Doctor Whooves Episode 20: The Cure

by Doctor Perseus

Canterlot Separation

Chapter 6: Canterlot Separation

Rebel Headquarters, Underneath Manehattan, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

Donna was still lost, only now she was much more annoyed than she had been previously. It had been quite some time since she had given up her search for the mysterious golden pony. She was beginning to wonder whether she had even seen anything to begin with. "Maybe I'm going mad," Donna commented to herself with a chuckle. "That'll be an interesting thing to tell Shaun when I get home. Shaun, I just want to warn you that the ponies may have made me a bit mad. If I start raving about golden ponies, you know where the medication is."

"Talking to yourself can be a sign of that," chuckled a voice from nearby.

Donna froze for a moment. She turned to her side to see the human Princess Luna leaning against the wall. Donna was completely caught off guard. She didn't recall seeing the Night Princess when she had entered the hallway. "Where the hell did you come from?!"

"I was here the whole time." Luna flicked her silver wand and her entire body became invisible for a brief moment before becoming visible once more. "Simple invisibility spell. Acts as a good method of not being disturbed."

"Well good for you but what about me?! I'm pretty disturbed by the fact that you were invisibly spying on me!"

"You have no one to blame but yourself. You're the one who walked into this hallway."

"Oi! Watch it, Ms. Hogwarts! Don't turn this back on me! If you didn't want to be disturbed then why did you reveal yourself?!"

A teasing smirk appeared on Luna's face. "I wanted to see what your reaction would be."

"Well, you got it. Happy?" Donna began to walk away. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to find something that may or may not be a figment of my imagination!" Donna stopped for a second. "That statement sounded a lot better in my head. Forget I said anything!"

"You're talking about the golden pony you mentioned, correct?" Luna asked.

Donna quickly glanced back at Luna as she kept walking angrily away. "Yeah. What's it matter to you?"

"It was in a blinding light, wasn't it? A light so powerful and bright that you couldn't bear to look straight at it." Donna stopped. "Being in its presence, you couldn't resist uttering the phrase: Her time to howl with us is near."

Donna turned back towards the Princess, who was now walking towards her with a teasing grin still plastered on her face. "So...you've seen it too, yeah?"

"Yes. In my dreams."

"Must be some pretty interesting dreams you've got there." Luna chuckled before she and Donna began walking down the hallway side-by-side. "So...what is it?"

"I'm not sure. If I were to guess, I'd say it was an omen."

"Ah. Omens. Fantastic." Donna sighed coldly.

"You have something against omens?"

"I've come across a few in the past and none of them really led to anything good, to be perfectly honest."

Luna rubbed her chin. "Something tells me that this omen is both bad and good."

"A mixed bag then?"

"Yes, if you'd like. I'd definitely be interested in finding out more about it."

"Well, you know what they say!" Donna took Luna's hand. "When in doubt, go to the Doctor!"

"I don't think anybody says that," Luna commented with a deadpan expression.

Donna rolled her eyes and proceeded to begin tugging the Princess down the hallway. "Oh just shut up, your cleverness, and help me find the Doctor."

The Doctor ran as fast as he could. He needed to get away from it. He needed create as much space as he could between him and that impossible cloak. Every part of his being was screaming. Every part of him was in pain.

He didn't stop running until he returned to the stairwell. He nearly ran straight into the railing but managed to stop himself just in time. However, a second later, he leaned into the railing and began to breathe quickly and heavily.

Colgate entered the stairway a few seconds later to find the Doctor sitting down against the railing, looking like he had just run the longest marathon in the universe. "Doctor?! What the hell was all that about?!" Colgate snapped. "You took a quick look at the cloak and went nuts! What's wrong?!"

The Doctor took a few more breaths before calming himself down and meeting Colgate eye-to-eye. "It's unnatural, that cloak," he replied.

"How? Well, I know it can cause somepony to travel through time and space but you acted like it was a monster from the pits of Tartarus!"

"No. That cloak is far, far worse than anything Tartarus could conjure."

"But why?!"

The Doctor rubbed his temple. "How can I explain this in a way that you'd be able to understand?"

"Are you calling me stupid?!"

