Doctor Whooves: Exile (Part 2: The Mask of Tragedy)

Chapters

Chapter 1: Exit Stage Left, Enter Stage Right
30 Minute Intermission: Midnight Dreary
Chapter 2: Raising The Curtains
Chapter 3: Setting The Stage
Chapter 4: Fight Call
Chapter 5: In The Round
Chapter 6: The Ten of Twelve
Chapter 7: The Climax
Epilogue: The Curtain Call

Chapter 1: Exit Stage Left, Enter Stage Right

Author's Note

NEW INSTALLMENT! WOOHOO!
Seriously though, thanks for tuning in. Reminder that our first fic, Crash Landing, is needed to understand what's going on in this. In any case, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Exit Stage Left, Enter Stage Right

Twilight shifted around nervously, Pinkie by her side. "So," she said, "the Badlands?"

Fluttershy apparently had some ideas about trying to get Equestria allied with the changelings, but she felt she couldn't go alone. Starlight had agreed to come with, and managed to get Trixie to let them use their wagon, meaning she would come along as well. Discord agreed to tag along, obviously, and was helping pack in his usual trademark way. In this case, he made walking ice cream cones juggle the luggage along. He also helped prepare the surprise Fluttershy had planned for how she was going to win the changelings over, which he also made sure could attach to the back of the wagon. However, this created a heavier load due to the size of the thing. Thankfully, Applejack had agreed to haul all of it along the way, having Big Mac take over her duties on the farm, although that meant only two could still fit in the wagon without it being too much for her. Discord and Fluttershy immediately opted to trot alongside her both for the sake of conversation and in case Applejack needed a break, although Starlight and Trixie would stay in the wagon. It was Trixie's wagon, after all, and she did insist on talking with Starlight specifically.

In any case, the other girls had things to do. Rainbow had weather control and Wonderbolts training, Pinkie had her job at Sugarcube Corner along with helping the Doctor with his TARDIS, Rarity had the Boutique, and Twilight agreed to look after Fluttershy's cottage with Spike. Today they could at least find the time to see the rest of their friends off.

"Yes, Twilight," Fluttershy confirmed, "the Badlands. Don't worry! Discord would never let anything bad happen to me, along with Applejack and the rest of the girls!"

Twilight nodded, still a bit nervous. "If you say so, Flutters. Still, please be careful! I did some research on the Badlands beforehoof and only changeling magic works there, so you'll have to rely on non-magical means of escape if things go south."

"W H A T" came a cry from the wagon, as Discord's disembodied head appeared before them both. "I am literally the embodiment of chaos! Honestly, I think I would have better chances than all the mortal unicorn wizards who wrote your precious books when it comes to keeping my magic intact."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that's true, but I think you should still be at least mentally prepared for that, just in case."

"Yeppers," Pinkie said, "and I think you need to grab some tech!" She tousled into her mane, producing a strange scientific instrument that The Doctor allowed all present to instantly recognize. "I made you a sooooniiiiiiiic," she said in a sing-song voice.

Discord rolled his eyes, getting a result much higher than Twilight's measly 5 earlier. "Very thoughtful, my Gallifreyan friend," he said, taking the sonic screwdriver, teleporting it to the wagon, "although you could have told me you were a literal Time Lord earlier. I thought friends didn't keep secrets from each other?"

Pinkie shook her head. "If I tried to explain why I kept it secret to you, you would definitely take it the wrong way."

"Intentionally or unintentionally?"

"Why would that matter?"

"Because the unintentional one is funnier, but the intentional one is more clever."

"Ohhhhhh. Intentionally, then. If I didn't tell you, you would do something to figure it out."

"Damn it!"

Pinkie stuck her tongue out at Discord, who blew a raspberry that produced baguettes instead of spit in kind. Twilight rolled her eyes again (this time, known only to Discord, producing a nat 20) as she gave her new marefriend a quick kiss on the cheek, resulting in the pink Time Lord to give a little giggle. "Thanks, Twily."

"See you guys later," shouted Rainbow as the departing party, well, departed. "And try not to turn into loveless zombies, you hear?"

"Ah, shut up, Dash," came Applejack's reply. "Love all a' y'all! Stay safe now, y'all hear?"

As a chorus of goodbyes rang out among both groups, Fluttershy's crew headed out into the distance.

The remaining five headed back to the castle of friendship. "Well then," the Doctor said, "here's to hoping this all goes over well."

Rarity turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, do you happen to know what Fluttershy's plan is?"

The Doctor gave a light chuckle. "As a matter of fact, I do. Discord and I actually had to convince her it would work! It took the combined efforts of her and Discord, though, to convince me to keep it a surprise. I will admit, the look on all of your faces when you're told it worked will be quite amusing."

"Ha!" Rainbow flew next to the Doctor. "I knew I could awaken that prankster in you!"

"You should have met my younger self! He pretended to be a stubborn old man, but he was merely a teenager who would have loved to join in your pranking. It's because of that version of me I remember the noble art of fisticuffs."

Twilight scoffed. "Like we need a second super genius alien to join in on Rainbow's pranks." She glared a bit at her marefriend, who merely smiled in response.

As the friends bantered, they arrived at the castle, only to notice a young mare there, crying at the doorstep. She was an Earth pony with a grey coat and black mane, wearing a purple bowtie. Her cutie mark was of a purple bass clef.

"Octavia?" Twilight trotted up to the crying mare, who looked up at the princess of friendship. "Octavia Melody, right? You live just outside of town with Vinyl?"

The mare nodded, confirming Twilight's assumptions. "Yes, I just... I didn't know where else to turn. I- I..." The Doctor went up to Octavia and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Now now, my dear," the Doctor said. "You're among friends here. We'll try to help you in whatever way we can. Now then, what has you so frightened?"

Octavia took a few deep breaths before continuing. "There's an abandoned theatre, just short trot away from m- from our cottage..."

Vinyl and I were exploring it. We were trying to look for older sheet music, both for the sake of cultural preservation as well as for the sake of some performances of my own. At some point I saw a mask on the floor, and foolishly decided to pick it up. It was a tragedy mask, I think. Little did I know the nightmare that would lead to.

The curtains on the stage gave way, and both Vinyl and I thought the other was pulling a prank. If only... Then, I saw... Myself on the stage. Well, she... It looked vaguely like myself. It gave a monologue I think. Celestia, it was haunting. It described... A mockery of my life. I never had abusive parents, namely. At least... Not to such an extreme extent, anyways.

Then, it started saying something about... Strings. Strings that would lash out and kill anything that tried to stop me from being successful or... Something like that. As it was doing that, however, those very strings it was describing appeared and grabbed the imposter's limbs. It groaned and grunted in pain as it continued its monologue.

Then, the strings reached out from the stage... And grabbed Vinyl. I'm fairly certain the thing started talking about her, but I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy screaming and chasing after her. I dropped the mask in my pursuit, and the curtain closed. I went through the curtain, only to find the stage empty. I immediately ran out out of that Celestia-damned theatre, screaming. Not knowing what to do next, I thought of the heroes of harmony, and ran straight to the castle to wait.

"An- And that is what happened. T- To the best of my knowledge."

"Thank you kindly, my dear," the Doctor said. "Would you happen to know where the theatre would be?"

"J- Just a few yards away from my own cottage, just outside of town to the north. Woods have grown around it. Not the Everfree, but woods all the same."

"That will be most helpful. Now, I suggest you wait in the castle. We'll do our best to get your friend back."

"Thank you all so much," cried Octavia. "I... I am so unbelievably frightened of what that- That thing was! And Vinyl..." She started tearing up again as she made her way into the castle. "Poor Vinyl... I miss her so..."

As she headed inside, the five friends looked at one another.

"Welp," Rainbow sighed, "there goes my Wonderbolts practice for the day."

"My latest commission can stand to wait," Rarity agreed.

"We'll have to be careful," Twilight warned. "We don't have AJ or Fluttershy here, so we can't utilize our harmony magic, at least not as potently. We'll have to stick together, and our Gallifreyan friends will have to contribute a bit more of their know-how, especially if this is some alien threat."

"You can count on us, Twily!" Pinkie gave a proud salute.

"Well, now that we've all had a turn to speak," the Doctor said, " I believe we should make haste. This 'Vinyl' shall need our help."

With that, the group headed straight for Octavia's cottage, and the mysterious theatre that lay just outside of it...

As Discord, Fluttershy and Applejack all headed down the trail, Trixie's cart in tow, that cart's passengers were having an interesting conversation.

"Are you sure you can't tell Trixie?"

Starlight sighed at her... Date? Did a diplomatic mission to a society of shapeshifters count as a date? Either way Trixie counted as at least her marefriend now, thank Celestia. "I'm pretty sure. I know he probably can't hear us or anything, but- Oh, I already said too much, didn't I?"

Trixie shook her head. "Starlight, Trixie is almost certain whoever this moron is, he can't withstand the power of the GREAT, AND POWERFUL TRRRRIXIE!" Right as she said that, the cart hit a roadblock that sent her flying. Trixie grumbled half to herself. "That better not have been Discord messing with Trixie..."

Starlight stifled a chuckle. "Look, Trixie, it's not that I don't trust you, because I do. It's more that... The person in question is... Dangerous. You know the attack on Canterlot last month?"

Trixie nodded. "Trixie is aware. Are you talking about the creature that commanded the attack?"

Starlight nodded. The "grace period" for peace from the Master was up, meaning he could strike at any moment.

"Well, Trixie isn't scared of some lousy moron who calls himself 'the Master.' Stupid title, if you ask her."

Starlight gave out a light giggle before stopping, turning wide-eyed. "How did you know he calls himself the Master?"

At was at this moment, Trixie knew she bucked up. "O- Oh," she stuttered. "Trixie just heard a rumor, that's all. It's nice to have it confirmed, though isn't it?" She gave a nervous grin.

"Trixie," Starlight grimaced, "what aren't you telling me?"

Trixie's eyes shifted from side to side. "Trixie has no idea what you're talking about."

"Trixie," Starlight said through gritted teeth.

Trixie sighed. "Fine, Trixie's sorry. She just... She doesn't know why she's hiding what she knows." She started shuffling playing cards using her magic. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, for starters," Starlight began, "how did you know it was the Master who attacked Canterlot?"

"Trixie guessed, honestly. He's the only creature Trixie's heard of who would manage to be both smart enough and dumb enough to bring the Autons here."

"Alright, but how do you even know that much?"

"Stories Trixie's mother told her about them."

"Your mother?"

"The Spectacle. Apparently, she used to steal planets!"

Starlight blinked. "Steal... Planets?"

"Yes! Trixie's mother would tell her stories of how she narrowly escaped the Doctor! See, she was hiding on a ship that was also a planet, or so she told Trixie. It would go to a planet, drain it of all its resources! All she did was pick the planets, and she chose planets that her father, who is also Trixie's grandfather, tried to conquer! So she left using her 'Tardis' thingy as the Doctor destroyed the planet, but it malfunctioned and ended up in our universe! She went around various planets trying to find one she fit in, and settled on Equestria."

"Wait," Starlight said, "your mom has a TARDIS?"

"Yes," Trixie exclaimed. "It was disguised as a piano in mother's bedroom last Trixie saw it."

Starlight just stayed quiet for a moment. "Wait... Trixie, are you a Time Lord?"

Trixie gave a hollow laugh. "No, Trixie isn't. She's never been to the academy, but she has been to Celestia's School, and that's the unicorn equivalent! And before you ask, Trixie is fairly certain she's only half Gallifreyan. She doesn't know who her father is, but what are the odds of 5 Time Lords coming to Equestria, anyhow?"

Starlight kept quiet at that.

"So yes, Trixie isn't worried about The Master or anything like that. She doubts even he would be heartless enough to hurt her."

Starlight gave a puzzled look. "Why would tha-" She stopped as she put the pieces together to change her look to one of realization. "No."

Trixie nodded. "Yes."

"NO!"

"YES!"

"YOUR GRANDFATHER IS THE-"

"Wait wait wait, can you stop asking at the word 'is?' Trixie thinks it's much more dramatic."

Starlight rolled her eyes, but complied. "So your grandfather is-"

"The Master, yes."

Starlight facehoofed. "This would have been useful to know about a month ago," Starlight grumbled.

"Trixie is well aware, but in her defense her mother specifically told her to keep this a secret, and she didn't know you as well back then."

Starlight sighed. "How many secret Gallifreyans are out there?"

"Trixie thinks it can't be more than four, right?"

Starlight spaced out for a moment before saying something. "At this rate? It might be more likely. Maybe not that your father specifically was a Time Lord, but there is an old saying that seems to apply to this. 'Once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, three is a pattern.' Now we're at four. I mean, what are the odds that 4 Time Lords ended up on our tiny little planet in the general time zone of modern Equestria by complete chance?"

Trixie scoffed. "Mother was on Gaea for 400 years before Trixie was born, according to mother, and the other three all seem to know each other."

Starlight nodded. "Right. Right! The Master said he came here specifically because of the Doctor. That still leaves Pinkie and the Doctor, though. I guess that can be a coincidence, but..."

"... But what?"

"... I'll tell you later. Right now, I really just want to relax a little bit. We're already dealing with trying to make amends with a nation that literally attacked Equestria, and nearly won too, so we need to be ready for... All that. So, let's keep our worries to what's immediately relevant now."

Trixie nodded, put down her playing cards and got out a strange rectangular device the same color as her coat. "Do you know what this is?"

Starlight shook her head, resulting in Trixie's grin.

"It's a human music player," Trixie beamed. "It's from the human year 2546, but it's meant to look like it's from 1987, and mother customized it to look like Trixie. It even has her cutie mark on the back!" Sure enough, the back had a crescent moon with a magic wand on it. "It has CENTURIES worth of songs on it! Trixie's never gotten to share this with somepony before aside from her mother! It has all sorts of artists ranging from the Vijjan band Fancy That to the Human band The Common Men! Just imagine, CENTURIES worth of tunes, all on this tiny little box."

Starlight nodded, grinning. "OK," she said, "where should we start?"

Trixie, for lack of a better word, squeed. "OK, so there's this band called Space Pirates, and they lived on a spaceship named The Twist, which is basically..."

Starlight could already tell that, at the very least, she was going to enjoy the trip.

30 Minute Intermission: Midnight Dreary

A Time Lady and a brigadier each walk into a room, one out of an office the other towards.

"I DEMAND TO SPEAK WITH YOU RI-"

They both stopped, realizing they said the same thing at the same time.

"Well," Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart began, "ladies first."

"Miss Nevermore" sneered. "Such a gentleman," she said with all the sarcasm a woman was allowed in 1970 and then some. "Well, to put it bluntly, your values of 'compassion' and 'empathy' have led to me getting into trouble with my... Well, now former employers."

"Is that so, Miss Nevermore?"

"As a matter of fact, I have been exiled to your measly little rock."

"Oh?"

"Well, as it turns out, humanity wasn't supposed to coexist with the Silurians... Well, ever, quite frankly, but especially not in 1970."

"And what gives your former 'employers' the right to judge what humanity can and cannot do?"

"Nothing, Brigadier, but my people are LORDS of TIME. What I've essentially done was throw a wrench into the whole of history. A new species pops up, changing the entirety of Earth's political history, and therefore its entire impact on the universe at large. Now they essentially have to relearn the entirety of the history of our universe after my interference. Thus, they have intercepted my TARDIS and exiled me to Earth. I was fortunate enough I was able to convince them that I had no idea what Earth history entailed. Speaking truthfully, if I did, I would have found another way out of that whole mess. And now, due to it being so impactful, it's a fixed point in time."

"I beg pardon?"

"Miss Nevermore" facepalmed. "Yes, right, I'm talking to a human. Alright, what would you say is the most impactful incident in your planet's recent history?"

The Brigadier paused for a moment. "Possibly the assassination of Frans Duke Ferdinand. Can't get much more impactful than causing two world wars, now can you?"

"Well, you definitely can, but that's besides the point. The actual point is that, if you were to time travel, you couldn't stop it. Why? Because you already knew it happened. If you managed to prevent it, it would have made it to where you wouldn't have known it happened, and therefore didn't try to stop it. And of course, if you didn't stop it, the event still happens, which means you do go back to change it, which means you don't, which means you do. Essentially, you create a paradox large enough to cause time to... Let's say malfunction. This could result in things such as time attempting to fix itself and causing horrible monsters to appear and eat away at the discrepancies, which includes living beings. In the worst case scenario, all of time could collapse in on itself, resulting in all of history happening all at once. Dinosaurs interrupt the founding of nations, television interviews are being conducted with Edgar Allan Poe, and the universe begins and ends at the same time."

The Brigadier nodded. "I see, so impossible to reverse, then?"

"And I doubt you would want to, what with all the technological progress you'll be able to make with the help of your new friends, so even if I could you would try and stop me."

"Quite right, I'm afraid. Well, is it really so bad? Being on Earth, knowing you allowed it to advance to further heights?"

"Yes! This entire planet is just so... Primitive! If there were a medical emergency and I couldn't get to my TARDIS in time, I could regenerate outside of my zero room, and that would be disastrous!"

