A Mystery Older Than Celestia Herself
To say that Octavia was less than pleased that May morning, would be an understatement indeed.
It all started, with the view. Well actually, it started with waking up at five o’ clock in the morning, but it mostly started with the view. The view outside the train was terrible! There was only a sea of cream-colored icing outside, that stretched out for miles, which were apparently, poor excuses for buildings. The windows had been littered with green molds, dried-up pieces of gum, and thick layers of dust, as if somepony decided that windows were garbage dumps. Where were the window-washers, for Celestia's sake?
Daring to spare a glance at the window once more, she whipped her head the other way and shuddered, choking back on her squeal. On instinct, Octavia rubbed her saddlebag, feeling its sandpaper-like texture on her hoof. The corners of her mouth threatened to twitch upwards. This saddlebag was one of her memories of home. Of Canterlot. Cuddling it closer to her face, she could feel coolness of the copper emblem of her cutie mark. With a small yawn, she laid down on her seat and cuddled her bag, not caring if it was going to leave a perfect octave-shaped dent on her face. Her eyelids suddenly weighed like bricks, forcing her to shut her eyes. And so she did, drifting off into a blank dream.
Screech! went the cursed wheels of the train, waking Octavia up. Stifling a yawn, she slid down her seat and grabbed the suitcases and the cello case from underneath. Then she balanced her many luggage onto her back, her knees wobbling from the weight. Although Octavia was proud to be an earth pony, this was one of those moments that she wished to be a unicorn. Hm, fancy that, her as a unicorn. She shook her head, her dark brown mane whipping the air; this was simply not the time to be thinking such nonsense. With a soft groan she trudged to exit the train, which wasn't an easy feat. Especially not when two ponies were yelling at her.
“Hey lady! Move out-of-the-way!”
“Yeah! Some of us have important places to go to!”
Octavia had been tempted to yell at those rude ponies, but she decided to try to walk faster instead; she wasn't about to lower herself to their level. As she tried to walked, somepony had used their magic to throw Octavia off the train and unto the wooden platform of the train station.
Waving a grey hoof in the air, Octavia wasn't holding back. “Uncouth!”
Octavia would've done more, but she decided that it was (ironically) uncouth that she shouted in a public place. Luckily, only a few ponies stared at her, but they looked away once Octavia glanced at them. With a huff, she scanned the area for her luggage, only for something feathery to crash into her face. She figured that it was a pegasus with a bad sense of flying, but when she opened her eyes, they told her a different story. It was actually a pony covered in white feathers. A unicorn, judging from the mint-green horn that was poking out from beneath the feathers.
The unicorn spat out some feathers. “Hi there!” The unicorn waved a hoof. “Sorry that I bumped into you. You see, I was chasing. . .” Then the mare told Octavia of a story that involved a lyre, a lantern and glue. As she told her story, Octavia couldn't see what it had to do with bumping into her. “And then the cockatrice came out of nowhere and went, ‘GRRRRRRRRR!’” At the last part, the unicorn growled right into Octavia's face! The earth pony was about to tell the unicorn off for doing such an uncivilized act, when she heard a voice that sounded like its owner had sucked in way too much helium.
“Lyra! Quit scaring the poor mare!” A cream-coloured earth pony could be seen running towards the unicorn, her navy blue and pink mane bouncing as it did.
“You're just exaggerating, Bon Bon,” Lyra turned around to face the cream-coloured pony.
Bon Bon stared at Lyra. "Really."
“Really!”
“Then care to explain why the mare's slowly backing away?” Bon Bon pointed a hoof towards Octavia. Or at least the spot where the cellist had once stood on. She realized this seconds later and turned to Lyra with a raised eyebrow. The unicorn could only reply with an awkward smile and a shrug.
She knew that it was very rude of her to do that, but Octavia wasn't the kind to enjoy uncivil ponies. Or anything uncivil, for that matter. Oh well, at least that unicorn wasn't that pink pony at the Gala. She was about to try and remember something that she'd forgotten, but any further thoughts were interrupted by a loud gasp behind her. By the time she turned around, she could only see a pink blur dashing out of sight. She could only wonder at what exactly the blur was until somepony took her by the hooves, and lifted her up into the clouds.
Octavia was flailing around wildly, like a fish out of water. “Wha-what!? Let me down!”
“Calm down!" a voice that sounded very much like a colt, exclaimed. “I'm not a foalnapper!”
Still skeptical about the latter statement, Octavia looked up to see a grey mare, slowly flapping her wings and staring down at her with cross-eyed, yellow-orange eyes.
Octavia avoided looking at the stranger's eyes. “Then why are you carrying me?”
The stranger waved her hooves around in the air. “Because Scootaloo was about to run over you! I wasn't going to let somepony get ran over!”
The pegasus looked down at Octavia to ask her name, except that said pony was busy falling to her doom. “Oops...”
Octavia's light violet eyes were quickly drying out as she fell, forcing her to shut them the first few feet of falling. She didn't know what would happen to her, which scared her. She didn't enjoy the unknown, and the darkness of her closed eyelids weren't making this terrifying experience any more pleasant for her. She continued falling, hoping to Celestia that she would somehow live. At the last moment, Octavia decided to open her eyes.
Big mistake.
Now the ground was only five feet below her, and there was no sign of anything to cushion her fall. Celestia, now she wished she was a pegasus. She decided to close her eyes, hearing the flapping of wings and somepony yelping below her as she landed on something furry. Wait a moment, that would mean she was still alive! Thank Celestia! She looked beneath her to see a light brown stallion with a dark brown and spiky mane. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his hourglass cutie mark. She really hoped that she wasn't going mad, since she saw that cutie mark back in Canterlot, albeit on different stallions. Identical cutie marks can't be on different ponies, right? Hearing a muffled groan, Octavia reminded herself that she should get off the stallion's back first before wondering about cutie marks. So she did, blu in the process. She waited until the stallion slowly got up before making her escape, shouting an apology as she did. But if Octavia stuck around a while longer, she might've seen a certain pegasus giving the stallion a short wistful glance before flying after Octavia.
