The Doctor woke up in a panic. He remembered the Cybermares that and jumped up from his rest. He looked around and didn’t see anything. Underneath him was a bed of hay. He got up and looked around. He was outside the Cyber-ship laying in one of the former buildings in town. He looked outside the room he was in and saw Derpy walking around the hall.
“Derpy?” The Doctor asked.
Derpy turned around. “Doc? You’re awake!” Derpy flew over to him and gave him a big hug. “Gosh, I didn’t know if you were gonna wake up! The others told me they could hear a heartbeat, but I never left for the past few days.”
The Doctor smiled. “Thank you Derpy, you are a true companion.” The Doctor stood there for a moment before thinking. “Wait, did you say the past few days!?”
Derpy looked at the Doctor with a confused face. “Uh, yeah.”
“Well how many!?”
Derpy thought for a moment. “Uhh, well, let me think. If it was then and this is now… five days!”
“Five days!” The Doctor exclaimed. “Blimey, how tired was I?!”
“I don’t know,” Derpy said. “Probably tired enough to sleep for five days.” She laughed to herself.
As Derpy was giggling, Moon Dancer walked by. “Oh, Doctor!” She walked over to the two ponies. “It’s so good to see you. I’m glad you’re awake. For a moment I was afraid you’d never wake up.”
“Yes,” the Doctor said. “I apologize for my tiredness. I suppose staying up all night to find a way to get to the Cybermares wears a stallion out.” The other ponies laughed at the doctor’s comment.
The Doctor then remembered the last things that happened before he collapsed. “Has there been sightings of the mare that ran away?”
Moon Dancer shook her head. “Nothing so far. The last that anypony has seen of her was her running away. I was able to send word to the ponies back in Canterlot about everything that happened. Hopefully they’ll report if they see anything.”
The Doctor nodded. “Good,” he said. “She shouldn’t have the armor on her side, but with her magic, I don’t know if that matters with how talented she seems to be with magic.”
“Either way,” Moon Dancer started, “we need to rebuild. Being an Alicorn, I suppose I need to step up and lead us to reformation.”
The Doctor looked at Moon Dancer’s wings and horn. “That reminds me,” the Doctor said. “When I’m from, you’re not one of the Alicorns. How did you become an alicorn?”
“Well,” Moon Dancer said. “I was Princess Celestia’s top student for a few years. Then, after learning about the power of friendship, Princess Celestia bestowed me with my Aliconhood. It was only a month or two before the Cybermares attacked.”
The Doctor thought for a moment. It sounded remarkably similar to Twilight Sparkle’s journey to becoming an Alicorn. “I see,” the Doctor said. “How fascinating.”
The Doctor shook off the idea and looked back to Moon Dancer. “Is there anything we can do to help before we leave?”
“No,” Moon Dancer said plainly. “You’ve done so much for us already; I can’t ask for anything more. Just get back to your time.”
“Thank you,” the Doctor said. “We’ll set this all right.”
“Is there anything we can do for you?” Moon Dancer asked.
The Doctor thought. “As a matter of fact...”
*****
The Doctor and Derpy looked at the Tardis. “Oh, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you, you beauty,” the Doctor said. “I will never lose you again!”
Lyra, Bon Bon, and the three ponies they had saved from the Cybermares all gathered around the two.
“So, is this goodbye?” Lyra asked.
“I don’t like goodbyes,” the Doctor said. “Time is an odd thingy. The timestream seems to bring ponies together constantly. Even when you think you’ll never see a pony again, time puts the two of you together again. It’s odd. I’ve thought that I would never see a pony for the rest of my life, but it seems we always come back together. So this isn’t goodbye, it’s just a... see you at another time.”
Lyra nodded. “I like that.”
Bon Bon walked up. “So can you do it?” she asked. “Now that you have that... thing,” she pointed to the Tardis, “can you stop all of this from happening?”
