In order to save his friends and another world from total destruction, the Doctor will have to face one of his greatest enemies yet: himself.
The Doctor and his friends are busy celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve when an amnesiac, human Twilight Sparkle from another dimension appears with a cry for help. During the trip to this alternate world, the Doctor will have to save old friends, make new allies, face old enemies, and confront one of his greatest foes yet: himself.
She had to keep running, no matter what. Despite what terrible fate may have fallen her fellow soldiers, despite the dangerous obstacles ahead of her, despite the impossible odds, she just had to keep running. The air felt acidic to the touch and the sky appeared much more rustic than it usually did. Ash, dirt, and smoke filled the air like mist and caked the dead carcasses of plants and unfortunate animals like the most viscous of frostings. A cough escaped from her lungs and she hastily brushed the hair away from her eyes. She had to see where she was going, even though the dense, smoky atmosphere prevented her from seeing beyond a few feet in front of her.
She let out a gasp as she felt her foot fall off a small ledge and sink into a thick mixture. "Great. Into the bog we go," she sighed under her breath as she began trudging through the contaminated water of the swamp. Through her protective goggles, she could see that the water reached up to just over her knees. It was an incredibly cold mixture with odd hot spots here and there that sent sharp jolts through her body like static electricity. The cries of mutated creatures echoed off in the distance and a few weak tentacles could be seen rising out of the water in the distance before falling back down into the depths. "When does this bog end?!"
Then...it appeared. She stopped dead in her tracks and her breathing morphed into that of a raspy, slow series of exhaling and inhaling. The tall Cyberman walked out of smog and approached her. The swamp water clung to its lower legs like glue and its metallic feet managed to still give off a stomping sound despite being sunken in the murky sludge. "REBEL SOLDIER! YOU WILL SURRENDER AND RETURN THE STOLEN TECHNOLOGY!" ordered the Cyberman.
The rebel soldier clutched a circular device wrapped around her wrist and shook her head. "Not a chance! You can have this instead!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a lavender wand. A blue light shot out of the wand and smashed into one of the Cyberman's legs, cutting it clean off. She took off as soon as the Cyberman hit the surface of the water.
The bog water splashed up against her pants and jacket as she ran. The helmet on her head bounced about slightly and rattled against her skull like a shaking chain. She only got in a moment or two of running before something jumped out of the water at her. She dodged the attacking creature before getting a good look at it. The creature appeared to be a white rabbit with two heads, the claw of a wolf, and the tail of an alligator. The soldier let out a sad sigh as she aimed her wand at the growling beast. "You poor thing," she said. "I'm so sorry." With that said, a green beam shot out her wand and hit the creature right in the chest, sending it flying backwards into the water with its eyes now forever frozen with eternal slumber.
The sound of stomping, metallic feet began to emanate from the distance and the rebel took off again. She nearly tripped when she finally managed to return to solid ground. Sweat began forming on her brow as she ran through the smoke towards whatever haven she could find. Eventually she found herself standing under a lone dead tree in an area of the bog that seemed to have less smoke than usual. Maybe teleportation can work here! she thought before pointing her want upwards and focusing on a destination. Unfortunately, merely a single spark emanated from the wand's tip. Damn. Looks like I'm on foot until I'm out of this bog. The sound of stomping feet returned and she took off back into the thick of the smoke.
The sound of stomping was increasingly growing louder as she ran. She tried not to focus on those she was escaping from. She simply tried to focus on finding safety. Finding a place to hide. A place to keep their only chance to reach the Doctor safe. She could feel the ground beneath her growing rockier as well as beginning to slant upwards. There was no option but to trudge upwards. There was no idea of what awaited at the end of this upward path but it could only be one of two things: salvation or damnation.
Dead, corroded trees passed by the soldier's line of sight as she ran up the path. The stomping feet of the Cybermen could still be heard behind her, deep within the dirty mist. She tried to keep her breathing and running steps as silent as possible but a shocked gasp escaped her lungs when she nearly ran off the edge of a cliff. Part of the mountain pathway she was now on had given way and a gap several yards wide now stood in place of the lost section. The soldier took a deep breath and aimed her wand at her feet. A few seconds later, her body levitated a few inches in the air and she carefully directed her floating body over the gap. She made sure not to look down into the pit which she could guess consisted of a rusty void of ash and soot. After what seemed like hours, she reached the other end of the gap and lowered herself down. This feat of magic left her weakened but she wiped the sweat from her brow, took a few heavy breaths, and took off once more.
She continued to run up the path. Run, run, and run some more. That's all life had pretty much become about since the invasion a year previously. Run from the mutations. Run from the Cybermen. Run from the all-seeing eye and frightening intelligence and greed of the one simply known as Discord Whooves. Just keep running. Don't look back. Fight when you must. But always keep running until you are sure of your safety.
After what must have been at least an hour, she finally reached the end of the path, which was basically at the edge of a cliff at the top of one of the rocky structures that overlooked Froggy Bottom Bogg. She bent down and took in a fair amount of deep breaths before examining the device on her wrist once again: a simple, white, glowing piece of technology stolen from the heart of Canterlot itself. The leaders of the rebellion had obtained it themselves. This was a feat that didn't surprise the soldier. She had an incredible amount of respect for Colgate and Clockwork. She had been an ally to them since the day she first met them back in Canterlot on the day of the invasion and had always stayed by their side. Now, she was lost. She was trapped on top of a Froggy Bottom Bogg mountain with Cybermen catching up and the only chance to reach salvation could very well be ripped out of her dying hands. "It can't end like this," the soldier stated with a snarl. "I can't let Colgate and Clockwork down!"
Then...she heard it once more: the stomping footsteps of the Cybermen. The killers of her comrades and the invaders of her home. The followers of the tyrant who took everything good out of Equestria and crushed it into dust. The soldier readied her wand as she turned to face her pursuers, who were now emerging from the smoky abyss. Their emotionless faces eyed her through the falling ash and their metal skins gleamed in the light of the rusted sun. "YOU WILL SURRENDER!" ordered one of the Cybermen in the front.
The soldier was ready to attack with everything she had...but there were too many. She knew there were. One magician could not simply hold off a group of at least twenty Cybermen. They could upgrade too quickly. They had too much protection on their side. Within time, magic could potentially have no effect on them. With a heavy breath, she glanced back at the cliff and clutched the device on her wrist with her other hand. Colgate told me that a leap should do it...but the device isn't fully ready yet. There's no guarantee that it will work, the soldier thought as she considered her last option for escape. She looked at the Cybermen as they cautiously started to approach her. Still...I have to try. This is our last chance. We need the Doctor. We need him here. Only he can help save our world of this disease. The soldier turned away from the Cybermen and clicked a button on the device, which let out a soft hum in response to its activation. She closed her eyes and took in another breath before charging towards the cliff edge. Take me to Colgate's universe. Bring me to the Doctor. Help me find the Doctor. As the Cybermen behind her began to scream for her to stop, she jumped.
For several seconds, all she felt was the smoky air grazing against her clothes and skin as she fell. She could still hear the Cybermen calling after her, though she could no longer make out anything they were saying. The hum emanating from the device on her wrist suddenly began to grow louder and increase in intensity. Her arm started shaking and, in turn, the entirety of her body began vibrating at abnormal speeds. She felt the air spin around her as pressure started to build around her being. Then a powerful force seemed to kick her in the back as she was flung off in another direction like a speeding bullet.
The rusty light of her dying world vanished to be replaced by a bright, white light that seemed to rain down from the stars themselves. The soldier covered her eyes as the winds of the multiverse blew past her and kicked her every which way. Her hair fluttered about like it was caught in a tornado and her eyes could hardly be kept open once her goggles were blown clean off. A loud roar pounded against her ears for a minute or so. It was a powerful and violent roar which chipped away at every thought she attempted to bring up. A weak gasp escaped her lips as the roar began to tear away everything within her psyche. What was her mission? Where was she from? What was her name? Who did she love? Who did she hate? Why was she here? The only thing her attacked mind could focus on was one name: Doctor. She had to find the Doctor. Everything depended on this one remaining chunk of her lost memories. Suddenly, through the painful continuation of the inter-dimensional roar, she heard the sound of voices. They were muffled at first but soon began to increase in clarity.
"I'm sorry!" pleaded a female voice.
"It's not your fault, Derpy," replied a second, familiar female voice.
A male laugh echoed against the soldier's ears and warmed her heart like a cozy fire on a winter's night. "I know I said I had a craving for some cocoa but nopony had to throw it at me," chuckled the male voice.
The first female voice giggled. "Sorry again, Doctor."
The soldier couldn't help but smile as she felt the dimensional winds begin to drag her in the direction of the voices. "Doctor," she stated. "I've found you."
Home of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
"Open up, Doctor! It's Hearth's Warming Eve!" called the excited Pinkie Pie as she rapped her hooves against the TARDIS doors. There was no response. Twilight, Donna, and Spike were currently moving about the library and finishing putting up the last bits of decorations for the party.
"Hopefully this will make up for Christmas," Donna joked as she placed a large punch bowl on a long table covered in a red and green plastic.
"Don't worry. We don't usually see ice zombies here during Hearth's Warming Eve," Twilight replied with a giggle.
"Doctor!" Pinkie groaned. "Come on! The party's going to start soon!"
"You might as well give up now, Pinkie Pie," Donna said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Once the Doctor gets focused on something it's hard to distract him with anything else."
"We'll just see about that." Pinkie rubbed her hooves together as a devious smile appeared on her face. "It's time for me to do this...PINKIE PIE STYLE!"
Donna leaned back against the wall and grabbed one of the iced cookies. "This should be interesting."
The Doctor was looking over a marathon of data on one of the console monitors. "Inter-dimensional irregularities appear to have become stagnant over here in Equestria," he stated. "But there seems to be a lot of disturbances coming from a land on the other side of the ocean."
"Are you still going over all of that?" asked a voice from behind. The Doctor jumped and turned around. Pinkie Pie stood there with a determined look on her face. "We're about to have a Hearth's Warming Eve party and this is what you'd rather be doing right now?!"
The Doctor began to quickly glance between the TARDIS doors and Pinkie Pie. "How the hell did you come in here?"
"I walked in!" Pinkie gave a huge smile.
"But those doors are locked! Not even the armies of Genghis Khan could get past those doors!"
"Well, the plot of this story requires me to get in here so that I can convince you to come out and enjoy the party!"
The Doctor tilted his head. "Story?"
Pinkie jumped in the air and giggled. "Story?! You have a story?! I have a story too! It's about this pink, adorable mare that snuck into some shut-in stallion's invincible box in order to get him to go to a party! It's a gem!"
The Doctor stared at Pinkie for a moment before an amused smile appeared on his face. He let out a long, entertained laugh and wiped his eyes. "I swear, Pinkie Pie, you might just be the one thing in this universe I might never be able to solve...and I'm surprisingly okay with that."
"Goodie!" Pinkie grabbed the Doctor and pulled him towards the TARDIS doors. "Now come out and have some fun! You've been cooped up in your box for far too long now!"
"Don't you ever get tired of parties, Pinkie? You only just threw a welcome party for Donna."
Pinkie let out a loud gasp before bringing the Doctor close and staring deep into his eyes. "Me tired of parties?! NEVER!" The Doctor let out a soft yelp as the pink mare shoved him through the doors.
"That was quicker than I expected," Twilight teased as she stared down at the Doctor, who was lying on the floor at the foot of the TARDIS with an annoyed, amused look on his face.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and stood up, brushing the dust off his brown suit. "I'm glad that you enjoyed the show, Ms. Sparkle," he stated.
There was a knock at the door and Pinkie shot across the library. "They're here! Let the party begin!" she exclaimed. She didn't waste any time in opening the door and a small crowd of ponies passed through the threshold. The crowd consisted of Derpy, Applejack and her family, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Zecora, and the Cakes. Before long, the library was filled with the sounds of ponies talking, laughing, and doing whatever else ponies do at parties.
The Doctor slipped over to an area behind the punch table and began examining the readings on a small, remote-like device in his hooves. "And what exactly are you doing?" asked a teasing voice.
The Doctor jumped and turned to see Derpy standing a foot away from him. "Derpy! Who? Me? Not much. Just checking the weather," he stammered in reply. Derpy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. I'm looking into some readings about any dimensional rifts in the area."
"And you've decided to do this during the Hearth's Warming Eve party?"
"I have a really strong feeling that I need to find as much info about these rifts as quickly as possible. Don't tell me, Ms. Hooves, that you've forgotten about all that's happened because of them."
"Of course I haven't forgotten." Derpy began shuffling her hooves. "I'm just thinking that it's a holiday and you should be focusing a bit more on having some fun."
The Doctor looked at the others smiling, talking with each other, and eating the various holiday treats. "I guess loosening up for a little bit wouldn't hurt."
Derpy smiled brightly. "Good!" She and the Doctor began to walk away from the punch table. "You should be thankful that it was I who found you. Pinkie would've probably torn you apart."
"Believe me, I don't think I want to get on the bad side of a mare who can break into my TARDIS." The Doctor shook a bit and Derpy laughed.
Across the room, Twilight and her friends were talking with each other. "I must say, Pinkie Pie, this is another marvelous party you've prepared," Rarity complimented as she took a sip of punch.
"Thanks! I always try my best!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Well would y'all look at that," Applejack chuckled as she pointed towards the Doctor and Derpy laughing and having a conversation with Zecora.
"It looks like somepony's finally decided to get out of his box and have some fun," said Rainbow Dash.
"He just needed a little nudge!" Pinkie said with a giggle.
"Oh...I'm sure he's had a lot on his mind," said Fluttershy.
"He has," Twilight stated. "He's been looking further into those dimensional rifts."
"I don't blame him. Look at all the trouble they've caused," said Rarity.
"Let's just hope that we start getting some peace around here." Twilight let out a long sigh.
"We could definitely use some," said Applejack.
"So, AJ, is everything alright over at the farm?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah. Things are good. Granny Smith's been in a much better mood recently." Twilight couldn't help but smile warmly at this. "There wasn't much cleaning up to do after that whole incident with the Weeping Angel and Colgate."
Rainbow crossed her forelegs. "Speaking of her, the nerve she had to just run out without saying goodbye!"
"She said goodbye to Twilight, Spike, and the Doctor. That counts for something," said Fluttershy.
"But still. After all we did to help her, she just up and disappears!" Rainbow snapped.
"She was ready to get home, Rainbow Dash," Twilight explained. "I think anypony would want to head home after experiencing what happened to her."
Rainbow gave a slight nod of agreement. "I hope she's doing better now," Applejack stated with a small smile.
"I think she'll be fine. If Trixie can make a comeback, I'm sure Colgate has a chance at a fresh start," said Rarity.
"Is Trixie doing shows again or something like that?" Rainbow asked.
"Actually, yes. I've read about it in a few Canterlot newspapers that Spike delivers to me. She's apparently starting to make a positive name for herself."
"Good for her," Twilight said with a smile.
"Y'all enjoying the party, Big Mac?" Applejack asked as her brother walked by.
"Eeyup," replied the stallion.
Suddenly, Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine. The air around her grew extremely cold and the sounds of the party grew muffled. Through the muffled air, she could hear what sounded like her own voice calling out from the distance. "Doctor. Must find you. I need you. We all need you. We need the cure for the cure. Doctor," stated the voice.
"Daydreaming already, Ms. Sparkle?" asked the Doctor as he stepped in front of Twilight.
Twilight shook her head and rubbed her temple. "Wha?" she asked.
"You must have been thinking really hard about something. You had this glassy look on your face and were staring off into nothing."
"Oh. I thought I...never mind."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Is everything alright?"
"Of course! It's Hearth's Warming Eve and I'm having a party with some of my closest friends! Nothing's wrong at all!" Twilight put on a somewhat forced smile and tried her best to take her mind off the voice she had heard; but she couldn't shake off a feeling of dread located deep within her psyche.
"So are you enjoying yourself, Doctor?" asked Pinkie with a huge grin.
"I am, to be honest," the Doctor replied as he took a sip of punch.
"Nice to get out of that old box isn't it?"
The Doctor placed a hoof against his muzzle and gave a sharp shhh. "Don't say that too loud!" The Doctor glanced back at the TARDIS before turning back to the mares. "She might hear you."
"I didn't know the TARDIS cared about its age," said Derpy with a smirk.
"She pretends not to but she does. Believe me, I've spent over nine centuries exploring my universe with her," said the Doctor.
The mares exchanged a series of awkward glances when Donna suddenly appeared, her breathing heavy. "You look like you've just run a marathon," said Rainbow Dash.
"No," Donna breathed. "I just...escaped...from them."
Donna glanced back towards Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who were now huddled together and talking about whatever it is that young fillies talk about. "Did they barrage ya with questions and stuff like that?" Applejack asked with an amused roll of her eyes.
"They kept asking me why humans don't have cutie marks and I almost ended up describing to them what a tattoo is."
"Tattoo?" asked Rarity.
"Don't ask me to explain," said Donna. "I don't think Equestria is in need of tattoos right now."
"I'm with you on that one, Donna," said the Doctor. "Equestria certainly doesn't need any more tattoos than it already has...but I could use a hot cocoa right about now."
"I'll get it!" said Derpy with a sparkle in her eyes as she took to the air and shot off towards the kitchen.
"Smooth segway there, Doctor," Donna commented with a teasing glare.
The Doctor gave a boasting smile. "I know it was! Good thing I have a craving for hot chocolate right now."
Donna sighed and shook her head. Derpy suddenly returned with a tray topped with several mugs filled with hot cocoa. She quickly flew towards the Doctor while Twilight and her friends' eyes went wide. "Oh no," said Rainbow Dash. Just before she expectedly crashed into the Doctor, Derpy came to a smooth stop and landed in front of the Doctor. She presented the tray with a smile and giggled. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped a bit. "Wow...no crash."
"Your cocoa, Doctor," said Derpy, still beaming from ear to ear.
"Thank you, Derpy," the Doctor said back.
Just before the Doctor could grab a mug, a blast of green fire erupted behind Derpy. Derpy's entire body shook with surprise and the tray of hot cocoa fell forward onto the Doctor. Donna, Rarity, and Fluttershy simultaneously clasped their mouths, Rainbow and Pinkie smirked a bit, Twilight's and Applejack's eyes widened, and Derpy's face became as red as ketchup. "I'm sorry!" Derpy pleaded.
"It wasn't your fault, Derpy," said Twilight before narrowing her eyes and glaring at Spike, who was standing behind Derpy clasping his mouth and holding a scroll in his claws.
The Doctor laughed as he examined the soaked front of his suit. "I know I said I had a craving for some cocoa but nopony had to throw it at me," he chuckled.
"Sorry again, Doctor," said Derpy as she shuffled her forelegs.
"It's fine, Derpy. Nopony's hurt...although my chest may be a bit singed for the next hour or so." Derpy winced a bit. "Everything's fine! I'm fine! We're all fine! But a towel would be nice."
"I'll get one," said Donna as she walked off into the kitchen.
Just then, a strong chill ran up Twilight's spine. It felt to her as if the snow from outside had piled in and was now filling the air. She also heard the familiar voice again. This time it sounded much louder and closer. "Doctor. I've found you," stated the voice with an odd, happy tone.
