Chasing Paradox

by Foreshadow

6. The Flying Cave

“Where in Equestria did you get that? Come to think of it, what is that?”

Twilight’s library was a bit askew, books on the floor in small stacks; quite quickly, the unicorn’s magic shot out and cleared a space on the floor where Time Turner carefully let the metal mare down.

“Sorry it’s a bit of a mess," she said, "I got a new shipment of encyclopedias and I thought I might as well reorganize the shelves if I’m going to be adding three dozen books! Anyway--!”

She looked at Time Turner and Derpy, ears drooping backwards; she circled the mare on the floor and looked at the other ponies questioningly.

“It’s uh... She’s... a unicorn made of metal,” Derpy tried to explain. “It’s, uh... It’s a long story.”

“A long, strange story,” Time Turner agreed.

Twilight tilted her head and then looked Time Turner up and down, eyes widening.

“What is it?” he asked her.

“...I’m sorry, but are you taller than the last time I saw you?”

“Yes, strangely,” he said. “I don’t have an explanation for that, unfortunately.”

Twilight looked taken aback and looked at Derpy quickly. The pegasus shrugged a bit sheepishly. The unicorn took a deep breath.

“Right. Okay. Weird. So what’s going on with this... uh... metal mare?”

Derpy and Time Turner shared a nervous look and, after a moment, Derpy sucked in a gulp of air.

“Well, we went to Canterlot to deliver a package but she attacked us outside a weird house and Time Turner sent us back in time to get away from her, and then we had to wait through four days catch up with ourselves and we found her again on the night of the third day and she could track Time Turner somehow and seemed to want to fry him with weird lightning powers. Then after that, we found out the package we delivered was actually for Time Turner and it had a weird green ring in it that got stuck to the bottom of his hoof and he hit the metal pony with it and she stopped working and said something about erasing her memories, so we brought her back here to you because you’re the smartest pony I know and we really have no idea what do to.”

Derpy took a deep breath and put a hoof to her chest as Twilight Sparkle struggled to scoop her jaw up off the floor. Time Turner awkwardly lifted his hoof to show the ring.

“What?!” she demanded shrilly.

She grabbed Time Turner by the shoulders, spun him around; stared at his cutie mark for a moment before twirling him again and inspecting through his mane in a hurry.

“That’s impossible. That’s... not scientifically possible. You’re not even a unicorn, that’s not possible!”

“But it’s true,” Derpy insisted.

“I’ve done it more than once,” Time Turner said. “I’m just not really sure how.”

Twilight opened her mouth as if to protest but then stopped herself. Her horn lit up.

“Hang on,” she said.

She took the stallion gently by the back of the neck to pull him towards her and touched her horn to his brow. He recognized the feeling of her magic tingling through his head and, after just a few seconds, she pulled back, her pupils dilated a bit strangely.

“Dear Celestia!” She gawked, spun and paced for a moment. “SPIKE!”

The small dragon bounded down the stairs, asking, “What?” before letting out a yelp when he saw past the unicorn to what was happening on the first floor. “What the heck is going on down there?”

“Spike, can you pull my books on golemancy and circuitry, and... animation magic? Not like for films, like animating inanimate objects.”

“Wh...? Um. Okay.”

He raised a brow and Derpy waved at him a bit awkwardly. He waved back before going back up the stairs. Twilight nodded to herself and then, tentatively, poked the metal unicorn before pulling back.

“So,” she said, “you want me to fix her, right?”

“What?” Derpy yelped, but Time Turner nodded.

“Yes, I believe she may have some answers about who I am,” he explained.

“You c-can’t just take that out of her h-head?” Derpy asked a bit shakily.

“No, I don’t think so,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Thing is, I don’t know anything like that. If it’s not alive, I don’t think my memory spell will work on it.”

“R-Right,” Derpy said; she bit her lip.

“But actually, this is probably going to be really interesting!” the unicorn said with a bit of a grin. “I hope I can do it!”

She whisked the metal mare up in the glow of her magic and trotted towards a door on the far side of the room, calling, “Spike, I’m going downstairs!” before she beckoned to the other two ponies.

They followed her through the door and down the stairs to a room of bookshelves and tree roots tangled around a series of pipes and strange, metal apparatuses, lit with green and yellow lights sticking out from a long, sturdy tables. Red cables brightened the room like small streamers from above and blue ones lay across the floor, in what almost seemed to be a well-calculated mess, connecting large, pale green machines the likes of which Derpy had never seen before. Twilight hurried ahead, stepping over the blue carefully and cleared of a few stray books and notes papering the top of the table to lay the metal pony down. Derpy and Time Turner followed her cautiously. The stallion seemed utterly fascinated and, quickly, he darted ahead and check the machines, eyes wide, putting his hooves all over one.

“Oh, this is the base station for an electroneurogram, isn’t it? Ooh! And over there is a... it looks like some sort cardiograph? But there’s another function, as well.”

“That’s right. It reads arcane fluctuations, too,” Twilight said with a smile, but then whirled on him and gave him a confused look. “How did you know that?”

Derpy looked at him quizzically and he seemed taken aback for a moment.

“You know, I have no idea,” he confessed.

He scratched his head and frowned to himself and then looked at Derpy; she could do little more than shrug. Twilight raised a brow but swiftly turned back to the pony on the table. Her magic wrapped around a few of the scraped plates on her forelimb, chest, and neck, and lifted them away to reveal a flexible body built of a tough, dark material and thick cables. Her eyes widened and she beckoned the others in to join her, ears twitching back as the basement door creaked open. After just a second, Spike joined them, plopping down a small pile of thick books beside Twilight.

“So what’s going on down here?” he said, poking the pony on the table. “Hey, what is this? A... metal statue? I don’t get it.”

“No, no, it’s, ah... it’s...” Twilight whisked the book on golemancy from the pile and flipped through it swiftly. “A metallic golem? No, no, that’s stone with a gilded finish, umm... One made of just metal...”

She stuck her tongue out in concentration.

“A... Hmm. Does this sound like it?”

She held the book out to Time Turner and Derpy; both leaned in to see the pages. It seemed to be describing a non-living creature made from metal parts, seemingly given life and even intelligence by, typically, magic.

“A robot,” Time Turner read. “I... I think that’s right.”

“Yeah,” Derpy agreed, and repeated the word as if to test it. “A robot.”

Twilight seemed satisfied before passing the book into Spike’s waiting hands; the small dragon read the passage quickly, eyes widening. He looked at the metal mare suspiciously and, a bit tentatively, poked her with one claw.

“She’s, uh... she’s not moving,” he said.

“This shut her down,” Time Turner said.

He lifted his hoof to show the ring that pulsated with a soft, green glow and Spike’s eyes lit up. Twilight grabbed the stallion’s foreleg and stuck her face in close; her magic reached out and gently touched the ring. She pulled back, frowning to herself and letting out a thoughtful, “Hmm.”

Derpy looked at her anxiously, but her ears drooped when Twilight admitted, “No idea. I’ve never seen anything like it. Sorry.”

“It’s no trouble,” Time Turner assured her.

The unicorn looked bothered nonetheless and then spun on the robot, her magic flipping and holding a book open and aloft for her. Derpy watched her curiously and then, worriedly, stole a glance at Time Turner. He seemed concerned and held his branded hoof a bit against his opposite leg.

They watched Twilight in silence for a little while as she took more plating off the robot and, very gently, opened up a portion of the chest compartment. Though Derpy held back a bit nervously, Time Turned squeezed in beside the purple unicorn, his eyes rushing over a plethora of cables and strange little plates covered in bumps and lines of light.

“That certainly is complicated,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” Twilight agreed. “I’ve never seen anything like this, either.”

Time Turner tilted his head and felt a little like he was sorting through a puzzle he had once solved, long ago.

“I think you need to treat these like her organs, in a way,” he commented.

Derpy leaned around to look at him and the contents of the robot in confusion and Twilight drew back from the circuitry to look at him, raising one eyebrow.

“Should I get a doctor?” she wondered.

Time Turner laughed.

“I doubt you’ll find a doctor for robots around here if we had to look in a book to even find out that word.”

“Guess I’ll have to be one, huh?” Twilight decided. “But...”

She pulled a few more plates off and stroked her chin thoughtfully. Time Turner backed away a little to give her some space.

“I’m going to need some time with this,” she said. “How about you two go home for tonight?”

“Wh-What? And leave you all alone with her?” Derpy asked fearfully.

“I’m not alone, I have Spike,” Twilight said with a smile. “Don’t worry. How about we meet up in the morning?”

Derpy couldn’t help the worried frown that darkened her brow and she cast a glance at the brown stallion. He looked thoughtful and tilted his head, and then shot Derpy a smile.

“I think it would be lovely to take a rest,” he said, “wouldn’t it, Derpy?”

Derpy was startled and her wings flared out a little.

“A rest,” she repeated quietly. “Actually... Yeah. I-If you’re sure, Twilight.”

“Definitely,” she assured them.

The pegasus nodded and said a quick, “Thank you so much,” before beginning up the stairs.

She waited at the front door for Time Turner, who lingered just a little while longer with Twilight before coming up after her.

“She’ll be okay, right?” she asked. “That robot won’t wake up and start wrecking everything, right?”

“I think she’s disassembling her,” the stallion explained.

Derpy still felt the worry but she nodded nonetheless and opened the door.

Night was clear and cool, and the walk back home was quiet, though comfortable. Derpy’s house, off down the lazy side-street, was especially calm in the evening, lit gently by the warm glow through neigbourhood windows.

Inside, Derpy found it a bit surreal to see the disheveled blanket on the sofa and smell the faint wafts of fruit from the kitchen. It had been so long, but it was like they had barely even left.

