“Huh? Oh my goodness! MY CUTIE MARK! MY CUTIE MARK!” Twist yelled. It was a stopwatch with the face of it swirling out. The hands had shadows as if they were spinning around rapidly.
One day, Twist was walking home from school, and was ready to do her homework, but she tripped over something. It was a stopwatch, but not any regular stopwatch. This stopwatch had more buttons then a normal one. There was also a red button in the middle of the two hands and a date, month, and year setting. She stared at it for a while. She thought, maybe, just maybe, it could be a time traveling device. Then she realized that traveling through time wasn’t possible. But, she still wondered what mysteries lie behind this stopwatch, so she took it home. She finished up her homework and went upstairs. Twist had hid the watch in her room in the last drawer of her polished wood dresser. She took it out and looked at it, again, she had never seen any stopwatch like this one. She wondered about that red button in the middle. She had many questions, but didn’t know who to ask. She then remembered somepony named Dr. Whooves. There were rumors he had a time traveling device of his own. But, this was called a rumor for a reason. And, who even said that this, thing, was a time traveling device. She pondered this. She didn’t know who Dr. Whooves was, so it could be dangerous. If she pressed that button, she didn’t know what could happen. She had to go, it was burning her up inside not knowing what this mysterious stopwatch did. But before she could go, she had to ask around first and on top of that, it was getting late. Twist had decided to put it off for tomorrow.
THE NEXT DAY
She had no homework today, and she was happy because that meant she’d have more time to talk to the mysterious pony, Dr. Whooves. She had asked around and some people knew him, but didn’t have a sufficient amount of information on him since he wasn’t that well known. She then exclaimed, “I know! I’ll ask Twilight!” There was no one around so no one heard her. She began rushing towards Twilight’s house, but then stopped and remembered she had not gone home yet. She galloped toward her house as fast as she could. She ran in, gave her mother a hug, threw her stuff down and ran upstairs. Twist grabbed the stopwatch and ran back downstairs. Twist picked up her bag and placed the watch into it. She told her mother she was going to a friend’s house. Even though she did not feel right lying to her mother, she had to, to keep herself sane. She could not go on without knowing what this stopwatch did. Despite still being out of breath from running to her house, she began running towards Twilight’s. When she made it, she was breathing very heavily and loudly. When she at least slightly caught her breath, she knocked on the door and patiently waited for Twilight to come and answer it. When Twilight answered the door, she didn’t see anyone at first, but then looked down and saw Twist looking up and staring at her.
“Well, hello Twist! What brings you to my library?” Twilight said
“Um, I’m not sure you have information on this, but, do you have any information on somepony by the name of, Dr. Whooves?” Twist said.
“Dr. Whooves? Hm, Dr. Whooves. Dr. Whooves. Oh! You’re in luck! I just borrowed the Equestrian Census. Here, come in, we can look at it and see if we can find any information on, Dr. Whooves.” Twilight said
“Okay.” Twist said walking through the door as Twilight closed it.
“One second. Spike, could you get me the Census I borrowed from Princess Celestia please?” She was surprised as she heard a voice from upstairs say “Okay Twilight. Just give me a minute.” She then remembered who Spike was. He was Twilights assistant.
“So, while we are waiting on Spike, I must ask, if you don’t mind, why do you want information on Dr. Whooves?” Twilight asked. Twist wasn’t sure if she should tell Twilight or not. But, then again, she is letting her use her book to look up information on Dr. Whooves, so she decided she that she was going to show Twilight.
“Well, I found this, stopwatch, on the ground and even though it may not seem possible, I think it might be a time traveling device.” Twist said, thinking Twilight would think she was being paranoid and not take this seriously because she was a kid.
“Oh, interesting. May I see it? I believe you. I could tell you didn’t think I did by your actions.” Twilight said, staring at her bag.
“Sure you can! I mean, you are letting me use your books and all.” Twist said as she pulled out the stopwatch and handed it to Twilight.
“Hmm, this is interesting. One last question if you don’t mind. Is this the reason you want to know about Dr. Whooves? And if it is, why him?” The curious Twilight said
“Yes, and I heard he had a time traveling device of his own. And if this is a time traveling device, he probably could teach me how to use it.” Said Twist as she took back the stopwatch and put it in her bag. Just as she put it in, Spike came down with the Census.