"Something wrong, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy. Twilight shook her head and turned to Fluttershy. "Oh. I'm sorry if I distracted you from something."
"You didn't distract me, Fluttershy," Twilight stated with a warm smile.
"Well you definitely looked like you were thinking about something," said Rainbow Dash. "Your face being all glassy and all."
"Daydreaming again, Twilight?" the Doctor asked with a teasing tone.
"I certainly hope so," Twilight replied.
Donna returned with a towel and handed it to the Doctor, who began to start drying off his wet suit. "That doesn't look good," said Spike as he read the scroll he had burped out.
"What doesn't?" Applejack asked.
Spike handed the scroll to Twilight. "She is coming. Prepare yourselves, dearies," she read aloud. She looked at everypony and exchanged confused looks before focusing on Spike. "Is this from the Princess?"
"I don't think so. It didn't feel like it came from her. It felt like it came from somepony else."
"Dearies," said the Doctor. "Dearies. Dearies. Dearies." His eyes widened slightly. "Sweeties."
Suddenly, everypony stopped what they were doing and became still. A strange, powerful, electrical sensation had appeared in the air and now everypony's hair felt like it was standing on end. A soft roar could be heard in the back of all of their ears and all the sounds of the world appeared to be muffled by an unknown force. "Does anypony else in here feel...odd?" Donna asked.
"A strange force, I do detect," said Zecora. "This usually means nothing good, I do reflect."
Twilight looked down at the scroll and gulped. "She is coming," she said.
Just then, the entire library started to shake and an orb of light appeared in the center of the room. "Back up!" ordered the Doctor. Everypony stepped back as the orb widened into a rift about the size of Donna. Sparks of electricity shot from it and smoke poured through its opening. A window shattered upstairs and the floor cracked beneath the opening. A small shockwave spread outwards as the rift closed and something fell out.
The second the rift closed, everything returned to normal. The electrical feel disappeared, sound returned, and the chill vanished. However, nopony felt comfortable due to the figure lying on the floor in the center of the room. "Is...is that a human?" Donna asked.
The Doctor nodded as he stepped forward to examine the new arrival. It was a human girl who appeared to be in her late teens. She had fair skin covered in dust, cuts, and bruises and flowing purple hair which was singed in certain areas. A green army helmet was placed on her head and she was clothed in a green jacket, black undershirt, black pants, and brown boots. A wand of sorts was clutched tightly in her right hand and a strange, white, futuristic device was attached to one of her wrists. The Doctor knelt down next to her as her eyes slowly opened. "You don't need to be afraid. You are safe. But we would like to know who you are."
The girl's eyes focused on the Doctor and a warm smile fell upon her face. "I...I can't remember," she said with a sigh.
"Pardon?"
"I remember nothing. My name. My life. My friends. Where I'm from. Why I'm here. But...I know who you are, Doctor." Her smile grew slightly wider. "I've found you, Doctor. I don't know why I needed to find you but...I'm glad that I have. You're needed. You're...you're Equestria's last hope."
"What do you mean?!" Before the girl could answer further, her eyes rolled up and she lost consciousness. The Doctor stood up and turned towards the others. "We need to get her to the hospital. Now!"
"On it!" said Rainbow Dash as she and Fluttershy flew over and picked the unconscious teen up. As they did, something fell out of one of her pockets.
"What's that?" asked Spike.
"It looks like a name tag," said Donna as the Doctor picked it up. His eyes scanned over the name on the piece of plastic before him and a sigh escaped his lips.
"Well? What does it say? What's her name?" Twilight asked.
The Doctor turned back towards his unicorn friend as he presented the name tag to her. "Her name is...Twilight Sparkle," he replied.
The human known as Twilight Sparkle lay on the hospital bed in the center of the room. The room was flooded with an ocean of white light and a small group of Ponyville doctors and nurses stood around the bed. The Doctor stood in the center of the group, instructing them how to properly examine and take care of a human. In a waiting room a few doors down, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, Spike, and the rest of Twilight's friends waited and discussed the possible answers to this strange incident. "A human version of you! I must admit, darling, I'm very interested in meeting her," said Rarity. "Though we will have to discuss her fashion sense. Not to sound too rude but her outfit was dreadful!"
"Something tells me she wasn't dressed like that due to fashion sense," said Donna as she crossed her arms.
"Twilight...are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. Everypony turned to Twilight, who was sitting silently and staring off into space.
Spike waved one of his claws in front of Twilight's face. "Hello? Anypony in there?" he asked.
Twilight shook her head and turned to Spike. "What?!" she asked with a somewhat annoyed tone.
Spike jumped slightly. "Sorry. You were staring off into space. We were just wondering if you were okay."
Twilight let out a loud, disgruntled groan and slouched back in her seat. "I'm just thinking. There's a lot to think about right now."
"Well try not to think about all of it at once, silly!" said Pinkie Pie with a grin. "It'll hurt your head!"
"You can say that again," Rainbow Dash added.
"How can I not think about any of this?!" Twilight snapped. "An alternate, human version of myself suffering from amnesia has just popped out of a dimensional rift and, just to add the sprinkles to this wonderful sundae, she needs help from the Doctor!"
"You look like you have some steam needing of blowing off," said Applejack.
"You could try screaming into a pillow. That always helps me when I get stressed," Derpy suggested with a cute smile.
Twilight rubbed the sides of her head and let out another groan. "I guess I'm just ready for us to get a break. Things have been non-stop crazy for quite a while now," she said.
"I can agree with you on that one," said Rainbow Dash as she lowered to the ground and leaned against the wall.
"I guess that's a price for knowing somepony so connected to crazy as the Doctor," chuckled Spike as he nudged Twilight.
Twilight gave a guilty face and looked away. "Yeah...I suppose," she replied uncomfortably.
Donna approached Twilight and sat down next to her. "Anything else bugging at you?" she asked.
"Loads."
"This seems to be a sudden change. I don't remember you worrying about all of this earlier like when I traveled with you, the Doctor, and Derpy."
"That's because it is a sudden change. I mean, we only just came out of a conflict involving a Weeping Pegasus and a unicorn which not only turned out to be its daughter but also accidentally sent Pinkie and me back in time. Now, barely a couple days later, we're already dealing with something else. There just seems to be no resting point."
Donna wrapped an arm around Twilight and leaned back against the wall. "Then...perhaps you should take a break from traveling for a while like I did."
"But your break was forced upon you."
Donna gave a slight nod of agreement. "True. But, when I think about it, those few months of just me and Shaun living an ordinary life were...nice. I mean, traveling with the Doctor is fun, crazy, and all that good stuff but it's nice to take a break at some point and just slow down to enjoy time at its normal pace."
"Maybe a break does sound good."
Just then, the door to the waiting room opened and the Doctor entered. Everypony's eyes locked on him. "Well?" asked Applejack.
"What's happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"And don't spare any of the details!" Rarity stated.
The Doctor smiled slightly and sighed. "She'll live but she's still unconscious. I've given the doctors here the basic instructions on how to examine the human anatomy. From what both they and I have deduced, she should awake within the hour...hopefully," the Doctor responded.
Derpy noticed something being held in one of the Doctor's hooves. "What's that?" she asked as she pointed at the object.
The Doctor presented the object. It had the appearance of a thick, white, glass wrist watch with a thin screen and a collection of knobs and buttons that looked as if they had been welded together through guesswork. "This is an object she had on her wrist. I have a feeling that this is what she used to transport herself to our world." The Doctor walked over to a table in the center of the room and placed the object down on its surface. Everypony gathered around to get a good look at the object.
"In a way, it sort of looks like what Matilda carried around on her foreleg," Twilight deduced.
"You mean a vortex manipulator?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah...uh...that."
"It certainly looks inspired by one." The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and proceeded to scan over the device. "This is very advanced technology. Well beyond that of any pony or human technology of this time. But whoever built this clearly didn't entirely know what they were doing. There's plenty of mistakes which could have meant disaster for poor Ms. Sparkle." The Doctor looked up and awkwardly locked eyes with Twilight. "The human one, I mean."
"So what are we supposed to call her, the human Twilight, when she wakes up?" Spike asked.
"Yes. I think I speak for everypony when I say that having two Twilights will cause some confusion," said Rarity.
"We can give her a nickname. She's suffering from amnesia so I don't think she'll mind much," said Donna.
"How about Twiley?" Pinkie asked with a jump.
"No!" Twilight replied firmly.
"But Shining Armor calls you Twiley."
"That's different! I refuse to call my human double Twiley. It just...feels weird."
"How about Twi?" Rainbow Dash suggested with a shrug.
"Twi?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. Not Twilight. Not Twiley. Just Twi."
Twilight looked at the others and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure. Why not? Twi it is. It's better than nothing, I suppose."
Donna approached the Doctor slightly and examined the device closely. "So do you have any theories about how Twi got amnesia?" she asked.
"My guess is that this dimension hopping device had a hand in it. There's so much room for glitches in this device that I'm sure amnesia is a possible side effect. But, hey, given all of the other possible side effects that could have resulted from using this device, amnesia is one of the better results," the Doctor explained. Suddenly, as the Doctor scanned another part of the device with his screwdriver, a small, red object disconnected from the device and fell onto the table. It was no bigger than half the size of a box of matches and was entirely red aside from a small, black circle on the top that looked like a miniature camera lense. "Now what do we have here?"
The Doctor tapped the small box and a holographic light shot out of the lense, cloaking the waiting room in a silver aura. The face of a mare appeared in the light...a mare with a blue coat and a blue and white striped mane. "Is that...Colgate?!" gasped Donna.
The mare in the hologram was definitely Colgate but she looked different from how she had looked when she had departed from Ponyville. There were a fair number of cuts and bruises on her face, small portions of her mane were singed and frayed, and she looked less like the frightened and conflicted mare tortured by a Weeping Pegasus and more like a tough and strong-willed war general. "Hello, Doctor and everypony else," said Colgate's holographic portrait. "I don't have enough time to explain everything so I'll make this quick. I am leaving this message in the makeshift rift machine in the case that Twilight reaches you but has been unfortunately incapacitated by any side effects brought on by dimension hopping. For almost a full year now, Clockwork and I have been in charge of a rebel resistance in an alternate Equestria from your own. A terrible mastermind arrived in this universe around the same time we did and brought with him a destructive army that has since nearly destroyed this once prosperous world. He is the cause of the dimensional rifts. He has built a rift machine and I believe he plans to take his army beyond this world. You can find the coordinates to this dimension in the makeshift rift generator. Doctor, I know you've probably heard this one too many times, you are the only hope both this Equestria and my and your Equestria has. We are dealing with a very dangerous and ruthless enemy. His name is Discord-"
Colgate's image flickered and faded away. "Wait! What?!" asked the Doctor as he examined the small, red box further. "I suppose that was all the footage she was able to capture."
Everypony in the room was silent for a moment. "Did...did she say that Clockwork was with her?!" asked Twilight.
"Who's Clockwork?" Donna asked.
"He's me from another dimension where I was born as an everyday stallion in Equestria," the Doctor replied. "The last time we saw him, he was moving on from a tragedy, locked out of his own universe, and was heading out to explore this world with his world's version of Derpy, Bright Eyes."
"How about we move the focus back to who the heck is behind this all!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "I heard her say Discord's name before the message ended!"
"But Discord's stone!" said Rarity.
"What if he escaped?!" Fluttershy gasped.
"Or it could be another version of him," Applejack guessed.
"It's not Discord," said a voice from the doorway.
Everypony turned and looked to see that the alternate, human Twilight Sparkle looking at them with groggy, tired eyes. "Twi!" Pinkie Pie gasped.
Twi chuckled as she stepped forward. "Is that my name?"
"It's your nickname! We all agreed on it. It's so we don't confuse you and our Twilight."
Twi looked at Twilight and weakly tilted her head. "So I have a pony double. That's interesting."
"Wait a moment!" the Doctor ordered as he approached Twi. "Twi, you said that our enemy's not Discord."
Twi slowly nodded. "Yes, I did," she replied. "I've forgotten most of my memories but bits and pieces are beginning to return. One of those pieces involves the name of our enemy. It's not just Discord. His full name is Discord Whooves."
"Discord Whooves?" Twilight asked.
"Yes." Twi suddenly grasped her head. "There's...there's also something really important that you need to know about him."
"What?! What is it?" the Doctor asked.
Twi looked at the Doctor sadly. "I...I don't remember what it was." She let out a pained groan before clasping her forehead again. "Wait! I...I...I think...he...he's connected to...you...Doctor."
Before anypony could question her any further, Twi passed out and fell to the floor. "Let's get her back to her room."
Twilight levitated the unconscious Twi with her horn and walked her out of the room, the Doctor following close behind. "So now what, Doctor?" Twilight asked as she returned Twi to her hospital bed. Twilight turned to face the Doctor. The Time Lord and the unicorn met eye-to-eye.
"We start preparation," the Doctor replied. "This next trip is going to be very dangerous. And...and I understand if you don't wish to come. Honestly, I myself would think it better if you remained-"
"Shut up." The Doctor jumped at Twilight's blunt order. "Don't you dare think that I'm going to stand by and let you run off to some dangerous world by yourself! Whether you like to admit it or not, you need somepony to be there alongside you, Doctor. Me, Derpy, Donna, whoever else. You're not doing this alone, Doctor. I'm coming with you and nothing you say is going to stop me!"
The Doctor gave a smile of respect. "You're quite amazing in your own right, Twilight Sparkle. After all this craziness, I assumed you would have wanted to take a break."
Twilight looked away. "A break sounds good...but it sounds like a lot is on the line here. That break will come...but not today. Equestria needs you, me, and everypony else right now." The Doctor reached forward and pulled Twilight into an affectionate hug. As Twilight hugged the Doctor, her eyes trailed over to the doorway of the room. Donna was standing in the doorway and was looking at Twilight with a confident smile on her face. Twilight said nothing and simply smiled back.
Home of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The TARDIS doors flung open as the Doctor rushed inside with Colgate's makeshift rift generator held tightly in his hooves. He ran up to the console, reached underneath, and pulled out an electric cable. He hastily attached the cable to a socket on the rift generator and turned his attention to one of the monitors. After several long seconds, a series of space and time coordinates appeared on the screen. "There we go!" the Doctor exclaimed happily as he pranced around the console before running back out through the TARDIS doors.
The Doctor was greeted by Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and the others upon jumping out of the blue box. "What's all the jumping about?" Applejack asked.
"I've just got the coordinates from the rift generator implemented in the TARDIS console. The next stop this TARDIS makes is Twi's world."
Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and brought her forehooves together. "Right! Let's do this!" she announced.
"Hold on one moment there, Rainbow," said the Doctor with a wave of his hoof.
Rainbow came to a quick halt immediately in front of the Doctor. "What's the hold up, Doc?! Let's go!"
"Rainbow," said Applejack as she pulled her cyan friend back to earth. Applejack turned to the Doctor and the two earth ponies met eye-to-eye. "Not all of us are going...right?"
"I think it would be good to have some eyes and ears here in this dimension while I'm gone," the Doctor explained. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a device that resembled a futuristic walkie-talkie. "Here. This will allow us to communicate." Applejack took the walkie-talkie and nodded.
"So...who's staying and who's going?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think it's obvious who's going," said Rainbow Dash as she took to the air again. "Derpy, Donna, and Egghead."
"Hey!" Twilight snapped. Rainbow smiled teasingly at Twilight and the group of mares laughed.
"Y'all better come back in one piece!" stated Applejack.
"We'll be waiting for you," said Fluttershy.
"Don't forget to write!" said Pinkie Pie as she rushed forward and wrapped Twilight, Derpy, and Donna in a big hug.
"And be careful," Rarity implored.
"We'll try our best," replied Twilight as she was released from Pinkie's death grip. Twilight's gaze suddenly trailed over to Spike, who was looking down and shuffling his feet.
"Be safe...Twilight...everypony," he said awkwardly.
Twilight glanced at the Doctor and her friends before turning back to Spike. She slowly approached her number one assistant and knelt down in front of him. "Listen, Spike," she said softly. Spike looked up to meet her gaze. "Why...why don't you come with us?"
Spike's face lit up like a firework. "You mean it?!"
"Of course! I've missed having my number one assistant in the TARDIS with me." Twilight smiled at Spike and Spike gave Twilight an affectionate hug. Twilight then turned back towards the Doctor. "Is that alright with you, Doctor?"
"Sure! Just don't let him spew fire on the console. I'm still working out the last bugs caused from last time," the Doctor replied with a smirk.
Spike stepped back and blushed a bit. "It's not my fault! Pinkie Pie threw pepper in my face!" Spike argued.
"Hey!" snapped Pinkie Pie. Everypony let out a cheerful laugh.
"I guess we better get moving then," said Derpy.
"Are you all prepared?" the Doctor asked as he looked over his companions.
"I've got first aid supplies!" said Twilight as she raised a white box with a red cross.
"I've got snacks!" said Derpy as she raised a basket full to the brim with muffins.
"Then I guess we're all set," said the Doctor.
"You're forgetting one thing," stated a familiar voice. Everypony looked to see Twi stepping through the doorway. "Me."
"You have a weird habit of popping up out of nowhere," said Rainbow Dash.
"You're going with them, Twi?" Pinkie asked.
"Yes. I need to," Twi replied sternly.
"Don't you need rest? You are suffering from amnesia right now," said Donna.
Twi continued to give a serious glare at the group. "Pieces are returning. I don't remember everything but I know that I must go with you. The world you're going to is very dangerous."
"No different from most of the places the Doctor's taken us," Twilight said.
"Still, I need to come with you," said Twi. The alternate Twilight approached the Doctor. "Please...Doctor."
The Doctor looked up at Twi and, after a moment of thought, sighed and nodded. "You may come," he said. "Your returning memories may prove useful." The Doctor clapped his hooves and the TARDIS doors opened. "All aboard!" The Doctor gave a quick bow to those who were staying behind. "We shall return!" He then turned around and disappeared through the TARDIS doors. He was followed by Donna, Derpy, and Twi.
Twilight and Spike stood in front of the TARDIS and looked at their friends. "We'll come back," said Twilight.
"That's a promise!" stated Spike with confidence.
"Good. Now go help that there crazy stallion save another world!" Applejack said with a smirk. Twilight's smile grew a bit wider as she turned around and boarded the TARDIS alongside Spike.
The TARDIS doors closed as soon as the unicorn and the dragon had entered. The Doctor, Derpy, Donna, and Twi were standing around the TARDIS console. "Everypony hold on," the Doctor ordered. Twilight and Spike approached the console and held on like the others. The Doctor reached for a nearby lever. "This is going to be a bumpy ride." He pulled the lever down.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity stood and watched the TARDIS slowly fade away into the fabric of space and time. Once the blue box had completely disappeared, everypony sighed and turned to each other for comfort. Pinkie suddenly let out a loud laugh. "Pardon me, but what exactly are you laughing about?" Rarity asked.
"An earth pony, a unicorn, a pegasus, a dragon, and two humans walked into a TARDIS!" Pinkie Pie replied with a huge grin. The others gave confused looks. Pinkie's face contorted into a thinking expression as she started scratching her chin. "There's a joke in there somewhere...and I'm gonna find it!"
