Lyra and Bon Bon stood in frightened silence in front of the Cybermare.

“What are you two doing here?” The robot asked once more.

Bon Bon looked at Lyra who looked as though she would never move again. She walked forward to the Cybermare. “We were ordered to come here,” Bon said in a voice that sounded just like a Cybermare. “We were ordered to fasten the restraints on all the ponies.”

“That’s what I was sent to do,” the Cybermare said.

Lyra and Bon Bon stood there, not knowing how to respond. An grey aura began to surrond Bon Bon as the Cybermare used its magic to lift her up. The force of being pulled up by the magic pushed Bon Bon’s sunglasses off her and showed her eyes to the Cybermare. The Cybermare, not saying another word, began to push her over to the restraints with its magic.

“Hey, stop that!” Lyra shouted. She began to use her own magic to try to free her friend from the Cybermare’s magical grip. However, before Lyra could get far at all, the robotic arm on the ceiling grabbed her which disrupted the pony’s magic.

Both Lyra and Bon Bon struggled to try to get out of their confinement but to no avail. Both were locked into the restraints, now with part of their hooves hanging from the wall. The robotic arm came back with the tennis ball like device that was on the white unicorn's horn. The arm stuck the ball like device on Lyra’s horn.

When Lyra tried to use her horn, nothing happened. Her magic seemed to be absorbed by the tennis ball device.

The two struggled yet again to get out of their restraints. “Thanks for trying dudes,” the yellow mare said. “But it looks like the universe just wants this to happen.”

“No!” Bon Bon cried out. “I’m not gonna get turned too!”

“I will be back soon,” the Cybermare said. It walked past the door out of the chamber. The two struggled in the restraints trying to get out but accepted their fates.

Just around the corner, to the point none of the ponies could see, they could hear something was going on. It sounded as if a fight was going on just beyond the wall. The sounds of metal hitting the floor and something, seemingly fleshier, hitting the floor as well. After just a brief second, maybe two, of this, a much louder clank of metal hitting the metal floor was heard.

The limp body of the Cybermare was tossed into the Assimilation chamber as a familiar figure walked in.

“Moon Dancer!” Lyra and Bon Bon cried in joy.

Moon Dancer stood in the entrance looking much more different than when she left to investigate the Tardis. Her glasses seemed to have fallen off, the coat paint on her face looked nothing like the face of a Cybermare now, and her mane, which had been in a mane net (like the others) to conceal it from the Cybermares, was now out and very frizzy like someone had just electrocuted her.

“I found that screwdriver,” Moon Dancer said in a muffled voice due to what she was holding. She held the Sonic Screwdriver in her mouth. She spit the screwdriver into her hoof and wrapped it around the screwdriver so it wouldn't fall. “Don’t turn it on when you are holding this part,” she pointed to the tip of the Sonic, “in your mouth” She then pointed back to her mane and coat paint. Silently understanding, Lyra and Bon Bon both decided not to push further on how Moon Dancer looked.

Moon Dancer walked over to one of Bon Bon’s restraints and activated the Sonic Screwdriver. There was a small sound and light coming out of the tip of the screwdriver before the restraint opened.

“Wow!” Bon Bon said in surprise. She got her hoof out of the restraint while Moon Dancer unlocked the other restraints. Bon Bon dropped to the ground after all of her restraints were removed. “Thank you,” Bon Bon said. “But we have to be quick before another Cybermare comes.”

Moon Dancer nodded and went on to unlock the next pony in restraints (Lyra) while Bon Bon looked at the other door in the room. She hadn’t thought much of it, but she had a thought. “Hey, Moon Dancer,” Bon Bon said to get the Alicorn’s attention. “I’ll go see if there’s anything in this room.” She then pointed to the door.

“Good idea!” Moon Dancer replied before continuing to use the Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver.

