Doctor Whooves - Memories and Nightmares

by BlueDanube

Saying Hello

Doctor Whooves - Memories and Nightmares
Chapter 01 - Saying Hello

West Border of the Everfree Forest
Fluttershy's Cottage
Present Day - May 12th - 1.10AM

Angel Bunny and the other critters watched Fluttershy pacing around her living room in deep thought, deep enough that she barely even flinched when lightning struck or a particularly strong gust rattled her windows. Several squirrels had to dart aside or risk getting trodden on by the puzzling pegasus.
"It just doesn't make sense. It's impossible," she mused, turning back to the brown pony collapsed on her couch, "nopony I know has a heartbeat like that." Four beats echoing in his chest, it had seemed too crazy to believe at first but Angel had verified it. It was definitely not something she had imagined, some hallucination from the stress of the storm. This pony, this strange pony who seemed to have literally appeared out of thin air, had two hearts.

"How? How can he have two hearts?" It just didn't make any sense. Fluttershy was no medical expert or intellectual like Nurse Redheart or Twilight but she was certain that nopony in all of Equestria had multiple hearts. Manticores, maybe, but not a pony. "What do we do, Angel? What if that's why he's not waking up? Some sort of horrible spell that gave him an extra heart..."
She got nothing but a flat, disbelieving look in reply. She met the bunny's stare for three seconds before giving a sheepish smile.

"You're right, I can't panic over this!" The pegasus announced, before she sat herself in front of the stallion and checked his heartbeat for the umpteenth time. Still the same heartbeat, so at least it appeared to be steady and as normal as it could be with a second heart. " Come on, Fluttershy, think. There must be something I can do." Nothing came to mind. She'd tried begging, pleading, beseeching and asking politely and nothing seemed to be making the brown pony so much as stir from unconsciousness. Angel had even tried kicking him a few times, while Fluttershy had gone to get a cold towel to dab on the stallion's brow. She replaced the cloth, just trying to do something so she could at least feel like she was helping, catching a glimpse of the blank spot where his cutie mark should be.

She sighed to herself, every minute she just found more and more questions about this pony. Two hearts, a blank flank, how he ended up in the middle of the worst storm she'd seen since ever. And still no answers to any of them in sight. There was only one thing for it, she decided, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths as she steeled herself. It was stupid, crazy and the kind of thing only Rainbow Dash would ever think was a good idea but she really didn't have much of a choice, other than hope the poor pony didn't get sicker before the storm cleared up.
"I'm going into Ponyville," she announced finally, Angel's jaw almost hitting the ground at the sudden finality in her tone, "you guys look after him the best you can while I go to Twilight's, she'll be able to teleport the doctor here."
"Did someone say Doctor?"
Fluttershy's eyes snapped open at the unexpected voice, finding herself looking straight into the blue eyes of the brown stallion. He tilted his head slightly, the damp cloth falling off his brow as he affixed the frozen Fluttershy with a warm smile. "Hello!"

The earth pony blinked twice, before raising his gaze to the ceiling. And the pegasus practically pressed into it, feathers and mane frazzled in sheer shock.
"Well, that's an odd way to say hello," he said to himself, before being treated to the equally odd sight of a certain bunny facepalming.

Ponyville
Books and Branches Library
Present Day - May 12th - 1.15AM

"You think the princess will get upset over getting mail at stupid-o-clock in the morning?" Rainbow Dash asked after a yawn, sitting right in the centre of what had used to be a library but was rapidly turning into a chaotic jumble of books and scrolls as it was slowly dismantled and upturned by an increasingly agitated unicorn.
"Who?" Owloysius piped up from his perch, rotating his head around from where he had been keeping watch on the window to warn Twilight if there were any changes in the storm.
"Okay, now I know you're doing that on purpose." Maybe Twilight was right and that lightning strike did actually do some damage because normally only Fluttershy was crazy enough to spend ten minutes idly sitting and chatting with an owl while Twilight and a finally-awake Spike ran around the library like they had been the ones electrocuted. Oh the things Rainbow did when bored.

Although in this instance it was less boredom and more frustration than anything. Sitting around tapping her hooves was bad enough at the best of times, let alone when some freak storm was tearing Ponyville apart. She found herself glancing towards the door again, the urge to make a break for it and try and get some damage control going was almost unbearable. But the last three attempts she'd made had been stopped by a unicorn that could be surprisingly alert despite being head first in a copy of Magical Manipulations of Maelstroms and a fourth wasn't likely to go any better.
"Nothing! Nothing about missing rainclouds." Twilight groaned, Spike having to quickly yank the book away as she practically slammed her head against the desk in sheer frustration to prevent it from meeting her horn. They'd lost way too many books that way.
"All we got left are the archives of old weather reports," he sighed too, glancing at the pile of boxes filled to the brim with scrolls and papers dating back to the founding of Ponyville's weather team. "Wasn't easy lugging them all up here on my own."

