"Ditzy, don't you ever run off like that again!" The Doctor scolded. The pegasus met his stern gaze with that of an angry child.
"What are you, my mom? I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" She spoke with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"No, not here. I'm not sure I can take care of myself here. The Cyberponies are extremely dangerous, especially in close proximity. The one you hit outside this base was a defective one, it was dying. You can't kill a Cyberpony at full power. You could maybe stun it, but never kill it." Ditzy's eyes widened as he spoke.
"Okay, then, what's your plan?" She asked, slowing down to match his pace.
"I told you my plan. We leave. There's nothing else to do. They're stronger, better organized than the last time I met them, and now there's no rebellion force as well. There's no big red button, no off switch on these things, they kill on command, and will not stop under any circumstances."
"You said they couldn't be stopped at full power. What if we-" Ditzy was quickly cut off by the Doctor's curt response.
"It might work, yes. The Cyberponies I'm used to power themselves with antimatter, very unstable but very powerful. If we can throw the right combination of matter into it, it can explode with the force of several atomic bombs. If Cybus installed failsafes, the explosion would be delayed just long enough for us to get out. If not..." His voice trailed off.
Ditzy started trotting ahead of him, full trot. "Well let's hope he has them installed then!" She called over her shoulder. The Doctor had to gallop to keep up with her. They eventually stopped by the intersection of four buildings, the same place they had gotten caught the last time. Picking out the tallest, no mean task with such standardized buildings, the Doctor whispered into Ditzy's ear.
"All right. That's the building we need. But we need to be careful, we can't have any cyberponies following us." He said. She shot him a confused glance.
"If they detect a threat, the send out a homing signal to the nearest cyberponies, and in ten seconds flat you're surrounded. What's funny about that?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing. It's an inside joke. Let's get in there." She said, lowing onto her haunches and dashing across the open snow. The Doctor prayed they hadn't been spotted as he did the same. Once inside the building, the two ponies ducked behind some metal tubing to regroup.
"Good, we've made it this far. The Cyberponies should be on the patrol for me, so there should only be one or two manning this station. Luckily, the infostamps these ponies have are made of Cybidium, guess who named that one. It's really just an isotope, but it's incredibly reactive, and very, very unstable when mixed with the right ingredients. If we can shove one of them into the reactor, then we've got a hyper bomb waiting to happen. Ready?" Ditzy had left before he had even finished his explanation. The Doctor worried for a moment when he couldn't find her.
He let out a sigh of relief as he saw her, blending in perfectly, in front of a tube several yards away. Trotting over to her, he saw what had captured her gaze- The antimatter generator. It was a beautiful sight, for any time period. Looking like something out of a Science Fiction movie, it had large gray metal spires, with jolts of blue electricity flowing up them in a circle. There was a massive transmitter on top, the source of the cyberponies' power. There were approximately a dozen floors in this open factory, each with a panel for commands. Squinting down, the Doctor could see two figures three floors below them. He groaned inwardly as he recognized Cybus.
"Doctor, what do we do now?" Asked Ditzy from behind. The Doctor tore his eyes away from reading the cyberponies' lips to reply.
"We wait. Soon Cybus will leave and we can throw that one into the generator and start the bomb. It can't be long." He said. But even as he spoke, the Cyberpony saluted Cybus and trotted towards the lift. He got to the floor level and exited the building, thankfully not noticing the two hiding ponies. Ditzy began making her way to the lift, but was stopped by the Doctor's hoof.
"Wait. Cybus is here. We've got to be extra careful now." He said, jumping in with her just as the doors slid shut. They rode down in silence, the lift automatically opening at every floor. They couldn't speed it up without risking somepony knowing.
Finally, the doors slid open on the third floor below ground, right where Cybus stood monitoring the generator. The Doctor stared at Ditzy.
"Can you do that kicking thing you did with the other cyberpony to him? A good shot should knock him over the rail." Ditzy nodded, but didn't go before asking a question of her own.
