Doctor Whooves and the Time of Dragons

**3

THE CAVE**

When Lovelace awoke, she was reclining across a comfortable chaise longue in the corner of the room, the same sort she had seen at the boutiques in Canterlot and Ponyville. The world had stopped spinning, and the unforgiving pressure she had felt had dissipated. Her vision was still bleary, but she could recognise Roseluck, her grandfather and Star Hunter all standing around the controls. The pegasus was staring up at the reflective panel hanging from the ceiling, which was displaying a wobbling mix of colours. She shook her head reflexively, and her eyesight adjusted. The image was the interior of a cave, and piled high within it were mountains of gemstones, which appeared to be arranged by size and hue. Emeralds, rubies, amethysts, all kinds, and not in the refined forms ponies liked to decorate themselves with. These were rough and spiky. She stretched out one cautious foreleg, and then the other, and got up.

“The yearometer isn’t calculating properly,” the elderly pony observed. “Consequence of not taking off properly, I expect. You shouldn’t have stopped me from engaging the shields or stabilisers like that.”

“I’m sorry, Grandfather,” Roseluck replied sullenly. “Still, at least everything seems steady now.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” said Star Hunter, shaking his head. “We can’t really have left Ponyville.”

“But look at the scanner screen,” said Roseluck, indicating the image above their heads.

“Yes, look up there,” said her grandfather. “He doesn’t understand, and I suspect he doesn’t want to. But there you are, young pony. A new world for you.”

“A cave?” asked Star.

“That’s the immediate view outside the ship,” replied the old pony. “What more evidence do you need?”

“More than that,” said Star haughtily. “That could just be a picture you hung while we were dazed!”

“Oh, dear, dear me,” their host sighed. “Roseluck tells me you’re an astronomer, a scientist yourself, but you’re really rather narrow-minded, aren’t you? Stop being so insular. If you could touch the alien sand, and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?”

“Yes!” Star cried heatedly. “Open the door and let me take a look for myself, Doctor, uh…” His sentence was left hanging in the air when he realised he had no idea how to address the old pony. Roseluck opened her mouth to answer him, but her grandfather raised his hoof as a signal, and she said nothing. Lovelace remembered he was supposed to be a doctor, though what sort of doctor lived in a time-travelling shack that was bigger on the inside and disliked strangers was beyond her knowledge.

“No, I shan’t,” said the Doctor, “not until I’m quite sure it’s safe. Roseluck, what does the radiation counter there say?”

Roseluck glanced at a gauge on the console in front of her. “It’s reading normal, Grandfather.”

“Splendid, splendid, but I think I’ll take my particle detector, just in case.”

Lovelace chose then to speak up. “Where are we?”

Star Hunter and Roseluck both looked at her and gave sighs of relief.

“I’m glad you’re all right,” said the pegasus.

“Thanks for catching me in the fall,” she said, and smiled. “How’s your back?”

“Just a bit bruised. I’ll be all right,” he assured her. “Pegasi are built to last.”

“We’ve certainly gone back in time,” said the Doctor as he pulled on a black saddlebag. “One or two samples and I should be able to make an estimate. Rock pieces and a few plants, yes. I do wish this old thing wouldn’t keep letting me down.” He gave the console’s column a light kick for emphasis. “You’re not as doubtful as your friend, I hope?”

Star looked at her expectantly, and when she shook her head he looked at her with vexation. “Lacy, you can’t!”

“Honestly, Star, they sound so sure of it, and remember the shack?” she returned, her tone level and diplomatic. “I’m not saying you have to believe it isn’t magic, but we should at least give them a chance to prove they’ve done it. Please, for Rose’s sake?”

She could see he was conflicted, and so just to seal the deal, she put on her best pouting expression. Star winced, then acquiesced with a grumbling, “Fine, fine, just quit giving me the face!”

“Magic!” the Doctor snorted derisively. “Stuff and nonsense. Still, so long as this silly argument can be over and done with.” He pulled down a lever on the console, and with a hum the door swung open. “Well, there you are. Come along, Roseluck.” He stepped outside, his granddaughter close behind. Lovelace and Star Hunter both hesitated, long enough for them to steel their nerves, then followed after.

The cave was like the throat of an immense monster, its ceiling easily as high as Ponyville’s town hall. Stacks of gems reached all the way to the top, reflecting light from glowing veins that quivered like flames. It was warm, the kind of heat one feels when walking along a beach during the height of summer. There were no carts or systems of levers and pulleys that might indicate how one was supposed to move so much weight without help, not even a track to evidence the presence of miners. Behind them, they expected to find the shack, but all they saw was the sapphire blue door with the stained glass window and the number 76 on it, standing upright with nothing attached.

“No way,” said Star, and he walked all around it. He furrowed his brow, and dropped into a seated position to process this latest weirdness. His incredulity was starting to recede, and that was upsetting him.

