Constant made sure the door to the Monitor closed properly before looking around again. He noticed that a lot of the ponies in the town had colors which were not natural for their counterparts on Earth in his universe. "Huh," he hummed, "Well, I guess it's the way things work in this universe." Looking further, he saw a round structure that looked like it was made of glass. He was almost mesmerized by the appearance. He approached it, making sure his perception filter was not malfunctioning. "Hah. Almost reminds me of my family's house on Gallifrey," he said to himself, "Almost a third the size, though. Whoever owns that place has good taste." Looking through a window, he saw an assortment of clothing, specifically dresses that were shaped to fit female ponies. "Ah, a boutique," he thought to himself. Suddenly, he startled himself when he saw his own reflection on a window that was covered by a shadow. He looked at it, seeing an earth pony with a black mane and peanut-tan fur. The eyes were a dark green. "Okay," he thought to himself, "It turned out alright...I should probably improve the mane a bit though..." But now was not the time for that. He left the vicinity of the boutique before anyone saw him.
On the way back toward the library, he saw three fillies leaving the library. They were a yellow earth pony, a white unicorn, and an orange pegasus. They were all carrying books. Behind them, a purple dragon with green eyes followed momentarily before stopping a few feet away from the door waving to them.
"Thanks for your help, Spike!" the white unicorn called to the dragon.
"Anytime, Sweetie Belle!" Spike called back "Good luck to all three of you finding out more about that meteor!"
"Meteor?" Constant thought to himself, just as he felt a rush of air.
He looked in the direction of the disturbance and saw a blue pegasus with a rainbow-patterned mane and tail flying away from the library. "Oh...kay," he thought to himself. Just then, he remembered that he got worried about the research the three fillies were doing on a mysterious meteor. He got so caught up in the moment that he had forgotten. He looked to the library and considered whether or not dared to ask about it. He looked around and made sure that no one was watching him as he entered the library.
Constant looked around before entering the library. "Well, at least I'll be able to hear if something goes wrong with the Monitor," he thought, looking to it before actually walking through the door. He was impressed that the library itself was made inside a tree. At the same time, he wondered how long it had been since it was first constructed.
"Need help with something?" asked a voice.
Constant looked in the direction and saw a purple unicorn. But after a quick blink, he saw that this unicorn had wings. Given that she and the dragon who he saw earlier, and whose name was Spike, were the only two beings occupying the structure, Constant could only guess that the unicorn was the librarian. "Uhm...No thank you," he replied, "I think I can find my way around here..."
Spike looked up from the book he was reading. "Are you new here?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, I am," Constant replied warily, "I was just wondering if any books on astrology were available here?"
"As a matter of fact, a new order came in some time ago," the unicorn-pegasus hybrid replied.
"Where can I find them?" Constant asked, doing his best to hide how nervous he was at this point.
"Let me show you," the librarian said, leading him to where the books were.
Constant followed, and soon he got himself a few books on the subject. He sat down at a table and started reading one of the books.
Spike looked to him. "Hey, did you happen to catch sight of a meteor last night?"
Constant looked up to Spike. "Meteor?"
"Yeah," Spike confirmed.
Constant made himself look like he was thinking. "No, I didn't," he said, "Why?"
"A few friends saw one last night," Spike replied, "But it never hit the ground. We think it went back up about halfway through it's course."
"Did they say exactly when it happened?" Constant asked.
The librarian looked to Constant and Spike. "Uhm...they said it was some time after I left their clubhouse," Spike replied, "I think I left sometime around eight fifty PM."
Constant hid his worried emotions to avoid suspicion as best as he could. "Interesting," he said.
Just then, the door opened behind him and a pink pony with magenta mane and tail entered the library. "Hello Twilight!" she said cheerily, startling Constant a bit. "How are---" Her speech was interrupted when she saw Constant.
Constant, who was now facing the pink earth pony, raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter, miss?" he asked.
The pink pony recovered. "What? Oh! Not at all! I, uh...I just never saw you before, and uhm...Oh! I should make preparations!"
"Preparations?" Constant asked, now confused and feeling like he was about to be dragged into something.
"Pinkie Pie, he looks uncomfortable right now," the librarian, who Constant now knew was called Twilight, said, "Give him some space."
