//------------------------------//
// chapter four, revenge and love lost 
// Story: The Fallout of a Fractured Sky 
// by Sam Cole 
//------------------------------//

	I'm lost now. So, so lost. My Pinkie Pie is gone, replaced with a brain dead drone. Fluttershy has been fully replaced, no pony even noticed. Did anypony even care? What kind of friends are we that we never noticed. The Doctor said it happened today, but I just don't feel it, that is too great a coincidence for it too have been random chance. The Changlings, Diamond Dogs, Gilda, and Discord all at the same time, over a year after the Daleks invade. We have been taking turns with Flutterbad now, trying to get Pinkie's and Fluttershy's location from her. We had taken her to the clock tower, no interruptions. We gathered so far that Discord wanted to keep the elements apart. But right now, he had two of them, and from the looks of things, had been trying to get them all, and had tried to keep me and the Doctor out of commission, but the forces against us tried their own thing, as did the other abductions. No honor among thieves, right? So now, we pleaded, magicked, threatened, or in my case, just beat the drone. They wanted answers, I want Pinkie. River was going in now, and no pony knew if this would work. 20 seconds later though, River stepped out.
"We should go now, Discord is in a wrecked Dalek ship, 80 miles from here. We can take the TARDIS, but we can't land there directly, we should be a mile out," River said. Everypony got up and got ready. I heard the Doctor walk over and talk to her River now.
"River, love, um... what did you do?" The Doctor asked. He had been against using force, but I was the first to break the rule. Oddly not last, Twilight used magic, but it was still really brutal from what I heard and saw. Twilight had branded Flutterbad, right on the cutie mark. I had just hit her a few times til the Doctor pulled me out. 
"Sweetie, Sweetie. You really do lack an imagination, don't you? All I did was change my filter so she thought she was reporting to Discord, and had her relay the plan," River said with a smile. 
"What?" I said overhearing, "You mean to tell me you could have done that at any time?"
"No love, interrogations are tricky, she had believe she was being rewarded, that she had been truthful. This was the time," River said with a heavy heart. As we pilled into the TARDIS, I pulled the doctor aside for a quick chat.
"Doctor, I don't know about this. I think we're walking into a trap," I said, my voice low. 
"Yes Opie, me too, but it is our only lead. Trust no pony," He said, his voice like ice.
We went top side to the command node, to see every pony looking around mystified as River gave the welcome to the TARDIS speech. I gathered my self up, reading for anything. I would not lose to Discord, I would not fall for a fake again, I would succeed.
"Opie, darling? Can I speak to you a minute?" Rarity asked of me. Rarity was a good friend, and had just been through a lot, no matter my own problems, I had to keep thinking of others as well. That was how the Doctor did things. 
"Sure Rarity, Whats up?" I asked, sinking to my flanks. Rarity dropped heavily, and let out a big sigh. When she looked up, I could see she had been crying. 
"I don't know what to do anymore. I just don't know. That alien thing, it made me do so much, I remember so much, that my mind says is both true and false. Opie..." She said, her head hanging low again.
"Hey, cheer up, it was all a trick Rare, you're okay, right?" I asked of my savvy friend.
"mumble mumble mum," Rarity said, so quite all I could hear was her mumbles. 
"Rarity?" I asked, concerned. 
"I do love Applejack," She said, and began to cry again. Oh, that's why the filter was so strong with them, Rarity did love Applejack. The Doctor had told me, the less a filter has to make up, the stronger it is. Rarity was head over hooves for AJ, and AJ loves Rarity like a sister, so it was able to make every pony believe they were in love.
"Rarity," I said, and I hugged her. She lost all control and just fell apart in my fore legs. It was no longer just about Pinkie for me, now I had my friends to fight for. The TARDIS touched down about a mile form the crash, but stepping out the door, we found the craft to be larger than we could have ever guessed. It stood above the marsh land it landed in like an obelisk, of metal and air, large sections missing from the hull. Birds flew in and out of the higher sections, but otherwise it was dead. 
"Doctor, this is all wrong, Discord is about chaos, but this... this is just loss," I said.
"Yes Opie, I know what you mean. But does any pony smell that?" He asked the group, perking up his ears and lifting his snout into the air. "Metallic, oil, with plastic... the Drone Factory! Of course, this ship was the drone factory, and where Discord made his replacements. Everypony, keep up once inside, I'm not losing anypony else today," The Doctor said and then he reared up, waving a hoof at the ship, "Allons-y!"
