Time Turner gave a might yawn as he stepped out of his clock shop. It had been a rather boring and uneventful Sunday so far and he decided to just close the shop early. For once he had no clocks to fix and barely any customers had come today.
The stallion wasn’t very surprised by the lack of activity, Ponyville was nearly empty due to some travelling circus that had stopped just outside town. Turner hadn’t been interested in going, but Derpy and the girls had gone. Instead the clock-smith decided to keep his shop open just in case someone needed help with their clocks.
I should just have swallowed my pride and gone to the circus, would probably have been less boring, Time Turner grunted as he closed the door and locked it. Even Caramel went.
Turner turned around and walked towards home, glancing occasionally to the south where he knew the circus was. He wondered if it was too late to go after all. Derpy had told him it was all right if he didn’t want to go. The clock-smith still felt a little guilty and wondered if she was slightly disappointed that he didn’t go with them. This was a family event and now he was part of her family.
Derpy and he had now been together for a while, he still couldn’t believe how it had happened. The stallion had been pining for her so long and then the whole fiasco with Dinky’s real father happened and that somehow brought them together.
Well at least we also got few new friends out of it, he thought. His walk took him towards the center of the town.
Speaking of, we should send another telegram to ask how Private is doing, he’s still in the hospital in the Crystal Empire I think. Time Turner took a turn that would eventually lead to where he and Derpy now lived.
After becoming official and decided to move in together, the couple had realized they needed a bigger house. There was no room for an extra pony where Derpy used to live with Carrot Top and Time Turner’s was meant for two ponies tops. Sparkler decided to stay with Carrot Top as she was now old enough to move out of foster care, so that meant Derpy would only need extra rooms for Dinky and Tootsie.
Fortunately, they could rent an affordable building near the town center with enough room for all four ponies, even the fifth when Dinky’s older half-sister came for visits.
Time Turner was now close to home and stopped to get the key from his saddlebag. He was about to open it when he caught something from the corner of his eyes. The pony looked up and raised an eyebrow, he could have sworn that a shadow just moved quickly away between two buildings.
“Hello?” he called wondering if someone was there. Curiosity getting the better of him the stallion started to approach. Turner peeked in-between the two houses but saw nothing there. The clock-smith frowned and stepped back, he was almost certain he didn’t imagine it. That’s when he felt his rear bump into someone’s chest.
“Excuse me,” a voice with a strange accent said. “Would you mind ducking?”
Time Turner slowly turned his head to look behind him. His eyes opened wide in surprise when seeing the smiling pony standing there behind him. It was a stallion, only slightly taller but otherwise looked almost exactly like him, safe he was a lighter shade of brown and wore a blue vest.
“W-wha?” The clock-smith’s jaw dropped. The mystery pony just smiled wider before quickly stepping aside, then he took a swift step forward and put one foreleg firmly on Turner’s back.
“Duck!” the pony said and suddenly pushed the other stallion down. Just at that moment a yellow energy blast sailed out of the alley and barely missed both ponies.
“Hah! You got to aim better than that if you plan to get me!” the stranger shouted triumphantly into the alley and rose up again, at the same time he helped Turner back to his hooves.
“What?” the clock-smith just kept staring at what looked like a slightly bigger mirror image of himself. “Who are you?”
“Hm?” the strangers had been busy scanning the area between the buildings with his eyes and looked over at Turner.
“I asked, who are you, what is going on, who is shooting at us?” Time Turner asked and glanced warily into the alley.
“Oh just call me Doctor Whooves, or just Doctor, or Whooves,” the stranger said with a casual shrug before eyeing the alley again. “Duck.”
“You want me to call you Duck?” Turner arched his brow, but the other pony was already placing his hoof on him again.
“No, duck!” Whooves shouted and pushed Turner back down to the ground, another energy blast sailed over their heads.
“Missed again!” the stranger called into the alley and rose up. “As for what is going on, nothing special really, just a confused and panicking shadow wraith.”
“Shadow what?” Turner was even more confused than ever; he had barely risen before the mystery pony suddenly ran into the alley. “Hey, wait!”
Time Turner followed Whooves through the alley and through several streets before they found themselves again in the town center. There the doctor stopped and started to look around with a furrowed brow and tapping his muzzle with one hoof.
“What is a shadow wraith and who exactly are you, aside from your name? Why do you look like me?” Time Turner asked.
“Shadow wraiths are little creatures that live in the shadows of the Everfree forest, usually harmless, but this one has clearly gotten lost and found itself here in town. Not enough shadows to move around in and not enough hiding places, so it’s panicking and lashing out,” Whooves explained absentmindedly as he kept looking around. “Fortunate the circus is in town, not too many ponies that could get accidentally hurt.”
The clock-smith just kept staring at his apparent double, still no closer to understand what was going on. Doctor Whooves continued to glance around as if trying to spot something out of place. Then he stamped a hoof on the ground in frustration.