“Here you go Twilight.” Spike said, as he let the big, heavy book drop to the floor.
“Thank you very much Spike.” Twilight said as she moved it in front of her and motioned for Twist to come over. She was flipping through the pages until she got to the “W” section and then scanned.
“Oh! Here he is! Dr. Whooves.” Twilight said as she moved over for Twist to see.
“3927 Magic Avenue? Where is that? Twilight, do you know where that is?” She said.
“I’m sorry Twist, but I can’t say I do.” Twilight said.
“Well, thanks Twilight, for letting me use your books. That was really nice.” Twist said as she stood up and picked up her bag.
“You’re very welcome! I’m always happy to help a fellow pony!” Twilight said as she stood up and opened the door for Twist. As she walked out, she noticed that it was getting dark. “UGH! Not again!” She exclaimed. As Twist started to walk home, she noticed she walked right by Magic avenue, she stopped. She thought about going to Dr. Whooves house. She was right there and it was so close, right within grasp, but she couldn’t, her mom would kill her. But this stopwatch, it was eating her up on the inside, she just couldn’t take it any longer. She slowly started walking down the dimly lit street.
The Mysterious Dr. Whooves
As Twist was slowly walking down the street, she started to get scared. This particular street was different than any of the others. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but, it just seemed different. But she stopped worrying about that because Twist knew if she thought to hard about it, she knew she would scare herself. As she continued to walk down the ominous street, she looked from side to side at all the house address, but she did not see 3927. She finally got to the end of the street and still no house with the address 3927. She started walking back down and checking one more time. But before she could reach the end of the street, she saw this alley, and there was a light, as if it were coming from a window. Twist thought that she had to try, or this was going to haunt her for the rest of her life, not knowing what this stopwatch did. She started hesitantly walking toward the long, dark alley. As she began getting closer, the alley seemed as if it was getting bigger. The house seemed really small but now t seemed as if it were as big as a mansion! As she kept creeping closer and closer, she found out it was a mansion! “Why would there be a mansion back here in this creepy alley?” she asked out loud, not expecting any answer. As she continued to get farther down the alley, she noticed that it was oddly neat and clean. There wasn’t any trash anywhere but the garbage cans, and those weren’t tipped over! It wasn’t like any alley she had ever seen. There was also one VERY strange thing about this alley, not that it wasn’t already strange enough. It was the fact that there was a big, dark blue phone booth with the words “Police Box” on the top. She stopped and looked at it for a moment, but then continued to walk toward the house. As she finally got to the steps, she realized something. She didn’t know who Dr. Whooves was. He could be a criminal! He could possibly kidnap her and kill her silently! But her realization was too late, while she was thinking, her body was doing. Part of her mind was saying “Don’t do it” while she was thinking. The rest of it was aching to know what this stopwatch did. It was too late to turn back now. She had already knocked on the door. She began to shake in fright. The door slowly began to open and a light brown figure with a dark brown mane now stood in front of her. This figure had light blue eyes and an hour glass for a cutie mark.
“Hello! And who might you be?” Dr. Whooves said cheerfully with a kind smile. Twist became less tense when she saw that he was smiling kindly at her.
“Um, well. I was wondering if you could look at this for me. I...I heard you had a time machine and I’m not sure, but I think this stopwatch is a time traveling device.”
“Oh, you mean my TARDIS! Yes, I do have a time machine, even though it may not seem possible! It actually is that phone booth over there. I’m sure you noticed that.” He had said gleefully. Twist continued to become less tense every time he spoke. She didn’t feel scared anymore but a little safe.
“Would you like to come in? I can make some tea?” Dr. Whooves asked.
“Um……….well, I kind of have to go home? I just really wanted to know if this was a time traveling device.” Twist asked. She held it out as he took it from her hands.
“Hmm. You are correct. This is a time traveling device! But I have a feeling that it isn’t JUST a time traveling device. Do you think tomorrow you could come by? Then I can get a better look at this.” He said as Twist took the stopwatch back.
“Sure? Thank you very much for telling me this. It has been killing me not knowing what it was. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Twist said
“I guess you will.” Dr. Whooves said with a cheerful smile. As she started walking down the steps she heard the door shut behind her. She started walking home, but had no idea what time it was, so she pulled out the stopwatch. Right after she pulled it out, she tripped and fell on top of it. When she got up, she inspected the watch. Thankfully, she didn’t hit any of the buttons because that could have been bad. Twist continued to walk home. She then remembered she still didn’t know what time it was, she stopped, pulled out the stopwatch and looked at the time.
