Brave New World

Chapters

Chapter I: Want / Need
Chapter II: Half-Truth
Chapter III: Tears
Chatper IV: The Long Game

Chapter I: Want / Need

Six months ago, Equestria was attacked by a powerful group of unicorns and alicorns. When all hope had been lost, an earth pony named Octavia summoned a force which bound the attackers, known as The Nine, permanently to a place outside of existence. At the same time she reversed the deaths of Vinyl Scratch, Raincloud, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and the two princesses who rule over Equestria. It took only three months for the ponies to rebuild, after which, the princesses wiped everypony’s memories free of the horrors which had passed. That is, almost everypony. Vinyl, Octavia, and Raincloud were somehow incapable of forgetting.

The three inherited the estate of the psychologist Erik Equineson, who perished in the fight. Raincloud was given his entire house and his vast library covering almost every topic. Vinyl and Octavia received the majority of his money. Using the money, Vinyl and Octavia had a massive home built near Ponyville, while Raincloud dropped off of the radar. After almost ten years of absence, Octavia finally performed three months of concerts which were met with favorable reviews from even the harshest of critics.

They had very well earned their coming vacation, but the universe wasn’t quite done with them yet…

* * *

Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica

Walkway Near Ponyville, Present Day

The air felt cool against Octavia’s skin and the breeze didn’t help. A pair of yellow leaves fell in front of her as she hurried to catch up to Vinyl. She had said something about going into town but said something about a ghost, just loud enough for Octavia to hear. It was obvious bait, but she knew if Vinyl was involved then it would be a good time. “Where are you going, Vinyl?” She asked as she caught up to the white mare.

Vinyl smiled. “I knew you couldn’t resist. I’m going to Twilight’s house for a séance.”

Octavia looked confused. “I didn’t think you’d be the type to believe in that sort of stuff.”

“Don’t say anything,” Vinyl whispered. “But it isn’t a real séance. That’s just a cover so nopony barges in on us.”

“You’re insane,” Octavia said with a chuckle. “So why are we actually going to Twilight’s?”

“She’s my travel agent,” Vinyl stated as though it were blatantly obvious.

Octavia cocked her head. “What?”

“I know,” Vinyl began. “It doesn’t make much sense. Just like when Raincloud said Rainbow Dash acts like a cat.”

“What?” Octavia repeated.

Vinyl turned to her. “I mean, I can see it now that it’s been said, but I wouldn’t have though that—“

“What do you mean ‘Twilight is my travel agent’?” Octavia asked. “She’s a librarian and a student.”

They arrived at Twilight’s house and Vinyl tapped out a rhythm on the door. “Which is exactly why she picks out good places to vacation; she’s smart and she works hard!”

“How much are you paying for this?” Octavia wasn’t sure why something like this surprised her coming from Vinyl.

Vinyl grinned. “That’s the best part. She said she’d do it for free!”

The door knob glowed and the door swung open, revealing a chaotic scene of papers and books scattered throughout the room. They saw Twilight dash back and forth across the room a couple of times before they entered. “Is everything okay, Twi?” Vinyl asked, taking a better look around the room.

Twilight ran up to them and stuck a folder to Vinyl’s head by piercing it with the white mare’s horn. “Sorry, I know I said we’d meet but I’ve got to go help stop a great and powerful idiot from letting a dragon loose on Manehattan,” Twilight explained frantically. “There’s the information you need for your trip. Talk to you later!” Twilight ran out of the library into town.

Octavia and Vinyl looked at each other and walked back home in silence.

* * *

Raincloud

Her Home, Just Outside Manehattan, Present Day

She had read fifteen hundred books and not a single clue; three months of research amounting to not a single result. There had to be something, because Raincloud had seen it happen. Technically she hadn’t seen it, she was dead when it happened, but she knew there was no other explanation. So, one question remained: How did Octavia Philharmonica use magic extending even beyond what an alicorn could control?

From everything she had read it appeared impossible and it certainly hadn’t happened before but Raincloud knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what had happened. She set down the last book on magic in her collection. She sat for a moment, groaned quietly and stood heading for the upstairs. An hour passed as she paced back and forth in the kitchen, enjoying a cup of hot cocoa. The house she lived in seemed terribly empty; it was easily made to house at least a dozen ponies but she was the only one living there.

A knock came from the foyer. It was late for someone to be visiting but Raincloud felt she could use the distraction. She opened the door to find herself facing a mare slightly smaller than her. Raincloud figured she was still just a teenager. The mare had a dark coat and a dark mane with red highlights. The mare leaned forward and whispered in Raincloud’s ear. “I know what you’ve been researching. Pay attention to the news for the next few days.”

Raincloud eyed her suspiciously. “I don’t know who you are,” She started. “I’m not going to question how you know what I’ve been doing. I’m not going to ask who you are. What I want to know is how the hell do you have the exact same cutie mark as me?”

The mare started to turn away. “I don’t even know that myself. We’ll talk in a bit,” She winked and flew off into the sky.

Raincloud thought about giving chase but decided against it. She had other things to attend to now.

* * *

Vinyl and Octavia

Ponyville, Two Days Later

“I still don’t understand why we aren’t going to a beach or somewhere else warm,” Octavia was saying. “It’s getting close to winter so why would we go somewhere already cold?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Twilight’s note said something about sharks.” The train pulled into the station. “At least we’ve got first class seats.”

They boarded the train and settled into their seats. Shortly after a light rain set in; Vinyl could tell Octavia was lost in the pitter-patter of drops hitting the window. A few hours passed and they ate dinner in silence. Vinyl hated that they had gotten into such a routine lately. It wasn’t a real routine, every day was different, but their life had lost its spontaneity. They never talked anymore. “Hey, Tavi,” Vinyl tried.

Octavia looked over in the moonlight. “What’s up, Vinyl?” She responded sleepily.

Vinyl breathed deeply. “I don’t know how to ask this, but do you think your parents would have liked me?” Vinyl mentally kicked herself immediately after asking. She wasn’t sure how touchy that subject was.

Octavia smiled slightly and looked back up at the sky. “I have the faintest of memories from before they died. The one that stands out most is my mother taking my out into the fields. We would have picnics out there and we’d play with the animals. Everything changed after I—“ Her voice faded and a tear appeared in her eye.

Vinyl reached over and touched her gently. “That wasn’t you, Tavi.”

“I know,” Octavia responded softly. A moment of silence passed. “They would have loved you, Vinyl. They would have been proud to have you dating me.”

Octavia moved over to sit next to Vinyl. After a few minutes Vinyl felt her partner’s head rest on her shoulder. Not long after Vinyl joined her in sleep. It didn’t even take long for that moment of peace to be disturbed, though. They were awoken quickly by one of the crew. “We’re going to have to ask you two to leave the train immediately. There’s been an accident up ahead on the tracks and we can’t go any farther.”

The train had stopped next to a large hill with pine trees growing sparsely on the side. As they exited the train they were instructed to go to the top of the mountain. On their way up the accident that had stopped them was revealed. A train had derailed and in its wake a fire had engulfed the track. They looked at each other, tiredly and started laughing. They’d known from the beginning that any vacation they took couldn’t possibly go perfectly. With that they began the long walk to the mountain resort they’d been booked at, laughing into the night at the joke the universe had played.

