> My Clockwork Stallion
>  by Aegis Shield
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Clocks and Keys
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 1: Keys and Clocks

“Hullo! Welcome to Keys and Clocks, for all your time needs and for keys for locks!” A handsome brown stallion greeted Twilight Sparkle as she poked her head into the strange little shop. He was an earth pony with a cocoa-brown coat and a darker brown mane, quite plain-looking. His pleasant eyes and handsome smile made him look very soothing though. “I’m Time Turner— Can I help you?” he asked, looking up from his work. Spread out in front of him on a glass case was a pocket watch that had been taken apart, gear for gear.

Twilight nodded, turning and producing a carefully wrapped cuckoo clock from her saddlebags. “Hullo, I'm Twilight Sparkle." he smiled as she spoke, for he knew the name of the element of magic like any other pony. "I wanted to see if I could get this repaired?” she asked. He motioned for her to come forward and levitated it onto the display case that was between them. Careful of the pendulum, she rotated it until it could lay properly on the glass. 

“Hmm, what seems to be the problem?” Time Turner smiled a bit, leaning over it and unrolling a tool kit full of tiny precision tools. “Let me guess, it’s stopped ticking and tocking, right?” he chuckled when she nodded. “Well that’s usually the case. When was the last time it was brought in for servicing?”

“Er-well… I don’t know. I’ve lived in Ponyville for about three years. I’ve never really thought about it until something made it stop.” Twilight smiled a little embarrassedly.

“Most ponies don’t think much about their clocks so long as they’re working, it’s alright.” He said, turning the clock on its side to look for the back panel. “It’s probably just full of dust bunnies and needs a good cleaning!” The stallion gave her a warm and rather coltish smile that made a girly giggle rise up out of Twilight’s throat. “These are old screws, though, wow, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore…” he leaned and got a magnifying glass that was attached to a desk-lamp-apparatus. Angling it back and forth until he had the proper light and magnification, he pored over his screw bits. He tried one, then another, then another. Nothing seemed to fit. He frowned a little, then a new smile flicked over his features. “Ah, it’s a security screw.” He said matter-of-factly. “Strange thing for a clock to have!”

“A security screw?” Twilight said, leaning on the counter with interest.

“It’s a special screw that keeps the average pony out of something, like a locked mailbox or bits drawer. They’re a lot less common, and a lot more expensive to use since you need special tools to work with them.” He flicked on another lamp so they could see better, unrolling a little velvet placemat so they could work on a clean space. He placed the clock there, and leaned under the counter a moment. Returning with a tiny bundle in his mouth, in unrolled the cloth to reveal a much stranger set of tools. “This is definitely an antique,” he said, nodding as he selected the proper tool.

Twilight watched in fascination as he undid each of the six back screws and pulled the panel off of the clock. Both ponies leaned inside and stared. Sure enough, half of the gears were green, the wooden bird inside was spider-webbed beyond view, and plenty of the inner workings looked less than stellar. Using his nose, Time Turner flipped the clock over, then flipped it back. Sure enough, it left behind a bunch of dust bunnies and little piles of dust. “Wow, I didn’t know it would be that gross in there,” Twilight said, wincing.

“Well you know, years of just hanging on a wall might do that to the little fella,” Time Turner smiled, reaching and turning the panel over. “Let’s see the make and model, maybe I can identi…fy… it?” His sentence sputtered out and he stared, wide-eyed. “What’s this…?” he whispered reverently.

“Happy Birthday Starswirl, Love, Luna.” Twilight read aloud. 

Twilight went a little pale, gaping at the words carved into the inside of the back panel. “This is…! I meant it can’t be that… and he was…. And Luna is….!” Twilight’s normally powerful mind began to overheat a bit, and she felt a wave of dizziness work its way over her. It was even signed with ‘love’. But that would mean--! “N-no way….” THUMP, she hit the ground.

Time Turner stood there, blinking, then leaned over the counter. “Miss Sparkle?” he asked softly. The shop was silent, save for the fretful breathing of the mare on the floor. Looking around a little nervously, he crossed the counter and leaned over her. It probably wouldn’t be very good if somepony wandered in and found him leaning over an unconscious mare on the floor. Flicking his eyes back and forth over her, he finally remembered his sitting couch. Sticking his head under her limp form, he deposited her on the couch so she might regain her senses a bit more quickly.

He stared at her, laying on her back. Like any red-blooded stallion in the early springtime, he looked at mares now and then— a quick flutter of embarrassment rushed across his features and he cleared his throat. None of that, now! Making sure she had a little sofa pillow so her neck didn’t cramp, he turned away and back to the mystery on his counter.

Time Turner returned to the strange clock, studying the innards and gears. Those gears were bronze, not brass. How intricate! The wooden bird had been replaced a few times, it was easy to see by the glue marks on the plank it came out on. The plank looked newer as well. He tested the weight of the pendulum as well. Yeah, that was a new part. The rest of the clock, the true insides, however, seemed just about as old as they could be. The pondered over the whole thing for a time, though. Bronze was not the best metal to make clock innards with, much less with such a strange design. Whoever had made this thing had either been a genius or a certifiable madpony. The gears were close together, hoof-filed and some of them looked home-made. It was a patchwork of madness and non-standard metals that could only lead Time Turner to one conclusion. “This was home-made. A long time ago,” He whispered, fascinated. 

Turning on yet another lamp, he poured a glass of cleaning vinegar, got a tube of tarnish remover, and a huge stack of silver-cleaning rags. The really soft kind that wouldn’t scratch anything. Putting on a special pair of goggles that made everything bigger for him, the earth pony steadied the clock with his hooves and began to undo the screws one by one. This whole thing would need to be taken apart, examined, and cleaned. If ‘Starswirl’ was who he thought it was, this clock should’ve turned to dust a long, long time ago. Whatever was holding it together, he had to know.

Freeing the first gear with a tiny pair of tweezers, he held it up to the light. Stress fatigue, but no wear? Impossible! “The clock that doesn’t make any sense,” Time Turner grinned his lopsided, coltish grin. “I cannot wait to see what makes you tick. Or made you tick, rather.”

=-=-=-=

Twilight sat up with a grunt, blinking owlishly. It was still mid-afternoon. “What happened?” she said, touching her cheek.

“I think you fainted. Welcome back to the land of the living!” The brown stallion behind the counter said. “Feeling okay?” he looked up from his work at last, setting aside a tiny piece of metal. 

Twilight’s eyes flicked down at her clock laying in a million pieces on his counter. “Yeah,” she mumbled. “Sorry about that,” she said in embarrassment. “Is it true, though? Do you think this clock is…?” she let the sentence hang.

“I can’t know for certain,” Timer Turner shook his head, wary of the writing scratched into the back panel. “I can tell you quite a bit, though. You were out for almost an hour, and I found quite a few discoveries.”

“Discoveries?” Twilight said, cocking her head.

“Yes, come around here and have a look.” He lifted the little divider on one side of the counter so the purple mare could come and stand next to him. “Look at this,” he gestured to a little group of bright screws that had a rather blue sheen to them. “I found these in a sub-panel on the inside of your clock. These screws are galvanized.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means they’ve been dipped in zinc.” Time Turner whispered like they were in a museum. “But this clock is too old for that. I see no evidence that they’ve ever been replaced. Galvanized screws have a good deal of protection from moisture and mildew, but this is way too advanced for a clock this age.”

Twilight leaned and squinted over the tiny screws. “That’s strange,” she murmured, staring at them through the magnifying lens.

“And look at this,” Time Turner pulled one of his lights to shine deep into the clock’s innards. “See how the gears are touching there, there, and there?” he pointed with a tiny instrument. “They shouldn’t be. The clock shouldn’t be able to move at all with this configuration.”

“Well it is broken, maybe that’s why it stopped? They started rubbing and caught each other.” Twilight offered. She pushed her mane out of her eyes to get a better look. “Well no, they’re built like that,” she countered herself before he could speak. “The rods are connected to the walls of the clock, they can’t be misaligned like that,” she whispered. Twilight knew little of mechanical clocks, but she did know how gears worked in a basic sense. “This clock is all wrong! How did it ever work at all?!”

“I don’t know!” Time Turner said a little giddily, grinning wide. “I’d like your permission to take it all the way apart for cleaning, so I can examine it properly. No extra charge, of course, but I’d like to study it.” Twilight’s face lit up when he said ‘study.’

“Can I study it with you?” she whispered reverently.

“Er, if you like, and if you promise not to touch anything,” Time Turner said a little cautiously. “This clock is very, very old and I’ve never seen a design like it. Promise not to touch?” She nodded eagerly, scroll and parchment levitating out of her saddlebags and to one side. The two of them pressed together, shoulder to shoulder, as Time Turner gingerly worked another screw loose and lifted a wafer-thin gear out of the clock. It was an old cuckoo clock, it shouldn’t have had such fine things inside it. Bronze gears, zinc-coated screws, it was like some modern-era mechanism from the olden times. Time Turner wildly wondered if Princess Luna herself had commissioned it.

“Wait, what’s that?” Twilight said, pointing a little. Time Turner leaned back and forth, trying to see what she was seeing. “No, no, there.” She took one of his instruments into her mouth. He started to squawk at her, but she pointed with the needle-pointed tool instead of touching. There was a spot on one of the gears on the the secondary shaft of the minute hand coil. The clock pony leaned with a frown. Bronze didn’t tarnish like that…

“Let me see,” he pulled his magnification goggles back on, angling the light just so. “Its uh… its some kind of mark. Maybe the manufacturer. I’ve never seen one so tiny, though… I can barely make it out. It’s circular.” The paused to think a moment, and got a really up-close view of Twilight’s forehead while he was doing so. Shaking his head a little, he flipped a couple of magnifying panels down over his right eye. Closing the left eye so he could focus, he leeeeeaned into the casing of the clock, his muzzle practically touching it. “Makers marks are usually square, holding the initials of the company,” he mumbled. “But something tells me that it’s more than that.”

Twilight waited eagerly while he carefully, carefully worked that particular gear loose. He had to get eight or ten more pieces and things out of the clock to get it free. When he finally did, he used his mouth tweezers to pull it loose. He looked afraid to break it. Careful not to breathe too hard and make him drop it, the purple mare gestured to an open spot on the velvet place mat between them. He put it down, set his tweezers aside, then gingerly stroked the gear with an ear swab to make it shine. Twilight turned to grab the mounted magnifying glass next to her, then let out a little cry of surprise. “It’s a sealing circle!” she said, staring in fascination.

“A what?” Time Turner practically mooshed his cheek to hers so they could both see at the same time. “What is it?” he asked again, eagerly.

“A sealing circle,” the unicorn told the earth pony. “It’s like uh…. It’s like laminating words on paper, but for magic. It makes a spell stay for a long, long time, preserving it.” He stared at her for a time, a little lost. “Somepony put a spell on this clock, and then left a sealing circle in it to make sure the spell stayed, maybe forever.”

“Huh,” Time Turner leaned this way and that. “None of the other gears are marked that way. You only need one for the whole thing?” Twilight nodded that it was true, and he rubbed his chin. “I don’t get it, Twilight,” he whispered, looking a little worriedly over the massive spread of bronze gears and shining screws scattered over the counter top.

“Me either,” she murmured. A long silence passed between them, and both ponies suddenly realized they were standing pressed up against each other. They stepped carefully apart, the stallion coughing a bit as they did so.

“Well, I’d better get started, then,” Time Turner said, reaching for his vinegar and silver-cleaning rags. “Come back tomorrow, and I should have the whole thing taken apart. We’ll see what sort of clock this really is, huhm?” he smiled.

“Alright.” Twilight said, “I do have a bit more shopping to do today. I’ll swing by tomorrow evening.”

“It’s a date,” Time Turner said without thinking. Twilight gave him a wry look and he smiled guiltily, apologizing with his eyes. She shook her head and smiled a bit before exiting the shop. Scratching the hourglass on his flank when she was gone, the stallion heaved a great sigh. The average cuckoo clock was about four hundred pieces, he knew. But the weird thing was-- he could already account for over five hundred just by looking. “I don’t think this is just a clock,” he mumbled, ears turning down worriedly as Twilight cantered away from the shop. He scrubbed at his messy mane a few times to rid himself of a nervous itch.

Favoring his left-front leg, he limped just a little as he went to the front of the shop and turned the sign from open to close. Pulling the blinds down so he could have some privacy, he went and pulled on a pair of latex hoof-gloves. He’d handled enough antique clocks to need them now and then, but this was something else entirely. Leaning on the counter, he used his tweezers and dipped a copper spring into the vinegar, swirling it about for a bit. When he pulled it out and dabbed it gently on some cloth, it was shining like new again. “Well at least that’s normal,” he smiled faintly.

End of Part 1

> The Feed Bag
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 2: The Feed Bag

Now, there were many things Twilight Sparkle could have done to help investigate the Cuckoo Clock she’d left with Time Turner. But, after much careful thought she went with the simplest route possible. She decided to write a letter to Princess Luna. If the message scratched on the back panel (“Happy Birthday Starswirl, Love, Luna”) was genuine, then there was nopony else she could hope to get more information out of.

Waiting until the midnight hour was a chore and the purple mare felt guilty for keeping Spike up that long, but with the proper amount of ice cream and board games soon the time was at hand. Twilight knew Princess Luna would be on the royal throne at this hour of the night, so it was a perfect time to send dragon-fire mail. 

Twilight didn’t dare recite aloud the letter she’d composed for Spike to write. If the clock turned out to be dangerous or something, she didn’t want the poor little guy to worry about it. Enough craziness happened around Ponyville, she didn’t want to add to the stack.

Dear Princess Luna,

I’ve found something at the Golden Oaks library here in Ponyville that I wanted to ask you about. It’s a really unusual cuckoo clock. On the inside of the back panel is a message that looks like it might be from you to Starswirl the Bearded! Did you know him? My local clocksmith, Time Turner, says it’s a really unusual antique and he’s been cleaning it for me. Is there any history or anything to it? I’ve already found a sealing circle on one of the gears. It’s not dangerous, is it?

Your Friend,


Twilight Sparkle


Spike blew fire over the scroll and away it went. The two of them spent the next twenty minutes or so cleaning up the main room of the library of all of their snacks. They found half a dozen stray board game pieces and made sure they found their proper homes. Twilight straightened her desk a bit, throwing away a few old checklists and things from last month.

It wasn’t long before Spike stopped, clutched at his belly, and belched up the reply note. The paper was thick and fancy, covered with blue and spidery-looking hoof-writing.

Dearest Friend Twilight Sparkle,
Please do not ask us about that clock. Speak not of Starswirl to us, either. We prefer both to fade from memory. At the end of its usefulness, do not throw it away. Destroy it.

Luna


There was no parting comment like ‘your friend’ or ‘sincerely’, just a quick and striking signature. The tail of the a at the end of it was so long and harsh that Twilight was surprised the paper hadn’t ripped. The purple mare found herself swallowing just a bit. Should she reply back? Why wouldn’t Luna want to speak about such an old, fascinating artifact? Questions boiled up inside Twilight and it was all she could do not to grab paper and quill to write another letter to Luna. 
Sighing and sending Spike up for bed, she began to put out the lights one by one and pull the shutters of the library windows. She would have to consult with Time Turner tomorrow.

=-=-=-=

Time Turner looked as though he’d gotten as much sleep as Twilight when she discovered him. Keys and Clocks was strangely silent when she came in, after the bell above the door had quieted. “Time Turner?” she asked, tilting her head.

The poor brown stallion looked a little haggard, and the shadow of a beard had appeared on his chin overnight. “You’re never gonna believe what I’ve found. This clock just keeps getting weirder and weirder!” he grinned coltishly at her and she smiled back at his sudden spark of energy.

“I sent a letter to Princess Luna, she’s already replied back.” Twilight said, stepping easily behind the counter to stand beside him. “I’m pretty sure the note we saw is genuine. She seemed upset about it and asked me to destroy it when we’re done with it.”

Time Turner gasped at her. “What? No! We can’t do that! This thing is one of a kind!” he squawked, flailing a bit. A tiny gear suddenly fell out of his fur and he snatched it up, placing it on the table in front of them among the others.

“I think there’s more here than we know,” Twilight agreed slowly. She didn’t like the idea of going behind Luna’s back, but… it was just so interesting!” she almost whined, which made him smile.

“I know what you mean,” Time Turner said, leaning and getting a thin wooden yard stick. “But here, let me show you what I found,” he gestured. Leaning with a careful hoof, he pried open the little door where the bird of the cuckoo clock was supposed to emerge. Turning the yard stick on its side as not to break the bird off its plank, he pressed the stick in past it as though to measure how deep the paneling of the clock went. He pushed it in, and in, and in some more. Twilight began to gape as it passed the twelve inch mark, then the twenty, then the thirty!

“Impossible!” Twilight squawked, leaning over the open panel to peer inside. “It’s bigger on the inside than on the outside?!” She couldn’t see the yard stick being pressed into through the doorway at all. It was as though it had disappeared through a portal gateway or something.

“That’s not all. I was doing little hammer checks to see what sorts of metals were inside?” Time Turner got a stethoscope from his bag of tools. Leaning, he put the pads in Twilight’s ears and tapped the receiver a few times. When the purple mare nodded, he pressed the receiver up against the side of the clock. Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick. She frowned in confusion. “It’s ticking…” she whispered as he pulled the stethoscope off of her. “But I was sure it stopped!”

