//------------------------------//
// Part 3 Tour of Ponyville 
// Story: Adventures in the TARDIS 
// by Scroll 
//------------------------------//

A mysterious quadruped cloaked figure observes those exiting the Clock Tower across the street with a triumphant grin. Not only are the newcomers across the street expected, but even expected to arrive at this precise time. The grin especially deepens when the cloaked figure observes Derpy and the Doctor exit the clock tower. These are just the ponies the cloaked figure needs to see.

The mysterious cloaked figure almost steps out of the shadows of the alleyway across from the Clock Tower, but then the cloaked figure observes something else that the figure did not expect, and that is even more newcomers exit the Clock Tower besides Derpy and the Doctor. Specifically, there are four unexpected extras; a small white blind filly, an egg white mare in a white lab coat and oddly glowing and floating glasses. Eventually two more join the scene. Two more ponies with strong height differences. A tall and large brown mare pegasus with darker tips at her wings and hooves, and a much smaller blue unicorn stallion who seems strangely familiar to the mysterious cloaked figure, but the figure can't place the blue stallion yet.

From across the street, the mysterious cloaked figure can't make out the cutie marks of all the newcomers yet, but the blue stallion is wearing a pair of saddlebags with a larger image off to the side. That picture shows a rolled-up scroll.

The mysterious cloaked figure ponders the image of the rolled-up scroll for a short while. That seems familiar to the cloaked figure too. Perhaps even too familiar. In the right social circles, the image of a rolled-up scroll can be as common to Equestria as an hourglass cutie mark.

There's something else noteworthy about the unknown newcomers across the street. All of them, except for the blind filly, Derpy, and the Doctor, are gazing around themselves in wonder. This makes it obvious that the newcomers have never seen Ponyville before. The interesting thing about that is that they have this reaction even though they didn't enter this town from the train station or the outer border of Ponyville. Instead, they are acting this way when they stepped out of the Clock Tower itself, implying that was their very first entry point into this town.

There's only one explanation for that that the mysterious cloaked figure can come up with.

Given this recent string of observations, it gives the mysterious cloaked figure pause. There might be a danger in approaching these new, unknown newcomers. The mysterious cloaked figure needs more information now. The figure decides it might be best to follow them for a little while and gather more information. That might change how the figure approaches them later on.

When the mysterious cloaked figure observes the others venturing on, the figure eventually, and stealthily, tails after them.











For the most part, to Feather Wind, exploring Ponyville felt just the same as exploring any other town for the first time in his native time. The only difference is this awareness that he does have some historical connection to this town. Also the terrain is a little familiar.

To Feather, there seems to be a haphazard design to the town which clearly shows there was no organized planner behind it. Instead, it seems more like some pony in history came into town, picked a random spot, then claimed it as their own. From there, that pony (or ponies) built a home or shop there over time and that was it. As a result, most roads that run through the town, which isn't much, are crooked. They just zig and zag all over the place. There also isn't much logic to the pattern of these homes or shops. There isn't much of a dedicated business or residential district. Instead, a shop might exist beside a home, followed by another home, followed by a shop that is also a home, then nothing at all after that. A pony would have to venture north, south, east, west, or somewhere in between to get to another built structure. If one does, the next building might be all alone with no other building directly adjacent to it.

As a result of all of this, a newcomer to this town can get very confused about where everything is, and could take quite a while to eventually learn all that. Paid tour guides should be much more common in this area except for the fact that this town isn't too large overall.  

That said, there is one main street running through the center of the town. Every facility and shop that this town has that specifically caters to visitors is here and it has some organization in terms of theme to this section. Any visitor that came and went from this town is most likely thinking of this one street in particular. All the shop windows face this main street. Behind those shops is where buildings have this scattered design again.

There are a lot of rivers that fork through the town. Multiple bridges are built to compensate. The newcomers are told that most of these rivers fork from a single source. One of them feeds into a nearby lake which is Ponyville's largest local body of water.