“Right, we weren’t gone that long,” she mumbled to herself.

Time Turner looked at her curiously, his ears tilting in towards her.

“Pardon?”

“Oh, sorry, it’s just that... we were gone for so long, but it’s the same day we left, and it’s just weird,” she said hurriedly.

Time Turner gave her a sympathetic smile and she couldn’t help but laugh tiredly to herself. She ran a hoof through her mane and wondered, “Do you think Twilight will be okay?”

“I do,” he said.

He gently nudged her with his foreleg and smiled at her.

“Don’t worry so much, Miss Derpy. Why don’t you go get a proper night’s sleep? I’m sure you could use it.”

“Y... Yeah,” Derpy agreed. “Thanks. You okay on the sofa again?”

“Absolutely,” he assured her. “Good night, Miss Derpy.”

The pegasus’s ears lifted a little and she nodded, saying, “Good night,” as she tried to hold back a yawn.

Derpy went upstairs to get cozy in bed and Time Turner couldn’t help a relieved sigh. Being here, he finally felt a bit of security. After a quick stretch, he settled down on Derpy’s couch in the living room and cozied himself into his large blanket. His mind was still very much alert, however. His eyes wouldn’t really stay shut and he stared up at the blank of the ceiling, sorting through everything. He unwittingly rearranged the days in his head, trying to figure out what went where. He still worried about that little creature that called herself Paradox. Though she teased at his curiosity, he hoped despite her words that he wouldn’t see her again.

Morning came too soon for Derpy Hooves. Sunlight snuck in through the gap in her curtains and warmed her face, brightening her eyelids so that, when she opened them, red sunspots marred her all ready scattered vision until she kneaded them away against her hooves. She got up lethargically, yawning, and trundled across the room to the small desk she kept there. Groggily, she shifted through some papers, pushing them aside until a calendar came into view. Her schedule was clear, much to her relief.

She sleepily filled out a parcel delivery slip, marking the parcel as received, realizing she’d have to have Time Turner sign it. She rubbed her mane and moved to place it in her bag, but saw something blue in there. Curious, she pulled it out and realized it was the scarf that Time Turner’s strange hoof-ring had been wrapped in. She heard the flutter of paper cutting the air and she tilted her head to watch curiously as a small, folded slip landed lightly on the floor. She placed the scarf over the back of the chair at her desk and lifted the paper in its place, unfolding it gingerly.

Dear Derpy--

She felt like she could faint. She almost dropped the note but she took a deep breath and read on.

Dear Derpy, sorry to startle you with this! This is just a little gift for the cold times ahead.

There was no more to it at all and Derpy looked at the scarf suspiciously.

It’s... It is a nice colour. She bit her lip and looked at the note again. How did it know I was startled? ...How did it know Time Turner and I would have been together when--? Oh Celestia, this is confusing.

She let out a little sigh and placed the note on her desk.

Yawning, she went downstairs to the bathroom and cleaned herself up a little before she went to the living room. She was surprised, however, to see Time Turner was gone. A little more alert now, she checked the kitchen, finding it eerily vacant.

“Time Turner?” she called.

She felt a bit of a chill when she didn’t hear an answer. Hurriedly, she trotted outside, her eyes darting all around until she heard her name being called. Quickly, she whirled around and her gaze was drawn upwards to see her friend peering down at her from her rooftop, looking a bit embarrassed.

“What are you doing up there?” she asked a bit shrilly.

“Not certain, to be honest,” he admitted. “I may have moved in my sleep.”

Derpy let out a sigh of relief and she spread her wings and alit by his side.

“Good morning, by the way,” he added, smiling.

She laughed and checked out the surrounding area and then said, “I can grab you and slow your fall, but I can’t lift you.”

“Ooh, lovely, thank you,” he said.

She lifted off and grabbed him tightly under his forelimbs and flapped up. He gave a little hop off the edge and she was able to awkwardly take them down to the ground.

“Thank you,” the stallion said again.

Derpy landed and nodded, saying, “No problem. You’re gonna have to learn to manage that, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” he said, rolling his eyes. “No wonder I was chilly.”

Inside, they had a quick breakfast up until there was a clink at the front door. Derpy got up to check, finding a letter looking for and requesting to see Time Turner, though simply addressing him by his physical description and not by name. Prior engagements with Twilight Sparkle took priority, however, so after they finished up their dandelion jam and toast, they headed out to meet her at her library.

Around the front of the great tree, to their surprise, bounced an eager pink mare, knocking on the door periodically and trying to peer in any window she could reach.

“Pinkie Pie?” Derpy asked as they drew in closer. “What are you up to?”

“What? Oh! Derpy!”

The pink mare spun on her back hooves and and grinned widely and then looked at Time Turner and asked, “New or old?”

“Still the same,” he laughed.

“Oh, okay. When are you?”

Time Turner looked at her blankly and she tilted her head and in a sing-song voice assured him, “Nevermind! Are you guys here to see Twilight too? She won’t answer the door.”

Derpy felt a shiver through her and Time Turner’s ears went back as they shared a worried look and, a bit shakily, the pegasus said, “M-Maybe she’s she sleeping. L-Let me ch-check.”

She took off before either of the other ponies could say a word. A slow glide around the tree took her to a bedroom window and she carefully stopped and flapped in place. She didn’t see Twilight, but she did see Spike asleep in a small, basket bed, cozied in a green-checkered blanket covered in red apple patterns. She was a bit reassured, and then gently tapped at the window with a hoof. When Spike didn’t stir, Derpy knocked again and, to her surprise, a brown owl flapped up to the window. She waved a little awkwardly when the owl looked at her with confusion and he seemed to understand. Quickly, the bird flapped down to Spike and buffeted his face with his wings until the little dragon opened his eyes groggily. When the owl pointed Derpy out in the window, Spike seemed instantly more alert and he untangled himself from the blanket. He scampered to her and opened the window a bit.

“Hey Derpy, what’s up?” he said.

“Hi, Spike, um... is Twilight here? Is she okay?” Derpy asked.

“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. She was really into that whole robot thing last night, I...” He cast a glance at her bed and laughed a bit. “Yeah, I don’t think she even went to bed.”

“Would you mind letting us inside?”

“Oh! Sure, no problem. Meet you down there,” Spike said.

Derpy nodded and circled around the tree and drifted back to her friends.

“Spike’s coming,” she assured them.

Time Turner let out a quiet sigh of relief and Pinkie grinned, and before long Spike had the door wide open, though he was still clinging to it a bit as if to keep his balance as he yawned.

“Thanks, Spikey!” Pinkie said as she bounced in. “Now, where is Twilight?”

“Basement,” the dragon replied.

The pink mare’s eyes lit up and she was off and running before anyone could say another word.

“She certainly is lively,” Time Turner said.

“That’s one way to put it,” Spike muttered, closing the front door. “Is she here with you, or-?”

“Not... I mean, she got here first,” Derpy said. “We’re here for different reasons.”

For some reason, Spike looked a bit relieved and then said, “I’ll be in bed if you need me,” before he groggily traipsed back up the stairs.

Derpy tried not to laugh and the two ponies headed to the basement where Pinkie Pie had left the door slightly ajar.

Pinkie’s exuberant, bright rambling bounced off the walls at they made their way down into a room lit with candles and the lights flickering off odd machines.

“--So I was thinking that I had to get you, because I mean, who would be better for an after-a-shooting-star-party party than Twilight Sparkle, the most starry pony I know, huh? I mean, other than Princess Luna, because her hair is like, WOW, made of stars! But except Princes Luna you are definitely the starriest pony I know,” Pinkie was saying brightly; at a speed that was almost supernatural. “I mean, duh, I’d invite you even if you weren’t the starriest pony I know, but since you are I think it would be extra, super special if you came. Don’t you?”

As the two ponies came into view, the basement a shocking mess of metal parts and scrolls of notes, it became clear that Pinkie was completely obviously to the fact that the purple pony had not even turned to face her and was hunched over, magic assisting her tinkering.

“That’s great, Pinkie,” Twilight said-- she sounded a little gravelly-- and she cleared her throat, but before she could say another word, Pinkie had bounced up to her and flopped herself halfway over her back, leaning over her shoulder.

“Whatcha doin’?” she asked.

It seemed like Twilight’s tired legs couldn’t take it and she buckled onto the ground with a grunt.

Derpy quickly called out, “You okay?”

“Ohmigosh, I’m sorry, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed, rolling off the unicorn. “You okay?”

“Fine, Pinkie. Don’t worry, it was an accident,” Twilight said tiredly.

She smiled nonetheless and her eyes flitted to Derpy and Time Turner as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Good to see you two,” she said. “This thing is really fascinating.”

“Miss Twilight, did you really not get any rest?” Time Turner asked in concern.

“Rest?” Twilight repeated, and she laughed. “Pfft, rest. I can rest any old time. Robots don’t come around ever, really. This is much more interesting.”

“Robot?” Pinkie repeated.

The mare’s eyes widened and there was a recognition on her face that Time Turner picked up rather quickly. Before he could say a word, Pinkie quickly chimed in with, “What’s a robot? Is this a robot?”

She put her hooves on the remnants on the table but then let out a yelp.

“Ahh, her head’s off!”

“I’m trying to fix her up, Pinkie,” Twilight explained.

“Is she awake?” Pinkie asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” the unicorn said, shaking her head.

She shot a questioning glance at Derpy and Time Turner. The pegasus shrugged, but the stallion shook his head.

“No, she won’t be awake right now,” he said.

