Dear Dinky Hooves

by Jade Ring

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Drama, Original Character, Dinky Hooves, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Colgate, Doctor Whooves
Length: 15135

A story of adventure, loss, triumph, sacrifice, and above all other things love. A love that transcends time and creates something truly wonderful for a special pair of ponies and their special little foal.

On one fateful Hearth's Warming morning, young Dinky Hooves finds herself in possession of a pair of letters that reveal the true nature of her origins.

The story held in those letters is one of swash-buckling adventure, terrible loss, grim triumph, and desperate sacrifices. It is, above all other things, a story of a love that transcends time itself and creates something very special for a very special pair of ponies...

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Cover art by the always incredible Swirling Line.

Published 2016-03-14 17:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-03-14 17:10:02 UTC

The Lost Letters

From 'Let it Snow: Epilogue- Another Morning Glory'

Derpy and Dinky Hooves raced each other downstairs to find three gifts beneath the tree. They each had a gift from Santa Hooves, but the other, the largest, had no name on it's vibrant blue paper.

Before they opened it, Dinky relayed the message from the night before.

As expected, the words (and who they had come from) brought tears to her wall-eyes. Not bad ones, but good ones.

“Four years, eight months, two weeks, five days.”

Together they opened the mystery gift. And what was inside?

Well, that's between them.

Until Now.

For all of you who have chosen to accompany me on this journey,
then, now, and forever,
this is for you.

Yours is truly the love that transcends time.

-Jade Ring
March 12, 2016

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Dinky Hooves had always been the curious sort. She had a natural inquisitiveness about her, a natural drive that pushed her to explore and discover. Her mother would proudly tell anypony that would listen that one day the name Dinky Hooves would be mentioned in the same breath as the great explorers like Mareco Polo, Manegellan, and Coates. She, Derpy Hooves would brag, would be the first pony to walk in the sunken city Sirenia, home of the legendary Seaponies. Perhaps she would even be the first pony to explore the depths of the night sky, the first to break free of Equestria's atmosphere.

Impressive hopes for a filly barely into her double digits.

Dinky knew she was smart. She knew she was much smarter than the majority of her classmates, which was why she'd been moved ahead into Miss Cheerilee's class already. She wasn't sure she liked it. She missed Miss Sunbeam and her friends. As much as she loved having bigger books to read now, she wasn't sure if it was such a fair trade to lose longer recesses.

Or naps.

She really missed naps.

And still she wasn't done moving. Already she had heard the whispers, the ones that said that she was soon to be sent off to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns as soon as a spot opened up. Now there was a transition she was apprehensive about. Princess Celestia's school was in Canterlot. That meant having to move there for much of the year.

And if she did that, then who would watch out for her mommy?

The lilac unicorn adjusted her glasses as she examined the latest object to become the focus of her innate curiosity; the enormous box that Santa Hooves had left beneath the tree. The gift that had been within had already been spirited away by her mother for and placed on the mantle of the fireplace. All that remained was the box; five feet tall, three feet wide, the wrapping a peculiar shade of blue, and the trim the snowiest of whites.

Dinky's horn sparked spontaneously as she felt the magic pulse from inside the box's dark interior once again.

She swallowed (her throat was quite dry) and took another step towards the box. The pulse happened again, stronger this time. Her filly instincts screamed at her to flee, to bolt upstairs and hide in her secret fort under her bed. But her curiosity was stronger. It encouraged her to examine the stimuli further. It reminded her to sniff the air (traces of ozone), to rotate her ears like radar (a low pulse in the air), and to light the very tip of her horn (to cast light upon the darkness.)

The tip of her horn lit with the smallest dot of golden energy.

The pulse happened.

Dinky's fur stood on end as pure magic unlike any she'd ever felt washed through her very being. It flowed from the box to her horn and washed over every cell in her body. Her joints were suddenly loose and she fell to a prone position. She gazed in dazed wonder at the box... and suddenly she knew what to do.

She grasped the pulsing magic with her own and pulled.

The box tilted forward, and for an instant Dinky was terrified that it would come toppling down on top of her. Instead, something inside the box came loose and floated out towards her. It danced in the air, held aloft in her golden magic.

Dinky's jaw dropped as she realized she was actually levitating something with her magic. She focused and the object in question came closer. She rotated it and examined it.

A letter. A rather heavy letter in a simple white envelope. A letter with her name written on the front in...

...in Uncle Doc's mouth-writing.

"Dinky?"

Dinky Hooves snatched the letter in her mouth and bolted past her mother who was coming down the stairs.

Derpy watched her precious daughter run up the way she'd just come with mild amusement. What on earth could her little muffin have found that would cause her to run to her room so quickly? A worried look crossed her face.

She was about to read it.

Derpy gulped in a manner not unlike her daughter and made her way resolutely for the kitchen, pausing only to put the object she'd gone to fetch from her room on the mantle. She had literally just placed the letter on her daughter's bed and had hoped that Dinky would not read it until later.

"Gonna need some comfort muffins." She muttered to herself as she started gathering the ingredients.

Dinky was about to read it.

Dinky was about to know.

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Dinky considered herself a critical thinker. She prided herself on solving puzzles and sorting through various problems. She liked to figure things out.

There were two letters in front of her.

She knew where one had come from; she'd found it in the box downstairs. It was clearly from Uncle Doc.

The other was the mystery. It had been lying on her bed when she'd arrived. The labored scrawl on the front was clearly her mother's work.

But why had her mommy written her a letter?

What was the significance of finding two letters addressed to her in such a short space of time?

And, of course, the most pressing question of all; which one should she read first?

Dinky again lit her horn and reached out with her newfound levitation abilities. The two envelopes opened to her power and poured forth their contents; identical stacks of paper, absolutely covered in writing.

She cut her eyes back and forth between the two letters. Where should she begin?

She looked to Uncle Doc's considerably larger stack of papers.

Well, she had found that one first.

She arranged the two letters side by side, pulled her favorite stuffed animal Sid the Squid close to her, and began to read...

Dear Dinky Hooves,

If you're reading this, it means that you've managed to pass my little magic examination. I knew you would pass with flying colors! I had a friend enchant that box with a bit of homing magic. You see, that pulse you were...

Ah, well. You probably don't care about that, do you? You're wondering why your good old Uncle Doc hid a letter in a rather large box on Hearth's Warming morning. Well, my reasoning is simple.

My little muffin, I have a story to tell you. Just like old times.

You've always loved my stories. Some of my fondest memories are just of your face while your mother tucked you in while I enthralled you with the fabled escapades of Donkey Hote and Gallopver. Do you remember how cross your mother was with me when I read to you from 'the Hoof's End Horror?' She told me you were too young for Sugar Cane, but even then I knew you could handle things above your usual age group.

That's how I know you'll be able to handle what I've written for you here. It's a very adult story, and 'adult' not in the way your classmates at school would hide under their desks and giggle about.

This is a story with swash-buckling adventure, vicious monsters, tough choices, and nail-biting escapes. There are heroes and villains, gains and losses, and somewhat of a happy ending, I hope.

Above all things, my dear Dinky, this is a story about love. A love that transcends time itself and created something very, very special.

So, where do we begin? I find it's always best to start at the beginning, and our little story begins over one thousand years ago. Princess Luna had fallen and become the wicked Nightmare Moon. She and her sister had just finished their incredible battle, and the Princess of the Night had just been rather forcefully promoted to Mare in the Moon status.

All that remained was the clean-up. That's where your old Uncle Doc comes in.

It was a Tuesday...

Time Turner yawned as he pulled his favorite pocket watch from his vest for the dozenth time. He was just starting to examine it when his ears caught the unmistakable sound of galloping hooves. Sure enough, a midnight black stallion came bolting around the corner. In his panicked state, he didn't see Turner until was almost too late. He skidded to a halt, his horn pointing dangerously at the stallion that stood in his path.

"You're two seconds late. Blasted timeline variables..." Turner muttered at he returned his watch to it's pocket. "I was getting bored."

"You... you aren't trying to arrest me?" The stallion stammered, panting heavily. The thin layer of frothy sweat on his coat betrayed how long he'd been running.

"Do I look like a guard to you?" Turner stretched his joints and shook off his exhaustion as best he could. "Look, could we get on with this? Two seconds may not seem like much, but they mean extra paperwork and I haven't even had lunch yet."

The stallion blinked slowly. "Are you a crazy pony?"

"Absolutely. But that's neither here nor there." Turner rolled his hoof in a dismissive fashion. "Simply cast the Time Spell and let's be off."

"Time... Spell?"

Turner sighed heavily. "Colgate said you weren't dumb. She said you were Princess Luna's personal student."

"I am." He caught himself. "I was." He pointed his horn at Turner again. "But I had nothing to do with her fall, no matter what Celestia says."

Turner ignored the horn and gestured at the stallion's cutie mark; a stylized hourglass. "Most ponies have their own cutie marks, right? No two are the same?" He gestured at his own hindquarters. "Explain this to me."

The stallion nervously looked past Turner and could not stop the shocked widening of his eyes when he saw the now smirking pony's mark; an identical hourglass. "How...?"

His question was cut off by the shouts of pursuing Royal Guards.