The Brigadier frowned. "That does seem troubling. We could find a way to bring your TARDIS along with us on missions?"

"Miss Nevermore" hesitated. "I suppose that works, but even then I still have to deal with you and the other lousy humans and Silurians you keep under your employ."

"Ah, so I suppose I can dismiss Miss Shaw then, hm?" He smiled. "If this planet is truly such a burden for you, then surely having one less 'lousy human' to bother you would greatly improve your mood? After all, she was the one to convince you to not simply wipe out our new reptilian friends, which is what got you in trouble in the first place."

"... Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"No, of course not, 'Miss Nevermore.' It is an option. All you have to do is say the word, and I can ensure you'll have the peace and quiet you need on such a primitive planet as ours."

"... So what was your issue with me, then? It wouldn't have anything to do with those Martian ambassadors, now would it?"

Well, the Brigadier thought to himself, that's a good sign, at the least. "Yes, I do believe so. You nearly caused an international incident."

"Oh, come now, Brigadier, I solved the crisis of diplomacy between Earth and Mars, yes?"

"You killed a General! I had to do everything in my power to get my superiors to understand the situation!"

"He tried to start a war, and if unchecked he would have succeeded! He was the one trying to turn your cold war hot."

"Well you certainly didn't cool it down! On top of that, you almost made the whole matter public, which would have been a disaster for our entire organization!"

"I fail to see the problem with that."

"Well, if you start giving out the secrets of a government organization willy-nilly, not only will the public wonder what else we've been keeping from them, but British intelligence will immediately be bombarded by the spies of all our enemies." He snapped his fingers in realization. "That could heavily affect the outcome of the war and, therefore, the course of history. Now, would I be correct in saying you don't want more reasons for these 'Time Lords' to be upset at you?"

"... Yes, you would be. I would rather not use up one of my regenerations for something so trivial. I'll do my best to be more careful next time."

"Well, I'm glad I at least got that point across, 'Miss Nevermore.'"

"...The Raven."

"Pardon?"

"Miss Nevermore was an alias."

"I would be shocked if it wasn't."

The Raven decided to ignore that. "My actual name and title is simply the Raven."

"'The' Raven?"

"Correct. It's a part of Time Lord tradition. Typically you adopt a title and that becomes your new name. Mine was the Raven."

"I see. Considering I've met the Doctor I shouldn't be too surprised. Still, 'the Raven'? It sounds like a comic book character."

"As in superheroes? I suppose it does. I might as well lean into that just slightly. I'm planning on getting one of your 'caws' or 'automobiles' or whatever they're called. Perhaps I should name it. I'll be sure to ask Elizabeth for some advice."

"Ah, so you and Miss Shaw are on a first name basis then?"

"Shut it."

Briiiiiiiiiing!

Suddenly, the phone began to ring from the Brigadier's office. The Raven smiled. "I suppose I'll let you get that. I'm going to check in with the drilling project you're fuddling around with." She began to walk out.

"Say hello to Liz for me," the Brigadier teased. "I'm sure you're well aware that she's working on that project!"

He wasn't really sure if the Raven heard him. Regardless, he went into his office, picking up the phone... To find the ringing continued. He rolled his eyes and he reached for what would be a normal, unassuming banana if not for the sound and vibration it was giving up. I hope to God I never get used to that, he thought to himself.

"Now listen here," said the Brigadier, "I do hope you understand, Mr. Balor, that I look utterly ridiculous holding a banana up to my face."

A voice, that of "Mr. Balor," spoke in his mind. "Well Alistair, my friend, that is exactly why I did it, so I hope I understand too."

The Brigadier sighed. "Right, well, I suppose you want something of a progress report?"

"That would be most delightful," the voice said with a giddy excitement. "Any news on our feathered friend?"

"Quite a bit, actually. I think I have substantial evidence that she cares for Miss Shaw now, just as you wanted." Confetti appeared in the room from nowhere covering the entire office, and the Brigadier was already formulating a cover story about a prank from some old college chums.

"Splendid! I knew she would get along with Lizzy! How do you know for certain?"

"Well, I simply said she could have Miss Shaw sent away if she really thought humans were so horrid. She simply dodged it, which I believe is a good sign. Besides that, she's already on a first name basis with Miss Shaw. When I pointed that out, she simply told me to shut it."

"Mr. Balor" gasped in surprise. It was quite... Odd to hear someone else gasp in your mind. "Well, it's working better than I thought!"

"How so, Mr. Balor?"

"You're still alive, for one thing."

The Brigadier froze. He had forgotten who he was dealing with. "Right, well, damn fool of me to try that without any indication."

"I think the knowledge that we're seeing results is all that matters, truly. This is great news! You know, I used to be a completely apathetic being until I met my first friend."

"Your first?"

"Yes! She is such a lovely thing! I'm going to go on a trip with her later this week for a diplomatic mission! But yes, when I first heard about our feathered friend coming to your place, I looked into her past and realized... She really didn't have a friend like I did! Well, she had people who used her, but..." The voice stopped for a moment. "I had one of those, too. I really empathized with her, which in and of itself shows how far I've come. So obviously she needed a friend, and why not line her up with one of your best and brightest?"

The Brigadier nodded. "Yes, I think I have a better understanding of your motive now."

"I just told you my motive! Sheesh, who writes this schlock?"

Somewhere in the multiverse, a system sneezed.

"Anyways," the voice continued. "Keep up the good work! Ooh! Be sure to give our feathered friend Lizzy's number so they can talk off the clock! Ta-ta for now!"

And with that, the banana was a banana again, albeit one that magically didn't rot. The Brigadier sighed, relieved that today he would finally be able to relax and-

Briiiiiiiiiing!

He groaned, composing himself before answering. "Hello?"

"BRIGADIER! MICHEAL JUST BECAME A BLOODY WEREWOLF OR SOMETHING!"

Just another looooooooong day at UNIT, it seemed.

Author's Note

Hey! We decided to link our Cashapp here because we haven't been doing so hot, and so if you'd like to tip us and support what we do, here ya go! Thanks!
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(Expect to see this under every chapter. If you don't, assume we're being held hostage /joke)

Chapter 2: Raising The Curtains

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: Setting The Stage

"... And then I said, PLATYPUS!"

Discord and fluttershy erupted into rapturous laughter. Applejack, still pulling the cart along the trail on the way to the Badlands, was not as amused.

"What the hay does that have to do with noodles?"

"Oh, nothing at all," Discord elaborated. "I just thought it was humorous to say in the moment, and made a nice segway into this chapter." Applejack rolled her eyes at that. She had learned to live with his annoying fourth wall breaking... Even if it just left Rainbow and Rarity confused whenever it happened. Fluttershy just giggled, having talked to Discord enough to know what he was even doing.

He continued. "I do so love a platypus! It's so delightfully chaotic of a creature. It's like a miniature draconequus!"

Applejack scoffed. "I wouldn't be surprised if you made the suckers," she half-mumbled.

"Well..." Discord went quiet for a moment. Uncharacteristically so.

"Discord," Fluttershy said, "is something wrong?"

"Wh- Oh! Of course not, my dear Fluttershy. Well, nothing more 'wrong' with me than usual, anyhow."

Applejack laughed. "Discord, for a 'master of chaos' yer a worse liar than a cat with his paw in the fish bowl."

A floating cat with his paw in a fish bowl took the place of Discord. "Well, I don't think I'm as bad of a liar as that."

Applejack smirked. "Well, that one was just plain silly. Silence speaks louder than words, ya varmint."

Discord returned to normal. Well, OK, for a certain definition of normal. "Oh please! That was a fantastic recovery! The bit of self-depreciation works wonders, normally."

"Wait," said Fluttershy, "so you did lie?"

Discord went blank for a moment, before colored pencils appeared from thin air and drew him back in. He glared at Applejack. "So I suppose being deceptive doesn't count as dishonesty in your book?"

Applejack's smirk remained unchanged. "No, it was dishonest, but only to the point where ah got y'all to fess up."

Discord huffed. "It's personal, that's all."

Fluttershy flew up to Discord. "Too personal for me and Applejack?"

Discord looked at Fluttershy, seemingly weighing his options. He sighed. "Oh, you know I couldn't say no to you Fluttershy."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Fluttershy quickly added, only now aware of the guilt-trip she had caused. "You don't have to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable."

"Oh, it's not that," Discord said. "It's not anything wrong or embarrassing. Quite the opposite, honestly."

"The hay do ya mean?" Applejack was now curious, or at least more so than before.

"Well... Look, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. I wouldn't even want you to believe me!"

"Why not," asked Fluttershy.

"Let's just say that a lot of people would want to say thank you, and I'm uncomfortable with that much praise or attention or... What have you."

Both mares looked at each other in confusion. "Mind tellin' us what's wrong with all that? Ya have an ego the size of a mountain."

Discord cringed. "Well, it's often the way they say it. And how much. And what they'll do to show their devotion. Especially that last bit, really."

This failed to clarify literally anything to Applejack. "Mind not beating around the bush any more than necessary?"

"I don't like being worshipped," Discord said. "Having a following would be much too orderly."

Applejack went a bit wide-eyed at that. "Discord, what the everloving hay did you do where you would be worshipped for... Well, anythin'?"

Discord took a deep breath. "This may seem like a bit of a non-sequitur, but... Did you know all life is inherently chaotic?" He gave a nervous grin.

The cart stopped along with the three in front of it. Fluttershy gasped. Applejack's eyes went even wider. "Discord, you ain't sayin'-"

"Even when a tree grows, it displaces the air around it, bit by bit. When its leaves fall, it creates a rather large mess. Why, even if a living thing was actively trying to be more orderly, it couldn't be truly ordered due to it changing the environment around them, adding more variables, more possibilities, yadda yadda yadda. So yes, life is inherently chaotic."

Both mares had their mouths agape. "Discord," said Fluttershy after a moment of silence. "Did you create... The universe?"

"Oh, don't be silly," Discord responded to a very short lived sigh of relief. "I made all life in the universe!"

Stares. Stares and an awkward, snag-toothed smile was seemingly all that existed until a voice came from the cart. "Trixie would like to know why her cart stopped moving, if you don't mind."

"Oh, nothing," quickly chimed Discord. "Just something caught our attention, that's all."

"Alright, Trixie just wanted to check that nothing strange was going on." With that, she quickly rejoined Starlight to listen to more of John Smith and the Common Men with Starlight.

As the stares continued, so did Discord. "I also invented the multiverse, but that's a completely different thing. I made sure I was able to join in on that, of course, so there's an infinite number of mes running around, a lot of them with different backstories. No, the first universe was actually invented by my brother, Negligence."

Applejack's stared daggers, although she didn't have Discord's powers so that was just a metaphor. She decided get the cart moving again as she listened to... Whatever nonsense Discord was pulling this time. "Ya have a brother?"

"And two sisters," he elaborated as he and Fluttershy began matching Applejack's pace. "Actually, I think you'll find it funny that the game of marbles was invented before planets were."

"Discord," Fluttershy began to ask, "who were your siblings?"

Discord twiddled his equivalents to thumbs. "I suppose the audience can deal with some exposition. Well, we all popped into existence around the same time, I think, so us calling each other 'siblings' was our first collective invention. Also, our only one, since we wouldn't really collaborate for much longer after that. Although we only took after the gendered terms after some other species invented them, and it's really fairly arbitrary all things considered. Let's see what I can remember, since it was infinite years ago or so...

"Negligence was the eldest. He invented things. I quite liked things, for obvious reasons. He made the things so that he could make games out of them. I adored his games! Well, they were very simple since they were the first ones, but it was still a novel experience.

"Then, one day, I decided that these things weren't enough. I was a little bored, you see, since the things didn't do anything unless you were doing something to them other than atoms wiggling around a bit. So I decided 'why don't I make things that can do things on their own!' And so, I invented LIVING things! Granted, these living things are what some dimensions now like to call 'eldritch horrors,' but hey! It was a start!

"Then came my sister, Delusion. She was actually bored by the living things! See, upon seeing them, she invented these things called stories, which I'm sure all of you are familiar with." He winked at nothing in particular. "However, there's only so many times you can say 'once upon a time, a big thing walked around a place, the end,' before you start to get bored. So, she invented sapience. She's the reason you can all think! And let me tell you, seeing you here has definitely made me appreciate that.

"Then Ordinance, the youngest of us and my other sister, completely ruined it! She invented decay to mess with my brother's things! She invented death and made it to where my living things needed to eat other living things to not die! I'm lucky she forgot to mess with plants and other such things in that regard. She couldn't do anything to the sapient life specific to them, since Delusion took it all in stride, and she gave up after a while. Regardless, she tried her best to destroy everything! She didn't like things existing at all, but she couldn't destroy it outright, not while I and Delusion were around, anyways.

"At some point we had to trap Negligence in another dimension. He just didn't care whether or not lives were hurt in his little games, which made me upset, he kept interfering with Delusion's stories, and Ordinance invented the feeling of being annoyed simply in response to him, so for everyone's good, including his own, we had him trapped in a little pocket dimension where he could do whatever he wanted. As long as no one does something stupid like invoke a superstition at the edge of the universe, he should be trapped there even now! Or at least, he could only exist in one universe at a time. I think. I hope.

"Delusion and I did get around to stopping Ordinance soon after that. We took away her ability to destroy anything, so as long as she doesn't get the key to time she shouldn't be able to do too much. Unfortunately, Delusion and I fell apart after that. She actually liked death as a story-telling element, mainly, and she made sure sapient life had the capacity for war and hatred. I still don't get why she did any of that. But yes, that's the bare basics of how existence started! Do I get an A+ on my history assignment?"

Applejack just stared into the distance. "Uh, Discord, that was, uh-"

"YOU POOR THING!"

Applejack quickly looked in Fluttershy's direction. "Say what now?"

"He had his own siblings turn against him," Fluttershy explained. "That means he never really had a family! He never had parents! For so many years, he's... He's been alone."

Applejack blinked. "I mean, yeah, ah know more than anypony family's important, but-"

Before she could say another word, Discord quickly went in for a hug on Fluttershy. "Don't worry about all that, my dearest Fluttershy. Like I said, this was all infinite years ago, and there weren't any other families to speak of at the time so it didn't hurt as much. Parents weren't even invented yet, after all. But look at me nowadays! I'm definitely not alone any more, thanks to you, my dear Fluttershy. I still have you and the rest of your friends no matter what, and no matter how hopelessly sappy it is, it's the truth." Both smiled in the embrace, just happy to have one another.

Applejack just stared at the pair absolutely gobsmacked. "Well, I was gonna say 'well boy howdy that was a lot to take in at once,'" she muttered to herself, "knowing Discord of all creatures is responsible for mah existence an' all, but sure, focus on his family feudin'. 'Lestia damnit, Flutters..."

"What was it, Trixie?"

Trixie looked at her... Date? Was that right? She liked using the term, but she wasn't sure how well it applied to a diplomatic trip into the Badlands. Nevertheless, she was enjoying herself. She was with a gorgeous mare, finally able to talk about her mother's stories, and currently listening to some ancient tunes from centuries past with said gorgeous mare. If it was a date, it was a damned good one.

"Oh, they just got distracted by something. It's probably nothing too exciting anyways."

Starlight nodded. The song changed to an old tune sung in a language neither understood, aside from one odd little phrase, "Doo'Naa the Noble."

Starlight raise an eyebrow. "Why is part of it in Equestrian?"

Trixie shrugged. "Trixie's mother said it may be about one of the Doctor's companions."

Starlight's eyes narrowed. "What makes her say that?"

"Apparently it usually happens to those that travel with him. They become great heroes sung about in faraway galaxies, centuries before they were born and centuries after they died. Trixie was always a little jealous, if she's being honest."

Starlight giggled. "Well, according the Doctor we know, he hasn't gotten to that level... Well, not yet. Time travel, I guess."

"Well, Trixie supposes all legends start somewhere. Look at Trixie, for example! Today, a sideshow cart, tomorrow, a celebrated magician beloved by all!"

Starlight gave a warm smile. "I'm sure you will be. I mean, you have at least one fan here, after all!"

Trixie blushed. "You really think so?"

Starlight looked at Trixie. For a showoff who called herself "Great and Powerful," she was far more self-conscious than most would think. "Trixie, I know so. In fact, once we get back home, I can teach you some magic that I think will really help you out."

This resulted in an impromptu hug that bordered on a tackle. "Thank you," was all Trixie said. Granted, she said that about 15 times in a row rather rapidly, but it was still all she said.

And so they embraced one another as a song about a great hero in another universe played throughout the cart.

Author's Note

Chapter 4: Fight Call

WARNING: The following chapter contains the fictious depiction of a eugenicist, a practitioner of a political ideology The Madwomen find abhorrent and immoral. It is not detailed, but the themes are present. Viewer discretion is advised.

"So that was you, but with a different face," Rainbow said, half-asking.