Town Hall, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The Doctor and his companions grasped the TARDIS console tightly as the blue box shot itself through the dimensional barriers. The Doctor hadn't been kidding when he said it was going to be a bumpy ride. The entire ship vibrated around them like a massage chair in an earthquake. Sparks poured down from the ceiling and the monitors on the console filled with static. The ship tilted at very sharp angles. The humans and ponies could feel their respective feet and hooves slipping back and forth on the TARDIS floor. "Are we almost there?!" Derpy managed to ask.
"We should be!" the Doctor replied as he pressed a collection of buttons, causing sparks to shoot out of the console at Donna and Spike.
A series of booms could be heard in the distance and miniature lightning bolts shot horizontally through the air above their heads. A violent tilt of the TARDIS sent Twilight falling forward into the console. Another tilt nearly caused Derpy to bang her head on one of the many levers. Donna gasped as a loud bang emanated from outside the TARDIS and the whole ship jolted as if something large had smashed into it. The ship then began to spin rapidly in a nauseating vortex pattern. Layers of sparks rained down on the Doctor and his companions and singed their clothes and fur.
"HANG ON!" the Doctor ordered as he grasped onto two levers and pulled them down. The TARDIS lights flickered and the cloister bell rang out a couple times. Then, with an abrupt clang, the TARDIS came to a halt. Everypony fell onto the floor surrounding the console and spent several seconds lying in their respective spots, breathing heavily.
"My head!" groaned Donna.
"My neck!" sighed Twi.
"My legs!" grunted Twilight.
"My back!" griped Spike.
"My muffins!" whined Derpy.
"My kidneys!" gasped the Doctor.
"Well...this trip has gotten off to a smooth start," said Donna after standing up. It didn't take long for everypony to get up and recover from the bumpy ride.
"Did we make it?" Derpy asked as she approached the Doctor.
The Doctor looked at one of the monitors that was still covered in static. He abruptly tapped the side of the monitor and the static disappeared. "There we go! Let's see! Ah...oh...hmm...well...yes! We've made it!" the Doctor answered.
Suddenly, everypony fell silent and turned towards the TARDIS doors. "Well...let's head out then," said Donna. The Doctor nodded and everypony began making their way towards the doors.
As they started walking towards the exit, Twilight and Twi met each other's gazes. Twilight found herself freezing for a moment. At this random second, the realization of who exactly Twi was hit her. She's an alternate, human version of me, Twilight thought. This was really the first time where Twilight had given any time to get a good look at Twi. Her eyes fell across her fair skin, her dirty uniform, and her purple hair. A strange uneasiness fell across her whilst staring at her dimensional double.
"Is something wrong?" Twi asked at one point with a calm, endearing smile on her face.
Twilight shook her head and tried her best to authentically smile back at Twi. "No...nothing's wrong. I'm just preparing myself for what's waiting for us," Twilight replied quickly.
"That's good." Twi's face became uncomfortably serious. "You're going to need to be prepared for what's in store for us."
Twilight turned away from Twi and followed the others out through the TARDIS doors.
A pitch black room awaited them beyond the TARDIS doors. "We sure could use some light," said Donna. With that said, three lights appeared in the darkness: one from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, one from Twilight's horn, and one from a lavender wand in Twi's hand.
"I remember...I'm good at magic!" Twi stated with a smile. With the three lights, the group was able to get a decent look at their surroundings.
They were standing in what appeared to be a decaying, abandoned meeting room with balconies a level above them. "This is Ponyville's town hall!" Twilight gasped.
"You're right! It is!" Derpy agreed. Derpy let out a hard cough. Thick layers of dust covered the floor of the town hall, including the various objects and pieces of furniture scattered about. The air tasted of rusted metal, dust, and ash and was hard to breathe in at certain areas in the room.
"It's like nopony's been here in years!" Spike said.
"No. Only one," Twi explained with a glassy look on her face. Before anypony could ask anything else, Twi made her way towards the doors, pushed them open, and exited. The Doctor and the others quickly followed.
Town Square, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
The group exited the abandoned town hall to be hit with a wave of lukewarm air and a mouthful of ash. The air felt incredibly acidic and their eyes and throats stung upon contact with it. "Gah! My eyes!" Spike gasped as he closed his eyes tight and placed his claws over them. Everyone in the group followed suit.
"The air! It must be polluted!" Donna said as she covered her eyes and mouth.
As Twi covered her eyes, she scratched her head vigorously in order to try and fully remember a memory that was creeping up on her. When the memory finally came into full view, she waved her wand. A blue flash of light emanated from her wand's tip. Within seconds, the stinging inflicted upon everypony's eyes and throats went away. "What spell was that?" Twilight asked as she turned to Twi.
"I believe it was the Pure Air Shield Spell," Twi replied as she examined her wand in awe. "It's come in handy a lot since this world became diseased." Now that the pain was gone, everypony was able to get a good view of where they were.
They were standing outside the Ponyville Town Hall, which looked even more decayed from the outside. The sky was gray and filled with dark gray clouds, the sun appearing as merely a dim, white circle in the center of the sky. An endless rainfall of ash descended from the sky and fell towards the land below. The ground was covered in a thick layer of ash and dirt. The air was filled with a light amount of smoke, giving the surrounding area a milky, dirty aura. Through the smog, the group was just barely able to make out the various buildings surrounding the town square. They resembled the buildings back in their Ponyville but were also slightly different. The Doctor could see that they looked more modern with electrical wires extending between the houses and satellite dishes attached to the roofs. The other buildings looked just as decayed and abandoned as the Town Hall. Not one ounce of life to be seen anywhere. No ponies. No humans. No animals. No vegetation. Nothing. Just ash, smog, and decay.
"This Ponyville...it feels...sick," said Twilight as a quick cough escaped her lungs.
"This whole world feels sick," the Doctor added.
"Wait a minute. What's that?" Derpy asked as she pointed towards an object a few yards away, embedded in the earth.
"Let's find out," said Donna as she approached the object, the others following close behind her.
When they reached the object, it was revealed to be a Welcome to Ponyville sign that was normally seen on one of the various roads that led into town. The once-red sign was now dark gray with only a few bits of incredibly dry and cracked red paint left behind. The words, on the other hand, remained alongside a few added phrases and edits.
The word Ponyville on the sign had been scratched out and was now replaced by the word Equestria. Beneath the new Welcome to Equestria phrase were several other phrases scribbled or etched into the sign's surface. Spike stepped forward and read the words on the sign aloud. "Welcome to Equestria. The land of death. Hell on Gaia. The new Tartarus. The diseased country. The end of the line. Your final resting place. Our final resting place," he recited. The young dragon gulped and turned back towards the others. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Hold it," said Donna as she approached the sign. "There's something else written on there. At the very bottom."
Spike squinted his eyes. "Oh! I see it! I must have missed it."
"Not hard to do. Could whoever wrote this have written it any smaller?!"
"What does it say?" Derpy asked.
Donna and Spike leaned in closer. "It says..." they started. The two of them froze as their eyes glazed over the final phrase. They looked at each other and then turned back to the others.
"What is it? What does it say?!" Twilight asked.
Donna and Spike turned towards the Doctor. "The Doctor's domain," they replied with a confused tone.
"Huh?" asked a confused Derpy. "What's that supposed to mean?" Derpy turned to the Doctor. "Doctor?" Derpy suddenly gasped. The Doctor's face had grown incredibly dark. An angry fire appeared to be burning deep within his old eyes.
"Doctor?" asked Twilight with a concerned look.
The Doctor exhaled hard before looking at his five companions. "I know how this Discord Whooves is related to me now," he replied. Everypony fell silent. "He's-" The Doctor suddenly cut himself off. His ears twitched and his body grew still. "Do you hear it?"
Twi gave a surprised, fearful expression. "I hear it too," she said.
"Doctor, what do you hear?" Donna asked.
The Doctor turned and looked towards the gray, smoggy abyss that cloaked the dead town of Ponyville. His hearts were beating like mad. He had heard this sound before. He knew this sound...and he knew what was making it. "Run," he said gravely.
"What'd you say?" Twilight asked.
The Doctor turned towards Twilight, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. "RUN!" The Doctor took off towards the smog in the opposite direction from where the sound was coming from. "COME ON! RUN!"
"Do what he says," said Twi coldly. "Run." Twi took off after the Doctor. Though they were confused, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and Spike followed suit. Whatever the Doctor was telling them to run from was probably something they wanted to be as far away from as possible. Twilight levitated Spike and placed him on her back, Derpy took to the air, and Donna ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
"DON'T LOOK BACK! JUST KEEP RUNNING!" the Doctor ordered from ahead.
Twi was running fast. As her legs made her soar across the ash that cloaked the ground, another memory started to crop up from deep within her psyche. Her fear of the thumping slowly began to fade away and was being replaced by a sense of security. She felt safe. She felt secure. She knew nothing bad was going to happen to them. All they had to do was reach the library. She caught up to the Doctor. "Follow me. I know a way to a safe place," she said. Before the Doctor could ask any further questions, she raced ahead of him.
Outside the Home of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Twi felt her heart soar as the Golden Oak Library came into view. "Home," she said under her breath. She came to an abrupt stop a couple yards away from the front door. The Doctor, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and Spike stopped as well.
"My library," said Twilight with a melancholy voice.
"Is this the safe place?" the Doctor asked.
"No," Twi replied before turning back. "This is a rendezvous point for us to be taken to the safe place."
Everypony started looking around. "I don't see any help coming!" said Twilight.
"You're right!" Twi gasped as she started to frantically look around. "Why is that? Why is that? Why...is...that?" She scratched her head and tapped her wand against her temple. Her eyes trailed over to her wand and she let out a shriek of realization. "THAT'S IT!"
"What is?!" asked Derpy.
"I have to signal help with my wand!" Twi replied.
"Well do it then!" the Doctor ordered.
Twi's face became flushed and she started to nervously scratch her head with her wand. "Well...you see...I...sorta...don't remember how to cast the signal."
The faces of the Doctor, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, and Spike fell faster than water off a waterfall. "You're kidding me," said Spike.
Suddenly...they heard it: the sound of many, many metal feet thumping against the earth. The Doctor turned towards the smog. "They're almost here," he gasped.
Twi started pacing back and forth, tapping her wand against her temple and going over the unfinished memory time and time again. "What was the signal? What was it? Was it blue? No...green? No...purple? Yeah! Maybe it was purple!"
As Twi rambled on, the others looked towards the army of shadows emerging from the smog. "Doctor...what are those things?" Twilight asked.
"An old enemy of mine," the Doctor replied.
"Maybe we should get out of here," Donna suggested.
"WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!" announced Twi as she pointed her wand towards the cloudy heavens. A massive blast of purple energy shot from her wand and up into the sky. The blast traveled up and up until it exploded in a shower of purple, spreading some of the clouds apart and raining beautiful sparks down upon them.
The advancing enemies stopped for a moment and stared up at the falling sparks. However, only a few seconds later, they continued their walk. "Twi, how long does it take for help to arrive?" Twilight asked.
"I dunno. They should be here pretty soon," Twi replied.
"They're going to be here pretty soon too!" Spike gulped.
"Doctor, what are those things?!" Donna asked as the metal humanoids came into view.
"Cybermen!" the Doctor replied with a growl.
The army of Cybermen was approaching fast. They had the group in their sights and were now headed their way. "I don't think we have anymore time to wait!" said Derpy.
"They should be here quickly! They're really fast!" Twi argued.
"Let's hope they're fast enough!" gulped Spike. The others began to back up as the horde of Cybermen advanced.
"Twilight...you should probably prepare to teleport or something," Donna suggested.
"That won't be necessary," said a masculine voice nearby. Everypony turned to see a cloaked figure standing a few feet away with a rocket launcher of sorts. He proceeded to carefully aim it in the direction of the oncoming Cybermen. "If I were you, I'd get out of the way." The Doctor and the others hastily moved out of the line of fire. Not one second after they were in the clear, the figure fired the weapon. A large, blue projectile soared through the air and smashed into the heart of the Cybermen army. An explosion of metal and sparks erupted and disturbed the smoggy landscape. Pieces of Cybermen started to rain down from the sky while the surviving Cybermen continued towards them at a slower pace due to their injuries. "That should slow them down." The figure turned towards the group and approached them. He looked at Twi and nodded. "Nice to see you're alright, Twilight."
"Sorry but...who are you, exactly?" Twi asked.
"I see. Colgate told me about this possibility. Well, I'll explain everything to all of you later. Now I've got to get you to headquarters." The figure reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a green powder. A slightly annoyed sigh escaped from the hood. "Sorry about this." Before anyone in the group could utter a single word, the figure threw the powder on the ground. An explosion of green mist erupted around them, blurring their vision. A second later, they all blacked out.
Spike felt a searing pain in his head when he came to. His eyes hurt as he opened them and he was blinded by the incredibly white ceiling which hung above him. A soft, comfortable surface lay beneath him and the air smelled of...gems? Spike's mouth began to water. "That smell...oh...I could use some gems right about now," he moaned as his stomach growled a bit.
"Good. You're awake," said a voice nearby. Spike couldn't help but find this new voice to sound strangely familiar. He turned his head, a quick pain shooting through his neck in the process, in the direction of his visitor. A wooden chair was situated next to the white bed he was lying on. A human girl was sitting in it. She appeared to be in her late teens, had incredibly fair skin, and had a silky stream of pink hair flowing from her scalp. She was wearing a yellow dress and pink sandals. Each sandal had a pink butterfly pin clipped to it and a symbol containing three pink butterflies was located on the center right side of the girl's dress. The symbol looked an awful lot like...no...it couldn't be.
"F...Fluttershy?" Spike asked weakly.
The girl tilted her head in a cute manner and giggled. "That's me. It's nice to finally meet you, dragon Spike. I have to admit that I'm kind of excited. It's not everyday somebody like me gets to meet a dragon."
Spike was still trying to register what was happening. He searched through his memories and focused on the last thing he could remember. Ponyville. Ash. Cybermen. Hooded figure. Green smoke. Bits and pieces, words and phrases, bounced around his psyche. Another pain echoed through the innards of his skull. He clutched his temple and groaned. "Where...where am I?!"
"A safe place...for now." The human Fluttershy twirled one of her fingers through her hair as she continued to keep her soothing gaze on Spike.
Spike was still digesting the fact that the human before him was an alternate Fluttershy. It was weird, seeing an alternate version of somepony he knew. It was weird with the evil Rainbow Dash, Clockwork, Bright Eyes, and Twi and it was no less weird with this human Fluttershy. However, though his head hurt and his body felt weak, he still felt a welcoming sense of familiarity. She may be human...but she was still Fluttershy. When Spike focused hard enough, he could see his Fluttershy's face hidden within the face of the girl before him. It was just like when he looked hard enough at Twi.
"The others...my friends...where are they?" Spike asked, his voice sounding more urgent.
The human Fluttershy reached her hand over and patted Spike on the head. Her skin felt smooth and delicate and instantly made his insides melt like hot ice cream. Her smile grew a little bigger. "Fine. They're all fine," she replied. "You're the first to awaken. I should probably apologize on Flash's behalf right now. Teleportation dust has some very unwanted side effects."
"Teleportation dust?"
"The green stuff you probably remember seeing before blacking out." Fluttershy reached into one of her dress pockets and pulled out a medium-sized plastic bag filled with green dust that sparkled in the room's white light. "It's a little invention of ours. It's helped out the fliers and those without magic with getting out of tight situations. Just think of a place, toss it down, and you're off. Sadly, most of the trips end with either extreme weakness or instant unconsciousness. Thankfully, the effect appears to wear off with thorough use of it." She returned the bag to her pocket. "I've never had to use my portion before. Mostly because I've never found myself in harm's way. I tend to stay in whatever haven we create for ourselves." Spike threw the covers off him and began to crawl out of bed. Fluttershy attempted to help him. "Do you need help?"
"I'm fine," Spike replied as he politely brushed Fluttershy's hands away from him. "I can feel my strength coming back." A pain coursed through his back and he groaned. "I think."
"Strange," Fluttershy commented. Spike looked up at Fluttershy, her face contorted into an expression of thought.
"What is?"
"Seeing you. Knowing who you are. It's just...kinda weird talking to an alternate version of someone I know."
Spike couldn't help but chuckle. "You're not alone there, Fluttershy."
Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" said Fluttershy. The door opened and in stepped a boy who looked a few years younger than Fluttershy. He had spiky, green hair; fair skin; was wearing a purple, hooded jacket covered in a few burn marks, and was also wearing a pair of green pants and purple shoes. "Oh...Spike."
Spike's eyes widened as he realized that he was now staring at his dimensional double. The human Spike tilted his head upon looking at his dragon equivalent. "Now I know how Twilight feels," Spike commented.
Human Spike shook his head and turned to Fluttershy. "The others are starting to wake up. Everyone's grouping up in the meeting hall right now," he informed.
"Thank you, Spike," said Fluttershy before looking down at dragon Spike and blushing slightly. Spike gave an awkward cough before following his human self through the door.
Twi was feeling really guilty. Ever since she had come face-to-face with the true face of the hooded figure who had arrived to rescue her and the others from the Cybermen, she had been overwhelmed with an incredible amount of guilt and sadness. She knew that she knew the fair-skinned boy with spiked blue hair...but she just couldn't locate her memories of him.
Her footsteps along with his echoed through the white hallway they were walking down. He was being very quiet and had hardly spoken a word to her other than asking how she was feeling and telling her it was time to go. She wanted to reach out to him, take back the memory she had forgotten. It hadn't taken long for her to remember the signal for help...why was this boy so hard to remember?
"I'm sorry," she said suddenly.
The boy stopped and turned around. She stopped as well and felt her insides burn with sadness as she looked deep into his light-blue eyes. "About what?" he asked. A teasing chuckle escaped his lips. "You haven't touched something you shouldn't, have you?"
Twi shook her head quickly. "No...that's not it."
"Then what's the apology for?"
Twi was silent for a few seconds. She slowly rubbed one of her arms and started to blush. "Forgetting."
The boy smiled sadly. "Come now, Twilight Sparkle. Don't go beating yourself up over something like that. You couldn't control what that rift generator did to you."
Twi clenched her fists. "Were...were we friends?"
"You were friends with everyone. I'm just one of many."
"But...were you and I...were we...close?"
The boy sighed and turned around. "Come along. The others are waiting for us."
Twi and the boy started walking down the hallway once more. "Can I at least know your name?" Twi asked.
"Flash. Flash Sentry," he replied.
Twi felt a warm feeling course through her body. "Well...it's nice to meet you, Flash Sentry. But...I guess I've already met you before." Twi gave an amused chuckle but Flash remained silent. Twi sighed before becoming quiet herself.
The Doctor and his escort, a human by the name of Lyra Heartstrings, entered a room the size of an office lounge. It was filled with various chairs and tables and the air smelled of bananas. "It looks like we're the first ones here," said the Doctor with a chuckle. Lyra nodded and began to walk towards one of the doors. "Where are you going?"
"This meeting's only for the really important people...and ponies. The rest of us still have jobs to do," Lyra replied. Before she left she turned back to the Doctor one, last time. "Um...nice hooves."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Thank you?"
Lyra smiled before exiting through the door. The Doctor let out a sigh and made his way over to one of the chairs. He sat down and stretched his neck a bit. The method of transport used hadn't been exactly the most comfortable means of travel. I would have rather taken the TARDIS on a bad day, the Doctor thought.
