Chapter 21
Hey, if you read that thing where I said I couldn't update, good news everyone! I scrounged up and old mac, so I can write! (not much else though...)
So please, keep reading! I'm back!
Oh, and I just released ANOTHER story, so go check that out some time...
Think of her less as a sports car, and more like a truck. Yes, I do know what those are you idiot...
-The Doctor
Chapter 21
Clockwork Framework
It was easily apparent that he was a little... eccentric. It was just one of those things that you can’t get wrong. The inside of his shop just screamed ‘guy with way too much fucking time’.
And no, that wasn’t a pun.
It only took a few seconds of conversing with Celestia to convince him to let me behind the counter, which he did so reluctantly anyway. He seemed to have an innate distrust for anything that wasn’t... him.
The moment he opened up the side of the bench I could see just why he had a shop that was so out of the way, so free of any disturbances of any kind. With a hobby like his there was only one reason.
The inside was covered. And by that I mean that there was barely a single spot that didn’t have some sort of mechanical contraption clinging to it. From the walls, to the ceilings, and even to most of the floor, there was an abundance of crap.
There was every single type of small knick-knack that you could ever want, little animals that would plod along, clocks, spinning things, clocks, moving and throwing things...
...More clocks...
Now call me cynical, but I was beginning to find a trend of sorts in there.
Behind the counter lay the ‘depths’ of the shop, hovel, thing. The brown stallion was leading Celestia and I through the small area behind his workplace and into a narrow corridor. I managed to have hard enough time avoiding just the assorted clocks that sat everywhere, so I managed to hit every single one of the low lying door frames.
All six of them.
The walk was silent, not a single noise being made. Probably the most exciting part was when all of the clocks went off at the same time as it neared the hour, I didn’t bother checking which one. The weirdest part was that a lot of the clocks were out of sync, only slightly, but enough that you could tell the difference.
For a guy that was supposed to be the Element of Time, you’d think that he’d put a little more effort into keeping his clocks aligned. It was incredibly annoying to hear one clock go off, and then hear the whole building go off in some demented domino effect. At one point there was a clock that went off a good half minute after the rest.
Eventually the self-named ‘Doctor’ stopped in a small room off to the side of the corridor. It was quite a large room, everything about it screaming that it had once belonged to royalty, or at least someone very wealthy. The roof was almost five heads above me, even at my height, and beautiful chandeliers hung from them, small glass trails spiralling in arcs, the light bouncing around the room.
And this room seemed to be the only one that was completely clean. That was to say that there wasn't a single clock in the whole area, not one mechanical contraption anywhere to be seen.
Well, except for the really big one that was sitting right in the middle. Right in the middle of the room was a sort of hole spanning 2 metres across. Emerging from the hole was an enormous clock, a large brass behemoth of a thing, all gleaming metal and dials. I could almost imagine it in one of those old train stations.
And I would have gotten a better look too, if I hadn’t suddenly been strapped down by the chains that sprung from the metalwork of the floor, completely securing me in place. They fastened around my ankles and wrists, and even went so far as to lift me from the floor, suspending me in the air, slightly leaning back.
Celestia let out a gasp of surprise, but she was still standing, untouched by anything that for any reason decided to jump out of the freakin’ walls to rape her.
I made a grunt of annoyance, “Hey, what the hell? T-” I was cut off as a heavy hoof made contact with my head, sending stars shooting through my vision.
The Doctor appeared in my line of sight, “Don’t, just don’t talk, I’ve had enough of your kind messing around with innocents.” He made a gesture, “I don’t know what you’ve done to earn Celestia’s trust, but that gives you no reason to do anything!” He was practically screaming, “Do you hear me?!”
Scratch that, he was screaming at me. For a small-ish guy, he could make a lot of noise. I was almost getting blown backwards by the wind coming from his muzzle. I had absolutely no idea what I’d done to make him so angry at me, but he didn’t seem to realise that.
I tried struggling, but nothing that I did could move the shackles attached to me. They were incredibly solid, nothing I did could even scratch them. Even the cables that suspended me were too tough, almost being the width of my wrist.
The Doctor let out a small smirk of triumph, “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to make this as quick as possible...” His grin widened even further, “We don’t want to see the likes of you in this particular planet...”
My blood ran cold. The look that he was giving me was enough to freeze hell. It was one of pure justified malice. It was the look of someone that had seen far, far too much death and destruction.
It was the look of someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill me at a moment’s notice. I didn’t care if I was supposed to be near unkillable, I still felt as though the Doctor wouldn’t have to try very hard to completely erase any trace of my existence from all history.