"Precisely" was the Doctor's simple reply. He was well-composed, but the way he had talked about what he saw showed he was clearly shaken. Still, the Doctor wasn't the type to let horrifying things leave him speechless and unhelpful, at least for this regeneration.

"OK," Rainbow continued, "but he was still acting really different from you."

"Oh, there's a good reason for that," Pinkie chimed in. "When your body changes, so does your brain. You're still the same person, but you could have different thought processes which can affect how you act. Like I used to be a big ol' grumpypants who was serious and mean all the time, but now I'm Pinkie Pie!"

There was a bit of an internal cringe amongst the non-Time Lords present. The idea that their friends could become almost a different person if things went wrong...

"Yes, yes, all well and good," Rarity said, "although I should say that he seemed... Quite sorrowful in his recklessness."

The Doctor nodded. "Only the grieving would do something so drastic."

Twilight was flying overhead. She was scouting out the place for any monsters, maniacal villains, or foalnapped DJs since she was comparatively safe, being an immortal and all. Thus far, there was next to nothing left to explore. "OK girls, we still need to find out where Vinyl could be. We know that she can't have been trapped within the show, since we all went in and out of the stage fine. That being said, I have a theory, and it's one none of us are going to like."

This resulted in Rainbow groaning. "What is it, Twi?"

Twilight grinned anxiously. "I was thinking that maybe some features would only be visible if one of us was holding the mask. It's likely that what would be performed on stage would go on without any interference, and since all the 'performances' were some sort of worst case scenario, I suggest we all stay back and let it continue without us getting on stage so that we can avoid traumatic experi-" She was interrupted by a line of colors racing past her. She turned to see Rainbow on stage, in a position gearing for a fight.

"Hey Doc," Rainbow shouted, "wanna try out some Venusian karate against an evil me?" Twilight facehoofed. Right, she thought to herself. She literally dreams of fighting a horde of villains every night. Of course she would want to fight some evil version of herself, since that gives her a challenge.

The Doctor thought for a moment, before giving a sly grin. "Well, I suppose you could need a practical test on your abilities." Pinkie was the one to facehoof this time. Pinkie, you silly-billy, she thought. He's only on his third regeneration, and the Doctor always told me that version of him was an adrenaline junkie. No matter how much older he looks, he's still younger than when I met him.

The Doctor used a teleportation spell to appear right next to Rainbow, as Twilight gestured Pinkie to follow her in exploration. This left Rarity alone in the audience. Well, she thought, at least I get to see a show. With Rainbow and the Doctor working together, perhaps this won't be nearly as emotionally devastating as... Well, the other three.

Rainbow turned towards the Doctor. "Alright Doc, think you can teleport the mask here without activating it?" The Doctor smiled. "Let's find out. However, if we end up in a production that has me playing the part of Davros or something similarly horrible because of this, I shall blame you."

"No idea who that is," Rainbow admitted, "but sure. I just hope the other me isn't a Sombra equivalent or some shit like that."

"I similarly don't know who that is, Miss Dash, but I'll take your word on it."

"He was an evil dictator that brainwashed and enslaved an entire empire, with his eyes set on making all of Gaea his puppets. Your guy?"

"Created the Daleks, a species that can only feel hatred for other species and routinely commit genocide."

"OK, your guy wins in the evil competition, but not by a lot."

"Well, it certainly isn't neck-and-neck."

With that, the Doctor cast a spell on the mask that took it from the seat to in front of Rainbow. He was quite proud of how far he had come as a magic-user, although he still believed there was some sort of scientific explanation to it all. Starlight made a startlingly good teacher, to the point where the Doctor thought she would work best in a schooling environment. In response to the spell, the curtain twitched for a moment before returning to its original position.

Rainbow took a deep breath. "Alright, let's kick some flank."

She picked up the mask, putting it on top of her head like a hat so that she couldn't drop it in any altercations. As she did, the curtains opened, and the stage transformed around her and the Doctor. The dark wood of the venue faded, replaced by cold, dark machinery. The room was lit only by some colored tubes of liquid, thick in consistency. The containers each glowed with a unique color, each a color of the rainbow and larger than some adult dragons. The red tube in particular unnerved both adventurers, as the texture and color was disturbingly similar to blood.

"Miss Dash," the Doctor said, "have you the slightest indication of where we are?"

Rainbow nodded. "I think we might be in some dark version of the rainbow factory in Cloudsdale. It doesn't feel like it's the real deal, but more like the scary stories ponies tell around campfires about it."

"Could you elaborate?"

Rainbow scoffed. "Apparently they drain flight school dropouts of the color in their mane and coat, leaving them for dead. I wouldn't be surprised if the story was made up by parents trying to scare their pegasus foals into getting passing grades. It's a bit ridiculous if you think too hard about it, but it's bucking cool and scary if you take it at face value."

"And what," said a cold, calculating echo of a voice, "is so ridiculous about our factory's work?"

Both turned to see another mirror image of a mare wearing a lab coat, although instead of a purple unicorn it was a cyan pegasus. Her expression would have been emotionless if not for the fact that her brow was furrowed, and there were small splatters of color on her lab coat and cheek. Red, of course, was the most prominent.

Now, while Rainbow Dash may be impulsive and ready for action, she is not an idiot. She met the far-future version of Twilight, and although this double's opening line indicated the contrary, perhaps there was more going on. She could have been putting on a facade in case others were listening. As such, conversation was a good opener, and THEN she could kick some flank if things went south.

"Well, for one thing, it's eugenicist garbage," she said. "Also, there's only like 9 to 10 dropouts every year. Not enough for a year's worth of rainbows. Can't you just use fruits or paints?"

"Paint does not have the magical qualities of organic material," the imposter replied as quick as a whip. "Mammals can produce the most of their color, and equines have the largest variety of colors. Even a single foal could give us a year's worth of their signature colors. Logically, then, it's the most practical and efficient method."

"You don't seem perturbed," the Doctor piped in, "for a mare encountering someone who looks exactly like her."

The double smiled, but only with her mouth. "I've had training since I was a foal. I applied to the factory from a young age, and management made sure I was a perfect worker, and now I run the factory. What that means is nothing can truly shock me anymore. My best guess is you're a changeling."

"And let me guess," Rainbow said, "it also made you bigoted as buck?"

The double's face soured. "If you mean to ask if I can see reality as it is, then yes."

The Doctor stepped forward as he noticed two other workers creeping up towards them. "How in the blazes do you think you can get away with killing innocent lives? The moment word gets out, your entire institution will rightfully crumble."

The double gave an empty laugh. "The masses may be deluded into thinking even our cover story of exile is too extreme, and wonder about our intentions, but they don't know anything about the cost of their little luxuries. Somepony needs to go to Tartarus with good intentions, so to Tartarus is where I'll go. And, of course, even if they were to discover the source of rainbows, what could any of them do about it? The factory may be a private venture, but we have our hooves in so much of Equestria's infrastructure that taking us down is impossible without taking down all of Equestria in the process. Even if what I'm saying was revealed to the public today, nothing would fundamentally change. This confession is worth nothing."

Rainbow scowled. She could feel her want for action change into morality-fueled rage at that. As she saw two strikingly familiar goons approach, she decided to give one more chance to this sociopathic monster, despite herself. "And what about Scootaloo?"

Rainbow could hear but not really remember what the double said next, exactly, but she got the gist of it. Something something "disappointment," something something "failed the exam," something something ableist slur, and then...

"I'm sure our orange and purple reserves will be supplied for the time being."

Rainbow pounced.

Pinkie and Twilight, thankfully, were not listening to the whole affair. Rarity was, however, and she stared dumbstruck at the stage, horrified beyond belief. However, more than that, it was... Odd, strangely enough. There were a lot of things that most people would have ignored, but Rarity had a marvelous eye for detail, so she was able to notice just the slightest things that were... Off.

She knew Rainbow was not faking the fight. Of course she wouldn't be. But the fight felt... Strangely choreographed. Each movement seemed perfectly able to be faked. When Rainbow went for the initial tackle, the double's wings seemed prepared for a strike the ground, as if to mitigate the impact. The hoof that hit the double's muzzle seemed like it was only a centimeter away from an actual punch. When the double held her face, red string in an imitation of blood fell out of her hoof.

It was hard to say which one was winning the fight. The real Rainbow Dash was clearly better trained. Between her knowledge of regular karate, her recent training in Venusian karate, and her general athletic abilities, she was certainly no slouch. However, the double was more disciplined. The fake moved with almost mechanical efficiency, expertly dodging most attempts at a blow.

The Doctor, for his part, was now being attacking by two stallions in similar lab coats to the imposter. Rarity noted how the two stallions looked eerily similar to two stallions who worked at the actual factory, foalhood bullies of Fluttershy and Rainbow. The Doctor was handling the two brutes well enough. After all, a 2-to-1 fight against the Doctor was unfair to the two. In any case, the fight still looked as choreographed as Dashie's. Each strike seemed to be the shortest possible distance away from an impact.

The strangest moment when it came to the Doctor, however, was when he brought out his rapier from the group's first adventure. Now, the Doctor had a little trick he would sometimes do, one which baffled Twilight and almost everyone else to no end, aside from Pinkie who was... Well, Pinkie, but also a Time Lord. What he would do is simply materialize it from nothing, or at least seemingly so, with no magic whatsoever. Strange how science and magic seem indistinguishable at times.

However, he did something that was clearly supposed to be that trick, but wasn't. Rather, it was tossed towards him from offstage. This was somehow even more baffling than the trick. Rarity knew Twilight checked backstage to the sight of nothing, and she and pinkie were searching around the building at that very moment. They definitely would have mentioned a contraption, a living being, or even a strange source of magic in the back. Instead, a sword appeared out of nowhere, being tossed to the Doctor, who was not even aware of what just happened.

It was one thing when it was dialogue, because any play could replicate that. However, when complex movement was involved, it felt... Fake. Like a show. Which definitely didn't make sense, considering she knew at least two of the people on the stage were actual people fighting for their lives. Maybe it was an advanced form of illusion magic, but a part of her wondered... Were there any actors present? Normally, a play was actors playing characters. But Rainbow Dash and the Doctor were not actors. Since they were technically a part of the performance, they were characters. But how can a play have characters without any actors? What if, instead of actors playing characters, it was characters unknowingly playing actors? It was as if she was having suspension of belief, rather than disbelief, like the stage was doing its damnedest to convince you what was happening wasn't real. It all sounded ridiculous, but she just couldn't shake that thought no matter how hard she tried.

On top of that, Rainbow's double said something to Rainbow that, for most people, would appear to just be generic "evil villain" dialogue. However, for Rarity, it sounded familiar somehow, in a way she couldn't explain.

"You imbecile! You have signed your death warrant!"

Poof

Pinkie decided to ignore her Pinkie sense for now. She knew Rarity did something weird, but that was useless at the moment. She and Twilight were searching the entire building, starting from the front, checking the foyer and bar, and now they were about to head upstairs into the sound room. On the way there, they noticed Rainbow and the Doctor fighting on the stage. Since this was what Rainbow and the Doctor set out to do, they falsely assumed the pair was happy, or at least weren't absolutely enraged at the monster they were fighting. Pinkie shouted out "yeah, you get 'em, Dashie!" Then, they headed up.

When they entered the sound room, they were greeted with old audio equipment and the sounds of the fighting grunts of Rainbow, the Doctor and... Well, kind of Rainbow. Pinkie immediately noticed something on the desk facing towards the stage.

"Hey Twily," Pinkie said, "what's the difference between anxiety and dread?"

Twilight's brain immediately went into scholar mode. "Anxiety is worrying about the many ways a situation could go wrong, like if you were worried about the many ways a date could go south. Dread is when you know something is bad, but you don't know how, like when you--" Twilight stopped. "Wait, why are you asking me this?"

Pinkie grinned. "Because of this screen, silly. It's measuring those and a few other emotions."

Twilight blinked. "I'm sorry, did you say a screen?" Twilight did know what a screen was thanks to the mirror world where Sunset lived, basically just technology-based magic mirrors, which meant she also knew they shouldn't exist in Equestria. "Here? How? I checked this room earlier and didn't see anything." She trotted up to the display Pinkie was pointing towards. It was a black screen with a green text overlay, and there were two segments of a retracted latch, showing how the screen managed to hide itself, which caused Twilight to theorize that it needed a performance in order to come out of hiding. It read...

Fear: 58% required
Anger: 108% required
Anxiety: 34% required
Dread: 87% required
Shock: 56% required
Conclusion: Insufficient emotional input. Please stand by.

Twilight pondered this for a moment, noticing dread in particular was rising while shock was lowering. "They're all negative emotions..." She thought back to the mirror world. "Sirens? They feed off of negative emotions, but I don't think they could even develop electronics due to living primarily in water, and the Dazzlings wouldn't be able to bring over human tech without it turning into something else. Maybe it's an extraterrestrial equivalent to sirens? Sontarans are like ponies in a way."

Pinkie used her sonic. "My sonic can't do anything with it. All this is is a display. Whoever set this up covered up their tracks super-duper well. No evidence of internet, either. Really, it shouldn't even have a real power source, which is weeeeeiiiiiiirrrrrd."

Twilight gasped slightly. "What if they're using magic to connect it to the main machine? We just have to find where it leads, and we'll be set! Are you able to track it?"

Pinkie used her sonic again, this time analyzing the box itself. "No opening," she frowned, "and no magic trail either. I think there might be a camouflage spell on this thing, and I haven't had a chance to study those kinds of spells. I mean, the source is still probably in the building somewhere, but that's all the info I got. Sorry, Twily."

Twilight looked down in disappointment and thought. Suddenly, both turned towards the sound of a speaker with Rainbow's voice. "LISTEN HERE, YOU BUCKING MONSTER," came the scream, "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THEM!"

A much colder version of her voice replied "I AM SIMPLY DOING MY JOB, AND THE LITTLE BRATS YOU HOLD SO DEAR ARE PART OF THAT!"

Twilight and Pinkie looked out the sound room window and onto the stage. The real Rainbow, the one with the mask, had the double pinned. However, the double broke one foreleg free, bringing a hoof straight across the real one's right eye. This in turn, sent the mask flying off the stage, past the closing curtains, and into Rarity's magic before it could hit her face directly.

This, of course, resulted in the two marefriends leaving the sound room... Not noticing how the percentages in each category on the screen were starting to rise.

Rainbow's eye was a wreck. She just knew it would become a black eye soon enough. She thought it was poetic, really. She did something impulsive and reckless, and that resulted in her being incredibly pissed off with and injuring herself. She would find it funny, if it weren't for the harrowing experience that caused the injury. She hoped what just happened was just illusion magic or something like that. She didn't want to even entertain the notion that anyone could be capable of being that hateful, ableist murderer, least of all herself. She took no joy or catharsis in the fight like she thought she would. Such a potential revelation dampened the mood on things, it turned out.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was analyzing their new surroundings. His two assailants and Rainbow's doppelganger were all gone, but it also seemed like most of the landscape was as well. It was almost a desert of sorts, like a massive catastrophe had struck. There was also a strange, haunting melody permeating through the air, its source unknown... Where ever or whenever this was, the calamity left nothing behind but an oppressively sunny sky and piles of rubble.

Then he heard Rainbow screaming.

The Doctor rushed over to see Rainbow on her back, looking at the corpse of a purple pegasus with a Cutie Mark of a top hat on her flank. "Calm down, Miss Dash," he said. "I understand it was-"

Just then, a hoof sprung out of some of the rubble, grabbing the Doctor's hindleg.

"What in the Devil?" The Doctor didn't struggle too much when shaking it loose, but the fright it caused let it latch on about 1.1843 seconds longer than it otherwise would have. Rainbow heard the commotion and quickly trotted over to it. Looking at the leg sticking out, it was a stained marshmallow white. Rainbow immediately sprang into action, helping the pony out of the debris. The Doctor quickly joined in. Once they had dragged the mare out of the rubble, just as they expected, Rarity stood before them. Or, at least, a facsimile of her did. However, something in her eyes told the pair that she wasn't exactly all there... If she was there at all. Perhaps it was the fact that they were now a sickening shade of yellow.

"The gladiators," the other Rarity gasped. "The playwright, the musician, the historian... The Author..."

Rainbow just stared. "Uhhhhhhhh-"

"I have seen a different past," she said, "yours. Mine is long gone now. Mine is gone..."

She stared into nothing for a moment before continuing. "The Relief will fight art, and she shall be the protagonist for the fifth."

Rainbow was just plain confused. "The fifth of when? Who the buck is the Relief? What the flying buck are you talking about?"

The Doctor stepped closed. "Allow me, miss Dash. Have you any idea what happened here?"

"The third went solo, Doctor." She stared at him, directly. "The fourth will be a familiar face, the Relief and the Prodigy are the first, and you have met the second." Then she stared into space again.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Yes, well, do you mind telling us who the Relief or the Prodigy is? Or give us a hint?"

The other Rarity stared into space. "look into my eyes, and you tell me."

The Doctor paused, gaining a worried expression. "I see. So you are of no further help to us?"

