Welcome to our story, we would greatly appreciate if you would leave advice. If commenting on a spelling error or grammatical error please be specific as I would like to correct it as soon as possible. If commenting on the story please tell me why you like it or dislike it.
~Thanks
Written by Umbrae Cruxis & DrStupid962
Chapter 1: The Battle Between the Sun and its Mirror
Dear whoever cares,
My name was Whoover Mane, but I have become known simply as Doctor Whooves. So much pain and suffering I witnessed over the last few years. It's hard for me to believe that after everything that has happened I can still crack a smile. What's the point of this journal? A friend told me that it may help me deal with what happened. From obtaining my new assistant to facing the disaster, this is my story...
-
Our steps were in synch. I occasionally took a look back to see a pony following me. Today is turning out to be a very bad day was my first thought, as the pony was gaining ground on me. I stopped abruptly and turned to face her.
"Could you just forget what you saw..., that would make things so much easier." I felt my voice cracking with desperation. More than anything I wanted to find a calm place to forget what had just happened.
"Just tell me how you suddenly appeared out of nowhere!" she pestered, while keeping my steadily increasing pace.
Rookie mistake was my first thought. Stupid chance brought this mare to the same pasture at the exact second I appeared in the TARDIS. I exhaled a sigh which she took as a response.
"Fine, don't tell me!" she pouted with a small scowl on her face. I turned to face her; she was a unicorn, and she looked just a couple of years younger than me. She sported a dark blue coat with a mane and tail half white and half blue.
She stared back at me waiting for an answer. "Well... wasn't planning on it, but it's nice to know I don't have to be rude to avoid telling you" I yawned as I started walking past her.
"At least tell me your name!" she yelled, as she ran after me.
"I'm the Doctor" I said with a smile at her confused face.
"Who?" she asked confused.
"Whooves" I corrected with a grin at her face.
"Wha~?" She asked, looking at me puzzled.
"I am Doctor Whooves, or simply The Doctor" I said with a knowing smile.
She looked at me strangely for a second, "My name is Colgate," she stated introducing herself.
"Good for you" I yawned, walking further on ahead. Ahead of me I saw the entrance to a small town.
"Why are you going to Ponyville?" Colgate asked from behind me finally changing the subject.
"I needed a vacation" I replied. 'I don't think I've been to Ponyville yet...' I thought to myself.
"Vacation from what?" she asked quizzically.
"Everything" I laughed.
We walked in silence shortly after my remark.
"You have an interesting cutie mark. How did you get it?" Colgate noted trying to drum up a conversation.
"You know... just because two ponies aren't talking; that doesn't necessarily mean it's an awkward silence" I sighed, continuing at a constant pace.
"Really? Because this sure feels like an awkward silence" she said, with a tone of annoyance.
"Not my point" I said proudly, as the small stores and houses of the village came in to view.
She stared at me strangely, "then what was your point?" she asked.
"Don't think I had one" I laughed.
"You're almost as weird as Pinkie Pie" Colgate noted, as she shook her head.
"You know some say that there is a thin line between being insane and being a genius?" I said, my voice not wavering.
"So you consider yourself a genius then?" she said with a puzzled look.
"No, I think I'm insane, but again that's not the point." I replied.
"What is your point then?" she yelled at me, getting impatient.
"What is your cutie mark then?" I asked with a slight yawn. For a second I wondered if I just thought the words and I turned around to see Colgate turning away with a small blush in her face. I hadn't noticed it before but she had no cutie mark on her flank.
"I- uh I don't have a cutie mark" she said embarrassed.
"There is nothing wrong with that. Some people just don't figure out what they're meant to do as early as other ponies" I said looking back at her.
"... I know but I wish I would figure it out sooner." She told me looking away from me. I felt a pang of guilt as I looked at her embarrassed face. Another thing to add to the list of regrets... made a girl upset, I thought to myself.
"Do you know where they sell any good food?" I asked, trying to change the topic.
Her eyes showed relief at the change of topic and then she smiled happily. "Sugar Cube Corner is toward this entrance of Ponyville; they have really good desserts." Colgate said as she picked up the pace to lead me there.
