Prologue

View Online

A stallion with a deep maroon coat looked at the second-hand of his clock, slowly ticking towards an unwanted hour. He sighed. Nothing in life would ever surprise him.

His ears flicked as he heard his door creak open slowly. He turned his face towards the door to see who had entered his bedroom. It was none other than his beloved wife, Flara. She levitated a lit candle in her magical grasp that illuminated her face and brought out her deep orange eyes. Tears drenched her face.

"What's wrong, my love?" the stallion asked his wife. "Your clock is counting down to the best moment of your life. You're about to reach your personal goal in just three days."

"I care not about my own desires now," Flara sobbed. "Your clock is counting down to your death which is only 12 hours away. Please stay with me. I need to make sure nothing happens to you!"

The stallion sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hoof. Hearing Flara sounding so afraid normally would've concerned him, but he couldn't blame her now. He looked back towards his clock. It was true. His death was only in 12 hours and he didn't know what the cause of it would be. He knew that he wasn't sick. He had just recently had a check-up at his local hospital and the doctor had told him he was as healthy as ever. He wasn't old. In fact, he and his wife had only been married for four years and he wasn't even out of his mid-twenties. "I... I don't know if we can prevent this, sweetheart."

"O-Onyx," Flara choked on her desperate sobs. "Don't you say that to me. We can escape the fate that time has set out for you."

Onyx shook his head. "Nothing escapes the clutches of time, Flara. It will happen tomorrow, no matter where we may be."

Flara's magic began to flicker out and Onyx saw her quickly reignite her magic to catch the candle that almost fell to the floor. "Even if you're here with me? Even if I'm protecting you from your fate?"

Onyx nodded. "It's inevitable, Flara. You have to accept that it's going to happen whether we want it to or not."

Flara set the candle on her nightstand and silently climbed into bed, pulling the covers close to her chin. With the edge of the large quilt she was under, she lifted it to her eyes to wipe away the tears. Cautiously looking over to her husband's nightstand, Flara gritted her teeth in anger. "I wish this clock would just disappear! I don't want this little clock carved out of wood to control our whole lives!"

Onyx trotted over to his side of the bed and climbed under the covers beside his wife. "It doesn't control our lives as much as it tells us when we have to make a decision. Let me tell you when this all began..."

The night wind blew cold. The harsh cry of the winds filled Onyx's ears. He was a young colt, no more than six years old. Onyx watched as fat flakes of snow fell before his eyes. He was unsure of how cold it was, but he felt like he was going to freeze to death. He knew that he was lost as well as his hope.

Onyx jumped when he heard a foreign voice beside him. "You know, I've always loved nights like this."

Onyx turned to see who had spoken and saw a large, strong-looking stallion whose dark gray coat almost blended in with the night. His black mane wasn't visible against the dark night sky, but his yellow eyes seemed to give off a luminous glow. "What are you doing out here all alone, my boy?"

"I-I wandered off when I wasn't supposed to," Onyx stammered. "My Mom told me to stay close, but I saw a raven and I was curious about where it was flying off to."

"You mean this raven?" the stallion asked him.

Onyx's heart leapt in fear when he heard the call of a raven. All at once, he could barely make out the silhouette of a raven flying over to land on the stallion's back.

"He's mine," the stallion told him. "His name is Midnight."

Onyx only stared. He veered back nervously. "Is he a nice raven?" he wondered.

"He's obedient if that's what you mean," the stallion answered. "He does my bidding. He also brings me wood for my work."

"Wh-what is your work, sir?" Onyx stuttered.

"I make clocks," the stallion replied. "Would you like to see them?"

Not wanting to see what would happen if he rejected the ominous stallion, Onyx nodded.

Onyx watched as the peculiar stallion seemingly made a dark brown briefcase appear from midair. He stared in wonder as the perplexing pony opened the briefcase.

Onyx peeked inside. The items lying in the briefcase seemed to illuminate the space in front of them. Onyx saw a pile of wooden clocks, carved from hoof.

"I make each one of them special," the stallion claimed. "Different shapes. Different number systems. Different sounds. Take a look."