A long period of silence followed that question. She trotted past the pair to stare further into nothing... Seemingly nothing. She stared in a specific direction. "Make not the same mistake as I," she said. "Open the heirloom. Face yourself."

Poof

She turned back to the pair. "My puppeteer's mother will take the stage, she of a thousand faces. When she does, the puppets shall follow, and they shall try to turn Gaea to cinders. Be wary, Doctor, for you can only deal with the puppets. With that, my time has come." She turned back to the nothing she was staring at. She bowed... And collapsed.

It was only then Rarity dropped the mask out of sheer terror, allowing the other Rarity and her environment to disappear and sending the Doctor and Rainbow back to the theater... Only to realize the other Rarity was staring in the direction of the curtain.

Fear: 126% required
Anger: 64% required
Anxiety: 64% required
Dread: 98% required
Shock: 73% required
Conclusion: Insufficient emotional input. Please stand by.

Author's Note

Chapter 5: In The Round

"Well, this has been quite unpleasant surprise."

Discord just gave quite the understatement of... Well, that week at the very least. They had just crossed into the Badlands after many hours of walking and were getting closer to the Changeling Kingdom and, just as Twilight had cautioned, none of their magic worked there... Including Discord's. Discord's loss of power in particular was especially harrowing, considering the informational equivalent to a nuclear bomb Discord had just dropped. The idea that even Discord, who had created all life according to him and was provably the embodiment of chaos itself, was powerless in this realm was worrying.

Not that anyone else was having the time of their lives. Fluttershy couldn't fly, although that didn't bother her as much as Discord's more distraught state of mind, as he couldn't comprehend ever losing his power outright. The two unicorns, still in the trailer, were more anxious, but overall were just enjoying each other's company and using that to keep their minds of things.

Applejack, however, was the most surprised. She could still drag the cart along fine enough, but it felt significantly... Well, not so much heavier as much as not as light, like there was another pony trying to drag it backwards to no avail. To clarify, Earth Ponies are very much like humans in terms of their magical makeup, in that they both have very subtle magic that could only be spotted by the utmost magic users, it makes them somewhat stronger, and it makes them significantly better at agriculture. If a human were to lose their magic, they would both no longer be able to become an agricultural farmer, as well as be noticeably, though not significantly, weaker. Applejack could still do all the work she could do before, just with a bit more effort. She was an athlete after all. Although she did begin to worry that Rainbow might actually beat her in a hoofrace in these conditions. She decided to ignore that nightmarish thought with a few more questions...

"So uh, Discord, say anythin' from those other two u-ni-verses were tah come over an' cause trouble. How would our u-ni-verse stack up?"

Discord pondered this for a moment. "Are you familiar with the game of rock-paper-scissors?"

This resulted in a particularly blank stare from Applejack.

Discord stared blankly in return. "Right, hooves. See, it's a very simple game that younger people with hands, claws or talons play. All you need to know is that rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock."

"Why the hay does paper beat rock?"

"Paper covers the rock and rocks don't do a lot against paper."

"Yah could just press the rock hard enough tah put a hole through the paper."

"Yes, but the game needs something to beat rock! Anyways, let's consider the first universe to be rocks, the second to be scissors, and yours to be paper. Now, that doesn't mean that each universe in this instance automatically wins, it's just that each one has an... Advantage."

"So we get tah be the part that can also lose tah rock?"

"Well, you can also beat scissors if you're better prepared. It's just that each one has an advantage. Your own has magic and the ability to turn emotions into weapons. The universe before you has technology that could mess with time itself. The oldest universe in the multiverse, which came before that one, has eldritch powers and their very form could drive anything that views them utterly insane! They're each weak against one, but strong against the other, but unlike the actual game it's not an automatic win-or-loss."

"Hrm..." Applejack pondered this. "So they could still drive ponies an' other creatures on Gaia crazy?"

Discord became slightly annoyed. "Well, yes, but you can still defeat them with the power of friendship and what-have-you."

"So just press the rock hard enough tah put a hole through the paper?"

Discord began scratching the back of his head. "Well, I admit, it's not a perfect metaphor" he said, growing increasingly worried that it was, before perking up slightly again, "but you were able to defeat me, and I created the beings in that universe! So as long as you have the power of friendship, you should be able to take on whatever comes your way!"

"Can they both kill us? The other u-ni-verses? Paper only covers rock. The other two can wreck the others."

Discord scoffed. "Sure, sure, but you have the ability to befriend many of your enemies! Maybe not all of them, but if dearest Fluttershy can befriend me and the Nestine, I'm sure Cthulhu is more than amicable. Granted, he's a bit of a knight templar, but-"

"WE'RE HERE!"

The yell was loud enough for the arguing pair to notice, as well as the two mares in the cart to jump out to see what was the matter.

"What's wrong," said a startled Starlight, "is anypony hurt?!?"

"Trixie and her Great and Beautiful marefriend were just-" Trixie paused for a split-second, not wanting to reveal her technology. "Just having a nice chat! This had better be important!"

"Oh," Fluttershy said meekly, "sorry. You guys weren't listening so I had to a bit more assertive. Sorry. I was just saying we could see the castle now for the past two minutes." Sure enough, they were now right in front of the Changeling Kingdom. Of course, now there was a faint buzzing... That was growing louder and louder.

"Um, maybe I was too loud?"

Discord and Starlight instinctively began trying to teleport everyone away... Only remembering as they were now being surrounded of their new lack of powers. The changelings seemed to blacken the sky in their sheer numbers. As it turns out, if it was loud enough to get past advanced audio technology from 2546, it was loud enough to alert the changeling military. Fluttershy immediately hid behind Discord as the rest stood their ground.

Starlight cleared her throat. "Salutations," she said completely confidently in the same way the Apple family grew ice cream on their farm, "we've come on a diplomatic mission! We have a gift to make potential allies with you! We have brought the elements of honesty and kindness with us to show we have no ill intentions and we mean you no harm."

"It's true," added Applejack, who was quietly thinking something along the lines of well lasso me up and call me a timberwolf, we're trapped.

From the crowd of soldiers, out came two changelings in regalia, one large with purple eyes and one average-sized with cyan ones. The larger one gave off a threatening aura, clearly the leader in the situation, while the other seemed more meek and nervous.

"Well, this is a surprise, ain't it brother?" The larger one flew directly in front of Starlight. "All of a sudden, they want to communicate. This wouldn't have anything to do with that attack in Canterlot, does it?"

"Oh," Starlight said, ever-so-slightly relieved that it didn't immediately devolve into conflict, "not at all! We already know for a fact your people had nothing to do with it." Applejack nodded, just in case her element of honesty gave Starlight's statements credibility.

The large one growled softly. "Who did then? That's what I wanna know."

Starlight gulped. "Would you believe me if I told you it was some... Um... Window shop dummies?" She smiled.

The largest changeling looked to Applejack, who simply went "eeyup." He glanced to the cargo behind the cart, ignoring the answer. "What's in there?"

"Oh! Right!" Starlight relaxed a little more. "You'll have to ask Fluttershy what's in there. She wanted to keep it a surprise, even from the rest of us."

"A surprise, huh? Would she mind if I had my best changeling take a look?"

The yellow mare in question peeked out from behind Discord. "Oh, um, as long as you don't tell anypo- Oh, I mean anyone else before we show it to Queen Chrysalis."

The large one nodded. "Thorax!" He turned to the changeling next to him, who saluted haphazardly. "Check under that tarp, then whisper to me what's under it, understood?"

Thorax stuttered. "U-Uh, y-yes sir!"

"And please, no need to act so formal with me, I'm your brother, for Chrysalis' sake!"

"Sorry, Pharynx."

Starlight's ears perked up. "Wait, Thorax? I thought you were back in the Crystal Empire!"

Thorax cringed as Pharynx stared daggers at his brother's direction and the rest of the changelings looked on confused. "W- well, pony who I haven't, uh, ever met in my life before, uh, ever, I came back to the Kingdom because, uh, I was worried the attack would be blamed on changelings? So I, uh, went back home and, uh, we're probably going to have a conversation after this, aren't we, Pharynx?"

"Yes," growled Pharynx through gritted fangs.

After a short period of awkward silence, Thorax spoke up again. "W-well, I'll check that tarp! Yep! On it!" He flew quickly towards the tarp in question as the rest of the people there looked on.

Pharynx looked towards Starlight. "How do you know him?"

Starlight got more tense. "Well, you see, he kinda sorta made friends with Spike, though not on purpose!"

Pharynx rolled the white lights peeking through his eyes. "Well, since I know for a fact you're supposed to be a powerful mage, you wouldn't be so stupid as to let that slip if you meant us trouble. I have been informed you are just stupid enough to do that if he really was just your friend." This caused Starlight to silently curse herself.

"Still," he continued, "what happens next determines if we continue talking or if we... Do something more fun for me." The changeling smiled.

Starlight gulped. "Right."

Thorax returned with a confused expression on his face, constantly turning back to the cargo. He whispered into Pharynx's... Well, equivalent to an ear. Pharynx began sharing the same confused expression. He cleared his throat. "Miss Fluttershy," he inquired, "what's the purpose of your... Cargo?"

Fluttershy smiled a little. "Oh! It's meant to be a long-term source of food for your people!" If she weren't so nervous she would have sounded almost full of pride.

The changelings surrounding the group of friends began whispering with shock and curiosity as the two brothers only looked at each other with further confusion. "Um," Thorax began, "are you certain you have the right things?"

"Oh!" Fluttershy looked alarmed. "Is there something wrong?"

Thorax flew over to Fluttershy and whispered in her ear. Fluttershy relaxed a little. "Yes, that's right. That's what's supposed to be there."

The brothers looked at each other once more. Pharynx shook his head. "Thorax, please check them to make sure they aren't carrying... Anything else, that's surprising. After that, check their cart." Thorax nodded and got to work, doing a quick pat-down of the five, even if Discord was slightly annoyed he couldn't recreate that one scene from the Mask with his powers. However, once he got to Trixie he stopped. He felt her chest for a while longer than he probably should've, much to Trixie's confusion. He rushed back to Pharynx without going to Applejack or the cart, whispering into the side of his head again. If everyone there didn't know better, they would have thought the expression on Pharynx's face showed... Fear.

He cleared his throat again. "Alright, you larvae! Escort them to the throne room! However, the blue one goes with me and Thorax."

Trixie gulped, unsure of what she even did wrong. "Wait, can Starlight come with Trixie too? The Purple-ish one!"

Pharynx, for whatever reason, had a look of suspicion, eyeing between Trixie and Starlight. "Fine, fine."

And so the group became separated, with the larger section becoming increasingly worried for the remainder.

Trixie began talking with her new escorts. "Excuse Trixie, but what did she do wrong? She wasn't carrying anything, was she? She didn't even bring in her trusty cape and hat!"

"Oh, right," Pharynx said, "you're the one who talks in third person, right?"

"How do you know that," Starlight asked, irritated.

"We've had spies all over, 'Little Miss Equality.'" Starlight gritted her teeth at that as Pharynx continued. "Listen, it's not what you brought, Miss High & Mighty, it's what you are."

"What do you mean by-" Trixie stopped. Thorax had felt her chest.

Where her heart was.

No, not heart, singular...

"Wait," Trixie continued, putting the pieces together, "you know about the Time Lords?"

Pharynx scoffed. "Not enough to know what you're called. I honestly thought you were a myth, a little pod-time story to scare the hatchlings."

"W- well, Trixie doesn't know what you're talking about! She isn't even 20 yet! You must have her confused for another one."

"Clearly," Thorax said. "The legend said that-"

"Thorax," Pharynx interrupted, "it's best we let the Queen tell it. If it's true, she has the most accurate account, being there and all."

"Wait," Starlight said, "you're taking us to Queen Chrysalis directly?"

"With no subjects to upkeep an image for," Pharynx grinned. "Better hope she's in a good mood." He chuckled softly, although there was just a hint of nervousness hidden within that laugh. They had arrived at a large, empty room, filled mostly with green slime and no door. "Your highness," said Pharynx, "we have guests."

Bright green eyes shone from the shadows at the back of the room, before they seemed to turn a full 180 degrees. A figure approached, crawling along the roof slowly but surely. There appeared Queen Chrysalis herself, soon mere inches from them. Her head was completely right-side-up, ignoring the upside-down body on the ceiling's position. She grinned. "Well, well, two tasty unicorns filled to the brim with love. You've done well, general."

Both changelings bowed. "Thank you, your highness," began Pharynx, "but I'm afraid these are not for consumption." Both unicorns hurriedly bowed along with their guards, eyeing each other anxiously.

"Oh? And why not?"

Thorax was the next to speak. "M- my lady, they've come on a diplomatic mission, and they've come with gifts. Two of the elements and the being known as D- Discord are awaiting you in the throne room."

Chrysalis' expression soured slightly. "And have you checked these supposed gifts?'"

"Yes, your highness," said Pharynx. "They say it's meant to help with our food problem, although my brother and I fail to see the purpose of it. We're not allowed to say because it's 'a surprise' or something like that."

The Queen's expression turned to hunger. "Then why have you brought these two very loving unicorns to me?"

Thorax seemed to choke on his words before he spoke them. "T- two hearts."

Queen Chrysalis' appeared shocked, yet calm. "What?"

"The blue one," he continued. "She has two h- hearts."

"The blue one?" The Queen looked on in disbelief, seemingly gazing into Trixie's soul. "So she does. Her love was so bountiful it masked that fact. And the other?"

Pharynx responded. "She requested it, and, well, the stories... Forgive me, my Queen, I did not want to see if those stories were true."

Queen Chrysalis sighed, placing her body back on the floor to match her head, revealing her tall, imposing stature. "I cannot blame you."

Starlight looked at the changeling queen. "You... Wouldn't know anything about a figure named 'The Master,' would you? He may be the cause of-"

"I've met him, yes," the Queen confirmed. "He was a grey minotaur, correct? It was only today, however. He told me of your arrival, although failed to mention... Well, your friend's heritage. Of course, I've long learned to not accept the advice of a two-hearted prophet..."

Starlight started putting the pieces together. It was entirely possible the Master overheard the plan to make allies out of the Changeling Kingdom, attempted to sabotage it, and then afterwards went backwards in time to propose to Starlight a "grace period", being a time traveler. There were possibly more points he had traveled to to try and make her life that much harder as well. "That time-traveling snake..."

"But wait," Trixie said. "who was the Time Lord that met you?"

"Ah, so a time traveler then. That does explain how she knew about our invasion of Trot. Her betrayal should not have been as surprising as it was..."

"Who?"

"I don't quite remember, but I believe her name meant something like 'Princess' or 'Queen' in some more southern parts of Saddle Arabia."

Starlight thought for a moment. "Sorry, I don't know geography or language all too well."

Queen Chrysalis paused for a moment. "It's the area where the cuisine of the 'Tasty Treat' in Canterlot comes from?"

None present gave any indication that they understood what that meant.

"Trixie would like to know how you know about Canterlot cuisine."

"Spies. It doesn't matter anyways," continued the Queen. "What does matter is your intentions now."

Trixie gulped. "Trixie would like to assure you that none of us mean any harm, she swears! Starlight, a little help here?"

"Unneeded. You look different from what she looked like."

"That really doesn't mean much."

The Queen... Did something akin to cocking an eyebrow. "Explain. Now."

"Did you damage her in any way?"

"Yes..."

"And did she glow?"

"... It's a healing property of sorts. What's your point?"

"It's more than that. It only shows up when a Time Lord is lethally damaged."

"Oh good, at least I nearly killed her. And I suppose I didn't because..?"

"Trixie's mother called it 'regeneration.' If a Time lord would die, they instead completely change themselves physically and mentally."

"Physically?"

"... They get a new body, or so mother told Trixie."

The Queen stood in silence following this. "How big of a change?"

"Everything, Trixie thinks, though higher trained Time Lords have more control over it. They could change species, gender, personality, anything. The only thing that remains intact is memory, and even that can be jumbled initially." Trixie chuckled slightly. "Trixie's mother used to tell her stories of how she knew a Time Lord who regenerated into an entire ecosystem, including all the plants and animals."

All in the room grew quiet. Trixie herself was very confused at the looks of abject horror she was receiving. "What?"

"Anything," Queen Chrysalis repeated. "Well, I suppose I now know how Celly feels about me." There was no humor in her joke. "Do you possess this power?"

"Trixie... Doesn't know," she admitted. "She does know one goes to an academy to train it, but she doesn't know if it can be inherited."

The Queen nodded. "Are there any others of this species I should know about?"

Starlight winced, unsure if she should say. Ultimately, however, Pinkie had made it public knowledge that they were of a different planet, if not the exact details. And if she kept information from the Changeling Queen, and she found out... "Two of our friends, the Doctor and Pinkie Pie, who used to go by the name Romana. As well as Trixie's mother, the Spectacle."

Chrysalis thought for a moment. "No, those names aren't familiar in the slightest, although I am not surprised to learn the element of laughter is more than just an average mare. And this 'Master?'"

"Keep far, FAR away from him. He's a monster."

