Chapter 2-Find You Again
Nothing Left to Say Part 2
Twilight was twelve at their next meeting. She had advanced pretty far into her studies and was making great progress.
If only they knew she wasn't sleeping.
At night, soft voices called to her. Not just at night. Everywhere. The voices came from the shadows, the dark alleyways and closets, under the beds, in the Canterlot gardens, under the bushes.
Her parents, her mentor, and even her own brother thought it was just late night study and reading sessions. Only her half-dragon assistant even considered something was up.
It wasn't until she could barely keep her eyes open one morning that something was decided to be done about it.
"Honey, what's wrong? Why aren't you sleeping?" her father cooed.
"Voices…" Twilight mumbled, trailing off.
"Spike, do you here anything?"
Spike gave Twilight a regretful look, and said, "No. I don't know what she's talking about."
"I knew it!" her mother cried. "She's gone completely mad! Shining dear, call a Doctor."
At that moment, a Doctor was just about to knock.
*
"Doctor, are you sure this is the correct address?" Derpy wrung her hands nervously, never having investigated at someone else's house before.
"Of course it is! You trust me, don't you?"
Ditzy shifted, nodded and said, "Okay, you knock."
The Doctor smiled and banged his fist against the door.
Velvet opened her front door to find an eccentric 904 year old Time Lord and a wall-eyed, grey-winged blonde grinning back at her.
He held up his psychic paper. "Hello, miss! I'm the Doctor, and this is my assistant Ditzy, and-"
Nightlight cut him off. "Wait, you're a Doctor?" She pulled him inside.
"Can you help my daughter? She's not sleeping and she says that she hears voices. I just don't know what to do!"
Derpy followed close behind. "That's what we're here to do! Now, what's your daughter's name?"
They both froze when they saw her. She hadn't changed much, just grew taller and had more of an adult silhouette. They mouthed the name as the woman said it:
"Twilight Sparkle."
*
Twilight sleepily opened her eyes upon hearing the voices of two of the most memorable people she ever met.
First was Princess Celestia, of course. Second was Princess Cadence, her babysitter.
And third, of course, were the excitable travelers.
Out of one eye, she could see the Doctor's blurry figure come over to her, felt him place his hand gently on her back.
"Hey Twilight. You okay?" he sounded genuinely concerned. "Heard you haven't been sleeping well."
Derpy walked over. "Doctor…" she whispered. "I can hear it."
"Yeah, me too. We're gonna fix this, okay Twilight?"
She nodded blearily. Her family watched on with cautious optimism. "Here, lemme show you to my room…"
"Can I come?" came the voice of a very anxious Spike.
The Doctor and Derpy shot each other a glance. The Doctor nodded his consent.
The four of them climbed up the stairs and turned into a dark blue room with a night sky patterned bed. There was a desk in the corner and a bookshelf.
"Nice room you've got," the Doctor commented.
Twilight smiled dryly. "Thanks." She snorted. "I don't ever want to see it again."
"Well, that's a little much," the Doctor mumbled. "What have they been showing you…?"
Spike swallowed. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"They've been plaguing her mind with-ooh my, why would they show you that…?" the Doctor trailed off once more.
"What do you mean by that, Doctor?" Ditzy squirmed uncomfortably.
"I think you already know."
Her mouth opened, then closed again and she nodded. "Explosions of light and color, wars tearing planets apart..."
"The Last Time War," Twilight whispered. Derpy nodded.
The Doctor had a horrified look on his face. Spike looked confused. He turned the Doctor.
"What? What's wrong?"
"They...they also tell me to come with them. They say I can be greater than what I was destined for." Twilight licked her lips. "What does that mean? What destiny?"
The Doctor gripped onto her desk, looking nauseous. "Twilight...how much of the Time War have they shown you?"
"..."
"Twilight, it is essential that I know how much of the Time War you have seen."
She hesitated again, and whispered, "Almost all of it."
He leaned against the desk, barely breathing. "Then, I'll have to get right to work."
He quickly scanned the room with his sonic screwdriver and ran back out.
Only to be stopped by Twilight Velvet Sparkle.
"Now, where do you think you're going mister? You promised to help my daughter, and that's what you're going to do!"
"That is what I'm doing!" he responded in frustration. "I'm...just...testing these samples I took."