Onyx did as the stallion instructed and took a small clock carved into the shape of a star. It had the numbers 1-12 painted on it in jet black paint. After studying the expertly-crafted clock for awhile, he caught sight of words just by the numbers written in fine print. The word nearest to the top was 'Goal'. The word in the middle of the clock was 'Love'. The word on the bottom of the three words was 'Death'. On the other side of the clock, there were a few more words. The one on the top read 'Children'. The middle of this side had two words which were 'Biggest Emotion'. The word at the bottom was none other than 'Loss'.

As Onyx ran his hoof over the words, the hands of the clock seemed to change before his eyes. They went in different directions and halted at different times. "Mister, why did it change?"

The stallion's glowing yellow eyes widened. "Fool! Do you realize what you have done?"

Onyx's heart began to pound. He shook his head. "No, sir. I don't."

"I was cursed by an enchantress named Enchante when I was your age!" the stallion barked. "Now, everything I touch is cursed in some way. These clocks are only one of the many examples. Great! Now, I have to give these to everyone in Equestria."

"Why?" Onyx wondered, nervousness creeping into his voice.

"I'm very passionate about whittling," the stallion explained. "And the thing I'm most passionate about places the worst curse of all. If everyone in Equestria doesn't get one of these special clocks, I'm afraid that Enchante will be freed from her magical prison and she won't be merciful. Oh no." The stallion scooped up as many clocks as his forelimbs could hold. "Now, everyone in Equestria is under my curse too. These clocks are like a curse. They tell you the biggest events that happen in your life. The hands of these clocks don't ever really move unless they connect to somepony new. They tell you the exact date and time that these events will take place. And the scariest part is... you'll never want to get rid of your clock. You won't be able to stop peeking at your clock. You are under its spell and now, so is everypony in Equestria."

"I'm so sorry!" Onyx cried. "Is there anyway to break the curse?"

The stallion shook his head. "There is not and now this curse will be passed down from generation to generation. From the moment you are born, you will have a clock."

Onyx furrowed his brow in confusion. "That's impossible!"

"Oh, just you wait," the stallion replied. "You'll see how possible it is!" He shoved a clock into Onyx's hoof. "Take this. Take it home."

"But sir, what do the words even mean?!" Onyx cried.

The stallion moaned. "Must it be all questions with you, my boy?" He rolled his eyes. "Oh, alright." He kneeled down to see the clock in Onyx's hoof. He pointed to the first word. "See this one? What does it say?"

"Goal," Onyx replied.

"Good. That one tells you when you'll reach the personal goals you have set for yourself. What does the next one say?"

"It says love," Onyx said.

"It sure does. That one shows you the time that you fall in love with your special somepony. Your soulmate. The one who you're meant to be with." He moved his hoof to the next one. "What does this one say?"

Onyx swallowed. He almost didn't want to say it aloud. "It says d-death."

"Correct. That one tells you the time you'll pass away. Move on from this world and onto the next one." He moved his hoof to the other side of the finely-crafted clock. "What about this one?"

"Children?"

"This one is probably one of your greatest joys as well as one of your worst nightmares. This tells you the date that you'll have children of your very own." He moved on. "This one?"

"Biggest emotion."

"That's right. This one tells you the time that you'll feel the biggest emotion you'll ever experience. For some, it'll be happiness or joy. For others, it will be anger or rage. Sometimes, it will be grief or sadness. It just depends on the pony."

"And the last one says loss. But I thought that there was already one for death."

The stallion shook his head. "Loss means something else. Death is when YOU will die. Loss is when the one closest to you will. Sometimes, your death times before theirs does."

"Will that be my true love?" Onyx inquired.

"Perhaps," the stallion answered. "Or maybe it'll be a member of your family. Maybe it will be a dear friend. Only time will tell."

"Yeah," Onyx said. "Well, now it seems like time will be telling us everything."

"Smart kid," the stallion remarked with a chuckle. "Now, if I ever come around to show you anything again, don't touch it."

The stallion left, beckoning for his raven to fly by his side. The raven took flight and stayed close behind him.

Onyx stared at his clock. His heart sank as he stared at the one for 'Death'. His time was up in ten years.

Flara's eyes began to water. "O-Onyx, it's not your fault. You'd never do anything bad on purpose."