The Queen growled. "So long as he doesn't do what the Loveless did, I shall handle him swiftly."

"The Loveless?"

"It's what I called her. There was no love in her hearts in the slightest. Imagine, two hearts and not an ounce of affection? Even this 'Master' figure possessed some love, albeit in an... Unconventional way."

Trixie gulped. "May Trixie ask what 'The Loveless' did?"

The Queen stayed silent for a moment. She gave a deep sigh. "She... Experimented on my subjects. Specifically, she designed a disease to cripple us. You can see her marks even to this very day. When I told this story to Twilight and her little friends, I told them Celestia was the one who did this-" She lifted a leg, the holes hollow and vacant, much weaker than they should be- "And trapped us in a volcano. Even I don't have the heart for a truth like that unprovoked, although I couldn't stop the rumors. The Loveless scarred our kind and maimed our history, all in the name of her sick, twisted form of learning. And I highly recommend that, if you see her or cross her path, do not rely on your silly principles of love and friendship, at least not solely. Unless a being as powerful as Discord is around, do not fight her or engage with her. Even I only succeeded in wounding her out of sheer luck. If you want my advice... You run."

She sighed again, turning to Pharynx. "General Pharynx, are my subjects waiting for me?"

Pharynx snapped himself out of whatever trance he was. "Uh, yes, Your Highness."

"Then let's not keep them waiting long. Oh, and one last thing... I would prefer if not a word of this reached my subjects. Nothing about the Loveless, at the very least."

The changeling brothers saluted nervously, while the two marefriends nodded meekly. With that, the Queen led the way to the throne.

Trixie and Starlight sat next to Applejack while Discord and Fluttershy began speaking to Chrysalis.

"Pst. Sugarcubes. Y'all alright?"

Trixie sighed. "Trixie's fine," she whispered, "though Starlight is a bit shaken, Trixie thinks." Sure enough, Starlight was staring off into space, lost in thought. "Trixie would say more, but we were asked to keep it secret."

"Why?"

"It would just spread far too much panic-"

"Get to the point already."

The Queen had given such an impatiently stern tone that it stopped Trixie in her tracks. Chrysalis was sitting on her throne in a bored pose that was more what you would expect from a bipedal creature. Discord and Fluttershy were sitting right in front of her, surrounded on all sides by an audience of changelings. A sea of black exoskeletons with cyan-blue compound eyes filled the room, each containing a set of lights where their pupils should be, showing their capacities for being intelligent, compassionate individuals that nonetheless put pressure on the two people front and center.

"Well, my royal friend," Discord responded, "Fluttershy and I brought the perfect thing to cure your woes!" He drummed appendages on Trixie's cart, lacking the magic required to conjure a drumroll. "Presenting to you, a new concept the rest of Gaia absolutely looooooooves..."

Fluttershy pulled back the tarp to reveal a large amount of animals. Dogs, cats, turtles, owls, bunnies, and various other animals (although no toothless gators) were sitting there patiently and proudly, if a bit tired from the trip.

"PETS," finished Discord.

A series of murmurs permeated through the air, each containing some forms of "what's a pet" or "is he kidding" or "what's with all the animals" as questions.

"For those not in the know," the draconequus continued, "a pet is a small animal you own that serves as a friend of sorts! Treat them well, care for them, and nourish them, and overtime they shall have a plethora of love, just for you! And this is no matter what you look like! But be careful! Care for it wrong, and bad things happen. And over time, you too shall develop love for these creatures immediately! They aren't always the most well-behaved, but they will be worth it over time."

The crowd started to murmur in agreement before Chrysalis raised her hoof. "And how long will this process take?"

"Depends on the animal," Discord explained. "For some it's rather quick, like with dogs. For others, it's a slow process, like cats. And, of course, it depends on the owner. Owners that show love and care for their pets get love and care in kind. Take my dearest Fluttershy for example. She has a bunny who can really be a pain at times, but despite his tough attitude, he cares for her quite deeply. And ponies, as well as most other sapient species on Gaia, do this without any award other than a friend! The point is, your fanged excellency, you and your subjects would be foolish not to take this opportunity! You have something to gain from this where many others do it out of sympathy or out of a longing of companionship! Hay, I know a pony named Maud who has a pet rock! A rock!"

There was a more vocal agreement this time, one Chrysalis didn't try and stop. "That does seem like the best option I can think of for my people, I'll admit. That being said, since this is a diplomatic trip... Did you get one specifically for me, or did you think I would take an option away from my people?"

The crowd gave out a series of "ooo"s as Discord tugged at his non-existent collar. "Well, you see-"

Just then, out of the cage came a bouncing, pink ball of fluff, much to the confusion of all present. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be an excessively fluffy pony. In her mouth she carried some newspaper clippings of the attack on Canterlot, but with big red hearts surrounding photos of Chrysalis or her name appearing in the paper somewhere. She bounced onto Chrysalis' lap, landing back-first.

Chrysalis looked at the pink, fluffy pony that was now upon her, noticing the sheer amount of love- For her, not some disguise- that the pony emanated. She chuckled, giving into the sudden urge to pat the pony's head. "I have to say, I do approve of this idea. I'm not sure about its... Longevity, but I am willing to accept this as a showing of good will and a gift for our subjects. Miss... Applejack," she said, turning to the mare in question, "does Princess Celestia know about this little escapade of yours?"

"Uhhhhh..." She thought for a moment. "Ah don't think so?" At the very least, Fluttershy never explicitly said Celestia knew about any of this.

The Changeling Queen cackled. "Even better! The look on her face when I approach her as an actual ally to Equestria, with no ulterior motives, will be priceless!" The crowd gave some light chuckles in response. Even the other ponies and Discord chuckled slightly, since it was admittedly just a little funny. Well, aside from Starlight, who still sat in silence, and Applejack, who wasn't sure how to feel about that comment in general.

It was then Thorax spoke up. "Can I make a suggestion, too?"

Pharynx groaned. "Oh sweet Chrysalis," he muttered under his breath, "here we go."

Chrysalis was in a good enough mood, between a new resource for her and her people, her own new "pet" and a way to win one over on Princess Celestia, to not immediately dismiss him. "You may, but make it quick."

"Well," Thorax began, "changelings love each other, right?"

Chrysalis nodded. "Yes, most of us have a sense of smell," she confirmed, eliciting some snickers in the audience, "what about it?"

"Couldn't we," he hesitated, "you know... Feed on each other's love?"

You could hear a pin drop in that room if not for a few of Fluttershy's animals. It was a good thing, too, or else all would have heard Pharynx's facehoof.

"An... Interesting proposal," the Queen said, half-heartedly. "That would be akin to eating each other's flesh, no?"

Before Thorax could give a (really, really bad) answer, a voice perked up in the crowd.

"Permission to speak, Your Majesty?"

"Permission granted. What is your name?"

"Um, my name is Ocellus, ma'am."

"And what is it you'd like to say?"

Ocellus flew up to the ceiling. "It's, um, more like, um... If we were herbivores, and we grew apple-trees on our backs, right? It would be weird, but it's free food!"

Murmurs of agreement began to pop up in the crowd, with Chrysalis pondering it herself. Before she could make a response, however, a member of the crowd began to glow. When the glow dissipated, there was a neon orange being standing where a changeling once was. "Oh my Queen you guys," the newly-colorful creature said, "it really works! Go on, try it!"

With that, slowly at first then escalating into rapid speed, the rest of the crowd, along with Ocellus and Thorax, followed suit. All stood shocked and agape at what they and/or others had become.

Chrysalis gave a rare expression of sheer shock and surprise. She looked at the holeless legs of her subjects, then her own, pondered it for a moment... And joined the crowd, gaining a pure white exoskeleton and a soft blue mane that was structurally similar to her old one... Aside from the lack of holes.

General Pharynx, however, had not yet shifted, slightly frightened by what the others had become. Especially jarring was his brother, who had become neon green, with orange-yellow wings, and was now nearly as tall as Chrysalis if you included the antlers. Also, why did his brother have antlers now??? "WHAT THE FLYING BUCK JUST HAPPENED?!?"

The ponies and Discord were similarly in shock, Starlight once again excluded for whatever reason. "THAT'S IT?!?" The cry had come from Discord. "YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT THE WHOLE TIME?!? SOMEBODY CALL MY LAWYER, I'M SUING HASBRO OR WHOEVER'S IN CHARGE OF THIS MESS!"

... Uh oh.

In any case, Pharynx had settled down, but he was far from enthused. "Listen, no offense to all of you, including you, your majesty, but I like my current look, thank you very much."

Chrysalis scoffed at that, transforming into her usual form. "We're changelings. Appearance isn't exactly difficult to change for a changeling." She turned to her subjects at large. "For that matter, appear how you will, I have not felt this healthy in a long time regardless of appearance. That being said, I shall choose to use my former appearance, both due to personal comfort and as a reminder. Though we are better and more fulfilled, remember we have not yet healed completely." She raised her holed hoof straight up into the air. "Let us remember why we fought, and revel in the fact that we do not need to fight to survive anymore! Nor let us forget the crimes we have committed in our foolishness to see the answer in front of us all along! AND LET MY VISAGE BE A CALL TO GO FORWARD, INTO THE FUTURE, INTO COLLABORATION, and even, dare I say it, INTO FRIENDSHIP!"

And, although she would never admit it, she was a bit worried the fluffy pony she had would reject her healthy form as well. Just a bit.

Regardless, the crowd cheered at the rousing speech, ready for a new era of acceptance, honesty, and stepping pout of the shadows into the light. Pharynx just grumbled, his brother quickly following him as to check that he was OK.

Suddenly, a neon blue changeling said "do we still get pets?"

Eyes turned towards Fluttershy, who quickly hid behind Discord. "Well," he began, "we certainly didn't come all this way to NOT give you pets! Of course you still get pets!"

The cheering continued, as Applejack just whistled. "Well now," she reckoned, "ah'll give her this, she can do a damn fine speech. Ah can see why they'd think she knows what she's doing... Even if she ain't got a clue! Woo-eee!"

"Trixie is very happy with how things turned out," the mare in question said. "How about you, Starlight? ...Starlight?"

Somehow, despite everything, she was still disassociating heavily, and the only thing she said was something Trixie couldn't even make out.

"Is she in danger... Or is she the danger?"

"BECAUSE THE LAWS OF TIME ARE MINE, AND THEY WILL-"

Thunk

...

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things! Things which act against everything we believe in. They must become like-"

Thunk

...

"RUN, SUSAN! SAVE YOURSE-"

Thunk

"Doctor," Pinkie said solemnly, "I think that's enough. You've been doing that for the past five minutes."

"Quite," was the Doctor's reply. "There have been no results as of yet that can save Miss Scratch. We're in quite the pickle, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah," said Pinkie, "but I'm also worried about your mental health if you keep this up."

The Doctor nodded, looking to Twilight who was now finished writing notes. A horrified rarity and a quietly seething Rainbow, still reeling from their own turns with the mask, sat behind Twilight as she got up.

"Alright," Twilight began, "so first thing to figure out is why they're measuring emotional levels. It only seems to be visible during a 'performance,' but that's not as interesting as who could be behind it. The only two that make sense are changelings and sirens. We don't know much about changelings, so it's possible they have advanced magic-based-tech, but they feed off of positive emotions, namely love, so that doesn't make sense motive-wise. Sirens do feed on negative emotions, but they live underwater, which makes even something like a screen impossible to develop without leaving the ocean, so logically it's a stretch..."

"Ooh, ooh," Pinkie yelped, "what if this is some sort of ritual or something like that?"

"A ritual?"

"It makes sense," the Doctor agreed. "With a concept like a the magic circle in effect..."

"The what?" Rainbow looked up, confused.

Twilight explained, as she tends to do. "The magic circle is a theory surrounding how the concept of play works. One agrees to the rules of a game, and it's treated like the law of the universe. For example, in... A race." Rainbow perked up at that. "Theoretically, you could just trot backwards a few steps, move back forward and say you crossed the finish line."

"No you can't. That's cheating."

"Exactly. It would break the rules of the game, but it's not like a boulder will fall out of the sky if you do. There's no literal obligation to follow the rules, but if you don't, what's the point of playing a game? Therefore, you enter the magic circle, and for that time, the law of the game is the law of the universe, at least to the people playing. Not sure if it applies to literal plays outside of the norms of suspension of disbelief, and even then we've been stomping into the plays left and right."

"Hm..." The Doctor thought for a moment. "Well the ritual theory is still our best bet regardless. The question is... Who to? Due to the theatre imagery, it could be the King in Yellow..."

"The King in Yellow? Like from the books?"

The Doctor and Pinkie quickly turned to Twilight. "Well great balls of fire," came the Doctor's reply.

Pinkie was the next to speak. "Like an anthology series? By an author who normally doesn't do horror, paving the way for more cosmic horror as a genre? Metatextually about how a work can influence multiple varied works? About a fictional play that causes people to go super-loco-bonkers-BANANAS?!?"

Twilight grew slightly concerned. "Yeaaaaaah?"

"Well Gallifrey has a book just like it!"

"Really?"

"Yepparino! So does Earth, Tiaanamat, Balhoon, Alzarius, Adipose 3... Anywhere with fiction, really."

Twilight was understandably confused. "Wait, what? I've heard of things like the 'Handsome & the Beast' story popping up in cultures across Gaea but... That is-"

"Too specific," the Doctor interrupted. "And don't you think it's odd how an entity that manifests in artistic expression keeps popping in books, films, shows, fiction mist and holograms all over the universe? I suppose it's not too surprising the various monsters written by Lovecraft, Jillkimith, Joombo and whatever your equivalent to the Cthulhu mythos originator is would make their presence known here as well, knowingly or not."

"You mean the works of Heartful Pleasant Hoofcraft?"

The Doctor shut his eyes for a moment, trying his best to cope with this information. "Yes, that one."

"His monsters are REAL?"

"I'm afraid so. And of course his yellow majesty has a great deal of admirers..."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "That other Rarity! She had yellow eyes! And she kept rambling about authors and shit or whatever."

The rest of the group looked at each other in shock.

"Hmm, well we're one step closer." The Doctor scratched his head with a hoof. "We know who the shrine is for, but that doesn't mean we know who made it... Well, I think it's best if I meditate on this for a while. Clear the mind, so to speak, allowing greater avenues of thought." With that, he sat down, crossed his hindlegs, raised his forelegs to his sides, and closed his eyes. The girls knew him well enough to know that, as long as he was in a zen state, he was out of commission. At the very least, it would bring the negative emotion levels down to some degree.

Pinkie, meanwhile was staring intensely at the stage.

"Alright, everypony, it's my turn."

Author's Note

Chapter 6: The Ten of Twelve

Author's Note

NOTE: This chapter contains an explicit death. You have been warned.
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Chapter 6: The Ten of Twelve

Pinkie was working at Sugarcube Corner, as she often did. Rainbow Dash had recently come by, and she was a great boon to Pinkie's cupcake-making. She was happily putting the cupcakes Dashie helped her make on the countertop, right below where the Pie Family watch was hanging, when suddenly a figure appeared in the shop. Pinkie could have sworn they had literally popped into existence, no fanfare or confetti or anything fun like that, not even a flash of light. Oddly enough, the pink mare before her was a dead ringer for herself. It was like staring into her reflection, albeit one with a more suspicion-holding expression as the strange twin looked around the bakery.

Well, Pinkie wasn't going to let a strange coincidence stop her from saying hello. "Hiya, new-pony-who-looks-a-hay-of-a-lot-like-me, welcome to Sugarcube corner!"

The twin looked "Has anything bad happened?"

It was an odd question for certain... Oh wait! She knew what it probably was! "Ooooooh are you like a version of me from the far far FAR future or like 5 minutes from now like in a sci-fi story or a REALLLY weird dream?"

The twin sort of looked at Pinkie confused. "It's kind of hard to explain, but short answer no. Can you answer my question really quick if anything bad has happened? It's pretty important."

Pinkie contemplated the question for a moment. She didn't want to count Dashie's help with the cupcakes after all. "Nope-arini martini, nothing bad here! I did finish making a batch of cupcakes with Dashie though. Want one on the house? Or inside the house? Ooh! Ooh! Maybe outside? It's free in any case!"

The twin squinted with an inquisitive look before answering. "I'll take one inside this bakery, yeah. What flavor are they?"

"Rainbow-licious flavor! Dashie put all she had in them, and they're delicious! I've tasted them myself!"

The twin gave a small smile. "Sure! Rainbow-licious sounds rainbowy AND delicious!" She picked up one off the tray and took a bite. Suddenly, she stopped, frowning. Chewed a bit more. She swallowed reluctantly. The twin took a close look at her partly eaten cupcake.

"What's wrong?" Pinkie was beginning to be worried for her own double. Did she not like the cupcake? Did she add too much baking soda?

The twin looked confused and a little scared. "This tastes like meat." She said it matter-of-factly, but her voice cracked slightly.

