Chapters Doctor Whooves and the Time of Dragons
DOCTOR WHOOVES
AND THE TIME OF DRAGONS
A story by
Dutch Tilt
1
AN UNEQUESTRIAN FILLY
There was nothing the citizens of Ponyville loved more than a celebration.
Theirs was a happy and colourful life, and there was always something of great value for them to commemorate, honour, or observe. If one were to check one’s Equestrian standard calendar, the next closest occasion was Hearts and Hooves Day. It was a vibrant time of the year, when ponies all over the land went in search of somepony special to share the day with. Musicians played ballads dedicated to new romances and bonds that had survived the test of passing time, merchants and designers flaunted wares patterned with hearts and fluffy clouds, and fresh young flowers sprouted up in every orchard, grove and garden so as to embody this season of new beginnings.
This Hearts and Hooves day was to be an important landmark for Lovelace. It was exactly one year to the day since she had moved back to Ponyville from Canterlot. Her decision had been based purely on sentiment. Canterlot and Manehattan were the places where all the big success stories supposedly took place, not peaceable little frontier settlements like Ponyville, but homesickness had pulled steadily at her until she had finally given into her desires and caught the first train out of the capital. Her mother had been less than ecstatic, citing the host of unsavoury stories that originated from that region. She was a few years too old for grounding now, and so there she was, living in pleasant (if somewhat small) lodgings not far from Sugar Cube Corner. Ponyville was largely unchanged from the last time she was there, save perhaps the enormous, crystalline tower that had replaced the old library. She always told herself it would be a small respite, a chance to get back in touch with her roots before she went back to the city.
One year later, she had started to think this was not the case.
During the week coming up to the big day, she had been sharing a workspace at the local florist, working with the girls there to create Hearts and Hooves Day favours that combined her own practised skills in the art of paper-craft (as testified by the mark on her flank, two brilliant red hearts affixed together by a drawing pin) with the most fragrant selection of flowers in the region, straight from some of the finest gardens around. Flowers tended to agitate Lovelace. They made her sneeze so she was forced to wear a paper mask over her nose. Not that she minded, because she liked working in the shop and wished it could happen more often. Daisy and Lily Valley were chatty and enthusiastic. They made delightful company. Even better, she thought privately to avoid hurting anypony’s feelings, was a young filly named Roseluck. Only a few years out of school, her colleagues often asked after her advice in spite of her being the youngest, and she was always willing to give it. Everpony said that Roseluck was clever, talkative and cheerful.
You would not think it if you were to see her on one particularly fateful morning. It was ten o’clock, almost two hours past opening time, when the bell above the door rang. Roseluck came in, smiling as usual, but her eyes indicated something was very amiss. Lovelace dismissed the spell she had been using to construct her current order and walked over to her. She tugged down her mask, reckoning she could spare a few moments before she started sneezing herself inside out.
“Rose! There you are!” she said. “I was starting to get worried. What’s wrong, you look as though you’ve been crying.”
“Oh! Nothing! Nothing’s wrong,” she replied. “Just a bit of an argument, that’s all. It’s my grandfather, you see, he’s very stubborn.”
“Well, what were you arguing about?” Lovelace asked. “That is, if I’m not being too nosy.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve already said too much, and I wouldn’t want to make it your problem as well.”
“Don’t be silly, Rose,” Lovelace insisted, and put a comforting hoof against her shoulder. “I’m your friend. You can tell me anything and it’ll remain in the strictest confidence. I promise.”
“You’re very kind, but it’s all right,” said Roseluck. She smiled wider. “Besides, I’m late enough as it is. If we stand about like this we’ll fall behind. Missus Donkey ordered something for her husband, didn’t she? I saw her leaving as I was coming up the road.”
“Oh! Well, yeah, that’s true,” said Lovelace.
“They’re a lovely couple,” Roseluck said as she sauntered past towards the table to inspect the list of orders. “You know, I’ve never seen a Hearts and Hooves Day before. I can’t wait to see all their happy faces when they come by to pick these up.”
