Dr Whooves and the Missing Companionby Paganbrony666ChaptersPart One: Little Mare Lost.Part Two: Companion Lost And Found.Part Three: The Importance of Companions Present and Future.Part Four: Ashes of the Past.Part Five: The Lost the Forgotten and the Newly Found.Part Six: Huff Puff and Blow Your House DownPart Seven: Caught in the Moonlight.Part One: Little Mare Lost.DR WHOOVES AND THE LOST COMPANION Part One: Little Mare Lost. Octavia was comfortable as she snuggled deeper into the giant pillow she was holding onto, it was at this point a blaring siren pierced her ears as she felt herself torn from her safe place but still floating weightlessly. Opening her eyes she was brought back into the real world as she clung fiercely onto the back of the Doctor’s jacket as he worked furiously to restore the gravity as they floated back and forth around the collection of buttons and weird looking controls of what he called his ‘console’. The Doctor upon taking off had gotten careless and in an effort to show off had hit a wrong button apparently, the one which regulated the gravity and in doing so also turned off the navigation (even he wasn’t entirely sure how…). The pair fell hitting the deck of the Tardis as the Doctor finally managed to resolve the issue, Octavia hit the Doctor on the shoulder hard as she angrily got up from the floor. In doing so however she hit her head on the edge of the console really hard causing her to yelp and before the Doctor could stop her she ignored the increasing drip of blood which he missed and without thinking stormed to the door and without looking back she exited the Tardis. The Doctor unaware of the extent of her seemingly minor injury merely cursed his own childish nature and turned to the console first to check where they had landed before shaking his head at the readout which showed the wrong year. They had landed about five years before his encounter with the Silmeragan in Ponyville but their location had barely changed. In fact the Canterlot Opera house they had just left was now just around the corner and down the street, not the destination he had in mind. Stepping outside in search of the grey mare he found to his surprise it was snowing and night time, the snow covered the quiet streets of the crossroad they had landed on. The Doctor spotted Octavia a few steps away staring into a corner shop window displaying a selection of books and records, but as she stared intently he got the feeling she wasn’t looking at the display but her own reflection in the glass. He did however jump when she turned her eyes towards him while not moving her head, their eyes meeting in the reflection of the window. Speechless the Doctor instead broke contact whistling unevenly as he rocked back and forth slowly on his hooves trying to think of anything to break the thickening ice. The shop drew his attention with its painted green wooden window frame the door marking the very corner of the building with shop windows either side and regular windows above, the Doctor glanced back down at Octavia who was back to staring at herself furiously trying to ignore him. With a large sign that in big letters read bookstore, apart from its simplicity the sign capped off the Doctor’s impression of the shop as he fumbled nervously trying to explain and apologize. “Where are we?” Octavia didn’t turn from the window even though its contents at this moment had failed to register in her mind as she went through a variety of emotions over how fast it had all gone wrong for her. “Ah well, we’re… Still in Canterlot…” “I know that you imbecile, I can recognize the capital of my country not to mention my hometown thank you! I meant when?” “We’re a little over two hundred years into your future… Right…? I mean… Um I’ll be in the Tardis if… When you’re ready…” Trailing off as the mare turned back to the window refusing to acknowledge him, so the Doctor returned to his Tardis as she continued to fume her breath steaming up the window as she contemplated what she would say or do next. Octavia’s head wound really began to hurt as she turned to follow him, she’d decided to authenticate his claims further and then give him a piece of her mind which as she stepped forward started to swim, the whole world fading around her, she staggered and then losing her balance fell screaming out in panic as she did… “!!!DOCTOR… I…!!!HELP ME DOCTOR!!!” The Doctor turned too late as he passed the threshold of the Tardis, the door slammed shut behind him, and the ancient engines powered up as the Tardis dematerialized haphazardly entering the time vortex on a wild flight path!!! “!!!...Nooo!!!” In unison but already thousands of years apart they both screamed out in vain! Octavia tried to rise but collapsed into the deep snow on the street sobbing as she lost conscience snow continuing to fall down onto her prone form… Part Two: Companion Lost And Found.Part Two: Companion Lost And Found. So far Octavia’s recent luck had been a mix of good, weird and just plain terrifying, at the point she now awakened she was understandably upset scared and above all in the dark. Literally it turned out as she grasped her surroundings slowly figuring out she was laying on a bed under the covers on incredibly soft pillows, but she knew it wasn’t her own bed since it lacked the four posts and red curtains she had at home… With the utmost of effort she calmly continued to take stock, the room was nearly pitch black but a crack of light crept through what she took for curtains and dimly lit the room enough to know it was a small room comparable to a closet in her families mansion. The pain in her head lanced through her whole body as she sat up feeling nauseous balking slightly she reached out slowly for the edge of the mattress as her hoof instead clipped a glass that was sat on a stool next to the bed. The resulting smash along with the now pulsing pain in her head made her curse before her blood pressure went sky high causing a fresh rush of nausea as the sound of hooves reached her ears. Not sure what she could do even if a monster was about to burst through the door she assumed was there, Octavia shielded her eyes as it opened but there was no light from the other side however the voice that boomed out caused even more upset for her fragile state. “Hey you’re awake! That’s awesome!” “P-Please… Not so loud… My head is making me feel sick…” “…Oh sorry...” “Can you tell me please, where am I? Why haven’t I been taken to a Doctor?” Octavia barely registered the irony of that statement given her recent and more current circumstances. “I wish I could but it’s been snowing flat out for a week! The weather ponies can’t get it under control… It’s a snowstorm even the Wonderbolts couldn’t get through.” “Can you light a candle please I can’t see you.” “Oh yeah sorry… Wait why did you say candle?” With a clicking sound light instantly lit the room and Octavia squeaked in surprise and flinched as it forced her eyes to shut in response. Octavia slowly lowered her hooves shielding her eyes as they adjusted to the intrusion of light, in front of her stood a white unicorn mare with a brilliant blue mane wearing a green jumper of some form that appeared to have a hood attached at the back with pockets on the stomach. Something caught her eye and she looked up at the mares face before asking. “What kind of glasses are those?” The white mare cocked her head slightly before replying. “These? They’re just my sunglasses, I had them especially made.” Octavia had never seen sunglasses and the white frame with colored lenses that hid the eyes fascinated her. “How do you see through them?” Looking through the door Octavia could see little as everything beyond the room she was in was in darkness. The White mare shrugged and replied. “I just do, like I said especially made.” Octavia decided not to push further as the mare held out her hoof. “My names Scratch, Vinyl Scratch, my handle is DJ PON-3, I found you outside after your screaming, you’re lucky I was changing records when you did or I might not have heard you!” By her tone and general manner Octavia could tell the mare who appeared to be around the same age as her was no threat at least on first impressions, but as she processed what had been said the grey mare stalled in her response as she shook hooves with Vinyl. “Miss Octavia Melody… I don’t understand what you mean by ‘handle?’ but I thank you none the less, it appears I owe you my life.” “It’s no problem, glad to help… Hang on did you say Melody? You must have hit your head really hard.” Octavia noted the frown on the other mare’s face who was clearly trying to figure out whether she was lying or joking. “You’re telling me your one of those toffs who lives near Canterlot castle? Huh I should charge for bed and board.” Bristling at the toff comment and sore in places she wasn’t familiar with, along with everything else included Octavia remembered her situation, the fact there might be future relations of hers paled in comparison to being stuck out of her time! “Sorry I don’t know any of them… I um am sort of related… But…” Vinyl sensed her attitude had hurt the grey mare so she changed tack. “How come you ended up in the snow with your skull bashed in?” Wincing Vinyl gave her best smile as she apologized profusely. “I hit my head while traveling with a mad pony and then he disappeared…” Octavia searched her returning memories of the last moments with the Doctor, in her last seconds of consciousness she’d seen his face as the door had shut on his box. “Has a big blue box appeared outside the shop while I’ve been struck down?” Vinyl cocked her head at that one. “No, I haven’t seen anything like that… Are you like a magician’s assistant? Though you do sound posh like a toff I mean.” “Most certainly not, I am a Cellist; I studied at the Canterlot University of Music! I… I… I was going to perform at the Royal opera house… I was going to play my first Solo piece.” The white mare scoffed loudly as she once again probed for answers, real answers… “I don’t know what game you’re playing but there’s no Melody’s left in Canterlot they died out ages ago, all that’s left is their old mansion, it’s been empty since like forever, and the only Royal opera house in Canterlot, that burnt down like a hundred years ago...” Vinyl narrowed her eyes as she continued… “Now it’s a monument to the lives lost in the fire, I learned that when I attended the Canterlot University of Music... And I know all of the students for the past five years and since I only graduated only last month, unless ‘you’ attended before you were twelve, you’re lying to me.” “I… It was destroyed… I… Oh my…” For the grey mare the news destroyed all of her hopes… As the reality sunk in she couldn’t ignore the other mare any longer, especially since Vinyl had begun tapping her hoof impatiently yet with bewilderment at Octavia’s shattered demeanor. Octavia paused to wipe her tears as she tried to decide how to best explain, the mare in front of her didn’t look like she could be dissuaded let alone tricked, and so honesty ruled the day so the grey mare told the white mare all. After taking a seat at the end of the bed Scratch was speechless at the open way her guest spilled the events leading to her injury. “Wow… You’re really telling the truth… I mean you really believe you are.” Octavia nodded. “I don’t know what I’m going to do but I just know he will be back for me… Its weird but I just know… But it could be a while… Or no time at all…” As the two mares continued to talk Vinyl slowly began to warm to the grey mare, her doubts remained without absolute proof but as it continued to snow outside there was no sign of the blue box. Elsewhere… The Doctor was also lamenting that fact as he faced the one who had summoned him across time and all kinds of other barriers, upon landing the Tardis had locked him out and then promptly disappeared. The one who had summoned him rubbed his fore hooves together while the Doctor looked him up and down; with a goofy grin the unknown stallion straightened his bowtie as he flashed his cutie mark, a gold hourglass. The Doctor rescued his chin from the floor as he finally registered the familiar looking large blue box tilted at a strange angle behind the mystery stallion. A million questions flew through the Doctors mind but it came to rest on the one bugging him the most. “Why a fez? I mean I like fezzes but really?” “Fezzes are cool.” “…Not cool… Really not… …Cool.” Part Three: The Importance of Companions Present and Future.Part Three: The Importance of Companions Present and Future. The Doctor finished staring and decided to get on with the matter at hoof, addressing the stallion sat still grinning in front of him he kept it simple. “I don’t have time for this.” “Ooh somewhere more important is there? Hark at you mister ‘I don’t have time…’ Well you’re stuck here and I need your help.” “Can’t it wait; I’ve just left a young mare passed out in the snow all alone and possibly badly injured!” “Ah… Some pony we know?” “Octavia?” “Come again?” “Young grey mare black mane, I… We! Just rescued her from a Timberwolf…?” It took a moment but a flicker of recognition passed across the stallions face. “Ah yes now I remember, blimey that was a while ago… Yes I remember now, the musical one with a terrible right hook…” The pair rubbed their chins at the shared memory and upon noticing each others response both laughed before the Doctor got back on track. “Anyway I have to get to her, she’s out of her time and hurt, and it’s entirely my fault, our fault.” “I know but you can go straight back after you help me rescue some ponies… I lost, don’t worry she’ll be fine... I think…” “Sorry did you just say I think?” “Can’t remember… I sure she’ll be fine… Once we’re done here.” “How old are you? (The Doctor ignored the others vague dismissal and pushed on) Look never mind that, how did you lose the ponies in the first place?” “Well… I was trying to get them home… (Both Doctors shifted uncomfortably as they reflected on how often that had gone wrong in the past) And then we landed on this planet… …And well… They got sucked into a micro-verse.” The Doctor ignored the obvious comparison in their predicaments and briefly studied his environment for the first time; the Tardis computer had refused to give him readouts before he’d stepped forth. Fortunately studying the environment didn’t take long since the landscape was pretty much sand dust and large rocks and boulders, the Doctor unimpressed looked up at the large jagged rocks that formed a neat circle surrounding them, the center part housing what looked like a pedestal with a large shiny box on top. And next to that the other Tardis which he noted was at an odd angle in what appeared to be a small crater, trying not to comment he returned his gaze to the young stallion in front of it as he yet again adjusted his bow tie still grinning like a Gallophreyian schoolchild. “Don’t you ever stop grinning…” “Only when I’m angry,” the other Doctor looking