Velvet looked at him skeptically. "Okay. But you better come back soon!"
He nodded, and gave a dramatic salute. "Yes, ma'am!" He pulled Derpy with him, who was staring at the calender. "Come along, my darling Derpy!"
When they were outside, she turned to him. "You..." she pointed at him accusingly. "Do you know what today is?"
"I don't believe so. Why?"
"Today is Hearts and Hooves Day."
Rocks Part Two
In time, Pinkie moved in with the Cakes in Ponyville, which is where Rarity had moved recently. It was one of the fortunate little coincidences in Pinkie's life.
They were fourteen now, and they had become friends fairly quickly, being two of the most popular girls. Rarity's generosity and heightened sense of fashion, and Pinkie's happy-go-lucky attitude and love of throwing parties made them obvious first choices when choosing a life-long companion.
It was Hearts and Hooves Day, and Pinkie was eager to spend the day with her best friend, whom she'd been harboring a crush on for the longest time, ever since they first met at the rock farm shop.
Today was the day Pinkie would her friend how she felt.
*
Things did not turn out how Pinkie had hoped.
Pinkie couldn't even get to Rarity, who was surrounded by a large crowd of-and this hurt the most-male suitors.
This was very disheartening to the poor earth human. Not because of fear of being ousted by her peers. All kinds of love were excepted in Equestria-including polyamory, marriage between cousins, etc-but because she was afraid Rarity wouldn't feel the same about her. She had seen Rarity turn down other girls, and if she wasn't even interested in girls, that would lessen her chances even more.
Pinkie knew that these were unfair and selfish thoughts, and she always tried her best not to be selfish. But she just couldn't help but lie in her bed awake and worry about this. Rarity was this important to her .
That settled it. Pinkie would go over to Rarity's.
It didn't even register in Pinkie's mind that it was 2:43 PM, extremely late by most people's standards. She sort of remembered there was a light layer of snow falling, putting on a pair of stockings, boots, and throwing on her white winter coat over her pink night gown patterned with blue and yellow balloons.
She grabbed the gifts she had gotten for Rarity, patted Gummy, her toothless alligator, on his head, and tiptoed quietly down the stairs, trying not to wake the Cakes up.
When she reached the front door, she shot out like a bullet into the night.
*
When she reached Rarity's boutique and moved to the window where, guided by her Pinkie Sense, she knew Rarity's bedroom was, she quickly checked her gift basket.
Teddy bear holding a heart that said "Will you be my special someone?"? Check.
Box of cupcakes decorated to look like chocolates? Check.
Tiny bundle of plastic roses? Check.
Package of hair ribbons? Check.
Ebony, dark brown box with a golden vine and leaf design with pastel colored, shiny rocks in it?
She smiled.
Check.
She was ready.
Taking in a deep breath, she grabbed a plain rock of the ground and hurled it at the window.
It missed. She frowned.
After a few more failed tries, out of either lack of sleep, mild insanity, or both, she pulled a rock out of the gift basket.
The rocks were really adorable, if Pinkie said so herself. She had carved sweet, little romantic phrases into the rocks. The one she had just picked up said, "You're the most beautiful person I've ever met." She stared at it out of sleepiness and then decided it was the perfect rock to throw.
If the movement of her arm didn't wake Pinkie up, the shattering of glass sure did.
She stood there in shock at what she'd just done as a light blue glow picked up the glass pieces and mended the window back together.
The window slammed open. "Thunderlane, I swear to Celestia if that's you..." she stopped mid-sentence and her features lit up in delight when she saw who it was. "Pinkie."
"Oh my gosh Rarity, I'm so sorry I broke your window! I thought it would be cute and romantic, but it turns out it was just loud and destructive..."
Rarity stopped her, holding Pinkie's rock. "Is...is this for me?"
Pinkie's cheeks were flushed. "Yes. I wrote the message myself. I have more presents..." Pinkie clamored up the tree closest to the window, hauling her Hearts and Hooves gift basket with her.
When she got to the top Rarity had disappeared in her house. "Rarity?"
"Coming, darling!" She reappeared in the window, holding her own bundle. "I meant to give this to you earlier, but never got the chance. So, here you go. I really do hope you like it."
Pinkie was speechless, for the first time in her life. She wordlessly handed her basket to Rarity.