Another one of the doors opened and in walked Donna and Derpy. "Doctor!" said Derpy as she flew forward and gave the Doctor a quick hug.
"Well, it looks like you two are doing fine," the Doctor chuckled.
"If by fine you meaning being sore and confused as hell then yeah, we're peachy," Donna replied.
The Doctor chuckled once more. "So where are your escorts?"
"They went back to work," Derpy replied. "We must be in an army base or something like that."
"We are. A rebel base located directly beneath the city of Manehattan...well...what remains of it," the Doctor explained. "My escort, Lyra Heartstrings, told me."
"More alternate versions of ponies we know."
At that moment, several more doors opened and the Doctor, Derpy, and Donna were joined by the others: Twilight, Spike, Twi, the human Fluttershy, the human Spike, and Flash Sentry. "Twilight!" said Spike as he ran over and hugged the lavender unicorn. Everyone and everypony made their way to their seats.
"Is that who I think it is?" Twilight whispered in Spike's ear as her eyes fell on the human versions of Fluttershy and Spike.
Spike gave an awkward nod. "Yep."
Twilight looked at alternate Fluttershy and Spike for a few more seconds. Before turning away, she noticed the human Spike eyeing Twi with a hurt look on his face. She then looked back at her own Spike. It must be hard for human Spike. Twi still has amnesia. I can only imagine how hurt my Spike would feel if I no longer knew who he was, she thought. Her gaze then traveled around the room and examined its other inhabitants. A human me, a human Spike, and a human Fluttershy. I guess human versions of the rest of my friends and the Princesses shouldn't be too far behind.
Finally, one last door opened and in stepped three individuals: Colgate, looking as hardened and general-like as she had in her holographic message; Clockwork, wearing a somewhat dirty, brown trench coat, a striped brown suit, and a pair of square glasses as well as had a small cut on his left cheek; and a woman with fair skin and dark purple hair whom the Doctor and his companions instantly recognized as this world's Rarity. Huh...she managed to make the army look fashionable, the Doctor commented in thought as he examined Rarity's camo jacket, bracelets, pants, and shoes. The Doctor turned his attention to Colgate and Clockwork and stood up, approaching them with a serious look on his face. "Hello again. Colgate. Clockwork," he said.
"Doctor," Colgate and Clockwork said seriously in unison. For a second or two, the three ponies exchanged intense glares before giving wide smiles and meeting up in a big hug.
"I can't believe you're actually here," Colgate said as the hug broke apart. She turned towards Twilight, Donna, Derpy, and Spike. "All of you. It feels almost like a dream."
"Tell me about it," said Twilight as she stood up and approached Colgate. "You're definitely not the same mare I said goodbye to a couple days ago."
Colgate chuckled. "I remember that night. It was over a year ago from my point of view." Twilight's smile faded.
"How did you end up here?" Derpy asked. "And how did you meet Clockwork?"
"It's a long story," Clockwork replied as he gave a sad face in Derpy's direction, which Derpy couldn't help but take notice of.
"One we can discuss in a little bit. There will plenty of time for talk during preparation," said Colgate as she made her way towards the front of the room. "Right now, we need to discuss the plan."
"Wait a minute," said Twilight. "I thought this was a meeting for all of the important ponies and people here."
"That's true. Here we all are," Colgate replied.
"Save one," the Doctor heard Clockwork whisper to Colgate.
"But what about the rest of my friends? Well...I suppose this world's versions of them anyway. Applejack? Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Derpy? What about the Princesses? What about Shining Armor and Cadance?" Twilight asked. A deathly silence fell. Twilight could see expressions of great sadness appearing on the faces of those who belonged in this world. Even Twi was giving a sad face though she also appeared to be confused about as to why she was making it in the first place.
"They're not here," said a familiar voice from one of the doorways. Everypony and everyone turned to the doorway in question see a woman with flowing dark blue hair that sparkled like the night, incredibly fair skin, dark blue eyes, a black crown on her head, a deep blue tunic, dark blue pants, a long gray cloak, a black belt holding a silver rapier, and a silver wand sticking out of one of her tunic's pockets.
"Princess Luna!" Colgate gasped.
The human Princess Luna smirked. "You seem surprised to see me."
"Well, with all due respect, it's for good reason," said Clockwork. "You've spent a lot of time locked away since-"
"To answer your question, unicorn Twilight Sparkle," Luna said abruptly as she approached Twilight. "They're not coming. Our Derpy is busy helping other soldiers. We lost Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, and Cadance and my sister is...unavailable right now." Twilight gulped as she stared into this world's Luna's eyes. They were abnormally cold and cut through her like knives. A feeling of intimidation with a twinge of sadness coursed through her. Sure, these weren't her versions of her friends and family...but just to hear about them being lost anyway just made her insides twist and turn.
The unicorn turned towards Fluttershy and Rarity. "I...I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't apologize, darling," said Rarity with a wave of her hand. "It's not like you had anything to do with it. No. This is all thanks to that insane stallion, Discord Whooves!"
Fluttershy suddenly raised one of her hands. "Well, one of them isn't lost," she said. "Pinkie Pie is-"
"She's lost, Fluttershy!" Luna snapped. "Deal with it!"
Tears began to form in Fluttershy's eyes and her shoulders started to shake. "But...she's not dead!"
"With the way she is now, she might as well be!" Luna turned away from Fluttershy and made her way towards the front of the room where Colgate and Clockwork were standing. Rarity placed her hands on Fluttershy's shoulders to comfort her. Luna turned to Colgate and Clockwork. "Everyone and everypony's here now. Let's get down to business!"
"Yes. Let's," said Colgate. Everyone and everypony in the room fell silent as they turned their attention to Colgate. "Doctor, I'm assuming that you've seen the message I sent with the rift generator."
"Yes. My companions and I have seen it," the Doctor replied.
"Good." Colgate cleared her throat. "The situation in this world, as you've seen, is not very good. According to our spies, the enemy is close to finishing the final touches on his rift generator."
"Discord Whooves."
"Correct."
"Before we continue, can we at least know who exactly this Discord Whooves is?" Donna asked.
"He's an alternate version of me," the Doctor answered. Silence fell once more. "He's a dark Doctor."
Twilight gasped. "Doctor," she uttered. "Are you saying that-"
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying, Ms. Sparkle."
"What are we saying here?" asked the two Spikes in perfect unison.
"How did you know?" Colgate asked.
"Twi told us his name back in Ponyville. At first, everypony thought he was Discord or something like that. However, Twi also mentioned remembering that he was connected to me. That's when I put it all together. That's when I remembered," the Doctor replied.
"Remembered what?" Fluttershy asked.
"A month ago in my Equestria's time, there was an incident in Canterlot. Several Daleks appeared through rifts and went after our Princess Luna. Our Princess Celestia had a near death experience thanks to these Daleks and was rescued by...well...this world's Princess Luna, if my guess is correct."
All eyes turned on Luna. "You're wrong," said the Princess of the Night. "I've never helped any pony version of my sister. There are other universes. It must have been another one."
"You have experience in spiritual training correct?"
Luna shuffled her legs a bit and nodded. "Why does it matter?"
The Doctor was quiet as he put the pieces together. "You're going to need to use it in the future." Luna turned away from the Doctor. The Doctor cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, it turns out that the Daleks sent through the rift had been sent after this world's Princess Luna but their damaged minds caused them to go after our world's Princess Luna. I learned that the Daleks had been ordered to do so by the Doctor. Our Princess Celestia later told us of her spiritual encounter with the human Princess Luna, who had warned her about an evil Doctor. I've been trying to figure out more about this other Doctor and the rifts ever since." The Doctor then pointed one of his hooves at Clockwork. "And let me guess. He looks exactly like me only his coat's gray, his mane's black, and he has pegasus wings."
Colgate and Clockwork turned to each other and then back to the Doctor. "You've seen him before?" Clockwork asked.
"Not in the flesh," the Doctor replied. "I saw an echo of him of sorts when I entered your mind during your battle with the false Sombra. Do you remember?"
Clockwork's head gave a motion that resembled a somewhat of a mix between a shake and a nod. "Not entirely. It was so long ago for me...and that's a point of my life I've been trying to move away from."
The Doctor gave a friendly smile. "Hopefully Bright Eyes has been a good help with that."
"Speaking of Bright Eyes, where is she?" Derpy asked suddenly.
Colgate's face became grim once more. "We don't know," the unicorn replied.
Derpy's ears dropped. "What do you mean that you don't know?"
"It's a long story," said Clockwork.
"One we can discuss later. Right now, let's focus on the plan!" Luna snapped.
Everyone and everypony fell silent. "Right," said Colgate as she cleared her throat. "Discord Whooves has been working on a massive rift generator since his arrival in this world. As you can figure out, it is the cause of the dimensional rifts you've been running across in your travels."
"But why?" Twilight asked nearly under her breath but loud enough for others to hear. "It doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't, darling?" Rarity asked.
Twilight looked around and realized that all eyes were on her. Her face grew bright red and her ears drooped a bit. "It doesn't make sense. This Discord Whooves is an alternate version of the Doctor, correct? Well, shouldn't he have a TARDIS? I would assume that his TARDIS can travel through dimensions too otherwise how would he have arrived here? Why would he need to create dimensional rifts when he has a TARDIS?"
"She's got a point," said Donna with a snap of her fingers.
"It's true that Discord Whooves does have a TARDIS," Clockwork replied. "Colgate and I saw it when he first entered this world. But we haven't seen it anywhere since."
"Maybe his TARDIS just doesn't work anymore," Derpy guessed with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I don't know," Spike added. "The TARDIS doesn't seem like something that can just stop working."
"Oh it's possible, Spike," said the Doctor. "In the right conditions and under the right circumstances, a TARDIS can indeed simply...well...die."
"That blue box did look pretty damaged when it fell from the sky," said Twi as she crossed her arms. All eyes now focused on her and Twi, like her pony counterpart, blushed. "Sorry...just a random chunk of memory." For a few seconds, her eyes glazed over Flash Sentry, Fluttershy, Spike the human, and Rarity and she noticed that they were giving her fairly depressed looks. She turned her attention back to Colgate, Clockwork, and Luna.
"Okay, so his TARDIS doesn't work. What's his motive to begin with?" Twilight asked. "Why did he come to this world in the first place and where is he trying to go next?"
"We don't know," Colgate replied with a sigh.
"He just showed up and all hell broke loose," Luna explained with a wave of her hand. "Okay, let's just cut to the plan." She pointed at the Doctor. "You have a TARDIS with you, correct?"
"Well, it's not with me right now. It's currently sitting back in what remains of Ponyville's town hall," the Doctor replied.
"Not a problem we can get our team there to collect it. Your TARDIS is our new secret weapon! You can transport a team into the heart of Canterlot, where Discord Whooves resides, and we can take him down from the inside out!"
"And that's it?" Donna asked.
"Well, you know what they say," said Fluttershy. "Easier said than done."
"We've tried many times to infiltrate Canterlot with teleportation spells, our new teleportation dust, direct assault from all sides, and so on. He's placed a lot of security around the city with his Cybermen and Dalek armies and has harnessed some of this world's magic to create protective barriers," Colgate explained. "By this point, the TARDIS might be the only thing that can break through his defenses."
"So this all boils down to a simple infiltration mission," the Doctor deduced. A near childish smile appeared on his face. "Haven't done one of those in a while."
"Well...it's not just an infiltration mission. It's also a rescue mission."
"Who are we rescuing?" Spike asked.
"Let me guess," said Derpy as she scratched her head. "Bright Eyes and Pinkie Pie?"
A deathly silence fell. "No," Luna replied coldly. "We don't even know if Bright Eyes is even in this universe and Pinkie Pie is beyond saving."
"How is she-"
"Let's just drop it. Okay?" Fluttershy asked as her eyes began to tear up. Rarity and Spike the human proceeded to help calm her down.
"So who are we rescuing?" the Doctor asked.
"Matilda and Daring Do," Colgate replied.
The Doctor's ears jerked up. "Matilda?!"
"Daring Do?!" asked Twilight, Derpy, and Spike the dragon in unison.
"Yes," Clockwork answered with a nod. "A few days ago, Matilda and Daring Do arrived in this world with the past versions of Colgate and myself. Our past selves escaped while Matilda and Daring Do were captured by the Cybermen in Canterlot. We're not sure what happened to them after we escaped but we're sure that they're alive somewhere in that city."
"As long as Pinkie Pie hasn't gotten to them," the Doctor heard Luna state harshly under her breath.
"It looks like we get to see Matilda again," Twilight said to the Doctor with an awkward chuckle.
"But...Daring Do?! How?!" Spike asked.
"And what's this about your past selves? I thought you two have been here for year!" said Donna.
"Both parts of our long story," Colgate replied with a chuckle.
Just then, Luna reached into one of her tunic pockets and pulled out what resembled a smartphone. After making a few motions with her fingers, she stored the phone away. "There we go," she said with a satisfied smile. "Your TARDIS will be obtained by some of our soldiers and brought here safely."
The Doctor smiled. "Excellent! Thank you, your majesty!" he said.
"Alright, we all best start preparing ourselves for this mission," said Colgate in a loud, clear, general-like manner. "We have a tyrant to take down, an army to defeat, a machine to destroy, and some friends to save. It's going to be a long and dangerous trip."
"What trip isn't like that in this world?" Flash Sentry asked with a chuckle and a smirk. Twi met eye-to-eye with Flash for a second and blushed again, nervously twirling her fingers in her hair.
"This meeting is finished. Go off and mingle and prepare and all that crap," Luna said as she strutted over to one of the doors and exited the room.
"Man, this Luna makes our Luna look like Pinkie Pie," Spike whispered to Twilight. Twilight giggled in response.
"Doctor," said Colgate as she approached him. "Can I speak with you in private? There's some things I wish to discuss with you. There's also a question I've had for a long time that I dearly hope you can answer."
"Certainly, General," the Doctor replied with a smirk. "Lead the way." Colgate chuckled a bit before leading the Doctor out the room and in the direction of something she had been seeking an answer to for the past year.
The Doctor followed Colgate down the hallway in silence. The walls were hardly any different from the walls of the hallways he had passed through on his way to the meeting room. All of them solid white, though some having different shades. The Doctor kept processing the details of the meeting over and over again. However, he often found himself distracted by the constant aroma of bananas. He tried to ignore the scent but it was incredibly strong and forced its way into his nostrils. While he found it distracting, he couldn't help but feel a bit happy too. He did like bananas.
"So where's the bananas?" the Doctor asked with a chuckle.
"What?" asked Colgate with a raised eyebrow.
"The bananas. I smell them all over the place. Do you have a warehouse here full of them or something? A warehouse full of bananas. That sounds nice. I should try and find one at some point. God knows there's probably one somewhere out in the stars of this universe."
Colgate gave a small smile. "Bananas? Is that what you smell?"
"Of course! Don't you smell them?"
"Somepony or someone here might along with you but not me. I smell toothpaste."
"Toothpaste? Since when did toothpaste and bananas have scents that could get mixed around?"
"They don't. This facility has special, magical air filters that produce a scent that's different to anyone or anypony that smells it. When someone or somepony inhales the scent, they smell an aroma that they find attractive. I like the smell of toothpaste. It reminds me of the times I used to spend with my mother in her office when I was a foal. She's a dentist, you see."
"Interesting. A scent that takes on the aroma of whatever someone or somepony finds attractive."
"Basically. It's a little something we added so that, even on the worst of days and in the worst of times, us rebels could have something nice to think about."
The pair fell silent once again as they passed through another door and began to walk down a hallway filled to the brim with various doors, openings, and windows that displayed larger rooms located beyond them. "This is quite a complex facility you have, I must admit," the Doctor commented as he looked out one of the windows, which presented a gargantuan room full of various transportational vehicles. "I have to ask, though, how did you get all of this built in a mere year?"
"It helps when you have a few hundred hands on your side as well as more than a fair amount of technology and magic. Also, having someone like Princess Luna has proved useful," Colgate replied.
"Ah, yes." The Doctor cleared his throat as he and Colgate passed through another door. They turned towards a stairwell and began to descend. "Speaking of Princess Luna, might I ask as to what exactly has her...well...occupied?"
Colgate sighed. "It's this world's Princess Celestia." They stopped at a door about four floors below the one they had originally come from. Colgate passed a card in front of a scanner on the door and the door slid open with a soft hiss. "She's missing."
The Doctor followed Colgate through the door before it closed. "Oh. Oh dear."
"It's been about two and half weeks now. She was doing a simple rescue mission. We received a distress signal from some people in Rainbow Falls and she volunteered to go along. She and the others we sent haven't returned and we have yet to hear anything from them. And, nowadays, when someone disappears they don't usually return and if they do...well-"
"Let me guess. They come back as Cybermen."
Colgate sighed and nodded. "You got it."
The hallways they were walking through now had taken on a silver coloring and were lit with slightly dimmer lights. "So...I believe you had some topics to discuss with me," said the Doctor.
"Yes. I wanted to tell you about what happened to Clockwork and I a year ago," Colgate replied.
"Well, I'm all ears." The Doctor flapped his ears.
"It's a bit of a long story but we still have some walking to do before we reach what I want to show you."
"Alright then. Please, begin."
Colgate nodded and cleared her throat. "It all began the night I was leaving Ponyville after you helped me, which I'm sure was only a few days ago for you. I was waiting for the train at the station when I stumbled across Matilda...or rather, she stumbled across me; and I can tell you now that it was no accident."
Twi didn't know how but her aimless wandering through the facility had brought her to a room with a massive television screen acting as one of its walls. The screen depicted a single, static scene of a grassy field at high noon. The sun being portrayed in the scene was so vibrant and welcoming that Twi almost thought she could feel the sunlight pouring down over her skin. Thinking back to the other Ponyville, she took note of how wonderful it had felt during her brief moments running through the sunlit, snow-covered town. It had been simply perfect.
Suddenly, Twi gasped and grasped her head. From nowhere, she could hear voices echoing around her. She knew the voices were coming from inside her head but that didn't mean they weren't once real. Something deep within her could tell that the voices she was hearing once passed through the pocket of air in this room at one point in time.
"Back in here again?" asked a voice whom Twi recognized was Flash Sentry's.
"I like this room. Sue me," joked a voice in reply whom Twi recognized as her own.
"I don't blame you. I come here often too." Twi could hear Flash sigh. "It helps remind me what we're all fighting for."
"I wonder if we'll ever see the Sun again."
"We will. I know we will."
Twi could feel tears starting to roll down her face. "But some of us won't," her ghostly voice said.
"Hey. We won't let their deaths be in vain. We've got to live for them as well as for ourselves," said Flash's voice in response.
"I know. I just really miss them."
"Me too, Twilight. Me too."
"Oh!" gasped a new yet familiar voice. Twi jumped and turned to see that her pony double had entered. "I was just exploring." She chuckled. "Probably same as you. I'll leave you alone if-"
"No! You can come in," Twi replied with a friendly smile.
Twilight nodded before entering the room completely and approaching the screen. "I wonder if this was a real place at one point."
Twi crossed her arms and took a couple steps towards the screen. "This was probably put here to help the soldiers remember what they're fighting for. At least, that's what I remember liking about this room." Twi looked at Twilight and Twilight smiled back at her.
