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Organised by
RogerDodger
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2000–8000
Outatime
Dr. Hooves could hardly sleep.
It wasn't the sounds of the dozens of clocks in Ponyville's premier clock and curio shop. No, the constant shifting of the second hands, the sway of the pendulums, even the chimes greeting him every quarter hour were a comforting presence, always in the background yet keeping time with the beat of his heart. Nor was it the wind, or the rain, or any external stimulus.
Pure excitement kept his mind racing, chasing away hope for easy slumber.
His latest and greatest clock was finished, and ready to be unveiled to his discerning customers.
And to think! A clock that powered itself, pulling from the very magic of Equestria to keep itself in perfect time. No longer would anypony need to wind a clock! No more rooting around in a drawer full of assorted junk to find that old brass key! No more bringing in a clock to the shop to be tuned!
Well, perhaps that last part wasn't the best thing for the owner of a clock shop. But tuning a clock was always awful work. Necessary, but dreadfully routine. It kept him from building, from designing, from exploring the very fundamentals of time that spoke to his special talent.
And the less complaints he received from spoiled rich ponies saying they “knew” their “precious family heirloom” wasn't working right, the better.
Sleep eventually claimed him, and with it dreams of awestruck ponies, all marveling at his new clock.
Dr. Hooves hummed happily to himself as he showered and toweled off, raring to start the day. He was so eager to go, he didn't even stop in the kitchen for his favorite breakfast of toast and marmalade. Instead, he headed straight for his workshop.
His precious clock was not there.
“Let me be sure I have this straight. The only thing stolen from your workshop was a clock?”
“Not just any clock, Officer.” Dr. Hooves looked the elderly unicorn stallion in the eye. “This clock was my latest and greatest invention.”
“The thieves didn't take those enchanted crystals? Or that bag of bits spilling out on that bench over there?”
“No.” Doctor Hooves made a mental note—he really needed to visit the bank.
The unicorn police officer fired his horn. “I detect no traces of teleportation magic, nor do I see any signs of forced entry. Are you certain your clock was stolen?”
“Of course!” Dr. Hooves said. “I wouldn't have come to you had that not been exactly the case!”
The unicorn looked around the messy workshop. “I spent forty years in the Canterlot police department, most of those as a detective. I met many an eccen-” He tugged at his uniform. “Accomplished inventor who claimed to have some great work stolen, only to find it forgotten in some other corner of his workshop. Once, somepony's invention was found in his own bathroom, buried under a pile of dirty towels!”
“I assure you, Officer, my workshop may not be neat, but it is orderly. I can tell you the location of each gear, gem, tool, and plank of wood in this place. And I can express with one hundred percent certainty that the clock I was working on was sitting on that worktable right there, equidistant between this awl and that 2 cm gear.”
The officer pulled a notepad and pencil out of the pocket of his uniform. “Very well then. Can you describe the clock for me?”
“The clock is housed in a standard clock case, much like the one over there,” Dr. Hooves explained. “The difference is on the inside, where in addition to the clockwork, a trio of clear crystals can be found. It is my personal invention, crystals designed to collect, store, and regulate the flow of ambient magic to keep the clock running in perpetuity.”
“Did anypony know about this clock? A rival, perhaps?”
“Nopony knows. I kept this under my hat, or at least I would, if I wore a hat.”
The officer scratched some notes on his pad. “All I can do is pass along word of this stolen item to my contacts in town, and to my fellow police officers in Canterlot. But without any evidence of an actual crime, I'm afraid I can't treat this as an open case.”
Dr. Hooves sighed. “Any help would be appreciated, Officer.”
“And if you do find your clock, please let me know.”
“Of course,” he replied with a frown.
The wonderful thing about being an inventor is that while one can take physical things, nopony can steal memories. Dr. Hooves's clock was stolen, but the knowledge of how to create it remained safely cradled in his mind. And so he set to work recreating his greatest invention, a process that took a good seven days of work.
But this time, he was prepared for any would-be thief.
Ponyville's resident alicorn princess smiled as she examined all of the tools and half-finished projects in Dr. Hooves's workshop. He recognized the sight, a fellow brilliant pony's metaphorical gears turning upon seeing the actual gears of his clockwork creations at work.
“It's all quite impressive, Doctor,” Twilight Sparkle said. “But I'm still unsure for what purpose you wanted to hire me.”
“Simply put, Princess, I have need of your prodigious magical talent to safeguard my greatest creation.”
“Please, Doctor, just call me Twilight,” she replied. Her eyes brightened as she spotted something concealed under a cloth. “Is that it?”
Dr. Hooves took the cloth in his mouth and, with a flourish, removed it. He dropped the cloth and straightened his bow tie. “That it is, Pri-Twilight,” he said. “A clock that draws upon the magic of Equestria to keep time without the need for manual winding or a unicorn spell!”
Twilight Sparkle beamed. “Incredible! The theory has been studied for centuries, but so far nopony has found a way to draw energy in a consistent manner, certainly not with the precision needed to keep time. How did you do it?”
“That will have to remain a secret until tomorrow, I'm afraid.”
“It's genius!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.
“A bit of genius, and a lot of hard work. The inspiration came to me one day in the shower. It's where I do my best thinking,” he noted.
“Me too!” Twilight Sparkle said. And then she blushed.
“Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me,” Dr. Hooves said. “Now that you've seen what I have, let me reveal another secret. This isn't the first time I've made this clock. The first one was stolen from my workshop. So I'm sure you'll understand why I brought you here. I need magical protection to guard this clock. Money is no object.”
“I can certainly cast the spell. But I refuse to accept your bits. Consider it a gift, in the name of progress.”
Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the workshop and lit her horn. She closed here eyes, and her tongue poked cutely out of her mouth as she concentrated. Dr. Hooves watched as a glow encompassed his entire workshop, a glow that was at its brightest on his clock.
“There. Done,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Nopony but you will be able to place hoof or horn on your clock, or even enter your workshop.”
“What will happen if they do?” Dr. Hooves asked.
Twilight Sparkle concentrated, and lifted the clock with her telekinesis. As she did, the horrible wailing of a siren filled the small workshop.
Dr. Hooves pressed his hooves to his ears. “Got it,” he yelled over the noise.
Dr. Hooves slept uneasily. He could think of nopony better to ward his clock than Twilight Sparkle, save perhaps Princess Celestia herself. Yet still he feared for his invention. Could a pony who evaded mundane locks also evade magical protections?
He rose with the first light of dawn. Bypassing the shower and kitchen entirely, he ran to his workshop.
His clock was missing again.
Twilight Sparkle groaned as she stirred from sleep. The walls of her crystal castle were vibrating. It took a moment before the fog cleared from her head, and she recognized what it was. Somepony was knocking, and rather loudly, judging by the reverberations she felt.
Ignoring her bedmane and unpreened wings, Twilight Sparkle teleported to the front door. Through the translucent door, she saw the form of Dr. Hooves.
She opened the door. “What is it?” she asked.
“My clock! It's gone!”
“Impossible!” Her horn flared as she checked the spell. “Nopony but you has been in the workshop since I cast the alarm spell.”
“Then how do you explain what happened?”
“I don't know, but let's find out,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Doctor, are you up for returning to your shop as fast as possible?”
He grimaced, but nodded. “I'm ready.”
The world disappeared, and when it returned, Dr. Hooves and Twilight Sparkle were in his workshop. And then the alarm sounded.
“Shut it off!” Dr. Hooves shouted.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Wincing, Twilight Sparkle concentrated, and the alarm ceased.
“I guess the alarm worked after all,” he said.
“But why didn't it sound?” Twilight Sparkle wondered. She concentrated and scanned the room.
“Don't bother. You're not going to find anything,” Dr. Hooves said dejectedly.
After several minutes of spellcasting, Twilight Sparkle's horn dimmed. “Impossible. I see no sign of other magic,” she said.
“There was no sign of magic last time, either,” he said. “Nor any sign of forced entry.”
“I'm sorry, Doctor. If you need any help rebuilding your clock, please ask.”
He shook his head. “It's something I have to do myself. Meanwhile, I still have a shop to run.”
Dr. Hooves pushed the feelings of anger and confusion out of his mind as he opened the door to his shop. His clock would provide him with fame, great fame, if Twilight Sparkle was to believed. But running his shop, helping ponies with all their clock and curio needs, that was what gave him satisfaction.
Or so he told himself.
He soon had a customer, a unicorn mare with a blue coat and blue and white mane. She had an hourglass cutie mark that was similar to his own, the kind of cutie mark that, if one took a picture of them both, one might think they were identical. But up close, the differences were clear.
She looked familiar, somehow. The town dentist? No, that was a different pony.
“Can I help you, miss?”
“Oh, I'm just browsing,” she replied.
“Just to let you know, I do custom orders, jewelry boxes, and repairs for all kinds of clockwork, not just clocks,” he said.
The mare nodded, and examined his work, a faint glow on her horn. Dr. Hooves watched the mare. The more he watched, the more he was certain that she was looking at his shop, not his goods.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked again.
The glow on her horn ceased. “I didn't find anything I was looking for. Sorry.” And then she turned and departed.
Dr. Hooves was ready this time. It took the promise of making the mare a cuckoo clock that greeted each hour with a fresh cupcake rather than a mechanical bird, but Pinkie Pie shared with him her “secret stash” of ultra-special super-caffeineriffic coffee. And although it was hard for him to remain still with the potent brew running through his system, Dr. Hooves waited under an old blanket in the corner of his workshop.
Another copy of his signature clock was ready to be unveiled. And this time, he would stay up all night to ensure nopony would steal it.
He passed the time by mentally designing a clock with a miniature oven housed in it. This work was derailed by the realization that he didn't know the first thing about cupcakes, save that they were delicious, and sometimes served with far too much frosting. And so he instead thought about his clock.
Magic was unpredictable. The ambient magic of Equestria ebbed and flowed with no discernible pattern. But time, now that was predictable! One second was one second, no matter how the magic changed. The shift in magic from one second to the next changed, in relation to the magic levels of each moment.
And that's when inspiration hit him, literally. A wooden dowel rolled off a shelf and smacked him on the noggin, and he saw three of the magical crystal he was working with. He blinked, and his vision cleared, but then he realized it. It was so simple!
Instead of one crystal, he needed to use three. Focus one on the ambient energy now, the second on the ambient energy from one second in the past, and the third on the ambient energy from one second in the future. Take the readings, do a few mathematical calculations, and he would know exactly the amount of energy to use from the first crystal!
The mathematics was complex, but with his understanding of time, he learned it quickly. And soon, he had a working prototype.
He focused on his still workshop. He needed to remain vigilant if he wanted to keep this prototype.
