Hidden Hands

by David Silver

First published 17th of January, 2018

Time Turner has a secret that he does his best to hide while keeping time and working on his mechanical wonders. He's not a bad pony. He hasn't broken any laws, at least, none formally written anywhere.

Time Turner has a secret that he does his best to hide while keeping time and working on his mechanical wonders. He's not a bad pony. He hasn't broken any laws, at least, none formally written anywhere. His potential marefriend, Derpy "Muffins" Hooves does love to pry though...

1 - Relocated

A small bell jingled as a pony with a stetson came in with a smile on his bearded face. "Doctor? Ya here?" He spied a round bell with a plunger on the counter and trotted up to it before pressing it with a hoof. It dinged plaintively.

"Pardon, one moment," came the accent that marked the bearer as not a resident of the town.

The stallion sat on his haunches and looked around, taking in the curious gizmos and gadgets that littered the place in no easily discerned order or pattern. He reached for a thing that looked like an immense spring and it rolled off his hoof almost immediately, slinking to the floor where it began to propel itself in awkward strides across the room.

"Good afternoon." Time Tuner stepped into view with a somewhat nervous smile. "Sorry for making you wait. Are you here for your watch?"

The pony nodded as he tipped his hat slightly as if to ward away the sun that couldn't have been in his eyes. "Sure thing, partner. Is she ready?"

Time Turner drew out the time piece from a pocket and set it down on the counter between them. "It just needed a tuning and some love, mostly. Should be as good as new!"

The cowboy of a pony smiled with building joy as he cantered up and sat closer to the counter. He took the watch in one hoof and slipped his other hoof through the band, pulling the elastic cord up along his foreleg until the watch was comfortably where he could see it. "Yer good at this. I plum reckoned ya were being optimistic when ya said t' come back s'fast."

The doctor dipped his head. "It's the least I can do for our local law enforcer."

"Now don't give me none of that." The pony rose to his hooves. "I'll pay for what I get, and I ain't taking no refusals. How much do I owe?"

They exchanged bits and the sheriff nodded. "A pleasure, now, if you don't mind my askin', why's a smart pony like you hangin' round here? Not that we don't appreciate it, but with yer... talents--" he waved around the shop randomly. "--I'm sure you could be in Manehatten or some other place."

Time Turner put a hoof behind his head. "You're being far too kind. I was just wanting a nice, quiet, place to do my thing, and Appaloosa seems to be just the thing.

"Just what the doctor ordered?" asked the sheriff with a jovial glint in his eyes. "Will you be at the hoedown later?"

Turner took a faint step back. "O-oh, I'm not sure I'm up to that just yet. Maybe... next one?"

"Suit yerself." He turned and trotted out the door, a satisfied customer.

Turner settled to his haunches a moment before sighing and turning back to head into the rear of his store. It was larger than it seemed outside, with a generous room to hold his larger creations and allow him to tinker in peace. He took a slow breath, as he reached out a hoof. He imagined grasping his favorite screwdriver and felt the ripple of change flow through his body.

It was a giddy little sensation. Little prickles teased at him, stronger where he normally had no feelings at all. His hooves gave way to sensitive fingers and he grabbed his screwdriver as he stood up on hips that were meant to hold him that way. A soft breeze reminded him that he no longer had his warm coat of fur, so he grabbed a lab coat off a nearby rack to help combat that.

With confident bipedal steps, the then human Time Turner turned his smaller eyes to a clipboard he had left hanging on a hook. "Now let's see, where did I leave off?" He grabbed a scarf as he read. "Ah, yes. How could I forget." He turned towards his current experiment with a smile. "I'm so close to making this work."

"Muffins!" came a loud authoritative voice.

Derpy jumped at her nickname being called so firmly. "Y-yes?" She looked to the source to see the head post-master glaring at her. "Something wrong, um, ma'am?"

The postmaster, or was that mistress? She tapped one hoof on the other. "You've been distracted, even more than usual, lately. What's wrong?"

Derpy colored a deep red, thinking of what was bothering her. "Nothing," she lied poorly, squirming in her seat.

"Derpy, you know you're with friends around here, right?" Derpy's boss patted her on the shoulder. "When you want to talk, let us know. We need to be focused to do our jobs, and I can't have one of my veterans staring out into space."

Derpy smiled at the kind words. "I'll focus, promise. Sorry for the trouble, ma'am."

"And stop calling me that." She swatted at Derpy. "Like we haven't known each other for years." She gestured at a customer entering the store. "Here's a chance to shine."

Derpy gave a big grin at the customer, her eyes shining as they gazed in uneven directions. That was alright, she had her favorite eye that she mostly focused on. "Welcome to Ponyville Mail! How can I help you today?"

It was Bon Bon with some large shades on her snout. "Derpy, we need to talk."

Derpy's grin widened forcefully. "There are so many things we could talk about! What sort of package would you like to send today, or perhaps you're picking up?"

Bon Bon put a hoof to her face, knocking her glasses off-balance. "That thing you saw." She leaned in. "Two legs, naked, not scaled?"

Derpy rubbed her forehooves together softly. "That doesn't match any package we have right now, miss--"

Bon Bon popped a hoof into Derpy's mouth. "I'm not here to mail anything!"

Derpy leaned back enough to free her mouth. "Then I can't assist you, miss. This is a post office." She brought up a hoof in a slow arc. "We'll make all your mailing dreams come true!"

Bon Bon huffed a heavy sigh. "We'll talk after your shift, alright?" She turned away and stormed off with a purposeful trot.

The post-mistress leaned back into view from behind the wall she was hidden behind. "Huh, can't be a winner every time, but you did your part. Keep it up." She patted Derpy on the shoulder. "Seriously, ponies don't know to leave working ponies alone sometimes. Don't mind her."

Turner ran a sleeve over his sweaty brow. "There we are..." He patted the metal chassis of the deactivated device, its strange innards seeming dead to the untrained eyes, but he knew better. "I can't wait to try you out." He pulled off his scarf and set it on a desk, then off came his coat.

He was naked, naked in a way no pony could ever be. That was alright. He fell to all fours as joints popped and fur sprouted in thicker. Becoming a pony was a thrill, just as becoming a human was, but it was different. His vision distorted as he gained a wider field of view and new scents reached him. He felt more stable as he went to four hooves instead of two legs. He was a pony.

He grabbed his scarf in his mouth and flipped it up and back, letting it coil back around his neck. He didn't need the scarf, not as a pony, but he rather liked it. As he turned for the exit, his eyes swept over a picture he had hanging beside a mirror. In it, a wall eyed mare smiled brightly at him. He paused and raised a hoof to it, resting it on the picture. "My little Muffin..." He sighed as he walked past it, shaking his head. It couldn't work out. There was too much in the way. It was too complicated.

"To say nothing of the danger." He cringed at his inner-monologue turned outward for a moment. With a full-body shake, he approached the door of his shop. The sun was dipping dangerously low, but the town was not dark. The dance that was promised before was occupying the center of town. He could hear them.

The rhythmic clopping of their hooves as they moved together. The cheers and calls of excited ponies.

They were all distracting enough that he almost ran into a stallion. Turner mumbled an apology, trying to divert out of the way.

"'Ey there, pardner!" spoke Braeburn in a cheerful tone. "Where ya headed with such a long face? The hoedown's that way." He pointed towards the activity. "C'mon. If we don't get in there, we'll both miss out on gettin' a dance with a right-pretty mare."

Despite Turner's attempts to demure, Braeburn threw a leg over him and had him turned around towards the activity. "Ah ain't taking no for an answer. That ain't how we welcome newcomers to Appleloosa!"

Turner smiled nervously at the aggressively friendly pony that was escorting him towards the dancing. He didn't want any dance with a 'right-pretty' mare. There was only one that had a scrap of his attention, and he had already left that one behind. Still... "I'll at least see what it's about."

"That's the spirit." Braeburn slapped Turner on the side. His eyes caught that of a mare's. "I gotta go. Have fun." And he trotted over to his new dancing partner.

Turner glanced around and spotted a refreshment table. So as to not look rude immediately scurrying away, he made his way over to it and got himself a glass of juice. It was apple juice. Turner smiled at himself for being even slightly surprised. It was an Apple town, much like Ponyville had started as. He wondered a moment just how much of Equestria was filled with Apples. How close were they to Celestia?

He began chuckling softly to himself as visions of apple farmers somehow launching a sudden coup, taking over the nation and making apples the national fruit.

"Yer lookin' awful amused," came a mare's voice as she sat down beside Time Turner. "What's the joke?"

Turner jumped in surprise, looking over the mare in her little cowboy hat. More ponies had them than didn't in that town. "Oh, hello miss! You caught me by surprise."

She giggled softly. "They say ah'm right good at that." She waved a hoof over the crowd of dancing ponies. "Are ya shy? Why aren't you dancin'?"

Turner hiked a brow at her. "I could ask the same question, miss?"

"Guilty." She put a hoof on her chest. "It's a guilty pleasure ah' mine to find the wallflowers and tease them out. Yer my victim for the evening." She offered a hoof. "Ah'll show ya how to move if you just follow my lead. No laughing, promise."

She offered the same hoof towards Time Turner. "Come on! It ain't a hoedown 'less you move that rump yer mother gave ya."

Turner timidly offered a hoof back before the earth-mare grabbed it and pulled him without mercy into the bright lights of the field. He was bumped and jostled between ponies as he tried to apologize to each pony he made contact with.

She began to move in pace to the music. "It's not so hard, just move when the music says to, and try not to crash into yer pardner none." She raised a hoof to his shoulder, trying to guide him along. "It's right fun once ya get the hang of it."

Turner nervously smiled in reply as he moved about one beat for every three of the song, stiffly following her. He couldn't help thinking on the mare he would rather had been with, but...

A flush sweat ran through him along with a terrible tremble. He was getting too worked up, emotional. He tried to swallow it down. It was just a dance. He just had to move with the music, like the nice mare had said.

He was a pony.

Author's Notes:

Welcome to a new tale, sponsored by RadicalDishonesty through my patreon!

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2 - Delivery

Derpy closed the door behind herself with a sigh. "Glad that's over." Her shift was complete. She turned towards home and began a slow walk. "Long day." But she had smiled. She smiled at the thought of it. She had done her job, and that was good. She took pleasure in doing it well. When she messed up...

Her smile wavered.

She did mess up. It happened too often. She never tried to mess up. It just kinda happened once in a while. "Today was not like that," she reminded herself. She focused and got everypony what they wanted. She was a good mailmare.

She was a good pony. She shook her head as she walked. "So what if I'm a little clumsy?" There were bigger crimes out there, and she always did her best to fix whatever mess she did make. That made it better, right?

Her doctor thought so.

She let out a weary sigh, thinking of Time Tuner. "Where are you?"

"Where is who?" Derpy jumped with shock as Bon Bon matched her pace and walked with her. "Is your shift finished?"

Derpy took a step or two away from Bon Bon, trying to slide away, but Bon Bon easily met her pace. "Oh, uh, hello Miss Bon Bon."

"No need to be so formal." Bon Bon waved it away. "We're friends, Bon Bon will do." She lowered her dark glasses. "You aren't being followed, are you?"

Derpy looked left and right, then up into the sky. "I don't think so. Why?"

"Good." Bon Bon threw a leg over Derpy's withers and pulled the mare closer. "We need to talk, nothing serious, just two pals, chatting."

"O-oh." Derpy tried to relax herself. "Just two friends, um, so... what's up?"

Bon Bon extracted a wrapped candy with her free forehoof and stuffs it into Derpy's available mouth. "Try my newest candy. It's sour and sweet in just the right balance."

Derpy ran her tongue over the wrapper and undid it, spitting out the spent paper without it ever leaving her mouth before. "Mmm." It was pretty good as candy went. "Just the right amount of tang," she happily agreed. Maybe she had read Bon Bon entirely wrong before? "Thanks for sharing."

Bon Bon nodded as she pulled off her big black glasses and slipped them away. "What are friends for? Derpy, my mare, sorry for being all creepy before." She smiled sweetly at her friend. "I was being a real heel."

Derpy raised an ear as something inside her clicked. She was being played, or an attempt was being made. Ponies often assumed she was stupid because she was clumsy. The two were not related. Bon Bon was talking nice for a reason. "Oh, don't worry about it," lied Derpy, waving it away like a faint foul odor. "Today's been quite a day!"

"You don't say? It must be hard, keeping all that mail in order." Bon Bon bumped against Derpy gently. "Let's forget all about that work stuff. Plenty of time for that during work, right?"

Derpy flashed a false smile. "Right! Hey, thanks for the candy, but I really should get home."

"What's the rush?" Bon Bon lifted her shoulders. "You waiting on someone?"

"N-no! I just promised myself I'd clean after work, and I really want to get that done."

Bon Bon nudged the pegasus in the chest. "It's your lucky day. I'll meet you at your house with a little backup. We'll make your house shine." She trotted away without waiting for a reply.

Derpy let out a small sigh. That had not gone exactly as she had envisioned it. She lifted into the sky and sailed home. She would have guests, like it or not.

Time Turner felt the sweat running cold. The dance never seemed to end. Guilty was a skilled dancer, and she really was trying to draw him into the fun of the occasion. He didn't begrudge her attempt, but the bumping and jostling... The constant motion and press of all the ponies around him were growing agitating. He wasn't angry with them, but it was draining and he needed to get away.

"Were you enjoying the punch too hard before ah showed up?" asked Guilty as she leaned forward towards Time. "You're lookin' just a pinch drawn, sugar."

Time smiled as best he could, but he could feel it. The skin didn't slide just as it should. It was like he was wearing a mask of himself. "I-I... yes, sorry, pardon me!" He turned from her and dove through the crowd, giving many 'sorry's and 'pardon me's on his way through.

When he broke free, he burst into a run away from the crowd. He may have heard Guilty behind him, but he was far too distracted to be sure.

In a wild gallop, he reached his home. The dance was a faded and distant light, and so was his remaining control. With a trembling hoof, he tried to pull out his keys, but he couldn't get them in his pocket, at least until he heard the jangle of the keys hitting the ground. He grabbed them with fingers he hadn't had a moment before and quickly threw himself inside, slamming the door behind him.

"Too close," he sighed to himself. Why had he even thought it could work with Derpy?

The tension began to ebb. He was finally alone. The darkness soothed him, and the quiet calmed him. He pushed off the door and advanced slowly, feeling out with his hands before he ran into anything. He found his couch and collapsed across it. "What a day..."

He was a human again. That was alright. He stretched out wide across the soft fabric, letting the tension flow away. "You'd think I'd get used to this," he muttered to himself, but he never did. How could he? Even born into the situation, he was the strange one in a country of ponies. He was the odd one out.

He reached out a hand, gazing at it in the dim light. Fingers were nice, useful, and didn't have so much hair to get caught in things. They were sensitive too. He could feel so much just pressing them against things that a pony could miss with their hooves. He wondered if other fingered races felt the same way?

Minotaurs and diamond dogs were both furred, so he had a hard time imagining they could feel just as well through their pelt. Dragons just had scales. Did scales 'feel'? He frowned a little bit as he mused on it. If he could, he'd just ask Spike, Twilight's little dragon. He was small and harmless, but he didn't want to blow his secret, and there weren't many innocent ways to ask that question.

He could envision it, himself asking, "Hey, Spike, how sensitive are your fingers?"

Time Tuner gave a rueful chuckle at the imagined scenario.

He rolled off the couch and hit the ground on hooves. He was calm enough to return to his other self. He was a pony, and that was also alright. "If only it was a switch." Like a light switch, just something he could flick on demand.

Much of the time, it was. But stress and time in one form made the other form anxious to come out. He liked both forms, if only they'd stay put until he called them. "Blast it all." He kicked at the dark ground before moving to his fridge. Stressful or not, the day had built a powerful hunger in him he planned to sate.

Derpy flew about her house, trying to straighten up. She jumped when a knocking startled her. "Coming!" She knew who it was, or had a pretty good idea. Putting on a big smile, she zipped to the door. She miscalculated the distance by one precious inch and bumped against it with an oof.

The door swung open, glowing with Lyra's magic. "Hey, we knocked first," she said in a jovial tone. "How's it going, Derpster?"

Bon Bon was standing beside her. "As promised. Lyra and I are here to help clean up with you."

Lyra blinked. "Wait, what? I thought we were going out to eat?"

Bon Bon laughed nervously. "We are. After we help our dear friend clean her house."

Lyra leaned in towards Derpy, offering a hoof out to help Derpy up. "Sorry if we caught you by surprise."

Derpy nodded to Lyra. "Nice to see you, Lyra. How are things?" She gave her a genuine smile. She could not remember much to be upset with Lyra about. "You really don't have to help me clean. I have it under control."

Lyra grinned at her roomate. "See? Let's go get--"

Bon Bon popped a hoof in Lyra's mouth, silencing her. "We're going to be good friends and help out, because that's what friends do."

Lyra pulled herself back from the hoof and licked her lips. "Hey, did you do that to Muffins today?" Derpy and Bon Bon glowed in unison, and Lyra just laughed. "It's a bad habit, Bonnie. You really should let ponies finish what they're saying." She trotted past Derpy. "Let's clean a house."

Derpy ducked aside, then waved into her house. "Come on in," she offered towards Bon Bon. With Lyra already inside, keeping out Bon Bon felt silly. "I was already cleaning before you showed up."

Bon Bon trotted past Derpy, her eyes darting about with a sharp look. "You have a nice place, just the right size for one pony. Lyra?"

"Yeah?" Lyra turned to look over her shoulder.

"You take the front and I'll get the back and we'll meet in the middle."

"Sure thing, Bonnie." Lyra gave a firm salute and giggled as she advanced towards the front of the house.

Derpy closed the door lightly, looking between her two guests as they vanished in either direction. Fortunately for her, she could watch them both until they were gone, her eyes picking a pony each for that moment. "Um..." She wondered which she should be with. She decided she trusted Lyra to just clean and lifted into the air, zipping after Bon Bon.

Bon Bon trotted easily until she was just out of sight, then made a quick darting gallop into Derpy's room. "There has to be something here," she muttered to herself as she began rooting through the piles of paper that were strewn on Derpy's dresser. She barely had time to leaf through them when Derpy arrived. "Oh! Hey, you really should organize these," she noted with a big smile. "Need any help with that? I'm an expert at organizing papers. I mean, not as good as Princess Twilight, but who is?"

Derpy landed beside Bon Bon, putting a hoof gently on the papers. "I can handle these, thanks. Could you sort my dolls?" She pointed to a great pile of various plush-filled animals that smiled from around the room. "They really need to be sorted out, and maybe a few washed."

Bon Bon's smile stretched wider, forced as it was. "Oh, sure. I'm glad to... help." She stepped past Derpy towards the first of the dolls, a grinning lion that was about six inches long. "Hello there, Mister King."

"How'd you know his name?" Derpy perked an ear at Bon Bon with amazed eyes.

"He's a lion." She held up the plush in her hooves. "Kings of the jungle? He's also cute." She ruffled the flaps of fabric that made up the lion's mane.

Derpy burst into soft giggles. "That's his name though, Mister King." She pointed at a hippo. "She's Miss Petunia, and that's Quick Streak." She pointed at an earth pony plush with racing fires sewn into its outfit. "Do you have dolls? I bet you don't."

Bon Bon huffed softly. "I just have one... but it's my absolute favorite. It's... a little stupid. I mean, it's not an animal or a pony..."

Derpy perked up, "Don't say that. If it's your doll, it can't be stupid. What is it?"

Bon Bon smiled gently. "It's a big wrapped candy. I hug it when I'm alone."

Derpy burst into soft laughter, which drew a deep frown from Bon Bon. "No no! I'm not laughing at you! That's too cute! I wanna see it!"

Author's Notes:

Derpy sees a sensitive side hiding under Bon Bon's gruff exterior, and it looks fluffy and filled with plush.

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3 - Skills for Bills

The sheriff threw down his hat with a scowl. "Jus' don' get it! Look." He turned his head to face Time Turner behind his counter. "They're doin' everythin' they can, and it's not normally any of mah business, but the apples are everypony's business. They fall through, the town's done."

Time held up his hooves, balancing on his back legs. "Calm down, I want to help, but explain what is happening to the apples? I can't argue the results." His eyes turned to a sad and withered apple that sat on his counter. While it was as red as an apple should be, it was shriveled and limp.

The sheriff picked up his hat from where he had thrown it and put it back on his head. "You see 'bout as much as ah know about it. We done watered 'em, fertilized 'em... Some have even tried bedtime stories! The trees look fine, but the apples--" He thrust a hoof violently at the shriveled fruit. "--speak fer themselves. Yer a right clever pony, can ya do somethin' about it?"

Time Turner fell back to four hooves and paced back and forth. "My specialities lie more within mechanics, chemistry, perhaps a little electrical work..." He licked over his lips as he watched the sheriff just get surlier looking. "But... I'll take a look." He gently poked the apple and it fell over like a deflated balloon. "I can see this is quite serious."

