Ten years later. Or … now.
Things still haven't become better. Well, Lyra's life seemed to be a bit better. She graduated a couple of months ago and began to study anthropology. Her cutie mark, mentioned earlier, reflected her love for music and poetry, she once shared with her mom and dad. A lyre. Over the years, she had discovered it again and funded her studies with performances in poetry clubs. She used her sadness and rage to create poems, too touching for me to go into. They were accompanied by her playing the lyre, which earned her the nickname “Heartstrings”.
She was just about to visit her “friend” Bon Bon. A cream coated earth pony, with a blue and pink colored mane. Her cutie mark, quelle surprise, 3 bon bons.
Her house is very easy to find. But you can get distracted looking for it, since it is right next to a pastry shop that looks like a gingerbread house, where her sweet goods are sold. Lyra just rushed into the store and got herself a doughnut and walked on to Bon Bon's house.
“Bonnie, hurry up!”
“Yeah, Yeah. Stop rushing me!”, came from within the house. The next second, the mare stood on her threshold and Lyra greeted her with a quick peck on her lips, which caused Bon Bon to blush.
“Lyra. You know I don't like that.” She turned her head slightly out of embarrassment.
“But you know I do. Anyways, do you have our tickets?”
“Of course. Let's go.”
And so they walked on to the local cinema and talked about the last week. They wanted to see the evening showing of the new “Daring Do” movie: “Daring Do and the Jade Talon”. The only one to achieve an M-Rating so far.
“I'm sorry, that I couldn't hang out with you more, this week, but the tests were really hardcore.”
“It's okay. It gave me some time to try out new combinations for my candy. I developped six new flavors.” Bon Bon happily responded, chuckling a little. “Oh, and guess what? I finally won that auction for the “Wasp”-costume. Ponies will finally know that we're a couple when we arrive at the next costume party as Ant-Mare and Wasp.” Her voice pitched even higher out of her anticipation.
Lyra could only grunt at that comment. “I still can't figure out what your deal with cosplaying is. I want to be with you, not some comic book girl.”
This got a long “Awwwwwhhhh” and hug out of her companion.
The two continued telling about their weeks activities until the green unicorn thought she should give her accompaniment another compliment. “How did you even manage to get the tickets?”
“What do you mean? I went to the cinema and ordered the tickets.”
“ What I mean is , that you look too young for this movie.”
Lyra's statement caused another blush from Bon Bon. “Stop that! I look as old as your moth … oh “ There it was. The subject she shouldn't have brought up. The one that started our little adventure.
“I'm sorry. I forgot about her.”, Bon Bon apologized.
“It's … it's okay. I moved on. I moved out. My life is alright now.” Lyra wanted to make what she said to sound confident, but she knew her constant blinking was to keep tears out of her yellow eyes.
“How long has it been? Y'know, since you last saw her?”
“Dunno. Maybe five months.” She lowered her head in shame.
“You can't be serious. Since you moved out? You may not have noticed but she is still in pain. She needs somepony to be on her side. You know what? We're going to her. We skip the dinner and we'll be back in time for the movie.”
Not really willing, more threatened, Lyra trotted with Bon Bon to the outskirts of Ponyville. Not the wasteland, where the diamond dogs pose a threat. No, they went to the other side. It was a real idyll. Luscious, green grass and some Golden Delicious trees. Behind a little gate, a the end of a path, on top of the hill, there was a “mansion”. Too little to be one, but the architecture was very impressive.
As they entered the house, a rough, female voice shouted: “Who goes 'ere?”
“Hey mom.”
“Well, if that's not my lil daughter. Oh, and she brought her girlfriend. How are you sweetie?” Her hair was bound together into a knot which was held together by two needles and a pair of reading glasses was on her muzzle. The scent of Apple Cider hung around everywhere and you can tell that she already had plenty of it today.
“I'm fine. Thanks. How many bottles of cider have you already drunk, today?” Lyra asked concerned.
“Oh. I don't know. One, two, … five. But 'nough about me. Come on in. I'll make you s'me tea.”
“No need to, Miss Aniara. I'll make the tea”, Bon Bon offered.
“Now, that's a real angel. You picked the right one, Lyra.”
Bon Bon was surprised at how nice Aniara was, after what she heard about her.
“Why is she so nice?”
“It's the first time you've seen her drunk. Believe me. It's even worse, 'cause you don't know when she'll snap.”
“Even so, she needs company.” They followed Lyra's mother into the kitchen and Bon Bon got quickly to the tea shelf and boiled the water.
“So what's new with my little love birds?” Even Lyra found herself blushing, because of that question.
“Uhm, we decided to move together ”, she replied after a few moments of thinking.
“Oh really? When 's it going to be?”
“Next week, Miss Aniara.”
“Next week? Why didn't you tell me sooner. How could I have sent you the rest of your stuff, if I didn't even know where you live? Well this certainly calls for celebration. Let me get a bottle of my best cider for you.” And up she was. A little too quick for her since she obviously got dizzy from it.
“But you won't drink of it, right?” Lyra asked in concern.
“Oh, alright, little party pooper. But just this time.” And like that, she disappeared in the basement.
“Well that's nice of her.”
“Yeah.” Lyra felt something inside her. Love towards her mother. This hasn't happened for a long time. She was so happy that her mother was open again. But she couldn't shake off the fact that, as nice as she might have been, she was drunk. Meanwhile, Bon Bon finished preparing the tea. She placed the three cups on the table and sat down. So did Lyra, just now realizing that she stood the whole time, talking to her mother.
