Dr. Whooves- Parallel Complications

Several officers had gathered around Paige, watching intently as she demonstrated some of the devices the Doctor had given her. The Doctor managed to give her a tutorial on how things worked in the TARDIS.

“These devices have little offensive capability, but the hope is to save as many of them as we can,” Paige said. “I don’t understand everything about these things, you’d have to talk to the Doctor for that, but I know that if they threaten us, there’s nothing we can do but stop them with force.”

“Such strange devices… where did these come from?” A lieutenant asked.

“Uh…” Paige bit her lip for a moment. “Orders from the princesses not to tell.”

“Understood, miss,” the stallion replied, and Paige let out a breath of relief. “These just might allow us to hold the assault here.”

“Paige,” Jack ran up to the group, nodding at the officers before turning to Paige. “They’re almost here.”

“We need to get to work,” a commander said, and the lieutenants nodded, moving to take charge of their groups.

***

“We must stay calm, Doctor. There’s nothing we can do.”

Minuette was desperately trying to comfort the Doctor, who sat in the center of the room they had been trapped in. He was stuck, and hated it. There was always a way to get out, always a way to escape, some little trick he could pull off to save the day. But now, surrounded by books, walls, and a locked door, with no sonic screwdriver and daleks on the loose. His emotional stability slowly crumbled, and he bowed his head, closing his eyes. “They’re all in danger, and it’s because of me.”

Minuette felt pain in her heart from the Doctor’s words. He had helped her in her time of need, and he was the only being in the world who could share the pain of her past. She refused to give up on the Doctor. “It’s not because of you,” Minuette said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “We’re all here, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”

“But Paige, Jack, all those ponies…”

“Stop it. You didn’t let the daleks in, Chaos did. Paige and Jack won’t give up, and neither should you.”

The Doctor looked up at Minuette, and she stared back. Another time lord. The only other time lord in the universe was standing in front of him, giving a shoulder to lean on, and this shook the Doctor. A feeling that mirrored Minuette’s came over him as he realized it too. The only two time lords in the universe. The only two that knew of the time war, that lived it, that now mourn for those lost. The Doctor had always pushed away thoughts of the past, keeping himself up for the sake of those around him. But now, locked in this room with him, was someone who he could be himself around. He sighed, and admitted to her; “I… I don’t know what to do…”

“Well, we’re in a locked wing of the castle filled with books. I bet you there are some pretty interesting books here. Maybe there’s even something in here that will help.”

The Doctor looked around at the books, then smiled at Minuette. “We don’t have much time. Better get reading,” he said. Minuette returned the grin and ran to a shelf.

***

“LOWER ASSAULT TEAM IS BREAKING THROUGH. THE NEXT PHASE IS COMMENCING.”

“REPORT STATUS OF COVERT ASSAULT.”

“DALEKS WERE DELAYED BY TWO BEINGS. ORIGIN IS BEING ANALYZED.”

“BRING RESULTS OF ANALYSIS WHEN COMPLETE. WE WILL EXTERMINATE ALL THAT RESIDE IN THIS PLANETARY COMMAND POST, AND THEN WE WILL EXTERMINATE THE PLANET.”

***

Luna calmed herself, making her breaths slow and calm. She let the night overtake her, her sense of the world increasing as she channeled her powers through her body. She could hear the fight below, the pain of the royal guards who fell, and the orders to fall back that she dreaded to here. She could hear the soft, rhythmic breaths of ponies sleeping in her kingdom, safe and warm, with nothing to trouble their dreams. If the assault stopped here, then that wouldn’t have to change.

A new sound hit her ears, one that she did not expect. Hoof steps. Heading upwards. Ponies were headed for her.

This made no sense. The entire guard should be busy with defending the frontal assault. Whoever was coming did not have friendly intent.

Luna’s mane darkened as she channeled more magic through her, preparing spells that only the highest of alicorns could perform. She opened her eyes once more, and they glowed with a ferocity that Luna only used when necessary.

“You kill my guards, you threaten my castle, but I will not move,” Luna said. “Just as the guards put their lives on the line for this castle, I will put mine on the line for my sister. You underestimate the power I have.”

Luna rose herself into the air, prepared to defend Celestia to the end, ensuring that at least one of them would make it through to the rising of the sun. Dark clouds formed over the peak of the castle, lightning and thunder crackling as Luna’s horn shined bright.

***

“They’re coming!”

A royal guard burst into the room, and all the guard waiting readied themselves.

“Stay strong everyone!” Jack shouted. “If you have to attack, try to aim for the light coming out of the head!”

The headache in Lieutenant Silver’s head practically disappeared. Now he had even more to fight for, making it that much easier to hold back the beast trying to break through his mind. If he could help stop the assault here, he could return to his family, and that was more motivating than anything.

He gave some orders of his own to Ensign Wing’s group, but he mostly relayed the orders to Wing and had him give them out. With this and the help Jack had given earlier, he saw confidence slowly growing in Wing, and he smiled. That confidence would be needed, and would make him a great officer later.

Wing moved up to Silver, giving him a salute. “All members ready sir,” he said.

“We can do this, Wing,” Silver replied. “Let’s give it our all.”

“Yes, sir.”