him up and down rubbed his hooves together as he continued. “Right Ho! So I need you to go into the micro-verse, and then you find the ponies while I stay here and wait for your signal to bring you and them back.” “Why do I have to be the one to go in, they are ‘your’ companions after all?” The younger looking Doctor pulled nervously at his bow-tie his grin looking a little strained as he shrugged. “Haven’t got all day, spit it out…” The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he imagined what would come next based on previous experience, nothing nice was a good bet. “Ah well you see… I invited this mare to join me on a quick jaunt… And well there were a trio of these noisy little beasts who somehow followed us into the Tardis, they completely ignored me and were climbing all over the console…” Turning around as he spoke he ran a hoof through his mane and looked about. “And…?” “OK long story short we landed… Well more sort of Crashed really… I took my eyes off them for a second and they’d disappeared, actually more accurately they tripped an ancient trap no doubt set to catch any tomb robbers.” The Doctor looked about once more before he turned back to his other self. “I don’t see any tombs.” The younger Doctor looked around for a second before slightly annoyed he replied. “Well I did say ancient… The whole planets reverted to dust sand and rocks…” The Doctor shrugged as he rocked back an forth on his hooves for a moment before he approached the pedestal whipped out his sonic screwdriver with his teeth and scanned all around it before scanning the large ornate box on top. “Done that…” “Well now I’m doing it.” “I already know what it will say.” “But I don’t…” The Doctor stopped as he noticed the younger stallion was observing him intently and walking back and forth looking at him from different angles with a curious expression. “What?” “Well it’s just I’ve never seen it from the outside before… That’s skinny that is, I mean proper skinny like a match stick pony…” “Oi stop it you and help me figure out how we’re going to do this…” “All right… All right, but you have to admit…” “What?” “That is proper skinny.” BACK IN CANTERLOT It had been a week since Octavia’s arrival around two hundred years into her future and it had been eye opening in ways she doubted even the most crazed fantasist of her time could imagine. Although for the most part things seemed very familiar, when Vinyl produced a map of Equestria for her to see she was stunned as to how far her civilization had spread and all of the new townships and cities that had been built since her time. But it was the seemingly small things that her rescuer Vinyl had shown her that made her goggle in amazement. Things that Vinyl considered normal like her butchering of common language and it’s meanings in what she called slang baffled Octavia, but nothing made her head hurt like Vinyl’s idea of what constituted music in the modern age. To Octavia the synthesized sounds and electronic noises were barely audible over what Vinyl referred to as bass, but when she dismissed classical as being that dusty old stuff only old codgers listen to nowadays, that was when Octavia despite her rising temper gave Vinyl her somewhat old fashioned sounding opinion (to Vinyl at least) of the modern alternative. It took the pair nearly a whole day to speak to one another after the resulting argument, but eventually Vinyl agreed not to play her music whilst Octavia was recovering for the time being. Food was another problem since her arrival as Vinyl seemed to live almost entirely on what she called fast food; Octavia had remarked that if it had indeed been at any point fast, that time was long gone as it had the appearance and smell of being well and truly dead both in flavor and goodness. Octavia soon learned pot noodle and pizza although filling lacked the cultured and refined tastes of the cuisine she was used to, however the loud rumbling of her stomach of which she was most embarrassed convinced her that crisps cakes pizza and noodles which Vinyl also called junk food (something Octavia agreed was a good analogy) were a small price to pay in adapting to what Vinyl called the modern way. During the first few days of her stay she learned many things but as she grew stronger and her head wound healed Octavia began to contemplate her future. After all that had happened she still believed the Doctor would return, but in the mean time she was at the mercy of Vinyl who according to her was looking after her parents bookstore and their rooms above while they were away in Manehatten. Octavia had been astounded when Vinyl had told her about the metropolis Manehatten had become, in Octavia’s time it had only just been established as a township! But as it quickly became clear Vinyl hadn’t told her parents she had lost her flat due to overdue rent and would be hopefully staying after they returned, not to mention of course explaining the grey mare that had been left on their doorstep. That grey mare sat looking out over Canterlot through the living room window as Vinyl busied herself cleaning the mess she’d caused throughout the place since her parents had left, cleaning at the insistence of Octavia who at first had tried to ignore it but in the end had to mention it due to her total aversion to the piles of what Vinyl called pizza boxes and a sea of soda pop bottles and other rubbish including all of Vinyl’s ‘musical equipment’… The silence was broken only by Vinyl’s cursing at the piece of forgotten pizza she stood on as she tugged a large and mostly filled rubbish bag across the floor in front of the green sofa sat with a small coffee table in front of it in the middle of the small living room. Octavia briefly took her eyes off the city to look at the large gash slowly healing on her forehead in her reflection before turning to Vinyl her decision made. “I wish to go for a walk!” Vinyl still trying to scrape the pizza off her hoof as she sat on the sofa looked up puzzled. “Where would you like to go?” “I want to go see the Opera House site and then to Canterlot library, if I am ever going to get home then I must have lived my life, I want to see my future! From the past’s point of view!” “Cool” “That means good right?” “Yes” “Right… Well then, shall we? I mean if you want would you accompany me?” Vinyl nodded as the pair readied to leave, she still didn’t wholly believe the grey mare’s story but Vinyl was a curious mare and was well known for getting into all kinds of trouble since she was a filly unlike her prim and proper new friend who she followed out the door down the stairs and onto the street. Behind them freshly stuck in the window of the bookstore was a speedily drawn and colored blue box on a sheet of paper with a grey coloured mare next to it and the words, ask inside written at the bottom. Part Four: Ashes of the Past.Part Four: Ashes of the Past. Canterlot was still as busy as she remembered but as she walked along her new friend Vinyl beside her Octavia enjoyed the feel of the sun on her back, the snows had eventually lifted during her recuperation and made way for glorious sunshine and a warm breeze as the last of the snow melted into the gutters of the cobble lined streets and the city once again came to life. The bookstore Vinyl’s parents owned was situated on the other end of the street (a long street mind you) from the site of the Royal Canterlot Opera house, so as the two mares walked ever closer Vinyl stopped pointing to things to explain them and questioning Octavia about how much things had changed, she began to walk silently, observing her companion’s reaction. Octavia noticed Vinyl’s cessation of verbal overload as she still couldn’t get over how little had really changed, sure the mane styles and clothes were different but the noise and hubbub remained the same as she remembered. “Have you been here before Vinyl?” “Been past it, never gone in though… Too peaceful for me,” Octavia was about to ask further but stopped in her tracks as she came into sight of the former site of the Opera house… Between the shops that lined this part of the street on both sides surrounded by a high stone wall, behind thick iron gates lay what looked like the most overgrown yet beautiful garden in the world. Running up to the gates Octavia pushed them but with years of neglect they had rusted shut, Vinyl remedied this by using her magic and through the both of them putting their backs into it they opened the gate and stood taking in the view before them. The garden filled with plants and fauna of all kinds was from the gate along small cobbled paths leading to the center and out again broken into sections that allowed visitors to inspect the many wonders the garden had to offer. Wordlessly the pair entered and made their way to the center which comprised a circular area of cobble stone floor and a set of plinths that ran the outer edge of the center. Upon reaching the center they found in the middle of this a large stone carving of a rock with an open book on it, Octavia read the writing carved into its two pages as it recited the events leading to the monument. Most of it was history concerning the building of the Opera house and little about the details of the fire except that the plinths were each a marker for those lost. A little miffed at the lack of explanation and at this point feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, (especially since it was only a week ago she’d been standing on stage practising,) to then be told the place was no more… Even if the Doctor did manage to return her to her own time she would still be denied her great moment to shine… Shaking a little and trying not to cry despite it all Octavia looked up at Vinyl who had stayed quiet next to her the whole time and with a weak smile she observed her surroundings in an attempt to ratify it all in her head. “How many of these stones are there…” Vinyl nearly missed hearing her as Octavia mumbled under her breath as her keen mind saw the obvious right in front of her face. “Sorry I…” “There are too many graves… Look there must be at least a dozen?” Vinyl looked around and then shrugged. “Well how many should there be?” Octavia thought back to the events of that night, remembering High Society and her encounter with what remained of the late miss Casting Call, the memory of which made her gag slightly earning a confused frown from Vinyl. “I only saw one body and heard… I heard another get eaten, but that old sod had it coming and I’d (burp) rather not discuss that any further… (Octavia blushed slightly at the memory of being in that cupboard with the Doctor) I never want to hear the like again.” Octavia turned green as the awful sounds reverberated around her head as it slowly throbbed at all the stimulation, not yet finished in its recovery. “Maybe some of them are the others that went missing? That old stallion mentioned others had disappeared.” Vinyl was far more cynically minded making a comment followed by a snort to the likelihood the local Royal guards threw in a few unsolved cases into the mix just to ease the case load since the fire would be a convenient cover. Slowly they made their way around the circle, each plinth was just a bit taller than the two mares and at eye level each had a plate sized portrait above an inscription bearing name and date of birth and a short eulogy. Octavia recognized High Society and Casting Call and the name Brass lock rang a bell but as she turned from admiring the portrait of Casting Call who looked beautiful and happy, as compared to the sorry state she had seen her in, the grey mare swallowed hard as she saw Vinyl staring in shock at a plinth a little further along. “Are you okay Vinyl?” “No Freaking way, I mean… NO FREAKING WAY? That’s you, right there that’s you?” The portrait was a copy of the one painted for her graduation from the University of music, Octavia replete with white collar and pink bowtie sat proudly on a stool with her Cello held in one hoof, her graduation certificate in the other. Beneath her name and the dates of birth and death was her eulogy, short and bland, hardly what the mare had imagined her grave (once she’d lived her life of course) would look like, it was meant to be grand and a testament to the great things she was yet to do in the meantime. “Can’t be real I mean you look… Just like her, Wow you really did travel in time??? But wait that means…” Vinyl switched between the name and portrait and Octavia one last time before she sat and waited for a response as they both reached the same conclusion. “It means I never get back…” Inside a Micro-verse “!!!DOCTOR!!!” “Yes?” “Are you going to hang around all day, or am I going to have to do something drastic?” The Doctor professed it had been a while since he’d used a jungle vine as a makeshift snare but it had all gone wrong and he’d been pulled hind leg first into the air and then left dangling. Things had truly gotten out of control when the giant slimy green gross thing that was now trying to bat at him like a curious cat with it’s reaching tentacles had appeared out of nowhere from the jungle around them... The others being the lost ponies his older self had pretty much press ganged him into saving, the mare Cheerilee and her three students, or demons as he preferred were stuck up in the same tree he was hanging from. Looking down he lamented his screwdriver that now lay below him on the ground having slipped from his pocket as he’d ascended, casting about he tried to think of a cunning plan. When nothing was forth coming he resorted to thinking about what had led him to this point. It had been relatively easy to figure out the mechanism of the trap and how to calculate where in this micro-verse the four had been transported, which as it turned out was a highly dangerous jungle world where the Doctor after a somewhat bumpy arrival when he teleported in had found them. Tracking them was easy since the device had put him relatively close to their position due to the four of them staying put in hope of rescue and Miss Cheerilee’s insistence they not stray into yet more danger. Explaining who he was and that he was there to rescue them took a little longer, especially when Cheerilee caught him with a right hook for their plight and her frustration and confusion. Which the Doctor mused was becoming all too frequent these days rubbing his chin gently. The device he and his older younger looking self had concocted to allow the other Doctor to ‘beam’ them back with, had been nabbed from his hooves by a small furry creature with fangs and spikes all over before it had darted down a hole at the base of the tree he was hanging from, hence the snare trap. As the Doctor sighed deeply he began to swing his body back and forth in an effort to grab the branch he was suspended from, as the mare and three fillies sat patiently observing from their positions in nearby branches having scrambled to safety upon the gooey monsters arrival. Gaining momentum the Doctor