The Doctor was busily studying a large rock in the wall when Applejack approached. At a casual glance, he appeared not to notice her approach. She knew what to look for, though. They were much the same signs she saw when Apple Bloom was trying to hide the disastrous results of a Crusade, or when she’d caught Mac emptying the cookie jar directly into her mouth. The stiffening of the spine was the most obvious sign, followed by the sharp, pricked ears that were most definitely not turning to register her presence, so perhaps she should stop sneaking around and just pretend that none of this ever happened, does that sound good?
“Doc. We need to talk.”
The Doctor’s poker face collapsed instantly. His ears folded back like wet newspaper, and he twisted to face away from Applejack for a long minute. He didn’t speak for several minutes, and when he did, his voice was guarded. “Can this wait? I think I might’ve found a secret tunnel.”
“Really, now.”
Silence.
Applejack exhaled through her nose softly, shaking her head. “Even if Ah didn’t know you were lyin’, Ah still gotta say, no secret tunnel’s gonna do us much good unless it leads outta th’ land of make-believe.”
“That’s really not what the Matrix is.”
“Ah wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout th’ Matrix. Though, Ah guess a way outta here would be pretty welcome, too.”
The Doctor turned back to her slightly, regarding her out of one eye. “What were you talking about, Applejack? It’s not like you to dance around the subject.”
Applejack's lips flattened into a thin line. “Ah do beg yer pardon. What Ah meant to say was, you gotta get yer flank outta the swamp o’ self-loathin’ an’ delusion that you done been sinkin’ in fer longer than Ah’ve known ya.”
The Doctor said nothing. Applejack nodded. “See, that’s why Ah tried th’ other way first. It’s nicer.”
“Ah,” said the Doctor. “I think, on reflection, I preferred your first approach. It was rather less effective.”
“Well, that’s a sorry shame, ‘cause efficiency is exactly what we need right now.” She sighed. “Ah reckon Ah oughta apologize, Doc.”
Whatever he’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. He turned toward her a little more, tilting his head to one side. “Apologize?” he asked. “Whatever for?”
“Ah ain’t done mah due diligence,” she said simply. “Ah’ve been a bad friend to y’all. All this time, Ah’ve known you were lyin’. Not every detail, not even close. But Ah shoulda guessed. Ah knew all this time that you couldn’t let yerself get close to folk, but you were so damn desperate for them ta be close to you. Ah knew all that, or figured as much, an’ Ah didn’t help ya. Ah thought it wouldn’t be appropriate ta pry, an’ all.”
The Doctor said nothing.
“An’ it’s only got worse, hasn’t it?” Applejack asked quietly. “Well. Ah ask that, but right now Ah reckon we’re all bein’ held in Limbo by a literal manifestation of everythin’ you hate ‘bout yerself, so Ah think we both know where we are on that front.”
“Yes,” the Doctor said coldly. “Altogether a complete and in-depth appraisal of the situation, Applejack. Now, tell me, did you plan to do anything about it besides pointing out the fact that I’m directly to blame for my closest friends in this world being imprisoned by my dark side?”
“Matter of fact, yes.”
He blinked. “Oh. Brilliant. Go on?”
She locked eyes with him. “Ah want to apologize,” she said simply. “Fer bein’ a bad friend when you were in need. Can y’all forgive me?”
“Oh,” he said, deflating a bit. “I thought you had some kind of plan, or… well, never mind. Yes, Applejack. I forgive you.”
“You can forgive me fer not supportin’ ya when y’all needed it?”
“Yes.”
“You can forgive me fer not doin’ mah best t’ help when Ah saw y’all in need?”
“...Yes.”
“You can forgive me fer doin’ what Ah thought was right, even though it only ever hurt ya?”
“Yes!” the Doctor said, clearly irritated by now. “Yes, Applejack, I forgive you. Now, is there a point to all this?”
Applejack reached out and put her hoof on his withers. He jerked away, surprised, leaving Applejack’s hoof hanging extended in the air. She waited a moment, then set it back down. “So," she said quietly. "Why can’t ya forgive yerself th’ same things?”
