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Chapter 105,036 words
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Chapter 1

Chapter 1
996 CE (Four years before the return of Nightmare Moon)

It was late at night. Most ponies in Ponyville were asleep, so only one pony saw the shooting star that streaked across the sky. This pony turned to watch it as it fell, silhouetted against the pale moonlight.

It was brighter than any shooting star the pony had ever seen before. In fact, it was much, much brighter. It just kept getting brighter, and it was lasting a very long time. Most shooting stars fizzled out in less than a second, but this one had survived for at least twenty seconds now.

The watching pony began to become nervous. The shooting star was getting closer and closer, and the watcher couldn’t shake the feeling that it was on a direct course for Ponyville. Not only that, but a faint sound could be heard, almost like a pony screaming.

The watchers ears perked up. The screaming was getting louder as the star grew brighter. It was almost as large as the moon now. Transfixed, the pony stared at the flaming object. Time seemed to slow.

It was a large boxy object. Most of it was covered in intense flames, obscuring any other details. It was definitely not a shooting star. As well, the earlier feeling had become a certainty; the box was heading directly for the pony. The pony was shook out of shock when the screaming formed the words “Town! TOWN!”

The pony dove to the ground, the flaming box pulling up just in time. A hot wind brushed over the pony’s mane as the box arced up for a few more seconds, before dipping below the horizon. The pony dashed after it, curiosity overcoming fear. The pony had just cleared town when a deep boom rang out, more a feeling then a sound. The ground shook, and the pony chased after the sound of impact.

The crash site was a mess. It was in one of the more remote fields of the Apple family estate, bordering on the Everfree Forest. It had gone unfarmed due to its proximity to the dangerous wood. As such, there had been nothing to stop the crash landing box.

The pony that had seen it fly over Ponyville trotted into the field. A huge divot, half a mile long, had ripped the field in half. At the end of it, finally stopped by one of the huge Everfree trees, was the flaming box. The pony stopped at a safe distance and stared at it. Honestly, the pony hadn’t thought beyond this point, and decided to go get Big Macintosh. It was his farm after all. Well, technically Granny Smiths, but she probably wouldn’t be much use.

The pony was just turning to leave when a panel in the side of the strange object flung open; out stumbled a coughing creature.

The pony had never seen anything like it. It had the same basic shape as a monkey, but it was definitely something different. It was larger, taller, and its back was straighter. Its head was bald, except for a patch on the top, like a mane. The rest of it was covered with clothes, something only ponies wore. Even then, only rarely.

For another thing, it was talking. Well, swearing actually.

“Mother----ing Son of a…” It mumbled, before bursting into another coughing fit. It held up a paw to cover its mouth, and when it brought it away, the pony saw the deep red of blood on it.

The creature saw its hand too, and appeared distraught. “Damn it” it whispered. “I don’t have time for this.”

The bystander, standing stunned for the second time, came to a realization. The deep red blotch on the creature’s clothes wasn’t a fashion choice. The creature was bleeding. Very heavily, by the look of it. An involuntary gasp escaped the ponies lips.

The things gaze snapped upwards, body tensing, and then relaxed when it saw the pony, falling to its knees. “Oh, a horse. Wonderful. Nothing more dignified then dying in front of a horse.”

“Pony. I’m a pony, not a horse” said a strange voice. With a shock, the pony realized it was his own.
The creature stared at him. “A talking pony. Fascinating. Well, it’s a bi-“ it said, before being cut off by the seizing of its own body.

The pony began to run forwards, to see if there was anything that could be done, but the creature raised one of its limbs.

“Nothing you can do now” it said, seeming to read the ponies mind “At least, not until I’m done. Just stay back. I’m going to sort of explode, and it’s not something you want to be arooOOUUUUuunnnddd” it choked, its body wracked by another convulsion. It fell to the ground, and then held good on its word.

An explosion of golden light engulfed the thing, lasting for around half a minute. When spots stopped swimming in the ponies eyes, there were two ponies in the light of the fire. One was laying in the remains of the strange creatures clothes, unconscious.

Just as the conscious pony was about to poke the other, to see if it would wake up, it sat up and screamed. Not in, pain, more in surprise. The first pony screamed as well, also in surprise.
The second pony coughed and then breathed out deeply, a golden stream flowing from its mouth. The vapor rose into the air and drifted away. Pony one was watching it go when its source spoke.

“Dominant species, huh?”

“W-What?”

“You’re the dominant species in this area? Wherever we are?”

“Ponyville. And er… yes. I suppose so”

“Wonderful. Had to land regenerate without hands. That’s going to be no end of trouble, tell you that for nothing. These legs seem good though. Nice and fast. I like that.”

