"DITZY!" yelled the Doctor. "WHAT'S GOING ON!?" the TARDIS was crashing along the walls of the time vortex. "I don't know! It just started!" the doctor ran over to the TARDIS console, and checked the screen. "What? It's a temporal current, drawing the TARDIS somewhere!" They crashed along, until the TARDIS landed somewhere. The Doctor and Ditzy woke up. "Where are we?" The Doctor checked the console again. "We're on Terra nova, or New Earth. We're 500 years over the 5th great and bountiful human empire. Now, where are we in particular?"

They stepped out of the TARDIS, and was met by several guns, locked, loaded, and pointed at them. There were several men and women: one was a man with dark hair and light skin, another was a woman with dark hair, and the last was a dark man with no hair the last man addressed them. "Are you machines? Agents? Who are you?"
"We're not machines, we're perfectly human. Well-not human, as you can see, we're horses. Either way, we are pure organic life forms."
The man scanned the TARDIS crew, and then dropped his weapon and held out his hand. "Welcome on board the Nebuchadnezzar. My name is Morpheus, and this is Trinity and Neo."
"Charmed. I'm the Doctor and this is Ditzy. Listen, I know this is after the great and bountiful human empire, but what happened to all the humans? I know for one thing that we aren't on the surface, and the empire wasn't famous for its tunnels. And electrohover tech-developed after the empire-what is this about?"

"I had better explain, Doctor." They traveled to the bridge of the Nebuchadnezzar. "Doctor, only one city remains of the empire, the city of Zion."
"Ah, yes. the famed underground citadel and sanctuary in case the empire fell and humanity was on it's last legs. Glad to hear humanity made use of it. But how did it fall? I've always heard that was a peaceful partitioning of the empire, where several races and planetary syestems wanted to stay part of the empire, and some didn't, and those that didn't split away. Sure, there were small scale wars from time time to time, but-"
"Doctor, before the days of any of the empires, we had a large war, a war with the Cybermen. We were able to destroy their ranks with gold, but when the gold supply ran out, we fell back. Turned out, they were looking for an energy source, and the human lifespan was perfect. They obscured themselves, for years and years, because they were too weakened to make another attack. But during the last empire, they struck hard, and have been ruling the surface for years. Humans, however, have been power batteries, and a computer program was devised, a computer program called the Matrix, which most people perceive as the real world. It is a simulation based on the late 20th century. when most humans in the matrix taste and eat a piece of steak, for example, they are really not consuming and tasting something, but a program tells the human what the steak is-juicy, salty, savory. Peoples perceptions are really computer programs. There is a program for pain: when somebody bumps his toe on a wall, a computer program is telling him to feel pain. "
"That's odd. Because on the history books, the empire was still going strong at this point in time. What happened?"
"I don't know, Doctor."
Damn, thought the Doctor. I can't get any answers.
"Doctor," said Ditzy. "If the empire was still going strong at this point, and here it has ended and there has been total chaos, and the world ruled by cybermen, then was it temporal manipulation?"
"THAT'S IT! The Cybermen made a temporal manipulation, changing things somewhere along the line, 500 years ago! But there's just one problem to that theory. The cybermen did not have any time travel capabilities at this time-"
The Doctor was drowned out by the alarm ringing. "What's happening?"
"We're under attack-sentinels-a mass wave of them!" answered Neo.
The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver, and pointed it at one of the approaching sentinels. It died. The sentinels were breaching the hull of the Nebuchadnezzar. The Doctor ran over to the fault, and replaced it with his sonic screwdriver, killing the would be-breaching sentinels in the process. "Whatever weapons we have, use them!" Trinity flicked the EMP, killing all the sentinels inside. More sentinels appeared from the tunnels, and Neo pulled a crank. The forward hovers spun towards the sentinels, and Morpheus pressed a button that made the electric hovers shoot bright white electricity like a tesla cannon. The sentinels, with there propulsion tentacles writhing, curred up, and died grotesquely. The Doctor fell into a chair, panting.
"Ss you can see, Doctor, our enemies are very, very persistent."
"You mentioned Agents. Where are they?"
"They are the enforcers of the matrix for the machines. As they are computer programs and not humans, the 'rules' like gravity, can be ignored. Therefore, they can be superhuman, and are called the perfect enforcers."
"I might be able to get some info from them."
"It would be foolish to fight an agent without some downloaded training."
"Fine. Give me everything in the book. Everything you have. Parkour, martial arts, everything."
The Doctor and Ditzy both stepped into chairs that looked like they were just from the dentists office, where they were being downloaded training directly into their brain: parkour, martial arts, things Ditzy would not have been able to do yesterday.
Once they were done, they sat upright. They looked at each other, and suddenly, the Doctor puched Ditzy, who blocked the blow. Ditzy then kicked the Doctor, who grabbed her leg, twisted it, and then threw Ditzy to the wall. they looked at each other, impressed at their abilities. They then stepped into their chairs, and then they were in the matrix. A bright light enveloped the pair, and they were in a room that as pure white. Neo asked "What do you need? We can provide. and keep in mind that the sonic can be of no use to you, as that is a real world item. Just to let you know..." before the Doctor could respond, Ditzy answered "Knives. We'll need knives, and submachine guns."
"But you have whooves..."
"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't hold things. As I said, Neo."

