Thread of Time

by sweetapplestories-_-

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance
Length: 4045

Science has made many advances since his father had started to build a time machine but the spell has been taught and improved upon, though time travel is still tricky

The future is a strange place. A time travel spell that allows the peace keepers, the time leapers. To jump back.
When Copper Whooves creates a machine that can send him back, he has no choice but to leave his time behind and run from the peace keepers.
However there are… Complications… Complications that lead him to meet some pony who complicates things further.
Love has no place in the heart of a scientist.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-10-11 17:54:49 UTC

Prologue

It rained the day of the funeral. A cold heavy rain that dripped through an umbrella rather than off it. A rain that always managed to seep down to the root of a pony's coat.

The scientist's son was the last to leave. He stood there, his umbrella long since pulled down. His dark mane sticking to the side of his face. He heard footsteps behind him but didn't move, didn't flinch.

His sister stood softly beside him,she reached her hoof around his neck and pulled him into a comforting hug. The colt did not move his eyes away from his father's grave.

"He didn't have to die, if I had just remembered his papers..." He choked and clench his teeth, he couldn't hold back his hot tears.

His sister moved in front of him and lifted his chin, "it is nobody's fault but the guy who shot him." She noticed he was shaking. She charged her horn with a sweet gold light and lifted her black scarf, pulling it around his neck. "It's okay to cry, no pony will judge you."

He sneezed and spluttered. "come on I don't want you to get a cold." She led him from the cemetery.

~~~~~~~~

A unicorn of the lightest purple ran across the campus of the Canterlot Science Academy, her bright yellow mane streaking behind her.

"Copper, I'm here! What's the emergency?" She burst into her little brother's lab, panic spread across her face.

Her light brown coated brother popped his head up from behind a large machine, "Dinky, quick come over here!" His bright green eyes sparkled with joy and excitement. "I've done it, I really have this time."

Dinky's golden eye glowed now, a large grin spread across her face. "Show me, show me, show me."

" The time travel spell, it, it was flawed you could only go back for a minute or two, but now..." He charged his horn with a cheerful green glow, floating a metal wrist strap towards his sisters face. "see this? Now I can isolate the magic so I can control how long you jump back or forward." He grinned.

"How?" His sister asked, she never really had been into science like her brother or father.

Copper twisted the strap around, "see this gap?" He added a little more power to his horn and picked up a bright glowing crystal. "The crystal is from The old empire, I had a crystal priestess make it for me. You  put the crystal in the gap and you can travel any where in Equestria, any where in time." He gave another wild grin.

His sister lifted him up into the air they both began to laugh. "Mom and Dad would be so proud of you." She laughed, "presenting the youngest, timetraveler there will ever be!" She plunked him back onto the ground, "can I hold the crystal?" She asked.

He nodded reluctantly, "don't you dare drop it its irreplaceable." He watched as his sisters eye glowed like they did the first time she saw there fathers flameless fireworks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I do t see why they have such a big problem." Dinky spoke.

"Whether you like it or not I have to see the school council."

"Copper Whooves, due to complications, your research and your lab will be seized."

Copper burst into his lab and began stuffing his saddle bags with his work while silently cursing under his breath. The final thing he bathed in his emerald light was his wrist strap and crystal.

"You will not get my research!"

Dinky's door burst open, she gave a yelp of surprise. Copper ran into the room slamming the door behind him.

"Dinky I'm really sorry to do this to but I have time leapers after me, I need you to hide my work. I have to leave this place for a while.  Have to go back." He hugged his sister, "You will forgive if i don't come back?"

"Of corse I forgive you, I wont let them get any of your work." She smiled.

Copper ran back into the hallway, and his iris narrowed as he saw three time leapers I'm there white uniforms at the end of thee hallway. He turned on his heel running in the opposite direction while calibrating and entering the crystal into his wrist strap.

He let out a shout as they started to shoot at him. He charged his horn and let it seep into the crystal, then fired a few a blast at the time leapers, though it wasn't really a match to their guns.

He ran towards the window and leapt through it. It shattered around him, he turned as bullets began flying past him, one grazed his right foreleg.

Then, he was gone.

01 The Rarest of Things

Rarity awoke is a very good mood. Today was one of those rare days when she had nothing to do, no orders to fill, no fabrics too sort. She was completely free for the day.

She threw back the covers of  her regal four poster bed and began to hum as she made her way to the bathroom. She decided to shower before doing anything else. So she did letting her fair purple mane plaster itself to her head. She step of and wrapped her head in a large fluffy towel.

She charged her horn in its signature blue glow and began to apply her make-up. Still humming she  began to run a brush through her mane shaping it into its signature curl.

She gave a sweet smile before making her way downstairs UI, into the living area and through to the kitchen. Wine in the Moring, how dastardly of you Rarity. she bathed a glass from the cupboard and her favourite bottle from her large wine rack in her sapphire blue aura, pouring a long fountain of the red liquid and taking half a mouthful before sighing pleasantly. It was not long before she finished the glass but decided not to pour another as that was about how much is recommended for a pony her size.

She decided that she would start some new dress designs,it is not work, no, it is simply a good use of my free time. I haven't worked on a jeweled ensemble. I suppose asking Spike to help me on my day off wouldn't be work, would it? She made a small sound of approval and charged her horn, taking her sun hat from the coat rack.

She hummed as she trotted elegantly down the streets of PonyVille, politely creating everypony with a sweet smile, a smile that she plastered across her face so often she didn't know if it was her true smile anymore. It wasn't a tiresome walk to Twilight's palace but with the heat of the sun beating down on her, it wasn't surprising she had a sheen of sweat across her brow. She wiped it away and continued to trot gently.

She arrived a lot later than she had expected but that might have been down to the fact she stopped to get a cup of tea at the café. She  knocked before opening the door with her sapphire glow. She loved Twilight's palace, it made her feel like princess herself whenever she walk into the main hall.

"Twilight? Spiiike?" She ended the name with a flourish.

She listened and heard a small voice at the opposite end of the 'house', "Rarity?" then the tapping of small claws on the crystal floor.

"Hello, Spikey," she spoke as the small dragon skipped towards her. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to het some jewels." She already knew the answer.

"yes, just let me get my wagon," he referred to the red wagon her collected gems in.

