Torchwood: Equestria - The Yesteryears

Prologue

The Legend of Torchwood

Present Day Canterlot...

It was around mid-afternoon when the young, purple filly had finally completed her more practical magic studies for the day. That is, the actual practice of magic. She had decided to go for just the basics today: levitation, a simple stunning spell, that sort of thing, opting to save the whole of her brain power for her second favorite past-time, brain-cramming. This didn't just mean magic, but history, mathematics, theoretical sciences, you name it.

Bluntly speaking, she was a bit of a nerd. But hey, nerds make the world go round', don't they? Plus, she had a particular curiosity she needed quenching... one pertaining to her mentor, and there was only one place where she could do it.

"Twilight Sparkle," the solar guard, Day Tripper, beamed at her, currently standing guard outside of the semi-off-limits Star Swirl the Bearded Wing of the Canterlot Archives. "You're a little early for today. Got an exam or something tomorrow?"

"Naw, I just missed you, is all," Twilight said, teasing her as she normally did.

"Hehe, well glad you've been thinking about me," she grinned. "You're the only one who ever seems to visit this section. It can get pretty lonely, ya know? Well, anyway, nuff about me, knowing you you probably want to dive right in, right? Lemmie open the gates for ya."

"Thanks, Day Tripper!" Twilight smiled.

After a few more words, the two parted ways, and Twilight began her epic book binge of the day. Soon, the largest wooden table in the wing was covered in books of all sizes and topics, completely obscuring its once-polished figure. Twilight, however, payed the mess no mind as her eyes darted back in forth through the latest book on history she had procured.

"Hmmm," Twilight said, tapping her chin. "There really aren't that many records on the Pre-Solar Era. Why, though? There's plenty of them about anything before..."

"Twilight?" a voice called from outside the archives.

"Huh? Spike?" Twilight blinked, glancing over her shoulder towards the door.

"Looks like someone's ordered delivery," Day Tripper called. "Go right on in, my draconian friend."

"Thanks, Day Tripper," Spike beamed, before pitter-pattering over to Twilight, a plate holding a daisy sandwich in his claws. "Hey, Twilight! Thought you might be hungry."

"No time to eat, Spike," Twilight said dismissively, before turning back to her book. "My studies. They need me."

"Needs? You mean you need them, right?" Spike muttered.

"But they're the preccciouusssss," Twilight said, smirking down at him.

"Then we probably should do the same thing they did in The Lord of the Golden Horseshoe and chuck your 'precious' into an active volcano," Spike joked. "Seriously, don't you want to eat anything?"

Twilight sighed. "Fine, alright- I suppose a little break could do to refuel my brain."

Spike smiled proudly. "Great, I'm sure you're really going to-"

With that, she levitated the sandwich to her mouth and ate it in two chomps.

"-Like it?"

"Mmm, yummy!" Twilight giggled. "There, problem solved. Thanks, Spike!"

Spike face-clawed. "Ugh, I spent like ten minutes making that. I even got rare Eastern Sea Sea Salt for it! Yet you finish it in ten seconds."

"... The aftertaste is still there," Twilight noted, flipping a page in her book. "Sorry Spike, but I'm on a quest."

Spike gazed at her blankly. "A quest to throw away all things meaningful in life?"

"No," Twilight grunted. "A quest to figure out why Princess Celestia won't talk about anything from a thousand years ago!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "I noticed a gap in the historical records a month or so ago when it came to what happened right before the Solar Era, when Princess Celestia started ruling alone."

"Wait? Started ruling alone," Spike said, looking at her oddly. "I thought she always ruled alone like... er... since... ever? My point is that she's old. Don't tell her I said that."

"No," Twilight said, flipping another page, before pointing at a picture on it, one that featured an archaic painting of not only Princess Celestia, but another alicorn besides her, one with a coat of blue who sat beneath a dazzling moon. "Look at this. There's another princess there, don't you see?"

"Well, yeah, but..."

