The Doctor, Applejack and the Crusaders burst into the TARDIS. The Doctor had said he needed something.
"Where is it?!" The Doctor searched around frantically.
"Doctor," Applejack scolded. "Would you hold your horses and tell us what exactly is going on?"
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom added. "How can you know who those Cyber-guys are when we just got here?"
"Time Travel, remember?" Scootaloo guessed. "He probably met them after they were crated here."
"Good guess!" The Doctor said. "But I'm afraid that can't be it. I'm a new Doctor for this universe. I-he- the other Doctor has met them for the first time twice now. In two separate universes. I guess I can bump that up to three now that I've seen them here."
"That's a weird coincidence..." Sweetie Belle mused.
"Weird coincidence?" The Doctor laughed. "It's bloody impossible is what it is. In a Multiverse of infinite possibilities, infinite roads that it can travel down, I happen to pick the three that have Cybermen. This is insanity. There's no theory I've ever come across that could explain this. Unless you count-" The Doctor stopped and shook his head.
"Unless you count what?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Lynchpin theory," The Doctor added sourly.
"What's that?" Scootaloo inquired.
"Tosh," The Doctor continued to dig around under the TARDIS console. "Let's just leave it at that shall we?"
"Back to the Cybermen," Applejack cut in. "What's so scary about'em? What are they?"
"Efficient," the Doctor said frankly. "They were once ordinary organic life-forms like you or me, then they had their brains forced from their bodies and welded into a robotic shell. They keep enough organic materiel to keep the brain alive and in the drivers seat but everything is trimmed down to be more efficient"
"That don't sound too bad..." Applejack thought aloud. "A little extreme sure. But I can understand the impulse to want to be able to get more done..."
"Can you?" the Doctor walked over to meet Applejack's eyes, staring directly into her soul. "You're harvesting. Keeping your mind on your work. All of a sudden you hear Apple Bloom screaming bloody murder across the farm yard. She might be in serious danger. Life threatening peril. What do you do?"
Applejack was a little intimidated by the Doctor's intense stare. "I-" she stammered. "I go help her out..."
"Inefficient!" the Doctor snapped. "You become a Cyberman, that instinct is gone. That wonderful motherly instinct to protect your little sister is considered a distraction. You have to finish your work, so her cries go unaided. Celestia knows what could be happening to her but you don't even remember her name." The Doctor thought for a moment. "No... It's worse than that. You remember her name. You remember everything about her. You simply don't care."
The Crusaders were on the verge of tears. Applejack wasn't far behind them. "Wh-" there was a catch in her throat. "What do we do? Are we leavin'?"
"No," the Doctor said softly. "Celestia knows what happens to this place if we leave now. I can't let the future of this wonderful world be to fall victim to the Cybermen. I have to find out more about what's going on and then, if necessary, put a stop to it."
"It sounds pretty necessary..." Apple Bloom said quietly.
"Well," the Doctor said quickly. "It's a whole new universe, isn't it? New rules, new people, new physics, and perhaps new Cybermen. I've got to find out, that's why I brought-" the Doctor stuck his hoof into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulled out a small leather wallet. "This!"
"What's that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"The three of you," the Doctor flipped the wallet open in front of them. "Tell me what you see on the paper."
The three fillies looked at the small card inside the wallet.
"A ringing bell," Sweetie Belle said.
"A white flower," said Apple Bloom.
"My scooter!" Scootaloo smiled.
"I don't get it though," Apple Bloom asked. "How does this..."
"Applejack," he turned the card over to her. "What do you read?"
"'Here Doctor, you can wear my stetson again,'" Applejack read off the card.
"Thank you very much!" The Doctor smiled as he whisked away the hat from Applejack's head and placed it on his own. "This paper is slightly psychic. You see whatever I want you to see on it. That's how we get in to get more information. As of right now, we are liaisons for the Equestrian government! Isn't that nice?"
"That's dandy and all," Applejack took her hat back from the Doctor. "But what if you're right and it's the same ol' Cybermen. How do we deal with-"
"Oh!" the Doctor dived back under the console. "Right! What I was looking for! Where is it? Aha!" The Doctor came out with a reddish brown silk bag in his mouth. "Here it is!"
"What's-" Applejack started.
"Explain later!" The Doctor slung the bag over his back. "Right now come with me! We're going to the recruitment office!"
The Minotaur at the recruitment desk was reluctant to let the Doctor see a contract for Minos's Cyber Corps. At least until he saw the Doctor's "identification."
The Doctor took the contract and sat down with it. Reading it very carefully. Studying it as if it was some sort of precious gem. He re-read it several times before finally lowering it and taking a deep sad sigh. "I can't believe this," he said finally. "I can't believe this is happening right now..."
"What?" Applejack finally asked. "Doctor, what's wrong?"
"This contract," the Doctor held up the page. "Is comprehensive. It says everything. Tells you exactly what being a Cyberman really means. Telling you everything that's going to happen to you if you do this, and at the end asking if you agree to or not. It's not even in small print. It's right there in great big enormous letters. No hiding it. Even a little hint of regret in the wording. and then there's a little line right there for your signature."
"What does that mean?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What does that mean for us?"
"It means we head to Daedalus Technologies," the Doctor decided. "I have to meet the man who finally gave the Cybermen what they've wanted all this time."
"What's that?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Informed Consent," said the Doctor.