"It's funny," Twilight commented. "You and I have hardly talked to each other so far."
"It's not like we've had much time to do so. There's been a few, shall we say, distractions of late," Twi replied.
Twilight chuckled. "Definitely. But...I guess this is our chance to talk."
"I suppose." The unicorn and the human fell into an awkward silence for a brief moment. Twi rubbed the back of her neck while Twilight stretched one of her forelegs forward. "I wish I could give you a better conversation. If I didn't have amnesia, I'm sure I'd have a lot to talk about with you."
"I'm sure the two of us can find some topics to discuss. It doesn't matter if you can't remember everything about your life right now. I bet you were brilliant when you had your memories and I bet you're brilliant now. You are a Twilight Sparkle after all."
"Heh." Twi gave a quick chuckle. "Weird. A Twilight Sparkle. It's an odd feeling, I must admit. Knowing that there's more than one version of me out there beyond the folds of this reality. An infinite number of alternate variations of you and I as well as of everyone we know."
"And everypony."
"Yeah...that too."
"It's certainly weird for me too," Twilight stated. "I still remember the first time I came across an alternate version of somepony I know; and it wasn't a very good experience, mind you."
Twi leaned against the screen wall and crossed her arms. "What happened?" she asked.
"It was an evil, sadistic version of my friend Rainbow Dash. This horrible, twisted version of her from a universe where rainbows were made from pegasus fillies who failed their flight tests."
Twi chuckled uncomfortably. "That sounds like something out of a bad horror flick."
Twilight cocked her head slightly. "A bad horror what?"
Twi waved a hand. "Nevermind. It's not important." Twi cleared her throat. "What happened to this other Rainbow Dash?"
"She got sent back to her own world and all of her crimes in that world were exposed. She's imprisoned right now."
"And yet, out there in the multiverse, there's probably another version of that world where that evil Rainbow Dash is still performing those crimes."
Twilight looked up towards the ceiling. "Other versions of my Equestria. Some similar and yet some so vastly different."
Twi followed Twilight's example and turned towards the ceiling too. "Other versions of my own Equestria as well. Maybe...there's a version out there where none of this ever happened. Maybe there's versions that are just like this one. Ones where we fail. Ones where we lose. Ones where you came to our rescue and ones where you never even passed through the dimensional walls to aid us. Alternate, linked realities. Constantly colliding. Constantly isolated. Constantly different. Constantly...infinite."
Twilight and Twi were silent for a few seconds before shaking their heads and simultaneously groaning. "Okay, now my head hurts," said Twilight.
"I'm right there with you on that one," Twi added. The two Twilights looked at each other and broke into a fit of amused laughter.
Twilight pointed at Twi. "And you said we wouldn't have much to talk about!"
"Preferably, I would have rather talked about nothing than suffer from the brain crash I'm having right now!" Twilight giggled and Twi leaned back against the screen before sighing. "I hope this is one of those realities where we succeed."
Twilight approached her human counterpart and patted her side. "We're going to save this world. I promise you that."
Twi smiled at her pony counterpart. Suddenly, a pair of familiar voices echoed from the hallway outside the room. "So your Twilight's an egghead too?" asked the voice of Spike the dragon.
"Yeah!" chuckled the voice of Spike the human. "Though, I'll admit that I kind of miss her egghead stuff now that she has amnesia."
"I'm sure she'll get her memories back. I've already seen her remember a few things. Then the fun can continue for you."
"I feel that I should be happy about that but a part of me remains very afraid."
The door opened and the two Spikes entered, laughing hard. They stopped and fell silent when they came face-to-face with Twilight and Twi, both glaring at them with raised eyebrows. "Oh! Hi, Twilight! Hi, Twi!" gulped Spike the dragon.
"Talking about us behind our back, huh?" Twilight asked as she approached the two versions of her number one assistant.
"No. Maybe. Sorta. Kinda. Nevermind!" croaked Spike the human.
"It's not good to talk about people, or ponies, behind their backs, Spike," said Twi as she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the two Spikes.
"Yeah! I thought we taught you two better than that!" snapped Twilight as she aimed her horn.
"Well, I guess they could use a good lesson in manners right now." Twi turned to Twilight. "Agreed?"
Twilight nodded to Twi. "Agreed."
The two Spikes looked at the two Twilights with ghostly white expressions before turning towards each other. "Run?" asked Spike the human.
"Run," replied Spike the dragon with a nod. The two Spikes raced through the door faster than a determined Pinkie Pie. It wasn't until the two Spikes were well down the hallway that the two Twilights once again broke out into laughter.
"Now where am I?" Donna asked herself as she found herself in a hallway with a massive window that overlooked a large hangar of sorts. "I wander around for five minutes and then I'm lost. Brilliant." She continued down the hallway. "Well it's not like I was really going anywhere to begin with. We're all just busy wandering about and preparing to invade this Discord Whooves's castle." Donna walked over to the wall opposite to the window that overlooked the hangar and leaned against it. She rested her head back and sighed. From what she had seen of this world, she was definitely ready to get back to the friendly, warm atmosphere of Ponyville. But she also couldn't help but feel a pull deep within her. A desire for something she sorely missed. She loved the Doctor. She loved the adventures she had been partaking in. She loved Equestria. She loved the colorful characters she had gotten the pleasure to meet. But that still didn't stop her from missing Shaun and their cozy home in Chiswick.
Suddenly, a door down the hallway opened and a young woman with fair skin, brunette hair, and wearing a similar camo fashion style to the rest of the soldiers in the facility passed through it. She came racing down the hallway but came to a stop when she saw Donna. "Ah! Hello! Quick question. Have you seen Derpy Hooves anywhere by any chance?" she asked.
"Pony or human?" Donna asked in return.
"Definitely human."
"Sorry, haven't seen her."
The woman took a closer look at Donna. "You're one of those visitors, aren't you? Part of that group that came here with the Doctor?"
"How could you tell?"
"The way you're dressed, and you don't seem as...gray as everybody else."
"Gray? If you ask me, everybody here's more camo than gray."
The woman glanced down at her own clothes and laughed. "Well...at least we have more diversity than the Cybermen."
"That's for sure!"
Donna and the woman laughed just before another door in the hallway opened. A girl with blonde hair, fair skin, and inverted eyes exited. "There you are, Derpy!" said the woman as the human Derpy approached them. "I've been looking for you."
"Sorry. I was a bit hungry," Derpy the human replied with a blush as a few crumbs fell from her shirt.
"It's all right. No harm done!" The woman placed a hand on Derpy's shoulder. "Come along then. Thunderlane wants us to help do a few routine checks on the vehicles."
"Again?"
"Yeah."
Derpy the human lowered her head and Donna chuckled at the sight. Suddenly, she felt as if something was watching her. She turned around abruptly and was instantly blinded by a harsh, golden light. Through the light, she could just barely make out the outline of a pony but that was about it. She couldn't tell if it was a unicorn, a pegasus, an alicorn, or even a regular earth pony. There was just a pony standing at the end of the hallway, bathed in gold light.
Donna shivered as a whispered message phased through the air from the pony and into her being. She felt the message course through every inch of her brain before spilling out of her mouth in a quick statement. "Her time to howl with us is near," she said.
"What?" asked the voice of the woman.
Donna turned back towards the woman and Derpy the human, gasping for air. "What is that?!" she asked as she pointed back in the direction of the golden pony.
The woman and Derpy exchanged a confused glance. "What's what?" asked Derpy.
Donna turned back down the hallway and was shocked to see no sign of the blinding figure. "You didn't see it?" Donna asked as she turned back to them.
"There's been nothing in this hallway aside from us and you," the woman explained.
Donna clutched her forehead and sighed. "I think I'm going mad."
"Join the club!" giggled Derpy. Donna chuckled in response and smiled. "So you're part of that group from the other world?!"
Donna cleared her throat and nodded. "Pretty much, though I'm not from the same world as the ponies. I'm from another human world. I'm Donna, by the way. Donna Noble."
"Nice to meet you!" Derpy extended her hand at an odd angle. "I'm Derpy Hooves."
"I know who you are." Donna shook Derpy's hand. "I'm friends with the pony version of you."
"There's a pony version of me here?! I need to go meet her right now!"
Derpy suddenly began to levitate up into the air when the woman pulled her back down. "Not so fast, Derpy. We've got to go help inspect the vehicles," she said.
Derpy crossed her arms and pouted. "It's not fair!" she snapped.
"So...you can fly?" Donna asked awkwardly as she pointed at Derpy.
"I'm a flier. It's kind of our thing."
"A flier?"
"In this world, there are five types of humans," the woman explained. "There are ordinary humans, such as myself. There are fliers, like Derpy, who can...well...I think their ability is pretty self-explanatory. There are humans who can perform magic, like Twilight Sparkle. There's magical fliers, who can both use magic and fly. An example of that would be the Princesses. And there are random humans, people with any sort of random ability. Twilight Sparkle's friend, Spike, is an example of that if I remember correctly. I think the guy can control fire or something like that."
"Fitting." Donna's eyes widened momentarily. "Sorry, but I don't think I've learned your name yet."
"Oh! Sorry about that." The woman gave a small smile and extended her hand. "My name's-"
"What are you two doing?!" snapped an annoyed voice. Donna looked to see a black man with a silver mohawk and dressed in camo approaching them. "I told you two to go help check on the vehicles, didn't I?!"
"No need to get angry, Thunderlane," said the woman. "Derpy and I were just heading over there. We were just talking with Ms. Noble for a minute."
"The talking can wait for later, Oswin! Now you and Derpy head over to the vehicles hangar now!"
"We're going. We're going."
Thunderlane began to lead the two of them away. "Bye!" said Derpy as she waved goodbye to Donna.
"Nice meeting you!" said the woman named Oswin.
"See you around!" called Donna as the three soldiers vanished down the hallway. Once her company was gone, Donna turned her attention towards the spot where the golden pony had been. "Where'd you go, my mysterious little pony?" Donna straightened herself up before continuing down the hallway.
"And that's what happened," Colgate finished with a loud exhale.
The Doctor had carefully taken in every detail Colgate had explained to him. The two versions of Matilda, Elmheim, Daring Do, the temple, the rifts, Thalia, the crazy Rainbow Dash, Rumplestiltskin, Jeff, the rift vortex, losing Bright Eyes, Edgar Roger Stevens, the warning about Discord Whooves, arriving in this Equestria, and the method of Colgate and Clockwork's escape into the past. He had let every detail soak in and thought each of them over very carefully. "I must admit, that's quite a mad story you've got there," said the Doctor.
"And, look, I finished telling it just in time."
The Doctor looked to see that he and Colgate were now standing in front of a steel door. Colgate waved her card in front of the door's scanner and the door slid open. The Doctor followed Colgate through the threshold and found himself in an average-sized room with a large, white light hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a metal table and a gorgeous, red cloak was spread out on the table's surface. "This is what you wanted to show me?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes," Colgate replied. "It's the very same cloak that I found in the Elmheim Temple a year ago. The cloak that helped Clockwork and I escape into the past. It's thanks to this cloak that we were able to escape the Cybermen for the first time. It's thanks to it that we were able to travel back and form this army against Discord Whooves. It's thanks to this cloak that you're here to save this world now. Without this cloak, there would be no Clockwork or I here and you likely would have never known about any of this. In a way, I guess you could call this cloak our first savior."
The Doctor eyed the cloak and couldn't help getting a series of odd sensations from it. "So I'm guessing this one, big question you wanted to ask me involves this cloak. Am I right?"
"Yes. I've been wondering about this cloak for a year now. I just want to see if you can find out anything new about it. I mean, you were able to seal away my temporal touch so this should be no problem for you, right?"
"Sealing away your temporal touch and examining an object such as this are two very different things, Colgate."
"Are you saying that you're not going to look at it?"
"Of course not! A chance to examine an other-worldly cloak with the powers of time travel woven into its fabric? Why in the name of Kasterborous would I refuse such an offer?"
Colgate giggled as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and approached the cloak. He moved it over the fabric for several seconds before looking at the device to examine the results. "Found anything interesting yet?" Colgate asked.
The Doctor continued to look at his sonic in silence. "Hold on. That can't be right," he stated. He quickly scanned the cloak again and looked at the results. "It can't be!" He grabbed the cloak with his hooves and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the Doctor let out a great scream unlike anything Colgate or the Doctor himself had heard before.
"Doctor?!" The Doctor let the cloak fall back onto the table before hastily backing up into one of the walls of the room. Colgate's heart began to beat faster as she tried to understand what was happening. "Doctor?! What is it?! What's wrong?!"
"It can't be! That thing can't be here! It's impossible!"
"What?" Colgate glanced back at the cloak. "Why?!"
"It's impossible! That thing shouldn't be in this world! It shouldn't be in any world! It's impossible! It can't exist! It shouldn't exist! It musn't exist!" The Doctor's breathing slowed down before he turned away from the cloak to stare at Colgate, his eyes looking glassy and dazed. "In fact...it doesn't exist at all."
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spike increased his grip on Twilight as the Dalek eye stalks continued to glare down at him, Twilight, and Donna. They remained still and prepared themselves for the endless echoes of EXTERMINATE to begin pounding against their eardrums.
There was only silence.
A full minute or so of frozen terror must have passed before Twilight started to realize that something was definitely wrong here (well, more wrong than being trapped in a dark chamber filled with an army of Daleks). She slowly turned her head back and forth to examine all of the Daleks situated within the reach of her light. None of them were moving. None of them were screaming for their extermination. They were simply still. Still and silent.
Donna was beginning to grow curious as well though she still remained highly cautious. Her last encounter with the Daleks had ended in the near destruction of reality and her memories of the Doctor being erased. Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled about coming across them again.
After at least five minutes of shrill, uncomfortable silence, Donna was beginning to feel less terrified and more annoyed. "If you're going to intimidate us then at least do something first!" she snapped.
"Don't encourage them!" Twilight snapped.
"I'm sorry but how long are we going to have to sit here before they start shouting EXTERMINATE at us?!"
Twilight looked up at an eye stalk glaring straight down at her. "Have the Daleks ever acted like this before, Donna? I've only encountered them twice before so this type of behavior is new to me."
"I've only encountered them once and, to put it simply, I don't think patience and silence are their strong suits."
Spike gulped. "Well they seem pretty good at it now," he said.
A figurative light bulb suddenly flicked on inside Donna's head. "Or maybe they're still not," she stated.
Donna stood up and approached one of the Daleks. She stared straight into the eye stalk for a moment before tapping the glass lense.
"I can't watch," said Spike before covering his eyes.
Donna moved to the side of the Dalek in question. It, like its fellow brethren, remained still and refused to give her the time of day. A second later, a loud clang rang out as Donna gave a swift kick to the Dalek's side.
Twilight and Spike jumped while the sound of the kick echoed off into the dark, far off corners of the chamber. Donna waited for a moment for the Dalek to respond. It, along with the others, continued to remain silent and undisturbed. No shouts of EXTERMINATE. No death rays being fired. No movement whatsoever.
"I'm confused. What's going on with them?" Spike asked.
"I'm just as confused as you are, Spike," said Twilight before standing up and examining a Dalek next to her.
Spike gave a look of excited curiosity. "Maybe they're frozen in time or something!"
Twilight glared deep into the dark lense of one of the eye stalks. "Or maybe it's something darker than that."
Donna turned back to the Dalek she had kicked and proceeded to kick it again. This time, surprisingly, something happened.
The top portion of the Dalek began to open up with a slow, weak hiss. Donna took a few steps back while Twilight and Spike turned to face the opening battle armor. She remembered how bad the mad Dalek scientist Davros had looked so she could only imagine how horrible an actual Dalek looked like. What she ended up seeing was nothing like she had expected.
Twilight, Donna, and Spike shrank back and gagged as a wretched odor hit their nostrils. "Gah! What is that horrible smell?!" asked the unicorn.
"It smells like rotting meat!" Spike exclaimed while clutching his nose.
"Inside a porta-potty on the last day of the festival!" Donna added.
Through the light emanating from Twilight's horn, the trio could make out the rotting remains of what they assumed was a Dalek. A varied amount of strange, disgusting fluids had begun pouring from the opening in the armor while a black steam resonated from the Dalek corpse.
"Dead," choked Twilight as she came close to losing the food she had eaten at the party.
Donna turned away from the revealed Dalek to face the crowd surrounding them. "And I bet it's not the only one," she said.
Spike followed Donna's gaze and gulped. "You don't mean-"
Donna gave a single, slow nod. "This isn't a Dalek army...it's a Dalek dumping ground."
"Wherever Twi is," Twilight said, "I hope it's a better place than this."
Twi hardly paid any attention to the cold surface she was lying on or the dull, throbbing pain in her head. She was too preoccupied with watching a memory play out before her like a scene from a television show. Through her hazy vision, there appeared to be a screen floating an inch or two above her face.
In the screen, she could see herself and five others sitting at a purple table situated at an outside cafe. She instantly recognized the five girls sitting alongside her: Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Snow was falling from the sky at a graceful pace but an umbrella connected to the center of the table protected the six girls from getting covered in the icy substance.
"Lovely weather, I must say," said Rarity before taking a sip of hot chocolate. "It's certainly gotten me into the Hearth's Warming mood."
"Totally!" chirped Pinkie Pie. "It's like fireflies in the summer! Or pumpkins in autumn! Or Wrackspurts in spring!"
Twi and the others exchanged confused glances, an action that was the norm following one of Pinkie's random statements. "Uh...what are Wrackspurts?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"SHHH!" Pinkie clasped a hand over Rainbow's mouth before looking around. "Don't talk about them! They might be on to us!"
Twi couldn't help but giggle at Pinkie. Her antics always made her laugh...well...either that or cause her to pull the hair out of her head.
"So, Twilight, ah hear you're heading up to Canterlot," said Applejack with a tip of her hat.
"That I am," Twi responded. "It'll just be a short visit for Spike and I. We're going to visit some old friends and my parents."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "A certain special someone as well?" asked the fashionista. "Someone by the name of Flash Sentry perhaps?"
Twi couldn't stop herself from blushing. "Maybe."
"I think you two are great together," said Fluttershy with a smile.
"Ugh! Can we please not go into the mushy romantic stuff?!" Rainbow Dash groaned.
"Okay! We can go into other stuff then!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "I ran into Vinyl earlier and she told me about how she had an amazing time last Saturday when she and Rainbow Dash-"
Rainbow suddenly placed a hand over Pinkie's mouth. "Let's talk about something else!"
Twi laughed at Pinkie and the blushing Rainbow Dash...only to find herself staring up at a gray, dark ceiling. The trip down memory lane was over.
She sat up and clutched her forehead. Fragments of her lost memories were coming back quicker and quicker now. She should have felt great but she instead felt an overwhelming amount of sadness and pain. In her state of amnesia, she knew she had a job to do in order to protect this world and help stop the monster that had ruined it. With her memories returning, she was beginning to think about better times. Happier times. Times she knew she would never be able to repeat. She would never be able to share a table with her five closest friends ever again.
Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. She hastily wiped the tears away and stood up, proceeding to take her mind off her returning memories to focus on what was happening now. One moment, she had been falling out of the TARDIS and now she was standing in the middle of a room filled with dozens of empty bookcases. The air smelled of rusted metal and a strange, burnt aftertaste appeared in the back of her mouth.