"Look, this is going to sound hilarious coming from me, but we don't have much time. Let me save you the trouble; your name is Nevermore. According to this particular timeline's history, this is the moment where you finally achieve your true destiny and escape with me. All you have to do is cast the Time Spell."

Nevermore's eyes rolled with panic as the hoofsteps of his pursuers drew closer. "You're not making any sense! I've never even heard of any Time Spell! You seem to know about it. Why don't you cast it?"

Time Turner raised an eyebrow... and flexed his wings.

"Right. Pegasus. Of course." Nevermore muttered.

"Think of this as your initiation. Colgate sent me back, now you've got to get us out. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise?"

"Well, according to the Chronologicon this timeline is about to become quite unpleasant thanks to a mysterious figure who calls herself the Phoenix Queen. Would you like to test her hospitality?"

Nevermore spared one last look backwards then forced himself to relax. "If it gets me out of here, I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."

Time Turner smiled warmly and put a hoof on Nevermore's shoulder. "You already know, don't you?"

And just like that, Nevermore did. "But... but how?"

"I'm not from this timeline originally. When I touched you, our personal timelines crossed. To avoid a paradox, this timeline expanded your mind just enough to absorb the knowledge of some future version of yourself. You now know what he, which is to say you, knows. Including..."

"The Time Spell." Nevermore whispered, already weaving the necessary magics together. "And the recipe from something called 'Sun-Berry Surprise.'"

"Oh good. That means Dream Weaver's wife made snacks. Splendid."

The Royal Guards came around the corner just in time to see a dome of pulsating energy obscure what appeared to be two ponies. The air was filled with the smell of lightning and a low, grinding noise flooded the air. There was a brilliant flash of light...

...and Nevermore face-planted on a cold marble floor.

"Didn't quite stick the landing, did he?" A female voice asked.

"Don't be so hard on him, Colgate. We weren't all ballerinas in school."

Nevermore carefully lifted himself and stared at the ponies in front of him.

He was in an enormous chamber carved from pure marble. Torches and candles lit the walls providing ample light with which to see. There was a unicorn stallion of mystical mint with a childish gleam in his eyes. Beside him stood a mare of candy pink with a red mane that was cut into a bob. A tray of home-baked goods floated in her magic. Beside her was what appeared to be her mirror image, but his height and jaw structure revealed him to be a stallion. He examined his wings absentmindedly.

Time Turner was standing beside a turquoise, teenage unicorn mare. She grinned at him beneath a mop of two toned mane. Her teeth glittered with braces.

Standing by himself was an enormous stallion who towered over every other occupant in the room. His black and white fur made him appear to be wearing a suit. He watched Nevermore with cold eyes the same color as his thinning gray mane.

"Nevermore, meet the team." Time Turner gestured at the mare beside him. "This is Colgate. Now that you're here, she's no longer the newbie..."

"Yes!" Colgate whispered with a hoof thrust.

"...but she's still our youngest by a country mile."

"Boo!" The thrust was retracted.

"The daft looking chap over there is Dream Weaver and the lovely mare beside him with the soon to be empty tray of goodies is his wife Tock. The surly git beside her is her twin brother Tick. Because he's a blood-sucker, you see."

"Up yours, Turner."

"Lovely. And the gent in the back is known simply as the Tall Pony; our lord, master, and all around boss."

"Charmed." The Tall Pony intoned in a deep, brassy baritone.

Nevermore looked at the pegasus who had saved him from certain imprisonment. "And you?"

"The name's Time Turner. And we..." He swept his hoof around the room and for the first time Nevermore noticed that they all had the exact same hourglass cutie mark. "We are the Guild of Time Defense."

Tock floated over a cookie. "Hungry?"

For the first time, Nevermore smiled. "Starving."

I can practically hear the cogs whirring in that brilliant little mind of yours. Who are all these ponies? What is the Guild of Time Defense?

What does any of this have to do with me?

Well, a bit of a history lesson. You see, thousands of years ago there was a brilliant unicorn scholar named All-Is-Well. He was part of the Saddle Arabian line of unicorns, most of whom have sadly died out in this day and age. In those days, the Saddle Arabian capital city of Jannah was a bastion of knowledge and technology. It's fair to say they were centuries ahead of Equestria.

I took a date there once to watch the construction of the Great Library. She wasn't impressed.

Anyway, back to All-Is-Well. Old Ally was obsessed with time. His studies into the chronological arts eventually led to his most astonishing creation; the Time Advancement/Reversal Distribution Isotopic Singularity Spell, or the 'Time' Spell for short. Using the spell, All-Is-Well was able to breach the walls of time itself and it was there that he made his greatest discovery.

The Timelines.

Forgive me, I tend to get a bit misty at this point.

You see, All-Is-Well was the first pony to discover that Multiverse Theory, the idea that every decision made by a pony creates an alternate timeline, was absolutely true. He found that there were an infinite number of these timelines. Some had only subtle differences while others were as different as night and day. He found that some timelines were so similar that they would actually coalesce and become one at certain points in history.

He also discovered, unfortunately, that he was not alone.

All-Is-Well was not the only version of himself to make the decision to use the Time Spell. His doppelganger from a much darker timeline, a stallion called Ne'er-Do-Well, also cast the spell and saw the devastation he could wreak across the timelines. Naturally, All-Is-Well tried to fight his lesser half but the two found they were evenly matched.

So All-Is-Well got some help.

He traveled to various timelines and found the very best versions of himself and, working together, they forced Ne'er-Do-Well all the way to the very focal point of the timelines; the Nexus of Reality itself. Ne'er-Do-Well was defeated and imprisoned in his own timeline but the various versions of All-Is-Well knew it was only a matter of time (ha ha) before some other dark force rose and attempted to damage time and space.

And thus the Guild was born.

One hundred of the purest, bravest, and most intelligent versions of All-Is-Well plunged themselves into the Nexus of Reality and allowed their magic to flow into billions of timelines. The magic spread across the very fabric or reality and imbued itself into the life forces of ponies across almost every timeline imaginable. These ponies were destined from the moment of their birth to walk between the timelines and defend them against all who would seek to unbalance them. These chosen few were marked by the sign of an hourglass emblazoned on their flanks.

And so it went on for thousands of years, both forwards and backwards. The science and logistics of it are really quite fascinating, but it's very in depth, timey-wi...

Dinky stifled a yawn and flipped a few pages forward. Just as she expected, it was full of Uncle Doc's rambling attempts at explaining his time travel magic.

Bo-ring.

Dinky moved her attention to the other letter, the one full of familiar writing.

Dear Dinky Hooves,

I've never been much of a writer. My eyes tend to start hurting if I focus on any one point for too long and my jaw gets sore super easily. I thought about getting one of my friends to write this, but if there was ever anything you needed to find out from me and me alone, then it's this.

Dinky... I'm going to tell you about your father.

I know every time you've asked in the past I've shut you down or given you a vague half answer. That was because it's not a very happy story and I didn't want to burden you with it. But you're getting older and I figured that maybe now was the right time to lay it all out for you.

Oh Dinky... your daddy would have loved you very much. You would've made him so proud.

I suppose I should start when we first met. It was a lovely spring day and I was having my usual brunch with your Auntie Amethyst Star. I don't really recall what we were talking about. It must not have been that important...

"Derpy, you've got that look on your face."

"What look?"

Amethyst Star plucked out the cherry from her glass and tossed it into her mouth. "Like you want to drown yourself in your milkshake."

Derpy narrowed her eyes at her step-sister and made a point of swallowing the entire chocolate milkshake in a single, epic suck through her straw. "Still worried?"

"Nope. Just waiting."

"Waiting for whaAAAAAAAH!" Derpy clutched her head and face-planted on the table as the brain-freeze hit her like a runaway freight train.

Amethyst chuckled. "Maybe that'll clear your head of that idiot Noteworthy."

The pain in her head now a dull ache, Derpy huffed into the table cloth. "Please forgive me if I'm a little put out that my colt-friend of the past eight months just broke up with me."

Amethyst sighed and signaled for the check. "Rose and I have been telling you for months that he wasn't good for you."

"I know..."

"I mean, we all saw how he treated you. It's like you're the only one who couldn't see it."

One of Derpy's eyes focused on her.

"...In a manner of speaking."

Derpy let out a breath as she pulled herself up and rested her head in her hooves. "I really thought he was the one, Star." She sniffled. "I thought it was only right that I looked past his faults since... since he was the only one who looked past mine."

The tone in her step-sister's voice broke Amethyst's heart. She quickly paid the waiter, circled the table, and hugged the gray Pegasus close. "Derpy, that's exactly why he wasn't the one for you. He saw your faults as faults." She turned Derpy's face and looked into her wall-eyes. "The right stallion is going to see that your faults are just part of who you are."

Derpy smiled. "You think so?"

"Has your big sister ever lied to you?"

"You once told me that if I told Mom and Dad about you sneaking out with Bulk Biceps then a monster would come of the of Everfree Forest and eat me."

The two sisters laughed and embraced. They said their good-byes and headed off on their separate ways.

Derpy flapped her wings and lifted off into the warm spring air. She inhaled and enjoyed the comforting heat in the air and the smell of the flowers on the ground. Maybe Amethyst was right. Maybe she hadn't found the right stallion yet.

