Torchwood: Equestria- Parallel Loose Ends

A couple pegasi helped Ruby off of the roof she’d leapt onto, and moved her to Ponyville hospital, which rested on the outskirts of the town. The hospital was small to match the population it served, but within its walls were the necessary doctors and equipment to fix her up.

Ruby laid in bed after getting x-rays taken of her chest. The pain medication helped greatly, and she relaxed against the pillow. She had a room completely to herself, and her closed door provided a peaceful quiet, as if separating her from the rest of the world. Her room offered little to look at, however. The room was a simple, small square, with white walls and a door that led to a toilet and sink. A large painting of flowers hung across from her bed, and the window on the far wall was blocked by closed blinds. She decided to ask whoever came in next to open them, but for now, she just closed her eyes, sinking into the bed even more.

Despite the relaxing atmosphere, her mind began to wander, and worry. The crew of her spaceship were at least a thousand years in the future, likely more, and now they were without a captain. She still had unanswered questions about the stallion that intruded into her ship. Who was he, what did he mean when he talked about dreams, why did is talk about dreams feel like it made sense, even though she could only recall faint images of what she’d dreamed about. The feeling she got when she looked at that planet…

The sudden noise of the door opening interrupted her thoughts. A doctor entered the room, however he wasn’t one of the doctors Ruby had talked with so far. This doctor was a griffon, and despite all her Space travel, Ruby had never seen one personally. His body and wings were a dark brown, while the feathers covering his neck and face were white. He wore a white lab coat and carried a portfolio of papers strung around his neck. The doctor grabbed a chair from the corner of the room with his yellow claws, and pulled it next to Ruby’s bed, afterwards climbing on top of it so that Ruby would not have to strain her neck to see him. He sat down and began pulling some papers out of the portfolio, skimming through some of the text before he looked up at Ruby and smiled.

“Hello Ms. Ruby, I’m Dr. Cazan, I’ll be overlooking your treatment from here on out,” the griffon began. “You’ve been through quite a lot today, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, you can say that again,” Ruby replied with a light chuckle. Even that made her chest hurt. “So what’s my situation?”

“Well, the burn on your face is going to leave a scar, but when your fur grows back it should cover it up for the most part,” Dr. Cazan explained. “That’s quite the burn on your face, but I don’t recall hearing about any sort of fire,” he continued. “Do you know what caused that burn?”

“Oh yeah, it happened…” In the future, she thought to herself. “A little bit before all havoc broke loose. Some unicorn got me with magic, then ran off.”

“That’s quite a powerful unicorn then, using magic like that,” Dr. Cazan replied. “I hope they catch whoever it is, sounds like a dangerous unicorn to just be out and about.”

I hope it’s me who catches him. Instead of voicing that thought, Ruby brought up a different question. “What about my chest?”

“That’s where the damage is more severe, I’m afraid,” Dr. Cazan said. “When you made your leap of faith, you ended up breaking a rib. We’ll have to keep movement of your chest limited for a while.”

Ruby sighed, her ears drooping. “That’ll suck.”

“Unfortunately, it will, but as long as you don’t do too much activity it will heal quickly.

Ruby had broken a bone once before, but in her time technology mixed with magic made healing just a matter of days rather than weeks. Though she lacked a routine exercise schedule, she was still quite active, and even just the three days spent with a broken bone in her own time were painful to bear. However, knowing that she laid here in bed with nothing but a broken rib after jumping a roof, the injury didn’t seem so bad. “Well, thanks for all your help,” Ruby said. “I’ve actually never met a griffon before. Do a lot of you live around here?”

“Actually, no griffons live in Ponyville,” Dr. Cazan replied. “At first the pony doctors here were taking care of you, but Celestia sent me to take care of you as soon as she found out about your injuries. She wanted me to say, ‘a friend of Jack Harkness is a friend of mine’.”

There wasn’t a single thing in that statement that didn’t leave Ruby surprised. Ruby truly had traveled back quite a bit in time. She was now certain that she was on Earth, the original pony planet, and at the time that the first recorded princesses and only recorded naturally born alicorns, Celestia and Luna, still lived and ruled. Not only that, but Jack Harkness, who she recalled saying came from a parallel universe, personally knew princess Celestia. How in the world that happened was a story she needed to hear.

“I’ve been rated one of Equestria’s top doctors, which is funny, given this is my second career,” the griffon continued.

“What was your first?”

“I was a spy for the griffon kingdom.”

Ruby blinked in surprise. “Didn’t think you could just tell ponies that sort of thing,” she said.