It was an unusual experience for Dr. Hooves to not know the exact time, as a clock was always somewhere within eyesight. But as he was under a blanket, he only knew it was after the clocks chimed 3:15. That was when he heard the crackle of magical energy and the sound of wind.
“Aha!” he cried triumphantly as he threw off the blanket. There in his shop was another pony. In the dim light of Luna's moon, he couldn't see many details about the figure, but he did notice it was an earth pony stallion, somewhere around his height. The pony took a step back, startled.
“Oh, bugger. Now I remember this one,” the stranger said. And then he flicked a pouch of powder at Dr. Hooves.
Dr. Hooves breathed the powder, coughed, and fell to the ground.
Dr. Hooves moaned as he stirred. His neck and shoulder were stiff; he must have slept funny.
And then he realized he wasn't in his bed.
The old blanket he had stored in his workshop was draped over him, and he was on the floor. It wouldn't be the first time he fell asleep there, but normally it was when he was seated, falling asleep with his head on a workbench.
He hadn't been working on anything late at night. In fact, he had just finished....
The clock!
Once again, his prototype clock was missing.
As his mind cleared, he recalled the events of the past night. The intruder, the altercation, and... the sleeping powder! He replayed the events in his mind over and over. The more he thought about it, two facts bothered him.
One, how did an earth pony teleport into his shop? And two, who tucked him in after he fell unconscious?
Dr. Hooves heard a noise from the front of his shop. An incessant sound of hoof on wood. Somepony was knocking on his door?
He looked at the clocks on the wall. 9:20. He was supposed to open his shop twenty minutes ago!
He hurried to the front, ran a hoof through his mane in a futile attempt to make himself look presentable, and then unlocked the door to his shop. “My apologies, miss....”
Dr. Hooves stared at the blue unicorn who stepped into his shop. “You!”
She looked up at him. “I just wanted to look for a clock.”
“I think not! You showed up after the last time my shop was robbed, and now that I think about it, I believe you were here the first time, too.”
“I assure you, I would never do something like that!” the unicorn protested.
“The police officer said that investigating a crime without evidence would prove futile, but now that we have a suspect, I think we can finally get to the bottom of this!” Dr. Hooves said boldly.
She thought for a moment. “I'm afraid that you're wrong. Last night, I had a girls night out with Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Moondancer. We were out until the bars closed at 3:00 AM. And you could find dozens of ponies who could attest to that.”
“And your name?”
“Minuette,” she said.
He peered at her. “And just who are you?”
“You tell me.”
Dr. Hooves performed the mental calculations. The train, of course, was too slow to bring the unicorn to Ponyville in time, even if one ran at such a late hour. She couldn't have flown by herself. He recalled that a pegasus chariot from Canterlot still took an hour. Teleportation was instant travel, of course, but teleportation of that distance was a feat beyond even Princess Celestia. That made it all but impossible that she was the thief. And of course, he was positive he saw an earth pony stallion.
Suddenly, all was clear. He pointed a hoof at the mare. “Changeling!”
Minuette facehoofed. “You blithering idiot! Come on. You, of all ponies, should be able to figure this out.” She looked at him, and then at herself.
A second later, he realized that she was looking at their similar cutie marks. “You are the same pony, but from a different time.”
“Finally, somepony who can see beyond their own narrow frame of time!” Minuette said. “If you can accept that possibility, then perhaps we can help each other.”
“I haven't said I accept it yet, but if it will help me recover my stolen clock, I'm willing to keep an open mind.”
Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Hooves and Minuette were seated at the kitchen table, with coffee and a proper breakfast of toast and marmalade before them. And once the meal was finished, Minuette spoke.
“The reason I came to your shop these three times was because I was following a trail of temporal magic,” she explained.
“Temporal magic? As in time travel?” Dr. Hooves asked.
“Yes.”
“But the only pony who has claimed she traveled through time is Princess Twilight Sparkle herself! And frankly, when she first suggested the idea, I thought it was preposterous.”
“Believe me, it's very real,” Minuette said.
“But two separate ponies, including the princess, saw no sign of any magic!”
“They only would have seen it if the pony was using Star Swirl's time travel spells. And if it was somepony using that ancient magic, I would have no trouble tracking down that pony. Much has changed from your present to my present. Suffice to say that the princess wouldn't be able to identify something she didn't know exist.”
“Then how is he evading you?”
“I follow the temporal signatures, exactly how I've practiced, yet arrive displaced from the actual time of the signature. If what you've said is accurate, I'm arriving after this pony has come and gone.”
Dr. Hooves thought for a moment. “It seems like we share the same goal in the end. And I think I know just how to capture this pony.”
“How?”
“Come by my shop in the evening, exactly seven days from now,” Dr. Hooves said.
“I'll be right there.”
A field of silver and violet sparkles surrounded Minuette, and she disappeared.
Seven days was the length of time it took Dr. Hooves to craft a new clock. Certainly, he could have made it quicker, but that would require sacrificing quality, something he never could do. And thus, on the evening of that seventh day, Dr. Hooves was in his workshop, polishing the freshly stained wooden case of his latest iteration of the clock.
He heard the sound of hooves from inside his kitchen. “Hello? Dr. Hooves?”
“In here, Minuette,” he called.
She trotted into his workshop. “Silly me, expecting you to be where I left you.”