The frown turned to a hopeful smile. "That's all we kin ask, Doctor."

Turner blushed softly. He hadn't advertised that fact, and yet... "Please, just Time Turner, or Turner, if you prefer." A thought struck him. "As much as I want to assist, my recent move has depleted my reserve of bits quite severely. I'm afraid I do have to insist on some bit of consultation fee."

"Honest work, honest pay." Silverstar nodded firmly. "Won't be hard to get the farmers to chip in, if you can at least figure out what's goin' on, more so if'n ya actually fix it! Please, give it yer best."

Turner came around the counter, or started to, hesitating just at the end. "Let me get my supplies." He turned towards the back. "I'll give it a proper examination before I can properly discern what the malady could be."

"You do yer thing, Do--Turner. We're countin' on ya." Silverstar pulled his hat down across his chest. "Keep me updated, alright?" With that, he departed, both ponies going in opposite directions with him leaving the store and Turner heading into the back.

Lyra plinked at her instrument softly, held in her magic. She was seated in Bon Bon's candy shoppe. Bon Bon was behind the counter, looking cross. "You do realize that was pretty tactless," taunted Lyra with a little smile.

Bon Bon scowled at Lyra. "What do you mean?" Each syllable was tense with accusation, her hooves pressing firmly against her counter.

"If you want answers out of the Derpster, you're going about it the wrong way, but nice save at the end." She punctuated her last statement with a soft plink on her instrument. "Did you find anything?"

Bon Bon sagged. "Not a thing... Look, this is no joking matter! S.M.I.L.E. expects results, yesterday!"

Lyra waved off the hysteria. "I was at the same briefing, you don't have to remind me. I don't see what the big fuss is about, anyway."

Bon Bon slipped down to all fours and trotted around to Lyra with a purpose, her eyes locked on her carefree roomie and partner. "Big fuss? Big. Fuss?! This is an unknown species. Is it a monster? Some strange foreign invasion force? Who knows, and we need--" She prodded Lyra right in the chest as she arrived. "--to know! That is literally our job. It's what our name stands for." She threw her hooves up with an annoyed grunt. "Do I need to remind you?"

"No."

Despite that, Bon Bon went forward. "Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria! We have a monster, and we don't know a thing about it. That's a dereliction of duty."

Lyra sat up and reached, putting a hoof on either of Bon Bon's shoulders. "Calm down. We'll find them. Look, whatever it is, it hasn't hurt anypony, so why get bent out of shape about it?"

Bon Bon swatted one of the hooves away. "So we wait until after it hurts, or worse, some random person, then we care? How is that responsible?"

Lyra's ears shrank as she pulled her other hoof back. "I... guess you have half a point there. Alright, what clues do we have right now?"

Bon Bon settled onto her haunches with a forceful huff of a sigh. "Derpy "Muffins" Hooves saw it. It frightened her and she came running to me to talk about it."

Lyra's brows waggled. "And she didn't even know what you were."

"No, and she still doesn't. Anyway. I reported the sighting, and we received the briefing you already know about."

Lyra rolled her eyes and a hoof at once. "Right right. Locate, document, intervene if needed. I remember."

"That is our basic duty." Bon Bon stood up tall. "You accepted that. You're not turning away from it now, are you?"

Lyra quickly put up her hooves. "No! No, seriously, Bonnie, I'm on your side. We'll figure this out. So, besides that?"

"Besides..." Her brows went up as one. "Ah, yes, we know it has only patches of fur. Male, or so Miss Hooves assumed, but she's hardly a qualified--"

"--It doesn't take a doctor to know a stallion from a mare." Lyra's brows waggled salaciously. "I'll take her word for it if she thinks it's a guy."

Bon Bon rolled her eyes mightily, her head turning up with the force of it. "Yes, fine, we can assume she got that right. It has fingers, no claws, and large feet in comparison to the rest of its body. Bipedal." She stuck out her tongue with a disgusted noise. "Unsettling, isn't it?"

Lyra tapped at her chin, trying to imagine the described beat. "Just fleshy nubs with no claws? Huge feet? Kinda weird, all ambling about... Anyway, alright, so how hard can it be to spot tracks from something with big feet?"

"You would think that, but I haven't seen any hints." She let out a slow breath. "And! And! Derpy's clammed up. She won't talk to me about it. I think the poor thing's gone into some kind of emotional shock."

"Shock?" Lyra hiked a brow. "From seeing it?"

"That, but more than that." She rolled a hoof. "You know she has a special somepony, or did, right?"

"Did?" Lyra's face turned to a frown as she sat up. "What do you mean? Did something happen to Time Turner? They're an adorable pair!"

"I haven't seen him, and that's just it." Bon Bon crossed her hooves. "He may have been foalnapped, or hurt, or worse by this unknown monster, and I think she's fallen apart, imploded. She won't talk about it at all. He could be being held hostage by it right this very moment, and she won't say a word." She slammed a hoof on the ground with a frustrated cry. "And I can't just out and force her."

Lyra nodded slowly. "That's heavy... Mmm, have you tried just following her around? Maybe she does something funny?"

"Do I look that inept?" Bon Bon tapped her friend on the forehead. "First thing I started to do, but all she does is go to work, come home, look pouty, repeat. It's really obvious she's upset about something."

"And you're trying to find out by force." Lyra smiled in a quirk. "And she just closes off more and more. Bonnie, you have to treat her like a hurt mare, for Celestia's sake. Poor thing lost her special somepony, who wouldn't be a mess? We don't even know what happened there. It might not even be related at all. I mean, he could be on some amazing vacation and she's just missing him." She set her instrument down, and it popped out of existence with the wet burst of a poked soap bubble. "After we figure this out, you need one of those."

"One of what? A vacation?!" Bon Bon leaned her head in close. "I've been basically on vacation for years. It's time we both earned our pay. On your hooves, missy, we have investigating to do."

"Aye aye." Lyra hopped up to her hooves and saluted sharply before they both trotted out of the store.

Turner strode out, looking left and right as the scent of apples tickled at his nose. The smell wasn't quite right. Sure, it smelled like apples, but they were not... right... He snorted as if to clear his sinuses, to reset the signal, but the apples still smelled strange in some way he couldn't readily identify. "How curious..."

"Ayup."

Turned turned to see one of the former Bearers standing there. One Applejack. "Oh, hello there, miss. Good day to you."

"Howdy." She tipped her hat. "Heard mah kin was havin' a mighty bit ah trouble and ah came runnin' ta lend a hoof. You don't... Hey, I've seen you before. Turner was it?"

Turner smiled sheepishly. "Sure is. Applejack, of the Apples, correct?"

She thrusted forward a hoof with a big smile. "Sure as rain. Nice to meetcha proper-like. What brings ya all the way out here? Did they make you come all the way from Ponyville fer this?"

He met the hoof with a less violent motion, but the moment his hoof touched hers, she shook the two up and down vigorously.

"Mighty kind of ya to go out of yer way like that. See anything that could be doin' it?"

Turner fell back, his leg aching a little from the energetic hoofshake. "Oh! Not yet, miss. I've just gotten here. Do you know what that strange scent is?"

Applejack sniffed at the air in a mighty snort of air. "Sick apples." She sniffed again. "Trees smell fine, fruit's gone bad. This is already a Grade A disaster. They're gonna lose a huge portion of tha harvest, but we haveta stop it from spreadin'."

Turner smiled brightly. A clue. "Do you know where the sickness seems to end? There may be a clue where the healthy apples end and the sick ones begin."

"Good thinkin', pardner. Let's go." She turned in place and began a purposeful trot through the trees. "Now, I expect someone like yerself don't see much but lots of apples, but there's more to it than just that. Each tree is its own story, and that's a story we learn, to farm right."

Turner nodded as he followed along, not paying too much attention to the wistful thoughts of a farmer on the art of farming. His eyes were skywards, looking at the apples as they went. The further they proceeded, the less shriveled they seemed to become, until they finally reached full-bodied apples. He could still smell that odd scent, but it clearly came from the direction of the sickly apples. "Pardon me..." He deviated away from her and started tracing along the path where the apples began to decline, muttering to himself as he went, "at this rate of decay..."

Applejack came right up alongside him. "Got a clue?" But he put up a silencing hoof. "Right..." She went quiet, but kept following him. Her own eyes wandered the trees, but her thoughts she kept to herself.

"With the diameter of the unaffected area..." Turner made a quick scribble in a notebook with a pen he held in his mouth. "Is this the only unaffected area?" Applejack quickly nodded. "I see..." He continued following the dividing line, and began to frown. "It's not a circle, I see..." That made sense, to him. His serious expression began to lift. "I think I know where to start looking."

Applejack swatted him on the shoulder. "They picked a good pony fer the job. Jus' point the way and we'll get this taken care of!"

Author's Notes:

The plot continues! Lyra is, as you can see, an official member of S.M.I.L.E. in this. Should I add her to the tags?

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4 - Briefing

The sun shone warmly across their backs. There was a small crowd of brightly-colored ponies moving with smiles away from the train station. One among them caught Lyra's attention. "Hey," she said in eager greeting. "How's it going, Applejack?"

Applejack pricked her ears. "Oh, jes' getting back from a bit of a crisis down in Appleloosa, everything alright up here?"

Bon Bon considered a moment. The 'Mane Six' were technically a sister branch of S.M.I.L.E., but that did not mean that information was to flow freely between them. "Everypony's doing alright."

"Good ta hear." Applejack nodded firmly, not noticing her duplicitous tone. "You two wouldn't believe what can hurt an apple orchard."

Lyra leaned forward a little. "Something was hurting the Appleloosa apples? That must have been terrible! Is it fixed?"

"With a little help." She nodded firmly. She lowered her cap and began to recount her tale without being asked.

She had stalked through the rows of sad apple trees, the few fallen leaves crunching under her sure hooves. "Where are you headed, anyway?"

Turner turned an ear towards her. "I have a theory... There is a curve to this, but it's going..." his words trailed off as his eyes went skywards, to the apples. "Ah ha..." He took a left, speaking something too quiet to hear in a constant stream of thought.

His steps took him directly into a tree, bumping into it with a surprised snort. One of the apples fell from the shake, a reminder that he was an earth pony. It struck him on the head just as he looked up towards it, splattering across his brow and eyes.

Applejack hurried forward to help wipe the mess free of him, but he wasn't panicking. He was laughing, bits of apple dripping free of him.

He turned to Applejack so quickly, the bits of apple flew out in an uneven arc, splattering along the ground. "Tell me, have the farmers tried solving this on their own?"

Applejack cocked a brow at him, brushing off a few bits of apple that had struck her. "Ah course they did."

"Did they try an insecticide?" His eyes shined with some idea, or so Applejack was certain of.

"Reckon they did... why?" She reached out and flicked off some of the gunk from his front since he seemed to be oblivious to it. "What'ya think happened? They started getting sick before that."

"Imagine that's true, yes yes." He turned in place quickly, sending the last bits of mess free of himself. "They aren't the problem, you see, but they are exacerbating it, encouraging it! What you have is an acute case of Lunar Moths."

"Lun-what now?" Applejack craned her head up to look at the leaves. She had expected them to be yellow or wilted, suspecting some sort of root infection, but they were big and green and healthy, despite the shriveled nature of the apples. "Ain't nopony saw no strange moths around. Ah'd hear about that."

"I should think not," easily agreed Turner as he ran a hoof along the bark of the tree. "Now, I'm no expert, but I am certain this is the cause. Get a lunar moth expert in here and the problem will go away in no time at all."

"And that was that," finished Applejack. "I'm actually on the way to pick up Fluttershy. Ain't a pony around ah'd trust more than her to sort this out. I bet she knows all about these lunar whatsits."

Bon Bon frowned softly. "Well, you found him."

"Found who?" Applejack's eyes followed Filthy Rich wandering past and paused long enough to exchange a wave.

Bon Bon glanced at Lyra, who returned with a nod. "Well, thanks for the story, Applejack."

Lyra flashed a bright smile. "Glad things are clearing up!"

"They ain't just yet, but soon." She resumed her walk, heading towards Fluttershy's. "We'll save the orchard!" Focused on her task, Applejack paid the two no further mind.

Lyra slid closed to Bon Bon. "Well, that's half the mystery, right?"

Bon Bon turned away though. "We should report in. Following him out of town is not in our scope of operations."

"Scope of operations?" Lyra glanced around, eyeing the few ponies that dared to come close. Her voice lowered, "What scope of operations?"

Bon Bon bumped against her, then trotted down the street. Though unsaid, Lyra got the hint and followed her. They smiled amiably at their friends as they passed them by.

Mrs. Cake waved at Bon Bon eagerly. "There you are! I was hoping to get some of your lovely candies to decorate a birthday cake I have coming up and--"

Bon Bon forced a big smile. "--I'd love to help! Write it down and slip it under my door if I'm not there. Sorry, but you caught me in a little hurry, but I'll get right on it, promise."

"I know how it goes." Mrs. Cake let out a sympathetic sigh. "Speaking of that, hello Lyra, and I should be off myself. I'll have the order written out and sent your way as soon as possible, thank you."

The three parted with friendly waves. Lyra caught up to Bon Bon and nudged her. "Always nice getting a big order, huh?"

"Yeah... I'm a little distracted though." Reaching her shop, she kicked open the door and led the way inside. "Speaking of that, I'm going to have to leave you here, if they do authorize me to go."

Lyra's brows went up in unison as she closed the door behind them both. "And why don't I go to Appleloosa and say hi to Turner?"

Bon Bon circled around to the back of the poorly-lit counter, smiling at Lyra in a cocky, knowing manner. "Because somepony just finished telling me about how bad I am at dealing with Miss Hooves, so you'll be handling that while I'm gone, of course."

Lyra's horn glowed as she lit a few candles around the room, dispelling the gloom and allowing the light to reflect off the glass cases of the candies in their jars. "I can do that, and I will, Bonnie. Don't jump on him though."

Bon Bon screwed her face up in disgust. "Lyra! Really..."

Lyra blinked emptily a moment before it clicked. "Oh! Sheesh, Bonnie, not that way. I mean, don't scare him. You already scared the Derpster."

Bon Bon waved the advice away. "I know how to handle a suspect." Lyra opened her mouth to speak but Bon Bon held up a hoof, forestalling it. "Let's report in."

Lyra strode down the stairs. "Aye aye, Miss bossy lady." She giggled when Bon Bon looked irate. "Let's report in."

In the crowded basement, Lyra's horn lit the way, casting wavering light across the supplies and tools that hadn't seen frequent use. "Good thing one of us is a unicorn," sang Lyra before her light began to focus on the far wall. "Agent Heartstrings, reporting in."

"Ah, and Agent Sweetie Drops." The image focused on a stallion, peering at them both with a serious expression. "I had hoped to contact you, in fact. Status report?"

Bon Bon stepped ahead of Lyra. "We've located the missing coltfriend of the first witness. I am requesting permission to pursue to Appleloosa."

The large image of the stallion leaned forward, looming over them. "Do you think he is linked to this?"

Lyra waved a hoof flippantly. "How can he not be? Derpy probably told him all about it, at least. If we can't get her to talk, maybe he has some juicy details."

"You have a point. Permission granted, however, there are new developments." He stepped to the side, no longer occupying the sensor view of the S.M.I.L.E. HQ, many panels blinking with lights.

Taking his place came a mare. "Good afternoon. We've had a second sighting, in Fillydelphia. Based on currently gathered intel." She flipped through a batch of papers with her horn. "It is very unlikely this is the same entity as the first."

Bon Bon scowled. "There's more than one?! Are we being invaded?"

Lyra pointed up at the new mare. "Did the new one do anything?"

"Negative." She ducked out of the shot and the first stallion appeared.

"Whatever it is, it's good at hiding, but we have agents on the ground in pursuit already. We expect results soon." One of his brows cocked. "Can I say the same for you two?"

Bon Bon stiffened as she gave a sharp salute. "We are on the case, Agent Furlong. I'll leave immediately to interview the second witness. Agent Heartstrings will be continuing interrogation of--"

"--Don't call it that!" interjected Lyra with a huff. "I'll talk to Derpy, nicely, and get her to open up."

Furlong's eyes darted between the two of them. "I'll be awaiting further reports. Agent Furlong, out."

Bon Bon thrust up a hoof. "Wait!"

"Hmm?"

Bon Bon forced a smile. "I'll need a few... tools for this assignment."

Furlong leaned in, towering over them. Bon Bon kicked Lyra's hoof and the image shrank back to a more reasonable size. "What manner of tool do you require, Agent?"

Bon Bon rolled a hoof. "I'm told there's a lunar moth infestation..."

"Say no more. A discrete drop will be made in Appleloosa for you to pick up." His face vanished, the arcane bubble popping.

Lyra turned to her friend. "What's so special about lunar moths that they have a tool just for them?"

Bon Bon rolled a hoof. "They're monsters. It's what we do. They are usually harmless... unless they roost in your orchard or farm, then you and everypony around you is doomed to starve." She turned back towards the stairs. "They don't mean any harm, but that doesn't stop them from utterly destroying the towns they land in. I'll take care of it while I'm there, subtly." She looked over her shoulder. "I'll let Fluttershy and Time Turner take the credit, better to avoid any panic among the populace."

"Aw, that's nice of you." Lyra followed with a bright smile, her glow dancing across the otherwise-dark basement with her energetic steps. "Pity they'll never know who did them a favor."

"Price we pay, being secret agents." She ascended the stairs. "I'll be gone for a while, as you know. Take care of the store, and fill Miss Cake's order."

Lyra's face fell. "I don't like making candies!"

"And you'll do it anyway." Bon Bon turned at the top of the stairs. "We're partners, that means we cover each other."

Lyra's pout erupted into a joyful expression as she hopped up onto the last step. "Yeah... partners. You can trust me!" She saluted with a fit of giggles. "So, when can I ask you to cover me at a performance."

"When you're ready to accept the consequences of that decision." Bon Bon kissed Lyra's cheek before spinning in place, trotting for the door. "I'll see you soon. Here's to both of our success."

"As partners," added Lyra. They shared a smile, and Bon Bon slipped out, set in her duties.

Derpy flew purposefully, her shadow traveling over Ponyville. The warm sun cast a pleasant blanket over her back as she cast her eyes out across the town in a searching sweep. There it was. She dipped in lower, almost hitting a house on the way, but almost didn't count.

"Hiya Muffins!" called out a little voice. The CMC were waving at her.

She returned the wave with a big smile, only to squeak as she turned her head back around just in time to swerve out of the way of a sign that had clearly leapt into her way in the height of rudeness. She spied her target and came in, zooming just above the ground. "I brought you a letter!" she cried as she pulled an envelope free from her saddlebag and held it out in front of her like a shield.

Sure it was addressed to the mare that had spooked her lately, but she was a mailmare.

She delivered the letter to Bon Bon with a smile before veering off to continue her rounds.

Author's Notes:

The plot, it thickens? Who is this second human?!

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5 - Wrong Address

Derpy squirmed in her chair, withered under the even stare of her manager.

"Miss Hooves," she said, crossing her arms. "You understand how unacceptable this is, don't you?"

Derpy sat up tall. "Yes ma'am! I'll fix it, ma'am."

The mare gave a little smile as she reached with a wing to pull a letter off the desk between them. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"I'll get it to them." She practically dove for the letter, snatching it between her hooves. "And I'll make sure it actually is Bon Bon this time." Her motion never stopped, carrying her in a sharp turn and right out the door, clipping a wing along the way.

The mare put a hoof to her face. "We could have waited until she came back..."

Fluttershy tapped at the trees gently under the morning sky. "Oh, my, it really is a bad case."

Applejack nodded firmly. "Turner said you could clear it up though, right?"

"Sure hope so," agreed Braeburn that happened to be nearby, looking up into the trees at the withered apples with dejection.

Fluttershy lifted from the ground up into the perfectly lively canopy. "Lunar moths have no interest in leaves, bark, or roots, so the trees are perfectly fine. They'll grow more fruits, but the moths will gobble them right up."

Applejack crossed an arm across her face, blocking out the glare of the rising run. "Alright, so how do we make 'em go away?"

Fluttershy landed on a branch lightly. The motion and the gentle shaking it resulted in was enough to disturb a limp apple, making a wet splat just beside Braeburn. "That gets more complicated... They are practically invisible, you see, or don't, I... guess." She looked uncomfortable, squirming a little. "I'll do my best, but you have to stop trying to spray them. It only scares them."

Applejack frowned. "Good, maybe we can scare 'em away." Her eyes gave a mighty roll as she turned away. "Right right. This is in your hooves, Flutter. You took care of the last major infection. Ah'll have faith in you."

Braeburn suddenly whistled. "Shoot, you two must really be good friends. Applejack ain't the kind of pony to back down so fast when it comes to apples."

While Applejack was turning red, Fluttershy shook her head. "We've been through this once before, and she knows I won't quit until we solve this. She isn't giving up on the apples."

