Chapter 4

The Cyberpony mechanically stomped down the hallway on the floor above the Doctor and his new friends, precisely heading towards the staircase. If it hadn't been stripped of emotions during the cyber conversion process, it would be filled with hatred toward the Doctor, for repeatedly preventing it from making its army grow, and then locking it in that room, alone. Its only purpose on the industrialized planet of Clop, and by extension, its only purpose in this massive building, was to use to materials given to it by the masses of factory workers, and craft the Cyber Legion a new army from Clop's inhabitants. But the Doctor's efforts prevented it from even converting one pony.

This was its chance to change that. Besides, not even deadlocked doors could hold back a Cyberpony forever. It was only a matter of time before the Cyber Legion had a few hundred thousand more recruits, assuming that there wouldn't be any interplanetary military action. If there was, the converted Cyberponies could easily fend them off, and convert them, as well. All roads led to success. If the Cyberpony had been designed to smile, it would have.

The Doctor had a strange sense of Déjà vu, and attributed it to vague memories of an encounter with a Silent whilst geeking out with his new friends about creepy Ponynet stories. He casted away these thoughts, because he was in the middle of what may have been the most difficult part of this mission of his yet: getting everypony out alive, while managing to destroy the Cyber Conversion Unit and the Cyberpony, before the muffins that were still in the TARDIS got hard. He rather liked the one he did get to have with Derpy, and hoped to impress her with their freshness when he appeared again a week after dropping her off. But, first, large-scale lifesaving was needed.

The sound of the group's desperate gallops were overshadowed by the cold and calculated pounding of the Cyberpony, closer to them now than ever before. Orange Fist felt rage and hatred boil up inside of him; if he hadn't been in the front of the line of ponies, he would've turned around and kicked some cybernetic flank. Even if he had had the opportunity, the chances he would've succeeded were very low, considering that part of the Cyberpony conversion process involved combat training.

The Doctor remembered this tidbit of information at precisely the perfect moment. If his hunch was right, which it was, on occasion, Orange Fist would be prepared enough to hold off the Cyberpony for just a moment while he herded the others into the TARDIS, and still have enough time to be saved, himself. If he was right, then he'd also have the time to destroy the Cyber Conversion Unit, and deactivate the Cyberpony, all before the muffins got stale.

"Run faster! We need to get to the TARDIS right now!" the Doctor yelled, knowing he'd need to be in very close range to be able to make his plan work.

Somehow, his companions managed to run faster, building up the energy to pass the Doctor himself. Not even two hearts fuelling his centuries-old muscles could defeat a group of young ponies in fear, the Doctor thought. In just a moment, they would be safe in the TARDIS, and he would be turning off the machine upstairs that cost him a friend.

The TARDIS was right in front of them now, the deep blue of its eternal disguise hiding the complex time machine within. The Doctor didn't have time to explain that it was bigger on the inside, and his pony friends were starved of the time to point this out. They rushed into the TARDIS too quickly for the Doctor to ask Orange Fist to help him hold off the Cyberpony's attacks, meaning he'd need a different plan.

"Anypony here got any ideas of how to stop this thing?" the Doctor asked, breathing heavily in between syllables.

"Well, they don't call me Dah Bomb for nothing!" Dah Bomb exclaimed.

The Doctor was very surprised at this, thinking maybe that Dah Bomb just so happened to be "dah bomb" at making escape plans, and asked if that was the meaning of his name.

"Nope! I'm the demolition expert at Iron Pony Company!" Dah Bomb said, pulling out one of his wonderful explosive creations from seemingly nowhere.

"Dah Bomb…You will never cease to amaze," Monochrome Crash said.

The Doctor nodded in agreement, and asked Black Charge to take the explosive and arm it, explaining his extreme stance against physical violence.

"Oh, yes, of course," Black Charge said, knowing the legends of the Doctor, which made him just as silent as the fear of the situation did earlier. He took the bomb, pressed a small button, and saw the countdown timer had only 30 seconds on it. He threw the bomb out of the TARDIS's doors, yelling for the Doctor to get the TARDIS out of there immediately, knowing Dah Bomb's handy work far too well. If that bomb didn't take out the building entirely, it would, at least, decimate the floor it was on, and maybe the first couple of floors below and above it.

The Cyberpony saw the bomb roll towards it, and it took it a moment to realize what the device was, and what the numbers meant.

It barely had time to utter a robotic curse at the Doctor's disappearing TARDIS before it was nothing but dust.

The Doctor, Orange Fist, Monochrome Crash, Black Charge, and Dah Bomb were all relieved to have survived the ordeal, the Doctor especially, considering that he just majorly changed history by allowing them to live. He walked over to his coat rack, and reached into his former incarnation's favorite coat, and pulled out a newspaper speaking of the Iron Pony Company's headquarters' destruction. Instead of saying no survivors, it now said that there were 3, with a fourth under investigation for his destruction of the building, a matter the Doctor would have to deal with later, all of which were commended for their heroic efforts. He smiled, knowing that despite the damage he could've caused, that even time itself could change for the better. Placing the newspaper carefully back into his old coat pocket, he walked back over to his friends, and asked them where they wished to be dropped off.

"Anywhere for me, Doctor," Orange Fist said.

"My home was Iron Pony's headquarters, sir," Dah Bomb revealed, a bit saddened by his employer's destruction, however pleased he might have been that it was by his own hands. Once he told the reporters his story of how he saved the day, his request for a raise wouldn't seem like such a ridiculous request, especially because he was not only the head miner, but the CEO's son.

"Where ever these two crazy ponies are headed would be great, Doctor," Monochrome Crash said, his ancestry dating back to Rainbow Dash, the representative of the Element of Loyalty, making him heading to his actual home far too unreasonable for him to attempt. Even his name was a reference to her, even though he wasn't a Pegasus, or even monochrome, and that the Crash part of his name was actually referring to a rude nickname she'd attained. Regardless, he was proud to be related to such a cool pony. He felt, at least, a solid 1 fifth more awesome for it.

"Same here, Doctor," Black Charge said, hoping to find friends in the 3 other survivors of the crazy events of the past few hours. He was a new guy at work, but now he was the pony who helped save everypony's life, even the Doctor's.

"Well then, how about the CEO's office, 20 minutes from when I picked you up? I think you colts have quite the story to tell…" the Doctor said.

It sounded very good to them.