A simple little spider who found its way into the mountains… and into the caverns of those blue crystals. And there, it grew and grew, both in body… and in mind.”

“SHOW YOURSELF, PONY CREATURE! THE QUEEN OF ALL COMMANDS IT!” Anasi shifted on her legs as Twilight realized the change in the giant spider creature’s voice. A tinge of something deep and primal.

“In time, this simple little spider grew and had a brood all her own, which enslaved the descendants of the colonists and set themselves above the ‘Two-Legs’ as gods.”

“TO ME, MY CHILDREN! ALL OF YOU! PROTECT YOUR QUEEN!” Anasi cried out, casting a leg forward at the spiders who had before now moved about in a manner governed by instinct, unaware of what was happening, leading Twilight to think that they were not so intelligent as Anasi claimed them to be. Obeying the giant spider, the smaller arachnids surged forward, moving in a swarm towards the larger arachnid while hanging onto the walls and ceilings.

“Of course, this was all well and good… until the Great Spider decided she wanted more than just one world. She wanted all worlds, everywhere. And that’s when she decided to seek out the one perfect crystal that was for some reason missing from her web. And her search led her across time and space to a tiny, insignificant little planet… called Earth.”

“Where are you!? How can you know these things!?”

Twilight recognized what it was now that filled the spider’s voice: it was fear.

“Zilaka?” Tagati whispered suddenly, leaving Twilight puzzled for a moment before she managed to turn her head and noticed the grey-striped zebra keeping his body low and moving towards them from the corridor. Anasi clearly distracted from her prey, the potion maker carried a small knife in his teeth as he edged towards Twilight and carefully started to cut at the strands holding her.

“Quiet… he is up to something,” the zebra stallion whispered, working the knife against the webs carefully to avoid getting tangled himself.

Tagati shook her head, clearly confused. “That… is my knife. How did you--”

“Shh…”

“Now, it was at this point in our story…” The echoing faded as the dramatic voice moved closer, and the spider’s eyes drew down towards the base of the floor. Twilight herself strained against her restraints to see down below the edge of the balcony. “...that along came a spider.”

Twilight couldn’t contain the grin on her face as the brown stallion strode casually into view, swaggering with an obvious, unshakable confidence.

“Who… are you!?” Anasi demanded.

“I’m the only chance you have to get out of this place in one piece, Anasi,” the Doctor stated clearly, moving up towards a crystal that jutted from the floor and knocking his hoof into it, producing a low, bass note. “Hmm... Rather dull, B-Flat maybe? What do you think?”

“You are in the presence of a goddess, pony!” Anasi cried out, clearly fighting to regain her composure and impose her will back into the chamber. “Anasi demands that you be in awe of--”

“The crystalline superstructure that is holding back the glacial vapor is at its breaking point, Anasi,” the Hourglass Stallion interrupted the giant spider, moving fluidly across the floor to another quartz-like spire and tapping it with his hoof as he casually continued. “In less than an hour, the pressure cascade building in the glacier will supersede the crystal’s ability to release it, creating a torrent of supercooled, pressurized water vapor that will be ejected at the breaking point at somewhere ‘round about seven hundred kilometers per hour in a cryoclastic flow that will cause a massive upheaval on the surface and obliterate pretty much everything in its path. Stone, buildings, zebras, spiders... Really, it’s enough to ruin anypony’s day.”

Anasi rattled and chittered as her mandibles jerked and clacked against themselves, Twilight having to take a moment to realize the giant spider was... laughing.

“It would seem your unnatural knowledge has failed you in this regard.” Anasi let out another soft, chittering laugh. “The pressure load is centered under the mountain miles to the north of here, where the crystal points are at their highest. Even if the containment fails as you say, this chamber will remain untouched... As for the zebras, they were useless anyway, the whining, ignorant savages that they are. I think that I shall find far more useful slaves in the ponies once I have taken hold of these two and sent them back to their land... as my newest ‘prophets.’

The brown stallion stifled a chuckle, running his forehoof against his nose and trying not to laugh as he continued to move forward.

“Ah, yes. Well, good luck with that. I somehow think you’ll find these two to be a little tougher to manipulate. Oh, and just so we’re clear: You’re safe purely by virtue of not being anywhere near the densely populated village under the mountain? That’s a relief,” the Doctor sighed, having moved to another quartz pillar and tapping it, this time setting his ear to it. “Yep, Definitely B-Flat.”

“Um... Doctor? Not to rush you, or anything, but could you maybe... please... help?” Fluttershy drew attention to herself, her tone soft while she continued squirming in her cocoon, the Doctor moving up next to her.

“Ah, Fluttershy. There you are,” the Doctor said, grinning as if he had just noticed her being there. “Glad you could join us. And really, I am extremely impressed. It would take a huge amount of high-grade courage to follow us down here after what you saw. Also a little smidgen of crazy, but in all honesty, I’m really glad you did. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this lovely little chat now, would we? Oh, and by the way, this is your last chance, Anasi. Please give up now, before anypony else gets hurt.”

There was a pregnant silence in the air before Anasi, now practically foaming at her mandibles, shouted, “Who do you think you are, pony!? Anasi will never surrender to the likes of you!”

“Hurry...” Twilight pulled against her webbing as Zilaka kept sawing away, tightening the strands in an attempt to make his job easier.

“And if you think that your pathetic little distraction is working, you are sorely mistaken!”

The sawing motion stopped as Zilaka froze up, grunting for a moment before going completely still.

“No... Zilaka...” Tagati tried to pull herself up, but failed, wincing in pain as Twilight's struggles renewed. Unfortunately, not enough of the sticky substance had been removed to make a difference.

“Ohhh, nice trick. Let me guess, Zeno’s Paradox applied as a mental effect? Creating the psychological illusion that motion is a physical impossibility? That does show some creativity, I have to admit. Too bad you probably have to actively maintain it to hold both Zilaka and Zecora at the same time, am I right?” The Doctor smiled warmly as he looked over his shoulder towards the two zebra and the unicorn on the balcony. “You okay up there, Twilight?”

“I hope this is part of the plan!” Twilight called back, torn between frustration and concern.

The Doctor simply winked. “Isn’t it always?”

“Plan? What plan?” Anasi chittered again, her mandibles clicking as she moved her legs defensively over Zecora. The next time she spoke, she was starting to shriek again. “I do not know where you acquired your information, pony. But that is all you have! USELESS INFORMATION! I have my crystalline caverns! I have the foal you creatures are so enamored with! I have your zebra compatriots and precious pony friends! I have the power to dominate the minds of these stupid beasts and the will to send them forth in my name! WHAT DO YOU HAVE!?”

There was another moment of silence, then the Hourglass Stallion sighed.

“Well, I tried...” He lowered his head, his tone dropping.

Twilight’s heart sank… for about half a second before the stallion looked up again with a smile.

“Here's the thing you don’t seem to get, Anasi...” the Doctor started, a dangerously bold edge seeping into his voice. “There’s no such thing as ‘useless’ information. And for your information, I happen to have three things.”

He took a few steps back, waving a hoof to his left. “ONE!”

*Whish*

*THUNK*

“AAAGGGHHHHH!” Anasi cried out as a spear embedded itself into the joint of her front right leg, right where it met her body.

“Oh, he’s over in that direction, is he?” The Doctor lowered his left hoof and waved to his right, drawing attention to a figure in the entryway at the top balcony. “I’ve got a disgruntled ex-employee of yours in my corner! You see, this is exactly why you don’t sack your Sage of War, because he’s probably not the type to just lay down and take it. Nope, he’s gonna take the first new job to come along that also offers health benefits,” the Doctor informed Anasi as Zulu moved forward into the light. He was clearly hobbled and in pain due to several large green welts that could be made out along his back and sides, most likely a result of his "tumble" with Tagati and her mane's nest of spiders before they fell into the Pit. But despite this, he still wore a smirk of grim defiance.

Next, the Doctor bucked a leg back, striking a pillar behind him and humming in his throat as it vibrated.

“Yeah, that's it, right there... TWO! I’ve got the exact harmonic resonance of your crystalline structure, here. And guess what? I was right the first time, it is a B-Flat.”

“RAGH! DESTROY HIM, MY CHILDREN!” Anasi cried out, pain now clear in her voice as thick black blood ran down her leg, upsetting the creature who was not at all accustomed to physical pain.

Obeying her command, the spiders around her started to swarm like a black wave moving towards the threat.

“Oh, and lastly, FIVE!” The Doctor paused, turning to think. “No, that's not right... THREE!”

*whirrrr*

The sound echoed loudly across the room, and Twilight was sure that if Anasi had eyelids, all eight of them would have gone wide in horror.

“I have the planet’s most dangerous tuning fork...” the Doctor's voice lowered. “...right in psychic range.”

Anasi twisted around, frantically attempting to identify where the sound was coming from before her eight eyes fell on the cocoon containing the frightened yellow pegasus. The timid little winged pony who never once dared to spread her wings and escape.

A mare who was now squirming in discomfort as the metal tube began to vibrate awkwardly under one of her wings at an oscillating pitch.

*Whiiiirrrrrr~rrrrrrrrrr~rrrrrrrrr*

————————

Deep in the caverns, the sound echoed along the crystalline walls, resonating and growing in strength as the blue and purple minerals began to vibrate. Rather than diminish as it penetrated deeper into the structure, the vibrating increased steadily and swiftly...

And it finally reached a point where it could no longer bear the strain.

*CRACK*
*FSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH*

A single crack, less than the width of a piece of parchment, opened in the sheath, and a stream of gas burst forth with enough pressure to slice clean through a tree as it escaped, forming only a few feet away into droplets of liquid water that quickly started to pool on the top of the crystal.

A short distance away, another crack broke open, the pressure pushing up against the exposed weakness as another fissure, then another, then another broke open.

*Crrraaaccckkkkle*

The relatively smooth and even crystal sheath began to bulge, pushing upwards as pressure from all across the glacier found its point of escape.

————————

*THOOM*

“Teaka! What is happening!?” a young zebra, a stout-hearted filly of the Towiki by the name of Evoria, asked as she looked up, terrified by the earthshaking crash that was heard coming from the depths of Thunder Drum. The ground shook under the gathered herd’s hooves as the murder of Rocs overhead began to shriek and call, shattering their collective silence amidst the mountain's attempt to live up to its name.

“I do not know...” answered the head of the herd and rebellious leader of the zebras’ newborn revolution, watching as much in awe of the spectacle as any of the other zebras in Stone-Water -- even the Anasi Warriors, who had been acting confused and off balance since they had awoken.

As the Rocs wheeled overhead, screeching in terror while the mountain spoke with the voice of the Plains, Teaka could only come to one conclusion...

Somewhere close by... gods were at war.

————————

“YOU FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” Anasi shouted in panic as her sturdy chamber began to shudder. The crackling that had at first been inaudible now filled the air as her spider swarm broke apart, clearly no longer interested in doing their Queen’s bidding.

Distracted as she was, Anasi's hold on Zilaka and Zecora was broken, allowing them the strength and will to get up to their hooves.

“PONIES! ZEBRAS! EVERYONE, MOVE!” the Doctor commanded, turning towards Fluttershy with a look of concentration.

*Whiirrrrrrrr*

A softer sound vibrated under Fluttershy’s wing, and much to her shock, the webbing that made up the cocoon burst open like a zipper, peeling back as the sticky web dried out and hardened almost instantly, allowing her to pull herself up unfettered. Shuddering as she opened one wing, the device fell to her hoof and she offered it to the Doctor, who immediately took it and crammed the wayward screwdriver into its proper place on his hoof-band.

Looking around in confusion for a moment, Zecora steadied herself and began to dart towards the two ponies, her hooves crushing several of the frenzied, panicking spiders as she tried to run.

“Waah!” she screamed, when she was suddenly stopped as a huge hairy leg moved down in front of her.

*Whish*
*THUNK*

“AAAGGGHHHHH!” And the obstruction lifted out of the way as another spear buried itself in Anasi’s left front leg joint with amazing precision. Zecora spotted her brother, who was clearly fighting back the pain of multiple bites to hobble over towards his sire and dame, both of whom were now pulling the purple unicorn free of the webbing that restrained her.

“Head for the passageway! To the right! They link up ahead! Go!” the Doctor shouted, making sure that Zecora and Fluttershy were racing towards the exit and watching as Twilight and Zilaka helped carry the two injured Ash-Stripes out and away.

“WHO... ARE... YOOOOUUU!?” Anasi cried out in blinding pain as she tried to pull herself back towards her tunnel.

The suited pony turned as his friends made their escape, taking note of the swarm of spiders attempting to do the same as Anasi retreated.

*click*

He flicked his foreleg out, extending the sonic screwdriver before raising it into the air with a scowl.

*Whiirrrrr*

“GUNNH!” Anasi spasmed as her body seized up in response to the frequency. As it bounced around the chamber, every other one of the smaller spiders did the same.

*click*

The pony then stepped down on the screwdriver as he glared at the enormous spider. “I already told you... I’m the Doctor,” he stated, his tone low and spiteful as he walked back towards the corridor where Fluttershy and Zecora had escaped.

Anasi shuddered, her legs refusing to move even as the sound of rushing water could be heard echoing across the cavern, her black eyes locked on the brown pony.

“...Time Lord...” she gasped, as the true meaning of the pony’s words struck home.

“The Oncoming Storm, in the fur, so to speak,” the Doctor confirmed, taking another step back before turning about. He paused at the threshold of the corridor, looking over his shoulder. “Down came the rain... and washed the spider out.”

And then the stallion ran, heedless of the screams and curses impotently thrown at him from the chamber.

————————

“How are you still standing?” Twilight asked, webs still clinging to her body as she looked over Zulu with a disbelieving eye, noting no fewer than six separate bites from which green veins were starting to spread.

The Ash-Stripe Sage of War grit his teeth as he kept moving. “That monster used me like a puppet and tried to take my family from me.” Zulu gasped for breath, looking back towards Zecora, who was in tears as Tagati put her forelegs around her filly protectively while begging for her forgiveness. “Rage is a powerful anesthetic.”

