Doctor Whooves and the Auton Invasion of Equestria

by The Minister of Scones

Part 6: The Autons Attack

“It's 'whomever'.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity's Nestene imposter looked confused. This was not the reaction she had been expecting to her big revelation.

“The one shot is the direct object of the verb 'to shoot',” explained the Doctor, a small smirk dancing across his lips. “Therefore, we are in the accusative case, and 'whomever' is preferable to 'whoever'.

“This is not the...”

“He's right.” Twilight looked rather pleased to find a fellow stickler in the Doctor. “It's a point often overlooked, but the pleasure of...”

“Silence! You are my prisoners! Or perhaps you would like me to relieve you of a limb or two?” She glanced casually down at the gun she had levelled at them.

Twilight looked fascinated. “Doctor, is this a real Nestene?”

“Indeed it is, my dear. You're quite the perceptive pony, aren't you?” Twilight flushed with pride. “I think we'd better do as she says, ladies,” Continued the Doctor. “She's obviously not done this before.” The Doctor backed slowly towards the wall. The others followed. “Now, perhaps you'd like to explain your brilliant plans for taking over the world, and laugh evilly about them for a bit? That's what they usually do at this point.”

“I am no petty villain, Doctor. I am a warrior of the Nestene Consciousness!”

“Oh, you know who I am? Now that, I admit, is surprising.”

“You see, Doctor? Now you fear me.”

“Hardly. I'm just curious to know why you didn't try anything sooner.”

“We only became aware of your presence earlier today, when an Auton scout found you in the woods.”

“Now wait just a minute, y'all. Ah'm beginning to get a little lost, here.” Applejack stared at 'Rarity' and swallowed. “Ya don't mean that Rarity's been some imposter this whole time, do ya?” She looked genuinely worried. Indeed, this went for most of the others. Fluttershy was clearly on the verge of tears, Rainbow and Pinkie were staring wide-eyed at the Nestene, and Spike had curled himself into a quivering ball. Twilight was shocked to feel her emotions, which had so far been buried underneath scientific curiosity, come flooding back to her in a rush.

“Wh… what? You don't think…?”

“Of course not!” snapped Rarity. “Your friend was captured and duplicated. I am the result.” She struck a flattering pose. “And quite an attractive one, if I say so myself.”

Rainbow Dash snarled “If you've done anything to her I'll...”

“She is in perfect health. It is far easier to maintain a copy if one has a connection with a living template… though not impossible. We therefore have a hostage, and I would not recommend that you put her life in any further danger by disobeying.” She turned to Twilight. “Disable the barrier outside this castle.”

Twilight obviously considered defiance, but remembered her friend's plight. With a sigh, she lowered their only protection against the Autons outside. Rarity crossed to the castle doors and admitted the four automata. They stood at one side of the entrance hall; a menacing presence that the ponies found hard to ignore.

“Can I ask a question?” Twilight had stuck her hoof in the air like an excited school-filly, but without the excitement.

“May I...” whispered the Doctor to her.

“May I ask a question?” she corrected herself.

“Ask away,” said the Nestene, “I must transfer control of these four to the Nestene Intelligence, and that will take a little while.”

“Wait, you were controlling those things?” asked Spike.

“Yes I was.” She glared at him. “And it caused not a little pain when you melted them, I might add.”

“Sorry… wait, no I'm not! Er… I'm confused,” he admitted, finally.

“So how come the Nestene Intelligence was ready so quickly?” The Doctor decided to ask one of his questions, much to the irritation of Twilight, who hadn't asked hers yet. “I didn't expect you to find so many energy units within one day.”

“Careful planning, Doctor. We have learned from our mistakes of the past. We have had a Nestene, the Invasion Director, in charge of a new plastics factory for over a year, now. It was simple to duplicate and replace the real owner. Next, he created an army of Autons, mostly operative in Canterlot as shop-window dummies, tailor's dummies… you get the idea.” The Doctor nodded, distractedly. “We knew that Equestria's strongest defence was the Elements of Harmony, and therefore our plan was to replace the bearers with Nestene duplicates, then use them to put the princesses out of the way. I was the first, created in secret at the factory. We knew that the mare Rarity would require tailor's dummies, so we placed adverts in some of the more fashionable magazines, and she ordered six immediately – all Autons, of course. They arrived three weeks ago. They neutralised her, and I arrived in Ponyville shortly afterwards. I took a complete scan of her memories, and took her place. No one suspected a thing. Next, we carefully planned the landing of the energy units. We needed nine, but organised eleven.”

