4 Meet the Time Ponies
The day after the party Starlight woke up feeling refreshed. The dinner party had actually been quite fun, and she had learned things about everypony there. Twilight used to run a library until it was destroyed by an evil magic eating centaur named Tirek, Celestia preferred those around her to act casually in private, and Derpy had served as a reserve in the royal guard since before Luna's return. Starlight had noticed Derpy's odd tendency to look in two places at once before, but she hadn't paid it much heed. Now she was fairly sure it had cost Derpy a shot at her dream. Derpy always seemed so cheerful and dedicated to her job that Starlight had thought being a mailmare was Derpy's dream.
Putting it out of her thoughts for now, she got up and started getting ready for the day. After brushing her teeth she saw a letter on her nightstand. She opened it and read, ‘We finished the spell! The Doctor is calling a club meeting next Sunday to discuss the project and he wanted to talk to you before then!’ I guess I'd better see if Twilight needs anything and then head over. She opened her door and started her search for the dining room, where Twilight would probably be having breakfast around now.
When she finally located the dining room she saw Rainbow Dash's rainbow contrail fading away in a streak from the still swinging dining room doors to the wide open front doors. She walked into the dining room where Spike and Twilight were starting to clean up from their breakfast. “What was that about?” she asked.
“Rainbow Dash just got invited into the Wonderbolts!” answered Spike. “She asked us to come over to talk while she packs.” Twilight walked out of the room and Spike beckoned Starlight over.
She walked up to him. “What is it Spike?”
“Somepony called Written Script asked me to tell you he was sorry. He was sneaking around at dinner last night. He said he was sorry for misjudging you.”
“He... he forgave me?”
“Yep! He said it didn't matter what you used to do, because that's not who you are anymore. Anyway, I'm headed off to Dash's with Twilight, I left you some pancakes in the kitchen.” And with that Spike left the castle.
After breakfast Starlight headed through the early autumn streets to Time Turner's house. When she got close enough to see it she decided to see if Derpy was home first. She walked up to the door and knocked, but nopony answered. She decided she could talk to Derpy later and went next door to Time Turner's house. This time her knock was answered by Time Turner in a matter of seconds, a first in all the times she had come by.
“Hullo Starlight! I was just about to go find you. Minuette finished the spell ere-yesterday. I gave Derpy letters for every member of the club telling them to meet here this evening, and I wanted to go over things with you one last time before we give the presentation.”
“I just read my letter this morning. She gave it to me last night, but it was getting late. Can I see the final spell?”
“Follow me, I left the papers in the basement.” Time Turner headed into the blue box and pulled the lever once Starlight was inside. He raised his voice to be heard clearly over the lift scraping along. “I've already got the machine integrated with the spell, but I thought you should double check it before activation.”
“Are you planning a demonstration at the meeting?” asked Starlight. The lift came to a stop and the doors opened. They began walking across the room.
“No, the basement is too small to house everypony and the machine is too hard to move.”
“I guess the lift is a bit small and slow to have everypony use it to observe the machine,” Starlight said as she followed the Doctor into his workshop. Along the back wall was a spot that had been cleared and ringed in a metal frame. Next to it was a hexagonal pillar made of bronze and glass with wires coming off it in many places. Halfway up the glass tube suspended by several wires was a green diamond. It glowed a soft color and shifted in and out of phase with the light around it, making it seem like it was moving.
“Oh, I don't host our meetings at my house,” said the Doctor. “It's far too cluttered, so we have our Ponyville meetings in the town hall. I already made the reservations, and Derpy and Minuette are doing the catering. All we have left to do is make sure the spell works and prepare for the discussion.”
Starlight walked over to a stack of papers on a counter. She picked them up in her magic and saw the top sheet had a version of the spell she and Minuette had been working on. It was circled and had ‘finished’ written under it. She began checking the calculations. “Are you sure none of the Time Ponies will tell anypony about this?”
“I have every confidence they can keep a secret. The club is not a secret but several of our projects thus far have been, and nopony has spilled any secret until it was declassified.”
“Good. And the spell appears to be perfect as well, though I don't know how we could get enough power to cast it. It takes more power to cast this spell than to raise the sun!”