Bon Bon started to the door. When the door opened, the Earth pony saw a reflection of the previous room. It was like looking into a mirror. The placement of the restraints, the hole in the wall and the Robotic arm were mirrored. Other than that, though, the room was empty with no pony but Bon Bon herself. The only thing in this room that wasn’t in the first (other than the lack of ponies) was another door across the door Bon Bon came in from.

Seeing nothing that needed investigating, Bon Bon went to the next room. Again, it was a mirror of the last room with a door at the other end. Bon Bon began to run through the room, and room after room, it was the same thing. She ran through dozens of rooms before she eventually came to a room that had no door to another room. Bon Bon though in her head and she must have run through at least 48 rooms! “If there are 10 places for ponies to be restrained,” Bon Bon mused to herself for a moment. “That means they could turn 480 ponies into Cybermares at a time! That’s how they were able to make so many Cybermares!”

Seeing that there was no pony else in any of the rooms, she ran back to the room the others were in. In it, all the ponies were now off the wall (even the unicorn covered in armor). “Good job Moon Dancer,” Bon Bon said. Moon Dancer gave a smile and a nod to Bon Bon. “Now, I believe some introductions are in order.” The mare walked over to where the others were standing. “I told you me and Lyra’s name, but this,” she pointed to Moon Dancer, “is Moon Dancer, our leader.”

Moon Dancer blushed. “I don’t know if I’d say leader. You’re more leader like than me anyway.”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes and turned back to the others. “We’re trying to take down the Cybermares, and if the Doctor gets back, we’ll be able to destroy this place.”

“Woah, no kidding dude!?” the yellow earth pony asked.

“Anyway, what are your names?” Lyra asked.

“I'm Red Herring,” The red stallion said.

“Tree Huggers my name,” the yellow mare said.

“Vinyl Scratch’s the name,” the white unicorn said. “But you might know me by my stage name, DJ Pon-3.”

Lyra’s eyes widened. “DJ Pon-3?!” she said. “I used to listen to your music all the time! I hardly recognized you without your glasses or headphones.”

Vinyl shrugged.

Moon Dancer turned to the lilac unicorn covered in armor. “And you?” she asked. “What’s your name?”

The unicorn stood for a moment, almost as if trying to remember. Then she opened her mouth to speak. “Cyberlight Glimmare.”

“Cyberlight Glimmare?” Lyra responded, almost confused by the name. The lilac unicorn nodded. Ignoring the, even for ponies, odd name, Bon Bon interjected to keep Lyra from talking. “Good to meet all of you.”

“One other thing Bon Bon,” Lyra said. She held the tennis ball like device in her hoof. “Moon Dancer was able to get this thing off our horns, but we still can’t use our magic. What should we do?”

The Earth pony thought to herself for a moment. “We’ll see what the Doctor knows about them. He seems to know about these things.”

Just as Bon Bon said that, the sound of several metal hooves hitting the ground could be heard from the other side of the wall.

“Ponies spotted inside the ship,” a Cybermare cried.

Hearing this, Moon Dancer pulled the Cybermare that was currently on the ground back behind the wall with her magic. With fear in their hearts, they all crowded next to the wall so they could avoid the gaze of the Cybermares (except for Cyberlight though from where she was standing, the Cybermares would have to look carefully to a part of her armor behind the wall).

All of the ponies hid, trying not to give the Cybermares a hint as to where they were. The sound of metal hooves hitting the metal floor got louder and louder. The sound was right behind the walls the ponies crowded next around! And then... nothing. The sound went past the entrance to the room and went further away.

Taking a risk, Lyra stuck her head out to see what had happened. The Cybermares were running in the opposite direction of the room the ponies were in. For a moment, the ponies all breathed a sigh of relief that they had avoided the Cybermares.

But then, a thought came over Lyra, Bon Bon, and Moon Dancer. If the Cybermares weren’t coming after them... who were they going after?

*****

“What did you say Derpy?” the Doctor asked.

Derpy was looking at the “books” on the shelf of the archive and what looked to be Twilight Sparkle on spine of one of them. Not answering the Doctor’s question, Derpy pulled the “book” and a holographic Twilight Sparkle appeared.