The Doctor started backing up towards a console standing near the foot of the giant clock, but he was stopped by Celestia. “Doctor! What is the meaning of this!”
The sheer force of her voice shook me. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. But the Doctor didn’t even seem to care at all. He turned to face her, “Celestia, don’t tell me that you’ve grown soft...” His smirk grew wider before vanishing entirely, “No, I can see it in your eyes...”
“You actually believe that he’s innocent?” The brown pony let out a laugh of disbelief, “You have absolutely no idea of what his kind have done to anything they come across!”
Celestia stepped forward, “That matters not Doctor! He is not guilty of anything! Release him at once!”
His smirk returned in force, “Really Celestia? Release him? Hmmmm, I don’t think that’s an option at the moment, what about you?”
Celestia glared at him, but something inside of her wouldn’t stand for it.
Her horn charged up, brighter and brighter and brighter...
And then fizzled out in an instant as more shackles shot from the floor, one of them wrapping around the Alicorn’s enlarged horn, gripping relentlessly. The metal seemingly nullified any magic. It raised the most important question...
Just how strong was the Doctor?
But he wasn’t done there. The stallion leisurely waltzed across to the console and slammed a hoof into one of the levers. Celestia started travelling towards him, her hooves almost dragging against the floor as the cables stretched and elongated to meet the required distance.
He muttered something inaudible to her.
And then he slapped her in the face.
It was at that particular moment that any possible good feelings towards the stallion vanished completely.
Celestia
It was confusing for her really to see him act this way. He’d known her ever since she was just a small filly, new to existence in general, looking for guidance. He’d always treated her with the utmost of respect, she was in all essence his own daughter.
Then why was he acting so harsh now?
No, that wasn’t it, he wasn’t actually angry, that couldn’t be it. She could see the small tics that came with a forced lie. A very good one, but still forced. It just wasn’t in his nature to be a compulsive liar. Sure he could be obnoxious and a real pain, but he was still kind at heart.
There, the small tap of a hoof. And there as well, the flick of an ear as he said something strange.
For a normal pony these things wouldn’t mean a thing. Hell, even for Celestia it was hard, and she’d known him for literally all of her life.
And then he started walking towards the World Clock, and she picked up on something very small, almost imperceptible.
He winked at her, and his eyes flicked for a moment towards the bound figure of Light.
It was at that moment that she knew precisely what to do...
“Doctor, what is the meaning of this!”
“Celestia, don’t tell me that you’ve gone soft... No, I can see it in your eyes...” Where he’d gotten so good at his acting she would never know, “You actually believe that he’s innocent? You have no idea what his kind have done to anything they come across!”
His kind? Now that was interesting. “That matters not Doctor! He is not guilty of anything! Release him at once!”
“Hmmmm, I don’t think that’s an option at the moment, what about you?” He winked again, just subtly, but she got the message. Her horn started to charge slowly, putting as much effort into the show as the actual spell.
And then the shackles shot from the floor and secured them on her. They lifted her up, but not painfully. If anything they were incredibly gentle. But she knew her que.
Celestia let her spell die, let it fizzle out on the metal that held her. She let herself be dragged across the floor towards the Clock until she was right next to her old friends.
He leaned closer to her, “Thank you for playing along ‘Tia, you did perfectly. But we’re not done yet...”
And that was when he brought his hoof towards her face. Except that it didn’t hit her, it hit the cable that was resting on her horn. But Light wouldn’t know this, he could only see the back of her head.
It was the perfect ruse.
Maybe too perfect, he fell for it.
The chains securing him burst apart in a writhing explosion of shades, the pieces of metal going everywhere. There was only a split second to be had before the whirling maelstrom hurtled towards the Doctor, in some horrendous act of retribution.
But that was all the time it took.
The Doctor leant back slightly and smacked a hoof against the side of the World Clock, and everything froze.
Light
I had no idea what had happened. One moment I was about to kill the bastard, the next I was suspended in mid-air, unable to move at all.
And then he started to walk towards me, unaffected by the sudden stop i-
Ohhh, that son of a bitch, he stopped time. The giant clock behind him was still, the hands unmoving on the face of it. The sound that had been made as he hit it reverberated around the enclosed space, never fading away, never disappearing.
He stopped in front of me, still smiling slightly, but in a sad sort of way, “Very good, you did better than I’d ever expected,” He hesitated, “Especially considering your... heritage.” His voice sounded odd, as if it was travelling through a large tube to get to me.
