Time Turner: The Main Explanation
Within the office, two ponies were busy within their latest game. The armies all set up on top of the board. Taking the white side was a purple pony with a black fedora hat, intent on the game. Her mind sharp as a tack, and her eyes (with glasses in front on her muzzle) narrowed in thought while looking down at her pieces, a hoof scratching her chin. Although her right leg was alright, her left hoof was replaced with a mechanical cast hoof. Taking the black side was another, very bored blue stallion (although looked pretty much like a mare) with hair matching a rainbow. laying down next to him was a set of tan, mechanical wings made of copper and brass. The pony's eyes shown no lack of focus for the game at hoof, although he wasn't exactly up for playing chess, there wasn't much to do anyway on slow days. Soon, the purple pony finally moved her hoof over her knight over northeast, and taking the other pony's piece.
... Again ...
"Okay, you're turn, Rainbow," she said, soon as she was done. Rainbow just glanced down at his pieces, giving a slight yawn before moving over his king over to his right. The purple pony knew Rainbow didn't want to play chess anymore, so, she finished the game quick so he could try something else: moving her piece over so she got a checkmate over him.
"Checkmate."
"Man, can we try something else, Twilight? maybe something more moving and less thinking?" After the game, Twilight began putting the pieces back in the box, along with the gaming board. After it was done, Rainbow got up off his flank, and began to pace around, moving his mechanical wings away so they wouldn't get wrecked.
"Rainbow, just wait around. A job will come in at some point," Twilight assured. Twilight went back to the desk in the office, wiping off the dust and getting back to her papers. Her paperwork was a common habit for her line of work, Rainbow not having much to do other than lend a hoof when he could. He wished the job had more stuff to do other than just waiting around for something to happen. Sure, they get some tasks out of the blue, and even find some themselves, but, that didn't come too often (something Rainbow wished did happen more so he didn't just sit around). While both did their own things, suddenly they began hearing something from outside their door. Soon, the door swung open, startling both Rainbow and Twilight. The pony that barged in looked like a rustic orange stallion, with a short mane and tail ginger to match. He had on a red striped suit as well, and looked in worry as he came in.
"A knock would be nice," Rainbow groaned.
"Terribly sorry, but, we don't have much time. You're Twilight sparkle, if I'm not mistaken?" he asked, hoping to be correct. Twilight calmed down from the sudden burst in, and nodded her head.
"That is correct, sir. Now, have a seat, and tell us the issue," Twilight instructed. The stallion got a seat behind him, and sat down before speaking, clearing his throat.
"You got to help me, my life's work had been stolen from my home! I tried the officials, but, they couldn't find anything. They insisted on coming to you for help, given your record," he explained. Twilight took in each mental note from the stallion before continuing. Rainbow wasn't too impressed with the type of work given to them, but, work was work, and he had to take it either way. Twilight got back up, and walked over to the pony.
"Mind telling us your name, sir?"
"Time Turner. Sorry for the lack of introduction."
"Not an issue. Now then, do you mind showing us what happened, Time Turner?" Twilight insisted. Time Turner nodded, got off the chair, and began trotting out the door. Rainbow got his wings set, and, while Time Turner went, went over to Twilight, as the mare got a notepad from her desk cabinet, and put it in her pocket.
"What did I say? Get ready, Rainbow, let's go."
~~
Through the morning, the duo of detectives went right off following Time Turner through the town. When it came to the neighborhood, Twilight and Rainbow didn't really live in the best place ever. Along the northern coast, the town of Vanhoover had been their home for years. Vanhoover, in and of itself, wasn't heaven, but wasn't living tartarus either. To put it simply, the town was full powered in steam works, some buildings having visible gears active from outside. Eventually, Time Turner had brought them to his workshop; the area in question. The building itself was fairly big, with dark grey brick walls with a triangular rustic roof, a two-piped chimney bellowing out smoke: rather common sight to say the least. As Rainbow and Twilight went in, the place seemed, more or less, unkempt. However, Time Turner brought them to the back, and stopped by the backdoor.
"Ok, back there is where my research was being carried out," Time Turner said, before he opened the door. Twilight took the lead inside, observing the room Time Turner brought her and Rainbow in. Rainbow took the time for his partner to get her Barings on the place. The workshop was looking more unkempt than back outside, papers scattered on the desk, and flasks left on the shelves collecting dust. Twilight and her accomplice weren't entirely sure what was missing exactly, since somepony could easily loose their book in this kind of mess.
"You sure someone stole something?" Rainbow asked, giving Time Turner a rather suspicious look on his face. Time Turner nodded, and trotted over to a poster on the wall nearby, directing their attention to it. The large diagram showed some sort of machine, but, the two weren't sure of what it was to say the least of Time Turner's study. Twilight sat down, and brought out her notebook from her pocket, her left hoof hold of a quill.
