//------------------------------// // Keeping busy // Story: Brown Note: An Off-Color Love Story // by Starlitomega //------------------------------// A week had passed since the crab incident, and life in Ponyville had returned to its version of normal. A kinda-crazy-but-in-the-long-run-still-normal normal. Clockwork was holed up in her workroom repairing a vintage E.U.P. Guard watch when along came the rapping of a hoof upon her door. Dropping her screwdriver, Clockwork’s brows furrowed. It’s still early morning. Who in Equestria could that be? Leaving her stool, she walked to her kitchen and opened the door. Standing upon her doorstep was a familiar—in a passing glance sort of way—earth pony. Her light brown coat and long, elegant silver hair accented a smile that screamed dignitary. “Good morning, Miss… Clockwork, is it?” Holding up her hoof, Clockwork dashed back into her workroom and snatched up her mask. After briefly putting it on, she ran back to the door. “Yes, my name is Clockwork. How can I help you, Miss…” “Mrs. Mayor Mare. Nice to meet you. I’m here because ponies have told me you have a skill I might require,” the mayor said. “And that is?” “Why, mechanical restoration, of course! You see, about four years ago, we had a pony who did most of the repair jobs around town. Unfortunately, his mother in Manehattan fell ill and he departed our fair town to watch over her. Quite a loss for Ponyville, but we survived regardless. Other ponies stepped in to do the jobs he used to do.” Clockwork didn’t like where this conversation was going. She inched her hoof to the door and ever so slowly started pushing it closed. “That’s a sad story, but I don’t see what it has to do with me.” Mayor Mare’s hoof stepped forward, blocking the door in as polite a manner as possible. Her smile brightened even wider. “I was just getting to that! You see, we’ve done a wonderful job filling in the gaps his unfortunate departure left, but there is one thing in town nopony knows how to fix.” Stepping back, Mrs. Mare pointed to the top of a nearby tower; upon its face was a giant clock. To any average pony who merely glanced at it, everything seemed to be normal. However, Clockwork was not any average pony. “Unless Celestia fell asleep on the job, I don’t think it’s ten-thirty,” Clockwork noted with a cocked eyebrow. “Ahh, you see the problem then!” the mayor practically shouted. “Every five years, we have a vigil that involves the clocktower and its chimes. One would say, without the clocktower, there could be no vigil! It shouldn’t be too hard to fix, should it?” Clockwork’s hoof pushed the door a little harder. “I wouldn’t know, I’m retired from the mechanical biz. Sorry!” The mayor, not one to give in so easily, pushed back. “Retired? But you’re probably only five years younger than me!” In your dreams, silvermane! “Yup! Retired! So good luck with that whole clocktower thing,” she said, putting her shoulder into the door. The mayor, not to be outdone, put her own weight into the match. “We can pay you! We have plenty of bits in the treasury!” Had there not been a mask preventing it, Clockwork would have been gritting her teeth by now. “I don’t see how that’s possible, with the weekly monster attacks, but I’m already rich, thanks!” “Please! I… I don’t know what I’d do, but I’d be very much in debt to you! You said it yourself, you’re retired! What else do you have to do?” Clockwork’s shoving match came to a halt. She was running rather low on pet projects. It wouldn’t be long before she would have to start finding other things to keep herself occupied. Her eyes traveled back up to the tower. She was kind of curious as to the mechanics of such a giant clock. Given its apparent age, it wouldn’t be a standard line clock. Oh crap. I’m actually considering it, aren’t I? Letting out a defeated sigh, she let go of the door. The mayor, who up to this point had been pushing with all her force, went forward, tumbling inside across the threshold. “Okay, fine. I’ll take a look at it, and if it isn’t a lost cause, I’ll repair it. Alright?” The mayor rose to her hooves and dusted herself off. “You won’t regret this, I’m sure!” The clocktower’s door made a poor first impression upon Clockwork. Rusty hinges screeched against her considerable efforts to pry it open. Putting her earth pony strength to work, she finally eased it open and was rewarded with a fine layer of dust. Ewww. I’m gonna need a broom before I need a screwdriver. Beams of light shined through every crack and imperfection in the brick walls, illuminating the dust and fine particles in the air. Surveying the room, she took particular note of what appeared to be spare parts left for whoever would be foolish enough to follow in the last repair pony’s hoofsteps. “How’s it look?” Mayor Mare asked, poking her head inside with a dust mask on her face. “Well, there’s obviously ticking, so that’s a good sign,” Clockwork said, pointing to a large machine mounted to the tower wall. “I’m gonna need some fans… and some cleaning supplies! I don’t work in filth.” “Fans, cleaning supplies, got it! So, do you think it’ll be ready in time for the celebration next month?” the mayor asked with a twinge of hopefulness. A loud crack echoed through the tower. Clockwork looked