//------------------------------// // Speaking Historically // Story: My Clockwork Stallion // by Aegis Shield //------------------------------// My Clockwork Stallion Part 6: Speaking Historically Clock Turner, head of the Turner household, was having a certifiable fit. The only other pony home was his teenage colt, Time Turner. “It’s useless! All of it useless!” the stallion shouted in anguish, rushing his hooves across his worktables. Papers scattered as tiny clock bits rained onto the hardwood floor. Little spatters of glass and wiring scared their dog away to hide under the sofa. “Father, it’s just a theory!” Time Turner rushed in with him, but was quickly shunted to one side by his father’s sheer weight. He had a newspaper under his arm: Germane Scientist Discovers Time is Relative! Chronomancy Revolution Eminant? “For all we know he’s talking out his plot!” “No, son, this is the future! If time is relative, then it doesn’t mean anything!” Clock Turner pulled a wooden cuckoo clock off the wall and stamped on it. The crunch of springs and wood made the colt wince painfully. They’d built that one together, as father and son. “Ponies thought for ages that time was just point A to point B, but it’s all a lie!” The stallion continued to crash back and forth, smashing and destroying his life’s work in his rage. “Father please!” Time Turner tug-of-warred with him over a particularly nice carved, antique time piece. “This is our bread and butter! Ponies aren’t going to stop using clocks!” he winced at the scent of cider that rushed from his father’s muzzle. The newspaper fluttered across the room, the pages going in all directions. “If this Germane guy’s figures are right, then to tell any difference you’d have to be travelling at the speed of light to see even a mild difference!” The rather clever colt tried, but the massive stallion had already thrown open a chest and was throwing things over his shoulder. “We’re going to find something more solid to base our lives around! Something more solid that won’t move or change on us!” He snapped, turning and throwing the window open. He emerged with a small glass case in his hooves. “If time can be manipulated, then what, son?” he demanded. Time Turner didn’t have an answer for him, but he was still frightened. “I am responsible for putting food on this herd’s table, and by Celestia’s sunny backside I’m going to keep with the times!” Time Turner gaped at the glass case. It was the Turner Time Piece, their family heirloom. It was a solid, pristine gold clock face. It weighed over ten pounds, and it hadn’t been touched by hoof or dust in the colt’s lifetime. Legend said that their ancestors had been given it by a ‘night time alicorn’ for helping her devise clockwork mechanisms. But, it was only legend—Celestia was the only alicorn anypony had ever heard of, after all. “Father,” the colt said, worry and tension working its way into his tone. He glanced over his shoulder at the open window. “Father what’re you doing?” “Time as we know it has no meaning, son,” the half-drunken stallion reeled back, his muscles coiling. Time Turner knew his father was excitable, but this was way beyond anything he’d seen. “We have to get rid of these useless things!” He turned then pitched it like a frisbee, display case and all! “No!” The colt leapt high, as high as his little legs could launch him. His face lit up when he caught the case between his hooves—but the momentum carried him right out the window. His father’s strength had made it more than heavy, it was like grabbing a launched boulder. The teenage colt sailed out the window with a horrified shriek, down three stories into the street below. Clock Turner gave a feral whinny of terror, rushing to the window. Half outside the frame himself, he saw his son hit the pavement and immediately get run over by a rushing carriage. It was only after he saw the wheel take his little colt’s arm off that he started screaming like a madpony. "Help! HELP! Somepony HELP!" =-=-=-= Present Day =-=-=-= “Oh, I’m sorry Princess Luna,” Quick Quill bowed apologetically. “I’m afraid the articles on recent advancements in chronomancy you requested have already been checked out.” “What?” Luna tilted her head in annoyance. “By whom?” “Er, your sister, Princess Celestia,” the dust-colored mare said nervously. “Hrm, I see,” Luna rubbed at her chin a moment. “Perhaps Tia has beaten me to the punch.” She paused to thank the librarian, then turned to make her way to her sister’s private offices. When Luna arrived, she found the milky alicorn sitting at her desk, frowning over a series of records, scrolls, and other things. Luna arched a brow. “Tia?” “Hrm?” Celestia’s pouty-faced frown of concentration was broken when she looked up. “Oh, hullo Luna. Come in, be at home.” She said, lowering the manila folder in front of her. Luna’s eyes flicked to the symbols on the folder itself. A black crescent moon, and a down-turned hourglass. Time Turner’s medical records? “Checking up on Twilight