The Doctor was also observing the door, with a hint of uncertainty that made Lovelace tense. “Why hasn’t it changed?” he asked nopony in particular. “Dear, dear, how very disturbing.” He walked off, muttering to himself, until he vanished behind one of the stacks.

“Lacy! Star! Come look at this!” Roseluck called over from somewhere nearby. Lovelace helped the sullen Star Hunter to his hooves, and they went over together. Roseluck was staring up at a series of markings on the cave wall. They were smeared in brownish reds and greens, and appeared to depict shapes that hazily corresponded with the rough stones that surrounded them.

“What do you think it could be?” Lovelace asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Star in a low, distracted voice. “The way they’re arranged, they could be letters, I suppose. Markings left by whoever lives here.” His eyes drew away from the wall. “Incredible. A door, just, just standing there in the midst of…it doesn’t make any sense…does it?”

“It is weird,” said Roseluck. “She should’ve changed. I wonder why she hasn’t this time.”

“The ship, you mean?” Lovelace asked.

“Yeah! She’s been a pyramid, a tree, and one time a garden swing.”

“Disguising herself wherever she goes,” said Lovelace, impressed.

“But she hasn’t this time,” said Roseluck. “Hey! I wonder if these letters could help Grandfather figure out when we are!” She cantered away to find him.

Star Hunter was still brooding, looking from the door to the gems to, to the ceiling, to his own hooves, but not really focussing on anything. She trotted over and held him comfortingly.  He grimaced. “I was wrong, wasn’t I? It’s not magic, but here we are.”

“It’s not,” she agreed. “I’m a unicorn, I’d know it if it were. Look, I don’t understand this any more than you do. The inside of the shack, the fact we’re here, or some of the things we heard from Doctor, uh…”

“Exactly. Roseluck tried to tell me his name, but he stopped her,” said Star. “So what doesn’t he want us to know? If we only had a clue about who he was, we could make some sense out of it. Maybe we could ask the princess…that is, if we ever make it back to Ponyville.” His ears pricked up and his eyes showed alertness. He grabbed Lovelace and pulled her behind one of the stacks. Before she could demand what he was up to, she detected approaching sounds, growing steadily louder. Hoofbeats, or close enough. Huge, thunderous ones that hurt her ears and made her knees buckle. When she saw what appeared next inside the cave, the colour drained from her face.

She knew they were real, but they only existed in the most distant climes, far from the towns and cities and beyond the distant mountains where nopony had to fear them. Yet, here they were, large as life and twice as fearsome. Dragons! Three of them, with eyes the colour of gold and polished scales. She supposed the heat and the contents of the cave made sense now, from what little she knew of these spectacular creatures.

“They’ve spotted the ship,” Star whispered, and he was right. One of the dragons pointed at the disembodied blue door, and his two friends were glaring down at it in confusion. The leader strode over to a series of long, bending rocks jutting from high on the far wall, and started speaking into it.

“Milord, forgive me for disturbing you and your guest,” he spoke, and his voice rumbled through the cave and made the two ponies drop down and cover their ears.

Another voice responded, just as blaring and made more painful by the metallic ringing that accompanied it from inside the rock. “Ah! Captain Burstilak! Have you found what’s causing that ungodly ruckus?”

“We, ah, we’ve convinced we have, yes,” said the leader, the one called Burstilak.

“Well, what’s the matter, captain? Does it look dangerous?” demanded the other voice.

“We, ah…that is, it doesn’t look it, milord, but we’re not exactly sure what it is. I’ve never seen anything like it. We’ve got it covered from all sides, but perhaps you’d like to come take a look for yourself?”

Some distant mumbling, and then, “Very well, captain. Don’t take your eyes off it. My nephew and I will be down there presently.”

“We’d better get somewhere safer,” whispered Star Hunter. “Let’s find Roseluck and the Doctor before those monsters see us.”

“But what about the ship?” Lovelace replied.

“We can’t worry about that right now,” Star told her.  “Come on, while they’re distracted.”

They made their way slowly between the piles of gems, always seeking the next nearest over, but to Lovelace’s fear-addled mind every stretch was a mile long, and each hiding place smaller and less opaque. She held her breath with each movement, fearing that the minutest misstep or muscle spasm might somehow alert the vast creatures of their presence, and then it would be all over.

“Dragons,” she whimpered. “Dragons, big dragons, fire-breathing dragons, do not want.”

“We’ll be fine, Lacy, just stay calm,” Star told her, but she heard the quavering on his lips. He was just as terrified as her, and he was no better at hiding it, but his urge for survival proved strong enough to force him onwards in spite of himself. They managed to reach a group of closely set stacks towards the middle of the room, and that was where they found Roseluck, who looked as if she were about to cry.

“What’s the matter?” Star asked. “Where’s the Doctor? And keep your voice down.”

