“Step right up, fillies and gentlecolts! We’ve got pocket watches, sundials, hourglasses; you name it! Stop right by for all your time-related needs!” called the renowned scientist Doctor Hooves from his sales booth.
Several ponies stopped by to purchase some hourglasses, leaving a few bits on his table.
“Thank you, good sir, and you too, madam. Always wonderful to have such fine customers!”
He then turned to Stormy who was hovering in front of his stand. The twinkles in his eyes were shaped like hourglasses.
“And you there young lad; what can I get you?”
“Do you have the Hourglass of Kronos here?” he beamed.
“Hourglass of Kronos? Peculiar name. I’m sorry, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that.”
“You don’t have anything magical that can change a pony’s age?”
“What?! Oh heavens no! I’ve been searching for the answers to such technology for years and cannot figure anything out! I would use the Alicorn Amulet, but I don’t fancy turning into a villain, nor do I want to rely on a centuries-old artifact to do it with. What you’re looking for, my boy, is probably something from-”
“Doc, I’ve found it! The Hourglass of Kronos!” said his assistant Derpy Hooves. She popped out from behind the table, holding a small box with an hourglass inside.
“Um…that says ‘Kronox’, my dear. That’s a company that makes hourglasses.”
“Oops. Sorry, little guy. Maybe you’ll find something like that at the antique shop.”
“UGH!” Stormy grumbled, leaving Derpy and the Doctor as they looked confused.
He flew on to the antique shop, but there were no hourglasses in there. Stormy grew tired of searching all the sales booths and figured he was getting nowhere, looking where everyone else would be. He flew out into a small grassy area between several of the tents. It was an empty vacant spot that he could be alone in since none of the sales ponies needed to use it. He landed on the grass and started looking around carefully to see if maybe it was buried underground.
“It’s gotta be around her somewhere. Maybe it’s underground. Daring Do usually looks in temples or something, but there’s nothing like that around here.”
Stormy began sniffing the ground and tapping his hooves to see if there were any signs the hourglass could be beneath him.
“Discord said it was in this area. I just hope it’s real. I hope Discord isn’t up to more of his-AAGGHH!!”
In an instant, the ground caved in and Stormy fell through a hole. He was caught off guard and barely had time to open his wings to fly before hitting solid ground, and the dirt falling down on top of him kept him from taking off. The dust settled and he opened his eyes carefully. After regaining his composure, he shook his head and dusted himself off. He had fallen about ten feet into an underground cave. The cave was mostly just stalactites and stalagmites, though it appeared to be carved out in some areas to look almost like a temple. The only light coming through was the hole he had just fallen through and several other smaller ones dotting the ceiling. Stormy thought it resembled something Daring Do would come across or a secret room in a video game. Suddenly, he looked to his side and saw a small pool of water with a stone pedestal in the center and a glowing object suspended right above it. Sure enough, it was exactly what he was looking for.
“THE HOURGLASS OF KRONOS!”
Stormy squealed with delight as he flew over to the hourglass to examine it. He noticed it had inscriptions written all over it. The hourglass kept turning itself slowly, allowing the sand to move back and forth between the hole in the center.
“I found it at last! Now if I touch this I could…er, wait…”
Stormy then flew back and landed on the shore beyond the water and thought for a second.
“Should I really do this? Discord did say if I use the hourglass it could cause trouble. I really wanna go on that ride though.”
Stormy looked back and forth at the hourglass and the hole in the ceiling of the cave. He wasn’t sure if he should proceed with his original plan or leave this place. His conscience was telling him this was a bad idea, but his desire to get what he wanted was too great. Finally he decided the hourglass was worth it and flew back to the pool.
“Eh, it’s no big deal. Besides, if it can turn me into a grown-up, then I can just turn myself back obviously. I’ll just use it to go on the Leviathan and have some fun and then I’ll come here and change myself back. Easy peasy!”
Stormy hovered in front of the hourglass and touched it. The hourglass stopped spinning and a glowing light surrounded him. The runes on the ends of the hourglass glowed with light. Stormy felt a tingling sensation all over his body. The hourglass sounded as if it was powering up. Now was the time for him to make his wish.
“I wish…I was old enough to ride the Leviathan…actually, how about make me like 20 years old or something. That way I’ll be able to go on all the rides and everypony will finally treat me like-”
Before he could finish, light burst from the hourglass. Sparkles flew around Stormy and he felt his body start to change. In a moment, he was blinded by light and felt himself move backwards and land on the ground with a thud. A few seconds later, he woke up on the shore, groaning. His eyelids opened and he saw the pool with the hourglass still floating above it. His hat had fallen off in the middle of the spell and was lying right next to him. He slowly got up and rubbed his head. He noticed he had been standing taller and his voice sounded different. He had the voice of a youthful stallion, but it sounded far more grown-up than his voice from before.
