‘What a beautiful city.’ I thought, walking in the shadows of a particularly large building near the center of Canterlot. It was afternoon and the sun was about to set over the horizon which casted a beautiful sanguine hue over the city. The streets were bustling with many-a-pony either going home to rest for the next day or emerging from their homes for a night out with friends. The tall buildings surrounding the mountainside didn’t interfere with couples standing on the edge of the city and viewing the beautiful orange and red valleys below.
I inhaled deeply through my nose and savored the aromas of freshly baked pastries set out to cool overnight that mixed with the odors of magnificent springtime flowers as the scents drifted lazily through the air. I sighed as I viewed the peaceful scene spread before me. It was times like this I wish I had the power to spare to make the moment last for everypony.
I gave a little sigh; it seemed the night almost had a melodious tune to it. “Hang on a tick…” I said to myself, listening intensely. The tune wasn’t in my head, it was actually playing. A stringed instrument was being played far off in the distance – quiet enough to evade most ponies’ hearing, but not mine. One of my special talents allowed me to slow down time itself in an area around my ears so I could gather the sound coming from the instrument, then release the gathered soundwaves in a higher quantity, effectively allowing me to hear things most ponies can’t.
The melody was a beautifully soft tune, meant to engage the imagination of the listener and show it wondrous sights. I closed my eyes and let the music take me to a vast green field filled with flowers. Rolling hills dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see with a bright orange Sun filling the vast sky. I opened my eyes and returned to reality, feeling almost sad that I left the field. I just had to meet the composer of this beautiful composition.
Traveling through the city shadows, I tracked the melody halfway across Canterlot before arriving in front of a particularly classy hotel known as the “Prince’s Canter”. The white marble building rose above many of the surrounding structures and seemed to have a soft glow about it, even in the night. Plastered in the front of the building was a large neon sign of a wealthy looking prince with a grin that seemed to almost bear down upon the viewer. I briefly wondered why a hotel named the “Prince’s Canter” would have a sign of a face as opposed to a cantering pony. ‘Who knows?’ I thought before swinging the large double doors open and stepping inside.
I trotted forward on the soft red velvet carpet that the hotel floor was made of and glanced around the reception room, taking note of things. The soft leather chairs against one wall had pieces of famous art hung above them to give the place a classic look while the occasional tree that separated the seats into 3’s gave the air a sweet taste and filled it with fresh oxygen, energizing anypony in the premises.
I was stared at by almost anypony in the room – some trying to casually glance over at me while others simply gawked at me as I walked up to the front desk. I wouldn’t blame them; I wasn’t exactly dressed to look like a normal pony what with my goggles, top hat and coat-tails. My large goggles had a slight tint of silver and prevented anypony from seeing what my eyes looked like. My gentlecolt’s tophat was a fine dark grey satin with a russet band running around the base of it.
Between the band and the hat was a particular favorite of mine, a gear. The gear seemed to emanate a slight silver glow as I had imbued it with a small bit of time essence. This special Time Gear was only one of many I had but I kept this one on my hat for ease of access.
My tails coat was held in place by a series of buttons that stretched over the side of the coat. It also had a useful outer chest pocket where a normal pony would keep a handkerchief. Instead, it held my timepiece that stuck out just enough to be properly visible. As if the timepiece wasn’t enough, I also wore a plain wrist watch on my right hoof for added effect. My grey fur was complimented by a long brown tail but short brown mane and was interrupted on my flank where my cutie mark was. My cutie mark was what looked like a clock – set at the time 9:00 and 30 seconds – that was wearing a top hat, which represents my affinity with time and my own twist of personality.
I reached the main desk and looked down at the mare behind it. She wasn’t short, I just happened to be a slight taller than the average pony. The salmon-colored mare wearing a blue suit almost looked scared that I had walked up to her but mustered courage enough to ask in her light voice, “Wh-what can we do for you, sir?”
“I was wondering if you could tell me where that beautiful melody was coming from,” I explained to her in my light canterlot accent. The mare looked down and tilted her head slightly to hear better.
I could instantly tell she recognized the music as her face grew a bit cheerier. “Ahh yes, that is one of our guests staying here. From the sound of it she’s practicing for her orchestral tomorrow – she’s quite the skilled cellist,” She
answered. “She’s located on the third floor, room C-35 specifically. Mind giving my compliments to her along with yours?” she asked me.
“Not a bit, thank you for your help,” I answered and headed towards the stairs. I would have gone towards an elevator however ponies tend to get nervous when stuck in an elevator with me.
While walking the steps to the third floor I opened my mind again and followed where the music took me. I was on a beautiful beach just after the sunrise – the waves were still a beautiful shade of red and the golden sand glistened in the light. Along came a small family, setting up their supplies then quickly rushing into the water to play. The child splashed her dad and her mom joined in, but the dad fought back and crashed mini waves over his adversaries.