“Said so.” The Doctor looked smug.

“We planned them on a night when we could hide them in the storm – thank you, by the way. It was an absolutely gorgeous storm. I don't think anyone in Ponyville spotted them.”

“Why, you...” Rainbow Dash's rage was etched across her face, and she had Rarity fixed in a death glare.

“We even planned the locations for them to land. Everything was organised perfectly. In the space of one day, we've successfully assembled a portion of the Nestene Intelligence at the Carousel Boutique.”

“Hold on...” Spike was clearly perturbed by talking to a duplicate of one of his best friends. “Why did you decide to tell us about your new dummies this morning. I mean, if you'd had 'em weeks and all.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Haven't you been listening? We sighted the Doctor in the woods. Our plans were thrown into disarray. He was far too unpredictable a presence.”

“Oh! Thank you!”

Rarity glared at the Doctor. “I didn't intend it as a compliment,” she said icily.

“I'm sure you didn't.”

“In any case, we observed him finding an energy unit. We knew he'd come here sooner or later, so the Director wanted me there first. He's come down from Canterlot especially to see you, you know. You should be honoured, Doctor. I needed an excuse to visit, and the dummies seemed as good as any. Rarity does get excited about the silliest things.”

“Don't ya go talkin' 'bout our friend like that,” glared Applejack. The Nestene ignored her. “You listen to me when Ah'm talkin'! Do you mean to say that you've been parading around looking like Rarity this whole time, eatin' with us, playin' with us, workin' with us?”

“Why, of course, darling! It really was incredibly simple. After all, I had all of Rarity's memories, and you are all terribly easy to get on with. I almost wished I could stay a little longer...”

“You… you… snake in the grass!” snarled Applejack, furious at the deception.

“You toad in the hole!” added Pinkie, not to be outdone.

Twilight looked a little cross, and quite upset. “You've literally answered every single question I wanted to ask,” she complained.

She was cut short in her regrets by a croak from an Auton:

changeover complete – now under control of intelligence – maximum power attained

“Excellent.” 'Rarity' cast a glance over her prisoners. “Although we will not be able to replace you and destroy the royal family as we originally intended, you may yet be of some help to us.”

“If you think we're going to help you,” barked Rainbow Dash, flying close so that her nose touched Rarity's, “you can just...” She was cut short as Rarity sighed and jabbed her gun in Rainbow's face. Rainbow gulped, landed, and resumed her position by the wall.

“Rainbow, darling, whatever gave you the idea that you would have any choice in the matter?”

“I'd be careful, if I were you,” advised the Doctor. “You haven't won yet, you know.”

“On the contrary, Doctor!” As Rarity spoke, her horn began to glow, and an image magically appeared in mid air before the astonished ponies. It showed a scene in what was clearly the shopping district in Canterlot. Autons, often still clad in their display clothes, were smashing through windows and rampaging through the streets, shooting at everything that moved. They were all firing their muzzle-cannons rather than hoof-guns, and the streets were littered with the bodies of dead ponies. As they watched, horror-stricken, a grey earth-stallion with a moustache came charging out of a shop, fleeing for his life, and was gunned down by two Autons at once.

“Mmm. Rarity will be pleased,” remarked not-Rarity. “He owned the shop she was hoping to rent.”

“You… you monster!” The Doctor was plainly furious.

“How… how can you do that?” Fluttershy finally gave in. A salt waterfall of tears cascaded down her face as she let out little sobs. Applejack rushed to comfort her, glaring at Rarity. Gradually Fluttershy's tears stopped, and she gave in to coughing. Before them, fires had sprung up, and several Canterlot properties were being incinerated.

“Yer just plain sick, no doubt about it.”

“Oh, do be quiet, you dull little ponies. That's just a recording from an hour ago. Imagine the chaos now, hmm?” The image disappeared. The castle door burst open, and four more Autons walked in. “Ah, I see my back up has arrived. Join the others at the back, boys.”

“Hold on,” Twilight said, doing a quick head-count, “that makes eight. You said there were six.”

“The Intelligence has already started producing more. Unfortunately, that takes a little more energy than it can create itself,” – she grinned evilly – “which is where you come in.”