Lovelace shot her a look. “Never?” she asked, returning to the worktable. “Dear, the holiday’s celebrated all over Equestria. Where in the world have you been living if you haven’t seen one before?”
Roseluck turned up the radio. A melodic rock ’n’ roll tune rang out through the shop. There was no singing, just very loud instruments that made Lovelace’s sensitive ears twitch.
“Aren’t these guys great?” Roseluck asked, ignoring the previous question. “Time Turner and the Commonfoals – they’ve gone from nineteen to two!”
“Yeah, I can hear why,” said Lovelace with a grimace. Truth be told, she preferred something a bit softer, but that was not the most important thing. She had caught the strange admission quite clearly. Never seen a Hearts and Hooves Day before, at her age? That was simply impossible. She tried to pursue the matter further, but her voice was lost in a sudden onslaught of violent sternutation. She whipped the mask back up over her nose and leaned against the table to steady herself. Roseluck was already arranging flowers for a presentation piece, and Lovelace could tell there was a lot more going on than her friend was willing to relate. She had been correct, though. This was a busy week. It would be better to press her on it when they were not swamped.
She took her lunchbreak at the café just down the street, seating herself at one of the tables outside where she proceeded to brood quietly over a crêpe myrtle. She detected movement opposite her and glanced up. A dark blue pegasus pony with a spiky mane and eyes the colour of steel was making himself comfortable. He set down a wooden tray with a large slice of rainbow-coloured cake and a bit too much creamy icing, and two fizzy orange drinks with straws. His name was Star Hunter, and the two had known each other since foalhood.
“Hey there,” he said. “Why the long face?”
“Har-har,” she responded flatly.
“Right, ask a silly question,” he said, chuckling.
She looked down, her face turning even pinker than usual. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“No worries. I’ll forgive you this time,” he said, and pushed one of the drinks towards her. “That one’s yours, by the way.”
“Thanks, Star,” she said. She took a grateful sip. “It’s one of the girls I’m working with. Roseluck.”
“Oh, yeah. Real oddball, that one,” he said, and nodded sagely. “Let me guess, you don’t know what to make of her?”
“Sort of,” she replied.
“You ask me, I think she lets out a bit of her knowledge at a time, just to avoid embarrassing us,” he said. “The other week when Tailey’s Comet passed over, I took a few ponies from town up to watch it. I told them it appeared above Ponyville once every seventy-five years, and that it was first observed by…” He caught himself. “Well, I gave them the breakdown, and you know what she did? She corrected me! At first I thought she was just being flippant, but I double-checked, and you know she was absolutely correct. I talked to her about it after and asked if she was interested in studying astronomy with me.”
“How did that go?”
“She seemed pretty into it until I mentioned working with her at her home,” he went on. “She said her grandfather didn’t like strangers. Pretty lame excuse, him being a doctor and all. Anyway, it was late so I decided to follow her from the air, just to make sure she got home safe, and…well, after that’s when things got really strange.”
“How do you mean?”
“I tailed her all the way to the edge of town, and I saw her go into this old shack. There was this big blue door on the front, but I tell you the building was barely the size of a wardrobe, and it looked as though it hadn’t been used in decades! Bits of it were falling off, the grass was all dead or overgrown—”
“But she’s always bringing flowers in from her own garden,” Lovelace interrupted in disbelief. “She grows them herself, she told me so!”
“Well, I didn’t see any garden,” replied Star Hunter, “so either she’s lying, or something else is going on.”
“Maybe she knew you were following her and she just pulled a fast one?” Lovelace suggested.
“I don’t think so,” said Star, shaking his head. “And I’m not the only one who’s been shown up by her. Remember that history seminar Princess Twilight was making a big deal of, the one she held at the castle? Same thing happened there – and again for Professor Neigh, or that’s what I heard. She caught them on what seemed like minor facts, but she was right every time. The girl’s a genius, yet here she is working in a flower shop.”