Pinkie's eyes widened. They weren't the same person after all. "Oh, I have no idea what a 'meat' is," she lied, "so could you give me a little more-"

"OK," interrupted the twin, "there's no way you don't know what MEAT is. How did you even get meat? You'd have to import it from Griffonstone or somewhere else with a high population of carnivores or omnivores. It would be cheaper to import flour made out of gold!"

"Oh, well, Dashie helped me make it!" Was that too obvious?

"Right, I know Rainbow knows Gilda and all, but how would tha-" The twin stopped. Ohhhhhhhh, yep! Too obvious. The twin looked between Pinkie and, for some reason, the antique watch. "Where's Dashie," she half-whispered.

Pinkie kept up a cheerful smile as best she could, which was to say extremely well. "Oh, she's going to be out of town for a while," she said confidently. "She was just helping me out before she left!" Pinkie began to wonder if this twin was biologically similar to her. After all, she didn't want this pig-colored pony to squeal about this, and she always wondered what her own flesh would taste like...

The twin looked at the watch. For whatever reason, she leapt for it, grabbing the old watch quickly.

"HEY!" Pinkie was offended at the clear lack of respect for personal belongings. "THAT'S AN OLD FAMILY HEIRLOOM YOU'D BETTER-"

Suddenly, glowing yellow light seemed to exit the watch and latch onto Pinkie. Her eyes began to glow the same color, and Romana began to weep. She collapsed from both the light's effects, her newly regain knowledge, and the avalanche of sheer guilt that engulfed her. She wept, deeply and thoroughly, muttering a strange language never heard before on Gaea, all words of shame and guilt and regret.

Romana looked up to face her twin, but almost as soon as the figure had appeared, she vanished. Romana could only conclude that the figure was her own guilt and despair bubbling inside her reaching out in the form of a hallucination... Not noticing the still half-eaten cupcake on the other side of the counter. Not that she would care, anyways.

After today, there would be no more cupcakes.

"What the hay is a 'Chamillion Arch'?"

"It's pronounced 'chameleon,' Dashie," Twilight corrected.

Rainbow just rolled her eyes. "OK, fine," she said, looking in Twilight's direction, "what's a 'Chameleon Arch?"

"If I remember correctly," the Doctor said, "it was a way to disguise oneself as a human by altering the user's biology. The side effect is that your brain can't remember it all, having been altered to one not used to such long lifespans, nor are they used to experiencing time in the same way Time Lords do."

Pinkie nodded, solemnly. "You make yourself a backstory of a possible human, like making a character in O&O. The human, or in this case pony, version of you creates a mental defense mechanism. You think that 'the watch' is broken or that it's a family heirloom so fragile that it can't be touched, but you'll want to protect it. It can only be opened by the person who used it on themselves, so you'd have to find a way to tell your human self when to open it, if ever. Thankfully, since I technically have the same biological makeup, I was able to trick it into giving the other me her memories and biology back, and it didn't latch onto me because I'm already a Time Lord."

"So, wait," Rainbow said, "if you made that 'pony you' then why did that version of you... Yech... Turn me into a cupcake? Especially since she broke down crying over it?"

Pinkie sighed. "I might have had some dark thought bleed through my mind when making it or something, which is... Possible... But I'm also pretty sure that was all fictional anyways. The theatre's messing with us, or at least the people that made it did."

Twilight spoke up next. "Sorry to interrupt, Pinkie, but I think I've found a narrative pattern between all of the plays so far."

The rest of the group looked in her direction, aside from Rarity who still seemed shaken from her own play earlier. Twilight had already gotten out a chart somehow. (Only Pinkie knew exactly how, although the Doctor would make a correct educated guess that Pinkie had taught Twilight the same trick he used for his rapier.)

She cleared her throat. "If you would look here, you'll see that each story has the same theme of 'you can do nothing to change what happened.' With my two plays, both what the 'lab-coat' me did, whatever this 'Opaline' did to the 'ruler-of-Equestria' me, and whatever caused the world Rarity was in to fall apart all happened so long ago that there was nothing to be done. Meanwhile, if we had taken down the 'rainbow-factory' Dashie and the 'Time Lord Victorious' it wouldn't have mattered since the systems they were each a part of were so massive that they could just find a replacement ruler of some sort. The cannibal version of Pinkie would fall into the former category, as she already turned Dashie into a cupcake. Combine this with the measuring of negative emotions in the sound booth and it's clear that the purpose of the performatives is to elicit negative reactions. Thankfully, when I checked during Pinkie's performance, those emotions were all below 90% of needed, and that makes me think they all need to be at 100% at once for it to activate. I think we can thank the Doctor's meditation for that lowered number."

"Thank you, my dear," the Gallifreyan responded.

"Yeah, yeah," Rainbow dismissed, "but do you have to make all of this so boring?"

"Yes, actually," said Twilight. "If you're bored, you aren't feeling scared or angry or anything like that, you're just bored."

"Oooooh" said Pinkie, cheering up. "That's my clever marefriend right there!" She gave the nerdy alicorn a peck on the cheek, resulting in an adorable purple blush.

Twilight quickly shook her head. "Regardless, I think we still need to activate performances in order to get Vinyl back without going over the limit. I think after one more we need to get Octavia, explain to her what's going on, and get her to go through performances until we can find the one where she lost vinyl. And something important to remember, everypony... These are plays meant to deliver a reaction out of us, nothing more, and we should act like it." She turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie, I'm going on stage while you hold the mask, and I'm going to try and test the limits of it. If you think I'm in excessive danger just put it down."

"Can do, captain!" Pinkie gave a salute, leaving Twilight to fly on the stage.

"Ready, Pinkie?"

"Ready, Twily!"

President Romana the Third was watching from Gallifrey's capitol. She was a slim, black-haired older woman with a face that showed the lack of warmth left in her heart. She had a short nose that turned upwards towards the end. She had modeled her appearance when regenerating after a famous author she enjoyed, Miranda Pelham. Her outfit was the standard for a Time Lord leader, a red robe with the traditional shoulder-piece that gave her a large, circular disk behind her head. In short, she was the epitome of authority.

As far as she knew, things were going... Adequately, despite the circumstances. She was growing more and more shocked and apalled of her people by the day, although near anyone going up against the Daleks was going to become worse people out of self-defense. When the enemy wants you and all you love dead and can provably feel nothing but pure, abject hatred, you begin to ignore whether guns that can wipe one from existence or creating minefields that can could have one freeze in time could be considered "ethical." At this point, Romana III didn't care what happened to the daleks, hateful things that they were. She was the one who led her people down this path of survival, after all, and as of yet she had no regrets.

Instead, she worried for after the war.

She knew her people wouldn't simply stop using all of that weaponry once the daleks were gone. She knew that any response they would give to conflict would become overblown and horrific near-immediately. Her fellow Time Lords were already completely and utterly full of themselves, but they had become... Almost dalek-like in their sense of superiority and bigotry, even against normal Gallifreyans. They already had an ego larger than all of time itself, to the point where they were the ones who got to control it, but after the war... Whoever won the war, the universe would definitively lose, and she would at least be partially responsible. However, these thoughts were for after the war. After they won.

Then, and only then, could Romana III have regrets.

"Excuse me?"

Romana III looked in the direction of the voice. It was a dark-skinned young woman, with long hair that was various shades of purple. She wore what appeared to a human schoolgirl uniform that with another shade of purple on the vest, skirt and leggings, along with an off-white for rest of the ensemble.

Romana III, in response to this, brandished a weapon.

"Who are you," she demanded, "and what do you want?"

The girl seemed sheepish. "I'm sorry for bothering you, I just-"

"Get to the point." Romana III looked down at her weapon. "Do you know what this is?"

"No, but-"

"This is a Time Gun. It's a replica of the one Rassilon used against D'if of the Cybock Imperium in a game of roulette. What it does is fire out a time bomb. When it fires upon you, your timeline will be erased completely, along with any impact you may have made in your time. Only to me will you ever have existed"

Suddenly the girl had a horrified look upon her face, as if unable to fully comprehend the pure destruction of everything she ever was.

Romana III put the Time Gun down. "Based off of your reaction, you mean me no harm. If you came to kill me you would have known about the possibility of your non-existence beforehand. Now then, what's your reason for being here?"

The girl stuttered for a moment before composing herself. "Are you Pinkie Pie?"

"Pinkie Pie..?"

"Oh, right, sorry! I, uh, confused you for somepony else."

"Confused me for what else?"

The girl sighed. "Let me start over. Are you Romana?"

"Romana the Third, Imperatrix of the Nine Gallifreys, if you wish to know my full title. Are you from my future?"

"I, well, kinda, it's complicated, I'm not sure you want to know. Could you, uh, show me around here? I kind of need to look around." The girl walked forward a bit wonkily, as if she wasn't used to having them but still had somewhat of a familiarity.

Romana III would have laughed if she had the humor in her anymore. "We are in the middle of a war zone, no you cannot 'look around.'"

The girl gulped. "OK, then. Um, see you later, I guess? I'm just going to have to-"

Just then, another girl seemed to appear from nowhere. This one had bright pink, fluffy hair. She was overweight, had similarly dark skin to the other one, and was wearing a pink T-shirt with three balloons on it alongside cutoff jeans and a pair of sneakers. At the very least, Romana III could tell she was a Time Lord. For some reason she was carrying a strange, scowling mask vaguely shaped like a horse's face.

"Hiya," said the newer girl, "I'm Pinkie Pie!"

The Time Gun came out once more. "I assume you know what this does?"

"Pinkie Pie" laughed. "Come on, doing that would cause a paradox or something, and we already have enough of those flying around."

"Oh, right, sorry! I, uh, confused you for somepony(?) else."

"I see," Romana III said, lowering her weapon. "I'm assuming you're from a further point in the war then?"

"No, but I am from your future."

The girl looked at "Pinkie." "What? But I thought-"

"I know, Twily, I'll explain later."

"Twily" and "Pinkie." Romana III's future was apparently written by time-tots.

"But yeah! Really like how I look right now!" Pinkie looked into the reflection on Romana III's circular regalia. "I like the shirt! It's cute! I haven't seen this regeneration here before, so that's pretty nifty!"

Romana III backed away. "How did you get here," she inquired, "if you're from after the war? This entire conflict is time-locked!"

"Long story," said the pink version of her, "but that's not important. What is important is something big is happening today, something that threatens all life on Gallifrey, and the Daleks!"

"Why should I care if the Daleks dies?"

The girl named Twily gasped. Clearly she had no idea of the full extent of the war.

"That's... Justified," Pinkie admitted, seemingly ashamed, "but if the Daleks die so do the Time Lords! So does all of Gallifrey."

Romana III scoffed. "If that is the price to pay, so be it."

Twily looked between the two others before her. Romana III found the unintentional honesty of the young woman refreshing after the espionage and reclusiveness present in the war all these years, centuries, seconds or weeks, whichever one it was at that moment. It was clear she was aghast that there was a point in the past where this "Pinkie" would even entertain such notions, never mind be willing to go through with it. At least, as far as Romana III knew, it was worthwhile to keep the universe safe from the Daleks.

"What about the civilians," demanded the girl. "What about the children?"

Romana III sighed. "Do you expect me to keep track of all the lives we've lost? I don't know about this version of me you cling onto, but I personally couldn't care to keep track of such things."

Pinkie's response was as quick as a staser. "Two point four seven billion children are on Gallifrey today, you liar."

Romana III paused for a moment, with Twily being dumbstruck. None could blame this "Twily."

"Fine then," Romana III said, "I do have hearts. However, when has sentimentality ever won a war?"

Pinkie seemed to stifle a laugh. "Where we end up? All the time."

Romana III's patience had run out at that. "Right then. What do you remember from this, if you're still of the intelligence to have a memory."

Her future self gulped. "I don't remember our conversation, but it was short enough to where I remember this happens in 3-2-1-"

All of a sudden, an explosion hit the building they were all in, and the sounds of Daleks filled the air.

The pink version of herself laughed a horrified sort of laugh. "This is it," she said, a hint of the Time Lord within peeking through. "This is the day. The last day of the Last Great Time War."

Romana III looked up. "The last?"

"Yep, and..." She paused, looking solemn. "It's too late to change anything, just like Twily said... Still, I have three pieces of advice, the most important advice you'll ever hear until you regenerate."

"Out with it, then!"

"First, smile more."

Romana III rolled her eyes at that.

"Second, forgive yourself. It won't happen soon, but it will! It has to eventually, right?"

Romana II didn't like the wording of that.

"And lastly..."

The pink one's past and the Imperatrix's future embraced in a hug, much to the former's annoyance.

"Find Leela, and tell her how amazing of a friend she is."

With that, the two girls disappeared, leaving Romana to do the one thing left to do, the thing the Doctor would recommend in such a situation as the end of a war while the Daleks are attacking your building.

She ran like Hell.

"Hold on," Twilight said as both mares went back off the stage, "was that..."

Pinkie sighed. "Yeah. That was my actual past. I remembered you from then. It's why I gasped when I saw you for the 'first' time. I can't remember meeting myself due to paradoxes, but but it was short enough that I remembered nearly everything else."

Twilight put a hoof on her forehead in a bit of shock.

"Wait," Rainbow said, "so that was real? You're sure of it?"

"Yepparino" was her reply, although neither of her hearts were in it.

"So..." Rainbow's expression turned into a combination of fear and anger. "Does that mean that the plays we saw earlier were also..?"

The entire group's horror grew as the realization hit.

A mare continued her notes, frantically noting her supposed hallucination.

A dethroned mare wept softly in an abandoned cave, far from Maretime Bay, missing her friends dearly.

A Time Lord wondered if he was really victorious.

"FIND THEM," screamed Rainbow Dash. "They have to be in the Factory somewhere! Kill the unicorn, and send my double to a training chamber! She'll become like us soon enough!"

Not far away from a mad prophet, a unicorn and an alicorn were arguing.

Fluttershy enters Sugarcube corner to the sight of a half-eaten cupcake on the ground and the sounds of a crying Time Lord.

The Imperatrix went looking for a friend, and her own future.

The Doctor was a brave person. Possibly the bravest in the world at that moment. However, there's a secret most refuse to acknowledge about bravery. In order to be extremely brave, you must be scared out of your mind. Without fear, bravery becomes stupidity rather quickly, and the Doctor was most certainly not an idiot. Bravery is not the absence of fear, but rather the ignoring of it to do what you think is right. It's what makes bravery so noble and commendable... And yet, just as well, so vulnerable.

Dashie was furious at the evil self she saw. She couldn't remember anything that awful bitch had said about Scootaloo aside from the last comment about how one of the bravest, strongest fillies Rainbow had ever known was reduced to mere colors. The only thing she could remember, and this infuriated her to no end... That genocidal murderer said that Scootaloo was somehow lesser, simply because she flew later than her peers. Rainbow could feel her blood boil.

Pinkie was worried beyond all belief, to the point where Twilight on a mission from Celestia would look like a Buddhist nun by comparison. What would Twilight think of her past self, and how cruel she could be? What did the others think? What did PINKIE even think? And what did that tell them about Pinkie now? What if they never found Vinyl? This baring of her soul, her trauma, her past, this wrench in her relationships... What if it was all for nothing? What if she gave up all she had left for a fruitless endeavor?

Dread. That's all Rarity felt. She was processing all of it, silently, fearfully. Yet all she could do was think and dread. Nothing but thinking and dread. Think. Dread. Think. Dread. Think, think... Dread.

Twilight was still dumbstruck by it all. The theater, the Time War, the... Older Pinkie, Romana III. She could hardly think straight. Far too many revelations for one day. Too many questions. Now she had to do actual research into this Opaline figure, psychologically examine herself to see if she was really capable of such cold cruelty... A lot of things really. Soon however, her gaze turned to the mask on the floor... And more shock appeared.

"Um... Guys?"

Everyone else was mumbling to themselves about one thing or another.

"Guys!"

Everyone else, Rarity aside, turned to look at Twilight.

"Look at the mask."

They did so... Only to find its scowl had been replaced with a malicious smile.

Fear: 356% required
Anger: 102% required
Anxiety: 342% required
Dread: 408% required
Shock: 291% required
Conclusion: Emotional gathering complete. Please put on the mask to begin when ready.

"Well, buck." Rainbow was the one who broke the silence. "That can't be good."

"No, Ms. Dash," said the Doctor, "it certainly can't be."

Pinkie scratched her head with a hoof. Don't ask how, you can guess. "Do I even need to look at the screen in the sound room? This is probably a sign that we went over the limit."

Twilight gritted her teeth in frustration. "But what does it mean? What does it do? Nopony touch it, please!"

"I'm not sure Octavia's story makes sense."

Everyone looked at Rarity. "What," Rainbow flatly asked.

"I'm sorry, my mind is in pieces at the moment, Darlings, but I just... Have this feeling, I suppose? Oh, I don't know..."

Twilight and the Doctor thought on it for a moment, thinking through the story.

"Wait," Twilight said after a moment of thought. "Octavia's performance talked directly to the audience. None of the other ones, including the ones the Doctor went through earlier, broke the fourth wall. Either they would be having a private moment of thought, or they were talking to someone else..."

