Chapters "In, out, in, out." A faint breathing noise accompanied by these two words could be heard softly through a cracked door. This noise came from a dulled purple form, cowering in the room. She was shaking, and had a crazy look in her eye. Her mane was frazzled and her coat had turned an unusual pale.
"This is impossible. It's a dream. It has to be! "Any minute now she would open her eyes to find herself in her bed and Spike cooking pancakes as usual. At the same time though, part of her knew this was real. The Doctor had proven this by knowing so much about the weeping angels. It also explained why they had needed the Doctor and Colgate’s house. But even if it was true, it didn't mean she had to accept it.
"Okay Colgate, now that this is done, where would you like to go? Or if you need to we could sit down and talk about what you saw. I understand that it can be overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it. From now on you can look into the time vortex every day if you want." Twilight could hear the stallion murmuring to his niece in the other room.
She didn't know what they would do with her once she was found. All she had to do was get to the door. After that she could get out of the ever free forest and get home. But they wouldn't leave. It had already been almost an hour of them talking about going places and messing with their wacky house. She just couldn’t wait to get out of that place.
As soon as she heard a door open and close and everything getting quiet, she was out. This place was scary. It had a room bigger inside than the box outside; which must use a lot of magic. More than princess celestial.
Twilight didn't want to take the chance of encountering it. She slowly opened the door. The closet she had taken refuge in was cramped, so it was a challenge to be quiet coming out with cramped legs. After tripping a few times, she managed to get to the front room. As she suspected, no pony was to be seen.
Her breath quietly echoed through the room.
If Twilight had had time to look around, she would have seen the many odd looking levers, spinners, and other gizmos covering the center panel. She would have also noticed the faint buzzing noise that hinted that the 'house' was living.
"Almost there...” she thought to herself. The door was a few feet away. Then she was there. Relief filled her, only to be replaced by terror as she opened the door.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" Twilight screamed, falling back to the floor.
"What the." a brown stallion galloped down the stairs and into the front room. He came to a stop in front of the unicorn.
"No. No. No. You stupid equine." he looked down at her, not angry but very frustrated.
"Come with me Twilight Sparkle. We have much to discuss."
How could she have been so stupid?!? He should have listened to Colgate when she said she thought they had been followed. Now it was too late. Twilight had come into the TARDIS. She knew their secret, or at least something somewhat like it. Although he was unhappy about this, he was also curious to what she thought. Showing people the TARDIS and telling them about who he really is always brought a look. The look on their faces usually showed the Doctor their personalities and where always funny to watch. He hoped it wouldn't be any different with Twilight.
"What the hell is this place?!? Who but Celestial herself has enough power to make the room inside bigger, and were did that door lead to? I opened it but it was so scary. That was not the cave in the ever free forest, was it?" questions streamed out of the unicorns mouth as soon as she had been seated down in a chair. The Doctor answered the questions as he ran around trying to land the TARDIS back in Equestria.
"This is the TARDIS. It is a living thing so nobody powers it. That door led into the time vortex. Now it leads into Equestria. I just landed it."
"WHAT?!? You landed it? What's that mean? How can you land a flipping house?" Twilight backed her chair away a bit.
“It’s a ship. TARDIS stands for time and relative dimensions in space. That should give you a hint." he sighed as the purple unicorn collapsed in a faint onto the TARDIS floor. This must have been too much pressure on her mind. He carefully positioned her onto his back and took her to his bedroom. He laid her onto the bed and trotted out, closing the door.
"Is she okay uncle? What will you do with miss Twilight? Please don't punish her!" Colgate had come up beside him as he went back into the control room to check outside. It was always possible that he had gotten the TARDIS coordinates wrong.
"Calm down Colgate. I'm not going to harm or punish your magic teacher. I'll just drop her off in the cave and then well be off. She will probably just think she imagined the whole thing. That or we can keep her. It's always nice to...have...a.... WHAT?!?!?" he had opened the door, expecting a cave in the Everfree forest to be there. Instead he opened it to pink clouds and a large red pony. The pony had his tong lolling out of his mouth as he chased his tail. Chocolate milk poured from the clouds above them.
The Doctor and Colgate walked out into the rain. A town surrounded them. Houses floated in the air, day turned into night and back again constantly, black suited ninjas surrounded them, and bubbles covered the road. Surprisingly the only thing that unnerved the Doctor was the ninjas.
"Come with me. The shadow are rising." a tall pony with a horn had told this to them and began walking away.
"Was that?"
"Yep." Colgate and the Doctor stood there stunned. Slowly they were picked up by a deep purple magic, along with the TARDIS, and floated away with the ninjas.
"After our trip can we go to Princess Luna's castle? I can't wait to start my studies with her."
"I don't know Colgate. We’ll just have to see. Crazy things happen on my trips as you know. Before we go, promise me that you won't get hurt. Stay with me. Don't leave my side no matter what planet or solar system, or universe that we’re in."
"I promise uncle. You know I wouldn't leave you for anything. I love you." Twilight Sparkle heard this from a distance. The two had dropped her off at the library after the angel incident, and left abruptly. Every pony in town had been looking for her thanks to Spike. After they got there Twilight was going to invite the pair in for coffee, but they were nowhere to be found. Finally she had noticed them enter the Everfree forest.
What could they be doing in the most dangerous forest in Equestria? She had thought. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she had cautiously followed. Now she watched as the two entered a dark cave. She was about to jump out and warn them of the creatures that could be living in there when she heard a door open and close. The voices had gone and Twilight could no longer see Colgate or Clockwork. Her only obvious choice was to follow. The Forrest was faintly lit up by the moon, casting shadows through the cave. She slowly trotted in there but tripped over something.
"What the." she looked down at a small basket fit to hold a baby. She kept going deeper into the cave but saw no more oddities until she came upon it . A big, blue box. On the top it had the words police box on it. She walked around it. This couldn't be the thing Colgate and Clockwork went into. It was too small. Still it wouldn't hurt to take a peek. She pushed the already cracked door opened and took a few steps in. The door closed behind her.
"Eepppp!!!" a squeal of terror much like Fluttershy's sounded from the unicorn’s throat. The inside was huge. Not only that, but when she turned around to run out, she found the door was locked.
"I'll be right back Colgate. I think I left the door opened." Clockwork voice echoed to her ears. She had to hide. Some pony with something that used so much power had to be dangerous. She raced down a hallway and into a room. The lights where off but she could tell the room was empty. No one would think to look for her in here. Then she fell.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!" Twilights scream was lost in the air as she fell. This high up would kill her unless...water was at the bottom. And it was coming closer fast. Twilight closed her eyes and...
SPLASH! A purple unicorn in a black suit dumped water over Twilights head. Twilight woke and looked up with a gasp.
"Why do I look like myself when I lost my mind and traveled back in time?" Twilight looked up at a mirror image of herself. Only once her eyes cleared did she notice that she wasn't looking in a mirror.
"Okay. Who used the clone spell on me? It's not funny." she looked around to see who did it. She was in a room that seemed to be underground. There was high tech gear and computer stuff against the wall to her right, and in front of her stood her 'clone'. Behind it was Clockwork, Colgate, and the blue box. They were surrounded by ninja ponies. The first one to speak up was her clone. As she turned to Clockwork.
"I would like to know the same thing." Clockwork looked around nervously.
"We might have, sort of, kind of got stuck in a parallel world where the king of chaos, Discord, rules?"
They all sat around a table two hours later. (They would have done it sooner if Twilight hadn't fainted again) After a brief explanation on where they we are from and how they got there from the Doctor, parallel Twilight spoke up.
“Since there's two Twilights here you can call me by my code name Mage. Obviously this dimension is worse than yours. Here's a brief history. Thousands of years ago Princess Luna and princess Celestial ruled Equestria. Then Princess Luna was banished to the moon, much like your dimension. She was stuck there for a thousand years. When she came back she had found that Discord took over."
"He had killed our parents, stolen the crown, and took Celestia from Me." at the new voice everyone turned towards the door. There stood the princess of the night in much a condition like parallel Twilight. Her mane was cut short as was her tail. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises.
"Thank you Mage. I'll take it from here." everyone was silent as she continued.
"He had broken out of his prison. Celestial still hadn't passed down the elements of harmony and she couldn't control them without me. Discord easily overpowered her. He set the world in chaos again. Only the most powerful ones could counteract his magic. I was one. Twilight another. I soon found that my sister had been forced to marry Discord. He had changed her into her younger, less powerfully form. The same as a thousand years ago when I had last seen her. When I found this out I left. Since then I have raised a resistance to Discord. I have the new elements of harmony, the elements of night, alicorns, and the changelings on my Side so far. Every day it expands." she ended with a sigh. Stress coated her face.