The second pony rambled on for a while, talking about how this body compared to the monkey one. The first pony was attempting to get a look inside the open door of the box, without appearing to do so, when the second pony grabbed onto the first ponies shoulders and shouted “Did you see anyone else!?”

“I-what?”

“Is that you favorite word? What?”

“Wh-no. I’m just confused”

“Then let me make it simple. Any other flaming objects from the sky? Tonight, or within the last few days? Anything strange been going on? People- ponies disappearing?”

“No, I don’t… nothing I know of”

The second pony made a grim face. “Believe me, you’d know. So they haven’t found me. Wonderful. Need to hide. Any ideas?”

“Well-“ the first pony stammered, before being interrupted.

“Nothing for it. Going to have to do something incredibly irresponsible and dangerous” And then, without a trace of sarcasm, the second pony grinned and said “Goodie”.

Several hours later, two ponies stumbled out of the strange box. The Everfree forest, being what it was, had put out the fire by itself. It would be collected later.

The two ponies headed back towards town. One, a pink pony with a fuzzy shock of hair, bounced down the road. The other, a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark, carried an old golden fob watch in his mouth.
The watch contained a secret that one was keeping from the other. A secret that would not be released for six years, and even then, only in the most dire of circumstances.

1002 CE (2 years after the return of Princess Luna)

John Smith grimaced around the tiny screwdriver in his mouth as he tried to fasten the last cog in place. He twisted his head gently, and then withdrew to twist again. Three more twists and he’d be done his masterpiece. The smallest watch ever made; a gift for Mayor Mare.

Two more twists. This would be the watch that made his career. Everypony had laughed when he got his cutie mark. They all knew only unicorns could make timepieces. They all said that earth ponies couldn’t work with clockwork. Well he’d show them.

One more twist. He exhaled to steady his muzzle, and then bent over, the screwdriver clenched tightly between his teeth. One… more… tw-

The door flung open, ringing the tiny bell placed over it. His head jerked involuntarily, and the watch flipped across the room. He watched it with distraught eyes as it smashed into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall.

“Aw, I’m mighty sorry John. I didn’t realize you were concentratin’ ” the orange pony standing in the doorway apologized.

John stifled a sigh as he walked over to pick up the pieces. In truth, he was very upset, but he didn’t want to make the farmer pony feel worse than she already did. “It’s alright Applejack. I should have put up a sign.

Anyway, what can I do for you? Finally succumbing to the lure of modern technology?” He grinned as he teased her.

“Heck no I ain’t! Ya’ll know a rooster’s good enough for me.” She walked over to help him pick up the silver pieces, grinning in return.

He bit into the largest cog and lifted it towards the table. “Sho what do you want?” He asked around it.
The smile dropped off of Applejack’s face. “Well… I don’t shupposh you’ve sheen Big Mac lately, have ya?” she mumbled through a spring.

John dropped part of the casing on the table. “Uh… no, not since last week. Why, is he missing?”

“’Fraid sho.” She spat a screw on to the table “Normally I wouldn’ worry, he can take care a’ himself. But he left in the middle o’ the night and never came back. Now, he disappears every little while, an’ that’s his business, but never in the middle o’ the night. It’s just plumb strange.”

John’s head stopped halfway to the ground. “Why’d he go out in the middle of the night?”

“Oh, just to check the barn after that lil’ earthquake we had. Make sure it hadn’ collapsed or anything.”

John’s breath stopped. “Earthquake?” he asked, the watch forgotten.

“Yeah. You know,jusht a shecond or sho. It wash two nightsh ago, around midnight?” She dropped the cog on the table. “You gotta remember.”

John nodded. He did remember. He’d woken up in the middle of the night, but dismissed the rumbling as unimportant. His heart started to pound in his chest.

“Funny thing is, Twi says it wasn’t an earthquake. She says… just a sec. She shaysh that Ponyville can’t have earthquakesh. Shome nonshenshe about – ptew – bedrock or something. I swear, I love that girl, but she speaks in riddles almost as much as Pinkie.”

“A-huh” John said in a stunned voice.

“So I say – I shay to her ‘Shugarcube, I’ve been living here my whole life, and we shure can have earthquakesh.’ I tell her – bleh – about that one we had… what was it?”

“Six years ago”

“Yeah, shix years ago. And she’sh got the nerve to tell me that couldn’t have happened either!” She spat out the tiny piece and glared at John. “You gonna help, or just sit there like an idiot?”

John looked at her with unseeing eyes. He blinked and shook his head. “What?”

“You want to clean this up or not?” She asked, gesturing at the floor.