"Why are there no safety rails here? I thought these guys were supposed to be secure..." The Doctor allowed a smile to cross his face.
"Sharp eye, Ditzy. The Cyberponies don't trip. They have to be forced. And if you don't trip, and you know nopony is going to push you, why waste time setting up an extra precaution?" Ditzy nodded, understanding. Quiet as a mouse (Astounding for somepony with hooves), she crawled out into the open and stood on a pipe. Spreading her wings, she jumped and immediately forced her hooves first. She connected with the metal beast with a loud clang, and sent it falling backwards.
Backwards, that is, for about one second. At the impossible last moment, Cybus magnetized his feet to the floor and held fast. The Doctor's heart sank. As the hulk of a Cyberpony turned in a circle to try and catch the flying pegasus, he swore in terms the Doctor had never heard before. Then an idea hit him.
"Ditzy!" He called out. He received a grunt in reply. "Heads up!" He called, running towards Cybus. As the pony prepared himself for impact, Ditzy clutched his shoulders and pulled with all her might. As the Doctor collided, he was able to send the machine toppling down, over the edge. With Ditzy on its back. He ran to the edge as the room around him turned red. He could see no Ditzy. He almost let a tear down as he felt a slight breeze.
"What're you crying over? I thought he was a bad pony!" Came Ditzy's voice behind him as she landed swiftly. The Doctor quickly drew her up in a somewhat awkward pony-hug.
"Ditzy! This place is about to be swarmed with Cyberponies, care for a suicidal run to the TARDIS?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Explosion imminent. Explosion imminent." Came a mechanical voice above them as they ran. "Explosion in two hundred seconds" It called. They ran, but the run was much too long, and the time far too short. Not to mention there were Cyberponies lining up to follow them.
"Doctor, hold on!" cried Ditzy. Once again, he failed to protest before he was lifted up and shuttled away by the incredibly strong pegasus. Thankfully, the Cyberponies were unable to keep up with the pace, and soon fell back into the white haze. It was no more than a minute when Ditzy dropped them off at the TARDIS. The two ran inside, the Doctor racing for the controls, his awkward hooves a blur on the instrument panel.
"Doctor, back there, you said Cybermen. Not Cyberponies. What did you mean?" She asked as he tinkered with the controls.
"Ditzy, this is really not the time, I can tell you later." He said, finally forcing a lever forward. The box made that weird noise again and Ditzy felt slightly as though they had moved. Running to the doors, she pushed them open to see familiar old Ponyville staring her back in the face. The Doctor followed her out.
"So, Bright Eyes," he said formally, "What did you think of my Time and Space Machine?"
Her eyes lit up. "It was amazing! Do you do this all the time?" She asked.
"Fairly often, but not always with Cyberponies, and there usually aren't that many explosions. Well, there kind of are... well, there are usually a lot of them." He trailed off for a moment.
"Well you've shown me space, but not time, Doctor." Ditzy began. "You might as well have taken me to the Equestrian Mountain range up north." She pointed in the direction of the range and let out a gasp. Rising from the mountains was a massive column of black smoke, the kind following an explosion. There was a distant rumble as an avalanche began tumbling down the mountainside. Ditzy looked on with horror, as the Doctor seemed indifferent. She turned to him.
"I've sentenced dozens of ponies to their deaths." She said quietly. The Doctor gave her a stern glare.
"Ditzy, I've told you. They weren't alive. You can't kill ponies that are already dead." He said. Ditzy glared back at him.
"Not that you idiot! There was a village at the foot of that mountain, they can't escape an avalanche like that! I just killed them all. Every last one that gets buried by snow died by my hooves!"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Came the Doctor's tagline. "But there's nothing we can do about that now. Come with me, Ditzy. Travel the stars, this was nothing, we can move on." He tried to persuade her. He laid a hoof on her shoulder, which she quickly shrugged off.
"No!" She cried out, "never! I'd never travel with such a- such a monster!" Before the Doctor could reply, she ran towards the mountain and took off, leaving wet droplets behind.