After a few moments of awkward shuffling, they had gotten themselves in order and Pinkie unwrapped her bundle.
Her bundle was actually a pink a ballerina like dress, with blue and yellow ribbons and white lace adorning it. Inside was a cupcake in a plastic container, with pink frosting. Also, a single red rose was crumpled up in the dress.
"Wow, Rarity, it's amazing!"
Rarity was smiling a little dreamily. "Not as amazing as what you got for me. I never thought you would ever spoil me so!"
Pinkie smiled. "Of course I would. I love you."
Rarity smiled back. "I love you too."
And the two best friends shared a kiss under a beautiful full moon and a sky full of Luna's best stars, hair getting caked in snow.
And it was lovely.
Nothing Left to Say Part 2.5
The Doctor, using the information he collected from his sonic, was looking for a way to dispel the aliens from this world to their own planet, feeling slightly shaken. Why would they want Twilight to hate him? Were their destinies somehow tied in their futures? And what about Derpy? He loved her. Would that somehow change in the future? He didn't think it would, considering how much he cared for her now, so much it carried over two regenerations. So what will happen?
"I wonder if we could still make reservations," his beautiful Derpy mumbled.
"If not, we could always go to McHoofnald's," he joked, and she laughed.
"No, Hearts an' Hooves Day is 'posed to be speciaaal," she drawled, while coming up next to him by the TARDIS console, and wrapping an arm around his waist.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry 'bout it. We've all time and space to catch dinner, and I will be sure not to disappoint!"
She smiled. Then cringed.
He rushed to her side. "What? What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "It's nothing, just, I think the voice has followed me."
*
The Doctor stormed into Twilight's room, knelt down, stuck his head under the bed and yelled, "Look, I'm not sure what you are, or what you have against me, just leave those two ALONE!!!"
The creature under the bed laughed. "Don't you see it though, Doctor? If we have any chance of getting to you, we have to hit where it hurts you the most: your odd compassion for these young, female, mortals."
He glared at the creature, but it was weak. He knew that the creature had won. If Ditzy or Twilight knew he what he had done to his own kind, they would never want to see him again.
"Doctor?" Twilight was looking over the edge of her bed. He didn't really notice her there, for he was blinded by fury and helplessness. "Doctor, my head..."
Spike was at the end of the bed, crying to himself. "You aren't going to let her die, are you?"
"No, of course not..." but he felt like crying himself.
Twilight sat up, holding her head. "I want...to talk to the creature...who is doing this."
The Doctor shook his head. "No, no you shouldn't do that."
Twilight frowned and knelt down on the side of the bed where Spike was.
She disappeared and the only thing telling the Doctor she was still alive was the quiet murmuring of her conversation.
She sat back up . "They told me they would leave, but on one condition."
He looked under the bed. "What is it?" he demanded. "What is your condition?"
The creature glared lazily at him with a grotesque, severed bloodshot eye. "The blond girl. where is she?"
"Downstairs. Safe, except that YOU are infiltrating her mind and giving her headaches." The full ferocity of the Doctor's glare was back, with renewed vigor.
"We want you to know before we go that you will ruin her. You'll put her through so much pain, and yet she'll stay with you because of her love for you, before being torn from you in a cruel twist of fate. Just keep that in your mind. Remember that every time you look at each other, and know that this is all YOUR fault." The creature disappeared from under the bed.
When looked back up, Twilight was smiling. "No more headache." Spike suddenly hugged her from behind, crying into her back in relief.
*
Velvet was thrilled to find her baby girl all better, and invited her daughter's new heroes to have dinner with them.
"Well actually, we had-" His thought was cut short by a jab from Derpy's elbow, who informed them yes, they would love to stay for dinner.
Twilight sat between Spike and the Doctor, and Ditzy sat in between the Doctor and Velvet, who was piling plate after plate of food on the table, until Twilight's father informed his wife that there was probably enough to eat now, and she could stop.
Dinner with the Sparkles was actually quite an enjoyment for the Doctor and his companion. Twilight's family was easy to hold conversations with, and both of her parents were interested in astrology.
Also, when the Doctor and Derpy reached the TARDIS, the Doctor stole a quick kiss on the lips.
"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day."
She smiled. "You too."