Chapter 10: Run!
“DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!”
“Ah, now before you do that, I should tell you something,” interrupted the humanoid Doctor. The Cybermen literally froze in place. “This is actually quite interesting as I came across this situation not too long ago. Sonic technology, although effective, is neither mass-produced nor easy to come by. I’m partly to blame for that, but we’re not here to point fingers - or hooves - and what is quite fascinating is what happens when you put together two specific sonic devices.”
“We have deemed that you are stalling for time,” announced one of the Cybermen.
“Perhaps. Or maybe, I was just waiting to set the right calibrations, before I did THIS!” As soon as the Doctor finished his sentence he pulled out the screwdriver his counterpart gave him as well as his own. The Doctor placed the ends together and activated both simultaneously. A high-pitched wail could be heard by everypony in the room. The Cybermen began to shake violently as they started overloading. The others covered their ears until the Doctor stopped the screwdrivers. The Cybermen didn’t stop shaking though and the Doctor knew that this was their chance. “Everyone, it’s time to do what I do best. RUN!” Without a hint of hesitation the entire group pushed past the Cybermen and the Cyberponies and ran for the exit. They got to the hallway and found two choices open to them, left and right.
“We need to split up,” said the pony Doctor.
“Agreed, this ends today. I’ll take Dash, Tavi and Rarity.”
“Hey! If you're taking Tavi then I’m coming with,” demanded Vinyl.
“I’ll take everypony else then,” confirmed the pony Doctor. Without another word, the two groups ran their separate ways. Moments later, the Cybermen regained control over themselves and resumed their metallic march after the group. They chose to chase after the pony Doctor’s group, but they were already far ahead.
The pony Doctor’s legs were beginning to feel the burn. Guess I’m a bit out of shape, he thought to himself. Pinkie, despite the situation they were in, was keeping up with the Doctor by simply hopping. Despite the cheerful action, there was a glint of fear in her eyes. Both Fluttershy and Ditzy were right behind them. Neither of them were flying, instead, they opted to run. They were far ahead of the Cybermen due to their need to have a uniformed march, but that didn’t slow down the pace of the ponies. Nopony was sure exactly where they were, having ran for a solid two minutes through multiple turns without paying much attention to the direction they were headed. Fluttershy had wished that Twilight was with them, as she had spent so much time in the castle that she would have known where they were. Eventually the Doctor spotted a room and formulated a change of strategy. “Everypony, follow me.” They ran towards the door but Ditzy stopped before entering.
“But Doctor, what if they find us?” She asked in a panicked tone.
“They won’t; I believe we lost them. We have to come up with a plan.” Without another word the Doctor trotted towards the door and beckoned the others to follow him through. He opened the door and waited for everypony to run in before quietly closing it behind him. Fluttershy spoke up louder than usual.
“Shouldn’t we make sure they can’t get through?” The Doctor was ahead of her and used his sonic screwdriver to lock the doors, but Pinkie had other ideas.
“Alright everypony, stand back!” she cried. Pinkie moved faster than should have been physically possible. Pieces of furniture began to be stacked in front of the doorway, blocking anypony from coming through. Chairs, a large wardrobe and other bits and pieces came together to make the large doorstop. Pinkie eventually stopped and nodded at the others. “There we go, your aunty Pinkie Pie has made it safe.”
“I’m nine hundred years older than you,” the Doctor muttered. The Doctor was now satisfied that they were secure and took in his surroundings. This was formerly a pony’s bedroom, probably an important staff member. The walls were a dark purple and on them were pinned up blueprints and plans, amongst other things. The room had been turned into a planning room. The blueprints had designs for the pony cybermen. On closer inspection they detailed how to convert the biology to the suit but some of the notes warned they would be insufficient materials to convert the entire populace of Equestria.
“Do you think they’ll kill the other races like the Griffons and the Dragons?” asked Ditzy.
“Goodness, what makes you think that?” questioned Fluttershy, whose soft tone of voice had returned to her.
“Well look, all of these blueprints show how to make a pony into one of those… things. There’s nothing for Wolves or Dragons or Diamond dogs, not even Zebras. What makes us so special?” There was a small silence that was shared amongst the group. The castle itself was also nearly silent. If you listened closely, you could hear the occasional metal footstep hitting the ground far off into the distance. The Doctor let out a long heavy sigh as he finished his pondering.
“It appears that even if they focused entirely on the pony population, they would not have enough resources to convert all of us,” he began. “There’s something else going on here, maybe this ‘element x’ has something to do with it. The answer may very well be in this room.”
“If that’s the case, then why isn’t this room guarded?” asked Pinkie.
“These Cybermen are machines, so they already have all the information they need stored in their mechanical brains. Additionally, I don’t think there are enough of them right now to be worried about guarding one room. Everypony, start looking around for anything useful. Anything that could show what they’re doing.” Nopony wasted anytime, but due to the amount of blueprints and papers that were scattered on the floor and carelessly piled up on one another, nopony was sure where to begin. In the end, the group began in the four different corners of the room, each taking their own corner. The Doctor glanced through quickly as he slowly approached Pinkie Pie.
