When I woke up again with a start, I had found myself in a ditch that ran along the side of the road that led to Fort Reach, adorned in the armor I had commissioned Elusive to make for me. I didn't recall visiting him to pick it up, or even going back to Ponyville. Slowly picking myself up, I looked around and wondered if I had made it home or if I was in another dimension of weird, like the Wasteland I had woken up in yesterday. The samurai armor definitely didn't ease my thoughts. It wasn't until I saw Blake and Schmidt run by, chasing down Pinkie Pie, that I could finally relax. If just a bit.

"Oh hey Mark!"

"Hallo, Pinkie." I nodded, greeting the pink wonder who had just popped up to my left.

"Hi'ya Mark!"

"I already said hello, Pinks." I looked to my right, giving off a sigh as I watched her bounce up and down.

Wait.

"Hey Mark! Where have you been for the last couple days?" Pinkie asked, poking her head out from a nearby tree. "Applejack has been worried sick!"

"Yeah!" The two at my sides chimed in with perfect unison. "Definitely worried sick."

I froze instantly as the hair on my neck began prickling like a motherfucker. To my right, there was a smiling Pinkie gazing up at me. To the left, Pinkie was nuzzling my hand, right on my thumb nub. And the one in the tree had dropped down and sat at my feet, her large blue eyes staring intensely up into mine.

"What the fuck."

Hoping for an answer, I took off jogging for town, the three duplicate mares easily hopping behind me. The sight that I came across upon reaching Ponyville had caused my blood to fucking run ice solid. Besides the usual gathering of brightly colored ponies with a few humans here and there, there were instead tons of Pinkies. Every single one of them playing, giggling, bouncing, and racing through the streets.

"Ho' leeeee-chit!" I let out a low whistle, wondering who was to blame for this clusterfuck.

After trying to wave someone down who was chasing, or being chased by, Pinkie, Mark finally let his temper get the best of him and he flat out decked the next human who ran past. Unfortunately for him, that was Duran.

"Oh fuck me..." He groaned as he rolled into a bit of a fetal position, clutching his chest. "What the fuck, man?"

"Howdy there Rick, nice running into you here." Mark flashed the guy a grin as he knelt down, lightly smacking his cheek to get him to focus.

"Mark?" Duran groaned, blinking in surprise. "Where the hell have you been? And what's with the armor?"

"Later, Rick." Mark let out a grunt, lifting up one of the Pinkies that was following him around. "What in the fuck happened to you guys while I was gone?" Duran let out a cough, before the two stood up, Mark unceremoniously dropping the clone to the ground.

"The same day you disappeared, the real Pinkie took a stroll to some mystic hidden lake in the Everfree and ended up cloning herself. As you can see, the cloning got a bit out of hand and multiplied... a lot."

"You guys haven't pulled out some guns and just shot them?"

"First, we don't know which one is the real Pinkie." Rick sighed, motioning towards a group of them. "Second, could you really shoot any Pinkie? Even if they're just a clone?" The fact that Mark went dead silent and didn't say no caused Duran to shiver. "Anyhow... We're not using guns because Twilight figured out a spell to get rid of the clones." Rolling his shoulders, he cracked his knuckles. "Right now we need to herd them all into the town hall."

"Is that all?" Mark ran his hands over his hair, frowning a bit. He realized that he needed to shave and get his hair cut sometime soon.

"Is that all?!" Duran exclaimed. "Have you ever tried to corral a hundred hyperactive ponies before?"

"Watch and learn, Duran." With a bit of a smirk, he leaned over and whispered something into the ear of the closest Pinkie Pie. A moment later and with a loud gasp, she sprung into the air and ran off screaming 'Pinkie Party at city hall!'. Within a minute, the hall was packed to the brim as every Pinkie in town rushed into it.

"No way... How the fuck?" Duran blinked in shock at the now deserted street.

"That's why I rate the stars on my shoulders." Mark slapped the Master Sergeant's shoulder, before turning and walking over to Twilight and her friends watching the pink hoard. "What's the plan, Sparkle?"

