The Sun had set itself after they escaped Everfree Castle, and since there was a village of unicorns nearby, Sea Crest used them as the perfect place to hide their magical powers. Disguising all alicorn magic at their disposal and their wings, the 5 looked more like traveling companions rather than survivors.
Thanks to a kind unicorn, who Applejack said looked very familiar, they had been given a room in a nearby hotel. With a few bits and a couple bales of hay, the 5 set up their room and finally rested. While the Doctor and Sea Crest continued to handle the security, Applejack had tucked in Celestia and Luna. With a blanket over them and a soft pile of hay underneath them, the two quietly fell into their sleep. Applejack smiled as Luna snored into her sister’s ear.
The farm pony removed her hat and placed it on the ground in front of her. The Stetson that was given to her by her father. She remembered her mother and father clearly. It was like she was recalling the day before. The last day she was happy around her parents. With Apple Bloom fresh into the family, Applejack’s father started teaching her how to buck apples. She would normally miss or nearly break her hind legs when she first tried, but after a while, she had gotten used to bucking apples.
If only he could see her now.
The Doctor knocked on the door to the girl’s room. Applejack looked up and opened the door. The Time Lord had a look of concern on his face. “Are you OK?”
Applejack found interest to the ground. The Doctor lifted her head with his hoof. “Well?”
Silence. Applejack looked up at the Time Lord, expecting impatience. Instead, the Doctor showed signs of fatigue and understanding. “It’s ok if you don’t want to say anything. I shouldn’t ask you to divulge information you don’t want to share, but I want you to know that I worry,” he said.
“Ah know, and ah appreciate it, but ah need to make sure of it mahself,” Applejack said.
The Doctor smiled. “Sea Crest has finished with the security detail. Some unicorns are already on high alert with the attack. You just get some rest.”
The thought of rest worried Applejack. “Um, Doctor?”
The Time Lord looked over. “Twilight said that Celestia and Luna had no parents.”
“Well, the history books got confused as time progressed. With so many events in early Equestria, like the Cataclysm, Age of Ice, Chaos Empire, and the Shadow Revolution, history kept getting rewritten. It was after the Age of Ice when Celestia and Luna emerged. The time between the Cataclysm and Age of Ice have been known as the Dark Ages. Separation between the three tribes grew during those dark times, and much of early pony history was burned,” the Doctor said. “There may be a scroll out there with the Alicorn family tree, but that is highly unlikely.”
“Cataclysm?”
“The end of the Alicorn and Draconiqui Empires. The Changeling Empire is believed to survive the event, but there was never a confirmed report. The Cataclysm—”
“—could’ve ended the war in the beginning.”
Both the Doctor and Applejack turned over. Sea Crest was standing by the door with his wings extended. He had a stern look on his face. “The Cataclysm is also a top secret project. Do I need to have a reason to doubt that you are an ally, Doctor?”
The Doctor stood. “You shouldn’t. From our time, the Cataclysm is an event, but you are making it sound like it’s more than that.”
Sea Crest sighed. He walked over, fashioned a bed of hay using his magic, and sat down. “The Cataclysm was an idea pitched by His Highness, King Cosmos. It’s a magical time bomb designed to cut all magical power in the land.”
“So a blackout?”
Sea Crest looked over at the Time Lord. “In a way. We’ve studied a Draconiqui up close. Our science department had discovered that a Draconiqui is born of different body parts of different animals.”
“No kidding,” Applejack mumbled.
The Doctor tried really hard to suppress his laugh. Sea Crest looked at the Earth Ponies with a raised eyebrow. “Well, something like that doesn’t happen naturally. They are born through magic.”
The Doctor looked up. “Oh, now I see.”
Applejack looked at the Doctor. “What?”
“The Draconiqui are composed almost entirely of magic. If we caused a massive magical blackout, yes it would shut down our magic, but we can still fight without it. The Draconiqui depend on magic to survive, and without it—”
“They would die off over time.”
Sea Crest nodded. Applejack, however, was confused. “Wasn’t that what that fella Silverstar wanted?”
“Silverstar tried running at them head first. This is using the mind over strength. We were trying to even the playing field, but his…er, intervention set us back a few centuries.”
The Doctor looked over at Sea Crest. “But that’s still considered genocide.”
Sea Crest sighed. “We didn’t intend on killing them all off. All the royal family wanted was the Alicorns and Draconiqui working together to bring harmony. That is the work of the gods.”
“You’re wrong. If the goal was to create peace and harmony, holding a magical timebomb over their heads would not accomplish that. By creating the Cataclysm, you guaranteed the continued rise of the Draconiqui," the Doctor said.