“My theory is there might be another clock inside this one. If there’s more room inside than there should be, there’s no telling what sort of craziness is in there. If Princess Luna wants it destroyed when you’re done using it, there might be a good deal of strange stuff inside.” Time Turner said warily, turning the clock on its side. They stared at the short message that had been scratched into the panel in silence. 

After a time, the brown stallion began to work at it again. Twilight and he had long, detailed conversations about clockwork, Starswirl the Bearded, and Princess Luna. They traded theories about the ‘love’ bit that was in the note, as well as about each other. A friendship blossomed over the course of the afternoon. Evening came on swift wings.

“So what does ‘amniomorphic’ mean, anyway?” Time Turner said as he ran a cotton swab over a stubborn golden gear.

“It’s one of Starswirl the Bearded’s greatest creations,” Twilight said matter of factly, cocking her head as she pored over a book of fancy pocket watches. “Amnio can mean two things: either ‘pot’ or ‘a mare’s womb’.”

“Like the amniotic sack? Where a foal is made during a pregnancy?” Time Turner glanced up from his work.
Twilight nodded, smiling wide. My my, wasn’t he well-read! “Very good! Yes! And then ‘morphic’ means ‘to change’ or ‘the ability to morph into another shape’.” The scholar said. “And remember, Starswirl lived in a time period before prenatal care was invented—“ she paused for a moment, gesturing to her belly a little. “It was a spell meant to cure birth defects in unborn foals. It revolutionized unicorn medicine in that era.”

“Really?” Time Turner said, taking a gear in his tweezers and dipping it carefully in his cleaning fluids. “That’s pretty advanced stuff, right?”

“He was a genius,” Twilight said reverently, leaning on her elbow with a sigh. Then she began to giggle a bit, until he looked up at her with a cocked eyebrow. “The other interpretation is the literal one. Amniomorphic can also mean ‘to shape pots.’” She began to laugh a bit louder as she built up to the joke for him. “So that makes Starswirl the Bearded a ‘hairy potter!’” She began to laugh aloud, pounding on the display case a couple of times. Time Turner deadpanned. He didn’t get it. When Twilight saw his silence she stifled herself embarrassedly, giggling behind a hoof. Maybe not so well-read as she thought. Ah well.

Time Turner looked over at one of the many, many clocks on the wall when his stomach growled impressively. “Oh jeez, I haven’t eaten all day, and it’s already late!” He sighed a little, making a mental tally of the food in his tiny kitchen upstairs. Nothing sounded especially appealing.

Twilight looked over as well, startling at the hour, “Oh, darn it. I can’t clank around in my kitchen at this hour, I’ll wake Spike,” her stomach followed suite as she spoke. The purple mare frowned, the gears in her head turning idly. 

“Wanna get something out?” Time Turner offered after a few moments thought. “I’m sure the Feed Bag is open at this hour.” Twilight’s face lit up and she nodded. After grabbing their saddlebags and locking up the shop, they were off.
The Feed Bag was a rest and eating place for ponies. It was all old wooden troughs, simple foods like salted hay and sugar water, and there was always pleasant mood music on the tiny stage in the corner. When Time Turner and Twilight Sparkle arrived, it was a bustling time. It must’ve been the end of the night shift for a few ponies. Thankfully the sectioned off stalls made for a quieter time, while the music floated along through the rafters.

The place was suited up to look like a relaxing old barn, complete with stalls to section off the tables for privacy. “Two please,” Twilight told one of the passing waitresses. They were led to a stall and given the usual pony staples. It was soothing to eat in such a way, really. Like it was supposed to be that way. It was quiet in the stall, you got to stand in one place, and you didn’t have to balance on a stool or worry about plates. As the wooden gate was closed to show that stall was occupied, Twilight very suddenly found herself alone with Time Turner. She almost giggled to herself.

The two of them ate in silence for a long time, both lost in their own thoughts. Standing shoulder to shoulder and occasionally bending to get a new mouthful, the two ponies found themselves in good company. Twilight smiled up at Time Turner, which he returned with his lopsided one. Finding a salt-lick cube in their hay, he nosed it over to her side of the trough. He’d already had three, he felt like he was hogging them all. The purple mare smiled, chewing thoughtfully to herself.

“You know,” Time Turner said softly, looking over at Twilight, “Thinking about Luna and Starswirl— I wonder if things ended really badly?” The brown stallion tilted his head in a thoughtful way.

Twilight nodded slowly, waiting until she’d swallowed to speak, “That might be the case. If they had some sort of relationship and it didn’t pan out how the Princess wanted, maybe she’s a little bitter. Alicorns live a lot longer than ponies, maybe we just dug up an old scar on her heart…” she trailed off, wilting her ears in a guilty way.

“Dessert?” A mare leaned over the wooden gate, a pair of feed bags in her teeth. Both ponies nodded eagerly, having eaten all the hay they could hold. With help from the server, both of them managed to get feed bags onto their faces, tied loosely behind their ears. Sugared corn and a few other pleasant things were inside. The tab was pinned to their little wooden gate, and they were left alone again.

“Mhrrrm-hrm-mrrhm-hrm,” said Time Turner thoughtfully, his tongue snaking out to pull more of the sugared feed into his mouth. He crunched noisily, quite enjoying himself. His ears perked up and forward. Twilight smirked at him, shaking her head. “Huhm hrm-mrhm-rrrm?” he said into the bag, looking at her. The purple mare snorted, not understanding a word he’d said. The brown stallion finally realized he had something over his face and gave up, laughing a little. The mare rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Luh-luh-luh-luh!” he waggled his tongue up and down to make the feed bag dance on the end of his muzzle. Twilight gaped at him as he curled forward in laughter, stomping a hoof. Then she joined him, laughing gaily.

=-=-=-=

Luna sat deep in thought on a placid lake. The lack of wind and clouds made it like a mirror. Her magic didn’t disturb the waters, and kept her aloft. Out on such a big body of water she could be alone to think without a guard hovering nearby or anything else bothering her. A Pegasus on the wing would be heard, and she could teleport if one grew near. The midnight pony stared at her reflection.

So, Twilight had found the Clock of Five Mysteries, had she? Well, that was fine. Its intricacies were well-hidden and there was no reason to jump on the poor thing. Luna already regretted the biting reply note she’d sent to her friend and loyal subject. Perhaps she should not have been so harsh. She’d not received a reply to her reply, so perhaps Twilight had gotten the message reading between the lines. 

The Nighttime Princess took a deep breath, watching tiny fish nibble curiously at the tips of her hooves. She tilted her head back. “Starswirl,” she murmured the name aloud. She hung her head a little, her face slowly morphing into a hurt expression.

There was a pony she’d not thought about in ages. A pony she’d not wanted to think about in ages. He’d been Celestia’s protégé all those centuries ago. He’d been an avid star-gazer, and even spotted all the patterns and angles Luna had put into her night sky back then. His star charts and magical genius were the stuff of legends, and ponies still knew his name. Twilight even dressed in his likeness for Nightmare Night. Luna had loved him. And he’d—

“I’ve not seen that face in some time,” Luna startled when Celestia made her presence known nearby. Seeing the twitch in her wings, the solar Alicorn bent her neck apologetically. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I can let you be if you want…”

“No, we would enjoy your company,” Luna murmured, smiling in a weak way. Celestia asked questions with her eyes, but the night princess didn’t speak until she’d come and sat on her haunches next to her. The fishes were fascinated with her sister’s hooves as well, nipping and swirling around them in a silent, ever-turning circle. “Twilight found the clock that we made for Starswirl,” Luna said after a long silence.

“Ohhh,” Celestia said in a knowing way, extending a great white wing over her sister’s shoulder. “I see,” she nodded a little, looking at her sister in concern. “It’s been centuries, he’s long gone,”

“It still hurts,” Luna said softly, hanging her head, “Such weakness in my heart, we wish we could shed it,” she looked ashamed of herself, and Celestia’s wing tightened around her slender body.

“Oh no no, Luna, never wish such a thing,” her big sister whispered. “If you cannot hurt, you cannot love either. It goes hoof in hoof.” Luna looked up at her with soft eyes as she spoke. “I won’t tell you not to linger on it, because I know you will, but try not to for too long,” Celestia leaned and tenderly kissed her sister’s worried brow. Luna gave a quiet smile. They sat in silence for a long time, before the solar alicorn let her sister be alone with her thoughts.


End of Part 2
> Bronze Flower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 3: Bronze Flower

Time Turner awoke with the usual harsh ache of dead weight and numbness in his left-front leg. Groaning as the morning greeted him through thin curtains, he rolled out of bed and favored the other leg instead. Limping along on pins and needles, he got his therapy leg-bangle. Looping the heavy metal ring around his numb ankle, he began working the limb up and down and back and forth until the feeling subsided. Panting a bit, clenching his teeth, he rubbed his poor shoulder as he leaned on his chest of drawers. He rubbed at his matted fur a little, brow furrowed with the old pain he often suffered. If he didn’t keep a closer eye on it it would be worse than ever, he knew. Sighing and studying himself in the mirror for a moment, he went about a more healthy morning routine than normal. After a shower, breakfast with actual food instead of sugary cereal, and some fierce grooming, the brown stallion felt a bit better. Sticking his muzzle out into the crisp spring morning, he felt the sting from his razor pleasantly warm all over his face and neck. Ah well, at least he looked nice.

He leaned to flip the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’, and his front-left leg seized up on him. He gave a strangled yelp, almost falling over. Making triple-sure no-pony was watching or even out on the street in front of his shop, Time Turner licked his lips a little. Studying the doorframe for a moment, he bashed himself against it. The leg un-seized, as though the muscles had slid back into their proper place. He groaned like he was having an unpleasant time on the toilet, holding his shoulder. He popped it back and forth a few times until he was sure everything was in working order. Ever since his accident it was nothing but trouble. Sighing, he flipped his store’s sign and went about the morning chores of opening the place up.

Time Turner paused at his closet, cocking his head a little. He was extra-extra groomed today… why not? He stuck his head in and pulled a saddle from its waiting hook. It was silky-smooth brown leather with shining iron buckles. It made him look dressed up and fancy for such a Ponyville bumpkin, if he did say so himself. It made him feel more confident to wear it, and it accented the rather nice curve of his back.

Through the morning he ended up making eight keys, resetting four locks, and pulling a bit of sand out of an old gentlecolt’s pocket watch. Not a bad morning, if he did say so himself. Clocks and Keys was having a pretty good day. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t have to graze at all this week, he could have some regular groceries like everypony else. That would be a sight. Running a specialty store wasn’t exactly super-profitable, so the poor stallion often ended up sneaking about the park or even the edge of Everfree Forest for a meal of grass, flowers or leaves. It was humiliating, yes, but a guy had to eat, right? Right.

Sighing at the thought, Time Turner let his thoughts turn to the mystery on his side-counter. When he hadn’t had any customers for almost an hour and there had been plenty of sweeping and shelf-cleaning, he let himself drift over to it. It tantalized him like a fresh apple tart, or pastry. Peering greedily over it with a coltish sort of glee, he peered down into its depths. Twilight Sparkle’s clock. Putting on his magnifying goggles, he got his sensitive instrument roll out. Unfurling it, he began to poke and prod as he had been. “Day twelve,” he said idly, “No change in the ticking I can hear inside. Parts continue to come out normally, but there’s no change. I’m starting to think that the clock itself is just an illusion, and that the face of the clock itself may be the actual time piece. The inside is something else entirely. The only question is, what?” He worked into the afternoon, ooh-ing and ahh-ing now and then until he came to something that made him stop. He had to wait for Twilight for this one. Stopping for a brief and frugal lunch, he smiled when the mare he wanted finally came.

Ring-a-ling-ling, the door’s hanging bell made Time Turner look up from the little alarm clock he’d been tuning up. “Hey Time Turner!” Twilight said with affection, shutting the door behind her and striding across to him. “Find anything new?”

“Oh yeah,” He nodded energetically. “I stopped just so I could have you here for it.” Her face lit up as he spoke, and she leaned eagerly at him. “You’re not gonna believe this, Twilight.”

“After what we’ve seen so far, I’m willing to go on a little faith here,” The purple mare seated herself at a little sitting space where customers normally sat for watch-fittings. Rolling in the chair with some energy, she came to a stop next to him and the contraption she’d always thought was a cuckoo clock until a few weeks ago. “What is it?” she peered at it.

“Look,” he pushed a magnifying glass her way. Her aura took it, lifting it over in front of her eyes. Leaning when he’d put a light at the proper angle, Twilight squinted. “See that?”

“It’s a button,” Twilight said, sounding unsure. “At least, I think it is,” she trailed off, frowning a bit. “Is that what it is?”

“I think so,” Time Turner nodded a bit, not really sure what else to say about it. They both stared, side-by-side. Maybe ten inches down, inside the impossible contraption, was a little red button the size of a thimble. It stuck out oddly, as though not fitted exactly right, but it was definitely an activation switch of some kind. “If this blows up when we push it--” The stallion started, looking worried.

“I don’t think anypony would plant a booby-trap inside a clock, though,” Twilight murmured, shaking her head. The stallion next to her started giggle-snorting a little. She’d said ‘booby’, hah! She gave him a wry smile, shoving his shoulder a little. 

Clearing his throat a little, he picked up one of his instruments in his teeth. It was so sharp and thin it reminded Twilight of a dentist’s tool. Leaning with a steady grasp of his teeth, he prodded back and forth. No reaction from… whatever it was. He pushed directly onto the button, gritting his teeth and grunting with a little effort. It didn’t move. Both ponies sagged in disappointment. It didn’t do anything! There was a long silence of the two of them staring at it. They itched to know what it did. Twilight even tried to surround the button with her magic and push it forcefully, but something was physically keeping the bit of plastic from depressing into itself.

“Wait,” Time Turner looked at Twilight. “Didn’t you say that sealing circle we found could hold things in a certain way?” he tried to remember what the purple mare had said over a week ago.

“Magic things, yes. It’s like laminating a spell to stay in one form, or to hold its power for a really long time,” The young scholar said thoughtfully. “Didn’t you take that gear out, though?”

“Yes, it’s over… it’s over… over-rrrrrr…” Time Turner nosed back and forth through the little piles of gears, springs and shafts that he’d made a mess of taking out of the clock. “Here, this one!” he took it in his teeth and set it on the table before her. The gear was tiny, made of bronze, and had been polished to a shine along with the rest of what the brown stallion had taken out of the device. “Maybe you can break it?”

“Break the sealing circle?” Twilight frowned.

“If the circle is holding the clock the way it is, it’s probably holding the button as well.” Time Turner thought it made sense, but from Twilight’s perspective it was grasping at straws.

“That’s a little presumptuous,” The purple mare said, picking the gear up with her teeth and setting it in the brightest circle of light they had. “If it was connected to the clock I could see that making sense, but if it was for the whole thing--” she paused to look down into the now-ominous depths of the clock, “It would’ve stopped working when you took it out.”

“Just try it,” The stallion insisted. “I’ll buy ya lunch, promise,” he offered, lighting his face with another coltish grin. Twilight shook her head with a smirk. Hopeless flirt, this one was. Ah well. Lighting her horn and puffing out her cheeks, the purple mare gathered magic to her cause.

The sealing circle began to smear on the gear. Tiny though it was, it clung like permanent ink. Twilight’s magic scrubbed harder, back and forth. The gear itself began to bend a little. The light grew brighter, then brighter, then even brighter. POW! It went off like a fire-cracker and Time Turner dove behind a table like a bomb had gone off. After a short silence, he peeked up at her. Twilight’s mane was frizzed out and her face was blackened in certain areas. A strand of her mane had a tiny orange flame on it, which he quickly patted out. “Ow.” The mare mumbled.

“Where’s the gear?” Time Turner’s eyes flicked back and forth around the floor. “Are you okay?” he quickly amended when he saw her look. “What happ-!” 

CHCK. Both ponies froze. CHK-CHK. They turned to look at the cuckoo clock. It was vibrating visibly. They took slow steps backward. CHK-CHK-stuh! Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch--- a long, brazen-looking tendril began to reach up and out of the cuckoo clock. It was a thousand tiny-gears, a million little screws and panels and little blinky lights. It wriggled just a little, then vibrated again as though it were stretching its muscles. Then its tip sprang open into a razor-sharp, apocalyptic flower. A needle sprang free from the center like a drawing swords, and golden sparkles of light dotted the tip of each of its ‘petals’.

The stallion’s eyes widened in recognition. “Get down!” Time Turner tackled Twilight behind the counter while the bizarre, clockwork plant rose higher and higher until it was well-over three feet high from its base at the cuckoo clock.

“What is that thing?!” Twilight clung to Time Turner’s underbelly on instinct, but both of them peeked out from the side of the counter on instinct. Another sound like drawing swords heralded a massive cornucopia of golden, panel-like leaves. It was like a mad-pony had decided to make a plant with clock parts. Two parts genius, one part horror. The flower at the mechanical horror’s apex grew bigger and bigger until the whole thing suddenly shuddered to a stop. 

A long silence passed, both ponies holding each other on the floor where they hid. They stared at it. The brass-and-bronze-monster-plant-thing did nothing, only stood in its bizarre pose in absolute stillness. Twilight and Time Turner looked at each other, then swallowed. What was with the huge needle-thing? Would it kill them? Was it a weapon? Why would Luna give Starswirl such a thing?

