Double Vision

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Long Run
Chapter 2: Space Invader
Chapter 3: Aliens Exist
Chapter 4: Police On My Back
Chapter 5: Doppelgänger
Chapter 6: Come Sail Away

Chapter 1: The Long Run

“Apples! Fresh from the farm!” an orange pony hollered out into the busy town square. Adjusting the brown hat upon her blonde mane, she returned the hoof near her mouth and shouted again, “Straight from the orchard to the cart!” Her voice was proud of the crop she was selling, just as proud as she was of her profession.

Turning around to look at the apple cart, she watched as her little sister, a yellow filly with a red mane and a large pink bow resting atop it, sell her some apples to a customer. “Thank ya’ll! Come again!” she thanked the customer as she welcomed the next.

Out of the corner of the orange mare’s eye, she saw a red stallion making his way toward the cart with a large barrel on his back. Sweat was dropping from his orange mane as he carefully maneuvered his way through the crowded plaza.

“Here, Big Mac, let me help ya with that,” the mare said to her sibling as she trotted quickly to his side. Lining herself up next to him, she arched her back up to aid in supporting the heavy barrel.

“Thank ya, Applejack,” the stallion’s words were ones of relief and ease. “How’s business goin’ fer the afternoon?”

With a little big of struggling in her voice, she replied, “It’s goin’ great. Applebloom really has a knack fer sellin’ apples at the cart, an’ she seems to be enjoyin’ it, too.”

Big Mac smiled, “That’s great to hear.”

The two ponies continued to cautiously make their way through the busy plaza with the heavy barrel of apples. Luckily for the siblings, the crowd worked with them and stood to the side of them to allow the brother and sister through.

“Easy there, Big Mac. We’re almost to the cart,” Applejack stated, almost trying to give herself a little encouragement as well.

Not far from the Apple siblings, a loud, frantic voice called out, “Excuse me! Coming through! This is a bit of an emergency!” His hoofsteps were quick as his statements. This brown stallion weaved in between the various ponies of the crowd, accidently bumping into them and apologizing, “Sorry, in a bit of a rush!” With his head turned to speak back to those he had just passed, he did not see the two ponies with a barrel on their back.

The brown pony ran into the orange mare, knocking her off balance and causing the barrel to roll off both her and her brother’s backs, crashing to the ground. The wooden barrel broke open, causing the apples within to either be completely smashed by the force of the drop or roll away on the ground.

Looking at what he did, as well as the spectators who watched the entire scene unfold, the brown stallion apologized swiftly, “Terribly sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to do that on purpose, I’m just….in a bit of a rush.” With that, he continued his weaving amongst the masses, continuing with his statements.

Big Mac offered his hooves to his sister who was still on the ground, “You alright, Applejack?”

She was too busy to reply, “Hey you! Get back here an’ at least help pick up the mess ya made!” Taking her brother’s hooves, she got back up onto hers. “Yeah, ah’m fine ah guess. Jus’ wanna go get that stallion an’ at least make him own up to what he did.”

“It’s quite alright, Applejack,” Big Mac shrugged it off.

“No, it ain’t!” Applejack raised her voice, “In fact, ah’m gonna chase that darned pony down and make him help us!” Before her brother could insist, the orange mare was gone.

Moving fast through the crowd, Applejack followed the brown stallion as best as she could. Following the same weaving fashion as the stallion, Applejack was able to cover a lot of ground and even get the brown pony in her sight. With the both the crowd of ponies completely gone and the element of surprise, the orange mare closed the gap between them considerably.

‘Jus’ where do ya think yer goin’, troublemaker?’ Applejack thought to herself as she sped up.

The two ponies, running at full gallop speed, were outside of Ponyville completely. With nowhere the stallion could go, Applejack believed she had him where she wanted him. However, a strange blue box sitting next to a few trees seemed to be his destination.

A sly grin appeared on Applejack’s face, ‘Perfect, if he tries to hide in there, ah got him trapped.’

Just as she predicted, the brown pony galloped at full speed into the blue box. Applejack followed suit. However, while she was expecting a small space for her fugitive to hide in, she was considerably surprised. Upon entering, she found it was much larger on the inside. The interior consisted of a large room with a platform in the middle with a hexagonal table in the center. There seemed to be a few hallways that allowed a wanderer to travel even further inside. Before Applejack could study her new surroundings more, she heard a voice.