* * *

Raincloud

Manehattan, the Next Morning

For the third day in a row, Raincloud took the path from her home down into the big city. For the third day in a row she walked to the coffee shop to get her morning fix of caffeine and the morning paper. On the third morning, though, for the first time she saw something that may be the proof she needed to know she wasn’t having a joke played on her. The headline stuck out like a sore hoof: “Train Derails, Fire Kills Passengers of other Trains.”

She skipped her coffee and ran back home. Trains don’t just derail in Equestria, she thought. Something, or somepony, caused this. Something within her was screaming out to tell the police about the pony who had told her about this, but logic told her she couldn’t be sure they were even related. She wouldn’t tell them anyway, not being this close to possibly having an answer.

She didn’t even know why she needed an answer. She passed it off as curiosity but she knew it was something else. Perhaps it was jealousy. She was definitely jealous of Octavia, not of the power she’d had, but of her relationship with Vinyl. For a small amount of time she’d been so jealous that she’d actually thought of murder as an option, but she knew she couldn’t fall into that temptation. She had only ever treated Octavia with respect because she didn’t want to upset Vinyl, but now it was about natural selection. Whoever grabbed Vinyl’s attention most would win her heart, or so she thought.

She decided to go and check out the site of the train wreck herself to see if she could find any sort of clue. She gathered a pack with water, food, and various other things she might need and set out for the forest.

She wanted to make sure she followed the entire path the train had so she took a long curve to reach the train yard and continued on toward Ponyville. It had been a while since she’d been there, but she figured it hadn’t changed much. She was surprised to see a massive house, more like a castle than anything. There were tall walls made of some sort of dark stone which opened into a courtyard. There was a central pathway leading up to a multiple storied gothic style home. The pathway had two towers rise on either side for a few meters which then spiraled closer together forming one tower rising high into the sky with a large, seemingly unfinished room at the top. As she flew closers she saw a sign in front of it. She could barely make out the calligraphy reading “Property of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica.” Raincloud couldn’t help but laugh as she flew on.

It took about three hours to reach the site of the train derailment. The fire had already been put out but it was easy to tell from the charred ground the area that had been affected. It appeared there had been another train that had stopped behind them which had apparently had passengers. Raincloud could even make out what she thought may be some of their bodies on the hill, a thought which she pushed out of her mind quickly.

Something tapped her should and she turned around quickly. Looking her in the face was the mare that had come to her previously. They stared at each other for a moment. Raincloud felt a sort of connection, like they were similar in some way. “Who are you?” She asked.

The mare laughed in a way that would have been cute if she weren’t clearly involved in very bad things. “I have no name,” She answered. Raincloud could tell from her voice that the mare wasn’t really a mare at all; she was just a filly, far too young to be an adult.

Raincloud thought for a moment, a bit unsure of how to move forward. “How old are you?” was the answer that she finally settled on.

The filly circled raincloud gracefully. “I’m not exactly sure,” She said, looking up into the sky. “I think I’m about twelve, but I might be older. Things weren’t very structured for me when I was growing up.”

Raincloud tilted her head a bit to the left. “What do you mean?”

The filly smiled. “My parents left me to fend for myself.”

“How long ago was that?”

“I don’t remember, it’s been a long time.”

“How long could it have been if you’re twelve?” Raincloud was starting to kick herself mentally for letting the conversation get personal. She needed to find out about the train and what had happened.

“That doesn’t matter; it’s a boring story, alright?” The filly had looked away quickly and spoken sharply. Raincloud could tell she was a bit shaken because of the question.

“I’m sorry,” She responded. “Let’s change the subject. What happened here?”

“A train derailed and a few ponies died because of the resulting fire,” The filly responded without turning around.

Raincloud flew a bit closer. “You know who did this, don’t you? You need to tell me.”

The filly started laughing the laugh of somepony who had lost their sanity. The laugh cut off suddenly. “Don’t you get it? I did this, you dolt! I killed them.”

She flew off quickly into the hills, and this time Raincloud chased her.

* * *

Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica

Sky’s Mountain Resort, Present Day

Vinyl and Octavia arrived at the resort early in the morning to the shocked face of the owner. He explained how they had gotten word that everypony aboard the train had died and that the forest had been consumed by fire. They were given a large dinner and were allowed to stay at the resort free of charge. The two slept peacefully until noon when other guests started arriving from an expedition that had left a few days earlier. The owner suggested they head into town and see if they could get in contact with anyone.

On their way out Vinyl grabbed a pamphlet which explained the geography of the area. The resort was situated in the middle of the side of a large mountain. Below in a valley there was a village which had shops and restaurants. The mountain was surrounded by many, much smaller hills that flattened out as they moved toward the center of Equestria. They had had a problem with earthquakes in the area which had led scientists to believe the mountain was a volcano but tests had shown otherwise.

Octavia led the way into a general store and tapped the bell at the counter. The two mares looked around awkwardly but soon realized that the store had almost everything except somepony to help them. They tapped the bell a few more times and waited a couple of minutes longer before leaving to look for help elsewhere. Vinyl stopped suddenly and looked up at the mountain, towering above them. Octavia looked too and they saw two pegasi circling the peak quickly.

“Something isn’t right, here,” Vinyl whispered. “Let’s get out of here, quickly.” She turned to Octavia whose eyes had gone white. Vinyl tried to keep her calm. Octavia hadn’t done this in six months, but nothing good could come of it. She picked Octavia up and started toward the edge of town, trying to get as far away from the mountain as possible.

* * *

Raincloud had caught up to the filly and they were now circling the mountain, waiting for the other to make a move. “Why did you do it?” Raincloud asked.

The filly touched down on the mountain as light as a feather. “We’ve all heard of the concept of want versus need,” she said. “You may want a book or a new toy but you need food and water. Well all of my life I’ve wanted someone to be there for me, but I never got that.”

“So you developed a pathological need for something,” Raincloud finished. “That need is what, exactly?”

“Power,” the reply came. “It isn’t really my fault though. Three months ago, when I regained the ability to fly, I found something, and it was beautiful. Now I’m just a catalyst for the destruction of this world, but that isn’t to say I won’t enjoy seeing you all burn.”

Something seemed to click in Raincloud’s head. “What did you just say?”

“I said I’m going to watch you all burn,” the filly’s voice was as cold as ice.

Raincloud staggered backwards with shock on her face. Her heart raced as she made the connection. “What did you find?”

The filly’s expression changed into something softer, yet still very much angry. “It was a sphere of some kind. I can’t describe it; it was beyond words.”

Raincloud looked to the village below. “I’m sorry,” she spoke quietly. “I am so, very sorry. There’s nothing I can do now, but I promise that I’ll free you.” Her wings shot out and she took flight toward Canterlot as quickly as she could.

* * *

Octavia’s eyes shot open as Vinyl was running with her. “Run!” She shouted looking around frantically.

“Octavia, it’s okay, I’m right here,” Vinyl tried to calm her down, taking hold of her hoof.

Octavia batted Vinyl’s hoof away. “Stop it, this is serious. We need to leave, now.”

She looked up at the mountain and her eyes grew wide. Vinyl looked too and saw one of the pegasi flying away. “What’s wrong?” Vinyl asked.

“That’s Raincloud,” Octavia answered. “And if she’s leaving now then we’re too late. We’re going to die.”

