Down Winding Paths

Chapters

II - Coming to an agreement
III - A time unknown
IV - The start of mistrust
I - A Mission that spans generations

II - Coming to an agreement

“What has liking muffins have to do with anything?” Gold yellow eyes stared inquisitively at the brown earth pony who seemed overly giddy at the pegasus' food preferences.

“Why, it has everything to do with it! Ma'am, I need your help!” Time Turner turned to face the blue-gray pegasus head on with pleading eyes.

“What do you need help with, exactly?” Derpy watched the stallion as he shifted in place before taking a deep breath and diving just into the explanation.

“I need your help to get a time machine working so I can go into the past and record what happens.” In an attempt to appear sincere, Turner remained still and stared into the mare's eyes which slowly grew concerned and bewildered at what was described.

Derpy started to edge away from the stallion as she became uneasy as to whether or not he was feeling better.

“Right.... Time travel... I think you're still a little confused, I'm going to find someone to help, ok?” Time Turner's jaw dropped slightly in shock; she thought he was still discorded!

“Ma'am, I'll have you know that I'm perfectly fine! I can prove it, if you would just follow me?” The earth pony moved his hoof to wave Derpy inside but she had thought it was an effort to grab her and spread her wings to take off; before she could continue the flap, nausea and dizziness struck, much like when she was discorded. Her wings contracted sharply in fear and in an almost blind panic, Derpy took a few frightened hoof-steps back.

Time Turner noticed and flinched back as well, trying to present a calm and soothing air.

“Woah there, everything's ok... Why don't we go find others and figure out what happened instead....” The stallion stayed still as Derpy took shuddering breaths before nodding and heading to where she could hear others talking and cheering.

The two ponies soon found themselves in town square where everyone had gathered to hear what had happened. Everyone faced town hall, where on the porch was the residential librarian and her five friends; Derpy knew them mostly due to her postal service job, though the two pegasi she personally knew from the time she lived in Cloudsdale.

Twilight scanned the crowd and gave a pleased nod when everypony settled down and waited for the announcement.

“Hem-hem, as I'm sure everypony has noticed, there was a large disturbance within the last day; yes, only a day has passed since the being known as Discord broke free.” A shudder ran through the crowd at the name, which Twilight had paused for; once she ascertained that there were no issues, she continued her explanation of the events.

“We know how he escaped from his prison and have corrected it; my friends and I used the Elements of Harmony and re-imprisoned Discord. Everything has returned to the way it was before due to the magic of the elements. A similar notice is being told all around Equestria, and Princess Celestia has invited any and all to come to a presentation that will be held in a few days' time at Canterlot Castle.

“Please come see myself or any of the doctors and nurses if you are hurt or in need of help. It may take a few days to readjust from this experience, but I'm sure we can make it!” The lavender unicorn stomped a confident hoof as she looked at the milling ponies who shared worried glances before dispersing.

The blue-gray pegasus frowned slightly as she watched the crowd regroup into family and friends before heading towards town hall by hoof; a fact not lost on the earth pony who followed behind (though not close enough to cause another panic attack).

Rainbow Dash focused on the on-coming pegasus and frowned worriedly.

“Hey Derpy, you doing ok?” The mailmare nodded slowly before stopping just below the six friends with inquisitive eyes.

“Yeah, I just want to know if you guys know what happened with any of the foals? I tried to find them but Discord got to me before I could.” The six friends shared uneasy looks before the majority of the mares on stage looked at the farmer and fashionista, both of whom looked sheepishly towards the muffin-loving pegasus.

“Yes, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided that the Everfree Forest was a safer place than Ponyville during the day of chaos....” Rarity barely contained her rolling eyes while Applejack scuffed a hoof along the ground.

“Well, they did protect them; but they went back intah town tah fight Discord...” Derpy frowned at the comment and stepped forward slightly in worry.

“They're ok right? And the others got back alright?” The friends smiled reassuringly at the interest as Applejack nodded.

“Yeah, they're alright, don't you worry sugarcube. We found them quick as can be an' brought the rest of the class back. The girls are at home right now, restin'.” The blue-gray mare relaxed slightly before turning to find Time Turner waiting nearby with Nurse Redheart who were looking at her in concern and interest.

“Oh, yes, uhm, I met this stallion who may still be effected by the Chaos magic; could you check on him really quickly?” Twilight frowned at the words and followed Derpy to meet the brown earth pony who nodded acknowledgment of the lavender unicorn.

“Hello Time Turner, hello Nurse Redheart. How are you doing today?” Derpy looked at the studious mare in confusion before staring at Time Turner in shock.

“Just fine, considering recent events. I believe Mr. Turner was saying you were experiencing some slight issues Ms. Hooves?” Turner raised an interested brow at the last name before looking back with slight concern which was returned with a pensive frown by the pegasus.

“I-I'll be ok, I just wanted to be sure that HE'S feeling ok. He was talking about rather impossible and improbable topics....” Redheart and Twilight stared curiously at one another before examining the one they were brought to inspect.

“So Time Turner, what improbable and impossible things were you talking about?”

“Ms. Hooves, please watch this light with your eyes only.”

“I was merely telling Ms. Hooves that I needed her help with the time machine I've been working on that require a certain set of conditions to function completely.”

“I'm fine, really; there's nothing wrong.” The nurse then put down the flashlight and started to inspect the rest of the pegasus as the two scientists spoke; when she got to the wings and pulled them gently open, Derpy gasped as nausea coursed through her and she hunched towards the ground.

The sudden panic from the gentle mare drew everypony's attention and they watched curiously as she stood wearily after ascertaining that nothing was wrong. Nurse Redheart looked at the mare with a disbelieving brow, which earned a sad smile.

“Well, uh, maybe I'm just little dizzy....”

As the white earth pony began a more intensive inspection of the pegasus, Twilight turned back to the brown coated stallion with questions burning in her eyes.

“So, a time machine? What are you using to power it? What's the mechanics of it? How would it function safely? You would want to return from the past, correct? How does that work?” Time Turner smirked at the inquisitive scientist and waved a reassuring hoof.

“Well, I would show you, but it's currently out of commission what with the recent events....” The lavender unicorn frowned briefly in confusion before tilting her head as she posed her next question.

“But if it's no longer functional, why would you need Derpy's help?” The brown earth pony paused as they both looked over to where the white nurse was running more tests on the blue-gray pegasus, realization flashing across his face at the state of his machine.

“Ah, yes, I had momentarily forgotten that. I suppose it would present a better case if it was functional before putting it on display to prove my sanity.” Twilight nodded in agreement as Time Turner nodded in farewell before stopping by the slightly frazzled mare who was listing what she felt and had experienced during Discord's reign.

“.... I couldn't keep balanced nor see properly, which made me slightly nauseous....” Nurse Redheart nodded as she listened before both mares noticed the stallion waiting nearby to speak with Derpy; they turned expectantly to Turner who smiled slightly at the sudden attention.

“Erhm, sorry to disturb you but I'm going back to my shop to continue my work on the machine. I would appreciate it if you could come by in a few days so I can prove my sanity and innocence to you.” Derpy blushed at her accusations of the stallion and nodded silently, unable to meet pleading blue eyes.

“Uh yes, well, I'll see you later then, ma'am.” Time Turner dipped his head to the pegasus before heading back to his gadget shop to salvage what he could of his machine.

Derpy watched the retreating figure briefly before turning back to the nurse.

“Ms. Hooves, I think you may still have some residential fear of what Discord did which is causing your body to react to the stress. I recommend you go home and rest, if you still are feeling any of these side-affects, please visit us at the Hospital.” The blue-gray pegasus nodded demurely and turned to head home.

Derpy could feel that it was much too soon to try and fly home, so she slowly made her way through the almost completely empty town. Most of the other ponies were already shut up tight in their homes as they spoke with family to recuperate from the disaster, leaving the streets almost too empty. The blue-gray mare didn't pause nor slowed her trot, wanting to get home and have some soothing tea to try and calm her nerves.

She made quick work of heading home, not stopping to say anything to the few ponies who were going home as well. Never before had she wished that her single floored cottage was closer to town, but knew she wouldn't have wanted it any other way. As the blue-gray pegasus stepped up to the thatched roofed cottage that had a clear front yard while having a large backyard that continued into the forest on the east side of town.

She passed her personal mail box she made as a foal with her parents which no longer rested straight on it's post after having been used as a means to learn to fly (though it was an awful good stopping point). She pushed open the wooden door into the living room that was separated from the rest of the house by a hallway leading to three small bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen which were on opposing ends of the hall.

The nerve-racked mare didn't stop until she was in the kitchen, and pulled out the blue kettle to start a batch of soothing camomile tea. While Derpy didn't want to eat only to feel the need to puke it up later, she knew it had been a while since she ate and pulled out a banana muffin from the fridge to nibble on as she waited for the water to boil.

As the pegasus stared at nothing in particular, her thoughts turned to the strange stallion she had met earlier.

(I just don't know if he was serious or not... If Twilight was correct and everyone should have returned to normal, then he should have been telling the truth... But a time machine? Really...? What would he even need me for? I still have trouble with some things, especially if I'm already frustrated..... Sigh... Come on Derpy, calm down have some nice soothing tea and muffins... I think it's time to break out the triple chunk chocolate chip muffins!) With a brightening look to the fridge, the blue-gray mare pulled out her special recipe of muffins that she reserved for very certain dire occasions.

Just in time for the sharp whistle of the kettle sounding the alarm; with a grin already growing at the mere thought of the muffins and tea, Derpy prepared her favorite mug with bubbles across it and returned to the living room where she sat on her light red couch with a sigh.

“At least the children were safe during this mess... Except for the Crusaders; I don't think those girls will ever stop getting into trouble. I should try and make sure they are ok... Perhaps later, I think I need a nap....” The normally bubbly mare calmly finished her drink and savored the chocolaty treat before putting the dishes into the sink and going to the first bedroom where she settled down into the orange sheets of her bed; the tea and stress of the day sent the pegasus into the land of dreams rapidly, the visions presented fitful and constantly shifted tone from positive to darker and back again.

That evening, Derpy woke to a darkened house and almost evening outside her windows. She had managed to rest relatively well and woke content for the first few moments before she remember that she had a job; one that wouldn't take kindly to tardy or even being absent altogether. The mailmare sat up quickly before realizing that just as she needed a day to collect herself after the trials of the previous one, it was likely so did the rest of the town; maybe even the whole land.

After debating for a second longer, Derpy decided that she would just hope that things turned out well and not worry about her job at the Ponyville Postal Service. She got up from the bed and set out for the kitchen once more, planning to cook new batches of muffins to restock what was low and to provide a means of relaxing.