"Where are they all? Who are the resistance?" Clockwork asked, seeming to read Twilights mind.
"Twilight, also known as Mage, is second in command next to me. Pinkamina Dian pie, code named joker, is Discords court jester acting a spy. Rainbow dash, or just dash has been overcome by Discords magic. As has Rarity. Fluttershy is in the Everfree forest raising and training the army. The element of honesty, god rest her soul, was locked in Tartarus by Discord.
She now battles monsters and demon’s. And those are just the elements of harmony. We still have millions more."
"What are the elements of night?" Colgate spoke up from her spot next to Clockwork.
"Do you not have them in your world? I created them to help fight Discord. Moon, stars, void, and space. Space holds the other three together like magic holds the others."
"Then why haven't you defeated him yet...” Twilight finally asked. This Luna had a huge army. She could easily overtake Discord, so why not do it? She looked down when Luna glared at her.
“He has my sister. He could torture her; kill her even with a flick of his finger. This is why we wait. She hasn't been allowed to leave that monsters side in so long. But she will soon. The Thousandth year of Discords rain is coming up. On this day he will leave his castle and go across the kingdom. Celestial will be left there. We know this thanks to joker. I plan to first take my sister and the castle. Then we wait there for Discord. When he enters the castle he will be assaulted by the elements of harmony and night. I will take my place beside my sister and the alicorns will rule again."
"Night shadow, Solar eclipse, Singing flower, and Cloud freezer. I would like you to meet the Doctor, Colgate, and Twilight sparkle."
Four jaws dropped open upon seeing an exact image of Twilight in front of them. The Doctor smiled in delight at their shock. No pony would have believed them so far if it wasn't for Twilight being there.
"Now that you've met some of my team, I would like to know if you’re on it. The attack night is in three days. If you don't agree we will confiscate your...box. And we will throw you in the dungeon. Now speak." Luna looked down at them. What they had learned about this resistance was dangerous to have. He didn’t mind helping them. It was for the greater cause.
"Sure. I'll help on one condition. You must promise not to harm Colgate or my Twilight in any way." he said this with obvious courage and force. He was not a foe that Luna, or anyone, would want to have.
“I promise but I am curious. Why not yourself? Are you not afraid for your own safety?" Luna gave him an unusual look. It wasn't everyday you would find a pony that cared for others safety over himself. The Doctor simply ignored the question.
"So let's go meet this Fluttershy."
"Oh Celestia darling. You’re just no fun. Why not smile? Here I'll fetch the Court jester. PINKIE!" Discord, king of chaos, held Celestia's hoof as he yelled for the court jester to come.
"Discord. I am not smiling because you don't allow me freedom. I’m also concerned for the citizens of Equestria. You’re not fit to rule." Celestia calmly replied. Her pink mane and tail where slightly down, not waving like it did in her former glory. She wore her dress from her first summer sun celebration. Also known as her wedding dress. Her head was down until she heard a beautiful laugh. The only thing that ever made her smile anymore.
"Hello Pinkamina. How are you?" The princess smiled happily, instantly cheering up. In front of them stood a bouncy pink pony. Her green eyes where a bit sad but everything else screamed happiness.
"Hello princes. I'm doing super duper." she bowed down to the princess, doing her best to ignore discord.
"Pinkie, dance." Discord said bluntly. The only reason he had this creature was to make the princess smile and give the resistance false information. So far she was doing both jobs perfectly. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Pinkie started dancing. It was his magic that made her do it. The princess didn't care, as long as she got to talk to her. The two mares got a conversation about coffee cake going. Discord was soooooo bored!
"Excuse me if you will lady's." he made a replica of himself and set it with the princess. It was magically enchanted so she couldn't move ten feet from it without getting tickled. Pretty harsh right? Discord walked out. His plan was definitely going nicely. As long as the resistance came he could crush them with his chaos. Turn them into chickens or something. He hoped it would make Celestia smile. Too bad all these ponies would die off. They usually only lived to eighty or so. Discord himself was a few thousand.
"And I'm already getting gray hairs in my coat. How dull" the king of chaos was an old man, last of the draquaniquises, just wanting some fun. And some pony to share it with. Celestia had always been right for him. Same age, beautiful. If only she wasn't so boring and gray. Just like his hairs. He walked through the castle garden. Statues lined the walk as it was in fact a statue garden. With living ponies as statues. It was an idea made by his first defeat with Celestia. The day he fell in love with her. Such good memories.
"*Bam*" discord spun around and transported himself back into the castle to find broken glass and a note. He'd been expecting this. He picked it up and took it to his quarters. There he sat on the desk and began to read.
Dear discord,
I need your help with taking care of a problem. He will show up on the morrow with the resistance at the attack. Capture him and his filly friend. Let the purple unicorn and Luna go. I care not what you do with the rest. In exactly one year after capture, give the brown one the necklace that came with this note. They can do the rest. If you don't you can imagine what I can do to you. Until then.
Sincerely, M
He was pushing his luck with Discord, but he did make a deal. This...creature had helped discord gain the throne. Now it was time to repay him.
"La la la la laaaaa. Hey! Keep marching, I did not tell you to stop!" Fluttershy sat in a clearing surrounded by almost five hundred animals, ponies, and other creatures. All of them marched in place. She was a fair commander but could be strict when an order was ignored.
"Hello general Fluttershy. I have some ponies for you to meet." she turned to see Princess Luna walking up followed by Twilight, and two other ponies.
"Twilight. You are supposed to have your suit on at all times. It wouldn't be good to get pulled into discords magic right before the attack..... Why are you staring at me like that?" Twilight had taken on a shocked expression which slightly disturbed Fluttershy. It was then she noticed that this was a different Twilight.
"IMPOSTER! Luna this is not Twilight!" Fluttershy warned standing to her full size, her horn glowing dangerously. The imposter was covered in the yellow magic. This Twilight didn’t have any scars, and was obviously not as talkative. When she was lifted up she didn't even struggle or protest.
"Fluttershy. Put our guests down." Luna said calmly.
"But...but princess! What happened to the real Twilight? What do you mean guest?" Fluttershy slowly set the 'guest' down.
"Twilight is fine. This is Twilight from a...um... Other...dimension." Fluttershy looked into Luna's face. She obviously didn't even believe it herself. She nodded acknowledgement that she would not hurt the new ponies.
“So Fluttershy, you’re the trainer for the soldiers?" the brown stallion spoke up. He had a messed up mane and tail full of spikes. His cutie mark was an hour glass. Very unusual.
"Yes, I do. As my cutie mark suggests, I work with wild animals. This includes training these wild ponies into soldiers...” Fluttershy trotted around, motioning for the ponies to follow. She would give them a quick tour of the training fields.
They came up to a variety of creatures marching in place in rows.
"This is the animal squadron. This consists of mostly larger animals. The smaller animals mostly act as spies." she continued to walk on to another group. This had ponies.
"This is our pony soldiers. It only has the strongest ponies in Equestria. By strong I mean magically strong. This is mostly unicorns and alicorns. It's also the smallest part of our team." next they went to a group of anything not pony or animal.
"These are the soldiers we collected from outside of Equestria. There are changelings, griffons, dryads, dragons, phoenixes, and a few others. Phoenixes are included due to their being smarter than the average animal. The larger dragons are used for transportation." They turned around and walked back. Fluttershy wasn't a very talkative pony, but she didn't mind showing off her troops. Soon they came back to where they started.
"That’s about it. Just a few hundred troops are here at the moment. There are more out working. The attacks just tomorrow after all." she shuddered with anticipation. If this failed because of her troops messing up, she would be kicked out of the resistance just like Rarity. She just wasn't ever fighting material. Poor girl.
"What are the soldiers trained to do?" Fluttershy looked down at the small blue filly. Her manes was blue and white streaked and her eyes where the same blue as the stallion. She noticed that her flank was blank. She was so cute and innocent.
"They'er trained to fight whatever the evil king discord throws at us. Be it chocolate milk rain, our own doubt, or even other ponies. They're trained to be heroes." Fluttershy watched the fully, surprised at the look she gave the brown stallion. He was obviously a hero in the eyes of the young filly. Of course he seemed not to notice. Just a typical stallion.
Fluttershy looked at the new Twilight who was supposedly from a parallel world. Her expression was still as stunned as when they had first seen each other.
"What’s wrong with you imposter?" Fluttershy still couldn't call her Twilight.
"Oh! No....nothing..! “This Twilight was obviously jittery.
“I believe it is time we left. There are a few more preparations for us to attend before tomorrow's success." Princess Luna turned towards the trail that led away from the secret training grounds. The others followed. The brown colt stood a moment longer before muttering to himself and trotting away. The blue filly walked beside him closely.
