Celestia let out a powerful laugh, one that could only be found from intense relief. Twilight pulled herself onto her feet, and searched through the room carefully. Her eyes came to rest on a small grey bundle lying near the wall. Ignoring the other ponies in the room, Twilight rushed over to Ditzy, and carefully inspected her. "Ditzy! Are you alright? Speak to me!"
Ditzy removed her hooves from her face, but kept her eyes closed. "Hurts." She said softly.
Twilight's horn shined a deep purple, and a faint glow covered Ditzy's wings. Twilight slowly went over the wing, searching for any breakages or twists. She stopped when she found none, and moved onto Ditzy's legs. "Celestia, come help. I think she's hurt."
Celestia ignored Twilight's pleas, instead focusing on the brown stallion in front of her. "Well, Doctor. It would appear you've arrived to late. It's a shame, I had heard so many stories about you. Maybe I'll talk to myself about you when you're gone. After all, I have plenty of me's."
Diamond looked her in the eye. "Turn it off. You turn that machine off right now!"
Rainbow Dash appeared next to her, "Turn it off? Why? In case you haven't noticed, this machine is the only thing keeping the Sontarans away. We just saved everypony."
Diamond directed his attention to Rainbow. "No! You don't understand, this was a trap. There are no Sontarans, the whole thing was a plan for world domination created by two flying jellyfish who live off of electricity. The machine is actually a time machine that duplicates the jellyfish so that thousands are created. And the pony in front of me is actually one of them in disguise."
Rarity silently trotted up to Celestia's other side, "Do you honestly expect us to believe that? I may be a bit dramatic, but I am not stupid."
"Maybe, he's a spy!" Rainbow shouted.
Celestia tried her best to hide a smile, this was going better than expected. "A spy ah? Well, there's only one thing to do with spies. Execution."
Rarity cut in, "Execution? That seems a bit harsh, I was thinking more of simple imprisonment."
"No, wait, Ditzy knows, she can back up my claim." Diamond shouted over to the group of ponies against the wall. "Ditzy, Tell them about the aliens!"
Ditzy rocked back and forth uncomfortably. "Noooooo. I've had enough muffins for today."
Fluttershy placed a hoof across Ditzy's mouth. "Shhhh, Nurse Fluttershy's here now. Where does it hurt?"
"Errr, back front sideways hooves." Ditzy said slowly.
"I don't know what that means." Twilight exclaimed, panic on her voice, "And I'm worried she might have hurt her head."
Pinkie Pie pushed Twilight out of the way, working quickly. She lifted one of Ditzy's legs and twisted it backwards, shoving it back into place while she did. Ditzy let out a painful scream. "It's simple, back meant left, front meant back and sideways meant her leg was undergoing a slow dislocation from the thigh. Learn your medical language some time."
Twilight just sat there with her mouth hanging open.
Back across the room, Celestia was gathering power in her horn. "Rerity, sometimes sacrifices have to be made."
"Wait, say my name again."
"Rerity, surely you don't believe this nonsense."
Rarity pointed at her accusingly, "You are a monster. That explains the strange magic, the fact that you can't remember our names and this absolutely dreadful place. What have you done with the real Celestia?"
Celestia redirected her horn towards Rarity and released the power, striking Rarity in the face. With a squeal, Rarity went flying across the room. Celestia turned her back to Diamond and shouted at Rarity. "It's about time you stupid ponies figured it out. I don't know how much longer I could do this 'lovey-dovey look at me I care about ponies' act. With an attitude like that, it's no wonder she fell so easily."
"Fell so easily huh?" A confident voice called out teasingly from behind Celestia. Celestia turned to face the new opponent. She was prepared to use full power against ponies, no holding back. She lost her focus slightly as she saw who she was against. Standing in the doorway, looking beat up and tired, stood a bright white alicorn. Despite how ruffeled her wings were and the fact that she was having trouble keeping her eyes open, she still stood proudly. She tauntingly called out to the imposter. "What's wrong, Monster? Surprised to see me? I know I am."
Drone, his act now shattered, lunged at one last chance to redeem himself. "Imposter! How dare you impersonate me, the Princess!"
