The Defective Warp Pipe

by Level Dasher

Chapter 10: Information and Indulgences

Saturday afternoon, I had to restrain myself from asking Rarity to go into the mines with me, as I had promised Fluttershy I would wait until the next day. Besides, I was too tired from Fluttershy “tending to my leg” the night before. However, I got quite the surprise at the library. I was heading there to go over some more preliminary details about the search with Twilight when a pony I wasn’t expecting to see greeted me at the door.

“Mr. Yoshi! I’m so glad you’re here! Perfect timing, too!” It was Dr. Whooves. He looked rather tired, but very excited. It didn’t take long for him to begin explaining why. “You see, after our conversation at dinner a few weeks ago, you made me very curious about this land you are from. The Mushroom Kingdom, I believe you said it was called? So I began doing a little research on my own. Even though you said you didn’t want to use it, which I respect very much, I made a few trips in my TARDIS and was able to obtain some interesting information.”

As we entered the library, we completely ignored Twilight while I listened to the Doctor. “While I did not actually make my way directly to your kingdom, I ended up in a few places that were linked to it. After doing some investigating, I learned that there is a rather extreme time difference between our two worlds: it turns out that one day in Equestria is only one minute in the Mushroom Kingdom! I landed in a place called Flipside, and a being named Merlin told me, ‘Just short of half an hour ago, Mario’s faithful sidekick Yoshi went missing.’ That means that even though you have been here almost a month, it has been nary 30 minutes since you left the Mushroom Kingdom! Even the time loop that Discord created still follows the time lapse rule, so while it is unfortunate, your friend Mario has only been stuck in the loop for just under half an hour. That is certainly not enough time in your world for Discord to have done substantial damage.” My eyes went wide for a moment as the Doctor nodded and motioned to his right. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle here told me the basics of your arrival, and I was here for the Discord incident. I remember that he liked to joke around first before actually damaging anything. It was very strange…”

My mind was racing. I gave Twilight and Spike a quick hello before asking Spike to help me out. He was a little lost jumping into one side of a conversation, but at this point, translating had practically become a reflex for him. “Really? That’s great! That means even if it takes a few days to find the stones, it will still be plenty of time! And I’ll even have time to spare!” I went up to the Doctor and gave him a hug so big I almost crushed him. “Thank you so much, Doctor Whooves!”

“Not at all, my flying fellow, not at all!” He chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder with a hoof when I let him go. “Good luck! If you need any more help, please don’t hesitate to call on me!”

“Believe me, I won’t. Thank you so much for passing that info on to me. I feel a lot more at ease, and much less rushed. If you need anything, please let me know.”

“You are very welcome, my friend! Actually, there is one favor I was wondering if I could impose upon you…”

“Anything! Name it!”

“Well, Dinky was watching your amazing ‘flight’ with that filly, Scootaloo, and she was wondering—” I began to scowl a bit. If they were watching, then they knew what I said. But the Doctor caught my expression. “Oh, no no no, my friend! We heard what you said! She would be way too scared to do something that intense, anyway! You see, that’s just the thing. She has a fear of heights, and wants to get over it, but Ditzy and I can’t think of a good way to go about it. I don’t want to bring her on the roof myself, and Ditzy is a bit of a klutz, so we don’t want her to bring Dinky up in the sky. I saw how secure that little filly was with you, so I was wondering if maybe you could do just one quick high jump with her on your back? I think it would be a more fun way for her to get over the fear. Is that asking too much?”

I sighed and gave him a quick wave. That wasn’t a problem. “Oh no, that’s fine. I do owe you for that information. However, we need to do it out of sight, because otherwise all the other young ones around here are going to want ‘quick rides’. And Dinky can’t tell anyone about it until after I’m gone, because otherwise the same thing will happen. Is there anywhere close by where we could do that?”

The Doctor thought for a moment. “Hmm. Well honestly, if you want it to be out of sight, I think the best place for something like this would be at the top of the mountain outside Ponyville, but that’s quite the hike, and I don’t want to put you through that. I have another idea, though. If you don’t mind walking to my house and taking a quick detour, how would you like a ride in the TARDIS?”

The Doctor sparked my curiosity there. While I had been interested in the inter-dimensional travel we had spoken about at our dinner, I had not wanted to get distracted. However, now that I had the time, I figured I could try it out, especially now that I would get to do something interesting in the process of doing a favor. “Where did you have in mind?”

The Doctor smiled before he asked, “Well, how about the moon? There’s less gravity there, so you would be able to go even higher! And the view is simply extravagant!”

…I was stunned. The MOON? It took me a moment before I stuttered the thought aloud. “The MOON?”