"Mark, honey!" AJ ran over and hugged him tightly, nearly bowling him over. "Where in the hay have you been!"

"Woke up in a couple different dimensions, no big deal." Mark casually answered, rubbing her head as she stared up at him in disbelief. Twilight's ears perked up as he answered.

"Another dimension? Would you mind if I ran a few tests on you once we're done here?" She questioned as she scrutinized the man.

"Fuck you Twi, I'm not a lab rat." Snorting, Mark gestured to the hoard. "The plan for these things?"

"I'm going to make them watch paint dry!" Mark opened up his mouth to fire off a retort, but nothing came out. Slowly he closed his mouth and stared down at the purple unicorn, wondering where he had left his 1911. Twilight had finally gone bat-shit insane and needed to be put down before her insanity started to infect the rest of Equestria!

"Hold up Twilight, I got another one!" Dash thankfully spared Twilight her execution as she flew in with one last Pinkie, this one a little dull colored compared to the others. Before she could land however, she was tackled to the ground by Gallan.

"What the hay?" Twi gasped, trotting over to help Dash.

"Yeah! What gives?!" Dash demanded, rounding on the human. "That was totally not cool!"

"Damn it Dash!" Gallan snapped at her, pulling the Pinkie to his side and a bit behind him. "I told you I didn't give a damn what you did with the unfeeling, soulless copies, but keep your hooves off MY Pinkie!"

"But Gallan dear, we really need to figure out which Pinkie is the real one.." Rarity stated as she started to move towards the pair, but paused when he glared at her as well.

"Mark, do something..." Applejack muttered, nudging his leg. After thinking for a moment, Mark held up a hand.

"Luke, what do you mean by unfeeling and soulless?"

"That's just it." He answered, kneeling down next to his pony. "The clones of her are all soulless, and while they act like her, they don't have any feelings of their own." The ponies around the pair blinked and looked at each other, before a buzz caused them to look up at Mark.

"Have you guys seriously forgotten that Gallan is technically a changeling now? And he can sense the real Pinkie?" Apple shot off, standing atop Mark's head. He briefly wondered when the hell she had gotten up there, but dismissed it shortly after.

"So that means that she's the original Pinkie!" Twilight stated as the situation finally dawned on her.

"That's what I've been trying to tell the lot of you all day!" Gallan grunted as he lifted up the depressed pink pony, hugging her to his chest. "I'd know my Pinkie anywhere."

"You... you knew I was me?" Pinks gazed up into his eyes, the color slowly coming back into her fur. He simply smiled and gently planted a kiss on her muzzle.

"Well! Now that we've gotten that all cleared up..." Twilight beamed and trotted over to the town hall. "Thank you everyone for coming! Now, if you'll look at my horn we can get this party started..."

After the bright flashing had subsided and Twilight had returned to her friends to assist in hugging Pinkie, Mark stepped into the now empty hall and giving it a scrutinizing onceover. He was about to walk out satisfied when he noticed a small pile of silverfish dust on the floor.

"Of course its not that simple..." He muttered as he put the dust in a vial, before going off to explain where he had been to the Elements.

"They're Nanites!" Time Turner called out after inspecting the dust for a while. "I don't know what Twilight and her friends plan to do to that pond, but I'm going to go over and take a look."

"Does that mean we're going on a trip, dad?" Jenny excitedly asked from the kitchen, before coming out with lunch.

"Yes indeed, go ahead and go warm the old girl up." Mark decided that it would be best for him to disappear immediately before they could drag him into some more shenanigans.

Journal Entry #55-A

Three days after Mark disappeared right out of his bed, he has reappeared just in time to help Ponyville in a time of crisis. And while most of them will deny it being a crisis, what had occurred was DEFINITELY classified as a minor to moderate crisis. Check entries #52 through #54 for more details on this 'Pinkie Swarm'. Thanks to Mark, and Gallan, the Elements of Harmony were able to round them up and eliminate the threat. However, it was what happened after that deserves its own entry for future referencing.

