Chapter 8: Finaly to the Future

"You lot destroyed their Hive Mind!?" the Doctor said, astonished, “How’d you manage that?”

“We cut the bond that the Queen had with her Drones; it was just a simple domino effect.” Sigma said.

“Well that explains that.” Sparkler said, giving a shrug.

“What?” Dinky asked.

“The Doctor introduced himself to a Changeling when we were in Ponyville and before he could even finish his sentence the Changeling ran away.” Sparkler explained to her little sister.

“So we were the ones to give Chrysalis her power?” Dinky asked.

“Looks like it, sis” Sparkler said smiling.

“Sigma, do you still think you can get yourself home?” The Doctor asked him.

“I believe I still can, but I will need a place to concentrate.”

“Right! We’ll do it in the T.A.R.D.I.S., the time vortex should help you to tear a hole large enough for you to travel through.”

“Very well” Sigma said pleasantly.

It was a long trek back to the Tardis, as Sigma had been leading them further away from it. They finally managed to get back to the town only to find that the Tardis was missing.

“Uhh… Doctor? Where’s the Tardis?” Derpy asked.

“It has been moved by those who would protect you.” Stormy said coming out of the shadows.

“What now Stormy, your new orders to kill us?” the Doctor asked somewhat sarcastically.

“Hardly, my orders are to give you this envelope and be off to finish another task, and then I'm free from their grasp." Stormy said handing the Doctor the envelope.

"Stormy who are you really?" The Doctor asked taking the envelope from him.

"Oh I'm just a bit of a destruction follower. Now if you'll excuse me I have a head to bury."

"What!?" Derpy asked only to get dust flung into her face as Stormy took off with incredible force.

“Don’t worry he probably means a Cyberman head.” Sparkler assured her mother.

“That’s not what I was questioning.” Derpy explained, “The Destruction Follower is an old story that my mom used to tell me. The legend goes that he is always there when disaster strikes, then he summons his pet to feed; other legends say he is the monster, and others still say the monster is all that is there and there is no pony behind him. But the fact that he has been in Equestrian legend since before Star Swirl the Bearded existed, like Stormy claims.”

“I think the second legend is the most accurate, did you notice that he had a pendent? It had his real initials on it.” The Doctor said, opening the Tardis’s door.

“It had an ‘R’ and an ‘L’” Dinky said.

“Yes and I’m fairly certain it stands for Richard Lazarus. Which brings up the question; why he was hiding his real identity from us? Perhaps he forgot who he was, but he did introduce himself when we were in Canterlot in what you consider the present.”

“Maybe his masters did something to him.” Derpy suggested.

"They're memory proof, however that isn't like them, maybe the Great Intelligence but not the Silence, no never the Silence."

"May we get going?" Sigma said, he sounded oddly impatient.

"Now, now Sigma. You're supposed to be the equivalent of the Ood's patience..."

"I am losing my connection with the Ood Brain! We must hurry."

"Well then it's a good thing that they only moved the Tardis around the corner." The Doctor said as he rounded the corner into an ally.

"How in Celestia's name did you know that?" Sparkler asked. The Doctor turned the envelope over and showed the writing. It's around the corner and to the left.

They got to the Tardis and Sigma sat down, "I am ready to pull myself through to our universe, are you sure you cannot come, I can bring you."

"Yes but you’re not powerful enough to take the T.A.R.D.I.S. with us, plus I want to fix my chameleon arch before I head back so I can be humanoid again."

"We can fix your shape..."

"But not my DNA, if I was to regenerate I would probably turn into a horse; and that's assuming that I could regenerate at all." The Doctor said cutting Sigma off.

“Very well, I shall pull myself through, but we will be in contact. We will find a way for you to return if you do not find out a way back yourself." Sigma said and then sat on the floor and began to sing. After a few minutes of his singing he started to fade in and out, not unlike the Tardis's teleportation. He was gone and they were all alone.

There was a sudden jerking of the Tardis "Hold on it's going to be a bumpy ride!!!" The Doctor shouted a grin flashing on his face as he ran to the main console. "I'm going to put her down!" he shouted as he hit more buttons.

The Tardis stopped jerking about and The Doctor breathed a sigh, “We landed.” he said.

“But when and where are we?” Dinky asked him.

The Doctor checked the display, “We’re in New Canterlot…”

“New Canterlot!” Sparkler interrupted.

“Yes!” We went about twelve thousand years into your future.” The Doctor started for the door. “You lot took forever to get into space, but once you did there was no stopping you.” He opened the door to let them see a city of tall spires and a large palace in the center. “And Celestia and Luna are still in power.”

They left the Tardis and headed out into the shining city. They ended up in the crowded markets; they saw Griffons and Changelings, a few young dragons mixed in with the crowd of ponies. The girls were a bit hesitant to enter the crowd seeing the mix and all.

"Come on, there all past that speciesism now, they won't hurt you." the Doctor said walking forward.

It took a few minutes for the Doctor to coerce them to stop shivering at the various creatures, and actually enter the crowd. The first to give in was Sparkler, and that was only after the Doctor got her some spending money. Once the floodgate was opened the others followed.

There was a series of loud booms from overhead and everyone jumped, even the Dragons. Everyone looked up and saw a series of identical ships enter the space above. “No we destroyed them, how could they have survived?!" The Doctor asked with a pained expression on his have.

There was a loud sound as an intercom came on and the monotone voice announced, "LIFE FORMS OF THIS PLANET, PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR IMMEDIATE UPGRADE TO CYBERPONY”. The Cyberponies started to teleport down and several ships began to land, they started to form lines of ponies.