“Ponyfeathers, we lost it.” He shook his head and turned around to face Turner. “You must be very confused.”
“What gave it away?” Time Turner asked sarcastically, wondering if he was actually getting a proper answer from this pony. He had at least explained the shadow wraith.
Whooves didn’t say anything, just smiled and gestured to the stallion to follow him. Turner sighed in resignation and figured the only way to learn what was going on was to humor the mystery pony, so he followed.
“You and Derpy know my friends, Private, Foxy and Dew,” Whooves spoke finally after they had walked in silence for few minutes, the way the pony kept looking around, Turner guessed he was keeping an eye out for the wraith.
“They never said they knew a pony that looks like me,” the clock-smith said and frowned.
“Oh that’s because I told them not to, my kind aren’t supposed to be well known really,” the doctor told him.
“Your kind?” Time Turner arched his brow this time, from what he could tell Whooves was an ordinary earth pony, with the exact same cutie-mark and him.
“Don’t let my looks fool you, I’m no ordinary Equestrian,” Whooves chuckled and stopped for a moment and kept staring into an alley for a little bit before continuing the walk.
“I’m actually a time pony, we are the caretakers of time and special agents of the Royal Pony Sisters,” he then told the clock-smith assuming a more serious face.
“Time pony? I thought they were just a legend,” Timer Turner gasped in amazement.
“Isn’t it funny how often legends turn out to be true,” Whooves chuckled, he stopped again and pointed at Turner’s cutie-mark. “And by the looks of your cutie mark, one of ours got a little friendly with one or more of your ancestors. Those are heredity you know.”
Time Turner twisted his body to look more properly at his hourglass cutie-mark. Now that he thought about it, he had seen many ponies with exactly that cutie-mark but many didn’t have any real talents that related to clocks or time.
“Don’t think too much about it, you are an earth pony, just in case you were worried you had some hidden destiny as a missing time pony,” Whooves said with a coy smirk.
“No, we time ponies are an ancient breed; we came before the pony tribes that formed Equestria. We used to just keep to ourselves until approached by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they asked us to be one of their many contingency plans to protect Equestria if needed be,” the doctor continued to explain.
“So if you are a time pony and maintain time, does that mean…?” Turner looked at Whooves unsure if he really dared guessing.
“We can access the time stream and essentially see the past, present and future? Yes, yes we can. It’s discouraged to do that too often, but we can yes.” Whooves confirmed what the clock-smith had been thinking.
“Okay but why do you look like me?” Time Turner brought up again what bothered him the most.
“Oh, well no we are not long lost twins. I’ve looked into the matter and just came to one conclusion,” Doctor Whooves said as he examined himself and the clock-smith with a critical expression.
“What conclusion?” Turner asked almost dreading the possible answer. Whooves didn’t answer right away, he turned his head to look into a direction as if he had seen something.
“It’s plain and simple, one in a trillion-chance stupid coincidence,” the doctor told him with a shrug and trotted onward.
“That’s it?” Time Turner could barely believe that.
“Not everything has some deep mind blowing explanation, Mister Turner, sometimes it’s just a stupid coincidence,” Whooves said stunning the other pony again.
“How do you know my name, I didn’t tell you,” he asked.
“You will…” Whooves stopped walking and slapped his forehead. “Oh I am so dumb.
Time Turner arched his brow at this remark. The time pony was clearing this throat and looked mildly embarrassed before turning to the earth pony.
“Look, later in the future, you and Derpy will come across me, Private, Dew and Foxy but none of us will recognize you two,” Whooves said in a very quiet voice and walked closer to the clock-smith.
“You see, I can’t just access the time stream, I can travel through it. Takes a lot of energy, if I travel too far I have to rest for a while before I can do it again. I’ve sometimes done it with my friends for various reasons,” he continued as he glanced around.
“You can literally travel through time?” Turner asked sceptically.
“Well it is heavily discouraged by the Time Pony Council, but yes, basically I can.” Whooves nodded, then he suddenly ducked and dragged the clock-smith down with him. Just at that moment there was another energy blast.
“Oh for crying out loud, I’m not chasing you to attack you, I want to help you,” the doctor called as he rose up, for added emphasis he stomped down one hoof.
Time Turner opened his mouth to say something, but the time pony shushed him before focusing his attention towards the shadow of a nearby building.
“Look, I know you are afraid, you just want to get back home to the Everfree forest, to all the nice shadows there you can hide and play around in. I’m sure all your friends miss you too, your mother is probably worried sick about you,” Whooves continued to talk in a gentle and understanding tone.
“Just come along, merge into my shadow.” The time pony carefully approached the building until his shadow crossed with the shadow of the house.
Time Turner watched both confused and slightly worried. He was beginning to wonder if he had encountered a mad pony. The stallion glanced around and wondered if it was too late to just book, maybe the circus hadn’t finished showing yet.