What's wrong with me today? thought Octavia, slowing down to a stop, First, I ran away from a unicorn covered in feathers. Although she was uncivil, I was no better by running away. Second-
Scratch!
Pressing her hooves firmly against her ears, Octavia glared at the direction where that ghastly sound came from. She saw that it came from a familiar-looking, white unicorn who was turn-tabling. Octavia had nothing against turn-tabling, but why the unicorn just had to do it out in the open where everypony could hear it, was beyond her. Figuring that she had nothing better to do, Octavia ambled over to the unicorn and greeted her. Or at least she was about to the latter when suddenly-
“Come in!” The unicorn grabbed her by the hoof and literally dragged Octavia into the building behind her.
Octavia avoided the urge to buck her captor in the face as they were plunged into the darkness. Darkness... Now that very word made her cringe, for it hides everything that Octavia was familiar to. It would make the forests seem dangerous and creepy, and it would make her open closet look like a monster of some sort. Or at least, her closet back in Canterlot would look like that. Octavia didn't even know if her new closet in Ponyville would be even be creepier looking than the one she had in Canterlot, or if her old closet still held the record. New closet... Now that reminded her of something...
Octavia's thoughts had been rudely interrupted by the sudden flicker of lit lights and a shout of a window-shattering yell of, “Surprise!”
Her captor had apparently let go of her, as she was once again, literally blown back into a wall, which isn't the best landing cushion. A pink hoof grabbed Octavia's tail and pulled her off the wall like a sticker. Once back on the ground, Octavia looked up (despite the pain it was causing her) to see the face that she wouldn't look forward to see for her whole life. It was the face of that pony that she heard was called, Pinkie Pie; the Element of Laughter, a party-thrower, and the mare who had ruined the Great Galloping Gala. At least for Octavia.
In her shock, Octavia stepped backwards. “Maia!”
“No, silly!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed in her high-pitched voice. “My name's Pinkie Pie, not ‘Maia’! But if it were my name...”
She tapped a hoof against her chin and started to ramble about the results of being called 'Maia', which Octavia didn't listen to as she was too busy backing away from the pink pony. She was about to get lost into the crowd until Pinkie Pie stretched out her hoof and grabbed on to her as she 'teleported' to Octavia's side.
“So what's your name? You wouldn't happen to be my sister, Inky, would you?” Octavia was about to reply, but Pinkie interrupted her. “Wait a moment, if you're my sister, you would've sent me a letter. Why didn't you send me a letter!? I would've thrown an even bigger party! Ooh! Is mom, dad and Blinky here, too?”
Pinkie stared at her with those sky blue eyes, glimmering with uncontainable excitement. Octavia almost didn't want to disappoint her, but she also didn't want to trot around and pretend that she was this, 'Inky' pony. That wouldn't turn out so well.
“Sorry, Pinkie,” Octavia was inching towards the crowd. Better be with a bunch of strangers than this crazy pony. “But I'm not Inky, I'm Octavia.”
“Oh. Okie dokie lokie!”
The pink earth pony bounced off into the crowd, her hot pink mane bouncing in the air. Octavia rolled her eyes and walked into the crowd, but she saw Pinkie's stretched out head bursting out of it while balancing a pink-frosted cupcake on her cotton candy-like mane. The cellist backed away quickly as if a manticore was after her hide. Pinkie either didn't notice or didn’t care, as she took the pastry off of her head and tossed it to Octavia, who caught it.
“Try one!” Pinkie danced along to the music that the white unicorn was playing. “It's a specialty from Sugarcube Corner!”
Staring at the pastry in her hooves, Octavia was debating whether to eat it or not. She didn’t want to eat such vile thing, but she didn’t want to offend the pink mare either. She was stuck in between two stones. If Octavia decided to eat the cupcake, she would have that flash back about that Forbidden-to-Speak-Of Incident. But if she decided to refuse, that would mean that she would upset her, which isn't the best impression that one should make. But any further thoughts were (once again) interrupted by a thunk! Jumping at the sound, she turned around to see that her cello case was right on the ground behind her, with a certain unicorn shivering in place. Taking deep breaths and counting to three, she deadpanned at Lyra. It continued for about two seconds until she opened up her cello case to see that her cello was still intact. Thank Celestia! Noticing that the unicorn in front of her was now covering her eyes, she placed a hoof on Lyra’s head to calm her down. The plan worked, as Lyra immediately stopped shaking and looked up at Octavia, tears brimming her golden eyes.
“I’m so sorry!” Lyra dashed out of the front door, tears falling as she did.
Octavia just stood there, cocking her head and raising an eyebrow. She felt a hard jab on her back, causing her to turn around and face Bon Bon.
Bon Bon was pounding her front hooves against each other as she stood over Octavia on her hind legs, casting a long shadow. When she opened her mouth, Octavia was forcing herself to not trot away.
"What have you done to Lyra?" Bon Bon whispered. Her turquoise eyes became colder, and were staring daggers into Octavia's very soul.
With a wince, Octavia's pupils and irises shrank as her eyes widened, resembling dinner plates with a single dot in their middles. Shaking, she caught a glimpse of a memory resurfacing, which she swore was happening all over again all around her. The long shadow, the piercing glare that Bon Bon was giving her, the soft but spine-chilling whisper, they all caused her to remember something that she thought she'd locked inside the darkest and the least ventured place in her mind. Rearing, she bolted through the crowd like a cannonball, not caring much for the following string of curses that she dared not to repeat or their well-being.
