Torchwood: Equestria- Parallel Loose Ends

At first, Tim Star kept his focus on his magic, only feeling a mild disturbance in his dream. The rift into the void opened, and stars already began to die. Planets, solar systems, galaxies, bit by bit fell into nothingness. Reality returned to its rightful state. In the end, he'd be consumed by the void as well, but that was no concern. He'd traveled to the void, felt its presence, endured its torture, seen the truth.

Yet somehow, through all his planning, through all his power, four beings slipped through the cracks and stood in his way. Now he noticed their approach, and cursed Luna for using others as a barrier. He'd have to lose focus on his own magic to fight, while she sat happily in the background, merely keeping the four inside the dream realm.

As for those of his own reality, Tim would deal with them through force. But Jack slept in his testing hospital. Tim looked into Jack's mind, saw his life, and knew exactly how to deal with him.

**

Remember that you're in a dream. Luna gave that final piece of advice before sending the Torchwood team through an incomprehensible tunnel, across dimensions, to Ayumu's resting place, where he exerted his power. That advice lingered on their minds. Whatever power they needed was at their command, if they could bring themselves to imagine it.

The four landed in a flash of light, and stood upon an open, moonlit grass field. Despite the night sky of the dream, the flat field appeared well lit, as if the moon and distant stars in the fake sky shone as brightly as Earth's sun. They didn't find Ayumu upon entering his dream, rather, they found a human male standing before them. Wing, Cazan, and Ruby didn't even recognize the species, but Jack knew the man better than most.

“Ianto?” he called out.

“Jack?”

Jack stood paralyzed at the sight of him. Ianto was dead, this couldn't be real. Parallel universes existed, maybe this was some other version of him. In his shock of seeing the man he once loved, the man who died because of him, he forgot to question which one was true.

“Jack, I've missed you so-”

An ear-piercing crack echoed through the open field, shattering the silence of Ayumu's dream night. Ianto trembled, and brought a hand up to his chest. Blood poured out onto the fingers that reached for his heart.

“No!”

Ianto collapsed, and Jack ran to him. “No, I won't let you die again!” he said, struggling to lay Ianto out flat. He tugged at clothing with his teeth, cursing his hooves. He watched as the grass beneath him stained red.

In that moment, Wing understood Jack. He remembered Jack talking to him about this before. Anyone Jack loved died before his eyes, either in a flash of suspense, or over the years until old age became too much. He'd told Wing this, but only now did he fully understand.

“Ianto, don't leave me,” Jack said. He sat down on his haunches and clutched Ianto's shaking hand between his front hooves. “Please...”

“H-how...” Ianto coughed, splattering blood onto his cheeks. “H-how could you let this happen to me...”

Distracted by this sudden occurrence, but not consumed by it, Ruby and Cazan scanned the open field for any sign of who fired the shot. If Luna sent them to kill Ayumu from within a dream, then they could die too. They were in danger.

Yet there was nothing. Just an open field, a night sky, the four of them, and someone Jack once knew.

“Jack, I don't like this,” Ruby said. “This is Ayumu's dream, something's wrong, this can't be real.”

As Jack held Ianto, his dying lips curled into a smile. His entire form shifted, remolded, into an orange unicorn, with a red mane and tail. Before Jack could step back, a blast of magic rocketed out from Ayumu's horn, and Jack soared into the air, crashing back down. The next moment, Jack's body disappeared.

**

Jack sat up in bed, gasping for air. Looking around, he was back in the bedroom that all of Torchwood shared to make this mission possible. The other three and Luna still slept, though his teammates tossed and turned.

Now Jack saw if the mind thought itself to be dead, the body would die with it. He let his guard down, and experienced dying from a dream first-hand. He looked to Luna, and though her body slept, her face tightened in concentration, luminescent trails of magic connecting her to the three living members of Torchwood, the connection between her and Jack severed.

He should have known it was fake. He lost himself in Ianto's eyes the moment he saw them. He didn't dare try and disturb Luna, get himself back in. Now, because of his carelessness, Torchwood fought without their leader. All Jack could do was sit, curse himself for his mistake, and hope.

“Think of something, anything, defend yourself.”

It came out as a murmur, but Jack heard Ruby speak. He rushed over to his three teammates. He couldn't see what went on, but talking in one's sleep seemed to literally apply here.

**

“Jack!”

In a rage, Ruby whipped her laser pistol forward, blasting two shots right at Ayumu's head. He flashed out of existence, but that part didn't confuse her. She wondered at how she got her laser pistol. Right now, it should be resting tucked away inside a small, white drawer, right next to her bed.

A dream, she thought to herself.

It wasn't her pistol. Ayumu didn't possess the ability to shapeshift. This was a battle of the minds. Willpower against willpower.

“Think of something, anything, defend yourself,” Ruby told Cazan and Wing. “Remember what Luna said.”