The town was rather quaint. It held many building none over two stories, and for the most part they were just residential houses. "Boring little town isn't it?" I voiced happily as I walked behind Colgate.
"You shouldn't say that" she said with an annoyed look.
"Was it rude?" I asked sincerely.
She nodded with a sigh before leading me to a two-story house that held a sign over it simply saying: 'Sugar Cube Corner.' she opened the door revealing a smell that instantly made my mouth water.
"This is the best place to get sweets in Ponyville!" She stated proudly as the smells of freshly baked cupcakes seem to agree with her.
I looked around the shop, behind the counter there were two ponies; one was a bubble gum pink pony and behind her was a cyan colored pony that had a rose colored mane. The pink pony took a glance toward me and then gave a big "GASP!" She covered her mouth and then jumped over the counter and ran past me out the door. I gave Colgate a look and she shrugged as if that would explain everything.
I walked over to the counter where the cupcakes were held, and Colgate came up beside me. The cyan pony, who was manning the counter, was distracted by the sudden absence of her employee. "How many cupcakes are you going to buy?" Colgate asked me.
I knew I was forgetting something' I thought to myself. Forget money, yeah you're the best traveler ever. My mind thought sarcastically. I sighed and walked over to a lone corner held in the back of the small store. "Sorry buddy, but it looks like you won't be getting any food right now" I sighed to the grumblings of my stomach.
Colgate walked up looking at me confusedly. "You're not going to get anything?" she asked me.
"I'm not that hungry," I am normally a decent liar, but the fact that my stomach grumbled as soon as I finished; made my last comment just that much less likely. She gave a small giggle at the circumstance and then skipped over to the counter. What are you doing? I thought to myself as the now sole pony behind the counter handed her a giant cupcake in exchange for some of Colgate's bits. Colgate's horn then began to glow, the cupcake raised, and she brought it over.
"Here" she said with a smile as she placed the cupcake in front of me. I looked at the cupcake on the plate like it was about to attack me.
"Why would you buy me a cupcake?" I asked, despite my stomach yelling at me to down it.
"Well I thought a cupcake would help your crappy mood" she replied with a small smile.
"I'm sure it's not good enough to cure a sarcastic personality" I joked with a smile, as I chowed down. "Close though" I mumbled, with the cupcake in my mouth. She gave a small laugh. She then gazed outside of the window that was next our table. Outside there were many ponies who were placing up banners and working on building projects. "What's going on?" I asked.
She looked at me like it should have been obvious. "It's the thousandth annual Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow!" she said starting to get a bit giddy.
My thoughts began to race; didn't something happen on the thousandth summer sun celebration? My mind echoed through me...Must not have been too important.
She stared outside, probably fantasizing about the celebration, "I wonder what the first one was like?" she said more to herself than to me.
That's still somewhere I haven't gone my mind rang through at that moment.
"So... Doctor, where were you planning on going after Ponyville?" she asked me with a curious look in her eyes.
"I think I'm going to head off to Canterlot" I said thinking about the TARDIS, and what calibrations would be needed for a thousand years in the past.
She looked at me a bit strangely. "Canterlot does seem like a nice place to go..." she ended her conversation off alluding to something more she wanted to say.
"What is it?" I asked seeing the strange look she was giving me.
"Why do I feel like you're strange?" she asked me her eyes narrowing. I gave a small laugh that simply said if only you knew. I started to walk toward the exit of the dessert store, and she followed close behind me waiting for an answer.
"I think I'm going to head off to Canterlot now, thank you so much for the cupcake" I confessed with sincerity as I started to walk away. After about fifteen feet of walking I turned around to see she wasn't following me this time, and only looking at me a bit abashed. However, she said nothing. I then stopped, and turned to face her and whispered in a voice that only she would barely hear; "You may find me strange, because I'm one of the few ponies, who time has no control over" After my response I simply trotted out of Ponyville.
The walk out of Ponyville and back to the meadow, where I had met Colgate, was much quicker this time around. I got to the large pasture that held many flowers of varying colors and in the middle of the field stood something completely out of place. In the middle of the pasture stood a blue telephone booth, normally a phone booth would never be found here, but this one was sitting here randomly in the pasture. I walked up to the entrance of the phone booth, and walked in. "Ah, home sweet home!" I yelled aloud as I entered what was called the TARDIS.