managed to grasp the branch eventually as his swinging backwards and forwards was assisted by several large whacks from the tentacles still reaching up trying to catch him, clinging on for dear life the Doctor grinned at the filly sat nearest in the branches his eyes pleading for a little help. The young yellow earth filly with a red mane topped with a big bow gave him a sympathetic look as she summed up the situation. “Ah ain’t as honest as ma sister but ah’ll level with you…” The sound of creaking reached his ears as she paused. “…Your branch is breaking mister.” Part Five: The Lost the Forgotten and the Newly Found.Part Five: The Lost the Forgotten and the Newly Found. Even as Octavia and Vinyl stood silent unsure what to say upon Octavia’s plight, the garden around them stirred gently in the breeze as the clouds above Canterlot darkened slowly causing the breeze to drop in temperature. Deep in the bushes and all through the trees a presence noticed the pair, since the opera house had pretty much consumed itself in fire resulting in little more than burnt beams and rafters collapsed upon it’s foundations it hadn’t taken much to recreate the space into a garden that two centuries later continued to be the home of a dark spirit. This energy had barely escaped being obliterated when the other entity like it had ceased to exist, itself had been trapped upon the others death but through sheer will to survive had eventually escaped or at least some of it had. Despite its return to reality costing almost all of its energy and its physical form the malevolence had retained the instinct to hunt to kill… It had taken a long time but staying hidden and as the monument park began to be neglected by others, patient it had grown in strength and slowly the garden itself had become his, all his. Sensing something about the intruders into his space the entity dug through its memory since its arrival in the garden so long ago; puzzled it stretched further back before the garden before the banishment from reality. Vinyl and Octavia were slowly making their way out of the garden without a word; Vinyl followed the grey mare but a few hoof steps behind her. The entity watched them leave through the gate as his memory as jumbled and hazy as it was finally kicked in, one of them he recognized, the scent was unmistakable. Stepping out onto the street the pair waited as a few ponies passed by, “I want to go to the library and then my old home.” Vinyl shrugged as the sun dipped behind a grey cloud and the scenery darkened slightly around them. “We can, I think I still have my library card.” As her blue mane and tailed white coated companion rummaged around in her wallet, Octavia realized she had no idea what to do after, if the Doctor didn’t return then she would be stranded, but was she… Up until this point she had always known the path her life would take, but in came the Doctor and with a match had wrecked all of it, and now she had met Vinyl and having seen only a fraction of this future, Octavia wondered what could be achieved now she no longer had the binding rules and etiquette of her time to worry about. Octavia of course lamented the loss of her parents and her butler and… She then lamented the fact she had no one left to lament, but while this hurt, it was accepted that she had never made the connections to others due to her sole diligence to her art and love of it. Staring at Vinyl she blurted out rather suddenly, “Are you my friend, I mean are we friends.” “I found it!” Octavia noted the crumpled piece of card Vinyl pulled from her wallet as the mare took in her words, sizing Octavia up she thought about everything up until now. “Uh I guess, I mean yes… We’re friends it’s just all this is kinda still freaking me out, you’re a time traveler from the past who is supposed to be dead but you’re here talking to me and I guess that’s about it, accept...” Vinyl shuffled a little as she tried to nervously continue seeing the hopeful look disappear from Octavia face. “It’s been fun having you around and there are all kinds of things you haven’t seen yet! I still have loads of things to show you… So yes I like you… As a friend I mean… Yes you’re my friend.” The classical mare first frowned then nodded in agreement at the situation then slowly smiled as the warmth Vinyl’s statement brought to her cheered her up even as Vinyl stood looking sheepish at her fumbling her words. Oblivious Octavia in her moment of happiness at this newly found feeling motioned in the direction of the library as she perceived it still to be. “Is that the way to the Library we had better get there before the Doctor at some point manages to burn that down as well.” Laughing at Octavia’s attempt at humor and a distraction Vinyl nodded and followed side by side her friend down the street and onto their next stop. Behind them the garden and its malevolent presence disappeared into the distance but as the pair strode far out of sight a long malingering howl rent the air sending shivers down the souls of all that heard it. It was late afternoon by the time the pair reached the library, and as it turned out it wasn’t a wasted trip, Octavia learned her family history consisted of the death of her parents some years after she’d disappeared, her uncle had then taken control of the family and it’s business interests and after his grandson ran the family estate and fortune into the ground with booze gambling and lousy investment, the sole remaining evidence of her family was a apparently run down mansion and a bunch of crumbling gravestones. Of the Opera house fire there seemed to be little more than tabloid reports and a few reviews of it’s performances before the fire, the rest gave her nothing, no report of murders or Timberwolves just the fire having been caused by a faulty lamp. After nearly five hours of research and much fidgeting by Vinyl whose dislike of libraries she made clearly apparent sat across a sea of books on a table from Octavia who leaned back to stretch as she yawned and closed the book in front of her. “I think I have all I need, my parents didn’t have anymore foals, and they were never really a loving couple, strict and decent… The crème de la crème of high society but they got me whatever I needed, and they were very supportive… If a little insistent that I look for a suitor once I had graduated.” Vinyl choked back a scoff at the description fighting her rebellious nature and her aversion to ‘Toffs’ as she called them, and asked the most obvious and potentially painful question. “I know you will miss your parents in your own way, but was there any pony who, y’know you’ll miss especially a friend or a suitor?” Octavia blushed a little as she shook her head, as she told Vinyl she was her first real friend and certainly the only one in this time, and the complete lack of a suitor at least one she was interested in or even had noticed Octavia realized was something that had never really crossed her mind. The discussion turned to more pressing matters as a librarian appeared for not the first time to urge them or at least Vinyl to be quiet; the pair continued onto their last stop the Melody Mansion. Leaving the library the pair walked at a swift pace as the darkening skies of night time fast approached and with her head throbbing from all the exertion Octavia fell silent. Vinyl began humming after a while and Octavia listened to the mare as they stared straight ahead not looking at each other just walking lost in their own thoughts. Feeling more and more depressed by the minute as the same thoughts began to race around Octavia’s mind, she tried to think of something to distract her and as her eyes settled on her companion Octavia smiled as she made her decision. “There’s something I want to do, that’s been nagging at me for a while now.” Vinyl stopped humming and came to an abrupt halt as Octavia skipped uncharacteristically like a little filly ahead of her and sitting down held her hoof up which ended up against Vinyl’s chest as she too stopped then sat. “Uh ok what’s that?” Vinyl shifted nervously as Octavia closed the gap between them. “I want to try your sunglasses, I mean you always wear them and I’ve never seen you without them.” “That’s random.” “I know but I’ve itching to try them on, and I haven’t seen any other ponies today wearing them, do they let you see in the dark, I mean you said sunglasses are supposed to shield your eyes from the sun, if so it’s getting really dark out here how do you see where your going?” Octavia looking about as she spoke realized how much darker the evening had gotten as they’d walked, Vinyl however reacted defensively as she looked away from Octavia, raising her hoof and awkwardly scratching the back of her mane she replied. “Sorta… I mean they help me see at night but normal ones wouldn’t, like I said before I had them especially made…” Confused Octavia backed off a little, it was true she hadn’t ever seen Vinyl without them, and in the week or so since meeting her she had gathered that even in the future no pony wore them as much as Vinyl. “No you can’t try them on, sorry but it’s kinda my thing.” A little disappointed Octavia nodded and motioned they should continue on, Vinyl agreed with an awkward ‘sure’ as they started walking again. It wasn’t long before Octavia began to recognize her surroundings more clearly before at last seeing the great gate that opened up to her families’ city mansion or what remained at least. Scratch watched helpless for what to say or do as Octavia reached the gate at a run and after a second or two collapsed back on her haunches in complete shock, her home was a shell of its former glory. The walls that surrounded the estate were old brick crumbling in places collapsed in others, the ornate garden a dumping ground for local refuse and more than few mattresses and worn out sofa’s, the once great mansion itself was totally derelict with the great double doors at the front and centre of the town house smashed and hanging off, row after row of windows smashed with only a hoofs worth intact. Vinyl moved to put a comforting hoof around the distraught mare but she’d moved before the gesture could be completed, Octavia stood up and began running towards the house through the open rusty gates through the littered garden and only stopping briefly to take a breath before striding into the house itself. Shocked by her sudden movement and uncertain what to do Vinyl heard a snickering voice from nearby, turning that direction she noticed a trio of young stallions who were maybe twenty hooves away from the gate sat on some rubble from the collapsing border walls. “You going in the big bad house after her, or are you chicken!” Vinyl took stock of their brightly colored manes and their leather jackets and cigarettes hanging from the sides of their mouths just like the movies, the biggest one was leering at her as he spoke trying to sound tough. “Well? Two mares all alone in that big house after dark… You want us stallions to come keep you company?” The trio of teens were all smirking at her, their obvious thoughts written plainly on their faces. “No thanks, if I need a job babysitting I’ll ask my neighbors.” Vinyl followed after her friend as did the raucous laughter and catcalling from the trio who continued smoking and harassing any pony who passed, as she made her way towards the doors Octavia had entered Vinyl tried to resist shouting back a few choice words and garnering any more attention from the little idiots. As Vinyl reached the threshold she too breathed deeply and entered, a quick scan of her surroundings told her the house was as dilapidated inside as out, the wooden floors were rotten and broken littered with debris of all kinds, it seemed as if the homeless and the disenfranchised and all kinds of youths and hoodlums had used it as a doss house. Stepping over discarded beer bottles drug paraphernalia moldy mattresses and porn magazines Vinyl continued further on more and more concerned at the lack of any sign of Octavia. Ancient curtains or what remained of them fluttered slowly in the wind coming through shattered windows as Vinyl wandered out of the entrance hall and began searching for the grey mare through room after room. Calling her name Vinyl began to get worried as in the pitch dark of the house meant Octavia couldn’t possibly see where she was? So where had she gone? Somewhere Else Entirely… The Doctor was peeling bits of goo from his jacket gingerly with his teeth as sat wondering what to do next, the ponies he’d been sent to get had been a fat lot of good in helping him as he’d battled that tentacle monster. Having successfully caused it to explode with a mixture of jelly babies and baking powder he’d found in his pockets the Doctor had resumed his attempts to retrieve the lost device needed for safe return. Behind him his unwanted charges descended from the tree they’d been perched in and sat watching as he tried to fashion a stick with a hook on the end attached to a magnet that also happened to be in his pocket. Cheerilee and her students started yawning and muttering dark thoughts about the Doctor, as time wore on eventually luck and perseverance won out and triumphantly the Doctor held aloft the device. His triumph was however short lived as a small creature flew down from the canopy above them and snatched it off the hook and ascended back into the canopy. Swearing in every language he knew (Which took a while mind) the Doctor ignored the following derisive laughter and insults from his charges and began to slowly scramble up the nearest tree in pursuit… Part Six: Huff Puff and Blow Your House DownPart Six: Huff Puff and Blow Your House Down Vinyl continued her search of the house but after hearing what sounded like a door closing she headed through a door under the halls main stairs into what looked like the kitchen. Here she found Octavia busy lighting a candle with what looked like very old matches, Vinyl was about to say something to get her attention when the match in Octavia’s mouth flared and lit the candle. The sudden flash of light made Vinyl cry out as she covered her eyes with her hoof, Octavia who hadn’t heard her friend approach jumped out of her skin knocking the candle over causing it to go out. “Hi…” “You could have warned me you were there…” “Sorry… I was about to but you lit that candle… Where did you get that from? And matches for that matter… Especially since it’s pitch black in here?” “Hmph says the pony with the sunglasses on…” Octavia who was fiddling with another match sighed as she replied. “When I was little I used to sneak around the house late at night for food or using my imagination to pretend I was in some dark spooky house… It’s not like nowadays where you can illuminate a room so easily so I learned to navigate the house in the dark since I was too little to be allowed to use candles on my own…” Vinyl averted her gaze as Octavia succeeded in relighting the candle she then placed it in a brass candle holder and