The bell rang.

“Don’t forget your books!” Cheerilee called out as the students quickly rushed to the door. “And remember that addition worksheet for tomorrow!”

A collective groan went up around the room.

“Bye, Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie Belle said, hopping happily toward the exit. Her sister, Rarity gave Cheerilee a friendly wave before turning to leave.

“Bye, Sweetie Belle!” Cheerilee said. “Have a great day, everypony!” She looked out over the rest of the class with a smile, only pausing when she noted a certain purple filly sitting alone in the corner.

“Well, Dinky, aren’t you going to go meet your parents?” Cheerilee asked, walking over.

Dinky looked up and tilted her head, placing a small notepad into her saddlebag. “Oh, yes, Miss Cheerilee. I just need a minute!” The next-to-last student, Silver Spoon, trotted out of the room with her head held high.

Cheerilee put a hoof to her mouth, stifling a giggle. “Okay, Dinky.”

A rumbling shook the room. Cheerilee blinked, looking around. “Dinky, what was that?”

“I dunno, Miss Cheerilee,” Dinky said innocently. There was another rumble, the ground shaking.

Cheerilee looked around, her eyes widening slightly. “Oh, goodness. It must be an earthquake. Quick—Dinky!” She put a hoof on Dinky’s side, pushing her up from her seat. “We have to leave, now.”

“One minute!” Dinky said, frowning and sticking out her tongue. After a second more of intense concentration, she managed to cram her overly-large lunchbox into the bag as well. She looked up, beaming. “Okay, done!”

Cheerilee nodded, looking around nervously. “Come on, then—”

The earth shook with a percussive force. Cheerilee stumbled and fell backwards into a desk. “Ouch!” As she rubbed her scalp, trying to clear the pain in her head, Cheerilee looked up and saw something out of the window. All thoughts of any earthquake were momentarily banished from her mind. “Dinky,” she said slowly. “What is that?”

“Incoming!”

With a crash, the window shattered into a thousand shards of glass. Something solid hit the floor with a thud. Cheerilee shielded her face, looking away and then peering back between her hooves.

“…Mrs. Whooves?”

Derpy Whooves, sitting on the floor amidst a circle of broken glass, raised a hoof to her mane and smiled goofily. “Reporting for pickup duty, Miss Cheerilee!”

Cheerilee blinked. “But—the window.”

“Hi, Mommy!” Dinky sang out, hopping over the glass and over to Derpy’s side. She frowned suddenly, eyeing Derpy with a look of disapproval. “Hm…didn’t Daddy tell you not to break any more windows?”

Derpy shrugged helplessly, still grinning. “Oops.”

Dinky shrugged, the smile returning to her face. “Okay! Good enough for me.”

Derpy giggled and ruffled Dinky’s mane. “Ready for the picnic, Muffin?”

Dinky’s eyes lit up. She picked up her saddlebag, swinging it over her back, and waved to Cheerilee. “Bye, Miss Cheerilee! See you tomorrow!”

Cheerilee blinked a few more times. “Erm…goodbye, Dinky.”

Another thud shook the ground, knocking a few chairs and desks onto their sides. Cheerilee’s mind snapped back, sending her thinking in a thousand directions at once. “Wait—what’s going on? Mrs. Whooves, what’s that shaking?

Derpy paused, shrugging. “Nothing important!” she said cheerily. With that, she picked up Derpy between her hooves, and flew back out the window.

With a tremendous crash, something enormous hit the ground just outside the classroom. Cheerilee paled, watching with wide eyes as it lifted up into the air, seeming to follow the now fading grey dot that was Derpy and Dinky. Her mind slowly registered what the thing was.

“That—that’s a foot,” Cheerilee stammered to herself. “How is that—I don’t.”

She stood there shaking and babbling for a few moments more before the door slammed open.

“Is Dinky still here?” Doctor Whooves said loudly, looking about the classroom. “I was supposed to pick her up today.” He looked up. “Oh, hello there, Cheerilee. Didn’t quite see you there. Do you know where Dinky’s gone?”

Cheerilee blinked. “Derpy picked her up a few minutes ago.”

The Doctor groaned, putting a hoof to his forehead. “Argh—right! Of course.” He sighed. “It does make sense—she was in the area.” He nodded to Cheerilee. “Have a nice day, Miss Cheerilee.”

Cheerilee put out a hoof as he ran out the door. “Wait!” She swallowed. “What—what was that thing?”

The Doctor peered back in. “Oh, that?” He shrugged. “Nothing special; just a Traal Bugblatter Beast. Nasty buggers, but quite friendly if given the right kind of food.” He looked about, trotting in place. “That all? Excellent. Goodbye!”

The door slammed shut.

Cheerilee fainted.

“And that was when the thing decided to burn down the Cakes’ bakery—why it was so obsessed, I’ll never know.”

Sparkler chuckled, setting the blanket down on the ground. “Heh. Sounds like something Mom would get up to.”

Carrot Top pulled her hair, leaning back on the grass. “I just saw her five minutes ago, leading something the size of Canterlot over toward Froggy Bottom Bog.” She shook her head, giving Sparkler a wry grin. “I’ve just about given up on trying to understand you ponies.”

Sparkler grinned back. “So did I. Believe me; it’s a lot easier.” She licked her lips, looking thoughtful. “Where’d I put the basket?”

“Under that tree, I thought,” Carrot said, pointing it out. She rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re losing your memory already.”

Sparkler snorted. “Believe me, I’ve got a while to go before I’m senile as you.”

Carrot chuckled. “Well, from what I’ve heard, it’s amazing your father isn’t. Senile, that is.”

Sparkler shrugged, trotting back over and taking out a large plate from the basket. She set it on the blanket, making sure not to tip it. “He could be, and we’d never know. Doctors aren’t supposed to diagnose themselves.”

“Someone say my name?”

Sparkler smiled. “Hello, Dad.”

The Doctor trotted up, wearing a goofy smile on his face. “And a good afternoon to you too, Sparkler!” He gave her a hug, and a wink to Carrot. “Carrot Top too, of course.”

Carrot nodded. “Doctor.”

The Doctor peered around. “Hrm...unless they’re hiding underneath that tree’s branches, or have found some form of invisibility device, I’d say that Derpy and Dinky still aren’t here.”

“They’re not,” Carrot said, smoothing out the blankets and removing a large pitcher from the basket. “They’re returning some giant alien thing somewhere.”

“Ah, of course,” the Doctor said. “I do hope that they manage to reactivate the cryo-process.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then brightened. “Aha! I’m not the last one to arrive this time! Fancy that.”

“Seems so,” Sparkler said. She frowned, shading her vision against the sunlight as she searched the horizon. A pale grey dot was steadily coming closer. “Huh. Take a look.”

The Doctor spun around, his eyes going wide with glee. “Derpy! And Dinky, too. Excellent! ”

“Daddy!” Dinky dropped from Derpy’s grip, tumbling through the air until she fell onto the Doctor’s back. “Oof!”

“Wonderful acrobatics, Dinky,” the Doctor said, patting her mane. “How was school?”

Dinky grinned happily, clapping her hooves. “It was awesome! Me ‘n Pipsqueak played Pirates and Alien Stoppers! And there was a real alien, too!”

“Was there, now?” The Doctor chuckled, trotting over to where Derpy had landed. “What kind of alien?”

Dinky looked thoughtful, still bouncing up and down on the Doctor’s back as he walked. “Um...it was kinda scaly. And it was really big and scary, too.”

“Really?”

Dinky nodded vigorously. “Uh-huh! But it turned out to be real small. Pipsqueak sat on it by accident.” She giggled.

“Sounds like an interesting day,” the Doctor said, waving as Derpy shook any dirt off of her mane. “Hello, Derpy. How’s your day been?”

“Great, Doctor!” Derpy said, trotting up and giving him a peck on the cheek. She smiled and winked. “Ready for the picnic? I’m hungry!”