"Never! You're brilliant! It's just...this is something that only a Time Lord would be able to understand fully."

Colgate fell silent for a moment as she shut the door to the hallway and sat against the stairwell wall. "You said that it didn't exist at all. What does that mean?"

The Doctor gave a slow exhale. "Okay. Obviously, you know about alternate universes."

"That's a given."

The Doctor pointed towards the closed door. "That cloak...is constructed with matter not found in any universe whatsoever."

"Huh?"

"Look, Colgate. There's a space that separates every universe in the multiverse from each other. That space is known as the Void. That cloak...I don't know how or why but that cloak's origins lie within the Void."

"So the cloak was made in the space between dimensions."

"To put it in simple terms, yes. But that's just it."

"What is?"

"Nothing can be created in the Void. There's literally nothing in the Void. No matter. No time. No light. No darkness. No anything. It's just a space of inexistence."

"Then...how-"

"Exactly my point, Colgate. Exactly my point! How could something be created from inexistence?! It's unnatural! It's literally impossible!"

"And yet...it exists."

"You said you found it in the Elmheim Temple."

"Yes. It was in this junk room of sorts. A large room filled with discarded items from different dimensions. Random objects pulled through the rifts, I assume."

"Of course, that begs the question: where did the rifts pull the cloak from? Even with all the temporal infrequencies, I highly doubt any of these rifts have grown powerful enough to pull something straight out of the Void."

Colgate shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it'll just be one of those questions that'll remain unanswered."

The Doctor gave a very serious stare. "I don't like leaving questions like this unanswered and I especially don't want this question to remain unanswered!"

Just then, static began emanating from a small communicator clipped to Colgate's right ear. She listened carefully to the incoming message, nodded, and stood up. "Your TARDIS has been procured, Doctor," she informed. "Time to get everypony and everybody together to start the infiltration of Canterlot." She approached the Doctor and extended a hoof. "The mystery of the cloak will have to wait."

The Doctor grudgingly nodded before taking Colgate's extended hoof.

"Find anything interesting?" Spike the dragon asked Derpy as he, his human counterpart, and the gray pegasus were led towards one of the hangars by a muscular man who looked an awful lot like one of the Diamond Dogs.

Derpy shook her head. "Not really. I didn't do a lot of searching. I found a small snack room."

"Any gems?!"

"No. Only English muffins." Derpy and Spike the human simultaneously gave sounds of displeasure.

As they rounded another corner, Clockwork came into view. He had just finished cleaning his glasses and was storing his cleaning cloth away in one of his suit's pockets when he looked up. His eyes quickly focused on Derpy. "Bright Eyes?!" he spat out without thinking.

Derpy uncomfortably shook her head. "No. It's Derpy," stated the blonde pegasus.

Clockwork's cheeks grew bright red. He stepped back, cleared his throat, and adjusted his red tie. "Yes...of course you are. Heading to Hangar 11, are we?"

"That is where I was ordered to take them," replied the soldier, whose voice was incredibly deep and gravely.

"You can return to your work, soldier," stated Clockwork warmly. "I'm heading there myself. I can lead them there."

The soldier nodded at Clockwork, giving a look of great respect in the direction of the suited chestnut stallion, then turned around and headed back in the opposite direction.

Clockwork beckoned the pegasus, dragon, and human to follow him. "Come along then, you three."

"You do know that I don't need to be lead there, right?" stated Spike the human with an almost deadpan expression. "I know my way around."

Clockwork snickered. "After all the times you've gotten lost? Better safe than sorry, Spike."

"Ha ha. That's so funny I forgot to laugh." Spike the human's tone became increasingly annoyed.

"But you did just laugh, didn't you?"

Spike the human got a sharp look in his eye that gave Derpy the impression that the spiky-haired human was one tease away from snapping Clockwork's neck. The pegasus decided that now was a better time than any to change the subject.

"This place is like a giant maze," Derpy exclaimed with a tone of awe. "I can't believe you all built this place in less than a year!"

"It wasn't as difficult as you probably think, Derpy. Technology and magic can be something truly wonderful when they're made to work together. Now, I don't really want to brag much or anything, but a lot of the inventions we've created to help build our facilities, take care of the soldiers, supply new weapons, and take care of various other tasks came from me," Clockwork explained.