Almost the second Octavia finished speaking the ground started shaking. The two mares tried to steady themselves against a tree as they looked to the sky. Octavia started crying and Vinyl took her hoof, trying to keep her calm. The peak of the mountain exploded suddenly, spraying flaming rock and ash toward them. Just as they were about to close their eyes in preparation for death to take them, there was a flash in front of them. “You aren’t going to die yet,” a familiar voice said. There was another flash, and they were gone.

* * *

Eight Hours Later

Vinyl awoke slowly due to the darkness blanketing her room. As she adjusted herself she could see the moon through the lone window, but there were no stars. She felt Octavia move behind her and the door opened letting light into the room. Luna entered quietly and walked up beside the bed. Vinyl shook her head. “Why the hell does this kind of thing always happen to us?”

Chapter II: Half-Truth

Eight Hours Later

“You hardly got the worst of it,” Luna said. “I got you out just in time.”

“Why did you do that? How did you even know where we were?”

“Never mind that, we managed to contain the ash so it will all settle near the site of the blast.”

“I need to know what we’re dealing with,” Vinyl demanded.

“That area was much more densely populated than we thought; thirty thousand are dead and the rest of us are soon to follow in their hoofsteps,” Luna didn’t seem to be herself. She was much more distant than she had been in the past. “I’ve been talking with Raincloud and we think—“

“Whoa, hold up a minute. Raincloud is here?” Vinyl was shocked. She hadn’t seen Raincloud in almost three months, and even then she had barely spoken to her at the time.

“Let me finish before you get all excited,” Luna was clearly very serious. “We think that the pony behind this has absorbed some sort of energy that grows in strength as she kills.”

“That sounds like something we’d get to deal with. That isn’t to imply I’m happy about it, but still, with what we’ve dealt with this should be easy,” Vinyl wasn’t kidding as far as Luna could tell.

“No,” Octavia’s voice came from behind Vinyl. “I had another vision and I think we are in much more trouble than you all realize.”

Luna motioned to them to follow and walked into the corridor outside. They followed her for a few minutes until they reached a small room where Raincloud was waiting. “This makes all of us,” Luna said, taking a seat.

“You mean Celestia isn’t going to join us?” Octavia asked.

“She’s busy trying to keep everypony throughout Equestria calm,” Luna explained. “We’re the ones that have to figure things out, since we’re all the only ponies who remember dealing with any sort of magic remotely similar to this.”

“You mean the nine?” Vinyl asked, already knowing the answer.

Raincloud nodded. “She said something about finding an orb of some sort. I think it may have been the orb that was in the chamber where Octavia did whatever it is she did.”

“You aren’t sure, though,” Vinyl stated blatantly. “Face it, we have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

“We do, actually,” Raincloud responded. “In Manehattan a pony was found murdered a couple of weeks ago, police kept it quiet so you haven’t heard about it. His body was burned almost to ash. The train that exploded killed a few hundred ponies from the resulting fire. Now a volcano that didn’t exist before kills over thirty thousand? The connection is fire and I doubt it’s a coincidence.”

Octavia nodded. “That makes sense. So whoever this is is either getting stronger or they’re getting more confident.”

“Wait a moment,” Vinyl interjected. “You quoted the pony that did this so you know who it is.”

Raincloud nodded. “I chased her to that volcano and when I made the connection to the orb I came here right away.”

“So who did it?” Vinyl asked.

“She said she doesn’t have a name,” Raincloud said. “She was either orphaned or her parents left her when she was very young and I think she may have grown up in Manehattan.”

“She’s like me,” Vinyl’s voice was distant.

“You can’t become attached, Vinyl,” Luna told her. “She has to pay for what she’s done.”

Rainclouds eyes shot wide open. “Sweet Celestia, I’m a genius!” She exclaimed loudly. “The orb, it did exactly what the nine used to do; it gave her power that was tapped into a longing for something. It’s different this time, though. She isn’t like the others, she’s still intact. So what if she finally gets what she wants, can we get her back?”

Luan shook her head. “Even if we do undo what was done to her she has still killed thousands of ponies; that isn’t something that can go unanswered for.”

“It wasn’t her, though,” Vinyl tried. “It was that orb or maybe it was the nine or maybe something else but it wasn’t her. She has had no choice.”

“We can’t imprison a sphere,” Luna said flatly.

“But we can destroy it. That is, unless you’d rather imprison a filly who hasn’t really had a fair chance,” Octavia joined in with Raincloud and Vinyl.

Luna closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “I suppose at the most we can try, but this is hardly a game.”

Octavia raised her hand for attention. “I should probably mention,” She started. “Last night I had another vision; at least, I think it was a vision.”

“What was it of?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia hesitated. “It was probably just a dream, but I saw a crater. Equestria was gone, like it had just disappeared.”

A silence settled in over everypony in the room. “Well then,” Raincloud was the first to speak up. “I suppose we should work fast.”

* * *

Vinyl, Octavia, and Raincloud

Raincloud’s Home, Near Manehattan, Present Day

Raincloud hadn’t changed Erik’s house much, although the paintings were swapped around. It was basically the same house that Vinyl remembered. They had stopped by to supposedly gather supplies, but it was in reality just taking time to relax and process things. Octavia was upstairs looking at the various musical instruments that still remained in the room they had set aside for her while Raincloud and Vinyl waited downstairs. Raincloud approached Vinyl. “So how have things been?” She asked.

Vinyl avoided eye contact, but smiled at the formality. “Things have been the usual,” Was her response.

“That’s unfortunate,” Raincloud stood next to Vinyl awkwardly. After about a minute she continued. “When I look at you two I see something perfect. That pisses me off to no end.”

Vinyl laughed. “You have not changed one bit.”

Raincloud turned to her. “Seriously, I have spent almost six months trying to find a way to get you to myself and I’m just now realizing that it’ll never happen.”

“So are we good?” Vinyl looked her in the eyes.

“No,” Raincloud shook her head and smiled. “I hate you just as much as I hate this damn house.”

“I’m glad you hate this place,” Vinyl said. “Because you’re coming to live with us in Ponyville.”

Raincloud’s mouth opened slightly and her eyes seemed to look straight through Vinyl. “I’ve seen your place, but it isn’t really my style.”

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that, we’re building a tower specifically for you. I know you like being up high.”

Raincloud looked down and smiled. She reached forward and hugged Vinyl. “Thanks Vinyl.”

The two turned to see Octavia nearly jumping down the stairs. She held something up. “Come look at what I found,” she said excitedly. “It’s a newspaper article from twelve years ago, to the day.”

Vinyl and Raincloud ran closer to her and looked at the article, which read:

Accident Leaves Young Pegasi Flightless

Doctors in the Manehattan General ER were surprised by an unusual case last night. Shortly after eleven a pegasi barely six months old was brought in with a severe wing injury. The strange part of this medical mystery is the cause. Upon immediate examination the wings of the young filly appeared to have been struck by lightning, which all pegasi are immune to. The filly’s condition was listed as stable, but it is unsure if she will be able to regain the ability to fly. There has not yet been a statement released as to the cause of the accident.

“Where did you find this?” Raincloud asked solemnly.

“I just found it in on the dresser in my old room,” Octavia explained. “Something about it piqued my interest; does it mean something to you?”

