• Published 2nd Feb 2014
  • 828 Views, 9 Comments

Down Winding Paths - Wolfie 03



Time Turner has always wanted to travel in time to write the true history, but he needs a pony of bubbles and muffins to be able to. Little does Derpy know of the aventures that awaits as they try to find the truth in the past for a brighter future.

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III - A time unknown

Derpy wasn't sure what possessed her to help Time Turner with his time machine; perhaps she was curious to see if it actually worked. Time Turner, on the other hoof, could hardly contain his excitement of actually going back in time and tried not to skip on the way to his shop.



The brown stallion led the way into the basement of his store and turned the machine back on; as it hummed and lit up, Derpy watched curiously as the earth pony hit various buttons and knobs on the dark gray control panel.

Turner tried to appear confident as he set the machine to go back as far as it could, but the wheel got stuck at 0 A.D.; almost as though the time of Discord's reign caused a time flux, making it difficult to know exact dates before and during that time. He gave the pegasus a sheepish smile before tugging with more force, finally setting the wheel to spin rapidly; the monitor displayed the quickly shrinking date only to change into question marks once they broke free of the era of chaos.



Both ponies frowned at the odd sight for a moment before the earth pony went back to finding the beginning; he continued to press on backwards through time in hopes to get as early period as he could.

“Mr. Turner, why isn't it showing the date anymore?” A brown ear flicked back at the question before the stallion braced himself for another wave of doubt.

“I believe it is because there was a time flux which caused great confusion concerning the proper date. I'm trying to go back as far as possible so as to set a proper date.” Derpy raised a surprised brow at the information but remained silent, not sure what she thought about it.



Once again the brown earth pony hit a snag as he turned the wheel; he tried to force his way past but to no avail. With a shrug, Turner glanced to the fuzzy monitor that was still full of question marks.

“I suppose this is the start of time, or as close as we'll be able to go. Ready Ms. Hooves?” Turner glanced to the pegasus who nodded determinedly back.

Before either one took a step towards the portal in the center of the circle, the earth pony pulled over two black bracelets with a red light and small monitor on it.

“Please put this on Ms. Hooves, it will allow us to know when the portal is about to close and where it is in case we get lost.” Derpy looked at the bracelet pensively, turning it this way and that to get a proper look.

“What if we lose it?” Turner chuckled, though he stopped suddenly at the inquisitive brow of the pegasus.

“Oh, uh, it will be impossible to remove when we pass through the machine; the only way we would be able to get it off is by losing our fore-leg or going through the portal to the present time again.” Derpy glanced at the black bracelet with a soft 'oh' of understanding before adding it to her right fore-leg.

“The portal will remain open for three days; hopefully we'd be able to get back before it closes.” The pegasus looked to the mechanic with wide concerned eyes.

“And if we don't make it back?” The stallion put a hoof to his chin as he rapidly calculated what would most likely happen..

“Well, if the portal doesn't get the 'close' signal from our bracelets, it will go on a loop, closing and then opening for a small time before closing again. I think it's supposed to be twenty-four hours when it would open for three hours...” Derpy tried to remain calm at how hypothetical it all sounded and questioned him further.

“'Supposed to'? I know you hadn't turned it on before meeting me but shouldn't you have researched this more?” Time Turner faced the mare once again with a pensive frown; while he understood how odd and unsafe this all seemed, he had hoped for more faith in his abilities.

“My Clan has worked on the theories and plans for generations; we were merely waiting for the all the needed requirements before finishing the time machine. The only reason I am only slightly unsure is because a good scientist has a margin of error in case and because of my state of mind when I finished building it.” Derpy leaned back at the tirade of pride from the stallion and waved a reassuring hoof.

“Oh, ok, I'm sorry for having doubted you.” Turner nodded briefly before checking the computer once more.

Time Turner took a deep breath to settle his nerves and led the way through the milky blue-gray sheen that had appeared in the center of the circle, going through it like was a thin liquid that held a slight tint of cold.



