The Aftermath
“Arrgh…”
Rainbow Dash groaned as she regained consciousness, unaware of what just hit her. Her vision was blurry at best, she couldn't clearly see anything that was further than a couple of metres. She could only see the wrecked, burnt dirt beneath her
Rainbow Dash tried to push herself up, first with her two wings, then with all four hooves, then with both her wings and hooves. She winced as her joints ached, but she continued trying to get up. She almost successfully got up.
“Aghow- agh!”
A sudden sharp pain all over her back and ribs forced Rainbow Dash to fall back down into the dirt. She screeched in agony, and the agony was so terrible, it was paralyzing. She was almost crying from the pain she was in.
Then, she heard a weak trembling voice. Rainbow Dash couldn't turn her head, but she heard the voice, and listened. It was Twilight's voice, and she was dying.
“I'm sorry… friends… I doubt that I will… make it through…”
Hearing Twilight's voice, and hearing she sounded like she was about to die, Rainbow Dash did everything she could to get up. She screamed each time she fell back down, but she kept trying to get up.
“You all… must rebuild… Equestria…”
Rainbow Dash yelled at her own hooves and wings. For a moment, she stopped, only to recover her strength to try again.
“Agh… come on Rainbow… you must get up and help…” She winced and groaned as she yet again tried fighting the pain in order to get up.
“Here, take my hand.” A male voice was heard, a firm but yet calm voice.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes met the eyes of the one who spoke.
This figure was not a pony, but a blocky humanoid, and was six feet tall. He was wearing what looked like a dark blue and black outfit over his body, as well as a white shirt and a green tie underneath. On his feet he was wearing old dusty brown boots. He was not white, he was not brown either, but rather had a fine tan-coloured skin colour. Unlike a pony, this humanoid being only had hairs on the top of his head and above his eyes, the colour of the hairs being brown. The irises in his eyes were also brown.
The blocky humanoid extended his right hand out to Rainbow Dash and continued to speak. “I’m here for a different reason. But I could not ignore this situation over here.”
“Neither could I.” Said a second male voice. His accent was deep, but it was a very strong type of deep.
The blocky humanoid looked ahead. He saw another humanoid figure. But this humanoid wasn't blocky. Like the blocky humanoid though, he only had hairs on top of his head and above his eyes, the colour of the hairs being grey. He was also wearing a dark violet red coat, dark blue waistcoat, a white shirt under the waistcoat, grey trousers and black boots. His eyes also had blue irises.
The non-blocky humanoid continued speaking. “Situations like these are impossible to ignore. I'll fill you in later. We've got work to do first.”
The blocky humanoid looked around him. He was greatly disturbed by what he saw. There were seven other ponies present, and the eighth one, Rainbow Dash, was conscious, albeit, barely, before losing consciousness again. The other seven were already unconscious. Those seven consisted of a pink female unicorn, an orange male unicorn, a white female unicorn, a yellow pegasus, a pink female earth pony, an orange female earth pony and a blood-drenched purple female alicorn.
That one pony, the alicorn, who was dying, immediately caught the attention and priorities of both humanoids. The dying female alicorn looked almost unrecognisable as a pony. Her body as well as her mane and tail was completely covered in blood, most of it being her own. Her left forehoof and leg was split open, with muscles, tendons and bone on display, but the sheer amount of blood made the hoof look like an unrecognisable squishy mess. Her right forehoof was virtually crushed into a flat bloody pancake. Her right rear leg was bent the wrong way. There was a hole in her right side, big enough for her ribs to be exposed, and some of the ribs were missing. Parts of her spine was also exposed. Her horn, the least bloody part of her, still had splattered blood on it.
Right next to the bloodily brutalised alicorn, was another blocky humanoid. He was laying on the ground, next to the alicorn at the front. This blocky humanoid was definitely dead. All his clothes and skin had been burnt away except for his head. He had black hair, very pale grey skin and a black blindfold. Two of the alicorn's ribs were lodged into where eye-sockets of the dead humanoid would've been as well as in other places over his body, the ribs were evidently ripped out and used as weapons. The dead humanoid’s blood-soaked face was caved in, and the massive cave-in on the face matched the rough shape of the alicorn's head and snout. The alicorn evidently headbutted the now-lifeless humanoid to death.
The dying alicorn and the dead blocky humanoid were laying really close to each other. Both of their skin, flesh, countless tiny splinters of their bones, their blood, it was all each other. They were in such a bloody mess, both of their borderline-mutilated bodies almost looked like they could have once been one body but had been split into two.
