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Chapter 1: Clocks2,033 words
Chapter 2: That's a Clock1,980 words

Chapter 2: That's a Clock

Rainbow Dash and her two friends arrived at the hospital without a hitch. She figured Applejack was too worried about the whole thing. It was obvious that something like this was going to happen to Pinkie Pie eventually with all the sweets she ate. The only thing that surprised Rainbow was that it hadn't happened sooner. And yeah, so the pink pony's stomach looked a little strange- so what? During the trip, Pinkie Pie told them the things she had managed to stuff down her throat the previous night, and it was a very, very long list.

Applejack paused at the entrance and turned to face the other two. “Well, ah got ya here,” and at this she beamed as if it was a triumph in and of itself.

Rainbow Dash raised a questioning eyebrow, but Pinkie Pie beat her to the punch.

“Well, actually, we walked here all by ourselves!” Rainbow gave her a playful nudge.

Applejack gave a strained chuckle. “Ah would really like ta stay to make sure you're alright, but ah need ta get back to the farm.” She furrowed her brow and looked the party pony over again. “You sure you're alright?”

“Applejack, she walked here fine. She's okay,” Rainbow interjected. All she got in return was a sigh.

“Well, alright. But you make sure ya come by later.” Rainbow Dash reluctantly nodded, and Pinkie Pie did the familiar motions of the Pinkie Pie Swear. Finally satisfied, Applejack briskly trotted off.

Rainbow and Pinkie Pie wasted no time throwing open the doors. Rainbow trotted up to the empty receptionist desk and gave a few rings on the stereotypical bell. Pinkie Pie wandered over to the vending machines and looked at the various snacks longingly, and she even began to shuffle in place like a foal. The cyan pony managed to make eye-contact and gave her the most disapproving look she could muster. Pinkie's ears laid flat as she suddenly remembered her current predicament, and then the two of them burst into laughter. Pinkie quickly made her way back over to Dash's side.

And there they waited. And waited. And then, after they waited, they waited a bit more. Rainbow Dash shuffled impatiently and rang the bell again, more forcefully this time. Pinkie Pie rocked back in forth in place, eyes wandering around the room. The cyan pony counted the number of tiles on the ceiling: sixty. The pink pony played invisible tic-tac-toe with herself by waving her arms around in the air. She lost. Rainbow daydreamed about the Wonderbolts. Pinkie Pie daydreamed about cupcakes. After having to wait much too long, Rainbow Dash finally lost her patience.

Breaking the silence, Rainbow gave the bell one more forceful ring and then marched right up to the doors separating the rest of the hospital. She peeked her head through and found an empty hallway.

“What's taking so long?” This was so unlike everything she knew about hospitals. She was pretty sure they were supposed to help people quickly and all that, though she never did have this problem any of the other countless times she ended up here.

Pinkie Pie seemed to agree that things were a bit strange, so she also walked over to the doors and shouted, “Helloooooooo? Anypony hooooooome?”

The two of them shared a confused glance, and Pinkie, not wanting to break the oddly oppressive silence, simply prompted her friend to enter with a exaggerated nod. Rainbow just rolled her eyes and walked in, glancing around warily.

The hallways were barren. The patient rooms, usually full of sick or sleeping ponies- empty. They even peeked in the break room, but everything was empty. Rainbow felt a little guilty at wandering around like they were, but what else were they supposed to do? The hospital usually felt very welcoming, but now it felt almost hostile. The feeling creeped over her and slowly built in its intensity. She needed to get out of here. She reprimanded herself for letting her nervousness get out of control again, but when she looked over at Pinkie Pie she could clearly tell the mare was feeling the same way.

“This is the right hospital, right?” Pinkie said slowly, confused.

Rainbow did her best to come up with a playful reply, but gave up and instead flatly responded, “This is the only hospital in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie.”

The two of them found themselves once again in the long and empty hallway that led back out to the lobby. Pinkie looked at Rainbow Dash and gave a bewildered shrug, and Rainbow responded in kind. Well, if they couldn't get help here, they would just have to get help somewhere else. Even if the pegasus had to chase somepony down to get it.

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Twilight bade goodbye to the clerk, but not after practically begging her to keep an eye out for a yellow pegasus mare, and to keep safe Rarity's purchase. She had reluctantly agreed to both, but not without making a big show about how the whole situation was ever so inconvenient. Twilight gritted her teeth at the very thought of that annoying unicorn, but she cleared all that from her head and focused on finding Fluttershy.

She and Rarity had attempted to retrace their steps, but the large store's endless rows of nondescript aisles wove in and out mercilessly. This feature, combined with an annoying lack of windows, left Twilight completely disoriented and out of touch. She had taken to following a single wall, but that only led her in circles (it seemed that way, at least), and she didn't even know how much time they really had wasted wandering aimlessly. How in Celestia's name did this place stay in business? She made a mental note to complain to the clerk; this was completely unacceptable, though she knew in the back of her mind that she really just wanted a reason to get back at that mare somehow.