As the two ponies stepped through with only a small tremor from the chill, they gazed about them in curiosity. They were in an alleyway between two large gold-tan buildings with domed roofs and pillars edging the entire thing.





They took a couple of hesitant steps beyond where they appeared and gazed in marvel at their surroundings. The duo were in a large sprawling city that rested half on the nearby mountain and on the lands before it; most of the buildings were gold-tan with domes with a few being slightly darker in color. None were under stories high and the tallest being four stories, aside from the castle that resided on the top which had many towers and a large keep in the center.




Once Time Turner got over his awe and amazement at the time machine's ability as well as the new and different landscape around them, he realized that this was very much NOT what he was looking for.

“This, this isn't the start of time! This is either the middle or end of an age! Look at these structures, it would have taken hundred of years to perfect the look and texture!” Derpy found herself gazing apologetically to the crowd only to frown in worry at the extremely annoyed gazes that were targeted at the two of them.

The blue-gray mare found that something wasn't right with the image and took a closer look at the crowds around them; after identifying what was wrong, she tried to get the still ranting stallion's attention.

“Mr. Turner?”

“-I don't know what went wrong! Maybe I didn't turn it far enough -?”

“Mr. Time Turner?!”

“-Maybe the calculations are wrong? The angle of refraction -?”

“Time Turner!!”

“What!?”

“There's more wrong than the time frame...” Derpy stressed as she stood close to the stallion while looking at the crowd of unicorns who were glaring at them.

Turner followed her gaze and found the uniformity of the crowd's kind, causing him to start in surprise. Since the stallion had fell silent, they were able to hear the murmurs of the unicorns glaring at them and were disturbed.

“What is a pegasus and earth pony doing here?”

“Do you think they're here for the meeting?”

“What are they wearing?! They can't be engaged are they!?” The two ponies looked at each other with blushes as they realized how the black bracelets came across to the unknowing.

Derpy was confused as to what to do next, never really having done anything like this before and turned to the brown stallion in hopes that he would have some suggestions. Time Turner saw the pleading glance and leaned to whispered his advice.

“Let's get to a library or newsstand, we have to find out what's going on and where we are before making any decisions.” The pegasus relaxed slightly in relief at having a plan of action and followed close behind the earth pony who searched the area for anything that resembled a place of literature.



After they got away from the first crowd, they didn't receive as many glares due to their speed and focus on their objective, making it so they didn't notice any angry looks.

In moments they came across a young colt standing on the corner of the street with a stack of scrolls next to him.

“Come and get your news, from the latest and greatest to social events and important notices!” Turner brightened at the description and was about to speak with the young unicorn when Derpy beat him to it.

“Hello, can we get one of those scrolls please?” The colt stared back suspiciously as he took in her wings and Turner's lack of horn, something the pegasus noticed and thought of the one thing that usually talks no matter the age; she quickly searched for any bits while asking the scientist in a whisper about it.

“Do you know if they still use bits?”

Before Turner could respond with a resounding 'no!' at possibly effecting the future, the blue-gray mare found an extra bit in her mane, behind her ear (she wasn't really sure how it got there, though it would explain why her ear felt heavier before); she turned to the colt with a small grin and displayed the gold bit to his wide green eyes.

With a rapid exchange, Derpy soon found herself in possession of a news scroll while the colt took a bite of the bit to check it's authenticity. She passed the scroll over to the stallion who grumbled slightly before pursuing it's information with a pleasant surprise to find that the written language remained the same and that the date (Thursday, February 12th, 1013 C.E.) was stamped on the top.

“Where did you get this? Sure seems odd looking for money.” Derpy's eyes shifted apart as she became flustered at the question, making the colt pause in his inspection and questioning and giving her time to think of a proper response.

“Oh, well, we come from really far away-”

“I know that, we don't ever really see pegasi or earth ponies around here; you guys live on very different parts of the world. What I meant was where did you get THIS? It's not normal looking at all.” Time Turner looked up from his reading and saw Derpy's pleading glance, intervening before the pegasus could try to fumble her way through another answer.

