Night-Mares in Steel

by Bronycommander

Rating: teen
Tags: Dinky Hooves, Other, Science Fiction, Violence, Crossover, Human, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 71449

Lyra and Abstraction enjoy their new life with their friends to the fullest. Yet, they encounter some new vistors. From another universe. And from Outer Space

After months of being separated, Lyra and Abstraction were reunited, taking the next step in their life. But another, unexpected challenge is at hoof. Helping ponies from another universe. And a cybernetic species from the edges of space.

A non-canon sequel to War Gone Cold, being a gift to my friend midnightwolfGX

Published 2020-02-26 18:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-04-18 12:20:31 UTC

Chapter 2 Introductions

Chapter 2: Introductions

Staring.

Dinky could only stare at what she saw. Her heart was racing, wanting to run but her body wasn’t responding.

Her friends couldn’t move either, staring at the strange creature.

It looked briefly up, spotting them and its mouth opened.

“I mean no harm.” The humanoid spoke in a quavering voice which put inflected syllables in a seemingly random, sing-song manner, sounding scary.

But, it had stated it meant no harm.

The creature offered Dinky a hand to get up. Hesitant, she took it and got helped up.

“The Ship is damaged, it must be repaired.” The human-like creature explained and Dinky nodded out of instinct, still trying to calm down.

“R-right…I…can get into town…get somepony who can help…”

“I will wait here. So the locals aren’t spooked.” The “human” replied, apparently understanding the situation.

Luckily, there was a less steep hill on the left, allowing Dinky to get up and back to her friends.

They were trembling, yet nodded at each other and started to walk. It felt so natural to help, but still, they felt awkward about whatever this human was supposed to be.

At Ponyville, they saw their parents and friends already waiting for them. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked upon seeing their unease expressions.

“We…We discovered a…spaceship…” Dinky took the word and the eyes of the others went wide.

“What?”

“Yes, it appears the...passengers are human, requiring assistance.”

Twilight stayed silent for a moment. “I see. Spike, send a message to Celestia, this could be important.”

“Right away!”

The Alicorn then turned back to the foals. “Lead the way, the area must be secured.” Dinky nodded, taking the lead, the parents of her and the others following, the knights included.

Their eyes went wide as they reached the crash site, eyeing the “human” with unease.

Yet Twilight managed to keep calm. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkler, co-ruler of Equestria. And you are?”

“You may call me Glenn.” The “human” replied in his unsettling voice before they al noticed the shadow of a carriage over them, seeing how Celestia and Luna landed next to them.

“We came as fast as we could,” Celestia said to Twilight, having a neutral expression as Twilight did a quick explanation. “I see. Now, Mr. Glenn, why are you dressed like that?”

“That is to ensure that I could survive in a hostile environment. I am a Cyberman.”

“Cyberman?” Luna did not understand, a puzzled expression on her face.

“Yes, Cyberman.” Glenn nodded and looked at Katja and her father. “I was exactly like you two once but I had to replace my organic body to survive.”

“So…you’re a cyborg.” Time Turner figured out and the Cyberman nodded.

“That is correct. But I am just a representative, there are more of my kind onboard.” Glenn pointed to the ship. “May they meet you?”

Luna and Celestia looked at each other for a moment. “Yes.”

Glenn nodded in response and after a short moment, a door of the ship slid open.

Five Cybermen looking like him stepped out, yet that wasn’t everything.

They were followed by a group of 6 Cybermen, which bodies were entirely covered by metallic suits, their hands being like claws with three fingers only. Though most frightening was the head. The “eyes” were only two round holes, the mouth resembling a hatch.

The next Cybermen looked very familiar, except their eyes featured a "teardrop" shape, with a lamp mounted at the top of the chest.

And yet, the following group was completely different. The sides of the heads was extended by two large "ear muffs", their “face” being two eye holes and a flat mouth. They also carried in their five-fingered hands what looked like rifles, 1 meter long, resembling garden hoses or compressor handles.

Those were followed by 6 similar Cybermen, which did not carry rifles, yet seemed to have a weapon like muzzle build into the top of their helmets.

Another group came out, those Cybermen had bulkier, more imposing forms, there was a transparent section in the face through where what looked like a jaw could be seen. Those carried also rifles secured by a shoulder-strap, looking smaller, reminding the ponies of flashlights somehow.

All groups stood in at attention, saluting as three more Cybermen stepped out of the ship. They looked like the bulky ones but the suits featured a light-dark blue color, the handles of every Cybermen had a different color. It was blue for the one on the left, green for the one on the right, while the one in the middle had a black color.

“Commander Tyson,” Glenn said to the Cybermen with black handles, who looked at Time Turner.

“So, Doctor, a new appearance. Interesting.” Tyson spoked in a deeper, emotional voice, sounding curious, the jar visible moving.

While unsettled, the doctor did not show it.

“You are the leader of those Cybermen?” Luna asked calmly.

“Correct. Those are my second-in-command, Vicky and Almar.” He pointed to the blue and green Cyberman respectively.

“I see, It is best you come with us to discuss how we can help you.”

“As you wish. Zeta squad, guard the ship.” He ordered the other bulky Cybermen, who saluted.”

Then they all followed the princesses in formation, with the Knights keeping a close eye on them.

On the outskirt of Ponyville, Celestia addressed the public.

“Citizens of Ponyville, we have a sudden arrival of foreign lifeforms requesting our help. Despite their appearance, there is no reason to be afraid of them.”

Everypony looked at her in confusion before seeing the Cybermen, looking at them in awe and slight unease, yet felt safe with the princesses around.

They led them into Twilight’s castle.

“So, Commander Tyson, where do you come from and how did you land here?” Twilight took the word.

“We come from Mondas.”

“Mondas?”

“Yes, Mondas. It’s an ancient name for Earth,” He explained, “the twin planet of Earth.” This gained surprised looks by everyone, yet did not interrupt him. “But it was dislodged from its old position out into space when the Moon was formed. This forced us to become Cyborgs in order to survive the worsening living conditions on our home.” He paused for a moment.

“As for how we got here, we were traveling in space to find a more suitable planet to live, but our ship got caught in an ion storm, disabling our electronics. We were drifting until we restore power but by then, our ship had already entered the atmosphere of your planet.”

“I see. We can help you to repair the ship.” Celestia replied calmly.

“I assure you, there will be no trouble with us.” Tyson said, sounding honest, “But first, we should check on how severe the damage is, so the repairs can be planned.”

“Alright, shall I send you assistance?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Tyson politely declined and left the castle of Twilight.

“Well, that was…unexpected.” Fletcher commented, “Shall we keep an eye on them?” He asked Luna, who nodded.

“Yes, better safe than sorry.” The knights saluted and left too.

“So…what now?” Art Strings wondered before her stomach growled, causing her to look down in embarrassment.

“Lunch seems like a good idea.” Her father suggested, earning a nod from his mother.

“Good idea, Kyle.”

“Kyle?” Art tilted her head, not understanding.

“An old nickname of mine, so to distinguish myself from the other Abstraction.” Her father replied hastily.

“Okay, sounds good, dad.” She replied, not thinking much about it and all three went to Sugarcube Corner.

“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie Pie greeted at the counter before seeing who her guests were. “Oh, you are the ponies the major spoke about?” They nodded. “Sorry to hear what happened to you. It’s on the house, what can I bring you?”

“Strawberry cake.” The filly looked eagerly at it.

“Sounds good.” Her father ordered with his mother the same and they all enjoyed the sweet taste, lighting up the mood a bit.

After that, they helped Aversion and Lyra to clean the house. “There you go! Anything else we can help you with?” Art Strings asked eagerly, causing Lyra to giggle.

“Thank you, but you helped us enough already.”

“Why don’t you play with the others again?” Kyle’s mother suggested and the filly grinned.

“Great idea!” And with that, she walked out of the house, her family watching until she was out of sight.

“You raised her well.” Lyra complimented Kyle, who sighed.

“I know. Frankly, I could never have imagined being a father, after all I went through as human…”

“Pardon me?” The Mint-green mare tilted her head, blinking confused.

Realizing what he had just said, Kyle looked at his mother and both nodded, knowing there was no point of return.

“You see, me and my mother were humans once.”

“Were?” Abstraction asked.

“Yes. It was years ago, I used to be a man with the name Kyle Schaeffer. My biological father died in a plane crash when I was nine and my mother started dating and found a man again. At the beginning, it looked wonderful but…” He told, started to shake but his mother wrapped a hoof around him.

“Shh…It’s okay, son.” He said and looked at Lyra. “As you know, my name is Jan, was my human name as you can guess. My new husband by the name of Ed, became irate for even the smallest things... he even started beating me…” This gained a gasp by the married couple. “After about a year, I had enough, and then I decided, in secret, that I was going to leave.” Jan paused for a moment, her voice slightly shaking

“However, due my husband having court in his favor, I couldn’t take my son with me.”

Kyle took the word, “In the years to follow, Ed and his son treated me like a slave, I had a minimum wage job, with the staff treating me poorly as well. But one day, I found a lost filly Lyra, who turned my life around.” He slowly started to smile.

“Thanks to her, I become independent, following my dream as Artist, making millions. Shortly after Lyra was found and got home, me and my mother were reunited again. But it didn’t end here.

She found a way to contact me and spent time again on earth with me. Though, as it was time for her to go, me and my mother decided to start a new life in Equestria, as ponies.”

Lyra and Abstraction stayed silent for a moment. “Oh my…nopony deserves such a fate. But we keep your secret.”

“Appreciated, Lyra.“ Jan replied.

Eventually, it became evening, with Lyra and Abstraction offering Kyle, Jan and Art Strings a place to stay for the night.

“You can have the bed, sweetheart. I take the couch.” The former man tucked his daughter in.

“Alright, dad. Goodnight.”

“Night.” He said as his mother used a sleeping bag instead, both getting comfortable and falling asleep.

It was an eventful day, but what other events were still to come?

Author's Note

Only time will tell

Chapter 3 Secrets and Friends

Chapter 3: Secrets and Friends

Art Strings woke up, feeling stained. Opening her eyes, she felt dizzy, her vision was blurry as well.

Slowly, but steadily, it became clear and her heart skipped almost a beat.

She was restrained on a chair in a very dark room, a masked stallion looking over her.

“Well, you finally woke up.” He said with a grin, stroking her mane. “I am sure I find a good buyer for you. But…first I have to make sure you’re of no threat to him.”

He reached for a knife and the foal tried to break free as it came closer to her horn, not wanting to be handicapped in a painful way.

Zap!

With a scream of pain, the stallion dropped the knife, a green glowing light coming out of the shadow, apparently a unicorn, dressed in dark blue armor, face concealed by a black iron mask.

“Not on my watch!” The pony yelled, the voice distorted by a voice changer and drew a sword. Art’s eyes went wide as it was very big, almost three times as the user.

“You think that impresses me?” Her captor taunted and drew a sword himself, both clashed for a moment before he managed to push the masked unicorn back, punching right into the face, damaging the mask.

Her apparent savior breathed heavily, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

It was her father, a dark expression as he looked at the other stallion. “You’ll regret that!”

Abstraction swung his sword, cutting the sword of his opponent in half, he looked shocked at it before getting punched into the face, falling to the ground, knocked out.

“Art Strings, are you alright?” Her father asked worried as he freed her and the younger unicorn hugged her savior tightly. “Shh, it’s over now.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Princess Luna, weakly smiling.

With a slight gasp, Art Strings awoke, finding herself in the bed of the guest room.

She sighed. “Just a dream. Just a dream.” The filly mumbled and fell asleep again, unaware she was watched.

“She was just dreaming it. Anyway, a Dark horse’s duty is never done.” Abstraction let out a quiet sigh of relief as he stood in the hallway with his armor equipped before moving out.

In the morning, the young unicorn stirred in her sleep, letting out a yawn as the sun shined in. “Quite a beautiful day.”

Looking at her grandmother, she saw that she was still asleep, checking on her father and hosts too, they were asleep as well, giving her an idea.

Lyra woke up as a delicious smell entered her nose and the door was opened. “Good morning!” The little filly greeted, carrying a breakfast board with juice and toast.

“Thank you so much, little one. How kind of you.” She smiled at the warm action.

A happy smile was on Art’s lips to see her hosts enjoyed their breakfast.

“What can we do today?” The young unicorn asked before there was a knock on the door and she opened it.

“Good morning!” It was Dinky and Fetcher, both smiling warmly.

“Hi! How are you?”

“Doing well. I and my friends wanted to help out at Sweet Apple Acres, do you want to come to?” Dinky asked.

“I’d love to!” Art exclaimed and looked at her father, who grinned.

“Off with you!”

Giggling, the little filly left with Dinky.

Before anypony could say something, a yawn greeted their ears. Seeing it came from Abstraction, Kyle asked, “Have you not sleep well?

“Yeah, need another coffee.”

As he got himself another cup, Lyra asked Fletcher, “How are things going with the…Cybermen?”

“It seems the damage isn’t as serious as they suspected at first. With any luck, everything should be repaired in a few days.”

“That’s good to hear.” Jan said. “But…I’m curious to know, how did you become Dinky’s uncle?”

“And I would like to know how you met Lyra, Abstraction? If you don’t mind of course.” Kyle added.

Fletcher let out a sigh. “It’s a long story. Though, Lyra could make it easier to explain.”

“Yes, I can. If you allow me.” The mint-green mare walked up to Kyle and Jan, lighting up her horn and touched their heads.

In a dream-like sequence, the two former humans saw what Dinky and her friends went through in Africa, slightly gasping.

“Oh dear…” Kyle breathed heavily. “They went truly through a lot, but it honors you, Fletcher.”

“I know. But, this wasn’t everything.” Fletcher replied, slightly blushing and Lyra showed her guests how Fletcher, Wolf and Midnight had landed on Earth and encountered the Harmonious Guard. Both were fascinated at what they saw.

During the defense of Ponyville, Kyle and his mother took notice of a Horn of Harmony soldier with dark brown hair and green eyes, fighting determined against the attackers.

“Don’t give up! Equestria relies on us!” He yelled as he fired his rifle, hitting a cult follower with the butt of his weapon as the pony tried to melee him with a knife, knocking it down.

“Wow…Where we are from, the Harmonious Guard also exists, being one of the largest and most powerful private armies, known for coming in and out of any conflict with minimal casualties.” Kyle mumbled impressed. “But I never expected them to have such technology or determination.”

“Me neither, nor the others. And…” Fletcher scratched his back, “Believe it or not, we actually met before.”

“We did?!” Both unicorns exclaimed in surprised and the Eternal Knight nodded.

“Yeah. Lyra, would you be so kind?”

“Of course.”

And with that, she showed her guests how Dinky and the Knights had fought with XCOM.

There was a moment of silence.

“I…I never thought alternative universes could be possible like that.” Kyle mumbled. “But, how did you get to know Lyra, Abstraction?

“There isn’t really much to tell, we met in school. Just like you, I lost my father when I was nine years old. It hit me and my mother very hard, getting very depressed. But Lyra, she tried to comfort me, kept me going. She always said she liked it when drew and thanks to her, I got my Cutie Mark.” His pony counterpart told with a smile.

“Nice!”

“And it was thanks to Dinky and her friends that we got married.” Abstraction told with pride, causing Kyle to raise an eyebrow.

“How’s that?”

“It’s a long story.” The stallion replied and Lyra lighted up her horn again, showing Kyle and Jan what her husband meant.

Again, there was silence.

“Incredible…” Jan broke it.

“It’s fascinating how an unfortunate event can lead to something wonderful, isn’t it?” Abstraction pointed out.

“Yes.” Kyle agreed.

“Say, what exactly is the Dark Horse Squad? Sort of an elite of the Royal Guard?” Jan was curious.

“Not exactly. We are volunteers, severing under the Eternal Knights as their personal squad. Me, I joined to protect Lyra from threats.”

“Sounds like a good cause to me.” Kyle replied with pride.

Once the fillies arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, they saw that the other foals were already hard working. “Glad you could come.” Apple Bloom greeted them.

Art Strings nodded and joined the others with Dinky in bucking the trees and collecting Apples, enjoying it.

“Can I ask you something, Art Strings?” Noi spoke up, sounding lightly unease, yet she nodded.

“Shoot.”

“How’s your home?”

In response, Art Strings took a deep breath. “Well, my father is a famous artist, living in a mansion, making a six-figure income.”

Noi’s eyes went wide. “For real?”

“Yep. But he only spends his money on simple things. As such, I may have a comfortable life but I am simple myself and attend school in Ponyville, given my mother’s friends are there.

“Sounds nice!”

“Yes. I may get a lot of attention due to my father, but it isn’t too stressful.”

Around early noon, they were done, seeing that Tyson, along with his two fellow commanders, a hatch mouth Cybermen and a helmet weapon one were crossing their way, led by Midnight and Wolf.

“Hi there!” Scoots called out and Wolf smiled at her as Midnight took the word.

“Hello. We were just about to report the repair progress to Twilight, want to come too?”

All children nodded before a voice sounded, “Ah, good timing, I was just about to pick you up for lunch, Art Strings.” It was Abstraction, smiling at her.

“Okay.”

The group made its way towards Ponyville, entering Twilight’s home. “Welcome, how are you doing?” The Alicorn greeted her visitors.

“We are good. The ship as much damaged as suspected, repairs should be done in a few days.” Midnight reported.

“That’s good news.” Twilight smiled before a scream sounded outside.

“Help! Stop them!” A shop owner yelled as a group of masked ponies stormed outside.

The Eternal Knights wasted no time to give chase, the Cybermen joined them.

“Freeze!” Midnight ordered but the robbers didn’t react.

They chased them into a dead end, hearing another scream.

One of the robbers was using a Pegasus foal with a light gold coat, brown mane and green eyes as shield. “Stay back!” He shouted, aiming a pistol at her head, the foal was trembling.

“Drop your weapons! Now!” Midnight yelled, his blade drawn, the others aimed their weapons at the group too.

“We have you surrounded.” Tyson added, having a slightly raised voice.

One of the criminals fired at him in return and to the surprise of the Knights, he flinched at the bullets, the hits causing sparks but seemed to have no effect on him before the hatch mouth of the slim Cyberman opened.

“Such weapons cannot harm us.” He spoke in a monotone, buzzing voice, with the hatch closing as he finished and raised an arm. It fired a discharge of electricity at the hostage taker, who twitched before falling to the ground and the foal ran towards the knights, hiding behind them.

The other slim Cyberman pushed a button on his chest. A blaring, almost sonorous whistle that seemed to rise and fall in the same octave sounded as his helmet gun fired, and all masked ponies held their heads in pain before falling motionless to the ground.

“All threats neutralized.” He said in a monotone, mechanical voice.

Midnight checked pulses, giving a nod to show the robbers were stunned.

“Thank you! You saved my life!” The young Pegasus hugged Tyson, who stroked its mane.

“It was nothing, we only did what was right.”

As they walked back to Twilight’s home, the citizens of Ponyville cheered at the heroic action.

“Now, time for lunch. We see you later.” Dinky waved goodbye to Art Strings and everyone went their separate ways home, with Katja and Blau joining the Hooves family.

A delicious smell entered their noses as the group reached Lyra’s home. “Honey, we are back!” Abstraction called out and his eyes went wide in surprise.

“Uhh…I guess your meeting with Twilight got out early?” Lyra asked in embarrassment, wearing his Dark Horse Armor in front of a mirror.

Abstraction just chuckled at this. “If you wanted to try it out, you just could have asked me.”

“That armor looks like the one I saw in a dream this night.” Art Strings spoke into the round, surprising everyone.

In response, her father’s pony counterpart sighed, knowing there was no turning back. “I hate to say it, Art Strings, but you need to keep this a secret.”

“Why?”

“Because, it’s very important.” And with that, he told her about the Dark Horse Squad.

The filly stayed silent for a moment. “Sounds…cool!” She exclaimed fascinated, “But I understand, I’ll keep this secret.

Pan Fry cleared her throat. “With that settled, let’s have lunch, shall we?” She levitated a salad and potatoes on the table.

They all dished in, enjoying the warm meals, especially Art Strings as she rubbed her stomach with a smile. “That was good!”

“Glad to hear it. Leave the cleaning to us.” Fry said and the little unicorn nodded, walking into the living room.

Kyle and Jan helped their hosts, it was the least they could do.

As Lyra checked on the foal, she heard giggling, yet couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Are you my mommy?” Art String’s voice sounded from behind and Lyra saw her wearing the black Iron mask of her husband.

“Oh, you.” Lyra laughed as Art took the mask off. Suddenly, the doorbell sounded and Abstraction opened it.

“Aversion, Rue! Nice to see you!” He exclaimed in glee.

“Likewise, my friend. Can we come in?” The Earth pony asked, receiving a nod as an answer.

As Art Strings turned towards the visitors, her eyes went small in fear at the sight of the mare.

A thin coat that appeared hairless, her back was a dark indigo with her face and underside deathly white, unnerving the filly. The mane was ruddy and wild, irises a brilliant blue, fully encompassing her eyes. But most frightening was for Art Strings that on the forehead, a blood-red disk like a red full-moon was visible, veins running down her brow to give it the look of bleeding, with sharp teeth like that of Tiger in the mouth, as If the mare could strike at any moment.

Whimpering, Art Strings cowered behind Lyra.

Rue had a look of sympathy as she saw the scared filly. “Don’t be scared, young one, I mean no harm.” She spoke in a calming tone.

“She’s right, Art Strings. Rue may look scary, but she a friendly pony.” Abstraction tried to calm her down.

Somehow, his words sounded honest and slowly, Art Strings stretched a hoof out, which Rue shook carefully in return.

Art Strings took deep breaths, calming down. “Hello.” She managed to say in a friendly tone.

“Hello, young filly.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you and your family, Art Strings,” Aversion smiled warmly at her, “And we will help you however we can.”

In response, the foal smiled. “Glad to hear it. And you do exist in my universe too. Here, you are the lover of Princess Luna!” She exclaimed, causing the Earth Pony to take a step back in surprise.

After a moment of silence, he grinned. “Well, guess he’s just as lucky as I was when I met Rue.” They both nuzzled noses, “Though I am also close to Luna, being part of her advisors.”

“Guess you and I aren’t that different in terms of fates,” Kyle commented.

“Yeah.” Aversion replied before the doorbell rang again. This time, it was Derpy in her mail uniform.

“Hi, just brining the daily mail,” The grey Pegasus reached for her bag, sighing. “Brochures, this is the annoying part for me, I want to bring happy mail, not the boring and annoying one.”

“I hear ya, but somepony has to do it.” The blue unicorn pointed out.

“I know. But I also brought you some muffins.” She reached for a small bag of freshly-baked muffins, causing the Artist to chuckle.

“You shouldn’t have.”

“See it as my thanks for helping my daughter.”

“Fine.”

“Where are the others?” Art Strings asked Derpy.

“Well, they are helped me to distribute the mail around town, relieving me a bit.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Mom, we’re done!” Dinky’s cheerful voice sounded in their ears and the saw the group walking towards them.

“Nicely done!” Her mother praised her.

“So, what could we do now?” The mint-green foal asked.

“What about showing you Trottingham?” Tungsten suggested and Art Strings grinned,

“Good idea, my family did vacation there with me and I loved it every time.”

“Sure, why not.” Kyle added, his mother nodded with a slight unease expression.

“How could I…well, look different from Pan Fry?”

That question surprised everyone, not having thought about it before. “Hmm…” Fletcher put a hoof to his chin. “I think I got an idea.”

He lit up his horn, carefully enveloping Jan’s mane with his magic. He tied it into a pony-tale. “There you go. I hope you like it.”

Jan inspected it and smiled. “Thank you. Reminds me of my younger days.”

“You’re welcome. If you excuse us, we have to report to Luna.”

“And we’d love to join you, but today’s cleaning day,” Dinky added with pity, yet earned a weak smile by Art Strings.

“It’s fine.”

“The train should arrive in around 15 minutes, so no need to hurry,” Blue said before she, her son, Nancy and Pip left with the others, Art Strings close behind.

Yet, as Fletcher turned his back to Kyle and Jan, they unintentionally got a glance of his crotch, blushing at the size.

“Oh my…” Jan mumbled in awkwardness.

A nervous chuckle greeted their ears. “I see you noticed it.” Lyra lowered her head.

“What do you mean?” Kyle did not understand.

“Well…you see, we thought we should give Fletcher something to remember.” Abstraction explained, slightly blushing.

It took both former humans a moment to get it, with Kyle starting to grin. “Hey, if I were you, I would've probably done the same thing!”

“But you are me, technically!” His pony counterpart replied and both shared a laugh.

Lyra smiled, while Jan gave a weak smile. I guess that runs in the family…just like after he saved me…

“Sorry to interrupt but…” Derpy spoke up, still there. “Years ago, when Dinky was still a baby, didn’t you say you wanted to ask Bonbon out on a date and such?”

“Oh…” Lyra’s ears perked up in surprise, “That…” She looked down, grimacing. “You see, I felt unsure about my relationships and as everyone knows how much of a good friend me and Bonbon were, I thought it was best to let others think she and I are together. Sorry that…”

The unicorn couldn’t finish as her Pegasus friend hugged her. “It’s okay.”

It was a nice trip towards Trottingham, with the citizens of the town greeting the visitors warmly. Yet, they took notice while Blue got greeted too, the expressions were rather neutral, though it was understandable, given what Blue had gone through.

Nevertheless, they arrived at the home of her and Tungsten, taking in the interior. A radio and a phone.

“Nice place you have here.” Art Strings liked it.

“Thank you. Want to play a round of Masterclass Dungeon Duels of Doom with us?” Tungsten asked and the filly grinned.

“Yes.”

And with that, the foals went upstairs to Tungsten’s room, while Blue put the kettle on to make herself and her guest some tea, also putting biscuits on the table in the living room, before turning the radio on.

It didn’t took long until the happy voices of the children sounded from above, enjoying their game, while the adults had a casual chat.

“You know, Nancy, it’s remarkable that you stood up against your husband after so long, “Jan spoke up with guilt in her voice, having been told of Nancy’s husband. “I could never build up that courage and fled instead.” She lowered her head in shame, only for her son to hug her.

“Shh, It’s okay, mom, I don’t blame you. You didn’t know what else to do. And…standing up against Ed could have it made only worse.” He spoke in a comforting tone, “Hoping we would meet again was what helped me to get through this.”

“I never had made that decision hadn’t it been for Blue being there for me,” Nancy pointed out, “You, me, Blue, we are all in the same boat.”

“Yes, I can understand the pain of your first husband,” Blue nodded, “My husband died in a terrible traffic accident.” Her voice was one of sadness, looking at a family picture.

A young Blue Murder, one foreleg holding a newborn colt, the other wrapped around an orange, golden-maned stallion in a mail-pony’s uniform.

“Marmalade…”

“Sorry to hear that. But maybe, one day, you’ll meet a stallion who loves you just as he did. Just how I met Medium Rare.” Jan tried to cheer the stout mare up, who gave her a weak smile.

“I know to appreciate your optimism but…I still feel loyal to him, I can’t tell why.”

Suddenly, the doorbell ringed, tearing everyone out and Tungsten answered it. “Uncle Shadow, uncle Tybalt!” He exclaimed in glee.

“Hi there, Tungsten, might if we come in?” The batpony asked with a smile, receiving a nod from the colt.

“Hello, you two, what brings you here?” Blue gave her visitors a friendly wave.

“We are on our break from training, so we thought you pay you a visit. “Shadow explained before spotting Kyle and Jan. “If I had known you had visitors, I’d have come another time.”

“It’s fine,” Blue replied and turned to the two unicorns. “My friends Shadowplay and Tybalt.” Shadow waved, while Tybalt tipped his hat before she explained her guests’ origins.

“Sorry to hear it,” Shadow said.

“Who is it?” Art Strings came down the stairs with Pip, spotting the two stallions and eyed them with curiosity.

“Ah, those are my friends Shadowplay and Tybalt, Art Strings.” Blue Murder introduced the two.

“Nice hat, Mr. Tybalt.” The filly complimented him.

“Thanks, but Tybalt is just fine.”

Then she looked at Shadowplay, an expression of slight shock on her face as she saw his eyepatch and cloth. “What happened to you?”

Blue and Tybalt looked at Shadow with unease as he pawed at his eyepatch for a second, knowing he was rather sensitive about his scars.

“A terrible accident.” He said with an unusually calm voice, his expression one of sadness.

“On my…I am so sorry.” Kyle’s daughter lowered her head in guilt, yet he gave her a weak smile.

“It’s okay, how should you have known?”

Blue cleared her throat. “Could you leave is alone for a moment?”

“Sure, mom.” Her son replied and went upstairs with Pip and Art again.

“So, how’s the training?” Blue asked and Shadow took the word.

“Doing good, the others treat us fair and Insistra sorts it out whenever anypony looks down on us. It’s just…Abundo. His strange preaches creep us out.” He shivered slightly.

“Yeah…took me a while to get used to that while on Earth.” The blue mare replied awkward.

“Times goes fast.” Tybalt looked on the watch mounted on the wall. “Have to go back. But it was nice to see you.” He tipped his hat at Kyle and Jan before leaving with his batpony friend.

They and Blue looked out of the window after the two, as Tybalt had a slightly nervous expression. “So…how are things going with Amber?”

Shadow chuckled. “Fine. Even after all this, she stayed with me, never judging me…It’s strange. I mean, I feel attracted to her, but not in a romantic way…” He mumbled.

“Well, after all you went through, you deserve someone like her. You got a good fate, despite everything bad you’re experienced.”

“I guess.”

A few days passed, becoming a week, with Art Strings, Kyle and Jan helping out as good as they could in the house of Abstraction and Lyra.

During a warm day, Art Strings was brushing her teeth, as Jan asked her counterpart, “I assume you gave Fletcher your thanks as well?”

“Of course, though not as my son did…”

It was evening as Fry Pan and Medium Rare crossed ways with Fletcher in Ponyville. “Hello, Fletcher. How are you?”

“I’m doing well, was just about to head to the Hooves’ family for the night.”

“Glad to hear it. I really can’t thank you enough for saving my son.” Pan Fry smiled at him and he waved a hoof.

“It’s nothing, I only did my-“

He couldn’t finish, as he kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush. After she withdrew, Pan Fry noticed that Fletcher just stood there, frozen.

“I think you’re broke him, honey.” Medium chuckled.

As they left, they were unaware of a ghostly stallion standing next to Fletcher, waving a hoof in front of him.

“Great. How am I gonna snap you out of it?”

“I see.” Jan commented before the doorbell rang. It was Fletcher.

“Good day. I am here to inform you that the princesses want to see you in Canterlot.”

“Okay. I really like the hairstyle you gave me.”

“Glad to hear you like it.” He smiled before he saw her looking away with a sigh. “Something wrong?”

Slowly, she looked him into the eyes. “You remind me of…him.” She told with an unease voice.

“Pardon?”

“Who is it, mom?” Kyle called out, interrupting them.

“It’s Fletcher, Celestia and Luna want us to come to Canterlot.” Jan hastily explained.

“Okay, let the way, Fletcher.”

He led them to the train station, with a train to Canterlot already waiting. It was a short trip.

While living in Canterlot themselves, the eyes of the three unicorns went still wide, as it was always an impressing sight to behold.

Art Strings was distracted, not noticing where she was going until she bumped into somepony.

“Oh, sorry. Are you okay?” She looked up to see a dapper white stallion with a blue mustache and a monocle offering a hoof.

“I’m fine.” She replied, seeing an alabaster unicorn mare with primrose mane next to him, also liking worried at her.

“Glad to hear it. Fletcher, nice to see you.”

“Likewise, Fancy Pants. Those are Art Strings, her father Kyle and her grandmother Jan.”

“Ah, yes, Time Turner told me. My condolences what happened to you, but I hope you enjoy your stray in Canterlot.” He gave the group a smile.

“Thank you.”

“I love the mane style.” Fleur de Lis complimented Jan and she smiled.

“Thank you.”

Despite this minor incident, they arrived without delay, seeing that the others were present too.

“I have good news,” Time Turner stated, “We believe we are close in finding your universe.”

“Glad to hear it.” Kyle nodded.

“The repairs are going very well, in one day or two, they should be complete,” Tyson reported with Midnight to Luna.

“Excellent.” The princess of the night acknowledged, yet noticed that the navy-blue coat, an azure-white mane and piercing yellow eyes next to her, seemed worried. “What bothers you, Supernova?”

“One of our guards was patrolling one of the warehouses in the Canterbury Port, but hasn’t reported for quite some time.”

“Then we should take a look.”

“Right behind you.”

“Shouldn’t you go with them?” Art Strings looked at Midnight with concern.

“I appreciate your caring, but I trust my relative fully in keeping Luna safe. And they will call us if they need help.” He assured her.

A beeping sound came from Tyson’s helmet. “Yes?”

“Commander, we detected an energy surge in the port of Canterlot, it happened not long ago,” Glenn reported.

“The missing guard can’t be a coincidence. I will take a look.” The commander said and moved out before anyone could protest.

The knights looked at each other and nodded. “Stay here, for our own safety,” Celestia spoke to her guests before she and the knights followed Tyson.

Luna and Supernova wandered through the endless corridors, wondering where the missing guard could be, as everything was quiet, no other pony around.

“So…are you scared in the dark?” Supernova asked to break the silence and Luna grinned.

“Me? The princess of the night? Never!”

“In any case, stay close to me, darlin'! He He.” The batpony laughed.

Suddenly, there was an explosion behind them and both went to cover behind a wall. “What was that?” Luna wondered in alert.

Supernova peeked around the corner, seeing a severed metal arm, with a mounted weapon on it, firing lasers.

“Over there! I try to disable it. Can you cover me?”

“Of course!” Luna nodded and casted a shield spell on him.

The lasers had no effect, dissolving on impact as the stallion charged and it with his signature spear, having a golden grip, causing it to spark, stopping to fire.

“That should do it, but stay where you are.” He said and picked it up, examining it. “Appears to be a metal arm”, by the looks of it.

Before Luna could form any reply, she felt how something lassoed her ankle. “Supernova?” She asked before getting pulled to the ground with a yelp.

“Luna!” The batpony exclaimed before the arm gave him an electric shock, he twitched and grunted in pain before falling lifeless to the ground.

“Supernova!” She exclaimed in shock.

Turning around, she saw that she was attacked by what looked like a loose Cyberman head, looking similar to Tyson’s helmet. Bulky yet slightly rounded, one of its ears was missing, cables coming out of its neck that were grabbing her.

She attempted to use her horn but one cable also lassoed it, making her magic useless.

The Alicorn managed to get up, grabbing it by its sides as it suddenly started to fizzle, causing her to look in confusion at it.

Seconds later, the mask popped open to reveal a skull, which fell out and Luna screamed. Then the mask kept snapping open and shut, trying to encase her.

In her panic, she hit it against the wall until it let go of her, then threw it to the floor. She kept an eye on it as it crawled away. “Supernova?” She called out concerned.

Suddenly, the head fired something at her neck. Luna grimaced her face at the pain and she pulled it out, examining it. A little dart.

“You will be assimilated.” The head spoke in an electronic, monotone voice, far deeper than of the others and she taunted,

“Yeah? You and whose body?”

Her ears twitched at deep, metallic stomping sounds. Her eyes went small to see a bulky, headless, armless Cyberman coming from behind the head. It put its head back on and started to go after the mare.

She backed up, yet stated to fill dizzy, her vision getting blurry.

A high-pitched sound greeted her ears and she saw sparks, and that the Cyberman got thrown back.

Tyson charged at it, punching it into the chest, exposing wires. Then the laser hit him into his chest, sparks and he let out a scream of pain as he stumbled.

Despite her state, Luna could make out that his suit was damaged, exposing one of his cybernetic arms and his chest. His torso was still flesh, albeit with a few wires hooked up to it.

In the moment the hostile Cyberman stretched out his arm, Tyson grabbed Supernova’s spear and rammed it through the chest, creating sparks and the hostile fell dead to the ground.

Tyson looked at her.

His faceplate was damaged, exposing his face. His was slightly pale, blue eyes, almost extinct of color, strains of black hair visible on his head. His expression was one of shock and worry as he looked at the princess.

“Luna! Luna! Are you alright?” Midnight exclaimed as he and the others caught up, seeing the destroyed Cyberman. “What happened?”

Tyson pointed at the destroyed body, then the skull.

“This is what the Cybermen do to you.”

Chapter 4 Past and cost

Chapter 4: Past and cost

“What do mean?” Luna managed to ask, not understanding.

“Becoming like them,” Tyson replied with disgust.

Suddenly, Luna staggered and Celestia caught her, while Midnight checked on his relative. “He’s just knocked out. How did that…Cyberman get here?” He pointed at the destroyed body and Time Tuner took a look with his Sonic Screwdriver.

“It appears to have been sent here through a rift or void, caused by a malfunction, thus the damage.”

“I see. I get Luna and Supernova to the infirmary with Midnight.” Celestia replied and they moved.

Dinky gasped as she saw Tyson. “What happened to you?”

“A…intense fight. But don’t worry, I can repair the damage on the ship.”

None of the others could imagine what had happened before Time Turner told them, getting shocked reactions.

“Oh my…good that Tyson came to Luna’s aid,” Derpy mumbled in horror.

“Yes. But I am curious what he meant exactly.” Midnight added.

It was only a short time before both Luna and Supernova wake up, still feeling a bit numb but fine. “Ugh…” The blue pony groaned, yet was relieved to see that Supernova was alive and well.

“You’re awake. I think we need to talk with Tyson how the Cybermen came to be.” Midnight helped both up.

“Yes, it must mean something. Patch, Wagensroll and Dawnwind might be able to help.”

To everyone’s surprise, the moment Luna returned with the three historians, Tyson and his fellow Cybermen also arrived, his suit fully repaired.

“I suppose you want to know what I meant exactly.” He explained and Luna nodded.

“Okay, follow me.” Luna led the group into an office. “Now, I am going to watch your memories, the spell will cause you to be in an unconscious state until we are done.”

“That won’t be a problem for us.” Tyson assured and he stood at attention with his fellow Cybermen.

Luna light up her horn and her aura engulfed everyone.

Opening their eyes, the group found themselves in what appeared to be a royal palace, decorated with art and jewelry that was very familiar to Canterlot.

Looking around, they spotted a woman eating on a table, her back to them. She was wearing a noble dress, her brown hair was long, yet elegant.

“Ma’am?” A voice asked and she turned around, allowing the ground to see her face. A young smile, her eyes blue, innocent, looking at a group of three humans.

They all wore military uniforms of dark blue. Two men and a woman. The first man had short black hair and blue eyes, while the other one featured blond hair and blue eyes, with the woman also having blue eyes, but brown hair. All muscular build, appearing to be in their late twenties, to early thirties.

“Yes, Commander Tyson?” She acknowledged.

They all stood at attention, yet seemed to smile, happy to see her.

“Reporting for duty. What is your bidding, your highness?” Tyson asked, sounding friendly, yet respectful.

“Thank you, but I’m fine. But I like to do a walk in the garden.”

“As you wish, my queen.”

And so, the guards escorted her outside, with the group seeing that other guards patrolled outside with one of them, a man of slim build, black eyes and matching hair, saluting the queen and commander.

“Commander, your highness.”

“At ease, captain Glenn.” The queen nodded and took a deep breath, taking in the surroundings of the garden, with birds singing. “It’s such a beautiful day outside, isn’t it?”

“Indeed, it is, Elizabeth.”

In a way, the knights could recognize themselves in Tyson and his fellow comrades, while Elizabeth reminded Luna of herself.

Then the scene switched and now they saw Elizabeth looking out of the window, the landscape was snowy and she sighed.

“It feels as yesterday we were turning the wheels of progress. Until the frost... stopped it all. Suddenly. Without a warning.”

“And yet, you give the people hope.“ Tyson came from behind, a weak smile. “And it honors you, you put the welfare of the people of Mondas above all else. It is that hope that pushes Mondas forward.”

“I know.” She returned the smile.

“Yes. But come, the Committee awaits you.”

The woman nodded and followed him into a conference room, seeing 20 individuals around the table.

“Greetings, Queen Elizabeth. I am afraid, our Sciencemen reported that conditions on the planet will grow steadily worse, due to the increasing distance of life-giving warmth of Sol.”

“A moon had erupted from the twin planet's surface unbalancing the equilibrium, that’s why Mondas left its orbit.” Another one added and she sighed again.

“I see. What are our options?”

“The Committee came to only one option: We must relocate underground in order to survive.”

“I see. It will be a hard burden on us.” She replied with concern.

Again, the scene switched and the group couldn’t believe their eyes.

Before them was a big city, located in what appeared to be a cave with a big metal roof on top of the cave. It looked familiar to Trottingham from years past.

Then a neighing greeted their eyes and they looked at the source in shock.

It was what looked like a horse, a policeman riding it. But that wasn’t shocking.

The horse itself was augmented with cybernetics, one half of the face covered in metal, a red glowing eye shined through the metal, a spotlight mounted on the head. The policeman himself, was augmented as well. He lacked a cloth mask, but the face was slightly deformed, unemotional. He looked not even alive. It was more like…a zombie.

His movements looked normal at first, but his ever-watchful eyes seemed never to get tired. Yet, it dawned on them quickly that this was a predecessor of the Cybermen.

The people that walked the streets looked less healthy, being slightly pale.

Blinking, the group saw Elisabeth looking out of a window, being also slightly pale as her eyes were fixed on a capsule going up. “We can only pray it will work.”

“Good evening, Mr. Crewman.” A male voice could be heard on a radio. “I’m speaking to you on behalf of the Central Committee, in which must be the strangest telephone call ever. In moments, you will step out of your capsule. The first man to set foot on the surface since our journey began.”

Everyone had to gasp to see that the sky was pitch black, nor stars or anything. Yet it seemed to be worse for the Astronaut. The moment he stepped out and saw the surface, heavy breathing could be heard from him, becoming more labored until he screamed.

“Oh my…” Dinky mumbled in pity, realizing this had been too much for him.

They blinked and found themselves back in the city, with the queen now standing with their guards in front of bizarre machinery. A conveyor belt, leading to several mechanical arms, surgical tools and syringes.

“Be careful of there.” Elizabeth said with worry in her eyes, hugging Tyson.

“I always will be, milady.” He replied before he climbed on the conveyor belt and the group looked away as the sound of machinery and surgery followed.

A short while later, Tyson and the others came out, all looking like the cloth Cybermen, briefly inspecting their bodies before sent to the surface via elevators.

On the surface, the Cybermen seemed to construct some sort of propulsion system before the group found themselves in what looked like a hospital room.

Screaming entered their ears, seeing a Cyberman that thrashed as a few nurses stormed in. “Quick, morphine, his body rejects the implants!” One of them yelled but it was too late, as the Cybermen became limp. “Damn it! That’s the fourth one in two days. They barely survive a week…”

Now the group started to understand the reason behind the Cybermen: A desperate solution to survive in an unsustainable environment, forced to remove their emotions, as the processing drove them insane.

Yet before anyone could say something the scene switched, seeing many public buildings abandoned and the windows boarded up, before it drew into the palace.

Nothing could prepare the group for what they were about see.

In a chamber, they saw all the members of the Committee, together with the Queen.

They were all hooked up in wires, with overgrown bulbous heads and withering bodies, looking no longer alive, as they were very pale, almost decaying.

A very terrifying sight.

“We must survive.” A monotone, buzzing voice spoke up, consisting of all voices of the committee and Elisabeth, speaking as one.

“The propulsion system must be finished as soon as possible.” It was Elisabeth’s voice that spoke up. “The course of Mondas must be altered.”

“Sacrifices must be made.” One committee member disagreed with her.

“No. We must save our people.” Elizabeth stated, “Give them hope.”

The others could be heard discussing before they spoke as one, “Disjunction, the committee does not agree.”

“But…B-but-“ Elisabeth stuttered before starting to thrash around, screaming in pain.

None of the group could imagine what she had gone through, trying to give their people hope before they found themselves at a graveyard, a group of Cybermen saluting as a coffin was lowered into the ground.

It took only second to realize that this group were Tyson and the others, a tear left his eye.

Then he, along with his second in command and a few other Cybermen prepared to enter a spaceship, but not before he turned to Glenn and five others that stayed behind.

“Take care, soldier. Elizabeth’s devotion to Mondas won’t be forgotten.” Tyson said to him.

“Good luck!”

As the space ship left, the viewers could see how the palace’s windows were frosted, with the building looking abandoned.

Then, slowly but surely, the group had to witness how the Cybermen forced all citizens to become like them.