" WAIT! What are your names? You know mine is Fluttershy. What is yours?" she shouted to them and the colt turned around. He bowed to her.
"I am the Doctor, and this is Colgate. Pleased to meet you miss Fluttershy." and with that they were gone.
“But Doctor who?”
That was so weird. Not only did they have a Fluttershy in this new place, but she was so different! Her Fluttershy was cute, shy, peacefully, a Pegasus, and had a cutie mark with butterflies on it. This Fluttershy was still kind, but also strict, stiff emotion, and had a mark with two big cats fighting on it. Did she mention that this one was a unicorn??? Everything was wrong in this place. She wanted to go home. By now Spike would be worried sick. And her monthly planning list would be way off if they didn't get back soon.
She would have to reschedule her visit to Canterlot, and she might miss Spikes birthday. It was only in a few days. She would have to tell Clockwork that they had to go home this instant before she had to....
"I have told the princess that we will be staying. The fight is tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to watch a major event take place. It's not like well run out of time." Clockwork and Colgate laughed at this little joke. Twilight obviously didn't get it.
Time was definitely running out! They could die in that war tomorrow if they stayed. And what if something bad happened back in Ponyville? What if they needed the elements of harmony to same them and Twilight wasn't there?
"Don’t laugh! We need to leave so I can get home before Spike worries! Last time that happened princess Celestia had to come just to find that I had gone out for coffee! I can't let that happen again! We need to leave! Stop!" Colgate and Clockwork had just laughed harder.
"Clockwork! Stop it now!" Clockwork glared at her. It wasn't menacing, just warning.
"Don’t call me Clockwork. I am the Doctor. Not doc or Doctor Clockwork. Just, the Doctor." he looked away.
"But Doctor who?!" this colt was so stubborn.
"Exactly." he galloped up to Luna, leaving Twilight to absorb in this last remark.
"Don't think too badly of him. He's been through a lot you know." Colgate looked off as if she was recounting her uncle’s stories in her head.
"And what stuff would this be? He is just an average pony if not a bit more mysterious and crazy." Twilight huffed at how much these words fit him. She completely regretted following these two into that box.
"Twilight. There's something you should know. The thing is that he's not a regular pony. We are not regular ponies."
“What do you mean?" Twilight was confused at the small filly’s maturity and stress on the subject. What she was saying must be important. By now the two had stopped completely. Luna and the Doctor where up quite a ways but not too far. Colgate grabbed Twilights hoof with her blue magic and guided it over onto her chest. Twilight felt her heart beating.
"Feel." Colgate moved Twilights hoof over to the other side of her chest. Twilight stiffened. Under the filly’s soft blue fur, there was a beat. Not one, but two. She had two hearts. At this realization Twilight jumped back.
"What in Tartarus are you?" this filly standing in front of her, who shed known for her whole life, wasn’t a pony.
"We are aliens." There it was, the revelation that Twilights was seeking. This wasn't the answer that she had expected though.
"Our race is called the time lords. I and my uncle are the last ones. And he's really not my uncle. He found me when he got to Equestria. I was only a week old. He changed me. We still haven't found my real mother yet though. The only clue is her name. Trixie." Twilight gasped and pulled from the fillies grip. Then she turned and ran.
"No! Come back! “Colgate yelled behind her, but Twilight didn't listen. She ran thought the trees, trying to get away from these monsters. That was why Colgate looked all too familiar. This is why Twilight had never seen their home or family. This is why they had been drawn to by the weeping angels. They were dangerous. Twilight ran and ran until she made it to a large tree that went above all the rest. She cast a spell and went into the tree. Just moments later voices could be heard.
“I think she went this way."
“She couldn’t have gotten far. I'm so sorry uncle, but she needed to know. I thought she would take it lighter than this."
“No worries child. She needed to know, but still. You should have informed me before doing so."
"We don't have time for this. I will send soldiers out to find her. We must get back to the fort so we can be prepared for tomorrow." Luna's voice slowly faded away as they left. All was silent for a moment. Twilight broke down crying. She would never get back home. She would be stuck in this Celestia forsaken place forever. Life was never fair.
A tall figure left the castle. As soon as he was out of sight, a dark shape, hidden over a small hill, signals its companions with a wave. The attack had begun. After seeing the signal, two more went to the castle gates. They knocked out the guards with gas and continued on. The first one to signal them followed behind with two others. The moon was nowhere to be found.
They continued sneaking and knocking out guards throughout the castle. So far so good. The castle was dark. A faint whistling could be heard and two Pegasus flew in through the window. Black suits covered their frames. Now they were in the throne room. A light coated alicorns walked into the room followed by a pink earth pony. They seemed to be whispering to each other. They went up to the thrones unaware of the ones lurking in the shadows.
“I don't know what to do Pinkie. I believe that any attempt to escape will just cause more of Discords magic to escape. There's nothing I can do." the white alicorn with a pink mane and beautiful summer dress sighed sadly.
“But princess, there is a way." the pink pony raised a hoof for her comrades to emerge. And so they did.
"Luna!" she gasped as a black alicorn much like her emerged from the shadows.
"I am here to save you sister." night suddenly changed to day and the newly risen light danced through the window reviling many more ponies.
"Congratulations team. We have captured the castle." the dark alicorn smiled happily. The smile changed moments later.
"Ha ha ha ha. So you did, didn't you? This should be quite interesting."
Earlier...
"Report."
"She has yet to show herself. May I suggest you send out a unicorn to find her with a life detect spell?"
"Yes and thank you. Also send in Nightshade when you see him."
The dark stallion saluted and trotted off. Luna looked over to her two guests. A brown earth stallion and a blue filly sat together talking. Hopefully they wouldn't take the news to hard.
"Doctor, Colgate. I have news on Twilight. We found hoof tracks put have not seen her yet. I'm sending out unicorns now to find her. Do you need anything?" the stallion looked thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head. Luna went back to her paperwork and planning.
".zzzzz...wh...What? Where am I?" Twilight got up and stretched, nearly falling out of the tree.
Oh dear. Did I sleep there? I should get back. Colgate and clockworks were probably worried about her. The new realization of them being aliens wasn't sinking in properly. Colgate had to have been playing. Silly filly.
She levitated herself out of the tree, shaking the leaves out of her mane. Her back was sore from leaning into the tree.
"There you are! We have been looking for you for hours!" Twilight spun around at the voice. It was Nightshade, who she had met the other day.
"Hi nightshade." she walked past him towards the trail out of the forest like nothing unusual had happened.
"And why did you run away? Your friends are seriously worried about you." at the mention of 'her friends' Twilight stumbled a bit.
"Are you okay?" night shade asked worriedly. It seemed to him that Twilight may be in a state of shock. Disbelieving shock.
"Yes I'm fine. Colgate just played a little trick on me is all and I seem to have accidentally thought that it was real. I just overreacted is all? Did you know that that filly is a good actress? She had just seemed so serious. Not too long before she earns her cutie mark!" yep that mare was in shock. Whatever the filly had said must have been major. He noticed that now Twilight was beginning the frantic stage. This would only last a minute or so before the realization that what she heard was real stage set in. Then she would most likely faint.
"Oh no! What am I going to do!?! I'm stuck here with those monsters. I miss Spike, AND the library. I miss my friends. I even miss Rainbow's constant boasting. Waaaahhh!!! I wants go home! Wait. Okay, so if Colgate was right, then that box can take us back. It travels through time and space, so we can land back there less than a minute after we left. But then, why would I want to go with them? They are aliens after all. They lied to everyone. But they aren’t going to hurt me. I have alien friends. Isn't that hilarious!?!" then she fainted like shadow had predicted. He caught her and put her on his back with a grunt. She blabbered the strangest things.
Something about aliens? Whatever. Nothing they couldn't handle. He started to gallop towards the resistance cave.
Ten minutes till the attack.
(Continued from beginning paragraph.)
"So Luna. You thought you could overthrow me. Sorry but you got your date wrong. I was never actually going to leave my castle. I went around the back." a tall figure emerged into the room. He had a face of a pony, body of a snake, leg of a dragon and goat, dragon and Pegasus wings, and horns on his head.
"Discord! But Pinkie told us you would be gone." Luna stood stiff as a nail, anger covering her face at the site of her enemy. Celestia stood by in horror. It had been over a thousand years since she last saw her younger sister. Now she would be destroyed by her evil husband.
"I fed you false information of course. I'm sure you would have noticed how easy it was to get in. Now all of your resistance will be turned into farm animals! How delightfully." now the ponies started to panic. They shot their magic at discord in a frenzy to destroy him. He simply used a blocking spell.