The room was fairly dark so Twi pulled her wand out and gave it a flick. A warm, violet light emanated from the wand's tip, illuminating the room. Twi could see a thick layer of dust covering the empty bookcases and hundreds of cobwebs coated the upper corners of the room where the walls and ceiling met.
"Was this...the library?" Twi asked herself as she took a few steps forward. After a moment of thought she shook her head at the idea. "No. Too small. The castle library is much bigger than this." She shook a bit as the image of her sitting at a wooden desk with Flash reading a thick tome came to her. She clasped the sides of her head and took a deep breath. "Focus. This isn't the time to remember the past." She pointed her wand in the direction of the metal door. "I need to find the others."
She moved towards the door and gave it a pull and a push. It was locked. Thankfully, another flick of her wand took care of that.
Twi was relieved when the metal door didn't groan or creak when she slowly opened it. She managed to quietly slip through it, close it, and lock it back up without producing a single, unwanted sound.
She was now in a wide, gray hallway filled with a few more generic doors. Dusty, torn paintings hung from the walls. Most of the paintings, from what Twi was able to make out, depicted royals and historic heroes of Equestria's past while a few of them simply depicted landscapes and scenery. She dimmed the light coming from her wand before making her way down the hallway.
The hallway brought her to an intersection with another. Twi stood still for a moment while she pondered about which direction to take. Suddenly, something from deep within her consciousness began screaming at her to turn left.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Not usually one to trust a gut instinct but okay."
Following her hazy intuition, she turned left and continued down the new hallway. This one was thinner than the previous one with long, elegant tapestries hanging from the walls in place of paintings. Twi couldn't help but feel somewhat surprised by the cleanliness of the hallways thus far. "Considering how much he let the rest of the world rot, I'm surprised he's given as much of a damn to keep the inside of the castle clean."
Twi continued her way through several more empty, clean hallways. The decorations alternated between paintings, tapestries, statues, and various other royal adornments. She remained alert for every passing second, constantly preparing for an unwanted encounter with a Cyberman or even stumbling across the mad Discord Whooves himself. However, strangely enough, she was met with empty hallway after empty hallway after, big surprise, empty hallway.
For someone with a massive army of metallic monsters obeying his every whim, he seems to have quite a lonely lifestyle, she thought after entering a dark blue hallway with no decorations aside from the Moon and stars painted on the walls and ceiling. A long, deep blue carpet covered the floor.
"This must be one of Luna's parts of the castle," Twi stated under her breath. A relaxed sigh escaped through her lips. Despite the horrors the lay just beyond the castle's walls and the seemingly endless amount of metal warriors probably marching about, Twi felt a strange sense of security and homely comfort. It had been a long time since she had last been inside Canterlot Castle. Though the situation could have been better, that didn't stop her from feeling a little bit happy to be back.
Just then, her attention was drawn to a particular door located towards the center of the hallway. It stood out from the others as it was painted in blood red. There were no signs or messages anywhere giving information about what lay beyond the door. Most likely, it was simply another storage closet or abandoned classroom that was once used by Celestia's and Luna's pupils.
Twi's gut instinct was telling her otherwise. However, unlike the previous instincts that had helped her decide which way to turn, this one felt different. It felt almost like having butterflies in her stomach. She knew something important was beyond the door but a part of her was screaming loudly about how that something was probably not all that good.
Her instincts were giving her a choice this time: move on and continue her search for her friends or pass through the door and discover a possibly horrible truth. And, to add insult to injury, it seemed that she didn't have much time left to make a decision for she could hear the stomping of Cybermen feet echoing from a few hallways down. She had to make her choice quickly. Continued search for friends or quenching her powerful curiosity to discover something potentially horrific.
Twi opened the door.
Dead End Street, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
There's a certain spot in Canterlot where the city dips underneath a portion of Canterlot Castle that connects with the mountain. It's not a large portion, merely consisting of one street bordered with upper class apartments and businesses. The street slants a bit and ends with a metal lookout that overlooks the edge of a high cliff.
The Doctor, Derpy, Colgate, and Clockwork certainly hadn't wasted any time in making their way onto Dead End Street. Most of the Cybermen armies were currently busy looking for them either in the heart of he city or along the major borders.
The four ponies hid in an alleyway next to one of the street's first apartment buildings for a minute in order to make sure that the coast was clear.
"We're good," Colgate whispered. "Go! Go! Go!"
The small group began power walking their way towards an abandoned, blue jewelry store located on the side of the street built against the mountain. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the front door, a soft click emanating from the golden lock a second later.
"Inside! Quickly!" Clockwork hissed as he pulled the door open. The Doctor, Derpy, and Colgate rushed through the threshold with Clockwork close behind, shutting the door as he went.
The Jewel Garden, Canterlot, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
A soft light began resonating from Colgate's horn, covering herself, the Doctor, Derpy, and Clockwork in a weak, but satisfying, radius of light.
The jewelry store known simply as the Jewel Garden hadn't fallen into that much disrepair since its abandonment a year previously. Aside from a fair layer of dust and a couple critters moving about, the store was in surprisingly good condition. Many rare gems and beautiful treasures filled the glass displays, still waiting to be bought by customers who would never come.
Derpy's eyes fell on a pair of gold earrings that sparkled with tiny fragments of sapphire. If she were on an ordinary shopping trip, she would be busy picturing herself wearing them. But this was a different, less favorable situation so she quickly forced her attention to move away from the forgotten jewelry.
"So tell me, what exactly are we looking for in a jewelry shop?" the Doctor asked, his curiosity peaked.
"Flash told us that there's a secret passage here that leads up through the mountain and reaches the portion of the castle that connects to this section of the mountainside," Colgate replied.
The Doctor leaned towards Colgate a bit further, still anticipating the telling of further information. "And why is there a secret passage connecting Canterlot Castle to a jewelry store?"
Clockwork cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, from what Flash has told us, the portion of the castle situated above us on the mountainside contains the soldiers' quarters," the stallion explained. "And...um...the passage here was created so that the soldiers could have...visitors over."
The Doctor gave an expression which pretty much said, Ah, okay. Got it, and gave an awkward cough. "Good to know that's the type of passageway we're going through then," he chuckled.
"Yeah," sighed Derpy with an innocent smile. "It was nice of the soldiers to create a way for their friends and family to visit them."
The Doctor, Clockwork, and Colgate looked at Derpy with forced grins. "Yes! Let's go with that!" said Colgate. The unicorn then hastily ran towards the back of the store and pushed open the back door. "Come on then!"
The Doctor followed Colgate into the back room with Derpy and Clockwork close behind him. The room beyond was filled with file cabinets and a couple computers and connected to a hallway, which assumedly led to the restrooms and employee break room. However, Colgate was drawn towards the closed window at the very end of the hallway.
"Is it through the window?" Derpy asked.
Colgate shook her head. "No. There's no window here at all." Her horn gave off a bright blue light and the window proceeded to ripple away like disturbed water. Within seconds a metal door stood in its place.
Clockwork gave a simple nod and an impressed expression. "Cloaking spell. Simple but effective."
Colgate pushed the door open to give way to a pitch black chamber. A musty scent escaped through the threshold and the air around them suddenly took on the odor of old seafood.
"I suppose the soldiers nor the visitors took the time to actually clean this place," the Doctor noted as he stepped into the darkness. Upon entering, an orange light appeared before him. It was a torch attached to the wall, magical by the look of it. The Doctor took a step closer, only to see more orange lights flick on above him. He looked up to see a chain of magical torches turning on and illuminating a ladder that stretched up for at least one hundred feet. After examining the climb, he turned back to Derpy, Colgate, and Clockwork. "So who's ready for a climb?"
"Ready as we'll ever be, I suppose," Clockwork replied upon looking up at the ladder. Just then, Derpy began flapping her wings and levitated herself into the air. Clockwork shook his head and gave a deadpan expression. "Now that's just not fair."
Derpy couldn't help but giggle.
"Why don't you fly underneath us, Derpy?" the Doctor suggested. "In the case that one of us loses our grip."
Derpy nodded. "I can do that," she said with a smile.
"Let's just hope that none of us falls," stated Colgate.
"So who's going first?" Clockwork asked.
"I will," the Doctor replied. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Just in case the door up there is locked."
Colgate sighed. "Alright then, Doctor. Let's get climbing."
The Doctor nodded, placed the screwdriver in his mouth, and began his ascension of the one hundred foot ladder.
Twilight, Donna, and Spike carefully made their way through the seemingly endless chamber filled with deceased Daleks. The disgusting odor of the revealed Dalek had since faded away to be replaced with the scent of rainwater and iron. The three travelers were cautious as they passed through the spaces between the Daleks, making sure to not accidentally open one and be forced to examine another gruesome scene.
"How big is this place?!" Spike asked with a groan. "We've been walking for ages!"
"We?" Twilight asked. "Last time I checked, Spike, Donna and I have been walking while you've been riding on my back."
Donna sighed. "I could use a pony or horse to ride now." She heard a forced cough and turned to see Twilight glaring at her. "Oh...right. Sorry."
A moment later, something began coming into view that wasn't a leftover Dalek. "An exit!" exclaimed Spike as he extended his claw forward.
The sea of Daleks came to an end in front of a blue-violet wall of rock that, aside from an opening the size of two doors, was remarkably smooth. Pieces of diamond and crystal embedded in the wall sparkled in reaction to being exposed to Twilight's magical light.
"And it looks like it heads upwards," said Twilight upon noticing the upward slant of the passageway within the opening.
"Let's get moving then! If you remember, Twilight, the last time you and I were in an underground tunnel wasn't all that cracking," said Donna as she began pushing Twilight up the path.
"What happened?" Spike asked.
"Derpy's mother's worm husband from another dimension tried to eat us," Twilight replied with a deadpan expression.
Spike shivered. "Sorry I asked."
The travelers fell silent as they made their way along the pathway, leaving the Dalek dumping ground far behind them. The passage they were now traveling in was eerily quiet with no sounds to be heard aside from the footsteps and hoofsteps being created by Donna and Twilight. The walls remained the same blue-violet color and continued to sparkle with the shards of crystal.
For a long duration of time, the only light in the tunnel was that of Twilight's illumination spell. Eventually, however, another light source appeared. At first it seemed far off and small but, as the travelers grew closer to the end of the passage, it grew increasingly larger and brighter.
Spike let out an impressed whistle as the passageway opened up into a huge cavern chamber. Massive crystal shards jutted out of the walls and the center of the cavern was home to a large pit filled with a bubbling, blue substance that gave off continuous plumes of multicolored fire. The walls of this chamber were much more rugged than the Dalek chamber and were filled with countless entrances of various other tunnels that led off in various other directions.
The passage Twilight, Donna, and Spike had just exited was located towards the top of the chamber with the very bottom, where the bubbling pit was situated, being around a hundred or so feet below them and the topmost exit being around fifty or so feet above.
Twilight let out a relaxed sigh as the light emanating from her horn vanished. "No need for an illumination spell right now, I suppose," she stated.
"Well, at least we don't have to think hard about which tunnel to go through," said Donna whilst pointing up at the topmost tunnel entrance.
Twilight stretched a bit and took a step forward. "I think I can get us up there with a teleportation spell. I've still got enough magical stamina to pull off a simple one." Twilight beckoned to Donna. "Grab my mane."
"If you say so." Donna moved over and grabbed a handful of Twilight's mane. Spike tightened his grip on the back of Twilight's neck.
Twilight focused on the topmost tunnel and a purple flash of light engulfed her, Spike, and Donna.
Teleportation is a weird process. It feels like being torn apart, stretched, compressed, dispersed, and put back together all at once and, thankfully, without the actual pain of really going through such processes. Twilight didn't tend to like using teleportation a whole lot due to the strain it puts on her body, along with the bodies of those teleporting with her, as well as the toll it takes on her magical stamina. On some occasions, if the space traveled is great enough, teleportation can result in temporary magic loss or even unconsciousness. Thankfully for Twilight, the worst type of side effect she'd ever received from teleportation was a charred mane and Spike getting dizzy.
Suddenly, Twilight felt as if a huge hand had been placed in front of her face while she was running at full speed. The teleportation process came to an abrupt halt and Twilight let out a surprised gasp in response. She looked to see that she had been stopped several feet short of her intended destination. She had focused on teleporting immediately in front of the exit, but something had forced her to stop around twenty feet away from the exit on the slanted pathway leading up to it.
Thankfully, neither the surprise stop nor the teleportation itself had put any large toll on Twilight or Spike. Though it seemed to have made Donna a little dizzy.
"You alright, Donna?" Spike asked.
"Cheery," Donna replied whilst clutching her temple. "Better than I feel after going through the five o'clock traffic, I'll admit."
"Something stopped me," Twilight said under her breath. She looked up towards the topmost exit. "What could have stopped me?"
As Twilight tried to understand the strange forces at work, a piercing scream broke the silence that had filled the caverns since the trio's arrival. It didn't sound like a scream coming from any sort of living creature but rather a generic shriek produced by either a strange machine or mysterious enchantment.
"What the hay?!" Spike gasped before pressing his claws against the sides of his head to try blocking out the wretched sound.
After a minute, the shrieking stopped.
"What the hell?!" Donna asked as her ears continued to ring. "Someone better have a good excuse for screaming my eardrums out!"
Spike started looking around. "Who was screaming? I don't see anypony."
The blood instantly rushed out of Twilight's face, making her look as pale as a stereotypical vampire. "That wasn't the sound of somepony screaming," she gulped. "It was an alarm."
The ground vibrated slightly. Silence fell amongst the trio. They could hear a series of booms reverberating through the rock and crystal around them. Just then, a section of the rock wall about thirty feet beneath them blew away. Five large figures emerged from the hole. Thanks to the dust, it took a few seconds for the travelers to identify what the five creatures were.
"Oh my God," Donna uttered upon seeing the creatures clearly.
They were, or had been at some point, gorillas. Bronze Cybermen faces replaced their normal animal faces and various electrical wires and cables connected the metal faces to other parts of their bodies. The five Cyber-gorillas looked up at the trio in sync with each other at gave off a howl that sounded like a mix between a computer violently crashing and an animal screaming with a mixture of fury and pain. The Cyber-gorillas began climbing up the walls towards them.
Twilight turned back towards the topmost exit. "RUN!"
Donna didn't have to be told twice as she followed Twilight up the slanted walkway. Spike grabbed onto Twilight's mane with all the strength he could muster. They weren't that far away from the exit but the Cyber-gorillas were climbing the walls like spiders and moving with just as much speed and flexibility.
One Cyber-gorilla managed to beat the others and lunged straight for Donna. Twilight turned around and sent a magical blast straight into its metal face, sending it flying off the walkway and down into the fiery, blue pit. The four others stopped for a second as an electrical charge appeared between them before vanishing. A metallic, cold voice rang out from the four creatures. "Upgrade in progress."
"That's nice. Just what we needed! Magic-proof robot gorillas!" Donna snapped as she ran up towards the exit alongside Twilight.
A shroud of darkness overcame the trio as they entered the tunnel. The only light now was that of the fire pit in the cavern behind them. Pretty soon, the light would vanish and they would be cloaked in darkness once again.
Twilight could hear the Cyber-gorillas chasing after them, their massive fists clawing into the rock walls. A thick darkness was already beginning to take over her vision. Twilight glanced over at Donna. "We need to stick together! Grab onto Spike or me!" she ordered.
Donna nodded and took hold of Spike's tail, which he didn't mind all that much. A few seconds later, everything went dark.
They continued to run. Not bothering to look back. Only focusing to being careful enough to not run straight into walls and keeping their pace so that the sounds of strong fists on stone didn't get any closer.
After what seemed like an eternity of running, the sound of running gorillas faded away. The only sounds now were, like in the beginning, their footsteps and hoofsteps echoing around them.
A new light appeared before them. This one was bright enough to actually illuminate the borders of the door that was blocking it. It was a simple wooden door with a few iron bars. Nothing too fancy.
"The last exit!" Spike cheered.
"Thank Celestia!" exclaimed Twilight as she ran towards the door. So filled with joy to finally escape the clutches of the crystal tunnels, Twilight continued to run forward and used her magic to fling the door open.
Donna came to an abrupt halt and let go of Spike's tail as a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. "Twilight! Spike!" she cried.
Twilight couldn't stop. A loud scream escaped her lips as two prongs jabbed into her chest, sending a powerful electric shockwave through her body. She could hear Spike screaming behind her. After that, all she could hear was ringing as she fell to the floor right in front of the threshold, every part of her body refusing to move.
"NO!" Donna cried as she rushed to the injured unicorn and dragon. She knelt down next to them. They were alive but had been severely injured by their attacker.
"Well, well. This is certainly a surprise," chuckled an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice from the doorway. Donna could feel chills running up and down her spine as she turned to the attacker. It was a stallion with a gray coat, black mane, wings, and...an hourglass cutie mark. An electrified weapon of sorts resembling a taser was being held in one of his hooves. "I didn't expect to ever see you again, Donna. I'd say this is simply and utterly fantastic and wonderful if you weren't working to bring me down...oh and if I still gave a damn about you anyway."
Donna could feel a huge amount of rage overcome her upon looking straight at the snide grin of the stallion standing before her. She couldn't explain it but everything about him from his messy black mane to his snazzy red bowtie just ticked her off. And the fact that he had just electrocuted two of her friends was probably another aspect about him that angered her. "It's you...that other Doctor!" she snapped.
"Oh please, dearie." He took a step towards Donna and chuckled. "You should probably know by this point that everyone calls me Discord Whooves now." His grin grew wider. "Now shut that gaping hole of a mouth for once and allow my pets to kindly assist you."
Donna suddenly felt a heavy, warm breath of air collide with the back of her neck. She let out a terrified gasp as a somewhat metallic gorilla hand wrapped itself around her.
The door closed quietly behind Twi. A hallway with metal walls and pipes running about stood before her. The air smelled of cigarette smoke but had a strange hint of meat and iron, a combination that didn't give Twi any good feelings.
She stopped producing her illumination spell and stored her wand away in a pocket before walking down the hallway. Her footsteps gave off soft, metallic echoes as she walked. The floor groaned and creaked like a rusted fence and the further she traveled the more tense she became.
At the end of the hallway was a flight of stairs that led down into a lower hallway bathed in red light. A few aspects of Twi's instincts were screaming at her to get the hell out of there but her curiosity had reached its peak now. She had to know what lay at the end of this hallway of metal and steam.
She turned around a corner at the end of the red hallway and began progressing down a third and final hallway which seamlessly transitioned from bright red light to flickering white light. The walls became smoother and the few pipes that remained appeared cleaner and slightly futuristic.
The final hallway led to a pitch black room. The smell of iron was incredibly strong here and an uncomfortable amount of heat plagued the air. Twi gave a silent cough as she took a few slow steps into the room. She didn't pull out her wand to cast any light for a part of her feared that some horrible creature lay within.
She was at least seven feet into the room when a bright light above her flicked on.
It took a few seconds for Twi's eyes to adjust and when they did she saw a large medical table situated immediately in front of her. Various rags and cloths covered the table and each piece of cloth was covered in a fair amount of stains. Dirty buckets were underneath the table and a small tray covered in several medical instruments and devices stood a foot or so away.