Twilight hadn't caught the baby dragon's barb, already cracking open one of the boxes and leafing through its contents like a pony possessed. Rainbow snuck another glance for the door, wondering if she'd make more than three steps this time before she got hauled back by telekinesis. There was really no point to her being here in the first place but Twilight had insisted, repeatedly, that having somepony familiar with weather control around would be crucial in helping her decipher the mystery. And, naturally, who better to ask than Ponyville's best flier? Rainbow suspected her friend had phrased it like that on purpose, playing to her ego. Which only made it more annoying that it had worked, she'd sat around answering questions on the pegasus' methods for storm creation and what she'd managed to observe from the air before getting shot down. Instead of being out there, making sure nothing got damaged and nopony got hurt!

Her wings flared in annoyance, Twilight barely looking up as she heard the flutter, magically hauling Rainbow back as she launched for the doorway and dumping the irate pegasus back on her seat.
"Stop doing that!"
"Not yet Rainbow. Whatever this storm is, there is no mention of anything like this in any of my books or in any of these old reports. Not even the Everfree's weather is like this. Whatever this is, it's something Equestria has never seen before, and we need to find out what it is, why it's happening and how we can stop it. And I can't do it without a pegasus' help. Without your help."
"Why me and not Cloudkicker or somepony?!"
Twilight turned from her reading and fixed Rainbow a level stare, "Cloudkicker's not going to be any help if the worst case scenario is true and this is Discord. She isn't the Element of Loyalty."

Rainbow Dash was many things. Brash, confident, a daredevil speedster. Nothing that said coward and yet she still couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down her spine and had her mane stand on end even more than the lightning strike had. Even Twilight winced at the thought, as though stating it out loud made it more real. Neither of them wanted to go through those events again, Nopony in their right minds would. Not even Pinkie was that crazy, no amount of chocolate rain worth the neverending strife he would leave in his wake.
"W-we don't know that for sure, though, right?" Rainbow winced as her voice cracked.
"I don't know. Seems a little tame for him but trying to guess what Discord's up to is just going to give you a headache." And possibly cost you all of your friends, Twilight added to herself, remembering that lesson all too well. "We won't know until we get a letter back from the princess."

Right on cue, Spike belched out a plume of green fire from which a single scroll materialised, dropping to the ground. Everyone stared at it, even Owloysuis turning away from the window to observe as Twilight slowly stepped towards the scroll. She took a deep breath as her magic lifted the parchment and unravelled it, hoping against hope that it was good news.
"Well?" Rainbow inquired, swooping around behind the unicorn and trying to read over the top of her head, "what's it say? Are we going to Defcon One, magic necklaces for everypony?"
"Reading's a little hard with a pegasus leaning on my head."
"Oh, right. Sorry."

Twilight rolled her eyes as her friend backed off a little, returning her attention back to the letter.
"My faithful subject, Twilight Sparkle. As my dearest sister is currently resting, I have received your correspondence in her stead. Ponyville is quite dear to me, so I share your distress at its current predicament. I have personally checked the statue garden and Discord is most certainly still sealed there. I have checked and triple checked and the enchantment is holding as strong as it was the day you and your friends cast it with the Elements, so there is no way he is behind your unusual weather pattern. I'm afraid I cannot recall ever coming across any storm like it myself, but I am investigating the Canterlot archives and will let you know if I find anything that may be of use to solving the situation.

Do please let us know if anything changes.
Your good friend; Princess Luna."

Everyone sat in silence for a moment, digesting the information. An almost synchronized sigh of relief swept through the entire room at the news that Discord was still imprisoned. Worst case scenario averted.
Rainbow shifted her weight from hoof to hoof as Twilight lowered the scroll, before finally asking, "so, what now?"
"I don't know," the purple unicorn replied. While chaos manipulation was ruled out, there were still too many possibilities, "I just don't know."
"Then let's go find more out," Rainbow declared, seeing her moment to take charge and hopefully escape the library, "the egghead way's not getting us anywhere and if I stay cooped up in here any longer I'm gonna go insane!"
"I guess-" Twilight glanced up at the library's clock, wondering just how long the storm had been raging now, only to pause when she noticed something very, very wrong. "The clock's stopped."