“Hopefully,” the Doctor said. “But there’s something I need.”
As the Doctor finished saying that, a voice rang out. “Doctor! I was able to find one!” Moon Dancer came running in. She was holding what looked to be a horn made of metal. “I was able to get a Cybermare horn out one of the supply boxes.”
The Doctor smiled. “And there it is,” he said before grabbing the horn from Moon Dancer.
“Why do you need one of those?” Bon Bon asked.
“Well, a Sonic Screwdriver can do a lot of things,” the Doctor said. “Telekinesis is not one of those things.” The Doctor put the Sonic Screwdriver underneath the bottom of the horn before activating it. “If the horn has some type of pulse running through it, like the one my Sonic gives off, the horn is tricked into activating like it’s attached to a fully operational suit of Cybermare armor.”
“What does that mean Doctor?” Lyra asked.
The Doctor smiled. “It means I can do this.” The Doctor pointed the horn at a piece of rubble in the hallway a few feet away. The rubble was surrounded by a magical aura and began to float like a Unicorn used its magic on it.
“Whoa!” Derpy said in awe.
“So anyway,” The Doctor started. “I suppose we best be off.” He turned back to the Tardis and opened the door before turning back around. “Oh, one more thing. Don’t forget about the Pie Family farm. If find some gold there, it can breakdown the Cybermare armor enough to get you three out of it.” He pointed to Vinyl Scratch, Red Harring, and Tree Hugger.
“Radical dude,” Tree Hugger said.
“Oh,” the Doctor said, “and if you don’t mind, give the Cybermares a peaceful grave. They were normal ponies before turning.”
Derpy leaned into the Doctor’s ear. “That was two things Doc.”
The Doctor thought to himself. “I suppose it was. Anyway, me and my companion have to leave, thank you all for being such great hosts, but we’ve got to get back to our own world. I’m sure we’ll see each other again, so we’ll see you then. Allons-y!”
The Doctor turned back and walked into the Tardis. “Bye guys!” Derpy said following the Doctor in.
As she flew in, Derpy closed the door to the Tardis behind her. The Doctor hit several buttons on the center console and the Tardis’ engines began to roar.
Outside the Tardis, the purple box began to fade in out of reality for a few seconds before disappearing completely.
“Well,” Moon Dancer began, “I guess it’s our job to start cleaning up.”
Bon Bon put a hoof to her forehead. “Yes my Princess!” The ponies laughed as they walked away.
*****
“I can’t believe we were able to take out those Cybermares!” Derpy excitedly yelled.
The Doctor chuckled. “Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself. We were incredibly lucky, that’s for sure.”
Derpy stopped celebrating. “What do you mean?” Derpy asked.
“Well,” The Doctor said, “those versions of the Cybermares were a bit older. They had to take ponies back to their factory to change them. Newer models don’t even have to take you back to a factory. They can just change you right on the spot.”
“R-really?” Derpy asked petrified.
“Yes,” the Doctor said in a matter-of-fact manner. He then looked and saw how scared Derpy was and went over to comfort her. “But don’t worry. They were destroyed in the Time War. They’re not coming back.”
“Really?” Derpy asked.
The Doctor nodded. “Yeah, they won’t be coming back.” In actuality, the Doctor had no idea if there were any more out there. He had assumed that all the Cybermares were wiped out, but this adventure showed that some survived.
Despite the Doctor’s stress, Derpy seemed to be back to her normal bubbly self.
*****
After a few minutes, the Tardis stopped shaking and they were at their destination. Derpy walked out ad saw Celestia’s Canterlot castle standing in front of her.
“Hey, weren’t we here a few weeks ago?” Derpy asked. She studied the outside of the castle. At one of the walls of the castle, two ponies were standing, looking at the sky. One was an Earth pony, and the other was a pegasi. The pegasi was sitting on one of the pillars. “And is that... us?!”
“Yes to both,” the Doctor answered nonchalantly.