He was quickly shut up by a kick to face, delivered by a cyan pegasus. "Shut up." She grunted, landing on the ground next to Rarity. "I saw you attack Rarity, how stupid are you that you think that would work?"
If Drone could sweat, he was sure that a line of water would have started to form on his head. Clearly, he would have to try a different tactic. "Fine, so you got me. Strike me down! Turn me to stone! Erase my existence, I DARE you."
Celestia took a step back, trying to hide a look of worry on her face.
Drone continued, "But you can't, can't you. I can see it in your eyes, you don't have the power. Memory reconstruction take too much out of you? It shows." Drone walked backwards, placing himself in front of his time machine. "You can't protect anyone, there's nothing stopping me from ending it right now, isn't there?"
Celestia pulled herself forward, focusing magic into a white light on her horn.
Drone continued unfazed. "I've already won, Celestia. The machine is on. Nothing you do will stop it. You can't save anyone, because I've already won." Drone let out a horrendous laugh, his mocking tone clearly carrying over.
Celestia focused her magic more. She could feel it's pull and every one of her muscles strained to control it. She faced her horn skyward, and let out a barbaric scream. From far behind her, a rumbling was heard. It grew louder as it came closer, drowning out all other sound. With a powerful crack, a sliver of light raced into the room, spreading larger as the top of the room opened up. Sunlight charged into the room, aiding to Celestias power. Diamond jumped out of the way as she released the power. A concentrated beam of heat raced through the room at the speed of light, striking Drone in the chest. The sheer heat and force of the attack caused Drone to explode. The ponies in the room covered their faces as burning chunks of alien fell into the room. Fluttershy buried her head into her chest and refused to come out at the sight of it.
Celestia collapsed to the ground again, exhausted. "I've heard enough of that." She said weakly.
Twilight abandoned Ditzy to the care of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie while she raced to her mentors side. "Celestia! You did it. You saved us!"
Celestia waved her hoof, "Not yet, my student. I'm afraid it's too late."
"What do you mean? We're safe, you defeated the monster."
Celestia looked at her with eyes full of regret. "Twilight, my student, I'm afraid of haven't noticed it yet."
Twilight looked around, confused. "Noticed what?"
Celestia sat there in silence, but managed to point towards the sky, clearly visible since the roof opened. Twilight followed her mentors gaze into the air, and saw the problem. Above them, dozens of green jellyfish floated through the air quickly, fighting a rag-tag group of pegasi that had assembled to fight the threat. Celestia lowered her head sadly, "Even though the original is defeated, thousands more still roam the skies. I simply came to late."
Twilight asked, panic clear in her voice, "But you're the Princess! Isn't there something you can do?"
Celestia could clearly see their only hope at surviving the situation and, as much as hated it, she admitted he was the only one who could save them. "Bring the Doctor to me." She grumbled.
"Who?" Twilight responded.
"The brown pony. Bring him here." Celestia responded, slightly impatiently.
Twilight spun around, searching for Diamond. She saw him quickly, examining one of the chunks that had landed near him. Twilight approached him, "Diamond. Celestia has some things to say to you."
"I see. I guess I have some questions for her too."
Twilight then rushed over to Rarity, who was crying over the fact that her mane was now singed and covered in alien. An annoyed Applejack sat near her, trying her make her stop whining.
Diamond walked over to Princess Celestia, who had found the strength to stand back up. They both faced each other in wordless silence, until Celestia spoke first. "Doctor, I don't know what you've done this time, but I expect you to fix it now."
Diamond responded "What can I do? I didn't have anything to do with this."
Celestia let out a small laugh, despite the grim nature of the situation. "That's what you said last time, and remember how that ended?"
"No?" Diamond said uncertainly.
"Doctor, enough of this. I demand you fix this problem."
Diamond snorted, "Fine, I'll take a look at the mindbogglingly advanced time machine and just make everything better. Because why not?"
Diamond spun around and walked towards the machine, careful to avoid getting his hooves dirtier than they already were. Standing in front of the machine, he searched for some kind of switch, or button, or controls of any kind. There were none. Diamond could feel Celestia's cold glare bore into the back of his head, so he kept searching. Applejack walked up to him as he did. "Howdy? You mind telling me what's going on round here, I kinda of lost track after tha second Princess."