I swear to the Hive, sometimes I think my 'father' forgets that I'm a living being and not just a piece of his gear.

Following the elimination of the pink hoard, Mark found something that set off alarm bells in our link. Afterwards, he took some time to explain where he had gone. Something about a world with reversed genders, then a wasteland... Either way, the entire time he talked I had been getting flashes of memories off of him. The image of a male Applejack spooning him in bed made me giggle to myself, I must admit.

Anyway, while he talked with 'mom' and the other Elements, I took my usual spot atop his head. I still haven't told him that this form of contact allows me better access to his memories and emotions, but that's one of my many, many secrets.

It was after his explanation of what he called 'Rule 63 land', that he excused himself and made a beeline to the town's clock tower and the odd family of ponies living there. Time Turner, or as Mark's mind refers to him, 'Doctor', was in a rare form and had become very excited after he received a vial full of a silvery powder.

Note; I'm not sure who Turner really is, but I am certain that he is not a normal pony. My first point is that his life force tastes old. Not as old as Celestia, but old nonetheless. Very old, and very tired, even when he puts on a brave face or acts jovial. The other point I have refer to his emotions. Outwardly, he shows happiness and sadness just like any other pony, but inwardly he guards his true emotions and burying them so deep that I doubt Chrysalis could read them.

While I'm describing Turner, I might as well refer to his daughter, Jenny, as well. A young filly named after a female mule, of course. While she has her father's ability to govern her emotions, she has yet to figure out, or implement, this talent which allows her feelings to show on her sleeve. What throws me off about her is her age. While she looks to be around the same age as Twilight, her emotions taste the same as that of someone younger than Applebloom. And then there's her... coltfriend.

He is one of the things I truly cannot figure out, and that says a lot about this town. 'Joe' is a human mind trapped within a five foot tall gray colored, metal monster. I have only seen these things in glimpses of Mark's memories, and I know that the armored casing is a DALEK. And I also know that several other humans know what they are, but nobody will tell me what the hell a DALEK is. Even Turner has to swallow a wave of fear and revulsion when him and Joe are left alone in a room, though over the past few months he has been getting better about this.

Whatever the fact is, Joe himself is quite the interesting specimen. Unusually calm and collected, he is quite a lot like Big Mac in the way that he's a tall, silent type. Hell, he doesn't even show any emotions unless he's around Jenny. I hesitate to classify the emotions he emits as love, instead opting to describe it as complete devotion for the mare. From what I can tell, when he's around Jenny he feels human again, content with just living as long as it's next to her. In a way, I can't help but feel sorry for him, knowing he's trapped inside a metal nightmare.

And last but certainly not least, we come to the big blue 'phone booth' sitting in the corner of the living room. The box that watches you even though it doesn't have eyes. The big, blue box with a heartbeat. A blue box that loves Turner. I've heard Mark call it a TARDIS, but Turner has called it a variety of names, up to and including 'Sexy' for some reason.

While Mark and Turner talked among each other about that damnable dust that Mark had found, I took the opportunity to explore the tower a bit more. I had mostly tuned them out until I heard the front door close, at which point, and to my alarm, I started feeling a bit of dread.

My loving father decided to make a discreet exit, leaving me alone with this insane family of time travelers. I had to admit, I had been on several adventures with Mark and them before, but now... Momentarily forgetting that I had wings and magic, I spun around to race for the door and join Mark, I bolted and ended up running straight into Tuner's forelegs.

"Why hello there!" Time Turner smiled down at me as Jenny bounded into the now open booth. "Would you like to join us? We're not going that far." And there it was. That slight, knowing smirk, the curious twinkle in his eyes that made one long to see what might lie on the other side of the rabbit hole... Damn it!

"Sure." I nodded, unable to resist the pull that was the Doctor. Soon enough, I found myself sitting next to Joe while Turner and Jenny do an enthusiastic dance around the TARDIS' control island. After listening to a small arguement about whether they should leave the parking brake on or not, we were on our way to this cave. Luckily we weren't going back or forward in time, just popping over a short distance into the Everfree, so it wasn't that long before the blue box's wheezing had came to an end and Turner declaring the flight a success.

