Bad news is bad news, but not till such limit, Derpy thought. At school Time was behaving as usually, but his eyes stayed sad when he was laughing or eagerly telling about anything. This must be really something serious if... People like those Masters would've said "it doesn't matter because it didn't affect me", but this was a completely different case.

Derpy finally decided to ask about this on the way home, when no one could hear them. Who would care for two youngsters going home from school?

"Time?"

"Hm?"

"Tell me what is going on. Please. I won't tell anybody".

Two vertical wrinkles appeared on Time's forehead, but then he sighed and nodded.

"It's all about Star Shock".

"Star Shock?"

"Mm-hmm. A friend of Tenderheart's... Guess Mask approved my big brother's fears coming true".

"What do you mean?"

"Okay... There was a plane crash. Disastrous consequences and everything, and Star Shock was there. Guess Mask threw it right into my brother's face".

"Oh..." The words were stuck in Derpy's throat. Horror, plain horror - and not only the fact, but the way it was brought as well...

"And... Space was bothering me".

"Space? Your twin?"

"Yes. I think he's not amused. He's rebelling, I feel it. Wonder why?.. Ah!"

Time's body twitched in a strange way, as if he was pulled forward from the inside. Or no, as if there was another living being inside him, willing to break free.

"See?" he gasped. "He wants me to go somewhere..."

"I'll go with you".

Time wanted to say something else, but was pulled forward again. Any of them could've guessed what was going on - one of the houses' walls nearby was gleaming with familiar pale golden light.


The duo found themselves in the "hidden" place once again, and this time they were met by Space, who was soaring in front of them, observing Derpy and Time with worried expression in his eyes (his face seemingly wasn't capable of expressing emotions yet, but his state was obviously better).

"Hi Space. Wow, someone's angry", Time began. Space nodded and crossed his arms, nodding at Defender, who was fussing over a new item in this messy room full of anything possible - this was a giant metal capsule, a bit similar to those in which tomograms are made. "New invention?"

Space shook his head and frowned even more.

"Come here, you two", Defender called without stopping his work. "This twinsanity of yours, Time, made me bring you here. Otherwise he wouldn't have left me and you alone..."

"What are you doing here?" Time asked, approaching closer. Oh dear. Defender looked as if he hadn't been sleeping for weeks: apart from his (perhaps eternal) bristle there and here, black shades were surrounding his sunken eyes, and his pupils were so wide that they almost hid his natural silvery blue eye color.

"Correcting", Defender replied, adding some gluey pinkish liquid drop-by-drop into the small hole on the capsule. "Mask brought bad news, and I'm correcting this". Time and Derpy just stared at him. "Okay, you dumb-bells, I am resurrecting that friend of Tenderheart's. Satisfied?"

"Resurrecting?.." both pressed out. Space nodded once again - he would've grumbled something if he had voice, Derpy thought.

"All that I needed was a particle of that boy and a nice set from the Building People collection from a different world", Defender went on in such tone as if he was cooking a pie. "You know very well, Time, that Victorian loves travelling through all kinds of dimensions. I asked him to find a thing like this, and he did. Today children build cars and gears out of details, and somewhere they make living people out of tissue and everything... There was a difficulty about wings, but I solved it. Guess it would've been more complicated if this Tenderheart's friend was a mage instead of being winged".

"But why is Space angry at you?" Derpy finally spoke.

"Some processes require time, and there's no time to waste. Here I can make time run faster or slower, but this has consequences, and Space doesn't want them to occur".

That's why he looks so grown-up! - Derpy realized. Too much time!

"I wish I had this set before. I could've resurrected Space as easily as that... well, comparably, but now, when Space is a work-in-progress, I only have to wait till he becomes a normal living being". Defender finished adding "ingredients" to his capsule and entered settings on the panel on the capsule's side. "Okay, let's see... Hope all the calculations were right".

The capsule's cover became transucent, Defender glanced inside and clicked his tongue.

"Hmm, seems right. The brain contents, memories, emotions... Right. Now I only have to bring him to life".

"What did you use as a particle?" Time wondered.

"It's easy to get a lock of hair or some skin remains if you know where anyone lives. I used my magic", Defender replied, and behind him the capsule opened. "Let's see".

A soft groan was heard from the capsule, and a kid's head covered with think black hair showed itself from behind the "container's" wall, followed by vinous red wings.

"Where am I?" the youngster asked, blinking like a woken owl. "Am I dead?"

"You're not dead, Star Shock", Defender replied. "You're just a bit out of time".

"Ah!" The youngster's dark eyes widened, and he backed away at the sight of Space.

"Don't worry, my twin is just a half-living, unlike you", Time interfered. Star Shock squinted at him.

"Oh man. Time? Time Turner?"

"Whoever else?" Time grinned. "Come out, Tenderheart's waiting for you".

"But... I don't get it". Star Shock rubbed his head. "I remember... I was in a plane, there was such panic, and then... it was so dark... and now I'm here, god knows where, and I'm..." He looked at himself and deeply blushed.

"Don't worry, no one saw anything", Defender assured, throwing a bundle of clothes to him. "Get dressed, and hurry up".


"He always does it when he's upset", Time mentioned, when the three of them - himself, Derpy and Star Shock - spotted Tenderheart hovering over the Turners' house roof like some kind of a living phantom. "He says it helps him to relax... No, no, don't you even dare!" he snapped, having seen that Star Shock was preparing to fly up. "You'll knock him off the sky!.. Wait there". Time gestured at the bench next to the house's wall, where the soaring one couldn't have spotted them. "I'll do it. Tenderheart! Come here!"

No answer.

"Tenderheart! I've got a message for you!"

No reaction.

"Seems he's too deep in his thoughts... Cricket!"

Tenderheart's head shook, and he glanced down.

"It always works", Time smirked. "Hey big brother, come here! Are you going to spend your whole life there?"

Tenderheart huffed, but slowly landed next to his brother, with his back to Derpy and Star Shock.

"What do you want?"

"At first - I want you to stop it. You're exhausted".

"I'm not tired".

"Yes, you are... No, no, wait!" Time hurried, when Tenderheart's wings unfurled again. "Turn around".

"Huh?"

"Simply turn around".

Tenderheart obeyed - and froze, wide-eyed, at the sight of the one now in front of him.

"See? Bad news gone. And no hallucinations... though you're tired, I see it..."

The next moment Derpy and Time had to prove that they could run as well as fly - they fled for their life until they were caught by some kind of a rope... or, more specifically, by a stream of magic. Judging by its emerald color, it was Victorian's.

"I see the set worked", the eighth Turner beamed. "Relax. It's going to pass soon. Tenderheart gets used to changes, if they are not too crushing".

"Like this time?" Derpy panted.

"Whatever".


A/N: Star Shock is the counterpart of Adric in this AU. I told that I'm going to give everyone a chance to come out.