I refocused in front of the doorway of C-35, sad that I had to come back to reality. The hallway was a soft crème in color but the floor and ceiling was the same red velvet carpet that adorned the reception room. The doors were all wooden with standard brass knobs while the lights were placed above every other doorway. I sat down in front of her doorway for a minute, just soaking in the beautiful sounds coming from beyond the door. After listening for a minute, I almost dozed off and had to catch myself from falling on the floor. Glad nopony was watching, I quickly got up and gave a few knocks on the door.
I immediately regretted knocking when the wondrous music ceased and was replaced by a mare’s muffled voice calling, “Coming.” from the other side of the door. I can safely say I was not prepared for the sight that awaited me when the door opened. A beautiful silver mare stared up at me with dazzling magenta eyes. Her black main was combed elegantly over her forehead and covered her shoulders while her long graceful tail stuck out behind her, almost touching the floor.
It wasn’t until I saw her eyelids slowly close and open in an attempt to blink that I realized I had accidently slowed time. Warning myself to avoid that from happening again, I sped up time to its normal speed. “Wh-who are you?” she asked, surprised at the oddly dressed pony in front of her.
“Were you the one playing that unbelievably beautiful tune?” I asked, avoiding her question.
The mare blushed through her fur, “Yes, I was. Was I playing too loud?” she asked in her thick Canterlot accent.
“No, actually, it was the most elegantly dazzling thing I’ve ever heard to be honest with you. “ I answered. “My name is Clockwork and let me say it’s quite the pleasure to meet you,” I added with a little bow. I meant it as well, when I first saw the pony I had felt something deep inside me start to swell. It was like enjoyment had grown deeper then grew into my throat and chest. Only through an immense amount of willpower was I able to keep it out of my voice.
“I honestly do hate to keep you from your practice, but would you care to go out on an evening stroll with me? You seem like the kind of mare that needs a good peaceful walk every once in a while,” I asked. “But of course, if you wish to practice more I wouldn’t mind either,” I added and watched her blush a shade of color beyond red.
“Well, I would like to get in some more practice before the concert tomorrow… but I suppose a stroll couldn’t hurt,” she rationalized, managing a small bit of laughter. “Would you mind giving me a minute to get ready?” she asked.
“Not a bit,” I answered, bowing slightly and smiling as the door closed.
The door opened a minute later and out walked the beautiful pony who had changed nothing but a bowtie around her neck that somehow managed to make her look even more elegant and graceful. “That is a stunning bowtie,” I complimented.
“Thank you, it was my mother’s; she was a cellist as well,” She said, blushing and looking down at the magenta bowtie around her neck. “Oh! Where are my manners, my name is Octavia Melody,” She quickly added afterwards as we walked towards the stairs.
“That has to be the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard, Miss. Melody,” I answered.
“Well it’s not as unique as Clockwork,” She said, “And I mean both the name and your attire," She teased with a laugh.
Despite her lack of practice, her performance the next day was widely agreed upon to be her best. After that one night out on the park – something clicked for me. I knew that she would be the only mare for me. First it was a week, and then a month passed, then several months had gone by and our relationship continued to grow. She learned about my powers and many of the adventures I had gone on and often times I had to leave her to do so even though I re-appeared only an instant later for her when it was done.
I learned quite a bit about her as well. She played the cello since she was young and practiced non-stop until she became well enough to play at school shows and concerts. From there she did nothing but improve and while I can’t hear it, she tells me she improves every day. She has only a few close friends, most of those those being in her ensemble. She did have one other friend though, a particular unicorn named Lucktwist – an apprentice under Princess Luna.
Octavia was also one of the few ponies that understood, and enjoyed my affiliation with time. In return I happened to be one of the few ponies she knows that enjoyed classical music so much. While anypony could just sit and listen to Octavia to enjoy classical music, I always had an appreciation for its ability to take ponies on wonderful journies. She enjoyed taking me on journeys through the vast wildlands or luscious forests that were teeming with life.
We grew closer in a few months than most couples did with years of time and had intentions of keeping it that way. We even bought a house on the edge of Canterlot, one of the most beautiful spots in the entire city. The house had a backyard that connected to the forest beyond. We went there often to find some sort of inspiration for her music; but one early morning she noticed I was a bit more sullen than usual. “Is something wrong?” she asked in her particular voice that found the perfect balance between elegance and care.
I smiled and looked up at her through my goggles, “Nothing’s wrong, Octavia; you, me this life is just perfect. This is the best it can get while still having room to improve,” I answered, adding the last bit to kill the cheesiness of the rest of the sentence.
“What’s the problem then?” she asked, sitting down on the wooden porch next to me.