“It’s… beautiful,” Twilight whispered after a time. Time Turner looked at her incredulously. “Look at it,” she breathed, steering his face with a hoof on his cheek. “It was folded up in that tiny space, but it still managed to unfold and spread itself out perfectly. It must’ve taken ages and ages to get that exactly right.”

“Yeah,” Time Turner mumbled dumbly, unable to process what had just happened. “But what is it?” he crouched over Twilight instinctively, and his bad leg dug into her side at an awkward angle.

“Ouch! Gerrof!” The mare finally managed to shove the larger pony off of herself, and crouch behind the counter. “We have to approach this in a scientific manner! Who knows what it is!” she paused, then grabbed a heavy tool off the counter with her magic. Taking aim, she flung it expertly. Clank. The mechanical-plant-thing gave no reaction.

“Realllll scientific,” Time Turner rolled his eyes. Twilight grumbled at him. “Should we sneak away? Maybe out the back?”
“It’s not moving. Maybe it’s just… decoration or something?” The purple unicorn slowly rose from their hiding spot. Time Turner briefly fought to keep her with him, but she managed to wiggle away and out into the open. She froze, afraid it might turn and shoot the needle at her or something. The thing didn’t move. Slowly, slowly, she approached. She could see her reflection in its mechanical leaves, fanned out just so. A smile worked its way across her muzzle. “It’s art,” she breathed. She touched it a few times, much to Time Turner’s horror. It still didn’t react. “I think its art! Luna made this for Starswirl, right? Well, if it did this back in his era it must’ve been a mechanical wonder!”

Time Turner crept out from his hiding place, ears turned back. He stood behind Twilight, then slowwwwly ventured out into the open. He squinted. All the springs and parts were drawn tight on the metal plant. It couldn’t move if it wanted to. “Huh!” he said after a time, standing side-by-side with Twilight. “Well that’s just… just a mystery, then, huh?”

“Maybe that was the point,” Twilight murmured. “Starswirl was a genius, and Luna loved him… maybe the clock itself was just like… uhm…” she fished for a word.

“Wrapping paper?” Time Turner ventured. “To hide what it really was?”

“Yeah!” Twilight’s face lit up when he found the proper way of putting it. “It’s not a clock at all, it’s a big box of mysteries! Princess Luna made a big box of mechanical puzzles for Starswirl to figure out! Since he was a genius, I bet he loved puzzles!” she grinned enthusiastically. Time Turner nodded as more and more clicked into place. “H’ohmigosh! H’ohmigosh! I have to get home! I need to get my sketchbook! We need to catalouge this! Take pictures! Measurements!” Her eyes had clouded over with stars as she pranced back and forth in the background while Time Turner stood there staring up at the flower in wonder. He almost didn’t notice when she’d skipped out the door.

“She is such a dork…” Time Turner chuckled, shaking his head with a grin.

“By the way,” Twilight popped her head back in, startling him. “What’s with the saddle you’re wearing today? I forgot to ask you.” She eyed him up and down. He looked ready to go to a fancy resturaunt, or maybe a play. How strange!

He looked startled at her question, “Uh-buh-well,” he trailed off, ears wilting self-consciously. He’d not expected to be eyed up by Twilight Sparkle, to be honest, but here it was happening anyway. He shifted a little uncomfortably, almost reaching to take it off in front of her. “I thought it looked good…”

The mare studied him for a moment with a quick, calculating gaze. “Ah. Well yeah, it does, that’s true.” She nodded a couple of times to make it official, then zipped away again like she was on a sugar rush. “I’ll be right back! Don’t go anywhere! I have to get my measuring tape and sketchbooks for--!” her voice had faded with distance as she galloped away.

Time Turner stood there, red in the cheeks, “Okay, I’ll be here…”



End of Part 3

> Sticker Berry Bush
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 4: Sticker Berry Bush

Twilight fiddled with the scarlet ribbon in her hair. It wasn’t a date. Not really. She just wanted to look nice, you know, keep her mane out of her face. Time Turner had promised her lunch a few days ago when they’d grown the bizarre bronze flower out of the clock. She didn’t even know what to think about that, but the lunch felt more important.

Approaching Sugar Cube Corner, she saw Time Turner’s backside limping into the door right before she could catch him. Did he have a limp? She’d never noticed. Huh. Following him quickly into the bakery, Twilight saw him considering tables when she stepped up next to him. “Heya,” she smiled.

“Hey!” the brown stallion greeted, nodding over towards a table. They seated themselves, and Twilight called for an oat-and-banana bread loaf. Mr. Cake nodded, working in the background while they chatted. It was a booth seat in a corner, so they could sit close together and speak privately.

“Any progress on our… flower?” Twilight said, not wanting to share with anypony just yet. If the clock was dangerous, she didn’t need ponies rubbernecking into Time Turner’s store to have a look. Time Turner shrugged a little, wilting. “Mechanism still wonky?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what’s holding the flower in place, but its either too big or two heavy for my instruments to get to. I’d hate to think I just turned your cuckoo clock into a massive metal potted plant.” Time Turner scratched his head a little. Twilight hmm’d in a troubled way, scrubbing her chin.

Meanwhile, outside the bakery, Applejack just happened by with her saddlebags full of groceries. She stopped to consider a box of crayons for Applebloom at an art supply stand of the market. She and her little friends were always drawin’ up all them crazy plans, maybe she could use more. She’d aced that thirty-word spelling test the other day… maybe a little reward was due? Nodding and smilin’ to herself, Applejack paid for a twenty-five color box. When she turned her head to put them in her saddlebags, she paused. Twilight and… some stallion? She didn’t know Twilight was dating!

Cocking her head, the farm pony smirked to herself a little. Who’d have thought Twilight would be the first to find a special somepony out of their little group? Heh! Turning away to mind her own business, she startled when she almost ran into a hay bale with eyes… and glasses… and a mustache. “Pinkie Pie?” Applejack leaned this way and that.

“Shhh! I’m in disguise!” The pink party pony said, staring unblinkingly at the window where Twilight was sitting. Applejack followed her gaze in time to see Twilight and the stallion in question laugh together. “Twilight’s on a date with some guy!”

“Eh, well that ain’t none of our business ‘till she tells us about him, is it?” Applejack said carefully, giving her friend a worried smile. She didn’t want Pinkie to get any bright ideas that might ruin their friend’s date. “He looks alright to me.”

“Yeah, but who is heeeee?!” Pinkie whined, turning her box-shaped disguise towards Applejack. “Why wouldn’t Twilight tell us about him?”

Applejack shrugged. “Well, I figure if I found a handsome stallion I’d wanna keep him to myself for a bit, y’know? Not like Twilight’s aiming to start a herd anytime soon. Let her flirt, eh?” She pulled the brim of her hat down just a little. “Besides, we got our own stuff to *HWULK!?*” Applejack was grabbed around the neck and hauled into the hay bale disguise. How both grown mares fit in there was anypony’s guess. Then, when nopony was looking, the hay bale sprouted legs and tip-toe’d to the window, under the cill.

They could hear her through the glass, as close as they were. “I know, I know!” Twilight smiled merrily, pressing another thick slab of oat-and-banana bread Time Turner’s way. “But with you, y'know, 'cleaning my clock', I get to learn so many new things!”

Applejack gaped. He was ‘cleanin’ her clock’?! Red-faced, the farm pony shuddered uncomfortably. “Ah didn’t know it was that far along, wow…” she said softly, glancing over at Pinkie. Pinkie Pie nodded mutely, still smiles. “What should we do?”

“We do what anypony does when one of their best friends has a new bed buddy!” Pinkie Pie whispered in excitement. An icy feeling went down AJ’s spine and she regretted asking her pink friend her opinion almost instantly. Bed buddy? Oh horseapples… “We gotta make contact! See what he’s like!”

“Wait what?!” Applejack shrieked, but already the hay bale was motoring away from the window and towards the door. Applejack dug her hooves into the ground, but it was earth pony versus earth pony and Pinkie Pie was an unstoppable force, even to her muscles. They waddled up the front stairs, through the door and across the gaily–tiled floor.

Pinkie Pie burst from the hay bale and the disguise came apart on the floor around her. “GREETINGS UNKNOWN MALE ENTITY!” She exploded, startling Twilight and Time Turner. A piece of bread flopped moistly to the floor. Pinkie sidled forward, throwing confetti over both of them. “I COME IN PEACE, AND BRING TIDINGS OF HAPPY WISHES FOR YOUR RECENT BEDROOM ROMPINGS!”

Twilight’s jaw fell open, her eyes turning into pinpricks. Time Turner’s face went scarlet, his expression mirroring hers. Applejack moaned, burying her face in her hat. “P-Pinkie! W-we’re n-n-not-!” Twilight stuttered, ears turning down as other ponies in the room turned to look. “Oh j-jeez…” she mumbled, sinking until her eyes were all that peeked over the table.
“I’m Pinkie Pie, nice t’meet’cha!” Pinkie was shaking Time Turner’s hoof, but the poor stallion had frozen over like a statue.

“I-I-I’m real sorry Twilight, I tried to stop her,” Applejack already had an arm around the party pony and was trying to pry her off. “C’mon now, y’big pink varmet!” the earth pony had to use all her strength to tug Pinkie off of Time Turner.

“I wanna meet him!”

“He ain’t yours to meet right now!”

“But lookit him, he looks nice!”

“He’s fine where he is!”

“I wanna throw him a party! Twilight needs a guy in her life!”

“Twilight’s doin’ fine on her own!”

“But he’s got an hourglass! Maybe that stands for extra-extra time!” Pinkie’s mind was already a little heated from the spring-time season, and had jumped in the guttera few minutes ago. “Hey, hey! Does your cutie mark stand for stamina!?” Applejack was trying to wrestle Pinkie Pie away by then, but she was practically glued to the ground where she stood.

“T-twilight?” Time Turner whispered out of the side of his mouth. “Friends of yours?” he couldn’t keep his eyes off Pinkie, nor his mind off the heat in his face and ears.

“Y-yeah, Applejack and Pinkie Pie,” Twilight whispered from where she hid under the table. “S-sorry…” she whimpered in humiliation. Pinkie had done a lot of strange things, but never something like that! Was she brainless?! Springtime could make some ponies a little crazy, but Pinkie was off the deep end.

“Uhm, Twilight…?” Time Turner whispered again. 

Pinkie sank her teeth into Applejack’s foreleg when she tried to shut her up. Applejack yowled, and arguments began anew. “Yeah?” Twilight mewled softly, looking over at the stallion in embarrassment.

“Bail?” he asked softly, carefully picking up the rest of the bread loaf in his mouth.

“Oh! Oh right!” Twilight leaned into him, her horn igniting. “Bailing!” CRACK! They were gone.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Luna sat at her desk in her private office. The single Lunar Stallion in the room sat reading, under her strict orders. If the palace insisted that she be under guard at all times, he was going to do something useful when she was in her inner sanctum. Glancing at him, she turned and pulled a portrait off the wall with her magic. Setting it gently down, she pulled the safe beyond it open. It didn’t have a combination lock, but was set to recognize her magical vibrations. Sort of like a hoofprint.

Levitating a series of yellowed scrolls from the safe, she unrolled them on her desk. Complicated drawings, plans, and mathematical impossibilities stared back at her. She smiled lovingly at it all. It really was like art. Numbers were, in Luna’s eyes, the closest pony’s would ever get to the hoof-writing of Faust. Being able to manipulate them, twist them, and reconnect them into the Clock of Five Mysteries had been a working of god-like magic. Using paperweights so the elderly scrolls wouldn’t re-curl, she pulled the top page off to study the next one.

The first mystery was the bronze flower. The symbol of budding love, it was a new beginning, and a wonderous thing to behold when it bloomed. Frail, young, and full of new life… Luna wasn’t sure Star Swirl had understood it, really. It was made of metal and plants were not metal, sure, but she’d seen his eyes light up when he’d uncovered it the first time. Such a handsome, brilliant stallion. Luna’s heart ached at the thought of him, but she dwelled on the early, happy memories she had of him. Bumping him with her hip during a walk around the palace… winking flirtily and watching his face darken in embarrassment during his studies… Luna snickered girlishly, resting her chin on a foreleg. Her guard looked up, mildly curious. She snuffle-snorted like she’d sneezed, coughing and looking more closely at her old mappings and designs of the clock she’d given to Star Swirl. 

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

CRACK!!!

Twilight and Time Turner reappeared in a sticker-berry bush, flumping into a mass of arms and legs and confused wiggling. “Ow-ow-OW!” A sticker-thorn got caught in Time Turner’s ear, and he finally stopped thrashing.

Twilight groaned, almost upside down underneath him. “Oh-mi-gosh I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have teleported under stress! I was aiming for the library, I could’ve dropped us in the lake on accident!”

“Well it’s not a lake!” Time Turner flinched when another thorn dug into his ribs. Sticker Berry bushes were not good hiding places, everypony learned when they were foals. It didn’t matter how delicious the berries were, the thorns weren’t worth it. “I think it’s,” he paused, trying to get his bearings. “Ohh! Sticker berries!” he smiled, leaning to grab a couple in his teeth. “Nm nm nmm…!”

Twilight started giggling. She couldn’t help herself. She threw her arms awkwardly about his shoulders, tugging him down into an affectionate hug. A bit of juice dribbled from his chin as he smiled down at her. “At least we’re away from Pinkie and Applejack now, whew…” the purple mare shook her head in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry about that, Pinkie is a little… ehm… Pinkie,” she couldn’t find a good word for it. Time Turner smiled good naturedly, but said nothing since he was still chewing. “Are they that good?” Twilight smiled wryly at him. “Just gonna lay on me all day and eat those?”

“Nah I’ll share,” the stallion leaned and got his face scratched a few times. “Ow-ow-ow… ah!” he used his teeth and got a little bunch of berries for Twilight. Dangling them over her face, he touched her muzzle with them a few times. “Boop!” he snickered coltishly. Twilight giggle-snorted, but took them. Their muzzles touched, and she felt the warm velvet of the end of his nose. It colored her cheeks.

The purple mare tried the berries. They were tart and sugary, which made her lips pucker up like she was expecting a kiss. “They’re sour!” she complained. “Bleh!” Time Turner chuckled, favoring his good front-leg as he tried to rise and get untangled. The bush had looped one of its branches into the stirrups of his saddle. Then, like elastic, it threw him down onto Twilight. “Oof!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” He said, ears wilted. “I’m stuck! It’s my saddle.” He gestured over his shoulder with his muzzle. Twilight leaned to see, one hoof on his chest and the other on his shoulder.

Twilight’s horn lit with its usual purple glow. “Maybe I can teleport us just outside the bu-OW!” she gave a little yelp when her fidgeting sent a thorn into her cutie mark. “Or maybe just stop moving for a minute,” she went slack, panting from all the effort.

“W-well, at least it’s quieter here,” Time Turner smiled bashfully. Twilight nodded. Slowly, he let himself go slack so he could work the branch off of himself. His body was warm, firm and certainly smelled nice. Mare hormones rushed up into Twilight’s head and she panted. Just once, panted. Shaking her head quickly and glad he wasn’t looking at her, she tried not to move while he fussed with his left stirrup.

“Y’know, I sometimes wonder why we wear these. It’s not like anypony is gonna climb on my back anytime soon…” wondered Time Turner. Twilight mmm’d softly, all too aware of the heat in her face. “Almost got iiiiiit—t here! Home free!” He made to stand and was immediately assaulted by more brambles. “Oh jeez!” he complained, lowering himself onto Twilight again. “Ow… ow…” he tried to pluck one out with his teeth, but just got scratched on the cheek for his trouble.

Twilight sighed, flopping back on her back. “Maybe you should just take that off,” she said. “You’re getting caught every which way!” she fidgeted back and forth, trying to see if there was one way or another to wriggle out of their thorny prison. It didn’t look like it.

“Maybe so,” the stallion was getting all worked up, but the saddle certainly wasn’t helping. “Can you get the buckle there?” he said, his bad leg getting in the way of a few thorns as he went. 

Twilight reached and gently freed his front-left leg. It was cold and clammy, unlike the rest of his warm and velvety… hyn!! Buckle! Focus on the buckle, Twilight! The young mare shook her head quickly. “Got it!” Lighting her horn in a wavering way, “Hold up! There!” she whipped the saddle off of him so hard, so fast it flew out of the bush and onto the nearby grass. “Oops…” she looked at him, ears wilted.

“Casting under stress?” Time Turner snickered. She pouted at him, but he lowered his chest and head to hers. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said softly. His coltish smile, lopsided though it was, was actually… actually kinda charming… “Hang on, I’ll get us out of here.” Using his front left leg, he gave a half-hearted whack at the thorny bush. A few of the little branches snapped. He whapped away a few more times, trying to stomp out a little path for them. But some of the branches were bendy, heavy and alive with berries. Before long his leg was decorated with stickers, thorns, and berry juice. “Not working,” he grumbled, wilting.

“S’fine,” Twilight whispered. “Let’s just uhm… let’s think here. Give me a second to breathe,” the purple mare said, mostly to herself. Time Turner lowered himself, sighing long and loud. The warmth of his chest spread across Twilight’s body, and other than his clammy leg he was very comfy, to tell the truth. “Whew… I don’t even know where we are. Can you see out?”