This honestly doesn't shock Feather Wind. He had seen other towns with a similar design and for similar or exactly the same reasons. This especially tends to be a pattern with small pony towns and communities. However, larger cities are almost always far more organized with most of the districts dedicated to one purpose or another. It can change over time, but there still tends to be a rhyme and reason to it.

Architecturally, most of the buildings were fairly similar such as the thatched rooftops, but that similarity often includes some kind of unique flair to each building. Being unique in some way is exactly what they had in common. Some buildings took this concept quite a bit further by adding some obvious themes to it such as Rarity's shop, the Carousel Boutique, which is somewhat designed like a carousel. There is also Sugar Cube Corner which has an extra room built on top that looks like a giant cupcake. Feather suspects that the extra room was built later as if it was an afterthought or later addition.

Then there is the Golden Oak Library. That “building” is especially unique because it is the only one which is grown from the ground rather than constructively built. It, in fact, was a natural tree that later got carved out and converted into a home.

Since it is a library, it is also one of the destinations Feather is most personally interested to explore, but since it is also run by one of the legendary Elements of Harmony, Feather also felt wary of it because significant historical events may revolve around that particular mare. Even though it is a mare from his future, he still wanted to be careful how an individual that important is approached.

That is why Feather kept his silence about exploring that particular building further even though part of him wanted to. He even caught Stern glancing back at him once as if expecting him to object about moving on from that particular building. In doing so, she notices him ducking his head and being shy over this issue. When she sees that, she frowns slightly because she thinks her colt friend should be more assertive.

This seems like a very pleasant community with bright colors and happy citizens. As Derpy promised, most of the natives seem very friendly here.

Another area that fascinates Feather is the outskirts of Ponyville which has a farmers' market. This section of town doesn't have any permanent buildings for the most part. Most likely this was how the town originally looked before some decided to set roots here and construct more permanent buildings. The farmers' market instead has lots of tents and wooden stalls. Some have also set up shop in the back of their wagons or put items for sale on a blanket. In any case, it is something the sellers here can quickly and easily construct and then leave just as easily.

Something noteworthy about the farmers' market here is multiple things.  

For one, they don't just sell produce here. There are non-edible goods that are also for sale and/or services.  

For two, what is sold here isn't necessarily something that is sold in town in more permanent buildings. They can be, but there is a tendency to sell items here that aren't sold in town regularly. Random sellers come in and out of this section of town so one never knows what is being sold here unless a pony ventures here every single day, although Feather is also informed by Derpy that this market tends to have significantly higher business during weekends and holidays. 

For both residents and visitors, this random factor can make exploring the market rather fun and potentially profitable because one never knows what will be sold here. It changes every day. Rare deals might be discovered here as well which either take the form of a product hardly ever sold here at a marked-up price, or common goods sold at unusually low prices.

As a result of all of these factors, the farmers' market tends to do very well for the sellers. It seems the demand is just a bit higher than the supply ever is on average. Part of the reason isn't just because of the residents and visitors, but also because the sellers are often buyers as well. In fact, it can be even more important for the sellers to explore this market for goods they aren't selling themselves (unless they are exploring or attempting to undermine the competition) because the sellers often come from distant and remote locations. Locations that don't have regular access to any shop. Most of these sellers are farmers themselves who specialize in certain types of crops. They keep what they need and then sell off the rest at markets like this. In return, they use the bits they earned to turn right back around and start becoming a buyer themselves for other goods that they need for their farm, including other produce that they don't grow or don't grow often.

All of this makes Ponyville the focal point of widely spread and more isolated communities such as single family farms. Markets like this are too distant for them to make every day so they tend to do this more like once a moon, or even once a season. Ponyville just happens to be the center of all of this where everyone consciously or unconsciously agreed to gather.  

Once again, this is a common pattern for most of Equestria except in larger cities.

Ponyville occasionally gets merchants and goods from very distant locations. For those merchants, this is most likely just a pit stop along the way to either many locations across Equestria, which is usually more common, or a specific destination that is distant from where they started. Ponyville is where they offload some of their goods, get re-supplied for their journey, then off they go again. It is times like these why Ponyville gets access to exotic goods rarely sold in this area.