gripping its flat horizontal handle in her teeth motioned behind her at the kitchens far wall which had a small door set into it. “There’s a secret supply cupboard at the back of the scullery, looks like the ponies that have been using this place as a slum never bothered to come down here…” “Although I don’t know if having a light is a good idea… After all I may have stepped in a few things on the way down here I would rather not be able to identify…” Vinyl nodded in sympathy since her vision had allowed her to avoid the very things Octavia had found so unpleasant. “So what do you want to do now?” Octavia paused for a second before it clicked. “I wish to see the upstairs; I am hoping my room hasn’t been too trashed…” Vinyl stepped back from the doorway and gestured up the stairs inviting Octavia to lead the way. As they walked up the grand stairs and onto the second floor Octavia gave Vinyl the Tour which was relatively short including her room her parents room (Utterly Trashed) and finally her fathers study. In Octavia’s room the motif of the house continued since it looked just as devastated with all the trash and juvenile damage. It took her a few moments and silent tears to reconcile the images in her mind but as she did something fought its way through her memories. Vinyl who had laid a comforting hoof across her companion’s shoulders amid the tears watched curiously as Octavia sprang into action and began sweeping away debris in the corner of her room… After a clearing a space she then proceeded to pry at one of the oak floorboards before getting a hoof under and tearing up the ancient mouldy board and casting it aside. Octavia laid the candle holder on the floor and instead reached down into the space under the floor before triumphantly standing back up with a dust covered satchel in her mouth. Moving over to what remained of the desk that had always sat underneath the massive now utterly smashed main window of the room she placed the satchel down and after hacking like a smoker coughing due to the taste in her mouth from the satchel opened it and displayed the contents for Vinyl. Vinyl studied the stack of paper and immediately realized it was sheet music… The musical notes were exquisitely drawn and in the margins were little notes added parts and little sketches… “It’s my symphony… My personal copy of the piece I was meant to play that night…” Octavia’s excitement overcame her other emotions as she placed the papers back in the satchel and after quickly brushing it off placed it across her shoulders retrieved the candle and continued her recollection. “That was my secret place I hid the symphony there so it would be safe, I think I chose well… I really didn’t think I’d find anything that was my own still here… I’d forgotten about it after everything...” “Well I think you chose right too, it certainly is in great shape for being so old! Just like its creator!” Octavia and Vinyl laughed at her teasing before they resumed their wandering finally entering her fathers old study, much like the rest of the house this room had too taken a beating. It was however Vinyl who whistled in a low tone as she spotted the only object in the room still intact. Even in the flickering candle light Octavia saw what had caught Vinyl’s attention, the wall behind what once been her fathers desk had been demolished leaving in a carved out alcove a giant black safe. Vinyl made her way to it and as she studied the wall it was clear the safe had been originally set into the wall but over time some-pony or lots of some-ponies had tried to crack or damage the safe in a bid to open it. Inspecting the front of the safe it was obvious by the gouges in the metal and various scorch marks and what looked like blast marks from magic, whoever had tried to gain access had continually failed and given up as Vinyl checked the door was still firmly shut. “Wow this things taken a kicking but it’s still intact, must have been really expensive… I guess no pony passed on the code…” “My father could be a little paranoid at times concerning his money and private papers… He probably didn’t trust any pony enough to tell them…” Octavia sat beside Vinyl and answered Vinyl’s obvious next question with a big smile! A quick few spins of the giant numbered dial and quite a bit of pulling and swearing from both mares and the heavy door finally gave up the ghost and agonizingly creaked open as Octavia scrambled for the candle to illuminate the contents. On the three shelves within were several folders containing the deeds to everything from land to mines to housing and more, her mother’s jewels as Vinyl stared open mouthed at the shiniest things she’d ever seen! Babbling with fantastical approximations of value and worth which neither knew were actually pretty close to the mark Vinyl went into shock as Octavia barely managed to heave several bags of gold bits from the bottom shelf that given the amounts labelled on the outside of the money bags contained more than Vinyl’s cash strapped existence could handle. As Vinyl finally lost her voice Octavia just blushed with an only rudimentary understanding of all the fuss Vinyl was making, since to her it was hardly worth getting excited about, after all it was only her father’s petty cash… It took a few sweeps of the house but eventually they found a couple of heavy satchels in the attic that after piling the safes contents into and struggling to lift them even with Vinyl’s magic onto their backs, Octavia bid a final farewell to the ruins of her foal hood home and with Vinyl in tow made her way down the grand stairs and towards the front door… It was at this point a low growl made them freeze at the bottom of the stairs, in the candle light and the moonlight shining in from outside was stood the most monstrous thing Vinyl had ever seen… Octavia however stared into the eyes of the beast and in a heart stopping moment realized she recognized that feeling that malevolence… “Oh no… But that’s not… How…? How did it…?” Vinyl broke from her fear induced inaction and gave her companion a questioning glance… “Run…” “But…?” “Vinyl just do it run!!!” As the two mares broke and ran the beast howled in excitement! The chase was on!!! Doing better elsewhere The Doctor… Well both of the Doctors weren’t being chased by a monumentally pissed Timberwolf, they instead were sat next to each other in the dust of the ancient planet as Miss Cheerilee marched up and down berating them both as her three students laughed loudly in unison and mimicked her in telling them off. Despite her gratitude at being saved and off of that jungle world she still had several pieces of her mind left to give the Doctors as they sat like a pair of naughty school foals heads hung low… Given the opportunity they would have happily have been chased by a Timberwolf. Part Seven: Caught in the Moonlight.Part Seven: Caught in the Moonlight. The two mares were encumbered by their heavy satchels and contents but the fear driving them made sure they stayed just ahead of the snapping jaws that narrowly missed latching onto their tails as they made it to the dining room door. Vinyl kicked back with her hooves catching the Timberwolf on the nose causing it to recoil giving her and Octavia enough time to get through the door and praising the sun goddess that it was still intact as they slammed it shut. In the excitement however Octavia had dropped her candle at the bottom of the stairs and now as they held the door shut with the force of their own bodies only the moonlight lit the scene. “WHAT THE HAY IS THAT!!!” Vinyl shouted as the Timberwolf began throwing itself against the door oblivious to tactics it’s brutal instincts enjoying the chance to let loose after so long hiding in the shadows. “I think it’s one of the beasts the Doctor and I faced at the Opera house!” “YOU TOLD ME YOU KILLED THEM!!!” “We thought we did…? I don’t understand what’s going on… Its smaller this time too…” “NOT MUCH CONSOLATION WHEN IT’S CHEWING ON OUR CORPSES!!!” “Please don’t shout…” Despite the situation and her own feelings as the pair braced for the next frame rattling impact Vinyl softly apologized and lowered her tone as she realized Octavia was shaking and crying. Vinyl realized what she must be going through and tried a different approach. “Octavia please we need to do something…” It was as the grey mare tried to compose herself that the Timberwolf gave it everything and after a coyote like run up smashed the door to splinters with the impact! The mares were tossed aside among the pieces of exploding door and both landed awkwardly as the floor rushed up to meet them! The Timberwolf strode into the room taking a moment to really enjoy what about to be the best meal he’d had in long time! Struggling to their hooves and covered in splinters the mares tried to dodge the swinging paws and snapping jaws as the beast played with them reveling in it’s superiority over such prey. Vinyl in desperation tried to summon her magic her horn lighting up as she prepared to blast the creature… Unfortunately Vinyl was no spell-caster and despite having an excellent understanding of the basics was ignorant of battle magic’s and although she was way more powerful than she gave herself credit her inexperience meant she was struck across the head by a paw as she failed to cast anything before the wolf reacted. Flying sideways she hit the nearest wall and slid down it awkwardly before landing in a crumpled mess, her glasses flying off into the trash on the floor as she did. Octavia used momentum and the weight of the stuffed satchel on her back to swing and hit the wolf across the back of the head stunning it as she ran for her fallen friend… Vinyl was sluggish as Octavia tried to pull her to her hooves but as she slipped on a discarded pizza box on the floor the two of them failed to move fast enough. As if to emphasize the drama of the situation a sudden wind whipped around the room as if there was a storm forming within the room itself! The wooden beast regained its bearing and stood before the trembling mares jaws widening! Vinyl going by instinct made to buy her friend time to escape and with a scream went to launch her body at the nightmare! “GO!!!” Octavia tried to form words but they were stolen by the wind and drowned out by an extremely familiar wheezing as she reacted too slowly to stop her friend’s suicidal solution… Vinyl judging the distance in her mind flew through the air fore hooves outstretched rebel yell on her lips as she prepared to sell her life dearly, this would have made for an amazingly epic end worthy of her own expectations!!! Had it not been for the Tardis materializing right above where the Timberwolf was standing! The Tardis shook the foundations of the house as it hit the floor… Vinyl was sliding comically down the front of the Tardis as Octavia regained speech and cried out her friends name as she staggered to her side. “…V-VINYL??? ARE YOU OK?” The white mare was bundled up in Octavia’s hooves as she was checked over by her now hyperventilating companion who breathlessly tried to articulate her fears. “It’s OK… I’m OK just let me sit up…” Vinyl made it back on her hooves but immediately sat back as her whole body complained viciously at the treatment but as she went to look around she visibly panicked as she realized her glasses were missing!!! “What the heck was that??? What happened to the wolf…? Octavia what’s going on? …Where are my glasses…?” It took a moment of confusion looking from the giant blue box with a solitary wooden paw sticking out from underneath (Which seemed strikingly similar to her first encounter with this box) to Vinyl for Octavia to realize Vinyl was beginning to cry! As she began to sob she was gingerly sweeping her fore hooves on the floor as if looking for something the same way a… The loud gasp from Octavia made Vinyl flinch as Octavia realized… The same way a blind pony would… “V-Vinyl… I didn’t you never said… Said you were…” “Didn’t want to get into it…” Octavia busied herself trying to locate the missing glasses as she most definitely got into it. “Of course you were planning to tell me?” “Sure…” Unconvinced Octavia stopped giving her a reproachful stare when she face hoofed realizing it couldn’t be seen. “Vinyl…” “Look it just freaks ponies out OK…” “The concept is going to take a little getting used to… I do not have experience in such matters… But I promise I won’t carry on about it… Agreed?” “OK…” Vinyl shrugged and looking up smiled at Octavia who didn’t have the heart to tell her that her direction was slightly off… After a moment or more of searching the glasses were found and Octavia breathed a sigh of relief as found them untarnished despite their rough treatment. Turning them over in her hooves in the moonlight Octavia couldn’t make out any distinguishing features that would enable a blind pony to see… Vinyl back in the dark without her glasses but still retaining her very sharp hearing rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. “You’re wearing them aren’t you…?” Octavia hastened to remove them as she returned them to their rightful owner. “I don’t understand… Is that how you see the world… All green and shading?” Vinyl shrugged as Octavia tried and failed to find the words to describe the imagery that seemed like a projection directly into her mind… “I don’t know I was a filly when a friend of mom’s offered to make something to help since I’d been blind since birth, he worked at someplace called Torchwood and said there were all kinds of gadgets for all sorts of things…” “I haven’t thought about it for years… I just kinda got used to them… And I would have told you soon I promise, it’s just a hard thing…” With her sight returned Vinyl trailed off as she registered the blue box a few hooves away. “Um…” Octavia who had until now been more concerned with Vinyl’s well-being approached the Tardis and after a quick explanation that made Vinyl’s jaw drop she knocked on the door. “Doctor…? Are you not going to come out?” “…Doctor?” As quickly as it had appeared the Tardis fired up and promptly disappeared again taking with it the crushed remains of the Timberwolf… The two mares sat in silence as they watched it go. “Wow not exactly the friendly type is he…” “I… I don’t understand…” For a while they sat waiting to see what would happen next but when nothing did their attention was drawn to the smoke curling through the ruined door leading to the hall. Octavia remembered her discarded candle and as the pair collected their satchels and awkwardly climbed out of the rooms windows they trotted home in silence the now merrily burning Melody mansion receding into the distance… The local papers barely featured anything about the fire in the coming days and as the pair considered events the conversations eventually turned to what Octavia would do since the Tardis hadn’t returned. Added to that she was now in possession of what remained of her families’ fortune which was more than enough for her to regain her