Doseydotes and Dinky didn't learn anything about what happened the day Zecora visited town. Ditzy thought it would be best if she just told them they were off looking for a job for the Doctor.

"All day?" the younger sister asked, rightfully doubting the explanation.

It wasn't the best possible answer she could offer, but Ditzy never was the best liar. Carrot Top's words were chewing at the back of her head, even though it's been a week since . "Well, we couldn't do anything about it. Either they weren't looking for help, or the Doctor just didn't meet their expectations."

The Time Lord in question was in an even less state to answer. If it weren't for his ever-present cheery facade, Dotes could almost swear she noticed he was distressed for some reason. As in, genuinely, not just child-being-scolded-by-teacher distressed.

"At any rate," he went, "it was anything but a productive day. Sorry I wasted your day off like that, Ditzy."

Okay, them missing all day was one thing, but the Doctor was not apologetic by nature. They were used to having him act more hyperactive than this, as if he'd have something urgent he had to get to as soon as he was done doing what he was doing. Now, he just seemed so tired. Both him and Ditzy were acting quite suspicious.

"Well, I'm off to bed. See you girls tomorrow." he said, with a bit of fake drowsiness for emphasis. Ditzy followed suit.

"Same here. Good night."

Both of them skipping dinner, moreover the otherwise energetic Doctor going to bed early? Something serious happened today!

"Well?" the foal asked her aunt, with an expression on her face suggesting she was suspicious as well. For a little filly, she certainly was clever.

"Well, we can't bother them now, they're obviously too tired for dinner, let alone an interrogation. We'll talk to them tomorrow."

They agreed it would be best if they left the subject for the morning. It was pretty late anyway, so they thought they'd go to bed as well. They each have their own room, so they did not disturb each other. Eventually they both fell asleep, although still worried about what happened.

It was late at night and the house was still, except for the lonely yet dependable tick-tock which the clock on the kitchen/dining room wall would constantly send out. Eventually, those ticks were no longer alone. Ditzy's hoofsteps sounded silently down the stairs, lit by the moonlight protruding through the window. The steps lead towards the Doctor's chamber, not a single creek in the woodwork. She had his handywork to thank for that. The door slowly opened, showing the Doctor going through a few notes at candlelight. He did not really look to check who it was before he said, "You're early."

A few hours ago, when they finally got out of the forest and were looking forward to arriving home, Ditzy decided to stop for a little break. 'Now that we're safe, I'd rather rest a little.' she thought as she lay herself on a nearby bench. Her troublesome tenant took a seat next to her without any thought.

"It's been quite a day, hasn't it?" the Time Lord asked from beside her.

"Yeah."

They didn't take as long on their way back, but it still took about an hour. The clock in Town Square showed them at a little ways left towards four o'clock. Welp, there went most of the day.

She started to recall what had happened. What Zecora had told them.

"Can you believe what Zecora said?"

"Well, how unheard of are prophecies on this world?" Doc questioned back curiously.

"They're not entirely unheard of. Nightmare Moon was only a legend until recently."

"Yeah, well, that was probably just Celestia leaving clues for others to not be left completely with their guard down when it all finally went down. Much like what Zecora was apparently doing for me."

"So..." the mare trailed off uncertainly "how likely is this to be true?"

"If you want to put a number on it, say, sixty? Seventy percent? It happened to me before, even without the addition of "magic" in the mix. At any rate, we can only wait and see how her story checks out. I should be taken in for questioning within the next few days. I doubt they'd forward a warning too early."

"I don't know. She was all alone out there. And she was talking in rhymes! Who even does that?"

"Someone very intelligent. As opposed to a crazy person who only rhymes what comes to mind, she was first considering her answer then unnecessarily wording it into rhymes. That's not crazy, that's just brilliant! Even if a bit disconcerting... Whatever reason she might have to subject herself to such conditioning. A game, maybe? Penance?"

Ditzy considered his words pensively. "What do you mean penance?"