“No,” Time Turner mumbled, leaning back and forth to see through the brambles. “It’s too thick,” he shrugged, then went still again. He sighed, looking down at her. They stared at one another in silence. Slowly, a wry smile began to work its way across his muzzle.

“What?” Twilight wanted to know.

“’Greetings unknown male entity!’” Time Turner cackled. Twilight blushed, but snickered. “That was kinda funny, you gotta admit.” His muzzle pressed into her chest when he hunched to giggle loudly.

“W-well, it… it was a little funny,” Twilight fought a smile, but lost miserably. She began to giggle loudly. They shared the awkward laughter, hugging one another. When at last it died down, they looked into each other’s eyes. Time Turner’s lips parted just a little as he leaned over her, studying her face.

Their lips... touched. Pressed. A warm, melty feeling rushed over Twilight, and her foreleg rushed over his shoulder. It was all h-happening so fast! B-but it felt so right! It did! Smek. The kiss broke. An embarrassing line of spittle bridged the gap between them. Time Turner murred softly. They shared quiet nuzzle. The red in his cheeks spoke volumes. He went to kiss her a second time-!

The sky went from blue to white as a large shape began to fill their vision above. A shadow cast itself over the entire bush as massive wings flapped lazily up and down. “Twilight? Is that you?” A feminine voice called from above.

“ACK?!” Twilight jerked like she’d been electrocuted. “Princess Celestia?!”

“I would think there are better places than a Sticker Berry bush in the royal gardens for, ahem, that, my faithful student,” the Princess of the sun chuckled behind a gold-gilded hoof. “I found your bread and saddle, young stallion,” she gestured to one side of herself.

Time Turner went as pale as a sheet. Twilight had teleported them all the way to Canterlot!



End of Part 4

> Doctor's Visit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 5: Doctor’s Visit

Princess Celestia smiled with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes while the royal gardener she’d summoned snip-snip-snipped at the branches of the sticker berry bush. Before long, they’d rescued Twilight and Time Turner from its thorny clutches. “Who’s your friend, Twilight?” the tall white mare said, lifting her wings in greeting.

Time Turner limp-stepped off of Twilight, then promptly bashed his nose on the ground to bow to her. “Princess Celestia! I-I’m sorry we ended up at the royal gardens!” he said. “It was an accident, honest!”

“Rise, my little pony,” Celestia said, tittering a chuckle as Twilight came to nuzzle her. “It’s not often I see my most faithful student running about with a stallion,” she trailed off a moment, looking at them sideways, “Or in a bush with one, for that matter.” She grinned as Time Turner turned scarlet in the face.

“I-it’s not what it looks like!” Time Turner babbled.

“Have you come to receive my blessing, young stallion?” Celestia leaned down to his eye-level. His pupils shrank and his ears tucked back. Nickering, the alicorn pecked his nose. “You may have it then, if I may have your name.”

“I-I’m Time Turner,” the brown earth pony mumbled, unable to take his mind off the buzzing feeling in his nose. Had she just touched him with magic? He couldn’t tell.

“Well met, Time Turner,” Celestia said, straightening.

Twilight finally found herself, “W-well I’m glad we ran into each other, but I’m sure that we should be going befo-!”

“Now Twilight, don’t be silly,” Celestia walked past then, gesturing to her guards with her muzzle. Both armored pegasi snapped to, and started herding Time Turner forward. He step-limped, wincing and looking down at his bad leg. “You’ve teleported almost fifty miles, I don’t think even somepony as powerful as you could just teleport straight back to Ponyville. You must be exhausted.” Twilight blushed as she spoke. “Atop that, the next train doesn’t leave until nightfall. Why don’t you two stay for a bit?” She made a wide, white gesture to the palace, which made Time Turner a little intimidated by its size. “I’m sure your coltfriend would love to see the palace,” the princess said, smiling.

“He’s NOT my coltfriend!” Twilight blurted. Silence suddenly reigned.

Celestia stopped. The two guards stopped. Time Turner looked hurt, his ears turning back. “I’m not?” he whispered to her. “But we’ve been getting on so well… and you kissed me just then…”

“Uh-buh-w-well…” Twilight blushed, looking over at him. “I-I-I mean, I just meant…” she was backpedaling hard, but the stallion had already hung his head in a forlorn sort of way. Both guards winced.

“Can I use your infirmary? I think landing in that bush jarred by bad leg…” Time Turner asked Celestia, very carefully not looking at Twilight. The alicorn saw the swell of hurt moisture in his eyes. She nodded once, folding one wing so he could go by. One of her guards went, with Celestia’s gesture, to accompany him.

=-=-=-=

Princess Luna sat in the waiting room of the infirmary, a Sunday Paper hovering in front of her. She did love the comic strips and the economic statistics after all. It was her job to keep with the times, now that she was back.

She was a little surprised when a plain brown earth pony sat down on the bench next to hers. Their eyes met for a moment and he looked frightened. “Sorry!” he shifted to the bench across from her.

“Neigh,” she gave her horn a flick, moving him bodily to the first seat he’d chosen. “Be not intimidated, my subject, we are all patients here,” She watched him slowly sit on his haunches, looking over at her nervously. “There see. We do not bite.” She made a little whipping motion to straighten her paper, then turned the page. 

A long silence went by. “You’re Princess Luna,” he whispered reverently, looking rather star-struck. She gave a polite, disinterested nod. “My father told me all about your work pioneering Chronomancy and Clockwork Medicine back in the Pre-Classical Era. Really brilliant stuff,” he blurted before he could stop himself.

Luna looked up from her paper, startled, “You’ve read of such things?” she asked with a frown. Most everypony that ever spoke to her only asked about her fall as Nightmare Moon. Then out of the blue comes a random earth pony praising her work in early medicine? She watched him nod enthusiastically.  “And you understood it?”

“Well I have to!” he smiled broadly, “I’mma--!” he suddenly stopped himself, putting a hoof over his mouth. His eyes searched hers, terrified.

Luna frowned at his sudden fear, gently folding her paper and setting it on the coffee table in front of them. He hunched a little, eyes darting to one side and away from her. Her horn lit and he flinched like she might hit him. Remembering herself, Luna coughed. “Er… may we?” the Princess asked. “It’s been a thousand years, I would like to see what advancements…” she trailed off when he slowly offered her his bad leg. Deciding against the cold touch of night time magic, she slowly scooted until she was next to him. She studied his face. “What is thy name, friend?” she whispered, slowly taking his ankle between her large hooves.

Hoof.

Ankle.

Cannon.

Luna’s ears slowly turned down into an expression of pity. Time Turner studied her. He’d opened his mouth to answer, but he’d never seen such an expression, much less on a Princess’ face. He hung his head guiltily, looking down at the floor. Her large hooves kept going up his arm.	

Chestnut.

Knee.

Forearm.

The Princess took a deep, hollow breath as a chilled, icy feeling began to lick its necrotic tongue down her neck. This was far, far more than she was expecting. Too much for one pony to possibly have endured. She shuddered, pausing at his forearm and feeling it back and forth a few times. It rolled like it was supposed to, firm and supple like a stallion’s real… she looked at his face. Why, he looked ashamed of himself. “Please, your name?” she whispered. 
“If it weren’t for your work in medicine all those centuries ago, I wouldn’t even be alive,” Time Turner mumbled as her hooves roamed ever higher up his bad leg. Her expression changed from horror to one of illness as the color began to drain from her face. No. No it just wasn’t possible!

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Ball-joint.

One. Two. Three Ribs.

Luna’s hooves JUMPED off of him before she went any further. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to know how damaged this poor creature was anymore! She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep, cleansing sort of breath. He eyed her with a neutral, hurt-wild-animal sort of expression. “Does it… hurt?” she whispered. The sentence seemed to calm him, for he’d heard many crueler ones.

“Only in the mornings, when I get up,” he smiled kindly. There was a long, terribly awkward silence. She stared at his bad leg, as though looking through it.

Suddenly a nurse poked her head out of the office. “Princess Luna? The doctor will see you now,” she smiled.
“What’re you here for?” Time Turner wondered wildly. “I didn’t know alicorns could get sick.”

“We art pregnant,” Luna said, turning her muzzle up at him as she cantered away. The nurse rolled her eyes, shutting the door and shaking her head at the poor startled stallion. After Luna was gone to her appointment, he hung his head a little guiltily. Asking a Princess about her health was probably a terribly private thing to ask about, especially since he was a perfect stranger.

Perhaps half an hour passed. Time Turner sat there, massaging his bad leg where Luna had rolled the muscles with her hooves. He glanced at the clock, pawed through the magazines, and finally settled on a ‘Where’s Maredoe?’ book. He was puzzling over the third challenge in the book when the dark alicorn re-emerged from the back of the doctor’s office.
“—and remember Princess, these are potent things,” the stallion in the doctor’s coat said. “One per sleep cycle, no more, and that should cull your night terrors.”

“Thank thee,” Luna mumbled, all too aware that Time Turner was listening. She levitated the small pill bottle into her saddlebags, where it rattled when it settled to the bottom.

“I-I’m… I’m Time Turner,” the brown stallion finally said before she could say anything. “I fix clocks in Ponyville.”

“Time Turner,” Luna’s eyes flicked up to his face. “Twilight Sparkle’s beau?” she seemed to forget where she was, and eyed him up in a completely different way. A female way. An appraising sort of way. He felt just a little bit flattered.

“Er-well, sort of. She said I’m not her coltfriend just a while ago.”

“Bah, she is ancient in her thoughts and young in her heart,” grumbled Luna, folding her saddlebag shut. “Even we may visualize you standing next to her for nuzzles. She speaks fondly of you in her letters.”

“She does?” his face lit up a little.

“Yes,” the Princess of the night said, nodding.

“She… she doesn’t know about…” he looked to one side, waving a little with his bad leg.

“I don’t imagine it’s something to run around shouting about,” Luna said soothingly, nodding her understanding. “But I do not think she will find it repulsive.”

“No, just unattractive,” he slipped before looking quickly away, “S-sorry. I’ve had other marefriends, you see, and it… they just didn’t…”

“Do not think to hide this, young stallion,” Luna said severely, standing a head taller than he. “Especially from somepony as smart as Twilight Sparkle.” He wilted at her gaze, but she soon smiled at him. “But, nevertheless, good luck to you,” she blessed with a nod of her head and horn. “Twilight escapes my net because of distance, but not thine, go forth with my blessing.” She snickered.

Time Turner opened his mouth to thank her, but the nurse had reappeared, “Time Turner?” she asked. He looked over, “C’mon hun, you’re up.” She said kindly. He hopped from the bench, limp-stepping as he went.

Luna smiled, watching him go, waiting for him to connect the dots. Suddenly his eyes widened and he turned about as the door was shutting behind him. “You LIKE--?!” it shut and he was cut off. Luna laughed scandalously. She never bored of pranking her subjects. Shaking her head, she was away from the palace infirmary.

=-=-=-=
That Evening…
=-=-=-=

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight recited, standing next to Time Turner at the train station. The alicorn smiled while she spoke, “Today I learned that love and attraction are nothing to be ashamed of, that you should embrace the things you like without fear of being judged for them. There’s no reason to hide that you like somepony, especially if you know they like you back. That leads to pointless drama and we’ve all seen that too many times in too many books and movies and other such things. I think I might… date, Time Turner now. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” She was beaming by the time she finished.

Time Turner grinned a big goofy grin, looking up at Princess Celestia. While he’d been in the doctor’s office, the the princess and the purple mare had apparently had tea or something together. Twilight’s confidence had taken a huge leap upward. “Thank you for uhm… hosting us, your majesty,” he said awkwardly.

“It was nice meeting you,” Celestia said, smiling in a motherly way. “Perhaps I’ll hear about you in Twilight’s future letters, or see you on a visit!” she said, prompting nods from her two guards. The brown stallion smiled politely, nodding back.

Twilight and Time Turner stepped onto the train, letting the door close behind them. As the giant metal caterpillar hissed into motion, they went to find their seats. Time Turner sat on his haunches with a tired sigh, slowly leaning back and closing his eyes. What a day!

About ten minutes after the train was well underway, the purple mare suddenly turned to him in shock. “Ohmigosh! I didn’t even ask! I have to ask to make it official!” she took him by both shoulders, steering him around to face her directly.
“Huh-what?” Time Turner startled out of his doze.

“Do you… do you wanna be my... my very special somepony?” Twilight mumbled, staring at his chest and not his face. He nodded, his charming coltish smile filling her vision before he leaned over to kiss her.



End of Part 5

> Speaking Historically
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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


> Clockwork Origin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 7: Clockwork Origin

Time Turner the colt squirmed on the surgery table, writhing in agony while almost a dozen surgeons rushed around him on all sides. He was bleeding out rapidly, and no amount of tubes could slow the process. Green focusing crystals were brought in with mechanical arms from the ceiling, pointed at the dying foal. He cried out when they tightened the leather straps on him, tightening the tourniquet that was barely keeping him alive. He thrashed, whimpering and bleating because he couldn’t get the air in his lungs to scream.

“Secure him! He’s just a kid, we can still save him!” one surgeon commanded. 

Paper masks came over muzzles as they all descended on him. They were all unicorns Time Turner saw, for their horns lit as one. 

“Adjust the frequency time and a half lower, his tiny heart can’t take the normal one!" 

"We don’t have time to put him under, the drugs could stop his heart!”

“L-let me die!” the poor colt begged. “Let me die, ahhhh!” he was enshrouded in cold, grey medical magic. The sterile silver table was slowly dribbling blood out on all sides of him. How could the poor thing still be bleeding as hard as he was and not be dead? “Please! Please let me die!”

“He’s going into shock!” one of the nurses shouted when Time Turner began to froth at the mouth. The medical staff rushed back and forth, shouting and adjusting machines as they went. “We can’t stop the bleeding, half the rib-cage is crushed!”

Suddenly the operation pit’s double doors slammed themselves open, a pair of medical ponies rushing in with a covered trolly. The sheet was yanked away, revealing a terrifying set of metal bars and gears. “We just finished prepping! It’s a mess, though! We don’t have one his size, we’ve never done this on a teenager before!”

“It’ll have to do, he can grow into it!” the head surgeon shouted. Working as one, the group of surgeon ponies began lifting mechanical parts, tiny tubes and rubber ligaments. Swirling about in a complicated pattern in the air above the surgical table, they reflected Time Turner’s terrified, milky expression in their steel surfaces.

The first piece stopped, turned, then smashed itself into Time Turner’s body. The real rib evaporated just as the fake one slid painfully into place. The foal’s mouth came open, drool and spittle going down one side of his mouth. His eyes were tiny pinpricks as he strained hard against the straps that held him. But, his tiny body wouldn’t obey. “It’s okay, son,” one of the surgeons said, holding his head down as they worked. “Everypony screams, let it out to ease the pain,” he coaxed the little earth pony. 

And scream he did. “Father! Father-rrrrr!” A spatter of blood hit one of the hanging lights, staining the scene red in its unholy afterglow. His back arched like a bow.

“The only difference is what they scream…” the surgeon whispered with a haunted expression, staring at the bleating colt. He glanced up at the observation window, high above him. A middle-aged mare and stallion were holding each other, weeping, rocking back and forth. Wiping his brow with a bloodied hoof-glove, he turned to focus harder on his work. 

“Turn on the regenerative tub!” The head surgeon shouted. “As soon as the leg is done I want this kid sealed tight!” A tub of orange, jello-like substance was brought forth and placed near the observation table. Machines started warming up and whirring to life, making the slop glow eerily.

Gears, wires, tubes, rods, and all other manner of horrifying things swooped into Time Turner’s body from above. They clicked into place, turning, locking themselves in. They dug into flesh, oiled themselves with his blood, and kah-chunked audibly until they became a part of him. “Attach the veins! I want three full cycles for oil and lubricants before it’s done!” Golden liquid began to run up and down the tubes of the artificial limb. The filter was top of the line, and worked just fine. Before long, the final protective shell was added and screwed into place to protect the moving parts. Then, the new leg started to flail wildly as Time Turner’s body took to it.

“His brain has accepted the clockwork! Seal him up!” Somepony shouted. Rudely and unceremoniously, the group of stallions shoved Time Turner off of the steel surgery table and into the waiting tub of glowing orange goo. It splashed like hot slime. As soon as he hit it, the chemicals took over and he went still. A nurse slammed the iron paneling over him like a lid, and they worked feverishly to screw the bolts into place. “C’mon… c’mon…” they all looked eagerly at the dark panel that was just above Time Turner’s heart.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A little pink heart symbol flicked on and off to show the heart rate. Everypony sagged, panting in relief. “Success.” One of the surgeons moaned, sliding to the floor. “That was the ugliest surgery I’ve ever…” he trailed off, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at the stallion and mare in the window, smiling and making an approving gesture. The mare burst into sobs they couldn’t hear beyond the glass, squeezing her husband’s neck with both forehooves and burying her face in his shoulder.

“How long do you think he’ll be in there…?” One of the nurses whispered.

“Considering the damage,” one of the surgeons sighed. “Who knows. A lifetime, maybe.”

“Poor kid’ll miss out on everything.”