Eventually, the scene faded out and they saw a planet, looking identical to Earth, even down to the size and shapes of its continents. The one major way that it differed to Earth was that its continents were upside down in relation to Earth. However, it had no visible clouds in its atmosphere.

Then a single spacecraft, circular-shaped, flew towards earth in a snowy area and landed.

Three Cybermen stepped out and walked towards what looked like a soldier, who was confused and shocked at the sight. “What the heck? Tito? Is that you, Tito? What's going on here? Who is that? Who the heck are you?” He then fired a pistol at them twice point-blank, to no effect before one of them hit him across the neck and he fell over.

Two more guards appeared, one of them carrying a welding torch, walking towards a Cyberman who was wearing the jacket of the first soldier. “Hey, here it is, Sarge. Hey, sir, what's going on?” One of them asked cluelessly.

The Cybermen threw the jacket off and another joined him, striking both across the necks, taking them out. Then they all then put on the guards' parkas and move towards a trapdoor that was the entrance to a base.

Inside, a few other soldiers watched monitors, with one keeping eye on a woman, a young man and an elderly man. The latter had shoulder-length, greyish-white hair that grew around the back of his head, and piercing blue eyes that rested under expressive eyebrows. He wore a black shawl collar double-breasted Town Coat, a yellow tweed waistcoat over a white shirt with a black ribbon tie, grey tartan trousers, and shiny elasticated boots.

“Get this man back into the Observation room.” One of the soldiers, a general by the rank sigma ordered, mistaking the Cybermen for his men. Sergeant, that was an order! Take that man back to the obs.”

The woman screamed as the Cybermen revealed themselves, with one of the soldiers rushing towards the Cyberman with his gun raised. One of the Cyborgs aimed a light device at him, resembling a large, cumbersome sun lamp held at mid-section. Smoke came from the soldier’s body, and he fell backwards to the floor.

“Now look, I don't know who you are or what you are, but we've got two men in space. If we don't act now we won't get them back alive.” The general stated to the Cybermen, with one of them calmly replying,

“They will not return.”

“Why not?” The general did not understand.

“It is unimportant now.”

But we must get them back! When-

“There is really no point. They could never reach Earth now.”

“But don't you care?” The woman asked in shock.

“Care? No, why should I care?” The Cyberman asked in return.

“Because they're people and they're going to die!”

“I do not understand you. There are people dying all over your world yet you do not care about them.”

The woman rushed towards him, followed by the two men.

“Yes, but we could avoid their deaths.” She stated.

“You will be wondering what has happened. Your astronomers must have just discovered a new planet. Is that not so?” the Cyberman asked one of the soldiers, who nodded.

“Yes, that's right.”

“That is where we come from. It is called Mondas.”

“Mondas?” The man next to the elderly man did not understand.

“Mondas? But isn't that one of the ancient names of Earth?” The soldier asked and the Cybermen confirmed.

“Yes. Aeons ago the planets were twins, then we drifted away from you on a journey to the edge of space. Now we have returned.”

“You were right, Doctor.” The man next to the elderly man said, pointing at him

“But who or what are you?” the soldier wanted to know.

“We are called Cybermen.”

“Cybermen?”

“Yes, Cybermen. We were exactly like you once but our cybernetic scientists realized that our race was getting weak.”

“Weak? How?”

“Our life span was getting shorter, so our scientists and doctors devised spare parts for our bodies until we could be almost completely replaced.” The Cyberman explained.

“But that means you're not like us. You're robots!” The woman exclaimed in disgust, yet the leading cyborg was unfazed by it.

“Our brains are just like yours except that certain weaknesses have been removed.”

“Weaknesses? What weaknesses?” the soldier wondered.

“You call them emotions, do you not?” Was the response from the former human and the woman looked at him in shock.

“But that's terrible. You, you mean you wouldn't care about someone in pain?”

“There would be no need. We do not feel pain.”

“But we do.” She countered firmly before the general lunged to a desk and pressed a button.

“Ha, that'll fix you! Europe will know there's an emergency here now.” He exclaimed with a grin.

“That was really most unfortunate. You should not have done that.” The Cybermen stated.

He ordered the general to inform Europe that it was a false alarm, but he refused. In response, one of the Cybermen put its hands on the man's head and he went rigid, being put down on a ledge by the stairs.

The soldier was then ordered to do the same but refused until the Cybermen threatened to destroy the computers that would help a space shuttle to land, so he did as told only to be informed by the cyborgs that it was impossible for the astronauts to return as Mondas' gravitational force is too close.

As the Cybermen started the process of securing the base, the young man next to the doctor tried to grab the gun of the killed soldier, only for the doctor to exclaim in horror, “No, Ben!”

The leading Cybermen spotted this desperate attempt. “You do not seem to take us seriously.” He easily grabbed the rifle and bent it.

“Blimey!” Ben cursed.

“Take him out and look after him. It is quite useless to resist us. We are stronger and more efficient than your Earth people. We must be obeyed.” The leader of the Cybermen stated firmly and Ben was locked up in another room.

In the room, the group spotted a calendar, surprised at the date.

December 1986.

To their horror, they had to see how the doctor and others tried to contact the space shuttle, but the screens went blank, meaning it exploded.

“Now perhaps you can see that your planet is in great and imminent danger. In order to save you, we shall require information to be transmitted to Mondas.” The leading Cybermen explained and the doctor raised an eyebrow

“Save us?”

“What about those poor men?” His female friend asked and the Cyberman looked at her

“Perhaps you will co-operate. Mondas drew the ship away. It was unavoidable.”

“Why? What is happening?” The soldier demanded to know

“I will require your name.” The Cyberman walked to him and held a small microphone towards him but he didn’t care

“Tell us!”

“The energy of Mondas is nearly exhausted and now we turn to it's twin and will gather energy from Earth.”

The man’s eyes went wide in shock. “But but!”

In disbelief, the doctor exclaimed, “Gather energy?!”

“Age, name and occupation.” Was the response from the former human.

“But for how long?” The soldier wondered before another man spoke up.

“My name is John Dyson, supervising engineer.”

With his emotionless vice, the Cyberman replied, “Until it is all gone. Age.”

“But that means that the Earth will, will die!” Dyson exclaimed.

“Yes. Everything on Earth will stop. Age, please.”

In shock, the soldier exclaimed, “But you can't calmly stand there and tell us we're all going to die!”

“You are not going to die.”

Calmly, the doctor asked, “And how are you going to stop this energy drain from Mondas?”

“Name and occupation please. We cannot. It is beyond our powers.”

This caused the doctor to yell, “How are we going to survive?!”

“Speak please. By coming with us. Age.”

In disbelief, the soldier asked, “With you?”

“Yes. We are going to take you all back to Mondas. Your age please.”

“His age is unimportant here!” A yell from the doctor, with the soldier adding,

“That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life!” The solder yelled and the doctor shook his head,

“You cannot for one moment.”

In the other room, Ben looked at a projector. Hey, wait a minute! If I was to turn this on the door, it might blind him! Yeah.” He turned off the lights, then turned on the projector. An old western was played and he grinned. “Hah! I saw that film twenty years ago.

With the film lined up on the top of the door, Ben started banging on it “Oy, come in here mate, you're wanted! Oy, come in here!”

The Cyberman opened the door and covered its eyes. Ben used this to grabbed it's light weapon and backed away.

“Now then, Fred!”

“Do not resist. Give me that weapon.” The Cyberman ordered, getting closer.

“I'm sorry, mate, I'm giving the orders here. Now look, get back. I'm telling you, get back!”

In response, the Cyberman raised his arm so Ben triggered the weapon, killing him. “You didn't give me no alternative!”

The scene switched back to the other room as Dyson said to the leading Cyberman, “Perhaps we'd prefer to take our chances here.

“You must come and live with us.”

In horror, the woman stated, “But we cannot live with you. You're, you're different. You've got no feelings.”

“Feelings? I do not understand that word.”

As response the doctor asked with a grin, “Emotions. Love, pride, hate, fear. Have you no emotions, sir?”

“Come to Mondas and you will have no need of emotions. You will become like us.

“Like you?” With disgust, the woman asked him and he nodded,

“We have freedom from disease, protection against heat and cold, true mastery. Do you prefer to die in misery?”

The leader of the cyborgs was unaware that the General was waking up, as the woman asked him, “But look, surely it's possible for us not to lose Earth's energy?”

“It is inevitable.”

“Then you don't mind if we all die.”

“Why should we mind?”

This caused the doctor to yell, “Why? Why?!”

“Because millions and millions of people are going to suffer and die horribly!” His female friend finished.

“We shall not be affected.”

“Don't you think of anything except yourselves?”

“We are equipped to survive. We are only interested in survival. Anything else is of no importance. Your deaths will not affect us.” The leader explained, unaware that Ben passed the weapon to the general.

“But I can't make you understand, you're condemning us all to die. Have you no heart?

“No, that is one of the weaknesses that we have removed.”

It that moment, the general pulled the trigger. It lit up, creating a bright flash.

One of the Cyberman fell.

The other turned towards the general.

The man was faster.

He ran closer and pulled the trigger again.

His enemy had no time to respond, falling also over, smoking.

The viewers could only stare at what the Cybermen had planned. Destroying their twin planet in order to save their own? It wasn’t right.

Suddenly, the radar technician announced that a fleet of spacecraft had been detected, approaching Earth. A big bunch of small blips was on the radar screen, hundreds of ships.

In response, the general decided it is time to take the fight to the Cybermen. He intended on destroying Mondas with a Z-bomb — a series of nuclear bombs that were placed at strategic points around the world. He ringed the International Space Centre. The Secretary at Geneva refused permission, but the general rephrased his question asking if he can do anything he deems suitable in order to destroy the Cybermen. As answer, he got as permission to use the bomb. The friends of the doctor argued against using the bomb, with Ben stating the Doctor believed that Mondas will destroy itself anyway when it absorbs too much energy.

Yet that officer admitted he was scared by what he is about to do but felt that he has no choice. The other soldier admitted to the woman he was reluctant to launch the bomb, citing the radiation caused by the exploding planet which would cause great loss of life on Earth. She suggested they rig the bomb so that it wouldn’t explode.

The General explained they would wait for the Cybermen to land, and then they would destroy them with their own weapons, unaware that Ben secretly left to sabotage the rocket to prevent it from reaching Mondas.

Another ship landed and the Cybermen immediately mowed down by the hidden soldiers wielding the Cybermen's weapons.

As the countdown to launch the Z-bomb reached zero, the engines failed on the launch pad, enraging the General.

“I'm getting a signal, sir. From Lieutenant Cutler, sir.” Dyson informed the General.

“I'm tumbling badly and there's little control left in the capsule. I must speak fast.” The lieutenant told on the radio, being visible on a monitor, with the officer grabbing the radio.

“Yes. Yes, go ahead, son.”

“This new planet, there's something strange happening.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it seems to brighten up like a sun and then darken again.”

“It cannot absorb much more energy.” The doctor concluded.

“Sir, Cyberman spaceships on approach path.” One of the soldiers warned, yet Cutler didn’t care.

“Shut up, will you? Go ahead, son.”

“Hey, control's gone again. Energy loss severe It's like, it's like being on a switchback. I can't, I can't seem to-“

The transmission ended and Cutler yelled at Dyson, “Get that signal back!”

“It's gone. Could be a power failure.”

“Come on, man! Come on, Dyson, get that signal!”

“Sir, Cyberman ship on descent now!” The other soldier warned

“Radio dead. It's hopeless.” Dyson reported with regret in his voice before the other soldier added,

“The enemy will landing at any moment.”

“General!” The doctor exclaimed and Cutler eyed him with hate, his eyes blazing.

“The enemy! The enemy! I'll tell you who the enemy is. You are the enemy. You.”

“The Cybermen, sir. They must have landed.” The soldier on the radar warned, yet Cutler was lost in his rage as he glared at the elderly man.

“You, you, you, you killed my son!

“But, sir, they've landed!” Dyson tried to calm him down.

“The only person I gave a care about in this whole world, and you killed him. So now I'm going to kill you and I'll start on you, Doctor.”

In that moment, more Cybermen entered and the woman screamed. Cutler opened fire but the Cybermen's response was faster. The general fell to the ground, dead.

“Silence.” One of the cyborgs said, pausing for a moment as everyone looked at him with uncertainty. “ Anyone who moves will be killed instantly.”

After a short moment, the Doctor broke the silence. “We owe you our lives. That man was going to have us shot.”

“Go with the others down there.” The Cybermen pointed to a staircase

“There's gratitude for you. We save their grotty planet Mondas for what.” Ben taunted, only for the Cyberman to reply,

“Saved Mondas? We do not believe you. We have seen a rocket missile aimed at Mondas.”

“That is so. We prevented it being fired at you. We helped you. Therefore, I suggest you help us.” The doctor countered calmly.

Ben shook his head. “It's no use talking to these geezers.”

“And what do you ask in return for this?” The Cyberman asked the Doctor, who replied,

“Your planet is finished. It will disintegrate. We know why you came here, so why not stay and live with us in peace?”

“We will confer. Keep your places. Anyone who moves will be killed instantly.”

“As they did so, the other soldier whispered, “Can we trust them?”

“No, of course we can't.” Ben pointed out, yet the Doctor shook his head.

“We have no chance. We must play for time. Be quiet.” He said as the Cybermen returned. “Well, sir, what have you decided?”

“We cannot talk while that missile is aimed at Mondas. It must be disarmed first.” The leader of the Cyborgs explained.

“A moment, please.” The elderly human turned back to the soldier, “Are you able to disarm this rocket?”

“Well, yes, but, er-”

“It will give us the time we need.”

“The time for Mondas to burn itself out, you mean?” Ben concluded and he nodded.

“Yes, now quiet!” He turned back to the leader. “We accept your terms. The warhead will be removed from the rocket.”

“It must be removed to below ground level.” The Cyberman explained and the soldier nodded.

“Well, there's the radiation room. It's the deepest in the base.”

“That will do. And to make sure you do this, we will take two hostages. That girl will go to the spacecraft. You will stay here with us. You three must go to the rocket.” This caused the woman to shiver slightly in fear.

“You must do as they say.” The doctor said to Ben, who had an expression of confusion.

“Look, if you want a hostage, what about me?”

“You are needed to help with the warhead.” The leader of the cyborgs stated.

“Now, look here, you're not taking Polly.” Ben took a protective stance, only for the Doctor to raise a hand.

“Let me handle this, my boy!”

“But Doctor!”

“All of you, go with Barclay.”

“But Doctor, I think it would be a good idea if-

“Go. I think it is wiser.” The Doctor cut Barclay off, and he nodded.

“Very well. Come on, Dyson.”

“Right.”

“You give me your word that this young girl will be returned to me when that bomb is safely stowed away?”

The Cyberman nodded. “Yes.”

“Very well, child, off you go. And don't forget your coat. I don't want you to get cold.”

The Doctor then took charge of the Control Centre and contacted the International Space Centre, only to see the Cybermen had taken over.

“I am now Controller of the Earth. Resist us and you die.” The Cyberman in charge warned. “You must proceed with your second objective."

“We are proceeding according to plan.” The other leader replied.

“Report to me as soon as you are ready. We must have time to evacuate.”

“Unit Delta plus calling. Unit Delta plus calling. Unit Delta plus calling.”

“I do not understand your friend, sir. Evacuate? Surely you're not going to return to Mondas now?” The doctor asked curious.

“We will not discuss our plans with you.” The Cyberman refused

“What is your second objective? It's quite obvious, isn't it? The destruction of the Earth! Ben! Barclay! Do not help them!” He warned the others on the speaker system.

Down in the pit of the Z-bomb, Ben, Barclay, another soldier and Dyson were disarming the bomb, dressed in protective suits. Ben raised the question as to why the Cybermen are not doing this themselves, what with them being naturally stronger. Ben hypothesized that they are intolerant to the radiation in the bomb.

They put this to the test by playing dead and drawing in the Cyberman guard from outside. The Cyborg fell dead to the ground the moment he entered and Ben grabbed his gun.

Ben used this knowledge to order the return of Polly; however, the Cybermen refused to relent. The Doctor was now taken to their ship. Ben got that both he and Polly would be killed unless they give up the bomb. In response, he looked around for something in the room that was portable and radioactive that they can use to their advantage. With the help of the soldier and Dyson, he uncoupled something from the back of one of the computers he could use for this purpose.

“Listen to me. This close proximity of our two planets means that one has to be eliminated for the safety of the other. The one to be destroyed will be Earth. We cannot allow Mondas to burn up. If you help, we will take you all back to Mondas with us. There you will be safe.” The leading Cybermen explained before one of his fellow cyborgs spoke up.

“Records, Krang.”

The monitor showed Mondas glowing brighter and brighter as Krang reported, “Our planet is nearing saturation point. We must lose no time. Switch on the monitor. Their three minutes is up. We must hear their decision.” The other did as told, but there was only static. “What has happened?”

Dyson and the soldier were extracting the fuel rods from the base reactor, with Barclay behind them carrying a Geiger counter

“Hold them away from yourselves. Gently does it, very gently. Stand by the emergency power switch. The lights will be fading any second now.” Dyson said before the lights went out

“I suppose you realize there's only about an hour's supply of lighting and heating in the emergency batteries. Then we shall all freeze to death.” Dyson warned him.

“If this don't work, mate, you needn't worry about the cold anymore.” Ben added as he checked if the corridor was clear. “Okay, it's all clear. Quick!”

“Outside, he told the others, “Dyson, you go up this end of the corridor. When you hear the Cybermen coming, come out behind them. Haines, you go round that corridor and do the same. Now look, I'll draw their fire, so when you hear the sound of this gun, start coming forward. Do you really think there's enough radiation in these two rods to trap them?”

Barclay nodded, “Just.”

“Okay, come on.” They went back into the radiation room, just as Krang and the other Cybermen were coming.

“Do not use this gas unless you have to. We need them alive and conscious.” Krang warned his fellow Cybermen before looking through the small window of the door. “Your three minutes is up. What is your decision? We shall be forced to kill you. We will give you one more chance to come out and give us the bomb.”

“Come in and get it!” Ben yelled and the cyborgs started to pump gas into the room, causing both to cough, yet he managed to say, “There's something else down by the door.

Barclay opened the door and Ben shouted, “Now!” He fired his Cyber-weapon and one of the Cybermen fell, with Krang and the other backing up in response

“I can't hold out much longer!” Barclay coughed from the gas.

“Where's Dyson and the other bloke got to?”

“The humans are behind the door. Let the gas do its work.” Krang told the other Cybermen, unware as Haines and Dyson came up behind them with the radioactive rods. Both collapsed, yet one of them managed to fire his weapon, killing Haines as Ben came out of the room.

“Quick, Dyson. Help get Barclay out of here.” Ben yelled and they all three made their way back to the Tracking room.

“What happened, Doctor Barclay? Are you all right?” The soldier manning the radar asked Ben as they came in.

“He's all right. Yeah, get in the chair.”

“Back to your desks all of you. The emergency's not over yet. Philips, there are two reactor rods out in the corridor. See that they're put back at once.” Dyson ordered a fellow staff member.

“Hey, they've still got the Doctor and Polly.” Ben pointed out with worry, about to leave

“No, wait! If you try and tackle the spacecrafts on your own, you don't stand a chance. We don't know how many Cybermen there are left.” Barclay held him back.

“Well?” Ben asked desperately.

“Well, here's one of the things they use to contact each other.” Barclay pointed to a small radio-like device.

“I don't know how it works.”

“Well then, do anything, make a signal. Draw them here.”

“Is that wise?” Dyson asked with concern.

“Well, if that spaceship takes off we'll never gonna see them again.” Ben pointed out

“You may bring them all in on us.”

“Well, that's a risk we've got to take,” Ben replied and pressed a few buttons, causing the comm. unit to buzz. “That should do it. Any idea how long it'll take for them to get here?”

"You stand by with those guns.” Dyson advised as they took positions

“Now look, we must all get down, other side of the room.” Barclay ordered and Ben acknowledged.

“Okay.”

“Opposite the door so we can face them. Use the guns.” Barclay ordered as the lights went suddenly out

“What now?” Ben wondered.

“The emergency battery's running out, I suppose.” Dyson suspected

“We can't face them in the dark!” Barclay yelled and his college countered,

“Now we shall freeze to death.”

“They must get those reactor rods back.” As Barclay said, this, the light went back on, causing Ben to sigh in relief

“Hang on, they're coming back.”

“Here they are,” Barclay warned as three Cybermen entered, with one opening his mouth,

“Resistance is useless. Drop your weapons.”

Yet the radar operator had news, pointed at the screen.

“Just look at Mondas, sir. I can't believe it!”

The twin planet was flash brightly, as it was about to explode.

“Fantastic! It looks as if it's melting!” Dyson exclaimed and Ben added,

“It's falling to bits!”

Just moments after the crusts of the planet were cracking and exploded into a million pieces.”

“The end of Mondas.” Barclay concluded.

“Hey, look!” Ben pointed at the Cybermen. They were staggering before falling to the ground and…falling part. ”What's happened to them?”

Barclay had an answer. “They've disintegrated!”

“They must have been entirely dependent on power from Mondas.” Dyson suspected.

The scene then switched to the International Space Centre, the group saw the Secretary-General, together with a woman and a boy, the latter two were scared.

“Listen. This close proximity of our two planets means that one has to be eliminated for the safety of the other. The one to be destroyed will be Earth. We will take you all back to Mondas with us. There you will be safe.”

“You will not take them!” The Secretary-General drew a pistol, only for the Cybermen to grab the boy, who screamed.

“Resist and I will kill him!” The Cyberman threatened, yet what was happening next surprised everyone.

One of the other Cybermen aimed his gun at him and fired, killing his fellow Cyborg.

Before any of the other Cybermen could react, they started to stumble and fell apart, save for the one who had fired and five others. It took the group only seconds to understand that this group was Glenn and the other five.

“Thank you. But…why?” The man asked as the boy ran into the woman for comfort.

“Because it’s the only right thing to do,” Glenn replied. “We belonged once to an honor guard, which took protection of our noble leader and the citizens as our duty.”

“Why have they fallen apart and not you?” The woman wondered.

“Mondas was destroyed, they were depend on power from it. We, however, secretly equipped us with independent power sources.”

“Then… why not stay and live with us?” The man offered. “As thanks for helping us.”

“It is a generous offer, but we politely decline. We want to find the others of our former force.” Glenn stated and he, along with his comrades went back into the shuttle and it took off, flying into space.

With this, the memory faded and the group was now in a white void.

“Glenn and the others didn’t deserve this,” Art Strings said with pity, “But it honors them having stopped the others.”

“Indeed. But all this to save their planet…” Luna wondered in disbelief.

“I know, it’s…crazy but…” Patch mumbled. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Everyone stayed silent for a moment, processing his words.

“As much as I hate it to say, yes.” Midnight nodded. “Though, I wonder what happened afterwards.”

“Right. Only one way to find out.” Luna lit up her horn, preparing them to see the next memory.

Author's Note

Wasn't easy, having only the script of the corresponding episode to work with

Chapter 5 Past and cost part 2

Chapter 5 Past and cost part 2

As the group blinked, they saw themselves in space again, yet on a white surface with craters and what looked to be to a base on the surface in the distance.

“Is that…the moon?” Dinky asked puzzled and her father nodded.

“Yes. This must be way in the future, given humanity has a base on the moon.”

Inside, they saw Ben, Polly and a man with longish, scruffy black hair and blue eyes, wearing a battered old frock coat many sizes too large, giving him a clownish appearance. Several men in numbered uniforms were with them.

A map of the Earth dominated one wall, and what looked to be like a probe was in a transparent dome on one side of the room with its power controls in an insulated room.

“Well, you know what this place is?” One of the uniformed men asked the man next to Ben and Polly.

“Well, it looks like some sort of weather control center? Ah, yes. And that's the thing with which you control the weather. That's the culprit, then.”

“Ay?” Ben raised an eyebrow, being unsure as the short man in his early forties concluded.

“That's what gave us such a bumpy landing. Some sort of gravity device?”

“Some sort of gravity device. You are from Earth, aren't you?” The apparent leader of the uniformed men asked in return.

“Yes."

“Well, where've you been for the past 20 years? Every school kid knows about the Graviton in there.”

“Ah, yes. It must be about the year 2050, Ben.”

“We've got a proper Rip Van Winkle here. It's 2070, in case you'd like to know.” He got corrected by the commander and smiled.

“There you are. I was only twenty years out."

“Well, before we all forget what century we're in, I'd better tell you why I've called you here.”

“Won't you introduce us first? I am a Doctor.”

This created confusion among the spectating group: He called himself the doctor, but was different and younger than the Doctor they had seen at the base where Monas got destroyed.

“Doctor? You're arrived just in time. We need your help.”

“Ah. Do you?” The doctor was curious.

“I'll see you in a moment. Now, this virus…”

“Well, I may be able to help you if you'll introduce us.” The doctor suggested and the commander noted.

“Right, Doctor. You'd better meet them all. We're all scientists here, you see. No room for idle hands, I see to that. Roger Benoit, beside you there, is my assistant. He takes over as Chief Scientist if anything happens to me. He's a physicist like me and Joe Benson there. Nils, our mad Dane, is an astronomer and mathematician as is Charlie here. Ralph, Jules and Franz are geologists. When they're not acting as cooks, looks-outs, general and, you know, handymen.”

“And this is where you control the Earth's weather? I see.” Was the conclusion of the middle-aged man

“The gravitron there controls the tides, the tides controls the weather. And from this console here we plot it all on that map. Simple, eh?” Benoit explained to them.

“Oh, yeah, very simple. Wish we'd had all this back in 1966.” Ben commented, received a chuckle by the doctor.

“Was it a bad year then?”

Just then, one of the workers collapsed and Doctor offered his services as the collapsed worker got brought to the sickbay, with the radio coming to life.

“International Space Control Headquarters Earth calling Weather Control Moon. Come in please."

“Hobson here.” The commander reported in, informing about the situation. Space Control reacted by quarantining the Moonbase. One of the crew informed Hobson that their latest communication with Space Control was listened in on by someone close to the base.

Also, several bodies of the sick were reported missing and the base had pressure issues

As the doctor looked for what caused this illness, Polly brought some coffee. Coffee? Sugar?”

Hobson nodded as he grabbed a cup. “Oh, thank you.”

“It's very hot. Doctor, what about you?”

“He nodded as well. “Thank you, Polly.”

“Well, Doctor, as I was saying, you've had your chance and you've come up with absolutely nothing. Now I want-“

Hobson never finished as a crew member he groaned in pain and collapsed after having .taking a sip of his coffee and the doctor reacted quickly

“Don't touch him! Let me look.”

To everyone’s horror, black lines spreaded quickly across the man's skin.

“Here, Charlie and you, what's your name, Ben, give us a hand to get him into the medical unit.” The commander ordered and the doctor warned,

“Try not to touch his skin.”

Hobson was about to take a shop and the doctor’s eyes went wide in horror

“Don't drink that!” He slapped it out of his hand, causing the commander to be irritated.

“What the hell?”

“It's the sugar! Don't you see? That's why the disease doesn't affect everyone. It's the sugar. Not everyone takes it. No, don't touch it.” For safety, the doctor used forceps to pick up the sugar dispenser and out some sugar onto a microscope slide.

“What are you doing?” Hobson wondered.

“Just be patient. Just as I thought. A large neurotropic virus.”

“What, like the space plague?”

”No. It's a large, infective agent that only attacks the nerves. That's why the patients have got these lines on their faces and their hands. It follows the course of the nerves under the skin.” The doctor explained and Hobson looked at him in disbelief

“That's all very well, but how did it get in here?”

“Oh, it is the Cybermen. I believe they have deliberately infected the base.”

“My men have searched every square inch of the base. There's no space to hide a cat, let alone a Cyberman! Anyhow, how did they get in?”

“One moment.” A hand went to the doctor’s head, tipping it.

“What is it?

“You say you searched all the base?”

“Yes. What of it?” Hobson did not understand.

“Every nook and cranny?”

“Yes.”

“No chance of anyone hiding anywhere?

“None whatever.”

“Did your men search in here?”

“Well…

“Did they?

“Well, there were always people in here, so they probably…” Hobson hesitated before cut off again.

“Did they search in here?”

“No!”

“But there's nowhere in here they could hide.” Polly stated.

The group rounded the sickbay until they come to a bed where a body is covered by a blanket, but large silver boots are sticking out and their expression became horrified.

“Oh, no. No, no, no.” Polly whimpered and the doctor pushed the others back.

The blanket got thrown off and a Cyberman with the hatch mouth leaped out of the bed. “Stand back. Stand back from that door.” He ordered.

“You're right. It is them.” Hobson realized and a fellow crew member rushed towards the cyborg with a metal bar. A second Cybermen stood up from another table and his chest glowed. The man fell to the ground, his body smoking as the doctor cried out in terror.

“No!”

“Remain still.” The other Cyberman ordered before the commander raised his voice.

“You devils. You killed him! An unarmed man.” He yelled but the former human was not caring for it as he turned to his fellow cyborg

“Get up. See that they remain there.”

“Yes.”

In response, the first Cyberman pushed a button on his chest.

“Operational system two now complete. Operational system two now complete. Ready to start Operational system three.”

“Understood. Operational system three will now begin.” Another Cyberman could be heard, before the reporting one turned towards the doctor

“You are known to us.”

“And you to me.” The man replied.

“Silence. Who is in command?

“I am.” Hobson answered in slight fear.

“You will be needed.”

“What have you done with my men?” He demanded to know, yet got a surprising answer.

“They will return.”

“They're not dead?” The commander’s expression became one of confusion.

“No. They are not dead. They are altered.”

“Altered? What have you done to them?” Ben shouted in slight disgust.

“They are now controlled.”

“If you do anything to my-“ Hobson shouted but got cut off

“You will do nothing.”

The second Cyberman examined the patients and then gets stopped at a male patient.

“This one has not received neurotrope X. Stand back.”

“Please, leave him alone. His head is hurt. He's had an accident.” Polly explained with fear in her voice.

“His head? Then he would be of no value. The others are ready for conversion.”

“You will now take us to the control center.” The first ordered Hobson.

“I'll be damned if” He cut himself off as the Cybermen pointed his arm at him. “It's through here.”

He the Cyberman and the Doctor left the room, while the other warned the remaining human

“You will remain here. If you leave you will be converted like the others.”

“It's about time that we heard from those two outside. Let's have a word with them.” Benoit commented in the control room as two technicians who were supposed to repair an antenna on the surface.

“All yours, Roger.” His collogue, Nils acknowledged.

“Surface party, come in, please. Surface party, come in, please. Surface party, come in. We are not receiving you. Over.” Benoit spoke into the radio, yet got no reply and turned to his fellow worker. “Can we see the control antenna from here?”

“No, Roger. It's just around that first block outside the main port.”

“Well, we'll have to send someone else out so get ready to-“

Both got cut off as the commander walked in, the Cyberman behind him as he warned, “Get back! Get back! These things are lethal.”

“No one will move. You will remain still. If you move you will be killed.” The Cyberman warned and Benoit became confused.

“What are they? How did they get in?”

As on command, the cyborg answered for him. “Silence. We are Cybermen. You will listen.”

“But you were all killed!”

“We are going to take over the Gravitron and use it to destroy the surface of the Earth by changing the weather.”

“But that will kill everybody on the Earth.” The doctor realized and the Cyberman gave a reply.

“Yes.”

“You're supposed to be so advanced. Here you are taking your revenge like, like children.” Hobson taunted, only for the Cyberman to ask,

“Revenge? What is that?”

“A feeling people have when”

“Feelings? Feelings? Yes, we know of this weakness of yours. We are fortunate. We do not posses feelings.”

“Then why are you here?” The commander did not understand.

“To eliminate all dangers.” Was the cold statement of the Cyberman.

“But you'll kill every living thing on the Earth.” The commander’s eyes went wide in terror but it did not faze the former human.

“Yes. All dangers will be eliminated.”

“Have you no mercy?”

“It is unnecessary. Keep watch on them.” The Cyborg said to his fellow Cyberman and moved away to activate his communicator. “Operational system four. Operation system four.”

“Operational system four complete. Entry to base now completed.” The Cyberman on the other end acknowledged and Hobson asked,

“Entry? How did you get in?”

“It was very simple. Only stupid Earth brains like yours would have been fooled.” The Cyberman replied and the commander gave a weak, fearful nod.

“Go on.”

“Since we couldn't approach direct, we came up under the surface and cut our way in through your store room, contaminating your food supply on the way. A simple hole, that's all.”

“A hole! That explains those sudden air pressure drops we've been recording.” The man exclaimed in realization

“Clever. Clever. Clever.” The Cyborg said in an almost taunting tone.

After that, three men walked in with neutral expressions, wearing what looked like headpieces as they entered the power room.

“But you can't send them in there without the protective helmets.” Benoit protested, only for the Cyberman to ask,

“Why?”

“The machine produces very intense sonic fields. Without the helmets, those men will be insane in a few hours.” He explained.

“How many hours?”

Benoit took a rough guess. “Twelve, possibly.”

It was enough for the cyborg to conclude. “Then there is no problem.”

“Why?” The French did not understand.

“Our purpose will be achieved before that.”

Fear was visible in Benoit’s eyes. “But what about the men?”

It was a cold answer that the Cyberman gave. “They will be disposed of.” Then he turned to the controlled men. “Prepare to align the field rectors. Main power into vortex generators now. Servo pumps to full pressure.

“Why did they go to so such trouble?” Hobson whispered to the doctor

“What do you mean?”

“Why didn't they operate the controls themselves?”

In response, the Doctor walked to the R/T unit and adjusted the volume and pitch It caused the controlled men to lose coordination, struggling to do their work.

“What is happening?

“There is loss of control.” The two Cybermen wondered what was going on and the man grinned as he spoke to himself in a sotto tone,

“Thought so. Sonic control. That should be easy.” He then reset the dials.

“Funny. Funny. Go to all that trouble to make the men do the work. Why? Do it themselves, easy. They're using the men as tools. Why? Don't know.” He paused for a moment.”

“Yes, I do though. There must be something in here they don't like. Pressure? Electricity? Radiation? Maybe.” Quick as a flash, he got it

“Gravity! Now there's a thought. Gravity. Oh, yes. Gravity.”

“Start probe generators. Realign the probe. Probe field to full power now.” The controlled men obeyed the Cybermen’s orders

“They'll devastate the whole Earth when that field takes hold.” Hobson whispered to Benoit, who nodded.

“We've got to do something.”

“Earth Control calling Moonbase. Come in, please.” The radio buzzed, yet the Cybermen held the crew back.

“Remain still.”

“Hello, Moonbase. Come in, please.”

“You will all be silent.”

“Moonbase, come in, please. Hello? Reading on five centimetre band. Come in. Your last routine signal was not received. Over. We are not receiving you. Over. If you hear us and cannot transmit, fire sodium rocket. We shall see flare.” The control center informed

“What does that mean?” The first Cyberman asked Hobson

“It's a distress rocket. It ejects sodium into space and then the sun lights the sodium into a yellow flare.” He explained.

“What will your Earth do if they do not see the flare?”

“Well, they'll think we're all dead. They'll do nothing.”

As on signal, the radio buzzed once more. “Standing by to observe flare. Standing by.”

The Cyberman turned the transmitter off and Hobson whispered to Benoit, “If they don't get our next transmission, they'll send up a relief rocket.”

Just then, one of the controlled men collapsed and the commander shouted in shock, "You'll kill them!“

“If you will not remain silent you will be put under brain control.” The second Cyberman warned and adjusted his control box and the controlled human jumped up again before there was a strange noise.

“Someone is there.” Then a high pitched noise followed, making the controlled men freeze.

“The beam is jammed.” The other Cybermen realized.

Both cyborgs turned on the doctor as Ben, Polly and another man stormed into the room. They sprayed what looked like foam on the Cybermen's chest units, which instantly bubble and dissolve. Clutching helplessly at their chests, the Cybermen collapsed.

The Doctor quickly removed the headpieces from the controlled crew, who were then rushed to the sick bay.

Then the scene switched to the moon surface and the ponies saw a saucer-shaped ship, its doors opened and two rows of Cybermen marched out and over the crater rim.

The Cybermen contacted the Moonbase to tell them that they had surrounded them and that resistance is useless. Hobson was defiant and replied that they had blocked their point of entry. He attempted to contact Earth, only to find out that the signal had been jammed through the Cybermen having destroyed the antenna. The crew speculated that all they need to do is wait it out for the relief craft that Earth would send due to the lack of communication with the Moonbase.

They were delighted to see the relief craft approach but became confused when it began to change course and accelerated. The ship was on a direct path towards the sun. The Doctor suspected that the only thing that would have caused this would be some sort of deflection from the Gravitron. They discovered Evans, the chief doctor of the base who had been the first victim of the virus, who had died shortly after the doctor entered the base, in control of the Gravitron and guilty of diverting the ship, being controlled by the cyborgs through a headpiece.

“Resistance is useless. All further ships from Earth will be deflected. Open the airlock to us. If you do not we shall destroy the base and you will be eliminated.” A Cyberman told them on the radio.

“You can fear us?” Hobson asked dumbfolded.

“Everything you have said in the past half hour has been overheard.”

“You can hear this too, then. We're not done yet and we'll fight you to the last man. You'll never get inside this base.” The commander countered determined.

“We are in it already.”

As the cyborg finished, a bang sounded and everyone clutched their throats and hangs on as the air rushed out.

“They've punctured the dome!” Hobson exclaimed in shock and everyone managed to equip oxygen masks, with him and Benoit trying to fix the hole.

They attempted to plug the crack with the commander’s coat but it got sucked out, yet had success in using a coffee tray.

Amongst the chaos, the Doctor noticed that Evans had collapsed and moved him from the control room, but it wasn’t over yet.

To Hobson and the Doctor's shock, another Cybership landed and a weapon was unloaded from it, looking like a pipe attached to a cylinder, requiring three Cybermen to hold it steady as they took it out of a crate. The crew got to cover, but the Doctor stoically stood his ground.

“Fire.” One of the Cyberman ordered and the weapon fired a laser beam. It 'bounced' off it, going upwards and the commanding cyborg stared, almost as in disbelief along the beams trajectory after it deflected before ordering, “Again. Fire.”

Yet again, the beam bounced off the base and he gave a sign to pack it back into the crate.

However, this gave the Doctor an idea. He asked if the Gravitron can be dipped so low it could have a bearing on the surface of the Moon. Benoit and Hobson said it has never been tried, but they attempted it.

Benoit put on a helmet and went into gravitron control, with Polly by the window to relay instructions, giving a thumb up to show they were ready.

As the Cyberman outside spread out, Benoit shook his head to signal that gravitron won't go any lower.

The doctor suggested trying it by hand but it wouldn’t swift.

“Ah, stupid of me. Of course it won't.” Hobson realized and the other man asked,

“Why?”

“Well, the angular cut out. It's obvious, isn't it?” The commander pointed out, “You see, there's got to be a safety cut out on the angle of the probe otherwise it might affect the whole base.” He then removed it and signaled his fellow crew member with a nod.

The Cybermen started to advance slowly. Yet as soon as they did, then stopped moving, staring towards the dome.

Their heads slowly looked down, as if they realized something was odd.

The leading Cybermen tried to make a step forward, yet started to float.

In surprise and what looked like slightly panic, the others looked to the ground, realizing what was happening, trying to hold onto something, waving around their arms.

As the cyborgs and their ships floated out into space, the crew let up a mighty cheer of victory.

The scene then switched to three Cyberman managing to hold onto one of the ships, managing to enter it and flew away.

It was here where the memory faded and the group was again in the white void.

“Those were the other members of Tyson’s team, no doubt.” Dinky started, “Yet, why would they do this?”

“I can’t tell but sense that the next memory will show us.” Luna replied.

“But there’s one thing I don’t get,” Derpy mumbled, “They recognized the doctor, but he was a completely different person.

“I think I have a suspicion, “Her husband spoke up, “He can change is appearance and personality but still retains the same signature.”

“Possible.” Midnight nodded before Luna lit up her horn for the next memory.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, I actually had it completed long ago but lacked time to upload it

Chapter 6 Past and cost part 3

Chapter 6 Past and cost part 3

Opening their eyes, the group looked at a recessed metallic structure with double doors in the middle. On either side were images of a Cyberman.

A group of humans held the Doctor, Jamie and a woman in a dress at gunpoint, but the former managed to calm down the group, as apparently, one of the group’s members had died through elocution as he touched the doors.

One of the men in the group, called Parry, explained that they are here to find the remains of the Cybermen, who apparently died out centuries before. The expedition was funded by Miss Kaftan, who was accompanied by her giant manservant, a dark-skinned man called Toberman, and her colleague, Eric Klieg.

Knowing that the Cybermen were involved, the Doctor decided to accompany the group and placed a magnetic voltmeter on the handles, checking the reading and removed it.

“It's perfectly safe now.” He announced, yet Parry looked with horror at him.

“You'll be killed!”

“No, don't touch him!” Another archaeologist by the name of Peter Haydon warned yet the Doctor touched it without any danger, showing it was really safe. He then grabbed a handle and pulled but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move it.

“I'm afraid it's beyond my strength.”

“Let me, Doctor,” Jamie said and tried it, but also was unable to move it. “Aye, well, I've not had much exercise lately.”

“Quite. I think here is a gentleman who can open these doors for us.” The doctor looked confident at Toberman but Kaftan protested.

“He is my servant. I will not have him risk his life.”

“Surely it was for just such a contingency as this that you insisted we bring him with us?” Parry asked in return.

“Oh, there's no danger now. Unless of course he's afraid.” The doctor added, only for Toberman to start walking towards him. “Oh, no, no, he's not afraid.” He added in a surprised and slightly afraid tone, stepping aside and the dark-skinned man pulled both doors open with ease.

The Doctor warned the expedition to be careful but they marched in, paying no heed to his warning.

Entering the darkened inner chamber, the group found a control panel with a series of levers and switches, large, hidden doors and a sealed hatch.

The doctor took a look at the levers. “One in that section, and one in that section over there. Activated, I imagine, by this simple logical system over here. Here we are, I think.”

He moved the levers 6, 4 and 5, there's a beep and a door to the right of the entrance slid up.

“Yes, splendid, splendid. A simple logical gate.”

Then he did the same with another set of levers and the door opposite the entrance lifted open.

“Doctor, you seem to be very familiar with this place.” Klieg asked with suspicion in his voice.

“Oh no, not really. It's all based upon symbolic logic, the same as you use in computers. The opening mechanism for this door, an OR gate. you call it.” He explained in a neutral voice,

“Yes, yes, I can see that, but how did you know in the first place?”

“Oh, I use my own special technique.”

Klieg raised an eyebrow. “Oh really, Doctor? And may we know what that is?”

“Keeping my eyes open and my mouth shut.” The doctor deduced him before Parry spoke up

“We're far too many to explore together. I think we'd better divide up. If you, Mister Viner would take that door with er-“

“Jamie.” The companion of the doctor reminded him and he nodded.

“Jamie and Mister Haydon. Mister Klieg, the Doctor and myself will make up the other party.”

“Well, what about us?” Victoria asked.

“I think the women had better remain here.” The leader replied and she waved a hand.

“Oh, rubbish. We can make a party.”

“Certainly. With Toberman to guard us we need fear no one.” Kaftan added.

“Right. Mister Klieg, will you take them along with you?”

“I prefer to stay here.” Was his answer to Parry.

“As you wish. Mister Viner, will you go along with the women?” Parry asked a fellow man, who gave him a nod.

“If you like.”

“But get back to the spacecraft by 1630. You all know the temperature drop at night, so we'll meet back here at 1625. If anyone is missing that'll give us an hour to look for them before we have to leave.”

“Come on, then. We might as well try that opening over there.” Viner said to the women and took the lead

“We'd better keep close together. Kaftan advised Victoria, who shook her head.

“I'm all right thank you.”

Upon splitting up, Victoria, Viner and Kaftan came across a chamber with a sarcophagus-like box facing a projection device that was apparently used to revitalize the Cybermen. In another room, Jamie and Peter Haydon found a small silver caterpillar-like object on the floor. Noticeable was that it had crystalline eyes and antennae, resembling an oversized metallic silverfish.

In the control room, the doctor and Klieg tried to restore the power, as a big dial was lit up now, and flashing blocks of numbers as an indicator finger swung to and fro.

“Well?” Parry asked his collogue.

“Well, the basis of this code is binary to digital conversion with an intervening step involving a sort of Whitehead logic. Well, when this Burrier series is complete, there is no more to be done."