"Elements of night! Attack!!!" Luna yelled, but was unable to be heard from her position. She looked around and gasped when she saw Colgate. The filly had snuck around discord in an attempt to attack him. Her horn started glowing just about the same time the Doctor saw her.
"COLGATE!!!" the Doctors yell quieted down the room. It also made discord aware of the little blue filly.
"Ha! A little filly is braver than any of you! She’s smart. Hmm." Discord looked Colgate over, who was now shivering in fright.
"You’re too young to work. You need a larger build. Maybe you can be the maid, or take care of Tia. One moment." Discords eyes glowed slightly and the air shimmered around Colgate.
As they watched, Colgate slowly began to transform. Her horn grew longer, her hips wider, and her legs taller. Her mane and tail slowly grew out as well. As she transformed the Doctor ran up to Discord, only to be picked up into the air.
"Let her go!" he shouted, his eyes burning with rage. For a moment, he and discord just stared at each other.
“Such hatred Doctor. Such terrible memories. How did you manage to kill them all without going mad? “Discord grinned evilly as he taunted the Doctor.
"I do not appreciate you reading my mind Discord." Discord only smiled more.
"Make it stop Doctor! It hurts!" Colgate screamed with a sudden jerk as she stopped growing and collapsed. Her body was now in her early twenties.
“It seems your ‘niece’ is now the right age for marriage. Too bad she'll never get to. No more other than you, and your much too old. Besides. What would River song say?"
"Get out of my head!!!" the Doctor had tears streaming down his face as discord drew up memories in his mind.
"I bet Luna doesn't even know. She deserves to see that you’re such a killer."
Luna looked on. What did he mean? She might as well ask. It's not like discord would let them leave.
“What does he mean?"
"Well precious Luna. The Doctor here is lonely. No pony to share life with. Do you want to know why? Because there's no more like him. He killed his whole family. His whole race. He's the oncoming storm, the Doctor, mighty warrior. But I caught you. I got you here. No leaving. I can do whatever I want. Actually, you seem so lonely, I know some pony who will appreciate your company." discords eyes glowed again and the Doctor disappeared.
This only left an unconscious Colgate, Celestia, Luna, and the rest of the resistance.
He turned towards Luna and she started glowing. Her legs grew shorter and feathers started to cover her body. Then she changed back.
"Run sister! I will take care of your blue friend. Now run!" Tia had rammed into discord with her magic. Already she was weakening. Luna ran off, some of her soldiers made it out with her before all in the castle turned to animals.
Five days later. The year 1000 of discords reign .
"Okay troops. I need suggestions of how to defeat discord. Obviously any information our spy's get could be fake. What we have at our disposal is three hundred twenty-nine troops, two elements of magic, and a whole continent messed up with black magic. Not to mention that it's spreading.
Discord has now taken over a majority of the griffon kingdom. Now, anything?" Luna stood on a large boulder overlooking her shoulders training ground. Fluttershy stood to the side of her. The soldier’s where in long rows marching in place. Again.
“Permission to speak captain Flutter?" a dark green Pegasus with a blue mane called out from the front.
"Permission granted."
"How about we use the same tactics that you and Celestia used during your first encounter with Discord?" Luna sighed. She had thought the same thing countless times, but it seemed too hard.
"My sister and me used the elements of harmony to defeat Discord."
"Then why not use them again?"
“The elements are separated. It would take all our troops just to find them. If we start this quest then there's no going back. We would not have enough troops to base an attack or time to strategize..." Luna looked down at her hoofs. Everyone expected her to make the right choices.
"Do we even have any other options Luna?" the soldier questioned her. In truth there wasn't any other way that would bring discord down. Luna stood up tall and smiled tiring to give her soldiers conference.
"Okay troops. Let's gather us some elements!"
Twilight woke up on a bed. How long had she been asleep? It must have been longer than usual because she felt well rested. Wait, longer than usual? Wouldn't that mess up her schedule?
Twilight jumped out of the bed, frantically calling out for her baby dragon.
"Spike! Spike! Get my list! I need to hurry!" she had to dust, reshelf, and do shopping to day she also had to....
She suddenly noticed that she wasn't in her tree anymore. The events from the last few days came crashing down on her. The room started to spin and she sat back down on the bed. How had she forgotten she wasn't at home? Twilight stood back up and looked for her friends.
"Doctor? Colgate?" she walked out the door of the small bedroom. She couldn't find any pony.
"Guys?!? Where are you!?" she started to panic, not liking to be alone in such a strange place. She started running down the hallway. In her rush she rammed into something going around the corner.
"What the... Oh! My greatest apologies princess!" Twilight bowed down when she saw that she had run into Luna.
"So you decided to wake up? Luckily you slept through the attack. It ended in a fail. You've been out for five days." Luna cringed as she rubbed the base of her horn.
"What do you mean fail? Did the Doctor help you? Where is he? And what happened to Colgate?" Twilight started to freak out.
"Calm Twilight sparkle. All is well. Sort of. Your friends have been captured." at this news Twilights eyes widened. This wasn't good. if those two were captured, there would be no way to get back home. She started hyperventilating. Luna obviously didn't seem to notice this sign of panic.
"The resistance has decided to find the elements of harmony and use them against Discord. We have also decided that you can help. As an element of harmony you have a connection with the others. You can help find them." Luna looked expectantly at Twilight, practically begging her to help. After possessing this information Twilight didn't have any reason she couldn't.
"Sure." she said this just to be tackled into a bear hug.
List of elements:
Magic
Laghter (still in castle)
Honesty (in Tartarus)
Loyalty (under spell)
generosity (under spell)
kindness
Luna slowly crossed out loyalty. They had found her. The rainbow maned pegasus mare struggled to break free from the magic hold that Luna and the two Twilights held on her. Discord had made her a terrible flyer, crashing into things so it was easy to find her. Her coat had been dulled with gray.
"Let go of me you stupid unicorns!" she shouted at them. Mage slowly came up and used a spell to break discords connection. The Pegasus slumped onto the ground. Luna picked her up and teleported her back to base.
"Next is generosity. twilight." the unicorn’s horn started to glow purple as she used the finding spell. The horn started dragging her northbound.
"Come we must follow." Luna galloped behind twilight and mage followed. It took approximately four hours of running before they stopped. Twilight was collapsed in magic exhaustion. The problem with the finding spell is it can only reach out a certain distance and it takes a good two days rest before you can use it again.
"She’s got to be nearby. I don’t think she would be too far."
"How about we check the cave over there?" both Twilights hoof faced and went towards it. In front where two trees and the cave was full of shadows. Luna, being princess of the dark, walked right in. Twilight and Mage had to adjust their eyes. They walked for what seemed like forever until they heard the noise of hoof on rock. They rounded a corner in the cave to find a massive cavern full of stalagmites and stalactites. The odd thing was that most of them where piled on the ground. Luna looked around until she spotted the maker of the noise. A gray dusty unicorn sat on the cold stone, her front hooves digging into the rock on the far wall. It seemed that the unicorn had dug the cave completely by hoof, not thinking to use her magic.
"Rarity! Are you okay?! We need you to come with us!" Twilight rushed forward, ignoring the pleas of caution from Mage and Luna.
Twilight continued to run forward until she reached the white unicorn and put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Oh Rarity! We need you right now so snap out of...of...of...”Mage and Luna looked on as Rarity, not turning around, began to light her horn. The purple magic streamed from the dusty horn and into Twilights eyes, giving them a blurred look. She herself could feel nothing except a sudden desire to be controlled by rarity.
"Come Mage. Let us break the spell." Luna and Mage both trotted towards the two ponies and both placed their horns on Rarity’s head at the base of her horn. A yellow light began to form from both ponies horns and soon engulfed the whole cave. Twilights horn began to glow in sync as well and when her eyes opened, they to where engulfed in the burning light.
"No!!!" Rarity’s voice screeched above the hum of the magic throughout the room.
"You can’t take me from my preciousssssss!!!" The glow faded and darkness in the cave fell into a silent mood. The shadow was slightly disrupted by a quick flash of purple that covered the now sleeping purple unicorn, and then both were gone.
"She should be back at base now. Let’s get going."
The three ponies left, their task complete.
“Oh my bloody head hurts..."
"Dag nabit stallion, get up and run for yer life!" The Doctor blinked sleepily for a moment, quite confused to where he was. He could faintly se a blur of orange run past him, but everything else was red,
"Ughh, I feel like I just took a bath in both of Galifrey's suns at once..."