“Y’know, this all feels strangely familiar,” muttered Pinkie. The Doctor overheard her as he was looking around the room.
“Really? Have you been in this scenario before?”
“Not exactly, this sounds like one of the Doctor’s stories. The other Doctor I mean.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, well one time I invited the Doctor to make some scrumalicous goodies with me. He came over and while we were baking he told me some of his adventures. He mentioned these ‘cybermen’ before and there were these creatures he didn’t want to talk about but he described as giant pepper pots on wheels but that’s just silly. There were also moving statues and this meanie-pants called the Master…”
“… The Master?”
“Yeah, he said he was a bad Time Lord who tried to take over and stuff. Oh wait, you must have met somepony like that too.”
“Yes, I remember him very well,” the Doctor said with a grimace. “There were other such Time Lords like him, but the Master stuck out among the rest as the most despicable. I always thought it was an interesting name to go by. The Master, it kind of stick, doesn't it?” The Doctor didn’t get a chance to think it over any further as Fluttershy beckoned him over. The Doctor expected to see Fluttershy holding a folder or blueprint, but instead, she was beckoning everypony to the window.
“Fluttershy, what is it?” asked the Doctor. She didn’t say anything, perhaps she was in shock but she kept pointing out of the window. The Doctor peered outside and quickly realised what it was that had her so shocked. Canterlot was being covered in antennas much like the one in Ponyville. However, they only needed one to control the populace of Canterlot. Why were there so many?
“This has to be linked to their final plan,” the Doctor pondered allowed. “Everypony, we need to move, double time!”
Meanwhile…
Two Cybermen we’re just around the corner. The Time Lord carefully peered around the edge of the wall, careful not to alert the mechanical men to his presence. He checked behind him and his group was still intact. He put a finger to his lips so they would keep quiet. Dash was keeping Rarity close to her and Vinyl was doing the same with Octavia. The Doctor could hear the two Cybermen begin to march again and peered around the wall once more. He was satisfied that they were in the clear, but before he could move, Dash whispered to him as quietly as she could.
“So what the heck are we doing here?”
“I asked Rarity if she knew where Luna’s chambers were,” he replied. “Did you notice how Celestia acted differently than the other controlled ponies?”
“Yeah, the others acted like zombies,” said Vinyl. “The princess was like in control of her mind, but wasn’t at the same time…”
“… It was like she was seeing something different than what was actually happening,” finished Octavia. The Doctor nodded in agreement.
“The Princesses are old, older than me. Like me they can’t be simply controlled due to their advanced anatomy and brain power, so the cybermen have to manipulate them.” Rarity, who had remained silent up until this point realised something.
“So why would they keep them alive then? Surely they could kill them and then they would be put out of the way.”
“Exactly, that means they need them. For what, I’m not sure yet.”
“So Princess Luna is still alive?” asked a hopeful Octavia.
“Hopefully, we’re about to find out.” The Doctor ran towards the wall and signalled the others to join him. The Doctor quickly pulled out his screwdriver and unlocked the door. He edged the handle down and lightly pushed it with his weight against the door. There was only a deep blackness at first, but soon some of the bedroom was illuminated. A bed could be seen on the far side of the room, but there didn’t seem to be anypony in it. The décor of the room was black and blue which fitted the Princess of the night’s style. The Doctor held the door so the others could get in first before shutting the door quietly behind him. The amount of books in the room rivalled Twilight’s library but many seemed to be collecting dust. Obviously Luna didn’t have the time to read most of them. The curtains were drawn with small cracks of sunlight piercing through the edges of the curtains that added faint light to the room. Suddenly, the candles located around the room ignited and a familiar voice could be heard above the group.
“I’m so glad that you’re all here.” Everypony looked up at Princess Luna who was descending upon the group. “I was hoping to see you all before everything came to fruition.” The group bunched together and tried to back towards the door, but Luna landed in front of the exit. “I must thank you, Doctor. You helped bring the ones that will lead us all to Utopia.” The Doctor didn’t even have to look at Luna’s ears to know that she was being manipulated. Luna looked happy. Too happy - deranged happy.
“Princess Luna,” cried Rarity. “Tell me you’re not…”
“… Enlightened?” finished Luna. “Why yes I am, dear Element of Generosity. At first I was admittedly afraid when the metal men came and put these earplugs on me.” She made a point to lightly touch both earplugs. “But now I see things that will end all conflict and fighting forever. TIS A GLORIOUS DAY FOR ALL!”
“Ah, now I see,” said the Doctor. “Their leading you by emphasising that they’ll get rid of the one thing you and Celestia hate most. War. Conflict. With that it opens your minds to mind control. Because that’s what the earplugs are telling you, aren’t they?” Luna snorted at the Doctor.