up in time to see a three foot round cog hit the ground, roll a few feet, and then as is the way of the universe, it spun on its side like a dropped plate, wobbling all the while until it laid perfectly on the ground next to her hooves. “I’ll see what I can do.” Twilight stared into her book with a laser-like focus she rarely gave to anything except her studies. “I don’t know, Spike. It says three to five days. Does it mean three days, or five days?” Spike lifted his head once more from his comic book. “It means anytime between three and five days. Come on, Twilight, stop being such a big baby.” Lowering her copy of “The Game of Love”, Twilight cut her eyes at the baby dragon. “Spike, timing is one of the most important parts of dating. If I talk to her too often, she’ll think I’m desperate or clingy. If I don’t show up often enough, she’ll think it was a one time fling. I’m not a flinger! Oh, but I can’t seem desperate, or she’ll think I’m a clinger! Maybe she’s afraid I’ll tie her down!” Spike sighed, resigned to the fact he wouldn’t be able to finish his book until he got Twilight out of the castle. “Why don’t you do something that isn’t exactly a date, like… a picnic?” Twilight slammed her book shut. “Spike, you’re a genius! I’ll go get a basket together and take her someplace relaxing. It’s the perfect plan!” “Need any help packing something together?” Spike asked, eager to get Twilight moving. “No, thanks. I’ll just grab my basket and go get something from Sugarcube Corner. She’ll probably be glad to see me. It’s not like she has a lot going on.” Spike smiled as she tore out of the castle’s library. “Finally. Now I can get some peace and quiet!” The mayor made good on her promise. Several fans, a couple brooms, a mop, and some cleaning solution were delivered to the tower with haste. Every door, window, or opening that could be pried open had a fan stuck in it and put on its highest setting. Now that the air had cleared some, she turned her attention to the workbench set up at the end of the room. It was a quaint hardwood desk that had accumulated what seemed like decades of dust. Spraying a fine mist of cleaner on it, she wiped it clear until it shined once more. Perfect. Next came the drawers. One by one, she opened and inspected them. They didn’t have much, aside from a few bits and bobs. None of it looked very useful, so she scooped it all up and threw it away. Reaching down to the largest drawer, she opened it and found something very different. A large, brown tome that would’ve looked more at home in a library sat in the drawer, beckoning her. Hel-lo… what have we here? Dropping the book on top of the desk, she blew a fine layer of dust off the cover and flipped it open. Repaired drive weight chain. Lift pins removed and replaced Minute hand replaced Looking to the right of each entry, she saw dates for every line. This is a repair log. Flipping through the book, she finally saw a page that wasn’t just maintenance notes. To the pony that inevitably gets saddled with fixing this clock. My name is Rusty. I’ve been working on this here clock for nigh on twenty years now. Rough business has done come up, so I can’t be around to take care of Maybel any more. You might be wondering who Maybel is. Maybel is what you’re standing in. She’s the tower. Now, I’m gonna teach you all her secrets. This tower was built to replace the old one that was constructed to commemorate some dust up between royalty near about a thousand years ago. That tower was deemed unsafe and was demolished nearly two hundred years ago, and this one ordered constructed on its ashes by Princess Celestia herself. Turning the page, Clockwork saw glued to the book, encased in some sort of laminate, a newspaper article with a picture of the princess standing before a tower of rubble, her head hung low and eyes closed. Weird. I wonder what that’s about. Flipping to the next page, she saw the writing continue. This tower is equipped with a lift to help earth ponies like me maintain parts we couldn’t otherwise reach. I made it myself with my own two hooves, so barring the passage of time, you’ve nothing to fear from it. Now onto the part you really need to know. This clock makes use of a double three-legged gravity escapement. I won’t muddle you down too much with details, but the weight in the center pushes on the legs, which unlocks them. The legs push the chain and weight back the other way until it pushes the other leg which unlocks that leg and pushes back. In the middle near the top, the pallets control the locking and unlocking motion of the legs. Simple enough. Clockwork pulled back a moment and shook her head. Easy enough for you to say, old man. Clockwork had only worked on line clocks in Canterlot, the pay for which was always extravagant considering the clients who owned them. She had only ever read about escapement clocks up until this point. The good news is, once you know how the main drive functions, you’ll easily be able to maintain the other parts of the clock. It’s all cogs, shafts, and good old-fashioned hard work from that point forward. If you do have to repair the escapement, best gather a crew and shut the whole thing down for a couple weeks. Now, I’ll tell you what breaks down the most, and how