"Who knows? Why did she seclude herself out there? Maybe she needs to find herself, maybe she needs to make sure those herbs are available the next time someone really needs them. Not just for making light shows for the sake of emphasizing prophecies."

He took it all very lightly. Kind of objectively, if not a little annoyed. It made Ditzy wonder what was going on in his head. You would think that the concept of someone becoming a hermit out of any reason would be at least somewhat disconcerting to the otherwise apathetic tenant.

"It's nice to take a break like this sometimes," he changed the subject with a sigh, the tone of his voice more distant.

"Well, we did wander around for about three hours through that forest. I suppose it might've been pretty tiresome!"

"No, that's not it. What I meant was that I'm not used to taking breaks like this. Ever since I arrived here, pretty much everything was just one big break." he says, tilting his head so he can get a better view of the sky. Not a cloud in sight, as per usual. "Nothing interesting happened."

"Is that so? Please do tell, oh adventurous Time Master, what was your life like before you got here?"

"It's Time Lord," the Doctor corrected.

"What's the difference?"

"Well, a master only holds mastery over something, while a Lord has authority over it instead. They're two quite different things."

"Some difference." She relented, remembering she knew better than to argue with him. She was too tired for that anyway. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question."

"What question?" he asked, still looking up.

"About you!" She accused tiredly, facing him from above, arms in a judgmental pose at her sides. "About your life before you came here! You always avoid the subject whenever it comes up!"

"No I don't. I talk about my life all the time," he says, getting up and looking around, trying to come up with another excuse to change the subject.

"Okay then, tell me. Nothing's keeping you now."

"Yes there is something keeping me. I cannot tell you just yet because, uh... we're... going out!"

She lagged a bit at that sudden proposal. It was so surprising that her eye even failed to remember to wader off once she lost attention of it. All she managed was an honest, befuddled, unadulterated "...What?"

"You heard me. We should go out. Look, the weather's so nice, the stars are coming out any minute now, how long has it been since you've went on a date, anyway?"

"A... date-date?" after a while with her mouth agape.

"Yes!..." the Doctor pursued, finally feeling he was gaining the upper hand. Now was the time to turn the tables and pull the rug from under her hooves...

He's got nothing.

'Come on, old chap! Surely you can figure something out, right?... Right?'

Ditzy seemed to have sensed his dawning fear, and started to smile.

'Uh oh.'

He pulled his forehooves in front of him defensively, panic rising into the red area. "On second thought, why don't we just go back home? Come to think of it, I think I smell a few storm clouds coming this way. Yep, we should probably just go back home."

The landlady's smile grew into a predatory smirk, her eyes sizing him up malevolently. Then she looked away, tapping her hoof against her chin thoughtfully. "I dunno, it has been a while since I went out. And I really don't know what you're talking about, the weather seems so nice... Yeah, I think I could use a little time out. Maybe I can change your opinion of this town being boring while I'm at it?"

"Nah, you don't want to do that. I just remembered I don't have any money anyways so..."

"No problem, it'll be my treat then, mister penny-less Lord. Allons'y!"

The alien could do nothing but watch her walk away, leading him to a situation he knew was not going to end well for anyone. 'What have I done...' he asked himself... then paused a bit before running off after her, protesting in a fit. "Hey, that's my line!"

A café terrace. A couple alfalfa pales and a plate of Prench fries. Nothing phenomenal, just two equines on an evening date. Of course, the owner of the shop was smiling intently at them when she thought they weren't looking. Along with mostly everyone else there. Everyone who wasn't gawking incredulously and, possibly, mean spiritedly.

"They do know I can see them, don't they?" the Doctor asked in a very noticeably annoyed tone.

The mare was sympathetic to his point of view. "Let's just ignore them, okay? Try and enjoy your drink."

"Oh well. Suppose you're right. I'm just not used to dates is all... Haven't been on one in a few centuries. I'm more of a party person. Though now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever actually drunk a hay-based drink before. Who knew it would be this good if your diet was based on it?"

"And you turn the conversation alien again..." Ditzy half-sighed, though she was actually finding this entertaining.