Rainbow and Spike glanced up at it, before glancing at each other and giving simultaneous shrugs before turning back to Twilight. "So?"
"Look at the time! 10:43. When the storm started! Spike, where's your watch?!"
"Okay, now I'm confused," Rainbow Dash evaded the small dragon that scurried upstairs to fetch his watch, both of them recognizing Twilight having a eureka moment even if neither of them knew why, "a lightning strike knocked the clock out or something?"
"No. I've got a magical lightning rod, no electricity can reach in here even in this storm. And even if I didn't, this clock is enchanted to always, always be accurate and never stop, wouldn't want to be tardy for anything. And now it's stopped working the moment this storm appeared. That can't be a coincidence!"

Spike practically hurtled back down the stairs from the bedroom, holding his timepiece over his head.
"Mine's stopped too! 10:43, just like that one. This is getting weirder by the minute."
"And one last check," Twilight darted to the window, looking out over the town. It didn't take long for a lightning strike to light up the sky, and Ponyville's clock tower in the distance. "10:43."
"That is kinda weird, yeah," Rainbow agreed, "still no idea why you're so excited."
"I think I know what this is." Freak winds, freak lightning, stopped clocks. She had seen this before, on a much smaller scale. "It's not a magical or natural storm. It's temporal."

Blank looks all around. From Rainbow and the mailmare it was expected, but Twilight found herself disappointed in Spike. How many times had she ran over temporal theory during that fateful week, and he had been too busy scoffing ice cream to even remember one word of it.
"The time spell? When Future Twilight appeared there was wind, an electrical discharge and it stopped that clo-" wait, "Derpy!"
"Hi Twilight!" Ponyville's resident mailmare waved from beside Rainbow, who launched a good meter or so into the air when she noticed the other pegasus sitting only inches away, before attempting to brush off the reaction as a casual stretch.
"Uh, Derpy, when did you get here?"
"When you were talking about clocks and temporal stuff. Isn't that something to do with time? I've never heard of a time storm before."
"Me neither," Twilight mused, "but that's not the issue, what are you doing here?"

Derpy Hooves wasn't exactly a frequent visitor to the library under normal circumstances, most of Twilight's mail came through Spike. And these were most certainly not ordinary circumstances. Anypony with any sense would be indoors, doubly so if they had a filly. While Derpy could be rather scatterbrained on occasion, she was usually very focused and thoughtful when Dinky was concerned, so why in Equestria would she have come to the library in the middle of the night during the most dangerous storm Ponyville had seen since being founded?
"I got mail for you!"
"Mail." Twilight felt a headache coming on, one of a kind normally only felt after trying to understand Pinkie's brand of logic. "Why are you delivering mail now, in the middle of the night?"
"Because you asked me to," Derpy tilted her head, nose scrunching in confusion, "you said I had to bring a letter to you during a storm with no rain."
"I did?"
"Yup. I thought it was silly but you seemed pretty sure it was important, so here I am! Now where did I put it?"

While Derpy was rummaging in her saddlebag for whatever it was she was determined to deliver, Rainbow snuck over to beside Twilight, while Spike got stuck having to hold all of the increasingly-large pile of strange items Derpy was throwing out.
"You knew the storm was going to happen?" Rainbow accused, "because if I've been sitting in here answering questions about something you already knew about..."
"Nope. But Future Twilight would." Twilight certainly hadn't given Derpy anything to deliver, so she was almost certain now that the time spell was related.
"...Well, at least we have a disaster this time."
"Exactly. And Future Twilight wanted something delivered to me now, not before it happened. She didn't warn us in advance, not to mention the time travel spell could only be used once. And I don't even have the scroll anymo-"

The scroll that Derpy had just pulled out of her saddlebag. The scroll that was supposed to be in the Canterlot Archives.
"Found it!" Only Derpy Hooves could inject that much joy into delivering mail.
"Finally!" Spike groaned, staggering under the weight of the pile of random stuff in his arms. "Why did you have a muffin tray, a brick and a bowl of lemons in your bag anyway?"
"I don't know. Anyway, here's your super-duper important letter, Twilight."

The dumbstruck unicorn took the offered scroll without a word, Rainbow looking on as she carefully unrolled the old parchment. The ink was cracked and faded away almost completely after reacting to magic being channelled through it , obscuring the words and symbols to the point where it was impossible for anyone to replicate the spell. It was, without a doubt, the exact same scroll Twilight had used during her entirely-non-disastrous foray into time travel. There was almost no difference to how it had been when she had turned it over to Princess Celestia to be sealed away. The only change was a tiny little scribble in the bottom corner Three letters in what was recognizably her own writing.
"P.T.O." Twilight looked up from note, "please turn over? But there isn't anything on the back."