We ran to the ship, but when we were 30 feet out, a panel fell off, making us all stop, and a hole through which we saw the extent of Discord's evil. Pinkie, trapped in greenish goop, Fluttershy next to her, along with Twilight? Ah crap... We slowly turned to Twilight, seeing her smile maniacally, shifting into a pink earth pony with crazy eyes and cutie mark of a screw and a baseball. 
"Thank you, Daughter dearest for leading them to me," Said a cold and somehow metallic voice. We turned to see the twisted pony monster that put us through this hell, Discord. But seeing him, something was wrong. Parts of him were pieced together out of machines. He was not floating around making chocolate rain or night to day and back in seconds, but was just sitting there, and even a earth pony like me could feel his magical pressure, and from this far. 
"So Doc, I'm guessing you were trying to warn me about Twilight not being Twilight, huh?" I said, keeping eyes on Discord.
"No actually, I did not see that one coming," The Doctor said in complete honesty. A sure sign he was lying. We were marched forward to the monster that Discord had become, and from where he started, that's saying something. 
"So, Discord," The Doctor said, looking at the thing, "What exactly happened here now, this is new. Is that a Kelprich Third eye? Very smart. So why the upgrade?" The Doctor asked of him. He was joking around, but I could tell, the Doctor was mad.
"Well Doctor Whooves, I saw what those Daleks did to the world. They brought so much pain, so much hate, so much chaos. True chaos, like for Applejack here, who lost her dear brother. Or Pinkie, her bosses and their kids, gone forever. I was in awe, I had never even scratched the surface of evil like that. I had just messed around, but the Daleks, they were Gods among ponies. They were strong, but they had a weakness, magic. So when I got free, I upgraded myself with all the alien tech I could, draining whatever knowledge I had to. It took me over a year, but I was finally ready to strike at the ponies that had last encased me in stone!" He yelled, I guess he was angry about that. 
"I see, so do you have a new name for yourself?" River Song asked, her voice so cold it sent shivers up my spine. 
"Yes new pony, call me Disborg!" He bellowed with a laugh.
"Good, cause now I know what to put on your tombstone!" River said, drawing her laser thingy and taking aim at the monster. She let fly with shots, only to miss wildly. 
"River, love. Remember lasers don't work right on Equestria, too much magical interference," The Doctor said, kind of hushed.
"Now my little ponies, face your greatest fears!" Disborg said enveloping us in a cloud of black fog. I couldn't see my hoof in front of my face, but I could move. I just couldn't see! Did something just brush past me? What was that noise? I was going crazy, then I heard the voice. 
"Exterminate, Exterminate, Exterminate!" The Dalek voice yelled, but it was not closing in, it was actually moving parallel to me now? I heard the Dalek weapon discharge.
"No! Rainbow! Not mah Rainbow, please, Ah jus' got ya back, don't die on me sugarcube!" Applejack cried, then I heard another shot in the darkness. I ran towards her. I ran and I ran, but I never got closer. I heard the weapon again, behind me. I spun and heard the cries again.
"No, Rarity," River cried, "Opie, please, where are you! AH!" I heard a third shot, and the Doctor yell. I ran to him, and as I ran I heard the shot and found myself praying to Celestia that this wasn't happening!  But I couldn't hear the Doctor now. Or anything. I yelled, I kicked. I swore at Discord, or borg, whatever he called himself. He was going to die. Then I heard the old voice, and turned to see him, of all ponies, him!
"Hello friend," Said the big red powerhouse, Big Mac. 
"Mac, is that you?" I said, walking to him, shakily. 
"Eeyuup. But brother, why didn't ya help us?"
"What do you mean Mac, I did everything I could. I tried my best, but I couldn't save everypony! I tried, I tried everything!" I cried, what did Mac want, I had given my all to save the world, very nearly my life too, but Celestia, I was spared.
"Nooppe, Ya have a time machine friend, why didn't y'all use it?" Mac asked me.
"Mac, please! I would have, but the Doctor, he said..."
"So the word of this Doctor is more important than the lives of everypony in town? Why did ya leave us to die Op?" 
"Mac, I..."
