//------------------------------//
// Silver Knights of Old 
// Story: Missing In Equestria 
// by VoxelTron 
//------------------------------//

Missing In Equestria
A Fanfic by VoxelTron

Chapter 3: Silver Knights of Old

The alley was quiet, uncommonly so, even the wind, which was quite strong that evening, made no more noise than a whisper. The bins were pilled across the sides of the street, full of refuse and recycling, which by Clara’s reckoning, hadn’t been collected for at least a fortnight. 
”Why is this more secure than the rest of the city? Some sort of perception filter?” 
“Something like that, yes” 
The man stood at the far end of the alley, with his back to Clara, staring almost intently at the solid brick wall in front of him, although it was difficult to see, as the sun was gone and the darkness began to surround both of them. 
“Alright, we’re here now, so c’mon how much do you know about the Doctor?” she inquired, who would rather get on with business more than exchanging pleasantries.

Her ears picked up a slight whirring sound; it reminded her of the sound of a spring unwinding inside of a toy car. The man replied slowly, lingering on the end of every word “I was wondering…  if you’d tell me… the same thing” 
There was a change in his voice. It was raspy, piercing…  metallic.
“Hey, are you okay?” The words came out of Clara’s mouth like a curse, because even she knew the inevitability of those words when the Doctor was involved.
The man tried to dismiss all concerns; “I’m…Fine” but this wasn’t very convincing for the woman who was standing not 5 feet from him. 

Suddenly the man fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Immediate concern flashed across the girl’s face as she ran to help the man, but before she could reach him another voice boomed across the alleyway “Oih! You, Duck! NOW!” and without questioning Clara threw her hand over her head and collapsed to the floor. 
There was a bright flash of blue, a roar of pain and a small explosion that seemed to last forever. Clara scream was barely heard over the chaos above her. Then there was silence. The brunette looked up to find the man was standing again, but he was swaying, like a person in a trance, his features still undistinguishable in the darkness. Then he fell to the side, with a dull clang, the man had collapsed on the floor, never to move again.

Clara got up slowly still at shock with what just occurred, and went to inspect the man. Before, his face was dark and scarred, with lines that clearly showed he had faced enough winters alone. But now his face was grey and smooth, with a ghostly gleam that shone in the moonlight, with empty black sockets for eyes.
Cybermen. 
Clara was so lost in thought she almost forgot about the mysterious saviour, until it spoke again “Yes! Bull’s-eye! It’s taken days to find that bastard, and finally we got him!” The voice rattled Clara out of her trance “Wh-Who’s there?!” she wasn’t in the mood for any more surprises, so the direct approach seemed more logical. The sound of a radio static filled the street, and again the voice spoke “Yeah, this is Greyhoud-42, we got the target, repeat, we got the target, bringing the witness to UNIT HQ”
Out of the shadows walked a largly built man, this time in army uniform, with a small badge on his beret that had an odd symbol and the letters UNIT below it. He was carrying something that looked akin to a lava lamp attached to the end of a gun.
“You alright there?” The man asked “You nearly got yourself bloody killed by that thing!” Clara smirked, she liked the way he was mocking her at the same time as showing concern. 
“Hey! I can take care of myself, and I know what a Cyberman is thanks" 
The soldier was taken aback “What? You know what that is? You don’t know anyone from UNIT do ya?”  Clara had never heard of UNIT in all her life, but assumed it had somthing to do with the Doctor, so decided to take her chances.
“Have no idea, but if you know what that is then you could probably help me with my other problem”
“I’ll see what I can do, fire away!”
“I need to find the Doctor” The man's attitude immediately changed, his cocky, boisterous nature deflated and the pause between the two was almost madening for the time traveller  “…Um, just wait here for a sec” 
The man hurried away down the alley; once again the sound of static was reverberating around the walls. “Hi, this is Greyhoud-42 again, the witness know something about the Doctor, requesting pickup…. Okay thanks”
The man returned, without the gun this time, only holding the radio in his right hand. “Right I’ve called HQ, they’re sending over a jeep to pick us up, in the meantime, just relax, you’re safe now” 
Clara has never been so glad to hear those words and felt tired for the first time. She giggled to herself, hundreds of lifetimes and not once has she felt tired. Her eyelids grew heavier, and she fell into a deep sleep, full of dreams of the bizarre, yet wonderful Doctor.

Clara woke with a jump; she wasn’t used to sleeping, especially when you consider the hundreds of thoughts of monsters, danger, and chaos that were free to run amok when she let her guard down. She tried to get up, but the sheer effort required just wasn’t worth it, and with the onset of sleep returning the brunette decided to just lie there, observing the room around her. It was a small white sterile room, with no obvious features other than the bed she was in and a small round camera on the ceiling above her. There was no entrance that could be seen, nor any windows. Normally this kind of situation would just invoke panic in people, but Clara’s weariness dulled this reaction. However the room had other ideas. 
“AH, YOU’RE AWAKE. I’M GLAD YOU MANAGED TO RECOVER WELL; I’LL JOIN YOU IN A MOMENT TO EXPLAIN THE SITUATION!”
The time traveller sat bolt upright at the addition of an incredibly deafening voice to the small cubicle. She sat on the edge of the bed foe a bit, wiping the sleep from her eyes, hoping that the next time it returned it might be at a more suitable time. Then with a slight whoosh of air, the wall opposite the bed opened up to reveal the exit. Clara stood up, but wobbled slightly, with the weight returning to her legs again, and hobbled into the opening. In the next room was a collection of important people, all military, with their canes and many traditions from days gone by strapped proudly to their chests.
“Miss Oswald, glad to see you awake, I’m Kate Stewart. And let me tell you, we are glad we found you” 
The owner of the voice was a blonde woman in the middle of the group, who, although lacked the stature of those with her with their badges of service, they clearly gave her the respect that would be adequate to give a general. Her eyes were far older than the rest of them, and there was somthing about her that told Clara there was more to her than meets the eye. 
“Yeah, great, who exactly are you?”
this surprised both the woman and Clara, as it came from another voice, a deeper imposing voice that came from the left of the woman.
“Major Haynes! Give her a chance, anyways, you’re all dismissed, go and fantasize about the good old days, or whatever you do when you’re not shooting things”
The men immediately left the room, all equally grumbling about some problem or another. Only when all the men had left the woman spoke again: “Sorry about that, I had to let the dogs out for a walk, they get so restless sometimes”
She chuckled to herself about her little joke but quickly, her attention turned back to Clara “you claim you know the Doctor?”
“Yeah I was with him for a while, but thing became…complicated” 
The woman smiled again “They seldom are normal when it comes to the Doctor, but we’ve got some news”
Clara's eyes grew wide  “Really? You know where he is?” 
With that Kate frowned and turned away from Clara, her hand on her chin, while the other rubbed her neck nervously “Well that’s the problem you see, the Doctor is missing”
“What do you mean missing?”