“Um… I… oh my.” Fluttershy was sitting on the floor in a ball of scaredness. At these words, she curled herself even tighter.

“You will be drained of your life-force to feed the Intelligence. Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit.”

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

“All right, of course it will hurt. A lot. But keep still, and I promise it won't hurt for long.” She grinned at them malevolently. “Take the Doctor first.” This last was casually directed at two Autons, who obediently crossed the hall to the Doctor. They raised their forehooves – their left ones, this time – and the ends fell away, but instead of guns, they revealed wicked blades, which began quickly to rotate. “Regrettably, we do have to make a small incision or two. Auto Plastics apologises for any inconvenience caused. Brace yourselves.” The two Autons advanced menacingly. The remaining six stepped forward and trained their muzzle-cannons on the other ponies.

The Doctor gulped. This did not go unnoticed.

“Don't be scared, Doctor. If you feel our services could be improved in any way, why not make use of our newly installed suggestions box?”

“T- Twilight,” whispered Fluttershy, “can't we do anything to help him?”

“Not without being shot by those things… I don't think-”

Before she could finish, the door burst open once again. A group of a dozen ponies clad in khaki combat gear charged in, carrying what looked like enormous metal cylinders, so heavy that each required two ponies to carry it. Before the dim-witted Autons could react, the soldiers pressed switches on the side of the devices. Torrents of energy streamed out of the ends, each one fixing on an Auton, and quite literally pulling it apart, tearing it limb from limb, into smaller and smaller chunks. The soldiers were followed through the door by Princess Luna and an unfamiliar salmon-coloured unicorn stallion. The princess seized the two remaining Autons in a magical aura, allowing the soldiers to take aim again and destroy the survivors. Luna then fired a beam of magic at the astonished Rarity duplicate, freezing her to the spot.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight dashed forward to greet the new arrival.

“Princess Twilight, I trust you are not...” Luna trailed off as she cast a glance across the room. “Doctor?”

“Luny! You recognised me!”

“Good Doctor, you have an ambience that it is not easy to forget.”

“What in the world are you doing here, old girl?”

“Professor Crater Mass here noticed some strange meteorites last night. We came to investigate.”

“What?” Twilight stood before her, mouth agape. “Luna, I had no idea...”

Luna looked awkward. “Perhaps I should have told you sooner. It was only when I found one that I realised that the threat was alien. I teleported to UNIT Headquarters with one of them, and they told me that it was a Nestene energy unit. They provided these soldiers and anti-Auton guns.”

“Ah, yes.” The Doctor chewed his lip thoughtfully. “You were, ahem, absent during their last incursion, weren't you?”

“Quite. I had never heard of them. They were in the process of equipping this division when the Autons started attacking in Canterlot. Celestia and UNIT now have the crisis under control.”

“Excellent,” responded the Doctor. “That should buy us a little time. But really, Luna, you should have told me you were here. I've spent ages trying to convince this lot that I'm not a madpony.”

“Why did you not try to contact me? I could have vouched for you.”

“Ah. Well. I'll be honest. Sort of forgot you weren't still on the moon. History not my subject. Sorry.”

“It is indeed fortunate that I thought to come back. I knew that we would need the Elements, but when I arrived I heard that you had been chased into your castle by these… 'Autons'. Luckily, I had brought a small taskforce with me.”

“Lucky indeed,” agreed the Doctor. “Luna, what is the situation in Canterlot?”

“We have cordoned off the area in which the Autons are attacking. We are preparing to march in and destroy them.”

“That's just what they'll be expecting. By the time you're ready, the Nestene Intelligence will be powerful enough to obliterate your forces.”

“Then what can we do, Doctor?”

“We have to strike now at the Carousel Boutique.”

“Why there?”

“They've been using it as their base of… look, there isn't time for me to explain all this. I'll bring you up to speed. Contact.”

“Contact,” said Luna her horn beginning to glow.

“Right.” Both closed their eyes in deep concentration.

“Psst!” whispered Rainbow Dash to Twilight. “What's going on?”

“As far as I can tell, they've set up a magic-assisted telepathic link in order to exchange...”

“Err, the non-egghead version, please.”

“Oh, um… they're sharing memories. Telling each other what's been going on.”

After a few moments, Luna and the Doctor were finished. Luna turned to the still-frozen 'Rarity', and looked her up and down.