Maybe the right stal-

"OUCH!"

"AH!"

Derpy collided with a wall of muscle, fur, and feathers. The two ponies plummeted to the ground and were only saved from grievous injury by a bubble of magic hastily cast by a dark furred unicorn. The bubble set the pair on the ground and flickered out of existence.

Derpy stood on unsteady hooves and grinned dopily. "Sorry. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Don't be silly, my dear." The response came in a smooth Trottingham accent. "I was in my own little world, instructing my new student here."

Derpy turned her eyes to the voice's source and appraised the stallion. He was a pegasus with light brown fur and a mane in a smooth comb over that was darker than the rest of him. His eyes were not quite the same yellow as hers but almost gold, and they almost seemed to glitter as he adjusted his red bow tie.

He was staring at her.

Derpy instinctively frowned. "It's not very polite to stare, y'know."

"Forgive me." the stallion did not look away. "It's just..."

"Just what?" She asked, the edge in her voice betraying how often she'd had this exact conversation.

"It's just that I've never seen something so remarkable."

Since her fillyhood, Derpy had heard a great many things said about her eyes. Funny. Embarrassing. Uncomfortable. Unpleasant to look at.

They'd never been called remarkable before.

"Why would you call them that?"

"From what I can see, you're able to see in both directions simultaneously but can also focus on a single point. Your optical nerves must be simply extraordinary. Tell me; can you see in the dark?"

Derpy failed to stifle a giggle at the stallion's almost childish enthusiasm. "Sometimes."

"Really?"

"No."

They both laughed until the sound of a throat clearing called their attention to the unicorn.

"Ah yes, forgive my rudeness. This fellow is my student, Nevermore."

Nevermore tilted his head in greeting. "Ma'am."

Derpy returned the nod before refocusing on the gentlepony she had just literally run into. "Student? Are you a teacher?"

"Sort of. I have a doctorate, if that counts for anything."

"You're a doctor? In what?"

"Chronological studies."

Nevermore snorted.

Derpy shook herself and flexed her wings. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I'm sorry about running into you back there."

"Must you go?" the stallion asked her. "I feel this conversation has only just begun. Perhaps we could continue it at a later juncture?"

"Like?" Derpy asked, already knowing the answer.

"Dinner, perhaps?"

Derpy grinned. "That's quite forward, Doctor."

He returned the grin. "It would at least allow me to make up for crashing into you."

"But I'm afraid I don't even know your name."

"On that score, my lady, we appear to be equally matched."

Derpy reached out a hoof. "Dinner sounds lovely. And my name is Derpy. Derpy Hooves."

He surprised her by not touching his hoof to hers in greeting but hooking it in his foreleg and bending down to plant a kiss upon it. He smiled up at her surprised reaction to the old tradition of chivalry. "A pleasure, Miss Hooves. They call me Time Turner."

And that's how we met.

Dinky's eyes widened. It had to be either a remarkable coincidence or Uncle Doc was...

No, that couldn't be right. Besides, Uncle Doc was an earth pony, not a pegasus.

She would just have to keep reading.

She switched her full attention back over to Uncle Doc's letter and flipped the pages until she was past all the scientific bits. Satisfied that he had returned to the narrative proper (and purposely skipping over his account of his first meeting with her mother) she continued to read.

Nevermore's training was entrusted to me by the Tall Pony. It was tradition for the complete instruction of the newest Guild member to be entrusted to the pony who brought them into the Guild in the first place. Colgate's instructor was the Tall Pony himself. They argued bitterly but she looked up to him almost as a father figure.

Tick and Tock had been entrusted to Dream Weaver. We all know how that turned out.

With there being infinite timelines, naturally there were multiple Guilds. Occasionally we'd run into each other, but more often than not each Guild was expected to safeguard and defend their own localized timelines. Luckily Colgate and Nevermore originated in the same timeline, so it was one less bit added to our usual workload.

For Nevermore's first field test, it was decided that he needed to learn that certain events in timelines must remain unaltered. These 'fixed points' can be incredibly important or mind-numbingly mundane. Nevermore's test would be to visit one of these fixed points and force himself to not interfere.

We had actually only stopped at the point where I met your mother so the lad could get a better handle on the Time Spell. Nevermore's actual test lay years prior...

Nevermore shook his head as the bubble of the Time Spell finally faded. The two were still in Ponyville, but if Nevermore's calculations were correct this time, it was actually nearly two decades before. "Didn't you say something about having code-names?"

Turner sighed and looked around wistfully, as though just realizing that the lovely mare he'd just met would be an infant at the moment. He nodded. "In order to avoid our own timelines from crossing over into others, it's often easier to use a code-name in case you run into somepony you haven't met yet or simply don't remember."

"And yours is 'Doctor Whooves.'"

"And Colgate's is 'Minuette.'"

Nevermore considered. "Do I need one?"

"Not really." The two stallions started walking. "Spoilers, but your existence is pretty much swept under the rug after your daring escape from the castle." Noting the disappointed look on his charge's face, Turner tapped his shoulder. "Lighten up, old boy. Those code names are really nothing to be jealous of. You could end up like the Tall Pony. Poor stallion is so old that he doesn't remember who he was before he joined the Guild."

"I'm just confused as to why you gave Miss Hooves your real name."

"Oh, well that's simple. This isn't my home timeline."

Nevermore nodded in understanding. "So if we were in your home timeline, then you wouldn't let anyone know your name wasn't Doctor Whooves."

"Precisely." Turner flapped his wings and glided slightly into the air. "Of course, that would require me knowing which timeline I originally came from."

Before Nevermore could ask the obvious follow-up question, his thoughts were broken by the terrified squealing of a foal.

The two stallions looked up sharply as a small wagon thundered down the street, sparks flying up from the spokes as it gained speed along the cobblestones of Ponyville's main road. The wagon was piled high with all manner of junk... atop which was a clearly panicking foal wrapped in cloth.

The wagon, baby and all, was moments away from impact with SugarCube Corner.

Nevermore reacted on instinct.

His magic seized the wagon's empty harness and yanked as hard as it could. The wagon skidded to a stop and the foal was launched into the air... where a magical cloud was waiting to catch it.

A small crowd had gathered, fully prepared to panic in the event of a crash. Now they applauded and cheered as Nevermore floated the foal over to him. Her light blue fur was streaked with tears and she continued to cry lustily even as Nevermore attempted to calm her. Her tiny wings beat against the swaddling cloth that held her. A minute tuft of golden mane bounced with every move she made.

"Does anypony know whose foal this is?" Nevermore demanded.

"She's mine."

The crowd parted as a lanky grey pegasus stumbled up to the dark unicorn. Nevermore's nose wrinkled at the smell of alcohol on the stallion's breath. "What in Luna's name happened?"

"Jus' put her down for a secon.'" He slurred. "Barkeep won't let her in with me and her Mama's off in Las Pegasus."

Nevermore desperately did not want to give the foal to the drunken pegasus, but the foal giggled and cooed at her father. She reached out for him, her earlier terror entirely forgotten. "Just... be more careful next time."

The stallion gave a limp-wristed salute and took the ecstatic foal in his foreleg. He flapped his wings and lifted off into the sky.

"Poor filly." A passing pink unicorn said to any within ear shot. "Weather Team Captain or not, Feather Duster's love of the bottle is going to end badly some day." She brushed a strand of purple mane out of her eyes and looked down at the snoozing unicorn foal in her carriage. "This could've been so much worse, dontchaknow?"

The white foal with a purple mane snored in a most un-ladylike moment.

The mare's words suddenly reminded Nevermore of why he and Turner had come to this point and time. He turned to find his new friend and teacher with a look of absolute disappointment on his face. "Turner, I..."

"You messed up, that's what you did." Time Turner turned with a huff. "Let's just hope you didn't mess up too bad."

It turns out that Nevermore messed up really badly.

As the Tall Pony angrily laid out for us upon our return, Nevermore's act of bravery had done the unfathomable; he had altered a fixed point in time. As it turns out, Feather Duster's foal's death was the incident that convinced him to stop his heavy drinking. He became a pillar of Ponyville society and happily retired after passing on his Captain-ship of the Ponyville Weather Team to one Rainbow Dash, noting in his tearful retirement speech how she was like the daughter he'd lost so many years ago.

Nevermore's interference led Feather Duster down a far darker path.

In this new offshoot timeline that Nevermore had accidentally created, Feather Duster's drinking only got worse. His filly was finally taken away from him and placed in a foster home. He was ultimately forced into an early retirement after an incident he caused led to the deaths of dozens of Ponyville's rabbits. Apparently not satisfied that he would be remembered as the worst resident in Ponyville history, he would then create a gargantuan storm that would also cause the deaths of two of Ponyville's most prominent and beloved citizens. Then, as a final cherry on top of this manure sundae, he would destroy the Cloudsdale Home for Wayward Pegasi, murder the place's founder, and ultimately be wiped from existence by, you guessed it, one Rainbow Dash.

Though I doubt even death could keep that old codger down.

A timeline created from an altered fixed point in time is unpredictable and shifting. Events that are seemingly set in stone in other timelines can occur early, later, or never at all. Fluctuations may echo for thousands of years forward... and in a few cases backwards.

