Chapter 8
How It Goes
Macintosh and Flower Shine followed Colgate out of the alley where they'd left the TARDIS, making their way through a street that was barely more than an alley itself. Shine glanced around for a moment then giggled. "Oh wait, you meant we're going to ask him for help?"
Colgate gave a sigh. "If you know another of us here in Canterlot who might still have everything we'll need, speak up. ...No seriously."
Shine just giggled again.
Mac just looked suitably confused. "Who're ya talking about?"
"You'll see," Shine told him.
The three stopped outside a small shop, a sign reading Timeless Books & Antiques above the door. A 'Closed' sign hung inside the large window next to the door, but Colgate knocked loudly on the door anyway. There was silence for a moment before she knocked again, louder.
"Oi! Read the sign already!" came an irritated shout from within.
"Starsider, get your flank over here and open this door! It's an emergency!"
There was the sound of scrambling hoofsteps from withing, followed by quick snaps of the locks on the door being undone before it was pulled open, and a grey stallion with an unruly black mane and vivid purple eyes poked his head out, a short, purple scarf around his neck. "Oh...uh, didn't realize it was you, Colgate..." He pulled the door open all the way, revealing himself to be a pegasus, with the same hourglass cutie mark as the mare and filly. "Come in, come i-" he started, then noticed Macintosh, or rather his apple half cutie mark. "Who's he?"
"With us," Colgate stated, glaring up at him,
Starsider withered a bit at her gaze, but persisted. "But he's not-"
"No he isn't," she confirmed.
"So he knows-"
"Yes!" she said, getting exasperated. "Honestly, all the rule breaking I have to berate you for, and this is the one time you decide to stick to procedure?"
The stallion grumbled something unintelligible, but moved aside to let them in. To say that the shop was full of books would be an injustice to the concept of understatements. The shelves were packed with books from bottom to top. There were books on counter-tops, books on tables, and books on top of books. Interspersed throughout the books, though, were various other odds and ends, like busts of famous historical ponies, old looking tapestries on the walls, piles of scrolls, swords or other weapons, a model train, and various other antiquities.
"Macintosh, meet Starsider, time lord, TTC systems engineer, and former head of the Type 85 project," Shine introduced.
"And constant pain in my flank..." Colgate muttered.
"Er...howdy," Mac said, "...What's a Type 85?"
Starsider's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, just my best piece of work! The Type 85 TTC! Designed to have all the functions and capabilities of normal TTCs, but able to be reliably crewed by only a single person. You see, they were supposed be used for exploration and scouting purposes-"
"Which was just a smokescreen of an excuse for you and your friends to go gallivanting around the universe like your idol!" Colgate interrupted, "Which is why I shut down the project before it got out of prototyping."
Mac looked at Shine with more confusion.
"She means Grandf- the Doctor," she told him.
"Hmmph, you and the rest of the council, bunch of spoilsports. You especially, considering you'd practically been doing the same thing before you took office..." the pegasus muttered.
"I was acting as a moderating factor when I was with him, and that's my story," Colgate protested. "Now if you're done going over your past grudges, we need a few things from your armory."
Starsider stepped back, suddenly looking nervous. "A-armory? What armory? I h-have no idea what...you're..." He trailed off at the look on her face. It was surprisingly scary even with her apparent age. "Oh all right! Lost everything else, didn't expect to have to lose my collections too... This way." He turned and started threading his way through the shelves towards the back of the shop.
"Starsider liked collecting odds and ends from all around time and space," Shine explained to Mac as they walked. "However, our people weren't supposed to be messing around with the timelines, so he got in trouble for it a lot."
"And then the war came along and that's ALL we were doing, bunch of hypocrites. At least I tried to be careful about it..."
"And I said enough with the past grudges!" Colgate reminded him.
"That's another thing! Why in the name of the Princess do you need anything from me?" the pegasus asked. "If you need firepower beyond current equestrian tech levels, you've got unicorn magic after all."
