Stuck In The Middle

Stuck In The Middle

A Chat With The Doctor

Twilight groaned and rubbed her head. "Wha- where am I?" she asked and looked up in disbelief. She was in a large, circular room, with a large pillar thing that glowed in the middle, and a light brown pony that let his hooves dance over the controls.

"Ditzy? Could you throw the wibbly lever over there?" he asked.

"Sure. What for?" the unmistakable voice of Ditzy Doo responded.

The guilt-ridden mare staggered to her feet and blinked in confusion at the sight. "Ditzy?" she murmured.

The grey, wall-eyed pegasus jumped and looked at her. "Oh, hi, Twilight. Doctor, we have a visitor," she said, merrily unaware of what was happening.

The light brown stallion spun around and stared at Twilight. "Oh hello, who are you? A friend of Ditzy's?" he asked with a kind voice.

Twilight nodded. "Sort of. Excuse me, but... where am I? And who are you? And how did I get here?"

The stallion bowed and straightened the tie around his neck. "I'm the Doctor. Pleased to meet you. You already know Ditzy Doo-"

Ditzy waved and, rather comically, fumbled over a box of muffins.

The Doctor chuckled. "And you are?"

"Twilight Sparkle."

His eyes went wide. "Oh yes, I've heard about you. Saved Equestria several times, didn't you?"

Twilight blushed. "It was really nothing-"

"Aha! Modesty! I know how you feel, Twilight. Mind if I join you?" he asked and gestured to the grate floor beside her.

She blinked. "I... guess. But where am I? And how did I get here?"

"Ahhh. Feels good to have a sit down every now and then, especially when everypony, thing and alien wants you to help." The Doctor hunkered down next to her, smiling at Ditzy as she gobbled up some muffins. "As for where you are? Well..." He glanced around. "You're in the TARDIS."

Twilight blinked. "What's the TARDIS?"

He frowned. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space, of course. Everypony knows that-"

"Doctor," Ditzy warned.

"Right, sorry. Was I being rude again?"

"Mhm."

"Rude and not ginger. Typical. Sorry. Well, Twilight Sparkle, you're in the TARDIS. It's a time machine, capable to go anywhere in space and time. Now, the big question," he chuckled as he helped his floor-buddy up. "What are you doing here?"

Twilight shrugged. "I... don't know. I was in the hospital bed, wishing I wasn't there, then I was here." She looked around with a bewildered expression.

The Doctor pulled away and eyed her suspiciously. "What were you in a hospital bed for?"

"I... had an incident with the princess," the lavender pony murmured.

Ditzy choked on another muffin. "Really? Gosh, Twilight, what kind of incident?"

Twilight cringed. "I'd really... rather not... say..." Tears swelled up in her eyes as she finished and sat back down, letting her rump hit the cold, weird floor.

"Hey, hey... c'mere," the Doctor murmured and pulled her into a hug. "You don't have to explain anything. Ditzy."

His assistant leapt up and saluted.

"Oh don't salute."

"Sorry."

He smiled. "See if you can get the TARDIS to run a diagnostic scan for any crystallizations of magic. It should be that big doo-hickey over there."

The grey pegasus and trotted around the large pillar thing and eyed a few buttons and levers, each looking as ridiculous as the last.

"So, Twilight, you say you wished you weren't there, and then you were here, yes?" the Doctor asked and turned back to the purple unicorn, pulling out a weird, silver device with a glowing blue top.

"Yeah. What's that? It looks dangerous, oh please don't hurt me," Twilight whimpered as he held it up to her.

He pulled back. "What, this?" He twiddled the thing in his hoof. "This isn't dangerous. It's a screwdriver. It's harmless."

Ditzy shot him a glare as she glanced back from the console thing.

"Well.... mostly harmless."

Twilight eyed the 'screwdriver' suspiciously as he examined her with it.

"Say ahhh."

She opened her mouth. "Ahhhh."

"Very good. Ditzy, hows that scan going?"

The pegasus shrugged. "I don't know. I have no idea what you wanted me to do, my bad."

The Doctor sighed and left Twilight. She watched as he nuzzled his assistant and pointed her in the right direction, then turned back to her.

Twilight frowned. "Are you two..."

Ditzy beamed. "Yeah."

The Doctor blushed. "Sort of."

"Well, I'm happy for you. At least someponies can find love and not ruin it..." Twilight muttered

The screwdriver wielding pony frowned. "What happened, Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight harrumphed and turned away. "None of your business. Now get me home."

The Doctor sighed again. "Twilight... Ditzy, you see if you can get anything out of her. I'll fly the TARDIS."

Ditzy hopped forwards and nudged Twilight. "Hey, Twi. What's up?"

"Nothing. Help the Doctor fly the... TARDIS. Wait, did you say a time machine?"

The Doctor grunted in acknowledgement. "Mhm. Only one of her kind. Last one, actually. Like me..." Ditzy immediately bounced up and threw her hooves around him, nuzzling his neck gently.

Twilight smiled. It felt good to see ponies like this. She only wished she could do that with Luna too.

"Well, anyway," the Doctor finally said and nuzzled Ditzy back. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well, befoe home... I was wondering... if this really is a time machine, could you... send me back in time?"

"Oh, of course."

Twilight beamed. So everything will be fixed! I'll tell Celestia I don't want to date her, and only date Luna. Everything will be perfect!