“Ooh! Me too!” Dinky said, sliding off of the Doctor’s back.

Sparkler chuckled. “Don’t you have lunchtime near the end of the schoolday, Dinky?”

Dinky frowned, and then nodded quickly. “Uh-huh! But I’m still hungry...”

Carrot laughed. “Of course you are, just like your mom.” She held up the basket in her mouth, setting it down carefully on the blanket. “Not to worry, though—I made sandwiches!”

Dinky and Derpy’s eyes lit up as they exchanged looks “Carrot Sandwiches!” they exclaimed, and dashed forward to the basket...

...Until Carrot stepped in front of them, holding out a hoof and shaking her head. “Nuh-uh. I won’t have another of these picnics over in five seconds because you two couldn’t hold your hunger for that long.”

Derpy pouted. “Aw, Carrot Top—”

“No buts,” Carrot said, sniffing, and removed a covered platter from the basket, placing it on the blanket. “I spent all morning making these, so feast your eyes on this!” She uncovered the platter.

Derpy drooled as the sandwiches came into view. Wheat bread, juicy carrots, fresh lettuce, and a special vegetable spread—that only Carrot knew the recipe of—joined together in each sandwich to create a piece of art.

Derpy’s stomach growled loudly. “But I’m so hungry,” she moaned.

The Doctor snickered under his breath, and he put an arm around Derpy’s neck. “Come on then, Derpy. Meanie old Carrot Top isn’t going to let us eat that quickly, it seems, so let’s help her set up, hrm?”

Derpy tilted her head. “Okay.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Carrot said, rummaging through the basket. “I know I had that bag of haybiscuits in here somewhere...”

There came a soft humming in the air. The Doctor’s ears perked up, and he glanced around quickly. “Say, did you all hear that?”

“Hear what?” Carrot asked, looking up from the basket.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Dinky said, frowning.

The Doctor squinted, straining his ears. “Aha! There is is again!”

“Still nothing,” Carrot mumbled, back to looking for the haybiscuits.

Sparkler shook her head. “No, I heard it—a kind of humming noise?”

The Doctor smiled. “Excellent. Good work, Sparkler.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “I wonder what it is?”

“Can we eat the sandwiches first?” Derpy said, pouting.

The Doctor held up a hoof. “One moment, Derpy. I want to try something.” He turned to Sparkler. “Do you think you can hear where it’s coming from?”

Sparkler closed her eyes. “Um...it feels weird...” She massaged her temple with one hoof. “It seems to be getting louder, almost.”

The Doctor nodded. “I hear that, too. But what’s its origin?”

“I’m still hungry,” Dinky mumbled, staring longingly at the sandwiches.

Sparkler exhaled slowly. “I’m not sure if I’m right, but if I had to, I’d say it was coming from right...there!” Eyes still closed, she raised one hoof and jabbed it toward a nearby tree.

Dinky scowled. “But there’s nothing there!”

The Doctor shook his head. “Oh, no, Dinky. I don’t think she’s pointing at the tree...”

“...It’s right past it,” Sparkler murmured. “A little to the left...”

“...And a few seconds to the future,” the Doctor finished. He grinned. “Wait for it...”

Slowly, a patch of air to the side of the tree rippled, the atmosphere shimmering in place. A strange scent floated across the clearing and toward the Whooves family: the smell of oil and pollen, with a touch of ozone. Derpy watched with wide eyes as the rippling patch shimmered again, hints of images and pictures beginning to appear within.

“It’s a portal!” the Doctor cheered. He winked at Sparkler. “And it seems you’re a basic psychic sensitive—fancy that!”

Sparkler blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, this is brilliant,” the Doctor said, getting up and peering at the portal. “I could sense it from my look into the Vortex, but that must mean that you’re developing the ability too!”

Sparkler started to get up. “Again, what?”

Carrot raised an eyebrow. “Wait, so does this mean that Sparkler is going to become some sort of fortuneteller?”

The Doctor paused in his thoughts, still circling around the portal. “Well, not really. Well—kind of. She’s becoming a temporally sensitive being, and was able to feel the disruption in the fabric of spacetime!” He turned around, grinning happily. “Amazing.”

Derpy leapt up and hugged Sparkler. “Oh, my big muffin is becoming so grown-up! Sensing time warps and everything!”

The Doctor made a face, squinting at the portal. “Now, the question is: where did you come from?” He brought out the Sonic Screwdriver from a pocket, and tapped it on his chin as he stared. “Fairly static images—seem to be of a futuristic period.”

“I think I saw some sort of spaceship,” Carrot said, sounding faintly unsteady.

The Doctor smiled, nodding. “Excellent! And I just saw a Equilurian-Equestrian ambassador pair, so it must be at least one thousand years from now.” He hummed thoughtfully. “The images seem to be flickering fairly quickly—it looks like the warp is unsteady in space, though not necessarily in time.” He pointed the Screwdriver at the warp and turned it on, combing back his mane as the device buzzed loudly. After a second, the Doctor snapped it back, peering back at the readings. “Yep! Seems to be a time period roughly one-point-five-six millenia from now.”

“I think I just saw a robot unicorn,” Dinky put in. “And a Diamond Dog!” She bounced up and down excitedly. “Can we go check it out?”

Carrot sighed. “Did they all forget about my sandwiches that quickly?” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

The Doctor held up a hoof. “One moment, Dinky; temporal shifts can be quite dangerous, you know.” He peered into the portal, scratching his chin. “Hm... What happens if I poke it...here?”

As the Doctor’s hoof made contact with the portal, the area flashed a bright white.

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Oh, dear. That can’t be good.”

The space around the portal seemed to twist, swirling in strange and alien colors. The air crackled with energy, and the field seemed to warp—

As the dust cleared, any onlooker would have noticed a blanket, a basket, and a tray of sandwiches, all somewhat disheveled and tossed around none too gently. They would also have noted something else.

The field was empty.

”Ouch.”

“Sorry; that there’s my hoof.”

“Your hoof? I thought it was her horn?”

“Ooh...that’s awkward.”

“Silence!”

The Doctor looked around, blinking and dusting himself off. “Everyone alright?” He looked up. “Yes, hello. Can I help you?”

A pale blue unicorn, standing above him, glared down at the rest of them. Several other ponies, standing back with wide eyes, waited behind her. Her mane had been shaved off, and part of her face had been replaced with cybernetic implants. She wore an eyepatch across one eye, and the tip of her horn held a small, shining gem atop it. She growled as she opened her mouth to speak.

“Ye’re tresspassers, here, ponies,” she snarled. “State yer names ‘n how you got on this ship, and I might let ye live.”

“My Lady!” One of the other ponies, a pegasus stallion, ran up, pale. “Please, let the guards handle this! These ponies could be dangerous.”

She snorted. “I’ll not have them takin’ all the fun while I got the chance.” She grinned evilly at Derpy and Dinky, the latter of whom shrunk back and shivered.

The Doctor raised a hoof, standing up quickly. “Now, just hang on a moment, you lot. Where are we, and who might you be anyway?”

“Shut up, knave!” the stallion hollered. “Answer her questions—”

The unicorn held up a hoof. “Now hold on, gents. I do believe these scumbags deserve a little explanation, seein’ as they be precious guests ‘n all.”

The stallion froze. “My lady?”

The unicorn’s grin grew into a full, predatory smile. “My name be Madame Prancequestin,” she said, licking her lips. “And ye do be on the ship of the future ruler of the ZZ-Alpha sector of Equestrian airspace.”

“Impressive,” the Doctor said, yawning. “Derpy?”

Derpy frowned. “That sector doesn’t have a ruler! It doesn’t even have a governor!”

Prancequestin scowled. “It might not now, but it shall! The mines will be the center of a new economy, one that’ll rise up under my rule to become the capital of a new nation that—”

“Hold on, hold on,” the Doctor said, stroking his mane. “How exactly do you plan to accomplish that?”

Prancequestin paused. “What?”