“Yes, but why do it at all?” The doctor asked and Parry looked at him in slight surprise

“Really, Doctor, for an archaeologist you seem to be curiously lacking in curiosity.”

“Some things are better left undone, and I have a feeling that this is one of them.” He simple told the two men

“What do you mean by that?” Klieg did not understand.

“Well, it's all too easy, isn't it?”

“Easy?”

“I wouldn't call this an easy survey, would you, Klieg?” Parry asked into the round.

“Everything here is designed to keep their secrets, whatever they are, insoluble.”

This caused the Doctor to raise an eyebrow. “Insoluble?”

“But take this-“

The doctor cut him off. “Oh, I wouldn't say that.”

“But take this mathematical sequence, for example. I'm really no nearer to its solution. I've tried every possible combination. You'd hardly call that easy!” Klieg countered and the doctor read his notebook, giving a slight smile

“Yes, well, what you've done here is mostly right.”

“Why, thank you.”

“You see, if you take any progressive series it can be converted into binary notation. If you take the sum of the integrants, and express the result as a power series, then the indices show the basic binary blocks. Only I wouldn't do it if I were you. Oh no, I really wouldn't do it!” He advised Klieg with concern.

“Of course. You're right.” Eric walked to the row of levers below the dial and started moving them. “Look! Sum between limits of one and nine one integral into power series. Yes! yes! Then you differentiate-“

A sound of increasing power generation cut him off and the lights started to flicker.

“You fool! Why couldn't you leave it alone!” The doctor cried out in alert, causing Parry to wonder.

“What's happening?

“I don't know. Perhaps the Cybermen aren't quite as dormant as you imagine. We must find out what has happened to the others.”

As he reached the room, the man found Jamie and Haydon experimenting on a machine and rushed to turn off the console.

Before he could intervene, a humanoid silhouette came into view.

It turned out to be a Cyberman, sliding into view and a gun fired.

The shot hit Haydon in the back before he could react, killing him.

He fell to the ground, slightly smoking, an empty expression, with all looking in horror at the scene.

Then the cyborg slid out of view again and Parry asked, “What happened?”

“He's dead. Don't you see, he's dead? It's this damn building. It's alive. It's watching us! It'll get us all! We've got to leave!” Viner yelled in fear and terror, yet his leader rolled his eyes.

“All right, Viner. This is terrible. How did it happen?”

“We've got to get out of this building. It's deadly! They'll kill all of us if we don't get back to the rocket.” Viner yelled, much to the Doctor’s confusion.

“They?”

“The Cybermen! Didn't you see it?”

“Cybermen? A live Cyberman? My dear Viner, they've been dead for the last five hundred years.” Parry corrected him in disbelief.

“I tell you it was a Cyberman and it came out of there, that screen thing.” Viner pointed to it and Jamie noted.

“He's right.”

In response, the Doctor deduced that the gun was at the back of the room. They reenacted what Jamie did before, pulling two levers and a big button.

To the surprise of the ponies, a figure of eight patterns appeared on the wall and a Cyberman slid out in front of it.

A weapon, looking like a laser gun, came out of the opposite wall.

It was defiantly a laser as it fired at the cyborg.

It decapitated the Cyberman, falling to the ground.

Victoria screamed at the sight, being startled as she looked in horror and surprise.

As the doctor exanimated it, he came to a conclusion. “It's all right. I think. I think it's all right now. Yes. You see, it's just a mock-up, a model. No, don't touch that. That gun may be wired up too.”

“It's a trap.” Parry countered with worry, yet the other man was not fazed.

“No I don't think so. I think it's a testing room for weapons. This is a purely robotic Cyberman. There's no human material in it at all. He's a target for weapons.”

Parry decided to abandon the expedition and return to Earth. But the pilot of the ship, Hopper angrily revealed that someone had sabotaged the rocket ship — no-one would be leaving until he could effect repairs and no-one would be allowed aboard until his crew had done so.

Klieg jumped on this delay to take advantage and explored the area, but needed the help of the doctor to crack the code to open the hatch.

“That's it! I've got it! Finally, a Boolean function of symbolic logic.” The former cheered, only for the doctor to add,

“Logical, yes, but-”

“Everything yields to logic. Our basic assumption, Doctor.” Kaftan cut him off and he gave a nod.”

“Really.”

“Six, cap, B four, if and only if, C is cap function of two A,” Eric mumbled as he adjusted the controls, pulling a lever but nothing happened.

“I think perhaps your logic is wearing a little thin.” The doctor commented, yet Eric wasn’t fazed by it.

“I must have made a mistake. I'll do it again more carefully. Six, cap, B four, if and only if, C is cap function of, ah, that's it, two F not two A.”

This time, the hatch opened as he operated the switches, with light coming from below.

“I've done it! I've done it!” Krieg cheered and the doctor gave a weak smile.

“Congratulations.”

Everyone except Victoria and Kaftan were to go. Victoria protested, but the Doctor asked her to stay and keep an eye on Kaftan, which she agreed to.

There was a ladder, leading to a cavern and the eyes of the ponies went wide.

The walls of the cavern full of frosted compartments reaching high above them. 5 rows, connected by two ladders at each side, with 4 frosted compartments each. Somehow, it looked majestic, yet so simple. Like a balcony or staircase where a Royal individual would descend from.

Still, there was a chill of coldness going through them. A feeling of unease filed their minds, as the tombs looked very old, like they hadn’t been touched in centuries, no mark on them or anything. That it was never supposed to be found.

“Behold, gentlemen. The tombs of the Cybermen!” Parry announced, yet Jamie looked around in confusion.

“Tombs? I don't see any tombs.”

“In there, Jamie. Frozen forever. All their evil locked away with them. And so it must remain.” The Doctor explained and Eric commented,

“Like a gigantic honeycomb. Like bees waiting for the signal to arise from their winter sleep.”

“A signal that they're never going to get.”

“We'd better get busy. Everything must be recorded. It's too cold to remain for long.” Viner warned.

“Unless we find some way to warm things up,” Eric added.

A thud sound started them and they noticed that the hatch got closed. The group tried to find a way to open it. Krieg found a code on a console and speculated it must open the hatch.

However, it shocked the ponies to see while the others were distracted, Eric turned to the vast network of tombs with a smile, as they started to defrost.

“It is them. Gentlemen, they are perfect. This is unique in archaeology.” Parry commented at the sight and Viner in shock and panic, reached for the levers.

To everyone’s surprise, Klieg produced a gun and shot him.

“Back. Keep back!” Eric warned, “Let's see what happens. As the Professor says, this is a unique archaeological event. It would be such a pity to miss it.”

“You know, Doctor, I have a feeling that man's planned it all. He knew that that control wouldn't open the hatch.” Jamie said to him, who nodded,

“So did I, Jamie.”

“You knew, Doctor?”

“I wanted to know what he was up to.”

“And now you know, Doctor.” Klieg taunted him but Parry wasn’t convinced.

“We know nothing. This is the action of a lunatic.

“Lunatic? Not at all, Professor. A necessary detail, that's all.” Klieg stated sternly

“But why?

”Logic, my dear Professor, logic and power. On Earth the Brotherhood of Logicians is the greatest man intelligence ever assembled. But that's not enough by itself. We need power. Power to put our ability into action. The Cybermen have this power. I have come here to find it and use it.” Eric explained.

“So that was your motive in financing my expedition.”

“Precisely. Your complete lack of administration made it ideal for our purpose.” Eric taunted the professor, yet the doctor dared to ask,

“You think the Cybermen will help you?”

“Of course. I shall be their resurrector.” Klieg sounded confident and Parry pointed to the tombs.

“Look!”

The Cybermen started to rip their way out of their cells and climbed down the ladders at either side of the block, around 8 in number.

All humans save for Klieg and the doctor looked with slight fear at the cyborgs but that changed to confusion as they got completely ignored. Instead, the Cybermen gathered in front of a cyber logo at the base of the wall. They opened it to reveal a slightly different design of Cyberman.

This one lacked a chest unit and the ponies saw that instead of handles, he had an enlarged, dome-shaped semi-transparent braincase lit from the inside and the metal suit was grey instead of silver.

It took the ponies only seconds to realize that this Cyborg had to be a high-ranking one, as the other Cybermen saluted him, with Jamie wondering and the doctor answering him.

“I think it's their leader, their Controller, Jamie.”

Then the cyborgs faced the group of humans and Eric started to speak with slight excitement, “I am Klieg. Eric Klieg. I have brought you back to life. We of the Logicians have planned this. You are alive because of us. Now you will help us. We need your power. You need our mass intelligence.” He said but the Controller did not react, just staring at him.

“Are you listening? Do you understand me? Now that I have released you-“ He raised his hand, only to cry in pain as the Controller grabbed his wrist, forcing him to kneel. “Let me go! I set you free! It was our plan!”

The Controller then tossed him back and his mouth hatch opened.

“You belong to us. You shall be like us.”

“How did you know that we would come to release you? You could have remained frozen forever.” Parry asked with slight fear.

“The humanoid mind. You are inquisitive.” The controller replied, enough for the doctor to conclude.

“Ah, I see, a trap. A very special sort of trap, too.”

“What do you mean, special trap?” The expedition leader asked him confused.

“Well, don't you see? They only wanted superior intellects. That's why they made the trap so complicated.” He explained, only for the Controller to add,

“We knew that somebody like you would come to our planet one day.”

“Yes, and we've done exactly as you've calculated, haven't we?

In response, the cyborg leader answered, “Now you belong to us.”

“Excuse me. May I ask a question? Why did you submit yourself to freezing? You don't have to answer that if you don't want to.” The doctor asked in an attempt of false flattery.

“To survive. Our history computer has full details of you.” This answer of the Controller caused the doctor to raise an eyebrow.

“Oh? How?”

“We know of your intelligence.”

“Oh, thank you very much.” He replied before understanding. “Ah, yes. The lunar surface.”

“Our machinery had stopped and our supply of replacements been depleted.”

“So that's why you attacked the Moonbase.” The doctor concluded and the cyborg added,

“You had destroyed our first planet and we were becoming extinct.”

“What difference does capturing us make? You'll still become extinct.” Jamie did not understand.

“We will survive. We will survive. Now you will help us.” Was the only reply of the Controller.

“What makes you think we're going to help you? That murderer doesn't speak for us.” Parry pointed out, yet the cyborg paid no attention to it as he explained

“You will become the first of a new race of Cybermen. You will return to the Earth and control it.”

Parry’s eyes went wide in horror. “Never! Never!”

“Everything we decide is carried out. There are no mistakes.”

“A new race of Cybermen? But we're humans. We're not like you.” Jamie protested, only for the cyborg to reply.

“You will be.”

The group of Cybermen tried to get hold of the scientists and Toberman. Jamie managed to escape but got zapped as he was about to reach the ladder.

“Please, please, please let me go! Please, let me go!” Toberman cried as he struggled with a Cyberman.

However, the cyborg managed to lift him up and threw him into a pile of barrels.

Then the humans were forced to sit down on the ground, with the doctor tending to Toberman before the Controller walked up to Klieg.

“We have decided how you will be used.”

“Yes?” He asked with fear in his voice.

“You are a logician. Our race is also logical. You will be the leader of the new race.”

“You will listen to my proposals then?”

“Yes, we will listen, but first you will be altered.”

“Altered?” The man dreaded to imagine.

“You have fear. We will eliminate fear from your brain. Yes. You will be the first.”

“And you will be the next.” A fellow Cyberman added, looking at the others

“I? No, no!” Parry yelled in fear.

“You will be like us.”

“To die is unnecessary. You will be frozen and placed in our tombs until we are ready to use you. Your lives will be suspended.” The Controller explained, then turned to another Cyberman. “Prepare the tombs.

“They really mean it. They're going to freeze us.” Parry shivered slightly and Jamie shook his head

“Not me.”

“No, Jamie. They're coming back.” The doctor tried to give the group hope.

Barely had he finished, several bangs followed and smoke filled the room. It disoriented the Cybermen as they looked around, trying to figure out what was happing, giving the group a chance to escape.

However, Klieg took a wrong turn getting separated from the group and Toberman was struggling with two Cyberman. A third came and used it’s electro attack to zap him.

He was getting weaker, yet still struggled, required another zap to be knocked out.

“This humanoid is powerful. We will use him. Prepare him.” The Controller ordered his minions.

As the doctor reached the hatch, a Cyberman grabbed him by the shoulders, he struggled against it. Victoria grabbed a thermos from the table and started hitting the cyber man's arm with it.

It let go of the Doctor and grabbed her instead, trying to pull her in as he leaned half out of it.

One of them the crew member, called Jim Callum, moved the lever and the hatch came down on the Cyberman. It had to let go of Victoria to try stopping the hatch cover coming down.

The cyborg struggled but failed, beating on the hatch after it closed, fracturing it a bit before giving up.

While glad it had worked, the humans realized that Toberman and Klieg, however, were left behind.

“The humanoid has escaped?” The controller asked his fellow Cyborg.

“Yes.”

“Guard the passageway.”

“Yes.”

As both walked away, Klieg, who managed to hide, climbed to the top of the ladder, knocking fairly gently on the closed hatch in fear of being heard by the Cybermen, a slight scared expression on his face

The party topside was reluctant to open the door as they heard the knocking, but the Doctor convinced them that it is Klieg or Toberman due to the softness of the noise. They swiftly opened the door long enough for Klieg to escape. He and Kaftan were moved into the testing range to keep them out of mischief while the others decided on their next course of action. Captain Hopper went back to the ship.

Blinking, the scene went back to the Tombs, with the Controller testing a level at the controls. “Release the cyber mats. We will use the power of cybernetics.”

Three of those caterpillar-like drones were taken out and the controller added, “Activate them. The brain of this humanoid will be their target. Now.”

The Cybermats were put on the floor near Toberman, but they didn’t move and the Controller realized why.

“These Cybermats are dormant through lack of use. Inspect them.”

The others did as told and shortly afterwards, one Cyberman reported, “The Cybermats are ready.”

“Stand clear. Now.”

In response to the Controller’s words, the Cybermats trundled towards Toberman, appearing to inspect him for a short moment.

“Enough. These humanoids are not like us. They still have fear. Place the Cybermats on the runway.”

As ordered, the Cyberman put the Cybermats on a small ramp leading into a hole in the wall.

“Cybermats will attack.”

With that, the scene switched back to the humans again, the expedition was asleep with Victoria and the Doctor keeping guard. As Victoria fell asleep too, her friend put his cloak around her as she settled by the table.

He was unaware of a Cybermat closing in on him, a high pitched beeping tone came from it. It bumped into his shoe and he looked down in surprise.

“Jamie, Victoria, Callum, wake up. Wake up!” He yelled in alert, just as the second Cybermat jumped onto Callum's chest, who did not react, still asleep.

“Don't move, Callum. Don't move.” The doctor warned as he carefully closed in, then knocked the small cyborg creature off with a whack of his hand, helping a startled Callum up.

“Now get back to the controls, all of you. Steady, don't make any sudden movements.” He advised as the second Cybermat landed on the side, struggling to get up before succeeding. “Parry, Parry. Wake up, Parry. Wake up. Wake up.” Parry startled slightly as he saw the Cybermat, with Callum having his hand on his holster. “Don't panic. Come back with us. Steady. Now we'll all go in the other room and lock them out.”

Victoria screamed, Jamie clutched her protectively as the first Cybermat was heading for them.

“Let's get out of here. The main doors. No, look.” Callum warned as the third Cybermat blocked the way

“Oh Doctor, we're trapped.” Victoria cried in horror and he advised,

“Back against the controls, everybody.”

The Doctor picked up a big power cable. “Here. Give me a hand, quick.”

“What?” Parry did not understand.

“Lay this down on the ground. Come on!”

“They'll go over it, Doctor.” Jamie protested, yet it didn’t matter for him

“Come on!” He and Parry helped the doctor to lays the cable in an arc in front of the control panel.

“Let's blast the filthy things!” Callum yelled, firing three shots into of the Cybermats, who started, smoking, it’s beeping sounds fading as it dies

“You're wasting your time. There are too many of them. Now, do what I say. Come back!” The doctor warned as he put power through the cable by using a switch.

It started to smoke and the Cybermats started spinning in apparent confusion.

“There you are, you see.” The Doctor commented at the sight, much to Parry’s confusion.

“What are those creatures?”

“Well, they're a form of metallic life. They home on human brainwaves and attack.” The doctor explained as all Cybermats were lying on their sides, not moving anymore.

“Are they safe now?” Victoria asked unsure and the doctor nodded with a grin.

“Yes, quite safe now. The power cable generated an electrical field and confused their tiny metal minds. You might almost say that they've had a complete metal breakdown.” This caused Jamie to groan “I’m so sorry, Jamie."

“What about Klieg and Kaftan? They've probably attacked them as well. His female friend realized with worry

“The testing room.” Parry pointed to the door.

“Come on. Now mind your feet.” The doctor took the lead, only to see both waiting at the door for them.

“Most ingenious, Doctor. Now, let's see what you can do against this.” Klieg raised a laser gun, the same that had been used in the testing room and fired.

Victoria screamed as the laser hit Callum, as he pushed the Doctor out of the way.

He screamed in pain as it hit him in the shoulder, clutching it as he fell to the ground.

Everyone else dove to the floor, with Parry attempting to help his wounded friend, yet was forced by Klieg to hand his gun over.

“You've killed him, you murderer,” Parry said in disgust

“No, he is fortunate, I spared him,” Klieg replied calmly, only for Jamie to point out,

“You mean you missed him.”

“Silence. I could have destroyed him if I wanted to. Shall I kill them now?” Klieg asked his female helper, who shook her head.

“No, no, that will not be necessary. I'm sure the Cybermen will have a good use for them. You will make excellent experimental specimens.”

“Oh, let me help him, please.” Victoria pleaded, not able to see Callum in pain

“No tricks,” Klieg warned as he allowed it and the doctor asked with distrust,

“You still think you can bargain with the Cybermen?”

“Certainly. And this time on our terms.” Klieg gave a grin as he opened the hatch and shouted down, “I wish to speak to the Controller!”

The Cybermen acknowledged it, yet the Controller had other plans.

“The humanoids must first be destroyed. You will re-enter cells to conserve energy.”

“He is now prepared.” A fellow Cyberman reported, pointing to Toberman lying on a table.

“Release him.”

Toberman sit up, staring at nothing and with a metal-looking arm, the same as the Cybermen had. The other Cyborgs climbed back into their tombs and sealed themselves up again.

Though, the observers noticed three Cyberman that only pretended to seal themselves up as the Controller and Toberman went to the ladder.

“That's better. Now you are under my control. We know you must be revitalized or you will perish. If you agree to my terms, I shall let you survive.” Klieg offered and the Controller replied,

“I will listen.”

“Make them release Toberman,” Kaftan demanded with slight worry in her voice

“If you think they'll listen to you, you're even dafter than I thought.” Jamie taunted with a disgusted expression, only for Klieg to give him a glance.

“Silence. Sit down.” He warned and turned to the cyborg. “First, you release our man.”

In response, the Controller's brain sent energy into Toberman's head. Toberman walked out of the hatchway, not looking where he was putting his feet.

“Toberman, it is good that you are back. Watch them.” Kaftan was relieved, obvious to his unusual behavior, which Jamie noticed with an unease expression, whispering to the doctor.

“Doctor, he seems er-“

“Yes, Jamie, yes.”

The Controller was coming down the steps as Eric made a stop gesture.

“Stay where you are! Now, do you agree to accept our plan?”

“Plan?” The doctor asked dumb folded.

“The conquest of the Earth.”

“What?” Parry exclaimed in disbelief, “You must be out of your mind.”

“Silence! Your answer?”

“We accept. We will give you some of our power devices.” The controller replied to Klieg’s question.

“Good. I knew an understanding could be reached. I shall let you be revitalized. To survive, it must be now. Come forward. Slowly.”

“Eric, be careful.” His female partner pleaded with worry and he gave a weak smile.

“Leave this to me.”

The Controller walked to the door to the power room

“You're absolutely crazy to trust them!” Parry exclaimed, yet Klieg gave him a smirk.

“Do you think so? Then perhaps you and your colleagues had better join him. Go on, go on! The girl stays with us!” He pointed his gun at Victoria, who gasped and the doctor exclaimed in slight anger,

“No!”

“Any trouble, she is our hostage.” Klieg pointed out calmly.

Kaftan then ordered Toberman to close the hatch, but as he did not respond, she did it herself.

In the power room, the group noticed that the Controller was recess, stating that his energy levels were low. The Doctor helped him in with the intention of trapping him inside, putting a rope against the recess lid.

However, the revitalization procedure kicked in remotely. The Cyborg punched his way out easily and faced the group. “You will remain still.” He then transmitted strong energy waves through the walls.

In response, Toberman walked up to Klieg as he had his back turned, knocking him unconscious with the cybernetic arm. The controller then moved in, taking possession of the Cyber-gun.

“You have done well.” He said to Toberman and Kaftan called out to him in shock, only for the cyborg to add, “Silence. He is now under our control. Open the tombs.”

“No. You have broken your promise.” The woman stated firmly.

“Cybermen do not promise. Such ideas have no value. Open.”

Kaftan refused again.

Realizing it would lead to nothing, the Controller opened the hatch himself.

As he walked away from the switch, the woman used it to close the hatch again, and pulled out a gun from her bag and fired.

The bullets bounced harmlessly off. “That gun will not harm me.” Came out of the Cyberman’s mouth and he fired his gun in return.

Kaftan fell dead to the ground with a scream, her wound slightly smoking, everyone looked in shock at it.

“You will report to the surface”. The cyborg called down and the doctor noticed that Toberman was twitching at the death of his employer and walked over to him.

“Look what they've done. You're not like them. You're a man like us. You must help us! He has killed Kaftan! You must help us.” He said with a slightly pleading expression.

Without any hesitation, the former servant walked towards the cyborg leader, attacking and struggling with him.

The gun got dropped and Jamie rushed for it. Then Toberman lifted the Controller over his head and threw it onto the control panel in a shower of sparks.

Moments after, a Cyberman climbed up the ladder and Jamie fired.

Smoke emitted from it as in died, with the man pushing it down and fired down the hatch at another Cyberman.

It filled the ponies with pity as they saw Toberman cradling Kaftan's body in grief as the doctor decided to make sure the Cybermen were no longer a threat, comforting Toberman.

“Toberman, you see what these creatures have done to you? They've tried to make you like them. Do you understand? They've tried to make you their slave. They just want to use you. They are evil. Think of Kaftan.”

In response, his expression became one of slight rage. “Evil!”

This caused the doctor to grin. “They must be destroyed, do you see? Evil must be destroyed. Now, come!”

“Destroy!”

The two were unaware that Klieg had regained consciousness and quietly followed down with the cyber-gun while the others tended to Callum.

Once back in the cave, the doctor pulled the levers to freeze the Cybermen permanently, much to Klieg’s shock.

“The cryostat! You're freezing them!” He pushed the Doctor aside.

With a surprised expression, the man caught himself.

His eyes went wide in shock to see how Eric operated the levers in the opposite directed he had turned them.

In response, the ice that had frosted moments ago, warmed.

Drip by drip fell on the ground, forming a small, but slowly growing puddle.

The frost, faded slowly, revealing what was behind.

Cybernetic mummies slowly awakening from icy slumber, watching like crows as their permafrost prisons slowly came undone.

“No! No! You'll wake them up!” The doctor exclaimed in horror, only for Eric to smirk.

“That is exactly my intention. You still don't understand, do you? Their Controller is dead. Now I shall control them. They'll do what I say. You see, Doctor, yours is the privilege to witness for the first time the union between mass power and my absolute intelligence.”

He saw the Doctor motioning to someone behind him and pulled the gun on him, calling for the figure to emerge. It was Jamie, a neutral expression.

“Over to that wall, all of you. All of you! Now.”

“Yes, as you say, such a combination between intelligence and power would make you formidable indeed. Why you'd be commander of the universe with your brilliance! It makes the imagination reel with the possibilities!” The doctor taunted.

“Why, Doctor, if I had only known you shared my imagination, you might even have worked for me.”

“Perhaps it's not too late?”

“Doctor!” Jamie exclaimed in disbelief, yet his friend gave a smile.

“No, Jamie, don't you see?” He asked on return as the Cybermen were waking but Klieg had his back to them.

“Don't you see what this is going to all mean to all the people who come to serve Klieg the All Powerful? Why, no country, no person would dare to have a single thought that was not your own. Eric Klieg's own conception of the, of the way of life!”

“Brilliant! Yes, yes, you're right. Master of the world.” Klieg appreciated the doctor’s compliment, only to receive a smirk.

“Well now I know you're mad. I just wanted to make sure.”

“And so you have forfeited your right to survival. I shall make an example of you to all who question my intelligence, and the supreme power of the Cybermen.” Klieg explained with a dark expression, but the Doctor was not fazed.

“You know, I've heard all this before somewhere.”

“You know your trouble? You talk too much.” Jamie added to the taunt.

“Oh, you're stupid. You still think that your puny minds can survive against us? You're decadent, weak. Do you know that? Weak!” Klieg exclaimed in slight rage and the doctor smirked.

“All right. Go ahead, kill us.”

“No, I have a better idea. Much better idea. I shall leave you to the Cybermen. I'm sure they'll have some use for you. Or parts of you.”

But before he could do anything, a Cyberman came from behind and started to beat him.

Klieg in a fit of panic, tried to defend himself by blocking, screaming.

It was in vain as he got beaten to death. The cyborg then went to the control panel, only to be tackled by Toberman.

While they struggled, both the Doctor and Jamie operated the levers, with the former stating, “Last time they were frozen for five centuries. This time it must be forever.”

They were unaware of three Cybermen getting to the hatch and climbed up.

Toberman and the other cyborg were evenly matched, but the human managed to get it on its back and smashed open the chest unit. Foam oozed out as it died, clutching its chest.

Upon going up the hatch, the Doctor ushered the others out as he reprogrammed the computer and set up a circuit to electrify the hatch, the control panel and the doors, to prevent anyone from entering the city again.

“Doctor. Doctor!” Jamie tugged his coat in alert as they checked if the hatch was firmly closed.

To their horror as the doctor turned around, the Controller was up again, staring at them.

“Jamie, you go that way, I'll go this way. That way will give us more of a chance. When I say run, run.” The Doctor calmly instructed and both slowly circled the table.

“Run!”

They both made a dash for the exit, confusing the cyborg before he gave chase and both started to push the metal doors to close them but the Doctor realized a mistake.

“Wait! Stop!”

“What?” Jamie asked.

“We'll get a shock. We must find something to insulate. I know, that shoring timber over there! Hurry up! Hurry up, he's coming!” He pointed to it and his friend came back with the wood to push the doors shut as a Cybermat scuttled out between their feet unnoticed.

“Okay, Doctor!”

“Quickly! We must keep him inside or else all our work'll be wasted.”

They all pushed with all their strength but the cyborg held the doors open.

Without any warning, Toberman pushed them aside and put his strength against that of the Controller.

“We must survive. We must survive.” The cyborg said, only for Toberman to react by replying,

“You are evil!” The doors slowly closed, and in full knowledge of the consequences, he finished, “They shall never pass Toberman. The door is closed.”

As the metal doors met fully, electricity burned through the Controller and it fell to the floor, smoking and writhing.

Toberman slowly slid lifeless to the ground.

Everyone looked at him in pity, mourning him.

It was then were Parry and Hopper return to their ship after saying goodbye to the Doctor and his companions.

They were unaware if the Cybermat watching them. Up on a hill, the three Cyberman watched the group as well, before entering a saucer-shaped ship behind them and flew away.

With that, the scenery became the white void.

“So that explains the attack on the Moonbase,” Luna started, “Understandable, given they lost their home planet."

“Yes. And yet, it wasn’t the end of them.” Time Turner added.

“Indeed, we are about to see how they lived on.” Her horn lit up once more to cast the next memory.

Chapter 7 Past and cost part 4

Chapter 7 Past and cost part 4

Opening their eyes once more, the group found themselves in what looked like an operations room, with several men gathered around a man at a radio control console as a spaceship showed up on the screen. They looked at it with surprise.

“Hold. Get a fix on that.” The man on the console said with an Australian accent, a name tag identified him as Leo Ryan, Communications Officer, his eyes wide at the sight.

“It's not moving now,” A woman, Gemma Corwyn, Medical Officer as her nametag showed, stated before a second woman added,

“Crossover zero.” Her nametag showed Tanya Lernov.

“Triangulate it, Rico. How's it now. Tanya?” Leo asked her

“The same.”

“Just a slight drift.” Tanya added, yet Ryan shook his head.

“No, no the movement isn't real, it's just an illusion caused by slight polar precession.”

The moment he finished, an older man, Commander Jarvis Bennett as the nametag showed, entered

“How's our mystery rocket?” He asked in alert and the medical officer replied,

“Suddenly lifeless.”

“Doesn't make sense, sir. It must have been driven by something.” Tyan suspected before his female collogue added,

“No radio contact.”

“I'm not surprised. I've just checked out its description on the register. It's a Phoenix Mark Four named Silver Carrier.” The commander explained.

“Tanya?” Ryan looked at her for answers, not understanding.

“The register's even. No crossover reading now.” She explained and he shook his head.

“No, it's definitely stopped moving.”

“Silver Carrier?” The doctor asked into the round and the commander explained for her.

“Supply ship for Station Five. Reported overdue nine weeks ago. It's only about eighty or ninety million miles off course.”

“Try radio contact again, Rico.” Ryan ordered his crewmate who did as told.

As they tried again without success, they noticed that orbs from the ship were hitting their other hull, unaware that their hull was absorbing the orbs.

However, due to the fact that the ship was unmanned and could ram the station through an autopilot, Jarvis suggested destroying the ship. Gemma stated if the ship is on autopilot then it shouldn't have strayed so far from its course, but her superior stayed firm.

Suddenly, the radio operators ripped their headphones off in pain as a high-pitched noise came through it and the commander ordered the sound to be tracked.

To their surprise, it came from the Silver Carrier.

“You're sure?” The commander asked the Russian crewmate who nodded.

“Certain. I was fixed on it anyway. There's no doubt.”

“Then somebody is on board. Phil!”

“Sir.” The lower-ranking crewmate acknowledged.

“I want two men to cross over. Organize it, will you?”

Phil saluted. “Right sir.”

Bennet then let out a sigh. “Eighty million miles off course. If they're alive on board that craft, they must be in a pretty bad way.”

As the ponies watched the two men in spacesuits approaching the ship, they saw that Jamie was on the inside, together with an unconscious doctor. The newcomer gestures towards the front of the rocket before entering with his crewmate through an airlock. They repressurized the control room and the door opened, with Jamie happy to see them.

“Quick, I've somebody injured in here”

He and the doctor got brought to the medical bay, with the former, baring his chest for a check-up.

“Breathe in again. Out,” Corwyn advised, her patent did as told. “In again, please. Out. Now, I want you to take a deep breath and exhale as slowly as you can.” Jamie obeyed. “Good. You can dress now.”

“How about the Doctor?” He asked concerned.

“Concussion, certainly. I am waiting for the X-Rays to see if there's any fracture. What were you both up to?”

He titled his head. “Hey?”

“Fancy dress or something? Your clothes.” She pointed out, finding it odd.

“Look, have you ever thought what you look like walking down the street in those things. People would think you were a wee bit strange as well.” The doctor’s companion countered quickly as he realized she was suspicious.

“I dare say. But I don't understand the analogy. We're both in space. It's you and your friend who aren't conforming to custom.”

“How about the medical? Do I pass?” Jamie quickly asked to change the subject.

“You'll do. If it's any comfort to you, you are in fine physical shape. Can you give me your full name please?”

“James Robert McCrimmon. Jamie.”

“Thank you. And your friend?”

Jamie bit his lip as he didn’t knew how to identify the Doctor. “Er, the Doctor.”

“I can't put that down.” She stated and her patent hastily corrected,

“Er. John Smith.”

This caused Gemma to raise an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Aye.”

Corwyn’s expression became slightly skeptic as she noticed that her medical equipment was manufactured by John Smith and Associates, yet pretend to believe it.

“Doctor John Smith.”

“They must be a lot of them about.” Robert assumed with awkwardness in his voice and she nodded.

“I dare say. You were passengers aboard the Silver Carrier, were you?”

“Er, do you think that I could have a drink of water, please?” He asked in return, yet she had another question.

“What happened to the crew?”

“I don't know.” Jamie stated honestly.

“Could you go further than that?”

“Well, I was ill in the cabin, you see. A terrible fever. Raving for days. Well, when I came to, the door was closed against us, the Doctor was hurt and your people came.” He explained slightly nervous.

“All the communicating doors were closed against you?”

“Aye.”

“And your friend didn't tell you what happened?”

“No.” He answered her questions, receiving a nod.

“All right, Jamie, that'll do for the present. The Controller will want to have a chat with you. We'll have to get you home somehow.”

“Aye, that'll be the day.” He mumbled before catching himself with a forced smile. “Oh, of course”.

“There should be another ship passing through in a week or two.”

She then organized a tour of the station, explaining that it was called the Wheel being, a multi-purpose construction but functioned as a relay station for Earth, a halfway house for deep space ships, a space research station and a stellar early warning station.

Jamie then headed for the library, with the doctor reporting to her superior.

“He's lying. Not completely and apparently reluctantly. He's very fit both mentally and physically, nice constructive personality. His blood pressure suggests he's not been in space very long.”

“Lies about what?” Bennet wanted to know.

“He said he had fever aboard the Silver Carrier. He hadn't. His gamma globulins are normal.” She explained in return, yet the commander raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Why should he lie about that?”

“I asked him what happened to the crew. Fever was his excuse for not knowing. And then again he lied. At least, I almost sure he lied about his friend's name. John Smith, he called him.”

“Well, they do exist, you know.” Jarvis pointed out

“Yes, he was looking at that for long enough. Coincidence possibly. Somehow I doubt it. And then, what's the most precious thing in deep space, Jarvis?”

“Air, water, take your pick.” He answered her in a neutral voice.

“Exactly. In space training even for one journey travelers. He asked me for a drink of water and then he left it. He might have been on Earth. That boy's has no space travel training, Jarvis. He's probably a stowaway, or he may be an agent.”

“Sabotage?” The commander suspected before she continued.

“Plenty of people on Earth think we should suspend the space programme. Some of them have forced their opinions already.”

Bennet started to realize what she meant. “Do you think these two could have stowed away somehow, even disposed of the crew of the Silver Carrier, pretended to drift here helplessly, we take them in and they start breaking things up?”

“I don't go that far.2 She replied surprised, but it was clear for the elderly officer.

“Well of course, it's fits! Everything fits!” He exclaimed in a slight fit of rage and she held up a hand.

“I only suggested it as a possibility, Jarvis. There are others.”

“We'll talk about those later. This could be serious.” With that, he stormed out of the doctor’s office.

Jamie was lead around, yet had a shocked expression as he overheard some crewmembers talking about that the commander still wanted to destroy the rocket with an x-ray laser. Making sure he was unseen, he sneaked towards the capacitator bank to disable it.

The ponies wondered what this had to do with the Cybermen until an alarm on the control room of the rocket sounded. Two larger egg-like spheres were in a corner, power cables sprang to life, taking power from the consoles. The spheres started to grow, their skins glowing and becoming translucent to reveal a humanoid shape curled up inside. One of the spheres burst open to reveal a silver three-fingered fist.

The sphere got ripped more and more open, revealing a Cyberman with the tear-drop like eyes. In a matter of seconds, the other sphere busted open too, another Cyberman came out.

“Report”; a cybernetic voice sounded and the group saw the cyborgs looking up to a monitor. It wasn’t clearly recognize, only a bulbous, egg-like head as far as the ponies could tell.

“Phase one complete.” One of the Cybermen replied.

“Cybermats are launched.” Their superior reported back.

“Phase two complete.”

“You are undetected on the rocket? Questioned the other cybernetic creature and the Cyberman confirmed.

“Phase three ready.”

“Report again after phase three.”

Upon blinking, the group saw Jamie being held at gunpoint by security personal, with a crewmate checking the damage. The laser’s capacitator bank was covered in some kind of liquid that had been sprayed over.

After inspecting the X-ray laser, the crewmember told Jarvis that it would be out of action for at least a week.

“Sabotage!” The commander exclaimed in rage, yet Jamie refused to accept being accused of this

“No.” He firmly stated but it did not matter.

“What are you? One of these pull back to Earth maniacs? Where are your friends, eh? Out there in deep space just waiting to come in and attack us when you put our laser out of action?” Jarvis demanded to know.

“Och, you're talking rubbish!” The doctor’s friend taunted before the crewmate added,

“You can't deny anything, boy. We saw you.”

“I'm not denying it.”

Shortly after, everyone, safe for the crewmember that had checked the laser, left. He made a broadcast for repair crews, with his nametag now visible. Bill Duggan

“All hands to the power room. Immediate and urgent. All hands to the power room. Oh, what a mess” His eyes went down as he spotted a small bug like creature coming into view.

“Well, I'll be.” Bill mumbled in surprise but the bug tried to get away as he tried to get a closer look. “Hey. Hey, hang on. Hang on, I'm not going to hurt you.”

As it was trapped in a cover, he picked it up and inspected it.

The ponies realized it was a Cybermat, looing almost identical to the ones they had seen in the tombs, except that it lacked antennas and had photoreceptors for eyes rather than crystal-based eyes.

“Well, where did you spring from? You're metal. Hey, you're a strange little creature, aren't you? Some form of space bug?” Duggan mumbled before footsteps sounded outside. “Well, Billy, we'd better hide you, Billy Bug, or they'll think that I've gone bonkers”. With that, he picked up the Cybermat and put it in a cupboard.

Then two other crewmates entered to help with the repairs, with the Cybermat currying away.

Blinking, the group’s view switched to a resting room, seeing how the doctor was sitting up against an angled bed. There’s a padded silver chair in the corner and monitoring equipment nearby.

He berated Jamie for getting him in trouble, barely remembering what happened on the rocket.

Gemma then checked on him, finding him physically fine and Zoe, a female astrophysicist as her nametag showed, asked why he ordered Jamie to protect the rocket and how he managed pilot it, as she figured out that there was no way that the rocket could have drifted so far in such a short period of time and therefore must have been piloted. Plus such a lengthy journey would have meant that the ship would have needed refueling. She had inferred that the Doctor was in charge of all this.

“Well, it's an interesting theory.” He responded with awkwardness in his voice, yet the woman stayed form

“Oh, it isn't a theory. You can't disprove the facts. It's pure logic.”

“Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority. Supposing there was a faulty automatic pilot.” The doctor countered, only to be asked,

“To drive a rocket eighty-seven million miles on fuel for twenty million?”

“Well, it's a possibility.”

Then the scene switched back to the Cybermen, getting new orders. “We have ionized a star. Perseid meteorites will strike the Wheel.”

“Phase three is in operation.” The second Cyberman reported

“The Cybermats will consume Bernalium. Without Bernalium the Wheel cannot deflect the meteorites.”

“They will discover Bernalium on board this rocket-ship.” The first Cyberman acknowledged and his fellow Cyborg added,

“Phrase four is ready.”

“Remove telemeter control from Cybermats.” Their superior ordered. In response, the first Cyberman zapped a the clock face on the all and the third hand started whizzing around as the ammeter needle maxed out, switched flick and lights blinked. On the Wheel, the Cybermat's eyes flashed.

An engineer entered the power room. He saw Cybermats rooting around the Bernalium boxes, and grabbed a wrench from a shelf with a surprised, yet scared expression. In response, the mats headed for him, their eyes lighting up.

With a painful scream, the man dropped the wrench, clutching his wrist and the ponies realized: Whatever this was, it was some kind of paralyzing method.

Two more Cybermats appeared, surrounding him. The crewmate grabbed a spray and covered one Cybermat with it.

The other two zapped his other hand, causing him again to drop the spray, as both hands were now useless. A scream escaped his mouth as they moved towards him.

Alerted, some other crew members checked on him, only to find him dead. Noticing the spray, Gemma ordered it to be brought to the doctor for examination.

“The X-rays are processed now.” Zoe reported, curious to see what it is, “Can you turn out the light, Jamie?”

He nodded in response and did as told, the picture became slowly clear.

“Here we go. Now, let's see what we got.” The doctor was eager to see, yet his eyes went wide in surprise and shock as the image got projected on the wall.

“What's that?” The scientist asked curiously, not able to recognize it.

In alert, the doctor exclaimed, “It's a Cybermat!”

His companion nodded with a surprised expression. “Aye. That means the Cybermen must be here too.” Jamie concluded.

“Yes, and there is only one place where they can be. On that rocket!” The doctor pointed with a determined expression on the spaceship on the screen.

At the same time, 2 crewmembers entered the rocket. They walked backwards in fear once spotting the cyborgs. One got zapped by the Cyberman’s helmet device, he groaned in pain, holding his head. After a few seconds, he became still, a blank emotion on his face.

The other one attempted to grab a crate to defend himself but got zapped as well. With a painful scream, he dropped the crate before he also became still with a blank expression.

“You will take us to the Wheel.” One of the Cybermen ordered.

“Obey. Inside the Wheel, you will help us. You will obey.” The other one added.

None of the ponies could imagine what the cyborgs had planned, before the first one spoke up again.

“You will ferry us to the Wheel. Obey. Inside the Wheel you will help us.” Then they climbed into a large empty crate and lie down. The controlled humans fitted a false floor over them then filled the space with Bernalium fuel rods. Upon being done, they trailed the crate behind them as they space walked back to the station.

Meanwhile, the doctor tried to inform the controller about this.

“And what's all that supposed to mean?” Bennet raised an eyebrow, sounding disbelieving about this.

“The Cybermen are threatening this Space Wheel.” The doctor clear stated, sounding slightly desperate, yet his expression was neutral.

“Cybermen?” Jarvis asked dumb folded. It was clear to the observers that he did not understand at all. “Where'd you dream up a name like that?”

“The study of a system of control and communication in animals, and devices such as cybernetic machines.” Zoe tried to explain, her expression was honest, yet the commander did not understand.

“What are you talking about?”

“Cybernetics.”

“I know all there is to know about Cybernetics. I don't need a lecture from you.” Bennet dismissed it, his eyes slightly blazing, losing patience.

“But Cybermen exist. You've got to believe me. You've got to!” The traveler exclaimed, his expression now showing worry, only for Bennet to take a deep breath.

“On the evidence of one faked-up X-ray shot.”

“It's not faked-up. I took it myself, Controller.” Zoe protested with disgust in her voice and he slowly nodded

“Well, what are these Cybermen then?” The elderly man wanted to know and the doctor raised a hand to explain it to him

“They were once men, human beings like yourself, from the planet Mondas, but now they're more robot than man.”

“You mean half and half?” Jarvis slowly nodded, able to follow him.

In response, the doctor’s expression became serious, raising his voice slightly. “Oh no, more than that. Their entire bodies are mechanical and their brains have been treated neuro-surgically to remove all human emotions, all sense of pain. They're ruthless, inhuman killers!”

For a moment, the commander seemed to believe him but then, his expression became one of slight frustration. “You really expect me to believe that rubbish!”

“It's not rubbish! They'll kill anyone who stands in their path. You've got to believe me. You've just got to!”

Then the scene switched to the two controlled men, bringing the crate into the lading bay and the two Cybermen climbed out. Shortly after another crewmember entered and inspected the crate, noticing the false bottom. A metallic hand grabbed his shoulder and he turned around in surprise in fear.

Seeing one of the Cyberman, he threw the Bernalium at the Cyborg, making it stagger and attempted to run. The second Cyberman entered and his chest glowed, killing the crewman with his lethal beam. He and the other intruder then disposed of the body, as the two controlled crewmembers, Laleham and Vallance, as the nametags showed, each picked up a box of Bernalium and left.

They both carried it to the power room, where the Duggan was waiting. Both reported that the other crewman, named Chang, had cut his hand and went to the Medical bay. They also asked what they could do, with Duggan ordering them to help out.

“Now, if you really want to make yourself useful.” He said and turned around, only to face a Cyberman. The human cried it pain as the Cyborg used its hypnosis beam on him.

“The Wheel must be protected from the meteorites. We will assemble your laser Defence rays. You will go to Central Control.” The Cyberman said as Duggan’s expression became blank.

“Central Control.” He said without any emotion in his voice and Laleham nodded.

“The Operations Room.”

“These are your orders.” The Cyberman confirmed Duggan moved out.

Meanwhile, the doctor got shown around, also being in the operations room as they noticed Bennet entering. He ignored them completely, making them realize something was wrong.