Sparkle’s beau, I see?” Luna said with a sideways look. “I would think that would be none of our business, sister,” she looked at her sibling with a sideways smile. Celestia had the decency to pinken in the cheeks, but spoke, “Just making sure he’s not a wanted stallion, or a drug dealer or something of the sort. I treasure my faithful student like a surrogate daughter.” The daytime princess quickly closed the folder and pushed it to one side like it wasn’t something of fascination. “Then, pray-tell, what makes you scowl with such morbid interest?” Luna plucked the folder from her desk. Celestia reached to snatch it back, but solar magic slid off of her lunar magic grip like so much oil over water. The darker alicorn gave her sister a look, “What?” “Time Turner isn’t a criminal or anything bad,” Celestia lowered her voice, making sure the door was closed. “He’s just… very unique.” Luna nodded with disinterest. “He has clockwork prostetics in his front-left limb and along his ribcage. Surely he is not the only one in the world.” Celestia looked startled that Luna already knew so much, but shook her head. “It’s not just that, Luna, its… worse than that.” Luna fixed her sister with a questioning gaze, then flipped the folder open. It was a complete record, on royal parchment, no less, of everything of interest about the stallion in question. A cart-parking ticket here and there. Credit for a university degree in engineering—well that was to be expected. Distant Germane descent, well that really didn’t mean anything bad. Luna flipped a few pages, going back and back through Time Turner’s life until she huffed and slapped the folder down on her sister’s desk. “Sister there’s no reason for this intrusion.” Luna defended the nice stallion she’d met in the waiting room. “If thy protégé were picking up studs at a local brothel I would worry, but Time Turner is decent in the heart and mind—we met him briefly, and saw into his eyes.” The dark alicorn pushed the folder back at her sister, a little crabby about this whole investigation now that she was thinking about it. Celestia was quiet for a short time, then gently pushed the folder back to Luna. “Look at the last page. I had my spies and information ponies check it four times to confirm its correctness. I even had them hunt down the original and put it in this folder.” Luna frowned curiously, then flipped it open again. Turning to the last page, she found a yellowed old document with edges frayed from age. Her brow lowered as she squinted to read the tiny print. “Confirmation of a live birth at the Canterlot Maternity Ward,” she mumbled down the stats of a newborn colt that had been birthed in the capital of Equestria. Luna’s wings suddenly blimped open in shock when she reached the bottom of the page and her eyes turned into pinpricks. “He’s a hundred and thirteen years old!” she shouted in disbelief. =-=-=-=-=-= Time Turner winced when he pawed through his mail. Medical bills. He hated those. Sighing in resignation, he opened it when he’d reached the privacy of his shop. Looking at the number on the bottom line, he moaned. He’d be grazing for a month, at this rate. How humiliating. Leaning, he peeled down the edge of his shoulder to see to an itch, then put it back. Five-sense glamour spells made him look and feel real, but darn if it didn’t itch him sometimes. Leaving the bill on his writing desk he returned to the front room of his shop, only to find it full of mares! The brown stallion jerked to a stop, not really sure how so many customers had wandered in without him knowing. “Er!” he jerked himself, limping as he went, behind the counter. “Hello! Welcome to Keys and Clocks, with all your time needs and keys for locks!” he blurted his catch-phrase with ghusto. All five mares turned to peer at him, dead silent, blinking. “Is that him…?” A meek-looking yellow pegasus whispered. “Ah reckon so,” said a Stetson-wearing orange earth pony mare. Time Turner cocked his head, “Erm, can I help you… all…?” he asked slowly. Customers didn’t usually come in groups, how strange! They studied him for a few moments longer, until one of them seemed to remember herself and startled into motion. “Oh hullo, dah’ling!” A white unicorn mare sauntered forward with a toss of her mane. “A little birdy told me about your shop here, and I couldn’t believe I’d never been!” she smiled with a twinge of nervousness that even Time Turner could see. “So, I thought I would stop in and have a few keys made!” she dropped a little ringlet on his counter. “One of these, one of these, and two of this one here if you have them.” “Y1, Y1, and a KW1,” Time Turner knew them by sight, nodding and taking them from her. “Very common key types, I’ll have them done in a few minutes for you.” The brown stallion turned, putting on his safety goggles and going over to his key-cutting machine. It was basically a saw-blade and a dull blade that moved in unison. Plucking the right blank key from the rows and rows on display, he set it into a