A story of The Doctor and Daring Doby Casey1859ChaptersA Cyber DiscoveryWhat Daring Did.What the Doctor did.Gelthic RelationsThe beginning, or sometimes called chapter 1A Cyber DiscoveryDaring caught up with the Doctor in just a matter of moments, something that is most definitely not an easy feat. As she ran with the doctor, she laughed. She loved laughing. Soon, it had spread to the doctor, and even into Ditzy's consciousness. It gave Ditzy strength, enough strength to let her consciousness through for just a moment “Help.... Me...” She blinked. Until now, Daring and the doctor hadn't been able to see her eyes. And when she blinked, she went back from Ditzy to whatever was controlling her, and it was horrible. Her eyes where a perfect pitch black. As she continued trotting along to her currently unknown destination, the doctor noticed a blue, blinking light in her ear. And it horrified him. Beyond anything that he had ever seen. The doctor knew of Ditzy's fate. “Ditzy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” The doctor pulled out a long,silver device, with a blue light coming out of the end of it, and held it in his mouth, pointing roughly in the direction of Ditzy's ear. The device in her ear exploded into a great shower of sparks, and Ditzy fell into the ground in a great heap. “What... what just happened?” Daring blurted, completely confused. First green northern Canterlot robots, now blue ear-buds of apparent death and destruction. Daring was having the weirdest day of her life. “These ear-buds where painfully and probably willingly inserted into Ditzy's ear, and where controlling her movements and her basic thoughts. The ear-buds where designed and built by a race called CyberPonies. They trick ponies into wearing them, and then control their movements to an “upgrade” room, where their brains are cut out, and inserted into a metal pony body. Their emotions are then removed and are able to electrocute any normal pony to death with their hands. They are inserted into an army of millions and are preparing to wage war on every planet, galaxy, and universe. But the question is, why Equestria?” The doctor said, talking very quickly. “Well, Equestria is the most inhabited and technological planet in the galaxy. If I fully understood what you where saying, The CyberPonies would easily be able to trick tons and tons of ponies into wearing these ear-buds and-” But the doctor was no longer listening. He had run over to Ditzy's body and had pulled out a stethoscope and was listening to Ditzy's heart. He had a pretty worried look on his face. “What's wrong, doctor?” Daring was worried. The Doctor had placed his hoof on her chest, and it began to glow a very faint yellow. Daring began to feel a bit scared. She had no idea what it was, but he just had a certain aura about him that made her instinctively worried for him and willing to help him. And it scared her. And she didn't know it, but she was the first in a long line of the doctors' partners that realized that before she gave her life. And she was worried that Ditzy had now ended up being one of them. “I think she'll be fine, shes breathing, shallowly, mind you, and her heart is still going, but she's a strong pony, and she'll be able to live. The ear-buds are literally connected to your brain, and shutting the ear-buds down shuts down a large portion of your brain. Most ponies don't survive the removing of the ear-buds, but Ditzy is special. She's connected to the TARDIS. It helped her in her time of need. So she'll be alright. Back to my earlier questions: Why Equestria and where in Equestria?” The doctor remarked. “Well, I can answer one and maybe both of those questions. One: As I said earlier, Equestria is full of technology eager ponies, and Equestria is also the most populated planet that pony-kind has discovered. So that fills in for both of your parameters. It has lots of ponies, and they can all be easily tricked into wearing these ear-buds, seeing as they are so eager for new technology. As for your second question, We can probably just follow the path that Ditzy was on.” Daring answered confidently. “Oh, I like you.” The doctor said, eagerly dashing off in the direction that Ditzy had been headed. Daring headed off in another direction, going to investigate Manehattan, which was just outside of the Lodusa. “Doctor! I'm going to go make sure my theory is correct, and maybe get a little Intel on the CyberPonies while doing it, like what alias they are operating under!... Or something!” Daring yelled, hoping the doctor could hear her. She dashed off, hoping to get some info from town. The doctor heard someone shouting, and took out his sonic screwdriver to amplify the sound. All he heard was “-berPonies while doing it, like what alias they are operating under!...Or something!” But he got the message, Daring was splitting up, gathering info. The doctor continued on his way, continuing on in the direction Ditzy had been going. He would avenge her. Whoever had almost taken her away from him, whoever had almost turned her into a CyberPony, they would pay. He continued on, his fury rising. He had to keep it down, had to keep it cool. He won fights by running and thinking, not by fighting. So thats what he did. As he trotted down the path, he thought. And he devised a plan. By the time he had reached a totally not conspicuous castle with a big sign on the front saying “CyberPony conversion center”, he had made a plan. And he had had about 10 minutes to think it up, but thats the way the doctor liked it best. He opened his bag, and pulled out a pair of rubber ear-buds. "I wonder if these will even fit on a pony, and if they do, I knew keeping these was a good idea." He put them on. Thankfully, they still fit, if a little tight. He wore an expressionless expression as he waited for another group of conversions to come trotting by. After waiting for another 15 minutes, a group came by, and he silently merged himself in with them. Nopony noticed, thankfully. He expressionlessly trotted into the castle, with the best way to break in: the front door. He looked around, amazed at what an old, crumbling castle could hide. He saw machines up and down the wall, and he soon realized he was moving down, down into the center of the world, and close to Equestria's most valuable and powerful supply of energy. He was nearing the heart of Equestria, burning with the fire of friendship. And the CyberPonies where using it to rip ponies brains out. How ironic. He continued on. Bravely walking into the heart of the CyberPony factory. This is where his plan ended. It had taken him 10 minutes to remember that he had those ear-buds, and he hadn't had much time to think of an actual plan after that. So he just seemingly mindlessly followed the crowd, drifting off deeper into the factory, to meet someone he hoped he would only ever meet in the grave. What Daring Did.Chapter 3: What Daring Did Daring galloped out of the jungle, breaching the tree line and galloping 8 miles of flat plains lands. As she galloped into the outskirts of Manehattan, she looked for one thing in particular. A large, blue, pony box. Now, she understood that it would probably not be there, seeing as he was off fighting the CyberPonies. And, as she thought, he was nowhere to be seen. One gray mare, though, did catch her eye. She was wandering around, crashing into apple stands, and houses, and everything else. Daring giggled, this mare is such a klutz! She walked up to her, and introduced herself as Daring, stating that they hadn't really introduced themselves the first time they had seen each other. Ditzy introduced herself, and said her favorite thing in the world was muffins! She continued on about muffins for about an hour, only realizing afterword’s that Daring had walked away a long time ago. Ditzy continued after her, asking what Daring did for fun, and for a living. Daring said that she did the same thing for both: adventuring! She talked on, and on, and on about all the jungles, and temples, and idols she'd collected throughout her adventures. But unlike Ditzy, she noticed when she started wandering off. Which was about 3 minutes into her rant. Oh well, Daring thought, dashing after her. When she caught up, Daring asked if Ditzy was hungry, because she had noticed a muffin shop just down the way, and she felt she could go for a nice muffin as well. At the mention of muffins, Ditzy shot down the street they were on, in somehow the correct direction of the muffin shop that was a mile and a half away. Daring was just barely able to keep up, for the whole mile and a half, all the way to the muffin shop. When she got there, Daring noticed that Ditzy was walking away with a ginormous box filled with muffins. Daring looked at it in pure amazement, wondering how a single mare could eat all of those, much less even afford them all! Daring asked Ditzy how in the world she was able to afford all those muffins. Ditzy answered that she knew the nice people there, and visited so often, they wanted to thank her with a biiig box of muffins! Daring honestly