Their dream space once again held nothing but themselves and the open, grass field. Only the stain of blood lingered from Jack and Ayumu's encounter, Ayumu was nowhere to be seen.

Wing fell back on his training. His wings carried him into the air, and a long, sharp spear materialized in his front hooves. He forced himself to accept the dream, accept that he could do more. Soon he surrounded himself with spears, each rotating around him, forming a defensive wall.

Cazan conjured no weapon. He took a different approach to the dream, and instead, perked his ears. “I can hear him...” Cazan muttered. He strained to listen, strained to push the boundaries of physical ability, let go of the reality left behind in Canterlot. He heard Ruby's hooves pace atop the blades of grass. He heard her mane shift along her neck as she whirled her head. He heard the ever so gentle gust of wind from Wing's rotating spears. And he heard something behind him.

The griffon whirled, and Ayumu's blast of magical power decimated the grass where Cazan stood moments ago. He shot again, and again, each time missing by mere inches as Cazan leaped away. Wing expected to throw the spear in his hooves, instead he found his mind hurling a piece of his spinning defense at the unicorn. Stronger laser blasts jetted out from Ruby's location; Wing looked to see a much higher caliber rifle now held in place by her magic.

Ayumu disappeared once more, avoiding each assault that sought to end his life. His voice then echoed throughout the field, coming from everywhere, and nowhere. “Were it not for the spell I must hold to change our fate, I could kill you all now.”

“Last time I checked, three of us and one of you,” Ruby said. “We've got three minds to conjure up a way to stop you.”

“And quite creative minds they are, aren't they? A gun, some sticks, and acute hearing,” Ayumu said. “At least the griffon tried.”

The team knew that with each passing second, Ayumu's spell neared completion. Wing looked around, trying to find the source of Ayumu's voice. As his head circled, so too did his arsenal of floating spears, and Wing realized their naivety. Despite some improvements, the dream still seemed too real to them.

Wing shook his head, forcing out the instinct that he looked upon reality. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened again. When he did, he saw through Ayumu's invisibility.

Before Ayumu could realize Wing's discovery, three spears shot at him, and one made a mark. The tip of the third spear gouged into Ayumu's right foreleg, and he howled in pain. Ruby quickly fired more shots; this time Ayumu dodged with his previous lightning reflexes. But Wing saw the added strain on Ayumu's face, the clench of his teeth, the flare of his nostrils. Where the spear hit didn't matter, Ayumu wasn't actually there. Wing hurt his mind, and that's what they needed.

Ruby dug into her willpower to dodge the blasts of magic that responded to her laser fire. More and more of the lush grass burned to ashes from Ayumu's power. He paused his assault, and touched down in front of them all. Neither side made a move.

“Your minds have not opened to the void,” Ayumu said. “It doesn't matter how hard you try to accept the dream. I have lived in dreams for years...”

Ruby interrupted Ayumu with laser blasts from two rifles and a small cannon. “Shut up.”

Cazan pushed himself more, teleporting behind Ayumu and lunging at him with oversharpened claws. But Ayumu moved faster, and caught Cazan off guard with a breath-robbing buck to his stomach. Losing focus, Cazan fell back, struggling to inhale. He looked up too late to see the orb of magical energy that surged down to end his life.

**

Cazan's bed shook violently, and Jack rushed to his side. He bowed his head as a small trickle of blood escaped Cazan's mouth. The magical connection between him and Luna faded, and the griffon let out his last breath.

Jack fell into a sitting position, unable to bring his eyes up to his now dead friend. “Please, Wing,” he whispered. “Please, Ruby...”

**

Ayumu smiled. “Who's next?” he asked. “We can keep playing this charade, where the free half of my brainpower is sufficient to destroy you, or we can sit here and stare at each other until we are all one with the void.”

Ruby stomped her hoof on the ground, her breath heavy and aggravated. Wing returned to the ground, and stood in silence. It seemed that each time he or Ruby adapted their mind to the absence of reality's rules, Ayumu's seasoned, trained abilities already out-thought them again.

They had to do more than just attack with brute force. They had to reach for the detective side of Torchwood, out-think Aymu, despite their inability to out-dream him.

A thought struck Wing's mind. For a moment, he questioned it due to the outcome, then realized it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Ayumu died. He focused again, forgetting reality's rules, and sent a message to Ruby's mind.

Ruby, I hope you can hear me. I'm imagining that I can talk to ponies with my mind, and if I'm getting through, I can tell you my plan. I need you to get a much bigger gun. Get it above Ayumu. He wouldn't imagine that you'd try to hit him if I was in the way.

Wing glanced at Ruby out of the corner of his eye. She stood still, but blinked twice in a row. Wing couldn't ask for more confirmation that she heard. He only hoped she did.