The yellow maned pegasus was at her most relaxed with the cozy cottage smelling of wonderful baked goods. Making sure that the five different kinds of muffins was put away into their proper places, the mailmare went to her garden that her best friend was coaching her to care for.

In an attempt to branch the hobby-baker from making only various muffins, Carrot Top helped to plant carrots, cucumbers and peas; plants that were hard to bake, though the orange maned earth pony couldn't help the carrots since it was her specialty. The pegasus used the green watering can placed nearby to make sure they were well watered and intact after the crazy behavior the land went through the day before.

Derpy had just enough time left in the day to inspect the plant life before having to call it a night again. After the relaxing baking and gardening work, the pegasus had an easier sleep than in her nap; her optimism giving her hope that the next day will be much better and making it so she went to bed with a smile on her face.

For the next two days Derpy stayed home and made sure she was the definition of relaxed with baking and gardening; all the extra muffins she made were given to friends who luckily didn't mind all the baked goods.

As she made her slow way home from passing the muffins out (she still couldn't bring herself to fly as she normally would), Derpy heard a familiar voice call out to her; one that made her flinch and almost tempted to try taking to the skies despite her fear.

“Ma'am! Miss, may I have a moment!” Time Turner quickly trotted up to the pegasus who turned slowly with guarded eyes.

“... Hello... How are you doing?” The brown stallion noticed the hesitation and stopped a few paces away to give her space.

“I'm doing rather well, are you doing better yourself?” Derpy searched the blue eyes to find only sincerity and concern for her and smiled sadly.

“Yes, in a way... I suppose you've come to talk to me about helping with your 'time machine'?” Turner nodded slowly as he pointed towards his shop.

“Yes, I would appreciate that greatly, but I do not want to make you nervous again... I tried to find you yesterday and had been looking since early today as well. It's rather important that you are the one to help me with this. I can explain and show you why, but you have to be willing; I can't and won't force you to do anything you don't want.” Derpy looked at the sincere stallion before hanging her head with a sigh; she had always given ponies a second chance as well as the benefit of the doubt, even if she did think the earth pony was an odd one indeed.

“Alright, I'll listen to your explanation; I won't guarantee that I'll help you, but I'll listen at least.” Time Turn grinned happily before leading the way towards his shop.

He had managed to clean the place up since Derpy had last seen it, and she spent a moment getting a proper look at the displays that she made sure to stay well away from. Time Turner glanced back and proudly smirked at the awed look on the pegasus' face and waved a hoof in a general manner.

“This may seem impressive, but what I have downstairs is ten times better, if I do say so myself.” Derpy stared at the stallion in bemusement at the statement before continuing after her guide as they went down the stairs at the back of the store.

Derpy tried to contain her fear of going underground as they went further than she thought they would before reaching the large room where a circular machine stood predominantly in the center. There were tables lined along the walls covered in pieces of metal and papers and next to the machine was a pedestal that housed three different colored stones in a glass case.

The brown earth pony stepped into the center of the room, next to the light blue machine with black highlights, turning to face the pegasus with a proud smile.

“See? Ten times better. This is the time machine, Time And Relative Dimension In Space; or TARDIS for short.” Derpy took a few hesitant steps forward, staring at the large machine that had knobs and switches in odd places on it's circular build.

“Right, and it does work?”

“Indeed it does!”

“How?” Turner looked sharply at the mare who still gazed at the various things jutting off the machine as she posed her question.

“How?” Derpy frowned pensively as she glanced at the stallion who thought for a moment before stepping over to the glass case.

“This is how; these three stones power the whole machine, which is built using both science and magic.” The pegasus cast a quick glance at the earth pony in confusion before resting her gaze on the stones once more.

“Magic?”

“Yes, while my entire family has no trace of unicorns in it, we have managed to make science that is just as powerful as magic and that could produce the same effects; so for simplicity's sake, we call it magic even if it's not accurate.” Derpy frowned once more at the so called 'simplicity' before nodding along.

“I see; so these stones are the power source?” The tinkerer carefully lifted the glass box and set it aside, grabbing the red stone on the far left.

“Yes, each stone represents a different aspect of time with an encryption written on them stating this. This is Lapis Praeterita; the stone that represents the past.” The earth pony placed the stone onto a panel on the right side of the time machine, where it fit into its slot with ease; Time Turner then turned back to the pedestal and reached for the second stone.

“This one is Lapis Praesens, representing the present.” He placed the smooth light blue rock into it's place next to the red one, going in just as easily as the first.

“This last one is Lapis Futurum, the stone of the future.” With reverence, the stallion carefully placed the stone next to it's brethren in the blue panel; as he stepped back, both ponies watched as the whole machine lit up starting from the panel and spreading outwards.

“Ooooh! This is wonderful!” Time Turner couldn't help but whisper as his eyes followed the light-blue strips of lights as the TARDIS powered up. Derpy barely glanced over in shock at the words before looking forward once more as the blue machine started to make a gentle humming sound.

“What?! I thought you said this worked? Wouldn't you have started it before?” Time Turner turned with awe still shining in his face as he face the mare beside him.

“Hmmm? Oh, well, I knew it would work, on a theoretical standpoint. But my Clan has an old, erhm, prophecy, if you will; in order to successfully travel back in time, a stallion of my Clan would need to have all three Lapis stones, make the machine and have the help of a pony who loves muffins and bubbles.” The pegasus stared sharply at the earth pony and took a worried step back.

“What? You thought it would work and brought me down here?! Your Clan has a 'prophecy' about this!? It almost sounds like a bad science fiction story.... Sigh... Well, it does work, I'll give you that; but that doesn't mean I'll help you.” Turner frowned at the tone and held out a hoof to make the mare pause in her attempt at leaving.

“Wait! Don't you want to know WHY we want to travel back in time?” Derpy blinked a few times before trying to recall some of the things he had said previously but dismissed as utter nonsense.

“Wasn't it because you wanted to record history as it happened?” Time Turner frowned thoughtfully before remembering his previous attempts at convincing the blue-gray mare.

“Oh, I guess I did say that before; but yes, the true history hasn't been written because others have erased periods of history from the records, leaving blank spots and only myths and legends to be passed by word of mouth. The Tempus Clan has always wanted to record what truly happened in an age when it would be acceptable for the truth to be known. Wouldn't you like to help ponies and foals of all ages know exactly what happened before?” Derpy paused at who he wanted to learn of the 'true past' before shaking her head.

“A pony shouldn't be able to go back in time, it's too much power in one pony's hooves.” The brown earth pony gazed back in surprise at the words and stepped forward to present his case.

“I wouldn't use it for anything but recording what was going on! Maybe even read a book or two from that time so we wouldn't need to stay in that time period to know what happened.” Derpy shook her head no and headed for the stairs, unwilling to listen to the 'mad scientist' and his insane goal.

“And you would need my help for this? It seems like it works just fine now.”

“The prophecy says the pony of bubbles and muffins has to come with me to help!”

“I can't just up and quit my job so you can record history that was deemed dangerous for the public to know-”

“For anypony to know!”

“-For anypony to know about. I came and listened like I said I would, and find that you were telling the truth; sorry for doubting you and assuming that you were still under the influence of Chaos.” The brown earth pony dipped his head in acceptance of the apology before following after the blue-gray mare.

“Thank you, but are you sure you won't -?”

Before Time Turner could finish his question or Derpy to reply, there was a sound of a two-toned electric bell going off before a chipper voice carried through the store and down the stairs.

“Hellooo in there! We need the Doctor's help!” Derpy quickly shot a confused look to the stallion who stared at the ceiling at the sound.

“Who's this 'doctor'? Why are they here if they need a doctor?” Turner smirked and pointed to himself with a hoof.

“A few of the goofier citizens call me the Doctor because I fix clocks and other machines like a doctor would a pony. Come on, I believe I recognize who's calling for my help.” The stallion led the way up the stairs to find a curious sight waiting for him just beyond the shop counter.

Pinkie Pie was standing with a large grin on her face and four little fillies waiting next to her, staring at the various objects in the room before focusing on the two ponies that stepped up from the stairwell.

At the sight of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Derpy gave a small start of surprise; she hadn't seen them since they had lied to her and made her cover for them without knowing what had really happened. Before she could say anything to them, the pink earth pony bounced forward and began to explain their mission.

“Hey there Time Turner! Hi Derpy! The girls need your help Doctor, they want a secret laboratory.” Derpy quickly looked to the pink earth pony in surprise before staring at the Crusaders in suspicion; the girls tried to appear innocent as they looked pleadingly towards the brown earth pony.

“We want tah be able tah talk with our friend when she goes back tah Manehatten. Can ya help us?” the olive-yellow earth pony pleaded as she looked up to the stallion; Derpy looked curiously towards the last filly that she hadn't seen before, assuming that was the one they wanted to communicate with later on.

“What kinds of things did you want in it?” Time Turner rubbed his chin with a hoof as he looked to the girls in curiosity while Pinkie smiled at the promising look.

“We want some computers!” The pale-gray unicorn bounced in place as she helped explain what type of things they were looking for.

“And ways to get internet and email,” the orange pegasus nodded as she elaborated on what the computers would be able to do.

“An' maybe some way tah watch out for ponies coming towards the Clubhouse...” Derpy started to frown at some of the things the girls wanted in their Clubhouse before focusing on the last filly, a green with purple mane and tail unicorn who wore glasses.

“... And maybe... Some basic defense abilities...” The green filly stared off to the side as she practically muttered the request, unwilling to have either of the older mares hearing her while trying to ask for it from the stallion.

By this point, Derpy was flat out frowning at the last request and was about to question them when Time Turner spoke first.

“That sounds rather reasonable, but I need something from you guys in return.” Derpy shot a confused glance towards the brown earth pony but was deflected from saying anything by the pink party mare.

“Oh, I can cover the cost!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air to which drew indignation from the Crusaders about who would pay for all of the work to be done.

“No way!” Scootaloo waved her hoof in a short denial as Sweetie Belle stepped forward.

“Yeah, we can take care of it!”

“We earned lotsa bits an' we can pay for our own stuff now!” As Apple Bloom proudly stated how they were financially doing, the last filly remained silent since it was their Clubhouse and their bits.

“You can't expect a couple of foals to have to pay for a large amount of work, do you?” Derpy turned her frown towards the stallion who seemed slightly offended at the accusation.

“Of course it won't be a large amount for the work; it will only cost four hundred bits and they must tell me four facts of history.” Turner smiled at the girls who seemed relieved at the cost to the confusion of the blue-gray mare.

“Facts of history?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head as the others looked just as confused about the last part of the cost.

“What kinds of facts?” Scootaloo asked with a slight frown.

“Any kind of fact, whatever you can think about.” Turner smirked as the four fillies screwed up their faces in thought.

