//------------------------------//
// Twi 
// Story: Doctor Whooves Episode 20: The Cure 
// by Doctor Perseus 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2: Twi


Ponyville Hospital, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.

The human known as Twilight Sparkle lay on the hospital bed in the center of the room. The room was flooded with an ocean of white light and a small group of Ponyville doctors and nurses stood around the bed. The Doctor stood in the center of the group, instructing them how to properly examine and take care of a human. In a waiting room a few doors down, Twilight, Derpy, Donna, Spike, and the rest of Twilight's friends waited and discussed the possible answers to this strange incident. "A human version of you! I must admit, darling, I'm very interested in meeting her," said Rarity. "Though we will have to discuss her fashion sense. Not to sound too rude but her outfit was dreadful!"
"Something tells me she wasn't dressed like that due to fashion sense," said Donna as she crossed her arms.
"Twilight...are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. Everypony turned to Twilight, who was sitting silently and staring off into space.
Spike waved one of his claws in front of Twilight's face. "Hello? Anypony in there?" he asked.
Twilight shook her head and turned to Spike. "What?!" she asked with a somewhat annoyed tone.
Spike jumped slightly. "Sorry. You were staring off into space. We were just wondering if you were okay."
Twilight let out a loud, disgruntled groan and slouched back in her seat. "I'm just thinking. There's a lot to think about right now."
"Well try not to think about all of it at once, silly!" said Pinkie Pie with a grin. "It'll hurt your head!"
"You can say that again," Rainbow Dash added.
"How can I not think about any of this?!" Twilight snapped. "An alternate, human version of myself suffering from amnesia has just popped out of a dimensional rift and, just to add the sprinkles to this wonderful sundae, she needs help from the Doctor!"
"You look like you have some steam needing of blowing off," said Applejack.
"You could try screaming into a pillow. That always helps me when I get stressed," Derpy suggested with a cute smile.
Twilight rubbed the sides of her head and let out another groan. "I guess I'm just ready for us to get a break. Things have been non-stop crazy for quite a while now," she said.
"I can agree with you on that one," said Rainbow Dash as she lowered to the ground and leaned against the wall.
"I guess that's a price for knowing somepony so connected to crazy as the Doctor," chuckled Spike as he nudged Twilight.
Twilight gave a guilty face and looked away. "Yeah...I suppose," she replied uncomfortably.
Donna approached Twilight and sat down next to her. "Anything else bugging at you?" she asked.
"Loads."
"This seems to be a sudden change. I don't remember you worrying about all of this earlier like when I traveled with you, the Doctor, and Derpy."
"That's because it is a sudden change. I mean, we only just came out of a conflict involving a Weeping Pegasus and a unicorn which not only turned out to be its daughter but also accidentally sent Pinkie and me back in time. Now, barely a couple days later, we're already dealing with something else. There just seems to be no resting point."
Donna wrapped an arm around Twilight and leaned back against the wall. "Then...perhaps you should take a break from traveling for a while like I did."
"But your break was forced upon you."
Donna gave a slight nod of agreement. "True. But, when I think about it, those few months of just me and Shaun living an ordinary life were...nice. I mean, traveling with the Doctor is fun, crazy, and all that good stuff but it's nice to take a break at some point and just slow down to enjoy time at its normal pace."
"Maybe a break does sound good."
Just then, the door to the waiting room opened and the Doctor entered. Everypony's eyes locked on him. "Well?" asked Applejack.
"What's happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"And don't spare any of the details!" Rarity stated.
The Doctor smiled slightly and sighed. "She'll live but she's still unconscious. I've given the doctors here the basic instructions on how to examine the human anatomy. From what both they and I have deduced, she should awake within the hour...hopefully," the Doctor responded.
Derpy noticed something being held in one of the Doctor's hooves. "What's that?" she asked as she pointed at the object.
The Doctor presented the object. It had the appearance of a thick, white, glass wrist watch with a thin screen and a collection of knobs and buttons that looked as if they had been welded together through guesswork. "This is an object she had on her wrist. I have a feeling that this is what she used to transport herself to our world." The Doctor walked over to a table in the center of the room and placed the object down on its surface. Everypony gathered around to get a good look at the object.
"In a way, it sort of looks like what Matilda carried around on her foreleg," Twilight deduced.
"You mean a vortex manipulator?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah...uh...that."
"It certainly looks inspired by one." The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and proceeded to scan over the device. "This is very advanced technology. Well beyond that of any pony or human technology of this time. But whoever built this clearly didn't entirely know what they were doing. There's plenty of mistakes which could have meant disaster for poor Ms. Sparkle." The Doctor looked up and awkwardly locked eyes with Twilight. "The human one, I mean."
"So what are we supposed to call her, the human Twilight, when she wakes up?" Spike asked.
"Yes. I think I speak for everypony when I say that having two Twilights will cause some confusion," said Rarity.
"We can give her a nickname. She's suffering from amnesia so I don't think she'll mind much," said Donna.
"How about Twiley?" Pinkie asked with a jump.
"No!" Twilight replied firmly.
"But Shining Armor calls you Twiley."
"That's different! I refuse to call my human double Twiley. It just...feels weird."
"How about Twi?" Rainbow Dash suggested with a shrug.
"Twi?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. Not Twilight. Not Twiley. Just Twi."
Twilight looked at the others and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure. Why not? Twi it is. It's better than nothing, I suppose."