“But not one that will last, so let’s get you up to the surface and cook up that cure,” the Doctor followed up, rushing quickly from behind the group. “Tagati, good to actually meet the real you. Blunt question: Do you have any more of those spiders in your mane?”

“No... I think they all were thrown off of me when we fell down the Pit.” Tagati pulled her hoof up to her mane and patted it down frantically to make sure. “They are lighter than we are, so they got blown off and thrown into the chasms every time I was made to come down here.”

“Good, we don’t need any hitchhikers. Alright, everyzebra! Everypony! Doesn’t matter, follow me!” The Doctor dashed off again, the two ponies and four zebras following after him down the corridors as the crashing and rushing sounds echoed all around.

“How are we going to get back up topside?” Twilight asked, racing towards the front of the small herd and alongside the Doctor as he turned the corner.

“We just need a clear shot to the ceiling,” the brown stallion explained. “Tagati’s been down here before, so there must be constant currents that push up at a higher rate that can lift us straight to the Plains, am I right?”

“Yes, right under Thunder Drum! In my... I mean, the Prophet’s chamber!”

“Well, we’re nowhere near Thunder Drum, but that's not a problem. I can use my sonic to lower the air density along the sheath and excite a pressure wave we can all ride to the surface. Another sonic pulse at the ceiling should break us through, and we can...”

The Doctor stopped short as he suddenly set his hooves down, grinding to a halt just short of crashing into an obstruction made of solid glittering crystal and chunks of rock that effectively barred their path.

“Oh, no...” The Time Pony recoiled visibly as he looked around.

“Should we go back?” Fluttershy asked, looking around frantically as the sound that was following them steadily grew louder in her ears.

“No time, we’d never make it...” The Doctor shook his head, refusing to admit defeat. “Everyone, start digging! I’ll try to break up the crystal so we can pull it free! COME ON!”

The sonic screwdriver clicked and whirred as the zebras and pegasus moved forward. Nearly side by side, they dug their hooves into the blockage while the brown stallion moved his sonic screwdriver over them, the crystal cracking and chipping off under hoof like talc.

Meanwhile, Twilight stood back, looking up and over the top of the cave-in to realize something that made her heart sink... something she was sure the Doctor realized as well.

It wasn’t just a cave-in: An entire section of solid crystal had wedged itself in the opening.

There was no way out.

...But still the Doctor was trying, in spite of the impossible task before them, with the others following his lead, trusting that he could get them out.

Twilight’s ears twitched. She could hear the rushing of water racing towards them, a tidal wave of pressure, likely mixed with enormous chunks of ice and crystal that had been broken off as the glacier fought to exert all of its power up and into the blockage imposed upon it.

She looked to each of them... to the last of the Ash-Stripes, a family broken apart by the machinations of a terrible creature. To Zecora, a filly who had endured so much... who was meant to grow up and meet them again in a distant time and place. To her timid and yet so very courageous pony friend that had continued to come to her aid in spite of her personal fears and the terrible situation that had been so much more extreme than she had ever signed on for.

And to the Impossible Stallion... who was still fighting, even though he knew that it was hopeless... who was still wholeheartedly pushing back and doing everything he could to save the ponies and zebras that had fallen under his care.

Tears rimmed Twilight’s eyes as she closed them, her teeth gritting, and she tuned it all out. Blocked out everything around her and focused on one steady sound.

The pulsing of her own heartbeat.

————————

The Doctor’s screwdriver continued to whirr frantically as he looked over the equines that were still pushing themselves trying to get through the impossibly deep cave-in.

There had to be a way out. There was always a way.

His mind raced as he considered his assets.

Sonic screwdriver, auto-adjusting timepiece, potion maker, injured and poisoned War Sage, pacifist veterinarian with wings, younger potion maker, horribly traumatized and injured shamaness, gelded unicorn...

The Doctor paused, the sonic screwdriver’s sound fading as something crossed his mind.

Where was his gelded unicorn?

“Unnnnggggh...”

The Time Lord turned, shocked, as a soft grunt pulled his attention away and towards the very unicorn that had caused him to pause.

Sweat streamed down her face as her eyes were clamped shut in concentration, her teeth grinding so hard that he was almost sure they were about to crack. And far more remarkably, the black marks that lined her body were flaring to life, ivory-white and with a faint smoke rising from them as Twilight Sparkle put everything she had into one. Tiny. Spark.

Zecora cried out, grasping onto Fluttershy as a wall of water crashed into view, surging down the hallway towards them.

The yellow pegasus stopped in her digging to reach out and stroke the filly's mane soothingly while keeping her own eyes shut.

Tagati grabbed hold of Zilaka, begging for him to forgive her while they still had time.

Zulu’s face remained stoic, fighting back pain as he faced the oncoming torrent with dignity.

All the while, the Doctor’s eyes never left Twilight, his jaw slack as the glyphs and marks along her purple coat glowed with a brightening, eye-scalding white.

The others heard the overwhelming torrent of water.

The Doctor heard only a young mare’s scream as the marks along her body burst into a smoking swirl of rainbow-colored flame.

Then, her eyes snapped open, causing the Time Lord, who had stared into the untempered schism of the Time Vortex at the tender age of eight, to take a step back in awe. He held her glowing white gaze for a fraction of a second before she was lifted off the ground, an aura of raw, crackling white and violet power engulfing her that drew every eye away from their imminent death.

For that instant, that one fraction of a second... the Doctor glimpsed something brighter, grander, more beautiful, and more powerful than the brightest star.

An instant later, the torrent of water crashed into the dead end created by the cave-in with all of the force of a tsunami.

Ch. 8: Whom the Gods Fear

Chapter Eight: Whom the Gods Fear

Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital, Courtyard
Ponyville, Everfree Province of Equestria
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R. (Celestia's Reign), 2:53 p.m.

The overcast sky seemed to reflect the mood that held sway over Pranceton Plainsboro this afternoon, as if the weather schedule had coincided perfectly with the terrible duty that had befallen several members of the hospital’s staff as they moved silently out into the grounds. As one of his fellow practitioners held open the door, Doctor Stable moved into the open with a straight, practiced face, hiding any concerns or disagreements with what he saw as a terrible mistake made on behalf of a pained -- although still clearly competent -- patient.

Behind him was Big Macintosh, the red giant of a pony moving with his head bowed and his tail hanging limply. In spite of being well known across Ponyville as a stallion of few words, his silence now seemed forced, as if he was biting his tongue to hold back his own objection to the wishes that had been made quite clear to him.

Nurse Redheart came out last, bringing up the rear of the morose procession, awkwardly and slowly moving on her hindhooves as she maintained a firm grip on the wheelchair carrying her patient.

And seated in the wheelchair, stripped of her hospital gown, was the grey-striped zebra whose entire body was covered in a web of pulsing green lines, gritting her teeth as she contained her cries of pain. She hardly seemed aware of her surroundings as her limbs twitched in spite of herself, feeling a sensation like crushed glass being ground across every inch of her skin while the venom in her veins sapped whatever moisture was left in her body.

For the majority of her life, Zecora had prepared for the possibility of falling prey to this third and final stage of her condition. She had heard tales of the sort of pain that came with it from Toian, the only zebra to her knowledge that had reached and endured the third stage of the Bite and yet survive it. The same colt that she had so recklessly rushed to save with a potion she wasn’t even sure would work at the time. Unbidden, the events of the day that she had earned her cutie mark came to the front of her mind, causing her to shudder yet again. For years, she had thought that was as prepared as a mare could be, both physically and mentally, should the day come.

She fought to maintain herself, using the techniques of meditation and mental fortification that she had learned in her more youthful years of travel across Equis; bringing together the pain and unpleasant sensations into a dark, faraway corner of her thoughts and walling them off from her conscious mind, distancing herself from the physical world.

It was just barely enough to keep her from incoherently gibbering and wailing like a day-old filly.

The wheelchair stopped, the zebra jarred from her introspection as she drew in a ragged breath and opened her eyes, which had been clenched shut for the duration of the trip.

The sun was obscured in overcast, and for that she was glad. At least she didn’t have to contend with the midsummer glare as she craned her neck, the terrible shock of her initial, swollen bite wound lost in the sea of pain. The circling feathered figure overhead reflected in her watering eyes, filling her with a dread that was as instinctual to a zebra as breathing.

“Y'all sure ‘bout this?” came a soft accent-laden voice at her side, clearly taking note of her reaction.

“H… help… meEEEee…” Zecora couldn’t contain a whine as it forced its way into her voice, confusing the stallion for a moment before she tried to move forward, holding out one hoof.

Swallowing hard, Big Mac reached out, gripping her as gently as he could and wincing when his touch elicited a muffled gasp of pain. Every brush against her skin was akin to knives digging into her as she was softly drawn off of the wheelchair and down onto the perfectly maintained and manicured grass.

She wanted nothing more than to flop down on her side; to surrender and just let the end come down to her. But after all she had endured, she was determined to live up to her own expectations and maintain her composure, even now.

Drawing her legs underneath her, she lay on them in a forced, dignified manner and brought her head up through sheer strength of will as she looked up to Big Macintosh.

“Now… get back,” she told him.

“Zecora…” Big Macintosh started.

“Whatever… h-happens… now…” She caught her breath, fighting to keep the whine out of her voice. “Do… not interfere.”

The red farm stallion opened his mouth to say something, but found no words. Even if he could not understand her customs or her need to do this, he nodded, respecting her wishes as he drew back.

She followed him with her eyes. The physician, a pony of medicine, and the nurse, a mare with a well-earned namesake, stood back as they had been bid. One, a picture of professional discipline, the other, barely keeping back her tears.

But the yellow filly with the bow and her friends were nowhere to be seen. Zecora wasn’t sure if she should be grateful or disappointed in that, but as she had stated before, it was their choice.

Fighting back the agony, Zecora turned and looked skyward again, her Roc’s circle growing tighter as it prepared to dive, clearly watching for signs of unexpected trouble.

“Here I am. You have found me,” she uttered under her breath, her shoulders and chest shivering uncontrollably as she fought for every lungful of air. She had waited twenty-six years to learn how this story would end. “...So, what are you waiting for?”

The zebra’s heart raced as her Roc pulled its wings back and wheeled around, throwing itself into a dive with obsidian talons outstretched.

————————
Stone-Water Village
Zebrica Plains
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 2:48 p.m.

*CRACK*
*CRRRSSSHHHHH*

The zebra herds watched in terror as Thunder Drum shuddered, the sound of crashing thunder enough to send chills into the heart of the bravest of equines.

Some ran away, seeking shelter in the huts of the village, while others broke down pleading for the aid of spirits long uninvoked. And still more stood their ground, entranced by the Plains’ shaking display of power that unfolded before them as the ground vibrated under their hooves and the Rocs screeched overhead.

But all of that paled in comparison to what came next.

*THOOOOOM*

The pointed peak of Thunder Drum exploded upward, a billowing cloud of white rushing up and into the sky.

The ground shook violently as the zebras clung to one another, trying to keep their hooves.

And then... there was silence.

Teaka looked about, trying to get her bearings as many of her herdmates also stood, looks of confusion on their faces. One colt and filly in particular drew her attention: the recently bite-recovered Toian and the filly Evoria holding each other in their forelegs.

“What…?” Teaka began before she felt a shockwave wash over her fur, the impact making the surrounding huts groan and creak, and knocking some zebras clean off their hooves.

An instant later...

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

It happened miles away, but on the horizon, a spectacle unseen by any creature in living memory unfolded, the sheer shock and enormity of the explosion drawing every set of eyes to the south.

The Plains were rippling, thrown up at sharp angles in some places as other areas fell. And bursting forth, sculpting the very face of Zebrica’s southern plains, the subtle hills ripped open as massive geysers of white mist tore the barren landscape asunder with power on a scale unfathomable by the equine mind, devastating everything for miles out towards the horizon.

"SCREEEEEEE!"

Teaka’s eyes went wide as she tore them from the overwhelming display to see the murder of Rocs overhead begin to break up. Shafts of pale sunlight began to penetrate the mass of black feathers as the densely packed birds swiftly dispersed outwards in all directions, even as their frenzied motions were swallowed up in the billowing mist. In a matter of moments, the cloud-like layer of black doom that hung over the mountain was completely replaced by one of thick, dreary grey.

*drip*

The zebra mare gasped as something struck her in the eye, making her recoil with shock for a moment as she blinked away the sting. She stood there, confused, as her vision cleared, and then gaped upward again in stunned realization...

...as the sky itself began to weep.

————————
Thunder Drum Mountain, Foothills
Zebrica Plains
3:05 p.m.

Cold, pure water streamed down Twilight Sparkle’s body as she began to stir, her eyes opening slowly and her mind reeling. There was no headache this time, which was a nice change of pace, but then again, she supposed that being dead might put her beyond the reach of empirically measurable pain.

Wait, was it supposed to rain in the afterlife?

Twilight raised her head, her coat and flank soaked and messy as she realized a good inch and a half of standing water was pooled on the muddy ground, an downpour was streaming from the white cloudy sky.

The sky? She was back on the surface?

The final moments she'd experienced before she blacked out rushed back to Twilight, causing her to twist and look around. Only a few feet away, her yellow pegasus friend was also stirring, blinking in surprise as she tried to wipe away the mud that was clinging to her front. And two now familiar zebras, a mare and a stallion, were trying to help a third young zebra stallion to his hooves. The cold water was evidently doing little to ease his pain as she noted the green tracks from his multiple bite wounds had grown, nearly encompassing his entire body.

How long had they been out? Twilight couldn’t be sure, but it must have been some time for Zulu’s symptoms to have developed so quickly.

“Um… Twilight?” Fluttershy stated timidly, looking about and blinking as she set her hooves to her head. “W…what happened?”

Twilight turned about with a puzzled expression a moment before sparing a look at her forelegs and gasping as she took note of a lighter pattern of fur that spiraled around her coat following the path that had been occupied by black bands the last time she had checked.

Her mind reeled, trying to wrap her brain around Fluttershy’s question, though the only possible explanation was, according to everything she knew about magic and the unicorn body, completely impossible.

