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// Doctor Whooves: Doctor Whooves vs Cyberleader 
// Story: Fighting is Magic: Story Mode (Background Six Edition) 
// by Lance Skyes 
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	Following his victory over The Master, The Doctor was still completely preoccupied by The Master’s riddle. “Don’t settle for silver, go for gold.” Through the two following rounds, those seven words continued to play through The Doctor’s mind. Despite this, he practically mopped the floors with his opponents. After completing stage six, he glanced at the tournament ladder to see who his opponent for stage seven was. As he searched, he noticed that Derpy and one of her friends were still in the running. Great, he thought to himself. I’m gonna have to face one of them in the finals. This thought was quickly pushed aside when he saw who his next opponent was. This can’t be right at all! Despite his disbelief, The Doctor made his way to where Stage 7 was being held.
When The Doctor got to Stage 7, he immediately recognized it from one of his less “fun” adventures. It was a large metal room with many cylinders and crates. Somepony with less experience than The Doctor might have dismissed it as a simple cargo area for a boat or something, but The Doctor knew better. He knew that the arena was a recreation of the heart of a Cyberman ship.
“So we meet again, Doctor,” a familiarly deep and robotic voice said from behind The Doctor.
“I can’t exactly say it’s a pleasure meeting you here like this,” The Doctor replied, turning to face his foe. The pony The Doctor had to face better resembled a robot rather than an actual pony, even though it had an equine build to it. Its eyes and mouth were frozen in an empty, soulless expression, and it had a defining black handlebar-like structure on top of its head. “What are you doing here, Cyberleader? You should know as well as everypony else that the only combatants allowed in the Equestria Battle Tournament are residents of Equestria or... ambassadors for other races.” As The Doctor said that last part of his sentence, his ears drooped as he quickly realized that it was so like the Cybermen (or in this case, apparently, Cyberponies) to take advantage of such a simple loophole. “Let me guess, you’re fighting in representation of the Cyber race?”
“You are smarter than my data log would lead me to believe,” Cyberleader replied. “Truth be told, however, there was no evidence that would have led us to believe that you would be participating in this tournament.”
“Oh, Cyberleader, you should know by now that I’m full of surprises, unlike you, however. Still, for the sake of our ‘friendship’, I’m going to ask you what you’re doing here.”
“I plan on taking down the ruler of this world, Princess Celestia, upgrading her, and then proceeding to upgrade the entire Equestrian race.”
“How did I see that coming?” The Doctor sarcastically said mostly to himself while facehoofing.
“As pitiful as equines are, think of how much the Cyber race could benefit from upgrading pegasi and unicorns. Imagine it for a moment, Doctor. The ability to manipulate the whether of entire planets in order to force other species to surrender. Not to mention the incredible and versatile power of magic. With such power at our disposal-”
“For the love of Celestia, shut up! You actually talk more than Davros does, and he’s the creator of the Daleks in case you didn’t know.” The Doctor then turned to where Princess Celestia was overseeing the battle. “You hear everything he’s saying, don’t you, Princess?”
“Yes, Doctor,” Princess Celestia replied. “However, for the past six rounds, I’ve been unable to disqualify him. He’s followed every single rule of the Equestria Battle Tournament to the letter. Even with extra measures in place that would compensate for his metal body and increased physical strength, he’s managed to beat everypony fair and square.”
“Now that surprises even me,” The Doctor said to himself. “A Cyberman... playing by the rules! I never would have thought it were possible but here it is right in front of my eyes.” The Doctor then began laughing loudly, and though Cyberleader retained his normal, emotionless expression, even he had to be more unamused than what was normal for him. After about a minute of laughing, The Doctor quickly composed himself, only to burst out into laughter again. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop laughing. It’s just... I never thought I’d see the day...” The Doctor continued to laugh for another full minute and neither Princess Celestia nor Cyberleader did a thing to stop him for that full minute. Finally, The Doctor composed himself completely and took a deep breath before brushing his mane out of his face with his hoof and regaining his usual serious attitude. “Okay, I’m done now. Wait... No, never mind, I’m done. Go ahead and start the round, Princess.”
“Alright,” Princess Celestia said. “Fighters, are you ready? Round 1, fight!”

“I am currently analyzing the data from your previous matches,” Cyberleader said to The Doctor, who was waiting patiently for Cyberleader to finish what he was doing. (Out of what The Doctor would like to call “sheer bloody respect”.) “The only match that gave you any trouble was your fourth match against the other Time Lord, The Master. You had proven to be his superior in the first round, but he executed a powerful attack that took you down in one shot, allowing him to take round 2. Using your wits and your Sonic Screwdriver, however, you were able to pull a surprising round 3 victory. All necessary data has been extracted. Our battle can now begin.”
“Finally,” The Doctor said. He then quickly galloped up to the Cyberleader and tried to give him a mid-level kick. However, Cyberleader easily blocked this attack and replied with a mid-level punch followed by two quick high-level kicks. The Doctor stumbled back, but didn’t take nearly as much damage as he expected. “That didn’t hurt nearly as much as it was supposed to. I don’t mean to look this gift horse in the mouth, but...”
“It is as Princess Celestia said before, Doctor,” Cyberleader said. “Measures have been taken to limit my power so that I don’t K.O. my opponents in one hit, as well as to keep my opponents from hurting themselves when they attack me.”
“I should be relieved,” The Doctor said. “So why aren’t I?” The Doctor got back up on all fours and gave Cyberleader a determined stare. “Doesn’t matter. For once, I might actually be able to beat a Cyberman without blowing up the whole planet, so let’s not waste this opportunity.” The Doctor then galloped back into heated combat with the Cyberleader. Oddly enough, the two were fairly evenly matched. It was as though The Doctor could read Cyberleader’s every move before he made it, but it was the same vice-versa.