"But I won't. Dabbling in one's own timelines is dangerous, Twilight Sparkle."

Every hope she had was gone. Erased from her mind. "B-but... I need to do something. And I've already done it before."

He gaped and stared at her. "What? Explain. Now."

Twilight flinched at his tone. "W-well, one time, I went back in time to warn myself about a disaster - using an ancient time travel spell in the Canterlot archives."

"Oh. Magic then?"

"Well... yes. Isn't that what the TARDIS is?"

The Doctor threw his head back and howled with laughter. "Oh goodness no! It's TARDIS. Completely different to magic." He opened his mouth to say more, but the large pillar thing in the middle room began to make a grinding noise and something moved up and down inside it.

"Ahhh!" Twilight shrieked and covered her ears up. "What's it doing?"

The Doctor frowned. "Ditzy? Did you drop a muffin in her again?"

"No! I don't know what's going on," Ditzy declared, rather indignantly too.

The time travelling pony rubbed his chin thoughtfully and pulled out a red toolbox. "Where is it, where is it?" he murmured and flicked things over his shoulder. A regular screwdriver, a book about muffins, a fez... "Ah. Here we go." He pulled out a large spanner and smiled at Twilight. "Now, this won't hurt a bit."

She whimpered again and backed away.

He frowned at her as he struck the console with said spanner. "You didn't  think I was going to hit you did I?" he asked her as the noise subsided, and Twilight uncovered her ears.

The purple mare blushed sheepishly. "I... no. Please, Doctor, is there anything you can do to help? I really need something..."

The Doctor sighed and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Well, I can put you somewhere on Equestria-"

Something beeped.

"Aha! Now we'll know why you appeared here. C'mon."

Twilight reluctantly followed, gingerly tiptoeing around the console in the centre of the room and following the light brown stallion. He punched in a bew buttons here and spun a lever there, and eventually, he turned back to her.

"You say you 'wished you weren't there' right?"

She nodded. "Yes. Why?"

He scratched his head. "Well, the TARDIS sort of... heard your wish. She must have locked onto your sudden burst of magic and brought you here. I didn't know she could do that."

Ditzy clapped her hooves. "The TARDIS can grant wishes now?" she cried happily.

The Doctor frowned. "Maybe. No. She just happened to lock onto Twilight's magic. That's all. Anyway, after this I promise not to ask again: What happened?"

Twilight stared into his hazel eyes and smiled. "Alright... both princesses..."

~~~

Ditzy gaped as she finished.

The Doctor sat back and gaped at her too.

Twilight shuffled on the spot. "And now I think they want me dead. So do you still want to help me?"

He nodded. "Of course! I never turn away a chance to help somepony, someone, something, or other." He sat and thought for a few moments, letting the gears turn in his head.

The yellow maned pegasus coughed nervously. "Uhh... Doctor? I think I know what to do."

They both turned to her.

"Well... Twilight, you should talk to them. Your friends already told you this, yeah?"

Twilight nodded.

"Well, if it were me, I'd speak to them both and explain why you did it. Perhaps they'll listen, if they love you so much as you think. Then, apologise to them both, and apologise for leaving."

Again, Twilight nodded. "I guess... I don't know why I would do something like this in the first place. I really do love both of them, Ditzy."

Ditzy gave a sympathetic nod. "I know. But you can only love one pony at a time. Like I do the Doctor."

The Doctor coughed nervously. "Yes, well... you need to sort this out for yourself. I'm good for aliens, Daleks, Cybermanes, the Sontarans, the Slitheen-"

"Doctor," Ditzy giggled. "You're getting off topic."

"Sorry. Point is, you need to work this out for yourself. With Luna and Celestia. And think about this for a moment, would they really be willing to hurt the pony they claim to love so much?"

Twilight shook her head shamefully. "No..."

"Exactly. Now, where do you want to go, Twilight Sparkle? Maybe your house? Maybe the room where you left?"

Twilight thought for a moment. Home first came to mind, then the hospital, then Rarity's... then, strangely enough, the abandoned castle in the Everfree. Something just felt right going there. Like something - or somepony was waiting for her.

"Well, there is this one place..."

~~~

"Thanks, Doctor. Take care of Ditzy, will you?"

He chuckled and put a foreleg around the pegasus's neck. "You bet," he said and went back inside the time machine.

Ditzy merrily waved goodbye and stepped inside with him. As the blue, ordinary looking box faded into thin air with that awful grinding noise, Twilight Sparkle looked around.

"Well... I'm here..." she murmured and gazed at the large doors leading to the old castle in the Everfree. She took a deep breath and walked forwards. Why had she come here? Surely her house would have been a better choice? maybe even the Canterlot castle?

But something was calling for her, reaching out for her. Crying for her.

Crying.

Loud, long sobs echoed around the ruins, making Twilight cringe with anxiety. She followed the heartbreaking sound at a fast trot, eventually breaking into a full gallop as she came to the area where she freed Luna.

The terrible, heartbreaking sobs echoed around the cold walls, and appeared to originate from some dark mass up ahead.

Twilight's hoofsteps seemed to break the sound barrier they felt so loud. She cringed with every step as she approached the sobbing mass.

"Pr-... princess?" she whispered.

The mass moved, unfurling it's jet black wings and letting it's cat-like eyes stare at the small mare before her.

Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth in horror. "Nightmare Moon!" she whimpered and fell to the ground, trembling with fear.