“Uhmmm, Nightmare Moon had been trapped on the moon for a thousand years?” Sweetie Belle tentatively stated to which earned a nod from the stallion, emboldening the others to state facts as well.

“The Elements of Harmony saved the day when Nightmare Moon came back.” Scootaloo firmly said to which earned a bit more of a smile from the brown earth pony.

“Uh, the Elements of Harmony stopped Discord when he got free a few days ago.” Apple Bloom stated tentatively, uneasy at mentioning the draconequus to the older ponies. Time Turner continued to smile as he looked to the last filly who stared resolutely back.

“In the years right after the Princesses began their rule, many prophecies were made that have long since turned into old mare tales that few still believe in. One of which was the prophecy about the fillies of Justice and their constant struggle with a rising Red Beast.” Time Turner raised a single brow at the particular prophecy the purple maned unicorn stated and glanced to the Crusaders as the lines of said prophecy ran through his mind; the Tempus Clan had always kept track of all prophecies and he knew them by heart.

The stallion had been taught that there was no such thing as coincidences and had a sneaking suspicion that the new filly was right in her belief of who the prophecy was about, meaning that they did indeed need all that technology they requested and perhaps even more. He nodded his agreement and waved the girls forward.

“Alrighty then, you've met half of the agreed amount of the cost so I'll take a look and start to come up with some plans. Lead the way ladies!” The fillies smiled and took the lead out of the shop with the brown stallion and blue-gray pegasus following behind them; Pinkie Pie had done her part to help the fillies and she had a mare to meet for a tickle session, so she bounced her way back to the library, pleased that things were going so well.

“Time Turner, you can't be serious about this...” Derpy whispered to the Doctor with a frown as she watched the girls who searched the surrounding area as they trotted along.

“These girls are the perfect example of why my family has wanted to record the proper history; they only know of what has been dealt with or at least around the time of Nightmare Moon. Nopony knows the real history and if you help me we can find out what really happened all those years ago!” Turner tried to impart the importance of the pegasus helping with his project as they lagged behind the girls; Derpy rolled her eyes and shook her head at the insistence of the stallion next to her.

“I still don't think it will work or that this is a good idea at all... But if you cut out the price for helping the Crusaders then I'll do it.” Time Turner stopped in his tracks and looked to the mare who had kept going for a little while before realizing that he had stopped.

“Brilliant! Then let's get going, the sooner I set up the girls the sooner we can get started!” The stallion raced forward after the girls who hadn't stopped their trot through town.

Derpy rolled golden-yellow eyes at how excited the earth pony could get at times and picked up her pace to keep up with the fillies as they continued to their clubhouse. However, just a few paces away from them there was a shout and commotion, resulting in the young pegasus running away from the group back into town; before the blue-gray mare could even question it, she was pushed aside by a gray earth pony who ran in the direction that Scootaloo had gone.

“Girls, what was that about?” The remaining Crusaders shared worried looks before shrugging indifferently to the question.

“Dunno, guess we'd better go without her.” Apple Bloom continued on the path towards the local orchard where their clubhouse was nestled in one of the fields.

The blue-gray pegasus looked on in worry, knowing exactly how closely they were friends and that this behavior was very odd. The three remaining fillies didn't mention it at all as they gave a short tour of the clubhouse to the two older ponies; the green filly hoofed over a scroll with some of the things they wanted done, trying to hide it from Derpy who was slowly growing extremely concerned for the secretive fillies.

After that the two older ponies were soon rushed out of the tree house and farm land by the girls who then went on their separate ways as well. Derpy walked next to Time Turner as they both went back into town, trying to figure out what the girls may have been up to when the mare was pulled from her thoughts by a question from the stallion.

“I don't believe we've properly introduced ourselves....” The pegasus paused as her ears tipped back in surprise and embarrassment at the fact.

“Oh, yes, I suppose we haven't... My name is Derpy Hooves, local mailmare.” The blue-gray mare held out her right hoof to the stallion who returned the shake with a smile.

“Nice to meet you, I'm Time Turner, local mechanic and scientist.” Derpy nodded as they shook hooves and turning back to face the town.

“... I said I would help, and I keep my word. When would you want to go?” Time Turner smiled in glee before coughing into his hoof and trying to keep a straight face.

“Oh, uh, well, it has been turned on for the first time ever... Unless you have something you have to do right away? Remember, it is a time machine, we can return immediately back to when we leave.” The pegasus sighed theatrically at the not-so-hidden glee before thinking of anything she may have left undone should things go awry.

After realizing that staying inside the past few days meant she got most of her errands around the house done already, the blue-gray mare gave a soft sigh before looking at the brown earth pony who watched for her reaction closely.

“I guess I'm as ready to go right now.” The mechanic barely held back his unstallionly squee of joy and picked up the pace to start their time adventures.

Author's Note

Next chapter is coming soon, promise! What do you think of the premise?

III - A time unknown

Derpy wasn't sure what possessed her to help Time Turner with his time machine; perhaps she was curious to see if it actually worked. Time Turner, on the other hoof, could hardly contain his excitement of actually going back in time and tried not to skip on the way to his shop.

The brown stallion led the way into the basement of his store and turned the machine back on; as it hummed and lit up, Derpy watched curiously as the earth pony hit various buttons and knobs on the dark gray control panel.

Turner tried to appear confident as he set the machine to go back as far as it could, but the wheel got stuck at 0 A.D.; almost as though the time of Discord's reign caused a time flux, making it difficult to know exact dates before and during that time. He gave the pegasus a sheepish smile before tugging with more force, finally setting the wheel to spin rapidly; the monitor displayed the quickly shrinking date only to change into question marks once they broke free of the era of chaos.

Both ponies frowned at the odd sight for a moment before the earth pony went back to finding the beginning; he continued to press on backwards through time in hopes to get as early period as he could.

“Mr. Turner, why isn't it showing the date anymore?” A brown ear flicked back at the question before the stallion braced himself for another wave of doubt.

“I believe it is because there was a time flux which caused great confusion concerning the proper date. I'm trying to go back as far as possible so as to set a proper date.” Derpy raised a surprised brow at the information but remained silent, not sure what she thought about it.

Once again the brown earth pony hit a snag as he turned the wheel; he tried to force his way past but to no avail. With a shrug, Turner glanced to the fuzzy monitor that was still full of question marks.

“I suppose this is the start of time, or as close as we'll be able to go. Ready Ms. Hooves?” Turner glanced to the pegasus who nodded determinedly back.

Before either one took a step towards the portal in the center of the circle, the earth pony pulled over two black bracelets with a red light and small monitor on it.

“Please put this on Ms. Hooves, it will allow us to know when the portal is about to close and where it is in case we get lost.” Derpy looked at the bracelet pensively, turning it this way and that to get a proper look.

“What if we lose it?” Turner chuckled, though he stopped suddenly at the inquisitive brow of the pegasus.

“Oh, uh, it will be impossible to remove when we pass through the machine; the only way we would be able to get it off is by losing our fore-leg or going through the portal to the present time again.” Derpy glanced at the black bracelet with a soft 'oh' of understanding before adding it to her right fore-leg.

“The portal will remain open for three days; hopefully we'd be able to get back before it closes.” The pegasus looked to the mechanic with wide concerned eyes.

“And if we don't make it back?” The stallion put a hoof to his chin as he rapidly calculated what would most likely happen..

“Well, if the portal doesn't get the 'close' signal from our bracelets, it will go on a loop, closing and then opening for a small time before closing again. I think it's supposed to be twenty-four hours when it would open for three hours...” Derpy tried to remain calm at how hypothetical it all sounded and questioned him further.

“'Supposed to'? I know you hadn't turned it on before meeting me but shouldn't you have researched this more?” Time Turner faced the mare once again with a pensive frown; while he understood how odd and unsafe this all seemed, he had hoped for more faith in his abilities.

“My Clan has worked on the theories and plans for generations; we were merely waiting for the all the needed requirements before finishing the time machine. The only reason I am only slightly unsure is because a good scientist has a margin of error in case and because of my state of mind when I finished building it.” Derpy leaned back at the tirade of pride from the stallion and waved a reassuring hoof.

“Oh, ok, I'm sorry for having doubted you.” Turner nodded briefly before checking the computer once more.

Time Turner took a deep breath to settle his nerves and led the way through the milky blue-gray sheen that had appeared in the center of the circle, going through it like was a thin liquid that held a slight tint of cold.

As the two ponies stepped through with only a small tremor from the chill, they gazed about them in curiosity. They were in an alleyway between two large gold-tan buildings with domed roofs and pillars edging the entire thing.

They took a couple of hesitant steps beyond where they appeared and gazed in marvel at their surroundings. The duo were in a large sprawling city that rested half on the nearby mountain and on the lands before it; most of the buildings were gold-tan with domes with a few being slightly darker in color. None were under stories high and the tallest being four stories, aside from the castle that resided on the top which had many towers and a large keep in the center.

Once Time Turner got over his awe and amazement at the time machine's ability as well as the new and different landscape around them, he realized that this was very much NOT what he was looking for.

“This, this isn't the start of time! This is either the middle or end of an age! Look at these structures, it would have taken hundred of years to perfect the look and texture!” Derpy found herself gazing apologetically to the crowd only to frown in worry at the extremely annoyed gazes that were targeted at the two of them.

The blue-gray mare found that something wasn't right with the image and took a closer look at the crowds around them; after identifying what was wrong, she tried to get the still ranting stallion's attention.

“Mr. Turner?”

“-I don't know what went wrong! Maybe I didn't turn it far enough -?”

“Mr. Time Turner?!”

“-Maybe the calculations are wrong? The angle of refraction -?”

“Time Turner!!”

“What!?”

“There's more wrong than the time frame...” Derpy stressed as she stood close to the stallion while looking at the crowd of unicorns who were glaring at them.

Turner followed her gaze and found the uniformity of the crowd's kind, causing him to start in surprise. Since the stallion had fell silent, they were able to hear the murmurs of the unicorns glaring at them and were disturbed.

“What is a pegasus and earth pony doing here?”

“Do you think they're here for the meeting?”

“What are they wearing?! They can't be engaged are they!?” The two ponies looked at each other with blushes as they realized how the black bracelets came across to the unknowing.

Derpy was confused as to what to do next, never really having done anything like this before and turned to the brown stallion in hopes that he would have some suggestions. Time Turner saw the pleading glance and leaned to whispered his advice.

“Let's get to a library or newsstand, we have to find out what's going on and where we are before making any decisions.” The pegasus relaxed slightly in relief at having a plan of action and followed close behind the earth pony who searched the area for anything that resembled a place of literature.