“Well, it is neither breakfast, nor lunch, nor dinner. And those are the only times I tend to frequent the kitchen,” Dr. Hooves said. “You came directly here?”
“A minute ago, from my perspective, we were talking after a fine breakfast.”
“Fascinating. And a fine breakfast it was.”
“And now that I'm here, what is your plan?” Minuette asked.
He waved his hoof over the clock. “This, Minuette, is my latest creation, a clock that draws upon the ambient magic of Equestria to power itself and keep perfect time.”
Minuette nodded.
“It is ready to be sold to one of my discerning customers tomorrow,” Dr. Hooves continued. “And every time I've planned on selling this clock, it was stolen the night before.”
“And you think it will happen again?”
“I am positive,” he replied. “And assuming I am right, what can you do?”
“Let's just say that when I wish it, the only way for a pony to travel back to the future is one second at a time.”
Fortunately, Dr. Hooves still had some of Pinkie Pie's special coffee blend, so staying awake wasn't difficult for the two ponies. He found Minuette reluctant to share anything about herself, always steering the conversation to events of the present day.
Either she was an excellent actress, or she truly had no recollection of recent happenings in Ponyville and Equestria. She didn't even remember that a thunderstorm was scheduled the previous day!
Eventually, trying to maintain a conversation became too much, and Dr. Hooves pulled a book to read to pass the time. Minuette sat quietly, remaining vigilant as the ticking clocks marked the passage of time.
Dr. Hooves heard it first, a crackling of magical energy that triggered his memory of the previous week's theft. He looked up. Blue electricity traced a rough oval on the floor, and then shaped the outline of a pony.
Minuette concentrated, and a pale violet energy filled the room. In its light, the mysterious pony was revealed to be an older earth pony stallion. He shared the same coat and mane colors as Dr. Hooves, though the latter showed the gray of age. He wore a puffy jacket of a hideous color and atrocious style, and wore an amulet with a trio of crystals around his neck.
And then Dr. Hooves noticed the pony had the same cutie mark as he did. Not just similar, as was the case with Minuette, but identical. “Who are you?” he challenged.
“Now this didn't happen this way,” the stallion said. He concentrated, frowned, noticed Minuette and winced. “Bollocks.”
“Who are you?” Dr. Hooves said again.
“I believe the question you mean to ask is....”
The stallion was joined in his next words by Minuette. “When are you?”
Minuette looked to the stallion. “Since I know you recognize an anti-chronon field, sir, you know we have all the time in the world to talk. So explain your actions.”
“It was an emergency. My chronological capacitor was ready to short, and I didn't have the time to search out a replacement. So I traveled the safest route to find the time crystals.”
“What do you mean, you didn't have time?” Dr. Hooves sputtered. “Don't you have all the time in the world?”
“I understand what he's saying,” Minuette said. “It's impossible to explain to you, as the theory has yet to be developed in this time, but it's important not to get stranded.” She turned to the stranger. “But that doesn't excuse traveling to a restricted time.”
“I know, but emergency situations demand extreme actions. Besides, I of all ponies know it's safe. I'm only borrowing something that I knew would never sell.”
“Gee, I wonder why I was never able to sell these,” Dr. Hooves deadpanned.
The older stallion blushed. “Apologies. But it's better this way.”
Dr. Hooves raised an eyebrow.
“The future, my dear self! Surely you learned as a young colt that friendship is magic? Well, when the Element of Magic became the Princess of Friendship, it created a new renaissance in magic! Why, you should see it! Ponies of all kinds, wielding all forms of magic! On any given day, you might....”
Minuette cleared her throat. “While your emergency situation allows me a great deal of leniency, if you don't shut your trap, you're going to end up chronolocked.”
“Yes. Well.” The stallion adjusted his jacket. “The future is a wonderful place, and I can't wait for you to experience it.” He pointed to the clock. “With your permission?”
“Go ahead. But fair warning, I don't intend to pursue this invention until some time passes.”
The old stallion smiled and pulled the crystals out of the clock. “I already know that.”
Minuette concentrated, and a band of silver appeared around the old stallion's foreleg. “Your fine. It will be reduced if you show the clerk you've filed three emergency recalls.”
“Of course, of course. I know the drill.”
The old stallion finished his repairs to his amulet. He showed it to Minuette, who nodded.
“And Doctor, please stop flying without a safety net,” Minuette said. Her horn dimmed, and the violet aura in the room winked out.
“Where we're going, we don't need safety nets.” And the stallion disappeared.
All was quiet for a moment. Finally, Dr. Hooves spoke. “Well, that happened.”
“Were you serious? About giving up on your clock?” Minuette asked.
“I am. While I love my shop, I've recently felt off, like thinking there's more to time than clocks. I was even considering talking to those fillies who figured out how that other filly messed up her special talent. Just as long as I can keep those walking disaster zones out of my shop.”
“May you find success, whatever road you follow,” Minuette said. “Now, it's time for me to return home.”
“Wait. What are you? Some kind of time cop?”
Minuette shrugged. “In a manner of speaking.”
Dr. Hooves laughed. “Looks like I keep you busy.”
“Hardly,” she replied. “Forgetfulness is nothing unusual. In fact, it seems mandatory for ponies who take to time.”
“Then who keeps you busy?”
“I can't speak to that,” she replied. “Let's just say there's one pony who's a royal pain.”
“A certain princess of friendship?”
Minuette smiled. “If said pony ever stops turning to time travel to solve her problems, then I'll say 'It's about time.'”