“Oh, the- no, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. I like it there. You’re sure Big Mac is missing?”

“That’s what I said, ain’t it? And what the hay do you mean you ‘like it there’?”

John began pushing her towards the door. “Sorry, store’s closed. I remembered… something I have to do. You’re sure he’s not at a friend’s house or anything? Does he have a marefriend?”

Applejack snorted “Not that he ever told me about. Colts are weird about that though.”

“Ha ha, we sure are. That’s us. Out of touch with our feelings, the lot. Okay, bye, it was great talking to you, hope you find him.” He pushed her out the door with his head, flipped the sign to “Closed” and then slammed it.

Applejack stared at the wood of the door. What did he get so nervous about? Did he know something she didn’t?

She had just turned to leave when she heard the creak of hinges. John’s head craned around the edge of the door.

“Where does Twilight live again? Unrelated note.”

“Uhh… the library, hun.”

“Great! Thanks.” The door slammed.

Applejack waited for the inevitable. She was not disappointed.

The door opened again, revealing a perplexed John. “Wait, the library? Really?”

“Yup. The library.”

“…Huh. Alright. Thanks.” The door creaked shut.

Applejack walked away, shaking her head. Everypony always asked about the library.

In the back room of his store, John dug through drawer after drawer. Every cupboard had been flung open, every closet had been ransacked, every drawer that could be removed had been dumped. His small living space was even more cluttered than usual, strewn with cogs and springs and unwashed dishes.

“Oh Celestia, oh Luna, oh BUCK I’ve clopping lost it…” he swore to himself as he franticly searched.

He felt his hoof hit something hard and metal in the pile of ‘Watchmaker Monthly’ next to his bed. He kicked the magazines out of the way to find the item nestled among the… less scholarly magazines hidden underneath.
John blushed. How had it gotten there?

Never mind, he thought. Reaching down, he grabbed it in his teeth, desperately ignoring the printed filly it put him eye-to-eye with. Watch in mouth, he ran to get his bag. He placed the watch in it carefully and dashed out the door. Several seconds later, he ran back in, kicked the magazines under the bed, and ran out again.

Twilight stared ferociously at the charts and graphs in front of her, as if she could make the numbers add up through sheer force of will. Spike had gone out for a made-up errand, as he always did when she got like this. He knew better than to stick around when Twilight was attempting to force the universe to make sense.

“3.4 on the scale, 2.6 seconds in duration…” she muttered, scribbling down numbers “nearest faultline is… where’s my ruler. Where the HAY is my RULER!? SPIIIKE!”

John knocked on the door of the library. He’d never really talked to Twilight, but he’d seen her around. She seemed nice enough. He heard the stomping of hooves in the library. The door swung open, revealing a purple pony with ruffled, chaotic hair and an insane look in her eyes. She also had a ruler tucked behind her ear.

“SPPIIKE!” The purple pony screamed.

John just screamed.

“WHERE IS MY you’re not Spike.” the purple pony said in a confused tone.

John took a deep breath. He was way too wound up. “No, I’m not. My name’s John Smith.”

Twilight stared at him, processing this new information. “You… you’re that watchmaker pony. The earth pony.”

“Yes, I am an earth pony.” John deadpanned, then added “But you’re right, I’m the watchmaker.”

Twilight stared at him for a few more seconds, than shook her head. “I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m a little stressed. Please, come in. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m-“

“The librarian, I know. I’m a friend of Applejack. Well, more of Big Macintosh, but that’s not really the point. Sorry for interrupting, I’m kind of in a hurry.”

Twilight blinked, smoothing her hair with her magic. “Oh, alright. What book are you looking for?”

“I’m not looking for a book, I’m looking for you.” John said, looking over her shoulder at the map of Ponyville pinned to the wall. It was marked up in red circles and crosses.

“Looking… for me? Why are you looking for me?” Twilight asked, warily. She wasn’t sure if she should be blushing or running.

“I need to ask you about the earthquake.” John said, oblivious to the confusion of the mare.

“Oh!” Twilight said. Neither, then. “Okay, what do you want to know? Although I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an earthquake.”

“That’s what I want to know. If it wasn’t an earthquake, what was it?”

Twilight walked back to her work table “Well, I don’t know. It could have been a spell, or an explosion, or-”

“What about an impact? Something falling from the sky?” John interrupted again.

“You’re quite the interrupter, you know that?” Twilight said, half smiling.

John grimaced. “Yeah, sorry about that. Just, like I said. I’m in a hurry. Could it have been an impact?”

