Time Travel Insanity

by Wr1tingN3rd

Chapter 3: Need Materials

There was a knock at the door.

"Mmf... coming," Twilight weakly groaned as she got out of bed and sluggishly walked towards the library's front door. When she opened it, she found Applejack, looking at her with a worried expression on her face.

"How ya doing, sugarcube?" she asked. Twilight muttered a barely audible response that was something among the lines of "I'm fine."

"Sorry for waking you up so early, but ah, I just couldn't really sleep well last night and ah," Applejack stared off into the distance. "Can ah come in?"

"Sure. Make yourself at home," Twilight responded and turned around to go take a seat. Applejack followed shortly after. "What did you want to talk about?"

"It's about Rainbow," Applejack started. Twilight visibly tensed at the sound of her name. "Ah just haven't been able to sleep very well. Whenever ah try to fall asleep, all I can think of is what the hay happened?"

"Yeah, I don't really know what happened either," Twilight added.

"Ah assume you already notified the princess?" Applejack asked. Twilight responded with a simple nod of reassurance. "What do you think happened?"

Twilight frowned. "I don't really know. She's been acting strange all week, always needing to go somewhere. Now she's just gone. It seemed like she was working on something. There were journal entries blueprints all over the place," Twilight looked up in thought. "I plan on going back later today to research what she's been up to. See if I can find out what's been going on."

"That's... good to hear. Thanks Twilight," Applejack gave a warm smile. "Ya think I can help out?"

"Uh, sure! I need all the help I can get. Maybe you could get the girls? We could cover more groundwork that way," Twilight said, a sparkle of determination glinting in her eyes.

"Sure! Ah can gather everyone up right now if you want," Applejack offered.

"Let the others sleep in," Twilight chuckled. "I'm going to go make myself some coffee. You want any?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offer, though," Applejack laid down on the chair and tipped her hat down over her face to get some rest.

---

Rainbow exited the hospital and flew up into the sky to get a vantage point. She looked around and spotted the area where she had came out of the forest. Somewhere near the less populated area of Ponyville. Quickly, she flew down to the zone and explored the forest until she came across the wreckage. There it was, standing in all of its beauty. Her broken down piece of art. It pained her just to look at.

"I'm gonna fix you up, just you wait," she told the machine. She went around to the back panel and examined what she had to work with. She didn't even need any screwdrivers. The screws were so beaten up and damaged with the panel that she could just pry it off! The metal sheet was extremely bent already, where battery acid poured from one side. She firmly gripped the sheet and pulled with all her might before having the sheet come clean off, along with some concerning parts. Not to worry, though. Most of the pieces she saw were pretty easy to replace. Some wires, metal rods - the basic stuff, along with some voltage input and output managers. There were other things too, but she could just buy them from the local mechanic shop.

Rainbow scanned the rest of the compartment, her eyes stopping at an open gap in the area. The area for the crystal that had once been in there.

"Are you serious? Buck me," Rainbow moaned in frustration when she saw the empty container that used to hold a very specific, very important crystal. It was like a body without a brain! A library without books! A cake without frosting!- you get the point. "How am I going to find another quantum crystal?!"

---

The sound of rustling papers could be heard inside of Rainbow's house. Twilight and her friends were all scavenging through papers, reading journal entries, blueprints, models; anything that could be of use. That's when Twilight came across the model of a gem of some sort. It was pretty big and seemed important, so she grabbed it and looked at the label on the bottom. "Model of the Quantum Crystal" it read. Must be important. She looked for other documents nearby that could be related to said crystal. She found a couple of journal entries that seemed to go in-depth on what the Quantum Crystal was and how it functioned.

The Model of The Quantum Crystal

It showed a quick sketch of the model.

This crystal took me forever to find. I mean it. These things are so rare that they cost me a fortune and a half to get my hooves on. I won't get into much detail on how I found it, I'll just go into depth on how it works, in case I forget, or if this is used as some scientific notebook thing that other scientists will look at in the future. Anyways, it's basically a crystal that messes with quantum physics, hence the name. It's formed from an environment holding an extreme abundance of energy. However, even after it is formed, it still needs to charge. After it is charged, it has a very unique way of function.