“Oh, when I was doing the job, nopony knew,” Dr. Cazan explained. “But now it doesn’t matter. Of course, we’ve been allied with ponies for a few hundred years now, so I didn’t watch any of you, but there are quite a few rare and sometimes malicious creatures out there.”

Ruby nodded, not really knowing what creatures originally lived on Earth, but thinking of aliens that were hostile to pony territory. “So why’d you quit?”

“No griffon is on the secret police for too long. I like this job though, I get to help a lot of ponies, griffons, and other animals alike. I do miss the excitement sometimes…” Dr. Cazan scratched a few notes on Ruby’s paperwork, then climbed off the chair. “I need to get going, but I’ll have a nurse bring you some more pain killers.”

“Thanks,” Ruby said. She nodded and smiled at the griffon as he moved the chair back and left the room. After realizing she forgot to ask about the window, she shifted her hind legs around a bit in the bed, getting into a more relaxed position, then closed her eyes, falling into a light sleep.

***

The sun’s light shimmered through the far window of the main chamber in Twilight’s castle as it began to set, evening approaching fast. Twilight sat in her chair, while Celestia sat in Fluttershy’s. A still silence pervaded the room for a few moments, until Twilight spoke.

“Now that you’ve explained it, I can remember… flashes,” Twilight began. “This is just a whole lot to take in.”

“Your alicorn magic is strong, but you are still young,” Celestia replied. “You may never remember more from the time that was, but more memories might come with age.”

“So this Jack Harkness isn’t actually a pony?”

“Correct.”

“And he played a major role in saving our universe?”

“Every universe, actually,” Celestia reminded her. “We owe everything to Jack and those who were with him. They fought to protect everything in existence from being pulled into the void.”

Twilight paused for another moment. “So why is Jack here again?”

“I’m not sure,” Celestia replied. “I let him take a tour of Ponyville with Wing, so that they could relax after all they went through. His stay is likely a short one, but you and I can both trust him and any friend he has. I want to show him the vault.”

Twilight was shocked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Celestia said. “Today was a major breach in security, and I won’t make Jack stay in this universe, but I’d like to ask for his help before he leaves. I fear that today will not be the end of occurrences like this. Appearances of creatures from other worlds have gotten harder to handle, and harder to keep secret.”

***

Wing didn’t speak. He didn’t move. His eyes stared forward after the crisis ended. The adrenaline that had kept him going drained out of his body, and his legs struggled just to hold himself up. Everything hit him at once again. The past several hours played in his head over and over, and he laid down on the ground, unable to do anything except relive each individual horror and confusion. He began shivering, and placed his front hooves on top of his head. Where was he? Could he ever get back? Who… or what… was Jack?

Jack exchanged some words with Celestia, after which the princess nodded and left, taking Twilight with her. He then moved to Wing’s side, gently moving the pegasus’ hooves down to the ground. As Jack laid down, he draped his right foreleg across Wing, and hugged him tight. A few tears trickled down Wing’s face, and Jack just laid there with him, gently caressing the pegasus. “Shh…” Jack whispered.

Wing slowly calmed down as the frightful events of today became less present in his mind. Tears still trickled down his face for a few minutes more, but before he realized it, he fell asleep, his exhaustion finally overpowering all his worries.

Jack laid there with Wing on the fringe of the forest, now letting his own thoughts wander. He couldn’t help but feel guilty. None of this should have happened to Wing. His life was going fine until Jack decided to enter it. Now Wing was stuck out of his own time, and Jack had no way to get him back.

He’d thought about just visiting and leaving, however, the situation now further set in stone his thoughts of staying after realizing how much he liked Wing. Jack made a promise to himself that he’d protect Wing, and wouldn’t return to his own universe until Wing was back in his own time.

A couple of hours passed, and Jack stayed with the pegasus. He didn’t make any moves to disturb Wing’s sleep; he simply kept his hoof around him, admiring the lush white of Wing’s mane. Eventually, Wing started to stir, and his eyes slowly opened. When he discovered Jack next to him, he nuzzled into the blue stallion’s cheek.

“Let’s not talk about it yet,” Jack said softly, squeezing Wing with his foreleg for a moment. “It’s almost dinner time, I’m starving.” He sat up. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

Wing felt calmer and refreshed from letting his exhaustion pull him into a nap, and didn’t want all the insanity of the day to return to his thoughts just yet, so he nodded in agreement. He pushed everything out of his mind and stood up, then walked back into town with Jack.

The two conversed like they had back in the bar when they first met up, and soon both felt better. To their surprise, a few ponies thanked them for their help as they walked through town, for some had seen bits and pieces and spread the word. His mood improved even more, knowing how much he’d helped, and his face managed a smile.