"I Said get up!" The Doctor squealed at the sharp jab in the back that he earned from staying still. He quickly pushed himself up with his hooves and rubbed his head, blinking continuously to get a clear look at his surroundings. Somehow he was in a huge volcano, magma pools on every side of the path that he stood on.
Doesn’t look to bad. I just need to find my TARDIS and fly away, oh I’m so tired. Shouldn’t I run from those things coming towards us? And what happened to that other mare?
"Are we being chased be red horses with dagger tails and little horns?" The Doctor turned to where the orange mare had been a moment ago, but was surprised to see her in the distance running.
"Ugh...Well, there’s no exciting moment if there’s no running." The Doctor chased after the orange pony, starting to catch up to her, but stumbled when he noticed who she actually was.
"APPLEJACK?!?!?" He watched the surprised look on the earth pony as she looked over at him.
"Do I know you?" The Doctor almost choked as he started laughing gleefully. That is until he realized where he and AJ actually where.
"But...Wait WHAT?!?!? But you’re in...In...Oh you got to be bloody kidding me. WE'R IN TARTARUS!!!!"
"No REALLY?" The mare said with an exaggerated sigh, still running ahead of The Doctor. The two continued to run until The Doctor was panting for breath. When he could barely run anymore, he stopped and spun around, pulling his sonic screw driver seemingly out of nowhere.
"Why did you stop?! Keep runnin you crazy pony! Do ya want to get yerself killed?" The orange earth pony spun around and headed back towards him. When she stopped beside him, the stick in his mouth began to buzz high pitched.
"What the hay is that do 'hickey?" The Doctor rolled his eyes as he continued to check the readings on his sonic. As he expected, the readings where positive.
"Hold my hoof and close your eyes. Don’t let go until I tell you its safe." The Doctor grabbed the mares hoof, but was bluntly shoved away.
"I aint a coward, but I aint stupid. I don’t want to get stabbed by those monster creatures anytime soon. And why in tarnations should I trust you anyways?"Applejack looked at The Doctor who had put his gizmo stick into a hidden pocket. He looked right into her eyes. For some reason Applejack just had an urge to trust him. It went against everything she knew, but this stranger seemed to know how to save her.
"Please trust me. I’m The Doctor." Applejack decided to stay.
She grabbed The Doctor’s hoof and closed her eyes. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver back out and pressed a button, starting a high frequency buzzing noise to sound from it. The pitch continued to grow higher until their surroundings started to fade. The lava pools of red hot liquid where devoured into a black void. The creatures running towards them where much closer. Their wrathful scowls bore into the void of which The Doctor and Applejack where disappearing, before finally receding into emptiness as the rest of the area did. The sonic's pitch had ended, now abated to a low hum before dissipating.
The Doctor sighed, taking little note of the echoless void as it swallowed the small noise. It was literal nothingness, stretching into infinity so that all around them was black. The only light came from the two ponies that stood there floating.
"Can I open my eyes yet Doctor? Ah don’t like not knowing where I am." Applejack turned her head towards where she thought The Doctor was, ending up actually turning the opposite way.
"You can open your eyes, but you won’t be able to tell where we are." The Doctor watched AJ as the look of relief of being able to open her eyes was replaced by confusion. The confusion was quickly overtaken by surprise and fear and then back to curiosity.
"And... Do you know where we are?" She looked down as she asked.
"And also, how exactly are we standin in this spot without fallin?"
"Wellll," The Doctor began, his voice dropping into nothingness as had every other word spoken there so far, “We are in the void. It’s a space between universes. The Void had no 'up' or 'down', but the universes within it are 'stacked' on top of each other. Even "time" in most senses, doesn’t actually exist here. The only thing that lives here are the chronomites, a four dimensional creature which is actually VERY itchy. I’ve never actually been in the void before, but I have seen a void ship before, and I have sent creatures into the void, and...."
"Uh, doctor. How did we get here?"
“A portal. I could pick up the signals with my Sonic uh...yeah. Where did my sonic screwdriver go?" The Doctor began to look around, trotting farther from Applejack and somehow going downwards, if there was in fact such thing as downwards in such a place as The Doctor had suggested.
"Oh horse apples. I seem to have dropped it and now it’s lost forever!" To Applejacks surprise and great annoyance, The Doctor began to sob. His tears dropped into the endless space and he sniffle.
"I love my sonic screw driver! I'll never survive without it! I could just"
SMACK
"Ouch!" The Doctor rubbed the newly acquired red hoof print on his face.
"Quit mopping about that little gizmo thingy and let’s find a way out a here!" Applejack rolled her eyes as The Doctor whimpered. She shoved him in a direction that she could only assume was forward.
She continued to push him until he reluctantly trotted forward on his own accord. They continued to walk.
Fluttershy sighed and sat down at the table, loathing her awkward shyness towards her rescued friends. Rainbow, who had woken up only a few hours before, ate her breakfast in an unsociable manner across from the yellow unicorn. Rarity sat nearby to Fluttershy's right. Her normally curly purple mane had fallen into a straight darkish blue at its lack of normal treatment.
Upon Fluttershys arrival, the two other ponies looked up from their petty meals. All three sat there in an uncanny silence.
"Hi shy. It's been quite a while." Rainbow spoke up, the scowl that had been plastering her face softened.
"Indeed it has. I believe that what you call 'catching up' is in order." Rarity agreed. Fluttershy dropped her gaze a bit, looking down at the bowl of porridge she still had in her telekinetic grip.
"We'll, I don't know what you guys remember from before Discord captured you, but Luna came to join the resistance after we changed her from nightmare moon..."
"Yah, I remember that." Rainbow nodded, recounting the event in her head. All six of them, her, rarity, pinkie, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack had all been born into the resistance. They had all grown up together and became good friends. Then one day they discovered a book that told about a weapon that they could use against discord. It was called the elements of harmony. They had to travel all the way into the everfree forest to find them, and in the end they did. Then within the next month nightmare moon had come back. They had to use the elements against her when she threatened to join discord and reveal the resistance. The magic blast that the elements gave off had in fact changed nightmare moon back to Luna, but had also drawn discord to them. He could feel the power of the blast and had come and taken the elements away from them. Afterwards he had sent the element bearers on their desperate ways so that they couldn't rise against him if the elements where taken back. That is where Rainbows memory had ended from her former life.
The three continued to talk and remember tales of the past. All of them agreed that they couldn't imagine a life without discords chaos ruling.
The Doctor pat Applejack on the back as the mare sobbed. The Doctor had eventually gotten her to talk to him about her life before she was sent to the pit of fire, and she had to her own annoy net, begun to tear up. Now they had both stopped walking and had begun to rest. The endless void around them seemed pitiless in its silence. The Doctor had begun to acquire burning headaches in the back of his mind. During their endless travel one of his hearts had began to beat oddly slow. He would never know how humans or even ponies lived with only one heart.
“I have been through stuff like this before, believe me, and it’s hard, really hard. The only thing we can do is keep moving." The Doctor looked out to the emptiness around him, quickly shrugging of a glimmer in the dark. There couldn't be anything out there, right?
“You know, once I had a wonderful companion who traveled with me. She was so stubborn. Just like you. But she's gone now, just like all the rest of them. She actually got stuck in a parallel universe, kind of like this one. But I had to close the rift from there to my universe or some bad stuff would have happened. She just had to try and help me. I should have stopped her really, but I just couldn't. But I guess that's okay. She has another human version of me. At least she’s happy." The Doctor wiped a hoof across his face, expelling the small salty droplets that drowned his eyes.
"Doctor? Answer me truthfully. Are we gunny ever get out a here?" The orange mare’s sobs had lowered to a faint whimper occasionally. Her now puppy dog eyes had turned to him, seeming to beg him for a happy ending. To his utter pain, he couldn't give her one.
"No. The only possibility of us getting out of here is if Discord wanted us back or if...if a void ship picked us up. But that isn't very...likely? What?" He was utterly awe-struck by the space ship that at that moment was flying right above them (if there was in fact an above in the void). It was fairly large and circular, golden and smooth. It appeared to slowly increase its speed towards them, the black fog of nothingness around it seeming to fade.
A large flash materialized and the earth pony and time lord vanished, appearing moments later inside the space ship.
Colgate sat next to the sun princess, gently brushing out her silky mane. Celestia just sat there, not crying any tears but still dampening the room with depression. Colgate herself was in despaired ever since she woke to find herself in a much more mature body than a five year old filly should be. Not only that but she seemed to start having uncommon cravings and problems with walking, not to mention that her hearts had begun to have more of a delay in beating than normal. She could only assume that changing her body’s maturity had messed up her regeneration process thing, getting everything mixed up. Once the now full grown mare had woken up, she had found herself in front of the Chaos king himself.
