"—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.