"Really? You're one smart pony." Derpy gave a warm smile, expecting Clockwork to turn back in her direction but he continued to look straight ahead.

"Thank you, Derpy...but I honestly can't take any of the credit. The pony you should be thanking is the other me: the Doctor."

"The Doctor?"

"All of my ideas have come from my dreams."

Derpy and Clockwork were silent for a few seconds as Derpy put the pieces together. "You still have dreams about him?" Derpy asked in conclusion.

"They never stopped. In fact, I think my first encounter with the Doctor back in your Ponyville added to them. I'm not upset about it or anything. They've come in handy quite a bit in the past year. The futuristic technologies of faraway planets and dimensions as seen through the eyes of a Time Lord have proven to provide great amounts of help for this little rebel group in an infected Equestria."

A moment passed as Derpy found a question she had been wanting to ask for a little while begin to dig away at the forefront of her thoughts. Sooner than she had hoped, her fight against the urge to ask said question grew weak and the words flew out of her mouth like a foal upchucking bad hay. "What happened to Bright Eyes?"

Clockwork stopped in his tracks. Derpy and the two Spikes did as well. "Not a smart move," Spike the human whispered to Derpy. "He's very touchy about that subject."

Clockwork was quiet for a brief period of time, not giving any response aside from his shallow breaths. "I lost her," the stallion eventually stated with huge amounts of self-loathing tainting his words. "I had her, I lost her, and I'm going to find her. I'm going to find her. That's what matters." Clockwork then let out a snort that resembled a sound somepony made right before crying and continued trotting forward. Derpy and the two Spikes continued to follow him but with a slightly larger span of distance between them and him.

"Sometimes he sounds just as angry as the Doctor," Spike the dragon whispered to Derpy.

Derpy looked ahead at the Doctor's dimensional double. A sympathetic sigh escaped her lips. "And just as sad," she whispered back to Spike.

Hangar 11 looked just like the other hangars in the rebel base, filled to the brim with various weapons and transportational vehicles. The main thing that set it apart from the others was that an other-worldly blue box was situated in the center of it.

Twilight and Twi passed through the hangar's main entrance and descended the stairs that led to the main floor of the gargantuan room. They were being led by Flash Sentry, who was keeping himself fairly distant from the two Twilights.

"Awkward," Twi stated under her breath.

"Why?" Twilight whispered back. Twi covered her mouth and her eyes widened as she turned to face the unicorn. Twilight gave a friendly smile. "You should probably try talking to yourself at a lower volume in the future. Just a hint."

"Did...did he hear me?" Twi tilted her head in Flash's direction.

"I don't think so. Why does it mat...oh. That's why it's awkward?"

Twi began rubbing her arm. "Pretty much. I think I was pretty close to him before...you know."

"Why don't you talk to him about it?"

"Part of me wants to but he feels very distant."

Twilight turned ahead towards Flash, who continued to look ahead without even bothering to take a second to glance back at them. "I see what you mean."

"If we were close then why is he acting like this?"

"Maybe something happened between you two."

"Great. Romantic drama. That's exactly what needs to be happening right now."

Twilight giggled. "Then try not thinking about it. You can worry about it once your Equestria is safe again."

"Or when I regain I memories."

"That too."

Twilight, Twi, and Flash finally reached the bottom of the stairs and made their way over towards the TARDIS. The amazingly simple blue box was being examined by Donna and Princess Luna. Donna stood with her arms crossed and her bottom lip bit in deep thought.

"I suggest we think about it later," Luna suggested. "There are more pressing issues to deal with."

"Of course. Let's talk about this habit of yours involving hiding invisibly and spying on people!" Donna snapped.

"Really? Are we really going back to this?"

"Honestly, I think it's something worth talking about."

"How?!"

"It's disturbing! It's like that time the Doctor and I went to the Winter Olympics and the people in charge were putting security cameras in the hotel bathrooms! It's creepy!"

"Wait, wait, wait...what are the Winter Olympics?"

"Oi!" Donna raised a finger at the Princess. "Don't go changing the subject! This is an intervention and...you don't have the Olympics here? Seriously? You don't have any international games and contests and my country is better routines?"

