//------------------------------// // Face to Face // Story: Hourglasses // by Spiritus Arcane //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Face to Face The Doctor gave a shudder and rubbed his forehead as the arch retracted back into the console room's ceiling. "That still REALLY stings. You couldn't do anything about that while you were tinkering?" he asked the grey pegasus next to him. Starsider just shrugged helplessly. "Sorry...I tried, believe me, but there doesn't seem to be a way to make rewriting your entire base genetic sequences NOT hurt... Well, other than NOT doing so, of course." "Of course," he turned to look at Colgate, "So why did I have to do so?" "Because it would have needed to be done sooner or later, and since we're about to go charging into the jaws of danger, it might as well be now," she patiently explained. "...Well what if I don't want to be a pony?" She rolled her eyes. "Then this should give you the incentive to be careful, for once." The Doctor stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in, giving her a mock hurt look. "Since when have you ever known me not to be?" "You don't want me to answer that, trust me," she responded, deadpan. She looked up at the pegasus. "Thank you for the assistance, Starsider, but you'd better get back to your own ship for your part in this," she told him. The pegasus time pony looked pouty about having to leave, but nevertheless headed for the exit. Still feeling tingly, the Doctor stood up and made his way back to the console. "Susan, how're we coming along?" he asked, addressing his granddaughter by her adopted human name instead of her pony one, as he still hadn't gotten used to it yet. "Pw'tty mush done, Grandfather!" Shine responded around a mouth gripping the sonic screwdriver. She was making last minute adjustments to one of the two weapons harnesses Starsider had managed to whip up, this one being fitted to Ditzy Doo. Nearby, Macintosh stood similarly equipped, though the weapons mounted on his rig were a bit larger than the one on Ditzy's, taking advantage of his earth pony endurance to carry some heavier weapons. "Ah dunno about this..." the colt muttered, glancing at the menacing looking devices on his sides, especially the one on his right. It had a bright yellow and black decal on it shaped like an upside down Y that somehow made him nervous, especially since that Starsider fellow had warned him that he should only shoot the thing off at long range... "Good m- pony, Macintosh," the Doctor said approvingly. "Normally, I'm very disdainful of firearms myself, but, unfortunately, the Daleks have a way of making you do things you don't really like in order to stop them..." Ditzy remained quiet as Shine adjusted her harness. At her sides were a pair of slender looking rifles that Starsider had referred to as 'disruptors.' He'd assured her that they would be more than capable of getting through a Dalek's defenses. Normally, she figured she'd be feeling conflicted about this as Macintosh was, but every time the normal part of her that usually detested violence tried to speak up, another part of her would bring up an image of her father's body, and the pain of it squashed the other part back down. "Are we ready to go?" she asked finally. "Should be, as soon as K-9 uploads the coordinates," the Doctor responded. "A simple operation Master," the robot responded, extending his sensor probe to make contact with a port on the console. "Coordinates uploaded to navigation. We are ready for departure." "All right then! Everyone keep your hooves and legs inside the time machine at all times, because, here. we. Go!" He threw the dematerialization lever forward, and instantly the room began to rumble as the TARDIS took flight. "Geranimo!" "TARDIS SIGNATURE DETECTED! COURSE WILL BRING IT INTO IMMEDIATE SPACE/TIME VICINITY!" one of his Daleks barked from an instrument panel. "So he's finally on his way," Davros said to himself. "Activate the Vortex Magnet!" he ordered. "I OBEY!" came the response from another part of the command center. The final confrontation was at hand. But HE would be the one to choose the course of events, not the Doctor! Now, even with her vision troubles, Ditzy was still a pegasus, so she was quite familiar with the sensation of flying. However, she was also used to being the one to initiate it. Thus when she suddenly found herself in mid air, it came as something of a surprise. One moment she'd been standing against one of the console room's railings, waiting for them to arrive at their destination, the next, she found herself tumbling one way through the air, as the room tumbled the other way around her! She spread her wings and began flapping wildly, trying to get some measure of control as she nearly smashed into the central column, but managed to roll out of the way in the nick of time. A flash of blue in one of her misaligned eyes caught her attention, allowing her to react just in time to catch Colgate as the 'filly' tumbled by her. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the room stopped tumbling around her, and she barely twisted around in time to prevent a hard landing on the floor from turning into something worse. Her own landing was accompanied by the sounds of several other bodies hitting the floor. She lay there for a moment, the wind knocked out of her by the impact. Eventually there came the groans of some of the others as they began to come around. "Ugh...is everyone all right?" asked Shine as she pushed herself up off the floor in front of the exterior doors, brushing the fallen hat rack off her as well. "Minor exterior damage, but all systems appear functional," piped up K-9, indeed looking like he'd picked up an extra dent or two during the tumble. "Well, not my finest example of a landing ever...in fact probably one of my worst..." muttered the Doctor as he climbed out of one of the holes on the bottom level of the room. "Doctor..." Colgate began, rolling off of Ditzy's lap so they could both get to their hooves, "Your usual atrocious piloting aside, I get the feeling this wasn't your fault. So what was that?" The Doctor was already making his way back up to the console. "I'm not sure... It certainly felt like something yanked us off course, and rather violently too..." "Wait, where's Macintosh?" Shine asked, looking about. Everyone stopped at this and quickly looked about, until Ditzy spotted the colt lying in a heap at the top of the stairs leading to the rest of the ship. "There!" The Doctor rushed over faster than she would have thought something with only two legs could move. Rushing to the fallen pony's side, he quickly knelt over him and examined him. "Still breathing...doesn't seem to be anything broken either, luckily. ...Must have taken a bad bump during the tumble. He might wake up with a bit of a headache, but he should be fine for the moment," he announced, relief obvious in his tone. Standing up, he moved back to the console as the rest of his companions moved to gather 'round. He fiddled with a couple controls and then pulled the small monitor over to look into it. "...And it seems we're still where we wanted to be, more or less." Everyone took an apprehensive glance at the exterior doors. They'd arrived in the belly of the beast. Colgate glanced back at the Doctor. "Doctor....we were barely in flight before whatever it was grabbed us. If Davros has something that can pull TARDISes off course..." He nodded, "I know, it means we'll have to shut it down or disable it before we can proceed with the plan. K-9, stay here and look after him, will you?" "Affirmative, Master." The Doctor took a deep breath, exhaled, then turned and headed for the doors. "Well, come on everyone, might as well go see what kind of death trap is waiting for us!" The Doctor, followed by three ponies, stepped out of the TARDIS and into a large, but rather empty, room. The Doctor was immediately reminded of the vault on the Crucible station Davros' New Dalek Empire had used to try and destroy the multiverse...only minus the banks of controls that could potentially be used for stopping evil plans, which was a shame, because he could really use one of those at the moment.. He looked about and saw nothing besides a couple pairs of sealed doors at a couple points along the walls. "What, no armed guards? No demands for surrender? I'm feeling a little insulted here..." A holographic screen flashed into existence half way up the wall in front of them. "Greeting's Doctor...I believe there is a phrase from your favored Earth that goes 'Welcome to my parlor...'" "Ah, there you are, Davros," the Doctor said, looking up to address the screen. "Though I was hoping to talk face to face this time..." "Unfortunately my current project is about to enter a critical phase, and I would rather it not be interrupted. But since I saw that you were on your way, I arranged for you and your companions to help test the results of another project." "Yes, well, well done. Have to admit that was rather brilliant, managing to pull us off course like that..." Davros chuckled unpleasantly. "Thank you Doctor, the Vortex Magnet is a brilliant example of my genius, but I was referring to something else. You see, I decided to resurrect and improve something for your inevitable arrival here, and I must say I have been looking forward to seeing the results for some time now..." One of the sets of doors slid open, and something glided into the room. Its' bottom half looked like the