After they got away from the first crowd, they didn't receive as many glares due to their speed and focus on their objective, making it so they didn't notice any angry looks.

In moments they came across a young colt standing on the corner of the street with a stack of scrolls next to him.

“Come and get your news, from the latest and greatest to social events and important notices!” Turner brightened at the description and was about to speak with the young unicorn when Derpy beat him to it.

“Hello, can we get one of those scrolls please?” The colt stared back suspiciously as he took in her wings and Turner's lack of horn, something the pegasus noticed and thought of the one thing that usually talks no matter the age; she quickly searched for any bits while asking the scientist in a whisper about it.

“Do you know if they still use bits?”

Before Turner could respond with a resounding 'no!' at possibly effecting the future, the blue-gray mare found an extra bit in her mane, behind her ear (she wasn't really sure how it got there, though it would explain why her ear felt heavier before); she turned to the colt with a small grin and displayed the gold bit to his wide green eyes.

With a rapid exchange, Derpy soon found herself in possession of a news scroll while the colt took a bite of the bit to check it's authenticity. She passed the scroll over to the stallion who grumbled slightly before pursuing it's information with a pleasant surprise to find that the written language remained the same and that the date (Thursday, February 12th, 1013 C.E.) was stamped on the top.

“Where did you get this? Sure seems odd looking for money.” Derpy's eyes shifted apart as she became flustered at the question, making the colt pause in his inspection and questioning and giving her time to think of a proper response.

“Oh, well, we come from really far away-”

“I know that, we don't ever really see pegasi or earth ponies around here; you guys live on very different parts of the world. What I meant was where did you get THIS? It's not normal looking at all.” Time Turner looked up from his reading and saw Derpy's pleading glance, intervening before the pegasus could try to fumble her way through another answer.

“If you don't see pegasi or earth ponies that often, how do you know what our currency looks like, hmmm?” The young unicorn closed his mouth at this point and gave the stallion a sulking glance before looking to the mare once more.

“I have another question for you.” Once Turner had the youth's attention again, he continued on with Derpy watching curiously.

“What does 'C.E.' stand for? And what's this notice about a gathering of races?” The colt was extremely bewildered at the questions that even a foal knew the answers of but decided to humor the stallion to prove how he was better .

“Common Era of course! And if you're not here because your ambassadors are talking with the Prince in the castle then why are you here? I thought pegasi and earth ponies were 'too good to be around the likes of unicorns'.” The blue-gray mare glanced at the brown stallion with wide eyes, the sour tones showing how each race thought themselves better than the others; Time Turner did rapid calculations and hypothesizing before nodding in fake confidence.

“Ah yes, of course. I was just checking that unicorns taught their young properly; come along Ms. Hooves, we have to report to our ambassadors about how our reconnaissance went.” Both the colt and mare stared blankly at the stallion before Derpy gave a start of realization and nodded along.

“Ah yes, right. Anyways, thanks for the scroll; good luck selling more of them!” Derpy waved encouragingly to the colt who waved back slightly confused and surprised while the two ponies continued on their way only to duck down a side alley when no one was looking (an impressive feat since they were still getting stares for being different).

“Alright Mr. Turner, so what's in the paper? Where are we? When are we? What ambassadors?” Turner shushed her before the blue-gray pegasus got too loud and glanced around before flattening out the scroll and pointing.

“This is when we are, the year 1013 Common Era; we seem to be in the capital of Unicornia where the is a summit meeting of the three races.” Derpy tilted her head with a raised brow as she asked the obvious question.

“Races? Like, before Hearth's Warming Eve races?”

“Yes, like three tribes who don't get along races; that's why we seem very odd, all three tribes are still untrusting of one another.” Turner searched the surrounding area, trying to be sure they weren't being heard and failing to notice the young colt that followed the odd pair.

“Oh; so what do we do? Do you still want to go to a library?” The stallion rubbed his chin as he gazed in the direction of the castle.

“I don't think we'd be allowed in just any library or place of literature... So we'll go to the castle instead!” The blue-gray mare blinked in surprise at the jump in logic before waving a hoof to get his attention.

“What do you mean, go to the castle? How would that help us if we're viewed as odd just by standing and talking with one another?” Turner didn't waste another moment and began the trek to the castle as he explained himself.

“Simple, we go where there are other pegasi and earth ponies and no one will think twice of us working together; since it seems that whatever is happening at the castle is a large mark in history, it would be a good place to start our observations AND typically, most castles keep a close eye on the literature of the time; the perfect place to look up previous historical facts.” Derpy couldn't help but roll her eyes at the logic that wasn't explained while trotting along with the earth pony.

They made their way through the city, trying to not be distracted by the large fountains and statues that seemed to glorify unicorns and their abilities. The guards looked at the duo in suspicion but allowed them entry with the strict instructions to stay with their group next time.

The brown earth pony nodded agreement while striding forward, not even paying attention to the large hallways in his search of the royal archives. After walking in any direction that promised to be interesting, another pair of unicorn guards found them and grew annoyed at the fact that they 'wandered away from the meeting'.

“Oh, but uh, we were just looking for the restrooms.” Derpy could hardly contain her eye roll at the attempted excuse while the guards held no such restraint.

“Sure, next you'll be saying that it's a matter of national security that you find the library where there is no way for you to learn anything that would aid you in case this whole idea falls apart and leads to war.”

“War?!” The pegasus looked to the earth pony in worry while Turner merely continued to watch the guards who were herding them to the meeting room.

“War? Surely that wouldn't be necessary; a bit of an exasperation wouldn't you say?” The brown stallion chuckled softly before trailing off when nopony joined in.

“Yeah well, you tell your Prince Alaard that he better not interfere with Princess Mi Amore Vivo.” This was stated with a glare at the earth pony who looked at the pegasus in confusion before nodding once at the command.

The group stopped just before a large set of double doors where shouting could be heard from; with a menacing smirk to the duo, the guards opened the door enough to push the time travelers through and shut it resoundingly behind them.

At the sudden entrance, the six ponies around the table paused while looking at the disturbance; the delegation from the pegasi and earth ponies both half-stood in confusion.

“What are you doing here? There shouldn't be any other pegasi coming for the summit!” A yellow coated pegasus reprimanded while the other ambassadors grew agitated as well.

“Ah-ha! This is a plot to gain further advantage in this discussion!” A stately gray unicorn shouted from next to an alicorn princess who seemed embarrassed at the claim.

“What?! You're the one who demanded this meeting! We are in YOUR palace, at YOUR whim!” Time Turner could tell that the situation was tense enough as it was and didn't want it to escalate unless it was needed, coming up with a quick cover story to explain their (peaceful) presence.

“Please, your majesties, esteemed ambassadors, we were merely sent to record such a grand occasion as this summit and to be sure that the true decision is told to the great nations of the world.” Derpy tried to seem like she knew what was going on and shakily smiled to the now silent group.

The alicorn rose up slightly as she looked to the other royal members with a nod before facing the duo by the doorway.

“We, as the host of this summit, declare that it is acceptable for thy presence and accounting of this gathering for the world to know. Now, We do believe we have an important topic to return to?” With a slight blush on all of the ambassadors' muzzles they returned to the task at hoof, focusing on an important document that resided in the center of the circular table.

The two time travelers leaned forward as the other ponies returned to the original topic, the various political weddings between tribes to ensure peace for another generation.

What proceeded came as a great surprise to the brown earth pony as various treaties and agreements were made solely attached to who married who, all of which Time Turner tried to get accurate accounts of while Derpy took note of what the royals seemed to think of these arrangements. The pegasus prince had a strict face that didn't reveal any of his thoughts; the alicorn princess seemed to be unable but take part in the affairs and treaties of each tribe, trying to bring forth fortune for all ponies, though it was the earth pony prince that drew most of Derpy's attention; while most were distracted or even in a lapse of concentration, the prince would gaze longingly to the alicorn who either took no notice or purposely ignored the glances to avoid seeming as though she favored one over the other.

At the end of the day's meeting (with only marginal amount of things accomplished), the summit broke for supper, leaving the duo to sneak further in the castle in search of the library once more. Both remained silent as a means of hiding their location and to contemplate what they had just learned; the scientist at the complicated means that the three tribes kept peace while the mailmare mused on how the earth pony prince was now very much forced to wed a pegasi princess to keep their treaties while the alicorn he had fancied was to marry the pegasus prince (along with a lesser marriage between a unicorn and earth pony royalty, to keep everything in balance).

By the time they actually found the royal archives, it was well past supper and most were in their various rooms preparing for bed; this meant that the library was mostly deserted and unguarded, the perfect opportunity for Time Turner to learn more of the current time frame.

To keep from being spotted and disturbed, the duo remained in the back of the library until well past closing time, allowing them to venture further into the shelves of knowledge. Derpy wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen a familiar figure browsing some of the books as well but it was gone the next moment; with a shrug, the blue-gray mare brought more history books to Time Turner who was trying to take short notes on just about everything with Derpy's help to wade through the large stack of books and scrolls.

The excitement of the day and thrill of being someplace new kept them going for many hours but they had to sleep like anypony else and crashed in the midst of their search, resting their heads on the table that was between them with books for pillows; unaware that the scientist was right when they first appeared and that great change was about to befall the land.

Author's Note

I had hoped to get this chapter up earlier, but my editor was unable to get to it until just today. I'm not sure when the next update will be, but hopefully I get ahead enough on my other stories that I can get another chapter done in a week or so. Please let me know if you are liking it so far or have a good feeling about it or anything really.

IV - The start of mistrust

The two time travelers were roughly shaken awake by prodding hooves and short tones. As Derpy opened a blurry eye, it was to her shock that her hoof had sough and located Time Turner's during the night; this fact helped to banish her drowsiness and she jerked her hoof away while sitting upright, something that in turn helped the stallion across the table jerk to wakefulness as well.

“Get up!” The two ponies turned to the gruff voice only to find a pair of unicorn guards frowning at them.

“Get up and come with us.” Time Turner frowned at the command as they were pushed away from the table and out of the royal archives; as they were forced to follow the guards, Derpy glanced worryingly to the scientist who was still frowning at the guards.

“What is all this about then? We weren't doing anything wrong; we even have permission to search through the archives.” The pale-gray guard in front snorted at the claim as they pushed them onwards.

“Sure, like you weren't looking up various information that could be used during a war that you helped to create.” The blue-gray mare's eyes widened at 'war' and she gave the earth pony a frightened glance, which he waved a reassuring hoof to.

“I'm sure it's not that bad, and we wouldn't do that; we just want to record this important event.” The two pale-gray stallions didn't respond while keeping a close an eye on the two captives as they continued on their way.

As they traveled, Derpy tried to remain calm while Time Turner couldn't help but look at the large hallway that they were traveling, with pillars lining each side; there were pictures that hung between each pillar that were of very similar alicorn Princes and Princesses that spanned throughout time.