Time And Relative Dimension In Space or TARDIS for short, in laypony terms this machine was my pathway through time. I walked in to the phone booth; the first thing anyone notices about this particular machine is that it's much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. On the inside there was a pillar of controls which stood in the middle of an oval room. The room was particularly filled with circuits and wires extending from one side of the room to the other.
"Hm...One thousand years ago tomorrow would be when Luna was sent for her field trip" I said aloud not talking to anyone in particular. "This should produce some nice fireworks" I said thinking aloud again as I walked up to the pillar of circuits, switches, and gears. The pillar was highly complex with its hundreds of switches and knobs that only when activated by a pony with my abilities would the machine even move. I started hitting some of the switches and knobs until I had the exact minute set. "Allons-y!" I shouted aloud as the TARDIS began to shake violently.
"What's going on?" I heard shout from behind me. I turned my head in fear as behind me stood a deep blue pony with a half blue, half white mane and tail. It was Colgate; she had followed me... Lady Luck was having a ball with me today.
I was thrown to the ground by the violent shaking of the TARDIS. I saw Colgate grab on to some of the wires in an attempt to stay stationary. This was an excellent plan. Common sense had just left me at the time, so while she stood relatively still, I was being bounced around the walls like a tennis ball. Suddenly after a couple of minutes that felt like hours the tremor stopped, and the only thing that made me even think it had ever been there was the massive headache I was now facing. I got up to see a terrified Colgate looking back at me. "Well I can't say today won't be interesting." I complained.
"What just happened?" she practically yelled at me.
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you followed me here, distracted me in the most crucial point of taking off; which is holding on to something! Now we are 1000 years in the past, and I can't even enjoy it because I have a headache!" I yelled at her as I started to walk towards the entrance. "Honestly I could have been a murderer or something" I said still a bit pissed off.
"Are you?" She asked me.
"Am I what?" I asked her pacing trying to think of a way to solve this.
"Are you going to kill me?" She asked with a straight face.
I looked at her or a second before saying "of course not..., but you still shouldn't follow random ponies " I said with a sigh, as I left the TARDIS. The area outside was anything but peaceful; trees were broken with limbs and trunks thrown everywhere. There was mass howling from animals, and thudding of their stampeding feet. I looked to the sky to see two alicorns up there. "Guess I didn't miss the fireworks" I said with a bit of excitement in my voice. I heard footsteps behind me as Colgate walked out of the TARDIS.
"Where are we?" she asked, obviously terrified at the new surroundings.
"Weren't you listening? I told you we are a thousand years in the past...Well technically nine hundred and ninety nine years, eleven months, thirty days." I told her.
"So it would be a thousand years if we stayed until tomorrow?" She asked me looking awkward, running the thought through her mind.
"Yes, but this is where the real fun is" I said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" she said to me as she looked at where I was looking.
"You ever heard of the story; 'The mare in the moon?' I asked her.
"That old pony tale?" She asked hesitant
"Well... maybe after this experience you'll think otherwise about it being a pony tale" I said, as I gestured to the black alicorn. Both alicorns that were in the sky were some of the most beautiful ponies that have ever graced Equestria. I looked at the ponies with excitement while Colgate looked at them with wonder. Then it started.
Luna, who was the black alicorn, rushed in to face Princess Celestia. There was a massive sonic boom at the start of Luna's rush which was ear popping. The rush ended in a tackle against Celestia. They started to tumble in the air a bit before Celestia's horn began to glow and a massive fireball appeared and was thrown at the black alicorn. "I should have made popcorn" I said aloud, engrossed in to the spectacle of two of the strongest ponies in Equestria duking it out.
Lunaquickly flew out of the path of the ball of flames. The fire flew over us elevating the temperature around us, making small beads of sweat form. "This is amazing!" I laughed aloud.
Luna, staring back at her sister, aimed her now glowing horn at her. Lighting immediately shot from her horn, with a cackling thunder ringing in my ears. Celestia dodged away from the lightning strike, which shined brightly across the sky. Celesta then faced Luna and flew at her with mach speed. The ponies collided in the air, quickly tumbling to the ground only a hundred or so yards away from us. A lightning shot out from one of the ponies setting a flame one of the trees nearby.