Okay, she hadn't completely cleared her mind of that stuck-up, self-absorbed, narcissistic-

Focus, Twilight. Focus.

She stopped to rest for a moment, something that Rarity seemed eternally grateful for, and just listened. Other than the two's breathing and an unnerving lack of ticking, she heard nothing. She sighed. If she were only at her library, she could have easily found some spell to help, but as it was she couldn't think of anything that would be useful- well, without causing a lot of damage in the process. She couldn't even risk teleporting the two of them out, since she wasn't really familiar with the area. So, no magic.

Wait a minute. Maybe not. Twilight's eyes shot open wide. “Rarity, your horn!”

Rarity, who had not exactly been inside Twilight's head to follow this particular train of thought, looked at Twilight in horror and began trotting anxiously in place.

“What about it? Is something wrong? What's wrong with my horn?”

Twilight placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “No, I mean- was Fluttershy wearing any jewelry or anything?”

“Of course! I couldn't let her go around looking dull in Fillydelphia!” Rarity balked at the idea. “But what does that have to do with- oh. Oh, Twilight!” Rarity laughed at the shock of recognition. Twilight simply smiled as Rarity concentrated on her jewel-finding magic. Before long, her head twisted in one direction, and the two of them took off as fast as they could without breaking several objects that neither of them really had the bits to pay for.

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I would like to take a moment to interject that bits are a tricky currency, and in fact tend to shift wildly in value from week to week. One week, a single one of these clocks could easily cost forty bits, though the same clock could possibly run as low as twenty or even ten bits a month later. No one knows why Princess Celestia allows for such fluctuations to continue in the economy. Except, perhaps, Princess Luna. But you don't ask Princess Luna about that sort of thing. You just don't. She has better things to do than worry about petty issues like “economics” and “agriculture” and “food shortages”.

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Applejack trotted back to her farm briskly, thankfully avoiding anypony who wanted to get her all caught up in idle chit-chat. She had a farm to run, and run it was what she was gonna do. She trusted in the doctors to take care of Pinkie Pie, and there was no use worrying about it anyway. That's what she kept telling herself, and it was mostly working. But there was still a little nagging fear, and it was harder to get rid of than that barrel of snakes she found last harvest season. That one was a toughie.

She trotted along the farm path and made a beeline for the house. Granny Smith didn't like her granddaughter keeping such a close eye on her, but the old pony wasn't exactly young anymore. Applejack pushed open the door and called out. “Granny Smith, you okay in here?” She said this, fully expecting the usual reply of “Applejack, ya know I'm fine! Now go on!”

She waited a few long moments, and suddenly that nagging fear she just couldn't let go of surfaced as pure panic. It was all the cowpony could do to keep it in check as she calmly searched each room, but soon found the house was empty. She breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, so granny was outside. No big whoop.

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Or not. Applejack was in a frenzy at this point. Not only was Granny Smith gone- which, she realized, could mean that she just wandered off as she sometimes did- but Big Macintosh was also nowhere to be found. She had only found his plow sitting on its side in the field like it had been dropped and abandoned hastily; that alone was enough to drive her insane with worry. She had almost screamed herself hoarse at this point, and now she was simply out of energy. She collapsed in front of the house and tried to figure out what could have possibly happened.

Then she found her imagination running wild, something that she attributed more to Twilight than herself. Twilight. Maybe she could take the unicorn as a little inspiration. Taking a moment to calm herself again, the mare poured over her day. Pinkie Pie's stomach. Typical Rainbow Dash. The stupid jar of pickles that she left on the fence. A quiet jog through Ponyville. A quiet jog back through Ponyville. Wait a minute.

Where was everypony? She hadn't seen a single stallion or mare in town. She was surprised she didn't notice, but then she did have a lot on her mind. What with the harvest in full swing and all. In fact, she hadn't seen anypony since this morning- other than Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, of course. She shifted anxiously. Applebloom would, of course, still be in school, but she just had to make sure the little filly was alright.

Her mind finally sorted, she stood up and wiped the dust off her hat. Running in a panic sure did kick up a lot of it. She left a quick note explaining exactly where she was in case either of her missing family members came back, and then made her way back down the path. The school wasn't far. She could rest much easier knowing her little sis was safe.

However, at the end of the path stood a familiar face that belonged to a familiar unicorn who wore a familiar outfit. Yet something felt sharply different about her.

Applejack recoiled in shock. “You? I thought we ran you outta town! What do ya think you're doing here?”

She didn't answer.

“Are ya gonna answer me or what?”

Again, she didn't answer. Instead, her horn lit up with a color unlike anything the earth pony had ever seen.

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