Time travelling with Spike and Doctor Whoovesby therandomone95Chapters1. Forgotten artifacts2. Doctor Whooves3. A rough start1. Forgotten artifactsTime travelling with Spike and Doctor Whooves. Chapter 1: Forgotten artifacts. It was a good day in Ponyville, the pegasi had scheduled a sunny day with only some clouds, and a beautiful light wind to make it even better, everypony was in their vacation routine, the fillies and colts just went out to play with their skateboards and play videogames all day, and the mares were cleaning their houses like the day before, everything was nice and quiet, like always. But Miss Rarity wasn't on her house, she was out on a gem hunt like she does every certain amount of time, although, this time she had some company: Twilight and Spike, the local princess and her number one assistant, Twilight Sparkle was helping her friend because she wanted to learn more about gems and their rarities, while Spike only did this to be closer to the mare of his dreams. They were walking to the gem fields with all types of preventions to the Diamond dogs. Everypony was quiet until Rarity spoke: "Why, Twilight, I still can't think of a way to thank you for helping me and Spikey-Wikey with the gem hunt, darling." "It's no trouble, Rarity, really, I want to learn more about gems, after all, the more you know, the more you grow, right?" Replied Twilight. "Of course, Spike, are you having much trouble with the cart, dear?" Asked Rarity to the little dragon, who was starting to fall behind the unicorns. "Of course not! I'm a tough dragon!" Said Spike sweating, pulling three empty carts, one for each claw and tail he had. Eventually, they made it there without any obstacles, and so they began to search gems, each time Twilight found one she asked Rarity about its uses and features, and for every hour that passed without Spike eating a single gem, he earned a rare item and a kiss from Rarity, he was already wondering the color of the frame each kiss was going to have, besides, Spike was carrying a backpack to get as many gems as possible without the two mares looking. They started searching for gems as soon as they settled down, the two unicorns were searching gems on the surface while Spike was doing his part on the insides of a cavern, with his backpack and a little torch to illuminate his path. The morning and some of the afternoon passed quickly, and the two unicorns had two carts full of gems, while the dragon was digging deeper with his claws inside a the cave, he already searched this part the last summer, what was the point of searching this point, then? Spike then decided to search in another direction, he made another path right next to the part he had already dug, then, the wall in fron of him seemed to crumble, Spike knocked on the wall afterwards. "Hmm, it looks like it's hollow on the other side." He said to himself, appareantly there was nothing on the other side, Spike punched the wall and looked, it was very dark, so he breathed a little bit of fire and pulled out his extinguished torch, when the light was on, Spike looked into the darkness, and he couldn't believe what he saw. "Hey, guys! Look what I found!" Shouted Spike, the two ponies quickly ran to his side to see what was going on. "Spike, why did you scream like that? You scared me..." Said Twilight panting, then she saw what Spike meant and was left speechless, Twilight and Rarity lit up their horns to see better, and they saw something... unusual to say the least. Inside the cavern was some kind of dusty bubble with a door in its right side and two chairs inside, not to mention it had lots of technology inside as well, like a little screen in front of the two seats and a button pad between the two chairs, and something big above them, like a technological circle which had a tube conected to it, and the tube then split into two and connected the two chairs with the rest of the bubble. Spike approached the strange object with curiosity, and when he came closer he noticed a piece of paper that was stuck with the door of the bubble, Spike pulled out the paper and handed it to Twilight, who was slowly approaching the bubble with Rarity behind her. "Wow, I've been hunting for gems in this cavern since I came to Ponyville, and I've never seen this before!" Said Rarity. "What's this, Spike?" Twilight saw the paper and levitated it in front of her face, when it was close enough to the light, she began to read it out loud: Hello. My name does not matter anymore, but you should know that I created this time machine, I wish I hadn't done it. This thing has done nothing more than cause trouble, that's why I left it here, where nopony would ever look for it. But if you're reading this then it must mean that you found it, please hear my words: DESTROY IT. Do not use it, your own existence is at risk, please destroy this stupid machine once and for all, finish what I couldn't finish myself. And if you hear my words, DO NOT LET THE MACHINE OUT OF HERE, DESTROY IT HERE, if this cursed artifact fell in the wrong hooves then the Universe itself could be in danger. I hope you hear me out. Goodbye. "That's it, there are no names, direction or anything else, I wonder who they are." Said Twilight, still in surprise at the artifact in front of her. "This is a TIME MACHINE?! Come on, Twilight, please let us bring it to the castle!" Pleaded Spike. "Spike, darling, from what I've read on my novels I can tell that travelling through time could be very dangerous, if this even is a time machine." Said Rarity while getting closer to Spike. "Spike, normally I would be excited to try this, but I've learned the same lesson two times already, one with myself and the other with Starlight: Do not meddle with time, besides, we don't know anything about this, this machine seems way too simple to be able to travel through time, I'm not even sure this thing is what this pony says it is." Said Twilight, putting her hoof on Spike's shoulder. "Awww, but Twilight..." Attempted Spike. "Sorry but that's a no, come on, I need your help to cover this thing back up." Replied Twilight "What? You're not going to destroy it like this pony says?" Asked Spike. "Of course not, if that thing really is a time machine then I will be skeptical about everything related to it, and what if something explodes if we try to destroy it? Would we be trapped in here until somepony else rescues us? And what if that thing can't be destroyed? Or what if it accidentally brings down the entire tunnel? I must..." Twilight began to imagine so many things that Spike had to stop her by covering her mouth with his claw. "Okay, I get it, you don't have to imagine all that just because I asked something stupid." Said Spike afterwards, Twilight smiled and the three of them started to go back out of the cavern. Once out, Twilight and Rarity used their magic to levitate the dirt and rocks from around them and form another wall covering the entrance to the "Time machine", once it was finished, Spike realized something. "Hey, didn't you say you needed my help?" Protested Spike. Twilight looked around feeling nervous, then she grabbed a shiny gem and levitated it in front of Spike, who just drooled at the sight. "Come on, Spike, catch it." Then Twilight tossed the gem out of the cavern, with Spike following suit. Rarity chuckled for a moment at this, when she stopped giggling to herself, she looked at Twilight. "Should we go home now, darling?" Asked Rarity. "Yes, I got all the information I wanted, and I think you got plenty of gems." Replied Twilight. Outside, Spike was chewing on the gem, he was still curious about the thing he found inside, and he was planning to do something to find out more about the strange device. 