“Don't worry about power, I have a way to make as much as we'll need. See that green gem?” Starlight nodded in response to the Doctor's question. “It holds more power in it than Celestia. I found it abandoned years ago and I've been using it as a power source ever since.”
“How does it work?”
“I have tried to find that answer more times than I care to admit, and yet it always eludes me. I do know that it does not use magic, but that it can easily be used to power magic spells. It is rather unstable, which is why I always keep it as isolated as feasible. Never open the glass while that machine is operating, I don't entirely know what would happen.”
“That... doesn't sound entirely safe.”
“Don't worry, as long as it stays in its glass casing it can do nothing but send power through the wires. Although I should warn you not to use magic on it.”
“Okay, whatever happens don't touch the glowing green gem. Got it. Any other parts of your machine that could cause untold disaster if bumped?”
“No, I wouldn't bodge a job like this. There are plenty of other parts that might cause a malfunction if tampered with, but none that will go off on you at a touch. And everything delicate is safely shielded from the outside,” Time Turner said, with just a hint of indignation.
“Okay, just making sure. Well the spell is good, so if you've got the power and the focus handled with your machine we should be good to go.”
“Brilliant! Let's see if we can confirm where we stand before holding the meeting then. Are you ready?” Starlight nodded. “Well then, allons-y!” The Doctor messed with the control panel on the hexagonal pillar and a strange humming started up. After about ten seconds the wall within the rectangular metal frame began to glow. A paper readout began coming out of one of the other machines in the room. The Doctor walked over and examined it. Then he went to the pillar and shut it off. “It works! We made contact with another dimension! We have simultaneously discovered dimensional travel, time travel, and proven a theory about temporal-dimensional mechanics!”
“Yep, four ponies challenging the universal assumptions of ponykind in the basement, just another day in this crazy town.”
“Things have been rather exciting ever since Luna's return. Bugbear attacks, crusader antics, and more activity from the Everfree than there's been since Ponyville became a town.” Time Turner paused and looked at Starlight. “Now, why did we come here again?”
“We're going to give a presentation this evening,” Starlight reminded him.
“Right! I was going to suggest we set up a team to go in and help improve the lot of the alternate timelines.”
“What?”
“Surely you didn't intend to go in alone? I happen to know at least two ponies associated with us who would be perfect for this mission. I thought we should offer our members an opportunity to pitch in and work as a team.”
“I suppose teamwork is a form of friendship... Alright, let's do it. We can explain the situation and ask for volunteers. Hey Doctor?”
“Hmm?”
“Does the bringing time forward work both ways?”
“Yes. No matter how long it takes you'll only be gone an instant. Try not to spend too long since you still age, but other than that you have as long as you need.”
“Marvelous.”
That evening the town hall's meeting hall had been stocked with baked goods and two dozen chairs. Two podiums had been set up next to each other on the central platform where Starlight and Time Turner would give the presentation. Minuette and Derpy had already finished setting up when Starlight and Time Turner had arrived.
After about five minutes ponies began filing in. First came a magenta mare with a purple and pink mane. Starlight noticed that she seemed to share Minuette and Time Turner's basic cutie mark concept of an hourglass. Then Perfect Pace came in, immediately followed by four more ponies, three of which also possessed the hourglass mark while the fourth had a dress which hid her cutie mark. “Just how many of you have an hourglass cutie mark?” she whispered.
“Currently every member does. It's not a requirement, but it tells us that a pony might be interested, and so far nopony without one has asked to join,” he whispered back.
“And you have two dozen members?”
The Doctor waved a grey-brown earth pony in a top hat over. When he arrived Time Turner asked him, “How many members are currently in the Time Ponies?”
“Twelve, counting the two of us. I take it this is an initiation for your new acquaintance?” he nodded his head at Starlight.
“Actually, it's a presentation of a series of discoveries we made and a call for volunteers. You'll learn all about it as soon as we begin.”
Starlight looked at the room where the guests were milling about, talking to one another and enjoying the baked goods. Then Starlight noticed something. “If there are twelve members, and you two are up here, then why are there twelve ponies down there?”