Derpy raised her eyebrow and Time Turner paused a moment before laughing at himself.

“I’m not sure how I know that, but I feel quite sure,” he bashfully admitted.

Twilight nodded and then beckoned him in closer.

“Want to take a look at this?” she asked.

Time Turner moved in and the unicorn stepped aside, taking a seat on the floor, her shoulders sagging. Hesitating just a moment, Derpy moved in and sat beside her, using a wing to cushion her back a little and watched the stallion closely.

Time Turner was at first struck by how much of a mess the robot had become. Plating was scattered and two legs on the upright side of the body were detached, with one laying close by and the other-- well, Time Turner couldn’t see it at present, but he was hopeful that Twilight hadn’t lost it. An eye, a large, turquoise orb, sat on the table beside parts of the robot’s open cranium. Stacks of what looked like cards with little metal designs were crammed into the head, and little bits of Twilight’s magic ran across them, firing off small electrical impulses that Time Turner could feel in the air. The energy emanated from a small crystal with wide, smoothed facets, a swirling fog of magenta energy inside, amateurly welded within the head. He spied another from the corner of his eye and turned his attention to the torso and remaining limbs.

Leaning in over the open chest cavity, Time Turner could see new wiring fastening bits together, little lights and sparks of magic dancing through them. Pinkie Pie gently poked a cable, her eyes lighting up at the same time it did, but the stallion gently shooed her away before turning to address the unicorn, whose head was slumped down onto her chest.

“Miss Twilight?” he asked.

Her ear twitched a little and Derpy looked at her for a moment before giving her a gentle nudge with her elbow.

“Huh?” Twilight’s eyes shot open and her head snapped back upright, and when Pinkie Pie giggled, she did as well. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

Time Turner nodded back at the robot, his brows bending with concern.

“Do you think this will work?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” the tired unicorn admitted. “I followed my books as best I could, but the main problem was that normal robots work through channeling magic through complex arcane data translators.”

“Ooh, you mean these pretty crystal thingies?” Pinkie Pie asked quickly.

Twilight nodded and got up slowly, stretching her back a bit.

“The weird thing is, though,” Twilight continued, “this robot isn’t made of anything arcane at all. So, I’ve made some modifications. I think some of it does the same things as what my book says, but I can’t be sure.”

“I guess we won’t know until we, uh... Until w-we turn her back on,” Derpy said, a sudden shock of nerves welling up in her gut.

She bit her lip and and looked around the others, her ears drooping back as Twilight nodded.

Time Turner assured her, “I’m sure it will be all right, Miss Derpy.”

Derpy felt a sting in her chest and she grimaced a bit, but the others seemed not to notice her discomfort. Twilight approached the robot again and Time Turner backed away to let her closer. The unicorn whisked around a few plates and then stared blankly at the metal body. She turned back to the three ponies with an embarrassed smile on her face.

“I think she’s ready, but I’m actually having a little trouble getting her back together.”

She turned to Derpy, her ears flattening a little.

“I’m sorry to ask, but you can probably cover the most ground. Would you mind seeing if Applejack would be okay with lending me a hoof?”

“Applejack?” Derpy repeated. “Oh! Yeah, of course. I don’t mind.”

Truthfully, she was glad for the chance to not be so close to the robot for a while.

“Ooh, ooh, I’ll go with you!” Pinkie chimed in.

“Actually, Pinkie, if you wouldn’t mind staying here,” Twilight said, “I could really use your help getting everything ready.”

“Oh! Okie dokie!” She was instantly behind the worktable again, stroking her chin and letting out a ponderous, “Hmmmm.”

“I’ll come with you, if that’s alright,” Time Turner said, casting his gaze at Derpy.

“Of course,” Derpy said, and then assured Twilight, “I’ll be back with Applejack as soon as I can.”

Bidding farewell to Spike as he showed them out, Derpy couldn’t help but breath a little more freely in the fresh air. Time Turner gave her an inquisitive look and then laughed a little.

“Don’t be so nervous, my friend! It’ll be fine,” he assured her.

“What if it isn’t?” she wondered.

“Well...”

He raised his hoof and the green ring shone. Derpy raised her brows.

“It worked once, didn’t it?” he said.

He grinned. Derpy felt a little relief and then nodded. She took a deep breath.

“Okay,” she said, as if trying to steady herself, “I’ll head to Applejack’s. Are you going to head to the hospital now, or-?”

“I think I’d like to come with you, if that’s okay,” he admitted.

Derpy’s ears perked and she nodded.

“Great! I was meaning to show you Sweet Apple Acres anyway,” she said.

She took off south down the road with a bit of a bounce in her trot, and Time Turner smiled a bit to himself as he followed her.

Cobblestoned roads gave way to well-worn dirt as the buildings thinned out to nothing, revealing a vast expanse of green land blanketed in trees and crowned, at the top of a small hill, by a friendly red barn. Time Turner was taken aback and had to stop, his eyes straining to take it all in.

“This place...”

Derpy’s ears twitched and she turned to the sound of his voice, tilting her head. Time Turner quickly shook it off and smiled, hurrying to catch up with her.

“I know I’ve said it before, but I’m glad I wound up here. This place is wonderful.”

“It sure is pretty,” Derpy agreed as they started up again.

She ruffled her wings a bit, but then stalled in her tracks to the sound of soft feet on the packed earth. Barking startled her fur upright and confused Time Turner, but she was quickly greeted by a wiggly, fluffy, muddy mess of a dog that jumped up to lick her on her cheeks.

“Miss Derpy, what’s-?” Time Turner began, but before he could finish, the dog was all over him, licking his snout and letting out a loud bark straight in his face.

He couldn’t conceal his surprise and Derpy laughed at his wide-eyed expression.

“That’s Applejack’s dog, Winona,” Derpy said as she trotted up and pulled the dog down gently, petting her muddied brown coat gently.

“A dog,” Time Turner repeated. “Applejack’s... dog?”

“She’s a pet,” Derpy explained. “Like... a companion animal. Does that sound familiar?”

“It does,” he admitted.

He paused for a moment and tilted his head before hesitantly reaching out to stroke the dog gently as Derpy had done. Winona flopped onto her back and Time Turner jumped, about to apologize, but the pegasus laughed and crouched down to rub the dog’s belly.

“She likes you!” Derpy assured him.

He sighed with relief. His ears perked high to the sound of a young voice calling Winona’s name. The dog jumped up in a hurry to greet a small, yellow filly with a big pink ribbon in her red mane, as she bounded up the path.

“There you are, Winona!” the filly exclaimed, but then skittered to a halt, looking between the two adult ponies with surprise.

“Hi ya’ll!” she said brightly. “Not many ponies on this road unless you’re headed for Sweet Apple Acres. Is that where ya’ll are headed?”

She tilted her head and Derpy smiled a bit.

“Apple Bloom, right?”

The filly nodded.

“Yes, we need to talk to your sister, actually,” Derpy said.

“We?” she repeated, and then took a look up and down at Time Turner. “Wait a sec, you were at Twilight’s when those big scary monsters were attacking, right?”

“Right. I’m Time Turner, miss,” he said.

“Oh! Pleased to meet you!” she said brightly. “I’ll show ya’ll the way. Come on, Winona!”

The dog woofed and pranced after her as she spun and headed off back down the road. Derpy rolled her eyes and smiled, and then nodded after the little pony as she began to follow. Time Turner joined them. He noticed, to his surprise, that Apple Bloom didn’t have a mark of any sort on her flank. Considering how important ponies seemed to consider them to be, he was a bit surprised to see a pony without one. It took him a little while to build up the courage to, hurriedly, whisper to Derpy.

“Why doesn’t she have a mark on her?”

“She’s just young,” the pegasus replied nonchalantly.

“Oh... Oh, right, I think you mentioned, now that I think about it.”

Derpy shot him a smile and ruffled her wings.

They let Apple Bloom lead them up through the hills, along a well-worn path up towards a vast expanse of carefully tended farmland and gorgeous orchards, overlooked by the red barn on a hilltop where the Apple family lived. Clean, short white fences rimmed the property, making the place look quaint and cozy despite its size. However, it seemed as if some pits marred one of the nearby fields; when Derpy paused to look, she was surprised to see that they were, in fact, Obsidisaur tracks. She noticed Apple Bloom’s brother, a large, muscular, stallion wearing a worn old horse collar, light red fur with and orange mane a bit scruffy with sweat and dirt. He was working hard to fill in some of the gaps. He noticed her and nodded; she waved and Apple Bloom stopped, hopping up on the fence.

“Hey, Big Mac! Is it goin’ okay over there?” she called.

“Eeyup,” the stallion replied.

His voice was deep, and even the single word had a bit of southern twang in it. His green eyes settled upon Time Turner curiously and he looked at Apple Bloom with an eyebrow raised.

“Who’s the new guy?” he asked.

“That’s Derpy’s new friend, Time Turner,” the filly replied brightly-- and before Time Turner could say a word-- “Is Applejack still workin’ on the fence near the orchard?”

“Eeyup.”

“Thanks!”

She hopped to the ground and called, “C’mon, ya’ll!” as she galloped off and Winona leapt the fence to clumsily try to help fill in the huge footsteps.

Time Turner paused a moment, ears drooping at the sight of the trampled fields and then turned to Derpy only to see that she had started to move on ahead. He dashed to keep up. She smiled at him as he matched her pace. He opened his mouth to say something-- he wasn’t sure what, honestly, but he was worried. He didn’t get much of a chance as Apple Bloom poked her head back around the side of the building.

“Hurry up!” she insisted.

“Coming,” Derpy assured her.