“He’ll live, though, and that’s what matters. When the mechanism is done adjusting to him and his body has healed all the way, the pod will let us know,” the head surgeon said, pulling down his paper surgery mask with a bloody hoof. “Until then, the ‘honey’ in there will preserve and feed him.”

“I can’t imagine what that’s gonna be like…” one of the nurses whispered, touching the little window over Time Turner’s face. The colt’s expression had frozen into a peaceful, slumbering expression. The numbing agents of the special honey he was sealed in would keep him from feeling any pain while he slept. “His parents might be dead by the time he wakes up,” he sighed quietly.

“If it was my son, I’d only want him to live,” said another of the doctors. There was a quiet murmur of agreement in the room. “I’ll go tell his parents the news.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Present Day…
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Time Turner laughed gaily then pounced on Twilight Sparkle, pressing his lips to her belly and blowing a loud raspberry. The mare shrieked, squirming wildly and trying to press him away. Try as she might she couldn’t pry her coltfriend off of herself. Wrestling her back onto the couch he pinned her with his earth pony strength. “Rawr!” he said playfully, lording himself over her.

“Oh Time Turner, no no!” she cried playfully. “Not my virtue!” She put her forearm over her face, turning away like he might ravish her right there on the couch.

“Yes your virtue!” he pounced and blew another raspberry on her belly, making her explode into giggles again.

“I’ll have to use my… secret weapon!” Twilight lit her horn, turning him upside down and levitating him into the air.

“Hey no fair!” he laughed, slowly orbiting around the room. He flailed at her, trying to reach.

“Whaaaat?” she purred, giving him romantic eyes. “Trying to reach me?” He giggled coltishly, reaching for her while he floated gently by her again. “Not close enough?”

“Hey Twilight, have you see Applej-!” Rainbow Dash wandered into the library just as Time Turner was floating over Twilight Sparkle. Twilight’s startled motion ended the spell and he flumped rudely down atop her. The cyan Pegasus stared at them, blinking a couple of times. Twilight smiled helplessly, pink in the cheeks, on her back under her coltfriend. “Jeez, you two!” Rainbow said with a snort. “Missionary style?! How many kinks is Twilight making you try?!”

“Hey!” Twilight blurted, her face going scarlet. “I-it’s not what it looks like!”

“It’s exactly what it looks like!” Time Turner grinned, winking at Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus smirked, catching on.

“N-no it’s not!” Twilight said, looking up at him angrily. She punched his shoulder and his bad leg gave, making him crash face-first into her belly. “Oof!”

“Well whenever he’s done mounting you for this particular hour of the day, Fluttershy wants to see everypony at the edge of Everfree,” Rainbow Dash grinned humorously, watching Twilight struggle to her hooves in a huff. “Something about timber wolves near Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Sure thing,” Twilight nodded. “I’ll be there soon.” She watched her friend take off.

“Guh, even the bookworm is getting more than me these days…” Rainbow Dash’s low grumble faded with distance. 
Twilight before turned and gave her coltfriend a hard shove. He rolled onto his back, laughing. “You are so encourageable!” she said, poking his chest with a hoof.

He pulled all four hooves to himself, looking wilty and innocent, “What’d I do…?”

Twilight snarked at him, then giggled and leaned down to his face. They shared an affectionate nuzzle, “I guess I should know better than to levitate you, huh?” 

He shrugged a little, “Your magic feels nice. It tingles a little,” He smiled at her happy pink cheeks. “C’mere,” he hooked an arm around her, pulling her down atop himself. He kissed her with a giggly little smek. “Can I come and see the timber wolves, do you think?” he asked.

“I dunno, it might be dangerous,” Twilight wasn’t so sure.

“Aww c’mon,” he said, giving her big innocent eyes again. She grumbled, running a hoof through his messy brown mane. The selfish little desire to show off her coltfriend of three weeks in front of her friends was a strong one. She finally nodded her assent. “Alright!” he said, hopping to his hooves.



End of Part 7
> Timberwolf Teeth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 8: Timberwolf Teeth

Fluttershy was wearing her PETA hat, her Equestrian Ranger’s vest, binoculars, a bandoleer of stink pellets, and a saddlebag full of maps and other odds and ends. She was Ponyville’s wildlife expert after all, she needed plenty of tools to do her job. Watching local populations, migration patterns, and shifts in the ecosystem was her job. She wasn’t just the cute and fluffy animal keeper most thought her to be. With the Applejack, Twilight, Time Turner, and Rainbow Dash in tow, she'd taken them to the space between Everfree and the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

Now and then, Everfree would shift in an unexpected way and it was up to her to either compensate or push things back the way they came. This time, it just happened to be Timberwolves. Serrated, Flint-Tooth Timberwolves. Leaning, Fluttershy took out her AniDex. “Timberwolf!” the robotic voice said cheerily. “Lupus-Silice-Ligna! Native to the Everfree, this animal is made of petrified wood and has very hard, bark-like skin. Its teeth are made of flint-rock, and it is known to carry the smell of decay around it like all other timberwolf breeds.” Fluttershy flicked it closed, stuffing it away like an expert.

“Faaaaascinating,” said Rainbow Dash with a roll of her eyes. Fluttershy wilted a little. The AniDex was her favorite little gadget (straight from the Equestrian Ranger’s Board, for excellent service!). “So what’s the deal then? They’re moving where they’re not supposed to, or…?”

“They been skulkin’ around the borders of our apple orchard,” said Applejack indignantly. “I don’t wanna turn around and find out they made off with Applebloom ‘r somethin’.”

Time Turner cocked his head, looking around as Fluttershy spoke. “Animals usually only move to a new region if their food source has run out, or if something shifts the local ecosystem,” she said, taking out her binoculars and peering about the tree-line.

“So what do we do then?”

“Actually, all of you just standing here is helping,” Fluttershy smiled a bit, her wings opening into a happy stance. “Your scents are enough to warn some predators away, but a big group of scents like this will make it look like a well-populated area. It will help keep the Timberwolves away… ah, there’s one now!” The butter-yellow Pegasus gave a start, and everypony quickly turned. Deep in the foliage were little flits of movements, flashes of emerald green eyes. The herd shifted a little.

“Eh, Fluttershy, are you sure it’s okay to be standing out here in the open?” Applejack asked nervously, scanning the treeline.

“Oh yes,” the Ponyville Wildlife Ranger replied with a gentle smile. “I have hormone bombs to warn them away if they come near for some reason. They can’t stand the smell!”

Rainbow Dash smiled a little. Fluttershy in her element—it was actually kind’a cool. In a zookeeper kind’a way. Twilight and Time Turner shifted, leaning into each other a little and squinting like they were bird-watching. “So what’s wrong, can you tell?” Time Turner asked.
“Something’s making the poor things come out of the heart of the forest, and I don’t think it’s another predator—!” Snap-crash! Something deeper in the treeline went off like a crack of thunder. “Ah, got one!” she said, blue eyes lighting up in the most adorable way imaginable.

“You ‘got one’?!” Twilight gaped at her friend.

“I had to capture a specimen to examine,” Fluttershy said. “If its malnourished, I’ll know it’s a food source problem. If its hurt at all, I’ll know there’s a turf-war going on between packs,” she trailed off with a happy little giggle. “So much to do to put everything right, oh my!” her cheeks pinkened in mousey delight. Applejack snicker-snorted as they followed Fluttershy into the edge of Everfree. The little herd emerged into a small clearing. Laying prone was a large Timberwolf, covered in a net and held with six pins. In its mouth was a gutted fish, half-chewed. Fluttershy’s bait, no doubt. “There-there, you poor thing…” She knelt and worked quickly, “It’s just a little sedative…”

“Eh Fluttershy…” Applejack said nervously, looking around. More and more eyes were appearing in the bushes. Time Turner gulped, ears turning back and lowering his head nervously.

“There’s no woodrot…” Fluttershy mumbled over the beast, lifting its leg and running a hoof over the undercarriage. “He’s not clawed up anywhere…” Reaching into her saddlebags she got a little carpenter’s knife. Taking a little sliver from the Timberwolf’s shoulder, she held it up to the light and then put it in a petri dish. “I’ll have to take a closer look… what’s this…” she lifted one of its front legs higher, revealing a small deposit of what looked like white crystals under its arm. “Salt burn!” Fluttershy said, standing up and looking at everyone. “Something’s poisoning their water supply. Everfree’s rivers are freshwater, not salt water. They’re being poisoned, the poor things!”

“Uh, Fluttershy…” Applejack said a little louder. All the glowing green eyes were closing in and taking shape out of the shadows.

“It’s okay, I’m prepared.” Fluttershy reached into her pouch, pulling out a little sphere with a purple button on it. Throwing it into the bushes, she listened until PSSHHHHHHHH…. A cloud of hormones dispelled into the air. Shadows parted, scampering away and out of sight. “Always keep your cool when working with predators,” she recited from the Equestrian Rangers handbook. 

Rainbow Dash chuckled, not catching the very attracted grin that was sliding over her face. “Wow Fluttershy, I had no idea you could be so confident in yourself!”

Fluttershy flushed red, “W-well, you know… it’s my job and… and such…” she trailed off, then quickly focused on gathering some of the crystals from the Timberwolf’s armpit with a Q-tip. “Mmm-yes, a salt deposit like this could poison them pretty badly in large doses. I’ll have to ask Zecora for some help putting something in the river. If a salt deposit popped up somewhere…” she trailed off, very carefully not looking at Rainbow Dash.

Time Turner suddenly screamed like a mare, pointing into the foliage opposite to where the hormone bomb had been thrown. A sudden, huge swath of Timberwolves poured out of the foliage and into the clearing! They’d gone around to the opposite side— rushing straight into the herd before anypony could react they threw themselves on everypony with all their wooden might. 

Applejack gave a feral whinny, turning and bucking the first one that came close enough. Splinters flew. Soon four more overtook even her great earthpony strength. Her hat flapped wildly into the air and the next well-placed kick snapped an entire Timberwolf in half before one sank its teeth into her flank. She shouted, scrambling for her rope and tangling herself along with her attackers in the process. The wild mess of legs and teeth and flailing turned into a cartoonish cloud of flying claws and hoof-punching.

Twilight cried out in panic, her horn firing wildly into the fray. Bolts of arcane magic blew branches off of trees before lancing out into the mid-day sky. A tree imploded and tipped itself over, crashing with a thunderous sound of falling wood.

Rainbow Dash didn’t even have the air in her lungs to shout out as blood poured from two of her legs. She lifted off, but couldn’t fly with two or three of them pouncing on her. Swearing and screaming and flailing in all directions, she went right over an embankment and into the dry ditch of what used to be a creek. Gravel flew in all directions when she landed square on her back. Rolling wildly she only barely kept her neck from being torn out. Wild howls followed as she struggled to free all her legs and took to the sky.

Fluttershy fumbled, panicking and searching her pack wildly before she was tackled and all of her things went flying in every direction. Her hormone bombs, oh no! Timberwolves dog-piled onto her pack, eating all her bait and tearing the bag apart while they fought over the food. SPSSSSSHHHHH! A hormone bomb went off in the middle of them and they scattered, yelping and running for cover.

Time Turner reared up, flailing his hooves like a war-horse but was quickly knocked down in the fray. Yelping when he hit the ground he turned to offer his fake shoulder when the pack descended on him. He was the biggest pony there, being a stallion, so he had the most meat on his bones! Going for the nearest leg, they sank their fangs into him. Flesh tore, fur flew, and a black liquid blobbed out onto their muzzles. The Timberwolves recoiled, their muzzles working back and forth. “Sorry, didn’t feel that one,” Time Turner panted, raising himself up and bringing both hooves down on the nearest wolf’s head. It shattered into a million pieces and the body limpened. The other three circled him, then quickly went for his injured limb. The pack mentality bade them to aggravate the wound they’d made until the prey gave up and died. Teeth met metal under the cold flaps of skin. Magic surrounding Time Turner’s leg began to unravel.

Twilight gored a Timberwolf on her horn, igniting a simple fire spell on its insides. It ran away yelping, glowing on the inside with heat. Turning, she bucked one wolf away as another leapt and pounced on her back. “Time Turner!” she shouted. She saw a spray of something dark fly out of her coltfriend’s leg. It splattered across the ground and nearby rocks, shiny like oil. What was—?!

Grunting and giving a firm buck the stallion sent one wolf flying into another. They crashed together, turning tail and running. The last wolf ran at him, leaping for his face. Time Turner cocked his arm on instinct, raising it high and pointing it like a spear to ward the beast off. His hoof went down the Timberwolf’s throat. The serrated-flint teeth scrapped along the flaps of fur and skin. They hit metal, spraying sparks. A single spark fell into Time Turner’s gushing ‘wound’. Fire ignited, rushing over the limb in an instant! The stallion whinnied as the Timberwolf impaled itself on his fake leg. Fire rushed out of his clockwork from all the nooks and crannies. The flailing beast gagged, flailed, then exploded from the inside with all the force of a grenade. Time Turner tumbled across the ground, flaps of skin and fur peeling off of him and going up in smoke.

The entire clearing went silent as ash, dust, and slivers of wood fell from the sky. The Timberwolves spotted fire, their mortal enemy, and fled. Thinking quickly Fluttershy pelted the last one with a hormone bomb. They would chase themselves away, smelling like that.

Time Turner flopped down, flailing on the dirt until his leg went out. It felt slow and sluggish, but the oil had clotted nicely and not all the wires had been… had been… The stallion looked up. Everypony was staring at him. Him and his clockwork leg. The spell that had hidden it completely unraveled. 

His fake ribs slowly shone into view, bright and golden as they held onto his chest like so many skeletal fingers. His shoulder was one great, thick gear. Whirring, turning little gears and bits startled and stopped before turning some more. The casing had come off, exposing all the moving bits and wires. The coils and springs slowly relaxed as he tried to stand all the way erect. “I… I uhm…” his eyes fell on Twilight, who was looking at him with shock. “I-I-I can explain!” the stallion blurted, turning to one side and trying to use his saddlebag to hide it a little. The sun shone brightly on the bronze-colored prosthetic, though, almost enveloping him in a golden glow. They were all staring, he couldn’t take that staring. Staring like all the others before them had. “T-Twilight, I can explain!”



End of Part 8

> My Clockwork Stallion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 9: My Clockwork Stallion

Rainbow Dash groaned, slowly sitting upright and letting her chin crest the edge of the ditch she’d been thrown into. Hissing when she tried to put weight on her hoof, she looked over her shoulder to see how many pinions she was missing two on one side, one on the other. She wasn’t grounded, at least there was that. Giving a few test flaps she managed a trembling hover until she was out of the hole. Her head hanging tiredly down, she gave herself a little shake to reinvignorate herself. “Everyone okay…?” she managed after a moment. Landing with her bad hoof held up, she found Applejack digging herself out of a sticker berry bush, swearing quietly and gritting her teeth. She was bleeding from her flank, right along her cutie mark. Those Timberwolves had really torn into her, she might need stitches. Not that Rainbow was any medical expert. It was only then that the silence struck her, and she looked over at Twilight, Fluttershy and Time Turner.

Time Turner stood there, looking rather humiliated and frightened. One of his legs was a bronze-and-gold puzzle of turning gears, spiraling springs and quietly hissing clockwork. The powerful light of the sun shone on it all, and he glowed like a pony spirit from beyond the clouds. Eventually even Applejack righted herself and joined the staring. “I-I can explain!” the stallion blurted, his face hot with embarrassment.

It was Applejack that broke the long and icy silence, face-planting into a faint. Fluttershy rushed to her. The blood wasn’t slowing. “We have to get her to a hospital!” she said quickly, popping open her ranger’s pack and splattering a hypo-allergenic gel onto her wound. Her body would hopefully absorb it and clot as quickly as it could with that.

Twilight finally tore her eyes away from Time Turner, nodding and trying to breathe properly. “E-everypony gather up!” Twilight commanded, drawing everyone in close. Hunching and scrunching up her face into a fierce expression of concentration. Time Turner was about to stop her since she wasn’t supposed to cast under stress, but he couldn’t bring the words to his mouth before CRACK! They were gone with a sonic boom of parted air.

=-=-=-=

Nurse Redheart was startled indeed when a group of five ponies suddenly apparated into exhistence in the middle of her waiting room. Her eyes swept over them. Dozens of lacerations, bruising, and one of them was unconscious and bleeding all over the floor. She grabbed the little hospital mike in front of herself, slamming a hoof on the red button next to it. “EMT’s! Muster to waiting room two. EMT’s! Muster to waiting room two.” She leapt out of the little window and into the waiting room, her mane and saddlebags bannering behind her. “Make room, make room!” she said, sweeping down on Applejack as a quartet of medical ponies suddenly burst into the room behind her.

Twilight was swept up in the shouting ponies as they made off with Applejack, took Rainbow Dash to a side room for aid with her wings (Fluttershy went with her), and Time Turner was left where he stood. She gave a little yelp when something cold and stinging touched her side. She jittered away, and the nurse pony apologized. “C’mon, let’s get you to a comfy examination table. You’ve got a few cuts on you,” he said quickly. He herded her to a private room, but Twilight was too busy looking over her shoulder at Time Turner. His ears were down. Just as she was swept into the side room to be treated, she saw him eyeing the door.