Applejack turned to Braeburn. "What she said. If she can't do it her way, we'll do it our way. One way or the other, we're gettin' these moths out of here." She waved up at Fluttershy. "Let's leave her be. She works best without the rest of us stompin' around. Call us with any news, a'ight?"

With a soft nod, Fluttershy vanished into the leaves, perhaps hunting the elusive moths. Braeburn watched her vanish before he shook his head slowly, tipping his hat down. "Well, hope this works. The town's dependin' on it."

He strode past Applejack, but she quickly started trotting to match his pace. "If she doesn't, 'least we know what we're up against."

Brae's eyes wandered over the injured orchard as they went. The trees were so healthy looking, and the apples... "The Doctor gave us that much at least. We really oughta thank him."

Applejack quirked an ear. "Emergency's not over just yet, not that it's any of my business. Ah'm just here to help, family to family."

Brae threw a leg over Applejack's withers, pulling her closer. "And we rightly appreciate that, cous'. Always good to know we can count on kin to come through in hard times." He released her and sped up a little as they approached the town proper. There were more ponies than normal out in the street, and many of them were looking towards the two of them as they came.

"Any news?" asked a mare with a hopeful smile.

Applejack tipped her hat to the side slightly. "Fluttershy's on the case. She done confirmed it's a case of lunar moths. I let her try to get rid of the varmints."

"And they're gone?" continued the mare with a broadening smile.

Braeburn suddenly laughed. "Woo, love to say that, but not yet it ain't. She just barely started on it."

A stallion took a step forward, the spurs on his boots jingling with the motion. "Can she do it?"

Applejack reared up onto her hind legs and gestured downwards with her forehooves. "Relax, everypony. Fluttershy's the best in the business. She'll take care of this, we just have to let her work."

Ripples of discontent ran through the crowd, but grudging acceptance was had, for the time.

Turner twisted his fingers a few precious inches to the right, adjusting the spring so slightly. The clock suddenly gave a joyful ringing and he let out his breath. "Fixed." He set it aside on a counter even as he fell back to four legs. "How do normal earth ponies do it?" Though he asked it, he also knew the answer. He had done work as a pony before. It was possible, but more difficult.

He shook out his regained pelt and threw his head before trotting up towards the front. There he saw a familiar mare. "Guilty," he squeaked. "I mean, hello. How can I help you today, miss?"

Guilty lifted an ear at him."I hear yer the one that figure out what was wrong with the orchard." She pushed off the cabinet she had been leaning against, her eyes on him quite focusedly. "And ya ran off before I could finish showin' you a good time."

Turner felt his cheeks warming. "M-Ma'am, I..."

"Don't be shy." She approached him at a slow pace, letting his eyes feast on the movement of her form. "Big heroes deserve big rewards, and I was just gettin' you good at dancing. Maybe we should try... another kind of dance, hmm?"

Turner averted his gaze, suddenly finding a corner of a bookcase to be fascinating. "That's very kind of you, miss, but... you see..." He stepped from hoof to hoof in increasing agitation. "There's already a mare in my life."

Guilty stopped dead in her tracks. "What? Really?"

Turner's eyes fell to her. "Y-yes?"

Guilty took off her hat and threw it to the ground. "Shoot!" She looked quite flustered, face red and hooves looking like they wanted to trample on her hat.

Turner sank to his haunches. "Um, miss?"

"Ain't nothin', sorry." She reached for her hat and kicked it back up onto her head. "Ya just didn't strike me as a stallion that'd have a mare already." Turner winced at the idle measurement of his ability, but she wasn't looking at him at that moment. "Lucky girl, whoever she is. Why ain't I ever see you with anyone since you got here?"

Turner took a slow breath before letting it out. "Um, Miss Pleasure?" He warmed just saying her name. What a name! "Were you..."

She turned away from him, facing the window at the front of his store. "Somethin' wrong with a mare puttin' a move on an available stallion? Didn't reckon you were taken. Ain't many stallions go to a dance alone if they are."

Turner could feel more of his tension ebbing. It had been a harmless mistake. "Think nothing of it, ma'am. A completely harmless mistake." Straightening his bowtie, he cleared his throat. "Besides, they haven't fixed the problem. Or have they?"

Guilty shook her head. "I haven't heard any news on that. That was right clever of you, figurin' it out." She turned back to Turner, smiling at him. "Are you an expert on trees?"

"Actually, not so much," he confessed, rubbing at one foreleg with the other. "My expertises is machinery." He raised a hoof to direct at his shelves of various mechanisms. "I love working with clockwork and other devices. It's a thing of art..." He sighed dreamily. "The way it all works, with or without magic. It's like the world is dancing, and I'm just encouraging it along."

Guilty slowly blinked at that. "That's right artistic for thinkin' about a clock." She gave a single nod. "Well, you see your misses, tell her I said she better take care of you."

Turner nodded as she departed. When the door's bell jingled, he sank against the counter. He didn't have a mare, not... properly. He reached under the counter and pulled out one of his framed pictures of Derpy and himself. She was giving him a big hug. He smiled at it, thinking of the time they had taken it at a fair. He was holding some cotton candy that he was trying very hard to not spill in her enthusiasm.

She was always enthusiastic. It was one of his favorite parts about her. He smiled at the picture quietly before he noticed a drop of water had spilled on it. He looked up to the ceiling, but saw nothing leaking, and it hadn't rained. Where had... oh... He wiped a hoof gently across his face, brushing away the tears.

Oh.

Bon Bon looked out the window of the traincar she rode. There were about five other ponies sharing the car with her. Two of them looked related, perhaps a father and daughter. The other three were scattered about. All five were dressed like they belonged in Appleloosa. Returning from a trip, is what Bon Bon decided silently.

The scenery provided little distraction, but she could pony watch with the faint reflection off the window, allowing her to peep without facing them.

"Visiting family?" asked a mare.

Bon Bon jumped in surprise, coming down facing the little filly. She glanced up at where her father had been. He was studying a newspaper. "Hello there, little filly."

"Hi." She waved a little hoof at Bon Bon enthusiastically. "You looked bored. So was I, so I came over."

Bon Bon smiled a little at the foal's energy. "Is that so? Want to play a game?"

"Yes!" She hopped up and down in place. "What game?"

"How about a classic called 'I Spy'." She pointed out the window. "I spy with my little eye something... green."

The filly frowned as she peered out the same window, her large eyes darting about wildly. "A cactus?"

Bon Bon clapped her hooves in a firm clop. "Correct, your turn."

"I get it! Mmmm, I spy.... something... big!"

Bon Bon frowned at that. There were many potentially large objects to choose from. "Is it the mountain?" She pointed at the far-off range.

"Nuh uh, those are tiny." She held her little hooves close together. "Try again!"

Bon Bon gave a half-laugh. The mountains were distant and small, but she knew they were not small. "The sky?"

"That's pretty big," agreed the small filly. "You're close!"

Bon Bon pointed up at an angle. "Then it's that big cloud right there."

The filly clapped her hooves in eager excitement. "Got it!"

They idled the time away until the train pulled to a stop. A clear shout announced they had arrived in Appleloosa. With a joyful cry, the filly bounced to the floor. "I haveta go! Bye!" She waved before scurrying to be with her father. Bon Bon returned the wave sedately, watching the two leave before she hopped up herself and strode off the train.

Bon Bon's eyes wandered in wide sways. "Now it should be..." She veered off the path of other ponies departing the train and circled around a building. Behind it was a wood storage box. "Here we are." She eagerly strode towards it and looked it over. It was locked with a heavy-looking padlock.

She quickly pulled out a key in her mouth and lowered her face to the lock, ready to slide the key in.

"Is that yours?" came a familiar young voice.

Bon Bon jumped in surprise and, with a great gulp, the key was lost. She turned slowly towards the filly, left eye-lid twitching softly.

Author's Notes:

That's one way to keep a key safe.

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6 - Operational Corrections

Derpy soared. Flying high was a pleasure she only rarely was allowed to have. As a mailmare, it was her duty to be close to the ground, delivering things to ponies directly. Her quarry was much further than normal, so she'd have nothing to swoop down on for a while. It meant she could rise up above things she might crash into and just go forward.

Beneath her, the rail tracks showed the way she had come, and the way she was going, like a great big line to keep her going straight. It was kind of handy to have, knowing exactly when she was going too far left or right. She kept the track beneath her, and faced forward. It was almost relaxing, letting the wind carry her along after her target.

She would fix her mistake.

Lyra sank back against a wall of their kitchen. With a weary sigh, she looked to a hanging recipe just to the left of the cluttered stovetop. "Aw wow..." She hadn't gotten a chance to chat with Derpy, who had vanished, and instead... "Alright, keep it calm." She clopped her hooves against her cheeks before standing back up, her horn glowing.

"Just follow the recipe," she said to herself in a little grumble, grabbing a fresh pot and putting it on the stove. "Medium heat..." She suddenly yanked the pot free. "After! You put in the water, dummy." She fixed her mistake with a little self-deprecating laugh. "Alright, now stir in..." She brought over some ingredients, held in her magic and began sprinkling and adding them to the pot.

"Piece of cake," she said with a little smile. She paused a moment. "Wait, no. If I end up with a piece of cake, I did it wrong." She snorted at her own joke and stirred the beginnings of her creation. "Can't let Mrs. Cake or Bonnie down. Oh, right, she'll have the piece of cake. I'm catching up with myself."

A sudden loud ringing made her jump and squeal. An egg timer was bouncing left and right, excitedly trying to get her attention. She grabbed it in her magic and forced it to be quiet with a twist before wrenching open the oven. "Time for you guys to come out of there..." She pulled the tray free even as she kept stirring what was in the pot. "How does Bon Bon manage?" She shook her head, sweat running down her brow. She shuddered thinking of managing without her magic, but knew Bon Bon not only 'managed', but made her efforts look like the unskilled efforts they were.

The filly tilted her entire body left and right as if trying to peek around Bon Bon. "Is it stuck? You look stressed. Mom said that can make your mane go grey early, so you really should relax." She took a dramatically deep breath and held it.

Bon Bon sagged with a gust of air.

The filly followed suit. "Yeah! You already know how to relax, good. You just--"

Bon Bon thrust a hoof forward, just short of the filly's little snout. "Thank you!" she blurted out, cutting off the filly. "Thanks... Where is your father?"

She turned in place. "About three towns that way." She pointed off in the vague direction that the tracks had come from.

Bon Bon blinked and crashed to her haunches. "I thought... Who was that stallion you were with before?"

"Just a nice person I met on the train, like you." She bounced in place. "If that makes him my dad, then you're my mom. Hi, Mom!"

Bon Bon raised a hoof to her throbbing head. "Why are you alone?"

"I'm not alone, you're here. Want some help with that?" She pointed at the still closed and locked box. "Let me try!"

Bon Bon raised her forehooves and crossed them into an X. "No, no, you've helped enough... What is your name?"

"I'm... Wait, you go first." Her lids came down in a sly look. "I shouldn't give my name to a stranger."

"But I'm your mother, not a stranger," countered Bon Bon, almost matching the expression.

The two mares, big and small, met one another's looks for a quiet moment before the filly nodded. "Alright, then we'll say it together.

"Agreed."

Their hooves met with a little clop.

"Bon Bon."

"Spring Rain."

Bon Bon nodded. "Nice to meet you, now... why are you here if... Oh, does your mother live here?"

Spring pointed at Bon Bon. "Do you?"

Bon Bon huffed. "Your real mother!"

"Oh... her." Spring Rain turned away. "I don't need her. You're a better mom, Mom. See you later!" Spring suddenly dashed away, scurrying around the corner of the building and out of sight.

Bon Bon shook her head slowly, mentally adding that to her list of things needing fixing. "One thing at a time. One thing..." She turned towards the locked box. "Great..." There was only one solution that came to her mind right away, and it involved waiting.

"On to the next task," she said, trying to lift her spirits with an energetic tone of voice. "Time Turner should be around here..." She turned in the same direction the filly had gone and trotted that way, her eyes roaming over the homey wooden houses that comprised Appleloosa.

She saw a mare with a country-looking hat trotting past and raised a hoof to wave her down. "Excuse me."

The mare stopped and looked at Bon Bon with a curious expression. "Well howdy there. Ya don't look local t'these parts. How can I help?"

Bon Bon felt some tension ease with the expression of what seemed to be genuine warmth. "Thank you, it's been a crazy day. I don't suppose you know where Time Turner might be?"

The mare seemed surprised at the question, but that slipped into an almost shrewd expression. "You a friend of his?"

"You could say that." Bon Bon nodded in easy agreement. She'd spoken to Time Turner a few times, and they knew each other.

"I see." Guilty Pleasure grinned. She had found his marefriend. "Come with me. I know where he's at."

"Thank Celestia," breathed out Bon Bon, falling into line with the mare. "I'm Bon Bon, by the way."

"Guilty," replied Guilty as she turned away from Time Turner's shop and began trotting. "It'll be a pleasure showing the way. We'll get you two reunited in no time at all."

Bon Bon followed with a growing smile. Perhaps that day wouldn't be a complete wash.

A knocking made Lyra flinch before she set down the bowl she was mixing and poked her head out of the kitchen. "Who's there?!"

"It's me," came Mrs. Cake's muffled voice. "Just checking in."

Lyra glanced back at her progress. "Um, it's... maybe half done?" she shouted to the closed door.

"I'm sorry to be a pain," replied Mrs. Cake, still shouting. "If I could have what you've finished, it would be a lifesaver."

Lyra sagged to the side against the wall. Everything was an utter mess, as if a bomb had gone off. She planned to clean it up, afterwards, but that hadn't happened yet. "It's, uh..."

"I can't hear you!" shouted Mrs. Cake. "Can I come in?"

Lyra gave a single strained laugh. "It can't get any worse..." She reached with her magic and opened the door. "Come on in..."

Mrs. Cake blinked as she stepped into the darkened front room. She could see Lyra peeking at her from the lit kitchen and nodded towards her. "Where's Bon Bon? Isn't she doing the cooking?" She closed the door behind herself, sealing her into the gloom.

"Oh, well... some business called her away," replied Lyra in technical truth. "I volunteered to take care of things."

"Lyra, we both know you're not a chef." She didn't sound angry. She looked concerned as she approached. "You look terrible. Poor thing. Thank you for trying so hard for me."

Lyra felt blood rushing to her cheeks. "It's no big deal! Look!" She grabbed a tray in her magic and brought it over for Mrs. Cake to see just as the older mare entered the kitchen proper. The tray had sour candies, but they were not perfectly round. Each one was misshapen in a unique way. Each was its own special lump of sugar.

Mrs. Cake considered the collection with a thoughtful mmm of a sound. "May I try one?"

"Of course," stated Lyra with a generous helping of false bravado. "You'll love it." Or so she hoped silently.

Mrs. Cake took up one of the smaller candies and popped it into her snout. "Ooo, extra sour, but not bad..." She suckled audibly. "Mmm, and sweet where it should be. You can follow a recipe, Lyra, but I can see this is out of your element."

"No! No," insisted Lyra, turning to her mess of a kitchen. "I have it all under control."

Mrs. Cake put a hoof out in front of Lyra. "We have this under control. Come on, let's finish this."

Lyra blinked. "But... you're the one buying them."

Mrs. Cake came around to be directly in front of Lyra. "Bon Bon must have had serious business to call her away in the middle of an order. We've looked after each other before. She would come running if I needed it, and I don't plan to be any less reliable." Her smile softened. "Besides, I really do need these candies, so I'm helping myself too."

Lyra pointed past her sudden helper. "The recipes are hanging just next to the stove, but no memorizing! Bon Bon'd kill me if I let her secrets out."

Mrs. Cake walked with three legs, one hoof busily performing the sacred Pinkie Promise. "I will never use or share these recipes outside of today, barring her permission, of course. Now, let's begin."

Lyra felt her fatigue lessening. It was good to have true friends around town. "Let's make some sweet candy!"

Fluttershy peered into the jar she had on the ground between her forehooves. She was seated on her haunches, and the sky above was growing dark. Inside the jar, the faintest light could be seen, mostly from where it reflected off the glass of the jar. "Hello," she said quietly, but it did not reply. "We were hoping... You and your friends could, if it isn't too much trouble, find somewhere else to nest?"

There was no reply. She couldn't even see what she was speaking to, just the faint reflection of the light it was making. Fluttershy sighed and sagged. She didn't want the ponies trying to attack the lunar moths, if they even could. They'd probably hurt the trees before they hurt the moths, and that wasn't any better, really.

"Surely there's a better place?" She considered a special place for them, but knew that wouldn't work. Lunar moths didn't keep regular territories. They just ate whatever they saw first, and Appleloosa was in the middle of a desert, meaning there was very little to distract them from the apple orchard.

"How did you get here in the first place?" Fluttershy wondered out loud, imagining scenarios that would have introduced them to the isolated town. Maybe they had been carried by some pony who hadn't even realized what was going on. Maybe on the train?

Fluttershy sighed and tipped the jar over, releasing the unseen moth from within. It grew dark.

"I won't give up." She stomped down a hoof before slowly circling in place, taking in the whole of the orchard. "I can't give up." She slowly sank back to her haunches. "But... what do I do?" She hadn't dealt with lunar moths before. She had to get clever.

"That's it!" She bounced up to her hooves and her wings bore her free of gravity's pull. "It's time to approach this logically, and that starts in a book." Did Appleloosa have a library? She was about to find out. With a determined expression, she darted off towards the town she hoped to save.

Hopefully, some of Twilight's skill in research had rubbed off on her. It worked at least once before.

Author's Notes:

Threads are starting to come together. Things are solved, and things get harder. There better not be any typos in those textbooks...

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7 - Welcome to my Parlor

Guilty waved at her home. "He should be inside." She trotted for the door and knocked. Though no sound came, she pretended she heard something. "He said come in." She threw open the door and waved into the darker interior. "Guests first, I reckon."

Bon Bon smiled at her new helpful friend. "Thank you. You've made my day a little easier. Now..." Her words trailed off as she trotted into the building, eyes sweeping over what she could find.

She saw some pictures hanging on the wall, but they were of Guilty Pleasure, always with someone, and never the same someone. The air had a soft scent. She decided it was a place a female lived, not a bachelor, which Time Turner was. That wasn't to say Time Turner wasn't neat, he typically was, as stallions went, but there was a difference.

Besides, she didn't see a single gizmo in sight, which was quite odd for Time Turner. "Are--" She turned back to find the door had be closed quietly, and Guilty stood between her and the exit.

"I just need you to take a little nap," assured Guilty. "As a favor." A muted glow peeked out from the threads of her hat.

Magic! Bon Bon coiled on herself, grabbing a rubber ball from her pocket in her mouth and whipping it towards the spell-casting mare. The ball sailed true and bopped Guilty on the noggin, knocking her hat clear. She had a horn, previously concealed by her large hat.

Even as she relished the tiny victory, things went dim. The sleep magic was overpowering her.

"Just relax... I won't harm a hair on your head, promise." Guilty stepped slowly towards the staggering female, silently impressed that she hadn't already fallen over. "I'm not a bad pony." She raised a hoof towards Bon Bon's wobbling cheek, steadying the increasingly groggy mare. "I like your mane."

"T-thank." Bon Bon was not thinking clearly. She jerked away, trying to free herself. The motion only sent her tumbling to the ground. She closed her eyes for just one moment. One moment was all she needed to regather herself.

Guilty pat the sleeping earth pony on the head as a green flash and fire swept over her. "I'll borrow it," she said with Bon Bon's voice. "Thank you for lending it to me." Then appearing entirely as Bon Bon, Guilty hefted the real Bon Bon, nudging her onto their back and trotting off to a closet that locked from the outside.

Depositing her 'guest', Guilty strode from the house with a knowing grin. She had a stallion to visit.

Mrs. Cake sighed as she deposited the tray's worth of candy into a waiting pouch. "I'd love to stay and celebrate our victory, Lyra, but I'm still behind on my own order. I'll be back later with payment, so tell Bon Bon I said 'hello'."

Lyra gave a sharp, if tired, salute. "Will do, ma'am."

Cup Cake waved away the formality. "We've cooked side-by-side; you can call me Cup Cake, or even just Cup if you're feeling up for it. Sisters in the battle for culinary arts." She bumped against Lyra with a smile and trotted for the door. "The war never ends!"

Lyra burst into laughter at the older mare's antics. "You're too much. Never change." She hopped up to her hooves and hurried to get in front of Cup Cake, opening the door for her swiftly. "I learned a lot, so, you know, thanks. I hope we get a chance to do it again when we aren't in a huge rush."

"That'd be nice." She leaned in a little. "I don't want to make Bon Bon too jealous though, so be sure to try a little at her side before we do that.

With a quizzical look, Lyra thrust a hoof out. "Wait, if you're Cup Cake, is Mister Cake something too?"

"Carrot Cake," easily replied Cup as she moved past the hoof, unable to stop her progress. "Take care."