The Doctor tilted his head. “How do you plan to accomplish that? Y’know.” He made a face, squinting and sticking out his tongue. “Making the capital of a new nation and all that fun stuff.”

Prancequestin blinked. “I—we—err…”

“Hey, Daddy!” Dinky called, jumping on top of a pile of crates marked with large X’s. A large amount of gold-tinted, purple dust spilled out of the side of several of them. “What’s this stuff?”

“Hm,” the Doctor said, running a hoof down his chin. “If I’m not mistaken, then that’s grade triple-A Stardust. Imperial transport only…” He peered around at the surrounding ponies. “And you lot are anything but Imperials, so…aha! That’s it?”

Derpy pouted. “Aw, you figured it out before me!”

“Fair is fair, my dear Derpy,” the Doctor said with a wink. He raised a hoof, standing on his hind legs. “You lot are nothing more than a bunch of pirates! Fancy that—’rulers of a new nation.’ I’ll bet you just robbed this off of the last Imperial cruiser to swing on through, hrm?”

He froze in midstep and tumbled to the ground. “Ouch!”

Sparkler groaned. “He really needs to stop doing that. He’s not Lyra.”

“Silly Doctor!” Derpy scolded, shaking her hoof at him. “You’re not bipedal.”

The Doctor chuckled awkwardly, picking himself up from the floor. “Ah, yes. Right. Of course.”

Prancequestin blinked a few more times, and then narrowed her eyes, growling. “Ye be offerin’ a grave insult to me ‘n my crew,” she warned.

The Doctor looked up at her, still dusting himself off. “What? You mean calling you pirates? I love pirates—met much worse in my travels.” He shrugged. “I do love a good sea shanty, or at least a good galaxy limerick.”

Prancequestin turned a bright red.

“Enough!” The Pegasus stallion raised a hoof, scowling at the Doctor. “You’ve insulted our cap’n one too many times!”

“Ye’ve pushed my patience too much, scalawags,” Prancequestin growled. “You stowaway on me ship, and then ye offer no more ‘n insult and foolery.” She smashed the floor with one hoof, the sound echoing through the metallic room. “Take ‘em down ‘n throw ‘em in the brig.”

She turned around, and then paused.

“I’ll find out how they got on this ship yet, but don’t be too fragile with ‘em.”

The chrome-plated doors hissed to a shut behind her as panels on the back of each pirate screamed to life, unfolding and revealing a blaster weapon attached to each pony’s torso.

The Doctor blinked. “Well, that got ugly rather quickly.”

“You think?” Sparkler shook her head. “I swear, it’s just one antagonist after another with you.”

Carrot Top took a deep breath. “I don’t know about you, but maybe we should do something about the ponies that are going to shoot us?”

The first blaster shot blazed through the air, hitting the floor directly in front of Carrot’s hooves, and scorching it to a blackened crisp. She trembled.

“All right then, quickly now!” the Doctor exclaimed as more laser bullets filled the air. He whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver from his vest, holding it in his mouth as he pointed it at a closed door off to the side. With a buzzing noise and a soft click, the door slid open. “Nothing to see here!”

“They’re—ack—such horrible shots,” Sparkler complained, dodging a stray laser. “You’d think that by the hundredth squad of space pirates, they would’ve learned to take proper shooting lessons.”

“But the good guys can’t get hit!” Dinky said, bouncing happily toward the doorway.

“Come on, Muffin,” Derpy said, picking her up and flying toward the doorway. “No reason to risk it.”

“They’re getting away!” one of the pirates shouted. The rate of fire redoubled.

“They’ll just end up deeper in the ship!” another replied. “We’ve got ‘em cornered.”

The Doctor peered back over his shoulder at the shouting, and smirked.

“What’re you so happy about?” Carrot asked, huffing and heaving as she ran alongside him down the corridor.  “And why aren’t you panicking? It’s like a maze in here!”

“Well, my dear Carrot, I’m glad you asked.” The Doctor grinned, looking over to Sparkler. “Tell me, Sparkler, can you feelanything, hm?”

Sparkler blinked, and then closed her eyes. “No… Wait! There’s something nearby.”

“Take your time; take your time.” The Doctor turned back to Carrot, still grinning like a maniac. “And why aren’t I panicking? It’s simple.”

They turned a corner, angry shouts still filling the hallway behind them. The Doctor whirled around with his Screwdriver. A harsh buzzing sounded as a door hissed shut further back down the hall. The angered shouts quickly became confused.

The Doctor shook his mane, and then beamed at Carrot. “Because running is so much fun!”

“There!” Sparkler said, her eyes shooting open. She pointed forward. “Right around that turn!”

“So left?” Dinky offered.

Sparkler nodded. “Right.”

Dinky frowned. “Oh… So right, then?”

“No, lef—.” Sparkler scowled at Dinky. “We are not doing this now.”

“Aw…”

Derpy was the first to round the corner, and paused to hover for a moment. “She’s right! It’s right here!”

“What is?” Carrot asked.

The Doctor laughed out loud as he turned the corner. “Oh, good job, Sparkler!”

“What?” Carrot asked again, coughing. She rounded the corner, bumping into the Doctor. “Oh. That.”

A familiar warp in spacetime stood before them, rippling in the darkened depths of the ship. Its edges crackled with unseen energy, and a low hum filled the area.

The Doctor walked forward slowly. “Well, then. Here’s our ticket out of here.” He frowned, rubbing his chin. “Odd, though; I can’t make out what’s on the other side. All fogged up.”

“Maybe it’s one of those time warps that you can only see through if you’re coming from the past?” Derpy suggested.

The Doctor looked thoughtful. “Well, that’s oddly specific. Hm…”

Carrot quirked an eyebrow. “So? Are we going through or what?”

The Doctor shrugged. “It’s our only ticket out of here, and I’m feeling adventurous today. So, in the words of one of my previous incarnations…”

“Oh, no,” Sparkler muttered.

The Doctor’s eyes glittered as he leapt through the portal.

“Allons-y!”

Derpy shook her head, whipping her mane out of her eyes. When she looked around, though, she froze. “Uh-oh.”

Carrot struggled to remove herself from beneath Sparkler and Dinky. “Eurgh… What does “uh-oh” mean?”

“Oh, my,” the Doctor said, looking up at the sky. “Well, this is rather unexpected.”

“What?” Dinky asked, and hopped off of Carrot’s back, though not without first bouncing off of her head. Carrot hit the ground, groaning.

“You’ll see, Dinky.” The Doctor chuckled, and he pointed. “See that little spot of green in the sky?”

“I can hardly see anything with all this fog,” Sparkler muttered, still struggling to become untangled from Carrot Top.

Derpy wilted. “I guess it wasn’t a foggy future-past time warp, after all.”

Carrot shoved Sparkler off of her with a loud grunt and stood up, dusting herself off. She squinted. “You think?”

“Ugh.” Sparkler exhaled slowly, gritting her teeth. She looked around. “Where are we, anyway?”

“Or when are we?” Dinky offered, still bouncing in place.

“An excellent question, Dinky!” the Doctor said. He peered into the distance. “Wait just a moment, and you’ll find out…”

“Well, if we’re not home, then I can hardly see how it matters,” Carrot said, swallowing. “As long as we’re not being shot at, though…” She trailed off, eyes widening. “Ah.”

“Ah, indeed,” the Doctor said smugly.

Derpy clapped her hooves. “Pretty! I always love this view!”

The fog slowly rolled across the ground, leaving clear air in its wake. The first rays of golden sunlight slid through the haze, cutting into the surroundings and illuminating the area. Carrot’s jaw dropped.

A lush and tropical valley, dotted with exotic and colorful plants, stood around them. Tall mountains towered high into the sky on either side of the valley. In the distance, a murky lake rippled, its far end the boundary to a brilliant green rainforest.

Giant creatures resembling insects buzzed in the air above them, and huge, waving ferns whistled in a warm, muggy breeze. There was a noticeable scent of tar in the air.