“I…” Twilight looked at her hooves a moment before standing, the rain running down her now flattened mane and washing the mud from her fur, looking back to take note of the mountain and village that were perhaps half a mile from where they were now. “I don’t know…”

“Zecora?” Twilight and Fluttershy turned to see the dangerously emaciated Tagati moving about, splashing around wildly with her searching eyes wide with concern. “Zecora!? Where is she!?”

Fluttershy gasped, turning about before lifting off the ground, her wings beating frantically as she scanned the area calling back down with a tone that matched the expression in her face. “She’s gone!”

Twilight sighed, shaking herself as much in frustration as to cast off excess water as she had another insight. “And she’s not the only one.”

————————

The rain had begun to slack in the southern plains of Zebrica, rendered unrecognizable by the sharp ridges and craters now dotting the landscape. Wisps of white vapor still occasionally escaped from the breaks in the ground where the cryoclastic geysers had broken through, hurling pulverized bits of broken crystal into the air.

As it was to the north in Stone-Water, the sudden outburst of water vapor, condensing to its liquid form, had pooled on top of the parched soil, slowly soaking in from the top even as the natural process of saturation from below began anew, the glacial caldera freed from its confinement to provide much-needed moisture to the land above it.

But unlike Stone-Water, the devastation that had brought water back to the Plains was not without a visible cost… as the floating corpses of hundreds of cold, curled arachnids lay out in the open, brought up from the caverns that had been their home by the overwhelming waves of icy pressure.

It was through this standing water that four brown legs trudged, leaving slight wakes as he took care to maneuver the semi-sentient creatures out of his path with each step. But even then, he did not slow, drawing closer towards a chunk that had been torn from the earth, forming pointed ridges over a hollow trench.

The Doctor did not pause as he heard a rasping gasp, the pain in the creature’s voice more than apparent as he continued forward, completely intent on confronting the creature that had ended up in the pit.

There, on her back, legs curled up and trembling as a blackened goo ran from her mandibles, lay a broken goddess, clinging to life in a field of cold, watery death. Her reflective black eyes mirrored the brown pony in his vest, the tool that brought an end to everything she had done set behind his ear to prevent it from being dragged through the mud.

“Unnngh…” Anasi managed weakly, attempting to reach out one injured leg towards the stallion in a transparent attempt to inflict whatever vengeful pain she could muster into his psyche… and failing miserably as she gasped for breath, sputtering up water and bile.

“That’s the second time I’ve seen a mountain blow its top on account of the Eight-Legs,” the earth pony stated coldly.

Anasi shivered and twitched, but kept her eyes on the stallion. “It’s you… isn’t it?” she gasped, gurgling for breath. “It is you.”

The Doctor was quiet as he nodded, standing over the enormous arachnid.

“I… met you once… on Metebelis III… I was in the council chamber… that day. The day you… slew the queen on Earth… destroyed the Great One… brought our empire… crashing down… murdered all of my sisters…” The spider’s tone was soft, lacking in the authority that it had attempted to project before, but its reverberation still allowed it to be easily heard. “How… did you find me?”

“Honestly? I had no idea you were even here. Not until I recognized the structure of your psychic lattice. What happened on Metebelis III was so long ago… Centuries for me. I almost didn’t pick up on it,” the Doctor explained, his voice strangely somber. “But the patterns were there. After all this time, you’re still following the same destructive path of blind power and domination.”

“So… you… came back for me? To finish… what you started?” the arachnid accused spitefully.

“Your ‘Great One’ was mad with power,” the Doctor said, his tone even and disapproving as he attempted to explain. “She tried to expand her mind across the whole of the universe. The crystal web she created caused a positive feedback loop, and she destroyed herself, even as she tried to redirect the pain onto the rest of your species across the psychic link you shared.”

Anasi coughed again, gasping for breath as she chittered angrily. “You come to me now… after what you did today… to try and convince me of your ‘innocence’... in the destruction of my kind!?”

“I tried to save her.” The stallion shook his head, his memories of the last hours of his third life vividly playing before his eyes as he considered every misstep that had led to his second actual death and third regeneration.

“Keep your pity and nostalgic regrets to yourself, Time Lord… I do not care what you claim you tried to do… only what you did do.”

“As you wish…” the Time Lord acquiesced, steeling himself and dismissing the painful memories as he got to the heart of the matter. “How did you even get here, Anasi? Your kind had the ability to flitter across time and space, but you needed massive amounts of psychic energy to do that. And into a different universe? That was far beyond your species’ ability. Hell, even my people couldn’t do so, except for a few accidents, and those were under incredible circumstances.”

Anasi panted for a moment, staying silent as she seemed to gather herself. “...There were… cracks… in time...”

The Doctor felt both of his hearts freeze up.

“I fell through one of them in my agony… as the Great One died… and our crystal caverns were destroyed. I fell into the Void… into the great whiteness of the abstract between universes, where all is and yet is not,” Anasi continued, her gasping accompanied by harsh twitching. “And then, a great explosion cast me off… Like a leaf upon the tide… And I floated in the whiteness, where time was irrelevant, where distance was meaningless… until I fell... Pulled into this reality. I was brought here… to this world populated by these… pathetic Four-Legs.”

“Brought here?” The Time Lord stifled a gasp, managing to keep his stern expression. “By what?”

“I… do not know. It was a power… a mind… greater than any I had ever felt. It dwarfed even the Great One at the peak of her might.” The arachnid's voice betrayed her fear. “It... told me... that I could… that I could become as the Great One was… That I could have all I desired: my own brood, the powers of the mind, and slaves in the form of the four-legged zebra creatures... All I had to do... was follow instructions… Plant the crystals and tend to them as they grew… that my new kingdom would rise from their seeds.”

“And the other spiders?” The Doctor flicked his hoof to the side, making note of the bodies floating around in the standing water.

“Mutants… Hybrid offspring… between myself and the ice spiders that were native to the glacier caverns. Mindless wretches with no will of their own and a fraction of my abilities… I bore them over the past century with the local arachnids… different castes for different tasks. Biters and Webspinners and Hunters… Such a disgusting need… but they gave me the advantage I required… Enough to make contact with the striped creatures… to bring them into my thrall… to begin to rebuild my empire… to become… the new Great One!”

“Rebuild an empire?” The stallion barely restrained himself as his hearts rushed, his anger threatening to lash out and show a side of himself that he would prefer to keep locked away. “You destroyed their way of life, murdered their families and foals… You tried to enslave them, and for what!? Mindless conquest!?”

Anasi gurgled, her response cut off as she tried to expel the buildup of fluids in her throat. The injuries sustained during her forceful ejection from the caverns were quickly catching up with her.

“Well, it’s not going to happen, do you hear me, Anasi!?” The Doctor’s voice grew low and dangerous, a tone that had for so long struck terror into so many. “Not here. Not now. Not ever! This world is under my protection.”

“Oh, yes… Because you are… so very good… at protecting things.” The spider shuddered, chittering weakly. A sound that the Doctor was surprised to identify as a laugh.

“What’s so funny, Anasi?”

“You… 'The Doctor'… The last Time Lord. They all said you were… arrogant. Always playing... favorites. But this…?” Anasi spat, bile falling from her mandibles as she continued to chitter. “You have… no idea… what is coming.”

The Doctor’s anger faded as a new dread filled him at his former foe's words. “...The Time War was after your time… Long after. You can’t know about that.” The stallion’s voice became grave when as a more important realization struck him. “What are you talking about? What’s coming?”

“Did you think… that when I was called here… that I came through the void… alone?”

The spider coughed and shuddered painfully as a shadow passed overhead, drawing the Doctor’s attention upward, towards the large vulture-like bird that had been until now hidden in the thinning bank of white mist, turning in tight circles overhead. The Hourglass Stallion’s eyes widened with a terrible realization of the implications.

“Your time is almost up, Anasi. I implore you, take this chance to redeem yourself. Tell me what else followed you through the Abstract Plane! Tell me why they came to Equis! Why here!? Why this universe!?”

There was a moment of silence. Then, an angry, bloodcurdling hissing that could only be produced by the purest, most violent extreme of hate.

“R…redeem… How… how dare you… How… dare you!” Anasi nearly pulled herself over, but even her hate-fueled rage was not enough to overcome the damage done to her body, so she settled for shouting, bile and foam bubbling at her mandibles. “You have no business offering me… or any creature absolution! Do you think I have not heard!? Do you think I do not know… who you are, Doctor!?”

The stallion stood still, not retreating as he spared a glance skyward, taking note of the Roc folding its wings back and throwing itself into a dive towards them.

“You have the gall… to claim greater moral standing? You!? The creature that set a million worlds ablaze… who enacted the ruin of entire civilizations… the deaths of entire species at a whim… because they did not meet your approval!? The killer of his own kind!?”

“Anasi!” The Doctor splashed back a few steps as the Roc came down closer, but he plea fell on deaf ears.

“You… whose title echoes in eternity across the whole of the multiverse from the depths of the Medusa Cascade… Yes… I know who you are… Destroyer of Worlds!”

The Doctor flinched visibly at the title, a terrible memory jumping to the front of his mind; a memory from a bygone life, featuring the voice of the most vile, evil, hateful man he had ever encountered as he cursed the Time Lord with his final words.

“Don’t you dare… judge me... Doctor!” Anasi twisted violently.

"SCREEEEEEE!"

The Roc stopped short of the ground, pulling up suddenly with a precision that no organic creature should have been capable of as its talons ever so gently grazed over the sentient spider’s body, eliciting a loud, sharp gasp, but leaving her laying in place as the Roc took off again, its talons apparently empty.

“Don’t... you…” Anasi heaved, her legs twitching as she fought to draw in one more breath. But she failed, as her eight black eyes glazed over and a rattling sound escaped her mandibles. “...daaaaare…”

The enormous spider, the self-proclaimed Queen of All, went still…

...and did not move again.

The stallion released a breath that he had not even realized he had been holding. Sniffling slightly as he tried to still his hearts, he absently reached up to adjust his bow-tie in an attempt to steady himself, turning about… before he froze with a gasp.

Standing not ten feet away, a disheveled-looking zebra filly watched him with eyes wide open, the green mark bleeding through the bandage on her neck and an expression of pure, abject horror written across her face.

“Zecora…” the stallion started, his tone as soft as he could make it as he fought back the rising flood of sadness that the look in her eyes brought him. The cold, hard look in his own blue eyes gave in to a softer edge, but not quickly enough. The filly took a step back as he extended a hoof slowly. “It’s alright… Please…”

*SPLASH*

The filly dove away at full gallop, not looking back as she charged to the north as fast as her short legs could carry her.

The brown stallion stayed behind, now alone as he watched that remarkable, valiant young zebra mare flee from him in terror.

“…Please… don’t be afraid of me…” The Doctor bowed his head, falling back on his rump in the pooled water as he tried to push down the knot that had formed in his throat and block out the flood of terrible memories that threatened to overwhelm him.

The cycle of events had come full circle.

————————
Waiting Room
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 2:45 p.m.

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo moved up as the yellow filly shuffled into the waiting room, her head low and the redness in her eyes doubtfully a good sign. “What happened!?”

“They’re… they’re gonna take 'er outside. Out in the open,” the farm filly told her friends, her voice cracking and indicating that she had likely been spending much of the last half hour shouting in opposition of this decision while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle (neither of whom had an adult’s permission to be there) were swept out to the waiting area by one of the less "cheerful" nurses.

“For a stroll?” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully. “To get some sun?”

“No! They’re puttin’ 'er out fer that stupid bird ta swoop her up!” Apple Bloom stomped a hoof, her eyes clenched shut. “An’ she’s hurtin’ so bad that she’s the one tellin’ 'em ta do it! The shape she’s in, they might as well throw some garnish an' lemon juice on ‘er!”

“We gotta do something!” Scootaloo nodded in determination, tapping her chin. “But what?”

“I got it!” Sweetie perked up. “A brilliant idea!”

“YEAH!?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom leaned forward, eager to hear what their unicorn friend had come up with.

“That’s what we need: a brilliant idea,” the white unicorn deadpanned, causing both of the other fillies to fall back.

“Oh! I know!" Scootaloo jumped to her hooves. "Maybe if we cover her in something smelly, the Roc won’t wanna eat her!”

“It’s a giant vulture, Scoots. Ah don’t think we can gross it out.” Applebloom shook her head. “Wait, maybe we can call in the Wonderbolts! They might know how ta deal with a giant bird!”

“They’re in Trottingham on their Equestrian Summer Tour,” Scootaloo informed her friend quickly. “Not even Rainbow Dash could cover that kind of distance quickly enough.”

“Trottingham? Oh! Wait, wait, I know!” Sweetie bounced slightly. “Pipsqueak’s dad! He’s a law pony for the Arbiter’s Court, right!? Maybe he can file some legal paper whatsit to tell the hospital they can’t take her out of here until she’s better!”

“Can Arbiters do that?”

“Yeah! Rarity told me that you never wanna make an Arbiter mad. Give them some time and they can sue the Princesses themselves if they get cranky. That’s why she never turns down a date offer from one.”

“Great idea… except that they’re gonna be wheelin' 'er out in, like, ten minutes! We don’t have time to wait fer Red Tape at City Hall!” Apple Bloom shook her head.

Sweetie cringed a bit. “Hey, don't bust down on Red Tape. I mean, cut the pony some slack, he’s just an intern. It’s not his fault the legal system in Ponyville is so slow.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?”

“Rarity also never turns down dates from aspiring Arbiters, just in case they might hold a grudge later.”

“Ugh, forget I asked. Okay, come on, girls. Crunch time! We need a clever plan!” Scootaloo struck her hooves together.

“Wait! Ah think Ah got one.”

“What is it?”

“Let’s fling a big rock at it!” Applebloom smiled, clearly taken with the idea of causing the bird some discomfort.

There was a moment of utter silence.

“...Let’s call that Plan B,” Scoots finally said. “Jeez, this planning stuff is harder than I thought.”

“What would a smart pony like Twilight do?” Sweetie asked, pacing back and forth.