“Well… the things I do sometimes. I know it only seems like an instant to you but for me I could be spending hours or weeks saving Equestria from some Changeling attack or discovering some magical artifact with Daring Do. I don’t feel like I can give you as much attention as you deserve,” I answered. “And one day you’ll pass away while I’m here – and I’ll be regretting the fact I didn’t spend enough time with you,” I added after.
“Clockwork… You’ve given me more than enough for what I deserve,” she scooted closer to me, “You bought me my dream house, gave me a dream life and spend nearly every second of my life encouraging me to improve in every way possible! I couldn’t hope for anything more,” She added, giving me a peck on the cheek.
“I won’t watch you wither away while I live a full eternal life – you deserve your own full life, with another pony,” I explained.
She saddened when she realized what I was saying then asked, “Can’t you just stop my aging process?”
“I wish I could, I dearly do – unfortunately my powers don’t work like that,” I explained, “Imagine an hourglass. When the hourglass starts, all the sand at the top starts flowing to the bottom and once all the sand is drained, you flip the hourglass over and it starts again. When I use my powers, it drains the hourglass. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to reset the hourglass yet.”
“Here, come on, I want to show you something I’ve been working on,” I said with a small laugh and hoisted Octavia up with her legs in one arm and her back on my other. I ran off the the porch a bit awkwardly on two legs and carried her through a small, near-invisible trail through the woods. The only sign that it was a trail at all was the slightly crushed undergrowth that I helped flatten every time I walk it.
I took her through the path, weaving in and out of the trees through the forest. ‘Just a bit longer, Celestia, wait a bit longer.’ I thought, trying to get there before the Sun started rising. At last, I took Octavia through a line of trees into a small semi-circle clearing with the forest on one side and a steep cliff on the other that gave way to a beautiful expanse of hills and valleys that died down near the flat horizon.
I set her down on the soft grass near the edge of the cliff and sat down next to her. “If you thought you liked sunrises before, wait until you see this.” I told her, starting to work my powers.
I focused and set up a curved dome of slowed time around the front of the cliff side right as the Sun’s rays started appearing from the horizon. I watched Octavia’s eyes sparkle from the light’s reflection while I worked. Using the same method for my improved hearing, I had the dome slow all light that was coming through to a near standstill, gathering and intensifying the light into shades only the greatest of sunrises could produce. As the sun was raised higher and changed color, I varied the intensity of different spots of the dome, some keeping its deep sanguine color, other spots closer to the middle starting to change to a more tangerine color.
The sunrise lasted twenty long minutes giving me a full score’s worth of light to trap in the dome. The center of the dome was the brightest, as that’s where the sun was most. The dome trapped a beautiful orange-yellow color that resembled something neon only more intense right down the middle of where the Sun was rising. The farther away you looked from the sun, the more beautiful shades of red and orange you saw until at last, the sun was fully over the horizon and I couldn’t capture any other color shades.
“Now for the fun part.” I told Octaiva, who had leaned her head on my shoulder at some point. Concentrating, I broke the dome, and the beautiful sunrise instantly shattered, sending rays of light shooting all over the nearby area. Red streaked across the sky in front of us while a circle of orange formed over to the side of us. The hundreds of different shades slowly dissipated within a matter of seconds – but it was one of the best scenes anypony watching could have seen; like a sunset version of Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainbooms.
“I won’t let you leave, not after that,” Octavia demanded in hopes I would listen.
I smiled and stood up from my spot, “Quite the going away present isn’t it? I had planned to show that on our honeymoon but then I realized we probably weren’t going to have one.”
She looked down at the valley below in sadness. I sat down again next to her and pointed out into the valley. “You see that village over there?” I asked pointing to a quaint little city nestled in the expanse of grass below.
Octavia looked out and saw the village, “Yeah?” she questioned.
“That city is called Ponyville – if things ever get too unpleasant here, Ponyville is a nice place to be,” I said, getting up and turning around.
“You know I won’t be able to replace you,” She said in a last attempt to get me to stay.
“That’s not true, you’ll find somepony,” I said thinking back to when I had traveled to the future and she was together with Vinyl Scratch. I started walking towards the trees but stopped once to turn around and tell her, “I really like that bow tie.” before walking into the shadows of time and leaving her be.
I still watch her, attending every one of her concerts – sometimes more than once. Occasionally I’ll anonymously donate a couple hundred bits to her ensemble when they need something extra or when money becomes a bit too tight. I also tinted my goggles a light shade of purple in her memory.
Octavia ended up moving to Ponyville because, and I quote, “Canterlot just holds too many memories.” At least that’s what her new roommate Vinyl Scratch told me. Vinyl will take good care of her. The kind of care I couldn’t give.
One thing is for certain though, Octavia’s music is just as beautiful each time she plays and tugs at my heart along with her Cello.
My name is Clockwork and this is but one of many of my stories.