The Tall Pony declared that since this was Nevermore's mess that he would have to personally keep an eye on the timeline he'd had a hoof in creating.

Which just meant a heavier workload for me...

Ah well. Luckily, I had a date to look forward to.

Dinky could not suppress a small smile. She figured now was as good a time as any to switch back to her mother's letter. She adjusted her position slightly and turned her attention fully to Derpy's familiar mouth-writing.

My first date with Time Turner didn't start off that great. He seemed distracted and when I pressed him to tell me why he would only babble something about tall ponies and foolish unicorns with bigger hearts than brains.

I was getting a little ticked off. Luckily for him, and for you if we're being honest, he noticed just in time. He apologized and I pressed him for more information about himself. He said he was part of something called the Guild of Equestrian Defense, a group of ponies dedicated to defending our land from all manner of monstrous creatures. It's the same group your Uncle Doc works with. Over dessert, we had a pleasant conversation about Ponyville's Postal Service. It was really kind of adorable when he admitted that he had always wanted to be a mail-pony like me. Normally I would have brushed that off as him just trying to get on my good side but he seemed very genuine.

That's what I miss most about your daddy. His enthusiasm. He loved life more than anypony I ever knew.

After dinner, he suggested a walk in the park...

"So my condition actually makes me the most valuable mail-mare in town, according to my boss." Derpy noted with some pride.

"Because you're able to read the address on the letter and see where you're going at the same time. Fascinating. Simply fascinating." Turner inhaled the night air. "Lovely evening."

"It really is."

"Couldn't have asked to spend it with better company."

Derpy stopped and stared at the ground. "Turner, there's something I need to tell you."

"Go ahead." There was the slightest hint of apprehension in his voice.

"I... I just got out of a really long relationship that didn't end on the happiest note."

He chuckled. "I think we've all been there."

She looked back at him. "I'm just saying that... well... I like you. I really do."

"I'm rapidly becoming quite fond of you myself."

"But I don't want to rush this. I mean, we just met, y'know? You're unlike anypony I've ever known and I really want to get to know you." She sighed. "I've got this weird feeling that this could be something wonderful, but I don't want to rush it." She offered a small smile. "Is that okay?"

Turner returned the smile and gave a slight dip of his head. "Miss Hooves, when it comes to getting to know you better, I have all the time in the world."

Something about those dancing eyes of his, how genuine his smile and words were, made Derpy's heart beat faster. "Can I show you something?"

"Of course." He tilted his head. "But I thought we were taking things slow."

She punched his shoulder as they both laughed. She spread her wings and pulled him into the air by his hoof. "Fly with me."

He spread his own wings and followed her.

They glided easily through the calm air around Ponyville and finally settled on the roof of Ponyville Town Hall. Derpy sighed in contentment as she gazed into the sky. One eye scanned the stars and various constellations while the other remained fixed on the full and shining moon. "Have you ever seen something so beautiful?"

"My dear Derpy," Turner began. "I have seen the very fabric that binds this world together. I have bear witness to the celebrations held to celebrate the end of tyrannical empires. I have been to the shores of a forgotten sea where the very sand that lines the floor consists of the purest gemstones you could imagine. None of them, not a single one, compares to the sight before me now."

She turned to ask him what forgotten sea he had been talking about... and noticed that it was she herself that he was staring at.

Derpy hoped the darkness and the gray of her coat hid her blush well enough.

She cleared her throat and looked back towards the sky. "When I was a filly, I would sneak out at night and come here to look at the stars. I'd tell myself stories about the ponies whose forms are held there forever. Finally, right before I went home to bed, I would make a wish to the Mare in the Moon." She settled both eyes on the dark shape on the moon's surface. "Do you think she ever heard any of them?"

"Well, that's debatable." Turner scratched his mane in concentration. "We've never really determined if Princess Luna was in a state of suspended animation during her exile or awake for the entire thing. I suppose you could ask her yourself in a few..."

Derpy raised an eyebrow. "Who's Princess Luna?"

"Why, the Mare in the Moon of course."

She offered him an incredulous look. "What are you talking about?"

Turner seemed to remember himself and laughed uneasily. "Never mind. Just something I read in a book once."

Derpy shook her head. "You're a strange one, Time Turner."

"You will find none who disagree with you."

They laughed together and then basked in the stillness of the night. Derpy found her gaze again drawn to the moon. A strange rush of childish nostalgia and foolish hope filled her and she closed her eyes.

She wished.

She heard Turner pull a bit closer to her. "Don't suppose you can tell me what you wished for?"

"Nope. If I do it won't come true." She let her head rest on the chestnut stallion's shoulder. He tensed for a moment and then relaxed. She felt the comforting weight of his own head as it settled on hers.

The two pegasi remained like that for quite a while, no other company but the cricket song in the air and the tandem beating of their own hearts.

I never told him, but my wish came true that night.

Dinky smiled at her mommy's happiness. For the first time, she wondered what it would be like when she found a special somepony. Some of her friends at school were already whispering about how cute some of the older colts, like Rumble, were starting to become.

Pfft. Rumble. Like she would ever find somepony like him cute.

That Featherweight on the other hoof...

She shook her head and turned to Uncle Doc's letter once again. She had to admit; she was curious about why this 'Nevermore' pony seemed so important. Uncle Doc had never mentioned him.

But then he'd never mentioned any of these 'Guild' ponies.

Her eyes narrowed in concentration, she kept reading.

As my relationship with Derpy continued, I was continually diverted from matters of the heart to matters of the mind. The Tall Pony decided that Nevermore's blunder could have been avoided if he'd started reading the Guild's guidelines before being promoted to field work.

Which meant that I was to be chained with him in the library. Metaphorically speaking, of course. TP wouldn't have actually chained us.

At least, I don't think he would have.

The Guild's Headquarters, what I affectionately refer to as the Sanctum, has a wonderfully stocked library filled with texts from across the timelines. A few months after I first met your mother, I decided that it was time to introduce Nevermore to the Chronologicon, the prize of our literary collection. The book contains every event in every timeline, past, present, and future. Prolonged exposure to the book can cause unbalancing of one's personal timeline, so a pony can typically only read it for an hour or so.

Seems reasonable until you realize that the Chronologicon is quite alive and will only let you read information it thinks you ought to read.

It would be the most confounding book in existence were it not for that abysmal best-seller about herding your mother and all the other mares went head over hooves for. The title escapes me at the moment. Something about fifty mares? I recall a dark color...

Anyway, we were hard at work...

"Turner, can you please get your head out of the clouds?"

"I'm sorry, what were we talking about?"

Alright, it was mostly Nevermore who was hard at work. Your mother and I's relationship had progressed naturally enough to the point where her lovely face filled my every waking thought...

Nevermore snorted in irritation as his teacher and best friend sighed blissfully as he playfully batted at a grey feather he'd produced from his collar. "And I thought I was in deep with Luna."

Turner turned a suspicious eye on his pupil. "Deep in what?"

"In love, nitwit." Nevermore passed a hoof over the worn leather cover of the Chronologicon. "You've been bitten by the love-bug so badly that I'm surprised you aren't buzzing around and singing like some stupid canary."

Time Turner rolled his eyes and returned the feather to his collar. He found he liked feeling it brushing against his neck throughout the day. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it would be hugely irresponsible for somepony like me to fall in love. I have enormous responsibilities. Besides, I'm not even part of her timeline. A lengthy relationship for us could cause irrevocable damage to her timeline, something you should know all about." He added at the end with a smirk.

Nevermore ignored the jab and lifted the cover of the book. "What if you're supposed to be part of her timeline? What if you're, I don't know, fated to be or something like that?"

Turner chuckled. "A charming notion, but one completely unfounded by everything we know about time travel." His good mood faded slightly. "I care about that mare too much to make her part of some experiment in destiny."

"So are you going to end it?"

Turner shrugged. "I suppose I'll have to. When things become too serious, I'll just have to remove myself. She'll be hurt, but it will be for the best in the end. We'll both move on."

Nevermore shook his head. "Love doesn't work that way, Doc. You can't just stop loving somepony." He looked down at the book as the letters before him began to glow. "Part of me still loves Luna, and I know that some part of her still loves me."

Both stallions jumped as the book emitted a blast of light and then settled on the table. Nevermore leaned forward to read what the book had chosen for him to read. "'Upon her return to Equestria, Princess Luna falls in love with Shining Armor, the brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Their forbidden union divides the kingdom, results in a son, and ultimately ends in...'" Nevermore bitterly snapped the book shut. "Shining Armor? Sounds like a royal doofus."

"You have no idea." Turner chuckled. "Listen, I'm not debating over whether or not there's no such thing as true love. But Nevermore, my friend and comrade, believe me when I tell you the one ultimate constant of the universe; nothing lasts forever." He unconsciously rubbed his neck against the feather. "All things one day bow to time."

Nevermore swallowed his disappointment and passed the Chronologicon to his teacher. "Why don't we see what the book says?"

Turner rolled his eyes and flipped the book's cover open. "The book's not just going to tell me if Derpy and I are destined to be together. Why would it tell me something I already know is impossible?"

Nevermore's eyes widened as the text again began to glow.

"In fact, I've dragged this poor filly along long enough as it is. Cast the Time Spell and I'll do what must be done this very instant." He closed his eyes, resigned to the inevitable. "I will do what I must... for the greater good."