didn't believe that, but she didn't question the bubbly mare. They sat down at one of the outdoor tables, one of the nice ones for summertime with the umbrella, getting strange looks at the absolutely huge box in front of them. They had lunch, well, Ditzy had lunch, and Daring watched while she munched on a muffin. After about 5 minutes, Ditzy had finished the box, and they continued walking. They walked right through town square, and on through even more streets. As they walked through the streets, they met with other people and talked with them, for some people, they had to look up and talk to them in the large residential complexes. But when they looked up, they saw something very strange. They saw a pony with wings that looked just like the doctor. He even had the same cutie mark! He looked like he was flying away from something as fast as he possibly could. He noticed us, and hung a steep dive away from whatever he was flying away from. He landed a few feet away from us, and we asked how on earth he was flying. He answered with “Why aren't you using direct quotes, girls?” “Doc, what are you talking about? Anyway, how in equestrian are you flying?” Daring asked, completely perplexed as to what was going on. “Well, I'm not always an earth pony. Sometimes I'm a Pegasus, and I'm pretty sure I was a unicorn once. It always seems to fit whatever is convenient in my current predicament.” The doctor answered, seeming to not even be sure himself. “Anyway... what where you flying away from, anyway? You seemed pretty frightened” “The CyberPonies. I found their small hideout, and they found me. I got out as fast as I could, but I was just barely fast enough. They were hot on my tail right up until I got them to fly into a large sign. Equestria has really sturdy signs.” The doctor remarked. “Well, what are we going to do now? Do we have any sort of lead or something to go off of here?” Daring asked. “Well, I think the answer is muffins.” Oh yeah, Ditzy's still here. “Well... um, for once, I believe Ditzy's right. The answer is actually muffins. Ditzy, I'm not sure how, but you are correct in the answer being muffins.” The doctor answered, knowing full well that she was going to answer muffins. “Is...just...what? In what way could the answer possibly be muffins. Muffins could not possibly be the answer here. I bet no one has any idea where you could possibly be going with this. What are you thinking?” Daring said. “Well, I can answer this one. We’ve found a hidden CyberPony area, in one of the muffin shops here on Gingerman Lane” The doctor replied, making still no sense at all. “Umm… Okay, whatever you say, doc.” Daring replied, having no idea what was even happening. When she looked back at him, he was a unicorn, using tracking powers to find the muffin shop. “Okay, that is just too convenient. That cannot be real.” “Oh, but it is, Daring!” Replied the enthusiastic doctor. “Aha! I’ve found it! It’s right around this- geb…bleh... Daring looked around at the doctor, who’s horn had just vanished mid-spell, and he had continued to cast the spell. This means that instead of using the magic pool that all unicorns had, he had began to drain his life energy. Which is a thing now. It never stopped being a thing. He had now passed out in the middle of the street. Ponies began to stare at the stallion laying in the street. “Okay, less convenient. His horn just vanished. Mid-Spell.” Daring noted, mildly shocked. “Okay, I got this. Everypony, stop looking at him.” Ditzy said, having traveled with the doctor for a while. As the ponies turned away, we heard a large intake of air from where he was laying, and we turned back around to see he had regained his horn, and his magic pool was slowly refilling his life force. “You know, I really didn't think that was going to work” Said the Doctor, who for his part was getting up and walking around. “Anyway, so now that you have your horn back, and we know it can't disappear while at least somepony's looking at you, do you want to try that locating spell again?” Daring asked. “Actually, I don't need to. Look over there. Looks pretty obvious to me. Big black sign saying “Hey all you CyberPonies, (and Doctor), the muffin shop is right here!” The Doctor exclaimed, already galloping over to the metaphorical big black sign. Ditzy collapsed into the street. Jeez, why can't ponies just collapse somewhere other than the street these days? It seems as if the large box of muffins was poisoned by some mild, slow-acting drug. Daring moved her limp body out of the road, nudged her onto a wall, and sat next to her. She wouldn't move until she woke up. Because if she left and Ditzy was foalnapped it would be her fault. So she sat there. The drug seemed to, while not killing her, last a very long time. Daring checked her heart rate, and discovered that her heart was beating fine, and she was alive. This brought a lot of weight off of Daring's shoulders, and she sat there until she awoke. The doctor, at this point in time, was inside the “Great and Powerful Muffin Shop”, doing whatever he does. What the Doctor did.The Doctor continued walking, down the factories, through the machines, ponies breaking off from the crowd into different sections, screaming as their ear-buds were torn off in the machines and coming back to consciousness right before having it ripped, dripping from the womb that is their skull. He kept walking, getting more worried by the second. As he neared the end of the conversion rooms, he saw somepony. Somepony who he hoped he would never, ever see again. This pony recognized him, and knew, unlike any of the cyber guards, that he had no real ear-buds in. The doctor casually took out his ear-buds. He gestured to them. “Still fit a pony, eh?” he mentioned, a light tone about his voice. “You sicken me. After all this time, now I've accomplished all this, you still come back. To what? Grovel at my feet?” The pony smirked, laughing victoriously as she stood over her prey. “Well, actually, when I saw a large sign that said “CyberPony conversion center” on a large, totally inconspicuous castle, I just had to be at least mildly curious, right, old friend? And still, even after accomplished so much, you regenerated as a mare. How utterly fitting.” The Doctor retorted. “I have created the most powerful army in Equestria! These ponies are so stupid, they'll just walk into any kind of trap so long as they get their technology. These foolish ponies, they sicken me. It's a shame I have to be one of them. CyberPonies, you know what to do, and make sure the only thing that comes back is his corpse” The CyberPonies sprung at the Doctor, most flying at him with their wings. The Doctor hoped and prayed, looked back, and saw that he conveniently had wings. He thanked Celestia, and the lazy gods of continuity. He flew off and began dodging the Cyberponies that were coming at him left, right, and center. He dodged one, two, and three CyberPonies. He lashed out at the pony standing on the large throne at the back edge of the wall. A CyberPony pushed him back, forcing him to take wing and fly away. He dashed out of the castle, through the halls, and up the oddly steep slope that made the entrance to the castle. CyberPonies flew after him, chasing him up the hill and through the forest. As he flew, he saw an extremely large sign for the deadly ear-buds. How ironic. The doctor thought, as he flew almost right into the sign, before taking a steep dive towards the ground. He looked up, noticing that the CyberPonies had all crushed themselves from flying so fast onto the sign. “Why aren't you using direct quotes, girls?” You proceed to have a conversation we read not all that long ago. It went mostly like this. “Muffins. Yes. Muffins. No. Hey, let's all pass out.” A lot of people passed out and woke up. And here is where we begin. The doctor, having just entered the muffin shop, smelled that familiar metallic scent of blood. He walked in, seeing a completely normal CyberPony working behind the counter. He mentally facehoofed, thinking to remind the “utmost ruler of Equestria” of how to be subtle. He walked up to the counter, and asked if there was anything suspicious happening. In response, the CyberPony electrocuted the Doctor unconscious, and dragged his limp body down into the cellar. As he awoke, the brutal sounds of machinery and screams filled his ears. He gazed around, his foggy vision coming into focus. He blinked. His vision continued to clear up, revealing a large room, inside of which he felt as if he were deep below the crust of Equestria. He wobbled onto his hooves, his head throbbing in pain. He touched his hoof to his temple. A small dribble of blood was dripping down the side of his face. It dripped onto the floor, making a loud splashing sound, falling into a puddle where the other drips had dropped. Suddenly, he felt light-headed, and stumbled back down to the floor. He once again lost consciousness. He awoke once more to the sound of marching, and saw many CyberPonies marching into an elevator, which presumably took them up to the surface. Why