“What’s wrong with that?” asked Lovelace.
“Oh! Nothing at all!” Star said, grinning sheepishly. “I just meant somepony with her smarts, you’d think she’d be marked for something else. Really, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Sure, she’s smart, but she’s got these gaps, too. It’s like she’s missing experiences of things everypony should have. Just this morning, she said she’d never seen Hearts and Hooves Day before,” said Lovelace, “and the first time I met her, I was buying a bouquet to send back to my parents for their anniversary, and she had no idea how many bits are in a gold bit. Lily Valley had to step in…” She stopped and hung her head. “Ugh! I’m being a horrible friend, gossiping about her like this, but it’s hard to bottle it all up when she raises so many questions! It’s just so, well, like you said earlier. I’ve got no idea what to make of her.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re just worried for her,” he said gently. “So, what we’ve got here is a filly who is absolutely brilliant at some things and excruciatingly bad at others. It’s a real mystery.”
“Star, I’m not out to solve a mystery,” said Lovelace. “Well, not entirely. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’ve got an idea,” said Star. “I still remember the way to the shack. Tonight, after work, why don’t you and I get there ahead of her, lie in wait, and see where she goes?”
“And what if I was right and she led you there on purpose?” Lovelace asked.
“Then I’ll look like an idiot,” said Star Hunter, and gave her a sly smile. “But if it works, maybe we can figure something out about her.”
“I don’t like the idea of spying on her,” Lovelace murmured, “but it’s not like we’re trying to dig up anything to use against her. All right, I’ll take off a little early so we can get a head-start. How about I meet you outside Sugar Cube Corner at, say, half-four?”
“I’ll be there,” he said. “Now, how about we finish lunch?”
XXX
The shack was a decomposing mess, slowly succumbing to the rigors of time and neglect. Compared to the rustic beauty that blanketed the rest of Ponyville, it was like staring at some alien monolith. Weeds and creeping vines wormed their way between crumbling bricks, deep enough that, were they so capable, they would rip the building asunder with a simple flex of their chlorophyllic muscles. The chimney had been reduced to a jagged stub. It looked just large enough to suit one particularly small pony, like a playhouse in a horror story. The only part of it that looked remotely new was the large, arch-shaped door stuck on one side. It was painted a deep shade of blue, almost the colour of sapphires, and had a brass plaque depicting the number 76 bolted to it. There was no handle or knocker that could be seen, and it was not cut into the customary top and bottom halves. The only window was located above the plaque, oval-shaped and fashioned from stained glass that curled like a snail shell.
Lovelace and Star Hunter hunkered behind some bushes and watched. Their legs were just starting to fall asleep when they saw Roseluck ambling up to the shack. She reached into the saddlebag on her right and withdrew a silver key, which she slid into a hole that they were sure had not been there seconds before. To their further astonishment, the key seemed to turn a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of its own accord. The door swung open, and out poured a brief flash of light from inside.
“Grandfather, I’m back,” Roseluck called as she went inside. There was no response. The door closed behind her, leaving no key, no hole, and no indication it had ever been tampered with.
“So what now?” whispered Lovelace.
“Well we know she’s in there now,” replied Star Hunter. “Let’s get a closer look at this grandfather of hers.”
“How do you expect to do that? The only window’s made of stained glass. Not the easiest to watch through.”
“Then we’ll take a closer listen instead,” said Star. He was already halfway across the road and making a beeline for the undergrowth.
Lovelace gulped. She was deeply regretting her decision. This felt really wrong, no matter how she tried to justify it to herself. Spying was spying. Still, she had come this far. She may as well see it through to the end. She started to follow after Star, when she heard another set of hoof-beats coming up the road. The exact direction they were coming from was difficult to pinpoint. She could feel her heart in her throat. Star Hunter’s ears stood on end over the top of the foliage. He had heard the sounds as well, and was now doing his best to stay hidden.