She stared at the offending blank space of parchment, wondering if her future self was playing a practical joke of some kind, only to be caught completely off guard when Rainbow Dash suddenly pulled the scroll away, gave it an inquisitive sniff and held it up to the light.
"Rainbow?" What in Equestria was the weatherpony up too?
"Shh." The pegasus was grinning way too much for Twilight's liking, as though she knew something no one else did, "Derpy, could I borrow one of those lemons?" Or she had gone completely insane, although no one else seemed to question Rainbow's behaviour. Derpy just nodded and let Rainbow scoop up one of the yellow fruit and make for the desk while Spike was just grateful to lose even a little of the load he was having to try and stuff back into a saddlebag that suddenly seemed way too small to have fit any of it in the first place.
"What are you going to do with a lemon?"
"Oh nothing much, just a little magic trick."

Rainbow swept books off of the desk to clear a little space, laying the scroll down flat and placing the lemon beside it. She rested a hoof on the fruit and smushed it into pulp. Briefly turning back to her attentive audience, Derpy eagerly watching the other pegasus even if one eye seemed quite focused on the floor while Twilight and Spike were looking on with a mix of confusion and horror. Rainbow paused for dramatic effect before picking up the tip of a quill in her teeth and dunking the feather into the spreading lemon juice and painting it onto the blank piece of scroll.
"Rainbow, what are you doing!?" Twilight finally had enough, hauling the pegasus back, "this is a priceless magic scroll, you can't just coat it in lemon!"
"Just give it a sec," Rainbow said, hovering over her friend and pointing back at the parchment, and the words starting to materialise seemingly out of thin air. "There's your message from the future. Written in disappearing ink."
"What? But how did you-"
"If it's older than a few days you can smell it. I spilled some on myself once, I know what it smells like. Kinda like zap apples actually, me and Pinkie managed to convince Rarity it was a new perfume you could only find in Cloudsdale. She's got three bottles!"

Twilight ignored the pegasus that was breaking into maniacal laughter above her, that was a problem to be dealt with later. Against every librarian instinct she possessed, she painted the rest of the parchment with the lemon juice, wincing all the while. Derpy and Spike were finally finished cramming things back into her saddlebag, the baby dragon having had to resort to jumping up and down on it before they could fasten the clasp shut, and wandered over as everyone waited for the rest of the message to reappear. After an almost agonizing ten seconds, the last of the ink came into view and Twilight started to read.
"Dear... me? This is going to be weird, I can just tell.

Sorry I can't be there in person, but we both remember what happened last time. Plus my method this time doesn't have the fourteen different wards and shield enchantments on it so us meeting face to face could blow a hole in Equestria the size of a belgium. Not entirely sure what a belgium is but I can only assume it'll be bad for Equestria. Unfortunately I also can't just tell you what'll happen, I can only point you/me in the right direction.
Firstly, don't panic. There is still no epic pony war in the future and I don't look nearly as ridiculous as we did last time. So no panicking, trust your instincts and your friends.
Rainbow Dash; as you were there when I got my letter I can only assume the same is true now-"
"That is creepy," the pegasus in question muttered.
"It isn't creepy!" Twilight read out.
"Gah!"

"Okay, it is a little weird. Anyway, the storm only covers half of Ponyville, it fizzles out after Sugarcube Corner. Get all of your weaker fliers who can't fight the wind to gather rainclouds from outside of the storm and leave them on the edge so you and the other pegasi can use them to put out any fires. Don't go putting yourself in any more danger than you need to. Past Twilight won't need you for anything else after this, so you can go right- she's already gone isn't she?"
"Yup," Past Twilight sighed, holding down the scroll to stop it getting blown away from the momentary blast of wind as Rainbow shot out the door.
"Derpy, thanks for delivering this letter for me. I know leaving Dinky with Carrot Top to come here can't have been easy for you."
"Was kinda hard to explain but I'm sure Carrot will understand."
"I'm sure she will, after a few of your excellent muffins as thanks."
"Aww, you're making me blush."
"Past me will need your help again tomorrow. It'll sound a bit strange but I'm confident you'll be able to handle it."
"Okie! See you tomorrow, Past Twilight." And with that the mailmare followed Rainbow Dash to the door.
"Spike. Go back to bed."
"My pleasure," the dragon in question was already half up the stairs, yawning.

