Big Macintosh, Lyra and Rhapsody stepped out of the ruins of Time Turner’s clock shop.
“Please, please keep her out of trouble,” Time Turner groaned, “I really don’t want to do this again. Ever.”
“Neither do I.” Lyra grumbled.
“Bye!” Rhapsody beamed as she hopped onto Big Macintosh’s back. The family began their way down the street, back to the farm.
“I’m not in trouble, am I?” Rhapsody asked.
“Oh yes you are,” Lyra responded, “I had lots of time to think about what a suitable punishment it…”
“Umm…Can dad punish me instead?”
“If you ask me, it means you’re gonna be workin’ on th’ farm until you get your cutie mark.” Big Mac chuckled.
Rhapsody groaned and collapsed on his back. Soon the filly started snoring, exhausted from her adventure.
“So what are you going to do?” Big Mac asked, “To punish her, I mean.”
“…No sweets for a month. She’ll have a new list of chores she needs to do before running off, and she has to help you on the farm for at least two weeks.”
“…Seems like a lot, don’t you think?”
“Not really,” Lyra responded, “If I was really mean, I’d let Applejack punish her.”
“Point taken.” Big Mac conceded.
“Really, this is all your fault.” Lyra grumbled.
“My fault? What makes you say that?”
“If you had kept a better eye on Rhapsody, she wouldn’t have snuck off like that.” Lyra informed him.
“She’s your daughter too.”
“When she’s in your house, she’s your responsibility.”
“Now you can’t blame everything on me…” Mac protested.
“Sure I can. I’m your wife, it’s what I do.” Lyra smiled.
“She really does take after you, you know that?” Mac shook his head.
“Oh hush.” Lyra nudged him.
“No really, she doesn’t listen, she runs off and does what she wants and she keeps eating sweets Bonbon gives her.”
“Bonbon doesn’t give her tha…” Lyra trailed off, “…So that’s where they all went.”
Mac chuckled.
===
Stratos and Temporal Spectrum trotted down the street.
“...Well, that was definitely something we won’t forget.” Stratos stated.
“True,” Temporal nodded, “I think we’re stumbled upon something that is much more interesting than anything here.”
“But?”
“But I don’t mind being here.” Temporal chuckled.
“That’s g-”
Temporal yanked Stratos down. A light brown blur flew over them and crashed into the ground.
“On the other hand, I don’t think I missed Cream Pie too much.” Temporal responded.
“Eeyup.”
===
“Wait, so you’re telling me I missed Blueblood proposing to Applejack?” Bellona groaned, “That would have been hilarious.”
“It was.” Kanzi replied, “He’s still at the hospital, and she did say yes, when it looked like he wasn’t going to make it.”
===
Golden Sweet sighed as she sat down across from Romana.
“So how’d that adventure go?” the alicorn asked.
“Interestingly. Met an earth pony who turned into an alicorn.”
“Dad had the option of doing that,” Romana shrugged, “He said no.”
“Well in this case he didn’t really have a choice.” Sweet replied.
===
Fantasia trotted down the hallway and stopped in front of her parents.
“I have returned, mother, father.”
“What have you learned?” Cadance asked.
“That sometimes ponies must be pragmatic about who they help, and sometimes it is best to help them realize they can help themselves, rather than just do things for them.”
“A very good lesson.”
===
A Bright blue flash filled the room. As it vanished, Golden Gem was left standing there. The mare sighed and unhooked the device on her hoof.
“Traveler no more.” The mare dropped it onto the ground, “Back t-”
“-To be punished,” another voice interrupted.
Gem spun around, to find a grinning Lemon Hearts in her doorway.
“You have been quite busy, Gem.” The mare shook her head as she entered the room, “What should I do with you?”
“…I recognize what I did was wrong, but…” Gem trailed off, “But I am willing to accept responsibility for my actions.”
“Really now? You stole technically illegal technology, ventured through the multiverse collecting ponies to help you and you expect me to believe that you’ll just take whatever is coming to you?” Lemon Hearts shook her head.
“…After what I have seen and what I have done, I know I have made a difference in at least one universe,” Gem paused, “But doing it illegally means that I still have to be punished.”
“Very good answer,” Lemon Hearts nodded, “But we have other plans.”
“ ‘We’?” the mare echoed.
“We.” Another voice called out.
Another pony entered the room: a brown earth stallion, with a bow tie and a smirk.
“Hello there, Gem. My name is Time Turner, although some ponies like to call me the Doctor.” The stallion’s smirk turned into a smile, “And I have a proposition for you…”