“Twilight? Don’t get me started!” Apple Bloom huffed angrily. “She bailed out yesterday and never come back. We waited all this time thinkin’ she would come back with sumthin’, but…”

“Wait…” Sweetie stopped pacing, turning to Apple Bloom. “Twilight knows about this?”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom grunted. “Hay, she was Zecora’s prock-see when she first got here, back before Big Mac came in last night. Then she an' Fluttershy up an' disappeared and Ah ain’t seen hide nor hair a' neither of ‘em since!”

There was a silence between the three fillies.

“Apple Bloom, we’re talking about Twilight ‘Element of Harmony, Smartest Pony in Equestria, Student of Princess Celestia’ Sparkle," Sweetie pointed out. "Do you really think she’s gonna just skip out on a friend? If something's wrong with somepony, where is she gonna go?”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened in realization. “The library!”

“My scooter’s parked outside!” Scootaloo nodded, a sense of urgency in her voice.

————————
Stone-Water Village
Zebrica Plains
71st of Spring, 975 C.R., 5:15 p.m.

The cauldron bubbled with actual water inside it for the first time in years, its owner moving busily around as he carefully set several gourds in the blackened pot just outside the large hut that had been set up for those in need of medicinal attention. Aside from Zulu and two other zebras who were still suffering from the Bite, many of the zebras of the village had more mundane concerns ranging from treatment of physical injuries sustained during what was quickly becoming known as the "Anasi Cataclysm," to the care of those that were teetering on the edge of meeting their Roc due to illnesses before that morning.

Also, in spite of protest from many, Zilaka had set up beds for the former Anasi Warriors, who had been stripped of their weapons and were all clearly beyond traumatized. A few of them settled for whimpering in makeshift cots while others were suffering of pain from injuries that had been endured while possessed by Anasi, but never treated or properly healed.

But by far the worst of the cases was Tagati herself, as even those zebras who were outraged at her return winced with a mix of sympathy and pity just looking upon her. Barely more than skin and bones, the shamaness was a shell of her former self, both physically and mentally. After being led back to Stone-Water, she had managed to make it past the crowds of zebras watching her with weary eyes, gone to lay down on one cot, and was now barely responding to anyone.

It was clear that Zilaka wanted nothing more than to find his remaining, still missing filly, and be with his reunited family after so long apart.

But as the only sage left in Stone-Water, a village still reeling from the impact of the day’s events, his responsibilities had to come first, as no other zebra could manage as he could.

Still, he definitely couldn’t argue with the help.

“That’s two more portions of Follybloom and Moon Tears…” Twilight swept a set of diced flower petals off of a cutting board and into two of the mixing bowls that had been set out with her magic. The knife she used floated up and to her side, wrapped in a magical aura as she continued to tend to the preparations with an ease that made Zilaka feel as if she had some knowledge of his methods already. “That should be enough to account for everypony that’s come forward so far, but Teaka’s herd is still trying to find zebras that might be hiding in their huts or might have been too weak or injured to come.”

“Why do I get the feeling that you have done this before?” Zilaka asked.

“I learned from the best.”

“That would be me,” Zilaka attempted to muse.

“And she learned from you.”

The zebra stallion huffed in amusement, unsure how much Zecora could have taught her in the hours between when he and the earth pony had been captured and when they had been liberated by the ingenious sleep grenade brew that Twilight and his filly had cooked up.

“The first two gourds of Ashmed potion will be ready in a moment,” Zilaka informed the unicorn, keeping a close eye on the bubbling cauldron and amazed to realize he was actually missing the pungent smell of the Mau Root juice. “Those are the most immediate concern. And you are certain it was two leaf prongs per mix?”

“That’s what Zecora used when she whipped hers together. I’m sorry we couldn’t find the gourd she made earlier for Toian.”

“That was a terrible risk she took, using such a dangerous brew without testing it. Particularly after only having the smell and touch of the original.”

“She’s just that good… But anyway, chances are it got washed away in the flooding.”

“Yes, I am going to be up to my crest in hoof-rot within the next few days, of that I am certain. Thankfully, I have a generous supply of dried Hearth Leaf, which is not something I had a great deal of call for before.” The zebra tried to lighten the mood and failed miserably as his own concerns overwhelmed his professionalism. “I still do not think it has sunk in, what happened down there... To think that all this time, under our very hooves, there was another world waiting to tear this one apart.”

“There was no way you could have known, Zilaka.” Twilight shook her head as the zebra moved to scoop the ingredients she had cut up into his latest mix. “And besides, it should be safe now. The pressure that had built up was all released at once, and when the mist hit the warm air up here, it condensed into liquid water quickly. Now that it’s settling, it should sink into the soil and soon the natural saturation process will be restored.”

“But, should it happen again?” The stallion sounded worried, his eyes darting up to the mountain that he had always lived in the shadow of with a new concern and respect.

“That’s not at all likely. The glacier would have to be incredibly stable to have been where it is for so long, and it will last for tens of thousands of years yet. An event like this is once in maybe fifty or a hundred lifetimes. And it only happened this time because of Anasi. I mean, the eruption that created Thunder Drum was so long ago that the zebras didn’t even have records of it.”

“Oh, but we do!” The potion maker shook his head, pouring his mix into a gourd for brewing. “We named the mountain after it: Thunder Drum. That is what it revealed itself as today, the crashing, beating heart of the Plains themselves. And the Ash-Stripes of old, my ancestors, named this village for the very source of the Plains' life: Stone-Water. It must have been known to the Sages of History and Lore…”

The stallion set the new gourd into the pot, his head hanging low.

“And now, they are gone... as is the knowledge of so many of our ancestors. My father used to say that knowledge was power. For centuries, wisdom was kept in family lines, usually passed from sire to colt, with each generation adding its own lessons." At this, Zilaka sighed, preparing to make an uncomfortable admission. "We kept that power from the rest of the herds... I once championed the practice, believing it made the Ash-Stripes of Stone-Water the most valuable of the Plains. But now, I see that it nearly destroyed us. With the wisdom of our ancestors gone, our herds were easy prey for the likes of Anasi. The oral traditions of the Ash-Stripe sages have failed.”

“Then you find a new way,” Twilight stated, drawing the zebra’s attention. “Back in Equestria, where I come from, there are many repositories of knowledge. Places where we put our ideas and histories to parchment with ink and quill. We call them libraries, and they store the wisdom of the ponies that came before us, so that anypony can have access to them.”

“If any of your people can have free access to knowledge, then do you require academics or sages?”

“Sure do,” a new voice entered the conversation as a familiar brown stallion came around from behind the hut. “We call them doctors.”

“Doctor!” Twilight perked up, moving up and throwing her forelegs around the earth pony, much to his surprise.

“Oh, hello, Twilight…” The Doctor shifted awkwardly, clearly having no idea how to respond to the purple mare nuzzling the side of his neck. “I… missed you, too. Did you do something with your coat?”

Almost as if she suddenly realized what she was doing, Twilight recoiled, running her hoof back over her mane and looking away with a very embarrassed expression.

“Oh... Just, uhh… making sure you didn’t have any spiders on you. They’ve found a few of them around the village -- the little ones that cause the Bite. And, yeah... the Gelding Marks... I’m not sure, but I think that whatever happened must have washed them off, or something. It’s all kind of fuzzy. ”

“Well, that’s good news. So you've got the magic back? That’s very good. And as for the Biters, I suppose that it was too much to ask that they all were down in the caverns.” The Hourglass Stallion shrugged, turning to Zilaka. “You’ll probably have some stragglers around the Plains, both those and the bigger ones that were lucky enough to get out of the caves. But without Anasi to guide them, they're just like any other animal. Probably not even that smart, but--”

“Zecora!” Zilaka moved forward suddenly. “We thought she was with you! Where is she!?”

“Oh, she’s completely fine. She’s on her way here right now, actually. Should be here any minute.” The Doctor nodded, turning to the unicorn as she regained her composure. “And we have to go.”

Twilight recoiled as Zilaka furrowed his brow. “Go? Now!? But, Doctor, the zebras need help! Things are crazy around here and--”

“Twilight...” The stallion’s tone was stern, cutting her off before offering a smile. “We’ve done what needed to be done, and now we need to get out of Zilaka and Teaka’s way.”

“What needed to be done?” Zilaka gave the brown stallion a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“Twilight, would you be a dear and fetch Fluttershy?”

“Doctor, I don’t understand the sudden--” Twilight was cut off as the earth pony moved up next to her, speaking softly in her ear.

“Twilight, as we speak, I am currently running to the west to get the TARDIS, and when I get there, I am going to see that the Temporal Anchor has shifted forward and we’ve been gone from Ponyville for almost a full day,” he whispered quietly. “Then I am going to come back over six and a half hours into the past to right now because if we don’t get you girls home soon, the very cure we came here to get will find itself without a patient.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide with realization, and Zilaka regarded them oddly as the Doctor pulled back.

“Okay?” the Doctor asked quietly, nodding.

“I’ll go get Fluttershy... She’s looking for you and Zecora along the outskirts. I have my teleportation spell back, so it should only be a minute.”

“I’ll be down behind that hut getting ready. Just knock four times and I’ll let you in,” the Doctor instructed, to which Twilight nodded. “And Twilight, I shouldn't need to remind you: no bringing anyone along. As much as I hate saying it, we just don’t have time for that. Get Fluttershy and get back here, alright?”

“Got it.” Twilight nodded again before closing her eyes, her horn glowing with a flaring light that the Doctor got the feeling looked quite dull after what he experienced earlier.

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

Zilaka’s jaw fell as he watched Twilight teleport away, having never before seen a living being simply vanish before his eyes.

“Alright. Now, Zilaka, about our agreement from earlier.”

“What?” The zebra shook his head before a vague recollection of an insane deal came back to the front of his mind. “Oh... yes, yes, of course. I... I suppose you have lived up to your side of it, have you not?”

“Anasi is gone. That’ll be a huge help for the zebras.”

“Are you sure that she’s--”

“Trust me.” The Doctor’s eyes seemed to lose all humor, the flatness of his voice enough to unnerve the zebra stallion completely. They were such old eyes that he was looking into now. “She’s gone for good... I made sure.”

“There was a time I did not believe any living creature, not even the most aggressive of hyenas, deserved such a fate... But that... monster...”

“Take my advice, Zilaka: Don’t dwell on it. Now, those look like they're steaming so I'm guessing they’re ready.”

Zilaka turned, having been so distracted that he hadn’t noticed that the first two gourds that he had placed into the cauldron were piping with steam. Moving quickly to the side of his cauldron, he grabbed hold of them with a set of tongs and set them on the makeshift workbench outside his medicine hut.

“I noticed that Zecora’s wound was beginning to bleed green again,” the Doctor mentioned. “I thought this was a cure.”

“It is not a cure, but a treatment,” the potion maker stated, pulling the cork from each gourd and sniffing at it as he moved around the bench. “The Ashmed works because it attacks the envenomed flesh that is causing the change in the blood, and draws it out without actually getting inside the wound. But the mixture has to be precise. Too little, and the venom is not drawn out properly. Too much, and the Ashmed will seep down under the wound and get into the body itself. And should that happen...” He left that statement hanging.

“The leaf goes up in flames?” the Doctor finished, getting a confirming nod from the zebra. “So it requires daily doses, then?”

“Yes.”

“And the rhyming?”

“An apparently unavoidable side-effect. Toian, the colt that my daughter saved, has shown that he suffers from it, too. Although, apparently, he is not quite as well spoken as my Zecora, as he has chosen to cease talking completely rather than find couplets to speak in. I am not sure what causes it yet. Perhaps with more time...”

Zilaka was quiet for a moment before plugging the vent and the main spout on one of the gourds and passing it to the Doctor.

“This will help your friend.” The potion maker nodded. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must tend to my family.”

Zilaka turned to move into the hut where the injured had gathered.

“I think we both know time is something you don’t have in great supply, Zilaka,” the Doctor said unexpectedly, causing the zebra to pause.

The potion maker took another breath before turning on the smaller brown stallion. “The magic stick does not miss much, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t,” the Doctor told him, sympathy deeply ingrained in his voice. “You have a year. Two years, at the very most... But I have a feeling you know that already.”

Zilaka nodded, his expression somber. “My sire met his Roc under the same circumstances. He was younger than I am now. I knew nothing of it until the day it came for him. And my foals...”

“Zecora is clean. She’s not even a carrier. I checked her in the medicine hut as soon as I realized it was hereditary.”

Zilaka sighed in relief. “And Zulu?”

The brown stallion moved up past him, taking a look into the hut before bringing one leg up, unnoticed by the ill and injured inside.

*click*
*whirrrrrr*

The earth pony stepped back, looking at his metal device for a moment. “He shares it, but if he starts the treatments you’re already subjecting yourself to, while he’s still young, he could live to be twice your age.”

“...I have spent years finding the right combination of herbs and remedies to fight back the symptoms.” Zilaka lowered his head. “If my son can reap the benefits, then it was well worth it.”

“Are you going to tell them?”

“...Should I?”

“That’s something you have to decide.” The Doctor shook his head sadly. “I try not to give out advice, but this time I'll make an exception: Do what you feel you must. We all have to face our Rocs at some point, so ask yourself: Would you regret it if that day were tomorrow?”

The Doctor turned to leave, setting the gourd of medicine in his side satchel.

“Will we ever meet again, Doctor?” Zilaka asked the Impossible Stallion as he moved away.

The Doctor didn’t look back, not wanting to meet his eyes or consider what the academic and altruistic zebra he had come to respect might think once he heard of what his beloved filly had witnessed.

“No... we won't.” And with that, he departed without another word, more than ready to leave this place behind him.

————————

“Twilight!” The unicorn heard the shocked voice of her friend the moment she came out of her teleport, a bead of sweat running down the side of her face from the exertion of the multiple jumps she'd taken already in the search for Fluttershy.

Twilight looked up to take note of the yellow pegasus, who was about ten feet off the ground, looking fairly exhausted, herself. She was pointing a hoof towards the south.