'Hmm, I wonder if that was a real time machine, but I guess Twilight and Rarity won't let me find out, maybe I can do something on my own to know it, what if I go out tonight and I discover how it works? That might be a good idea.' "Spike! Grab a cart and pack your stuff! Because we are going home now!" Shouted Twilight from the entrance of the cave. Spike did as just as he was asked to do. 'No, it might not work.' Spike thought while grabbing his stuff. 'Even if I get away and get here tonight I don't know anything about time travelling, or technology for that matter.' "Spike, are you thinking of something?" Said Twilight to his left, Spike was so focused that he didn't hear her come closer. "Ah, yes, I'm just thinking of something I heard the other day about my favorite team of Hoofball." Twilight didn't know anything about Hoofball, so she just shrugged it off. 'Oh, I know! Maybe later I can go visit Doctor Whooves! He is great with this technology-timey-wabby-weird stuff, maybe he can help me figure out if this thing really works! Besides, he is a scientist, right? I bet he won't deny the chance of travelling through time, if this thing really can do it.' Spike thought while he pulled his cart full of gems, tonight was going to be a blast. If everything went well, it would be a blast from the past ;) Author's Note SURPRISE!!! I bet none of you were expecting this, and to be honest, neither did I. So, this story will be complicated at some points, because some of you will have differences in your way of imagining the space-time continuity and paradoxes, but there's no need to rub your ideas in the comments, this is MY version of the timelines, and YOU have your own concept, I hope we can all get along. Also, the story will have some romance in the future, be prepared for your bags to puke because the shipping is getting ready to start! And last: There will be ponified versions of some time periods in history, and some of them can be pretty bad, so don't be so harsh on me Anyways, I hope you enjoy this little project of mine! I'll see ya in the next chapter, goodbye! 2. Doctor WhoovesChapter 2. Doctor Whooves. It was night time in Ponyville, everything was quiet, the fillies and colts had stopped playing outside and had already gone to bed, the mares had sung a lullaby to their kids and the stallions were getting some sleep after a hard day of work, and the princess of friendship did as well, she had a long afternoon after the gem hunt with Rarity and Spike, she had to write down a whole book on everything she learned, only to read it again and again later on the week with no specific reason. But her assistant wasn't sleeping, in fact, he was grabbing a backpack and some things for tonight, if everything went according to the plan, then the night would last longer than he was expecting, the dragon grabbed a camera for everything he would see, a little bag full of gems he had 'borrowed forever' from the gem hunt and some other stuff; a lantern, a box of matches, a pair of batteries, a little notebook, a pen and a little audio recorder. Spike was ready now, he was going to go to the doctor's home and ask him to join him into this time travel thing, but there were a lot of things that could go wrong, the doctor could say no, the strange bubble inside the cavern could not be a time machine after all, or maybe they could get into huge troubles with the time paradoxes if the old bunch of metal turns out to be a time machine. Spike didn't give much importance to those possibilities and just wanted to go and find out if that thing worked; with caution, Spike took steps as quietly as he could, to not wake up the alicorn by accident, Spike stepped out of the castle, and closed the doors behind him with care. Once he was out, Spike grabbed his backpack, breathed silently and ran towards the house of the doctor, as he ran through Ponyville he looked at everything around him, the buildings, the ponies inside, the flowers, he wondered if everything would look the same in the future or in the past, and the attitude of everypony? He was also wondering if that would change as well. Eventually he arrived at his house, Spike knocked silently on the door, there was no response, he knocked normally on the door once more, there was no answer this time either, Spike knocked ten times as hard, almost bringing the entire house down. "Oh my Ponystein! Who's there, by science's sake?!" Replied an angry voice behind the door. "It's Spike, the assistant of the princess of friendship!" Replied the dragon. "Ugh, is it about that debt for her watch? I said I would return it on Sunday!" Said the male voice inside the house. "No! I'm here for a different reason!" "Then why are you here in the middle of the night?!" "Because I need you to figure out how a machine works!" The voice behind the door stayed silent, as if he couldn't believe what he heard, then the locks on the doors began to unlock, then the door opened and Spike saw the imponent figure of a stallion with messy hair and cold eyes, probably because the dragon had awoken him in the middle of the night. "A machine?! You're here to know how a printor, a computer or a fax machine works?! Is that so important that you couldn't wait until tomorrow?!" Said Doctor Whooves with a sleepy yet menacing tone. "It's more than just any machine, this is a time machine we're talking about!" Replied Spike. The doctor looked surprised, he didn't know if this kid was serious, after a little moment of silence, the doctor waved his hoof at himself, motioning the dragon to go inside the house. When Spike was inside his house he looked around, the room was illuminated by one light bulb on the ceiling, and on the walls were photos of important scientists in pony history, the furniture of this guy was also interesting, there were lots of devices for all sorts of things, even the clock looked like a robot. "Tell me, is that 'time machine' you're talking about even real?" Said the doctor, sitting down on a couch. "Yes! I found it in a cave when I was in a gem hunt with my best friends!" Replied Spike. "What is a 'gem hunt'?" Asked the doctor. "Well, that doesn't matter, but when we found it we also found a note that said something about destroying the machine and..." "What?! Why would they want to destroy something like a time machine?!" Interrupted the doctor with surprise. "I don't know, but they seemed really serious with it." Replied Spike, shrugging. "Do you have that note?" Asked back the doctor. "Uh, no, we left it along with the time machine in the cave." Replied the dragon. "And why didn't you destroy it like that guy asked you to?" "We thought it would be dangerous, but did you really want us to destroy it? I thought that maybe you would be interested in