Silver ducked at the sound of an explosion from down the hall. Something had blown a hole through the wall, and through the smoke, several bright blue lights began to be visible.

“EXTERMINATE!”

***

The Doctor flipped through page after page, finding everything interesting but nothing of value. “Equestria has a lot of history,” he said.

“Don’t worry about any of the books in the section over there. They’re all just filled with magic spells,” Minuette replied. “I see why this wing is locked now. There’s some powerful magic over in those books.”

“I’ve read some historical facts that seem to be taboo, I think this is a locked section for various reasons.”

“Then they locked us in the right place. We should be able to find something helpful.”

“I hope so… I just don’t know where to look. We’ll have to be locked in here for a lot longer than I want if we’re going to find something.”

“There has to be some sort of clue…” As the Doctor moved on to the next book in his pile, Minuette perused the shelves. “It would be helpful to find something about this key the creator mentioned to you… but ponies wouldn’t know terms like Chaos, creators, destroyers or… the key to the void?”

“It would be great if they just had a little book called ‘The Key to the Void: a time lord’s guide to saving every parallel universe in existence.’”

“Well, take out all of that last bit, and you have this book. It looks like this book is older than the castle, but the title on it… ‘The Key to the Void’.”

The Doctor slammed his book shut, looking at Minuette with a blank stare. “What.”

“Yes. I just found it. Section 30, second shelf.”

“We’ve been here for half an hour.”

“Yes.”

“And there’s a book with a title literally telling us that it’s the one we’re looking for, right on the cover.”

“Yep.”

“What.”

“Want to stop reading random history things and learn clues about saving the universe?

“Yes, please.”

***

Possessed royal guard became visible on the staircase leading to the highest tower. Luna’s horn glowed brighter as she put up barriers on the stairs, in hopes of slowing them down. They held at first, but soon after encountering the barriers, one of their hooves opened, and a blast came out that shattered the barrier. The barrier Luna had over Celestia’s chamber was a thousand times stronger, but she could only hold one of those at a time. Her defensive options were limited.

“You leave me no choice, creatures,” Luna said. Her eyes lost all color as a white glow replaced it. The clouds hovering over her crackled more, and with a wave of her hoof, a bolt of lightning crashed down onto the stairway.

The initial blast sent the lead creature flying off of the tower, falling to the unforgiving ground below. The next attempted to jump the gap that had been created from Luna’s blast, but failed. The third had wings, and took off into the air, shooting off a blast from his hoof.

Luna swiftly dodged the blast, and returned one of her own, a spark of energy flying from her horn. The pony took the blast front on, and fell.

“This castle is not yours!” Luna yelled, her magic burning from deep within her, every inch of her body feeling the power she used to keep herself and her sister safe. More pegasus guard appeared, the same weaponry protruding from their hooves.

“You do not stand a chance,” Luna said softly. “You will all fall without… what is that…”

Luna looked up, seeing several lights appear up in the sky. Something was descending, and she could only assume that it was not something friendly. This fight was not over.

***

“Fire the first device!”

As daleks ran out from the smoke, several royal guard activated a pulse of energy from the device designated to strike first. An advanced EMP blasted towards the daleks, and while this wouldn’t harm a normal dalek, it proved affective against their covert creations. The possessed guard screamed as they fell to the ground, holding their heads before going silent.

Silver let out a sigh, wishing that more than he could be saved. There was no reaching the possessed guard without risking the lives of all the other ponies here, and he wouldn’t do that.

Paige flew out in front of the guard, dropping small devices in intervals across the floor. When each device dropped, a light blinked and it activated, a small energy barrier specifically designed to counter dalek blasts appearing. As more blasts shot out from the smoke, the barriers proved to work efficiently.

In the next phase, pegasus members of the royal guard flew overhead, ready with the same device the Doctor and Minuette had used to tie legs together tight. Unicorns began using their magic to attempt to stun the daleks, aiming for the legs and proving successful with a few. Nopony had been lost yet, and Silver wanted to keep it that way.

***

“It’s written by a pony called Starswirl the Bearded. I think I’ve heard of him,” Minuette said as she laid down next to the Doctor with the book. “He was an old, powerful unicorn, who lived long ago. This book could even be the original copy, it’s at least several centuries old.”

“Starswirl was mentioned in another book I picked up, you’re right about who he is,” the Doctor replied. “Let’s flip through some of the pages, find the important parts.”

The Doctor cleared his throat, volunteering to read first. “Many times when performing my magic have I felt a presence beyond that which twists and turns around us every day. Hmm, he really was brilliant. He seems to have somewhat of an understanding about universe energy.” The Doctor continued. “I take from the world around me to hone my magic power, and I give back with the performance of my spells. None of the energy of life is lost when no dark magic is performed. However, to truly understand magic, the darker side must be attempted, and there is something more out there, something that I can only begin to understand. A feeling of nothingness, timelessness, emptiness, yet somehow great power. As I continued my research, I discovered a great secret of the world- a place more dangerous than any foe imaginable, creatures that have come from it, and although retrieving it is beyond my power, a key to stop it. I call this nothingness the void, and in this book share my findings on the void and the key to locking it.”

