Chapter 7: Remembrance
Crystal Chambers, Beneath Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Spike increased his grip on Twilight as the Dalek eye stalks continued to glare down at him, Twilight, and Donna. They remained still and prepared themselves for the endless echoes of EXTERMINATE to begin pounding against their eardrums.
There was only silence.
A full minute or so of frozen terror must have passed before Twilight started to realize that something was definitely wrong here (well, more wrong than being trapped in a dark chamber filled with an army of Daleks). She slowly turned her head back and forth to examine all of the Daleks situated within the reach of her light. None of them were moving. None of them were screaming for their extermination. They were simply still. Still and silent.
Donna was beginning to grow curious as well though she still remained highly cautious. Her last encounter with the Daleks had ended in the near destruction of reality and her memories of the Doctor being erased. Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled about coming across them again.
After at least five minutes of shrill, uncomfortable silence, Donna was beginning to feel less terrified and more annoyed. "If you're going to intimidate us then at least do something first!" she snapped.
"Don't encourage them!" Twilight snapped.
"I'm sorry but how long are we going to have to sit here before they start shouting EXTERMINATE at us?!"
Twilight looked up at an eye stalk glaring straight down at her. "Have the Daleks ever acted like this before, Donna? I've only encountered them twice before so this type of behavior is new to me."
"I've only encountered them once and, to put it simply, I don't think patience and silence are their strong suits."
Spike gulped. "Well they seem pretty good at it now," he said.
A figurative light bulb suddenly flicked on inside Donna's head. "Or maybe they're still not," she stated.
Donna stood up and approached one of the Daleks. She stared straight into the eye stalk for a moment before tapping the glass lense.
"I can't watch," said Spike before covering his eyes.
Donna moved to the side of the Dalek in question. It, like its fellow brethren, remained still and refused to give her the time of day. A second later, a loud clang rang out as Donna gave a swift kick to the Dalek's side.
Twilight and Spike jumped while the sound of the kick echoed off into the dark, far off corners of the chamber. Donna waited for a moment for the Dalek to respond. It, along with the others, continued to remain silent and undisturbed. No shouts of EXTERMINATE. No death rays being fired. No movement whatsoever.
"I'm confused. What's going on with them?" Spike asked.
"I'm just as confused as you are, Spike," said Twilight before standing up and examining a Dalek next to her.
Spike gave a look of excited curiosity. "Maybe they're frozen in time or something!"
Twilight glared deep into the dark lense of one of the eye stalks. "Or maybe it's something darker than that."
Donna turned back to the Dalek she had kicked and proceeded to kick it again. This time, surprisingly, something happened.
The top portion of the Dalek began to open up with a slow, weak hiss. Donna took a few steps back while Twilight and Spike turned to face the opening battle armor. She remembered how bad the mad Dalek scientist Davros had looked so she could only imagine how horrible an actual Dalek looked like. What she ended up seeing was nothing like she had expected.
Twilight, Donna, and Spike shrank back and gagged as a wretched odor hit their nostrils. "Gah! What is that horrible smell?!" asked the unicorn.
"It smells like rotting meat!" Spike exclaimed while clutching his nose.
"Inside a porta-potty on the last day of the festival!" Donna added.
Through the light emanating from Twilight's horn, the trio could make out the rotting remains of what they assumed was a Dalek. A varied amount of strange, disgusting fluids had begun pouring from the opening in the armor while a black steam resonated from the Dalek corpse.
"Dead," choked Twilight as she came close to losing the food she had eaten at the party.
Donna turned away from the revealed Dalek to face the crowd surrounding them. "And I bet it's not the only one," she said.
Spike followed Donna's gaze and gulped. "You don't mean-"
Donna gave a single, slow nod. "This isn't a Dalek army...it's a Dalek dumping ground."
"Wherever Twi is," Twilight said, "I hope it's a better place than this."
Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Twi hardly paid any attention to the cold surface she was lying on or the dull, throbbing pain in her head. She was too preoccupied with watching a memory play out before her like a scene from a television show. Through her hazy vision, there appeared to be a screen floating an inch or two above her face.
In the screen, she could see herself and five others sitting at a purple table situated at an outside cafe. She instantly recognized the five girls sitting alongside her: Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Snow was falling from the sky at a graceful pace but an umbrella connected to the center of the table protected the six girls from getting covered in the icy substance.
