Time Flies
by PonyJosiah13
First published
Phillip Finder and Rainbow Dash are pulled into a new, dangerous case by Ponyville's resident time keeper.
Time Turner, Ponyville's resident time keeper, comes to Phillip Finder with a case; he's sure that he's being followed, but doesn't know why or by whom.
But with Phillip on the case and Rainbow Dash helping, it should be easy to find out who these spies are and what they want with a clockmaker, right?
Wrong.
Soon after contacting Phillip, Time Turner disappears and the case becomes a race to identify the captors and find their hideout before Time Turner's time runs out.
The Phillip Finder series
The Pony in the Gray Trilby
The Everfree Forest Affair
Time Flies
The Blue Moon Brings Death
Letters to a Candymare
The Face in the Darkness
Checkmate
Secret of the Mare Lisa
The Sun Falls
Clockwork
Behind Locked Doors
Siege of Clovenworth
The Silent Fugitive
Curse of the Taverneigh Blue
Mystery on the Mareish Moors
The Grilled Cheese and the Muletese Falcon
Trifle Not With Monsters
The Fillydelphia Solution
The Sydneigh Ritual
Endgame
Part 1: While You Were Out
Rainbow Dash was flying.
The grassy ground came racing up to meet her. She landed hard, all the breath knocked out of her by the impact. Before she had a chance to recover, a heavy weight landed on top of her, pinning her to the ground by locking one of her forelegs and trapping her wings. She struggled, but every attempt to free herself she made was countered almost before she started moving, leaving her pinned to the ground. She finally gave up with a frustrated sigh.
"All right, you win. Now let me up."
"What's the magic word?"
Rainbow sighed again. "Let me up, please?"
The weight shifted and lifted itself off of her. Rainbow looked up to see Phillip Finder standing over her, offering her a hoof up. She refused for a moment—her pride, like the rest of her body, was already bruised enough from their sparring match—but, realizing that Phillip wasn't mocking her, she gave in and allowed him to help her up. The two were standing out in one of the furthest orchards of Sweet Apple Acres, where Phillip had invited Rainbow for sparring practice.
"Don't feel too bad," Phillip said, pulling his trilby out of his vest, smoothing it out, and placing it back on his head. "You did a great job; actually gave me a run for my money. We should do this more often."
"I'll get you next time," Rainbow said, dusting herself off.
"You'll try, I'll give you that," Phillip said, a small grin crossing his face as he turned to walk back to his house. Rainbow, having nothing better to do, decided to follow.
"I have to admit, those were some pretty cool moves," she said. "Think you could teach me some of them?"
Phillip thought for a moment. "If you're willing to learn."
"Awesome!" Rainbow declared with a little hop before springing into the air and throwing a few fancy punches and kicks. "With those supermoves, I'll be unbeatable!"
"Nopony's unbeatable," Phillip replied flatly.
Rainbow landed as they turned down B Boulevard. "You ever lose a fight?"
"Yes," Phillip replied. "A few. I've always been lucky, though."
"Lucky how?"
"I'm still alive. Oh, look!" Phillip leapt up the front stairs of 221 B Boulevard. "I've had a visitor."
"How can you tell that?"
"The old toothpick trap," Phillip said, retrieving a broken off toothpick from the floor just inside the door. "Place a toothpick in the doorjamb a foot off the floor. Most ponies won't notice it unless they're looking for it. If somepony opens the door, it'll fall out." He took his loupe glasses out of a case in his vest pocket and began to examine the door.
"Wait a minute," Rainbow said, following him inside. "You leave your door unlocked?"
"I find that my best clients come in when I'm not home," Phillip replied. "Besides, this is more fun." Rainbow's face took on an expression of confusion that she normally reserved for Pinkie Pie.
"Opened the door with their right hoof," Phillip said to himself. "And there are tracks leading both all the way up to and away from the door. Earth pony then." Phillip focused on some black substance on the tile floor. "Mechanical grease, still wet. He was here not long ago."
He turned his attention to the living room. There was a notepad on the coffee table next to the chessboard, which he examined. "He wrote something on the top sheet, but then tore it off." He took a pencil in his mouth and gently rubbed it over the paper. The imprint of what the mysterious visitor had written came into view.
Dear Phillip Finder,
I am in trouble. My name is T—
The rest of the message was cut off.
"Very neat, written with their mouth," Phillip observed. "You can tell because of the slight twirl at the end of certain letters. This was somepony who was very well-educated." He squinted at the paper, then at the notebook. "That's odd."
"What is?" Rainbow asked.
"He started writing the message several times, then tore off the page and started over again," Phillip said. Rainbow glanced in a nearby dustbin and found several sheets of balled up notepaper in them. Opening up one of them she found that it had an incomplete introduction written on it as well. When she looked up, Phillip was staring at the chessboard. "What?" she asked, looking at the carved wooden pieces in confusion.
"They rearranged the chess pieces," Phillip said, lowering his head so that his eyes were on the same level as the board. "Look: every piece is centered exactly in the square and they're all facing precisely forward." Rainbow peered closely at the board and saw that he was right. Every piece was centered right in their square, all of them the same distance from the borders and from each other.
"Why would somepony do that?" Rainbow asked.
"Because they couldn't help themselves," Phillip replied, sitting on the sofa and cupping his hooves underneath his chin as he thought. "So, an earth pony, name begins with T, works with mechanical objects, very educated, and obsessive-compulsive. That narrows it down significantly."
Rainbow's mind clicked, reaching the same conclusion as Phillip. Both of them spoke at the same time.
"Time Turner."
