"Time Turner, are you sure? You haven't even finished repairing the damage..."
"Yes, Golden! I am bloody well sure!"
"but-"
"No buts!" He snaps at the court jester, Golden Laughter. "I'm going, I have to, the fate of-"
"Yeah, yeah, the very fate of the time stream may depend on it. You've told me before, but you haven't ever actually explained it." She leans toward him, her blue-violet and golden curls bouncing wildly. "So, buddy, if you're leaving while your gizmo is still all broken, I want to know why!"
"Gold, please." He pleads, absentmindedly fiddling with his shirt collar.
"I haaaaave to know. I simply must know why my best friend if going forward in time in a broken magic doohikey, and never coming back."
Time Turner sighs, fighting back tears. "You simply had to play the best friend card didn't you?"
"Yes. You were being uncooperative, so I had to remind you why exactly you should tell me. Now, tell me."
"You wouldn't get it, Gold."
"I do not care. Tell me."
Time Turner sighs, shaking his head. "Alright, alright. I have to go because I know too much, and I'm afraid I don't have enough self control."
"... Huh?"
"I told you that you wouldn't understand."
"I have to go, Golden." he turns, opening the bronze-plated door behind him.
"Time Turner! Please don't!" She grabbed his shoulder and spun him back around, with tears streaking down her cheeks. "Please..." She pleads.
He shakes his head, fighting tears again. "I have to. I must..." He steps into his invention.
"I'll miss you Time." Gold says quietly to his back.
"I'll miss you too." He chokes out, tears finally slipping out as the door closes and the hourglass vanishes with a ripple of magic.
Ditzy Doo Hooves is awoken by a loud crashing in her backyard in the middle of the night. Slowly she trudged to see what looked like a wreck in her yard. Some big metal thing that is hourglass shaped is crumpled, laying on it's side, and smoking badly.
"T-time T-Turner?" She stutters running to the wreckage, and prying open the door on it. Inside a man wearing a long brown coat is laying against the wall in a very scary pool of blood.
"Oh, Celestia! Oh, Celestia! Oh Celestia!" She squeals, carefully pulling him inside. She gently sits the unconscious man on her couch and rushes out of the room and back with gauze bandages, which she starts wrapping around a large gash on his forehead.
"Wake up, Time Turner. Please..."
"Mommy? What was tha- Time Turner!" Dinky, Ditzy's daughter, runs over. "I guess the crashing was him?" She whispers, staring at him, her eyes filled with worry.
"Uh-huh."
"Mommy, he's hurt."
"Uh-huh..."
"Mommy, he needs to go to the hospital."
"I know. Go wake your sister."
"I'm already up Mom. Go, I'll watch Dinky." Her elder daughter Sparkler says from the doorway.
"Thanks a bunch!" She picks him up and flies out the door and as quickly and straight as possible to the hospital.
Time Turner's blue eyes flutter open groggily to see a speckled white ceiling. He groans, closing them again, shifting slightly under the white sheets.
"Time turner! Oh my Celestia, you're alive!" Ditzy shouts practically jumping to her feet.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Bloody Hell... Who are you?"
Ditzy smiles slightly. "Oh, I see. You haven't met me yet."
"Huh? Ow. Sound hurts." He hisses quietly. "As does light. Where am I?"
"The hospital. You have a concussion and a laceration across your forehead. The doc think you must of banged your head on something with a sharp, hard edge. He stitched up your forehead and you should recover from the concussion just fine if you get plenty of rest. You may suffer something like sensitivity to light and sound, memory loss, headaches, fa-"
"You don't need to quote off all the symptoms of a concussion that the doctor told you. I know what a concussion is."
"Oh. Sorry. Anyway, everyone here thinks you should know me since y-" The door opens and Ditzy falls silent. "Has he stirred at all, Ms. Hooves?"
"Actually, I am awake right now, and more than a little confused."
"Oh? Good to hear that you are awake Mr. Turner. Now, how are you confused?"