“It’s 9:00 already? Darn it, that means I won’t have much time to do what I want. Well, I better get home fast.” She thought out loud. She put it back into bag. Her house was about 2-5 minutes away. She just wished she could teleport there. At that moment she stumbled, but she didn’t fall this time, instead she disappeared from that street and appeared in her bedroom, still stumbling. She then hit her bed and fell to the ground. What had just happened? Did she just… no, it couldn’t be, or could it? Did she just teleport home? Twist wondered what had teleported her home. She then pulled out the stopwatch and studied it. The only logical answer, well, logical was pretty much thrown out the window considering that this was time traveling device, could only be that the stopwatch had teleported her. She stood up and sat down on her bed as she put the stopwatch back in her bag and began walking downstairs. But then she stopped and thought. Her mother had not seen her walk through the door yet, so she would get suspicious if she just came down from her room. She walked back up the 5 stairs she walked down and picked up her bag. She grabbed a spare rope she had from her closet and hung it out the window. After Twist secured the rope, she slowly slid down the rope and started walking toward the front of her house. She walked around the corner, opened the door, and trotted in. She greeted her mother with a kind smile and walked upstairs. She untied the rope and put it back in her closet. Twist then looked up at the clock and saw it was 9:20. She had 10 minutes until she had to go to bed, but she was feeling pretty tired. Twist decided that she was going to go to bed. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow.
BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP! Twist’s alarm blared as she jumped out of bed and turned it off. She skillfully placed it across the room so she would have to get out of bed first, then she would be able to turn the alarm off. She sighed at the thought of another boring day of school as she slowly made her bed, very tired. She didn’t get much sleep last night because she kept thinking about her time traveling/teleporting stopwatch. Twist wasn’t sure, but she thought she got about 2 hours of sleep. At the thought, she groaned in anger loudly, but then quickly shut up in fright that she would wake her parents. Twist began to head into the bathroom to start her daily routine. Brush her teeth, take a shower, eat some cereal, grab her bag and walk to school. As she began walking out the door she stopped and thought for a moment.
“Hmm, I could teleport to school! Wait, but people might just see me appear. But how am I supposed to tell the time? Well, I’ve gone my whole life without having a watch, so I think I’m good” Twist thought out loud as she sometimes does. She snapped back from her thinking and continued to walk out the door.
After school, Twist rushed home. During that school day she might not have shown it, but she was eager to get out so she could learn more about this stopwatch. Twist was a rather quiet student. She ran inside, gave her mom a hug and a kiss, and raced upstairs. She slowed down as she was running upstairs to a walk. Twist then opened her door and walked over to her dresser. She pulled opened the last drawer and picked up the stopwatch. She closed the drawer, put the stopwatch in her bag, and walked down stairs. She told her mom she was going to a friend’s house again. Twist knew that she wasn’t lying this time and didn’t feel bad. Even though she barely knew Dr. Whooves, she still considered him a friend since he was helping her and telling her what this stopwatch is and what it does. Twist stared towards Magic Avenue. When she got there, it wasn’t nearly as creepy as it was when it was dark out. Since it was bright out, she noticed that the street had many detailed things about it that she had not noticed before. One of them was that there were big brightly painted pictures on some of the brick walls. Twist had also noticed that the houses, which she saw as dark grim colors at night, were actually bright colors such as yellow, green, and orange. This street wasn’t as scary as she perceived it to be.
When she got to the alley in which Dr. Whooves’s house was, she began to walk down it and stopped at the machine in which Dr. Whooves had called the “TARDIS”. She noticed that it in between the words “Police Box” it said “Pubic Call” which she didn’t see the first time considering it was dark and it was so small. Twist got to the steps and walked up them in excitement. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. The door opened up and there stood Dr. Whooves.
“Hello Twist!” Said Dr. Whooves
“Hello Dr. Whooves. How are you today?” Twist said as she stood on the steps.
“Good, good. I hope you are doing the same. Would like to come in now?” Dr. Whooves asked as he stepped to the side and pointed an inviting hoof inside.