Aniara came back into the kitchen.
“Oh, this one is from a very good year. Why? 'twas the year you were …” Nothing more. She just stood there for a few moments until she broke the spell that levitated the bottle, which shattered on the ground.
“Why are you doing this?” Tears formed in he eyes and her voice trembled in sadness and rage. “Why do you sit like that?” Lyra looked down at her body. She didn't even notice, she sat this way. Upright. Unlike the other ponies, who … forget it I can't describe how they sit … Lyra sits like one of us. A human.
“Don't tell me you still believe he's coming back.”
“Why do you have to bring that up now? So what, if I do? What's the problem?”
“The problem is, that I thought you gave that up years ago. And that you'd have to be crazy to even think that ...”, she was interrupted by her angry daughter.
“Rather crazy than a drunk … miserable … guh“ She couldn't think of words she could wring out of her mouth and not break her heart.
“You should go. Now!” And with those words, Lyra turned around and angrily trotted to the door. Bon Bon, who sank more and more into her seat as she watched her girlfriend fight with her mother. She took another sip from her tea to hide her discomfort.
“Uhm … I'd better see if she's alright. It was … erm … nice to see you again”, she finally managed to form. She stood up and walked to the exit, but was stopped by a hug and sobbing.
“Please. Look after her.”
The cream colored mare wandered the streets of Ponyville, attempting to find the winter green unicorn. She looked in the local bar, her favorite poetry club and the cinema before she decided to check her home. She heard the soft sound of a lyre coming from upstairs. She slowly/carefully opened the door to Lyra's room to find the green mare sitting in her bean bag, playing a solo on her lyre. But she stopped as she noticed Bon Bon entering the room.
“He gave me this”, were her words to break the silence.
“Pardon?” Bon Bon was very confused by this vague statement.
“This lyre. My dad gave it to me shortly before he left for his mission.”
“I'm sorry for that. This is all my fault. If I wasn't so stupid, this never would have come up and … ”
“No. Don't say that. You're not stupid. And this is not your fault. It's just … ”, she let out a long sigh. “How did she even come up with this idea. Like I had an addiction or something.”
Bon Bon stepped further into the room. Right in front of a roll-out screen (or what those things are called).
“Well I wouldn't call it addiction. More like -”, she rolled out the screen, “- obsession.” The screen was full of pictures of hands, newspaper articles about ape-like beings and other pieces of paper, all hinting to one subject … humans.
“Well, I'd call it a hobby”, Lyra nearly shouted, but she calmed down as fast as she got angry. “Sorry. I didn't mean to yell.”
“Lyra, I love you, but I have to say something now. Do you really think that he is in their world?” The unicorn took a while to respond.
“You know? The sad thing is I don't know. Of course, it's impossible and insane and crazy and ridiculous to think that. But on the other hoof … it's the only trace I've got.”
She lowered her head and began to sob, at the thought of her father really being dead or, even worse, running off with another mare. Bon Bon sat herself next to Lyra on the bean bag and petted her head to calm her down. “I want to know. I want to know where he is. I want to know what happened.”
This continued for a couple of minutes as they were just sitting there not saying a single word. Until Bon Bon spoke up. “I might know a guy who could help you.”
Lyra jumped up from her half-laying position and stared at her in a mixture of disbelieve, hope and joy. “What?”
“A while ago, I met this guy. I think he could find anypony.”
They walked around the town searching for this stallion.
“Sooo, you don't even know where he lives?”
“Don't be ridiculous. Of course, I know where he lives. However, I do not know, if it is here right now.”
“What's that supposed to be...?” She was cut off by her girlfriend, pointing to a very unlikely object. “There it is.” Which just earned a very puzzled look from Lyra.
“A phone box?”
Lyra couldn't believe what was happening at the moment. She was furious. Bon Bon finally said that she might know somepony, who could help searching for her father. One that might actually know where he was. And now both were standing in front of a blue phone box.
“Is this some kind of jo-?” Lyra was cut short by a little explosion inside of the box. Almost instantly afterwards, the door opened and smoke spread around the area. Caught in a black cloud, they didn't even notice the gray mare coughing with them. After, what felt like a minute, the smoke cleared.
“Derpy? What were you doing in there?”, Lyra and Bon Bon cried out in unison. The cross-eyed pegasus coughed a little longer, due to a longer exposure to the result of the explosion.
“Sowwy, girls. Let's just say my expewiment didn't work out as I expected.” She stood up and cleared the ashes out of her blond mane.
“Oh, I didn't know you were his new companion.“ Bon Bon stated.
“Technically, I'm his old companion. What are you two doing here, anyway?”
Before any of them could say another word, a British voice came from far inside the telephone booth. “Derpy, how many times did I tell you not to make the experiments BEFORE I check on the theory. This is exactly what I'm trying to avoooooiiiid.”
He was noticeable surprised by his unforeseen guests. He was quite a sight. Gelled up brown mane, matched with light brown coat, striped brown suit, combined with white shirt and crimson tie.
“Hello there, ladies. Care for a cup of tea?”
As the smoke was finally gone for good, they entered the booth and Lyra couldn't scramble words inside her head. This room was the most bizarre thing she has ever seen in her life (but not the most bizarre thing she will ever see in her life).
It had to be at least 10 times the size of the box from outside. The room consisted of a strange column in the middle and some gold-ish, bronze-ish formations reaching up to the ceiling. She finally managed to say something. “This place is bigger on the …” - “Yes, on the inside. It's dimensionally transcendental. Don't ask. I think it would be too much to explain.”