Somewhere in the distance, something roared, striking through the air like lightning.

“Welcome,” the Doctor said, his eyes glittering, “to the Paleo-Pony period.”

Carrot rubbed her eyes. “No—no way!” She blinked several times in succession, and then shook her head. The prehistoric valley was still there.

Sparkler groaned, scowling. “I’ve always hated this time. Seems we always end up almost getting eaten here.”

“Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud, Sparkler!” Derpy said, leaping forward hugging her. “There’s always more fun! More adventure! And more—”

“Muffins?” Dinky offered hopefully.

Derpy let go of Sparkler to ruffle Dinky’s mane fondly. “Maybe! We should go look for some dino-muffins!” She leaned in closer to whisper into Dinky’s here. “I’ve heard those are the biggest muffins ever!”

Dinky’s eyes became as wide as dinner plates. “Whooooa.”

“Now, now; that’s enough of that.” The Doctor held up a hoof, straightening his tie. “There’ll be more time for family sightseeing later; for now, we have to try and find that time warp again!”

Carrot struggled to keep her balance. “What—what makes you so sure that it’ll be here?”

“Because,” the Doctor said, grinning, “a time warp is a fracture; a cut in the Vortex itself. It tends to attach itself between a certain group of unrelated time periods, and then move between the two at random. In our case, the warp seems to have connected to our time, the Paleo-Pony era, and a pirate’s space vessel a few millennia into the future.” He whipped out his Screwdriver, pressing a button and eyeing the readings closely. “If I’m correct—and I’d like to think that I am—I should be able to change the ‘settings’ of the warp to take us back home.”

Carrot smiled slightly. “Really?”

“—Though we’ll have to go through it at least once beforehand so that the changes can take effect.”

Carrot frowned. “Ah. Of course.”

The Doctor looked around. “Some ponies might say that this isn’t the right time or place, but I say that there’s always a chance to practice.” He beamed. “So, Sparkler? Care to point us in the direction of that time warp?”

Sparkler screwed her eyes shut, a small bit of sweat beading on her forehead from the humidity. She bit her lip. “Um... I’m not really sure if I’m doing this right.”

“Oh, you are,” the Doctor said. He winked at Derpy. “Just keep doing whatever it is what you’re doing.”

“Okay,” Sparkler mumbled back. Her brow furrowed, and she opened her eyes. “It feels like there’s some kind of dull...throbbing, somewhere in the distance. It’s kind of muted compared to how it was on the spaceship. That was just so...”

“Nearby?” the Doctor suggested.

Sparkler nodded.

“Well, take your time,” the Doctor said. He glanced at a watch on his forehoof. “The warp’s certainly not going anywhere.”

Sparkler gave a strained smile, and shut her eyes again. She was quiet for a moment.

“Are you sure this will work?” Carrot whispered to Derpy, sidling up.

Derpy smiled happily. “I know she can do it. I trust her, and I trust the Doctor. Everything will turn out fine.”

Carrot sighed. “Sometimes, I wish I had your optimism.”

Sparkler bit the inside of her cheek. “Mm... It’s...that way!” Her eyes snapped open once more, and she gestured toward a particular mountain, rising high above the valley.

Dinky shrank to the ground. “Aw, we have to climb all the way up there?”

“I don’t think so,” Sparkler said. She shook her head. “It feels lower to the ground, somehow.”

“Excellent observation, my dear,” the Doctor said, and slung a hoof around her neck.

“How is she doing this, anyway?” Carrot asked. Her voice wavered slightly.

“Well,” the Doctor said, and took a deep breath.

“Oh, no,” Sparkler muttered.

“The reason that I myself am able to sense this kind of chrono-temporal event is because I’m a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey. I’ve looked into the Time Vortex, like any other Gallifreyan child, and it imprinted on me. For Sparkler here, she’s spent much of her life since foalhood in the TARDIS, and, as such, either in the Vortex or in alien time periods. So it’s really no surprise that she’s grown a similar sensitivity to this kind of thing. What remains to be seen is how far this temporal-psychic ability will go, and whether Dinky might acquire it as well.”

The Doctor took a breath and then smiled pleasantly. “Does that answer your question?”

Carrot Top blinked. “...I think?”

“Excellent!” The Doctor clapped his hooves, and struck a pose. “Then let’s all get to that mountain, and through that portal! Come on now, trot ahead everypony!”

With that, he set off, trotting past a group of tall, clustered reeds and into a Jurassic wonderland.

The Doctor paused, peering back over his shoulder. “What; aren’t you lot coming? Come along!”

Derpy raised a hoof and took to the sky. “Come on everypony! To the mountain!”

Sparkler sighed, grinning. “Alright then. Guess I’m leading the way?”

“WAIT!”

The Doctor whirled around in the blink of an eye. “Dinky! What’s the matter?”

Dinky danced back and forth, sweating nervously. She was holding two hooves over her hind legs.

“I gotta go potty.”

“Is it—gah.” Carrot Top groaned, rolling her eyes. “Is it always walking with you people?”

“Not always,” Derpy said, hovering along beside her. She put a hoof to her chin. “Hrm. Actually, it’s more often running!”

“Fantastic.” Carrot blew a strand of her mane out of her face, plodding along at the rear of the group.

“So can we see a dino-muffin?” Dinky asked, bouncing up the path. “Can we, can we, can we?”

“Probably not this time, Dinky,” the Doctor said, chuckling. He peered up the side of the mountain, squinting. “Oh, look! We’ll have to pass by that watering hole up there.”

Carrot narrowed her eyes. “What’s got you so excited? That never means anything good.”

“Oh, don’t be so down on everything, Carrot Top!” The Doctor stopped walking, slinging a hoof around Carrot’s neck. “Picture it: a whole, prehistoric watering hole, filled with...”

Carrot raised an eyebrow. “...Yes?”

“Stuff.”

Carrot blinked. “Stuff.”

The Doctor nodded happily.

“What kind of stuff? If I might ask, of course.” Carrot gave the Doctor a skeptical look, frowning slightly.

“Oh, big, growly, scaly stuff, I’m sure,” the Doctor said, and resumed walking. “Fun stuff!”

“Yeah.” Carrot bit her lip. “Sounds like a real walk in the park.”

The group rounded the crest of a small hill, and stopped just before the edge of the lake. The Doctor raised a hoof to his forehead, shading his vision from the sun. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the edges of the water. “Aha! Now, that is a real beauty.”

Sparkler followed his line of sight until she realized what he had seen. “Oh, Celestia. Do we have to do this?”

Carrot whimpered. “Please don’t make it eat us.”

Dinky clapped her hooves. “Can I have this one as a pet instead?” Derpy shook her head.

“That, everypony,” the Doctor said, slightly breathless. “Is an excellent specimen of the prehistoric Ponyasaurus Rex.”

Not far off, by the side of the watering hole, a great beast of a creature bent over the lake, drinking thirstily. Any other animals that may have lurked there gave it a wide berth. In fact, two scaly necks stretched far up into the canopies of trees on the other side of the water, but were only just barely visible. A few, much smaller reptiles chittered excitedly as they ran about the beach.

The Ponyasaurus Rex let out a low grunt, shaking the ruff on the back of its head as it slowly raised itself back up, letting any droplets of moisture fall to the ground. It towered far above the dirt below, and it almost made the ground shake with each step that it took.

It also paid no attention to the Whooves family whatsoever.

“Hrm,” the Doctor said. “I wonder if this is Ponyasaurus Rex Alpha, or Beta.”

Carrot took a step back, her eyes wide. “What’s the difference?”

“Well, Alpha are quite gentle, while Beta are notoriously violent.” The Doctor hummed to himself for a moment. “Or it could be the other way around...and how do you tell them apart, again?”

“This could go very poorly.” Sparkler gulped.

“Hi!”

Carrot Top’s pupils dilated. “Oh, dear.”