“How are you so calm about this?” Derpy looked at the Doctor.
“Well, when you travel through time enough, you’re destined to meet another version of yourself, but I admit, it is fun to see another version of me after a while.”
“So why are we back here?” Derpy asked. “Didn’t we already see the Sonic Rainboom?”
“That’s the whole point,” the Doctor said. “When we saw the Rainboom, it altered history. The pillar fell and blocked the window behind it. That made it so Twilight Sparkle never passed her test. That was what caused the whole mess with the Cybermares.”
“Wow,” Derpy said.
“I know, it’s crazy how just one change can affect so much.”
“So what do we do to stop it?” Derpy asked.
The Doctor smiled. “I’m glad you asked.” He went back to the center console in the Tardis and grabbed the Cybermare horn. “You see, I didn’t take this horn just to make life as an Earth pony easier. We’re going to use it to keep that pillar from falling over.”
“Cool!” Derpy said, excited.
“But we’ll need to stay in the Tardis. We have to make sure we stay in the Tardis. It wouldn’t be good if our past selves saw us.”
“You got it!” Derpy said.
“I’ll need some help holding the horn steady while I use the Sonic Screwdriver,” the Doctor said. “Do you mind holding the horn?”
“No problem!”
“Brilliant!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Now get in position, it looks like it’s about to happen.”
Derpy held the side of the Cybermare horn in her mouth. She pointed the tip of the horn to the pillar her past self was standing on. To her side, the Doctor stood behind the horn and held his Sonic Screwdriver in his mouth and activated it.
The horn gave off a magical glow and the pillar was surrounded by a similar type of glow. The past form of the Doctor and Derpy, however, didn’t notice the glow as they were captivated by the race in the sky.
The past Derpy jumped on the pillar in support of the young Rainbow Dash. However, instead of the pillar falling over like it did before, the pillar stayed up straight.
“Are you okay Ms. Derpy?” the past Doctor asked, looking up at the pegasi.
The past Derpy giggled before nodding.
A loud noise rang in the sky before a ring of color rushed through the sky. Notably, nothing happened to the past Doctor. Both just stood in the light.
“Woah,” the past Derpy said. “That was beautiful!”
“I agree,” the Doctor said. “I’ve always heard of it, but I’ve never seen it up close.” He looked back at his Tardis. “Well, I’d say this has been a brilliant test run for the Tardis. What do you say we go back to the present? We might even have enough time to get a muffin.”
“Then let’s go!” past Derpy cheered. She quickly flew off the pillar and flew to the Tardis.
The past Doctor chuckled and followed her into the Tardis. After a moment the Tardis began to flash into and out of existence.
“Woah,” Derpy said. “Is that what it looks like when this starts moving?”
The Doctor laughed. “Yes, that’s what is looks like. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to see it. It’s brilliant isn’t it?”
The Doctor set the screwdriver down and took the horn from Derpy. “I’ll store this for safe keeping,” The Doctor said. “Don’t want anypony else finding out about it. We’ve seen when something like that happens.” He chuckled to himself. “Now then, I suppose we should get back to our Ponyville, yeah?”
“Yeah!” Derpy exclaimed.
The Doctor smiled. “Now that’s the excitement I love to see.”
“Allons-y!” Derpy cheered.
The Doctor laughed. “Yes.” The Doctor closed the door, trotted over to the central control panel, and pressed a few buttons. The Tardis’ engine began to roar as the ship began to move as the two were heading back to their (hopefully normal) present.
“Hang on,” Derpy said. “Where did the other two go.”
The Doctor looked up. “The other who?”
“You know, those ones that left before us,” Derpy said.
“Do you mean our past selves?” the Doctor asked.
Derpy shook her head yes.
“I’d guess back to their time,” the responded nonchalantly.
“But,” Derpy started, “aren’t we going there?”
The Doctor thought for a moment before laughing. “You ponies never change.”
