Time Tuner

by Zephyrus Scary

Reversing Darkness

Time Tuner

Zephyrus Scary

Chapter 3:

Reversing Darkness

94.35011

2014 06 15 17:10:00:00

Books and Branches Library

The next morning, Derpy had happily announced I am, indeed, ready to return to work, as Ms. Braun had hoped—thankfully, Derpy had directly called my work “librarian work”, and even offered to trot into town with me. I, of course, had taken her up on her offer (which I would have even if I somehow already had known the location of “my” library because she still had a glint of worry in her eye that only I could see).

Which brings me to now: trying to get my bearings, having never bothered with any kind of library “science” (I imagine some coalition of librarians deciding to call it science because of their glass-like egos). Not only is every single book sorted by title instead of topic—Why?! Who is responsible?!—but the shelves themselves are not exactly regular-pony friendly, though this may because it’s only me that really doesn’t like the idea of climbing a ladder with hooves.

Which brings me to unicorns: lucky bastards. That’s all that needs to be said. Damn winners of the genetic lottery, they are! “Magic…” I grumble as I study a children’s book on the different kinds of ponies, glaring at a “happy” illustration of a unicorn using levitation magic to retrieve something out of reach. -and pegasi (the proper name for “winged ponies”)! Not only can they fly, but they can hover in place, so I learned when one winged customer retrieved a book she wanted when I was having trouble grabbing it from the ladder in my mouth because the Universe saw fit to equip me with the least number of parts for this body (well, not the least-least, thankfully… unlike Itaru/Bear).

During those times I’m alone in the library—which are both often and long—I do my best to research potential upcoming catastrophes, but the only thing I find remotely relevant is about the Summer Sun Celebration. The holiday had started after the defeat of a “Mare of Darkness” that had attempted to bring about eternal night, but this had happened some one thousand-ish years ago (supposedly; even after witnessing magic firsthand—firsthoof?—the idea of ponies controlling the Sun is still a little much!), but I’m looking for potential futures, not distant pasts.

Sighing, I slip a book of political histories covering everything up to the present (“present” being three years ago, and in which nothing of significant interest to my research had happened for more than fifty years, prompting me to ask, How can such peace possibly be?) back onto the shelf after noticing the Sun beginning to set… or beginning to be set, as the case may be, however unlikely. Pulling out the letter from my future self once more, I reread the part about a powerful ally which I will gain next week to reassure myself; it is not definite, but the point about next week, on which the Summer Solstice falls, strikes me as significant. I still have time, and if I don’t, I can always make more! It’s not impossible—if anything, it’s inevitable!

Bolstered by the thought, along with recalling my experiences with the Phone Microwave, Time Leap Machine, and various Time Machines, by which I had managed to manipulate a set of circumstances so that I would eventually succeed, even if it took hundreds of tries (though from “my” perspective, it had only taken one), I step up to the front door, ready to close up shop and get home for dinner.

Then the world explodes into pain and blackness, and I become restricted, as if I had been stuffed into some kind of container fitted to my specific shape. “Time, Derpy is here to-! Time? Where are you?” Comes Ditzy’s voice, muffled. “Ti-iiiime!” she calls as the darkness surrounding me is suddenly filled with light again—in exactly the same moment, one half of me becomes unrestrained, and I fall to that side. “Oh! There you were!”

As two fuzzy Ditzys spin around as if caught in a drain, slowly coalescing into one clearly-defined, innocently smiling Derpy, I realize I must have been caught on the door and slammed literally inside the wall—a glance to the side confirms this with the gapping, pony-shaped hole, mane and tail included, oddly enough. So, that makes physics and/or biology different as well… “Yes… there I was…” I sigh as I pull myself back to all four hooves. “Is there a book you needed, Derpy?”

“Nope! Derpy came here to tell you plans for dinner had changed; we’re going to Sugar Cube Corner instead!” Her eyes seem to almost literally shimmer with excitement at this prospect, to which I merely shrug in silent agreement. I didn’t know we even had a plan before. Although “Sugar Cube Corner” doesn’t exactly sound like the place one would go for dinner, “Time Turner” doesn’t exactly sound like a name for someone, either!