“If you don't see pegasi or earth ponies that often, how do you know what our currency looks like, hmmm?” The young unicorn closed his mouth at this point and gave the stallion a sulking glance before looking to the mare once more.

“I have another question for you.” Once Turner had the youth's attention again, he continued on with Derpy watching curiously.

“What does 'C.E.' stand for? And what's this notice about a gathering of races?” The colt was extremely bewildered at the questions that even a foal knew the answers of but decided to humor the stallion to prove how he was better .

“Common Era of course! And if you're not here because your ambassadors are talking with the Prince in the castle then why are you here? I thought pegasi and earth ponies were 'too good to be around the likes of unicorns'.” The blue-gray mare glanced at the brown stallion with wide eyes, the sour tones showing how each race thought themselves better than the others; Time Turner did rapid calculations and hypothesizing before nodding in fake confidence.

“Ah yes, of course. I was just checking that unicorns taught their young properly; come along Ms. Hooves, we have to report to our ambassadors about how our reconnaissance went.” Both the colt and mare stared blankly at the stallion before Derpy gave a start of realization and nodded along.

“Ah yes, right. Anyways, thanks for the scroll; good luck selling more of them!” Derpy waved encouragingly to the colt who waved back slightly confused and surprised while the two ponies continued on their way only to duck down a side alley when no one was looking (an impressive feat since they were still getting stares for being different).

“Alright Mr. Turner, so what's in the paper? Where are we? When are we? What ambassadors?” Turner shushed her before the blue-gray pegasus got too loud and glanced around before flattening out the scroll and pointing.

“This is when we are, the year 1013 Common Era; we seem to be in the capital of Unicornia where the is a summit meeting of the three races.” Derpy tilted her head with a raised brow as she asked the obvious question.

“Races? Like, before Hearth's Warming Eve races?”

“Yes, like three tribes who don't get along races; that's why we seem very odd, all three tribes are still untrusting of one another.” Turner searched the surrounding area, trying to be sure they weren't being heard and failing to notice the young colt that followed the odd pair.

“Oh; so what do we do? Do you still want to go to a library?” The stallion rubbed his chin as he gazed in the direction of the castle.

“I don't think we'd be allowed in just any library or place of literature... So we'll go to the castle instead!” The blue-gray mare blinked in surprise at the jump in logic before waving a hoof to get his attention.

“What do you mean, go to the castle? How would that help us if we're viewed as odd just by standing and talking with one another?” Turner didn't waste another moment and began the trek to the castle as he explained himself.

“Simple, we go where there are other pegasi and earth ponies and no one will think twice of us working together; since it seems that whatever is happening at the castle is a large mark in history, it would be a good place to start our observations AND typically, most castles keep a close eye on the literature of the time; the perfect place to look up previous historical facts.” Derpy couldn't help but roll her eyes at the logic that wasn't explained while trotting along with the earth pony.





They made their way through the city, trying to not be distracted by the large fountains and statues that seemed to glorify unicorns and their abilities. The guards looked at the duo in suspicion but allowed them entry with the strict instructions to stay with their group next time.

The brown earth pony nodded agreement while striding forward, not even paying attention to the large hallways in his search of the royal archives. After walking in any direction that promised to be interesting, another pair of unicorn guards found them and grew annoyed at the fact that they 'wandered away from the meeting'.

“Oh, but uh, we were just looking for the restrooms.” Derpy could hardly contain her eye roll at the attempted excuse while the guards held no such restraint.

“Sure, next you'll be saying that it's a matter of national security that you find the library where there is no way for you to learn anything that would aid you in case this whole idea falls apart and leads to war.”

“War?!” The pegasus looked to the earth pony in worry while Turner merely continued to watch the guards who were herding them to the meeting room.

“War? Surely that wouldn't be necessary; a bit of an exasperation wouldn't you say?” The brown stallion chuckled softly before trailing off when nopony joined in.