Twilight looked back to her map. “Yes, I suppose so. It would have to be very big, and really fast though. Or really, really big, and very fast. So, theoretically, yes. But for it to be that big, it would have to be a piece of the moon or something, and I’m sure Luna wouldn’t have let that happen.”

John’s heart fell. This was it then. The watch opened today. “You’re a friend of Pinkie Pie, right? Do you know where she is?” He asked.

Twilight was taken aback. The pony was suddenly so sad. “Er… I imagine she’d be at Cupcake Corner. But you can never tell with Pinkie, can you?”

John smiled sadly “No. You can’t.” He started to walk away, than turned his head towards her. “You should come with me.”

“Why?” Twilight asked cautiously. This was going from strange to stranger.

John turned and trotted towards the door. “To say goodbye.”

Oh Luna, why did I say that, thought John. “For the last time, I’m not going to kill her!”

“Then why did you say I should say goodbye?” Twilight demanded. They were still on their way to Sugarcube Corner. It was taking longer than usual because Twilight kept levitating John and holding him upside down.

“Because! She’s leaving. Sort of.”

“What does ‘sort of leaving’ mean?”

“Look! She’ll explain it. Just… wait a few minutes” John said, exasperated. He pushed open the door to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie was sitting behind the counter, juggling a cupcake, a mixing spoon, and Gummy.

“Oh hey John! Hey Twi! I didn’t know you two knew each other! That’s great! I love it when my friends know each other! It’s like a web! And I like webs.” Pinkie staggered towards them on her hind legs, still juggling.

“You know John?” Twilight asked. This kept getting more confusing.

“Oh yeah, he’s one of my oldest, bestest friends! Actually, he’s my oldest, but not my bestest. Sorry John! He’s the first pony I met when I came to Ponyville!” Pinkie replied. Her task had been simplified when gummy ate the cupcake, and he was now trying for the spoon.

“It’s alright Pinkie. We’re still friends.” John said, accentuating the word ‘friends’. He stuck his tongue out at Twilight. It was immature, but she annoyed him. “Speaking of, I need to you to look at me.” He reached into his pouch for the watch.

“Okie dokie loki!”

“Alright, I need- Pinkie, you’re not looking at me.” John said, placing the watch on the display case next to him.

“Yes I am!” Pinkie said, indignantly.

“No, you’re looking at your Allig-“ John started, before realizing that while her head and left eye were following the toothless pet, her right eye was fixed on him. “That’s really creepy Pinkie.”

Pinkie just giggled in response.

“Okay Pinkie, I need you to open this watch.” John picked it up again and stepped towards her.

Pinkie’s right eye focused on the watch, then her left eye, then her head. Her hooves stopped moving, and the alligator, now gripping the spoon, bounced away like a rubber ball.

“No.” She said, not even realizing she was speaking.

Twilight stepped between the two earth ponies. “What?”

“You haf to oben it” John said around the large golden watch “I ade you a promish”

“She doesn’t have to do anything.” replied Twilight.

“Yesh she dosh”

“No she doesn’t"

“Yesh. She dosh”

“NO. SHE DOESN’T”

Pinkies eyes never left the watch. She knew it. She recognized it. There was a door in her head, a locked door. It had been there as long as she could remember. She didn’t know what was behind the door, but she knew it should stay locked. She also knew that if she opened that watch, the door would open with it.

“Look, I made a promise that I would make her open the watch.” John was arguing with Twilight.

“To who!?”

“To her!”

“What do you- why aren’t you talking funny? Where’d the watch go?” Twilight spluttered.

John hadn’t even felt the watch leave his mouth, but he could see Pinkie holding it behind Twilight. Twilight saw the look in his eyes and turned to see Pinkie opening it.

That door should stay locked. Pinkie knew that. But she’d never been much for rules.

Both Twilight and John were blinded by the golden light that poured out of the watch and into Pinkie. Pinkie cried out in pain and fear, a disturbing animal sound. When Twilights senses cleared, Pinkie was lying on the floor. Overtaken by rage, the unicorn spun to face John, lifting him into the air.

“Waitwaitwait” John stuttered.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?” She screamed, her hair bursting into flames as she fought to control her magic.

A voice spoke up from behind her. It was Pinkie’s, but calmer, more restrained. “He only did what I asked him to do to me. Now I’ll thank you to put him down.”

Twilight turned to see Pinkie brushing herself off. “But… but…” Twilight was very close to a meltdown.

“How long John?” Pinkie said, ignoring her.

“Six years, give or take.” John replied, floating to the ground as Twilights magic faded with her attention.

Pinkie whistled. “Took them long enough. Well, we’ve got work to do. And do close your mouth, magic pony. That gawping look is most unbecoming.”

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