The Doctor stared at her. She could practically hear the gears whirring in his mind. Then, with a clunk, they stopped, and the Doctor turned away again. “You should go now,” he said.
Alright. Fine. No more pretense. “Doc, we are literally fightin’ yer emotional issues. All this is jes’ fuelin’ it!”
“Another thing that’s my fault, then,” the Doctor rebutted.
“Ugh! This is exactly what Ah mean!” Applejack took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “Aight. Do what y’all think is best. Can’t fault ya fer doin’ yer best, right? But there’s one last thing y’all oughta know.”
“Oh. What’s that, then?”
“Y’all are loved. By yer friends, by yer family, by all of Ponyville. We’re here for ya. If there’s anything we can do to help, ya just have t’ ask. But Doc… ya do gotta ask.”
There was silence. Applejack breathed out slowly. “Alright,” she said. “Ah’ll be over with th’ others if --”
“Wait.”
Applejack stopped. The Doctor wasn’t quite looking at her, but he wasn’t quite looking away from her, either. “There is one thing you can do for me.”
“Shoot,” Applejack said, turning back to him with a short nod.
The Doctor held out a silver key and pressed it into her hooves. She looked down in surprise. “Th’ TARDIS key?”
He winced. “Sh-sh-sh-sh-shhh! The Valeyard might be listening. Take the key. It’s a sort of insurance policy. I have a feeling the Valeyard will be looking for it sooner or later. Keep it under your hat, give it to somepony else, hide it in the stonework, anything. Just keep it secret. And keep it safe.”
Applejack nodded gravely. “Ah understand, Doc. Y’all can count on me.”
The Doctor gave her the ghost of a smile. “I know I can. Now go, quickly.”
Applejack nodded, and trotted back toward the light side of the room. The Doctor’s smile slipped. He knew that she was right. He was loved. And because of that love, his friends and family had been brought here to suffer. And all of it was his own fault.
Veela and the Crusaders stood at the edge of the crack in the ground. “It was very strange,” Veela remarked. “We were wandering the tunnels, and suddenly the earth cracked open over our heads. Did you see anything that might have caused it?”
Dinky shook her head. “‘Fraid not, sorry.”
“Hmm.” Veela shook her head. “We should all be on our guard.”
“Agreed,” Dinky said with a nod. “Now, do you have any rope? That’s a very deep hole for a little pony…”
“I’m afraid not,” Veela admitted.
“...just throw them in and be done…” Izzit muttered under his breath,
“What was that?” Veela asked sharply.
“Nothing, Lieutenant!”
“Good. I like hearing that from you.”
Dinky glanced at Button. “I don’t suppose you have rope in that bag of yours.”
Button looked at her askance. “Of course not. What would I ever need rope for?”
Dinky gestured at the hole. “‘This’ springs to mind.”
“I --” Button rolled his eyes. “Okay. In my everyday life, why would I need rope?”
Rumble stepped in between them. “How about I just fly you down one at a time?” he suggested smoothly.
“That sounds fine,” Dinky said. “I’ll go first. I’ve got the strongest magical defenses of any of us, so if anything’s around down there with any funny ideas…” She lit her horn and lightning crackled off it.
Izzit stood bolt upright and gestured to her frantically. “The mammals are in possession of powerful bioweaponry! They must be contained and --”
Veela shot him in the chest and he fell over backwards, spread-eagle in the dirt. Apple Bloom looked between the body and the laser pistol. “Uh… is he gonna be okay?”
“Just fine,” Veela assured her. “I had it on ‘stun’. He’ll wake up in about half an hour with a bruise, a headache, and a valuable lesson about not being such a miserable little rabble-rouser.”
“Oh.” Apple Bloom nodded. “Well, Ah reckon that’s alright, then.”
Rumble took wing and grabbed Dinky around the barrel. “Back in a few shakes,” he promised, soaring over the edge and into the dark.
The tunnels were dark and cramped. Rumble hated them on sight. “Are we sure this is a good way to go?” he asked. “At least we could see where we were going on the surface. There might not even be a way into the tower down here.”
Dinky looked around slowly, scanning the walls. “No… no, I know there is. There’s something in my head again."