“This won’t do, this won’t do at all. What gives them the right to just fly on down if we don’t hand over some fugitive that they failed to keep an eye on? Well, the Shadow Proclamation allows them, but still that’s not the point. It’s not like this planet has the technology to hear them broadcast their message,” the brown stallion was loudly speaking to himself. He was fiddling with the instruments upon the hexagonal panel on the platform.

Applejack looked up to see it was the same stallion that had ran into her in the Ponyville square, “You!” She angerly pointed her hoof at the pony.

“Me?” he turned to see the annoyed face of the mare, “Yes, hello….how did you get in here?”

“Never mind that, yer the pony who ran into me in the market, causing the barrel of apples to be ruined!” Applejack quickly stormed her way up the stairs and onto the platform.

The brown stallion paused for a moment to think, “Ah, yes. That. Well, I am truly sorry about that incident. I was in quite a bit of a rush. I didn’t mean to do that, but….”

Applejack interrupted loudly as she drew closer, “But nothin’! Yer gonna come back with me and help mah brother an’ me clean up the mess, an’ then yer gonna give us a formal apology!”

The brown pony looked at Applejack before shifting his eyes quickly to the console, and then back to the orange pony in front of him. “That does sound fun and all….but I have a more pressing matter at the moment,” with the second half of his statement, he hit a large button on the console. The machine came to life and began to make a strange, whirring noise. As it did, the entire room shook violently.

Catching Applejack off guard, she fell forward and landed on top of the brown stallion.

Outside of the blue box, it vanished from sight.

Chapter 2: Space Invader

With the room shaking back and forth, Applejack let out a cry of panic and fear. Clenching on to whatever she could, she held on for dear life as the machine angrily shook and wailed an eerie whirring noise.

After fifteen seconds of this violent ordeal, the trembling ceased and the orange mare opened her eyes. It was then she saw what she was grabbing on to was the brown stallion that she had pursed furiously to scold. Quickly getting to her hooves, she brushed herself off.

“What in Celestia’s name was that?” she demanded an answer.

“Just the TARDIS taking flight,” the brown pony calmly stated as he also got back on his hooves, “by the way, TARDIS stands for Time An-.

Noticing her hat was missing from her head, Applejack continued her questioning as she looked around for her brown hat, interrupting the stallion, “An’ jus’ who do ya think you are? Shovin’ ponies out of the way, claimin’ ta be in some sort of hurry.”

With an infectious smile, the stallion introduced himself, “I’m the Doctor. And my reason for having to be in such a rush, well, it’s a bit of a long story.”

“Doctor Who?” Applejack asked as she found her hat. Placing it on her head, she continued speaking, “Never mind, I don’t have time for this. Yer comin’ with me back to the market an’ helpin’ me clean up the mess ya made.” Grabbing one of his ears, the mare started to drag the Doctor down from the platform and to the door.

“Oww, oww! That hurts you know! Goodness, my body is still sore from regeneration,” the Doctor stated, “Wait, you might not want to use that door.”

Applejack turned to him as she placed her free hoof on the door, “An’ why’s that?”

Just as she opened the door, the mare took a step out but her hoof did not land. Instead of a grassy hill where the blue box was before, Applejack saw that the box was now seemingly floating amongst the stars in space. Letting go of the Doctor’s ear, she started to drift weightlessly.

“Because we aren’t on solid ground,” the brown pony finally answered. Grabbing a line of rope, he tossed it out the door to the orange mare and pulled her back in.

Returning to solid ground after being pulled in by the Doctor, she was breathing heavily from what she had just saw. The Doctor placed a hoof on her back for comfort.

Finally returning to her normal breathing, Applejack realized that the hoof was on her back. She quickly slapped it off, “Don’t ya touch me!”

“Testy, are we?” the Doctor smirked.

Applejack was not in a joking mood, “Jus’ what in tarnation is goin’ on?”

“Do you want the long version or the short version, my dear?”

“Short, an’ mah name’s Applejack.”

