Metal Fire

Days passed. The search for the other soldiers continued. No luck. Not until something pulled the Tardis off course. It shook more than ever. Saber was thrown against a wall and a heavy object hit his right wing. He growled in pain and tried to fly out of the way of flying objects. Failing, he hid behind a pillar, sheltering Dash with his good wing. It stopped shaking and Saber got up. He tried flexing his wing. He was able to move it but he had torn a muscle and bruised it pretty badly. Twilight wasn't an expert in healing, but she was able to wrap a bandage around his wing. He couldn't fly. At least not for the time being. Coughing, Derpy opened the Tardis doors. Smoke poured out. The Pegasi in the group (aside from Saber) cleared the smoke by flapping their wings rapidly. They all climbed out, mostly covered in bruises. Saber stepped out into a strange base. Saber recognized some of his own troops. Plate Mail, Flyby, Blue Page. Others, he realized were from other groups. They all stared at the group. Some gave a gasp of surprise when they saw the others. Some looked happy, like Flash Sentry, who grinned when he saw Twilight and the others. The rest glared at Saber as he exited the Tardis. The part of the crew who hadn't been in the Changeling Empire, recalled the rumor about Saber and Rainbow. It was a scandalous rumor, and it wasn't pretty. Lunar winced in sympathy and empathy. Saber looked around, eyes turning a clear watery blue. Guilt. Retreating into the Tardis before he caused anymore trouble, Saber attempted to climb up onto his perch and barely succeeded. He stumbled upon a suit like that of the Wonderbolts wore, aside from the missing hood and different designs. Navy blue with white designs, it had been a birthday gift from Dash a year before they had been captured. He tried it on. It still fit. Glancing at his injured wing, he tried to extending it and pain lanced along the length of it. He grimaced and slowly folded it against his side. Saber found a shadow big enough for him and sat down. With his good wing, he traced lines in the dust of the Tardis absentmindedly. After awhile, he looked at what he had drawn in the dust. He regarded the runes darkly. Saber recognized these, although he didn't know why he had drawn them. They were the Grecian runes that spelled out who he was. SaberStar, Peacebringer but also the Bringer of Death. He swept them away with a wing. The Tardis doors opened. It was Dash. She didn't see him at first. Not until he tried to move to a different position. A flicker of movement caught Rainbow's eye. Up near the perch where Saber slept. Who could be up there? She thought sarcastically. Flying up silently, she landed as quietly as she could which wasn't easy considering the hard material that the Tardis interior was made out of. Hoofsteps approached Saber. Turning to face Dash, he lifted his good wing and let her lean into him. She kissed him on the cheek and put her wing around him, careful of his sore wing. Eyes turning to gold, the black stallion kissed her on the forehead. He looked happy but a shadow was over his upper face. Lines from the prophecy rang in his head. He will save the one he cares for the most but lose those close to him. He tried to ignore the returning memories and enjoy Dash's company. Fail. Worse images flashed through his mind. Ones that weren't even from his memory. Nightmarish scenes. Stuff he didn't want to see ever again in his lifetime. Shaking his head to try to clear his mind, he put his wing to his temple. Dash noticed this sudden change in his attitude.

"What's wrong?"

"Images. Nightmares. Can't get them out of my head."

"What's causing them?"

"I don't know. And I don't want to." His head started to pound viciously. "Agh!" Saber held his head. Dash gave him a concerned look. His eyes were pure white, the color of bone. Saber heard a ringing in his ears. Slowly, it stopped, along with the pounding. He raised his head and looked around. Vision blurry, he blinked and shook his head, which unfortunately made the blurriness worse. He squeezed his eyes shut and stayed still until his sight felt clear again. Looking down at Rainbow, he kissed her on the cheek and tried to steady his thoughts. They swam back and forth, sometimes making him smile on the inside, and others made him growl in anger or eyes widen in fear. One (Which he never shared with another soul for as long as he lived) almost made his wings spring up, which would have been kind of painful, considering his injured wing. Gritting his teeth, he shook his head, blinked a few times, and his thoughts faded to normal. Dash looked worried.

"I'm not much of a therapist, but maybe you need to try to forget some of these things." She suggested.

"I can't. They won't go away." Dash looked into his eyes and she saw a color she never saw very often. Sea green. Saber was scared. Before she could try and comfort him, a cold wave of air swept over the two.

"Brrr," She said, shivering, "I'll go get some warm clothes. You stay here okay?" Dash swooped down to get some things from her room while Saber put on the only warm thing he had which was the Wonderbolt suit. After a minute or two, she came back, wearing a quartet of purple socks. Okay, Saber had to admit, Dash looked pretty cute in socks. He rummaged through the bags that he had up where he slept. Pulling out a thick wool blanket, he put it over the two of them and put his wing around the cyan mare. Thankfully, he didn't have anymore visions for the time being. Dash looked up at him with her beautiful rose colored eyes and smiled. The two sat under the blanket, talking, laughing, and having a good time. Dash hadn't seen him smile in a while. Saber looked happy, not scared or sad or angry. She studied him. He wasn't as strong as Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh, who's muscles were like a set of interlocking Roman shields or steel cables. Saber was well built and a little stocky, but not big and buff. He didn't rely on strength and force. He relied on strategy and sometimes trickery. That was what Dash loved about him. He thought before almost everything. Speaking, fighting, thinking, anything. His color-changing eyes, which were her favorite physical feature about him, and most of all, his personality. Saber would do anything to protect the others, even LunarSun. Loyalty. That had been her Element of Harmony. If they had still had the Elements of Harmony, this would all be over. But if they did, she also wouldn't be here with Saber. He looked at her with his bright golden eyes. Kissing her on the forehead, the shadowy stallion pulled her closer. Dash leaned into his shoulder. The two continued talking until the others came in, looking excited. They all shivered when they walked in.

