//------------------------------// // Time to test // Story: Five Minute Difference // by carefreedude //------------------------------// "Alright Spike, grab me that one last bolt and we should be done." It has been roughly two months since Twilight made her amazing discovery. She had worked tirelessly since then in the castle's basement to make it a reality. After many weeks of sweat, toil, and one or two claw injuries from Spike, she was finally going to see the fruits of her labor. Her scaly assistant was quick to deliver the desired part she requested. "Here you go!" He exclaimed excitedly, holding out the bolt towards her. Spike was more than happy to see this project completed as well. His mind has been abuzz with all the things he could do with this device. Grasping the metal object with her magic, Twilight secured the piece in place with a strong twist. Satisfied with the final step , she moved back to admire her work. The contraption resting before her was a foghorn-grey behemoth with various colored bulbs protruding outside of it. Nearby was a wooden stool with a red cushion for the seat. Placed upon the cushion was a helmet of the same color as the large machine with it's own set of bulbs. It also had a hole in the top middle for a horn to fit through. Several colored wires connected the helmet to the machine. Wiping away some sweat from her forehead, she couldn't help but smile at all the work she put into building her invention. She probably would have spent hours staring at the metal giant if Spike didn't tap her on the side. "So... Are we going to use it or just stare at it?" Asked the dragon, obviously eager to try it out. Twilight gave off a slight twitch for a moment as her scaly companion's words sunk in. She then moved closer to the machine, placing a hoof on it as she did so. "It's finally done, Spike." She sighed. "Together, you and I have built the greatest thing in the history of ponykind." She breathed to herself and leaned her head closer to the machine. "Just give me a moment let this sink in a bit more." Spike, while mildly annoyed that they weren't using it right away, allowed Twilight her moment. "Alright. But please don't be too long." He pleaded. "I wanna be the first one to try out the T.A.S.M.O.T." Confused, Twilight turned to look at Spike. "Tasmot?" She asked. "Yeah, do you like it?! I came up with it myself. It stands for Twilight's And Spike's Machine Of Time." Spike was practically beaming from how smart he felt at this moment. Twilight brought a hoof to her chin as she thought about the name to herself. "Well as odd of a name Tasmot is, I suppose there are worse names we could call it. Personally, I was just going to refer to it as 'The Machine.'" "Aww come on, Twilight. That is such a boring thing to call it. At least my name took some effort to come up with." Twilight merely shook her head in response, followed by a slight smile. "Alright Spike, we will call it the 'Tasmot' on one condition." "Yeah! What is it?!" "I get to use the Tasmot first." The baby dragon's jaw nearly hit the floor when he heard this offer. He really wanted to try out the time machine as soon as it was done. Twilight even jokingly said at one point during it's construction that he could use it first when pigs fly. Although Twilight caved when Pinkie dressed herself up as a pig and shot herself out of her cannon. So naturally, he wanted to decline her offer. But he also wanted the name for the machine to be the one he came up with. After roughly a minute of thinking, the dragon finally replied. "Alright fine, But I get dibs to go next!" "Very well, I hereby christen this machine as, the 'Tasmot'." Twilight said with a smile. "Now lets fire this bad boy up and take it out for a test run." Over the course of several minutes, the machine was booted up. The various-colored bulbs flashed at random intervals and gave off a slight hum. Upon the seat nearby, sat Twilight with the helmet strapped to her head. She cast her gaze upon the nearby clock hanging on the wall. "Alright Spike, the time right now is 2:08 pm. Since this is our first time using the ma- I mean Tasmot," She quickly corrected herself. "I will only be going back to a very recent time. Let's set the machine to ten minutes ago at 1:59 pm. That should place me at right about the time we finished the machine" The dragon quickly inputted the exact date and time into the machine. He then held his claw over one last button, ready for Twilight's command to press it. Twilight watched as the second hand of the clock ticked slowly around to the twelve. Each second felt like an eternity as the hand progressed. She was feeling a startling mix of fear and excitement. The back of her mind worried about something going wrong. Nothing can go wrong, Twilight. You made sure that this machine was made perfectly. You have nothing to fear. She glanced back at the clock to see the second hand just passing over the eleven. There is nothing to worry about. 3... 2... 1 "Now Spike!" She called out. Without a moment of hesitation, the dragon dropped his claw upon the button. A blinding light was released from her horn as her magic poured into the machine. Twilight let out a violent scream as the machine did it's work. She did her best to keep her eyes open throughout the ordeal. Where once there was a crystal room, now a strange yellow abyss. If there was anything recognizable within this golden space, it was too blurry and distorted to make out. She could only look upon it for about half a second before she experienced more pain and her vision went black. A fraction of a second later, Twilight's vision returned to see her forehoof resting upon the powerless foghorn grey machine. She found herself breathing heavily and could feel a cold sweat go down the back of her neck as she stood there. She could practically feel her heart beating out of her chest after what just happened. Whether or not the machine had worked, it was a terrifying and painful experience. "Alright. But please don't be too long." Pleaded a voice from nearby. Twilight turned to see Spike standing behind her with a mildly annoyed expression on his face. "I wanna be the first one to try out the T.A.S.M.O.T." The alicorn stood there wide eyed and her jaw hanging, staring at the baby dragon. Did... Did it really work? She started to give the room a closer examination. The Tasmot was resting behind her, the helmet was currently resting on the nearby stool, and the clock. The clock showed the time- 1:59! She stared at the clock for roughly thirty seconds as the second hand continued to tick it's way across the face. She would force herself to blink from time to time, just to be sure she was not mistaken. But the longer she stared, the