Rumble frowned and put a wing around his friend, gently pulling her down to sit beside him. “Is it the numbers again?” he asked.
Dinky shook her head. “No, not numbers this time. A poem, like a little nursery rhyme. It’s stuck in my head, but it's nothing I've ever read before.”
“How does it go?”
Dinky shut her eyes, concentrating. “Who unto Rassilon's Tower would go, must choose: Above, Between, Below!”
Rumble looked around. “And this is what you think ‘below’ is?”
“Makes sense, doesn’t it? ‘Above’ could be a hatch on the roof, and that would make ‘between’ the main doors.”
“I’d rather take either of the other two,” Rumble muttered.
“Well, ‘above’ is only really an option for you, and maybe one other, unless you want to ferry all of us to the roof one by one. And ‘between' wasn’t working so well, either. Did you notice the Tower wasn’t getting any closer?”
"Yeah," Rumble admitted. “You think that won’t happen underground, too?”
“Worth a shot,” Dinky said. “Not being able to see the Tower directly, or being out of the way of any ground- or air-based observers would remove at least half of the possible ways there are of keeping the tower away from us. At least, the ones I can think of.”
Rumble sighed. “So even if I did try to take you all up to the roof one by one…”
“There’s a good chance that the simulation would just stretch out the distance to infinity,” Dinky confirmed. “Down here, there’s at least a chance.”
“The way you’re talking…” Rumble trailed off.
“Yeah?”
“You’re making it sound like the universe itself is out to get us.”
Dinky grunted. “Might be. We still don’t know where those Silurians came from. Don’t forget, this is all just a simulation, and we’re not the ones in control of it.”
“So exactly what’s stopping the walls from closing in on us as soon as we’re all down here?” Rumble asked.
Dinky rubbed her chin. “Not sure. But if it was that easy to just kill us all, why wouldn’t it just start raining anvils? Or, easier still, just make our hearts stop beating?”
Rumble pulled a wing over his head. “Remind me why we have these conversations?” he said tersely.
“Just fly up and get the others,” Dinky said. “They’ll be getting impatient by now.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Rumble said, taking off and rocketing back up to the surface.
Dinky ran a hoof over the tunnel wall. It was too smooth to be naturally formed, which lent credence to her theory that they were designed to lead to Rassilon’s Tower. She knit her brow. “Rassilon,” she muttered. “Why is that name familiar?”
She shook her head. The name wasn’t important right now. All that mattered was the rescue mission, and surviving long enough to complete it.
While Rumble and Dinky were down below, their friends milled around topside. Sweetie Belle seemed particularly fascinated by the dark tunnels. She was practically unable to keep her eyes off the hole in the ground. She might glance away for a few seconds at a time, but her gaze would always drift back to the pit.
Apple Bloom sidled up to Veela. “So. Any idea what-all might be down there?” she asked.
Veela shook her head. “Not more Silurians, I’m practically certain. We searched, but could find no trace. There was some manner of robot, but Izzit disabled it.” She made no attempt to disguise the distaste in her voice.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ya wanted it alive?”
“I wanted answers. It’s probably beyond that point, now. There were few signs of life apart from that, although that’s not a guarantee. My team was brought here by some alien force. Who can say that other creatures won’t be, too?”
Bloom grunted. “Reckon ya got a point, there. Thanks fer th’ heads-up, all th’ same.”
Rumble reemerged from the crack in the earth. “Hey, Bloom! You’re up!”
Apple Bloom gave one more nod to the Silurian, then hurried over to be scooped up by her friend.
Scootaloo was hauled down next, and then Button. Rumble emerged from the cavern one last time and landed next to Sweetie Belle. They gazed down into the pit together. “Are you ready?” he asked softly.
“Are you?”
He scratched his chin. “Nah. Not really.” A pause. “What’re you scared of, exactly? You’ve never been claustrophobic before.”
“It’s not that, exactly. It’s more…” she hesitated, searching for the right words. Rumble didn’t suggest anything, or try to hurry her along. He just sat at her side, waiting patiently for her to find the right words.
“The Silurians came out of there,” she said softly. “And they could’ve killed us. When they caught Button, I was so sure…” she sniffed deeply. “I never would’ve told him how I feel about him.”