"Did I? Sorry, still getting used to colloquial speech. You ponies are quite hard to understand, actually."

"Glad to hear it, the feeling's mutual," she offered before indulging in another mouth of fries.

"A lonely traveler, snapped out of his home, thrown through the ethers into another, strange land..."

"Drama queen," the mailmare offered humorously.

"It's true though. As keen and peaceful as you ponies are, there are still a few things I find a bit out of place. Namely regarding you particularly, Ditzy. No offense..."

"Some taken."

"...I just can't quite place you. I get you're herbivores, but there are still a few things that don't add up. Your society is just..." He trailed off, thinking his words carefully. A lot of things went through his mind, the more he thought about it the more disconcerted he seemed. "...As if someone plastered an idyll pastel over something else. I need to see the bigger picture."

Ditzy finally discarded her humoring, if slightly patronizing demeanor in favor of one of concern.

"Today, you mentioned a war," the Time Lord continued.

Now was the mailmare's turn to try to change the subject. "Maybe I'll tell you some time. Maybe after I actually get to know you enough."

He could put something on the table to raise her interest, but it wouldn't be entirely a good idea. It would offer the mare some leeway, give her some ideas he's not entirely sure he'd be able to dodge. It would be to her like blood would be to a shark... maybe even worse. Then again, if he was right, then this was his first lead ever since he arrived in this backwater town. There just wasn't anything he could do beyond leaving the town, or taking on suspicious behavior he could not afford, if his suspicions regarding the leaders here were correct. Both were gambles which he just wasn't confident in taking yet. Compared to those, this idea was actually tame.

Oh, bother. What's the worst that could happen?

"...If we're going to talk about any of this, we should do it in private. Can you come to my room at eleven tonight?"

"Sure. But didn't you promise me a date first?" she continued.

"As long as you're still willing to put up with me," the Doctor offered with a wry smile, that gave some way for concern. "And as long as you don't mind your sister waiting on you."

It was something the mare did take into consideration. She'd been gone all day. But right now? She was tired, and it actually seemed like the Doctor was finally starting to open up to her. That, and she really hadn't gone out in a while.

"...Right. Just a little longer, then."

Back home, when everyone went to sleep and Ditzy snuck in his room, she found him with quite the concerned look on his face.

"I came, didn't I? I don't think you should be concerned about how early I did..."

"That's not the problem," the Doctor retorted. "It's just that I'm not done preparing yet."

"For what?... Wait." She came to figure something out on her own. He's not thinking of that, is he?

"For a little procedure I intended for tonight."

"What?" her voice gaining a bit more surprise.

"You see, it's not really something I could do in public..."

"What?" her surprise turning to dread.

"And, quite frankly, it is a little too intimate..."

"What?!" she finally burst out, all but forgetting about her need to keep quiet.

"Not so loud!" the Time Lord shushed his landlady, finally setting his notebook aside as he did so. "You might wake up the others!"

"Just what exactly are you talking about, Doctor?!"

"A telepathic linkage."

"...What?"

"It's something Time Lords can do when they need to transfer information directly into and fro someone else's cerebral cortex. I try not to do it unless circumstances demand it."

"Uh-huh..."

"You didn't understand a thing I said, did you?"

"Not really."

The Doctor gave her a tame enough glare. "It's this thing where we read each other's minds..."

"Oh! Whew... I thought you were referring to something else, but it turns out you were just going on about some alien thing..."

"Why, what did you think I was talking about?"

"Oh, nothing..." as she blushed and looked away, hiding half of her face under her mane. "Anyway, what exactly are you planning on doing?"

He got up from his seat. "Well, you wanted to find out about me, didn't you? Now is your chance. Have a seat." he said, jesting towards the bed. Rousing Ditzy's suspicion again.

"What? Why?"

"Because I don't know how long this is going to take, so I thought we could at least be comfortable."

"Okay..." Ditzy relented, staring intently at him as she sat down.

Doc lay in bed in front of her. "Now, close your eyes."

"I don't think..."

"Ditzy, trust me. There's nothing to be worried about."