"I'm still only a student as far as magic goes, and self defense spells aren't even taught for a few years, which is time we don't have!" She paused, finally ready to bring out the big one. "Besides...I'm not sure how effective magic is against Dalekanium."
"Dalekani-? DALEKS!?" Starsider jumped about three feet of the ground, his wings shooting out in surprise and knocking several books off the shelves on either side of him. "Daleks...in Equestria!?" he asked, whirling on Colgate. "Oh please tell me that's just a bad joke!?"
"Unfortunately no, so you can see why we might be in a hurry!"
He gulped, then turned and began practically galloping through the shelves. "This way!"
He led them to the very back of the shop, to an ordinary looking door with an 'Employees Only' sign on it. "No one's ever noticed that this is actually the back wall of the shop," Starsider noted while extracting a key on a chain from beneath his scarf. "'Course, the perception filter probably helps..." He fumbled with the key for a moment before unlocking the door and pulling it open. While he was busy with it, Colgate noticed something out of the corner of her eye, but filed it away for later.
Upon entering room beyond, Mac experienced a slight feeling of Deja' vu, as it was similar, yet utterly different from the console room of the Doctor's TARDIS. For starters, it was square shaped, and it appeared smaller at first glance, until he looked up and saw a second level above them through a glass balcony. The walls were primarily a walnut colored wood, with matching roundels decorating it except in the spots where there were bookcases set against them. A cozy looking armchair with a blue floor lamp were set in the corner to the left of the entrance, while the corner to the right had a bookshelf set into it, with a brown hatstand beside it. The far right corner had a small staircase leading up to the balcony above, while the far left had what appeared to be some kind of large cabinet with sliding shutters that were currently closed. The back wall was dominated by a large brass. vault-like, door. In the center was obviously the control console. It was similar to the Doctor's in that it was hexegonally shaped, but the similarities ended there. Whereas his console looked like someone had taken various odds and ends and elegantly worked them all together, Starsider's reminded him of an old desk. On top the center of this was a large circular tube set with gauges, and topped by a silvery dome. This dome had brass rods attached to it, which led up to the ceiling where they were attached to similar but larger dome hanging from the middle of the ceiling.
Starsider quickly moved over to the console and slid up one of the small panel covers on the side nearest the cabinet. He pushed up on one of the sliders underneath and the lights in the room came on. "Elevator's through the door to your right. Just give me a moment to restore power. Haven't been down there in a while..."
Mac pushed the door in question to see a short hallway in a style similar to the console room, ending in a pair of double doors. Before he could turn back, the pegasus stallion was already pushing past him. "This way...this way..." he said absently. They got to the end of the hall and Starsider slapped a hoof on a panel next to the doors. ...And then a moment later tried it again. "...Oh dear, what's...?" He glanced at the panel, then at his hoof...and then back at the rather small buttons on the panel.
Behind him, Shine burst out laughing.
"Oi! I did say I hadn't been down there in a while..." He fumbled in his scarf for a bit before pulling out a pencil. With a mutter that sounded something like 'should've been a unicorn' he used it to press the button and the doors slid open. "Next floor, weapons from throughout the space time continuum, all aboard."
"Hmmph, so much for like clockwork..." the Doctor muttered as he paced back and forth across the cell's floor. On a bunk set into the wall, Ditzy lay facing away from him. As soon as they'd been pulled out of the rubble in the tunnels, they'd been marched up to the palace's small dungeon and placed into this cell. With the threat of dying in a small hole in the ground gone, and her natural pegasus claustrophobia no longer screaming at her, she was able to return her thoughts to what she'd been thinking about before.
She rolled over to face him, trying to gather her concentration. "Doctor..."
He apparently didn't hear her. "I mean really, keeping us waiting like this..."
"Doctor..."
"...It's not like the fate of the world is at stake...oh wait!"
"Doctor!"
He looked over at her suddenly. "Hmm, yes? Sorry...lost in thought there..."