travelling through time." Replied Spike, looking confused. "Oh, I would love nothing less in the world, it's been my dream since I was a foal, I wanted to visit the past to rectify some historical mistakes and myths, and I also wanted to travel to the future to see the evolution of pony kind, I even made a list of the places I would like to visit if I got the chance of doing it!" Replied the doctor, losing himself in his memories and imagination. Spike didn't say a word, he watched as the doctor lost himself in his own mind, in fact, he remembered Twilight being like this pony, he remembered Twilight wanting to reach the moon as a filly, he also remembered Twilight being horribly obsessed with books after she discovered Starswirl the bearded, which reminded him of the time Future Twilight supposedly came to warn everypony about a disaster. Spike watched the stallion, he was an earth pony, so he couldn't just do the spell for it, but this guy seemed like a guy that loved science, so he wondered if the doctor had tried building a time machine or asking a unicorn to take him with them to visit the past. "Did you try building a time machine?" Asked Spike, after some moments of silence. "Yes, I tried building a time machine with the ability of going everywhere in the universe, but it didn't end well after it's power source exploded and sent me to the hospital with a broken back leg." Replied the doctor, looking a little sheepish. "And why didn't you just ask a unicorn with the power to send you back to the past or the future to take you with them?" Asked Spike, remembering the time when Twilight did it. "For what I've heard, it takes a lot of magic to go back a month, do you have any idea of the power needed to travel back to the time when dinosaurs ruled the planet? I don't think even Princess Celestia has that power, besides, I don't get along very well with unicorns, some of them believe they can do anything just because they have magic and I want to prove cience is better than magic; mathematics and physics are the type of spells needed to learn how the world around us works, not some 'magical sparkles' that emerge from an extra limb." Replied the doctor with a lost stare, a cold stare for that matter. "Ooo-kay, changing the subject, would you help me with this machine?" Said Spike, snapping his fingers to bring the doctor back to reality. "Sure, we'll get going at first hour in the morning and..." "No! We have to go now!" Interrupted Spike. "What? What for?" "I can't leave tomorrow because... because I... umm... I'll get sent to the dragon lands to work there!" Said Spike, the doctor gave him a questioning look before shrugging. "Well, alright then, we'll leave in thirty minutes!" Proclaimed the doctor. "Thirty minutes?" Questioned Spike. "Yes, I always wanted to travel through time, I absolutely MUST pack some things if we're going to go to the past! Oh, and I must remember where I put my list!" Said the doctor before running inside his bedroom, looking for some stuff to bring with him. "Gosh, if I didn't need him to figure out how the thing works then I would've left alone. I'm begging he doesn't turn out to be just like Twilight." Spike knew that the doctor was going to be as excited as a kid in a candy store when he sees the machine, so Spike sat on a couch and waited for the doctor to come out, this will indeed be a long night after all, a night he wouldn't forget. 3. A rough startChapter 3. Their journey is just beginning! Now it was darker than before, Spike was on his way along with Doctor Whooves, who had stayed on his bedroom for more than thirty minutes packing everything for their journey, the doctor thought about everything, his bags looked like robots, and if they weren't, they sure looked extravagant. Spike was happy, he got the doctor to go with him and they were currently on their way to the cavern, Spike would finally know if that thing was a time machine and the doctor would get his chance to travel across time, but not everything was assured, they still had to know if the thing worked. "And how is the device?" Asked the doctor. "What?" Replied Spike. "Yes, how is it? is it small? is it big? Is it simple? What shape does it have? Is it like a whole station? Or is it just a device that you can perfectly put on your hoof? Maybe..." "Well, it's difficult!" Exclaimed Spike, preventing the doctor from making any more questions. "You'll see once we get there." "Okay, then." Replied the doctor, looking forward. Eventually they arrived, Spike noticed that the tunnel was still open, and the Diamond dogs would be asleep by now, so they wouldn't be a problem. The pair went to the tunnel, and they saw the wall made of rocks and dirt, it only took a few punches and bucks to take it down, it was even darker, Spike pulled out the lantern and entered the darkness with the doctor behind him. "You know, this reminds me of a dream I had, I was on a darkness similar to this one, only slightly more tense, and I saw a beautiful vision of myself being the pony I always wanted to be, but then again, I don't even know what it meant, mainly because I woke up afterwards." Commented the doctor. After a few steps, the doctor saw it in its glory, it appears that this kid wasn't kidding after all, before him, a transparent bubble with two seats was laying down, waiting to be used by someone; the doctor couldn't believe his eyes, he was in a state of shock, and even so, after a few moments of staring awkwardly at the machine, the doctor exploded with joy. "AAAAAAHHHH!!! I'M NOT DREAMING, RIGHT?! THIS IS REAL, RIGHT?! OH, LET ME TAKE SOME EVIDENCE FOR THE FUTURE!!" Just when the doctor finished shouting, he grabbed a camera from his bag and took a few photos of the device. "SHHHH!!! Doctor, there could be Diamond dogs nearby!" Said Spike, calming the doctor down. "I'm sorry, but I just can't wait to see how this marvelous machine works!" "Oh, so you're gonna go for it right now?" Asked Spike in surprise. "Of course! After all, the iron is hot for striking!" --------------------------------- One hour later... --------------------------------- "Well, I'm surprised the iron hasn't cooled down yet." Said Spike, sitting on a corner of the cavern with sleepy eyes. "Hey, these things take time, science is not a simple thing that you can go through in one hour, it takes more than that to completely understand devices like this one." Replied the doctor. "But how are you going to understand the machine if you've been looking at it from different angles this whole time?" Said Spike, pointing at the machine, the doctor looked sheepish after hearing that. "W-well, I'm trying not to meddle with it because it could be dangerous! Maybe this thing can malfunction and it can explode, and all this time will go to waste." "Uh-huh, look, here's my proposal: why don't we just lie down and rest and tomorrow we explore this thing with more light and a clear mind?" Suggested Spike. "Huh, I suppose I could get a little break, I DID wake up in the middle of the night because SOMEONE couldn't wait until tomorrow." Spike scratched the back of his head after hearing that. "It's settled then, we'll rest now and we will travel through time tomorrow!" "But it's all rocks and gems here, will