It wasn't the sounds of the dozens of clocks in Ponyville's premier clock and curio shop. No, the constant shifting of the second hands, the sway of the pendulums, even the chimes greeting him every quarter hour were a comforting presence, always in the background yet keeping time with the beat of his heart. Nor was it the wind, or the rain, or any external stimulus.
Pure excitement kept his mind racing, chasing away hope for easy slumber.
His latest and greatest clock was finished, and ready to be unveiled to his discerning customers.
And to think! A clock that powered itself, pulling from the very magic of Equestria to keep itself in perfect time. No longer would anypony need to wind a clock! No more rooting around in a drawer full of assorted junk to find that old brass key! No more bringing in a clock to the shop to be tuned!
Well, perhaps that last part wasn't the best thing for the owner of a clock shop. But tuning a clock was always awful work. Necessary, but dreadfully routine. It kept him from building, from designing, from exploring the very fundamentals of time that spoke to his special talent.
And the less complaints he received from spoiled rich ponies saying they “knew” their “precious family heirloom” wasn't working right, the better.
Sleep eventually claimed him, and with it dreams of awestruck ponies, all marveling at his new clock.
Dr. Hooves hummed happily to himself as he showered and toweled off, raring to start the day. He was so eager to go, he didn't even stop in the kitchen for his favorite breakfast of toast and marmalade. Instead, he headed straight for his workshop.
His precious clock was not there.
“Let me be sure I have this straight. The only thing stolen from your workshop was a clock?”
“Not just any clock, Officer.” Dr. Hooves looked the elderly unicorn stallion in the eye. “This clock was my latest and greatest invention.”
“The thieves didn't take those enchanted crystals? Or that bag of bits spilling out on that bench over there?”
“No.” Doctor Hooves made a mental note—he really needed to visit the bank.
The unicorn police officer fired his horn. “I detect no traces of teleportation magic, nor do I see any signs of forced entry. Are you certain your clock was stolen?”
“Of course!” Dr. Hooves said. “I wouldn't have come to you had that not been exactly the case!”
The unicorn looked around the messy workshop. “I spent forty years in the Canterlot police department, most of those as a detective. I met many an eccen-” He tugged at his uniform. “Accomplished inventor who claimed to have some great work stolen, only to find it forgotten in some other corner of his workshop. Once, somepony's invention was found in his own bathroom, buried under a pile of dirty towels!”
“I assure you, Officer, my workshop may not be neat, but it is orderly. I can tell you the location of each gear, gem, tool, and plank of wood in this place. And I can express with one hundred percent certainty that the clock I was working on was sitting on that worktable right there, equidistant between this awl and that 2 cm gear.”
The officer pulled a notepad and pencil out of the pocket of his uniform. “Very well then. Can you describe the clock for me?”
“The clock is housed in a standard clock case, much like the one over there,” Dr. Hooves explained. “The difference is on the inside, where in addition to the clockwork, a trio of clear crystals can be found. It is my personal invention, crystals designed to collect, store, and regulate the flow of ambient magic to keep the clock running in perpetuity.”
“Did anypony know about this clock? A rival, perhaps?”
“Nopony knows. I kept this under my hat, or at least I would, if I wore a hat.”
The officer scratched some notes on his pad. “All I can do is pass along word of this stolen item to my contacts in town, and to my fellow police officers in Canterlot. But without any evidence of an actual crime, I'm afraid I can't treat this as an open case.”
Dr. Hooves sighed. “Any help would be appreciated, Officer.”
“And if you do find your clock, please let me know.”
“Of course,” he replied with a frown.
The wonderful thing about being an inventor is that while one can take physical things, nopony can steal memories. Dr. Hooves's clock was stolen, but the knowledge of how to create it remained safely cradled in his mind. And so he set to work recreating his greatest invention, a process that took a good seven days of work.
But this time, he was prepared for any would-be thief.
Ponyville's resident alicorn princess smiled as she examined all of the tools and half-finished projects in Dr. Hooves's workshop. He recognized the sight, a fellow brilliant pony's metaphorical gears turning upon seeing the actual gears of his clockwork creations at work.
“It's all quite impressive, Doctor,” Twilight Sparkle said. “But I'm still unsure for what purpose you wanted to hire me.”
“Simply put, Princess, I have need of your prodigious magical talent to safeguard my greatest creation.”
“Please, Doctor, just call me Twilight,” she replied. Her eyes brightened as she spotted something concealed under a cloth. “Is that it?”
Dr. Hooves took the cloth in his mouth and, with a flourish, removed it. He dropped the cloth and straightened his bow tie. “That it is, Pri-Twilight,” he said. “A clock that draws upon the magic of Equestria to keep time without the need for manual winding or a unicorn spell!”
Twilight Sparkle beamed. “Incredible! The theory has been studied for centuries, but so far nopony has found a way to draw energy in a consistent manner, certainly not with the precision needed to keep time. How did you do it?”
“That will have to remain a secret until tomorrow, I'm afraid.”
“It's genius!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.
“A bit of genius, and a lot of hard work. The inspiration came to me one day in the shower. It's where I do my best thinking,” he noted.
“Me too!” Twilight Sparkle said. And then she blushed.
“Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me,” Dr. Hooves said. “Now that you've seen what I have, let me reveal another secret. This isn't the first time I've made this clock. The first one was stolen from my workshop. So I'm sure you'll understand why I brought you here. I need magical protection to guard this clock. Money is no object.”