***

Luna grew confused and fearful as the lights continued to descend. As they got closer, she could faintly make out their shape. She had never seen anything like this before. Shining metal towers, with spherical shapes all over them. Two arm like structures were attached to the core, one on either side, and a bright blue object, having somewhat the appearance of an eye, stood out from the top. She recognized the same blue light from the possessed ponies’ heads, and she now had confirmation that this possession was technology, not magic.

“Who goes there?” Luna bellowed, using her royal voice to be sure that all heard her.

“WE ARE THE DALEKS. YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED.”

Luna raised her head and shot out a blast from her horn. What had managed to blow a hole in the castle didn’t even touch the descending dalek. Some sort of force field dissipated Luna’s magic completely.

She grew panicked as more controlled ponies appeared, and the daleks above her increased their speed. She needed to figure out how to fight these creatures, but for now she just needed to get them away from Celestia. Several blasts began flying in her direction, and in a split second she flew downwards, avoiding the fatal rays. She took off away from the tower, the daleks and controlled pegasi following suit, continuing to fire at her.

Luna weaved in between the castle’s towers, letting the castle take damage rather than risk her own injury. Blast after blast followed her, and she returned some of them when she got the chance. A pegasus or two fell, but any time she aimed at one of the daleks, nothing happened.

Around and around they flew, Luna keeping the daleks away from her sister and away from the rest of Canterlot. Her options were few, and she’d have to make up some new tricks in order to defend herself.

She pivoted around a corner quickly, causing one dalek that didn’t quite see her to split off from the pack, flying wide around. Some of the castle had caught on fire from dalek blasts, and she used her magic to stop the flame. A plan brewed in her head, and it would cause a lot more damage to the castle, but she felt no concern for that. All her worries went to the ponies in and below her home.

The one dalek that had flown wide was now on Luna’s left side, its view occasionally obstructed by towering parts of the castle. She waited, observing the timing, and when at a split moment that the dalek’s view became obstructed, she teleported, reappearing in a castle hallway lower down.

The two daleks tailing Luna could outside the building see her through the windows lining the hallway, and swooped down, a couple of pegasi still following behind. Luna smiled when she saw that the third dalek had lost sight of her. Exactly as she had planned.

The daleks crashed through a window behind Luna, tailing her once more. A large window in front of Luna marked the end of the hallway, and she shot out with her horn again, smashing the window in to pieces. She would fly out, turn hard, and lose the rest of the daleks so she could gather her thoughts.

Before reaching the end of the hall, however, her exit became cut off. The third dalek floated down in the way, and now Luna was trapped in a narrow hallway with daleks on both sides of her, their weapons aimed.

“EXTERMINATE!”

***

Where the unicorns failed to hit the pony daleks and trip them over, the pegasi were picking up the slack. Wing and other pegasi flew through the air with spears, aiming for the legs since they knew that what would usually be a fatal blow would not slow down these creatures. Wing made another successful hit, tripping a dalek before it could break down one of the shields, and urged for the ponies flying under his and Silver’s command to keep going.

He glanced over at Jack, who was helping set up more of these strange defense devices. Strangely enough, that stallion had given him the confidence he’d been looking for when he joined the royal guard in the first place. He felt on top of the world, and while he knew he needed focus on the task at hand, every once in a while he let himself slip in a thought about getting that drink.

***

“There is something that only the highest of magical beings, such as Celestia and only recently myself, have understood. We are not alone in life. I do not mean that there are more than just ponies, there are of course dragons, griffons, and all sorts of other living creatures on this world. But what we have felt and grown to understand is that our world is not the only one. Beyond our wave of existence exists infinite others, different worlds, different creatures, entirely different realities. These realities all have different magical potential, and thus can only meet each other under certain circumstances.”

“That sounds like what the creator explained to you,” Minuette commented.

“Usually, the void is the fabric that holds all different realities together, while at the same time keeping them far enough apart to prevent damage. However, things have begun to tear holes in the void, allowing realities to collide with one another, and dangerous creatures to sprout from it. The void is ruled by something beyond even Celestia’s comprehension, let alone mine.

“If this continues, reality will begin to fall apart. The void is like ice on a lake; one tiny crack will spread, until soon one step on the frozen water will cause everything to break apart.

“Through the cracks that have been forming in the void, we can get a larger glimpse at the other realities. The void is now filled with doors from one reality to another, and if one had the magic to do so, they could travel to a different realm. I do not have the ability to travel there at the moment, only to see it. However in this instance, I hope that my curiosity never be satisfied, for these doors need to close before too much damage is done.”

***

To Luna, time seemed to slow down as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She suppressed her fear as a dalek blast came at her from in front and behind, closing in on her with intense speed. She needed the timing to be perfect, had only fractions of a second to react, and being a tenth of a second off could mean her death.

Just before the blasts hit her, the daleks still focused on her form, she teleported, reappearing behind the dalek that had been in front of her. She had stayed where she was just long enough to not give the daleks time to react and move, and their blasts hit each other.

Luna watched as two of the three daleks exploded, relief flooding over her. Something caught her eye when the blasts in the daleks. The force field around them seemed to react to the blast, but it still went through, hitting the eye. This was the weak point, and one dalek remained for the use of this new knowledge.