clamp and set to work. The dull blade gently traced the shape of the original, while the shape spinning blade carved the same shape into the blank. VRR-IIIIIIIIIII! It was loud and shrill, but it was slicing through metal while he carefully hunched over his work. Rarity motioned the others in a frantic way. They looked around the shop, curious. They would get one legit chance to check out Twilight’s coltfriend’s place without her getting suspicious. After all, they had keys that could be copied and clocks that might need servicing too! Lining up one after the other, each mare put a keyring on the counter, thinking of which key she might need a copy of when Time Turner asked. Rainbow stroked her chin, staring at the brown stallion’s backside while he worked on Rarity’s keys. Eh, she’d seen better. Not that it was bad looking. It wasn’t bad. Applejack elbowed her rudely, scowling. Rainbow stuck her tongue out, gesturing at him. The silent argument about the stallion’s flanks went back and forth until both mares looked ready to choke each other, red-faced. “There!” Time Turner blew on the fresh keys to get the shavings off. “All three will come to twelve bits total, miss,” he wisely chose ‘miss’ over ‘ma’am’, being pretty good with customers if he did say so himself. Rarity tittered a bit, paying him and putting her new keys in her saddlebags for safe keeping. “How about this one,” Applejack stepped up. “It’s a might different, y’see, and it’s to a real special—” “That’s an SC1,” Time Turner smiled patiently. “Common house key. I’ll have that done in a jiff!” he took it from her and whipped around to make it so. Applejack looked flustered, a little cowed that he’d known her own house key just by lookin’ at it. Smiling bashfully, she mumbled, “Eh, make it two of those. My little sister keeps losin’ hers,” the wrinkle in her muzzle said she was fibbing about who was losing what keys. It took less than two minutes for the brown stallion to carve out a pair of SC1’s for her. “Eight bits, please,” he clinked the original and both new keys down for her when he was done. Applejack paid him, mumbling nonsense to herself. He didn’t seem so bad, or anything. Not that she was here to check him out for Twilight. Pinkie had come, so she was here to make sure she didn’t get out of control. Speaking of, the pink mare sidled forward, a mustache and big-nose pair of glasses on her face. Time Turner stared at her for a few moments. There was a short, tense silence. Suddenly his face lit up, “GREETINGS UNKNOWN FEMALE ENTITY!” he shouted obnoxiously, pointing at her. The other four mares looked horrified, but Time Turner and Pinkie shared the laughter. “That’s me!” Pinkie snickered, the disguise sliding off her face. Bouncing forward, she hoof’d over a small jewelry box. “Can ya help me out? It jams now and then, mister keys and locky-pants!” Time Turner snickered, nodding a bit. Getting his tool set from under the counter, he undid the fastener, then wiggled a few things around. “Ah, there’s something in there,” he tolder her. Leaning with what looked like dentist tools, he pulled something from the locking mechanism of Pinkie’s jewelry box. “Is that… a rainbow sprinkle?” he asked, making a face. Pinkie put it in her mouth, humming thoughtfully, then she nodded. “Yep.” “W-well, it was just a minor repair, so just five bits.” Time Turner said, smirking at the strange pink mare. After she’d paid him, she took the box in her mouth and bounced away to stange with Fluttershy. A good half hour passed while the five mares had keys made, fussed over the many clocks hanging on the walls, and oooh’d at the strange bronze flower that was roped off in the corner. (“Don’t touch it!”) Time Turner made out like a bandit while the five of them studied his store and mannerisms while he wasn’t looking. He seemed like an okay fellow. They were only curious, honest! If Twilight was going to be the first one with a coltfriend out of the six of them, he at least needed eyeing up by the rest of the group. When they’d all exhausted any excuse to be in Keys and Clocks, they headed out as a group. “I think he seems really nice,” Fluttershy said softly, giving a coy smile. “I bet he makes Twilight feel really happy.” “I bet he does,” Rainbow snickered, making an obscene gesture. Applejack rolled her eyes, giving Rainbow a shove. “Well, as long as he’s the upright sort and all that, he seems like an alright stallion to me.” “A perfect gentlecolt, as far as I’m concerned!” Rarity gave her mane a little toss. “I’ve been meaning to get extra keys for my boutique for ages now, I thought I would have to send away for them and stay home for days at a time! Imagine the social events I might have missed!” “Well, I’m sure he’s a nice guy to his customers and all. I don’t care, as long as he treats Twilight okay.” Rainbow Dash clopped her front hooves together like a butch big sister. “Or my hoof’ll be meeting his eye!” Pinkie wandered by in the background, doing a robot walk with precisely one leg “Time Turner! More than meets the eye!” she droned, before giggling and returning to her usual bounce. Then the group of five mares ran into Twilight. She had a massive pack on her back. There were bits of rope hanging out of one side, fine chain out the other, and the makings of a bolt-cutting set jingling in her saddlebags. A screwdriver was in her mouth, and the rattle of screws was following her inside her little pouch. She stopped to stare at her friends, and her friends stared back. “Uhhhh, hay there Twilight,” Applejack ventured carefully. The purple mare frowned, seeing Time Turner’s shop behind them. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together, and even Pinkie could see her connecting the dots as to why the little herd was running together at the moment without her. The purple mare opened her mouth to scold them all. “If you don’t get on us about checking out your new coltfriend,” Rainbow interjected quickly, “We won’t get on you about all the hardware your obviously taking to enjoy with him!” she pointed to the length of rope hanging out of Twilight’s pack. The purple mare turned to look, then a rather guilty expression crossed her features. A few brows raised. “Er,” Twilight said nervously. “I-it’s not for anything, don’t worry about it!” she said weakly, going carefully around the group and into the shop behind them. Rarity and Applejack looked at each other, shocked. “Leave it to the egghead to be into the kinky stuff,” Rainbow sighed, shaking her head with a smirk. “Rainbow!” Applejack punched her in the shoulder. “That tain’t nice!” “What?!” The cyan mare squawked. “I’m glad she’s not so repressed anymore! I just didn’t expect her to be into bondage and all that kinky bridle-in-the-bedroom junk!” Rainbow Dash snicker-snorted. Fluttershy’s face was as red as Big Mac’s coat, and she just couldn’t find words her knees were shaking so hard at the mere thought of—of—oh my! “For heaven’s sake, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity said, facehoofing a little. “At least leave the poor thing in peace to her own-- her own tastes!” Pinkie giggled loudly, shaking her head, “Well he is cleaning her clock, so maybe there’s rope involved!” Rainbow broke into helpless laughter, and they shared a hoof-bump. Applejack and Rarity groaned, herding them away so Twilight didn’t die of embarrassment with them right outside the shop. =-=-=-= “Passing twenty feet,” Twilight announced. Time Turner was feeding the thin rope with a weight on the end into the Clock of Five Mysteries. “Twenty-five feet. Thirty.” The weight got hung up on something as he was lowering it into the bronze-and-gold-colored depths. He wiggled it a little, sighing in relief when it came free and they kept going. He squinted into the tiny, tiny little space between the gears he’d made. After a certain number of pieces had come out, he’d reached some sort of void below it. They’d already established there was more space inside the clock than outside. But how much…? “How long is the rope?” The stallion asked. “Fifty feet long,” Twilight said, gently feeding it to him as he lowered it. “Passing thirty-five feet. Four-TEE?!” It slipped from her hooves, got past Time Turner, and vanished into the cuckoo clock like a rogue spaghetti noodle getting slurped up. There was silence. “W-well… it’s more than fifty feet deep, then.” “Yeah. Scary,” said Time Turner. The two of them stood there, side-by-side, puzzled. Moving the leaves of the bronze flower back and forth, they covered the small hole they’d made so nothing else would fall in. “I still want to take the flower out. Maybe we can get a blow-torch or something. Some power tools to cut through the mechanism itself.” “That seems like such a waste, though,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “It was built to unfold like that, surely there’s a way to get it out of the way. “Dunno. We’ll have to work on that,” he flopped onto the sofa with a tired, frustrated sigh. They’d been at this for hours, but the clock and yielded no new answers for them. Twilight sat with him. They leaned on each other, exhausted. “You wanna get something to eat?” Twilight asked after a time. “It’s past dinnertime.” “Er,” Time Turner’s ears turned back. He had no money to spare on eating out. “I was just gonna stay in, sorry. I’m tired,” he lied. Truth was, he was going to head towards the edge of Everfree and graze a bit after dark. But, Twilight didn’t need to know that. He saw her face fall a little bit, but he leaned and kissed her cheek to cheer her up. When her girlish giggle bubbled to the surface he knew he had this battle well in hoof. “Be safe going home,” he bade. “Alright,” she nodded. Leaning in a coy way, she gave him a quick nuzzle before practically sprinting for the door. The red in her cheeks was telling, and he waved to her back as she slipped out into the warm summer night. He stared at the bronze flower for a bit, then got his saddlebags when he was sure Twilight was gone. End of Part 6