//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 "Reunited and then Separated Again" // Story: Equestria Noir Case 23 "Mad Doctor" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 “Reunited and then Separated Again” AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Jack and I galloped into the next room only for me to run into The Doctor and Ditzy. I fell on my back and rubbed the back of my head as I sat back up. Ditzy flew to me and hugged me tight. “You’re okay, Private!” she cried happily. I smiled and hugged her back. “I’m fine, Ditzy.” The Doctor dusted himself off and said, “Thought we lost you in the operating room.” He then looked at Jack and narrowed his eyes. “You…” Jack smiled nervously, he was visibly sweating. “Um, hello Doctor.” he said awkwardly. “You’re a friend of the Doctor’s too?” Ditzy asked, letting go of me and walking over to Jack. “Yes,” he replied, going back into charming mode. “I must say he never seems to find unattractive people for his companions…” “Stop it,” the Doctor ordered with a glare. “I was just saying hello,” Jack said, trying to sound innocent. “Like you were just saying ‘hello’ to Jenny?” He raised an eyebrow. “How was I supposed to know she was your daughter grown from a machine?” Jack asked, sweating a little. “You know, there are many ways I could make your life miserable without killing you,” Doctor Hooves said, crossing his forelegs. “Oh don’t worry, Doctor,” Jack said, raising his hooves. “I know when to keep my hooves off.” He then slung an arm around me and continued, “Now this nice thing here-“ “Is straight,” finished the Doctor. “You never let me find out on my own,” Jack whined. “There’s a reason why,” The Doctor replied, rolling his eyes. I got out from Jack’s arm. “Plus, I don’t think my marefriend would appreciate it,” I said firmly. Jack smirked and I gave him a “don’t even think about it” look. “Right,” the Doctor said. “We've got to find a way out of here.” “Have you guys noticed there aren’t any windows?” Ditzy asked. “If we had windows we could fly out.” “Every time we enter a room it just leads to more rooms,” Jack said with a sigh. “I’ve been running around this place for hours and I haven’t seen an exit.” I then went on to explain how I found Jack and all the monsters we'd encountered since I woke up in the office. The Doctor put a hoof on his chin. “Again, they didn’t kill you when they easily could. This is very weird.” “They shot me,” Jack pointed out. “You can’t die, so you don’t count,” the Doctor said. “It just doesn’t make sense, why not just shoot him right there?” “Maybe they were taken,” I said, looking at the Doctor, “just like that shadow. They didn't seem to know where they were.” “Do you think this could be a prison of some sort?” Jack suggested. “If this is a prison then where are the guards? Then again maybe this place doesn’t need them. I’ve heard of some cultures that dedicate entire planets for use as prisons and allow the prisoners to simply roam. They kill each other off and no guards are needed,” the Doctor explained. “We gotta get outta here,” Ditzy said, with a troubled expression. “My girls are probably worried sick about me.” “For now we stick together,” the Doctor said, and then he began walking down the hallway from where we came from. We left the doors open so it hadn’t changed. The Daleks were still there. “Not those things again!” Ditzy cried, hiding behind me. “You’ve seen these before?” I asked, looking back at her. “Uh huh, they were very mean and tried to hurt the Doctor,” she answered. “Are they still working?” “Nope, Jack and Private did a number on them,” the Doctor replied, running his sonic screwdriver over the dead Daleks. “Clever use of the acid on that fire ax, Jack. You cut right into their core and smashed them.” “Anything you can tell about the other one, Doctor?” he asked, pointing to the one with the sliced off eyestalk. “Well, he’s mostly intact but he isn’t going anywhere,” the Doctor said. He looked down and checked the data from the sonic screwdriver. “Well, this is interesting, leftovers from the Cult of Scara. So this must be a prison after all.” “Cult of what now?” I asked. “Daleks that essentially research us squishies to figure out how to kill us.” Jack said. “That explains why you managed to tick them off and got them to fight each other. The Cult allows the Dalek to have its own thoughts in order to better understand us. At least until they can zap us with a death ray.” “Still, why didn’t they kill Private outright?” the Doctor said, putting a hoof on his chin. “Daleks despise anything that isn’t a Dalek. They are a shoot first ask questions later species.” “They did ask a question, where they were,” I said, putting a hoof on my chin. “Then, there are the doors.” “Doors?” the Doctor said “What about doors? I like Doors, except when they lead to deadly traps and the such.” “They