“Well, that explains why there is suddenly a Nestene version of poor Rarity.”

“Hold on,” Twilight interrupted, “how come you two know each other?”

“Well, bear in mind that I'm a time-traveller, Princess Sparkle.”

“Suffice it to say that he and I have a long history of friendship. Celestia will be delighted to see you, Doctor.”

“Oh dear...” Twilight looked glum. “Princess Celestia must be rather shocked by all this. I tried to contact her before, you see, but she was so busy that she didn't read my note. I'm afraid I… oh dear, I'm so sorry, Princess Luna. I should have contacted you. I suppose I still think of Princess Celestia as my mentor, and… well, I never really thought of… I'm sorry.” She gazed up at the princess, eyes wide as saucers. Unsurprisingly, Luna found it hard to be cross, and besides, she didn't really want to be.

“That's quite all right, Twilight. I should have told you the real purpose for my visit. The truth is that I have been feeling a little… well, unnecessary. You and Celestia seem to be the ones who always save Equestria and rescue ponies from the jaws of death, and I usually find myself curing a few ponies of nightmares, or solving friendship problems. I just wanted a chance to be the heroine, for once. I should apologise to Professor Crater Mass, too. I'm afraid I was so determined not to get you involved that I was rather rude to him. I'm sorry, Professor.” The professor looked up from a charred chunk of Auton that he was examining.

“Oh, how kind!” He was clearly unaware of the entire conversation. Twilight was a little more touched.

“Oh, Princess, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you felt like that.”

“Please, Twilight, call me Luna.”

“Of course, Luna.” They smiled at one another.

“Look, before all this gets too soppy, I'd like to point out that the kingdom is still under attack by an army of super-powerful robots.” Rainbow's interjection took the Princesses by surprise, particularly since she and the other Element Bearers had been keeping quiet up till then.

“That's a good point!” The Doctor turned to Twilight. “Your majesty, I require use of your laboratory post haste or forthwith, whichever is the sooner.”

“Of course, Doctor – and do stop calling me 'Princess Sparkle'. Twilight is fine.”

“Very well, Miss Sparkle.”

“No, I… never mind. It'll do for now.”

“Splendid. Any chance of a helping hoof, Professor?” The professor looked up from a surviving Auton weapon that he was poking with a thermometer.

“What? Oh, yes, gladly!” He and the Doctor headed for the basement.

“Oh,” shouted the Doctor over his shoulder, “before I forget, feel free to question that Rarity duplicate, but don't forget to sever her link with the Intelligence, Luna!”

“Thank you, Doctor. I shall remember.” She turned to Twilight. “Do you think you could do it for me? I have already had to manage one extremely long-range teleportation spell today.”

“Of course.” Twilight levelled her horn at the dummy, and prepared to cast.

---

The Doctor and Crater Mass descended the steps to the castle basement, the professor in the lead.

“There's just one thing I don't understand, Doctor.”

“What's that, professor?”

“How did you know she had a laboratory down here?”

“Intuition, my dear chap. I can sniff out a laboratory within a radius of five miles – horizontally, anyway.”

“Remarkable.”

Reaching the bottom of the stone stairway, the professor flicked the light switch on. What he saw left him stupefied. Row upon row of advanced computational machinery filled the vast room, and what was really remarkable was that the equipment was clearly not of pony origin – rather, it seemed fashioned out of the crystal itself. For the room was, like the rest of the castle, hewn entirely from the crystal of the Tree of Harmony, and as the single light source – a large white crystal suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room – lit up, the chamber was flooded with heavenly light, as the rays were refracted and diffracted across the room. Crater Mass inhaled, deeply. “As I expected, this is better than I dared hope.”

“To work, old fellow. There's no time to fritter away admiring the architecture. Those Autons will be able to mow down the royal forces in a little while. Now then...” He walked over to a nearby chemical workbench.

“What exactly are you planning, Doctor?”

“Something to put the wind up the Nestene Intelligence. If I can remember the formula – which, I concede, is by no means a given – I ought to be able to brew up enough anti-plastic to put a stop to an entire invasion force.”

