Gargoyles In The Garden part 2

Chapter 2:

The world was a blur of color and darkness. Twilight struggled to hang onto consciousness, as a black cloud swarmed her mind and made her pass out. In the confusion she thought she heard voices, and a blurred shape appeared in front of her. The figure, now more distinguishable as a brown pony, placed it's hoof gently on Twilight's head.

“Sleep now. All is well.” The form spoke to her. Unable to resist, Twilight lay down and fell asleep.

What seemed like moments later, she woke again to be met by the same brown pony. “You are safe. Rest, Sparkle.” The pony said to her in a soft voice.

Before passing out again, Twilight saw the brown pony's cutie mark, which was an hourglass...

***

Twilight woke to a whistling noise. She sat up, pushing blankets off herself, and took a look around.

She was in a metal room, with strings of lights and wires running along the walls. There was a faint hum coming through the doorway to her left, and what appeared to be a kitchen to her right. The whistling noise stopped, and Spike appeared in the kitchen holding a teapot.

Twilight blinked several times and rubbed her eyes. Spike walked over and offered her some tea. “Thank you, Spike.” Twilight took the tea with shaking hoofs.

“What happened?” Twilight asked after a minute, placing the empty cup on the floor.

Spike shuffled his feet and looked at the ground. “You were out for awhile, I thought you were dead...”

Twilight stood up suddenly. “How long?” She asked with a slight tinge of panic in her voice.

Spike shuffled his feet some more. “Well... a few days?”

Twilight sighed and looked around the room. “Where are we?”

Spike looked up. “In some kind of submarine maybe? You'll have to ask The Doctor.”

“Who's ‘The Doctor’?”

“Him.” Spike pointed to Twilight's right.

Twilight turned around and saw a light brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark standing in the doorway. The pony walked over and addressed Twilight. “Hello, Sparkle.”

Twilight stood there in silence for a few seconds. “... Don't call me Sparkle.” She said with a hint of irritation.

The pony chuckled. “Alright then, Twilight. Call me The Doctor, or just Doctor.”

Twilight smiled. “Okay, doctor.”

The Doctor grinned. “Okay, Sparkle...”

“Don't call me Sparkle!” Twilight said, stomping her hoof on the floor. One of the lights hanging on the wall behind her flashed and went out. Twilight turned to look at it, then turned back, blushing.

“It's fine, those things are cheap... Moving on!” The Doctor said quickly, then he spun around and walked through the doorway into the humming room. Twilight and Spike followed.

They were in another metal room with lights and wires on the walls. But this one had a giant tower of buttons, switches, and knobs in the center. There were frequent flashes of multicolored light, with the occasional beep from a computer monitor. The Doctor walked up to the tower and pushed a few buttons.

Twilight walked up to The Doctor. “What is this thing?” She gestured to the tower.

The Doctor turned to her, casually flipping a switch as he did. “This is my control station. It commands everything in the room, and a few things outside of it. Like this.”

The Doctor pushed a few more buttons and turned a knob. The computer monitor turned on, and a face appeared. “Yes, doctor?” The computer spoke in a female robot voice.

“Computer, fetch Sparkle something to eat. You are hungry, aren't you?” The Doctor asked Twilight.

Twilight nodded her head without taking her eyes off of the monitor.

The computer beeped a few times. After a few moments, there was another beep, then a ding like a bell. A plate appeared, and a daisy sandwich materialized on it. The Doctor picked up the plate and handed it to Twilight.

“Do you want the crust off?” The Doctor asked her, who was still staring at the computer.

“... Sure...” She said weakly. The computer beeped again, and the crust vanished.

Twilight stared at the sandwich on the plate, then picked it up and sniffed it. She shrugged, and took a bite.

“And look at this!” The Doctor said suddenly. Startled, Twilight coughed and got hiccups.

“hic- what?” Twilight said, attempting to swallow the piece of sandwich in her mouth before it choked her.

The Doctor walked around to the other side of the control station and flipped a switch. He then walked across the room to a door Twilight hadn't noticed before. The Doctor opened it, and gestured to Twilight and Spike.

“This.” The Doctor pointed his hoof through the door. Twilight dropped the plate and lost her hiccups.

They were floating in space, with thousands of stars in all directions. The sun was visible as a faint dot in the distance, with other planets to the left and right of them. Shooting stars sped past the doorway, leaving trails of shiny silver dust behind. The Doctor took Twilight's hoof and waved it through the trail of dust, which was warm. The star dust flowed around Twilight's hoof and swirled into complex patterns, then faded away. The Doctor let go of her hoof and she continued to wave it around, creating even more patterns. After a minute, she let it fall to her side and the trail disappeared.

There was a moment of silence as they continued to stare at the stars shooting past. It was Spike who finally broke the silence. “So what is this thing?”

The Doctor cleared his throat. “It's called a TARDIS.”

“A what?!” Twilight turned to The Doctor with a confused look on her face.

“Time And Relative Dimension In Space. TARDIS. Need further explanation?”

Twilight nodded, and The Doctor walked back to the control station and began turning knobs and pressing buttons again.

The Doctor started to mumble to himself. “Now push that... and turn this... about 13 degrees to the right... a little further up... Twilight!” He called suddenly, and made Twilight jump.

Twilight blushed. “Yes, doctor?”

“What time was it when you last checked the clock in the library?”

“About 10:30...” Twilight started to say.

The Doctor turned around and pressed 1-0-3-0 on a keypad, then turned back to Twilight with a serious expression.

“Are you sure?”

Twilight nodded, and The Doctor turned back to the control station and pressed a big blue button.