we able to sleep in here?" Asked Spike, not sure on how to sleep on rocks. "Oh, don't worry about that, you see, I packed a pair of sleeping bags with the ability to change their size, one of my most recent inventions that I haven't shown to the world yet." "And why not? Why did you create those in the first place?" "Well, I figured that regular sleeping bags take a lot of space, so I made a special kind of sleeping bag that can change size with one button, I'd tell you how it works, but you don't seem like the kind of guy who would want or understand the part of the procedure that involves science." "I don't know if I should take that as an insult, but okay, and why didn't you show it to the world? I feel like that would've been a great idea." "Well, that's a personal point of view, maybe you think it's a great idea, but I think that it could just be another failure, just like every other thing I have created: The dig-o-matic? A total failure! The robo helper? I don't think I can even call it 'decent', The air-suspension system? A complete mess in my laboratory!" "Okay, but how many times have you tested them?" Asked Spike, now intrigued. "Well, about ten to a hundred times, why?" Replied the doctor, getting really frustrated. "Because I know that not everything you do in life will turn out successful at the first try, and maybe not even at the hundredth, you need to keep trying until you are satisfied with the result." Replied Spike. "Oh, this is very different, but I don't want to talk about it anymore! Let's just go to sleep and we'll be on our adventure tomorrow in the morning." "What? But..." "I said no more! Here, have your sleeping bag already!" Said the doctor, tossing Spike his sleeping bag, the doctor was right, the sleeping bags were really tiny, almost like little blue cubes with a red button on top of them, Spike pressed the button, and in a matter of seconds, the sleeping bag had expanded itself to the size of an adult pony! Which was good to Spike because it was much larger than his little basket and he had a ton of space to stretch and move, after a few seconds of surprise Spike jumped inside the bag and found himself a position to sleep. "Well anyway, good night, doctor!" Said Spike, inside the sleeping bag. "As to you too, my friend." Replied the doctor before wrapping himself in the sleeping bag. It was morning in the gem fields, Spike and the doctor were getting up to what seemed the journey of their lives, while Doctor Whooves woke up in a normal way, Spike didn't want to get up, mainly because he wasn't used to getting up early in the morning and because dragons were known for sleeping more than a pony, but it was no use because the doctor had put an alarm clock to wake them up just in case, the doctor woke up some minutes before the alarm activated itself, but Spike wasn't so lucky. 'Danger! Danger! Must wake up now! Danger! Danger!' The alarm was louder than any amount of yelling Twilight had ever created to wake him up, and it worked well. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! WHA-? WHY? HOW? WHEN?" Spike stuttered before looking at Doctor Whooves, who was sitting inside the machine. "Oh, I see you woke up, good morning! Now, would you be kind and turn the alarm off?" Said the doctor. Spike was dizzy, he had never woken up like that in his life, not even when Fluttershy had thrown a bucket of water on him, when Spike saw the clock, he went there to turn the dang thing off, when he saw the large red button on top of it, he punched it as hard as he could, and the alarm inmediately went off. "Doctor, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!?!" Complained Spike. "Sorry, but I figured that dragons slept more than ponies do, so I thought that maybe waking you up with this invention would be the best way to go, just in case you didn't wake up in time." Replied the doctor, calmly. "Ugh! I think you shouldn't show this to the world." Said Spike. "Now, now, there's no time to lose, come inside." Spike did just that with an unamused face. "Oh! But did you bring your sleeping bag? In case you didn't, the red button makes it smaller again." Spike grunted, after complaining a few seconds, he went there and he pressed the button, when the sleeping bag was a cube again, Spike grabbed it and packed it inside his backpack. And when Spike was coming back to the machine, both of them heard some noises coming from around them, some kind of growls and grunts. "What is that?" Asked Spike. "They must be Diamond dogs! I think my alarm clock awakened them too!" Replied the doctor. "Dude, that thing can wake up the dead if you put it on a graveyard." Replied Spike with an unamused expression on his face, the doctor copied his expression when Spike finished his phrase. "Just get inside and let's go before they capture us!" The doctor replied, then, they saw three shadows approach in fron of them. "Ooooohh, look what we have here, guys." Said the small Diamond dog. "Hey, isn't that the dragon we met before?" Replied the taller dog. "Well, we can make them OUR servants, and if they don't collaborate, then I think we can add them to the menu!" Finished the last Diamond dog, they approached the machine with smiles on their faces, enjoying themselves as they watched the fear on their faces. Once inside, Spike sat on the other seat of the machine, but he didn't know what to do, so he asked Doctor Whooves what to do. "Doctor, now what?! There they come! We're going to be dog food if we don't get out of here right now!" As Spike spoke, the dogs were already surrounding them, and they started to punch the bubble they were in. "Look at the number panel, just type any number on it, and then just press the green button below to go there!" Replied the doctor in a hurry. Spike didn't know what he was typing, but when he hit the green button below the number panel, everything went blank. The diamond dogs saw a bright light that came from inside the bubble, and they backed out a little bit to cover their eyes, when the light died down, they were surprised; the thing wasn't there anymore! "Oh, look at what you did!" Complained the small dog. "Me? what about YOU?" Replied the taller dog. "Ugh, would you shut up? Now we have to see what we can get for breakfast! By the way, who woke us up?" Finished the third dog, the other two shrugged before following their friend out of the cavern, such a shame they didn't look behind them, because they could've seen two figures behind them. "Whoah! Doctor, where are we?" Asked Spike, still dizzy after the bright light that knocked him out. The doctor was speechless, he observed the scenery around him, the giant trees, the place they were stuck in, the life forms, when the doctor pieced everything together, everything clicked. "My friend, I think this really is a time machine, because we are no longer in the outskirts of Ponyville, from the scenery that is all around us, the place we are sinking in and the interesting life forms from around here I can deduce something; we travelled back in time to... A mesozoic swamp!" Author's Note Well, here ya go, the first chapters of this thing I had in my mind! I hope you're looking forward to some of the future time periods and adventures this pair is going to have! I'll see you again in the next chapter, goodbye!
