Clocks; A Rewrite of MLP Story

by ShaD-23

Lights Go Out

The midday sun was drifting to the west, the clocktower of Canterlot ringing out the hour of the day. A few vendors and carts sold their wares in the town square, ponies both young and old chatting and strolling here and there. It was summer, and that meant no school for Shining Armor as he trotted down the cobblestone street toward the edge of town, back home after a camping trip with the colt scouts, a light saddlebag slung over his blank flank. He had always dreamed of joining the Royal Guard of Canterlot, and had been a scout for a few years now.

Coming to the small neighborhood on the outskirts of town, the white unicorn looked here and there, seeing mares and stallions tending to their lawns and fillies and colts playing happily. Coming to a small house just next to woody mountainside, the young colt gave a satisfied sigh, strolling through the picket gate and stepping lightly inside.

"I'm hooooooome!" he called with a smile. Instantly, the sound of tiny hooves could be heard, a tiny purple foal wearing a big smile coming to meet with him. "Oh, it's only you, Twili." he teased, pulling her in for a hug. "Did you miss me?" he asked, hearing her giggle and coo.

"She sure did, Shining Armor." The colt turned to see his father, Night Light, enter the room. "Did you have a good time?" he asked, his son giving him a nod.

"Look at my new badge." he said as he set his sister down, dropping his saddlebag and retrieving his scout's sash, bearing a shiny brass badge, his tall blue unicorn beaming.

"You'll have them all before long, Shining Armor."

The colt's cheeks went pink, his sister still reaching for him as she babbled cutely, her tiny horn gently brushing up against his side.

---

Shining Armor walked through the brush behind his house, stopping to dip his hooves in the stream, the water feeling quite cool in the summer evening, the sky beginning to turn orange and the clouds darkening. Any minute now, his mother, Twilight Velvet, would be home from the market. His saddlebag still slung to his side, he strolled further into the hills, into the woodlands, feeling his blue mane whip in the wind. Cool wind on a warm summer evening was one of his favorite things. Exploring deeper into the forest, Shining Armor thought of his time with the colt scouts. He was one of the best scouts in his troupe, and in just a few years time, he would be ready to enroll in the guard's academy.

He was shaken from his musings, though, when he noticed the wind was feeling oddly cool, looking up to see dark clouds rolling in.

"What's this?" he asked aloud, curling just a little as a whirlwind blew through the trees. This wasn't normal ,he thought. This was a magic storm. Trying to remember his training, Shining Armor raced for a tree and pulled his rucksack off and swung to loop it around it, but another cold burst of wind swept through, cold rain beginning to to fall as as the terrified unicorn was flung upward, tumbling to the ground a brief moment later. Shaking his head, the colt tried to run back toward his house when another blast of wind whipped him up from the ground again, debris and brambles flying through the air with him. His eyes going wide, Shining Armor reached out for anything, seizing a wooden create spinning through the air and tumbling into it, holding his head as the create splashed down into the nearby stream. Shining Armor's eyes went wide and his coat stood on end. If he were adrift in the stream, he was going to go straight over one of the waterfalls going down the cliffside. Scrambling to the side, trying to climb over the edge of the box, the create suddenly lurched with another blast of bitter wind, Shining clinging for dear life as the rain began to grow heavy. He was almost over the side when he felt his saddlebag tug him backwards as it snagged on a board. Giving a jerk at it, his stuck bag pulled him tumbling backwards and he hit his head on the baseboard, everything going black.