Derpy waved happily to the oblivious dinosaur, hovering by its head. “My name’s Derpy! What’s yours?”

The Doctor sighed, smiling weakly. “Well, she does have a penchant for making friends.”

Sparkler gaped. “Tell me she’s not—”

The Ponyasaurus raised its massive head, grunting. It peered around for a few moments before finally focusing its vision on Derpy.

“So, have you seen a funny-looking portal, Mr. Dinosaur?” Derpy hopped onto the Ponyasaurus’s snout, and trotted down toward its eyes. “Huh? We’re trying to do timey-wimey stuff, but we can’t without it.”

She frowned, peering into its pupil. “Ooh, you’re really big, Mr. Dinosaur. Can we be friends?”

“Something tells me now’s the time to get ready to start running,” Sparkler muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

The dinosaur tilted its head, leaving Derpy to flutter her wings in order to stay atop it.

“Come on, silly! It’ll be fun! You can go adventuring with us, and meet cool aliens, and—” Derpy gasped. “Oh! Do you know where any Jurassic Muffins are? The Doctor said that there were some here, and—”

“How has she survived this long?” Carrot eyed Derpy disbelievingly. “Given the stuff you all usually get to...”

“You’d be surprised,” the Doctor said, chuckling. He straightened his tie. “Well. I do believe it is nearly time for an expeditious retreat. Please, everypony, form an orderly line to my right—no, Dinky, my other right—so that we may quickly and efficiently evacuate—”

The Ponyasaurus Rex chose this moment to fling its head to the skies, braying its anger and primal rage. It also had the side effect of knocking the annoying gnat of a pegasus off of its snout.

Derpy’s wings fluttered, and she came to a soft hover before the Ponyasaurus’s face. “Well, mister, that wasn’t very nice. You shouldn’t—”

She paused as the dinosaur slowly opened its mouth, the sunlight glinting off of its ivory-stained teeth. Giant globs of saliva dripped down through its gums, and it exhaled slowly, knocking Derpy back a few feet with its breath. It smelled of rotting, decaying meat.

Derpy looked up at the dinosaur with wide eyes.

“Uh-oh.”

“And, that would be our cue!” The Doctor leapt into action, dodging around a rock. “Everypony—run!.”

The Ponyasaurus let out a braying roar, and gave chase.

“Dangit,” Carrot panted, leaping over a fallen tree. “I thought we were finished with running!”

“Oh, we’re never finished with running!” the Doctor said, grinning childishly. “Why would you say a silly thing like that?”

“C’mon Daddy!” Dinky giggled as she bounced up and down on the Doctor’s back. “Faster! Faster!”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “That’s right, Dinky! The big ol’ meanie dinosaur is coming after us. And that means we must move with speed!” He redoubled his pace, momentarily leaving Sparkler and Carrot Top in the dust.

“Wheeeee!”

“How—does he—do it?” Carrot wheezed, fighting against her burning limbs.

Sparkler shook her head. “He’s been doing this kind of thing for centuries, if not millenia. Frankly, I’m surprised his legs haven’t grown to the size of tree trunks by this point.”

“Onwards!” A vaguely grey blur zoomed past the pair, speeding up to match pace with the Doctor.

Carrot dared a glance backward, her cheeks now red and puffing. “We’re going to have to catch up, aren’t we?”

Sparkler grimaced. “Yup.”

The Ponyasaurus let out an earth-shaking roar.

“Go!”

Carrot Top’s chest heaved as she gallopped, running faster than she ever had in her life. Her hooves ached, and felt ready to fall off, but a single glimpse of the monster over her shoulder convinced her that stopping was definitely not the right option.

“Over there!” Sparkler called ahead, gesturing to a small grove of tropical trees off to the side. “The time warp is somewhere in the middle of that grove!”

“Excellent work, Sparkler!” the Doctor hollered back.

Derpy squinted, still hovering above the group. “I can see it! It’s all blue-grey, and it’s right by that big palm tree!”

“Right behind you!” The Doctor sped on, raising a cloud of debris in his wake. Skidding to a stop by the portal’s location, he looked around as he waited for the rest to catch up.

Derpy held her hooves to her mouth. “Run, Carrot, run!”

“I’m trying!” Carrot scowled. “I said, I’m try—oof!”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Carrot Top!”

Carrot moaned groggily as she pushed herself up off of the rock that she had stumbled on. She shook the dust out of her eyes, slowly getting up onto her hooves. As she turned around, she paled.

“Oh.”

The Ponyasaurus, closer than ever, let out a huge roar, baring its huge teeth at its waiting prey.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“I’ve got you!”

A grey blur swept out of the sky, grabbing Carrot Top and snatching her out of danger.

Carrot swayed from side to side in the air. “Whoa—whoa—whoa!”

“I got you!” Derpy said, smiling. “That was a mean rock to trip you, huh?”

Carrot groaned, her cheeks turning a slight shade of green. “...I don’t feel so good.”

The earth shook.

Derpy’s eyes narrowed, locking onto the hovering portal. “Okay, Carrot Top! Hold on!”

Carrot swallowed. “What for?”

“Because we’re going back to the future!”

The Doctor chuckled as Derpy and Carrot dove through the time warp, the latter screaming the whole way. He looked down at Dinky and winked. “Shall we?”

Dinky cheered, waving her hooves about. “Geronimo!”

“Well, it seems like everypony made it out okay! Excellent!”

Sparkler frowned, picking herself up. “Made it out to where, though?”

There was a rather loud retching noise as Carrot Top emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground.

The Doctor nearly jumped. “Careful, Carrot. That’s self-cleaning chromium floor plating, if I’m not mistaken.” He looked around and removed his sonic screwdriver, humming to himself as he fiddled with the settings. “Hm... I can probably get some of the auxiliary lights to come on from here. Remote access, of course.”

He held it up. “Aha! Here we go!”

One by one, the lights clicked on.

The Doctor’s eyes glittered. “Ooh...”

Sparkler shook her head. “You sound far too interested in this thing for it to be healthy.”

“That,” the Doctor said slowly, licking his lips, “is one downright beauty of an engine.” He slowly trotted up to the center of the room, looking up at the giant construct that towered up to the roof. He slowly whistled. “I have no idea where they got it from—undoubtedly someone wealthy; must have cost a fortune—but that’s the most advanced Ghettser Model VIG hyperdrive I’ve seen from this millenium!”

Derpy frowned. “So we’re still on the pirates’ ship?”

The Doctor nodded absentmindedly. “Yes; either the bridge or engine room, if I’m not mistaken.” He slowly ran a hoof down the side of the engine. “Generates sixteen hyperspace windows in the course of half a picosecond. The most efficient motor on this side of the Local Group, too! Barely needs half a milligram of antimatter; the whole thing.”

He coughed. “Impressive, of course, for a pony ship. Nothing compared to the TARDIS.”

Sparkler smirked. “Right.”

“So, is there any real point to this jumping about, or are we going to try and get back home?” Carrot asked, her face slowly gaining back a normal color. She breathed in and out slowly. “Seriously.”

The Doctor shrugged, removing a pair of glasses from a vest pocket and placing them on his nose. “Well. Given the fact that we know appear to have a few moments of breathing room, I can attempt to program in a new subroutine into the Sonic Screwdriver that will allow us to reroute the time warp and displace it from the current binary system, and so reconnect it back to our original time.”

Carrot Top blinked, jerking her head back slightly. “Well. Okay then.”

“It’s okay,” Derpy whispered to her, holding up one hoof in a mock stage-whisper. “I didn’t get all of it either.”

“I didn’t even get half of it,” Carrot muttered with a sigh.

The Doctor frowned to himself, narrowing his eyes as he fiddled with his screwdriver. “Hm... Just few minutes should do the trick, I think. It’s a tricky little bit of engineering.”

The metal-plated shades covering the windows of the room slid open with a pneumatic hiss. Sparkler spun around at the noise, eyes wide.

“Uh, Dad?”

“Yes, Sparkler?”