"Lovely weather, I must say," said Rarity before taking a sip of hot chocolate. "It's certainly gotten me into the Hearth's Warming mood."
"Totally!" chirped Pinkie Pie. "It's like fireflies in the summer! Or pumpkins in autumn! Or Wrackspurts in spring!"
Twi and the others exchanged confused glances, an action that was the norm following one of Pinkie's random statements. "Uh...what are Wrackspurts?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"SHHH!" Pinkie clasped a hand over Rainbow's mouth before looking around. "Don't talk about them! They might be on to us!"
Twi couldn't help but giggle at Pinkie. Her antics always made her laugh...well...either that or cause her to pull the hair out of her head.
"So, Twilight, ah hear you're heading up to Canterlot," said Applejack with a tip of her hat.
"That I am," Twi responded. "It'll just be a short visit for Spike and I. We're going to visit some old friends and my parents."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "A certain special someone as well?" asked the fashionista. "Someone by the name of Flash Sentry perhaps?"
Twi couldn't stop herself from blushing. "Maybe."
"I think you two are great together," said Fluttershy with a smile.
"Ugh! Can we please not go into the mushy romantic stuff?!" Rainbow Dash groaned.
"Okay! We can go into other stuff then!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "I ran into Vinyl earlier and she told me about how she had an amazing time last Saturday when she and Rainbow Dash-"
Rainbow suddenly placed a hand over Pinkie's mouth. "Let's talk about something else!"
Twi laughed at Pinkie and the blushing Rainbow Dash...only to find herself staring up at a gray, dark ceiling. The trip down memory lane was over.
She sat up and clutched her forehead. Fragments of her lost memories were coming back quicker and quicker now. She should have felt great but she instead felt an overwhelming amount of sadness and pain. In her state of amnesia, she knew she had a job to do in order to protect this world and help stop the monster that had ruined it. With her memories returning, she was beginning to think about better times. Happier times. Times she knew she would never be able to repeat. She would never be able to share a table with her five closest friends ever again.
Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. She hastily wiped the tears away and stood up, proceeding to take her mind off her returning memories to focus on what was happening now. One moment, she had been falling out of the TARDIS and now she was standing in the middle of a room filled with dozens of empty bookcases. The air smelled of rusted metal and a strange, burnt aftertaste appeared in the back of her mouth.
The room was fairly dark so Twi pulled her wand out and gave it a flick. A warm, violet light emanated from the wand's tip, illuminating the room. Twi could see a thick layer of dust covering the empty bookcases and hundreds of cobwebs coated the upper corners of the room where the walls and ceiling met.
"Was this...the library?" Twi asked herself as she took a few steps forward. After a moment of thought she shook her head at the idea. "No. Too small. The castle library is much bigger than this." She shook a bit as the image of her sitting at a wooden desk with Flash reading a thick tome came to her. She clasped the sides of her head and took a deep breath. "Focus. This isn't the time to remember the past." She pointed her wand in the direction of the metal door. "I need to find the others."
She moved towards the door and gave it a pull and a push. It was locked. Thankfully, another flick of her wand took care of that.
Twi was relieved when the metal door didn't groan or creak when she slowly opened it. She managed to quietly slip through it, close it, and lock it back up without producing a single, unwanted sound.
She was now in a wide, gray hallway filled with a few more generic doors. Dusty, torn paintings hung from the walls. Most of the paintings, from what Twi was able to make out, depicted royals and historic heroes of Equestria's past while a few of them simply depicted landscapes and scenery. She dimmed the light coming from her wand before making her way down the hallway.
The hallway brought her to an intersection with another. Twi stood still for a moment while she pondered about which direction to take. Suddenly, something from deep within her consciousness began screaming at her to turn left.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Not usually one to trust a gut instinct but okay."
Following her hazy intuition, she turned left and continued down the new hallway. This one was thinner than the previous one with long, elegant tapestries hanging from the walls in place of paintings. Twi couldn't help but feel somewhat surprised by the cleanliness of the hallways thus far. "Considering how much he let the rest of the world rot, I'm surprised he's given as much of a damn to keep the inside of the castle clean."