"Is...it...true?" she asked, being careful with each world. She knew he could understand her regardless, but she felt this was important enough to make absolutely sure.
"Hmm? Is what true?"
"Did...they...come...because...of...you?"
The Doctor's face fell into a mask of expressionless. He stopped pacing and was quiet for a long moment. "...Someone else would probably try to put the blame on Davros for attacking me...but I'm not someone else. It was my actions that opened the tear that brought us here, so yes, it's my fault."
Ditzy didn't answer, she just put her head in her forelegs and cried.
The Doctor walked over and sat down on the empty spot of the bunk in front of her. "...Who was he to you? The..unicorn, I mean."
"Pa...father," she got out between the tears.
He just nodded. "...I know I can't say anything that will really make it better. One of the few things I can't do is bring back the dead. The best I can do is to tell you I'm sorry...and that I promise to do everything I can to make sure that it doesn't happen to anyone else. And I won't hold it against you for hating me."
She just shook her head. "Don't...hate..."
"Well...that's refreshing. Thank you..."
"Just...want...know...why?"
The Doctor sighed. "That's...well, that's a very good question Ditzy. One I've spent a very long time trying to figure out, and...I really don't have an answer yet." He sat back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh, the Daleks themselves are pretty simple to figure out, really. They want to eliminate every other lifeform that isn't Dalek. That's what 'survival' means to them. But Davros, the one who created them... I've been to some dark places before, but I've always found my way out. He found his way into one a long time ago and never left. I was there, you know, when he first created them. I was on a mission to try and stop him. I failed obviously, but at one point I had him alone, and tried to reason with him. I compared the Daleks to a virus, a disease, that if unleashed would be capable of destroying all life in existence. Instead of seeing my point...he actually took it as a challenge, as if creating something like that was something to strive for..."
Suddenly there came the sound of the dungeon door opening, followed by multiple hoofsteps.
"Ah, about time," the Doctor said to himself as he stood up.
A pair of unicorn guards appeared first, taking up positions on either side of the cell. They were followed by a pair of pegasai. The first looked fairly normal for a pegasus guard, with his white coat and blue mane/tail. The only difference being his armor had more ornate decorations, indicating a higher rank. The other one, however, was most unusual. He was half again as large as the stallion next to him, his coat a steel grey color, and his tail a dark blue. His armor was different not only in that it was silver and lacked the helmet crest the golden armored guards had, but it completely covered his front half. Even the helmet sported a full face mask molded in the shape of a pony's head that only his ears and large, amber eyes were easily visible through.
"Well, Ironshod?" the white pegasus asked, "What do you make of it?"
The masked pegasus stepped forward, looking the Doctor over through the bars of the cell. "Not sure, Captain," he answered in a deep sounding voice. "I've seen creatures with similar forms, but nothing exactly like this. Can't identify it anymore than I can tell you what those things upstairs were."
"You know, you could just ask 'it,'" the Doctor pointed out.
The Captain glared at him. "All right then. Who are you? What are you? And what were y-" He stopped suddenly as he noticed the wall-eyed mare on the bunk. "Wait a moment. I know you...you're...Lt. Doo's girl. ...What in Celestia's name are you doing here?"
The Doctor smiled. "She's my assistant."
The stallion shot him another glare before looking back at Ditzy. "This true, filly?"
Ditzy only hesitated a second before nodding vigorously.
"Hmph, very well then. You'd better hope you don't regret that answer in a moment." He hesitated a second. "...I'm afraid it's also my sad duty to report that your father has-"
"She knows," the Doctor interrupted. "...No need to rub it in more by telling her again."
"...Alright. Back to my questions then..."
"Yes, okay then." He straightened up then adjusted his bow tie a second before he began answering. "In order: I'm the Doctor. Just the Doctor. I'm a time lord from the planet Gallifrey, which means nothing to you since it was also in another universe. And assuming your last question was 'what was I doing down in the tunnels beneath the palace?' I was attempting to locate the rest of the creatures, whose remains upstairs your man, er, stallion here was talking about, and are called Daleks by the way, in order to rescue and return your princess to you before she can be used in whatever nefarious scheme they wanted her for."