does Equestria have to have such sturdy elevators? And signs, for that matter. The doctor thought to himself, pretending to still be unconscious. When all of the CyberPonies had gone up the elevator, he got in, and soniced the elevator to make it go faster. It zoomed up the shaft, arriving at the first floor of the muffin shop. The doctor realized he hadn't even taken the time to look around the large cave he had been situated in. Oh well he thought to himself,trotting out of the muffin shop door. The first thing he realized was the sound, which he had been oblivious to previously. The screams. Oh, the loud, shrieking, blood curdling screams. These screams, combined with the marching, told him one thing. The CyberPonies had taken Manehattan. He galloped as hard as he could out of the shop, and began frantically searching for Ditzy and Daring. He saw Daring still desperately standing over Ditzy's body, which was still limp on the ground. Daring had her whip out, and was desperately trying to fend off the oncoming hoard of CyberPonies. The Doctor galloped over too the two mares. “We need to get to the TARDIS. It's still in the forest.” The Doctor said, trying to think of something clever to do. “Wings. Doctor, you still have wings. Just make sure they don't disappear mid-flight this time.” Daring said, still trying to stall the Cyber hoard for time.” “Oh! Yes, right.” The Doctor said, launching himself into the air, and speeding off into the slowly dusking night sky. The sight was beautiful, the site of a dark brown pony gracefully drifting off into the sunset. Daring turned her attention back onto the advancing CyberPony hoard. Ditzy was just beginning to come to, slowly standing up off of the ground. She took a small screen out of her saddle bags and smashed it. She tossed it on the floor, grabbed Daring, and jumped in. When they where on the other side of this window that they had jumped into, Daring realized she was in another place. “Actually, it's more of a wall, more than a window, Daring” Ditzy said, having just broken the 4th version of her portal. Breaking it broke reality a bit. “Wait, if we went through it, can't the CyberPonies just leap right through as well?” Daring said, starting to get worried and backing away from the wall. “No, no, we're safe now. On our way down, I closed the wall, which didn't close this one, because this one is basically like a universal portal for all un-synced portals.” Ditzy said, gesturing to the large room that they found themselves in. “Ditzy. We are in Ponyville. We are in Ponyville, and Manehattan is 45 miles away.” Daring said, beginning to get worried that they might not make it back to Manehattan in time. “No, actually, I always tell the doctor that in an emergency, I would use my wall, and he bring his TARDIS here, like a meeting point. Almost on que as she said that, a loud whooshing noise emanated from a small room in the side of the town center they where in. Ditzy casually trotted into the room, with Daring slightly nervously trailing behind her. What she saw somewhat bewildered her. “So... I'm guessing this is the TARDIS?” Daring asked, looking on in bewilderment at the sight set before her. There was a large blue phone box. If she remembered correctly, it was one of those that police chained up little pony convicts in, to be taken to the prison at a later time. “It looks like it might get a bit cramped in here...” Daring said as she walked along the outside edge of the box, taking note of how small it was. “Just get inside, we haven't got much time to waste.” The Doctor said, out loud from somewhere that sounded deeply behind the TARDIS. Oh, wait, yes we do. It's a time machine. Daring stepped into the phone box, leaving her mouth gaping open at what she saw. “It's...” Daring started, The Doctor waiting in anticipation for what came next. “Bigger on the inside.” The Doctor laughed on the inside, always loving it when people said that. “Oh yes. Yes it is, Daring. And right now, we are going to go save the world in this phone box that's bigger on the inside, by cashing in a little favor somebody probably owes me.” The Doctor said confidently, hitting some buttons on his console, even hitting something with a hammer. Gelthic RelationsThe TARDIS rumbled, creating a vaguely familiar sound to Daring's ears. The ground under her feet started to shake, and rumble. She fell onto her knees, her face hitting the floor. She rolled around a bit, falling off of the small platform around the console in the middle. Underneath, she found a small hammock bed hanging around the mechanics. The TARDIS stopped shaking, and Daring nervously got to her feet. She looked around. Nothing had broken, and it appeared Ditzy and the Doctor where fine as well. “Does... does that always happen?” Daring asked, beginning to feel a bit apprehensive at this pony's supposed time machine. “Yup. Go outside and look. There is a large planet out there. So much bigger than yours, and it is full of ghosts. Well, they aren't ghosts, they are technically gelth, but your planet's stereotype of a ghost came from them.” Daring looked at the Doctor, suddenly feeling extremely insignificant and, realizing just how large the universe is, stepped up to the large white doors, pushing them open with a hoof. She stepped out onto a large, blue surface. As far as she could see, there was flat, blue land, with a very small amount of greenery. Mostly due to the fact that the plants were blue. She looked around. Her heart skipped a beat. She saw a ghost! She ran back into the TARDIS, breathing heavily. “No amount of jungle temples could have prepared me for that. You know, Doctor, you can handle this one.” Daring said, trotting away from the door, towards another one, which the Doctor had told her led to a pool. And bunk beds. She trotted through the door, and closed it behind her. “Well. I suppose we will have to do without her for now. Ditzy?” The Doctor called out for Ditzy, and she appeared by his side. “Lets go.” they bumped hooves, and trotted out the front doors, appearing in a flash of light to the outside world, and closing the doors behind them. He looked up, and saw the ghost Daring had freaked out about earlier. “gelth! Come to me, so that we may parley.” He said, the ghost floating down to him. The gelth started speaking in slow, soft, echoing tones. “Come with me, so that we may speak. It is not safe out here.” The gelth started to float away, with the Doctor and Ditzy trailing behind it. “What do you mean that it isn't safe out here?” The ghost looked at the doctor, and it laughed. “Well, you must be a tourist. Our prison of highest security resides near here, and it was recently broken out of by the most wanted criminals on the planet.” The ghost replied. “Well. That's unfortunate, because I just left one of my very good friends in that box. DARIIIIIIIIING!” The Doctor turned around, galloping back the way they had come. Daring stood warily, wondering what could have shaken the TARDIS. A ghost floated through the wall. Daring thought this was extremely odd, seeing as all of the TARDIS was contained in that small blue box. The ghost floated a few inches off of the floor, and looked at Daring. It seemed to be considering her, taking her in, her form, her shape, her build. “You're just a pony, aren't you? A stupid, filthy pony.” The ghost said, disgustedly, floating toward her, towards her gaping mouth. Daring reacted just in time, dodging out of the way just in time, trying to land some form of a punch on it, but of course, her hooves just passed through it. “How....how did you get in here?” Daring asked, noting the ghosts tall, bipedal figure. “Oh, simple timelord technology. Though I am surprised to see a pony with him this time. That must be a first. He has never had a companion who wasn't a human.” “Huh? Humans? You mean those....” Daring shivered in disgust. “Odd people who live with the ponies across the ocean?” Daring had always been confused about why they even did what they did, but they were the only humans she knew of. “Sort of. They are the same race, but from different planes of existence. I don't like ponies, but that doesn't matter at the moment, I came to warn you of the convicts. No matter what race you are, you deserve warning. That shaking you felt earlier was not me. While I have held them off for a while, the convicts will be back, and they will destroy you and his machine. Heed this warning. Prepare for them, Miss Do.” The ghost floated off, out of the room she was in. “No! Wait! How did you know my name?” Daring called out to the now empty room. Daring heard the door burst open, and looked around in the room she was in for some form of a weapon. There was a frying pan underneath a pillow, which she took, and snook out of her room. She slid around the circular main room, near to the door. She hid behind a wall just beside the door, and then leapt from the wall, hitting the intruder in the head. The Doctor lay on the floor of the TARDIS, bleeding from his newly re-opened temple injury. “Oh... you aren't a ghost convict