“Thank you.” She said as she trotted inside. The interior of the house was amazingly neat and tidy. Everything in the house was in pristine condition. There were polished wooden chairs, tables, cabinets, and all in perfect condition. There was a TV set in the corner with a blue chair that looked quite comfy.
“Please. Have a seat Twist.” Dr. Whooves said as he motioned towards a light green sofa. Twist walked over to it and sat down.
“Thank you Dr. Whooves.” Twist said as she put down her bag next to her.
“Would you like some tea?” Dr. Whooves asked.
“Yes please. And thank you very much for helping me.”
“No problem Twist! I’ll have that tea ready in a jiffy.” He said as he walked towards the kitchen then disappeared. Twist continued to look around the home form her current point of view. The walls of the house were painted blue, her favorite color. She noticed that on the walls, there were these pictures of some pony she didn’t know. On an engraved golden plaque under the picture it said “Rose”. Twist thought that this mare was a very pretty lady. She concluded that this might be Dr. Whooves’s girlfriend or even his wife. She continued to look around, but staying in her spot. She didn’t want to seem nosy and start going around and looking through things, she would seem like a bad guest and she didn’t want that to happen. Dr. Whooves walked back out with a silver tray with a teapot and two teacups on it. He set it down on the table in front of Twist and sat down in a purple chair across from the couch she was on. Twist reached over a picked up the teacup. As she brought it up to her lips, she smelled the delicious minty scent. As she drank it, she smiled at the wonderful minty taste. Mint was her favorite flavor for anything! She loved how the hot tea slowly ran down her throat. The sensation was so wonderful.
“I take it you like it? It’s my specialty.” Dr. Whooves said with a smile. Twist had noticed that she had finished it very quickly and that some of it got around her mouth. She quickly wiped it away with her arm.
“Yes! It was delicious! Thank you very much!” Twist said with a smile. She placed the teacup down on the silver tray.
“Would you like some more?” Dr. Whooves asked as he picked up the teapot.
“Yes please. Thank you.” She said as he poured a new cup of piping hot tea. She picked it up and took a single sip, savoring its delectable flavor this time. She then placed back on the table.
“So Twist, may I see the stopwatch?” Dr. Whooves asked as he placed his teacup on the table. Twist nodded and took out the stopwatch and handed it to Dr. Whooves. He inspected it carefully.
“Um, Dr. Whooves, I think that the stopwatch doubles a teleportation device, in addition to time traveling. Because I was walking home from here yesterday and I was wishing I could just teleport home and I tripped and stumbled and I felt something hit my flank and then I was in my bedroom, still stumbling, then I hit my bed.” Twist said as she inhaled loudly from her long run-on sentence.
“Hmm, interesting. So then that must mean that when you press the button, whatever place you are thinking of, you teleport there.” Dr. Whooves concluded.
“Well, which button do you think is the button that makes you teleport?” Twist asked
“I’m not that skilled in the field of teleporting, I know more about time travel. But considering I know what every other button does but the top one, I think it is this one.” He said as he pointed to the top button.
“Oh, I guess that’s what hit my flank.” Twist said.
“Okay, so onto how to use this stopwatch. For time traveling, that is. So with these three buttons on the side you set the day, which is the first button, month, which is the second button, and year, the third button. You then move the clock hands according to what time of day you want to travel to and you press the big red button in the middle to travel through time. You got it?” Dr. Whooves said as he looked at Twist for approval.
“Yes. But I have one question, what would happen if the watch was to break while I was back in time or in the future, what would happen?” Twist said with a scared look on her face.
“Well, you would have to fix the watch in a span of 24 hours when the watch broke or you would be stuck there forever.” Dr. Whooves said handing the watch back to Twist. “Now Twist, I need you to do something for me.”
“What would that be?” Twist asked with a curious look on her face.
“I want you to go back in time 2 minutes ago. I need you to do this just to make I know you know how to use it. Can you do that for me? Oh, and one more thing, you get back to regular time, just hit the red button twice. If you hit it once, whatever time it says, you will go to there, so you need to hit it twice.” Dr. Whooves said.
“Okay. Got it. Here goes nothing!” Twist said as she stood up and set the time for 2 minutes before what the time was now and looked at Dr. Whooves. He nodded and she pressed the button. With a flash of purple light and a loud “BZZT!” she disappeared right in front of Dr. Whooves’s eyes.