She had of course demanded to know what he had done with her dear uncle, but highly regretted asking when he told her that The Doctor was stuck in Tartarus. Then she had been sent to Celestia’s room and sat there on the floor waiting for hours. Colgate had found that although Discord and Celestia were married, they did not in fact share a room together, so Tia's room was as clean as could be. Eventually around what Colgate guessed what was twelve at night, Celestia had come into her chambers.
Colgate had run to her and helped the poor tired mare out of her garments and began to brush her royal hair. And that's where the two sat now in total silence, neither wanting nor needing to Speak. Colgate surveyed the room, being sure to not brush the princess’s hair too harshly at the same time.
The bed they sat on looked old and worn, a faded image of the princess’s cutie mark on the cover. The rest of the room was also faded, all in multiple shades of red and orange. The only other furniture in the room was a night stand by the bed and on it sat two pictures. Upon closer inspection they were of Tia as a much younger filly playing with a little Luna. Above them flew a gorgeous red bird which Colgate could only guess was a Phoenix. The other photo was of two shimmering alicorn, one as blue as the glorious night, the other as radiant as the sun above.
The only other thing in the room was the three doors. One led to a magnificently huge bathroom, one to a magnificently huge closet, and one to the rest of the castle. Aside from those, no windows or furniture accompanied the two beings on the bed.
"What dose happiness mean?" Colgate paused her brushing momentarily, pulled back to reality by the princess’s sorrowful voice.
"I knew the feeling once, and all I can remember of it was that I would always wish that in those moments that I could sing and dance. But now only faint memories play with my mind. Do you know what it is?" Celestia turned to Colgate, her eyes pleading for awareness.
"Happiness is an emotion. It's the opposite of being sad. Instead of a frown it makes you smile and it’s always so wonderful to have." Colgate grinned mildly, thoughts of smiles filling her mind.
"And what then is emotion?" Colgate had to think on this one.
"Emotion is like.... A friend...or companion perhaps. It's always with you, and the mood of your friend who you hang out with reflects on yourself, showing who you are on the inside. Figuratively speaking of course." Colgate continued to brush the pink mane as the princess pondered over this.
"And what is friendship?" Colgate could hear the broken heart behind the princess’s question. Colgate peeked over again at the pictures on the night stand, then thought of The Doctor.
Her uncle was the most amazing creature she had ever known, and also her neatest friend. He could at times be sad or lie, but in the end all of his work paid off, saving whole planets! If she ever needs help he would be the one she would look to.
"Friendship is...Magic." A dazzling grin spread across Colgate’s face, her eyes sparkling as she thought of how in every way The Doctor was so wonderful. Celestia sat there, amazed at the beauty the mare brushing her hair emanated. It was like she could feel the joy and wonder radiating off of her. The unicorns smile was infectious as well, seeming to grasp a hold of Celestia’s mouth and pull it up wider and wider from a frown and into a grin and finely into a full out smile.
Creeeck
The two turned towards the noise and the mood instantly dampened as the tall form of a draconoquis entered the area.
Celestia’s smile fell back to a frown and Colgate’s to a scowl. As discord entered he seemed not to notice the ending of a wonderful moment or the look of thanks that Celestia gave to the new maid.
"Hello darling. Are you likening your new maid? At least now she's tall enough to get on the bed without help." Discord lay next to Celestia, giving her a look. Celestia in turn left the bed and went to the bathroom and locked the door.
Colgate too glared away from the bothersome creature now pouting on the bed and busied herself with meditating. The Doctor said that meditating would keep her mind from breaking from all of time and space she had seen in the time vortex.
Eventually Colgate heard the draconoquis leave, murmuring to himself about 'picking a boring mare as his wife'. And then promptly slamming the door. Not too long after that another door opened quite softer and slow hoof steps came towards Colgate.
"What are you doing?" The princess asked Colgate. It must have looked odd, as Colgate was in an awkward position sitting down with both of her bottom hooves held together and both of her upper hooves together above her head. Colgate simply sighed at the question but otherwise ignored it. The princess just wouldn't understand the thinking process of a time pony.
But then to Colgate’s surprise, the princess matched her position perfectly and began to take deep breaths to calm herself, and there the two mares sat meditating in a small prison like room in a castle in Canterlot in a truly chaotic world.
Psssstt!!!!
Ugggghhh....
Psssttt! Colgate! Get up now!
Colgate blinked wearily, rolling off of her small pile of what Discord called a 'fit mattress for a servant'. She looked around slowly, quickly finding the source of the very annoying noises. In a heavily shadowed area of the servants room was the shape of a stallion. Colgate took a step back, unsure of the shadows intentions.
"Who are you and what do you want?" She tried to look farther into the shadows, straining her eyes.
"My names not important and I’m here to help you find the elements of harmony. I know where they are and I know you need them. Please come before Discord finds out!" The pony pulled back, letting the shadows roll over him till he was unseen. Colgate hesitated for a moment before following him. The worst that could happen was for the pony to be Discord in disguise, right?
She snuck out the door that the pony had left through and crept down the hallway, faintly catching a glimpse of her target rounding a corner. She galloped as silently as possible, being sure not to lose her possible savior. Colgate rushed around corner after corner, pausing momentarily in a shadowy corner as a few Discorded guards passed by before hurrying past. She was just beginning to breathe hard when she almost slammed into the lead pony when she rounded a corner.
The place they had stopped at was a shady room, moonlight flowing in from the old, broken stained glass windows. The windows where so dusty that it was surprising that they even stood anymore. The mysterious stallion stood in the moonlight and Colgate finely got a good look at him. He had a yellow orange mane and tail, both slightly wavy. His coat reminded her of a TARDIS like blue and his black suit gave him a sinister look. The suit was pitch black and doubled ended, accompanied with a white collar and a red bowtie. The suit covered his cutie mark, making Colgate curious to what his special talent might be. Perhaps a butler cutie mark? The stallions eyes weren’t very bright, almost a grey with just a faint color of yellow.
"Come on, they shouldn’t be too far now. There in one of the dungeons under Canterlot castle." As he said it, the stallion grabbed the handle to a trap door Colgate had not seen in his telekinetic grip. The blue glow yanked a couple of times until the door finally opened, clouds of dust dispersing into the already musky room around. The stallion began to climb down steps into the dark unknown of the castle dungeon.
"Wait! I don’t think I ever caught your name." Colgate called down, about to step down after him. The stallions head popped back up, a grimace on his face.
"Names aren’t very important you know." He looked up at her and she frowned slightly.
"I don’t care, I just need something to call you and I have a feeling the writer of this story is getting board with continuously writing 'the stallion'." Colgate looked down at the stallion and watched as the sides of his lips turned up slightly.
"Some ponies are so stubborn. Okay, but you can’t tell anyone else my name, got it? Call me Koschei." And with that Koschei slipped down the hole. Colgate followed.
"WAIT!" A strong accented voice called out after Colgate making her stops before she went down. An orange mare ran up next to her, her breath coming in large heaves.
"The...The doc...Doctor told me ta find yah. Are you Minnuet?" Colgate’s ears perked at the name. Only she and The Doctor new about her mother picked name, meaning The Doctor must have been in trouble.
"Where I he?!?!" Colgate practically screamed. The earth pony mare took a step back, a look of pity growing on her face.
"Ahm sorry sugarcube, but... Discord did sumthin to him, made him fall to the ground. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. He told me to come find yah and to help ya defeat Discord, said ya needed me ta find the elements or sumthin like that." Colgate felt like her insides where going to explode from her overflowing emotions. She had to save The Doctor. She HAD to.
“I need you to do something applejack. Go find princess Celestia and tell her that it’s urgent. She has to teleport you to the resistance base. As soon as you get there tell every pony to get out because Discord will be able to track down the spell. Then go find the other elements and tell them to get to the castle as soon as possible. Tell them that we have the elements. Today Discord goes down!" And with that Colgate ran down the hole and out of sight.
Earlier...
"What? Wait What? WHAT?!?!?" The Doctor shouted, unable to control his surprise.
"What’s wrong Doctor? Draconoquis got your tong?" Discord held out a tong he had magically appeared in his hand.
"But you...We...We where teleported by the void ship beam! How did we end up in the castle? Unless..." Discord giggled at The Doctors shocked look. The Doctor looked out the stained glass window at the sky, unable to believe where they were.
"It took a while, but to tell you the truth, Equestrian aren’t that big. Especially compared to the vast interior of a void ship. Besides, it was all worth the trouble just seeing that look on your face!" the creature broke out in laughs all over again. The fact that the whole of Equestrian was all stuffed into a spaceship that was traveling through the void was a little unnerving.