"I can sum it up in two words that are a symptom of concussion. Memory Loss."
"Ah. How much do you remember?"
"... I remember that my name is Time Turner. That's about all I've got."
"... That's slightly troubling, though not unheard of. Your memory should come back as you heal."
"Oh. You don't remember anything at all?" Ditzy asks.
"Nothing. Completely blank."
"Oh..."
"Don't worry, Ms. Hooves. His memory will return, I assure you."
"Alrighty, Doc." She chirps.
"Time Turner, I know you lied to the doctor. You remember that you're a time traveler because I met future you in the past, and you told me about losing your memory." Ditzy says to the squinting Time Turner that she's tugging behind her by his hand as they get to her house.
"I suppose that explains your comment about me not having met you, yet." He says dryly, slowly sitting on the couch.
"Losing your memory means you don't even have to pretend to have a clue who I am, at least."
"Way to look on the bright side." He sighs sarcastically.
"Stop being such a Debbie-downer. I have to go to work, but my eldest daughter Sparkler can watch after you."
"I'm a grown man. I don't need babysat."
"You're a grown man with no memory and a brain injury. Yes, you do. I'll go get her."
A few moments later, a girl, who looks about 10 years old with purple hair and a pink dress walks in. "Hi Time Turner."
"Hello... Sparkler?" He says uncertainly, staring at her.
"Yeah. Mom says you have a concussion."
"That's true."
"What's that like?"
"Painful." He says dryly, trying not to think about his pounding head.
"Your forehead was cut too."
"So I've been told, and the bandages currently wrapped around my head support that fact."
"You were bleeding a lot before mom got you to the hospital."
"Head injuries tend to do that."
"Oh. I don't get medical stuff. What are you supposed to do if you have a concussion?"
"Rest. Not do anything to agitate it."
"Oh. I should leave you alone then... I'll go check on Dinky." She walks out of the room and he closes his eyes, lays back on the couch and falls asleep almost immediately.
"Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime Tuuuuurneeer.Wakey Wakey. It's Lunch time."
"Dinky, leave him alone. He needs to rest."
"but-"
"No buts."
"I'm awake. Kind of." Time Turner mumbles almost incoherently
"Oh. Sorry if Dinky woke you."
"It's fine. I'm still knackered, but I am a wee bit peckish, so lunch sound good." He pushes himself to sitting. "So, what is for lunch?"
"Nothing special. Just grilled cheese sandwiches. It's about all I can make." Sparkler smiles awkwardly and steps out of the room.
"Time Turner, do you really not remember anything?" The younger girl, Dinky, who looks an awful lot like ditzy asks.
"Nothing at all."
"Oh, I guess that's not a super big deal though, because you eventually go back in time so we can meet you, right?"
"Blast! You know that too? Do all of you?"
"Uh-huh. You were around for the first two years of my life. It's only been 2 years. I haven't forgotten you."
Tentatively he asks "Where's your dad?".
"Dead. He was part of the navy and he died out there. That's what mommy says."
He blinks, startled by the young girls bluntness. "I-I'm very sorry."
"Don't be. I never knew him. You were the one who was around."
"Umm..."
"Grilled cheese is all done!" Sparkler caries in a plate with a sandwich on it and hands it to Time Turner. "There you go!" She pauses for a moment, looking between Dinky and Time Turner. "Oh, Celestia. What did you say, Dinky?"
"Nothing..." Dinky smiles awkwardly.
Sparkler huffs. "I'm sorry if she made you feel awkward in any way, Time Turner."
"It's fine, really."
"What'd she say?"
"Doesn't matter."
"... Alright..."
"Let's eat, eh?"
Hours later Time Turner awakes to see a girl with blue hair and eyes, but otherwise looks surprisingly similar to Ditzy looking down at him.
"Hello Time Turner. It's sure been a while, hasn't it?"