But before they could do anything, Bill smashed the communications desk with a heavy spanner. It exploded, killing him.

The doctor checked the body, shaking his head. “He's dead.” He then got up, facing the others with a series expression.

“Now, now listen, listen everyone. The Cybermen are here, in this Wheel. They took over this poor fellow to stop you sending for help or signaling to Earth.” Now just a minute.” The doctor looked at the medical officer, “Gemma, you must alert the whole Wheel and you'll need something stronger than drugs to stop your people from being taken over. It doesn't matter how crude it is. A metal plate and a transistor will do. Tape them to the back of the neck. It will absorb the Cyber control signals.”

They all nodded in agreement and he went to the loading bay with Jamie. They discovered the false bottom but were forced to hide behind the crate as a Cyberman was about to come in.

He took one of the boxes of Bernalium then left.

The doctor grinned slightly. “It's so easy.”

“What?” His companion asked confused, yet his friend answered,

“I don't understand them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Destroying the wheel, Jamie, that's what I'm talking about. From the outside it's strong enough, but now that the Cybermen are inside…” He mumbled before Jamie cut him off.

“Yes, I see what you mean. What do you think they are planning?”

“Well, they obviously don't want to destroy the Wheel.” The doctor concluded

“What do they want, then?” Jamie was just as clueless

“I wish I knew. The first thing we must do is to protect the people here.” His older friend replied, setting his priority straight.

“How?”

“What's the thing which we need to survive which the Cybermen don't?” The doctor asked eagerly and Jamie thought for a moment.

“Food.”

This made the doctor chuckle with a slight grin. “Always thinking of your stomach, aren't you. No. Air, Jamie, air.”

With a push of a button, he activated a video comm and warned the control room to seal the airlock doors.

As they were in contact, Jamie saw something move in the corner of the room, pointing to it.

A Cybermat.

However, the doctor stayed calm as he instructed, “Listen to me very carefully. Do as I ask and don't delay. One of the Cybermats is very close to us. It'll tune into our brain waves at any minute.”

They both backed into a corner as a second one followed, brave expressions.

Then a high pitch whine sounded, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The group saw how the Cybermats stared veering around out of control, bumping into each other. One spun around in tight circles until it smoked and stopped while the other rushed headfirst into a wall and exploded.

This went not unnoticed by the Cybermen, as one reported from the power room to his superior, “All Cybermats have been destroyed.”

“Destroyed? By what method?” The superior asked.

“They have used high-current phase contrast.”

This caused the superior to suspect, “One human has knowledge beyond our predictions. Report.”

“The X-ray laser machine is repaired.”

“And operative?”

“Yes. In stage of operation.” The cyborg confirmed.

“Communication beam to Earth?”

“Attacked and damaged.”

“Phase six.” Was the order of the superior and the Cyberman acknowledged.

“Yes.”

“The space station is to be taken over. Complete Phase six.”

In that moment, an Engineer with the nametag Flannigan entered and asked if the laser was repaired, only for Vallance to point at gun at him.

“Don't point that thing at me, laddie.”Flannigan warned and knocked the gun from Vallance's hand, then threw him to the ground.

In response, Laleham brandishes a crowbar, only for the engineer to grin

“All right. If it's a fight you're after, I'm your man. Come on.” He dodged the swing with easy and taunted, “You need a few lessons in the noble and manly arts, me bucko! All right, come on!”

As they both were fighting each other, Vallance picked up the gun and fired. He missed hitting Laleham instead into the chest. Blood splattered and Flannigan looked at his crewmate in shock as he was dead on the spot.

Then a Cyberman entered and hypnotized him as well. He cried out in pain before succumbing.

“The Earth machine has been installed?” He asked Vallance who nodded.

“Yes.”

“A force field has been set around the Operations Control room. How is it operated?”

“Only from within the Operations Room.”

“Dispose of the body of the human.”

In the control room, the doctor speculated that the Cybermen must have caused the approaching meteor shower not to destroy the Wheel but to make them need to use their laser, forcing them to go to the rocket to get the Bernalium that the Cybermats corroded and allowing the Cybermen a way onto the Wheel. When asked why, he stated that the Cybermen were obsessed with conquering Earth and they must see the Wheel as integral for their new plot.

Again, the Cyberman got notified by his superior.

“The meteorite shower is approaching the Wheel.”

“The weapons of the Earth humans have been tested and are operating.” The cyborg reported

“Phase six can be completed.” However, the cyborg had bad news

“The Earth humans have set up a neutron field barrier on the perimeter of the section containing their room of Operations.”

“Do not complete Phase Six. Initiate Plan Three.” His superior decided.

A Cybermen with Valance in tow moved to the Oxygen supply room, noticeable by several canisters and tubes, with the human carrying a small box. He confirmed to the cyborg that this controlled the oxygen on the Space Station and opened the box.

It contained some silver capsules.

“Each section of the Wheel has a separate air supply.” The Cyberman said and his servant nodded. “Insert one capsule into each section. The oxygen will turn into pure ozone. The humans will die.”

They were unaware that the medical officer was watching them, hidden behind a bank of machinery. Gemma informed the control room via the comm system about what the cyborgs were about to do.

However, this alerted the Cyberman to her presence. She fired a laser pistol, making the threat stumble briefly. Corwyn made a dash for the door but the cyborg recovered, using his death ray, killing her before she could open it, falling lifeless to the ground.

At the same time, Bennett was striding along a corridor, turning around to see the other Cyberman. The commander put on a brave expression, walked towards the Cyberman, ready to grapple with it. The Cyborg anticipated this and blocked his attack, easily overpowering the human. The group watched in horror as the Cyberman lifted Bennett up over its head and threw him down the corridor. Jarvis did not move and the Cyborg used it’s chest unit ray to ensure he would stay that way.

His fellow cyborg then made a report to his servant. “The meteorites have been destroyed. Now we will take over. You have inserted the capsule in the air supply?”

“Yes.

“Inject it into the system. Effective penetration should be immediate.” Vallance did as told but nothing happened. “Report.”

“Negative. They must have switched over to the emergency supply.”

“That cannot be reached?” His “leader” concluded and he confirmed,

“No. It is inside the force field.”

The Cyberman pushed a button on his chest, activating his portable communicator.

“Do you report success?” The superior asked.

“No. Our plans are anticipated.”

“Wait. The data will be computed.” There was a pause, processing the data. “One of the Earth humans must have experience of our methods. Projection of all identities on the Wheel is essential.”

Vallance was given a blast from the Cyberman's head beam and asked to picture and identify everyone on board. He went through everyone until he got to the Doctor, whom he couldn’t name.

In the control room, the doctor and crew of the station were discussing why the Cybermen were here, as they suddenly saw something else on the radar. The Doctor identified it as a Cyberman ship.

Then Flannigan contacted the Operations Room to explain he had a number of Cybermen captive in a workshop, with the doctor insisting that he will go. He also stated that he was suspicious of Flannigan, that the crewman would turn up in the Operations Room and that he would to have a plate put on his head immediately before rushing off.

Shortly after, Flannigan entered the Operations Room with Zoe and Jamie. Leo wasted no time putting the anti-hypnosis device on the back of Flannigan's neck.

The moment it was done, the doctor reported via the monitor system, telling he had spare parts to repair communications before signing off abruptly, stating that he had company.

Tensed, the ponies watched as the doctor calmly turned around to face the 2 Cybermen. “I suppose you've come for me.”

“You know our ways.” One of the cyborgs replied.

“Yes, I thought you'd realize somebody did. I imagine you have orders to destroy me.”

“Yes.” The other Cyberman confirmed, yet the man was curious.

“Tell me one thing. Why did you order Duggan to destroy radio communication with the Earth? After all, that is why you want possession of the Wheel, isn't it?”

“You know our ways.” Was the answer of the first Cyberman, only for the doctor to state,

“That doesn't answer my question.”

“He was instructed to destroy only the transmitting complex.” The second Cyberman explained instead.

This was enough for the doctor to figure it out. “Oh, I see. How interesting. Yes, of course. And presumably your large spaceship holds your invasion fleet, and the smaller ships can only enter the Earth's atmosphere by homing on a radio beam.”

“You know our ways. You must be destroyed.”

“Yes, well, I was afraid you'd get back to that. Well, you'd better come in.” the doctor said without fear, making a gesture to welcome them.

As the first Cyberman stepped forward, the Doctor throws a switch and electricity crackled through its headpiece. The cyborg twitched and flailed as it collapsed. In response, the other one tried to use its chest unit, but it had no effect, accusing the doctor to taunt.

“You can't get through the field, you know.”

“You will be destroyed. Others are coming” The cyborg pointed at him as he walked backwards out of the room, allowing the man to turn the electricity off.

Flannigan and Jamie emerged through the tunnels, the former picked up a mini-extinguisher as the Doctor was sure Cybermen would send in reinforcements, probably through the Loading Bay, planning to use the laser to destroy the enemy ship.

At the Loading Bay, Flannigan, equipped a spacesuit and saw the other Cyberman and Vallance, with him pretending to still be under Cybermen control as a group of Cybermen was spacewalking to the Wheel.

The moment the Cyborg turned his back to him, Flannigan and Jamie approached Vallance, and Jamie putting the metal plate on the back of his helmet. He stumbled In response, looking slightly confused around.

The Cyberman turned around but Flannigan used the extinguisher device on its chest unit. It flailed around, reaching for the door controls as it collapsed. His following Cybermen were just paces away as Flannigan closed the outer doors, but the leading Cyborg wedged itself between them and tried to force them open.

In that moment, the laser of the station fired. The ponies got a brief look, the Cyber-ship was round, like a cylinder but it’s form reminded of a screwdriver. It got destroyed in a gigantic explosion.

“I'll try and operate the neutron force-field. Hold tight!” Flannigan operated a panel. Upon pressing a few buttons, the force field repelled the Cybermen by sucking them into space, and the outer doors closed.

With uncertainty, the ponies watched as a Cybermen pushed a button on his chest and a small shuttle-like ship, similar to that of the Moonbase, closed in and he, with 5 others grabbed hold of it, getting on board and flew away.

“Fascinating,” Kyle started as they found themselves again in the void, “They were almost wiped out, yet still managed to do this.”

“Yeah, but the will to achieve something can be dangerous if desperate,” Fetcher added and Luna nodded.

“Indeed. But I believe there must be several groups of different Cybermen, all originating from Mondas. This memory was from 2079, 9 years after the Moon Base.” She said with a slightly surprised tone in her voice.

“Why that?” Dinky titled her head.

Luna lit up her horn as she replied, “Because this memory is from…1970.”

Chapter 8 Past and cost part 5

Chapter 8 Past and cost part 5

Upon opening their eyes, the group looked in awe to find themselves in a big city. “This looks like…London,” Dinky said as she looked around, spotting Big Ben in the distance.

“Who would have thought?” Fletcher commented at the sight.

Their view got focused on a large building, the name “International Electromatic” On it, with the Doctor and Jamie entering it, being brought by a security guard, Parker as the nametag showed it.

They got brought into an office, a man was sitting at a desk, with a small tab on it. It said, “Tobias Vaughn, managing director.” He looked up with a smile. “Come and sit down, gentlemen.”

The Doctor forced a smile. “Thank you.”

“You can go, Packer,” Tobias said and the guard nodded before leaving. “I must apologize for Packer's crude devotion to duty. But your method of entry into my building was rather unconventional, wasn't it?” He asked his guests and got a hateful glare from Jamie.

“Aye, well, there was no need for all that gas and stuff.”

“Jamie. I think perhaps it is we who should be apologizing to you, Mister.” His friend quickly tried to defuse the situation, yet Tobias was not fazed as he introduced himself.

“Vaughn. Tobias Vaughn. I'm the managing director of International Electromatics. Your business must be very pressing to force you to such extremes.”

“Yes, it is.” The Doctor confirmed with his forced smile.

“Concerning Professor Watkins?” Vaughn concluded, much to Jamie’s surprise.

“How did you know?”

“My computer. It reported directly to me.” He answered and the doctor nodded, yet the ponies took notice that Tobias was blinking very infrequently.

“Oh, I see.”

“You've gone to a lot of trouble for nothing, you know. The Professor's working on an experiment and refuses to see anyone.” Tobias explained, with Jamie nodding.

“Ah, well, we only want to talk to him, you see.”

“Perhaps I can help.”

The Doctor reluctantly handed some circuits over to Vaughn. The manager was intrigued. “As you say, rather complex. However, I'm sure we'll be able to help you. I'll have them sent to my workshops immediately.”

“Oh, how very kind.” The doctor faked a kind smile, clearly unease about this, as the ponies could tell.

“Not at all. Professor Watkins is a valued colleague. Any friend of his is.” Vaughn then reached for something at his desk.

“Oh, have you got one of these, young man?” It was revealed to be a small radio.

“No. What is it?” Jamie asked curiously.

“Surely you've seen them about. They're disposable transistor radios. One of our latest products. Most popular. We've sold ten million in this country alone. Here. Compensation for the treatment you received from the worthy Packer.” The manager offered as an apology, which Jamie gladly took.

Tobias watched closely as both walked out, inspecting the circuit before flipping a switch. Part of the back wall off the office opened, revealing a very alien computer, at the center of which was an oval cybernetic head.

It caused the ponies to gasp, it looked identical to that supervision they had seen at the Wheel.

The device consisted of a framework of metal and transparent tubes with a number of lights, the head rotating as it analyzed two pictures of Jamie and the Doctor.

“The images of the two humans have been analyzed and registered. They are known and are hostile.” It spoke in a metal, echoing computer-like voice.

“Hostile? How can that be?” Tobias asked surprised, “Have you been on Earth before?”

“No, they have been recognized on Planet Fourteen. They are dangerous and must be destroyed.”

“Planet Fourteen? But how?”

“They must be destroyed.” Vaughn’s machine stated and he nodded.

“Yes, I'll deal with them.”

“Plans for invasion are nearing completion. Nothing must be allowed to interrupt them.”

“Don't worry. Nothing will.” He assured before the machine repeated,

“Nothing must be allowed to interrupt them.”

Yet it got the attention of the group.

“An invasion? So that’s how the Cybermen are connected to this.” Aversion commented, “But this is long before Mondas returned.” He added in slight confusion.

“I suspect there might be several sub-factions of Cybermen. And this machine must be some kind of…Planner I suspect.” Midnight added as they patiently continued to watch.

With a blink of an eye, they saw Jamie and the Doctor at a military base in an operation room with maps, getting greeted by a man with mustache in officer uniform and beret greeted both. He turned out to be an old friend, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, now promoted to Brigadier. He was now in charge of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce or UNIT, an international investigatory force. Stewart told the Doctor that he and Jamie had been being monitored since they left the complex and that he decided to pick them up after they left the IE building, explaining that people sometimes entered the IE building, yet never left as he shows pictures of different people.

The officer also told him that IE was practically unheard of until they started controlling computer lines and investing in micromonolithic circuits, then Watkins disappeared and UNIT got involved. The evidence was not substantial enough for UNIT to search the IE building, so the Doctor and Jamie were on their own. However, the Doctor was given a transceiver if ever he needed to contact UNIT.

As the Doctor and his companion were about to go back to IE, Tobias revealed the Cyber-Planner again. “I need more data about this man that you say you recognize, this Doctor.”

The answer he got, was not the one he expected. “It is enough that you know he is hostile. He must be destroyed.”

“You said you recognized him on Planet Fourteen. How is this possible?” Vaughn demanded to know, yet the Planner thought differently.

“These questions are unnecessary. He must be destroyed.”

“That is for me to decide.” The man warned, slightly raising his voice, to no effect

“You will obey.”

“You forget I control the operation from Earth! Unless that's clearly understood, our partnership will cease!” Vaugh yelled before calmly adding, “Tell that to your leader.”

In response, the machine made beeping and whirling sounds, staying silent for a few seconds. “It has been agreed.”

This caused the human to grin. “I felt sure you would be reasonable. Now, you say you recognized this Doctor on Planet Fourteen. How did he get there?”

“He has a machine.”

“What sort of machine?”

“We have no more information. But he must be destroyed. The invasion must succeed.”

“It will. The Doctor will be taken care of. I shall see to that personally.” He assured the Cyber-Planner.

Jamie and The Doctor infiltrated the company, witnessing workers carrying crates far beyond human strength before eventually captured by security and brought to Tobias.

“So here you are again. You really are beginning to try our patience, you know.” He commented calmly, with Jamie giving Parker a glare.

“And he's beginning to try mine.”

“Jamie, Jamie,” The Doctor inferred to calm him down. “We came here looking for two friends of ours."

“Two young ladies?” The manager assumed. “Yes.”

“So he admits that they're here.” Suspicion was in Jamie’s face but Vaughan was not fazed.

“Correction. They were. It would seem that you've been chasing each other's tails. They came here looking for you.”

“Where are they now?” The Doctor asked Tobias.

“Why, they left, of course.”

The Doctor then showed interest in the crates the workers had been transported, with the manager seeing no problem to take the two to his factory into an office

At it, Tobias told the Doctor his research department found the circuits quite fascinating, curious to know more, but respected that he was determined to guard his secret.

“Now you say you came here looking for Professor Watkins because you thought he might be able to help you.”

“Yes.” The Doctor nodded.

“Then I'll try to persuade him to put aside his work and er, concentrate his efforts on your behalf. Make yourself at home.” He told them and walked out.

Despite this, both were suspicious, finding his behavior too nice and wondered why he would be offering them Watkins' assistance if he was evil.

Then they spotted something strange outside, with the Doctor using Jamie’s shoulder as a support for a small telescope he was carrying and saw what looked like Golf Ball like devices on some rooftops.

“Well, it looks like a deep space radio communication system. What's it's doing here?” He wondered.

Packer entered and escorted the two into Watkins' presence. It was a lab with all sorts of equipment, Watkins himself was a man with Henriquatre beard. Dressed in a short with a sleeveless jacket and tie, he was glad, yet surprised to see the 2 men.

He was an old-looking man, almost grizzled, the look in his eyes was one of hope. It made it clear that he had only the intention to help others, not wanting to help Vaughn at all, but was forced as they also showed worry.

After the Doctor had introduced himself, Watkins told him how her niece, Isobel, had told her about him, only to be interrupted by his friend, as he believed the room was bugged. He went to one side of the equipment rack and was pointing at a not very hidden eye device, a camera. Quickly thinking, the mysterious man put a small magnet on the camera.

Watkins then told both he was working on a machine called the Cerebration Mentor, a teaching machine that was able to induce emotional changes in the subject. The Doctor told Watkins about the involvement of UNIT, who in return said he had no knowledge of Vaughn's plans and thought he wants complete control of the electronics industry of the world.

Before they could react, Vaughn entered and told the Doctor that they would make him talk in other ways. He admitted he had Isobel and Zoe and, unless the Doctor handed over his machine, they would be hurt. The Doctor and Jamie were led away, towards and elevator.

The Doctor looked at it with unease, his eyes darting around. “Oh dear. You know, Jamie, I've always been rather scared of lifts.”

“Why?” His companion did not understand.

“I never even like to start them. You'll have to push the button.”

“Me?”

“Keep your mouth shut and do as you're told,” Parker warned him and the Doctor nodded.

“Yes, Jamie. Do as you're told.”

He gave a slight grin, as if he realized something. ”Oh yes, I see.”

“Be quiet!” Parker yelled and Jamie stepped into the lift, but the Doctor stopped, turning around, a neutral expression.

“Packer! Mister Packer, I obviously can't let you hurt Zoe, and so I'll have to tell you all want to know, now.”

“You mean, you're willing to talk?”

“Yes, I'm sure that Mister Vaughn will.” Then the Doctor’s expression was one of surprise. “Oh, there he is now.” Packer turned around, the Doctor pushed him away, making him fall.

Jamie then pushed the button, causing the door to close. His friend then pulled some wires of the circuits to make the elevator useless, before they used the emergency hatch to get to the roof.

From there, both climbed down a fire escape to the train carriages, hiding underneath as an alert sounded and guards searched the area, also noticing a chopper overhead. They looked on as crates were unloaded. Zoe and Isobel were unceremoniously hauled onto their feet and then escorted into the building by several guards. The Doctor overheard that they are being taken to the tenth floor of the central block.

So, he and Jamie went back up the fire escape, with the former using his transceiver to contact the Brigadier, asking if the helicopter had a rope ladder and gave him their exact location.

As soon as the chopper dropped the ladder, Zoe opened the window, climbing through with her friend and onboard the chopper. The guards opened fire, in vain, as the chopper managed to get away.

Reunited with his friend, The Brigadier told him about UFO sightings, showing him photographs. They were blurry though, so the ponies couldn’t make out any details, it looked similar to flying cars.

“Reports have been drifting in for well over a year now. We sent up fighter planes to investigate, but nothing ever came of it.” The officer explained and a fellow soldier added that they all disappeared over South East England, over the IE campus. The Doctor started to link this to the crates that they discovered, asking for a map and canoe.

Then the scene showed him and Jamie entering the IE building through the canal, undetected.

They sneaked into the warehouse by using the sewer that was connected to it, to see two men in protective suits and a white-coated scientist with one of the crates leaning against a wall, open.

A whirling device was switched on. It started throbbing. A man attached two cables to the wrapped object and the scientist turned dials. It was followed by a second sound starting up and the thing inside the fabric moved.

It got ripped apart to reveal a Cyberman, the one with ear muffs and flat mouth.

The eyes of both men went wide in shock and surprise.

Upon seeing this, the Doctor and Jamie decided to return to the canoe and escaped unseen, surprised to see those Cyborgs again.

In the meantime, Tobias had news for the Cyber-Planner. “There has been some difficulty. We must alter our plans.”

“Report the difficulty and we will assess it.” The Planner replied.

“We must bring the invasion forward.”

“Our invasion force is not yet complete.” Stated the Planner, yet Vaughn was not fazed

“The invasion must take place in fifteen hours time, otherwise we may have to face the combined forces of the entire world.”

“Wait while the report will be assessed.” The planner started to beep and whir as his human ally warned,

“You will accept what I say or our partnership is at an end. The invasion will take place at dawn tomorrow.”

“It has been agreed. The data will be computed and the invasion details transmitted to you. Discussion terminated.”

In the warehouse, more Cybermen got reactivated, with Packer opening a secret door in a nearby brick wall.

“Follow me.” He said to the Cybermen and they did as told, with him going up a wooden staircase. “Have you received your instructions?”

“Yes.” One of the cyborgs acknowledged in a monotone mechanical voice.

“You will proceed through the sewer tunnels to your allotted sectors. There you will obey the commands of your sector leader.”

“We understand.”

“Proceed.” He then watched them going down a manhole in the secret room, leading to the sewers.

After that, another Cyberman got reactivated, Tobias ordered to test the Cerebration Machine on it. The device itself looked like a small box with wires and dials, with the scientist putting a stethoscope like attachment onto the Cyberman's head, picked up his box and backed away.

“What emotion shall I induce?” He asked his boss, slightly trembling, being nervous.

“Fear. Let's see how the Cybermen will react to fear.” Tobias was eager and the scientist did as told.

What happened next took the watchers by surprise.

The Cyberman started to sway and made groaning electronic noises, as if he was in pain, much to Vaughn’s amusement.

“More power!”

“That's all there is.” The scientist stated before the cyborg ripped the attachment from its head and staggered around, flailing its arms. Guards shot at it to no effect as the Cyberman staggered into the secret room.

“I warned you, the machine isn't ready yet. It's following the others into the sewers.”

“Let it go,” Tobias ordered, being fully calm by this.

“It's gone mad. It could have killed us all.” His security chief pointed out, but he didn’t care in the slightest.

“Possibly, but I think we've proved that the Professor's machine can be effective. Get him to work on it, Gregory. I want twice as much power and I want directional control.” He ordered the scientist, who nodded and Parker spoke up,

“Yeah, but what about that one? You can't let it roam down there alone!” His voice was slightly disturbed with a matching expression.

“Why not?”

“Well, it'll kill anything that gets in its way,” Parker said with worry, only for his boss to smile.

“Good. Anyone fool enough to be down in those sewers deserves to die.” He then went into his office to check on the plan of the invasion.

“One hour before invasion, the Cyber-transmitter units will be launched into orbit around Earth.” The planner explained.

“The effect will be immediate?”

“Yes. Transmissions will penetrate all areas.”

“And if it doesn't work?”

“Humans cannot resist Cyber-control. Our forces will penetrate all areas and select suitable humans for cybernetic conversion.”

“Conversion to Cybermen?” Tobias asked surprised, not having suspected this.

“Yes. The unsuitable humans will be destroyed.”

“No!” He raised his voice, “This is not as we agreed!”

“It has been decided.”

“We agreed that I should remain in control of Earth. In return, I supply the minerals you require. You will honor that bargain, otherwise there will be no invasion!” Vaughn protested, yet the planner did not yield.

“To control, you must undergo complete conversion and become one of us.”

“No! My body may be cybernetic but my mind stays human. That is final!” The man demanded, causing the machine to beep and whir again, with Parker looking worried at it, as both waited for an answer.

“It has been agreed. Discussion concluded.”

Upon blinking, they saw how Isobel suggested infrared photography as means of collecting proof against IE, going down the sewers with Zoe and Jamie.

However, they got spotted by a policeman as they climbed down a manhole. “Hey you! What do you think you're doing going down there for, you young idiots!” The policeman called after them, “Hey, you kids! Come on out of there, or I'll come down after you. I know you're down there. Are you going to come up or do I have to come down to fetch you.” He added, to no avail.

Seeing no other option, he climbed down, shining his torch around. “Right, you kids, where are you? Come on now, stop playing about. Are you down there, then? Come on, come on. I know that you're down here somewhere.” He walked among the endless tunnel. “Come on, come on. You'll get lost if you go wandering about down there. Come on. What the heck?”

His eyes went wide in surprise to see two Cybermen in front of him. Their chests glowed and he fell screaming to the ground.

“They've killed him!” Zoe exclaimed in horror before they realized that they were surrounded from both sides by Cybermen, one of them getting closer, screaming.

Breathing heavily in fear, all three pressed themselves against the wall, with Jamie shielding the women. To their surprise, the Cyberman went straight past them, wailing.

“He ignored us.” Zoe couldn’t believe her eyes

“It's out of control. It's sort of wild.” Jamie suspected.

At the same time, a group of UNIT solders went also down to look for the three, only to run into the two other Cybermen holding each other at gunpoint.

“Do not move!” One of the cyborgs ordered, “Do not resist. You will obey instructions.”

“What do you want us to do?” The leader of the soldiers, Captain Jimmy Turner demanded to know.

“You will come with us. Obey.”

Then, the demented Cyberman came up behind the two Cybermen. They turned around and tried to pacify him. The soldiers used this distraction to throw grenades. With a loud boom, the explosion threw the cyborgs over, but one managed to get up, stumbling slightly.

“And again, Sergeant.”

“Grenade, quick! Come on, Perkins, Come on.” Walters, so stood on the nametag, ordered a private, shook his head in fear.

“It's too late, Sergeant. I'm getting out!”

“Perkins! Come back, man!” Turner yelled before the Cyberman’s chest glowed, killing the private.

“Sobel, Jamie, Zoe! Are you down there?” The squad leader yelled upon seeing the loss and they all yelled yes in unison. “Get to the ladder as quickly as you can.”

Nobody wasted time, getting up the ladder the soldiers had taken, with Jamie being the last one. “Quickly! All right, I'm with you.” Turner offered him a hand but something dragged the young man down”

“My leg!” Jamie exclaimed as the Cyberman had grabbed it.

“All right. Hold on, Jamie!” Turner tried to help him up, struggling with the Cyberman. “Sergeant!”

Walters was helping to carry their dead comrade, but upon seeing what was happening, did not wasted time, grabbing a rifle from their jeep and hit the Cyberman’s with the butt repeatedly. Eventually it let go of Jamie and went back down the ladder.

“That's it. Got it, got it.”

“Benton, grenade!”

“Coming, sir!” Benton acknowledged Turner’s command and threw a grenade down the manhole. It exploded and smoke came up, showing the last Cyborg had been destroyed.

Back in Vaughn’s office, Watkins was aware of what his machine had been turned into, looking at the manager in disgust.

“This is madness. That machine is a deadly weapon now.”

“Really?” Tobias asked unfazed as he inspected it.

“The modifications were quite unnecessary. It worked perfectly well as it was.” The professor protested.

“For your purposes, perhaps, Professor. I have a somewhat different use for it.” Vaughan countered with a grin.

“All right, all right. Do with it what you will. The machine's yours now. Now, will you let me get out of this place? And let Isobel go free as you promise?” Watkins asked worried.

“But my dear fellow, she is free.”

This surprised the Professor. “Free? Where? Where is she?”

“Probably sitting quite comfortably at home. Now then, how does one operate this?” Tobias asked the scientiest, who warned

“Careful, Mister Vaughn. Don't point it at anyone.”

“No? Dangerous is it? Fear, Watkins. Do you know what fear is?” Vaughn calmly pointed the machine at the professor, who backed up in fear

“No, don't! Don't do that! Don't!” He yelled before the device got turned on, causing him to tense up in pain and fear.

In response, the scientist tried to grab the device. “Mister Vaughn, you'll kill him! Stop!” Parker then grabbed him and Tobias yelled,

“Perhaps we should try the effects of the machine on you, Gregory! At full power!”

Gregory got thrown to the ground, his expression one of fear and shock, stuttering. “No, no, Mister Vaughn. I was only afraid that if we still needed the Professor.”

Vaughn then ordered the machine into mass production. A weakened Watkins vowed that if he ever would get the chance he will would Vaughn.

This, surprisingly, seemed not to impress him as he calmly asked for Packer's gun.

Packer gave him his sidearm without hesitation. Vaughn pointed it at Watkin's head, who closed his eyes. Then he turned it around and offered it to the man.

“Take it.” Tobias said before laughing. “There you are. Take it.” With a grin, the manager put the gun in Watkins' hand. Gregory and Packer backed away.

“Now you're free to shoot me, Professor. Shoot.” Tobias motivated calmly, yet Watkins hesitated. “Shoot!” He knocked Watkins down. “Come on, the gun's loaded, or haven't you got the courage to pull the trigger?”

With an enraged expression, Watkins fired three times into Vaughan’s chest. He then started in shock and fainted.

Vaughn had three smoking holes in his shirt, but was standing there laughing. The professor then got taken away to start production of his machine, with the Cyber-Planner informing him there was one hour until the invasion and transmission of the cyber-signal would be started.

However, as the professor was to be transferred, a squad of UNIT soldiers ambushed the guards outside and brought him to his home.

At home of Watkins, the Doctor assumed the Cybermen would produce cyber-hypnotic signals and render humans under their control. He reminded Zoe of the depolarisers they used back on the Wheel when they first met. Zoe set about making some.

It was shortly done. Suddenly, the watchers had to cover their ears as an electronic high pitched noise sounded, yet saw how the Doctor grabbed the back of his neck.

“Zoe, my depolariser. It must have fallen off!” He exclaimed before staggering and collapsing.

As Zoe checked on him, Turner stormed in and she asked, “What is it? What's happened?

“It's the Cybermen. We've just seen hundreds coming out of the sewers.” He said and the ponies saw in shock and awe how the cyborgs climbed out of manholes, walking the streets of London as people all over the city were brought to their knees by the sound ringing in their ears.

The scene switched back, with Tobias writing on a clipboard in a chair as the planner reported in.

“All areas are now covered by our transmission. The full invasion force is preparing for flight. Transmit the radio beam for the transporter ships to home on.”

“It will be prepared.” He replied calmly.

“Control and supervision of Cybermen in all key positions will be arranged. Prepare your communication network.”

“Wait.” Vaughn finished writing and looked up. “My organization will now take over. The Cyberman army must stay under my control.” He added and the information got processed by the Planner

“Why do you oppose us?” It asked and the man explained,

“I don't oppose you. We're allies. But you do not understand the world and it's organization. I do.”

“This is not necessary. Humans are now under Cyber-control.”

“I must control them!” Vaughan shouted, standing up. “Look, let's understand one another. You will not get what you want unless I too achieve my object. Is this agreed?” In response, the planner whirred and beeped again

“It has been agreed.”

“Good! Then the invasion will continue under my direction. Discussion terminated.”

Then it switched back to the Doctor, who had come to. Upon told that UNIT HQs were unresponsive in New York, Moscow and Peking, he concluded that the signal must be sent from a ship in orbit and in order to break it, the Cybership had to be destroyed, with the only way being a huge missile.

His friend the Brigadier stated that only Russia and America had such weaponry, having an idea. With awe, the ponies saw how he pulled out a document from a safe. It informed UNIT that the Russians were going to send a rocket into space on the day of the invasion. If they were to switch the astronaut's capsule with a warhead, they could turn the rocket into a missile. He also asked if anti-missile missiles could be used to take down the small invasion ships. The Doctor suggested that would work.

With that as answer, a soldier named Jimmy was dispatched to deal with the rocket, while the Doctor going to seek an audience with Vaughn by using the sewers.

He was spotted by a camera and looked at it. “I hope I haven't called at an inconvenient moment, but I would rather like a word with you.”

“Clever of you to avoid our Cyber-control beam.” Tobias commented slightly impressed

“Oh, it was nothing. I'll come up. I know the way.” He replied and made his way to Tobias’ office. “And you trust them?” The doctor asked in complete disbelief.

“Doctor, I've worked with the Cybermen for five years preparing this invasion. I know them, the way they think, the single-mindedness of their purpose.” His Interlocutor explained calmly, causing the doctor to conclude,

“Then you must know what ruthless and inhuman killers they are.”

“Of course. But then, they are my allies, not my enemies.”

“Do you really think they'll honor any bargain that you make with them?”

“Oh, I've planned this whole operation in great detail, allowing for every possible factor.” The manager walked back and forth. “It was I who contacted them in deep space, provided the means by which they traveled to Earth, and masterminded the whole operation from A to Z. They have merely provided their advanced scientific skills, their might and strength.” Tobias slightly raised his voice, sounding proud of it.

In response, the Doctor tried to make clear the Cybermen would destroy Earth and humanity, that they couldn’t be trusted, pleading with Vaughn to stop the invasion.

But things took a surprising turn. At the military base, the transporters started to show up on the radar and were mere minutes away. With awe, the group watched how the missile clusters hurtle up into the air, shedding their booster rockets.

In space, several ships, looking similar to the one at the Wheel, closed in on earth. Just seconds later, the missile struck one of the transports, creating a huge explosion, as all were destroyed in a chain-reaction.

“The first transporter fleet is being attacked and destroyed. You have betrayed us.” The planner said to Tobias as it received the data.

“No!” Vaughn exclaimed in anger and disbelief.

“The failure of this mission is due to you. We will now take over the invasion.”

“No! Wait! Give me time! I can stop this opposition!” The man yelled, almost pleading, but it didn’t matter.

“There is no more time.”

“I won't allow this invasion to”- Tobias was cut off as he attempted to get close but with a flash, an energy wall pushed him back with a scream of pain. He caught himself, holding his head, breathing heavily.

“We no longer need you. A Cyber-megatron bomb will be delivered. We must destroy life on Earth completely. Every living being.” The planner announced, causing the Doctor to look with a shocked expression at the stunned manager

“Is this what you wanted? To be the ruler of a dead world?”

Upon recovering, Vaughn argued with the Planner, stating that the Cybermen would destroy themselves, but the planner saw it as a small sacrifice.

“I won't let them take over. I won't! You think you're indestructible? Well, I can destroy all of you!” In a fit of rage and panic, Vaughn aimed the professor’s device at the Planner and turned it on.

“Opposition is useless. The Cybermen will-“ The planner said over the high-pitched noise, with the Doctor covering his ears.

“Vaughn! Switch it off, you'll blow us all sky high!” He yelled in vain.

“I'll destroy them all! All!”

With a loud explosion the Cyber-Planner got destroyed, throwing both men back, coughing from the smoke.

“It's dead. I killed it. I destroyed it.” Tobias mumbled in relief and disbelief.

“That won't stop them. They're still out there in space preparing to destroy the world.” The Doctor warned, yet the manager was still in shock over the whole situation.

“Five years, and in less than five seconds!”

“Vaughn, listen to me. The Cybermen will deliver their bomb on the same radio beam they used for their invasion. You've got to turn it off, man. You've got to turn it off!” With a pleasing look, the doctor looked at Tobias, who looked at him in confusion.

“What?”

“We're both on the same side now, both fighting for our lives. You've got to turn the radio beam off!”

“The radio?” The manager did not understand.

“Yes! That's how they'll deliver their bomb!” This explanation caused Vaughn to snap out, a determined expression.

“The radio beam!” He exclaimed and called for Packer, who stored in, a panicked expression on his face.

“Vaughn! They've taken over! The Cybermen, they won't obey! They've killed them. They're coming after us.” He grabbed his boss by the shirt. “Vaughn, what have you done to us? What have you done?”

In that moment, a Cyberman entered, causing Packer to draw his pistol, shooting at it, with no effect, as his boss and he Doctor went behind the desk for cover.

As counter, the cyborg activated his chest ray, killing Parker, falling to the ground with a scream of pain.

The Doctor popped up from behind Vaughn's desk and turned the Cerebration Machine on the Cyberman, He started to smoke and fell dead to the ground with a mechanical scream.

Tobias was reluctant and despondent as he got asked for help. “Appealing to my better nature? No. If I help you it'll be because I hate them. The Cybermen, my allies. You think I'm mad, that all I want is power for its own sake. No, I have to have power. The world is weak, vulnerable, a mess of uncoordinated and impossible ideals. It needs a strong man, a single mind. A leader!” He exclaimed, only for the Doctor to ask,

“Vaughn, will you listen?”

“Right. I'll help you to destroy them because I hate them. They destroyed my dream.”

He told the Doctor and UNIT know that the transmitter was at the IE Compound, taking the professor’s machine with him for back up.

Both were making their way to the building. They spotted a Cyberman patrolling and Vaughn readied Watkin's device, but the Doctor pulled him back.

“What are you doing? We must destroy them!” Tobias protested

“We want to get to the radio transmitter control room. The Cybermen don't know we're here yet. Let's keep that element of surprise.” The Doctor pointed out, looking at an alleyway. “Come on, we'll try down here.”

Yet they didn’t come far, as another Cyberman crossed their way, taking aim. Tobias was faster, activating the device, causing the Cyberman to fall to the ground with a dying mechanical scream.

“Now they know we're here.” The Doctor realized and his ally nodded

“Right. Up there. We'll go over the roofs.” They climbed a fire escape and looked down on an area where several Cybermen were standing. “That's it. That's where we've got to get to. Down there.”

With an alerted expression, the Doctor exclaimed, “Look out!” as yet another Cyberman crossed their way. As before, Vaughn activated the Cerebration Machine. Disoriented by the strong emotions, the Cyberman groaned and tumbled backward over the edge of the roof, allowing the two humans to proceed.

At the same time, the ponies saw how the Brigadier arrived with his men in two jeeps and a truck.

“Cybermen! Take cover!” He ordered and his troops engaged the enemy, yet the bullets had no effect. “Grenades!”

His men did as told, throwing some. The explosions took out some Cybermen but the others managed to fire their rifles. Letting out a stream of flames, like a flamethrower, the projectiles exploded, killing some of the brave soldiers. Yet the commanding officer stayed calm.

“Bazooka!” Two soldiers stepped forward and readied it, firing at the remaining cyborgs. The rocket hit right between the group, taking them out as they stumbled with mechanical groans and fell over.

The Doctor and Vaughn came to a building with a small door., with the latter pointing at it, with the former looking carefully around

“That's where the main control switch is for the radio beam.”

“There don't seem to be any Cybermen about at all. That's odd.” The Doctor remarked as he couldn’t spot any.

“Well let's not waste time, then.” Vaughn went up to the small door, with the Doctor looking at a door of a nearby building, his eyes went wide in fear as three Cybermen came out.

“Look behind you!”

Quickly reacting, the manager aimed the device at them, Two Cybermen groaned and fell, but the third one managed to fire. With a painful scream, Tobias fell over.

Seeing that the Cyberman turned his attention to him, the doctor started to run. He screamed and jumped as he dodged three explosions by inches.

“Doctor, get down!” Lethbridge-Stewart yelled as he and his men caught up, his friend did as told, hands behind his head. “Right, Bazooka!”

Wasting no time, two soldiers fired it at the cyborg. He let out a mechanical scream and stumbled a bit before falling over.

With the threat eliminated, the soldiers went inside the building to shut the transmitter down.

At the base, the operators spotted a large UFO approaching Earth, visible, but out of range of their defenses. The Brigadier was stumped as to why the cyber ship would be getting closer. He wondered if it is to avoid the Russian rocket, but the Doctor suspected it was to deliver the bomb in a different way.

Stewart asked if the missile could be turned to hit the ship, yet impact was in twelve and a half minutes, enough for the ship to deliver the bomb and get to safety.

Tensed, everyone waited, not saying a word, with the clock moving from two twenty to two twenty-six. Then, a dot appeared on the radar.

“Ah! Must be the Cybermen's bomb.” One of the soldiers assumed.

“Red alert procedure! Raise all missiles!” Another ordered and reported to the Brigadier that if the Cyber-ship won’t shift soon, it would be hit by the Russian missile, the bomb was thirty seconds from landing.

The ponies looked at the radar screen tensed as the missiles were fired, listening to the operators.

“She's going wide!” The first one exclaimed in slight fear and the other pressed buttons for more missiles.

“Prepare two!”

“Two away, and it looks good.”

“Splendid! Stand by three, just in case.”

“Standing by.”

The dot came close and closer.

Was this the end?

Would they fail?

The ponies held their breath, waiting for the inviable to happen

The dot appeared once more and then…it was gone.

“Ten seconds and it's on the button! It's on the button! We've done it!” One of the operators cheered, “Sir, the Russian missile, it's almost on top of the spaceship! I think they've got her!”

Then the ponies saw the Cyber-ship. It looked identical to that at the Wheel. Could it mean those were related to the attackers of the Wheel?

Still, they all tensed themselves as the missile came closer. Would it really hit?”

Or was the radar a malfunction or misinformation?

Their hearts raised as the missile entered their sight, praying it would actually hit the ship.

A breath of relief escaped the ponies as they saw a flash closing in on the ship.

So fast they could barely keep track of it, yet somehow elegant.

The next second, it bursted into flames, engulfing the back part of the ship.

It didn’t look like it was enough to destroy it, only slightly damage it.

A second, much bigger ball of fire followed.

Then another.

And another.

The Cyber-ship tried to steer away several small bursts of flames followed.

It looked like it might escape with severe damage.

The pones had to cover their eyes as another loud, violent burst occurred, seeing a few smaller ones occurring through the ship.

With a loud bang, it broke in half.

Then the scene switched to six Cybermen near a manhole. They climbed down and closed it. It took only seconds to realize it were Tyson’s men, seeing how they walked across the sewers. After a short time, they climbed up and came up at what looked like an abandoned scrapyard. It was the last scene before the white void came back.

“Interesting. The Cybermen attempted to invade earth long before Mondas returned.” Dawnwind commented fascinated.

“But that means there must be another Cybermen faction, or maybe even several of them.” Wagensroll suspected.

“I don’t get it,” Art Strings spoke up, “What saw Vaughn in all this?”

“Power he couldn’t get otherwise,” Fletcher explained to her, “I have seen it before.”

“Yes, sadly.” Luna nodded, lighting up her horn to show the next one with a surprised expression. “This memory is somewhere in the 25th century.”

Chapter 10 Past and cost part 7

Chapter 10 Past and cost part 7

Opening their eyes once more, the group saw that they were in a cave.

“Hold it there!” A voice yelled and they saw a man in grey uniform and helmet, brown hair, with matching eyes and walrus mustache, holding a man and 2 woman at gun point with a weapon that looked similar to the guns of the bulky Cybermen. Next to him was a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing the same uniform but with a white helmet. The nametags showed Lieutenant Scott and Professor Kyle respectively.

Scoot asked if Kyle recognized them, which she denied.

How do you do.” The other man spoke up calmly. He was a young man in his late twenties, fair blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a long beige-colored frock coat with red piping along the collar, lapels, sleeves, pockets and tails. Underneath this he wore a white, long-sleeved cricket jumper with a red and black V-Neck pattern, and, under that, a white dress shirt with a red interior and embroidered red question marks on the collars. His trousers were a unique pattern of brown and beige stripes.

“I'm the Doctor.” He introduced himself, giving Kyle a handshake and pointed to the two women. The first was small, slender, aggressively close-cropped, dark auburn hair, matching eyes and dressed in a purple uniform skirt and blouse.