Raincloud looked up. “I think this may be our filly. She said she was about twelve and that she just became able to fly again three months ago.”

“What?” Vinyl nearly shouted. “Three months ago, as in when Luna and Celestia wiped everypony’s memories?”

“What are you getting at?” Octavia, along with Raincloud, didn’t see how that was important.

“Three months ago Celestia and Luna wiped everypony’s memories of the nine, and what they did, away. That doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me,” Vinyl looked at the others hoping they would come up with something to add.

“Lightning!” Raincloud’s eyes dilated. “Lightning doesn’t affect pegasi but the lightning that the nine used against us certainly did a number on Rainbow and I. What if the same lightning hurt her, and somehow the princess’ spell healed the damage.”

“So how does any of this help us?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t know,” Vinyl admitted. “I doubt we found this out by accident though.”

Raincloud motioned toward the door. “Let’s get going.”

“Where are we going, exactly? Vinyl asked. They had yet to discuss where they should go to find their antagonist.

“If I was doing this I’d go somewhere in the center of Equestria and up high,” Raincloud suggested.

They all thought a moment. Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other, coming to the same conclusion. “Ponyville is central,” Octavia started. “The tallest place near there would be the tower at our house.” The three of them ran out of the house, Vinyl and Octavia continued toward Ponyville while Raincloud flew to Canterlot to get Luna.

* * *

Ponyville was dark as they made their approach. Nopony was on the streets, and there were no lights lit in anyone’s home. Furthermore and large storm cloud had settled over the city, the rain was held back but flashes of lightning from within the cloud were visible. Vinyl and Octavia could feel the air temperature drop dramatically as they drew closer and shivers traveled down Raincloud’s spine as she and Luna teleported to Vinyl and Octavia’s home.

The fact that they were in the right place was made apparent from the clouds spinning above the tower. Occasionally a bolt of lightning struck the top of the building, sending sparks flying into the courtyard below. Vinyl didn’t stop moving when she reached tower, she just continued walking up the staircase purposefully with the others following. Regardless of the fact that they had all been killed the last time they entered a tower like this, none of them felt any fear.

The top room of the tower had yet to be completed. It lacked any furnishings or other shows of character. The walls weren’t even entirely finished. The roof lacked its intended glass paneling, letting in a few droplets of rain. At the far end of the room, the filly lay curled up with a dark glow emanating from around her. Vinyl held out a hoof, indicating to the others to stay back. She approached slowly. “What’s your name?” She asked gently.

The filly moved slightly. “I don’t have a name,” She responded. It was obvious from her voice that she had been crying.

“Yes you do!” Vinyl told her. “You just need to remember it. Please, just give me some reason to believe you’re still in there.”

The filly stood and turned to face Vinyl in one smooth motion. “I know I remember my name,” She looked directly into Vinyl’s eyes. “That’s the problem, though. I want to forget; I want to forget everything.”

“That isn’t what you want; what you really want is to have somepony there to take your hoof and tell you that everything will be alright,” Vinyl said earnestly.

“What makes you think you could possibly understand?” The filly asked angrily as a bolt of lightning flashed behind her.

“Because I was there,” Vinyl moved a bit closer. “I know you’re feeling like you have no hope and that this world abandoned you. I thought that too but then I met Octavia and everything changed. Let me do that for you; just say the word and we can walk out of here together and fix all of this.”

The filly’s pupils went entirely black and she started to fly. “Help me, Vinyl.” She rasped as the aura around her grew in size and intensity. The winds picked up speed and the rain began to fall harder. The filly screamed loudly, apparently in pain, and lightning began flashing more rapidly, striking areas around the tower.

Vinyl turned to her companions. “Do any of you have any ideas because I think I just failed,” she said.

The three others looked at each other. Luna aimed her horn at the filly and fired off two shots of energy, which were interrupted by two subsequent strikes of lightning. Raincloud looked at Octavia. “Can’t you do something? Now would be a very good time to go all crazy powerful.”

Octavia shook her head. “I don’t feel anything. Like, I feel even less than normal as though I don’t have any energy at all. It sort of feels like right before I have a vision and black out but that isn’t happening.”

Vinyl was back to watching the filly who was now suspended at least twenty-five meters above them. “Come on, what can I do?” She asked herself under her breath. “There has to be something I can do.”

“Come on, Octavia!” Raincloud shouted. “Now isn’t the time to start being normal. Aren’t you getting anything, any strange feelings?”

Octavia closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them suddenly. “Vinyl, what is her name? We need to know her name!”

“I don’t know her name Octy,” Vinyl turned her focus from the filly back to the others behind her.

“What are you doing, Vinyl?” Octavia asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“Doing what?” Vinyl returned. “And why are you glowing?”

“Vinyl, your horn is glowing. What are you doing to Octavia?” Luna asked.

Both Vinyl and Octavia looked panicked. Vinyl’s horn began to glow brighter, along with the aura surrounding Octavia. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck in between the two. Octavia fell back into Luna. Vinyl was lying on the ground, shaking, with a blue aura surrounding her. The filly had descended to the floor of the room and stood in the center.

Vinyl stood slowly with the blue aura still surrounding her. Raincloud gasped when she saw Vinyl’s eyes, which had gone completely white in the same manner that Octavia’s did when she had a vision. She turned to face the filly. “Nice to meet you, Elian,” The voice that came out of Vinyl’s body wasn’t Vinyl’s. It spoke with authority, but with a certain curiosity to it. The pitch and tonality was the same as Vinyl’s but it was very clearly not her speaking. “Or would you rather that I call you Kali. I am speaking to the destroyer of time, right?”

Author's Notes:

Please don't rage-quit this story because of the turn it's taken. Just ride it out for one more chapter and then you'll see I'm not insane. I don't even know it this actually seems to be a bad path to take in the story but if it does seem that way then just know that I have a plan.

Request: Comments. I don't know how good of a writer I am and I don't think I'm very good. Basically it'd be cool if you could either confirm or deny that suspicion. Please, feel free to give me advice or to point out any grammatical or spelling errors to me if you find them.

Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time,

<3 Shae

Chapter III: Tears

Present Day

The filly stared at Vinyl’s now pure white eyes. The look she had resembled the look of a small foal trying to figure out what a large word meant. “Who are you?” She rasped.

“I have no name or form,” The voice boomed from Vinyl. “I have no existence. I simply show truth.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Raincloud said. “But why are you inside of Vinyl?”

“Octavia was chosen years ago,” The voice said. “She has a connection with Vinyl, allowing me to jump to her.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Raincloud said flatly.

“Something is wrong in this place, I am simply fixing it,” The voice explained. The aura around Vinyl’s body grew brighter. “Kali, leave that body immediately.”

“Now why would I do that?” The filly asked. “It seems to me that you’re just making empty threats.”

The voice coming from Vinyl let out a strange chuckle. “You and I both know that isn’t true. I’ve neither made threats nor would any such threats be empty. Think about it, I know your name. No one in this universe knows that information. I recommend you leave before things get nasty.”

The filly started backing away and her eyes grew wider. “Who are you?” She shouted. “Tell me who you are!”

Vinyl’s head shook. “I’ve already told you,” The voice said. “Now, leave.”

The filly let out a short scream. “I promise you that this land and all its inhabitants will burn at my hand.”

