Doctor Whooves Classic: The Five Doctors

by Tragicom

Chapter Eight

The death of The Castellan was still fresh in Five's mind. The Doctor, in any incarnation, refused to stop thinking. He would always live a tortured life, always asking himself the same question.

"Was I right?"

Flavia noticed Five's disposition. "Doctor, please don't worry. I'm sure that your other selves and your friends will be fine."

"I'm more concerned for Gallopfrey as a whole." He replied.

This confused Flavia. "We've already found the traitor, Doctor."

"Have we?" he asked. "I've known The Castellan for some time now. He was narrow-minded, yes, but he was fiercely loyal to the Ancient and Worshipful Law. Any mention of the Dark Times filled him with terror. I can't help but think that he was telling the truth about the scrolls being planted on him."

Flavia considered this. "If it will alleviate your concerns, I will speak with the guard who killed him. I'm sure to learn a thing or two."

"Thank you," Five said. Flavia left to do so.

"And I'll talk to Borusa." he whispered.

Meanwhile with The Third Doctor...

"You cannot be serious!" Twilight shouted.

"It's simple, Miss Sparkle." Three explained. "I'll throw the grappling hook, you'll hold on to me, we swing across, and once we're close enough, you teleport us onto the balcony."

"Yes, but we'll need to do a lot of math, account for weight, wind speed, gravity-is gravity different here on Gallopfrey?" Twilight ranted.

"Miss Sparkle, sometimes in life, you just need to take a chance." Three countered.

"Like when?" she asked.

"Like trusting five young mares you've just met."

Twilight promptly shut up. There was pretty much nothing she could say to come back from that.

The two walked to the edge of the cliff. Three threw the grappling hook, and it was able to connect to the balcony. Twilight grabbed on to Three's neck.

"I'm ready."

Three jumped from the cliff and the two swung across the gap. Twilight, of course, screamed for her life, but was able to get them to the balcony all the same.

"Thank you, Miss Sparkle." Three said, collecting his grappling hook.

"Not a problem," she replied, "just please don't ask me to do that again."

"Trust me, you'll be put through several major ordeals in the future that have nothing to do with me." Three said. He then put his front hoof on her shoulder. "And I have the utmost faith that you'll succeed."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, Doctor."

"Now then, mares first." Three said, opening the door.

"My, what a gentlecolt." Twilight retorted. The two shared a laugh and continued into the Tower.

Meanwhile with The First Doctor...

Bon Bon and One had also reached the Tower by this point. Their journey had been more or less uneventful thus far, and had made it to the front entrance unharmed.

There was a bell on a stand outside the door.

"So now what do we do?" Bon Bon asked. "Ring the door bell?"

One lifted the bell to reveal a keypad underneath. "Or perhaps we enter the security code."

"Do you know what the code is?" she asked.

"No." he replied. He then pulled a cylindrical device from his coat. "However, I have this." He pointed the device at the keypad, which promptly beeped, and the door unlocked.

"You've got a sonic?" Bon Bon asked, somewhat surprised.

"Of course I do, my dear. I'm The Doctor."

Meanwhile in the TARDIS...

The regiment of Cyberponies outside the TARDIS had begun construction on a mysterious device. While the design was foreign to both occupants, the function was clear.

"It's a bomb." Susan said, suitably frightened.

"A big one." Caramel confirmed.

Meanwhile with The First Doctor...

As One and Bon Bon entered the Tower, they came across a room with a strange design on the floor. It had been arranged into a checkerboard pattern with 10 rows. One put his hoof in front of Bon Bon.

"Be careful, young filly." He reached into his jacket pocket, and took out a bag of bits. He began to pitch the coins onto the checkerboard's squares.

"So, is it a toll booth?" Bon Bon asked.

"One that could cost us our lives." One wasn't familiar with the Tower's intricacies, but he had been in enough ancient temples to know a booby trap when he saw one.

Sure enough, as one of the coins landed, the entire board lit up. Suddenly, a projection of red energy rose up from the board, incinerating the coins.

"Incredible!" One said. "Once you reach the fifth row, everything on the board is destroyed."

Bon Bon gulped. "So it's a trap." she determined. "But how do we get around it."

"Our ancestors were quite creative in the art of death, weren't they, Doctor?"

Bon Bon and One turned around, and saw that The Master had caught up with them.

"Koschei, is that you?" One asked.

"I go by 'The Master' now." he replied. "And I've come to help you."

"There's a laugh riot." Bon Bon said, fury in her voice.

"Now, young miss, I don't know why you're upset with him, but I'll have you know that this was my old lab partner in the Academy." One explained calmly.

"What?!" Bon Bon shouted.