place in society. However she had other ideas, remembering where the Doctor had said he was headed when she’d first met him and her wanting to remain close to her new friend she made an offer to Vinyl. Since they were in need of somewhere to stay other than Vinyl’s parents and she could afford to buy the whole town anyway Octavia asked Vinyl to help find and buy a place for them both to live in while she found her place in the world and maybe once again encounter the Doctor… Vinyl fond of her Friend’s company and liking the idea due to a couple of her friends already living there, she jumped at the chance and together they started planning right away. Somewhere very lonely… The Doctor sat on a rock kicking his hoof in boredom… It had been hours since his older yet younger looking self had left to return the teacher and her students to their world, and still there was no sign of his Tardis. The Doctor had at this point calculated the number of grains of sand within a hundred hoof steps around him and accurately plotted the solar system in the now night sky above him. When the wheezing sound of his Tardis returning eventually reached his ears he was more than a little surprised to find a wooden paw sticking out from underneath it. Chastising the Tardis furiously for running away at the sight of its future self he entered and without hesitation started plotting the course to take him back to the injured grey mare he had so unwittingly left stranded in the snow… The Tardis Disappeared but not before making sure it left the flattened Timberwolf underneath behind… It took a long time but the energy contained within broke free of the crushed mess and took stock of its new surroundings, realizing its predicament the energy raged among the nothing it found itself in… Landing in the precise spot where he’d left the Doctor ran out of the Tardis to find that he was standing amidst a most beautiful sunny day… Confused he ran back inside only to find the computer showed it was in fact two whole months later than his original departure? He then tried again but the Tardis refused to dematerialize causing him to curse it profusely. After a while he gave up and stomping outside again he found himself sat looking into the same bookshop window as he had previously but as his eyes settled on the one thing different he burst into ecstatic laughter as he trotted back to the Tardis his destination set. As the blue box once again left the street corner unnoticed by any passer by’s the sunlight it had blocked shone once more on the window of the bookshop, contained within a large sheet of paper with a crude crayon picture of a Tardis next to a more carefully drawn picture of a grey mare with black mane and tail a white collar and pink bow-tie, underneath which was a single word. ‘PONYVILLE’ THE END DR WHOOVES WILL RETURN IN… DR WHOOVES AND THE DEVILS OF SPACE STATION PONY ONE
Part One: Little Mare Lost.DR WHOOVES AND THE LOST COMPANION Part One: Little Mare Lost. Octavia was comfortable as she snuggled deeper into the giant pillow she was holding onto, it was at this point a blaring siren pierced her ears as she felt herself torn from her safe place but still floating weightlessly. Opening her eyes she was brought back into the real world as she clung fiercely onto the back of the Doctor’s jacket as he worked furiously to restore the gravity as they floated back and forth around the collection of buttons and weird looking controls of what he called his ‘console’. The Doctor upon taking off had gotten careless and in an effort to show off had hit a wrong button apparently, the one which regulated the gravity and in doing so also turned off the navigation (even he wasn’t entirely sure how…). The pair fell hitting the deck of the Tardis as the Doctor finally managed to resolve the issue, Octavia hit the Doctor on the shoulder hard as she angrily got up from the floor. In doing so however she hit her head on the edge of the console really hard causing her to yelp and before the Doctor could stop her she ignored the increasing drip of blood which he missed and without thinking stormed to the door and without looking back she exited the Tardis. The Doctor unaware of the extent of her seemingly minor injury merely cursed his own childish nature and turned to the console first to check where they had landed before shaking his head at the readout which showed the wrong year. They had landed about five years before his encounter with the Silmeragan in Ponyville but their location had barely changed. In fact the Canterlot Opera house they had just left was now just around the corner and down the street, not the destination he had in mind. Stepping outside in search of the grey mare he found to his surprise it was snowing and night time, the snow covered the quiet streets of the crossroad they had landed on. The Doctor spotted Octavia a few steps away staring into a corner shop window displaying a selection of books and records, but as she stared intently he got the feeling she wasn’t looking at the display but her own reflection in the glass. He did however jump when she turned her eyes towards him while not moving her head, their eyes meeting in the reflection of the window. Speechless the Doctor instead broke contact whistling unevenly as he rocked back and forth slowly on his hooves trying to think of anything to break the thickening ice. The shop drew his attention with its painted green wooden window frame the door marking the very corner of the building with shop windows either side and regular windows above, the Doctor glanced back down at Octavia who was back to staring at herself furiously trying to ignore him. With a large sign that in big letters read bookstore, apart from its simplicity the sign capped off the Doctor’s impression of the shop as he fumbled nervously trying to explain and apologize. “Where are we?” Octavia didn’t turn from the window even though its contents at this moment had failed to register in her mind as she went through a variety of emotions over how fast it had all gone wrong for her. “Ah well, we’re… Still in Canterlot…” “I know that you imbecile, I can recognize the capital of my country not to mention my hometown thank you! I meant when?” “We’re a little over two hundred years into your future… Right…? I mean… Um I’ll be in the Tardis if… When you’re ready…” Trailing off as the mare turned back to the window refusing to acknowledge him, so the Doctor returned to his Tardis as she continued to fume her breath steaming up the window as she contemplated what she would say or do next. Octavia’s head wound really began to hurt as she turned to follow him, she’d decided to authenticate his claims further and then give him a piece of her mind which as she stepped forward started to swim, the whole world fading around her, she staggered and then losing her balance fell screaming out in panic as she did… “!!!DOCTOR… I…!!!HELP ME DOCTOR!!!” The Doctor turned too late as he passed the threshold of the Tardis, the door slammed shut behind him, and the ancient engines powered up as the Tardis dematerialized haphazardly entering the time vortex on a wild flight path!!! “!!!...Nooo!!!” In unison but already thousands of years apart they both screamed out in vain! Octavia tried to rise but collapsed into the deep snow on the street sobbing as she lost conscience snow continuing to fall down onto her prone form…
Part Two: Companion Lost And Found.Part Two: Companion Lost And Found. So far Octavia’s recent luck had been a mix of good, weird and just plain terrifying, at the point she now awakened she was understandably upset scared and above all in the dark. Literally it turned out as she grasped her surroundings slowly figuring out she was laying on a bed under the covers on incredibly soft pillows, but she knew it wasn’t her own bed since it lacked the four posts and red curtains she had at home… With the utmost of effort she calmly continued to take stock, the room was nearly pitch black but a crack of light crept through what she took for curtains and dimly lit the room enough to know it was a small room comparable to a closet in her families mansion. The pain in her head lanced through her whole body as she sat up feeling nauseous balking slightly she reached out slowly for the edge of the mattress as her hoof instead clipped a glass that was sat on a stool next to the bed. The resulting smash along with the now pulsing pain in her head made her curse before her blood pressure went sky high causing a fresh rush of nausea as the sound of hooves reached her ears. Not sure what she could do even if a monster was about to burst through the door she assumed was there, Octavia shielded her eyes as it opened but there was no light from the other side however the voice that boomed out caused even more upset for her fragile state. “Hey you’re awake! That’s awesome!” “P-Please… Not so loud… My head is making me feel sick…” “…Oh sorry...” “Can you tell me please, where am I? Why haven’t I been taken to a Doctor?” Octavia barely registered the irony of that statement given her recent and more current circumstances. “I wish I could but it’s been snowing flat out for a week! The weather ponies can’t get it under control… It’s a snowstorm even the Wonderbolts couldn’t get through.” “Can you light a candle please I can’t see you.” “Oh yeah sorry… Wait why did you say candle?” With a clicking sound light instantly lit the room and Octavia squeaked in surprise and flinched as it forced her eyes to shut in response. Octavia slowly lowered her hooves shielding her eyes as they adjusted to the intrusion of light, in front of her stood a white unicorn mare with a brilliant blue mane wearing a green jumper of some form that appeared to have a hood attached at the back with pockets on the stomach. Something caught her eye and she looked up at the mares face before asking. “What kind of glasses are those?” The white mare cocked her head slightly before replying. “These? They’re just my sunglasses, I had them especially made.” Octavia had never seen sunglasses and the white frame with colored lenses that hid the eyes fascinated her. “How do you see through them?” Looking through the door Octavia could see little as everything beyond the room she was in was in darkness. The White mare shrugged and replied. “I just do, like I said especially made.” Octavia decided not to push further as the mare held out her hoof. “My names Scratch, Vinyl Scratch, my handle is DJ PON-3, I found you outside after your screaming, you’re lucky I was changing records when you did or I might not have heard you!” By her tone and general manner Octavia could tell the mare who appeared to be around the same age as her was no threat at least on first impressions, but as she processed what had been said the grey mare stalled in her response as she shook hooves with Vinyl. “Miss Octavia Melody… I don’t understand what you mean by ‘handle?’ but I thank you none the less, it appears I owe you my life.” “It’s no problem, glad to help… Hang on did you say Melody? You must have hit your head really hard.” Octavia noted the frown on the other mare’s face who was clearly trying to figure out whether she was lying or joking. “You’re telling me your one of those toffs who lives near Canterlot castle? Huh I should charge for bed and board.” Bristling at the toff comment and sore in places she wasn’t familiar with, along with everything else included Octavia remembered her situation, the fact there might be future relations of hers paled in comparison to being stuck out of her time! “Sorry I don’t know any of them… I um am sort of related… But…” Vinyl sensed her attitude had hurt the grey mare so she changed tack. “How come you ended up in the snow with your skull bashed in?” Wincing Vinyl gave her best smile as she apologized profusely. “I hit my head while traveling with a mad pony and then he disappeared…” Octavia searched her returning memories of the last moments with the Doctor, in her last seconds of consciousness she’d seen his face as the door had shut on his box. “Has a big blue box appeared outside the shop while I’ve been struck down?” Vinyl cocked her head at that one. “No, I haven’t seen anything like that… Are you like a magician’s assistant? Though you do sound posh like a toff I mean.” “Most certainly not, I am a Cellist; I studied at the Canterlot University of Music! I… I… I was going to perform at the Royal opera house… I was going to play my first Solo piece.” The white mare scoffed loudly as she once again probed for answers, real answers… “I don’t know what game you’re playing but there’s no Melody’s left in Canterlot they died out ages ago, all that’s left is their old mansion, it’s been empty since like forever, and the only Royal opera house in Canterlot, that burnt down like a hundred years ago...” Vinyl narrowed her eyes as she continued… “Now it’s a monument to the lives lost in the fire, I learned that when I attended the Canterlot University of Music... And I know all of the students for the past five years and since I only graduated only last month, unless ‘you’ attended before you were twelve, you’re lying to me.” “I… It was destroyed… I… Oh my…” For the grey mare the news destroyed all of her hopes… As the reality sunk in she couldn’t ignore the other mare any longer, especially since Vinyl had begun tapping her hoof impatiently yet with bewilderment at Octavia’s shattered demeanor. Octavia paused to wipe her tears as she tried to decide how to best explain, the mare in front of her didn’t look like she could be dissuaded let alone tricked, and so honesty ruled the day so the grey mare told the white mare all. After taking a seat at the end of the bed Scratch was speechless at the open way her guest spilled the events leading to her injury. “Wow… You’re really telling the truth… I mean you really believe you are.” Octavia nodded. “I don’t know what I’m going to do but I just know he will be back for me… Its weird but I just know… But it could be a while… Or no time at all…” As the two mares continued to talk Vinyl slowly began to warm to the grey mare, her doubts remained without absolute proof but as it continued to snow outside there was no sign of the blue box. Elsewhere… The Doctor was also lamenting that fact as he faced the one who had summoned him across time and all kinds of other barriers, upon landing the Tardis had locked him out and then promptly disappeared. The one who had summoned him rubbed his fore hooves together while the Doctor looked him up and down; with a goofy grin the unknown stallion straightened his bowtie as he flashed his cutie mark, a gold hourglass. The Doctor rescued his chin from the floor as he finally registered the familiar looking large blue box tilted at a strange angle behind the mystery stallion. A million questions flew through the Doctors mind but it came to rest on the one bugging him the most. “Why a fez? I mean I like fezzes but really?” “Fezzes are cool.” “…Not cool… Really not… …Cool.”