Apprehension was swiftly replaced by panic, and she dived into the bushes, then straight into Star Hunter, so they both landed in a tangled heap of legs and wings. They spent the next few moments squirming like that, trying to stabilise themselves without marrying each other’s teeth or eyes to their hooves. Lovelace managed to extricate herself and staggered to her hooves, only to find her vision suddenly overwhelmed by the most piercing eyes she had ever seen. They were fierce and icy blue, bordering on grey, and she fell on her rump with a surprised cry.
The newcomer was a teal-coloured, elderly Earth pony, with a white tail and mane that was slicked back over his head and curled up at the end. He wore a white collar fastened by a black ribbon-tie in a broad knot. The mark on his flank resembled a golden hourglass. He stared at them – or perhaps it would be better to say through them – with a harsh, accusing scowl.
“What are you doing here? What do you want?” he demanded. His voice was low, hoarse. It made a sound like ice cracking.
Lovelace’s mouth opened and closed a few times in a rhythm that could only be described as ‘goldfishing.’ It was Star Hunter who spoke first, “We’re looking for a young filly. A friend of ours. We saw her go into that shack there.”
“Really, in there? Are you sure?” said the old pony in a dismissive tone.
“Yes! We saw her from across the road,” said Star Hunter.
“You must have imagined it,” said the old pony.
“Did not!”
“Young pony, is it reasonable to suppose that anypony would be inside a cupboard like that?”
Lovelace found her voice then. “We’ve been worried about her recently. We wanted to make sure everything was all right at home, so we…we…”
“Decided to spy on her,” the old pony finished haughtily. “Anyway, I saw nopony. I suggest you leave before you make even bigger foals of yourselves.”
“We’re not leaving until we’re satisfied she isn’t here,” said Star Hunter, sounding agitated, “and frankly I don’t like your attitude!”
“Yours leaves much to be desired,” the old pony shot back. “From what you’ve told me I think you’re being exceedingly high-hoofed. You say you spied on a young filly without her knowledge and weren’t seen in spite of all the noise you’ve just kicked up, you imagine you saw her enter here, you believe she might be inside. It’s not very substantial, is it?”
Star Hunter breezed past him and started rapping on the door. “Roseluck? Roseluck, are you in there? It’s Star Hunter and Lovelace!”
The door suddenly fell open, and Roseluck’s voice called out, “What are you doing out there?”
“Close the door!” the old pony cried, but before he could do anything to stop them, Star Hunter had darted inside, with Lovelace following close behind. Neither of them could guess what awaited them on the other side, but nothing they could imagine could encompass what they saw next. There was Roseluck, wide-eyed in amazement, and all about her was another world. It was the last time they would see Ponyville, and the Equestria they thought they knew.
Doctor Whooves and the Time of Dragons
**2
BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR**
“I believe these ponies are known to you, Roseluck.”
“They’re my friends. Lovelace has been working at the shop with me, to get ready for Hearts and Hooves Day—”
The elderly pony scoffed. “Sentimental stuff and nonsense.”
“—and Star Hunter’s with the Astronomers Guild.”
“Oh, really? How very interesting.”
The words penetrated the muddying cloud of shock that had fallen over the two intruders. Having charged through the door, they expected to be in a dark, tight space, choked with dust and with only scant evening light through holes in the brickwork. Instead, the locale in which they found themselves was more than big enough to accommodate them and probably a dozen others. It was well lit, and pristine to boot. Roseluck and the elderly teal pony stood to either side of a large, six-sided machine littered with strange instruments and mounted atop a column. A transparent cylinder rose out of the middle, containing thick filaments like a lightbulb. The walls were pitted with wide, shimmering circles. Above their heads, the ceiling was covered by a network of snaking cables, and hanging down from the mass was a flat, reflective panel. It put Lovelace in mind of the tinted windows some celebrity ponies in Manehatten used to block the prying eyes of the public.
“Where are we?” she croaked.
