The Doctor and his companions stepped down the corridors of the maze with eyes on everything. The halls weren't very wide but just enough for two ponies to walk next to one another and high enough for either Derpy or Nexus to fly over them. After about an hour of walking Derpy took that opportunity. Nexus walked just ahead of the Doctor just trying to use what little geomancy magic was still just flowing through his body. With the lock on his horn he couldn't see very far ahead of them but could see the other side of the walls. Still not very useful but it did still mean Nexus could use some very weak Geomancy.
Derpy kept her head low as they went. Nexus made the mistake of trying to get an aerial view of the maze, thinking there would only be magic walls following the real walls but was sorely wrong. There was a much more potent wall covering the top of the whole maze. Just as his head could peak over the top of the wall, he felt a super powerful jolt of electricity surge through him. His legs and wings went limp and drug him into the stone like a lead weight.
It took some time for him to recover but once he could feel his legs he continued down their path. Despite not being able to see very far with what little magic he had in use, he and the Doctor knew full well that just aimlessly walking through the maze would get them absolutely nowhere. Every time there were multiple paths, the Doctor pulled his pen and welded a circle pattern in the right wall. Though on a second look it looked like it was in Equestrian. Then it was the circle pattern before he had a chance to read it.
They didn't talk much. Nexus had to keep his mind on what was around the next corner. but even then he wasn't sure if he could pick up anything besides stone. Though he could often feel very strong vibrations, both with magic and without. Nopony could figure out what it was but there wasn't much time to figure it out.
"It's probably just the Paradox Machine trying to cope with your timeline trying to straighten itself out." the Doctor said as he finished carving his marks onto the wall.
"You sure about that? Doesn’t feel like it." Nexus replied looking around the left corner unsure.
"He has a point Doctor." Derpy said lending her two sense. "Wouldn't that beamy thing… blink or something?"
"Well…" Nexus and Derpy looked on waiting for an answer and the Doctor couldn't really think of anything. He held his mouth open a while longer as he tried to find something to say. "Maybe the maze is shifting or something?"
"Considering the circumstances I'd buy that for a bit. What way should w-"
"Sh!" The Doctor said putting a hoof up. "Ya hear that?"
Neither Nexus or Derpy answered him but only listened. For some reason he could hear some kind of whirring sound. Similar to the Doctor's Sonic Pen but much lower and more constant. Some voice with a very monotone voice with a heavy electronic filter on it called for something from the left pathway. It was too far away for any of them to clearly make out what it was saying. But either way the Doctor's face grew heavy with worry.
"No…" The Doctor said with his trademarked worried voice that Nexus had learned quickly to fear.
"What is it Doctor?" Derpy asked.
"Doc…toooor." the voice called again.
The three of them stepped around the corner. What Nexus saw he couldn't quite understand. It looked like to top of a radio tower with eggs sticking out of its lower plates. At its midsection there were two things sticking out in front of it. The object on its right was what looked like a sink plunger and the left was some kind of… whisk. Bellow the dome that was the top, several disks surrounded a vent looking thing. The top section had two bright lights on either side of its dome head and some kind of mini, glowing toilet plunger. The thing looked absolutely ragged. The metal was oxidized, or he assumed it was oxidization, heavily from top to bottom.
"Doctor!" the voice shouted from the machine. "The Doctor!?"
"Doc what is that thing?" Nexus said ready to draw his weapons.
"Dalek!" Derpy shouted ready to sprint.
"Run!" The Doctor shouted.
"Exterminate the Doctor!" the Dalek shouted.
Its whisk flashed and sparked. Nexus drew his right pistol instantly and was a mere instant from lining up a shot between the disks when something grabbed his foreleg and started dragging him away. Nexus' hoofs was forced to follow with the force dragging him. His vision was shaky at first before he could stabilize vision. Once it was stable, he could see the Doctor holding his foreleg as he himself ran. He dropped Nexus' foreleg so that he could run faster and Nexus didn't waste any time keeping up, only so he could slap him for what he did.
"Why are we running!?" Nexus asked. "I could've disabled it at least!"
"A Dalek against your level of technology could kill you in an instant, no matter how heavily damaged! Now shut up and keep running!" the Doctor answered quickly.
"What are you talking about!?"
"Just run!"
The three of them ran as fast as they could, Derpy flew just behind them, taking the corners as fast as the boys were on foot. With a glance behind them, Nexus noticed the Dalek was nowhere to be seen. Nexus skidded to a stop forcing the Doctor and Derpy to do the same.
"What are you doing? Run!" The Doctor said about to drag him away again.
"If that thing could catch us then it would have. And all this shouting will more than likely give him a better idea as to where we are!"
"Then stop shouting at me!"
"You know what? No! Because I could've handled that! I don't need somepony pulling me out of trouble! What is your deal!?" Nexus shouted getting in the Doctor's face.
"What are you talking about? I was saving your life!"
"I can handle myself against a giant sex aid!" Nexus and the Doctor were now literally head to head.
"You don't know the Daleks, everything on their body is designed to kill!"
"You said it was damaged. I think I could've handled it. If I'd dealt with it-"
"You'd be dead!" Derpy was just about sick of hearing them argue she was about to push them apart when the Doctor shoved Nexus back with just his head. "Your bullet would've bounced off and it would kill you faster!"
"Okay both of you shut up!" Derpy finally interjected throwing the two apart.
"Your boyfriend started it!" Nexus accused like he was a colt.
"Well now I'm ending it! If you haven't noticed now we're lost! So get it together!"
Nexus and the Doctor were about to tell her to butt out until they realized that was defiantly the case. They also took notice that the end of their corridor was a dead end. Nexus was sure that they needed to go somewhere other than here.
"Alright, we can deal with this later. Let's just find the last turn we took a-" Nexus was interrupted when he saw the stone cold looks of fear on Derpy's and the Doctor's faces.
Nexus slowly turned as the whirring sound of the Dalek drew closer. The old and rusted monstrosity rolled around the corner shouting for extermination. Nexus was about to turn and run when he realized there was nowhere to run. The three of them started to slowly back up as it drew closer.
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" it shouted as the three ponies got their backs to the wall.
The plunger on its body began extending out before it suddenly was blocked by a wall of light similar to the one that locked them into the maze.
"What is this?" The Dalek asked. "Explain, explain!" the ground beneath their hoofs started to rumble and the Dalek started to descend, along with the rest of the maze. "Explain! Explain!"
The maze continued to drop beneath them until they could see the whole maze. A few other large square sections of the maze were following them up.
"Oh that's good. That is brilliant!" The Doctor said as they came to a stop. "A shifting maze." he finished as the sections began to turn in the air.
Theirs in particular rotated ninety degrees counter clockwise before floating back down. The maze reconnected itself properly and the light barrier in front of them faded. Nexus reached out with his hoof and it was unimpeded by the now dissipated shield.
"Oh that's really cool!" the Doctor shouted looking back at the corner they were just cowering in.
"I'd bet you twenty bits that's going to make things harder than they already are. For all we know there's more of those things. What was it anyways?"
"That…" Nexus could feel the weight of what he was about to say knock his cheer right off. "Was a Dalek. They're a race that exists only to kill. Everything that isn't Dalek is scum to them. Remember, there is no greater evil than a Dalek. And there's never only one. We'd better keep moving. There's no telling what could be coming."
"Agreed." Derpy said still slightly shaken by the sudden change in status quo.