"Not to mention," the Doctor added, "the way it supposedly took Vinyl. Not only did the strings reach out from the stage, they also managed to take vinyl with them. Based on what we've seen thus far, she should have just appeared back on the stage one Ms. Melody put down the mask."

"Ooh ooh! Me Next," Pinkie butted in. "When we found the mask, it was presented really nicely on a seat, when Octavia said she dropped it! Wee, this is fun! It's like a mystery!"

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "and I'm pretty sure we know whodunnit."

"I suppose that's my cue, then," came an all-too-familiar voice.

The gang looked at the entrance. There was Octavia, dragging a rather long box behind her down the center of the aisle. "My apologies for deceiving you. I truly am sorry, but the plan wouldn't have worked if you had known ahead of time. I needed the dread and anxiety factors to settle in, and it's hard to feel those things if you know what's happening ahead of time. As for the story, I modified it from a friend of mine, Gebläse. He was the one who transferred the theatre from his homeland of Griffonstone to here, and the one who originally used it. I suppose I must have misremembered some details. In any case, it got here startlingly quick. I only asked for it the other night while he was in town, and it showed up this morning."

The group stared at Octavia in silence. Rainbow, again, was the fastest to react. "WHAT THE HAY, OCTAVIA?!?"

"Look," the mare in question began, "I assure you there was good reason to do so. I couldn't do it on my own because you need multiple people to activate it. That being said..." She pulled out something translucent from her side, and it floated up to in front of her muzzle as a transparent tablet of some sort, backwards text appearing on its back. "You gave quite a lot more than I thought was needed. Ms. Dash gave 76% of the anger, and our latest resident the Doctor gave 157% of the required fear on his own, nearly half of what's needed. And poor Miss Belle seems to have given 230 percent of the dread. I do wonder why..."

The Doctor walked up. "Is this all part of some twisted entertainment for-"

Pinkie put a hoof in his muzzle, still looking directly at Octavia. "Sorry, Doctor. Listen, Octavia... I know ponies' feelings very well from looking at them. I don't know why, but... You seem so sad that you're near-numb. What happened?"

Octavia gave a heavy sigh. "Well, I can tell you one thing I certainly wasn't lying about..." She opened the lid of the long, coffin-shaped box, revealing its contents. Inside of it was Vinyl Scratch... Although clearly not alive. Her corpse was well preserved, no decay as of yet, which allowed the minds of those present to trick them into thinking they could still see her breathe.

"You are here to save Vinyl."

She walked forward towards the mask as the rest present were too mortified to stop her. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you how she died, so I'll spare you the details..."

Melodies were quickly being played, only to soon be forgotten or discarded. Octavia walked into the room where Vinyl was messing with Octavia's piano.

"Vinyl, what on Gaea are you doing?"

Vinyl stopped for a moment, then looked at Octavia while making hoof gestures.

"...Oh. My apologies, Vinyl. I thought only guards died during the invasion?"

More gestures from Vinyl.

"... I didn't realize your mother was in the military."

Vinyl nodded sadly.

"And forgive me if this question is insensitive, but you're using my piano because..?"

More gestures.

"... I see. When is the funeral?"

More gestures.

"I'll be sure to attend. I'm sorry they aren't letting you compose in your own style."

Vinyl nodded sadly.

"Would you like some help? I'm not much of a composer, simply a trained musician, but I do have a good ear for classical."

Vinyl nodded, a bit cheerier than before.

"Alright then, why don't we try some ideas out, see if they'll work?"

Vinyl began quickly with a nice-sounding melody.

"That is good, but I doubt something in a blues scale will do too well at a funeral."

Then, Vinyl made a a horrible mistake.

"A variation on Tirek's chord? That sounds a bit too sinister, I believe."

Knock knock knock knock

Both mares looked at each other.

"Well, that's a good drumbeat, I suppose. Something of a military march?"

Vinyl nodded, before gesturing something.

Octavia was confused. "Wait, I thought you did that?"

Vinyl shook her head before directing a hoof at Octavia.

"Well, then what caused it?"

Knock knock knock knock

Both turned their attention to the piano.

Knock knock knock knock

"Is that... Coming from... Inside the piano?"

Knock, knock, knock

On the eleventh knock, a strange purple pony, with swirly eyes and hair, wearing a beanie hat, popped out of the top of the piano. "Helloooooooo!!! Is it me you're looking for?!?"

Both mares were knocked to their backs due to the surprise. "I BEG YOUR PARDON," Octavia yelled, as she and Vinyl got back on their hooves, "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN OU- MY PIANO?"

"Ohhhhhh well my notation here is SCREWBALL!!! That being said, I go by other names too!!! My pronouns are they/them!!!" They looked directly at Vinyl. "Were you the one who played that BEAUTIFUL chord just now?!?"

Vinyl nodded, reluctantly.

"Well, let ME be the one to tell YOU, you are a musical genius!!! That's not an exaggeration or a joke!!! You are literally a musical maestro!!! I would know!!!" They winked at nothing in particular.

"Well, yes," Octavia agreed. "I don't even like dubstep and I could tell you she's a marvelous musician, but that doesn't explain-"

"Hold on!!! I need a little snack, and I see the perfect meal already!!!"

Both mares looked around the room. "What," said Octavia, "could possibly be in this room that you could eat?"

The intruder smiled before their answer...

Music.

Suddenly, Octavia saw Vinyl float into the air, and what appeared to be a staff of music notes flying out of her in a constant stream. Notes were placed seemingly sporadically, yet Octavia recognized some of it as matching songs Vinyl had composed. Songs both familiar and unfamiliar to Octavia filled the room, intense wubs and dubs playing throughout. The trail seemed to go to "Screwball," who was cackling cruelly. Octavia didn't have a clue of what was going on, but there was one thing that was certainly clear... Vinyl was in extreme pain.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER? PUT HER DOWN RIGHT NOW YOU MONSTER!"

Her screams were ignored.

"STOP!"

Vinyl gasped.

"STOP!"

Vinyl was dropped to the floor as the horrible cackling continued. Octavia went straight to Vinyl's body, expecting her to be hurt... She didn't expect to what degree.

"No..."

"YEP!!!" The giggling madpony before Octavia cackled evilly. "MM MM MMM!!! Your friend was delicious, Tavi!!! Don't worry, I'm not after you because I'm saving room for something later!!! I'll get an all-you-can-eat buffet of music soon enough!!! Mustn't spoil myself!!! See you earlier Tavi, but for now?!? It ain't no lie, baby bye bye bye!!!"

With that, they stared directly at you, the reader. Then, they popped back into the piano from whence they came.

Meanwhile, Octavia was holding the body of her best friend, sobbing uncontrollably. She swore she could still hear that cackle. It sounded like an arpeggio, designed to mock all who heard it.

But that didn't matter now. Her friend, her lover, was turned from a beautiful symphony to a single rest note.

"Vinyl, no, please hear me, wake up, please, I'm begging you wake up, Vinyl please, listen..."

Octavia blankly stared at the mask on the ground. "I will simply say that I haven't been able to enjoy music since."

She picked up the mask. The stage's curtains pulled back to reveal exactly what she expected to see; Herself, weeping over Vinyl's body on that very night just a short while earlier. As the rest of the crowd looked on in horror, Octavia turned to the audience.

"Well, I've done my 10 of 12. Now to get what I came here for."

Twilight could could barely muster the courage to speak. "Wh- What are you expecting to happen here?"

Octavia stared blankly at her interrogator. "A way to bring Vinyl back. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less. Now to summon my new benefactor." She put the mask close to her face, and it enlarged to match.

It was then the Doctor began to piece things together.

Negative emotions.

Deals.

Summoning.

"MISS MELODY, WHATEVER IT IS YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING-"

It was too late. The mask was on her face, and Octavia screamed as the mask latched on before quickly coming off. As she did that, a being emerged from the orchestra pit, a red glow surrounding them. A symphony of instruments and operatic voices announced a grand arrival.

"It's too late," shouted the Doctor.

The being was humanoid in form. They appeared to be a satyr similar to mythology, with the bottom half of a goat and the top half of a human... Aside from the head, which seemed goat-like as well, with horns and a beard to match. They wore no pants, but on their top was an outfit the conductor of an orchestra would wear. They raised their arms, a baton-like object in one hairy hand, raising their object to reveal it.

Rainbow pointed a hoof at the creature. "WHAT THE HAY IS THAT?"

"A MEMBER OF A SPECIES I CERTAINLY DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE FOR A LONG TIME, IF AT ALL," was the Doctor's reply.

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER THE BUCKING QUESTION! WHAT IS IT?"

The Doctor stared at the figure for a moment, as their red eyes glowed a menacing red.

"A Dæmon..."

Chapter 7: The Climax

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Epilogue: The Curtain Call

Spike and the Crusaders were rushing around the boutique, watched but not stopped by Rainbow and Applejack.

"So," Rainbow said, ignoring the chaos of the CMC creating a mess and Spike trying to clean it up in vain, "Flutters and Discord managed to save an entire kingdom. Nice to know you basically served as the driver."

"Very funny, Dash," Applejack said as frigidly as possible... Though when it came to Rainbow that wasn't very cold at all. "Hey, Ah am sorry about all that 'plays about an evil you' nonsense. You sure those plays are, uh, 'real' in some other u-ni-verse?"

"Pretty sure. That's what the Doc, Twi and Pinkie are saying, anyways. Still, that place was trying to get a rise out of us, so there's probably a bu-" Rainbow noted the foals and the drake in the room- "a bunch of other universes that are really good, right?"

"Yeah, Ah can see that. Does that mean that nightmare Ah sometimes have where I can't sleep for nothin' and am mad at Filthy Rich for some reason is real in another place?"

"Uh, I guess? But if we're going with that, then... Anything is real in other universes, even dreams and books and stuff."

Scootaloo overheard that. "Hey, does that mean there's a universe where Daring Do is real?"

Rainbow and AJ looked at each other. "Sure thing, sugarcube."

"All right!" Scootaloo then quickly rejoined her friends.

Applejack chuckled to herself. "Welp, nice to admit it in a way."

Rainbow exhaled. "Yeah."

Applejack tensed up a bit slightly. "Ya know, sometimes Ah feel like Ah'm in a play."

Rainbow looked at Applejack. "That's a... Fourth wall thing or whatever?"

"Eeyep," Applejack confirmed. "Glad Ah didn't end up in that place, probably would have done a number on mah noggin. Ah never liked that fourth wall mumbo jumbo. Always gave me the creeps."

"I'll bet."

It was then Spike and Sweetie Belle came up to them.

"Hey guys," Spike started. "Have you seen Rarity?"

"We're a little worried," Sweetie agreed. "She'd normally be complaining about the mess or the noise or whatever by now."

"Now that's a dang good question," AJ said. "Any clues Dash?"

Rainbow hesitated for a second. "She's... Not feeling well. We went on adventure yesterday and uh... Yeah, she's in a bad mood so she wants to be alone, or something."

Spike mumbled something. "Is that why she was talking about some watch earlier?"

Rainbow's eyes widened. "A watch?"

"Oh yeah," Sweetie chimed in, "she was telling me earlier she was going to find the Belle family pocket watch! Not sure why she'd want it though."

"Why? Is it, uh, broken?"

"Yep. Maybe she wants to fix it?"

Rainbow then asked a question that she wanted to hear "no" to. "Does it have, like, a bunch of little circles on it?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"Lucky guess!"

"Dash," AJ said, "is somethin' wrong?"

"Nope! Everything's fine! Totally! I just gotta check in on Rares real quick, that's all!" With that she rushed to the door that led towards Rarity's room, brushing past the two fillies pretending to be pirates using fabric rolls as swords, much to their confusion. Dash opened the door, which led to...

A blank wall.

"What the buck?"

The Doctor always enjoyed going to the tea parties Fluttershy threw at her cottage, despite Discord being present. He didn't mind Twilight, Pinkie, or Starlight being there, either. Trixie could be a nuisance, but less so than Discord. Overall, it was always a pleasant experience.

He was still getting used to being served tea by a shop dummy, though.

"I have to admit," Starlight said as a tuxedoed Auton filled her cup with some herbal tea, "I'm a bit weirded out by the fact that I'm being served tea by something that actually tried to kill me."

Fluttershy just smiled. "Oh, don't worry about Mr. Nestine! He's really turned over a new leaf! Isn't that right, Nesty?"

"Yessssssssss Misssssss Fluttersshhhy..." was the reply from the plastic model's flank.

Starlight hid her shudder the best she could. "Right. Good to know."

Fluttershy looked toward Pinkie, who was stirring her tea as she had been since the party began. "Are you OK, Pinkie? Your tea is getting cold." She let out a small gasp. "You aren't having nightmares about that nasty theatre, are you?"

Pinkie sighed. "It's not that. It's just that Dashie told me that the Dæmon told her that one of their gods went into a dream to tell THEM that I'm 'not alone,' whatever that means."

Discord raised an eyebrow, then put it on his face so he could raise said eyebrow. "Well, I for one would be very interested in knowing who said that. If I had to guess, it would be Delusion or Decadence. They both just LOVE vague statements that lead to startling realizations. Like mother like spawn, I say."

"Speaking of," the Doctor said, "they did list a series of 'spawn' of your lot that they worshipped. Would yours happen to be 'Ensnarement'?"

Discord scoffed. "Like many parents after me, it was an accident. I don't even like the little menace."

"And what of 'Screwball' and 'Cosmos'?"

"I don't know why people think Screwball is mine but-" He froze, in a figurative sense. "I'm sorry, did you say Cosmos?"

"Yes. What of it?"

Discord just floated for a moment. "Hmph. Nothing. I just have a lot of angry words for a certain omnicidal sister of mine, is all."

Starlight looked to Pinkie. "What did that mean, that you're 'not alone?'"

Pinkie shrugged. "I guess that means I'm not the only Time Lord? I already know the Master is here, so that's probably it. I mean, what are the odds of there being 4 Gallifreyans in Equestria?"

"Trixie would say very good," Trixie replied. "Her mother is a Time Lord."

The rest of the table stopped to look at Trixie, aside from Starlight who simply facehoofed.

"She's not lying," Starlight said while massaging her muzzle. "Her mother's name is the Spectacle."

Pinkie blanked for a moment. "YOU'RE THE MASTER'S GRANDDAUGHTER?!?"

Trixie gave a hearty "ha!" "Indeed Trixie is! Not that she's proud of that," she added sheepishly before returning to her normal tone, "but she's still part-Gallifreyan!"

Twilight groaned. "So I'll be dealing with her for a long while?"

"I'm half-human on my mother's side," the Doctor explained, "so likely yes if unicorn biology is compatible with a pony Time Lord."

"Ugh," was Twilight's only reply.

Pinkie shrugged. "OK, so it means that! Cool! I mean, I don't think your mom fought in the Time War because they couldn't find her body, but still cool!"

"Wait," Starlight said. "You think there might be another Time Lord that also fought in the Time War?"

Poof

Pinkie giggled. "That'd be silly. You're silly! Yep, silly. I mean, what are the odds of there being 5 Gallifreyans in Equestria?"

Poof

Starlight inhaled sharply. "So, I have a secret, too. I met with the Master a month ago."

After a short beat, the whole table gave a resounding "WHAT?!?" Except for Trixie, who already knew this, and Discord, who was laughing his tail off, which he quickly reattached.

"OH, TODAY JUST GETS MORE AND MORE CHAOTIC, AND IT'S NOT EVEN MY BIRTHDAY!" He continued laughing.

"Discord," Fluttershy scolded.

Discord's laughter had downgraded to a chuckle. "What? I didn't even do anything to cause this! Let me enjoy a bit of pandemonium!"

Twilight rolled her eyes before turning to Starlight. "Starlight, why didn't you tell us?"

"He said he'd kill somepony if I didn't," Starlight said defensively. "But yes, he told me something that... Well, unnerved me."

"Before I depart, however, I will give you..." The Master hesitated. "Well, some potentially interesting information."

"Interesting?" Starlight was both suspicious and intrigued.

The Master produced a small piece of paper, displaying a seemingly random assortment of symbols.

Starlight stared at it in confusion. "So, what's this supposed to be?"

The Master chuckled again, this one without as much humor in it and more so a small bit of pride. "This is the written language of Gallifrey. I suppose you can call it Gallifreyan? In any case, it's the language of my people. Specifically, this one reads 'The Master.'" He took off his jacket, revealing his black undershirt, and pointed to a similar symbol on the inside of the neck of the jacket, near the back. "Now then, take a look at this."

"I think you'll be most intrigued by what this one says. It reads, 'Carousel Boutique.'"

Starlight was incredulous. "What?"

"I am just as surprised as you are, truthfully," the Master said, pacing around the console room, "but I am certain that is what it says. That is the place where I got the suit from."

Starlight squinted. "I hope you don't mind me saying I don't believe you."