The piercing light again filled the room and the two stallions cast their eyes upon the new text.

"'The Sons of Armor shall go to war, one born of loving light, the other of lusting dark. The Apple is the object of their desire, and over it shall Equestria be plunged into darkness for all time.' Such were the words of Clover the Clever's final prophecy.'" Turner read aloud. "'Frequently ignored by history books of the time are Clover's words preceding the prophecy.'" He felt a chill as he read the four simple words. "'A storm is coming.'"

When Turner did not continue reading, Nevermore picked up where he left off. "No one could have predicted at the time that the storm Clover spoke of was not the war itself, but a cataclysm that preceded it and paved the way for it; the Second Great Storm, which followed the Battle of Ponyville and was only stopped by the actions of the Harbinger.'"

Time Turner and Nevermore's eyes met. "The Harbinger?" Turner asked.

The book flashed again and there was new text to read. Nevermore leaned close to the pages. "'The Harbinger: an impossible being borne of two worlds that should never have crossed. Whether formed by the the briefest of unions or the deepest of loves, it matters not. The Harbinger, by it's very nature, has the ability to pass between worlds, universes, and timelines.'"

"A bridge between worlds. Remarkable. This 'Harbinger' could be the Guild's ultimate tool in maintaining order in the timelines."

Nevermore's eyes darkened as he again closed the book. "Or the greatest weapon in the history of the universe." He looked back at Turner. "But why did it reveal that information to you?"

Time Turner shrugged. "No idea, but if I had to wager a guess... it means that we need to keep a closer watch on your timeline for the time being."

Nevermore smirked. "So you won't have to break things up with Derpy, will you?"

Turner returned the look. "Well, we wouldn't want to end things prematurely, would we?"

And so it continued. Nevermore and I continued to monitor and record the events of the new timeline and I continued my relationship with the lovely Miss Hooves.

"Dinky?"

Her mother's calling voice from downstairs made the filly jump in surprise. "Yes?"

"I'm making muffins. What kind would you like?"

Dinky smiled at the thought of her mother's homemade muffins. "Banana nut, please."

"Okay."

Dinky waited until she heard the resumed clatter and clash of her mother moving around the kitchen before returning her attention to the letters. She asked herself where would be the best place to continue.

She settled on her mother's.

I kept things slow with Time Turner, to a fault anyway. He was the most patient stallion I ever knew. We'd been seeing each other for a few months when I finally asked if he'd be my special somepony.

Judging by his reaction, you'd have thought we had only started dating a few weeks prior.

And not to gross you out, but your daddy was a great kisser.

Derpy sighed contentedly as Time Turner continued his work on her primaries. The fire in the hearth crackled and popped as it chased away the cool autumn night air. She and Turner had decided to dine in that evening and they were currently cuddling on Derpy's plush rug while Turner gave her the best preening she could remember receiving. Preening was one of the most personal acts of personal grooming a pegasus had to deal with.

Letting another pony do it was nothing short of the most trusting thing a pony could do.

Turner finished running his mouth over the last feather and wrapped his forelegs around Derpy's body as he lay beside her. "Feel better?"

"Very much so." She kissed him and snuggled deeper into him. She cooed as his wings unfurled and wrapped around her in the most intimate of pegasi embraces.

He nuzzled her mane and breathed in the smell of it; muffins and parchment. "Derpy, there's something I need to tell you."

"What?"

"I don't say this lightly. You are the most wonderful, caring mare I've ever met. More than that, when I'm with you I feel something I've never really felt before."

"What's that?" She felt a drop of wetness on her head and looked up.

Another tear ran down Turner's face. "I feel like I'm home."

She wiped the tear from his face, pulled him close and kissed him. She poured everything into that kiss, every emotion she'd felt since she'd met that confounding, wonderful, irritating, amazing stallion. She pulled her lips away and pulled him tight against her. "I love you." She whispered in his ear.

"I love you too." He returned. "And I will always love you, my darling Derpy Hooves."

"Come here." She rolled and pulled him with her.

He offered no resistance.

The fire continued to burn, but the flames that danced there had nothing on the heat of passion that radiated from the pair on the rug.

Whoops. Sorry, think I got a little carried away there towards the end.

Dinky stuck out her tongue. "A little carried away?" Shaking off the thought of her mommy and this 'Time Turner' having kissy-time on the same rug that she did her homework on, she turned back to Uncle Doc's letter.

Now comes the hardest part of this story to tell you, my little Dinky Hooves.

You see, I could no longer ignore my feelings for your mother. I had a decision to make; remain with the Guild or remain with her.

Not really a hard decision at all.

It's just a shame I made that decision on the day that I died.

"You're leaving?"

Colgate's disbelieving and hurt tone of voice actually made Time Turner wince. "It's compl..."

"Of course he isn't leaving." The Tall Pony interrupted. "No member of the Guild has ever simply left. How can one leave their destined purpose?"

"Maybe this isn't my destined purpose." Turner looked up at his mentor with a glare. "Maybe I've found something that means more to me than anything I could ever do in the Guild?"

"Like what?" The ancient stallion asked with a sneer.

"Love."

Tock gasped. "Turner?"

Tick caught on immediately. "You've fallen for somepony in that timeline you and Nevermore are assigned to."

Turner nodded.

Colgate's jaw dropped. "But you can't do that! That's blatant interference of somepony's personal timeline!" She glared at him, feeling personally betrayed. "You taught me that."

"What if her personal timeline involves Turner?" Nevermore joined the conversation. "What if this is how things are supposed to play out?"

"Forgive me if I do not involve your thoughts on this subject into things." The Tall Pony growled dismissively.

Desperate to deescalate the situation, Turner looked to Dream Weaver. "Look at it this way, Weaver. You and Tock are from different timelines, right?"

Dream Weaver grabbed his wife's hoof and nodded.

"So your timelines were always meant to cross, weren't they? You were destined to be together. Or are you just together for convenience?"

"Nothing convenient about it." Dream Weaver looked into his wife's eyes. "The moment I recruited you and your brother I knew you were the one."

She smiled and nuzzled him.

"Do you two always have to do that around me?" Tick made an exaggerated sick face.

Dream Weaver ignored his brother-in-law and looked back at Turner. "Go with your heart, old boy."

"His heart should lie with the Guild!" Rarely did the Tall Pony raise his voice, so when he did so now all attention focused on him. "Have you forgotten who it was who found you you floating in the abyss? Who nursed you back to health? Who helped you to discover your true purpose?" The Tall Pony leaned down until his face was dead level with Turner's. "And this is how you intend to repay me... boy?"

Turner did not back down. "My decision is made."

The two stallions stood, tensed and ready. The air itself seemed to crackle with impending conflict...

"Stop!" Colgate pushed herself between the two and looked pleadingly at her friend. "Turner, please be sensible about this."

Turner affectionately stroked the teenager's mane. "Believe me, my mighty Minuette; this is the first sensible thing I've done in quite some time."

She pulled away from his touch and turned from him.

Before any further arguments could be mounted, a blaring alarm filled the Sanctum.

Nevermore held his hooves over his ears. "What in the name of Tartarus is that?!" He was forced to shout over the piercing sound.

"No idea!" Time Turner shouted back. He looked up at the Tall Pony, the only equine in the room not covering his ears. "Well?"

"It's something I'd hoped to never hear again." He didn't shout, but they could all hear the very air vibrating from the bass of his words. "A timeline is dying."

As if on cue, the eyes of every unicorn in the room lit with an inner magic. Their cutie marks began to emit a cool blue light as the familiar smell of ozone filled the air.

Time Turner watched as the dome of the Time Spell began to descend over them.

"What are they doing?" He demanded of the Tall Pony.

"It's a fail-safe. They've unconsciously cast the Time Spell together so we can all bear witness."

"Witness to what?" Tick asked, his worrying eyes focused on his sister.

"To the end, young Tick. To the very end."

A blinding light filled the room...

...and when it faded, chaos reigned.

As the Time Spell dissipated, the unicorn Guild members collapsed to the stone ground they now stood upon. Tick rushed over to help his sister and brother-in-law to their hooves while Turner did the same with Nevermore and Colgate.

The Tall Pony only stared. "By the Powers..." he muttered darkly.

As one, the Guild of Time Defense turned and saw what he was staring at.

War.

The Guild had materialized on a mountainous cliff over-looking an enormous field. All across the field, huge gatherings of ponies flung themselves at each other with cries of rage and fury. They were armored and vast in their numbers. The sky was filled with the whirring of wings as thousands of pegasi clashed in aerial combat high above the battlefield. They smashed into one other, slicing at their opponents with viciously curved weapons on their wrists that almost appeared to be talons.

The sky itself was a conundrum; half lay in blazing sunlight, the other is cold, uncaring moon-light.

"Look!" Colgate yelled and pointed a hoof towards the center of the battle.

In the dead center of the clashing armies was a clearing in which two burning balls of light bounced against one another in an obvious struggle. So shining was their glory that their actual forms could not be discerned from the distance that Guild saw them from.

"What timeline is this?" Turner asked, already knowing and dreading the answer.

"Mine." Nevermore's horrified whisper was clear even over the din of war, the clash of metal on metal and the pained screams of the wounded and dying.