"We had the Equestria Games."

Donna was silent for a moment. "Ours has the cooler name."

"What are you two talking about?" Twilight asked as she approached them alongside Twi and Flash.

"Not much. Just that the Olympics are cooler than the Equestria Games and that you better check up on your Princess Luna when we get back to your world because if she's anything like this Princess Luna then she may have a few disturbing fetishes that need to be worked out," Donna stated.

"For the last time, I don't have any fetishes! I've never spied on anyone while invisible!" Luna snapped. "It's not like I did what my sister did and turned invisible to sneak in the soldiers' quarters!" Luna's face instantly grew bright red and she slowly took a step back. Donna slipped her hands into her pockets and Flash started to whistle softly.

"Like I said, awkward," Twi whispered into Twilight's ear.

Just then, Twilight noticed that Luna's eyes had started to water up. "Princess Luna?" Twilight asked. Luna shook her head and disappeared in a blue flash.

"What was that about?" Spike the dragon asked as he arrived along with Spike the human, Clockwork, and Derpy.

"Celestia," said Spike the human, Twi, Flash, and Clockwork in soft unison.

Twilight gave a sad look at the spot where the human Princess Luna had been standing seconds before.

"So what's everybody and everypony standing around for?" asked the Doctor upon arriving with Colgate by his side.

Clockwork cleared his throat and stepped towards the TARDIS. "Yes. As you can see, the TARDIS is here and ready for use," the stallion stated. "Is everyone and everypony who's coming ready for the mission?"

"So who's all going?" Spike the human asked.

"Me, that's a given," the Doctor stated.

"Me, also a given," said Twilight as she raised her hoof.

"I'm going if Twilight's going," stated Spike the dragon with a raised claw.

"Me too!" replied Derpy with a confident smile.

"Don't forget about me, spaceman," said Donna with a smirk directed at the Doctor. "Or is it spacepony now?"

"And us," said Colgate and Clockwork together.

"We promised Matilda and Daring Do that we would save them and that's what we're going to do," said Colgate.

"It's taken a year for us but we're finally going to fulfill that promise," stated Clockwork.

"I'm coming too!" said Twi as she stepped forward. Instantly, everypony and everyone turned in the direction of the purple-haired human. Twi's determined grin quickly faded into a look of confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Twilight," came a soft voice from nearby. Twi turned to see Fluttershy and Rarity approaching her. Fluttershy's hands her clasped so tightly together than it looked almost as if Fluttershy were attempting to break the skin with her nails. "Please stay here with us."

"But I have to help-"

"Darling, you've been through a lot. You've already been injured. You've done great, as you've always done. You brought the Doctor to us. Now's the time to rest," Rarity said.

Twi turned to look at everyone and everypony else. They were all silent but she could see Fluttershy's and Rarity's feelings were shared. "You all feel this way?" Some of group looked down. Twi met eye-to-eye with her unicorn counterpart, who appeared to be the only one there looking directly at her with an expression that neither pleaded for her to come nor begged her to stay. "You all think I'm useless?"

"Never!" snapped Colgate as she pounded one of her hooves against the concrete floor. "None of us here would ever think of you as useless, Twilight Sparkle!"

"We just think you've already been through enough. You've been one hundred percent brilliant but you've already gone through so much, even before the amnesia and dimension jumping," Clockwork explained.

"Please...Twilight...we don't want anything else to happen to you," said Spike the human as he hugged Twi for the first time since her return to her home dimension.

Twi shuddered a bit as Flash placed a hand on her shoulder. Fluttershy and Rarity walked up and Twi, due to a familiar yet muddled instinct, grabbed Fluttershy's hand. Twi looked down towards the floor, her hair falling over her face and covering her eyes. "My friends," she uttered under her breath.

A moment of silence passed by.

"Well then...we better be off then," said the Doctor as he clapped his hooves, causing the TARDIS doors to swing inward.

"You sure we should leave Luna alone to help prepare the soldiers?" Clockwork whispered to Colgate. "She seems very upset about Celestia."