The Doctor smiled, “Applejack, such a lovely name. Right, short version. Okay, you know I’m the Doctor. Well, this is my spacecraft and time machine, the TARDIS. I normally just travel around the universe and what not, but while I was on your planet, a wonderful planet I might add, I intercepted an alert from the Judoon that a fugitive has not only escaped custody, but also has taken refuge here. Any questions so far?” Before Applejack could ask one, the Doctor continued, “You see, the Judoon are an alien police force that take their job a wee bit seriously, and that’s why I’m in a bit of a rush to stop them from doing something awful to your planet.”

“Wait, do somethin’ like what?” Applejack finally got a chance to speak.

A nervous expression appeared on his face as the Doctor rubbed the back of his head with a hoof, “Well….they are quite brash and sometimes don’t think about who they kill as long as their job is done.”

“That’s horrible!” the orange mare loudly stated.

“Well, you can’t argue with the success rate, I guess. Anyway, the fugitive is believed to have hidden out on your planet and if the Judoon don’t find him within a set amount of time, they’ll more than likely destroy all of Equestria,” the Doctor explained as he looked out the open door into the space that surrounded Equestria below them.

“Isn’t that a bit of an overkill?”

“As I said, they just care about getting the job done,” the Doctor’s eyes widened as he looked outside of the TARDIS doors to see a few Judoon rockets come into view, “And it looks like they are here to do just that.”

The orange mare also looked out of the doors to see three large spacecrafts hovering over Equestria. The ships had four large rockets to propel it. The ship in the middle seemed to be taking the lead as it lowered itself closer to the planet’s atmosphere before halting.

The console of the TARDIS reacted, causing both ponies to turn their heads to see what was happening. Apparently, the TARDIS had intercepted yet another message from the Judoon. Through the speakers, the message played loudly, echoing through the console room.

“Attention residents of the planet Dramos,” a powerful and bold voice boomed over the intercom, “We are seeking a Zygon fugitive. This criminal is known by the name of Krilath. We have reason to believe that this fugitive has taken refuge on your planet. Return the fugitive within five of your minutes or we shall deal with this matter ourselves.”

Chapter 3: Aliens Exist

“Well, now we know what their currently plan is,” the Doctor commented as he looked at Applejack.

“So, what are we supposed to do? We can’t jus’ let ‘em destroy Equestria!” the orange mare’s voice was full of panic and anger.

Focusing his attention back to his console, the Doctor continued to speak, “Don’t worry, my dear. I got a plan.”

“What’s the plan?”

A smile appeared on the Doctor’s face as he pulled one last lever, “Make it up as I go along.” The TARDIS shook as the machinery came alive.

“By the way, what did they mean by ‘the planet Dramos’? This is Equestria, is it not?” Applejack asked, holding on to the railing as the room moved.

“Long story. Let’s just say you’re located in the Horeshead Nebula and let’s leave it at that….”

The blue box landed in a back alley of Ponyville. Stepping out of the box, Applejack and the Doctor made their way to the center of the town. There, a massive crowd had gathered to look up to the sky. In the sky, a large rocket was visible. Joining with the rest of the ponies, the two were looking up at the spacecraft.

“Doctor, what do they think they’re doin’?” Applejack asked in a hushed tone. It was unlikely anypony nearby would pay attention to her, however as all eyes were glued to the sky.

“Judoon’s aren’t exactly known for their subtlety. This is more or less a scare tactic for the fugitive, trying to frighten them,” the brown stallion explained.

“It doesn’t seem ta be workin’.”

Before the Doctor could comment more on the topic, large weapon appeared from part of the hovering spacecraft. Many of the ponies clamored amongst themselves as they saw the item. The Doctor, however, was alarmed. Pulling the orange pony he was standing next to, he hurried the both of them back to the alley where the TARDIS was.

“Hey! Doctor, what’s the big idea?!” Applejack was struggling to keep herself from being dragged around by the Doctor. Finally about to follow with him without aid, she asked again, “What’s goin’ on?”

“That’s no ordinary weapon. If that’s what I think it is, we need to get back in the TARDIS now,” the Doctor kept his words brief as they found the blue box right where they left it. Opening the doors, both he and Applejack entered. The second the orange pony entered, he slammed the door behind him.