“Why yes! Princess Luna’s moon has about 1/6th the amount of gravity as Equestria. I think it would be a great place for Dinky to overcome her fear. I know what you’re thinking; don’t worry, the TARDIS has all the equipment we would need. So, what do you say? Are you up for it?”

I was a bit taken aback by the whole concept, but the idea piqued my interest. I didn’t think I would get another opportunity like this, ever. Mario had been out in space before, but I didn’t think Bowser would try to bring him out of the galaxy again. Besides, I really owed the Doctor for the information he gave me, and at the same time I was getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Who can say they’ve been out in space in not one, but two different dimensions?

I narrowed my eyes and whispered, “…Bring it on.”

“Ha Ha, that’s the spirit! Hmm, I know it’s a bit sudden, but it’s only three in the afternoon. What would you say to doing it today?”

Hmm… He was right, it wasn’t that late— I could do it today and have the favor done early. I also thought that Fluttershy would want to kill me… but I wanted to start searching tomorrow. I could go to the moon, come back, rest for the remainder of the day, then be fully energized for the search in the morning. It seemed like a good option, I just couldn’t tell Fluttershy right away. Maybe in a few days…

Twilight jumped in. “Yoshi, are you sure that’s wise? Besides, I thought you were here to go over details about the search. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to you yet.”

I was a little upset that she was putting her two cents in, but Twilight wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t directly answer her. I simply said, “Well, I’d like to do this sooner rather then later. I can go now, then rest while we’re going over details when I come back. It shouldn’t take too long, right?” Twilight sighed, but didn’t say any more. She knew she was defeated. “Let’s go, Doctor, but we’ll need to bring my translator as well (“YES!”).” I glanced at Spike, then Twilight.

Twilight seemed very concerned, as I figured she would be. “Spike, are you sure you’re up for that? Doctor, can you guarantee me that he’ll be safe?”

Spike groaned, “Twiliiiiight! How come you have to be so overprotective? When else am I going to have a chance like this?” Twilight sighed.

The Doctor jumped in right away. “Don’t you worry, Twilight Sparkle! In fact, on this trip, I can absolutely guarantee his safety! If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have made the suggestion. Besides, do you think I would bring my daughter somewhere dangerous to get over a fear?”

Twilight’s concern quickly faded into relief at that comment. She smiled, then said, “Good point. Okay Spike, you can go. But make sure you’re on your best behavior! Yoshi needs you!”

---

The Doctor led us back to his home and into the basement where he kept his TARDIS. He led us inside it, which was somehow bigger than the outside. He refused to explain how that worked, but he did have a lot of space gear— enough for all of us.

After we suited up, we traveled to the moon using some strange method of transportation I still don’t understand. As we stepped out onto the surface of the moon, I was in shock. It was stunning. The sheer enormity of our surroundings was too extraordinary to comprehend. As I looked down towards the Equestrian Earth, I had no words. A comet passed by, and before I even had a chance to say “aah,” it was gone. I didn’t want to get distracted, but I was just in awe.

Other than our little sight-seeing detour, it turned out to be a short visit. Dinky took one jump up on my back and said she was finished. I managed to get about 100 feet of air with the jump alone, not including the hover. In the few seconds we were airborne, I could hear her 'oohing' and 'aahing' at the stars and the planets, clearly not showing any signs of fear. The Doctor noticed as well, and declared the trip a success. Spike had helped me with the countdown, then stood back and watched the leap. When I landed, Dinky hopped off, gave me a hug, galloped to her father (rather slowly in the reduced gravity), gave him a hug, then jumped back in the TARDIS and said, “Okay! Let’s go home!” We couldn’t argue with that.

We arrived back in the Whooves’ basement about ten minutes later. When we walked upstairs, Twilight was talking to Ditzy Doo. Upon seeing us return, she gave a look of what surprisingly seemed to be disappointment.

“You’re back already? That wasn’t very long!”

“Nope! Dinky took one nice big jump on Mr. Yoshi’s back and her fears blew away in an instant! I could see it in her eyes!” The Doctor sounded very proud that his idea was successful. As they spoke, Dinky recounted the trip to her mother.

“Really? You didn’t take the time to study your surroundings?”

Spike piped up, “Twilight, we weren’t there for a study session! We were there to help Dinky get over her fear of heights! Just because you would have spent like, three hours just looking at stars doesn’t mean everypony else would have done the same thing! We did take a minute to just look around, though.” Spike muttered the last sentence under his breath.

“I guess that’s true…” Twilight sounded very glum. She sounded like she missed an opportunity she would never have again. But then…

“Miss Sparkle? Would you like to take a trip to the moon?” The Doctor took no time in asking.