"She'll be fine," Colgate whispered back. "She's a strong woman. I trust her and she trusts me. We're going to get through this and save those we care for." Colgate placed a hoof under Clockwork's chin and raised his head up. "Even her." Clockwork nodded and then proceeded to follow Colgate and the Doctor into the TARDIS.

As Donna and Derpy entered the blue box and Spike bid farewell to his human self, Twilight focused on Twi, whose head was still lowered. "Take care, Twilight," Twilight said softly before walking into the TARDIS alongside Spike. The blue doors closed with a quick click.

"So what now?" asked Spike the human as he looked at the TARDIS.

"We follow any orders from Luna and wait for the signal from the others to begin our attack on Discord Whooves's castle," Flash replied.

"In the meantime, maybe we can try to help Twilight here remember a few things," said Rarity.

Flash looked at Twi with a caring smile, one with certainly more emotion than any he had given in Twi's direction since his reunion with her. "Yeah," breathed the blue-haired young adult.

"I may not remember much about my life but there is one, huge aspect I do remember," Twi stated as she raised her head up. The determined grin had returned to her face. She looked at Flash, Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy. "I will always love my friends and fight to keep them safe...even if that requires me to go against what they initially ask of me."

Before anyone could react, Twi broke away from Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike and ran towards the TARDIS. "Twilight! Stop!" Fluttershy and Spike pleaded together.

Rarity reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a white wand with purple swirls. "I'm sorry to have to do this, Twilight," said Rarity as she waved her wand and aimed it in Twi's direction. A stream of bright red ribbons burst forth from the wand's tip. Twi turned around and waved her own wand. A lavender shield appeared in front of her and bounced the ribbons right back at Rarity, who dodged the oncoming fabric just in time.

Flash dashed towards Twi and grabbed her but Twi reacted by turning Flash around and pushing him to the ground. For a second or two, Twi and Flash locked eyes. Twi gave a devious, playful grin. "Just like old times, right?" she asked before planting a quick kiss on Flash's forehead.

"Twilight!" Flash gasped as Twi jumped up and raced towards the TARDIS doors. The familiar departing sound of the blue box began to echo through the air as Twi forced her way through the doors.

The Doctor had just finished adding the coordinates and pulling down one of the console's levers to start travel when the doors flew open. The Doctor and his companions watched as Twi stumbled forward and glared at them with pure determination. "I'm gonna fight for my friends, whether they want me to or not!" Twi snapped just before the TARDIS doors slammed shut behind her on their own. The ship let out a satisfied groan and began to fly through the complicated folds of space.

Above Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

The TARDIS rocked violently as it smashed into the complex protective shields that surrounded the devastated city of Canterlot. Everyone and everypony in the TARDIS held on with all the string they could muster. "Twilight Sparkle! You were supposed to stay back at the base!" Colgate snapped angrily at Twi.

"I know but amnesia's not going to stop me from helping those I care for!" Twi snapped back.

"HANG ON!" cried the Doctor as sparks rained down from the ceiling. A series of loud booms rocked the exterior of the ship.

"I think I'm going to lose my lunch!" groaned Spike

"I won't!" chirped Derpy as she levitated into the air.

"Now that's just not fair," said Donna as a violent shift sent her flying back into the railing.

Twilight met eye-to-eye with Twi and smiled at her. The unicorn proceeded to mouth, "Glad you're here."

Twi nodded back and mouthed, "Me too."

Suddenly, the TARDIS doors opened up, revealing a rainbow of colors passing by outside.

"THE DOORS!" Clockwork yelled over the loud booms.

"I see 'em," said the Doctor as he fidgeted with the controls.

Twi let out a loud gasp as a quick tilt caused her to loose her footing and begin to fall towards the open threshold. "TWILIGHT!" cried Twilight as she grabbed hold of her human counterpart's hair. "I'VE GOT YOU!" But Twilight quickly realized that she was now sliding towards the doorway as well.

She felt a pair of claws wrap around one of her hind legs. "I'm not letting you fall!" cried Spike as he used all of his strength to keep the two Twilights inside the TARDIS.

Another vehement vibration caused Spike to lose his grip but Donna hastily ran to his aid and grabbed onto the railing for good measure. "Doctor! You better be working on closing those doors!" Donna snapped.

