//------------------------------// // Rocks Fall, Party Splits // Story: Hourglasses // by Spiritus Arcane //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Rocks Fall, Party Splits Relative time, two days ago... The Doctor held on tightly to the edge of the console as the TARDIS pitched around him after taking another hit. Sparks burst from a cable overhead somewhere as he struggled to input another evasive pattern in, but no matter how many times he altered course, his attacker seemed to stay right on him. "Who the bloody heck are you?" he asked aloud, almost wishing that they'd give in and just tell him. Whatever weapons they were using against him were causing enough 'turbulence' in the local vortex area that he couldn't get a solid lock on whatever the attacker was. Still, whoever they were, they had some impressive technology. Not many people could build a vessel capable of keeping up with the TARDIS through the vortex, let alone have weapons that would actually be capable of damaging it. Unfortunately, as much as he admired their ingenuity, he'd rather not get blown to component atoms, thank you. "Right, time to put a stop to this...sorry dear," he muttered, knowing this would probably be rather rough on his faithful TARDIS. When the next round of shots came, he quickly diverted all drive power to the extrapolator shielding, giving it enough of a boost to actually deflect them right off the TARDIS' own defensive screens. The resulting explosions from around the console room were expected. What happened next wasn't. The room began to pitch wildly, causing the doctor to grab hold of the console for dear life. Above the clamor around him, he could hear the sound of the Cloister bell. "Oh, well, that can't be good..." Keeping a one armed grip on the console, he reached over and pulled the small scanner screen over to him. His eyes widened at what he saw. Apparently, the force of the attacker's weapons, combined with whatever power they'd picked up from being bounced off the TARDIS had been just enough to create a small rupture in the vortex itself, and now both craft were being drawn into the tear! Still keeping a hold of the console, he moved himself over to another side of it, working the controls in a desperate attempt to throw enough power back into the engines to pull away long enough for the rupture to seal itself. He glanced back at the scanner just in time to see the other vessel disappear. "Come on, sexy. You can do it!" He said in encouragement. The groan of the engines picked up speed and volume as the TARDIS gave one last effort. It wasn't enough. Suddenly the room was tumbling around him. The Doctor had the presence of mind to throw the materialization control while he could still reach it. A physical impact would be nothing after all this. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the exterior monitor flashing between ground and starry sky as the TARDIS tumbled. He managed to hit the blue stabilizer switches, glad River wasn't here to see that, and the room stopped spinning for a moment...just in time for collision with the ground to knock everything for a loop one more time... Equestrian Year 990 C.R.(Celestia's Reign) AKA Now... "It was you!" The Doctor stepped forward towards the image of Davros, now feeling a bit cross. "You were the one that decided to go all...shooty, and use me for target practice!" "Yes...I gave in to my baser emotions and decided to take revenge for our last encounter in a direct fashion. However I couldn't have foreseen that your defense against my attempt to destroy you would instead lead me here: A planet nearly defenseless even against what meager resources I had left. A universe, where my Daleks had never known failure, where they will be able to start anew, without concern of opposition...except for you." "Yeah...and you're as insane as I've ever thought you were if you think I'm going to let that happen." "Oh, I'm well aware of that, Doctor..." "Master, energy levels spiking!" K-9 piped in. "But as I said, I intend to come out the victor this time. I highly doubt this will stop you, but it should slow you down long enough..." "Energy overload increasing! Danger of explosion imminent!" "Farewell for now, Doctor." And then the screen faded out. A loud hum began to fill the chamber as sparks and arcs of energy began to flash from the remains of the consoles around the room. The Doctor only had a few moments to take in the situation. During the confrontation, he'd foolishly allowed himself to get the furthest from the TARDIS. K-9 was beside him, with the pegasus, Ditzy, the next closest, then Colgate, Shine and Macintosh right in front of the police box shaped vessel. Of the three, he picked Mac as the best candidate for the next bit. "Macintosh, catch!" he shouted, scooping up K-9 by its carrying handle and tossing it with just enough force to make the distance. To his credit, the colt quickly positioned himself to catch the robot dog on his back. The Doctor then gave a snap of his fingers, causing the doors of the TARDIS to swing open in response. "Everyone in!" "How did you-?" Colgate started to ask, even as Mac and Flower Shine rushed inside. "Explain later, move!" The filly jumped inside. The hum was quickly becoming more of a whine, but he was almost to the doors. They'd be able to get out with- Wait no, something was wrong... "Ditzy, come on!" Shine shouted. The Doctor looked, and indeed the grey pegasus was still standing there...looking at him with an unreadable expression. He glanced from her to the doors even as he estimated the time left by the sound of the overload. There wasn't enough time... He could leave her, make it to the TARDIS himself, but he couldn't grab her and still make it in time. And he'd be damned if he did anything with the first option other than just put it on the list. He snapped his fingers again even as he changed directions. The TARDIS doors slammed closed as he leaped towards Ditzy, who came out of her stupor just in time to register shock at the sight of him flying at her. He tackled her to the ground, then quickly pulled out his screwdriver and aimed it at the ceiling, even as the world went white around him. The three ponies and tin dog were thrown to the floor as the TARDIS shook from the explosion outside. Dazed, it took them a moment to find their hooves. Shine was the first to recover her wits, her eyes going wide as she realized what had happened. "Grandfather! Ditzy!" She rushed back to the doors and pulled them open again, only to find them blocked by a pile of