“I can certainly cast the spell. But I refuse to accept your bits. Consider it a gift, in the name of progress.”
Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the workshop and lit her horn. She closed here eyes, and her tongue poked cutely out of her mouth as she concentrated. Dr. Hooves watched as a glow encompassed his entire workshop, a glow that was at its brightest on his clock.
“There. Done,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Nopony but you will be able to place hoof or horn on your clock, or even enter your workshop.”
“What will happen if they do?” Dr. Hooves asked.
Twilight Sparkle concentrated, and lifted the clock with her telekinesis. As she did, the horrible wailing of a siren filled the small workshop.
Dr. Hooves pressed his hooves to his ears. “Got it,” he yelled over the noise.
Dr. Hooves slept uneasily. He could think of nopony better to ward his clock than Twilight Sparkle, save perhaps Princess Celestia herself. Yet still he feared for his invention. Could a pony who evaded mundane locks also evade magical protections?
He rose with the first light of dawn. Bypassing the shower and kitchen entirely, he ran to his workshop.
His clock was missing again.
Twilight Sparkle groaned as she stirred from sleep. The walls of her crystal castle were vibrating. It took a moment before the fog cleared from her head, and she recognized what it was. Somepony was knocking, and rather loudly, judging by the reverberations she felt.
Ignoring her bedmane and unpreened wings, Twilight Sparkle teleported to the front door. Through the translucent door, she saw the form of Dr. Hooves.
She opened the door. “What is it?” she asked.
“My clock! It's gone!”
“Impossible!” Her horn flared as she checked the spell. “Nopony but you has been in the workshop since I cast the alarm spell.”
“Then how do you explain what happened?”
“I don't know, but let's find out,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Doctor, are you up for returning to your shop as fast as possible?”
He grimaced, but nodded. “I'm ready.”
The world disappeared, and when it returned, Dr. Hooves and Twilight Sparkle were in his workshop. And then the alarm sounded.
“Shut it off!” Dr. Hooves shouted.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Wincing, Twilight Sparkle concentrated, and the alarm ceased.
“I guess the alarm worked after all,” he said.
“But why didn't it sound?” Twilight Sparkle wondered. She concentrated and scanned the room.
“Don't bother. You're not going to find anything,” Dr. Hooves said dejectedly.
After several minutes of spellcasting, Twilight Sparkle's horn dimmed. “Impossible. I see no sign of other magic,” she said.
“There was no sign of magic last time, either,” he said. “Nor any sign of forced entry.”
“I'm sorry, Doctor. If you need any help rebuilding your clock, please ask.”
He shook his head. “It's something I have to do myself. Meanwhile, I still have a shop to run.”
Dr. Hooves pushed the feelings of anger and confusion out of his mind as he opened the door to his shop. His clock would provide him with fame, great fame, if Twilight Sparkle was to believed. But running his shop, helping ponies with all their clock and curio needs, that was what gave him satisfaction.
Or so he told himself.
He soon had a customer, a unicorn mare with a blue coat and blue and white mane. She had an hourglass cutie mark that was similar to his own, the kind of cutie mark that, if one took a picture of them both, one might think they were identical. But up close, the differences were clear.
She looked familiar, somehow. The town dentist? No, that was a different pony.
“Can I help you, miss?”
“Oh, I'm just browsing,” she replied.
“Just to let you know, I do custom orders, jewelry boxes, and repairs for all kinds of clockwork, not just clocks,” he said.
The mare nodded, and examined his work, a faint glow on her horn. Dr. Hooves watched the mare. The more he watched, the more he was certain that she was looking at his shop, not his goods.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked again.
The glow on her horn ceased. “I didn't find anything I was looking for. Sorry.” And then she turned and departed.
Dr. Hooves was ready this time. It took the promise of making the mare a cuckoo clock that greeted each hour with a fresh cupcake rather than a mechanical bird, but Pinkie Pie shared with him her “secret stash” of ultra-special super-caffeineriffic coffee. And although it was hard for him to remain still with the potent brew running through his system, Dr. Hooves waited under an old blanket in the corner of his workshop.
Another copy of his signature clock was ready to be unveiled. And this time, he would stay up all night to ensure nopony would steal it.
He passed the time by mentally designing a clock with a miniature oven housed in it. This work was derailed by the realization that he didn't know the first thing about cupcakes, save that they were delicious, and sometimes served with far too much frosting. And so he instead thought about his clock.
Magic was unpredictable. The ambient magic of Equestria ebbed and flowed with no discernible pattern. But time, now that was predictable! One second was one second, no matter how the magic changed. The shift in magic from one second to the next changed, in relation to the magic levels of each moment.
And that's when inspiration hit him, literally. A wooden dowel rolled off a shelf and smacked him on the noggin, and he saw three of the magical crystal he was working with. He blinked, and his vision cleared, but then he realized it. It was so simple!
Instead of one crystal, he needed to use three. Focus one on the ambient energy now, the second on the ambient energy from one second in the past, and the third on the ambient energy from one second in the future. Take the readings, do a few mathematical calculations, and he would know exactly the amount of energy to use from the first crystal!
The mathematics was complex, but with his understanding of time, he learned it quickly. And soon, he had a working prototype.
He focused on his still workshop. He needed to remain vigilant if he wanted to keep this prototype.