He sits up, rubbing at his eyes. "I... know you? Sure,you do look remarkably like Ditzy, which would indicate that the two of you are most likely related in someway, but in all honesty, I haven't the foggiest who you are."
"Riiiight. I forgot about the amnesia bit. I'm Raindrops. We met the last time you crashed into Ditzy's backyard. As for us looking similar, you guessed correctly. I'm her sister."
"Sister. That makes sense. Wait-" He pause, his brow furrowing. "Are you telling me this isn't the only time I've crashed into Ditzy's backyard? I have already been informed as to the fact that Ditzy apparently met me in the past, while I had already known her, but I crashed then as well? Blast. There must be something wrong with the landing gears. For the life of me, I can't remember what could have damaged them, but-" Raindrops put her hand over his mouth.
"Please don't try to explain something you can't remember. You'll only hurt your head, and mine."
He smiles awkwardly. "I do suppose you have a point."
"Of course I do, Timey-boy. I'm the one with a fully functioning brain right now."
"Just shut up."
Time Turner gently rubs his thumb over the glass on a picture frame that has a picture of him Ditzy and a very young Dinky together. He sits it back down shaking his head. "Oh Time, you bloody beast. What's so important about this girl?" He looks at the other pictures on top of the small bookshelf. A picture of Ditzy, Raindrops, and another girl with curly orange hair, who frankly looked annoyed, Ditzy flying with a younger Sparkler clinging to her, Ditzy and the orange haired girl as kids at the park with another girl with minty green and white hair grinning at them while she was laying down backwards on the slide and a picture that's tipped over. His curiosity getting the better of him, Time Turner picks it up. Ditzy, a younger sparkler, and a man with blue and purple hair and a sailor's cap are laughing together. His brow scrunches together. Something about that man looks familiar...
A loud clattering from behind knocks him out of his reverie. The picture slips out of his hand and clatters to the floor as he whips around to see Ditzy staring at him with a spilled bag of groceries at her feet.
"Bugger! Look, Ditzy," He rises to his feet. "I'm sorry if I was snooping, but the pictures were right there and my curiosity got the better of me, especially since I saw out of the corner of my eye that I was in one of the pictures, you've got to understand..." he pleads at her. Slowly in response, she smiles.
"You've always been crazy curious Timey. Sparkler even used to call you kitty." She crouches down to pick up her dropped groceries. "It's not a problem, I just was surprised to see you up and about. I was expecting you to be passed out on the couch."
He processes this. "She used to call me Kitty? Really?"
"Mmmhmm." She smiles. "It was adorable. I know you don't remember any of it, it hasn't even happened for you yet, but you were really good with them."
He picks up the picture he dropped and winces at the cracked glass. "I'm guessing this is Dinky's dad?"
A frown creases Ditzy's face. "Yeah. How'd you know he's not Sparkler's?"
"Sparkler looks nothing like either of you. I figured she was adopted."
"Yup... Her parents died when she was just a little girl and Me and Sta..." She trails off, frowning.
"Sta?... Star? As in Sea Star?" Time Turner's eyes widen.
"YOU KNOW WHO STAR IS!?" Dinky shouts launching at Time and frantically shaking his shoulders. "You're not supposed to know that yet! You're not supposed remember anything right now! That's what you told me. When you met me, you didn't remember anything!"
"I don't! Ditzy calm down!"
She lets go of his shoulders and steps back, embarrassed about her wild reaction. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just... You shouldn't know who he is." Ditzy looks to the ground, her hair hanging limply in her face.
"... I don't, actually. I mean, he looked a wee bit familiar in the photo, I presume that was Sea Star at least, and the name just came to me." Time Turner frowns. "I am beginning to suspect my amnesia is intentional."
"Intentional...? A-are you saying someone did this to you?" Ditzy looks up at Time, her eyes almost coming into focus to stare at him shocked.
He bites his lip, a nervous habit, thinking. "Not necessarily." He says slowly.