You cannot hide forever, little Octavia. You cannot hide forever, little Octavia.
The all-too-familiar whisper was echoing through her mind, like a shout in a canyon that stretched on for miles. Although this whisper was very familiar to her, Octavia couldn't help but think that this was the only thing she'd hate to remember. Maybe some things were better left forgotten. She kept on running, but from the party or the trauma, she didn't know. She just ran. Maybe she shouldn't have come to Ponyville and went against the family tradition instead.
Screeching to a halt, she realized that this was the tradition's fault. If she never had to follow the family tradition of moving to a new town right after her fifteenth birthday, she never would've met these crazy ponies, she wouldn't have to move into that haunted house, and she wouldn't have to remember her foalhood trauma.
"Stupid tradition!" Octavia ran to the nearest tree and bucked it. It wasn't a strong buck, since Octavia rarely had much practice. She was a cellist and one doesn't see cellists buck anything on a daily basis. Despite the strength of her buck, Octavia kept bucking the tree, placing more effort into it every time.
"Stop it!" The cellist paused; that high-yet-low voice sounded familiar. She shook her head, passing it off as her imagination. She raised her hind legs and extended it to the tree's brittle bark with a powerful force, leaving the thin branches to drop their dead leaves. She was about to repeat when somepony tackled her down to the mud. Looking up to see her attacker, she spotted the grey pegasus that had dropped her earlier that day.
"I'm sorry that I had to do that, but you would've hurt yourself!" The mare stared at her with worry.
Octavia glared at the pegasus. "Oh, because I'm from Canterlot, you just assumed that I'm weak?"
"What? No! It's-"
"Well we Canterlot ponies could be strong, too, you know! We Canterlot ponies aren't as fragile as vases like everypony seem to think! We Canterlot ponies just choose to not act like barbarians!"
Looking up, Octavia could see that the Pegasus was ready to have a retort of her own. But instead of shouting back at Octavia like she expected, the Pegasus did something that Octavia would never expect from a stranger:
A hug. The hug reminded Octavia of her parents, when they hugged her goodbye before she left for Ponyville. Not too tight that it would suffocate her, but not too loose that it would be insincere. Mother. Father. Violet. Canterlot.
Tasting something salty, Octavia wiped away whatever was on her mouth and realized that it was also all over her cheeks. Tears.
She broke away from the hug. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Nodding, Octavia sat down, which the Pegasus also did. Immediately, Octavia spilled the beans, telling the stranger of her day in Ponyville so far, leaving out the details of her foalhood trauma. She may trust this stranger, but Octavia wasn't that ready to tell her about very personal problems. Despite the plot hole that Octavia had caused by leaving out the reason why she ran away from the party, the pegasus didn't call out on it and was very patient. Having nothing else to say about her day, Octavia wiped her tears and looked away from the pegasus.
"You don't have to worry much about Lyra, she's sorta like a drama queen." The pegasus placed a hoof under her chin. "But I think she might be last place on the list of drama queens."
"Who are the others on the list, then?"
"In fourth place, it's Rose, then the third is Lily, then Daisy." The pegasus paused for a moment. "Those three are what we call around here in Ponyville, 'Flower Ponies' or 'Flower Trio'. But anyways, the pony in first place is Rarity.
"But enough 'bout the drama queens, what's your name? My name's Ditzy Doo, but you can call me Derpy Hooves." Derpy held out a hoof to Octavia, which she shook. "But what's your name?"
"Octavia." She frowned for a moment. "But why have you been so kind, when I was so rude earlier?"
"Weell," Derpy started as she rubbed the back of her head. "I wanted to apologize for dropping you. But then you ran away, and then I got lost because so many ponies were in my way and I didn't want to crash into them. Then I saw DJ-P0N3 drag you into Sugarcube Corner for Pinkie's surprise party. So I followed you, but I got lost in the crowd. Then, well, you know what happened next."
"But I'm sorry that I dropped you. It was an accident!"
"Don't worry, Ditzy. You're forgiven. But you still didn't answer my question."
"Oh. That's because I'm used to ponies being rude. And plus, you're homesick."
Octavia didn't agree with Derpy's logic, but she didn't want to be rude again. So instead, she silently nodded, allowing Derpy to lead. But where to, she didn't know for sure. But she did know for sure that it wouldn't be the party, since Derpy wouldn't do that, not after what Octavia had been through. This looked like it was the dawn of a new friendship.
New. Now that was the word that Octavia used to fear, but maybe new things aren't so bad after all.
Thunk!
Octavia jumped at the noise and the sudden wind behind her, coughing at the cloud of dust that quickly surrounded her like a cocoon. Once the dust cleared up, she forced herself to turn around to see the monster behind her. The 'monster', was a dead tree. She shivered for a moment and backed away, stopping when she felt something stop her. With a yelp, she saw that it was only Derpy.
Derpy frowned. "This is weird; trees aren't supposed to fall during this time of year."
Correction: Maybe new things aren't so bad all the time.
A Mystery Older Than Celestia Herself
It had been three days since Octavia moved into Ponyville and she was already adjusting to it. Except maybe her new home, from which she swore a beast was munching on glass from underneath the carpeted stairs, and that an alien was banging on the glass windows. But other than her haunted house, she was doing just fine, especially with the fact that today was Saturday, the perfect day to do just about anything a pony could want. And Octavia was grocery shopping in the market, which wasn't the best way to spend a Saturday. But she had to, since Derpy emptied her fridge. How could that mare eat so much?
"Twelve bits for a carrot!?" Octavia exclaimed as she stared at the painted sign in front of her.