“I see Zecora! Come on! We can get her and bring her back to--”

“Fluttershy, the Doctor’s brought the TARDIS back to Stone-Water. He says that we have to get back to Ponyville right now if we’re going to get the medicine to our Zecora.”

Fluttershy nearly dropped out of the air. “But...”

“There’s no time, we have to hurry! He says we’ve already been gone from Ponyville for almost a day!”

“But the Bite takes at least that long to work, and she was already... EEP!” Fluttershy gasped, realizing the implications.

“The TARDIS is in an alley behind the hut where Zilaka set up his cauldron. Go, I’ll catch up.”

“Okay, okay, alright!” Fluttershy stumbled a bit, rushing back towards the inner area of the village, clearly in too much of a rush to ask why Twilight didn’t just teleport both of them there.

Which Twilight was grateful for as she turned to look to towards the broken and hilly area that was once the southern plains, her horn lighting up again.

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

“YIPE!” Zecora nearly fell over as the lavender unicorn suddenly burst into being directly in front of her. She ground to a halt immediately, her hooves sliding in the muddy topsoil. “Twi... hah... light,” the filly gasped as she tried to compose herself, the adrenaline of her run so far masking the fatigue she was feeling due to both hunger and exertion. “Have... to...”

“Zecora, I have to leave and I don’t have much time. There’s something I have to tell you.”

“But--”

“Listen, this is important.” The unicorn’s mind raced, trying to balance what she knew had to be said with the caution of knowing every word could have an effect.

If the Doctor knew, he would be livid at what she was about to do.

“Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep learning and keep pushing boundaries. Don’t let anypony or zebra tell you different. Now, there will come a time when all of this makes sense. Not today, not tomorrow... but one day, your Bite wound will get worse and you’ll have to trust two very good friends to help you. You have to tell them where to find it, but you can’t tell them anything about what happened here over the last two days,” Twilight related frantically, driving the point home by moving up and keeping her eyes locked with the filly's.

“But... I do not...”

“I know you don’t understand, but you will... Trust me.” Twilight nodded. “And... also, if at some point, a bunch of really stupid ponies ever... kinda... barge into your home and start tearing the place apart without any good reason, please don’t be mad with them, they're just being idiots.”

“Wha...?” Zecora shook her head violently, completely unsure about what was going on as she tried to remind herself of what she had to say. “Listen to me, Twilight! I have to tell you about your friend, the Doctor! He--”

“Not now. He’s waiting for me, I have to go. There will be come time when you can tell me, but it has to wait. You’ll know when that time is. Now, you will meet me again… but the next time it happens... I won’t know you.”

“Why not?”

“Because for me, none of this will have happened yet.”

“I... I do not under--”

“Your family is at the large hut in the center of the village, the one with the red clay roof. Go to them.” The mare leaned forward and gave the filly a small kiss on the forehead and a reassuring smile. “I’ll see you soon, I promise.”

“But, Twilight...”

*Vrrrrmmmm-BAMPH*

After watching her unicorn friend disappear as quickly as she'd arrived, Zecora just stood there, panting for breath in the middle of a muddy field on the outskirts of Stone-Water, suddenly alone and terribly confused.

————————
Mane Street
Ponyville
30th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 2:55 p.m.

*BBBBZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTT*
*KER-THUMP*

“LOOK OUT!”

“GANGWAY, EVERYPONY!”

“AHHHH!” Sweetie and Apple Bloom held onto one another, bracing their hooves into the sides of the wagon as they both came to the startling realization that helmets were not nearly enough protection for this wild ride, considering just how much time the wagon was in the air with the orange pegasus fighting to maintain speed in spite of every turn, road bump, and obstacle that was in their way.

And there were plenty of obstacles, ranging from elderly ponies who seemed to have taken the opportunity to go for a very leisurely walk, enormous potholes in the road, and even a close encounter nearly running over a pair of very distraught older sisters fresh home off the train from Yokelahoma, shouting after the fillies as Scootaloo refused to stop.

“Hurry! They’re probly haulin’ Zecora outta the hospital by now! We’ll never make it!” Apple Bloom gasped as she looked up towards the clock tower at the center of town, a serious concern in her face.

The way that Apple Bloom figured it, there was only one chance for their zebra friend right now, and that was if Twilight had somehow magically come up with either a cure or a way to put a stop to a giant buzzard that had a very picky diet of sickly, near-dead zebra.

“GOING AS FAST AS I CAN!” Scootaloo shouted over the sound of her own wings, which were beginning to cramp. She had never moved this fast before, at least not without crashing, but she had a friend in need and the reflexes to make it happen as every slight twist of her handles sent the trio of fillies careening around a new path-blocking obstruction.

As the library came into view, Scootaloo came to a horrible realization as she jammed on the brakes... and nothing happened.

She didn’t stop to ponder how that could be possible, since she methodically checked her scooter for problems every morning and the brakes had worked just fine earlier that day on the way to the hospital.

“GIRLS, I CAN’T STOP! JUMP!”

“ARE YOU CRAZY!?” Sweetie Belle shouted, her voice cracking and her her eyes wide as Apple Bloom looked up to where Scootaloo had aimed the scooter, right towards the table outside of the library.

“YEP!” Apple Bloom shouted, grabbing her unicorn friend and reaching up her other hoof just in time to snag a low-hanging branch as Scootaloo dove off the out of control vehicle, the forward momentum nearly enough to swing both fillies up and around the branch.

*POP*
*CRASH*

The blue scooter and wagon were wrecked at high speed, the metal bent and twisted by the sheer velocity of the impact. Off to the side, Scootaloo rolled to a stop, her wings tucked back as she panted for breath and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fell out of the tree.

“Ooowwwwwwww...” Tears welled up in Apple Bloom’s eyes as she tore off her helmet and immediately cradled her right foreleg, which she had used to grab the branch.

“Bloom, are you...?”

“No time! Get Twilight, Ah'm behind ya!” Apple Bloom pulled herself up to three legs, keeping her right foreleg up against her chest as Sweetie did as bid, rushing for the library door.

As the Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed to the library’s door, none of them noticed the wisp of black smoke rising from the wreckage of the scooter and wagon... nor did they hear the soft cursing on the wind as the three friends ran into the Books and Branches together.

————————

Spike the dragon was pacing around on the floor, biting his lower lip as he kept looking up at the grandfather clock.

“They’ve never been gone this long before...” the dragon mumbled aloud as he seemed intent on wearing a groove in the library’s floor. He was starting to get worried.

He had some idea of where Twilight and the Doctor had gone, and judging by the note on the table telling him to tuck in all of Fluttershy’s pets and critters the previous night if they weren’t back yet, the dragon deduced that the timid pegasus had gone too, much to his surprise.

But as he waited, memories of the Doctor’s many and varied stories were starting to eat at his mind, considering the dangerous situations that he claimed to fall into and thinking that, while he did have Twilight as backup, the Hourglass Stallion also had Fluttershy to worry about.

“Who do I tell if they don’t come back? The Princess? What if they don’t--”

*SLAM*

His thoughts were torn from him as he jumped several feet in the air with a cry, turning and landing on all four claws as three familiar fillies rushed in, the one in the middle limping on three legs.

“Oh... uhhh... Hi, girls.” Spike gave them a toothy smile, attempting to hide his earlier worries and doing a fairly poor job of it as he repeated the much used welcome phrase that Twilight had become enamored with since becoming the primary librarian of Ponyville. “Welcome to the Books and Branches, where knowledge is at your hooves. How can I--”

“Where’s Twilight!?” Sweetie Belle demanded, her tone accusatory as she pointed a hoof at Spike.

Taken off-guard by her sudden and direct inquiry, the dragon stumbled. “Uhhh... Oh, Twi? She’s... uhhh... Out at the-- GUH!”

“MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH! WHERE IS SHE!?” Scootaloo grasped the dragon with her hooves, nose to nose with him as she glared the dragon down.

To be fair, Spike was about the same age as the three fillies and was probably a bit stronger and tougher with his scales. But a lifetime -- even a short one like his -- lived among ponies had taught him one very valuable lesson.

It was not a good idea to lie to an angry filly.

“Uhhh... I-I don’t... know... exactly...” Spike stammered.

Unbidden, his eyes darted over towards the basement door; a gesture that Sweetie took note of and followed his gaze. “There!”

“H-hey, hold on a minute! Nopony’s allowed in there!” Spike called out as Scootaloo let him go and the three fillies moved towards the door. “I said hold on!”

Spike growled slightly, leaping forward and onto Scootaloo’s back, his weight causing the young pegasus’ hind legs to buckle and sitting her down as he grabbed hold of her mane to keep from falling. The resulting yank on the filly's hair was not met with a good reaction.

“Uh-oh...” Spike managed to get out before the orange filly turned on him with very angry eyes.

“Oh, no you did not!”

“Scootaloo, stop!” Sweetie urged, rushing towards the two as they erupted in a dust-cloud of conflict, dragon and pony pushing off of one another as hooves flew and a scaled tail swung in self defense. “I don't think Spike's supposed to bend that way!”

In the frantic fighting match, the dragon and filly knocked into a table set just off to the side, sending its contents of papers and letters and a single scroll that had come in the mail that day rolling off and onto the floor with its clasp breaking open like it was nothing.

Apple Bloom saw and heard none of it, moving towards the door as fast as she could limp. This was their last chance, and she knew that time was almost out.

She reached up for the hoof-shaped handle...

*click*

...just in time for the door to turn and swing inward, causing the yellow filly to stumble as she fell into a set of dusty brown legs.

“Oh, hello, there,” came the lilting accent of the Doctor as Apple Bloom fell back, her mouth wide as she looked up in startled realization of who was standing in front of her. The fight between Scootaloo and Spike halted in an instant with the dragon’s tail in Scootaloo’s teeth and the dragon attempting a choke-hold on an orange hind leg.

Sweetie simply gasped. “Doctor Clockwork?” The white unicorn looked puzzled, “Wh-what are you doing here?”

“Just 'Doctor' is fine, Sweetie. And it’s a library, where else would you expect a doctor to stay?”

“Girls? What are you doing here?” Fluttershy moved up from behind the brown pony, followed by Twilight, who quickly closed the door behind her and locked it with magic.

Apple Bloom stumbled for a moment.

All three of them were disheveled and looking like they had run through a storm, covered in dried mud. Fluttershy looked about ready to pass out and Twilight had a bizarre pattern running over her fur which was a shade or so lighter than the rest of her coat. All of their manes were an absolute mess that would have made Rarity faint at the sight of them.

Shaking her head, Apple Bloom took a deep breath.

“Y'all disappeared yesterday and nopony knew where you went to and then Zecora got worse an’ worse an' Big Mac came in an’ the doctors made him her prock-see an’ then she was screamin’ an’ cryin’ in pain an’ told the doctors ta put her outside an’ let that evil over-sized vulture get its claws on ’er an’ Big Macintosh said ‘Eeeyup’ an’ the nurses wouldn’t listen ta me an’ they’re rollin’ her out of the hospital so the Roc can get a hold a’ her an’ put her ta rest an’ it’s all happenin’...” AppleBloom ran out of steam just before taking a wide, gasping breath. “Right now!”

The two mares and stallion stood still for a moment, and much to everypony’s shock, Fluttershy was the first to react. She reached over and pulled open the Doctor’s side satchel to withdraw what looked like a hardened gourd by the stem in her teeth, before charging forward to the door with a speed that surprised even Scootaloo, who had spent hours watching Rainbow Dash go from zero to Mach One in no time flat.

The Doctor was as stunned as any other pony as Fluttershy burst from the library door and took off, the sudden cry of a southern accent keeping the attention of the gathered ponies and dragon. He was the first to recover, though, and while the others still stood speechless, his own eyes happened to wander over to the floor, where the earlier discarded scroll lay open and in easy view.

*GONNNNGGGG*
*GONNNNGGGG*
*GONNNNGGGG*

The grandfather clock chimed thrice as the Doctor quickly brought a leg up and rolled the scroll at his hooves, his eyes darting around to assure himself that nopony else had noticed.

————————

“When Ah get mah hooves on those reckless lil’ fillies...” Applejack started as she marched on, following the trail of destruction that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had left in their wake and going from merely sore to chomping at the bit when she saw the wreck of the three filly’s wagon and scooter next to the library. “Not back in town fer ten goshdarn minutes an' Ah almost get run over like we’re in the streets a’ Manehattan.”

“While I disagree on the Manehatten comment, I do agree that such dangerous and reckless behavior is certainly unbecoming of anypony who--”

Rarity never got to say what the behavior was unbecoming of as the door to the Books and Branches flew off its hinges, a blur of motion causing the rodeo pony to dive for cover based on pure survival instinct. Meanwhile, the fashionista froze up, her eyes wide as she was grazed on the shoulder by a hoof going faster than anything she had seen barring a sonic rainboom, sending her into a tornado-like spin for several seconds before she crashed to the ground in a dizzy wreck.

“Wha... What in tarnation?” Applejack pulled herself up. “Rainbow?”

“What the hay was that?” the raspy voice of Rainbow Dash came from overhead, having seen something moving like greased lightning as she worked on the patchy overcast sky above. Applejack merely looked back and forth between her and the fast-disappearing yellow blur in disbelief.

————————

Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital, Courtyard
Ponyville
3:00 p.m."SCREEEEEEE!"

The sound was muffled as Zecora sat waiting, the whole world slowing down around her.

She wasn’t sure if it was an effect of her final moments dragging out, or if her brain was slowly shutting down, causing everything around her to move slower in her perspective. But as she looked up, she could make out the details of her Roc coming down on her, feel her heart struggle to beat, hear every ruffling feather.

She would have laughed if she had the strength.

Zulu had told her once that part of the thrill of battle was that a zebra never felt so alive as it did on the edge of death. Perhaps this was what he meant. If so, then she didn’t care for it. She didn’t like drawing this out; that her mind was clinging on when all she wanted was to let go, to end the pain.

The extra time allowed her to reflect in spite of herself. She had gotten complacent. That had been her mistake. She had become so set in her ways and comfortable in her routine that it stopped occurring to her that this could happen.