"What, but you just said-"
He cuts her off. "Ditzy, you've already made it very clear that you know that I'm a time traveler, but do you know why I travel? As in what I do when I go?"
Ditzy pauses staring at him. "You fix errors in the time stream, don't you?" She tilts her head to the side, her hair spilling that way.
"That's one way to put it, I suppose." He muses. "You see, usually time is stable. Little things don't make big changes, so most of the time, if say there was a historically obsessed magic user who made a time travel spell to go back and watch, and as long as he doesn't change anything all is well, but our theoretical history buff could be an idiotic git and he goes and messes something up, which in turn drastically alters the time stream, and makes things unstable, so I, or one of the others, couldn't tell you any of their names, don't remember them, have to go and fix it."
"Okay, I understand, but what does any of this have to do with your memory?" She closes her eyes, shaking her head confused. "It doesn't seem related at all, though it is nice to know exactly what you're job is..."
"Well," He sighs. "I'm not perfect, and I'm thinking that, perhaps, in my travels I had learned something big, and bad, that I couldn't resist the urge to try and 'fix' per say, but rationally I would have known that it was a bad idea, so I wiped my own memory and sent myself forward in time to stop myself from getting my motions in the way of my work."
Blinking startled Ditzy slowly replies. "You're too smart, Timey."
"Of course I couldn't confirm any of this until I get a good look at the hourglass and can assess the damages..."
With a sigh Ditzy flies out of the room, gesturing for Time to follow. "Come on. It's in the basement."
Scrambling after her, Time Turner heads into the basement. "Woah..." Pushed in the far corner, and very nearly scraping the ceiling is the hourglass, and the metal on the bottom front is warped and crumpled, causing the device to awkwardly lean forward. Scattered around the room are tools and bronze parts on various work tables.
"It kinda became your workshop the last time you were here. I never really understood the mechanics of it all, but... um, the stuff you left here should be enough to fix it so you can go save the time stream again, um, you know, i-if you want to..."
Noticing her reluctance to say that, Time Turner smiles at Ditzy. "It will probably be a while before I go. Seriously, I have to recover still, even though my amnesia probably isn't from it, I still have a concussion. Not only that, It is going to take me forever to fix that damage." Time reassures her, even though he's not entirely sure why she doesn't want him to go.
"Good. You were gone far to long. It just wouldn't be right if you left so soon." She then turns and walks up the stairs, leaving Time Turner to his work.
"Did he really fall asleep down here?"
"Are you really surprised, Colgate?"
"... Knowing Time, no. Also Derpy, how many times do I have to tell you my name is Minuette"
"Sorry, Colgate."
"I give up!"
"Hey! He's waking!"
Time Turner groggily opens his eyes, and sits up from where he was hunched over on the workbench closest to the hourglass.
"Mornin'" Ditzy chirps. "You have company. Colgate-"
"Minuette." Minuette cuts across.
"-claims she knows you, even though she wasn't here two years ago. She just moved to ponyville last year."
Minuette sighs. "Derpy, can you give us some privacy?"
"Sure. I'll go make breakfast. Anyone else want muffins?"
"Sure why not." Minuette responds dryly. Ditzy skips up the stairs.
"You do know her name is Ditzy, right?"
"Huh? Really? Everyone in town calls her Derpy." Minuette frowns.
"That's just cruel. Making fun of her eyes like that."
Minuette shakes her head. "No, I don't think they mean it to be cruel. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought it was her real name. She responds to it." She pauses. "I did not come here to discuss Derpy Hooves'-"
"Ditzy Doo's."
"-name with you!" She sighs. "Annoyingly nitpicky as always, I see."
"Then I would suppose we've met before as well?"
"Of course. For Pete's sake, I talked to you last month!"
"Maybe last month, for you." He scoffs. "I figured you knew my situation, if you were here. You're clearly like me." He flicks the blue painted pocket watch hanging from her belt. "I assumed you knew what you were talking about."