She reached behind her and revealed the Doctor’s black saddlebag. “I—I—I found his things,” she stammered, “but—but there’s no sign of him! I can’t see him anywhere! Something must’ve happened to him! All his things were over the ground! His diary! He’d never leave his diary, it’s got the key codes for all the machinery in the T.A.R.D.I.S. and notes on all the places he’s been!” The volume of her voice was climbing higher and higher, despite Lovelace’s best attempts to gesture her down.

Star covered her mouth with a foreleg and gave her an admonishing glare. “He’ll be fine, and even if he’s not we’re not going to help him by panicking, Rose! Now, I’m going to remove my hoof, and you’re going to take a few deep breaths and get yourself under control. Once those things leave and we’re safe, we can start looking for your grandfather.”

“Did you hear something?” one of the dragons rumbled.

His colleague nodded, then took a big whiff of the air. “Yeah! I smell something, too. Smells like…like…” He got down on all fours and started following his snout along the ground. “Oh! It’s coming from over here, I think!” The three ponies froze as the monster crawled closer and closer. Each inhalation ruffled feathers, manes and tails. Closer. The heat of sour breath passed over them.  Closer, just on the other side of the stacks. The voice was so near that it was barely understandable. “Here! They’ve been holding out on us, lads! Look! Musgravite! It’s been ages since I’ve had musgravite! Not since…not since I was a little hatchling!”

“You’re on duty, Sergeant. Show some decorum,” said Burstilak sternly. “Stand to attention. Phlogistaut, Lord of the Mountain, and Prince Flicker, heir of Camehot, approach.”

The three ponies breathed a collective sigh of relief, then huddled in tightly as two more dragons entered the cave. One was a great, green brute with a rotund belly and limbs as thick as tree trunks. The other was a scrawny adolescent with lavender scales and smooth, emerald spines all the way down his back. His colouration reminded Lovelace of the very same baby dragon the princess kept in her company whenever she was out in public. He even had the same large eyes and the same unassuming expression. It would have almost been cute, were it not attached to a monster with razor-sharp teeth and breath that could kill you in an instant.

“That’s the culprit, is it?” the big green one asked, pointing a claw at the T.A.R.D.I.S.

“It’s the only thing that doesn’t belong here,” said Burstilak. “Ah! Please be careful, milord, it could be a trap.”

“Hmm! Yes, you’re quite right,” Phlogistaut murmured. He motioned to one of Burstilak’s subordinates, the one with the taste for musgravite. “You there, soldier! Pick it up!”

“Me, milord?”

“No, the genius standing behind you. Of course you, charcoal-for-brains!”

“Yes, milord. Right, milord. On it, milord.” He reached down and picked up the blue door in one palm. He bounced it in his palm a couple of times to test it. “Seems safe enough.”

“Good,” said Phlogistaut. “In that case, you can carry it back to the vaults for safekeeping. I’ll have Netherlin examine it when he gets back from his trip tomorrow. Maybe he can figure out what it is, or at the very least how it got inside our stores.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment. “Captain, it occurs to me that someone must’ve gotten inside in order to put this…whatever-it-is here. Have a cat put in here.”

“As you wish, Lord Phlogistaut,” the dragon captain said with a salute. They took their leave, though the adolescent lingered for a final curious glimpse around the chamber before following them.

Finally, Lovelace felt it was safe to speak. She wiped sweat from her brow. “That was close,” she said. “But now what? They have the ship, and I don’t want to think what this Netherlin of theirs might do with it.”

“You heard what they said. We have until tomorrow, when this Netherlin guy arrives,” said Star Hunter. “Right now, we should focus on finding the Doctor.”

Roseluck was sniffling miserably to herself. Lovelace concentrated, and with a gentle push of her magic, drew a handkerchief from the black saddlebag to dab her tears away.

“Thank you,” Roseluck mumbled. “Where should we start?”

“Well, did you see anything else while you were looking for him?” asked Star.

“There’s a hole in the eastern wall,” she replied, indicating the direction. “I didn’t get very close, but it looked big enough for somepony to fit through.”

“All right,” said Star, “then that’s where we’ll start.”

They began their trek across the cave floor, feeling more confident without the immediate presence of the dragons. Lovelace stopped to push some of her long, moistened mane out of her face. The heat was starting to feel uncomfortable. Even the pale blue orchid she customarily wore behind her ear was lilting. It only got worse as they came closer to the hole, and when they reached it, Star Hunter stuck his head in, only to immediately pull back.

“There’s a river of lava through here,” he said. “That explains why it’s so hot.”

“What else?”

“Looks like there’s a narrow ledge heading upwards. He might’ve gone that way, but not very fast. If we’re on the right track, he can’t be that far ahead.”

That was then the shadow fell upon them. Two great paws descended, held them fast and hoisted them high, and before anypony could understand what was happening, they were face-to-glimmering eye with a dragon!