The Doctor dragged AJ into the TARDIS by her ear. "Come on!" he insisted.
"Ouch!" Applejack protested. "What the hay was that for?"
"You're going home," the Doctor said firmly. "All of you. I can't believe Twilight tried to send me here with you. This transgresses the first law of time!"
"And what exactly is that?" Applejack asked.
"You're not allowed to cross your own time stream," the Doctor said firmly. "The one rule I've never broken."
Applejack shot the Doctor a dry look.
"Alright, I've broken it three or four times," the Doctor said. "But it was never my idea!"
The Cutie Mark crusaders rushed in to the TARDIS. "But Doctor, you can't!" Sweetie Belle protested.
"Twilight said you'd want to send us home, but you couldn't!" Scootaloo added.
"I know but..." the Doctor trailed off. "I know..."
"So...?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I don't like this," the Doctor said. "Someone who knows much more than I do is pushing me into awkward situations. This is bad for two reasons. One: I don't like being used, and two: there are very few people who know more than I do, and they're either evil or very, very fussy. Neither of which I want to deal with right now..."
The Doctor looked up at the TARDIS ceiling. "Alright, you! I know you can hear me or at lest know what I'm saying! We need to have a little talk, you and I! At the end of this you meet me here, in this control room and we'll have a bit of a chinwag, eh? We'll talk as time displaced beings do, and you'll tell me what you want. Otherwise I'll take a seat in this TARDIS and refuse to move until you decide it's worth letting me know what's going on!"
There was a silence in the TARDIS after that.
"I'm going to take that deafening silence as a yes!" the Doctor called out. "Meet me here when I'm done!"
"So," Applejack began. "Are we comin'?"
"Yes," the Doctor said reluctantly. "You're coming, but you are not going to make anything happen too early. Things are going to happen exactly as they did last time, and we're just going to stay in the background. Understood."
"I..." Applejack started to protest but trailed off. "Yeah..."
"Swear," the Doctor said firmly. "This is the most important promise you will ever make with anyone, ever. I want you to make the most powerful oath you can make. Something you'll never break for the rest of your lives."
The four ponies rolled their eyes and said simultaneously: "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
The Doctor paused, utterly confused. "What the bloody blue blazes..." He shook his head. "Alright! Good enough! Now to prepare for the journey!"
"Doctor?" Scootaloo asked. "What happens if we run into the past usses by accident?"
"I've taken care of that!" the Doctor smiled. He reached down and pulled out four necklaces that he threw on the four ponies.
"Well these sure are pretty, Doctor," Applejack said. "But why...?"
"Press the pendant," said the Doctor.
The four ponies did as instructed and pressed the pendants. All of a sudden the four looked different, completely different ponies from head to toe.
"What in tarnation!" Applejack said in a voice that wasn't her own. "My voice! Where's my drawl? Why do I sound so... confused?"
"And why are you all..." Scootaloo looked at the grey, blonde haired Pegasus that was once Applejack. "Crosseyed?"
"Those are perception filters," said the Doctor "They'll change what you look and sound like for the moment"
"She looks like one of the ponies in town!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "What's her name? Derpy Hooves?"
"I thought it was Ditzy Do." Apple Bloom said.
"Bright Eyes!" the Doctor said cheerfully, making up the name on the spot. "You're Bright Eyes, visiting duchess from... somewhere! And I am your servant and these are your lovely daughters. Alright?"
"Duchess?!" Applejack asked firmly. "Doctor, I was raised on an apple orchard all my life, how am I supposed to be glamorous?"
"It's easy to be glamorous!" the Doctor smiled. "All a girl needs to do is stand still, and look stupid!"
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now..." Applejack said through gritted teeth.
"I'm the only one who knows how to fly the TARDIS," the Doctor said smugly. "Now, off we go!"
"So, wait," said Applejack pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm the Duchess Bright Eyes, their my daughters, and you're my family Doctor?"
"No," the Doctor said. "I'm your butler Time Turner. Never call me Doctor when we get to the castle, alright?"
"Why?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Oh Apple Bloom," the Doctor knelt down to meet the filly at eye level. "If everything goes well, you'll never know the answer to that question."
Tap tap tap tap.
The Master had waited a long time for this. He had been stuck in this linear time stream for too long. No means of escape. Nothing to look forward to except manipulating these pathetic creatures. And then...
Tap tap tap tap.
And then he found it.
Of all the universes, of all the places they could have jettisoned it after the war was over, the Time Lords had sent it here. He had to thank them if he ever got back to Gallifrey. He'd like to at some point. He knew what the Doctor didn't. Gallifrey was still there, and it was all thanks to him. He had to thank the Doctor too. It would all be so boring without him.
Tap tap tap tap.
But Gallifrey would have to wait. This universe was as vast as any other, so many more depths to explore, so many more fools to exploit. Also he wanted to meet his Benefactor.
To say that the Master had led a charmed life as a Changeling would be an understatement. Everything had gone perfectly for him. Too perfectly. Someone had been helping him. Someone had been using him.
He'd have to thank him. And then kill him.
The Master was no one's pawn.
Tap tap tap tap. Doctor who?
Tap tap tap tap. Doctor who?
They had gotten louder, clearer, and the question was ringing in his brain again.
There was a tinging in the back of the Master's neck.
"So you've finally arrived, old friend," he smiled. "It will be good to see you again, Doctor."