"What has happened to you?" Celestia screeched at her sister. They were both too engrossed in their battle to notice us on the other side of the pasture. Luna laughed at the white alicorn before shoving Celestia off of her. "You've already destroyed our home! Are you planning on killing me too?" Celestia screamed at the black alicorn.
"I plan more than that" Luna barked at her sister rage encircling the alicorn. Lightning shot from her horn hitting tops of trees instantly setting them aflame. The fire by the trees was now starting to spread creating a wall of flame that illuminated the tears on the white alicorn's face.
"Our home is destroyed..." Celestia said looking to the side of the mountain, where a castle which once stood proudly, was becoming engulfed in an orange flame. "Do you know how much death you caused? Please Luna... lets settle this... I don't want to lose you either" Celestia pleaded, holding back tears.
"It's all lies! You just want the power of this kingdom for yourself!" Luna yelled at Celestia before a strong gust started circling her. The gust kept on growing in strength before I realized a slight pulling on my hooves.
"Colgate?" I whispered to her, as the gust began to pull us.
"Ye-Yeah?" she whimpered as the tornado became stronger and stronger.
"Get back in the TARDIS!" I yelled to her.
"The what?" She cried as the tornado started to pick up lose trunks from previously destroyed trees. Before she could get to the phone booth, the wind picked both of us up and lifted us a few feet in the air.
"HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" I yelled as the wind threw us at some of the destroyed trees. Our hooves reached out, and we managed to catch hold of some of the broken limbs of a tree. I then looked at where the TARDIS was to see that the blue telephone booth, that represented our salvation was uplifted by the wind, and was now dancing in the wind about twenty feet up.
"I pick the best vacation spots" I mumbled sarcastically the wind started to peel us off the tree and was bringing us towards the eye, I saw above where Celestia was unaffected at all by this change. I turned to face Colgate.
"Colgate when I tell you to run, you run as fast as your legs can take you!" I shouted at her, I saw her give a small nod and already try to run in the wind. I closed my eyes, 'I can't even remember the last time I did this' was my first thought. A pocket watch appeared in my mind's eye and the pocket watch ticking started to slow, and then pocket watch simply stopped as if its battery had ran out. I opened my eyes to see a light emitting from my hourglass Cutie Mark. Then suddenly everything stopped...The wind that was holding us, the sound of the roaring tornado, the shrieking of the animals, everything just stopped.
"COLGATE RUN!" I yelled at her. She didn't need to be told twice; she rushed out of the small pasture and in to the trees with me following closely behind her.
"What's happening?" She yelled at me as we were running from the eye of the tornado.
"Do you want to know, or do you want to live?" I yelled at her as she swallowed any comment she was going to make. After half a minute of sprinting I found a tree that had been split open; most likely from an earlier attack.
"Colgate get in here" I said my words only coming out through panting. 'I need to hold out just a bit longer' I thought as I saw the light from my cutie mark begin to dim. Colgate rushed to the small opening inside the tree, and before I could follow her in to the tree my cutie mark had lost all light, and thus time began to start again. The wind felt strong and with me already tired, it easily grabbed hold of me and threw me in to one of the trees. My consciousness faded instantly.
My eyes started to flutter open, and I found myself inside of a cave. "You're finally awake!" I heard Colgate call to me. My eyes focused on the light blue unicorn. There was a fire just a few feet beside me that offered a bit of warmth to my coat... which was wet?
"What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse. Outside the cave there were sounds of thunder and a heavy downpour of rain hitting the ground.
"Well, when you hit the tree you were knocked out; I rushed out and brought you here." She said looking at the fire.
I stared out in to the rain, "I'm so sorry" I said facing away from her.
She looked at me a bit confused. "It's not your fault, I shouldn't have followed you into the phone booth" she said as she pawed the ground embarrassed.
"You're right, you shouldn't of, but I should have brought you back as soon as I realized you had come aboard, so I apologize for that."
"Well... it's fine... but could you tell me what's going on so I don't have my mouth open from shock through this whole trip" she said with a small smile. I gave a small laugh in response.
"Okay, fine, what do you want to know?" I asked her.