"Take it or leave it, ma'am," The yellow earth pony was leaning on the counter, twirling her orange mane around with her hooves. "These carrots aren't exactly easy to grow. Special seeds from Manehatten are where they're from, and they're pretty costly."
After scanning the market for any other carrot stands, Octavia gave a sigh when she realized that there was none. She tossed the needed bits on the counter top with soft clanks, as the mare in front of her handed her a carrot.
The mare waved a hoof as if she was leaving on a voyage. "Come again!"
With a huff, Octavia walked off to the stand that sold celery sticks. As she did, she didn't expect for a pony to run into her and knock her down to the stone-covered ground. Ready to give a lecture, she stopped herself when she realized that it was a certain pegasus.
"Hiya, Tavi!" Derpy waved her hooves, ignoring the fact that she had just crashed into somepony. Octavia rolled her eyes at the nickname, but she'd let it slide this time.
"Ditzy, will you please get up?" Octavia, tried to prevent herself from gritting her teeth.
"Sure!" Derpy flapped her wings and flew up, looking down at Octavia with a wide, toothy smile on her face.
"Why are you smiling like that?" The smile was creeping Octavia out, causing her to back away slightly.
Instead of answering, Derpy grabbed Octavia's hooves and lifted her up. Octavia couldn't help but scream for the duration of flying, which was exactly two minutes and ten seconds before Derpy landed them on the ground.
"Gee, Tavi, you sure do scream loudly," Derpy unfurled her wings and flapped up eight feet above Octavia. "But you can still follow me."
Nodding, Octavia followed Derpy to a willow tree with a small hole-- that was only wide enough to fit a baby dragon-- in its dark brown trunk. Hoping that Derpy wasn't thinking off crawling into a hole that could barely fit them, Derpy did the exact opposite. Somehow, the Pegasus managed to fit once she folded her wings tightly against her sides. After giving a sigh, Octavia followed her. Thank Celestia she didn't get stuck, that would mean that she wasn't fat! Deciding that there were more important matters, she continued to follow her friend. She did so by listening to shifting dirt, clenching her eyes as she did; she didn't want to see the eyes again. After what seemed like forever, Octavia could feel the warmth of the sun, shining down on her. On instinct, she opened her eyes to see that she and Derpy were outside in an area enclosed by towering trees, whose leafy branches blocked most of the sunlight from touching the ground. Scanning the area, one could see weathered boxes with crayon scribblings on them, scattered all over the place. There was also a tree house which looked like it was recently used, which Derpy frowned at.
"That's weird," Derpy tapped a hoof on her chin. "Nopony was here for six years. Or at least, there shouldn't be."
"Ditzy, what or where, is this place exactly?"
"Oh! This place is the place where Time Turner and I used to play!"
"Who is this 'Time Turner', of whom you speak of?"
"Well. . ." Derpy spoke of the time she had with Time Turner, a colt who was her foalhood friend. They both would use to run through Ponyville, screaming that the Daleks (or some other creature) were coming. Of course it wasn't true, but the townsponies would shriek and hide when the duo did that, only to scold and glare at the two foals when they realized that there was no attack on Ponyville.
"But it's not our fault!" Derpy concluded. "They were the ones who thought that there was an attack!"
"I wouldn't blame them, Ditzy. After all, I wouldn't want to risk getting attacked by...Daleks." Octavia cocked her head. "What is a Dalek, exactly?"
But instead of answering, Derpy's attention was on something or somepony behind Octavia. Following Derpy's gaze, Octavia turned around to see a familiar-looking stallion, standing behind her with a shocked look that had been sent at Derpy. That shocked look only lasted for a split-second, however, when the stallion took on a smile.
"Hello there." The stallion gave a wave. "Who are you two mares?"
Glancing back at Derpy, Octavia could see that her friend was trying hard not to frown.
"I-I'm Derpy Hooves." Derpy held out a hoof. She seemed to have a wistful glance as she did.
The stallion shook the hoof and turned to look at Octavia. "And who might you be?"
"Octavia Stanzas." Said mare stared at the stallion until she remembered where she saw him. He was the one who had been used as a cushion when Octavia had been dropped! It would be wise not to mention that, thought Octavia.
"Nice to meet you lovely mares, but I must hurry on!" The stallion dashed past the mares and dived into the hole.
There was a silence in the air, which Octavia shattered.
"Aren't you going to chase after him? The fellow did invade a private property," she said.
Derpy shook her head. "That fellow had a right to come here. After all, he was the one who had the idea to build this secret place."
"You don't mean . . ."
"Yes, that stallion is Time Turner."
Octavia wasn't shocked by this news, but she was. Something wasn't right, and it was that the stallion didn't recognize Derpy. From what she heard from Derpy, the both were the best of friends. How could a best friend forget their best friend's name? It's impossible! Then again, it could be that it was just the work of time. Pacing around to try to find answers to this, she continued thinking of possible answers, but she stopped when her thoughts were starting to be ridiculous. Time Turner couldn't be a time traveler now, could he? Glancing at her friend, she saw that Derpy was staring at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you okay, Tavi?" Derpy stared with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm fine, Ditzy," replied Octavia. Octavia looked at the hole, then at Derpy. "Let's head back, shall we?"
After returning to Ponyville, Derpy invited Octavia over to her house for muffins, which she accepted. After all, this was a chance to find out more about Derpy's past, not that she would force the information out of her. After Derpy got the muffins from the oven and the two took a seat at the wooden table, both of them grabbed a muffin (a blueberry for Derpy and a carrot for Octavia). The two mares ate in silence.
Shouldn't be too long now, thought Octavia. As if on cue, Derpy gulped down the last of her muffin and looked up at Octavia.