"Yeah, might want to bundle up," Saber suggested, "It got pretty cold in here."

"Cold? Tardis doesn't just lower its temperature." the Doctor said, confused.

"Well, it is about 35 degrees in here." Dash pointed out,

"Good point. I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, you all should get some warmer clothes on." the Doctor replied, wearing the same thinking look he wore most of the time. Saber smiled at Dash as the others went to their rooms to put on jackets, hats, scarves and other things to keep them warm. Aside from Adamant of course. The Unicorn rarely got cold. Saber struggled down from his perch with Rainbow to help and eventually they got down. Applejack came out in a green scarf.

"Usin the sock appeal, eh RD?" The farm pony joked. Dash blushed and pawed the ground.

"They were the only warm clothes I had." She said

"Quite honestly, I think they're pretty cute." Saber replied, making her blush harder.

"Stop it guys, you're starting to embarrass me." She said, avoiding everypony's eyes. Saber chuckled.

"Us? Embarrassing you? I didn't know there was such a thing."

"Well, let's say there is." The Pegasus replied, still blushing.

"Sorry about that Dash. Didn't know," Saber apologized, keeping his wing around her, "Still, you do look cute in socks."  Dash socked him in the shoulder.

"Not funny, Sky-boy." She said, all too seriously.

"Sky-boy. I'm never gonna stop calling you that." Vinyl laughed, coming out of her room, wearing just a windbreaker. She turned to Saber and gave him a mischievous grin. The rest came out, dressed warmly. Aside from Adamant, they were all wearing something. Unfortunately for the Doctor, he had to wear an itchy wool sweater, so he was constantly fidgeting.

"Oh, this itches! Can't I have worn something less itchy?" He complained, squirming.

"It's the warmest thing you have Doctor." Derpy replied, straight to the point.

"Fine."

"So, what's up with the temperature? Ah'm pretty cold." Apple Bloom asked, shivering a little.

"Something's up with the Tardis, like someone is messing with it." The Doctor said, fidgeting. A boom shook the Tardis violently. Saber landed on his already hurt wing and cursed under his breath, grimacing. Slowly standing up, he checked one of the cameras on the Tardis. Sickeningly, it was Celestia, and even worse, a Dalek.

"What the hell? I thought you killed that Dalek, Doctor! And how'd Celestia find us?" The Centurion cried, standing protectively in front of Dash.

"I don't know. And I really don't want to. Still, we can't get out. They've put a temporal prison around us. We can't escape." The Doctor replied, pacing around the Tardis.

"Uh, what's a Dalek?" One of the Crusaders asked nervously.

"When I think of hate and fear and death, I see a Dalek. They are the reason I'm the last of my kind." The Doctor said bitterly

The Tardis rumbled again and Saber thought he heard the doors crack a bit. The doors creaked again and the group looked at the screen, horrified. It was Celestia, the Dalek and Saber's least favorite person, Discord. The god of chaos looked different. He looked evil instead of evil/happy. Red eyes, more dragonlike and razor sharp teeth.

"We need to get out. Right now these doors are just wood." The Doctor ordered.

"But how?"

"We have to surrender."

"Never. She won't get her hooves on anypony here. She'll have to kill me first."

"I almost did once. I can do it again." Celestia's face appeared on every camera, "And it was really quite easy."

"It won't be so easy now, Celestia." Saber said. He spat out her name like a rotten apple. Luna came up and stared at her sister in defiance.

"You will not hurt these ponies, sister! I will stop you before you can do anymore damage."

"Like you could beat me."

"I did once before." The tyrant replied, smiling evilly.

"Like hell you could beat me again." Saber growled, eyes turning blood-red.

"Oh I doubt that," Chrysalis said, walking into view with Switch, "My army, the Dalek army, and the Cybercolt army will rule you all. Oh and the Weeping Angels." Saber didn't know what half of those meant, but apparently the Doctor and Derpy did. The Doctor cursed under his breath and Derpy looked devoid of hope.

"Doctor, what the hell are Cybercolts and Weeping Angels?!"

Silence.

"What are they?"

"Weeping Angels. Don't see them, they kill you. Cybercolts, pony brains inside a metal body, devoid of emotion."

"Damnit. I wish they were easier to kill." Saber sighed. He turned to the cameras. "What the hell do you want from us, you god forsaken ponies?"

"We want you. You and your whole crew. First slaves, then battle contestants and then Cybercolts." Celestia replied, yawning as if this was starting to bore her.

"Then you can leave. We won't agree. Doctor, get us out of here." The Centurion commanded, with all of his authority.

"We can only make one trip, then she'll have to recharge, and that'll take ,say, a day?"

"Do it."

The Tardis whirred as rage crept over the faces of their enemies, aside from the Dalek and Discord, who was smiling as if he'd just won.