then, I guess?” Daring said, embarrassed. Ditzy face-hoofed and walked past her, reaching into a cabinet and grabbing a first-aid kit. She reached in and grabbed some bandages, and wrapped The Doctor's head in some cloth. The right side of the cloth began to soak up some of the blood, and she brought The Doctor into one of the bunk beds. She turned to Daring. “Hey, I know you didn't mean to hit Doccy on the head back there, no hard feelings. Just make sure you don't do it again, please. We can't have more scares like this.” Ditzy said, with her typical smile on her face. “Of.... of course. I was just jittery. A.... gelth? Yes, a gelth had come to warn me of gelth convicts, and I thought you may have been one of them.” Daring explained, a remorseful tone in her voice. “And you thought you could hit a ghost with a frying pan?” Ditzy asked, apprehensive. “Well, I had to try, right?” Daring replied, almost nervously. The Doctor began to rise from the floor, shaking, as he jumped to his hooves. “Pancakes! I really need to eat pancakes made with the skillet you hit me with.” The Doctor exclaimed. Daring and Ditzy laughed, falling on the floor, as the Doctor picked them back up and brought them outside. “Okay! We need to get to the gelth war-room, and fast, I think I'll just take you there with the TARDIS, and OFF we go!” The rumbling began again, not as strong this time, and Daring managed to stay on her feet. When the rumbling stopped, the Doctor hopped out of the machine and said “You. Earth. Cybermen. Rift. Now.” Many of the Gelth seemed to get the message, but were reluctant. The Doctor sighed. “Fine. What do you want?” “We wish only for you to retrieve the escaped prisoners” The Gelth who sat at a very large chair said, softly. “Oh, them? I'll get to them in a snap. I'll be right back!” The Doctor motioned to move into his TARDIS, but the Gelth stopped him with a message. “Doctor. I sense a gain. And a loss. A great impasse will be met, and overcome with the eight you come upon. Do not forget these words, Doctor.” The Gelth mysteriously sat back down, and gestured for him to be on his way. “...Right, yeah. I'll go do...that thing. That I was going to do.... Bye.” And so the Doctor set off, to find the escaped prisoners eight, and overcome the Cyber invasion. The beginning, or sometimes called chapter 1Daring and the Doctor: A prologue of sorts. Daring dashed into the clearing, sweat pouring down her face like tiny bullets, rushing to the ground to explode upon the earth. She was running from a green mountain lion, something she had hoped was a dream, as she had been taught all her life that green mountain lions were native to Canterlot and just stayed there. But right now she didn’t care whether or not the lion chasing her was real or not, all she cared was that she got out of the clearing unscathed. So she ran. Oh, she ran and ran and ran. But it just wasn’t enough, the lion was slowly gaining ground on her. As she jumped into another clearing and into a bush, she saw the lion run past her, and she allowed herself a brief respite. She sat under a tree, thinking about her goal here in this jungle. Why had she come here in the first place? She sat under the tree, thinking, as she remembered. There was said to be an abandoned village just 8 miles out of Manehattan, and she came out here to find it. It was said that this village had struck extreme gold, and she wanted it. Oh, she really wanted it. But she couldn’t just fly up and around to find it, what would be the fun in that? And, she had been recently captured, and her wings had been clipped there, and she couldn’t just fly up. So she was stuck to running. But OH did she like running. By now she began to regain her bearings under her tree. But it was just too quiet. Shouldn’t the lion be looking for her? But the warmness on the back of her neck told her otherwise. She got up as fast as she could, and ran once more, the lion jumping out of the tree it had been hiding in, joining in pursuit of Daring. Once again, Daring found herself running, always running. But it was such a great, adrenaline filled, fun experience, being so close to death, but constantly avoiding it. It was what Daring lived for. Even this close to death, she ran, and laughed. And this close to her tail ending, she wouldn’t fly even if she could. So that is what she did, and she did it well. She turned. Left, right, straight, up, down, start, sele- wait no, that isn’t right. Daring kept running, and getting small bursts of little flying leaps, as if she was a chicken. It felt like she was nearing the edge of the jungle, she could see lots of light, and the tree line was thinning out, and after just a few minutes, she found herself at the very edge of the jungle,and when she stepped out of the tree line, she heard a loud bang behind her. She looked at where she thought the noise had come from, and saw sparks coming from the lion's neck. The head fell off, revealing all sorts of metal and wiring and gizmos inside. “Well, That would be an explanation as to why something native to Northern Canterlot is here in the Lodusa just a few miles out of Manehattan” She remarked to herself. She thanked Celestia that it had been a robot, and it had broken down at that moment. She walked. She finally walked. For a moment, she allowed herself the sweet blissful feel of victory. So she kept walking. Out of the forest. But something wasn't right. She wasn’t out yet. The air wasn't right, as if some large object was blocking the movement of air in her general area. She was immediately suspicious. She looked around at what she hoped would be the horizon, but instead, all she saw, was another line of trees. She was in the largest clearing on the entire face of the planet, and it was there for a reason. It wasn’t just a clearing, it was grounds for a great building, one that was staring her right in the face. That temple, the second biggest thing on the planet she had seen that day, was right in front of her.How the hay did I miss that? Daring thought to herself. The thrill of adventure began to flow through her veins, and she could not wait to get inside of the temple. So what else to do, but go inside? Well, for starters, retrieve her hat. She went back to the lion, and retrieved the hat that had fallen in front of it. But that's when she noticed the oddest thing about its demise. The lion didn't just blow a fuse, something had tampered with it. Ehh, Ill figure it out later. Daring thought to herself. She threw the hat back onto her head, and walked up the steps up to the temple. Banging open the huge polished stone doors, she stepped in, breathing in the old, mildewy odor of a large temple. As she strolled down the halls, she noticed the walls where completely covered in pelts, fangs, and tusks, the kind of thing a poacher would have on their walls, and a serious one as well. Daring noticed that the temple went on for as long as she could see, at a sort of downward slope. As daring kept walking, she heard a loud whooshing sound, it sounded as if time and space where being ripped apart, and mending itself, all in one sound. She ran to the source of the sound, where a large blue box had begun fading into her line of sight. “Ah, there we go! Ditzy, I'd like you to see the Lodusa jungle, wait, no,” A colt turned around inside this box. "Ditzy. It appears that we have a stone jungle on our hands. Either that or... we are in a building. Let's go outside, shall we?" A colt stepped out, introducing himself as “The Doctor”. “And I'm Daring Do, explorer extraordinaire. I came here to try and find a lost village, but I ended up finding this temple. The Lodusa is right out there.” Daring said, a confident smile playing across her lips. “ And who is your friend? I do believe I have seen her before” Daring asked. “Ah, this is my friend and partner in time, Ditzy Doo.” The doctor answered, giving his partner a warm smile before continuing outside. “Hey, you looking for a problem? I think I've heard of you two, and you seem to be really good at getting in trouble and fixing problems. Oh, and I've heard you like running.” Daring remarked. “Muffins!” Exclaimed Ditzy, faintly smelling her favorite treat. “Why yes, we do usually end up in trouble, why do you ask?” The doctor wondered. “Well, I think this temple might hold residence to a major poacher. And poaching is up there next to high treason in regard to the fine and prison time.” Daring explained. “Oh ditzy” The doctor sang “I think we've got our next adventure!” The doctor yelled after the escaping Ditzy. She must be looking for muffins. The doctor thought to himself. But Ditzy had no muffins on her mind, for the first time in almost a century. She trotted farther into the clearing, one set destination in her mind. She was panicking, thousands of thoughts of muffins going through her mind, not the mind of thing that was controlling her. Her hooves moved all on there own, and her face was one of pure panic as she was pulled away against her will. The doctor sensed something was amiss, and proceeded to run after Ditzy. Oh, the running, the running again. Daring thought, as she dashed away after the doctor.