Ditzy and the Doctor explored the matrix, and then went inside a building. They then bumped into someone, who acknowledged them. Next moment, the crowd started parting, with several faces in pure horror. The Doctor turned around, to see a man in a business suit and sunglasses, pointing a gun at them. The Doctor kicked the man in the face, the man evaded, until he was grabbed and turned around by Ditzy, who punched him in the face. She could feel the man's bones breaking under her hoof. Several men in the same attire ran out of the crowd and Ditzy pulled out her guns and fired while flying, making a route to the elevator. The Doctor followed her. Once into the highest floor, they heard a large mechanical crash. The Doctor ran to the edge of the building, and gasped.
"They have a tank. If only we could go to the bottom..." at the same time, Ditzy jumped off the building. "DITZY! NO!" But Ditzy knew she would survive. She had been through a battlefield in World War One, prevented a takeover of equestria, and fought legions of plastic warriors. Besides, If anything went wrong, Neo would probably take care of it. And nothing did. As her hooves hit metal, a large shudder was felt by all her bones. She took out a cartridge, and fed it into the barrel. Ditzy leapt away from the tank as it exploded. shrapnel whipped across her face as she galloped to the last agent alive. They engaged in combat, until a pair of tan whooves wrapped themselves around the agent, and slammed the agent against the wall. The crowd subsided, now that the threat of life and limb loss was over, although some people still stayed, wondering and skeptical of how two ponies could face off against a tank and fully grown men, and, despite the incredible odds against them, win. The Doctor was even skeptical of how he could do that himself. But that was the least of the Doctor and Ditzy's problems, as they interrogated the agent, holding him down. The agent struggled against the bonds, but could not, and relaxed. "What do you want?"
"We want where the cybermen are. Don't play dumb. I've known the bastards before you were coded."
"Ahh, yes. speaking of my coding, it didn't say anything about spilling military secrets."
"TALK!"
"FINE! But I tell it my way, Doctor." A light shot from the agent's eyes into the Doctor's, and a light enveloped the two, and they woke up from the dream world, into the real world. "What happened?" asked Neo. "The only way out of the matrix is through special telephones. How did the agent send you back?"
"I don't know, but we have the information we need."
Stepping out of the chair, the Doctor told the information that the agent that had given him. The Nebuchadnezzar sped out of the tunnels, into the surface world. "Oh my god. I always got this from simulations, but never like this..."
"It's all so real..."
"Is that a city?" Neo pointed something out: it was in a ruin, but there were still lights flickering, as if it was still inhabited by the ghosts of the past. But these ghosts were men of metal now, and unlike the kindred spirits of the crew's ancestors, they were evil to their iron hearts. The Nebuchadnezzar landed there. They walked ruefully to the door. The Doctor said "Alright, here's the plan. Morpheus, you and Trinity give yourselves up, while Neo, Ditzy, and I sneak around to the command center, where I'll release an EMP on the machines." The Doctor, Neo, and Ditzy moved to the TARDIS, while Morpheus and Trinity opened the door. The TARDIS flew into the sky, while the cybermen escorted Morpheus and Trinity to a holding cell.

The TARDIS landed in the main command building. After viewing a map in the TARDIS, Neo pointed out that the command and technical center. "Maybe we could deploy an EMP signal to every cyberman in the complex, and then, there goes the cybermen."
"Let's hope so."
The TARDIS landed in the center, much to the surprise of the cybermen. The Doctor disabled several cybermen with the sonic. Neo pulled several charges out of his backpack, and placed them in the main transmitting feed of the cybermen. "NOW!" yelled the Doctor. Neo pressed the button, and they ran outside. They expected cybermen writing on the ground, screaming in their horrible metallic sounds. Instead, they found several cybermen, holding them at gunpoint!