"First, we're in the past?" she asked me. I nodded in confirmation of her answer.
"We are almost exactly a thousand years in the past from your 'present,' today is the day that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna fight, and it ends with Celestia winning and sealing her sister inside of the moon for a thousand years. I thought it would be fun to watch a battle between two of the strongest ponies in existence, but I didn't think it would turn out this way." I explained, my voice growing a bit shallower as I finished the comment.
"Wait you said sealed for a thousand years; does that mean she comes out after the thousand years... meaning tomorrow at the Summer Sun Celebration!" she asked me, putting the pieces together as the words were slipping out of her mouth.
Oh! That's what I was forgetting, good... I thought it was something important I thought to myself. "Yeah I do believe she's freed on that Summer Sun Celebration." I thought aloud.
Colgate most likely thinking of what just happened looked somber. "What's going too happened when she gets out?" she asked me with worried eyes.
"I wouldn't worry too much" I said to her. Maybe it was something in my voice but she instantly calmed down, and proceeded to the next question.
"Okay... what's the phone booth thingy" she asked me.
"Ah the TARDIS "I said aloud. "It's basically a time machine that can only be used by ponies similar to me."
"Ponies similar to you?" she asked me.
I gestured toward my flank where an hourglass stood. "This cutie mark represents that we are chosen to be a time lord." I looked back at her, and she had an awkward look about her. "You have earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, and alicorns. We are called time lords, we are technically none of the last four categories; simply because we can do things that no pony else can." I finished.
"What can time lords do exactly?" she asked me, curiosity seeping out of her voice.
"We live much longer than regular ponies, we are typically built stronger than regular ponies, we can use the TARDIS to go through time, and we have a small ability which allows us to control time directly... to a certain extent." I said my voice starting to become rasp by the explanations.
"That's how you stopped time then?" she asked.
"More or less" I shrugged.
"That must be great to be a time lord, someone who can travel through time and see so much" she said with a smile spreading across her face.
"Not really, being a time lord you're not allowed to become anything else than a background pony. You can only subtly change the outcome from behind the scenes. You're never allowed to be on the front line." I said with resentment.
She nodded at my comment. "So... what do we do to get out of here?" she asked me.
"Well going against the two alicorns is a major no-no, since we'd be reduced to the very smallest atoms of ash. Our plan then, is to find the TARDIS and get out of here as fast as possible." I said as I got up, there was still a sharp pain in my head where I had hit the tree and I felt immensely tired from my time stopping stunt.
"You shouldn't try to get up" Colgate told me, letting me lean on her so I wouldn't fall.
I'm alive... that's more than enough reason to get up, I thought. "I need to move, we need to leave as soon as possible."
"Do we even know where the TARDIS is?" she asked me, as she started to snuff out the fire.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think the wind carried it that far... so let's head back to the meadow and try to find it from there." I said aloud to her. She nodded behind me and stood ready.
The cave was built in to the base of a mountain which was about a mile away from the original meadow, where we had landed. The walk back was strangely quiet. The forest felt dead because of all the torn trees. The damage was catastrophic; many of the trees were visibly ripped from the ground, or were literally torn apart. The ground was the same way with major erosion, and small dips where the vicious attacks had carved out pieces of the ground. "This place looks so dead" Colgate commented as we walked through the woods.
"Well this is what a war causes," I said with a somber tone. She gave a small huff of agreement before silence enveloped us once more.
After another few minutes of silence, Colgate broke it with "What would I have to do to become a time lord?" I stopped in my tracks and stared at her.
"You don't want to be a time lord, it may look fun but you haven't seen the worse parts of being one" I said to her. She swung her head to the left and then to the right as if surveying the area.
"So this isn't bad to you?" she asked me with a surprised face.
"I've seen worse, and so would you if you became a time lord!" I said to her.
"I'm more efficient than you think" she pouted.
"I don't doubt your efficiency, but I don't think you would be able to cope with being a time lord."
After another few minutes of seeing destroyed landscaped we came back to our starting place. The pasture was barren, the grass was all dead, and parts of the ground were completely decimated. That wasn't what shocked me though, in truth I expected the area to be wiped out. However, in front of me was a white alicorn that everyone knew as Princess Celestia.