"But enough of that, a little birdie told me that they wanted you caught and saved for them. I don’t see why I shouldn’t have my own fun in the mean time." A magical glow surrounded The Doctor and he was lifted into the air and levitated towards Discord.
"Let me go Discord!"The Doctor said, trying to hold his anger under control. He looked back at Applejack, who just stood there, scared stiff.
"Run Applejack! Go find Colgate! She’s a blue unicorn and she needs help! Help her find the Elements!" The Doctor was dumped to the ground, gravity weighing down harder onto him than should be. He tried to move but to no success.
"Now I promised to capture you and keep you under protection. This will not only help me keep track of you, but it should also give me access to untold information!" The draconoquis began to chuckle, all humor disappearing."And it shouldn’t hurt a bit if you cooperate."
A sudden jolt rocketed into The Doctor’s body, yanking his body. When the shock died down he tried to relax, getting ready to make a witty replied to the monster before him.
Ahhhgggggg!
Another shock ran through his body. This time it reached his mind. The Doctor slammed his eyes shut and tried to block out the creature trying to enter his mind.
"RUN APPLEJACK! GO FIND COLGATE NOW!" The Doctor heard hoof beats and was relieved to know that something would go right.
Another shock ran through his body, but this time it didn’t eave. His hind legs had grown cold and heavy and his back burned as if something where trying to burst out of it. A voice began to speak in The Doctors head, but The Doctor ignored it, fighting all the pain away. He had been through worse for sure. He had to hold out the monster.
You know the pain is too great to deny.
Images started to form in his mind and the voice began to break through.
Images of Rose and the clone Doctor went through his head. His envy of the two growing.
Generosities are a gift, but only to others, so why give it?
The Doctor continued to try, but the images and words just wouldn’t go away.
Images of Donna noble surfaced, of her with her lost memory.
Honesty is a sign of trust, but lies are easier to take
Images of the master, his insane mind and the crazy drumbeat everywhere.
Laughing is fun, until they start laughing at you
The picture of the Daleks came next, filling The Doctor with a vast rage and hate.
Kindness warms hearts, but cruelty gets you further
Galifrey in ashes, all the timelords dead, no words could match the pain.
Loyalty towards friends is important, fame and duties even more.
Blackness filled The Doctor’s vision in his closed eyes. The picture that came next was what he had dreaded ever since the day he had found her. Colgate lay in an unmoving heap, no regeneration able to save her anymore.
Friendship is magic, but where are all of your friends now Doctor?
Applejack ran as fast as she could towards the princess’s chambers, ignoring the shouts of her pursuers she had been seen by in her rush. She looked back, quickly skipping a step as she bucked the closest ones face in.
"And that goes for your mom to!" She shouted. She looked back forward and...
"Whoaaaaa Nellie!" Applejack used her quick reflexes, swinging the door open that she was about to hit, swinging around, and closing it behind her. A series of slams hit on the other side of the door as her pursuers forgot to slow down.
Applejack sighed, willing away her sweat with a hoof.
"That's one way to get them Discord ponies off a yer heels!"
Clap
Clap
Clap
Applejack spun around to see none other than Celestia sitting on a faded mattress, grinning slightly and clapping her hoofs together. Applejack could feel the blush of pride rise to her face.
"Very nice moves my little pony. Many you'll have more chance to use them in the future, but judging by your look I have the feeling that you came here to see me?" The urgency of the matter sprung back into applejacks mind.
"Princess! I need you to teleport me to that there resistance base! The Doctor told me to help Colgate and she said that..."
"Please, you have to stay calm. Yes I will help you, but you have to be quick out of there before Discord comes, I'll try to stall him as best as I can." Applejack heard Celestia sigh and suddenly the youthful looking princess seemed to grow old before her eyes. A golden Hugh evolved from the princess’s horn and continued to grow larger each second until the whole room glowed. Soon a vortex of magic surrounded AJ, spinning around her at colossal speeds. She could barely see Celestia’s strain through the field and tried to call out to her to not strain herself, but nothing seemed to reach her ears, for at that moment many things happened at once.
Discord, king of choose came through the door with a Discorded Doctor at his heels. That Doctor, as soon as he saw that light, let out a shout and let out a magical Burt of energy of his own, trying and failing to remove the chaotic magic from his mind, but ended up collapsing to the ground in a heap. Also in that moment, applejack vanished right as she cried out to Celestia,"don't strain yourself" and that sentence drifted into the time vortex of which applejack had momentarily entered in her teleportation.
That sentence carried through time and space and eventually reached the metallic ears of a cyber man. That cyber man suddenly sprung a circuit that helped it feel emotions again, but it decided not to go insane like any other one would. This cyber man decided to help its brother in become human again and began to turn on the emotional panel of a whole fleet of cyber man who went mad from it. The master cyber man decided to blame the whole things on the daleks and sent a massive army to delete them all. The daleks in turn wanted to exterminate and this whole mess created a forty-two year war, killing off five races and ending the existence of potatoes.
But back to the story...
Twilight, the real-life-not-supposed-to-be-in-a-different-world Twilight, was taking a nap. After finding all of this worlds elements, it seemed that no pony had any use for her. The other five where chatting away about past and what to do in the present while Twilight was lost. Nopony even looked at her! It was like they tried to avoid her gaze or something, and it made her pretty angry.
"Maybe I should just..."
A huge flash of light blinded Twilight as she was talking to herself.
"Twilight! I need your...help?" Now standing in front of Twilight was dazed applejack. Her eyes seemed a little jittery, but her confusion was obvious. Before the newly appeared element could comment, Twilight raised a hoof.
"No I’m not your Twilight and the explanation would be too long. Come with me, I’ll take you to the others." Twilight trudged towards the door, not caring if the earth pony followed her or not. Twilight didn’t care what happened in this world and she had already given up hope of ever getting back to her home. Twilight trotted through the corridor, its cave like interior making it obvious that it was underground. At the first door to the left Twilight turned, promptly pushing open the door and shuffling in. No pony looked up and Twilight didn’t feel like shouting, so she used her magic. A few protests sounded as every pony was picked up and put to the floor facing the door.
"Oh, hello darling. Why dare I ask, have you so rudely moved us?" Rarity frowned slightly and Twilight smiled.
"Presenting the one the only, APPLEJACK ELEMENT OF HONESTY!!!!! Pinkie shouted, throwing everyone off guard. Twilight didn’t even know how Pinkie pie knew, but after so many crazy years of knowing her own pinkie pie, she knew not to ask. And at that out walked applejack. A soft smile grew on her frowning lips, but she held a hoof up before anypony could say anything.
"I need help. The Doctor and Colgate need us gals to defeat Discord NOW. Colgate has got the elements and has told us to meet her at the castle as soon as possible." Every pony cheered, hope flowing into them anew. Discord would be defeated. Twilight watched, feeling as if she were watching a movie. She herself just dropped her hope. If The Doctor and Colgate couldn’t just bring the elements to them, they must be in trouble. Lots of trouble. This meant that even less chance of getting back home existed.
“TO THE TRAIN!!!!" Pinkie shouted and off they went.
Celestia fell limp against her restraints, giving up her struggle to be released from the black licorice twist chains. How she despised the candy. Beside her, Colgate also struggled, a scowl plastered onto the usually bright face. They were in the throne room, attached to the wall next to Discords thrown. The draconoquis sat there, a smirk on his lips, his eyes on his beautiful prize. A Crumpled heap known as the former Doctor lay on the ground near the opposite wall.
"My dear Celestia, did you really think you could get away with this? You know what? IT was so funny that I want to watch it again!"
A random TV screen and popcorn popped into existence out of nowhere and Celestia watched as events from the past two hours rolled on the screen.
Celestia ran as fast as she could, following Colgate’s magic essence. She skidded around a turn, the objected room in sight. She rushed into it and down the trapped door passage way. The darkness grew around her, but never once touched her own skin as the light of the sun faintly held her in its grasp. Down the stairs she went and through the hallway, the broken rails of long forgotten dungeons past by her vision.
"Going somewhere?" A deep voice echoed into the murky dungeon. She tried to run faster, but Discord soon appeared, intercepting her path. Celestia ignored him and teleported around, continuing to run.
"You can’t get away Celestia. I could take you with a snap of my talons, but you know what? I’m curious to know where you’re going." Discord disappeared. Celestia slowed a bit, but still kept a steady gallop down the dusty corridor. She broke her run and stopped dead as her target began to come towards her.