Sparkler lifted a hoof to point out of the windows. “We might not have that time.”

The Doctor frowned, sticking his tongue out and peering more closely at his work. “Whyever not?”

“Because we’ve got company.”

The Doctor snorted, tossing his mane back. “Oh, of course we’ve got company; there’s always company. Mean company, friendly company, alien company—”

He looked up and froze. “Oh. That kind of company.”

”This is a warning by the Imperial Police of Sector ZZ-Alpha. This ship has been identified as the smuggler vessel, illicitly operated and captained by one M. Z. Prancequestin. You have fifteen seconds to surrender.”

Carrot gave Derpy a wry look, biting her lip. “Think there’s any chance of that?”

Derpy shook her head and ran one hoof through her mane. “Nope. Pirates are very stubborn like that.”

“ ‘Go down with the ship,’ and all that, eh?” The Doctor shook the screwdriver a few times as he eyed the readings closely. “Confound it.”

“What?” Sparkler gave him an uneasy look, glancing about nervously. “Please tell me we’ll be able to get out of here.”

“Yes,” the Doctor murmured. “But if these police corps are as efficient and ruthless as I remember them to be—”

The ship shook violently, throwing everypony about in random directions.

“They’ve hit the gravity controllers! They must be going on the fritz!” the Doctor hollered.

A red light highlighted the room in a crimson glow, blinking in tune with the shrieking of a whirling siren.

“And that’d be the pirates’ call to arms!” The Doctor shook his head, looking about excitedly for an exit. “All right you lot; hold on tight! We need to find that time warp! Follow me!”

“Not again,” Carrot moaned, slowly picking herself up from the floor.

“C’mon, Carrot!” Derpy cheered as she zoomed along the floor. “Allons-y!”

“I’m guessing the portal’s moved to some other part of the ship again?” Sparkler asked as she galloped alongside the Doctor.

He nodded. “It shouldn’t be too hard to locate. In fact, if I’m right...” He licked his hoof, bending down, and held it up to the air. His mouth pulled down into a frown as he furrowed his brow, thinking quietly. “Mmhm... Aha! The computer room!”

“Which would be...?” Carrot quirked an eyebrow, staring expectantly at the Doctor.

The Doctor leapt up, jabbing toward a lone steel door with his hoof. “Thataway!”

Derpy clapped her hooves. “Hooray! More spaceship adventures!”

“Come on, now, no need to dally—”

”Your chance for surrender has expired. Prepare to be annihilated.”

Sparkler’s eyes widened, her face paling. “Look out!” Leaping into the air, she tackled the Doctor to the ground.

“Ack!” the Doctor sputtered. “Sparkler, what are you—“

There was a huge explosion.

Sparkler shielded her eyes, pushing the Doctor down. “Everypony, get down!”

The Doctor struggled under her grip, trying to turn his head. “What—what’s going on?”

He paused, and he licked his lips nervously as a drop of sweat gathered on his forehead. “Ah. Of course.”

Where the computer room had once been was now a mass of empty space. The tangles of electronics and computers had been crushed and sucked up into the vacuum, floating amidst a sea of debris. The walls and floor had been torn away, flying off into deep space. As the Doctor watched, the Imperial cruiser began to charge up another shot.

“I think we need to get out of here,” Derpy murmured, hanging in place for a moment.

Carrot Top’s mouth went dry. “I think I would agree.”

Dinky pointed into the remains of the computer room. “What’s that glittery thing?”

“Yes!” The Doctor beamed, picking up Dinky and swinging her around. “The time warp is still there!” He put a hoof to his chin as he set her down, thinking. “Hm… It looks like the forcefields are still holding up, so we don’t need to worry about dying in a vacuum until they get hit.”

Carrot made a strangled-sounding croak. “Dying in a vacuum?”

“In the meantime, it seems that there’s no direct way to get there, so we’ll have to find some other way to reach it…” The Doctor frowned, tapping his skull lightly. “But if it’s outside the ship…”

“Maybe the pirates have space suits?” Derpy shrugged, giving a wan smile.

The Doctor’s eyes widened, and he pumped his hoof with a satisfied grin. “Yes! Brilliant! We’ll find the airlock, borrow the space gear from the pirates, and use that to reach the portal!”

“Maybe once we’re on the other side, we’ll actually have a few minutes to try and calibrate it to get back home, too,” Sparkler muttered. “I’m getting tired of all this running.”

Another explosion shook the room, a blinding white light flashing across the windows.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” the Doctor asked, waving his hooves about in the air. “Let’s go!”

”All hands to the guns. Defend against the damned Imperials! Shoot to kill!

Sparkler looked about, glancing at the doors lining the hallway warily. “Sounds like they’re starting up their defenses for real.”

“Aha!” the Doctor said. “I’ve found it!”

Sparkler perked up, and she stared right at the door beside him. “You’re sure?”

The Doctor raised his hooves, snorting. “Of course I’m sure!” He pointed to a plaque beside the doorway, which was inscribed with steel-plated letters. “What other than an airlock would read ‘Airlock’ on the front?“

Sparkler blushed, and raised a hoof to cover her mouth. “Right. Heh. Never mind.”

Derpy stuck a hoof out and poked a button beside the door. It slid open, screeching quietly against the metallic floor.

Derpy took a step into the airlock, looking around warily. “Hello?” Derpy glanced about for a moment more. “Anypony?”

“Oh, thank goodness. We’re still safe.” Carrot Top dashed past Derpy and into the room, her head down as she charged in. She looked at the objects lining the walls hurriedly. “Wait…what’re these?”

“Those, Carrot Top, are our ticket out of here.” The Doctor grinned, trotting up behind her and putting a hoof against one of the suits.

“But they’re locked behind that glass,” Carrot said, frowning and tilting her head.

Something buzzed, and the glass swung open. The Doctor turned around back to Carrot, the Sonic Screwdriver still in his mouth. “You were saying? Nothing? Okay.

“These are pony-fitted spacesuits; quite nice, really. I do so love a good spacesuit.” He paused and put a hoof to his chin. “I’ll help Dinky get her suit on; Derpy, help Carrot Top with hers. I think you already know what to do with yours, Sparkler.”

Sparkler nodded.

The Doctor gritted his teeth around the screwdriver as he fussed over Dinky’s suit. “Now… Put your hoof through here—no, the other arm—and your head through there. Don’t forget your tail—oh, and your leg—”

“You.”

The Doctor looked up, and froze. “Oh, dear.”

Captain Prancequestin limped forward down the hallway, a singed blaster hanging off of her sides. “You’re still on my ship?” she hissed.

“Now, Captain.” The Doctor held up a hoof, smiling brightly and shifting his weight. “No need to be hasty here.”

“You sneak onto my ship, like the lousy stowaways ye are.” Prancequestin glared as she took another step, her cybernetic leg clinking against the floor. “Ye take me crew around on a merry chase about the ship, only to distract us for when you bring the damned Imperials to take us down.”

“Whoa!” The Doctor held up a hoof. “We certainly had nothing to do with the Imperial ship. You really shouldn’t—“

“I oughta—”

The Doctor shook his head. “I apologize, but we really must be going.”

The blaster on Prancequestin’s back whirred and buzzed to life, taking aim at the Doctor, right between the eyes. She grinned soullessly.

“No, ye’re not.”

The Doctor spoke quickly. “Derpy, the door.”

“Roger.”

The airlock’s doors slammed to a shut just as a green-tinged energy bolt slammed into them, steaming against the window. The screwdriver buzzed a final time, and the Doctor stowed it back in his pocket.

“That should keep the doors steady for a few minutes, at least.” He looked around at the others. Carrot Top’s breath was quickened and erratic, while Derpy was holding Dinky close. “Are we all ready to go?”

Sparkler put her helmet on over her suit, and held up a hoof as she smirked grimly. “Aye, captain.”

The Doctor let out a soft sigh before smiling weakly back and doing the same. “Then let’s go. Derpy?”

