Alone In The Dark
It was a peaceful night in the Equestrian midwinter, the snow fell so softly on that quiet evening one could bend over and hear each individual snowflake hit the ground. The moon shone like a brilliant torch in the sky and lit the world into a casting that sent the entire town of Ponyville into a supernatural relief. The shadows seemed to be solid, corporeal, like curtains that could be drawn aside; the buildings were the things that looked transparent on that night. Everything was switched, the whole universe and life itself was looking through a twisted paradigm that evening, like a mirror that had been broken and pieced back together. It looked... fake. Too real to be real. And this was the night that Doctor Whooves went mad. This strange time was going to be the setting for one of the most monumental things that ever happened in all the world.
The Doctor would open up to the one mare he trusted most.
Twilight Sparkle had been his traveling companion before, but in no way did he want her along any longer than she needed. So he'd dropped her off and they had gone their separate ways. But they say that at certain times nostalgia gets the best of us, and for once, some sort of old saying was true. One speck of truth in the middle of a sea of contradictions. Old sayings in proverbs contradict themselves. For example, if life is too short, why would patience even be a virtue? Such is the paradox-like nature of wisdom. For as much as it helps, it hinders. Eventually all it does is confuse, discombobulate. All the wisdom in the world does no good. For every last proverb or witty remark, there is just another that says the complete opposite.
This was one of that many musings and meandering strings of thoughts polluting Doctor Whooves' mind as he stumbled out of the TARDIS, numb to the world. It was a rare, almost legendary occasion where he didn't know what to do, and this was one of them. He didn't walk, he stumbled like a drunkard, the world's, nay, the universe's beloved Doctor was brought to complete standstill on one little thought. One truth that had pervaded and shaped his entire life.
He was alone.
He stumbled up to Twilight's door, pasting a smile over his cacophony of maddened thoughts. He didn't knock, he didn't even bother to say he was coming in, he had just opened the door, walked in and sat down. It was a chair he had sat in before, a month and a half ago, even though it had only been ten minutes for him. He'd dropped her off, started up his beloved TARDIS, and stopped to think. And that was the moment. The straw that broke the camel's back, to use a cliche, the mighty Time Lord had found out the one thing in his life that was constant. He looked over to see a cup of tea, just waiting for him on the arm of the comfy seat. He looked over at the other side of the library where Twilight herself sat, regarding him with large, intelligent eyes.
"I knew you'd come back." She smiled. "You always do."
She took as sip of her own tea, sighing afterwards. She didn't know what he'd done, or what he wanted or needed, but she knew that he only ever came here for help. Contrary to popular belief, The Doctor needed his companions. All the tech and time in existence couldn't replace a good friend. And that was what he needed, a friend.
"Twilight." He sighed, brushing his mane back with his hoof. "I don't know... why I came to you about this when I have so, so many others... but I need your help."
Twilight blinked, astonished. She didn't know him to be the one to ask anyone for help, let alone a pony he'd met just a month ago. The mare nodded, taking another sip of tea.
"Now... do you think that I'm a m..." He trailed off.
"A what?"
"Monster?"
He turned to the unicorn, his eyes gates to the warground where his mind was ripping itself to pieces.
"No! You're the most wonderful pony I've ever met! Why would you ask me that?"
Whooves bit his bottom lip and retrieved his Sonic Screwdriver from his coat pocket. "Because of this."
He turned the device on and it cast a hologram, a picture of one of his more Human companions. She was shot right in the head by a Dalek, removing her face right from her body. Next it flicked to an image of him and a pony running through a forest, one of them trailing behind. The oddest thing was that they ran backwards, keeping their eyes glued to something off-screen. Just then, at the worst possible moment, they both did the simplest thing. They blinked. It was that fast, the pony next to Whooves was dead, in the grip of some sort of statue. Her head was twisted backwards. The picture then cut to him and a woman sitting in a room with more than a dozen other humans. He was talking to some sort of official when something large covered the screen, when it had passed, they were all gone but him.
"Everyone that ever traveled with me has died." He choked out. "One thing has happened to me throughout my entire life... in the end, they all die."
A tear spilled out and into his tea, which he sipped, enjoying the bitter taste of his own tears. He deserved it, he'd wrought the death of thousands upon millions of creatures, both innocent and malignant. He was The Destroyer Of Worlds.
"Would the universe be better off without me, Twilight? Really? I have played God all these years when I'm just a madman in a box trying to make things better. But I never do. I just end up destroying someone else's life and I just skip away in my time machine, completely unaffected. I feel like a spoiled child with a toy. I don't take responsibility for anything I do, the death I bring to everything around me..."
Twilight didn't know what to do, but she knew that Whooves was being very serious. These thoughts were driving him mad and she needed to step in and fix him.
"Doctor, I don't understand. You're the most wonderful, amazing pony/Time Lord I've ever met! Why question yourself now when you're doing an amazing job?"
"I'm not!" He roared, jumping out of his seat. "I have killed, maimed, injured and caused the downfall and misery of millions, no, trillions of innocents. And I can't do it anymore! I just can't handle it all! I want to say I can but I can't handle all of this knowledge, this complete lack of a family, friends, even colleagues! They all die in the end, and I'm left to kill someone else by waltzing into their life. Even you! One day you'll die because of something I do and come that day, Twilight bloody Sparkle I swear to the cosmos I won't live to see the next! I will throw myself into the heart of a Black Hole if I have to but I'm not going to live without you. I can't be alone anymore!"
The whole time he had been getting closer to Twilight, his eyes bulging and wild, crazed fury and desperation behind them.
"Doctor." She whispered. "I want you to know something."
"Nothing you can say will make me feel any better about myself Twilight." He growled.
"I want you to know something, and it's important."
"Don't be redundant Twi, just say it!"
"I want you to know-"
"What?!"
"I love you."
He stopped, the world itself, stopped dead in it's tracks just then.
She leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders. She didn't care if he was going mad or old as the ground under her hooves, he was her raggedy old Doctor, and she loved him more than life itself. She released him now that she had his full attention.
"I love you, Doctor, and so many millions, no, billions upon trillions love you. You aren't alone. Ever. Never think that. I love you and the whole, wide, sparkling sky loves you. You'll never be alone. For everything you've ever killed or sacrificed, you saved another hundred. Now kiss me you, crazy, mad, brilliant stallion."
Their lips met with sparks.
That was the short tale of how Doctor Whooves reclaimed his sanity through his beloved mare. I hope you enjoyed this fiction, it was part of a one hour challenge I made for myself. Please drop anything you want in the comments.