A Cyber DiscoveryDaring caught up with the Doctor in just a matter of moments, something that is most definitely not an easy feat. As she ran with the doctor, she laughed. She loved laughing. Soon, it had spread to the doctor, and even into Ditzy's consciousness. It gave Ditzy strength, enough strength to let her consciousness through for just a moment “Help.... Me...” She blinked. Until now, Daring and the doctor hadn't been able to see her eyes. And when she blinked, she went back from Ditzy to whatever was controlling her, and it was horrible. Her eyes where a perfect pitch black. As she continued trotting along to her currently unknown destination, the doctor noticed a blue, blinking light in her ear. And it horrified him. Beyond anything that he had ever seen. The doctor knew of Ditzy's fate. “Ditzy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” The doctor pulled out a long,silver device, with a blue light coming out of the end of it, and held it in his mouth, pointing roughly in the direction of Ditzy's ear. The device in her ear exploded into a great shower of sparks, and Ditzy fell into the ground in a great heap. “What... what just happened?” Daring blurted, completely confused. First green northern Canterlot robots, now blue ear-buds of apparent death and destruction. Daring was having the weirdest day of her life. “These ear-buds where painfully and probably willingly inserted into Ditzy's ear, and where controlling her movements and her basic thoughts. The ear-buds where designed and built by a race called CyberPonies. They trick ponies into wearing them, and then control their movements to an “upgrade” room, where their brains are cut out, and inserted into a metal pony body. Their emotions are then removed and are able to electrocute any normal pony to death with their hands. They are inserted into an army of millions and are preparing to wage war on every planet, galaxy, and universe. But the question is, why Equestria?” The doctor said, talking very quickly. “Well, Equestria is the most inhabited and technological planet in the galaxy. If I fully understood what you where saying, The CyberPonies would easily be able to trick tons and tons of ponies into wearing these ear-buds and-” But the doctor was no longer listening. He had run over to Ditzy's body and had pulled out a stethoscope and was listening to Ditzy's heart. He had a pretty worried look on his face. “What's wrong, doctor?” Daring was worried. The Doctor had placed his hoof on her chest, and it began to glow a very faint yellow. Daring began to feel a bit scared. She had no idea what it was, but he just had a certain aura about him that made her instinctively worried for him and willing to help him. And it scared her. And she didn't know it, but she was the first in a long line of the doctors' partners that realized that before she gave her life. And she was worried that Ditzy had now ended up being one of them. “I think she'll be fine, shes breathing, shallowly, mind you, and her heart is still going, but she's a strong pony, and she'll be able to live. The ear-buds are literally connected to your brain, and shutting the ear-buds down shuts down a large portion of your brain. Most ponies don't survive the removing of the ear-buds, but Ditzy is special. She's connected to the TARDIS. It helped her in her time of need. So she'll be alright. Back to my earlier questions: Why Equestria and where in Equestria?” The doctor remarked. “Well, I can answer one and maybe both of those questions. One: As I said earlier, Equestria is full of technology eager ponies, and Equestria is also the most populated planet that pony-kind has discovered. So that fills in for both of your parameters. It has lots of ponies, and they can all be easily tricked into wearing these ear-buds, seeing as they are so eager for new technology. As for your second question, We can probably just follow the path that Ditzy was on.” Daring answered confidently. “Oh, I like you.” The doctor said, eagerly dashing off in the direction that Ditzy had been headed. Daring headed off in another direction, going to investigate Manehattan, which was just outside of the Lodusa. “Doctor! I'm going to go make sure my theory is correct, and maybe get a little Intel on the CyberPonies while doing it, like what alias they are operating under!... Or something!” Daring yelled, hoping the doctor could hear her. She dashed off, hoping to get some info from town. The doctor heard someone shouting, and took out his sonic screwdriver to amplify the sound. All he heard was “-berPonies while doing it, like what alias they are operating under!...Or something!” But he got the message, Daring was splitting up, gathering info. The doctor continued on his way, continuing on in the direction Ditzy had been going. He would avenge her. Whoever had almost taken her away from him, whoever had almost turned her into a CyberPony, they would pay. He continued on, his fury rising. He had to keep it down, had to keep it cool. He won fights by running and thinking, not by fighting. So thats what he did. As he trotted down the path, he thought. And he devised a plan. By the time he had reached a totally not conspicuous castle with a big sign on the front saying “CyberPony conversion center”, he had made a plan. And he had had about 10 minutes to think it up, but thats the way the doctor liked it best. He opened his bag, and pulled out a pair of rubber ear-buds. "I wonder if these will even fit on a pony, and if they do, I knew keeping these was a good idea." He put them on. Thankfully, they still fit, if a little tight. He wore an expressionless expression as he waited for another group of conversions to come trotting by. After waiting for another 15 minutes, a group came by, and he silently merged himself in with them. Nopony noticed, thankfully. He expressionlessly trotted into the castle, with the best way to break in: the front door. He looked around, amazed at what an old, crumbling castle could hide. He saw machines up and down the wall, and he soon realized he was moving down, down into the center of the world, and close to Equestria's most valuable and powerful supply of energy. He was nearing the heart of Equestria, burning with the fire of friendship. And the CyberPonies where using it to rip ponies brains out. How ironic. He continued on. Bravely walking into the heart of the CyberPony factory. This is where his plan ended. It had taken him 10 minutes to remember that he had those ear-buds, and he hadn't had much time to think of an actual plan after that. So he just seemingly mindlessly followed the crowd, drifting off deeper into the factory, to meet someone he hoped he would only ever meet in the grave.
What Daring Did.Chapter 3: What Daring Did Daring galloped out of the jungle, breaching the tree line and galloping 8 miles of flat plains lands. As she galloped into the outskirts of Manehattan, she looked for one thing in particular. A large, blue, pony box. Now, she understood that it would probably not be there, seeing as he was off fighting the CyberPonies. And, as she thought, he was nowhere to be seen. One gray mare, though, did catch her eye. She was wandering around, crashing into apple stands, and houses, and everything else. Daring giggled, this mare is such a klutz! She walked up to her, and introduced herself as Daring, stating that they hadn't really introduced themselves the first time they had seen each other. Ditzy introduced herself, and said her favorite thing in the world was muffins! She continued on about muffins for about an hour, only realizing afterword’s that Daring had walked away a long time ago. Ditzy continued after her, asking what Daring did for fun, and for a living. Daring said that she did the same thing for both: adventuring! She talked on, and on, and on about all the jungles, and temples, and idols she'd collected throughout her adventures. But unlike Ditzy, she noticed when she started wandering off. Which was about 3 minutes into her rant. Oh well, Daring thought, dashing after her. When she caught up, Daring asked if Ditzy was hungry, because she had noticed a muffin shop just down the way, and she felt she could go for a nice muffin as well. At the mention of muffins, Ditzy shot down the street they were on, in somehow the correct direction of the muffin shop that was a mile and a half away. Daring was just barely able to keep up, for the whole mile and a half, all the way to the muffin shop. When she got there, Daring noticed that Ditzy was walking away with a ginormous box filled with muffins. Daring looked at it in pure amazement, wondering how a single mare could eat all of those, much less even afford them all! Daring asked Ditzy how in the world she was able to afford all those muffins. Ditzy answered that she knew the nice people there, and visited so often, they wanted to thank her with a biiig box of muffins! Daring honestly didn't believe that, but she didn't question the bubbly mare. They sat down at