Twi continued her way through several more empty, clean hallways. The decorations alternated between paintings, tapestries, statues, and various other royal adornments. She remained alert for every passing second, constantly preparing for an unwanted encounter with a Cyberman or even stumbling across the mad Discord Whooves himself. However, strangely enough, she was met with empty hallway after empty hallway after, big surprise, empty hallway.
For someone with a massive army of metallic monsters obeying his every whim, he seems to have quite a lonely lifestyle, she thought after entering a dark blue hallway with no decorations aside from the Moon and stars painted on the walls and ceiling. A long, deep blue carpet covered the floor.
"This must be one of Luna's parts of the castle," Twi stated under her breath. A relaxed sigh escaped through her lips. Despite the horrors the lay just beyond the castle's walls and the seemingly endless amount of metal warriors probably marching about, Twi felt a strange sense of security and homely comfort. It had been a long time since she had last been inside Canterlot Castle. Though the situation could have been better, that didn't stop her from feeling a little bit happy to be back.
Just then, her attention was drawn to a particular door located towards the center of the hallway. It stood out from the others as it was painted in blood red. There were no signs or messages anywhere giving information about what lay beyond the door. Most likely, it was simply another storage closet or abandoned classroom that was once used by Celestia's and Luna's pupils.
Twi's gut instinct was telling her otherwise. However, unlike the previous instincts that had helped her decide which way to turn, this one felt different. It felt almost like having butterflies in her stomach. She knew something important was beyond the door but a part of her was screaming loudly about how that something was probably not all that good.
Her instincts were giving her a choice this time: move on and continue her search for her friends or pass through the door and discover a possibly horrible truth. And, to add insult to injury, it seemed that she didn't have much time left to make a decision for she could hear the stomping of Cybermen feet echoing from a few hallways down. She had to make her choice quickly. Continued search for friends or quenching her powerful curiosity to discover something potentially horrific.
Twi opened the door.
Dead End Street, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
There's a certain spot in Canterlot where the city dips underneath a portion of Canterlot Castle that connects with the mountain. It's not a large portion, merely consisting of one street bordered with upper class apartments and businesses. The street slants a bit and ends with a metal lookout that overlooks the edge of a high cliff.
The Doctor, Derpy, Colgate, and Clockwork certainly hadn't wasted any time in making their way onto Dead End Street. Most of the Cybermen armies were currently busy looking for them either in the heart of he city or along the major borders.
The four ponies hid in an alleyway next to one of the street's first apartment buildings for a minute in order to make sure that the coast was clear.
"We're good," Colgate whispered. "Go! Go! Go!"
The small group began power walking their way towards an abandoned, blue jewelry store located on the side of the street built against the mountain. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the front door, a soft click emanating from the golden lock a second later.
"Inside! Quickly!" Clockwork hissed as he pulled the door open. The Doctor, Derpy, and Colgate rushed through the threshold with Clockwork close behind, shutting the door as he went.
The Jewel Garden, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
A soft light began resonating from Colgate's horn, covering herself, the Doctor, Derpy, and Clockwork in a weak, but satisfying, radius of light.
The jewelry store known simply as the Jewel Garden hadn't fallen into that much disrepair since its abandonment a year previously. Aside from a fair layer of dust and a couple critters moving about, the store was in surprisingly good condition. Many rare gems and beautiful treasures filled the glass displays, still waiting to be bought by customers who would never come.
Derpy's eyes fell on a pair of gold earrings that sparkled with tiny fragments of sapphire. If she were on an ordinary shopping trip, she would be busy picturing herself wearing them. But this was a different, less favorable situation so she quickly forced her attention to move away from the forgotten jewelry.
"So tell me, what exactly are we looking for in a jewelry shop?" the Doctor asked, his curiosity peaked.
"Flash told us that there's a secret passage here that leads up through the mountain and reaches the portion of the castle that connects to this section of the mountainside," Colgate replied.
The Doctor leaned towards Colgate a bit further, still anticipating the telling of further information. "And why is there a secret passage connecting Canterlot Castle to a jewelry store?"
Clockwork cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, from what Flash has told us, the portion of the castle situated above us on the mountainside contains the soldiers' quarters," the stallion explained. "And...um...the passage here was created so that the soldiers could have...visitors over."