"I'm working as fast as I can, Donna, but she's being stubborn today!" the Doctor shot back.

"Well tell her to be stubborn another day because this is really not the best of times!" The TARDIS continued to tilt dangerously in the direction of its open doors. Colorful lights and shocking mixtures of hot and cold air shot through the threshold. Donna began to feel her grip on the railing begin to slip. Despite the now increasing rate of her heart, she still managed to roll her eyes. "Really? Why does stuff like this always have to happen?!"

With that said, Donna's grip failed and she, Spike, Twilight, and Twi fell towards the open doorway. "I'll get you!" cried Derpy as she flew towards Donna's outstretched hand. What happened next probably lasted within the span of three to five seconds but it felt like hours.

Derpy flapped her wings as hard as possible as she reached her hooves forward. She grabbed onto Donna's hand...only for it to slip out of her grasp. Derpy screamed in pain as her right wing collided with the railing. Derpy made perfect eye contact with Donna. Twi had already fallen out of the TARDIS as well as Twilight with Spike close behind. Donna gave Derpy a look that appeared to say something along the lines of: It's alright. We'll be fine. You did good, Derpy. You did your best.

"DONNA!" Derpy screamed as Donna fell into the mesh of colors after Twilight, Twi, and Spike. The doors slammed shut and sparks shot out of the console as the blue box headed in for a violent landing.

Cold Cut Sandwich Shop, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

Everything was quiet in the dusty sandwich shop that had been abandoned for a full year. Broken plates littered the tables and floor and the only customers that remained were colonies of cockroaches and spiders. Night had fallen and the usually dark sky of Canterlot was now an amazing array of color and sparks. Alarms echoed through the city's streets and Cybermen raced past the broken windows. The soldiers were ready to defend their captured, dead city. Ready to defend their cruel, secretive leader.

Once the Cybermen had gone, a powerful gust of wind picked up in the back kitchen of the sandwich shop. Dust billowed in the air. Cockroaches and spiders fled for cover. The homes of pests were torn apart by the unexpected winds.

At the peak of the wind's power, a blue box appeared out of thin air and slammed into a wall of cabinets. Wood, metal, plaster, and tiling went everywhere. Robotic groans emanated from the box as the winds died down. The two front doors of the ship were pulled open and the stallion known as the Doctor stepped out. Sweat covered his brow and his chest was rising and falling heavily due to his worried breathing.

Twilight. Donna. Spike. Twi. Please...please be okay, he thought as he examined the dirty kitchen around him.

"Where are they?!" cried Derpy as she shot through the doors.

"Quiet!" hissed Clockwork. He grabbed Derpy and held her still, trying his best to calm her nerves. "You don't want the Cybermen to know that we're here!"

"Are they here, Doctor?" Colgate asked as she stepped through the doorway.

The Doctor took a deep breath before looking back at Colgate. "They're here in Canterlot, yes, but not here with us," he replied.

"Are they alive?" asked the still frantic Derpy. She groaned a bit before rubbing her bruised right wing.

"I believe so. They might have teleported to a random location in the city. They'll be a bit bruised, sure, but they'll be fine." I hope.

Colgate closed the TARDIS doors behind her and slowly made her way towards the front of the shop. She coughed slightly upon inhaling a cloud of dust. She froze and became still when her eyes fell upon the empty street located beyond the shattered windows of the abandoned shop.

"I still remember what this place was like before he came," Colgate stated. "I didn't see much of it but I still remember the people running. Screaming. Bleeding. So much screaming. So much bleeding."

"Colgate?" asked Clockwork as he placed a hoof on her shoulder.

The blue unicorn shook her head and smiled back at Clockwork. "Sorry. Just remembering bad memories."

Clockwork sighed. "Don't worry. You're not alone there."

In the kitchen, the Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the TARDIS. Seconds later, the TARDIS was placed a second out of sync and thus faded from view. "Better safe than sorry," the Doctor said before turning to the shaking Derpy. The Doctor could instantly tell what the poor pegasus was shaking about. He could see the guilt and depression in her cute, warped eyes. He walked over to her. "Derpy, it's not your fault."

"I know," the pegasus replied quickly. Too quick for the Doctor's taste.