Oddly enough, I liked the wheezing sound she makes when the brakes are left on, since it was... comforting, for some reason. I digress.

"And here we are!" Turner called out, trotting onto a dry, desert landscape and into the side of a surprised, 60 foot long, armored earthworm. "Shall we try that again?" He smiled weakly, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Arrakis?" Jenny asked, not taking her hooves off the automatic door lock.

"Arrakis." Turner nodded as he trotted past Joe and I, ears flattened in annoyance.

"I tried to tell you that you imputed the wrong..."

"Now now, no time for that!" He shrugged, retaking his place. "Onward and forwards as I always say." Letting out a sigh, I leaned over to Joe.

"This happens a lot, doesn't it?"

"Affirmative." His electronic, monotone voice droned out.

For the sake of keeping this report as short as possible, I will keep out the six attempts to fly the TARDIS, since it took us about two weeks to travel one mile southeast of Ponyville. Instead, I'll pick it back up when we actually make it to the pond. The other attempts, however, will be recorded at a later date when its convenient.

"There we go!" Jenny announced, finishing up some kind of device that looked like it was a fuse of coffee machine and jukebox. While she did that and Tuner looked for the 'Alpha Bug' to deactivate the colony, I pointed out clones for Joe to destroy.

You know, seeing as how the inherent memories I was given by my birth mother, while needed to run a changeling hive, were lackluster at most, I understood Mark's insistence on a pony education. Standing here while Joe fired that disrupter/gun/stick thing at another Time Turner as it bounded out of the pool, I've started realizing I'd probably be happier as an ignorant Queen of my own little Hive than have to deal with this madness.

"That's seven.." I sighed, drawing another tally mark in the dirt.

"Joe," Jenny piped up from where she was working. I don't even think she looked up from her work. "Do be a dear and get the one climbing out on the other side of the pond."

Brevv! "And that's eight..."

"There you are!" Turner suddenly called out, standing up from the pond. He seemed very overjoyed at something he was holding in his upturned hoof. "Such an amazing little thing aren't we?" He cooed to the thing before tossing it into Jenny's machine.

"So... mind if I ask.." I tried to get his attention, but he trotted right past me. "Excuse me.." He was now pacing while muttering about reforming a base code. You, any of you, know how frustrating it is to be ignored, even if unintentional. "What in the name of fuck is happening?!" Mark would be proud of my wording.

"Do you want the long version or the short?" Jenny asked, before Turner could give one of his long winded answers.

"Short, please."

"In simplest terms, nanites are tiny, self replicating techno-organic machines." Turner moved over and let me see this metallic ant with a fish tail that he was gushing over. "This machine here will allow us to check the Alpha's main programming, and maybe we can find out their function and why they're here."

"Nanites are kind of like changelings in that they have a hive mentality." Jenny stated, giving her father a disappointed look. "What we have here is the colony's Queen, or Alpha. She tells the others what to do, think, and when to reproduce." At least this mare didn't speak gibberish.

"So you want to find out what she knows, why she's here, and if she's dangerous."

"On the nose!" Turner smiled and gave me a wink. "What a brilliant girl you are."

With that said, and me feeling a bit better over understanding what was going on, Turner flipped the machine on and went to work. For the next ten minutes they worked away while I went back to tallying Joe's kills, reaching twenty-three before the two ponies made an unusual noise that drew my attention.

The Nanites have the ability to detect the surface thoughts of their victims, which helps them mimic their target almost flawlessly by imitating their mannerisms and discovering information that only their victim would know. Once this is done, they then slowly take over their victim's life at which point the one cloned is eliminated and the process is repeated with the next victim. My conclusion is that these Nanites are highly dangerous and should be burned in the pits of Tartarus.

These ponies really didn't understand how close they came to being annihilated.

End of Journal Entry 55-A

I know that there's no excuse for being inactive for over two years, but I finally got around to making this for you guys. I couldn't bear leaving you all hanging for so long, so I'll try to get back into the spirit of writing.