She did as he asked, then she felt the Doctor's hooves holding her head. As she started to become nervous again, she opened her eyes to find herself in a semi-lit library instead of her guest room. She could still feel her body back where she left it, in the same position, but her eyes found her in here.

There were lanterns and lamps all around, offering a bare minimum of visibility in the window-less room. She was in a reading area, with three story high bookcases surrounding all sides, wherever they didn't break and open into hallways going on for fields on end before they'd stop at a lantern-lit intersection. She kept turning around, taking her new surroundings in, until she heard the Doctor's voice from behind her. "Nice collection, don't you think?"

She turned around to find him, but he was not as she knew him. Her first reaction upon seeing the strange new creature appear out of nowhere was to scream, but then she noticed something. That thing, that tall, slender biped. It seemed familiar.

It was just standing there, still. Brown outfit over what appeared to be a lack of fur. Tiny eyes on an elongated head, but with the kindest smile it could muster. She knew that sad smile.

"Hello!" he spoke in the Doctor's typical, joyous tone, though in a noticeably thicker voice. Ditzy was baffled and, well, pretty terrified.

"...Doctor?"

"In the mental projection!" he offered with a small bow.

"...What are you?"

"A Time Lord. I told you before." He took a step closer, she took one back. He faltered, but then summoned the kindest smile he could. "Ditzy. It's me. You knew I wasn't from around the place." He pulled out his hands and spun around, presenting himself. "See? I'm not so scary, am I?"

The mailmare only continued to stare at him, her body pulling at her to flee despite herself. "Prove it."

He faced her, looking funny as he scratched the side of his head and though, "Well, remember the time I told you I'm an omnivore? Or the time I told you I didn't have hooves before?" He fluttered the ends of his new, claw-like anterior members at her, making a few oddly musical snapping sounds as they hit his palms.

"Ditzy." he said warmly, crouching to his haunches, his constant, sad, silly smile on his face. "It's me."

She was beyond freaked out now. She was at that stage where she moved on from being freaked out and started trying to freak her freak-out out, to confuse it. She moved closer, slowly, studying her tenant more carefully. "What are those? They look like claws, but..."

"They're hands." the Doctor presented one of them to her, palm-face up. "They're what I used before... well, before I was changed into one of your own."

She traced her forehooves over his hand, still getting used to what she was seeing. "They look... handy?" she blurted out, not really knowing what she was saying.

"I know, right?"

She continued to study the bones and joints carefully. The Doctor didn't seem to have any objections as he continued to smile warmly. "What exactly are we here for?" she asked, deciding to change the subject. She was still getting used to what was going on, though. "And where's here, for that matter? We were in your room a few minutes ago."

"I'm glad you asked. Tell me, what can you tell me about the equine brain?"

"It's... where we keep our memories?"

He grabbed her hoof in his hand and placed his other hand above it, taking her by surprise. It felt... personal. She wondered how it would feel, to fit her own fingers through his...

He didn't seem impressed at the act. He just continued to smile carelessly at her as he often did. Eagerly. Cluelessly.

"Exactly." He drew away and got back on his hindlegs, easily. He looked like he was a giant to her. A very childish giant, as he started waving his 'hands' around, gesturing to the side of his head with one of his claw-like digits. "Besides a great number of responsibilities, it is also the place where we keep our memories." He stretched his anterior limbs out, gesturing all around them. "Like a library, for instance. And as we live, we keep adding books in it all the time."

Ditzy just looked on, still feeling a bit lost. "So, this library is your mind?"

"No, this is your mind."

"What?"

He walked over to one of the bookcases in long strides that seemed somehow partway between a declaration and a circus act. "Check one of the books. It's bound to hold one of your memories." He hovered his digit along a shelf, then picked one he thought looked more appealing. "Here, this looks like some sweet memories. Let's see what I picked?"

Ditzy took the book and muzzles through the pages. Soon enough, she closes it violently and looked to the side.

"I take it I stumbled upon something you'd rather forget? Sorry about that..."