"No, you don't. You're making yourself feel incredibly guilty about something that wasn't your fault."

"I had them in my hooves...and I lost them." Derpy looked up at the Doctor with teary eyes. "I had them...then I lost them!"

Clockwork turned back towards the crying Derpy, her words hitting him hard like sharp shards of glass.

The Doctor placed a hoof under Derpy's chin and raised her head up a bit. "But we're going to find them. That's what matters, Derpy Hooves. We are going to find them." The Doctor then pulled Derpy in close, her tears quickly soaking into his now dusty coat.

Clockwork smiled at his Time Lord counterpart before somberly following Colgate's gaze out towards the dead city that awaited them beyond the broken glass of Cold Cut Sandwich Shop.

Crystal Chambers, Beneath Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

One second ago, Donna had been staring straight into the worried and teary eyes of Derpy Hooves. Now she was staring into nothing. Pure darkness. Where was she? Had she fallen to her death? Was she stuck in some sort of time limbo? The only thing she could do was feel her surroundings. She was sitting on a concrete floor. Though the concrete seemed to have pieces of glass or crystal embedded in it. Donna could tell that the chamber she was in was huge. The air around her felt wide and expanding but had a metallic scent to it. Goosebumps covered her skin and hairs all over her body stood up in response to some sort of foreign electrical charge.

After a moment in darkness, she finally found her voice. "Twilight? Spike? Twi? Hello?" she asked into the darkness. She kept her voice at a raspy whisper due to her cautious fear that something far less likeable could be in the chamber as well.

A few seconds passed until Donna asked into the darkness once again. "Twilight? Spike? Twi? It's me, Donna. Are any of you here?"

This time there was a response.

"I'm here," groaned the voice of Spike from nearby.

"Thank God!" Donna grabbed her chest with relief. She was thankful to not be alone. "Are you okay, Spike?"

"My leg hurts a bit but nothing's broken."

Donna suddenly noticed the pain in her left arm. Nothing serious but she could tell that it had been fairly bruised. "Is Twilight or Twi near you?"

"No. I don't know where they are." Spike's voice started to sound more panicked.

"I'm sure we'll find them. Just follow the sound of my voice and come to me."

"Okay."

Donna listened carefully as the sound of Spike's claws and legs sliding against concrete coursed through the air. After a few seconds, a metallic clang rang out and was followed by Spike groaning.

"Spike?!" Donna gasped.

"I'm fine," Spike said back, now sounding much closer. "I just hit some metal thing."

"Continue to follow my voice and just be more careful."

"Will do."

A minute or so passed as Donna continued to make noises in order to direct Spike towards her. Donna gave a sigh of relief once she felt Spike's claw grasp her sleeve.

"There you are," Donna sighed.

"So we've found each other. Now what?" Spike asked.

"We find Twilight and Twi."

"But how? Where are we anyway?"

"I know about as much as you. We're in a large room with a concrete floor. That much I know."

"And it's apparently full of weird metal things."

"Weird metal things?"

"Yeah! I passed by at least twenty of them when I was crawling towards you."

"Maybe we're in a factory or something like that."

"I wish Twilight were here with us. Some light would be good."

"Tell me about it."

At that very second, a bright, purple flash appeared right in front of Donna. Both Donna and Spike gave quick shrieks in response. Though, in that millisecond, Donna was able to see dozens of shadowy figures surrounding her and Spike before full-on darkness returned.

"It's okay! It's me!" came the voice of Twilight Sparkle a few inches from Donna's face.

"Twilight!" exclaimed Spike as he moved past Donna and hugged the unicorn in the dark.

"How did you know where to teleport?" Donna asked.

"I got my senses together and heard you two talking. I listened to your voices and focused on teleporting to the source of them. Now I'm here!" Twilight explained.

"Why didn't you let us know where you were?!"

"I just got my senses together a moment ago. I simply cut to using magic before talking."

"Okay but, next time, a warning would be nice."

"Alright."

"So where's Twi?" Spike asked.

"I don't know, Spike," Twilight replied. "She wasn't anywhere near me and if she hasn't responded yet-"

"Maybe she's somewhere else."

"Most likely."