The third and final dalek flew out from the window Luna had broken, two pegasi following behind. She concentrated, focusing her power into a thinner beam, and let loose, using up even more of her magic to precisely guide the blast. Her magic pierced through the force field, and the dalek began to fall to the ground below, for the top half of it no longer existed.

Luna felt triumphant, but the battle wasn’t over yet. After dealing with the controlled pegasi, she had her royal guard to save.

***

“Stay strong, everypony!”

Silver could not believe how much of the royal guard had been taken over. This was by far the stealthiest opponent Canterlot had ever faced. Nearly all of the lower floor guard units had been taken over, leaving few left currently on duty to defend.

The shields that had been put up were holding, but not well. Blast after blast beat them down, and Silver knew they couldn’t hold forever. Two ponies from their side had now fallen, one unicorn taking a well-aimed blast from one of them and one pegasus that got caught between blasts when trying to dodge. Things were not looking good.

“Everyone move back!” Jack yelled. “Those shields are starting to fade, we’re going to need cover and we’re almost out of defenses!”

The guard listened, and began moving back. Several dalek ponies began to weave in through the shields without being taken down, and suddenly the front line was much closer. Pegasi began flying lower, while earth ponies and unicorns began a close range fight.

“This isn’t going to work,” Paige said, her eyes turning fearful. “Jack, we’re no match for them without more firepower.”

“You’re right,” Jack replied, throwing down the last cord he had. “We can’t stay here! Silver, we need a place to be when these shields break, or else we won’t be standing here much longer.”

“Agreed, even though numbers are fairly even, that’s only because we’ve taken down so many, and who knows how many might reinforce them,” Silver shouted. Using his magic, he concentrated hard, lifting a decorative statue that sat on the edge of the hall, and with careful aim, launched it at the few dalek ponies who had snuck past the shields and assault. “Front line, move NOW!”

The royal guard knew not to second guess an order in the heat of battle, so the few holding back the dalek ponies in the front threw themselves out of the way, and the statue came crashing down, sliding across the floor.

Afterwards, a pony dalek leapt out from behind the crashed statue, hoof pointed directly at Silver. Jack yelled in alert, and Silver stared, frozen in shock for a moment too long.

***

“REPORT.”

“LOWER FORCES ARE BEING HELD BACK. THREE DALEKS WERE SENT TO ASSIST WITH EXTERINATION OF HIGHER POWER BEING AND ALL WERE LOST.”

“SEND MORE DALEKS. THE ONES WE CREATED FOR INFILTRATION GAVE INTELLIGENCE, BUT ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH. THE DALEKS WILL NOT BE DEFEATED.”

“SENDING MORE DALEKS NOW. AND SCANS ARE COMPLETE OF ACQUIRED TECHNOLOGY. IT IS A SONIC DEVICE. THIS INFORMATION COMBINED WITH KNOWLEDGE OF DALEK KIND LEADS TO PROBABLE CONCLUSION. IT IS THE DOCTOR.”

“BRING THEM ABOARD.”

***

Minuette took a turn to read. “Time and space, all around us, is being injured by these cracks in the void. But deep within an ancient temple in Saddle Arabia, near the very beginning of written history, lies a key, and a prophecy. I wish I could have met these ancient ponies, for some of their greatest magic still lies in the secrets of untranslated scripts; their knowledge still baffles me. The unicorns from the older time managed to see what I see now, and something landed in their desert from the stars. When they looked at it, they named it the key, and wrote the prophecy that I shall tell you.

“’Time is out of balance as world hits world. The Gods cannot determine the destiny of all things. The key will either lock the door, and all shall become what once was, or the loss of balance will cause the end of all things.’”

“These ancient ponies did manage to find out a lot,” the Doctor said. “But I don’t know about one part. If we defeat Chaos, things will return to what they were before he came?”

“Chaos is likely leaving some paradoxes behind in his wake,” Paige replied. “Like that story you told me about… who was that… the Master?”

“True,” the Doctor nodded. “When he was stopped, time reversed and only those who have traveled in time remembered any of it. The same will likely happen then if these old ponies are right.”

“Let’s keep reading, we can skip a bit, he starts rambling here.” Paige continued being the reader. “I am sadly not the one who can retrieve this key. Though I wish I could, the key is now guarded by the children of the void, and that is not a force I can challenge.” Paige paused. “Hmm, children of the void. What do you think that means?”

“Minuettte.”

“He goes on about the children of the void, but he doesn’t really describe them.”

“Minuette. Look up.”

Minuette looked up from the book, and her heart nearly stopped. Her and the Doctor had been teleported, and were now on some sort of ship. Surrounding them on all sides was not pony daleks, but the real thing. One of Minuette’s worst nightmares now faced her again after so long.

***

Silver closed his eyes, but felt nothing. He heard a blast fire, but he still stood. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the pony dalek on the ground, and princess Luna in the air.

“Go!” Luna bellowed to the guard, her royal voice coming back to her. “We need to regroup higher in the castle. I will guard your retreat.”

Jack and Paige stared in awe at the princess. She held herself majestically, her eyes pure white, her face cold yet caring. They followed the royal guard in their retreat as Luna sent out a wave of energy, knocking back all the pony daleks attempting to follow.

“Get higher ground! A stronger foe approaches!” Luna shouted.