"No, not really. I came because of your rather obvious entrance yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if that ripple could be felt all the way to Canterlot."
"Canter-what?"
"... Man. What time did you come from?"
"From the sketchy data I could get out of this bloody thing," Time gestures loosely at the hourglass behind him. "Well over nine centuries ago."
"From what you could get out... You don't remember anything, do you?"
"Not a ruddy thing." He smiles.
"You do know doing that is only for very extreme situations, right?"
"Well, yes. I do remember that. That is how it works Minnie."
"Well you remember your nickname for me. The one thing I wanted you to forget." Minuette says sourly. "But that is how it works. You'll remember all sorts of random things subconsciously." She pauses. "What by Celestia was 900 years ago!? 900... That was before Canterlot, I think, and loooong before Ponyville. 900 years ago, what happened 900 years ago that you have to wipe your memories over..."
"BY ECLIPSE! I DON'T KNOW, AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BLOODY FIGURE IT OUT BY TALKING TO YOURSELF!"
"Sorry, really. By Celestia, I keep forgetting that you're under a lot stress right now. You still need to adju... Eclipse? Who the hell is Eclipse?"
"... Haven't the foggiest, just what came to-"
"Yeah. I get it. Subconscious memory, I'm going to go do research on what was 900 years ago."
"Well over 900 years. Almost a millennium."
Slowly Minuette turns back around. "Almost a millennium..." She murmurs. "994 years, perhaps?"
"Roughly in that zone. I couldn't get an exact number because the magic is fritzing, but-"
"The 994th Summer Sun celebration is in two weeks."
"Need I even need to say that I don't know what that is."
"It's a celebration of the summer solstice. Princess Celestia randomly picks a city and there's this big affair with her raising the sun for the longest day of the year. Every town celebrates it, but the town hosting the princess always has the biggest celebration."
"Is there one for the Winter Solstice? Does Princess Luna get a special holiday?"
"Princess whonow?"
"Tia's li-" He makes a choking sound and clutches his head because he suddenly had a terrible headache as he loses the train of thought. "Well then." He croaks. "Guess that's related to what I had to forget."
"Luna, huh? I'm going to go do research now. I probably won't be back, at least for a while. TaTa." She flutters her fingers goodbye and him and skips out. Time puts his head down in his arms.
"Oh, bloody hell." A few minutes later he feels something gently sat on his head. "Did you fall asleep again Timey?"
"No." He mumbles into his arms. "Did you sit a muffin on my head?"
"Yuppers." Ditzy giggles. "Now come on. You can't mope down here all day."
Sighing, he grabs the muffin off of his head and sits up. "And why not?"
"Because that's boring, Time! I know you want to fix your doo-dad, but you just got here. It can waaait." She grabs his wrists and yanks him to his feet.
"It's Sunday, so I don't have to run my mail route. I'm gonna give you a tour of the town."
"Blimey, is that really necessary?"
"Yuppers"
Time Turner sighs. "Alright..." He takes a bite of his muffin and follows up and out Ditzy who already swooped up the stairs excitedly, only hitting the wall once.
Time Turner blinks startled at the pink haired girl in front of him. "Beg your pardon?" He leans back away from her, awkwardly. She has wild fuchsia curls and bright blue eyes and is bouncing on her toes in his face.
"I said you're new, mister Time Turner! I've never met you before!"
"Pinkie Pie," Ditzy starts trying to gently pull the girl out of my face. "He's been here before, years ago. You're newer than him. You moved in with a cakes a few short months ago." The girl, Pinkie Pie giggles excitedly and bounces far higher than any normal nonflier, could and twirls around Ditzy.
"I already knew that, silly Derpy!" She giggles again. "But he was new to me."
"Miss-uh-Pinkie Pie, her name is Ditzy, not Derpy." Time Turner fidgets awkwardly.
"Time, please, d-don't push it..." Ditzy mutters, looking down at the ground, her blond hair falling into her face.
