//------------------------------// // When It All Stands Still - Timepiece's Story // Story: Mating Season in Equestria // by ratmage99 //------------------------------// Timepiece sighed a bit, happy that the two female ponies has been too absorbed in their conversation to notice him much. He stayed behind while they went through the hole in the wall, leaving him alone with his thoughts. His head was pounding, and he felt nearly as surprised as the strange purple pony that was apparently Luna's daughter. In all this craziness, his life had seemed almost tame. He pulled a small device from its hiding place in his mane, pressing a small button on it. A tinny female voice rang out, echoing in the small room. "Agent 4792, status report." The voice commanded. "Agent 4792 reporting, I'm in." Timepiece cleared his throat a bit. "It would appear that there's more to this royal family than we thought. Princess Celestia isn't as crystal-clean as expected, and Luna appears to have quite a large secret under her sleeve. A daughter-sized secret. Luna has a descendant. A unicorn... well, an alicorn, soon." "Good, good." The voice was laden with malice. "Don't act just yet, watch them, figure out their plan, then strike when the time is right. I am counting on you, Agent 4792. Don't mess up." "Of course." Timepiece grunted, placing the device back into his mess of a mane. He sighed a bit, pretty sick of taking orders from the mysterious female pony. Unfortunately, this was the only way he knew how to keep his family safe, the only way he knew how to find the bastard that killed his mother. He hated the idea that some of the ponies he killed may be innocent, but he found that if he didn't think too hard about it, it didn't really bother him all that much.. He focused hard, making sure to get back into character. He knew it was slightly cliche, but he felt that when he pretended to be Timepiece, he really was Timepiece. He sighed a bit, feeling the timidity coming back. He was under control of it, after all, he was the one making himself like this, but it still felt weird. He jumped into the dirt tunnel, crawling through the soil. He poked his head into Twilight and Big Mac's room. The room was far too crowded for him to come in, so he simply stayed in the tunnel with only his head showing. Luna looked to him, nodding a bit. "This is Timepiece. He is the one Celestia wanted me to mate with." She explained. "Well, howdy, there, Timepiece. I'm Big Macintosh, but if ya' want, you can call me Big Mac, or even just Mac if you'd like." Big Macintosh smiled. Twilight was resting against him. "You already know me." Twilight shrugged a bit. "Not really much else to tell... not that I'd even be sure that anything else would be true..." Luna hung her head. "I apologize." "Stop worrying about it. We don't have time for you to." Twilight said a bit impatiently. "Right, of course." Luna nodded. "But as I was saying. I think Timepiece would be the best to sneak topside and alert the bearers of the other four elements. He would draw less attention than an alicorn, so Twilight and I are out, and Rainbow Dash thrives on attention, so she's out, and Big Macintosh is... well... big. Celestia doesn't seem to be as powerful as she was before... at least... not yet..." She frowned. "I sure hope the power of the six is enough." "Well, the six were found on accident, really, maybe the seventh will be as well." Twilight sighed a bit. "I sure hope everything will be okay." She extended her newly grown wings a bit. They were still slightly underdeveloped, the feathers lying askew and the wings unable to extend to their full length. Her horn pained her as it extended. She felt more powerful magic than she had ever felt surge through her, only to be diverted to the brace her leg was held in. "I say we just go up and give her the old one, two punch!" Rainbow Dash said, grinning. Twilight sighed, rubbing her temples with her hooves. "Rainbow, this is Celestia that we're talking about. I think we'd all like to see this come out with nopony getting hurt." "Maybe you would, but from what Luna says, Celestia deserves a good kick in the head." Rainbow said stubbornly. "Hush." Twilight said. "If we do this carefully, we may be able to avoid a huge war." "Say, Princess, what made your sister go bonkers anyways?" Rainbow asked. Luna sighed a bit. "Well, I'm afraid somepony from her past has... shall we say... popped back up?" "As in..." Twilight thought for a while. "Like, a rival or something?" "Quite the opposite. There was a time when Celestia was kind, like the Celestia you all know. It wasn't really until after she left her mate that she began really getting bad." Luna said. "First you tell us she was always bad, then you tell us she was sometimes bad, and now you're staying she turned bad after a while?" Twilight said a bit irritably. "How about a bit of consistancy?" "When I said always, I was using hyperbole. I thought you of all ponies would appreciate a literary device." Luna said, seeming a tad miffed. Her face quickly softened. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I'm just a mite stressed." She sighed. "I know how you feel." Twilight grumbled a bit. "I know this is really hard on you, Twilight, and I'm sorry." Luna frowned. "No, I love finding out that I'm the daughter of what used to be the most evil pony in existence and that my whole life has been a lie. Thanks, Mom." The last word was said particularly acidic. "Twilight, that ain't like you at all!" Big Macintosh said. "I know, I know." Twilight sighed, looking to Luna apologetically. "My whole life has just been turned upside-down, and I'm having some very conflicting emotions." "I understand. Your recent... kinship... with Mr. Macintosh probably isn't helping." Luna said. "I keep tellin' ya, you can call me Big Macintosh if ya'd like. I've never been too partial to 'Mr. Macintosh." Big Macintosh said, trying to be friendly. "So, what do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Are we gonna send the pipsqueak up or not?" "I don't want to endanger him..." Luna frowned, looking to him. "He seems to be frail, and I couldn't forgive myself if I let him be hurt." Timepiece spoke for the first time the entire day. "I thought you were the dark one..." "I thought you'd never heard of