“Yeah well, you tell your Prince Alaard that he better not interfere with Princess Mi Amore Vivo.” This was stated with a glare at the earth pony who looked at the pegasus in confusion before nodding once at the command.




The group stopped just before a large set of double doors where shouting could be heard from; with a menacing smirk to the duo, the guards opened the door enough to push the time travelers through and shut it resoundingly behind them.

At the sudden entrance, the six ponies around the table paused while looking at the disturbance; the delegation from the pegasi and earth ponies both half-stood in confusion.

“What are you doing here? There shouldn't be any other pegasi coming for the summit!” A yellow coated pegasus reprimanded while the other ambassadors grew agitated as well.

“Ah-ha! This is a plot to gain further advantage in this discussion!” A stately gray unicorn shouted from next to an alicorn princess who seemed embarrassed at the claim.

“What?! You're the one who demanded this meeting! We are in YOUR palace, at YOUR whim!” Time Turner could tell that the situation was tense enough as it was and didn't want it to escalate unless it was needed, coming up with a quick cover story to explain their (peaceful) presence.



“Please, your majesties, esteemed ambassadors, we were merely sent to record such a grand occasion as this summit and to be sure that the true decision is told to the great nations of the world.” Derpy tried to seem like she knew what was going on and shakily smiled to the now silent group.

The alicorn rose up slightly as she looked to the other royal members with a nod before facing the duo by the doorway.

“We, as the host of this summit, declare that it is acceptable for thy presence and accounting of this gathering for the world to know. Now, We do believe we have an important topic to return to?” With a slight blush on all of the ambassadors' muzzles they returned to the task at hoof, focusing on an important document that resided in the center of the circular table.

The two time travelers leaned forward as the other ponies returned to the original topic, the various political weddings between tribes to ensure peace for another generation.




What proceeded came as a great surprise to the brown earth pony as various treaties and agreements were made solely attached to who married who, all of which Time Turner tried to get accurate accounts of while Derpy took note of what the royals seemed to think of these arrangements. The pegasus prince had a strict face that didn't reveal any of his thoughts; the alicorn princess seemed to be unable but take part in the affairs and treaties of each tribe, trying to bring forth fortune for all ponies, though it was the earth pony prince that drew most of Derpy's attention; while most were distracted or even in a lapse of concentration, the prince would gaze longingly to the alicorn who either took no notice or purposely ignored the glances to avoid seeming as though she favored one over the other.



At the end of the day's meeting (with only marginal amount of things accomplished), the summit broke for supper, leaving the duo to sneak further in the castle in search of the library once more. Both remained silent as a means of hiding their location and to contemplate what they had just learned; the scientist at the complicated means that the three tribes kept peace while the mailmare mused on how the earth pony prince was now very much forced to wed a pegasi princess to keep their treaties while the alicorn he had fancied was to marry the pegasus prince (along with a lesser marriage between a unicorn and earth pony royalty, to keep everything in balance).




By the time they actually found the royal archives, it was well past supper and most were in their various rooms preparing for bed; this meant that the library was mostly deserted and unguarded, the perfect opportunity for Time Turner to learn more of the current time frame.

To keep from being spotted and disturbed, the duo remained in the back of the library until well past closing time, allowing them to venture further into the shelves of knowledge. Derpy wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen a familiar figure browsing some of the books as well but it was gone the next moment; with a shrug, the blue-gray mare brought more history books to Time Turner who was trying to take short notes on just about everything with Derpy's help to wade through the large stack of books and scrolls.

The excitement of the day and thrill of being someplace new kept them going for many hours but they had to sleep like anypony else and crashed in the midst of their search, resting their heads on the table that was between them with books for pillows; unaware that the scientist was right when they first appeared and that great change was about to befall the land.

Author's Note:

I had hoped to get this chapter up earlier, but my editor was unable to get to it until just today. I'm not sure when the next update will be, but hopefully I get ahead enough on my other stories that I can get another chapter done in a week or so. Please let me know if you are liking it so far or have a good feeling about it or anything really.