The Doctor gave an expression which pretty much said, Ah, okay. Got it, and gave an awkward cough. "Good to know that's the type of passageway we're going through then," he chuckled.
"Yeah," sighed Derpy with an innocent smile. "It was nice of the soldiers to create a way for their friends and family to visit them."
The Doctor, Clockwork, and Colgate looked at Derpy with forced grins. "Yes! Let's go with that!" said Colgate. The unicorn then hastily ran towards the back of the store and pushed open the back door. "Come on then!"
The Doctor followed Colgate into the back room with Derpy and Clockwork close behind him. The room beyond was filled with file cabinets and a couple computers and connected to a hallway, which assumedly led to the restrooms and employee break room. However, Colgate was drawn towards the closed window at the very end of the hallway.
"Is it through the window?" Derpy asked.
Colgate shook her head. "No. There's no window here at all." Her horn gave off a bright blue light and the window proceeded to ripple away like disturbed water. Within seconds a metal door stood in its place.
Clockwork gave a simple nod and an impressed expression. "Cloaking spell. Simple but effective."
Colgate pushed the door open to give way to a pitch black chamber. A musty scent escaped through the threshold and the air around them suddenly took on the odor of old seafood.
"I suppose the soldiers nor the visitors took the time to actually clean this place," the Doctor noted as he stepped into the darkness. Upon entering, an orange light appeared before him. It was a torch attached to the wall, magical by the look of it. The Doctor took a step closer, only to see more orange lights flick on above him. He looked up to see a chain of magical torches turning on and illuminating a ladder that stretched up for at least one hundred feet. After examining the climb, he turned back to Derpy, Colgate, and Clockwork. "So who's ready for a climb?"
"Ready as we'll ever be, I suppose," Clockwork replied upon looking up at the ladder. Just then, Derpy began flapping her wings and levitated herself into the air. Clockwork shook his head and gave a deadpan expression. "Now that's just not fair."
Derpy couldn't help but giggle.
"Why don't you fly underneath us, Derpy?" the Doctor suggested. "In the case that one of us loses our grip."
Derpy nodded. "I can do that," she said with a smile.
"Let's just hope that none of us falls," stated Colgate.
"So who's going first?" Clockwork asked.
"I will," the Doctor replied. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Just in case the door up there is locked."
Colgate sighed. "Alright then, Doctor. Let's get climbing."
The Doctor nodded, placed the screwdriver in his mouth, and began his ascension of the one hundred foot ladder.
Crystal Chambers, Beneath Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Twilight, Donna, and Spike carefully made their way through the seemingly endless chamber filled with deceased Daleks. The disgusting odor of the revealed Dalek had since faded away to be replaced with the scent of rainwater and iron. The three travelers were cautious as they passed through the spaces between the Daleks, making sure to not accidentally open one and be forced to examine another gruesome scene.
"How big is this place?!" Spike asked with a groan. "We've been walking for ages!"
"We?" Twilight asked. "Last time I checked, Spike, Donna and I have been walking while you've been riding on my back."
Donna sighed. "I could use a pony or horse to ride now." She heard a forced cough and turned to see Twilight glaring at her. "Oh...right. Sorry."
A moment later, something began coming into view that wasn't a leftover Dalek. "An exit!" exclaimed Spike as he extended his claw forward.
The sea of Daleks came to an end in front of a blue-violet wall of rock that, aside from an opening the size of two doors, was remarkably smooth. Pieces of diamond and crystal embedded in the wall sparkled in reaction to being exposed to Twilight's magical light.
"And it looks like it heads upwards," said Twilight upon noticing the upward slant of the passageway within the opening.
"Let's get moving then! If you remember, Twilight, the last time you and I were in an underground tunnel wasn't all that cracking," said Donna as she began pushing Twilight up the path.
"What happened?" Spike asked.
"Derpy's mother's worm husband from another dimension tried to eat us," Twilight replied with a deadpan expression.
Spike shivered. "Sorry I asked."
The travelers fell silent as they made their way along the pathway, leaving the Dalek dumping ground far behind them. The passage they were now traveling in was eerily quiet with no sounds to be heard aside from the footsteps and hoofsteps being created by Donna and Twilight. The walls remained the same blue-violet color and continued to sparkle with the shards of crystal.
