The Scrapyard

The Doctor was regarding Twilight with a smug ‘I told you so’ expression, she was looking on at the hill in sheer disbelief at seeing Rainbow Dash vanish the second she came into contact with it.

“Where did she go?” Twilight managed to utter shakily.

“As I tried to explain earlier, the perception filter makes our mind and our eyes believe that there is a hill there when there is in fact an entrance to some form of base or factory, where I believe new Cybermen are being constructed.” The Doctor explained.

“And we let her rush in there alone!?” Twilight shouted as her wings flared in alarm.

“I didn’t think of that.” The Doctor replied as he came to the horrific realization of the grim possibilities that could possibly occur thanks to his oversight.

Twilight broke into a full galloped towards the hill as The Doctor followed suit.

Once they passed the threshold, they both observed their surroundings looking for any sign of Rainbow Dash.

“RAINBOW DASH?” Twilight called out frantically.

She felt something bump against her hoof before looking down to see that she was standing on a cyan feather and The Doctor was trying to get her to remove it.

The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and activated it, causing the blue node at the tip to light up blue as a whirring sound echoed throughout the chamber.

“Find anything?” Twilight asked anxiously as her eyes darted around the area.

“No.” The Doctor replied, frowning. “There’s no sign of a struggle; no blood, no saliva, nothing except a feather.”

“Maybe she isn’t hurt too badly then!” Twilight exclaimed hopefully as her face lit up.

“Or maybe it’s a trap.” The Doctor replied cynically. “Do you know some kind of spell for lighting the darkness?”

The lights inside seemed to have died out, making it nearly impossible to see without straining ones eyes.

“Oh, yes…” Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated her magical power into the tip of her horn, which manifested itself into a tiny ball of light.

The light’s arc was reminiscent to that of a flashlight.

“This was a spell my Dad taught me when I was a filly and still afraid of the dark.” She explained. “In fact, this is the spell that earned him his Cutie Mark.”

They stopped when the light hit a piece of metal in the opposite end of the room.

Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a suit of armor of some kind of bizarre creature Twilight had never read about before.

“Stand back.” The Doctor ordered as he approached it.

Doing was she was told, Twilight watched curiously as The Doctor examined the hunk of metal.

“Doctor, what is it?” She asked in a soft whisper.

“A Cyberman.” He replied, his hoof tracing the damaged part of its torso. “And it appears to be the one that piece I found earlier had broken off from.”

It was sitting idly against the wall as if it were broken with its legs sprayed apart and one arm at its side with the other in its lap like a neglected ragdoll.

“Do you think it’s what attacked Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked timidly as her heart began to race, being so close to a creature that was incapable of feeling pity or remorse for those it attacked.

“It’s hard to tell…” He replied, scanning it with the Sonic Screwdriver. “It’s either too badly damaged to function properly or its in some sort of standby mode…”

At that point the Cyberman gripped his throat and began tightening its metallic fingers around it, causing The Doctor to drop his Sonic Screwdriver as his hooves pounded on its arm in a futile attempt to make it loosen its hold.

“Rogue elements detected.” It stated as the metallic slit under the eyeholes of its faceplate lit up blue when it spoke.

“DOCTOR!” Twilight exclaimed before pointing her horn at the machine and emitting a surge of electrical energy into its chest, causing it to fall limp.

She let out a sigh of relief as The Doctor managed to pry the fingers from his throat and began massaging it with a hoof.

“Sorry about that.” She apologized. “Are you alright?”

“What are you sorry for?” He asked.

“I could have electrocuted you!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Well, you didn’t and I’m fine…trust me I’ve had much worse than a tiny electrical shock.” He replied.

“What about you?” He asked. “You didn’t strain yourself too much with that spell, I hope?”

“I’m fine.” Twilight replied calmly. “It’s Rainbow Dash that I’m worried about.”

The Doctor examined the Cyberman’s arm to get a better look at something he’d noticed when it was trying to strangle him.

“What is it?”  Twilight asked, reactivating the lighting spell.

“It appears to be a wrist-mounted device for tranquilizer darts.” He replied. “And the crude craftsmanship leads me to believe that it was homemade.”

“So they could have taken Rainbow Dash by surprise and shoot one of those darts into her and knock her unconscious, so she couldn’t put up a struggle.” Twilight concluded.

“Exactly.”

There were two closed doors on either side of the Cyberman which opened with an automated ‘ding’ revealing two elevators waiting for someone to enter.

“It feels like a trap…” Twilight muttered.

“Of course it is,” The Doctor agreed. “It’s never this easy.”

“What should we do?” she asked.

“Get in one and ignore the other.” He instructed.

Twilight then followed The Doctor to the elevator on the right, shortly before the doors closed.

Looking at the control panel, they could see that there were only three buttons with labels taped next to them written in crude black marker; ‘Ground Floor’ which was currently lit up, ‘Factory/Disposal’ was underneath it, and finally there was a button labeled ‘Operating Room/Control Room’.

The Doctor hit the final button as they could feel the lift jerk a few times before pulling them downwards.

While she tried to hide it, Twilight had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she wasn’t going to like what she saw when they got down there.

At the end of their descent, the doors opened only for them to see another grim hallway like the room they first entered.

“Doctor, what’s going to happen to Rainbow Dash if we don’t find her?” Twilight asked shakily.

“It’s…best if you try not to think about that.” He replied, delicately. “Instead we should focus on finding her as quickly as possible.”

Twilight and The Doctor raced down the hall towards the operating room before the metal doors slid open to reveal a Cyberpony standing before them, only this one had wings spread out from its back its glowing violet eyes were in stark contrast to its silvery metallic body.

It looked like a Pegasus and its eyes were the same color as…

“Oh please, no…” whispered Twilight desperately as she felt her heart pound in her chest and her blood turn to ice.

The Doctor put a hoof in front of her, signaling for her to stand back.

“Rogue elements: detected.”

“Cyberman!” The Doctor shouted. “Who are you?”

“Equine 2.0”

“That’s not what I meant-who were you before you became a Cyberpony?”

“Prior to the upgrade process, this unit was known as the Pegasus ‘Rainbow Dash’.”

“No…” Twilight repeated in a hushed whisper. “That can’t be true…Doctor, we can still save her can’t we?”

She looked at him hopefully with tears in her eyes.

He averted his gaze and lowered his head.

“I’m sorry Twilight.” He whispered. “I’m so very, very sorry…”