After making sure that everyone had their helmets on, Derpy pressed another button on the wall. A red light flashed above their heads as a siren began to whirr.

Beginning Atmospheric Evacuation.

The Doctor silently watched the far side of the room as it began to fold and turn, opening the airlock to the vacuum of space.

“Okay,” he said, his voice echoing in static over the headsets of the suits. “There should be an easily-accessible jetpack control pad near the helmets of your suits. We’re just going to try and get over to where the computer room was, so we can find the time warp and get out of here.”

Sparkler’s voice came back through the suit’s internal speakers fairly quickly. “Got it. Come on, Dinky.”

“Okay!”

The Doctor looked back to the emptied airlock as the group floated through the starry void, and closer to the debris that hid the portal. Squinting, he could just barely make out a dim shape pounding against the windows.

“It’s here!” Sparkler’s voice crackled over the suit’s radio. “The warp; I’ve found it!”

Derpy gave the Doctor another glance, and then turned back to the others. ”Then let’s go!”

The smugglers’ ship behind them gave one final shudder as the five ponies vanished into the Vortex.

Carrot Top hit the ground with a thud, dust rising around her like some kind of impact crater. She lay still for a moment.

“Well,” she said quietly. “We’re all still alive.”

“And that’s what counts!” the Doctor said, smiling again. He looked around. “Everypony here? Still got all our limbs, hm?”

“I have my hooves,” Dinky said, waving them about in the air. She paused and frowned, bringing them closer to inspect them. “I think.”

“Alright, everypony; let’s get those suits off.” Derpy popped the helmet off from her suit, laying it on the ground.

“Mommy, can I keep mine?” Dinky looked up at her as Derpy began removing her spacesuit. “I wanna wear it at the next Nightmare Night!”

“Of course, muffin.”

Dinky cheered, bouncing up and down. “Yay!”

“So we’re back here huh?” Sparkler looked around, eyeing the jurassic jungle with some distaste. “I guess it was too much to hope for that we’d just be plopped down back at home.”

“Perhaps, but this should give me the chance to fix up the Sonic to reprogram that darn time warp!” The Doctor gave Sparkler and Carrot Top a wink. “I just need a few minutes; in the meantime, we should probably avoid irritating any big, scary dinos. Don’t you agree?”

Carrot rolled over on the ground, the grass muffling her voice. “I’d be happy never to run again.”

“Oh, but where’s the fun in that?” The Doctor squinted at the screwdriver, fiddling with a few buttons and switches. “Good for the heart, I always say.”

Derpy smiled, trotting over. “And for saving your life!”

“Though you have those wings...” The Doctor peered down at Derpy’s sides, frowning. “Blasted contraptions. I still say that’s cheating, though they’ll never stop being marvelous.”

“Sparkler!” Dinky said, perking up. “Can we go see the big longnecks?”

Sparkler scoffed. “Dinky, didn’t Dad tell you to stay...put?” She looked to where Dinky was pointing, and her eyes widened.

Standing peacefully among the lush treetops stood a group of the largest creatures that any of them had ever seen. Their gigantic bodies towered above the plains on legs the size of tree trunks, and their necks seemed to reach up into the heavens, stretching far into the uppermost canopy of leaves and flowers.

Carrot Top stared, nearly speechless. “Wow.”

“Uh-huh!” Dinky trotted around Sparkler in a circle, swaying from side to side. “Can I go touch one? Huh? Huh? Can I say hi?”

“Dinky...”

“It should be alright,” the Doctor said, barely glancing aside from his work. “Those are harmless herbivores; you shouldn’t have a problem with them. You can also start looking for the new location of the Vortex in the meantime; it shouldn’t be too far.”

Sparkler licked her lips, raising an eyebrow. “Okay, so long as you’re sure.”

“Sparkler, I know exactly what I’m doing.” The Doctor put his tongue between his teeth, staring straight at the sonic screwdriver’s display. Suddenly, an electric-blue spark jumped from the display, a loud crackle sounding, and the Doctor jerked away. The fur around his hoof stood on end and smoked lightly as the screwdriver clattered to the ground.

Sparkler gave him a deadpan look. “Right.”

“Come on, Sparkler! Come on!”

Sparkler sighed and rolled her eyes at Dinky. “Okay, okay. No need to rush me.”

Dinky stuck out her tongue. “Well, you’re too slow!”

“Right...” Sparkler chuckled, and set out plodding after Dinky’s happy gallop.

Dinky froze a few hundred yards away from one of the biggest longnecks. “Whoa...” Her eyes were the size of dinner plates, and her legs nearly collapsed from under her. Her rump hit the ground softly as she stared up at the prehistoric monstrosities.

“Hm... I think that’s the mountain that the portal was on last time,” Sparkler murmured, glancing at a tall peak past the forest. “It shouldn’t have moved too far...”

“Hey, Sparkler!” Dinky pointed at a large mound of brownish-black mush, standing nearly as high as a grown pony. “What’s that thing?”

Sparkler, snapped out of her thoughts, eyed the mound and took a small sniff. The rank smell rang in her nostrils, and tears began to build in her eyes. “Yep. That’s what I thought.”

“What?”

Sparkler plugged her nostrils with one hoof, looking back around for any signs of the time warp. “Waste. Solid waste.”

Dinky tilted her head for a moment, scratching her mane. “Huh? What’s that?” She frowned. “Wait...if it’s waste...and it’s smelly, then.”

Her eyes shot wide open. “Ewwww! It’s poop!”

Sparkler sighed. “Brilliant deduction.”

“Ew, mister longneck!” Dinky frowned up at the huge creature, her face set in an adorable scowl. “You should find a potty to do that! It’s yucky to just go to the bathroom right on the floor!”

The dinosaur, seeming to hear her tinny voice, looked down for a moment, but then went right back to munching on the trees.

“I think I feel something from back over there,” Sparkler murmured, looking up at the mountain’s peak. “But it could just be something residual from the last appearance, like Dad told me.” She closed her eyes. “Wait—I think I’ve got it—”

“Hey, Sparkler! I’m a dinosaur!”

Sparkler slowly opened her eyes, sighing. “What now, Dinky?” she asked with a weak smile.

“Rawr!” Dinky pounced toward a small sapling, its leaves just barely poking out over Dinky’s head. “I’m gonna eat you, tree! With my long neck! Rawr!”

Sparkler put a hoof over her mouth to stifle her chuckle. “Right.” She closed her eyes, again, focusing.

“Whee! I’m a Ponyasaurus Rex! Run away, mister longneck!”

Sparkler’s eyes shot open. “That’s it!” She spun around, turning her back to the mountain and to her parents, and looking straight at the herd of longnecked dinosaurs.

Dinky paused in her predatory pose. She tilted her head. “What’s what, Sparkler?”

Sparkler grinned. “I’ve got it. The portal’s right over that way: straight through the forest!”

Dinky’s mouth formed a small “o.” “Ooh. Does that mean that we might see jungle dinos?”

“We might, Dinky.” Sparkler chuckled. “We might.” She raised a hoof. “Dad! Hey Dad!”

Off in the distance, the Doctor bent over, likely muttering something intelligible.

Sparkler sighed. “You’d think he could pay attention when it was actually kind of important.”

“Hey Sparkler?”

“Yeah Dinky?”

Dinky stuck her lip out, prodding her chin with one hoof. “What’s with all of the bright sparks coming out of the mountain over there?”

Sparkler whirled around. She paled as she looked up at the “mountain” in question. Red lights glowed at the top, and a trail of smoke was beginning to wind up into the sky.

She swallowed. “Oh, no.”

Dinky plodded up, poking Sparkler in the side. “What’s wrong, Sparkler?”

“That’s not a mountain, Dinky.” Sparkler swallowed. “That’s a volcano.”

Dinky’s eyes widened. “Ooh.” She paused. “Do you think we could—“

“No time to talk!” Sparkler grabbed Dinky by the hoof and tugged her along. “We’ve got to get going. Now.”