"No, it's okay. It was just something embarrassing..." Something which the mind often finds ample time to remind you of. Only and only if it's embarrassing, and only at the worst of times as well. "I suppose I'll just have to believe you now. Why are we here?"

"Because you couldn't remember what happened when you met me. You see, some memories might not always make it to the shelves, like this one down here. It either didn't fit in the shelf or you didn't want to put it in. Others die out eventually, when the dust claims them. Some of them, however, might be hidden in a separate section." He said these as he walked around, out of her sight. "Like here, for instance," he finished behind her. She turned around, and was taken aback at what she found.

Before them stood a barred gate, beyond which was a darkened section of the library. Ditzy felt dreaded of what was inside, as the Doctor expected to notice.

"Doctor, what is this?"

"Beyond these gates are your darkest, most unstable memories. Most of them being held there by your choice, some of them sent there to keep the rest of your library safe. They tend to... burn the nearby books. Anyway, I believe that there's just one memory that doesn't belong there. Something out of place, something that someone else hid in here. I can sense traces of tampering leading into there, also I'm concerned this might be where a rather important memory was hidden."

"I hope you're not expecting me to go in there. I don't know about bad memories or tampering with them, but that place is really giving me the creeps!"

"It's either this or going on with our lives, knowing that there's someone potentially dangerous out there that's messing around with other ponies' heads."

"Wait, what?"

He ignored her. "Trust me, I wouldn't want you to go in there either and I wouldn't ask you to do this unless we didn't have a choice."

She eyed him pensively, then relented with a sigh. "Is there really nothing else we can do?" Ditzy asked defeated.

"Not really, no. Though this was the second plan I came up with. At first I tried to check if I could unlock the hidden memory on my own, but there's some manner of failsafe that kept me from..."

"Okay, okay, a simple no would've been enough. Honestly, don't you ever get tired of talking?"

"Fine," he replied simply enough, with finality.

After a while, gulping down, Ditzy finally questions, "Okay, we do know what we're looking for, right?"

"We'll know when we see it."

She held back a glare, instead deciding to just roll her eyes. Which still looked funny. "Alright then, lead the way."

Doc scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Sorry, you need to find it on your own. I'm only here as a guide."

"Seriously? What exactly am I looking for, then?"

The gates open. The Doctor answers, "Just focus on what happened that night when we met and the path should show itself."

"So, all I have to do is walk down a hallway with my worst nightmares lurking behind every shadow. Great..."

"Pretty much, yeah. But, there is one upside."

"What," she asked in aggravation.

The Time Lord drew nearer and offered the most heartwarming smile he could. "I'll be with you every step of the way. That's gotta count for something, right?"

She regarded him thoughtfully for a few moments. "Now that you mention it, could you do me just one favor before we go in?" she pleaded.

"Name it."

"Could you turn back into the way I know you? I mean, I don't want you to think anything wrong, but..."

"Hey, don't worry about it." He snapped his fingers and turned back into a pony, while saying the follows, "...Though usually in cases like these, it would be best to hold hands. There, better now?"

The mare visibly relaxed. "Thanks. And I don't know about holding hands, but us hooded folk are pretty good with just sticking close to each other."

"Huh. Okay then, your loss. Allons'y?"

"Allons'y!... Wait, what do you mean our loss?"[...]

It was dark inside. If it weren't for a few candles placed regularly at each row of bookshelves, they couldn't see anything at all. For our dear pegasus mare, the atmosphere was dreary enough, more so as they would pass by each one shelf compared to the last.

"How can we find anything in this place?" she questioned nervously.

"It'd be best if you couldn't see around. There are things here that you're afraid of ever since you were born, remnants of the fears your forefathers left you. You don't need to see them, you just have to focus on what we're looking for."

"Okay..."

"You found me in the field. What did you do next?"

Ditzy focused on recalling those events. "I... Asked you if you were okay. You looked like you were fading in and out, but when I mentioned taking you to a doctor, you burst out, saying you were too afraid to go..."

"I did not!"