Author's Notes:
A mysterious note from Ponyville's resident time keeper sends Phillip and Rainbow Dash heading towards a new, dangerous case.
First part of a new storyline!
Part 2: Compulsion
The house where the Turner-Do family lived in was a simple two-story cottage sitting at the end of Drury Lane, not far from B Boulevard. Phillip and Rainbow Dash trotted up to the door. Taking hold of the golden knocker mounted into the wood, Phillip rapped at the door sharply. The door opened and Dinky Do, Time Turner and Ditzy's daughter, appeared before them. She looked up at the visitors with a confused expression. "Hi, Rainbow Dash. Who's this?"
"Heya, kid," Rainbow said with a friendly smile. "He's a friend of mine. Your dad home?"
"Yes, he's in the study," Dinky said, standing aside to allow them entry.
"Thanks," Phil said, entering behind Rainbow. As he entered, he glanced behind him to see Dinky pull out an antiseptic wipe with her magic and start to wipe down the knocker.
"Super germaphobe," Rainbow Dash muttered to him in explanation.
The two of them walked into the kitchen, which was filled with the overpowering aroma of fresh banana blueberry muffins. Ditzy Do was just pulling a fresh batch out of the oven. "Hot, hot, hot!" she chanted, tossing the steaming tray up and down in her hooves before placing it on the table and blowing off her hooves.
"Why don't you use oven mitts?" Rainbow asked.
"I do! See?" Ditzy declared, displaying the mismatching oven mitts on her hind legs. Rainbow gave her a flat look.
"We're looking for Time Turner," Phillip said.
"He's in his study," Ditzy said, pointing down the hallway. "Would you like a muffin?"
"Not now, thanks," Phillip replied, moving down the hallway to a door at the end. He knocked twice.
"Oh! Uh, come in," came a male voice from inside. Phillip pushed the door open and entered.
Time Turner's study was perfectly organized. The desk was placed at the back wall, facing the door. Everything on it—quills and ink, papers, letter opener, lamp, photograph of family—was placed exactly in line with the edges of the desk. On the wall above the desk was a framed diploma from Manehattan Institute of Technology, announcing to all who read it that Time Turner was the bearer of a doctorate in mechanical engineering. The bookshelf on the side was perfectly dusted, and the books on it all sorted by subject, author and date, placed perfectly straight in the shelves. On the floor next to the bookshelf were several stacks of Scientific Equestrian, as perfectly square as if they'd been stacked using a slide rule. A small table opposite the bookshelf had a chessboard set up on it, with all of the pieces placed precisely in the center of the squares, facing directly forward. Along all of the walls of the study were several different clocks, including two grandfather clocks, all perfectly synchronized, providing a constant, rhythmic ticking in the background. Even the spotless wastepaper basket was perfectly lined up with the edge of the desk.
This was more than a study; this was Time Turner's sanctuary, where he could go to be safe from the imperfection and chaos of the outside world.
The stallion himself was sitting behind the desk, reading a tome on the history of timekeeping devices. He looked up as Rainbow and Phillip entered.
"Are you Phillip Finder?" he asked, coming around from behind the desk.
"I am," Phillip said, extending his hoof.
Time Turner retreated nervously. "I'm sorry, I don't shake hooves."
Phillip put his hoof down. "You said you were in trouble and needed my help?"
Time Turner glanced out the window of his study and quickly trotted over. He glanced around at the sunny street outside, then shut the blinds, casting the study into darkness. Then he quickly trotted over to the door, shut it tightly and locked it.
"Uh...Turner?" Rainbow's bewildered voice came from the darkness. "What's going on?"
Instead of answering, Time Turner trotted back to the desk and turned on an antique oil lamp. A small, shivering flame burst into existence, casting the room and its occupants into eerie, flickering shadows. Turner looked up at Phillip, his wide eyes seeming to glow in the dark. "Yes, my problem. Um...well, I'm not really sure, but...I think I'm being spied on."
"Go on," Phillip said quietly.
"Well, for the past couple weeks now, I've been feeling like I am being watched and followed," Turner explained, reaching up with his hoof and slowly rubbing his mane in a circular motion. "Then I noticed ponies around town, ponies that I've never seen before. They've been following me, watching me, but they always disappear when I try to get close." He swallowed nervously, looking up at the window before looking back at Phillip. "I've even seen them watching my home."
Phillip pondered this for a moment. "Can you describe these ponies?" he asked.
"They're always different," Time Turner said. "There's at least ten of them, I don't know. Oh, there is one thing," he added. "I saw one of them carrying a cloud animal."
"Cloud animal?" Phillip asked.
"It's like a balloon animal, but with clouds," Rainbow Dash explained. "They sell them at Cloudsdale, at the Cloudiseum. But they usually fall apart after a few hours."
"Yes, but it was an earth pony carrying it," Time Turner added. "That struck me as odd, and that's what alerted me to these ponies that were following me."
"And why would anypony be interested in you?" Phillip asked.
Time Turner shrugged and started mopping his mane in a circular motion with his right hoof. "I-I-I don't know," he stammered. "I'm just a clockmaker and engineer with a wife and a child! I've never bothered anypony! I've never even been threatened!"
Phillip was silent for a few moments longer; Rainbow could almost see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he looked up. "I'll take the case, Mr. Turner."
"Oh, thank you," Time Turner sighed in relief.
"Keep an eye out for anypony suspicious," Phillip advised, turning to leave. "I'm going to do some investigating and will contact you soon." He paused in the door and turned over his shoulder. "Don't be afraid, Time Turner. I will keep you and your family safe." Unlocking the door, he trotted back out into the hallway.