lead to companions you used to have,” I said. His eyes grew wide and he said, “That’s… very interesting.” “Whoever’s in charge of this place knows how to get under people’s skin,” Jack observed. “Let’s just go,” I said, looking at my friends. “I just wanna find the Tardis and get home.” “I heartily agree,” the Doctor said, turning and preparing to go back the way we came. “Allons-y!” Jack laughed. “I love that line.” _________________________________________________________ As we walked down the empty and dusty hallways we encountered no beast or pony. A silence hung in the air, only broken by the sound of our hoof steps. Jack had the fire ax slung over his back using a belt he had in his coat. I had Blackbird out, but I only had a few bullets left. Enough to reload Blackbird twice, maybe. I should’ve brought White Tiger or even Silver Wolf would've be useful. Though I don’t know if Voidera made the sword to be anti Dalek. We opened another door to find a welcome sight. There was a pony sitting in the middle of what looked like a padded room. She was a earth pony mare with a bright blue coat and a long teal mane that came down around her, it looked far overgrown and ratty. Her green eyes seemed to be clouded and not looking anywhere. She had a cutie mark of a pair of wagon wheels. Jack lowered himself in front of her and held up his odd watch. “This is Wheelbarrow. She's the gal from Hoofington who got sent here. She’s one of the missing ponies, the fifth that disappeared.” “Is she okay?” Ditzy asked, fluttering over to the mare. “Hello? My name is Ditzy, these are my friends. We’re here to help you.” Wheelbarrow didn’t seem to notice her. She was muttering something, “Wet…too wet…” It sounded like. “Hello?” I said, waving a hoof in front of her. “Doctor, what’s wrong with her?” The Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver over her .“Sleep deprived, starving, thirsty. She’s been in here for weeks, and nobody’s been in here to help her,” he said with a frown. “Wheelbarrow, it’s okay, we’re going to help,” Ditzy said again. Wheelbarrow shook her head. “Too much water. It's everywhere…” “Who brought you here?” Jack asked. “Do you even know where you are?” “They said, I was weak,” Wheelbarrow said, still in her trance. “That I had to face fear. Water… water everywhere…Can’t swim. WILL DROWN!” She started screaming and suddenly I felt my hooves getting wet. I looked down and saw water was starting to fill the room at an alarming rate. Within seconds the water was up to my fetlocks. I looked at the gang and cried, “Time to go!” The Doctor opened the door, but the water didn’t flow out. “Come on!” The Doctor called, leaping out of the water and into a new hallway. “What about Wheel?” Ditzy asked, looking on the mare who continued screaming as the water kept rising. “Get out! I’ll help her!” I cried. Jack grabbed Ditzy and flew out with her. I swam towards Wheelbarrow and reached for her, her piercing screams filling my ears. “Let me help you!” I yelled, trying to grab her hoof with mine. “Nopony can help…I wish, I wish I didn’t feel it anymore,” Wheelbarrow said. Her eyes seemed to go blank, then she fell into the now head height water. I felt a strong current tugging at me. I tried swimming against it but it carried me out of the room. No water came out except the water dripping off my body. There was just a wall of water inside the room, completely filling it, but never leaving the obvious hole. Before any of us could react, the door slammed shut. Ditzy was the first one to speak up, “Wha, what happened?” “Fascinating,” the Doctor said, opening the door again. Only this time it lead to another hallway. “The water didn’t leave it when we opened it. That must mean that each room is its own pocket dimension.” “Huh?” Ditzy said, tilting her head. I was tempted to imitate her. I never could understand physics, or Doctor Physics in this case. “In a sense, each room is a separate chamber. It’s kind of like a Rubik cube puzzle, where the squares represent a different room and we’re constantly dealing with somebody or something moving it.” He ran a hoof through his dark brown mane. “The question is, why would the water suddenly flood the room?” “I think I may have a guess,” Jack said, looking at his weird watch. “I got Wheelbarrow’s records here.” “Where exactly did you get those records?