“That promise has already been made, and it won’t be kept if I have a say in the matter,” The voice from Vinyl said. The filly closed her eyes and raised her head to the sky. There was flash as the aura around her disappeared and she collapsed. Vinyl’s body turned to Raincloud. “Any questions?” The voice asked.

Raincloud stared for a moment. “What the hell just happened?” She finally settled on.

Vinyl’s head bowed. “That was Kali, an alicorn from Limbo. She possessed that filly over there and tried to kill you all. I stopped her,” The voice explained.

“Where is Limbo?” Raincloud asked.

“Don’t you read at all? It’s exactly as it’s described in books; a place in between,” The voice said matter-of-factly.

“In between what, exactly?” Raincloud asked.

“Everything. Worlds, dimensions, times, life and death, and everything else. If two things are separated then Limbo is between them. It doesn’t have any sort of form which is why anypony that is born in Limbo and escapes is capable of possessing ponies with form,” the voice said.

Raincloud sat down on the ground and ran a hoof through her mane. This is a lot to take in,” She said softly.

“I have to go, now,” The voice said. “Back into the depths of Octavia’s mind. I’m sorry, by the way.”

“Sorry for what?” Raincloud asked. “You saved us.”

“I’m sorry because you’re involved with me now. There isn’t any escape from that,” The voice said solemnly. “I’ll be back, eventually. Enjoy the time you’ve got while you’ve got it.”

Vinyl collapsed suddenly and the aura left her. Raincloud stayed where she was, sitting in the rain as a strange peace settled over her.

* * *

One Week Later

Vinyl walked into the foyer of what used to be Erik Equineson’s house. She joined Luna, Celestia, Raincloud, and Octavia at a table that had been set up. “Where do we start?”

“I think we start by decided the fate of the filly that killed thousands of innocent ponies,” Celestia said flatly.

“I’ve already told you that it wasn’t her,” Raincloud stared right into the princess’ eyes.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that she was possessed by an alicorn from an alternate dimension when even you admit that whatever told you doesn’t exist?” Celestia stared back.

“I was just quoting whatever it was. It clearly spoke to me and it was clearly there so I don’t know what it meant. Look, is it really outside the realm of possibility that my story is true?”

“No, it isn’t,” Luna answered for her sister. “I know I was in and out of consciousness after Octavia fell into me but something strange happened in that tower, sister.”

“We did tests on the filly—“ Celestia started speaking but was interrupted by Raincloud.

“Her name is Elian, that much I’m pretty sure of.”

“Well I’m glad you’re ‘pretty sure’,” Celestia retorted. “We did test’s on Elian and she showed signs of Antisocial Personality Disorder. She’s a danger to our society.”

“I think a recent possession by something from another dimension could probably skew the test results a bit,” Vinyl cut in. “If you’re so adamant against her joining society why don’t we just take a vote?”

Celestia shrugged. “Why not? Those in favor of keeping her at a mental hospital in Canterlot and continuing study on her, raise your hoof. Celestia was the only one to do so.

“Those in favor of letting the poor filly rejoin society,” Octavia was already smiling slightly. Celestia relented before the votes were even cast.

“What do we do with her, then? Put her in a foster home?” Luna asked.

Vinyl shuddered. “I don’t think so. I’ve seen enough crime shows to be adamantly against that idea.”

“Well what do we do then, Vinyl?” Raincloud asked, reaching to take a drink of water from her glass.

Vinyl thought a moment and then smiled. “Octy and I could take her!” She said excitedly and turned to Octavia. “We could, right? We have plenty of room at our house.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Octavia said.

“I do,” Celestia said. “Which one of you two would take custody of her?”

“What do you mean?” Vinyl asked.

“Joint custody isn’t allowed in an adoption under Equestrian law, as you two aren’t married,” Luna explained.

Octavia and Vinyl looked at each other a moment. “That’s just a coincidence, right?” Octavia asked.

“You know as well as I do that neither of us believes in coincidence,”

Vinyl responded. She turned back to Luna. “We were gonna wait to tell anypony, but I proposed yesterday.”

Raincloud did a spit-take. “What the hell? Isn’t that moving a bit fast, Vinyl?”

“We’ve been dating since high school,” Octavia said.

“No offense, Octavia, but you were under the influence of a group of psychopaths for all of that but the last six months,” Raincloud responded.

“And I’ve loved her every moment, whether she’s been crazy or not,” Vinyl put a hoof around Octavia.

“Alright, as soon as you get all of the paper work in order we’ll sign Elian over to you,” Luna said, stopping Raincloud from speaking her mind any further. “If there’s anything we need to go over with you three we’ll contact you.”

Vinyl and Octavia gave looks of appreciation to the princess and took their leave. Raincloud followed soon after. The two princesses stayed to talk for many more hours.

* * *

There were very few who weren’t happy about the wedding of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch. There was no media present, but word traveled that it was beautiful in its simplicity. The few who were against the marriage of the two mares were drowned out by the overwhelming joy for Octavia, whose life had appeared so tragic not even a year before.

There was more joy when the public learned of their adoption of a young pegasus. A few questioned if an earth pony and a unicorn could provide for a pegasus, but they never would truly know. The family remained private in their home north of Ponyville. Octavia continued to perform at solo concerts and Vinyl at clubs. There were very few who didn’t know who they were.

There was gossip, talk of secret affairs and divorce, neither of which could ever happen, but for all the ponies of Equestria thought they knew, they had almost no knowledge of Octavia or Vinyl Scratch. They never knew what pain they had suffered or the sacrifices they had made. It was best that way.

* * *

Octavia and Vinyl’s Home

The Night after Their Wedding

Octavia walked slowly in the moonlight toward the room of the pegasus she could new call her daughter. As she drew nearer she heard crying. After a moment of hesitation she rushed forward and opened the door into the room. “Elian, are you alright?” Octavia asked.

The filly was lying in her bed with a hoof over her eyes. She moved the hoof away slowly. “That isn’t my name,” she said softly.

Octavia walked over to the edge of the bed. “What do you mean, darling?” She wiped a tear from her daughter’s cheek.

“It doesn’t feel right,” she replied. The filly took in a deep breath. “I can remember, from long ago. I’m not even sure if its real, but I can feel it. I remember hearing a story when I was younger, I can recall it word for word, but I couldn’t until just now.”

“What was the story?” Octavia climbed into the bed and sat with her daughter in the moonlight.

“There was once a village on the plains, far south of Canterlot," the filly began. Her voice was distant, and it almost didn't even seem to be hers. "There were very few who lived there, and only one foal. No matter what the villagers tried, the foal was never happy. As she grew, she became more conscious of her undying sadness but never shed a tear. One day a storm came along, and the village burned from lightning. Everypony died except for the filly, who lived in the last remaining house, upon a hillside. What remained of the village was washed away by torrents of rain, into the seas.

“There she lived, for days, in sadness. Weeks later, an old man came to visit her. He told her the fate of the parents who had left her at the village. They too, had been washed away into the seas as they came to reclaim her as their own. Sadness consumed her and she prepared to die of her own volition, but the skies had another idea. The storms came again, and the fires took her and her home as they had her village. She joined the skies and took upon herself the sadness of everypony that would ever live, so that they could be happy, and when it rained, the skies wept for her, the filly Skylla.”