1. Forgotten artifactsTime travelling with Spike and Doctor Whooves. Chapter 1: Forgotten artifacts. It was a good day in Ponyville, the pegasi had scheduled a sunny day with only some clouds, and a beautiful light wind to make it even better, everypony was in their vacation routine, the fillies and colts just went out to play with their skateboards and play videogames all day, and the mares were cleaning their houses like the day before, everything was nice and quiet, like always. But Miss Rarity wasn't on her house, she was out on a gem hunt like she does every certain amount of time, although, this time she had some company: Twilight and Spike, the local princess and her number one assistant, Twilight Sparkle was helping her friend because she wanted to learn more about gems and their rarities, while Spike only did this to be closer to the mare of his dreams. They were walking to the gem fields with all types of preventions to the Diamond dogs. Everypony was quiet until Rarity spoke: "Why, Twilight, I still can't think of a way to thank you for helping me and Spikey-Wikey with the gem hunt, darling." "It's no trouble, Rarity, really, I want to learn more about gems, after all, the more you know, the more you grow, right?" Replied Twilight. "Of course, Spike, are you having much trouble with the cart, dear?" Asked Rarity to the little dragon, who was starting to fall behind the unicorns. "Of course not! I'm a tough dragon!" Said Spike sweating, pulling three empty carts, one for each claw and tail he had. Eventually, they made it there without any obstacles, and so they began to search gems, each time Twilight found one she asked Rarity about its uses and features, and for every hour that passed without Spike eating a single gem, he earned a rare item and a kiss from Rarity, he was already wondering the color of the frame each kiss was going to have, besides, Spike was carrying a backpack to get as many gems as possible without the two mares looking. They started searching for gems as soon as they settled down, the two unicorns were searching gems on the surface while Spike was doing his part on the insides of a cavern, with his backpack and a little torch to illuminate his path. The morning and some of the afternoon passed quickly, and the two unicorns had two carts full of gems, while the dragon was digging deeper with his claws inside a the cave, he already searched this part the last summer, what was the point of searching this point, then? Spike then decided to search in another direction, he made another path right next to the part he had already dug, then, the wall in fron of him seemed to crumble, Spike knocked on the wall afterwards. "Hmm, it looks like it's hollow on the other side." He said to himself, appareantly there was nothing on the other side, Spike punched the wall and looked, it was very dark, so he breathed a little bit of fire and pulled out his extinguished torch, when the light was on, Spike looked into the darkness, and he couldn't believe what he saw. "Hey, guys! Look what I found!" Shouted Spike, the two ponies quickly ran to his side to see what was going on. "Spike, why did you scream like that? You scared me..." Said Twilight panting, then she saw what Spike meant and was left speechless, Twilight and Rarity lit up their horns to see better, and they saw something... unusual to say the least. Inside the cavern was some kind of dusty bubble with a door in its right side and two chairs inside, not to mention it had lots of technology inside as well, like a little screen in front of the two seats and a button pad between the two chairs, and something big above them, like a technological circle which had a tube conected to it, and the tube then split into two and connected the two chairs with the rest of the bubble. Spike approached the strange object with curiosity, and when he came closer he noticed a piece of paper that was stuck with the door of the bubble, Spike pulled out the paper and handed it to Twilight, who was slowly approaching the bubble with Rarity behind her. "Wow, I've been hunting for gems in this cavern since I came to Ponyville, and I've never seen this before!" Said Rarity. "What's this, Spike?" Twilight saw the paper and levitated it in front of her face, when it was close enough to the light, she began to read it out loud: Hello. My name does not matter anymore, but you should know that I created this time machine, I wish I hadn't done it. This thing has done nothing more than cause trouble, that's why I left it here, where nopony would ever look for it. But if you're reading this then it must mean that you found it, please hear my words: DESTROY IT. Do not use it, your own existence is at risk, please destroy this stupid machine once and for all, finish what I couldn't finish myself. And if you hear my words, DO NOT LET THE MACHINE OUT OF HERE, DESTROY IT HERE, if this cursed artifact fell in the wrong hooves then the Universe itself could be in danger. I hope you hear me out. Goodbye. "That's it, there are no names, direction or anything else, I wonder who they are." Said Twilight, still in surprise at the artifact in front of her. "This is a TIME MACHINE?! Come on, Twilight, please let us bring it to the castle!" Pleaded Spike. "Spike, darling, from what I've read on my novels I can tell that travelling through time could be very dangerous, if this even is a time machine." Said Rarity while getting closer to Spike. "Spike, normally I would be excited to try this, but I've learned the same lesson two times already, one with myself and the other with Starlight: Do not meddle with time, besides, we don't know anything about this, this machine seems way too simple to be able to travel through time, I'm not even sure this thing is what this pony says it is." Said Twilight, putting her hoof on Spike's shoulder. "Awww, but Twilight..." Attempted Spike. "Sorry but that's a no, come on, I need your help to cover this thing back up." Replied Twilight "What? You're not going to destroy it like this pony says?" Asked Spike. "Of course not, if that thing really is a time machine then I will be skeptical about everything related to it, and what if something explodes if we try to destroy it? Would we be trapped in here until somepony else rescues us? And what if that thing can't be destroyed? Or what if it accidentally brings down the entire tunnel? I must..." Twilight began to imagine so many things that Spike had to stop her by covering her mouth with his claw. "Okay, I get it, you don't have to imagine all that just because I asked something stupid." Said Spike afterwards, Twilight smiled and the three of them started to go back out of the cavern. Once out, Twilight and Rarity used their magic to levitate the dirt and rocks from around them and form another wall covering the entrance to the "Time machine", once it was finished, Spike realized something. "Hey, didn't you say you needed my help?" Protested Spike. Twilight looked around feeling nervous, then she grabbed a shiny gem and levitated it in front of Spike, who just drooled at the sight. "Come on, Spike, catch it." Then Twilight tossed the gem out of the cavern, with Spike following suit. Rarity chuckled for a moment at this, when she stopped giggling to herself, she looked at Twilight. "Should we go home now, darling?" Asked Rarity. "Yes, I got all the information I wanted, and I think you got plenty of gems." Replied Twilight. Outside, Spike was chewing on the gem, he was still curious about the thing he found inside, and he was planning to do something to find out more about the strange device. 