"Tavi, you wouldn't mind hearing stories, do ya?"
Octavia shook her head in reply.
"Well, then. I met Time Turner when I found him in the Everfree Forest, covered in Poison Jokes--but I didn't know they were Poison Jokes before. I was only seven. Anyways, he didn't seem to know his name for a moment, and he thought that he was some other species when he woke up, so I thought he was crazy. But then he said that his name was 'Time Turner', so I didn't think that he had amnesia anymore. I asked Time Turner why he was in the Everfree Forest, which is the most scariest place in Equestria! He sai-"
"If it's the most 'scariest place in Equestria', why did you go in there?" Octavia hated interrupting, as it wasn't very polite. But she needed to understand this story.
Derpy rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I had to get the ball that I accidentally kicked over there. . ."
Avoiding the urge to roll her eyes, Octavia motioned Derpy to continue.
"Anyways, Time Turner said that he got lost and separated from his parents. He was sad for a moment, but then he asked me the year. I told him the year, and he was shocked for some reason. I wonder if he even kept a calender. . . anyways, I tried to help him find his parents, but he insisted that they were in the forest. So instead, I gave him a tour of Ponyville. I don't know why, but he seemed impressed with everything.
"After the tour, Time Turner returned to Everfree Forest, but he always visited Ponyville everyday. We became friends, and he didn't care that I was a klutz or that my eyes are weird, like some ponies did. Eventually, we would pretend that we were time travelers, with me being his assistant. Sometimes we would pretend to get chased and stuff.
"When we were eleven, Time Turner disappeared for two years and came back. I was really happy that he came back, but he didn't seem happy to see me. Instead, he held out a hoof to me and asked my name. I thought that he was just being Time Turner, so I played along. But when I asked if he wanted to go to our secret place, he didn't know what I meant. I quizzed him on the stuff that we did before, but he only looked confused."
"He forgot me, Tavi. He forgot that we were friends."
When Derpy said that last sentence, it didn't sound like Derpy speaking. The voice that she spoke in was quiet, as if she would cause an avalanche if she spoke a decibel louder. It was very different from the loud voice that she'd usually speak in.
Octavia didn't know what to do. She stayed silent as Derpy grabbed a random muffin from the pan and bit down on it. She looked away and pondered to herself; her friend needed cheering up, but what could she do? She hadn't known Derpy long enough to know everything that made her happy (she did know that muffins could do the trick, but they weren't working now), but she had to try. As she thought long and hard, an idea popped into her head.
She walked over to her friend and whispered something into Derpy's ear. Listening with interest, Derpy nodded and swallowed her muffin whole.
"Well what are we waiting for, Tavi? Allons-y!" The pegasus zoomed out of the house, leaving loose papers to swirl around in the air.
Octavia crossed her forelegs. "Maybe I should've told her that we're doing it later."
The birds chirped their songs as they fluttered above the white, fluffy clouds, but they had been disturbed by a desperate scream and the sound of beating wings.
Octavia tightened her grip around Derpy's neck. "DITZY! Slow down!"
Derpy tried hard not to wheeze. "Tavi! You're choking me!" She started to fly in a wide zigzag pattern, which threatened to run over anything that was in her way.
Octavia decided that it wouldn't do to have a repeat of any accidents that Derpy had mentioned, so she slightly loosened her grip; not too loose that Octavia would fall off, but tight enough so that she wouldn't have a repeat of her first meeting with Derpy. At the thought of the first meeting, she immediately stared up at the sky, not caring that the sun could blind her. She swore to never look down at the landscape until she was certain that Derpy had safely landed them on the ground.
Derpy flew in a straight pattern again, only zigzagging if she needed to. After raising her right-wing and swerving away from the Town Hall, she spread out her wings and descended in a slow glide. Her hooves landed on the ground with a clop, albeit wobbly. Folding her wings against her body, she tapped her passenger on the hoof.
Leaping off her friend, Octavia landed on the stone-covered ground. She rubbed her eyes to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating, before looking up at Derpy. "So what do we need for the party?"
Derpy took out a folded piece of paper from the orange saddlebag that she was wearing and unfolded it, revealing that it was longer than it looked. "We're gonna have to get the guests now, since we already got the food and stuff."
Octavia blinked and stared at her friend as if she just admitted that she was Discord. "Pardon me?"
"I said we have to get the guests now."
Octavia waved a hoof. "I heard you, Ditzy. But I thought this was just going to be a private party, which was why you didn't tell Pinkie about it."
"It is. But what's a party without a few guests?"
"... That's a good point, I suppose. So who's on the list?" When she received no reply, she looked to read the list that Derpy was holding, which would've worked if Derpy was there when she did so. "Ditzy?"
"Watch out!"
In the nick of time, Octavia turned around to see a grey blur tumbling towards her. She quickly crouched down, preventing a painful collision and a trip to the hospital. When she pushed herself back up she observed the blur, which she now realized was beating its wings to try to stop itself. The moment she saw the wings, she immediately realized who the blur was.
"Ditzy!" She ran after her friend, dodging any obstacles that seemed to be in conspiracy to slow her down. Minutes later she was only a few hoofsteps away from stopping Ditzy, but cruel fate decided to place a cart in front of her. Trying to stop, she dug her hooves into the ground. The stone tiles weren't giving her good friction, which led her to slide into the wooden cart, scattering apples everywhere.
A light yellow filly climbed out of the wagon and stared at the damaged cart. "Applejack sure wouldn't be happy 'bout this."
The red stallion who was pulling the cart, frowned. "Eenope."