After a few minutes of habituating to her new surroundings, Lyra finally had the confidence to ask a legitimate question. “What the buck is going on here?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“Well, where do I begin? Who are you? What is this place here? How do you know my girlfriend? How can you help us? And, yes, I'm going to ask, HOW IS THIS PLACE BIGGER ON THE INSIDE?”
“Well, first of all, I am the Doctor and … “
“Doctor who?” (yes, I know that was forced)
“Just the Doctor and this place here is called a TARDIS. It means 'Time and Relative Dimension in Space.'”
“Kind of a long name for a telephone booth.”, she said in an overly sarcastic tone.
“Actually, it's a spaceship.”
“A spaceship?”
“A spaceship in disguise.” He made gestures with his hooves in order to try to support his statement.
Lyra could not believe she was having this conversation. She was waiting for the ponies from that TV show, “Hidden Camera”, or Princess Luna showing up, telling her it was all just a bad dream. But, Bon Bon wouldn't lure her here, because of such a thing. Plus the slap she gave herself proofed, that it was not a dream. And since this place REALLY IS bigger on the inside, she decided to play along.
“Your question about the size of the inside and outside of the TARDIS, is quite difficult to explain. Uhm … oh, got it.“ He cleared his throat before he began to declare the, not so secret, secret of the box. “Imagine a cube. And now imagine a bigger cube. The larger one could be able to fit inside the smaller one, if the bigger one is further away, and yet, immediately accessible at the same time.”
Lyra still looked a bit puzzled, but she got the idea. Though it still seemed strange, she was familiar with the concept of teleportation, so what he said was not totally unfounded. “You mean like, this place is in another dimension.”
The Doctor was now the one to be confused and, more importantly impressed. “Actually it's more of a pocket dimension, but I have to say I'm impressed. So, about your friend here. She joined me on a couple of expeditions, for a while. For about, … I don't remember. Uhm, Sweetie Drops?"
“Six Months.”
“Thank you, Sweetie Drops."
“Okay, we hang out together nearly every day. I think I would have noticed you disappearing for six months.”
“Yes, you would have. It's just … in your time it was only about 3 hours.” Bon Bon knew how silly that sounded and Lyra could hear that.
“Wait wait wait wait. Hold on a second. In MY time?” She really started to get furious.
“Yes. You see. This is also a time machine.”
That was it. Lyra had enough. She shook her head, let out a loud grunt and headed straight to the door. Spaceship? Sure. But an actual time machine? No way.
“What? You don't believe us? Here, let me prove it to you.” The Doctor jumped up from his seat and pulled a strange stick out of his jacket. He pressed a button, which was followed by a green light and a buzzing, and the door was locked.
“Hey, let me out.”
“I'm gonna let you out. Just wait a bit.” He bounced onto the giant machine in the middle of the room. It was a confusing looking thing with a lot of buttons and keyboards on it, emitting a turquoise light. It was pretty clear that one had to study this machinery for decades to figure out how it worked. As he pushed the said buttons and hammered on the keyboards, the TARDIS made strange sounds. The lights faded and lit up for a few moments.
“Now, take a look outside.”
Lyra hesitated but then opened the door anyway. Before her eyes she saw a blooming town. It was still very small, but additional buildings were already being constructed. She looked over to what seemed to be Sweet Apple Acres, before the trees were planted and saw a little filly and a stallion planting seeds and with multiple bright flashes the trees shot out of the ground.
This alone would have been strange enough, if she hadn't heard this story before. It was the story of how Ponyville was founded.
Lyra's eyes flung open and her jaw dropped as she finally came to the realization. “Oh my bucking, sun-butt and moon-cheeks gods. I'm in a time traveling spaceship.”
The Doctor suddenly appeared next to her, slowly closing the door. “And for your last question, I don't know, whether I can help you or not, if I don't know what your problem is.”
So Lyra explained the story of her father, her mother and the strange world he talked about in his stories, while the Doctor was playing with his instruments to get them back to their time.
“Well, this certainly sounds ... interesting.”
“I knew it. Sorry we bothered you. Come on, Bon Bon. We go.”
“Oh no no no no. I have never said I wouldn't believe you. I just said interesting, and it is interesting, indeed. I am very glad you came here today. For I am also looking for this world.” Everypony was stunned by that statement.
“Yes. Every 30 moons, for 3 days, I pick up a signal. From another TARDIS. But, like, from MY TARDIS. I believe it could be the version of me from another universe or parallel dimension. Maybe even from an entirely different reality. So, yes. I am going to help you."
Lyra could not describe the unbearable amount of joy her body was overflowing with. But Derpy had to ask the question, that was eventually going to be asked anyway.
“Where do we go?”
“So? Where do we go?”, was the question that still remained in the room. But after thinking about it for a short while, the Doctor seemed to have an idea.
"I think I have an idea. But I need a little while to prepare it. You better go home and get your stuff. I suppose we might be gone for quite some time."
Lyra and Bon Bon went to their respective homes to fetch all that would be needed. They agreed to be back at the TARDIS in an hour, which was more than enough. The green pony was so excited about what was happening, that she felt like dreaming. A dream she never wanted to wake up from.
Though the earth pony thought differently. She knew how dangerous going on an adventure with the Doctor could be. Especially the times when they wanted to stay out of trouble, they got into even more and she didn't want to see her love getting hurt. But it was the only way Lyra could finally find answers.