"Okay, Twilight... (This is so surreal) I can't tell you why the storm appeared or anything else that'll happen between you reading this and me sending it. You'll figure it out on your own in time. All I can say is you have to go to Fluttershy's as soon as you've read this. She needs your help right now and you are going to have to trust her, no matter how weird things seem you mustn't over react. Trust all your friends, even the really odd chestnut one. Be careful and, no matter what happens, don't touch the Nightmare. You'll thank me later.
Sincerely, Future Twilight."

West Border of the Everfree Forest
Fluttershy's Cottage
Present Day - May 12th - 1.30AM

There was a brief flash of magic as Twilight materialised in front of Fluttershy's cottage, nearly being blown off of her hooves by the sudden force of the gale after having teleported from the relative calm of the library. It felt stronger here than it had in Ponyville. She glanced up at the cottage, amazed that it seemed to have weathered everything without so much as a scratch. The garden hadn't been so lucky. There wasn't much left that could even be called a garden, fenceposts and plants uprooted left and right. Fluttershy's chicken coop was flying off into the Everfree, crashing into a tree and disintergrating into splinters.
"I hope Sweet Apple Acres make it out okay," Twilight didn't want to imagine what the storm could do to Applejack's crop. Luckily Future Twilight's letter hadn't mentioned anything about the Apple family, allowing Twilight the hope that they would make it out without too much damage to their livelihood.

But there was no time to be worrying about Applejack, the note from the future insisted that Twilight had to come here. And the way it had sent everyone else away first gave the impression that, whatever the reason was, she was supposed to come alone.The purple unicorn couldn't help but wonder just what the reasoning for that could be. There had to be some logic behind that decision and she wanted a chance to look around and figure it out before blindly following instructions that made no sense, before she ended up misunderstanding something again. Another lightning bolt streaked across the sky, making Twilight flinch and crouch down, ducking her head to try and make herself a smaller target.

It had the added effect of forcing her to look down and see the massive scorch mark she was standing in the centre of. It was easily several feet across, a massive mark of blackened grass and earth.
"Whoa... this thing is huge. What could have caused this?" Twilight's brain raced. The ground was still relatively flattened, it wasn't a crater so it wasn't an explosion. But it was far, far too large to be from a lightning strike, even lightning as weird as this. Twilight crouched down lower, magically anchoring herself to the ground to prevent being blown away as she inspected the area.
"No sign of magic, doesn't smell like burning. Ah, why didn't I think to grab a beaker from the lab!?" She groaned, wishing she could take a sample for further study before the storm could contaminate it any further. The thought died as soon as it appeared when she spotted markings in the earth, slight shifts in the dirt that hadn't quite been covered up by the wind. The imprint of a pony.

Despite the letter's instructions, Twilight couldn't help the lance of fear running through her. A large mark blasted into the earth, clear signs a pony was involved, right out side of Fluttershy's cottage. She leapt to her hooves and looked around in almost a blind panic as almost a hundred different scenarios ran through her head, trying to see any sign of her friend. Nothing, no sign of the yellow pegasus' presence. Twilight paused, the logical librarian part of her mind managing to assert itself and point out the obvious way to find out if Fluttershy was okay. She closed her eyes in concentration and vanished in another flare of light and sound, only to reappear in the middle of Fluttershy's living room.
"Oh hello, another one! Where'd you come from?"
"Gah!" Twilight jumped at the unexpected and unfamiliar voice, eyes snapping open to stare at the chestnut stallion on the couch.
"...Is that the way everyone says hello around here?" The strange pony grumbled to himself, glancing up at the eagle perched above his head, "because that is going to get really annoying."
"Who are you?"
"Haven't figured that out yet! Like the purple, by the way."
"Excuse me?" It was way too early in the morning for this.
"Purple. You're purple. And you have a horn, that makes you a unicorn! A purple unicorn and a yellow pegasus, oh that is brilliant," he paused, suddenly seeming less sure and manic, "I think. Is it brilliant?"

And this was getting stranger and stranger by the second. But Twilight forced the endless barrage of questions the stallion was bringing to mind aside at the mention of her friend. The other pony seemed to spot her reaction, suddenly switching gears from overzealous to deadly serious.
"She's fine, I think I just spooked her. A rabbit brought her a bag to hyperventilate into, then a big ol' group of animals took her into that room over there," he waved in the direction of Fluttershy's kitchen, "I'd go see if I can help but this eagle's pretty insistent I don't go anywhere."
"Kweh." The bird of prey nodded.
"And I'm fairly certain the rabbit threatened to chuck a pot at my head. Friendly little fella-" the stallion paused as Twilight rushed past him and into the kitchen, concern for her friend taking top priority. "And no one says goodbye either?"
"Fluttershy, are you okay?!"