His thoughts turned to Jack as he prepared to step forward. The look on Jack's face when whoever Ayumu mimicked fell dead on the ground. A pain so relentless, so unending, so unavoidable. Wing had debated if he should want what he wanted. He knew now that the answer was no. He began to whisper, only half-hoping Jack might hear his words. He talked anyway.

“Jack, I don't know if you're still here, still in this dream, since you can't die,” he said. “But I need to get this off my chest whether you're here or not. If we succeed, you'll be back in your own world. You may still remember this, you may forget. If you remember, I want... I want you to stay in your world. You gave me that drink you promised, your debt is paid. I wish I could say I'll never forget all you did for me, if I knew I wouldn't. But you've seen me die once. Almost twice. We know what will happen if you stay, and I didn't really see it until now. You don't deserve to suffer the sight of me dying again. If you remember this, don't repeat your decision. Stay in your world. Be happy, and remember me alive.”

Wing flinched; something brushed against the side of his neck. He reached up a hoof, but nothing was there.

“So, stand around and wait it is,” Ayumu said, sitting down on his hind legs. “Half of reality is gone already. Luck seems to be in your favor, the void is yet to suck the Earth you sleep on out of existence.”

Wing let out a shout, and ran towards Ayumu, the spears around him spinning faster. Ayumu smiled, ready to dodge even a point blank attack. Ruby couldn't even back him up, his path put himself between the two of them.

Ruby couldn't bear the thought of killing Wing, even knowing it didn't matter. She closed her eyes, and thought about a memory from a few years ago.

“Come on, can I try it once?” Nicole asked.

“Why?” Ruby rolled her eyes.

“Because our missions will probably never require use of it,” she said. “Come on, Captain, we're in deep space. Just once?”

Ruby nodded. “Alright, fine. Charge it up.”

Wing advanced on Ayumu, his wall of spears spinning faster and faster. Ayumu grew bored with the pegasus's determined face, and conjured a claw of blue smoke with his magic. The claw extended its fingers, then rushed forward to meet Wing's throat.

He ducked, but so did the claw, and soon its grip clasped around his windpipe, crushing with unbelievable force. Wing coughed, his wall of spears clattered to the grass below, and he failed to bring in any new air to his lungs.

As his life faded away, and Wing fell to the ground in front of Ayumu, he looked up towards the sky. He didn't feel sad, or scared, or anything he expected to feel in his last moments. If he could breath, he'd have simply chuckled at his discovery of irony. Jack shouldn't feel too bad about his mistake. They just beat Ayumu with the same trick.

Ayumu's eyes focused on the weapons Ruby held in front of her. Far above them, coasting through the dream's night sky, the EUIC Wanderer charged its defensive weapon system. A photon blaster took aim on Ayumu's position, and fired.

This time, he didn't dodge.

**

If someone spent a hundred years or so with Princess Luna, she might be able to explain the mechanics of what happened next. In order to bring back the reality that the Doctor erased, Tim Star needed to maintain a powerful spell within the dream realm. Though events began to change, until Tim's spell took permanence, the universes experienced a fake reality, one that was not yet set in stone. The spell acted like a balloon, growing larger and larger, pushing against time and space. With Ayumu's death, the balloon popped.

The tear in reality collapsed. Planets, stars, galaxies, universes, shot back into existence, unaware that anything wrong ever occurred. In truth, since Tim's spell remained unfinished, nothing ever did. The only thing that changed was Tim Star. His connection to the void pulled him in while the rest of reality came back, and he was no more.

Luna remembered the courage of Torchwood once time fell back into place. With her powers in the dream realm, she always will. But whether Torchwood would recall their first time meeting, their decision to form a team, their life-saving missions, would be left to chance.

**

Galaxy O, Sector 5
46th Century

“Jump complete, beginning standard orbit around Kevvis 4,” Nicole reported.

Ruby looked out the Wanderer's window and admired the planet below. “No problems with the jump?” she asked.

“No, captain.”

“We're at the right planet this time?”

“This time?” Nicole glanced at Ruby. “We've never jumped to the wrong planet.”

“Right,” Ruby said, nodding. “Sorry, I was thinking about a different time. Some old friends.”

**

Earth
Equestria
21st Century

“Enter.”

After knocking politely, the royal guard pony opened the door. “Princess, he is here as requested.”

“Thank you, let him in.”

A male griffon stepped into Luna's study. “I am honored by such a private invitation, princess,” he said as the door closed behind him.

“Thank you for coming, Dr. Cazan,” Luna said. She closed the book resting on the midnight-blue desk in front of her, and levitated it to one of the many shelves that lined the back wall. The sun already disappeared from the sky, so an assortment of scented candles provided the room with a gentle, yellow light that smelled of flowers. “I called you here for a proposition. Celestia has approved of a new initiative I believe our nation needs. I got the idea from an old friend, and now I'm looking for candidates to fill this position.”