The two waited in silence for words to come. “I don’t know if it’s important,” the filly said. “I just remembered it all of a sudden and it made me emotional.”

“Of course it’s important,” Octavia responded. “Everything is important. Some even say that we’re entirely the sum of our memories and our experiences. What do you think it means?”

“What if I am that filly? You said that when I got angry, before you stopped me, it was raining and there was thunder and lightning.”

“If you are the filly from the story then know that you don’t have to be sad any longer,” Octavia reached forward and hugged her daughter. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After a moment Octavia stood and closed the curtains. She left the room, closing the door behind her to allow her daughter to rest. The filly waited until the footsteps faded away and then walked to the window. She looked out on the landscape below her. “Maybe sadness is just my fate,” she mused. She returned to her bed and closed her eyes to sleep.

There was once a filly who took on the sadness of millions of ponies who had lived, so that they could rest in peace and the sadness of the billions yet to live, so that they could live in happiness and prosperity. The sky and the filly became forever intertwined in their fates, forever feeling the pain of all.

Then one day, fate was cheated. The filly looked for revenge, but was stopped short by the only thing in all the universes that could save her: love. So with the love of her family she lived on, ready to once again return to her role in history, when the time was right.

Chatper IV: The Long Game

Disclaimer: Knowledge of Doctor Who may be required to fully enjoy this chapter. This will be the only chapter like this, however. If you follow this story, please read the Author's Notes at the end of the chapter even if you aren't interested in the events during this chapter.

Present Day

It could be said that there was very little in the universe that The Doctor didn’t understand. That was the exact reason he was confused at the moment, he was no longer in his universe. With a loud bang the familiar sound had contorted into a strange, almost painful sounding screech. The floor shook beneath The Doctor’s feet and he collapsed in a tangle of limbs and unconsciousness.

***

Octavia gracefully danced to the door in time with the sweet sounds of the Equestrian String Quintet. She wasn’t used to having visitors on a Sunday but was happy to have company any day of the week. Vinyl was out with Skylla and Rainbow Dash at a performance by the Wonderbolts and Raincloud had locked herself in the library to study particle physics for the afternoon.

She opened the doors to a stallion standing awkwardly, covered in an ash of some sort. She closed her eyes for a moment as she realized that she was once again in for an adventure. Six months hadn’t been enough of a break. When she opened her eyes she saw a shocked look on the face of the stallion, as though he had seen a ghost. “Are you alright?” She asked politely.

The stallion’s eyes somehow grew wider. “A talking equine?” Where the words he finally settled on. “But that’s impossible; in all of my travels I’ve never once heard of talking horses!”

Octavia returned the look he had been giving her. “What are you talking about? What the hay is a horse and what grown pony wouldn’t be able to talk?”

“This is amazing!” He exclaimed. “You are amazing!” He reached forward and attempted to take hold of her in some sort of strange embrace but then stopped when his eyes settled on his hooves. His jaw nearly fell to the floor. “I have hooves. How do I have hooves? Time Lords don’t have hooves!”

Octavia once again closed her eyes and breathed deeply. It was going to be a long day. She motioned for the confused stallion to follow and began walking toward the bathroom. He followed closely, albeit clumsily. “Let’s start at the beginning,” Octavia began, tossing the stallion a towel to clean the ash off of him. “Do you remember your name?”

He fumbled with the towel in his hooves, trying to grip it somehow. “You can just call me The Doctor,” he replied, finally managing to begin wiping his face off.

“So you don’t remember your name,” Octavia said. “If you’re a doctor then it should be fairly easy to narrow down, though.”

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t remember your name’,” The stallion dropped the towel on the floor and stared at it for a moment. He looked up with a slight grin. “Just call me ’The Doctor’.”

“Alright, Doctor,” Octavia reached down and tossed the towel back up to him. “What did you mean by ‘Time Lords don’t have hooves’? What is a Time Lord?”

“Time Lords are my people,” The Doctor said matter-of-factly.

“What is a ‘people’?” Octavia asked.

“Oh, right, you’re ponies,” The Doctor said thoughtfully. “You probably don’t use that term, do you?” He thought for another moment and then seemed to reach a decision. “Have your peo— err, ponies, ever travelled into space?”

Octavia breathed deeply once more. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go make a call to the police and they should probably be able to help you.”

“So you have police!” The Doctor said excitedly. “Now we’re getting somewhere. I suppose asking one silly pony about her world is a poor way to gauge a culture. Did you happen to see a blue box fall from the sky around here?”

Octavia ran a hoof through her mane and rolled her eyes. “Maybe I should get Raincloud to take you to the mental hospital in Canterlot, instead.”

“I need to get back to my TARDIS. Now where did I put that screwdriver?” He patted his torso on both sides and then let out a short laugh. “Oh, right. I suppose I don’t have any pockets. I should probably finish getting cleaned off, too. Would you mind leaving me for a moment, miss— ahem, I’m sorry; I didn’t catch your name.”

Octavia rolled her eyes once again. “You can call me Octavia, I suppose.”

“Right; would you mind giving me a moment of privacy miss Octavia?” The Doctor asked.

Octavia turned and trotted out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She took a few more steps and then listened. “Talking equines!” She heard the rather strange stallion exclaim. She could help but smile as she began walking toward the library. She had learned in the past that it was best to tell Raincloud when they had company. She was certain that they would never live down the time Raincloud had hit the Element of Honesty over the head with a frying pan. Then again, she honestly shouldn’t have showed up unannounced.

When Octavia entered the library she found a dozen or so books scattered throughout the room. Raincloud, however, was nowhere to be found. Octavia picked up a book titled The Possibilities of the Universe: What Theoretical Physics Can Do for You. The book had been resting with a page already opened. Octavia couldn’t help but laugh at the ideas on the page. The idea of massive machines travelling through the air was one thing but it was ridiculous to think they could travel through time as well.

She set the book down and walked over to the open window. It looked out upon a small forest, but in the distance something wasn’t right. Smoke was rising from an area that appeared to be missing trees. Octavia tried to shake off the thoughts that flooded her mind, but she knew that Raincloud was over there. Another thought entered her mind as well; the book mentioned flying machines and The Doctor had mentioned a blue box falling from the sky. That thought was a bit easier to push out of her mind. She hurried back to The Doctor who had just managed to get the door open.

The ash was gone and she could now tell that his coat was a light amber color. Three thoughts flashed through her mind: The book’s mention of time travel, the "lords of time" the doctor had mentioned, and The Doctor’s hourglass cutie mark. “You’re a time traveler,” the words slipped out Octavia’s mouth before she could stop them and she immediately kicked herself mentally afterward.

The Doctor’s face lit up. “Now you get it! You know, you actually kind of have a humanness about you, although you probably don’t have humans here,” He said and started walking toward the stairs.

“Lyra would disagree,” Octavia mused. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. There’s smoke out in the forest and I think my idiot niece is out there right now.”

“Oh, that sounds like an adventure,” The Doctor clapped his hooves together excitedly and then looked down at them as though he hadn’t meant to. His mischievous gaze returned to Octavia. “I love a good adventure, so I’ll come too.”