Twilight cut him off. "And that isn't the first book I've seen this other princess in! Starswirl mentions her a lot in one of his journals. She was called 'Luna'. As in, 'moon.' Celestia hasn't always controlled the sun and the moon, she once only had to do half the work. Luna did the other half!"

"How come Celestia never mentions her, then?" Spike blinked. "And uh... what happened to her? Did she die or something? This sounds a little far-fetched..."

"I'm still looking into that," Twilight grumbled. "And you know what's weird? I asked Princess Celestia that same thing, just uh... a little less bluntly... and she dodged the topic! I asked her again and she said her memories were hazy of those days... I knew she was lying. She doesn't ever lie."

"Spooky," Spike nodded. "Ya know, for once, I think you might actually be onto something that's not completely boring!"

"Thanks," Twilight said, giving him a blank look of statue-like proportions.

"You're welcome," Spike smiled cheekily. "Seriously, this sounds like one of those old conspiracy novels, like the Pony Lisa Conspiracy book thing..."

"Yeah," Twilight said, suppressing a chuckle. "Still, I don't think she's trying to hide anything from me. I think it's simply a matter of her not wanting to talk about those days- maybe something really bad happened that still haunts her."

"I couldn't imagine anything haunting the princess," Spike said.

"And that's why it's so intriguing to me," Twilight nodded. "Besides, why risk making the princess sad when I can just look into it myself? There's something about this period of time that is just... fascinating. And the other princess is just the tip of the iceberg. Look!"

She flipped to another series of pages, apparently under the category of a figure named, 'The Captain.' The opening picture of the section featured another, archaic looking painting of a blueish Pegasus wearing an old-style military coat standing side by side with Princess Luna. They seemed to be locked in battle with some sharp-toothed... thing... in an ancient, stormy woodland.

"Who's that guy?" Spike asked, blinking slightly.

"I'm not sure," Twilight said, tapping her chin. "He's called 'The Captain', from what I understand. In any other circumstance, I'd just assume that he some sort of high ranking member of the military who helped Princess Luna, but reading on-"

"Hey, it's that guy!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What guy?"

"That pony, right there!" Spike pointed to a picture of a peculiar looking pony with an hour-glass for a cutie mark standing with not only 'The Captain', but Princess Luna and Celestia. "It's the guy with the thing!"

"What thing?!"

"The hour-glass!" Spike said, smiling nostalgically. "Don't you remember the storybooks you used to read me when I was really little? He was called the Raggedy Pony, or Dr. Whoop or something, remember? He traveled in this crazy blue box and had all sorts adventures..." He paused, before bellowing dramatically: "IN TIME AND SPAAAAACE!"

"The Dr. Whooves Adventures?" Twilight blinked, before shaking her head rapidly. Suddenly, those eyes widened in realization. "Of course... of course! It makes sense! Dr. Whooves... and The Doctor..."

"Doctor who? Whooves?" Spike blinked.

"Exactly!"

"I'm confused..."

"The Doctor!" Twilight grinned. "Another mythical figure, one more obscure than even Princess Luna! He's just like the Captain, and has been associated with him, according to this book! And just like the Captain, he's appeared in different time periods, some thousands of years before Princess Luna disappeared from the records!"

Twilight suddenly grinned widely, a manic, light-bulb summoning look Spike had seen all too often. Suddenly, she began to dance about the room. "We could be dealing with two, previously undiscovered masters of time travel! Or even more intriguing, immortals!" She then paused, furrowing her brow. "But they seem to pop up a lot in the age before Luna disappeared, even though that period lacks much historical documentation... why?"

"Who knows?" Spike shrugged.

"I will!" Twilight proclaimed. "Soon... we just need to do more digging. We'll dig and we'll dig until we reach the absolute truth!"

"But... I wanted to take a nap," Spike frowned.

"Sleep is for the weak! Drink some coffee!"

"I'm only eight years old!"

"Decaf!"

