//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: We Don't Talk About Clockwork... // Story: All The Time In The World // by Clockwork2003 //------------------------------// The two ponies finally exit the book’s temporal simulation, where the former princess greets them. Alphabittle is still trying to wrap his head around what he just saw, so he’s still somewhat in a state of shock. Princess Luna warmly greets the two time traveling mares with a genial smile and proceeds to ask them some questions. “Hello, Sunny and Izzy! What did you see?” Luna asks the mares with genuine curiosity. While the deity had known what the two ponies saw, thanks to that projector spell, she wanted to hear from their points of view. Izzy, being somewhat over-hyper, trots in front of her friend and starts spilling the beans. “Well, we went on the moon, and the gravity was lower. We bounced up and down for a long long time, and had some fun! It was a bit weird to be on the moon and have the ability to breathe. I thought I’d have to use my natural unicorn talent to hold my breath for a long time!” She explains. Sunny sighs, knowing that this information is somewhat off-topic. Luna chuckles, and seems to appreciate Izzy’s upbeat demeanor. “Wait, since when could unicorns hold their breaths for prolonged periods of time? This must be something new since I’ve retired to my homestead in the Sea of Maretime on the moon. Five millennia can change ponies, I guess!” Luna asks, not knowing this seemingly obvious unicorn factoid. Sunny takes the helm and steers the conversation towards the subject at hand, regarding the past of Ancient Equestria and her timekeeper, Clockwork. “I don’t know. It’s just something that they can do. But…in terms of what we actually saw on the moon, We met your son!” Sunny says. Luna smiles and urges the earth pony to continue her explanation.  “Right, sorry, Miss Luna. It was his tenth birthday, and you looked taller and more muscular! Apparently, you used to be a badass alicorn called Nightmare Moon!” Sunny exclaims. Luna laughs and urges Sunny to continue with her explanation. “Go on. What other astute observations did you make?” Sunny continues to explain what she and Izzy saw. “Well, you told Clockwork the story of how he was born, and it was rather depressing. I didn’t know that a nigh immortal Princess of Equestria could get into such a pickle. I am sorry that this “Sombra” fellow hurt you like that.” Sunny says, exhibiting a fair amount of empathy. Izzy frowns as well. “Yeah, a pony putting his thingy in another pony without asking is not cool!” She observes. Alphabittle looks at Izzy with contempt. “We don’t make light of situations like that. Even if it’s been over five thousand years.” He says sternly. Izzy whispers the word “sorry” and gives Sunny the floor again. “Right. You and Clockwork went back to Equestria to a small town, and you threatened to not lower the moon again. I actually don’t know what happens next, because the time spell deactivated, and we got sent back just now. Do you think we can keep “reading”?” Sunny asks the moon deity. “I love your enthusiasm, but you two were out in the simulation for most of the day. If I was you, I’d get some rest, and come back in the morning. I might be a nighttime pony, but not everypony is. Get some sleep, Sunny, and come back. Izzy, you’ll get another turn, but it was Clockwork’s instructions to have a different friend come with her every trip.” Izzy frowns but is still somewhat understanding. “If that stallion was able to accurately tell me what time it is five thousand years ago, I am not going to mess with that. Unicorns nowadays are very superstitious!” Alphabittle nods at that claim, affirming his friend’s statement. “Yeah…apparently we’re not as bright as we used to be.” He says sheepishly. Luna gives everypony a loving smile and reassures them. “My son was a unicorn, like you and Alphabittle. He was capable of doing great things and may have saved Equestria from beyond the grave. If one unicorn was able to make a difference, imagine what all ponies can do when they work together in Harmony!” The very thought of ponies working together made Sunny smile. “Thanks for the pep talk, Miss Luna. I’ll make my way home now. Izzy, where do you live relative to our current location? I can trot with you home if you want?” Sunny offers her friend. Izzy nods. “Sure, why not! I can tell you about my macaroni art, in the meantime! It’s really cool!” Luna begins to fade away, teleporting somewhere for the night. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sunny!” And with that, the Princess of the Night went back to the moon for a while. Mere moments after she disappeared, Clockwork’s journal begins to glow with cyan magic. The heavy tome levitates into the air, and rockets out the window, heading in the direction of Zephyr Heights. Sunny and Izzy’s mouths drop in shock and awe, while Alphabittle chuckles to himself. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Zephyr Heights is a day’s trot away, and I don’t even know when these fake wings will show up!” Sunny moans, clearly upset that she has to trek such a long way to time travel once more. Izzy wonders whether Zipp or Pipp will be the pony to travel back with her. “Any idea who’s going back with you?” Izzy asks. Sunny shakes her head, not sure who will have the honor of going back in time. “No idea, Izzy. Let’s head back.” They both wave to Alphabittle and make their way out of his gaming parlor. Remembering to close the door behind her, Sunny and Izzy begin to walk back towards Izzy’s house. Today proved to be quite interesting for everypony. The real question remains. Will the rest of Sunny’s friends be as understanding or interested in Ancient Equestria as Izzy Moonbow was today? Only time will tell, right? The Next Morning. The sun begins to rise in Zephyr Heights. The pegasus royal family has been in quite a kerfuffle ever since it was revealed that Queen Maven lied to her subjects about the royal family’s ability to fly. She hasn’t been seen in public since then and is currently awaiting trial for abuse of power. Her two foals, however, were exonerated on behalf of their youth and considered to be pawns of their mother. Even after the magic was restored to Equestria, most pegasi still do not know how to fly. Zipp Storm proved to be a natural, very glad she did all of this pre-flight training for years! Zipp wakes up in her room and sees a rather large book on her lightning blue shelf. She doesn’t have many books in her room, especially ones with an hourglass on the front cover. “Huh?” Zipp asks herself, moping out of bed and trotting over to look at the book. “What in the hay is this? Did Pipp prank me again?” She asks herself, wondering what this book is doing in her room. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I am going to the gym to practice flying. Maybe some of the foals from Zephyr Heights will actually show up to Flight School today?” She wonders, jumping out her window and zooming off to the Zephyr Heights Aerodynamics Gymnasium. Being a flying wunderkind and STEM genius, Zipp took initiative upon the magic’s return and allocated funds from the Pegasus treasury to construct a flying center and gymnasium for all pegasi. To foster unity with the other pony races, there is some regular exercise equipment for non-winged ponies. As of yet, few earth ponies and unicorns have made the leap of faith. It took Zipp no more than ten minutes to fly to this gymnasium, and she quickly calibrated the wind tunnel. “Aw yeah, I love this one. I need to work on optimizing my aerodynamics!” Zipp says, turning the massive wind turbine on with a few short keystrokes. The massive hydroelectric motor begins to run, spinning several massive fans at a moderate speed. “Welcome, Wonderbolt Zipp Storm. Please select your difficulty mode for today.” An A.I. voice says. Zipp goes into the wind tunnel, and shouts “moderate, please!”. A few seconds of delay elapse, and the fans begin to spin significantly faster, providing more resistance to Zipp as she flies. She was very smart to don flying goggles today! She does a few drills, such as barrel rolls, wing flap adjustment, and altitude change, before turning this training up to the max! “Modify velocity to extreme!” Zipp exclaims as the wind tunnel’s A.I. begins to exert maximum force on Zipp, pushing the athletic mare to her absolute limits. Sadly, this wouldn’t last very long, as the machine automatically turns off. “Friendship detected. Your mandate as pegasus ambassador is required!” the A.I. says, launching the poor pony into the very fluffy cushions that act as a safety net for the wind tunnel. “Feathering darn it! I was having fun!” She shouts, before noticing that an orange earth pony mare was staring at Zipp, laughing to herself. Zipp takes a moment to stand up and stretches her wings. “Oh…Sunny. I’m always happy to see you, but your timing today was horrible. What’s up?” Zipp says, quite annoyed that her flight training was interrupted so soon. “Not much, Zipp. I was wondering if you or your sister saw a massive blue book with an hourglass on the cover. It’s magical, and it could prove to be quite useful!” Sunny asks her friend. Zipp takes a minute to think about what Sunny just asked her, before nodding. “Yeah, it kinda just showed up in my bedroom in the middle of the night. Is this one of your new magic tricks that have been happening sporadically since you got those fake wings for five minutes?” Zipp asks accusingly. “No, it wasn’t that.” A voice says. Princess Luna teleports into the gymnasium, surprising both ponies. Zipp was scared and bolted out the gymnasium door. Princess Luna casts a spell, bringing the pegasus mare back to where she started. “I’m not a threat, dear. I’m a friend of Sunny’s…or a long distant ancestor if we’re being specific.” Luna says, teleporting all three of them back to Zipp Storm’s bedroom. Sunny and Zipp both felt nauseous after they teleported, and Sunny was a bit dizzy, with stars forming in her eyes. “Sorry, I won’t do that again. I just really want you two to get with the program. I’ve been waiting for five millennia. That can make a pony quite antsy at times!” Luna says jokingly. Sunny goes over to Zipp’s bookshelf and grabs Clockwork’s journal. Zipp looks at it, while Sunny takes the liberty of sitting on Zipp’s bed, to open the book. “Wait, why are there no words on this. Is this a joke?” Zipp asks, getting quite livid with Sunny. Princess Luna decides to act as a mediator and explains everything to Zipp. It takes a few minutes, and a bunch of redundant questions, but eventually, Zipp understands what the point is. “So…you’re Sunny’s distant ancestor, and you are taking her on a guilt trip about your dead son? Seems a bit messed up.” Zipp says snidely. Luna is not amused and puts on a pouty face. “No, Zipp! Don’t you get it, we’re trying to restore the magic for real! Not just rudimentary stuff!” Sunny protests.  “Yeah yeah, the magic, I know all about it. I can fly now, which is really cool. So. Time travel? What’s the story?” Zipp asks as Sunny continues to read from the journal. This is what she says: “Hi Sunny,  Glad to see that you got Zipp out of that wind tunnel in one piece! Alright, jokes aside, today we’re going to skip ahead a little bit in time from where you went yesterday. Back in my day, ponies were born without cutie marks. Now, ponies are born with them, and only on one side. Not so sure why, but I digress. When magic existed in Ancient Equestria, a pony got his or her cutie mark around the time of adolescence.” “Wait, what’s a cutie mark?” Sunny asks, before looking at her flank and seeing a distinct symbol. Luna laughs. “Ah, so much to learn, I see. Keep reading. I am sure Clockwork will explain it to you.” Sunny continues to read, hoping to learn more about what a “cutie mark” is. “When magic existed in Ancient Equestria, a pony got his or her cutie mark around the time of adolescence. A pony got this cutie mark by discovering their innate talent. It could be anything, and it was the unique task of a pony to find out what made them special. Someponies had trouble with this, and a group of fillies helped them find out their talent. I wasn’t one of them, and those three troublemakers were most active when I was an adult. Today, you and Zipp will learn how I accidentally discovered my skill for reading the future. You’ll be dropped off in Sire’s Hollow, where I spent my teenage years. Because I am a bastard foal, I was nastily treated by Princess Celestia. She said my existence tarnished the legacy of her and my mother, so she cast me out of the family. As much as Luna protested, she could not overrule her older sister.” Luna is holding back tears while Sunny is reading, and Zipp feels really bad for the mare.  “Is it true this stallion was a bastard?” Zipp asks. Luna sadly nods. “Yes, he was. I loved him anyway. The poor pony didn’t do anything to deserve it, either.” “As much as Luna protested, she could not overrule her older sister. So, I was sent to live with a unicorn mare named Stellar Flare, who had a son named Sunburst. Sunburst is my best friend, and he helped me a lot in life. Now, it is your turn to see whether the Magic of Friendship is as good as ponies say it is. Be back in time, Clockwork.” And with that final phrase, Sunny and Zipp are painlessly sent into the journal, thrust back in time to Sire’s Hollow. Luna is quite content with how this education is going for her descendant and casts the same projection spell as yesterday. “Oh, Clockwork. You raised the fires of Tartarus that day. It’s one of the proudest of my life.” She whispers to herself, watching the two mares interact with the past. *** Sunny Starscout and Zipp Storm are spawned into a quaint town named Sire’s Hollow. The place is rather neat, and there is plenty of foliage to spare. Sunny and Zipp take a moment to adjust to their surroundings, before Sunny spots the blue unicorn colt walking next to an orange one. “I think that’s Clockwork!” Sunny says, dragging Zipp along with her to witness whatever this moment in time has to show them. They keep a fair distance, per Clockwork’s policy of noninterference; but are still able to overhear their conversations. “Holy crap, Sunburst! Did you read the latest Daring Do comic?” Clockwork says, quite elated with the edition he’s holding in his magic’s grasp. Sunburst looks it over and nods. “No kidding mate. Seeing Daring team up with Somanabula was awesome! I didn’t expect that. Now, mom is going to kill me if we don’t practice our magic. Duel in the square?” Sunburst asks. Clockwork nods and they gallop off to a town square not too far away from where they are. It looks rather neat, and there are many park benches for ponies to sit on. Clockwork puts his comic on one of the benches and meets Sunburst at the center of the square. “Hey Clock. You’re thirteen, right? Any idea when you are going to get your cutie mark? I got mine a year ago. I know someponies are late bloomers, but I worry that your bullying problem will only get worse if you don’t get one. I care for you, man. You’re like my brother.” Sunny feels incredibly bad for Clockwork, and Zipp also wonders what Clockwork could have done to warrant this bullying. “Sunny. What did Clockwork do to get bullied? Is it because his own mother had him sent away to appease his aunt?” Zipp asks Sunny. Sunny takes a minute to think about Zipp’s question, before noticing that Sunburst and Clockwork are setting up for their magical duel. “I’ll give my hot take quickly. I want to see this. I think Clockwork might be struggling to fit in. If what he said about cutie marks is true, then not having one can only alienate a pony further!” Sunny reasons, before noticing that Sunburst and Clockwork both bow, beginning their duel. She pulls Zipp behind a bush, and the two ponies watch the bout. “Basic rules, Sunburst. No spells to the head. Offensive maneuvers are allowed, but tactical, not brutal. Don’t even think about trying