“A stronger foe?” Paige said as they ran.

“That’s not good,” Jack replied. “That means here come the real daleks. I don’t know how we’ll survive that with no weapons and no Doctor.”

***

“ARE YOU THE DOCTOR?” One of the daleks asked.

The Doctor shrugged. “You caught me red handed. But wait, I don’t have hands! Ah-ha! Jokes on you-“

“YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATE-“

“Wait-wait-wait, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the Doctor said, returning to being serious. “This other pony with me, she’s a unicorn. You’ve clearly been here a while, so you know what unicorns are now,” he continued. “This unicorn has more power than any unicorn you’ve faced. She’s a scary one, and she could also teleport us right back to the planet if we want, so you’re going to do things by our terms.”

Minuette stood and whispered into the Doctor’s ear. “Doctor, no unicorn could teleport that far, and I’m not that powerful. Are they really going to fall for-“

“I once told them that a jammy dodger was a TARDIS self destruct button and they believed me for a good five minutes,” the Doctor whispered in reply. He turned back to the daleks. “So, glad to see that you’ve calmed down with your ever so present desire to exterminate me. Which one of you is in charge of this little vessel?”

“I AM.” One dalek rolled forward, designating itself as the commander. “EXPLAIN YOUR PRESENCE IN THIS UNIVERSE DOCTOR. EXPLAIN.”

“I’d love to ask you the same question,” the Doctor asked. The Doctor looked at Minuette for a moment, and tapped his foreleg with a hoof. Minuette nodded at the motion, and began looking around while the Doctor went back to talking. “I try to take a vacation from saving universes from you, and then you come to the universe I’m in!”

“THAT WAS NOT OUR DOING,” the dalek replied.

“As I suspected.” The Doctor began pacing in front of the commander. “And your little infiltration plan here is very strange. All this stealth, you only ever use that to trap other people, like me, but this time it was your plan of attack. These ponies clearly wouldn’t be much of a match for you, why not just exterminate them all?”

“WE WERE DAMAGED WHEN SENT TO THIS UNIVERSE BY AN UNKNOWN ANOMALY,” the commander replied. “WE NEED LABORERS TO MINE THE RESOURCES OF THIS PLANET SO WE MAY RETURN TO OUR UNIVERSE. THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION DETERMINED WAS TO INFILTRATE THE PLANET’S GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE.”

“I see, limited resources and not looking too good,” the Doctor said. “I’ll tell you what little anomaly brought you here, it was a creature called Chaos. And while he wants to mess with me, he’s not making any friends, only creating more enemies. Listen to me.” The Doctor looked straight at the commander. “You understand enough about parallel universes to know your presence here is a mistake and dangerous. Reality will fall apart, and if that happens, not only will there be no species for you to exterminate, there won’t be any daleks. Think about it. I may be your only chance to keep on exterminating, keep on striving for domination of the universe. And as I say all this, you’re trying to kill my friends.”

“THE DALEKS DO NOT FEAR THIS CREATURE YOU SPEAK OF. WE SHALL RISE AGAIN AND RULE THE UNIVERSE-“

“But there won’t be any universe to rule!” The Doctor shouted. Minuette nudged him when he walked by, and he nodded. “But fine, the one time I try to be diplomatic with a dalek you don’t want to listen, so things will be going differently.” The Doctor started to smile as he paced around. “Usually, your technology is way too smart for me to crack, but at the moment, you’re weakened,” the Doctor began. “You’re fearful, even though you don’t show fear. Even with your weakened state, the technology of dalek ships would still be hard for one time lord to crack.” The Doctor stopped, and raised his right front hoof into the air. “Fortunately, there’s two time lords here.”

While the Doctor was finishing his last sentence, Minuette began levitating the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, having located it in the room. She flew it on to the Doctor’s hoof, and as soon as it made contact the Doctor activated it, disrupting the lighting system in the room and shutting the lights off.

***

Jack, Paige, and the royal guard ran up through the castle, still hearing sounds from below where Luna fought off the controlled guard, covering their escape.

“Where to, Silver?” Jack asked as the group paused to take a breath and get everypony accounted for.

“The higher level throne room would be our best option,” Silver said. “It’s a large room, but with decent high ground and few entrances. If our unicorns can have some moments to rest, we’ll be able to magically create some blockades.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jack replied. “Let’s get up there.”

Everypony grouped close together once again, and moved upwards through the castle. The upper level throne room wasn’t far, and there were only a few more hallways to pass through to reach there. When the pony leading the way turned a corner, however, his scream alerted the rest behind him. The pony collapsed to the floor, and all halted, not wanting to jump out at whatever just blasted one guard down already.

“Everypony, back up now!” Silver shouted. The guard backed up slowly, taking positions behind pillars and waiting.

Around the corner came five true daleks, and Jack’s ears flattened. “Aim for the eye!” Jack yelled. “It’s the only way! Keep moving back, these things are far more powerful than what we’ve been facing!”

Blasts began to fly from the dalek arms, and now the guard was caught out of a favorable position, stuck with the daleks in front and not enough cover to run without getting shot. Unicorns fought with all their might, while pegasi and earth ponies quickly discovered their spears were worthless.