“The same reason we set out two dozen seats for one dozen members. The standard policy is to allow every member to bring a plus one. The only requirement is that the plus one be trusted to keep any secrets they learn here. I still remember the last time that was an issue. Minuette took months to prove she could hold her tongue. Who're you with?”
“Me”, answered the Doctor. “Minuette offered to take Derpy today.”
“Well, if you're ready I think it's time for me to perform the opening ceremonies.”
“This way,” the Doctor called to Starlight and walked over to the chairs. Starlight followed and sat on one side of him while Derpy came and sat on the other.
The stallion in the top hat cleared his throat as the last ponies sat down. “Let us begin this meeting of the Time Ponies.” He looked at a paper in front of him, then looked at the audience. “Derpy Hooves, please say here.”
“Here!”
“Starlight, last name unknown?” The stallion gave a deadpan look. “So Time Turner, did you never ask for her last name, or did you forget it?”
“I've had a lot on my mind this last month, it never came up.”
“It's Glimmer, Starlight Glimmer,” interjected Ms. Glimmer.
The stallion grabbed a quill from the podium and jotted something down on his paper. “Alright then, moving on. Mrs. Beyond?”
“Here,” answered a blue unicorn mare in a bored sounding voice.
“Excellent, every member here and everypony else is accounted for. Another perfect attendance. Now, Starlight Glimmer, do you solemnly swear to tell nopony of anything you learn here without the permission of all involved parties?”
“I do,” she answered.
“Well, that and the Doctor's okay is enough for me! Does anypony here have any objections?” He waited a few seconds, but nopony spoke up. “In that case let's get on to the first item on today’s agenda. Time Turner wishes to offer a speech; I cede the floor.” He stepped down and sat in one of the empty seats.
Time Turner got up and Starlight followed him to the stage. He took the left podium and she took the right one. Time Turner started them off. “My friends, I have news both dire and jubilant. Over the last month I have been working with Starlight,” he looked at his notes, “Minuette, and Pace. We have found a method of time travel which does not cause the usual problems. We have developed a method of crossing to alternate dimensions at any time after the last interaction between the two dimensions. This is the good news.” The Doctor nodded to Starlight. She had asked to present this part, she wouldn't have felt right if somepony else were to do it.
“That brings us to the bad news.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I accidently caused the creation of several alternate versions of Equestria, which are now in various states of disaster. I plan on fixing these timelines so that the locals can live their lives in peace and freedom as we all take for granted in our Equestria. If any of you are willing to provide assistance, I would be grateful.”
The Doctor took over again at this point. “The journeys into the alternate timelines will each happen in a matter of minutes, if not seconds, on our side, no matter how long the trip takes. This should help prevent any interruption to the daily lives of the volunteers. Perfect Pace and I will operate the machine. Are there any questions?”
“How were you able to copy our world?” asked a dark yellow earth pony stallion.
“She traveled back in time and changed things so that she was no longer able to time travel in the new timeline. So the world split to resolve the paradox,” Time Turner explained.
“At the time I thought I was changing this world, not making new ones. So when I went back and things played out how they did in our world and I went home I thought everything was back to normal. But then I found out that those other worlds are still suffering from my mistakes.” Starlight looked down to the floor.
The Doctor took over for her. “If you want to volunteer just write your name on this sheet of paper that will be left on the papers table for the mingling portion of the meeting. There will also be a paper describing some of the details next to it. Are there any more questions before we move on?” There was a moment of silence. Several ponies coughed or shifted in their seats, but nopony spoke up. “Well then, I believe our time with the floor is done. Starlight?”
She nodded and walked back to her seat, with Time Turner following. Then the stallion in the top hat from earlier walked up to the podium. “That was our only scheduled request for the floor in today's agenda. Does anypony object to proceeding to the free discussion period?”
“No, let's keep moving this along,” called Beyond.
“Very well. This meeting is now open floored. Feel free to enjoy the refreshments.” He stepped down and everypony else started getting up and moving around, with several wandering over to the buffet table. Time Turner walked over to one of the tables to put the sign up and detail papers on it.