In spite of the warning. In spite of years of managing to keep her condition in check. In spite the discoveries she had made and the advances that she had built upon her father’s work. In spite of all she had experienced, traveling the world before finally settling down in the motherload of all natural alchemical resources.

In spite of that last promise of a unicorn from so long ago, fate had found her.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked up, counting her heart beats like the last seconds of a clock winding down.

*Ba-bump*

A moment longer, and the pain would end... forever...

*Ba-bump*

She could rest at last...

*Ba-bump*

She could see her father again...

*Ba-bump*

Her eyes opened, and she looked up, the Roc’s talons only a few scant few feet away... and a blur moving across the hospital field like a yellow and pink bullet.

*Ba-bump*

——

“It’s okay, Zecora. Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright... I promise.”

——

A memory played back for the zebra as her eyes slowly widened. That was the moment that everything she thought she had known about the world had changed.

*Ba-bump*

That was the day she learned that some promises, no matter how hopeless or impossible, could never be broken.

*THUMP*

Time resumed its normal course as the zebra mare was impacted by what felt like a runaway cart, a sharp talon grazing the very top her mohawk before she was sent into a flying roll to the side. Her vision was suddenly obscured by the tufts of grass and dirt that were thrown up in the air as well as a shock of pale yellow.

*KA-FLUMPH*

“MOVE!”

It happened so fast that two of the three ponies standing in the Mourning Line were reeling, unsure what had taken place as the enormous black bird slammed into the ground, clearly stunned and sliding towards them. Only Big Macintosh, with a lifetime of keeping up with two athletic fillies that had attuned his sense of danger, was able to react, turning to dive tackle the physician and nurse out of the way as they themselves froze. Where they had all stood just a scant second earlier, the Roc tore a deep trench into the lawn, every blade of grass it touched turning black and withering.

“AGGHHH!”

Zecora lay on her side, the pain utterly overwhelming as she felt a hoof on her head, holding her still. One eye forced open to look up, tears stinging, she saw the face of a panting, determined creature that hooked one hoof onto the handle stem of...

It... couldn’t be...

The pegasus used her teeth to pull the cork free, spitting it out messily to make absolutely sure none got in her mouth, and then poured a clear liquid out onto the bandages wrapped around the zebra’s neck.

The Roc, clearly furious beyond all mortal understanding at touching solid earth, pulled itself up, every spot of the ground it had touched leaving nothing alive as even the dirt underneath it became dead at the microscopic level.

Big Macintosh’s eyes went wide as he saw it turn towards the two mares. “SHY!”

Fluttershy turned towards them as the enormous condor-like creature started forward again, sending itself rocketing ahead with a powerful beat of its wings. Gritting her teeth, the pegasus stood firm, doing the only thing she could.

"SCREE--"

She Stared.

“--AAARK!”

Another powerful beat brought the Roc to a halt, inches away from the pegasus as she Stared it down, her disheveled state mixing with her expression to give her an air of savage fury.

“No,” she said, a single word into which Fluttershy placed everything she believed in.

*Fzzzzzzzzzzt*

“AAAGGHH!”

Zecora writhed on the spot as a familiar, welcome pain burned in her neck, the shock to her system drawing her attention away from all worldly matters. Instinctively, her hooves pulled at the bandages stemming the gushing flow of venomous pus, turning onto her front as it drained from her.

All the while, Fluttershy didn’t break eye contact with the Roc, Staring down death itself until the zebra’s screams stopped, replaced by exhausted panting.

“You. Can’t. Have her!” Fluttershy managed through gritted teeth.

Then, the Roc did something that no living creature had ever managed before. It tore itself away from Fluttershy's unnatural power, looking past her with a stoic, almost bored expression as it regarded the zebra behind her... and completely lost interest.

The Roc took off into the air in utter silence, its powerful wings sending it hurtling into the sky where it quickly disappeared into the thick cloud cover, and the beat of its wings growing steadily quieter until they had gone altogether.

The danger now passed, Fluttershy let loose a held breath as she wobbled on weak legs. Big Mac, Nurse Redheart, and Doctor Stable were all staring at her before she looked over her shoulder at Zecora.

“I knew you would be there, when I needed you most,” the zebra panted, her eyes half-lidded as she smiled warmly. “One second slower, and... heh... I would have been toast.”

With a tired chuckle and a soft moan of relief, Zecora collapsed on the lawn as Fluttershy gave a weak smile in return, turning back towards Big Macintosh and the two medical ponies.

“Does anypony... have anything to...” Fluttershy’s eyes rolled to the top of her head as her last word escaped in a wispy breath, her legs giving out from under her. “...eaaaat...?”

*Thud*

————————
Princess Celestia's Private Chambers
Canterlot Palace
31st of Summer, 1001 C.R., 10:42 p.m.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It’s easy to be a friend when things are going good and life is like a barrel of fresh-picked apples.

Zecora opened her eyes slowly, her surroundings silent as she looked around the room she was in, clearly no longer in the Intensive Care Ward. A fresh bandage had been wrapped around her neck and the pain was, mercifully, gone.

But the time when you find out who your real friends are is when things are at their toughest and the world seems to be at its darkest.

Zecora turned to her side, the pain blissfully dull as she took note of the bed next to her, occupied by a familiar pinked-haired pegasus now dressed in a hospital gown, IVs running to her foreleg to counteract the extreme stresses her admittedly slight body had been run through.

Friends that you can trust may not always be right beside you all the time. But they will always be there for you when it counts the most.

The door opened suddenly, ponies surging into the recovery room as Zecora’s tired smile widened. The Cutie Mark Crusaders moved in first, with Apple Bloom bringing up the rear before showing Zecora the cast that had been put over her hoof, signatures and well-wishes already covering nearly every exposed surface.

Following her, Rarity rushed in, followed by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, all in a mix of obvious concern, wanting to know why they were not notified that she had taken ill, but clearly relieved at her recovery.

And while honesty is important, you also have to respect a friend’s boundaries and secrets, even when you don’t quite understand them, yourself.

Zecora shook her head, the smile not fading even as Twilight Sparkle moved into the doorway with a knowing smirk on her face. It was made clear that the zebra had no interest in explaining her "condition" beyond calling it an "old wound."

It sounds difficult, and believe me, it is. Like trying to get a ballet cutie mark while in a cast -- something which I might actually do before I get this thing off. But as with all the other hardships, disagreements, and difficult moments that come with friendship...

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood together, each grinning innocently as they recounted a clearly exaggerated tale of their heroism, bringing more than a few smiles to the room, except for Zecora, whose own smile dimmed. An expression only Twilight noticed as a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark moved away, attempting to stay out of sight and keeping his own slight smile to himself, content to leave his friends to celebrate the miracle without him.

In the end, in spite of all of the trials and tribulations that are part of making friends, it is weathering these rough waters that makes it all worth it.

Your Bravest and most Valiant Subjects, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle

The Cutie Mark Crusaders

Back at the scene in the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ Clubhouse in Sweet Apple Acres, three fillies, one of which was in a cast, were opening and excitedly discussing a deepening mystery. On the table are multiple drawings and photographs of the elusive brown stallion with the hourglass cutie mark.

As Apple Bloom brought up a quill to add her own untidy mouth-scrawl to the bottom of the letter, she asked Spike to let her reread it before returning it to send the next day.

P.S.

There is clearly something strange going on involving a new resident of Ponyville, one Doctor Clockwork. While we don’t want to alarm you, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are now in ~~unanamous~~ ~~unannimous~~

Apple Bloom pulled the quill from her mouth, turning to Sweetie Belle, who quickly pulls a dictionary from under the table, and the two consulted it for a moment before returning to the letter.

unanimously convinced that this earth pony stallion is not entirely what he seems. With your permission, we would like to explore this matter further. Please inform us if you wish for us to alert the Royal Guard of our findings.

-- Applebloom, CMC

Comfotably sitting in her chambers, Celestia giggled slightly at the letter, amazed that Twilight hadn’t bothered to proofread it before Spike sent the message off to her as a report on friendship from her young friends in Ponyville.

She was certainly relieved that the three fillies had managed to work out their differences, as she had long ago learned that small upsets in even the strongest of friendships could have lasting and devastating repercussions. And she knew that, as difficult as things were soon to become, she had to do what she could to be ready.

The Sovereign Diarchal Princess of Equestria considered the letter for a moment before her horn glowed, drawing a quill towards a fresh piece of parchment.

My Dearest Apple Bloom,

I greatly appreciate your bringing the situation involving this "Clockwork" (though I do not believe this to be his real name, as no record can be found of him) to my attention and ask that you and your friends continue to observe and ask questions regarding his presence and dealings in Ponyville.

I am hesitant to involve the Royal Guard, so, for the moment, I ask that you forward all information pertaining to this stallion directly to me via Spike. I shall inform him that you are on a very special assignment for me and that he is not to tell Twilight of the messages you send. In particular, please keep an eye out for any other ponies or suspicious characters that may develop an interest in this "Doctor" or the Elements of Harmony, and inform me immediately if you notice anything out of the ordinary.

While I know the Cutie Mark Crusaders to be brave and true, you must now act wisely and with subtlety. Get what information you can from your sister and her friends, but as Twilight may be too close to the subject of your investigation, I suggest you keep her unaware of your mission.

And above all other things, do not, under any circumstances, attempt to gain access to the basement of the Books and Branches Library.

Do not look so surprised my little ponies. You have to know these things when you’re a Princess, you know.

The best of luck,

Princess Celestia of Equestria

“Well, Philomena...” Celestia stifled a yawn, pulling herself up as she rolled the scroll and set it aside, intending to send it via courier to avoid an accidental opening by her curious student or an already suspicious Time Lord. “This is where it starts to get rough, I suppose.”

“Warrrrrrrk...” the Princess' beloved phoenix warbled slightly from her nearby perch, nearly bald as her golden feathers were still molting following an unfortunate brush with Death.

Celestia knew the fiery bird would recover soon, and took comfort in the pink ribbon that had become part of her nest; a token recovered as a reminder of a successful and critical mission.

Laying back in her bed, Celestia levitated her tiara from her mane and leaned back into her pillow before looking to the object on her nightstand.

Her horn glowed again and a dozen high-security magical locks were slowly undone, the door to the small, unassuming chest opening. And out levitated a raggedy, ancient blue book, its cover torn and faded and its pages curled with age, as she moved it over in front of her.

“So...” the Princess of the Sun asked no-one, the book opening towards the very beginning as passages she had read a million times before passed before her eyes. “...where are we now?”

Epilogue: All Worth It?

Books and Branches Library
Ponyville, Everfree Province of Equestria
31st of Summer, 1001 C.R. (Celestia's Reign), 11:28 p.m.

By the beginning of the third century of Dame Dawn’s Reign, the Order of Justice had succeeded in breaking the grip of the unicorn-led Arcane Hierarchy throughout the disparate provinces of ponydom. In the months following the official cessation of hostilities however, the continued prevalence of the controversial practice of Unicorn Gelding by some members of the Templar threatened a new resurgence of violence. Rumors of the magic dampening glyphs being used as punishment for trivial offenses or without any reason at all widened the schism between the unicorn nobility loyal to the Dame of the Morning and the recently empowered earth pony Templar. Unicorn nobles who had remained loyal to Dame Dawn throughout the rebellion argued that the use of the permanent brands, which were, and even into modern day continue to be, proven impossible to remove by any means known to mortal ponies, was an act of vengeance against all horned equines. The Templar countered with the debate that the danger of abused magic used against those without horns that had been suffered since the Wild Era by the common earth pony was just as much a violation of their rights.

This debate brought forward the remarkably complex issue arisen by a simple question: What rights did members of the three pony races share? Dame Dawn spent much of her reign codifying and laying the foundations of laws that would provide a solid answer not only to this question, but to how it related to thinking creatures that were not ponies, or the treatment of creatures considered "animals." By the end of her reign and the rise of Lady Astrolia, Dame Dawn had set the groundwork of the shared power of the Three Noble Pony Houses of Earth, Sky, and Magic. Each was empowered to tend to the needs of their species while the Order of Justice, reformed from Warrior Templar of the Hierarchy Rebellion into what would eventually become the modern Arbiter’s Court, were granted authority to maintain balance between these three powers under the supreme rule of the Alicorn Monarchy.

Twilight Sparkle swallowed as she drew back from the tome that floated in front of her, one particular line striking her as hard as anything she had read before and causing her to look down at her coat.

A visit to the spa that morning had erased the lines that had been left behind, the rest of her fur bleached ever so slightly, lightening her tone to match. But even in their absence, she couldn’t shake the terrible feeling she had been made to endure of being bound and powerless.

After a lifetime of honing her internal magic… to have it stripped from her like that. And then to learn that she had been mistaken about the Arbiter’s Court being capable of removing the markings.

After the spa, she had made an appointment with Arbiter Squeak, a stallion from Trottingham who had been selected as the High Arbiter of the Everfree Province just over a year ago. Of course, being the protege of Celestia probably had a great deal to do with him dropping everything to answer her questions. But when the conversation turned to Gelding Marks, she suspected the Arbiter had grown concerned, citing an important meeting with Mayor Mare, and offered her this history book from his early days studying law rather than explain in person

Twilight swallowed a bit, her eyes returning to the passage to make sure she hadn’t misinterpreted.

…use of the permanent brands, which were, and even into modern day continue to be, proven impossible to remove by any means known to mortal ponies…

Twilight rubbed her hoof against the top of her snout, her eyes shut as she tried to go over what had happened in the glacier caverns under the plains of Zebrica…

*knock-knock*

“Spike, the door,” Twilight said absently as she looked to the book again, trying to keep her train of thought running.

There was a moment of silence.

*knock-knock*

“Oh, right.” Twilight sighed, her thoughts sufficiently derailed as she remembered that her assistant was snoring away in his basket bed up in her loft above the library. It was late, after all, and as Twilight pulled herself up, the aches in her muscles reminded her that she too was rather tired from the events of the past couple of days.

She wasn’t in quite as bad a shape as Fluttershy, keeping her from grumbling against her soreness as she moved to the door. It would have been petty to complain after all of Fluttershy’s flying and racing around had put the mare in the hospital, but at least the she'd been allowed to return home that afternoon with the doctors stating she needed to rest and take it easy.