Locking the library and striking out into the sunset-dimmed town of elongated shadows strikes me as strangely ominous, and it only takes half a block worth of trotting alongside a flying Derpy for me to figure out why: The streets are entirely empty, contrasting sharply with the full streets I met on my early morning commute. Pausing to look around to confirm this, I scratch the dome of my head (surprisingly effective, given I no longer have fingernails) as I reason to myself that everyone must be eating dinner (At the same time? Why not…), but this does not get the still-chilling feeling of being in a ghost town to leave me. We meet absolutely no one, and upon our arrival, find Sugar Cube Corner (so I suspect, as there’s no sign declaring the name of any establishment in this strange pony-town) dark. “Oh, I guess we’re out of luck, Derpy. It looks like they’ve already closed.” Of course Derpy would forget such a thing. I sigh good naturedly as I turn around. It does seem odd for such an establishment to close at this time of day… or at least it would have seemed so back in the Human Variation Branch, anyway.

“Uhm, wait! Look!” Derpy calls as I begin to lead the way home, but it’s the click of a latch and that difficult to describe displacement of air caused by the opening of a door (too soft to be a “whoosh”, but there nonetheless) that makes me look back. The door is open, revealing an interior dark enough for me to describe as “cave-like”. Glancing back and forth, I cast for a open/closed sign or any list of time open per day, but find none—not too surprising, given the size of Ponyville; everyone is likely to have every place’s operating hours memorized. This has officially gone from “peculiar” to “eerie”…

Stepping forward, crouched with uneasiness, I slink past Derpy—who doesn’t look at all perturbed—into the restaurant. Peering into the shadows for some way to get light into the place, a sudden illumination accompanied a burst of sound startles me to the point of spinning around and attempting to rush out. However, I am stopped by Derpy, who had stepped into the doorway, resulting in me running into her. Only after she cries, “Surprise!” belatedly do I realize the room is packed with ponies and just why they had been gathered there in the dark.

Before I can begin a good chuckle (all mad scientists must keep their diaphragm well-exercised) at the silliness of both my actions and the situation at large, my face is grabbed by someone’s forehooves and I’m spun around to face a pink mare with… pink-er hair and—strangely disappointing—light blue eyes. I’m guessing this is the “Pinkie” Derpy told me about… “Were ya surprised? Huh? Huh? Were ya? Were ya? Were ya?” the mare asks, tilting her head to one side, then the other—alternating with each repetition of her question, and all the while pressing her nose more and more firmly against my own.

Lifting up a hoof, I attempt to dislodge her, but it’s like pushing against a brick wall, literally: With a few presses, I find that her flesh feels normal until I push against it, at which point it seems to transform into concrete under the all the pink. Throughout this, she doesn’t even move to blink or (as far as I can tell, and I think I’m close enough to tell) breathe, at least until I answer. “Yes. Surprise birthday parties are one thing, but a surprise ‘congratulations on getting better’ party? Never would have suspected such a thing!” I finally releasing the chuckle of which I had a previous urge as Pinkie releases me and steps back.

I stop soon, however, when I hear no response, not even a return of laughter. Glancing up with a brow raised in curiosity, I find Pinkie staring at me intently, eyes narrowed as if trying to read tiny letters printed on the bridge of my nose (which is to say, that space between my eyes, whatever it may be called now). Her noticing me noticing her staring at me like this only gets her to intensify, slowly leaning closer and closer until our muzzles touch again, at which point the spell is broken.

At the possible-to-mistake-as-intimate touch—or at least what I, from a human perspective, would interpret as such—I blush, then quickly jerk back and to the side, allowing Pinkie to fall. I open my mouth to apologize, but she springs back up as quickly as one of those blow-up punching toys, smiling a smile that I might have mistaken for one of Derpy’s if it wasn’t for the rest of her face; just like that, she changes the subject. “Hey, Timey, did I ever introduce you to my two bestest best-best friends?”

Has she introduced “me” to whomever these two are before “I” was moved here from the Human Variation Branch? I suppose if she’s asking, it doesn’t matter… unless she’s working for whatever the Pony Variation Branch of SERN is and she already suspects me! After all my previous practice in dealing with SERN, I quickly decide on a course of action: smoothly avoiding the question. “‘bestest best-best friends’? I think I might have, but I didn’t know that’s what you call them, whoever they may be.” I punctuate with an unconcerned shrug. Probably getting a little too paranoid!… As long as I don’t go too far out of my way to avoid simple questions, there shouldn’t be any harm.

