Truthseeker

by RB_


Chronoconfusion 1

Lyra once again checked the piece of pink stationery she had found wrapped around the handle of her manebrush earlier that morning. As it had the first two times, the plain, unassuming house in front of her matched the address written on the paper. She trotted up and knocked on the door, which was pulled open after a few moments by a small unicorn filly.

“Oh! Morning, Miss Lyra!”

Lyra couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the adorable filly. “Good morning, Dinky! Is your mom here?”

“Momma’s in the kitchen, follow me!”

As Dinky led her into the house, Lyra couldn’t help but notice just how well kept it was, especially given its owner. The home was decorated simply, but tastefully, with numerous pictures of the mailmare’s daughters hanging prominently on the walls.

“Momma! Miss Lyra is here!” the diminutive unicorn announced as the two entered the kitchen.

Ditzy looked up from the counter, where she was slicing the crusts off of a recently made daisy sandwich. “Hi, Lyra! How are you today?”

“Not too bad, thanks. How about you?”

“Great! Here, just let me finish putting lunch together for the foals, and then we can get going.” Ditzy finished with the sandwiches, then carried a couple of plates over to the table and a pair of waiting children. “Oh, I don’t think you’ve met; this is my nephew, Crackle Pop. He’s staying with me while his parents are away on work. Crackle, this is Lyra Heartstrings. She’s an old friend of your cousin’s.”

“Nice to meet you, miss!” the young colt replied, before digging into his sandwich, Dinky doing the same.

“Oh, and speaking of Sparkler,” Ditzy continued, glancing at the clock, “She should be here right about… now.”

As if on cue, Lyra heard the door swing open, and a few moments later Amethyst Star entered the kitchen. “Hi Mom!” The two ponies shared a quick hug.

Ditzy grinned. “On time as always. Thanks for volunteering to look after Dinky and Crackle today.”

“It’s no problem, you know that; I love spending time with my sister.” It was then that Amethyst noticed her friend. “Oh, hey Lyra.”

“Hey, Sparks.”

“What are you doing here?”

Ditzy cut in. “Lyra’s helping me with my errands today.”

“Ah yes, your mysterious ‘errands’,” Amethyst replied, smirking.

“Of course,” her mother said back with an identical smirk.

This must be a ‘thing’, Lyra thought to herself.

Ditzy cast another look at the clock. “Actually, we’d better get going if we want to get there in time.”

In time for what?

“Dinky, Crackle, you be good for Sparkler, all right?”

“We will,” the two foals chorused.

“Good.” Grabbing a pair of saddlebags, she gave one last goodbye to her family, and trotted out of the house with Lyra following close behind.

-----

The two trotted along, engaging in meaningless small talk until they had left Ponyville proper. Now a ways into the grassy hills outside the town, Ditzy stopped.

“We’re here,” she said. “Time to get started. Ahem. The glade is dark and full of shade.”

“The owl stands, ever vigilant. Lyra Heartstrings, Truthseeker.”

“Ditzy Doo, Chronovoyant.”

“Chrono- that means time, right?”

“Yep,” Ditzy replied, taking off her saddlebags and placing them on the ground. From inside, she began withdrawing pieces of complicated and delicate-looking brass machinery. “And ‘Voyant’ is Prench; it means ‘vision’ or ‘seer’.” She began to carefully screw several of the components together.

Lyra thought for a moment. “So then… Wait, can you see the future?”

“Bingo! Got it in one. Well, close enough, anyway.” Now finished assembling her devices, she began to arrange them in a two-meter-wide circle around what appeared to Lyra to be a completely arbitrary patch of grass. Each of the pieces of machinery were different, some as small as a hoof, others the size of a mare’s head. Nearly all of them had some sort of dial or readout. Satisfied, the grey mare sat back and continued. “I can see potential futures, and it’s object-specific. I can see the next twenty-two minutes and seventeen seconds of the potential future of any given thing that I can lay my eyes on, with the exception of myself.”

“Is that why... uh…” Lyra gestured to her eyes.

“What? No, I was born with these. It’s why my family moved to Ponyville when I was younger.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Ditzy replied with a reassuring smile. “I’ve gotten used to it.”

“...So why ‘potential’ future?” Lyra asked.

“My ability shows me the sum outcome of the current event set, not the actual future that has occurred/will come to be.” Seeing her companion’s blank look, Ditzy blushed. “Sorry, I’m not used to explaining this in laymare’s terms. Basically, what I see is what will happen based on everything that has occurred up to that point in time; this allows me to change the circumstances for a more favorable outcome. I’m not actually seeing the definite future, and interfering isn’t changing the future, since history is immutable; I’ve tested that pretty conclusively. I’m just seeing what would have happened. Does that make any sense?”

Lyra smiled. “Not in the slightest.”

Ditzy sighed. “Well, it’s functionally similar to seeing an object’s future; the difference is only really important in regards to time theory. You can just think of it like that if you want.”

“Works for me! I never pegged you for the science-y type, though.”

“Hang around Time Turner long enough and it rubs off on you. Plus it helps to know what you’re talking about when dealing with time travelers.”

“Wait, did you just say—“ Lyra was interrupted as a growing high-pitched whine began to emanate from the air in the center of Ditzy’s instruments. It was shortly followed by a small ball of bright light, which quickly expanded outwards until it almost hit the ring of machines. Several bolts of lightning arced out from the sphere as the noise grew to a deafening pitch. Then, with a final burst of blinding light, the whine ceased.

It took a few seconds for Lyra’s vision to clear. Where the ball of light had been, a pony was now picking herself off the ground. The mare brushed her blue-grey coat down with a hoof, while a golden telekinesis field pulled back her soft yellow mane, revealing a set of similarly-colored eyes. A pair of blue saddlebags obscured her cutiemark.

The mystery mare groaned. “Dang it Soo, you said you would work on the landing…” Giving her head a quick shake, she turned her attention to her surroundings. “Oh, hey Ditzy! Nice to see you again.” Her eyes fell on Lyra. “Lyra! I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“Uh… Hi?”

Ditzy giggled. “Dezzy, she hasn’t met you yet!”

“Oh, my bad!”

Ditzy turned to Lyra. “Lyra, I’d like you to meet Dezzy Doo, my granddaughter.”