"Celestia! I need your help!" The blue mare known as Colgate ran towards her, a unicorn stallion in a suit at her heals. their horns glowed brightly, suspending a group of glittering necklaces in the air. We have to get these to the element holders before Discord find us!" Celestia grinned as hope grew in her, but was instantly crushed as she watched in horror the events unfold before her. Discord appeared suddenly and Colgate screamed. A length of black rope wrapped around her hooves and head as if it were alive. The elements she had been holding fell to the floor with a loud clank. Another blue magic grasped them quickly, pulling them away from the draconoquis.
"well well well. Now who could this be?" Discord took sudden interest in the stallion holding the elements.
"I don’t remember hiring you. hmmmm..." Celestia sparked her magic, focusing on the stallion
"Well Discord," The stallion smirked, "It starts with the letter M" And then h was gone. The stallion and elements had disappeared in a shock of white light. Discord spun on Celestia, glowering down on her and watched the rope crawl over her body.
"The punishment for resistance is being turned into a barn animal, but I think you two would be so much more fun to watch if you had to eat your way out of your prison to keep from starving to death.
The draconoquis grinned evilly and the three where teleported to the throne room...
"Discord!" The TV disappeared to reveal nine ponies who had come in. Six of them, the element bearers, where dressed with a necklace each, all of them showing their holders cutie mark. The violet unicorn who stood in front had a crown. To the side stood the princess of the night and another copy of the violet unicorn, this one without any crown or battle scars. The other pony was a stallion.
"Well, if it isn’t the dreaded elements of harmony! We have the giggle master, the speeder, the fighter, the fashionista, the farmer, and the book worm. Two book worms in fact! And over here we have the evil sister and the retriever of the elements of harmony, the mysterious Mr.M if you don’t mind me calling. I still haven’t found who you could be. Now do your worst elements!" Discord gave an evil laugh and watched the ponies line up in formation. Slowly their magic glowed and each was lifted into the air. Celestia watched the rainbow of magic shoot towards Discord as if in slow motion. The draconoquises face twisted in terror and he coward down.
snap
Celestia had just caught the smirk on Discords face as he snapped his fingers appearing instantaneously in the spot that had been occupied by Koschei (as Colgate knew the mysterious stallion as). A loud boom sounded and all occupying the room where blinded.
When Celestia could again see, what greeted her was a surprise. Discord was standing there, a confused look trying to be hidden on his face. The element bearers had dropped to the ground and all had looks of terror to discover that heir plan had failed. Next to her, Colgate was shaking viciously, trying to shout towards some pony. All this was there, but what caught Celestia’s attention the most was the Stallion in the center of the throne room. His body was slowly being covered in stone and the look on his face was one of pure agony. The stone was up to the stallion’s neck before, to every ponies surprise, it stopped. And then slightly, ever so slightly, it started to recede. Before long the stone had melted off of the last hair of his tail and the stallion collapsed, exhaustion overtaking him.
"But..But.. that spell is impossible to break! How did you survive?" Discord was sincerely baffled, the cogs in his head turning but not comprehending the feat before him.
"When...when your...a...a master... you have to...survive." And with that the room was once again blinded, but this time not by a white light of harmony, but of the blue light of sheer power of the stallion that beheld it. A glass shattering shriek shook the ground and drowned out all noise as the all powerful draconoquise's face represented the sheer terror and hatred boiling inside him before being dissected into a million glowing microcells. The tornado of sparks raced towards the stallion and he breathed them in. His eyes rolled back for a moment and another burst of power shook the room. The blast cast down the ropes that covered Celestia and Colgate and soon all of Discords magic had been destroyed.
Chaos was no more.
Colgate felt the warm fur under her as she hugged the princess of the day, and then the night. Both had once again turned to their more powerful body and both where at the moment crying. After Koschei had saved the world, he had stood up, brushed off his shoulder, and came over to Colgate to help her up as if nothing had ever happened. Later he explained it as nothing more than changeling the direction of energy flow, something he had leavened at a young age.
Koschei was busy checking The Doctor and Colgate watched him levitate the crumpled time lord as he began to walk towards her. Colgate quickly said her last fair wells to the princesses and went towards the TARDIS. After the resistance had taken it, they had deposited it in an old storage shed that not even discord had changed in his reign. Twilight stood in front of the TARDIS, practically jumping up and down with anticipation. The poor mare had left to despair for her life, and now that the chance to leave arose, she was so excited. Colgate would have to ask later about how to write a letter to a princess, seeing that she was now the protégée of Princess Luna.
"Hurry up you guys!" Twilight cried as Colgate reached the door, quickly pulling out the key and unlocking the box before someone's purple head exploded. Twilight raced inside and fell to the floor, a worried look drowning any other emotion on her face. Colgate ignored the mare’s mummers about making a list. She trotted around and pulled, pressed, and twirled stuff until the TARDIS was prepared for takeoff, and then. Ran over and peeped her head out the door. Koschei was busy talking with Luna, but quickly said a farewell when he saw Colgate wavering to him. The limp Doctor still hung in him telekinetic grip.
"So...um....I was wondering if you would like to come with us?" Colgate asked quietly. Her hopes where confirmed as Koschei nodded, a grin spreading on his face momentarily. Colgate rushed back in the TARDIS, giving a faint signal for the stallion to follow her.
Colgate giggled as Koschei walked in, awaiting his utter befuddlement that the inside was bigger. To her disappointment, he only looked about and rubbed a hoof along the interior quickly, much like The Doctor did when he thought Colgate wasn't looking. Of course The Doctor also talked to the TARDIS, but Koschei didn't do that. He brusquely closed the door and Colgate pressed the final button, sending the TARDIS into the time vortex.
"Next stop home!" Colgate shouted, her grin spreading wide. That is, until she remembered The Doctor and rushed to where Koschei had settled him on the floor. Only now did Colgate realize that she hadn't looked this new form of The Doctor over before. He looked the same aside from the fact that his coat and mane had darkened to grey and somehow before now she had missed the fact that he had grown wings. The feathers on them where ruffled and altogether he looked weak and pathetic, much less then the oncoming storm he was meant to be. But Colgate thought nothing of his titles and was only filled with concern.
"Where's his sonic screw driver?" Colgate looked over to Koschei, not knowing how he knew about the sonic. She was about to ask until she realized how it could help. Colgate quickly lit her horn up, searching through The Doctors invisible bigger on the inside pockets. She successfully pulled out the silver stick and set the mode on medium, pointed and pressed. The noise slightly bothered her high def equine ears, but she quickly dismissed it as The Doctor began to stir.
His eyes flickered open slowly, revealing his TARDIS blue eyes to have become frosty light blue. The Doctor shook his head slightly and tried to move to get up, only to be held down by Colgate.
"Help...me..." The Doctor muttered through clamped teeth. The emotions in his eyes where conflicting, as if he was fighting himself. Colgate looked to Koschei with a pleading look, watching as the stallion lowered his horn. It flickered blue a moment before completely enveloping The Doctor. Colgate stuffed her ears at the muffled screams of pain The Doctor tried desperately to hold back, but to no avail. She watched at the wings collapsed in and shrunk into his back. His face was stuck in a burning pain as his body began to change. His coat hair seemed to pull back before her eyes, only to be replaced by golden brown ones. His mane and tail did the same, turning to their previous color. She could faintly see sparks of regeneration energy hover around The Doctor, ready in case their beholder was to die. But almost as soon as it started, the process was over, and Koschei's horn lost its magical glow.
The Doctor, now looking his normal self, began to breathe rapidly and just faintly began to flutter his eyes before fully opening them again. They where back to their TARDIS blue selves.
"That...was... the most painful...experience in my...entire life..."The Doctor breathed. He slowly stood up, ignoring Colgate’s protests, and looked himself over.
"Looks like I’m back to normal. It seems that I shut myself down while trying to break discords magical hold on my mind. Only thing I could think of at the time..."The Doctor trailed off, looking at Colgate and smiled sadly.
"Looks like you’re stuck as a mare. I wasn’t prepared for that really. But I guess you are smart enough to pull off being one." He quickly hugged Colgate and turned to the nervous looking Koschei.
"Oh! Doctor, I would like you to meet my friend! He helped me find the elements of harmony! His name is Koschei!" As soon as the name was out The Doctor’s face turned from curiosity to bewilderment.
"Well, I think that would actually be the second most painful thing in your life because I’ve seen you in worse." Koschei grinned. The Doctor frowned.
"You died. This is impossible. Prove your identity."The Doctor looked into Koschei’s eyes. Koschei in return took off his suit, throwing the fancy thing to the ground. Colgate gasped and all was quiet. She wasn’t sure how they knew each other but now the reason was made obvious. On Koschei flank was a timer cutie mark, just like The Doctors, the only difference being the drum next to it. The Doctor walked up to the other stallion and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace, tears streaming down both of the time lords faces.
"Welcome back Master."