Slender was also the other woman, brown curls with green eyes, wearing a plum-colored velvet trouser-suit with elaborately puffed sleeves

“This is Tegan and Nyssa.” They got introduced by the Doctor, both slightly startled.

Scott accused the Doctor of murders, as some of Kyle’s collogues went missing, with the Doctor trying to convince him otherwise.

The women then noticed a rock fall that had been recent, digging it free to discover a set of stained overalls and a metal hatch.

Scott demanded the Doctor to open it, who replied he can’t but relented after the officer raised his voice.

What happened next surprised the watchers.

Two black humanoid figures came from behind and an explosion sounded

“Take cover! Take cover! Behind the rocks!” Scott yelled as the figures came into full view.

They had a human form but lacked any facial and gender features. It was similar to a dummy used for clothes. They fired beams from their palms. A trooper was hit and to the horror of the ponies, he reduced to slime in a matter of seconds, still smoking.

In response, the soldiers returned fire with their rifles, firing purple lasers. Yet they had no effect at all.

“Who are they?” Kyle asked surprised, with the Doctor having a suspicion.

“Androids. That's why they didn't register on your scanners.”

“Androids. Are they yours?” Scott asked in return,

“No. If you want proof, you'll find they'll kill me as willingly as they'll kill you.” They ducked from another explosion through the Androids. “See what I mean?”

“That's them. I recognize that sound.” The professor added and Scott nodded.

“Those are the things that attacked you?”

“Yes.”

This caused the Doctor to ask, “Do you know why?”

“No, there isn't a reason.”

“Whoever's controlling the android thinks there is.” The Doctor suspected.

Then the ponies saw the view of an Android, red in color. It zoomed in on the group and relayed an image of the Doctor's face back to a holo-imager, with three bulky Cybermen looking at it.

“Destroy them! Destroy them at once!” The Cyber-leader ordered.

Realizing their weapons had little effect, the soldiers decided to focus their fire on the hand of the right Android. It caused an explosion of sparks but the Android was only damaged, not destroyed.

“The androids are too valuable to waste. We may still need them.” One of the Cyberman stated with worry, yet the leader assured,

“They are programmed for self-preservation. They will not take any more unnecessary risks.”

In that moment, the android retreated, much to the confusion of the humans. However, this made the Doctor suspect that the function of the Androids was to protect the hatch.

“Doctor! Doctor!” A new voice yelled, the group turned into its direction. A snub-nosed, round-faced boy with dark hair and wicked, black button eyes, wearing a dull-colored shirt beneath a yellow tunic with an orange breast-pocket, a golden star on it and a pair of muddy-colored trousers tucked into boots, ran towards the Androids.

“Adric!” The Doctor yelled and his friend noticed the danger, ducking into a side tunnel.

This gave the soldiers an opportunity as they figured that they could confuse the Androids by attacking the hatch, as they would be conflicted about their objective and self-preservation.

It wasn’t not unnoticed by the Cybermen. “The Earthlings are attempting to break through the hatch.”

“Are their weapons capable?” The Cyber-leader asked.

“Yes, Leader.”

“They must be stopped immediately.”

Adric was crawling along a ledge behind the androids. He knocked one down with a rock, and the soldiers blasted the second one in the head. With a big explosion of sparks, it fell destroyed to the ground, it’s head halfway missing.

For the cyborgs, there was no only static, causing the leader to ask, “Is the second android fitted with visual monitoring?”

“Yes, Leader.”

“Then activate.”

The feed showed the soldiers firing at the second android's hand. As it fell over from the sparks and blast, Scott shot it in the head, destroying it and ending the feed.

“We must act quickly. Prepare to activate the device.” The leader ordered, yet his second-in commend stated,

“It's too soon, Leader.”

“We must be prepared. Activate the computer.”

“It's too early, Leader. It will be wasted.”

“The device is already lost. Let the Earth see the effectiveness of Cyber technology. Explode the bomb.”

With fear and shock, the eyes of the ponies went wide. Bomb? They wanted to destroy earth! But why?

Upon opening the hatch, a flash of light threw the doctor back, revealing the bomb. Cuboid in form, connected by two white tubes, flashing blue, a red number display.

“A bomb. My opening the hatch has started up the arming procedure. You'd better let your people on the surface know what's happened.” The Doctor realized with worry and horror and the officer asked,

“How much time have we got?”

“I've no idea. Tegan, get everyone into the Tardis.”

“Come on. You can't stay behind!” Adric pleaded with the Doctor, who declined with a determined voice,

“It was my own stupidity that started it off. The least I can do is to.” He thought for a second, then gave a hopeful grin. “Of course! Come on!” They all walked out of view.

Yet something confused the ponies. “Did…Did he say Tardis?” Time Turner mumbled, and Luna held up a hoof.

“It could be just a coincidence.”

“How much longer before activation?” The leader asked and his fellow cyborg looked at a console, showing a countdown.

“One minute.”

With that, the leader turned a knob on the console. “Master detonator engaged,” And prepared to push a red button.

“Thirty seconds.”

They all held their breath, would the Doctor succeed?

Or was Earth doomed?

Suddenly, a bulb on the console started to blink, with an alarm ringed, causing the Cyber-leader to ask, “What's happening?”

“Our signal is being jammed.”

Clenching his fist, the leader ordered, “More power!”

His second in command pushed a button, “Supplementary power on.”

“Hurry.”

“Power building.”

At the same, time, the Doctor and Adric arrived at the hatch with a box of tools, the former holding out his hand.

“Magnetic clamp."

“Magnetic clamp.” His friend did as told, “How much damage could this bomb do?”

“Enough.” Was the only answer the Doctor gave him as he placed the clamp on top of the bomb

“Enough for what?”

With that, the Doctor turned around, a neutral expression. “To make life intolerable for the few who survived. Probe.”

“Probe.”

The Doctor fiddling with it, then called for a laser cutter, doing the same before needing a Magnetic drone, placing it on the bomb too.

He then and opened a small panel, jumping upon touching it.“ There was power in that circuit!” He exclaimed in surprise and the bomb flashed again

“What's happened?” Adric pointed at it and an expression of worry formed on the Doctor’s face

“The signal's breaking through. I think drastic action is called for.”

“But there can't be much time left. What can we do?” His friend asked in slight panic, the Doctor made a quick thought.

“Abandon methodical procedure for blind instinct. Laser cutter!”

“Laser cutter.”

With a slightly shaking hand, the Doctor started to cut one of the tubes. “Hmm. Right or wrong, here we go.”

Then the scene switched back to the Cybermen, with the leader getting informed, “Full power.”

“We proceed towards the destruction of Earth.”

“Our signal has broken through.”

“Excellent.” The leader sounded satisfied before a loud beeping sound ringed, much to his confusion. “A fault?” He wondered as his fellow cyborg looked at the console, walking over to him.

“No, Leader. The bomb has been deactivated!”

“That can't be. Cyber technology is too advanced for Earthlings.”

“But how did they succeed, Leader?”

“They have been helped. We have been betrayed. Whoever has done this must be found and destroyed at once.” The Cyber-Leader assumed and they watched a replay of Adric attacking the android. “I should have realized sooner that the Earthlings had help.”

“There's nothing on this replay to indicate who it might be.” His assistant pointed out until he spotted something in the tunnel.

“What is that? I know that object.” Again, the eyes of the ponies went wide as a holo imagine of a blue police box came up. “A Tardis."

“A Time Lord. But they're forbidden to interfere.” His assistant pointed out, yet the leader explained,

“This one calls himself the Doctor, and does nothing else but interfere.” The imagine then showed the elderly man confronting the Cybermen at Mondas’ return.

“Emotions. Love, pride, hate, fear. Have you no emotions then?”

“It was in this regenerated form that he confined the Cybermen to their ice tomb on Telos.” The Leader continued and the Wheel got shown.

“I imagine you have orders to destroy me.”

“And as this, he defeated us in our attempt to destroy Voga, the planet of gold.”

“You've no home planet, no influence, nothing. You're just a pathetic bunch of tin soldiers skulking about the galaxy in an ancient spaceship.”

“I did not see any of these men in the cave.” His assistant replied.

“It appears he has regenerated again, but whatever his form, he must be found and destroyed.”

“So this Doctor can apparently not only change his form, but also travel in time like you.” Derpy sounded puzzled, looking at her husband. "Could it be, that he is sort of a human counterpart to you, or a former version of you?”

Time Turner thought for a moment as everyone looked at him for an answer. “I am pretty sure I would remember that but I can’t recall any of this. Best not to think too much about it.”

They all nodded as they saw how the assistant had news for the Cyber-leader.

“Our deep space probes have identified the Tardis.”

“Destination?”

“The freighter.”

Again, the leader clenched his fist. “Excellent! Our contingency plans can go ahead. The attack on Earth will proceed accordingly.” Another beeping sound ringed and he pressed a button.

Report.

“The freighter has received full security clearance for its journey to Earth.” Another Cyberman spoke over a radio.

“Excellent.”

“There is one problem. The disappearance of the three crewmembers has caused a lot of unrest.”

“Get your minions to search the hold. You will find a scapegoat there.”

“Leader?” The other Cyberman did not understand.

“You have intruders!” The Leader warned.

Then the ponies saw a large room with many silver silo like containers, with the Doctor and Adric held at gunpoint by a man with brown hair and eyes, wearing a grey jacked over a white shirt, his expression one of hate, as he saw 2 dead bodies next to them.

“On this ship we execute murderers.” Then he reached for a receiver. “I've apprehended two stowaways.”

“Take them to the brig.” A female voice ordered, only for another, older voice to interrupt,

“I'd rather have them up here.”

He acknowledged and with neutral expressions, the two men got bought away, unaware that the Cybermen were watching on their holo-imager.

“Which one is the Doctor?”

“The tall one with the fair hair. Even under the threat of death, he has the arrogance of a Time Lord.” The Leader explained.

“Now the Doctor is a prisoner, it is time to secure the freighter.”

“Indeed, but the Doctor must be taken alive. He must suffer for our past defeats. Activate my personal guard.”

“Will that be enough, Leader?”

“The crew is small. They will offer little resistance.”

On the bridge, visible by several consoles and screens, the Doctor and Adric were faced by an elderly woman with blonde hair and matching eyes, called Briggs as a nametag showed, eyeing both with suspicion. “You've caused me a great deal of trouble. Her voice was cold, a neutral expression.

“I assure you, you have the wrong people.” The doctor tried to convince her that it was a misunderstanding.

“Don't answer the captain back.” The armed crewmember ordered, only for Briggs to raise a hand.

“It's quite all right, Ringway. I can fight my own battles, thank you. I suppose you're going to say you know nothing about the disappearance of three of my crew members.” She explained, showing that she was the Captain of the freighter.

“How can we? We've only just arrived on your ship.” The Doctor calmly stated, only for the woman to counter,

“Someone's responsible.”

“It isn't us.” Adric interjected, trying to show he and his friend weren’t responsible for the death of the crew before an alarm sounded.

“A power surge!” A woman with blue eyes and blonde hair exclaimed, being the first officer, called Berger, looking at the screen. It showed all kinds of numbers of different sectors in the ship.

It was clear to the ponies that the Cybermen were behind this, seeing how a group of Cybermen in plastic bags started to move, then ripped them open.

However, the crew was able to locate the source and Briggs ordered a squad to be dispatched as the Cyber-Leader got a report.

“Personal guard fully activated.”

“Excellent.”

“The captain of the freighter will see that his power lines have been tapped.”

This surprised the leader. “Why did you not jam their instruments?”

“Our demand on their electrical supply was too great. The ship's computer was alerted.”

“We will take the bridge at once. Continue the reactivation.” The Cyber-leader ordered another Cyberman, who walked up the console as the leader and his assistant left.

To combat the threat, the crew build up a barricade at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the bridge, armed with the same laser guns as Scott’s men.

They opened fire as the Cybermen came into view. While hitting the cyborgs, they did not even flinch. It was clear to the ponies that the weapons had no effect at all.

The Cybermen returned fire with their guns. They produced a green, halo-shaped discharge. They got some of the defenders, they fell dead to the ground.

While looking briefly at their casualties, the other defenders still fight on, exchanging fire with the cyborgs but none of the two sides seemed to gain the upper hand.

The humans knew what was at stake, despite never having seen those cyborgs before. They couldn’t allow letting their ship fall into enemy hands so close to earth.

But eventually, the Cybermen advanced, two more crewmembers fell to their weapons as they fired back.

Some of the crew, retreated while firing their weapons in a futile suppression attempt, building up another barricade at the bridge corridor, guns at the ready.

They breathed heavily as they heard the sound of exchanging gunfire for a few minutes before it ceased.

As the cyborgs came around the corner, they opened fire but again, their weapons were useless. While fighting bravely, they got quickly overrun by the invading Cyborgs.

Briggs and Berger saw on a security screen how the cyborgs advanced.

“Our defenses are crumbling. We must help.” The Captain decided with a neutral expression, yet sounded slightly worried.

“We can't leave these two.” Her first officer pointed out, looking at the 2 intruders. Both men tried to keep their emotions hidden but the worry was clearly visible in their eyes. They knew what was at stake, that the Cybermen couldn’t be allowed to win, though the situation looked grim.

The Captain gave a nod in response. “We'll take them with us.”

“No, you won't. Stay where you are.” A male voice warned them and they turned around to see they were stopped by the man that had found the Doctor and Adric, holding them at gunpoint.

“Ringway!” Briggs exclaimed surprised and he replied flatly,

“Yes, Captain?”

“The enemy's outside, Mister. You're pointing your gun in the wrong direction.” She pointed out irritated, not able to believe what she just saw.

The ponies couldn’t believe it either. Why would he do this, especially at such a moment? What would he have to gain?

“I'm relieving you of command.” He announced coldly, his eyes fixed on her, ready to pull the trigger if she would try something.

Despite this, the captain looked still irritated at him, the others in surprise. She seemed not impressed or intimidated by this at all, fixing him with a slight glare “Oh, come off it.”

“Shut up! I'm tired of your snide remarks and bullying ways.”

Calmly the Doctor asked him why he helped the Cybermen, remarking how he defeated them before. Adric used this to turns his back and removed his gold star, which the traitor noticed, grabbing the boy.

“What's that?” He demanded to know.

“A badge.” Andric replied slightly startled.

“I can see it's a badge. What's it made of?”

“I don't know.”

Ringway inspected it and mumbled, “It's gold.”

“What? Gold?” Adric showed confusion before getting it. “Oh, only the edge. It couldn't do any harm.”

“Trying to hide it from me, were you?” Ringway slightly raised his voice with a suspicious expression before noticed that the first office was nowhere to be seen. “Berger. Where's Berger?”

Briggs used this to hit his back with a karate-chop, knocking him out. Berger had hidden behind the console. She pushed a button as two Cybermen appeared at the entrance, sealed it and the second entrance with a bulkhead each.

The Doctor asked then how many of those silos the freighter was transporting and the captain answered, “Oh, fifteen thousand.” Her expression then became one of disbelief as she realized that they all could carry Cybermen. “No, it's not possible.”

Outside, the Cybermen inspected the bridge with the assistant of the leader getting asked, “Have you tested the defenses?”

“Yes, Leader. We are able to break through them.”

“Excellent. Prepare to break through the bulkhead shields. Is the Doctor on the bridge?”

“He is.” His assistant confirmed.

“He must be taken alive.” Then one of the cyborgs brought forward what looked like a large rifle, with the leader asking, “Ready?”

“Yes, Leader.”

“Then activate the thermal lance.”

The tip of the lance started to glow red, touching the door. In a matter of seconds, it glowed red as well.

In response, knowing he had to act fast, the Doctor asked as the ship was powered with antimatter, how it was contained. Berge answered it was a contained vessel and he asked if it was possible to tap into the stabilizing device.

“Yes, the machinery's here.” She took him to a wall panel and opened it, pulling some wire out, with the Doctor intending to stabilize the shield with it.

Blinking, the scene switched to two Cybermen on the cargo hold, apparently chatting to each other but the ponies couldn’t understand anything. Suddenly, several concentrated Laser beams hit them and one fell to the ground, the other got thrown back and managed to get away.

As the downed cyborg tried to reach for his weapon, Tegan dashed forward, grabbing it and shot the Cyberman. His chest unit exploded, killing him. Looking around, the ponies saw the other Cyberman limping, green fluid leaked from it.

Back at the bridge, the shield was now white-hot. A Cyberman's hand punched through the bulkhead just as the Doctor was about to put the wires to it. He got blown back with a cry as the Cyberman grabbed the wires and became part of the now solid bulkhead in a shower of sparks.

“It worked!” Adric couldn’t believe it and the Captain praised his friend,”

“Oh, well done, Doctor.”

Yet the Cybermen had the other door covered too, moving to it as the assistant commented, “You are right, Leader. The Doctor is a formidable opponent.”

“I anticipated as much.” The Leader replied as his troops placed explosives on the door. “Activate the charge.”

“Leader!” His assistant exclaimed and he turned around to see the wounded Cyberman crawling round the corner before collapsing. “He has been damaged by gunfire.”

“There is still resistance.”

“According to the Earthling, there were only ten crew members. They have all been accounted for.”

This caused the Cyber-leader to erroneously conclude. “Then he has lied. Order the activation of reinforcements. Charges primed?”

“Yes, Leader.” His assistant nodded and both went around the corner for cover.

“Fire!”

The Doctor and Adric were knocked down by the blast, the former groaned in pain. “I should have realized.”

Several Cybermen entered, with Ringway grabbing the gun from the captain as a Cyberman grabbed her arm to restrain her.

The Cyber-leader was the last one to enter, looking straight at the Doctor, who had a neutral expression. “So, we meet again, Doctor.” He then signaled a Cyberman to advance, weapon ready.

“Er, no! Er,” the Doctor took a step backwards, raising a hand. Then the cyborg turned towards Ringway, shooting him. Ringway’s expression became empty, letting out a dying groan as he fell over

“He deceived us.” The leader explained and the Doctor sourly joked

“You never change. Always the perfect guests.”

“Our records indicate that you have a fondness for Earth.”

“Fondness? I'm surprised your emotionless brain understands the word.” The Doctor taunted in return.

“It is a word like any other. And so is destruction, which is what we are going to do to that planet.”

Keeping his neutral expression, the Doctor said, “You’ve tried before.”

“This time we shall succeed, and you will live just long enough to witness it.” Was the statement of the leader as his assistant reported,

“Reactivation completed.”

“Excellent. Now you will see our strength.” The Leader announced, and the Doctor looked horrified at the main screen as more Cybermen burst out of the silos, marching through the hold and the Leader turned towards him.

“My army awakes, Doctor!”

One Cyberman worked at the navigation terminal as the Captain protested, “This is piracy!”

“It is war.” The Cyber-leader simply stated as she warned,

“The ship is in warp drive. Interfere with the navigational system and we will disintegrate.”

“Your technology is primitive compared to ours. Mistakes will not be made.” He assured in his emotionless voice as his troops worked on the ship's controls, attaching a small cube-like device.

The Doctor suspected it was to lock the freighter on course to collide with Earth as the Leader stated, “Your Tardis has been found, Doctor.”

I” didn't know it was lost.” He simply replied calmly.

Yet, the ponies couldn’t make any sense of this, why would the Cybermen go so far? What did they hope to accomplish?

They got their answer as Briggs protested again. “You're mad if you think Earth security will let you crash into the planet. They'd shoot the ship down.”

“There will not be time. You have a security transponder with clearance for Earth.” The leader countered and Adric raised his voice,

“Yes, but why do it? On impact this ship will destroy everything. The planet will be useless.”

“There is a conference about to take place on Earth.”

As reaction, the Doctor gave a small nod as he understood. “The reason for the red alert.”

“Yes,” replied the leader. “The heads of many powerful planets will be present.”

“So you destroy a few presidents in a needlessly destructive way.” Taunted the young man, only to get it explained by the cyborg.

“It is more than that. The purpose of the conference is to sign a pact uniting their military forces in a war against the Cyber race.”

“Of course. A war you couldn't possibly win.” The Doctor realized in a taunting tone and the leader added,

“Their combined forces would be too great.”

“Destroy the conference and you destroy the unity.” Concluded the Doctor, with the leader continuing,

“It will be a great psychological victory. The strength and might of the Cyber race will be confirmed.”

“So the freighter replaces the bomb.”

“Yes, Doctor. In spite of your interference, we will still triumph.” Now, the Cyber-leader sounded slightly confident and taunting.

But despite this, the Doctor had still something to add as he said,” If the freighter crashes into Earth with you on board, won't that make it rather difficult for you to carry out your task? I mean, you would be very crumpled.”

“I shall not be on board, Doctor.” Was the simple answer of the leader, with the timelord showing no signs of concern or unease.

“You don't surprise me.”

“My function was leader of the squad to eliminate those who survived the bomb.”

“Now your transport has replaced the bomb.” Briggs added into the conversation, with the leader simply stating.

“I shall join a secondary force to complete my task.”

As he turned around, the woman whispered to the Doctor, “Are they all so dedicated?”

“Compared to some, this one is positively flippant.”

Then the ponies saw how Scott and three soldiers entered the Tardis but one got grabbed by a Cyberman.

The inside of the Tardis was bigger on the inside, fascinating for Kyle, Jan and Art Strings, but expected by the others, light shade of grey made the walls, with a large computer bank taking up a major part of the "back" wall.

“Wait till it's near, then concentrate your fire!” Scott ordered as a Cyberman entered.

They fired at him the moment he entered.

The Cybermen stumbled from the hits before falling lifeless to the ground.

Nyssa pulled a lever to close the door but another cyborg entered, getting pinned between the closing doors, with the two men pressing against them to keep it from getting through.

The officer grabbed it’s weapon, struggling for it.

With the hostile being in a struggle, the professor attempted to pick up the gun of the fallen Cyberman, knowing she had to do something.

She took aim, ready to fire.

Despite struggling, the cyborg managed to fire his weapon, hitting Kyle. With a cry of pain, she fell backwards to the ground, not moving.

“No!” Nyssa exclaimed in horror, a terrified expression as she knelled next to the dead woman.

It was here where Scott managed to get hold of the Cyborg’s gun and fired. With a dying groan, the Cybermen struggled not to collapse, attempting to grab the door as it slowly fell to it’s knees.

At the Bridge, the Doctor was surprised and shocked as a Cyberman brought Tegan in, with the Leader asking, “Who is this woman?”

Quickly gathering himself, the man replied, “An Earthling. No one of consequence.”

“She's one of your crew.” The Leader concluded and the Doctor just answered blankly,

“In a manner of speaking.”

“I see that Time Lords have emotional feelings.” The leader commented, sounding slightly curious.

“Of sorts.”

m response, the cyborg wanted to know, “Surely a great weakness in one so powerful?”

“Emotions have their uses.” stated the Doctor, only for the leader to counter,

“They restrict and curtail the intellect and logic of the mind.”

This caused the Doctor to yell, “They also enhance life! When did you last have the pleasure of smelling a flower, watching a sunset, eating a well-prepared meal?”

“These things are irrelevant.” replied the Cyber-leader.

“For some people, small, beautiful events is what life is all about!” The Doctor slightly angered, with the Leader looking at Tegan.

“You have affection for this woman?”

“She's a friend.” He simply stated.

“And you do not consider friendship a weakness?”

“I do not.”

The Cyber-leader stayed silent for a moment, then issued an order. “Kill her.”

Now, the expression of the Doctor became one of slight fear as he saw Tegan and Adric backing away from a Cyberman into an area labeled Escape Pod.

He knew he that do something but couldn’t show his fear, with the leader watching patiently.

His breathing quickened as he made a dash towards them in an attempt to protect both. “No!”

Having seen enough, The Cyber-leader waved the Cyberman away and asked, “Such a reaction is not a disadvantage?”

Suppressing a hiss, the Doctor had a slightly angered tone. “No.”

“You are mistaken. I now have control over you, Doctor. All I need do is threaten the woman's death for you to obey me.” The Leader pointed out and the ponies could swear he showed a certain degree of smugness with it.

He then turned to Briggs. “I return your ship to you, Captain.”

“Really?” She asked with a taunting smile.

“You will continue your journey to Earth. The ship will function normally.”

“We're to stay on board?” She asked unimpressed.

“Yes. Although your presence isn't needed, of course. The control of your ship is now totally automatic.”

“This isn't necessary. Let them go.” The Doctor pleaded, only for the leader to ask,

“And deny them the feeling of fear, the ultimate in emotional response?”

“You've already proved your point quite adequately.” The man added calmly

“A final demonstration might convince any doubters.”

The leader’s assistant then interrupted, “We have finished, Leader.”

“Excellent. Instruct all regenerated Cybermen to evacuate the ship. You will return to Cybercontrol and inform main fleet of our intention.”

“At once.”

With that, the ponies saw how a group of Cybermen gathered at an airlock in the cargo hold. They too notice how three cyborgs broke unnoticed away from the group, leaving through another airlock.

They entered what looked like a shuttle, the same the group at Voga had used, gathering some distance to the freighter but followed it.

Back at the bridge, the leader ordered two Cybermen to guard the bridge, stating it was scientific to observe the weakness of humans, with Adric forced to stay too, despite the Doctor’s protests.

Adric however assured the Doctor he would be fine, with Briggs that there’s a chance.

With a remorseful expression, the Doctor and Adric shook hands. “Good luck, Adric.”

“Goodbye, Doctor.”

Then the assistant reported in via radio. “The freighter has been evacuated.”

“Excellent.”

“And a ship is being dispatched from the main fleet to collect you.”

“The fleet is too far away. I will use the Doctor's Tardis to observe the impact.” The Leader objected.

“Leader.”

“You will meet me there.”

On the way to the Tardis, Tegan commented with disgust, “You won't like Earth.

“Like or dislike does not come into my consideration.” The leader coldly replied, only for her to add,

“It will when you start going rusty.”

The assistant then joined up with them. “Leader, the main fleet has acknowledged your intentions.”

“Do they agree?”

“Yes, Leader. As soon as the freighter impacts, a small force will follow through and under your instructions subdue survivors.” The assistant explained, satisfying his superior.

“Excellent.”

Back at the bridge, the ponies saw how Scott waved to get the attention of a Cyberman, who did not hesitate to follow him. Leaning against the wall, the officer waited until the cyborg went past him, then shot him in the back., then ran in and killed the other before he could react.

Briggs wanted to abandon ship, but Adric told her that he might be able to override the device controlling the ship's computer. However, another squad of Cybermen bust out of the silos, with Scott and his soldiers holding them back to buy time for Adric, Briggs and Berger.

Upon managing to override one segment of three, Berger worked on the controls and the ship tilted.

On the scanner of the Tardis, the image of the freighter flickered then vanished. Causing confusion upon everyone, with the Nyssa wondering, “What's happening?”

“Where have they gone?” Tegan asked in confusion and the Doctor realized what had happened.

“The freighter's jumped time warps.”

“You will follow.” The Cyber-leader ordered him

“Where?”

“Follow them!”

Then it reappeared on the screen and the leader ordered, “You will board the freighter."

“I can't.” The Doctor refused calmly and the Cyborg grabbed Nyssa's arm.

“You will do as I say.” The leader demanded, only for the Doctor to walk, up, raising his voice.

“It's physically impossible. The freighter is no longer on a fixed course. The coordinates are constantly changing. That's why it keeps fading. I've got nothing to lock on to.”

“At least the Earth is safe now.” Tegan let out a sigh of relief and Nyssa looked at him with hope.

“Doctor?”

With regret, they told them, “Although the freighter is spiraling backwards in time, it's still locked on to the same spatial coordinates.”

“Earth?” Tegan couldn’t believe what she heard, but it pleased the Cyber-leader

“This is excellent news, Doctor. Earth will be destroyed. It will never exist as you have known it.”

“Is that true?”

It hurt the Doctor to reply. “Yes.”

As Adric managed to unlock the second segment, Briggs decided that was time to abandon ship, but Adric was still determined to break the codes, having to be dragged into the escape pod. But he jumped out at the last second and continued his efforts.

It was here where the Doctor noticed something as he looked at the screen. “It may be of some small consequence to know we've traveled backwards in time some sixty five million years.” He said flatly

“Big deal.” Tegan commented, accepting that Earth was lost and the Doctor urged,

“Think about it.”

“Do you recall the fossil dinosaur bones in the cave on Earth?” Nyssa asked her and she replied in confusion,

“What?”

“And why it's believed they died out so quickly?”

“Earth collided with a meteorite.” Tegan responded flatly and her friend pointed out,

“Or something.”

Tegan’s eyes went wide as she realized what her friends meant. “The freighter?”

“The antimatter vessel will split open on impact. There will be a tremendous explosion.” The Doctor explained, much to her confusion.

“The freighter was the meteorite?”

“It seems inevitable, as is your history as we know it.” The Doctor stated but the Leader didn’t believe it.

“You lie, Doctor.”

“Not at all. You've lost. The Earth is safe.” He said in triumph.

“Scott to Tardis. Scott to Tardis. Come in, please.” Sounded from a small radio and Nyssa grabbed it.

“This is the Tardis. We have Cybermen on board.”

The Cyber-leader pushed the Doctor aside and took the communicator from Nyssa as Scott added, “We've managed to escape from the freighter, but Adric's still on board.”

Then the leader crushed the radio and turned towards the Doctor, who taunted, “You've failed, Leader.”

“But you will not enjoy the victory. I shall now kill you, Doctor.” As the cyborg took aim, the Doctor staying totally calm, Tegan grabbed the leader from behind. In response, the leader threw her off by turning around, having his back to the Doctor.

He got behind the leader and rubbed Adric’s gold star against its chest unit, the gold crumbling into pieces.

The Cyborg made choking noises, with everyone hitting the deck as the Cyber-leader, maddened and asphyxiating, fired his gun aimlessly, hitting the console, who shot sparks from the hit.

Getting up, the Doctor grabbed the gun, firing it at it point-blank into the cyborg’s chest. While struggling, the leader fell slowly to the ground. His chest exploded as he died.

“Please hurry, Doctor. We must get Adric off the freighter.” Nysa pleaded desperately as he worked on the console, with him replying,

“The console's damaged.”

“We must save Adric! There's so little time!”

On the bridge, an injured Cyberman limped towards it as Adric tried to solve the last segment.

“Of course, that's it.” He cheered before leaped back as the injured cyborg fired, destroying it. Yet upon doing so, the Cyberman let out a dying groan, falling to the ground.

With a slightly scared expression, the boy looked at the screen, earth coming closer and closer. “Now I'll never know if I was right.”

Seconds later, the explosion came, destroying the freighter completely.

Tyson’s soldiers in the shuttle had watched everything, all three saluted, as if to pay their respects before flying away and the memory ended.

Everyone stayed silent, trying to process what just happened before Art Strings started to sniff.

A tear escaped her eye.

Then, she sniffed more, trying not to cry.

Shaking, more tears escaped her eyes, lowering her head

Dinky gave her a comforting hug with the other children. "Shh, it’s okay.”

The adults gave weak smiles at this.

Luna waited for a moment so Art Strings could calm down before she spoke up, “We are nearing us the end of the memories. The next one is…” Her eyes went slightly wide in surprise. “1985, one year before Mondas returned.”

Chapter 11 Past and cost part 8

Chapter 11 Past and cost part 8

As they opened their eyes, the group noticed that they were in the sewers again, spotting two workers in blue overalls and hard hats doing inspections, with one of them spotting something. “What's that?” His torchlight pointed at a brick wall.

“Hang on a minute. We are under Fleet Street?” His co-worker wondered, only to be reminded,

“Well, you've got the map.”

He took a look at it and said confused, “According to this, there was work done here seven years ago. Three half walls with vaulted buttresses.”

“We must be in the wrong tunnel.”

“No, we're not.”

“Hang on, I'll check it out.” The first worked walked away, with the other one shining his light at a number sign on the wall.

“No, we are in the right tunnel.” He said, only to notice his co-worker was gone, looking for him. “David? David! David? You all right? David!”

He then screamed before something in the dark zapped him and he fell knocked out to the ground.

After blinking, they saw the same spot, but with three men in black clothing working on the same wall in an attempt to remove it. The first one had brown hair with matching eyes, the second was bald with brown eyes, with the third one sharing the colors of the first man.

They all got surprised as light glinted off an approaching silver humanoid. A Cyberman the ponies realized.

In response, the bald man drew a pistol. “Let him have it!” He fired but the bullet bounced off and the first man yelled,

“Hold your fire!”

“What's your game, Lytton?” The bald man demanded to know before Lytton raised a SMG

“Move back. Move back!” He warned before a doorway in the sewer wall slid open, revealing more Cybermen.

“My name is Lytton, and I am your prisoner, Cybermen.” Lytton calmly said, handing over the gun to the Cyber-leader, who broke it in half.

With a panicked expression, the bald man turned to run, only to face a Cyberman and he screamed.

Then the scene switched to the room the Cybermen where in, it was quite a big room. Machinery was mounted on the walls, with alcoves where humans were standing, blank faces. Among them were the two workers they had seen before, getting slowly outfitted with the headpiece and chest plate of the cyborgs. Only the face and arms were still visible organic.

It was a shocking scene for the ponies, now seeing firsthand how innocents got forcibly converted into Cybermen.

“How did you know where to find us?” The Cyber-Leader interrogated Lytton, who calmly,

“You have a ship hidden on the dark side of the moon. I tracked your transmissions.” He and the other man were standing in a corner, the third man was nowhere to be seen as the leader turned to a Cyberman that was painted black.

“Inform Moonbase our signals are being detected. They must increase the distortion.”

“You're quite safe. Earth authorities can't pick up your signals. It's beyond their technology.” Lytton assured them and the leader’s assistant pointed out,

“You were capable.”

“I am not from Earth.” He simply stated, which the leader acknowledged.

“So you have said.”

“But where do you come from?” His assistant asked.

“Vita Fifteen, in the star system six nine zero.”

“What is the name of your satellite?” The Leader wanted to know and the man answered as required.”

“Riften Five.”

“I have heard of that place. It is occupied by a race of warriors.”

“Who fight only for money, Leader. He is not to be trusted.” The assistant warned him, only for Lytton

This caught the ponies by surprise. Lytton was a mercenary, offering his servicers for the Cybermen. They couldn’t believe it, how could someone sell out his own species for a fate worse than death?

Blue may have been a mercenary too but she would never work for someone who would bring a fate like that, nor would Tybalt or Shadowplay, this was a standard for all three.

“Listen to me.” Lytton spoke up, walking towards the leader as the assistant warned him.

“You will show respect to the Leader.”

“I will do more than that. I will serve him, aid you in your cause.”

“If that is true, when you become as we are, you will serve the Cyber race well.” The leader explained but Lytton declined.

“Oh, no, as myself. You forget, Leader, I have been tracking your transmissions. I know why you're here.”

His reply caused the assistant to suggest, “He must be destroyed. He says he comes to aid us yet he carries weapons.”

“My gun was used in your cause. I didn't know he was armed.” The merc stated honestly and the Leader scolded dabbing a dinger at him,

“You should not have brought others.”

“I brought them as gifts for you to turn into Cybermen.” He explained but the assistant didn’t believe him.

“He lies, Leader.”

“Silence. There is logic in what he says. If he had wished our destruction, he could have betrayed our cause to Earth authorities.” The Leader countered and Lytton nodded.

“Precisely.”

“The Cyber Controller can decide their fate.”

With a weak grin, Lytton replied, “Thank you, Leader. Where will I have the honor of meeting him?”

In response, the leader stated, “If you know of our activities, you will know where he is.”

“I assume he is still on the planet Telos.” The man assumed and the Leader replied,

“He is.”

Yet this caused more surprise among the watchers. Telos, Cyber-Controller? Had the one the Doctor faced at the tomes survived? Or was there another one?

So many questions raced through their heads but they all knew they could only watch and see.

With that, the scenery switched to what looked like a quarry, with Cybermen watching over what looked like partially cyber-converted prisoners, as they had their limbs replaced, yet everything else looked still human, dressed in dark-green jackets with caps.

One of them knocked a Cyberman’s head off with a piece of pipe in a shower of sparks, while two other knocked one of the guards over. A third man rushed towards a guard top of the quarry but was shoot by it, falling backwards to the ground

“Stratton, grab the head! The head!” The first man yelled as two guards moved towards Stratton. He looked terrified at the one who had lost his head, as it staggered around with sparks before falling over.

As he made a dash for it, the cyborg on the cliff edge shot the head, destroying it in a small explosion. Yet both men managed to ran up an unguarded slop, escaping.

Back in the sewers, the third man held a knife to the throat of a man who was slightly surprised but not scared.

He was a tall man with long, curly, blond hair and green eyes. Similar to the Doctor on the freighter, he wore a plain white shirt with cherry question marks embroidered on the collar. His other clothes were a set of royal yellow trousers with black stripes and a patchwork frock coat, which had cuffs the same color as his trousers and featured patches of crimson tartan, scarlet, green, pink and maroon felt, peach wool, a woven back piece, checked collar and yellow and pink lapels.

Next to him was a trim young woman, her dark, shiny hair was short and straight, wearing pink shorts with a low-cut top.

She got introduced as Peri by the tall man, who called himself the Doctor. His captor ordered both against the wall to frisk them.

At the same time, in the hidden “outpost” of the Cybermen, the bald man whispered to Lytton as they watched the cyborgs working on consoles and patrolling, “You seem to have sorted them out. Wish I had your presence of mind.”

“Really?” The mercs asked slightly surprised, with his fellow human adding,

“How did you know all that stuff you told them?” He sounded puzzled and Lytton simply said,

“Perhaps it's true.”

“You said you came from Fulham.”

In an almost teasing tone, the merc replied, “You know, Griffiths, when I look at you, I often wonder why your ancestors bothered to climb out of the primordial slime.”

“That sounds like another insult, Mister Lytton.” Griffiths’ voice was one of slight anger.

As the scene switched, the ponies were briefly confused to see that they still saw alcoves where humans were converted, with consoles and machinery scatted around the room, but much bigger.

“Controller.” A Cyberman said and the watchers glanced upon a fellow Cyberman with highly domed head without the tubes to the ear pieces, more heavily built around the belly and thighs. “Two of the work party have escaped.”

“Who are they?” The Controller asked

“Stratton and Bates.” His lower-ranked cyborg stated and he concluded,

“That is to be expected. They will attempt to recapture their ship.”

“Shall I instruct the time vessel on its return to remain in orbit?” The Cyberman asked and the Controller instructed him,

“No, it must land. We need the ship here. It will also provide the escapees with an incentive. There will be some scientific value in studying how they attempt to evade their destruction.”

Then it switched back to the sewers, seeing how the Doctor had knocked down the man, with woman having grabbed the gun.

The man then calm introduced himself as Russel, being an undercover police officer that was investigating Lytton, who appeared suddenly a year earlier and committed several daring crimes with great skill.

In return, the Doctor concluded, “Not only is he from another planet, but he's also a professional killer. Back to the Tardis. It's a bit overcrowded down here.

They were unaware that the Cybermen had picked them up, as the Cyber-leader turned to Lytton. “Lytton, my scouts have located three humanoids in the tunnels.”

“Perhaps it's the old bill. They'll soon sort out this fancy dress party.” Griffiths suspected and the Leader asked,

“What does he say?”

“He implies it could be the police.” The merc explained to the Leader, who turned to his assistant.

“The intruders must be dealt with.”

“Yes, Leader.”

“This time they must not be damaged. We cannot afford to be wasteful.” The Leader added as he clenched both of his fists. “Our forces must grow in strength.”

In the sewers, Russel leaned against the wall with a surprised expression as he saw something and the Doctor asked, “What is it?”

“Look for yourself.”

In response, the Doctor and peers round the corner, seeing a silver figure and his eyes went wide in surprise. “A Cyberman.”

“I saw one of these things earlier. They must be all over the place.” Russel pointed out with slight fear but Peri was puzzled.

“What are they?”

“A particularly unpleasant alien life form.” The Doctor explained and reached for a small cylinder object with a red glowing tip

“Where are you going?” The police officer asked and Peri‘s expression became slightly scared.

“You want to fight it?”

“We can at least try.”

Russel did not understand, as he looked at the small device. “What can you do with that?”

“Shake it up a little. Wait, watch and learn.”

He waited patiently around the corner until the cyborg was near. As it come closer, he jabs the cylinder into the chest plate of the Cyberman. The Cyborg grabbed it, and struggled before collapsing and exploded. The Doctor then grabbed it’s gun.

This action resulting in a red light flashing on a console in the hidden outpost.

“A Cyber scout has been destroyed.” The assistant reported and the Leader ordered,

The attackers must be found.”

“Getting a bit rough, is it?” Griffith joked, imitating the voice of the cyborgs before the Leader squeezed his head between his fists, causing him to grunt in pain

“Remain silent or you will die.” He then let go and turned to the black Cyberman. “Transfer the humanoids to our ship and then seal this place. It must not be discovered.” Then back to his two prisoners. “You and you will come with me.”

They then discovered the remains of the destroyed scout, the cylinder still stuck in it. “Sonic lance from Earth?” Lytton was surprised as he expected it.

“An alien? That would make sense of the time distortion, Leader.” The assistant assumed and Lytton had an assumption.

“I can guess who it is. I've been expecting him to return. He calls himself the Doctor.”

Clenching a fist, the leader exclaimed, “Excellent.”

“You know of him?” The merc asked surprised and the assistant answered,

“He is an enemy of the Cyber race. His capture will serve our term.

“More so the capture of his Tardis.” The leader added.

Russel, Peri and the Doctor went up a manhole, coming to a junkyard, with the police member looking confused at an organ. “That wasn't here before.” He said before dragged in by the Doctor.

The latter enters the console room cautiously, yet got suddenly grabbed by a Cyberman. As the man groaned in pain, Russel took aim with a pistol and fired a shot.

In response, the cyborg let go, making zombie-like groans before Russel put two rounds into its 'mouth' to no immediate effect. Letting it out another zombie-like groan, the Cyberman stepped forward before its head exploded.

Russell then picked up the cyber gun as his pistol had jammed, with the Doctor still on the floor, trying to recover his breath. “How does this thing work?” He fired it against the wall creating sparks. “Sorry.”

Waving a hand, the Doctor warned, “Careful, there may be others.”

A Cyberman came through the interior door and Russell shot it, causing the cyborg to fell to the ground with a head as the chest sparked.

“Shut the main doors.” The Doctor ordered and Peri reached for the control but there was a small explosion.

“Ow!” She cried in pain.

“Peri, look out!” Russel warned as more Cybermen entered from inside and outside, with Lytton and Griffiths also entering, hands on heads.

Before anyone could react, a Cyborg hit Russel with it’s first at the neck. The man held it, stumbling around in pain before collapsing and the woman gasped, kneeling down to him.

“Destroy her. Destroy her at once.” The Cyber-leader ordered and Peri screamed in fear as a Cyberman took aim.

Wait!” The Doctor exclaimed as he jumped up, a slightly panicked expression. “Let's discuss this, shall we?”

“I agree.” Peri added with a barely noticeable whisper, but it didn’t matter for the Leader as he turned towards the man.

“There is nothing to discuss.

“If you want my cooperation, she must live.” The Doctor demanded only to be refused.

“We cannot agree to bargain, Doctor. It would be unfortunate if you were to be killed, but we should still have your Tardis.”

In response, the Doctor dove for the console and pressed a few buttons. “Not anymore, you don't. In precisely twenty seconds, you and it will cease to exist.” He said as the Leader looked at a monitor, a 20 countdown had started.

“Release the woman.” He ordered and his soldiers did as told, only for the Doctor to ask determined,

“How do I know you won't cheat and change your mind?”

You have my word.”

“I'm not sure that's enough.” Stated the man, being distrustful and the leader added,

“Also that of the Cyber Controller.”

This caused the Doctor to be surprised. “I thought he was destroyed.”

“No, merely damaged.” The Leader stated

“Where is he now?” He wanted to know, puzzled.

“On our home planet, Telos.”

In disbelief, the Doctor stared, then mumbled, “I see.”

With fear, Peri looked at the countdown, which had reached 3. “Doctor!”

Quickly reacting, he pressed a button and the countdown stopped at 1.

“Correct. We can now time travel. Set the coordinates for Telos.” The Leader ordered, with the man doing as told.

Then the humans got shit into a room. Lytton explained that the Cybermen have captured a timeship that landed on Telos and have great plans for that ship and the TARDIS as well. The Doctor asked him how he did know so much about Telos and the Cybermen's plans, but the only answer he got by the merc was,

“What does it matter? Just be grateful you're alive.”