Time Turner clammed up and followed Derpy as she rounded the side of the barn, following the clean white fence as Apple Bloom had. At the other end, behind the barn, the fence didn’t seem nearly as pristine: parts of it were splintered and crushed, with planks pushed aside or flattened down under the middle toe of a huge, three-clawed foot. Another foot had come down a bit farther along the fence, where Apple Bloom was greeting her sister. Applejack was deftly hammering posts into place where the old ones used to be, her spacing almost perfect. She noticed the ponies almost right away and balanced the hammer on top of the post she had just erected, crossing her forelegs as she leaned against the fence.

“Well howdy there, sugarcubes!”

“Hi, Applejack,” Derpy said with a smile.

Apple Bloom proudly stated, “They came here to see you, big sis! I showed ‘em the way.”

“Good to see you.” Applejack smiled and tipped her hat. “How’re you two doin’ today after all that fuss from before?”

It took Derpy a moment to recall what she was talking about, but Time Turner answered, “We’re both doing much better now, thanks.”

Derpy nodded.

“Ooh. It’s... It feels like that was forever ago,” she admitted as Time Turner held in a tired laugh. “How’re you doing?”

“Just fine. Settin’ up a new fence, as you can probably see,” she said, nodding her head at it. “Got stepped on by one of those big rock fellas.”

“I noticed tracks in your field. Were a lot of things wrecked?” Time Turner inquired worriedly.

“Nothin’ that couldn’t be fixed,” Applejack assured him, “but I gotta admit, it has been a bit of pain.”

She turned her gaze on Derpy again.

“Anyway, what can I do ya for?”

“Twilight asked us to come, actually,” the pegasus said. “She was wondering if you could help her out with putting something kind of complicated back together.”

Applejack seemed a bit surprised and tilted her head, and beside her, Apple Bloom’s ears perked and her eyes lit up.

“I can help! I’m great at puttin’ things together,” she said.

Derpy was caught off guard, but before she could say a thing, Applejack added, “You know, that’s actually true. She fixed up a whole treehouse quick as a whip. I’m not so bad myself, either. If you don’t mind that she comes along-”

“I’m sure that’ll be just fine,” Derpy assured them both quickly. “It’s a big job.”

“What sort of job is it, anyhow?” Apple Bloom asked.

The pegasus opened her mouth but, unsure of what to say, only a sort of blank, “Ummmm,” came out of her. Time Turner put a hoof on her shoulder.

“It’s rather complicated. A great big mess of metal, really. It’d be easier to show you firsthand-- er, firsthoof,” he tried to explain.

Apple Bloom looked at them skeptically but Applejack nodded, seeming unperturbed by the lack of information. She headed down the fence a ways and retrieved a large, red toolbox. She grabbed her hammer added it to the others before tossing and catching the whole thing onto her back, much to the surprise of only Time Turner.

“We’ll follow you,” she said.

The small herd moved back into town, heading straight for the library. Derpy was a little worried still, but tried to keep it off her face, though she was so distracted that she let out a shriek when a silver stallion wearing a white coat stepped in front of them, cutting them off.

“Whoa there, sorry!” he said, and then nodded at Time Turner as Derpy put a hoof to her chest to steady herself. “I’ve been looking for you, sir. I’m from the hospital.”

“The hospital?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at the newcomer curiously before she whirled on Time Turner. “Are you a doctor?”

“Far from it,” he replied with a laugh, “I’m a patient.”

He tilted his head.

“Can this wait a while longer? We’re about to be in the middle of something.”

“Well... I guess it could,” the stallion admitted, “but the doctors were hoping to check up on you after all that’s happened. Especially after you left a bit earlier than we would have liked.”

“Ah, that,” Time Turner said a bit awkwardly. “Well, I’m not sure, but--”

“You should go,” Derpy said suddenly.

“I... What?”

Derpy pulled him in close with a wing around his shoulders.

“Time Turner, remember what happened in Canterlot? You basically passed out. Your heart was going nuts. You should go with him,” she whispered.

The stallion’s eyes widened and he was about to protest, but she pleaded, “C’mon. I’m worried. Can you at least get it checked out? They might have some answers for you.”

“Are you really that worried?” he asked, ears drooping.

She nodded and released him, her cheeks flushing just a bit as she noticed the other three ponies looking at her rather intently. Her friend, however, patted her on the shoulder.

“Okay then, lead on!” He said bright, addressing the stallion from the hospital.

The other stallion nodded appreciatively and the two trotted off together.

“Don’t flip the switch without me!” Time Turner called over his shoulder.

Derpy and the others waved him off but as soon as he was gone, Applejack asked, “What did he mean by that?”

“It’s easier to show you,” Derpy said, but when the mare looked at her skeptically, she laughed. “No, seriously. More for me than you, I’m still not sure how to explain it, really.”

Applejack seemed to accept her answer, much to her relief.

It didn’t take them much longer to reach Twilight’s library, and upon venturing down the stairs to the basement, the Apple sisters were taken aback by the strange mechanisms lighting up the room, filling it with gentle beeps and purposeful clicks and whirrs.

“Wow, I didn’t see any of this stuff like this last time I was here!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Oh! You’re here!”

Twilight, mane a bit disheveled, emerged from behind one of the machines and rushed to meet them as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“What’s goin’ on, Twilight?” Applejack inquired.

Twilight was quiet for just a moment, looking thoughtful, but she was denied the chance to answer as Pinkie Pie leap-frogged over her and grabbed Applejack in a hug and then gestured broadly to the basement as if displaying a grandiose view before them.

“Derpy Hooves and Time Turner were nearly blown up by a weirdo metal pony called a robot, but they knocked her out and now Twilight is trying to reprogram her, but we need your help to put her back together because Twilight might have gone just a teeny tiny bit crazy taking her legs off and stuff like that!”

Applejack stared at her blankly and Pinkie grinned widely and nodded and then turned to Twilight.

“That’s great, but uh... seriously, what’s the problem?”

“N-No, that’s all true,” Derpy said quietly.

“Pinkie just about covered it,” Twilight said, nodding.

Applejack was still rather stonefaced but Applebloom let out a loud, “Huh?!” Twilight laughed and rubbed a hoof through her mane tiredly.

“Come on, let me show you.”

Pinkie grinned as well and bounced back into the lab and Twilight beckoned for the others to follow her.

Just beyond the machines, Applejack caught her first glimpse of the robot on the table and her expression shifted swiftly to surprise. Hesitating only for a moment, she pushed past Twilight to join Pinkie at the table, thumping her toolbox down beside the body casing. She reared and put her forehooves on the table.

“Heck, I guess you really weren’t joking!” she muttered.

“Let me see!” Apple Bloom insisted.

She raced up and joined her sister, letting out a high, “Wow!”

“Neato, huh?” Pinkie asked as she popped up on the other side of the table.

Applejack seemed at a loss for words for a moment and then whirled on Twilight and Derpy, asking, “So how, exactly, did you get this? And what did you say it was, a ro-boat? Roobut?”

“Robot,” Derpy said quickly, and then shot the unicorn a worried glance. “Um... I...”

“It’s okay,” Twilight assured her, and the pegasus took a deep breath.

“Time Turner and I went to deliver a package in Canterlot,” she said. “That robot attacked us. She wanted to terminate Time Turner and he, well... We ended up disabling her.”

Twilight shot her a knowing glance and, though Derpy felt a pang of panic, she continued, “Sh-She said something that made us think that maybe she knew s-something about Time Turner’s memory l-loss, so we--”

“So they brought her back here and now we have a cool robot to be friends with!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, grinning. “I mean... You know, once we fix her and wake her up, and make sure she doesn’t want to explode anypony, you know.”

“F-Friends?” Derpy gulped, but tried to steady herself when the other ponies turned their attention on her. “R-Right. As long as she’s not so violent anymore, I’m sure th-that’ll be okay.”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie cheered.

“That sounds interestin’ and all,” Applejack said, “but I don’t have a lick of experience with somethin’ like this.”

She tilted her head, looking at the wires and sockets where a leg had been removed. As she did, Apple Bloom snuck her way under her and peered at the same bit of equipment.

“Oh!” she said, eyes widening. “Actually, I think I might know what to do!”

Though Twilight looked a little skeptical, Applejack said, “All right, you can try your hoof at fastenin’.”

The filly grinned and Pinkie clapped her hooves excitedly and before long, Applejack was thumping the heavy, metal limb down onto the table and pushing it into position.

Snatching some tools, Apple Bloom dug right in. Though Derpy couldn’t see what she was doing, her cheerful exclamations like, “See, you just snap this here!” and, “I just gotta fasten these together! were strangely reassuring, especially as Pinkie seemed to get more excited and Applejack didn’t let out a single word of protest or correction. Twilight edged inwards, watching with wide eyes, and she, too, seemed taken aback.

“Apple Bloom, I’m impressed!” she said. “You almost have that whole leg back on. Where did you learn to do that?”

“Nowhere, really, I’m just pretty good at puttin’ stuff together,” the filly said absently.

Applejack raised an eyebrow and sent Twilight an exasperated look and Twilight smiled sympathetically, though the meaning didn’t quite reach Derpy.

Twilight backed off to give them space, pulling an ever encroaching Pinkie away with her.

“Pinkie, why don’t you, uh... go get us some snacks from upstairs or something?” the unicorn suggested.

“I’ll do you one better!” Pinkie said as her eyes lit up.

She was gone in the blink of an eye. Derpy couldn’t help a quiet laugh and Twilight smiled. She pushed in close to her.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t need to tell Applejack about the time travel stuff yet. I know it’s complicated,” she whispered.