Whipping herself beside me and slinging a foreleg around my neck faster than I can see, Pinkie begins dragging me through the crowd. “That’s okay! Let me introduce you! -or reintroduce you!” Effortlessly, Pinkie weaves through the crowd. “I dun’no if Fluttershy’s here, but if she is, she’ll definitely be with Rarity.”

Struggling all the while, I finally twist myself free at the cost of pinching a muscle in the right side of my neck. Rubbing it, I ask, “-and how do you even know where Rarity is in all of this?” I gesture around that the crowd I suspect is somehow composed of the entire town (minus, possibly, this Fluttershy). Magic, remember! Magic…

At this, Pinkie tilts her head in most ridiculously over-emphasized confusion. Somehow, I get the feeling “over-emphasis” is this pony’s M.O. … “Huh? of course I don’t know!” she cheers.

My neck gives a little spasm. “So, you’re saying you were just dragging me around randomly while looking for them?” Her nod sends another fresh wave of pain through the pinched muscle, but I brush it off with a sigh and remind to myself that this is supposed to be a party; silliness and craziness are things to be expected. “Lead on, then, noble Pinkie.” A glance back tells me that we had managed to lose Derpy somewhere, or maybe she hadn’t bothered trying to follow us at all.

Pinkie giggles as she turns around. “I’m not-! Oh!” she interrupts herself. “Heya, Fluttershy!” she calls out, waving. “I knew if you were here you’d be hiding out in one of the corners with Rarity!” Her louder-than-her-already-loud-voice greeting attracts a moderate amount of attention, which at least helps in clearing a path as the ponies see Pinkie bounding in their general direction and hastily step out of the way—how Pinkie had managed to spot Fluttershy through the throng is beyond me.

Approaching the duo of a yellow and pink pegasus and a white and purple unicorn, I get the feeling Fluttershy isn’t just a name, given how she crouches, looking like she wishes for nothing more than to fade into invisibility. Then again, it seems like “Time Turner” and “Pinkie Pie” are more than just names as well… how names work here is something I’ll have to look into… after I save the world again.

As the two of us step up to them, I realize what this means. Wait. These ponies don’t know me? Why would Pinkie invite ponies that I don’t know to my own party?! Technically, “I” don’t know anyone here, but from Pinkie’s perspective… It would look silly to question right now. “Greetings, future minions! Your future master is pleased with your presence at this celebration of his victory over those microbes that so foolishly invaded his body!” I boom, waving a foreleg theatrically, attracting confusion and laughter from the ponies nearest us.

Fluttershy (rather, who I suspect is Fluttershy) lowers herself into an even tighter fearful crouch while Rarity joins those tilting their heads in confusion and Pinkie, the mare I’m liking more by the second, allies with the other team, giggling harder. I turn to inquire why she would introduce me to these particular ponies, but suddenly find her gone from my side without a sound! I twirl around in a way I’m sure could be described as “cute”, but find, most mysteriously, not a hint of pink in the crowd despite my earlier impressions that this Variation Branch seems to think it could never get enough of the color.

Falling into the pace of my own mind to ponder this, I’m only brought out again—with no answer to show for my trouble—by Rarity. “Well… Yes. It is nice to see you up again, and so quickly, too! The library certainly wasn’t the same without you!” Immediately I see she has an excellent skill at ignoring awkwardness such as my presence might produce. Pinkie does know how to pick a “bestest best-best friend”; I’m already liking this unicorn, too! Now Fluttershy, though… that fearful crouching will not do!

“Heh heh hehm, I can tell! Whoever took over for me obviously didn’t have the slightest idea about organization! -but I don’t-” My segue into trying to pull Fluttershy out of her flutterhyness is interrupted by Rarity coughing into her hoof and a blush beginning to show under her fur. “Oh no! Don’t tell me that those microscopic raiders intend to make you their next victim now!” I step forward with intent to feel her forehead, but Fluttershy suddenly springs to action, getting there ahead of me, and doing more: forcing her mouth open to look into her throat, putting her ear to her chest to listen to her heart, and digging her hooves into her neck to feel her lymph.

I imagine the impromptu clinic session would have gone on if Rarity hadn’t stuck out a firm hoof to shove Fluttershy away. “I’m fine.” Fluttershy opens her mouth to insist, but Rarity continues cutting her off. “Please, Fluttershy, thank you, but I am not sick, truly.” In turn, I’m about to inquire what the cough and blushing had been about when she gets ahead of me as well. “It is… only that, in hindsight, I realize I obviously wasn’t qualified; I shouldn’t have volunteered.”