The duo were escorted to a small meeting room that still had the pillars around the circumference while keeping it enclosed with dark brown walls that had small windows on the top along one side, where the morning light filtered through.

In the center of the room was a stone desk with the unicorn ambassador standing behind it, wearing a pensive frown. Turner became distracted from the walls with the craftsmanship that made the desk seem slim and very light, much to the pale-blue unicorn's annoyance and Derpy's embarrassment

“Oooh, Ms. Hooves, look at this stonework! This is indeed advanced techniques! I wonder how-”

“Enough! Tell me, what do you know of magic or potions?!” This exclamation drew a startled silence from the two travelers as they tried to understand what was going on; after sharing a confused glance, the blue-gray mare answered on both of their behalf.

“We don't know any magic or potion work...” The unicorn growled as he levitated a scroll over and unfurled it.

“Lies! I have a report right here that says you two just showed up in an alleyway from nowhere and travel together! You were in the royal achieves where the vast array of knowledge on every subject is kept; something that could easily used by spies and saboteurs!” While Derpy became slack-jawed at the accusations, Turner leapt to their defense.

“Now see here! You can ask these guards what kind of books were near us when you came by!” The unicorn glanced at the guards who shrugged while answering.

“They had history texts with them.”

“And where were we in the archives?” Turner frowned as he looked at the two stallions on either side of the travelers, urging them to explain further.

“The history section...”

“Exactly!” The two guards rolled their eyes while the ambassador frowned at the two ponies over top of hooves pressed together.

“... Alright, so maybe you weren't responsible for what happened; I will ask you to come with me however.” As they set off to head further in the castle, Derpy regain some of her confidence to ask for clarification (Time Turner was once again distracted by the architecture surrounding them).

“What's going on? What happened?” The leading unicorn barely spared them a glance as he quickly trotted along, the guards following behind the entire group.

“This morning, before resuming the negotiations, Prince Alaard and Princess Mi Amore Vivo declared their 'undying love' for one another and dismissed the discussion of treaties... This way; perhaps you have seen something like it before in your own lands?” The five ponies walked through two large doors with designs of swirls, sparkles and spheres as a row of unicorns were engraved along the bottom, seemingly causing these designs.

The doors swung open silently and without effort, revealing a large thrown room with tall archways with balconies along either side that had sets of doors that were used in colder seasons. Guards that were both unicorns and pegasi alike stood at attention along the path that led to where two thrones rested. Sitting there, muzzles pressed gently against one another in an almost nuzzle, were Prince Alaard and Princess Mi Amore Vivo, who didn't even notice that there were guests in their presence.

The pale-blue unicorn looked to the duo who stared at the couple in shock.

“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Derpy shook her head as she kept watching the two royalty who didn't even glance away from one another as they murmured sweet nothings to each other.

“No, never...” Time Turner continued to observe the couple before glancing to the ambassador with a shake as well.

“I haven't ever heard about this kind of thing either...” The pale-blue ambassador sighed wearily before turning to the couple to ask them a few questions.

Before they could, the large doors on the end of the hallway burst open, revealing the yellow pegasus prince along with many of his own guards, all wearing heavy silver armor with swords drawn. As the ponies near the royal couple turned to face the new visitor, the guards along either side also drew their weapons in response; something that drew a frown from the brown stallion and a frightened glance from the blue-gray mare.

“I demand that this ridiculous union be nullified and the original arrangements to be honored!” The pegasus prince shouted as he waved a sword towards the two royals who hadn't flinched or even glanced towards the disturbance. The unicorn ambassador stepped forward and glared at the disturbed prince while waving a dismissive hoof.

“It has been decreed that this union is to be accepted by all as well as proper compensation given considering the late and sudden change in arrangements.”

“We pegasi are creatures of honor, and you have shamed me by promising one thing only to snatch it away at the last moment, like a bunch of cowards! Pegasus, if you are truly from our lands, you will side with me!” The last comment was directed to Derpy who flinched at the sharp tones while stepping closer to Time Turner, unsure of what was going on and not liking how things were slowly heading to.

“... You traitorous mare! I knew you were not of my ponies; no self-respecting pegasi would travel with a common earth pony! Prince Alaard, you shall rue this day, when you scorned and dishonored the pegasi! This means war!” With these bold words stated in a half-shout, the prince dove towards the royal couple (who still hadn't looked away from one another) only to be knocked back by two earth pony guards who leapt at the pegasus.

While the thrown room broke out into fights between the pegasi and the rest, the unicorn ambassador turned to look at the two time travelers with deep suspicion.

“I knew something was wrong with you two... Guards! Arrest them! They are impostures or infiltrators! We will question their true origins in the morning after this mess has been sorted.” Turner grabbed a blue-gray hoof to try and escape in the confusion of the fighting; they dodged the tightly bunched fighters only to find that more guards poured inside at the call of backup and were set to the task of catching the two travelers.

Derpy was in shock at the sudden turn of events and couldn't offer any assistance while Turner glanced around him for the possible escape route only to come across the balconies that lined the outside; once the blue-gray pegasus realized where they were heading, she pulled in the opposite direction frantically, the mere thought of going near the edge causing her to get dizzy and hunker down in fear.

“No! Please, I can't fly!” The brown stallion paused as he realized that the pegasus hadn't yet come to terms with what happened, but before he could try and convince her of one thing or another they were surrounded with spears directed toward them.

Seeing that they now had no chance to get away, the two travelers surrendered and gave no resistance when they were lead away along the side of the thrown room where the fight was slowly tipping in favor of the defenders. Just as they were about to completely exit the room, the pegasus prince broke free of his opponent and found that his warriors were losing the battle; with a roar of frustration, he shouted even louder to be heard over the din of battle.

“You may have won this battle, but I shall win the war! Pegasi, with me! We shall return in the morn and we won't be so easily swayed!” As the call for retreat, the majority of the pegasi flew out of the open doors and back to their country; the remainder who couldn't get away were chained and brought to the dungeons to be dealt with later.

Derpy couldn't believe her luck, her first trip of 'adventure' and she was being arrested; it seemed that she was never going to get a break. As they were led at the beginning of the line of new prisoners out of the throne room and down the hall towards the stairwell that would bring the group to the underground dungeons.

“Mr. Turner.... Are we being arrested? For being not from here?”

“Uhm, yes?”

“And we only have a little under two days before the portal closes...”

“Sounds about right.”

“And you have no idea how to get out of this mess do you?”

“Not at all.” The blue-gray pegasus sighed wearily and watched as the guards lead the whole group of combatants further away from the entranced royalty.

They traveled down back hallways that lead inside of the mountain to the most secured dungeons the unicorns had ever made. The walls slowly turned from smooth light-brown materials with columns appearing intermittently to rough gray stone with no extra decorations, aside from bulbs of light that were along the top; once they got to the cells, it was to the time travelers amazement that the bars were made of a high grade metal that neither one knew of. With a frown at more things that he didn't know about, the brown earth pony grinned as an idea on how to sneak more knowledge out of their guards came to mind.

“Hmmmm, it doesn't seem like a very strong location...” The lead earth pony guard glared at the brown stallion with a snort of dismissal.

“This is the most secure location in the country with cells reinforced with Titanium Uranium Alloy; able to withstand the force of ten earth ponies. You won't be able to get out; especially since the hall is monitored by guards at all times.” Gold-yellow eyes rolled at how very unlikely they would be able to escape and it was to Derpy's pleasure and annoyance that she was placed in a cell a few blocks down from the scientist, meaning they wouldn't be able to discuss any kind of plans; not that Turner didn't try the first moment the guards went back to their posts, lessening the ability of the guards to silence them from a distance.

“Ms. Ho-uh, ma'am, you are NOT to reveal our names! We mustn't give in and I'm sure we'll be able to get out of this somehow.” Derpy could barely contain another eye roll as she grabbed a hold of the bars, trying to catch any sight of the brown earth pony who seemed to sense the annoyance.

“What are we supposed to call each other then? It would be confusing to just keep one another 'you over there'; and besides, I'm pretty sure we've already used our real names in front of others.” It seemed that being arrested did not help the pegasus' manners as stress shortened her patience for the odd mannerism of her traveling companion.

“... Well, we wouldn't want it to become worse!”

“... Worse than being arrested?”

“... Well, I, uh, it could be!”

“Sigh, alright, what should we use then?”

“We can use code-names... You can call me the Doctor and I'll just call you … uhm, my assistant.” Turner could imagine the blank look of the mare's and rolled his eyes in impatient dejection.

“I'm a scientist, I don't come up with silly names to use in situations like these!”

“Right... Alright, we'll use the code names; but how do we try to -”

“SILENCE!” Their conversation had finally gotten loud enough to draw the guard's attention; at the shout of annoyance the duo fell silent, trying to think of ways to escape their current trouble.

There were no windows in the dungeon and the silence didn't help any of the prisoners tell how long it was before they went one by one to be interrogated. When it came time for the two time travelers to be questioned, they were taken one at a time; something that made Derpy nervous when it came to be her turn.

As the blue-gray mare was led out of her cell, Turner reached out briefly with his hoof and a reassuring smirk that received a shy smile in return before Derpy frowned once more while being brought up to a mid level room. They were still in the mountain side with no windows as well as the light-gray wall with bright lights along the ceiling; in the center of the room was a stone chain with chains that were placed on all four limbs of the pegasus as she was set down.

Once she was locked in place, a unicorn and an earth pony walked in with frowns of their own; they opened a scroll that was being levitated by the yellow unicorn and glanced at it before looking back at the pegasus in the seat.

“Let's start with the beginning...” The unicorn glared at the mailmare who took a steadying breath before accepting that it was unlikely to get much worse and tried to appear indifferent as they began the interrogation.

“We can start with your name... Who are you, really?” The earth pony wore a small smile, trying to appear at least marginally friendly than his counterpart.

“... Sigh, I'm the 'assistant'.” Derpy responded in monotone, already knowing that she wasn't going to enjoy using the title any time soon; the two ponies that stood facing her glanced at one another with a frown before looking to the scroll once more.

“Where do you come from?”

“...”

“Why are you here?”

“...”

“Alright, let's try an easier question; what is your traveling companion’s name?” Gold-yellow eyes rolled in place before she sighed once more, promising to never use the name to actually refer to him in person (even if it was code names).

“The Doctor...” Derpy could see their growing frustration as they referred to the scroll once more.

“What is your connection to the recent events of their royal majesties or the war?!”

“None, I didn't do anything.” The mare could tell that not only did they not believe her, but grew even more annoyed at the lack of actual answers.