"A brightly coloured pegasus and unicorn, fancy that," the earth pony mused to himself as the conversation in the kitchen became too muted to hear. He took a quick glance at his side and saw no sign of feathery wings there before reaching up and dabbing at his forehead with a hoof. "No wings or horn. A boring old brown coat. I'm a rubbish horse-" he paused, nose wrinkling in confusion. "That felt weird to say. Should it be weird?" He asked the eagle, "I'm a horse, right? Four legs, herbivore teeth, hooves-" He paused again, staring at his hoof in sudden rapt fascination, as though expecting something else entirely. "Why do these look so alien?"

He looked across the living room of the cottage he had found himself in, past the furniture, past the staircase, past the dozens of little homes for animals until he spotted a mirror. Barely visible in the light of the lanterns, he stared into a face he found himself unable to recognize. The only thing that felt even remotely familiar were the deep blue eyes that seemed to bore into his soul and a messy brown manecut, everything else seemed like it shouldn't belong. He tried as hard as he could to envision what should be there, but found he came up blank. Nothing. No face, no clothes, just a big hole in his memories. One that encompassed far more than just his physical appearance. Who he was, where he'd come from and where he was currently; it was all just one big blank. The word amnesiac sprung to mind and no amount of wishing or focus seemed to be working at bringing anything back.
"What happened to me?" He asked his reflection, which suddenly seemed much more tired than it had ten seconds earlier.
"I was hoping you could tell us that." The purple unicorn stepped out of the kitchen once more, followed by the pegasus that looked much calmer than she had fifteen minutes earlier even if she was trying to hide behind her friend.

"Oh, hello again," the stallion's mood seemed to switch back to cheerful and friendly the moment he saw them, "are you feeling better now, miss?"
"Oh, um, yes, you just startled me a little... Sorry to worry you."
"Don't worry about it, no harm done," he beamed.
"Back to the question at hoof," the unicorn interrupted, "I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Fluttershy, can you please tell us your name and how you got here? And if you know anything about this storm?"

The first part should have been an easy one to answer, but the earth pony found himself at a loss. The chasm in his memories seemed to have swallowed up even his name. He glanced up at the eagle perched above him, not noticing the way the two ponies glanced at each other as the seconds ran on, he recognized it as a steppe eagle. A fruit bat fluttered around the ceiling and a small army of critters peaked out around the doors of the kitchen, he could name them all. Tables, chairs, everything else in the room, all of that came to him clear as day. But his own name, that had eluded him. But he couldn't just say that he didn't have one, they would end up picking one for him to use as a stand in. And if their oddly-fitting names were anything to go by, he'd end up with something stupid like Browny Boringhorse. Then, just as a flash of lightning lit up the night sky, it came to him. The word that had managed to pierce the fog in his head and rouse him back to consciousness. The word that seemed to resonate through him; warm and, most importantly, familiar.
"I'm the Doctor."

Twilight didn't look impressed at his choice of name.
"The Doctor."
"That's me, hello!" He waved a hoof before pausing to stare at it again, oblivious to the confused glances he was getting from the ponies and other animals watching him.
"Just the Doctor? Doctor W-"
"Hooves," he muttered to himself, not paying the slightest bit of attention.
"Doctor Hooves?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." He looked up, having thought of something, "with a double-u in it."
"A double-u."

"This pony is just getting stranger and stranger," Twilight mused to herself, "this couldn't be the really-odd chestnut pony Future Twilight meant, could it?"
"Double-ues are cool. Doctor Whooves, it's fantastic, I could get a name badge printed and everything so no one forgets. Again."
"...I'm supposed to trust him? I'd sooner trust the Cutie Mark Crusaders with reshelving day!" Which was never going to happen again after their last attempt, Twilight still had yet to figure out where that fire had come from, or how they'd ended up flooding her basement with tree sap. Her house still didn't look right.
"Um, Doctor?" Fluttershy piped, stepping around Twilight and towards the stallion with Angel not a step behind.
"That's my name," he grinned, not put off at all by the bunny scowling at him.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Me? Fit as a fiddle." No memory loss here, nosiree.
"Physically, at least," Twilight dead-panned under her breath, "he's a few chapters short of a book." Angel nodded in agreement.