However, that fact did not negate the feeling of uncomfort she experienced, when she thought back to her time in the TARDIS and packing her things to go on yet another journey transcending time and space.
She wanted to run back to the TARDIS and make her never say that stupid comment on Lyra's mother. Then they would have gone to the movies and they would be perfectly safe. But then she wouldn't have a reason to go back and would end up in a paradox loop.
As they regrouped again inside the telephone booth, the Doctor revealed a lid in the control collum, whose purpose he then proceeded to explain.
"This thing, here, will quite certainly bring us the needed answers.", he said with pride in his voice.
"Okay then. What does it do?", everyone else was wondering, but only Lyra thought out loud.
"It will help us track down your father, my dear. Even when he is, indeed, in that other dimension. At least in theory." As he shouted out his exposition, he swooped around the control station in the middle, trying to do some last calculations. "Everypony leaves traces. Wherever he or she might go. It's some sort of mumbly-jumbly magicy-shmagicy ... stuff. Anyway, with this, we can find the place where your father's magic most likely interacts with your time line. Now, if you are so kind as to place it right in here, we can start."
IT? The mint green pony got really, really angry, right then. She had enough of the Doctor and everyone else talking nonsense. Not revealing the full scale of their knowlegde.
"Could everypony just say things clearly. I'm sick of asking questions. So stop the pronoun game. What is 'it'?"
She was close to losing it as she was stunned by the answer.
"Sowwy, Lywa. Doc means the personal item of yours, weminding you of your father", Derpy explained quickly, still not fully capable of pronouncing the "R" correctly.
A personal item. Lyra didn't need to think long. It was the only thing, besides clothes, hygiene products and snacks, she packed. Her lyre. Should she really do this? This was the one thing left besides her memories. And even those started to faint, like color on a too often washed shirt.
She used her magic to levitate her string instrument over to the time travellers, quietly adding the words "Be careful!", biting back a tear and the TARDIS began to do the same light-and-sound-thing as before.
"Wonderful. That means the ol' lady thinks he's somewhere."
"How did you know I would bring it with me?"
"Because if you hadn't, there would be no way your connection to him would still be strong enough to find him. Do not underestimate the power of memories. They pretty much make you everything you are. One could say that ..."
He was abruptly interrupted by the shaking of their mode of transport. The lights turned off fully, only to be back on in a matter of second. Everypony got knocked off their hooves by the immense shatters.
"Hold on to something. ANYTHING."
But it was too late. They were flying through the entire spaceship in disguise. Fear. Confusion. These and other emotions raced through the ponies' heads as they were shaken like a James Bond martini. This continued for a couple of moments, before crash-landing somewhere. Most of the lights were broken, but, thanks to Celestia, no bone was. Sparks were flying around every now and then for a few minutes, before they could stand again.
"Well that was unexpected. What just happened?"
The Doctor swooped over to the control system to analize the just happened oddity.
"Great, wickering stallions, I believe we passed through a force field. And I literally mean passed through. It still fully stands." The Doctor tried to explain what happened, but everypony else could hear, that not even he knew what happened exactly. "Normally, a force field has the consistence of glass. Solid, but breakable. If you manage to pass it, you leave little holes in them or break it completely. This one, here, is like a bubble made of jelly. Viscous, stretchy, always going back to its original form. Passable without leaving a hint of you doing it. Something must've weakened it."
"Okay, I don't like the sound of that. Where are we anyways?", Bon Bon asked.
"According to the coordinates, we are in the arctic north. In the vewy corner of Equestwia. But we can't get any further, thanks to that cwash. Our engines are busted," Derpy answered.
"Why would anypony put up a force field here? And why was my father here?"
"These questions presumably have one and the same answer. But we don't have time to think about it. Here's the plan. You girls will go out there and look for the spot where Pan was or is. And I'll stay here to fix the TARDIS."
But the cross eyed mare had concerns about how the Doctor wanted to proceed.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Why don't you come along? Wou- Wouldn't it be safer, if we all stay together?"
"Don't worry! I'll rejoin you as soon as I have finished, but I think it would be better to make our stay here as short as possible. And me repairing her, while you get to the bottom of this situation, is just how we can achieve that."
He leaned in closer to her and whispered, so that the other two couldn't hear him.
"Look, I don't believe somepony would set up a force field here, in the ice desert, at the far end of the land, to keep everypony . Do you understand what I'm trying to say."
Derpy's eyes widened in fear. She understood perfectly what he was saying.
"Okay. I'll just scwew a twacking device together and we'll be outta here. Put on some winter clothes, girls." With that, she made her way towards her working area.
It had taken her 15 minutes to finish her device, but it was working and they could leave. "Hold on, Derpy. I want you to have this." He reached in the pocket of his jacket to reveal the stick he used earlier to lock the door.
"Nonononono. You can't give me that, Doc. I'll just mess things up, like always."
"No, you won't. You have all of my ..."
"The scwewdriver is too valuable. I don't even think I know how to use it."
"Remember my words from before. If anything goes wrong, I'm safe in the TARDIS. How are you gonna fend for yourselves?"
That was a really good point he had there. And Derpy knew that. Without saying another word, she took the sonic screwdriver out of his hoof and put it into her saddlebag.
So they started their journey across the icy desolation, that was the arctic north. Equiped with snow goggles, anoraks, scarfs and wool hats, they made their way to the place they were led to by Derpy's device. With their sense of time almost completely suppressed , there was no telling on how long it they were out there.