“Help me get them in the ol’ blue box. All of them. Except the dead guy.” The non-blocky humanoid asked the blocky one for help, who then helped.
“Then once we've done that, I can then see what I've got in my ol’ blue box that can help too.” Said the blocky humanoid. The non-blocky humanoid stared at him for a second, but that revelation was not the main concern at hand.
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A few minutes later, elsewhere…
Outside Fluttershy’s cottage, there was a large memorial stone to the right of the cottage’s door. The stone was roughly as tall as a female pony, and there was a vertical list of names scratched into the stone. Around the bottom of the stone, there were pebbles, stones and flowers, some of the flowers having withered away.
Marble Pie was there, and she was placing flowers and stones at the bottom of the large tall memorial stone. Four of the names especially brought grieving tears to her eyes. Those four names, Maud Pie, Limestone Pie, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, those four names like all the other names on the memorial stone, belonged to dead ponies.
“I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…” The air Marble breathed in became heavy. Her throat and lungs ached, her eyes were sore and irritated.
“Hello. Sorry to disturb you. You must be Marble, the one the pink one told me about.” Said a deep strong male voice.
Marble flinched and immediately went to hide behind the memorial stone. She curled into a ball and was rocking back and forth while shaking. She did not recognise this figure nor his voice.
“Oh okay okay, okay. I'll take a few steps back.” He spoke with a gentle tone.
Marble could hear the figure was stepping back. Slowly, she came out of hiding from behind the memorial stone. She looked straight ahead of her, and saw the figure. She turned her head to the right, keeping her unhidden eye on the humanoid figure.
The figure was a humanoid, and he was six feet tall, two feet taller than Marble. The humanoid was wearing what looked like a dark blue and black outfit over his body, as well as a white shirt and a green tie underneath. On his feet he was wearing old dusty brown boots. He was not white, he was not brown either, but rather had a fine tan-coloured skin colour. Unlike a pony, this humanoid being only had hairs on the top of his head and above his eyes, the colour of the hairs being brown. The irises in his eyes were also brown.
“Your fraternal twin and your friends are in that newly rebuilt hospital northwest from here. The pink one- your twin- she told me to let you and this other fella know where they are.” The humanoid explained.
“Who are you?” Hearing this male voice made Marble feel a little bit more at ease.
Big Mac had come by, from behind the humanoid. Big Mac’s mane, tail and rear were burned. He has several scratches and cuts all over his body. He was shaking and had the ‘thousand-yard-stare’ look on his face.
Marble slowly and instinctively tread over to him. Big Mac protectively stood in front of Marble and stared straight at the humanoid. She looked at him, worried about him, but scared to express her worry.
“My moral obligations don't end at the borders of my home verse.” The humanoid claimed.
“Who are you?” Big Mac repeated himself, looking at the humanoid figure with a protective frown. He and especially Marble were wary of the humanoid.
“I’m the Doctor. One of the things I do is I help those in need.” He replied and turned the other way. “Let me ask you two… Are you two in need?”
Marble looked away and took a few steps back, before giving ‘the Doctor’ one nod.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac replied. His shaking stopped, but his ‘thousand-yard-stare’ facial expression didn't go away.
“Then let me help.” Said the Doctor.
The humanoid who named himself ‘the Doctor’, turned around and started walking westward. Big Mac followed the Doctor closely behind. Marble hesitantly followed, but she kept her distance. The three of them began walking westwards.
The Doctor began speaking. “It takes a very unhinged level of desperation to rip your own ribs out to use as weapons against someone.”
“...What?” Big Mac blinked twice at hearing that information.
“‘What’ indeed. I've never seen anything like it. And I'm over two thousand years old, by the way… not counting the four billion years I spent punching a twenty foot thick azbantium wall…” The Doctor stated, and continued.
“He… did he mur…” The pace of Big Mac’s breath as well as its weight increased. He was starting to shake again. Marble slowed her pace, moving herself even further away from the Doctor.
Seeing this, the Doctor stopped talking about what he saw. He continued talking, trying to find another way to ask a question and find out what happened.
“I would've taken you two into my ol’ blue box and we would've got to the hospital much sooner. But I left her at the hospital, so this other Doctor could keep an eye on her.” The Doctor opened his mouth again.
“Who is this… ‘her’?” Big Mac raised an eyebrow.
“Oh right, sorry- The ol’ blue box. The TARDIS.” The Doctor clarified. “Time and Relative Dimension in Space.”
“Right.” Big Mac mumbled. He was too exhausted, mentally and physically.