In Feather's estimation, it is Sweet Apple Acres that was the initial draw for this town, especially for one very rarely sold goods in Equestria, Zap Apple Jam. However, it was later that the train station really put Ponyville on the map. Ever since then, the town saw much more hoof traffic of all kinds. That's when the momentum of this town took a dramatic upswing. 

Most likely it is a similar story with plenty of other very small communities that picked up into a town level of success or higher. The trains really brought Equestria networking together on a more regular basis and are, in fact, the greatest invention that Feather is seeing since his native time.  

Observing this is making him feel like he's getting an unfair advantage. This is the kind of information that his father might kill for. Early investment in this type of business could make his family significantly richer, but there is a good chance that it took quite a while to pay off. The cost of the railroad tracks alone probably took decades to eventually become profitable, but when it finally did, early investors probably gained more money than they knew what to do with.

These days, however, Ponyville is enjoying a new wave of fame and fortune for an entirely different reason. Much more recently it has become known as the home of the greatest heroines of the current age. Heroines that could potentially access one of the greatest magics of all of Equestria. That kind of information turns heads and makes Ponyville a center focus because all six of these heroines just happen to live here and nowhere else, although most of them lived elsewhere in the past. Only Rarity and Applejack are true natives born and raised here.

“Ooo! This looks fun!” Derpy squees in excitement which shake Feather from his recent train of thoughts.

“Huh?” Feather asks Derpy questioningly then observes her looking at a certain dark tent with excitement. That tent has a sign in the front that says, “Madam Pinkie Pie.”

“Wait. Pinkie Pie?” Feather asks with a squint. “Isn't she one of the Elements of Harmony in this timeline?”

Derpy nods in confirmation as she says, “Yes indeedy! Specifically, she's the Element of Laughter and the town's most famous party planner.” She tilts her head as she goes on to say, “The thing is, one usually encounters her far more either in Sugar Cube Corner, shopping around for party supplies, or actually at a party she helped to organize. This,” Derpy gestures to the tent, “is a rather rare service from her.” Derpy then smiles brightly. “And one I wish to partake of right now.”

Feather squints one eye as he asks cautiously, “Are you sure it is wise for us to do so? Pinkie is one of the ones who is often wrapped around important events in this timeline.”

“I'm surprised you asked that,” Stern says aloud to Feather. “I thought we discussed this. That we should live in the current time as if it is our present. While we're here, we shouldn't be afraid to partake of . . .” Stern trails off when she realizes something, then snaps her gaze at Feather as she says, “Oh! That's why you didn't insist for us to visit the Golden Oak Library.”

“What?!” Derpy regards Feather in minor alarm. “If you wanted to visit the library then you should have told me.”

“I just . . . I didn't . . . I . . .” Feather stutters then trails off as his cheeks burn with embarrassment. “I . . . have no excuse,” he relents, thus giving up on trying to explain himself.

“Well, we can always go back there later,” Time Turner proposes. “In the meantime, we're here right now,” he says with a gesture to Pinkie's tent.

“Being such a well-known mare in this town, is there any particular reason Pinkie's predictions here are especially trustworthy?” Stern Wing asks cautiously.

“If you ask me, I think this whole thing is ridiculous and unscientific,” Time Turner scoffs in disdain. “The hocus-pocus nonsense is mainly for the entertainment of the uneducated.”

“Hey! If there is one thing that Pinkie is especially well known for, it is how to make any event fun,” Derpy says in Pinkie's defense at Time Turner then says to them all, “Also, Pinkie has a famous reputation for predicting certain things. No pony knows how she does it, but it's too accurate to afford to ignore it. If Pinkie's tail is twitching, for example, it is best to find shelter soon because something is going to fall.”

“That sounds really unscientific,” Doctor Kelly observes with minor disgust.

“I know. Right?” Time Turner enthusiastically agrees.

“But plenty of ponies swear by it,” Derpy promises. “Even Twilight, one of the town's most famous scientific skeptics, was convinced of this due to too much repeated evidence.” Derpy shrugs. “So Pinkie setting up shop to predict other things of the future doesn't seem that far off.”