"Hey, do you want me to remember or not?... Actually, I think I've found it," she said as she stopped in front of a small cupboard.

"Are you sure? Oh! ...Okay, discouragement field. Phew! It reeks! Yep, this must be it."

They open the cupboard to reveal a small notebook inside. The Doctor picks it up, with his hoof this time, then handed it over to his companion. "Touching it should be enough this time." As she lays her own hoof on it, she instantly got pulled into its events.

She found herself where she was back then. Late in the evening, on her way to town, carrying the unconscious Doctor on her back. She was living it all in first person, but she didn't have any control over what was happening.

"It's okay, let it play out. You can talk to me normally, but your body won't show it. It will still do as it did back then."

"How can I talk without my own mouth?"

"Well, technically, this is not your mouth. Your mouth is back in my room."

"Oh, right. And this isn't you I'm carrying, though you're definitely weighting down on my back..."

She was showing some difficulty carrying him. And she then noticed how chilly the air was, the fatigue from the long travel to Fillydelphia, and then how scared she was. Scared for the unconscious pony she found, why did she see him fall? Did that fog do something to him? Was it from the Everfree Forest? They were pretty near its outskirts...

They were nearing town, when a stallion crossed her path. She didn't have any idea why he was there.

He was wearing a raggedy gray cloak and... what seemed like tinted pilot goggles around his forehead, with a small crack at one of the lenses. Ditzy couldn't notice any distinguishable details about him. Was he a pegasus? The shape of the cowl gave off that impression. It was too dark for her to see his face, and no matter how hard she tried to make anything out, her vision just blurred and her head ached harder.

"Who's that?" the current Ditzy asked.

"You tell me. You're the one that remembers all of this."

"It looks like he's talking to me... though concerning what exactly he's saying, well, my guess is as good as yours. Why can't I remember any of this?"

"I dunno. Let's just let this play out."

She was explaining what happened to the robed stranger. That she just found the Doctor, and was on her way to drop him off at the hospital. After a few more words and gestures from him... she was certain he said something... she let the Doctor on the ground. The stranger then produced something from under his cowl, and used it to shine some light over the unconscious Doctor's open eyes.

The source of the produced light was blurry like the rest of him, but it sort of looked like a light pen that doctors would tend to use.

Upon getting a closer look at it, the current Doctor let out a curious hum.

"What is it?" Ditzy asked.

"Shush! Talk later, listen now."

'Ooooo-kay...' the mare relented.

Trouble was, she couldn't exactly tell what happened between her and the mysterious stranger from that point forward. All she could recall was them walking towards town together. She could remember her mouth forming sentences, but she couldn't remember anything she said to him. What were they talking about?

Current Ditzy squinted her eyes at the strange stallion. Trying to protrude through whatever it was that kept his identity hidden. Trying to recall even the smallest detail regarding his appearance, his behavior...

Nothing. The more she tried, the harder it was to lock on to the stranger. It was as if her mind was actively fighting against the recollection. Like the information intentionally kept ahead of her at the same pace as she was advancing, like it was always maintaining the same distance out of reach.

Nothing really happened along the road. She just led him to her house, and helped him carry the Doctor inside. The figure then dropped him in the bed in the guests' quarters, and left. No more than maybe three words offered beforehoof.

Then everything faded away, and the two found themselves back in the Doctor's room. As soon as they did, the Doctor started pacing around, looking around, thinking.

The candle did not advance too far down along the wax. They didn't spend much time at all. Still, Ditzy was feeling a bit disappointed. She was actually expecting something more conclusive to have come from this venture. "What exactly happened?"

"Nothing useful," he retorted thoughtfully. "Do you remember when he checked me up with that light pen?"

"Oh yeah, you kinda reacted to that," she recalled with a look of realization. "Was that important?"

"You didn't notice anything strange about the little light he checked my eyes with?"

"No, not really..."

"Are you sure? Was there nothing out of the ordinary about it?"

She rubbed her head harder, with no difference in results. "I don't think so... It looked like any other doctor's light pen. Why?"