“They followed you back here,” the elderly pony said, ignoring the question. “That ridiculous shop. I knew something like this would happen eventually if we stayed in one place too long. We argued about this just this morning, didn’t we?”
“But why should they follow me, Grandfather?” Roseluck replied.
“Probably because of the state you left here in,” said the elder. “They’re primitive, these ponies, but not oblivious.”
Lovelace spoke louder, which seemed to catch their attention. “This is your grandfather, Rose?” She turned to the older pony. “Why didn’t you just tell us that?”
“Hmmph! I don’t discuss my private life with strangers,” he snorted.
“And this is where you both live?” Lovelace asked.
“Yes. That’s right,” said Roseluck.
“And what’s wrong with it?” the elderly pony demanded.
“This…this room’s gigantic, but outside it was just a tiny little shack,” said Star Hunter, astounded. “I…I walked all around it before we hid ourselves! Lacy, you saw me do it!”
“You don’t deserve explanations,” said the elderly pony in a clipped tone of voice. “You pushed your way in here, uninvited and unwelcome. Besides, any explanation I did give you would only confuse you further.”
“It must be unicorn magic,” said Star Hunter. “An illusion of some kind.”
“Ha!” the elderly pony snapped. “Magic, he says! Let me tell you what I think of magic, my boy! It’s chaotic, clumsy, imprecise, and I don’t believe in it!”
“Hey, that’s enough!” Lovelace protested. Being a unicorn, magic was an intrinsic part of her life.
The old pony went on regardless. “What you are standing in is one of the finest feats of engineering ever accomplished by a higher species! You don’t understand, so you find excuses. Magic, indeed. You say you can’t fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms?”
“No,” said Star Hunter. “At least I don’t think so.” He cast a slightly helpless glance towards Lovelace. He needed her expertise as a unicorn on this one. Unfortunately, no spell came to mind that could fit an enormous building inside a smaller room, sitting or not.
“But you’ve discovered art, and writing, haven’t you?” said the old pony.
“Well, yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with—”
“Then by showing an enormous building in a painting or writing about one in a book, you could do what once seemed impossible, couldn’t you?”
Neither Lovelace nor Star could think of an argument. It sounded utterly ridiculous to them, yet their reluctant host posed the query with a strange and absolute certainty. He was talking down to them in his patronising, alien way. They stood there, mouths agape, searching for a reply, and they must have been doing so for a while because the old pony chuckled humourlessly and started walking towards the far side of the central column.
“Not quite clear, is it?” he asked them. “Yes, I can see by your faces that you don’t understand, and I knew you wouldn’t. Never mind. Now then—” He started inspecting his instruments. “—the point is not whether you understand, but rather what is going to happen to you.”
“Grandfather, please,” Roseluck protested.
“They’ll tell everypony about the ship now,” the old pony insisted.
“Ship?” asked Star Hunter.
“Yes, ship!” the old pony snorted. “This doesn’t roll along on wheels, you know!”
“The T.A.R.D.I.S. can move anywhere and anywhen,” Roseluck offered helpfully.
“T.A.R.D.I.S.?” Lovelace was almost despairing. She did not consider herself stupid, but right then she certainly felt it. It was not a pleasant sensation at all. Ignorance was all right if you were going to learn something, but here she got the distinct impression she was being teased, with these nonsense words and extraordinary claims.
“I made up the name from the initials. Time and Relative Dimension in Space,” Roseluck explained. “It’s because the interior dimensions differ from the outside, you see. She’s a time-space capsule.”
“Hold on a second!” Star Hunter exclaimed, walking up to the column. “You’re telling me that this thing, that looks like a broken down old shack on the side of a road, can go anywhere in time and space? That’s ridiculous!”
“You see, my dear,” the elderly pony said matter-of-factly. “They’ll never believe us. They simply haven’t developed the ability to comprehend.”
“Hey, quit talking about us like we’re foals!” Star Hunter growled.
“Foals? Really?” returned the elderly pony. “The foals of our civilisation would be insulted by such an association.”