dome covered skirt of a normal Dalek, but the rest of it... The head was flatter and lacked the normal 'ear lamps' and instead of being on an eyestalk, the single eye glowed from a recessed slot in the front. The upper body was heavily armored, and instead of the usual plunger arm and gunstick, it instead mounted one large and dangerous looking cannon. Colgate took a reflexive step back and her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she recognized it at once. "Special weapons Dalek..." she breathed. "Indeed," Davros agreed, frowning. "Your small friend is correct Doctor...which makes me wonder exactly how long you've been traveling this universe, for one of your companions to know such a thing... No matter. Proceed with the test...exterminate them!" The doors slid closed again before the Special weapons Dalek gave an unintelligible screech as it raised its cannon. "Everyone scatter!" the Doctor yelled. *ZOT!* The group all dove in different directions as a large energy blast flew through the space where they'd been and slammed into the side of the TARDIS, rocking it, but otherwise seemingly doing no damage. "Oi! Don't scratch the paint!" the Doctor yelled indignantly, which only served to draw the Dalek's fire in his direction. He scrambled out of the way as another blast scorched through the air next to his head. As Colgate and Shine scrambled behind the TARDIS for cover (further irking the Doctor, as their presence would undoubtedly draw MORE fire in the direction of his precious vessel), Ditzy had followed her pegasus instincts and taken to the air. She flew a clumsy circle around the room's ceiling before straightening out and dive-bombing at their opponent, flipping the trigger-bit into her mouth and fiercely biting off a shot from her weapons as she did so. With a high pitched shriek, a pair of energy beams lanced out from the rifles strapped to her sides... ...And scattered harmlessly off a bubble shaped purple barrier that sprang up around the Dalek. "Oh come on!" protested Shine, "Since when do Daleks have shields like that?" She moved to take a few more shots, in hopes of breaking through, but as she took aim, the Dalek's eye turned towards her. Her pistol suddenly lit up in a glow similar to that of the shield and was yanked out of her grasp, to be flung clear across the room, Colgate looked at her grimly. "...Apparently since they gained access to unicorn magic." Elsewhere, Davros watched the shootout with pleasure both personal and scientific on a holographic screen, positioned so both he and the rapidly diminishing Celestia in the cage behind him could see the proceedings, even as she lay near-lifelessly on the floor. "It is gratifying to see my experiments to allow my new Daleks to tap into the so called 'magic' abilities of their genetic origins have borne fruit...if only in a limited fashion. Still, it is a stepping stone to granting the ability to all my Daleks..." "You...don't really believe...that...thing...will stop them...do you?" Celestia asked in a weak gasp. "Even as unstable as the Special Weapons Dalek may be, that thing, as you put it, is an example of the most perfect form of life in existence." "Perfect...monster..." "Ah...I see..." Davros turned away from the action to face her. "Really now, Princess...I'd hoped that a being as old as you are rumored to be would be able to see past the small minded boundaries of 'good' and 'evil.' At the most basic level, there is only one priority that every life-form has: survival. In this, my Daleks are perfect!" he told her, smiling with a manic grin. "Would it shock you if I were to admit that for all my pride in them, the Daleks have been defeated before? Oh, yes...but each time, no matter how close to the edge of annihilation they've been pushed, they find a way to return, to survive! The Thals, the Movellans, the Timelords...all were eventually overcome and destroyed! By nature's own rules...they. are. PERFECT!" Celestia didn't immediately respond in the sudden quiet the proceeded Davros' rant, forcing him to finally break the silence between them. "You really should be thanking me, Princess. Without you, your little ponies have no hope against the Daleks, but instead of extermination, they will be transformed to become one with them! I uplifted them to become a part of perfection!" The Sun Princess just scowled at him the best she could. "You say...the Daleks have...overcome all? What about...the Doctor?" That immediately wiped the smile from Davros' face. "Yes...the Doctor. I cannot deny that he has always been a random X factor in my calculations. I cannot even be certain that this confrontation will be any different... In response to your question...no, I do not expect the Special Weapons