“Oh no…” Paige cowered as the battle raged before her, and Jack knelt down, keeping her safe. “We were winning, but I don’t know what to do now, I don’t know how to help…”

“Trust me,” Jack replied, hoping to comfort Paige. “I know the Doctor. He’d never let a dalek win.”

***

Now the only illumination in the room was the glowing eyes of the daleks. The sound of hooves shuffling could be heard as every dalek went crazy, yelling for the Doctor and activating night vision.

Before any of the daleks had activated night vision, the Doctor and Minuette were gone.

“FIND AND EXTERMINATE THEM!”

***

Minuette and the Doctor had managed to bolt down a corridor in all the commotion from shutting off the lights. Minuette levitated the book with her, knowing they should keep it if possible. When they ducked in to a doorway, the Doctor began to whisper. “They really are weakened from the trip here, Chaos didn’t do a good job this time around. That never would have normally worked.”

“What’s the plan?” Paige asked, keeping her voice low as well.

“We need to find the transmitter going to all the controlled ponies and shut it off,” the Doctor replied. “I don’t know what that will do to the ponies who were altered, but we have no choice. After that, we need to figure out how to destroy this ship and get off of it at the same time.”

“How do you blow up a dalek ship from the inside?”

“It’s like I said, one time lord couldn’t figure it out, but I’ve got another time lord right here.” The Doctor smiled. “Let’s think it over together while we search. Be careful.”

The Doctor and Minuette began to move, lucky that the daleks had lost the ability to track beings in their ship. As they whispered, the Doctor learned countless things about the daleks that he had never known, Minuette’s expertise from her job as a scout in the time war combining with the Doctor’s modern knowledge of the daleks. Before long they had a plan, but first the transmitter needed to be found.

“A map panel! And this time the TARDIS isn’t broken and unable to translate things.” The Doctor motioned for Minuette to follow him to what he found. The Doctor looked both ways before sitting and activating his sonic screwdriver, pulling up schematics of the ship.

“Transmitter, transmitter… ah! Right… oh. Well.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Minuette said.

“It’s sort of… in the room we were in before. The one with all the daleks. But so is a computer with the ability to carry out our plan. So if we can get back in that room without being seen, we can do this.”

***

Wing wanted so badly to help, but he saw how other attempts at throwing spears did nothing whatsoever. Nopony could get the aim just right; somepony would need to get closer. He watched as these metal creatures got closer and closer to striking fatal blows on his fellow guard members, and wouldn’t stand for it.

Wing picked up a spear in his front hooves, and took off in to the air, soaring above the daleks. Silver yelled out, but Wing didn’t listen, carefully spinning in the air, twisting and turning to avoid careful airm from the dalek’s eyes as they tried to track him. From in front of the daleks he flew downward, and just as he positioned himself directly in front of a dalek, he launched the spear and pulled up, flying straight for the ceiling.

The close proximity and momentum caused the spear to make contact with the eye. The dalek began to spin, shooting randomly, and managing to hit a fellow dalek and blow it up.

“Yes! There you go Wing!”

Wing looked down to see Captain Jack jumping and shouting, smiling up at him. He returned the grin and was ready to try again, but his eyes began to piece together a puzzle.

Captain Jack had come out from behind cover. The blinded dalek continued to spin, shooting every which way. And soon he’d line up with the unnoticing captain.

“No!”

Wing dove with all his might as the dalek spun, still firing.

***

“FIND THE DOCTOR AND HIS ASSOCIATE. THEY MUST BE EXTERMINATED.”

Daleks worked diligently in the command room, working to fight on the ground while also searching for any signs of the Doctor aboard their ship. There were enough daleks around to make Minuette and the Doctor gulp in fear as they stepped into the room, ducking behind a consol.

“ONE DALEK HAS LOST VISUAL. ATTEMPTING TO REGAIN TRANSMISSION.”

“Trans… what?” The Doctor risked peaking over the consol to see what was going on. He did not like the sight he saw. Screens were displaying a fight between the royal guard and real daleks, who had gone down to the planet’s surface. But this wasn’t right. Daleks didn’t sit and watch others fight. But then he saw another set of screens, showing pony daleks fighting against princess Luna as she slowly worked on backing away from them. The Doctor ducked below the consol again, and turned to Minuette.

“They’re even worse than I thought. They don’t have many daleks on this ship, so they sent down armor shells with transmitters in them. That’s why they’re fighting like this, they’re confused by this world and aren’t risking their own lives. We stop them now, and the whole fight stops. Go.”

The Doctor ran out from around the corner, activating his sonic screwdriver and killing the lights again. Daleks were more prepared this time, some immediately activating night vision and some using thermal imaging to scan the room. They caught glimpses of heat signatures, dashing between consols, and the room began to flash as daleks shot out at the ponies running through.

“I never thought I’d try to help a dalek, but I guess these ponies have made me kinder,” the Doctor said, his voice barely audible above the attempts to shoot at him. “I gave you a chance, and you didn’t take it. Now you’ll get a reminder of what I’m capable of.”

The daleks had expertly avoided damaging their own ship when shooting at the Doctor, but when the Doctor jumped onto a console, one dalek made a move too soon, and shot at him.