“It was the only option we had. Either we eliminate all magic or continue fighting until magic kills us all. We made our choice by creating the Cataclysm—”
“—which may be back at the castle.”
Sea Crest froze. “If the Changelings know about that weapon, and they use it, they can hunt and kill whoever stands in their way. You left the codes of the Doomsday device wide open, now they need to find it!”
The alicorn started to hyperventilate. “But-but it’s heavily guarded by the strongest alicorns in existence. They won’t be able to get to it—”
“—unless every alicorn in the castle went to war against the Changelings that invaded.”
Applejack started to worry now for the foals. “But Doctor, their future—”
“There might not be a future if the Cataclysm is used against the world. Time is in flux, Applejack. Anything can happen. Celestia and Luna might not even live long enough to see the throne,” the Doctor said.
“Then we have to stop ‘em!”
“HOW?!” Sea Crest shouted. He realized the fillies in the room and hushed his voice. “I mean, how? We have no army, no king, no queen, and at the moment, no power to stop them.”
“But we have princesses.”
The Doctor and Sea Crest looked over at Applejack. “Yes, I completely forgot.”
Sea Crest smiled, but it quickly disappeared. “But, they’re too young.”
“So? A princess is a princess, right?”
The Doctor smiled. “Yes, and they are just at the right age to tap into their vast storage of raw magic. Their Magic Cores are producing tons of energy by the minute now, if I remember the aging process of alicorns correctly,” the Doctor said.
“You’re correct,” Sea Crest said. “For an Earth Pony, you sure know quite a lot about magic.”
The Doctor smiled. “In my old dimension, science dominated the Universe. Here, it’s the same, but more advanced. I’m still learning some of pony anatomy and history.”
Applejack smiled. “Ok, we need to get the sisters back into the castle somehow without detection. We can’t use magic, can we?”
Sea Crest shook his head. “Unless we want them to know what we are doing, I suggest stealth. If we can fight them off, we can use the Cataclysm to—”
“No.”
Sea Crest looked over. Both the Doctor and Applejack stood together. “If the Cataclysm backfires, we all could feel its effects.”
“No more magic. No future,” Applejack said.
“But-but it’s a temporary effect. We take their magic, drive them away, and wait for the effects to wear off. That’s the beauty of the Cataclysm: we can use magic again afterwards,” Sea Crest said.
“But they’ll be back.”
The Doctor smiled. The gears in his head started to turn, and all his past lives began chatting in his head. They all came to the same conclusion. A plan that would keep the Changelings in check for a few thousand years. Applejack noticed his thinking face and became concerned.
Sea Crest also expressed concern, but after a few moments to think about it, he too came to the conclusion. Applejack felt almost left out because of the two geniuses in the room. Celestia and Luna were asleep, but they probably had the same idea.
The Doctor looked over at Applejack. “How well do you know the castle?”
“Not much like Sea Crest,” she said.
“Well, we need some help. It appears this plan cannot go through without some sort of organist playing in the background, if you know what I’m saying.”
Applejack raised her eyebrow. “Ya want me behind the curtain…again?”
“Well, this time you are pulling the strings. You will be putting on the greatest musical the Everfree Castle had ever seen. It’ll be mind-blowing, and the king of the Changelings will be bouncing all over the place.”
Applejack caught what he was saying, and smiled evilly. She was lucky to have Pinkie around that organ. “Ah’ll need to practice.”
“Excellent. We grab the Cataclysm, blast the Changelings away, and save our future.”
The three ponies cheered quietly. “Ok then, we have an empire to recapture.”
“Right! We should get started—”
“—when the Sun comes up.”
The three agreed. Sea Crest yawned and made himself comfortable in his bed of hay. Applejack did the same, but noticed the Doctor didn’t do anything for sleep. “Aren’t ya going to sleep?”
The Doctor shook his head. “I’m not much of a sleeper.”
“Well, ya are now tonight. Ah got some space left on mah hay pile. Ya can sleep here tonight,” Applejack said.
“But I—”
Applejack gave him a stern look. The Doctor, admitting defeat, agreed and joined his companion on the pile of hay. Applejack curled up on one side while the Doctor did the same on the other. Once he rested his body on the hay, the Doctor suddenly felt some exhaustion wash over him. Applejack turned her face away from the Doctor, and felt herself grow hot at the face area.
He’s the first pony to sleep by me.
She looked over at the Time Lord, who was already snoring quietly. She turned her head back over.
Why did ah do that?!