"Thank you, Flara," Onyx said, sorrowfully. "Just know that however I may die tomorrow, you will be the first thing I see when my life flashes before my eyes."

The two lovers held onto each other as they drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Chapter 1

View Online

"Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle moaned as her eyes slowly opened. She rolled over to see the clock on the nightstand beside her. It didn't actually tell the exact time it was at the moment, but she just couldn't stop being curious about the most important events in her life.

Sweetie Belle remembered being a filly sitting with her big sister, Rarity, on the beautiful sofa in their boutique. 'I always make use of my time,' Rarity had said. 'Never waste yours.' Sweetie Belle knew that Rarity was talking about dressmaking, one of her favorite pastimes, but Sweetie Belle didn't mind. She heeded her big sister's words as an inspirational quote for her own life.

"Sweetie Belle! Hurry! We're running late!"

Sweetie Belle realized Rarity was right as she looked at the other clock on the nightstand on the other side of her bed. She blinked a few times, shot out of bed, and hurriedly rushed downstairs. She grabbed a cookie from the cookie jar on the kitchen counter and stuffed it into her mouth. "Sorry, Rarity," she said, her mouth full of food.

"It's quite alright, dear," Rarity reassured her, busily preparing her saddlebags. "Now, let's go. My fashion show begins in ten minutes."

Sweetie Belle followed Rarity as she swiftly ran out the door. Rarity levitated a box of dresses and struggled not to drop them as she galloped through the town. Attached to their hooves like bracelets, as always, were their clocks. The very clocks that told them exactly when the biggest highlights of their life would take place.

Sweetie Belle had heard tales of the olden days of Equestria when everypony having clocks first began. She shivered at the thought of the dark magic that the clocks could actually possess. In older times, ponies used to be drawn in by magical force to look at their clocks several times a day. Sometimes, the magic would even keep them up at night. But thanks to Zander Grain Bell, a genius of his century, clocks would make a chiming sound instead to let the ponies know that an important event was taking place at that very moment. However, the magic that made ponies take the clocks everywhere they went persisted. Sweetie Belle felt another chill run down her spine. She knew she always had that familiar urge to grab her clock before roaming Ponyville.

"Rarity, are we almost there?" Sweetie Belle panted.

"Yes, darling," Rarity replied. "I know that the building is just around this bend somewhere."

Sweetie Belle struggled to keep her breath as she kept up with her frantic older sister. Rarity's eyes danced around the area in an attempt to find the building where she had set up her fashion show. Sweetie Belle knew it was an important show to Rarity. Some of the most well-known fashion critics would be attending: Hoity Toity, Fancy Pants, Jet Set, Sapphire Shores, and Prim Hemline.

Just in time, Rarity and Sweetie Belle burst into the building where the critics waited impatiently for the show to begin.

"I'm so sorry!" Rarity cried. "Sweetie Belle and I overslept this morning, but I've arrived to have my models show you some of my latest designs."

"Very well, Miss Rarity," said Prim Hemline. "What do you have to present?"

Sweetie Belle didn't like the sound of Prim Hemline's unsatisfied voice.

Rarity swallowed. "W-w-well, it's my line that I designed for the new season. I was hoping that if I pitched it to you that you would carry it in your boutique."

"Very well," Prim Hemline said. "Proceed, Miss Rarity."

Rarity nervously trotted offstage to whisper a few words to the models that would be presenting her brand new fashion line. As the models lined up to show off the dresses, Rarity took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She knew that she was a wonderful fashion designer, but it didn't lessen the pressure that she felt on her shoulders that very moment.

The music started and the models began to walk out on stage, displaying the beautiful dresses that Rarity made. When Rarity heard Hoity Toity and Fancy Pants "ooh" and "ahh", she began to relax.

"My new line is bright! It's bold! It's Small Town Chic!" Rarity proclaimed.

The first model was a bright blue earth pony with an alabaster mane and icy blue eyes. She wore a bright white dress with gold sequins shimmering brightly. This dress had caught the eye of Sapphire Shores. She nodded with a large grin and rewarded Rarity with cheering and stomping her hooves on the ground.

The second model was a fiery red pegasus with a bold orange mane. She wore a golden dress that reflected the spotlights above the stage. This dress appealed to Jet Set who looked over to Prim Hemline and said, "I think I ought to get that dress for my wife."