The storm became worse. They had to seek shelter in a nearby cave, or else they would have been stuck and covered by snow. It was just as cold as outside, but minus the frozen water cristals, that felt like little daggers cutting through their skin. And they could make a fire to warm themselves and maybe feel their faces again.
While Derpy and Bon Bon tried to light some stuff they could spare from their saddlebags, Lyra looked at her lyre and felt notably sad.
"What is it, honey?" Bon Bon asked concerned.
"Yeah, Heartstrings. We've already got two thirds of the way. So why the long face?"
"It's just ... sigh ... I shouldn't have brought you here. This is my quest, not yours. And now we're stuck."
Light giggling could be heard from the other two.
"Oh Lyra. Do you think we didn't know in what we were in? That's why I didn't tell you about the Doctor until today. Every single time he is involved, sh*t's about to go down."
"Then, why did you tell me about him?"
"Because I couldn't stand the sight of you moping around, anymore."
A smile crept back on Lyra's face. Both of them returned to Derpy, who by now was so desperate for the warmth of a blazing fire that she actually lit a couple of extra wooly hats she brought along. At least it worked.
They sat together, enjoying the heat the burning wool brought forth. Lyra and Bon Bon snuggling up against each other. Derpy, however, fearing what would happen, when these two were too long at a romantic camp fire like this one, tried to distract them from whatever thoughts they might be having.
"So, uh, why don't you play us a little song on your lyre?"
"Really? Now?", she asked curiously.
"Why not? It would be better than that ear dwum shattering silence. Also, this place cweeps the buck out of me. It feels like those icycles have been gwowing half a meter since we got here." She had a pretty good point.
Lyra agreed to lighten up the mood. She tried to think of a good song and remembered a few notes, but, strangely, couldn't remember from where she heard it. Her horn lit up and began to pull on the strings. The melody it created was so unbelievably beautiful that everypony who heard it could feel the weight they were carrying on their shoulders decrease. The fear of all the dangers they would still have to face disappeared in that one single moment, in which the tune of her instrument pierced their ears. It seemed like just by hearing this melody, she could feel her father beside her, almost confusing the fire for the warmth of a hug only a parent could give.
"This is amazing. Why haven't I heard this before?"
"I forgot."
But it also had another, rather unusual side effect. After a minute or so of playing, the icycles on the ceiling began to crack and break, falling down onto the three mares. Understandably confused by this, Lyra stopped playing and all of them looked up. Derpy instantly had a joyful smile all across her face.
"Amazing. Your lyre must play on a special fwequency, which makes the molecules of the ice vibrate and eventually break. Simply fascinating. I can't wait to analyze it."
Lyra began to really get curious about how the grey mare acted. Ever since kindergarten, she was told that Derpy was "special". And she quickly figured out, what was meant by that. Her clutsyness, her speech impediment and those, well known, constantly dislocating eyes actually just led to one conclusion.
But now she talked about experimenting and analyzing stuff in a time travelling phone box, dealing with complicated devices and who knows what else.
"The blizzard is calmimg down. I think we should get moving. Only one third left", Bon Bon suggested.
"And then the way back."
From then on, it felt even colder, due to their exposion to the warmth of the fire before. The dunes of snow grew taller and taller every minute they walked and the wind seemed to litterally cut their skin, as if the area alone wanted to keep them from going any further to their destination.
They finally reached a cave from which the signal, apparently, came from. It was very large inside, but nothing was in it, aside from some icycles, some of them even pointing up.
"I don't get it. The source of the signal is wight here in this cave."
"Where exactly? Maybe there is something at a specific spot", Lyra suggested.
Derpy looked down on her screen and wandered through the cave. Not paying attention to where she was going, she ran into the wall in the back. She rubbed her muzzle and scanned the tall wall. She noticed something that looked like the remaining shards of a broken mirror on the sided and at the top. She took a few steps back. Her jaw dropped from the amazing realisation.
"This must be it. The portal."
"So, my dad went through this wall and is somehow stuck there?" She tapped her hoof on the granite, with no visible effect. She looked back at Derpy and, quite hesitantly, asked: "How ... how do we open it?"
This question earned a rather suspicious look from her marefriend. She said she wanted to find answers. Why would she wanna open the portal? But Derpy only answered it.
"Well, there is only one way to find out. You have to go back in time."
"What? How? Your box is still useless."
"We couldn't use it anyways. If we go back with the TARDIS, your father may never enter the portal and we would have no reason to be here. We would never come here and couldn't prevent your father from going into the portal. Paradox loop. But I have something for this occasion."
Derpy reached inside her saddle bag and pulled out a small phial.
"These are my time bubbles. We blow one up, you jump in and end up at any time you want to be. Well, actually just an astwal image of yourself. Completely invisible and unable to do anything but watch. This way, there is no way you can cause any damage to the space-time continuum."
Lyra and Bon Bon were stunned by what they just heard. This mare, involuntarily, WRECKED TOWN HALL, because of her clumsiness and, somehow, made her own device for time travelling.
"Just how did you do this?"
"I accidently spilled the bubble fluid into the time vortex and, well, this came out." Of course.
"Are you really sure you want to do this? You will get your answer, honey, but you may not like it." Bon Bon rested her hoof on Lyra's shoulder. The unicorn took a deep breath to help her brain process this.
"I'm sure. Come on! Blow the bubble!"