'Hmm, I wonder if that was a real time machine, but I guess Twilight and Rarity won't let me find out, maybe I can do something on my own to know it, what if I go out tonight and I discover how it works? That might be a good idea.' "Spike! Grab a cart and pack your stuff! Because we are going home now!" Shouted Twilight from the entrance of the cave. Spike did as just as he was asked to do. 'No, it might not work.' Spike thought while grabbing his stuff. 'Even if I get away and get here tonight I don't know anything about time travelling, or technology for that matter.' "Spike, are you thinking of something?" Said Twilight to his left, Spike was so focused that he didn't hear her come closer. "Ah, yes, I'm just thinking of something I heard the other day about my favorite team of Hoofball." Twilight didn't know anything about Hoofball, so she just shrugged it off. 'Oh, I know! Maybe later I can go visit Doctor Whooves! He is great with this technology-timey-wabby-weird stuff, maybe he can help me figure out if this thing really works! Besides, he is a scientist, right? I bet he won't deny the chance of travelling through time, if this thing really can do it.' Spike thought while he pulled his cart full of gems, tonight was going to be a blast. If everything went well, it would be a blast from the past ;) Author's Note SURPRISE!!! I bet none of you were expecting this, and to be honest, neither did I. So, this story will be complicated at some points, because some of you will have differences in your way of imagining the space-time continuity and paradoxes, but there's no need to rub your ideas in the comments, this is MY version of the timelines, and YOU have your own concept, I hope we can all get along. Also, the story will have some romance in the future, be prepared for your bags to puke because the shipping is getting ready to start! And last: There will be ponified versions of some time periods in history, and some of them can be pretty bad, so don't be so harsh on me Anyways, I hope you enjoy this little project of mine! I'll see ya in the next chapter, goodbye!
2. Doctor WhoovesChapter 2. Doctor Whooves. It was night time in Ponyville, everything was quiet, the fillies and colts had stopped playing outside and had already gone to bed, the mares had sung a lullaby to their kids and the stallions were getting some sleep after a hard day of work, and the princess of friendship did as well, she had a long afternoon after the gem hunt with Rarity and Spike, she had to write down a whole book on everything she learned, only to read it again and again later on the week with no specific reason. But her assistant wasn't sleeping, in fact, he was grabbing a backpack and some things for tonight, if everything went according to the plan, then the night would last longer than he was expecting, the dragon grabbed a camera for everything he would see, a little bag full of gems he had 'borrowed forever' from the gem hunt and some other stuff; a lantern, a box of matches, a pair of batteries, a little notebook, a pen and a little audio recorder. Spike was ready now, he was going to go to the doctor's home and ask him to join him into this time travel thing, but there were a lot of things that could go wrong, the doctor could say no, the strange bubble inside the cavern could not be a time machine after all, or maybe they could get into huge troubles with the time paradoxes if the old bunch of metal turns out to be a time machine. Spike didn't give much importance to those possibilities and just wanted to go and find out if that thing worked; with caution, Spike took steps as quietly as he could, to not wake up the alicorn by accident, Spike stepped out of the castle, and closed the doors behind him with care. Once he was out, Spike grabbed his backpack, breathed silently and ran towards the house of the doctor, as he ran through Ponyville he looked at everything around him, the buildings, the ponies inside, the flowers, he wondered if everything would look the same in the future or in the past, and the attitude of everypony? He was also wondering if that would change as well. Eventually he arrived at his house, Spike knocked silently on the door, there was no response, he knocked normally on the door once more, there was no answer this time either, Spike knocked ten times as hard, almost bringing the entire house down. "Oh my Ponystein! Who's there, by science's sake?!" Replied an angry voice behind the door. "It's Spike, the assistant of the princess of friendship!" Replied the dragon. "Ugh, is it about that debt for her watch? I said I would return it on Sunday!" Said the male voice inside the house. "No! I'm here for a different reason!" "Then why are you here in the middle of the night?!" "Because I need you to figure out how a machine works!" The voice behind the door stayed silent, as if he couldn't believe what he heard, then the locks on the doors began to unlock, then the door opened and Spike saw the imponent figure of a stallion with messy hair and cold eyes, probably because the dragon had awoken him in the middle of the night. "A machine?! You're here to know how a printor, a computer or a fax machine works?! Is that so important that you couldn't wait until tomorrow?!" Said Doctor Whooves with a sleepy yet menacing tone. "It's more than just any machine, this is a time machine we're talking about!" Replied Spike. The doctor looked surprised, he didn't know if this kid was serious, after a little moment of silence, the doctor waved his hoof at himself, motioning the dragon to go inside the house. When Spike was inside his house he looked around, the room was illuminated by one light bulb on the ceiling, and on the walls were photos of important scientists in pony history, the furniture of this guy was also interesting, there were lots of devices for all sorts of things, even the clock looked like a robot. "Tell me, is that 'time machine' you're talking about even real?" Said the doctor, sitting down on a couch. "Yes! I found it in a cave when I was in a gem hunt with my best friends!" Replied Spike. "What is a 'gem hunt'?" Asked the doctor. "Well, that doesn't matter, but when we found it we also found a note that said something about destroying the machine and..." "What?! Why would they want to destroy something like a time machine?!" Interrupted the doctor with surprise. "I don't know, but they seemed really serious with it." Replied Spike, shrugging. "Do you have that note?" Asked back the doctor. "Uh, no, we left it along with the time machine in the cave." Replied the dragon. "And why didn't you destroy it like that guy asked you to?" "We thought it would be dangerous, but did you really want us to destroy it? I thought that maybe you would be interested in travelling through time." Replied Spike, looking confused. "Oh, I