one of the outdoor tables, one of the nice ones for summertime with the umbrella, getting strange looks at the absolutely huge box in front of them. They had lunch, well, Ditzy had lunch, and Daring watched while she munched on a muffin. After about 5 minutes, Ditzy had finished the box, and they continued walking. They walked right through town square, and on through even more streets. As they walked through the streets, they met with other people and talked with them, for some people, they had to look up and talk to them in the large residential complexes. But when they looked up, they saw something very strange. They saw a pony with wings that looked just like the doctor. He even had the same cutie mark! He looked like he was flying away from something as fast as he possibly could. He noticed us, and hung a steep dive away from whatever he was flying away from. He landed a few feet away from us, and we asked how on earth he was flying. He answered with “Why aren't you using direct quotes, girls?” “Doc, what are you talking about? Anyway, how in equestrian are you flying?” Daring asked, completely perplexed as to what was going on. “Well, I'm not always an earth pony. Sometimes I'm a Pegasus, and I'm pretty sure I was a unicorn once. It always seems to fit whatever is convenient in my current predicament.” The doctor answered, seeming to not even be sure himself. “Anyway... what where you flying away from, anyway? You seemed pretty frightened” “The CyberPonies. I found their small hideout, and they found me. I got out as fast as I could, but I was just barely fast enough. They were hot on my tail right up until I got them to fly into a large sign. Equestria has really sturdy signs.” The doctor remarked. “Well, what are we going to do now? Do we have any sort of lead or something to go off of here?” Daring asked. “Well, I think the answer is muffins.” Oh yeah, Ditzy's still here. “Well... um, for once, I believe Ditzy's right. The answer is actually muffins. Ditzy, I'm not sure how, but you are correct in the answer being muffins.” The doctor answered, knowing full well that she was going to answer muffins. “Is...just...what? In what way could the answer possibly be muffins. Muffins could not possibly be the answer here. I bet no one has any idea where you could possibly be going with this. What are you thinking?” Daring said. “Well, I can answer this one. We’ve found a hidden CyberPony area, in one of the muffin shops here on Gingerman Lane” The doctor replied, making still no sense at all. “Umm… Okay, whatever you say, doc.” Daring replied, having no idea what was even happening. When she looked back at him, he was a unicorn, using tracking powers to find the muffin shop. “Okay, that is just too convenient. That cannot be real.” “Oh, but it is, Daring!” Replied the enthusiastic doctor. “Aha! I’ve found it! It’s right around this- geb…bleh... Daring looked around at the doctor, who’s horn had just vanished mid-spell, and he had continued to cast the spell. This means that instead of using the magic pool that all unicorns had, he had began to drain his life energy. Which is a thing now. It never stopped being a thing. He had now passed out in the middle of the street. Ponies began to stare at the stallion laying in the street. “Okay, less convenient. His horn just vanished. Mid-Spell.” Daring noted, mildly shocked. “Okay, I got this. Everypony, stop looking at him.” Ditzy said, having traveled with the doctor for a while. As the ponies turned away, we heard a large intake of air from where he was laying, and we turned back around to see he had regained his horn, and his magic pool was slowly refilling his life force. “You know, I really didn't think that was going to work” Said the Doctor, who for his part was getting up and walking around. “Anyway, so now that you have your horn back, and we know it can't disappear while at least somepony's looking at you, do you want to try that locating spell again?” Daring asked. “Actually, I don't need to. Look over there. Looks pretty obvious to me. Big black sign saying “Hey all you CyberPonies, (and Doctor), the muffin shop is right here!” The Doctor exclaimed, already galloping over to the metaphorical big black sign. Ditzy collapsed into the street. Jeez, why can't ponies just collapse somewhere other than the street these days? It seems as if the large box of muffins was poisoned by some mild, slow-acting drug. Daring moved her limp body out of the road, nudged her onto a wall, and sat next to her. She wouldn't move until she woke up. Because if she left and Ditzy was foalnapped it would be her fault. So she sat there. The drug seemed to, while not killing her, last a very long time. Daring checked her heart rate, and discovered that her heart was beating fine, and she was alive. This brought a lot of weight off of Daring's shoulders, and she sat there until she awoke. The doctor, at this point in time, was inside the “Great and Powerful Muffin Shop”, doing whatever he does.
What the Doctor did.The Doctor continued walking, down the factories, through the machines, ponies breaking off from the crowd into different sections, screaming as their ear-buds were torn off in the machines and coming back to consciousness right before having it ripped, dripping from the womb that is their skull. He kept walking, getting more worried by the second. As he neared the end of the conversion rooms, he saw somepony. Somepony who he hoped he would never, ever see again. This pony recognized him, and knew, unlike any of the cyber guards, that he had no real ear-buds in. The doctor casually took out his ear-buds. He gestured to them. “Still fit a pony, eh?” he mentioned, a light tone about his voice. “You sicken me. After all this time, now I've accomplished all this, you still come back. To what? Grovel at my feet?” The pony smirked, laughing victoriously as she stood over her prey. “Well, actually, when I saw a large sign that said “CyberPony conversion center” on a large, totally inconspicuous castle, I just had to be at least mildly curious, right, old friend? And still, even after accomplished so much, you regenerated as a mare. How utterly fitting.” The Doctor retorted. “I have created the most powerful army in Equestria! These ponies are so stupid, they'll just walk into any kind of trap so long as they get their technology. These foolish ponies, they sicken me. It's a shame I have to be one of them. CyberPonies, you know what to do, and make sure the only thing that comes back is his corpse” The CyberPonies sprung at the Doctor, most flying at him with their wings. The Doctor hoped and prayed, looked back, and saw that he conveniently had wings. He thanked Celestia, and the lazy gods of continuity. He flew off and began dodging the Cyberponies that were coming at him left, right, and center. He dodged one, two, and three CyberPonies. He lashed out at the pony standing on the large throne at the back edge of the wall. A CyberPony pushed him back, forcing him to take wing and fly away. He dashed out of the castle, through the halls, and up the oddly steep slope that made the entrance to the castle. CyberPonies flew after him, chasing him up the hill and through the forest. As he flew, he saw an extremely large sign for the deadly ear-buds. How ironic. The doctor thought, as he flew almost right into the sign, before taking a steep dive towards the ground. He looked up, noticing that the CyberPonies had all crushed themselves from flying so fast onto the sign. “Why aren't you using direct quotes, girls?” You proceed to have a conversation we read not all that long ago. It went mostly like this. “Muffins. Yes. Muffins. No. Hey, let's all pass out.” A lot of people passed out and woke up. And here is where we begin. The doctor, having just entered the muffin shop, smelled that familiar metallic scent of blood. He walked in, seeing a completely normal CyberPony working behind the counter. He mentally facehoofed, thinking to remind the “utmost ruler of Equestria” of how to be subtle. He walked up to the counter, and asked if there was anything suspicious happening. In response, the CyberPony electrocuted the Doctor unconscious, and dragged his limp body down into the cellar. As he awoke, the brutal sounds of machinery and screams filled his ears. He gazed around, his foggy vision coming into focus. He blinked. His vision continued to clear up, revealing a large room, inside of which he felt as if he were deep below the crust of Equestria. He wobbled onto his hooves, his head throbbing in pain. He touched his hoof to his temple. A small dribble of blood was dripping down the side of his face. It dripped onto the floor, making a loud splashing sound, falling into a puddle where the other drips had dropped. Suddenly, he felt light-headed, and stumbled back down to the floor. He once again lost consciousness. He awoke once more to the sound of marching, and saw many CyberPonies marching into an elevator, which presumably took them up to the surface. Why does Equestria have to have such sturdy elevators? And signs, for that matter. The