more fact of the matter sank in. I-I did it! Twilight's mouth quickly formed into a smile as this thought bounced around her skull. She had done it. She was the first pony to use time travel without an ontological paradox. She started to look over herself to make sure everything was still in order. Purple fur, one horn, brushed mane, two wings, four hooves, tail. "Twilight? What are you doing?" Asked Spike. He has been watching the princess act strange for the past minute or so. This seemed to be enough to pull her out of her thoughts and back into reality. Twilight turned her gaze to the purple dragon. He was staring at her with a little bit of concern on his face. "Are you feeling alright? I mean, I thought you would be more excited than this." "Spike!" Twilight finally responded loudly, causing the dragon to jump a little. "Is there anything different about me?!" "Uh..." He began, trying to understand what she was asking. "Besides you spacing off into your own little world for a minute, I can't say there is." Twilight suddenly smiled and started jumping in place, to Spikes confusion. "It worked! It worked!" She shouted. She then immediately rushed to a nearby desk and levitated out a scroll, a quill, and some ink. Spike watched, more confused than ever, as the princess began jotting down several notes on the scroll. He managed to look over her shoulder to see what she was writing. The time is 2:02 pm Testing began on Sunday September 23rd at 2:09 pm. Spike and I set the machine to go back ten minutes to 1:59 pm the same day. The actual test itself was very painful during transport, but was immediately gone upon finishing. So far, everything seems to be different than before I tested the machine, but more test will need to be done in order to be sure. "You tested it!?" Exclaimed Spike as he watched her write. "Twilight!" He said with an obvious whine in his voice. "You said I was going to use it first. You promised!" "Spike, don't you remember? You-" Oh yeah, that's right. I made that deal with him before I went back in time. "I... Guess you wouldn't remember actually. Well then I'll tell you. You let me use it first so long as I used your name for it." Twilight explained. "Wait. So you are letting me use the name Tasmot?" Spike asked excitedly. "That is correct, Spike." This caused the baby dragon to grin from ear to ear. "So, since you got your turn, does that mean it's my turn now?!" Apparently, his eagerness was getting to him. "I guess so, but I must warn you tha-" The alicorn's words were cut off as the same yellow abyss from earlier engulfed her vision. Twilight floated in the endless golden void motionless as she tried to comprehend what exactly was happening. Before any idea could surface, she was suddenly dropped back down into reality. As her vision returned to her, she found herself staring at the machine's monitor with her hoof hovering above the keyboard. Just as before, her heart was racing. What?! I- I made another leap in time?! Twilight was inwardly panicking as she quickly turned her head towards the clock. The time read 2:09 pm. That was the time I made the leap back in time. But why am I back here now? "Come on Twilight! You promised!" Whined a voice behind her. The princess turned around to see her assistant on his knees pleading something of her. "I swear, you told me it was my turn!" Twilight stared at the pleading dragon, as her mind tried to piece together what exactly just happened. Okay. Let's see what I know... I used the machine to jump back in time. Then I was suddenly forced back to the exact time before I jumped. The question is, wh- "Twilight! Are you feeling alright? Your spacing out again." Spike said with a mild amount of worry in his voice. "That's the third time now." Third! Thought Twilight. "Spike! What do you mean this is the third time I spaced out!?" The dragon looked at her with a perplexed look. "What do you mean what do I mean? You spaced out right before you claimed to have gone back in time. You spaced out after you promised that it was my turn. And now you spaced out after claiming you made no such promise and looking over your notes." Spike lowered his head as a thought dawned on him. "Twilight. Is there something you're not telling me? Because you spacing out is starting to worry me. Not to mention that- Hey, are you even listening!" Sometime while Spike was talking, Twilight ran over to her note on the desk to see that more has been added since she wrote in it earlier. The time is 2:05 pm According to Spike and the note written above, we have successfully performed a leap back in time. Unfortunately, I have no memory of this ever occurring. It's almost as if the last five minutes of my life never actually happened. Because of this, I cannot actually be sure if I really did make that jump. Spike also keeps saying something about his turn since I went first, also something about calling the machine the Tasmoc or something along those lines. Spike is going to be disappointed though. Because of my absence of memory, it may indicate that there are more dangers involved in this than originally thought. I'll perform some tests to be sure, but Spike will not test until I can be certain there is no danger. Twilight was surprised to read this. Apparently the time she spent back in time had completely lapsed her past self and vice versa for after she returned. She turned to Spike again to see the dragon cast a worried look her way. "Spike. I know that you really wanted to try the Tasmot out, but this note and my absence of memory proves that there is more going on here than we originally predicted." Despite Spike's disapointed face, Twilight walked over to the machine to power it down. "We will perform some tests tomorrow, but for now I just want to get some rest." She hit a switch on the side of the machine and started heading towards the stairs out of the basement. As the lights of the machine faded away, Spike gave it one last disappointed look before following the purple princess. "Alright, if you say so. But why do you need to rest? It's still the middle of the day." The two had managed to walk their way out of the basement and were now making their way to the staircase to Twilight's bedroom. "I suppose it is, but I would rather hold off till tomorrow for more tests. There are a few things on my mind at the moment." Like why on Terra did I return back and why my past self had no memory of my time in the past. About halfway up the stairs, Twilight turned to her dragon companion. "Spike, can you do me a favor?" Spike stopped behind her, slightly relieved to cease walking up the steps. "Sure, what is it?" "Could you grab my book titled Recordari? I think there is a spell in there that can help us."