"Twilight. Spike," said Donna suddenly. "I think we should worry about finding Twi once we find out who else is here."

"What do you mean? It's just us here," said Twilight.

"When you teleported in front of me, I saw outlines of things standing around us."

Twilight grew silent. "Are...are you sure?"

Donna gulped. "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Twilight gulped loudly. "Yeah. I guess there is."

A second later, a bright violet light appeared in the darkness. It took a while for Donna's eyes to adjust but, when they did, she wasn't at all happy with what she saw.

"Oh no," Donna said with a look of horror on her face.

"It can't be!" said Twilight as her whole body began to shake.

"Not these again!" said Spike.

"At least we now know what those metal things were," said Donna with a shaky voice.

Donna, Twilight, and Spike froze up as, through the light emanating from Twilight's horn, they saw dozens of Dalek eye stalks staring them down from within the radius of the light and beyond.

Comments

[SoulboundAlchemist]

OK, first let me say that you are an extremely talented writer, and that you shouldn't take what I say next too hard.

This story can only end on two notes;
1) an OK note
Or 2) an extremely bad note.

Let me explain. You're adding a huge amount of villains, and it's cluttering up the story, in much the same way that Spider-Man 3 had way too many villains. What you should have done was pick, at most, two villains and rolled from there.

Again, you are an extremely talented writer, and you should in no way take this the wrong way. Please end this story well and soon, I'm not sure how many more cliffhangers I can take.

[Doctor Perseus]

4017166
Thank you for your constructive criticism and, don't worry, I didn't take what you said too hard or take it the wrong way.

But, don't worry, I have a plan set out with all of the various aspects introduced in this "episode" (and previous "episodes") that will lead to payoffs in this "season's" finale (and beyond ), which I hope you and the other readers of my stories will find satisfying.

[Crossfiction]

4018578 Thank you....

[MariusIoannesP]

Oi! Watch it, Ms. Hogwarts!

"Not much. Just that the Olympics are cooler than the Equestria Games and that you better check up on your Princess Luna when we get back to your world because if she's anything like this Princess Luna then she may have a few disturbing fetishes that need to be worked out," Donna stated.

Why is everything Donna says in these stories awesome!?

Spike the dragon asked Derpy as he, his human counterpart, and the gray pegasus were led towards one of the hangars by a muscular man who looked an awful lot like one of the Diamond Dogs.

The My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks trailer!

How could something be created from inexistence?! It's unnatural! It's literally impossible!

Not if you're Catholic! Sorry, I couldn't help it. That was a theology joke.

"So...you've seen it to, yeah?"

I think you mean "too".

I like how Twi going on the mission even though her friends don't want her to kind of reminds me of Twilight in "Princess Twilight".

And now, Donna, Twilight, and Spike find themselves in the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot filled with Daleks. :oi:

I liked how the chapter didn't start off that exciting, and then it started to get exciting in the middle. And then it ended. I look forward to more of this, especially as the plot continues to thicken so much that you can't legitimately describe it as thickening but rather congealing and caramelizing. Keep up the good work.

[MariusIoannesP]

4018578
4017166
I don't see how there are too many villains here. Really there is one villain. Discord Whooves. The Cybermen and Daleks are his vast hoard of faceless mooks.

[DrWhooves007]

I highly doubt any of these rifts have grown powerful enough to pull something straight out of the Void.

Well IF those rifts have grown powerful enough is it possible?
This chapter is creepy as hell

P.S: Clockwork, do you have a fob watch by any chance?

[IamShadowDash]

How could something be created from inexistence?! It's unnatural! It's literally impossible!
Not if you're Catholic! Sorry, I couldn't help it. That was a theology joke.

I don't mean to give or take offense, but what are you refering to? If it's God, he was never created. If it's earth, then God has the power to do so. If anything else... I can't help you Uzi don't know anything about Catholics, I'm Baptist! Lol(well I'm classified as that but I don't really care what they call me)
we don't mean any offense, and we understand It was a joke. It was funny. We just want to understand what you were refering to.
oh, ps. We aren't gonna talk about this anymore (we will resort to our usual strange banter) but they were just curios, I guess. I don't really care I'm evil.
--MM/J