Shortly after, a Cyberman entered, ordering the Doctor to come with him, with Peri led out too.

“We had an agreement.” The Doctor state in slight disgust as the Leader countered,

“The woman is unharmed. Telos is cold. She must have warmer clothing. I have kept my word but you have deceived us.”

Faking an innocent expression, the Doctor asked, “What have I done?” In response, two Cybermen gripped his shoulders and causing him to groan in pain.

You will disconnect the signal you are transmitting.” The leader demanded, the man nodded slight before thrown against the console. He pressed a sequence of buttons then nodded again.

The Cyber Leader casually backhanded him causing the man to stagger back right across the room with a surprised yelp. “You are foolish, Doctor. Next time, we will kill you.”

Then, the ponies found themselves in a large corridor with several doors on each side. It took the group only seconds to realize that those were the Cyber-Tombs they had seen before, with white steam in the air, indicating it was cold

Yet it had somehow an elegant appearance still.

A pair of large wrought iron gates materialized in a corridor and Cybermen led their captives out, with Peri now wearing a bright red catsuit.

“What happened to the organ?” Griffith wondered as he looked confused at the gate and Pero asked,

“Do you really want to know? Oh, this place is so cold!” She puffed into her hands.

The Doctor and Lytton looked around in awe as the former commented, “I'd forgotten how big they were.”

“I can understand why they call them tombs.” Lytton added.

“I'm pleased you two are so impressed. I find the whole place hateful.” The woman commented with an upset expression.

“Yes, I suppose the atmosphere is rather rancid.” Her friend added slightly fascinated.

“And it's freezing cold.”

“We have materialized in the wrong place.” The Leader realized, a slight hint of worry in his voice as he looked around.

“Really?” The Doctor asked innocent, with Lytton quietly commenting,

“He almost sounded concerned.”

“Yes. I wonder why?”

Then, the leader turned towards the humans. We must leave this place at once.”

“Why?” The Doctor asked clueless and the leader pointed at him.

“We have far to travel, and the Controller awaits your arrival.”

Suddenly, without any warning, a fist smashed out of one of the 'doors' and took a Cyberman's head off.

Lytton, Griffith and Peri used this to run as a manky green Cyberman emerged from the door. It was clear to the ponies that this was one gone mad through something.

The Leader pushed the Doctor out of the way to confront the maddened Cyberman. He blocked a punch by it, then pushed it to the ground.

“He must not be harmed.” The leader warned his assistant, who had grabbed the Doctor, who had a slightly started expression,

“What about the others, Leader?”

“They are unimportant.” He started and pushed the Doctor forwards.

Scared, Peri wandered through a corridor, trying to look through one door. A green slime Cyberman burst out and graved her, she screamed.

Out of another door came 2 slender humanoids out, armed with Cyber-guns. They looked pale and lean, with long fingers and fingernails, enlarged craniums and whitish skin.

They also looked like their skin was crystalline, reminding the ponies of Crystal ponies. They suspected those were the natives of Telos.

Both humanoids fired at the Cyberman. He groaned and staggers away, allowing both to take the woman into the cubicle they had come from, she protested, being still in shock.

The Doctor, on the other hand, was pushed inside a storage room. He shivered from the cold and puffed into his hands as another of those humanoids, wearing a cape, got up from behind some containers.

“Welcome.” It said in a feminine, echoing voice.

Surprised, the Doctor replied, “Hello. I'm the Doctor.”

“My name is Flast.”

In a cave, Peri woke up, gasping in surprise as she looked straight at one of those strange humanoids, who said in a calming voice, “Peace, child. We mean you no harm.”

“We rescued you from the Cybermen, at no inconsiderable risk to ourselves.” Another explained

Slowly calming down, still trying to understand, the woman mumbled, “Oh, yes. I'm sorry, I'm confused.”

“You must rest, then we will talk.” The first one advised and she asked,

“Who are you?”

“My name is Rost. This is Varne.”

“I'm Peri. I'm from the planet Earth.”

“We know, child.” Rost nodded and Varne added with slight sadness,

“We are Cryons. We no longer have a planet.”

In the storage room, the Doctor was surprised to see Flast, telling her, “I thought the Cybermen had destroyed the Cryons.”

“So did they, but as you see, some of us survived. Not many, but some. She replied and explained that the Cybermen intended to use the time vessel to prevent that Mondas would be destroyed one year later, much to the dismay of the Doctor, who stated in a puzzled tone,

“They can't! It's against all the laws of time!”

Blinking once again, the group saw now the rocky surface of the plantet, with Lytton and Griffiths walking through the landscape. Both carried backpacks, with the latter also having a Cyber-gun, opening his mouth with an irritated expression.

“This place is enormous. We'll never find them out here.”

“Yes, we will.” He assured him confident and the bald man pointed at a small PDA like device the merc was holding,

“That thing. What does it do?”

“It detects Cybermen, and there are two very close.2

“That's right.” A voice explained, it was that of Bates as he and Stratton emerged from a hill. “Don't turn round. Throw the gun down.” Griffiths did as told. “Now the bag. You're looking for us?”

“If you're Bates and Stratton, yes.” Lytton replied calmly.

Now the ponies saw that Stratton was wearing the neck plate and “head” of a Cyberman. The children couldn’t help but suppress a giggle, as with the trailing tubes and broken neck, it looked rather sad.

“So you found us.” Bates commented with distrust and Lytton countered,

“I think we can help each other.”

“Really?” The partially converted man mumbled as he frisked Griffiths, his expression became one of surprise.

“He's flesh and blood.”

This confused Lytton’s helper. “What's he talking about?” He asked as Bates turned Lytton around to check him.

“This one too.”

Now, the bald human started to understand, looking at the merc for an answer. “Are they Cybermen?”

“Almost.”

In response, Bates’ expression became one of hate and disgust. “This is what the Cybermen do to you.” He pulled off a glove to reveal a cybernetic arm with wires. Then he used it to squeeze Griffiths' hand, who grimaced in pain.

As Bates let go of him, he asked the prisoner. “How much of you?”

“Arms and legs. Their conditioning process doesn't always work.” Bates explained and he concluded,

“You're sort of rejects.”

“That's one way of putting it.”

“Will they do that to us?” The bald man feared, only for Lytton to calmly reply

“If they find us. But we won't be here. Like you, we want to steal the time vessel.” He pointed out to the two prisoners but Bates shook his head.

“We don't need you.”

“The time vessel needs a crew of three, at minimum.” Lytton pointed out, “Now, there are two of us and there are two of you. I don't know how you intend to get onto the landing pad, but I have a safe route. Through Cyber Control."

Bates then snatched a small computer like device from Lytton. “Where'd you get this from?”

“The Cryons.”

They then walked up to hatch not far away, leading into a tunnel, with Lytton watching the entrance as the others went up a ladder. As he was about to go up the ladder, he got grabbed by the ankle.

He screamed as he got pulled away, with the others unable to help him, continuing on.

Flask told the Doctor that the Cybermen’s weapon would be a comet that was approaching earth, Halley's comet, the Doctor assumed and looked for a way to open the door.

“I think I can help you. I managed to open one of these, but I couldn't do anything with it.” Flask explained, taking the Doctor to a pile of silver ammunition boxes and he looked at it in slight confusion.

“What is it?” It was full of white powder.

“Vastial. She explained, “It's a mineral, very common in the colder areas of Telos. It's also very unstable. In fact, you have enough in your hand to blow it off. At this temperature, though, it's quite safe, quite useless, otherwise the Cybermen would hardly have locked us in here with it.”

“How warm does it have to get before it becomes unfriendly?” The Doctor wanted to know and the Cryon warned,

“Ten degrees above zero. Fifteen, and it self-ignites.”

Keeping this in mind, the man reached for his Sonic Lance and worked on the door controls, then used a scoop to get some of the Vastial out of the box.

The door slid open a little way and the Doctor puts the scoop out in the corridor and closed it again.

Spotting it, the Cyberman walked over, reaching down for the scoop. It exploded and his arm caught fire, sparkling like fireworks. In a futile attempt, he tried to pat it out before its chest plate exploded.

Knowing that she couldn’t leave the room without dying, Flask pointed out, “There is enough explosive in here to annihilate Cyber Control.”

“Well, there's not much power left in this lance, and that stuff is very cold. It may not generate enough heat.” The Doctor replied and gave it to her.

She looked determined at it. “The Cybermen will not leave Telos.”

Then, the group saw how Lytton was brought to the Controller, a neutral expression as he got asked by the high-ranking Cyborg, “You have wasted both our time and energy. I know that you plan to steal or destroy my time vessel. You will tell me how it is to be done.”

In response, the Controller gave a sign and two Cybermen took hold of his hands and squeezed them.

Lytton tried to suppress a cry, his expression slowly becoming one of pain. In a matter of seconds, blood poured down them and he fell to the floor, screaming.

“You are foolish, Lytton. You could have saved yourself from pain. I told you you would tell us everything.” The Controller taunted as the two Cybermen pulled him up and he pointed towards the alcoves. “Now you will become as we are.”

“The time vessel is approaching Telos, Controller.” One of his soldiers told him and he replied,

“Excellent. Order it to land and have the Doctor brought to me.”

“Controller.” The Cyberman did as told, there was a beeping sound. “The Cyberman guarding the Doctor does not respond.”

“Show him to me.” Doing so as ordered, the monitor showed the open storeroom door. “The Doctor has escaped. He must be found.”

The Doctor ran through the corridors, stopping at a corner to see that the Tardis was guarded, yet at the same time, Peri with her two allies caught up to him, introducing themselves.

“How many Cybermen are inside the Tardis?” He asked them and Varne replied,

“We have no way of telling.”

“Then we must find out.” He ran to a tomb door and tried to shoulder his way but groaned in pau and asked, “Do you mind?”

Varne used her gun to blast the door. Inside was a green, dead, Cyberman lying on the floor, with the Doctor kneeling next to its head..

“What are you doing?” Peri asked confused and he replied,

“Cybermen have an inbuilt distress signal.”

“But this thing's dead.” she pointed out as he opened the faceplate.

To the horror of the ponies, unlike with Tyson, where was no visible face inside, just electronics

“The signal is mechanical, not organic. There may be enough power left in this battery to transmit.” The Doctor explained as he fiddled with it to get it to work.

“And achieve what?” She did not understand.

“A reaction from those inside the Tardis. The Cybermen have one weakness. They'll react to the distress of their own kind. When I was a prisoner in Cyber Control, I met a friend of yours.” He explained to her

“Flast?” Varne asked surprised as she realized. “But we thought she was dead.”

“If she isn't now, she soon will be. She's at the moment the living detonator of a bomb that could go off at any second and kill us all.” The Doctor added as he got the signal to work and a red light blinked.

At the storage room, the Cyber-leader searched the room, discovering Flask. “How long has the Doctor been gone?” He demanded to know and she simply answered,

“I don't know. I don't have an instrument for measuring time.” Then two Cybermen grabbed her shoulders, causing her to groan in pain.

“You will answer my questions.”

“I will not.” The Cryon refused and the leader decided.

“Very well, take her outside.”

They pushed Flast into the corridor. Steam started to come off her and she writhed in pain before dying. But she had done her work, as the ponies saw out of the corner of their eyes how the Vastial was quietly heating up by the far wall, visible by steam coming out of the box.

The scene switched and they saw the three men walking among a corridor, coming to a door, with Bates looking at the small computer.

“According to the map, the launching pad is on the other side of this door.”

“We made it!” Stratton exclaimed, only for the bald man to point out,

“Let's get aboard the ship before we open the champagne.”

“Give me that thing.” Bates grabbed the gun before asking, “Ready?” Both nodded.

But the moment he touched the door, there was a red-orange flash, he screamed and fell dead to the ground.

Both men started in shock, unable to process what had just happened. Then the door opened and they started to run but got shot in the back by the Cyberman.

With that, they looked at the room with the Controller again as he received a report. “The intruders have been destroyed.”

“Excellent. You will all accompany me.” He Controller replied and they all walked out.

Yet a gasp escaping everyone to see Lytton on one of tha alcove’s, undergoing Cyber-conversation.

His lower body had the silver overall, together with a half-finished chest plate, his lower arms covered in plastic and headpiece, everything connected to wires.

The man himself had an empty expression, yet he twitched, with his eyes showed that he was in pain.

Back with the Doctor, the ponies saw how he, Peri and the Cryons took cover behind pillars as two Cybermen came out of the Tardis to investigate the distress signal.

Rost managed to shoot one, his chest unit created sparks as he fell to the ground with a human-like cry. Varne stepped out to get the other, but got hit where she could open fire.

With a cry of pain, steam coming of her body, she fell to the ground. A third Cryon finished the Cyberman instead.

With grief, the Doctor looked at Varne’s body. I’m sorry.” He said to Rost, who replied,

“Please remove your Tardis from Telos before you have to be rescued again.”

“What about you, Rost?” He sounded worried but she assured him,

“We shall survive.”

“But Doctor, what about Lytton?” Peri added, He's been captured by the Cybermen.” She explained with worry as they made thee to the Tardis.

With a cold expression, the Doctor taunted, “That should make him happy.”

“You don't understand. He's working for the Cryons.”

This caused the Doctor to stop in confusion, looking at Rost as she followed them. “For you?”

“Yes, for us.”

“Well, you can't just let him die.” His companion pleaded with him.

In response, he looked towards the humanoid with a conflicted expression. “Where's he likely to be now?”

“In the laboratory.”

He nodded. “I'll see what I can do. Good luck.”

“And to you, Doctor.” Rost said as she watched both entering the Tardis.

Lytton’s eyes moved as he heard a creaking sound, seeing a blue police box materializing in the room and the Doctor stepped out, looking at him with a neutral expression.

“I know you.” Lytton’s voice was distorted, sounding in pain as the Doctor looked for a way to free him.

“That's right. And I'm just beginning to find out about you.”

“Did you put the sonic lance to good use?” The merc wanted to know”

“I did. Why didn't you say something?” He got asked in return by the Doctor, but it didn’t matter for Lytton as he stated with a painful expression,

“Now you must kill me.”

“I can help you. Hang on.” The Doctor stated, walking towards a computer console, as the partially cyber-converted man mumbled,

“The drug is affecting my brain. Irreversible damage.”

Having found what he looked for, the Doctor picked up a sharp instrument and walked back to Lytton. “I'm the Doctor. I'll tell you if its irreversible or not. Now just hang on.”

“I did my best. I kept my word.” Lytton explained as his savior tried to disconnect him from the alcove systems.

“I know.”

“Please, Doctor. Kill me.” Lytton pleaded before the door opened, with the Cyber Controller entering, weapon ready.

“Move away from him, Doctor.” He ordered, no noticing how the man putted the knife in Lytton's hand as he approached both. “Emotion is a weakness.”

In response, the Doctor shook his head. “I don't think so.”

“It brought you back for your friend and it will cost you your life.”

As the Controller reached both, Lytton stabbed it in the arm, severing a fluid tube. Green spurts everywhere as Lytton stabs again and again, with the Controller screaming in pain, punching hum to the ground.

The Doctor scrambles for the Controller's gun, shooting the Cyber-leader with it as he entered with his assistant. Pushed back by the hit, the leader got spun around, into his assistant, who got shot by the Doctor too. Then the Controller started flailing around, knocking the Doctor across the room.

Taking quickly aim, the Doctor hit the Controller into the chest-plate. It exploded and the cyborg fell screaming to the ground, exploding.

Breathing heavily, the Doctor stood up and checked Lytton, who was lying lifeless on the ground.

With a worried expression, the Doctor said, “I must help him.”

Peri had a face of regret as she was afraid to say, “It's too late, Doctor. He's dead.”

“I can't just leave him.” He protested but she insisted,

“You must. There's nothing you can do.”

“Why didn't he say something?” The Doctor wondered as he and Peri prepared to enter the Tardis, only for her to remind him,

“You never gave him a chance.”

Two Cybermen then spotted the shouldering box of explosive. One of them waved at the other to run, just moments before an explosion followed.

Another one. And another one.

Sparks flew through the air as one after another box exploded in a violent chain reaction.

Covering their eyes from the flash, they then saw the other prisoners, held captive in a small quarry by two guards before they watched a big explosion in the distance. They all closed their eye in acceptance as the guards took aim.

Several shots.

But the prisoners were still alive.

They all looked in confusion to see the guards destroyed, with three other Cybermen behind the destroyed Cyborgs.

“You are free to go.” One of them said and the human looked confused at each other. “The time-ship us intact, it’s just behind the hill. And don’t worry, it can be reversed what happened to you, the data’s on the ship.” The Cyberman pointed at a small hill just behind him.

The prisoners hesitated for a second before starting to walk, keeping their eyes on the cyborgs until they got out of sight behind a hill.

Seconds later, there was a loud roar of an engine. The three cyborgs took this as sign to walk towards a small incline, where a shuttle, same design the rouge at the freighter had used, was hidden. They used it to fly away and everything ended in the void again.

“So, they tried to change history in order to safe their planet, “Time Turner started, “A forbidden move, but a clever one, I admit.”

“Yeah, but poor Lytton, he hasn’t deserved this.” Tungsten added with pity in his voice, “But at least, his efforts haven’t been in vain.”

“Yes, Fletcher nodded, “He may have done some bad things apparently but in the end, tried to do good. The Doctor misjudged him, that even such people can be good.” He gave Blue a weak smile, which she returned.”

“Indeed.” Luna added as she took a deep breath. “The next memory is also the last one, it is the one of Tyson and his 2 fellow officers. I sense this took place on...the 23th November, 1988.“

Chapter 12 Past and cost part 9

Chapter 12 Past and cost part 9

This time, the ponies saw a Spanish style villa, with a group of men in camouflage fatigues getting out of a jeep and entered the building. Inside, Nazi paraphernalia and old scrolls were scattered on a table.

At first, it looked like the work of a collector of historical relics, who wanted to find originals with the swastika on it. And yet, it looked way too organized for a collector.

More like someone that admired it, and using it to look for something, being inspired by it.

Dinky, the siblings, Patch, Wagensroll and knights instantly realized those were neo-Nazis, a look of disgust formed on their faces.

A young man worked at a computer as a record player played a song, Ride of the Valkyries Fletcher and Wagensroll recognized before the screen displayed some information.

Landing Location, Windsor, Grid Ref: 74W 32N, November 23, 1988. On a balcony, a silver haired man with blue eyes picked up a modern bow to shoot a macaw in a nearby tree, but before he could do, the young man called out

“Herr De Flores. Herr De Flores. Wonderful news.” Seeing the young man smile, De Flores went inside.

He entered the main room to the men in camouflage fatigues, who have been given small glasses of drink as he addressed them. “Gentlemen. I wonder if even you can fully appreciate what this moment means. You're standing now at the turning point of history. The day of fulfillment of our mighty destiny is about to dawn. Fifty years ago, I stood at the side of the Fuehrer himself when he ordered the first giant step to greatness, just as now the moment approaches for the second and final one. It will be decisive, for this time, this time we must not fail. Gentlemen, I give you the Fourth Reich.” He proudly announced, his German accent strong as he raised a glass, the others did too.

“The Fourth Reich.”

The young man informed him then, “Herr De Flores, the aircraft is ready.”

“We leave at once.” The elderly man went to a glass display case and removed a silver bow, then placed it in a metal carrying case.

Blinking, the ponies found themselves next to a barn, looking up to see a meteorite crashing next to it. Police sirens ringed in their ears moments later and a few officers arrived to secure the crash side, with one using his radio, “Three one eight to base. Hey look, there's someone inside.” He pointed to the meteoroid and faintly, there was the shape of a human visible but the smoke from the fire made it impossible to truly tell.

One of them tried to start the car a few times, without success, getting commented by a fellow officer, “Don't bother trying again, it looks like the battery's dead.” He then tried out his radio. “Hello? Hello?”

They were unaware of several silver periscopes pushing up through the soil. Gas released from then and the policemen coughed before collapsing.

A short moment later, a van arrived and the Neo-Nazis stepped out to secure the area, with their leader now wearing an army uniform.

“Herr De Flores, I don't understand how the police have already been overcome.” The young man wondered as they found the fallen policemen, only for his leader to state,

“That is of no importance. All that matters is the Nemesis is safe.” With that, his soldier placed the box on the meteorite and opened it. The bow throbbed with energy, and so did something inside the rock.

“Your strength returns. Soon you will be completely restored. But where's the arrow? The arrow, where is it?” The leader of the group wondered.

“Er, don't be afraid. We won't harm you.” A new voice called out and the soldiers turned around to face a man with a woman.

The former was dressed in single breasted ivory safari-styled jacket with a red paisley handkerchief in his left pocket, a crimson/black tartan scarf under his lapels, with a yellow pullover adorned with cherry question marks and turquoise zigzag patterns, with sand-beige tweed plaid trousers and a pair of burgundy braces tucked under the pullover.

Under the pullover, he wore a white shirt with a scarlet paisley necktie, and completed his outfit with a pair of two-tone white and brown brogued spectator shoes. A battered cream colonial-styled Panama hat with an identical paisley handkerchief folded into a hatband and an upturned brim was on his head.

Also, he had a watch on his right wrist and a black umbrella in his left hand.

The woman looked very young, like she was in her teenage years, blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a bomber jacket with several different patches on it.

With a warning tone in his voice, the man revealed that the bow and arrow would give the validium metal critical mass and asked the leader of the group if he had observed the advanced technology, which has been used to attack the policemen, and the power blackouts that had been occurring over the last few days.

Yet De Flores had nothing of it. “Tell me where the arrow is. I want you to tell me where to find the arrow!” He yelled in a slightly angry, threatening tone, yet the other man stayed completely calm.

“I'm glad to say I can't.”

“Then we will shoot her.” With that, his men took aim at the woman.

However, before they could do anything, they noticed a large spacecraft landing near the crash site, it was the same model Tyson and his soldiers had used.

A squad of Cybermen stepped out, the same appearance as Tyson and his lieutenants, the onlookers watched them with surprise as the Cyber-Leader was the last one to get out.

“So, Doctor, a new appearance, otherwise our anticipation of your presence has proved entirely accurate.” He said as he looked at the man with umbrella and the ponies gasped as they recognized the voice. This leader was Tyson himself.

One of De Flores' men started shooting at a Cyberman next to Tyson with his SMG. He flinched at the bullets, the hits causing sparks but seemed to have no effect on him, before Tyson made a gesture to move.

“Eradicate them.” The cyborg that got hit, returned fire and a battle broke out between the two factions, with the Doctor and woman diving into the crater made by the Nemesis.

The men gave their best, but as their weapons had no effect, the Cybermen easily gained the upper hand, killing more and more of the Neo-Nazis.

Suddenly, one Cybermen got hit into the chest by an armor getting slightly thrown back. He screamed as it exploded in a shower of sparks, killing him.

A second arrow hit the ground near where De Flores was hiding behind an old car. He examined it carefully as more of his men were slaughtered. A second Cybermen got hit by an arrow and died in a shower of sparks.

During the battle, the police car exploded, causing one of the killed Cyberman to topple into the crater, with the Doctor looking confused at it.

“A Cyberman killed with an arrow?” But that's ludicrous, unless-“ He spotted the arrow and examined it. Of course, the head's made of gold.”

“That's real gold?” His companion asked surprised and he nodded.

“Yes. The only substance to which they're vulnerable.”

“Classy.” She attempted to grab the arrow but he pushed her off.

“Ah! Gold dipped in poison. Lady Peinforte's calling card.” He warned her.

Who Lady Peinforte was, the ponies had no idea but something told them they would know soon.

Watching the battle with worry, the leader of the Neo-Nazis said to the young man, he had called Karl earlier, “We must retreat. It's our only chance.”

“And leave the statue?” Karl asked in disbelief.

“The statue alone is useless to them. The bow is ours. Get it.”

Doing as told, dodging fire and explosions, the young man retrieved the box.

“Bring the bow at once.” Tyson ordered after all hostiles were defeated, and a fellow cyborg reported,

“The Doctor and the female have escaped with it, Leader.” It was Almar.

“And that one?” Tyson pointed to the Cyberman with thein its chest.

“Terminated by another human female, using gold.”

“This must be the Lady Peinforte.” Tyson concluded, clenching his fist.

He and the other cyborgs then brought the Nemesis into a large warehouse or aircraft hangar by its crash site, and are cutting into the rock surrounding it, with him ordering, “Cut the statue free and take it into the craft.”

The ponies watched puzzled how the Cybermen then carried the Nemesis, still in some rock, into their spacecraft, then took off. Yet, they couldn't understand.

Why Tyson and his fellow officers did this, if they had still their emotions? What did they hope to achieve with this?

They could only wait and see as they watched how the ship landed in the park of Windsor, with the former humans bringing the Nemesis into a crypt. On the wall behind the large stone sarcophagus was the inscription “Death Is But A Door”. The Nemesis is starting to break out of her rock prison, the face of a human female becoming slowly visible as Almar reported,

“The remaining validium approaches, Leader.”

“As predicted. Activate communications unit.” Tyson ordered, only for his second-in command to point out,

“But the Doctor and Peinforte are still to be destroyed.”

“Our victory is inevitable. The Doctor will come to us, and Peinforte is a simple savage accompanied by a terrified peasant.” He assured.

Again, it sounded very unlikely him, let alone to use such insults.

They build up a small beacon, looking similar to the one the Cybermen on the freighter had used, as Tyson gave the order. “Commence transmission.”

“Leader, I must repeat the objection to the transmission of incorrect information. Our forces do not yet hold all three units of validium.” His friend warned, only to be told by him,

“You are outside your function.” Suddenly, the communications globe glowed and Almar took a look.

“Interference, origin unknown.”

“Open the monitor channel.” Tyson replied and as his lieutenant pushed a button, Jazz music blared out, causing both to look at each other in what appeared to be confusion.

Despite this, they walked outside to see two humans in what appeared to be very old clothing, several centuries old. Due to keeping at a distance, the ponies couldn’t see much detail except it was a man and woman, both had blonde hair, armed with bow and arrow. Their clothes looked like Early Modern period.

Something told the ponies that this was the Lady Peinforte.

“Now our plan begins to operate. She will find that her crypt has weathered with age. The fact of her death will drive her insane.” Tyson explained and tented his fingers, sounding confident as the woman looked for something

“This is your tomb?” The man asked and the woman replied frustrated,

“Rather fine, is it not? But where is the statue of Nemesis? Where is it? Where?”

“Is this the human condition of madness, Leader?” Almar asked his commander, who made a gesture to move.

“It is. Kill them.”

Obeying, his soldiers moved in before an arrow landed next to them. One of the cyborgs scanned it with what looked like a detector.

“Gold!” He exclaimed before hit with an arrow to the chest, dying with a scream as it shot sparks.

“Destroy them. Destroy them!” Tyson yelled, sounding slightly frustrated as his troops fired, with his friend advising him.

“We cannot sustain these losses, Leader. We must withdraw.”

“No. We must hold the statue and retrieve the arrow from them.” His commander protested but he stayed calm.

“If we are overcome, the entire strategy fails. The Cyber race will cease to exist.”

“Your logic is correct. Their supply of gold is limited. Retreat.” Ordered Tyson and they did all as told.

With awe, the ponies saw was how the shuttle of the cyborgs was guarded by two headphone wearing men, their expressions were empty. It was clear whatever the Cybermen had done to them, they were already no longer alive.

The Doctor emerged from the hedgerow and called out to the two men, tipping his head in a greeting gesture. “Hello, I'm the Doctor! I believe you want to kill me.”

He started to run and the two men followed. In response, the young woman ran up to the shuttle and threw a backpack in before retreating to a safe distance. It was destroyed in a gigantic fireball.

Tyson and his soldiers just arrived to witness the explosion, facing the two men. “Betrayal. Kill them.” He ordered, his soldiers shot the two humans without hesitation.

They then traveled to a clearing as the elderly man caught up to them. “We want to talk to you. I don't know if you're familiar with Wagner's Ring das Nibelungen. Now we, we are the supermen, but you, you are the giants. They are wonderful creatures.” He started, only for Tyson to counter,

“Of course, but why should we form an alliance with you?”

In response, De Flores explained, “We had a leader once. He predicted your coming. Now together we shall fulfill his vision and reign over this world.”

“Together? The Cyber race requires no help from humans.” Tyson stated, not interested at all.

“But a woman who is almost less that human now holds the statue, “Karl added to the conversation and his commander pointed out,

“And she's armed with the most primitive toys.”

This seemed slightly to anger Tyson, as he pointed at them, slightly raising his voice. “You insult us.”

“Of course not. Whatever your unfortunate vulnerability doesn't affect us. We can remove her for you.” The Neo-Nazi leader offered and the former human commander thought about it.

“We accept. Destroy the woman and her servant, and we will divide the planet into your slave groups and ours.” The rouge Cyber-leader made a suiting gesture with his hands.

“Good.” The elderly man agreed and Tyson warned him,

“But remember, betrayal will be fatal. We are invincible to your weapons.” As the two natis walked away, he told his soldiers, “Once they have the arrow and the statue, destroy them.”

De Flores and his only remaining soldier entered the crypt to control the Lady and her servant, the latter panicked upon held at gunpoint.

“You want the statue, master? Here, take it. Take it.” He snatched the bow from her.

“No!” She yelled in protest with a look of anger.

“Give her the arrow. See!” He threw it into the sarcophagus. “Forgive me, my lady.”

“Unhand me now!” She yelled before dragged out another door, yet the ponies could get a quick glance.

Lady Peinforte’s hair was curly, so was that of her assistant, both had green eyes. She looked somehow elegant but they could tell she wasn’t of a goodwill, with the Hooves family suppressing a whine of disgust as she reminded them of a certain mare they all would rather forget.

Karl fired a few shots but missed, with his leader waving a hand. “No matter, Karl, no matter. They are of no importance. We have the statue, the arrow, and the bow.”

To the surprise and fascination of the ponies, the hand of the statue moved, grabbing the arrow.

“And the Cybermen?” Karl asked concerned but his commander assured him,

“Gold overcomes them. We have no such weakness. See how it prepares for life. Your first task must be to take control of the extraterrestrials.”

Both were unaware of Tyson walking up behind him. “Unfortunately, that will not be possible.”

Determined with no sign of fear, De Flores warned, “Keep away. I possess the entire statue of Nemesis. All power is mine. The life and death of everything in existence is in my hands.”

In response, Tyson calmly wanted to know, “Then where is the bow?” as if he had expected this. And De Flores opened the case.

His eyes went wide in surprise to that it was empty.

Then the scene switched to the Doctor in the woods, looking with the woman at a hologram above a tape deck. He told his young friend that every time the Nemesis comet approached Earth in its 25 year orbit, it caused destruction: in 1913, the eve of the First World War; 1938, Hitler annexed Austria; 1963 Kennedy assassinated, and now it was 1988.

He then saw a lizard emerge from hiding and weakly smiled. “Of course. It's so simple. They're shrouded.

”You what?” His friend asked confused raising an eyebrow

“Shrouded. They don't show up. But we must try and force them into revealing themselves.” He explained and tipped on the tape deck, turning dials. “Treble. Bass. Please let me be right. Is anyone listening? Balance.”

Then the hologram showed several arrow-shaped ships, too many to count, with both humans looking in surprise at the image.

“What are they?” The teenager was puzzled and the doctor replied in dismay,

“Cyber warships. Thousands of them. They were invisible.”

Then it changed back to Tyson, with the Neo-Nazi leader showing signs of being nervous as he tried to explain. “Surely we, er, we can negotiate this er, this misunderstanding?”

“Our understanding is perfect. You thought you had all three components of the statue, and naturally wished to destroy us.” Tyson pointed out as Almar joined him, only for Karl to reply,

“You are completely mistaken.”

“Silence.” The Cyber-leader yelled as his lieutenant gave a report.

“Validium activity indicates proximity of the bow, Leader.”

“Excellent. Kill them.”

Before Almar could obey the order, the elderly man threw gold dust into Tyson’s face. He let out an almost human near cry of pain as he staggered, allowing the two humans to get out, with Almar close in pursuit.

Karl gave his leader a grin as he spoke up, “Herr De Flores. Your day is over.”

“You betray me? Have I taught you nothing?” De Flores asked him in disbelief as Almar caught up to them, grabbing him by the arm.

“Everything. Which is why we now part company. I'm afraid you failed to understand history in addition to Wagner.” Karl stated, much to the confusion of his leader.

“I?”

“Supermen are all very well, but the giants are the master race.” The young man explained with fascination as Tyson came outside, turning towards him. “Here he is. Now make me one of you.”

“You show potential. Very well. Have them programmed at once.” Tyson ordered and 2 Cybermen brought the humans back inside as he turned to Almar. “We must complete the statue immediately. Locate the bow. Destroy the Doctor and his young friend.”

Inside the crypt, the two men got outfitted with headphones, their expression neutral as Almar checked the communication. “The Cyberfleet are still not receiving our transmission, Leader.”

“Is there any pattern to the jamming signal?” Tyson asked and his friend turned it on, only for Jazz music to sound.

Suddenly, the light went on again and Almar reported, “Communication channels to the Cyberfleet are clear again, Leader.”

“Excellent. Their arrival is imminent.” It pleased Tyson but De Flores had doubts.

“You fool. Without the bow the statue's power is nothing.”

“We will shortly obtain the bow.” He got assured by the Cyber-leader-

“From the Doctor? Don't delude yourself. He is no common adversary. Do you think he'll simply walk in here and hand it over?”

In that moment, the middle-aged man walked in, tipping his hat with a friendly smile “Good afternoon.”

Tyson turned around in slight surprise. “Doctor.”

“Yes, here we are. I'm sorry we couldn't have been here earlier, but we were held up on the way. I don't believe you've met my friend Ace.” The man gently pushed the young woman forward, she had an neutral expression before the former human pushed her aside.

“Give me the bow.” Tyson demanded, only for the man to comment,

“Cyberleader moves pawn to discover check.”

“Ace replies by neatly castling with the bow.” She held up said weapon, causing the Tyson to try to grab it but she dodged his attempts.

“Give me the bow.”

“Doctor en passant behind Cyberleader.” The Doctor announced as he moved around Tyson, who became slightly frustrated.

“Give me the bow!” He exclaimed before the Doctor grabbed it with his umbrella.

“Doctor supports combination gambit.”

“Take the bow from him.” Tyson ordered, with the Doctor announcing,

“Middle game element with Cybermen.” He danced in a pirouette like manner around the cyborgs, putting his hat over one of their guns as he reached the statue, much to Tyson’s dismay.

“Kill him!”

“End game. Illegal move, but checkmate!” The man exclaimed as he gave the bow to Nemesis. “That seems to be in order.” He added as it reached a hand for it but he took it back and started to run outside with Ace, not forgetting his hat.

In awe, the watchers saw how the glowing silver statue stood up, with small explosions around her. It looked identical to Lady Peinforte, having a very majestic appearance.

A piercing scream split the air as fire blew out of the windows of the tower, causing the ponies to cover their ears.

Tyson looked at the destroyed window before saying, “The Doctor must not lead the statue back to the rocket sleds. We will stop him.”

At the warehouse, the Doctor climbed into the rocket sled with the bow. The statue arrived shortly after, floating in beside him.

“Now, ah yes, the bow. The bow. The bow is essential. You shall have the bow.” He stretched his arm out, offering it and she took it gladly.

He then started to program the rocket sled, Ace walked up to look at the statue in awe.

“I am beautiful, am I not?” Nemesis asked in a echoing, yet human like voice.

“Yes. You're very beautiful.” The young human replied.

“It is only my present form. I have had others which would horrify you. I shall have those again. You are surprised I speak?” The statue wanted to know.

“I know you're living metal.” Ace admitted.

“I am whatever I am made to be. This time Lady Peinforte called me Nemesis, so I am retribution.” The statue concluded,

Forming a smile, Ace then said, “Catch you later.” She ran towards the doorway and Nemesis lied down in the rocket sled.

As the teenager reached the doorway, a Cyberman entered and opened fired, yet missed. She ran up the steps to a landing outside an office, and pulled out a slingshot with gold coins.

Taking aim, she fired at the Cyberman’s chest, he screamed in pain as it exploded in a shower of sparks. Tyson and the others then walked in, spotting their dead comrade.

“Destroy the human female. Find and destroy her!” He ordered.

One of them tried to intercept Ace on the upper floor but she ducked to avoid his fire, then destroyed with too with a well-aimed shot. She then dodged the fire of another, coming to small spiral stone staircase and waited.

As the cyborg came into view, she fired. With sparks and a scream, this one got destroyed as well. However, a fourth Cyberman came through the door and fired, forcing her to go up the stairs, having to leave her bag of ammo behind.

She made her way along a catwalk up in the roof space, seeing the Tardis down below her. Then a Cyberman appeared up in front of, with Tyson on the adjoining catwalk, holding up a hand in a stop gesture.

“Hold!”

“Why? You're going to kill me anyway.” She taunted, not showing any fear, a determined expression

“We detect only one more piece of gold.”

“Correct. So who'll be next, and who'll be lucky?” She switched aim between them, before a third Cyberman boxed her in from the rear.

“Kill her.” Tyson ordered before she fired at him, he screamed in pain and fell over the railing, landing lifeless on the ground. She then ducked, causing both cyborgs to shoot each other. One of them let out a feminine scream.

A gasp of horror escaped the ponies to realize this Cyberman had been Vicky.

The Doctor then finished programming, taking the bow as he spoke to himself, “Things are still imperfect.”

Two Cybermen approached him as Ace ran in. They turned around guns raised.

“Stop! Harm her in the slightest, and I will destroy this bow!” The Doctor threatened yet the cyborgs were not impressed.

“Give us the bow, Doctor.”

“No.” He refused and the Cyberman stated,

“We shall simply take it and kill you both. In any case, your threat was meaningless. How could you have destroyed the bow?”

“Well, actually, I would have arranged to have the bow neatly placed in front of the rocket sled.” The Doctor explained calmly as he lied the bow down, then walked towards them. “Then I would have arranged the rockets to test fire at a pre-arranged time. By the way, Ace, what is the time?” He asked, completely off topic.

Still, Ace checked her watch. “Well, it's almost-“

She couldn’t finish as the Doctor hooked her arm with his umbrella and pulled back behind the rocket motors just before they burst into life, incinerating the Cybermen, who screamed in pain.

They were unaware that Tyson twitched, removing the bent gold coin from his chest unit.

“Is that it, Doctor?” Ace asked before her expression became of one of disgust. “Oh no, not you again.”

It were the two Neo-Nazis, the Doctor had a neutral expression as Karl picked up the bow and handled it to his leader, who was most pleased. “We have both succeeded in deceiving the Cybermen.”

“They made the mistake of assuming all human beings to be weak, corruptible. We, however, are loyal to the death.” Karl bragged as his leader took the bow to Nemesis.

“The long journey is over. You will be worshipped forever.” He said to her, becoming confused to hear no answer. “Doesn't she speak?”

“Not to the likes of you.” The Doctor pointed out with slight disgust in his voice but De Flores wasn’t fazed.

“She will. Well, Doctor, we must part. And thank you for removing the Cybermen. Now the Nemesis is finally mine.” He raised a hand in triumph.

But quick as lighting, Tyson shot him and Karl before they could react. “Give me the bow, or I will kill her.” The former human threated.

At this point, Peinforte and her servant arrived. Demanding the bow for herself, she asked Ace who the Doctor is, and whether she knew where he came from. Ace replied that nobody knows who the Doctor is, but Peinforte said that she did. As Ace asked how, Peinforte replied that the Nemesis told her.

The Doctor asked what would happen if he gave her the bow, to which Peinforte replied his power would be hers, but his secrets remain his own.

He thought for a moment, then looked at is friend. “It's all over, Ace. My battle, all my battles, I've lost. I can only surrender.”

“Yes.” Lady Peinforte nodded, holding out her hand, only for the Doctor to add,

“But not to you. The Cybermen will have the Nemesis.” He handled it to Tyson, much to the surprise of everyone, save for the cyborg, as he commented

“This is most rational, Doctor.”

Axe looked shocked at this, Peinforte was angry about this, threatening to reveal his secrets, but Tyson stated, “The secrets of the Time Lords mean nothing to us.”

“Exactly. Thank you for coming to the twentieth century and giving me assistance. Thank you for bringing the arrow. You may go now.” The Doctor smiled at the Lady, who couldn’t understand.

“What?”

“You had the right game, but the wrong pawn. Check.” He taunted as the Cyber-leader gave back the bow.

“Enough, Doctor. Cancel the statue's destructive capability.”

“Do you understand the Cyberleader's instructions?” The man asked as he placed the bow to the statue,

“Perfectly.” It replied, with Ace looking at her friend, a pleading expression on her face

“Please don't surrender, Doctor.” But her friend said nothing.

“Prepare it for launching to liaise with our fleet. You have the position from this device.” Tyson held up a tape. “A new and final era begins, Doctor. Imagination, thought, freedom, pleasure, all will end.” He pronounced, crushing the tape.

“The Earth will be transformed into our base planet, the new Mondas. Before I kill you all, you may watch the arrival of our fleet. Launch the Nemesis.”

“Let them kill me, Doctor. Don't surrender.” Ace pleaded, grabbing him, only to gently push her aside as he warned with a neutral expression,

“Stand back. She's ready for launching.”

Everyone slightly startled as Lady Peinforte screamed, grabbing the bow and threw herself on top of the Nemesis. It writhed as it absorbed her, then the rocket sled blasted out of the warehouse entrance and up into the sky.

“Nice rocket technology, Doctor.” The woman commented slightly suppressed as Tyson ordered,

“We will watch its progress.”

“Certainly.” The Doctor assured, turning on the tape deck scanner. The Nemesis flew into the heart of the Cyberfleet, which was stationed by the moon.

It exploded, destroying the entire fleet, much to the shock of the former man.

“This is impossible. You gave my instructions to the statue.”

“Yes, I gave your instructions to the Nemesis, and it understood them. It understood them, and disobeyed them, and destroyed the Cyberfleet.” The Doctor corrected him.

In response, the leader aimed at him. “Then you will join them.”

“It's worth it.” The Doctor replied calmly, not afraid to die.

They all didn’t notice how Peinforte’s assistant saw a gold tipped arrow stuck in the Tardis' door. He grabbed it and charged at Tyson thrusting it into his chest.

With painful screams, the cyborg fell to the ground, his chest shooting sparks, writhing around before not moving anymore.

With a grateful expression, the Doctor patted the man on the back. “That seems to be that. Thank you.”

“It was nothing, Doctor. I wish I could have saved my lady, too, but she was one with your statue. How shall I live now, stranded, a stranger in this time?” The assistant wondered, receiving a sympathetic smile by the other man

“I know how you feel. However-“

“He'll give you a lift.” Ace finished for her friend, who asked,

“Back to 1638?”

In confusion, the assistant opened his mouth. “It's possible?”

“Anything's possible.” The Doctor assured and all entered the Tardis.

With shock and confusion, the ponies watched how the Tardis vanished. If Tyson and his two friends died here, with the ship destroyed, how could it be that they were still alive and crash-landed in Equestria?

The sound of an engine greeted their ears and they turned around. Another shuttle was landing, its engine slightly smoking. As the door opened, a group of Cybermats came out, the same kind that had been used at Voga.

They moved towards the three fallen cyborgs and climbed on their chest, sparks came from it as they seemed to do repairs on them.

With each blinking, time seemed to pass as the sun moved, about to go down before the three started to twitch. Each of them stood slowly up, limping towards the craft.

Once inside, the three moved to alcoves, standing inside of it as a powering-up sound followed. Again, time passed with every blink until it was snowy, then spring, summer and autumn again.

It was there where the three former humans stirred and walked out of the alcoves. “Our recovery is complete. What is the status?” Tyron asked and Almar looked on a console.

“Our recovery took a year, it’s late September 1989 now. And while our ship was able to escape the blast of Nemesis in time, the Hyperdrive got damaged. Also, I am detecting a signal of our own near London.”

“That must be our fellow soldiers who survive the Invasion in 1970.” Tyson, concluded, “Set a course, we use the night as cover.”

“Yes, commander.”

And so, the shuttle took off as it became dark, flying through the landscape undetected until it landed near a junkyard near the outskirts of London.

Landing and getting out, the six Cybermen came between the junk piles, saluting them. “Commander Tybalt, we have waited for you.”

“At ease, comrades. We are a long journey before us.” The commander replied and turned to his make lieutenant. “Have you searched for a way to repair the hyperdrive?”

“Yes, sir. According to scans, there is a Private Military Company called Harmonious Guard, which may store technology that could help us. Unfortunately, the base with such technology is located in Atlanta, USA.”