When I said it messes with quantum physics, I meant something more among the lines of quantum tunneling. Quantum tunneling is when a very small object - usually something like an atom - manages to penetrate a physical barrier, even if it seems to not have enough energy. This crystal basically allows me to do just that, just on a larger scale. However, it takes an immense amount of power to charge and is extremely unstable. That's why I created a special compartment to hold the crystal and stabilize it so it doesn't explode.

I plan on running more tests in the future. Right now, this thing is still pretty new and I'm not 100% sure how it works.

Twilight eyed the paper and re-read it over and over again to make sure she was getting this right. That she wasn't hallucinating. Quantum tunneling on a larger scale? How is that even possible? Twilight rubbed her chin. What did this even have to do with her disappearance? She sat down and looked at the evidence laid out in front of her, trying to connect the dots.

---

Rainbow exited the Everfree and flew near the outskirts of Ponyville. When she approached her destination, it was a mechanical shop called, "Dave's Auto Parts & Repair". It was a relatively small shop. It was just how she remembered it. Except it looked newer. The wood gave off a small shine when she looked at it. She could practically see her own reflection in it. She stepped inside through the store and a wave of cold air hit her. The AC was quite overpowering. It was almost cold, like in a supermarket. When she looked around, she could see shelves stacked with parts from motors to batteries and other common parts.

"Well, hello there young fellow," a familiar voice called out to her. When she turned to look at him, it was a younger version of the Dave that she knew. He no longer had grey hair. He had a nice flush brown color and an orange coat with a wrench as a cutie mark. He was wearing a dark blue mechanics outfit, with brown stains of rust stuck on.

"Oh hey! What's up Dave?" she responded.

"Wait, how do ya know my name? I just opened up this here shop," Dave questioned, eyeing her suspiciously.

Rainbow's heart stopped. Sweat formed on her head. "Well, uh, you see..." Quick, think! "It's uh, your name tag. I read your name tag."

Dave calmed back down. "Oh, heh. I forgot I wore these things." He flicked his name tag with his hoof. "What brings ya here?"

"Well, I was looking for repair parts for this machine of mine that I was developing. It's a huge project of mine. I actually have quite a list of parts that I need," Rainbow started. She looked over at the front desk, where there was a stack of paper. "Do you mind if I borrow some paper?"

"Nah, I have a ton of it. Take what ya need. Now, what was it that you wanted?" Dave asked.

Rainbow grabbed a slip of paper and collected a pencil from the cup on the desk, holding a few pencils and pens along with some highlighters. "Okay, I need..."

The conversation went on for a while and Rainbow wrote down all the things that she needed. Dave was surprisingly patient with her extremely long list of items. After she was done, he asked, "Is that all?"

"Yeah, I think that's everything," Rainbow said, giving an affirmative nod.

"Alright, well, I think I have everything. How are ya going to pay?"

Oh. Rainbow hadn't really thought about that part yet. "Heh, well, you see, the thing is... I kinda forgot about that," she gave a sheepish smile.

"Well, now, I can't just give ya this stuff for free ya know!" Dave gave her an annoyed look. "This stuff ain't cheap! This cost me a fortune! I need to make money, too!"

"Sorry!" Rainbow apologized. "I'll figure something out. I'll be back!" She gave an awkward smile and exited the shop quickly.

Rainbow walked to a nearby chair and sat down, running through her available options. "Hmm, I could sell my old parts, but I don't think he'd want to buy those," she muttered to herself. "I can't get a job, that'd take too long. And there's no way I'm stealing anything," Rainbow groaned loudly. "Ugh, why do things have to be so difficult?!" She slammed her hoof onto the floor.

Then a noise came from her right. It was footsteps. She looked over and saw a group of royal guards, walking down the street. Towards her. "Ma'am, orders from Princess Celestia require you to come with us. If you'd come with us without any problems, that'd be preferable," the guard ordered. "We will use violence if we have to," he said as he gave Rainbow a stern look.

Rainbow blinked. "And I thought things couldn't get any worse," she sighed heavily. She lifted her hooves towards the guard. "Take me away, officer," she rolled her eyes.

They escorted her to the royal carriage, where she was taken away from Ponyville, towards the city of Canterlot.

Author's Note:

I'm not exactly proud of this story so far, but that's what I get for winging it for literally the whole story. Eh, it'll be fine.