“That's funny because, technically, me, Feather, and Vision are visiting from the past,” Stern cracks up. “Seeing all of this is seeing the future for us. With access to a time machine, we could go even further into the future, and already have, and experience other things that could enable us to make other reliable 'predictions' about the future.”

“Thus verifying if Pinkie's predictions are accurate or not,” Feather adds with a grin.

“Well I still think that is facetious logic,” Time Turner argues. “Look. I can predict the future too if I wanted to as well. For instance, I predict a certain pony with an hourglass cutie mark is going to kick a bit of dirt on the ground.” Time Turner proceeds to do so then sarcastically gasps as he places a hoof on his cheek and says, “Oh look! My prediction came true! Gasp!” He then lowers his hoof back to the ground and drops his eyelids halfway with a dry look. “Looks like I'm a Great and Powerful seer as well. Maybe I should set up my own shop about this.” He waves at Pinkie's tent. “Apparently anypony can do this.”

“Oh come on, Doc!” Derpy cheers with a gentle nudge to Time Turner with a bent knee. “It's all in good fun! You got to get into the spirit of things.” She shrugs. “Besides, what if she's right? The knowledge we gain could end up important.” She narrows her eyes and looks off to the side. “There are certain things that I would like to know about my future.”

“Look, if any of you want to waste your bits here, be my guest,” Time Turner invites. “I guess it could at least be a kind of emotional support for a while there. On the other hoof, though, if you ask me, even if these predictions did come true then where's the fun in that? Would you really feel satisfied knowing everything that is going to happen?”

“I get by,” Vision announces casually. “And I can't predict everything. Just some things.”

“Point taken,” Stern Wing agrees with a gesture to Vision while regarding Derpy. “We already have a genuine psychic right here among us.”

“Oh please,” exacerbates Time Turner with a roll of his eyes. “So I guess you're going to claim you're a psychic too?”

“Actually, there might be something to the gifts of this little one,” Doctor Kelly points out. “And besides, knowledge of the future can be quite ambiguous to those who trot through time.”

“I'm not claiming to be anything,” Vision argues. “I am what I am regardless of anypony else's opinion of me. I don't require external validation to do what I do.”

Time Turner's expression towards Vision shifts from skeptical to a small shade of respect due to her comment.

“What do you feel from this one now?” Stern Wing asks Vision curiously. “The one in the tent, that is. Pinkie Pie.”

Before Vision answers, she steers her right ear in Pinkie's direction which is a clue that Vision is now focusing on that particular pony. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds. She just concentrates. Eventually she says, “I feel bubbly, happy energy from the one in the tent known as Pinkie Pie,” Vision announces. “It's very similar to Derpy's energy, actually, except Pinkie's is more steady. Derpy's energy sparkles and pops in and out, much like her cutie mark. With Pinkie Pie, however, it is a similar level of uplifting energy except it shines more than sparkles. It is more constant.”

“Ooo! Neat,” Derpy cheers, then nods after a few seconds. “That sounds accurate too.”

“Are you seeing these images in your head?” Time Turner asks with mixed skepticism and intrigue. Even if he doesn't believe what Vision is saying, he still wants to know how she perceives it.

“No,” Vision says with a shake of her head. “It's more of a feeling I get in my chest.”

“How can you tell that isn't just your own feelings?” Time Turner probes.

“Lots of practice,” Vision answers. “I've been this way my whole life. Frankly, I don't know any other way I'm supposed to live.”

“Nothing you feel from the one in the tent feels dubious?” Stern checks with Vision.

Once again, Vision pauses as she inwardly explores the answer to that question before eventually shaking her head. “No. What I am getting from that one is a genuine and intense interest to get her customers to smile. Beyond that, I sense no plots from her of any kind. It's as if she's generally accustomed to avoiding plans aside from her parties which she's willing to plan out in extremely meticulous detail.” Vision shrugs. “It's just who she is and what is important to her.