Cazan looked puzzled. “What sort of position?”

“A special team that I will be calling Torchwood,” Luna replied.

Cazan sat down in front of her. “Well, I'm flattered that you think me fit for something so new,” he said. “Tell me more.”

**

Late 21st Century

“But princess, I've only just arrived,” Wing said hastily. “Why would you want to remove me from the royal guard?”

“You can relax, ensign, it is not for something bad, quite the opposite,” Luna replied. “You may not see why at this moment, but you have the aptitude to be part of a small, special team. A team I created about six decades ago. Have you ever heard of Torchwood?”

Wing paused. “It sounds familiar, but... no, I haven't,” he said. He was shocked to find out he'd never heard of some royal guard assignment that's existed for sixty years.

Luna let out a quiet sigh, but continued. “In a sense, this team does not exist,” she said. “Should you decline this offer, what I say in this room tonight must never leave. Let me tell you more.”

**

The Doctor's Universe
Earth
21st Century

The school stood out among the other buildings nearby. Painted pink, with the heads of golden horses adorning the edges of the roof. Windows spaced themselves evenly along the outer walls, and glass doors marked the entrance to Canterlot High.

Outside the front entrance stood a beautiful white statue of a horse, balanced on its hind legs, rearing up in a pose of triumph. A man with sleek back hair and a long overcoat stood in front of the statue, not looking at the horse, but the space beneath it, part of the carved white block that held the horse a small distance above the ground. The day was long over; no students questioned what some strange man was doing staring at a statue, no campus security or teachers approached to ask who he was. The school was quiet.

For a long while, he stood, his eyes fixed on the seemingly unimportant portion of the statue. Any passerby would call him lost in thought. His head bowed slightly, his hands remained in his pockets, his breaths were slow. He looked to be debating something, and whether or not the statue was involved in this debate, or if that's just where he happened to stop and think, no one would be able to tell.

For a long while, he stood, his eyes fixed on the seemingly unimportant portion of the statue. Then he turned and walked away, disappearing in the night.

The End

**

Author's Afterthought- I love this story because I hate it

I don't like this story that much. Hate is a bit too strong a word, but I'm not a fan of this like I am of my first story. The pacing is off, the story as a whole doesn't feel quite right, there are several parts that I think lack the literary quality I wanted to achieve. Also, my interest in My Little Pony sort of fizzled out several months before the fic was done, and I think that had a negative effect on it. However, it is because of these dislikes that I love this story. I'm seriously considering my desire to become a writer. It's been around since I can remember, though as a little kid I wrote a dozen or so chapter 1's to stories, then quickly forgot them and played with pokemon cards. But now, after two complete stories, both long enough to qualify as a novel, I see the potential of that future. I think it's time to go for it.

I have a lot to learn if I'm truly going to become a writer. And that's why I love this fic. Everything I dislike about it, everything that I find wrong about this fic, is now a learning experience for the future. There are two key points of things I learned from this fic, that I wanted to share with any reader who's curious. If you are curious, read on.

First, my opinion doesn't matter. Despite the dislikes for this fic that I listed from my own point of view, since I started work on this fic and through to the end, readers have praised it, praised me, and begged for more. My mom loves both this fic and the one before it. While sometimes pesky things like love for their sons can get in the way of honest mothers, I don't think she's lying this time. I don't think she'd sit through two books about My Little Pony, having never watched the show herself, unless she liked it. But even if not, the most brutally honest people in the world, readers on the internet, have given it praise. People on the internet tend to let you know in colorful ways if they hate your work.

If I'm going to become a writer, if I succeed, there may come a time where a piece of fiction I hate is the fan favorite. And that's ok, because it's not about me. I write because I enjoy it, but more so because other people enjoy it. It doesn't matter that I don't like this fic that much. You guys did.

Second, write a story from start to finish, without pausing. This fic took a while to complete because I worked on other hobbies at the same time, or wrote short stories on other websites. I was starting to feel that doing so was a bad idea. I was losing the feel for the pace of the fic, losing the energy to tell the story. Sure enough, what happens just a few days before writing this final chapter? I'm reading Stephen King's On Writing, and he tells readers exactly that. He says that writers should write every day, not stopping on one story until it's done, or they'll lose touch with it. This guy could have added my name to the end of his sentence. No more pauses on fics. Perhaps I won't write every day, sometimes things just happen, but if I have time for other hobbies, I have time to write.

There are some other minor things that I learned from this fic, but I won't go into all the nitty gritty details. To end this off, I just want to say thank you, to all readers of this fic. I never expected such success when I started Doctor Whooves: Parallel Complications. Now it has over a thousand views. Some of you will be sad to hear, but this is the last story I plan to write for this series. The time has come for other things. But from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for reading, rating the fic, and leaving your comments. I am sincerely glad that you enjoyed.