Twilight had her doors barricaded. There were two guards standing vigilant in front of her throne.
She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to stay here, she wanted to get out there and fight. But she was surrounded. And they were breaking down the door. They were coming in.
This is where Princess Twilight Sparkle made her last stand.
The doors burst open and the two guards were killed immediately. Two flashes of green light and it was like they were put under an X-Ray. And then she saw them.
There were a few creatures that Twilight recognized as "Daleks" from the invasion a few months back. Also six foot tall metal men, walking mannequins, and a few curious statues that seemed to hang out at the back of the room, their eyes covered. At the head of them was a Changeling with burning red eyes and a bleeding cut on his cheek.
"Princess!" the Changeling said happily. "Let me tell you about my day so far..."
"Who are you?" Twilight demanded.
"Oh for heaven's sake, I am sick of answering that question," the Changeling shouted. He whipped around and burned a word into the opposite wall from Twilight with his magic. Each letter printed largely and clearly so everyone in the room could read it.
Master.
"It started out alright!" the Master mused. "I was just going around, picking off your pathetic friends one by one. Making sure they stayed alive, I need them alive you see. Don't worry, with the right tools I can keep you alive for days. And then we struck a problem. You see some damn fool Dalek went and got himself seen by somepony who told somepony else and that caused a massive ungodly panic. Then when it came down to finding the last of your friends I hit a wall. So I chatted with her brother. It wasn't really a chat, he was screaming most of the time. He kept telling me that Applejack was out of town, and until I saw her picture and recognized her, I didn't believe him. I was about to finish him off when the stupid oaf did this to me." The Master pointed at his bleeding cheek. "The Autons are looking for him now. They won't kill him. I'll do that myself."
Twilight was shaking with rage. "You're a monster."
"And you're unoriginal," the Master said dryly. "Now there is only one order of business. You're going to come with me, and I'm going to call the Doctor back to Ponyville..."
"Why do you want the Doctor?!" Twilight shouted.
"Oh! He can't miss this!" the Master laughed softly. "He's going to be here to see everything he's worked for fall to pieces. He's going to be here to hear the drums again. He's going to be here to answer the question. He's going to be here for all of it. The Gathering of the Lynchpins, The Construction of the Key...
"And the final meeting of the Doctor with his Master!"
The Station rocked as Gallifrey was fired upon. The general was staggered by the Doctor's plan. It couldn't work. He was insane. As nine more Type 40 TARDISes moved in through the sky. Nine more screen's lit up. Each of them carrying the face of the Doctor in a different regeneration.
"I didn't know when I was well off," the general sighed. "All twelve of them!"
"No sir!" the Major said frantically. "All thirteen!"
One more TARDIS flew in.
The Scott. The Stare.
The Twelfth.
The general was stunned enough at that, but then he heard one more voice.
"Actually sirs! Your still off by one!"
Another TARDIS had appeared from nowhere. Onscreen was what appeared to be a talking horse in a waistcoat.
"Fourteen faces," the horse smiled. "Fourteen Doctors! Haha! I'm here to boost your chances boys!"
"Doctor!" said the Eleventh and the Tenth happily.
"What is he doing here?!" shouted the Twelfth. "Shouldn't he be back in his own universe doing his 'Horse Doctor' thing there?"
"Well," the Horse Doctor frowned. "We're grumpy today aren't we? I regenerate into you? Dear lord, I am not happy with this. Look at those eyebrows..."
"Whatever," the Twelfth growled. "Just make sure that when we're done here ye get back to ye're own universe where ya belong..."
"I was planning on it!" laughed the Horse Doctor.
"I assume I'll understand this later?" asked the War Doctor.
The Tenth and the Eleventh seemed to consider.
"A little?" the Tenth answered.
"On the borderline, really..." the Eleventh frowned.
The General and the Major stared slack-jawed at the screens. "The implications that this has to the way we believe the Multiverse works..." the major muttered.
The general pointed harshly at the Horse Doctor's screen. "He was never here."
"What?" the major asked. "But general..."
"When this day goes down in Time Lord history," the general said firmly. "Thirteen Doctors came to Gallifrey to save it. Thirteen Doctors left. There was no horse in a red waistcoat. Understood?"
"Y-Yes sir..." the major stammered.
"Do it, Doctor," said the General. "Just do it."
After getting back to his home universe the Doctor spun around his TARDIS console. "Two worlds in one day! Bit of a slow week for me actually. But it was nice seeing the old mes again! I-"
The Doctor paused as he saw a note pinned to the TARDIS console.
"Doctor?" asked Applejack.
The Doctor picked up the note and read it carefully, and then he gave a sad smile. "Ah well," he said softly. "I should have figured that was waiting for me soon. Still! Good run! And I'm not even done yet..." He folded up the note and put it his his waistcoat pocket.
"What was that note?" asked Apple Bloom worriedly.
"Not important!" the Doctor smiled. "What is important is that final Lynchpin! Now I've had a few ideas but..."
He was interrupted by the sound of somepony falling to the ground. He whipped around to see the White Guardian, still in Princess Celestia's shape, laying on the ground. Battlescarred. Her breathing labored.
"D-Doctor...," she wheezed.
The Doctor rushed over. "How are you hurt?" the Doctor asked frantically."You can't be hurt! You don't have a body to hurt!"
"The last Lynchpin...," she coughed. "He... He's close to having it... I kept it all together this time... I... couldn't separate it... It kept coming back together... I'm sorry... I made it too easy for him..."
"What?" the Doctor asked. "What do you mean? What's 'together'? Who has what?"
"Oh come now, Doctor," came a deep voice from behind him. "Think..."
The Doctor whipped around to see the figure of a massive black Alicorn with red trim. He was wearing a self satisfied sneer.
"Who are you?!" snapped Sweetie Belle.
"Idiot girl," the figure laughed. "I am her equal and opposite. I am the adversary of all things good. The bringer of Anarchy. I am the Black Guardian."
"W-well," Scootaloo spoke up. "You better get off the TARDIS, or I'll-"
"You'll what?" the Black Guardian asked plainly.
"Leave her alone," the Doctor said through gritted teeth.
"Come home, Doctor," the Black Guardian smiled. "Come back to Ponyville. We can finally settle the score. We can take it back to where it all began with the three of us."
The words "where it all began" struck a chord with the Doctor. It rang a bell. The White Guardian, the Black Guardian, the Doctor, and the Black Guardian's champion. It all came down to one thing the first time. The Doctor knew what the black guardian had.
"Who put it together for you?" the Doctor asked. "Don't tell me you did it yourself..."
"A friend of yours," the Black Guardian smiled. "He called himself the Master. He has most of it now, and also her friends..." he pointed at Applejack. "So getting back is in your best interests."
Applejack shuddered. She couldn't speak.
"Why call me?" the Doctor growled. "You have what you need, just end it..."
"Oh, but I want you to see!" the Black Guardian laughed. "From this moment begins my coronation procession. From this moment the White Guardians ideals of harmony and universal balance die. From this moment onwards there is no such thing as free will in the entire universe...
"There is only my will, because I possess the Key to Time."