---

The Nestene Invasion Subordinate was not having a good day. Firstly, her lovely 'murder and replace the Element Bearers one by one' job had suddenly become a 'just kill them all and get on with it' one. No one needs that. But now, she had been captured and humiliated, and her psychic link to the Nestene Intelligence had been completely severed! She was already beginning to feel a little fuzzy round the edges. This was ignominy no lady should have to endure… oh, terrific. Now she was beginning to think like Rarity. An unfortunate side-effect of using a living template to maintain an appearance was that one occasionally absorbed some of the copied pony's personality into the bargain. No matter. What was most awful was that she was now paralysed from the neck down, and being ogled by a bunch of sweaty soldiers and glared at by her erstwhile friends… well, all right, she hadn't actually liked them – not much anyway. It wasn't as though she had formed any kind of fondness for them. That would be ridiculous.

“WHAT REASON HAVE YOU TO ATTACK A PEACEFUL LAND?” Ah, yes. She had forgotten about Princess Moody herself, who was now bellowing at her in what her borrowed memories informed her was the so-called 'Royal Canterlot Voice'. The real Rarity had always secretly thought that Princess Luna's voice was rather annoying, and the Invasion Subordinate (what a title) had inherited this opinion along with a flair for fashion and a habit of calling everyone and everything 'darling'.

Her situation, in short, was something of an 'own personal Tartarus' scenario, and she therefore felt herself justified in responding in language that she was forced to admit was a modicum unladylike. Hayseed! She was thinking like Rarity again!

“THOU SHALT GIVE ANSWER! OR WOULDST THOU RATHER BE TURN'D OVER TO THE TORTURERS?”

“Um, Luna?” Twilight, who was standing next to Luna, looked up at her. “We don't have any torturers.”

“Thank you, Twilight. What if she had believed me and answered my questions? That would never have done.”

Twilight blushed, and her ears flopped down over her face. “Sorry...”

“No matter,” said the Nestene that they were all trying very hard not to think of as 'Rarity'. “I would be immune to that sort of thing, anyway. We can immunise ourselves physical pain, except when melted.” She glared at Spike, who still looked a little traumatised. One's beloved doesn't turn out to be a maniacal alien in disguise every day, after all.

“UNLESS THOU WILLST ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, BE SILENT!” barked the Fuhrer of Friendship Castle, seemingly intent on making up for her handling of the situation so far.

“Well, darling,” – on this word, the Nestene, for no apparent reason, flinched – “unless you want me to refuse to answer any of your questions at all, may I suggest that you quieten down a little?”

“She… she really does act like Rarity, doesn't she?” whispered a concerned Rainbow Dash to Applejack. “It's freaking me out big-time.”

“Yer tellin' me. Ah don't like it one bit. It's uncanny.”

Luna was visibly furious. “Very well,” she fumed, “I shall ask once more: what is your purpose in coming here?”

“I would have thought that was obvious.” This remark was met by blank stares; Rarity sighed. “Very well. Time for a science lesson. What exactly is plastic?” Twilight's hoof shot up. “Yes, Twilight?”

“Plastics are a set of resinous or other synthetic substances.” It was a textbook definition, just as one might expect.

“Quite correct, and how is it manufactured?”

What remained of Luna's patience was fast running out. “This is neither the time nor the place for...”

“Please, Princess, a little longer. Twilight?”

“Through the magical or mechanical manipulation of hydrocarbons.”

“Splendid. Concise and alliterative. And what are hydrocarbons made of? – Now, Twilight, let's not always see the same hooves. Anypony else?” She scanned the ponies before her. “Rainbow? Fluttershy? No? Wait a minute… Pinkamena Dianne Pie, are you chewing gum?” She wanted to walk over, but the paralysis spell prevented her from doing anything but glare at the unfortunate pink pony.

“Er… maybe?” It was true. Pinkie had acquired this unfortunate habit relatively recently, in order to get as much sugar as possible in a single day.

“I hope you brought enough for everyone.”

“Well, as it happens...”

“Shut up. Why, may I ask, are you chewing gum during my lesson?”

“Um…” Pinkie looked around at her friends for help – none was forthcoming. “Isn't it supposed to help you concentrate?”

“Indeed? Then perhaps you could answer my question, hmm?”

“Is it hydrogen and carbon?”

Rarity looked surprised at this. “Well, yes. That's quite correct. Not bad.”

“Not bad for the stupid one?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Pinkie levelled an accusatory stare at her ex-captor. “That's what you called me. Before, you said – Pinkie Pie sculpted her hair into a Rarity-like style, assumed an appropriate pose, and delivered, to her credit, a nigh-on perfect vocal impression of Rarity – “I'm afraid that, for once, the stupid one is quite right.”