Jack spotted a lovely looking diner, and pointed Wing in that direction. The diner was small, but well kept, with booths and tables filling the indoor space, and a couple white tables outside with umbrellas in them to block out the sun’s rays. The two entered through the glass door and took a seat, continuing their conversation. A brown earth pony named Maple took their orders, and a little while later they both had full bellies.

The sun was setting as they paid for their meal and left the diner, and the two stallions wandered around the streets some more. Wing noticed a nice looking path that led to a farm, and they took it to admire some new scenery. The lush grass glowed in the tint of the setting sun’s light, and a rather spacious orchard of apple trees could be seen out in the distance, fresh red apples ready to fall from the branches.

The path ended at the farm’s entrance, but Jack and Wing stopped short at a small hill, leaving the path to sit on top of it and look out at the setting sun. For the first time since Wing woke up, the conversation died out, and the stallions were left in silence.

For a few minutes, neither bothered to break that silence, each simply enjoying the other’s company on the warm evening. Jack looked over at the grey pegasus, seeing his slumped shoulders, his flattened ears, and his eyes now staring at the ground. Jack knew Wing was tired, and they couldn’t avoid this discussion forever. It was time to talk.

“Have you ever read a science fiction book?”

“What?” Wing replied.

“A sci fi book. Futuristic, crazy science, stuff like that.”

Wing nodded.

Jack didn’t look directly at Wing as he spoke, instead continuing to admire the sunset. “Well, all that stuff you see in sci fi books, lasers, teleportation without magic, space travel, aliens… it’s not all fiction. There’s more than just Equestria, and the other places on this world. Way out among the stars you see at night, there are countless other planets, each with its own variety of creatures. And at some point or another, every planet has to deal with the fact that there’s more than just them. Typically it starts with aliens coming to your planet, but someone high up covers it all, keeping it a secret until the public is ready to know. Aliens have probably visited this planet already, maybe even multiple times. For some, that’s a hard fact to swallow.

“Ruby is living proof that what I’m telling you is true. She’s from the future, your future, I just don’t know how far. She’s captain of a ship that travels through space, going from planet to planet. The weapon that she and the stallion we encountered used is a laser pistol, just like in the books.”

Wing slowly nodded, taking the information in. After everything that happened earlier today, it was easier for him to absorb this. Had Jack told him all this at the bar last night, he’d have laughed. Wing always wondered if other creatures existed, if any of the fun sci fi books he read held any actual merit. Now he knew.

“So, that device today. It wasn’t from here?”

“Probably not,” Jack replied. “Your time just recently figured out phones, and where we are now is even farther in the past. The pony was likely using stolen alien technology.”

“Ok…” Wing said, formulating his next question. “So the device came from stolen alien technology. Where… did you come from? You said you weren’t from the future… you were…”

Jack sighed. “That’s where things get even more complicated,” he began. “There’s not just other worlds, there are entire other planes of existence. I come from a reality where magic doesn’t exist the way it does here, everything is different,” he explained. “I came through a portal that connects our two universes.”

“Why did you come here?”

Jack paused, a memory of Wing’s dead body before him flashing in front of his eyes. He bit his lip, then spoke again. “I came here once before,” he said. “By accident, actually. Things got crazy for both this universe and my own, but… a good doctor set everything back to the way it was.” Jack paused again. “I just came back to… see how this universe was faring.”

Wing paused before asking his next question, a bit surprised that he wanted to ask it. “How long are you staying?”

Jack placed a hoof on Wing’s shoulder, and the two looked into each other’s eyes. “I promise you, I won’t leave until I get you back to where you belong,” he said. “I never meant for all this to happen for you. All the ponies you know are still there, going about their days in the future as if you never left. You’ll see them again, I’ll make sure of it”

Wing thought about Crescent, his other friends, and family. If he never returned to the future, it would seem like he just disappeared. The royal guard would think he abandoned his post, his friends and family wouldn’t know what to think. That thought scared him.

“And while I figure out how to get you back, I wouldn’t mind a couple more dates.”

The pegasus’ cheeks turned red, and he smiled lightly. Jack patted his shoulder before setting his hoof back down, and now Wing just had one question left, this one the most difficult to ask. Wing raised his own hoof, and put it on Jack’s chest, where the pistol had fired into him. He slowly rubbed his hoof against Jack’s fur, finding nothing, not even a scratch. “That… thing he had…” Wing started. “the weapon… I thought it killed you. Hit you right here. You screamed… you fell…”

Letting out a sigh, Jack began explaining. “If you stick around with me, you’ll discover a lot of impossible things,” he said. “I can’t even tell you how this one works, but everyone I know finds out eventually. Something happened a long time ago... it changed me. I can't die."

