The Crystal Clock Spire

This was quite a difficult topic to touch upon I was told long ago while I was still fairly new to the job and it was also made clear that even had I written this tale would any publisher still be willing to release such a transcript to the public? Of course, it was through perseverance (and the insistence of my four legged colleague who was at my side when those troubles began) that I compelled myself to write this record of events to share with those on other continents and indeed with those who grew up at different times and centuries.

Usually with stories like these, they are usually relegated to the usual Equestrian setting: either in ponyville or at the castle proper. However, at the time of writing this, Equestria was still in the earlier stages but make no mistake that none of the events that transpired on this other continent had happened without something else happening elsewhere for it was during the banishment of Nightmare Moon (Or if you had been in any way affected by this turn of events (of which I apologise) then I shall refer to her by her original name of Luna) or sometime after (I forget which) that which had transpired.

Now with that said and… well, said, allow me to introduce the continent (and the kingdom for which it is named after) of Gallopmere, not far from Equestria but smaller to make the difference between distances. Now unlike its sister kingdom, Gallopmere was well into its stature as a large and overbearing kingdom due to the efforts of its ruler: Queen Chronodia. The monarch of this realm was indeed no more than a fairly decent lass. However, her grey colour body, tall composure and teal hair parted on both sides of her prepossessing green eyed face suggested a more complex individual such as herself, fond of the deepest philosophy, the most engaging of literature, the grinding noise of clockwork and of course no less enlightened than other monarchs of the aeon (and for those interested, her cutie mark was merely the minute and hour hand of a clock face with the minute hand facing the sixth numeral and the hour hand, the twelfth).

Now as you have guessed from the namesake, Chronodia is indeed a sibling to Celestia and Luna. As the youngest of the three it was only natural (As Celestia would have said it to her own sibling…ungrateful... ahem forgive me, I should try to keep the more insensitive of my opinions to myself lest I find myself meeting with the chopping block) that she would inherit the smallest of land masses and power.

Now the ironic fact about that statement (and you probably would have found this out merely by judging from Chronodia’s name) was that she inherited the ability to manipulate time… to a degree. Simply put, whereas her older siblings have direct control over the day/night cycle, Chronodia merely had the capability to ensure that the passage of time would not twist out of control and was merely able to make adjustments whenever necessary.

Now I would say this was deliberate but as I had mentioned earlier the events of this story had taken place sometime after Nig… after Luna’s imprisonment on the moon (kind of ironic really but I digress) and this made Celestia cautious of the capabilities of her younger siblings (Or younger sibling as we still don’t really know the exact age of any of them but we’ll get to that river crossing in due course) and Chronodia reluctantly agreed.

Despite this, Chronodia relied less on the powers that be and merely took a back seat for the age of politics to stumble its way through the mists of time (If you’ll pardon the expression) merely intervening when this new aspect life got out of hand. Of course, with the rise of politics, it was only a matter of time (Again, excusing the expression) that certain individuals would hold sway over the matters of Gallopmere.

Among the queen’s retinue were two royal advisers known as Hallows and Crownway. Now as is typical of stories such as these, you would expect these two individuals to do something drastic and evil (You have all those wannabe writers out there to thank for that) that it would threaten the tranquillity of Gallopmere and undo all that had been done up to that point, well, you’re not entirely wrong as both become pivotal to the events that transpire in this story but you could not meet two entirely different ponies as these.

Hallows the chimeric (We’ll get to those kinds of pony eventually): an advocate of all things mechanical and Crownway the shire pony: an enthusiast of politics, both had two different viewpoints on the way that the kingdom should be run. Hallows spent his time building what was known back then as clockwork automatons and delivering them to the kingdoms monarchy and trying to convince them that with these new work tools, the kingdom would eliminate the need for the more difficult tasks such as crafting buildings or carrying heavy materials while Crownway believed that the current ways of dealing with such tasks would still suffice and instead championed the increase of productivity.

With the way these two constantly argued, it was only a matter of time (No comment) that one would try to silence the other. One day, while Hallows was busy creating more automatons for his own needs and those who offered to buy these mechanical marvels, Crownway successfully convinced Queen Chronodia that his opponent was using his creations to do away with Chronodia and take the throne for himself. The queen, now under pressure from her advisor that something should be done with this very obvious lie, sent a small army to find Hallows and confirm (through whatever means necessary) that he was guilty of such an affront. However, as resourceful as he is, Hallows had disappeared from his workshop without a word.

With Hallows branded an exile, Crownway was free to enforce his laws upon the land and its ponies and peace continued to transpire in Gallopmere until, of course, Crownway’s own treachery. One year after the Hallows event, it was Chronodia’s turn to vanish without a word. Now naturally the entirety of Gallopmere would be in uproar at the fact that Queen Chronodia: much loved by her subjects, would be in some sort of danger.

However, being the politician that he is, Crownway managed to quell the distressed populace and assume the position of power in her stead and continued to uphold the traditions of the Gallopmerian populace and peace continued.

Now ponies would ask me: “In these kinds of stories, wouldn't this pony try and turn the land upside down with outrageous laws and try to enforce them with military rule” to which I would reply that you have the other budding writers to thank for that and continue to tell this tale. In the years that followed, Crownway continued to rule from the palace left to him in the wake of the vanishings and did so for an indeterminate amount of time. The time of peace would continue to last for years…. until the Machinist returned.