The unicorn focused his magic and laid his horn against her temple, sending a slight zap through her as she felt the air sudden whip around her only to land in the same place as before with the same ponies facing her.

“I see; well, if you won't tell us willingly about what you have to do with recent events, we'll just make you tell us.” The blue-gray pegasus tried to shift in any way possible but found the chains to be even tighter as the ponies loomed over her before they started the torture part of the interrogation.

An hour later, the unicorn shook his head as he and his partner exited the room where the blue-gray pegasus was slumped over in her chair, unconscious due to the illusion spell he had cast to find more information. They gave their report of no new information to the nearby guard to be passed along before releasing Derpy from the spell, which she groggily woke from as she felt another sudden whooshing wind before trying to focus her extremely walled eyes on her surroundings. The mare was given no chance to wake properly and pushed out and back to her cell. Time Turner grew even more concerned when he saw the state she was in and tried to call for her attention only to receive a groan as well as a reprimand from a guard for his trouble as they went passed.

Having experienced a similar illusion for his interrogation, the scientist knew (hoped) that Derpy would recover; the real question was how they were going to get out of this situation, something that he still had no idea on how to solve. The brown earth pony kept as far away from his cell mates who were also lethargic due to their own interrogation as he tried to think of a way to get out of prison cells made of materials he had never seen or worked with before through a castle he still didn't know the full layout of; Turner always appreciated a challenge.

Hours later (though it seemed like eternity), the brown stallion perked up at the sound of light hoofsteps coming from the opposite end of the hallway of the the presumably only way out, much to Turner's confusion. He tried to stick his head through the bars but could barely fitting his muzzle through and had to turn his head long ways instead to peer down the hallway; he couldn't see entirely who was approaching but could tell that they were much smaller in stature than the guards who were keeping watch at the other end of the hall.

Since Turner was doing his best to be quiet, he was able to make out the whispered call that came from a few cells further down the hall.

“Ma'am? Ms. Pegasus ma'am?” Derpy had fallen asleep due to the extreme stress and mental exhaustion in the center of her cell; since she was the only female that had been arrested she didn't share a prison cell in order to prevent other incidents from occurring aside from ones they wanted to do.

At the soft call, she shifted in place while groaning in pain; while recognizing that it was a foal who was calling for her attention, she didn't recognize where she was which slowed her ability to focus. Flashes of what happened when she was under the spell made her flinch as she sat up in trepidation, eyes pointing in different directions as she took in her surroundings.

“Uhgg, who's, who's there?”

“Ms. Pegasus, you have to wake up.” The blue-gray mare looked to the voice, finding the dark hallway difficult to make out with her eyes so out of focus.

As Derpy sat up a little more, memories of where she was and what happened last rushed back, causing her to sit the rest of the way up sharply with a frightened gasp; as she almost gave herself whiplash, the pegasus checked on her wings, moving and giving them an experimental flap to be sure they were still functional and without pain. Once she was certain that nothing was wrong, the mare tried to search her surroundings only to have her attention drawn to the gate by a soft call.

“Ma'am, are you alright?” When she was able to calm down properly, she was able to see a familiar blue unicorn foal and a dark-gray unicorn foal who were watching the mailmare curiously.

“I-I think so... You're that colt that I gave a bit to for a scroll right? What are you doing here?” While the blue colt responded, his friend kept close watch for any guards that may come their way.

“Bit huh? That's what it's called... Well, I knew you guys weren't from around here and were acting really weirdly so I followed you. When I heard you were arrested for being traitors and spies, I knew it couldn't really your fault and got my friend to help me sneak in. And now we're going to bust you out!” The explanation was kept to a whisper so none of the other prisoners nor the guards could hear.

Time Turner, who was straining to listen to what was going on, barely heard the fact that they were whispering since all sounds were being damped by the surrounding stone; something that threatened to distract the stallion from trying to find out what was going on.

“It's dangerous! You shouldn't have followed us and breaking into a dungeon is even more so!” The two colts didn't pay the warnings any heed and combined their magic on the lock, trying to use levitation to move the locking mechanism into the open position; they didn't bother to respond to the warnings to lower the chance of being caught as well as to focus on using their magic in ways they hadn't though of before.

Realizing that her words fell on deaf ears, Derpy remained silent as she watched the two boys work; it was to her great surprise and delight that the cell door opened with a soft click minutes later.

“Thank you! Even if you shouldn't have put yourselves in danger by helping, I'm really grateful.” The two colts blushed as they tried to look imposing while the pegasus stepped out of her cell. As the mare glanced about, making sure no one noticed her escape, she saw a brown muzzle pressed longways against the bars.

“... I realize that you may be tired from opening my door, but could you let the stallion I'm traveling with out as well?” The blue unicorn raised a curious brow as they all looked to where Turner was able to be barely seen.

“The odd earth pony? I guess, if you really want...” With a nod to the other unicorn, they snuck over and began to work on the lock while Derpy made her way over to talk with the brown earth pony.

“Are you alright?” Turner nodded in respond to her question as he gave a mental sigh of relief at the fact that it was a similar spell that was used on the blue-gray pegasus, since she seemed to be just as physically fine as before she went for the interrogation.

“Yes, it was a very good illusion spell but I'll be ok. We mustn't let any of these other fellows out though...” The duo glanced at the other pegasi who were still lethargic before hearing a soft click and quiet proud exclamations from the two colts.

Turner moved carefully towards the ext, trying not to disturb any of the pegasi who were sprawled all over from being stuffed back in with the three others watching with baited breath before relaxing once he was free of the cell. They closed the cell door softly while smiling at one another at their success when the older ponies recalled that there was one one real way out of the dark hallway.

“Thank you boys for getting us out, but how did you manage to sneak past the guards? I don't think we would be able to make it.” The two colts glanced at one another before smiling smugly to the older ponies and heading away from the staircase.

“You just have to have the right connections. For example, my friend has been working in the castle for years; and in those years he's found quite a few secret passage ways.” The two older ponies watched curiously as the dark-gray unicorn pressed a nondescript stone that fell back without a sound, causing a doorway size portion of the wall to drop back slightly and slide to the left silently, revealing a thin hall that had no sources of light.

The two unicorns took the lead, lighting their horns to create soft blue glows to help everyone to see the way through. The time travelers kept silent as they followed their smaller guides, wanting to try and escape with little trouble. As they were a few paces beyond the hidden door, it fell shut just as silently while making a slight draft of wind that caused Derpy to tense suddenly before relaxing as she realized what happened; none of the others noticed this sudden tensing and she sighed mutely at how trying to help a strange pony seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.

Trotting slowly to make as little noise as possible made the ten minute journey feel much longer before they reached a platform that seemed to display an empty wall predominately; with another smug glance to the older ponies, the colts opened the door to show that they arrived at the middle of the castle, just beyond where the majority of the offices were but lower than the throne room. They stepped out into the light brown room that had sparse furniture much like the ambassador's office, but lacking the desk with instead a chair similar to the one used for torture (minus the chains of course).

Not sparing the different columns a glance, Turner made his way to the door where he listened for movement beyond it; he heard a set of guards make their way past and waved to the others that they should leave while they can.

Keeping low to lessen the chance of being spotted, the four ponies tried to exit the darkened castle which turned out to be harder than expected since Time Turner didn't really know the layout as well as the young colts; after almost turning them around completely, the colts took control and led the way, pausing at every intersection to listen for approaching watchguards.

Just as the four escapees thought that they made it out, they turned a corner to come face to face with a pair of guards, one a unicorn and the other an earth pony. Upon seeing the blue-gray pegasus, the guards gave a shout as they charged forward, determined to try and recapture the runaways; while having frozen in surprise at the sight of the two stallions, the traveling duo turned at the shout and grabbed the boys to speed up the escape.

With no time to try and figure out the proper exit, they ran down the hallways with more guards on their tail at each turn, having been drawn to the shouts for backup and annoyance. While the two ran, the colts hung on for dear life as they became more and more desperate to escape, sharply taking turns that resulted in half-skids while trying to find any way out. Even if the pegasus didn't have a colt on her back clinging to her neck in fright, she wouldn't have thought to fly due to her panic; though she seemed to instinctively head towards the windows, having led them to the throne room with the balconies.

While the doors were shut on them, a swift kick from a desperate earth pony was able to open them, showing that it was still dark out with very little clouds to block the stars or moon that was more than halfway across the night sky. The four runners paused only a moment before racing along the balconies with guards opening the other doors and chasing after them. One of the doors ahead of them burst open, startling the attempting escapees and causing the two colts to jump in fright; unfortunately, they were close enough to the edge that they landed badly, tripping into the open air and falling down the five storied height.

The guards hadn't realized what happened to the boys since they were darker in color and merely focused on the main targets, lunging forward causing the two older ponies to tip over the side in an effort to avoid capture and to chase after the falling colts.

Derpy felt the wind rushing by her and couldn't help but focus on the fast approaching ground, waves of dizziness flashing through her making her wobble in mid air; Turner noticed and called out to her in an attempt to live through the situation, even if they were severely injured as a result.

“Ms. Hooves! You have to focus! The boys are just a little ahead of us, you could possibly slow our fall enough that we can make it through this; but you have to focus!” At the mention of the two colts who were shouting as they dropped towards the ground the mailmare frowned in determination, grabbing the earth pony and shouting instructions while trying to get her stiff wings to move out of its' frightened position.

“... Alright! You get a good hold of them and I'll try and do something about us falling!” As the earth pony nodded, the pegasus took a deep breath before focusing on her wings, moving them slowly until the wind caught them and caused them to snap open on reflex; she was still a little wobbly, but they were already slowing drastically even with the extra weight.

Once Derpy was sure of herself and her ability, she dove down close enough to the falling colts that Turner could reach out and grab them; while the pegasus felt the pull strengthen at the extra weight being adding, she strained against gravity with a small growl of focus, stretching her head and neck back with effort and flapping her wings rapidly to try and push against the unavoidable.

Once the two boys were in the older stallion's grip, they stopped screaming and tried to help anyway they could, mainly with magic. They used levitation (though much weaker than normal) to try and make the load lighter and easier on the mare who continued to strain against gravity.

With everyone putting their best effort into it, they were able to slow their descent enough that it didn't kill or badly injure them; they still crashed and would feel the bruises and pain for days later, but this was one fall they would be able to walk away from.

Or most would at least; as they tried to stand after a moment of joy at finding themselves still among the living, they found that the brown stallion had injured his back left leg, making it hard for him to run or put weight on it. At shouts from the castle of guards that made their way down, they set off with Time Turner limping slightly as they exited the castle and tried to hide in the back roads of the nearby city.