Part Three: The Importance of Companions Present and Future.Part Three: The Importance of Companions Present and Future. The Doctor finished staring and decided to get on with the matter at hoof, addressing the stallion sat still grinning in front of him he kept it simple. “I don’t have time for this.” “Ooh somewhere more important is there? Hark at you mister ‘I don’t have time…’ Well you’re stuck here and I need your help.” “Can’t it wait; I’ve just left a young mare passed out in the snow all alone and possibly badly injured!” “Ah… Some pony we know?” “Octavia?” “Come again?” “Young grey mare black mane, I… We! Just rescued her from a Timberwolf…?” It took a moment but a flicker of recognition passed across the stallions face. “Ah yes now I remember, blimey that was a while ago… Yes I remember now, the musical one with a terrible right hook…” The pair rubbed their chins at the shared memory and upon noticing each others response both laughed before the Doctor got back on track. “Anyway I have to get to her, she’s out of her time and hurt, and it’s entirely my fault, our fault.” “I know but you can go straight back after you help me rescue some ponies… I lost, don’t worry she’ll be fine... I think…” “Sorry did you just say I think?” “Can’t remember… I sure she’ll be fine… Once we’re done here.” “How old are you? (The Doctor ignored the others vague dismissal and pushed on) Look never mind that, how did you lose the ponies in the first place?” “Well… I was trying to get them home… (Both Doctors shifted uncomfortably as they reflected on how often that had gone wrong in the past) And then we landed on this planet… …And well… They got sucked into a micro-verse.” The Doctor ignored the obvious comparison in their predicaments and briefly studied his environment for the first time; the Tardis computer had refused to give him readouts before he’d stepped forth. Fortunately studying the environment didn’t take long since the landscape was pretty much sand dust and large rocks and boulders, the Doctor unimpressed looked up at the large jagged rocks that formed a neat circle surrounding them, the center part housing what looked like a pedestal with a large shiny box on top. And next to that the other Tardis which he noted was at an odd angle in what appeared to be a small crater, trying not to comment he returned his gaze to the young stallion in front of it as he yet again adjusted his bow tie still grinning like a Gallophreyian schoolchild. “Don’t you ever stop grinning…” “Only when I’m angry,” the other Doctor looking him up and down rubbed his hooves together as he continued. “Right Ho! So I need you to go into the micro-verse, and then you find the ponies while I stay here and wait for your signal to bring you and them back.” “Why do I have to be the one to go in, they are ‘your’ companions after all?” The younger looking Doctor pulled nervously at his bow-tie his grin looking a little strained as he shrugged. “Haven’t got all day, spit it out…” The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he imagined what would come next based on previous experience, nothing nice was a good bet. “Ah well you see… I invited this mare to join me on a quick jaunt… And well there were a trio of these noisy little beasts who somehow followed us into the Tardis, they completely ignored me and were climbing all over the console…” Turning around as he spoke he ran a hoof through his mane and looked about. “And…?” “OK long story short we landed… Well more sort of Crashed really… I took my eyes off them for a second and they’d disappeared, actually more accurately they tripped an ancient trap no doubt set to catch any tomb robbers.” The Doctor looked about once more before he turned back to his other self. “I don’t see any tombs.” The younger Doctor looked around for a second before slightly annoyed he replied. “Well I did say ancient… The whole planets reverted to dust sand and rocks…” The Doctor shrugged as he rocked back an forth on his hooves for a moment before he approached the pedestal whipped out his sonic screwdriver with his teeth and scanned all around it before scanning the large ornate box on top. “Done that…” “Well now I’m doing it.” “I already know what it will say.” “But I don’t…” The Doctor stopped as he noticed the younger stallion was observing him intently and walking back and forth looking at him from different angles with a curious expression. “What?” “Well it’s just I’ve never seen it from the outside before… That’s skinny that is, I mean proper skinny like a match stick pony…” “Oi stop it you and help me figure out how we’re going to do this…” “All right… All right, but you have to admit…” “What?” “That is proper skinny.” BACK IN CANTERLOT It had been a week since Octavia’s arrival around two hundred years into her future and it had been eye opening in ways she doubted even the most crazed fantasist of her time could imagine. Although for the most part things seemed very familiar, when Vinyl produced a map of Equestria for her to see she was stunned as to how far her civilization had spread and all of the new townships and cities that had been built since her time. But it was the seemingly small things that her rescuer Vinyl had shown her that made her goggle in amazement. Things that Vinyl considered normal like her butchering of common language and it’s meanings in what she called slang baffled Octavia, but nothing made her head hurt like Vinyl’s idea of what constituted music in the modern age. To Octavia the synthesized sounds and electronic noises were barely audible over what Vinyl referred to as bass, but when she dismissed classical as being that dusty old stuff only old codgers listen to nowadays, that was when Octavia despite her rising temper gave Vinyl her somewhat old fashioned sounding opinion (to Vinyl at least) of the modern alternative. It took the pair nearly a whole day to speak to one another after the resulting argument, but eventually Vinyl agreed not to play her music whilst Octavia was recovering for the time being. Food was another problem since her arrival as Vinyl seemed to live almost entirely on what she called fast food; Octavia had remarked that if it had indeed been at any point fast, that time was long gone as it had the appearance and smell of being well and truly dead both in flavor and goodness. Octavia soon learned pot noodle and pizza although filling lacked the cultured and refined tastes of the cuisine she was used to, however the loud rumbling of her stomach of which she was most embarrassed convinced her that crisps cakes pizza and noodles which Vinyl also called junk food (something Octavia agreed was a good analogy) were a small price to pay in adapting to what Vinyl called the modern way. During the first few days of her stay she learned many things but as she grew stronger and her head wound healed Octavia began to contemplate her future. After all that had happened she still believed the Doctor would return, but in the mean time she was at the mercy of Vinyl who according to her was looking after her parents bookstore and their rooms above while they were away in Manehatten. Octavia had been astounded when Vinyl had told her about the metropolis Manehatten had become, in Octavia’s time it had only just been established as a township! But as it quickly became clear Vinyl hadn’t told her parents she had lost her flat due to overdue rent and would be hopefully staying after they returned, not to mention of course explaining the grey mare that had been left on their doorstep. That grey mare sat looking out over Canterlot through the living room window as Vinyl busied herself cleaning the mess she’d caused throughout the place since her parents had left, cleaning at the insistence of Octavia who at first had tried to ignore it but in the end had to mention it due to her total aversion to the piles of what Vinyl called pizza boxes and a sea of soda pop bottles and other rubbish including all of Vinyl’s ‘musical equipment’… The silence was broken only by Vinyl’s cursing at the piece of forgotten pizza she stood on as she tugged a large and mostly filled rubbish bag across the floor in front of the green sofa sat with a small coffee table in front of it in the middle of the small living room. Octavia briefly took her eyes off the city to look at the large gash slowly healing on her forehead in her reflection before turning to Vinyl her decision made. “I wish to go for a walk!” Vinyl still trying to scrape the pizza off her hoof as she sat on the sofa looked up puzzled. “Where would you like to go?” “I want to go see the Opera House site and then to Canterlot library, if I am ever going to get home then I must have lived my life, I want to see my future! From the past’s point of view!” “Cool” “That means good right?” “Yes” “Right… Well then, shall we? I mean if you want would you accompany me?” Vinyl nodded as the pair readied to leave, she still didn’t wholly believe the grey mare’s story but Vinyl was a curious mare and was well known for getting into all kinds of trouble since she was a filly unlike her prim and proper new friend who she followed out the door down the stairs and onto the street. Behind them freshly stuck in the window of the bookstore was a speedily drawn and colored blue box on a sheet of paper with a grey coloured mare next to it and the words, ask inside written at the bottom.
Part Four: Ashes of the Past.Part Four: Ashes of the Past. Canterlot was still as busy as she remembered but as she walked along her new friend Vinyl beside her Octavia enjoyed the feel of the sun on her back, the snows had eventually lifted during her recuperation and made way for glorious sunshine and a warm breeze as the last of the snow melted into the gutters of the cobble lined streets and the city once again came to life. The bookstore Vinyl’s parents owned was situated on the other end of the street (a long street mind you) from the site of the Royal Canterlot Opera house, so as the two mares walked ever closer Vinyl stopped pointing to things to explain them and questioning Octavia about how much things had changed, she began to walk silently, observing her companion’s reaction. Octavia noticed Vinyl’s cessation of verbal overload as she still couldn’t get over how little had really changed, sure the mane styles and clothes were different but the noise and hubbub remained the same as she remembered. “Have you been here before Vinyl?” “Been past it, never gone in though… Too peaceful for me,” Octavia was about to ask further but stopped in her tracks as she came into sight of the former site of the Opera house… Between the shops that lined this part of the street on both sides surrounded by a high stone wall, behind thick iron gates lay what looked like the most overgrown yet beautiful garden in the world. Running up to the gates Octavia pushed them but with years of neglect they had rusted shut, Vinyl remedied this by using her magic and through the both of them putting their backs into it they opened the gate and stood taking in the view before them. The garden filled with plants and fauna of all kinds was from the gate along small cobbled paths leading to the center and out again broken into sections that allowed visitors to inspect the many wonders the garden had to offer. Wordlessly the pair entered and made their way to the center which comprised a circular area of cobble stone floor and a set of plinths that ran the outer edge of the center. Upon reaching the center they found in the middle of this a large stone carving of a rock with an open book on it, Octavia read the writing carved into its two pages as it recited the events leading to the monument. Most of it was history concerning the building of the Opera house and little about the details of the fire except that the plinths were each a marker for those lost. A little miffed at the lack of explanation and at this point feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, (especially since it was only a week ago she’d been standing on stage practising,) to then be told the place was no more… Even if the Doctor did manage to return her to her own time she would still be denied her great moment to shine… Shaking a little and trying not to cry despite it all Octavia looked up at Vinyl who had stayed quiet next to her the whole time and with a weak smile she observed her surroundings in an attempt to ratify it all in her head. “How many of these stones are there…” Vinyl nearly missed hearing her as Octavia mumbled under her breath as her keen mind saw the obvious right in front of her face. “Sorry I…” “There are too many graves… Look there must be at least a dozen?” Vinyl looked around and then shrugged. “Well how many should there be?” Octavia thought back to the events of that night, remembering High Society and her encounter with what remained of the late miss Casting Call, the memory of which made her gag slightly earning a confused frown from Vinyl. “I only saw one body and heard… I heard another get eaten, but that old sod had it coming and I’d (burp) rather not discuss that any further… (Octavia blushed slightly at the memory of being in that cupboard with the Doctor) I never want to hear the like again.” Octavia turned green as the awful sounds reverberated around her head as it slowly throbbed at all the stimulation, not yet finished in its recovery. “Maybe some of them are the others that went missing? That old stallion mentioned others had disappeared.” Vinyl was far more cynically minded making a comment followed by a snort to the likelihood the local Royal guards threw in a few unsolved cases into the mix just to ease the case load since the fire would be a convenient cover. Slowly they made their way around the circle, each plinth was just a bit taller than the two mares and at eye level each had a plate sized portrait above an inscription bearing name and date of birth and a short eulogy. Octavia recognized High Society and Casting Call and the name Brass lock rang a bell but as she turned from admiring the portrait of Casting Call who looked beautiful and happy, as compared to the sorry state she had seen her in, the grey mare swallowed hard as she saw Vinyl staring in shock at a plinth a little further along. “Are you okay Vinyl?” “No Freaking way, I mean… NO FREAKING WAY? That’s you, right there that’s you?” The portrait was a copy of the one painted for her graduation from the University of music, Octavia replete with white collar and pink bowtie sat proudly on a stool with her Cello held in one hoof, her graduation certificate in the other. Beneath her name and the dates of birth and death was her eulogy, short and bland, hardly what the mare had imagined her grave (once she’d lived her life of course) would look like, it was meant to be grand and a testament to the great things she was yet to do in the meantime. “Can’t be real I mean you look… Just like her, Wow you really did travel in time??? But wait that means…” Vinyl switched between the name and portrait and Octavia one last time before she sat and waited for a response as they both reached the same conclusion. “It means I never get back…” Inside a Micro-verse “!!!DOCTOR!!!” “Yes?” “Are you going to hang around all day, or am I going to have to do something drastic?” The Doctor professed it had been a while since he’d used a jungle vine as a makeshift snare but it had all gone wrong and he’d been pulled hind leg first into the air and then left dangling. Things had truly gotten out of control when the giant slimy green gross thing that was now trying to bat at him like a curious cat with it’s reaching tentacles had appeared out of nowhere from the jungle around them... The others being the lost ponies his older self had pretty much press ganged him into saving, the mare Cheerilee and her three students, or demons as he preferred were stuck up in the same tree he was hanging from. Looking down he lamented his screwdriver that now lay below him on the ground having slipped from his pocket as he’d ascended, casting about he tried to think of a cunning plan. When nothing was forth coming he resorted to thinking about what had led him to this point. It had been relatively easy to figure out the mechanism of the trap and how to calculate where in this micro-verse the four had been transported, which as it turned out was a highly dangerous jungle world where the Doctor after a somewhat bumpy arrival when he teleported in had found them. Tracking them was easy since the device had put him relatively close to their position due to the four of them staying put in hope of rescue and Miss Cheerilee’s insistence they not stray into yet more danger. Explaining who he was and that he was there to rescue them took a little longer, especially when Cheerilee caught him with a right hook for their plight and her frustration and confusion. Which the Doctor mused was becoming all too frequent these days rubbing his chin gently. The device he and his older younger looking self had concocted to allow the other Doctor to ‘beam’ them back with, had been nabbed from his hooves by a small furry creature with fangs and spikes all over before it had darted down a hole at the base of the tree he was hanging from, hence the snare trap. As the Doctor sighed deeply he began to swing his body back and forth in an effort to grab the branch he was suspended from, as the mare and three fillies sat patiently observing from their positions in nearby branches having scrambled to safety upon the gooey monsters arrival. Gaining momentum the Doctor managed to grasp the branch eventually as his swinging backwards and forwards was assisted by several large whacks from the tentacles still reaching up trying to catch him, clinging on for dear life the Doctor grinned at the filly sat nearest in the branches his eyes pleading for a little help. The young yellow earth filly with a red mane topped with a big bow gave him a sympathetic look as she summed up the situation. “Ah ain’t as honest as ma sister but ah’ll level with you…” The sound of creaking reached his ears as she paused. “…Your branch is breaking mister.”