"Why didn't you take care of mah sisters. Ah wanted to look after 'em, I gave my life for 'em, so y'all could do nuthin. Y'all didn't even kill off 'em Daleks! Ya let em fly off kill more ponies across the universe. Why Op?" Mac asked, each word like a dagger. 
"Because, I could never kill them! I know what they did, what they will do, but I am not a killer Mac, I am not like them. I want them to make the choice to stop, but I will not kill an entire race just to save mine. I learned that from the Doctor. Killing an entire race is called genocide, and though the Daleks may use that, I will never sink to their level. You got that?" I yelled, now realizing I was no longer in the shadow form the magic villain, but free. 
"Well little pony, you faced your fears, bravo. Oh, by the way, are you fast?" Disborg asked, smiling.
"Buck off metal mash up, I'm taking my friends back," I said.
"Then Opie Pie, catch the bride!" He said with a laugh. I turned an saw Pinkie get dropped off the top of the ship, straight down the shaft to a pit of spikes. I ran and jumped, ready to catch her, but Applejacks lasso grabbed my legs and pulled me back! No! Why AJ! I turned to see she was not holding it, but the screwy pony was. I looked back, trying with all my strenght to break free, save Pinkie. She was half way, no time! I tried and tried, but I couldn't break free. I watched in horror as my wife fell into the pit trap, heard the snapping sound, saw the blood. I hate blood. It inched slowly to me, as if trying to make me see it. I cried. I turned and hit the screwy pony dead in the snout, making her rear up. That bought me the time now to break free, but too little to late. But the monster was still there, laughing coolly. I ran to Disborg, and leaped with all my power I had left. I hit the false god with my fore hooves, and everything went screwy now. I could feel his mind, as if it was an extension of my own. I saw the world clearly now, I had not broken free, just given a small rise of hope, so that I could fall even greater. Pinkie was safe, everypony was running about, except the Doctor, he was looking at me, could he see through the magic? I finally followed through and fell, Disborg reeled back, rubbing his check I had hit. But everpony was  safe now. for the time being.
"Bravo Opie, but where did you learn to manually interface with somepony through touch?" The Doctor asked of me. My mind reeled, my vision swam, I was hungry.
"Muffin Button?" I said.
"What?" The Doctor said.
"Huh?" I said in response. I was too drained form overpowering the monster to move even. But Disborg was not so hampered. 
He yelled, rearing up to his full height, claws and hoof coming down to me. But right before he hit, I heard a familiar little whistle sound. I saw Disborg freeze, and looked over at the Doctor, sonic screwdriver in mouth. 
"Mumphmemphy" He said.
"Huh?" was all I could muster myself.
"He said 'motobelle," River said,
"But Doc, why didn't the magic affect you? We all felt our worst fears, but you were left alone it seems," I asked.
"Opie my boy, I'm the Doctor," he said with his smile, his charm.
"Doc, what planet were we on last?" I asked of him.
"Um, shoot, I think it was Xenoglob 5, why?" The Doctor asked.
"River, AJ... help me up please," I said. when they were there with me, I drew them in tight and whispered "That isn't the Doctor." Neither said a word, but the looks in their eyes said it all. They... thought I was nuts. Maybe I was. Pinkie was freed from the green stuff now, and shakily got to her hooves. 
"Ugg, that was a horrible party..." She said, looking as drained as I was. She was brought over and I hugged her. She stunk to high hay, but I didn't care, I had my Pinkie back. She cried with me.
"Opie, I'm sorry to have scared you. When I heard about Rarity, I went to your shop to leave you the note, that's when Fluttershy attacked, and magically brought me here. Turns out she was Screwball," Pinkie said.
"Who is Screwball?" I asked. Pinkie just pointed to Disborg's daughter. "Ah... wait she was Twilight?" 
"Not exactly, she swapped places with me when I questioned her. It was their plan, to find out about the TARDIS, and bring it here. Fluttershy had been replaced by then and swapped with me when I was abducted. Pinkie's drone could not get the mind right, something about temporal interference," Twilight said.
"Makes sense, Time travelers have a hard time with mental droid program mapping," The Doctor said.
"Doctor, I need to talk to you, alone. You too Pinkie," I said. When the Doctor came up to me, I pulled him in and touched all three of our heads together, and that was when things got weird.