“Uh…my…my voice! My legs! I’m bigger!”
He flew over to the water under the hourglass and looked at his reflection. He now had the build of a young adult stallion. His legs were longer, his wings were bigger, and his mane and tail had even grown a little bigger too. He resembled Thunderhead but retained his own coat, mane and eye colors. He was no longer a seven-year-old boy. The hourglass had done its job and turned him into a stallion just like he wanted.
“It worked! I’M ALL GROWN-UP! YES!! HAHAHA! In your faces, ticket ponies! Now I’m old enough to ride on the Leviathan! This is so cool! I can’t wait!”
Stormy began to flap his new adult wings and jetted up through the hole. He flew out and soared through the air, whooping as he went. The other ponies in the tents didn’t see where he came from, but they were startled to see a rather excited stallion shouting like this. Stormy flew off to the rides with a smile on his face.
“LEVIATHAN, HERE I COME!”
Back inside the cave, Stormy had completely forgotten his hat and left it behind. The hourglass stopped glowing and spinning. Finally, it disintegrated away like dust and landed on top of the pedestal.
Stormy flew threw the air, performing acrobatic moves that were much easier to do in his new adult body. The ponies below watched him, wondering why a random pegasus stallion was showing off like this. Stormy then came to the pegasus guard that was holding the “NO FLYING ZONE” sign. The guard put his hoof out and stopped him.
“Whoa there, pal! No flying in the rides zone!” he called.
Stormy felt belittled by these words, but he quickly remembered he was an adult now. A mischievous smile appeared on his face.
“I’m sorry. Oh wait, what’s that over there?” he called pointing behind the guard.
The guard turned around to look and Stormy zipped right by him, causing him to spin around uncontrollably. He was so dizzy he could not see Stormy.
“Heh! Sucker!” Stormy snickered as he landed not far from the Leviathan and got in line.
As he got to the ticket pony, he didn’t notice it was the same girl that was there when he got in line earlier. He put his hoof up to show his stamp mark, which was still visible.
“Hey there, sir…wait a second. Do I know you?” she asked.
“What? Uh…no, I don’t’ think so. What, have we met before?” Stormy said, nervously.
“I could have sworn I saw you in line earlier, but you looked…younger.”
“I…uh…you must have seen…my…my little brother! Yeah, I have a kid brother who looks a lot like me. Yeah, pretty weird, huh?”
The ticket pony looked suspiciously at Stormy as sweat dropped from his forehead. Something felt off, but she wasn’t sure how he could possibly be the colt she saw earlier. Shrugging her shoulders, she undid the rope.
“Well alright then. You’re obviously old enough to go on the ride, so have fun.”
“Oh I will!”
Stormy hopped joyfully into the entrance to the ride and sat himself in one of the seats. Another worker pony walked by to check everyone’s seatbelts and the ride lurched forward.
“Yes! I can’t believe I’m actually here!” Stormy said excitedly.
The cars to the ride started to move up and down as the Leviathan ‘slithered’ along. Some of the kids on the ride shouted and put their hooves up in the air. Stormy did the same, not caring about the fact that he was an adult that was behaving like a kid. The ride’s movement made him feel like he was flying, but he imagined he was riding on a real dragon. Some of the large decorative clouds and mountains placed around the ride made it look like he was actually flying high in the sky. Since he was sitting down and had his wings closed, this was a different experience from flying, but still a fun one for any pegasus. The look and feel of the Leviathan was just as amazing as he expected. Stormy continued to holler to the top of his lungs in his new adult voice.
“WHOO! YEAH! WHOOOOO!”
The other kids looked at him confused, but Stormy paid them no heed. He continued to wave his arms around and let the wind blow through his mane. His day may have gotten off to a bad start, but he was finally happy again.
“See, there’s nothing wrong with a little magic to solve your problems! I dunno what the hay Discord was all worried about.”
For the next hour, Stormy went on several other rides that he would have been too young for if not for the Hourglass of Kronos. He did not get hurt on any of them, nor did he get queasy and vomit from the very rough ones like the Zipper. He was able to go on the Griffon Glider and even got to ride the Leviathan a second and third time. He still tried other rides he was old enough for like the bumper cars, though he got rather cocky and pushed the other cars around a bit too much. Other ponies were visibly annoyed with his behavior, but nothing could stop him from enjoying life now. He was having such a good time, he had completely forgotten about his father or any of his friends that came with him.
“Oh man, today’s been great!” he told himself while flying around the tents in the concessions area. “Being an adult sure beats having to wait another year to ride on the Leviathan. I wish I could just be an adult all the time. I can get away with anything like this!”
He then flew down to a concession stand to order a meal.
“Hey there, Miss. I’ll take one carrot dog and some soda pop,” he told the mare who was turned away, working on an order.