"I'm afraid the trip down memory lane must be cut short, my dear Doctor," The Master interjected, "as I've brought a few unwanted guests. If you'll leave me alone, I will be happy to dispose of them."

"Unwanted guests?" One asked.

"Cyberponies." The Master clarified.

That was pretty much all One and Bon Bon needed to hear. The two promptly hid in one of the corners of the room. The Cyberleader arrived with his battalion, The Master smirking.

"WHY-WAS-THERE-NO-GUARD?" The Cyberleader inquired.

"No need for one." The Master lied. "Now, if you'll kindly step across this board."

"STATISTICAL-ANALYSIS-INDICATES-IT-IS-A-TRAP. YOU-WILL-SHOW-US-THE-WAY-ACROSS." The Cyberleader replied.

The Master nodded and began to move across the board. He then stopped upon reaching the fourth row. "See, nothing to worry about."

"ALL-THE-WAY."

One and Bon Bon looked on in horror. The Master was evil, to be sure, but no one deserved to be incinerated like that.

"Very well." The Master replied. He stepped on the fifth row, and much to their surprise, he survived! He walked to the other side of the room unimpeded. However, he did jump over the ninth row.

"WALK-BACK-HERE." The Cyberleader demanded.

The Master walked back across from the tenth row to the first, this time skipping over the second row.

"As you can see, Cyberleader," he began, "you simply need skip over the second-to-last row."

But this couldn't be the case! After all, when One threw the coins, the death row was the fifth, halfway across the board! One pondered this as the Cyberponies lined up.

"MARCH."

The Cyberponies made their way across the board, sans their leader and The Master. However, once one of them reached the sixth row, the board lit up again! The Cyberleader looked on as his soldiers were annihilated. The Master gave a wicked grin.

"HOW-IS-THIS-POSSIBLE?" The Cyberleader inquired. If it were able to show anger, it most likely would be at this point.

"Perhaps I was mistaken about how the board operates." The Master lied. It was clear he knew the secret, but what was it?

"YOU-WILL-WALK-ACROSS-WITH-ME." The Cyberleader demanded.

The Master nodded, and the two began yet another trek across the board. The Master jumped over the fifth row this time.

The Cyberleader repeated the action, jumping over the fifth row. But in this precise instant, The Master teleported to the safe side of the board, and shot a blast of magic while the Cyberleader was still in mid-air.

The Master had destroyed an entire group of Cyberponies on his own.

Bon Bon and One came out of hiding, and The Master returned to their side of the board. This time, he jumped over the third row.

"A bit gruesome, eh, Koschei?" One asked. He was starting to see why Bon Bon didn't care for his old friend.

"Perhaps, but I've dealt with that particular danger for you." The Master shot back.

"Yes," Bon Bon countered, "but we still don't know how to get across the board."

The Master chuckled. "You haven't figured it out yet?"

He walked across the board yet again, jumping over the fifth row once more. "Try it, Doctor, it's as easy as pie!"

He then walked out of the room, leaving Bon Bon and One alone.

"As easy as pie?" One repeated.

"Yes, it's an expression." Bon Bon replied. Honestly, explaining all these things to this old fool was one of the most irritating things she had ever had to put up with.

"An expression." One muttered. "Eureka, my dear that's it!"

"What's it!"

"Pi! The mathematical expression 'pi'! Three-point-one-four..." he began.

"Yes, yes, what about it?" Bon Bon asked.

"When I threw the coins it was the fifth row that was dangerous. Then Koschei walked across and skipped the ninth. Then he walked back and skipped the second. 3.141-and here's where we start-5926535, and the next digit is eight!"

"So we just need to skip the eighth row?" Bon Bon asked.

"I believe so, yes." One replied.

Bon Bon gulped again. "I hope you counted right."

Author's Note:

Ah, the Pi sequence. I've never fully understood how that was supposed to work, but this was my guess when I watched. If anyone had a better explanation, let me know.

Yes, I know The First Doctor didn't have a sonic screwdriver. But, he did have a magic ring that served the same purpose, so I just traded one for the other.

Also, pop quiz! Go back to the chapter where Four and Colgate were in Canterbridge, and identify all of the Cambride alumni I was referring to. If you win, you get a cookie!

Comments

[BenRG]

Looking back, I now know that I need to worry about just when the system resets back to '3', because pi is a non-rational number and no number sequence is ever repeated.

If these are Davis-verse reset Cyberponies then the loss of the Cyberleader should buy Susan and Caramel some time - they'll need to upload the command codes to the new Cyberleader before they can do anything else.

[Tragicom]

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No. These ones, along with all other ones in Doctor Whooves Classic originate from Mondas, rather than the Cybus Dimension.