The pegasus was a bit taken aback, but she nodded with a grateful smile on her face. She watched on quietly for a little as the Apple sisters worked hard on reattaching plating and even redoing some of the welds Twilight had put in originally. After a while, it occurred to her that she should, perhaps, contribute.

“Anything I can do to help?” She asked a bit shyly.

“We’ll let you know, don’t you worry,” Applejack assured her.

Derpy nodded and sat down on the cool floor. She only got a moment’s worth of rest on her hindquarters before a sharp, “Psst!” sent her flailing onto her hooves again, stunned to see Pinkie Pie lurking behind her, belly to the floor, with a hard expression on her face. The pegasus was shocked. She hadn’t even heard her come back.

“Pinkie, what-?!”

“I need your help,” the pink pony said, voice hushed. “I have what may possibly, literally, be the best plan ever.”

Derpy raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder. None of the other ponies seemed to have even noticed Pinkie. She gulped and turned back, asking a hesitant, quiet, “What is it?”

Pinkie beckoned her closer, closer, and yet closer still until their faces were almost touching.

“Ultimate-mega-robot-pony-building-and-rebooting party.”

The paintings of grand, mountainous landscapes and wild, open desert canyons hung on spring green walls distracted Time Turner inside the hospital’s reception area as his escort checked him in and searched for a nurse. His eyes roamed the careful paint dabs of sky and rock, enthralled with the idea of exploring such places. He could picture himself there, clambering across cliffs; galloping through the canyons, with Derpy gliding along with him.

He felt his cheeks flush and his ears drooping just a little, though they perked again to the sound of a female voice he recognized. He turned to see the white mare, Nurse Redheart, hurry to meet him, looking like a great weight had been lifted from her.

“Sir! There you are!” she said, her voice a combination of exasperation and relief. “I’m so sorry! With all that commotion yesterday, and not being able to find you--”

“It’s quite all right,” he assured her, “and please, call me Time Turner.”

“Oh! So you remembered your name!” the mare said, ears perking high.

Time Turner felt bad to dash her enthusiasm, but he corrected, “Unfortunately, no. My friend, Derpy Hooves, gave me this name.”

“Oh.”

The mare looked disappointed, but she retrieved his file from behind the main desk and marked it down anyway, saying, “Better than nothing,” under her breath. When she drew back, she looked at him a bit forlornly.

“You remember that we sent your picture out to the other cities? A few ponies said they saw a pony of your description in Canterlot over the last few days, but we know you were here then. Nothing before you turned up. I’m sorry.”

Time Turner was surprised, and though he felt a bit disheartened, he couldn’t help but be amused by the Canterlot reports, as well as feel a little foolish for not realizing that they would occur.

“So no one claimed me,” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry,” Redheart repeated, her ears drooping a little. “Why don’t you take a seat? It’ll just be a short wait, and then we can take a look at you.”

He nodded and did as he was bid, plopping down on one of the dark turquoise cushions rimming the room; the mare gave him a reassuring smile before she turned and headed up a hall past the front desk.

Time Turner wasn’t sitting long before he heard the clip-clop of hooves. His ears perked and he turned to look, but was surprised to see a face he didn’t recognize. There was a light blue mare peeking her head around the corner. Her silver mane was askew and her dark pink eyes lit up upon seeing him.

“Oh, uh... hello,” he said.

The mare’s ears perked and strained towards him, and quickly she emerged from behind the wall and, to his surprise, flexed her back and stuck her rump in the air, wagging her tail vigorously. She bounced around and approached him with a smile before letting out a loud sound, one that he only recognized due to Winona, and hopped up onto the seat beside him, her scruffy tail thumping back and forth against the wall. Time Turner wasn’t sure what to say.

“Are you okay, miss?” he asked, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

The mare, to his surprise, barked again and grinned at him, wiggling under his touch. He pulled back and, a bit awkwardly, he put a hoof on her head and patted her much like Derpy had shown him with Winona. The pony responded instantly, closing her eyes, sticking out her tongue a little, and wagging her tail much faster.

“Fancy that,” he mumbled.

“Screw Loose? Screw Loose, honey? Where are you?”

The blue pony perked up and hurriedly jumped out of the chair out the sound of the voice, running in an excited circle on the tile. After just a moment, a pale yellow pony, tired green eyes wide and worried, arrived from around the corner. She saw the two ponies before her and hurriedly readjusted her nurse’s cap atop her pale blue, streaked mane before she let out a relieved sigh .

“There you are!”

The mare bounded up to the nurse happily, rolling onto her back and folding her forelimbs in close. Time Turner looked at her with wide eyes and then looked at the nurse. The yellow mare rolled her eyes and gently rubbed the other pony’s belly, before looking to Time Turner apologetically.

“I’m sorry if she bothered you. She’s... not quite right in the head. She thinks she’s a dog.”

“I figured. Is she all right?” he asked. “And it’s no problem, she wasn’t bothering me.”

The nurse looked relieved.

“Yes, she’s... Well, she’s happy and healthy, aside from...”

She nodded at Screw Loose, and then gently helped her to her hooves, saying, “Come on, sweet heart. It’s time for your pills.”

The blue pony’s ears drooped.

“You can have your squeaky bone after. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” the nurse cooingly assured her.

Almost instantly, Screw Loose’s ears perked and her eyes lit up. She began to trot after the mare but after just a few steps paused. She turned and raced back to Time Turner, putting her forehooves on his legs to lift herself and quickly booped the tip of his snout with her own before whirling and sprinting after the yellow mare, her tail wagging furiously. Time Turner was left puzzled as he saw Redheart scoot around the two retreating ponies, eyebrows raised, as she approached him.

“I’m sorry if Screw Loose-”

“Don’t apologize, no harm done.”

She nodded and smiled before beckoning him to follow her.

“The doctor can see you now. We just have a few basic procedures to go through first.”

After baffling the nurse with an inexplicable increase in height and apologizing profusely for breaking the weight scale, Time Turner was promptly guided to sit on a table in a more private examination room and Nurse Redheart left him, her place in the room taken instead by the yellow-pelted unicorn, Dr. Stable. Before Time Turner could even say a word, the doctor was placing the internal photographs of bones overtop of a golden board on the wall, backlit by tiny, determined, glowing bugs.

“And how are you feeling today? Any changes?”

“Apart from the height thing, no, I feel fantastic, actually,” Time Turner replied.

The other stallion turned and looked at him over his glasses for a moment before he turned back and gestured to the photos. There was a sort of heavy ribcage overlay on each one, making for quite a mess of images.

Before the doctor could explain, Time Turner, a bit surprised, said, “Your technology can’t see through my bones.”

“My magic,” Dr. Stable corrected, sounding disappointed. “Normally, I can target pieces of a pony’s anatomy and look at internal structures to make these x-ray images, but with you... I’m not sure, it’s almost as if there’s some interference.”

His ears drooped.

“I guess you can’t remember, but could there have been a spell placed on you at some point?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Time Turner said, scratching his chin, “but I guess it isn’t out of the question. Miss Twilight didn’t notice anything like that, though...”

“Twilight Sparkle?” the doctor asked.

Time Turner nodded, and the doctor looked a bit troubled.

“We can probably rule that out, then,” he said quietly as he turned back to the x-rays.

The brown stallion looked rather apologetic and Dr. Stable moved to join him, listening against his chest with the stethoscope from around his neck. Time Turner watched him curiously, a little unnerved when the doctor grimaced and pulled back, looking a bit grim.

“How are you feeling right now?” he asked. “Any tightness in the chest? Shortness of breath?”

“No, not at all,” Time Turner said.

“It sounds... Well, it doesn’t sound any better than it did on day one,” he said.

His magic shot out to grab a cloth cuff from the wooden desk in the back corner and fastened it around Time Turner’s foreleg. After a couple seconds, he frowned and removed it.

“Blood pressure is completely normal.”

He seemed troubled and Time Turner shrugged a bit sheepishly. Dr. Stable looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin.

“I have a few more things I’d like to try.”

More tests continued to leave the hospital staff baffled; Time Turner was starting to wonder if coming back was even worth it. He wasn’t even able to get enough information to set Derpy’s mind at ease about whatever condition he had.

Back in the reception area, Time Turner waited a little impatiently as Nurse Redheart finalized some of his paperwork at the front desk. He rested his cheek on his hoof and was contemplating making a dash for the door when his attention was drawn to it as a limping, off-white unicorn pushed through. Her spiky, tomboyish coblat and cyan mane was rather distinctive and Time Turner could have sworn he recognized her. She plopped down, exhausted, two cushions down from him and peeked over her purple-tinted sunglasses at him.

“Hey. ‘Sup.”

The stallion pointed out the nurse and then looked at her right forelimb that she held close.

“That’s quite swollen.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she said, lifting it as if to show it off, and then biting back a yelp. “Equipment moving accident. Hey, didn’t I see you at T’s place when those big rock guys were running around town?”

It took him a moment to realize that “T” was Twilight; he nodded. She smiled a bit and then offered him her good hoof.

“I’m Vinyl.”

“Time Turner,” he replied, shaking her hoof. “It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it?”

“You’re telling me!” she exclaimed, and then laughed. “You wouldn’t even believe. So, listen, I come down to Ponyville to do a small gig for that shooting star thing, right? I meet up with a friend I haven’t seen in months, so we decide, hey! Ponyville’s nice, right? Let’s rent a room and stay for a couple days to just chill, and then-”

“Giant rock monsters attack and throw the whole town into utter chaos?” Time Turner volunteered.

“Exactly!” Vinyl said. “And then, when things finally calm down, I drop this huge amp right on myself as I’m packing up!”