It took Derpy several minutes to bring the hollow pearl of fluid to the right size, but eventually made it.
"Now wemember! You can stay there as long as the bubble holds. It bweaks and you're here again."
Lyra took a few more deep breaths in order to find the confidence to leap forward. She whirled around in a torrent of every color in existence, and even more. All she could think about was Pan. His olive green fur, his brown mane, his warm comforting smile, and the flute, he always played with the greatest passion. She finally reached the shining, white end at the whirlpool of colors.
The cave appeared again. The icycles not as large, though. And the large back wall wasn't the grey granite, but a shimmery, reflecting surface. Five ponies entered the cavern. Four unicorns carrying a large blob of red and grey crystals, in which a dark force seemed to radiate. But that wasn't the most eye catching thing for Lyra. The one leading the rest was Pan.
"I don't get it. He is imprisoned. Why do we have to do this, again?" A unicorn mare asked. She groaned from the immense headache she got from using her magic at such a high rate.
Pan had a worried look on his face. "He is only imprisoned, because his powers are still pretty weak. The princess fears that, when he regains his full strengh, he will break out and only cause misery again. Why they decided to turn him into shadows in the first place, is still a mystery to me. And appearently to her, too." He snickered at his last comment. "You will have to contain him and shove him through the portal as soon as we release him, or else he will break free."
"And what is your job in this situation. How do you fit in banishing Som-" the orange stallion interrupted himself, before speaking his full name" -you know, him?"
"Once he is in the human world, he will no longer be able to use his dark magic. Or any magic, for that matter. Since I am most familiar with their world, it is my job to sneak him into an insane asylum. No one will believe his story. They will put him on drugs and all live happily ever after. Worked on the sirens."
"Yeah, but that was Starswirl the Bearded. Y'know? The most powerful unicorn wizard, who ever lived?!"
"Relax. You four where chosen, directly, by the princess. I, and mostly her, have absolute faith in your abilities. You can do this. And we better hurry. You know what things live in this area."
"You mean the things for whom they set up the force field?" Pan nodded.
"I am glad that we went through every detail, again."
Lyra couldn't process what she heard there. Her breath started to get heavier and faster as she tried to think about the questions that raced through her head.
"Okay, ready?" Pan asked. Everypony else nodded and went to their respective places to perform the releasing spell. Meanwhile, Lyra's dad positioned himself near the portal.
Four different colored beams of pure magical energy shot onto the crystals. They slowly began to shake and little cracks appeared on each one. What appeared to be wind shot out from the formation, but they soon noticed that it was something different. Dark magic. Each of them tried to maintain a steady stand. An effort which ultimately failed.
Two green glowing eyes, with purple shadows flowing from them appeared inside the prison, shortly before it exploded into who-knows-how-many pieces and a huge shock wave emenated from it, which knocked everypony from their hooves. The most unlucky of them was Pan, who got shot right into the portal.
Shadows emerged from each of the shards, that were lying on the ground and fused together to form a black flame. A bent, red horn appeared and the same glowing eyes from before shot open. The creature looked at the portal and growled. Was it possible that it heard what the team said before?
Its horn lit up in black, engulfed in a vivid violet haze with light green edges and shot a magical beam, powered by hatred and fear, onto the specular surface, which caused grey crystals to destroy the portal. Several shards of the broken gateway flew straight towards the time bubble and caused Lyra to jump and break the bubble with her horn. She fell backwards and found Bon Bon and Derpy looking down at her.
"And? What happened?"
Lyra feared to give the answer, for she knew what it meant. Her eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling, as she finally brought it out.
"The- the portal. It's ... destroyed." Her eyes filled with tears as she, shakily, recalled her experience. "Something bashed him right into sob the portal and- and broke it." She started to cry like a waterfall. The thing that has been her dream for the last decade was now unreachable.
A scream of agony echoed from every wall of the cavern as Lyra thrashed her head and hooves into the stone. The two other ponies immediately tried to grab her.
"Lyra, just calm down, honey."
"Yeah, it's not like you think."
She stopped shaking. Now Derpy got her attention.
"What was that?"
"It's not like you think. There's still a chance that your father can return." Now she had her interest.
"How do you know that?"
"This portal is broken for years, but the doctor still keeps getting these signals. So, there has to be another one."
That made sense. Lyra calmed down but Bon Bon only tensed up on her current train of thought. Why was Lyra so upset? She said she got over her father's disappearing. Or did she? Suspicious over her marefriend, the yellow earth pony started to dig for more information.
"Why did it upset you so much. You've got your answers. You know what happened. We can go home."
"Well, uhm ... uh, well", Lyra stumbled over words, "since we actually know that he's not dead, I thought I could .. Y'know?"
"You want to go there, right? Bring him back."
"I know it's crazy. Even for me. But you've got to understand. I need to do this."
"We know absolutely nothing about this place. What would happen if we were stuck there?"
"I DON'T CARE. You don't know how painful the last years were. I deserve to have a father."
A long silence filled the room, until Derpy spoke up.
"Look, this isn't my business, but we weally should continue this inside the TARDIS. Where we are safe. Something about this place is just cweeping me out."
And just that moment, a strange noise was audible. Lyra remembered her trip. Didn't they say something about some things that live in this area? Because of which the force field had to be set up?
"We have to go. Run!"
They started running. Never stopping. Not even the slightest moment to catch her breath. The couple by hoof and the pegasus soaring through the air. Their destination: the time-travelling spaceship of a debatably crazy Doctor. By the time they returned to the "Time And Relative Dimension In Space", their manes were completely frozen by their sweat.