The TARDIS began to shake like there was an earthquake. A loud grinding noise sounded through the room. Spike fell over, and Twilight, having nothing to grab, latched onto The Doctor's arm. She looked up at his face, blushing, and let go. She regretted this instantly. Both of her front legs knocked together, and her back ones slid apart into a deformed split. Twilight's face landed on the floor. The Doctor helped her up and carried her over to a rail at the edge of the room. Twilight locked her hoofs around it.

The shaking went on for a minute or so. Then the grinding noise faded, and the TARDIS shuddered to a halt.

The Doctor, acting like nothing happened, walked over to the door and opened it. He then gestured for Twilight and Spike to follow.

Outside the door was not space, but Ponyville.

It was night. The TARDIS was hovering 50 feet off the ground, with the open door facing the upper window of the library. Other buildings were visible to the left and right.

The Doctor checked a clock on the wall behind him.

“It's 10:30. Any moment now...” The Doctor's voice faded when a rustling noise came from the bushes below. Twilight and Spike leaned forward, searching the ground for the source.

More bushes rustled, and three figures stepped out into the light of the moon below.

The first figure was tall, with big arms almost touching the ground. The second figure was smaller, with large wings in the middle of it's back. The third figure was the shortest, with huge feet the size of skateboards. All three of them had rock-like skin that looked dull in the moonlight.

“... Gargoyles.” The Doctor whispered.

The gargoyles walked up to the library. “We don't have much time,” The tall one spoke in a gravely voice “We must get her before the chosen one shows up.”

“What do we do now?” The second gargoyle spoke with a higher pitch “We can't go in there with that lamp on.” He gestured through the library window, which was emitting a faint light.

The third gargoyle spoke with a deep voice “Just throw a rock in there or somthin'.”

The second gargoyle thought long and hard about it, then picked up a rock from the ground. He chucked it through the window and the lamp went out.

Below them, they heard the panicked voices of Twilight and Spike. A few moments later, they appeared at the window in front of the TARDIS.

“Why isn't it working?!” Twilight said, attempting to vanish. Her horn stopped glowing.

On Twilight's back, Spike was staring through the window at the TARDIS hovering there.

Inside the TARDIS, Spike waved awkwardly to his past self.

“Twilight...” The past Spike started to say.

Inside, the gargoyles had almost reached the top of the stairs. Twilight turned around and jumped out the window, with Spike screaming all the way down.

A grinding noise sounded and the TARDIS appeared, laying sideways on the ground. The door opened. Twilight and Spike fell into it with a splash, then it disappeared.

The gargoyles appeared at the window. They looked down, ignoring the future TARDIS hovering there only 10 feet away. Then they turned around and ran down the stairs and into the Everfree forest.

When it was over, Twilight and Spike sat there with wide eyes.

“S-so it time travels?” Twilight managed to stutter.

The Doctor nodded. “Yes. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Time traveling blue box.”

“Blue?”

“You haven’t seen the outside yet. I'll show you.” The Doctor walked to the control station and pushed a button. The TARDIS slowly lowered to the ground and landed with a THUMP.

“Wait,” Twilight hesitated as The Doctor stepped out. “Is it safe to go out there?”

“I wouldn't worry about those gargoyles. They're long gone.”

Twilight stepped outside and turned around. The TARDIS, with the door closed, was a small 4 by 4 foot blue telephone box. Twilight opened the door and ran inside. Then she ran back out and walked in circles around it. Then she stopped in front of The Doctor, a look of shock on her face.

“It's... b-bigger...” Twilight tried to speak, but her voice shut down.

“On the inside. Yes.” The Doctor finished for her. “Anyway, we're getting too far out of the storyline. So lets continue, shall we?” The Doctor stepped through the door and trotted to the control station, merrily humming a nameless tune.

Spike started to follow, but Twilight stuck her hoof in front of him.

“Spike, you think we can trust this guy?” Twilight motioned in The Doctor's direction.

“Yeah I do, Twilight. And I think you do, too. You're the one who's been making eyes at him all day.” Spike said, moving his eyebrows up and down.

“Cut it out, Spike. He’s not my type--”

The Doctor appeared at the doorway. “Talking about me?” He asked jokingly.

Spike opened his mouth, but Twilight jammed her hoof in it. “No. We’re fine, you’re fine, everything’s fine...” She forced a smile.

The Doctor grinned and went back inside. Twilight removed her hoof from Spike’s mouth.

“He took care of you for days, Twilight. I honestly think we can trust him.” Spike said.

Twilight considered this, then walked slowly through the door into the TARDIS. Inside, The Doctor was flipping switches and pushing more buttons.

“So,” The Doctor said to Twilight. “Our mission: save the world. We have to find out what those gargoyles are up to, and we have to stop them from doing whatever it is that they plan to do.” The Doctor finished, then walked over to a keypad. “So, where should we go first? Paris? Manehattan? Pluto?”

Twilight looked confused. “What do you mean? Don’t we have to save the world?”

“Well, yeah...” The Doctor said slowly. “But we have time for some detours first. We are in a time machine, after all.”

Twilight laughed. “Oh yeah... How about Paris?”

The Doctor grinned and punched some numbers on the keypad.

While he flipped switches and pushed buttons, Twilight wondered what kind of adventure lay ahead of them. She knew her life would never be the same after today, and she was fine with this. She knew all of Equestria was counting on them, and she was prepared to fight. She knew the fate of the world was in their hooves, and she was ready to defend it.

Twilight was ready for anything.

“You ready to go?” The Doctor asked Twilight, with his hoof suspended over the blue button. Twilight trotted over to him.The Doctor stepped aside, seeing fire in her eyes.

“You bet.” She slammed her hoof onto the blue button.

End of chapter two.