Doc snapped away and started rummaging through some drawers. He eventually scooped out a mirror and his sonic and trotted back to her.
"And so is my screwdriver, sort of like a doctor's pen, wouldn't you agree?"

"...No, not really."

He gave a defeated gesture, then started using his screwdriver on himself whilst looking in the mirror. She continued, "It looked just like any doctor's light pen..."

Doc stumbled in his steps around the room, then snorted, then sneezed while she was talking.

"...He just seemed like a medic trying to figure out if there was anything wrong with you."

"He was a stranger wearing rags. Why did you believe anything he said?"

"I... don't know," was her dragged-out answer.

The Doctor sighed, as he finally gave up on trying to find any traces of tampering and dropped his items back on the drawer next to the bed. "You don't know... Which is something that doesn't seem to bother you all that much." He relented forlornly, then started on another idea. "You said you remember what I was saying, but I honestly can't remember what language you were speaking at first. If we both couldn't understand what the other was saying, then I could just assume that this guy just made it so I could speak your language. All I can suppose was his intention was to only keep me out of the hospital, which he apparently talked you out of."

He started pacing again, this time more distant and focused. "There's still the matter of you not being able to remember him. Normally, under this kind of intensive meditation, you were supposed to see him just fine. Not even a mental block was supposed to halt his image from just popping up. It was as if you couldn't accept that he was there... Perception filter, maybe? Had to be, right? But then it can't account for how he messed with your head."

His pacing grew stronger, he became more focused. Ditzy could almost see the gears grinding in his head.

"Obviously, the only reason he would be there was to convince you to not bring me to the hospital, otherwise why just leave me here? How do you fit into all of this?" He regarded her questioningly, but the mare only blinked and offered a look of confusion. "There had to have be a reason why he left me in your care, otherwise why didn't he just collect me himself?" Before Ditzy could retort, he already concluded, "Well, it's actually pretty obvious. Either he didn't want to hold on to me, or he knew that he couldn't hold me even if he tried. If he wanted me here, maybe he knew I wasn't going to leave. Somehow..."

He got back to pacing again as he started, "So he just wanted to cover for me, make sure I wouldn't interfere with the timeline by being brought in to the hospital. It would've caused some serious damage... So, therefore, chances are that he's at least somewhat aware of timeline interrelations and wanted to prevent a catastrophe."

Ditzy followed as best she could. She didn't like that last part. "What do you mean? What would've happened?"

"Long story short, if the local authorities got a hold of a sample of my blood, it would've sent you all on an irreversible spiral towards advancements in medicinal and anatomical breakthroughs." 'Also, chances are that they would've dissected me in order to figure out how I ticked, but that was beside the point.'

"And how does preventing all of that from happening make this weirdo a hero?"

Doc stopped in place to explain, "There's a time and a circumstance for everything, Ditzy. Should anything happen to disrupt that balance, the consequences are unintelligible and dire. To compare it to anything, it's like giving a scholar the results to a test before he takes it. He passes that test with a great grade, but he subsequently fails the exam later in his life!"

"Oh. Huh..."

"If your people managed to get treatment to, I don't know, pony pox, it would've been great in the first few years/decades/etc. But later on, there might've appeared a mutation of the disease, far worse than its predecessor, immune to the previously discovered treatment. And you wouldn't have been able to figure out anything to do about it because you didn't even manage the first treatment! That is, to put it extremely simplified."

"Oh..." Ditzy went a bit pale at the prospect. She tried to joke it off, "I suppose it'd be a bad idea for you to donate blood in the near future then, huh?"

"And weird. My blood isn't even the same color," the Doctor retorted as he went back to pacing.

"Come again?"

"Now, the question remains," he ignored her confusion, then continued nonchalantly with, "Why was that character there to prevent you from potentially dooming your entire race..."

Ditzy went a little more pale. "...What?"

"Hehe, don't worry. I'm certain advanced cutie pox wouldn't be lethal. Well, mostly certain... Fifty-fifty? Anyway. Any ideas why he might've been there in the first place?"