It was an unusual experience for Dr. Hooves to not know the exact time, as a clock was always somewhere within eyesight. But as he was under a blanket, he only knew it was after the clocks chimed 3:15. That was when he heard the crackle of magical energy and the sound of wind.
“Aha!” he cried triumphantly as he threw off the blanket. There in his shop was another pony. In the dim light of Luna's moon, he couldn't see many details about the figure, but he did notice it was an earth pony stallion, somewhere around his height. The pony took a step back, startled.
“Oh, bugger. Now I remember this one,” the stranger said. And then he flicked a pouch of powder at Dr. Hooves.
Dr. Hooves breathed the powder, coughed, and fell to the ground.
Dr. Hooves moaned as he stirred. His neck and shoulder were stiff; he must have slept funny.
And then he realized he wasn't in his bed.
The old blanket he had stored in his workshop was draped over him, and he was on the floor. It wouldn't be the first time he fell asleep there, but normally it was when he was seated, falling asleep with his head on a workbench.
He hadn't been working on anything late at night. In fact, he had just finished....
The clock!
Once again, his prototype clock was missing.
As his mind cleared, he recalled the events of the past night. The intruder, the altercation, and... the sleeping powder! He replayed the events in his mind over and over. The more he thought about it, two facts bothered him.
One, how did an earth pony teleport into his shop? And two, who tucked him in after he fell unconscious?
Dr. Hooves heard a noise from the front of his shop. An incessant sound of hoof on wood. Somepony was knocking on his door?
He looked at the clocks on the wall. 9:20. He was supposed to open his shop twenty minutes ago!
He hurried to the front, ran a hoof through his mane in a futile attempt to make himself look presentable, and then unlocked the door to his shop. “My apologies, miss....”
Dr. Hooves stared at the blue unicorn who stepped into his shop. “You!”
She looked up at him. “I just wanted to look for a clock.”
“I think not! You showed up after the last time my shop was robbed, and now that I think about it, I believe you were here the first time, too.”
“I assure you, I would never do something like that!” the unicorn protested.
“The police officer said that investigating a crime without evidence would prove futile, but now that we have a suspect, I think we can finally get to the bottom of this!” Dr. Hooves said boldly.
She thought for a moment. “I'm afraid that you're wrong. Last night, I had a girls night out with Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Moondancer. We were out until the bars closed at 3:00 AM. And you could find dozens of ponies who could attest to that.”
“And your name?”
“Minuette,” she said.
He peered at her. “And just who are you?”
“You tell me.”
Dr. Hooves performed the mental calculations. The train, of course, was too slow to bring the unicorn to Ponyville in time, even if one ran at such a late hour. She couldn't have flown by herself. He recalled that a pegasus chariot from Canterlot still took an hour. Teleportation was instant travel, of course, but teleportation of that distance was a feat beyond even Princess Celestia. That made it all but impossible that she was the thief. And of course, he was positive he saw an earth pony stallion.
Suddenly, all was clear. He pointed a hoof at the mare. “Changeling!”
Minuette facehoofed. “You blithering idiot! Come on. You, of all ponies, should be able to figure this out.” She looked at him, and then at herself.
A second later, he realized that she was looking at their similar cutie marks. “You are the same pony, but from a different time.”
“Finally, somepony who can see beyond their own narrow frame of time!” Minuette said. “If you can accept that possibility, then perhaps we can help each other.”
“I haven't said I accept it yet, but if it will help me recover my stolen clock, I'm willing to keep an open mind.”
Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Hooves and Minuette were seated at the kitchen table, with coffee and a proper breakfast of toast and marmalade before them. And once the meal was finished, Minuette spoke.
“The reason I came to your shop these three times was because I was following a trail of temporal magic,” she explained.
“Temporal magic? As in time travel?” Dr. Hooves asked.
“Yes.”
“But the only pony who has claimed she traveled through time is Princess Twilight Sparkle herself! And frankly, when she first suggested the idea, I thought it was preposterous.”
“Believe me, it's very real,” Minuette said.
“But two separate ponies, including the princess, saw no sign of any magic!”
“They only would have seen it if the pony was using Star Swirl's time travel spells. And if it was somepony using that ancient magic, I would have no trouble tracking down that pony. Much has changed from your present to my present. Suffice to say that the princess wouldn't be able to identify something she didn't know exist.”
“Then how is he evading you?”
“I follow the temporal signatures, exactly how I've practiced, yet arrive displaced from the actual time of the signature. If what you've said is accurate, I'm arriving after this pony has come and gone.”
Dr. Hooves thought for a moment. “It seems like we share the same goal in the end. And I think I know just how to capture this pony.”
“How?”
“Come by my shop in the evening, exactly seven days from now,” Dr. Hooves said.
“I'll be right there.”
A field of silver and violet sparkles surrounded Minuette, and she disappeared.
Seven days was the length of time it took Dr. Hooves to craft a new clock. Certainly, he could have made it quicker, but that would require sacrificing quality, something he never could do. And thus, on the evening of that seventh day, Dr. Hooves was in his workshop, polishing the freshly stained wooden case of his latest iteration of the clock.
He heard the sound of hooves from inside his kitchen. “Hello? Dr. Hooves?”
“In here, Minuette,” he called.
She trotted into his workshop. “Silly me, expecting you to be where I left you.”
“Well, it is neither breakfast, nor lunch, nor dinner. And those are the only times I tend to frequent the kitchen,” Dr. Hooves said. “You came directly here?”