“Your civilisation?”
“Yes! Our civilisation!” the old pony snapped. “I tolerate your backward century, little pony, but I do not enjoy it! Have you ever thought what it would be like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Roseluck and I are cut off from our own planet. I dare say one day we shall go back, but for the present we are here, without allies or protection. Now…” He pushed something on the column, and the door swung shut with a soft whirr.
“You can’t keep us here!” said Star Hunter. “Open that door! Rose, please, open the door.”
“I mustn’t,” Roseluck replied timidly, then she pleaded, “Grandfather, please, you have to let them go! If we make them promise not to tell anypony, I’m sure they won’t!”
“Oh, my dear filly,” said the old pony, and draped a foreleg across her shoulders. “Of course they will. Put yourself in their place for a moment. They are bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities or at the very least talk to their friends. They’re all so swept up by friendship and sentiment in this time. Before long we shall become a spectacle, and that princess of theirs will poke her nose into our business sooner rather than later. If I do let them go, Roseluck, then we must go, too, and we can never come back.”
“But I want to stay!” she cried. “They’re both kind ponies. I won’t leave them or this century. I’d rather leave the T.A.R.D.I.S. and you!”
“Now you’re just being over-emotional and foalish,” he said dismissively.
“I mean it!”
Lovelace noted a change in the elderly pony’s face. It was only brief and so small as to be almost imperceptible, but that last statement had definitely hurt him. She actually felt a twinge of sympathy for him. He sighed deeply, and started fiddling with the instruments again.
“Very well,” he said. “Then you must go with them. I’ll open the door.”
“I guess we’ll be going, then,” said Lovelace. She held out a hoof towards Roseluck. “Are you coming?” This had all gotten so out of control. A million thoughts were clashing and exploding inside her skull. She had just witnessed what might have been the dissolution of a family that was already reduced to a mere two individuals, and to be involved in such a thing was a shame to the mark on her flank. It was supposed to represent joining together, not breaking apart. Before she could even begin to reconsider, perhaps try to change the old pony’s mind and find another way, the floor suddenly vibrated, as if a wave of invisible water had crested about her legs.
The bulb on the column was rising up and down in a slow rhythm, the filaments inside flashing through an assortment of brilliant colours. It rang out with a whooshing, grinding cacophony. Lights blinked and the instruments began to move as if manipulated by invisible hooves.
“GRANDFATHER! NO!” Roseluck screamed, and hurled herself at the old pony, trying to pull him away from the controls. They wrestled for but a moment.
There was a muffled roar from outside, and the whole room shook violently. Lovelace lost her balance and topped into Star Hunter, who wrapped his forelegs about her protectively as he slammed hard against the wall. His pained cry was drowned out by all the other sounds vying for dominance around them. Roseluck and her grandfather fell about the place as well. The roars gave way to explosions that seemed more distant with each emanation. Gravity pushed down at them, pinning them to the floor. They were helpless to do anything save watch the rise and fall of the bizarre machine. Up and down. Whoosh and grind. Next came inertia, the sensation of being hurled in a great, spiralling arc through the air, with no telling what was truly up or down, forward or back. Her bones felt as if they had been pressed flat by the pressure. Her stomach wanted to do flips, but was held down too tight. It was impossible to even breathe.
At last, mercifully, Lovelace blacked out.
XXX
The night was cold in Draconia. Cold and damp.
The sky wept almost continually. Snow filled the world in bone white flurries, and piled up high across the vast plains, or else it rained hard and blanketed everything in a layer of sloshing, dark grey slush. Long-distance travel had been growing steadily less safe for years, but tonight was especially perilous. The long winter was reaching another of its peaks. Flicker pondered warm thoughts to shield himself from the chill. It was a purely psychological measure with only limited effectiveness, but calling up his own fire would be unwise this far from the mines when he had used so much of it already. He narrowed his eyes, searching the uniformly white landscape. He glided low, where the winds dispersed the worst of the flurries, and that was when he saw it. Poking up from the bottom of the mountain range like a many-pointed gemstone was the outpost.
