Little Whooves

Derpy gazes down at the tiny foal in amazement. She had just watched her own best friend, a professional manager in time traveling, turn into the lowest of ages. And it was all her fault. She knew that she shouldn’t have messed with those hourglass thingies! Even if she was interested in their anatomy and how the sand inside them would go down a different way if you turned it upside down.

“DERPY!!!” The brown foal squawked. His lab coat draped over his teeny-tiny torso like a disassembled tent as he squirmed about, visible punches and kicks seen in the white fabric. Derpy grinned and giggled nervously, “Heheh…I just don’t know…what went wrong?”

“You messed up the balance of both time and reality! Now my age has been altered! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT WENT WRONG?!”

Derpy couldn’t help but giggle softly to herself. Doctor Whooves’ voice sounded the same. Well, almost….it sounded like he had inhaled a full tank of helium. Then she looked down at his seemingly-innocent appearance. Big blue eyes were wide with anger and frustration. His light brown coat clashed with his chocolate colored mane and tail. His flank was barren of any cutie mark and he was much smaller than before.

Much smaller.

The gray Pegasus knelt down to the pouting foal and grinned, “Well, don’t worry! I can fix this!” She picked him up by the scruff on his neck with her mouth and cheerfully trotted over to the counter, where she quickly set him down. Doctor Whooves grumbled and rubbed the back of his neck with his stubby little hoof, “Derpy, I don’t have time for this nonsense!” He looked over to see Derpy’s hoof dip behind her wing and she suddenly produced a muffin. “…And I’m not hungry either!”

“Tsk tsk, you’re fussy. Muffins always make me feel better!” She stuffed the muffin into his mouth. Whooves gurgled, his voice muffled. He promptly spit the muffin out of his mouth and whined, “Derpy! This is not what I meant! We need to get to Canterlot! Only the Princesses know how to fix this sort of problem. I may be a time manager, but this is something I cannot fix on my own!”

Derpy shrugged, “Maybe you’re thirsty. Oh! I know! Foals like milk, right? Wait…we don’t have any milk…”

“DERPY!”

“Sorry! Okay, let’s go then.” The gray Pegasus gently scooped the brown foal into her forehooves and swooped out the door. She flapped her wings rapidly as she navigated her way towards the train station. Due to the disorientation in her eyes, however, her flying pattern was not as smooth as Whooves had initially hoped. She took many sharp turns and even began to fall at times, but thankfully she would fly right back up.

Whooves groaned.

~

The trainride to Canterlot was bitterly silent. Much to his ultimate dismay, Doctor Whooves was forced to sit on Derpy’s lap. He scowled and glowered at the ponies surrounding them. Although his attempts at expressing his frustration and indignities was misinterpreted by several amused pony mothers. They stared at him intently while tending to their squalling foals, as if they were confused by the nasty sneer on the brown foal’s face.

It took almost two hours worth of a trainride before the train came to an abrupt halt and the conductor shouted from the front of the train, “Everypony; we have arrived in Canterlot!”

“Thank goodness,” Whooves thought, internally heaving a sigh of relief, “I cannot wait for this to be fixed! I have no intention of spending the rest of my days in a foal’s body!

~

“The Princess will see you in a moment.” The guard solemnly spoke, moving aside from the royal doors to escort the two mortals in. It seemed impossible; the Derpy Hooves, the foolish klutz from Cloudsdale, was being allowed inside royal property. It seemed unlikely to happen.

Surprisingly, it was very likely.

Twilight knew about Derpy’s intolerably horrible past. With her eyes permanently crossed, she was shot daily with daggers of harsh comments by former classmates from her school years. Twilight’s generous heart melted and she was always happy to see Derpy. After all, she was a pony just like everyone else, and she was no different. She was one of Twilight’s side friends, in any case.

The doors slowly opened, revealing Princess Twilight’s quarters. The purple pony was talking with Princess Celestia about some importance about the kingdom when she heard the door creak open to reveal Derpy, with a foal in her arms.