“Awww…”

“Dad! Mom! Carrot Top!”

Derpy looked up from her place hovering by the Doctor’s side and waved to Sparkler. “Hi, Sparkler!”

“Well, that was relatively quick,” the Doctor said, sticking his tongue out between his teeth as he glared down at the sonic Screwdriver. “Did Dinky get a chance to say hello to the Apatosaurus?”

Sparkler put a hoof to her forehead. “No—well, yes.” She shook her head. “But that’s not important. Look!.”

The Doctor frowned. “Look at what, Sparkler? Nothing to look at here.”

“The volcano! Behind you!”

The Doctor chuckled and turned around. “Oh, Sparkler. That’s just a…”

Sparkler nodded, her mouth in a thin line.

“My.” The Doctor blinked. “That certainly wasn’t there before.”

“I’ve got the location of the portal down.” Sparkler’s face was set in an expression of grim determination. “But that won’t matter if we don’t get out of here quickly, before that thing blows.”

The Doctor hummed to himself. “I still need a few minutes to finish the reprogramming, though.”

“It’ll be fine.” Derpy put a hoof on the Doctor’s shoulder, still hovering beside him. “You can finish up on the way.”

The Doctor frowned. “I suppose…”

“It’s already started!”

Sparkler’s eyes followed Carrot’s hoof, and she went white. “Oh, crud.”

That was when the earth started to shake.

Smoke billowed out of the peak of the volcano in much greater densities than before, and huge, flaming hunks of rock started to fling themselves out of the volcanic crater. One landed only a few hundred yards away from the group, and a small radius of wildfire quickly blazed into existence.

“Run!”

Derpy snapped Dinky up from the ground, carrying her in her hooves as she sped ahead of the group. Sparkler set off on a gallop, her vision focused on the forest ahead. The Doctor, still fiddling with the Screwdriver, followed along at a somewhat more moderate pace.

Carrot Top screamed her head off.

“Run for your lives!

Sparkler’s heart pounded in her chest as her hooves impacted with the ground, flying over the viridian grass. The air began to thicken with smoke, the atmosphere becoming warm and full of ash. She chanced a look over her shoulder and quickly redoubled her pace.

Behind her, a thick stream of lava was beginning to dribble out of the peak of the volcano.

“Everyone!” Sparkler struggled to make her voice heard over the pounding of blood in her eardrums. “The warp is straight ahead through the forest. Just follow me, and we should be okay!”

The Doctor attempted to give a hoofs-up. “Gotcha!” He stumbled, tripping over his own feet and sliding into the dirt. The lava was now approaching the bottom of the volcano.

Dinky stuck out her hooves, her face frozen in an expression of wide-eyed fear. “Daddy!”

“—Erk! I got you.” Carrot grunted as she pushed up against the Doctor with her shoulder, trying to help him up. “Now stand and run, you idiot!”

“Right behind you!” The Doctor panted as he picked up speed once more, galloping after Sparkler and Derpy.

“ ’Scuse me,” Derpy grunted, weaving through the heads of several distressed dinosaurs. The shaking earth beneath their feet did nothing to comfort them; instead, the ponies running below had to dodge between their stampeding feet.

Sparkler waved a hoof as they reached the edge of the forest. “Go! Go!”

Before she entered the brush, though, Carrot chanced a look back—and froze.

The lava had reached the edge of the plains. The dry, browned grasses had been set alight, the fires blazing down the lines of vegetation like a vengeful dragon.

“Just keep going!” Derpy warned. She sped off after Sparkler, continuing her aerial weave through vines, branches, and leaves larger than her whole body.

“It’s not too far!” Sparkler hollered back. “Just a bit farther!”

Carrot leapt over a low-lying root, nearly falling over her hooves as the edge of her mane caught on a branch. She ripped it free and kept right on running, the fires advancing steadily the whole time.

Around them, the agitated screeching and howling of the forest wildlife began to work itself up into a veritable cacophony. The fires had reached the edge of the forest, swallowing up the prehistoric flora with a burning hunger.

The trees were ablaze.

“Keep running!” Sparkler shouted, coughing as she struggled to make herself heard over the smoky air. Ash fell over their heads, dyeing the leaves a deadened grey. “It’s right past these trees!”

“I hope so!” Carrot hollered back.

“There!” Derpy pointed a hoof at a softly glowing shape partly hidden by a cluster of branches, ducking to avoid a flaming limb. As she passed through a final group of vines, the portal itself came back into view.

The Doctor held up a hoof, removing the Sonic Screwdriver from his mouth. “Wait! I’ve nearly got it!” He stared down at it, his hooves moving across it like a blur.

With a small click, the Screwdriver began to glow a dim purple. The Doctor held it up to the light. “Aha!”

Derpy swooped down. “It’s ready?”

The Doctor nodded. “Yep! All we have to do is have the first one of us through the portal be carrying it, and the programmed settings should—”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Well, I—wait! Ack!”

Derpy cheerfully grinned as she took hold of the Doctor, flew up, and tossed him toward the portal. “Up, up, and away!”

“Aaaaaaah!”

The time warp rippled slightly as the Doctor fell through the surface. The image in its center, previously showing an empty field of stars, shimmered and changed to an empty field of grasses and trees.

“You go next, Muffin,” Derpy murmured to Dinky. With that, she gently tossed her through after the Doctor.

Dinky spread out her hooves, giggling. “Whee!”

“You two ready?” Derpy asked, looking down at Sparkler and Carrot.

Carrot took one glance at the burning scenery, then back at Derpy. She exchanged glances with Sparkler. “What do you think?”

Derpy smiled. “Okay then!”

With that, the three of them disappeared through the time warp.

Carrot Top spun around in the air, and landed with her back on the ground. “We’re alive,” she said, giggling madly. “We’re back home. It feels so good!”

“Well, I’m glad somepony’s happy.” The Doctor smiled at Carrot as she rolled around in the grass.

Derpy raised a hoof to cover her snicker. “Yep!”

Dinky bounced up and down, babbling happily. “That was so much fun! Can we go on another adventure? Can we? Can we?”

Sparkler sighed, ruffling Dinky’s hair and disturbing a thin cloud of ash. Unfortunately, the ash went right into her lungs, and Sparkler coughed loudly for a few seconds as her chest heaved up and down.

Dinky looked up at her, a curious expression on her face. “Sparkler, are you okay?”

Sparkler coughed a final time and then wiped her mouth. “Sure.” She smiled weakly. “Just fine.”

“Your sister’s a little tired,” Derpy said, picking Dinky up. “I think we all are.”

Dinky wilted. “Aw... Does that mean no more adventures today?”

“Ha!” The Doctor pranced up, patting Dinky on the back. “Dinky, if there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there’s always more adventure to be had.” He gave her a wink. “But for today, I think you’ve had quite enough.”

Dinky pouted. “Fine.”

Carrot slowly sat up from her position on the ground and exhaled slowly. “Well,” she said, coughing slightly. “That was...interesting.”

“You think?” Sparkler rolled her eyes, smirking.

“Hey, you Whooves might do this kind of thing all the time, but I’m just a regular earth pony.” Carrot sighed, putting a hoof to her head. “Hay, I think I might be getting a headache from all that insanity.” She chuckled and shook her head. “That’s not saying that it wasn’t fun sometimes, but I think I’ll leave the running to you, Derpy.”

Derpy smiled. “Okay!”

“I’ll see you all later, then!” Carrot turned to go. “Don’t forget to buy some carrots at the market!”

“Bye, Carrot Top!” Derpy cheered, waving happily.

As Carrot trotted away, Dinky looked up at the Doctor. “Aw... Miss Carrot Top was nice. Can she come with us next time we do adventuring?”

The Doctor exchanged a look with Derpy and Sparkler, and then grinned. When he looked down at Dinky, something was glittering in his eyes. “We’ll see, Dinky. We’ll see.”