Octavia shrugged and motioned for him to follow. She hadn’t known this pony long and hardly knew anything about him, but she could tell that there was no hope of convincing him to stay behind. She led The Doctor down the stairs and out the back exit. The doorway opened up into a small courtyard which then had a cobblestone pathway leading into the forest, and ultimately a small, unused well. She galloped off of the pathway deeper into the forest, looking back occasionally to make sure her new companion could keep pace. The Doctor himself seemed surprised at how quickly he had managed to get his bearings.

The two ponies drew nearer to the smoke and soon seemed to be just a hop, skip, and a jump away. The smoke seemed to be fading and it didn’t have any scent to it. There was no fire that was visible, yet. Octavia slowed as she neared the clearing. She peered around one last tree to see Raincloud circling the source of the smoke, a blue box embedded slightly in a crater in the ground. The Doctor trotted forward excitedly. “I told you there was a blue box!”

Raincloud spun around and lowered herself into an aggressive stance. “Stand back!” She said in a commanding tone. “I don’t know what this thing does; it might be dangerous.”

The Doctor chuckled. “She isn’t dangerous! At least, I don’t think she is. She’s my TARDIS!” The Doctor walked up to the box and put a hoof on the panel. He turned to Raincloud and almost jumped. “You have wings! There are ponies with wings!”

Octavia knew it was time to intervene before he said something that would upset Raincloud. “Yes, Doctor, there are pegasi here,” she interjected. “Calm down, Raincloud. I think he knows what he’s doing.”

Raincloud eyed the stallion and then stood up taller. “So what is a TARDIS, then, Doctor?” She spoke the last word with more sarcasm than was necessary. She wasn’t much a fan of ponies that had medical degrees.

The Doctor continued looking over the box. “It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.”

Raincloud’s eyes grew wide and she developed a massive grin that showed just how happy she was. “You have a time machine?” She asked, almost bouncing up a down. “It isn’t very big, but still, you have a time machine!”

The Doctor moved to the door and managed to get it open. He motioned for Raincloud and Octavia to follow him in. The two mares took their first steps into the TARDIS and looked around. “It’s bigger on the inside,” Octavia said, sounding as if she had expected it.

The Doctor smiled. “Oh yes it is,” He said, walking around a console in the center of the room, flicking switches and twisting knobs. “I think I’ve worked out what’s going on.”

“What do you mean, ‘what`s going on’?” Raincloud asked, continuing to examine the strange space they had entered.

The Doctor continued working at his console. “I don’t think I’m in my own uni—“ He was interrupted by a loud, metallic groan and the lights dimming. The Doctor looked at Octavia, who had a faint white glow around her. He walked over to her and began to examine her closely. “Oh my, the TARDIS is afraid. That makes no sense; we’ve been to the beginning and end of the universe and she’s never been afraid of anything. It makes even less sense that she’d be afraid of you.”

Octavia looked around frantically. “What’s going on? Did you do something to me?”

“No, it wasn’t me,” The Doctor said softly. “It was something else; something inside of you. I don’t even know what it is, but it’s so evil that I can almost taste it. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Octavia.” He out a hoof around her and hugged her awkwardly. Suddenly he turned and almost leaped back to the device at the center of the room. “That’s it! How did I not realize it sooner, though?”

Octavia stared straight ahead with an uncomfortable look on her face; she had never much liked being embraced by stallions. Raincloud watched her for a moment and then decided to ask the obvious question for her. “What did you not realize sooner?”

“Any crash that would cause the TARDIS to breach the ground as far as it did, I'm estimating about three centimeters, would have to have immense force behind it. Basically the gravitational force that pulled it in would have to surpass anything physically possible in my own universe. Now, I was once travelling through my own universe and the TARDIS was pulled into a planet with massive force, causing it to indent the ground by about one millimeter,” The Doctor rotated around the console, checking screens and flipping switches. “The TARDIS redirected power to the point of impact to avoid damage. The power was drained by about ten percent.” A ding came from one of the monitors and readings came up on the screen.

“This is amazing!” The Doctor said excitedly. “According to these calculations the TARDIS should have been reduced to zero power.”

“Why are you acting like that’s a good thing?” Octavia asked, shaking her head as if coming out of a daze.

“The TARDIS draws energy from the universe,” The Doctor explained. “It absorbed energy from your world, and the particles it absorbed are multiplying. The energy my TARDIS absorbed from your world has filled every available space in here with an infinite source of energy.

“That’s good, right?” Octavia asked sheepishly.

“I’ll put it this way,” The Doctor said. “I’m eighteen thousand, three hundred and nineteen years old and have explored every nook and cranny of space and time and I have never seen anything quite like this.”

Octavia decided to not even question the age he had given. “So what are you going to do now that you have your time machine back?”

“Think about it,” The Doctor said. “There is so much I could do here, so much untapped potential. My TARDIS can’t even plot a course to head forward in time, which has never happened before, even at the end of time itself I’ve been able to travel forward.”

“You’re an alien, so are you going to probe us,” Raincloud asked. The Doctor looked confused. “I mean, Octy might not like it but you can probe me if you want.”

“You don’t have to pay attention to her,” Octavia said flatly. "Please continue."

The Doctor was about to respond when a series of alarms erupted around them. The Doctor ran to a screen and his eyes grew wide. “Oh dear, this is not good.”

It’s about time something went wrong, Octavia thought. “What’s going on, Doctor?”

The stallion looked down sorrowfully. He breathed deeply and then turned to face the two mares with him. “I don’t know how much you know about the sun and the processes that go along with it, but it’s basically about to explode.”

Raincloud and Octavia looked at each other for a moment. Octavia started giggling and Raincloud soon joined her in a ridiculous amount of laughter. The Doctor looked on in shock. “What’s so funny? You’re all going to die if we don’t do something!”

Octavia looked at him as she took control of the fit of laughter. “You aren’t kidding,” She said flatly. The Doctor shook his head, still very clearly in shock. “That’s impossible. Princess Celestia controls the sun; she makes it rise in the morning and fall at night and when she had her mind controlled by an evil cult she melted an entire city with a beam of focused heat from it, I think if the sun was exploding she would stop it.”

“You have a princess that raises the sun?” The Doctor asked. “That doesn’t make any sense. Let’s just go take a look outside.” He walked through the door and stood outside, staring up at the sky. Octavia and Raincloud followed and looked up.

“See, there’s nothing to—“ Octavia began, but stopped midsentence as her mouth fell wide open with shock.

“Sweet Celestia, what the hell is going on?” Raincloud’s eyes were wide. In the center of the sky, in place of the sun, was what could essentially be described as a ring of fire, slowly spreading across toward the horizon.

“That,” The Doctor said, turning to them. “That is your sun exploding and dispersing flaming molecules throughout space. I think it’s time we go see this princess of yours.”

* * *

Canterlot Castle, Central Courtyard, Present Day

It took seconds for the Courtyard to be filled with guards; a strange noise and a materializing blue box certainly drew attention. A murmur traveled throughout the dozens that had arrived. One guard slowly crept forward, against the advice of his fellows. He reached out slowly with a hoof and pressed it against a panel. His head cocked and he tapped on the box twice more. “It’s made of wood!” He proclaimed.

One of the sides began to open and the guard ran back to join the ranks. The Doctor pranced out of the box and looked around. The captain of the guard walked forward and his horn began glowing. “Identify yourself or we will take you into custody,” He said in a distinct gravelly voice.

“Hey!” Octavia shouted, walking out of the TARDIS. “You get away from him and get out of our way, right this second.”