Time Turner empathetically winced and said, “Sorry to hear it.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “What’re you in for?”

“Ooh, that is a long, strange, and complicated story,” he said, unable to quell a tired laugh. “I guess the simplest way to explain the simplest problem is that they seem to think I have heart trouble, but their x-ray images just can’t seem to see through my ribcage.”

Vinyl frowned thoughtfully and let out a long, “Hmm,” as Nurse Redheart tapped her papers against the desk top to straighten them and placed them in a folder before trotting over to them.

“Mr. Turner, you’re all checked out,” she said. “You’re still staying with Miss Derpy Hooves if we need to find you again, right?”

He nodded and she smiled, but her attention was quickly grabbed by Vinyl as she let out a loud, “Ah!” in revelation.

“Oh! Your leg!” the nurse exclaimed. “Let me get you into a room. Can you walk on that?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Vinyl said quickly, but she seemed to ignore Redheart as she whirled on Time Turner, asking, “Did they try sound?”

“Sound?” he asked, and the other mare echoed him in confusion.

“Well, yeah, sound,” she said. “Images can lie or get messed up, but if you could use sound to bounce images back--”

“Like a bat,” the nurse said quietly, and her eyes widened. “Oh my, that could actually work! But the equipment...”

“I know someone,” Vinyl said dismissively, “I’ll get you in contact. And, yeah, dude, a room would be awesome, this sprain is killer.”

Redheart immediately trotted away and returned almost as suddenly with another, pink nursemare who helped Vinyl out of her seat and down the hall. Redheart grimaced a little and Time Turner got up to go.

“Thanks for everything,” he said, but just as his hoof met the door, he paused. “Nurse Redheart?”

“Yes?” she asked.

“Do you recall, did Derpy hooves ever mention where, exactly, she found me?”

“Just outside of town” wasn’t really the most specific of instructions, but after a little more asking around, Time Turner was starting to feel more confident in where he was going. Derpy had mentioned a clearing where something had fallen, and a pegasus he spoke to seemed to know what he was talking about. There was a clearing through a small patch of woods just beyond the edge of town, almost exactly opposite to the hospital. He made his way there quickly. The thought of fetching Derpy crossed his mind, but he didn’t need to interrupt her and the other ponies if he could find the way himself. If he couldn’t, he decided, he’d have her take him there some other time. He just supposed, if everything with the robot panned out, they would be rather distracted for a few days, at least.

His body jittery with nervous anticipation, Time Turner headed across town. He could vaguely recall passing over a few small bridges in the late night hours when he was first brought the the hospital and used them as guiding markers until he reached a tall, thick growth of trees as the town thinned out around him. He was a bit surprised how far it was from the hospital; reminded himself to thank Derpy and Applejack once more for carrying him.

With careful steps, Time Turner ducked through the low layer of branches beneath dappled light and bright green leaves. A whiff of a breeze caught him and his ears perked; he sniffed and followed the strength of the wind.

Trees gave way to a small, patchy field. Beyond that, rising up from the dirt and rock was a large, mossy cave. Time Turner stood a moment to take it in before curiously looking around. Patches of dirt were scuffed and, upon closer inspection, he found the smudge of a body and hoofprints disrupting the earth. Hesitantly, he touched the hoofprint, matching it, and a cold feeling brushed him. Wetting his tongue, he scanned the area for more of anything in the dirt. More hoofprints caught his attention and he followed them up to the mouth of the cave. The steps were erratic; Time Turner circled them and followed them back to the spot where he had collapsed. The cave behind him suddenly felt incredibly foreboding. He gulped and hesitantly returned to the mouth, staring down the shadows beyond him worriedly.

Derpy should be here... He bit his lip. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take just a little peek. I’ll... I’ll just come back if it’s too far or something.

He nodded to himself and muttered, “Right,” as he took a few cautious steps inwards. After just a short distance, something about the sound-- the flat, unexpected quality of the reverberation around him-- seemed a tad off. It made him a little uncomfortable, but not enough to scare him off. It was almost as if the rock beneath his hooves was too soft, and those above him, too smooth. Otherwise, the cave, as it pushed back into a tunnel, seemed completely ordinary.

A traveler’s passageway, maybe? Time Turner wondered. Did I come through here? Ooh, maybe I was an adventurer? I wonder...

He stopped himself in his tracks and took a deep breath.

No. I should get back to Twilight’s. I should bring Derpy with me.

Though reluctant, he turned back to the mouth of the cave and followed daylight out to the clearing.

Eagerly, Time Turner made his way back into town and to Twilight’s library, and upon opening the front door was greeted with a small explosion of streamers and confetti. He was surprised to see a large banner pinned up and hung across the top of the room that read, “Welcome to Ponyville!” in big, bubblegum pink block letters. Tables with pastries, a big, colourful cake, and a bowl of purple punch were set up underneath, along with a table covered in silly pointed hats and a large record player beside it. Though unsure where the condensed party that had greeted him had come from, he smiled and headed downstairs.

There was a gentle sound clicking and the ting of metal on metal, and as he peered into the basement, he could see the younger of the Apple sisters reattaching something to the chestplate as, beside her, Applejack guided Twilight in magically fusing the small crystals to the casings inside the head. Pinkie Pie was with them, hovering with an expression of intense interest. It took him a moment to find Derpy, though. He caught her lying on the floor beside one of the buzzing machines, a purple blanket with stars on it draped over top of her.

When his hooves clopped down onto the floor, the other ponies noticed him.

“Welcome back,” Twilight said in a hushed tone. “Almost done.”

He nodded and carefully made his way through the room, casting a glance at Derpy. She had fallen asleep with her head on her hooves.

“Sorry, probably my fault,” Pinkie said quickly, smiling apologetically. “I asked her to help me set up a great party for our new robot friend and I guess it was just too awesome and she needed a teeny little nap.”

Time Turner smiled and joined them over the robot’s body. He was surprised to see her all but pieced back together again. Just the head and chest were left open, though it, along with all the limbs that had been scattered all over the room, looked as if they had never been removed.

“Wow, that looks excellent,” he commented.

“Thank ya kindly,” Apple Bloom said proudly.

“Wish I had been here,” he said.

“Where did you go, by the way?” Twilight asked curiously. “We all got so caught up with the robot that I forgot to ask.”

“Just to the hospital,” he explained, and before she could ask, said, “Learned almost nothing.”

“I’m sorry,” she said; her ears drooped just a little.

“What’s this about the hospital?” Applejack asked, a concerned frown on her face.

Before Time Turner could answer, a sleepy voice asked, “Hospital? How did it go?”

They ponies turned to see a rather groggy Derpy, smiling bashfully, the blanket draped over her like a cloak.

“Welcome back!” Pinkie said brightly.

“Sorry for passing out,” the pegasus said as she kneaded one of her eyes. “Had a long couple of days. What’d I miss?”

She looked primarily at Time Turner, but Apple Bloom jumped up excitedly.

“We’re just about finished!”

“Oh!” Derpy smiled, but a worried twitch marred her brow.

“Just a few more tweaks,” Twilight said, “and I think I can move her upstairs. Is that okay with everypony?”

No objections-- Twilight lifted the almost complete robot in her magic and ferried her carefully up the stairs. Excitedly, Pinkie and Apple Bloom bounced after them, followed by a cautiously curious Applejack. Derpy was stalled at the bottom of the stairs. Time Turner grimaced and nudged her gently with his snout.

“Hey, are you all right?”

“Y-Yeah. Just... nervous, I guess,” she said, and then laughed a little. “But maybe this’ll work. You never know.”

She took a deep breath and smiled.

“Anyway! So, right, how was the hospital?”

“Uneventful in most ways,” Time Turner replied with a shrug. “The doctor’s magic still can’t see through my bones. That pale unicorn with the blue mane-- Vinyl, I think-- turned up quite by coincidence and made a suggestion of using sound to “see” through me. It may work. So, I suppose I’ll go back a different day.”

“And... And your heart...?” Derpy’s ears drooped, but the stallion smiled.

“No change. Don’t worry.”

Derpy didn’t look convinced, but she shrugged and began to head up the stairs. Her hoof got caught under the blanket almost instantly and, with a yelp, she stumbled. Though her friend rushed to catch her, she laughed at herself as he helped her get her hooves under her.

“Whoops!” she said. “My bad.”

“Capes aren’t good on stairs, I suppose,” he joked. “Unfortunately.”

He took the blanket from her and folded it neatly before they moved on up.

The other ponies, and Spike, we already gathered around the robot, now placed carefully on the floor in front of the party tables. Twilight’s magic was aglow, and when Derpy leaned forward to look, she could see she was finishing up something with the crystals and fastenings in the chest.

“Just a couple more twists,” she was saying.

“It’s lookin’ pretty good,” Applejack said. “Good job, everypony. ‘Specially you, little sis, I’m impressed.”

“I’m excited to see what happens with it!” the filly said.

“It’s not gonna explode, is it?” Spike asked.

He looked at Twilight worriedly, tenting his claws. She shook her head, peering over the robot’s chest.

“I don’t think so. Pinkie, get that cupcake out of there.”

“I thought maybe it’d sweeten her personality.”

Pinkie Pie grinned innocently and Twilight raised a brow before lifting a cupcake up out of the robot’s chest cavity; the pink mare bounced up to gulp it down. Derpy hid a laugh behind her hoof.

“She sure could use it,” Derpy said.

“Ah, you never know,” Applejack said, stepping back to join her, “might’ve been just an extreme misunderstandin’.”

“Not so sure about that,” she said, “but I really hope you’re right.”

“Me too,” Time Turner said. "Oh! And, thanks again, you two. For carrying me to the hospital. I found where you found me, Derpy, and it was quite the walk."