Lyra closed the door gently and sat back. "Mission accomplished." Well, it wasn't her official super secret business, but at least the sweet business of candy-making was resolved. With a firm nod, she returned to the kitchen. Her mission wasn't quite done. "Time to clean." She grabbed a rag in her magic. "Bonnie'll be so proud of me."

Time Turner looked up as the bell jingled just above his door. "Hello and--" He slammed back into the shelf behind him, eyes wide with surprise. It was Bon Bon! She had found him! He was going to be grabbed and taken off to some secret lab and never be seen again and that was that! His heart thumped so loudly he couldn't hear anything else.

Guilty tilted her head slightly. She wasn't feeling a drop of love coming from Time Turner. He certainly did look surprised to see her, so she guessed he did know her, or what she was disguised as. "Time Turner, honey, so good to see you. You look so surprised to see me."

Time Turner blinked. He had scarcely heard what she said, but she wasn't rushing at him, nor did she look hostile. In fact, she was smiling like she was looking at her best friend. He stopped trying to press through the wall with his back and fell forward to all fours. "O-oh, um... hello, Ms. Bon Bon. How... can I help today?"

A sudden crash made them both jump. The shelf he had been grinding against for that hot moment had come loose from its fitting and slammed to the floor with its various gizmos sent flying every which way in a clutter of a mess.

She shook her head as she approached. "Look at that, you're going all to pieces at the sight of me. I don't bite, unless you ask nicely." She flashed a bright smile at Turner. "Now, what has you so worked up?"

"O-oh, well, you see..." He turned towards the mess and crouched down, grabbing the shelf in his teeth. He set it on its mount carefully. He moved it left and right, unsatisfied with its centering.

Guilty saw her chance. She moved in beside Turner and leaned in, getting a grip on the shelf right beside him. "Right here," she said as she nudged the shelf center.

"T-thanks." Turner righted himself to a full stand. "Good to see you... really... Sorry for being jumpy. Lunar moths have me on edge." He was worried about them, but that was not the source of his current tension. "What brings you all the way out here?"

"Maybe I just wanted to visit a fine stallion?" she teased with a smile. She kicked up a clock and bounced it up onto the shelf easily. "That isn't a crime, I hope?"

Turner started to look confused. "N-no... I suppose... not? Um... Miss Bon? Have... I mean..." He sat and clopped his forehooves nervously. "I mean... You... Aren't you with Lyra?"

The false Bon Bon tensed. She had assumed the form of a known lesbian?! Maybe there was a way to salvage the effort... "Just because I have a preference doesn't mean a handsome enough stallion, and one so clever can't turn my head..." She picked up a collection of springs and gears that she had no idea what the purpose of was. "Like this. I couldn't even imagine what it does, but I imagine you do."

"Yes, certainly." He leaned forward to grab it in his mouth, but he never reached it.

She got right in the way, and their lips met. She felt the littlest something. It wasn't love, not the good stuff. She had just got some involuntary lust, a natural reaction. Even as he recoiled in shock, she knew she had hit a dead end. He was not interested in Bon Bon. "I'm sorry. I just wanted... to try. I guess it was silly afterall." She set the gizmo down on the counter. "It wasn't the same as with Lyra."

He sagged with relief, clearly glad that the 'experiment' was over. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you what you wanted, Bon Bon. Um... You and Lyra are... alright, I hope? No fights?"

Guilty waved the thought away as she stood and turned for the door, leaving quite a mess still on the ground. "Oh, she's fine. It was just a silly thought that came into my head, you know, out here, so far away from our friends. Just a little experiment." She leaned towards Turner. "Let's never speak of this again; our little secret." She put a hoof on his chest, then her own.

"Our little secret," replied Turner numbly. The stressful time had triggered him. He could feel the human inside him wanting to be let out and he squirmed. "Well... you have a good day then, Bon Bon." She hadn't come to grab him! She didn't even seem to know there was anything off about him! Had he gotten it-- He really needed some privacy.

Fortunately, Guilty was trotting for the door and soon left the store with a parting jingle of the door's bell.

He fell to his haunches, only to jump up just as quickly. He had sat down right on the edge of a bolt. He kicked it away, watching it bounce off the floorboard and scuttle away with the force. He wanted to clean up, but he also had to get away. He rushed for the door and slammed the lock in place. With a frantic scrambling, he made it into the back just as he rose onto bare feet.

He fell back against a wall, panting. Even as he reached for his lab coat, he sighed. "At least cleaning will be easier." Fingers were good for that.

Bon Bon woke up in a dark place. She blinked once just to be sure she had opened her eyes, then began reaching around, tapping her hooves on walls and what she quickly determined was a door. It had a knob, but appeared locked.

Picking a lock in pitch darkness? Not ideal, but...

Then she noticed it had no keyhole at all, increasing the difficulty of what she had in mind considerably. "Mother of Celestia..."

"Mom?" came a muffled little voice. "Are you in there?"

Bon Bon perked up. "Spring, is that you?"

"Sure is!" Two hoofs tapped on the door. "I knew something was up!"

"I'm glad you did. Can you open the door?" She nosed the handle, jiggling it a bit.

"Moment..." Bon Bon could hear Spring Rain stand up, her hooves coming against the door much higher up. The knob jiggled. "It's locked!"

Bon Bon applied a hoof to her unseen face. "Great... Can you find a key?"

A strange rattling noise was the reply. "Rain?" The rattling was coming from around the doorknob. What was that filly doing? "Rain, are you alright?" If she caused a filly to be hurt, she would feel terrible. It was her job to protect innocents, not get them in trouble.

The rattling grew more intense a moment before it stopped. "Rain?"

The knob turned and the door swung outwards. Spring fell over backwards as the door came towards her. She smacked into the ground but rolled with the force and came back up to her hooves with a huge grin. "And to think my 'real' mom said 'There's no good reason to learn to pick a lock.' Ha, shows her!"

Bon Bon took an awkward step. With light, she could see the closet she had been stuffed in was cluttered with cleaning supplies and hanging clothes, but they were no match for her. Soon she was liberated. "How did you pick up that particular skill?"

"I told you I could help with that box." Spring rolled her eyes. "But you didn't believe me. Now, tell me you approve of my amazing skills."

Bon Bon heard a little tension in the request. Spring Rain really did want that, to be approved by a mother figure. Bon Bon gently smiled. "I am very grateful you came along when you did. I'm sorry for doubting you before."

"You're the best mom I have!" She pounced on Bon Bon, hugging her tightly.

Author's Notes:

Bon Bon is set free! But she is worried about her savior. What should be done with this runaway filly? Guilty's great plan came crashing down, oops. She gave poor Time Turner a near-heart attack.

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8 - Interrogation

Bon Bon frowned to herself. She had come for two tasks, but she didn't know where Time Turner was anymore than she had at the start. On the other hoof... "Rain, you said you could--"

"--Sure can!" she quickly interrupted, bouncing around Bon Bon. "In fact, I already did."

Bon Bon stopped her walking, glancing around at the other ponies that walked past them. "You didn't... open it, did you?"

Rain shook her head quickly. "Nuh uh. I wanted to show you I can be reliable." She put a little hoof to her equally small chest. "I just unlocked it for you, so you can open it."

Bon Bon's lips quirked in a smile. "You are a darling, but we should hurry." She hastened to a lively trot, Rain half-galloping to keep up with her. "Somepony else could find it while it's unlocked."

Rain's eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't think of that. At least it's out of the way."

That would have to do, or so Bon Bon hoped as she hurried.

Guilty pushed open the door to her home with a sullen sigh. "Let's get you out of there," she promised as she trotted through her dark house. With a flash of green that light up the room briefly, she returned to her Guilty Pleasures form. "Now then..." She trailed off as she turned the corner.

There was the closet she had left Bon Bon in, but it was open. Worse, a key dangled right in the lock. Guilty broke into a sudden gallop into her private room. She skidded in front of a drawer and pulled it open with a quick tug of magic. She threw various bits of interesting clothing aside, all the better for her trade. Near the bottom was a key, identical to the one in the door.

But if that was still there... "Oooo, why did I even take you?" she hissed with a deep annoyance.

Her quarry had fled. "I hope she doesn't remember why she was here..." It wasn't assured, without her there to make sure with a little extra magic. The chances weren't awful, at least.

"There goes an easy meal..."

Bon Bon skidded around the corner behind the house. There was the box, closed, unlocked? She hurried to it to find out. Placing a hoof on either end of the top, she pushed it open as if assuming it was unlocked, and it was. It opened smoothly, revealing a very large device that appeared to be made of shiny plastics and metals.

Rain came to a quick halt beside her, peering at it with intensity. "What is it?"

"It's a little something to help this town." She stepped forward and shoved her face right into it, nuzzling deeper until it was wrapped around her. As she stood up tall, it clicked into place in a symphony of clangs. It looked like a colorful sousaphone, its bell facing towards her front and a mouthpiece in easy reach.

Rain clippety-clopped her forehooves together in applaud for her adopted mother's nifty device. "That's awesome! So..." Her eyes wandered over the instrument. "You're going to play that and make everypony feel better?"

"Not quite." Bon Bon glanced sideways at her little companion. She couldn't say much, not without spilling beans that weren't hers to spill. "A wiser pony than I sent me a letter saying I should play this to make the apples start growing again."

"Ohhhh." She bounced up to all fours and pointed to the orchard through the houses in the way. "Then we better get going."

Bon Bon reached out, getting a hoof on Rain's back just before she could get out of reach. "Hold your horses, Spring Rain. This works best after the sun goes down."

Rain turned back to Bon Bon. "Oh, so we have to wait. That's the worst part." She pouted a little before pointing off into the town. "What'll we do until then?"

"Until then..." Bon Bon began to walk slowly, her hooves thumping gently against the dirt. "I want you to tell me about your parents, your real ones. Such a special little filly like you must be missed."

Rain went quiet, though she kept walking along with Bon Bon.

The older mare put a hoof down on the other end of Spring and drew her closer. "It's alright. I'm not here to judge." Out loud, she silently added. "As your mother, I really should know where you came from. You asked me to trust you, but that goes both ways."

She snorted, lips trembling with the force of the almost-nicker. "It's nothing special..." She nodded her head at a passing stallion as they emerged from the alleyway. Her little ears twitched at other sounds of an active Appleloosa day. "My dad doesn't even know I exist..."

Bon Bon stiffened, but kept walking. "I'm sorry to hear that... Do you know why that is?"

"I'd rather not talk about that." She suddenly darted ahead, but only to circle around Bon Bon, walking backwards in front of her. "You're a great mom, Mom. You'll raise me right, and maybe let me have ice cream when I'm good?" She fluttered her little lashes at Bon Bon.

Bon Bon couldn't help but smile at the filly. "You are a dear little thing, but I want to know a bit more than that." She leaned in, almost tipping over with the weight of the instrument wrapped around her. She managed a little nuzzle on Spring Rain before righting herself. "Change of topic. What do you do?" She rolled a hoof in place, pausing a moment. "For fun, to start."

"Fun..." Spring frowned a little and pulled down her hat over her eyes. "Well... I mean... that depends... Sometimes I find lonely adults and talk with them."

Bon Bon snorted at that. "I'm not lonely."

"You looked lonely," hotly defended the filly. "And bored. Bored and lonely; so I came over, and we had fun."

Bon Bon gently nudged the filly with a hoof as she walked. "We did, but you aren't going around poking adults all the time, are you?"

"Not all the time," she admitted as she spun around and barely ducked between an oncoming adult's legs. "Watch it, pardner," she called after him with a raspberry before looking back to Bon Bon. "Sometimes I like to read."

Bon Bon twitched her ears softly. "Reading is nice. What do you like to read?"

"Little of this, little of that..." She tapped at the instrument that wrapped her new mother. "Is that heavy? I like stories that have big places to visit. Big adventures are the best."

Bon Bon quirked a little smile. "Adventures tend to be..." She trailed off. Telling a filly she read what foals tended to read sounded counterproductive, she decided suddenly. "--exciting reads," she corrected. "Do you read Daring Do?" When Spring Rain bobbed her head, Bon's smile brightened. "Did you know a princess reads that?"

Rain crashed to her little haunches, stunned. "Celestia reads Daring Do?!"

Bon Bon snatched up the filly as she passed her by, tossing Rain up onto her back behind the gaudy instrument. "Wrong princess. The second to newest, Twilight Sparkle. She has a great love for the series, I hear."

"Really?" She pulled herself forward, leaning forward and to the left to peek around the sousaphone that blocked the view.

"Adores them." Bon Bon smirked softly. She knew another person that was a fan, but that was a secret. She wasn't in the business of giving away secrets. "So you're in good company. Now... I was hoping to hear about your original mother." She turned an ear back to her passenger. "What was she like?" But no reply came.

Bon Bon trotted along with only the sounds of the town. She heard a pony announcing cool lemonade and could see the mare seated in a boot with many glasses in front of her, each with a wedge of lemon crowning them. The train was just pulling in, allowing ponies to come and go from the town freely. It was a busy day.

But Spring had gone quiet. "Was she... bad to you?" asked Bon Bon carefully. "I won't be angry. I just want to know."

Rain sat up on Bon Bon's back. "Can we go somewhere private? This ain't business to be sharin' with everyone!"

Bon Bon took note of the suddenly thicker accent. Was it a sign that Rain was distressed? Possibly. She looked left and right before moving towards the tavern/inn. There weren't a lot of extremely-short-term places to rest in Appleloosa. Most ponies who came had family to stay with. Despite that, Bon Bon ascended the short stairs to the tavern. "By the way, this is a secret." She tossed her head back towards the sousaphone that was wrapped around her. "Anyone else asks, it's just something I like to play."

She pushed into the busy room. There were ponies enjoying salt blocks, playing cards, and drinking various ciders and other things. They were shouting, cheering, and having a grand time of it. Bon Bon cleared her throat as she approached the bar. With an entirely new voice, she asked, "Do you have a new room available? I reckon ah'll be in town fer a day or two." She could feel Rain adjust on her, possibly surprised by the new accent and voice.

"Sure do, miss," replied the barkeep, grabbing a key in his mouth and slapping it down on the counter. "Fer you and your little filly there."

Bon Bon did not correct him. She took the key and left a few bits in trade. "Mighty kind of ya. Are meals included?"

"Free breakfast every day. Want us to knock when it's ready?"

"That'd be just peachy." Bon Bon began working her way through the room for the stairs.

Rain hugged Bon Bon tightly from above. "Do you mean it?" she said so quietly that Bon Bon could only tell something was said over the noise of the room.

"I can't hear you. Let's get to our room." She ascended the stairs into the relatively quieter hallway that held the rooms. "201, 202... Here we are." She stepped forward and got the key into the door without swallowing it. With a twist of her head, she opened it and they were soon inside. "Now then," she said with her previous voice. "What were you saying?"

Rain slid down and kicked the door shut. "Are you one too?!"

Bon Bon turned to the filly, confusion worn clearly on her face. "One what?"

"You know, I mean... You have to be..." She tapped her hooves together nervously. "You don't have to keep it a secret. I am too." With Bon Bon still looking at her quizzically, Spring Rain huffed. "You can change!"

"I can," agreed Bon Bon. "It helps blend in."

"Yeah..." Spring reached up for her hat and drew it down over her face. By the time it became visible again, a changeling was visible, smiling up at Bon Bon hopefully. "See? We're two of a..." She trailed off, noticing how Bon Bon recoiled. "Oh... I'll just--"

"--No!" Bon Bon thrust a hoof forward. "No, no... stay, please."

Spring Rain shrank in place. "I thought you were one of... this..." She waved a hoof at herself broadly. "You could change."

"Only my voice," admitted Bon Bon with a wry smile. "It would be very useful if I could do what changelings do, but I'm just an earth pony."

"And now you're scared of me."

"I never said that." Bon Bon settled down on her belly. "Hopefully I never will."

Spring took an uncertain step forward. "You're an odd mare."

Bon Bon smiled gently as a laugh escaped her. "I won't argue that, Spring Rain. Now come and tell me about your mother, for r--" It hit her. "Chrysalis."

Spring sagged with a weary sigh. "Worst. Mom. Ever." With a gush of short-lived flame, she returned to her fluffy filly self.

Author's Notes:

I decided to NOT hopscotch around so much this chapter. Let's focus in. Spring deserves a chapter basically to herself, and here we are. How many hugs would you give a little changeling filly looking for a good parent? What is the relation between Spring and Guilty?

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9 - Gentle Solutions

Fluttershy slapped shut the book she had been reading. A few murmurs rose from the library-visitors that occupied the small library she had found. She pinkened and gently set the book back where it came from. Despite her embarrassment, she moved with purpose right into Applejack just outside.

"Found the answer?" asked Applejack with a hopeful smile.

Fluttershy took a step backwards in surprise. "Oh! Hello, Applejack. Um, I think so. I'll have to wait until tonight to test it, but it's our best chance of--"

"--How good is that 'best chance'?" She hiked a brow at Fluttershy. "Are we talking 'almost sure thing' chance or 'probably won't, but worth a shot' chance?" She turned towards the orchard, only the tops of which were visible over the town in the way. "Look, Sugarcube, we need to fix this, yesterday."

"Tonight," repeated Fluttershy with more conviction. "If I can't fix it tonight, then... I guess I let you do it your way."

Applejack nodded firmly. "I'll take you up on that, but ah just want it clear that I tried it yer way first, right?"

Fluttershy quirked a little smile. "You're perfectly right to be worried about your family." She raised a hoof and pointed at the town, though a stallion that happened to be in the way looked confused a moment. "I won't give up on them, or the moths. I'm trying to help both. I know you... aren't very interested in the moths, but it's... what I do." She dipped her head towards Applejack. "Tonight."

"Tonight," echoed Applejack in agreement. "I'll tell the others then. Maybe it'll calm them down some."

The two mares trotted off on their different missions, both with the goal of saving the town.

Bon Bon paced around the room, a serious look on her face. "I need the truth and nothing but it." She pointed at the filly she knew to be a changeling, standing beside the queen-sized bed that filled most of the room. "What are your intentions?"

Spring Rain tilted her head a little, ears skewed. "Intentions?"

"Well, let's start." Bon Bon sat down facing the filly. "You are a rogue changeling."

Spring's fur fluffed up. "Good, so I have a brain! Why the others think Chrysalis is a good person to follow, I don't know."

Bon Bon pointed vaguely to the south. "Chrysalis was already deposed as queen of most changelings."

Spring's tension collapsed and she almost fell over. "What?"

"The new ruler is King Thorax, a naive but well-meaning changeling that brought about a dramatic change in the entire species." Bon Bon sounded like she was quoting a textbook somewhere. "You haven't heard of this?"

Spring blinked slowly before shaking her head left and right. "I don't... read newspapers. What kind of 'dramatic change'?" She took a timid step forward, bumping the bed with her unsure motion. "Is it a good one or a bad one?"

Bon Bon smiled gently. "Good, very good. They are becoming a kind people who wish to be friends, rather than monsters."

"Like me!?" Spring fell back on her rump and rose a hoof to her chest.

"Not quite like you, but close." Bon Bon approached the filly and reached, patting her on the head. "They're adults, not trying to... Wait a moment. Are you a grown changeling or not? I thought young changelings looked... dramatically different."

Spring looked away a moment. "I was trained to... take advantage of most species' love for young things. When I act the part, I get fed. Y-you gave some to me earlier when I rescued you from boredom. The stallion you saw gave me a treat too. Ponies... like it when a filly takes interest in them and they aren't too annoying."

Bon Bon frowned softly. "So you are an adult, which also means I can yell at you for making me swallow that key."

Spring quickly raised her hooves in a warding motion. "I fixed that!" She thrust her right hoof towards the large instrument resting against the corner. "See, you have it, and I rescued you. I wasn't trying to... do that. It was a mistake, honest!"

"Still, an adult..."

"I'm not an adult." Spring shook her head as flames overtook her, leaving her as a changeling not much different in size than what she started with. "You saw it before. I mean, I'm not a larvae... but I'll get bigger, I hope." She looked away nervously. "Besides... you play a role long enough... I don't know how to not be a filly."

Bon Bon shook her head slowly. "Well, I can tell you how to join the others, the nice changelings."

"You're sending me away?" Spring ran a hoof over the floor. "I thought..."

Bon Bon hiked a brow. "You thought what?"

"Nevermind," she sighed out dejectedly.

"Out with it."

Spring was quiet, shuffling in place as she resumed being a fluffy filly. "I thought you wanted to be my mom?"

Bon Bon pointed at Spring. "One, you said that. Two, returning you to your people is the nicest thing I can do. They're good people, and will welcome you." She moved for the sousaphone and wriggled back into it. "I need to be ready for tonight. I came here for a reason."

"And... that reason isn't me..." Spring hopped up onto the bed just to flop across it. "I understand. Um... thanks for not... thanks for believing me."

Bon Bon waved the thought away as she moved for the window, peeking out at the ponies passing by on the street. "Thank you for the timely rescue." A thought nagged at her. "Why was I in a closet, anyway?"

Spring blinked softly from the bed. "You don't remember?"