“Okay then, let’s go.”

Staying low to avoid radar, using again the cover of the night, the cyborgs flew towards the USA and the base they needed to go. They landed on a small hill as they arrived in the evening, overlooking the base.

It consisted of a few guard towers with searchlights and a few warehouses.

“Vicky, scout the base out.” The commander ordered and she nodded.

She moved carefully towards it, having little trouble to avoid the search lights, stopping at a corner as four men moved past her.

Two of them wore camouflaged uniforms with body armor, one an officer uniform and one civilian clothes.

The knights and Dinky recognized the officer, it was James, with Kyle and his mother looking at the civilian in awe.

He had the same hair and eye color as Kyle.

Dad?

William?

“I must say, James, I still can’t believe that you managed to create this all.” William looked around in fascination and James chuckled.

“Wasn’t easy, but as you see, I managed to do it.”

William was so distracted that he didn’t watched where he was going, bumping into someone. “Oof! Sorry.”

He looked up to see that he had bumped into a man with long, silky, white hair under a field cap. Noticeable was he had an eyepatch over his right eye with a cloth, only his other brown eye was visible.

“It’s okay.” He replied in an English voice with a slight Asian accent, giving a weak smile before saluting James. “General.”

“At ease, Choi. I just show my guest around, William Schaeffer.” James introduced and the Asian man gave the guest a handshake.

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Same.”

The two then moved on and Blue could swear in the shadow, she saw for a second 2 red eyes watching William and James before the latter excused himself into an office.

“Sorry, be right back, William.”

“Okay.”

Kyle’s father waited patiently outside for a few minutes before James came out. “Okay, that is settled. Come, I give you a ride home.” The German-American led him to a large warehouse and opened the door, William’s eyes went wide in awe.

“Wow…” There was a collection of cars of all types, from muscle to sports cars and even some classic cars from the early age of automobiles. “How could you afford all this?”

In response, James crossed his arms with a smile. “The contracts I was hired for paid very well. I may be simple, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself once in a while.” He explained as his guest inspected the cars, his eyes falling on a red sports car with a flat, arrow-like design.

“Is this a Lamborghini Countach? I only saw it once on TV but never saw one in real life.”

“Yes, it is, a Lamborghini Countach 5000QV.” James smiled proudly at it before his guest spotted a dark blue sedan.

“And that is… an Oldsmobile Delta 88?”

“Indeed, with Diesel engine. Make your choice, which car you want to be driven home in?”

For William, it was clear. “The Oldsmobile.”

“Alright then, hop in. “James nodded, taking the driver seat, his visitor the passenger seat, while the 2 soldiers followed them in another car.

Then Choi came past Vicky’s position. “Huh?” He stopped and she tried to stay in cover as good as she could as he looked into her direction. The ponies could swear they saw his eye glowing red for a second.

“Just my imagination.” He mumbled and walked on.

Then Almar reported in. “We detected the technology we need in the warehouse next to the garage, we come to assist you, can you open a path?”

Vicky looked around, seeing that searchlights were in the way, plus guards. But she spotted a power generator on the corner of the base, just a short way from her position.

She sneaked over and pressed the button. With a powering down sound, the base became pitch black.

“All fire teams, this is CP. A set of lights has gone out. Looks like a problem with the power supply. Whoever’s closest, go check on the power system.”

The three Cyborgs used this short window to lock pick the door and get it. Inside where a few canisters were, veil canisters Fletcher, Dinky and the siblings realized.

Almar and Vicky grabbed one each, while Tyson grabbed two buckets of paint, getting out as they spotted Choi reaching for a radio.

“CP, this is Delta 2. Will investigate, ASAP.” He walked over to the generator. “Have arrived at scene. Beginning check.”

“Watch for anything suspicious.” The CP warned as he did his check and reported in.

“Took a look, but there’s nothing going on here.”

“Understood. Return to your post.”

Just as the power went back on, the cyborgs reached their ship, connecting the canisters to the engines, with Almar doing a check on the screen. “The veil technology is compatible as suspected, our hyperdrive should be repaired shortly.”

“Excellent. Once the repairs are done, set a course to our hideout.” Tyson acknowledged.

After a short while, the ship took off, as it became night, with the three applying the paint to their handlebars.

Upon getting out of Earth’s orbit and jumping to Warp, the ship flew for some time until it came out of Warp, nearing what looked like an icy-white planet.

It landed what looked like an opened Cyber-tomb, the rouge Cybermen entering it. Inside, the ponies saw it was completely abandoned, except for Glenn and his soldiers, frozen. The other cyborgs entered the tombs to freeze themselves as well.

With the time, the survivors from the Moonbase arrived, also freezing themselves, followed by the survivors of the wheel, freighter and Telos as well.

As the survivors of Nova arrived, they unfroze the others, saluting.

“Commander, what shall we do now, since we are all reunited?” Glenn asked Tyson.

“We do what Elizabeth would have wanted: Keep her honor alive, helping others in need.”

All his fellow soldiers saluted in agreement before boarding the shuttle and flew away.

They seemed to travel aimlessly through the galaxy for what seemed like an eternity until a light blinked on the console, with Almar taking a look.

“We receiving a distress call from a human colony, they are under attack by Sontarans.”

“Set a course to the colony, we will help them” Tyson ordered and his fellow officer acknowledged.

“Yes, commander.”

With that, the ship took course towards a planet that looked similar to earth and entered it’s atmosphere. Smoke was visible in the distance as they closed in, landing on a hill, overlooking a damaged city.

With slight shock, the ponies saw corpses of soldiers scattered around, children and woman were terrified, rounded up by humanoids in blue armor and helmets, looking short and stocky. One of them had no helmet, revealing a grey-brown large, bulbous head. It was clear for the watchers those were those Sontarans Almar had mentioned.

“What shall we do with them?” He got asked by one of the soldiers.

“Kill them. They are of no use for us.”

“Pl-please…mercy!” One of the women pleaded, hugging one of the children as the soldiers took aim with their weapons.

Suddenly, there was an explosion, killing some of the humanoids and the leader of them looked around him in surprise.

The ear muff-like Cybermen fired their guns from the left side, the helmet ones from the right, flanking the soldiers effectively.

Having no time to react, the Sontarans got killed quickly until only the leader and a handful of his troops was left, seeing the three officers with the other cyborgs advancing straight towards them, firing.

The leader seemed to be delighted at this. “The honor of battle. The glory!” He fired at the cyborgs, who simply took cover by walls. Some got grazed but it didn’t affect them in the slightest,

Yet as he tried to advance, his troops got engaged into hand to hand combat by Glenn and his soldiers, together with the hatch and tear-eye Cybermen.

Tyson used this to charge at him, tackling the gun out of his hand, only for him to draw a sword. The former human simply dodged his strikes with ease, showing he was experienced in this.

“Quite a feisty one, aren’t you?” The Sontaran officer said slightly impressed before punched into the face, stumbling.

“Not bad!” He commented before he groaned at a sharp, stinging feeling in his chest. Looking down, he saw that Tyson had impaled him with his own sword. Green liquid came out of the wound as he collapsed.

“At last…an honorable death…”

“No, it is not honorable to kill unharmed civilians but a disgrace!” Tyson sounded disgusted before finishing the leader with a blow to the head. His soldiers had finished off the other humanoids.

He then walked towards the woman, offering her a hand as she stared terrified at him. “We mean you no harm, Miss.”

Hesitating, she slowly took his hand, getting helped up by him. “Th-thank you. But why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” The former human replied, helping with his troops to treat injuries and bury the dead, also helping to repair damage as good as it was possible.

“How can we repay you for all the help?” One of the survivors asked as the cyborgs turned to leave, with Tyson answering.

“No need, your safety is enough for us. Call us the Mondas Honor Guard.” He gave a salute, which some of the children returned playfully.

The former humans then spent what looked like years of traveling, saving planets, and helping those they came across.

None of the ponies could tell how much time had passed before they saw the ship flying through what looked like a thunderstorm, except it looked more like white mist with lightning bolts. It was clear this was the ion storm Tyson had mentioned.

“The Ion storm disabled our ship.” Vicky reported.

“Try to restore power, we are drifting.” Tyson ordered in return.

The ship was drifting aimlessly through space and at some point, got close to what looked like a whirling hole. A Wormhole they realized as the ship got sucked in.

As it drifted out of the other side, they saw a planet that looked almost identical to earth, with the ship drifting towards it. It dawned quickly on the ponies that this was their home.

Then the white void filled the scene and Luna concluded, “This is all. Fascinating though. They went through all this, yet tried to make the best out of it.”

“Indeed, though, there are a few things the memory didn’t show, like how they managed to keep their emotions, or how all those different Cybermen came to be.” Midnight pointed out, only for Time Turner to raise his hoof.

“Well, as we have seen all memories, we can ask them now.”

“Yes, we should do that.” Patch agreed and Luna nodded, lighting up her horn to bring them back to reality.

Art Strings breathed heavily as she found herself back in Canterlot, not used to this and Dinky, together with her friends gave her a calming hug, which she appreciated with a weak smile.

Tyson and the others were in a kneeling position, as if they showed respect to royalty getting slowly up, “So, I assumed you got your answers?” He asked Luna, who nodded.

“Yes, but can you answer us some questions your memory didn’t answer? It’s okay if it’s too uncomfortable for you.”

In response, Tyson held up a hand. “No, it’s fair you should know. We managed to keep our emotions due to our strong devotion to our duty and Elizabeth.” He started, as if he had sensed her question. “As for how all our different designs came to be, it’s a long story.

Shortly before our Queen had to “join” the Central Committee, she wanted us to seek out an alternative planet to live on if Mondas couldn’t be saved. But the others that should join us on Committee orders, saw it differently. Upon discovering Planet 14, they saw greater logic in fully embracing cybernetics. They called themselves the Faction, also called CyberFaction. Those were the ones attacking Earth in 1970 and the Wheel a century later.”

And the others?” Wagensroll asked.

“Well, those who attacked the Moonbase, were a splinter group of the faction, seeking out another planet, which became Telos, called CyberTelosians. And the Cyberman who attacked Voga, those were yet another group that broke away from the faction, calling themselves CyberNomads.

They were also responsible for the next subspecies,” Tyson pointed to his soldiers that were bulky like him but still silver. “The CyberNeomorph, created by a surviving group of CyberNomads that discovered Telos, having combined their technology with that of the CyberTelosians. However…” He paused for a moment.

“The attempt to travel into the past and avoid the destruction of Mondas left us stranded, being called CyberIsomorph.”

“Sounds like you have been through a lot.” Dinky said with pity in her voice. “But, how could you support them?”

As response, the former human officer looked down, letting out a sigh. “It wasn’t easy. We all knew the ‘normal” Cybermen’ wouldn’t be up to anything good, so we all tried to keep an eye on them, sabotaging them whenever we could, looking for an opportunity to escape to our hideout, which was a tomb that got abandoned shortly after it was finished.”

“So, you?”

“Yes, we just played the part, blending in; I never meant to be rude to Almar. Lady Peinforte though, she was a cavalier of Windsor in 1638, as well as a sorceress and poisoner.” He sounded slightly disgusted. “And De Flores, as he was a Neo-Nazi, the world was better with him dead, you know yourself how those people were.”

The young unicorn shivered slightly at the memories before she asked, “Still, did you know what the Nemesis would do?”

He let out a chuckle. “Of course I did. It was originally created by Peinforte as she found the validium, shaping it into a statue of herself holding a bow and arrow. The Doctor, he knew its power, so he launched it on the rocket-sled into space to draw us in, so he could finish us off. Quite an ingenuous plan.”

“But why did you still pretended to kill him after the fleet was destroyed?” Supernova did not understand.

“It was simple for me, the fleet monitored us, and I doubted he would believe a Cyberman can regain emotions, so I assumed it was better he believed we would be dead.”

“But in return…” Midnight tried to conclude and the rouge Cyber-leader nodded.

“Yes, we are possible the last ones of our Species. As the Doctor said on Nova: A bunch of tin soldiers skulking about the galaxy in an ancient spaceship. Elizabeth only wanted the best for Mondas, giving hope to people. We carry on that attitude of her. Is she hadn’t died from the disbelief her fellow rulers showed, if the Committee hadn’t been so stubborn to favor conversion over saving the planet, maybe it hadn’t been destroyed, that Earth and Mondas could have existed peacefully together.” Now, he sounded sad about it.

“But what happens, happened, we can’t change it. Only try to adapt and make the best out of it.”

“Still, how did you manage to secure your escape?” Patch asked into the round, “And how did you get access to that time vessel?”

“Oh, we secretly fitted out a shuttle with an autopilot, which we summoned once communications were online again. The time vessel, it originated from a planet called Hatre Sedtry, resembling earth in size, geological and meteorological terms, inhibited by a race of sentient humanoids, externally identical to earth humans. But, they differed in culture as well as technology, which was many thousands of years ahead of Earth. Their advanced skills enabled them to proceed well beyond the incipient stages of developing a ship which could travel through the time-space continuum. Bates and Stratton were part of the crew as it crashed on Telos, resulting in their capture.” The cyborg explained to them.

“Interesting…” Dawnwind mumbled.

“Yes, just like Mondas was. Elisabeth was very sympathetic, and selfless, always putting the people above all else. She would have wanted it so, that we help others. As to how we shrugged off the Sontaran weapons, when half the galaxy keeps trying to shoot you on sight, you learn how to protect yourself.”

“Very good attitude.” Celestia praised him with a weak smile. “Now, I think we should all get some rest, this was very exciting after all.”

Everyone agreed on and they went their respective ways home, having dinner and hit the way as it had become evening.

During the night, Art Strings woke up at faint weeping sound. Rubbing her eyes, her ears twitched as she heard a scared, female voice. “N-no…H-help…”

It was her grandmother, weeping in her sleep, turning around frantically. Realizing she had a bad dream, the young filly climbed out of bed and have the elderly mare a calming hug, “Shh, I am here, grandma.” It had the desired effect as Jan calmed down.

With a yawn, Jan awoke to notice something warm around her, seeing se was hugged by her granddaughter in her sleep, smiling warmly at the sight.

She cares for me deeply. But that dream…I still can’t believe I left him behind like that…

Yawning, the little filly awoke, looking at her with a smile. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, dear.” Jan forced a smile before they all breakfasted.

Upon finishing, a somepony knocked on the door and Art-Strings opened, delighted to see Apple Bloom. “Hi, what brings you so early in the morning?”

“Fine morning to ya, me and the others thought we could spend this fine morning in the meadow outside Ponyville, would you like to come too?” The yellow earth pony asked in returned and her new friend nodded.

“Sure, why not.” With that, the two climbed into a wagon, pulled by Scootaloo on her Scooter.

“So, what could we do today?” Kyle asked his hosts and Lyra gave him a smile.

“I’d suggest doing walk, enjoying the beautiful weather today.”

“Good idea.” And so, they all did a walk through the town together, getting greeted by the other, returning it.

During this, they spotted Derpy during her routine work of delivering the mail. “Fine morning to you.”

“Morning, Derpy. Anything new?” Lyra asked the Pegasus.

“Not much but Patch, Wagensroll and Dawnwind discovered something this morning between Ponyville and Canterlot, they just work on the excavation.”

“Interesting, I am eager what they will find.”

At the dig side, made into a crater, Patch was excited as he helped out with the digging. “I wonder what we will find, there’s so much we could learn about the past!”

“Careful. You remember what we saw last time?” Dawnwind remarked shuddering, only for Patch to give her a puzzled look.

“You’re still upset about that with-“

“I just feel…unclean whenever I have to see any of this.” The deer mumbled before noticing that the green stallion seemed unease, slightly shivering as he worked with a shovel. “Something wrong?”

“I just have a bad feeling about this. Like this is something that shouldn’t be discovered."

“Relax, Wagensroll, we did this many times before. Besides, we got Flash and Blitzer watching out for us.” Patch pointed to the two Pegasus guards patrolling on a cat walk. Blitzer was a dark blue stallion with matching mane and green eyes. His Cutie Mark, small sparks of lightning, was hidden by the armor.

“I just feel like something bad is about to happen.”

“So, how’s Moonlight doing?” Flash Sentry asked his fellow guard, who smiled.

“She’s doing well. And had any luck with Sunset, yet?”

Now, the orange young pony blushed. “Well, given she’s was one of Celestia’s best students, I don’t want to risk to upset the princess, Midnight.” Blitzer’s full name was Midnight Blitzer but Flash preferred to use Blitzer to avoid confusion with Midnight Blade, which the blue stallion understood completely.

In response, the blue Pegasus gave him a pat on the back. “Relax, I am sure you get your chance to ask her out eventually. Stay positive.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Flash gave a smile in return before their patrol reached a dead end, hearing a metal clang. “What was that?” He looked around, yet saw something silver glancing on the wall, brushing a hoof over it to reveal what looked like a silver wall. “I am pretty sure it’s not supposed to end here.”

“I am more wondering what this silver thing is supposed to be.” Blitzer inspected it, it looked like a door.

“Part of whatever Patch and the others try to dig out,” Flash suspected, “Hang on, I'll check out our patrol route.”

As Flash Sentry walked away, Blitzer pulled out a map and looked on it. “It should be correct, the metal wasn’t just considered.” He said and looked up, only to find his partner gone.

With a slight look of worry, he looked for him, calling out, “Flash? Flash! Flash? You all right? Flash Sentry!” His ears perked up at a strange sound, turning around to make out a silhouette. “Buddy, is that you?” He asked before he screamed as he got zapped and fell knocked out to the ground.

As the purple historian continued to dig, his shovel made a clang sound as he hit something. “I think I found something!” He then attempted to remove some of the dirt with a hoof, revealing a silver metal structure.

“What is that?” Wagensroll looked at it in surprise.

“Looks like its part of something bigger, like of a structure” Dawnwind suspected. Then, suddenly she felt something ticklish on her left hindleg. She looked down. Her mouth opened in a terrified scream.

“Get it off me!” Patch and Wagensroll turned around to see a metal-like snake throwing her over, trying to bite her neck as she struggled.

“Hang on!” Wagensroll picked up the shovel in an attempt to throw it off the terrified deer. But before he could do so, he got zapped by something and fell screaming to the ground.

A scared expression, breathing rapidly, panicking, Patch turned around to get help, only to face a Neomorph.

He screamed.

Author's Note

LIttle tribute to my friend's story, where James is a supporting character.

And Midnight Blitzer, he's the OC of a friend I made while writing this, Shadic Midnight Blitzer

Chapter 13 Silver Threat

Chapter 13: Silver threat

Art Strings cheered with delight as they passed by many ponies within town, enjoying every second of the ride, it was so much fun. After several minutes of riding, they soon reached a meadow outside of town.

Sweetie Belle was already waiting, together with her other friends, Sparkler was here too. Scootaloo raced towards their friends, until they stopped, screeching to a halt right in front of them.

“Good morning, Art Strings, glad you could come.” Dinky greeted her, with a smile.

“Same. What had you in mind for today?”

“Playing some games together and enjoying the warm weather.” As Dinky had said this, a smile formed on the face of her fellow unicorn.

“You don’t have to ask me twice!”

And so, Art-Strings played tag with the fillies and girl, read some comics with them, plus played pirates and Masterclass Dungeon Duels of Doom with the colts. It was a nice day, a calm wind and the warm sun, making the ponies and human enjoy their activities to the fullest.

Of course, the young filly hoped her father and grandmother could enjoy themselves at this nice day too.

But it also woke worry about her mother back home.

Upon doing a break, she faintly sobbed, which was quickly noticed by the others, with the Periwinkle-grey foal rubbing her back. “Shh, you will be reunited with your mother soon.”

“I…I just can’t imagine how worried mama must be…” Art Strings looked at Dinky with tearful eyes and everyone pulled her into a hug.

“Stay positive, I am sure my father and his friends will have found a way soon. And until then, we’ll do what we can to keep you comfortable.”

In response, the mint-green filly smiled weakly, wiping a tear out of her eye. “R-right. Thank you.”

Sparkler looked at Tungsten, who nodded and she spoke up, “That’s what friends are for. Once, Tungsten’s mother went missing and I supported him with my friends as good as I could. We know the feeling you just go through.” She smiled at the filly.

“And I know to appreciate that.”

“That’s the spirit!” Pip exclaimed happy.

Say, Pip, how did you and Tungsten meet?” The filly asked curious and he shrugged.

“There isn’t much to tell. My and his mother were friends since they were foals, so it was natural that we two met one day as they visited each other.”

“I see. By the way, Sparkler?”

“Yes?” the older unicorn turned towards her younger guest.

“Tag! You’re it!” With that, the younger unicorn ran away, the others followed her with laughs.

It took them all some effort to catch the young filly, with Dinky exclaiming, “Gotcha!” as she managed to catch up with her friend who gigged.

“You got me!” Art Strings surrendered before noticing that they stood near a cliff and looked down.

Her eyes went small in shock. “G-guys…” With a shaking hoof, she pointed down.

The others gasped.

Patch, Wagensroll, Dawnwind, Flash Sentry and another guard they couldn’t recognize were using mining tools to free a big sliver metallic object, it looked like a ship.

But that wasn’t terrifying.

The four adults were dressed in the same overalls as the Neomorph Cybermen wore, with a group of them watching the ponies.

The group wanted to run, get help, but their bodies were frozen on the spot.

Then, as two guards turned their back to the two pegasus, they let out a scream and hit the cyborgs into the back with their pickaxes. Both fell to the ground with sparks, the three historians tackled 2 other guards to the ground.

Having an open opportunity, they ran up an unguarded slop, escaping.

Still shocked at what they had seen, the group didn’t notice how the cliff was cracking. With a yelp, they all started to slip the slippage down.

With a cry of pain, Art Strings came to a stop, groaning. As she opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded with her friends by the Cybermen. In fear, they all raised their hooves/hands in surrender.

After having done a peaceful and relaxing walk, Kyle and Jan were called to Canterlot, meeting up with the princess, knights and the family members of the friends Art Strings had made, in a private room.

“We have good news, we are close to identifying the magic signature to get you home.” Luna told and both smiled.

“That’s good news indeed.” Kyle smiled before he saw the three former humans walking in.

“I have some good news as well, the repairs should be done in a few hours.”

Derpy then screamed.

Everyone turned around to see a group of Neomorph Cybermen entering, the knights were caught off guard, unable to reach for their weapons as the cyborgs surrounded everyone.

One of them had black handlebars, identifying him as Cyber-leader, turning towards Time Turner. “So, we meet again, Doctor.”

The brown stallion stayed silent, trying to hide his slight fear as the leader turned towards Tyson. “Your capture of the Doctor in advance of ours was very efficient.”

In response, everyone looked tensed for an answer.

“Of course, what shall we do?” He asked, trying to play along, which the others understood.

“He must be brought to the Controller. The others, get them to our ship for Cyber-conversion.”

Derpy’s eyes went small in fear at the mentioning of this word as Tyson nodded. “It will be done, you can go ahead.”

“Excellent.” The Leader replied, turning to two of his soldiers. “You two escort them.”

“Yes, Leader.”

As the Cyber-leader left, Derpy clutched her husband, completely terrified. “P-please…don’t do this to us, Tyson!” He tried to rub her back in an attempt to calm her down

In response, he looked at her and Time Turner, tilting his head. “Love...These things are irrelevant. You have affection for this mare?” He asked and a slight look of worry formed in the stallion’s eyes.

“W-what are you doing?!”

“Kill her.” Tyson ordered and Almar made his way over to the mare, the other watched in shock.

“No!” Time Turner exclaimed horrified, taking a protective stance in front of his wife before the lieutenant got waved away by his commander.

“Such a reaction is not a disadvantage?” Tyson asked almost taunting as the stallion tried to catch his breath, with Wolf and Rainbow looking angry at the former human, as Time Turner stated,

“No.”

“You are mistaken. I now have control over you, Doctor. All I need do is threaten the mare's death for you to obey me.”

A growl escaped Wolf’s mouth. “We trusted you!”

“We thought you were not like them!” Rainbow added as Applejack and Rarity held her back.

But Tyson’s reaction was unexpected. “Always have been.” His lieutenants quickly faced the other Cybermen and shot them before they could react.

“W-what?” Blue stammered in confusion.

“Sorry for the scare but it had to look convincing,” Tyson explained, causing Wolf and Rainbow to calm down. “Still, if there is another Cyber-ship, it’s a threat we need to eliminate” He put a hand to his helmet. “Glenn, we got activity of other Cybermen, scan the surrounding area.”

“Acknowledged.”

Just then the sound of running hooves entered their ears and they saw the three historians enter with Flash and Blitzer.

“P-Patch…” Nancy gasped at the sight. They all wore silver overalls with cybernetic limbs. “W-what happened to you?”

Giving her a weak smile, he replied, “Turns out, the discovery we made is actually a crashed Cyber-ship. They tried to convert us, but as you see, it failed.”

“How much of you?” The mare was terrified.

“Only the limbs luckily.”

“We tried to warn you, as the location of the crash side is near an old underground entrance of Canterlot.” Wagensroll added before, Fletcher stared in shock at him, Dawnwind, Flash and Blitzer and so did the others.

“That saves us some time” Tyson concluded before his helmet beeped. “Report, Glenn.

“We located the ship, there are also some prisoners aboard.”

“Allow me.” Luna stepped forward and lightened up her horn. Her magic formed up a screen on the wall, showing the data Glenn had received.

It showed a cuboid-like formed ship, with three turntable guns on the upper and lower side of each end. “A Cyber-Flagship, must have been crashed years, if not centuries ago.” Tyson suspected as he recognized it.

Then the view showed the inside of the ship and everyone gasped. The children were in alcoves, undergoing Cyber-conversation, with their bodies covered in the silver overall, together with a half-finished chest plate, their lower limbs covered in plastic and headpiece, their expressions empty yet twitched, pain visible in their eyes.

“D-Dinky!” Derpy exclaimed in shock, “We must save them!”

“I agree but there’s no way we can destroy a ship of that size.” Midnight pointed out, only for Tyson to hold up a hand.

“Actually, there is, from the inside. By blowing up the engine, we can destroy the entire ship. It’s a short blast radius to avoid unnecessary losses but still enough to destroy the ship. Doctor, it would be of most importance to use the Tardis to evacuate the prisoners once we located them.” Time Turner nodded. “And while I acknowledge how powerful your weapons are, I recommend you equip gold for maximum effectiveness.”

“Good point, what will we need?”

“Well, as you have seen from our memories, anything made out of gold can do it, gold coins, gold-tipped arrows and bullets, gold particles, just to call a few.”

“Alright, I know exactly the pony that can provide us, Konrad, you should join us for this.”

The man nodded, “Of course, my children are among them after all.”

“Can I help too?” Kyle asked, much to the surprise of everyone, only for his mother to look at him with worry.

“Please son, I already lost my husband, I don’t want to lose you too.”

“Mom, this is my own daughter, I just can’t stay and watch this!” He stated, yet understood her worry, with Abstraction walking over to both.

“He will be safe with us.” His expression was honest and Jan slowly nodded.

“Alright, be careful, son.”

“Of course I will be.”

Blue gave Nancy a determined hug. “I promise, we’ll get them back safe and sound.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyle noticed that one of the downed cyborgs was twitching. “Watch out!” He warned as the Cyberman rose, aiming his weapon at them.

Out of instinct, Blue drew a concealed pistol and fired a shot. It deflected and hit Jan into the chest. The mare fell to the ground with a cry of pain, just as Tyson shot the Cyberman, finishing off.

“Mom, no!” Kyle exclaimed in terror, kneeling down to her, trying to stop the bleeding. Fletcher also kneeled down and casted a healing spell as the former woman groaned in pain.

“I got her, Kyle, go. I’ll join you later.” He assured and while worried, the blue stallion gave a nod, moving out with the others.

In the Cyber-ship, a Cyberman watched over the conversion, reporting to the Controller. “Those sapient equines have a strong psychology, they respond well to the conversion procedure. They will join the perfection of the machine.”

“The Hibernation control system is erratic, it will require repair before more dormant Cybermen can be revived.” The Controller concluded, “In addition, the sub-space communications array must be reactivated.”

“Shall we repurpose Cyber-control?”

“This cyber-ship is one of many throughout the galaxy. Now we have awakened, an activation signal must be broadcast, our sleep has ended, the Cyber-race will rise anew.”

In Canterlot, a white unicorn stallion sauntered through the streets of Canterlot and turned into an alley, only to be faced by Midnight, who looked neutral at him. Turning around, the stallion saw that White Wolf blocked his way back.

“Pardon me, your grace.” The batpony started calmly, yet it unnerved the stallion.

“Wh-what do you want?” Blueblood stammered and the batpony eyed something shiny in his saddle bags.

“Nice calks.”

In slight confusion, the prince replied, “Erm...yes...why do you say that?”

“As members of Princess Luna's personal bodyguard, I must confiscate any items of gold or gold alloys in your immediate possession.” Midnight explained, much to the prince’s shock and disgust.

“What?! So! This is what it has come to, eh? You...vagabonds have lowered yourselves to common thieves, pilfering the valuables of respected royalty on pain of death?!” He exclaimed.

“Yes...” Wolf nodded as she calmly drew a knife, “That is what it has come to...”

It had the intended effect, as the stallion shivered slightly, getting nervous. “Oh...um...Fair enough, just making sure I understood all that.” He gave them his calks. “Here we are, sir. Um...have a nice day.”

With a sigh, Midnight mumbled, “Too late for that...”

Fletcher then joined and lit up his horn. “This might be a bit rough.”

Upon seeing this, Kyle got blinded by a white flash, stumbling a bit as he felt slightly dazed.

Recovering, his eyes went wide to see a great forge built into a chasm. Eerie blue-light surrounded the place and a mighty smelter of comet-rock stood in the center.

Midnight placed the calks in the smelter, with him and his fellow knights taking position in front of the stones

With eagerness and fascination, the blue stallion watched as the three ponies took their weapons and scraped them along the stones in front of them, scattering embers that caught on lines, spreading out into a pattern of blue flame that lightened the smelter and steadily melted the gold.

The molten gold followed the pattern of the blue flame before it collected in vessels before the Knight's hooves

All three of them whispered in an ancient language their guest couldn’t understand, Midnight plunged his sword into the vessel, Wolf kneeled and stabbed her two knives into the vessel while Fletcher magically casted his spearhead into the vessel and teleported his arrows, heads down, all around the spear. Their chants got louder and louder until the smelter gave a bellowing tremble, blue fire bursting out its head and lighting up the chamber. The knights all withdrew their weapons from the vessels and the blue fire burned out, the glow in the room replaced with gold.

Schaeffer had to look closely to notice a broad, bright line of gold running along the ridge of Midnight's blade. Wolf's knives were glowing gold along the edge with small dots making up a strange pattern along the grooves. And the crescent disk that makes up the riser of Fletcher's bow was burnished gold, every arrow he produced golden-headed.

“Wow…” Was all the former man could say in awe before Fletcher made a gesture to prepare for the teleport back to Canterlot and in a flash, they were back. Again, the blue unicorn was slightly dazed.

His pony counterpart gave him a golden sword, yet it fascinated him how Abstraction could carry such a big sword so easily. “No offense but are you stronger than you took?”

In response, the blue pony chuckled. “Trust me, the sword is lighter than it looks.”

“Alright then,” Tyson interrupted them, “Our intel suggests that only a skeleton crew mans the ship, the others are still deactivated. We will split into two groups to draw away attention. One goes for the prisoners, the other one for the engine.”

“And you think we are enough?” Kyle asked concerned only for the commander to point at the screen Celestia and Luna had prepared to view the progress. All of Tyson’s soldiers marched in formation towards the crashed ship.

“My troops await command.” He announced and Konrad loaded his AKM with gold-tipped rounds, having switched into camouflage fatigues.

“Let’s do this.”

At the ship, Blue took a deep breath and casted a spell. As her horn glowed, she shielded herself in a flying cloud of gold dust.

“Delta will assist you.” Tyson said and the ear-muff cyborgs joined the rescue team as they prepared to enter.

The way was just a silver corridor, with a few doors. Delta squad took the lead, so the ponies and human would know where to go. However, two Cybermen guarded the end of it, chatting to each other.

“I’ll take care of this.” Fletcher drew his bow, firing two arrows at their chests. Sparks flew and they screamed as they collapsed, withering for a few moments before dying.

With the way clear, they moved towards the door the hostiles had guarded. As they reached it, it opened, revealing a single hostile.

Kyle ducked to avoid a strike, then rammed his sword into the Cyberman’s chest. With a scream, the cyborg struggled not to collapse as he withered, falling to the ground.

Yet the former man breathed heavily at his first kill. He never thought he would do such a thing, but this was no longer a human.

Konrad put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s never easy but we have to move on.”

Nodding, they got through the door, only to encounter a group of Cybermen.

Having no other choice, Delta, Konrad and Fletcher opened fire, giving their friends cover to get in close and deal mortal strikes.

Blue grinned almost devilish, as every enemy that came too close to her, suffocated.

Using their weapons with gold allowed the team to quickly eliminate the threat and move on, coming to a turn. Konrad peeked around, then quickly went back to cover as a Cyberman fired. He then carefully peeked out and returned fire, hitting him dead-on in the chest, sparks flew as the cyborg fell defeated to the ground.

Satisfied, Ford reloaded, having forgotten how long it was since he had to use his weapon.

The way then led to another door and a Delta member explained, “This door leads right to the convention area. Go, we hold them off.”

They nodded and entered, ready to face whatever would await them as the corridor became a turn again. They stopped as a group of Cybermen stood in their way.

Yet the team could only look in shock and horror as they couldn’t believe what they saw, with one cyborg stepping forward, looking at Blue. “I recognize you. I was your son, Tungsten.” He spoke in a monologue tone.

Blue, still in shock and confusion, could only reply, “You're lying. You're not him. You're not my Tungsten!” Still, while her brain tried to deny it, a converted earth pony was facing her.

“I was. Now, I am perfect. Without emotions that restrict and curtail the intellect and logic of the mind. Freedom from disease, protection against heat and cold, true mastery.” The cyborg stated.

Her brain was still trying to process this, close to a breakdown as she asked in an almost desperate, cracking voice, “What about us? Growing up? The things you did and learned, the friends you made? What about your dad?!”

“These things are irrelevant.” Her converted son replied careless, as a smaller cyborg looked at Kyle, an encased horn poking out of the helmet.

“I know you. Father.”

“A-a-Art Strings? Is that...you?” Kyle asked in disbelief, only for the cyborg to reply,

“I was.”

Trembling, unable to believe it, he pleaded with her. “But...Please, tell me about your mother, your life, how I raised you! Please, Art... tell me...” His voice cracked in an attempt to make her remember who she really was, but her reaction was crushing.

“This is irrelevant.”

A smaller earth pony, together with a Cyberman that resembled a human looked at Konrad. “We are now complete, father.”

“B-Blau? K-“Katja?” Konrad stammered, his eyes small as his former daughter added,

“No longer, we have to feel upset for being different.”

Fletcher looked with dread as another unicorn faced him. “Uncle. I understand now. How emotions blocked me of being better.”

“Dinky, you need to fight it. Remember who you are!” He yelled, but it didn’t matter to her.

“It is not important who I was, nor it is for those who I considered friends.” Behind her were four other unicorns, one larger than any of the, together with two earth ponies, and a pegasus, it’s wings encased.

“Scoots…” Wolf couldn’t believe her eyes, nor could Midnight.

“Apple Bloom…”

Without any reaction, the now former ponies started to walk away, their supposed saviors wanted to follow them but their bodies didn’t respond.

Then, Midnight’s radio beeped. “We reached the engine room but meet heavy resistance, can you help us out?” Tyson asked, there was gunfire in the background.

“Y-yes, on our way.” Midnight snapped out and gave Wolf and Abstraction a sign, they nodded. “Fletch, get them back.”

“Will do.” The unicorn pulled himself together, the others did too, with Blue letting out a growl.

“Alright, I want to speak to you. Not you, Tungsten, whatever's doing this to you, whatever's controlling you. I want you know...you've made a big bloody mistake! Because I'm not going to let this pass! Tungsten, my little colt...I'm so sorry what's been done to you and I'm so sorry I couldn't stop it. But I promise...they will be sorrier!”

While determined, Derpy, Nancy, and the other family members of the converted foals trembled at the sight. “No…” Derpy whimpered.

Then, she and the others let out an ear-piercing scream.

Luna looked at the screen, noticing it was glitching. “The signal is fading, we are losing you!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll safe them!” Fletcher assured determined before the signal cut off.

Coming around a corner, another group blocked their way and they engaged the cyborgs. As Fletcher and Blue hit two of the hostile Cybermen, they spotted another group moving towards them.

Without hesitation, they took aim and fired/dealing mortal strikes. Then several young cries of pain followed.

“Oh no…” Fletcher’s eyes went small as he realized they had hit the children. Dinky and her friends were lying on the ground, ragged breathing could be heard from them. Also, some dead Cybermen were next to them, hinting they had tried to help their saviors, having been hit in the crossfire.

“Hang on, Dinky!” The green stallion casted a spell to repair her respiratory system and of her friends, Kyle and Blue did the same with their respective children.

“Fletch…sorry…” She sounded guilty, yet Fletcher spoke in a comforting voice,

“It’s alright, dear.”

“M-mom…” Tungsten struggled to breathe, making Blue worried.

“Hang in there, son, you’ll be safe soon.”

“D-ad…”

“Save your strength, Art Strings,” Kyle comforted her.

“Stay with me, children.” Konrad knelled next to the siblings, praying they would make it as Fletcher reached for his radio.

“Midnight, can you reach Time Turner, we need the Tardis now!”

“Understood, we are almost done with the engines.

The Farman pony barely noticed how Dinky tried to lift a hoof. “W-Watch out…”

Then something hard hit the back of their heads and they blacked out.

Midnight, Wolf and Abstraction fought off any attempt of preventing the sabotage, buying Tyson and the others time as they outfitted the engines with explosives.

“That’s it, explosives are set.” Glenn reported.

“Good!” Midnight reached for his radio to report to Luna. “Explosives are set, we are good to go.”

“Perfect but we lost contact with the others.” The princess replied with dread, yet Midnight stayed focused.

“Copy that, Luna, we are on our way.”

Upon regaining consciousness, Fletcher, Blue, Konrad and Kyle found themselves in a room, facing the Cyber-Controller, being restrained by other Cybermen. Their blood boiled with anger as Kyle exclaimed, “You won't get away with what you're doing! The Equestrian Guard will wipe you all off the grid, scrap metal!”

“We are not scrap metal but perfect cybernetic beings.” The Controller corrected him, further annoying him.

“You will pay for what you did to my children!” Konrad added, his eyes blazing but he couldn’t break free.

“They were the test subjects we needed to convert your species, becoming superior as we are.”

While keeping her anger in check, Blue hissed, “I rather die than become like you!”

“Those emotional responses are irrelevant. You should experience what is called ‘pride’”

“I am proud of my son!” She simply stated, only for the Controller to counter,

“The only thing that matters is our survival. Fear and anger. Another negative emotions. Two that are neither constructive or useful. When you become as we are, you will not miss them.”

“I find they can be useful.” Fletcher added calmly.

“Enough. You have wasted both our time and energy. I know you want to destroy our ship. You will tell me how it is to be done.” He demanded both all refused to answer. So, he gave the guards a sign and they grabbed the forehooves/hands of their prisoners.

The man and ponies tried not to show pain as their respective body parts got squeezed by the cyborgs, but it increased quickly.

In a matter of seconds, blood poured down them and they fell screaming to the floor, succumbing to the pain.

“You are foolish. You could have saved yourself from pain. I told you you would tell us everything. Now you will become as we are.” The Controller commented and his soldiers brought the captives to the alcoves.

Their bodies felt numb, yet there was a sharp pain as they slowly got converted, trying to fight against it.

Faintly, Fletcher saw Ifrit in front of him, his horn glowing. “Hold on, Fletcher, help is on the way.” His voice sounded as if he slightly panicked.

None of them could tell how long it was until they heard a faint creaking sound, turning their eyes towards the source.

A blue police box appeared in the room. Kyle saw how Midnight, Wolf, Abstraction and the three officers stepped out, securing the area.

“Dear Celestia... Kyle! What did they do to you!?” His mother exclaimed in shock to see him covered in the silver overall, only his face and forelegs were left unaltered.

It pained him to make this decision as he managed to speak in pain, “Now you must kill us.”

“Hang on, you got a wife waiting for you at home.” Abstraction replied as he cut him free, only for Fletcher to add,

“The drug is affecting our brains. Irreversible damage.”

“Hang in there, Fletch, it can be reversed.” Midnight assured him as he cut him free, Wolf worked on Konrad, Time Turner took care of Blue.

“Please, kill us.” She pleaded with him before there was a scream of pain.

Their saviors turned around to see Tyson, Almar and Vicky on the ground, with the Controller, Leader and lieutenant facing them as they entered through a door.

“Move away from them, Doctor.” The Controller demanded, “Emotions are a weakness. Those rouge Cybermen were the perfect example. And as it costed their lives, so will it yours and your friends.”

None of the ponies said a word, refusing to believe they had been beaten so close before success, yet knew they couldn’t do anything without getting gunned down.

Was this really the end?

Had they failed?

“Emotions…have an advantage…” A voice sounded behind the Controller. “They make sure you double-check your kills due to being unsure.”

In surprise, the Controller, Leader and Lieutenant turned around. They couldn’t react as Tyson, Amar and Vicky charged at them, holding some golden-tipped arrows from Fletcher in their hands.

The Controller screamed as the commander slammed the arrow into his chest, exploding in a shower of sparks. Almar did the same with the leader, Vicky to the lieutenant.

“That is taken care of. Let’s get out of here.” Tyson suggested, with Jan and Abstraction grabbing Kyle by the shoulders, Midnight and Tyson helped Fletcher, Wolf and Vicky Konrad, while Time Turner had little trouble helping Blue into the Tardis, the captured ponies passed out from exhaustion.

Then Tyson pressed a detonator as the Doctor steered to the hospital. The explosives ignited the fuel of the engines, creating sparks, followed by a small explosion.

Then another. And another.

In a chain reaction of burst of flames, more and more of the Cyber-Flagship got engulfed.

A shattering and deafening bang followed, so strong it caused the surrounding environment to vibrate in a slight earthquake. A brief burst of flames and smoke were visible in the sky.

Kyle woke up with a headache, groaning as he struggled to open his eyes. Looking around, he found himself in a hospital room with Fletcher, Blue and Konrad. He took notice that they were fully organic again, save for their limbs, which had a hollow prosthetics in place.

He let out a sigh, glad it was over, yet fought back tear that he couldn’t save his daughter. Lyra…I hope you can forgive me.

Then the others woke up, just as a nurse walked in. She was a unicorn, a bright white coat, along with a pink mane that had white strips, her blue eyes having a calming effect. Her cutie mark was a notepad.

“Ah, you’re woken up I am Nurse Candy.” She introduced herself and pointed a light into everyone’s eyes for a few seconds. "Pupils reacting normally, good.” Your friends are waiting for you.” She opened the door and Nancy, Midnight, Wolf and Jan walked in, the latter was bandaged around her chest, limping a bit, yet all had neutral expressions.

A feeling of guilt overcame Blue. “Nancy…I f-failed…” She lowered her head.

To their surprise, the elderly earth pony and the others started to smile weakly. “You didn’t fail.”

“I…didn’t?” The blue unicorn looked up in confusion.

“Yes. Your actions kept them stable until we got them to the hospital. And as you can see, the healing magic, together with the data from Tyson, reversed what the Cybermen did to you.” Her friend explained.

“C-can I see my son?” The portly mare asked with hope and slight happiness, with Candy nodding.

“They are right there.” She pointed to a row of beds they hadn’t noticed before. All the kids were also flesh and blood again, with their limbs also replaced by hollow prosthetics.

With tears of happiness, they made their way over, despite having little to no feeling in their limbs, all embracing the kids. “Tungsten…”

“M-mama?” The ginger colt blinked his eyes open, then smiled. “Mama!”

“Daddy!” Art Strings exclaimed in unison with the siblings.

“Uncle, Daddy, Mama…I am sorry…” Dinky lowered her head in guilt. “I tried to fight but when they did that to us…I felt only pain….until I couldn’t feel it anymore.”

“It’s alright, we are all just glad that you are alright.” Her mother replied.

Rainbow looked at Wolf with a smile. “I must thank you, Wolf, for helping to save my little sister.”

“It’s nothing, Rainbow, I just did my duty.” She replied, yet heard Scootaloo sniffing.

“B-but…will I ever able to fly again?”