"I don't see this ending well" I said aloud as I walked out to the pasture with Colgate strutting right next to me.
"Hello" the princess said to us as we walked closer to her. "I thought I felt another presence when Luna and I were having our spat...I didn't think it would be a Time Lord though, my deepest condolences." she said referring to me.
"Don't fret your majesty, please excuse my presence in your time" I said to her as I bowed my head just a bit. Colgate mirrored my action as a sign of respect, even though it looked like she was shocked speechless from the encounter.
"Time lord; did I make the right decision...? Maybe I was too harsh on my sister..." Celestia began to say staring at the full moon that hung uncharacteristically low in the sky.
"I can't make that decision for you" I said with a somber note under my breath.
"How many Time Lords are left?" Celestia asked not even facing me anymore; only staring at the round moon in the sky.
"Around ten I believe" I said to the distressed pony.
"Ten ponies out of millions have the ability alone to destroy the world if they so pleased." she said this with a sad smile. "How can I be a good princess to my subjects when I can't even save my own sister?" She asked this, seeming to refer to the moon that hung in the sky.
"That's not true" I heard come from Colgate, Celestia and I both had looks of shock on our faces when we heard the mare talk. "You can't give up on being the leader simply because of one mistake. Nopony is perfect and that includes you. Everypony understands mistakes, it's the only thing that everypony has in common...You don't have to beat yourself up over a single mistake!" Colgate started out in a very small voice, but by the end of her monologue she was almost screaming the words at Celestia.
Celestia looked shock at the outburst that came from the light blue mare. After a full second of awkward silence she let out a soft laugh. "You are more knowledgeable than your age would lead ponies to believe." She said this with a smile. Colgate held a crimson blush on her face at the compliment. "Maybe you are right young mare; perhaps one day Luna and I will become on equal terms again, but for now I'll try not to 'beat myself up' over this somber outcome," she said with another sad smile. Colgate held a small frown on her at Celestia's response. "Time Lord, your vessel is just south of here, I managed to catch it during the storm; it should be only a minute or two trot from here." She said this last statement somberly. I responded with a nod as we began to walk away.
As we started to leave she took one last glance to us. "May I have your names before you leave?"
"My names' Colgate and this is the Doctor," Colgate said introducing us.
"Colgate I thank you for the things you said and I wish you an enriching life. Doctor... I wish you to know that not all Time Lords are on the 'straight and narrow,' more and more are becoming much more power hungry." She said, malice hitting the last few syllables. I understood immediately what her accusations were. She believed that one of the ten living time lords had caused Luna to go mad. I didn't blame her, the time lords weren't exactly the most peaceful kind of ponies as they once were.
The TARDIS was exactly where the princess had said it was. Despite being in the middle of a tornado, it looked as good as new. Colgate even brightened up at the some-what familiar telephone booth. As we started to walk closer to the booth I stopped suddenly, Colgate seeing this, stopped in front of me.
"You won't hear me say this too often, but I was wrong" I said embarrassed. She looked at me confused which I had now established as her trademark face.
"I want you to become my assistant" I said to her. "What you did back there was amazing, when I was loss for words you still had some left; when I was knocked unconscious you still kept me safe...So if you wouldn't mind... I think I could use an assistant." I said with a small smile.
She looked away as if to ponder it for a moment then she looked back at me. "Okay I'll do it..., on one condition" she said with a bright smile. Seeing my puzzled look she continued; "You have to start being nicer to me." she said proudly.
"Where's the fun in that?" I joked as I passed her while laughing.
"You idiot" she said while she started to laugh. She then followed right behind me into the Telephone booth. We didn't realize it just then, but on her flank a new hourglass shaped Cutie Mark had just appeared. I suppose that was when Colgate became my assistant. I suppose that's when the eleventh time lord had joined the ranks.
Traveling through time I've realized many things but the thing that's stood out the most to me was something that Colgate taught me that day. While beliefs and ponies may change throughout time, some things don't change though like the need for companionship...Or in my case the need for someone to tell me I'm an idiot, so I can constantly strive to prove them wrong. I suppose that's all I ever wanted.
Yours Truly,
The Doctor