“Oh… did I say that? I'm sorry, Pinkie. That was wrong of me.” Rarity broke off, realising that everypony was now staring at her. She shook her head, which was, after all, all she could shake. “Anyway, the point is that we need hydrogen and carbon to make Autons and Nestenes, and to make the Intelligence more powerful. Hydrogen's easy enough: we can get it from water. Carbon, though; that's harder. Our usual system is to burn whatever we can lay our hooves on. It releases massive amounts of carbon, which we can then use to make plastic.” She smiled at them. They didn't smile back.

“Then why Equestria?” Twilight asked.

“Equestria has more magic in it than almost anywhere else in the universe. Naturally some of the magic is absorbed by the surroundings. Burning Equestria will provide us with an incredible supply of magical carbon, to create more powerful soldiers than ever before – and despite your friend the Doctor's high-minded lectures, this time, nothing will stop us!”

---

“Pass that flask of ethylpethylmine chloride, will you, Professor?”

“Of course, Doctor.”

“Thank you.” The Doctor emptied it into a crucible of a thick black liquid that he had been brewing up. It turned a milky pink, then white, and bubbled threateningly.

“You know, it really is an honour to work with you, Doctor. Luna's told me so much about you.”

“Oh, really? And have you told her about you?”

“You noticed?” The Professor looked surprised, but not displeased.

“Well, you've done a good job of hiding it. It was a fair few minutes before I was sure. But hasn't Princess Luna noticed anything untoward? Oh, could you pass me the dipsilhydride omnibomnuscate?”

“Here you are. Well, no, not really. I don't age as fast as I ought, of course, but alicorns tend not to notice that sort of thing. Some of the research staff have been a little suspicious, but they're too keen on promotion to try and accuse me directly of… I say, shouldn't you add a little ashenol?”

“Oh, yes, thanks… well, isn't it hard pretending?”

“Mostly, I'm used to it. It's been a little difficult, lately, though, pretending to be ignorant of all this alien stuff. Though to be honest, I rarely got to do any fieldwork in the Chancery Office. I've never heard of these Nestenes before.”

“But won't she notice when you die?”

“I doubt that very much. Last regeneration, you see. They usually wait till you're on your last legs before they forcibly retire you.”

“They certainly didn't with me. I've got two more bodies to go, if I've counted right.”

“What? Rassilon's Rod, you don't mean you've been retired too?”

“Afraid so… ah, I'll tell about it you later. It just needs a drop of dihydrogen-monoxide and it'll be ready to go.”

---

“Whatever the Doctor's making down there, I hope it's effective.” Twilight was pacing backwards and forwards, and already there were visible scuff-marks in the castle floor. “With Rarity captured, the Elements of Harmony are completely useless. We might as well just wave jewellery at them!”

“Don't worry, Twilight!” Fluttershy tried to comfort her, placing a hoof on her shoulder, causing Twilight to stop pacing. “I'm sure it'll be fine. He did a great job of improving Angel's bunny-feed.”

“There's more at stake here than a rabbit's dietary well-being… I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I'm just a little bit upset. I don't know what we're going to do.”

“That's okay, Twilight. We're all worried.”

At that moment, the Doctor strode back in, carrying a test-tube full of a thin dark-blue liquid. “anti-plastic!” he cried triumphantly.

“Wh- what?” Twilight had obviously never heard of any such thing.

“It's an aggravated physicochemical poly-acidic synthesis-”

“Uh, the version you don't have to be the lamest pony in Equestria to understand, please?” Rainbow Dash looked unimpressed with the Doctor's explanation, and who can blame her? Even Twilight was confused.

Unabashed, the Doctor continued “Well, perhaps a demonstration is what's required.” He and Professor Crater Mass approached a now cooled chunk of ex-Auton, about the size of a pony's head. He uncorked the tube, and inclined it slightly, letting a single drop fall onto the plastic. As it touched the surface, the plastic began to bubble, and the liquid seeped into it. The whole thing turned a vivid blue, and within seconds the plastic had melted away, and then boiled away into the air, split up into gasses once more. The Nestene, still paralysed, tried to recoil, but settled for flinching.

“Now,” continued the Doctor, “I'd like to see that overgrown lump of slime get the better of me this time!”

Author's Note:

Next episode: A New True Friend