Part Five: The Lost the Forgotten and the Newly Found.Part Five: The Lost the Forgotten and the Newly Found. Even as Octavia and Vinyl stood silent unsure what to say upon Octavia’s plight, the garden around them stirred gently in the breeze as the clouds above Canterlot darkened slowly causing the breeze to drop in temperature. Deep in the bushes and all through the trees a presence noticed the pair, since the opera house had pretty much consumed itself in fire resulting in little more than burnt beams and rafters collapsed upon it’s foundations it hadn’t taken much to recreate the space into a garden that two centuries later continued to be the home of a dark spirit. This energy had barely escaped being obliterated when the other entity like it had ceased to exist, itself had been trapped upon the others death but through sheer will to survive had eventually escaped or at least some of it had. Despite its return to reality costing almost all of its energy and its physical form the malevolence had retained the instinct to hunt to kill… It had taken a long time but staying hidden and as the monument park began to be neglected by others, patient it had grown in strength and slowly the garden itself had become his, all his. Sensing something about the intruders into his space the entity dug through its memory since its arrival in the garden so long ago; puzzled it stretched further back before the garden before the banishment from reality. Vinyl and Octavia were slowly making their way out of the garden without a word; Vinyl followed the grey mare but a few hoof steps behind her. The entity watched them leave through the gate as his memory as jumbled and hazy as it was finally kicked in, one of them he recognized, the scent was unmistakable. Stepping out onto the street the pair waited as a few ponies passed by, “I want to go to the library and then my old home.” Vinyl shrugged as the sun dipped behind a grey cloud and the scenery darkened slightly around them. “We can, I think I still have my library card.” As her blue mane and tailed white coated companion rummaged around in her wallet, Octavia realized she had no idea what to do after, if the Doctor didn’t return then she would be stranded, but was she… Up until this point she had always known the path her life would take, but in came the Doctor and with a match had wrecked all of it, and now she had met Vinyl and having seen only a fraction of this future, Octavia wondered what could be achieved now she no longer had the binding rules and etiquette of her time to worry about. Octavia of course lamented the loss of her parents and her butler and… She then lamented the fact she had no one left to lament, but while this hurt, it was accepted that she had never made the connections to others due to her sole diligence to her art and love of it. Staring at Vinyl she blurted out rather suddenly, “Are you my friend, I mean are we friends.” “I found it!” Octavia noted the crumpled piece of card Vinyl pulled from her wallet as the mare took in her words, sizing Octavia up she thought about everything up until now. “Uh I guess, I mean yes… We’re friends it’s just all this is kinda still freaking me out, you’re a time traveler from the past who is supposed to be dead but you’re here talking to me and I guess that’s about it, accept...” Vinyl shuffled a little as she tried to nervously continue seeing the hopeful look disappear from Octavia face. “It’s been fun having you around and there are all kinds of things you haven’t seen yet! I still have loads of things to show you… So yes I like you… As a friend I mean… Yes you’re my friend.” The classical mare first frowned then nodded in agreement at the situation then slowly smiled as the warmth Vinyl’s statement brought to her cheered her up even as Vinyl stood looking sheepish at her fumbling her words. Oblivious Octavia in her moment of happiness at this newly found feeling motioned in the direction of the library as she perceived it still to be. “Is that the way to the Library we had better get there before the Doctor at some point manages to burn that down as well.” Laughing at Octavia’s attempt at humor and a distraction Vinyl nodded and followed side by side her friend down the street and onto their next stop. Behind them the garden and its malevolent presence disappeared into the distance but as the pair strode far out of sight a long malingering howl rent the air sending shivers down the souls of all that heard it. It was late afternoon by the time the pair reached the library, and as it turned out it wasn’t a wasted trip, Octavia learned her family history consisted of the death of her parents some years after she’d disappeared, her uncle had then taken control of the family and it’s business interests and after his grandson ran the family estate and fortune into the ground with booze gambling and lousy investment, the sole remaining evidence of her family was a apparently run down mansion and a bunch of crumbling gravestones. Of the Opera house fire there seemed to be little more than tabloid reports and a few reviews of it’s performances before the fire, the rest gave her nothing, no report of murders or Timberwolves just the fire having been caused by a faulty lamp. After nearly five hours of research and much fidgeting by Vinyl whose dislike of libraries she made clearly apparent sat across a sea of books on a table from Octavia who leaned back to stretch as she yawned and closed the book in front of her. “I think I have all I need, my parents didn’t have anymore foals, and they were never really a loving couple, strict and decent… The crème de la crème of high society but they got me whatever I needed, and they were very supportive… If a little insistent that I look for a suitor once I had graduated.” Vinyl choked back a scoff at the description fighting her rebellious nature and her aversion to ‘Toffs’ as she called them, and asked the most obvious and potentially painful question. “I know you will miss your parents in your own way, but was there any pony who, y’know you’ll miss especially a friend or a suitor?” Octavia blushed a little as she shook her head, as she told Vinyl she was her first real friend and certainly the only one in this time, and the complete lack of a suitor at least one she was interested in or even had noticed Octavia realized was something that had never really crossed her mind. The discussion turned to more pressing matters as a librarian appeared for not the first time to urge them or at least Vinyl to be quiet; the pair continued onto their last stop the Melody Mansion. Leaving the library the pair walked at a swift pace as the darkening skies of night time fast approached and with her head throbbing from all the exertion Octavia fell silent. Vinyl began humming after a while and Octavia listened to the mare as they stared straight ahead not looking at each other just walking lost in their own thoughts. Feeling more and more depressed by the minute as the same thoughts began to race around Octavia’s mind, she tried to think of something to distract her and as her eyes settled on her companion Octavia smiled as she made her decision. “There’s something I want to do, that’s been nagging at me for a while now.” Vinyl stopped humming and came to an abrupt halt as Octavia skipped uncharacteristically like a little filly ahead of her and sitting down held her hoof up which ended up against Vinyl’s chest as she too stopped then sat. “Uh ok what’s that?” Vinyl shifted nervously as Octavia closed the gap between them. “I want to try your sunglasses, I mean you always wear them and I’ve never seen you without them.” “That’s random.” “I know but I’ve itching to try them on, and I haven’t seen any other ponies today wearing them, do they let you see in the dark, I mean you said sunglasses are supposed to shield your eyes from the sun, if so it’s getting really dark out here how do you see where your going?” Octavia looking about as she spoke realized how much darker the evening had gotten as they’d walked, Vinyl however reacted defensively as she looked away from Octavia, raising her hoof and awkwardly scratching the back of her mane she replied. “Sorta… I mean they help me see at night but normal ones wouldn’t, like I said before I had them especially made…” Confused Octavia backed off a little, it was true she hadn’t ever seen Vinyl without them, and in the week or so since meeting her she had gathered that even in the future no pony wore them as much as Vinyl. “No you can’t try them on, sorry but it’s kinda my thing.” A little disappointed Octavia nodded and motioned they should continue on, Vinyl agreed with an awkward ‘sure’ as they started walking again. It wasn’t long before Octavia began to recognize her surroundings more clearly before at last seeing the great gate that opened up to her families’ city mansion or what remained at least. Scratch watched helpless for what to say or do as Octavia reached the gate at a run and after a second or two collapsed back on her haunches in complete shock, her home was a shell of its former glory. The walls that surrounded the estate were old brick crumbling in places collapsed in others, the ornate garden a dumping ground for local refuse and more than few mattresses and worn out sofa’s, the once great mansion itself was totally derelict with the great double doors at the front and centre of the town house smashed and hanging off, row after row of windows smashed with only a hoofs worth intact. Vinyl moved to put a comforting hoof around the distraught mare but she’d moved before the gesture could be completed, Octavia stood up and began running towards the house through the open rusty gates through the littered garden and only stopping briefly to take a breath before striding into the house itself. Shocked by her sudden movement and uncertain what to do Vinyl heard a snickering voice from nearby, turning that direction she noticed a trio of young stallions who were maybe twenty hooves away from the gate sat on some rubble from the collapsing border walls. “You going in the big bad house after her, or are you chicken!” Vinyl took stock of their brightly colored manes and their leather jackets and cigarettes hanging from the sides of their mouths just like the movies, the biggest one was leering at her as he spoke trying to sound tough. “Well? Two mares all alone in that big house after dark… You want us stallions to come keep you company?” The trio of teens were all smirking at her, their obvious thoughts written plainly on their faces. “No thanks, if I need a job babysitting I’ll ask my neighbors.” Vinyl followed after her friend as did the raucous laughter and catcalling from the trio who continued smoking and harassing any pony who passed, as she made her way towards the doors Octavia had entered Vinyl tried to resist shouting back a few choice words and garnering any more attention from the little idiots. As Vinyl reached the threshold she too breathed deeply and entered, a quick scan of her surroundings told her the house was as dilapidated inside as out, the wooden floors were rotten and broken littered with debris of all kinds, it seemed as if the homeless and the disenfranchised and all kinds of youths and hoodlums had used it as a doss house. Stepping over discarded beer bottles drug paraphernalia moldy mattresses and porn magazines Vinyl continued further on more and more concerned at the lack of any sign of Octavia. Ancient curtains or what remained of them fluttered slowly in the wind coming through shattered windows as Vinyl wandered out of the entrance hall and began searching for the grey mare through room after room. Calling her name Vinyl began to get worried as in the pitch dark of the house meant Octavia couldn’t possibly see where she was? So where had she gone? Somewhere Else Entirely… The Doctor was peeling bits of goo from his jacket gingerly with his teeth as sat wondering what to do next, the ponies he’d been sent to get had been a fat lot of good in helping him as he’d battled that tentacle monster. Having successfully caused it to explode with a mixture of jelly babies and baking powder he’d found in his pockets the Doctor had resumed his attempts to retrieve the lost device needed for safe return. Behind him his unwanted charges descended from the tree they’d been perched in and sat watching as he tried to fashion a stick with a hook on the end attached to a magnet that also happened to be in his pocket. Cheerilee and her students started yawning and muttering dark thoughts about the Doctor, as time wore on eventually luck and perseverance won out and triumphantly the Doctor held aloft the device. His triumph was however short lived as a small creature flew down from the canopy above them and snatched it off the hook and ascended back into the canopy. Swearing in every language he knew (Which took a while mind) the Doctor ignored the following derisive laughter and insults from his charges and began to slowly scramble up the nearest tree in pursuit…
Part Six: Huff Puff and Blow Your House DownPart Six: Huff Puff and Blow Your House Down Vinyl continued her search of the house but after hearing what sounded like a door closing she headed through a door under the halls main stairs into what looked like the kitchen. Here she found Octavia busy lighting a candle with what looked like very old matches, Vinyl was about to say something to get her attention when the match in Octavia’s mouth flared and lit the candle. The sudden flash of light made Vinyl cry out as she covered her eyes with her hoof, Octavia who hadn’t heard her friend approach jumped out of her skin knocking the candle over causing it to go out. “Hi…” “You could have warned me you were there…” “Sorry… I was about to but you lit that candle… Where did you get that from? And matches for that matter… Especially since it’s pitch black in here?” “Hmph says the pony with the sunglasses on…” Octavia who was fiddling with another match sighed as she replied. “When I was little I used to sneak around the house late at night for food or using my imagination to pretend I was in some dark spooky house… It’s not like nowadays where you can illuminate a room so easily so I learned to navigate the house in the dark since I was too little to be allowed to use candles on my own…” Vinyl averted her gaze as Octavia succeeded in relighting the candle she then placed it in a brass candle holder and gripping its flat horizontal handle in her teeth motioned behind her at the kitchens far wall which had a small door set into it. “There’s a secret supply cupboard at the back of the scullery, looks like the ponies that have been using this place as a slum never bothered to come down here…” “Although I don’t know if having a light is a good idea… After all I may have stepped in a few things on the way down here I would rather not be able to identify…” Vinyl nodded in sympathy since her vision had allowed her to avoid the very things Octavia had found so unpleasant. “So what do you want to do now?” Octavia paused for a second before it clicked. “I wish to see the upstairs; I am hoping my room hasn’t been too trashed…” Vinyl stepped back from the doorway and gestured up the stairs inviting Octavia to lead the way. As they walked up the grand stairs and onto the second floor Octavia gave Vinyl the Tour which was relatively short including her room her parents room (Utterly Trashed) and finally her fathers study. In Octavia’s room the motif of the house continued since it looked just as devastated with all the trash and juvenile damage. It took her a few moments and silent tears to reconcile the images in her mind but as she did something fought its way through her memories. Vinyl who had laid a comforting hoof across her companion’s shoulders amid the tears watched curiously as Octavia sprang into action and began sweeping away debris in the corner of her room… After a clearing a space she then proceeded to pry at one of the oak floorboards before getting a hoof under and tearing up the ancient mouldy board and casting it aside. Octavia laid the candle holder on the floor and instead reached down into the space under the floor before triumphantly standing back up with a dust covered satchel in her mouth. Moving over to what remained of the desk that had always sat underneath the massive now utterly smashed main window of the room she placed the satchel down and after hacking like a smoker coughing due to the taste in her mouth from the satchel opened it and displayed the contents for Vinyl. Vinyl studied the stack of paper and immediately realized it was sheet music… The musical notes were exquisitely drawn and in the margins were little notes added parts and little sketches… “It’s my symphony… My personal copy of the piece I was meant to play that night…” Octavia’s excitement overcame her other emotions as she placed the papers back in the satchel and after quickly brushing it off placed it across her shoulders retrieved the candle and continued her recollection. “That was my secret place I hid the symphony there so it would be safe, I think I chose well… I really didn’t think I’d find anything that was my own still here… I’d forgotten about it after everything...” “Well I think you chose right too, it certainly is in great shape for being so old! Just like its creator!” Octavia and Vinyl laughed at her teasing before they resumed their wandering finally entering her fathers old study, much like the rest of the house this room had too taken a beating. It was however Vinyl who whistled in a low tone as she spotted the only object in the room still intact. Even in the flickering candle light Octavia saw what had caught Vinyl’s attention, the wall behind what once been her fathers desk had been demolished leaving in a carved out alcove a giant black safe. Vinyl made her way to it and as she studied the wall it was clear the safe had been originally set into the wall but over time some-pony or lots of some-ponies had tried to crack or damage the safe in a bid to open it. Inspecting the front of the safe it was obvious by the gouges in the metal and various scorch marks and what looked like blast marks from magic, whoever had tried to gain access had continually failed and given up as Vinyl checked the door was still firmly shut. “Wow this things taken a kicking but it’s still intact, must have been really expensive… I guess no pony passed on the code…” “My father could be a little paranoid at times concerning his money and private papers… He probably didn’t trust any pony enough to tell them…” Octavia sat beside Vinyl and answered Vinyl’s obvious next question with a big smile! A quick few spins of the giant numbered dial and quite a bit of pulling and swearing from both mares and the heavy door finally gave up the ghost and agonizingly creaked open as Octavia scrambled for the candle to illuminate the contents. On the three shelves within were several folders containing the deeds to everything from land to mines to housing and more, her mother’s jewels as Vinyl stared open mouthed at the shiniest things she’d ever seen! Babbling with fantastical approximations of value and worth which neither knew were actually pretty close to the mark Vinyl went into shock as Octavia barely managed to heave several bags of gold bits from the bottom shelf that given the amounts labelled on the outside of the money bags contained more than Vinyl’s cash strapped existence could handle. As Vinyl finally lost her voice Octavia just blushed with an only rudimentary understanding of all the fuss Vinyl was making, since to her it was hardly worth getting excited about, after all it was only her father’s petty cash… It took a few sweeps of the house but eventually they found a couple of heavy satchels in the attic that after piling the safes contents into and struggling to lift them even with Vinyl’s magic onto their backs, Octavia bid a final farewell to the ruins of her foal hood home and with Vinyl in tow made her way down the grand stairs and towards the front door… It was at this point a low growl made them freeze at the bottom of the stairs, in the candle light and the moonlight shining in from outside was stood the most monstrous thing Vinyl had ever seen… Octavia however stared into the eyes of the beast and in a heart stopping moment realized she recognized that feeling that malevolence… “Oh no… But that’s not… How…? How did it…?” Vinyl broke from her fear induced inaction and gave her companion a questioning glance… “Run…” “But…?” “Vinyl just do it run!!!” As the two mares broke and ran the beast howled in excitement! The chase was on!!! Doing better elsewhere The Doctor… Well both of the Doctors weren’t being chased by a monumentally pissed Timberwolf, they instead were sat next to each other in the dust of the ancient planet as Miss Cheerilee marched up and down berating them both as her three students laughed loudly in unison and mimicked her in telling them off. Despite her gratitude at being saved and off of that jungle world she still had several pieces of her mind left to give the Doctors as they sat like a pair of naughty school foals heads hung low… Given the opportunity they would have happily have been chased by a Timberwolf.
