Princess Luna entered the room, a grave look on her face. The Captains of the Royal Army saluted her.

“I'm glad to see you came here in time, generals, I'll be quick, we don't have much time. I know how hard it could've been, being in war for all this time, but now we have a new enemy... Your will send your better soldiers around Ponyville. She is your new priority”

“Excuse-me, Princess.”, one of the generals, named Midnight Lullaby, had come out of the ranks, “Are you talking about that Vinyl Scratch pony ? With all the respect I owe you, I think our current mission is much more important than that crazy filly. Besides, ...”

“Besides nothing ! Your mission is to protect the peace in Equestria. At the moment, our most important threat it Vinyl Scratch. Don't underestimate her power, or you will end up six feet under...”

That said, the Princess headed to the door. Another general took the floor :

“I don't see what could happen if she wasn't stopped. She's just a normal pony, right ?”, the princess chilled.

“If you don't stop her, we'll be forced to use the Elements of Entropy. I can't let that happen. Now go find her, and capture her, for the sake of the New Lunar Republic...

«General Midnight Lullaby ! I want to talk to you personally, you'll have a special mission.”

The generals saluted, and the Princess left, the general behind her.

The Doctor and I were slowly walking towards what was left of the mountain. The destruction caused by the explosion was simply incredible. The entire mountain was wiped from the landscape, and the only thing that was left of it were rocks on the ground, and smoke coming out of the rubble. The shattered rocks were all over the place, their shadows were drawing lines on the dead grass, giving the entire place an eerie look. I felt like we were on another planet.

The Doctor was wearing a long coat, covering his whole body and part of his legs, and if I had to guess how many pockets there was on his coat, I'd say a hundred. He was smiling. I wasn't feeling really comfortable with him, he had regenerated only a few hours ago, and I wasn't really knowing him anymore. He seemed so reckless, not caring about anything but having fun and showing off... I had to get used to his new personality if I wanted to work with him.

“So what are we going to do ? I mean... there's nothing there, is it ?”, I asked, he suddenly looked serious, despite the sarcastic grin on his face. I didn't like that grin, he was treating me like a stupid little filly !

“Do you really think she would have exploded an entire mountain just for fun ? This mountain must hide something bigger, something darker !”

“Do you really think she could have created something that powerful in so little time ? I mean... the thunderstorm was only two weeks ago...”, I looked at him, he was still smiling, but this time it was a real smile.

“That is my point... I know there's something underneath that mountain, but she couldn't have built it alone. She has been helped by greater forces, so the question is : who has that amount of power to build such a thing ?”, he was staring at me, a grave look in his eyes and a weird smile on his face.

“If there's such a thing...”

We were at the bottom of the mountain. The stale air was warmed by the smoke, we split up to investigate, and maybe find an entrance, leading to some explanations. I went to the centre of the mountain, the Doctor went around it.

The whole place was dying, there was no trace of life. Birds flying over the mountain were falling down, killed by the heat. Some birds were stronger than others and were able to handle the heat, but the smoke were blinding them, and they had to escape before they hit a rock. As I was going further, the smoke coming from the rubble darkened the land, and it was hard to see anything.

My broken leg was causing me pangs, I had trouble to walk on the uneven ground.

We could find all sorts of things on the ground, all sorts of precious coins, gems, rings and necklaces. It was a known fact, the dragon that once occupied the mountain and polluted our skies had forgot a little (but significant) part of his treasure. I guess the few coins and jewels on the floor were all that was left to it.

I stepped on something slimy... I'll never forget the feeling of disgust that invaded me when I realized I had stepped on the rotting corpse of a bat. I could see the imprint of my hoof on what was left of the head, her smashed brain was inflating, taking back its original form. A lot of bats were living in the mountain, I suppose the explosion killed them, the ground was littered by these dead bodies, or parts of them. The landscape was desolated.

Time Turner began his investigation by turning around the mountain, with Octavia inspecting the centre, finding what was happening would be easy.

He began to walk, turning around the great dark cloud floating above the rubble, pointing his screwdriver at everything he could see. Even though the land wasn't as desolated as is was at the middle of the mountain, the landscape wasn't especially lively. Where we could find a few hours ago a vast grassland, with little animals running around everywhere, there was now an inanimate desert, only populated by dead shrubs and little insects.

There it is !, he thought

The Doctor suddenly stopped his walking, pointed his hoof towards him, and resumed his walking, more slowly. He eventually stopped : his hand was touching something. He grabbed a really bizarre apparatus from one of his numerous pockets : it was like a talkie walkie, but there was a mirror on top. The kind of mirrors we could see on the images of cars, what humans use to go from one place to another in fairy tales (we only knew they really existed a few months ago, and most people still think it's a legend).

This device could help him see what was invisible. He turned around, and in the mirror appeared something we couldn't see with normal eyes. It was a white cube, made of marble, with unknown deep red symbols on it. The symbols were leaking, they were made of blood. The Doctor used his screwdriver on the lock, and it exploded.

His excitation wasn't dissimulated.

It's opening !

I was about at the centre of what used to be a mountain, when the ground began to shake. Was it an earthquake ? I called for the doctor, he didn't answer. What was happening ? Bright lines fo light were appearing on the rocky ground. I took a little stone to observe the light coming from it, but the light stayed at the same place, and the stone became a regular rock again.