"I don't-it couldn't-how?" Neo was at a lost for words. His answer came from the cybermen commander. "YOUR ATTEMPT TO DISABLE THE BASE, HOWEVER DARING, HAS FAILED, AS WE ARE NOT DEPENDENT ON ELECTRICITY." The Doctor swore. "WE WILL BEGIN ASSIMILATION. THE HUMANS ARE FIT FOR ASSIMILATION. THE EQUINES, HOWEVER, ARE UNFIT FOR ASSIMILATION. THEY WILL BE DELETED." The Doctor yelled "Wait a minute! Where are you getting humans for assimilation? Surely few people venture to the surface. And I don't think that cybermen have cloning technologies. Plus, cybermen have no time travel capabilities, so how could they manipulate it?"
"THE MAJORITY OF OUR CAPTIVES ARE NOT FROM THE SURFACE. THEY ARE FROM THE HUMAN STRONGHOLD OF ZION. THE INFORMATION RELATING TO TIME TRAVEL IS CLASSIFIED."
"There are cybermen agents in ZION!?"
"CORRECT."
They had to get back, if Zion was under attack from the cybermen. The Doctor shot the sonic up in the air, his hoof freezing in the cold wind. It worked, when they most needed it. The cybermen were attacking their old masters. They were becoming human again. "Come on!" yelled Morpheus. "Get back to the Nebuchadnezzar!" They ran back to the ship, which was waiting for them right where they left it. Morpheus started up the controls, and set course to Zion. Speeding to Zion, Ditzy asked the Doctor "Doctor, We forgot the TARDIS!"
"That's OK, I can call it with the sonic." As he called the TARDIS, nothing happened. Five minutes went by. No TARDIS. A tear rolled down the Doctor's face. "The cybermen must have tethered the TARDIS. Now we'll never be able to repair the damage caused in the time vortex."
"But Doctor, in my saddlebag, there is a vortex manipulator. Maybe we can use that..."
"But how would that help the TARDIS?"
"If we defeated the cybermen in the past, then there wouldn't be cybermen on earth right now, so the TARDIS would not be captured by the cybermen in the relative present."
"Ditzy, I think you have much more intelligence than people credit you for. I went into your past and saw. It was horrible that you weren't brighter than most kids and you were bullied because of that. they called you "Derpy" and other things like that, and mothers told the school to expel you instead of the bullies when they heard what derpy meant. But you are a genius. Leonardo da Vinci didn't have as much brain power as you, and I should know this because I met him personally." He took the vortex manipulator. "Either way, we should just make our way to Zion. I think we should just visit for the heck of it."
When they arrived in Zion, it was empty. The great halls of the last human city was just...empty. The Doctor was aghast. "They beat us to it."
"What Do you mean?"
"Look down." in the floor was a multitude of bodies: men, women, and children were on the ground, dead. "That's all of Zion."
"No. they cybermen wouldn't kill their victims. They would assimilate them and put some back into the matrix. However, I can create a paradox. We just go back in time using the vortex manipulator, during a large battle which altered the course of the war, set off EMPs, and there we go."
"Do it. A major battle was the battle of mars, where both sides had great numbers, and it could go either way. Somehow, if your story is true, the cybermen won when they should have lost."
The Doctor set the temporal coordinates in the manipulator, and then, they were gone.

BOOM! A large crash shattered through the cybership, as the 14th cyber legon struggles to maintain balance. The Nebuchadnezzar and TARDIS crew flashed in the center of a hangar full of cyberships. Cybermen appear on the balconies, firing at the crew. The Doctor makes a cybergun on one of the ships swivel and fire at the cybermen. With all the cybermen dead, they make a break for the balcony, and encounter a fork in the road, with cybermen appearing in both of them. The Doctor uses his sonic to close a bulkhead in one of them, while with the other, he uses the sonic to make them promptly explode. Running toward the transmat feed and power room, he finds 20 cybermen in the room, and promptly uses the sonic to emit the emergency smoke. Then Neo pulls several EMPs out of his bag, and hands one to each of them. Each plugs one into the main power feed, and they all run out of the room. Ditzy presses the destination, and the ship goes silent, even though there is a light everyone knows does not come from the ship, but there is another thing that upsets Trinity. It looks like the shape of a man, dressed like an agent, but his head is almost too big to be human. When she looks at the Doctor to enquire, she can't remember anything about the man, so she makes up a question. "What now, Doctor?"
"See that light? That beams us home."
"Which means?"
"The paradox is working, Ditzy! Working! Now all we have to do is wait..."
The light was growing, so much so that it engulfed everything, until no one could see anymore. but that doesn't mean nobody could hear anything: the Doctor heard a familiar phrase, one he last heard on a spaceship with Alek and Deryn Sharp, back when there was an Ood invasion on a alternative New York, one that he had encountered when he was a human...
Silence will fall.
But he was too late to think about it, as the light made him feel fetid, dizzy, and feint, finally making him fall to the ground, and pass out.
He sat up, inspecting the other members of the crew sitting up.
"What happened?"
"Where am I?"
"To answer your question, you are in the TARDIS, standing for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. also called my ship."
"You mean that old ship? What does it cost? And why is it bigger on the outside? More to the point, what does the acronym mean?" The Doctor explained, with pride "My ship can travel in time and space, and it costs 300 years of temporal training and engineering. The interior is in a different, pocket dimension from the exterior. We are in a separate reality. very hard to explain. think of a box, like this one-oh nevermind. you've got new lives, and no cybermen to worry about! We are in the 5th great and bountiful human empire! we just landed in New New York! So, Enjoy your lives, and go forward in your beliefs-and prove that I am not wrong in mine."
Morpheus spoke up: "Actually Doctor, we don't want to stay. We want to go where you're going."
"Oh, come on! It's a whole new world of possibilities!"
"NO, Doctor. We will have nothing but bad memories of Earth. We need-what is it-a change of scenery."
"Well, I think I can do something for you..."

The Nebuchadnezzar crew walked away from the TARDIS as it dematerialised. But they weren't half hearted. As they cantered away from the TARDIS, they were slightly sad that they didn't have Earth anymore, but they had another Planet, one plagued by few menaces, and certainly not by cybermen. they had Equestria.