Return of the Master

Sky Dancer and Derpy hung on the wall, all spread out for the world to see. Yet there was no one there to see them. They were suspended with chains by their fore legs. Though they had not been hanging for very long, it felt like an eternity. The Master had only been gone for a few minutes and Derpy had already started to try and shake free and escape.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Derpy asked as she struggled against her restraints.

Sky turned as much as his restraints allowed, so he could look to Derpy in the faint light coming from behind the door. “I am not sure, but we will figure out a way. For now, please let me think.”

Derpy nodded. And so they hung in the dimly lit room as Sky stared at the ceiling while he thought.

“Hey Derpy.”

She jumped at the sound of Sky’s voice, it had felt like an eternity since he last spoke. “Yes?”

“Can you get your wing out from behind your back?”

“Maybe,” she said as she struggled to do so. Derpy was able to get her wing from behind herself and extended it out in front of Sky.

“Good. Now, hold still.” He took one of her feathers in his mouth and pulled it out with a swift turn of his head.

“OW! What’d you do that for?”

“You will see.”

Sky then proceeded to adjust his position so that he could see the lock on his right hoof. He pushed himself away from the wall and spun so that he was now facing the wall so that the two chains holding him up were crossed. He then placed his two hind hooves against the wall and pushed himself into a partial standing position. Sky then forced the feather’s shaft into the lock mechanism and started to move it around.

Derpy gave Sky a puzzled look. “Are you trying what I think you are?”

“No, I am not try to pick a lock with a feather. I am trying to destroy the lock’s mechanism. All most... “

SNAP!

“There.”

Sky started to flap his wings and move away from the wall. He raised his right hoof and smashed it against the wall. The metal restraint fell open and off his hoof. He then proceeded to work on the other hoof and repeated the process which ended with the satisfying clatter of the metal against the cement wall.

“Alright, now we have to get you out.” Sky looked at the restraints on Derpy’s with puzzlement. “But I don’t want to accidentally hurt you if I do the same.”

“I don’t really mind.”

“But I do.”

Derpy nodded, and looked around the room for anything that could help them. The small room didn’t hold many items, only a few spaces for ponies to be hung by their hooves, a table and the door. “Is the door locked?” She asked.

Sky looked over his shoulder, turned and started walking towards it. “I do not know. Let’s see.” He tried turning the knob, and much to his surprise, the door swung open. “That... Was not expected.”

“The Master must have been in a hurry...”

“So are we. I’ll go check the other rooms. There has to be a key somewhere.”

“Jack, do you know how to fly?” The Doctor looked over his shoulder to look at the dark blue pegasus, who hurriedly shook his head ‘no’. The Doctor sighed. “I’m not risking Twilight teleporting us down. She’s already magically drained...” With a growl, the Time Lord stomped his hoof, and angrily glared through the gaping hole in the wall.

Then, a purple hoof rested itself upon the Doctor’s back.

“It’s okay, Doctor.” Twilight smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

“No.” The Doctor stated firmly. “I can’t- I won’t risk your wellbeing. Jack has a healing factor- he can come back to life, even, but you can’t. I am not risking you.” He sighed. “I’ve already lost Derpy...”

A familiar laugh echoed from below the trio, as the Princesses focused on getting everypony out of the castle.

“Is that everypony, sister?” Luna shouted over the commotion of panicked ponies.

Celestia nodded solemnly. “Except for the Doctor and his companions, yes.” She glanced back towards the ruined castle, fire and smoke swirling into the sky. “I need you to find them, and once you do we will apprehend the Master.” The white alicorn then glanced back down to the crowd of ponies, some of whom were Guards trying to calm with no avail.

“Understood. ‘Tia, We will see thee soon.” With that, Princess Luna flew back to the castle.

Pop!

The Doctor felt the stone of the pathway to the Royal Gardens beneath his hooves once again, and immediately fell to his knees. “T-Twilight!” He gasped. “D-Don’t do that anymore!” He said as he slowly straightened himself, and looked back worriedly at the purple unicorn, who gulped.

