Time Bubbles III: Hourglasses and Foam

  Derpy was dizzy due to several reasons. Firstly, she had recently returned to the "real" (or, more correctly, "right" - who said that world was not real?) world to which he had gone because of her own clumsiness. Again. Secondly, she had been brought from there by Victorian, the eighth brother from the very extraordinary and motley Turner family, and this had included loads of different magic. Derpy had never seen so much of it locked in one person. Thirdly, she, Time Turner (the tenth in the family) and her little sister Dinky (who had also incomprehensibly appeared in that world and, thank goodness, had avoided the consequences of unbridled xenophobia) had also taken part. And fourthly... and this "fourthly" was the most dizzying.
  She couldn't even believe that an ordinary house could've contained so many people - twelve Turner brothers (actually this was their house), Derpy's friends - Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Bon Bon and Lyra, herself, Dinky... and the most surprising was that no one objected against such atmosphere. On the contrary, the fact that everyone was wearing pyjamas and chatting about all kinds of things, was taken for granted. Derpy had thought that if such thing happened it would've ended at least with a fight, and at most... it had better not be imagined.
  Victorian, Octavia and History, the oldest Turner (it was impossible to guess his age: he looked like a youngster, but his hair, combed back in the old-fashioned manner, was completely white), were discussing abstruse things like researches in magic and science (one of which had been the reason of Derpy's crossing the border between the worlds), sitting in the farther corner not to be disturbed. Having decided that she shouldn't make them mad, Derpy crawled among the pillows scattered around the floor to Lyra and Tricky Turner (number four), who were practising magic, sneakily hurling these very pillows at Blast Turner (who had number six and the most explosive pyjamas ever, sewn out of multi-colored patches of all kinds of fabric, and also wasn't suspecting anything) without using their hands. I wonder what it's like, moving things from distance?.. - Derpy thought and felt a prick of envy towards the mages. She had seen that mages are also able to fly - Victorian had brought her out of the crowd (which had never seen anyone like her), having saved her. No matter that you should be a truly powerful mage to do it? No matter... Dinky was a mage, but she still couldn't control her abilities in full measure (no wonder, she was nine!). By the way, where's she?
  Having run across the "battlefield" (Vinyl, Bon Bon, Riddler, Shade, Time and Hobo were playing a "war" game, using pillows as grenades and material for building protection walls, while Tenderheart acted as a judge), Derpy made her way upstairs. Giggling and sounds marking the usage of magic - tiny firework explosions and ringing - were heard from there. This is it. Dinky and two youngest Turners - Glimmer and Quote - were fussing with a pile of patches, as if trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle, but as soon as Derpy entered, all three squeaked and hid them under themselves.
  "Hush, you three! I'm not looking! You know that I'm cross-eyed and I can't see anything!" Derpy beamed at them and immediately regretted for this: Quote's face saddened upon having heard this. "What's up?"
  "You're cross-eyed, but you're winged, and I have none of this", he murmured. "I don't have a mage's bump or wings, nothing special".
  "Fudge, bro!" Glimmer ruffled his little brother's dark tight curls. "You know what History likes to say? You're you, and this is the main thing! What's about your being ordinary? You don't have a mage's bump, but you can use your hands..."
  "Uh-huh", Dinky nodded. "Some of my classmates, the mages, use magic worse than you use your hands".
  "What are you doing there, I wonder?" Derpy asked. All three made innocent faces, but a bit later Dinky jumped up (the boys had to cover more "material" with themselves) and ran downstairs, having counted the lowest stairs with her tail and its base, judging by the sound. Then her voice was heard:
  "Mr. Dandy, can we..." Unrecognisable muttering followed, but it was persuasive, because Dandy, the third Turner brother, quickly drew everyone together and announced:
  "Now silence everyone! Making the marks visible requires concentration!"
  What marks? Oh, yes, Derpy recalled. She had heard once that some mages were able to visualise the marks - or prints, or burns, or whatever they were called?.. In all, those symbols showed the core of a person in the most minimalistic shape, and the most interesting was that everyone had something different in this direction. And not much people knew their marks, and Dandy must have decided to make them all visible at once... In a moment the room was filled with silvery blue shine, or more like glittering mist, in which images became forming over everybody's heads. Those images soon got colors and firm lines.
  Wow, Derpy thought, having glanced at the Turners - their marks were almost all the same. Hourglasses, but sand in them was slowly proceeding down from oldest to youngest: History's hourglass had almost all of it in the top half, while Glimmer's - in the bottom half. Only Quote was out of the row: his hourglass had all sand in the upper half and was inside a round golden frame... Wait a bit! Despite Derpy being cross-eyed, she spotted that Victorian and Shade, the eighth and the ninth, had larger difference between the quantity of proceeding sand in the upper half than the rest, and the same was with Time and Glimmer (they were tenth and eleventh).
  "Fancy a prank?" Hobo wondered. He was the first to guess Derpy's thoughts - he often did it, answering the unasked questions or telling the unsaid words, and always 100% accurately, though he was winged, not a mage. "There are fourteen of us. I don't know why, but Defender", he gestured at Victorian and Shade, meaning that someone else was to be between them, "doesn't want to communicate with us. He was just gone... And Time has a twin brother, who was gone too, but against his will. I'm not talking about Quote... You know why? We are still in such order. No confusing!"
  Octavia had a treble clef over her head (no wonder, with such a name and perfect manners!). Apart from this, there appeared two more musical symbols: Vinyl had a musical note (with her passion of a DJ...) and Lyra had an ancient harp. Her namesake. Three candies in stripy papers twirled over Bon Bon's head (yeah!), and as about Derpy... Everybody said she had bubbles in her head, and they were right. They were soaring above her tow-topped head now. At least something, and Dinky had nothing, though it didn't make her sad.
  A while later, when the pillow war was in its heat (such heat that Derpy and Time decided not to interrupt and to watch from the corner), Dinky ran downstairs again from the second floor, this time more craftily and pressing something to her chest.
  "Here, look what we made!" she shot out, showing two ragdoll horses. One was grey with yellow mane and tail, and the other was light brown with the chocolate-colored "hairstyle". Time was the first to get what she meant, having seen that there were patterns embroidered (clumsily, but devotedly) on the toys' sides: the grey one had bubbles and the brown one had hourglass.
  "Cool! Why so?" he asked.
  "I like horsies", Dinky admitted. "And... er..."
  "We've seen the way you look at each other!" Glimmer shouted from the stairs and got a belly punch with a couch pillow from Tricky. "So you do it this way, bro?! You just wait!"
  "A provocation without saying a word", Time chuckled, watching as Dinky, Glimmer and Quote collapsed (it couldn't be put another way) in the center of the fight. "What an achievement".