The Doctor leapt away, and the blast hit the console. Sparks flew, and the monitors blinked back on for just a moment, only to show the daleks on the planet surface shutting down.

“There we go! But that’s not all. Two time lords can do twice as much as one.”

Red lights began to illuminate the room as an alarm sounded. While the daleks had been distracted by the Doctor, Minuette had been working diligently, using her knowledge from the time war to hack in to the damaged dalek systems and start a ship self-destruct.

“Doctor, time to run!”

Minuette darted out of the room before letting her location get discovered, and the Doctor followed suit as the daleks began trying to disarm the self-destruct.

The Doctor panted as he caught up to Minuette, both of them sprinting through the ship.

“Are you sure you know how to do this next part?” the Doctor shouted.

“Are you ever sure your plans will work?” Minuette asked.

“I usually don’t have a plan!”

“Well then we’re looking better than usual!”

***

All the daleks began to move slower, whirring to a halt. One more blast escaped the blind dalek however, and headed straight for Jack.

Jack had been watching Wing, but as Wing got closer to his position he looked back, seeing the blast headed for him. He gasped, but before the blast made contact, Wing flew in front of it.

“No!”

Jack cried out as Wing kept flying by him. His wings ceased to move, and he skidded in to the ground as he landed, his body in a crumpled heap. “No, please no!”

Silver stood by other members of the guard, but began to stagger. He fought to keep his eyes open, but collapsed to the floor.

***

Minuette dove through a doorway, and the Doctor caught his breath as he ran through as well. The two were in a scout ship attached to the dalek ship, and Minuette began messing with the controls.

“Have you ever flown one of these?”

“No, but I’ve gathered a lot of information about these little ships. So I think we’ll be fine.” Minuette looked confident as she sat herself down, beginning to push buttons.

“Well this ship’s about to blow up, so I’d love it if we got out of here!”

“Don’t worry! I’ve flown a TARDIS through thick and thin, I can fly this like a leaf on the wind.”

The Doctor and Minuette nearly fell over as the little ship shook, roughly disengaging from the main ship. “I meant to do that!” Minuette called out.

The Doctor held on for dear life, with nothing to strap himself into since these ships were meant for one dalek pilot and nothing else. While the daleks had been badly damaged, the Doctor still couldn’t help being immensely impressed that Minuette had hacked a dalek computer and was now flying one of their ships that usually only worked with a dalek in the pilot’s seat.

Both ponies began to scream as the ship rocketed towards earth, the sounds of the main dalek ship exploding coming from behind them. Soon their little ship became surrounded in flame, and they had to wait and hope that earth’s atmosphere would show itself in a moment.

“Come on…” Minuette urged the ship to keep going. “Come on!”

The flame cleared, and the two found themselves no longer a part of the night sky, but underneath it, safely back on earth. They cheered and shouted as Minuette flew for Canterlot castle, the battle now over.

***

“No… please… Wing…”

Jack knelt over Wing, holding a hoof to the ensign’s face. Wing coughed, and looked up at Jack.

“Why did you take that shot for me… oh god why did you have to take that shot for me… I could’ve…”

Wing forced a smile as he looked at Jack. “Because… I didn’t really feel like a royal guard until you charmed me into realizing I was one,” he said. The pain he felt in speaking was noticeable, and Jack winced. “Thanks for offering me… that drink… and thanks for saving… so many lives…”

Jack nodded, touching his free front hoof to one of Wing’s, keeping back the tears that wanted to flow. “You looked real sexy throwing that spear.”

Wing blushed and coughed. “Thanks… Captain…” His eyes slowly closed, never to open again.

Luna had nearly made it to the room where the guard had gotten trapped before all the daleks shut down. She looked at the horrible site in front of her. Several more of her guard dead, and the rest badly beaten. Lieutenant Silver, the one who had fought so valiantly to not only to hold on to this castle, but to hold on to his mind, was on the floor, motionless.

“It’s over, my guard. Canterlot castle holds.” Everypony was relieved, but nopony was in the mood to celebrate, and Luna didn’t blame them.

“What happened to Silver?” Paige walked over to Silver’s body, looking down at him. “He just sort of… fell over.”

“The Doctor must have stopped what was controlling them,” Luna replied. “Perhaps there wasn’t enough of Silver left to keep him alive without it.” She bowed her head, a tear falling from her eye.

A few seconds later, Silver’s body began to move. He groaned, and his eyes squinted open as he struggled to his feet. “Wha… what happened…”

“Silver, you’re alive!” Paige shouted, happiness filling her.

“My head… they’re… they’re gone…” Silver felt no more pain, no more ringing in the back of his head trying to take away his free will. “But that means… princess! Please come with me!”

Silver ran down the way the guard had come, and Luna and Paige followed. Jack gently lowered Wing’s body, looking at him one last time, then followed as well.

When the three arrived at the lower levels, they saw the full damage that the battle had caused. Many pony daleks had to be completely destroyed, the eyes protruding out, their bodies limp. But all the ones that had been tripped and tied up were now talking, unable to move, but conscious and mainly confused.

“All the undamaged ones are their normal selves again,” Silver said. “It really was worth saving them if possible.”

“We need to gather all the guard, and discuss all that has happened,” Luna said. “I will summon all of Canterlot’s guard, on duty and off.”