Suddenly, a third ball of light was between the two larger ones. It pulsed with violet energy that washed across the field and knocked ponies off their hooves. Even at their safe distance, the Guild could feel the unholy power pressing down on them.

"I've never felt anything like that before." Tock whispered reverently, her foreleg wrapped tightly around her husband's. "You can almost taste the magic."

A single word echoed across the battlefield. It rose in strength and power and filled the air itself with an unbelievable sense of fury and despair.

"ENOUGH!"

The ball of purple light exploded outwards and in a matter of moments the two warring balls of light were gone.

The armies were gone a second later.

The sky next, and every pegasi in the air, even those who attempted to flee in vain.

The cliff beneath the Guild began to crumble. Nevermore, thinking quickly, surrounded the chunk of rock on which the group of horrified ponies stood in one of his magically self-sustaining bubbles. The mountain gave way beneath them, plummeting into a deep abyss that briefly flashed red and then became darker than words can describe.

There was darkness. There was silence.

That was all.

Colgate slumped and fell back on her hindquarters, her horn lit like the other unicorns to provide light in the darkness. "We just saw a timeline die, didn't we?"

"Indeed." If he was shaken, the Tall Pony was hiding it well. "Remember this day, my friends. Let it never leave your mind. As members of the Guild of Time Defense, we are required to bear witness to our failures."

Turner looked up from his shadow, dancing in the magical light. "That... that's what happened to me, isn't it? My timeline died and you found me."

"Yes." The Tall Pony's voice softened somewhat. "I have long forgotten the cause of your timeline's death, my young friend, but I was there to see it's end. And in the abyss that followed, I found you. Your cutie mark had saved you."

Dream Weaver looked up from comforting his wife. "So there might be survivors."

"Possible, but unlikely. Whatever ended this timeline was a being of immense power. The chances of..." he trailed off. "Does anypony else feel that?"

"I do." Tock whispered, her eyes wide. "There's something here with us. Something else survived."

"But how?" Tick looked around frantically. "What could have survived tha..." He stopped in mid-sentence.

"Tick, old boy? Are you alright?" Turner asked.

"Sh-sh-shadow..." Tick whispered.

All eyes fell on the ground.

Their shadows had drawn away from them and coalesced into an amorphous blob. It stretched and twisted itself... and then rose hideously into the air.

"In Luna's name!" Nevermore hissed. "What is that?!"

The thing, whatever it was, began to assume a roughly equine shape. Four black hooves touched the ground and a tail like smoke batted around as though in excitement. Two green orbs flashed for an instant where the eyes should have been.

The air was still... and then it attacked.

Dream Weaver screamed as the thing fell upon him. It's equine shape was lost in it's pounce and it again became a shapeless blob of shadow, a thing that simply could not be. Where it touched Dream Weaver, the unicorn simply ceased to exist.

"NO!" Tock screamed as she grabbed for her husband's foreleg.

It came off in her grasp.

Her resulting scream was cut off as the thing turned it's attention to her, absorbing her in the same way it had her beloved.

"TOCK!" Tick screamed in agony as his twin was devoured before his eyes. His wings flapped frantically and pulled him away from the thing that was rapidly growing with each pony it claimed.

Turner turned to Colgate and Nevermore. "Cast the Time Spell! Get us home now!"

The two remaining unicorns nodded frantically and began concentrating.

"Tick! TP! We have to keep it occupied!"

"And how do you suggest we do that?" the Tall Pony studied their adversary. "We obviously can't touch it."

Turner watched the thing as it finished feeding on Dream Weaver and Tock. He looked at it's form, how the beating of Tick's wings sent ripples through it...

"It's made of some kind of gas!" He declared. He began to beat his own wings. Sure enough the thing wavered as it was pushed back slightly.

The thing quivered as the air from the two pegasi's wings pushed against it. Small bits of it pushed against it's outer, un-knowbale membrane.

Turner realized what was happening too late. "Oh dear." His wings stopped. "It isn't bound by physical restrictions, is it?"

Three black tendrils lashed out at the three Guild members.

The Tall Pony grunted as he dodged his attacker. The offending appendage still brushed his flank and seared the flesh there with a horrible sizzling sound.

Tick was not so lucky. The tentacle wrapped around him and held fast. He shrieked, an unnaturally high sound, as he was pulled into the thing and met the same fate as his sister.

Turner flapped his wings and narrowly avoided the arm that reached for him. He felt the Time Spell activating and felt a momentary sense of grim triumph.

Then the air was squeezed out of him as a second arm, the one meant for the Tall Pony, wrapped around him and squeezed.

"TURNER!" Nevermore stopped casting the Time Spell and cast his magic outward. It grabbed his friend and pulled as hard as he could.

Sensing that it's prey was escaping, the thing squeezed even tighter.

Turner felt his bones breaking and tried to scream in agony. Blood poured from his eyes and mouth as the pressure only increased.

He looked at Nevermore with wide eyes and mentally begged him to let him go. To let him die.

"COLGATE!" The Tall Pony roared.

"I CAN'T CAST IT MYSELF!"

"WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T CAST THE SPELL RIGHT NOW!"

The teenage mare cried out as he horn began to burn red hot with the effort of her casting. The dome of the Time Spell finally began descending and the thing squealed in rage as the magic sliced right through the tendril that held Time Turner. Light filled the air, the smell of lightning was all around...

...they were back in the Sanctum.

Nevermore's magic encased the still writhing tentacle of shadow and yanked it away from Turner's ruined body. It hit the ground by his hooves and dissipated into a foul smelling fog before vanishing entirely.

"TURNER!" Colgate cried as she raced to his side. She cradled his broken body in her hooves. "You're gonna be okay. Just stay with us." She looked up at the Tall Pony with desperate eyes. "Help him!"

"There's too much damage." The great stallion muttered. "He's too far gone."

Turner's eyes rolled as he desperately tried to breath with his ruined lungs. "D...D...D..."

Colgate put her ear to his mouth.

Turner's eyes seemed to find what they were looking for on the distant ceiling of the Sanctum. "Derpy..."

He twitched once... and then was still.

Colgate finally let the tears come, not paying attention to the blood leaking onto her coat.

Nevermore simply stared, unable to process what had just happened.

The Tall Pony looked away.

The Guild of Time Defense mourned their loss over the cold, broken, and quite dead body of Time Turner, alias Doctor Whooves.

...

Oh, you don't really think I stayed dead, do you?

Colgate wiped the tears from her eyes as she noticed a light beginning to shine from what was left of Turner's cutie mark. "W-what...?"

The Tall Pony reached out and pushed her away. "Be careful!"

"What's happening?" Nevermore demanded to know as the light grew brighter. It began to envelop the rest of Turner's ruined body.

"It's not possible." The Tall Pony muttered. "He was too far gone."

"What's not possible?"

The smallest of smiles crossed Colgate's lips. "Watch."

Nevermore did watch. He watched the golden light wash over the body of his friend and mentor. He watched legs reform and skin stitch itself together. He watched the mane flare and the coat darken. He watched as the ruined remains of what had been wings shrank and vanished into the body proper.

The light finally faded, and the new chest rose as air filled new lungs.

Turner sat up and ripped off what was left of his bloodied red bow tie. He blinked with newly blue eyes.

He smiled a familiar smile of relief.

Nevermore's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "This isn't the first time this has happened, is it?"

In point of fact, it was the fourth time.

The Tall Pony and I often theorized that my prolonged exposure to the abyss after the death of my timeline had altered my biology somewhat. Somehow, when I received a grievous injury, my body is able to restore itself by drawing energy from the timelines themselves. The trade-off is that certain biological aspects often appear or disappear during the 'regeneration process,' as Colgate is fond of calling it. I've been a Pegasus twice and a unicorn once. My current form is actually the first time I've ever been an earth pony.

It was quite a shock to the system, as you can imagine.

There was also the little matter of my relationship with Derpy. The Tall Pony was insistent that I end things, since there was no way I could abandon the Guild in what was becoming their darkest hour.

In the end, I knew what I had to do.

Dinky's eyes widened in shock as the last pieces of the puzzle fell together. There it was, in black and white.

Uncle Doc was Time Turner.

Uncle Doc was her father.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Uncle Doc had always filled the role of father-figure, ever since she was a foal. He'd always been there for mommy and for her. He had always been there to read her bedtime stories and help her with her homework.

But now of course came the follow-up question; why had mommy never told her?

She pulled the other letter back over and resumed reading.

There was a day, my precious muffin, that was the best and worst of my life. I wish I didn't have to tell you about this, but I really have no choice. Eventually you'd ask and I would have to tell you, so we might as well get it out in the open now.

Let me tell you about the day your daddy died... and the day I met your Uncle Doc.

Derpy hummed happily as she made the last arrangements. The cider was chilled, the fruit plates were prepared...

The card was in the middle of everything, ready to be opened and read.

There was a knock on the door and she snatched the card into her wings, hiding it. She trotted brightly to the door and pulled it open. "I've got a surprise for..."

It wasn't the stallion she'd been expecting.

"Oh!" Derpy recovered quickly and smiled through her embarrassment. "Sorry. I thought you were somepony else."