“Just a moment please. Sorry, can I…” Twilight opened the door and her eyes widened as she realized who stood on the other side.

“If this is a bad time, I can always return.” A pleasant smile on a striped face stood in the starlight outside Twilight’s door, golden rings around her neck covering the green wound that lay there as she stood with an easy grace. “You must be tired after your long sojourn.”

“Zecora!” Twilight grinned, opening the door all the way and moving up to put one leg up around her friend’s shoulder in a light hug, which the zebra returned. “It’s so good to see you up and about.”

Twilight paused, pulling away as the zebra’s smile grew more mischievous, memories of what Dr. Stable had said about keeping her for observation returning to her mind.

“Should you be up and about?” Twilight mirrored the mare’s bemused grin, realizing the answer before another word was said.

“No, but I had to get out, for my own good. I have had quite enough of hospital food.”

Twilight took a step back, a hoof beckoning the zebra to come inside. “That rhyme was a bit of a stretch,” she commented casually.

“For near three decades, I have trained my speech. I know just when a rhyme is within reach,” the zebra said slyly. “Though, not lightly do I come to see you this day. There is something I have waited many years to say.”

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions about what happened...” Twilight nodded, closing the door and moving out of the library, leading the zebra mare to the small kitchen attached to the main study.

“I have much to ask, that is true,” Zecora agreed, taking a seat, as the unicorn quickly went about boiling water for tea. “But I have a feeling that so do you.”

Twilight looked over and nodded slowly, continuing the prepare the tea as Zecora continued to speak.

“Then I will say it first to ease your mind, the events that unfolded after you left my kind.” Zecora sat back, clearly hitting the nail on the head as Twilight watched her, eager to find out what had come to past after they had rushed away. “The herds soon recovered, as did the Plains. All was well, until my sire began to show his pains.” The zebra’s eyes fell. “That most valiant of zebras, all he had done, such a ride...” Her tone turned morose. “T'was a year from our salvation when he faced his Roc with pride.”

Twilight bowed her head respectfully. “I’m so sorry, Zecora.”

“The only regret he spoke that I know, was that he did not have the chance to thank you, though.” Zecora nodded with a steadying breath. “After he passed, Zulu recovered, and to a new day he has led. With Teaka behind him to waylay the herds’ dread.”

“And Tagati?” Twilight asked.

“My mother has slowly regained what she had lost. She earned back the herds’ trust, though not without cost.” Zecora sighed. “I have not seen them in years, though I try to stay in touch. But when father passed on, I could not have remained as such. So I wandered; traveled the land. First the Plains, then the southern jungles, then camel sand. It was then that I realized how little I knew, so I traveled on a pony’s ship west, and my knowledge, it grew. For twenty years, I traveled the global stage. Adventures were had as I grew to a sage.”

Twilight was smiling as she moved to the table with a tray of piping hot tea, offering the zebra a cup as an expression of reminisce passed over her face.

“With age I grew wiser, but my hooves soon grew sore, so I settled in Everfree to see what the forest had in store.” Zecora looked up to Twilight. “I was considering leaving my hut, that I had been wrong… the day you approached me, Pinkie singing her song.” The zebra let out a halfhearted laugh. “When I saw you across the field of poison joke, I managed my warning before into a run, I broke. I spent that whole night debating what I was to do, and the next day, the prophecy you told me came true. That you were the same mare, I dared not assume, until your name was spoken by young Apple Bloom.”

Memory of that day played back in Twilight’s mind, and she remembered literally butting heads with the zebra a moment before Apple Bloom came back into the room, a saddlebag of herbal ingredients on her back. It was only after the filly had referred to Twilight by name that Zecora’s expression had changed, she realized. The unicorn couldn’t help but let out a giggle as she sipped at the hot tea.

“I told you we were being idiots.” The unicorn nodded, then set herself back, growing more serious. “But… there is one thing that I still don’t understand, Zecora. Your life depends on that potion, I mean… how could you not keep a supply of Ashmed on hoof for emergencies? How did you end up in that state in the first place?”

Zecora’s expression likewise drooped.

“I settled in the forest for just this reason, you see. A secret that I thought was known only to me,” the zebra brewmaster tried to explain. “I survived for years with my brother sending what I need, but only in the Everfree could I grow it from seed. No other place save Thunder Drum would it sprout. The magic of the forest lets anything thrive, from within or without.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course… The forest is teeming with flora from all over the world, and specimens that can’t be found anywhere else. I knew you lived there because there was a steady supply of potion ingredients, but I never realized that you were there because you needed your own.”

“Yes… but three weeks ago, I awoke one night to a thunderous crash, and found that my Ashmed was now merely ash.” Zecora shook her head, a certain degree of embarrassment in her voice as she implied she had failed to store an emergency stockpile of the vital medicine. “I spent days to discover what had gone wrong, but I could not salvage even a single prong. So, I mailed letters home, and replies were sent… As for the promised supplies, I have no clue where they went.” Zecora took a sip of her tea and sighed. “What you brought in that gourd may last me a week. But when it runs out... the sight will not be for the meek.”

“Oh! That reminds me! Wait here!” Twilight got up and dashed off, the sound of a door opening and closing as the zebra did as bid. After waiting patiently for her to return, a wrapped bundle levitating beside her was set down on the table before a smiling Twilight bid her to open it. “He said to give this to you.”

Zecora’s heart all but skipped a beat as she peeled back the package’s wrapper, exposing a bushel of fresh grey prongs, less than a day old, it seemed, with a small note on the bundle, which she brought up in a hoof quickly before Twilight could catch sight of what was written on it.

It’s not everyday one sends a bouquet of poisonous ferns to try and make amends, but I suppose there is a first time for everything. I do not know how long you were standing there, and I’m sorry if what you heard that day scared you, but while I cannot honestly deny all of Anasi’s words, I promise that what she had to say was not the whole truth. If you ever want to talk about what happened, or if you ever need help, press the button. If not, then I can promise that you will never see me again.

I cannot express in words how truly, deeply sorry I am that events came to pass as they did.

I never wanted to frighten you.

Until next we meet, should you deem it to be so,

-- The Doctor

“What does it say?” Twilight asked, taking note of how Zecora folded the message, and looking into the package to find a device of metal and plastic tied to the bundle of Ashmed, half the size of a hoof. A large blue button was set into the front of it.

“It is not polite to… That is, I should not say,” the sagely mare caught herself, amazed that she had been thrown off enough to nearly run into a sentence without a prepared rhyme in mind. “How… did you meet him, anyway?”

“The Doctor? Well, he’s… obviously a very… unique pony,” Twilight answered, a small smile on her muzzle that told Zecora far more than the unicorn may have intended. “He just kind of… fell out of the sky… and life just hasn’t been the same since.” The unicorn student looked up to the elder mare, a sudden look of hesitation crossing her face before she seemed to make up her mind and steeled herself. “You could find out for yourself, you know. Travel again? I mean, like you used to.”

“Hypocritical as it may sound, Twilight, with words, do not play. Just please come out with what you wish to say.”

“Well… I mean… you know… I’m just saying that you could… come with us.” Zecora kept her expression blank as the younger mare continued. “I know you’ve already had to have some suspicions about what we’re doing with him. I mean, you have to… after what happened in Stone-Water all those years ago and what happened yesterday. And I doubt the Princess would mind. So… come with us; with him. We can explain everything.”

Zecora bit her lip, clearly conflicted. “Tempting… Very tempting… but I must decline all the same. Adventures like that are a young mare’s game.”

“But you’re not that much older than we are.” Twilight drew back, not wanting to push herself or reveal too much, but clearly thrown off by the scholarly zebra’s refusal. “And there’s so much that we could both learn… That we could both benefit from.”

“My days of adventure are in the past, Twilight. And, honestly, what you are doing… it fills me with fright,” Zecora explained carefully, finishing her tea and setting it down before scooping up the bushel of Ashmed and setting the package carefully over her back. “I am so grateful to you, my dearest horned friend. And you know if you need me, I will be there till the end. But this stallion you run with, charging into danger most dire… Be wary around him, for he is like fire.”

Zecora sighed, making her way back to the library foyer with Twilight following her, clearly distraught by the zebra’s answer.

“Thank you so much, for the tea and your care… but to follow him with you, this I do not dare,” Zecora stated, moving to the door and opening it. “And so I bid you farewell and goodnight… and ask you take to heart my warning, Twilight.”

“Zecora…” Twilight started, causing the zebra to pause at the threshold. “Yester… I mean, twenty-six years ago, in Stone-Water, you said you had something you had to tell me. Something about the Doctor.” The zebra looked over her shoulder, a troubled gleam in her eye as she appraised the upset unicorn behind her. “…What was it?”

Zecora lowered her gaze, her tone soft and dark. “All those years ago, when we first met? I am sorry, Twilight… but… I forget.”

And with that, the zebra departed for the forest that was her home, leaving Twilight Sparkle standing in the doorway of the Books and Branches, a sad expression in her eyes as she came to a depressing conclusion.

For the first time since she had known the zebra... Zecora had just lied to her.

————————
Fluttershy’s Cottage
Outskirts of Ponyville
11:30 p.m.

Fluttershy yawned, eyes half-lidded as she maneuvered several bowls around the floor of her living room and filled them, ignoring the sting coming from the bandage on her arm where the hospital had stuck her with an IV while she had been passed out.

“There we go, everyone...” she muttered sleepily as the last bowl was filled, letting her replace the bag of pet food in her cabinet while several of her nocturnal animals, a few possums, a pair of owls, a honey badger, and a fox, move up and began to munch away happily.

Then, a soft squeak brought her attention up towards a perch where a few small bats were watching her, though they seemed hesitant to impose.

“Oh, right. Sorry, girls. Just one moment, I have a nice mango here for you,” Fluttershy told the fruit bats, her tone kind but worn as she moved into the kitchen, returning with a split bit of tropical fruit. Standing on her hind legs to set it into the bat’s food dish, she removed the pit of the large plum she had given them the night before last, and replaced it.

As tired and sore as she was, Fluttershy knew that these poor critters had been waiting for her to come home, since she had neglected to leave any notes for anypony to come and take care of them while she was...

The yellow pegasus shuddered and winced, her heart suddenly racing as she moved away from the animals happily munching away, finding her couch in the dimly lit room. There, a snow-white bunny watched her, concern in his eyes as he had clearly noticed something was off with his owner since she had come home earlier that day.

It was clear as she lay down on the chaise lounge, Angel moving to snuggle against her chest comfortingly, that he had been expecting something like this to happen all day.

It was there, in the middle of a mundane, completely normal task that she carried out just about every single night, that everything hit her at once. Everything she had seen, all the pain and suffering, the frightening, terrifying things...

Fluttershy gritted her teeth as tears welled up in her eyes.

Twilight had explained it all away as the result of intense study, finding an obscure reference to Zecora’s hidden affliction deep in the library’s collection. And while she was laying on the hospital bed, she had nodded along as the unicorn boldfacedly lied to the doctors that her state was due to having been up all through the night brewing up the treatment that had drained the venom from Zecora.

Fluttershy didn’t think that they believed Twilight at all, but they also didn’t press the subject. Nopony wanted to talk about what had happened in front of the hospital or the reason why a section of the grounds had been reduced to a dry, blackened husk of earth. No, they had let her go home after they had made sure she was hydrated and informed her to take it easy and get plenty to eat over the next few days.

And that was supposed to be that.

“...I was so scared, Angel.” Fluttershy grasped the little white bunny close to her in a tight, affirming hug. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I didn’t... I didn’t know that...”

——

“Now, if you want to come with me, I should warn you. It’s not for everybody. It won’t be quiet. It won’t be easy. It won’t be safe. It won’t be calm… If you come with me, it will change. Your. Life.”

——

Didn’t she?

Fluttershy took a breath.

He had told them, that night when they had first really met him. He told them it would be dangerous. He had given her a chance to walk away, but she had chosen not to.

She could have stayed at the hospital... but she had chosen not to.

She could have stopped at the entrance of the secret tunnel into Thunder Drum... but she had chosen not to.

She could have remained in that corridor after watching her friends fall into the blackened pit... but she had chosen not to.

And if she had... If she had just once given in to the terrible fear in her heart... she would have lost them.

*knock-knock-knock-knock*

Fluttershy gasped, looking around for a moment before recognizing the knock at her door. Drying her eyes quickly and easing the still concerned-looking Angel from his spot, she moved to the door, unsure who would possibly be visiting at this hour.

Grasping the handle, she pulled it open, and promptly froze in place.

“Hello, Fluttershy.”

“...Doctor?” The yellow pegasus shook her head, trying (and failing) not to show how surprised she was that the Time Pony had come out. He didn’t have his goggles or his vest on, just the hoofband with the watch and the sonic screwdriver that she promised herself she would never ever touch again.

It was strange now to see him in the fur like this, like any other pony, almost, particularly after watching how he handled the likes of a monster such as Anasi. She leaned her head to the side slightly, taking note of the blue police box sitting behind him before eyeing him suspiciously as he ran a nervous hoof through his mane.

“I didn’t wake you, did I? I’m still not entirely used to this idea of sleeping according to a schedule,” he offered apologetically. “Goes with the territory of only needing two hours of sleep a day. Rather throws off all concept of scheduling around it, especially when you have to set up that schedule based on linear diurnal cycle. Of course, I guess it makes sense that you wouldn’t be up as it’s almost midnight and... am I rambling?”

“A little.” Fluttershy nodded, leaning against the door, unsure of herself. “But no, I wasn’t sleeping. I was feeding my animals, the nocturnal ones.”

“Right... I, um...” The brown stallion huffed, clearly thrown off, although by what, Fluttershy couldn’t say. “I... have something I want to show you.” Fluttershy looked past the Time Pony again, towards the blue box that was sitting next to her fence. “Something I think you really need to see.”