"Well, um..." All eyes turned to Fluttershy, "you were unconscious a very long time, out in the middle of that storm."
"I'm a deep sleeper. When I'm out; I am out. No matter where or when. Sorry."
"Wait, he was the one who was in that scorched patch?!" Twilight was regretting not asking Fluttershy about the stranger instead of coming out here to question him herself. "What was that?"
"There was this massive lightning flash and then Angel saw him in the window..." Fluttershy idly kicked a hoof, not entirely comfortable with the way both of the other ponies suddenly seemed to be focusing all their attention on her.
"There is no way that was a lightning strike."
"Not exactly a normal storm, mind you" the Doctor piped up from his seat, "temporal, I'd guess."
"H-how do you-"
"Can't hear any rain, which rules out it being a natural weather system. If it was manufactured then there would be static in the air, and the fact that none of our manes have gone frizzy suggests that isn't the case. The stopped clock on the mantelpiece over there matches the one on the wall by the door to the second which is far too precise to be a coincidence and suggests some kind of temporal anomaly. Then there's your reaction which makes me almost certain I'm correct. I usually am. And, on top of all of that, I have the slight taste of lemon on my tongue."

He had recited all of that in an almost one breath, grinning all the while. Fluttershy spun on her hooves, examining her clocks in disbelief, while Twilight just stood there in shock. He had figured out the storm's apparent nature in seconds using deductions that she herself had taken an appallingly long time to make. Up until the last one, that had come out of left field.
"Lemon?" Now that he mentioned it, there was a faint taste of lemon in her mouth too and she definitely hadn't eaten anything with lemons in. But how in Equestria did he equate that with a temporal storm?
"Yup. Lemon makes me think of time. Don't know why. Don't know why I taste lemon either. I, uh, think I'm more partial to bananas."
"You think?" Twilight latched onto the only part of his rambling that she could follow. The rest of it seemed baseless nonsense, but the odd phrasing and hesitation jumped out at her.
"Ah. Kinda gave it away, didn't I?"
"...Yes." She lied, not sure what exactly he'd given away. Fluttershy was looking between the two of them, staying quiet for the time being as her friend sized up the strange Doctor.

He chuckled to himself, breaking eye contact with the oddly perceptive purple unicorn to look towards the window. There was another flash of lightning, followed by a crash of thunder that left the window panes rattling. The manic grin was gone now, just a sombre look on his face as he weighed up each word before finally speaking.
"I appear to have lost my memories, possibly thanks to the storm. Time can be a funny thing if you're exposed to it directly." How did he know that and not where he was from?
"You've lost your memories?!" Surprisingly, it was the timid pegasus that spoke up, suddenly launching into the air and flapping over to him, taking a damp cloth and dabbing him on the head as though that would fix everything. "Are you sure nothing else is wrong? You don't have a cutie mark-"
"A what?" The Doctor interrupted.
"It's a mark that shows what your special talent is," Twilight explained, finally spotting what was making her feel off about the stallion, apart from the fact he made no sense. "every pony gets one as they grow up and find what that talent is."
"Ah." Now that he looked, he could see what appeared to be butterflies on the pegasus and stars on the unicorn, while his side was completely bare. Browny Boringhorse strikes again. "Well, I can't really have a mark if I don't know who I am, I suppose."
"You can't remember anything?"
"Well, I apparently forgot what a cutie mark is," and the idea of a mark showing just what he was good at seemed laughable for some reason.
"I've never even heard of amnesia removing a cutie mark, not even magic can change one.
"Magic?"

Twilight took a step back, completely baffled that anypony could forget one of the most common elements in all of Equestria, wielded by a third of the population. Just how bad was this amnesia?
"Um..." Fluttershy spoke up again before the unicorn could start lecturing about magic, which would have taken until at least sundown the next day before she was finished with even the basics. "There's something else I noticed, while you were unconscious." She shrank back at the inquisitive looks both ponies were giving her, only for Angel to push her forward.
"Um... well, I'm sorry if I'm wrong but I was checking your heartbeat in case you were sick and I might have found two..."
"Didn't quite catch that," Twilight piped up, looking between her friend and the stallion, who tilted his head to the side in confusion.

He can't have heard that right. He couldn't have. Fluttershy seemed to be trying to work up the courage to try again when he waved her off, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, concentrating on his chest. He heard both the ponies approaching him whispering with each other, he heard his breath and felt his chest rising and falling with each single one. And then he felt it, a heart beating warm and strong. And a second right beside it. And he was pretty sure that no kind of equine had two hearts, his memories were thankfully clear on that much.
"What?" How on earth, or where ever this was, could that be possible? And why did it feel perfectly normal compared to the alien hooves?
"He was two hearts?!" Twilight exclaimed, yanking a stethoscope from the table beside the couch as she darted towards the Doctor to check for herself.
"What!?" And why did it feel perfectly normal compared to the alien hooves? That made no sense at all!
"What." The unicorn and earth pony echoed in unison, the former darting back a step and dropping the stethoscope in her shock.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up..."