Some hours later, when everypony was checked out and placed on bedrest, the four ponies that remained looked at each other from across the room. The unspoken question hung in the air between them. Fluttershy, who had not gotten more than a couple of cuts and bruises, was flittering back and forth between her three injured friends. She fluffed a pillow here, helped with a juice box there, and eventually the nurses had given up on doing much more than making sure everypony knew where the ‘call for help’ buttons were.

Applejack was a little woozy, but otherwise okay. The black stitches made a beetle-like line across her flank and almost to her rump. Thankfully, her earthpony strength would keep it from scarring so at least there was that. “Ah don’t reckon I was hallucinating when I saw that?” she asked Fluttershy. Everypony knew what she was talking about.

Fluttershy avoided her eyes with a little, “Mm…”

“Jeez Twilight, I didn’t know you were dating a robot,” Rainbow Dash said, lying on her belly so she could preen properly. “Owch!” she pulled a broken feather, putting it in the pile next to her. “Guess it goes to show ya, if somepony like Twilight needs it enough--!” Clank! A bedpan launched itself off the floor and hit Rainbow across the muzzle so hard her eyes derped for a moment.

“He’s not a robot! And I’m tired of your sex jokes!” Twilight shouted angrily from her bed, the glow of her horn shining bright. There was a startled silence as the purple mare sat there, panting angrily out her nostrils. Then, there was silence as the bedpan slowly set itself down again. She hung her head a little. “I-I’m sorry, Rainbow.” She said in a small voice. Rainbow smirked a little, rubbing the side of her face. At least Twilight hadn’t aimed for her precious wings.

“S’okay, I’ve been laying it on a little thick,” the cyan Pegasus shrugged.

“He’s flesh and blood,” Twilight looked down at herself, scrubbing at the bandages on her breast. “W-well, most of him anyway,” she shot Rainbow a glare before she could think of a ‘that’s what she said’ joke or something. “That leg and ribs must be some kind of...” she fished for a word, making a circular motion with her hoof. “Prosthetic.”

“You mean he ain’t a real pony?” Applejack asked.

“No, it means he was injured to the point of losing his leg, shoulder, and at least three ribs.” Twilight whispered, gesturing to the lowest part of her ribcage. “I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like, losing part of yourself…”

“Where is Time Turner, anyway?” Rainbow wanted to know. “Wasn’t he hurt like the rest of us?”

“That Timberwolf damaged his prosthetic leg, there might not be anyone in Ponyville that can fix it. He might’ve gone someplace else,” Twilight theorized. There was some nodding. “He might have to go see a specialist someplace.” She frowned, scratching her chin.

“He didn’t stop in to even say hello and see how we were doing, though,” Rainbow pointed out grumpily.

“Mm,” said Fluttershy, nodding her agreement. “He might be sensitive about it, you know?” she was holding Rainbow’s other wing open as she spoke, inspecting the primaries. “His leg always looked real to me…”

“It felt real too,” Twilight murmured. “It was cold and clammy, but I thought it was real,” she trailed off for a moment. “I bet it was a glamour spell.” She looked up at her friends’ blank expressions. “It’s a spell that’s meant to fool the senses. It would make a mechanical leg look and feel normal.”

“I bet he didn’t like ponies staring at his leg like that,” Fluttershy murmured, pulling a feather so quickly that Rainbow Dash squawked a little. “Sorry,” she said, smiling a little. “It had to come out.”

“E-either way,” Twilight said, “I should probably go check on him as soon as I can,” she bit her lip a little, trying to think of how she might handle this delicately.

=-=-=-=

Time Turner had taken the long, discreet route home as soon as the sun had dipped low enough. Thankfully nopony had seen him ducking through alleyways and skulking through shadows. Using a small blanket that he’d packed for the trip (in case of spontaneous picnic lunch), he had a sort of half-cape wrapped around his clockwork leg. It whined and hissed in protest, needing repair and lubrication. Almost all his oil had leaked out by then. It would seize up soon. 

He breathed a sigh of relief when he reached Keys and Clocks, slipping inside and drawing all the curtains. Limping slowly across the room, he tossed his saddlebag and other things off as he went. Finally getting to his private rooms in the back of the store, he shut the door gratefully behind him. His head and ears dipped low. Well, that had just happened. Limping to his corner closet, he fished around until he found his crutch. It was covered with dust, since he usually took such good care of his special leg. Leaning with some tools, he sat down and started to  work on his shoulder. Eight screws, eight washers, and some protective casing later, he carefully removed his clockwork limb and put it on his desk. Putting a cap on his shoulder so nothing would come loose or anything, he slipped the straps of his crutch on so he could get around more easily. Turning on a white-light lamp, he leaned over his prosthetic. 

Yeah, the Timberwolf that had speared itself on his leg had driven its fangs right along the main lubricant line. That wouldn’t be too hard to replace, at least. It was just a little plastic hose. The mana battery slot seemed intact, it would just need a new battery. Thankfully he still had a few. Using tweezers so he didn’t get punctured battery acid on himself, he slowly removed the tiny glowing cylinder from its slot. Placing it in a waiting dish, he got a fresh one out of his desk. Snapping it like a glow stick, he waited until the stored magic kicked in. Whew, that could’ve been way worse. The leg flinched in response when the new battery was put in. All he would have to do was put it back on, and the glamour spell would function as normal. He’d need to make a trip for the hose, though. Dangit.  Working slowly and carefully, the stallion did what repairs he knew how to do. A bent screw here, a plastered crack there. It wasn’t everyday a wild animal that weighed as much as he did tried to take a bite out of him. At least this leg couldn’t feel pain, hahaha! …ha…. ha… mmm… 

He wilted with a sigh when his thoughts finally drifted back to Twilight Sparkle. It was fun while it lasted, he supposed. She was smart, and fun, and beautiful. He’d had other marefriends, but his clockwork leg had a way of ruining things. Sure, each of them in turn had said that it wouldn’t matter to them. But, the awkward looks, the sudden lack of any intimacy, it was easy to read in all of them. They’d drifted away. His hoof paused when there was a loud knocking at his front door. He decided to ignore it. The evening had brought rain, and he was in no position to fix anyone’s clock or work the key machine with one hoof. There was more knocking, and he hunched over his work. A low murmur of somepony talking outside touched his ears, but he gave it no heed. Thunder grumbled on the horizon, and a flash of lightning brought a quick flicker of daytime. Time Turner jumped when there was a tap-tapping on the window next to him.

Twilight Sparkle was there, smiling gingerly. Her umbrella hung in the air above her, the handle outlined in her purple aura. She gave a floppy-hoof’d wave, cocking her head at him. Her eyes flicked down at his crutch, but then went back up to his face. He hesitated for a long time. “Are you gonna leave me out here?” she asked loudly so he could hear her through the glass. Automatically, the stallion turned and limp-walked to the front door to let her in. “Whew!” she said, shaking her umbrella and setting it aside. “Thanks!”

“Listen, Twilight, I’m sorry I didn’t--!” Time Turner was interrupted by her kiss of greeting, which was firm and full of energy. He gave a slight shudder. “I-I’ll get you a towel,” he said dumbly, letting her back into his private rooms beyond the shop. She stopped to wipe her hooves, how cute. He never did that himself, since his home was all hardwood. It was still nice of her, though. When he returned from the bathroom with said towel, she scrubbed some of the rain off of herself. “I’m sorry I…”

“What do you have to be sorry for?” Twilight said carefully, looking into his face. Time Turner hung his head. He waggled his crutch at her a little. “You’re sorry you’re missing a leg?” she said, smiling sideways. “Did you saw it off yourself?”

“No! I was run over!” he blurted, shocked at her.

“Then it’s not your fault,” Twilight said, cupping his cheek a little. He looked into her face, into her carefree smile. His cheeks twinged with heat. “And you don’t apologize for something that’s not your fault, right?”

“Er, right…” he said slowly. “But I hid it from you, aren’t you angry?”

“Why should I be? Your private medical needs are none of my business if you don’t want them to be.” She sat with him on the sofa, glancing past him at the clockwork leg on the desk. She was being so… so clinical about it! He found himself scowling at her. How dare she talk about it like it was no big deal!

“It’s a big deal, I didn’t want anypony to know. I don’t want their pity or… or their staring,” he said a little grouchily. “I’m still a pony! Just different…”

“I have OCD that I take medications for,” Twilight told him softly, cocking her head in mild embarrassment. “Nopony’s perfect. And if they say they are they’re lying.”

“Not everypony has a fake leg, though,” he turned, nodding to it. Twilight’s magic gingerly lifted it across the room to them. It set itself gently on the coffee table across from them. It shifted a little, the hinges whining from lack of oil.

“You… wanna tell me about it?” Twilight offered, sidling up close to him. “I can listen, I promise,” she smiled a little coyly. He pawed at the cap on his shoulder, considering and frowning at the floor for a long time. His ears were down and his scowly face was a sensitive one. “Hey,” she cupped his cheek to get him to look at her, “Remember what Princess Celestia taught us? That we shouldn’t let miscommunication or embarrassment get in the way of being happy?”

“Yeah,” he said softly. Slowly, his gentle smile worked its way across his handsome, coltish features. “Sh-she’s right. You’re right,” 

So then, over hot cocoa and snuggled up in a series of blankets, the two of them talked deep into the night. Twilight learned of Time Turner’s accident-- his true age, his physical age, and how his parents had left everything to him after they’d died of old age. Keys and Clocks was their legacy, started up in a small town where money would be easier to save—in a house that their son would eventually call home. They were peacefully resting in Ponyville Cemetary. Twilight was fascinated with how different things must’ve been for him. Spanning over eighty years in chrono-sleep, technology had taken a big leap forward. 

After some questioning, Twilight learned that Time Turner was actually wearing a rather advanced version of a clockwork limb that had been pioneered by Princess Luna centuries ago. The only problems had been resources and training skilled workers. Her fall as Nightmare Moon had stalled research for ages. Originally, clockwork limbs had been made to aid retired soldiers that had lost bits of themselves in battle. Only after a bit of political wrangling on Celestia’s part had they been firmly opened to the general populace. Once ponies mastered the art of crafting things with metal, it had been easy to get things going again. Rediscovering and patenting things had taken ages, but luckily Time Turner was a teenager only a few decades after everything had been set in stone. They were still rare and expensive, though. “So yeah, I’m in a few medical records as the youngest pony ever to have one of these,” he set his empty mug down, leaning into Twilight again. The purple mare wrapped an arm about his shoulders, and soon only their heads were sticking out of the blankets.

There was a long silence between them. The clock read close to midnight, and the lanterns had long since gone out. The rain was still pouring heavily outside. Twilight looked over at him, “I… love you,” she whispered softly, leaning and nuzzling the underside of his jawline. The stallion blushed, smiling softly. They leaned into one another. The nest of blankets shifted and both ponies slipped into shadow and soft layers of fabric. She kissed him a few times, hooking her arms around his shoulders to pull him as close as she could. Brown with dark brown made him hard to see in the dark, so it was all touch after that.

“I love you,” Time Turner whispered as her hoof whisked back through his wild mane. His muzzle found the nape of her neck and she gave a pleased purr. The velvet of his nose and the quick nip of his teeth made her giggle softly. 

“C’mere…” Twilight whispered in his ear so softly that it tickled the hairs. There on the couch, she gave him every reason to know she would not abandon him. It felt right.

“Oh Twilight…”



End of Part 9
> Metal Wing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 10: Metal Wing

The next morning greeted Twilight with an unfamiliar, feminine ache. The scent of salt and sweat was heavy in the room. She lifted her head a little, which made Time Turner stir. He was flat on his back with she atop him, and the twisted maze of blankets and pillows had made the sofa into a pony trap. They struggled a little before Twilight moaned to her hooves. She stretched, rolling her neck to let it pop and loosen.

                Time Turner turned onto his side, looking a little doe-eyed since last night. “Erhm… erhm… good morning,” he whispered. Birds chirped outside as Twilight stepped into the golden morning sun streaming in from the window. She smiled coyly at him, coming over to help him get untangled too. “L-last night was… was…”

                “Fun?” she offered, pecking his cheek and heading towards the restroom. By the time she’d emerged, he’d cleaned up the sofa (save for a few… ahem… “stains”) and folded up all the blankets for washing in his tiny utility room. Her slightly matted mane said she’d tried his brush but mostly failed, and Twilight offered him a shy smile as he went to take his turn. By the time he’d emerged, Twilight had fetched the free weekend newspaper and mail from his front porch and opened a window or two to let the place air out a bit. The crisp morning air was refreshing. They shared a quiet breakfast as two young lovers might, especially after sharing all of themselves the night before. It was Twilight that spoke first. “About the clock,” she said. “Suppose we took the sides off?”
 
               “Mm?” Time Turner said.

                “I mean, a large space contained in a tiny space, suppose you took the borders off?” Twilight mimed taking the wooden shell off of their strange artifact. “Can something that big stay small if there’s nothing covering it up?” Time Turner tilted his head. All this ‘bigger on the inside’ stuff still hadn’t really clicked with him. He was a pony of gears and edges and spacing, not of meta-magic and physics-bending. He chewed his toast carefully, not sure he had anything to add. “Think of it like… a water ballon!” Twilight latched onto a metaphor. “The balloon holds the water tightly inside until you pop it, right? All the water spills out.”

                “You want to spill the clock’s parts out all over the place?” Time Turner frowned. “That doesn’t seem safe.”

                “Maybe that’s the wrong metaphor…” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof. “I think if we took the shell off all the parts would come out… and maybe revert to their actual size. However much stuff is in there, we could examine the whole if we could just see it all.”

                “Suppose its a hundred feet tall and weighs as much as a building?” Time Turner countered with a frown. He imagined a bronze-colored explosion of gears.

                “That would take one heck of a space compression spell…” Twilight was already running numbers in her head.

                “An alicorn made that clock, it’s not impossible,” he said slowly.

Twilight gave a glum nod. It was true. If Princess Luna wanted to make such a mechanical wonder and make it so small, she probably could. And if that massive bronze flower was only the start… who knew how much was beeping, whirling, ticking and tocking in there. “We’d need a safe place to do this, then. Do you have a backyard?” she leaned to see out the window.

“My house borders the Everfree Forest so… sort of,” Time Turner gestured for her to look. Twilight went to the window. There was a small stream, a bowed bridge and an overgrown path.

“We could go, say, a hundred steps in. Clear a space, you know?” she offered.

Time Turner nodded, thoughtfully, then looked down at his stack of mail again. “Oh,” he said, picking one of them up. “I can’t today.” He turned it over to show her. A green crescent moon with a round gear inside was on the seal.

“What’s that?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Y-y’know how I’ve been hiding all this?” Time Turner gestured to his leg-missing shoulder. “Well, I’m not the only one to have ever ended up like this. Sometimes the ponies at my old clinic have me come in to speak to… little ones, about this,” he said carefully. “If I got a letter like this-!”

“A foal got hurt and has a clockwork limb like you?” Twilight offered.

“They pay my train ticket, food, lodging, and the rest. It’ll only be for a day or two, I promise,” he smiled gently.

“Oh no, take your time! We’re just dating!” Twilight quickly glanced at the couch, “Uh-buh-well, we’re a little more than dating now, but you know what I meant!” she splayed her ears in embarrassment. “I think that’s really noble of you, going all the way to… where is it?”

“Canterlot.”

“To Canterlot to help somepony adjust. Especially someone so young!” she leaned and kissed his forehead. “I should probably head out too. Have a safe trip!” she gathered her saddlebags and umbrella, smiling and waving to him.

Time Turner waved back, then set to work when she was gone. Making sure all his windows were locked and his shades drawn, he got his shoulder-crutch and attached it firmly. Packing a small saddlebag and a few other things, he finally opened the letter. “Oh Faust, look’it you…” he said with sad sympathy. They got younger and cuter and more innocent looking every single time. A tiny filly, a grade-schooler with braces and a radiant smile, beamed up at him from the photograph. “Quick Clip, huh?” he murmured through the letter. “Caught on a tree… whiplash… neck injury… wing torn off by sheer momentum after being caught in a forked branch… knocked out… not found for hours… dead flesh… inoperable to reattach even with magic…” All the stories were about the same in the end. A poor foal suffering a worse agony than any ever should, and then not found in time to reattach the limb with surgery or magic. Time Turner had received probably… forty or so of these letters since he’d moved to Ponyville. At first he was embarrassed and turned them down. What was he supposed to say? ‘Hi I’m sort of patient zero in the civilian version of the clockwork junk you’re wearing, welcome to a new life of mechanical maintenance and private shame?’ But over time no, no he couldn’t turn them away. He was embarrassed for himself, yes, but not for them? Foals deserved better. Someone older and more experienced to tell them their lives weren’t over, just… different.

He took the picture of Quick Clip, staring at her. Heaving a big sigh, he took the train ticket out of the letter along with the food vouchers and hotel reservation card.



=-=-=-=-=-=



                Quick Clip, tiny pink filly Pegasus that she was, sat sniffling on her hospital mat. It was a playroom, but a hospital playroom none the less. It smelled sterile and artificial and the toys were cheap off-brand.

The ugly black stitching gave way to a cold metal prosthetic that felt heavy and alien to her. The muscles in her back ached from the trauma, even weeks after she’d had the surgeries. She’d already screamed and cried herself out. Now she was just quiet. Quiet and sad.