“What?” Derpy asked, now very confused.
“See,” the doctor started, “everypony assumes that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually, from a non-linear non-subjective standpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey wimey... stuff!” To emphasize this, the Doctor motioned his hooves like they were making a ball.
Derpy, looking more confused now than ever, frowned. “I still don’t get,” Derpy said, holding back a tear.
The Doctor laughed again. “Oh, don’t worry. I have to explain that to my companions all the time. They never get it. Besides, for your first real adventure with me, it was smart of you to pick up on what you did. It would take most ponies three or four of them to really get it.”
Really!” Derpy said, now incredibly happy.
“Swear on it,” the Doctor said, now happy his friend was happy again. “There’s likely another version of Ponyville with a few small changes.” The Doctor paused. “Actually, the only change might have been that we were there in the first place.”
Derpy looked at the Doctor completely befuddled. However, she still wore a smile because she liked that the Doctor was telling her these things.
“Either way,” the Doctor concluded, “it’s a different Ponyville than where we’re going. Speaking of which, looks like we’re almost there.”
*****
It took another few minutes, but the two time travelers eventually landed. Both looked at the door. Both were nervous that it would be ruined again. But despite all that, they both moved towards the door. Both stood there until pushing the door open.
Outside was a bright light town with several ponies walking all around. It was Ponyville in its purest form.
The Doctor gave a subtle sigh and said, “It’s great to see this beautiful town once again.”
“Yeah!” Derpy cheered.
“Well, I’m assuming you're a bit tired,” the Doctor said, looking at some of the bags underneath the mail pony’s eyes. “Why don’t get some sleep?”
“Yeah, okay,” Derpy said, her sleepiness catching up with her.
“Oh, and one more thing,” the Doctor stopped Derpy. He looked around and found a small pouch. He grabbed it and threw it over to Derpy who was just barely able to catch it in her wing before it hit the ground. “That has five bits in it. That should be enough to buy five muffins. That adventure was more than I thought it would be, consider it an apology. Thanks for being a great companion.”
Derpy looked at the bag in her wing. An instinct in her told her to instantly run to the muffin stand and buy as many as she could. But she didn’t. She ran to the Doctor and wrapped her wings around him in a hug.
The Doctor stopped for a moment. He looked at his companion. He felt the joy of all of Equestria in Derpy’s hug. He hugged his friend back before they separated.
Derpy then looked down at the bag and, her other half coming back, waved a hoof at the Doctor before running out of the Tardis.
The Doctor laughed. He always appreciated any companion he had, and Derpy was no exception.
He stood in the Tardis and thought of what to do. His immediate idea to go get a banana daiquiri, but he remembered something. The Cybership. Just because they had destroyed it in the other timeline, it could still be functional now.
He rushed over to the center console and input several coordinates. The motor began to roar loudly again before the Tardis was moving again. However, he wasn’t traveling through time, just space.
The Tardis stopped soon after and a quietness could be heard. The Doctor looked out and saw the Cybership once more. It was bleaker and seemed to show more age than before. The Doctor stalked through the familiar halls. He came across the door that in the previous timeline, was attacked by several Cybermares.
He walked in and looked around. He looked at the machine in the center. It was off, but if worked on, it could easily turn back on. The Doctor wanted to ensure that it never could.
He walked over to it and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. He held the end up to the machine and turned the screwdriver on. It was much duller than the previous time he did it. Before he and his cohorts were being attacked by an army of Cybermares. This time, he just had to hold his Sonic steady.
That’s not to say it was without any stress. A wrong move could accidentally restart the machine and power every Cybermare on. The Doctor, however, kept steady and focused on the Sonic Screwdriver and the machine in front of him.
After ten minutes, the machine finally was completely powerless. Even if somepony wanted to restart it, there was no way to.
The Doctor, proud of himself, trotted back to the Tardis, wondering what adventures the next day would bring them.