Ditzy gently rubbed the bump that she'd received after crash-landing. Then she looked up to see the dangling end of the rope from its long coil that had been wedged between two wooden poles. She sighed; this was the sixteenth time she'd landed in the well, though she should be grateful that this particular well was empty at the moment. Standing up, she unfurled her wings and flew upwards, hanging on the well's ledge and pulling herself up when she was near it. She smiled when she heard two familiar ponies giving a yelp.
Bon Bon widened her eyes. "Good Celestia, Derpy! You scared me!"
Lyra quickly recovered from shock and raised an eyebrow. "What the hay were you doing in there, Derpy?"
"I was looking at the painting that Ponet was doing, but Rainbow Dash accidentally flew into me. But, that’s not why I’m here." Derpy dug into one of her saddlebags and pulled out two envelopes, handing them to the two mares. "Here!" She watched as they opened them up and read the letters, eyes scanning every single word. “These, are.”
Lyra looked up at Derpy with a grin. "Of course I'll come to your party! But should I bring a gift?"
Derpy placed a hoof under her chin. "I don't know how Time Turner would feel about getting gifts from ponies he doesn't really know. But if you want to, I guess that's okay."
Bon Bon cocked her head, frowning as she did. "But if Time Turner doesn't know us and we don't know him, why are you inviting us to the party you're throwing for him?"
Derpy stared at Bon Bon as if she were crazy. "Because the more the merrier!"
Bon Bon was about to open her mouth, but Derpy had already disappeared.
Humming a tune, Derpy skipped to the front of a small, beige building with tightly weaved hay for a roof. She lifted a hoof and knocked it against the cyan door. When it didn't open, she knocked on it repeatedly until she could no longer hear the hollow sounds that she was making, but loud yelps instead. She looked down to see somepony standing in the open doorway.
Vinyl rubbed her sore muzzle."Gee, Derpy," she said in her raspy voice. "What the hay did you do that for?!"
"Sorry!" Derpy dug up another envelope and gave it to Vinyl, smiling widely. She continued humming a different tune while Vinyl read the letter. She needed a DJ at the party, and who was better to invite than the pony who was the master of turn-tabling itself? Hopefully, Vinyl could make it; she could be a busy pony, considering that she's usually the music provider in big events.
But Derpy had no need to worry, for Vinyl was nodding, her bright blue hair bouncing as she did. "I'll be there!"
Derpy wiped an imaginary sweat drop from her forehead. "Thanks, DJ-P0N3." She was about to say more, but she remembered something important.
Frantically flapping her wings, she darted up into the sky and looked down at Ponyville. Spotting a grey figure, she dived downwards, her wings folded against her sides as she spread her front hooves outwards as if she were attempting a Sonic Rainboom. Around the end of her flight, she unfurled her wings and was about to flap them, only to realize that she was too late; she was closer to the ground than she thought. In an attempt to lessen the damage that she would likely cause to herself, she positioned her wings to glide upwards. She lifted her head to prevent smashing it against an oncoming tree trunk. With a THUNK! she landed against the trunk, sliding onto the ground afterwards. She shakily tried to push herself up with her hooves, only to collapse afterwards. After a few failed attempts in getting up, the pounding in her head forced her into total darkness.
Watching a friend painfully crash into a tree trunk, after getting chased by the owners of the cart she accidentally broke, was not part of Octavia's list of Favorite Things to Do. Shaking her head out of shock, she trotted over to her friend and was about to shake her awake when somepony yelled at her.
"Don't touch her!"
Turning around, Octavia saw Lyra, Bon Bon, and Time Turner running towards Derpy.
Bon Bon skidded to a halt before Derpy, crouching down and pressing her ear against Derpy's chest for a heartbeat. Hearing the normal thumps of Derpy's heart, she sighed in relief. She stood up and glared at Octavia, looking as if she were ready to buck her. "What the hay did you do to her?"
Time Turner placed a hoof before Bon Bon, acting like a shield for Octavia. "Now Bon Bon, let's not jump to conclusions here. After all, Miss Stanzas here could just be a witness who didn't know what to do." He turned to face Octavia. "No offense, of course."
Octavia waved a hoof at the statement. "Don’t worry, Time Turner. But please call me Octavia, if that's all right with you."
Lyra shoved down Time Turner's hoof to the ground, facing said stallion with a furrow on her forehead. "Derpy could be dying for all we know! But you're a doctor, you know what to do."
Time Turner rolled his light blue eyes. "Good grief! Why does everypony think that I'm a doctor? Just because my foalhood name is Doctor Whooves, that doesn't mean I'm one!"
Lyra backed away. "Sorry! I was just hoping that a random pony that I grabbed along with me is a doctor when I saw Derpy crash."
Time Turner looked over at Derpy and smiled. "I may not be a doctor but I know that she's still alive, thanks to Bon Bon."
Lyra stared at the ground, probably realizing that she looked quite foolish. "Well, what should we do, Time Turner?"
Time Turner rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. "To be honest, I really don't know."
"Really don't know what, Doctor?"
"Well, I don't-" Time Turner stopped his sentence, and turned his head to the side to see a face sporting sunglasses with opaque, purple lenses (but why the pony needed to wear glasses that she probably couldn't see through, was a mystery).
Time Turner's eyes looked away from her, his eyelids closing halfway. "Oh. It's just you, DJ-P0N3."
DJ-P0N3 waved a hoof, although Octavia couldn't help but notice that the wave was stiff. "Good to see you too, Doctor." She showed off a grin, although Octavia couldn't really call it that, for DJ-P0N3's mouth was twitching downwards. "I see that your nickname's failing you."
Time Turner turned his head away from the unicorn. "If you have no business here, please leave."
DJ-P0N3 huffed. "What kind of pony do you think I am, Doc? I'm not letting Derpy lay around; she's my friend. She's also your friend, or is she? After all, what kind of friend forgets a friend? Especially, best friends?"