"I remember wanting to find Time Turner. Someone gave directions?" She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "Somehow, closet."

Spring looked uncomfortable a moment, but Bon Bon was facing away. "Oh, weird, um... well, you weren't hurt, so I guess it's alright."

Bon Bon grunted in idle agreement.

As the sun sank beneath the horizon, ponies moved into different positions.

Time Turner trotted along beside Fluttershy. "I do hope this works," he confessed as he went.

"Your help will make it much more likely to." She smiled gently as she fluttered beside him, slow flaps keeping her just off the ground. "Is it ready?"

"As ready as it ever will be." He reached back and pulled out a microphone. "Here you are."

Fluttershy accepted the device and nodded. "It's been a while since I used one of these... I hope the moths enjoy it." She landed, cradling the microphone between two hooves. "Ready."

"Ready," echoed Time Turner with an emphatic hooves-up gesture.

Elsewhere, Bon Bon snuck onto the orchard with a filly trailing after her. "You don't have to come along," she muttered to her companion.

"But I want to." Rain smiled nervously as she ducked around a thick tree. "I won't be in the way."

Bon Bon didn't like it. The filly represented a very real security risk. She waited for an opportunity; any distraction at all, and then it came. Singing echoed through the trees. It sounded like a mare singing a soft lullaby. Was someone else trying to take care of the moths? Not a bad try, Bon Bon decided, but it was the perfect cover.

She lowered her mouth to the piece of her sousaphone and blew into it deep and long. She could feel it vibrating all around her, playing the one needed note that she couldn't hear, nor could any other pony. It was made specifically for the lunar moths.

Time Turner let out an amazed gasp. Rising from the branches of countless trees came little wisps of light. The moths were coming to vibrant life, their glows taking on many different colors. Soon the entire orchard was buried in a dizzying array of colors, moving and undulating. "Keep singing," he urged. "It's working!"

Spring giggled with building joy, her forehooves going wide as she did a spin on her hind-legs. "Look! Look look! Someone's singing a spell! Mom!" Bon Bon did not reply, still blowing into the instrument as she was.

Fluttershy's singing picked up, wishing the moths a good journey and a better home. A single tear escaped her eyes with relief, watching the colorful cloud start to depart. She was doing it. The ponies would be safe, and so would the moths. No one had to be hurt that night.

All through the town, ponies gaped at the dramatic display they could see even from there. The sky became a colorful mass of retreating forms. Braeburn nudged against Applejack, "That friend of yours is something else, huh?"

Applejack took off her hat and held it to her chest. "She sure is... Ah'll apologize fer pushin' her so hard."

"Apologize nothing." Breaburn reared up to throw his hooves wide. "This is time for a celebration, and she'll be the star of the whole thing."

Applejack laughed at the enthusiastic display. "Reckon she appreciates the thought, but being the star of a big ho down is exactly what she tries to avoid. Write a nice letter instead, she'll treasure it forever."

The lunar moths were sent away to find another nesting ground. Bon Bon slipped away with her small ward, no one knowing she was involved, even Spring Rain.

"I don't get it, weren't we going to do something? Why did we even go?!" she complained as they went, but Bon Bon offered no answers, just a one-hoofed hug.

When Time Turner and Fluttershy emerged from the orchard, they were met by a cheering crowd of townsponies. Several charged them, hefting them up into the air off their hooves and bouncing them up and down into the crowd's mass. The cheers were loud and enthusiastic, praising their saviors.

Fluttershy eventually managed to creep away, aided by her wings, but Time Turner had no such advantage. A party was rapidly assembled, and he was the star. All eyes were on him, with the other savior already vacated. They offered him cider and bumped against him and extolled his virtues.

It was a grand time. It was a happy time. It reminded Time Turner that he was an introvert. He was becoming drained, and the human inside wanted to come out. Every time he tried to scoot away, another pony would appear in his way, gushing about how thankful they were for what he and Fluttershy had done for them.

Food was shoved into his hooves when drinks weren't being offered. Mares spoke nicely about him and the stallions treated him like a brother. It should have been a wonderful evening, but all Time Turner could think about was the ticking bomb that was coiling ever tighter with every passing moment. He was going to change, with or without his consent. He knew it, could feel it.

He would become a monster in front of the entire town and they would chase him away and then everyone would know his secret. There would be nowhere in Equestria he could hide.

In a desperate bit, he crossed his hind legs. "That cider went right through me, good chaps. Can you point the way to the nearest outhouse?" As soon as a single hoof raised to point the way, he began to gallop. He had to duck and wave and bob to get through the crowd, but he got to the small outhouse... that was locked.

He banged on the door, his expression growing more desperate by the moment. He could feel his tail becoming more naked. He was slipping.

"One second," came a muffled tone from within.

"Oh... please... hurry," grunted Time Turner as he tried desperately to hold the human back. A glance at his left forehoof revealed the hoof was starting to split. "Please...."

"One... Ahhhh....." The door pushed open from within and a very relieved stallion walked into view.

Time Turner had no time for etiquette. In a blind panic, he shoved the other pony out of the way with a hand he had grown without wanting to. He threw himself into the outhouse and slammed the door shut behind himself, turning the lock even as change overwhelmed him.

Author's Notes:

End of arc! Not end of story, of course. Bon Bon's plan went off with minimum typos, yay! How did this adventure go?

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10 - The Mail Must Go Through

Derpy "Muffins" Hooves huffed softly as she flapped. "Nopony said this line was so long..." Despite her complaint, she could see the town coming up ahead and some of the fatigue fled her. "Finally!" With an excited squeal, she pushed herself just a little faster.

She came in for a gentle landing, or she tried. Fatigue conspired against her and she crash/flopped across the train platform, huffing and wheezing, but in one piece.

The stallion that sat behind the stall at the train station raised a brow at the sudden visitor. "Miss," he called out across the platform. "No reason to rush. There won't be another train fer at least a few hours." But Derpy was sprawled, not moving. "Miss? You alright?"

He shook his head and slowly emerged from the stall through a side door. "Ma'am? You al--"

Just as he reached her side, she flung herself at him, hugging him tightly. "Tell me this is Appleloosa!"

He jumped back, but weighed down by the clinging Derpy, he crashed to the ground with her. "Oof! Yes, ma'am, this here's Appleloosa Station. Could--"

Derpy had already released him and sat up. "Oh thank goodness." She wiped off her brow with a fetlock. "This place is even farther than Canterlot, and that's already far enough. Have you seen Bon Bon?"

"I'm not familiar with the name," confessed the train pony with some uncertainty as he rolled back up on his haunches. "Miss, you alright?"

"I'm alright." She smiled brightly at him and lifted into the air on her slightly rested wings. "I have to find her though."

The stallion watched her flutter off into the city. He picked up his hat from where it had fallen and popped it back on his head. "And they said this job would be nice and reliable, no surprises."

Later, that same evening, Time Turner sank against the door of the restroom until he felt the cool touch of the dirt against his bare legs. The sensation made him jump. He was naked, really naked, in an outhouse.

He laughed nervously to himself, hysterics leaking through. He just had to calm down and wait. Once he had himself back in order, he could put the human away and go back to being a regular pony and just walk home. No big deal, right?

He sank down, sitting on the one available seat in the whole place. He almost fell through the hole for his efforts. Pony outhouses were made for ponies, which meant big holes. He slid over to the side a bit and perched himself a little awkwardly, but he wasn't tumbling into filthy pits at last.

A soft knocking came from outside. "Excuse me?"

Turner tensed. That was a voice he knew. "Muffins?"

A female gasp sounded through the door. "Who's in there?" She knocked once more. "Um, sorry, but I really have to..."

Turner glanced left and right. He was trapped between a rock and a stinky place. "Um, pardon, miss. I'll be a little while..."

"Doctor?"

Turner clenched his omnivorous teeth. "No?"

"Doctor!" She vaulted up onto the roof, announced with the thud of her hooves up there. "I found you! I wasn't even looking for you, but I found you! This is the best day ever!"

He could hear her tip-tapping in a happy dance over his head. "That's... good, Derpy, but, why are you here?"

"What?" He heard a thump and imagined she bumped her head against the roof. "Oh! I'm looking for Bon Bon, have you seen her?"

"She's in town, actually," he said, thinking back on their meeting, their awkward meeting. "Um, Muffin..." He heard her sigh softly. She really liked that nickname, especially when he said it, or so he had learned. "Muffin, I'm in an outhouse."

"You sure are." He heard her land beside the outhouse and her clip-clop as she moved around it. "Are you almost done? I really gotta go!"

Turner got a sudden idea. "Derpy, I need a favor, a delivery. I can only trust an experienced mailmare for the task." He couldn't see it, but he could imagine Derpy snapping to attention. He heard her hooves clicking together. "Ask around for where my store it, go there, get a blanket, and bring it to me, as quickly as you can. While you're there, there is an indoor toilet inside you can use."

"You got it!" He heard her wings give a powerful flap, and things grew quiet.

He flopped back against the wall, letting out a heavy breath. He was fairly sure she was gone, and would hopefully return with what he needed to escape the situation.

A knocking of a hoof brought his attention back to the present. A stern male voice spoke from outside, "You alright, Doc? You've been stuck in there an awful long time, and there's a bit of a line..."

Turner looked down at one of his hands and willed it to be a hoof. "Please please please," he whispered to himself. He felt some change coming, and he fell forward. He was a pony! He looked back over himself and realized it hadn't gone quite right. He was naked. He was a pony that had never grown a stitch of fur. Ungainly and unnatural looking, he squeaked.

"Doc?"

Time Turner took a slow breath. "Y-yes, I'm fine. I must have had an allergic reaction to something or other, I'm afraid. I've sent Miss Hooves to fetch me a blanket."

"It can't be that bad." He heard something being done to the door of the outhouse. "We're here fer ya, promise."

Turner cringed as the door opened, allowing the light of the party to spill in. One of the town stallions gawked at him, stunned at the sight.

"That's... some reaction. Y'allright?" He flipped his head, knocking off his own hat and catching it in his teeth. Without delay, he plopped it down on Turner's head as if it was covering enough. "C'mon, let's get yah home."

The moment he was extracted from the outhouse, ponies came from all sides, murmuring soft words of worry and helping to heft him up and started hauling him away. He felt the urge to go into full panic stirring in him. He was being pony-handled by what felt like a dozen helpful souls, male and female.

With great will, he forced himself to ignore the situation. He had to. He had to remain calm and quiet. "Miss Hooves should be coming."

As if summoned by her name, Derpy came soaring towards the group, blanket flapping wildly from where it was wrapped around her. "Doctor!"

A stallion raised a hoof. "Don't you worry none, miss. We got him."

Derpy was quick to grab the blanket, though its billowing length was too much and she plummeted from the air in a pile, fighting her way free with little squeaks. She won her freedom and held up the blanket to the stallion. "This is for Time Turner!"

"Oh, that's jus' the ticket." He grabbed the blanket in his teeth and gave a mighty toss of his head. The blanket landed lightly over Time Turner, allowing him some measure of privacy and warmth against the chilling night air. "Mighty thoughtful of ya, miss."

Derpy saluted sharply. "The mail always goes through! Usually..." She glanced left and right before looking up at Time Turner as he was being carried away. "Hey, wait!" She lifted into the air and hovered after him. "What happened? Are you alright?"

He smiled awkwardly at her as she followed. "I'm fine, Miss Hooves. You did a great job... Um, so... You were..." He pulled the blanket in all the tighter, using it as a shield from the outside world. "Looking for Bon Bon?"

One of the ponies under Time Turned peeked up. "What? She's staying at my saloon with some adorable little filly."

"Oh, see, now you can find her." Turner smiled as convincingly as he could, sure that it looked off on his hairless face.

"Yeah... But it's late, so... maybe first thing in the morning?" Derpy flew in a little closer. "I'm so happy you're here! Have you been alright? I mean, I guess... not... but besides the hair loss thing!"

The crowd lowered Time Turner to the ground in front of his shop. "Thanks kindly fer the assist," spoke one mare with a tip of her hat.

"Too right. We'll have to get to farmin' extra hard." A stallion sighed gently, looking towards the fields. "But we'll do it, and now we can do it, so, thanks."

They began to disperse, leaving Time Turner and Derpy alone in front of the shot. Turner scooted towards the door, creeping as stealthily as he could.

He wasn't nearly sneaky enough. Derpy trotted beside him. "I've missed you so much... I didn't tell anypony about... that..."

Time Turner felt a fresh wave of nausea swirl through him. "Why are you... here? I'm a monster, Miss Hooves."

She circled around him quickly, blocking the way into the store. "You are Time Turner, the doctor, my doctor." She raised a hoof to her chest. "You are a friend, a good one, and just because..." She glanced around sharply, her wall-eyed orbs seeming to move at semi-random sweeps independent of one another. "Just because you lose your hair sometimes doesn't change that!"

Turner smiled awkwardly. "It's normally a bit more than fur loss, but... I suppose it's exactly that right now. I'm... sorry."

"For what?" She tilted her head at him, eyes shining with confusion and want. "Turner... You are a good pony."

Turner laughed at that, reaching out a hoof, naked as it was, and hugging Derpy. "I'm not even entirely a pony. Come on, let's go inside."

Derpy smiled brightly at the show of affection and scooted out of the way to let him head in, following shortly behind. "This is, uh, a nice place." She looked from one gizmo to the next. "Not as many things as your old place though..."

"I'm still... It's in the back," he sighed out, pointing towards the back even as he moved for it on his other three legs. "Derpy... Muffins, you... You ran last time you saw... that."

Derpy began to blush across her entire face. "I was a stupid dummy head! You surprised me..."

"Was it just surprise?" He flicked on the light in the back room, dispelling the gloom under bright bulbs.

Derpy let out a loud gasp, looking over the plentiful array of interesting devices that hid in the back of the store. "Now this is more like it, Doc. It doesn't feel like your home without more things I don't know the name of than I can count." She clopped her hooves gently, sitting on her haunches. "Now, uh... how do you get your fur back?"

Time Turner glanced away. "I just need to relax. A good night's rest should address this nicely." A thought tickled at him. "Muffins, where are you staying?"

Derpy went rigid. "Oh, um... Oh..." She sank. "I'll have to rent a room I guess."

Time Turner fidgeted on his naked hooves. He knew Derpy was not poor, but she was far from rich too. A sudden expense was nothing to ignore. "Would you--"

"Yes!" she blurted out before he finished the question. "Thank you, Turner!" She jumped at him and squeezed him tightly even as they crashed to the ground under the force of her impact. They ended up on the ground in a pile.

It was refreshingly familiar to Turner. He was pinned by a mare he cared for dearly. "I'll sleep in here. You can use my bed."

Derpy sat up with a frown. "No way! You're all... naked. You must be cold. I won't let you sleep on the cold ground." She tapped at the hard floor with a few distinct clops. "Nuh uh. Sometimes you try to be too smart, Doc. You're going to bed and I'm taking you there."

Author's Notes:

Derpy has set her eyes on her target. You'd think she'd have a hard time locking on, but she sure seems focused on Turner. I asked her to go over the chapter for typos and she assures me they're all fixed. I will relax confidently.

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11 - Sweet Operative

Bon Bon rolled from her bed to her hooves without a sound. She left a note where she had been, smiled at the other, still sleeping, pony in the room, and crept from the room. Once she had the door safely closed behind her, she let out her breath. "I wasn't expecting her, but she deserves a little help." She began trotting for the stair. "But first, I have a pony to hunt down."

She descended into the main area, where other ponies were still barely awake enough to greet the day. Large cups of coffee were popular, and breakfast foods were filling the air with delectable scents. Though tempted, Bon Bon passed it on by. She would not be distracted again.

"I heard you were looking for me."

Bon Bon jumped in surprise, coming down facing Time Turner. "How? I mean, hello, Time Turner. Have a moment to talk?"

Time Turner nodded. "Of course. Anything for a friend."

Bon Bon twitched an ear to the side. She hadn't exactly been 'friends' with Time Turner. Sure, they had lived in the same town, and she had seen him plenty of times... "It's about Derpy."

"What about her?" asked Time Turner, sitting down on the side of the town road. "She still crashing into things?"

"She wouldn't be Derpy if she didn't," agreed Bon Bon. "Not what I'm here for... She saw something, something that scared her. I have reason to believe you saw it too. Could you tell me about it?"

Time Turner tilted his head a little. "I haven't seen anything too scary. Oh! Did you see all the colorful lights last night? That was something! Quite the display, if you ask me."

A stallion trotting past stopped suddenly. "Turner! You've got your fur back, good on ya! Feeling better?"

Time Turner looked confused for the shortest time. "O-oh, yes, much better, thank you." He nodded at the stallion.

The stallion tipped his hat and trotted forward. "Take it easy, pardner."

Bon Bon raised a brow at the interaction. "You had a fur problem?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle, I assure." Time Turner waved it away. "Now, about you. Having a delightful visit?"

"It's been... interesting." Bon Bon drew in a slow breath, her nostrils flaring. "Spring?"

"It's closer to fall than spring," replied Turner with some confusion.

Bon Bon slowly nodded. "Ah huh. Oh, I see something over here, c'mon." She hopped back to four legs and trotted into an alley. "I've been dying to show it to you."

"What would that happen to be?" asked Time as he rose to follow her, but he didn't get far. The moment he was out of sight, a hoof crashed into the side of his head and he slumped to the ground. With a rush of green flames, a changeling was revealed, unconscious.

Bon Bon nodded at her defeated foe. "Right. Let's get you out of the way..." She pulled a length of rope free and approached the still form of the changeling. They were larger than Spring, an adult, or so Bon Bon assumed.

"I'm not sick," noted Time Turner. Despite that, he was in bed, tucked in, with a fiercely protecting Derpy seated beside the bed, watching him. "I really should get up." He tried to do just that, but a hoof gently pressed him back down.

"You had an icky reaction last night, you need to rest."

Time slipped a hoof up from the covers and tapped at his furry cheek. "But, look, I'm all properly fuzzy now."

"I'm very happy to see that." Derpy nodded with a smile. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a day off to recover completely. I'm very worried for you, Doctor."

"Derpy..." Time drew in a slow breath, silent a moment before he let it back out. "Muffins, you remember what... scared you before?"

Derpy's ears pinned back against her head. "I'm sorry!" She launched herself at him, hugging his pinned form through the blanket. "I'm so sorry!"

Turner felt a smile creeping free, even if he was in an awkward situation. "It's... it's alright... Can we... talk about it?"

Derpy sat up on top of him, looking down at him with a curious expression. "I... didn't want to bother you, Doctor."

"We're past that, I think, dear me..." Turner tried to sit up, and Derpy slid free, allowing him to get up onto his haunches. "Derpy... I was... This is what I am, some of the time. It's... been that way forever."

"Forever?!" Derpy tilted her head. "Even when you were a foal?"

"Even then." Turner smiled lopsidedly. "It was quite a fright to my poor mother, but she's a strong mare, and she didn't panic. She raised me proper and right, and I learned how to keep it under control, mostly." He brushed a hoof against his chest. "I only... do that... when I want to, or if I'm... worked up."

"Worked up?" Derpy squinted a little, one iris hidden entirely. "Like when you're late or somepony's upset because you dropped their package?"

Turner couldn't help but smile, imagining his poor Muffins dealing with such things. "Like that, precisely. Or if I don't let it come out once in a while." He reached a hoof and booped Derpy on the nose. She giggled and he smiled at that. "You aren't scared now?"

She shook her head quickly enough that her cheeks flopped about a moment. "No! I mean, it's kind of... weird, but I don't care! I was... I don't want to lose you, Doctor. Never run away again!"

Both their ears jumped at a knocking coming from the front of the store. Derpy put a hoof on Time Turner's chest. "You wait here. I'll tell them you're closed." She took off in an uneven streak, not giving him much of a chance to reply.

Downstairs, Derpy flew through the room and landed on the doorknob mouth-first. She twisted her head and flew backwards, pulling the door open. "Hello and welcome. Time turner is--" She stumbled to a stop in her speech, seeing who it was that had been knocking.

Bon Bon stepped forward with an arched brow. "Derpy? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?!" she yelped out in a hysteric bleat, flopping to the ground only to backpedal away. She glanced where her precious doctor was. "He's not here!" She cried. "He left, um, on a train, er, east." She thrust a hoof northwards.

Bon Bon advanced into the store, kicking the door shut behind herself. "Derpy, I've had enough distractions since I came here. I want to talk to Time Turner, and I will talk to Time Turner."

Derpy spread her wings wide. "No!"

"No?" Bon Bon shook her head slowly. "Derpy, I am going to talk to him."

"No!" She strained, as if her wings could become large enough to block the way, but the room was quite wide enough to make that impossible. "He's sick!"

"So he didn't take a train then?" asked Bon Bon wryly as if she had never believed that story for a moment. "That's good. Now..." She trotted forward, moving to go around Derpy. "We need to have a little chat."