Time Turner turned to Rainbow Dash, his expression pensive. "Um...he...is he, um...?"
"Hey, don't worry, Doc," Rainbow Dash reassured him with a grin. "He knows what he's doing. He and I will solve this case faster than—hey, Phil, wait up!" She zipped out the door after Phillip.
"Why does everypony insist on calling me Doc?" Time Turner muttered to himself, putting out the lamp
Outside, Phillip exited the cottage and headed rapidly down the street towards Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow caught up with him, trotting alongside him. "Can you believe him?" she rolled her eyes. "I thought for sure he was gonna pull out the tinfoil."
"No," Phillip replied, quickening his step. "He's scared, and I think he has a good reason to be."
Author's Notes:
Just to make something clear here, I don't believe in the whole Doctor Whoooves thing. Sure, I enjoy the artwork, but I also realize that it excludes ponies who aren't also Whovians, and that it also makes it too easy for Whooves to steal the spotlight. So, in my stories, Time "Doc" Turner is a humble OCD clockmaker, husband and father.
Hope you keep looking forward for more.
Part 3: Gone
"Nope! Sorry, Phil, but I haven't seen any new ponies in town recently!" Pinkie Pie said, balancing a tray of fresh cookies on her back as she trotted out of the kitchens of Sugar Cube Corner. She set the tray down on the counter; instantly, Rainbow grabbed three and started wolfing them down. "If there were any new ponies here, I would've known!" Pinkie continued. "Because I would've thrown them a Welcome To Ponyville Party, just like I do with everypony who comes to Ponyville! Even you, even though it wasn't until two months after you came here, so it was actually a Welcome To Ponyville Two Months Late Party and—"
"Thank you, Pinkie," Phillip interrupted, turning and leaving. Rainbow finished her last cookie and followed him out.
"Where to now?" she asked, licking her lips.
"Tavern," Phillip answered.
"Why?"
"Information. See if anypony there knows anything."
"You really think there's a bunch of ponies who're following Turner around?" Rainbow asked skeptically.
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Phillip answered.
The two continued down the streets until they reached the Midnight Oil, one of the more popular watering holes in Ponyville, even if it was a bit seedy. The name of the tavern was proclaimed on an old wooden sign decorated with a candle, its rusty hinges creaking in the low wind.
Phillip and Rainbow walked up the steps and pushed open the old oak door. The darkened room smelled of cider and cheap cologne. An old phonograph in the back played a scratchy blues record; the quiet bellowing of a trumpet punctuated by static mixed with the quiet, constant barroom chatter, tinkling of ice and the clack of billiard balls. The customers looked up at the two ponies walking through the door, their curiosity tempered by sullen indifference.
Phillip approached the bar, where the unicorn bartender, who was using his magic to wash a glass cider stein, acknowledged him with a grunt of "What'll you have?"
"Can't. Working," Phillip replied. "I'm looking for some new ponies in town."
"I see a lot of new customers," the bartender replied, continuing to wash the stein. He held it up with his magic, examining it for any marks.
"These would be unique," Phillip said. "They would've been asking about Ditzy and Time Turner."
At a table behind Phillip, a muscular stallion with a hammer and screwdriver cutie mark wearing a construction worker's reflective vest turned to his drinking buddy. "You hear that? They're asking about the brain case and her twitchy husband! Wonder what she bucked up this time."
"Shut up, dude," the other stallion hissed, but it was too late; Rainbow had heard him. She flew over to the table and landed atop it, glaring down at the construction worker.
"You talking about Derpy?" she growled.
"So what if I am?" the stallion snapped back, his shock replaced by standoffishness. Heads began to turn towards the two as the chatter died away. The record started skipping, but nopony noticed.
"Derpy's one of my friends, and I look out for my friends," Rainbow Dash replied.
The construction worker let out a grunt of a laugh, his reeking breath assaulting Rainbow's nose. "Anypony who hangs around with that defective is just as bad as her," he said, the slightest slur in his voice indicating his inebriated state. "Everypony knows the ponies in this city just puts up with her for the laughs and because the softies feel sorry for her. She and everypony like her should be locked away!"
"And you and everypony like you should have your stupid, ugly teeth knocked down your stupid, ugly mouths!" Rainbow shouted, raising a hoof. The stallion stood, his chair crashing to the floor.
"That's enough!" the bartender interrupted, his horn lighting up in a threatening manner. "I don't care if you two want to fight, but take it outside!"
Rainbow caught Phillip's gaze over the other pony's shoulder. His face showed no expression, but he shook his head firmly. Rainbow looked down at the stallion, then, with a grunt, flew off the table and over to the door. Phillip followed her. The construction worker resumed his seat and called for another cider as the bartender fixed the record player. The background chatter resumed once more as Phillip and Rainbow exited.
"Wanker wasn't worth it," Phillip told Rainbow as they descended the steps and headed back down the street. The slight terseness in his voice and increased step betrayed his irritation.
"He was badmouthing Derpy!" Rainbow protested, flying alongside him. "I couldn't let him get away with that!"
Phillip didn't answer for a moment. "Didn't think you two were friends," he said. "I've seen you yelling at her."
Rainbow lowered her gaze a little, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, yeah, she can get kind of...frustrating sometimes. But she always means well, and does her best to help. And besides, I've known her almost as long as Fluttershy."
"She's from Cloudsdale, too?" Phillip asked.