Twilight’s eye’s lit up. “…WOULD I!! Oooooooh, but I can’t right now. I have to go back to the library… More research…”

“Not a problem! Let me know when you have some time off. We can make a day of it!”

“Oh, that would be amazing! Thank you so much, Doctor Whooves! I can’t believe I didn’t think to ask you before!”

“Yes, I’ve wondered myself why you haven’t asked me to take you anywhere, the studious type that you are. Please dear, whenever you like, you are welcome to take a trip with me!”

“Thank you so much! I will definitely take you up on that! But right now… Spike! Yoshi! We need to get back to the library!”

The Doctor and Ditzy Doo thanked me for my help, Dinky gave me another hug, and then we were out the door.

“Hey Yoshi, is your leg alright?” Spike sounded overly worried.

“Oh yeah, it’s totally fine. It was lucky I only needed to take the one jump. Even in reduced gravity, too many high jumps like that could’ve been a potential problem.” I remembered the space adventure with Mario. That was a tough couple of weeks…

---

Right as we were walking into the library, I saw Fluttershy rounding the corner. She was making a beeline for the library as well— she must have been coming to collect me. I was a little worried that she might be suspicious as to my whereabouts, but I decided if it was the case, I would tell her the truth. At least, part of the truth…

Fluttershy opened the door calmly, but she did seem to have a slightly suspicious look on her face. “And exactly where were you mister? I saw you three walking in the door just a few moments ago. You clearly haven’t been here the whole time since you left my house.”

Twilight and Spike knew that I knew Fluttershy well enough by now that they wouldn’t have to say anything, and they were right. I responded, “The three of us were over at the Whooves’ place. We—”

“I thought you said you were going over details about the search with Twilight!”

“I was going to! I got a little surprise though! Something you will be very happy to hear!”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Dr. Whooves was here when I arrived. He said he had some information to give me. After our dinner with Ditzy and the Doctor a while ago, he got into doing his own research on my behalf. He never told me he was doing it, so I wanted to spend some time with him and talk about his research.

“He discovered that there is a big time lapse between here and the Mushroom Kingdom. It turns out that one day here is only a minute there. That means it’s only been about a half-hour back home for me. Sooooo… do you know what that means?” As I spoke, Fluttershy’s expression had been changing from suspicion, to confusion, to contemplation.

“…That means…” She looked down at the floor and thought for a few more seconds, piecing it all together. When she looked back up at me, I was grinning at her with a raised eyebrow. Then her eyes glowed and her mouth went agape as she finally figured it out. “THAT MEANS YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO BACK YET! YOU—”

“I can stay for a while longer.” I nodded and flashed my smile a little wider. Then Fluttershy did something that I wasn’t really expecting at that particular moment in time: she gave me ‘the look’.

“You. Home. Your leg. Now.” I raised both my eyebrows. I glanced at Twilight and Spike— they each had a hoof and a claw, respectively, covering their mouths, clearly suppressing smiles. Over the past few weeks, they had deciphered Fluttershy’s new lingo, so they knew what was about to happen. Twilight barely had time to give me a quick ‘shoo’ with her hoof before Fluttershy grabbed me and pulled me through the door to go back to her cottage. It was obvious that she was way too excited to ask any more questions about my “visit” with the Whooves, so I didn’t need to make up an alibi for the time we were on the Moon. It was fine with me— it meant I wouldn’t need to tell her what we were really doing. I hadn’t lied, after all; I did spend time with him and I did talk about his research.

On the mad dash back to Fluttershy’s cottage, we passed Applejack and Rarity taking a stroll, talking about their sisters’ latest shenanigans. Rarity was about to give us a hello when she saw the look on Fluttershy’s face, and noticed she was dragging me behind her. Rarity also understood the signs Fluttershy had recently started showing, so she kept to her conversation with Applejack. However, after we passed I heard Rarity say to AJ, “My, our little Fluttershy certainly has changed quite a bit since our friend arrived, hasn’t she?”

It was clear Fluttershy could hear them when she gave me a quick glance while she galloped and said, loud enough so I could hear her, “You better believe it, PFF. And believe me…” We came to a screeching halt right in front of her door; the momentum whipped me around right into Fluttershy’s hooves and she looked me straight in the eyes. “I have NEVER… been happier.”

Comments

[ManWithThePan]

Fuckloving Fluttershy,(tries to come up with more F.F. phrases)

[Camlio]

Well, it's official. I want to see this update soon. The story is just too funny not too. Besides the fact that I want to see if the infamous power foods make their return. (In Super Mario Galaxy 2 and several of the other Mario adventures their were power ups designed as fruit, vegetables, etc. that gave Yoshi powers. Also, Pirate Yoshi on Nightmare Night please?)