would love nothing less in the world, it's been my dream since I was a foal, I wanted to visit the past to rectify some historical mistakes and myths, and I also wanted to travel to the future to see the evolution of pony kind, I even made a list of the places I would like to visit if I got the chance of doing it!" Replied the doctor, losing himself in his memories and imagination. Spike didn't say a word, he watched as the doctor lost himself in his own mind, in fact, he remembered Twilight being like this pony, he remembered Twilight wanting to reach the moon as a filly, he also remembered Twilight being horribly obsessed with books after she discovered Starswirl the bearded, which reminded him of the time Future Twilight supposedly came to warn everypony about a disaster. Spike watched the stallion, he was an earth pony, so he couldn't just do the spell for it, but this guy seemed like a guy that loved science, so he wondered if the doctor had tried building a time machine or asking a unicorn to take him with them to visit the past. "Did you try building a time machine?" Asked Spike, after some moments of silence. "Yes, I tried building a time machine with the ability of going everywhere in the universe, but it didn't end well after it's power source exploded and sent me to the hospital with a broken back leg." Replied the doctor, looking a little sheepish. "And why didn't you just ask a unicorn with the power to send you back to the past or the future to take you with them?" Asked Spike, remembering the time when Twilight did it. "For what I've heard, it takes a lot of magic to go back a month, do you have any idea of the power needed to travel back to the time when dinosaurs ruled the planet? I don't think even Princess Celestia has that power, besides, I don't get along very well with unicorns, some of them believe they can do anything just because they have magic and I want to prove cience is better than magic; mathematics and physics are the type of spells needed to learn how the world around us works, not some 'magical sparkles' that emerge from an extra limb." Replied the doctor with a lost stare, a cold stare for that matter. "Ooo-kay, changing the subject, would you help me with this machine?" Said Spike, snapping his fingers to bring the doctor back to reality. "Sure, we'll get going at first hour in the morning and..." "No! We have to go now!" Interrupted Spike. "What? What for?" "I can't leave tomorrow because... because I... umm... I'll get sent to the dragon lands to work there!" Said Spike, the doctor gave him a questioning look before shrugging. "Well, alright then, we'll leave in thirty minutes!" Proclaimed the doctor. "Thirty minutes?" Questioned Spike. "Yes, I always wanted to travel through time, I absolutely MUST pack some things if we're going to go to the past! Oh, and I must remember where I put my list!" Said the doctor before running inside his bedroom, looking for some stuff to bring with him. "Gosh, if I didn't need him to figure out how the thing works then I would've left alone. I'm begging he doesn't turn out to be just like Twilight." Spike knew that the doctor was going to be as excited as a kid in a candy store when he sees the machine, so Spike sat on a couch and waited for the doctor to come out, this will indeed be a long night after all, a night he wouldn't forget.
3. A rough startChapter 3. Their journey is just beginning! Now it was darker than before, Spike was on his way along with Doctor Whooves, who had stayed on his bedroom for more than thirty minutes packing everything for their journey, the doctor thought about everything, his bags looked like robots, and if they weren't, they sure looked extravagant. Spike was happy, he got the doctor to go with him and they were currently on their way to the cavern, Spike would finally know if that thing was a time machine and the doctor would get his chance to travel across time, but not everything was assured, they still had to know if the thing worked. "And how is the device?" Asked the doctor. "What?" Replied Spike. "Yes, how is it? is it small? is it big? Is it simple? What shape does it have? Is it like a whole station? Or is it just a device that you can perfectly put on your hoof? Maybe..." "Well, it's difficult!" Exclaimed Spike, preventing the doctor from making any more questions. "You'll see once we get there." "Okay, then." Replied the doctor, looking forward. Eventually they arrived, Spike noticed that the tunnel was still open, and the Diamond dogs would be asleep by now, so they wouldn't be a problem. The pair went to the tunnel, and they saw the wall made of rocks and dirt, it only took a few punches and bucks to take it down, it was even darker, Spike pulled out the lantern and entered the darkness with the doctor behind him. "You know, this reminds me of a dream I had, I was on a darkness similar to this one, only slightly more tense, and I saw a beautiful vision of myself being the pony I always wanted to be, but then again, I don't even know what it meant, mainly because I woke up afterwards." Commented the doctor. After a few steps, the doctor saw it in its glory, it appears that this kid wasn't kidding after all, before him, a transparent bubble with two seats was laying down, waiting to be used by someone; the doctor couldn't believe his eyes, he was in a state of shock, and even so, after a few moments of staring awkwardly at the machine, the doctor exploded with joy. "AAAAAAHHHH!!! I'M NOT DREAMING, RIGHT?! THIS IS REAL, RIGHT?! OH, LET ME TAKE SOME EVIDENCE FOR THE FUTURE!!" Just when the doctor finished shouting, he grabbed a camera from his bag and took a few photos of the device. "SHHHH!!! Doctor, there could be Diamond dogs nearby!" Said Spike, calming the doctor down. "I'm sorry, but I just can't wait to see how this marvelous machine works!" "Oh, so you're gonna go for it right now?" Asked Spike in surprise. "Of course! After all, the iron is hot for striking!" --------------------------------- One hour later... --------------------------------- "Well, I'm surprised the iron hasn't cooled down yet." Said Spike, sitting on a corner of the cavern with sleepy eyes. "Hey, these things take time, science is not a simple thing that you can go through in one hour, it takes more than that to completely understand devices like this one." Replied the doctor. "But how are you going to understand the machine if you've been looking at it from different angles this whole time?" Said Spike, pointing at the machine, the doctor looked sheepish after hearing that. "W-well, I'm trying not to meddle with it because it could be dangerous! Maybe this thing can malfunction and it can explode, and all this time will go to waste." "Uh-huh, look, here's my proposal: why don't we just lie down and rest and tomorrow we explore this thing with more light and a clear mind?" Suggested Spike. "Huh, I suppose I could get a little break, I DID wake up in the middle of the night because SOMEONE couldn't wait until tomorrow." Spike scratched the back of his head after hearing that. "It's settled then, we'll rest now and we will travel through time tomorrow!" "But it's all rocks and gems here, will we able to sleep in here?" Asked Spike, not sure on how to