"Yeah, we were all in flight school together," Rainbow explained. "Derpy was one of the top students, straight As in everything except flying. But she had that eye thing, even back then, so she was bullied daily. Other ponies called her stupid and weird and even worse stuff; sometimes she'd lock herself in the bathroom and cry for a while. I stood up for her because nopony else would. That's how we became friends."
"Why do you call her Derpy?"
Rainbow shrugged. "I dunno. I just started calling her that one day and she thought it was kind of funny." She gave a small chuckle, but her smile quickly faded. "But look, the point is, I stick up for my friends, including Derpy. So if one of her family is in trouble, then I help."
Phillip nodded. "Right. We've still got a lot of ground to cover before—"
"Look out!"
Phillip looked up too late: Ditzy collided with him at top speed, sending him sprawling. "Ow," he muttered.
"Sorry!" Ditzy squeaked, retrieving Phillip's hat as he got back to his hooves with Rainbow's assistance. "I didn't mean to run into you, but it was really important and I've been looking all over for you!"
"What happened?" Rainbow asked urgently.
Ditzy looked up at her: her eyes were both focused on Rainbow, and they were wide with terror. She hesitated for a moment before allowing the words to come tumbling out of her mouth.
"Time Turner's disappeared! I think he's been kidnapped!"
Author's Notes:
The clock is ticking...
(Speaking of which, I really need to work on finishing these faster)
Part 4: In Plain Sight
"He went out to get some groceries and didn't come back," Ditzy explained as the three retraced the path from the Turner-Do home to the local grocery store. "I've been looking all over town for him since."
"Maybe he went to do something else," Rainbow suggested, trying to calm the near hysterical Ditzy.
"Time Turner's an obsessive-compulsive. He'd never deviate from his normal schedule," Phillip answered, his eyes panning from side to side as he slowly walked down the street, looking for any clue, any sign of what had happened to Time Turner.
I will not allow another family to lose a father, he silently vowed. I will not let Dinky go through what I had to go through.
A glint of gold beneath a bush caught his attention. Parting the leaves with a hoof, he spotted a small golden tailwatch, designed to be attached to and worn within a pony's tail. The watch was carefully cleaned and judging by the clear, rhythmic ticking, was well maintained. Inscribed into the back in flowery script were the letters "T.T." and an hourglass.
He showed it to Ditzy. As soon as she saw it, she froze. Both her eyes focused on the watch and widened as she slowly brought her hooves to her mouth.
"It was an anniversary gift," she whimpered softly, tears beginning to stream from her eyes. "From our th-third y-yeh-year..." Her words came lost in a tearful babbling that softly tumbled out of her mouth.
"Derpy," Rainbow said, gripping Ditzy's shoulders. "Derpy, look at me. He's going to be fine. We'll find him and bring him home, I promise you."
"Y-you sure?" Ditzy whimpered.
"I pinkie promise!" Rainbow said, going through the motions of the vow. "Derpy, come on, have I ever gone back on a promise?"
Ditzy sniffled and wiped her eyes. "N-no."
"Then you have nothing to worry about! We'll find Time Turner and bring him back home in no time flat!" Rainbow declared.
"You don't need to find me. I'm right here," a voice called out. Everypony looked up to see Time Turner walking towards them nonchalantly.
Ditzy gave a loud squeal and flew right at her husband, seizing him in a bone-crushing hug. "Omigosh omigosh omigosh I was so worried! We found your watch and we didn't know where you were and we thought you might have been kidnapped and—!"
Time Turner put a hoof over Ditzy's mouth with a small smile, silencing her babbling. "Hey, it's all right. I'm here, I'm okay. You don't need to worry your pretty little head."
Ditzy nodded and smiled broadly in relief, still holding onto to her husband.
Some distance behind them, Rainbow and Phillip shared a glance. Both of them knew that they were thinking the same thing; something about this was fishy.
"What do you think?" Rainbow whispered to Phillip.
"His gait's slightly different and he's putting emphasis on the wrong syllables," Phillip replied beneath his breath. "But I need some more proof." He approached, still carrying the watch.
"Good to see you're safe," he said to Time Turner, holding out the watch.
"Oh, thank you. I was wondering where I dropped that," he said, reaching out to take it.
"It's beautiful," Phillip complimented. "And expensive. It must have made your Hearth's Warming."
"Oh, yes, it did," Time Turner said, a bit of impatience in his voice as took the watch. "It was a wonderful winter—"
As soon as their hooves touched, Phillip seized Time Turner with both hooves and twisted his foreleg up in an arc while pivoting around his torso, throwing him to the ground and pinning him. "It was an anniversary gift. The real Time Turner would have known that," Phil growled.
The impostor stared up in shock for a moment, then glared. "You just had to go and be clever," he growled. His body was suddenly surrounded by green flames, causing Phillip to leap off of him, shouting in pain and surprise.
When the flames cleared, Time Turner had been replaced by a creature: a pony-shaped insect-like creature with black skin, iridescent pale blue wings, blue eyes with no pupils, and sharp white fangs. Its legs had several holes in them, like Swiss cheese.
"Changeling!" Rainbow gasped.
Instantly, the changeling struck, sending Rainbow flying back with a blast of green energy and bucking Ditzy in the face. Turning, it flew at Phillip, fangs aimed directly at his neck.
But as soon as it was within reach, Phillip grabbed the changeling's outstretched forelegs and rolled backwards, pulling the changeling up over him. Placing his hind legs on the changeling's stomach, he pushed with his back legs while continuing to pull with his forelegs, sending the changeling flipping over his head and crashing faceup on the ground. Instantly, Phillip rolled over to land on the changeling, pinning it to the ground.