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. \ “They were “procured” from a very willing source,” he replied with a smile. He then tapped some buttons and continued, “Okay, Wheelbarrow. Twenty eight years old, made wagons over in Baltimare.” “Baltimare is a sea port,” I mentioned. “Why would somepony from there be scared of water?” “She was from a place called Dodge at first,” Jack explained. “According to this, she moved to Baltimare to be with her extended family after her parents died. When she was sixteen she nearly drowned trying to retrieve her baby cousin who fell into the ocean. She was diagnosed with severe Aqua phobia.” “Poor girl,” the Doctor said sadly. “Why would somepony flood her room, though?” Ditzy asked, crossing her forelegs. “That's really mean.” “She was also starved and sleep deprived,” I said. “It’s how some cults get members. Keep a pony awake and starving long enough and they’d do anything you ask.” “Who would do such a thing?” Ditzy asked in horror. “We’ll figure it out,” the Doctor said, patting Ditzy on the back soothingly. “Let’s get moving,” I said, making my way through the door to the new hallway. We rounded a corner only to find more doors that lead to more hallways. This went on for almost an hour… Clank…Clank…Clank… “Do you hear that?” I asked, stopping suddenly. “Yeah, I hear it,” Jack said, looking around. “It doesn't sound good.” Clank…Clank…Clank… “Private, Ditzy, whatever happens to me and Jack, you run,” the Doctor ordered. “But-” Ditzy began. “Jack can’t die, and I can regenerate,” the Doctor argued. “However if you two die, that’s it! I’m not having anypony else die because of me!” Doctor… Clank…Clank…Clank… “It’s getting closer,” I said, pulling out Blackbird and aiming down one side of the hall. Ditzy was behind me and The Doctor and Jack were behind her, awaiting whatever comes. I looked forward as the clanking became louder and then I saw it… It looked a pony, only encased entirely in metal. It had strange instruments on it’s forelegs, and red soulless glowing eyes. Unlike the Daleks which I just found silly, I felt a cold fear run down my spine at the sight of the machine. It felt, unnerving, to see something like that… My gun to shook a little in my magic. I was losing concentration! Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good! Then it spoke in a metallic voice that gave me the chills, “Intruders have been located, identifying…” The Doctor turned and his eyes grew wide, “No! No, not you…” “What is he, Doctor?” I asked, as Jack stood beside me. “That’s a cyber-pony,” Ditzy answered for him. “It used to be a pony, but not anymore…” The machine then looked right at me. “Subjects have been identified. One unicorn male, one pegasus female, one human male, and one time lord male…” “Human?” I asked in shock, looking at Jack. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag I guess,” Jack said, trying to add some levity to all this. So, humans did exist. Lyra will never let anypony hear the end of it. The Doctor shouted “Oi! Just what do you think you’re doing here!” “The Doctor is here.” The cyber pony raised his foreleg and ordered, “Stand down, or we will delete you.” “We..?” I said, and then turned around, there were four more of them with their forelegs’ raised. I noticed two of them had some sort of laser gun attached to their forelegs. The one in the middle spoke up, “The Doctor will surrender the pegasus female to us.” “As if I’d do that, you pony shaped rust buckets!” the Doctor shouted. “If you want anybody, your fight’s with me. I’m the one who has stopped you time and again. I’m the one you should fight. Leave them alone!” “Yet another sign of the Doctor’s weakness in emotions,” the one in front of us said. “What do you want with us?” I cried. “You will be upgraded to cyber-ponies,” the one holding a laser said. “You will no longer feel the weakness of emotions, or the frailty of pony flesh.” “You never could get it through your thick steel heads, could you!” The Doctor shouted, with that same white hot fury I’d seen him have once in the past. It was, almost more terrifying than the cyber-ponies. “What the doctor desires is irrelevant. We will upgrade them all." “I’m not going to upgrade, you meanies!” Ditzy shouted “You guys tried that once already. You’re not going to try it again!” “Your protests are irrelevant. Soon, you will willingly choose the path of cyber pony.” “Over my dead body!!” Without thinking I fired a bolt of magic at the machine. It contorted and screamed as if in agony. So, they didn’t like magic, did they? “DELETE!” one of the cyber ponies ordered, as two others fired their lasers at us. One grazed my trench coat as we galloped away. I felt a slight burning sting but shrugged off the pain. Jack turned around, holding the fire ax. “Jack, what in the bloody hell are you doing?” the Doctor asked, stopping and looking back at him. “I’ll hold them off!” Jack said. “You guys hurry!” “Forget it, Jack! Don’t be stupid!” The Doctor cried. “At least I’ll look good with a heroic sacrifice under my belt,” Jack said, as a Cyber pony ran up to him. Jack swung the ax in his mouth and cut into the machine’s foreleg. Sparks flew out as Jack kept trying to fight it off. The Doctor closed his eyes, and then turned, “Come on!” “But what abou-“ Ditzy began. “No time for arguing!” the Doctor ordered. “Just run!” I followed his command and ran as