“Alright, I’ll have that ready in just a second, sir,” said the mare.
Stormy noticed her voice sounded somewhat familiar, but he didn’t think much of it. He sat down on the stool in front of the bar and relaxed while looking at the menu. Suddenly, it dawned on him that he would need to pay for the food. He didn’t have any money with him since he relied on his father for that.
“Oh, horse apples. Now what?” he said to himself.
Stormy was tempted to sneak some money out of the tip jar, but he knew someone would see him and he’d get in big trouble. He turned around and started searching the ground to see if he could find any stray bits somepony dropped. He found one bit when the mare turned around to give him his food.
“Alright! One carrot dog and one soda…er…sir?”
“Hey! Sorry about that. I just realized I only have one bit left. I guess I’ll just have to take the…soda…”
Stormy locked eyes with the mare behind the stand and got a better look at her now. She was an orange pegasus with purple hair and eyes. She was wearing an apron, t-shirt and hat, making it hard to recognize her at first, but Stormy now realized who he was talking to. It was Scootaloo.
“Scootaloo? Er…I mean, heeeeey! You must be that one girl named Scootaloo! I’ve heard of you! Hehehe…” Stormy said, trying to act cool.
“Storm Streak? Is that you?!”
“What? No! Who’s Storm Streak?”
“Right. Show me what your cutie mark looks like, pal.”
“My…my cutie mark? Uh…”
Stormy looked around nervously and saw a small pack of ketchup on the barstool next to him. He smashed it with his hoof and let it splatter onto his flank. He then turned to the side to let her see it.
“This is my cutie mark! I’m…uh…really good at eating ketchup!”
Scootaloo had an unimpressed look on her face. Stormy smiled nervously, hoping she would buy it, but she saw right through him.
“Stormy, I know it’s you.”
“Darnit! How could you tell it was me?”
“I’m your babysitter, buddy! I’ve seen you dozens of times! Your coat and mane colors gave it away!”
“Well what are you doing working at the fair?”
“This is the School of Friendship Food Booth. We do this every summer and I applied to help with them this year. So, you gonna explain this or what?”
“Um…well I sorta changed myself into a stallion.”
“Let me guess: with some magical artifact?”
“How did’ja know?”
“Because I did it once.”
“You…you did?”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and picked up a glass to clean as she continued.
“I knew I should have told you about the time me, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle all wished we were adults so we could go to some festival without needing chaperons. A magical flower did it for us. It didn’t go so well.”
“Sorry, Scootaloo, it’s just last year I couldn’t go on the Leviathan ride because I was too short. I’m tall enough now, but now they say you have to be eight years old and they won’t let me on since I’m still seven. I had to do something!”
“You couldn’t just, oh I don’t know…wait till next year?”
“I didn’t want to. Daddy’s all like ‘Oh, it’ll be fine, son. You’ll just have to be patient. There’s other rides.’ but I came to ride the Leviathan and I couldn’t help it!”
“How did you even do this to yourself? What is this artifact you used?”
“It’s something called the Hourglass of Kronos. Ever heard of it?”
“Nope. In any case, I hate to do this, but I have the mind to tell your parents what you’ve done. They aren’t gonna be happy to hear you’ve been breaking rules by changing yourself into a stallion.”
“NO! Please don’t tell Mommy or Daddy! PLEEEEEASE!”
“On one condition: you go back to that hourglass and you turn yourself back into a colt right now. Understood?”
“But I…alright, fine. I’ll turn myself back.”
“At’a boy. Trust me, Stormy; being an adult might sound great, but you’d be surprised how boring it can be. There are times I wish I could go back and be a kid again, you know.”
“Why though? You aren’t allowed to do anything as a kid. There’s all sorts of rules.”
“Yeah, but there are some things for kids that I’m not allowed to have. I can’t swim in the kid’s pool and they don’t allow you to get bite-sized meals at some hayburger joints. Adults have to miss out on some things too.”
“Yeah right. Being an adult hasn’t gone wrong yet for me. If I were a kid, no one would let me do anything.”
“You’ll be fine. Now go back and be a kid again and enjoy it.”
Scootaloo smiled at him, doing her best to cheer him up. Stormy paid for his drink with the bit he found and trudged out of the tent. Scootaloo watched him leave and went back to work while shaking her head back and forth.
“That little colt’s gonna get himself into trouble, I just know it. If I see Rainbow Dash or Thunderhead walking around, I’d better let them know anyway. Sorry, Stormy.”
Once Stormy was far enough away from the tent, he took one sip of the drink and then went airborne while smiling impishly.
“I’m not changing myself yet. I’ve been having too much fun to let this all go away. I’ll change myself back later, but for right now, I’ve got a lot more to do here before-”
“Look, there she is!” shouted a voice below.