"You...you're not her!" sighed an unfamiliar voice from nearby.
Twi's head flung upwards away from the table and focused on two figures on the other side of the room. Through the dim, yellow light cast over them, Twi could see that they were mares. They were both chained to the wall and covered in a series of bruises and cuts. One mare was an earth pony with a dark red coat, a purple mane, and a cutie mark consisting of a purple feather with a curved tip. The other mare was a pegasus with a light gold coat, a grayscale mane, and a compass rose cutie mark.
"Who are you?!" Twi gasped.
"We could be asking you the same thing," replied the pegasus weakly, her head swaying a bit due to fatigue.
The other mare laughed. "I think it's clear who she is. Twilight Sparkle, am I correct?"
Twi froze. "How did you-"
"You resemble her. Based on what I've experienced in this world for the past few days, this is an Equestria with humans."
A soft pain rocked Twi's skull as she stared at the two mares. "Wait a second...are you Matilda and Daring Do?! Colgate and Clockwork's friends?!"
Daring Do's head shot up. "Yes! That's who we are!" she replied with vigorous nodding.
Twi couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Oh thank Celestia! I came here with the Doctor, Colgate, Clockwork, and the others to save you!"
Matilda gave a curious look. "So...where is the Doctor?" she asked.
Twi rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "We kinda got separated on the way here. But don't worry! I'm just going to free you and then we'll find them!"
"Well you better hurry before she or he decides to pay us another visit!" Daring warned.
"Who?" Twi asked. "You're talking about Discord Whooves right? Who's the she?"
Matilda was about to answer when a new, robotic voice reverberated from the remaining dark part of the room. "TWILIGHT?"
Twi, Matilda, and Daring slowly turned towards the darkness. "Who...who's there?" Twi asked.
"The rejects," Matilda replied. "But none of them have spoken before."
Twi began to slowly approach the dark half of the room. "Rejects?" It wasn't until she was about a step or two into the darkness that another bright light turned on. Twi gasped as she found herself staring at a trio of Cybermen. Pieces of other Cybermen lay around them but the three standing before Twi were the only ones fully intact. All three of them were chained to the wall with strong bonds and chains. The word REJECTS was spray-painted on the wall above them. Twi gulped as she stared into the black eyes of the robotic beings standing before her. "Um...hello? Did you...say something?"
The Cyberman on the left turned its head towards Twi. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE...IT IS YOU!" The voice was completely robotic and one-note but, strangely enough, Twi could almost hear emotion behind the words it spoke.
"Do...do I know you?" Twi asked.
"IT'S US, EGGHEAD!" replied the Cyberman on the right.
Another pain rocked Twi's head, this one much stronger than the last. The nickname hit her pretty hard. No. It can't be. It just can't be! she thought.
"SUGARCUBE, IT'S US!" stated the Cyberman on the left.
Twi could feel her eyes tearing up. She turned to the left Cyberman. "Applejack?" She turned to the right Cyberman. "Rainbow Dash?"
Both Cybermen nodded.
Twi backed up. "No. You're lying! They died! Rainbow Dash and Applejack died!"
The two Cybermen shook their heads.
"NO! THEY TRIED TO MAKE US ONE OF THEM!" said the Applejack Cyberman.
Something resembling a cocky laugh emanated from the Rainbow Dash Cyberman. "BUT WE WERE TOO AWESOME TO BE FULLY CONVERTED! WE KEPT OUR EMOTIONS AND OUR MINDS AND SO THEY TOSSED US IN HERE!"
Twi was shaking her head now. Tears were rolling down her face.
"Twilight Sparkle...I'm sorry. Really and truly sorry," said Matilda. "But we have to go. There's no time to waste."
Twi could feel herself beginning to choke on her tears. Her friends were here in front of her. Friends she remembered to have died. Now she knew that they had suffered a fate far worse than death.
"Applejack. Rainbow Dash," she uttered through her tears, her head now in constant pain from the memories she was receiving. At that moment, her attention turned to the Cyberman in the center. Until that very moment, she had thought it to be silent. But now she could hear it giving off sounds that sounded almost like...crying.
Twi began to approach the middle Cyberman.
"Twilight! We're running out of time!" pleaded a tense yet understanding Daring Do.
Twi couldn't hear Daring's words. She focused only on the center Cyberman and didn't stop until her face was about an inch away from its metallic expression. "And...who are you?" she asked through her pained tears.
For a few seconds, the Cyberman didn't respond. Throughout this entire length of time, Twi could feel her whole body shaking with anticipation. Then, a robotic wail emanated from the center Cyberman. "I'M SORRY! I FAILED YOU! I FAILED HER! I FAILED A STUPID MISSION AND NOW I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE IT UP! I"LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIX WHAT I LOST!" cried the Cyberman in its one-note tone.
Twi placed one of her hands against the side of the Cyberman's face. "It's okay. Whatever you failed, I forgive you for it. I know that you probably tried your best."
The Cyberman fell silent before meeting Twi eye-to-eye. What the metallic being said next shook Twi to her core. "I LOVE YOU...TWILY!"
Everything stopped. Twi froze in horror as she continued to stare deep into the Cyberman's black eyes. This was it. The final nail in the coffin. The last hit from the hammer needed to break the glass. Her skull screamed with pain as the final memory block was broken and her entire past in full came flooding back into her all at once. Through her pain and the new wave of tears flowing from her eyes, Twi clasped her hands around the center Cyberman's face. "No...BBBFF...NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Twi screamed as loud as she could. She didn't care who heard. She was hurting. Hurting beyond anything she had ever experienced before. Hurting from her returning memories. Hurting from her destroyed home and life. And hurting from the fate of her friends and family. She looked up at the Cyberman that had once been her big brother and screamed with nothing but pure rage. I'm gonna kill whoever's responsible for this! I don't care what the Doctor says! I don't care what anyone or anypony says! There. Will. Be. BLOOD! she screamed in thought.
Just then, as the pains in her head began to die down and her returned memories began to settle back into place, Twi heard two sounds behind her. One was Daring Do screaming, "No, no, no, no, no! Twilight! Run! She's here!" The other was a familiar laugh. A laugh Twi remembered to have once either made her feel better or annoy her to the brink of insanity. Now it caused neither of those feelings. This laugh was cold. It was sadistic. It filled Twi with just as much fear and anger as it did sadness.
Twi stood up and turned around. "Pinkie Pie?"
Standing in the doorway was none other than one of Twi's closest friends, Pinkie Pie. But she was different from how Twi remembered her. Her hair alternated strangely between fluffy and deflated. Her eyes were bloodshot and switched between dark red and dark green. A cruel smile was etched into her face. A necklace of broken wands hung around her neck. A dress made out of torn clothing belonging to others cloaked her body. A series of fake wings constructed out of a substance that Twi had a feeling wasn't paper, plastic, or leather was strapped to the back of her makeshift dress. To finish off her ghoulish outfit, there was a pair of black boots with blood-red laces covering her feet.
The warped sadist that was once her close friend laughed and stared at Twi with her never-ending gaze. "I'm so happy to see you again, Twilight! It's been far too long! I'm so happy that you were able to make it to the party!" she exclaimed insanely. Twi glanced over at Matilda and Daring, who had fallen silent and were breathing heavily, before turning back to Pinkie. "Now..." Pinkie reached behind her and pulled out two objects: a large butcher knife and a portable circular saw. She flicked a button on the saw and it flared to life. Her smile grew impossibly wider as she raised the two weapons. "LET'S PLAY!"
A soft whizzing sound reverberated from underneath a tile in the corner of the shower room before it was pushed upwards.
The Doctor pulled himself out of the secret passageway and leaned against the wall a couple feet away. Clockwork and Colgate were close behind him with Derpy taking up the rear by flying out of the hole and landing next to a row of showers.
"Well that was a good climb," the Doctor said as he took several deep breaths. He then patted his chest. "Good for the hearts."
"Speak for yourself," Clockwork stated with a quick cough. The air around them smelled heavily of dust and old cleaning products. Grime-covered soap and hardened shampoo littered the floors of the showers and old, dusty towels either hung weakly from various racks or were dumped on the ground.
"At least we're inside the castle and everypony's in one piece," said Colgate. "Now all we need to do is find the others and deactivate the shields surrounding the city."
"Sounds simple enough," the Doctor commented.
"Yeah but, when it comes to traveling with you, nothing is simple," said Derpy.
The Doctor gave a wide smile and wrapped a foreleg around Derpy. He gave a proud expression and patted the pegasus on the back. "You see, you two?" He nodded at Colgate and Clockwork. "This mare is going places." Derpy blushed a little as the Doctor took his foreleg away and began to approach the exit. "Come along, ponies! We have some friends to save and a shield to deactivate with only an evil, alternate version of myself and an army of magic-proof Cybermen standing in our way!" The Doctor turned away and continued to march forward.
"I love that stallion," Derpy said with a giggle. The pegasus froze when she saw Colgate smirking at her and Clockwork coughing awkwardly. "Admire. That's what I mean. I admire him. I don't love him. That would be crazy! I mean he's a bizarre, strange, smart, charming, amazing, handsome alien from another dimension! I'm just a pegasus! No feelings for him whatsoever! I mean I do have feelings for him. I care about him and all...but not like care care. Just...just...I'm going to be quiet now." Derpy let out a cute groan as she hid her face behind her hooves.
Colgate patted Derpy on the shoulder and beckoned her along. "Come on, Derpy. We don't want to get separated from the stallion you admire," teased the unicorn with a smirk.
Derpy blushed again. Clockwork then wrapped a foreleg around her and started to walk alongside her after Colgate and the Doctor. "Let's hope we find the others quickly," he said. "Who knows what types of danger lie in this castle aside from Discord Whooves and his Cybermen?"
Twi waved her wand and conjured a shield just in time as the murderous Pinkie Pie brought both the saw and the knife down towards her. The shield cracked a bit due to Twi's confusion and horror in response to the whole situation. What had that monster done to her friend? It wasn't enough for him to turn her brother and two of her friends into Cybermen. He had to go and completely warp the sanity of one of her other friends until she became a sadistic sociopath.
Twi backed away as the shield broke and Pinkie dashed towards her once more. Twi shot a spell at her and ran towards the other side of the room. Pinkie dodged and continued her pursuit.
"Keep on running, Twiley! I haven't had fun like this in a long time!" teased Pinkie.
Twi felt a new wave of rage race through her. "Nobody calls me that except for my BROTHER!" she snapped before sending a green spell straight at her attacker. The spell collided with Pinkie's right leg and caused several, deep cuts to appear.
"Dark magic, Twilight?! Got more of a dangerous edge now? I LOVE IT!" Pinkie jumped forward at a speed Twi wasn't prepared for and slashed her free hand with the knife.
Twi gasped with pain and sent another spell at Pinkie. This time, she hit Pinkie straight in the chest. Pinkie came to a stop and bent over before suddenly emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor.
"Hey!" snapped Pinkie as she straightened up. "I'm the only person who should be causing vomiting in this castle!" Pinkie ran at Twi again with her weapons at the ready.
Twi dodged the attack and sent another magical blast at Pinkie. She missed this time. Pinkie quickly turned around and dashed towards her for another attack.
Twi sighed with hurt betrayal as she dodged another attack. She needed to end this fight quickly so she could get the others out of there and find the rest of her team. It pained her to even have to fight Pinkie of all people. But he was responsible for this; and she needed to get past the damaged Pinkie if she wished to make him pay for his crimes.
Suddenly, Pinkie caught Twi off guard and shoved her hard. Twi flew across the room and slammed into the wall. Twi quickly pulled herself together as Pinkie raced towards her. In the passage of one suspenseful second, Twi aimed her wand straight at Pinkie and fired another shot. A white blast of magic collided with Pinkie's face and sent her flying across the room, slamming into the wall, and falling onto the floor.
Pinkie groaned and rocked her head back and forth but couldn't seem to get up. "I can't move!" she gasped. "Twilight! That's not fair! That's not fair at all!"
Twi stood up and approached Pinkie. She aimed her wand at the butcher knife lying next to Pinkie and fired a red blast of magic at it. The knife disintegrated. She then did the same thing to the saw before kneeling next to her paralyzed friend. "The effects will wear off in a little bit," she said. Guilt, sadness, and extreme fury built up within her as she stared down at her now-homicidal friend. "A part of me wants to kill you right now, Pinkie. Prevent you from hurting others because it seems that you're most likely well beyond help by this point. Discord Whooves has screwed your mind up too badly for a recovery, it appears." Twi wiped her eyes as tears began to form. She shook her head. "But I can't. Too many people have died already." She turned towards the Cybermen that were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Shining Armor. "Enough people that I love have been hurt or killed already." She returned her gaze to Pinkie. "I can't make myself responsible for the death of someone else I care for."
Pinkie squinted her face into a pout. "I'm disappointed, Twilight. I thought you had grown up and become dark due to you using those awesome spells of yours," Pinkie stated. "But I guess you're still soft. Bummer."
Twi couldn't bear to hear any more of Pinkie's warped statements. "Shut up, Pinkie Pie." Twi let a few tears fall and shook her head before punching Pinkie hard in the face, knocking her out and giving her a black eye. "Just shut up."
Twi slowly stood up and turned her attention to Matilda and Daring Do, who were still bound to the wall. With a few waves of her wand, the chains crumbled to dust and the two mares fell to the ground. They were a bit weak but very much alive.
"It sure feels good to be free again," Daring stated with relieved breaths.
"Don't go and consider us free yet. We've still got a full castle to get through," said Matilda. She then slowly trudged over towards a cabinet in a far corner of the room and opened it. She reached inside and tossed three objects in Daring's direction: a dark olivine vest, a whip, and a tan pith hat with a dark olive band. Daring smiled as she caught the items and proceeded to put them on. Matilda reached into the cabinet a final time; retrieved a small, red purse; pulled out a wide, pink, brimmed hat with a feather sticking from it; and placed the hat on her head. Once she closed the cabinet, Matilda turned her attention to Twi. "Thank you, Twilight...and I'm sorry." Twi glanced down at Pinkie before turning back to Matilda. "We better go and find the Doctor then."
"Wait," said Twi just as Matilda and Daring began to make their way towards the room's exit.
"For what?" Daring asked.
Twi turned back towards the Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Shining Armor Cybermen. "I'm not leaving you here," she stated before waving her wand a few times and reducing their bonds to dust.
The three Cybermen slowly stepped away from the wall. They looked at each other awkwardly before turning to Twi and approaching her. "WHY?!" asked Shining Armor.
More tears began to roll down Twi's face. "Do you even need to ask?" Twi stepped towards her brother and friends. "You're still Shining Armor, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Your bodies may be gone but you still have your emotions, memories, hearts, and souls. I can see all three of you behind these horrible bodies you've been trapped in. There might be a way to cure you. Though, I'm not sure as of now. But I'm not going to leave any of you behind. You may be Cybermen but I can tell that, inside, you're still the brother and friends that I love. So, together, let's make that stallion in the stupid bow tie pay for what he's done!"
Applejack stepped forward. "I'M WITH YA TILL THE VERY END, SUGARCUBE!" she exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash stepped forward and cheered, "LET'S GIVE HIM HELL!"
Shining Armor stepped forward and slowly stroked Twi's face with his metal hand. "TWILEY!" he cried before wrapping her up in a hug. "YOU'RE THE BEST SISTER ANY MAN OR CYBERMAN COULD ASK FOR! LET'S GET THAT STALLION! FOR CADANCE! FOR EVERYONE HE'S HURT!"
Twi and her Cyberman brother broke apart their hug. Everyone and everypony then turned towards the exit.
"Let's give him hell," Twi snarled. She then readied her wand and led the others out of the room.
The Doctor was beginning to grow tired of the long, tall, dark, empty hallways. True, he wasn't keen on running across too many obstacles but he definitely found it odd that the center of Discord Whooves's operations was left so unguarded.
"Anypony else a but unnerved by how empty this place is?" the Doctor finally asked as they turned around another corner.
"Maybe all of the Cybermen are out in the city," Clockwork guessed.
"Or maybe Discord Whooves thinks he doesn't need the protection 24/7," said Colgate.
"I'm still nervous, though," Derpy said with a gulp.
"Join the club," Clockwork said with a chuckle. "It's scary because, when I think about it, we hardly know anything about Discord Whooves."
"Heh. You're right," Colgate agreed nervously. "We only know his name, that he's an alternate version of the Doctor, that he's responsible for the rifts, and that he has a massive army under his control. We don't know his motives, his backstory, his end game. Nothing else. Heck, none of us have ever even met him face-to-face. Only caught glimpses of him here and there through camera footage and pictures."
"A stallion who draws so much attention to himself yet prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Curious," the Doctor stated.
The group came to a stop at another intersection of hallways to rest. "So which should we focus on accomplishing first? Turning off the shields or saving the others?" Clockwork asked.
"I say we deactivate the shields first," Colgate answered. "That way we can get our armies in here and they can fend off the Cybermen while we search for our friends and take care of Discord Whooves."
"Any ideas on where to find the shields then?" Derpy asked.
"My guess is that they would be kept in an important part of the castle," Colgate replied. "A central area that inspires the spreading out of energy."
"The throne room, perhaps?" the Doctor suggested.
"Sounds like a good place to start," Clockwork agreed.
Just then, the sound of soft footsteps broke the silence around them. "Something's coming!" Colgate hissed.
The four ponies dived behind a nearby flower desk just before a shadowy figure appeared from the adjacent hallway. It was humanoid in form and it took a few seconds before the ponies realized they recognized who it was.
"Donna?!" Derpy gasped before jumping out from behind the desk and approaching her. The Doctor, Colgate, and Clockwork followed close behind.
Donna turned towards them. She looked like she had just woken up and had a very glassy look in her eyes. She walked almost like a zombie and her arms dangled back and forth like pieces of rope. "Doctor," she muttered in a soft, weak voice. "Twilight. Spike. Help. Discord. Whooves. Intruders. Cybermen. Help. Found. You. Found. You. Come. Here. Help. Now." She then collapsed onto the floor in front of the ponies.
"Donna?!" Derpy gasped again as she raced to her friend's side and held her head. As soon as Derpy made physical contact with her, Donna's eyes shot open as she proceeded to give out a loud and incredibly inhuman shriek. The ponies were taken off guard as, suddenly, a crowd of Cybermen appeared out of thin air and surrounded them. Derpy's eyes went wide as Donna looked up at her with a disturbing smile before melting into a puddle of fleshy liquid. "DONNA?!"
Derpy screamed in horror as the Doctor pulled her away from the puddle. "It wasn't Donna, Derpy! It was a trick!" he said.
"YOU WILL COME WITH US OR BE DESTROYED!" ordered the Cybermen.
Clockwork reached into one of his pockets, pulled out a blaster of sorts, pointed it at one of the Cybermen, and said, "Not a chance, you-"
"Stop!" the Doctor ordered as he pushed Clockwork's blaster down. Clockwork gave the Doctor a confused stare as the Time Lord stepped forward. "We will come with you. Take us to Discord Whooves!" The Doctor turned back to his three companions and winked.
"YES! YOU WILL COME WITH US TO SEE THE MASTER!" the Cybermen ordered before beginning to lead the ponies down the hallway.
"You have a plan, right?" Derpy whispered to the Doctor as she, Colgate, and Clockwork walked close to him.