“Clearly since none of you wear them you do not understand.” Luna looked up at the ceiling; she began to reminisce on the past, a dangerous thing to do when one is as old as she. “A thousand years ago my sister and I declared war on each other. What started as a civil war escalated into a world war between all of the races on the planet until I was defeated. So many things happened in that war. Both my sister and I felt we had no choice at the time, but looking back, we have both agreed we have far more blood on our hooves than anypony should have. Do you understand us, Doctor?” The ponies around the Doctor’s feet looked up at him in curiosity. Waiting for him to answer.
“… Yes, yes I do understand.”
“That isn’t something you’ll find in the history books as it has been turned into a story for foals. Today most ponies believe that the fight was purely between me and my sister, but how wrong they are. Like many of the atrocities committed in that war...” Luna paused before continuing, composing herself as she relived an especially painful memory. “I lost my son you know. Carnage Moon was his name. He wanted to serve and protect his mother along with the rest of my soldiers who believed that the night was the best.” The Doctor could see an angry scowl appear on the face of the DJ next to him.
“It isn’t about what was best!” shouted Vinyl. “Do you know why everypony sleeps during the night? Not because they shun it, it’s because they feel safe! They feel protected because they trust the pony in charge to look after them!”
“And I forgot that,” whispered the princess. “They have told me your past Doctor. I know what you did in the last great Time war.” The grimace that appeared on the Doctor’s face told the whole story. “I am surprised you would try to stop this. This will prevent conflict amongst all of us for all time.”
“Luna, I’m sorry but you’re being manipulated! Think about what else will happen when everypony is turned into a cyberpony. No more emotions, the cyberponies will never advance, you will all just stop. You will all stay exactly the same way forever!”
“Maybe that is best, Doctor.”
“You don’t mean that Luna, you can’t!” The Doctor felt an unfamiliar glow around him and before he could react he was being picked up by Luna’s magic.
“You do not tell me what I mean. If you insist on stopping us then you must…” Luna never had a chance to finish her sentence as a princess-sized bed slammed straight into her. The Doctor fell a foot back to the ground as he turned around to see who threw it. To their surprise, it was Vinyl. The way she stood on her two hind legs and her forelegs in the air suggested that she had actually thrown it using her strength rather than her magic.
“Vi-Vinyl! Ho-how did you…?” spluttered Octavia. Everypony heard Luna beginning to get up and the Doctor knew this was their chance.
“Rainbow!” he shouted. “Take off her earplugs, now!” Rainbow gave a salute and in no time at all, the ‘self-proclaimed fastest flyer in all of Equestria’ held two earplugs in her hoof. Luna was knocked out, and this worried Dash when she remembered what was meant to happen when a pony had their plugs removed, though the Doctor assured her she was okay. “Relax, Luna’s mind is stronger than average ponies so both princesses are safe from suffering a neuron implosion. She should be out for only a moment.” Everypony returned their attentions back to Vinyl who was sheepishly rubbing a hoof against the back of her head.
“Darling, have you been taking trips to the gym lately?” asked Rarity.
“Um, not exactly,” replied Vinyl who was trying to dodge the harsh stare from her longtime friend, Octavia. Nopony had the chance to press any further as Luna began to stir awake. The Doctor cautiously approached her, keeping his screwdriver at the ready. It couldn’t fight her off, but it was enough to reassure the Time Lord. Almost immediately the Doctor could see the look of dread upon the night princesses face. She looked up at him with tears beginning to form in her eyes.
“Tell me I have been having the most awful nightmare.” The Doctor shook his head. “By the gods, what must mother and Carnage think of me now!?” There was no mask she could wear, nor any composure she could bring forth to stop the tears pouring down her face. She jumped at the Doctor and wrapped her forehooves around him to try and gain some comfort and the Time Lord returned the hug. Despite the cybermen telling the Doctor that he didn’t bring them here, he couldn’t help but feel like this was all his fault.
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2682562 The issue is that due to them still being the dominant species they have a small population and magic takes care of the majority of their needs still so most scientists try to advance in magic rather than technology. That's how I see it anyway but you make some interesting points.
Luna had a son? EXPLAIN EXPLAIN EXPLAIN!
2693418
I want to know what is going on with Vinyl.
2693237 I've also thought that being their innovators are split between magic and tech it would go slower, but not that much slower. (That's why I said 50-100 years, for us at the turn of the century we would already have it, or only be a few years away. Well atleast for the wireless telegraph, not really voice comm yet.)
2693904 But history can change depending, what the Doctor saw may what will happen currently but consider the introduction of the cyberman technology. Depending on what Celestia does with it and what is scavaged if they win, it could forward technology by years.
2693950 Good point. Bad Cybermen, you're screwing with their culture, Starfleet would have your heads.
2693964 XD I'm loving this little debate.
2693418 god i made an oc that was lunas and sombreś sun.... help i need stuff, thats original!