that Solar Flare again. You were in the hospital for a month!” Clockwork says, chuckling at the thought. His horn lights up, and Sunburst’s does as well. “Yeah yeah, basic rules. I am not a foalish pony. Good luck, mate!” Sunburst says, beginning his match with a shadow clone spell. Three different Sunbursts appear, all tackling Clockwork at once. Clockwork quickly counters this with an ice spell, freezing all three ponies in a pony-sized pillar of ice. Zipp was astonished. “Woah. if ponies in the past can do this, what could Izzy Moonbow do?” She asks Sunny, who urges her friend to keep quiet. Zipp has a volume control problem! This could be a problem if they get caught. Hopefully, that won’t happen! Sunburst quickly melts the ice with some fiery magic, and Clockwork quickly needs to come up with a game plan. Neither pony is paying close attention to their surroundings, and they are evenly matched in the magical arts. Spell after spell is negated, deflected, or countered, and both ponies are challenging the other in a battle of magic and wits. What neither of them knew, however, is that a rattlesnake was slithering its way across the park grounds in Sire’s Hollow. It was on its way towards Sunburst, who would have almost certainly stepped on it, causing the animal to bite him. Clockwork was casting a focusing spell but accidentally screwed it up. Clockwork vision became blurry, and he saw a vision of Sunburst stepping on the snake. The snake bit him, and the venom slowly seeped through the unicorn’s veins, paralyzing and then killing him. Clockwork wasn’t able to do anything, because he was too far away. When this vision ended, Clockwork knew what he had to do. He galloped towards Sunburst and pushed him to the side, mere moments away from the snake biting him. Clockwork zaps the snake with an electricity spell, killing it instantly. Sunburst was caught by surprise. “Woah, how’d you do that! There’s no way you would have seen that snake! What kind of trick did you pull, Clock?” Sunburst asks, quickly standing up, helping his friend get up as well. Clockwork’s flanks begin to itch, and a symbol begins to brand itself on him. An hourglass with sand particles falling down the top emblazons itself onto his body, glowing with magical energy. Sunburst is the first pony to notice this and is both excited and horrified. “Oh…my…Celestia.” Sunburst screams and teleports the two of them somewhere. Sunny and Zipp are promptly teleported to Celestia’s castle. There, Clockwork is in the audience of Princess Celestia, with Sunburst’s mother Stellar Flare reporting to her sovereign. Clockwork is sitting down in front of the sun deity, and he’s on the verge of tears. “Bastard of Luna. You have doomed us all. Nopony can know the future. This is a power that not even the Princesses themselves have! Do you have any idea how much danger you have put yourself in? The “mother” you claim to love?” She says sternly. This doesn’t sound like the Celestia that Sunny heard about as a foal! What’s gotten into her? “...Princess! I just wanted to protect Sunburst from a snake! He would have died, and-.” Celestia slaps the colt across the face. She could do that and get away with it. She’s the Mane Monarch, after all! Sunny and Zipp were disgusted and were also smart enough to keep quiet. “I said, nopony can know the future! I am going to remove your cutie mark, and you are going to try again!” Clockwork had no energy or willpower to fight his aunt, the goddess of the sun. He resigned himself to fate, but something happened that changed everything. “Princess Celestia! What are you doing?” A shrill voice says. A mulberry purple alicorn trots into the throne room, with a look of disgust on her face. “Oh, Twilight. It’s nice to see you. What brings you here to Canterlot today?” Celestia asks. Twilight isn’t buying it, and goes straight to the point. “This colt didn’t do anything to you! It wasn't his fault he was born via rape! You taught me to love everypony, and I am sure this Clockwork pony knows what he’s doing!” Celestia scorns Twilight and reprimands her. “Oh come on! You just deified this week. You don’t know jack about ruling or governance. I love you like a daughter, but know your place!” Twilight wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. “I won’t let you do this, Princess. Please, leave your nephew alone. Let him enroll in your School for Gifted Unicorns. Let his mother aid in his tutelage. This pony can do great things. Anypony can do great things. Give him a chance!” Princess Celestia squirms on her throne and sighs. She wants to say no, but she has too much respect for Twilight Sparkle to do anything to upset her. “You win, Twilight. The bastard keeps his cutie mark and will go to my school. I will not teach him, and he will NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER reveal the future to anypony, under penalty of death! Nopony can or will know the future other than him!” Clockwork trots away in shame, and Stellar Flare hugs her guest resident. “Oh Clock…what did you get yourself into. Go find your mother, and then we’ll take the train back to Sire’s Hollow.” And with that, Sunny and Zipp are transported back from the simulation. Just before Sunny leaves, just like last time, Clockwork turns around and waves at the two ponies. What does he know that everypony else doesn’t?