With the help of two colts who knew the area and its secrets, they were able to leave the guards behind even with Turner limping most of the time. They slowed down once they realized they had lost their pursuers and the two colts searched their location before ducking into an alley way, heading ever south of the castle. They traveled at a leisurely pace until they came to a single level rust colored building with little decoration or pillars unlike it's neighbors, heading in through a back entrance. As they entered, they passed piles of scrolls that were stacked all around awaiting colts to pick them up to deliver them in the morning.

“Where are we?” Derpy asked in between pants, having tried to hold so much weight and no time to rest afterwards taking a toll on her strength.

The blue colt glanced toward the pegasus before nodding his thanks to his friend who turned around and exited to make sure they weren't found and to head home; as the three remaining ponies watched, the colt answered the question though he kept his voice down just in case.

“We're in the news printing place, no one should be around for another few hours. We can hopefully stay here until then and then you can go back to where you came from.” With this last statement, the unicorn looked indifferently to the duo who looked at one another.

“When does it open again? Would we be able to hide until then?” Derpy asked in a low tone, trying not to increase the colt's perception that they were oddities. The brown stallion held up his black bracelet and tried to understand the readings that he hadn't realize they would need.

“Uhmmm, I think, if I'm reading this right, it should be opening in a few hours. It seemed to like 7am, so it should open for an hour or two for us to get back.” At the constant reference of 'opening' the colt looked between the two in confusion; the pegasus tried to remain stoic at the 'assurances' and glanced towards the boy with more curiosity.

“What time is it now, do you know? Also, I suppose we should look at your hoof and make sure it's nothing too severe.” Turner gave a start at the mention of his hoof, realizing that it had gone numb from the adrenaline which was slowly draining away as he had a chance to sit, bringing the buzz of pain back as the numbness retreated.

The blue colt glanced around the building before heading forward more to reach where a first aid kit was kept for emergencies. Once he found it in a draw, he returned with it on his back to find the two grownups were still standing where he had left them but seeming more tense around one another. As he hoofed over the kit, he tried to guesstimate what the current time was based on when he had left to break them out of prison.

“Uh, I think it's probably around two in the morning by now; it took us about an hour to find you, and then we ran around for a while... The owners and other newscolts should be showing up around 3 or 4 am, so you'll need to leave before then.” Derpy glanced towards the colt from her spot next to Turner, where she had his back leg in hoof to feel for what happened; both old ponies were slightly embarrassed at having the pegasus feel the back left hoof, but it was needed to be sure of the injury.

“How did you know of this place? Do you work for them?” The colt nodded before settling down, watching the grownups as they tried to avoid each other's eyes.

“... Where would it be safe for us to hide for another few hours?” Time Turner shrugged as he tried not to flinch at the prodding hoof.

“Can it move? Numbness?”

“It hurts to move it, but not extremely. I'd guess that it's a sprain, certainly not broken.” The pegasus nodded agreement as she tied a cooling cloth to the leg, causing a sigh of relief to escape the stallion's muzzle before he focused on the literature around them.

“I'd say so as well, you were pretty lucky... So much for a small easy trip... What are you doing?” Derpy frowned as the earth pony stood and limped his way to an archive of scrolls before settling once more.

“Since we'll be here for a few hours at least, I might as well find out more of the history.” The mare rolled her eyes at his obsessive nature even in the face of pain before laying down to think about what had just happened. The colt sat across from her and tried to keep both of the odd ponies in sight at all times.

(Well, I can fly again... It could have gone so much worse and this was suppose to be just a simple trip... And Time Turner seems to not care that he is hurt and we could have died, all that it matters is this stupid 'True History'.)

The colt unicorn watched the pegasus shake her head in annoyance, tilting his own before quietly asking what the problem was.

“Ma'am, are you ok?” Derpy gave a start at the question and glanced discretely to the stallion before focusing on the colt.

“Oh, I'm ok, I've never had such an... adventurous, day before.” The unicorn's eyes widened briefly before nodding in understanding and gave her hoof a pat to encourage her.

“Oh, you're doing a good job, maybe you're suppose to do this kind of thing.” The blue-gray mare looked at him wide eyed at her supposed 'adventurous abilities'.

“Uh, right... Maybe? Glad you think so... I think I'll try and take a nap while I can, if that's ok.” The colt nodded to this supposed plan and turned to stand guard the entrance way. Time Turner didn't take any notice of either of the others as he continued to search through previous news scrolls in his quest for knowledge.

All this adventuring took it's toll on the pegagsus, making it so she slept heavily until being prodding awake by the young colt; he had waited as long as possible, even getting the brown earth pony to help move the mare to a more secured spot in the news building when more ponies came to get the day's work started.

It was to Derpy's shock that she woke to a quiet bustle of the news business starting their day and turned to the two males in question.

“I thought we couldn't be here when others came to work?” The blue unicorn scuffed his hoof along the ground while Turner checked the bracelet for when the portal will reopen.

“You were really tired, and we figured you could use some extra sleep...” Derpy raised a disbelieving brow, rather sure that the earth pony didn't care that much except that he got more time to read; understanding the disbelief of the stallion noticing or caring about extra sleep, the colt shrugged before turning to the door and leading the two older ponies out, waving a hoof to the other workers while promising to be back later for his usual load of work.

As the trio stepped outside, they found that the sun was well on it's way to starting the morning while the townsfolk began to start their day. The guards hadn't stopped their search from the night before, but went in pairs through the city as they tried to find the two escapees, meaning that they had to sneak around even more while being casual, trying to act as though nothing was wrong least they arose suspicion.

The youth had to play guide one last time, bringing them back to the alley they came from; luckily it was near where they first met the boy and easy enough to figure out, especially since a sudden wind picked up and blew through the alley as a unstable flat circle appeared in midair. The blue colt stared wide eyed as the duo rushed forward and disappeared through the silver portal, causing it to close just as sudden as it appeared.

The two ponies crashed onto the ground as the time machine closed behind them once their last hoof was through. Time Turner lay where he crashed as his back hoof reminded him of why he shouldn't be running anytime soon, while Derpy stood nearby looking at the newly closed portal.

“Well, I'm sure that was extremely helpful but I don't think I can take much more of that.”

“It was thanks! If it weren't for your help, we may never have known that there were other Alicorn Princesses! I can't wait to see what we find out next time!” The blue-gray pegasus couldn't contain her disbelieving gaze before frowning in annoyance at the almost coltish behavior and excitement.

“No, no way am I doing that again! You are crazy!”

Author's Note

Please note, this hasn't been checked by my editor yet, but it has been a long time since I updated anything so I figured I should just post this. So if you find errors, please let me know and I'll fix it.

This is my first 'true' adventure story, am I getting the action scenes ok? Good, bad, maybe?

I - A Mission that spans generations

In one of the oldest Clans of Equestria, there was a mission passed down through the generations: to write the true history. They tried to keep proper records during the ages but every so often the records would be wiped 'clean' and many things became legends and pony tales.

To achieve this goal, plans were made to travel through time from an age of acceptance so that the true history would be safe from cleansing. Certain requirements would be needed to be met before the time machine would function safely; three special stones were needed as well as fulfillment of a prophecy.

The stones had ancient writing on them and held magic that, when enhanced, will give the pony using them power over time itself.

The prophecy was to ensure that it was the right time and age; by studying odd occurrences and a constant recurrence of two ponies through time, it was found that a stallion of the Tempus Clan would lead the way along with a pony of muffins and bubbles who would help.

The time stones had been hidden by the ancients and it was only in the year 975 A.D. that one of the stones, Lapis Futurum, was found in the small town of Ponyville beneath the Golden Oaks Library. The stallion, Before Time, had found it when he helped build the underground laboratory; once found, he began making the plans for the time machine based off concepts and theoretical designs of past members of the Tempus Clan.

Each generation after him helped for a short while until the task was left to the newest generation, Time Turner. The earth pony had the features common to the Clan, with a brown coat with darker spiky brown mane and tail with an hourglass for a cutie mark.

After discovering the ability to use science to do anything magic could, Time Turner moved to the curious town of Ponyville and set up a tinker shop. It was as he added a basement to this shop that he found the second stone, Lapis Praeterita.

After this discovery, he began to build the time machine as a side project to be hopefully completed by the time he discovered the last stone. Time Turner made sure he was known around town for his gadgets and ability to make spaces larger than they appeared from the outside, as a means of work and to hopefully come across the location of the last time stone. He lived in the odd town for a few years working as the 'Doctor who fixes Clocks' or 'Doctor' for short; a nickname given by a certain pink earth pony who was friends with just about everypony in town. While most didn't need the ability to add more space than what it appeared, Pinkie Pie did remember and often came to Time Turner for help with odd things.

It was in this aspect that the time stallion found the last piece; the local party pony wanted a secret party laboratory and needed his help to make it bigger on the inside. While he may not have found the pony who loved muffins and bubbles, Turner was determined to have the machine ready for when he did. After helping Pinkie with her new laboratory, the brown earth pony spent most of his time in the basement of his tinker shop, working with all haste to get the machine ready.

It was during the time that Time Turner was working on the Time and Relative Dimension in Space machine (or as he was starting to call it, the TARDIS), he didn't see the weather nor it's sudden change from clear skies to cotton candy chocolate rain clouds. The brown stallion also didn't notice when the ground changed colors to pink and white checkered or when the sun and moon switched places rapidly and without rhythm; he did notice when a creature with many different parts appeared above him however, since it meant potential harm to his work.

“Now what do we have here? A pony who hasn't seen any of my greatest work that I've done in eons.” Time Turner looked up at the voice with a retort on his tongue that died as he took in the being's appearance. His blue eyes traveled over the course of the creature floating above his work table; the being held his claw and paw under his head while 'laying' down in mid air with his back legs crossed behind him.

“....”

“Speechless? That's a first; I usually inspire screams and shouts of fear.” The being of Chaos raised a single brow at the unusual earth pony before him while waiting to see what he would do, though he was slowly growing impatient at the silence. The stallion blinked a few times before responding with the first thing he thought to ask.

“Who are you?” Discord blinked back in surprise before touching down to frown at the brown stallion.

“It seems you don't get out much at all. I, my little pony, am Discord; Lord of Chaos and Spirit of Disharmony.” Time Turner's mind almost crashed at the answer while the rest of it screamed at him to get away, the little records of Discord detailing how very menacing he could be making the pony worried for himself and the town he now called home.

“Oh.” Discord raised a single brow at the short response and watched as Turner tried to slowly back away before flashing behind him, causing Time Turner to quickly turn around to keep the Spirit of Disharmony in view.

“Ah ah ah, you have wounded my pride sir with your reclusiveness. You seem to really like this, whachamacallit, so you should keep working on it...” Discord's yellow eyes started to spin as he looked into light-blue eyes that also started to spin in response.