to fix it. As it turned out, Clockwork was not easy to track down. Rather than finding her tinkering with some old project at home, Twilight was only greeted with silence. After asking around for a not-insignificant amount of time, she finally had somepony point her to the clocktower. Squeezing past the fan idly blowing in the doorway, she noticed the floors looked like they had been recently cleaned. “Clockwork? Are you in here?” Twilight asked, scanning the room for any sign of the earth pony. “Timbeeer!” Twilight’s head shot up. Her eyes focused just in time to see a large cog falling to the ground about ten feet away from where she stood. Twilight winced at the loud clang it made against the freshly mopped floor. “What in Equestria are you doing?!” Clockwork stood on a wooden platform suspended by chains nearly twenty feet above Twilight. “Hey, Sparkles! Do me a solid and magic that cog in the corner up here, will ya?” Twilight looked around until her eyes landed on the cog in question. Her horn flared with a purple glow, carrying the cog to its destination. Clockwork eagerly took the part from the magical aura. Turning on her hooves, she slammed the cog into place, easing the gear back and forth a couple times until it finally snapped in with its brethren. “Perfect! That’s one headache down.” Reaching over to the chains, Clockwork loosened one and pulled it. The lift carrying her and the tools she brought with her slowly descended until she could touch the ground. “Thanks, Twilight. I thought I was gonna have to go back down and get that cog, and then go back up. You saved me about ten minutes there.” Twilight smiled. “Glad I could help. What are you doing here anyway?” Clockwork froze in her tracks, an incredulous look played on her face. “Are you questioning what a mechanical repairpony is doing in a clocktower?” Twilight huffed. “I know you’re repairing the thing, I was just wondering why.” “Oh,” Clockwork said, while she gathered her tools up. “That’s a bit more complicated. Apparently there’s some sort of festival, or event, or something that happens every five years that revolves around the clocktower, and the pony who used to fix it no longer lives here. So, Mayor Mare asked me to fix it… in return for some sort of political favor or something. I guess if I need a body dumped, I know who I can call.” An uneasy grin found it’s way on Twilight’s lips. “What a, uhhh... pleasant thought. I don’t remember any sort of event that featured the clocktower.” “Have you been here for five years?” Clockwork asked. “Uhhh no, just over four years. Anyway, I’ve been all over town trying to find you.” Picking up a nearby towel, Clockwork wiped the sweat from her face. “Yeah? Why’s that?” “I stopped by Sugarcube Corner for some food for a picnic,” Twilight said, waving the picnic basket suggestively. “Awesome! I’m starving! I haven’t worked on a project this big in awhile. Got any place in mind?” Twilight turned and headed for the door. “I might. The only way you’ll know is if you follow me,” she said, walking out the door with the basket in tow. Clockwork reached out with her hoof. “Wait! I have to put these fans away and lock up first!” A loud, insistent growl echoed from Clockwork’s stomach. “Eh, forget the fans.” Together, Clockwork and Twilight walked through town and past Sweet Apple Acres. Along the way, Clockwork told her companion of the maintenance log and newspaper clipping she found in it. “Have you ever heard anything about that?” Clockwork asked. “Well, it did happen two hundred years ago, so not really. I’m just as clueless as you. I’m sure there has to be a book on it somewhere.” Cutting through the trees and foliage, both ponies finally came to an opening. Centered at the very top of the hill sat a massive tree overlooking a lake. “Sun’s almost down,” Twilight noted. “I guess our picnic is going to be dinner.” “No objections here,” Clockwork said, waiting patiently. Sparking her horn up, Twilight pulled a blanket from the basket and hurriedly spread it out on the hill beneath the tree. Clockwork eagerly sat down on it and watched with bated breath as food flew out of the basket, held aloft in a magical glow. “I planned on this being lunch, not dinner. It’s mostly muffins and pastries. I hope you don’t mind,” Twilight said with a sheepish grin. “Close enough for me, food is food. Just lemme get this thing off.” Clockwork’s hooves moved like a blur as they undid the straps on her mask. As soon as her mouth was free, she reached down and snatched up a muffin. Chocolate and raisin. Yum! As expected, it tasted delicious, as all of Sugarcube Corner’s food did. Except Pinkie’s occasional experiments. Those were fifty-fifty. She could still taste the raspberry and avocado eclairs in her nightmares. “Oh, check it out!” Twilight shouted excitedly. Once she had Clockwork’s attention, she made a few motions with her hooves. “A beautiful sunset.” Clockwork crammed the rest of the muffin in her mouth and clapped her hooves while smiling. Twilight looked down shyly, a blush spreading across her cheeks. “Thank you. Last time at the pizza place, I realized Rainbow Dash had sabotaged our lesson. I bet you thought I was ridiculous.” Moving her own hooves, Clockwork motioned back, “It was funny.” Staring