Her mother and father sat in the room as well, not sure what to do. They loved their baby so much, but… they knew nothing of clockwork limbs, or how to care for them or how to make their little one feel better. It shouldn’t have happened at all! She was so innocent and she had the very thing that made her a Pegasus ripped away so suddenly. All three of them had classes to attend soon, along with instruction books to read and many other things to learn. A tiny foal couldn’t take care of a prosthetic limb by herself, after all. She was supposed to be worried about little colts and playing with dolls and skipping around playgrounds!

A knock on the door took everypony from their thoughts. A stranger leaned in, offering a soft smile, “Hey,” Time Turner said awkwardly, stepping into the room. “I’m Time Turner, the hospital sent me to speak with you? You must be Mister and Missus Clip?” he offered a hoof to shake the stallion’s, nodding politely to the mare. He murmured in quiet conversation with them, but his eyes were already slipping over to the little foal. “May I?” he asked. Both parents nodded slowly.

He walked slowly as not to startle the poor traumatized thing. Quick Clip looked at him as though she’d not heard him come in. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Time Turner. I heard you had an accident.” He gestured to her tiny metal wing. It fluttered a little, mimicking the other wing on her back. Her tiny body had accepted the clockwork nicely, but the skin and flesh hadn’t healed all the way yet. It must’ve still ached for her. She played with her hooves a little, not looking at him. “It looks like they did a good job saving you, though,” he offered a smile she didn’t see. He slowly sat next to her. “I never had a pair of wings, so I dunno what its like to lose one, but… you’ll be flying again in no time. I promise.”

“How do you know?” The little filly asked softly, her huge innocent eyes looking up at him.

“W-well… when stuff like this happens,” he gestured to her new limb. “A lot of ponies think that it’s all over, that everything is terrible and its never gonna get any better…” she nodded slowly at him, tears already welling up. “But it doesn’t!” he quickly amended to her. “It doesn’t mean your life is over, just that it’s gonna be different now.”

“All the others at school are gonna make fun of me!” she whimpered, staring at the floor now. “They'll call me freak feather or tin pinion or… or something worse!” her Cloudsdale accent poked through and she began to cry. Her mother started forward and pulled her into her arms.

“There’s magic that can hide it if you don’t want to share, it’s okay,” Time Turner said gently. “They’re called glamour spells, and can make you look and feel normal. As long as you don’t forget what’s really there, you can wear them whenever you want.” He was sure the parents had already had this conversation, but perhaps Quick Clip needed to hear it from another pony to show her it was true. “You… wanna see mine?”

“Your what?” Quick Clip said from the crook of her mother’s arm.

“My metal,” he smiled, bobbing his head to let his saddlebags slide off. She gave a slow, wide-eyed nod. The stallion looked and moved normal, what part of him was… was…! Reaching, Time Turner gently pulled the mana battery from its slot in his leg. The gears in his leg began to slow to a halt. The magic fizzled, then slowly unraveled. His hoof, then his knee, up past his shoulder, across a portion of his ribcage. He stood in a beam of sunlight, the reflective bronze throwing spectacular patterns across the sterile walls and ceiling. The young family stared in awe. All that work had been done to one pony? He’d looked completely normal to them! Moved completely normal to them! The massive gear that was one of his shoulders hissed when he turned this way and that so Quick Clip could see. “I lost my leg when I was a little older than you. Some ribs too. And here I am now. Just as fast. Just as strong. Just as…” Twilight’s face flashed across his mind’s eye. “Just as happy.” He said with a nodding confidence.

Quick Clip left her mother’s arms to stand among Time Turner’s legs. They were like great brown pillars compared to her. She touched his clockwork leg. Grasped it. Tried to move it about a little. He lifted his hoof so she could play with the ankle joint. “It’s so cool…” she whispered to herself, sparkles in her eyes. Seeing a big pony like that had completely changed her perspective. “What happened to you?” she asked curiously.

“I fell out of a window,” he said, leaving out the gory details for one so young.

“And they gave you a cool new leg like this?”

“Yep,” he offered a winning smile.

“Why do you hide it?” Quick Clip whispered, looking him up and down.

“Well… sometimes,” he glanced at the parents for a moment, then remembered to keep his voice low. “Sometimes ponies will treat you different, because you’re different,” he told her. “Some might think you’re weak because of your clockwork. Or that you need special help. I hide mine because…” he trailed off for a moment. “Well… it can make my day easier if ponies don’t stare at me all the time.”

“Should I hide mine too?” her ears folded down forlornly.

“No, I don’t think so…” Time Turner said honestly. “I think if you have yours in the open from now forward, ponies will get used to it and not worry about you once they see you in action.”

“But not you?” the foal said stubbornly.

“I… erm…” Time Turner stumbled a little. Embarrassment was all it was, really. Clockwork was rare, expensive, hard to care for, and could bring a lot of unwanted rubber-necking and pity-attention. Nopony wanted that. He wasn’t about to tell a foal that, though. “I think yours is way cooler than mine.” He finally said, offering a lopsided smile. “Can I see?”

Turning, the filly extended her tiny wings. The clockwork mechanism rang like the sound of drawing swords. The sun sent dazzling designs all over the walls. The thin membranes of plastic and metal that had replaced her feathers were gorgeous. Light-weight. Mathematical. Perfect to make sure Quick Clip could still fly. “Neat!” she whispered. “I never stood in the sun before with my new thingy open like this!” she looked around. “A-am I doing that?”

“Mhm!” Time Turner bobbed his head. “Your mom and dad will show you how to take care of it, and when you get bigger you’ll get a bigger one to match your other wing. Just like I got bigger ones as I was growing up.” The bright, sunlit reflections seemed to draw the little filly out of her shell, and they sat to talk for a very long time. Afternoon had passed into evening by the time it was time to say goodbye. The parents were haggard and the filly still hurting, but they were better than before Time Turner had come to talk to them.

=-=-=-=-=-=

Time Turner was exhausted by the time he got home, throwing down his saddlebags and other things aside for the moment. Quick Clip’s words kept coming back to him, though. Many of the foals he’d seen before had cried, begged him to make them better, or had to be dragged away so they didn’t hurt themselves and their new clockwork limbs. Each felt like a little piece of Time Turner’s heart being pulled away. But not her. “Should I hide mine too?” he said aloud, pensive.

He pawed through the little sack of bits he’d been given for his time and trouble, leaving it on his coffee table. He could actually afford groceries this week, that was a plus. Taking off his leg and putting the cap on his shoulder he fell into bed, exhausted. The clock read close to midnight. Twilight Sparkle’s face danced in his head. Was it embarrassment? The want for privacy? The desire not to be pitied or shoved to the front of the line at the store because he was ‘special’ or ‘handicapped’? He’d… he’d forgotten. Even when his leg had been damaged in the timberwolf attack, he’d ducked between alleyways, tramped through gardens and the like… anything to keep ponies from staring at the stallion that bled oil. “I’m so tired…” he whispered, stretching out. Should I hide mine too, the little filly asked. Should I hide mine, too?

The next day, with a nice sack of bits in hoof, Time Turner stepped out of his home with no glamour spell. He was gonna try this. He was gonna try this and maybe it would be okay. If a little foal could do it for the rest of her life, doing it for a day wouldn’t kill him, right? He slowly stepped out onto the sidewalk. The gears clicked a little, shining in the morning sun. He’d replaced the hose that had ripped and done everything he could to make it look clean and presentable. He took a few steps, looking down at the sidewalk. Not a lot of ponies were out yet in this part of town. He looked around. The birds still sang. The stream still bubbled. The world did not stop turning because Time Turner’s clockwork leg was out in the open. Swallowing a little, he started an easy pace towards the market and hoped for the best.

“Remember what Princess Celestia taught us? That we shouldn’t let miscommunication or embarrassment get in the way of being happy?”

Yeah. Yeah he did.



End of Part 10
> Jewelbox Dancer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion

Part 11: Jewelbox Dancer

Time Turner leaned about the corner, looking at the busy marketplace. Ponies milled about, to and fro, buying and selling, shouting and laughing. The farmer’s market was an everyday thing in the tiny earth pony town. He looked down at his clockwork leg. The veep-verp-veep-verp of his moving was soft compared to all the hub-bub, so it probably wouldn’t attract too much attention. Heaving a deep sigh, he emerged out into the open.

The brown stallion didn’t notice he was holding his breath until it wooshed out of him to make him breathe again. Glancing nervously at his shopping list, he made for this stand, then that stand, then that stand over there. He got strange looks, curious stares, but no words about his clockwork prosthetic. Until he got to the cherry stand with the less-than-nice Roxem Boxem. The gruff stallion with the cardboard box on his flank eyed Time Turner up and down. “Heck happened to you?” he asked rudely.

“N-none of your business,” Time Turner said, just as crossly. “Can I buy a dozen cherries? I need them for my healthier lunches.” he said, frowning and gesturing at the displays. (He knew if he had grocery money he had better spend it on healthy things)

“Well if you need ‘em that badly…” Boxem puffed some air between his horsey lips and the little three-sided sign in front of him rolled forward one face, changing from one bit to ten bits per cherry.

“Hey!” Time Turner said angrily.

“Supply and demand, kid,” the older stallion said with a smirk. Time Turner stared at him, then turned away. “Hey metal stallion, where ya goin’?!” he called loudly, laughing a bit. A few heads turned and Time Turner went hot in the face. He ducked his head like he might be struck. Too many eyes, too many eyes! He lifted a hoof, ready to bolt. He didn’t like being stared at.

“N-now you should be ashamed of yourself, Roxem Boxem,” a feminine voice said. A butter-colored Pegasus shifted out of the crowd, flipping his sign back to read ‘one bit’ again. “You’ll not have any customers at all if you keep doing that to ponies.” It was Fluttershy, one of Twilight’s friends.

“Ehh,” Roxem shrugged, shuffling his hooves a bit. “What’d’y’want?” he managed.

“Three cherries is three bits,” Fluttershy said, putting three golden coins onto the counter.

“I can decide for my own products, thank you!” Her wings flippity-flapped a little when he reached to turn his sign back again. “Hey!”

“Three bits, or none at all?” Fluttershy said, rumpling her muzzle a little and tilting her head back in a ‘hmmph!’ sort of way. Roxem Boxem grumbled like an angry dog, but took her money anyway. “Don’t let him push you around, okay?” she said gently, moving on in her shopping.

“Well?” Roxem said aggressively to Time Turner.

“Same deal,” Time Turner said, at last finding his confidence as the crowd had disappated a bit. “One bit each, or no bits at all?” he asked.

“Hey just because that mare-!”

“Twelve bits or no bits?” Time Turner said again.

“Stupid metal freakin’ fricka-fracka…” the angry stallion trailed off, pushing a small woven basket towards him. Victorious, Time Turner left him there and moved on.

Celery, oranges, hay salt, hay sugar, raisins, grapes, edible flowers, a chocolate bar, breakfast food, and much more went by without incident. But he needed a staple too. He stopped at the apple stand. Big Macintosh Apple and his sister Applejack ran the stand together that day, and he smiled at the familiar face. Veep-verp-veep-verp-veep-verp, went his clockwork limb as he cantered up to the counter. “Hello Applejack!” he said, enthused. “Can I get an eighteen case, mixed?” he pointed towards one of their package deals detailed on a hoof-painted sign.

“Eh-hey-thar, Time Turner!” Applejack said, her eyes snapping down to his metal limb. He knew the look. Curious, trying not to be rude, not disgusted but trying to be polite. “Big Mac, this is Twilight’s coltfriend, remember I told you about him?”

“Eyuup,” the scarlet stallion said stoically, already fishing under the counter for what his customer had asked for. His eyes flicked, but didn’t linger. Time Turner liked him. “Six bits,” his bass voice announced.

“For eighteen apples?! Wow, I must’ve come on sales day!” Time Turner said, hoofing over the bits and getting the little package into his saddlebags. It was a bit like an egg carton, just bigger since it held apples.

“Nice to see you back on your hooves and such,” Applejack offered, turning profile to show the bandages. “I’m still on light duty, m’self,” she smiled a little embarrassedly. Big Mac nodded, having been enforcing said light duty for days now. Time Turner remembered the huge sprays of blood in the fight with the Timberwolves.

“You were very brave out there,” The brown stallion said, “You should be proud.”

“I’m just hopin’ it don’t scar too much,” Applejack said. “What about you? Does eh… all that hurt? Or are you fixed, or…?” she didn’t seem to know how to ask. Time Turner studied her eyes. A lifetime of staring eyes had taught him who was being mean, ironic, or pitying him. Her expression was none of those.

“All fixed!” Time Turner chuckled good-naturedly.

“Oh good, well, tell Twilight we said hi if you see her!” Applejack waved him away as he went off to do more of his shopping.

“…funny leg,” Big Mac decided with a neutral frown.

“You be nice, he’s not had it in plain view in a while,” Applejack whispered fiercely.

“Meh,” the red stallion shrugged, deciding he no longer really cared. Time Turner had decided indifference was better than pity years ago, so he didn’t worry too much.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                “Alright, here we go,” Twilight gingerly set the clock of five mysteries down on the picnic blanket. She and Time Turner stood out in the Everfree Woods, perhaps a hundred yards from Time Turner’s house. They’d spread out blankets, set up a little chest-high wall with fallen logs, and had brought various tools with them.

                Time Turner, chalk-grinder in hoof, was making a clumsy white circle on the ground as Twilight had instructed. When he was done, they both stepped back. The purple mare checked the canopy. There was none directly above the clock—good! They were trying to be as safe as they could. “Okay, I think we’re ready.” He took his place behind the barrier, getting his little soft blanket of clock tools out. “Remember the screw I showed you. Just that one, okay?” he told her. She nodded. Technically there was no such thing as a ‘load-bearing screw’, but several things were pulling and pushing on that screw and he was willing to bet something big would happen if they took it out.

                “Here we go!” Repeated Twilight, taking one of the tiny tools in her teeth. Lighting her horn so she could see better, she approached the artifact. The back panel (Dear Starswirl, Happy Birthday! Love, Luna) levitated off and she gently set it aside. The shiny inner workings still weren’t moving, and the massive bronze flower still remained. Eyeing its needle-like center, Twilight leaned under the petals at the base, fitting the tiny tool into the screw’s head. Holding her breath she turned, turned, turrrrned… it squeaked in protest a few times before it SPRANG from its resting place and right into Twilight’s eye. “OWCH!” she reared up in pain as the bronze flower jettisoned itself like a rocket out of the clock’s innards. It sagged, groaned, and then fell into a million shiny pieces.

“You okay?!” Time Turner shouted from a distance.

Twilight rubbed her eye a few times, then her ears perked. It was ticking. Ticking faster. Ticking louder. She could hear metal sliding, moving, fitting, grinding gear teeth catching, then locking, then unlocking and spinning wildly. Swallowing and turning her ears back nervously, she began to slowly back away. Was it going to explode like a bomb?

A METALLIC HOOF THRUST FROM THE CLOCKS INNARDS, SKYWARD!

Twilight squealed it terror, whinnying. She nearly tripped over her own hoofs, bolting and flinging herself over the chest high wall. Time Turner grabbed her around the middle, pulling her to safety as the metal monstrosity forced an opening from the tiny space. The wooden outside of the clock shuddered, groaned with age, and then shattered into a thousand angry splinters. Sheets of metal unfolded, clamping to the ground like great flat dragon claws. The flat surface expanded out, out, out and over the blanket until it formed its own platform and anchored itself to the earth. A long, spindly limb emerged from the clockwork as magics tsked and hummed and frothed over the mechanism. A second hoof and leg, until a whole face and upper-half shrieked into being like a foal from a metallic womb. It sagged a moment, the tick-tick-tick of gears and working clockwork thrusting it into life. Sliding metal plates opened outward, clearing the space for it to emerge until it balanced on just one back leg. Formed a pose. Stuck a leg out, like a…

“Jewelbox dancer?” Time Turner whispered.

The life-size metal pony finally froze in place, then slowly began to rotate. ‘Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy’ played from parts unknown inside the base. It rotated slowly, its feminine glass eyes glittering in the sunlight. Were they crystal? Glass? Gemstones? It was hard to tell.

Twilight and Time Turner slowly emerged from their hiding. Bronze and mirrored, iron and glass, metal and magic… it was a life-sized jewelbox dancer. They watched it slowly turn round and round, the music never stopping. Side by side they came close and Twilight saw a little panel had emerged. Touching a locking mechanism, she watched it jerk to a halt. She touched it again, and the music and turning resumed. Stopping it again, she looked at Time Turner, who had stuck his head under the sheet-metal tutu. “Hey!” Twilight said hotly.

“It’s hollow!” he said from in there, coming out again. “It must’ve been folded up perfectly, like the flower was.” He gestured at the pile of metal that lay to one side. “This,” he scuffed his hoof on the metal platform that had been made. “This is something else entirely, though.”

They spent the better part of three hours examining it after that. It was certainly too big to move now, and had anchored itself to the ground with its new size and weight. Time Turner visited town briefly to buy the biggest tarp he could find so they could cover it when they weren’t present. Twilight went over every inch of it with her horn lit while her examined the metals, the exposed gears and bits of machinery. The dancer herself seemed to be stuck in one position, if hollow, and didn’t weigh as much as one might imagine. The base and platform, however, were solid metal and would not move for anything, even Twilight’s levitation magic was having trouble gripping it.