"Understandable, I'm sure." The stallion's accent was familiar but carried a different tenor and tone. Derpy took him in. It was really no wonder she had mistaken him for Turner. His coat was only a shade or two darker and their shapes were practically identical. He even had the exact same cutie mark. "Am I correct in assuming that you are Miss Derpy Hooves?"

"Yes? And you're Mister...?"

"Doctor, actually. Doctor Whooves." He straightened his green tie. "Time Turner was my brother."

Derpy raised an eyebrow. "Turner never mentioned he had a brother."

"We were estranged. Hadn't talked in years. I only found out what had happened when I was told I would be taking his place in the Guild."

The stallion's use of 'was' and his mournful tone finally connected in Derpy's mind. "Where's Turner?"

The stallion's face fell. "I'm... sorry."

Derpy gasped as the realization struck her. "What happened? Is he alright?"

"Miss Hooves... there was an incident. A monster. He..." The stallion swallowed and forced himself to look into Derpy's eyes. "He's gone."

And for the first time in her life, Derpy truly knew how it felt to feel your heart break.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hooves. I'm sure my brother loved you very much. His co-workers said that he always spoke very highly of you..."

But Derpy wasn't listening. This was all wrong. This couldn't happen. Not to her. Not to Turner. This wasn't how this was supposed to go at all. She was dreaming. That explained everything. She was still asleep. She closed her eyes and forced them open again.

The stallion was still on her doorstep.

"No." She blinked again, faster this time. Nothing had changed. "No." Blink. Nothing. "No." She smacked her face with a hoof. Nothing changed. "No." She hit herself again. "No!" She began to pound at her face, tears openly falling from her eyes as they rolled wildly. "No. No. No. No. No. No. No! No! NO! NO! NO!"

The stallion reached out and grabbed her. She beat at him now, tried to chase away this specter of death and misfortune that had come into her life. He took her blows and held her until her strength was gone. She wailed into his coat, unable to process how broken she felt.

The card fell from her wing and fluttered to the ground. It landed and opened to reveal a photograph from the hospital. Two words were written in scrawled mouth-writing below it;

Congratulations...Daddy

I told Uncle Doc all about how I'd found out about you. He was a lot more shocked than I expected. Right then and there, he promised that he would help me provide for and take care of my and Turner's foal.

I lost your Daddy, but I got Uncle Doc.

Dinky reached under her glasses to rub away the gathering tears in her eyes. She quickly switched her attention back to her father's letter.

Derpy's foal...you, I mean... well, you changed everything.

I knew that I couldn't just abandon you. Of course, the damage had already been done. I had already told her the stallion she loved was dead. I resigned myself to the fact that I would simply have to love her from afar, to accept that my child would never know me as their father.

It would be a difficult burden to bear, but I would do it. For her. For both of you.

Now there only remained what to do about what we had seen at the end of Nevermore's timeline. We had no idea what that horrible beast had been. We didn't even know where to start looking.

Well, one of us did.

"TP! TURNER!"

The two earth ponies galloped down the hall of the Sanctum towards Nevermore's shouting. They found themselves approaching the library where a familiar light was blazing from within. They slid to a stop next to the dark stallion and stared at what he had been yelling about.

It was Colgate. The teenager's hooves were planted on the table, forcibly holding open the Chronologicon. Her pupils had gone ghostly white but still she stared at the pages even as they assaulted her with light. Her brace-clad teeth were gritted with the effort of what she was doing.

"Is she trying to force the book to reveal something?" Turner demanded.

Nevermore nodded. "She just said that she had to know what that thing was. She said this was the only way."

"Colgate!" The Tall Pony shouted. "The Chronologicon cannot be commanded!"

"I...have...to...try..." Her voice echoed with unfathomable eons.

"Colgate, it could erase you from time!" Turner shouted.

"What...killed...our...friends?" She forced out. "How...can...we...stop...it?"

The book's light flashed almost angrily and a blinding light filled the room. The stallions all covered their eyes and blinked rapidly when the light finally faded. The Chronologicon was again sealed. Colgate had been thrown against the wall. They rushed over to her but stopped just before they reached her.

"Great wickering stallions..." Turner muttered.

"Are you alright?" The Tall Pony asked, equally concerned by the changes to Colgate.

"I'm fine." Colgate gasped and touched a hoof to her throat in shock. Her voice was deeper. Older. She rubbed her perfect teeth with her tongue and found no trace of metal. She carefully stood and found herself eye-level with Turner and Nevermore. "What's happened to me?"

"You're all grown up." Nevermore answered in amazement.

Sure enough, the gangly teen had now become a fully grown adult mare. She looked at her new body. "What happened?"

"The Chronologicon advanced your personal timeline as penalty for trying to command it." The Tall Pony mused. "I hope your stupidity was not in vain."

She glared up at him, not as scared of him as she'd once been. "It wasn't."

"Then you know what that beast was?"

A look of sadness crossed her face. "No." A new determined looked took it's place. "But I know how we can stop it."

Colgate revealed that we could weaken the thing by purposely redirecting certain events in the timeline. Certain ponies would have to be removed only to be re-inserted down the road. Established events would have to be moved and in some cases simply undone.

Sadly, in one particular case, a pair of murders would have to take place.

If we monitored everything and did everything exactly as Colgate described, then the future would be changed. The timeline's death would be averted and the thing that had attacked us would remain trapped in a paradox. It was the only course of action. We all made a blood oath to see it done.

Nevermore, seeing the timeline as his responsibility, volunteered to do the unthinkable.

I elected to come with him.

"Just a little push." Time Turner peered around the corner at their targets. "Then gravity does the work for us."

"Poetic, isn't it?" Nevermore spat bitterly. "This all started because I stopped a carriage crash."

Turner looked at his friend sadly. "Remember what I told you about the greater good?" He checked his pocket-watch. "Just focus on what Colgate said; the child will be fine."

Nevermore poked his head from cover as well. The two stallions watched as a stallion in a straw hat, tropical shirt, and impeccable mustache helped a pink unicorn mare with a purple mane into a waiting taxi wagon. Another mare and a filly waved good-bye as the wagon started off down Ponyville's main street.

"...Whenever you're ready." Turner waved a hoof.

Nevermore looked upwards at another wagon left in a precarious position by it's vendor at the top of a nearby hill. The driver was off to the side getting a drink of water. The double-sized trailer was heavily loaded with fresh cut lumber and creaked with the weight that it carried.

"It will be quick." Turner reminded him. "Just do it."

Nevermore gulped and seized the wagon's brake in his magic. With one last look at the taxi and it's happy passengers, he yanked it as hard as he could and felt it snap free.

The wagon immediately started rolling backwards, already gaining hideous speed.

The two stallions ducked back behind the wall. Turner looked at his watch. His calculations had been perfect. He counted down the seconds until impact...

An enormous crash filled the air. There was a scream that was thankfully cut short.

Turner snapped his watch closed. "It's done."

Nevermore forced himself to look one last time. The street was filled with the debris that had been the two wagons. The taxi driver pulled himself away from the wreck, his back left leg bent at a gruesome angle.

A straw hat floated down and landed on the wreckage.

Nevermore watched as the unicorn mare and filly came running towards the gathering crowd. The filly shrieked in horror and tried to run towards the wreck. The mare's magic caught her and pulled her away. She pulled the filly close and forced her to look away even as she herself began to scream. "What have I done?" Nevermore whispered in agony.

"What you had to do." Turner did not look. "Let's go home."

Nevermore and I were granted brief leaves of absence. I don't know where Nevermore went, but when I saw him again he was practically a new stallion.

As for me, I spent the next few months in real time. I watched over your mother for her entire pregnancy. I took care of her as best I could while doing my best to keep my distance. Celestia help me, I fell in love with her all over again.

And then I was there the day you were born.

Not missing a beat, Dinky flashed her eyes back to her mother's letter.

I couldn't have asked for a better support system than what I got from your Uncle Doc and Auntie Amethyst. They took wonderful care of me for months. Uncle Doc even set up a clock shop in town so he could live nearby in case I needed anything.

It took me a long time to get over losing your daddy. I still remember waking up and realizing that he wouldn't be bringing me breakfast in bed or waiting for me downstairs with his nose buried in a book and just starting to cry my eyes out.

Your Uncle Doc would come and lay down with me and hold me until it stopped.

Those crying spells didn't last forever. Eventually the pain of loss began to fade. I realized that Turner wouldn't have wanted me to mourn him forever.

And then you were born.

It was at that moment, lying in the hospital bed with little you cradled in my forelegs, exhausted and sore, and so incredibly, wonderfully happy, that I looked up and saw Uncle Doc looking down at us, me and you, with such pride and joy in his eyes. He looked as worn out as I did. His mane was a mess and his tie was all undone. His smile was as wide and wonderful as your daddy's had been.

Dinky, that's when I fell in love with your Uncle Doc.

Derpy kissed the little unicorn on her blonde mane and relished in the tiny yawn she gave as she snoozed. "I love you, little one."

Whooves looked to the doctor. "Are you sure she's healthy? She's a little... I don't know, dinky, isn't she?"

The earth pony doctor shook his head and chuckled. "She's a foal, sir. They're supposed to be that small. I assure you she's perfectly healthy."

"What was that you called her again?" Derpy asked.