"Not now Applejack, I need to figure out how this machine works." Diamond replied roughly.
Applejack looked over the machine. "Ya know, back on the farm, if ah machine don't work like it's suppose to, a quick buck'll usually set it straight."
Diamond gave her a hard stare. "Are you implying that kicking this highly sensitive machine as hard as we can, will cause it to suddenly work?"
"Well, 'ow do you know if ya don't try it?"
Diamond raised his hoof to deliver a witty retort, but dropped it when he realised the pony had a point. With a disgruntled sigh, Diamond kindly asked her to kick the time machine.
"Can do!" AppleJack yelled, smashing the machine with her back legs. The force of the kick caused a small panel to fall off, reviling a collection of coloured buttons.
"See? Good as new." Applejack announced, grinning.
Diamond looked over the controls. Each button seemed to have no purpose. Each one looked the same as the one's next to it and Diamond felt his hope leaving.
"I don't know what any of this does." He said.
Celestia crawled over to him. "Well use the screwdriver than! Reverse the polarity or something."
Diamond responded angrily, "I keep telling people. I'm. Not. The. Doctor!"
Celestia stared at him, her confusion melting into gradual understanding. "You haven't opened the watch yet."
"NO! I refuse too. I'm going to stay Diamond, screw the Doctor." He turned and walked towards the exit of the room. "And I give up. Find someone else to fix your stupid problems because I have no idea. Come on, Ditzy. We're leaving."
All attention was directed to the grey mailmare sitting in the corner. Everypony in the room waited with baited breath for her response. Taking in a quick breath, Ditzy quietly declared, "No, Diamond."
The brown pony stopped. "What was that?"
Ditzy flapped her wings, pulling herself into the air. With a grunt, she made her way across the room to Diamond. "I know you're scared Diamond. No one should have to give up who they are, and no one can force you to. But you can't just walk away from something like this. There are thousands, maybe millions of ponies out there. My family's out there, YOUR family is out there. If you leave now, there's no guarantee that we will be able to save them. I saw what this Doctor can do. He was willing to help the Rutans, despite their flaws. If he were here now, I know for a fact that he wouldn't even think of leaving this room until everypony was safe. You're the only one who can help us. Don't just turn your back on this!"
Diamond broke eye contact from Ditzy quickly, "I can't do this, Ditzy, I just can't. And you don't seem to get it, I don't HAVE a family; the entire reason I'm here is to help him. And I won't do that while I live." Diamond walked forward again, pulling the watch from his neck while he did. "Here, Take this, maybe it'll come in handy." He added, throwing the small device over to Ditzy.
He pushed forward, walking past Twilight,
"Diamond, You know more than all of us combined, you can't just abandon us."
Rainbow Dash,
"So what? You're just gonna let them win? What kind of pony are you?"
Rarity,
"Darling, Get back here NOW! Come back and stop these monsters.
Applejack,
"If ya can't handle this right now, ah understand. But only ah coward runs from 'is problems."
Fluttershy,
"Are you leaving? o..okay."
and Pinkie Pie.
"You've gotta stop him, Brown Pony, If you don't there won't be any parties any more. Life will be dull and grey!"
Diamond stood in the exit to the room. Before leaving he let out one last remark. "I'm sorry, everypony. But.. I'm sorry."
His words echoed through the room, playing out a single note of despair before dying out. Silently, he left, leaving the room full of ponies to their own devices.
Diamond wandered lost through the maze like cave, desperately searching for an exit. Maybe he could find Solar; Ditzy mentioned he knew the way out. He also had time to think while walking, he did it mostly to avoid that terrible feeling growing in his gut. Why did this cave's roof open up? Why is everything covered in green? Where the hell is Solar? Who's the Doctor? Diamond shook his head at the last one, trying to change his train of thought. He suddenly felt extremely tired for some reason. He fell down onto his back and stared up at the sky, and also the two races fighting each other.