Part Seven: Caught in the Moonlight.Part Seven: Caught in the Moonlight. The two mares were encumbered by their heavy satchels and contents but the fear driving them made sure they stayed just ahead of the snapping jaws that narrowly missed latching onto their tails as they made it to the dining room door. Vinyl kicked back with her hooves catching the Timberwolf on the nose causing it to recoil giving her and Octavia enough time to get through the door and praising the sun goddess that it was still intact as they slammed it shut. In the excitement however Octavia had dropped her candle at the bottom of the stairs and now as they held the door shut with the force of their own bodies only the moonlight lit the scene. “WHAT THE HAY IS THAT!!!” Vinyl shouted as the Timberwolf began throwing itself against the door oblivious to tactics it’s brutal instincts enjoying the chance to let loose after so long hiding in the shadows. “I think it’s one of the beasts the Doctor and I faced at the Opera house!” “YOU TOLD ME YOU KILLED THEM!!!” “We thought we did…? I don’t understand what’s going on… Its smaller this time too…” “NOT MUCH CONSOLATION WHEN IT’S CHEWING ON OUR CORPSES!!!” “Please don’t shout…” Despite the situation and her own feelings as the pair braced for the next frame rattling impact Vinyl softly apologized and lowered her tone as she realized Octavia was shaking and crying. Vinyl realized what she must be going through and tried a different approach. “Octavia please we need to do something…” It was as the grey mare tried to compose herself that the Timberwolf gave it everything and after a coyote like run up smashed the door to splinters with the impact! The mares were tossed aside among the pieces of exploding door and both landed awkwardly as the floor rushed up to meet them! The Timberwolf strode into the room taking a moment to really enjoy what about to be the best meal he’d had in long time! Struggling to their hooves and covered in splinters the mares tried to dodge the swinging paws and snapping jaws as the beast played with them reveling in it’s superiority over such prey. Vinyl in desperation tried to summon her magic her horn lighting up as she prepared to blast the creature… Unfortunately Vinyl was no spell-caster and despite having an excellent understanding of the basics was ignorant of battle magic’s and although she was way more powerful than she gave herself credit her inexperience meant she was struck across the head by a paw as she failed to cast anything before the wolf reacted. Flying sideways she hit the nearest wall and slid down it awkwardly before landing in a crumpled mess, her glasses flying off into the trash on the floor as she did. Octavia used momentum and the weight of the stuffed satchel on her back to swing and hit the wolf across the back of the head stunning it as she ran for her fallen friend… Vinyl was sluggish as Octavia tried to pull her to her hooves but as she slipped on a discarded pizza box on the floor the two of them failed to move fast enough. As if to emphasize the drama of the situation a sudden wind whipped around the room as if there was a storm forming within the room itself! The wooden beast regained its bearing and stood before the trembling mares jaws widening! Vinyl going by instinct made to buy her friend time to escape and with a scream went to launch her body at the nightmare! “GO!!!” Octavia tried to form words but they were stolen by the wind and drowned out by an extremely familiar wheezing as she reacted too slowly to stop her friend’s suicidal solution… Vinyl judging the distance in her mind flew through the air fore hooves outstretched rebel yell on her lips as she prepared to sell her life dearly, this would have made for an amazingly epic end worthy of her own expectations!!! Had it not been for the Tardis materializing right above where the Timberwolf was standing! The Tardis shook the foundations of the house as it hit the floor… Vinyl was sliding comically down the front of the Tardis as Octavia regained speech and cried out her friends name as she staggered to her side. “…V-VINYL??? ARE YOU OK?” The white mare was bundled up in Octavia’s hooves as she was checked over by her now hyperventilating companion who breathlessly tried to articulate her fears. “It’s OK… I’m OK just let me sit up…” Vinyl made it back on her hooves but immediately sat back as her whole body complained viciously at the treatment but as she went to look around she visibly panicked as she realized her glasses were missing!!! “What the heck was that??? What happened to the wolf…? Octavia what’s going on? …Where are my glasses…?” It took a moment of confusion looking from the giant blue box with a solitary wooden paw sticking out from underneath (Which seemed strikingly similar to her first encounter with this box) to Vinyl for Octavia to realize Vinyl was beginning to cry! As she began to sob she was gingerly sweeping her fore hooves on the floor as if looking for something the same way a… The loud gasp from Octavia made Vinyl flinch as Octavia realized… The same way a blind pony would… “V-Vinyl… I didn’t you never said… Said you were…” “Didn’t want to get into it…” Octavia busied herself trying to locate the missing glasses as she most definitely got into it. “Of course you were planning to tell me?” “Sure…” Unconvinced Octavia stopped giving her a reproachful stare when she face hoofed realizing it couldn’t be seen. “Vinyl…” “Look it just freaks ponies out OK…” “The concept is going to take a little getting used to… I do not have experience in such matters… But I promise I won’t carry on about it… Agreed?” “OK…” Vinyl shrugged and looking up smiled at Octavia who didn’t have the heart to tell her that her direction was slightly off… After a moment or more of searching the glasses were found and Octavia breathed a sigh of relief as found them untarnished despite their rough treatment. Turning them over in her hooves in the moonlight Octavia couldn’t make out any distinguishing features that would enable a blind pony to see… Vinyl back in the dark without her glasses but still retaining her very sharp hearing rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. “You’re wearing them aren’t you…?” Octavia hastened to remove them as she returned them to their rightful owner. “I don’t understand… Is that how you see the world… All green and shading?” Vinyl shrugged as Octavia tried and failed to find the words to describe the imagery that seemed like a projection directly into her mind… “I don’t know I was a filly when a friend of mom’s offered to make something to help since I’d been blind since birth, he worked at someplace called Torchwood and said there were all kinds of gadgets for all sorts of things…” “I haven’t thought about it for years… I just kinda got used to them… And I would have told you soon I promise, it’s just a hard thing…” With her sight returned Vinyl trailed off as she registered the blue box a few hooves away. “Um…” Octavia who had until now been more concerned with Vinyl’s well-being approached the Tardis and after a quick explanation that made Vinyl’s jaw drop she knocked on the door. “Doctor…? Are you not going to come out?” “…Doctor?” As quickly as it had appeared the Tardis fired up and promptly disappeared again taking with it the crushed remains of the Timberwolf… The two mares sat in silence as they watched it go. “Wow not exactly the friendly type is he…” “I… I don’t understand…” For a while they sat waiting to see what would happen next but when nothing did their attention was drawn to the smoke curling through the ruined door leading to the hall. Octavia remembered her discarded candle and as the pair collected their satchels and awkwardly climbed out of the rooms windows they trotted home in silence the now merrily burning Melody mansion receding into the distance… The local papers barely featured anything about the fire in the coming days and as the pair considered events the conversations eventually turned to what Octavia would do since the Tardis hadn’t returned. Added to that she was now in possession of what remained of her families’ fortune which was more than enough for her to regain her place in society. However she had other ideas, remembering where the Doctor had said he was headed when she’d first met him and her wanting to remain close to her new friend she made an offer to Vinyl. Since they were in need of somewhere to stay other than Vinyl’s parents and she could afford to buy the whole town anyway Octavia asked Vinyl to help find and buy a place for them both to live in while she found her place in the world and maybe once again encounter the Doctor… Vinyl fond of her Friend’s company and liking the idea due to a couple of her friends already living there, she jumped at the chance and together they started planning right away. Somewhere very lonely… The Doctor sat on a rock kicking his hoof in boredom… It had been hours since his older yet younger looking self had left to return the teacher and her students to their world, and still there was no sign of his Tardis. The Doctor had at this point calculated the number of grains of sand within a hundred hoof steps around him and accurately plotted the solar system in the now night sky above him. When the wheezing sound of his Tardis returning eventually reached his ears he was more than a little surprised to find a wooden paw sticking out from underneath it. Chastising the Tardis furiously for running away at the sight of its future self he entered and without hesitation started plotting the course to take him back to the injured grey mare he had so unwittingly left stranded in the snow… The Tardis Disappeared but not before making sure it left the flattened Timberwolf underneath behind… It took a long time but the energy contained within broke free of the crushed mess and took stock of its new surroundings, realizing its predicament the energy raged among the nothing it found itself in… Landing in the precise spot where he’d left the Doctor ran out of the Tardis to find that he was standing amidst a most beautiful sunny day… Confused he ran back inside only to find the computer showed it was in fact two whole months later than his original departure? He then tried again but the Tardis refused to dematerialize causing him to curse it profusely. After a while he gave up and stomping outside again he found himself sat looking into the same bookshop window as he had previously but as his eyes settled on the one thing different he burst into ecstatic laughter as he trotted back to the Tardis his destination set. As the blue box once again left the street corner unnoticed by any passer by’s the sunlight it had blocked shone once more on the window of the bookshop, contained within a large sheet of paper with a crude crayon picture of a Tardis next to a more carefully drawn picture of a grey mare with black mane and tail a white collar and pink bow-tie, underneath which was a single word. ‘PONYVILLE’ THE END DR WHOOVES WILL RETURN IN… DR WHOOVES AND THE DEVILS OF SPACE STATION PONY ONE