For a long duration of time, the only light in the tunnel was that of Twilight's illumination spell. Eventually, however, another light source appeared. At first it seemed far off and small but, as the travelers grew closer to the end of the passage, it grew increasingly larger and brighter.
Spike let out an impressed whistle as the passageway opened up into a huge cavern chamber. Massive crystal shards jutted out of the walls and the center of the cavern was home to a large pit filled with a bubbling, blue substance that gave off continuous plumes of multicolored fire. The walls of this chamber were much more rugged than the Dalek chamber and were filled with countless entrances of various other tunnels that led off in various other directions.
The passage Twilight, Donna, and Spike had just exited was located towards the top of the chamber with the very bottom, where the bubbling pit was situated, being around a hundred or so feet below them and the topmost exit being around fifty or so feet above.
Twilight let out a relaxed sigh as the light emanating from her horn vanished. "No need for an illumination spell right now, I suppose," she stated.
"Well, at least we don't have to think hard about which tunnel to go through," said Donna whilst pointing up at the topmost tunnel entrance.
Twilight stretched a bit and took a step forward. "I think I can get us up there with a teleportation spell. I've still got enough magical stamina to pull off a simple one." Twilight beckoned to Donna. "Grab my mane."
"If you say so." Donna moved over and grabbed a handful of Twilight's mane. Spike tightened his grip on the back of Twilight's neck.
Twilight focused on the topmost tunnel and a purple flash of light engulfed her, Spike, and Donna.
Teleportation is a weird process. It feels like being torn apart, stretched, compressed, dispersed, and put back together all at once and, thankfully, without the actual pain of really going through such processes. Twilight didn't tend to like using teleportation a whole lot due to the strain it puts on her body, along with the bodies of those teleporting with her, as well as the toll it takes on her magical stamina. On some occasions, if the space traveled is great enough, teleportation can result in temporary magic loss or even unconsciousness. Thankfully for Twilight, the worst type of side effect she'd ever received from teleportation was a charred mane and Spike getting dizzy.
Suddenly, Twilight felt as if a huge hand had been placed in front of her face while she was running at full speed. The teleportation process came to an abrupt halt and Twilight let out a surprised gasp in response. She looked to see that she had been stopped several feet short of her intended destination. She had focused on teleporting immediately in front of the exit, but something had forced her to stop around twenty feet away from the exit on the slanted pathway leading up to it.
Thankfully, neither the surprise stop nor the teleportation itself had put any large toll on Twilight or Spike. Though it seemed to have made Donna a little dizzy.
"You alright, Donna?" Spike asked.
"Cheery," Donna replied whilst clutching her temple. "Better than I feel after going through the five o'clock traffic, I'll admit."
"Something stopped me," Twilight said under her breath. She looked up towards the topmost exit. "What could have stopped me?"
As Twilight tried to understand the strange forces at work, a piercing scream broke the silence that had filled the caverns since the trio's arrival. It didn't sound like a scream coming from any sort of living creature but rather a generic shriek produced by either a strange machine or mysterious enchantment.
"What the hay?!" Spike gasped before pressing his claws against the sides of his head to try blocking out the wretched sound.
After a minute, the shrieking stopped.
"What the hell?!" Donna asked as her ears continued to ring. "Someone better have a good excuse for screaming my eardrums out!"
Spike started looking around. "Who was screaming? I don't see anypony."
The blood instantly rushed out of Twilight's face, making her look as pale as a stereotypical vampire. "That wasn't the sound of somepony screaming," she gulped. "It was an alarm."
The ground vibrated slightly. Silence fell amongst the trio. They could hear a series of booms reverberating through the rock and crystal around them. Just then, a section of the rock wall about thirty feet beneath them blew away. Five large figures emerged from the hole. Thanks to the dust, it took a few seconds for the travelers to identify what the five creatures were.
"Oh my God," Donna uttered upon seeing the creatures clearly.
They were, or had been at some point, gorillas. Bronze Cybermen faces replaced their normal animal faces and various electrical wires and cables connected the metal faces to other parts of their bodies. The five Cyber-gorillas looked up at the trio in sync with each other at gave off a howl that sounded like a mix between a computer violently crashing and an animal screaming with a mixture of fury and pain. The Cyber-gorillas began climbing up the walls towards them.