"Oh! It... It was mostly Applejack," Derpy admitted, smiling shyly, "but you're welcome."

"Wasn't any trouble," the orange mare assured him with a wink. "You're heavier than you look though, gotta admit that."

They watched as Twilight shut and sealed the chest and head of the robot, and then took a step back. After a moment’s analysis, she smiled and her ears perked up.

“And that should do it!” Twilight announced. “Everypony ready? I’m going to turn her back on.”

Derpy gulped quite audibly, and Time Turner held her hoof reassuringly. Twilight looked at them, and when Time Turner nodded, the unicorn backed up a few paces and scrunched her eyes shut as her magic surged to life. The bright pink glow wrapped, glittering, around the robot, lifting her to her hooves before it seeped into the seams in the metal. Derpy held her breath.

Something inside the robot clicked, then buzzed; the pegasus couldn’t help but press closer to her friend, but the fact that his body was also rigid with nerves was not very reassuring. The robot let out a few more, strange metallic sounds, and then went silent. Twilight frowned and opened her mouth, but all that came out was a yelp as the black eyes lit up with bright turquoise, aperture-like irises. The body loosened a little and, suddenly, the robotic unicorn mare was shifting ever so slightly on her hooves, movement so smooth that it was hard to believe she was not a living pony.

“Ohmigosh,” Pinkie breathed.

The turquoise eyes scanned the ponies smoothly and the mare’s metal head tilted to the side a little. Derpy looked between the others nervously and, when no one else made any sign of movement, she gulped, taking a small step forward and saying, “Um... H-Hello.”

The mare’s head snapped towards her and she raised one hoof, seeming almost inquisitive

“Hello.”

Her voice was low, feminine, and metallic. There was a collective sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness!” Twilight approached the mare with a smile. “Hello there! I’m Twilight Sparkle. How are you feeling?”

“Feeling?” the mare repeated.

Her eyes flickered.

“I am feeling rather neutral, thank you.”

Twilight cast a glance back at the others and, a bit nervously, Time Turner stepped up and pointed to himself.

“Do you recognize me?” he asked.

The metal mare’s eyes flashed and her aperture iris spun, the back of her head emitting a soft clicking sound. After a moment, she replied with a simple, “No.”

Time Turner sighed and smiled at her.

“Well then, pleasure to meet you. I’m called Time Turner.” He nodded at the other ponies. “That’s my dear friend Derpy Hooves, and there’s Applejack and her sister Apple Bloom. Spike is the small purple one, and Pinkie Pie is-- wait, where did she--?”

He was stopped by an explosion of confetti and Pinkie leaping out from somewhere and slamming a red party hat down onto the robot’s head.

“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE, MISS ROBOT!” she shrieked shrilly.

Derpy cringed but the robot didn’t move a whit.

“Ponyville?” was all she said.

“Yeah, Ponyville, only the coolest, bestest, nicest town in the whole universe!” Pinkie cheered. “Ooh, you’re gonna love it here, I promise!”

She spun and slammed her hooves on the record player and, somehow, it jumped to life, letting out a lively, jazzy tune. Pinkie began to dance wildly and Apple Bloom joined her excitedly.

“I can’t wait to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo I helped make a robot pony!”

The robot did not partake in the frivolities, but did not seem perturbed. Instead, she stepped towards the others, the hat tumbling from her frazzled mane, her eyes fixed on Derpy. Twilight intercepted.

“So how are the legs? And the head? And... and everything! Does it all feel like its moving right?”

“I believe plate 3.a of the chest section could be a little more solid, but overall, all is well,” the robot said simply.

“Fascinating!” Twilight said, eyes alight. “Oh my gosh, I’m just so excited! I’ve never seen anything like you before! Have you guys?”

She turned to the others and Applejack laughed, saying, “Ya’ll know I haven’t.”

“Just... Just her,” Derpy squeaked.

“I’d have to agree,” Time Turner said.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm for data acquisition,” the robot said, but again, her eyes turned to Derpy. “I would ask to speak with you, registered ‘Derpy Hooves’.”

“M-Me?” Derpy asked, her voice cracking a little.

“Her?” Time Turner asked, and he tensed up a little. “What do you want from Derpy?”

“A data fragment in my cranial storage resembles you.”

“Oh... Oh! Okay,” she said. “L-Let’s, um..”

Twilight gestured to the stairs leading to the second floor, and Derpy nodded hurriedly. She pointed and the robot headed there without hesitation. The pegasus hung back for just a moment, gulping, but then scampered to keep up. Time Turner frowned and began to follow.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked

“Spying, of course,” he said, “...Just in case.”

Twilight nodded and tapped her nose, lowering her voice.

“I’ll go with you.”

Alone on the second floor with a robot Derpy knew could shoot arcs of lightning from her head, the little pegasus was trying hard not to shake. The robot mare seemed indifferent, though. She looked at Derpy with her irises spinning slowly.

“S-So, um...”

“Your heart rate is 2.3 times what appears to be the norm,” the robot commented. “I am causing you great fear. What is the reason for this?”

“Um... It’s just... It’s just that, I don’t know if you remember,” she stammered. “You attacked Time Turner and I. You wanted to ‘terminate’ him.”

“These memories have been purged,” the mare commented simply. “Is that what you meant to me?”

“I... I guess so?” she squeaked.

“I see.” The robot’s voice conveyed its first fragment of emotion: she sounded disappointed.

Derpy tilted her head.

“Strange, then.” Her metal ears rotated. “Designated, ‘Time Turner’ and ‘Twilight Sparkle’ are within range.”

“What? Oh--”

Derpy looked over her shoulder to see Twilight and Time Turner crouching low, hiding just a little ways down the stairs. They both looked a bit embarrassed and Time Turner cleared his throat as he helped Twilight up before they both crept onto the second floor.

“Sorry,” Twilight said.

The robot dipped her head in a curt nod and focussed on Time Turner.

“Registered ‘Derpy Hooves’ has informed me that I attacked you in a previous encounter,” she said. “No such protocol exists in my cranial or interior memory.”

“So we won’t have an issue, then,” the stallion said, relieved.

The robot nodded.

“Correct.”

“What sort of memories do you have?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, that’s right!” Derpy asked. “Right, we thought... well, Time Turner has amnesia, and you mentioned something about erasing memories before we brought you here. Do... Do you happen to know anything about that?”

Derpy couldn’t help her enthusiasm, but she wilted almost as fast as she had perked when the robot shook her head.

“The only erasure of memory I have the ability to cause is my own,” she said.

Time Turner grimaced and stole a glance at Derpy. She bit her lip, ears drooping, but she sighed.

“Thanks anyway.”

The robot nodded and a flicker of an expression moved over her face. She looked almost embarrassed.

“I must confess, however, that I am left a bit adrift. My memory banks are disconcertingly empty.”

Derpy’s ears dropped and the stallion approached the robot, gently taking her by the shoulder.

“I know exactly how you feel,” he assured her.

“Um... guys,” Twilight said; she gestured to the room around them, “you do realize that you’re in a library, right?”

“I am unclear as to the significance,” the robot admitted.

“Books!” Twilight exclaimed, a little exasperated, but she smiled nonetheless. “Thousands of books! Hundreds of thousands of pages of information. For you, at least--”

She nodded at the metal mare and grinned.

“--I bet you could at least fill up a little of that empty space, huh?”

The robot was silent, but something in her right ear clicked. Her aperture irises spun and, finally, she decided, “Your logic is sound. I will take the data from your ‘books’, if this is permissible.”

To their surprise, the robot’s eyes settled on Derpy. The pegasus stared at her blankly and the other mare looked back with a similar expression.

“Y-Yeah, of course, go ahead. Y-You don’t have to ask me...” Derpy stammered quietly.

The metal mare nodded. Twilight clapped her hooves and grabbed the robot away.

“We’ll start you at the basics. Some encyclopedias, some history-- don’t you worry, you’ll be feeling at home really soon!” she insisted as she whisked her back down the stairs.

“Wish it was that easy for me,” Time Turner joked quietly to Derpy.

“Me too,” she said softly, and then, tiredly added, “Two amnesiac ponies now, and still no answers. Yeesh.”

“Tell me about it,” the stallion laughed. “Oh well, I’m quite glad this has gone well so far.”

“Yeah, no explosions or running or anything,” Derpy laughed.

She ruffled her wings and Time Turner smiled and poked her shoulder.

“Nice to see you more relaxed,” he said. “See? Nothing to worry about.”

Derpy snickered and rubbed her mane bashfully, but really, the amount of relief she felt made her want to fly circles around the room. She stretched her wings nonetheless and Time Turner seemed pleased.

“I’m very relieved,” he admitted. “Now we have a new friend who goes click and whir, even if she doesn’t have the answers. However, there is a place I’d like to go to to see if there might be answers there, and I was hoping you might come with me?”

Derpy gave him a blank look. Quickly her ears perked.

“Oh! The clearing!” she said.

“Like I said, I actually headed that way earlier,” he said, “but I felt like I wanted you to come with me. Especially into that cave.”

Her immediate reply of, “Of course!” made him smile wide.

The two ponies headed out past the reading robot and the dancing ponies as the party continued, somehow with more ponies involved than had been there when they had gone upstairs. Retracing their steps to the woods, they pushed their way back through branches and bracken to find the patches of dirt where Time Turner once lay. The sight made Derpy’s throat go tight. She recalled how jarring it had been to find him there; how distraught he had seemed. He was oblivious to it, though, heading instead towards the cave at the end of the clearing. Derpy chewed her cheek as she eyed it up and down and then, cautiously, took to the air just enough to look at it from over head. The rock shape was odd, making it seem like either the cave wasn’t very large at all, or it contained a path that went underground. Both notions puzzled her.