But something was off. The doctor was just standing at the door of the booth, hoof resting on the handle, not moving a single inch. Being the fastest of the three, Derpy was the first to notice a shimmery layer of frozen water surrounding his body.
She screamed "STOP" and tackeled the others to the ground just before they could step on the slowly further creeping icecap. "It will freeze you."
"Doctor?" No answer. "DOCTOR?", Bon Bon yelled from the top of her lungs as she finally got what happened to him. And what was about to happen to them. They tried to crawl backwards to escape their icy death, but only found out that it has already surrounded them.
Derpy hovered in safe height above the two, not capable of flying, ponies, who pressed their bodies against one another to give them not only warmth, but also hope that they might come out of this with their lives and only a few visits to the psychologist.
Derpy tried to figure out a way to rescue them, as she remembered what happened at the fire earlier and what the Doctor gave her.
"Lywa, play your lyre."
"Are you serious?"
"Wemember what happened at the fire. Your lyre can bweak it."
"But those were just small icycles. This is a thick layer of ice."
"That doesn't matter. Just play long enough for me to synchronize the fwequence of the Sonic Scwewdwiver with your lyre. It'll welease a shock wave that bweaks the ice for good."
And so, Lyra started playing the same song again. With all of her passion, as if her life depended on it. Note after note came out of the strings of the golden, horseshoe-shaped instrument. And she finally remembered where she heard this melody before. It was the lullaby her parent always sang to her. Every night, before she went to sleep this combination of notes and words brought her further into the realms of the Moon Princess.
This display continued for a couple of moments. As the ice crept further and further towards the two of them, Bon Bon gripped even harder onto her marefriend. She let out an ear shattering scream, when the ice finally touched her skin and shouted curses at the feeling of it slowly working its way up her body.
How do I describe this feeling? Imagine taking a bath in a frozen lake while you're eating snow pie with ice cube garnish and wash it down with a Bloody Mary, in which the alcohol got replaced with liquid nitrogen ... times 2.
Lyra covered their mouths. She knew that any other noise would make it difficult for Derpy to find the right frequence. But even she could barely contain a scream, as the ice reached her, but she kept playing. The fact that she finally got to see her father again, if she got out of this alive being the only thing, next to the safety of Bon Bon, that coursed her mind.
"Found it", Derpy screamed as she pressed the button of the screwdriver, releasing an enormous green shockwave that broke the ice they were, by then, halfway covered in, releasing not only them, but also the frozen Doctor, who fell sideways mere a second after being set free. Derpy instinctively rushed towards him.
"Doc? DOC?" She almost started crying, before he woke up.
"What happened." She gave him a tight hug.
"You were fwozen. I don't know what caused that, but we better get inside."
And they would have, if the lock didn't get frozen, too. And, unfortunately, it would take a little more screwing to fix it.
"Oh no. No No No NO NO." Derpy panicked as she noticed something terrible. "I didn't take the energy consumption into consideration. I will first have to calibrate the screwdriver new." Just then the same noise as before from inside the cave appeared.
"What is that?" Bon Bon asked the Doctor, who just had a look of complete fear in his face.
"Windigos."
"You mean the things from the Hearth's Warming Eve tale?" Lyra had to speak up, because of a particularly harsh wind that started.
"Don't ever, EVER, believe that something from a story is JUST a story!" He stopped for a moment before he turned to Derpy again. The ice was slowly coming back. "How did you break the ice? HOW?" He shook her tremendously to emphasize the urgence of this situation.
"I synchronized the screwdriver with the lyre. It plays on a fwequence that bweaks the ice."
"Of course. OF COURSE. How could I be so blind. Derpy, do what you have to do to repair the screwdriver. And you -", he turned to Lyra,"- You play your lyre again. Louder and all that. Squeeze every little note out of it. I'll destract these foes."
The three winter spirits emerged from the skies, bringing with them their trademark whirl of clouds and wind, and Lyra began to play again. This time with even more passion, as she began to sing the song out loud. And, despite not knowing a single word of the text, Bon Bon joined in, looking deep into Lyra's eyes, with her own soaking ones. She knew exactly what they said.
They said: "I don't care, if we take our last breath here. I'm just happy to be by your side. I love you."
And Lyra stared back with the exact same look; saying: I am so happy to have you. I love you, too.
The Doctor began to face the Windigos.
"So, you are the winter spirits, huh?
I have to say that your method was very clever.
Using my hatred against the things I had to do in my life to freeze me.
Very witty."
The ghostly creatures acted like they didn't hear him.
"But I know what you want.
I know what you feed on.
You are simply powered by hatred.
You feed on dreams and memories of good times
so that only the heartbreaking moments are left.
That creates' sadness. That creates' anger. And, finally, hatred.
But what are dreams anyways?
They are simply memories.
Memories of a life we have passed on from.
Memories of a life we didn't have the pleasure to experience, yet.
And memories of hopes and fears that drive us forward in our current life.
Youtube Video
So, let me tell you about my dream.
It was just a wolf.
Just a wolf walking.
And it looked sad.
So sad.
Those sad eyes.
Ill never forget them.
Those sad and old eyes.
Like they had purpose.
Like they saw beauty.
And hell.
It reminded me of life.
How sad it is when it ends.
Why do we have eyes?
To see?
To feel?
To cry?
To wake up?
To sleep?
Everything ends.
If you forget.
