"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."