"No!" Derpy suddenly jumped at Bon Bon in a desperate tackle, but the room seemed to spin suddenly.

Bon Bon grabbed Derpy from the air and slammed the poor mare into the ground. Her left forehoof was wrenched behind her back and pressed tightly. "Derpy, enough. I'm going to talk to him."

With a shriek, Derpy pressed up with her remaining hooves so forcefully it send Bon Bon right up into the ceiling, bouncing off of it painfully and crashing to the ground where Derpy wasn't standing anymore. "You leave him alone!" she said with a little growl that would have been threatening if it wasn't so light in tone, more of a cat's purr than any predator's menace. She pawed at the ground, clopping her hoof against the wood. "I won't let you!"

Bon Bon scrambled to her hooves, shaking free the dizziness of her unexpected trip. "What's gotten into you, Derpy? If you won't let me talk to him, then I'll just talk with you." She smiled softly. "I assume that would be better?"

Derpy rolled a hoof at Bon Bon. "There's nothing to talk about."

"That I doubt..." Bon Bon circled around Derpy, or tried, but the mare dashed to keep herself between Bon Bon and the door in the back. "That thing you saw. Tell me about it."

"Um, what are you talking about?" lied Derpy poorly. "I didn't see anything at all." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nope, nothing."

Bon Bon darted past her in that moment of weakness. She slapped the door shut and noticed there was a lock on the inside. "Perfect," she crooned to herself triumphantly as she pressed the button, locking Derpy into the front room. "Now then..."

Time Turner heard some noises from downstairs, and a thump. What was going on down there? He slipped from his bed and began to walk to the end of the hallway. "Is everything alright, D--"

"--Hello," said Bon Bon as she ascended the stairs into view. "You are one tough stallion to get an interview with, allow me to say."

Turner fell to his haunches and awkwardly slid backwards, his forehooves trying their best to move him. "O-oh! Miss Bon... Nice... to see you?"

Bon Bon rolled a hoof. "Nice to see you too, Mister Turner. Now, as I was saying--"

"--I'm still not interested," cut in Time Turner with an awkward smile. "It's, I mean..." He rose his forehooves, tapping them gently. "I mean... She's here."

Bon Bon's confidence broke. "What? I haven't asked anything yet. Time Turner, did you see the naked creature Derpy saw? Bipedal? Had hands? No claws, no horns."

Turner blinked before the tension returned with a vengeance. "N-n-no. I... never saw anything like that, miss."

"You are a terrible liar." Bon Bon approached slowly. "I just want to know more about it."

The sound of breaking glass drew their attention to Derpy doing what she did best, crashing into something. She busted through a window at the far end of the hallway and was rolling frontwards towards them in a confused mess. "Doctor!"

Bon Bon threw a hoof into the air. "Fine, we're all gathered. Can we start talking now? What did you see? I need specifics, now."

Turner shied towards Derpy. "So you can put it away forever in some dark place?"

"Why would I do that? I'm a candy maker." Bon Bon smiled awkwardly. "I don't think it's afraid of my treats."

"I'm not blind, ma'am." Turner offered a hoof to Derpy, getting her back on her own hooves and dust off flecks of broken glass to the ground. "You're an agent."

Bon Bon felt the blood rushing away from her face. She had worked so hard... It meant that headquarters was entirely correct in saying her cover had been blown. "W-what? Where'd you get such an absurd idea from?"

Derpy bounced in place, creating a mild shower of glass falling free of her in the motion. "Was I the only pony that didn't know?! Turner, why didn't you tell me?" Her fit complete, she advanced to be between Bon Bon and Time Turner, ready to defend her doctor.

Turner tried to look confident with mixed success. "Your constantly changing voice, your strange behavior, and your actions during the wedding... It wasn't that hard to discern for anyone who was paying attention."

Bon Bon scowled at Turner. How had things flipped on her. "Putting that aside for the moment, I'm here to talk about that strange creature you saw." She leveled a hoof at Derpy. "You were the one that came to me, then you went quiet. Why?"

He glanced at Derpy, not hard with her being in front of him, then Bon Bon beyond. "I told her you might be trying to pry into her affairs."

Bon Bon's teeth clenched. "I am prying, for her protection! Now let's get this clear. I want answers, you have them, and, for the good of Equestria, you'll give them to me."

Author's Notes:

Answers? I smell answers. It's about time we got some of those, I think.

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12 - Naked Truth

All three peered at one another, tension thick in the air.

A soft trademarked jingle played from within Bon Bon. She reached for it with a grunt. "I have to get this. Hello? Middle of something here."

A voice whispered into Bon Bon's ear from the portable phone she held, "The agents are closing in on the unknown."

"That's great news, but I'm having a civil chat with Derpy and Turner."

"Why did you answer? Is your cover compromised?"

Bon clenched her teeth powerfully. "I'm fine, talk to you when I have news, bye!" She clicked the phone closed and stuffed it away with an annoyed grumbling. "Where were we? Right, biped, details now."

Derpy spread her wings, blocking much of the view of Time Turner. "You can't have him!"

"Have..." Bon's eyes narrowed at what she could see of Turner. "He is not bipedal, or naked. Get to talking, Derpy."

Turner nudged Derpy aside with a gentle brushing of a hoof. He stood beside her instead of behind her. "Miss, did you mean what you said?"

Bon Bon tilted her head faintly. "Mean what, precisely?"

"That this is for the good of Equestria."

Derpy hopped forward just far enough to thrust a wing in front of him. "No! Don't listen!"

Bon nodded softly. "Yes, yes it is. I just want to know what it is and what threat it may or may not pose. It hasn't... done anything, besides frighten Miss Hooves here, and she doesn't seem upset about that anymore."

Derpy shook her head fiercely. "He didn't do anything! Leave him alone!"

Bon Bon crossed her arms, standing up on her hind legs. "Derpy, you are terrible at this."

Turner reached out for Derpy's wings and ran a hoof along it slowly, slow enough to tickle the mare into a sudden fit of giggles. "I think it's alright."

She retracted her wing and turned to face him, confusion clear on her face. "But, she..."

"She's just trying to help, right?"

Bon Bon nodded quickly. "Right. So... can I get some answers?"

Turner considered a quiet moment. With what Bon Bon knew, running and hiding again wouldn't work very well. "Alright, so... let's all sit down. I'll tell the story, ma'am."

Bon Bon flopped back to all fours with a relieved sigh. "Thank you."

Turner took the lead, walking past Bon Bon as he guided both mares to his workshop and got to making up some tea. "Miss Hooves and I were becoming... something of an item... It was a lovely evening..."

I had surprised her on her way home from work and invited her to get something to eat. She had laughed in that cute way she does, and came with me. I was pretty sure she liked being surprised, especially by good things.

My stomach was in knots. I had hoped to ask a big question that evening, but everything had to be perfect. I had her favorite food piping hot and ready as we entered my house. The dessert, of course, her favorite muffin.

"Muffin," interrupted Derpy, clopping her hooves. "I never did finish that one."

As I was saying. We talked, and ate, and it was going well... but the tension was building within me. Muffins... is the most important mare in my life.

"Doctor..."

I was too embarrassed to say that. I kept entertaining her, making jokes, playing games. I kept putting off the big reveal, and kept getting more worried. My self doubt is the only reason any of this had to happen... Part of me wondered what she would do. How would she react, if she knew...

It was, perhaps, poetic justice that my insecurities forced the matter. I reached to put a hoof on her cheek, but that wasn't a hoof. Naked fingers spread through her fur. It was... lovely... I could feel her in a whole new way. The moment of wonder didn't last long.

Muffins screamed. It was like a dagger through my soul. She was so scared.

"I'm so sorry," mumbled Derpy, hiding her face behind her hooves.

She beheld me... naked, ungainly, and very much not the pony she knew... She ran, fled...

Bon Bon nodded slowly. "Was this a one-time... thing?" She rolled a hoof at Time Turner. "I'm guessing not. You weren't surprised, she was."

"Spot on," sighed Turner as he sank in place a little. "I've had this... condition... since birth." He quirked a smile. "Quite a vexing challenge for my mother, but she did right by me." He glanced away and back. "She, um, she told me about what she had shared with you."

Derpy shook her head. "I was surprised! If I knew it would have made you run away, Doctor, I wouldn't have! I swear!"

Turner raised a hoof. "It's alright, Muffins. I'm not angry at you."

Derpy smiled at her nickname. "I'm not scared of you," she replied as if the two sentiments were equal in importance.

Bon Bon seemed to consider things. "Well, if you've always been this way, that's fairly solid evidence that you are not a risk." She clapped her hooves together. "Case closed. May I see it then?"

"Mmm?"

"Your other form, can you do it when you want to?"

Turner flushed in his nose. "It's an unsightly thing... I don't want to--"

Derpy bounced up. "The water's boiling, and you won't scare me, not again."

Turner plucked the kettle free of the fire and got to pouring tea for his guests with a twist of his head. A thought occurred to him and he set the kettle down. "Watch then." He reached a hoof out and it spit as it went, smoothly transitioning into a curious human hand. Fur began to pull back into his body as he became truly naked. With new fingers, he grasped the handle of the kettle and poured with new dexterity.

Bon Bon's eyes widened at the sight of it. "How... Hmm... Some strange variation of lycanthropy? Do you experience shifts in your mood when you do this?" She advanced on Turner, eyeing him intently, only to find her view blocked by an agitated pegasus.

Derpy's wings had gone out to either side. "Don't bother him!"

Turner reached down and gently scratched along one of Derpy's turned back ears. She gasped and twitched the tickled organs even as she wriggled. "Doctor!" She went pink in her cheeks, perhaps enjoying the strange new touches.

"It's alright," he insisted. "The gig is up, as they say. Miss Bon, are you here to capture me then?"

Bon Bon shook her head. "That's jig--" The jingle cut her off, the same ringtone echoing from her pocket. She thrust her forehooves in the air a moment. "For Celestia's sake! One moment." She fished out the flip-phone like device and angrily opened it. "Yes?!"

"We've captured the unknown. Any update on your end?"

"Mine is harmless, and a citizen of the country. He's a good pony."

Turner relaxed a little. Being called a good pony by what was clearly an agent with the power to arrest him was quite a relief.

"Good pony? Are they a pony at all?"

"Sometimes." Bon Bon rolled a hoof though it couldn't be seen by who she spoke to. "Shapeshifter, two specific forms. Pony, naked biped. Male as reported, one Time Turner. Law abiding."

"Is he there?"

Bon Bon put a hoof to her head. "Along with Miss Hooves. She is aware of his unique nature."

"Switch to video feed."

Bon Bon reared back, peering at her phone a moment before pulling it back up. "They are not authorized, I remind."

"I'm authorizing them."

"By your command." She set the phone down and pressed a button with the corner of a hoof.

Up sprang the holographic image of a severe stallion. "Good afternoon."

Derpy clapped her cheeks with both hooves. "It's like a spy story!"

Turner sat down beside her, crossing his legs. "This is no story, however."

"Oh, right..." Derpy tilted her head at the bust of a pony. "Hello."

"Mister Turner, we have captured a being similar in appearance to yourself. It does not appear to have any shapeshifting ability, though we are monitoring it. It is also not a citizen of our fine country."

Turner nodded nervously. "R-right? How can I... help, sir?"

The holograph smiled faintly. "Your presence may help calm them. I am enlisting you, if you accept. We need someone who can approach and communicate with the creature that is on our side."

Derpy suddenly hopped up onto Turner's lap and spread her wings. "Leave him alone! He's my doctor!"

Turner gently pushed her wings down in the process of hugging her from behind. Her fur was nice and warm against his unclothed form. "I don't think Miss Hooves will allow me to accept unless she can accompany me."

"Bring her, but she will not visit the unknown until we can be certain that her presence won't alarm it further." He turned his floating head towards Bon Bon. "Bring them both into the branch. We're long past making progress in this case."

Bon Bon saluted even as the holograph faded away, leaving an inactive phone. "You heard the stallion. Duty calls all of us." She grabbed her phone and tucked it away. "Do you need something to get back to your pony shape?"

"N-no..." Turner was enjoying giving Derpy a hug, but all good things... "Just a moment." He slipped out from under her and fell forward, landing on firm hooves that clopped against the floor. With a fitful twitch of his regained tail, he turned to the two mares. "Where are we going, precisely?"

"Precisely is exactly the answer I'm not giving." She pulled out a blindfold. "Neither of you are sworn in, so you're going in blind, literally.

"Oh yeah!" Derpy exclaimed suddenly, bouncing towards Bon Bon. "I have a letter for you!"

Bon Bon blinked dumbly. "You... do?"

Derpy dug out the envelope in her teeth and held it out towards Bon Bon. "Here you go."

Bon Bon accepted the letter curiously, her eyes roaming over it. The from address was one of the agency's many drop points. It was from work. What had she missed? She wondered if it would have made things easier. Irritated and short on patience, she tore it open and two photos flopped to the ground.

Derpy peered at them, as if she could see both with her eyes focusing on either. "Hey, it's like Turner!"

The images showed a skulking biped. Unlike Turner a moment ago, they appeared to be fully clothed. They seemed to be hiding in the back alleys of the city, avoiding ponies, at least from the two pictures.

Bon Bon snatched up the pictures before they could be peered at for too long. "That's who you'll be talking to, I imagine."

Turner approached with a nod. "Well, I did make tea. It would be a shame if we didn't enjoy it before we left."

Bon Bon sighed softly. "If it will help keep everypony calm, go ahead." She had enough hysterical ponies for one mission. "That reminds me, have you had any contact with changelings in the past week?"

Turner blinked even as he picked up his cup. "I can't say that I have, why? Aren't they reformed now?"

"Most, but not all." Bon Bon sipped from her tea lightly. "I have a changeling filly I'll be taking with us for deportation and care. I hear their new leader's a nice one, so she should be fine."

Derpy bobbed her head. "I've delivered a few letters to there. Thorax is a nice pony."

Bon Bon raised an ear at Derpy. "I thought you were local to Ponyville."

"I am, but a mailmare goes where she's asked to go." She puffed out her chest, looking proud. "I've been to lots and lots of places before, making sure the mail gets to where it needs to be." She pointed a hoof at Turner. "Now that you know that I know, you're coming back to Ponyville, right?"

Author's Notes:

We're getting answers, hizzah! What was Turner trying to get at before he lost it? He didn't actually say. Was that a typo?

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13 - Deployment

Derpy set the phone receiver down. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

Turner shook his head. "Think nothing of it. I'm sure your co-workers are worried about you."

"Nah."

Turner tilted his head at the flat denial. "How can they not be?"

"Well, um..." She wriggled in place before suddenly lifting into the air. "I'll get your luggage!" And she was gone, vanishing up the stairs towards his private room.

Bon Bon smiled a little. "Derpy Hooves is known for getting lost at times. I'm sure this is hardly the first time she's vanished for a while. Now... Besides your ability to swap forms, do you possess other abilities I should be aware of?"

Turner hiked a brow. "Well, if you're expecting me to breathe fire or something of the like, you'll be in for disappointment, ma'am. The power to get the closest shave a pony should ever want is enough of a power." He raised a hoof, shaking it as if he were wriggling fingers he currently didn't have. "The fingers are quite nice. They're like having scientific instruments attached."

"Mmm." Bon Bon peeked her head into the back, looking up the stairs that Derpy had gone. "Find--" She didn't get to say more than that, as Derpy came streaking back down the stairs and Bon Bon had the good sense to back out of the way.

Derpy grabbed the edge of the door as she came, swinging right into the front section of the store in a deceptively smooth motion. "Ready!" The suitcase hanging from a crooked hoof swung dangerously with the abrupt turn, but came to a gentle halt, set on the ground in front of Turner. "Here you are."

Turner reached out a hoof, replacing Derpy's leg with his own to start pulling it along by the handle, allowing it to roll instead of dangle. "Well, that makes me ready then." He grabbed a placard from the counter in his teeth and trotted over to the door, hanging a 'Closed for now' sign. "I hope that doesn't inconvenience anyone too terribly."

Bon Bon strode for the front door. "You can come back after we've done what we go to do."

Derpy shook her head as she followed them out of the store. "I mean, you could... or you could come back to Ponyville." She smiled, full of hope. "You know a lot of ponies really miss you, a lot! Some of them spend all night worrying about you."

Turner doubted 'some' of them did that. Just one. One, very special, pony. He started to say something, but aborted it. Even if Bon Bon and Muffins knew his secret, they were walking through the dusty roads of Appleloosa. It was hardly a private setting. He nodded to the ponies they past, getting tips of hats and friendly waves in return.

It seemed he had earned the admiration of many in his short time in the town. He thought back to working alongside Fluttershy, a national hero. He didn't deserve those accolades. All he did was give her a speaker to sing through.

Derpy landed next to him and bumped him, a wing wrapping around to hold him close. "You look sad," she pointed out bluntly. "Can I help?"

Turner felt some of his gloom being chased away. It was hard to be sad with Muffins pressed close. "You already have," he reported truthfully. "Come on, let's not miss the train."

They hastened their steps, cutting through the town in a direct line for the train station. Derpy lifted from the ground and zipped ahead, buying their tickets for them by the time they arrived. She spread her wings, the tickets caught in her feathers, allowing her to fan them out. "Ta da!"

Bon Bon reached up and took one in her teeth. "Thank you. I'll see that you're reimbursed."

"Reinwhat now?" Derpy tilted her head.

Turner reached out a hoof, nudging another ticket free. "Don't worry about it. She just means she'll pay you back proper for the tickets you bought for us."

"Why didn't she just say that?" Derpy nabbed her own ticket, which became an impromptu preening session as she nibbled at her feathers in a sudden grooming fit. "How far do we have to go?"

"Secret," replied Bon Bon. "Speaking of that..." She tucked the ticket away and pulled out two blindfolds danging from her teeth. "If you'd kindly?"

Derpy tilted her head. "I bought the tickets. I know where they're going." Despite her words, she took one of the blindfolds and began tying it to her own head, her wings helping in the process. "How's that?"

Bon Bon moved around Derpy and pulled it just a little tighter, then approached Turner. "I'll lend a hoof." Both earth ponies, they were no strangers to giving an assist when it came to such tasks. She nodded at her two temporary companions. "Alright. Just because you purchased the tickets doesn't mean we'll be getting off there. We may, or may not. Just do as I say and we'll be there soon enough."

A few others on the platform watched the blindfolding with casual interest. Was it some kind of game?

A new female voice suddenly spoke. "Do I have to wear one too?"

"No you do not." Bon Bon turned to face Spring Rain. "This is the changeling I was speaking of. She'll be getting off at a different stop, and be picked up by others."

Spring shrank back. "What if I don't want to be picked up by others?"

Bon Bon patted her shoulder gently. "They're nice people. The changelings have turned a new leaf. You'll be welcome there."

Spring wriggled her nose. "What's so special about them anyway?"

A train came powering towards the town, coming to a halt with the screech of working breaks. Bon Bon pointed at it. "Our ride is here. I'll explain once we're aboard. Help me guide these two to their seats." She bumped Turner, already being closer to him. "Let's go."

Derpy was guided by Spring. She smiled curiously. "So you're a changeling, huh?" Spring did not reply. "That's kind of neat," continued Derpy, unphased by the tension. "Can you turn into anything? I'd like to see that. Are you a nice changeling?"

"I try to be..." muttered Spring awkwardly. "Watch your--" She had to dive to stop Derpy's hoof from going right into the gap between the platform and the train. "--step..."

Derpy never knew the danger, stepping right on Spring and then up onto the train, unaware that it had been anything but a perfect mounting.

Bon Bon helped her young ward back to her own footing with a little smile. "Thanks," she whispered, then hopped aboard the train after Turner.

Guilty woke with a muttering. She sat up in a cot that wasn't hers. "What the..." She looked across the room to the bars. Bars?! "What...?" She hopped down from the cot and trot, noticing her legs as she went. Her holes were showing. She tensed even as flames restored her pony disguise.

She peeked out of the bars. She was in the little jail that Appleloosa had. She could see the sheriff taking a nap at his desk. How had she been caught?!

She sank to her haunches. She was going to be left in there forever to rot, or maybe they'd do something awful to her and make it quick and painful. She grit her teeth, trembling. This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all! She had made friends, connections. She was... still a lousy changeling.

She flopped and sank against a wall of her cell, sighing in defeat.

A buzzing caught her attention, but it was brief. She heard hooves land on the ground outside. What kind of pegasus buzzed? Was it a foal?

The large form of an adult stepped in, but it wasn't a pony, or a changeling. She wasn't sure what it was. It was brightly colored with bright shells that made up its body. It turned towards her, eyes shining with a variety of subtle hues. It met her gaze, the two looking at one another.

Guilty took an uncertain step back. Had the ponies made allies with some other insect-like species? Was it there to devour her?

It walked past her cell, approaching the sheriff. "Good morning," it said in a soft male voice. For all its intimidating size and impressive horns, it sounded... meek. "Is that her?" It pointed towards her cell.