In response, Rainbow gave her a calming hug. “Yes, you will, squirt. Your wings and legs will regenerate and I am sure, once that happened, you will be flying again in no time.” The mare then noticed a tear dropping from her eye and she groaned.

“Darn it! Now you got me acting all sappy!” The others laughed at this.

“However, it pains me to say that the healing process might take a month.” Candy stated with regret in her voice, “Still, as you were only partially converted, it might take less for you.” She then gave a weak smile. “But before I forgot, there’s visit for you.”

With that, Sunset, Tybalt, Shadow and a batpony mare with lilac mane, greyish fur with a tint of purple and golden eyes, a full moon with a shade of purple as cutie mark, looking like an image of a moon on the surface of a body of water, walked in.

“Sunset, glad you could come.” Flash said to her with a smile, receiving a warm hug.

“Of course, we are friends after all.” She replied as the batpony mare wrapped her hooves around Blitzer.

“I can’t state how happy I am to see you are okay.”

“Don’t worry, Moonlight, I’ll be fine.” He assured her.

Shadow gave Blue and her son a weak smile. “It relieves me to see you both are okay, we feared the worst as we heard what happened.”

“We’ll be fine, uncle Shadow.” The Trottingham colt calmly replied to him, returning the smile.

“But, are you sure you can do the work alone until I recovered?” Blue asked her two friends with doubt and Tybalt nodded.

“That won’t be a problem, Abstraction and his friends get quite well along with as, as we told you before.” He then turned to the white unicorn mare with smile. “Hey, Candy, how are you?”

She gave him a friendly hug in return. “I am doing good, dear. And they are in good hooves, I assure you.”

“But how did it come you could remember who you are?” Kyle asked the children dumb folded, only for Tyson to enter.

“I can explain that. You know how we kept our emotions due to our strong sense of duty. Turns out, you all had a strong instinct for our respective families and friends. Hearing their cries triggered an upsurge of emotions, making you remember who you really are.”

Jan then stepped forward to hug her son. “I really thought I’d lose you both.”

“I thought so too. Are you really alright?” He asked with concern, eyeing her bandaged area.

“Don’t worry, it was not as severe as it appeared. The bullet did not hit any major organs.” She then turned to Fletcher. “You saved my life, Fletcher.” To show her thanks, she wrapped him into a hug, causing him to blush.

“Please, I only did what was right.” He mumbled embarrassed.

“Still, you are a hero to me.” She then let go as Candy cleared her throat.

“It getting late, you all should get some rest.” She said as it became evening, with Nancy giving Patch a goodbye hug.

“Sleep well, old friend.”

“Thanks.”

Everyone slept well this night.

In the morning, Fletcher yawned, noticing all others were gone.

“Ah, good morning.” Candy brought him breakfast. “The others are undergoing a routine check. Luna suggested checking you separately to avoid conflicting with your nanomites.”

“Okay then.” He acknowledged and breakfasted, seeing out of the corner of his eyes how Moonlight stood guard at the door. Yet, curiosity got the better of him.

He lifted his blanket up to look under it, checking his lower body. A groan of discomfort escaped his mouth.

“You should look on the bright side.” Moonlight spoke up in a comforting voice, much to his surprise.

“Huh? How did you know?”

“Well, I can hear the thoughts of others, it’s my special talent, believe it or not.” She explained calmly, “As such, I could feel the tone of your thought as well. While I can understand your feeling, better that than smaller, right?”

The Farman stallion stayed silent for a brief moment, letting her words sink in. “I guess…I’d just preferred it to being my normal size again.”

Moonlight nodded. “Understandable. Yet, I hope I could help you.”

“You did, thank you.” He replied, realizing her words had some truth in it.

It was around noon, as Tyson and his troops meet up with the ponies for a final goodbye. “Our ship is fully repaired. We appreciate your help and Hospitality, wishing you a good recovery.”

“And I am entirely grateful for helping to remove a threat in my kingdom, as well as saving my beloved citizens. Why not stay with us and starting a new life here?” Celesta offered, her head lowered in a respectful bow.

“Please, even without us, you would have defeated them.” The former human sounded honored, yet embarrassed. “And it is a kind offer, but we politely decline. We rather help others in need until we can find a new place.”

In response, the princess let out a sigh. “Alright. Best of luck to you.”

“And to you all.“ All rouge Cybermen saluted before entering their ship. The ponies watched it until it was out of sight.

“I hope they can find a new home.” Dinky commented with hope.

“We can only hope for the best, but will never know.” Fletcher added with slight pity.

Around a week passed since then, with the ponies and humans having little trouble getting used to their prosthetics, despite not able to feel their limbs properly.

One day, Art Strings was played outside with her father and grandmother, as the doorbell rang and Abstraction opened.

“Siyarjit, Atgeir, Neolith, Insistra, Abundo, nice to see you!” He was delighted and the Pegasus returned the smile.

“Same. We thought we pay you a visit. How’s married life?”

“Me and Lyra are doing well. “Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you, we are just on a short visit.”

“And yet, I sense you had special visit lately.” Insistra sounded curious, causing the blue stallion to chuckle.

“You are right with that, but it’s a long story.” With that, he told his comrades what had happened while they had been away, their mouths were open in awe.

“Fascinating…” The priest of the Hasbrood mumbled, only for Neolith to smile.

“It honors you that you helped them.”

Lowering his head with a slight blush, the blue stallion replied, “I know.”

“Send Fletcher our regards and good recovery, will you? His fellow unicorn asked.

“Sure thing, Siyarjit.”

Just as his visitors left, his guests returned. “Welcome back.”

“And just convenient in time too.” A voice said and they saw Fletcher walking up to them. “We just managed to find the magic signature to get you home.”

A smile formed on the three ponies. “That’s good to hear. I can’t wait to be reunited with my wife.” Kyle said, much to Fletcher’s surprise.

“Pardon? It would be best to fully recover first.”

“We know and appreciate your concern but we would rather recover at home, with our family.” He stated, his mother and daughter nodded.

“All right, let me get the others.” With that, they all followed Fletcher to Twilight’s home, the knight informed the others and within 15 minutes everyone was present.

“Thank you for everything.” Art Strings did a group hug with the other children, crying tears. She knew that, unlike Katja and Blau, she couldn’t visit them without endangering the space-time continuum.

“It was the least we could do.” Dinky also cried tears, seeing how Kyle and Jan gave their hosts a hoof shake with expressions of gratitude, yet sadness was visible in their eyes.

The filly then walked over to her caretakers as they lit up their horns. “Goodbye. We won’t forget all your help.” Kyle said before they vanished in a white flash.

“I hope they can recover and have a good life.” Katja sounded slightly sad, only for Abstraction to give her a week smile.

“I am sure they will. And we can be proud of having helped them to get back home.”

“Indeed”. Fletcher added.

Kyle groaned as he woke up, his view was blurred as he faintly saw a figure in front of him. Blinking a few times, he found a mint-green mare smiled happy and relieved at him.

“Abby…I thought I had lost you!” Lyra wrapped him into a hug with tears of joy, which he returned.

“I missed you too.” He replied, seeing out of the corner of his eyes that he was in a hospital room, their daughter still blacked out, with Medium looking slightly shocked at Jan upon seeing her bandage.

“Oh my... Pan!” He exclaimed, wrapping his hooves around her, only for her to groan in pain. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, dear.”

Then, Celestia, Luna, a Changeling and male Alicorn walked in, with Kyle smiling at the latter two. “Scolus, Aversion, nice to see you.”

“Likewise, my friend, we came as soon as we could.” Aversion replied, only for Lyra to look with dread at the replaced limbs of her husband and daughter.

“What happened to you?”

The blue stallion sighed. “It’s a long story.”

Luna then stepped forward. “Then, may I?” She asked and both adults nodded. Having permission, her horn started to glow and touched the foreheads, allowing her and the others to see what had happened.

“Oh my… am so sorry, Abby!” Kyle’s lover yelled out in guilt, only for him to gently pat her back.

“It was an accident, sweetie, you aren’t to blame.”

“Still, fascinating to see you and myself in an alternative universe.” The male Alicorn commented.

“B-but, did I see that right?” Blinking, the reddish-brown stallion asked in confusion.

Taking a deep breath, Jan nodded. “Yes. I am so sorry I lied to you…I-I was just afraid my past could repeat or…”

She couldn’t finish as the Pegasus pulled her in a calming hug, being careful of her injury this time. “It’s okay, I understand you. And with he, you meant William, right?”

In response, the mare looked up with a sniff. “Y-yes, even after all this time, I still struggle from time to time.” She said, it was semi-right, though it still hurt her to lie.

“It’s only natural, dear. And Kyle, I’ll keep your secret, promise.” He looked at with an honest expression, receiving smiles by Scolus and Aversion.

A slight groan came from the filly, interrupting them.

Art Strings found herself in a dark room, seeing only faintly light, it scared her.

“You really think you can take me down single-handedly?” A male voice asked taunting and she saw a silhouette of a stallion, facing her mother. She wanted to call out but no sound came out of her mouth.

With fear, the filly watched as her mother pointed calmly behind her and the stallion seemed to be surprised. So was the foal.

Behind Lyra were all her friends, if not the entire population of Ponyville, all having eager expressions. Pinkie Pie then held up a sign. “A lot of us, ain’t it?”

“Well then, let’s do this!” The stallion exclaimed before a bright light blinded her.

Groaning, she opened her eyes to see he mother smiling happy at her. “Mama! I missed you” They hugged each other.

“I missed you too, sweetheart. And don’t worry, I’ll help you with everything you need.” Lyra assured her.

“I know and I appreciate it.” She returned the smile, with her father holding up a hoof.

“What about some ice cream after this?”

This caused a big grin on the filly’s face. “You don’t have to ask me twice!”

Yet, she, Kyle and Jan hoped Tyson and his soldiers could find peace.

Up in space, Almar scanned a wormhole after they had left orbit. “Scans indicate this is the same wormhole that sucked us in, having been recently formed again, which is very rare.”

“I see. Get us back in and on course.” Tyson commanded.

“Yes, sir.” The two lieutenants steered in the ship into the wormhole, the screen showed nothing but a swirl of blue.

Upon getting out, Almar did a scan of the surroundings and was quite surprised. “I can’t say where we were when we got sucked in, but it appears we are close to Earth now.”

This pleased Tyson. “Excellent. Set a course.”

“Sir?” Vicky asked surprised.

“It would be best to show our cousins we aren’t hostile to them.” Her superior explained and she gave a slight nod.

As the planet came into view, a message came through. “Unidentified ship, identify yourself.”

Tyson took a deep breath. “We are the honor guard of Mondas, and…we come in peace.”

Author's Note

There we are, finished at last.

Midnight and Blitzer and Moonlight River belong to Shadic Midnight Blitzer, a good friend of mine, I hoped you liked how I build them in

Chapter 1 Newcomers

Chapter 1: Newcomers

The morning sun shining into the house of a freshly married couple, causing it to wake up with yawn as they rubbed their eyes

“Good morning Abby.” The mint-green unicorn smiled at her husband.

“Morning, Ly.” Her husband, a blue unicorn returned the smile.

They then both breakfasted, enjoying their first meal of the day, eggs and toast. “That was delicious! You sure learned a bit or two from your mother.” Lyra complimented Abstraction.

“Yeah, I did. And from Medium as well.” He looked out of the window, admiring the rising morning sun. “Looks like it’s going to be a wonderful day.”

“Agreed. I look forward to meet the others.” Lyra replied, they had planned to spend some time with Bon-Bon, Dinky and her friends outside today.

“Me too.”

Going outside, both saw Ponyville going after its usual business, the residents greeting them, which they returned it and Lyra sighed.

“You know, back then…when he attacked us…I was scared. Of my friends. And I couldn’t fear more if he had known about you…”

Abstraction gave his lover a hug. “And yet, you all pulled through. You can be proud of that.” He added with a weak smile.

“Right.”

Once out of town, they towards a meadow to see that Dinky, the siblings, the knights, Pip, his mother, Blue Murder and her son, together with Abstraction’s mother and her husband.

“Good morning, my son. How are you?” Pan Fry greeted Abstraction with a warm smile.

“I am doing well. And you?”

“Same.”

“Hello!” Dinky smiled with glee at the two unicorns, happy to see them.

“Good day to you too, children.” Abstraction waved friendly, then looked at the Knights. “And how are you doing?”

“Fine,” Fletcher replied, though he sounded slightly unease, the married couple knew why.

“How are the others?” Abstraction changed the subject to calm him down, which seemed to work as he weakly smiled.

“Doing well, visiting their respective homes.”

“Where’s Redcross?” Lyra asked surprised as she noticed she wasn’t with the others.

“I am afraid, he had to stay at his hometown, due to a major accident in the night, having to treat the victims. He won’t be able to visit Ponyville for a while.”

“Ah, pity.” She frowned, “But his job is important and takes priority to save lives.”

“Yes,” Bon-Bon nodded. “But now, let’s enjoy the day.” And with that, she pulled out a box of candy out of her saddleback. Lyra, Bonbon, Pan, Medium and the knights chatted together, Nancy and Blue enjoyed some tea, while the children played pirates and Masterclass Dungeon Duels of Doom together.

“That’s really good tea you got there, Blue. Where did you get it?” Pan asked as she took a sip herself.

“It’s nothing special, I got it from a tea store in Trottingham.”

“I see. Might give it a visit myself.”

“Say, how are Shadowplay and Tybalt doing?” Abstraction looked at Midnight with a curious expression.

“They’re doing well and treated fairly by the other Dark Horse members, just like with you, Blue. They should finish training soon.” The batpony replied.

“Good to hear. You all three deserved a second chance.” Abstraction gave Blue Murder a smile.

In response, the unicorn mare shuffled her hooves nervously. “I know…At first, I feared I’d land into prison for the rest of my life, no matter what. Or…that Tungsten would suffer for what I did…”

“But it never happened,” “Bon-Bon pointed out. “Well, many forgive you, never blamed you. That’s what’s Ponyville is known for.”

“Yeah…” Blue smiled weakly. “Though some Trottingham ponies still are not over it.”

Now, Pip held a hoof up. “Don’t worry, Blue, everypony who troubles you or Tungsten has to go through me.”

“And me!” Blau exclaimed with a determined expression, his sister and Dinky nodded.

“Righto…How was your honeymoon?”

Lyra took the word. “It was quite nice, we were at-“

Suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of everyone, blinding them.

“What the?” Nancy covered her eyes, all others did the same.

They all wondered what was going on until it faded, only to be completely shocked.

In front of them were three ponies, lying exhausted on the ground.

But that wasn’t what shocked everyone.

One of the ponies was a blue unicorn stallion, the other one a mare with a light gray hide that had a hint of blue, a henna mane and tail.

“What…”Abstraction mumbled in disbelief, his eyes wide,” That’s…me!”

“And me!” Pan Fry looked at the identical copy of her.

“But…who’s the filly?” Pip pointed at the third pony, a unicorn filly with a mint-green coat, but the eyes, mane and tail color were that of Abstraction’s coat.

None of them could describe the feeling of seeing copies of Abstraction and his mother.

Was this all just their imagination? Changelings? None of them could tell, as the older Trottingham colt took a closer look at the filly.

“Can’t remember I ever saw her,” Tungsten replied before Dinky cleared her throat.

“If I had to guess, they could be of an alternative universe, but we can’t leave them in this state. I’d say give them shelter should be the best but we should avoid attention”

After a short moment, Lyra nodded. “No problem, I can teleport them to our house, you inform Twilight about this.”

“Of course.” Dinky took the lead followed by the others and the mint-green unicorn cast her spell, teleporting the group to her house, gently laying them down on the guest bed with her magic.

She took notice that the stallion was wearing a fancy watch on his left foreleg.

Lyra stayed with the group until the filly started to stir, shaking slightly as she looked at the mare. “M-M-Mom?”

The unicorn mare quickly realized what this meant, smiling weakly. “I am terribly sorry, but you confuse me with somepony else.”

“B-but…” The filly stuttered, unable to process this before the two adults also stirred, groaning

“What just happened?” Abstraction’s counterpart rubbed his head.

“I don’t know, son.” His mother replied before both noticed Lyra, their expressions one of confusion.

“I am afraid I don’t recall.”

“You were sick, we brought you a warm soup, and…you had to sneeze, accidentally casting magic. Wait…” It took only a few seconds for the stallion’s eyes to become wide, realizing what happened, the same happened to the other Pan Fry.

Even the filly stared, it seemed like hours before she sobbed, trying to hold back a sob. “N-no…”

Without hesitation “Abstraction” hugged her. “Shh, calm down, Art Strings.” He rocked back and forth and after a few minutes, the filly stopped to cry.

“Now that’s better.” His mother said with a weak smile.

“Can I offer you some tea?” Lyra asked, the three ponies nodded.

And with that, she prepared the kettle, the warm taste of the tea was very welcomed by her sudden guests.

“It’s all a bit sudden but my friends are informing Princess Twilight as we speak. Just so we can help you as soon as possible.”

Barely had she spoken, the front door opened and her husband and friends walked in, getting slightly surprised expression by the guests.

“I came as fast as I could, Lyra.” Twilight looked with curiosity at the three ponies, who bowed. “Rise. Now, can you tell me about yourselves?”

“Well…” Abstraction started, telling Twilight the same he did to Lyra.

“Awfully sorry to hear that. But I assure you, we’ll do what we can to help you get back.” Twilight had a look of pity and sympathy.

“Thank you, your highness.” Art Strings replied gratefully before looking curiously at the foals and human girl. Where I am from, you two are teenagers.” She pointed at Dinky and Pip. “My name is Art Strings.”

“Nice name.” Those are my friends Tungsten, Blau Streifen and Katja.” Dinky introduced them.

“Nice to meet you.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “I will inform the Mayor, so you can move around freely and without…complications.” She pointed at Art’s father and grandmother, they both nodded.

“And about me?”

“Dinky and her friends could show you around to pass the time, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Can I, dad?” She looked at her father, waiting for an answer.

“Sure thing, sweetheart.” “Abstraction” replied, knowing already the other Twilight and Dinky were honest and trustworthy.

“I know already where to go.” The periwinkle filly took the lead, with her friends and Art Strings following.

They were led outside of the town, towards the CMC clubhouse and Dinky knocked on the door.

Apple Bloom opened it. “Hello, guys, come in.” They entered, seeing their friends Noi, Tootsie and Pinch, together with the CMC.

“Hi, Dinky.” Tootsie smiled before spotting Art Strings. Who’s your new friend?”

“Everypony, this is Art Strings.” The newcomer gave a friendly wave before Dinky told the others about her, earning looks of sympathy.

“Oh my…poor you.” Sweetie Belle said, “But we’ll make sure you have a comfortable stay and welcome to our clubhouse. Maybe, we can help you get your Cutie Mark.”

Now, Art Strings chuckled. “I know to appreciate it but I don’t really care about it. Though, how did you met Katja, Dinky? No offense but humans are only a myth where I am from. My mother is fascinated about them, and my father and grandmother are also familiar, but they don’t tell me why.”

“Well…” Dinky bit her lip, unsure how to tell this, “It’s kind of a long story. You see, one day, Sparkler was sick and I had the same fate as you, landing on Earth. Katja and Blau had the same fate in their universe with a friend, also landing on Earth, the same place I found myself in.” She paused for a moment.

“Princess Luna dispatched Fletcher to find me, helping Katja and Blau too. And ever since we got back home, we’re friends, regularly visiting each other, and Fletcher became my uncle.”

Art Strings stayed quiet, trying to process everything. “Sounds like he’s a great stallion. Still, how comes you’re not a pony, Katja? No offense.”

The girl chuckled. “My dad is a human.”

Art’s eyes went wide. “For real?”

“Yes, though he never told me or my brother how he landed in Equestria.”

“I see. So…” Art Strings trailed off, “What could we do now?”

“I got an idea!” Dinky exclaimed and tapped the filly with her hoof while saying “Tag! You’re it!”, before running out of the clubhouse laughing.

“Hey!” Art Strings yelled as she gave chase, the others laughed too.

Nevertheless, they all enjoyed the game until they laid down laughing. “That was fun!” Pip giggled.

“Yep,” Tungsten added as he looked up in the sky and saw something odd. “Hey, what’s that?” He pointed to it.

Everyone looked up to see what looked like a flame. “I don’t know, but it’s coming down!” Noi yelled and they made a run as it came right for them.

Whatever it was, it was big and they felt the heat as it flew over their heads and came down on the ground with a loud bang, leaving a trail of dust and dirt behind as it came to a stop.

Pinch breathed heavily. “That was close.”

“What is that?” Dinky wondered as she took a look over a cliff. The object they had seen was now fully visible. It was big, looking like a rectangular box but was flattered and two circles at the back, looking like engines.

“A…spaceship?” Art Strings suspected.

“In any case, we should report that in,” Katja suggested with unease in her voice.

“Sure, after-“ Dinky couldn’t finish as she slipped, sliding down the hill.

“Dinky!” The others called out.

With a cry of pain, the unicorn came to a stop, her vision blurry.

Then, she saw what looked like a hand reaching down. Slowly her eyes looked up.

Before her stood something she couldn’t describe, but it looked terrifying.

A humanoid creature, wearing what looked like a switchbox on the chest, covered in tubing with a rubbery-like skin. The head was covered by a cloth mask, a neutral expression, the eyes still visible, wearing what looked like a pair of handles onto the head.

Chapter 9 Past and cost part 6

Chapter 9 Past and cost part 6

This time, the group opened their eyes to find themselves in what looked like a big white room. Somehow, it looked very futuristic.

“Right, get your hands up. I said, get your hands up!” A voice shouted and the ponies turned around to see 2 men in beige uniforms, holding three humans at gunpoint.

Of the 2 armed men had white hair and brown eyes, noticeable older than the other one, who had brown hair and blue eyes.

The group now got a look at the three people they were holding at gunpoint, two men and a woman, yet one of the men stood out in appearance.

Large, expressive blue eyes, a large hooked nose, a round chin, bright white teeth and a large head of wild curly brown hair, with a long, rainbow-styled scarf around his neck. His clothing consisting of trousers and a red frock coat, underneath a white dress shirt, and an emerald green skinny tie.

He introduced himself as the Doctor, the slim, dark-haired woman with matching eyes, dressed in a green jacket as Sarah Jane Smith, with the other man as Harry Sullivan. The latter had the same hair and eye color as Sarah, dressed in a blue suit.

Then a man with blond hair and green eyes, dressed in a black suit walked in. “You'd better step in here, Commander.” He said to the older man, who asked,

“What is it?”

“See for yourself.”

In response, the older man looked at the other man with gun. “Watch them.”

His fellow nodded, ordering the Doctor and his two friends, “Follow them. Come on, move.”

They all entered another room, seeing another man in beige uniform, lying on the ground, unconscious and breathing heavily.

The elderly man checked him before stepping back. To the horror of the ponies, he raised his weapon to shoot the unconscious man.

However, the Doctor rushed forward, insisting to treat the man, but the elderly human stated that he had the plague and killing him was the only way to prevent it from spreading.

But as the Doctor came up with the lie that he and his companions were a medical team sent from Earth, they got granted permission to look at the infected man.

Sarah and Harry took care of that, while the Doctor followed the elderly man into what looked like a control room, monitor screens and panels everywhere.

The Doctor got explained that he was on Nerva Beacon, a space station currently under quarantine due to that plague. Of the fifty strong crew, only three had survived: The elderly man, being the commander, called Stevenson, and his fellow crewman Lester and Warner, the latter now falling been infected too.

Stevenson also explained that the other man was Professor Kellman, an exographer and that the station was here to warn spacecraft about an asteroid, as it hadn’t been on the charts yet. It used to be called Neo Phobos, but got renamed Voga by Kellman.

This waked an old memory in the Doctor. “Voga. Voga. Planet of gold. Yes, it's all coming back to me now. He mumbled.

With a confused expression, the commander asked. “What's coming back to you?”

“Cybermen. That's what we're up against, Commander. Cybermen.” The Doctor stated in a serious tone.

“But surely, Doctor, Cybermen died out centuries ago.” Stevenson replied in disbelief, yet did not matter for the mysterious man.

“They disappeared after their attack on Voga at the end of the Cyber War. Not the same thing as dying out, Commander. They're utterly ruthless. Total machine creatures.”

This took the group by surprise, the Cybermen had been in a war? Nothing of the previous memories had hinted of this.

Before they could form any more thought, they saw the Doctor running from the control room, with Stevenson grabbing his weapon to follow him. Then they saw how Kellman got a large device from his desk, it looked like a typewriter. He plugged it into a wall power unit and started sending a Morse code message.

Blinking, the scene switched to a sleek silver spaceship. Their eyes went wide to see it were Cybermen, the ones with the helmet gun. One of them had a black helmet and made a gesture, causing another one to press a button and the ship moved.

Then they saw Sarah looking at a monitor and turned around to see a metal snake-like creature. It leaped for her neck and she instinctively caught it in mid-air, struggling, her expression terrified.

She screamed as it bit her, and the Doctor ran in as she managed to throw it to the floor. In response, he threw gold dust at it, and it writhed like a slug sprinkled with salt.

Moments after, the woman collapsed, veins on her neck were fluorescing, breathing heavily.

“That sounded like Sarah. What's happened?” Harry asked as he ran in with the 2 crewmembers, shocked at the sight.

“That cybermat's happened, Harry. Quick, into the transmat beam, quickly as you can. It's the only way to get the poison out of her system.” The Doctor explained, gently lifting Sarah up as Lester commented emotionlessly,

“She's got the plague.”

In response, the Doctor looked briefly at the metal snake. “No, sir. That's your so-called plague, Commander.”

“Is this thing still dangerous, Doctor?” Stevenson asked, eyeing it carefully

“Not anymore, but there are bound to be others around.” Taking his warning seriously, the commander gave the Cybermat a tentative kick to check if it was dead. It didn’t move anymore.

In another control room, the Doctor said to Harry, “Hang on to her, Harry. You'd better travel with her.” His companion took the woman in his arms as told.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked as he stepped into what looked like a blue tube, with the Doctor working on a console.

“I'll set the beam for Voga. Do you know how to work the reciprocator?”

He nodded with a slightly surprised expression. “Er, yes, I've seen you do it.”

“Off you go. No time to lose.” With that, the Doctor pushed a button, the tube made a faint whirring sound that faded quickly. Nothing happened.

This caused the Doctor to suspect it had been sabotaged, accusing Kellman of this, that he worked together with the Cybermen.

As both crewmen left to confront the Professor, the Doctor worked with a screwdriver on a circuit. Suddenly, there was a bang and Flash.

It caused the man to recoil, hands over his eyes. He blinked a few times in disorientation, yet smiled weakly to see that it worked, as both his companions were gone.

In a hallway, both Stevenson and Kellman held each other at gunpoint.

“Put that gun down, Kellman.

“All right, Commander. Go ahead and shoot. Neither of us can miss at this range.” The Professor taunted, yet the commander was not fazed.

“I said, put that gun down.” Stevenson raised his voice slightly, yet Kellman shook his head.

“Oh, no.”

“You can't get away.”

“That's right, Commander. I'm going into my cabin. You can lock me in if you like. Just don't try to follow-“

Before Kellman could finish, Lester leaped on him from behind, pulling his gun against his throat.

“Well done, Lester. You walked right into it.” His commander praised him.

They then brought him back to the Doctor, who explained, “Voga, otherwise known as the Planet of Gold, is hated and feared by Cybermen because gold is lethal to them.”

“How?” Stevenson did not understand.

“It's the perfect non-corrodible metal. It plates their breathing apparatus and in effect suffocates them. Doesn't it, Professor?” The Doctor asked as he walked over to him.

However, Kellman refused to answer, even as the Doctor mentioned that a piece called pentalium drive, he couldn’t get Harry and Sarah back.

Then the scene switched to the Cyber-ship, with different numbers letters appearing on a screen.

“Computer reports heavy phobic energy discharge between the beacon and Voga.” One Cyberman reported, with the black helmet one concluding,

“That means the humans have recently used their transmat beam.”

“Yes, Leader.”

“Time to docking?”

“Sixteen minutes.”

“Good. Order the boarding party to the forward hatch.” The Cyber-leader ordered.

Back at Nova, the ponies saw now how The Doctor was holding a small box, with Kellman sitting restrained on a chair.

“Look.” Lester turned around as a Cybermat came out from behind a set of drawers.

“Leave it. Don't shoot, Commander.” The Doctor advised as Stevenson took aim, with the creature moving towards the Professor.

His eyes went wide in panic, while the other 3 men had neutral expressions as he yelled in fear, “Stop it! For heaven's sake, do something!”

“After you've been bitten, Kellman, you'll have just ten seconds to remember where that pentalium drive is, if you want to live.” The Doctor warned with a slight grin as the Cybermat reared up.

“All right, all right! It's around my neck. Take it.” Kellman yelled and the Doctor nodded, as his captive let out a breath of relief.

“Splendid.” He said, turning off the Cybermat and grabbed inside the Professor’s collar. “Good. Now we can get Harry and Sarah back.”

Only a short time later, Lester detected an incoming ship on radar, but it did not respond to their signals.

“There she is.” Lester reported as the ship got into visual range and the Cyber-ship appeared on screen, much to the Commander’s confusion.

“I don't recognize that type.”

“Never seen anything like it before.” Lester added in slight awe

“There are missile tubes in the nose cone.”

“It must be an alien.” Lester assumed as his superior spoke into the comm.

“This is Nerva Beacon. You are approaching Nerva Beacon.” He said as the ship swung round to point straight at the screen, “We are in quarantine by orders from Earth Centre. I repeat, we are in quarantine. Stand away.

“They're deliberately ignoring our signals, Commander. Look, they're moving into docking orbit.” His fellow crewmate pointed out, causing him to curse.

“The fools!”

“They're docking!” A rumble echoed through the beacon and the Doctor realized who this ship belonged too, a determined expression on his face.

“We've got to stop them getting in.” He ran towards the docking hatch and Stevenson asked confused,

“But who?”

“Cybermen!” He heard the Doctor yelling and his eyes went small, yet wasted no time with Lester to follow, weapons ready, with Kellman looking after them with a smug grin.

The Doctor tried in vain to turn the locking mechanism., stepping away from the door to cover. “No good.”

“Good grief!” Stevenson exclaimed slightly nervous. Seconds later, the Cyber-leader and two normal Cybermen entered.

Both Crewmen fired, but their weapons had no effect, bouncing harmlessly off. I return, the cyborgs used their helmet weapons and the two humans fell to the ground with painful expressions.

The Doctor watched hidden with a shocked expression, attempting to sneak away, but he got spotted. His enemies opened fire and he fell too to the ground with a painful expression, not moving.

“All resistance overcome.” A Cyberman reported and the leader said,

“The Beacon is ours.”

Kellman then walked in, seeing the bodies and asking with a neutral expression, “You haven't killed them?”

“Of course not. We have neutralized them. They are necessary to our plan.” The leader explained, “What are you doing, Kellman?” He added as the man searched the Doctor’s pockets.

“This is the stranger I reported. He calls himself the Doctor.” The Professor explained.

“And because of him, our plan was advanced?”

“It had to be. He was interfering. I'd just like to know who and what he is.” To his surprise, he only found a bag of jelly babies in the Doctor's trouser pocket, and an apple core in his waistcoat.

A short moment later, the three men were sitting cross-legged against the wall, Lester had his hands over his ears, the Doctor his hands over his eyes and Stevenson was covering his mouth.

“Once our landing is detected, the Vogans will attack in force.” The Cyber-leader explained to his human ally as they looked on a map, showing what looked like a tunnel network.

“Oh, they have only light armaments. Nothing that can affect your Cybermen.” Kellman assured him as the cyborg pointed at the map

“This is the main shaft?”

“Yes, this is a shaft I explored for you. It runs right to the core of Voga.”

“How far from the shaft entrance is the transmat receptor area?”

“Just a matter of yards. I set the receptors as close as possible.” The Professor assured him

“Excellent, Kellman. You have done well. The humans will carry the explosives into the shaft.”

“What's your cut, Kellman? Voga's gold?” The Doctor spoke up, sounding curious, although his expression was neutral, with the leader turning towards him

“There will be no gold. Voga is to be utterly destroyed, and this time we shall not fail.”

“Oh, really.” Came flatly from the human.

“And you, Doctor, and your two friends will help us in this task. That is why your lives have been spared.”

“I was wondering why you hadn't killed us.” Stevenson commented, with his crewmate adding,

“We don't have to help them. They can't force us.”

“Oh, you are mistaken.” The Cyber-leader interjected, only for Lester to taunt,

“You'll discover who's mistaken, chum.”

“The heart of Voga is almost pure gold. Gold is hostile to our function, therefore Kellman was asked to preserve three animal organisms for this purpose.”

“Isn't it wonderful to feel needed, Commander?” The Doctor looked at Stevenson with a faked smile that quickly faded as the Cyber-leader turned to the Professor

“Kellman, on our approach run, we detected an operational discharge from the transmat area. Explain that.”

“That was his doing. He beamed his two friends down to Voga. I tried to put the transmat out of action, but he managed to fix it somehow.” Kellman pointed at the Doctor and the cyborg asked in return,

“And how much do these humans know?”

“Look, I've done everything I can to help. I set up the transmat, I directed the Cybermen. You might never have found Voga if it hadn't been for me.” Kellman pointed out, which the Leader understood.

“That is true, and you have been promised great rewards for your assistance.”

“That's why I must go down to Voga to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the transmat.” He demanded and the cyborg relented,

“Very well. But return as soon as possible. Once the detonator cycle commences, it cannot be stopped.” The leader warned before beaming him down.

As this was done, some Cybermen brought in three black round balls, bombs the ponies figured, putting them on a table.

“What great rewards have you promised Kellman?” The Doctor spoke up, demanding to know, but the leader wasn’t interested.

“The matter is of no interest to you.”

“Everything's of interest to me, and Cybermen possess nothing that a human might want.” His human enemy countered calmly.

“You are incorrect.”

This caused the Doctor to respond in a taunting tone,“ Then what is it? You've no home planet, no influence, nothing. You're just a pathetic bunch of tin soldiers skulking about the galaxy in an ancient spaceship.”

“You speak unwisely. We are destined to be rulers of all the cosmos.”

“No, I don't think so, somehow. You tried that once and you were nearly wiped out.” The man countered, only for the Cyber-leader to explain,

“Because of Voga and its gold. If humans had not had the resources of Voga, the Cyber War would have ended in glorious triumph.”

“It was a glorious triumph, for human ingenuity. They discovered your weakness and invented the glitter gun, and that was the end of Cybermen except as gold-plated souvenirs that people use as hat stands.” Came as taunt from the Doctor, and the Leader flinched slightly, as if offended.

“Watch it, Doctor. I think you've riled him.” Lester warned as the cyborg walked towards him to face his enemy.

“That is why Voga must be destroyed before we begin our second campaign.”

With a taunting grin, the human asked “Oh, there's to be a second campaign, is there?”

“We have enough parts in our ship to build an entirely new Cyber Army, and this time, Doctor, it will be invincible. Cybermen function- “ The Cyber Leader grabbed the Doctor around the throat with both hands, causing him to grunt in pain.

“More efficiently than animal organisms. That is why we will rule the galaxy.”

Despite the pain, the man managed to taunt, “Loose thinking. The trouble with Cybermen is they've got hydraulic muscles, and of course hydraulic brains to go with them.”

The Leader threw the Doctor across the room. On the way he picked up one of the bombs from a table, his expression determined.

“Put that down!” Came from the Cyber-leader, it sounded slightly scared.

“Thank you. Now, if I'm correct about what this contains, and should accidentally drop it.” He dropped then caught it midair, as the Leader also stepped forward to catch it. “Now, I want some information from you, Cyber Leader.”

As the Doctor paused, the Cyber Leader pushed a button on his chest plate. A Cyberman standing guard at the docking hatch started walking towards them as the human opened his mouth again.

“What's Kellman expecting to get out of all this?”

“Kellman wants power. He will be ruler of this solar system when we have conquered it.”

“In exchange. I wouldn't have thought his ambitions lay in that direction.”

“Look out, Doctor.” Stevenson tried to warn him as the summoned Cybermen came from behind but it was too late as he got grabbed.

The Leader took back the bomb and the three men were pushed back down onto the floor.

“Do not kill them.” Came the order from the Cyber-leader, with the Doctor giving a weak, relieved smile.

A look of worry overcame the ponies as they saw how the bombs were strapped to the three men's backs.

“Cyberbombs, the most compact and powerful explosive devices ever invented.” The leader explained with a slight hint of pride in his voice

With a disguised expression, the Doctor taunted, “Yes, and their use was banned by the Armageddon Convention.”

It didn’t matter to the leader as he replied, “Cybermen do not subscribe to any theory of morality in war, Doctor. Our calculations indicate that two bombs placed in the central fissure of Voga will fragmentize the planet.”

“Fragmentize? Oh well, I suppose we can't expect decent English from a machine.” The man taunted unimpressed as the cyborg continued.

“Prime the buckles.” A whirring sound entered their ears. “Two bombs should be sufficient. Three will make certain.”

“Now what have they done?” Stevenson asked confused and the leader answered for him.

“The buckles are now primed. Any attempt to remove the harness before the countdown reaches the red zone will cause a secondary explosion. Do you understand?”

“You mean, if we attempt to release the harness before then, we'll get blown up.” Lester figured out, sounding disgusted as the Cyber-leader reached for a small suitcase-like device.

“Correct. It is as well to keep that thought in your minds.”

“And when we reach the center of Voga, we'll be fragmentized, as you put it.” The Doctor added flatly, only to be corrected by the leader.

“Incorrect. You will have fourteen minutes, the time period of the red zone, to reach your surface and save yourselves by the transmat beam.”

“That is not long enough.” Stevenson stated.

“Fourteen minutes is considered adequate.”

“Anything else before we go?” The Doctor asked flatly

“Yes, Doctor. Your progress will be followed by radar. Any attempt to deviate from the planned course will be immediately detected and the bombs exploded by means of these manual controls.”

“Thank you.”

Then the cyborg pushed a button on the device and it started to beep. “Countdown has commenced. You, Doctor, will leave first.”

The three got beamed down, together with two Cybermen, one of them carried the briefcase.

Loud bangs started the ponies briefly and they turned in the direction the sounds came from. Several humanoids with grey-brown skin and white hair were firing ineffectively at the Cyborgs. It took the ponies only a few seconds to understand that those were Vogans.

Apart from the color, the Vogans had a large domed head and deep-set, large eyes.

As the bullets bounced harmlessly off, the Cybermen returned fire. With screams, the natives of the planet stumbled before falling dead to the ground.

Despite their losses, the natives kept on firing, their eyes showing determination and desperation. It might be a losing battle, yet they know they had tried to defend their home, their life, or everything would be lost.

None of the three men believed that the Cyber-Leader would keep his word and let them escape, but they know they had to move on due to being monitored.

Back on the station, the Cyber-Leader received a report.

“Our warriors report all initial opposition has been crushed.”

“Excellent. They are now one hundred meters below the surface.”

“Kellman has not returned.” His second in command pointed out, only for the Leader to state,

“He is of no importance now. His part in our operation is at an end.”

“Average progress rate is fifty meters per minute.”

“Excellent. They will be in the central chamber of Voga. In seventeen minutes.”

“Distortion on our radar scope is increasing. The three humans who are carrying our bombs can no longer be identified by separate signals.” The other Cyberman warned but it didn’t matter.

“That is of no importance now. Even the Doctor believes they will be given time to escape before our bombs explode. They do not know the detonators will fire when the countdown enters the red zone.”

However, on the surface, Harry managed to find the three men and they formed a plan. Stevenson shall go on and create a radar trail, while the rest would attack the Cybermen from the rear.

On a slight cliff, they waited until the Cybermen were underneath them, with the Doctor and Harry jumping on the Cyborgs.

They struggled but the Cybermen easily shrugged off any attempt, throwing them back. Realizing they had no change, Lester made a hard decision.

As Harry and his friend retreated, the crewman jumped on the cyborgs. With a determined expression, fully aware of the consequences, Lester pressed the button on his harness buckle.

With a shocked expression, the Doctor and Harry watched as the explosion killed him, but also the Cybermen. Yet, they wasted no time to get to the still intact briefcase.

This went not unnoticed by the Cybermen, as their radar became nothing but a blank screen, causing the leader to exclaim, “They have lost radar contact.”

“Our information flow from the surface has ceased. The countdown has stopped.” His second in command informed.

“Select video picture of Voga. Detonation by manual control.”

“No! No, don't!” Sarah screamed horrified as she charged in but the leader pushed her to the ground, with his second in command standing over her.

“Shall I destroy the human female?”

“Detonation now!” The leader pressed a button on a box, the asteroid on screen.

Nothing happened.

“It has failed. Why?” He wondered, unable to come up with an explanation. Yet that didn’t stop them from tying Sarah up, putting her into the console chair as he said they had an alternative plan, with her countering that the Vogans had aimed a rocket at the cyborgs through Kellman.

“Kellman? So they have a rocket, but they have not used it. Logical conclusion, the rocket has a malfunction, therefore this information does not affect our plans. We shall proceed. Voga will be destroyed.” The Cyber-leader stated, not impressed at all.

They loaded the Beacon with Bombs, intending to crash it into Voga, confident it would work as the leader oversaw the preparations in the control room as one of his soldiers reported as he worked on the console.

“All engines normal. Zero thrust.”

“Increase ten levels. If it was the Doctor, he will make a further attempt to thwart my plan. Therefore he will still be concealed aboard. Search the forward compartments. Locate and destroy all animal organisms.” Two Cybermen bowed and left at his orders, as they had noticed Sarah had been freed.

“Control response normal. Engine response effective. Thrust five thousand.”

“Engage hyperdrive.”

In the crew quarters, the Doctor outfitted a Cybermat with gold dust, then activated it via remote control as a Cyberman entered. With what liked like surprise, the cyborg looked at it before it leaped at him and he struggled briefly.

It was in vain as it managed to bite the chest unit and the cyborg collapsed.

“We must evacuate the Beacon in three minutes.” The leader ordered and a fellow cyborg looked at the controls, with the asteroid coming closer

“Our calculations indicate the fireball will extend one point five million miles.” He reported before spotting the Cybermat, looking surprised at it. It then leaped at him and he struggled before collapsing.

But the leader and another Cyberman took notice, managing to grab the intruders before they got far. Both Cyborgs used neck pressure points to force the intruders to their knees.”

“All right, all right, all right. You've made your point. We surrender. We surrender.” The Doctor exclaimed in pain, with Sarah screaming.

“You have interfered once too often, Doctor.” Said the Cyber-leader and the two got tied back to back. “The Beacon is approaching Voga at ten thousand light units. It is time for us to leave. You two are especially privileged. You are about to die in the biggest explosion ever witnessed in this solar system. It will be a magnificent spectacle. Unhappily, you will be unable to appreciate it.” The Leader announced before leaving with his soldiers.

Yet they hadn’t noticed a trick of the Doctor. He had tied them loose, allowing both easy to get free. Stevenson then radioed in, telling that he hadn’t a clue how to operate the controls of the rocket but the Doctor instructed him.

“There are two levers on the left of the panel. Got them?” He asked and the Commander confirmed.

“Yes, I've got them.”

“The top lever controls the angle of flight, and the lower one must be the direction and stabilizer control.”

Both instinctively ducked as the rocket just missed the station.

“There's a missile on our port bow.” A Cyberman reported and the leader yelled,

“Engage full thrust! Deploy-“

He couldn’t finish as the rocket hit the ship, completely destroying it in a big explosion.

To the surprise of the ponies, they saw a small arrow formed ship escaped the blast. Inside were 6 Cybermen, another part of Tysons force they realized.

The ship stopped and the rough cyborgs looked at the Beacon. From the outside, it looked like a cylinder with s circle attached to it.

Nova Beacon missed the asteroid barely, missing the surface by inches before swooshing back into space where it belonged. Tyson’s soldiers took this as sign to fly away.

This was where the memory ended.

“So the Cybermen are vulnerable towards gold? Interesting.” Time Turner commented.

“Yes, and we now know another reason they went almost extinct, a war against humanity.” The stallion with peculiar patchy coat added slightly fascinated.

“And from a tactical view, destroying a critical asset before the main attack is a smart move.” Wagensroll spoke as he analyzed, “Still, they weren’t defeated yet.”

“Indeed,” Luna nodded as she prepared to show the next memory, “This is very interesting to say the least.”

By now, they all could tell that Tyson’s soldiers had been through a lot. But they were tensed about what was to come next.