~~~~~~~~~

"So how come you wanted to do this on your day off?" He spoke as he stared at Rarity's flank.

" Please Spike I'm trying to concentrate." She sighed as her horn splutter a few sparks. "There." She made a tiny mark with a floating stick.

Spike began to dig and it wasn't long before he hit gold, or rather jewels. Rarity gleamed with joy as she surrounded the gems in her glow and lifted them carefully onto the rapidly filling wagon.

~~~

Meanwhile Copper had appeared in the sky In a swirl of bright great fizzing lights, he began to decent. It was one of those moments were he wished he had wings, many a broken bone could have been prevented during experiment testing. He pulled his steampunk style goggles over his eyes. He began too charge his horn, letting burst teleportation slow him down but not enough. He was rapidly approaching a group of trees. He clenched his teeth, knowing it would hurt.

He hit almost every possible branch and landed on his stomach, forcing all the air from his lungs with a audible oomph.

~~~

Spike looked up from his digging, letting his grass green eyes wonder his surroundings. "Rarity did you hear that?" He asked not taking his eyes of the tree line.

Rarity was sorting through the gems already in the cart, "hear what, oh what a delightful shade of red." She began humming again, "Spike could you hurry please this heat is almost unbearable." She trotted towards the little dragon, charging her ivory horn once more. She was panning her head and felt a sharp tug that pulled her towards the tree line. As she approached, she squinted. A gleam of sunlight reflected of some thing on the ground.

She increased her speed and was soon staring down at a short crystal that glittered many colours. Her eyes widened.

"My lord, this is the most gorgeous gem I have ever seen," she lifted the gem in her aura, "Spike we are done here let us leave." She began trotting giddily away leaving spike to pull the heavy cart.

Copper groaned, he had briefly slipped out of consciousness and was adjusting himself a he stood. His foreleg was still dripping with blood, but he didn't much care. He was more concerned about his wrist strap.he looked it over and quickly began to panic.

No, no, no, no! The crystal is gone! he started to search his general area when his eyes flicked to a movement beyond the trees. An ivory  unicorn was trotting away, his crystal surrounded in her aura. He let out a small yelp of horror. Before ducking back into the trees.

"This is bad, this is really really really bad." He shot his head out briefly before standing again winced at the pulsing pain in his bleeding foreleg. It wasn't a bad cut but it was ragged and dirty. He didn't want it to become septic but decided his crystal was magnitudes more important than a flesh wound.

He followed the unicorn untill he came a town, I wonder bow far back I jumped I wasn't really looking when I did it. He approached a cream pony and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me... Um... What year is it."

The pony he asked was a little dishevelled at his appearance and put on a awkward smile. She told him the date then walk away in a rather creeped manner.

"I've gone back 40 years, mom and dad moved to Canterlot last year, at least that's one worry out of the way." He breathed a sigh of relief then his ears perked up. He had lost the mare. He gave himself a reminded to kick himself at a later opportunity.

He decided that he was in no state to find her let alone confront and convince her to give him the crystal, he limped to a hospital, being sure to look at almost everypony he passed.

The nurse was less than happy about the fact that he didn't have an explanation for a bullet wound.