“What? No, stop!” The brown earth pony tried to look away but couldn't take even a step without the Chaos Spirit following his move while continuing to stare deeply into his eyes. Discord grinned as Time Turner slowly relented and his fur took on a pale-gray pall as he turned to his almost finished machine and started to randomly 'fix' it.

He built the main core in a discorded style, undoing hours of work as he started to use tools and pieces in all the wrong ways to make it. The draconequus watched for a moment longer before giving a mad cackle and vanishing with a flash of light.

In the cloud and floating land riddled sky above Ponyville flew a blue-gray pegasus with yellow mane and tail. Her eyes were slightly ascue as she flew in aggravation, the changing landscape throwing off her flight and causing great fear.

She was searching the ground desperately for any sign of the local foals considering how everything started to become odd in the middle of the day when they would all be at school; Derpy had checked the schoolhouse but it was completely empty, prompting the pegasus to take to the skies in search.

The mailmare flew over every part of town, only to find it almost completely empty; it was as though they were hiding from whatever was causing this. While Derpy did worry for her friends and neighbors, she had a soft spot for foals; she never liked to see a little foal in trouble or sad and took any measure to make sure everything was okay.

As she traveled over the middle of town a being of Chaos materialized before the mare, causing her to pull up sharply lest she crash into him.

“Well, well, well, what have we got here? Somepony enjoying the view of Chaos.” Derpy frowned at the condescending tone and tried to glare through her unfocused eyes.

“Who are you and what have you done to this town?” Two brows rose in indignation as Discord held a claw to his chest to show how hurt he was.

“Me? Why, I've only made it a much more interesting place and much more fun to be in than before.” Derpy started to fly backwards as her face scrunched up in worry, nervous to be near the one who could cause so much trouble. Discord flew in closer and hovered upside down above the pegasus as he continued to stare at golden-yellow eyes that were pointing in opposite directions due to fear and nervousness.

“It would almost seem like I've already spoke with you... Have we met before?” Discord folded his claw and paw together as he peered at the pegasus who jerked back slightly, frowning at what he could have meant, especially as he stared at her eyes.

“No, we haven't.”

“Well then, I simply must fix this!” Derpy's eyes widened as Discord clapped his claw and paw together sharply before twisting in the air so his face was properly aligned with the mare's while his body was upside down.

“You seem to have trouble focusing... I'm sure ponies' have never seem to accept this about you, but let me help you accept this about you.” Derpy tried to back away only to find the yellow spinning eyes before her freezing her in place as her own spun.

“If you think you're having trouble seeing now, just wait until I show you the real you! You've always known that this was the case, you simply have tried to delude yourself into thinking otherwise.” Discord stood upright in the air once the golden-yellow eyes were spinning properly and walked away through the air with a half-wave of his paw.

“Have fun being your new self my dear! I'm sure we'll see each other soon.” Discord chuckled as Derpy's flying wavered even more as she shook her head to get her eyes to focus.

The blue-gray pegasus soon found herself shaking her head for an entire minute without any change to her ability to focus. She tried to calm down, take deep breaths and even rubbed at her eyes all with little effect on her impaired vision.

“Don't, panic....” Derpy frowned at the sound of her voice as she tried to collect herself, finding that she was slurring slightly. As the mare realed back in surprise, her right wing flapped too hard and she soon found herself in a tumbling dive to the ground as she struggled to fly properly.

The pegasus tried in vain to swerve or do anything to change her crash course direction but could barely brace herself as she smacked into and through a large store front window, sending little clocks and small gadgets that moved and tinkled into the air and onto herself.

“Owwwww....” Derpy stood with a hoof to her head as she struggled to even remain upright, her balance a wreck as her eyes still wouldn't focus. She tried to fly above the mess she made only to tip forward and further into the shop, knocking over more clocks and objects as she swerved back and forth trying to leave.

The brown stallion down in the basement didn't pause a moment in his work at the sounds from the floor above. He continued to rearrange all of the pieces on the machine that had taken months of careful placement while barely flicking an ear to the sound of counters being knocked over above him.

The pegasus on the first floor couldn't get any kind of break; she may be actually breaking a lot of things but she couldn't get any luck in staying upright for any period of time, bumping into counters, tables and displays. After shooting into the sky only to find the light fixture, Derpy dropped to the ground and crawled over to a table that was still standing where she hid with hooves firmly over her eyes. She shivered in fear and cowered under the cover, unwilling to move lest she started the whole cycle over again.

For a whole day, ponies of the world lived out their day in fear of the world around them. Some were oblivious to it while their inner minds screamed in terror. Others screamed aloud, living through worse nightmares of either their past or even what may happen in the future. And the most unfortunate of all were those who had to live their day knowing that it was wrong and that others were not behaving properly.

It was relief to see a blinding flash of rainbow light, especially the normalcy that followed suit. Ponies around the world cried out in joy as the sun returned to it's rightful position and the skies cleared once more. Ponies who were under his magical influence were suddenly free as they experienced a mind-numbing pain as their real selves fought the implanted personalities; the ones who were caught in the living nightmares were released just as quickly and spent their first free moments trying to be sure if what they saw was real or not. Once the ponies realized they were indeed free of the Chaos, most rejoiced as they sought out loved ones to be sure they were indeed free of the terror.

Time Turner stood from his position in the middle of the room to find his carefully constructed TARDIS in the shape of a circle instead of the rectangle it was suppose to be, it's color changed from dark gray with gold highlights to a light blue with black highlights. Instead of a sleek trim shape, it had controls and features that made little sense hanging off the sides; knobs, lights, switches, levers, wires and tubes as well as a monitor and pin pad, all without seeming use. Turner barely noticed that there was a place for all three time stones to be plugged into it as he fell to the floor in despair.

“Noooo, no no no no no.... What happened? What did he do.....? What did I do? So many months, so long... Plans my father made, grandfather made, generation after generation of Tempus Clan members, all working on theories, plans, magical studies even though not a single one of us has an ounce of magical ability.... All gone, in the course of...” The earth pony glanced around momentarily for the clock that once was on the wall only to find that he had placed it into the machine.

“A day; not even a day, somewhere between twelve and fourteen hours.... All ruined... By me...” The stallion hung his head in shame before noticing the odd sound coming from upstairs; silence reigned when there should have been some sound of ticking, and gears shifting from all the mechanics in the shop above.

Time Turner sat up as he listened further, finding that all was not actually silent in the store above. A muffled sound came from above, drifting lightly down the stairs. The brown stallion quietly made his way up the steps, ears tipped forward to identify where the sound was coming from; what he found as he stepped from the doorway into the shop gave him pause.

His shop, the source of his income and means of hobby, was in shambles; tables, counters and displays were all knocked over.; all except one, which was where the sound was coming from. As Turner stepped closer, he was able to identify the sound as muffled crying; as the stallion crept closer the crying stopped and a new sound came, one of a frantic shuffling backwards of whoever was under the bare table.

“Hello...? Who's under there?” Time Turner slowly crouched down to peer under the wooden table, to find a pegasus with blue-gray hooves covering her eyes as she sat further underneath.

“Hello? Miss? Are you alright?” Derpy shivered in place, afraid that it was somepony come to tease her about her eyes and lack of coordination.

The stallion frowned slightly and was about to make a sharp comment when he remembered what happened to him not even moments ago. He suddenly got the feeling that he was not alone in his pain or terror of a certain Lord of Chaos, and that the pegasus before him may be suffering similar consequences. The brown earth pony gently sat and crawled underneath as well, timidly putting a hoof out onto the mare's shoulders.

“Ma'am, everything is going to be alright. I think it's all over now; there's nothing to be afraid of.” Derpy slowly calmed down and removed her hooves peeking out timidly, worried that she still couldn't see properly.

Upon finding that her eyes were still unfocused, the blue-gray mare quickly shut them once more, earning a sigh from the stallion before her. Time Turner held back his annoyance and tried to reassure her once more while patting her shoulder.

“Miss, it's fine, I promise. Please come out, it's a little too small for the both of us.” Turner smiled slightly at his pathetic attempt at a joke, while Derpy tried to slow her breathing.

“Yes, that's good. Deep breaths, relax; that's it.... Any better now?” Derpy nodded slightly as her heart rate returned to normal as her shivers slowly dissipated. She tried to open her eyes once more to find that the more she calmed down the better she saw, her eyes returning from the walleyed position they had before.

The mechanic was entranced by the golden-yellow eyes as Derpy continued to take a few deep breaths before acknowledging the stallion near her.

“.... Hi...” More stress left the mare as she heard her voice coming out like normal once more while Time Turner breathed a response.

“Hi...” Derpy started to sit up from her crouched position as she felt her balance return as well, the stallion watching all the while.

“Uhm..... Sorry, about... The mess...” Time Turner frowned pensively before he remembered the rest of his shop.

“Oh, uh, it's fine. Are you fine?” The pegasus nodded slowly in response as she sat up slowly, coming to a stop before she would hit the underside of the table they were hiding beneath.

“Yes, thank you.... Is it really over?” The earth pony looked towards the exit as he tried to picture the outside world; he couldn't hear anything from outside and was unsure if it was truly over.

“I believe so. I'll go check....” Time Turner backed out from their cover and made his careful way across the littered floor; Derpy didn't want to be alone after what happened and followed the stallion as he walked across the store. She didn't want to even try to fly, pleased just being able to walk in a balanced manner once more.

The two ponies didn't speak as they looked at the mess in the shop before facing forward once more, blue-gray ears flipped back in embarrassment at the trouble caused. They came to the front to find a broken window and clear skies; Derpy sagged in relief, having known what the land of Chaos looked like and knowing that it was all over.

“He's gone, it is all over.” Time Turner looked to the mare at his side, not having seen what all the Chaos looked like and unsure if things were back in proper order or not.

“I see.... I'm glad.” The two ponies shared small smiles before the stallion's eye shifted slightly to a set of seven bubbles cutie mark on the mare's flank. Blue eyes shot forward once more as the stallion realized how it must seem from a distance and didn't want to come across as rudely staring in inappropriate places.

Derpy hadn't noticed the momentary distraction as she was watching other ponies come from their hiding place in joy and gave a small start as Time Turner asked her a question; for which she looked over to the now extremely curious stallion while focusing to make sure she heard it right.

“Do you like muffins?” The blue-gray pegasus looked back at the earth pony with a raised brow, wondering what the topic had to do with anything that happened not even hours ago.

“Yes, does it matter?” Time Turner's eyes widened in glee and he barely stopped himself from hugging the mare in joy.

“Yes, it does. It does indeed.”

Author's Note

Thoughts? Predictions? How's my writing? How's the characters so far? Too soon to tell? Go ahead to the next chapter then :twilightsmile: