There I sit, in the middle of June, just staring into the blank sky, a brilliant royal blue slowly
getting darker. Ever so gently great lights are placed upon the awesome canvas. The sun flickers
its final flame of day as it rests for the night.
"Beautiful." I say, slouching slightly on the bench upon where I sat.
"Beautiful indeed, Darling." Said a gorgeous mare who rested next to me, her head resting
lightly on my legs. And on top of her a young filly slept peacefully as the brisk summer night winds blew by.
The three of us sat there for the better part of the hour, just gazing forth at the art
surrounding us, enjoyed the warmth from each other and the presence of our souls.
It had become a small tradition over the past year. On the weeks end we would set out
the catch the sunset and wait for night to take the place of day. This was our way of starting a
relaxing weekend. Before all of this I was just a bumbling dirty stallion with no real place to
call a home. Then one day, I wandered from my usual route of ally to ally and decided to give the
city I resided in a better look. In doing so I met a mare who I never though would turn my entire
life around.
The story begins in Canterlot.
~~~
The great city of Canterlot was busy with the clammer of sophisticated rich mares and stallions,
going on about their daily business. A wandering stallion sat in the ally way just a'listening
away. He would eventually catch wind of a fun joke from some of the younger ones walking about, and
some embarrassing stories that some of the older ponies experienced. Apparently at a party in
Canterlot Castle, Prince Blueblood got a jump scare by some of the young rich. And in the process
spilled wine all over himself and knocking over a table. All the while Celestia just couldn't hold
back her giggle enough to keep it unseen.
During the times when he wasn't busy eavesdropping, he was scrounging for food or some kind
of money to be earned. Every now and then in the lower areas of Canterlot he would be offered a
small odd job that would barely pay enough for a day's worth of food. Though he had to make due
with what he had he didn't like it. Sure he was used to this life-style but who would wish for
something like this. He tried asking for help before but all of the stuck up rich ponies simply
laughed at him or ignored his cries for help. All he could do was take it and walk away.
With all of this, it wasn't a rare occasion that some small group felt that they needed
test their strength and give his a good beating. He didn't know why they did this too him, was it
because they were so different, because they are better than he is, or just for the simple fact
that they could get away with it? All he knew was that he had to take it and keep on going,
struggling would only make his situation worse. During one of these scraps he was seriously
injured, a blow to the head from a stray buck meant for his chest. His head hit the corner of a
stone wall and he fell unconscious while blood slowly seeped from his head.
He woke up some time later all patched up and next to a mare with short curly brown hair,
dirty white coat, and sparkling green eyes. Though she looked rather dirty and beat up she had eyes
that could cleanse the souls of the worst demons. There was a vibe of positivity and hope constantly
coming from her. She was a beautiful earth pony. He felt great just lying next to her.
After waking up he gathered his baring and began to survey the area around him. The area he
lay in was occupied by a small tent on one side, a bucket with a charred inside, which lead him to
believe that it was used for fires, and the small makeshift bed he was laying on. Another thing is
that he was in a part of Canterlot he did not recognize, it seemed a little darker and somewhat
grim. The mare noticed that he was awake and immediately spoke to him with a small but warm motherly
smile.
"I see you're feeling a little better." The voice made his ears perk up that they may take
in the sweet melody that was coming from her mouth. "My name is Shining Silver, but you can just
call me Silver." When he tried to reply all that came from him was a raspy breath attempting to be
a voice. "Here, drink this." Silver hoofed him a small canteen filled with clean yet old water. He
guzzled down the liquid as if it was his last, nearly chocking when he finished.
"T-Thank you *cough* for the water. Oh, and my name is-" he stopped, wandered for a second,
then for a minute. He began to panic trying to remember his own name, after another minute of try
to get his name his thinking was cut short.
"Your name is...?" Silver said while tilting her head slightly.
"I-I don't remember, why can't I remember?!" His panic was starting the rise again.
"It's okay if you don't remember, you took a rather nasty hit to the head, so maybe you will
remember a little later." She said with now chipper tone.
"Oh, I hit my head huh?" He said, calming back down from Silver's soothing voice. "Well I
really do hope that I can remember soon..." He said trailing off, looking into the distance as if
staring at nothing at all.
For a moment there was silence, they both sat there quietly, barely even thinking. Until
suddenly an idea came to Silver's mind.
Silver suddenly stood up and half yelled, "OH, I got it!"
In shock and surprise at the sudden noise, the stallion just stared at here in wonder like
she had some wild form of magic. "What?"
"We can just give you a nick name for the time being by looking at your cutie mark! I can't
believe we didn't think of this sooner!"
"Oh that's a great idea, here, let me get up."
He tried to sit up but in doing so he put pressure on really nasty looking bruise.
"OUCH!" He lied back down immediately and adjusted himself until he was in a position that
caused him no pain. "Well, that didn't really work, now did it?"
"No, I can't say it did. Anyway, all you really need to do is roll over a bit so I can get
a look at it."
"Oh, well that's simple enough." Rolling hurt a decent amount as well so he wasn't able to
hold it for long at all, maybe about 2 or 3 seconds.
"Well?" He said. "Did you get a good look at it?" He looked like a young colt who just got
their cutie mark.
"It's a pocket watch!"
"A pocket watch? Alright then, can you think of anything good to name me for now?"
With her tongue slightly hanging out of her mouth and a hoof on her chin she started an
audible list. "Tick, Tock, Clock, Pocket, Clockwork, Mo-"
She was cut off when he suddenly grabbed her shoulder, the sudden movement evoked a
powerful headache on him, but he powered through it. "That one!" He shouted with excitement evident
in his voice.
"Really?" She said with a look of confusion. "Well its your name, if you want to be called
Mo then that's up to you completely." A small trace a disappointment lingering about.
"No, no, no, Clockwork, let's go with that one!" He was smiling ear to ear after finally
deciding on a name. Even though it was only temporary, he still loved it.
"Oh! Well good, I like that too!" A sheepish smile was adorning her face due to her mis-
understanding. "Well now that that's out of the way, you should get some rest."
"I think I will. Thanks for helping me." The spell of sleep began to take hold of him, just
until the sound of hoofsteps began approaching.
The hoofsteps got closer until 3 large stallions, all with the looks of nobility finally
came into view. All three had the same hair cut, medium length well groomed with slight curls. Each
a different shade of brown and all with similar cutie marks of random pieces of treasure. The
atmosphere suddenly goes cold and Clockwork could swear he saw his breath.
The larger on in the middle spoke first, most likely the leader. "Alright Silver, it's time
to come with us again." He had a relatively low voice, a little scratchy for his age.
Clockwork looked over at silver to see that the light in her eyes had completely faded
away, the amazing feeling he got from being near her was now a feeling of dread. She seemed as
though her very soul had been taken from her the moment her eyes landed on the three stallions in
front of her. Slowly she got up and began trotting, slowly, towards the group. Clockwork reaches
his hoof out to grab her but misses by an inch.
"Silver, where are you going? Who are these guys?" There was some fear in Clockworks voice
as he spoke. "Hey, talk to me, are you okay?"
The stallion on the right stepped forward a bit, he was a little smaller than the other two
but still looked rather similar. "Who's this trash you brought?" His voice was a little higher than
the first's.
In an almost robotic response, Silver answered. "He's nopony important so don't worry about
it, let's go."
The stallion on the left that had yet to speak simply spat at Clockwork as they walked
away. Their hoofsteps went quite and the ally was filled with a dreadful silence. Completely devoid
of noise except for the high pitch wine of silence itself and light sniffling. Slowly, a small
earth pony filly stepped out from the small tent across the ally.
"*Sniff* Did, mommy go with the bad ponies again?" As she spoke the tears in her eyes
slowly began welling up. A few tears began to fall and the sight was heartbreaking.
Clockwork was quick to respond. "No, no, don't worry. Mommy is just taking care of some
business, I'm sure of it."
"Are you sure?*sniff* It sounded like the bad ponies coming to take mommy again." The tears
were still building.
Clockwork adorned a mask of reassurance to make the filly happy, even though it tore him
apart on the inside that this was happening. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Clockwork adorned a mask of reassurance to make the filly happy, even though it tore him apart on the inside that this was happening. "Yeah, I'm sure." The little filly trotted over to Clockworks side and lied beside him. She quietly sniffled and sobbed, slowly it faded into a peaceful sleep, with Clockwork following in suit.
Author's Note
I wrote this on a whim because I was in a bad mood so if it's any good then that's great, if not, then darn. I only plan on making 2 or 3 more chapters... maybe more. I can't say I'll update often though, but you never know.
Anyway, I welcome harsh reviews and criticism if you want to give any.