Both Rainbow and Ditzy got back to their hooves and dashed over to help him with the struggling creature. "All right, you little bug, talk!" Ditzy shouted, seizing the changeling around the neck and throttling it. "Where's my husband?!"
"Whoa, whoa, Derpy!" Rainbow said, trying to pull her off the changeling, who was choking.
"You may as well kill me," the changeling snarled. Its voice was a low growling buzz that came from deep in its throat, full of malice. "I won't tell you anything."
"You don't have to," Phillip said pulling a pocketknife out of his vest and flicking open the blade. He leaned down over the changeling.
"Whoa, hey! What are you doing?" Rainbow said, her eyes wide. The changeling glared up at Phillip, daring him to plunge the blade into him.
"Relax. I'm just taking a sample." Phillip bent over the changeling and used the blade to cut some of the hairs from its mane and insect-like body, placing them in a small plastic bag that he extracted from his vest.
At that moment, Twilight ran up, having been attracted by the sound of the struggle. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the creature. "A changeling! What's it doing here?"
"Working on it," Phillip grunted. "Take care of it, will you?"
"Of course," Twilight said. She enveloped the changeling in a magical field, immobilizing it. It glared up at Twilight. "I'll take it to the castle and summon the Guard."
"Good," Phillip said, already turning to depart. "I've got evidence to examine."
Part 5: Proof
"Can't you hurry this up?" Rainbow asked, pacing back and forth.
Phillip briefly raised his eyes from the microscope to give the wall of his basement laboratory a look of exasperation. "For the fourth time, Rainbow, these chemical tests take time. Now, hush." He bent back over the scope, reaching for a dropper with hooves covered with plastic gloves.
"Bowden's reagent," he called.
"Bowden's reagent," Ditzy replied, handing him the jar filled with blue liquid. Phillip cut a small section of the hairs he'd taken from the changeling from the sample and dropped it into a dish, adding a few drops of the reagent.
"You're good at this," he remarked to Ditzy as she took the reagent back. "Bunsen burner."
"Time Turner has me help with his experiments," she said, placing the jar among the other equipment on the shelf in the corner of the laboratory and taking the Bunsen burner off the shelf. She brought it over to the table, being particularly careful with her movements. "He was always patient with me. It helped me a lot with my clumsiness."
Very gently, she set the burner down on the table, next to the microscope. One eye was on the burner, the other on Phillip, who was using a pair of tweezers to select a single hair from his sample.
"So...what do you think the changelings want with my husband?" she asked in a quiet voice, as if she were terrified to know the answer. "Do you think they...they...?" Frightened tears glimmered at her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to give voice to her concern.
"No," Phillip replied gently, looking up at her. "This is probably a gang of changelings that was separated from the rest of Chrysalis' hive and are looking for some love to feed on. Whatever they took Turner for, it's most likely that he's still alive. Which means that we can find him."
He turned back to his work. Carefully turning the flame of the burner on, he held the hair over the low, flickering flame. The hair caught aflame and he jerked it away. The hair burned brightly, flashing through every color of the spectrum—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet—before burning out.
"Very telling," Phillip muttered, turning back to the dish. The reagent had mixed with the chemicals on the hairs, transforming it from a pale blue to a milky yellow-white, like an egg yolk.
"Rainbow liquid, gone through manufacture," Phillip muttered, selecting another hair.
"Are they in a weather factory?" Ditzy asked, hope flashing in her misaligned eyes.
"Possibly. But if my hunch is right..." Phillip examined the hair he'd selected, then asked Ditzy for some chloride tablets. which she brought over immediately. Using a knife, he ground the tablets into powder, then tossed them into a test tube of water that he capped and heated over the Bunsen burner. Once the water was brought to a gentle boiling, he dropped the hair into it. Immediately, the water turned pale green and released a cloud of foul-smelling smoke.
"Just as I thought," Phillip nodded, disposing the water into a bucket. "The hairs have a chemical that have not been used in rainbows for almost twenty years. There's only one place in Equestria that the changeling could have been exposed to that."
Rainbow pondered this for a moment, then her eyes widened. "You don't mean..."
"The abandoned rainbow factory in Cloudsdale," Phillip said, moving to a cabinet. "Time Turner mentioned the cloud animal, and that made me think they might be in Cloudsdale." Opening a drawer, he rummaged around in it briefly before retrieving a silver necklace with a silver cloud charm. Rainbow recognized this as a special charm sold to earth ponies and unicorns; the necklace was enchanted with a spell that allowed the wearer to walk on clouds. "I'll need to borrow Twilight's balloon," Phillip said, placing the necklace around his neck.
"No, you don't! I can carry you!" Rainbow offered.
"No. You're not coming." Phillip said sternly.
Rainbow's jaw dropped. "Why not?"
"It's too dangerous," Phillip said, heading for the stairs.
In a blur of color, Rainbow flew in front of him, blocking his path. "I've faced worse than changelings before! Let me help!"
"No. I work alone." Phillip replied.
"Not all of the time!"
"This time, I do," Phillip grunted, stepping around Rainbow.
"What are you trying to prove?"
The question that burst out of Rainbow's mouth and the anger it contained stopped Phillip in his tracks as if he'd hit a wall. He slowly turned to look at Rainbow over his shoulder, his unreadable expression meeting Rainbow's glare. Ditzy glanced uncertainly between the two, her golden eyes simultaneously focusing on them both.
"What?" Phillip said softly.
"That you're smarter than everypony else? Is that what this is about?" Rainbow snapped, glaring at him.
"This is about bringing Time Turner home safely," Phillip answered.