"What might this be?" Twilight asked. Time Turner cleared his throat before answering.
"Allow me to explain. You see, for my whole life, I've been putting study for the future; trying to crack the codes other ponies were unable to in the past. There's so many possibilities science can uncover that we never thought possible! So many discoveries left -"
"Whoa, hold up. Can we stay focused here?" Rainbow interrupted. If there was something a problem, a long speech wasn't going to help them both, especially him. Time Turner regained himself, a small blush on his face.
"Sorry, got caught up. *ahem* anyway, when I was a colt, I've heard stories about a mirror that can able a pony to travel across the fabric of time and space, a mirror to enable dimensional time fabrication. I've devoted my work into replicating such a device, Just imagine the possibilities it could bring into the world of ponykind! So many mares and stallions going to fix past mistakes, or seeing what their future holds! Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the key components in order to fully activate it." While Time Turner was explaining, Twilight continued writing the information down in her notes. Rainbow was getting bored out of his wit, and barely knew what half of the words meant. Time turner's look of pride quickly turned to worry again, as he turned back to Rainbow and Twilight.
"I was so close to fully cracking that code, too."
"Alright, time pony, just tell us what happened," Rainbow insisted, wanting the info before he could get a migraine. And he thought Twilight had enough fancy words, this stallion was chocked full of them!
"Yes, of course. Just yesterday, I was working on my research, getting so close to that big breakthrough. Before I could complete, I got a telegram, saying a package was waiting at the post office for me. I was expecting a package of materials for my work anyway, so, I hurried down to get it. I must've left my door unlocked or something, for by the time I've returned, everything was gone! My plans, my materials, the device itself, all gone!" Time Turner felt hurt just from saying those words, as Twilight finished up her note piece on the victim information. However, Rainbow then looked at the poster, confused.
"If they took everything, why do you still have that?" Rainbow asked, pointing his hoof to the diagram in question.
"This is just a spare copy, only thing that wasn't taken of my work," Time Turner replied, as Twilight walked around, looking around a bit. A thought crossed her mind as she looked at the door.
"Pardon me, but, how big was this device of yours?" Twilight asked. The ginger stallion thought for a moment.
"It's pretty big, about six feet in height, but thin as cardboard. I'm afraid whoever took it could easily just take it out the backdoor," Time Turner replied. Twilight took a moment to think, trying to envision on how a pony could bring the device out from the pony's workshop without trouble. Rainbow looked around too for some sort of clue, though he wasn't doing as good of a job as his boss was. Moving a large object, along with all the plans for it, couldn't be done single-hoovedly. After looking around for a little bit, eventually Twilight turned back to face Time Turner.
"Do you know of anypony that could've done this?"
"I'm not entirely sure, honestly. In fact, most of the time, many ponies would not care or think I'm just some bucking ass handling something impossible to begin with. Sorry if I'm not too much help."
"You sure there isn't ANY pony who'd took interest in your work?" Time Turner was going to say something, but he suddenly had a look that said he just remembered a pony that had been interested (a little bit, at least). Before he could say anything, though, Rainbow got his attention when he was looking over some spare papers on his desk.
"Rainbow, come here," Twilight instructed. Rainbow stopped for a moment, and walked over to her side. As she left though, a lot of the paper fell down on the floor. Time Turner was annoyed, but, that was the least of his problems now.
"Well, there's one pony that had took some interested in my studies, but, I don't think she would do such a thing. Her name is Moondancer, a young pony, probably into science as much as I am, if not more. However, she only visited me for a few days, and had already left back to Baltimare a week ago."
"Alright. Is that it?"
"Far as I know, I'm afraid."
"I see. Well, don't worry, Time Turner, we'll figure this out as soon as we can. Come on, Rainbow, let's go," Twilight concluded, starting to walk out the door with her partner behind her. Time Turner gave his thanks as the two went back outside of the workshop. When they got out, Rainbow moved close to Twilight so he could whisper.
"You're really just going to end on that note?" Rainbow asked. He knew Twilight for a while, and he knew the pony wouldn't just end it so quickly like that. Twilight glanced to him.
"Of course not. Let's ask around at town square, somepony has to know."
~~
Rainbow and Twilight trotted out to their next stop: Vanhoover town square. The area was often full of ponies, more like a walk through plaza, and that day was no different. When the detectives arrived, many different ponies were going about their day, some chatting amongst eachother, while others just walked along. Many ponies of different types were walking about, different attire for each pony. Some ponies had mechanical wings like Rainbow did, and were flying about town square. The leading mare and stallion partner looked around the square for a bit. While they do know of just one pony personally interested in the Time Turner's work, that didn't mean nopony knew of it. Twilight and Rainbow split up, asking various ponies about Time Turner and his studies on his time device. However, both ponies weren't having too much luck with the various amount of ponies so far. Twilight took the east side while Rainbow took the west side. but both ponies often got the same jist of the situation. Rainbow had more luck talking to the fliers thanks to his mechanical wings, so he was able to fly around the square. For each pony who did know of it, they either mocked the pony, or just didn't know very much about it. After about a hour of talking, Rainbow and Twilight met back up at the southern entrance, both ending up with nothing.