It takes me a second to figure out what she’s talking about, and the realization makes me flinch, actually stepping back. “Oh! Rarity! I’m sor-”

“No.” She holds up a hoof and turns her head aside. “I’m the one who should be sorry for making such a mess of things. I already knew I wasn’t the most organized of ponies, so I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sure anypony else would have been better, even Rainbow Dash.” She chuckles sadly and shakes her head at herself.

“Rainbow Dash”? Don’t know who that is, but that doesn’t matter! “That’s not true,” I dismiss with a more humored chuckle. “Even though the books were in the wrong places, I could still see that there was… organization! -even if it wasn’t correct.” Things certainly aren’t go as planned, but Rarity smiles still, and beside her Fluttershy is not only no longer slowly collapsing in on herself, but giving me a smile, too, even if it is smaller than her unicorn friend’s.

“Well!” I announce, “Thank you for this momentary distraction, but I must find a refreshments table, for my work has left me quite desiccated.” -and still with no Dk. Pepper, I add to myself. “So I take my leave!” Twirling finitely around on the tips of my hooves, Rarity calls a good bye after me and, though it’s so quiet I almost think I’m imagining it, Fluttershy adds her own farewell.

Though most of the crowd seems to ignore me, cementing the question of, “What are all these ponies ‘Time Turner’ doesn’t know doing here?” I do receive a few greetings that sound as if I should be familiar with those giving them; I shrug them off quickly with the same line I’d used to leave Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s company. Eventually finding and sidling alongside a bowl of punch (a woefully inadequate substitute for the true drink of mad scientists), I linger, occasionally nodding and exchanging a few pleasantries with my parched pony partners—thankfully, none of them bring up any thing beyond day-to-day banter and don’t refer to any specific past event “I” wouldn’t remember. I’m going to have to fix that, but can I learn about my own past without getting too specific and/or direct, thus arousing suspicion?…

My musings are brought to an end by a soft tap upon my crown. “Hey, Time!” Oh, joy of joys: another chance for me to get exposed as some kind of imposter… Damn it, Hououin, this is a party! Now is definitely not the time to descend into such thoughts! Looking up at a hovering pegasus grinning down at me, I barely manage to suppress a cry and jump of shock: These “ponies” may be colorful, but this one takes the cake! Her coat is a rather average sky blue, but her hair! Her hair! It’s literally all colors of the rainbow! Thankfully, a sudden realization helps me out. I’m guessing this is the “Rainbow Dash” Rarity mentioned… and she seems to be familiar with me.

“What’re you doin’ over here all by yourself, huh?” She asks as she nabs a cup for herself; she doesn’t give me time to compose an answer, as she only takes the quickest of sips before going on. “Le’me guess: You pushed yourself out of bed before you were ready, didn’t you?” She rolls her eyes, but smiles wider. “That’s what I’ve always liked about you, ya know?” She teases me with a soft kick to my shoulder as she continues to hover above me.

I make a quick judgment: “Of course, Rainbow. How could I forget with you telling me so all the time?” Bullseye; that response makes her chuckle—it seems I do know “myself” well enough. “However, if I did, why are you here? Wouldn’t you be afraid of me getting everyone sick, including you?”

“Ha!” Rainbow Dash crows, “As if! Even if I could get sick, I wouldn’t care. Being assigned cloud duty for the Summer Sun Celebration is so lame.” Her words say one thing, but the slight increase in tempo to her wing beats and glint in her eye, even as she rolls them again, seem to be trying to tell me something else. Also, “cloud duty”? Don’t tell me these technologically backwards “magic” ponies have mastered control of the weather…

“M-hm, ‘cloud duty’… but it’s the Summer Sun Celebration. -for Princess Celestia.” Maybe that’ll get her to say something about the supposed-god-like figure… “It sounds like an honor to me.”

“Heh, you would think that, Time.” She hovers down just enough to pat the top of my head in a playful-condescending manner. “You would think that only because you’ve never had to move a cloud from the Everfree Forest in your life.” Her tone and grin seem to be hiding her true meaning once again. Though what would make a cloud from this Everfree Forest different? It’s not like I have any other leads, and her words imply something about this forest is strange…

From somewhere in the crowd comes a call in a distinctly out-of-place southern accent. “Rainbow Dash?!”