"Not only do I not mind, I scarcely believe it myself. I wasn't able to detect her as a Time Lord when I first saw her when I was able to do so with the Doctor right away. My best suspicion? She managed to make herself a plain unicorn using some technology I would rather not go into. But while she has no active memory of her past life, she may have a subconscious memory. She has a subconscious understanding of the language, which caused her to make an accidental translation of her own branding into Gallifreyan. Of course, it's a ridiculous assertion, truthfully. After all, who would suppress their Time Lord self in order to become a mere unicorn mare when they could conquer the planet outright? Well, I suppose not a 'mere' unicorn if you are any indication."

"Where are you going with this?"

The Master hesitated for a moment. "All I shall leave with you before we part is this... Keep an eye on her. She has quite the eye for detail."

Poof

Silence fell across the room.

Then Pinkie laughed again.

"Don't be silly. He was just trying to play a trick on you! Rarity's fine! Totally. Yeah..."

Twilight gasped. "Pinkie! The Chameleon Arch!"

Poof

"The what?" Starlight looked confused.

"From that play! The first one Pinkie stepped into! That other version of her had a device that could turn a Time Lord into an average pony! What if-"

"Nope!" Pinkie shook her head rapidly. "We're not entertaining this any further! Rarity is Rarity, and that's it!"

"OK, one more question really quick. Queen Chrysalis mentioned something about the name of what she believes to be the Time Lord that attacked her people centuries ago."

Poof

Twilight was just flabbergasted about this, stuttering rapidly before delivering a response. "QUENN CHRYSALIS MET A TIME LORD?!? Why didn't you say anything earlier?!? This is all extremely important to know, and I would rather not have to deal with it WHILE I'M TRYING TO RELAX!!!"

A plastic butler held up a teapot. "How about ssssssome niccccccce tea to calm yourssssself, missssss Sparkle..." said its flank

"THAT WOULD BE LOVELY, THANK YOU!" As soon as the dummy was finished pouring, Twilight a rapid sip of tea before letting out a sigh of relief. "OK, that's better. Please, continue."

Starlight just stared for a second before continuing. "Right. Look, does anypony, or Discord or 'Nesty' or whoever-" There had to be a more inclusive way to say that- "Know about what language is spoken in southern Saddle Arabia? Or someplace called the the 'Tasty Treat?'"

"OH! OH! I DO!" Pinkie flailed her hooves excitedly. "Rare-Rare and I went to the Tasty Treat a while back! It reminded me of Indian culture from Earth, actually. A lot of the cultures here remind me of Earth, come to think of it, but I guess that's just nostalgia talking. They speak a LOT of languages in southern Saddle Arabia, but the most spoken one is called Hindi, I think!"

"OK, great! Do you know a word in 'Hindi' that means 'princess' or 'queen?'"

"Oh! Easy! For 'princess' it would likely be राजकुमारी, which is a bit of a mouthful, but for 'queen' it would just be रानी, which-"

Poof.

Suddenly Pinkie froze akin to a deer in headlights. Her face turned more and more fearful. The Doctor's eyes widened. Discord's jaw dropped. Even Trixie showed some concern.

"No."

Poof

That was all Pinkie said as she darted out the door, causing the rest of the group to follow suit.

Poof, poof, poof...

"No no no no no no no nonononononononononononononononononono..."

Rarity found herself in a dark room at the boutique she had never been in before. It was pitch black, as if she was walking into the void itself. There was nothing inside except a pedestal with an old, antique pocket watch bear strange symbols that suspended itself into mid-air, a lone light from no visible source shining upon it.

"That's... That's me inside of that watch, isn't it?" She whispered this to no one, and yet she was heard.

"It is in a way, eh?"

A startled Rarity turned to see... Her parents. Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles.

"Mother! Father! I- I wasn't expecting you to be home today!"

Her parents chuckled. "We're always home, don'tcha know," said Hondo.

"We never leave," said Cookie.

Rarity took a step back. "Wh- What do you mean you never leave? You're almost never here! Even as a filly I ended up taking care of Sweetie Belle half the time!"

The pair chuckled again, this time with a blue light shining across them both, almost as if they weren't really there.

"There's a reason you and Sweetie haven't seen us far from the house even if we take a vacation," said Cookie.

"We always had a eye on you kids," agreed Hondo.

Rarity's eyes widened. "Wait... You can't mean you're... Part of the house? The Boutique?"

"You got it right on the money, sweetheart," Hondo confirmed.

"Then... This whole time the Boutique is... IS..." And with that, she fainted.

Both holograms flickered. "She'll be up in a moment," said Cookie.

"A TARDIS? Have y'all lost yer dang mind?"

Rainbow kept trying to break herself, AJ, the CMC and Spike out of the room they were now trapped in to no avail. "I mean, think about it! There's enough room in this place to fit at least three bedrooms, a kitchen, a workshop for Rares, a living room, and a bunch of other rooms even though the whole place looks like it could barely fit one! It's-"

"Bigger on the inside." AJ nodded. "Eeyup. Ah get it now. But if that's what's happenin, why are ya beating up the thing when ya know it can withstand goin' in the SUN?"

Rainbow bucked the wall where the door should have been one last time. "Fair enough."

All of a sudden, Hondo and Cookie appeared. "Thanks for stoppin' her," said Hondo. "That was gettin' pretty annoyin', don'tcha know?"

A collective yelp came from all present.

"Mom?!?" Sweetie Belle seemed the most surprised, at least if the whole group wasn't already at the maximum capacity for surprise. "Dad?!? I thought you guys were in Vanhoover for the weekend!"

Applebloom just stared at Sweetie Belle. "THAT'S y'all's concern?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo piped in. "They literally just appeared in the room out of NOWHERE!"

"Sorry about the surprise," Cookie said. "We're just here to tell you you're safe!"

"SAFE?!?" Rainbow stepped towards the couple. "What about Rarity? She's about to touch that Chameleon Arc or whatever it's called!"

"Chameleon Arch," corrected Hondo.

"Whateve-" Rainbow stopped. "YOU GUYS KNOW? Are you Time Lords too or something?"

The parents flickered blue, causing all of the beings made of flesh and blood to step back in terror.

"SWEETIE BELLE HAS GHOST PARENTS!" Spike fainted soon after saying that.

Applebloom mumbled something. "Ah wish mah parents did that..."

"Oh, we're not ghosts," Hondo said, "we're the house."

Silence for a moment, which Scootaloo swiftly interrupted. "You said that like it made any sense."

"Alright, just so y'all know... Well... How do Ah put this?" Applejack scratched her head. "So uh, this here place is really, um... A spaceship? One that can think like a person. And uh, Sweetie's parents this weird thing called a... 'Holly-gram?'" She smiled awkwardly for a small moment of silence.

The Crusaders looked in awe, with Scootaloo shouting "THAT'S AWESOME!"

"So... You were never my parents, then?" Rarity looked to the two holograms.

"Not by blood, but we raised ya like a parent should," said Cookie.

"You were hardly there!"

"That was so you and Sweetie Belle, the cutie-patooty that she is, would grow closer together," said Hondo.

"Is... Is she even my sister?"

"Well, if you consider a clone of you a sister, then yes!" Cookie smiled as if that were the most normal thing in the world.

Rarity's eye twitched. "So, wait, does that mean-"

"OK," Sweetie Belle said, "I can't be the only one with their hearts trying to burst out of their chest?"

"Yeah," Applebloom agreed, "it is a bit nerve wrack- Wait, Sweetie Belle, did y'all say hearts?"

"...Yeaaaaah?"

"Plural?"

"Yeah! Doesn't everypony have two hearts?"

Rainbow and AJ looked at each before Rainbow rushed over to Sweetie.

"HEY," Sweetie Belle shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Rainbow felt the fillies chest, which felt awkward as all Tartarus, but it did confirm something.

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "She has two hearts."

Applejack gave a facehoof. "Great, just great. Glad Ah got that confirmed."

"Wait," Spike said, having come to earlier, "Twi said that Pinkie has two hearts... And Pinkie is a Time Lord from that 'space' stuff... SWEETIE BELLE IS AN ALIEN?!?"

Sweetie's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

"Well, she was born on Gaea but she was cloned from an alien, so yes, kind of!" Hondo apparently saw nothing wrong or strange about this statement.

Sweetie's eye twitched.

"Now wait a dadgum minute," Applebloom began, "Rarity is a Time Lord thingy?"

"She was," Cookie confirmed, "and she will be again in a few moments."

"Oh no you don't," Rainbow said. "I'm not letting Rarity become... Something else!"

"Well, sorry, ya hoser, but it's gonna happen." Cookie smiled still. "I promise ya, it will be fine. Ya just have to trust in the process and everything will be turning up roses, eh?"

Rainbow stood there, breathing heavily. "Fine, but if either of you had actual bodies I would pummel them."

"Fair enough," the two said in unison, much to Rainbow's bewilderment.

"...What happens when I open the watch?"

Rarity stared at the supposed "heirloom" on the podium, the lone light reflecting off the watch's golden case, taunting Rarity with its promise.

"Don't worry," Hondo said, "you'll be safe."

"Are- Are you certain?"

Both nodded, but Cookie spoke. "Normally, it would be as if you were a cup of water being dropped into the ocean, but you modified yours so that you can stay around, like you're a pony in a submarine!"

"That's... Slightly, reassuring" said Rarity, who didn't want to mention she had no idea what a submarine was. "But why would I modify it?"

"Well," Hondo began, "you never meant to use the modified one on yourself. We made sure you would be OK with a nice little switcheroo!"

Rarity nodded. "So if I open this, I'll still be... Me?"

"You'll have to share a body with the old you," Cookie added, "but yes."

With those calming words, Rarity stepped towards the Arch and picked it up. She took a deep breath, and then...

Poof, poof, poof...

"...nonononononononononononononononononononononono..."

Only Discord was able to keep up, but thankfully he dragged the rest of the group with him in the same direction out of pure curiosity as to what would happen next.

Poofpoofpoofpoofpoofpoofpoofpoofpoof...

"...nonononononononononononononononono NO!!!!!"

Pinkie managed to get to the Boutique, and started banging on the front door. "RARE-RARE? APPLEJACK? DASHIE? SWEETIE BELLE? SCOOTALOO? APPLEBLOOM? SPIKE? ANYONE?!? OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE!"

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" Rainbow was practically frothing at the mouth. "DON'T JUST TRAP US IN YOUR SHIP! OR IN YOU! OR- WHATEVER! WHY ARE WE TRAPPED HERE?"

"Because your friend needs your help," was Hondo's simple reply.

"OK, but can't we, I don't know, do it outside? With more friends?!?"

"No, I'm afraid we won't be staying for much longer," said Cookie. "Besides, the rest of your little friends are going to have enough on their plate soon."

Applejack stepped in at that. "Now hold on a cotton-pickin' minute! What's all that suh-posed ta mean?"

All of a sudden, the room began to shake, announced with the familiar sound of an object scraping against the universe itself.

"Dang-nabbit! Where the hay are y'all taking us?"

"Don't look at us," Hondo rebutted. "We only get to choose the destination, not when to go." With that, both illusions disappeared.

As the rest of the group managed to catch up to Pinkie, the boutique itself started fading away, much to the surprise of those on the outside of it, Including bystanders. Even those in the know weren't expecting the entire building to be a TARDIS.

"No." Pinkie looked in horror as a sound that should have been music to her ears was now scraping against her soul. "No no no no NO!"

POOF

But all the "no"s in the world wouldn't be able to stop the Boutique from disappearing into nothing.

"No..."

And just like that... Poof. It was gone.

Twilight put a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Listen... We'll find a way to help Rarity or... Stop her, I guess, if things turn south."

Unfortunately, Pinkie wouldn't have time to think on that. Her eyes widened. "Guys, I have a crick in my neck."

Twilight looked at her marefriend. "OK, not the answer I was expecting."

Pinkie turned towards Discord. "You. Teleport us to my TARDIS, now."

Discord cocked an eyebrow into a rifle, shot it into the air, and had it land on his face again so he figuratively cock an eyebrow, all in the span of a few seconds. "Now, Pinkie Pie, I realize you're upset-"

Pinkie went straight to Discord and up in his face. "LISTEN HERE, YOU MISMATCHED BALLOON ANIMAL! TAKE US TO MY TARDIS NOW!"

Discord reeled back in shock. "Well, fine then! Party pooper..." And with a snap, they were all in front of Pinkie's Party Box underneath Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie immediately opened the box and jumped, shouting as she did. "INSIDE, NOW!" Not wanting to argue, Twilight, the Doctor, Discord, Starlight, Trixie and Fluttershy all followed after her.

Trixie gazed in wonder as she got in. "So this is the latest model. It's beautiful..."

Pinkie ducked to the ground and covered her ears. "Yeah yeah, it's a presidential model, anyways, DOCTOR! TRIXIE! BRACE YOURSELVES!"

The Doctor put two and two together quickly, ducked, and put his hooves to his ears.

Trixie, however, was new to this. "Why?!?"

All of a sudden, the 3 Gallifreyans felt a great twinge of pain. Trixie instinctually followed the form of her fellow Gallifreyans, screaming in agony as she did so, while other two gritted their teeth and let out much softer whimpers. Then, suddenly, the pain stopped. The others, Discord excluded, quickly clamored to each of them and helped them up. After three voices kept overlapping with a variety of different versions of the phrases "are you ok" and "what even happened?"

After the inhabitants of the Party Box all settled down, Trixie was the first to speak. "What was that? What happened to Trixie? She feels like was shot in the head with one of those gun things her mother warned her about!"

The Doctor staggered to his hooves. "That, my dear, was a time distortion. History has been changed somehow in a way it's not supposed to. The amount of power that would require to be able to be so painful yet quick... It's insurmountable!"

Discord made a variety of different... Well, Discords in order to give Pinkie a round of applause. "Well done, Pinkie Pie! I should have never doubted your Pinkie Sense!"

The Doctor grumbled, still in disbelief that it wasn't just a psychic ability or something similar.

Pinkie couldn't accept the praise. She knew that, whatever was out there, it would be terrible. Between the loss of her friend, a time distortion, and now whatever nightmare awaited them outside the Party Box...

Pinkie knew she was going to have a very bad day.

A chorus of voices descended on Sweetie Belle as she recovered from the sudden splitting headache... Which in turn gave her another more mild, yet more annoying, headache in and of itself. Thankfully, her "parents" had disappeared. If they had stayed to coddle her, Sweetie Belle's head may well have exploded.

"GIRLS! SPIKE! I'M BETTER NOW!"

Everyone else backed away. "Sorry, Sweetie Belle," Spike began, "we're just really worried because you just started... Screaming."

"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed, "what was that about?"

"Temporal distortion."

Where once was a wall stood a doorway with Rarity leaning against, disheveled. Well, to say it was Rarity is an exaggeration. Rarity is in there, yes. Cookie didn't lie, it was as if she was in a submarine under the sea... But she was leagues and leagues away from the upper levels. It would take a while to resurface, and that time certainly wasn't now.

"Temporal distortion," the mare wearing Rarity's face continued, coldly, "is when time itself has been altered in a major enough way that it affects Time Lords. Consider this your first lesson, Time Tot."

Applejack stepped back from the figure. "Time Tot? What's Time-" She looked at Sweetie Belle. "OK, Ah see it now. Cute name fer one of the youngins, Rares."

"That's not Rarity," Rainbow stated, "not anymore anyways."

The unicorn squinted at her accuser. "Damnit, I must have used one of my experimental Archs by mistake. I should have all the memories I had before, but you are a complete stranger to me. You all are..."

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. "Even me?"

"Ugh" was the skinwalker's reply. "I remember you from when you were a mere infant, but yes, and that specifically irritates me to no end. Now I have no notes for my experiment. Still, it looks as if you're a complete success biologically."

"Experiment?" Applejack sized herself up. "That ain't no way to talk about yer sister, clone or not!"

The imposter scoffed. "Of course the hick wouldn't see the value in science."

"THE HICK?" AJ fumed. "Now listen here, ya varmint, it ain't that Ah don't like science or nothin', Ah just value family as the most cherished thing in the whole dadgum u-ni-verse!"

The unicorn let out an annoyed grunt. "You are wasting my time, you yokel."

AJ gritted her teeth. "An' just who in the HAY do ya think ya are?"

Suddenly, the unicorn floated a small, cylindrical device and pointed it at Applejack. Then, a red beam of light erupted from it, hitting her straight in the chest. All but the wielder of the weapon rushed to the farmer's aid. She was still alive, but clearly in a great deal of pain. She looked towards the Time Lord that was once her friend, who now had an expression of cold fury, and an icy stare. All of Rarity's fiery passion had apparently been replaced with cold calculation and curiousity. Then, the mare said something none of them would ever forget...

"I am the Rani, and you are in my way."

Author's Note

Next time...
"Don't fight them, you idiots! You'll become one!"
"Well, it would seem the world has ended. Let's unend it!"
"UNHAND ME, YOU SAVAGE BRUTE!"
The cruel pony just gave that ungodly arpeggio laugh. "I'M GOING SOLO!"
"Dash, it's me, AJ! Ya- Ya still remember me, don't ya?"
"I've been having a really... REALLY bad day, Twily..."

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