Prim Hemline's expression didn't change throughout the show. Her facial expression remained stoic like a statue carved out of stone.

Sweetie Belle felt her heart sink deeper every time she looked over at Prim Hemline. Her expression made her uneasy and Sweetie Belle's stomach twisted into knots.

Once the show was over, Hoity Toity, Fancy Pants, Jet Set, and Sapphire Shores cheered for Rarity and clapped their forehooves together to show their approval.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Hoity Toity cried. "A simply marvelous display!"

"Marvelous indeed," Fancy Pants agreed. "And out of the ordinary. I've never seen dresses quite like these before."

"Yes, they were... acceptable," Prim Hemline replied. "I will leave the final decision to Jet Set and Sapphire Shores."

"You have my approval for sure, Miss Rarity," Jet Set told her.

"Oh, thank you!" Rarity exclaimed.

Sweetie Belle felt her heart rate return to normal. She clapped her forehooves together and cheered, "Hooray for Rarity!"

"I loved them!" Sapphire Shores exclaimed. "I'd wear every single one of those dresses at any occasion. You never fail to impress, Rarity. I look forward to what ideas you'll have in the future!"

"Then, that settles it," Prim Hemline said, a smile beginning to cross her face at last. "We welcome 'Small Town Chic' to Canterlot's Boutique."

After another round of applause, Rarity heard a small beeping sound and looked over to the clock attached to her hoof. Her face lit up and her eyes sparkled when she saw that the hand for 'Goal' had reached its final destination before vanishing from the clock.

Sweetie Belle ran over and embraced Rarity, happily. "This is great! You're finally on your way to becoming a famous fashion designer!"

"I am, aren't I?" Rarity sighed, blissfully. "I can't wait until the day I'll see my name up in lights."

"You have to tell your friends!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Come on! Come on!"

Sweetie Belle grabbed onto Rarity's hoof and began to rush out of the building.

Rarity giggled. "Settle down, Sweetie Belle."

Fancy Pants trotted over to them. "Well, you can't blame your little sister, can you? It's exciting news." He adjusted his monocle.

"It sure is!" Sweetie Belle said. "When we get back to Ponyville, Rarity and I are going to tell all of our friends about it!"

"As you should," Fancy Pants said with a chuckle. "How are you feeling, Miss Rarity?"

"Wonderful! Thank you all so much for the opportunity!"

"You're quite welcome. I would like to ask---"

Fancy Pants was interrupted by the beeping of his clock. Rarity saw that hers was beeping as well. When they looked down to see what big event had just happened, they both saw that the hand on their clocks was pointing to the word 'Love'.

Both of them, blushing furiously, tried to hide their clocks from each other.

Rarity laughed nervously. "Well... I think it's time for Sweetie Belle and I to go. Thank you."

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief when the word 'Love' vanished from the clock and she stopped hiding it.

"Wait! I've been meaning to ask you, Miss Rarity. How long does it take to make each of your dresses?"

Rarity smiled, glad to answer. "For one dress, it takes about two to three weeks depending on its complexity and design. For an entire line, I'd say it takes me almost nine months to complete it."

"Nine months! I dare say, that takes a lot of patience."

"Oh, it does," Rarity tittered. "But the thing that makes it all worth it is seeing the smiles upon everypony's faces when they receive the dress that really fits their style."

Fancy Pants smiled warmly. "Well, I'll let you and your sister be on your way, Miss Rarity. Good luck to you. I hope your fashion career is successful."

"Goodbye, Fancy Pants!" Rarity said.

As Sweetie Belle and Rarity watched him walk away, Rarity smiled and bit her lip to keep herself from squealing. She had been waiting for this moment ever since she was a filly and now it had finally arrived.

"Well, are we ready to go home? The sooner we leave, the sooner you can swoon over him," Sweetie Belle teased.

Rarity just nodded and followed Sweetie Belle to the door.

As they walked back to the Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle's heart began to pound as she looked at her own clock. 'Love' was inching closer and closer to its final destination and she knew that it was only a matter of time. The question was if she would like whoever it turned out to be.

The Clock Is Ticking

by Sapphire Rose 12

Prologue

Chapter 1