“What?” the Doctor asked in shock. “Twilight Sparkle? What was she doing here. Recording no less!”

Twilight looked a bit worse for wear. Her mane, despite seemingly being cut, looked much messier and unkept. Her tail looked even worse, looking like it hadn’t been cut in years and given less attention than her mane. She had very dark bags under her eyes like she hadn’t slept in Celestia knows how long. She also seemed to lack wings implying she hadn’t or didn’t become an alicorn.

“Whoa,” The Holographic Twilight said. “So, this is how those ‘Cybermares’ recorded their videos. Ok.” Twilight seemed to be looking into some kind of recorder. The image cut out for just a moment before coming back with Twilight standing a bit more serious.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. For the past six years I have worked in Fillydelphia as an accountant.”

The Doctor was confused hearing this. He didn’t know as much as he probably should about the new princess, but from what he heard from Pinkie Pie’s talking, he was sure that she never lived in Fillydelphia.

“On one of my afternoon walks, I decided to go deep into the forest and found this ship. It seems like these ‘Cybermares’ are robots that assimilate the ponies of wherever they go.” Twilight paused for a moment. “I can use that,” she said.

“Princess Celestia has wronged me. I should have been a student of her school when I was younger and though I studied for months just to get in, I was given an impossible test and was humiliated. Ever since that day I’ve been planning my revenge on the princess. Fillydelphia had a position for an accountant that would give me enough time to plan so I took it. For the past few years, I've even had to cast a spell on myself to not think of my plans in my sleep, lest Luna see them.”

The Doctor was puzzled by the hologram's comments. What was changed so much that Twilight had not only not been accepted to Celestia’s school but also was filled with hatred towards the princess.

Then, like a pile of bricks falling off of a construction site, it hit him. When Derpy and him had gone back to see the Rainboom, they accidentally blocked the window inside of Celestia’s castle during the Rainboom. What if in that room was a young Twilight Sparkle taking her entrance exam for Celestia’s school? And, seeing as when the Rainboom touched the Doctor he got a boost of strength, what if the Rainboom was supposed to give that burst of strength to Twilight for her test?

All these thoughts were swirling through the Doctor’s head as he watched the Hologram continue to talk.

“I plan to use these robots to take revenge on Celestia and Luna,” the holographic unicorn continued. “These, for lack of a better word, ‘books’ have all of the instructions for how to restart this ship and my magic should be more than sufficient in turning it back on.”

The video cut out once again before coming back once more. However, this time, instead of looking curious like the first time or serious like the second, she now looked fearful. She stood closer to what was recording what she was doing and was checking her back. A banging sound could be heard on something behind her.

Twilight looked into the recorder. “I made a mistake,” she yelled. “I never should have turned those things on. I couldn’t control them! They had a mind of their own. Please save yourselves!”

After yelling that, several Cybermares came into frame before the feed cut out once again; though this time, it didn’t come back.

The Doctor looked to his companion and saw that Derpy looked terrified with tears wlling up in her eyes. Seeing her distress, the Doctor put a hoof over her shoulder (trying not to smug her coat paint) and tried to comfort her.

“It’ll be alright,” the Doctor reassured Derpy.

“I-It will?” Derpy asked.

“Yes,” the Doctor answered. “All we need to do now is set the timeline right. And I think I know how we can do just that. All we need to do is deactivate this Cyber-Ship and find the Tardis. Are you ready?”

“Yeah!” Derpy exclaimed.

The Doctor straightened up his and Derpy’s Cybermare disguise.

“Well then,” The Doctor said as he made his way to the door. “Allon-”

Before the Doctor could finish his catchphrase, he opened the door and saw a dozen Cybermares were all standing in front of him and Derpy. The Cybermares were all seemingly charging up their horns for a blast of magic.

“sy,” the Doctor finished.

Author's Note

It’ll take a pretty long time for the next one. Some personal stuff. Three more chapters now.