“D-Doctor...”

The brown stallion turned slowly, revealing his long time enemy. The one who currently took on a dark version of his current self.

“Hello, Doctor.”

“Master.” The Doctor’s head hung slightly, but not in worry. In anger. The anger of so many innocent lives lost. “You’re insane.”

The Master scoffed. “Oh, please, tell me something I haven’t heard from you, Doctor. ‘Now, Koschei, don’t destroy the universe!’ ‘Now, Master, don’t kill a third of the human race!’ It’s always, you, Doctor. The one who always defies me. What right do you have to order me? To treat me like I’m some kind of animal who needs taming?!” The Master fired his screwdriver directly at the Doctor who, along with Twilight, was able to scramble out of the way. Jack was not as lucky, and got hit directly in the chest. He was sent flying; a black scorch mark was emblazoned on his coat.

“Jack!” The Doctor and Twilight cried in unison.

The Doctor glared at the Master, who fired another blast from his screwdriver at the Doctor. The Doctor shoved Twilight out of the way and barely made it himself. “You destroyed Gallifrey! The planet we grew up on together! Played together!” Another blast missed the Doctor by more than a few inches, instead hitting a strangely familiar statue.

“You killed the Time Lords! It’s time for me to finish the job!”

The Doctor grabbed Twilight by the hoof, whispering a low “Run!” as the pair took off, dodging blasts from the Master.

“Get back here, Doctor!” The Master yelled as he stiffened his wings preparing to take off, but a voice stopped him.

“Stop there, fiend!” The voice of Princess Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice echoed through the destroyed Gardens. The Princess of the Night landed a few steps behind the grey stallion, who showed no signs that he noticed her.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke. “I suppose you’re here to... Let me guess, kill me? Take me to your sister to face my crimes?”

“We hath no intention of taking thy life.” Luna spoke smoothly, showing no emotion. “We wish for thou to drop thy weapon.”

The Master chuckled slightly. “Oh, you mean this old thing?” He said, holding up the screwdriver. “I mean, I am more powerful than you, and it’s obviously going to be an unfair fight, so it would only be right of me to even the odds for-” He interrupted himself, firing the weapon directly at Luna who was unable to avoid the attack. The laser hit her square in the chest. She stood fast but only for a brief moment before she collapsed under her own weight.

The Master simply smiled. “And I thought you’d be a challenge.”

Celestia paused.

“I... apologize, my subjects...” She said, blinking away a tear. “I... must go.... I fear something has happened to my sister... Princess Cadence will be here shortly. She will take over as ruler for the time being.” With that, she flew into the air, speeding towards the castle.

“Please Luna,” she begged. “please be okay...”

The Master slowly walked along the pathway, his gaze drifting from statue to statue.

You said you wouldn’t kill anypony. The voice of the Doctor growled.

“I said that my plan shouldn’t get anybody killed. I never said it wouldn’t.” Another growl echoed in his head. “Oh, shush you. If you don’t want anybody else killed, then find some way to kill me so you can go back to being the ‘Doctor’.”

The Voice didn’t respond.

“D-Doctor! Jack was k-killed!” Twilight cried. “The Master killed him! We have to stop him!”

The Doctor stomped his hoof. “Relax, Twilight! Jack is fine.”

“H-how can you say that?! I saw it! His body flew-”

Just then, a blue hoof wrapped itself around Twilight’s waist. “Aw, you were worried about me,” the charming voice of Jack Harkness sang.

With a yelp, her hoof smacked Jack across the face, much to the amusement of the Doctor. “You- you were dead!” She yelled.

“Yes, yes I was. And now I am not. Now, quiet, or the Master will find us.”

“But...but how!?”

“Time mumbo jumbo. Even I don’t understand it. Now, hide!” Jack said, pulling Twilight aside behind a nearby statue of a Celestial Guard. The Doctor ran after them, but a familiar blast erupted past the Doctor, stopping him in his tracks.

“Not so fast, Doctor,” The Master growled, slowly walking towards the Doctor. “This ends here.”