me." Luna looked at him, surprised. "I didn't! I mean... I haven't." Timepiece said quickly. Damn. He thought. I'm getting sloppy. "Well, either way, do you think you're up to it?" Twilight asked. Timepiece sighed, a bit relieved. "Yeah, sure." He said casually. Luna stared at him for a few seconds. "Then come with me back to our cell, it's the closest to the surface entrance, and I have to write a note for you to send." Luna stood, her knees shaking weakly. "The sooner I get this band off, the better." She mumbled. She weakly climbed through the tunnel, jumping out into the room, collapsing almost immediately. Timepiece followed close after her, frowning. "Are you alright, Princess?" He asked. "I'll be fine." Princess Luna said. "Alicorns can live without magic, we are just very weak. On an unrelated subject, when exactly were you planning on killing me?" Timepiece stumbled back a bit. "W-what?" "You are a spy, are you not?" Luna asked, still putting on a slight smile. "I... I..." Timepiece was speechless. "How did you know?" "Female intuition." Luna said. "Not to mention that you got sloppy. The whole communicating through small transceivers thing doesn't work very well when your mane is too short to hide it." Timepiece stared at her, stunned. "Why haven't you gotten me, then? Why haven't you snapped my neck while I slept?" "Oh, I could never do something like that. Despite what rumors Celestia may have spread during my incarceration, I have never killed anypony. So, are you going to tell me who you work for? Or are you just going to kill me?" Luna asked. "You aren't even going to try to defend yourself?" Timepiece asked. "I doubt I could." Luna said. "I'm severely weakened, not to mention that you're small, and could more easily escape." Timepiece sat down slowly, unsure of what to do. "So, you want to know why I'm spying on you?" He asked, a bit unsure of why he'd be willing to tell her. "It'd be nice." Luna smiled kindly at him. "To be honest, I don't know. I've only dealt with her over the transceiver, and before that, some strange pony came to me due to my..." He cleared his throat a bit. "Distaste for a rival spy faction." "Why?" Luna asked. "Did you used to work for the rival spy faction?" "No." Timepiece sighed. "They killed my mother." "I'm very sorry to hear that." Luna frowned. "You're telling me." Timepiece grunted. "So why haven't you killed me yet?" Luna asked. "I was under orders to observe." Timepiece sighed. "I was not to act yet." "Do you really want to be a spy?" Luna asked skeptically. "Why wouldn't I? The pay's great, my family is guaranteed protection, and I have an outlet for my rage." Timepiece said. "Because for every pony you kill, you may be putting many young colts and fillies in the exact same position you were in. You aren't a bad pony. You wouldn't do that." Luna said gently. "Great, now the princess of darkness is lecturing me." Timepiece grumbled, obviously knowing that she was right. "You don't even know me." "I apologize." Luna said. "But I think it's obvious from your actions that I seem to know you better than you yourself do." "Shut up." Timepiece said quietly. "You came here expecting to mate with me, then kill me, didn't you?" Luna said. "No! I wouldn't have mated with you!" Timepiece's cheeks were rosy. "You really wouldn't have?" Luna raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "No! Not at all!" Timepiece said. "You see? You're not a spy or an assassin. You're just a kid that got in way over his head." Luna said gently. "You're wrong!" Timepiece screamed. "Oh, really? If you're such a big man, prove it." Luna challenged. "I won't believe that you are a killer if you don't." Timepiece growled with rage, jumping on her back, placing a hoof on her chin and a hoof on the back of her head, preparing to snap the neck of the princess. An image flashed through his mind of the man who killed his mother. He was positioned exactly like he was, hooves ready to end the life of a pony. He began trembling, falling off of Luna's back. He shook, laying on the floor."I'm a monster." He whimpered, his eyes wide. "Shhh." Luna put a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I had to do that, but I had to make you realize who you were." "I really am a kid." Timepiece sighed. "A stupid kid." "Saying that proves that you aren't." Luna smiled. "No kid I know admits to being a kid." "I sure as hell am not a man." Timepiece said. "No man would go around hurting innocent ponies." "You weren't a man." Luna corrected. "Now, I think you've learned your lesson pretty well." "Thank you..." Timepiece said. "For everything." He pulled the small device from his mane, clicking a button. The familiar tinny voice sounded once again. "Agent 4792, have you completed the task?" "No, I haven't." Timepiece replied. "And I never will. I quit." He said the last two words with a strange jubilance in his voice. "You what?!" The voice screamed. "Nopony quits on me! You'll regret this! I happen to know who your brothers are, and let's just say that you may be missing one or two when you return." The voice had particular malice, but it was out of control, as if she couldn't contain her rage. "In fact, I believe your brother is about to get married. It'd be a shame if somepony just happened to plant an explosive in the church set to go off at about the same time." "What? Francisco would never get married! He's too timid." Timepiece said angrily. "Well then, perhaps I could be mistaken." The voice had a strange happiness to it. "But I believe you do have another brother." "...Stefano?" Timepiece gasped. ------------------------------------------ Well, this chapter has been kind of a nightmare for me. I've been far too busy to write lately, and when I have, I haven't been in the mood for it. On a completely different note, I am looking for pictures to make a new cover to this story. Either send the pictures to me through the private messaging system, or email me at ydderf.rm@gmail.com. I will send my eternal gratitude to all who help me in the form of Thanks Points, a new system of money that I just made up that has no value whatsoever. Now, for the moment that you have all been waiting for... this week's spoiler: I will be very surprised if anypony figures this out. Goodbye, everypony, and happy readings!