“You! You took our parents the other day!” shouted another.
Stormy stopped flying and looked down to see three colts in front of Cozy Glow. They were in an area that didn’t have much traffic at the moment and none of the colts’ parents seemed to be around, but neither was Melody. They had her cornered against a wall and she had nowhere to run. The biggest one was a pegasus so she was afraid to even take off flying.
“What?! No, wait! I’m sorry! I never wanted to do that! It was the Sorceress!” Cozy replied.
“Yeah right! My mom was supposed to take me to the arcade that day and I missed out because of you!” said the third colt, scowling.
“Again, I’m really sorry. The Sorceress had control of me and it got to a point where I couldn’t-”
“You hear that, guys? She’s making excuses again!”
“What a little brat! First she stole all the magic in Equestria, then she destroyed half of Canterlot, terrorized our town, stole our parents and now she expects us to just forgive her like that!”
“Guys, please, I’ve been going through a rough time.”
Stormy watched in horror, as these bullies closed in on Cozy. He wanted to fly down and stand up for her, but he was afraid of revealing himself in his adult form. The bullies then started kicking dirt at Cozy and laughing at her. Cozy closed her eyes and began to cry.
“Aw, you gonna cry? The same way all those kids cried when they lost their parents?”
“Go ahead and cry for Mommy now!”
“PLEASE, STOP!”
Stormy’s face turned beat red and his anger built up. At this moment, he completely forgot how Cozy would see him like this and only cared about getting these bullies out of the way. He threw his drink away and flew down between Cozy and the bullies. He landed in front of them, causing a small shockwave that knocked them back. They all landed on their backs and then looked up in surprise at the angry stallion before them.
“Oh, so you like picking on someone your own size? WELL HOW ABOUT PICKING ON ME?! LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!”
Cozy smiled warmly at the stallion defending her, but noticed how familiar he looked. She then glanced at his cutie mark and gasped in surprise as Stormy continued hollering at the bullies.
“She might’ve made mistakes in the past, but she said she was sorry! You saw her on TV and saw how she just wanted somepony to love her and she changed as soon as her mom came back! You think she’s a bully for what she did; well you’re the bullies now! You wanna pick on Cozy Glow, you’re gonna have to get past me first! NOW SCRAM, YOU LITTLE TWERPS!”
Stormy put his hoof down on the ground and snarled at the bullies. They laid on their backs, scared to death of him. Finally they got up and ran off, crying for their mothers.
“AND DON’T COME BACK!” he called one last time, smiling proudly and brushing off his shoulder.
“Sorry about that, Miss. Those jerks won’t ever bother you a…gain.”
Stormy turned around to see Cozy looking shocked. He then realized he had revealed himself to her and froze still.
“Storm Streak?” Cozy asked.
“Uh…hehe…”
“How in Equestria did you become a stallion?”
“Sorry, Cozy. I just really wanted to ride on the Leviathan so I used magic to make myself older.”
“Don’t tell me you used the Alicorn Amulet. I don’t want to be reminded of the time I used that thing.”
“Nah. I used the Hourglass of Kronos.”
“The Hourglass of Kronos? I’ve never heard of that before.”
“Neither did I until Discord told me about it.”
“Ah Discord. Always up to his shenanigans.”
“Well anyway, are you alright?”
“I’m better now. Thanks for standing up for me like that, Stormy. I really don’t deserve it after the way I treated you when we first met, but I appreciate it.”
Cozy smiled and nuzzled against Stormy as he put his arm around her.
“Any time, Cozy. I just can’t stand bullies. If I were a kid, I don’t know how well I’d hold up against them. Good thing I got that hourglass to turn me into a grownup.”
“Yeah, but you really should turn yourself back now. Your dad’s gonna be really mad if he sees you’ve done this.”
“I know, I know. Please don’t tell Daddy or any of the others about this.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Cozy Glow? Where are you?” called Melody nearby.
“Oh shoot! I’ll catch ya later!” Stormy told Cozy one last time before flying away.
“Mom?” Cozy called back to her mother.
“COZY!”
Melody turned a corner and rushed over to embrace her daughter. She had already started crying before she arrived.
“Oh, Cozy Glow! Half Note! My baby! My precious, I’m so sorry! I thought I’d lost you again!”
“It’s okay, Mom. I just got lost in the crowd.”
“Did something happen to you?”
“Well, yeah. These bullies were picking on me.”
“You ran into bullies?!”
“Yeah, but I’m fine now. A really friendly stallion stood up for me and scared them off.”
“Oh, thank goodness! I wish I could meet him and shake his hoof. Who was he?”
“Uh…he didn’t tell me his name, but he was really nice.”
Cozy glanced in the direction Stormy had flown off in. She smiled at first but then look worried.
“I just hope he doesn’t do anything stupid,” she said under her breath.