“THIS LIFE FORM REGISTERS AS THE ENEMY, YOU WILL IDENTIFY YOURSELF!!” a Cyberpony asked the Doctor soon after it teleported down.

"UNIT 238-451-745-563 ARE YOU MEMORY BANKS DAMAGED? THIS ENTITY IDENTIFIES AS THE DOCTOR! HE IS TO BE TAKEN UP FOR IMMEDIATE UPGRADING." a second Cyberpony said.

"Now hold on..." was all the Doctor could get out before he was teleported up with Unit 238-451-745-563.

"LINE UP ALL CIVILIANS AND PREPARE FOR UPGRADING." the second Cyberpony ordered the others. The entire mob of creatures were forced into lines heading towards the recently landed ships.

Ditzy started to panic, "Where's Turner!" she yelled, and Derpy held her.

"YOU WILL CEASE THIS EMOTIONAL DISPLAY OR YOU WILL BE DELETED!" the second Cyberpony ordered and Derpy let go of Dinky. "GOOD! NOW FACE FORWARD!" It ordered and they did.

The Doctor looked around his new environment and saw that he was facing the Cyber Leader, "YOU ARE IDENTIFIED AS THE DOCTOR, AND THE DESTROYER OF ALL OF THE CYBERMEN"

"Yup! That's me, but tell me, how did you survive it all?"

"THE CYBER MITES SURVIVED AND WITHIN FOUR DAYS OF THE CYBERMEN'S DEFEAT THE CYBERPONIES ROSE."

"And then..." the Doctor prompted.

"WE CYBERFORMED TWO THOUSAND PONIES AND FLED THE PLANET WHEN THE SUN WAS OBSERVED TO BE GETTING CLOSER TO THE PLANET."

“Oh! So Celestia went and created a reason for you to run away.” The Doctor said shaking loose from Unit 238-451-745-563’s grasp. “But I don't understand why you aren't cautious of Celestia coming and burning you all.”

“CELESTIA IS NOT ON THIS PLANET AND THE PONIES HAVE BUILT A MACHINE TO CONTROL CELESTIAL ORBITS, SHE COULDN'T BURN US EVEN IF SHE TRIED TO. NOW YOU'RE WEAK EMOTIONAL STATE WILL BE UPGRADED” The Cyber Leader said to the Doctor.

But the Doctor wasn't paying attention to him; no he was looking out the view port behind the Cyber Leader. “Emotions are good; hope in particular.” was all he said as he entire ship began to shake. Cyber Leader turned around to see a ship as black as the night had entered the planet’s atmosphere behind them.

“RECEIVING TRANSMISSION; PATCHING IT THROUGH” a Cyberpony said as a holographic screen appeared in front of the Cyber Leader.

“This is Princess Luna of the Alicorn Empire! We are sympathetic for your loss and you need to stand down.” Luna stated with authority as several more ships moved into the same orbit and prepared to open fire.

“YOU WILL STAND DOWN AND WAIT TO BE MADE LIKE US, YOU WOULD LEAD US WELL PRINCESS LUNA.” the Cyber Leader said.

“Oi! You lot, are really indecisive…”

Luna interrupted him “Doctor! You’re alive!?”

The Doctor looked slightly confused then it registered on him “Last time I checked…”

“All boarding parties focus on the flag ship.” almost immediately the ship that the doctor was on started to shake horrendously.

“PREPARE FOR INFILTRATION, ALL UNITS PREPARE FOR COMBAT!” The Cyber Leader ordered the Cybermen.

There was an explosion behind the Doctor as several ponies wearing modified night guard armor and weird red honeycombs attached to their shoulders. “We have the Doctor” One of them barked into his helmet mic and fired at the Cyber Leader. The Cyber Leader began to shake and fell to the ground.

Another pony stepped forward and shot the Doctor with a small dart gun. Almost immediately the Doctor could feel himself go weak and the last thing he saw was the leader of the night guards walk up to him.

Derpy and her girls were about to enter the Cyberponies ship when there was another loud boom as a black ship appeared overhead. Dinky began to quiver again, Derpy reached for her only to have her hoof grabbed by a Cyberpony "YOU WERE WARNED! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR IMMEDIATE DELETION." it barked only to momentarily flash red and fall to the ground.

"We have his companions, Ma'am!" he said into his headset. then he threw several small spheres at them and they vanished.

"Hello Doctor" Luna said as he woke up.

"Where am I?" The Doctor said groggily.

"You're on the Leviathan, my personal war vessel." Luna replied.

"Why am I here?" He asked her.

"To pay for your crimes against the Alicorn race." she replied bluntly, "An immortal has a long memory"

"I could imagine, but what crimes?"

Luna cast a spell that created a small orb of light in between them "Yes you said this the last time, does the name Discord's Keep mean anything to you."

"No" The Doctor said. Luna was focusing on the orb and saw no change.

"You speak the truth and we cannot hold you accountable for the crime before you have committed it, lest we have a paradox on our hooves, now go your Tardis and companions, they are three rooms down on the left. If you do not leave immediately you will be held accountable for your crimes. And one more thing before you go, our mutual friend sends their regards."

The Doctor followed her directions and entered his Tardis, the entire time thoughts racing in his head about what he was going to do that was so bad.

"Doctor are you OK?" Dinky asked and he simply looked down at her with a look of sympathy on his face. He moved over to the central console and the Tardis began to fade away.

Author's Note

Another big thanks to NINJA-PON3
So I'm wondering what the Doctor did. Bet you lot can't guess.