//------------------------------// // Episode 4-Part 1: It's That Time (Turner) Again // Story: The Other Mane Six: Adventures in Ponyville // by DayDrifter75 //------------------------------// The Doctor was not exactly sure what had occurred those few weeks ago between Lyra Heartstrings and Derpy Hooves, but whatever the problem was, the two filly friends were able to solve it within two days. The Doctor had always been fond of humans, and now these ponies were beginning to grow on him as well. Though the two races had their obvious physical and psychological differences, their ability to love --though substantially greater in ponies-- remained their greatest ability. It was apparent to him why this was, and the thought almost always made him smile.   As these thoughts wove their way into his complicated alien mind, a new thought began to arise. The thought wrestled its way past thoughts of ponies, magic, and that one really good rope, and made its way to the front of his mind. What was normally a small thought had found itself gradually growing until finally-   GROOOOWWLLLLL   “Oh?” He looked down. Brown waves rippled along his pony stomach accompanied by another loud growl. He almost doubled over in pain when he felt an emptiness fill his entire body. It appeared he was hungry.   It had been a while since the stallion had eaten his last meal, and a small --or big--  altercation with the Royal Guards had caused him to nearly forget about his basic need for food. In fact, his experience with Equestrian food was quite interesting. Not too long after the Nightmare Moon incident, he found himself interrupting a celebration for a holiday called Hearths Warming. He ended up learning more about the food rather than anything about the holiday itself. He knew that equines such as ponies were herbivorous in nature, but he thought there would be at least some form of nourishment other than vegetables. Much to his delight, he was right. Not only did they eat vegetables, but also baked goods and sweets which he enjoyed very, very much. Not so much the stomach ache afterwards or the “being-chased-for-stealing-and-eating-all-of-our-food”, but he at least found a decent meal.   His next meal about half a day later consisted of him thinking he was going to starve to death. He was collapsed on the ground just outside Lyra and Bon Bon’s house when he spied a group of roses huddled together in front of him. Desperate, he decided that the only possible way for him to ‘survive’ was to eat the plants. Making sure not to eat any thorns, he bit the rose red petals off of their slender stems. Apparently his new pony form caused his appetite to change accordingly, even if that meant finding plants such as these delicious. What a shame it was to find out that those roses belonged to Bon Bon. He was scolded severely not too long afterward.   By now he was used to Equestrian cuisine and was familiar with all of the local eateries in Ponyville. Stomach continuing to growl, he made his way to his favourite place of all to eat: Sugarcube Corner.   As he happily trotted away from his current location --the meadowy fields on the edge of town-- he began wondering what food he should have today. There were so many delicious things that he could eat, but he could not possibly have them all. Maybe lemon meringue pie, or maybe a delicious three layered chocolate cake, or cupcakes, or muffins, or-   His stomach growled again. Maybe thinking about food while hungry was not such a good idea. He continued to make his way through town, the trip being quite short since he was able to memorise every knook and cranny with ease. The eidetic memory he now had was so perfect that he could probably take a stroll through Ponyville with his eyes closed, maybe even  backwards too. Finally, he arrived at his destination. The infamous sweet shop that was soon to fill his stomach with the most delectable of treats.   The gingerbread building seemed to loom over him, inviting him to enter and gobble up all of its contents. His eyes scanned the bakery. The Doctor had always pondered on its architecture. Was it merely a design choice, or was the building made out of actual edible food? If it was, then how was it able to survive extreme weather conditions? Maybe he would ask one of the owners, or Bon Bon, since she also worked there sometimes. Every day that he was there he would think these things, and each time he would forget everything due to the pure bliss of eating the food. Some people (ponies) thought he enjoyed the sweets more than he should, but he really did not care. He felt like he had two stomachs instead of two hearts. As the stallion pushed open the wooden door his nostrils were filled with the tantalizing aroma of red velvet cupcakes that were currently being cooked in the back. It was as if his whooves were lifted off the ground, his nose leading him through the room that he knew all too well, following the luscious scent until  he reached the front counter of the store, where he lightly dropped.   