“I don’t know, Doctor.” Fluttershy brought one hoof up to rub the side of her leg, looking away bashfully. “I don’t think I’m cut out for--”

“Just one last trip, if that’s you want... There doesn’t need to be any more if you don’t want to go,” the Doctor interrupted. “I know that giant spiders and crazy possessed zebras were not what you signed up for. But you dealt with it, and you did so very well. It takes a special kind of courage to do what I watched you do yesterday... And I wasn’t lying when I said that I was impressed.”

Fluttershy looked up to the stallion’s eyes. So sad... but from what she could judge... sincere.

“Will it be dangerous?” Fluttershy asked, looking to Angel for a moment, the bunny shaking his head frantically, trying to convince her not to go.

“No.”

“You promise?”

The stallion’s eyes softened, a small, kind smile playing over his snout as he offered his hoof. “Trust me.”

Fluttershy stood still for a moment, watching his hoof... before reaching out to take it.

————————
The TARDIS
-In Transit-

There was no violent shaking this time as the Doctor moved around the console in the center of his time machine, and for that Fluttershy was grateful, looking around as she considered the inside of the TARDIS closely for the first time.

She had never been in here with him alone before. There had always been somepony else, Twilight or the other girls, to distract her, talking about this or that. But as she didn’t want to disturb the Doctor while he worked the console, its lyrical breath-like sound echoing throughout the chamber, she did have to admit that the inside of the TARDIS was... remarkably beautiful.

“We’re here,” the Doctor stated after a moment, his tone still neutral and subdued as if he were trying to keep from frightening her.

“It didn’t shake,” Fluttershy voiced aloud, looking around. “Why didn’t it shake?”

“Because we didn’t go all that far, and we didn’t move in time, only space,” the Doctor explained, stepping up past her towards the door. “After all that you’ve been through, and after the lengths you took to save Zecora, I just thought that it would be a good idea for you to see this.”

“To see what, Doctor?” The yellow pegasus hesitantly moved up towards the doorway.

The Time Lord turned to her, standing up on his hind legs as he took hold of the handles. “What you helped make possible.”

And he moved back, pulling the door inward as bright sunlight filled the TARDIS interior.

————————
Zebrica Plains
31st of Summer, 1001 C.R., 12:00 p.m. (local time)

Fields of golden grass swayed in the warm, gentle breeze as Fluttershy emerged from the doors of the TARDIS, a look of shock playing over her face as the majestic fields seemed to roll on forever. A small lake was perched off to one side, lined with various creatures the likes of which she had never seen before outside of books, from house-sized orange and brown-coated giraffes, to rounded hippos, to smaller meerkats that darted quickly around at the edge of the waterhole.

In the distance, a set of large acacia trees could be seen, their tops green and full of life as the landscape was suddenly given a context that Fluttershy’s brain still took several seconds to recognize.

“This... this is where we landed before... when we first came to Zebrica...” She sounded stunned, her memories of the dry, desolate wasteland nearly impossible to accept as she watched the breeze ripple in the grass.

“Twenty-six years later.” The Doctor smiled, more interested in watching her reaction than the scenery, although she did not notice as the dullness in her eyes gave way to an amazed sparkle.

With one hoof, the Doctor waved towards the grassy fields, his sonic screwdriver giving a short, curt buzz. Immediately, the grass erupted with motion as hundreds of birds rushed forth, taking wing as something disturbed them from their hiding place. Their bright white feathers rippled in the sun as Fluttershy squealed in delight, her hooves shooting to her mouth in wonder.

The Time Lord smiled warmly, saying nothing.

————————

Everything happened so quickly after that moment that Fluttershy felt herself caught in a haze, like a dream that was too good to be real.

She and the Doctor moved along the Plains, the soft grass underhoof springing under their steps as they walked to a path worn with travel. They followed it a short distance to a camp-like village out in the open, amazed at the sight of dozens of zebras out in the sun. Fillies and foals of all ages were playing freely while the tents were occupied with older black-striped equines going about their business.

A single sentry, a toned stallion armed with a spear and a hoof-mounted dart gun, stopped them as they approached, but quickly bowed out of the way upon what was clearly recognition of the Hourglass Stallion, who explained to Fluttershy that he had visited earlier to check on things there.

Almost immediately upon entering the village itself, rather than receiving the cold shoulder like before, the two ponies were set upon by a dozen friendly young foals, who were all eager to meet and make friends. Taken and amazed by the pegasus’ wings, Fluttershy soon found herself the center of attention and much to her own shock, did not mind as the Doctor was approached by a familiar-looking older stallion.

His grey stripes were jagged across his body as a large shawl-like cape was set over his back, covering him from withers to dock and down his sides. The large mohawk identified the now past middle-aged Zulu to Fluttershy, realizing that, like Zecora, he covered up the marks where he had been bitten. She then found herself gripped in a powerful surprise hug from another Ash-Stripe, an elderly mare quick to explain to the gathered foals that they were in the presence of the one who had saved her life and all of their parents. Amazed at how much healthier she looked in spite of her now advancing age, Fluttershy soon after embraced Tagati like a lost sister.

As Fluttershy was introduced to Tagati’s grandfoals and all of their friends, each eager to show off as only children could, Zulu stood next to the Doctor.

“I almost did not believe what you say,” Zulu stated, his voice having grown deeper and wiser over the years that had passed. “But like yourself, she has not aged a day.”

“Oh, I don’t know... a day seems about right.” The Doctor couldn’t help but smile as Fluttershy was shown how to call the glittering white birds from hiding, one moving to land on her shoulder while another was drawn to perch atop her head.

“I did not expect to see you again so soon. But I suppose the magic of your kind allows such a boon.”

“Weeeeeell, you know, figured you'd want an update on things, and the mailing system seems to be all bungled between here and Equestria at the moment.” The Doctor nodded. “She’s fine, by the way. I’m sure Zecora will be writing to you soon. That package of Ashmed you gave me last time I was here should do the trick until she can grow her next crop. Way I figure it, she should be getting it just about now, if she hasn’t already.”

Zulu let out a relieved sigh, watching as one of his daughters, only ten years old, moved onto Fluttershy’s back, inciting the others to plead for a tale of the pony’s part in heroism. While Fluttershy finally seemed a little overwhelmed by the attention, she was saved by a clear intervention by Tagati, who quickly moved to corral the rambunctious foals.

“It does my heart good to hear she is well,” he said. “I was fearing the worst, when we learned she received not our mail. Her distance from home disturbs me still...” The zebra looked to the Hourglass Stallion, his expression clearly one of concern. “Can you say if she will come home from this ‘Ponyville’?”

“I rather doubt it, Zulu.” The Doctor shook his head. “To her, Ponyville is home. She has a life there and friends who care deeply for her.” His tone dropped, watching in muted awe at something so simple as a kind yellow pegasus laugh as she played a silly game with the foals, all of whom owed their lives to her actions. “Friends that would do anything for her,” he finished, his tone bordering on nostalgic.

“Doubt this for not even one moment, I do.” Zulu took in a breath, smiling as he watched on, clearly taking pride in the accomplishments made possible by the stallion at his side. “Fortunate your friends are... to know a pony like you.”

The Doctor’s smile faded, causing him to look to the side and away while Zulu continued to watch his children pester and play with the Fluttershy.

“Yeah... a friend like me...” the Doctor said weakly, his mind clearly not in the moment.

————————

Inside the TARDIS, up the stairs, down a set of twisting corridors and behind a small, unassuming door fitted with a triple-deadlock, was a heavy strongbox, in which three documents lay: An opened envelope with its message folded inside, a quickly jotted down paper on which was transcribed a message blown to kingdom come, and a scroll which was laid open, its faulty clasp apparently broken at precisely the right moment for its reader to take note of it.

Although their meaning was unknown, as was the mysterious circumstances of their delivery, there was no doubt in the mind of the TARDIS’ owner that they had some terrible significance that he just could not yet make out.

The most recent message remained open in the box, its words exposed for any who might see...

The Clock Strikes Three: Friendship will Fail

—Coming Soon—

—COMING SOON—

Doctor
“So, girls... where to next?”

Rarity
“I think it would be wonderful if we went someplace nopony has ever gone before.”

*Scene opens onto a great Chinese-esque palace within a crystal globe, a wondrous wintery, frozen landscape outside of it.*

“Somewhere... elegant... Regal... Exotic.”

*Scene changes to an oriental courtyard, moving rapidly into a set of large golden and scarlet doors opening.*

——

*Scene reveals a well-dressed equine, but he is clearly not a pony. He has a pair of curved horns far longer than that of any creature, stiff, wiry hairs that make up a spiky silver mane, and rather than fur, his exposed skin shimmers with sparkling white scales. He carries himself with a regal demeanor, standing over a head taller than the gathered ponies, while sporting an elegantly groomed set of whiskers and a finely combed, wispy tail.*

Lord Kir
“Welcome to Qing, Travelers from the Heavens.”

——

*A gong sets off a vibrant oriental background music.*

*Scene showing a thriving socialite upper-class existence; a lavish party among the elite to welcome their new guests.*

“Home of the last vestiges of the Quilin. I am Kir, Lord Prince of the Last City. Please, consider yourselves... friends.”

*Kir pauses as his eyes fall on Rarity, then finishes his sentence with a slightly alluring tone. He smiles at her warmly as she is equally taken.*

Rarity
“Hello~”

——

*Scenes change quickly, to Pinkie dancing on a stage, dressed in a harlequin outfit to the delight of the audience. Then to a scene of Rarity moving in an elegant dance next to Lord Kir.*

Lord Kir
“Ours is a utopian society. Protected from within and without. We have risen above petty needs and concerns, and indulge in the finer things in life.”

*Scene of Rarity, leaning into Lord Kir intimately as they stand in front of a large clear window, looking out onto a glistening frozen landscape. She is fixated on the view, but Kir is focused only on her.*

Rarity
“It’s so beautiful here. So... perfect.”

Lord Kir
“It is now.”

*Scene shows of the Doctor, who is clearly concerned as several obviously female quilin cut him off from following after Rarity and Lord Kir, who slip out from the party in the distance.*

*Scene changes, Twilight who seems amused and content to stay back and out of the formal affair, accepting a drink from a waiter, a being slightly shorter than the average pony with dull scales and short horns.*

Twilight
“I’m sorry, what was your name?”

——

*Scene with the four ponies sharing a meal around a large round table with the Lord and several other quilin who share similar traits to him, all dressed in finery. Focus on Twilight, who’s eyes narrow in concern.*

Twilight
“Now, I do have some questions about the Sai…”

*Several scenes flash by rapidly, showing more of the smaller beings with short horns, each shown working: In a kitchen, tending to a quilin’s personal grooming, massaging Rarity in a spa, and cleaning up around the city.*

*The inquiry at the meal table seems to draw out some displeasure as an elderly quilin, his wiry mane and whiskers long enough to reach the floor, offers a chastising tone.*

Unnamed Quilin Noble
“Take care, Lady Sparkle...”

*Scene interrupts, Pinkie and Twilight sneaking out of a room, down a darkened corridor.*

“Curiosity…”

*Scene of Rarity standing alone in a room, looking around in wonder at the mountainous piles of gemstones that glitter with an inner warmth.*

“...can be a very dangerous thing.”

——

*Music drops with a shrill note from the string section.*

*Scene changes to the Doctor, tapping his hoof against his lip thoughtfully.*

Doctor
“Something’s... not quite right, here.”

——

*Music comes back with a vengeance, suddenly frantic and dangerous as the oriental instruments take on an urgent edge.*

*Scene changes to a close-up of Pinkie Pie.*

Pinkie Pie
“RUUUUUUUN!”

*Scene of a large drill-head chasing after Twilight and Pinkie in a tunnel.*

*Scene of multiple quilin outside the TARDIS, clearly attempting to break in as sparks fly from an unidentified machine near the door.*

*Scene of the Doctor on a snowy bank, frost covering his face as he struggles against the biting subzero cold.*

*Scene of one of the smaller alien creatures from before with the short horns slamming a hoof against a transparent barrier, clearly terrified and attempting to get away from an unseen danger.*

*Scene of Pinkie and Twilight in a dungeon-like cell, a chill air apparent as their breath turns to steam. Twilight wears an expression of defiant agitation while Pinkie Pie, dressed in a red and black harlequin outfit with three diamond shapes on her flank, grins enthusiastically.*

Pinkie Pie
“Don’t worry! I have a plan.”

*All sound stops.*

Twilight
“Does this plan happen to involve confetti?”

*Pinkie Pie blinks once… twice.*

Pinkie Pie
“Okay, I have a new plan!”

Twilight
“...We’re doomed.”

——

*Scene comes to light with Rarity, facing a mirror that is turned away from the audience, a look of pain and anguish in her eyes as her coat seems to have dulled and her mane hangs limply along her neck and back. A shadowy figure moves around behind her, the silhouette obscure but equine in form.*

Unknown Figure
“We have conquered the cruelties of Fate.”

*Scene of Twilight, in obvious pain as she tries to push herself up, gripping onto a railing as tears form in her eyes.*

“We have bested the ravages of Time.”

*The Doctor gritting his teeth as he looks up, his coat smoking and muscles twitching before a burst of silent energy throws him back.*

“Such a flawless gem deserves to be among us...”

*Pinkie Pie is hanging onto a broken railing, her legs kicking as she tries to pull herself up.*

*The unknown figure leans forward, whispering into Rarity’s ear.*

“Our Eternal Princess...”

*Pinkie’s hoof slips as she is jostled.*

“Forever young... and beautiful.”

*The pink mare falls as a brown stallion slides into the scene, reaching over the edge... but a moment too late, as she is beyond his reach, plummeting to a certain doom.*

Doctor
"PINKIEEEE!"

——

*Scene opens up with the Doctor standing opposite of the elderly quilin noble, the grey-whiskered, horned equine smirking smugly.*

Unnamed Quilin Noble
“I always win, Doctor.”

*Focus shifts to the Doctor, whose eyes are red and shimmering with suppressed tears, glaring angrily, a hint of terrible sadness clear in his expression as the camera slowly closes in on him.*

“Can you say the same?”

—————————————————————————————

What lies beneath perfection?

Doctor Whooves: The Series - Episode Four
“Only Skin Deep”