Silence reigned. The Captain and Ironshod looked at each other, and even the stoic unicorn guards shot uncertain glances towards the cell.
"That's..." the Captain said finally, "...That's quite the answers. ...I don't suppose you have any way of proving this?"
"Besides the fact that I am not a large angry pepper pot, not a thing. ...Well, I suppose Miss Doo here could relate her side of things, but it might take a while for her to get it out in a way that would be understandable...no offense."
"Noodle gate," Ditzy said, letting her speech slip on purpose in order to back him up.
The Captain was silent for a moment more. "...I don't kn-"
The Doctor interrupted him, again. "Captain, I've gone through this more times that you have feathers so let me tell you how it goes. First, you lock me up thinking I'm the enemy. Second, I try to tell you I'm here to help and you ignore me. Third, something catastrophic happens. Then fourth, you're finally forced to trust me in order to get my help. Now you may have noticed we've done step three early, so I'd very much appreciate we get to step four while we still have time!"
"...He does seem to know a lot more about the beasties upstairs than we do, sir," Ironshod piped in.
The Captain sighed as he lightly facehoofed. "Oh very well. But I'm telling you 'Shod, if I get imprisoned in the place that the Princess banishes me to, if you're wrong, I'm making sure you're right there with me!"
"Whatever you say Claymore," Ironshod responded with a tone you could just hear the smile in.
"Open the cell!" Captain Claymore ordered one of the unicorns. "And you, 'Doctor,' had better come through or I'll make sure its a trip for three."
"Aw now Captain, what kind of attitude is that? Optimism, I always say," he responded as he stepped out of the cell after it'd been opened. "Now, I'd like to have a look at the Dalek remains first. Come along Doo. ...Nah, doesn't work as well as Pond. Ah well, come on Ditzy!"
Ditzy quickly hopped down off the bunk and trotted after him.
"And here I thought palace duty was the boring job," Ironshod said aside to Claymore.
Claymore sighed. "It used to be," he muttered, then quickly followed after the Doctor and his companion.
"Status of capacitors?" Davros asked.
"CAPACITOR CHARGE LEVEL AT 34%!" a Dalek answered.
"It should be well over fifty by now. What is the efficiency of the power extraction?"
"EXTRACTION EFFICIENCY AT 43% RATING!"
"I see..." He turned his chair around and glided over to another part of the lab. Princess Celestia's cage had been removed from the time ship and placed into the base of the machinery that dominated the complex they were now in. She lay on the floor, weakened by the power drain. The alicorn's once pure white coat was now looking almost grey. Her normally ethereal mane and tail hung limp and faded.
"You should just give in, Celestia. It will be less stressful for you if you do. In any case, your resistance only delays the inevitable."
Celestia raised her head enough to look him in his electronic eye. "...Then everything's going...to plan..."
"Your bravado is commendable, but you can't hope to escape. And even if you should, I have harnessed forces capable of destroying reality itself. Your powers, though formidable, are trivial compared to that. You don't intimidate me."
"But...he does...doesn't he?"
Davros didn't immediately answer.
"The Doctor..." she clarified.
"...How...?" If he still had working eyes, Davros would have widened them in surprise. "...You know him...somehow, you know him, don't you?"
Now it was Celestia's turn not to answer. Instead she just smiled mysteriously.
"Know this: just because you may have encountered him at some point in his future, it doesn't mean you are safe!" Davros snapped, pointing at her threateningly. "History is not immutable!" He turned around and began gliding away. "A few of your little ponies will not be allies enough to allow him to triumph this time! When the engines are charged, I will destroy this planet, and demonstrate the power of the Daleks to this universe, once and for all!"
Celestia allowed herself to lay down fully again. "Hurry Doctor..." she whispered. "Too much longer...and he may be right..."