“I can promise you all this. I can't vouch for the accuracy of her predictions per se, but if you leave her tent without a genuine smile at least once, she will take it as a mark of personal failure and may likely hound you for it until she can get you to smile. All other objectives will be temporarily forgotten until then. It's as if there is only room in her head for one thought at a time. That, or no thoughts at all. Just pure and totally random, but often also fun, whimsy.”

“Eh. Well, it sounds harmless, I suppose,” Stern Wing accepts with a shrug. “Aside from that, I'm kind of curious to see one of the future Elements of Harmony. I want to size her up and determine for myself how safe our future really is and why.”

“I advise caution on this regard,” Time Turner warns the group. “Certain traits about her are common enough to be predictable, but Pinkie likes to specialize in surprises on occasion. As a result, be careful about judging her at face value. There is much beneath her surface that most have given up trying to figure out. It has become a popular adage around here, 'It's Pinkie Pie. Don't question her.'”

Stern Wing lifts an eyebrow at Time Turner as she says, “Well, now I'm even more interested to meet this mare.”

“We came here to relax and gather information,” Doctor Kelly reminds the group. “This seems like a harmless diversion and might even be insightful.”

Time Turner sighs as he gives up then gives a lame gesture towards the tent. He also says invitingly in a halfhearted way, “Well then . . . go ahead. After you.”











The interior of Madam Pinkie Pie's tent is quite a bit darker than it is on the outside primarily because of the thick and dark curtains and/or blankets being hung on the inside of the tent. Illumination is caused by a bunch of lanterns with glow bugs in them. Despite the darkness of the materials lining the walls, they are also a bit shiny, thus increasing the illumination just a bit.

“OOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoo!” “Madam” Pinkie Pie chants as soon as they all enter her tent with a playful, mystical-sounding voice. Pinkie is wearing a coiled turban hat with a jewel in the center. She is waving her forelegs around a crystal ball at the center of her white cloth table directly in front of her and low to the ground. “Wel-come to the Tent of the Mysterious and Enchanting Madam Pinkie PiEEEeeeEEEeee!” Pinkie greets while holding that waving inflection to her voice. “All who enter . . . Behold as I . . .”

Pinkie blinks as she trails off while regarding her guests in surprise then says as she suddenly drops her wavy mystical sounding voice, “Wow! There sure is a whole lot of you entering here.” She tilts her head curiously. “I see a whole lot of new faces as well.”

As Feather Wind regards Pinkie's expression, he notices how a delightful smile is growing not only on Pinkie Pie's lips, but also sinking deep into her eyes. At that moment, he realizes that the wheels in Pinkie's mind are turning. She just gained a new excuse to plan a party soon.

Due to reputation, primarily from Derpy, Feather was well aware of this tendency from Pinkie Pie, but this is the first time he, and some of his friends, is observing this first hoof.

“Ooo!” Pinkie Pie's eyes widen with sudden delight when she notices something among the group that really captures her attention. A moment later, Pinkie Pie suddenly ducks under her clothed table which has her “mystical” crystal ball on. One second later, she pops up directly in front of Doctor Kelly and most definitely within the doctor's personal space. Pinkie is still wearing her turban hat with a gem in it. At that moment, Pinkie's eyes briefly extend out of her eye sockets in a cone-shaped fashion as if to point at Doctor Kelly's face as Pinkie says, “Neat! Your glasses are glow-ee-ee.”

Doctor Kelly flinches and looks taken aback as she says, “Yeah. Well ah . . . they are magical.”

Feather Wind lifts an eyebrow as he realizes that is actually not a lie.

“Let me see!” Pinkie cries excitedly as she somehow grabs Doctor Kelly's normally intangible holographic glasses and puts them on Pinkie's own muzzle. When she does, she gives “ooo” and “ahh” sounds as she looks around her own tent with the holo glasses on. During that time, Pinkie Pie's eyes look unusually large on the other side of the holo lens which is strange since that doesn't happen to Doctor Kelly's eyes. “Everything looks all funny and digital-ee!” Pinkie squees in excitement as she views around the tent.

Doctor Kelly winces as she asks, “Digital-ee? Do you even know what that means?”