"Then let me help! I've handled worse than changelings before!"
"No."
"Oh, I see how it is!" Rainbow rolled her eyes, floating up above Phillip in an attempt to vent her frustration. "Phillip Finder always has to save the day, all by himself! Phillip Finder, the great detective! He always has to be the hero!"
"I'm not a hero!"
Rainbow was so shocked by his outburst that she fell back down to the ground, her argument derailed. Now she was the one staring in astonishment while Phillip glared at her, drawing in heavy breath through his nostrils. As if realizing his outburst, he lowered his head, but not before Rainbow saw the pain mixed with anger in his eyes. Ditzy raised her hooves to her mouth as if in fear.
"Look, Rainbow," Phillip said softly, either refusing to or unable to look up. "You're the element of loyalty. You want to help your friends. I understand that." He raised his head slowly, as if afraid to meet her gaze, afraid of what she might see in his eyes now that the curtain had been pulled back.
But as if they had a will of their own, his eyes sought out hers anyway. She looked into his gaze, and saw that the anger had gone, replaced by a look of quiet fear.
"But I can't ask you or anypony else to put themselves at risk, for any reason," Phillip continued. "I can't trust myself to have too many more lives put into my hooves. If you come on this, and you get hurt...it'll be my fault." He cast his eyes down and swallowed. "And I'd never be able to forgive myself for that."
The room fell silent. The anger between Phillip and Rainbow had evaporated completely, replaced by the scent of uncertainty. Rainbow slowly reached out and touched Phillip's shoulder, prompting him to look back up at her.
"Hey, look," she said. "I'm really, really touched that you care. But you don't need to worry. If we work together on this, we have a better chance of succeeding.
"I'm not going to stop you from coming, am I?" Phillip said with a tone of resignation.
"No, because that's who I am. Ditzy is my friend, and so is Time Turner, and I don't leave my friends when they need me. And that includes you," Rainbow grinned, patting Phillip's shoulder. "I'm coming to help you."
"Me, too," Ditzy said, stepping forward, both of her eyes misaligned, but equally determined.
The three looked at one another, their eyes dulled in the semi-light, but glowing with the power of the bond that had just been set between them. No words had to be exchanged; they all knew what this meant. Phillip put his hoof out. Rainbow and Ditzy both put their hooves atop his.
"Let's go."
Author's Notes:
Up next: the Rainbow Factory and the things lurking within.
Part 6: Rainbow Factory
It was dark by the time the trio reached the city of Cloudsdale. A brisk wind blew across the cloud brick streets as they wound their way through the darkened back streets of the slums. Ditzy shivered, both from cold and from fear. Her golden eyes searched every darkened corner and alleyway at least twice, ears twitching at the slightest sounds of litter being picked up in the winds.
"You okay?" Rainbow whispered to her.
"This is crazy," Ditzy whimpered through her teeth. "I should've stayed home with Dinky."
"You can turn around and leave now if you want," Phillip said from behind the two mares, his voice even.
Ditzy looked back, turning down the street behind her. The lights of central Cloudsdale shone in the dark of the night, beckoning to her as a flower calls to a honeybee, calling for her to turn and go home.
She turned and looked ahead, into the dark, twisting streets that faintly echoed with wind and clattering, about as inviting as the maw of a manticore.
Behind her was her daughter and safety. Before her was a nest of changelings holding her husband captive. Danger was before her. Uncertainty was behind her.
It took her five seconds to decide which was worse.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Carrot Top can take care of Dinky," she said softly. "That is, if I..."
"Don't worry, you will," Rainbow cut in, patting her shoulder reassuringly with a smile. "Listen, you're braver than you think you are. It's why you came along here, and that's why you're going to go home safe, with Time Turner."
Ditzy took another breath and stood up straighter. "It's just like the bullies back in flight school," Rainbow continued. "Just stand tall and don't let 'em push you around."
Ditzy glared down the street. "Let's go." She turned, leading the other two down towards the infamous Rainbow Factory.
They turned a corner and there it was before them. Separated like an island from the residential buildings by a long street, the dark and ugly structure stood before them, black against the night sky, smokestacks reaching up towards the stars.
The Rainbow Factory. Where not a single soul comes through. The site of Cloudsdale's oldest and most repeated urban legend, a tale of how the weak and useless of Cloudsdale were weeded out and fed to the machines that made the rainbow liquid, their screams and wails and the crunching of their bones mixing with the groans and hisses of machinery.
They approached the wall, a solid brick construction with large, wrought-iron gates that declared "RAINBOW FACTORY" in letters set in an arch above the gates. The gates were chained and locked shut with an old padlock. A sign declared in big, bold letters, "CONDEMNED. KEEP OUT."
It hadn't kept out several would-be urban explorers, homeless vagrants in search of shelter, or groups of kids who'd heard too many ghost stories. It hadn't kept out the changelings. It wouldn't keep the three of them out either.
Rainbow immediately flew over the gates. Ditzy went to follow, but was stopped by Phillip's hoof on her shoulder.
"You didn't have to do this," he told her once last time.
"I will do whatever it takes to bring him home," she said firmly.
Phillip paused, biting his lip in concern. "Ditzy, listen. If this goes wrong, the best thing you can do is run. Just run away and get the Guard."
Ditzy nodded. "Okay." She flew over the wall, with Phillip climbing up after them. They made their way across the small courtyard up to the building, which loomed ominously over them. The walls were crumbling; disturbed by the wind, brick dust and mortar trickled down like several small waterfalls. Most of the windows were broken or so covered in dust that they were impossible to see through. Finding an open one on the first floor, they silently snuck through.