"But that won't do anything!"

"Ugh! Fine, go get yourself a Pony Cola. My treat!"

"But..." Spike sighed, defeated. "Fine, alright... I'll help."

"Yeeeees!" Twilight grinned, before taking several deep breaths. "Right, right... we need to settle down and think."

Spike gave her an annoyed look. "We?"

"Us. Me. Whatever!" Twilight groaned. "Right... right- Okay, so what do we know?"

"That you're possibly insane?" Spike snarked.

"Spike!"

"In a good way!" he quickly added.

"Come on, help me think!"

"Right... Gotha," Spike said, tapping his forehead. "Alright, so we know... we know that Princess Celestia may or may not have had help ruling a long time ago."

"Right..."

"-And that that other ruler may have been associated with another legendary figure called 'The Captain'."

"Right."

"And The Captain may have been associated with Dr. Whooves, AKA, the Doctor, apparently... who stars in a children's novel series, apparently."

"Right!" Twilight beamed. "Good job, Spike!"

"Hehe, no problem," Spike winked. "Someone's got to keep your thoughts organized."

"Haw haw haw," Twilight said, rolling her eyes, before glancing down at the book. "Haw?"

"Huh?"

"Huh!"

"Eh?"

"Hmm..."

"... I'm breaking this," Spike grunted. "What's caught your eye?"

"This," Twilight said, gesturing towards another archaic looking painting.

"So? It's just the Captain and Princess Celestia..."

"Yeah, but look at her face," Twilight said, pointing at her. "Is it just me, or does she seem kind of... angry...?"

"More like constipated," Spike said, pointing at the painting claimed to have been made by someone called 'Pepperton'. "This art kind of sucks."

"Spike!" Twilight growled. "Don't respect my mentor like that! Even if it's kind of funny!"

"That's an excuse in and of itself," Spike said, sticking his tongue out. "Besides, I was only making fun of the artist. Some of the other artwork looks much better." He pointed at one that was said to be made by someone called 'Luswing'.

"Huh, that does look a lot better," Twilight blinked.

"But yeah, anyway... that's weird, too. Princess Celestia never gets angry- not even that time when I accidentally fire-portaled her phoenix to the Badlands. She just sort of frowned about it sternly."

"Yes, it was horrible."

"And funny," Spike grinned, before receiving a glare from Twilight. "But mostly horrible." He quickly coughed, changing the subject. "Anywho, so what do you think Princess Celestia was so angry about?"

"Mmm," Twilight said, still reading through the text. "Hang on... huh... curious..."

"Sharing is caring," Spike pleaded.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well, it just seems that this Captain had some sort of affiliation with what the book calls a 'rogue Equestrian order of guardians...'"

"Oooo, like some kind of order of knights?" Spike said, quickly scurrying next to Twilight and beginning to read along. "Huh..."

"What?"

"Just a word... I'm not sure how to pronounce it..."

"Where? Did you read ahead?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, look over here," he said, pointing a claw at the particular spot. "Erm... Tor- Torch... Wood? Torchwood."

"Yup, you got it right," Twilight nodded.

"Any idea what it means?"

Twilight scratched her head, before reading through the particular section of the book. "Wood that's meant for igniting to illuminate darkened areas?"

"Very funny," Spike said, giving her a sarcastic look.

"Just taking a page out of your book," Twilight said, sticking her tongue out before focusing back on the book. "You know, I think... I think this was what that 'order of knights' was called. And..."

"What?"

Twilight squinted. "Huh, one of the names 'The Captain' had over the years... it's a bit... odd."

"Well, what is it? It can't be that weird," Spike shrugged. "Your name is Twilight Sparkle, after all."

She ignored him. "It says he was once called..." Twilight glanced directly at him. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Jack Harkness?" Spike said, lifting an eyebrow. "What the heck kind of name is that?!"

Twilight merely shook her head, before, in a baffled tone, simply stated:

...

"I don't know."

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