Whooves looked back at her. "Uh, dinky. It means overly small."

Derpy looked at her little foal and kissed her tiny hooves. "Perfect. My perfect little Dinky Hooves."

"And we have a name." The doctor spun. "I have some paperwork to do. If you'll excuse me." The two ponies paid him no mind as he left, closing the door behind him.

Derpy looked up at Whooves. "Do you want to hold her?"

Whooves, a pony who had once stared down a Windigo over a discarded cheese danish, suddenly looked more terrified than he'd ever been before. He carefully took the little bundle in a foreleg and looked down at her. "She's so light." He whispered.

Derpy yawned. "She'll grow."

Whooves smiled. "I don't think I want her to." Derpy did not respond, and the stallion looked over to see her snoring lightly, completely worn out from the delivery. He shook his head and looked back at the foal as she stirred and wiggled in his grasp. Her tiny eyes opened, their golden gleam immediately familiar. Her little face scrunched, threatening tears. "No no no. Don't cry, little one."

And then Time Turner, alias Doctor Whooves, who had lived and lost several lives, did something he had never done in any of his lifetimes.

He began to sing a lullaby.

"Dear Dinky Hooves, what to say to you? You have my eyes, you have your mother's name. When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart."

Dinky stopped trying to cry and peered at the huge pony holding her. For the first time, she was filled with curiosity at the melody coming from the stallion's mouth.

"I'm dedicating every day to you." He grimaced. "Domestic life was never quite my style..."

Dinky's mouth broke into a wide grin, her very first.

Turner nearly melted at the sight. Tears gathered in his eyes. "When you smile... you knock me out, I fall apart. And I thought I was so smart..." His voice cracked at the end as she yawned and again closed her eyes. He held her close and kissed her little horn. "I love you, Dinky." He whispered. "Daddy loves you."

What a perfect ending that would be, wouldn't it? Heartwarming, genuinely tear-inducing...

But, sadly, there's one part left to tell. Really, it's the most important bit of the lot.

It's why I went away.

"This is ridiculous! You waited until now to tell me this?!" Turner snorted angrily and actually felt like charging the angry blue unicorn in front of him.

"How was I supposed to know that you were still seeing her?" Colgate shouted back. "You told us you'd ended it a long time ago!"

Nevermore sat on his haunches beside the Tall Pony as they watched the growing conflict. He looked up at the rapidly balding stallion. "You feeling alright?"

"I'm a bit under the weather." He rumbled in a dismissive way.

"And how's the, uh..." Nevermore pointed as the spot where the shadow-thing had touched the Tall Pony's flank. His cutie-mark had been severely burned and no longer resembled an hourglass. The scar tissue was a simple crossing of lines over a circle now.

"Fine." The tone in the Tall Pony's voice made it clear that he was done conversing.

Nevermore shrugged and looked back at the bickering ponies.

"You swore an oath that you would do whatever it took to stop this timeline from dying. Has that changed?"

"Of course not..."

"Then BUCK UP and be a stallion." Colgate tried to calm herself. "It isn't forever, Turner. You just have to remove yourself from the timeline until the passing of the Great Storm."

"Can't you at least tell me why?" Turner begged. "What is so important that I can't see her? Or Dinky, for that matter."

"I can't tell you."

"WHY?!"

"BECAUSE I DON'T TRUST YOU!" Colgate stomped up to him and put her face against his. "BECAUSE I HAVEN'T TRUSTED YOU SINCE THE DAY YOU VIOLATED EVERY CODE WE STAND FOR FOR A SELFISH REASON! YOU WILL STAY AWAY FROM DERPY HOOVES AND HER FILLY UNTIL THE PASSING OF THE STORM, OR SO HELP ME I WILL HAVE THE TALL PONY CAST YOU BACK INTO THE ABYSS WHERE HE FOUND YOU!"

The Tall Pony chuckled darkly.

Colgate sat back, panting. "Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Turner gave a mocking salute.

Colgate shook her head. "Where did you last leave her?"

"Sweet Apple Acres. The wedding of Macintosh and Fluttershy Apple."

Colgate nodded. "Go see her one last time and tell her you'll be gone for awhile. Tell her that it's because of me, if that makes you feel any better. Tell her it's my fault that she won't be seeing you." She looked at him with steely seriousness. "Tell her a storm is coming."

Turner considered a response but ultimately decided against it. He just turned and walked away.

Colgate looked over at the stallions on the wall. "Nevermore. Go with him. Make sure he comes back when he's supposed to."

Nevermore nodded. "You want me to bring this one?" He gestured at the teenage stallion at his side, the Guild's newest recruit.

"The Tall Pony can keep an eye on him."

The young stallion Pipsqueak looked with wide eyes at the glaring behemoth staring down at him. He looked at his teacher. "Can we possibly not do that?"

Nevermore laughed and trotted after Turner, catching up with him farther down the hall. "You gonna be okay?"

"Suppose I'll have to be. Our new Fearless Leader hasn't given me much of a choice, has she?"

Nevermore put a foreleg around his friend and former mentor's shoulders. "Listen, I get it. Really I do. You love Derpy and you feel responsible for the foal. It's not right how that rebound of hers just up and ran off like that."

Turner chuckled nervously. "Nope. Not right at all."

"Derpy will understand."

Turner sighed. "I know she will." He looked at Nevermore with eyes filled to the brim with sadness. "But will Dinky?"

Nevermore shrugged. "She's a kid. Just write her a story or something."

Turner froze. "Yes. A story." He grinned. "Or a letter."

"I hate when you get that look, Turner."

"Shut up and cast the spell. I have to tell the love of my lives that I won't be seeing her for quite some time."

Nevermore smiled as his horn lit. "You know what they say, Doc. Good things come to those who wait."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Or the present.

The future?

Bloody timelines...

I know you told your mother the message you got from Santa Hooves last night. I know you'll be counting down the days until I see you again.

I also know that you might ruin everything by spilling the beans to your mother about who I really am.

That's why I had Nevermore make a little addition to that first magical test you took this morning. That ambient magic is still in your horn, and when you finish this letter it will zap that magnificent little brain of yours and lock every last trace of my true identity away until I reveal myself to your mother. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but the very fabric of reality is on the line.

Your daddy loves you, Dinky Hooves, and I love your mommy too. And I promise you that when I come home, I will give you the family you've both always deserved.

Home. Such a funny word. To most ponies, it means a house or a hometown.

For me, it's the two girls that I love more than anything in all the timelines. You, Dinky, are my home.

All my love,

Dad

A sudden blast of magic flooded Dinky's horn. She felt every hair on her coat stand on end as though a current of electricity was passing through her. It flowed through her, from horn to flank to the tip of her tail.

It vanished just as fast as it had come. She shook her head to clear her vision and looked down at her bed.

Her mother's letter lay before her. There was nothing else there.

A strange sense of unease nagged at her, but she ignored it and leaned down to finish the letter.

Dinky, I loved your daddy very much. I know you would have too. He brought light into my life when I needed it most and he gave me the greatest gift I could have asked for; you.

That said, I think I might love Uncle Doc just as much, if not more, and I can't wait for him to come back to us.

Until then, it's just you and me in our cozy little home.

I hope that's enough for you.

It's always been more than enough for me.

I love you,

Mommy

Dinky took off her glasses and pressed her face against the letter.

She began to weep.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The smell of fresh baked muffins filled the house. Derpy breathed in the heavenly aroma and set the pan on the counter to cool. She remembered to turn off the oven and started for the living room, ready to call Dinky down.

Her daughter was standing at the top of the stairs, trails of tears still running down her face.

"Dinky?"

"It's enough, Mommy." Dinky sniffled. "Please don't ever worry about that."

Derpy felt her own tears pooling.

The little unicorn ran down the stairs and into her mother's nurturing embrace. They cried together. Derpy kissed her little one's cheeks. "I love you, Dinky Hooves."

"I love you too, Mommy."

Derpy sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Comfort muffin?"

Dinky smiled and giggled. "Yes please."

With practiced ease, Derpy tossed her daughter onto her back and they headed back to the kitchen. They had a lot to talk about.

Neither noticed the new stylized hourglass emblazoned on Dinky's flanks.

On the mantle above the fireplace sat the mystery gift that had been placed in the big blue box; a large hourglass inlaid with all manner of shining jewels and gems of all colors. The enchanted sand fell slowly, counting not seconds or minutes but entire years. Derpy had fetched a framed picture of herself, Dinky, and Whooves and placed it next to the countdown clock.

Engraved into the base was a single word. It was a word that meant the world to the two ponies who had received the hourglass as a gift.

That simple word truly was the greatest gift imaginable.

Soon

Author's Note

I was putting the finishing touches on this story when I suffered my first heart attack, hence the late arrival. The doctors have assured me that I'm fine, but I'm due to see a cardiologist in the next two weeks, just in case.

While this is technically the fourth of the 'Dear' stories, I have elected to submit it as a stand-alone story. For those who wish to delve deeper into this little world I've created, I will direct you to the 'Dear Sweetie Belle' Continuity TV Tropes page managed by the impeccable Yami Vizzini and my own stories page.

Time is a precious thing my friends.

Relish every moment.

Until next time.

-Jade Ring
March 14, 2016