The sheriff pushed his hat up. "Huh? Ah howdy, pardner. Shoot, ain't never seen you up close before." His chair fell forward as he stood up. "That's her, uh, Thorax was it?"

"Mmhmm." Thorax turned towards her cell. "I'm glad you didn't hurt her."

"Didn't hurt me?!" Guilty crashed against the bars in a sudden rush. "I didn't do anything! Why am I in here?!"

The sheriff lifted his shoulders softly. "Word is, she's imitated ponies, and at least one case of foalnapping. Reckon that sounds as 'something."

Thorax flinched softly. "Oh. Was anypony hurt?"

"Not that I heard." The sheriff nodded as he approached the cell at a leisurely pace. "A tourist caught her, brought her in with a bit of a bump, but mostly unharmed."

Reminded of it, Guilty felt over the bruise left from... She remembered. She had tried to fool Bon Bon, and this was the result of that. She might have been a lesbian, but that sure didn't affect her ability to kick rumps. Guilty sank to her belly. "Well, what are you going to do with me?"

Thorax approached behind the other with a little smile. "Well, that's up to you, actually... I know we all... did things we're not proud of, under Queen Chrysalis' rule."

Guilty bounced up to her hooves, making the sheriff shy back in surprise. "What do you know about her rule? You're not even a changeling! What even are you?!"

"A friend, perhaps?" He smiled as he gestured at the cell.

The sheriff stepped forward, key dangling from his hoof. "Ya sure ah should let her go?"

Thorax nodded slowly. "Yes, and I am a changeling." He raised a hoof to point at himself. "This is what happens when you start giving love, instead of taking it."

"It's kind of tacky." Guilty scrunched up her nose.

Thorax only laughed. "I've heard that before, but better tacky than hated, I say. We've become friends with the ponies, and the dragons. We build, instead of destroy." He took a step towards Guilty, even if the bars still divided them. "What's your name?"

Guilty pinned her ears back a moment before taking a step forward towards him, eyeing him intently. "I'm Guilty. Guilty Pleasures. You're Thorax... supposed changeling."

With a rush of flames, Thorax was gone, replaced with the form of pony royalty. Twilight Sparkle spread her wings. "I imagine," said Twilight in her proper tone, "That only a changeling would do that."

The sheriff jumped back. "Yer giving me the willies. Please don't imitate ponies, or I may have to toss you in there too."

With a fwoosh of fire, Thorax was back. "Sorry! I didn't mean to upset you. I was just showing her." He pointed at Guilty.

Guilty shook her head slowly. "Alright, so... what do you want from me?"

Thorax's antlers glowed as he took the key from where it had fallen. He slid it into the cell door and twisted it open. "I want to take you home. There are other changelings that'd love to meet you, learn about you, and welcome you as one of our own. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Was it true? Part of Guilty eyed the offer hungrily. Being a lone changeling had been a hard path to walk. But... that? "What if I don't want to... do that?" She wobbled a hoof at Thorax's form.

"Then don't," spoke Thorax confidently. "Come. You're still a changeling, so you're welcome." He pulled open the cell door. "Let's go home."

Author's Notes:

Thorax is confident she will eventually emerge from her shell, molting into a new brilliant shine. It was interesting writing him. I think I like him a little more for doing it. Or was that a typo?

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14 - Going Dark

Derpy nudged sideways into Turner, the two blindfolded and seated. "Do you think it'll be scary?"

"I'm certain we'll be fine," mildly lied Turner. "Just... don't leave without me, if you would?"

"Never!" Derpy thrust a hoof skywards. "Besides... this is kinda my fault."

"I had this long before I met you, Muffins." He smiled, not that she could see it. "It's just the way things are."

"Not that!" She waved a hoof through the air, unseen by anyone but Bon Bon, watching them from across the aisle. "If I had just been a grown pony when you first, um, showed me, this wouldn't be happening."

Turner went quiet and still a moment, just the sound of the tracks rolling under them. He turned to her, not that he could see her, or she see him doing it. "Derpy Hooves."

"Yes, Doctor?" She perked her ears. He sounded serious.

"I had wanted to ask you something, that night..."

"Yes.... Doctor?" She leaned towards him. "You can ask now, if it's, um, still a thing."

"It is..." He looked around, though that was a misnomer. He saw nothing but darkness. "Muffins... I..."

"And that's enough of that." Bon Bon poked Turner gently. "We don't need you slipping here of all places, now do we?"

Turner sighed softly, but a small smile formed on his furry snout. "You may be right, ma'am. Derpy, we'll continue this later, promise."

"This is where you get off." Bon Bon turned to Spring Rain even as the train slid to a halt. "You'll be alright."

Spring shook her head. "I don't know anyone... I know you! Why can't I just stay with you?" The answer seemed to come to her even as she said it. "Because you don't like me."

Bon Bon reached out for the shaking little changeling in disguise. "I like you enough to get you to where you'll be happy, just not enough to adopt. My life is no place for a filly, of any species. Now, if you ever visit Ponyville, stop by." She got a hoof around Spring and gently began leading her to the exit.

Their conversation faded in the ears of the two left behind. Derpy leaned over towards the doctor. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"One would hope. Not to sound callous, but her odds are a far sight better than ours." He raised a hoof to adjust his collar-line. "But I... don't think we're bad off, so she must be fine."

"Wake me up when we're there," said Derpy with a thunderous yawn. Before Turner had even finished processing the words, she flopped against him, snoring softly.

Turner felt some of his tension fleeing him. No matter what was coming, he had Derpy. He reached a hoof to rest on her far shoulder, supporting her gently as she slept. It couldn't get too bad, not while she was there.

They disembarked. The first thing Turner noticed was that it was relatively quiet. They were not in a city. Bon Bon was leading the way, her firm clip-clops a beacon through the darkness of the blindfolds they both wore.

Neither could be certain how far or in what direction they had gone, but she eventually calm to a stop. "Inside, sit down, and give the toilet paper a good firm tug."

Derpy shoved ahead. "Oh thank goodness!" She vanished into the outhouse without delay. A happy sigh emanated from within not long after, then a sudden yelp, and quiet.

Turner turned as best he could to face Bon Bon. "What happened?!"

Bon Bon pointed to the outhouse. "Your turn, Doctor."

Turner could not see where she was pointing. "Is she alright? Derpy! Miss Hooves!?"

"Turner, she's fine," sighed out Bon Bon, nudging the blind doctor towards the outhouse. "The sooner you get in there, the sooner you'll see her."

He almost fell over the potty before the door slammed shut behind him. He looked around a moment, but couldn't. With a muttering, he reached up and yanked away his blindfold. "Derpy?" There was no room for her in the little outhouse. He peeked down the hole, but there was nothing there anyone wanted to be around. "I say..."

"Tug the toilet paper hard when you're done," commanded Bon Bon, leaned against the outhouse. "Sooner you are, sooner you see Derpy."

"Right..." It was like a spy movie, he decided. He had to go with it. He hopped up into place, but he didn't have to 'go'. He just reached for the toilet paper and gave a pull.

He was falling and screaming. He was on some kind of slide, whizzing along through a tunnel of sorts. With a thump, he landed on something that squealed with his impact. He had landed on a still blindfolded Derpy. "Oh dear, are you alright?"

He scrambled free of her and rushed to help her to her hooves.

"Welcome." A well-dressed stallion approached them from the other side of the room. Given a reason to look, Turner could see they were in some kind of metallic bunker. Electric lighting cast white and sterile illumination across the area from the corners where the ceiling and floor met the walls. "You may take off your blindfold, though I see one of you already took the liberty."

Derpy wrenched her blindfold free with a bright smile. "That's much better!"

With a thump, Bon Bon arrived behind them, landing on her hooves without difficulty. "Reporting."

"Good to see you." The stallion nodded. "Shall we get straight to the matter at hoof?" It wasn't much of a question, he was already turning to go right back the way he came. "The target is quite unresponsive to attempts to interrogate it."

Turner perked an ear. "Wait, you've already captured them?"

He looked over his shoulder. "We have, they are quite unresponsive." He stopped in front of a door that looked like so many others in those narrow corridors. "Before we proceed, while we appreciate your volunteering, we must remind both of you that this is entirely confidential." He turned back to face them. "Speaking of that, are you prepared to become bipedal when the command is given?"

Derpy thrust a hoof out in front of Turner. "You mean when you ask nicely, right?"

Turner softly coughed into a hoof. "It's alright, Derpy. This is... something of a military facility. Orders are the way they do things, and yes, I am. I brought a set of clothing with me."

"Very good." He turned and pressed open the door. The room beyond flickered into gloomy light. The left side of it showed a brighter room, seperated by glass. "They can't see us, one-way mirror."

Derpy rushed ahead, brushing past even the taciturn stallion to get a peek at the biped. They were laying on a bed, an arm over their face. "Are they sleeping?"

Bon Bon slid up beside her superior, speaking in a hushed tone, "Shouldn't we do briefing before leaping right into the thick of things?"

He held up a hoof for her to be quiet, his eyes on Turner as he approached the glass.

Turner shook his head slowly, looking over the biped with wide eyes. "They're not... exactly like me."

Derpy tilted her head at Time Turner. "What do you mean? They have two legs and they're, um, naked, and they have fingers!"

Turner pointed. "Are they well? They have... lumps, here." He rose up onto his hind legs and pointed at his chest. "Is that normal, or are they suffering from some malady or another?"

Derpy looked back at the human. "Oh yeah, huh. I didn't even notice that."

The stallion coughed into a hoof. "They are in fine physical condition, so far as we have been able to discern. They are also female. Those appear to be their teats."

Turner's eyes zipped away from those bumps as quickly as they could, his face going red. "Oh dear! I... had no idea." Wait... "Hold on a moment!" He spun to face the stallion. "Those are teats?! I have... things there. Are you saying I have teats?!"

Derpy burst into giggles. "They didn't take anything from you, Doctor. You're a perfectly handsome stallion... with teats."

Turner's blushing did not improve at her words.

"We have attempted conversation," spoke the stallion, ignoring the outburst. "They refuse to speak to 'strange aliens'." He arched a brow. "As if she had a leg to stand on."

"She has two," helpfully pointed out Derpy.

"We want you to enter in your bipedal form. You should not make any hostile motions, nor should you approach. Simply be seen, and offer conversation." He pointed past the biped to a door on the opposite side of her room. "You'll come from there. As you can see, we will be watching you, and can act if things go poorly. Do you understand?"

"Fine... Very well, sir. Where can I change?" He looked around the bare room. There was pretty little there save a table with some paper on it.

Bon Bon waved. "Follow me and bring your luggage." She led the way out of the room, leaving the stallion with Derpy.

It grew quiet a moment before Derpy tilted her head at the dour male. "So, you work here, huh?" He didn't reply. "Must be exciting..." He offered no response. "I mean, this is just another day for you. I wonder what sorts of things you see... Um..." She rubbed at her cheek. "Thank you."

He perked his ears at her. "What are you thanking me for?"

She smiled brightly. "For being braver than I was. Thank you. Being all secret and hidden, I bet you don't get thanked enough, so at least I can do it."

He almost smiled. Almost... "Duly noted. Keep your eyes on that room." He pointed into the brighter room that held the biped. "Do not tap on the glass. This room is fairly sound proof, but she'll hear that."

Derpy had been considering doing just that, and moved a hoof away as if in guilt. "Okay... Will the doctor be safe? She isn't... mean, is she?"

"She has shown little signs of aggression." He pointed to the door. "Presuming Mister Turner follows the instructions, he should be in no danger.

In another hallway, Bon Bon gently knocked on the door. "Everything alright in there?"

"Just fine," came Turner's voice through the door. "Teats, really..." What manner of strange creature did he become?! He slipped on a shirt to cover the appalling mistake and made sure it all looked decent. Belt buckled, buttons buttoned, zipper zipped. Yep... "Here we are." He emerged, holding the doorknob in a hand as he opened the door.

Bon Bon's eyes quickly roamed over him, but she didn't flinch. "Are you ready?" When he nodded, she began walking, but stopped at the next intersection. "We don't know how keen her hearing is, so I'll stop here. Just take a right here, and it's the last door right at the end." She pointed the way. "Good luck."

Turner looked left and right. There were no signs to help somepony get around. If it weren't for Bon Bon, he was sure he'd have lost his way long ago. "Just at the end?" He began walking down the hallway, his sneakers making their non-hoof-like noises.

Bon Bon thrust a hoof out in front of him. "Before you go, where'd you get all these clothes, anyway? You're not a tailor, or a cobbler."

Turner quirked a little smile. "That's a bit of a curious thing. The shirts I import. Turns out, minotaur fashions do the job quite nicely. The sneakers are actually dragon in origin." He lifted each in turn. "The ones that live in a city don't mind a pony customer. Their legs, when bipedal, are also a match. Sometimes I get a shirt from them too, but I find I prefer the minotaur fashions."

Bon Bon withdrew her hoof and redirected it down the hall. "Interesting. You're on."

"Right." He advanced towards the door and the curious biped that waited on the other side of it.

Author's Notes:

They did say they captured it many chapters ago. I double-checked. How well do dragon sneakers fit on human feet? Hopefully Spring Rain finds a good home with the changelings, even if Bon Bon wasn't willing to take her in.

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15 - Are You a God?

Turner slid one of his hands into a pocket. It was a comforting thing to do. He could wriggle those clever fingers in a safe little space rather than in the middle of the air. He wasn't sure why it made a difference, but it always did. Another point for clothes, as a naked biped anyway.

The other hand he reached out towards the solid metal bar of a door knob. It was cold, smooth, and held back what he had been sent for. He gave it a twist and it turned without objection. Was there a lock on the inside? He assumed as much. He would be locked in with the unknown creature that shared his basic appearance and little else.

He took a slow breath, marshalling himself. She hadn't looked violent, and they hadn't reported any real trouble with her besides her lack of cooperation. All he had to do was be nice, right? It was like one of those friendship lessons that the princess went on about. Yes, exactly that. He could handle it...

With an audible 'clunk', the door came unsealed at his turning. He pulled it open, but met more resistance than he expected. It moved, but it was heavy, for a door. He brought up his other hand, getting both involved to get it open reasonably.

"You got that?" asked a female voice from inside.

"Oh, no, I'm just... fine." He slipped inside and the door slapped shut behind him. He could hear it closing and the lock re-engaging. He was trapped.

She was sitting up on the bed, watching him. Her brown eyes were on him, watching. She had an expression like a pony might, like he... did. He had looked in a mirror before, as a biped. The lack of fur made some of his subtler expressions easier to see.

She looked amused... "So, did they catch you too?"

Opportunity! He could lie. He could try to befriend her as a fellow captive...

But would that be a good ground to build a friendship? "Not... exactly, but not far off either. They... are interested in me too, being an odd thing, but they asked me to come here."

The stallion growled dark and low. "What is he doing?"

Derpy tilted her head. "It sounds like he's talking."

He pointed through the one-way mirror. "He could have established an immediate rapport."

"A what? He said the truth." She nodded softly. "Like a good pony, which he is."

"Odd thing?" She frowned a little as she threw her legs over the side of the bed, righting herself. "That's a funny thing to call a hue-man."

"Pardon?" That was a moment he wished he had an ear to perk at her. Biped ears lacked the trick, but not all bipeds. Minotaurs had twitchy ears, just not whatever he was.

"Human," she repeated, making it clear it was one word and not two. She pointed at herself, then at Turner. "The thing we are? So... Are you free to go whenever you want?"

Turner reached back and tried the knob, but he could only rattle it from the inside. It was quite firmly locked. "Not until they decide to let me out." He smiled a little. "They were hoping we could, you know, talk, like two reasonable people. Um, miss, what's your name?"

"You first." She hiked a brow, a gesture that stood out all the more without other fur in the way. He could see the way her flesh wrinkled with it and all the subtle little hints at what was going on behind her eyes. It was a whole language that he barely understood.

"I am Time Turner, nice to meet you, miss...?" He smiled awkwardly, still standing there by the door. Would approaching her make her upset? Did he want to approach her? He had no plan and no clue, at that specific moment.

"That's one of their names." She said with a wriggle of a few of her fingers. "What's up with that? They're all named things, verbs, nouns, all of them."

"Oh, um, a habit? Your name, miss? It's hardly fair that only one of us has introduced themselves."

"Yeah yeah..." She leaned back, shoulders against the glass wall behind her. "I'm Susan Rich."

Susan? He frowned. "Well, I don't know what the first means, but the second is a word, is it not?" He smiled a little. "It's not all that different. It's a pleasure to meet you, Susan."

"So, what are you?" Susan's eyes were locked on him, not that there was too much else in that sterile room to look at. "They asked you to come here. You have their name."

A door closed almost silently as Bon Bon joined the others. "Is he getting anything?"

Her commander nodded. "He's getting her to talk, but I'm not sure which party is interrogating the other at this point."

Derpy pointed at the two through the one-way mirror. "They're talking. Talking is like that."

"Ah, well..." He wasn't sure how to answer that without being rude. "I was born with a condition. I don't... want to upset you, Miss Rich."

"Is it that bad?" She suddenly sprang from the bed, making him flinch back. She was on her feet. "You know, there's a good chance they just asked you to come here to make it easier, and now they've got you locked up tight where they want you."

"They wouldn't!" He paled a little. Could they have done that? It wasn't impossible.

Derpy glared at the commander, fixing him with as stern a staring she could even if only one of her eyes were on target. "He is free to go after they talk, right?"

"Maybe." She shrugged. "They haven't been all that hospitable to my right to freedom. They feed me, and interrogate me." She waved at the frightened Turner. "And now you get to join the fun."

"Oh, um... Well..."

"So, what are you?"

Turner smiled awkwardly. "Promise to not get upset?"

"No." Her reply was simple and blunt, like a verbal club she slapped him across the face with. "What are we talking? Are you from here?"

"Um, here? As in..." He wriggled a few fingers vaguely. "This place, the prison? I should hope not, ma'am. No, I'm from Trottingham, only foal of--"

"--Only foal?" She looked him up and down. "You're a strange looking foal" She crossed her arms, tapping a finger against one of her elbows. "What are you, a mutant horse?"

"That... isn't too far from the truth," admitted Turner with a wry smile. "Um... I'll show you a trick, if you like."

"Does it involve anyone getting hurt?" She was tense, but she wasn't in the far corner.

"No! No, of course not, perish the thought." He coughed into a hand softly. "You see, I'm, hmm. It's easier to show. This is only one of my two forms."

"Fo--" Her word was cut off as Turner fell forward. His hands hit the ground with the clop of hooves, already changing rapidly and smoothly. He became a pony wearing poor-fitting human clothing. "So... you are one of them."

Turner sat on his haunches, squirming faintly. His tail was trapped, but there wasn't much he could do about that. "That depends which 'them' you refer to, Susan. I'm not, um, one of those holding you here. I've been truthful. They asked me to come here and talk to you."

Susan pointed past Turner to the door he had come in through. "Well, now you're stuck with me. How's that make you feel?"

Turner glanced over at the door and back at the human female. "I feel... a bit nervous, as I'm sure you are experiencing, possibly much more acutely than I am. Miss, I mean you no harm, this I swear. Perhaps we can both get out of here today."

Bon Bon approached a button set on the wall, but her commander's hoof blocked her own as she reached for it. "Not yet," he ordered firmly. "Let's see where this goes."

"That'd be nice." She crouched down, becoming more on the level with Turner. "Come here." She patted one of her legs as if summoning a stray pet.

Fortunately, Turner did not know that meaning of that particular gesture. "If you're sure, miss?" She hadn't been hostile so far. Nothing they had said implied she was, just an alien. He approached, his gait entirely off, clip-thud-clop-thud, his hind-hooves covered in sneakers still as they were. "Oh, um, before you ask, I don't really have any other interesting tricks than that one. More than enough for one pony, I should say."

"Why on earth does a pony have an English accent?" she asked even as she reached for him. Her fingers proved equally as capable as his at ear-petting. He had never been on the receiving end of a ear-scratching, and was soon at her mercy as she pet him gently. "So how do you plan on busting us out of here, little pony? I didn't even--"

Derpy's scowl was deep at Susan. "She sure is... friendly." The hostile expression brightened suddenly to a wide smile. "That's good. See, she's harmless. Can they come out now?"

The other two kept watching, not replying to her request.

"It's a perfectly normal accent where I'm from," defended Turner, one of his ears flicking back, brushing against her fingers. "I think, Susan, they're just worried about... what you are, a human. I... thought I was the only one in the whole world for the longest time. You're the only other one I met." It clicked for him. "Wait, can you change too?"

She snorted at that. "No, I don't think so. What you see is what you get, Turner." She pushed him away a little, sliding him easily along the smooth tiled floor. "You're nicer than most of the other ones I've met in here. At least you know how to smile."

Turner raised a hoof to his chest. "I do my best, Miss. Really, I have almost as little clue as you do. If you aren't... How did you end up in the middle of a city without knowing about things?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." She lifted her shoulders in a shrug, an easily identified motion. "Before the weirdness started, I wrote for a living."

