Applejack was rapidly running out of hallway. The oncoming darkness had cornered her in a dead-end corridor, and though she knew on an intellectual level that there was probably nothing to fear from the dark, every instinct she had was screaming at her to get as far away from the shadows as she could. She skidded to a stop. Glancing back, she saw that the darkness had slowed in its progress. It knew that she was trapped, and despite everything that should be possible, it wanted to play with its prey before consuming her. But then, out of the corner of her eye— a door!
She bolted towards it. The darkness roared, racing towards her, trying to seal off her escape. But she was through the portal already, slamming the door shut behind her. Her heart was pounding, her breaths quick and shallow, but she was smiling. “Heh,” she muttered to herself, “Bet— even Dash— ain’t never— gone faster— than the speed— of dark…”
After she had recovered herself, she glanced about the room she had entered. It was dimly lit, and extremely dusty. A pile of luggage sat in a corner, every case neatly labeled. Intrigued, she drew near, reading the note on one. “Donna Noble: For the Planet of the Hats,” said the little round box. Inside sat a yellow flowery sun hat. Rarity would’ve approved. Shaking her head, Applejack moved on.
“What is this place?” she wondered aloud. The shelves around her were surrounded with assorted boxes and pieces of bric-a-brac. They didn’t appear to be in any order— cans of manespray marked “Do Not Shake” shared space with a piece of corroded metal, a multicolored umbrella, and a little broken gold star. “Badge for Mathematical Excellence: Adric,” Applejack read off of the label. “Huh. Bet Mac'd like one of these.”
She left it be. It made her uneasy, and anyhow, the Apple Family didn’t raise no thieves.
***
Dinky was staring intently at the handbook. “Whatcha doing?” a perky voice inquired from just behind her.
To the filly’s credit, she hardly flinched at Pinkie's sudden appearance at her shoulder. “I just thought that— since I’m part Gallifreyan or Time Lord or whatever— I might be able to read the language.”
“Ooh! Can you?”
“... No. It was a stupid idea anyway. Languages are learned, not inherited.”
“Aw, too bad.”
Dinky sighed. Yeah. It was too bad, she agreed internally. Especially since those weird symbols seemed to move just a little whenever she looked at them hard enough…
Ditzy, meanwhile, was sitting near the doorway, occasionally glancing down the hall. Trotting over Twilight smiled gently at the pegasus. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Oh! Well… yes, yes, everything is going to be just fine,” Ditzy replied, smiling just a little too widely.
Twilight gave her a kind smile. “It’s okay, you can tell me what’s wrong.”
“Oh no, I’d hate to be a bother…”
“Not at all.”
Ditzy puffed out her cheeks and sighed. “I guess, it’s just that everything is happening so quickly,” she said. “I just got Pocket back last week, and he’s already moving back in. And now,” she added, her expression darkening, “it looks like I might just lose him all over again.”
“Hey, don’t say that,” Twilight said, wrapping a wing around the troubled mare. “I’m sure he and Applejack and Rainbow will all be fine.”
***
The Doctor was running, desperate to get to the Cloister Room. The TARDIS, however, seemed to have other plans. Every path through the halls that he tried twisted and turned into dead ends. “What’s wrong, old girl?” he whispered as he reached the end of yet another blind alley. As if in response, a creaking noise echoed down the hallway behind him, followed by heavy footsteps. The Doctor turned around to see what the noise was, but only darkness surrounded him. He fumbled for his screwdriver, but before he could pull it out, he felt something strike the nape of his neck. He promptly fell boneless to the floor.
***
Dash was not enjoying herself very much. While flying through the dark at high speeds sounded like a good idea (fast, thrilling, adventurous) at the time, she soon came to the conclusion that it really wasn’t worth smacking your head on every low-hanging doorway. She had, therefore, elected to walk, instead. She had flown full tilt into five walls already, so she was probably just a tad concussed. She was also utterly lost.
"Hey!" she shouted, stumbling down the hall. "Can anypony hear me?"
There was no response but the echo of her words. "HEY!" she yelled, a little louder.
Echoes again. She made her way down the hall, yelling anything and everything that might attract attention. That wound up being mainly curse words. Behind her, unseen in the dark, something large, hairy, and quieter than anything that size should ever have been watched her go.
***
Applejack continued through the maze of shelved corridors. The Doctor was, apparently, a collector of knick-knacks and keepsakes.There didn’t seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason to its organization. “Twi’d probably pitch a fit if she ever saw this place,” Applejack muttered, observing a book on botany sitting open, precariously balanced atop a harlequin costume on a chair. “Why does the Doc keep so much stuff—”
She cut herself off suddenly as she rounded a corner. “Oh… mah… Sweet Celestia…”
The hallway opened into a room, filled with pictures. She recognized a few faces as the Doctor’s other selves, but there were many others. Looking at one of the nearest photos, a purple mare with a vibrant red mane, she noticed that it was labeled ‘Donna Noble’.
“Planet of the Hats…” Applejack recalled.
She noticed other familiar objects as well. The cans of manespray were held by a dark blue bat-pony apparently named ‘Ace’. The umbrella was in the hooves of a previous Doctor. And… there. The badge for math was being worn by a young ki-rin called ‘Adric’.
As she completed her slow circuit of the room, she noticed a set of photographs without any of the Doctors in them. There were a number of names on them, so many that Applejack couldn’t tell who was who. Names like “Braxiatel” and “Akitor” swam past. But that didn’t matter. She knew what these pictures were, what all of these photos were. She had been to enough reunions to know a family photo album when she saw one. “Aw, Doctor, what happened?” she whispered.
***
The Doctor blinked awake. “Ech,” he muttered. “Not the worst place I’ve woken up, I suppose…” He had returned to the strange alternate TARDIS, and a brief downward glance confirmed that he had, indeed, turned into the shadowy Watcher that had foretold his fourth self's doom. “...Lovely,” he sighed. He saw that he was still in the maze of hallways, but a much more well-trodden area than before. He moved along in what he thought was the rough direction of the console room, but before he could make it there, a noise from behind caused him to pause. He cautiously peered around the corner, trying to avoid detection.
A girl stood with her back to him, arguing with an unseen figure. The Doctor smiled at the beautiful waves of auburn hair. “Seriously, why have I never gotten to be ginger?” he muttered.
“Alright, alright,’ the ginger woman grumbled. “Off to the Blitz it is. Just let me put on something other than my pajamas, yeah?”
“Alright,” replied an unfamiliar voice. “But do come along, Pond, or we’ll be late!”
She paused. “We’re in a time machine.” she pointed out.
Whatever the other figure— presumably some sort of alternate or future version of himself, the Doctor thought— replied, it was lost to the ears of the Time Lord as he scarpered away. Couldn’t risk being seen, after all. As he ran, the world seemed to briefly wobble on its axis before fading into oblivion.