He had nowhere to stay so made a point of searching for the ivory mare with the purple curls. His search was long and made even longer by his lack of knowledge of the town. His foreleg throbbed under the clean white bandages, he had removed his wrist strap and was carrying it as inconspicuously as he could, in his saddle bags that he had... 'Acquired'.

Copper knew getting the crystal back would be a tricky situation, he doubted that the mare would hoof it over willingly. It was a beautiful thing, the only of its kind, the rarest of things. O

Since he had been given it he had grown fond of it, not just as part of an experiment.

It not only hurt his pride that he had lost it but it hurt his heart. He shook his head violently , in truth causing him to become a little dizzy.

I can't believe I lost it, why did I run from the leapers. Damn it! I hope Di is okay... "What am I doing," he blurted out loudly, surprising anypony in earshot and further. "This place is small enough to find her, everypony knows everypony." He realized his ranting was being watched by a good dozen of ponies. There is no point asking anyone here, they a probably think I'm crazy. He shrugged to himself. All this walking should ease out my leg, probably.

He had been in this time for over four hours and he hadn't close to finding the crystal thief. The walking had helped for all of thirty minutes then they just got tired. The type of tired that ran through bone as well as muscle. Eventually he just sat down. He hadn't even noticed there was a bench until it was underneath him.

Copper held his eyes shut, safe from the suns hot light, and rubbed his forehead and covered his hoof in a good sheen of sweat. His chest was rising and falling in a long rhythm. He sat there listening to the sound of the world and it was a while before he realized what he was hearing. His ears perked up as he turned to find the sound. A humming, the same tune as before, the one the mare was humming. It was coming Fri m a shop, a boutique.

Copper peered carefully through the window. There she was. And there was his crystal, just sitting on a pile like it was any other.

It infuriated him, clenching his teeth. He moved around to the front door and he took a deep breath.

He pushed the door open and there was a jingle of a bell.

"I sorry dear, I'm not working on anything until tomorrow." Rarity turned and stopped as her and Copper's eyes met.

"Your w-working now," Copper stuttered and pointed to the fabric laid over a mannequin. He stepped closer.

Rarity stepped forward, "yes... Yes I suppose I am." Her normally confident voice quivery and weak.

They stepped closer to each other. Gradually their chests were almost touching.

There was a long silence then, "Rarity?" A voice with a crack at the end rang from upstairs. The couple pulled apart clearing there throats. "Rarity, my music box has stopped working, I need you to fix it for me." The white filly jolted to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, her green eyes shining with hidden curiosity. Her carousel music box floating in a pastel green glow. "Um... Hi?" She spoke, slightly uncertain of the strange stallion. "who's this?" She asked.

"Oh this is... Ah..."

"Copper," he spoke in a cool voice.

"Yes, this is Copper," Rarity looked at him and a smile tugged the corner of her mouth.

SweetieBelle looked back to her sister, "Rarity, I really need you to fix this, its going to be my continution to the club house." Another voice crack.

Rarity shook her head, "i think you mean contribution and I'm sorry Sweetie, you'll just have to take it the clock maker and ask her to repair it." She gave an apologetic smile.

Copper watched as the filly frowned at her sister, "There's no need to take I to take it to a clockmaker," he grinned at the filly. "they'd probably charge you a good ten bits for it anyway." He winked and pulled the carousel in the green glow, looking at it from all angles, closing one eye and peering across it.

He looked down at the filly whose eyes were fixed on him. "Do you have a tool box?" He was surprised when she nodded and ran of back upstairs, running back down with her horn spluttering sparks as she strained to hold up the metal box. "Thankyou." He started to take the music box apart. Dusting of every piece before putting it all back together. He let SweetieBelle wind it up and watched her face gleam with joy as the cheerful chiming danced through the room.

SweetieBelle jumped towards Copper, wrapping her forelegs around his neck, Copper was more than surprised and didn't quite know what to do. "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!"

Copper mouth twitched with an awkward smile. "You're welcome."

Rarity smiled, how cute. I must say though, I don't recognize him. " so mister Copper what brings you here, to PonyVille?"

Copper's body stiffened, "I'm just visiting, looking for someone." He then realized something, "I actually should go, I have to find somewhere to stay and I haven't got much money."

SweetieBelle looked to Copper then to Rarity and back again. Before grinning, "you can stay here!" She beamed.

Rarity was as speechless as Copper. "SweetieBelle!" She finally blurted out.

"You can stay in the room beside Rarity's," she turned to her sister before she could protest and gave her biggest pouty eyes, "please Rarity." She sniffled and pulled out her lower lip.

Rarity had no intention of refusing such a kind, good looking stallion I to her home, "fine," she turned to Copper, "would you do me the honor of staying for the duration of your stay?"