doctor thought to himself, pretending to still be unconscious. When all of the CyberPonies had gone up the elevator, he got in, and soniced the elevator to make it go faster. It zoomed up the shaft, arriving at the first floor of the muffin shop. The doctor realized he hadn't even taken the time to look around the large cave he had been situated in. Oh well he thought to himself,trotting out of the muffin shop door. The first thing he realized was the sound, which he had been oblivious to previously. The screams. Oh, the loud, shrieking, blood curdling screams. These screams, combined with the marching, told him one thing. The CyberPonies had taken Manehattan. He galloped as hard as he could out of the shop, and began frantically searching for Ditzy and Daring. He saw Daring still desperately standing over Ditzy's body, which was still limp on the ground. Daring had her whip out, and was desperately trying to fend off the oncoming hoard of CyberPonies. The Doctor galloped over too the two mares. “We need to get to the TARDIS. It's still in the forest.” The Doctor said, trying to think of something clever to do. “Wings. Doctor, you still have wings. Just make sure they don't disappear mid-flight this time.” Daring said, still trying to stall the Cyber hoard for time.” “Oh! Yes, right.” The Doctor said, launching himself into the air, and speeding off into the slowly dusking night sky. The sight was beautiful, the site of a dark brown pony gracefully drifting off into the sunset. Daring turned her attention back onto the advancing CyberPony hoard. Ditzy was just beginning to come to, slowly standing up off of the ground. She took a small screen out of her saddle bags and smashed it. She tossed it on the floor, grabbed Daring, and jumped in. When they where on the other side of this window that they had jumped into, Daring realized she was in another place. “Actually, it's more of a wall, more than a window, Daring” Ditzy said, having just broken the 4th version of her portal. Breaking it broke reality a bit. “Wait, if we went through it, can't the CyberPonies just leap right through as well?” Daring said, starting to get worried and backing away from the wall. “No, no, we're safe now. On our way down, I closed the wall, which didn't close this one, because this one is basically like a universal portal for all un-synced portals.” Ditzy said, gesturing to the large room that they found themselves in. “Ditzy. We are in Ponyville. We are in Ponyville, and Manehattan is 45 miles away.” Daring said, beginning to get worried that they might not make it back to Manehattan in time. “No, actually, I always tell the doctor that in an emergency, I would use my wall, and he bring his TARDIS here, like a meeting point. Almost on que as she said that, a loud whooshing noise emanated from a small room in the side of the town center they where in. Ditzy casually trotted into the room, with Daring slightly nervously trailing behind her. What she saw somewhat bewildered her. “So... I'm guessing this is the TARDIS?” Daring asked, looking on in bewilderment at the sight set before her. There was a large blue phone box. If she remembered correctly, it was one of those that police chained up little pony convicts in, to be taken to the prison at a later time. “It looks like it might get a bit cramped in here...” Daring said as she walked along the outside edge of the box, taking note of how small it was. “Just get inside, we haven't got much time to waste.” The Doctor said, out loud from somewhere that sounded deeply behind the TARDIS. Oh, wait, yes we do. It's a time machine. Daring stepped into the phone box, leaving her mouth gaping open at what she saw. “It's...” Daring started, The Doctor waiting in anticipation for what came next. “Bigger on the inside.” The Doctor laughed on the inside, always loving it when people said that. “Oh yes. Yes it is, Daring. And right now, we are going to go save the world in this phone box that's bigger on the inside, by cashing in a little favor somebody probably owes me.” The Doctor said confidently, hitting some buttons on his console, even hitting something with a hammer.
Gelthic RelationsThe TARDIS rumbled, creating a vaguely familiar sound to Daring's ears. The ground under her feet started to shake, and rumble. She fell onto her knees, her face hitting the floor. She rolled around a bit, falling off of the small platform around the console in the middle. Underneath, she found a small hammock bed hanging around the mechanics. The TARDIS stopped shaking, and Daring nervously got to her feet. She looked around. Nothing had broken, and it appeared Ditzy and the Doctor where fine as well. “Does... does that always happen?” Daring asked, beginning to feel a bit apprehensive at this pony's supposed time machine. “Yup. Go outside and look. There is a large planet out there. So much bigger than yours, and it is full of ghosts. Well, they aren't ghosts, they are technically gelth, but your planet's stereotype of a ghost came from them.” Daring looked at the Doctor, suddenly feeling extremely insignificant and, realizing just how large the universe is, stepped up to the large white doors, pushing them open with a hoof. She stepped out onto a large, blue surface. As far as she could see, there was flat, blue land, with a very small amount of greenery. Mostly due to the fact that the plants were blue. She looked around. Her heart skipped a beat. She saw a ghost! She ran back into the TARDIS, breathing heavily. “No amount of jungle temples could have prepared me for that. You know, Doctor, you can handle this one.” Daring said, trotting away from the door, towards another one, which the Doctor had told her led to a pool. And bunk beds. She trotted through the door, and closed it behind her. “Well. I suppose we will have to do without her for now. Ditzy?” The Doctor called out for Ditzy, and she appeared by his side. “Lets go.” they bumped hooves, and trotted out the front doors, appearing in a flash of light to the outside world, and closing the doors behind them. He looked up, and saw the ghost Daring had freaked out about earlier. “gelth! Come to me, so that we may parley.” He said, the ghost floating down to him. The gelth started speaking in slow, soft, echoing tones. “Come with me, so that we may speak. It is not safe out here.” The gelth started to float away, with the Doctor and Ditzy trailing behind it. “What do you mean that it isn't safe out here?” The ghost looked at the doctor, and it laughed. “Well, you must be a tourist. Our prison of highest security resides near here, and it was recently broken out of by the most wanted criminals on the planet.” The ghost replied. “Well. That's unfortunate, because I just left one of my very good friends in that box. DARIIIIIIIIING!” The Doctor turned around, galloping back the way they had come. Daring stood warily, wondering what could have shaken the TARDIS. A ghost floated through the wall. Daring thought this was extremely odd, seeing as all of the TARDIS was contained in that small blue box. The ghost floated a few inches off of the floor, and looked at Daring. It seemed to be considering her, taking her in, her form, her shape, her build. “You're just a pony, aren't you? A stupid, filthy pony.” The ghost said, disgustedly, floating toward her, towards her gaping mouth. Daring reacted just in time, dodging out of the way just in time, trying to land some form of a punch on it, but of course, her hooves just passed through it. “How....how did you get in here?” Daring asked, noting the ghosts tall, bipedal figure. “Oh, simple timelord technology. Though I am surprised to see a pony with him this time. That must be a first. He has never had a companion who wasn't a human.” “Huh? Humans? You mean those....” Daring shivered in disgust. “Odd people who live with the ponies across the ocean?” Daring had always been confused about why they even did what they did, but they were the only humans she knew of. “Sort of. They are the same race, but from different planes of existence. I don't like ponies, but that doesn't matter at the moment, I came to warn you of the convicts. No matter what race you are, you deserve warning. That shaking you felt earlier was not me. While I have held them off for a while, the convicts will be back, and they will destroy you and his machine. Heed this warning. Prepare for them, Miss Do.” The ghost floated off, out of the room she was in. “No! Wait! How did you know my name?” Daring called out to the now empty room. Daring heard the door burst open, and looked around in the room she was in for some form of a weapon. There was a frying pan underneath a pillow, which she took, and snook out of her room. She slid around the circular main room, near to the door. She hid behind a wall just beside the door, and then leapt from the wall, hitting the intruder in the head. The Doctor lay on the floor of the TARDIS, bleeding from his newly re-opened temple injury. “Oh... you aren't a ghost convict then, I guess?” Daring said, embarrassed. Ditzy face-hoofed and walked past her, reaching