A baby dragon, a purple unicorn, a pink earth pony, and a blue pegasus sat in the foyer of Ponyville’s library. All around them were various diagrams of machines. Each of the designs had one thing in common: they were meant to be time machines. A few weeks earlier, the librarian and her assistant had created technology that would allow one to travel through time. They were ecstatic by their creation and wanted to share it with everypony. The only problem was that they didn’t have a design to put said technology in. So they called their friends for help.
“How about the blue box?” Pinkie asked. “A blue box is inconspicuous. If you travel in any era, nopony will look at it.”
“It’s a big blue box,” Rainbow Dash said. “I think ponies are going to notice if a blue box just appears out of nowhere. And when that happens, I think ponies are going to start asking questions. What about that one?” She pointed to a metal carriage with two doors opening upwards.
“Definitely not,” Twilight said. “That design creates a trail of fire as it jumps through time.”
“That sounds awesome!”
“It’s also very noticeable. Plus, you have to be able to get it to go eighty eight miles to activate that design.”
“Why eighty eight miles?”
Twilight tapped her chin. “You know, I’m not really sure why I made it eighty eight miles.”
“We’re getting distracted from the issue at hand,” Spike said. He slashed a quill on a picture with a silver box on it. At the top of it was the word “Phone”. “I think we can say no to this one, it’s too similar to the blue box.” All of the ponies mumbled in agreement. “What about the Den Liner?” Spike held up a picture of a mechanical train with two red windows forming what looked like eyes.
“So a blue box is too noticeable, but a giant train that flies through the sky is okay?” Pinkie asked. “You have some strange logic.” Everyone looked at Pinkie. “What?”
“Nothing,” Twilight said. “Nothing at all. But Pinkie is right; the Den Liner would cost too much to create. But I think we’re on the right track. What do you think of the Zero Liner?” Twilight showed everyone a picture of a black train with a single caboose. It had two yellow bull horns at the side of it as well as a bull face at the front.
“Oh yes, a train that flies through the sky with a bull face on it is totally unnoticeable,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. She looked at notes on the train. “Why does this cost just as much to make as the other train?”
“The second caboose has a large propeller built into it,” Twilight explained. “When the propeller opens up, the train can fly like Pinkie’s cycle-copter without the need for the train tracks.”
“What possible practical use does that have?”
“None, I just thought it would be a cool idea.” Rainbow smacked her forehead. Pinkie was flipping through various pictures and notes.
“I like this one,” she held up a picture of a large bipedal robot. It was wearing a yellow helmet with a black visor that formed a T. “What’s its name and how does it work?”
“I designed that,” Spike said. “Its name is Providus. Basically, the right arm extends and hits a small shuttle. The shuttle then flies at a high speed on a pre-set track towards a portal. Once it flies through the portal, it flies through time.”
“How does the shuttle fly back to the point of origin?” Silence was in the room.
“Damnit!” Spike screamed. “I knew I forgot something when designing it.”
“It wouldn’t work on a practical level anyways,” Twilight said. “Providus stands as tall as Canterlot Castle, and it would cost too much to make the shuttle, the track, and the portal.” Twilight rubbed her eyes.
“It’s getting late, maybe we should continue this tomorrow.” Everyone nodded in agreement. When Pinkie and Rainbow left, both Spike and Twilight began gathering the notes and diagrams.
“How are we going to get funding for this anyways?” Spike asked.
“Government stipend,” Twilight answered.
“Why do we need a new design anyways? Doesn’t what we have work already?” He was flipping through the designs as Twilight did the same.
“Who’s going to believe that we discovered how to travel through time by duct taping a duck and an alarm clock to a microwave?” Spike shrugged. “Exactly. When we have a more dignified design, then we can show it to everypony. Come on, maybe we can decide on a design before we go to bed.” Twilight placed the pictures on a nearby table and sorted through them with Spike. They could share the secrets of time itself with everypony, as soon as a less nonsensical design was chosen.