A slippery subject

[multaekappae]

 Hualpa stared at the blue pony, secretly grateful for a distraction. "You're kidding, right?" No, he wasn't kidding. "That was the easy part." She scowled, scuffing at the dirt. "I don't even want to think about how many near misses we had in the first six years... for somepony determined not to interfere with Ponyville, the Doctor has made an awful lot of stops there."

"Um, we're pretty sure all of those visits were from previous incarnations of the Doctor..." Atoc added quickly. "But what you should be wondering about is–"

"Wasn't quite finished yet, Brother dear." Hualpa huffed. "Then, five years ago..." she held her forehooves together and then quickly flicked the hooves away, "Poof! No more tardis sightings. Tirek, the Smooze, the Siren Siege, the rediscovery of Aquestria... all the kinds of big flashy events you'd think would draw a time traveler... nope, not a thing."

Scribble frowned, "Um, yeah. That's great and all, we're all pretty aware how ... uh, 'whimsical' the Doctor is... but what I was asking is, how did you know we'd be here, now?"

The golden llama brushed the question away, "Standard fare, twenty year old letter delivered to Zecora's hut last month specifying when and where you'd be landing."

"One would be interested if there was any indication as to the identity of sender?" Cain asked.

Hualpa shrugged, glancing at her brother.

Atoc scratched his head, "Something... Harness, maybe? We tried writing back, but it seems like nopony has heard from the guy in years. Could even have been an alias of some sort?"

"Hold up," Stompson squeezed his way into the conversation from behind one of Cain's paws. "Are you talking about that fraud Jack Harness? He's been dead for..." the unicorn frowned, "I mean, he was lost when..." scratched his head, "Or maybe the rumor about... hold on, are you trying to tell me Torchwhoof is something other than a government PR group?"