“Ah don’t follow, what is that thin’ those creatures have?”

The Doctor didn’t reply. Instead, he quickly made his way up to the console. Looking at one of the monitors, he saw that the Judoons have already used their weapon. Applejack quickly made her way to the Doctor’s side, watching the action unfold on the screen. Energy was emitted from the weapon towards the planet’s surface. However, instead of causing destruction, the energy seemed to freeze the citizens of Ponyville in their tracks. Every single creature outside was motionless, from the colts and mares trotting along to the butterflies and birds in the air.

“D-Did they just stop everypony from movin’?” the mare asked in disbelief.

The Doctor rubbed his chin with one of his hooves, “Well, this is a better outcome than what I originally thought. I didn’t think the Judoon would ever use time-halting technology.”

Applejack ignored the Doctor’s comment, wanting answers instead, “Why would they do this to a planet?”

“To find their target easier. It’s not the first time they’ve done this either. Not too long ago, a platoon of Judoon once moved an entire hospital to a planet’s moon because they had no jurisdiction on that planet.”

“What in tarnation is wrong with them?”

“They’re just doing their job. But believe me, they are still far more tolerable than silly metal trashcans screeching ‘exterminate’! The nerve of them!” the Doctor commented to himself. He turned his attention back to Applejack, “Oh, right, Judoon threatening to destroy your home planet. Come along, Applejack!”

Trotting towards the door, the Doctor picked up a brown hat from the floor and placed it on his own head. It was a similar hat to the one on top of Applejack’s head. The orange mare gave him a glare.

“What?”

“Why do ya need the hat?”

“What’s wrong with a stetson? Stetsons are cool. You’re wearing one,” the Doctor pointed to the top of her head.

Without missing a beat, Applejack used her hoof to hit the hat off his head and edged him out of the TARDIS.

The two trotted toward the exit of the alley, with the Doctor leading the way. As he was about the turn the corner, he quickly shoved Applejack and himself back into the alley.

“What in Equestria are y-“ Applejack was about to protest until her mouth was covered by the Doctor’s hoof.

The Doctor started talking, “The Judoon are already here, and they are looking for the Zygon individually. This is by far a more dangerous prisoner than I original thought.” The stallion looked at the mare who was trying to speak. “This might get a little more tricky than I thought.”

Finally moving the stallion’s limb so she could speak, “So what does that mean fer us?”

Taking a moment to think, the Doctor looked at Applejack for a few seconds. Finally speaking, he started, “Sorry about this.”

Before Applejack could ask what he meant by his words, the Doctor leaned toward her and kissed her right on the lips. While it only lasted for just a second, it was enough to cause the orange pony to shove him to the ground.

Picking himself up from off the ground, the Doctor chuckled slightly, “Heh, I was honestly expecting that sort of reaction. Now, then, let us go introduce ourselves. Just follow me and act natural.” The Doctor, without missing a beat, continued his trotting out of the alley.

Applejack needed a moment to collect herself, “How can ah act natural after somethin’ like that?!”

Chapter 4: Police On My Back

Trotting towards five figures in black and gray armor, the two ponies were cautious. It was obvious that Applejack was scared about this situation, but her pride wouldn’t let it get the best of her. In her mind, she was piecing out just what had happened to lead her to putting all of her trust into such a bizarre brown stallion with a strange, blue box.

“Greetings, my Judoon friends!” the Doctor called out to the platoon of aliens. They quickly shifted their attention, and their weapons, to the ponies. Applejack let out a small noise of terror as she stared down the barrel of the weapons. “Now, now, no need for weapons. We are all after the Zygon fugitive, are we not?”

One of the aliens, apparently the leader of the group, spoke in a booming voice, “Identify yourself.” His head was that of a rhinoceros on top of a very sturdy, bipedal body, just like the rest of his platoon.

Reaching with his hoof behind him, the Doctor seemingly pulled a small piece of folded leather and opened it, showing it to the Judoon. “I'm Doctor Smith and this is my partner Applejack Wesson, and together we are Smith and Wesson." Putting the item away, he smiled as he looked to Applejack and the Judoon, “Smith and Wesson….has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

The Judoon leader spoke again, “What is your purpose of being here?”