Wing leaned back, his eyes widening. Time travel, space travel, aliens, all these were things that were difficult to grasp, but manageable. But immortality was a trait even Celestia and Luna didn’t have, despite their immensely longer lives.

“If I die, it’s only for a short while, and I come back,” Jack continued. “It’s not as great as it might sound, trust me.”

“How… how long have you been alive?”

“Hard to say, honestly,” Jack said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever die.”

Both ponies sat in silence for a moment after that. Wing felt unsure on an appropriate response to such a statement.

“But hey, don’t worry about it,” Jack said, breaking the silence. “Now you know, and we can leave it at that. It’s getting late, we should check back in with Celestia and see how Ruby is doing. Are you ok with all this?”

All it took was one date for Wing’s life to suddenly get turned upside down. In one day he experienced more new things than in his entire life. However, the nap, the meal, and time to sit down and talk had helped calm all the panic he felt when they first arrived back in time. He felt that if he handled all that happened today, he could handle whatever happened tomorrow.

“I’m ok. You’re right, let’s get going.”

***

Twilight had only just recently received her new castle after solving the mystery of the box. The castle towered above everything else in Ponyville, with a blue, tree trunk shaped base, the base holding a purple castle with yellow rooftops, and a sculpture of her cutie mark above all that. As she went to get some tea, she heard a knock emanate from the yellow double doors at the base of the castle, and she slowly walked down the lengthy stairs to respond. When she opened the door, she greeted the two stallions she’d met earlier today. She strained to remember the blue one, knowing that in some other timeline, she already had.

“Hello,” Twilight said, nodding her head at the two. Wing gave a courteous bow, recognizing the younger version of the princess Twilight he knew of, and Jack decided to do the same in hopes of making a good impression. “I’m princess Twilight. We met before. Celestia and I have talked a lot, I understand who you are now. Come in, we’ll talk more.”

Jack and Wing followed the purple alicorn up a spiraling staircase, bringing them to the main hall of Twilight’s castle. The purple exterior mirrored the inner walls, and the whole place seemed to sparkle just slightly. Rather than doors, large archways led to the other rooms of the castle, with the exception of Twilight’s private library and her bedroom, both located on the next floor up.

The princess led them to a room with seven chairs arranged in a circle. Celestia sat in one, and next to her sat Ruby, some thick bandages around the unicorn’s chest. A small bandage also covered the burned area on her cheek.

“Hey there, Captain,” Jack said, smiling at the mare. “Hanging in there?”

“As best as I can,” Ruby replied. “I’ve got a lot longer recovery than I would if I was in my own time. Broke a rib.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“Jumped from one rooftop to the other to get a better view.”

“Well, we caught the guy, so thank you,” Jack said, chuckling. “But maybe learn some short distance teleportation spells.”

“Already on it, believe me,” Ruby said, pointing to the book resting next to her chair.

“Jack, Wing, it is good to see you both looking well,” Celestia said, motioning for both of them and Twilight to all sit down. Twilight took the chair with her own cutie mark on it, and Jack and Wing chose chairs at random. “I believe we haven’t been formally introduced, Wing.”

“Well, I’ve sort of met you, princess,” Wing replied. He bowed his head lightly in greeting, and Celestia returned the courtesy. Wing took a breath. “I’ve had some time now to take in all that’s happened, and while it’s still crazy, I’m calm enough to believe it. I’m an ensign on your royal guard, but from some point in the future. Not far, I think, but a few decades at least.”

“I see,” Celestia replied. After saying the year, Wing knew he had been sent back six decades exactly. “I’ll keep an eye out for you in the future. I wish I could offer to take you back, but time traveling into the future is even beyond my magical capability.” She turned her attention to Jack. “Now Jack, you are the last person I expected to see,” she said.

Jack nodded. “I came here just to… see how things were going, but then crazy ponies with time travel technology got in the way.”

“A pony with a time travel device? The one you apprehended?”

“No, somepony else,” Ruby chimed in. “I’m captain of a starship about 2500 years in the future. Some stallion, I never got a good look at him because of his cloak, secretly boarded our ship and hacked our systems. When I moved in to apprehend him, I thought he was just using a short range personal teleporter. Turns out he was pulling me back into the past.”

“This is disturbing news, indeed,” Celestia said. “That makes at least two ponies out there, but likely more, that have some sort of agenda they are trying to carry out. And they’re using either alien technology or technology from the future to do so.”