The pony in the top hat walked up to Starlight and offered her his hoof. “Hello miss Starlight. I'm terribly sorry that I haven't introduced myself yet. In the excitement of the good Doctor's surprise I completely forgot. I'm Extra Time, and allow me to say, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Oh. You're… welcome?” she answered, while hesitantly shaking his hoof.
“Might I inquire as to when you first considered that other worlds might have been created?”
“I was reading through the Equestrian Journal of Science's temporal works compilation and found ‘An Article on the Nature of Paradoxes.’”
“I thought as much. It is a pleasure to know that my efforts played a part in this endeavor. When I published that article I never thought it would be used in applied sciences in my lifetime. Ever since our good friend the Doctor gave up on his time travel machine seven years ago I thought I would never see working time travel. Do you mind if I make a record of your efforts?” Starlight was about to protest but Extra held up a hoof. “For private use only, I assure you. The record will stay a secret until such a time as you and everypony else involved in the project all agree to declassify it.”
“And if I never want it to see the light of day?”
“Then I will find a suitable way of making sure it stays a secret after we are both long gone." Extra tilted his head for a moment. “I can already think of three different ponies I could trust to keep it a secret. And if none of those panned out we could burn the papers, but I don't like destroying knowledge that can never be reclaimed.”
“Well, if you're sure, then I guess you can keep a record.”
“Thank you madam.” He bowed. “I am confident you will not regret this.” As Extra Time walked off Starlight noticed that a brown earth pony stallion with a blond mane was walking up to her. Starlight took a deep breath and walked forward to meet him.
“Miss, I have a question about the volunteers that was not answered on the page. Do you plan on covering expenses? I'd be happy to help, but I don't know that I want to start missing more work days.”
“How much would that be?”
“I make about 20 bits a day, the train ticket is paid as part of membership in the Time Ponies.”
Starlight conjured a sheet of parchment and a quill to her. “Give me just a minute. I need to check my finances.” The brown earth stallion nodded and walked off. “Now let's see... Yearly stipend from Twilight, divide by days in a year…” Starlight muttered as she wrote the problem and began to solve it. In the end she saw she had about 45 bits a day. If she made sure to organize the outings only after some time to save up between each she could afford to offer 30 bits for each volunteer every expedition. She walked over to the table and wrote the payment down.
“Excuse me?” Starlight turned around to see a light green unicorn mare with a dark green mane. “Thank you.” The mare stepped over to the paper and wrote ‘Emerald’. “And thank you for offering this opportunity. It is everypony's duty to help others when we can, and you have offered us a chance to contribute. I look forward to helping make the world, well, worlds I suppose, better places. I'm not much of an adventurer, but I'll do my best.”
“I can help!” Starlight and Emerald looked over to see Derpy looking at them. “I can help you train like I do for the reserves' fitness test! It'll get anypony into great shape as long as they stick with it!”
“Thank you Derpy. I hadn't thought of that, but it would probably help everypony. Would you mind hosting a class for any of the volunteers who wish to participate? Perhaps right before we head back to Canterlot?”
“Not at all! I'll help anypony who wants to learn.”
While Derpy and Emerald discussed training, Starlight had begun trying some of the pastries. The muffins looked as delicious as they always did, but she decided not to have any. Muffins were good, but she was ready for a change of pace, since Derpy seldom made anything else to share at the research sessions. She found a nice little flat round slice of bread with strawberries and butter.
“I see you like the Trottingham muffins,” called a voice from right behind Starlight. She spun around to see a unicorn mare who looked surprisingly similar to Derpy.
“Does everypony sneak up on each other here?” Starlight asked while catching her breath.
“It's a busy room. If you don't stay vigilant then anypony can sneak up on you without even trying. You were focused on your food, so you didn't notice that one of the 15 ponies in the room was coming up behind you. You might want to work on being more observant in case you go to a world where something stealthy is causing the problems. You won't last five hours against changelings unless you keep your wits about you and observe everything. What are you expecting to face in the first world you go to?”
“Well, we decided that the Discord and Tirek timelines are way too much to start with. And the one that I... The one that was nothing but a barren wasteland also seems like an extra hard one. That left con ponies, Nightmare Moon, changelings, and King Sombra. The Doctor asked that we not start with Nightmare Moon because he ‘didn't want us to have to destroy her.’ I told him that wasn't the plan, but he said he would rather we test ourselves against a different foe to make sure we could bring her in unharmed. Does he normally talk about Luna with that much... protectiveness?”