"Enjoying this, Diamond?" A voice in his head said. Diamond was too tired to bother moving now, and closed his eyes. When he opened them, things were different. He was floating in an endless expense of white. He couldn't see anything no matter which direction he looked. From the void, something appeared on the horizon. A small black dot. Diamond decided to walk towards it. As he got closer, he could see it was another pony, also walking towards him. Straining his eyes, he decided that the pony in the distance was brown, like him, but walked with far more confidence. He walked closer. The pony gave a friendly wave as he did. Diamond tried to wave back, but ended up falling on his face. The two walked closer, they were close enough that Diamond could see the other pony's cutie mark, an hourglass, and his mane, which was styled in the same way his was. Eventually, he reached an impasse, A huge glass wall separated the two ponies from each other. Diamond sat on one side of the wall and watched the pony walk closer. The other pony took his position on the other side of the wall and the two sat opposite each other. It was then that he realized this pony, if not for his cutie mark, would look exactly the same as he did. Diamond was slightly unnerved by this fact. He decided to start the conversation before his opponent could, "So, this is weird, right?"
"I've had worse, though I will admit it gets rather lonely here."
"So who are you? And where are we?"
"I'm the Doctor. And this is inside your head."
Diamond responded by turning and kicking the glass wall as hard as he could. It bent, but ultimately deflected the blow. Diamonds anger melted away as quickly as it came, and he fought to keep tears out of his eyes. "Why me?"
"Bit of a temper. Do I have temper now? I hope not, that would be terrible."
"I'm not ready to die. There's still so much I need to do. Locate the ruby armour, explore the ruins of South Island, fall in love. Why am I the one that has to leave?"
If he could, the Doctor would have torn down this barrier and comforted the weeping pony in person, but it was impossible, so he simply said, "I'm not here to force you to do anything."
Diamond let out a nervous whimper.
"I know what you're going through, I've felt it before. And I'm not here to take over our body or force you into silence. I couldn't if I wanted. I'm just here to listen, and answer."
Diamond felt slightly better. "But why me?"
"There is no reason. The chameleon arch removed my memories and replaced them with yours. Simple as that."
"So I'm a mistake? I didn't even exist until you came along. My entire life has been one giant useless lie."
"Tell me, Diamond. How much do you know about cutie marks?"
"Only that they reflect a ponies special talent."
"So ask yourself. If your life is pointless, why do you have a different cutie mark? If you are just a carriage for my conciseness, wouldn't we have the same talent?"
"I guess." Diamond said quietly.
"You are a pony, just like anypony else. Never think differently."
"Yea, but..."
"No. None of that. Now tell me, do you really want to abandon those ponies, abandon Ditzy?"
"No! But what can I do? I don't know how the machine works, what could I possibly do?"
"Be there." The Doctor said simply.
"Can't you save them? Can't you do something?"
"I can."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because I can't force you to make a choice, Diamond. The watch is already closed, If I take control now, there's no telling whether you will come back. You'll just be stuck here, alone, for all eternity."
Diamond felt light headed and sat down. He sat there in silence for a while, before whispering, "Do it."
The Doctor walked closer the wall, "Are you sure, Diamond? There's no turning back."
"Do it." He replied.
The Doctor placed his hooves on the wall and pushed. He began to sink into it, like jello. As he did, Diamond felt a pull on his body, and was dragged towards the wall. The Doctor pushed harder, eventually pushing his front hooves through. He stepped through the wall, and Diamond was pulled through to the other side.
The Doctor saw a darkness creep into the edges of his vision. He collapsed to the ground and struggled to stay awake. Before he passed out, he heard Diamond call out to him, a call of uncertainty in the face of danger.
"Doctor. If you somehow manage to fix this, tell Ditzy that...tell her that.....tell her she's a fantastic mare and that she deserves so much more than working in a post office."
With that, The Doctor passed out.
"What if we tried calling back the royal guard?" Rainbow pitched to the rest of the group.
"It would take too long for them to even get here, plus I'm nearly certain that there are Rutan in the place Drone sent them." Celestia replied.
"Yea, but can't your magic like, teleport them or something?" Rainbow pushed.
"No, it cannot." The Princess said.
Rainbow shut up and went back to flying around the room anxiously. Twilight shouted out next, "Maybe we should check the machine again. We might have missed something."
Celestia replied, "We've already checked the machine, half of the buttons don't seem to do anything, and the ones that do just electrocute the presser."