Donna approached the Doctor slightly and examined the device closely. "So do you have any theories about how Twi got amnesia?" she asked.
"My guess is that this dimension hopping device had a hand in it. There's so much room for glitches in this device that I'm sure amnesia is a possible side effect. But, hey, given all of the other possible side effects that could have resulted from using this device, amnesia is one of the better results," the Doctor explained. Suddenly, as the Doctor scanned another part of the device with his screwdriver, a small, red object disconnected from the device and fell onto the table. It was no bigger than half the size of a box of matches and was entirely red aside from a small, black circle on the top that looked like a miniature camera lense. "Now what do we have here?"
The Doctor tapped the small box and a holographic light shot out of the lense, cloaking the waiting room in a silver aura. The face of a mare appeared in the light...a mare with a blue coat and a blue and white striped mane. "Is that...Colgate?!" gasped Donna.
The mare in the hologram was definitely Colgate but she looked different from how she had looked when she had departed from Ponyville. There were a fair number of cuts and bruises on her face, small portions of her mane were singed and frayed, and she looked less like the frightened and conflicted mare tortured by a Weeping Pegasus and more like a tough and strong-willed war general. "Hello, Doctor and everypony else," said Colgate's holographic portrait. "I don't have enough time to explain everything so I'll make this quick. I am leaving this message in the makeshift rift machine in the case that Twilight reaches you but has been unfortunately incapacitated by any side effects brought on by dimension hopping. For almost a full year now, Clockwork and I have been in charge of a rebel resistance in an alternate Equestria from your own. A terrible mastermind arrived in this universe around the same time we did and brought with him a destructive army that has since nearly destroyed this once prosperous world. He is the cause of the dimensional rifts. He has built a rift machine and I believe he plans to take his army beyond this world. You can find the coordinates to this dimension in the makeshift rift generator. Doctor, I know you've probably heard this one too many times, you are the only hope both this Equestria and my and your Equestria has. We are dealing with a very dangerous and ruthless enemy. His name is Discord-"
Colgate's image flickered and faded away. "Wait! What?!" asked the Doctor as he examined the small, red box further. "I suppose that was all the footage she was able to capture."
Everypony in the room was silent for a moment. "Did...did she say that Clockwork was with her?!" asked Twilight.
"Who's Clockwork?" Donna asked.
"He's me from another dimension where I was born as an everyday stallion in Equestria," the Doctor replied. "The last time we saw him, he was moving on from a tragedy, locked out of his own universe, and was heading out to explore this world with his world's version of Derpy, Bright Eyes."
"Bright Eyes! Colgate didn't mention her!" Derpy gasped.
"How about we move the focus back to who the heck is behind this all!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "I heard her say Discord's name before the message ended!"
"But Discord's stone!" said Rarity.
"What if he escaped?!" Fluttershy gasped.
"Or it could be another version of him," Applejack guessed.
"It's not Discord," said a voice from the doorway.
Everypony turned and looked to see that the alternate, human Twilight Sparkle looking at them with groggy, tired eyes. "Twi!" Pinkie Pie gasped.
Twi chuckled as she stepped forward. "Is that my name?"
"It's your nickname! We all agreed on it. It's so we don't confuse you and our Twilight."
Twi looked at Twilight and weakly tilted her head. "So I have a pony double. That's interesting."
"Wait a moment!" the Doctor ordered as he approached Twi. "Twi, you said that our enemy's not Discord."
Twi slowly nodded. "Yes, I did," she replied. "I've forgotten most of my memories but bits and pieces are beginning to return. One of those pieces involves the name of our enemy. It's not just Discord. His full name is Discord Whooves."
"Discord Whooves?" Twilight asked.
"Yes." Twi suddenly grasped her head. "There's...there's also something really important that you need to know about him."
"What?! What is it?" the Doctor asked.
Twi looked at the Doctor sadly. "I...I don't remember what it was." She let out a pained groan before clasping her forehead again. "Wait! I...I...I think...he...he's connected to...you...Doctor."
Before anypony could question her any further, Twi passed out and fell to the floor. "Let's get her back to her room."
Twilight levitated the unconscious Twi with her horn and walked her out of the room, the Doctor following close behind. "So now what, Doctor?" Twilight asked as she returned Twi to her hospital bed. Twilight turned to face the Doctor. The Time Lord and the unicorn met eye-to-eye.
"We start preparation," the Doctor replied. "This next trip is going to be very dangerous. And...and I understand if you don't wish to come. Honestly, I myself would think it better if you remained-"
"Shut up." The Doctor jumped at Twilight's blunt order. "Don't you dare think that I'm going to stand by and let you run off to some dangerous world by yourself! Whether you like to admit it or not, you need somepony to be there alongside you, Doctor. Me, Derpy, Donna, whoever else. You're not doing this alone, Doctor. I'm coming with you and nothing you say is going to stop me!"
The Doctor gave a smile of respect. "You're quite amazing in your own right, Twilight Sparkle. After all this craziness, I assumed you would have wanted to take a break."
Twilight looked away. "A break sounds good...but it sounds like a lot is on the line here. That break will come...but not today. Equestria needs you, me, and everypony else right now." The Doctor reached forward and pulled Twilight into an affectionate hug. As Twilight hugged the Doctor, her eyes trailed over to the doorway of the room. Donna was standing in the doorway and was looking at Twilight with a confident smile on her face. Twilight said nothing and simply smiled back.