Nopony stood at the counter, but a small golden bell revealed itself at the corner of his vision. Looking around to see where the employees were and called out, "Hello? Is anyone here?" No response came. In fact, the entire building was eerily empty. Not a pony in sight, at least, for the moment. He decided that now was the proper time to ring the bell, having already done all he could for the moment. If nopony answered the bell, then something had to be wrong. He tapped the bell four times, letting it ring for a moment. He rang it again. No answer. The Doctor looked around. He stepped towards the open end of the countertop to check the back. Maybe-     Not too far outside of the building, a few ponies were already setting up shops for the market, their goods being levitated or rolled in giant wheeled crates to be bought at a high price. Derpy Hooves, the wall-eyed pegasus was already trotting up to one of these stands, not to sell goods, but to buy them. Behind a cart another pegasus fluttered down. The pale persian blue mare put up a smile when she saw Derpy.   “Welcome, Derpy Hooves, what are you buying?” queried the mare, expecting her to reply that she would be getting celery, as per usual.   "Oh, good morning Cloud Kicker," said Derpy, "I just need a few eggs. I'm baking pies tonight!"   "I see, what's the occasion?" Cloud was already beginning to place a few brown coloured eggs into a paper bag.   Grabbing the bag that was handed (hoofed?) to her by the produce vendor, she opened her saddlebags and placed it inside. "I just feel like baking pies today. Maybe I'll invite my friends over to eat them. Anyway, thanks for the eggs."   "You're welcome Derpy, and don't worry about paying, it's on the house."   "Thanks Cloud K-"   "Yo, Derpy!" came a familiar voice from behind her. Turning around, she saw her cobalt maned DJ friend cantering over to her with her signature glasses on and a wide smile gracing her white face. A ray of light that reflected off her cool shades shone into Derpy's eyes, causing her to raise a hoof to blot out the beam. "Hey," began Vinyl Scratch, "how's it hanging? I haven't seen you in a while." "Hello Vinyl, I'm just picking up some ingredients for pies," Derpy replied. Her unicorn filly friend trotted up beside her, leaning on the wooden produce stand. "That's cool," she said. "Do you mind if I hang out with you today? I could go for some pies." She raised her sunglasses for a moment and magicked an apple from the stand, replacing it with two bits as proper payment, much to Cloud's pleasure. She took a generous bite from the apple and began to chew. Then Derpy leapt up, a metaphorical lightbulb appearing above her head. "Oh! I have an idea! Why don't I invite all of you to my house for pies! Oooo, it'll be so much fun!" But while Derpy was explaining her idea, Vinyl was busy spitting out her small red snack. She quickly turned to Cloud Kicker and whispered, "This stuff ain't fresh dude." The salesmare shrugged. Derpy took no notice of the altercation behind her as she continued to ramble on about her plan for dinner that night. A girly shriek sounded off from not too far away, the source being Sugarcube Corner; that meant the shriek could have come from Mrs. Cake, Pinkie Pie, or maybe even Bon Bon. A disaster could be occurring within the little sweet shop, and it somepony needed to help. Vinyl Scratch and Derpy Hooves (who had suddenly ceased her babbling to take notice of what sounded like a small filly) both turned their heads it immediate shock. "Come on Derpy," Vinyl beckoned, lowering her glasses over her face, "we've gotta check this out!" The radical DJ raced to whatever awaited them inside, her pegasus friend zig-zagging closely behind.   "HELLO!"   "Eeeeeeeeek!"   The brown colt toppled over as a springy pink earth pony suddenly appeared out from inside the golden bell that he rang. The mare stepped out of the impossibly small space that she was hiding in and onto the floor.   “Whoops, sorry,” she apologized quickly, “I didn’t mean to scare you, Mr. Stallion-that-won't-tell-me-his-name.” The Doctor found it a bit annoying that Pinkie continued insisting in calling him that, even though he had told her time and again that his name was the Doctor. This happened on a constant basis, and she never cared to listen when he told her. Maybe the name wasn't pony enough. Considering the way these ponies were named something like the Doctor did not seem all that out of place. "I keep telling you Miss Pie, I'm-" He thought about his words for a moment, looking upwards. "You know what, I'll tell you my name. I'm Time Turner! Nice to meet you!" He yelled that last part in a fit of anger. The bubbly pink pony blinked a bit before bursting out with excitement. "Yipeeee! You told me your name! Now we can be very best friends and I can throw you a party and I can call you by your name and-" SLAM! The door at the front of Sugarcube Corner burst open, a white unicorn tumbled in and a grey pegasus sped in, flying just over Pinkie and the Doctor's heads before crashing into a wall, precisely in between two overly expensive paintings of various baked goods. Unfortunately, the crash also caused the wall to shake vigorously, causing both paintings to fall off and shatter cartoonishly upon impact with the floor. Which was odd, because the frames were shatter proof and the paintings themselves were on paper. Before either the Doctor or Pinkie Pie could move to lend a hoof, the two intruders (though more like visitors since the store was open anyway) lept up on either side demanding to know what was going on. "Alright, who was it that was attacking some little filly, because I'm ready to drop some bass on your flank!" Vinyl yelled. She was balanced on one of her hind hooves, the other three raised in some sort of weird karate stance. "Yeah, and where's that little girl that was screaming too?" Derpy on the other hand was staggering about trying to regain her balance after her little accident, her golden eyes spinning around inside her head.  The dent in the wall only served as further evidence that it simply had to hurt. A lot. Shock overtook the Doctor as he pondered on what they meant by little girl. The only scream he heard was his own deep and manly- "That wasn't a filly, that was Time Turner here!" a certain pink mare that certainly wasn't helping stated. A moment of silence passed. Everypony in the room was utterly confused. Vinyl, still mid-karate pose, spoke. "Who?" Derpy had decided to take a seat and scratch her head, wondering the exact same thing. Pinkie wrapped a foreleg around the Doctor's neck and pointed at him with a smile. "You know, Time Turner. The brown colt you girls always hang around with that always comes in here. The one standing right here." There was silence once again, though this round do not last as long as its predecessor. It quickly died when laughter exploded from both of the confused friends. It was not because of the name the Doctor was given, oh no. Time Turner was a perfectly fine pony name for him. A perfect pseudonym to give to passers by should he choose to. The hilarious thing about the situation was that the girly shriek the pair had heard outside permeated from the Doctor himself. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA! AHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT WAS YOU!? Hahahahaha! Wow Doc, that sure is some scream you got there! Hehehe!" Vinyl could not contain herself, dropping down and rolling on the floor and laughing her brains out. Or DDAROTFALHBO for short. It was almost surprising she could stay focused enough to levitate her glasses off and wipe the joyous tears out of her eyes with a nearby napkin. "Hush you," said an annoyed and blushing Doctor. "It was just a voice crack, I was just a little horse." He giggled I himself at the joke he had made, but put back his serious face in order to beam at Vinyl, still laughing on the floor. Derpy was giggling herself, trying to restrain going into a full blown laugh by raising a hoof to her mouth hen she realised something. "Oh no, I forgot the eggs outside. Can you two go and tell our friends to come to my place for dinner? Please and thank you!" The pegasus dashed out the door and back to Cloud Kicker's produce stand. Luckily for her Cloud was more than happy to keep the pie ingredients safe for her while she sorted out whatever needed to be sorted out. Derpy quickly thanked her before beginning to canter home. "Wait, Derpy!" It was Pinkie Pie. "Have you seen Rainbow Dash? I can't find her anywhere." "No, I haven't, why?" "Oh, no reason, I just have a little something in mind for her."