“Oh!” Rainbow drops herself to the ground. “Uh, got’ta go,” she excuses herself in a suddenly soft tone, then zips away. She reappears half a second later. “You got my back, right?” I nod, tilting my head uncertainly and questioningly, but she gives no answer. “Remind me I owe ya!” With that done, she disappears again.

Only a second or two later, the pony I suspect had called Rainbow’s name appears—I suspect her because of the (once again) distinctly out-of-place feeling I get from her, this time originating from Stetson hat. Who would wear something like that to a party? I can at least halfway understand ponies being nude (now that I’m mostly numb to it), but… that hat! At least the rest of her is a fair kind of “blend into the background” orange fur, straw hair, and green eyes.

Glancing around at everyone loitering about the punchbowl (even though Rainbow Dash would have stuck out like a single gellified banana in an otherwise healthy, yellow bunch), the southern pony stalks up to me with a perturbing darkness in her eyes. Something tells me she knows I’m buddies with Rainbow! “Did’jya see where Rainbow Dash went off to?”

After giving my choices a quick once over, I tilt my head up as I hum in what can easily be misinterpreted as a being in a thoughtful manner, but I allow a tiny hint of a smirk through. “Hmm? Did I see where she went? Not precisely, no. As soon as she left my field of view, I lost track of her, since I didn’t have the mind to pursue.”

The only response this obvious taunting elicits is a slight narrowing of her eyes—not even her tone changes when she rephrases her question. “Don’t’chya at least know which direction she went?”

Though I try to resist, something about her rock-like insistence makes me shiver internally. “… Yes,” I eventually answer simply, smirk drooping.

Unsteadying me further, she allows her eyes to relax. “Do ya even know what she did this time?” She doesn’t wait for an answer—even a simple shake of the head—before continuing, “My farm was suppose ta get rain this mornin’, but nopony saw a drop, or even a cloud!” She lifts a hoof and scrapes it against the floor like a bull getting ready to charge (Really? That’s a thing ponies do?). “This is just one time too many for that good-for-nothin’ lazy pegasus, you know what I mean, Sugarcube?”

“Sugarcube”? If my ears are not failing me, that sounds like a term of endearment… With a sigh, I nod silently and wave a forehoof in the general direction of Rainbow’s retreat. Still, that pretty much confirms the whole idea of weather control around here, which, of course, only makes the question about the weather of the Everfree Forest more interesting! -and, if I’m remembering correctly, one of the Lab Members had a Cutie Mark that looked like it had to do with rain!

Comments

[kingtwelvesixteen]

I do receive a few greetings that sound as if I should be familiar with those giving them; I shrug them off quickly with the same line I’d used to leave Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s company.

Ha, he actually answered all the random people saying hi with 'Thank you for this momentary distraction, but I must find a refreshments table, for my work has left me quite desiccated, so I take my leave!'? That's awesome.

[tsaukpaetra]

This is interesting. No idea who the main character is at all, but at least he's not running away from things or overly freaking out.
Though I wonder how he will get ejected from his library position once twilight arrives? Even if he isn't, I'm sure they would make for a good pairing.
Keep going! ;)

[Dhuradhan]

"It's me - yeah, I've caught up with it. No, it's not what you've suspected. Trust me, it's brilliant - if only it received the recognition it deserves. Ridiculous! I can't believe people would not see the perfection of this creation! But you know damn well what I'm capable of given what I have created.
El Psy Cangroo..."

In short, I love this and please continue! This is helping me cope with the fact that I have finished Steins;Gate! The feels, you know?!
You portray him so well and it's incredible to see advanced thinking and getting insight of his thought process to make smart decisions at last! Every damn story I've read before might have had smart characters, but they skipped the part where they showed us how they came to the conclusion of something.
So please, do continue!

Have a wonderful day!
~Adam

[Osiris Prime]

Well damn.

Someone made a Steins;Gate reference in a fic I just read, and then I get the bright idea to look up if anyone's done a crossover fic.

WOT? SOMEONE DID? This must be the will of Stein's Gate!

Read

Read

Read

Rea-wait. It's not done. When was the last chapter?

2013?

2013?????? You sure?

Goddamnit. And it was getting really good too. It was SERN, wasn't it? They did this. There's no other explanation as to why something this awesome would suddenly cease to be. Probably.

Man, I hate when I do this to myself.

[Colert]

>Look for Steins;Gate crossover
>6 years old
>reads anyway
.
Short, unfinished, but I had fun. Can only hope against all odds it'll somehow continue