“Luna, wait! Outside the window!”

The three looked over to see a small spaceship coming down. It lowered itself to the height of the windows, hovering menacingly.

“That’s a dalek ship, run!” Jack yelled.

“YOU WILL ALL HAVE TEA!”

“Wait, what?”

Jack did a double take, swearing he just heard the Doctor’s voice come from a dalek ship. Then the ship turned around, revealing the entryway of the scout ship, which was currently open. In the entry way was the Doctor, waving and grinning. He pointed up towards the sky, and when the three looked up, they could see a tiny ball of flame beginning to fade away, way up by the stars.
“What is that?” Luna asked.

“If I were to guess, I’d say that’s where the Doctor got his ride from,” Jack replied.

***

The night was nearly done; the sun would rise soon upon the gathered royal guard.

“During last night, as all of you can see from the damage, a battle occurred,” Luna said, standing before all of her guard. “Some of the ponies among you were taken over by other creatures, and we were forced into fighting ourselves. Some of those taken over perished, but others are now here among you.”

The guards began to mumble, butt Luna waved it away. “The threat is gone, and I can assure you that while they may have been permanently hurt by the beings we faced, they are themselves. That is why that I am not revealing who was ever controlled and who was not. I ask those that know to not reveal it.”

All the guard nodded in unison, and Luna smiled. “We have much to do guard, and I thank you for your hard work. Those of you who guarded the night, please go get some rest. The rest of you, I must ask you to stay even if you were not to be on shift. Extended leave shall be given to all after the castle has been mended.”

The entire royal guard saluted in unison, and Luna returned it, dismissing them. In a room behind the throne, the Doctor approached Jack, who was staring out a window.

“I told him that he’d make it,” Jack said. “He was so young… I told him he’d make it through… then he took a shot for a man who can’t die.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Jack,” the Doctor said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Minuette and I discovered something while we were trapped. When we stop Chaos, none of this will have ever happened. Wing will have never died. None of the ponies who died tonight will have.”

Jack let out a sigh. “Hopefully another pony will find him and give him the confidence boost I did, he’ll make a great member of the royal guard,” Jack said. “Thanks Doctor. Let’s go stop this destroyer.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Luna entered the room along with Lieutenant Silver. “Doctor, we will never be able to repay you for all you have done.”

“Nothing to worry about, princess,” the Doctor said. “I’m here to help.”

Silver approached the Doctor, admiration on his face. “I wouldn’t be standing here, with the ability to go home and be with my family, if you hadn’t saved me.”

“Go get ‘em, Silver. You earned it.” The Doctor held out a hoof, and Silver shook it.

“Not sure how to explain the metal thing in my head…”

“Don’t. It’ll never act up again, the daleks who did this to you are dead,” the Doctor explained. “Sure you might have a bit of dalek parts in you, but you’re still Silver. Permanently now.”

Silver nodded. “Thank you, Doctor. I guess it’s just like Celestia’s saying. All that matters is who I want to be.”

“Exactly. I think she told me that once.”

“Farewell, Doctor,” Luna said. “May you travel safely.”

“I’ll try, but I don’t think that will last very long.” They both chuckled, and the Doctor turned to his TARDIS, his three companions following suit.

Silver and Luna stood by as the TARDIS faded into nothing. “Magnificent,” Silver breathed.

“Not as much as your bravery,” Luna said. “Lieutenant Silver, Vigilant, the captain of the royal guard, shall be retiring soon. From what I saw tonight, I believe you are a fit replacement.”

Silver looked up in disbelief. “Me?”

“Yes.”

Silver shook his head, in disbelief. “But princess, I-“

“Courage, skill, intelligence, and a willingness to sacrifice one’s self for Canterlot,” Luna interrupted. “Those are the four traits a captain of the royal guard needs, and you possess all of them.”

Silver stood shocked for a moment more, but then bowed graciously. “I would be honored, princess.”

Luna returned the bow. “I am honored to have a pony like you serving this castle. But unfortunately, you must go home to your family while still being a lieutenant. The promotion ceremony needs to wait, you need rest and this castle needs repairs.”

“Of course, princess, I won’t let you down.”

***

Luna gently swung open the door to the royal bed chambers, using her magic to swing open the curtains and let the moonlight in. “Wakey wakey, dear sister! The time for the sun cometh!”

Celestia sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. “Good morning, Luna. Was the night peaceful?”

“Sister, remember about six decades ago, when Shining Armor and Cadence wed each other?”

“Of course. Why?”

“What did I ask when I arrived at the wedding party?”

“You asked if you missed anything, and I laughed, later explaining to you that- oh dear.”

“The castle is safe, but last night was worse than Chrysalis. I will discuss with you after the sun is raised.”

***

Location unknown
Time unknown

The daleks had failed, but Chaos did not effectively move the dalek ship into this universe. He chuckled as he sat within the void, resting and plotting. He would not make the same mistake again, with enough power now to effortlessly bring anything from one universe to another. But that was not his next plan.

“You do well against enemies from your world, but now I create one of my own,” Chaos said to himself, chuckling. “A being that will spread my chaos across time and space, that will be feared from one universe to the next. I give you all life, and I give you all power, now go forth, and feed. My dear… sweet… children.”