Time Turner turned his entire body towards Vinyl Scratch, his ears flattening. "I never knew Derpy until yesterday, DJ-P0N3. Now, please leave if you have no business here."
Before DJ-P0N3 could open her mouth, Bon Bon stuck herself in between the two ponies, spreading out her forelegs towards them. "Will you two quit it?! Save your arguing for later!" She turned towards DJ-P0N3 and pointed a hoof towards her. "And you, Vinyl Scratch. Do you have any suggestions that could help Derpy out?"
DJ-P0N3 placed a hoof under her chin. "You could always go to the hospital-" Octavia facehoofed herself for not thinking that earlier "-or we could try doing that 'Clear!' thing that those doctors do, even though I don't have a machine for that." DJ-P0N3 raised a hoof towards the air. "Or we could-"
Time Turner rolled his eyes. "No, DJ-P0N3, we're not going to use your turntables and your headphones in replacement of the proper machine." He stared back at Derpy's unconscious body with a frown. "I don't think Derpy even needs that."
The two continued to argue, with DJ-P0N3 defending her nonsensical and downright-dangerous suggestions, and with Time Turner shooting each and every idea down. There was also Lyra, who apparently thought that telling a ridiculous story to Bon Bon the 'self-appointed peace maker', was a good idea.
Although she didn't really know about Bon Bon, Octavia hoped that the mare still kept her sanity... on second thought, she hoped that the mare always kept her sanity. But judging from how Bon Bon thought of Lyra, she seemed to be doing pretty well. But before Octavia could do anything else, she felt a jab at her side. Thinking that it was the little filly and the stallion from earlier, she ducked behind the tree.
"Hey, Tavi." Octavia heard a voice beside her. Without turning to look, she attempted to gallop away, only for the speaker to bite down on her tail. With a small yelp, she turned around to see Derpy, with no traces of wobbling or being recently unconscious.
"You're alright!" Octavia gave a quick hug to Derpy, who returned it.
Derpy grinned. "Of course I'm alive! It would be somewhat a taboo to show a character dying in a kids' show."
Octavia blinked at the latter statement, but decided that it was just temporary confusion. "Why are you whispering?"
"The others are too busy, and I don't want to interrupt them."
"But they're worried about you! Shouldn't you tell them? They are your friends, after all."
Derpy sighed. "But I still don't wanna be a bother." She looked up at the sky, and Octavia swore that she could hear her whisper in an almost-silent level. "I'm already a bother to everypony else, anyways."
Before Octavia could ask her about the statement, she noticed that Derpy was staring at her with a cocked head, as if the little statement never happened. Maybe the little statement never did happen and Octavia was just imagining things. Yes, that was it. She shook the strange statement out of her head and stared at her hooves, wondering what to say next.
Octavia raised a hoof, as if a light bulb turned on. "Say, Ditzy. Are you still going to throw the party?"
Derpy stared back at the ponies, who still hadn't noticed them. "At the rate those ponies are going at, I don't know."
"Then go ahead and stop them, before DJ-P0N3 actually tries one of her crazy ideas! I mean, she even suggested electrically shocking you!"
"No offense, but how's that suppose to affect me?"
Octavia facehoofed. "Electricity, my dear Ditzy."
After Derpy tried to explain why she couldn't be affected by electricity, Octavia decided that it was better not to question Derpy about her immunity to electricity. Instead, she agreed with Derpy to sneak away from the scene that the other ponies had caused (it would help out with her plan), to the Pegasus' house. When they arrived, they sat around the dining table and chatted. After they'd finished talking about mushrooms (how they started chatting about that, Octavia would never know), Octavia decided that this would be the proper time to bring up her idea.
"Ditzy, do you think your friends are still coming to your party today?"
Derpy shrugged. "I think Bon Bon would remember, though."
"Tell them not to come."
Derpy slammed her hooves against the table, her wings unfurling. "WHAT!?"
Octavia motioned Derpy to sit down. "Tell them that it's rescheduled to tomorrow at the place where you and Time Turner used to play."
"But it's a secret place!"
"Don't worry, Ditzy. This is just a suggestion; for you to accept or not to accept, is your choice. But, it makes much more sense to throw a party in a place that's significant to the both of you, rather than your house. No offense intended to your house."
Derpy waved a hoof at the 'offensive' statement. "You do have a point there." She placed both of her hooves under her chin. "But we're gonna hafta make this party next week."
"Deal." Octavia looked outside the kitchen window; the sun's rays were disappearing into the horizon, as if it were waving one last goodbye. "But we're going to have to do it tomorrow."
Author's Note
Side note: The well scene with Derpy, Lyra and Bon Bon is from this: [youtube=2BrxoordEns] at 7:17.
A Mystery Older Than Celestia Herself
The Lack of Straight Answers
Derpy quickly darted through the morning air, without giving herself a chance to enjoy the cool breeze blowing at her face. She glanced down at Time Turner, who was trotting right below her.
"Hurry up, Time Turner! You're goin' to be late!"
Time Turner stared up at Derpy. "If I’m the one who's going to be late, why are you the one who's flying away so quickly?" He dodged a purple unicorn before looking up at Derpy again. "And also, it's not as if I have the ability to fly! Although, I would appreciate it if I do. It'd be very useful for testing theories and such. And maybe I could even have a chance of beating Rainbow Dash in a race!" He placed a hoof under his chin and ducked his head, still managing to run. "Never mind. That would be near impossible. Not impossible, but near impossible. But . . ." He continued rambling, surprisingly managing to avoid the different obstacles that he swore were out to get him.