“My partner and I are Time Lords private investigators. We were hired to make sure that you and your prisoner would be transported without a problem, but it seems you had a problem,” the Doctor spoke.

Another Judoon spoke up, “Impossible, there are no Time Lords left from the Last Great Time War.”

“So? Maybe some Time Lords turned into ponies like me. It’s not a bad body, you know,” the Doctor smirked.

“Silence, we will check if his story checks out,” the platoon leader said, taking a device from his belt. He scanned the two ponies with the device. After a few moments, the machine made a noise. “Strange. It reads that the brown pony is, indeed, an alien not of this planet. However, the orange one contains traces of alien DNA.”

“Let us deal with the problem later, after we catch the fugitive,” another Judoon stated, raising his weapon up.

“So we all are on the same page? Excellent! Let us find the Zygon so you don’t have to destroy this planet.”

“Agreed, we shall work with Smith and Wesson. However, when we find the fugitive, he is our prisoner and under our jurisdiction,” the Judoon leader instructed.

“Fantastic! Come along, Applejack!”

The two ponies and the five Judoon soldiers started assessing the townsponies. As the Judoon scanned the frozen figures, Applejack began to worry about a few things.

“Doctor?”

“Yes, Applejack?”

The mare looked at one of the frozen ponies, “How is it possible that all the town’s frozen like this, yet we were fine?”

“You mean how we were safe in the TARDIS while the rest of the town was not?” he asked.

Applejack simply nodded.

“To make it brief, the TARDIS exists in it’s own dimension, keeping us safe from the weapon. In fact, the TARDIS even has pocket dimensions within itself, really quite remarkable,” the Doctor explained.

“Okay, ah guess….but what ‘bout that thing ya showed them,” the mare pointed to a few members of the Judoon platoon, scanning yet another pony.

Taking it out again, the Doctor displayed the piece of leather, “Psychic paper. Makes others see what I want them to see. Try to keep up,” the Doctor winked as he teased the orange pony.

Applejack was annoyed at his jest. She trotted up to him and pulled at him with her hoof, “An’ what ‘bout that stuff me bein’ me havin’ some alien DNA, or whatever.”

“Simple DNA transfer,” the stallion explained.

“Through a kiss?” Applejack’s voice was both hushed and angered.

A sly smirk appeared on the Doctor’s face, “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it.” With a laugh, he continued helping the Judoon with the scanning of the citizens of Ponyville.

Applejack made a sour face, annoyed at the Doctor’s comment.

One of the Judoons called out, “Sir! We have found a non-local entity here.”

“Ya found the Zygoon- or whatever?” Applejack turned her head towards the direction where the voice came from.

“Brilliant! Let us take care of this and wrap this all up in a neat little package,” the Doctor trotted towards the gathering of Judoons around the pony in question.

Upon arriving, Applejack was stunned to see the pony that the Judoon found the alien signal coming from. “Wait a minute….that’s the mayor!”

The readings were coming from a tan mare with a gray mane and glasses resting on her nose.

“She is right, this is Mayor Mare. To think that the Zygon would choose her to mimic,” the Doctor commented.

The platoon leader spoke, “Wake her.”

One of the soldiers took a device from his belt and placed it to the mayor’s coat. A sound was emitted and the body moved as it normally would. After a few dizzy steps, the mare spoke, “Wh-What’s going on?”

“Prisoner 41251: Krilath. You are here by arrested under Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. You are also guilty of escaping captivity,” the platoon leader dictated to Mayor Mare.

The tan mare looked up at the five Judoon and the two ponies that surrounded her. “It was a good run while it lasted,” she spoke, in a voice that was a stark contrast to the mayor’s voice.

This surprised Applejack greatly. “Jus’ who are ya and what did ya do with the major?!” she barked out.

“My name is Krilath, a proud Zygon. As for your precious mayor, she’s knocked out, but unharmed. It took me quite a while to get used to her body, and I needed her around to assist me with it,” the alien spoke.

The Doctor interrupted, “The Judoon stated you are being arrested under Article 57. What could drive you to destroy a Level 5 planet?”