His gaze snapped back to my ‘face’, “Now, I’ll expect you to act civilised when I bring you back, so please don’t try to attack me again, I don’t like it very much.” I of course couldn’t do anything, but I tried to nod anyway. I thought that there was no other thing to do, so I might as well listen to him.
The Doctor slowly retreated to the clock and slammed his hoof into it again, and then it resumed. The sound faded away, the hands started to move, and I fell in a pile on the floor, my hands smarting as they slammed the metal flooring.
I gasped, but I felt a cool touch on my shoulder. Celestia helped me to my feet and smiled at me, “I trust that you’re feeling better now?” There was a bit of a warning in the sentence, as if she was trying to tell me to not try to attack the Doctor.
I wouldn’t...
…For now...
Talking about him, the Doctor himself was checking on the clock, almost whispering encouragement to it. He completely ignored all presence in the room until he was finished with... whatever it was...
And then he turned back to me and walked over to join the Princess. He gave her a nod, “Thanks again for playing along. Oh, and sorry for the delay, I had to check on her. She’s not meant for quick stops like that...” He cast a worried glance back at the clock.
“No matter, I can wait, and I’m just glad that I know you so well,” Celestia said.
I just stared at them, mouth agape. “Wait, so you, and him, and the-”
“Yep,” They chorused in unison.
“But- but- h-me-yo-GGGAAAAAAAA!” I just let out a scream of annoyance, “So that was a trick?”
The Doctor nodded, “Oh yes, I had to see if you were truly kind, and whether you would protect others.”
“...But why?”
His expression darkened, “Not everyone that has been in this chamber has had pure intentions...” He gestured towards the clock, “Especially with her...”
“...You know that’s just a clock right?”
The Doctor looked as if I’d just hit his mother, “Just a clock?! My dear friend, that is not a normal clock!” He struck a pose, “That, is the World Clock!”
I levelled my gaze again, “What?”
He sighed, “It’s the clock that regulates all time in this particular universe.”
“...Please tell me why the hell you, the time guy, needs a big ass clock to help him?!”
He let out another sigh, Celestia just looked amused at his predicament, “Well, it places far less of a strain on me than personally monitoring all universes at once!” He blushed a bit, “Also, it lets me actually go into the universes, which I normally wouldn’t be able to do...”
He raised a hoof to his chin and gestured towards the doorway, “Those other clocks out there? They’re miniature versions of the others, the World Clocks in other universes, not real ones of course, the ones here only link to the others, they let me monitor the times...”
“So you’re saying that that clock there,” I waved my hand in the general direction of the World Clock, “Controls the time in this universe?”
“Yep.”
I shook my head, “Then why is it just lying there?! Couldn’t someone else just come in and change something?!”
His face took on something approximating anger, “Believe me, if anything tried to even glance at her without my permission...” I got the faint impression that I wouldn’t want to get between him and his clock.
And then his face sprang into a perky expression, “But let’s get out of the dumps, this is about you!”
He leaned in close to my face.
“Now, where do we begin...?”
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I know where to begin...the
anal probesonic screwdriver.Wow. The Doctor's gotten a few new tricks.
And is he cheating on the TARDIS?
Haha you didn't interupt my sleep schedule this time!
1527068 I was just looking out for you... (And besides, you might get suspicious... :pinkie crazy:)
1527067 Not yet, all will be explained... And no, he's not Mary Sue, you'll see...
1527049 Hehe... I don't... know what you're talking about... Hehe
1527072I think its John Doe,not Mary Sue?
Let's ask 'probing' questions.
1527075 John Doe?
1527084 Huh-wh-a-t AAAAH!
...I see watt you did there...
1527089
I really get a 'kick' out of the Doctor. Sadly I have much to catch up on in that particular area.
I was about to go to town to pick up my sister when this updated. Then she called immediately afterwards and said she'd get a bus. You sir, are a miracle worker! THE WORLD BENDS TO YOUR WHIMS!
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/24526430.jpg
well he walked right into that one didn't he?
I still want to see The Doctor in pain after this chapter.
I want to read this story, but I have no idea what is going on. Care to give me some clues? If I am utterly clueless, I can't get drawn in. It seems interesting, though. A mix of Dishonored and "The Adventure of the Elementals", another fic here on this site. It's good, but the extent of the power of the Alamantians make them really OP. Just to think about, one of them has control over water. Just because he splashed some more water onto stones in a sauna without touching it, he manages to bang Fleur De Lis in the exact same room.
no
1528027 I thought of Master Yi's and Fiora's son on League of Legends.
1527949
yeah man . I'm not foolin. I think he might of had one.
Very disappointed he didn't end with 'When do we begin?'