“A minute ago, from my perspective, we were talking after a fine breakfast.”
“Fascinating. And a fine breakfast it was.”
“And now that I'm here, what is your plan?” Minuette asked.
He waved his hoof over the clock. “This, Minuette, is my latest creation, a clock that draws upon the ambient magic of Equestria to power itself and keep perfect time.”
Minuette nodded.
“It is ready to be sold to one of my discerning customers tomorrow,” Dr. Hooves continued. “And every time I've planned on selling this clock, it was stolen the night before.”
“And you think it will happen again?”
“I am positive,” he replied. “And assuming I am right, what can you do?”
“Let's just say that when I wish it, the only way for a pony to travel back to the future is one second at a time.”
Fortunately, Dr. Hooves still had some of Pinkie Pie's special coffee blend, so staying awake wasn't difficult for the two ponies. He found Minuette reluctant to share anything about herself, always steering the conversation to events of the present day.
Either she was an excellent actress, or she truly had no recollection of recent happenings in Ponyville and Equestria. She didn't even remember that a thunderstorm was scheduled the previous day!
Eventually, trying to maintain a conversation became too much, and Dr. Hooves pulled a book to read to pass the time. Minuette sat quietly, remaining vigilant as the ticking clocks marked the passage of time.
Dr. Hooves heard it first, a crackling of magical energy that triggered his memory of the previous week's theft. He looked up. Blue electricity traced a rough oval on the floor, and then shaped the outline of a pony.
Minuette concentrated, and a pale violet energy filled the room. In its light, the mysterious pony was revealed to be an older earth pony stallion. He shared the same coat and mane colors as Dr. Hooves, though the latter showed the gray of age. He wore a puffy jacket of a hideous color and atrocious style, and wore an amulet with a trio of crystals around his neck.
And then Dr. Hooves noticed the pony had the same cutie mark as he did. Not just similar, as was the case with Minuette, but identical. “Who are you?” he challenged.
“Now this didn't happen this way,” the stallion said. He concentrated, frowned, noticed Minuette and winced. “Bollocks.”
“Who are you?” Dr. Hooves said again.
“I believe the question you mean to ask is....”
The stallion was joined in his next words by Minuette. “When are you?”
Minuette looked to the stallion. “Since I know you recognize an anti-chronon field, sir, you know we have all the time in the world to talk. So explain your actions.”
“It was an emergency. My chronological capacitor was ready to short, and I didn't have the time to search out a replacement. So I traveled the safest route to find the time crystals.”
“What do you mean, you didn't have time?” Dr. Hooves sputtered. “Don't you have all the time in the world?”
“I understand what he's saying,” Minuette said. “It's impossible to explain to you, as the theory has yet to be developed in this time, but it's important not to get stranded.” She turned to the stranger. “But that doesn't excuse traveling to a restricted time.”
“I know, but emergency situations demand extreme actions. Besides, I of all ponies know it's safe. I'm only borrowing something that I knew would never sell.”
“Gee, I wonder why I was never able to sell these,” Dr. Hooves deadpanned.
The older stallion blushed. “Apologies. But it's better this way.”
Dr. Hooves raised an eyebrow.
“The future, my dear self! Surely you learned as a young colt that friendship is magic? Well, when the Element of Magic became the Princess of Friendship, it created a new renaissance in magic! Why, you should see it! Ponies of all kinds, wielding all forms of magic! On any given day, you might....”
Minuette cleared her throat. “While your emergency situation allows me a great deal of leniency, if you don't shut your trap, you're going to end up chronolocked.”
“Yes. Well.” The stallion adjusted his jacket. “The future is a wonderful place, and I can't wait for you to experience it.” He pointed to the clock. “With your permission?”
“Go ahead. But fair warning, I don't intend to pursue this invention until some time passes.”
The old stallion smiled and pulled the crystals out of the clock. “I already know that.”
Minuette concentrated, and a band of silver appeared around the old stallion's foreleg. “Your fine. It will be reduced if you show the clerk you've filed three emergency recalls.”
“Of course, of course. I know the drill.”
The old stallion finished his repairs to his amulet. He showed it to Minuette, who nodded.
“And Doctor, please stop flying without a safety net,” Minuette said. Her horn dimmed, and the violet aura in the room winked out.
“Where we're going, we don't need safety nets.” And the stallion disappeared.
All was quiet for a moment. Finally, Dr. Hooves spoke. “Well, that happened.”
“Were you serious? About giving up on your clock?” Minuette asked.
“I am. While I love my shop, I've recently felt off, like thinking there's more to time than clocks. I was even considering talking to those fillies who figured out how that other filly messed up her special talent. Just as long as I can keep those walking disaster zones out of my shop.”
“May you find success, whatever road you follow,” Minuette said. “Now, it's time for me to return home.”
“Wait. What are you? Some kind of time cop?”
Minuette shrugged. “In a manner of speaking.”
Dr. Hooves laughed. “Looks like I keep you busy.”
“Hardly,” she replied. “Forgetfulness is nothing unusual. In fact, it seems mandatory for ponies who take to time.”
“Then who keeps you busy?”
“I can't speak to that,” she replied. “Let's just say there's one pony who's a royal pain.”
“A certain princess of friendship?”
Minuette smiled. “If said pony ever stops turning to time travel to solve her problems, then I'll say 'It's about time.'”