Cyberpony

The Doctor continued on his way to Celestia's castle to drop off the pictures he took while on the way to the moon, having wasted a huge amount of time with the Dream Lord fiasco. He looked through them, satisfied through his, and, surprisingly, Derpy's work. For somepony that can barely see, Derpy is a fantastic photographer. He could only hope that the Princess agreed, and hoped even more that Luna would be there. He could use a friend for the challenges that waited for him.

He walked past the guards, through the giant, fancy doors, and up a staircase, to find Princess Celestia waiting for him.

"Doctor!" she exclaimed, brightening everything behind her to make her statement more powerful. She was a big fan of theatrics, and trolling, but mostly theatrics.

"I got you the photos you sent me for," the Doctor said, covering his eyes from the strangely bright light Celestia cast, and then asked, "Is Luna around? I need to ask her something."

"No, sorry Doctor, but I have just sent her to look for you. She'll be back in a few days, if that helps."

The Doctor looked very disappointed, but wore a smile as he said, "Actually, I have to take care of something, but thank you for reminding me about that."

Princess Celestia was a bit confused, but understood that the Doctor was an alien time traveller, and that these sorts of things happen.

"You'd better take care of that call, Doctor."

He was very surprised at that comment, and inquired, "What call?"

"The call from Clop, Doctor, they seem to have an issue which could use your..." Celestia paused for a moment while she thought of the word, and finished with, "Expertise."

"Oh, that call! How did you know about that?"

"I did go in your TARDIS, you know."

"But I just got that call."

"They must've called more than once, Doctor, which would tell me that time is of the essence."

He was very suspicious of Princess Celestia, but forgot about it, and said, "Time traveller, remember? Time is hardly of the essence for me."

"Everybody's time runs out eventually, Doctor, and they need you now."

He understood that he was not welcome for much longer, and took a bow, said goodbye, and headed for the TARDIS, remembering the call.

The Doctor had been putting off this call for quite a while.

He received it in the ride to the Moon with Derpy, a distress signal from an alien world in the future. A lone Cyberpony with a Cyber Conversion Unit was inside of a building, so of course the government of Clop sealed the building, with dozens of ponies inside. The Doctor put these things together and saw danger, lots and lots of danger. Too much danger, in fact, to bring Derpy with him, so he had planned to not go on this call for a very, very long time, but time has a way of catching up with the Doctor.

The time was now.

He set the TARDIS's coordinates for the planet Clop, thousands of light-decades away from Equestria, a few hundred years in the future. He had to make absolutely sure that he would not find out anything important about Ponyville's future, relative to his perspective. Even the Doctor loves a good surprise.

The TARDIS's turbulence in space-time was a bit greater than usual, which the Doctor understood. He could sense, in a way he could hardly explain, that this event was a fixed point in time. He couldn't change the outcome. And he knew that nopony exited that building alive.

At least, not through the door, and when you knew the Doctor, you hardly need doors.

The TARDIS landed, and through the screen showing what was happening outside, there was no visible light. The Doctor knew better than to go into a dangerous situation, one that he knew ended badly, without being able to see a thing. He grabbed a few head-mounted torches, and walked out of the TARDIS, into the building that the Cyberpony controlled.

He could hardly contain his excitement, it was nearly pouring out of his ears, onto the industrial floor. Suddenly, it came into his mind what, exactly, this building was for.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he galloped over to a computer that looked like it might have been unused for several years, and smelled like it, too. With a push of a button, and a bit of adjustment to the sound waves flowing from his sonic screwdriver, it burst to life, and the start-up sound known the multiverse over played from an invisible speaker.

He used the sonic to get around everything after that. A bit of nostalgia is okay, but wasting a lot of time when his life is in danger was a bit beyond what the Doctor was willing to do at the time.

He heard a sound that wasn't made by any machine he had intended to activate. He quickly made sure he didn't use the sonic on anything he didn't intend to use it on, and knew immediately that it wasn't his fault.

Then he saw the wallpaper for the computer, and knew what this building was for. It was a steel factory. That was the last thing the Doctor needed at that point, especially because there was a pony behind him, one that may or may not be a literal murderous machine.

He turned around, pointing his sonic menacingly at the pony, only to realize that it was not a Cyberpony.

She screamed, just a little bit, and jumped a little bit more than she screamed.

"Oh, sorry ma'am, I thought you were a Cyberpony," the Doctor said, pocketing his sonic screwdriver. Needless to say, he was very embarrassed.

"Who are you?" the other pony screamed, still startled from the Doctor's presence.

"Oh, me? I'm the Doctor, but the kids call me Doctor Whooves. Whichever you like is fine."

"How did you get here? We're under lockdown, after the Cyberpony invasion, nopony should be able to get in."

"You ponies called ME! So, what is your name?"

"I'm Amethyst Jewel."

"Well, Mrs. Jewel, I'm here to save your life, so listen up and you might get out of this place alive."

Amethyst wasn't sure if she should listen or call security, although, of course, security got out of the building before they sealed it from the outside world.

"Is there anypony else here? We're going to need to round up everypony and get them to my ship," the Doctor said.

"The only other pony I've seen is Lavender Berry."

"I'll just do a scan," the Doctor said as he reached over to the computer to do a check for living creatures.

After a moment, he said, "8! That means that there are 5 other ponies, and the Cyberpony."

"How did you do that? Our computers aren't designed for that kind of scan."

"I'm the Doctor, I can do these sorts of things," the Doctor confidently stated, "And when I'm around, everypony lives, so let's get moving!"

The Doctor dashed off in the direction of a doorway, and amazed Amethyst with his confidence. She wondered if that was a goal, or a fact, or an opinion. She could only hope that it was a fact.

She galloped after him, in hopes of everypony getting out of the building, somehow, but knew that the odds of that were so low, that it would be easier to try to destroy the Cyberpony with twigs and pebbles.

The Doctor made a sharp turn down a hallway, looking everywhere for signs of another pony, or of the Cyber Conversion Unit, so he could either save them from it, or destroy it. The lights were coming back on, meaning that the Cyberpony either just got a new recruit or was recharged enough to try to. The Doctor ran as fast as he could once he noticed this.

He heard the blast before he was even close to its location.

He tried in vain to run faster, but knew that nothing could save whatever was shot by the Cyberpony. He could only hope that the Cyberpony didn't try to still convert the body, because the last thing he needed that day was a combination of a zombie pony and a Cyberpony.

He ran into the corridor to see a broken body of a pony, one he could only assume was Lavender Berry.

Amethyst caught up with the Doctor, and saw the body. Gasping, she said, "Oh no! That's Lavender!"

The Doctor had really, really wished he was wrong.

"Come on, Amethyst, we need to hurry, before somepony else dies."