She dropped back to the dirt in time to see Time Turner fading in the shadows cast beneath the rocky outcrop.

“You heading in there?” she called after him.

“Yes! You coming?”

Derpy held back, ears drooping. She was quiet longer than she had intended; Time Turner poked his head out of the cave.

“Derpy?” he asked worriedly.

“S-Sorry,” she said quickly.

She trotted to the mouth of the cave , biting her lip. Time Turner gave her a confused look and she smiled shyly and waved a hoof at him.

“How about you just head in there and I’ll catch up with you?” she suggested.

Time Turner tilted his head and looked at her blankly for a few seconds. She felt her heart skip a little; to her relief, he nodded.

“No worries. It’s not as scary as you’d think, in here, though. But, take your time.”

“Thanks,” she sighed.

The stallion turned and headed back into the cave, keeping the wall at his shoulder. It guided him down a gently curving path and a small incline. Seeping past the turn, there was a light, softly pulsing through the dark. Inviting, almost. Time Turner gulped and pushed forward until the only light he saw was what was before him. He could feel the thumping in his chest double, but he didn’t want to go back. The wall of the cave met him rather quickly and he pushed in to examine it. The light shone from what could have been a sleekly polished, oval gem stuck out of the rock. Time Turner tilted his head and curiously lifted his hoof. Green light caught him off-guard and his eyes widened as he saw the ring imbedded in him begin to glow, matching the gentle rhythm of the crystal in the wall. He gulped again and, though a chill passed through him from snout to tail, he steadied himself and reached out to touch it.

He heard a mechanical click. The wall was gone before he could even register that he had made contact with it. His hoof dropped back the ground limply and he stood, dumbstruck, staring ahead into what seemed to be a room in the dark.

He must’ve stood there for minutes-- though it felt like a lifetime-- before taking his first tentative step where he couldn’t even see the floor. That didn’t last long, however, because as soon as his hoof met the metal below, everything before him lit up in a warm pulse of light.

The blue was what struck him first. Many of the lights shining now dyed the silver, sleek walls a light, metallic blue. The one thing that stood out beyond that was a strange, raised oval of what seemed like a counter, laden with flashing points of green and white, along with many little switches, buttons, and flat, dark screens, like windowpanes looking off into night. Raising from the center was a huge metal column, with dark half-orbs across it. Time Turner hesitantly stepped in farther, following the column upwards with his eyes to see it join the ceiling and branch off into shiny pipes and thick, black tubes that reached up and down the length of the room. It reminded him the most of the great tree that was Twilight’s home.

He had to take a moment to suck his tongue and gulp, and he took a quick look around at the rest of the room. Strange things that looked to be chairs of some sort were placed a little haphazardly at one end, as if shoved there in a hurry.

“H... Hello?” Time Turner asked hesitantly, his raised voice bouncing, hollow, around the metal walls.

He waited, ears lifting, but heard absolutely nothing in response. He took a deep breath and prowled around the room, though he didn’t dare touch anything. One end of the room tapered a little, and when Time Turner reached the end, he jumped to the sound of a smooth-sliding metal just as a panel opened as if to make way for him. He gritted his teeth and backed up and away from it.

“Derpy? ...DERPY?”

When her distant voice answered, he shouted, “I, uh... I seem to have found something quite strange down here!”

“What is it?” she asked; she sounded a little nervous, but closer nonetheless.

“Um... H-Hard to explain,” he replied, backing up a little farther. “There’s a room, and a lot of lights, and a lot of... stuff.”

“A room?”

He could hear her hooves speed up and he turned to see her round the soft curve. She stalled in her tracks, though, and her mouth dropped open, her wings flaring. Time Turner could do little more than shrug.

“Wh-What? Wh... Wha--? What the heck is that?!” she squawked.

The stallion looked around and tried to put words to what he was seeing but couldn’t come up with much that he deemed effective. He beckoned for the pegasus to join him and, almost as if straining against the air, she edged towards him.

Just as she reached the threshold, a low, violent rumbling caught her off guard and she leapt back, just as the wall closed off with a metallic shink. Derpy gawked and then raced for the wall in the darkness, thumping her hooves against it.

“TIME TURNER?!”

On the other side, Time Turned pawed at the wall with equal fervour, calling, “What happened?!” through the metal.

“I-I don’t know! Are you okay? Are you-?!”

The rest of her words were drowned out beneath a sound like thunder; Time Turner felt the floor beneath his hooves moving. He stumbled, his legs catching under him, and he flopped awkwardly to the floor. Struggling to regain his balance, the stallion heaved himself upright and pressed up against the wall.

“DERPY, GET OUT OF THE CAVE! KNOCK ONCE IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!”

One feeble knock came through and he sighed with relief-- that is, until the floor lifted. His stomach dropped.

“Oh no. Oh, no no no no, that is not a good thing.”

Time Turner raced around the room, eyes scanning everything. There were buttons everywhere. Trying to quell his panic, he started pushing things-- anything that looked like it might make the floor stop shaking. He hadn’t a single clue what he was doing, though. Nothing seemed to be doing anything but adding to the ruckus with additional bleeps and bloops. Ears flattening, Time Turner fought to keep his balance and reluctantly went through the strange door that had opened before him earlier.

As soon as his hooves crossed the threshold, light smacked Time Turner in the face as grand, narrow windows opened up to outline a room that ended in a bit of a point, with a long row of buttons and lights in front of some things that looked a little bit like odd chairs. The stallion gulped and rushed up to the windows. His eyes widened and his blood ran cold-- he was rising up and, below, he saw Derpy, looking completely horrified.

“No, no no no, nope, awful,” he muttered. “Okay. Horrible. How do I...?”

He bit his lip and his eyes ran over all the buttons. He had no idea what to do, but he pushed everything, pulled every lever up and down.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” he insisted. “Stop it! Land, damn it! Get back down, I don’t want to go up, I want to go down, you ridiculous contraption!”

He heard a quiet brrt and when all the noise stopped, his ears were still ringing. The floor steadied and Time Turner’s mouth went dry. He looked around.

“Uh... Did I do something right?”

The answer rushed up to meet him along with the floor as it dropped. His chin connected, hard, and he lay there, dazed, for what seemed to be only a moment until, to his surprise, Derpy was at his side, heaving him upright and hugging him to her chest, her small frame shaking like a leaf.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” she was saying, “oh my gosh, oh... oh gosh, Timey, you’re okay, right?”

Time Turner had to suck his tongue for a second before he could get any words out, but he assured her, “Fine. I’m fine. Now that I’m on the ground.”

He laughed tiredly and Derpy couldn’t help but let out a warbling giggle.

“Oh gosh, that was scary,” she said. “The cave got all stretched and weird and kept going up.”

She released him and pulled back, rubbing her mane shyly. Before she could say another word, Time Turner wrapped his forelimbs around her quickly and snuggled his snout into her mane with utter relief before he hopped away, looking back out the window. They were back at what was, essentially, ground level, much to his astonishment. He sighed deeply and, beside him, Derpy edged up and peeked with him.

“This place is so weird,” she said. “I don’t even know what to make of it. Did... Did you come from in here?”

“Well, I...” Time Turner frowned and looked at the ring on his hoof. “This opened the door. I... I guess... maybe.”

His ears drooped and Derpy bit her lip. Her eyes, wandering this way and that, explored the room and, gulping, she inspected all the buttons and levers near the window.

“What is this place?” she asked quietly.

“Not a clue,” Time Turner replied.

“Is it familiar?” the pegasus asked.

Time Turner shook his head. Derpy shifted uncomfortably; poked her head out into the bigger room and, hesitantly, left to trot around the large, circular panels, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Time Turner followed her and looked over everything with her, but none of it meant anything to him.

After a few minutes of quiet, Derpy plopped down onto her rump and rubbed her brow with her forehooves.

“I think I’m done for today,” she confessed. “Want to go home?”

“Just like that?” Time Turned asked.

Derpy nodded and weakly got up. The stallion noticed that her legs were a bit wobbly and she looked like she was close to collapse. He felt a sudden shock of guilt.

“That’s fine,” he said quickly. “Let’s go home. We can come back another day. Hopefully this place doesn’t fly away.”

The pegasus laughed a little when he cut his eyes at her. He smiled and nudged her. Despite his curiosity, he eagerly accompanied Derpy back into the cave.

She trotted quickly, with determination, to get out of the darkness. Time Turner didn’t blame her, but he was confused when she came to a dead stop.

“Derpy?” he asked, but he quickly saw why she had frozen as he caught up.

The turquoise eyes of the robotic mare gleamed at them from the clearing, startling Derpy still.

Softly, she muttered, “I don’t think I can do it...”

Time Turner’s brow knitted with concern and he leaned towards her.

“Hey, don’t fret, my friend. We’ll just talk to her.” He put on a grin and approached the robot. “Hey, hello there! Didn’t expect to catch you out here. Did you need something?”

“Yes,” the robot said, but her eyes didn’t leave Derpy.

The pegasus gulped and edged out of the cave and, to her surprise, the robot approached her and raised one hoof in an almost inquisitive sort of way.

“Permission to ask a favour?” she inquired.

Her ears buzzed and Derpy couldn’t keep the surprise off her face.

“Wh-What? Um, of course. You don’t need permission to... Um... What do you need?”

The robot’s metal brow dipped just a little, forming a frown. She seemed very intense, very serious.

“I would ask that you to teach me how to become a pony.”