debris that completely covered the opening. "Oh no...we...we've got to..." She began trying to dig at the rocks to little effect. Macintosh ran up beside her before turning around and giving it a strong buck...and quickly regretted it as the debris pile proved quite solid. "Both of you, stop before you cause it all to collapse inside!" Colgate shouted. "How can you say that?" Shine asked angrily. "They're both still out there...probably buried!" "I know that!" the 'filly' shouted back, then softened her tone. "I know, Shine. But...even if they survived, we can't stay. There might be some tools aboard somewhere we could use to get to them, but it'd take too long to find what we need. You heard Davros, he's close to finishing whatever he's planning." "But..surely we can't just leave them..." Shine protested, and though he didn't say anything, his expression showed that Mac was inclined to agree with her. "Your grandfather's gotten out of deadlier situations than this. And I'm sure its what he'd want us to do," Colgate told her as she headed for the console. "After all, he made sure that we got K-9 on board..." The other two looked suitably confused. "What does that have to do with anything?" Shine asked. "Because K-9's sensors were recording during that little chat, weren't you, K-9?" "Affirmative Mistress. I have analyzed the transmission frequency and traced it back to its originating location within a 96.76% accuracy." the little robot told them. "He knows where they are?" Shine asked. "...But surely you don't plan on taking on a whole Dalek army with just us?" Colgate snorted even as she began charting a course. "Ha! If the Doctor was here, we'd probably be doing just that! But, no offense, I'd like to consider myself a tad more sensible. We're going to need help." "Hold on jus' a minute here," Macintosh finally spoke up. "I get we're in a bit o' a rush, but who exactly is this Davros feller?" "He's..." Shine started, then stopped. "...Actually, I'm not exactly familiar with him either. He's affiliated with the Daleks obviously..." "He's their creator," Colgate said matter-of-factually as she engaged the engines. As the familiar groan started, she continued. "The greatest force of evil ever, and Davros is the one who created it. He's the last surviving, if you want to consider his condition survival, Kaled, the race from which the Daleks are derived from. ...And he's supposed to have died during the time war. Near the start. ...I have no idea how he's able to be here now." "So, wait, them Dalek things are alive!?" Mac asked, "I thought they was just machines!" Shine shook her head. "No...what you see on the outside is just a shell. A casing for the creature within. They're mutants, horribly changed by radiation and genetic manipulation...no emotions except for hate and the need to destroy..." "And then imagine someone who could create something like that, and you have Davros," Colgate finished. "If we do nothing, the Daleks will kill everypony...everyone on Equestria before finding a way to spread throughout the universe until Daleks are all that's left. And if the Doctor were here, he'd want us to stop them...even if it meant leaving him behind for now." When Ditzy came to, she found it a bit hard to breathe. Panicking, she tried to struggle, only to find she could barely move too, as something was on top of her. In her struggles, her head bumped into that something and it let out a grunt. "Ugh...Ditzy, right?" She barely heard the question. Her pegasus instincts were screaming at her to get out of wherever she was...this dark, SMALL space, and she continued thrashing. "Oof...Ditzy! Ditzy, calm down, it's ok, you're fine!" the voice, which she belatedly recognized as the Doctor's, insisted. She felt something grab her forelegs and pin them down to stop her attempted flailing. "It's all right, calm down...shh..." Gradually, she stopped struggling and her panic let up just a bit. "Water...hopeful?" "Well...you remember that big explosion?" Ditzy nodded, before realizing he probably couldn't see her. "Uh huh..." "Well...and don't panic, again, but...it seems to have collapsed the roof on us." "TIMEPIECE!?" "Oi! I said don't panic!" She felt him shifting around for a moment before the small space they were in was lit up with the greenish glow of the sonic screwdriver. "I managed to sonic the ceiling above us so it'd fall in such a way to give us this little space here," he explained, giving her a grin. Ditzy forced herself back to calm. She did have to admit just being able to see again helped alleviate a little bit of the fear. "Ready lump sum?" "Well, now we just wait for someone to get us out..." he told her as he looked their little pocket over. "Luckily, it doesn't seem like we're buried too deep, as I think I see a few air holes, which also means we don't need to worry about suffocation. Anyway, either Romana and the others will get to us, unless the TARDIS got buried too, in which case they probably can't, so she'll have gotten my hint and left to come up with her own plan to stop the Daleks." "Fish...petal leaf dance?" "Oh, I thought of that too. You see, whoever's in charge of the remaining guards is probably going around the bend to do everything to get the Princess back, and since the Daleks came from down here, they'd pick this as the first place to start looking. And then there was a big explosion, which might as well have been like pointing a sign to tell them which part of the tunnels to search, so I figure..." He trailed off as they were both briefly enveloped in a sparkling blue glow. This was followed by the faint sounds of shouting from outside their rocky enclosure. "Hmm...tingly," the Doctor commented. "As I was saying...authorities, almost like clockwork sometimes." He switched the screwdriver off and put it away, and then the two waited in silence as sounds of digging got closer. Finally, the debris directly in front of them was surrounded by a glowing aura and ripped away, revealing the faces of a pair of unicorns, who just stared at them blankly when they got a look at what they'd uncovered. "Ello!" the Doctor said pleasantly, giving them a small wave. Despite herself, Ditzy cracked a weak grin. The unicorns just stared at them a moment longer before one of them managed to recover his wits. "Sergeant...uh, we found the lifesigns, I think." A white coated pegasus in golden armor quickly walked into view. "...What in the Princess' name...? Get them out of there and take them up to the dungeon. ...Captain'll probably want to speak to these two."