Out of Time

by Lunarus Solaris Nexus

Angels

After what seemed like several hours of walking and another Dalek, Nexus was sure of one thing, the known location of Tartarus' gates was wrong, this was it. Tensions were incredibly high as they walked silently. Despite Nexus telling him it was useless now that they knew the maze was always changing, the Doctor still left his mark on the walls to try and help them keep track of where they're going.

"So…" Nexus said going slightly crazy from nobody talking. "How's that Sonic Pen even work?"

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked finishing his mark.

"I mean what's it even do? First you scanned me with it and now you're using it as a laser pointer with some edge."

"It's not a pen first off. It's a screwdriver. It uses sonic waves at all frequencies to do whatever I need."

"But how does it change frequencies? There's all of one button on there."

"It's psychically linked to me. It's just point and think."

"Sounds simple enough. I could only imagine the amount of power needed to do that."
"A Galfraian crystal is a good power conductor. Now what about those legs? I'm still having some issues figuring out how you power those. I want to say bio-battery converting blood plasma into electricity."

"Not really. All though that's a good idea. Remind me to get on that."

"Should I drop back and let you two geek out?" Derpy asked hovering behind them.

The Doctor started on about something but Nexus could feel something odd. They came to a wider section of the maze. There was a grand entrance to something. Nexus vaguely felt the passage get wider past the entrance. Guarding the doorway were two… winged monkey creatures? The statues were very decrepit and looked like they were about to just about to fall apart. The two had their eyes covered the but one on the right was missing its head entirely.

"Can you see anything in there?" The Doctor asked hoping Nexus' geomancy was still working.

Thankfully it was but only for a few yards in any direction. "Not much but there's defiantly a room through that door." Nexus said adjusting the glasses on his nose he’d forgotten about.

"Anything else?" Derpy asked peering into the room. "It's kinda' dark."

"Nope." Nexus replied. "And I don't have a light."

"Oh what a shame." The Doctor said making his Screwdriver whir at a low frequency. Nexus assumed it was low anyways due to the tone. The tip turned white and shown brighter than any flash light Nexus had ever seen. "Come along then." The Doctor said as he started in without them.

"He always like this?" Nexus asked Derpy as they exchanged glances.

"You'll get use to it." Derpy replied following the Doctor in.

"I'd rather not." Nexus said following Derpy.

Normally Nexus was all for going into darkness. He was more comfortable in the dark. But this… wasn't normal. He'd felt this once before when he was-no. He wasn't going to think about that again. He was depressed enough as it was. The Doctor's light cut through the darkness and showed a wall on the other side and another narrow corridor. The walls not be earth if Nexus couldn't see them.

"Another maze inside the maze?" The Doctor wondered out loud.

"There are other ways around." Nexus said. "I'd rather be out there than in here."

"Me too." Derpy said standing close to the Doctor.

"What is wrong with you two?" the Doctor asked. "You see a dark mini-maze inside a massive maze outside of all of space and you want to go around it."

"Exactly the point." Nexus said. "This isn't normal darkness. I've got a real bad feeling about this."

"You worry too much. Come on." The Doctor said walking further into the darkness.

Nexus let out a sigh and followed as close behind as he was willing. He could take care of himself, even if there were unimaginable creatures from space that even the Doctor was afraid of. They always said that getting between a mother and her baby was suicide, well the pony between Nexus and his family was more than suicide. It was more like and earth pony taking a stick to fight a fully armed airship… with their head already in the main cannon… and the cannon shot shuiken and lightning… a-

---

The Doctor turned around to make sure Nexus was still behind him and Ditzy. The light from the Sonic's light was facing ahead but did send a little bit of light behind them. Nexus was just at the edge of it, with blackness covering everything just over his shoulders. Out of the darkness, something grabbed the cyberpony and pulled him away. He heard him shout and he hardly had enough time to spin the sonic around to illuminate the thing that took Nexus away to the sound of something heavy being slammed against the wall.

The Doctor froze at what he saw while Ditzy was horrified by what she was hearing. Nexus was pinned to the wall, choking and wheezing in pain as a stone hand held him to it. The hand was connected the one statue that was outside and still had a head. Its face, once hidden by its hands that were now around Nexus' neck, was twisted in an expression mimicking a powerful scream of rage. From the sound of it there was more than enough pressure on his neck to kill if he didn't get out of it immediately.

"Weeping Angel!" The Doctor shouted keeping the Sonic trained on the statue. "Don't stop looking at it Ditzy and whatever you do, don't blink!"

"O-okay Doctor." Ditzy stammered. "What's it doing?"

"It's trying to send him back in time. It'll send him back then feed on the energy of the life he could have lived. Now don't stop looking at it! It can't move if you your looking."

The Doctor was on the Angel's arms instantly looking for something to exploit as Nexus hacked croaked struggling against the Angel's hold. With one of his bionic legs, he kicked at the Angel's body but it didn't budge. He did used a foreleg to try and break the arms holding him there but nothing would make it budge.

"Hold on Nexus, I'll get you out of here." The Doctor said frantically scanning the Angel with the Sonic.

"Krrrrr… Krrrrrrrrrnnnnn."

"Stop talking and hold on a little longer."

Nexus' eyes started rolling back as he finally got what he wanted to say out. "Krrrrr-Ruuun."

Nexus' body convulsed and he vanished. It left the signature scar in space where they had been that quickly dissipated after being absorbed into the Angel.

"NO!" The Doctor shouted as Ditzy reeled back in fear. "Don't stop looking at it! Don't blink!"

"Where'd Nexus go Doctor?"

"I don't know. But I know for sure we're going get out of here and we are going get Nexus. We just have to break the Paradox Machine and he'll come back. Let's go."

"G-go whe-re?" Ditzy said still shaking. "That's in the way to the closest exit."

"We just have to go through the maze. If that's the trap then this one can't be too hard. Now come on!" He said putting a hoof on her shoulder and his back to the Angel.

Ditzy glanced at the Doctor before looking back at the Angel. She gasped when she saw the Angel's fanged face right in hers. She and the Doctor backed up and they both kept their eyes on it.

"What are we gonna do Doctor?"

"Quick, tie your tail to me."

"What?"

"Tie your tail to me and follow behind me. Do it, I'll watch the Angel just do it quick. I really need to blink."

Ditzy didn't skip a beat, well when she tried tying her tail to his she slipped once but other than that she tied their tail to his very quickly. "Okay done."

"Alright. Walk backwards and follow me. Only blink when we're far from the corners."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna lead us out of here. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah… don't look away and blink when far away from a corner…"

"Good. You're going to be fine Ditzy, just remember, don't blink."

Author's Note:

M: Oh shit….. Did he just-
L: Nope… I don’t think so anyways. I’m sure he’ll be fine! It’s a simple maze with the Angel in it.
M: Are you sure? The Doctor’s never actually beat the Angels you know.
L: Ask Vince. I’m sure he can explain it.
Vince: I’m just an observer sweetie. I don’t even know what’s in that maze.