Ditzy raised her hoof halfheartedly, "Maybe we should just get out while we can, like Diamond. There doesn't seem to be anything we can do."
Celestia replied calmly to Ditzy's question, "If you wish to leave, no one will stop you. But I refuse to flee while my ponies suffer." She lowered her head sadly, "I just don't know what to do. We can't just sit here though, we need to do something!"
A confident voice echoed through the room, "That's the spirit, Celestia."
All heads turned towards the door, where a brown colt was running into the room.
"Diamond! You came back!" Ditzy cried.
The Doctor stopped next to her, "Not Diamond. I'm the Doctor. Now, Celestia, what do we know?"
Celestia answered without hesitation, "There are probably thousands of Rutans flying around as we speak. The royal guard is several weeks away from Canterlot and no one here has any idea how to stop the Rutans."
"What about the time machine?"
"It's broken, half the buttons are broken and the other half shoot out lightning."
The Doctor walked over to the machine, taking out his screwdriver as he did. He fiddled with some of the buttons on the side before pointing it at the machine. "Let's take a look at it then."
The screwdriver buzzed as it scanned the machine. The top of the device popped open and the Doctor laid it on the ground. He stared at it as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. "But, but that's impossible!
Ditzy walked up to him, one eyed focused on the machine and the other on the Doctor, "What, what's impossible?"
"This machine, It's not connected to the time vortex. It's just a regular box." An idea hit him. "Unless...."
The Doctor fiddled with his screwdriver again and soniced the machine. The top of the screwdriver popped open again and the Doctor looked at it with a smile. "Hive Mind, you brilliant alien." He whispered to himself.
Ditzy looked at him strangely, "Why are you smiling?"
"I've just figured out what I can do." The Doctor said, running over to the controls for the machine. With haste, he mashed the buttons on the keyboard, jumping slightly every time they gave him a shock. He started to explain while he did so. "Imagine a line, well its not really a line but imagine one anyway. This line is your timeline. All of time is playing out on it as we speak, and by travelling across it, we can time travel. Now imagine a dot on that line, that's us right now. However! Imagine a second line not connected to the first one, and imagine a dot on that one. That dot is this time machine. This machine isn't connected to your timeline, it's still connected to the one from my universe. I can use that." He stopped for a moment and spun his screwdriver around randomly, waiting for the top to open. "If I can lock onto the Rutan psychic field and feed it through the machine, it'll become confused. Nothing can be in two places at once without consequences. In order to 'fix' itself, it'll pull all creatures from my universe back to where we came from, thinking they're part of the machine. However, I can't guarantee that all of them will survive." The top of the Doctors device opened and he plugged the screwdriver into an opening that had appeared in the side of the machine. The machine beeped a few times, and one of the buttons lit up a bright red. "Got all that? Couldn't be simpler." He asked.
He was met with mostly blank stares, Celestia being the only one who seemed to understand. Ditzy spoke, a look of concern growing on her face. "But aren't you a creature from your universe? Won't you be pulled back too?"
The Doctor gave a wink, "I believe it does. Still, no pain, no gain."
With a cry of "Allonsy" The Doctor brought his hoof down on the button.
A bright light shot out of the top of the machine. It flew high into the sky, before twisting like a snake and vanishing into the air. All the ponies looked up at the light slowly disappear, and Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Is that it? I expected more explosions."
The Doctor was too busy looking over the machine, waving his sonic all over it frantically. Eventually, his screwdriver rested on a section of the machine near the top. It had been struck by Celestia's magic, and was still hot from the attack. "No, no, no, no, NO." He whispered as he tried sonic-ing again. It rested on the same spot again. Celestia called out to him, "What seems to be the problem, Doctor?"
The Doctor turned to her. "The time piece melted somehow. I've got no way to transmit the signal to all the Rutan."
"Can't you fix it?" Pinkie Pie said. "I'll throw you a 'fixed the machine' party."
"Not unless any of you happen to have a container that can hold several thousands watts of electricity." The Doctor sat down sadly. "I need more time."
A shy voice called out from the darkness, rolling her head out of her chest. "Clouds." Fluttershy said slowly.