Dalek to prevail. But then its purpose is only to delay. Oh yes...the Doctor and his companions will overcome this obstacle, and then, finally, face to face, the Doctor and Davros will finally decide who it will be that triumphs in their long war..." The Doctor dodged several bursts from the Dalek's cannon as he ran over to cover behind the TARDIS next to Colgate. "Ok, fighting it is getting us nowhere fast..." he said as he leaned against the blue box to catch his breath. "Agreed," the unicorn filly replied, "As long as it can keep that magic barrier going, it can keep this up until we finally collapse from exhaustion." "And then it won't matter how slow its gun's tracking is..." He thought on the problem intensely for a moment. "Ok, 'magic,' how does it work?" Colgate glanced at him speculatively. "Well...it's not like the Carr- MOVE!" she began, but was interrupted as the Special Weapons Dalek moved itself to target them, forcing the Doctor and her to scramble around to another side when it attempted to drop an energy blast where they'd been crouched. A moment later, Ditzy attempted to strafe it again, leaving them free to talk as it changed targets. In the meantime, Flower Shine quickly galloped over to retrieve her pistol. "You were saying," the Doctor prompted when they were back out of danger for the moment. She nodded. "Right, it's not a word science like the Carrionites and others who purport to do 'sorcery' use. Instead it involves focusing a measure of will over...call them 'mystical energies' and shaping them to create the desired effect. Most races on this world have some sort of access but unicorn ponies and a few other races can tap into them in active ways. Other races can only use 'magic' in passive ways." "I see...so I imagine that, say, keeping up a barrier and throwing weapons around, all while in the middle of combat would require a good amount of focus?" "Are you going somewhere with this, Doctor?" He grinned cheekily. "Always." He pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket and studied it for a moment as he made an adjustment to the settings. "If you will help distract it for just a-" "Grandfather, help!" The fight had taken a sudden turn for the worse. The SWD had snagged Ditzy harness in its magic and was using it to toss her around like a rag doll. It'd had already knocked her into Shine, causing the earth time pony to lose her weapon again, and was now attempting to drag her into line with its cannon in order to blast her. Only the blonde pegasus' frantic flapping had kept her from being held in the line of fire long enough to land a hit. "Oi you!" the Doctor yelled, raising the screwdriver threateningly. The Dalek's eye swiveled towards him, and suddenly Ditzy went hurtling at him. The pegasus slammed into his middle and they both fell over Colgate, the screwdriver being knocked from his hand as they went down in a heap in front of the TARDIS. Sensing victory, the Dalek turned towards them. "No!" Shine tore off her saddlebags and hurled them at it in a desperate attempt to distract it. It worked. The Dalek reflexively fired on her airborne bag, blowing it to bits, and creating a cloud of smoke as the contents within went up as well. "Where's my screwdriver?" the Doctor shouted, trying to untangle himself from the two ponies. Ditzy spotted it out of the corner of one of her eyes. She pointed a hoof at it. "Tortoise!" The timelord and pegasus both scrambled towards it, but only managed to somehow get more tangled up in each other, and squashing poor Colgate as well. "Oh for the love of... Let me!" the blue filly cried indignantly. Her horn lit up in a light blue glow, the screwdriver quickly followed. It lifted into the air, turned to point at the Dalek, and activated. The high pitched whine the followed was annoying to everyone except the Dalek, to which it was devastating as its auditory sensors experienced a massive amount of feedback. It let out a wail of pain as the barrier surrounding it visibly collapsed, unable to even think through the pain it was feeling. Unfortunately...this left a small problem. "I can't believe I'm saying this...but does anyone still have a gun available to shoot it with?" the Doctor asked, as he and Ditzy were still partly tangled, Shine's pistol was halfway across the room, and Colgate's was nowhere to be found. ...And the Dalek was beginning to recover. Suddenly, the TARDIS' doors flew open. Standing there, a bruise above one eye, looking slightly groggy, but, most importantly, still armed, was Mac. "Eeyup..." he said with a bit of a smirk, the cannon on his right side already charging. With a loud 'PLUNK,' the weapon spat out a brightly glowing projectile that streaked across the room to slam into the