BUT IF YOU REMEMBER.
TIME WILL NEVER END.
THE WOLF WILL NEVER DIE.
But hatred.
It is alone.
It is more powerful than pain.
MORE POWERFUL THAN SADNESS.
MORE POWERFUL THAN JEALOUSY.
But it is nothing NOTHING COMPARED TO LOVE!
NOTHING!
Do you see these two mares there?
You try to feed on their negative feelings.
AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
THEY ARE HAPPY.
BECAUSE THEY LOVE.
Never forget who told you this.
Never forget the wolf who looked at me with the PAIN of a thousand life times.
AND THE JOY OF A MILLON!"
Righ when he had said these last words, Derpy finished wih her tinkering on the screwdriver. "Finished". She threw the tool to the brown stallion, who quickly turned around, grabbed a hold of it and shot the same green shock wave from it as Derpy had done before. This time directly at the cause of the ice.
The three magical beings began to dissolve. Piece after piece of whatever they were made of started to crackle, until they were gone for good.
After a little tinkering at the lock, our heroes entered the TARDIS again.
"Well, what do we do now?"
"First, I am going to find a way around the forcefield, to get out of this icy desert."
"And, Lyra, what are WE going to do?" Bon Bon asked in an almost threatening kind of way.
"I scanned the former portal at the cave, and I think that, with the help of the Doctor, we'll be able to find the other one. Only question is 'Do you want to go there?'"
Lyra thought about that. On the one hoof, after what just happened she just wanted to go home and take a nice long bath. With or without Bonnie. But on the other hoof, she really wanted to find her dad.
"Okay, ladies, we are back in Po- ooooh ..." The Doctor went to the ground before he could finish his sentence. He wasn't moving the slightest bit, until Derpy, once again, rushed to help him.
"What's wrong with you?" He started to breathe again. He tried to stand up, but was forced down by a grey hoof.
Bon Bon scooted over to help him, too. She pulled a stethoscope out of her saddlebags and examined his chest.
"Oh horseapples. None of his two hearts are beating. I presume that his other organs stopped working as well.
"How could this happen?"
"He was in the ice for too long. His organs froze, too."
"So what? Get the screwdriver!" Lyra suggested, but was only confronted with a shaking head.
"Even if we did that, his organs wouldn't start working in time. I dont want this to happen either, but let's face it. He is going to ..." The Doctor coughed and freed himself from under Derpy's firm hold.
"No. That's a lie. It's not going to happen. You're lying to me!" His voice was desperate. It was more than clear that what ever would happen, he didn't want it.
"I'm sorry Doc, but this is no lie."
"Then do something about it." He clenched his teeth together and proceeded to speak through them. "Do whatever it takes to stop it!"
"There is nothing anypony CAN do. You are going to regenerate."
Regenerate? Lyra heard so much weird stuff today that she didn't even attempt to figure out what that is.
"There is so much I still have to do. I promised Derpy, that I would fix her and I will keep my promise." Derpy stepped next to Bon Bon.
"I know you will help me, even if you are going to change."
"Rule #1: Never trust the Doctor. Especially no new Doctor. You can't know what kind of pony I will turn into."
"I have known you for too long. I know that that's no weason for you to fweak out. What is it?"
The angry expression on the Doctor's face dissolved into a countenance of sadness.
"What do you know about my previous incarnations?" Derpy looked around the room, as if the answer was floating somewhere nearby.
“Well, you are the tenth doctor and ... “
“Are we forgetting Captain Grumpy? I didn’t call myself the Doctor, during the war, but it was still a regeneration.”
“So you are Number Eleven.”
“And you forget that I already regenerated and kept my face.”
“I don’t understand. Why are you telling me this?”
“BECAUSE THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME.”
(short pause)
“I can only regenerate so many times. This will be the last time I can do it. There is only one face left, behind this one.” His monologue turned into sobbing." I don't want to be forgotten. I have done so many great things as the Doctor. If I do that I will only be closer to my death and oblivion. I-I don't wanna go. I DON'T WANNA GO."
He snapped out of it, as he felt Derpy's hoof smack against his cheek.
"I can understand that you are upset. But you don't have to be. There will always be ponies, who wemember the great deeds of the stallion called the Doctor. Whether it's Number Ten, Four, Seven, Nine or even Eleven. You will never be forgotten. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day ... I swear. I will always wemember the time -" the Doctor finished the sentence for her.
"- when the Doctor was me." He stared wide-eyed into the grey mares, exceptionally straight eyes. "Never forget this, my impossible filly. You promised." He whispered to her, as he touched her trembling cheek. "I'm read
y. Stand back, please", he said at normal volume.
He took a few steps backwards and closed his eyes, a single tear running down his cheeks before a bright shining light emerged from him. Several seconds passed until it finally faded and revealed the new Doctor.
His brown coat changed into a light grey and his brown, gelled up mane turned into one that almost looks like the one of a certain fashonista. Only shorter. Without a twirl and dark grey. His tail also got a bit longer and his eyes were now green. But, most of all, the sand in the hourglass, that is his cutie mark is now almost completely run through.
"Huh, I've got new teeth." He said, with a smile on his face.
"Oookay, that's enough freaky stuff for me today. I just want to get home." Lyra stated, almonst tearing up, storming towards the door.
"We'll give you some time to decide, whether we go to see the humans, okay? We'll be back in a week."
Lyra took a few seconds to consider this offer, then nodded and left the TARDIS, with Bon Bon following her closely.