After a few more minutes of speeding away (Time Turner had finally finished his rambling by now), they had arrived in front of a house that was near identical to the other buildings in Ponyville, if it weren't for its grey, bricked walls and light purple roof. Although Time Turner isn't a critic or a house designer, he couldn't help but think that the house was very plain. Now if it were blue or took a hundred years to finish, that might be worth having a look at. He blinked a few times before realizing that Derpy was already in the front doorway, shouting at him. Pushing away anymore critiques from his mind, he trotted into the doorway, knocking something over in the process.
"Time Turner!"
Never mind. Make that somepony.
Shouting an apology, Time Turner stood up and got off Derpy's back. He scanned the interior, which he expected to be just as bland as the exterior. This was why he was surprised to see balloons and streamers of every imaginable colour, scattered across the carpeted floor and taped against the grey walls. Raising an eyebrow at the decorations, he turned to ask Derpy about this, but said pegasus had disappeared.
"How odd," Time Turner muttered to himself. He allowed himself to smile. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a look around this house. After all, it isn't everyday when one gets invited into a stranger’s house."
With one quick glance around the room, he snuck his way into the nearest open door. Poking his head in, he caught a glance of grey, which tempted him to turn away. Grey, grey, grey, can't this house have more colours in it? Sneaking into the room, he scanned the room for anything that was worth his time. And there on a grey wall, he saw something taped on it. Walking towards it, he dropped his jaw when he saw a photograph. It contained two foals; one was a colt balancing a ball on his muzzle and doing a headstand, and the other one was a filly flying nearby. It was unspectacular, but what made his heart beat faster was that the colt looked like him, and the filly looked like the mare who invited him over. But how can this be? He'd only met the mare just a week ago. Or was it years ago? Slowly shaking his head, he backed away from the picture as if it were a bomb waiting for the right moment to explode. Turning around to exit the room, he'd found himself face-to-face with Derpy.
Derpy placed her hooves on her hips. "Time Turner, where were you? I thought I told you to wait back there!"
Time Turner gave her a blank stare. "Actually, you yelled my name, then disappeared." Giving a glance at the photograph, he pointed a hoof at it. "Care to explain the meaning of that?"
Derpy flitted over to the picture and stared at it for a while. Time Turner turned around and stared at her, blue eyes unblinking. Although he was sincerely curious, he was struggling to fight the urge to go and explore this place. After all, there were many things that required some proper explanations and exploration, and he didn't have all day to wait. After all, it wasn't like he could control time or do anything of the sort.
"That would be interesting if I could," said Time Turner with an unfocused stare. Controlling time would be very useful indeed.
Derpy broke away from her staring contest with the photo and looked at Time Turner. "What?"
"Nothing!" he quickly blurted, waving a hoof.
"Okay?"
Derpy was about to glance down at the photo again, but Time Turner tugged at her tail. Ignoring the glare that Derpy was now giving him, Time Turner asked his question.
"Now, Derpy. Will you please explain why I am, or rather younger me, in that picture? I swear I've never seen you before, unless you counted last week or possibly some years ago."
Derpy lowered her head and sighed. "Time Turner, you met me when we were just fillies."
Time Turner raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I was a girl?"
"No!" She shook her head. On normal circumstances that would've made her smile, but this wasn't what she needed. "Argh! You know what I mean! Honestly, we're friends! Best friends!"
"You still didn't answer my question. And also, how could I be friends with you. Not to be rude, but I don't even know you that much. Once again, we've just met-"
"Please don't repeat that sentence, Time Turner!" Derpy turned away from him. "Just please, don't."
Time Turner walked towards Derpy and stood there. Although he didn't know her all that much, he really wanted to comfort her in some sort of way, ideally a hug. But if he hugged her, that would be very awkward, and he hated awkwardness. But in this case, he could make an exception. Of course, he could've just stood there like a fool or run away, but the former choice would also be awkward, and the latter was just plain rude.
There isn't an easy way out of this dilemma, is there?
He looked at Derpy. Reaching out a foreleg, he was about to give her a hug when something had landed splat! on his back. Feeling something cold and wet trickle down towards his side, he shook his entire body, spraying water droplets and torn balloon pieces all over the walls. Then he turned around to see the culprit, who turned out to be that mare whom he remembered was named Lyra.
Lyra screamed something that Time Turner couldn't understand; it sounded like a string of gibberish, if you asked him.
But unfortunately, he'd forgotten her lack of understanding of lowering volumes. He'd never be able to forget the pounding in his eardrums after he'd received her reaction after that prank of his, last April Foal's Day. Oh the painful nostalgia . . .
Seeing Bon Bon walk in through the door, Time Turner decided that it was safe to take his hooves off his ears.
"Lyra, I thought I told you to use your indoor when we're indoors." Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "Must I scold you like I'm your own mother?"
Pointing at Time Turner, Lyra was about to continue when Bon Bon cut her off.
"And also, why did you throw that water balloon? I told you, to bring butter macaroons for crying out loud!"
"Forget that, Bon Bon. The macaroons aren't that important." Lyra threw her forelegs towards Time Turner's direction.
Lyra looked like she was about to say something, but she was cut off by a flash of blue-white light that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, swirling in a vortex that looked like the eye of a hurricane.
Time Turner gazed into the vortex, catching images of Equestria's past in it (although he'd never been heavily educated in history, he had a feeling that it was the past). Wars, armoured creatures he'd never seen before, it was all fascinating. The longer he stared into the vortex, the more the images became sharper and colourful.
Soon, the vortex swallowed the entire room and disappeared as quickly as it came.
Feeling the sense of zero gravity, images blurred before Time Turner's eyes. The images should've been blinding him at the speed they were swirling by, but he couldn't help but be hypnotized by them. Soon his eyelids shut and he fell asleep, but not before feeling his whole body growing cold and numb.