“My cover was blown on that planet. I came close, very close to controlling the planet completely. I was going to make it a paradise for fellow Zygons. But my cover was blown. And with that, I saw no other option. It didn’t matter away, it was full of primitive and inferior species, what do I care?” the Zygon explained.

The Judoon soldiers interrupted, “You will be placed on trial for your actions.”

“Oh, I’m certain I will. That is, if you can capture me!” the alien was quick as they bucked each of the Judoon soldiers onto their backs, leaving them defenceless. With them dealt with, the Zygon made their escape while still in the mayor’s body.

In pursuit of the escapee, Applejack followed behind the Krilath, “Get right back here, ya varmint!” she shouted.

Krilath didn’t reply. Instead, it tried to gallop away faster. However, Krilath tripped over the mayor’s own hooves, as they still were having trouble with their body. Applejack took full advantage of the situation, leaping onto Krilath and wrestling with them. The two ponies brawled it out, both taking multiple hits from one another.

Struggling up to her hooves, Applejack took her hat off her head, “That’s it partner, the hat is off….an’ yer goin’ down.”

Also getting onto their hooves, Krilath looked back at the orange mare, “You got a lot of moxie in you, pony. It’s a shame that it’s your own boldness that will get you killed. Or rather….” Krilath paused the sentence as the appearance of the body changed from that of Mayor Mare’s to that of Applejack’s, “it’s a shame that it’s my boldness that will kill you.”

Chapter 5: Doppelgänger

It was as if Applejack was looking into a mirror. The Zygon fugitive had turned itself into a perfect replication of Applejack. From her mane and tail, to her face and hooves, and even her cutie mark, Krilath had turned into Applejack, and had a sinister smile.

“What’s the matter? Can’t deal with the fact that I’m a better you?” Krilath spoke.

“Ya might look like me, but ya ain’t me!” Applejack shouted.

“Ya might look like me, but ya ain’t me!” Krilath echoed, the voice sounding identical to Applejack.

Gritting her teeth, Applejack leapt at Krilath to resuming fighting.

As the two continued to wrestle with each other, the Doctor and the Judoon platoon finally arrived. The Doctor saw the two ponies fighting, “Enough! Stop your fighting now!”

Both Applejacks ceased and got to their hooves.

One of them spoke, “’Bout time ya got here, Doctor! She copied me!”

The other retorted, “Don’t listen ta her, ah’m the real Applejack!”

The brown stallion sighed heavily as he looked at the two orange ponies, “Oh my, this is going to be more confusing than the Gangers, won’t it?” After commenting to himself, he spoke up again, “Right, it’s quite apparent that Krilath has turned into Applejack.”

“It appears that way,” one of the Judoon soldiers replied.

“So, it should be obvious what we should do here, correct?” the Doctor asked the platoon of Judoon.

“Correct, destroy them both.” All five Judoon raised their weapons and pointed them at the two Applejacks.

Both Applejacks replied in unison, “No!”

The Doctor also protested the idea, “Goodness, no! Honestly, you have the rationalization of a Dalek and a Sontaran combined….instead, we shall question both of these Applejacks to find who the true pony is, and find the real Zygon.”

“Can’t ya jus’ use that scanny thing?” an Applejack asked.

A Judoon soldier agreed, “The scanner should be able to identify the Zygon.”

The Doctor shook his head, “No, it would just read if there is any alien DNA on the individual, and both Applejacks have DNA not present on this planet.”

“How do you think we should do this, Doctor?” one of the Applejacks asked.

The Doctor began to trot back and forth, “It’s quite easy, I’ll ask the questions and determine who the doppelganger is.”

“Ah can’t believe mah life an’ planet is in the hooves of somepony like you….” one of the Applejacks commented.

“Yer life? Yer an alien, ya vermin!” the other Applejack bit back.

“Silence!” the Doctor quieted both ponies with the one word. He then continued with his back and forth trotting, “Now, first question, how did I meet with you today?”

One of the Applejacks answered, “Ya ran in ta me in the market, ruining mah barrel of apples.”