“There you go, now let’s go,” Whooves said and turned around. Turner looked down at pony’s shadow and could have sworn it was darker if that was even possible.
“Come on, let’s get this little fellow back home,” the doctor addressed Turner and trotted off.
Turner wasn’t sure why but he followed, although worried, he was still curious about this pony who looked almost exactly alike to him. Then he suddenly realized something.
“Wait, you said to call you Doctor Whoove.” He hurried his pace so he could walk side by side the other pony. “Ponies here, kept insisting on calling me that.”
“Ooooh, right. Sorry about that,” Whooves chuckled nervously, then he glanced at the clock-smith with a grin. “I have been here a few times, past, present and future. “They have probably been confusing you with me.”
“And you never corrected them?” Turner grunted, thankfully though this had died down after he got together with Derpy, but this had been a mystery that had bothered him for a long time now.
“Like I said, my kind are not supposed to be well known. I can’t go into the details of why that is, me being confused with you has actually been somewhat beneficial to maintain that. I’m really sorry about it though, let me make it up to you when we are done taking our shadowy friend back home,” Whooves told him with a reassuring smile.
Time Turner frowned, not sure how Whooves was going to make up for this. Then again he was at least satisfied to finally know why ponies had kept getting his name wrong. They continued onwards in silence until they reached the edge of Everfree forest outside of Ponyville.
Turner stopped, not really wanting to go too close the forest. Whooves however marched right up to it and stepped within its borders without hesitation. The earth pony watched as the time pony talked softly with something in the shadows and waited for a moment before leaving the edge and returned to him.
“There we go, one shadow wraith back home and happy,” Whooves chuckled.
“Well that’s good I suppose,” Time Turner said. “So how are you going to make up for the naming confusion.”
“Well that’s the other reason I’m here in Ponyville right now,” the doctor placed a hoof on Time Turner’s back and smiled wide. “This might tingle a little, but just remain calm.”
The clock-smith was about to open his mouth to ask what in Equestria he meant, but then noticed that the time pony’s cutie-mark had started to glow. Turner’s eyes opened wide as the soft yellowish glow began to spread and enveloped Whooves before it began wrapping around him too.
“W-what is going on?” Time Turner asked and started to look frantically at himself and the other pony as their entire bodies began glowing. Then everything vanished.
When Turner could see again, Whooves and he were standing only stone throw away from the circus. The earth pony blinked and looked around confused, they were no longer at the edge of the forest.
“You teleported us to the circus?” he asked baffled.
“Oooh a little more complicated magic than that,” Whooves chuckled and pointed towards Ponyville, specifically the clock tower.
Turner blinked, the clock on the tower, his pride and joy. It was showing a much earlier time than it should.
“Right now, you are going to your clock shop, the circus will be opening soon aaaaand ah there they are,” Whooves said and pointed towards the ponies that were beginning to approach the circus. He specifically drew Turner’s attention to where Derpy, Dinky and Tootsie Flute were.
“What?” Turner’s jaw dropped. Derpy and the girls had gone to the circus hours ago as far as he was aware.
“Hey girls, over here!” Whooves called and waved one front leg to catch their attention. The gray pegasus and the two unicorn fillies blinked and looked towards them.
“Turner! You decided to come after all,” Derpy smiled and trotted over, followed by the girls, then she stopped when noticing the pair. “Uh… is my eye worse than usual today?”
“No, no, not at all. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Doctor Whooves, I’m an old friend of Foxy, Dew Doe and Private Iceland. They asked me to go to Ponyville to tell you that Private is doing very well at the hospital in the Crystal Empire,” Whooves said placing a hoof on his chest.
“Wow you look just like Turner, uh except a little taller,” Dinky remarked when she and her sister caught up.
“Yes, but no we are not brothers as I have actually explained to poor Time Turner,” the time pony said with a smile and looked at Turner. The earth pony was still digesting the fact that he had in fact gone back in time.
“Are you alright, sweetie?” Derpy asked and walked over to her stallionfriend.
Time Turner blinked again, then looked at Derpy. Then he smiled awkwardly. “Uh… I may have to get back to you on that.”
“Now you four have fun at the circus, I’m afraid I have to get going as I actually have an important mission to be on for Princess Celestia. I’ve been trying to track the location of somepony, but he’s being awfully tricky and elusive,” Whooves said and patted Turner gently on the back, then he smiled towards Derpy and the girls. The pegasus and the fillies then all gasped when his cutiemark began glowing and he vanished.
“Turner… who was that?” Derpy whispered, glancing unsure at the clock-smith.
“I… will explain when we’re done here, I have a feeling I must avoid Ponyville for a few hours,” Time Turner muttered and gestured to the circus.
Derpy tilted her head, glanced at the girls who looked just as confused as her. She then decided to worry about this later, all it mattered right now was that Turner had decided to come with them to the circus after all. The four ponies then went to join the crowd that was gathering outside the tent.
The end