"Yes," Constant said, "Besides which, I'm not staying long. I'm just passing by."
"Aw," Pinkie pouted, "I SO wanted to throw him a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!"
Constant almost smiled. "Very thoughtful," he said, "but I'm just here to do a little research."
"Research on meteors?" Twilight asked.
"Uh, yeah," Constant lied, "among other things." It was convincing enough for everyone to believe.
"Ooh!" Pinkie exclaimed, "What else do you specialize in? Northern lights? Solar eclipses? Lunar eclipses?"
"I think I'll stop there," Constant said, "It's not all that exciting anyway. I live a very private life."
"Private life?" Spike asked, "You must not get around much, then."
"You're right," Constant said, "I don't..."
There was a pause as Constant flipped through a few pages in the book he was reading.
"Well, anyway, " he said, "I should get going." He stood up and put the books he read back in the shelf he saw Twilight collect them from.
"So soon?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Yeah, sorry," Constant replied, "I've got a long way to go, and I have to collect some supplies for the trip ahead."
"Maybe you can use some help?" Twilight suggested, "I'm sure Pinkie Pie would be happy to direct you to certain places." As she said that, Pinkie nodded in agreement.
"That's very kind of you," Constant said, "but as I said, I lead a private life. I'd like to do these things by myself, thank you very much."
Spike looked up, kind of surprised by Constant's statement.
"I may come back here, and then again, I may not," Constant went on, "Farewell. Thanks for your help."
When he closed the door behind him, Spike looked back to Twilight. "He seemed to be in a hurry over something," he said, "I wonder what it would be?"
"I'm not sure myself, Spike," Twilight said, "but I don't think it would be right to dig into his personal life."
"He did seem a bit nervous, too," Pinkie observed.
Constant looked up at the sky. "Hmm...still plenty of time before nightfall," he thought to himself. He sat down on a bench and got a ration pack out of his satchel. He tore it open and took a bite, looking around. He saw a stand where apples were being sold. The merchant was a female orange earth pony wearing what looked like a stetson. She was calling out to catch the attention of potential customers. Looking at his ration pack, he wished he had money to actually buy materials he might need in the future if his plan to get home was going to work out at all. "I think I'll make a note of what materials I have handy," he thought to himself. "Maybe I have something that can be found here in the first place. I might have iron or steel handy...maybe some leftover gold from the time I had to fight those Cybermen in my universe."
He then saw a pony come up to the stand and collect a few apples. He got out a monocular and looked toward the stand to see what kind of currency the culture had. "That'll be fifteen bits," the merchant said. The customer took out fifteen gold coins from his bag and put them on the stand for the merchant to collect.
"Looks like I'll have to sell some materials after all," Constant thought to himself. "I'll make a point of looking over my cargo to see what I can spare."
Time passed, and the sky was already dark enough for the stars to shine. He headed back toward the library and made sure no one was watching before he stepped quietly toward the Monitor. He slowly pushed the doors in and they slid open in opposite directions. He entered, and checked the power levels again. Sensor data was coming in at a much greater range and rate than before. With that, Constant was able to get a full map of the land around him. "Yes!" he said excitedly. "Now to start planning the probe run!" He ran down to the lab. "Jethrek, we're almost ready to go! We'll use this time zone as a home base."
"I understand," Jethrek replied, "How far back will we be going?"
"We'll start about a thousand years ago and work our way up from there," Constant replied. "I've got several probes ready, so we'll deposit them in equal increments of time."
"What do you request of me?" Jethrek asked.
"I'd like you to watch these screens," Constant said, typing into a console. "They will tell you when the probes are working."
"Instructions noted," Jethrek said, "I will watch for status reports."
Constant nodded, and carried the first probe to the control room. He turned it on, went to the navigational console, and set a course. He watched the local time clock and waited for it to strike midnight. "Five seconds to temporal departure. Four. Three. Two. One." He pressed the execute button, and the Monitor disappeared from view.
Spike woke up from his slumber after hearing a short whooshing sound. He looked out a window and looked around. "Now I know we weren't hearing things," he thought to himself. "I'd better listen for it again..." He yawned. "Maybe after I get enough sleep," he thought further.