"Oh! Her name is Ditzy?! I never knew! I am so sorry Ditzy! Everyone else just called you that, and I assumed!"
"I-it's okay, it's just a nickname, Derpy is. Um, a friend up in Canterlot started it years ago, and most people call me that now, so it's not a big deal..."
"Okay! So, I was thinking we could throw a 'welcome back to Ponyville' party for Time here. I mean, I know I wasn't her yet when he was here before, but I never like to miss a chance for a good party, so-" Ditzy put her hand over Pinkie's mouth, shutting her up. "Maybe after he's fully recovered from his concussion, alright Pinkie?" Slowly, Ditzy removed her hand.
"Sure! Then it could be a 'recovered from a concussion' party too!"
"Sure, why not." Time Turner quips, humoring her.
"Yay!" She squeals and runs off a lightning speed.
"How does she do that?" Ditzy shakes her head puzzled. "Pinkie Pie is by far the oddest person I've ever met."
"Eh..." Time smiles at Pinkie Pie, already a good way away. "I like her. She reminds me of someone I used to know... I just can't place who..."
"Oh. Okay then. Let's continue with the tour." She shows him around the town, and Time Turner has far more people recognize him then he's comfortable with. She ends the tour at the outskirts of town at an apple farm called Sweet Apple Acres.
"Can we go home now? I'm knackered." He pleads, dragging his feet as he walks.
"Uh-uh. You have to meet Carrot Top. She lives just near here."
"Fine." He mutters annoyed, sighing.
Ditzy skips up to the house on the small carrot farm and knocks on the door. "Caaaarot Top!" She says in a sing song voice and the door is opened by an exasperated looking women with curly orange hair.
"Yes, Ditzy?" She sighs while smiling at the wall-eyed girl.
"Time Turner is back in town! He doesn't remember anything so I'm showing him around again." Almost immediately at the mention of his name the bemused expression left the curly haired women's, Carrot Top's, face, replaced by a frown, and her eyes flicked over to him.
"Oh." She sighs. "Why exactly doesn't he remember anything?" She glances over at him, her gaze sceptical.
"Oh. He hit his head real hard. Gots himself a concussion. Doc said he'd probably get his memories back, but he hasn't yet."
"A concussion?" She says dubiously. "Really? Do tell, how did he get a concussion?"
Ditzy pauses, her face scrunching up, confused. "What'dya mean? I already said. He hit his head."
Carrot Top groans. "Oh, just come in would you." She strides back into her home, with Ditzy happily following and Time Turner hesitantly doing so as well.
"So, Time Turner, if you don't have any memories anymore, I really ought to introduce myself. My name is Golden Harvest. You are not to call me anything other than Golden Harvest or some variation thereof. You may not call me Carrot Top. Only Lyra, Ditzy, and Raindrops are allowed to call me that, are we clear?"
He swallows a snappy retort and settles with playing nice with Ditzy's friend. "Yes." He murmurs, not looking her in the eyes.
"Good." She says tersely.
Ditzy, not realizing how high the tensions were between Golden Harvest and Time Turner, giggles. "Why won't you let anyone else call you Carrot Top? It suits you."
She sighs exasperated at Ditzy. "Because that's like me calling you Straw Top because your hair is yellow. It's silly. You and the other girls get a pass because you've been calling me that since we were kids."
Ditzy blows a raspberry at her friend. "I wouldn't mind being called Straw Top." She grins merrily.
"That's because you don't care what people call you. I'm sure everyone could suddenly start calling you muffin lady and you wouldn't bat an eye." Golden Harvest laughs lightly, and smiles expectantly at Ditzy.
The moment Ditzy said "On the topic of Muffins, do you have-".
Golden Harvest said "In the kitchen."
Ditzy grinned and flew out of the room, when suddenly Golden Harvest rounded on Time Turner. "If you hurt her again, I will personally make sure you never come back to Ponyville."
"A-again?" He stutters. When had he hurt her before...?