Flicker pulled his wings in tight and swooped in through the gates, before landing in the cavernous entrance hall. A guard asked for his identification, and Flicker identified himself. The guard led him through a series of tunnels heading into the heart of the mountain range. Comfortable heat radiated up from the river of magma below their feet. It was a welcome change from the cold. They crossed a bridge to an antechamber hewn out of the very rock, where the guard asked Flicker to wait before returning to his post. There was a stone bowl filled with glittering gems, and he treated himself to a clawful or two, just enough to round out the flame in his belly. He hated to wait around usually, but lately he was learning to tolerate it. He could always entertain himself by doing sums in his head to pass the time. He was happy to spend as much time bathing in the primal heat as he could get before he had to make the dreaded return flight.
He was only waiting a short time before he was admitted to the adjacent chamber. A fat, green dragon with elegant spines and two black horns curling atop his skull sat behind a long table. He skewered a cooked beast spiced with tanzanite on a long claw and popped it between his jaws.
“Come in, nephew,” he said. “Pull up a seat. It’s been ages. How are things at Castle Camehot?”
“Thank you, milord,” said the younger dragon.
“Flicker!” the green dragon admonished. “I’ve known you since you came out of the egg! You don’t need to be so formal when it’s just us!”
“Yes, Uncle Phlogistaut,” said Flicker, and smiled a little. “Camehot continues to thrive as always, but the snows force closer to our borders every day. More trade routes with the other colonies have become unusable due to the constant storms, and we haven’t heard from the Spiketail expedition in weeks. My father’s subjects have long since begun to suspect something is amiss, and they can only be lied to for so long before the truth is out.”
Phlogistaut snorted acrid smoke out of his nostrils and clicked his claws against the table surface. “Not the most thrilling dinner topic, dear nephew,” he said, “but I suppose you wouldn’t be here to visit your poor old uncle just to catch up, eh?”
“I’m very sorry to disappoint you, truly I am,” said Flicker, “but no. I’ve been sent to gather updates on the situation here. I can only assume from what you’re eating that the work to cultivate new food sources is going well?”
“We’ve managed to adapt a few strains of suitable livestock to life underground, yes,” said Phlogistaut. “Our lads have already figured out how to create and maintain controlled environments to rear them in. The hardest part was replicating sufficient amounts of sunlight, but we’ve been experimenting with yellow sky-stones. Not much of a loss, thankfully. Utterly tasteless, I thought, but very close to the desired result, so I’m told.”
“That’s heartening. And how goes Netherlin’s research?”
“Oh! You know wizards, dear boy. Always filling everyone’s heads with constellations and geomancy and leaving us to decide what they’re on about,” Phlogistaut said with a dismissive wave. Flicker watched him expectantly. “Fine, fine! You don’t need to give me the eyes! Netherlin thinks that he’s pinpointed something called a ‘nexus.’ I don’t understand all the details well enough to repeat them here and now, but according to him it could be used to re-energise our fading dragon lines. Put the world back to rights.”
“May I speak with Netherlin myself?” asked Flicker. “I mean no offence to you, uncle, but my father will want as detailed a report as possible.”
“I’m afraid that he’s away on his own expedition right now, with the horde scouts,” said the green dragon. “He’s expected back tomorrow. Look, my boy, I can tell that you’re excited about what he’s promised, but I don’t want you to get your expectations up too high. You understand that all this mystical talk about nexuses and dragon lines is a very long shot. There’s nothing wrong with hoping for the best, but we must be prepared for the worst.”
Flicker nodded his head, but it hung a little. He did indeed acknowledge the grim reality of things, even if he did not wish it so. It was understandable. What young dragon should want to live in such dire straits? Their skies were too dangerous to fly in, their cattle was reduced, and the once proud and free race of dragons had been left with no other choice but to stay safe inside their city walls and subterranean refuges. Words like, “the end of our age,” had been spoken in sombre, hushed voices more than once that year.
