//------------------------------//
// Brave Heart 
// Story: Allons-y! 
// by Sixes_And_Sevens 
//------------------------------//

Ditzy lay on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. She wasn’t crying. She had cried for him years ago, when he left. She had cried for him when he was gone, and she was hurt, or sad, or alone. Now, he was back. She didn't think she had any tears left. 
How could he have loved her, then hurt her like this? Vanishing for eight rutting years, and then just suddenly popping up out of nowhere without so much as a ‘hello’? How could the stallion she had loved so dearly do such a thing?
She heard the door gently creaking open. "Can I come in?" the Doctor asked. She made no response.
"Should I leave you alone?" Again, she said nothing.
"Then I'll just sit right here." She heard the sound of his weight settling on the floor at the threshold. Neither of them spoke for a long while.
The Doctor let out a long breath. “Ditzy Doo, I can't tell you how sorry I am about what I did to you.”
She made no reply. He should be sorry. She had thought that he was dead! How could he just come waltzing back into her life, back into Dinky's life, as though nothing had ever changed?
Except… that wasn’t quite true, was it? Something had certainly changed. He seemed so much older now. So tired. So… lost. He interrupted her thoughts. 
“Well, I say I'm sorry. Sorry isn't really strong enough a word. There is absolutely no excuse for the way that I hurt you and Dinky,” he said. “I wish I could fix it, I wish that I could change time like that, but I can’t. I can’t bring back Dinky’s childhood, I can’t return those eight years you spent raising her on your own, I can’t undo all that time when you thought I’d either died or run off, not sure which was worse—” he broke off.
He was right, Ditzy thought. There was no excuse. She kept listening anyway.
After several choked sobs, he whispered, “All my fault.” 
He breathed deeply a few times before continuing. “I can’t fix what I’ve done to you, Ditzy Doo, and I am so sorry for that, as well. I’m… I’m bad news. Trouble follows me wherever I go. But… if you want me back, and I expect that’s a pretty big ‘if’ after all that I’ve done, then I promise you. I promise you that I will be there for you always and forever, I can promise you that.”
She lifted her head from the pillow and stared at him blankly, framed in the doorway. “Please,” he whispered, “Just give me an answer. If it’s a no, then I promise, I will go. I'll leave Ponyville, leave Equestria if you want, leave you and Dinky in peace forever, and if it breaks both my hearts, then I don't care. ‘Cos, Ditzy Doo, I think you’re brilliant. And I remember loving you, and I remember you loving me. And I’m so, so sorry that I hurt you.”
She stared at him a little longer. And then, she spoke. “When you left, I was worried sick. Up until today, I was certain that you were never coming back. You have missed so, so much. Dinky’s first word, her first day of school, her first crush. You weren’t here for her or me. I don't need to forgive you for any of that.” She was shouting now, her face red.
He winced as though she had punched him again. Then, he nodded, face stoic and resigned. “Alright. I’ll just— I’ll just go then.” He rose to his hooves and turned to leave.
"Wait." He stopped. "I want you to look at me, Doctor, and I want you to listen."
He turned and faced her, and he was quite surprised to see that she was smiling at him. “Oh, Doctor,” she whispered through the new tears springing to her eyes, “have you learned nothing over all the years you’ve been gone?”
“What?” he asked, befuddled.
"I don't need to forgive you,” she said, rising from her bed. "But I'll do it anyway."
She reached him and embraced him tightly. He was frozen for a moment, too shocked to move. But then, he relaxed and hugged her back even tighter, burying his face in her mane. She smelled of blueberries and fresh pastries and home.
Ditzy felt warm tears dribbling onto her coat, heard murmured and half-sobbed gibberish pouring into her ears. “Missed you too,” Ditzy murmured into his barrel as she led him into the room slowly stumbling backwards. They sat down together on the bedspread, still hugging.
They stayed like that for a long minute before she pulled away and said with half-playful anger, “All that said, you’d better have a real good explanation of where you’ve been, buster!” She poked him right in the barrel.
He pulled away and looked at her and through his tears, he grinned that infectious grin of his. Her facade wobbled and then shattered, the last of her anger evaporating as she broke into giggles. They laughed and laughed until their sides hurt and, wheezing, lay down next to each other on the bedspread.
"I love you," the Doctor said once he could breathe again.
Ditzy smiled at him. "Quite right, too." She relished his eyes going wide with shock. "Oh, alright. I love you too, my starpony."
"Right. Yes. Thank you," the Doctor said, still looking mildly puzzled.
“Really though,” she said, sitting up and leaning over his prone form, “I want to know what you’ve done while you were gone.” She eyed him. “Not running with fast and loose women, I hope?”
“Well,” he admitted rubbing his chin with a hoof, “None of them were loose, anyway. All of them had their heads screwed on good and tight. Certainly fairly fast though, you have to be if you’re running away from as many aliens as I usually do. I expect that will rather increase if I’m staying around here, I tend to attract a bit of attention…” He screwed up his face in thought. “Oh yes, and there was Jack. I suppose if anyone ever counted as fast and loose, he certainly did… Let me tell you about the time that we…”