“Has he told you about what we did when Luna first returned as Nightmare Moon?”
“No, what did you do?”
“I might tell you the whole story later, but the short version is that he led a quest into the Everfree to save her.”
“Save her? From what I've heard she wasn't the one who needed saving.”
“Like you said, he's rather protective of her. Almost like a father or a big brother. He always hated Nightmare Night, but that's the first time I learned why. He wanted to see her restored to being Princess Luna.”
“Any idea why?”
“He is the only one who can tell you why. So, which of the three remaining worlds are you planning on tackling first?”
“Changelings. Originally I wanted to go to them first because they were in the most immediate danger, and while that doesn't matter with the time manipulation I see no reason not to stick with that one being first.”
“What do you know about changelings?”
“They change shape and I think love hurts them like windigos.”
“No, changelings consume love. But somehow Princess Cadence can make a love shield which blocks them. I take it you've never had any problems with them?”
“No, I can't say that I have. Our Town never had any come by, and when I fell out of communication with the rest of Equestria nopony had ever heard of them.”
“What... never mind, that's your business. What are your personal feelings about changelings?”
“Well, Twilight said that the Everfree camp was under attack by them, so I suppose that makes them our enemies. But personally? Like I said, I've never had any interaction with them, so I don't really have much of an opinion about changelings.”
“So, how would you feel if, say, there was a changeling who left the hive and didn't kidnap anypony?”
“They would probably be a good place to get information on how the hive was set up, and could certainly be useful if we found such a changeling. That is definitely something to keep an eye out for.”
“I'll be sure to tell you if I find any. I'm Inquisitor by the way. I'm Ponyville's best detective. Well, Ponyville's only detective, but I am good at my job. I'll definitely be offering my services for your foray into the changeling world. I figure a detective will be quite handy. Also, make sure to have an easy way of telling whether somepony is really one of us, like a password, code phrase, or a quiz about this reality.”
“I was thinking we would use a password. We can decide on what it should be at the sendoff.”
“Sounds great. I'll go get some of my ‘4 tell-tale signs of a changeling’ pamphlets I got after the Canterlot wedding. It's not like anypony's actually shown any interest in them since Twilight became a princess,” Inquisitor's voice grew sharper at the last sentence. “Just because they haven't made any big moves since then doesn't mean they're gone. I've tried to get the mayor to call a speech to raise awareness, but she says she ‘doesn't want to cause a panic’. Politicians.”
“Panics are best handled carefully. If you present a problem and not a solution then ponies get anxious and doubt the leadership. Then they choose somepony new and all of a sudden you're out of a job.”
“You're a politician, aren't you?” Inquisitor stared intently at Starlight, likely taking in body language in an effort to test her claims. Not that Starlight planned on lying.
“I used to be. Not all politicians are bad, a decent chunk of them are decent ponies. Why do you dislike them?”
“A politician is a manipulator, they manipulate ponies into keeping them in office, sometimes to the detriment of their actual jobs. I think they should be appointed by somepony who truly understands the job, that way they could be judged by their skill at their job rather than their talent for manipulation.”
“Or they could be good at manipulating that one individual instead of manipulating everypony. And ultimately the best way of getting ponies to vote for you is to do your job well,” Starlight contested.
“I suppose. I still don't like the concept, but I get along well enough with Mayor Ivory Scrolls most of the time, so I think we can work together too. Anyway, I need to go talk to my deputy in preparation for our expedition. Could we talk sometime between now and departure?”
“I thought you said you were Ponyville's only detective? How do you have a deputy?” asked Starlight.
“I’m also the sheriff, and Perfect Timing is my deputy. She's over there,” Inquisitor pointed out a tan unicorn mare with a brown mane. “We've served as Ponyville's only resident peacekeeping force for 3 years now, ever since her father moved out to help settle Appleloosa. Ponyville's not really the sort of town where you can be a full time detective, but I would choose this town over being a detective any day of the month. The ponies are friendly, the food is plentiful, and there's some new adventure every other week these days. Luna's return and the Element’s awakening put some life back into this town. About time, just when it was starting to get boring, but I couldn't bear to leave it, things started happening again. I love this town.”