Phlogistaut noted the shift in his mood. His dark old eyes twinkled, and he rested a claw upon the youngling’s arm. “Say, why don’t you stay here at the outpost, just for a couple of days? Share in the local hospitality. I know we’re not as grandiose as Camehot, but we get by, and frankly I don’t get to see you nearly as often as I’d like.”
Flicker considered the harsh weather outside, and how far away it seemed from this room, which positively glowed with the heat of the bubbling volcanic flows. “Perhaps I’ll take you up on that,” he said with a weak smile.
“Splendid!” Phlogistaut exclaimed, and raised a chalice filled with bubbling, black ooze. Before he could put it to his scaly lips, however, the chamber began to shake, upsetting the cooked beasts and assorted savoury gems all over the floor. Chains of brilliant blue lightning danced around them and fizzled out on the floor, splitting the atmosphere with the sharp smell of Ozone. One bolt struck the chalice, and the muck inside splashed both dragons. The lord of the mountain slammed his clawed fist on the surface. “What in Draconia was that?”
“An earthquake?” Flicker suggested.
“Bonfire ash!” Phlogistaut huffed. “I’ve never seen an earthquake do that before!”
“I’ll go check it out,” said Flicker.
“Don’t be silly, you’ve had a long trip,” his uncle protested. He leaned towards a cluster of hollow rock tubes sticking out of the wall to his left, grabbed one, and bellowed into it, “Guard! Status report!”
“We’re trying to find out right now, milord!” came the reply, which Flicker recognised as the same guard who had greeted him in the entrance hall. “Captain Burstilak thinks it came from the stores. He’s taken a couple of others with him.”
“The stores?” Phlogistaut thought aloud. “Very well. Good work, keep me posted.” He returned to his former position and rubbed his temples in exasperation. “Moons and bolides, I hope it’s got nothing to do with those rotten little vermin that keep trying to steal our gems.”
“Vermin, uncle?”
“Ugly, brutish little pests, and on top of everything else they don’t even make good eating. We’re not sure if they’re naturally subterranean or if they’ve simply been driven down here by the snows, but they’re always trying to pilfer our gemstone crop. We’ve set out traps, but they still find ways around them now and then. You don’t have them in Camehot?”
“No, uncle. At least, not the kind that can generate bolts of indoor lightning,” Flicker said, offering a cheeky but good-natured grin. Phlogistaut laughed. It was a deep, raspy whoop that reverberated off the walls of the chamber and could probably be heard by everyone inside the complex and beyond, the sort of racket that could send smaller beasts scampering for safety like the vermin they had just been discussing.
“Yes, yes! I imagine you’re right! Hopefully the little monsters are clever enough to scurry back off to their tunnels.”
Another voice emerged through the communication tubes. “Milord, forgive me for disturbing you and your guest.”
“Ah! Captain Burstilak!” cried Phlogistaut. “Have you found what’s causing that ungodly ruckus?”
“We, ah, we’re convinced we have, yes,” came the uncertain response.
The old green dragon grimaced, and impatiently puffed out a plume of silvery smoke. “Well, what’s the matter, captain? Does it look dangerous?”
There was a momentary pause before the response came back. “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?”
“Hmm! Well, dinner’s been ruined anyway,” said Phlogistaut. “Very well, captain. Don’t take your eyes off it. My nephew and I will be down there presently. Come along, Flicker. We might learn something today, or find something to distract us for a bit if nothing else.”
He pushed himself back from the table and rose slowly to his feet, then crossed the chamber and squeezed his broad, green girth out through the doorway into the antechamber. Each hefty footfall generated tremors that caused the scattered food to jump. Flicker snatched a red ruby as it ascended and worried at it while he kept pace a short distance behind, in order to avoid being tripped up by the great sweeps from the lord of the mountain’s tail.
Down inside the stores, four ponies stirred, wholly unaware of the danger they were in.
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!
