A Journey Across

Book 2 - Revenge of the Doctor

Chapter 6 - Apocalypse

Present Day - Canterlot

Twilight had the group reunite in the throne room. Jeb, like always, had this grin on his face from which she was never sure if it was madness or just pinkie. Beside him stood Rose and the doctor. The remaining Elements of Harmony had gathered behind them.

She had thought long about what to say to them, but now it was even harder speaking it out loud, "from what the doctor was able to tell me, he once encountered something similiar to Entropy. The bad news first.  I believe that he cannot be killed." - Pinkie gasped loudly - "But we have still the plan to repeat Jeb's experiment to atleast stop him. The doctor believes that the same event here may defeat Entropy for a while.

"Jeb's ship will be equipped with a better forcefield to protect this universe from collapsing. The explosion itself should be strong enough to stabilize the other universes. According to the doctor he, Rose and Jeb will be sucked back to their universes. If all of this plays out well we should atleast rob Entropy of his power."

For a while nobody said anything. Suddenly a loud and slow clapping was heard. Not a clapping from hooves or human hands. It was the dry clapping of a 4 fingered hand with elongated digits.

Entropy stood at the entrance, in the form of a human, smiling like he heard the best joke ever. "Great Twilight. Great. YOU figured it out. And the doctor. Such good people..." - the irony in his voice was almost painful - "But there is one teeny tiiny fact you forgot."

He paused shortly to let his presence sink in before he shouted, so loud that even the Royal Canterlot Voice would sound like a whisper against it, "I. AM. A. GOD!" He laughed at the shock in the faces he saw.

Behind him Luna and Celestia stormed into the room, alerted by the loud voice. They stopped in the same instant they saw Entropy.

"Why don't you go to the others, my dear princesses?" his voice drooling with played politeness. Entropy teleported them over to the doctor.

"Now I would like to have a chat with you. But I am kind of busy. I have to find a place to call home" - the last word gave all of them a shiver - "and I think I found one," he looked around as if he was thinking about where to place the furniture.

"You know, I don't like this whole all-white-marble-and-stained-glass-windows thing you did here Celestia," his voice reaching another high point of irony, "I think I have to tear down some walls. Just for fun. I suggest to start running now."

Before anyone could react he pulled out a radio with his creepy hands, pressed the transmit button and spoke into it, "General. You are free to fire on the target in 4 minutes. Continue fire until target is destroyed. Out"

A quiet voice answered, "Yes, sir. Confirmed. T minus 4 minutes. Over and Out."

The radio disappeared. For a few seconds they stood there, not grasping what just happened.

"It's just nice to be able to summon an army at will." - he paused shortly - "You need any help with the running? I won't give you this chance twice," he laughed. His maniac grinning took over his face before he disappeared like the radio.

The first one who reacted was the doctor. "RUN!", he screamed, galloping down the throne room. The others immediately followed. On their way out they alerted as many guards possible to rescue the citizens.

While they ran down the road to Canterlot, only a few ponies followed them. Rose looked at her watch. "We have 1 minute left," she exclaimed to the doctor.

They kept running, fueled by fear and adrenaline.

When the group brought a good distance between them and the castle they heard it. A high pitched buzzing came from the sky. Not a second later the sound stopped and a loud explosion ripped apart the whole Canterlot Castle at once. They heard more of the noises. 27 detonations on Canterlot. Each hit another part of the city. Each detonation was followed by screams of dying or wounded ponies, as they were hit by debris or set aflame by the bombs.

When the bombing was over, nothing was standing. A big hole gaped where the city and castle had been. Nothing had been left.

Celestia and Luna fell down, crying out their pain to the world. Their howling was even heard in ponyville, where the detonations had been seen. They screamed out the suffering, like a animal suddenly struck in the heart, knowing its last moments had come. The ponies who heard it, shared that pain. Many stood on the streets either paralyzed or sobbing.

For Twilight a whole world collapsed, the structures of her mind giving in, allowing madness to fill out the spaces that the bombs tore. Her left eye twitched.

Pinkie was sitting, watching the chaos unfolding, her mane fully deflated and her mind grinding to a halt. She couldn't think anymore. All her happiness was gone. Maybe for ever. Every part of it grinded away.

Rarity fainted, her brain seeking for retreat in sight of the flames and the blood. Nobody paid attention to her. Everyone was busy with himself.

Rainbow Dash had lost her confidence. All the wit in her was vanished. The utter shock of something, that you could call the execution of a whole city, had given her ego a bump. Tears ran down her cheeks. She now knew how small and unimportant she was.

The only three seemingly untouched by the event were the Doctor, Jeb and Fluttershy. Jeb was shocked but couldn't show it. He simply had not the necessary muscles or tubes. If he could he would burst into tears.

The Doctor and Fluttershy had something in their eyes. You could see the same thing in someone who had seen the horrors in war. Something between rage and fear. A beast living deep below, ready to always strike back no matter what happened.

Fluttershy couldn't believe someone would kill that brutaly and that many for no other reason than to build himself a new home or even just for fun. The floodgates in her head, that had caged her in all of her life, broke and revealed something new. The innocence was replaced by something awful. Every fear in her turned to rage. Fluttershy swore to herself that if she would ever get her hooves on Entropy, she would tear him apart. Slowly and painfully. She would make sure it was as long and painful as possible.

Thoughts raced through the doctor's head. He didn't want to see what happened but his eyes were locked on Canterlot. He had seen similiar things before, in the great Time War. In other wars. With the daleks. With the cybermen. But never from a single person just summoning an army, kill everything in sight and then dissappear, all for no better reason than having fun.

It took them over an hours to get moving on, still hearing the screaming and crying of dying ponies. From the thousands of ponies in Canterlot, only 55 survived the attack. 12 more died on their way to Ponyville, defeated by their wounds.

The attack of Entropy on Canterlot had cost 13764 ponies and 1 baby dragon their lifes. Only 2261 died instantly in the explosions, the rest suffered, set afire or hit by debris, just waiting for it to end, alone.

The baby dragon was on his way to get back to Twilight after a 5 week trip through the crystal empire. His body had been ripped apart by one of the bombs landing 30 meters beside him. Even though many of his wounds were fatal, he was conscious for minutes until his heart made a last beat.

Deep below Canterlot

A line printer jerked over paper. It printed multiple lines before coming to a hold and resetting the head to the left:

Second signal detected and confirmed.

- Average Seismic Strength: 4.3, Impacts: 27

Pressure equalization in progress.

Awaiting third signal.

Awaiting secondary signal.

Cryogenic chamber intact. Vital parameters normal.

Somewhere behind the printer stood the mainframe. It's bulky casing connected with hundreds of different cables. A metal plate had been fixed to its front. Words, that had not been seen by anypony for over thousand years, were imprinted in it:

May the gods have mercy on our souls,

not for what we did

but for why we did it.

- Doctor & Rose