“Oh this is brilliant !”, the Doctor was behind me, “What you see there, Octavia, is the bright side of dark magic ! To protect the base underneath the mountain, the one that created it hid the entrance and secured it using his own blood. This is what happens when you break the spell.”

A breach formed on the ground, just by my feet, I tripped and fell. The Doctor grabbed my hand just before I could fall.

“Nope, you're not dying today !”, he said with a smile. He took me back on the floor, and we got away from the expanding gap.

The breach was expanding, surrounding us, creating a . Some rocks began to float, twelve stone pillars were building themselves up, around the ravine, four bridges were forming around us. After a few moments, the pillars, still going upwards, began to curve towards the centre, and gathered in the middle to create a dome. Some rocks were changing of colour now, some oh them were getting lighter, others were getting black. Golden shapes were appearing on the pillars, like runes, I recognized the Zodiac symbols, one for every pillar. The Doctor was wondrous:

“Oh this is brilliant ! Brilliant !”, he was running around, pointing his sonic screwdriver at every part of the building, smiling and giggling like a little foal, in quest of a secret treasure he'll never find...

“Doctor ? Please stop running around everywhere and tell me what this is”

“It's not the base we're looking for, it's a temple !..”, he answered, breathless, still running around everywhere, “They use it to protect the base ! It's an ancient castle, built in honour of the twelve Gods of the civilisation of Filiya, one for each Zodiac constellation, but we don't care about that now ! What's important is...” he got dangerously close to me, “why is it there ?”

“I have no idea, Doctor, but please, get your face a little bit further away from mine, it's creepy... and what does this temple do anyway ?”

“The twelve pillars are the lock to a vault, it was used by the Filiyan population to protect an ancient useless relic they thought was divine, and Celestia is using it to protect one of the most powerful and the most dangerous artifacts of Equestria: the Elements of Entropy.”

“What are those ? Can't you be a little clearer ?”, I was completely lost there.

“We've got no time to some more explanations”, he was walking around me, screwdriving the floor and scratching his head, “All you need to know right now is that the civilisation of Filiya was living far away in the north, and that this temple was, a few days ago, three thousand miles away from here.”

“So why is it there ? You can't move a giant structure like this in so little time !”

“That is exactly the question I asked a few seconds ago, if only you were listening !”

“I'm listening !”

“Shut up ! You're not ! The question, right now, is : how do we get in there ?”

“You don't !”, said an unknown colt's voice.

We turned around, and were was absolutely nothing a few seconds ago was an entire army of bat-ponies. Their ears were hairy, their wings were made of skin and bones, their night-blue armour were shining in the sunlight.

“Oh come on ! Why are those useless weapon ponies doing here ? I said no military !”, complained the doctor.

“My name is Midnight Lullaby, and I've been given the order to keep you away from the elements of Entropy. You will not go further.”, his voice was deep and authoritarian, but the Doctor didn't make a move. Actually, he was smiling. He was wearing the exact same grin he gave me when we started investigating.

“Oh I see, Luna sent you there ? She's obstinate ! You can go back ! If you had a brain underneath your helmet, you'd already know they're not here anymore.”, the general seemed offended, the Doctor turned around and resumed his investigation.

« You know, general, I'm not doing this investigation for anyone, not for Celestia, not for Luna, or anyone ! I'm doing this for the sake of your species”, he approached Midnight, carefully crossed the bridge above the void, and stared him. “Whoever you may be, I'm not going to let you endanger the nation with the only excuse of your cowardliness.”

“And who are you to talk like this ?”

“Oh you know who I am. I am the Doctor, a Time Pony from Gallifrey, I am nine hundred and three years old and I'm the one who's going to save you and the seventeen million ponies of this land, and there's no stopping me... Octavia ?”, in front of the stunned general, the Doctor approached me, grabbed my hoof and jumped into the void. I heard the general yelling “Get them!”, his voice fading away as we were falling into nothingness.

“They found it !”, Vinyl Scratch, her voice now low and husky, was in a large cave full coins and gems, a giant treasure was lying behind her. She was standing in front of the altar Twilight and Octavia had found a few days ago, a crystal ball was put on top, and she was watching the Doctor and Octavia through it. They didn't notice the disappearance of the altar, they didn't even noticed the disappearance of the tunnel in her bedroom !

In fact they didn't notice anything ! Vinyl was playing with them like she was playing chess : Celestia was the King, Twilight the Queen. Once you have eliminated the Queen, the King is easy to defeat. Once you defeated the King, you won.

“I'm surprised they found it, but it is a good thing !.. Maybe this mountain exploding wasn't that much of a bad thing after all ! But, still, I wish I could have prevented this mountain to explode, I'm not willing to show off...”

She closed her pitch black eyes, and smiled.

“What do you think, Tesolana ?”

She turned around, and sat down next to who was her only friend, now. He, or should we say it was what was the most precious to her : the key to the recover of her hearing. His dark red scales were twinkling with the light of the fire, smoke was coming out of his nostrils. The dragon was quietly sleeping.

Author's Note

I took a while to write it, I had not the motivation to do so. Hopefully you like it, I'm trying to get better