Turner's ears perked at her. "Oh, a writer, that's lovely." He clopped his forehooves together, rearing up a little. "I'm an engineer. It involves no small amount of writing. What sort of writing do you prefer?"

She smiled gently back at him. "That's too cute... I wrote social commentary pieces more often than not. When I got away with it, I liked a little fiction." She wriggled a few fingers at him. "I've done a piece or two about a human on an alien world."

Turner tilted his head at her, focusing on her with one eye more than the other, his head canted to the side. "Is it just as you imagined it?"

"At first, almost... But then I got caught by the local law enforcement. That is what they are, right? I hope? I've been trying to figure it out for sure. I'm still not 100% that I haven't been scooped by some random baddies to auction off as some kind of exotic pet."

He shrank back at the idea. "Oh dear. I certainly would hope they wouldn't do that to any creature capable of asking them not to do just that. As far as I'm aware, they are good ponies, trying to protect the rest of us, um, ponies that is. You likely gave them quite a startle, but... you're not here to cause trouble, I should imagine?"

"Besides existing?" She stood up with a sigh. "I can't do much about that, but besides that, I'd be just fine getting home. Failing that, got a computer?"

"Computer?" He rolled a hoof lightly. "Afraid I'm not familiar with the word, ma'am. What is that?"

"Figures. You have lights, phones. I think I saw a television at one point..."

"A technological device then?" Turner perked his ears up. "If you can describe it, perhaps I can assemble one for you, assuming it's harmless."

Author's Notes:

She isn't so bad. Hello, Susan.

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16 - Advanced Questioning

Turner and Susan both jumped as the door began to open, their eyes locked on the heavy thing.

Emerging from it the very moment it was open enough was a grey pony with a broad smile and walled eyes. Turner barely had time to put up his hooves before she tackled him to the ground, giggling merilly.

Susan blinked at the two of them. "Do you know... that one?"

Derpy looked up at Susan, still smiling. "Hello! I told them you're a good pony, and that you wouldn't be mad if I came in here and said hi, um, hi!" She waved a hoof, the other three busy hugging Turner and his oddly-fitting clothing.

Susan smiled, a quirked gesture of amusement. "And you are... a girl pony."

"She is," agreed Turner as he squirmed his way back up to a seated position. His ears darted to the door as it closed. "And... now we're all stuck in here. Derpy, I appreciate you worrying about me, but you were more helpful out there than in here."

Derpy tilted her head, confusion plain to see. "But I'm with you in here." She pointed to the mirror. "They're still watching us."

Susan's face contorted as she turned away from the mirror. "I suspected as much. There aren't a lot of good reasons to line a wall with glass unless it's a dance studio."

Turner cleared his throat softly, "So, do you dance?"

Susan was caught off-guard by the question, putting a hand to her chest. "Me? I mean, I can? I'm not much in the mood for it right now..."

Derpy still had one leg around Turner, but was otherwise sitting up beside him. "I like dancing. I'm not that good at it... but I still like it."

Turner touched his nose to her cheek, bringing about a rapid blush. "You are just perfect at it," he consoled her with a smile. "Hopefully we'll get the chance to do it some more once we're out of here."

Susan shook her head slowly. "It won't stop confusing me how you ponies blush with your fur. You do know fur isn't supposed to do that, right?"

Turner looked to Susan, one ear perked. "What is fur supposed to do then, Susan?"

Susan rolled a hand limply. "Keep something warm? Protect from scratches? Not change colors?"

Derpy burst into giggles, raising her other forehoof to her chest. She tipped forward dangerously, but her leg around Turner kept her from flopping over. "Mine does most of that, but it can change colors, a little, usually when I don't want it to."

Turner nodded softly. "The blush response is quite a complicated reaction, starting in the epidermis with the expansion of blood vess--"

"--Are you a Doctor?" cut in Susan.

"Yes!" Derpy waved her free hoof at Turner. "He is The Doctor. That's what most ponies call him."

It was Turner's turn to blush softly, which he did with a soft coughing. "Yes, well, Turner will do just fine, Susan. Now..." He turned under Derpy's leg, facing the mirror. "I don't suppose we could be released now?"

Susan quirked a smile. "I tried that, never worked before. Still, there weren't ponies in here asking for it last time, so maybe?" She crouched down, looking at Derpy curiously. "So... Derpy?"

"Ah huh." She nodded quickly back at Susan. "And you're Susan. Nice to meet you." She thrust out a hoof, wobbling dangerously from her support structure that was also a pony.

Susan took the hoof in her fingers and gently lifted it up and down as if shaking hands timidly. "Nice to meet you. Do you have a last name?"

"Do you?" she challenged with a grin. "Most people just call me Derpy. I bet most people call you Susan."

Susan put up her hands in front of her chest, palms facing Derpy. "Got me. Derpy it is." She glanced between Derpy and Turner. "Are you two...?"

They both darkened in their cheeks and separated, bashfully trying to not look at each other.

"That is too cute," sighed out Susan with the hint of a giggle. "I'll take that as a yes."

Turner sat up tall. "No, but... perhaps we could change that?"

Derpy's ears sprang up as she whipped her head around to face Turner, eyes wide, if not both focused on him.

Turner dipped his front in a bow. "Miss Hooves; I am sorry for keeping you waiting this long, but... Will you be my mare? I promise to--"

Derpy didn't let him finish, tackling him over with a squeal. "Yes, yes yes yes!" She squeezed him tightly, repeating the word over and over. "Never leave me again! I'm sorry I was a silly pony before."

Susan clapped gently, her bare hands making quite a different sound than two hooves striking. "Congratulations... does that... make you married, or are you just going steady?"

Turner's blush only worsened as he squirmed in Derpy's grip to look at Susan. "Let's not... get ahead of ourselves. I am her special somepony, and she is mine. That seems like a fine start to things, yes?"

"Yes!" agreed Derpy with a face-splitting grin.

Susan pointed at Derpy and turned the finger to Turner. "You can't turn into a human like he can, can you?"

Derpy shook her head quickly. "Nuh uh. Only he can do that, um, besides you? You're good at it."

Susan laughed as she sank to a cross-legged seat. "This is how I was made, and how I'll stay, so far as I know. What do you see?"

Derpy squinted her eyes at Susan appraisingly. "I see... a mare. Funny shaped, sure, but still a mare." She let Turner go suddenly, resulting in his flopping to the ground. She trotted up to Susan and offered a hoof. "Maybe a friend?"

Turner climbed back to his hooves and was almost instantly at her side, thrusting out his hoof just beside hers.

Susan's eyes darted between the two hooves hovering beside one another. It hardly seemed like a good time for a shake. She balled her fingers into a fist and gently bumped into the spot where the hooves met, making for a three-way meeting. "Friends, hopefully. We still have to get out of here before we start exchanging favorite recipes."

With a soft crackle, a new voice spoke over a hidden speaker from above them, a deep male voice, "Susan, we are willing to allow you access to more of the facility, if we have your word that you will cooperate."

Derpy shook a hoof up at the speaker. "She's a good pony! You let her go right this instant!"

"I'm afraid that would be ill-advised. Well-meaning or not, she is a stranger from a country we have no contact with. It would be in everypony's interest that she at least be acclimated to the laws and procedures of the society she is in before being released."

Susan perked. She had no directing ears to shoot up, but her body language was clear enough. "That means I will be released?"

"Once it is safe for you to leave."

Turner bobbed his head. "That seems reasonable. You were a bit lost... Hopefully we can address that."

Susan pointed at Turner almost accusingly. "You said you'd at least try making a computer for me."

Turner's ears perked in surprise before they rolled back into a guarded position. "I'd need a much better definition of what they are and how you believe they function before I can attempt, but I did say I will, and I am a stallion of my word."

Derpy hopped up to all four hooves. "And he's good at what he does. He can make all kinds of gizmos and things."

With a heavy noise, the door began to open. All eyes were on it as Bon Bon's head poked through, looking back at them. "You're clear to come out." She kept right on pushing the door until it was wide open. "Take a right at the intersection."

Derpy half-dragged Turner from the room, happy as can be and without a shred of doubt.

Susan was more hesitant, trailing after the happy couple. "I don't recognize you, but you look, somehow more like the other ones."

Bon Bon pointed a hoof at herself. "I am a member of the same group." She waved Susan past. "I just arrived here, with the other two you were just talking to. Welcome to Equestria."

Susan scooted past Bon Bon before the offer expired. "I wasn't feeling that welcome, but that may be changing. So... you know them?"

Bon Bon let the door slide shut slowly but inexorably as she followed along with Susan. "Derpy Hooves, AKA Muffins and Time Turner, AKA The Doctor. Both are respected and beloved members of their community. She's a mailmare, and he's a tinkerer, scientist, and has a thing for keeping accurate time during many events." She rolled a hoof. "Comes with the name, I think."

"Ah huh..." She stuffed her hands in her pockets as her eyes wandered over the severe corners of the complex. "This place doesn't suit you."

"Mm?"

"It's too tall. I should be feeling a little claustrophobic considering how short you all are." She gestured at the ceiling as they went. "The angles are all hard and severe when most of you seem to not be that. Then again, the ones that work here seem to match that well enough."

Bon Bon frowned at that. "We are not severe!" A blush began to rise quickly. "Well, I mean, usually?... " She sagged a little. "Well, alright, I suppose we are."

Susan quirked a little smile. "That was refreshingly vulnerable. Are you sure you work here?"

Bon Bon thrust a hoof out in front of Susan, cutting off her progress. "I've been an agent for most of my adult life. I've saved Equestria and its people several times, and I hope to do so a few more times. I'll thank you to--"

"--Alright, alright," cut in Susan, her hands up. "I wasn't trying to say you were bad at your job. I mean, shoot, look at me. I'm a writer that hasn't written a damn word in... however long they've had me penned up here. Tell me you at least have typewriters."

Bon Bon tilted her head slightly. "Yes. Do you require one?" She raised her brows in unison. "I'll bring it up for requisitioning. Perhaps we can secure one for you." She turned forward, her hoof lowering out of the way. "Let's catch up with the others."

Up ahead, Derpy and Turner trotted along side-by-side. Derpy seemed to be quite pleased with her place beside Turner, leaning against him a little as they walked. Turner was more pensive, considering things as his eyes wandered over the doors they passed. None of them had labels or clue to their purpose.

"Do we know where exactly we're headed?" he asked of his ditzy friend. "Perhaps we should wait for Miss Bon to catch up with us?"

Derpy came to a smooth halt and turned on her new boyfriend. "I have to get back to work soon. I'm hoping they just tell us to not tell any secrets and let us go."

Turner blinked at that. "You are one diligent mare." He smiled a little. "It's one of many things I like about you. Hopefully they will do just that. We both have lives we'd like to resume."

Derpy poked him in the chest. "We have new lives to start! You're coming with me."

"Wha?" He recoiled, eyes widening.

"Don't give me that look." She crossed her arms across her chest. "You're coming home, to Ponyville, no excuses. So you turn into a hujan or whatever, who cares? I bet Twilight would like a look at you, and Rarity might be upset you didn't ask her for clothes, and Pinkie probably wants to throw a 'coming out of the closet' party or something, but I don't care!" She stomped a hoof on the floor, the walls ringing with the clop. "You're coming home."

Author's Notes:

Derpy puts her hoof down, literally and figuratively.

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17 - Denouement

They all gathered into what seemed to be a cafeteria. There were three long tables with benches on either side of them. All of the furniture was made of cold metal beneath haunches or the human's bottom.

Susan patted a spot beside herself. "At least it's a change of scenery."

Bon Bon was seated across from the human. Derpy had a leg around her claimed stallion. Bon Bon smiled at Susan gently. "My apologies that it took this long to get to this point in the diplomacy."

Susan threw up her hands. "It helps when you try! Barking questions through the speakers is not much of a friendly hello. Orders don't improve the situation. Were you that scared of me?"

A new voice joined the conversation as his steps carried him across the room. "Standard procedures. Considering you seemed to be avoiding contact with ponies to begin with, you can hardly fault us for assuming it foolish to force the contact." The stallion that seemed to be in charge was looking at Susan directly. "We can put that behind us now."

Susan pointed at Turner. "Isn't that what you ended up doing? You know what, nevermind. I'm glad to be out of that box. What do I need to do to get out of this bigger one?"

Turner put a hoof behind his head, looking uncomfortable as his eyes darted. "Well, about... that. You... I've always thought my other half was a unique species, but here you are, ruining that assumption. Are there many of you, where you come from? Where is that?"

Derpy bobbled her head, eyes seeming to jiggle about her head from the motion. "Yeah, where are you from, Susan? Are they all like you there?"

All eyes were on her, eager to hear the answer. "I'll answer that, after I get fed like a civilized person."

Bon Bon hopped down from her seat. "I'll get something. Turner, Derpy?" Derpy nodded and Turner shook his head. She trotted off in pursuit of a snack for two.

The stallion in charge nodded lightly. "This is a question of great importance, but while we wait... allow me to welcome you to Equestria."

Susan watched his perfectly serious face, unchanging in its supposed welcome. "You're not the most cheerful thing, are you?"

He turned his head towards Turner. "About that. The techs have already surmised that where there is one, there could be another. The odds of her being entirely unique are vanishingly small. We will need the services of a diplomat and go-between to ease the friction of first encounters and help forge relations with future such encounters."

Derpy shoved her head in front of Turner, glaring at the stallion. "You're not taking him. He's going home, to Ponyville."

"Of course he will," agreed the stallion with a light nod. "You will be on retainer with S.M.I.L.E. You will be paid for the trouble, but we expect you to be ready to react at anytime in exchange. Should another human surface, you would be the first to attempt communication and ease the process."

Susan burst out with a guffaw of a laugh. "You're joking. Really? Smile?"

"S.M.I.L.E.," repeated the stallion. "It's an acronym."

"Sure sure." She pointed at the stallion, a smirk on her face. "Except you're not smiling at all. The one that went to get something to eat, she's in too, right? She doesn't smile much either."

"I smile when there's a reason to." Bon Bon returned from down a hallway, a tray balanced on her head. It barely wobbled with her steps, three plates set out on it, steam wafting upwards with the promise of food. "Mid-assignment, those tend to be rare in coming."

The stallion nodded towards her before returning his gaze to the others, Turner especially. "Do you accept?"

Turner looked aside at his companions, new and old. He watched Bon Bon set the tray down on the table. "Well... I don't want to imagine anyone else being treated the same way Susan was... If I can lend a hoof and avoid that in the future..."

"Very good." He turned to Bon Bon. "See them home, and give him a communicator. Be sure to give the standard introduction speech for outside agents."

"On it," assures Bon Bon as she passed around the plates to each person. "But, for now, let's just eat and talk."

Susan smiled at that. "Maybe I was wrong. You're not so bad."

And that's what they did, though the stallion excused himself quickly. The others ate and talked. Though Turner hadn't asked for anything, Derpy fed him anyway, a goofy smile on her face.

"There are a lot of me," explained Susan. "Where I come from, it's harder to find a place without a human than the other way around. We had cities just like the one we're... in? Are we still in the city? Either way, big places, and lots of them, with countless people, living their lives."

Derpy clopped her hooves excitedly. "That sounds nice. You must have had lots of friends if there were that many people around to talk to." Her smile faltered in a sudden crash. "Oh no! You must miss them soooo much! I'm sorry!"

Susan sank her teeth into hot sandwich that had been provided. It was more of a sub or a hotdog. Whatever it was, it tasted of caramelized carrots. "I went through... that already. I prefer to not think about that too hard. I could sit around and cry, or I could stand up and do something. Trick was, I didn't have a lot of choices before." She looked towards Bon Bon. "Once I finish this 'guide to Equestria' training, will I be a full citizen or what?"

Bon Bon's ears lifted as she looked up from her salad. "Do you want to be?"

Susan leveled a lone finger at Bon Bon. "That's a silly question. As a citizen, I can get an apartment, a job, all that, right? As 'That weird alien thing,' none of those. Of course I want my papers. And you said something about getting a typewriter?" She made a typing motion in the air, her many fingers dancing. "I wonder how the ponies of this world would react to an autobiographical piece about an alien arriving in their world?"

Turner watched her fingers dance and tilted his head. "You know, typewriters are not designed to take advantage of our digits like that."

"... What?" Susan looked at Turner, her brain refusing to properly process the new information. "What do they look like then?"

Bon Bon held up a hoof. "One moment." She was gone in a flash, and back almost as quickly, a pony typewriter balanced on her back. With a single powerful heave, it bounced up onto the table between everyone, rattling the plates with the impact. "I borrowed this. I have to put it back after you're done looking at it."

Susan reached with mildly trembling hands, feeling over its cool metal surfaces and its two, large, round, singular buttons. "How... do you type with just two buttons?"

Turner smiled at the stunned human. "Binary, ma'am. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it comes easily enough." He reached and pulled the machine over a little before laying his hooves down on the two buttons. "Just about large enough to fit most hooves, you see. Then..." He began tapping down on the two buttons, making rapid click-clacks.

The typewriter came to life, striking letters onto the piece of paper held in it. "Hello. It is nice to meet you, Susan."

Susan shook her head rapidly. "No no no no! You're a mechanical pro, right?" She spread out her fingers, showing her palms to Turner. "Tell me you can make something just like this, but with different keys for each letter. I can't be the only thing in this whole world with fingers, I hope?"

Derpy thrust up a hoof. "I bet a minotaur typewriter looks different."

Turner smiled easily as he brought up a hoof to his face. "Of course, how absurd of me. A minotaur typewriter would be precisely the ticket, ma'am."

Bon Bon inclined her head. "That will take longer to secure. Minotaurs can be fussy about their technology. I'll do my best, Susan." She pointed at the typewriter. "Can you make do with one of ours while you wait?"

Susan pulled the typewriter away from Turner, lifting it a little so its bottom stopped scraping against the table. She laid her hands down on the buttons made for hooves and gently depressed her right hand, making a little click, but nothing happened. She tried pressing the other hand, alternating back and forth until a single letter was produced with a firm stamp of metal on paper. "ª" was the result.

Derpy shook her head. "I don't blame her. I can barely use one and I'm from here!"

Susan let out a hysterical little laugh. "Oh, wow, it... really is binary, which I never learned. I can't write with this." She pushed the typewriter away, rejecting it with an unhappy sigh. "At least tell me you have some paper and a pencil?"

Bon Bon coughed into a hoof. "I'm sorry to hear that. Pencils we have though. In the meanwhile, we should show you your new room, and we can begin with your lessons when you feel ready."

"No, thanks." Susan waved away the idea. "I've been in a room long enough. I'd rather just loaf around out here for a little while. That's alright, I hope? I've been a good prisoner."

Bon Bon flinched at the word. "You are not our prisoner."

Turner raised a hoof. "Not to be contrary, but she kind of has been, ma'am. Still, I'm glad that messy episode can be put to rest." He smiled at Susan. "And it's good to make a new friend." He offered a hoof out towards her.

She met it easily, only to have Derpy's hoof already present by the time she got her fist out. "You better watch out. She's claimed you something fierce, Turner."

Turner leaned against Derpy gently. "I have accepted her claim, Miss. I can think of several worse fates."

Derpy stuck out her tongue. "I just don't want him to slip away again. Running away like that... The ponies of Ponyville will still love you, Doctor, even if you're sometimes all weird and naked." She looked to Bon Bon with a bright smile. "Right?"

Bon rolled a hoof through the air before grabbing the typewriter and balancing it on her back. "The ponies there already know you, Time Turner. I'm not writing you off, and I doubt they will either." She returned the typewriter to where she had borrowed it from. "Now, before I let you two go..."

She waved a hoof between Derpy and Turner. "The usuals. What you've seen is a secret, so don't go talking about it. You already know me, not much to be done about that, but you'll note that the other pony kept his name to himself. That was not a mistake, and he wasn't trying to be rude. You can refer to him simply as 'Boss' or 'Director' and that'll do."

Derpy suddenly pounced Bon Bon, interrupting the speech. "I'm sorry for running away from you before. I was being just as silly as Turner was."

Bon Bon pet the wall-eyed mare's back with an awkward smile. "I forgive you, but in the future, if you're concerned, talk to me. Hay, you know who I am, and what I do, so I expect you to come running towards me. We're here to keep Equestria safe from horrible monsters."

Susan hiked a brow. "Is that what I am, a horrible monster?"

Bon Bon thrust up her hooves, a frantic expression on her face. "No no no! I didn't mean it like that!"

Turner chuckled softly at the exchange. "Forgive them, Susan. I thought... for the longest time, that I was a monster."

Derpy spun around in place to face Turner. "That mean you're not keeping it a secret anymore?"

Turner tensed. "I'm... not sure I'm ready to shout it from the rooftops, Muffins. Baby steps."

It would have to do.

Author's Notes:

This feels like an ending to me. Did I fail to close a vital thread? I'll leave this unfinished for a few days, let people comment and such. Enjoy the story? Lemme know!

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