"Anything, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.
"No, many of the ponies don't have much interest in Time Turner's work," Twilight replied. Rainbow groaned a bit, not having a clue how to proceed without anypony else for some sort of know how. Before the two would continue, suddenly they both heard a sort of *psst* from nearby. Both ponies turned towards an alleyway, and suddenly saw a pretty shady creature leaning by one of the walls. He looked like a hippogriff, brown fur and white tail for the pony piece while the front was brown feathers, with a white head. He had on dark brown copper wings, and a cigarette in his mouth. Twilight and Rainbow, while unsure of the Hippogriff, went over anyway. The Hippogriff looked up to them both soon as they were close.
"You wondering about the doc's gadget?" The Hippogriff asked.
"That's right."
"Well ... Might know something or two. A few bits, and I'll tell you that I know." The Hippogriff lifted over a falcon claw, expecting some bits to be dropped on it. Rainbow sneered at the greedy bird, but, Twilight had to comply. Even if it was cheap as hell, Twilight had no other chances. So, reaching in her pocket, she gave the Hippogriff two dollar bits. Looking away, the Hippogriff put the bits in his own pocket before answering.
"Alright then. I've been by the doc's place yesterday, seen that nut bolt out like a bat out of hell. Sometime later ... hm ..." The claw came out again. Before Twilight did anything, Rainbow got his nerve up, and moved over to the bird.
"Hey, we gave you your cash, you damn cheap -"
"Rainbow!" Twilight demanded. Rainbow didn't want their money being thrown away, but, as of the hour, this hippogriff was the only one they got. Twilight just gave the bird his bits, as the hippogriff continued.
"Sometime later, I flew back and saw these ponies take something huge out from under a tarp. Got in some truck and drove off with it. before ol' doc came back around."
Twilight gave one more bit to the hippogriff before asking "Any sort of initials on the truck?"
"Smart move. Said 'Diane inc.' on the side of it. All I know, pony," the Hippogriff said, before flying off with five free bits in his pocket.
~~
Sometime later, the two were back in Twilight's office, this time, Twilight looking over her notes while Rainbow looked on, his wings off of him for the moment. Seemed there wasn't too much to work with, but enough for a potential suspect: Moondancer. So far, that was the only suspect they got, but, considering what kind of stuff was stolen, Twilight could ponder a guess that other ponies could easily take the item for themselves. But, with nothing else to go on, the two stuck with Moondancer for the time being. While the incorporation was another idea, they needed an exact pony instead of a corporation. What they do know was that either the thief took it for the corporation, or stole a Diane inc. truck for the job.
"So now what do we do, do you think Moondancer could do this?" Rainbow asked.
"I have my doubts, but, we can't take it to chance. For the moment, she's all we got. If we need more information, we have to figure it out from other sources, some pony else has to take some sort of interest in Time Turner's work."
"But you heard him, so many ponies called him a dumbass for his work, and everypony we spoke to proved it," Rainbow retorted.
"Rainbow, you know as well as I that not everypony could mean something up front. Somepony could see it for other uses aside from science. Profit perhaps? A device like that could make good money, especially of someone from Diane inc. got it."
"Ok, even if we try to find Moondancer, how the hell do we get there? She left for Baltimare a week back, who knows where she is by now." Rainbow did have a point; Baltimare was practically on the other side of Equestria, and with the way the paths would go, it'll be rough to say as to where Moondancer would truly end up. But, even if the two didn't have an exact location on her. Eventually, Twilight then pulled out a sort of world map, and paid it out on her desk.
"Quite simple. All we really need to do is take the train from Vanhoover, down to Baltimare. Should take sometime, but, it should be enough for us to reach there and find Moondancer."
"What about the corporation?"
"A good suspect sure, but, we don't know any ponies exactly from Diane Inc. yet. Listen, the company is on the way to Baltimare. We'll go by there and check the area for any clues on the whereabouts, is that understood?"
"Got it, Twilight," Rainbow concluded. All of that was sounding off to him, but, he wasn't the boss of this group. Twilight got the notes they gathered, and got themselves all set. Rainbow and Twilight were both ready to go as they'll ever be. Rainbow got his wings in place, the mechanical works good as ever. Twilight got herself prepared as well, getting her detective pipe, fedora hat, and notes all set. After everything was gathered, the two set out from the office with plans in place. Twilight and Rainbow were off, starting with the Diane Inc.