"What?"
"Clouds could hold that electricity. If we make one big enough." Fluttershy said, blushing as everypony in the room paid attention to her.
The Doctor thought about this for a moment, before pointing out another flaw. "Even if it did work, The paradox machine is still running. Without a stable time piece, every living thing in one hundred miles will be obliterated."
The room went quiet as each pony realized what this meant. They exchanged worried glances, unsure of what to say next. With a sigh, Twilight stood up from where she was sitting. "If friendship has taught me anything, it's sacrifice. This one just happens to be a bit larger than usual."
Applejack walked over next to her, "If this is tha only way ta save Apple Acres and ma family, then ah'll gladly do it."
Rarity walked up to Twilight and took a position on her other side, "I've always wanted to go out beautiful, but I guess now I'll have to make an exception."
Rainbow Dash appeared in the air behind the three and practically shouted, "I'm sure we'll be fine. It'll take more than a little explosion to take down the elements of harmony!"
Pinkie Pie was next, doing a running slide to lie in front of Twilight. "We can't die! We have to much plot immunity."
A shy yellow pegasis was last, nearly invisible behind Applejack. "I'll...I'll stay."
Celestia looked at the group of ponies, and a smile grew on her face. She looked at the Doctor from across the room and silently nodded.
With that, The Doctor turned to Ditzy. "Ditzy, you could still get out here if you hurried. Stay with your family in case this doesn't work."
Ditzy just stared at him. "Doctor, I'm staying too. Someone needs to take care of you in case you change back to Diamond."
The Doctor quickly turned away from her and faced the rest of the ponies. "All right. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Celestia, Ditzy. We need you to get up there and gather as much clouds as you can. Try to avoid any Rutan, they'll most likely try to stop you. Twilight, Rarity, use any magic you can to try and help the pegasi. Make water droplets, summon mist, anything you can do. Applejack and Pinkie Pie, Come up here and give me hand, hoof, setting the machine back up. Got it?" All the ponies nodded. "Good." The group of pegasi flapped their wings and ascended into the sky as quickly as they could.
As they rose up, Ditzy took a glance back down at the place they came from and suppressed a gasp of surprise as she saw that it wasn't a cave, but a space ship, buried in the ground. She was snapped back to attention as a bolt of lightning came flying down from above her. She dived to the side quickly to avoid getting hit. Looking up, the Rutan had gathered above them, intent to stop the ponies from gathering clouds.
Celestia took control of the situation. "Alright, my ponies. I'll attempt to distract the Rutan while you gather the clouds. If anything happens to me I want you to continue gathering, I'm sure I've been through worse." Ending her sentence Celestia flew directly towards a group of the green jellyfish, deflecting their attacks with her magic. The other pegasi took the opportunity they gave her. Rainbow wizzed of to go grab some of the clouds in the horizon, while Fluttershy focused on the ones closer to the machine. With a sigh, Ditzy decided to focus on the middle clouds.
Working quickly and dodging the occasional attack, the group worked together to amass a large clump of clouds. Twilight and Rarity would occasionally help with their magic, but everyone stopped what they were doing when a loud scream went out through the battlefield. Ditzy let go of the white blob she was carrying and turned to it's source to see Celestia falling from the sky, a group of Rutan looking down proudly. Rainbow Dash flew by Ditzy quickly, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. She grabbed Celestia's side and pulled up, attempting to stop her from crashing into the ground. It didn't work, and Rainbow ended up pinned under the princess. Ditzy spun back to the cloud she was carrying, and examined the cloud she was carrying it to. It was already large, by pegasus standards and jiggled dangerously, as if it could explode at any moment.
"Di..Ditzy. I'm not sure it should be...be doing that." Fluttershy said, moving up to Ditzy's level.
Rainbow Dash struggled to get up, but couldn't push Celestia off. Instead, she called out, "Well Duh. It looks unstable. We've gotta get another cloud on there to balance it out before it explodes!"
Ditzy looked down at the cloud in her hooves, then back up at the main cloud, then back down to her hooves, then back up to the Rutans that had started to come between the two. Then it finally clicked, "Fluttershy! Can you keep those guys of me?" Ditzy asked.