" I would be honoured miss Rarity," This will make getting the crystal back easier. But I can say she is one of the most beautiful mares he has ever seen.

SweetieBelle grinned as her eyes drifted from one pony to the other. I've seen how Rarity looks at her countless stallion but the way she looked at him, it is very different.

~~~~~~~~

SweetieBelle had left for her parental home and Rarity had led him up the stairs to his new room.

She showed him where the bed sheets were kept.It was a bear room. Just a simple double bed and a dresser. A deep purple carpet and drapes that hung elegantly over the large circular window.

"You will have to use the bathroom at the other end end of the hallway bit you don't have to worry about running into me, my room has an ensuite," she looked around the room checking for any imperfections.

Copper smiled weakly, "you really don't have to do this, we have just met."

The ivory mare was surprised by what he said but simply smiled, "of corse I do." She trotted away and Copper couldn't help but watch. "Come down when you are ready dear." She called from the lower level.

He made his way into the room, what am I doing here? I'm supposed to get the crystal and leave and now... And now. I cannot be in love with someone from the past, it could alter everything I know... Everything that should happen. he shook his head, besides love does not belong in the heart of a scientist.

He pulled his goggles from his head, and brought his saddle bags to the side of the bed. Taking a deep sigh he rubbed his right leg, trying to soothe the tenderness around his wound. It hadn't bled through but it was close. He took the opportunity to kick himself... Twice.

~~~~~~~~~

Rarity tried to focus on her work, her deep sapphire eyes flicking up to the staircase. She knew for a fact she didn't know him, and she definitely knew SweetieBelle had never met him so why did she invite him into her home.

There is no denying he has a certain charm about him, a strange charm. She turned away and continued with her work, lifting a pinning the fabric where it pleases her. A dress of shining gems.

She looked to the pile of gems and lifted the short crystal towards her face, "you are far to beautiful to go to the highest bidder, I will keep you for myself. I may be the element of generosity but I am allowed something's for myself." She mused and placed the gem in a draw at the corner of the room.

She gave a nod of approval.and trotted back to the new forming dress. She would sell the dress to the highest bidder and knowing her high clientele  they would pay a pretty penny for a full jewel dress. Rarity normally worked until she was either hungry or tired. But today she couldn't focus, she didn't know what was wrong, her eyes would dart up to the staircase every few seconds. What is wrong with you Rarity? You have never acted like this before. She furrowed her brow and moved her face closer to the needle and thread, trying to force Copper from her mind. Eventually she threw the needle and thread onto the floor and made a rather ugly sound from the back of her throat. "Hopeless." She screeched. She friend to regain her composure but to no avail. The mare stoned from the house, not bothering to take her sunhat, slamming the door behind her. A walk will clear my mind, I'm positive.

Copper watched from the top of the stairs as she left the building. A small grin spread across his light light chocolate face, his emerald eyes gleaming. He padded as quietly as he could, down the stairs. He walked past the mannequin, his eyes lingered, that *is** very impressive.* He stood above the piled  gems, shuffling them about, lifting a few with his aura. He stopped and let out a cry of what could have been pain.

"Why does the world hate me?" He whimpered bowing his head and kicking a few of the gems. "Why was the last thing I said to Dinky you forgive me if I don't come back." he stuck his tongue out like a child, "it was a insensitive thing to say to her. I really hope she is alright." He thought of his sisters face, her soft gold eyes and mane, her pale violet coat. " My dear sister..." He let a heavy sigh leave his mouth in a huff of hot breath.

"This is getting me nowhere. If its not in here then its safe to assume she is keeping it, I might make the most of my time here." He lifted his head. "This isn't sooo bad," he spoke trying to reassure himself.

"I should do something to thank her." He whispered while wondering into the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~

The walk had pleased Rarity, she had visited the town hall, adjusting the banners and ornaments that lived there, then she redid them and redid them again. It cleared her mind perfectly. She walked through the doorway of her rich him and sniffed.

What in Equestria in that divine smell? She sniffed again and trotted through to the kitchen. On the table there was a steaming plate of vegetable stew, potato dumplings and wat seemed to be steam vegetables. There was a small note beside it, just a small thankyou for inviting me into your home. Rarity smiled and looked around the kitchen, spotless. She moved towards the window and watched the sun set behind the distant mountains. "thankyou."

From upstairs Copper watched the sunset, it was something him and his father did often. It saddened him to think of the fact that is was the same sky they had bonded over.

That moment the two pinks thought fondly of each other. For one who has every stallion throwing themselves at her and a scientist who had always been to busy to notice any mare, for them each to find somepony who makes their hearts leap whenever they looked at each other.... It is truly the rates of things.