“Correct, one point for you, Applejack Alpha. That’s a clever little nickname, we’ll call you that for the time being,” the Doctor said. He picked up the brown hat that the original Applejack was wearing earlier and placed it on his own head, “Question number two, this planet is planet is known on an intergalactic scale as Dramos, what is it known as locally?”

The other Applejack was quick to answer, “That’s easy, this is Equestria.”

“And the point goes to Applejack Beta!” the Doctor proclaimed. “And now, for the final question, winner take all. What does TARDIS stand for?”

Applejack Alpha was about the answer, but stopped herself. She had no idea, “Ah….ah don’t know….”

The other Applejack, Beta, answered, “Time and relevant dimension in space.”

“Bingo!” the Doctor pointed to Applejack Beta, “Funny word, that is, bingo….bingo. Anyway, Applejack Beta is the real Applejack! Come here and give me a hug!”

Applejack Beta trotted up to the Doctor happily. The two ponies then shared a hug, “Told ya ah was the real Applejack.”

Smirking, the Doctor replied, “And that’s why I didn’t believe you.” Quickly maneuvering around the orange pony in his grasp, the Doctor had locked the pony’s front limbs behind her back with his own limbs. “This here is Krilath the Zygon. And I here by give him to your custody, my fine Judoon officers.”

One of the Judoon officers placed restraints on the false Applejack, constricting her and causing her to be unable to move. “Target is secure.”

The real Applejack, was dumbfounded at what she had just witnessed, “Well, roll me in mud an’ call me a hog….”

Chapter 6: Come Sail Away

“Thank you for your assistance with our prisoner, Doctor Smith and Applejack Wesson,” the Judoon platoon leader bowed to the two ponies.

“Think nothin’ of it,” Applejack bowed slightly.

The Doctor also bowed, “Always happy to play a part in protecting the universe.”

“You certainly have today, Doctor. I promise you that this Zygon will pay for the crimes he has enacted,” the Judoon continued.

“I’m sure he will. Also, may I make a suggestion of using some sort of interdimensional crystals for capture and transport of these prisoners? It could certainly save a lot of trouble with incidents like this,” the Doctor explained.

The Judoon nodded, “I shall bring that up to my superiors among the Shadow Proclamation soon. Thank you again for your help again.”

Applejack trotted up to the Zygon prisoner, still disguising itself as Applejack. The orange pony spoke to fugitive, “So, got anythin’ ta say fer yerself?”

The false Applejack stared back at the real thing. The Zygon, in Applejack’s voice, spoke one statement, “Seeing your own doppelgänger is an omen of death. You’ve been warned.”

Before Applejack could ask what those words were supposed to mean, one of the soldiers silenced the Zygon by tighten the restraints.

The platoon leader spoke again, “We shall return to our ships and return this planet to its normal state. I suggest you do the same, Doctor Smith and Wesson. Safe travels.”

With the parting words, the Judoons teleported off the surface of Equestria, leaving the Doctor with Applejack. The two began trotting back to the TARDIS.

“So, tell me, Doc, how did ya know that the other Applejack was a fake an’ ah was real?”

The Doctor smiled, “It’s quite simple really. The questions weren’t how I could tell who was who.”

“Then tell me!” she was started to get impatient.

“The real Applejack would never want me to touch her, much less hug her,” the stallion explained.

“Oh….right, duh,” Applejack’s words were almost sad that it was true.

Arriving at the TARDIS, the Doctor opened the door, “Ah, back to the old girl!” He trotted inside and made his way to the console.

“Well, ah’m sure that ya want ta go and fly off in ta space again like some sort of lunatic. Ah’ll leave ya be,” Applejack stated, following him inside to bid him farewell.

“What, and not have such a strong and bold companion by my side, are you mad?” the Doctor questioned as he began to fiddle with the console, “Just how do you expect me to try and carry on like that?”

Applejack watched his hooves move the instruments, “Wait, are ya inviting me ta travel with ya, Doctor?”

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Well, sure ah do, but….”

“Then what’s stoppin’ ya? Come, let us sail away,” the Doctor pulled a few levers and pressed a number of buttons quickly, “Allons-y, Applejack!” Pulling one last lever, the TARDIS sprang to life and made the familiar whirring sound. Outside, the box vanished from the surface of Equestria.

END