"I..I don't think I can." Fluttershy stuttered out.
"Then take the cloud, I'll protect you." Ditzy said, pushing the cloud in her direction.
Fluttershy withdrew backwards to avoid it. "I can't. I just can't. Rainbow and Celestia might be hurt. I'm going to go help them. Yes, that's what I'll do." Fluttershy flew off mumbling to herself, leaving Ditzy along with the cloud. "Fluttershy! Come back!" Ditzy shouted. Fluttershy just seemed to ignore her as she made her way to the ground.
Ditzy sighed again, "Well, No time to waste. Let's focus Ditzy."
The Rutans gathered around in a small groups, and Ditzy flew upwards. An alien flew down to greet her, but Ditzy dived to the left, and passed by it. A bolt of lighting shot out at her, and she dodged it just in time. Another bolt came, and Ditzy avoided it, flying right into another Rutan. It swiped down at her with it's tentacles, but stopped suddenly as it was covered in purple light. Ditzy flew past it. She could see the main cloud closer now. It was larger than she remembered. Two lighting charged balls flew out at her. She ducked quickly and flapped harder. A tentacle came swinging on her left, missing her by an inch. Ditzy looked up again. The Rutan's had formed a wall, stopping anything from getting through. "Focus, Ditzy." She thought. She rose upwards, falling into a groove as more attacks came. Dodge, duck, stop, go right, go left, fly higher, They all mashed together into perfect harmony. One of the jellyfish was surrounded by a white glow and moved out of line. Ditzy seized the chance and flew past the line, taking a hit to the wing. Ditzy fought back the pain and pushed the cloud into the mass. It tried to reject it at first. "FOCUS DITZY!" She pushed harder, forcing the cloud into the bunch. The main cloud stopped wobbling and sat in a peaceful state, ready to take the power. She spun around, "Doctor, We're ready, Start the machiARGGHH."
Ditzy jumped as 10 000 volts went through her back. She spun around in time to see a Rutan descending from inside the cloud. She felt her eyes growing heavy and closed them. Her wings were also tired suddenly, so she stopped flapping them. She fell out of the air silently. The enemy didn't even bother to attack her again.
The Doctor dropped his screwdriver, shocked. "DITZY!" He looked around, the same shock was portrayed on Applejack's face as well. He watched as Ditzy fell down, landing harshly just outside the boundaries of the ship. He spun back around to the time machine and buzzed it. An arc of lightning ran across the perimeter of the machine before settling in on of the buttons, causing it glow red. The Doctor looked over it nervously. "Are you sure you want to do this, Girls?"
Twilight looked at him. "It's a little late to turn back now. Push the button, Doctor."
The Doctor stared back down at the button and raised his hoof. He yelled out "Allonsy" once again, and slammed his hoof down on the button. A beam of light shot into the air, separating the group of Rutan. It hit the cloud before it could disappear like before though, and the cloud turned a dark purple. It shot out bolts of power into any cloud close to it, turning them purple too. These clouds did the same, and the sky was filled with a purple glow. The clouds then turned on the Rutan. Power shot out to each of them, covering them and compressing them into a small ball. A bolt of lightning shot down into the space ship and hit the Doctor in the chest. The machine let out a rattle, and launched a brilliant white light into the room. It spread outwards, covering everything in, about, 100 miles. Until eventually, it exploded, cracking at the seams.
Far away, the sergeant was growing tired. They had already lost half their men when the attack began by using metal weaponry, and only ones like him were still on the field. He turned to another pegasus flying near him. The pony was a dark grey, with a black mane.
"We can't keep this up much longer." He said.
The grey pegasus dodged an attack, and brought his stone hammer down on the attacker. "If we die, I want you know. I blame you for this."
The sergeant chuckled, "I'll gladly take that blame."
Suddenly, the fighting stopped. A purple light was connecting all the monsters together, and they seemed to be getting smaller as the duo watched. They took any break they could get.
"Soldier, get down on the ground and help the injured. I'll finish of anything that happens to escape." The soldier nodded and descended to the ground.
Looking out over the horizon. He could see a large white orb rising out from the land. With a choking cry, he said to himself. "I sincerely hope that was our side."