“Speaking of that,” Jack said. “What is this vault the other princess mentioned?”

Twilight looked one last time to Celestia for approval, and she nodded. “The vault is a secret room underground, beneath this castle,” Twilight explained. “This castle was just recently built. Well, grown, it’s a long story. The point is, princess Celestia decided to move all the items we need to keep hidden from the public to this room, so I could watch them. Everything down there is technology salvaged from alien appearances on this planet.”

Wing’s eyes widened, realizing that Jack was right. Aliens already visited here. Multiple times. He shook his head, amazed that nopony, even in his time, knew about it.

“Are alien appearances a well kept secret?” Ruby asked.

“Yes,” Celestia replied. “But I have concerns. Incidents are getting harder and harder to cover up. Not only that, but now a pony has broken in to the vault, and used technology from it. That was the device you saw today that enlarged the insects. I have no idea how many more know of the vault; it will either have to be moved or security will have to be raised.”

“And you saw the failure of our emergency response police,” Twilight added. “If more dangerous situations continue to sprout, we may not be prepared.”

All five sat in silence for a few moments, pondering what had been said. The sun lowered past the windows of the castle, making the room dim. Celestia wanted nothing more than to protect her kingdom and its allies. She’d done so for over a thousand years, however, this was one of the rare occasions that she felt out of options. She needed help.

“Jack, you’ve done so much for this world already, but if you are willing to stay in Equestria for a while, I must ask that you help with this,” she said. “I need someone with your expertise, your knowledge of what lies outside this world.”

Jack had already made Wing a promise not to leave until Wing was back in his own time. He also felt partially responsible for Ruby being here. He’d saved her back in Wing’s time, true, but Ruby sat there with bandages across her chest because she’d helped track down the culprit.

An idea formed in his head. One that brought back memories of the past. 21st century Earth. Quite a crazy place. The world crawling with aliens and no one knew yet. Usually, Jack’s good friend and his friend’s blue box managed to show up and protect the planet, but sometimes, his friend wasn’t there. That was when Jack came in. Now here he was again, the only one around that could help. He slowly stood out of his chair, looking at Celestia.

“I know why the police failed to help today,” Jack said. “Because they’re your police. They can help, but they don’t have the knowledge or the clearance to know anything about what they might have to face. You need something that is even beyond your own jurisdiction.” Celestia leaned back in her chair, listening intently, intrigued by Jack’s words. “A small team with the knowledge and experience to handle situations like this. Outside the government, beyond the police. Arming the world against whatever may be out there. We could be that team.”

“We?” Ruby asked.

Jack turned to Wing and Ruby. “I promise to do all I can to help you both get back to your own time. But you're both involved in the mystery going on with this time traveling pony. I know for sure that you want to catch the stallion,” he added when he looked at Ruby. She rubbed her cheek, and nodded. “And I have a feeling some part of you wants to find him as well,” he said, turning his focus back to Wing, who after a moment’s hesitation, grunted in agreement.

“I know you’re both lost right now, outside of your time. But it appears that, much like on my home planet, the 21st century is when everything changes. If you help me now, then Equestria will be ready.”

Ruby stood up from her chair. “The tech you have in the vault may be alien, but I’ve met aliens. Often times our technology has been based off of older tech from more advanced species. I could be your alien tech guide, and this all sounds like a plan to me. Search for the stallion, help a primitive version of the pony home-world while I’m at it.”

Jack looked at Wing with hope in his expression. “Wing? You’ve had to take in a lot today, but what do you say?”

Wing gulped, but climbed off of his chair. “I joined the royal guard to protect ponies, and we protected ponies today. If that’s the job description, I’m in.”

“I can’t thank you enough for doing this, Jack,” Celestia said. She too now stood. “I can’t thank any of you enough. Any resources you need, you will have it. No authority will have jurisdiction above yours.”

Twilight was the last to stand, however, her confidence in Celestia gave her confidence in the other three ponies in the room. “I’ll show you all how to access the vault, and let you control it from now on,” she said. “I can’t remember you like Celestia does, Captain Harkness, but I trust you.”

That settled the plan. Jack had the companions he needed to do what he did for his own planet in the past. Build a secret police team, defend the world from powers beyond its control. He thought back to the team he had on earth, many of whom he’d lost. He made another promise to himself: to not let any more losses happen. In honor of his former team, the least he could do was bring back the name.

“We’re going to need some police badges made up, Celestia, for our team,” Jack said.

“I can arrange that,” Celestia replied. “However, what shall your team be called?”

“Torchwood.”