“Are you going to do that now?”
Sweetie shrugged. “Maybe? I don’t know. This feels like the wrong time to mention it. Maybe he doesn’t like me back.”
Rumble bit his tongue. “Well, aside from that. Are you scared of the Silurians, then?”
Sweetie rolled that around her mind. “No… not exactly. But we don’t know what else could be down there. We might not be so lucky, next time we run into somecreature down there.”
Rumble nodded. “Yeah. Maybe we won’t. But maybe we will. Maybe we’ll run into nice creatures down there, like Veela. Maybe we’ll get really lucky and not meet anyone at all.”
Sweetie stifled a giggle. “You’re such an introvert.”
“Guilty,” Rumble agreed. “But one way or another, we have to go down there. Dinky’s sure it’s our best shot at rescuing the others, and I trust her.”
“She doesn’t know what’s down there any more than we do, though.”
“No. But we still have to try, don’t we? We’ve faced worse than mysterious tunnels before, right? As long as we stick together, we can do incredible things.”
Sweetie hummed thoughtfully. Rumble scooted a little closer. “Look. I’m scared too. You know I am. I hate this, just so much. But I’m still going down there, because all my friends are down there, too. And that makes it a lot less scary, doesn’t it?”
Sweetie gave a watery smile. “Crusaders forever?”
Rumble grinned. “Crusaders forever.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’m still not ready.”
Rumble stood up. “Neither am I. Shall we?”
Sweetie stood, too. “Let’s.”
He grabbed her around the barrel and together they flew down into the darkness of the tunnels.
Applejack was just adjusting her hat to fit better on her head when Rainbow Dash approached her. “Hey, babe.”
“Howdy, honey.” She leaned in and gave Rainbow a quick kiss on the nose. The pegasus grinned up at her, but that quickly faded.
“So,” she said. “What were you talking about with the Doctor?”
Applejack glanced away. “Got pretty personal there, Sugarcube. Probably shouldn’t tell ya too much.”
“Aw, c’mon. Just the general stuff, then. You know I’m better with the big-picture stuff anyway.”
“Y’mean ya can’t pay attention ta th’ details long enough fer them t’ sink in.”
“Eh. Same diff.”
Applejack chuckled. “Alright, then. Broad strokes, Ah jes’ wanted t’ tell him… well, heck. We wanted an intervention. Ah guess Ah did that for ‘im.”
“A one-mare intervention? Is that a thing?”
“Ah dunno. Wasn’t rightly thinkin’ in those terms when Ah tried it. Don’t seem to have worked too well.”
“Oh.”
“Mighta gotten through to him a lil’ bit,” Applejack admitted. “Got ‘im t’ think a lil’. That’s important, Ah’d reckon.”
“Yeah. Well, if anyone could do it, it’d be you, AJ.”
“Oh. Huh.” Applejack blushed a bit. “Well, shoot, thanks, Dashie.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome.” Dash paused for a long moment. “Hey, AJ?”
“Hmm?”
Dash fiddled a little with her feathers. “Uh… in case we don’t, y’know, get out of this one. Which we will! We totally will. I could take that weedy little lawyer with one hoof tied behind my back --”
“Y’all realize Princess Celestia basically tried t’ burn him into ozone jes’ now, right?”
“Babe?”
“Hm?”
“Please let me have my rampant ego-fueled fantasies. They’re, like, all I’ve got right now.”
“Oh. Yup, that one’s on me. Uh, you were sayin’?”
“I was? Oh! Right. Well, I was talking with Gilda, and she, uh, well, she brought up kind of an interesting question that I’ve been kinda thinking about a lot today. And it’s kind of a funny story actually, but, um…” Rainbow took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “Oh Celestia.”
“Yes, my little pony?” Celestia called from across the room.
Rainbow Dash nearly jumped out of her skin. “Oh my Cel-- um. Lun-- no, that’s no good.” Rainbow rubbed her chin. “How do princesses swear?”
“Only in private, but very loudly,” Celestia replied.
“Uh, Rainbow?” Applejack asked, cocking her head. “Th’ question?”