intently, Twilight’s eyes finally lit with realization. “I bet it was funny. Thankfully nopony else there saw it. Enjoying your food?” Clockwork rubbed her tummy and made another motion. “Delicious. Thank you.” The smile on Twilight’s face brightened even more. “You’re welcome. I uhhh… didn’t know when we should get together again after… you know… our date.” Clockwork’s ears shot up. She turned to meet Twilight eye to eye. Her hooves danced like a conductor’s baton. “I… stranger. What? You’re going too fast,” Twilight said, tilting her head in confusion. Clockwork motioned with her hooves once more, slower this time. Twilight’s confused expression only deepened. “I never stranger?” Twilight shook her head. “I think I need some more practice.” The retreating sunlight faded as it fell beneath the horizon. Once again, Clockwork found herself entranced by Twilight’s shimmering eyes, her gorgeous hair, and the adorable confusion on her face. It suddenly struck her that she had a different way to tell Twilight how she felt. Reaching forward, she threw her hooves around Twilight, wrapping her up in a hug. “Woah! Heheheh. I guess you’re telling me I shouldn’t be a stranger,” Twilight said through a chuckle. Pulling back a little bit, Clockwork nodded through a wide and bright grin. A grin that softened as they stared into each other’s eyes. ”Kiss her, you foal.” Both ponies pulled apart and looked around frantically, until they saw two sets of eyes staring down at them. “Pinkie Pie! Rainbow Dash! What are you two doing here?” Twilight demanded. Perched above the couple on a branch were the two ponies in question. “We came to see how your stupenderiffic date would go, and it sure is going!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Pinkie Pie dragged me along,” Rainbow explained. “I was bored at first, but it was getting pretty hot there for a moment.” Twilight glared at the spies. “Pretty hot, huh? Well, maybe you two should cool down.” Flickering to life with a purple aura, Twilight’s horn sparked and grabbed the branch Pinkie and Rainbow were sitting on. Bending it back just short of snapping the limb, she let it go and watched as the two peepers sailed through the air, screaming all the while. Clockwork winced as they splashed in the lake. Twilight blew a quick breath across her horn. “There. They won’t be bothering us anymore. Where were we?” Lifting a fritter from the basket, Clockwork hoofed it over to Twilight without skipping a beat. “Thanks!” Twilight said before biting into the tasty pastry. Together, they watched Pinkie and Rainbow Dash splash and roughhouse with one another in the lake under the pale moonlight. A soft metal click dragged Twilight’s attention away from the couple in the pond. “You’re done eating already?” Clockwork laughed, her mask in place once more. “What do you mean, already?” Looking down, Twilight realized that a lion’s share of the food she brought had disappeared. “Wow, you must have been hungry.” Leaning back against the tree, Clockwork sighed. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until you came marching in with food. Anytime I start working on something, I have a hard time pulling away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started working on a watch, and the next time I turn around, it’s midnight.” Twilight squealed softly. “Oh my gosh! Me too! There’s been so many times where I’ve sent Spike to bed so I can study, and the next thing I know, it’s morning, and he’s already woken up!” “It’s just so hard to let go of something, once you’re on a roll,” Clockwork lamented. “Ditto. One time, I was working on a project for three days straight! Princess Celestia came and put me to bed… I think.” Clockwork raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?” Rubbing the back of her neck, Twilight blushed. “I was kinda starting to hallucinate. I’m pretty sure she did, though. When I woke up she gave me a very stern lecture about staying up multiple days in a row when it wasn’t necessary.” “Not necessary?” “Eheheh, I… still had ten days to finish the project.” Falling on her back on the blanket, Clockwork kicked her legs with laughter. “You’re such a nerd!” Rolling her eyes, Twilight shook her head. “Yes, yes, I get it. I’m a nerd.” Clockwork sat up, her laughter dying out. “That’s okay, I like nerds.” Once more, both ponies found themselves extremely close, staring into each other’s eyes. For a moment, Clockwork could hear her own heartbeat above everything else as it thumped in her chest. “Wait, what are those two doing?” she asked, turning back to the lake. In the middle of the lake, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash floated in the rippling water, their lips meeting one another beneath the night sky. Twilight leaned over next to Clockwork’s ear. “I think we should go.” With a nod, Clockwork gathered up the blanket and tossed it into the basket haphazardly, along with the rest of the food. Twilight lifted the basket with her magic and started the walk back to Ponyville. She jumped just a little bit as she felt Clockwork’s head rest against her neck. “Thanks for the picnic, Sparkles.” Twilight didn’t say anything. She simply leaned into the affectionate gesture, knowing that would be answer enough.