After shaking the queasiness off, she started, "...I guess that he knew you were going to be interned and wanted to prevent it...?"

"Precisely! But how does one go about knowing the future?..."

After a few seconds, he came up with several answers. The Ood had divination, he himself had time travel... So yeah, either the mysterious stranger had access to some manner of oracle sight, or a tip from an oracle. Similarly, Zecora apparently had received a tip as well. Who would have access to such forward knowledge? Guess he'll figure that out eventually, if what Zecora said was true.

So far, he'd established that this mysterious character... he would need to figure out a name for him eventually. Cloaked Pony? Nah, that's rubbish... Anyway. Besides access to forward knowledge, Cloaky also seemed to possess the ability to somehow mask his presence, suspiciously similar to his Tardis' cloaking technology. He also had a pen. Again, suspiciously similar to his own technology. Most importantly, however, he seemed to have been able to gain Ditzy's trust somehow... So, psychic abilities. The Doctor did not like where this evidence pointed.

Five seconds of pacing... A minute of pacing... Five minutes of pacing...

Aaaaand kaput.

He crashed back in bed alongside Ditzy. "I've got nothing. Maybe if we sleep on it, something will come up?"

All this time Ditzy was staring at him expectantly. She didn't seem to care much for his reveal. "Well, that was anticlimactic. That's it?"

"I've got no more ideas, so yeah, that seems to be it."

"Not just that, Doctor. You just jumped in my head, showed me how you really look like, made me go through the nightmare section of my head, to find what? Nothing?"

"Well, not exactly. We've found a suspect. And now that we've gone through all of that, if you ever encounter this... Hooded Pony again, you will recognize him on the spot. Then again, the chances of him showing himself to us might not be in our favor. He will most certainly not show himself until he believes he's ready... Which would beg the question, ready for what?"

Things were starting to gather up. First a doomsday prophecy, then an elusive new character with memory bending abilities... that seems to be related to the Doctor and his arrival here. The coincidence were too big to ignore. All these questions were begging the Doctor for answers.

At the same time, though, he himself presented many such questions for someone else that night. Ditzy just discovered the tip of the iceberg that was his person, and she was not going to stay idle and wonder any longer.

The Doctor was just laying there in bed, eyes closed. She thought that maybe, since he could do it one way, she could too. So she tried. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work.

"Uhm, what exactly are you doing?" he asked, perplexed.

"Trying the thing you did with me. You did say it was both ways, didn't you?"

"I did, but I need to establish a connection first. That is, unless pegasi have telepathic abilities that I didn't know about. Why do you want to do it anyway?"

"Because you left a lot of questions I want answered, Doctor. You went through my head, so I'm pretty sure I deserve the same courtesy."

"Questions?Heh heh..." he burst out a soft laughter, much to the mare's displeasure.

"I'm serious, Doc!"

"No, I'm so sorry, it's just that there I was, scratching my head trying to figure out the questions I had, and I didn't notice that in the meantime, I'd given you a share of headaches as well. Sorry, you're so right, you deserve a few answers."

This sudden outburst caught Ditzy off guard. "Where did this come from? You were so reluctant to talk about yourself before, now you're laughing about it?"

"That's because there are a lot of things about me that you might not take lightly. Still, I did go through your head, so now you deserve the same courtesy..."

Ditzy's face lit up. "Really?"

"...although I'll have to warn you, you might get lost in the maze of libraries I've got. But yeah, really. A few centuries worth of travels and adventures, I'd be happy to share them with someone that's interested. Although I'll have to ask you not to wander too far."

"Sure, no problem!"

"...And please ask before you read any of the books. There's still a thing called privacy."

"Of course."

"And finally, concerning the dust I told you about before..."

"Doctor, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be worrying so much. Can we please just go already?"

"Alright, since you insist." it was easy to read the excitement in the mare's eyes. "Whenever you're ready then."

Author's Notes:

No, no Vashta Nerada. It would've been pretty obvious to do that, but it couldn't have presented any urgency. At most, it would've pulled her out.