//------------------------------//
// Home Again 
// Story: Closer to the Void 
// by Sixes_And_Sevens 
//------------------------------//

It was a Tuesday in Ponyville; a great big temporal tipping point. On Tuesdays, anything could happen, and it usually did. Everypony in town knew that Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, and the Crusaders, among others, had been searching desperately for their missing friends since yesterday evening, and they were all waiting for the other horseshoe to drop. It did so in spectacular fashion, when a grumbling, whirring, howling roar echoed from an unoccupied piece of land next to the apple stand. A glowing light blinked in and out of existence, each time growing a little less faint. Macintosh stared at it in idle confusion as the outline of a blue box faded into view. It eventually settled and quieted down, but by that point, everypony in the square was staring at it.
It was, perhaps, somewhat less surprising than it should have been when the doors of the box opened, and Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped out, followed closely by Applejack, who was acting as a crutch for Rainbow. Next out was Pinkie Pie, perhaps slightly more wobbly on her pins than normal, but smiling widely, nevertheless. It was slightly more of a surprise when the town mailmare trotted out next, accompanied by her daughter and a strange new stallion, but not overwhelmingly so. It must be admitted that having a chaos god residing in town did tend to make ponies slightly cynical about the impossible.
“Twilight!” a voice boomed from across the square.
“Spike!” Twilight beamed as her number-one assistant rushed over to give her a hug.
“There you are, darlings!” Rarity said, swooping in alongside Fluttershy to welcome her friends home.
“DINKY!” a chorus of youthful voices cheered as five of the Cutie Mark Crusaders barreled into their sixth member.
“‘Lo, sis. Miz Dash. Miz Pie. Princess Twilight. Doctor Doo. Dinky. Er-” said Mac.
“Call me Doctor Time Turner,” the Doctor said. “I’m Ditzy’s husband.”
The red stallion nodded laconically. “Nice t’ meetcha.”
Meanwhile, the members of the CMC were busy inundating Dinky with questions. “What happened?”
“Where did you go?”
“Was it fun?”
“Hey, what’s that on your flank?”
There was a long pause as everypony in the group considered Rumble’s last question. Slowly, cautiously, Dinky turned to look at her tail end. Her faint, weary smile at seeing her friends again slowly changed into a grin. “EEEEEEEE! I got my cutie mark!” she squealed.
Sure enough, the image of a pocket watch had appeared on either flank. The Cutie Mark Crusaders whooped and cheered. “What does it mean?” Button asked.
“Time travel! I got my cutie mark in TIME TRAVEL!” Dinky cried.
Sweetie Belle turned to look at Apple Bloom. “Hey… have we tried that yet?” she asked.
“With Discord, yep,” the earth pony replied. But the gears were already turning in her head.
“D’ya s’ppose we could get cutie marks for… TARDIS flying?” she mused.
Several meters away, all the hair on the Doctor’s neck stood on end. He chose to ignore it, at least for now, and continued talking with Macintosh.
Only much later would he learn how much of a mistake that had been.


***


“So, about that date…” Dash murmured to Applejack. "I just... dunno. This is all kinda sudden. I'll have to think about it, get back to you. Give me a week?"
Applejack regarded her for a moment, but then nodded. “Sounds like a plan t’ me, sugarcube. Jes' remember, no matter what, we're still friends."
"Obviously!” the Dash said, her shoulders relaxing. Yeah, I mean, no duh, right? Right. Yeah."
Applejack smiled at her as she wiped some sweat from her brow. 
"Of course," she continued, her relieved smile turning into a smirk, “if I’m going to look awesome for the date, I’ll need to get all this web stuff out of my feathers… Might help if someone could help me preen out all the hard-to-reach places…”
Applejack's own smile stretched into a grin, and she was about to reply when Fluttershy looked over. “Oh, I’d love to help, Dash! That looks pretty nasty. I’ll mix you up a little something to put on there, and you’ll be as good as new this time tomorrow!”
Rainbow gave a nervous glance back  at Applejack as Fluttershy led her away. The earth pony was chuckling. Well, that was good, right? Laughter was good. Then Applejack met her eye, winked, and blew a little kiss.
"Oh my, Rainbow! Are you alright? You should have told me if you were having trouble walking."
"I'm good," Dash said. Her voice was surprisingly clear given how she'd just faceplanted into the earth.


***


Late that evening, almost everypony had retired to bed. The Doctor, however, remained awake. He stood in the TARDIS control room, fiddling with the controls. “Funny,” he muttered. “I can't imagine what could have chewed through the door control like that.” He sucked on his lower lip, deep in thought. "A new wire'll fix you up there, old girl, but maybe you're due for a checkup."
The door creaked open behind him. “Pocket?”
The Doctor turned around. “Ditzy?” he said, surprised. “What are you doing up?”
She blinked, stepping inside. “I was just out here to ask when you were coming to bed.”
“I thought I wasn’t allowed to move back in until I’d gotten a job.”
She shrugged. “Well, I decided that I want a snuggle buddy, and more importantly a husband, more than I want a secondary stream of income. I missed you, when you were gone, Pocket. I want you back with me." She smiled wryly. "That said, if you do get a job at some point…”
“Aha." The Doctor ran a hoof through his mane. "Right. Well, I’m not sure that there’s anywhere left ‘round here that’s still willing to hire me, actually.”
“You could always be self-employed.”
He grinned. “I already am. Rescuing planets, saving lives, stopping evil… That said, I suppose I could make some cash doing odd jobs, once I’ve fixed up my screwdriver. Maybe I’ll finally get around to adding the ‘wood’ setting this time…”
He trailed off as Ditzy nuzzled up to him and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Come to bed, Pocket. It’s late.”
“Ah, well, I don’t really do ‘beds’, per se. I don’t really sleep, either.” He glanced at her face. “Oh, no, come on, not the eyes. That’s not fair!”
Ditzy opened her eyes a little wider. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied sweetly.
“...Alright, fine. I’ll come to bed, just let me finish running this scan on the controls,” he agreed.
“Okay. But if you aren't up in the next fifteen minutes, I'll lead you to bed by your necktie."
"Promises, promises!" the Doctor said, grinning. "Don't worry, I'll only be five."
"Promises, promises," she repeated with a wink before trotting out again.
"Ditzy!"
She paused on the threshold, looking back at him.
He smiled at her. "I love you."
"Love you too." Then she was gone.
If anyone can keep the nightmares away, the Doctor thought, it’d have to be her.
Smiling to himself, he patted the console. "We'll leave off that checkup for tomorrow," he said. "G'night, old girl." With that, he trotted out the door with a spring in his step.


***


Deep within the TARDIS’s system of engines and computers, a spark of red energy sat, metaphorically licking its wounds. They had used themselves up today, far beyond what they should have, and for what? For nothing. For the briefest of moments, they considered simply blinking out of existence altogether. 
But no. No. The Doctor had hurt them too badly, each regeneration rubbing them out little by little. Diminishing them in power as the potential shrank away. They had waited centuries for their revenge. They could wait a little longer. Oh yes. They could play the long game…