fast as I could to keep up. Ditzy started lagging behind as we rounded corners and ran inside hallways. As we rounded another corner we came across a pair of cyber ponies. They shouted “Delete!” and moved towards us. We turned and ran down another hallway. At every point we ran into more and more of them. The simple clanking sound from before became a deafening roar as they gave chase. We came to a door and I pointed. “This way! We’ll lose them if we go in!” I opened the door with my magic and dived inside. The Doctor soon followed and looked back at Ditzy who'd started lagging behind. Fatigue seemed to have gotten to her. “Come on, Ditzy!” the Doctor cried. “You can make it!” “I’m coming, Doctor…” Ditzy said, trying to run or fly, but all this running had gotten to her. She was never the most athletic of ponies from what I heard. For once let me be wrong… Suddenly a Cyber pony grabbed Ditzy by the tail. The other cyber ponies ran past her towards our door. “DITZY!” the Doctor screamed. “DOCTOR, RUN!" Ditzy cried as she was pulled away by the cyber pony. The machine raised a hoof, and pressed it down on her back. For a minute Ditzy jolted as if zapped, and then she closed her wall eyes and fell unconscious. “NO!” I roared, pulling out Blackbird and firing at the Cyber pony. “BASTARDS!” The bullets pinged harmlessly off them. I knew it was useless. How could they… just do that to her. Didn’t they care who she was, that she had friends, and a family? No, they didn’t care. She was just a new recruit to them. For their sick game… More kept coming, I looked over and saw with horror that the door the Doctor ran into had slammed shut by itself. NO!! I opened the door and found it lead into another hallway. I looked back as Ditzy was being dragged away. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Ditzy. I ran into the hallway and slammed the door shut behind me. I then sat on my haunches and yelled at the top of my lungs. “WWWWWHHHHHHYYYYYY?” Why Ditzy, why her? She didn’t do anything wrong. She was an innocent. She didn’t ask for any of this. The Doctor, he brought her. He allowed them to take her. It’s all his fault, all of it…. I shook my head. Those thoughts again, why now? I can’t just blame the Doctor though. He couldn’t have known. He couldn’t have prepared for all of this. I sat down and looked at the ground. How was I going to explain this to Dinky and Sparkler? That I failed to save her. That I couldn’t stop them from taking their mother. I couldn’t do anything… I couldn’t stop them! I have no powers, no knowledge of these monsters, no weapons that can hurt them. I just wish I had some way to fight them, some means to help. Why does my horn itch so much? I felt my horn and found out why, it was glowing brightly. I focused whatever magic was causing it onto the floor in front of me. Before my very eyes a small pillar came jutting out of the floor. It was made of the same material as the floor. Voidera mentioned this… Alchemy! “It’s the power of alchemy. The art of taking a material, breaking it down, and reforming it as something new.” Did it manifest because I wanted things to change? I wasn’t going to give up on Ditzy or the Doctor. If this power can help, then maybe it’ll work. I walked forward a little ways and saw that the Dalek corpses were still there. I must’ve looped around somehow. I walked up to the creatures and tapped their metal shells. Maybe… I tried to emulate the wavelength of my magic from before. My horn glowed a pale grey and I put my hoof on the Dalek. I wish I had a weapon. Something light, effective to move around with, but that could cut into the Cyber ponies. Something that was strong, yet swift… I opened my eyes as sparks came from the metal and suddenly I saw a piece of the domed casing come off with my magic and I concentrated harder. Sparks enveloped the metal and a light covered it. The metal began to reform itself into a bronzed colored sword with a silver handle. I let out a long breath. creating the weapon took a lot out of me. I felt like I'd just run half a marathon. Was this alchemy? Voidera said I could learn it. I went to Canterlot a couple of times a weak to learn under him. So far he'd only had me reform some screws. I never pulled off something as advanced as this before. I levitated the sword and put it on my back. I looked at the Daleks and said, “Who knew that the corpses of killers could be used to save others.” I walked back towards the door, my new blade in tow. I walked slowly as I began recovering from the energy drain. I should be fine in a couple of minutes, but I still had to find the others. I opened the door, and saw I was in another padded room. Only this time I saw the Doctor was sitting there by himself. I smiled and exclaimed, “Doctor! You’re okay!” He didn’t move for a minute. Then he slowly turned to me and said, “Private, give me… your gun.”