“I have no idea!” Pinkie admits with her same upbeat attitude. “Here.” Pinkie Pie impossibly grabs the intangible glasses again and puts them back on Doctor Kelly's face. Then Pinkie ducks which somehow makes her disappear only to reappear behind her mystical table again.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie very brightly cheers behind her table again while spreading her pink forelegs outwardly in a high-angle V formation. “Friends of yours, Derpy and Doc?”

“More hers, actually,” Time Turner announces. “I'm just showing them around town. Same as Derpy here.”

“You all arrived here just today?” Pinkie asks as she lowers her forehooves to rest on her table, but her enthusiasm remains as high. Seeing it already makes Feather Wind smile because Pinkie's youthful enthusiasm is deeply infectious.

“Just today, in fact,” Time Turner informs casually. “During their stay, I'm having them stay with me in my Clock Tower.”

“Wait. Hold on,” Doctor Kelly objects as she raises a hoof. “We just came in here with the implied promise of getting entertainment from a psychic, so why are we feeding her all of this hoofy information? Shouldn't it be her who 'mystically' tells us this?”

Pinkie Pie slams her forehooves on her table, sits up straight but also leans back, and gives a very dramatic gasp that lasts three seconds. During that time, Pinkie's eyes explode hugely wide and her bottom jaw drops to a degree beyond what medical science can explain. She then points at Doctor Kelly with a forward jab of her left forehoof as Pinkie declares, “You know what? You're right! And when you're right . . . you're right!”

As if reminded of that fact, Pinkie suddenly snaps back into “Madam Pinkie Pie” mode again by lifting her forehooves, hovering them, and waving them around her crystal ball as she resumes speaking in her wavy voice. “Gaze into the Crystal Ball of Madam Pinkie Pieeeeee! Madam Pinkie Pie sees all! She knows all!”

“Then you don't require any education,” Stern Wing snickers under her breath. “You already know everything. Must be nice?”

“I . . . I'm getting something!” Madam Pinkie gasps as she straightens dramatically again. “I seeeeeee . . .” She leans forward and squints at her crystal ball at first, but her eyes widen in astonishment again as she dramatically declares, “. . . a party!” She gazes above her ball at the group again. “A party thrown in honor of all of you newcomers to Ponyville!”

Time Turner slaps a hoof onto his left cheek as he says sarcastically, “Oh wow! Really? I'm sure none of us saw that coming.”

“Yep!” Pinkie beams happily as she leans back and folds her forehooves across her chest. “That's what I see. A big party thrown in your honor.” She then slightly squints one eye and tilts her head at Time Turner as she asks, “Will your Clock Tower be an okay location for the party? You got plenty of room there.”

“Ahhhhh . . . I suppose it's fine as long as we keep it to the first floor,” Time Turner bargains. “There's a lot of whirling gears on the upper floors, you see, and it's quite noisy up there besides.”

“No kidding,” Doctor Kelly glumly agrees.

“Great!” Pinkie cheers then asks, “See you all there tonight?”

“Are you sure you can arrange it that fast?” Time Turner asks a little skeptically.

Pinkie closes her eyes and smiles brightly as she cheers, “Oh. I'm sure I can manage.”

“I'm surprised you're not throwing a surprise party,” comments Derpy.

Pinkie opens her eyes at Derpy then gestures to her crystal ball as she says, “Well DUUUUUH! I just told you about the party in your future with this crystal ball here. It's not meant to be a surprise party. Silly.”

“Have you ever been wrong before?” Stern Wing asks Pinkie with a cocky smirk.

Despite the playful way Stern phrased that, Pinkie looks like she honestly gives that serious thought. She looks cornerwise up and taps her bottom lip for a few seconds with a squinting expression before she declares, “No. Not usually.” She looks at Stern Wing with a more normal expression. “Especially when it comes to parties.” She sits up straight and holds her forehooves on her table at a diagonal angle. “Because parties are serious business!”

“If you say so,” Stern casually accepts. “You do you.”

“Don't worry!” Pinkie's cheerful expression pops back in. “I will!” She points at Stern. “That's a Pinkie Promise.”