Over time, both combatants seemed to be their own versions of near defeat. The Doctor was bruised, battered, and panting heavily, while Cyberleader simply had dents and cracks in his armor. “25 seconds remaining,” Princess Celestia announced.
“You are truly a worthy adversary, Doctor,” Cyberleader said. “However, this match has to have a winner, and I have no intention of losing.”
“And I have no intention of letting you assimilate Equestria,” The Doctor replied. “So it would seem that we’re at an impasse.” The Doctor then rushed up and tried to throw a high-level punch. Cyberleader tried to block this attack, but The Doctor quickly cancelled and switched to a sweep kick. Cyberleader was unable to do anything about this attack and fell to the floor.
“Structural integrity compromised,” Cyberleader said to nopony in particular. “Entering hibernation mode to execute repairs.” With that, Cyberleader seemed to go completely dormant.
“K.O.” Princess Celestia announced. “The winner of round 1 is Doctor Whooves!” The crowd instantly went wild with cheers upon this knockout, and The Doctor felt no less proud of himself.
This must be how Ace felt when she took down that Dalek with a baseball bat, The Doctor thought to himself. Then again, I’m the one who took down a Cyberman with my bare hands. Or in this case, I guess, I’m the one who took down a Cyberpony with my bare hooves. Just then, The Doctor felt his wounds being healed and his stamina being restored by Princess Celestia’s magic. At the same time, all of the damage to Cyberleader seemed to repair itself without Celestia’s magic.
“Armor damage repaired,” Cyberleader said once again to nopony in particular. “Re-entering combat mode.” He then rose to his hooves and got into a combat-ready stance as though he had never been KO'd at all.
“Why aren’t I surprised you shrugged that off so easily?” The Doctor asked. “Anyway, I’m assuming that I won’t be able to use the same attacks on you as I did last round because you’ll have upgraded yourself to counter those attacks easiest. Am I correct?”
“You know us too well, Doctor,” Cyberleader replied.
“Fighters, are you ready?” Princess Celestia announced. “Round 2, fight!”
“97 out of 100 simulations have shown that a preemptive strike would be most effective against you,” Cyberleader said, galloping forward.
“A Cyberman taking the preemptive strike?” The Doctor asked. “Now that’s more like it.” Right as The Doctor finished saying this, Cyberleader leapt up and tried to give The Doctor a flying kick. This actually caught The Doctor off guard, and he was barely able to block the attack, though Cyberleader did manage to knock The Doctor off his hooves. Cyberleader then moved in to stomp The Doctor, but The Doctor managed to roll out of the way and give Cyberleader a sweep kick before getting back on his hooves. The Doctor then picked up Cyberleader before he had a chance to get up and threw him by his hind leg into one of the nearby crates.
“A fairly ametuer move,” Cyberleader said, getting up and shrugging the attack off. “However, it will take more than that to take round 2.”
For the longest time, the fight was a seesaw match. Both fighters went into the tournament with little to no hoof-to-hoof combat experience and now they were giving the audience the best show they could have asked for. Over time, The Doctor became bruised and fatigued while Cyberleader became dented and cracked. “10 seconds remaining,” Princess Celestia announced.
I need to finish this fight fast, The Doctor thought to himself. Right as he thought this, Cyberleader tried to give him a high-level punch. The Doctor ducked low to avoid this and delivered a low-level punch that seemed to knock Cyberleader off-balance for a moment. Now’s my chance! He then pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and prepared to-
“Time up!” Princess Celestia announced. “This round is a tie, so the winner of Stage 7 is Doctor Whooves.”
“This cannot be,” Cyberleader said as the crowd cheered and applauded loudly. “None of my simulations showed defeat as a possible outcome.”
“Face it, Cyberleader,” The Doctor said, trotting up to his adversary, “you can’t predict everything.” He then put his hoof around Cyberleader’s shoulder and quietly added, “No matter how hard you try, you just aren’t Pinkie Pie.”
Cyberleader quickly sidestepped to get away from The Doctor. “Joke while you can, Doctor. You may have foiled our plans once again, but did you really think we would be done with this world? Did you think I came here without a plan B?”
“Did you come with a plan B?”
Cyberleader was silent for a moment. “Reinforcements were not an affordable or foreseeably necessary risk for this operation. A minor error in calculations. Next time, however, the Cyber race will take Equestria.”
“And next time, I’ll be here to stop you.”
“Until we meet again, Doctor.” Cyberleader then beamed out of the arena to some unknown place far outside of Equestria.
“Well,” The Doctor said to himself after a while, “I suppose my work here is done.”
“You aren’t planning on forfeiting, are you, Doctor?” Princess Celestia asked. “I was starting to look forward to our battle. I know you don’t carry around money, but aren’t you at least interested in the trophy?”
“No thanks, I’m-”
Don’t settle for silver, go for gold.
Without warning, The Master’s riddle played through The Doctor’s mind again. “Hold on a second...” The Doctor said to himself. “‘Don’t settle for silver.’ Silver like a Cyberman’s armor. ‘Go for gold.’ The grand prize of the Equestria Battle Tournament!” Out loud, The Doctor suddenly shouted, “It all makes sense now!”
“I’m sorry?” Princess Celestia asked.
“I take back what I said, Princess. I’m not going to forfeit the tournament. I’m not finished here, yet.”
“That’s the spirit, Doctor. I look forward to seeing you in the final stage.”
Everything had fallen into place for The Doctor. The Cyber invasion wasn’t what he was drawn to the Equestria Battle Tournament for. It was something else. And if he was going to find out what it was, he was probably going to have to fight Princess Celestia for the prize in order to find out. Of course, he still had one more stage before he faced Celestia, but now he had to get there, whatever it took.