Twilight turned back towards the topmost exit. "RUN!"
Donna didn't have to be told twice as she followed Twilight up the slanted walkway. Spike grabbed onto Twilight's mane with all the strength he could muster. They weren't that far away from the exit but the Cyber-gorillas were climbing the walls like spiders and moving with just as much speed and flexibility.
One Cyber-gorilla managed to beat the others and lunged straight for Donna. Twilight turned around and sent a magical blast straight into its metal face, sending it flying off the walkway and down into the fiery, blue pit. The four others stopped for a second as an electrical charge appeared between them before vanishing. A metallic, cold voice rang out from the four creatures. "Upgrade in progress."
"That's nice. Just what we needed! Magic-proof robot gorillas!" Donna snapped as she ran up towards the exit alongside Twilight.
A shroud of darkness overcame the trio as they entered the tunnel. The only light now was that of the fire pit in the cavern behind them. Pretty soon, the light would vanish and they would be cloaked in darkness once again.
Twilight could hear the Cyber-gorillas chasing after them, their massive fists clawing into the rock walls. A thick darkness was already beginning to take over her vision. Twilight glanced over at Donna. "We need to stick together! Grab onto Spike or me!" she ordered.
Donna nodded and took hold of Spike's tail, which he didn't mind all that much. A few seconds later, everything went dark.
They continued to run. Not bothering to look back. Only focusing to being careful enough to not run straight into walls and keeping their pace so that the sounds of strong fists on stone didn't get any closer.
After what seemed like an eternity of running, the sound of running gorillas faded away. The only sounds now were, like in the beginning, their footsteps and hoofsteps echoing around them.
A new light appeared before them. This one was bright enough to actually illuminate the borders of the door that was blocking it. It was a simple wooden door with a few iron bars. Nothing too fancy.
"The last exit!" Spike cheered.
"Thank Celestia!" exclaimed Twilight as she ran towards the door. So filled with joy to finally escape the clutches of the crystal tunnels, Twilight continued to run forward and used her magic to fling the door open.
Donna came to an abrupt halt and let go of Spike's tail as a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. "Twilight! Spike!" she cried.
Twilight couldn't stop. A loud scream escaped her lips as two prongs jabbed into her chest, sending a powerful electric shockwave through her body. She could hear Spike screaming behind her. After that, all she could hear was ringing as she fell to the floor right in front of the threshold, every part of her body refusing to move.
"NO!" Donna cried as she rushed to the injured unicorn and dragon. She knelt down next to them. They were alive but had been severely injured by their attacker.
"Well, well. This is certainly a surprise," chuckled an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice from the doorway. Donna could feel chills running up and down her spine as she turned to the attacker. It was a stallion with a gray coat, black mane, wings, and...an hourglass cutie mark. An electrified weapon of sorts resembling a taser was being held in one of his hooves. "I didn't expect to ever see you again, Donna. I'd say this is simply and utterly fantastic and wonderful if you weren't working to bring me down...oh and if I still gave a damn about you anyway."
Donna could feel a huge amount of rage overcome her upon looking straight at the snide grin of the stallion standing before her. She couldn't explain it but everything about him from his messy black mane to his snazzy red bowtie just ticked her off. And the fact that he had just electrocuted two of her friends was probably another aspect about him that angered her. "It's you...that other Doctor!" she snapped.
"Oh please, dearie." He took a step towards Donna and chuckled. "You should probably know by this point that everyone calls me Discord Whooves now." His grin grew wider. "Now shut that gaping hole of a mouth for once and allow my pets to kindly assist you."
Donna suddenly felt a heavy, warm breath of air collide with the back of her neck. She let out a terrified gasp as a somewhat metallic gorilla hand wrapped itself around her.
Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The door closed quietly behind Twi. A hallway with metal walls and pipes running about stood before her. The air smelled of cigarette smoke but had a strange hint of meat and iron, a combination that didn't give Twi any good feelings.
She stopped producing her illumination spell and stored her wand away in a pocket before walking down the hallway. Her footsteps gave off soft, metallic echoes as she walked. The floor groaned and creaked like a rusted fence and the further she traveled the more tense she became.
At the end of the hallway was a flight of stairs that led down into a lower hallway bathed in red light. A few aspects of Twi's instincts were screaming at her to get the hell out of there but her curiosity had reached its peak now. She had to know what lay at the end of this hallway of metal and steam.