The interior of the Rainbow Factory was as dark as King Sombra's heart. Shadow-covered tanks and mechanical contraptions loomed out at them like threatening monsters. Every step on cold cloud-concrete floor kicked up clouds of rust and dust, releasing the stench of chemicals.
Phillip's ears twitched in every direction. "Voices," he whispered, tasting the stale air. Taking a small lamp out of his vest, he strapped it around his neck and turned it onto its lowest setting, allowing only the tiniest sliver of light through the lens. He led the way through the maze of ancient, rusty machinery, aided by the light from the lamp and the occasional moonbeams through the window, pausing frequently to listen. Rainbow and Ditzy followed silently behind. The voices ahead slowly became clearer.
"—I can p-pay!" a familiar voice called. "If you'll j-just release me..."
"We don't need money," a low buzzing voice replied. "We just need your love."
The three ponies pressed themselves against a conveyer belt and peeked around the corner. The scene before them was nothing short of horrific.
Patches of luminescent slime allowed them to see clearly. Five changelings stood in a circle, fangs and eyes gleaming in the low green light. In the center was Time Turner, trapped in a glowing green cocoon. He stared at his captors through the "window" of his prison, his fear clearly expressed by his wide eyes and trembling.
"Listen, my wife is no fool," Time Turner said, his voice shaking. "It's been 12 hours, 14 minutes and 48 seconds since I was abducted, so by now, I'm sure that Ditzy has noticed that I'm gone and alerted the authorities."
"Not if she's been fooled by our duplicate of you," a changeling replied. "Right now, your wife is probably asleep in bed, not knowing that her 'husband' is a fake, sucking her love away moment by moment!" The other changelings chuckled, their laughter like the chirping of a dozen crickets. Time Turner trembled in his cocoon, looking as though he might faint.
"Ditzy knows me," he protested, but with less confidence than before. "She—" His voice fell to silence as hopelessness consumed his being.
Phillip felt the energy from the mares next to him, both of them struggling to resist the urge to charge in and raised his hoof to hold them back. Already his mind was racing, attempting to determine the best method of approach.
Ditzy leaned forward, trying to get a better view of her husband, but to her shock, found herself getting a face-full of cobweb instead. Spitting, she backed up, shaking her head to try to get the cobweb off, but in her haste, she accidentally stepped on a beer bottle that a vagrant had left behind. Slipping, she stumbled back and fell against a large tank, which promptly fell over with an ear-shattering crash the echoed throughout the entire factory. Every changeling looked up at the noise.
Rainbow growled at the other pegasus. "Oops," Ditzy said weakly. "My bad."
The changelings flew over the conveyer belt, hissing in fury. "Ditzy, run!" Phillip shouted, immediately stunning one changeling with a boomerang to the forehead as he drew his baton. Rainbow tackled one changeling, but was seized from behind by another one and brought to the ground.
Ditzy hesitated for a moment, then she flew away as fast as her wings could carry her. But the darkness of the factory, combined with her already-impaired eyesight, made it impossible for her to determine which way she should go. She tried to go left, but wound up crashing into a large section of pipes. She felt her way along the pipes, but banged her head against a machine. She flew to the right, but didn't see the dangling chains in front of her until she got tangled into them.
After some struggling, she managed to get herself untangled and dropped down the ground, panting. But now what? She could barely see, and had no idea where the exit was.
But she listened, and she could hear the grunts, crashes and oaths of combat nearby. And she knew what she had to do.
Phillip blocked a strike from a changeling with his baton, grabbed it in a headlock and jumped backwards, slamming its head against the wall behind him. But before he could finish off the stunned attacker, another changeling hocked and spat a large glob of green slime at him, trapping his foreleg to the wall. He reached for his boomerang in his vest, but his other foreleg was trapped by another glob of slime. The other three changelings all leapt on Rainbow, pinning her to the floor.
"What should we do with them?" asked the changeling who'd trapped Phillip.
"Hold 'em for ransom, I say," said one of the changelings pinning Rainbow.
"Nah," said another, baring his fangs. "I say we feed."
Phillip caught Rainbow's eye, then looked up at Time Turner, who stared back in growing horror as he watched his one hope of rescue fail. He let out his breath in a low hiss. Looks like my luck's finally run out.
Meanwhile, Ditzy snuck up on the scene of the fight, hiding behind a tank next to the one she'd knocked over. In the dim light of the luminescent goop, she saw Phillip and Rainbow beaten, helpless. She saw Time Turner, struggling against his cocoon, his hopes fading. They needed her.
But what could she do? She was a mailmare, for Celestia's sake! How...?
Her eyes fell on the tank that had fallen over, then looked at the tank she was hiding behind. An idea suddenly struck her, one about as crazy as the time she'd tried to come up with powdered muffins. Retrieving the beer bottle she'd tripped over earlier, she placed it on the floor before her, then started running at it. She stepped on the bottle and tripped on it, stumbling forward and crashing into the tank. It began to creak and groan, its supports weakened by years of neglect. Very slowly, it began to tip over, its fall accelerating as gravity took hold.
The changelings, who were still trying to decide what to do with their captives, didn't see the danger coming until it was too late. When the ponies holding Rainbow loosened their hold in reaction to shock, she managed to zip out of danger in a rainbow blur.
CRASH!
When the dust cleared, all five changelings were pinned underneath the fallen tank, groaning. Rainbow looked at them, then looked at Ditzy in astonishment.
Derpy shrugged in reply. "I just don't know what went wrong."