“I was about to ask if you're okay. But I can see you're not.” Said the Doctor.
“I was… almost killed… just not too long ago…” Big Mac trembled. “We’ve all been through a lot… And… I don't want to talk about it…”
“No problem.” The Doctor accepted. He twigged that he wasn't going to get any answers nor was he helping. So he stayed quiet.
Seeing the Doctor had shut up, Marble quickened her walking pace. She closed the distance between her and the Doctor as well as Big Mac. She still kept about ten hooves between her and the Doctor.
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Elsewhere (several minutes later)…
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie woke up dozens of minutes ago. Rainbow Dash was the first to wake up. Pinkie was the second to wake up. It was only just now they got out of bed, Pinkie being the first to get out of her bed. Rainbow Dash quickly got up out of her bed shortly after. They were both feeling very groggy.
They were in a room. The walls were made of planks painted a basic turquoise colour. The floor was made of unpainted oak. The ceiling was also made of unpainted oak. Dangling from the ceiling were very bright candle lights.
The room was seven metres (squared), and the ceiling was three metres above the floor. Behind Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were eight wooden hospital beds altogether, with six other ponies in those beds with white mattresses. But the two ponies couldn't see who they were due to their grogginess and still-blurry vision. On the opposite wall to the beds was an open wooden door painted blue with an unpainted oak frame. From somewhere outside the room and over to the pony at the end of the room on the right from the door, there were several wires, some tangled and some not tangled.
It took about another ten seconds for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to notice each other, despite already being awake for dozens of minutes already.
“You're… alive…” Pinkie Pie trembled.
In the past, Pinkie would have immediately thrown a town-wide joyful celebration after defeating a villain. But most of the ponies she would've invited were dead, almost the whole population of all life from a year ago were dead. The void the recently-defeated villain left behind made the thought of celebrating his defeat unbearable.
“You're alive too…” Rainbow Dash had a very weak smile.
Rainbow Dash used to brag and boast about how awesome she and her friends looked after defeating every villain. But this time, it was very different, the most recent ‘villain’ was far worse than the word ‘monster’ could describe. Villains such as Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, Sombra, pre-redemption Discord and so on, even all of them combined, were nowhere near the levels of evil as the most recently defeated threat.
“Ah, you two are awake. Splendid! I do hope the hospital beds were alright. They look rigid.”
A shadow of a blocky humanoid figure from outside the door could be seen. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie immediately froze with total dread. Their breaths became shallow and their hearts began beating at an exponential rate. Then they saw it was not ‘him’, and both ponies relaxed and almost cried with relief.
This blocky humanoid was six feet tall. He was wearing what looked like a dark blue and black outfit over his body, as well as a white shirt and a green tie underneath. On his feet he was wearing old dusty brown boots. He was not white, he was not brown either, but rather had a fine tan-coloured skin colour. Unlike a pony, this humanoid being only had hairs on the top of his head and above his eyes, the colour of the hairs being brown. The irises in his eyes were also brown.
“You two I was able to heal using some potions of healing.” The blocky humanoid stated. “But I have run out of them. Luckily Dr Thyme provided me with the ingredients to make more before I came here. I'll have six more of them brewed and we'll get most of you out of this hospital very soon.”
“We thought… we thought for a second you were…” Rainbow Dash trembled and began stepping backwards. Pinkie Pie placed a forehoof on her back, which slightly helped her calm down.
“I can't imagine what you all went through. What I saw out there was a mess.” Said the blocky humanoid. “I'm the Doctor, by the way- Oh, there's also a version of me from a totally different parallel universe, he's here to help as well.”
As the blocky Doctor said that, the non-blocky Doctor entered the room. He was followed in by Big Mac and Marble Pie. Those three spent the past five to ten minutes walking. Meanwhile, the blocky Doctor left the room, he went to check on the brewing stands he brought with him in his TARDIS.
Seeing Pinkie Pie, Marble Pie walked over to her, hugged and cried into her mane. Pinkie gently hugged back and comforted her twin sister. Pinkie’s hugs used to be very strong and joyful, but her hugs now were very gentle and sad. She was just happy to see her twin sister. Pinkie and Marble were two only members of the Pie family that were still alive.
Big Mac saw one of the ponies in the beds was Applejack, his sister. He sighed with relief, he was just relieved to see her alive. He, along with Applejack, were the only two members of the Apple family still alive.
Big Mac also noticed the other four of the main group of six, as well as two others. The awake, which were Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, as well as the unconscious, which were Fluttershy, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, and Twilight Sparkle.
