//------------------------------//
// To Be Great And Powerful 
// Story: MetBoy's Collected Shorts 
// by MetBoy 
//------------------------------//

There. Yes, there.
Ponyville's Clock Tower would be the place, and high noon the time.
The timing was critical; after Twilight Sparkle and Rarity had been taken out, the monster was hunting openly, by daylight. Yesterday, the thing had attacked Ponyville Elementary, and most of his unicorn classmates had been drained.
The monster HAD to be stopped, even-
Yes, even if.
He wasn't known for his speed of thought, but he had seen, and brought his slow, carful thoughts to bear on the task. He now knew how the monster could be stopped, and the Clock Tower would provide the means. By now the monster was too hungry to think, and probably didn't realize its own weakness.
The storefront had a view of the Clock Tower. Nopony blocked his sight; all were hiding from the beast. It was just past 11:30, the bell just having rung. Figure five minutes to get there, five minutes for the monster to find him...
He should leave at 11:50, which was just 5 minutes from now.
Snails nodded to himself, gathering what little courage he had.
He opened the door, and bolted.

On reaching the platform under the clock mechanisms, Snails leaned his head out the window, panting heavily, recovering from the unaccustomed run. Normally this time of day he'd be setting in-
Yes.
Snails moved to the middle of the room, where he could be easily seen through any of the four arched openings in the walls.
"Come on then," he said aloud, struggling. His efforts were rewarded by first flickering, then a full lighting of his horn, to attract the magic-eating monster, "Here I am, today's lunch!"

It didn't take long for the monster to show up, climbing the wall of the Clock Tower, its claws digging into the stone. Snails could hear its heavy breathing as it hauled its mass up to the arched opening. He glanced up at the machinery behind the massive clock, the biggest in Ponyville.
The black paw surmounted the window frame, causing Snails to back up to one the opposite corners.
"Come on," he whispered as the monster pulled itself onto the platform.
"COME ON!" This time the words were shouted, and the creature leapt at him, in a combination of hunger and pain.

*BOOOOOONG!*

At the first striking of the bell the monster's eyes crossed, crashing into Snails, but not tearing into its lunch.

*BOOOOOONG!*

With the second striking of the bell the monster twitched and spasmed, like it had when Sweetie Belle had yelled at it. Before the monster had recovered, but-

*BOOOOOONG!*

This time the noises weren't stopping, and the noises were louder still.

*BOOOOOONG!*

The monster might  be screaming, from the way its mouth was open.

*BOOOOOONG!*

Snails couldn't tell.

*BOOOOOONG!*

All he could hear was the ringing of a bell, a noise designed to carry all the way to Sweet Apple Acres.

*BOOOOOONG!*

It took him time to dig himself out from under the monster, so the young unicorn wasn't looking closely at it as it writhed in pain.

*BOOOOOONG!*

All Snails thought this could do was to stop the monster.

*BOOOOOONG!*

He had given up hope of saving the first victim.

*BOOOOOONG!*

So he was astonished to see the pitch black starting to waver.

*BOOOOOONG!*

Starting to dissolve away, fading, and revealing its former host.

*BOOOOOONG!*

A unicorn, laying still on the platform

Silence.

Snails moved over, poking one hoof at the fallen form. He was rewarded with a groan, but...
With all that had happened, Snails was too bruised, in body and soul to be charitable.
"Oh Snips. I know you wanted to be great and powerful too, but that wasn't the way," he said, weary.