Dalek. Jamming into its' gun's elevation joint, it pushed it into the wall, pinning it next to the doors it had originally come from. The Doctor scrambled to his feet, he and Ditzy having FINALLY managed to untangle themselves from each other. "Oh dear...was that the Cain?" Colgate looked a bit panicked. "I believe it was." "Right, should be thankful it hasn't gone off already...everyone back inside, NOW!" he shouted, already practically shoving Ditzy back towards the doors. Shine quickly scooped up the screwdriver as the four pushed past a bewildered looking Mac on their way into the blue box. "Wha-?" Mac tried to ask, but was interrupted. "Not your fault," the Doctor told him. "Ours, for forgetting to give you proper safety instructions for that thing. ...Such as minimum safe distance." He slammed the doors shut and hit the deadlock for safe measure. "Everyone brace yourselves!" Outside, the rocket finally ran out of propellant... The holographic monitor suddenly whited out before fizzling away a second before the entire compound was shaken from the shock-wave of an explosion. "What happened?" Davros demanded. "What sort of weapon was that!?" "EXTREME GRAVITATIONAL EXPLOSION DETECTED! CAPTURE BAY HAS SUSTAINED EXTREME DAMAGE!" a nearby Dalek reported. "VORTEX MAGNET IS OFFLINE!" reported another. An explosive device of that magnitude against one Dalek? A little heavy handed for the Doctor's style...but then, he always did seem to do the unexpected. "Send soldiers to the capture bay! Secure the Doctor's TARDIS and bring him and his companions to me!" Davros ordered. "ALL of his companions!" he added, remembering the last time he and the Doctor had met. "Be sure you scan for lifeforms to make sure none remain behind!" Back in the TARDIS, everyone was once again picking themselves up off the floor. The ship had been tossed around during the explosion, but it hadn't been as bad as the shaking they'd received when they first landed. The Doctor got to his feet shakily, glancing around to check on the others, before stopping a moment to right the hat rack, which had also been knocked over this time. "Everyone all right then?" "All this getting knocked around happen often?" Ditzy asked, shaking herself off as she got to her hooves. "Does seem t' be a certain pattern..." Mac added. "Actually, it's pretty rare..." Flower Shine put in. "Usually just mostly running." "Lots and lots of running..." Colgate added. "Right, so everyone's fine..." the Doctor concluded. He turned around and unlocked the doors. "Well, no time to wait. Daleks to defeat, princesses to save and all that. ...I really hope we have the right castle after all this." He pulled the doors open and stepped out. "Oh...somebody's losing their security deposit..." The TARDIS was now parked on a small ledge against the only remaining wall of the room. The rest of it was just simply gone, replaced by spherical crater several meters in diameter. Damaged conduits dangled from the broken ceiling, and trailed sparks down to the level below, visible through where the crater had broken through at its lowest point. Of the Heavy Weapons Dalek, there was no trace. Colgate and the others followed him out onto the ledge. "Now we wait?" she asked. "We wait," the Doctor confirmed. "Patio get waffle?" Ditzy asked, Flower Shine trotted past her and passed the sonic screwdriver back to her grandfather before answering. "Oh, this is the part where we all get captured," she said matter-of-factually, prompting Mac and Ditzy to stare at her. "What?" she shrugged. "It always happens to some of us at least once during these things." They didn't have to wait long. Within seconds, the whirr of moving Daleks was heard, and then half a dozen of them swooped into the room, followed by one at the controls of a small transport disk. "DO NOT MOVE! YOU ARE OUR PRISONE-" "Prisoners, yes yes, we know!" the Doctor interrupted, putting his hands up. "Can we just move on? Honestly, it lost the effect the third time I heard it." "RELINQUISH ALL WEAPONS!" one of them shouted in response, as a couple of them trained their gun-sticks on Ditzy and Mac. Ditzy looked at the Doctor questioningly, showing more than a little fear. "Do as they say, both of you," he told them. "Weapons aren't going to do us any good now." The two ponies unstrapped their saddles, letting their weapons drop to the floor. The whole group was then herded onto the transport disk, while a couple of the Daleks began using their plunger arms to scan the TARDIS. "NO LIFEFORMS DETECTED. ALL COMPANIONS ACCOUNTED FOR," one of them reported after a moment. "That's right, you got us all," the Doctor told them, still sounding annoyed. "Now let's get going. It's time I had a face to face with your creator...again."