Author's Notes:
This chapter took a while, but I think it was worth it to give Derpy her time to shine. Even if she did do it by being the lovable klutz we all know she is.
Part 7: Safety
"—we turned the corner and there it was: the Rainbow Factory!" Rainbow Dash narrated, her intense tone holding her young audience's attention. "The place where they turned pegasi into rainbow juice! They say that when that place was open, over one hundred pegasi went through those doors and never...came...out!"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Dinky Do gasped in horror. "Were you scared?" Scootaloo asked in an admiring whisper.
"Ha! Scared?" Rainbow Dash scoffed, raising her chin proudly. "Me, the great Rainbow Dash scared of some old factory filled with changelings?"
"BOO!"
With a frightened yell, Rainbow shot straight up into the air, clinging to one of the higher branches of a tree behind her. Beneath her, the fillies burst into laughter, their mirth joined by Ditzy, who'd jumped out from the well behind where Rainbow had been standing. "Nice one, mom!" Dinky said, high-hoofing her mother.
"Derpy!" Rainbow said with false anger, grabbing her friend around the neck and giving her a noogie, grinning playfully. After releasing her, she stooped to make eye contact.
"Thanks for having my back up there," she said softly.
Ditzy shrugged. "Just trying to help," she smiled.
Suddenly, she heard a crumbling sound and felt the wall of the well beneath her begin to shake as mysterious cracks spread up it. In her momentary panic, she forgot her wings and instinctively grabbed onto the closest thing: Rainbow Dash.
Not surprisingly, this resulted in both of them tumbling into the well with a loud splash. "Oops, my bad," Ditzy's voice echoed from underground.
"I don't know how to thank you, really," Time Turner said, polishing his returned pocketwatch for the fifth time as he sat behind his study desk The organized surroundings and the peaceful ticking of his clocks had quickly soothed him after his experience.
"You don't need to," Phillip answered, sitting across the desk. "If there's anypony you should thank, it's your wife. She, like you, is much braver than she thinks."
Time Turner smiled up at him. "There must be something I can do for you." He glanced down at Phillip's wrist. "Perhaps your watch could use with a tune-up?"
Phillip glanced at his watch. A simple black device, designed solely for time-telling, purchased for ten bits in a pawn shop years ago. He unbuckled it and handed it to Time Turner, who examined it carefully, including listening to the ticking it made.
"Sounds like it needs some oiling and a few springs need to be rewound. Oh, and the band really should be replaced. Should be a very easy fix. I can have it for you tomorrow."
"How much?" Phillip asked.
"Oh, I won't take payment for this," Time Turner replied, immediately waving off any protests with his hoof. "Consider this a thank-you, Phil."
For a moment, Phillip was tempted to press on, but realized that Time Turner was firmly set in his refusal. But he still felt the need to pay him back somehow. Casting a glance around the room, his gaze fell on the chessboard. "Perhaps you'll let me have a game or two with you when I come back for it."
Time Turner smiled back at him, eyes glittering with pleasure at the prospect of finding a worthy opponent. "What are friends for?"
Phil was silent for a moment, then smiled back. "Thanks, mate," he nodded, standing up and exiting the study. He walked out into the streets of Ponyville, greeting the warmth of the sun-kissed air.
But all at once, his smile disappeared. He thought of the changelings who had kidnapped Turner. All of them were in custody now, to be tried and convicted for abduction. Their goals had been simple: feeding themselves by draining love from Time Turner and Ditzy. But if they had been more vicious, more merciless abductors, he would not have been bringing Time Turner safely to his home.
Frowning, Phillip continued down the street towards his home, glancing up over his shoulder every other block. With every step, he reaffirmed his vow. He would keep this town and its ponies safe.
No matter who threatened them.
Author's Notes:
Ugh, this took way too long. But at last, we've come to the end of this story and are ready to move on to Phillip's next adventure.
Chapter notes
Part 1
—The toothpick trap, also called the Goldilocks trap, is a common spy trick.
—The indented writing trick is also a frequent staple of fictional detective stories, but it doesn't always work in real life and isn't used by real investigators.
Part 2
—Derpy, the muffin mare, lives on Drury Lane. Get it?
—Manehattan Institute of Technology: this is of course a reference to the real-life Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
—Scientific Equestrian: a reference to the science magazine Scientific American.
—Rainbow Dash calling Time Turner "Doc" is a nod to the common fanart of Time Turner as the Doctor from Doctor Who.
Part 3
—The name of the tavern, the Midnight Oil, is a reference to the saying "burning the midnight oil."
—"Wanker": generic Australian insult. By definition, refers to someone who masturbates ("wanks").
—It's my headcanon that Rainbow Dash and Ditzy were foalhood friends, both from Cloudsdale.
Part 5
—The abandoned rainbow factory in Cloudsdale: a reference to the infamous fanfiction Rainbow Factory. The following part also contains some references to the fanfiction.
—"I'm not a hero!": this, and the dialogue following, is significant to Phillip's character.
Part 6
—"Carrot Top can take care of Dinky": a nod to the popular fan theory that Ditzy and Carrot Top are friends.
—Where not a single soul comes through: lyrics from the song based off of the Rainbow Factory fanfiction.
—"It's been 12 hours, 14 minutes and 48 seconds...": my theory is that Time Turner's talent is the very precise ability to measure time.
—"That's what our boss told us": who is their boss?
—"Oops, my bad": a reference to Ditzy's speaking role in The Last Roundup
—"I just don't know what went wrong": also a reference to The Last Roundup
Author's Notes:
Chapter notes from the story.