“Identify yourself,” The captain repeated.

“We are personal friends of the princesses,” Octavia stared angrily into his eyes.

“I don’t recognize you,” The captain responded. “Seize them!”

Octavia advanced on the captain and he backed down quickly. The other guards jumped to attention and prepared to intervene. “You mean to tell me that the princesses have never mentioned Octavia Philharmonica Scratch even once?”

The captain’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, you’re the Octavia?”

“Of course I am, haven’t you seen a newspaper in the last two years?” Octavia continued advancing on the captain’s position, forcing him to back up further. “Now, in case you haven’t noticed, a massive ring of fire has replaced the sun. The Doctor, Raincloud, and I are going to see the princess now.”

“We might want to hurry, too,” The Doctor cut in. “We have about five minutes until this planet is engulfed in flames.”

The captain stared for a moment and then nodded. He motioned for them to follow and they ran quickly through the castle. As Octavia entered Celestia’s room with The Doctor and Raincloud she hardly expected the princess to even be there. That was far from the truth, however. Celestia stood right in front of them as if she’d been waiting for them. “Hello, Doctor,” She began. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“How is it that you could possibly be expecting me if I’ve been in this world for just a few minutes?” The Doctor stepped right up to her and look her in the eye.

“You told me you would be coming, but that you wouldn’t know it yet,” The princess said as though it were something that anypony would say in any conversation. “You said you had to go back two hours, travel to the sun, and trigger a trans-dimensional burst of artron energy above somewhere called Earth in the year eighteen fifty-nine.”

The Doctor thought for a moment. “Did I give you an exact date?”

“No, you seemed to be in quite the hurry and didn’t say much, and you sounded slightly different too, probably adrenaline,” Celestia answered. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what’s going on, will you?”

“I’ll tell you some other time,” The Doctor said, turning around and running back to the courtyard. Octavia and Raincloud gave chase and followed him into the TARDIS. He checked a monitor. “I better not be wrong about this, we won’t get a second chance.”

“What are you talking about, Doctor?” Raincloud asked, closing the door behind them.

“At first I was confused,” The Doctor admitted. “Any sort of trans-dimensional transmittance of energy would require a ridiculous amount of power to complete. Artron energy in particular would be difficult to send through. Then I realized, I have infinite power now.”

The Doctor quickly flipped various switches and the TARDIS began its trip back in time. Raincloud and Octavia stood back and watched as he worked at the console. It was impressive how quickly he’d adapted to his pony body. After a moment there was a loud, echoing thud and the lights dimmed for a second. “All done!” The doctor proclaimed.

“All done with what?” Octavia asked.

“I think I just caused my coming here in the first place,” The Doctor said.

“Wait a second,” Raincloud said. “Your future self told the present you to bring your past self here?”

“Yeah,” The Doctor said. “Time is all wibbly-wobbly like that.”

Octavia laughed. “There’s a pony in Ponyville who said something exactly like that once.” Octavia’s gaze snapped to The Doctor in shock. “You look exactly like him, too. How did I not notice that?”

The Doctor thought quickly. “Okay, I’m about to do something incredibly stupid,” He said, once again going to work on his console. “There are three possible outcomes: One, the pony we’re going to visit isn’t me, two, I’m about to break reality, or three, my future self and I are going to stop the sun from exploding.”

“That sounds incredibly dangerous,” Octavia said.

“It is!” The Doctor exclaimed, almost proudly, shoving a lever forward.

The TARDIS landed after a minute and The Doctor walked to the door. He pulled the door open and his mouth dropped open. “What happened?” He asked in horror.

Octavia and Raincloud tried to look around him but couldn’t see through the small opening. “A thousand years I had to wait,” A rough, but strangely familiar voice came from outside.

The Doctor’s head hung low as he spoke. “Tell me what happened.”

“I thought I had better timing than this,” The voice continued as though it hadn’t been addressed. “There isn’t time for questions. We’re taking the TARDIS and we’re going to go back kill ourself before we can bring us here in the first place.”

“I can’t do that,” The Doctor said. “I have two travelers with me.”

“You know as well as I do that they would never have been here if we hadn't come to this world,” The voice was getting impatient. “We stop ourself from the past and they go back to their mediocre lives, keep their sun, and never remember this having happened.”

The Doctor breathed heavily and thought a moment. Finally, he nodded. “Alright, let’s do it.” The Doctor turned to Octavia and Raincloud. “You two need to leave the TARDIS and wait here. Don’t panic, everything will be fine.”

The two mares looked at him, confused, and started toward the door. It swung open quickly and a new stallion walked into the TARDIS, up to the console. As Octavia and Raincloud stood outside the TARDIS in a barren, scorched landscape they could help but stare. There, in the TARDIS, were two Doctors, one appearing slightly older but still recognizable as The Doctor. The younger Doctor closed the door and the TARDIS began disappearing into thin air.

Raincloud began looking around while Octavia continued watching the spot where the blue box had been. As Octavia began to close her eyes she heard a scream from behind her. She spun around quickly to see Raincloud being chased by an indescribably horrific creature with large fangs already coated with blood. Raincloud didn’t stand a chance; the creature was far too quick. Octavia could do nothing and watched in terror as the creature sunk it’s fangs deep into Raincloud’s now limp body.

* * *

Octavia awoke with a start, breathing quickly. She looked around; she was in the bedroom she shared with Vinyl. She began to sit up but she suddenly became very light headed and fell back into the comfort of her mattress. A gentle knock came from the door and Raincloud. “Hey Tavi, dinner is ready. Vinyl tried something out that she’s really excited for us to try and it smells delicious.”

Octavia stared at the pegasus. “You’re alright,” She said, her breathing finally returning to normal.

“Of course I am,” Raincloud said. She walked over and sat down next to Octavia. “You clearly aren’t; what’s up?”

“I had a dream,” Octavia said. “It just seemed so real, so visceral.”

Raincloud looked down. “It was about The Doctor wasn’t it?”

“You remember?” Octavia turned to her in shock.

“I remember being killed,” Raincloud said softly. “I woke up the same way a couple of hours ago. I should have known it wasn’t a dream. How do we remember? We aren’t supposed to remember!”

“It never happened,” Octavia mused. The two mares sat in silence for a moment. “I feel like I could bring him back if I wanted.”

“Maybe you should try,” Raincloud said half-jokingly. “He loved this world and with everything that’s happened to us we could use somepony like him.”

“It would be too cruel,” Octavia said, standing and starting toward the door. “I could tell, no matter how much he loved this world there was something holding him back. I can’t just tear him away from that.”

“Maybe he’ll be back one day,” Raincloud said, joining her. “We can’t dwell on that, though. Why don’t we go get some of Vinyl’s dinner and then drown ourselves in monotony to try and forget that we ever met him?”

Octavia smiled and nodded and the two walked downstairs together.

Author's Notes:

I'm not gonna waste any time here. Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, but I've already got chapter 5 in the works. This chapter uses elements from the series Doctor Who so if anything is confusing for those of you who haven't seen it, I'm sorry for that as well. Chapter 5 should come out some time soon.

On another note, I'm looking for a pre-reader. I'd like someone who's already been reading this story and who has also read Three Years Gone. If you have experience in pre- reading and are interested shoot me a PM!

Until Next Time,

<3 Shae