“Okay. I can swing by anytime, when’s good for you?”
“Can I speak with you on Saturday?” Starlight nodded. “Come by for lunch at noon, we'll provide the meal.”
“Oh, thank you. That sounds like a plan.”
Does anyone know what the green gem is? Please let me know if you recognize it.
Here's a picture of the Time Ponies:
In reading order they are: Infinity and Beyond(Infinity is the male, his wife is not actually a member.), Minuette, Inquisitor, Perfect Timing, Starlight(Not a member, but important to this project.), Red Rose, Emerald, Time Turner, Extra Time, Written Script(Derpy's brother is just in the picture to make a multiple of three.), Driver, feel free to vote on his name since I don't have one for him yet, Perfect Pace, Sandstorm, and Derpy! I had not noticed Infinity and Beyond until making this picture. I wonder if that Toy Story reference is on purpose?
Most of these names come from Fandom Wiki.
Here is a copy of the pamphlets Inquisitor mentioned, for any curious. I made it myself.
I just realized the Time Ponies have a significantly lower number of pegasi than the other two races. I sort of expected more than one in three to be unicorns, but I didn't see there being so many earth ponies coming. I wonder why earth ponies have a tendency for time cutie marks. It is probably a coincidence, and I'm just reading way to hard into minor animation oddities.
I am well aware that this is hardly universal, and the show itself was less than forthcoming about details, but I have developed a framework for currency in my works. I have equated 1 Equestrian bit to $0.10 in 1890s America, or $2.96 in 2021(about £2.2). I am using the basics of 1890-1900 America for Equestrian economics, technology, etc. This was harder than I anticipated. I was never great at economics and working with multiple currencies did not simplify things at all. But I feel like I have made a stable economic standard for Equestria. Fortunately this is not something I will need to repeat. The groundwork has been laid, now I can write Equestrian money consistently.
I use the University of Missouri Libraries website for the base prices. Some minor alterations have been made, much as different countries would have different values for different items. This list is merely a starting point. I decided that Twilight earns a congressional salary, it seemed appropriate.
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Sorry, totally forgot this was today.
P.S. The most interesting part of writing this chapter was the debate about politicians. Sure, it would have been easy to simply say 'politicians are bad' and leave it at that - indeed that was my original plan. But then I recalled a piece of writing advice dear to me: Unless the point of the work is to persuade don't make the world/setting/characters line up with your worldview at all times just because that's how you feel on a topic. Not to say the author can't or even shouldn't promote their worldview, but they should be subtle/tactful about it. Besides, evil politician jokes are almost as ubiquitous as evil lawyer jokes, and I enjoyed the challenge of thinking up a counter argument. It was easier from an emotional standpoint, though harder rhetoric to think of, than the next time this idea of not trashing my ideological opposition comes up in this tale.
The ones you call Infinity and Beyond are pony version of a couple from one of the Bioshock games. The player encounters them, and they ask you to flip a coin. They are studying probability, yet their chart of Heads and Tails is very much skewed towards one, and not an even distribution.
11104232
I had seen that on Fandom Wiki, but that doesn’t prevent a secondary reference. I thought it was rather clever of them, if it was intentional, and amusing regardless.
P.S. They are probably doing something far more complex than simple coin flipping, since we’ve pretty well figured out the basics of probability. Or they’re crazy, I don’t know much about that series.
First of all, the idea for setting up the worth of a bit is a good idea for if you plan on writing a number of transactions in the future. But also, the year you equate it to could cause discrepancy (not enough mind you) if I wanted to figure out the equivalent worth in GBP due to crossing Decimal Day.
If going by direct from the current time, each bit is £2.19 and I can’t be bothered to figure out pre-decimalisation value of that for the correct year.
I also don’t know if taking the value from the 1890s dollars then converting to current time would give a different value, although that shouldn’t happen.
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The biggest difference between which year I chose, at least for American currency, is the relative price of different things. I didn't know about decimal day. Ultimately the precise value of a bit isn't important, only that it is consistent.