sleep on rocks. "Oh, don't worry about that, you see, I packed a pair of sleeping bags with the ability to change their size, one of my most recent inventions that I haven't shown to the world yet." "And why not? Why did you create those in the first place?" "Well, I figured that regular sleeping bags take a lot of space, so I made a special kind of sleeping bag that can change size with one button, I'd tell you how it works, but you don't seem like the kind of guy who would want or understand the part of the procedure that involves science." "I don't know if I should take that as an insult, but okay, and why didn't you show it to the world? I feel like that would've been a great idea." "Well, that's a personal point of view, maybe you think it's a great idea, but I think that it could just be another failure, just like every other thing I have created: The dig-o-matic? A total failure! The robo helper? I don't think I can even call it 'decent', The air-suspension system? A complete mess in my laboratory!" "Okay, but how many times have you tested them?" Asked Spike, now intrigued. "Well, about ten to a hundred times, why?" Replied the doctor, getting really frustrated. "Because I know that not everything you do in life will turn out successful at the first try, and maybe not even at the hundredth, you need to keep trying until you are satisfied with the result." Replied Spike. "Oh, this is very different, but I don't want to talk about it anymore! Let's just go to sleep and we'll be on our adventure tomorrow in the morning." "What? But..." "I said no more! Here, have your sleeping bag already!" Said the doctor, tossing Spike his sleeping bag, the doctor was right, the sleeping bags were really tiny, almost like little blue cubes with a red button on top of them, Spike pressed the button, and in a matter of seconds, the sleeping bag had expanded itself to the size of an adult pony! Which was good to Spike because it was much larger than his little basket and he had a ton of space to stretch and move, after a few seconds of surprise Spike jumped inside the bag and found himself a position to sleep. "Well anyway, good night, doctor!" Said Spike, inside the sleeping bag. "As to you too, my friend." Replied the doctor before wrapping himself in the sleeping bag. It was morning in the gem fields, Spike and the doctor were getting up to what seemed the journey of their lives, while Doctor Whooves woke up in a normal way, Spike didn't want to get up, mainly because he wasn't used to getting up early in the morning and because dragons were known for sleeping more than a pony, but it was no use because the doctor had put an alarm clock to wake them up just in case, the doctor woke up some minutes before the alarm activated itself, but Spike wasn't so lucky. 'Danger! Danger! Must wake up now! Danger! Danger!' The alarm was louder than any amount of yelling Twilight had ever created to wake him up, and it worked well. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! WHA-? WHY? HOW? WHEN?" Spike stuttered before looking at Doctor Whooves, who was sitting inside the machine. "Oh, I see you woke up, good morning! Now, would you be kind and turn the alarm off?" Said the doctor. Spike was dizzy, he had never woken up like that in his life, not even when Fluttershy had thrown a bucket of water on him, when Spike saw the clock, he went there to turn the dang thing off, when he saw the large red button on top of it, he punched it as hard as he could, and the alarm inmediately went off. "Doctor, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!?!" Complained Spike. "Sorry, but I figured that dragons slept more than ponies do, so I thought that maybe waking you up with this invention would be the best way to go, just in case you didn't wake up in time." Replied the doctor, calmly. "Ugh! I think you shouldn't show this to the world." Said Spike. "Now, now, there's no time to lose, come inside." Spike did just that with an unamused face. "Oh! But did you bring your sleeping bag? In case you didn't, the red button makes it smaller again." Spike grunted, after complaining a few seconds, he went there and he pressed the button, when the sleeping bag was a cube again, Spike grabbed it and packed it inside his backpack. And when Spike was coming back to the machine, both of them heard some noises coming from around them, some kind of growls and grunts. "What is that?" Asked Spike. "They must be Diamond dogs! I think my alarm clock awakened them too!" Replied the doctor. "Dude, that thing can wake up the dead if you put it on a graveyard." Replied Spike with an unamused expression on his face, the doctor copied his expression when Spike finished his phrase. "Just get inside and let's go before they capture us!" The doctor replied, then, they saw three shadows approach in fron of them. "Ooooohh, look what we have here, guys." Said the small Diamond dog. "Hey, isn't that the dragon we met before?" Replied the taller dog. "Well, we can make them OUR servants, and if they don't collaborate, then I think we can add them to the menu!" Finished the last Diamond dog, they approached the machine with smiles on their faces, enjoying themselves as they watched the fear on their faces. Once inside, Spike sat on the other seat of the machine, but he didn't know what to do, so he asked Doctor Whooves what to do. "Doctor, now what?! There they come! We're going to be dog food if we don't get out of here right now!" As Spike spoke, the dogs were already surrounding them, and they started to punch the bubble they were in. "Look at the number panel, just type any number on it, and then just press the green button below to go there!" Replied the doctor in a hurry. Spike didn't know what he was typing, but when he hit the green button below the number panel, everything went blank. The diamond dogs saw a bright light that came from inside the bubble, and they backed out a little bit to cover their eyes, when the light died down, they were surprised; the thing wasn't there anymore! "Oh, look at what you did!" Complained the small dog. "Me? what about YOU?" Replied the taller dog. "Ugh, would you shut up? Now we have to see what we can get for breakfast! By the way, who woke us up?" Finished the third dog, the other two shrugged before following their friend out of the cavern, such a shame they didn't look behind them, because they could've seen two figures behind them. "Whoah! Doctor, where are we?" Asked Spike, still dizzy after the bright light that knocked him out. The doctor was speechless, he observed the scenery around him, the giant trees, the place they were stuck in, the life forms, when the doctor pieced everything together, everything clicked. "My friend, I think this really is a time machine, because we are no longer in the outskirts of Ponyville, from the scenery that is all around us, the place we are sinking in and the interesting life forms from around here I can deduce something; we travelled back in time to... A mesozoic swamp!" Author's Note Well, here ya go, the first chapters of this thing I had in my mind! I hope you're looking forward to some of the future time periods and adventures this pair is going to have! I'll see you again in the next chapter, goodbye!