She turned around a corner at the end of the red hallway and began progressing down a third and final hallway which seamlessly transitioned from bright red light to flickering white light. The walls became smoother and the few pipes that remained appeared cleaner and slightly futuristic.
The final hallway led to a pitch black room. The smell of iron was incredibly strong here and an uncomfortable amount of heat plagued the air. Twi gave a silent cough as she took a few slow steps into the room. She didn't pull out her wand to cast any light for a part of her feared that some horrible creature lay within.
She was at least seven feet into the room when a bright light above her flicked on.
It took a few seconds for Twi's eyes to adjust and when they did she saw a large medical table situated immediately in front of her. Various rags and cloths covered the table and each piece of cloth was covered in a fair amount of stains. Dirty buckets were underneath the table and a small tray covered in several medical instruments and devices stood a foot or so away.
"You...you're not her!" sighed an unfamiliar voice from nearby.
Twi's head flung upwards away from the table and focused on two figures on the other side of the room. Through the dim, yellow light cast over them, Twi could see that they were mares. They were both chained to the wall and covered in a series of bruises and cuts. One mare was an earth pony with a dark red coat, a purple mane, and a cutie mark consisting of a purple feather with a curved tip. The other mare was a pegasus with a light gold coat, a grayscale mane, and a compass rose cutie mark.
"Who are you?!" Twi gasped.
"We could be asking you the same thing," replied the pegasus weakly, her head swaying a bit due to fatigue.
The other mare laughed. "I think it's clear who she is. Twilight Sparkle, am I correct?"
Twi froze. "How did you-"
"You resemble her. Based on what I've experienced in this world for the past few days, this is an Equestria with humans."
A soft pain rocked Twi's skull as she stared at the two mares. "Wait a second...are you Matilda and Daring Do?! Colgate and Clockwork's friends?!"
Daring Do's head shot up. "Yes! That's who we are!" she replied with vigorous nodding.
Twi couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Oh thank Celestia! I came here with the Doctor, Colgate, Clockwork, and the others to save you!"
Matilda gave a curious look. "So...where is the Doctor?" she asked.
Twi rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "We kinda got separated on the way here. But don't worry! I'm just going to free you and then we'll find them!"
"Well you better hurry before she or he decides to pay us another visit!" Daring warned.
"Who?" Twi asked. "You're talking about Discord Whooves right? Who's the she?"
Matilda was about to answer when a new, robotic voice reverberated from the remaining dark part of the room. "TWILIGHT?"
Twi, Matilda, and Daring slowly turned towards the darkness. "Who...who's there?" Twi asked.
"The rejects," Matilda replied. "But none of them have spoken before."
Twi began to slowly approach the dark half of the room. "Rejects?" It wasn't until she was about a step or two into the darkness that another bright light turned on. Twi gasped as she found herself staring at a trio of Cybermen. Pieces of other Cybermen lay around them but the three standing before Twi were the only ones fully intact. All three of them were chained to the wall with strong bonds and chains. The word REJECTS was spray-painted on the wall above them. Twi gulped as she stared into the black eyes of the robotic beings standing before her. "Um...hello? Did you...say something?"
The Cyberman on the left turned its head towards Twi. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE...IT IS YOU!" The voice was completely robotic and one-note but, strangely enough, Twi could almost hear emotion behind the words it spoke.
"Do...do I know you?" Twi asked.
"IT'S US, EGGHEAD!" replied the Cyberman on the right.
Another pain rocked Twi's head, this one much stronger than the last. The nickname hit her pretty hard. No. It can't be. It just can't be! she thought.
"SUGARCUBE, IT'S US!" stated the Cyberman on the left.
Twi could feel her eyes tearing up. She turned to the left Cyberman. "Applejack?" She turned to the right Cyberman. "Rainbow Dash?"
Both Cybermen nodded.
Twi backed up. "No. You're lying! They died! Rainbow Dash and Applejack died!"
The two Cybermen shook their heads.
"NO! THEY TRIED TO MAKE US ONE OF THEM!" said the Applejack Cyberman.