“Oh this is brilliant, wow…” Time Turner said from under the dancer’s tutu.

“Is she anatomically correct?” Twilight prodded him, annoyed.

“What? No! Well, yes,” He stopped to look and sure enough, yes it was. “But look here!” he pulled her to come have a look. “See this rotating bit? And the slender boxes on each one?” He pointed to what looked like a record player, hosting a series of tall, thin metal boxes on its top. “These are wound coils, for the music box!” he fumbled, then turned on the music. The dancer slowly began to rotate. Twilight watched one of the boxes introduce itself to the bit that was playing music, a simple cylinder with prongs on it. When the wound coil began to be loose and unable to move the mechanism anymore, it lowered itself and the turn-table turned, putting a new coil in its place. That kept the music box going, and the old one was being rewound by a many-toothed gear. “It plays music, and right before it runs out it basically rewinds itself, and replaces the coil so the dancer and the cylinder don’t stop!” he marveled.

“This is amazing! It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a perpetual motion machine!” Twilight said, running her hoof along the slender skirts of the dancer. “It’s beautiful,” she was scribbling notes and making little drawings as she went.

=-=-=-=-=-=

Princess Luna sat at her desk, late in the night. She was looking over the ancient texts of the clock of five mysteries. The first phase, the bronze flower, was for blooming love. She’d designed it to woo dear Starswirl and draw his interest to see what else the clock itself might hold.

The second phase was the jewelbox dancer. The beauty of young, fresh love. When you didn’t quite know everything about your beloved. The excitement. The slow dance of two kindred souls, the music of words and feelings and finding out more. The perfect bit before anypony’s flaws were revealed. Before you met the parents. Before anything too serious happened. The raw beauty of a strong, loving relationship.

The dark alicorn studied the drawings she herself had made hundreds of years ago. The mechanism for the perpetual music box wasn’t perfect, but very nearly so. It would play music for hours upon hours before giving up and having to be wound manually with a key. Just a few turns, and it would wind itself. Rather brilliant if she did say so herself. She’d gotten the idea from gazing at stained glass windows and admiring their mathematical brilliance.

She remembered Starswirl for a time. The thrill of midnight trysts, the loud giggling in shadows. Playing with his stubbly face. The poor thing tried his whole life to keep a clean face before finally giving up and growing a beard. His facial hair just grew quickly, was all. Her face colored as she remembered the nuzzles, the shy kisses, the--!

The clock struck two, pulling the princess out of her red-faced revere. The pain of eventuality welled up inside her. She crushed the scrolls between her hooves, throwing them angrily aside. Her heart hurt. Even after all this time, it hurt. She’d dared love so deeply, so completely, and he’d-! He’d-! She steepled her hooves, her alicorn mane whisping down over her face as she rested her head in her hooves. A quiet sniffle escaped her.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Twilight and Time Turner covered the clock of five mysteries with the tarp, then laid branches and leaves over it so it looked like an overgrown boulder. Hopefully no animals or curious ponies would come peeking. Twilight carefully put all of her parchments into scroll cylinders. She’d have to copy and re-copy everything later. Her field notes were always so messy, haha! She walked Time Turner home, then headed for Golden Oaks library herself. So much science and gears and learning! She cantered along, a big smile plastered on her face.

Silence fell over the forest clearing for a long time, until, under the tarp, a tiny voice could be heard. It sounded so far away, like a pony lost in a cave someplace, desperately crying for help.

“Hullo…? Is somepony there…? Luna…?”



End of Part 11
> Clock and Candelight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Clockwork Stallion
Part 12: Clock and Candlelight

Time Turner emerged out his store room, bringing a dolly with a grandfather clock on it. The massive thing was heavy, oaken, and delicate. Boasting about eighty years of ticking and tocking, it was the delight of the Lemon-Lime family of Ponyville. The five ponies waiting for Time Turner in his shop’s front area stompity-stomped their hooves happily. Why, it looked brand new! All the dust and grime was gone! The cobwebs lifted! They leaned as a group as the brown stallion gave it a little wind and let the pendulum move. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Hooray! They paid him handsomely (a rather smile-inducing eight hundred bits!) for such a massive project, and he smiled as they group-lifted it from the dolly to their family cart outside. The family stallion and two foals leaned into the shop to thank him again, and they were off.

It was Rainbow Dash who came in next, of all ponies. There was a silence. They stared at each other as Time Turner came up from his strong box behind the counter. “Er,” the mare said awkwardly. Her muzzle was a little scrunched and her eyes darted back and forth like she wasn’t supposed to be there.

“Welcome to Keys and Clocks, with all your time needs and keys for locks,” Time Turner recited a little slower than normal. He went to the glass counter where his cotton blanket and tiny tool set lay. “Can I help you?”

“I… I came to say sorry,” Dash finally pushed it out like it physically hurt. “I kept poking fun at Twilight for dating you and… sorry,” she said, not really coming in much further than the doorway.

“Erm, sure…” the stallion said carefully. He remembered Twilight’s complaining about Rainbow’s colorful jokes and innuendos, and how much it upset her. But something had happened, apparently, if she was here now.

The blue Pegasus finally broke eye contact and darted around the shop room floor like a hummingbird. Her wings flippity-flapped to let her hover over the display cases, back and forth, peering in on the ankle watches… then the pocket-watches… then the clip-clocks that went onto saddlebags. She paused at a fancy coocoo clock as a little wooden stallion came out, chopped mechanically at a stump with an axe, then retreated back the way he came. Then Rainbow flitted back to the pocket watches and started pawing at the chains. Then she looked over at him, catching him staring “What?! I’m browsing!” He flinched liked she’d slapped him, coughing twice and going back to his usual duties. Rainbow harrumphed a little, leaning to unclip a battered-looking clip-on clock from her saddlebags. It was tiny, plastic, had a cracked face and had a cloud-with-lightning sticker on the back. She compared it to all the models in the display cases, on the foals cartoon-character rack, even at the ‘find your name’ kiosk that had cute little ankle watches with pony names on the bands. None seemed to suit her. Huffing in frustration, she darted to and fro.

“Y’know,” Time Turner said slowly, gently. “You don’t have to buy something to go with your apology, you can leave if you want.” He offered an olive-branch smile. He saw her very slight flinch at his words.

Rainbow frowned over a glass display case. “Er, it’s not that,” she said, sounding unsure. “This is just… fancier than I’m used to.” She showed him the plastic clock she’d kept. “I’ve had this for almost eight years, it finally gave out. It was just a cheap toy from a convenience store.” She brought it to the counter to show him. Time Turner turned it over a few times. A school-age filly might’ve had something like this hanging off of her backpack, this was no proper time piece for a grown mare. But, he didn’t say such things aloud. “I’m a weather mare y’see, so I hafta know what time it is all the time. If a storm is four hours late, every farmer in a hundred mile radius will know my name within the week. The Ponyville clock tower is usually enough, but when I’m handlin’ storm clouds…” she trailed off a little, shrugging. “I need something that won’t rust or get slow if it’s wet or foggy or something. Got anything that won’t rust on me in the worst weather?”

“Hmm,” Time Turner said, touching a clinical hoof to his chin. “Well, that rules out iron and copper, then. Gold would be too pricy for an on-the-job clock. You need something tough, like you!” he slipped a compliment in to help her relax. Her wings finally let her settle to the ground and folded at her sides. She frowned into the display case between them but looked lost. He could see her frustration building. “Maybe bronze?” he said, ideas lighting his face at last. He pulled a few pieces and set them on his soft workspace blanket for her to see. “Bronze doesn’t rust, it only tarnishes over a great period of time. This one here has a thicker, scratch-resistant glass face. And this one here has an enchanted chain so if you drop it, it’ll leap back to your saddlebags.” He showed her a number of options.

“Too shiny. Too big. Too girly. Too… not cool enough. I hate it.” She shot down piece after piece that he showed her. Soon there was an array of watches in front of her on the counter, and she didn’t like a single one of them. Time Turner frowned, frustrated. He could usually tell what sort of time piece a pony would gravitate too, but she was so fussy about it! “Hey what about that one?” she pointed to a pocket-watch that hung suspended on a little chain.

He followed her gaze to an upright glass display case that sat in the corner. It wasn’t even lit properly. “That is galvanized bronze. Very water-proof, very sturdy!” Time Turner said, surprised at her pick. “Not many ponies buy pieces like this, since they’re not very pretty to look at.” He got the proper key to unlock the case and fetch it for her.

“Well it doesn’t hafta be pretty, just reliable,” Rainbow saw the reflection of her face in the display case, then quickly shook her head. There was a momentary uneasiness to her expression. “It’s got a… texture to it? It’s not smooth like the others.” She pointed as he got it out for her. The surface of the closed pocket-watch looked, well, hatched. Almost like cheap linen.

“Oh yes, it’s so it doesn’t slide around in your bag or pockets. It stays where you put it,” Time Turner set it before her and let her play with it a bit.

Rainbow Dash flipped the face-protector open to stare at the simple, bold-black numbers. She turned it over and over again, closed it, re-opened it, and played with the chain a little. “How much?” she asked, eyes flicking up at him.

“Well, that piece was originally priced at about two hundred bits,” Time Turner said with an embarrassed laugh. Rainbow gaped at him, and he lifted a hoof before she turned him down. “But like I said, this model was never very popular, and I’ve had the poor little guy for about five years now. I’d rather he had a nice home than sit here collecting dust forever. What would you say to just forty bits?”

“You got a deal!” Rainbow said, enthused again. She fished out her coin-purse to give him the money, then watched him get a box and wrapping. “Oh no, I’ll wear it out, it’s fine!” She stuck it under her wing, in her saddlebag. There was a little pouch where the top of it stuck out.

“Just remember to wind it a few times before bed each day, and it should last you a long time.” Time Turner nodded, smiling. He gave her a receipt, and the cyan mare thanked him. After she was away, the brown stallion gave a loud woosh of air, relieved. He wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to her, really. Then he spotted the plastic clip-on clock she’d come in with. He picked it up and turned it over a few times. Rattling it, he frowned and held it to his ear. It was still working just fine! Huh. “I really hope she wasn’t trying to apologize with her money…” Time Turner worried, not having the heart to throw it away. “I’ll give you to Twilight, she’ll make sure you get back to Rainbow Dash, yeah?” he told it. Reaching, he rubbed the battered thing with a soft cloth and left it by his strongbox so he would remember.


Some Hours Later…


Rainbow Dash waited by her mailbox, checking her new watch. After a time of watching the sun sink towards Mount Canterlot, she was just about to give up when she heard laboring wings. A certain wall-eyed mare was zipping back and forth across the sky towards Rainbow’s cloud house. Her clumsy barrel rolls and tittering laughter said she’d had a good day delivering mail. “Oh, Hey Rainbow Dash!” she said, landing rather nicely in front of the mailbox. “Got stuff for you today!” She fished in for the rather impressive stack of letters. Rainbow had a large scattered family, so she received letters en masse sometimes for all of her aunts and cousins and such.

“Thanks, Ditsy Doo,” Rainbow said, coughing and looking to one side. “I uh, notice sometimes your delivery times are a little different than normal. I thought you might like something to help you.” The cyan mare lifted a wing and presented the clumsily wrapped gift.

“For me?” Ditsy said, cocking her head a little to see it properly. “I don’t see a shipping address!” she teased. Rainbow scrunched her muzzle angrily, ears turning back. Ditsy quickly apologized. “Well thank you!” Leaning, she made to put Rainbow’s mail in her waiting hooves, then juked to one side and put it in her mailbox instead. When the blue mare reached for it, she closed the mailbox too. Rainbow growled like a small dog at her teasing, still blushing. Ditsy Doo then sat on her haunches to pull the package apart. The shiny bronze pocket watch tumbled out into her hoof, glinting in the setting sun. “Wh… oohhh…” she whispered, entranced. Rainbow relaxed. She seemed to like it.

“That’s grandma-tized bronze, y'know,” Rainbow said fancily. “And all you have to do is wind it before bed, and it’ll be good for a long time!”

“It’s butt ugly!” Ditsy declared, giggling. She held it out to dangle on its shiny chain, where it rotated back and forth. “It’s like painted linen!”

Rainbow went hot in the face, shouldering roughly up to the mail mare to flip it open to show her the clock face. The numbers were big so even her wall-eyes could read them properly. “I-it’s textured so you don’t drop it! It doesn’t have to be super pretty! It just has to be-!” Ditsy and Rainbow turned to look at each other, noses very nearly touching. There was a short silence. “R-reliable, y’know?” Rainbow Dash whispered, ears turning back.

“I like reliable,” Ditsy said slowly, looking into her eyes.

“I like reliable too. You are reliable,” Rainbow whispered without thinking, looking to one side. Ditsy blushed at the very slight, timid sort of muzzle-nuzzle she received.

“Ohh. Ohhhhh…” Ditsy said, muzzle scrunching in a very flattered sort of way as color found her grey cheeks.

*****

Twilight emerged into the forest clearing, crumpled note in hand. It was from Time Turner, asking her to meet him right after sunset at the Clock of Five Mysteries. What she found there made her pause in shock.

Candles. Candles everywhere. Time Turner sat on his haunches next to a picnic blanket, smiling rather bashfully. Candles perched on every rock, stump and solid surface to light the whole place. A wine bottle lay in an ice bucket, and twin crystalline glasses sat in on a picnic basket. “Hey,” he said softly. Twilight slowly walked forward, minding the scentless torches that kept the bugs away.

“Hi. What’s all this?” She whispered, looking around.

“Er... romantic candlelight dinner?” He offered, flipping open the picnic basket with his nose.

“Hehehe! Cute. That’s cute,” Twilight cantered forward, settling next to him. The soft glow of the candles made his clockwork leg shimmer and sparkle a little. Had he spilled glitter onto it, just for the occasion? That was adorable. Smiling as he set out the little plates, saucers, cups and the like, she hid a feminine giggle behind her hoof. Even the clockwork mare sticking out of the Clock of Five Mysteries had been dotted with candles, for he’d taken down the tarp and coverings. They shared a quiet, romantic evening of celery, carrots, a light pasta, cornbread and butter. The wine was dark and certainly romantic. They watched the stars begin to peek out one by one as the candles burned low and the wine disappeared. Liquid courage coloring her cheeks, Twilight laid with her head in his lap, looking up at him.

“Hello there,” Time Turner said, smiling coltishly down at her.

“Hi,” She offered coyly. “This was a good idea, I loved it.”

“You’re beautiful,” he offered softly, hiccupping once and stifling himself.

“You’re drunk,” she snicker-snorted as he leaned over her for an upside-down kiss.

“I’m okay, just a little wine-touched,” he snorted, closing his eyes and going in for the kiss.

“Hullo? I can hear somepony! Anypony out there?! Can you hear me?!” It was a soft, faraway voice that rang like a pony shouting through a metallic tunnel. “Luna?!”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Twilight jolted up, bashing Time Turner in the face with the crown of her head. He cried out, falling back onto his back as blood shot out of his nose. He rolled slowly, holding his face. “Oh Celestia, I’m sorry!” Twilight staggered a little, pressing her hoof to his nose to help it stop.

“My d’ose!” he honked in distress, red going down his front. “Twi-dight, whud d’eh heck?!”

“I thought I heard a voice coming from inside the clock!” she said, fretting that she’d ruined the date. “Oh Celestia your poor nose!” she grabbed a spare napkin, rushing it to his face. She helped him hold it there. “B-but listen! Listen listen!” She said. He moaned a little, squeezing his eyes shut to focus the pain away. There was no voice. They listened for a long time until some blood started to escape the napkin. She got him another one, huffing in distress and apologizing over and over. Lighting her horn she levitated everything back into the picnic basket and blew out the candles. “C’mon, I better get you home, ohh your poor nose I’m so sorry!” Thankfully it was less than a hundred yards to Time Turner’s house, and they got him inside to some cool water and a cloth. “Are you okay?” she mewled.

“My d’ose is b’eeding,” he said flatly, still a little red from the wine.

“I-I’ll make it up to you, I promise, I’m sorry!” Twilight said, soaking the cloth again and dabbing at it. Finally Time Turner got some paper towels, twisted them up and stuck them in his nose. He looked silly, but it seemed to help. Twilight made him a make-shift icepack and let him take it to hold onto his face.

“Some date,” he honked quietly. As they sat next to each other on the couch.

“Sorry,” she said again, drooping.

“You pick d’eh nex’ date,” he charged her. “Less dan’gerous, p’ease.” he said angrily, ears turned back.

Twilight left his home embarrassed, hot behind the ears and in the face. She went out to the Clock of Five Mysteries again, staring at it in the moonlight. “I heard something. Did you speak?” She whispered. Even the cool night air wouldn’t cure the heat of her mood. She walked a few slow circles around the jewelbox dancer mare. But, she didn’t hear anything. She didn’t dare turn the music on, in case Time Turner should hear and come outside still angry with her. “I know I heard something,” she half-whined. But the dancer did not speak. She came close, leaning and listening to the open space near her back hooves. Who knew how impossibly big the space was in there? She called down into it, loud as she dared, but no response. Finally giving up, she turned and headed towards home. Maybe it was time to write to Luna again? She might be cross with her, but this clock was her invention. There had to be something more to all this than she and Time Turner had revealed so far.  


End of Part 12