“No…” Big Mac’s eyes opened wide when his attention turned to Twilight. His expression caught the attention of Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Marble Pie, and their attention quickly shifted to Twilight. All four walked over to her bed, which was at the far right of the room.
Twilight Sparkle’s whole body was wrapped in bandages. Most of the bandages on her were soaked in her blood. Her forehooves and her sides were the bloodiest areas. Her bed’s mattress is also stained with her blood. Several advanced-looking wires were also connected all over her body.
“She'll pull through, even if it doesn't look like she will. She is being stabilised by technology from my home world.” The non-blocky Doctor tried assuring the four ponies.
Rainbow Dash, Marble Pie and Big Mac were struggling to process seeing Twilight in a horrible state. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie turned around and walked back over to the non-blocky Doctor. The pupils in her eyes grew in size, and she began to cry. She lifted her right forehoof off the ground and pulled the Doctor towards her body for a hug. The Doctor kneeled on the floor with his right knee, to receive the hug easier. He has saved worlds and universes many times before, but he also knows a hug can help one’s inner universe.
Pinkie Pie lets go of the Doctor. She looked at her twin sister, who looked back. “I'm going outside okay…”
“Mmm…” Marble Pie slowly walked over to Pinkie. She then spoke very quietly. “I'm… coming with you…”
“Would you like me to come?” The non-blocky Doctor asked Pinkie Pie.
“Sure.” Pinkie Pie nodded, then looked over to her twin sister. “Is he okay to come as well?”
“Mmm…” Marble hesitated, looked at the non-blocky Doctor, then made a decision.
“Mhm…” Marble was okay with the non-blocky Doctor coming with her and Pinkie. Seeing him, as well as the blocky Doctor trying to help Twilight Sparkle, made Marble trust both Doctors.
While those three went outside the room, the blocky Doctor came back into the room. In both hands, he was holding three glass bottles with a dark pinkish red liquid in them, which were potions of healing. He began administering to the six ponies who were still in their beds unconscious.
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Outside…
The newly-built hospital was built in the same exact place Ponyville Hospital once stood. The newly-built hospital was a lot smaller than Ponyville Hospital. The newly-built hospital only had one floor, and it only had an area of seventy metres (squared). The building was only five metres tall, excluding the flat roof made of hay bales. There were window cut outs, but no glass windows. For every five metres, there were two window cut outs. In the very middle of each of the four walls, there was an unpainted door, one door north-side, one door east-side, one door west-side and one door south-side. The walls outside were also unpainted.
Pinkie Pie, Marble Pie and the non-blocky Doctor have walked out the south-side door, then all sat down on the ground. The ground had only just started regrowing its grass. Flowers were slowly appearing again. Even though the environment was recovering, like every pony, Pinkie and Marble were mentally stuck, both were deeply traumatised from events that occurred over a year ago, and the events that have still been occurring.
The Doctor looked left and right at the surroundings. In the distance, he could see destroyed houses, some of which had some scaffolding around them as ponies were trying to rebuild them. Albeit, the scaffolding looked very basic, flimsy and almost dangerous even.
Connecting that with everything he saw from earlier, and with some thinking, everything made sense to the Doctor. He concluded, the blocky being Twilight Sparkle fought to the brink of death, caused the problems in this universe. The Doctor hated that he was able to imagine how the fight ended in such a bloody fashion.
“You don't have to tell me exactly everything… but I understand how painful loss is.” The Doctor broke the silence. He spoke with great empathy for the two ponies.
“You don't get it Doctor…” Pinkie Pie spoke with a heavy tone, trying to not cry so what she was about to describe would be audible for the Doctor to understand. “Shadow Sabre… he was a… a…”
As soon as that name was mentioned, Marble Pie immediately bolted. She got up and ran back into the newly-built hospital. Hearing that name was a severe trigger for her.
“Of course. I will not get what you and your friends have been through.” The Doctor shook his head. “But I still understand what losing everything feels like. It's terrible- it's worse than terrible.”
Pinkie Pie cried as she struggled to recount what she had been through. “Almost everypony I once knew in Ponyville is dead… most of my family is dead… almost every being in this world is dead… and now seeing Twilight looking like that… it's… it's…”
“I am so sorry.” The Doctor did his best to be a comforting presence for Pinkie.
“Would talking help?” The Doctor couldn't do much else to help at this current time. He was here for a completely different reason, but that could wait.
“Yeah I guess… but I need to start from the very beginning…” Pinkie Pie wiped her teary eyes with her left forehoof. “The end of the Equestria that me and everypony knew…”