"It seems steady and regular, and it certainly doesn't seem to be hurting you." Twilight sighed, once she had gotten over the initial shock and took a second listen, trying to make sense of this pony who seemed to be getting stranger by the minute.
"Nope," the Doctor agreed, looking to Fluttershy who was returning the stethoscopes to her first aid box, "didn't even notice it until you pointed it out."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be," he grinned that manic, friendly grin again, "no one can be mad at someone trying to help."
"Somepony," Twilight grumbled, massaging her temples.
"Huh?"
"It's somepony, not someone."
"Oh, that makes sense," sounded better than somehorse, that was for sure. He paused for thought, examining the unicorn pacing around the living room, "you sure you don't want to sit down? You look exhausted."
"I'm fine," she insisted.

The Doctor stared her straight in the eyes, his face unreadable. He sized up the bags under them, the glazed look that slowly seemed to be masking the intelligence burning behind them. She stared stubbornly back, refusing to succumb to a little sleep-deprivation. Even after the many late nights working with Rarity, she had more than enough practice with her study sessions to keep going until she had figured out this problem, this had to be what Future Twilight had sent her to Fluttershy's to do and she couldn't let a mystery this big slide. Up until the stallion yawned. It was a stage yawn, far too loud and put on to be real, but it still worked it's magic. Twilight's body yawned too, this one real, and with it all the energy and focus just seemed to drain right out of her.
"You are not fine." She heard, managing to pull her suddenly heavy gaze up from the floor to look into the concerned blue eyes. Fluttershy stepped up beside her, giving her something to lean on and pushing her towards the couch.
"But I need to-"
"Twilight Sparkle," the Doctor spoke, voice calm and warm, "I have no idea who, or what I am. But I do know that, if we're going to figure it out, I'm going to need your best. And for that you need to get some rest."
"But."
"This puzzle will still be here in the morning." He grinned again, "at least I hope so, I love puzzles!"
"But what about you?" Twilight tried one last time, not entirely sure why she was resisting so much when the idea of resting her head seemed blissful.
"My heartbeats feel normal, I don't seem to have any other injuries and I'm starting to get pins and needles in my back legs. No reason I can't get off this couch and stretch my legs a little."

Twilight tried, but couldn't summon up the energy to argue any further. The stallion had a point and, besides, Fluttershy was there to wake her if anything did happen. She sighed, fighting back a second yawn as she nodded and walked towards the couch.
"Hooray, I just won an argument with a unicorn," The Doctor smirked to himself, pleased as punch as he pushed himself up and off the couch, only for his legs to all decide to go in different directions and end with him flat on his face. "Ow."
"Are you okay?" Fluttershy flew to his side, pulling the stallion back to his hooves and trying to prop him up as he staggered unsteadily, "you shouldn't try and move so fast."
"Early days," the Doctor grumbled, "steering's a bit off."

The moment Fluttershy let go he fell flat on his face again.
"It appears I've forgotten how to walk too," he sighed. "So much for that idea."

It was going to be a long night.

Comments

[Goopgon]

Once again, FIRST!!!!
Nice chapter by the way

[Gysp3]

first I was then I was then I was: and finally

[Actualtrash]

So much awesomeness

[BlueDanube]

1112062
1111756
1107616

Glad to see people like it so far. Always feel nervous when posting things, so trying something new like this and having it go down well is a massive relief.

No idea when I'll get the next chapter done, I have other non-pony things to do first, but hopefully soon. Timey-wimey shenanigans are fun.

[Lunarmon]

Very good begging, looking forward to see more.

[The Mad Chemist]

Brilliant! I like the whole 'Doctor's got amnesia' storyline - very 8th.
Excellent characterisation as well. I look forward to the next update!

[BlueDanube]

1135242
I'd be lying if I said I didn't do it partially as an 8th reference
But it's also the easiest way to get both worlds. The MLP slice-of-life wackiness combined with running up and down corridors from beasties. Or from Pinkie Pie with the welcome wagon, either/or.

Glad the characterization seems to fit. I was worried I wasn't doing the pony side of things justice ('specially Fluttershy during the prologue) but so far so good on that front. 'Course, we haven't had Applejack or Rarity show up yet. They'll be the real test.

I'm hoping to get the next part up by the weekend, with a little luck.