Something resembling a cocky laugh emanated from the Rainbow Dash Cyberman. "BUT WE WERE TOO AWESOME TO BE FULLY CONVERTED! WE KEPT OUR EMOTIONS AND OUR MINDS AND SO THEY TOSSED US IN HERE!"
Twi was shaking her head now. Tears were rolling down her face.
"Twilight Sparkle...I'm sorry. Really and truly sorry," said Matilda. "But we have to go. There's no time to waste."
Twi could feel herself beginning to choke on her tears. Her friends were here in front of her. Friends she remembered to have died. Now she knew that they had suffered a fate far worse than death.
"Applejack. Rainbow Dash," she uttered through her tears, her head now in constant pain from the memories she was receiving. At that moment, her attention turned to the Cyberman in the center. Until that very moment, she had thought it to be silent. But now she could hear it giving off sounds that sounded almost like...crying.
Twi began to approach the middle Cyberman.
"Twilight! We're running out of time!" pleaded a tense yet understanding Daring Do.
Twi couldn't hear Daring's words. She focused only on the center Cyberman and didn't stop until her face was about an inch away from its metallic expression. "And...who are you?" she asked through her pained tears.
For a few seconds, the Cyberman didn't respond. Throughout this entire length of time, Twi could feel her whole body shaking with anticipation. Then, a robotic wail emanated from the center Cyberman. "I'M SORRY! I FAILED YOU! I FAILED HER! I FAILED A STUPID MISSION AND NOW I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE IT UP! I"LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIX WHAT I LOST!" cried the Cyberman in its one-note tone.
Twi placed one of her hands against the side of the Cyberman's face. "It's okay. Whatever you failed, I forgive you for it. I know that you probably tried your best."
The Cyberman fell silent before meeting Twi eye-to-eye. What the metallic being said next shook Twi to her core. "I LOVE YOU...TWILY!"
Everything stopped. Twi froze in horror as she continued to stare deep into the Cyberman's black eyes. This was it. The final nail in the coffin. The last hit from the hammer needed to break the glass. Her skull screamed with pain as the final memory block was broken and her entire past in full came flooding back into her all at once. Through her pain and the new wave of tears flowing from her eyes, Twi clasped her hands around the center Cyberman's face. "No...BBBFF...NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Twi screamed as loud as she could. She didn't care who heard. She was hurting. Hurting beyond anything she had ever experienced before. Hurting from her returning memories. Hurting from her destroyed home and life. And hurting from the fate of her friends and family. She looked up at the Cyberman that had once been her big brother and screamed with nothing but pure rage. I'm gonna kill whoever's responsible for this! I don't care what the Doctor says! I don't care what anyone or anypony says! There. Will. Be. BLOOD! she screamed in thought.
Just then, as the pains in her head began to die down and her returned memories began to settle back into place, Twi heard two sounds behind her. One was Daring Do screaming, "No, no, no, no, no! Twilight! Run! She's here!" The other was a familiar laugh. A laugh Twi remembered to have once either made her feel better or annoy her to the brink of insanity. Now it caused neither of those feelings. This laugh was cold. It was sadistic. It filled Twi with just as much fear and anger as it did sadness.
Twi stood up and turned around. "Pinkie Pie?"
Standing in the doorway was none other than one of Twi's closest friends, Pinkie Pie. But she was different from how Twi remembered her. Her hair alternated strangely between fluffy and deflated. Her eyes were bloodshot and switched between dark red and dark green. A cruel smile was etched into her face. A necklace of broken wands hung around her neck. A dress made out of torn clothing belonging to others cloaked her body. A series of fake wings constructed out of a substance that Twi had a feeling wasn't paper, plastic, or leather was strapped to the back of her makeshift dress. To finish off her ghoulish outfit, there was a pair of black boots with blood-red laces covering her feet.
The warped sadist that was once her close friend laughed and stared at Twi with her never-ending gaze. "I'm so happy to see you again, Twilight! It's been far too long! I'm so happy that you were able to make it to the party!" she exclaimed insanely. Twi glanced over at Matilda and Daring, who had fallen silent and were breathing heavily, before turning back to Pinkie. "Now..." Pinkie reached behind her and pulled out two objects: a large butcher knife and a portable circular saw. She flicked a button on the saw and it flared to life. Her smile grew impossibly wider as she raised the two weapons. "LET'S PLAY!"