into a cabinet and grabbing a first-aid kit. She reached in and grabbed some bandages, and wrapped The Doctor's head in some cloth. The right side of the cloth began to soak up some of the blood, and she brought The Doctor into one of the bunk beds. She turned to Daring. “Hey, I know you didn't mean to hit Doccy on the head back there, no hard feelings. Just make sure you don't do it again, please. We can't have more scares like this.” Ditzy said, with her typical smile on her face. “Of.... of course. I was just jittery. A.... gelth? Yes, a gelth had come to warn me of gelth convicts, and I thought you may have been one of them.” Daring explained, a remorseful tone in her voice. “And you thought you could hit a ghost with a frying pan?” Ditzy asked, apprehensive. “Well, I had to try, right?” Daring replied, almost nervously. The Doctor began to rise from the floor, shaking, as he jumped to his hooves. “Pancakes! I really need to eat pancakes made with the skillet you hit me with.” The Doctor exclaimed. Daring and Ditzy laughed, falling on the floor, as the Doctor picked them back up and brought them outside. “Okay! We need to get to the gelth war-room, and fast, I think I'll just take you there with the TARDIS, and OFF we go!” The rumbling began again, not as strong this time, and Daring managed to stay on her feet. When the rumbling stopped, the Doctor hopped out of the machine and said “You. Earth. Cybermen. Rift. Now.” Many of the Gelth seemed to get the message, but were reluctant. The Doctor sighed. “Fine. What do you want?” “We wish only for you to retrieve the escaped prisoners” The Gelth who sat at a very large chair said, softly. “Oh, them? I'll get to them in a snap. I'll be right back!” The Doctor motioned to move into his TARDIS, but the Gelth stopped him with a message. “Doctor. I sense a gain. And a loss. A great impasse will be met, and overcome with the eight you come upon. Do not forget these words, Doctor.” The Gelth mysteriously sat back down, and gestured for him to be on his way. “...Right, yeah. I'll go do...that thing. That I was going to do.... Bye.” And so the Doctor set off, to find the escaped prisoners eight, and overcome the Cyber invasion.
The beginning, or sometimes called chapter 1Daring and the Doctor: A prologue of sorts. Daring dashed into the clearing, sweat pouring down her face like tiny bullets, rushing to the ground to explode upon the earth. She was running from a green mountain lion, something she had hoped was a dream, as she had been taught all her life that green mountain lions were native to Canterlot and just stayed there. But right now she didn’t care whether or not the lion chasing her was real or not, all she cared was that she got out of the clearing unscathed. So she ran. Oh, she ran and ran and ran. But it just wasn’t enough, the lion was slowly gaining ground on her. As she jumped into another clearing and into a bush, she saw the lion run past her, and she allowed herself a brief respite. She sat under a tree, thinking about her goal here in this jungle. Why had she come here in the first place? She sat under the tree, thinking, as she remembered. There was said to be an abandoned village just 8 miles out of Manehattan, and she came out here to find it. It was said that this village had struck extreme gold, and she wanted it. Oh, she really wanted it. But she couldn’t just fly up and around to find it, what would be the fun in that? And, she had been recently captured, and her wings had been clipped there, and she couldn’t just fly up. So she was stuck to running. But OH did she like running. By now she began to regain her bearings under her tree. But it was just too quiet. Shouldn’t the lion be looking for her? But the warmness on the back of her neck told her otherwise. She got up as fast as she could, and ran once more, the lion jumping out of the tree it had been hiding in, joining in pursuit of Daring. Once again, Daring found herself running, always running. But it was such a great, adrenaline filled, fun experience, being so close to death, but constantly avoiding it. It was what Daring lived for. Even this close to death, she ran, and laughed. And this close to her tail ending, she wouldn’t fly even if she could. So that is what she did, and she did it well. She turned. Left, right, straight, up, down, start, sele- wait no, that isn’t right. Daring kept running, and getting small bursts of little flying leaps, as if she was a chicken. It felt like she was nearing the edge of the jungle, she could see lots of light, and the tree line was thinning out, and after just a few minutes, she found herself at the very edge of the jungle,and when she stepped out of the tree line, she heard a loud bang behind her. She looked at where she thought the noise had come from, and saw sparks coming from the lion's neck. The head fell off, revealing all sorts of metal and wiring and gizmos inside. “Well, That would be an explanation as to why something native to Northern Canterlot is here in the Lodusa just a few miles out of Manehattan” She remarked to herself. She thanked Celestia that it had been a robot, and it had broken down at that moment. She walked. She finally walked. For a moment, she allowed herself the sweet blissful feel of victory. So she kept walking. Out of the forest. But something wasn't right. She wasn’t out yet. The air wasn't right, as if some large object was blocking the movement of air in her general area. She was immediately suspicious. She looked around at what she hoped would be the horizon, but instead, all she saw, was another line of trees. She was in the largest clearing on the entire face of the planet, and it was there for a reason. It wasn’t just a clearing, it was grounds for a great building, one that was staring her right in the face. That temple, the second biggest thing on the planet she had seen that day, was right in front of her.How the hay did I miss that? Daring thought to herself. The thrill of adventure began to flow through her veins, and she could not wait to get inside of the temple. So what else to do, but go inside? Well, for starters, retrieve her hat. She went back to the lion, and retrieved the hat that had fallen in front of it. But that's when she noticed the oddest thing about its demise. The lion didn't just blow a fuse, something had tampered with it. Ehh, Ill figure it out later. Daring thought to herself. She threw the hat back onto her head, and walked up the steps up to the temple. Banging open the huge polished stone doors, she stepped in, breathing in the old, mildewy odor of a large temple. As she strolled down the halls, she noticed the walls where completely covered in pelts, fangs, and tusks, the kind of thing a poacher would have on their walls, and a serious one as well. Daring noticed that the temple went on for as long as she could see, at a sort of downward slope. As daring kept walking, she heard a loud whooshing sound, it sounded as if time and space where being ripped apart, and mending itself, all in one sound. She ran to the source of the sound, where a large blue box had begun fading into her line of sight. “Ah, there we go! Ditzy, I'd like you to see the Lodusa jungle, wait, no,” A colt turned around inside this box. "Ditzy. It appears that we have a stone jungle on our hands. Either that or... we are in a building. Let's go outside, shall we?" A colt stepped out, introducing himself as “The Doctor”. “And I'm Daring Do, explorer extraordinaire. I came here to try and find a lost village, but I ended up finding this temple. The Lodusa is right out there.” Daring said, a confident smile playing across her lips. “ And who is your friend? I do believe I have seen her before” Daring asked. “Ah, this is my friend and partner in time, Ditzy Doo.” The doctor answered, giving his partner a warm smile before continuing outside. “Hey, you looking for a problem? I think I've heard of you two, and you seem to be really good at getting in trouble and fixing problems. Oh, and I've heard you like running.” Daring remarked. “Muffins!” Exclaimed Ditzy, faintly smelling her favorite treat. “Why yes, we do usually end up in trouble, why do you ask?” The doctor wondered. “Well, I think this temple might hold residence to a major poacher. And poaching is up there next to high treason in regard to the fine and prison time.” Daring explained. “Oh ditzy” The doctor sang “I think we've got our next adventure!” The doctor yelled after the escaping Ditzy. She must be looking for muffins. The doctor thought to himself. But Ditzy had no muffins on her mind, for the first time in almost a century. She trotted farther into the clearing, one set destination in her mind. She was panicking, thousands of thoughts of muffins going through her mind, not the mind of thing that was controlling her. Her hooves moved all on there own, and her face was one of pure panic as she was pulled away against her will. The doctor sensed something was amiss, and proceeded to run after Ditzy. Oh, the running, the running again. Daring thought, as she dashed away after the doctor.