Twist, after pressing the red button, closed her eyes and a couple seconds later she opened them. She was now inside the same room, and standing in the same spot she was when she pressed the button. Dr. Whooves was walking in with the same silver platter with the same teacups on it filled to the same height as it was when he walked in the first time before she traveled back in time. It was the same everything! The only thing missing was her on the couch. She quickly pressed the red button twice and with another loud “BZZT!” and a purple flash, she was gone. She was now standing in the same spot, again, and Dr. Whooves was there looking at her.
“I take it that it worked.” Dr. Whooves said.
“Yes, yes it did. But it didn’t take too long because I saw you walking in with the silver platter and I wasn’t on the couch. If you didn’t see me on the couch, it might’ve changed the future. That wouldn’t have been good.” Twist said. Twist looked at the watch for the time and noticed that it was the correct time.
“No it wouldn’t be good at all. Oh, I forgot to tell you! The stopwatch sets back to the normal time after you go back to present time.” Dr. Whooves said.
“Thank you Dr. Whooves!” Twist said as she put the watch away in her bag.
“Before you go Twist, I need you to know the responsibilities of owning that stopwatch. You can’t just teleport wherever and whenever you want. The only reason you should have to teleport is for something urgent. And traveling through time is not child’s play. You could alter the entire future just by moving one tiny thing out of place. Be very careful with that.” Dr. Whooves said with a serious look in his eyes.
“Okay, I promise I will only use this for good. Cross my hope and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Twist said as she did the motions to the Pinkie Pie swear which Pinkie taught Twist herself. Dr. Whooves chuckled at the motions Twist did. “But wait. Can I try this out really quickly to see if it is a teleportation device?” Twist asked hopefully.
“Yes you may. That will not break our promise considering this is for good. Please try teleporting over there by my fireplace.” Dr. Whooves said as he pointed to his beautiful brick fireplace quietly crackling. Twist nodded and thought about the fireplace as she held the stopwatch in her hoof She hit the button on the top and with a flash of blue and a loud “BUZZ!” she had disappeared from the spot she was standing in and now reappeared next to the fireplace. She trotted back over to Dr. Whooves.
“So I guess it is a teleportation device! Not that I didn’t believe you!” Dr. Whooves said with a smile.
“Well, thank you so very much Dr. Whooves! I really appreciate the time you took to tell me what this stopwatch does and how to use it! Thank you so very much!” Twist said with a wide smile as she put the stopwatch back in her bag.
“You’re very welcome Twist!” Dr. Whooves said, also with a wide smile on his face.
“I’m sorry Dr. Whooves, but I think I should get going now. Thank you again!” Twist said she as she picked up her bag.
“It’s okay Twist. And you’re welcome again! Thank you for showing me the teleportation device! I have never seen one before. Goodbye!” Dr. Whooves said as he opened the door for Twist. Twist walked out and waved goodbye to Dr. Whooves as he waved back. She walked down the steps and she heard the door close behind her. She began walking out of the alley and saw that it was still bright out. She stopped for a moment, pulled the stopwatch out, and looked at the time. It was 4:37. She didn’t realize that she was there for about an hour and a half. She put the stopwatch back and continued to walk home.
Twist got home, walked inside and greeted her mother with a hug and a kiss. She trotted upstairs and put her bag down on her bed. She pulled the stopwatch out and looked at it. She just couldn’t believe she had a time traveling/teleporting stopwatch in her hooves right now. Twist thought about how helpful Dr. Whooves was and she was glad he trusted her. The only thing she feared was a possible time paradox or the stopwatch breaking and her getting lost in time. Would she be able to fix it? Would she even be able to fix it? If she couldn’t, would she be able to find someone who could? She snapped back into reality for a minute and put the stopwatch away in the bottom drawer of her dresser. These questions floated around in Twist’s head the entire rest of the day. She thought that maybe she wouldn’t have to use the watch or anything, maybe just keep it as an antique. But as she thought that she wouldn’t have to use it, more thoughts of why she would have to flooded her mind. Her thoughts haunted her the entire day. At 9:07, she just couldn’t take it anymore and decided to just go to sleep. She’d think more deeply about this tomorrow. Twist kissed her mother and father goodnight and hopped into bed. She pulled the covers over herself and drifted off to sleep.