“Hm?" Rainbow's head jerked around like a puppet on a string. "Oh! Uh, no, that was it. ‘How do princesses swear?’, ‘cause she was telling me all about Griffish cuss words, and boy howdy, they have some real zingers, and I just had to say how we mostly swear by the Princesses and stuff, and so she was like, what do they swear by, then, and I just didn’t know.”
Applejack blinked. “And, uh, now I do,” Rainbow concluded.
Applejack blinked again. It didn’t take mystical honesty powers to know how much of a pile of hooey that story amounted to. On the other hoof, it didn’t take a genius to realize that a sensitive subject had been broached. “Huh. That is a good question,” she said.
Rainbow sagged in visible relief. Applejack thought for a moment. “Hey, Rainbow,” she said, lowering her voice. “While Ah gotcha here, Ah got somethin’ for ya. Now, don’t make a fuss when Ah show ya, ‘kay?”
“Uh… uh-huh?” Dash said, cocking her head.
Applejack took off her hat and pulled out something shiny. Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat. Had AJ had the same idea? Was she about to propose, but without chickening out?
Applejack pressed the TARDIS key into Rainbow’s hoof. “Keep this, hide it, give it t’ somepony else,” she muttered. “Th’ Doc reckons it’s about t’ be hot property, so we gotta keep it away from y’all-know-who.”
“Oh.” Dash stared down at the key. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this development. Then she tucked it under a wing. “Right. You can count on me, AJ.”
“Ah know Ah can, Sugarcube.” She kissed Rainbow again, right on the lips. Then, while Rainbow was still half-stunned, she turned and trotted toward Twilight.
Green and golden light played over the walls of the tunnel as Dinky and Sweetie led the way through the meandering maze of tunnels. As far as tunnels went, it could have been much worse. The floor was relatively clean and uncluttered, and the walls were smooth and dry. However, it was undeniable that it was considerably colder than it had been on the surface, and there were no lights installed apart from the ones produced by the unicorns of the party. Scootaloo had managed to squeeze herself between Apple Bloom and Rumble for warmth, and Button was pressed so close to Sweetie Belle’s side that he might as well have been standing underneath her barrel.
Only Dinky had elected to forego huddling for warmth. She walked alone, ahead of the others. She said little, but they all could hear her teeth chattering. Sweetie Belle met Apple Bloom’s eye and nodded a little as though to say, ‘...should we… y’know?’
Apple Bloom widened her eyes and shrugged as though to reply, ‘why exactly are you asking me?’.
It was a very uncomfortable situation for everyone involved.
After a little while, Sweetie Belle began to sing a little. Her song didn’t have words, exactly, so quite a lot of it was just her going “dum-dah-dum-di-dee!” with occasional interspersed “yeah, yeah”s thrown in.
But every few lines or so, she’d throw in a few odd phrases. “The thinker, the rock, and the lover,” she sang. “Dum-dah-de-de-dum, runs on ahead of the others~”
After a few minutes, Button spoke up. “What’s that song, Sweetie? I don’t think I’ve heard it before.”
Instantly, Sweetie’s mouth snapped shut, her eyes wide with surprise. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize I was singing aloud.”
“Nothin’ to apologize for,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah thought it was real nice.”
“Was that the song you mentioned at lunch?” Scootaloo asked. “The one you were writing yourself?”
Sweetie ducked her head and nodded ever so slightly.
“It sounded wonderful,” Button said. “Please, don’t stop just because we’re here.”
Rumble glanced ahead. “Dinky? Back us up here. Sweetie should keep singing, right?”
“Huh?” Dinky stumbled. “Oh. Yeah! I loved it, Sweetie Belle. I, uh, kinda got lost in it, to be honest.”
“It’s not done yet,” Sweetie said. “Maybe when I’ve finished it, then I’ll sing for you.”
Scootaloo frowned, but shrugged as best she could sandwiched between Rumble and Bloom. “Well, alright. It’s up to you, after all.”
Sweetie nodded again, almost imperceptibly.
Unseen by the party, large figures that had been keeping their distance throughout the song, began to steal closer along the passageway, their horns nearly brushing the ceiling as they hastened to corral their prey…