"Don't worry," the Doctor replied. "I'm improvising it as we speak."
"Am I the only one who isn't encouraged by that?" Clockwork whispered to Colgate.
"No," Colgate deadpanned.
The Canterlot Castle throne room didn't look as different as the Doctor had expected it to. The only real differences it had when compared to the one back in pony Equestria were that the stained glass windows had humans in them instead of ponies, there was a giant rift and shield generator sitting right in the middle of the room, and a darker version of himself sat on the throne instead of Princess Celestia.
The Doctor instantly took a disliking to his alternate self. His mane was even messier than the Doctor's was, the smug grin on his face made the Doctor want to punch him, and the bright red bowtie around his neck that clashed greatly with his dark gray color scheme almost caused the Rarity inside the Doctor to come out. Almost.
The Doctor tensed up as he looked next to the throne and saw a large cage guarded by a group of Cyber-gorillas. Inside the cage was the real Donna Noble along with an unconscious Twilight and Spike. Donna looked incredibly worried when she met the Doctor's eyes. However, the Doctor was just thankful that she was still alive and not a puddle of flesh in the middle of a hallway.
The Cybermen brought the four ponies to a halt just a few yards away from the foot of the throne. Discord Whooves stepped off his throne and slowly approached the Doctor. The Doctor took a few steps forward. None of the Cybermen stopped him from doing so.
The two Doctors stared straight into each other's eyes, their faces mere centimeters apart. For everybody and everypony else in the room, it was a pretty strange sight. Both Doctors had a similar body structure (save for the wings on Discord Whooves's part) and face but everything else was completely different. Their manes, their color schemes, their choice of wardrobe, and even their eyes.
Looking into Discord Whooves's eyes, the Doctor could tell that they looked older than his. They had seen more than him. Darker events had passed by those eyes than his. And yet, there was also a tint of familiarity. Just underneath the dark exterior of his double, the Doctor could see himself staring right back at him.
"Brilliant," said the two Doctors simultaneously. "Allons-y. I hate pears. Bananas are good. Fantastic. Would you like a jelly baby? Sarah Jane Smith, Rose Tyler, Jamie McCrimmon, Donna Noble, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Twilight Sparkle, Adric, Jo Grant, Derpy Hooves!" They fell silent for a moment.
"This would actually be quite amazing if you weren't, ya know, a sadistic tyrant who sunk an entire land into chaos within a year," the Doctor stated bluntly.
Discord Whooves chuckled as he examined the four ponies in front of him. "Well, well, well. I must admit that this has been quite an interesting day," he commented. "First I see unicorn Twilight and Donna again and now I get to finally meet the leaders of that annoying little rebellion group, see Derpy again, and meet another version of myself. Now all I need is a big red button to make all of my troubles go away and this day will have been...well...absolutely fantastic!"
"We just said that catchphrase!"
"I know but that doesn't mean I can't say it again."
"Fair enough."
"So I assume you've been brought to this world to stop me."
"That was the plan, yeah."
"Well, I hate to disappoint you...wait, no I don't. I'm happy to disappoint you because it's not happening."
"It would be quite ironic to tell you of all ponies to not underestimate me."
"Oh I don't intend to underestimate you, Doctor."
"Nor shall I you, Discord Whooves."
Discord Whooves laughed. "Such a fitting name, isn't it? Discord Whooves. So much more...exotic than just Doctor. People throughout this world just started referring to me by that name and I figured what the hell? So I adopted it." He turned towards Colgate. "Rumor has it that it all started with you. Colgate, is it?" Colgate remained silent. Discord Whooves turned his attention to Clockwork. "Another alternate version of me, I assume." Clockwork remained silent as Discord Whooves laughed in his face. "Oh this is brilliant! We're like triplets, the three of us!"
"Though it won't be hard to point out the black sheep of the family," Clockwork stated.
Discord Whooves gave a fake expression of being offended. He then took a few steps back in the direction of the throne. "So," he continued. "What exactly was your big plan, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Top secret, that is. Sorry," the Doctor replied with a wink and click of his tongue.
"But how can it be secret if I already know what it is?"
"Then why did you ask?" asked a confused Derpy.
Discord Whooves laughed hard in Derpy's direction. "Oh. Poor, little, simpleminded Derpy Hooves. Always too slow to catch the point," he teased. The Doctor stepped in between Derpy and Discord Whooves. "I just wanted to see what you would say. I already know what you were planning. You have your armies at the ready and were coming in here to turn my shields off so they could come in and attempt to take back the city."
"The people of this world are stronger than they were when you first appeared and took everything away from them!" Colgate snapped. "They're more than prepared to take on your Cybermen."
"Let them do it then," scoffed Discord Whooves. "What I want is already within reach. I no longer need this city."
Colgate and Clockwork exchanged confused glances. "What's that supposed to mean?" Clockwork asked.
"Really?" Discord Whooves asked with a bored look. "You two are the supposed brave and intelligent leaders of that poor excuse of a resistance and you can't even understand when I'm saying that I'm done?"
"Done?" Colgate asked.
"Just like that?" Clockwork asked.
"Just like that," Discord Whooves agreed with a shoulder shrug.
"No. Not just like that," the Doctor interrupted. "There's been a huge game changer. Something that's taken your original plan and turned it on its head." Discord Whooves gave an impressed smirk, silently beckoning the Doctor to continue. "And that's me, isn't it? You weren't expecting another version of yourself to show up."
Discord Whooves was quiet for a few seconds. "I have to admit that I'd be a bit disappointed if you didn't catch on," he responded. "I can see that I've found myself a pretty good opponent."
"That you have, Discord Whooves. That you have." The Doctor stepped forward. "Not to sound too egotistical but there's nothing else in this world you should be fearing more than me right about now."
"I fear nothing, Doctor. I've been through that stage. I'm done fearing what all the universes in the multiverse have to throw at me. I'm ready to start taking control." Discord Whooves took a few steps towards the Doctor. "But you were right about the game changer. I knew things had taken an interesting turn when a unicorn Twilight, a dragon Spike, and Donna Noble all came tumbling out of the Crystal Chambers." He glanced back in the direction of the cage. "That's when I suspected something new had entered the playing field. So I hastily put together a clone of our dear Donna and sent it to lure out any potential oddities. And it found you, Doctor."
"So why exactly is the Doctor a game changer?" Colgate asked.
Discord Whooves walked past the ponies and approached the massive rift generator in the center of the room. "I'm sure you know what this is, Colgate," he said.
"A rift generator."
"Correct. I've been trying to perfect it for quite some time. Trying to find my way to a world where I can obtain what I want, while having some fun along the way of course."
"What could be so important for you to do all of this?!" Derpy snapped suddenly. The Doctor calmed her down by placing a hoof on her shoulder.
"I think your Doctor can answer that," Discord Whooves replied with a glare.
The Doctor was silent for several seconds as he shared an intense exchange of stares with his dark double. "The TARDIS. You want a TARDIS," he replied before giving a disappointed shake. "I can only imagine what you did to make your TARDIS give up on you and die."
Discord Whooves's face became surprisingly stern. "Well, my past is none of your concern." He adjusted his bow tie and stretched his wings before approaching the Doctor once again. "So where is it? Where's the TARDIS?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Sorry, can't let you have it. You've done enough damage without a TARDIS. When it comes to having a TARDIS, there's no second chances."
"I expected that response." Discord Whooves flew up into the air and landed next to the cage holding Donna, Twilight, and Spike. "I could easily hold these friends of yours ransome and force you to tell me where your TARDIS is right now."
Derpy, Colgate, and Clockwork instantly tensed up. "You leave them alone!" Derpy shouted.
"Oh! Got a backbone, I see?" Discord Whooves asked with a laugh. "That's definitely an improvement from the Derpy I knew. Wouldn't even fight back when I punished her. Had to have her stupid daughter fight her battles." The Doctor drew Derpy in close to him as Discord Whooves continued. "But you didn't let me finish. I said that I could hold these three ransome but I'm not. I've already got what I want from them." Discord Whooves clapped his hooves together and the cage door instantly swung open.
Donna sprung out from inside the cage and ran towards Discord Whooves with her fist ready to drive through his face. The winged Doctor casually flew up into the air out of Donna's range and landed on top of the rift generator. Donna angrily pointed up at him. "Oi! You're lucky you have wings, fly boy!" she snapped.
"Ah. You haven't changed a bit, Donna Noble," Discord Whooves commented with a laugh before turning his attention back to the Doctor. "Continuing on, Doctor, you can have your friends back...for now. I have much bigger plans in store."
"Like what, may I ask?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh you'll just have to wait and see. For now, I'll just let you know that I'm really looking forward to meeting you on the field of battle. One way or another, your TARDIS will become mine."
"I wouldn't count on it, if I were you. She's no cheater."
Discord Whooves gave the biggest grin he could muster. "We shall see, Doctor." Just then, his ears twitched. A second later, he dived off the top of the machine as a blast of purple magic soared through the spot he had been previously. He gave out a loud laugh as he landed perfectly on the floor and turned towards the entrance of the throne room. "And this day just keeps getting better!"
The Doctor, Derpy, Colgate, Clockwork, and Donna all turned towards the throne room entrance as Twi rushed in with her wand at the ready. She was followed close behind by Matilda, Daring Do, and three Cybermen. "DISCORD WHOOVES!" shrieked Twi as she sent a barrage of spells in the dark Doctor's direction. The Cybermen and Cyber-gorillas guarding the Doctor and his companions turned their attention to the attackers and charged.
"STOP OR BE DESTROYED!" ordered the Cybermen.
"Shining Armor! AJ! Rainbow Dash!" Twi called. The three Cybermen behind her raised their arms and fired upon the oncoming Cybermen. All of them made direct hits.
"Wait...who did she just call those Cybermen?!" Colgate asked.
"Duck!" cried the Doctor as he pulled Derpy to the ground just before an oncoming Cyber-gorilla had a chance to smash into them. The Doctor and Derpy quickly got up and ran over towards Donna, who was helping pull the still unconscious Twilight and Spike out of the cage. "Great to see you're still in top shape, Donna!"
"Yeah but I've had better days," she said as she picked up the unconscious Spike.
"I think we've all had better days than today," said Derpy. The pegasus then rushed over to Donna and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay! I'm sorry I dropped you out of the TARDIS!"
"Hey! It's fine! No harm done...sorta," Donna said in reply. "But can we discuss this later?" She pointed over towards the fight between Twi's group and the Cybermen and Cyber-gorillas.
Derpy nodded in agreement. "Later sounds good."
Daring Do leapt over a Cyber-gorilla and kicked it hard in the face with her hind legs. When she hit the ground, she smirked at the oncoming Colgate and Clockwork. "Hey! What took you guys so long?" she asked playfully. "These past few days haven't exactly been that fun."
"You have no right to complain!" snapped Colgate with a smile before taking Daring in a quick hug. "Clockwork and I took the long way around."
Matilda reached into her purse and pulled out a futuristic blaster. "Purse is still full," she said joyfully as she aimed at the attacking Cybermen. "Smile, sweeties." Within seconds, the two Cybermen were lying on the floor with their faces now nothing but melted metal mush.
Two Cyber-gorillas charged towards Twi and the Shining Armor Cyberman. Twi turned towards her big brother. "Just like our monster hunting days, right BBBFF?" she asked as she raised her wand.
"LET'S GET 'EM!" Shining replied as he raised his arm.
Sister and brother fired at the attackers, both landing direct hits. One Cyber-gorilla transformed into a snail while the other had half of its body reduced to dust.
Before long, the small group of Cybermen and Cyber-gorillas had been taken out. Now, the only villain in the room who remained was Discord Whooves himself.
Throughout the entire confrontation, the Doctor's dark twin had been laughing his rump off next to the rift generator. He had clearly enjoyed the situation of members of his army losing far more than any sane person or pony should have. But, as everyone and everypony could guess by this point, Discord Whooves was not your everyday sane person or pony.
"Brilliant show! Just brilliant!" laughed Discord Whooves as he clapped his forehooves together vigorously.
"Shut up!" Twi ordered.
"Oh. A bit angry now, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Damn right! It's time you paid for what you've done!"
"If I had a penny for every time a member of your army shouted that to me."
Twi aimed her wand straight at Discord Whooves's chest. "I'll blow your hearts out, you piece of crap. You've killed people I care about! You turned my brother and some of my friends into robots! You turned another one of my friends into a murdering psychopath!"
"Ah yes. Pinkie Pie. She's been quite entertaining. Don't worry, she put the bodies of your brother and friends to good use." Discord Whooves licked his lips. "She makes excellent cupcakes." Twi screamed furiously as she shot a blast of red magic at him. He quickly jumped high into the air and landed on top of the rift generator. "Now, I think it's time to take my leave."
"You're not going anywhere!" snarled Colgate.
"Oh I believe I am," Discord Whooves chuckled. "I can finally leave this world. Thanks to your Twilight Sparkle, Doctor, my rift generator is finally ready."
"But...how?" Derpy asked.
Discord Whooves snickered. "I scanned her universal makeup with the machine and now have a solid destination for me and my army to travel to next."
The Doctor's eyes went wide. "No. You can't! Leave that world out of this! Let this be between you and me!" the Doctor shouted.
Discord Whooves shook his head. "I told you that I have bigger plans, Doctor. You're an excellent opponent and it's time for the battle for your TARDIS to begin. Our battlefield shall be the Equestria your pony friends are from."
"No," said Donna as she shook her head. "He can't go there. Look at what he did to this place!" Donna turned to the Doctor. "He can't go there, Doctor!"
"I know he can't," the Doctor said grimly. "But he will. I simply won't hand my TARDIS over to this maniac. If I did, every universe would be vulnerable to him." The Doctor's eyes flashed with a powerful flame as he glared up at Discord Whooves. "You can stop this now, Discord Whooves, but I know you won't. You're going to go through with this. But, before you go, I will say this. The second you step foot in my friends' Equestria, there will be no going back. I will fight for those ponies and every other creature in that world until my last breath! You have opened a door that can't be closed, Discord Whooves. You've started a storm that won't stop until you've fallen!"
"I know what I've started, Doctor," said Discord Whooves. "After all, I'm the oncoming storm as well." Discord Whooves straightened his body and cleared his throat. "Activation code!"
"STOP!" shrieked Twi as she shot a spell up at the pegasus Doctor.
Discord Whooves dodged the spell and smirked. He and the Doctor met eye-to-eye one more time. "No more!"
The Doctor felt as if a hole had been punctured through both of his hearts as the rift generator roared to life. A few seconds later, Discord Whooves disappeared in a cloud of swirling particles. His laugh reverberated throughout the throne room as he vanished.
"Where the hay did he go?!" Daring asked. "For that matter, what the hay just happened?!"
The entire castle suddenly shook around them and the sound of thunder roared from outside. "And now what's going on?!" Derpy asked.
"Move, you lot!" Donna ordered as she ran towards the exit with the still out cold Spike in her arms. "Let's go outside and find out then!" Everybody and everypony agreed with a nod before following Donna outside.
Colgate, Clockwork, and Twi were all filled with absolute terror as they, along with the others, stepped outside onto the balcony. Staring up into the sky, for them it was like being taken back to that horrible day over a year ago.
The dirty clouds of the polluted sky were swirling around and forming a massive vortex. The sky appeared to have been ripped open and, unlike last time, stuff was being drawn into it.
Long, silver trails of dust stretched from the ground and all the way up into the eye of the vortex. Some of the trails started in the city while others stretched from well beyond the horizon.
"He's opened a rift vortex," said Matilda.
"Another one?!" Daring groaned.
"What are all those dust trails?" Derpy asked.
"Everything that Discord Whooves most likely assigned to get sucked up by the rift he's just opened. His armies, weapons, tools, vehicles, you name it," the Doctor explained. "It's all going up into that vortex."
"And traveling to our Equestria," said Colgate.
The city around them shook again as a flash of white passed over them. "What the hell?!" gasped Donna as she nearly dropped the unconscious Spike.
"I think the shields are down!" Clockwork stated.
Just then, the sound of Princess Luna's angry voice started emanating from a communicator in Clockwork's coat. "What the hell's going on?!" she screeched. "I'm getting reports about how the sky has ripped open!"
Clockwork pulled out his communicator. "Yeah. That's pretty much what's happening."
"What the hell did you guys do?!"
The Doctor grabbed the communicator. "Luna! The Doctor speaking. Get all of your armies together as quickly as possible! And I do mean all of them! Every soldier! Every tank! Every plane! Every wand! Every flier! Every whatever else you've got! Tell them to make like the wind and get over to Canterlot as fast as possible!" he ordered. "The war's moving over to another Equestria and it's going to need this Equestria's help if it wishes to survive Discord Whooves!" Luna was silent for a moment. "Look, Luna, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that Discord Whooves is gone so why should you care about an Equestria in an alternate reality. But just look at what Discord Whooves did to your home. Do you wish to just sit by and let that same pain be inflicted upon another world? And, besides, your world will never be truly safe until Discord Whooves is defeated. Please, Luna. We need-"
"Just shut up already, Doctor. I get the picture and I've made up my mind," stated the Princess of the Night bluntly. The Doctor and the rest of his group waited anxiously for her to continue. "I'll have those armies over in Canterlot faster than you can say Nightmare Night. It's time we stopped that SOB once and for all."
The Doctor gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Luna." The line went dead and the Doctor gave the communicator back to Clockwork.
"So what's the plan now?" Derpy asked.
"I'm going to get my TARDIS and then we're going to use Discord Whooves's rift generator to transport the armies here over to your Equestria," the Doctor explained. He looked at the unconscious Twilight slung over Derpy's back. He caressed her face before turning to Derpy and touching her cheek. "I'm not going to let what happened to this world happen to your Equestria." The Doctor stepped to the very front of the group and looked at everyone and everypony before him: Twilight Sparkle, Derpy Hooves, Donna Noble, Spike, Colgate, Clockwork, Twi, Matilda, Daring Do, Cyberman Shining Armor, Cyberman Applejack, and Cyberman Rainbow Dash. "It's going to be a rough, long battle. The most difficult one any of you has probably ever faced. I've faced greater battles and horrors and I will use the lessons I learned from my many mistakes and victories to make sure that Discord Whooves does not win this war."
"And you're not alone," said Colgate. "Don't forget that."
The Doctor chuckled. "I don't plan to."
"Let's show our double who the real Doctor is," said Clockwork as he pointed at the Doctor.
"Let's give him hell," snarled Twi.
"Yeah!" cheered Daring Do. "Give him hell! Give him hell!"
"GIVE HIM HELL! GIVE HIM HELL!" cheered Shining Armor, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.
"We're with you all the way," said Derpy with a slight blush.
"Always," Matilda added. She looked at Twilight and Spike. "Even the unconscious ones."
"Let's finish this together like old times, spaceman," said Donna.
The Doctor couldn't help but smile at his allies before turning around and looking up at the rift vortex. You may think you understand, Discord Whooves, but you don't, the Doctor thought as he glared up into the depths of the funnel. His eyes burned like the deepest depths of the Time War as he thought about the looming battle with his dark double waiting for him on the other side of the vortex. You know absolutely nothing about the storm you've just unleashed.
To be continued in Doctor Whooves Episode 21: The Cybermen Invasion of Equestria...