“D-Derpy?” Twilight echoed in surprise of the unexpected visitor as her and Celestia’s heads jerked. “What are you doing here? I didn’t expect a visit from you, not that you’re not welcome here.” She chuckled. Her eyes drifted over to the foal in the gray mare’s arms, “…A foal?”

“Not just any foal,” Derpy paused, “It’s Doctor Whooves.”

It was an ordeal trying to explain the earlier events to the two rulers. But after proving to the two mares that it was truly the Doctor, the terrible news was given by the white alicorn.

“I’m sorry; there is truly no easy way of saying this, but…so far there is no known cure.”

Whooves’ heart shattered.

"What?!" He screeched, "NO KNOWN CURE?! T-the books say--"

"That's what the books said, not the truth." Celestia explained, "Not even Starswirl the Bearded was able to comprehend it. It has been abandoned until somepony finds the time to complete it. Obviously that has not yet happened. May I ask what was going on when this occurred?"

"Well...it's kinda hard to expla--" "Oh for goodness sakes Derpy, enough stammering!" "Okay, fine. You see..."

Flashback to three hours ago:

"Oh wow Whoovesy, look at this! How does it do that?!" The gray pegasus exclaimed, excitedly fumbling with an hourglass. Doctor Whooves winced and galloped over, snatching the hourglass out of the mare's grip in panic. "Derpy, no touching! You could seriously damage the balance of time!" He retorted. He placed it back into her hooves and said with a straight face, "Now put it back where it belongs."

Derpy giggled and replied, "Like this?" She placed the hourglass on its side on its shelve. Whooves groaned and flipped it back up, "No, like this. You must pay attention if you're going to become my assistant!"

"Uhm, Whooves--"

"No further speaking, Derpy. Now I must show you the--"

"Whooves--"

"What did I just say? I'm still speaking to you! Now listen to m--"

"Whoooooves--"

"STOP INTERRUPTING ME!!"

"Whooves! You're shrinking!"

The Doctor looked down at his torso and gasped as the ground grew closer. He whimpered, "Oh no! I must have accidentally flipped the hourglass the wrong way! Quick, Derpy! Flip it back before I fade from existence!"

"You got it, boss!" Derpy giggled. She picked the hourglass up again and...dropped it. The hourglass plummeted mercilessly to the floor and crashed in an explosion of glass shards. The sand quickly poured out and pooled around the remains of the glass while Doctor Whooves' shrinking ceased, his lab coat draped over him like a tent.

Present Time:

"...And that's how it all happened." Derpy concluded with a grin. Celestia sighed, "Oh my. This situation has gotten much worse. Twilight, please go get the book." The purple princess nodded and trotted over to her large bookshelf. Using her magic, she levitated a book from one of the shelf's levels and carried it back over to the group, flipping it to a certain page. She gave the book to her mentor and watched as the elder mare scanned through the page, reading along, "It says that if the hourglass even has a single scratch or it is misplaced unproperly, it no longer holds the power to control the balance of one's age. The holder of the hourglass is responsible for all damage and must suffer the consequences. They will reduce in size and age until they are left as nothing but a pile of dust."

Celestia lifted her muzzle from the book and looked at Whooves, "Apparently that is not the case here." "Obviously," Whooves muttered. "I'm under a year old!" "Don't be rude, Whoovesy," chimed Derpy with a motherly note in her tone. The brown foal blushed and mumbled to himself incoherently.

Celestia turned to Twilight and asked, "Twilight, do you think you might be able to fix this?"

"I can try, but I can't promise results immediately. I'm a little rusty, but I will do it for you two." The purple mare smiled reassuringly, earning sighs of relief from Derpy and Whooves.

Suddenly a smile slowly crept up on Celestia's muzzle, "Oh, and you might consider diapering Whooves, Derpy. It appears that he has had a little accident."

Whooves' eyes sprang wide open and he looked below only to see a dark, growing stain on the floor beneath Derpy, as well as a small yellow arc that dribbled from his nether regions. He groaned, "Of course."